My Actifit Report Card: August 30 2022

Took a break from writing today because I realized that I’ve run out of inspiration and I’ve started just writing to hit word-counts.

This gave me some time to just relax and reflect.

One thing that I want to do before Oasis Roads’ release, and which has been made possible by the more relaxed timeframe from having this job and some upcoming freelancing, is add some fiction to introduce people to the world of Oasis Roads. There’s already a short blurb written for the Ashcan Edition, but it’s more of a mood-setter than an exposition piece.

I want to go over the internal conflicts of Newland, the continent the game takes place on. You have the foreign Vodri (at least in the northern and western parts of the continent, where they make up a plurality or majority of citizens), and the indigenous Dasvoners, Tilavans, and Spironers.

The Spironers are more closely integrated into Vodri culture on the mainland, though they also have an island that had its own distinct government pre-war. This island, simply called Spiron (which is also the “proper” name for the continent in Sprioner and Tilavan circles), is not a major focus of Oasis Roads because the strait is harsh and travel to and from the mainland is simply too dangerous, expensive, or time-consuming (depending on the individual) to facilitate large-scale trade.

Spironers on the mainland typically integrated into Vodri culture. Relationships between the two groups were actually pretty good most of the time (the Vodri Empire always sought to extend soft power, rather than military dominance, and the mainland Spironers traded and exchanged culture with the Vodri until the foreign enclaves became the basis for nation-states).

Dasvoners have a terrible reputation among their neighbors, which is not surprising given their (para)militarist, xenophobic, religiously anarchist bents. Where the Spironers found nothing wrong in adopting Vodri practices over time, the Dasvon is home to a religious sect with a belief in a divine and personified Law (a purely metaphysical entity). They consider most exercise of authority to be usurping the Law, and keep the peace through exiling troublemakers and social enforcement of very strict ethical and moral codes.

The Dasvoners fought with Spironers and Tilavans even prior to colonization, and the fragile peace they had with their northern Spironer neighbors was shattered when the Vodri influences began moving them into alignment with the Vodri Empire, which attempted a few half-hearted invasions of the region following an assassination attempt on one of the Vodri emperors.

Tilavans and the Dasvon’s inhabitants still had a tenuous peace by the time the war came.

The Tilavans are a distinct ethnic and religious group, with their own culture and traditions. Most religious Tilvans view the world as guided by metaphysical patrons, though actual religious practices vary from place to place based on the interpretations of this belief. Although they have a reputation for being superstitious, one of the things that set Tilava apart from other parts of Newland was its comparatively advanced industrial development. Since Newland had relatively rich natural resource deposits, most of which were in the Tilavan heartlands or the Dasvon mountain regions, the Tilavans were able to successfully repel any foreign attempts to subjugate them.

Although this fierce independence led to initial conflict with the Newlanders, after Federal Newland broke from the Vodri Empire there were few further quarrels between Tilava and their northern neighbors.

I think this is a good setup for some roleplaying opportunities, and it’s something I want to bring up in the fiction.

Got some activity today, though it’s been way too hot to go out for good walks. Had to take my car into the shop to check out some issues, but they were (thankfully) easily fixed.

I have a mild headache, but nothing like the past few days. I think I’m mostly hydrated and it’s just my odd sleep schedule catching up with me, so I’m going to go to bed and get some rest.

Got hit up for potentially two freelance gigs today. It wouldn’t be a massive amount of work, but I think both projects look interesting and I would love to do them.

God is good, life is good.

This report was published via Actifit app (Android | iOS). Check out the original version here on actifit.io

Walking