Musical...perfection.

Shepard lives! October is sooooo far away..

the view from my desk...

This is what I will be doing from now till GenCon.. well, besides eating, sleeping, going to work, doing a little bit of gaming, and playing my 360.. besides those things.. this is what I will be doing.  Painting small metal men and women in an effort to prepare them for war!

I still have a pretty large list to accomplish before I am "done" for GenCon.  Like previous years.. I set goals for myself.. and this year.. the goal is pretty high.  I have quite a large number of models to get completed... Lets list them off, shall we?  I have a number of them that are very near completion and mainly just need basing to be done.   The majority of them however.. are only in the "primed" stage... with no paint on them at all.  I have been painting quite a bit this past week...and headway is being made.. albeit slowly...anyways.. here's the list, broken down by army/faction:

Circle Orboros

eKaya the Moonhunter (needs basing)

Laris (needs basing)

Shadowhorn Satyr (needs purchased, heh)

Megalith (same, needs $$)

Tharn Ravager Shaman (needs basing)

Tharn Ravager Whitemane (needs basing)

Woldwatcher in Stone Form version (mostly painted, needs basing)

StoneWard and Woldstalkers (6 models total) (mostly painted, need bases)

Dahlia & Skarrath (need painted, only primed)

Feralgeists (2 models) (need basing)

Evil Female Pirate Army of Doom

(all need basing, most need everything unless noted)

Fiona the Black (painted)

First Mate Hawk 

Eyriss Mage Hunter of Ios

Sea Dogs (10 models)

Sea Dog Riflemen (3 models)

Mistress Walls

Aiyanna and Holt (started painting)

Alexia & Risen (20 models) (started Alexia)

(the Risen will be painted "ghostly" and shouldn't be too bad, need to $$ some still)

Thrall Warriors (2 models)

Nurse Killingsworth

Infernal Bokur

Lil' Lady Rockbottom

Anastasia di Bray

Dirty Meg

Gertrude Di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist

Nomad Heavy warjack

Buccaneer Light warjack

Talon Light warjack

Mariner Heavy warjack (needs $$)

Vanguard Light warjack (needs $$)

So.. that's alotta models...  Circle is almost done thankfully, not counting the two warbeasts I don't own yet, though I should hopefully be able to snag them later in June.  Two warbeasts can easily be painted over the course of one weeked.  The pirates still need a lot of work... it complicates things that they are all characters... so they are mostly painted one at a time.  The army shall be pretty grand when its finished though... and the wood/plank bases on all of those models are pretty easy to paint. One of the coolest parts of the army.. once its painted.. its done.  This army will be static.. I wanted to make it just to play the theme.. and the one army list (with a couple options) is all it wil contain.  My Khador army still needs quite a bit of painting as well, but they are not on this years painting goal or GenCon.  Hopefully, the majority of my stuff will be complete because September I'll be buying the Retribution.. and will have yet another army to paint.  If I had a better digital camera.. I'd post pictures.. but my phone's camera just doesn't take good pictures of miniatures.

So what does one do whilst painting so many models?.. well... if you're me.. you listen to podcasts.  I listen to numerous podcasts.  The D6 Generation (table top gaming in all its forms), WotC's DnD Podcast (self explanatory), Listen Up (video game debate),  A Life Well Wasted (video game discussion), NPR's Car Talk (hilarious), Mobcast (videogame discussion), 60 Second Science (self explanatory), Iron Agenda (Iron Kingdoms), Guts and Gears (new Iron Kingdoms podcast).  Look them up in your local iTunes store.. and enjoy!  I also listen to audio books, though at the moment.. I don't have anything new to listen to.  Star Wars expanded universe novels are actually pretty fun to listen to in audio form if you can find them unabridged.  But painting and podcasting is one of my favorite past times.. so even though it'll be a lot of work.. I will enjoy it.  Hopefully some of you will be able to check out my fully painted pirates at GenCon this year.  :)

The real kicker... I also have to finish doing some work on my campaign world and write my one-shot adventure for GenCon...  

cool

I am not a real big fan of G4... but I am a big fan of 1up.com.. and Listen Up is probably my favorite podcast of all time.  This should be pretty cool.

1UP.COM AND G4TV.COM ANNOUNCE "LISTEN UP!" LIVE FROM THE 
G4 STAGE AT THE ELECTRONIC ENTERTAINMENT EXPO 
WHY AM I SHOUTING? 
Garnett Lee's Chocolate Gets in Billy Berghammer's Peanut Butter

Los Angeles, CA -- In the grand tradition of The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones and Circus of the Stars comes the biggest cross-promotional multimedia event of the summer! All E3 attendees are invited to attend a special live taping of 1UP.com's industry-leading podcast "Listen Up!" from the G4 booth (South Hall #411) on Thursday, June 4th from 3:00-5:00 PM. Audio of the show will be released first through the usual 1UP.com, iTunes, and Zune Marketplace outlets, and the video recording will be available in HD exclusively on G4tv.com starting at 12:00PM on Friday, June 6th.

Come celebrate the last day of the show with your Listen Up! host Garnett Lee, his foils John Davison and David Ellis, G4tv.com's Director of Gaming Editorial Billy Berghammer, X-Play host Adam Sessler, International Playboy and 1UP.com alum Mark MacDonald, and other special guests that will be announced via an elaborate series of red herring clues and embedded countdown clocks. 1UP and G4tv.com editors will be on hand at the G4 booth in the South Hall to receive your verbal abuse and unsanctioned gifts; in the unlikely event you find yourself unimpressed by their inner beauty, the G4 Booth Babes will have to suffice.

Who "won" E3? Why wasn't my favorite game announced? Will it sell? These are the questions that hopefully will go unanswered as the crew wraps up the big show in the only way they know how: loudly. Stay tuned for further details by following our Twitter feeds (you knew that was coming):

Garnett Lee (@garnettlee) 
Billy Berghammer (@louiethecat) 
David Ellis (@davidellis) 
John Davison (@jwhdavison) 
G4tv.com's The Feed (@TheFeed) 
X-Play (@xplay) 
G4TV (@g4tv)

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EARTHYNN

My new 4e world has a name.  Earthynn.  (hopefully it doesn't infringe on any copyrights...)  I will eventually put up a wikispace page to contain all my information and background fluff.  I am still refining the core cosmology and theology for the world.. but here is what I have so far...again, this is based on the core 4e cosmology and planar structure.. but the background and history and gods... are different.  This may read a bit "stream of consciousness".. my timeline is not solid yet...and I still have a lot of ideas bouncing around.  Next month our gaming group will be united and I plan on telling this story to the masses.. after we discuss it a bit I will finalize the ideas and put them online somewhere.

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Earthynn

Originally there was the Astral Sea “above” and the Elemental Chaos “below”.  The "Gods" dwell in the Astral Sea, and the Primordials dwell in the Elemental Chaos. The Primordials then created the normal world (which later became known as Earthynn.)  It was a very diverse world, with dizzying highs of color and vibrancy and deep lows of darkness and emptiness.  The land grew and evolved as time passed.  It was an ever churning, ever evolving landscape of elements...

The Gods [One thing to understand is that the Gods are “energies.”  Energies that take form through their surroundings or beliefs... Energies that become more than energy through some form or another.  They are some sort of abstract concept given form...]  looked down on it from the Astral Sea, and decided to inhabit this world with their own creations and ideas.  They decided to make it their own.  The goddess of the stars created a race first (her name was Eladryssa)... Whilst the god of time (Rostuun) followed with his own creations, as did Tiamat, the god of open spaces and emptiness. At this point these are the oldest and most powerful of the gods... other gods exist, but are still in their "infancy", they are just pure energy.. energy without form.  Eladryssa created a race capable of anything... she put great amounts of her own essence into “her people”,  more so than any of the other gods. [this race has no name as of yet, for simplicities sake, we will call them "super elves", it'll make sense later]  Rostuun modeled his creations after the elements of the world that would last the trials of time... the stones and mountains.  He created Giants and Dwarves.  Tiamat created Dragons.  Dragons of all kinds, small, large, and of all colors and powers. The dragons that inhabited the world were of very conceivable variety.  Tiamat also created the Dragonborn, another race that held much much promise.  Eladryssa’s creations were extremely successful.  They prospered and grew, expanded across the world of Earthynn like no other race.  The Dwarves and Giants stayed in their homes, some building up while others built down.  There were other gods at work as well.   These gods were not yet fully formed.. More in a primaeval state of “energy”.. These “young” gods [four of them to be precise, later being known as the Patheon of Four] populated the world with lots of varied and different races.. Some complex, some simple... but they dwelt in the shadows cast by the creations/races of the "older" gods... Other creatures of power (demons and devils and such) also created things to dwell in the world, or sent their energies into it to spawn life.  [and to be clear... I am not being clear.  :)  Whether or not the gods molded and created a race of people and placed them on the world as is, OR they just let a bit of their energy  bleed down into the world and watched it evolve into something through interaction with the world.. is not known by the denizens of Earthynn. Nor is it important to the campaign world]

During this time of these initial races rise... the primordials grew more unhappy that their world was being taken over by the Gods of the Astral Sea.  The gods were applying a permanence to the world that the primordials despised.  A war started.  The Primordials lost.  They left.. some slept, some died, some hid.. but they vanish from history at this point...

Those other powerful entities (of abyssal and astral power) had created Devas and Tieflings [the Tieflings were intended to be an abyssal army, meant to rule Earthynn for the Abyssal powers , demons and devil lords] and during the great war between the gods and primordials....these forces were swept up in the tides of destruction sweeping the outer realms.. and broke off their connection to Earthynn.  The war forced them to retreat from Earthynn for a great time in order to conserve their own power and not becaome casualties of the war. Their races, the Tieflings and Devas, suffered for it, and very few remained to survive the aftermath and these two races were abandoned.. and instead of fulfilling their destinies... were left to their own devices and diffused in among the other races.  To this very day, the demons and devils resent the gods and primordials for this.

The races continue to evolve and expand.. the Giants revolted against their god believing they were powerful enough on their own.. waging war all over.   The "super elves" made great cities, all over in oceans, forests, snows, plains - they prospered everywhere... the other races eeked out a living and communities as they could.  The Dragonborn were migratory and nomadic, but their society flourished and began to rival even the "super elves."  Everything seemed fine... time passed...  but things were not well... the world began to exhibit strange happenings... bright areas would dim, and then return to brightness... areas of darkness would come and go...  then as time drew on... it became apparent that the world, without the primordials influence, could not hold itself together... Eladryssa seemed to not notice, her attention so focused on her people.. her life force so strongly connected to the world... Rostuun saw it coming but he sees the timeline and cannot interfere.. but he prepared his people to weather such storms.  The world SPLIT.. chaos/calamity/catastrophe/cataclysm!! [big word that begins with "c"] The "super elves" suffer... they spilt along with the world... their essence and Eladryss's essence broke apart.. and the race divided and was pulled into the three realms [the same three worlds in core 4e]... Feywild, Shadowfell, and some remained on Earthynn....[Wood Elves=Eladurin, High Elves=Eladrin, Drow=Eladrow] the elves on Earthynn (Eladurin) were a fragment of their former selves.. and they fled to the forests.. their cities falling apart without the magic that sustained them..  Their goddess..was struck down and barely held onto life... she herself was broken when her people were.  While the elves' society crumbled, the other races rose to take their place in the world.. the head of the pack?  Humans.  and they made allies with many others.. spreading across the world live a wildfire.  The dwarves withstood the storm in their stone and metal fortresses.. and when the dust cleared continued on as normal..  the Dragons suffered the far worst.. their forms were more ephemeral.. more abstract.. and many just vanished or perished.. some.. the Dragonborn.. suffered what became known as "the sundering curse" and their forms shriveled and became primitive.. they became Kobolds. [an adaptation of my friend Josh's idea for Dragonborn backstory]  Few Dragonborn remain... and wander lost in the world... maybe one day trying to find a way to restore their race to glory.

The Eladrow were put into a dark and hostile world (The Shadowfell) where horrible things were taking shape in the shadows... so they hid.  they became masters of stealth and shaodows, and hid in holes and caverns to keep safe.  Their existence in the darkness had profound influence on them.

The Eladrin were thrust into a magnificently beautiful world... and reveled in the pure magic and wonderment of their home.  They mingled with some of the faerie creatures who came into being in Feywild itself.  They made a strong alliance with the Gnomes.  They prospered.

Eladryssa.. slept for a time to regain her strength...her form fragmented and much of it lost. Later, she attempted to reunite herself and her people... she called on the help of all the Astral Sea to help reunify the three worlds... [details still slim at this stage of the timeline]  The worlds began to reform.. but when they crossed... the three elves came into the world together but remained seperate and many of the denizens of the Feywld and Shadowfell came pouring into Earthyyn... and Eladryssa went insane... the three aspects of herself couldn't rectify with each other anymore and her form is now a constant state of flux.  Now the worlds remain in a slightly overlapped state... sometimes the worlds bleed through... but they failed to re-unite and remain three realms, Earthynn and its two mirror realms.

This event taught the gods a valuable lesson... their influence need to be more "hands off", tying oneself so closely to this world is vastly dangerous for themselves, and the world.

Random tidbits that happen in time: Giants eventually enslaved the dwarves..  but through an alliance with the Goliaths the Dwarves freed themselves... but this gave rise to the dwarven religious schism.. the Goliaths and Shifters worship the Earth Mother.. and the Dwarves learned of her from the Goliaths... now both religions are accepted by Dwarves.  The Earth Mother 9sometimes called Earthynne) is an anethema.. a god not born from the Astral Sea...

The Drow remained hidden, choosing not to ally themselves with their counterparts... a great war waged between the Dwarves and the Drow for control of the underground.  It was a stalemate. The Dwarves opted to go up, further into the mountains, while the Drow went down, further underground [yes, the Underdark is born]  

Eladryssa is fragmented and insane still... her former people view her in different aspects... the Eladrow see here as a woman with spider silk for hair.. the Eladurin [Player's Handbook Elves] see her a as nature goddess, and the Eladrin see her as a goddess of stars and magic.  But it is the same goddess.

With the other races coming into their own... the four "young gods" that were createing multiples of races, became known as the Patheon of Four.  They took shape, now that they were followed by so many.  Their forms are tied to the four cardinal points of the alignment compass:  Chaos, Law, Good and Evil. (no names for these gods just yet)  However their forms are not solidified yet... and their appearance varies based on their followers impressions of them.  Example:  The Orcs, Humans, Halflings.. all believe in the God of Chaos... but they depict this god differently.. the Orcs might see this god as a god of destruction(chaos) and believe the god to be a great orchish warrior.  Humans see the same god as a god of deception(chaos) and see a shadowy cloaked human.  The halflings see a god of travel(chaos) and see a halfling wanderer... the important aspect to this.. they are all worshipping the same god.  The name of the god (and the god's gender) will be the only common ground (god's name is the same.. but spoken differently by language).   This allows me four gods, with lots of variety.  Eight total gods for the world of Earthynn. (not counting demon lords and such, who are bound to be worshipped by lesser creatures as gods)

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As I mentioned... this stuff is still in a maleable state.  Opinions are welcome...  things that need more extrapolation? (well, most of it does) Anything just outright not make sense?  Hate any of the ideas?  Love any of the ideas?

Stem Cell Research!

Found out about this from @neilhimself on Twitter.

Go to this website and put in your support for Stem Cell Research.  President Obama lifted the bans on this research that GW Bush had placed, and asked the National Health Institute to draft new guidlines.   Those guidlines are now up for public support/opinion.  Conservative groups have organized huge mass emails campaigns against this in attempts to stymie the stem cell research reforms. Putting your comments in WILL HELP.

There is a deadline, so do it now.

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dd5vs2xt_0hkwp6xd8

This website explains it. and then directs you to here:

http://nihoerextra.nih.gov/stem_cells/add.htm

All you need to say is: "I support embryonic stem cell research and am glad that some of the restrictions are being loosened."

But you are welcome to say more. 

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Thanks. This blog will now resume its geekery...

Gaming tidbits...

Gaming wise... not a whole lot has been going on lately.  

GenCon event registration has come and gone for another year.   This year it went buttery smooth.. they upgrades they made to their servers was a vast improvement over previous years.  And now the anticipation for August can begin full swing.   This year we're playing in a team Warmachine tournament, True Dungeon, BSG Board Game,  Infinity Tourney (some of us), and I am running our first game in the new 4e world I am writing.  We are also going to see Plan Nine From Outer Space with Riff Trax. (Riff Trax = Mystery Science Theater guys).  August!  Why must ye be so far away!

In other news.. the cover artwork for the Retribution of Scryah book (new Warmachine faction) was revealed today.  Giveing our first ever look at the elves from the Iron Kingdoms...

I can't wait to blow some cash on these guys at GenCon.  :)

ME2