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Decided a motivational thread would be a good way to keep myself inspired to write. If I say I'm working on things, that gives some healthy pressure to keep me motivated to finish it. I tend to write in bursts depending on my schedule, so some weeks I'll do a bunch, while other times progress will be slower.

I have a habit of randomly writing couple paragraph stories for no reason, normally shared with @Seto in our entertaining chats, so I may occasionally post short stories here too. They're commonly satire and usually based on whatever's on my mind at the time.

Active Projects:

-School of the Star Scavengers: Redux: Highest priority right now. I'm taking apart the original game piece-by-piece and rebuilding it. Decided a rework would be better than patching up a flawed core. From there I'm adding a bunch of new content, cutting some bits, improving pacing, making it non-linear, redesigning all of the endings (plus adding more), and making the Datapad a scripted feature instead of a tacked on story element. I'm taking all of the feedback from comments and PMs for the original, and remaking it as a better storygame.

-The Guardian of Nautori: A work-in-progress concept meant to combine turn-based movement on a map, light village management features, a combat system and narrative options. The player is a silent protagonist, and they "speak" through actions instead of words. I've been using this project as a way to learn scripting and to combine some different ideas.

SotSS: Redux progress:

-Farewell prologue. You didn't really do much. Characters may be introduced elsewhere.
+Added a score system, based on lessons done and lore gathered. You get credit for finding it; reading is optional.
+24 new pages done
+20 old pages reworked and added

?? Collaboration Project Progress:

+New project.

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Panther's Pointless Proverbs:

There was once a baby who was born into a village. The wise village chief took one look at the baby, raised it into the air, and proclaimed "the chosen one has been born!"

One week later, the Evil Dark Lord arrived and killed everyone but the lone baby, including its' parents. Everything was burned down for good measure. He had a reputation to keep.

Orphaned and alone, a wise chief from a neighboring village found the baby amidst the flames, lifted it into the air, and proclaimed "this is definitely not the chosen one, just a perfectly normal baby I found laying around!"

He then took the baby into hiding and raised it as a normal child, knowing it was the chosen one, and destined to be the Hero of Justice.

Over the years, the child developed an interest in baking. "I want to be a baker!" the child said. Everybody ignored the child, knowing they were destined to be a hero instead.

Many years later, child now grown, the Evil Dark Lord proclaimed to the realm: "My birthday is in 2 days. Bake me a cake and I'll let you all live. Don't bake me a cake and I will probably kill somebody out of annoyance."

With the knowledge of baking in hand, the now-grown chosen one proclaimed "I will bake a cake and save the realm, as the village's greatest baker!"

Everybody gasped. The wise chief responded: "Don't do that! You are the chosen one. You must take sword in hand, become the Hero of Justice, and slay the Evil Dark Lord. Such is your destiny!"

Knowing it was foolish to ignore the words of the wise chief, the chosen one set aside their baking pan, grabbed the Sword of Legends, and marched towards the Black Fortress Lair of the Evil Dark Lord. 

2 days later, the Evil Dark Lord returned alone, with unspeakable malice in his eyes. Or maybe boredom. One or the other.

"Well...that was...interesting. You could have at least taught this one some swordplay or something. We had a nice talk on fondant icing technique at least. I like red icing. And then splat, the hero is dead. Muahaha and all that. I put the Sword of Legends back in the usual spot. Better luck next time. I'll see you in about 20 years."

The lesson learned: 

Know thy enemy to beat thy enemy. If they want a cake, bake them a cake. And if you do a good job, maybe they'll let you eat it too. Also, just let the kid be a baker. Everybody likes a good baker.

Going to have a full weekend, so wont be doing much writing until next week again. Started an interesting collaboration project the other day, which I'll be doing on the side as a way to work on some extra ideas. It'll hopefully entertain a few people when it's published (someday). Priority is still SotSS: Redux for now.

SotSS: Redux progress:

+7 new pages done
+3 old pages reworked and added
+Added variables to Chapter 1 to make it more dynamic  

?? Collaboration Project progress:

+13 pages done
+5 of...something

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Panther's Pointless Proverbs:

Once there was a man who thought he was brilliant, and spent his days echoing it since he was resilient.

"Good morning!" the man yelled out each morning. "I'm still brilliant!" he would always add without warning.

Nobody in the village cared if he was brilliant or not. Many thought he ought rot or simply not yell within earshot.

Nobody except the town crier, podium now stolen. He spent his days crying, instead of announcing beef bouillon.

The man saw the crier crying, and cried over to the crier, to see why the crier was crying.

"Oh town crier, why are you crying? I really hope you are not dying!"

Trying to clear the tears and his sneer, he cried back over with a voice much more queer.

"You took my podium and my good life, now I can only cry to my poor shrewd wife!"

"You must be mistaken, because I would have saw. You don't need this podium, otherwise I would withdraw."

"Nobody can hear me unless I stand up so high. But you can't see me, because your ego is in the sky."

"Oh dear, have I made a mistake? If this is true, maybe I should take a break?"

"Please do, so I can share all the news. I will tell what I know, so none are confused!"

The brilliant man stepped down that day, and finally let the town crier have his say.

The lesson learned: 

Sometimes we have to step back and see, to notice someone's urgent plea. Brilliant or not, it's easy to get disconnect. Especially IronPanther, who's commonly incorrect. His poems are bad and rhymes are foolish, but when he has too much fun, he's rather mulish. Rambling aside, as much as I love it. I should get some sleep, because that's what I covet.

But before I do, let me talk about mechs. The big kind, with all the special effects. Mine is painted dark green, oh so shiny. The good kind of paint, that's not too briny. I can't afford any ammo, because paint is not cheap. But at least it has a horn, that makes a loud beep.

SotSS: Redux progress:

+31 new pages added
+Thanks to Seto for beta testing Chapter 1.

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Panther's Pointless Proverbs:

There was once a man who bought a GPS unit, since he constantly got lost.

Every day, he would take the same way to work, guided by his faithful and consistent GPS.

"Turn right at the next intersection."

It was the same intersection the man always turned right at. Every day. He knew the turn better than the GPS at this point.

"Like heck I'll listen to you!" the man yelled at his GPS unit one day. "You don't control me. I can go wherever I want."

So he turned left instead.

Not familiar with the left route, and now ignoring his GPS, he drove over a pothole and got a flat tire.

Angry, the man got out of the car and kicked the now flat tire. This resulted in the hub cap popping off and rolling down the street.

As the hub cap rolled, it made a particular scrapping sound that annoyed a group of birds in the area.

The birds flew off towards a nearby forest area, where many of them landed on a tree. Damaged by a recent windstorm, the tree fell over due to the weight of the birds.

The tree slammed against a large rock, at just the exact frequency to send down a vibration that disrupted an abandoned missile facility deep underground.

There was one missile left, unintentionally as it was thought to be a dud, that now was set to fire due to the disruption of an aged and delicate sequence lock.

The missile launched up to the surface, but stopped short at the top of the launch point since the hatch was still closed, and exploded.

This explosion caused a massive tremor that went deep underground, during the once-a-century 28 second void worm migration period through the Earth's core. 

Irritated by the slight extra noise in the Earth's core, the normally peaceful void worms tore through the surface of the Earth and started eating the planet.

The planet's surface being torn apart, in combination with the reverse gravitational pull caused only by void worms when they are in a really bad mood, caused the Earth to fly into the sun and blow up.

The End.

The lesson learned:

When your GPS unit says to turn right, turn right. Please? Otherwise everybody's probably going to die, as the Earth crashes into the sun during the migration season of time traveling void worms. Also, nobody really knows what a void worm is, but they sound pretty bad. If it sounds bad, it's probably bad. Better not take your chances with them.

Loaded plasma ammo. Destroyed the Battlehammer and saved the day.

I wonder if anyone remembers the enemy ship's weakness. I skipped plenty of the history, but focused on the technical details. Glad that it worth the read. I love the realism of the technical details. Beside, technical is better rather than politics, right?

Well done, Panther. You have motivated me even more for making a Tiger tank story.

SotSS: Redux progress:

+84 new pages added (roughly)
+1 ending finished
+23 old pages reworked and added
+Thanks to Seto and Shadowulf for testing some extra things

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Panther's Pointless Proverbs:

Once upon a job performance review, there was a worker named Mr. Carter. All he did was barter for tartar, which required him to be smarter.

"Tartar barters are down this year" his boss said with a cheer. "That means I can fire you, and spend the money on a new aircrew."

Mr. Cartar started to frown, as his heart began to drown. "Oh please don't do that, I will work harder. I'll even buy you more wine for your larder."

"My larder is full, with the tears you bring today. I'll hoard them forever, or at least until mid-May."

Sobbing and sad, his boss seemed very bad. Then his boss spoke up and said: "don't be mad!"

"I'm just kidding, you're not really fired. I'm giving you a raise, because you're someone I've always admired."

Mr. Carter perked up, but was still annoyed. His boss had made him feel like a fool, and now he was paranoid.

"That's too bad, I already applied. My new job is well supplied, and worldwide."

He returned the joke, with a joke of his own. Unfortunately by doing this, his job was now a tombstone.

"Oh is that so, then I guess you're gone. Pack up your things, including that stupid baton."

"I was just kidding too, please forgive me if my joke passed through."

"Too late, I don't find it funny. I'm the boss, and you're nothing more than a fired bunny."

The lesson learned: 

Always laugh at the joke of the boss, even if it's pretty weak sauce. Don't cry, be happy, even if you're feeling kind of crappy. Be careful what you say, because they're in control of your pay. However if you're self-employed, even if you're annoyed, you can laugh because your job wont be so easily destroyed.

Also I should add, my mech has a new big gun, and it's pretty rad. I got a new line of credit, that's very much stolen. But as an outlaw, it doesn't matter as long as my wallet is swollen. To be fair I gave some to charity too, so they could buy stew and shampoo. I removed my mech's beep horn because it was bland, and added a stereo that plays music from my favorite band.

I've been pretty focused on writing. I've lost count of how many old pages I've reworked. Most are new, but I wont be tracking old pages anymore in favor of simply noting total pages added since the last posted update. The Redux project has 3x more content than the original at this point.

SotSS: Redux progress:

+166 pages added (total up to 381)
+2 endings finished

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Bassy Music Recommendations for Aspiring Mech Pilots:

Styx and Stones (4-1) by Danny Baranowsky

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oV_6lwy8xxQ

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Panther's Pointless Proverbs:

There was once one who wrote poetry so bad
His words pierced their ears
The townspeople cried out, because it made them mad
It made them start drinking more beers

This made the barkeeper so happy
Bad poetry was his new friend
So he invited the man to his pad
"Your poetry is the worst, I commend"

Pals for life, the poet and the barkeeper
Both have moved on, but visit once a year
Even though the man later became the Star Reaper
The barkeeper still holds the bad poems so dear

Thus was born another poetic rival
For Iron Panther, the outlaw mech pilot and worst poet
The battles were countless and people feared their arrival
They told them, "Just go home and stow it"

Combined their poetry tore down cities
People were helpless in face of such terror
They were both voted worst poet by multiple committees
If you hear bad poetry, running wouldn't be an error

The lesson learned: 

Writing bad poetry can be very amusing
It's easy to write, but can be hard to understand
On people's minds it's probably bruising
But it'll keep getting written even if there's no demand

Also my mech is now painted red
Green was nice, but I wanted a change of pace
I also added a new king size bed
The cockpit is sadly running out of space