September 2007 Entry: The Glass Journal

[Midgardsormr]

edit: Nevermind. I just went back and read something that made my comment nonsense.

But bravo! Remarkable work!

[Amonite]

Day Twelve, Plane of Weeping

For a community that shares all resources amongst itself, there are still many disagreements. When Kizad brought with him his skills with water transportation, he marked an important day in the city's evolution. His gift of water to the community, however, was not without price. Kizad set up a Glassworks right along the Knucklebones, where sand can easily be carried in from the desert and struck by lightning spells from him and his apprentices. The Glass is inferior to the natural, not having the magical properties of the ocean lightning to increase its magical properties - and the sand loses its more special properties after only a few hours outside the desert. Still, Kizad's glass is a superior building product to most and perfect for building equipment meant to be used in the desert as the glass is highly resistant to many of the deserts effects. Most of the city sees this as a very good thing, even if Kizad only shares his glass at a cost and seems above the community legal policies. Hagil Hornbeam, however, is quite against Kizad's practices and insists that everyone should just leave the desert well enough alone. And there are more than a few who agree with Hornbeam, on an almost fanatical level. Copperhead may be in for some turbulent times.

[Amonite]

DAY TEN

Day Thirteen, Plane of Weeping

We began the first steps of mapping the Glass Ocean itself today, and surprisingly our foray into the unknown went better than expected. Utilizing the airship, we first traveled inwards strait from Copperhead Rock as far as we could go, which was just less than two miles before we had to turn back. Several erratic wind layers create problems adjusting the airship's altitude. In those five miles there was little to mark the terrain besides a few scattered boulders, which had somehow moved position several hundred yards by the return journey only fifteen minutes later. Returning to Copperhead, we then circumnavigated the desert sticking only to the very perimeter. In order to accomplish the round trip in under a day, we were traveling at approximately 40mph. This high speed meant we lost much detail, but then again the sands shifted so frequently that detail was nearly meaningless. We had to navigate by eye, which the sand laden lower winds made quite difficult, but we followed the edges of the knucklebone, the seas, the Lost Lands, and the Trinial Ocean before returning to Copperhead. The edges of the desert seemed to rewrite themselves even as we passed over them, but we inscribed a roughly trapezoidal region over an averaged perimeter of six hundred forty-five miles. This leaves the current state of the Glass Ocean at almost 20,000 miles square, minus the area of the Lost Lands which is unknown -yet.


NOTE: I accidentally deleted my own post thinking I had posted it while previewing Oh wells. Sorry the labels are so hard to read - shrinking them and converting to jpeg does a lot to hinder legibility. If anyone wants to see a better bigger version of anything, I can post it elsewhere in the forum. But for the journal for now I will stick with the small journal pages even if they are hard to read. Anyways. I need to find something to do with the text - any ideas? I want it to blend in with the maps and look more natural :S IT's better than my handwriting, at least!

[ravells]

Seriously lovely Amonite. I really like the lettering on the map. When you say 'blend in' I'm not sure what you mean? Maybe you could pop in some ink-blots? Alternatively put all your text on a seperate layer and change the colour from black to, say sepia, and then set the layer to multiply or overlay so the colours/lines underneath show through, but this may make the text difficult to read.

My only other comment is that the compass rose (beautiful though it is) looks a little out of keeping with the style of the rest of the map and draws away from the idea that the entire document is handwritten / handdrawn on site.

All the best and beautiful work !

Ravs

[Amonite]

DAY ELEVEN

Day Fourteen, Plane of Weeping

After loading the last of the provisions aboard the desert skimmer, I set out into the Glass Ocean early this morning. I left from the standard entry point from Copperhead with no small amount of trepidation - alone. All familiar things were quickly lost to me, swallowed by the blushing horizon. My skimmer provides some comfort, though, as with its blend of gears and magic it glides over the sands easily and quickly. (Though, it sometimes has trouble handling large dunes.) I have food and water enough for a month, if not more, but it seems of little comfort. The atmosphere of this strange desert causes me much anxiety. While in the skimmer I do not have to fear that I will sink into the depths of the Ocean and be lost, I can only stop the skimmer when I come across a large sheet of glass to set it down on. (While the glass will eventually sink, the desert is slow to reclaim it. Currently, the skimmer is parked on one such sheet as I write. Larger sheets can be found every few miles.) I have taken many small glass samples and stowed them away in the magic holds of the Skimmer, but I wonder just how long magical assistance will hold out. The Skimmer seems to be fine, despite the malfunctioning compass which was expected, but my image magic is faulty. I seem to be unable to fix pictures to my journal as easily as I should, so I may be doing much more hand drawing in the future.

[RobA]

but my image magic is faulty. I seem to be unable to fix pictures to my journal as easily as I should, so I may be doing much more hand drawing in the future.

Hahaha clever!

[Amonite]

DAY THIRTEEN

Day 16, Plane of Weeping

This afternoon the skimmer came across a strange Oasis. It is the first I have encountered, nearly sixty miles into the Glass Ocean. The water was drinkable after some testing, though I passed it up in favor of my own supplies. Some large lizards were about, and I found a glass fly burrow which I left undisturbed. Of note, however, was bedrock visible to the west of the Oasis which the sands did not cover. This may signify a small elevation change or perhaps an odd weather pattern, but the sands did not shift nearly as much around the Oasis. I was able to park the skimmer on the bedrock for two hours before any sand neared it. While I have been traveling in a strait line, I now plan to follow the bedrock as nearly as I can. If my hunch proves correct, it might not only be a more stable desert route, but might also lead the way to the fabled Shale Table Cay.



NOTE: Ak, deadlines!!! I have so many more entries I need to do....I might have to go to the very last map, do that tomorrow, and then rewind to post in all the missing pieces after :S

[Amonite]

Hmm...I just spent hours on a map, and when I scanned it in it looked horrible Apparently the scanner cannot pick up pastels or something *sadness*

[Amonite]

Day 18, Plane of Weeping

DAY FIFTEEN
My hunch has proven well founded; following the bedrock as nearly as possible led me to Shale Table Cay by midmorning. It could not possibly be mistaken for anything else, and studying the secrets of this 'rock' has occupied my day. After parking the skimmer atop it and collecting water and lichen samples, I began measuring Shale-Table and discovered something strange. The symmetrical landform is 121x324, and the 'water basins' atop it are geometrically symmetrical pools. Despite the overgrowth of lichen and the sand dunes that come right to its base, this uniformity of design indicated that Shale-Table Cay was not a 'natural' landform at all. It took my hardest instruments to scrape off a sample of the 'rock', and several chemical tests before I determined that Shale Table Cay is a mineral alloy unlike anything encountered on the planet. It shares some properties with the desert glass, as well as some commonality with the crimson stone of the blood cliffs - but otherwise it is wholly unique and very strange. Exploring further, I have discovered what I guess to be an entry point - a 4x4 seam with a series of button like depressions. The stories claim that a cave like system lies beneath Shale-Table Cay, and if I can open the hatchway.....perhaps my father went below. I might have missed finding the entry way at all, but the lichen over it had been scraped away. Someone must have come this way, and recently. Curiosity would have compelled my father to uncover Shale-Table's secrets, and I can do no less.

[Amonite]

Day 19, P.O. Weeping

DAY SIXTEEN

It took three hours and four-hundred seventy-six code permutations, but I finally accessed the entry hatch. It could be called little else, as the 'caves' below are not caves at all. At first, they appeared to be -oddly symmetrical walls of rock. It took me sometime stumbling through the small maze of passage-ways before I somehow fell through a rock wall. Everything went blurry for a minute, and then the world resolved itself into what Shale-Table Cay really is - and not the illusion it pretends to be. It is some sort of strange building, constructed of gray and crimson metal alloys. Many of the rooms have been ransacked or appear destroyed as if by a massive magic blast or troupe of thieves, but some of the rooms are intact. I could spend years studying the strange equipment and objects I have found, but my time is limited. I must find my father, and I cannot leave the skimmer parked atop Shale-Table unguarded. I spent the day exploring just this level, however, even though I have found what I believe to be the way further down. I have taken little, for I do not believe it is wise to disturb this place. I did find strange rations in a few of the un-looted storage bins, however, and took samples. I have also uncovered a room full of star maps and strange equipment, in which I would have loved to spend much time. Unfortunately, an almost invisible barrier guards the doorway as in many of the rooms, and not even rune-magic could break its force.