Forums » Creative Corner » Read Thread

Hello CYS!

For this issue of the CYS Monthly Gazette, we decided to continue with producing more history and mystery articles, as well as interviewing a newbie and revisit a renowned CYStian!

Thank you to all the staff members who continue to show their support with their amazing work: RKrallonor, Suranna, Yummyfood, Anthraxus, Benholman44, Mystic_Warrior and Will11. And, a very special thank you to tose who agreed to an interview!

The pictures here are clickable! If you want the slideshow of this article, here's a link.

Prince of Darkness by MiltonManThing

Back in December of 2024, I created the first Gazette issue and featured a certain storygame author. It was my first time interviewing anyone, but it was a worthwhile experience. I had no idea at the time, but that same author would attain a status coveted by all CYStians, the Heir to the Empire. On January 22nd of this year, EndMaster made the official announcement and acknowledged his successor, Hetero_Malk.

“This faggot first arrived as an annoying snot nosed kid,” EndMaster reminisced. “I think out of all of the ones who joined around that time, he was definitely one of the few I actually wanted banned. Had I had the means to do it I probably would’ve at that point.” Despite those remarks, EndMaster also acknowledged Malk’s dedication and loyalty to the cause, as well as the dedication to create increasingly better quality prose. “Yep, he’s the best I’m going to get as far as an heir,” EndMaster continued. “Had to come to the conclusion that this younger generation is just going to be more homosexual no matter what. Doesn’t even seem to matter what side of the political spectrum either. It’s all fucking gay shit. At least Malk has tried to make up for this terrible disability by having relationships with biological women and isn’t trying to chop his own dick off.” Witnessing this moment once again made me reflective on the Gazette’s journey of growth. I had to conduct another interview.

As I approached the Capybaliph’s estate , I noticed many new fixtures an additions, most noticeably the feet of the statue of Ozymandias. It was clear that EndMaster back child support payments were being put to quick use. Malk was more than willing to answer some more questions. If you’re curious about the first interview, you can find the first issue in the CYS Newspaper Archive in the News and Updates section.

MMT: Recalling back to when the Gazette first started, you were the first person ever interviewed by this newsletter. On a scale between one and ten, how gay was the idea at the start and how has it progressed since then?

HM: Definitely pretty gay, but one of those like normal gay guys where he watches a sport or something and just looks like a better dressed straight guy. Now it's verging on Elton John territory.

MMT: You were named as the successor to EndMaster's legacy. Congratulations! How do you see succession playing out and what is one of the first things you’ll do?

HM: It was the only possible outcome once the superiority of my breeding became known. The great man let me languish in obscurity only to test my hate and will to power. Now that I am acknowledged, expect a ruthless series of purges and executions as I consolidate my power base.

MMT: When will the sequel to WARCHIMP be released?

HM: I have tried and failed to write a sequel many times. Whenever the sequel comes, it will be because the Muses have ordained the hour. I don't want to force it and create something subpar, because I think WARCHIMP is one of the more special things I've written for the sight.

MMT: Will the Mujahideen ever make it to space?

HM: Brother, Neil Armstrong heard the adhan on the moon and instantly reverted to Islam. The Mujahideen have already made it to space. Mujahideen in space will also probably feature in the WARCHIMP sequel.

MMT: Over the last year to present day, what are some of the most important reflections you've had over that time as a writer?

HM: If you're not reading, you're bullshit. Reading widely and deeply makes it so much easier to get the words out. Tons of the classics are super approachable: literally the most retarded demographic in the world (teenagers) are expected to consistently struggle through some Shakespeare, so you should too. If you're a university student, use that JSTOR access to literally search up whatever strikes your fancy and read articles on it. Lots of reading equals big knowledge base to make smart words with and know how words fit together.

MMT: With the amount of time you've had in CYS, do you have any advice to share on putting the right foot forward? How do you avoid putting your foot in your mouth? What happens when you meet someone who walks with two left feet?

HM: Yeah, don't do literally any of the of the shit I did lol. Don't make unnecessary threads, don't make shit games (if you feel like you need to post a game to say you've posted a game, it's shit), don't be a combative retard: that's not to say don't give it back when people flame you, but don't make a big spectacle of your tears and big feelings. The best way to be a good new member is to write and read, and lurk more than you post.

Hetero_Malk has been on the site for many years an has authored may notable storygames, including Winter, After the Harvest, A Prayer for Destruction, The End of Creation, CYBERMONKEY and of course the aforementioned WARCHIMP. He is the recipient of several trophies, and not just from his large point total. He has been awarded the Featured Story, Community Contributor and EndMaster Trophies, just to name a few. He is also a site administrator and our resident expert on world religions. You may have guessed an interest on Islamic traditions and history. One can only hope that the future reign of this man will lead to a period of prosperity for all CYStians, or at least the ones not dumb enough to lie about using artificial intelligence to write text for them. It would certainly be difficult shoes to fill, but in the event of such a tragic situation where EndMaster no longer walks among us, we could do a lot worse.

A Seance with the Shifter by RKrallonor

RK: How did you find the site?

AV: About half a year ago, I think longer now, summer was rolling in. It was almost the end of the school year and I was bored as hell, the seconds seemed to drag by as I waited for school to be out. Tomorrow was the last day of school.... I couldn't find anything interesting to do and was searching random things that didn't help pass the time. Randomly, by chance, four years after I read the book, I remembered it. I'd barely dabbled in CYOA, and considering it was all the way back in 1st grade I either thought I liked it because I was so little or I didn't remember I enjoyed it at all. I'm not sure. I searched it, expecting it to be another boring find, and click on the sites to see if they have something interesting to read, already expecting the blocked, blocked, blocked, and blocked. Surprisingly quickly, I think it was only a few sites down the list, I click on chooseyourstory.com. First, I notice it isn't blocked. Second, I notice the site is surprisingly cool-looking and doesn't look like it was boringly picked from some dropdown menu. Third, I noticed the cool art up top, and then I saw the name EndMaster under Eternal. Both cool sounding names, I clicked on the story game. I enjoyed it a lot, and it lasted me for the rest of school. Then, way after that, the day I created my account, I remembered this site when bored again. I clicked on it. I noticed that rating and badly wanted to submit an eight. Yes, I made my account entirely because I wanted to give Eternal an eight. After that, I started reading more, jumped into the forums, ya'll know what happened.

RK: What led to your initial interest in choose your own adventure stories?

AV: I think I mentioned this somewhere before. Until CYS I had only read one story game. In First Grade, a little red riding hood book. I am not kidding when I say that's the only thing I remember from First Grade. I was immediately entranced- other books I read one and moved on from another to another, but this one I could read multiple times before exhausting it. Even when done with it, new ideas for branches would swarm my mind and I could occupy myself for hours thinking of all the ways the story could have went. Even after (or before!) that, I could show it to friends who hadn't seen it yet and while usually that's boring I could see which options they picked and discuss the different options and paths with them. We could ask, "where did red riding hood get an axe?" (In one branch of the story she axed her way out of the stomach of the wolf without explanation of where the axe came from). And it revealed a major restraint I had wasn't a restraint at all- until then, I wrote stories unable to incorperate all the different ideas I had of how it could go.

RK: How'd you come up with the nickname "Avo"? And if she wants to answer, ask your sister how she came up with "Bloo"?

AV: I was actually originally going by the name “Bloo.” When my sister needed to use a name that wasn't her own she entered random numbers. At one point she took the name Bloo after I stopped using it. I forget how I came up with the name, but I think I liked the sound of blue but didn't want to be connected to the word, so I changed the spelling. As for the name “Avo,” AvoTech was a character in one of my stories that apparently was almost exactly like me, so I picked up that name.

RK: How did you get better as a writer?

AV: Until CYS, I didn't really. Besides the plot maps school gives you, I had no one else my age who liked to write, my english teachers had better things to be doing, my friends usually didn't want to proofread (my stories were pretty bad) and when they did they had no specific advice. Oh, I could spell and have good grammar and use big words and not start new chapters in the MIDDLE OF THE PAGE (In Third Grade in a writing assignment I was the only one who did that part right) and I knew to make chapters more than a page long but I was sort of dead besides that. My stories were of pretty good length, but they were either entirely like the exposition (the worst conflict would likely be bullying :/) or a wandering confused conflict that made no sense. Transitioning into Sixth Grade, I got better, I was better able to spot what books had that my stories didn't. Schools gave me plot maps, I started to pick up, and then things went up from there. I think CYS was very helpful though, until then I tried applying what I found but CYS gave me something I hadn't had until then. Advice. Feedback. That was really helpful. Or at least on Shifter and my thunderdomes I guess I haven't written too much to get feedback on yet.

RK: What are some great books that got you into reading and writing?

AV: I love too many books to count- I'm reading the giver right now, recently finished The Outsiders, and love books like the Percy Jackson series, Harry Potter (sorry Mizal and Liminal), the unspeakable series (Sorry CYS, and no it isn't the name it's wc), Maze Runner, The Hunger Games, blah blah blah.

RK: Are you more of an outlining writer or a writer who writes by the seat of their pants, coming up with character beats and plot points on the fly? What are your thoughts on the two styles, and do you see yourself ever going from one to another?

AV: I'm definitely more of a pantser than a plotter. I'm a mix like everyone (I think) is, but I lean heavily towards pantser, and a big part of that is making sure my exposition isn't too long or too short. I tend to drag it or rush it trying not to drag it. I don't see myself change that often, but I guess a good example would be from the Prompt Five Contest. I was bored for two hours waiting for my little brother's harp lesson to end, I had just finished my book so it was likely more around thirty minutes, and I came up with a whole idea for more specific events in my story. When I got home and pulled up the doc...I couldn't write. First time experience...

RK: Tell us a bit about your Prompt Contest 5 story. How’s writing going?

[Interviewer’s Note: Contains Spoilers]

AV: Already mentioned that a bit. It's going good, nine thousand words, but as I mentioned I've kind of stopped writing some point around a week ago. I think- may have been a bit longer or shorter. At the moment the story's pretty linear, not much you can do to divert the plot much, but I'm still at the beginning. Later in the story, there's not necessarily and 'evil' arc or 'good' option, because I may do a bad job at this but I want to make it hard for the reader to decide who's the good guy and who's bad. I want to confuse them, and this is pretty ambitious for my writing skill but it'd be cool if I could make them question themselves, and the climax is in a giant fight between the two forces where they have to pick a side. It won't be immediately obvious whether they made the right choice or not, but in the end it'll end with the reader (in the story) being a slave or free and saved the world. I don't know if readers will dislike this, but generally the main character doesn't have any power. The reason she's being chased after is because they can be used to make the people chasing after her more powerful, which in the end decides whether the good or bad wins because it's mostly a tie until the main character is introduced into the conflict. The lack of power also results in the pretty linear story, as literal super powers are after you there's not much you can do but I'm considering adding a third power with different motives to introduce alternate story lines. If I have time, I shouldn't get ahead of myself.

RK: As a member of Generation Alpha, what are your thoughts on how AI is affecting young people’s reading, writing, and thinking skills? Do you think literacy is suffering among your classmates as a result of AI?

AV: The first thing I want to get straight is that our generation isn't cooked. I'm not the only kid who's capable, I'm just the only one interested in writing. I know another really smart kid who excels in math (I'm decent at it, but it hurts my brain). However, whenever they are introduced with a problem they're uncomfortable with they use a calculator. Not AI exactly but still not the greatest. I've actually never seen an instance of AI being used by a student but I don't doubt it's happened. I don't think intelligence/grades are our biggest problem though. Maybe it's just because we're teens and we'll grow out of this, but I think the biggest issues (ignoring AI's influence because I don't know too much about that) are discipline, impulse control (I have that issue too...), listening to the rules (I don't do this often but technically I'm not supposed to be on a site with inappropriate content so...), and there's tons of smaller things like socializing, getting to class late, eating in class, having a phone, yada yada yada. I still need to address AI though. I have little to no experience with AI. I know kids who need to have their hand held by the teachers for a lot of things (no offense meant to them), and I can't tell if they genuinely just need help or if it's something like AI interfering with their learning. I'm sorry I can't say much, I do notice kids who aren't doing too well but I don't know if it's AI that's the problem more something else. I think the teachers are doing great. I can guarantee they wouldn't act the same if there were cameras and/or if their boss could see what they're doing, but it's pretty good. Yes, the ELA teacher is being 'rude' but it works and she's the most successful at getting kids to get quiet, stay quiet, do their work, so on. Just in general keeping them in line. Yes, the math teacher gives candy to kids who perform the best, but in her class kids are racing to finish the work first instead of playing games. (We're not allowed to say the 'C word', aka candy, we call them keys or mechanical pencils). Because you specifically said literacy, I'll talk about that too. Yes, they're not the best in that department, but neither am I. They can use proper spelling and grammar if they actually try. As for story telling, I have no idea. Good luck trying to get someone from my school to write something.

RK: What is the coolest concept you came up with that you were unable to turn into a full-fledged storygame for one reason or another (We all have one!)?

AV: I have multiple. Mainly, ideas about serious real-world topics that I don't have enough knowledge or experience to write about.

RK: You participated in 2 Thunderdome matches so far, one against Blister, and one against me and Cavus. Obviously, I know what the thunderdome experience of the 2nd match was like for me, but tell us a bit about your subjective experiences for both. What are some things you’d do different in your next thunderdome?

AV: First of all, I'm so. sorry. You seem to be looking for a long answer for this one I don't have to give. Mostly, I looked at the prompt, an idea popped into my head, I wrote it down adding details as I went, read it for SPaG errors, asked others to read it, and got bored and ended there. Sorry. >< I know it sounds like I didn't try but I did, my process doesn't seem that intricate. I feel like formulaic stories seem too generic too me.

RK: In your short time here at CYS, you’ve already been incredibly productive, publishing a 28k storygame, Shifter, in your first contest! Tell us a bit about your writing process. How does a writing session go for you, and what are some methods you use to get into the “flow state”?

AV: For the idea, shifters has been one of those ideas bouncing in my head for years. I just adjusted it to add an extra rule, changing it from understanding the material to understanding the molecules, switched some lore around (Flow had been much more disconnected and overpowered originally), and wrote that. To be honest I wanted to write a lot more I didn't get to. I don't use strategies to get into my flow state I just write when I feel like it. I'm often in range of a computer when in that state, but on the rare occasion I'm not you can tell because I can't stop fidgeting with my fingers.

RK: What are your future plans on CYS?

AV: hat's honestly a hard question. Obviously, I'd say oh I'm going to review a lot and read and rate and write stories yada yada yada but I can't actually say that. Who's to say I won't forget the site, or my parents block it, or I decide I don't want to use it for whatever reason, and if I'm really going to think far ahead I doubt I'll be able to be on CYS during college and 4 years is plenty time to forget about it. As far as plans go, I think I want to read and rate every game on the site, then review all of them, and write at least a decent amount. I also would hope I can get along with the community but I think I've already got that down.

The Council of Nicaea by MiltonManThing

Continuing in the tradition of writing historical articles, I was inspired to create one centered around something near to my heart, the development of Christianity. Yeah, go figure that one of the Christian residents of CYS is interested in this topic, but understanding history, regardless of your opinion of religion, is always crucial to living a full life. One of the most important events regarding the growth and spread of Christianity are the Ecumenical Councils, the first of which was held in Nicaea, which itself was in the region of Asia Minor. To provide context, Christianity was often persecuted by Roman authorities. At first, persecution was largely unorganized. All that changed under Emperor Nero after he used the Great Fire of Rome to stir up the public against Christians in 64 AD. Persecution continued for centuries till Constantine the Great enacted the Edict of Milan in 313 AD. Prior to Constantine, Christians had experienced a brutal period under Emperor Diocletian and the splitting of the Roman Empire made nothing easier. With the empire now reunited and Constantine strongly favoring the Church, there was opportunity for better organization throughout the faith. However, not all theological matters were without internal dispute, and one issue, centered around one man, would need resolution. Why should one care about this event? Well, historical events rarely happen in a vacuum. Even events presumed to be unimportant in modern context do create the circumstances by which the present can even happen. This event in particular set a precedent for unity in the Christian Church as well as legitimacy in the eyes of the Roman Empire. Since Christianity, which at this time had not yet experienced the East-West Schism, the Council of Nicaea heavily affected how the faith operated all throughout the known world, far beyond Europe.

[Image of Icon]

This icon is a reproduction of a famous fresco located in the Great Meteoron Monastery of Thessaly, Greece. The figures represented in this late-Medieval period piece of art feature Emperor Constantine in the center, the council of bishops surrounding him, Arius at the bottom and the Hagia Sophia in the background. As the Hagia Sophia would not be built till 360 AD, one can recognize the obvious anachronism, but art has often been guilty of that feature. Ironically, the Hagia Sophia would be consecrated by an Arian bishop, Eudoxius of Antioch. Of course, the church would always be known more for its legacy rather than this obscure fact.

The main text at the bottom of the icon is (from top to bottom and left to right):

Ἡ ΕΝ ΝΙΚΑΙΑ ἉΓΙΑ ΠΡΩΤΗ ΟΙΚΟΥΜΕΝΙΚΗ CΥΝΟΔΟC

The Holy First Ecumenical Synod in Nicaea

Ὁ ΜΕΓΑC ΚΩΝCΤΑΝΤΙΝΟC

Constantine the Great

Ὁ ΑΙΡΕΤΙΚΟC ΑΡΕΙΟC

The Heretic Arius

The text paragraphs at the bottom detail Arius’ condemnation as a heretic, decrying his claim that JESUS CHRIST was a created being rather than eternally GOD and Incarnate.

The reason the council was called was in regards to controversies and riots regrading the nature of JESUS. Arius, a Berber presbytr, had stirred up dissent against the doctrine of Trinitarianism, namely that the Father, the Son JESUS CHRIST and the HOLY SPIRIT are all three distinct persons contained in One Being. Arius contended that the teachings of Archbishop Alexander of Alexandria (what a title) and his assistant Athanasius were the same as the heretical teachings of Modalism. To distinguish Modalism from Trinitarianism, Trinitarianism states that GOD has three Persons within Him that all exist co-eternally. Modalism contends that GOD is instead one Person that has different modes of being and adopts different modes temporarily. In contrast, Arius contended that GOD Himself did not include the Person of JESUS CHRIST. Instead, JESUS was a created being of the Father, just a son, rather than being fully GOD and fully man simultaneously.

Yes, it does get a bit confusing, but please bear with me.

Arguing that JESUS CHRIST is not GOD was perhaps even more of a minority opinion among Christians then than it is now. However, Arianism - the naming convention is just an unfortunate coincidence - would still gain some traction with the local Coptic congregation. Being disturbed over the riots and unrest in Alexandria, Emperor Constantine himself tasked the Church to resolve the issue for sake of peace in the realm. This was not the first time Constantine had intervened in religious affairs as he had organized a small council to deal with a schism with the North African churches. After a prior local council in Alexandria failed, the matter escalated to a full synod requiring the presence of many members of the clergy throughout the Roman Empire. Although the exact number of attending bishops is in dispute, Athanasius’ list contained three hundred and eighteen bishops. With those bishops would have been accompanying deacons and presbytery, potentially totaling to almost two thousand clergymen in attendance. Constantine was determined to settle the dispute once and for all, and also resolve another disagreement that we’ll get to later. The council would be held in the imperial palace in Nicaea starting in May of 325 AD, which was chosen for its proximity to Nicomedia, the capital of the Empire at the time.

Though Constantine had sharp rebuke for both Arius and Alexander failing to come to a peaceful solution on their own, both were given the platform to argue the matter formally. As Arius was just a presbytr, he would sit as a voting member of the council. His position would have the support of bishops Theonas and Secundus. Nevertheless, despite his arguments, Arius’ beliefs would not be shared by the vast majority of the council. His position on JESUS’ lack of divinity would be heavily censured. To cement the Church’s decision, the Nicene Creed was officially adopted by the Church affirming the divine nature of JESUS as the eternal Son of GOD and having equal status with the other Persons of the GODHEAD. In short, Trinitarianism became law for the Church, and Arian and his supporters were exiled. Ironically, it would be an Arian bishop that would later baptize Constantine. The second issue was resolving the date of celebrating Easter. Constantine wanted the event to have nothing to do with Jewish Passover, and so the date range that we celebrate now was chosen, much to the chagrin of many Christians.

Now to address a humorous legend surrounding the council: there is a story of Saint Nicholas, the bishop of Myra. This is the same Nicholas who would inspire the character of Santa Claus. According to the story, Bishop Nicholas was such a staunch supporter of Trinitarianism and opponent of Arianism that he behaved poorly at the formal event. Arian was droning endlessly and boorishly about his position and at a certain point Nicholas lost his patience. He went right up to Arius and slapped him across the face. For this, Nicholas was arrested and his miter and pallium (hat and vestment) were confiscated. He would later be vindicated after CHRIST and the Virgin Mary appeared to him in his cell. There is dispute over whether this legend is a complete fabrication or based on something that actually happened. The story itself has different versions, with different details such as another Arian being hit or Nicholas punching instead of slapping. There would historical precedent for Nicholas to have been present at the council, though his name was absent on Athanasius’ list of bishops but present on others. In any case, it’s a fun story to tell that transgresses the traditional image of Santa Claus, and it’s celebrated in Eastern Orthodoxy.

The Ghost Blimp by Will11

On the grey, cloudy morning of 16 August 1942 a lone swimmer waded out into the warm waves off Ocean Beach near San Francisco. He was astonished when a massive grey shape descended out of the fog straight ahead of him. It was a blimp, a massive airship with a small empty gondola beneath it. As the swimmer watched the airship continued to descend and drift inland. It hit the beach, bounced up and then struck a cliff, knocking loose a depth bomb that hung from the blimp: it fell down into the sand. The swimmer held his breath but the bomb didn’t explode. Lighter, the airship gained height and began to drift over San Francisco, still leaking air. An excited crowd began following it and a quick-thinking photographer snapped a picture. The blimp began to descend again and finally gently landed on Bellevue Avenue in nearby Daly City. A crowd swarmed around the blimp as it continued to deflate. The doors of the gondola were latched open and a microphone attached to an external loudspeaker trailed from one. Of the two-man crew there was not a trace. Policemen and military personnel quickly searched the gondola for clues. All three parachutes and a rubber life raft were found on board through two life jackets and a pair of smoke flares were missing. The radio and engine were both still turned on, the former crackling. The throttle was set to idling, a stationary speed for the blimp. Only four hours of fuel were left in the tanks, though there should have been seven, had the remaining three been dumped? The fate of what had happened to the crew remained a mystery. The airship, L-8, was subsequently and forever known as “The Ghost Blimp”. She had taken off from the U.S. Navy Base on nearby Treasure Island at 6.03am. On board were two pilots: Lieutenant Ernest Cody (27) and Ensign Charles Adams (35) – Cody was experienced but this was Adams’ first flight as an officer. The blimp was on a reconnaissance patrol to look for Japanese submarines, she had made similar flights over one thousand times without mishap. The first stage of her journey took her to the Farallon Islands, treacherous rocky outcrops whose surrounding waters were widely inhabited by Great White Sharks. Flying at 20mph L-8 reached the islands at 7.38am when the pilots radioed their base at Treasure Island to report sighting an oil slick on the water four miles from the islands. That may have been the last contact the Treasure Island airbase had with them (accounts differ, others state contact was lost at 8.50). Two ships were in the area, the cargo ship SS Albert Gallatin and a fishing boat called the Daisy Gray, and they witnessed the arrival of L-8. The airship then began to behave very unusually. First both ships witnessed the airship halt over a patch of ocean and drop two smoke flares into the sea, which they took to mean a possible Japanese submarine sighting. The SS Albert Gallatin raised the alarm, its crew manned her deck gun and she quickly steamed out of the area. The smaller Daisy Gray reacted slower though her crew also hauled in her nets and began slowly steering away while her crew urgently scanned the water and the airship with binoculars. They later reported they were initially close enough to see Cody and Adams moving around inside the gondola and even accurately described their appearance including hair color, before moving away. For the next hour and a half L-8 slowly circled the dropped flares in the water. At one point she descended to within 30 feet of the surface of the ocean before slowly rising again. At 9am she was seen to dump ballast, ascend and turn away east towards San Francisco, following the prevailing wind. The crew of the two ships breathed a sigh of relief over what was apparently a false alarm but they weren’t to know that L-8 was supposed to fly northwest from the Farallon Islands. Combined with the crew’s persistent radio silence it became clear to the airbase on Treasure Island that something was seriously wrong. Soon after 9am two Kingfisher planes were dispatched from Treasure Island to find the missing airship. Instead, the first sighting of L-8 came at 10.49 when the captain of a Pan American plane (and also possibly a second P-38 plane) reported sighting L-8 flying near the Golden Gate Bridge towards Treasure Island. Ten minutes later, at 11 o’clock, one of the Kingfisher planes spotted the blimp rising straight up into cloud at 2,000 feet three miles offshore of Salada Beach. At the location of this sighting was 15 miles southwest of the first and L-8’s top air speed was only 60mph one of these sightings appears to have been an error. Flying above 2,000 feet triggers L-8’s automatic release valve so this might explain why her next definite sighting, by the swimmer off Ocean Beach at 11.15am, six miles northeast of the Salada Beach sighting, was of the blimp barely fifty feet above sea level descending towards the shore. As mentioned, witnesses gathered to stare at the low-flying airship and from these witnesses come some truly strange testimony. Both a teenage boy and a woman riding a horse reported seeing men moving around inside the gondola (two the boy said, three the woman insisted). A man on a nearby golf course even reported seeing a man parachute from the gondola as the airship flew in over the sea, landing in the water. L-8 continued to descend and by the time it crashed and crowds converged on it the airship was empty. What had happened to Cody and Adams and how are we to account for the strange circumstances surrounding their disappearance?

One of the first theories was that they had somehow been captured by a Japanese submarine, though when it was pointed out L-8 was armed with a pair of depth charges and a .30 caliber machine gun it was suggested the two pilots may have actually been spies who had defected to Japan and been picked up at sea by a submarine instead. The US Navy searched for two days then called off the search and declared both pilots dead. Their official theory was that one man had fallen from the gondola into the sea while investigating the oil spill and the second had also fallen while trying to rescue him or leaning out to find him. The sharks would not have left a trace. Other theories rely more on the eyewitness who saw a man parachute from the airship as it approached land. It is claimed that one of the pilots may have murdered the other, either by pushing them out of the airship or killing them on the airship (possibly strangling them with the microphone wire, which would not have left blood) and then dumping their body at sea, due to a love triangle or similar reason. The pilot may then have steered the airship back to land and abandoned it, either dying in an unsuccessful landing or escaping to live a life of anonymity. Others claim alien abduction. After all this time what happened to Ernest Cody and Charles Adams will never be known except that one or both of them met a terrible fate. For decades their families were haunted by the uncertainty, by the lack of knowing what happened to two young men who valiantly, and mysteriously, seemed to have lost their lives while serving their country. What do you think happened? How do we explain the enduring mysteries that surround The Ghost Blimp?

Congratulations YummyFood!

Congratulations to YummyFood for being the victor of our Second CYS Gazette Writing Competition!

YummyFood is the author of a few storygames here on CYS, most notably The Siberian. We can’t wait to see what he writes next! Check out his upcoming storygame for EndMaster’s Prompt Contest 5, which will feature the concept of joining a cult. Well done to you sir!

Anthraxus' Amblings

An Englishman, a Scotsman, an Irishman, a Welshman, a Latvian, a Turk, a German, an Indian, several Americans (including a southerner, a New Englander, a Californian, an Idahoan, an New Mexican, and a Kentuckian), an Argentinean, a Dane, an Australian, a Slovakian, an Egyptian, a Japanese, a Moroccan, a Frenchman, a New Zealander, a Spaniard, a Russian, a Guatemalan, a Colombian, a Pakistani, a Malaysian, a Croatian, a Uzbek, a Cypriot, a Pole, a Lithuanian, a Chinese, a Sri Lankan, a Lebanese, a Cayman Islander, a Ugandan, a Vietnamese, a Korean, a Uruguayan, a Czech, an Icelander, a Mexican, a Finn, a Honduran, a Panamanian, an Andorran, an Israeli, a Venezuelan, a Fijian, a Peruvian, an Estonian, a Brazilian, a Portuguese, a Liechtensteiner, a Mongolian, a Hungarian, a Canadian and a Québécois, a Moldovan, a Haitian, a Norfolk Islander, a Macedonian, a Bolivian, a Cook Islander, a Tajikistani, a Samoan, an Armenian, an Aruban, an Albanian, a Palestinian, an Isreali, an Iranian, a Greenlander, a Micronesian, a Virgin Islander, a Georgian, a Bahaman, a Belarusian, a Cuban, a Tongan, a Cambodian, a Qatari, an Azerbaijani, a Romanian, a Chilean, a Kyrgyzstani, a Jamaican, a Filipino, a Ukrainian, a Dutchman, an Ecuadorian, a Costa Rican, a Swede, a Bulgarian, a Serb, a Swiss, a Greek, a Belgian, a Singaporean, an Italian, a Norwegian and forty-seven Africans walk up to a nightclub.

The doorman scrutinizes the group one by one and stops their entrance saying, "Sorry, you can't come in here without a Thai. "