#Septopolis 20 There's a fair few pubs and bars around Cova Sydnoras... or were, rather. The Dominion is well aware of the dangers of letting their citizens talk too openly, so places of socialisation are subject to frequent inspections, investigations, and raids. (1/5)

#Septopolis 19 The bulk of the population of Cova Sydnoras work in trades, with construction being one of the city's biggest industries. Manufacturing is also a massive industry, particularly for chemicals and materials used for Dominion industry. (1/4)

#Septopolis 18 Sorry I'm late for these! Got wrapped up in other things. Most buildings that the Dominion's built on Earth have very functional uses, such as military or scientificinstallations. What's far more interesting are the human buildings they've repurposed for the Dominion's ends. (1/4)

#Septopolis 17 Dominion architecture (i.e., ou'shar architecture) is defined by hard angles and sharp edges. Think obelisks, pyramidal buildings, similar to the buildings of ancient Egypt. Any non-geometric shapes are in sculpture or engraving, and are intentionally subtle and unsettling. (1/11)

#Septopolis 16 Cova Sydnoras has an area of approximately 12,400 sq. km. (or 4,800 sq. mi.), and is home to roughly 10 mil. people. It extends all the way from the Pacific coastline in the east to the Blue Mountains in the west. (1/5)

#Septopolis 15 None that don't already exist in our world, not for humans anyway. The kilathaeans think the ou'shar are angels or something, and duspnokhel religion is most similar to animism. Most ou'shar are agnostic, but some worship the Dominion emperor... (1/4)

#writinglifemonthly 15 It looks like it, yeah. Especially since I can't put all my energy into my writing with a full-time job.

This week, I reveal an excerpt of my fourth short story, A Matter of Faith! It follows a divine warrior of the First Eye as she attempts to rid her village of heretical faiths. Have a read, why don't you? #writing #fantasy #fiction

New video on our YouTube channel! We did something different for this one, it’s a trailer, announcement and mini documentary from my time in Japan. youtu.be/ZeZIqAH9gCE?... #trailer #indiegame #indiestudio #rpgmaker #japan #travel #irl

#Septopolis 14 Oh, Cova Sydnoras is a melting pot of cultures from all over the world. Stir frys, curries, kebab rolls, the works. Nobody really knows what ou'shar cuisine looks like. All they seem to eat on Earth is flavouress astronaut food, developed for long astral journeys.

#Septopolis 13 Both, actually! The Dominion has both advanced technology and mystic prowess to lord over humanity, neither of which they're keen to share with their subjects. Some examples of each are... (1/10)

#WritingLifeMonthly 13 For a novel? Definitely dreary. When I'm writing a story, I'd rather not have people hovering over my shoulder telling me how the story ought to go.

#Septopolis 12 This is a tough question to answer, just because attitudes and beliefs vary wildly between the various districts of Cova Sydnoras. In the poorer districts that sprawl across the west half of the city, people are generally miserable and downtrodden, busy eking out... (1/3)

#Septopolis 11 Most if not all the alien races in Cova Sydnoras speak their own language, but most people just speak English or Chinese (which are the two most common languages at this point). The ou'shar language is used by Dominion higher-ups, and sounds like Latin, Ancient Greek, and... (1/2)

#Septopolis 10 Cova Sydnoras has a population of roughly 10mil, the majority of which are well educated, but locked at a lower-class lifestyle. Most of the pop. is over 40, the male/female ratio is about 50/50, and the vast majority are human. Now, let's talk about the space aliens! (1/16)

#WritingLifeMonthly 10 I honestly don't think there's anything I would dread more. If I don't have to do it in person, maybe, but even then... I guess it depends on how popular this theoretical book of mine is.

#Septopolis 9 Hoo boy, I've been struggling with this for a while. But I think going forward, City D's official name is going to be... Cova Sydnoras (most people still call it Sydney) (1/3)

#Septopolis 8 The one who "founded" City D (i.e. turned it from a human city to a Dominion one) is one Nitis Nashkur, one of the ou'shar aliens that rule the Dominion (who I'll get into on Day 10). (1/4)

UPDATE TIME. She-Devil is about halfway through the first draft, currently putting A Matter of Faith through my writing group, and my friend still hasn't beta-read Clanless (he might have forgotten). I think I've got a good idea of what the last few short stories are gonna be about now. #amwriting

...Okay, full disclosure, City D isn't *based* off of Sydney more than it *is* just Sydney, but with a sci-fi twist that I haven't figured out yet. So again, reciting its early history would be copy-pasting whatever's on Wikipedia. So instead, I'll cover its early days under the Dominion. (1/9)

If we're not counting the harbour itself, which is one of the largest natural harbours in the world, most of the natural landmarks are located outside City D in the nearby mountain range. Natural rock pillars, intricate cave networks, waterfalls and more can be found along the ranges.

I mean, if we're talking about City D's history pre-Dominion, I can just recite the history of Sydney Australia off of Wikipedia. Long story short, there were people living in a cove, Europeans sailed over, chased them away, then decided "hey this is a nice place to put a flag". (1/4)

From what I understand about "serious" writing, you have to spend both with or without a publisher. If someone was to handle the immediate monetary cost, I suppose that would be helpful, but it wouldn't be worth it if I didn't see or know what that money was being spent on.

City D is located on the coast, with some mountains nearby, far from the political and financial sectors of the colony. It has some beautiful scenery and art spaces, neither of which are of much interest to humanity's alien overlords. It's far from an unknown city, but it's... (1/5)

Only if I trusted them and if I was looking at this theoretical contract alongside them, so I could ask questions and get answers in real time.

For the specific city that DOMINION will be set in (let's call it City D for now), I'm picturing something similar to City 17 from Half-Life 2, but less run-down. I'm also taking inspiration from Sydney Australia, where I live, so I can work off of something familiar. (1/2)

I've honestly never thought about this. I've had professional editors, but I've never really thought about having a whole team. I suppose it would be nice to have other people take care of marketing stuff, but then I haven't written enough to warrant traditional marketing.

So the exact place I'm building is the Corus Dominion's "GAIA" colony on Earth. The main characters grew up in the colony, with freedom from the Dominion being a very, very distant memory. I plan on having it influence every aspect of their lives, and of their growing up.

So for #Septopolis, I'm hoping to flesh out a setting that I've been working on with an old friend of mine for many years - DOMINION. It's a sci-fi/fantasy setting where Earth has been taken over by an alien empire known as the Corus Dominion, with a story that focuses on the characters'... (1/2)

I want to get She-Devil drafted and I want to get Clanless edited and finally put up on the blog. I also want to put A Matter of Faith through my writing group and get it refined into a third draft. So we'll see how well I do with that.

I made a significant amount of progress on A Matter of Faith and She-Devil, even while I was abroad. I didn't get Clanless edited, unfortunately, I'm still waiting for it to get beta-read. But other than that, I think I've been pretty diligent. #writingcommunity #writinglifemonthly

For this week, I present a day-by-day recount of my trip to Japan, from when I landed to when I got back! Have a read, why don't you?

I think this game helped me flesh out the nuances of religion in my world. Before this, it was just sort of this nebulous thing with gods and stuff, without much acknowledgement of how it affects everyday life. This game helped me put that stuff in writing. #MythAugust #writingcommunity

I enjoy the writing prompt stuff. It helps me flesh out the various details of my worlds, and it gives me some insight into how other people's worlds and writing processes look like. #writingcommunity #writesky

So far in my stories, the gods are there for worldbuilding flavour. I've yet to write anything where the gods directly intercede into the plot, which is generally something I want to try and avoid. I prefer to have the protagonists solve the problem, not their boss. #WritingCommunity #MythAugust

I've been writing for a while. I wrote a Halo fanfic back in Year 7, and during my late high school and early uni years I had my had at writing an epic fantasy novel (which would have likely turned out to be very slow and boring if I went back to read it again). #WritingQ

Ancient Egyptian religion is what inspired the Old Faith, especially the sun worship, burial rites, and the Order vs Chaos thing. I studied ancient Egypt in high school, and it's captured my imagination since. #MythAugust #writingcommunity

Whichever is the most outgoing. For me, this probably wouldn't be the protagonist, primarily because I personally rely on people making the first move to connect with me. #writingcommunity #writinglifemonthly

In terms of mundane stuff, people often give a quick prayer to Ansiliras every morning, thanking him for literally keeping the sun alight. And every night, they give thanks to Chakbet for illuminating the night and keeping the monsters of the dark at bay. #MythAugust #writingcommunity (1/6)

This is not something I have any experience in, but to me, true love is something that endures past the first steps, past the exciting stuff, and all through the mundane parts. It's the ultimate goal of a romantic character to me (or at least, it should be). #writinglifemonthly #writingcommunity

Births are often delivered and recorded by priests of Chakbet, but there aren't any specific rites that they perform. Midwifery is just one of the duties that the moon priests are expected to carry out. Babes born on auspicious dates... #MythAugust #writingcommunity (1/7)

Love triangles to me seem like a very contrived way of generating character conflict. I feel like it's more natural to create tension through personality conflicts or unexpected situations rather than throwing another lover into the mix. #writingcommunity #writinglifemonthly

UHHH, I DON'T REALLY KEEP UP WITH CELEBRITIES, SO I DONT- #writingcommunity #writinglifemonthly

Entering a priesthood of the Old Faith requires one to pass a confession of sins, overseen by an senior priest. The exact confession varies by deity, but they are all done under an enchantment that prevents you from speaking outright lies. #MythAugust #writingcommunity (1/?)

By the Black River calendar, each of the twelve months is dedicated to one of the gods, and the start of that month is a holy day for the god of that month. Such occasions are marked by hour-long prayers and animal sacrifices. (1/5) #MythAugust #writingcommunity

Late update today. Been steadily chipping away at She-Devil, which is looking to be one of my more complex stories. Once I get back from Japan I'll be able to work on it more consistently. Currently waiting on a friend of mine to beta read Clanless and A Matter of Faith.

Uhhh, I don't really keep up with celebrities, so I don't really know. #writingcommunity #writinglifemonthly

Most blessings are granted by priests, invoking the power of their god through spiritbinding. The same goes for imposing and removing curses. However, there are a few blessings and curses that are imbued by performing special rites or using sacred objects. (1/10) #MythAugust #writingcommunity

Most sacred texts to the Ra-kede-ta are inscribed on prayer scrolls, buried with the dead to help them in the Halls of Judgement. Myths and stories to the gods are carved and illustrated in temples and tombs, and told during schooling as an oral tradition. #MythAugust #writingcommunity

Sometimes, though since I prefer more upbeat music, I find that I get less distracted if I'm listening to ambient music tracks, typically related to the setting I'm writing for. #writingcommunity #writinglifemonthly