Well, this site had been using the 2011 WordPress theme all this time. I decided to actually attempt to update it to the 2025 theme. One new feature is that images can be clicked on and they do a zoom effect instead of opening in a new tab.
Category: Uncategorized
-
Sha Rephart Island Night District
The night district is one of the newer additions to the island. It is laid out similarly to the Social District hexagons, but it is mirrored on the plane with a gap area between the center and outer buildings. You can see a vertically mirrored bridge on the left side of the picture. The district is so named because of the starfield projection and dark exterior lighting.
The projection is a more advanced design than previous ones, forming a dome instead of the hexagonal pyramids found over the other districts. This was done to reduce the amount of distortion seen in the sea of stars. Like the other projections, it darkens the view when looking in from the outside.
-
Lady Jalae
Lady Jalae is a female gwil Aspect of the shapeshifting Lurin named Lukaud. They are also known as “Master of the Voidplane”, or Obmunjalae in a common gwil language. This Aspect has become their favorite, and most who know Jalae would best know them as this form.
In the background is a magic generator, a device that pulls in and concentrates the magical energy that permeates the Voidplane universe. This one belongs to Jalae and powers their home base. Also a glimpse of some experimenting with what the Voidplane “sky” looks like. -
Obmunjalae Mini Vessel
This vessel is Lady Obmunjalae’s personal craft. It happens to be one of the most compact Voidplane vessels in use, contrasting greatly with her main vessel (the Obmunjalae), which is the largest. In this picture, the craft is docked at its personalized spot in the Obmunjalae vessel’s hangar bay. You can also see the Lady inviting Yezukh’ay to board, though the Suyen woman looks a little nervous about it. It’s not exactly a ‘canon’ scene, as Yezu was much younger when she first took a trip on this craft.
I did some experimenting on the vessel and I think it turned out pretty nice. The most obvious change is the new fin design on the back. There’s also a fancy emblem mounted near the back. The vessel now has doors that rotate up and can put the vessel in a locked up state or enclose the cockpit during travel. It also has the same paint job as the Obmunjalae.
For reference, here is the previous design:
-
Shots of Sha Rephart Island
This view centers on the Residential District. The entrance to the Night District is on the far left, adjoined by the city wall. The city rail loop sits between the wall and the main house rows. Some new streets going between the house rows were added this version, each parallel to a rail station. The blue projections of the Social Districts and the gold projection of the national capital are seen in the back. 
A view of Beach Island. There is a new building complex accessed from a long staircase seen on the left. 
One of the city docks. The building in the middle is the port of entry into the city where arrivals and departures are screened. 
A view from the entrance of the Night District looking back towards the city’s center. The twin stairways of the rail station are in view, along with a prototype of the vehicles that traverse the tracks. Behind is one of the new roads in the Residential District. These have stairs that travel up the terraced house rows. This particular road leads all the way up to one of the main complexes of the Social District. -
3D modeling for a “real world” application
Showing off a bit of synchronicity between my digital and analog hobbies: I have used Blender to model and plan out my garden. From this screenshot you can have a better understanding of its layout. I just completed the eastern side on the right of the picture. I put in a little curve on the separation between the red rubber mulch pathway and the bed of decorative rock to account for the rounded edge of the big bed (and to keep things from being all right angles, I guess).
-
Summer Time, Outside Time
Not much posting going on here over the hot months. The bulk of my creative efforts has been directed towards the non-digital, especially the garden. It’s constantly evolving, starting with two beds in the first year in our house, but now having 12 square beds, a big bed (currently dominated by zucchini plants), a greenhouse, a row on the side of the greenhouse for outdoor pots, and a fire pit area. I’m currently working on the greenhouse-opposite side to set up another pot row and get it all decorated out. I have plans to build a shed on the end of the greenhouse, but it just got too hot for that level of construction. Next year I may also work on building a drip irrigation system for the entire garden (the greenhouse has such a system already) instead of relying on the existing lawn sprinklers.
I’m not completely avoiding digital creations – I just finished another run through the Sheshai the Purifier novel. Yet again, I found corrections and ideas to expand upon or better tell the story. No huge changes, though I did add mentions of another Great House, this one being the order of engineers called the House of the Hammer, bringing the total to six (Sword, Shield, Hand, Book, Eye, and Hammer). Doing 3D modeling here and there. I am working on something for the anniversary of this site switching to its current WordPress-powered form, which will happen in October.
-
Paying the tax
Pride has been more meaningful to me this year, as my partner officially came out as bi recently. I am straight myself… well, I guess depending on the definition, eh Sheshai? Speaking of her, coming to terms with things has influenced my novel by a significant amount. Though it’s written primarily to appeal to my cis-het nature, I wound up writing in a number of characters that don’t adhere to the ‘norm’. I hope it doesn’t come off as pandering and instead comes across as coming from an honest place.
