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Sometimes I do things before I think them through. I think that was one of those times.

It reads like a troll.

I wasn't asking for Permission, just thinking ahead.

and we can get to know them. I found the PPC in May of 2021, and I've requested Permission and gotten denied because of some technical errors and logic errors in my writing sample. I waited a few months, got to know the community better, and rewrote my writing sample. I posted it and now I'm hoping to get feedback from the Permission Givers soon. Maybe just chill out for a while and get to know the community. We like shiny newbies, but we also like to get to know them before they request Permission. -Claire, giving the same advice they received when they tried to get Permission. :)

I've barely skimmed it, but I will agree that the SPaG is bad.

-Claire

So, in the wake of all my supposed kinkshaming, I'm thinking of moving my agents to the Department of Floaters. And, may I present to you, StarKitsProphcy. It's littered with minis, and has a LOT of religious symbolism, to the point of overuse. I'm thinking of tackling it as my agents' first mission.

What do you think? Should I do it?

“Well, thank you for the kimchi. I’ve never had it before, can I just eat it out of the jar or…?”

“I think people usually put that in soup instead of eating it as is,” Miguel commented. “Besides, Charlie said it was spicy, and we both know you hate spicy things.”

Ami grinned sheepishly. “True. Maybe I can give it to Chris instead,” she said.

I remember the first half, but re-skimmed it to get myself back up to date. Still very nostalgic in form. :)

Jacques grinned back at her, eyes bright with mischief. “What if I have a paperwork kink?”

No, Jacques, you're thinking of the Notary. (Wait, that was a Grease song too, wasn't it? [Suspicious look])

“Within two seconds there would be someone from the Monitor popping out of the woodwork to snap photos, and they’d undoubtedly have record sales of the next issue.”

[Agent Starwind slowly moves her camera out of sight]

That was cute! Plus a little ways beyond cute, but also nicely realistic. It's fun to read about believable people.

hS

I've managed to track down a specific link on books in heraldry, here, which talks about the Oxford University coat of arms. Combining the two, I think an open book proper is brown leather with argent pages, while an open book bound proper would mean a brown cover and require you to specify the pages. Writing is placed as a tertiary charge 'on' or 'upon' the book.

These examples show that books proper tend to be placed on argent, so yes, a bend (or maybe a pale) argent would work well for that. A good example of this sort of thing is the arms of Imperial College, London, which suggests the neatest blazon would be:

Sable, on a bend argent an open book proper inscribed with the words [whatever].

One last one: if you want to add gold leaf, Sheffield university suggests 'edged Or'.

Classically, heraldic devices were intended to be as simple as possible - the classic court case was over who could use Azure, a bend Or - any they do tend to look better when not overloaded with charges; but as far as I can tell there's no strict rule about that.

hS

Now I think I will have to try and draw a picture of this. It will have more on it than just the book because that was the thing I was worried about breaking the rules.

-Claire

Blazons are ideally as succinct as possible. Presumably, it's obvious what a thing looks like in nature, so you don't have to describe it further than that. It also makes room for hues that don't have heraldic names, like the particular orange in a calico cat's fur. You could try to blazon something like a cat couchant sable, argent, and tenné, or you could just say a calico cat couchant proper and call it a day. ("Couchant" = lying down; "tenné" is the name of a stain rather than a traditional color and can be interpreted as orange, dark yellow, or brownish.)

That said, you can get more specific if the appearance of a thing proper is not obvious, and anyway, some coats of arms are very complex and require very detailed blazons, so the blazon can be as long as it needs to be. For specificity, yours could go something like this:

Sable, an open book with cover proper and pages argent charged with writing of the field.

"Of the field" = same tincture as the field, in this case sable, so basically white pages ("argent" can be interpreted as silver or white) with black text. It's considered poor form to repeat the name of a tincture, so workarounds like this are used when needed.

~Neshomeh

Sorry, I stopped checking for replies. My computer completely died on me, and I just now finally got the husband talked into letting me use his.

So, years ago, you were very patient with me, explaining what trans is, so much about LGBT issues and what terms are. I knew basically nothing back then, and you were very kind to educate me. I know that sort of thing isn't incumbent on LGBT folks to do. My kids were 11, 10, and 3 back then, and I turned around and shared this info with them, and that I was good with any and all of this. And it stopped me from saying a lot of stupid stuff out of ignorance.

Now my kids are 21, 20, and 13. The oldest is aroace. The middle is pan and exploring gender, and the youngest is bi. And because you spent that time with me they never had to wonder what was 'wrong' with them or whether I'd accept them. I think often about how much you changed the course of my life and theirs, and wanted to thank you and let you know that your investment of time paid off spectacularly.

Thank you.

I'm assuming a proper book would probably have a brown cover, which would not show up well on a sable field, but it would still have argent pages. Can you put writing in a proper book?

-Claire

Jiwon paused in front of the pile of presents, which was already reduced to nearly half its original size. He spent a good ten seconds looking over them until Charlie spoke up.

“You know, if you don’t want to leave it to chance, stealing’s always an option!”

Jiwon looked almost appalled at that. “What? No, no, I’m… I’m good, thanks.” And with that, he took the top present from the pile. He walked back to his seat, placed the box in his lap and slowly began to peel at the edges of the wrapping paper. After half a minute, he pulled out a small box of chocolate, which he tilted his head at.

“Hey, are those good?” Charlie asked, leaning over to look.

Jiwon flipped over the box to read what was on the back. “I’m not sure?”

Re. #1, a fair bit of editing went into the pile of kisses, so it's very good to hear we struck the right balance in the end.

Re. #2, this is the sort of thing that makes J^2 so much fun to write. ^_^

Re. #3, the bit with the vampire refers to an incident that actually happened in a PPC Lounge RP way back in the day. Fun times, good memories.

~Neshomeh

I believe I know just enough to answer this question!

So, sable is considered a "color," and the rule is you can't have another color on top of it. However, you can have a metal or a fur, and you can also sort of cheat by saying your book is "proper," meaning "the color it naturally has," e.g. Sable, a book proper. Depending on the color of the book, though, it might not show up very well (which is one reason the rule of "no color on color, no metal on metal" exists). Sable, a book open [argent/proper] might work well.

As for the second question, I don't see why not, provided your character lives in a society that does conscription and has the wherewithal to survive becoming a deserter. I can't imagine an evil army would take kindly to deserters.

~Neshomeh

In heraldry/coats of arms, is there a way to put a book on a sable field without breaking the rules?

Would it make sense to have a good character get conscripted by an evil army, run away, and try to go back to being one of the good guys?

Rather than fixating on the Chiss-Ord Mantell setup, I decided to spin the SW map around freely and see what lines up. For my map, I've marked Terra, the Eye, Ultramar, and Fenris (because Fenris is funny). (Also, the SW galaxy spirals in the opposite direction to the other two, so I've reversed it to look at it from underneath.)

• Earth and Ultramar are about equidistant from the core. Key SW systems which fall on their latitude are: Endor, Naboo, Yavin 4, Dathomir (full of witches), Csilla (the Chiss homeworld), Mandalore (as in that TV show), and... Nal Hutta.

• If you put Earth on top of Nal Hutta (which frankly we deserve), Fenris falls on Kasyyyyk. There are no wolves on Fenris - only Wookiees. ^_^ The Eye winds up between Ossus and Lothal, two key Jedi-related planets, suggesting the Eldar were once Force-sensitive. Ultramar is around Endor.

• If you slap Ultramar on top of Mandalore - they're basically proto-Astartes there anyway - you wind up with Earth in Chiss space, and the Eye of Terror out around Ahch-To, that planet Luke stranded himself on in the sequels. Putting Bobby's private empire in Hutt Space doesn't shift things much (the Unknown Regions are large and, well, unknown).

• If we swing out and put Earth on Endor - humans are clearly descended from Ewoks - the Eye of Terror falls somewhere around Hoth, Bespin, Dagobah, and in particular Vader's favourite lava nightmare, Mustafar. Ultramar comes in somewhere up by Yaga Minor, which was part of the remnant Empire in the old EU.

I might play around a bit more with the Endor and Nal Hutta options, see if anyone else (like the Tau) fall somewhere interesting. This is fun. ^_^

EDIT: No, I have a better plan.

Ultramar is Hutt Space. There's a tight cluster of worlds there which is a perfect astrographic fit. That puts the Eye of Terror back on the Chiss Ascendency, right where it belongs. Holy Terra is right on the edge of explored space, kind of in the middle of nowhere (a little north-east of Ilum on the SW map).

But the reason I've gone for this is that the Tau Empire is right in the region around Kamino, Geonosis, and Tatooine. Clearly, the T'au descended from the Kaminoans - they've got the colouration for it! Exactly how much of the local region they currently own is up for debate; there's 60 million years of stellar drift in there, it's not simple.

Coming at this the other way... Coruscant falls right in the heart of the Maelstrom, so clearly something happened there. Jakku is somewhere near Baal. Endor is out near the Malefactus. Yeah, there's no really outstanding points of correspondence, but, like, 60 million years, so.

hS

He blinked tiredly for a few seconds, then uncurled himself and shifted back into human shape, letting his tail drape over the side of the chair.

“Yeah, that’s... that’s most of what kimchi is,” he said. “Um, other than the pickle juice. Not sure about the exact ingredients of it, but there shouldn't be pickles. I think. I mean, you can substitute the cabbage with a few other vegetables, cucumbers included, but—”

“It’s spicy rotten leaves!” Charlie said unhelpfully.

Jiwon stifled a reactionary hiss. “It is not.”

It is power and strength, wisdom and guidance. It binds all living things into one great whole. It has a will of its own, and can make real the will of those who touch it. It is life, and light, and a promise that there is no true death, but only itself.

And... it is a beacon.

Ever since the Jedi Order began their meditations to calm the roiling Warp, Force-sensitive pilgrims have been drawn to them. Their ranks have been swelled by former Jedi who have been on the run since Order 66; by Navigators and Adepts and Monks fleeing the Imperium's Crusade across their home galaxy; and even by refugee ships from the nearer parts of the Imperium itself, which inevitably turn out to include agents of the Inquisition, the Ecclesiarchy, or the Alpha Legion (and sometimes all three at once).

Despite this, the Order is utterly unprepared when the fabric of space ripples directly over their temple, and starship after starship drops out of hyperspace, each one the distinctive white arrowhead of an Imperial Star Destroyer. Last to appear is the flagship, battle-damaged but still bearing the twining serpents on its hull that mark it as the Chimaera.

As the Jedi and Tau scramble their fighters, an ominous voice sounds over their comms. "Rebel forces," it announces, "this is Grand Admiral Thrawn of the Imperial Seventh Fleet. Stand down your ships and return to the surface, or I will be forced to-"

"No, listen, that's not going to work." Another, younger voice cuts over the Grand Admiral, and in the Temple's communication centre Ashoka Tano looks up in shock. "Give me the-"

There is a brief commotion on the comm lines, and then the younger voice speaks again. "Hi guys, sorry about that, you know what Imperials can be like. But, look, we've come to an understanding up here, and I promise the Admiral isn't planning to attack or anything, so you can turn the fighters back. Okay?"

General Leia frowns and picks up the comm, but before she can speak Ashoka snatches it out of her hand. "Who is this?" she demands. "Identify yourself!"

"Ashoka?" The young man on the Star Destroyer laughs. "Wow, you really do get everywhere. It's Ezra, remember? Er, I mean," and his voice becomes more serious, "this is Spectre Six, reporting for duty."

"Ezra." Leia gives Ashoka a stern look and reclaims the comm. "Ezra Bridger?"

"That's the one," Ezra replies. In the background, Grand Admiral Thrawn can be heard giving orders to secure the fleet from hyperspace and prepare a shuttle. "Is that Princess Leia? I guess it's been a long time for you - I think the Purrgil carried us through time or something, and when we came out the galaxy was," he laughs again, "well, you probably know all this. Point is, we've picked up enough of what's going on that the Admiral finally realised the Empire is rotten to the core, and-"

"I remain loyal to the Empire," Thrawn cuts in, "but until this crisis is over and order is restored, I must follow other paths-"

"Yeah, that," Ezra interrupts. "Upshot is, we've got a kind of truce now, and when I felt something in the Force, the Admiral agreed to come out here and find you."

Ashoka opens her mouth, but Leia raises an eyebrow and she backs down. "I'm glad you were able to sense us," the Jedi General says, "but I'm sure you can understand our allies aren't happy about having an Imperial fleet over their world. If the Grand Admiral can pull back to the outer planet of this system-"

"Um, sorry." Ezra doesn't sound particularly apologetic as he interrupts yet again. "I don't think you get it. It wasn't you that I sensed - well, I did, but that's not what I meant. There's something else out there. It's big, it's intelligent, it feels really weird... and it's calling out to me through the Force."

'It' may or may not be Ulthwe ^_~. Thrawn has a sizable fleet - at least 25 Star Destroyers with all attendant fighters and ground support - and is willing to ally with the Tau Empire. His logic is that the Republic and the Tau are both fighting against the invaders who still threaten the Chiss Ascendency, while Palpatine is sitting back and laughing.

These two were last seen being dragged into hyperspace by space whales at Ezra's request. There's enough Force-related time travel malarkey in Rebels that I'm happy to just drag them into the present, rather than stranding them on an empty planet somewhere for a couple of decades. Probably their emergence now is the will of the Force.

hS

Guys, I just realized that while Dragon Ball already has a mission (a crossover at that), there has been no mentions of treatment of name and terminology misspelling in this continuum. Any ideas?

“Heads,” Miguel replied. “Wait, can ponies even do coin flipping?”

Ami pointed at her horn with a deadpan expression.

“Oh, right. Unicorn.”

She grabbed the coin in her clear blue magic, then flicked her head up. The coin spun through the air and (with a little extra guidance) landed on the arm of her seat showing a horseshoe emblem.

“It’s tails. Good for me!” Ami trotted up to the pile of gifts, which was looking a bit smaller already. “Eeny, meeny, miney…this one,” she said, pulling a small yellow box from the pile. She magically undid the ribbon and lifted the lid to reveal…

“Oh, this looks interesting. Is this cabbage? It looks sorta like cabbage, but in pickle juice.”

“This is another first; no one’s ever called me a hero for my cooking!”

Miguel smiled at his mother. “Your rice pudding is pretty impressive, Mom. We might have to send Zara the recipe.

“On another note, I guess one of us should go pick a gift from the pile, since you already have yours and it wouldn’t be fair if you got an extra turn.”

That's a really awesome idea! I love it!