“Have you yet mated with Hathan-Captain?” The mountain shook. Or, perhaps it was just Skthveraachk herself, the blatancy of the inference snapping her head up and backwards as the pale drone aside her sung Ckhehnvraahll’s thoughts. Putting a pause on her Band’s communication to utter incredulous reply.
“In this place? In this time? At the raising of a new power with which to entreat Triumvirate, these are your thoughts? Why ask this?”
“You refuse answer?”
<...
There were different kinds of pain. The pain of trauma, the pain of loss, these were unsavory things. But there were many pains you carried, remembered just as fondly as you resented them. The pain of farewell tempered with the hopes of the future. The pain of lungs and claws as you crawled from the brink of death. And then there was the sort of pain you swore, promised by all from Composer to Founders you would never subject yourself to again, but still found yourself diving jaws open into. ...
2022-12-13 02:13:25 +0000 UTC View Post<”Gentlemen, Ladies, the Colonel.”> Skthveraachk heard, if unable to see behind the barrier, the scrape of chairs as bodies rose. The thundering strides of the thick female warrior pounding the platform of the ship’s room. Shells rustling as arms raised in salute.
<”Comrades. My name is Lieutenant-Colonel Nikita Solovyova. We’re going to be saving some time in this, by confirming I am that Nikita Solovyova, which is damn good enough reason that you’re still standi...
<”Congratulations, indeed, my good formites! Songmaker, you especially! The first of an entire species to be welcomed, recognized, with the grace and light by the Emperor of all known worlds!”> The singer had dug his spurs into the orbed chair, the Band not registering the questions which roared from his body. Khchechteeyh tentatively curled forward, the expressions ranging from pride to abhorrence on the aliens gathered making fragile her song.
“We, are not to be formites...
<”They’re waiting inside, sir. All but one of the councils and his Queen. I passed your suggestion they wait, let the formites introduce eachother, but all said their charges had already met previously and so there was no issue.”>
“A lie.” The Queen was blunt in the assessment. “Or an untruth they do not fully appreciate. This corridor reeks of markers, indicators, possessive trails. Singing through your comms or seeing a screen’s image is not the same as a true m...
<”Five more shuttles incoming, total. Keep the Queens and their handlers separate until the last one boards, then move them all into the observation deck. Svera?”>
“Stillness.” Her attendants sung and danced. “Scouring moss absent. Must improvise.”
“Utilize layered cleanse. Hair first. Tongue next. Apply layer of scent, then pored sealant.”
“Received, but impossible.”
“Clarify.”
“Queen must be stilled to clean.” The fl...
When the sky had been hung above the world, when the stars had first been set into the obsidian canvas, when the turning of the heavens had been set in motion and the great silence of the Before was as yet unshattered, the Composer came unto the world. His voice stilled, He wrapped Himself around the curve of the land, and His legs shaped the valleys and peaks, the open plateaus to chasmic depths. From His vents seeped the waters, estuary to ocean, and from His molt formed the layers of soil,...
2022-11-28 19:13:17 +0000 UTC View PostTime. To a normal formite, to a formite blessed and cursed with the burden of their calling and cause, time was an irrelevancy. Measurement used in the individualized tasks during the rise, marking appropriate lengths for rest in the fade. The menial, the hauler, the tender, even the soldier; there was no need for consideration as to the larger implications, the first and then final notes, for death was but the end of the work. A good life was a life spent with neither mistake nor failure in ...
2022-11-25 22:40:22 +0000 UTC View PostCelebrations and comradery were quieted, somewhat, when Skthveraachk Queen passed visually through their proximity. Across the Palamedes, messages were being recorded for homes and children, the code and decree of silence chaining the occupants laxed if not shattered. Even as she made her way to the fore of the ship, a chain of bodies followed along behind her, hugging walls or even spreading up to nearly cling to ceilings of the myriad passageways. Wrath was the colony’s bass. Humiliation,...
2022-11-17 23:46:18 +0000 UTC View Post(( An update on a state of affairs, promised a heck of a long time ago, is forthcoming. For now, enjoy the nearing completion of the second chapter of Svera's journey.))
The Aadarsh-Who-Had-Been-Blessed once told her the Coalition were frenzied. Skthveraachk Queen had strode through a nest, a town, of Coalition drones and soldiers, heard them scream as they died to save those they loved and cower beneath the claws of her coming. The Thinker’s pet humanite, he had sung with pure...
<”Skthveraachk Queen, may your melodies bear forgiveness for my absence.”>
“Aadarsh-Who-Has-Been-Blessed, there is no forgiveness, for there is no malediction muttered against you. It is known and appreciated that your role requires you to remain on Dracan.”
<”Only temporarily, I assure you.”> There was not much in the way of shuddering, turbulence the Hathan called it, and the Herald’s face came to the transport’s screen without a ...
Phew, Writathon is over and once more, victory for the War Queen. That's 2 writathons in a row where we've successfully managed over 55,555 words in just 5 weeks, putting War Queen on track to be finished within probably just under a month. This is the bonus chapter meant for the end of March, which was lost in the preparation for Writathon starting in April. April's bonus chapter shall come next, followed by May's all within the span of a week or so, ideally. It's gre...
2022-05-13 00:01:45 +0000 UTC View PostCall it paranoia or call it a desire to be absolutely, completely clear on things in a hopes of giving people exactly what it says on the tin, this post will remain under a 'pinned' tab to be deleted or updated as necessary with a more precise breakdown of what each reward gives. Jump right into it;
-Download link(s) to all fictions written in a donation period
Upon donating, you will be prompted immediately for a payment. Upon verifying, your name is immediately saved a...
I know it's quite early, but in rooting through the files on my computer while adding the patreon, the smashword distribution, kindle formatting, etc etc, I stumbled upon the very first draft of War Queen: Survival. Or, more specifically, what would eventually become the prologue for said book. Though there's not many people to see it yet, I've uploaded it as an early sort of lore to the bonus chapters section of the Discord. Seeing the very rough and crude first ideas that ...
2022-01-23 21:05:46 +0000 UTC View PostAs promised on Royal Road, this Patreon is going up for those who wish to support my work, writing, and hopefully the continuation of War Queen and other series down the line. I'll be quite honest and say that this sort of format is new to me, (I'm someone who doesn't even have a twitter or facebook account) and most likely, this Patreon will not be used as a constant point of contact. But it will be used to provide rewards, including the books themselves, and a point of contact b...
2022-01-22 23:25:48 +0000 UTC View Post