The only survivor of a military operation disastrously interrupted by an Umbral attack, Vincent Trung was rendered comatose after the undead creature noticed the sergeant’s psychic connection to his squadmates and exploited it, forcing Trung to experience almost two dozen excruciating deaths in a matter of minutes. Trung was written off as a lost cause by the doctors and psychics of Xương, the powerful Chamnơian nation he worked for, but kept on life support for study.

To the shock of the Xương military, Trung not only came out of the coma several weeks later, but seems to have done so with his mind mostly intact. Notably, however, his psychic talent for spreading the sense of proprioception among multiple individuals had abandoned him. With his unique abilities gone and the military leery of a potentially unstable soldier on active duty, Trung was offered a choice between a desk job and an honorable discharge.

He left.

(more…)

I spent a year and a half writing Building Character. That’s not the longest I’ve spent on a writing project, nor is it the most words I’ve produced under a single banner. But for that year and a half, these columns were always on my mind, always driving me to do research or seek out inspiration.

This is the last month Building Character will be produced, at least in a weekly format. I thought that this might be a good opportunity to look back at some of the characters introduced in these columns, in a “where are they now” sort of way. I hope these tidbits spark a few story ideas for you, and I hope that you’ve found one or two things to enjoy while you’ve been reading Building Character. Thanks for sticking with me.

***

(more…)

I spent a year and a half writing Building Character. That’s not the longest I’ve spent on a writing project, nor is it the most words I’ve produced under a single banner. But for that year and a half, these columns were always on my mind, always driving me to do research or seek out inspiration.

This is the last month Building Character will be produced, at least in a weekly format. I thought that this might be a good opportunity to look back at some of the characters introduced in these columns, in a “where are they now” sort of way. I hope these tidbits spark a few story ideas for you, and I hope that you’ve found one or two things to enjoy while you’ve been reading Building Character. Thanks for sticking with me.

(more…)

I spent a year and a half writing Building Character. That’s not the longest I’ve spent on a writing project, nor is it the most words I’ve produced under a single banner. But for that year and a half, these columns were always on my mind, always driving me to do research or seek out inspiration.

This is the last month Building Character will be produced, at least in a weekly format. I thought that this might be a good opportunity to look back at some of the characters introduced in these columns, in a “where are they now” sort of way. I hope these tidbits spark a few story ideas for you, and I hope that you’ve found one or two things to enjoy while you’ve been reading Building Character. Thanks for sticking with me.

***

The Boss is currently trying to dispel rumors that Delgado and Company has not one, but two Placers on their payroll. Whether it’s true or not, Carmina’s pergressor powerbase on Denuo and Sanctuary is rapidly becoming something the Janus Syndicate cannot ignore. The very idea that a single woman could build a company of pergressors capable of competing with the syndicate on its home turf in barely thirty years is an insult to the Janusite leadership. Even though Carmina isn’t looking for a fight, she believes in being prepared, and whether this’ll be decided in a boardroom or one of Sanctuary’s back alleys she’s started hiring the best help her considerable assets can buy.

(more…)

Preparation is everything. Mongkut (and the All-in-One knows that name is just a little too perfect) trains on a planet two Steps away from Kaermai. The gravity is about five percent stronger on his trainer planet, and it gives him a bit of an edge.

Mathias arranges to train for the fight on a Roman space station that spins fast enough to produce 1.1 Kaermaian gees out at the rim. He can get zero gees by heading for the center, too, and obviously anything in between. His trainers love it.

Mathias has people watching Mongkut. He has to know how Mongkut is training. He has to know what to be ready for if he’s going to go up against the only man with championships on five of the Inner Worlds.

That debacle on Denuo doesn’t count as a championship, does it? Maybe it should.

(more…)

I, of course, trust my staff. Long ago, though not so long ago that I was young, I used to be uncomfortable with being dependent on so many advisors and aides, but I pride myself on having an eye for talent, and I think that’s been borne out over the last thirty years.

At least, I think it has. No matter how hard I try to focus on the work, there’s a certain sense of surrealness to the whole process. Intellectually, I know I have an impact. Every war I’ve directed, every conflict I’ve managed, each of them has been been very real. Each has ended lives, sometimes a few, sometimes thousands. Those battles are real for the husbands and wives of the dead, and for the soldiers who come back… and for those who don’t.

I try to remember that.

But for all that, the fact remains that no true military conflict has reached Labná in over fifteen years. And I have not left the planet of Labná for nearly twenty, thanks to the least successful assassination of all time.

(more…)

History is a powerful tool. Humans with no history to call upon will almost always fail to advance, not just as a society, but often as a species trying simply to survive. Without history to model and learn from, these societies do not recognize the patterns their communities fall into, the old roads of mutual destruction being mapped onto the face of a new planet. There is some self-awareness, to be sure; those educated enough to be chosen as a member of a new colony likely have a better grasp of history than the average citizen of the Ingressa, and they may be able to avoid some of the pitfalls, if they’re lucky.

Most colonizing efforts are expensive enough that their backers refuse to rely on luck any more than they absolutely must, however.

(more…)

What does a witch look like, girl? Does she spin spells while she stirs a bubbling black pot widderschynnes?

(more…)

As a scientist, I hesitate to use the term “ghost.” Not because existence, or indeed, worldly influence after death is an impossibility. We know the dead can rise. I hardly need to mention the Umbral, of course. My fellow itoks might be upset if I mention itok hosts as another example, but I don’t believe any serious researcher can discount the impact the host’s experiences has on the progeny; that impact must be accepted as influence from beyond the grave. If the reports coming in from the recently scattered refugees of Vescia can be believed, even the mighty Roman Legion can be routed by those who harness the very real power of the dead.
(more…)

One day, everyone who lives in the Ingressa will know the name of Ailoyoak, because I will do something no one else has done. Something no one else has the grit for. My parents will look disapprove, because they will think I am simply seeking glory.

There would be some truth in such an accusation. More truth than I would like to admit, perhaps, but also less than they seem to believe. After all, my great deed is going to help a lot of people besides just me. There will finally be a way to travel over Sanctuary’s jungles of angry, carnivorous plants. It will be fast. Safe. The cities of the planet at the heart of the Ingressa will finally be connected, and it will all be because one girl did what needed to be done.

(more…)