[2020-02] Some novel character portraits

[capi3101]

And the one who needed to hide identity were the cub's foster mother who could not have been accepted by her own hrai because she persisted in following a warrior of another hrai. With the warrior's death in battle, she had no hrai to live in because this warrior's own hrai rejected and even hated her, but wandered to this ranch planet with her child and adopted the cub.

Just realized I didn't have a word for "orphan" in the lexicon. k'hrai ("without family") would work, though I wonder if the situation would be k'nar ("without clan") instead. It strikes me that in the case where a Kilrathi youth loses both their parents, responsibility for their upbringing would fall to some level of kinsman. Unless of course you bring cat (with a lowercase "c") psychology into it - a male cat will instinctively kill the offspring of a female cat to bring her to estrus sooner, particularly if the male has unseated a previously dominant male. So that part of clan-relationship may or may not hold, I don't know. It seems (to me anyway) more likely that the lower Kilrathi castes would act more on base instincts, so orphans are more likely to crop up among the kilra'hra. (That takes us to Kirha, of course. Cases like Kirha's might be more exception than norm. I'd have to reread Freedom Flight.)

I don't quite know where I was going with all of this here...the backstory of the mother is probably tragic enough as it is.

Okay maybe a bit soap opera 😆 , but I am writing a folk song that is set in the story to be sung by this foster mother.

Eh, I wouldn't worry about things being too soap opera-ish. I've got backstory characters in Elegy whose names are lifted straight from Downton Abbey...translated into the Kilrathi-equivalents, of course...

 

[EmuMusicFan]

It strikes me that in the case where a Kilrathi youth loses both their parents, responsibility for their upbringing would fall to some level of kinsman.

I havn't considered this seriously, but I get the feeling that this cub was abandoned rather than losting his parents. Regardless, a background check was a must before the noble family took them in. I might have designed it that, to the noble family, the cub's foster mother's familial conflicts was an common conflict between two low class soldier families. Related conflicts could be easily resolved with the powerful resources of the noble family, but perhaps the best solution would be to allow the adoptive family to continue to exist under protection. In fact, the design here is simply to convey that no matter how beautifully the Imperial culture spoke of a warrior's social standing and how much honor their families would receive, it was a domination strategy, and there was all kinds of unsatisfying in practice.

As for the cub himself, he was going to be groomed as a high-ranking servant of the noble family, so the requirements was even stricter. I haven't thought about it here, but I can only assume he's not an outsider to the clan. And by the time I get to the main part of this visual novel, he is already a mentor to the younger generation of the noble family, as well as the servant responsible for a young noble's daily life and safety on Earth.

Now I probably wouldn't do all this backstory in detail, but it would be better to write dialogues after having a more fleshed out backstory, right? 😆 I'm actually making progress on production right now in preparation for Chapter 2 Blair and Melek, Part 3 of High-Tech Pay-back. So I'm now hard at work painting portraits of some of the crew of the Intrepid. The expected third chapter will be about an interview of the "Legendary Immortal Imperial Pilot", with spotlight on McAuliffe ambush. So the cub's story will be covered at Chapter 4 at the earliest. That's a little far out.

 

[EG1918]

General opinion. Characters as good angels . Illustrations for a children's book?😜
P.S. I want to pet the cats. purr purr😆

 

[capi3101]

I haven't considered this seriously, but I get the feeling that this cub was abandoned rather than losing his parents.

Quick suggestion - perhaps they were killed in a raid on their world, with the kid lucky enough to survive? Perhaps he was one of only a handful of survivors...or better still, the only survivor (hence why he wasn't picked up by a kinsman - there would've been no one left). Only other reason I could think of for a cat to abandon its cubs/kittens is insufficient available food supply - this happens in nature. The cubs are abandoned so the mother can live on in hope of survival.

Could dovetail both ideas...a raid might've damaged (irradiated?) the local hunting area and killed all the prey animals, a situation that hadn't improved when the local slave population was ultimately depleted as an available food source. Leaves the problem of what happens when the sa'guk mother figure arrives on the scene, why she decided to adopt the cub instead of just leaving it to fend for himself, and where they ultimately found sustenance.

 

[EmuMusicFan]

Illustrations for a children's book?😜

I am using them in my fan-made visual novel. This project uses my original plot linking many segments of the official novels. The overall playtime is now over an hour long, so you could try it out.

The prologue starts with a dream about the Imperial Court Council of 2634.
Chapter 1 focuses on reading the plot about the Kilrathi Empire's preparations for the McAuliffe ambush.
Chapter 2 is where the students discuss some of Blair and Melek's story. This part is in the works and covers the end of WC3 and some of WC4.
Chapter 3 is scheduled to bring out some footage of the McAuliffe ambush in the form of an original interview with a Kilrathi veteran.
The specific plan for Chapter 4 is not yet finished.

Online version (Runs in your browser, maybe laggy):
WCFan
Download version:
https://palmusicfan.github.io/WCFan-win.zip

P.S. I want to pet the cats. purr purr😆

Tell me the character you'd most want to pet! 😆

 

[EmuMusicFan]

... perhaps they were killed in a raid on their world, with the kid lucky enough to survive?

My scenario is that the ranch planet where this cub grew up was never directly attacked. While it may not be on the side of the galaxy core, it is more remote and thus far from the front lines.

Could dovetail both ideas...a raid might've damaged (irradiated?) the local hunting area and killed all the prey animals, a situation that hadn't improved when the local slave population was ultimately depleted as an available food source. Leaves the problem of what happens when the sa'guk mother figure arrives on the scene, why she decided to adopt the cub instead of just leaving it to fend for himself, and where they ultimately found sustenance.

I guess this idea could be pretty good to use for the cub's birth planet. For example, the chaos caused by the raid separated the newborn cub from his birth mother, and the convoy in which the foster mother were just after the raid arrived, and she found the cub (My thought was his birth mother was alive since I would like to not let the cub have hatred for Terrans because one of his main tasks later on is to get alone with Terrans). This foster mother may not have been poor during this period (around 2650), so afterwards she could have settled in a planet away from the front lines.

As for the reasons for adoption, I have envisioned these possibilities. Could you please see if they make sense?
1. Her own female cub had just been born, so she was emotionally and conditioned to nurse an additional cub.
2. Even if considered utilitarian, having a male member in the family would make future life more advantageous.

 

[capi3101]

As for the reasons for adoption, I have envisioned these possibilities. Could you please see if they make sense?
1. Her own female cub had just been born, so she was emotionally and conditioned to nurse an additional cub.
2. Even if considered utilitarian, having a male member in the family would make future life more advantageous.

Probably #1 more than #2. Female feral cats (farm cats in particular) are known to "use communal nests and take care of kittens of other colony members". Quoting the Wikipedia article on feral cats here, so do with that what you will - myself, I think it fits well enough.

 

[EmuMusicFan]

Khajiit Kaligara

"Wow, my blood warms at the sight of y'all!"

"Please? The crystal wasn't burned out, and there is at least a quarter left over."

Melek's mechanic, at Blair's request, went to the Intrepid to teach cloak techniques to Pliers. Fan fictional part: Khajitt Kaligara is the son of retired Imperial Claw Pilot Haga Kaligara. He was going to Pasqual system to meet his parents and younger brother.

The event of teaching cloak techniques is from the original WC4 Game, but is not depicted directly. The character name and family background are my fan fiction.

 

[EmuMusicFan]

@capi3101 , I name this mechanic after a race's name of The Elder Scrolls. I have looked up Kilrathi Lexicon, there is no word of "Khajiit", so I guess there is no problem? Thanks! I've once thought about naming a nickname for an original character before, but after realizing what it means in your Lexicon, I knew I should not use it, hahahaha. 😆

 

[capi3101]

"Wow, my blood warms at the sight of y'all!"

"K'rathrg, ni'ka'akh du'aiy ergraiga!"

('Y'all'? I didn't realize we were dealing with a Cat from the Deep South...
In other news, I really, really need to come up with a better set of interjections.)

"Please? The crystal wasn't burned out, and there is at least a quarter left over."

"Eshma? Karhsh'hakavji'k talan, maks hu'halanesh du inthrak ikar."

@capi3101 , I name this mechanic after a race's name of The Elder Scrolls. I have looked up Kilrathi Lexicon, there is no word of "Khajiit", so I guess there is no problem? Thanks! I've once thought about naming a nickname for an original character before, but after realizing what it means in your Lexicon, I knew I should not use it, hahahaha. 😆

No, there shouldn't be too big of a problem there, though I should mention for the sake of the underlying onomastics that I don't have a word assigned to either it or at. But there was a technique that was being used when the lexicon was still being formulated that would let you use other words - say ti or ath - instead. You wind up with a meaning something like this...

• ka / kha = blood / spirit
• ji = fire (rapid oxidation)
• ti = wit / common sense
• ath = death where there is uncertainty over whether the subject/object will be eaten or not

kha + ji + ti => khajiit = "spirit fire wit"
kha + ji + ath => khajiit = "spirit fire death"

Both sound like good Kilrathi given names to me...though I'm pretty sure there are no Terran cognates......

Just out of curiosity, what was the nickname you decided not to use?

 

[EG1918]

Tell me the character you'd most want to pet! 😆

Gilkarg nar Kiranka
He deserves to have his fur stroked

 

[EmuMusicFan]

'Y'all'? I didn't realize we were dealing with a Cat from the Deep South...

That is expected. The mechanic speaks Terran language, but not very well. So he mixed up a lot of expressions as well as accents. 🙂 By the way, I guess Sosa speaks a little Kilrah.

In other news, I really, really need to come up with a better set of interjections.

Sorry? I don't quite understand.

Just out of curiosity, what was the nickname you decided not to use?

The character was named after the old master Harga nar Ki'ra. At first I felt like the given name could be shortened to a nickname like "Harr", but... 😆

 

[EmuMusicFan]

Gilkarg nar Kiranka
He deserves to have his fur stroked

How did you choose the most difficult one... If you choose Thrakhath, we might consider making an appointment at THAT farm of Wing Commander 4.123106. But Gilkarg... First of all, you should know how expensive his hairspray was. 😖

 

[capi3101]

Sorry? I don't quite understand.

About the interjections? There have been a couple of times working with the language where I've had a sentence that begins with a word like "well, " or "oh, ", and I don't have good ways of expressing the intended emotion other than to fill in a word that literally expresses it. For example, take the sentence - "K'rathrg, ni'ka'akh du'aiy ergraiga!" = "Wow, my blood warms at the sight of y'all!" . K'rathrg does not mean "wow", it means unexpected / surprise / sudden / shock (surprise) / abrupt. That's what I meant when I said I need to come up with a better set of interjections. Sorry if that caused confusion - it was more of a comment to myself than anything else.

The character was named after the old master Harga nar Ki'ra. At first I felt like the given name could be shortened to a nickname like "Harr", but...

Ah. 💩. Gotcha.

 

[EmuMusicFan]

That's what I meant when I said I need to come up with a better set of interjections.

Got it! Speaking of interjections, two come to my mind, very low-frequency, both from Melek in WC4.

P.S. If you'd like to refer to the Terran Cats‘ tones:

From what I've learned from watching animal-related videos... A lion would use "A-ou" to indicate affection. A tiger use "Fufufufu..." as a friendly voice, and ”Au-fu“ to indicate a request to call someone over.

The tiger's "Fufufufu...", I once tested it in a zoo. A lazy tiger in the distance heard it and looked up at me, blinked eyes and then continued to sleepy. 😆

 

[EmuMusicFan]

@wiese.hano , the deepl translation service you recommended surprised me today!

I'm using it to aid in reading Action Stations. There is a plot of secret conversation between the Emperor and the Crown Prince Gilkarg starts with:


"My father, all is in readiness."
The Crown Prince waited with bent knee as the Emperor slowly came into the room.


When I only posted the first sentence, it translated "My Father" quite simply. However, I was surprised to find that, when I posted the two sentences together, the translated word became exclusive to the prince (and princess) for the emperor.

It seems that there is an overall inference of the meaning of the context in deepl.


BTW: When I posted all the words above, the first "My Father" was translated to the simple phrase again. It seems that my common-born wording has had an impact on the translation system. 😆

 

[EmuMusicFan]

Kna

"I know what you mean, sir. Yes, I am a slave."

Finally I've drawn a portrait of the third race... I think the Varni were only mentioned in the novel, right? I haven't been able to find the official portraits of Varni, so I am working on myself. I'd like to be corrected if there are any discrepancies.

My fan fictional character background story:

Kna is a fourth-generation of enslaved Varni. He no longer speaks Varni's own language. In contrast, Kna speaks the Terran language more fluently. His name is also derived from a Kilrah word, which is actually a number for him. Every Varni slave is numbered in order at birth, and he was the first of that batch to break shell, so kna is his number, No. 0. He is a slave of Haga Kaligara's hrai, along with Khajiit working as a mechanic's assistant on Melek's team. Except for the fact that every Varni slave was born with their poison glands removed, no other body parts of Kna were deprived. Haga Kaligara does not mistreat him. His engineering talent is outstanding and Khajiit needs his hand.

One detail is that his slave collar was fastened by Khajiit over the collar assembly of a flight suit, makes it more comfortable than wearing it directly around the neck.


@capi3101 , Could I use kna as a name? Thanks!

 

[capi3101]

"My father, all is in readiness."
The Crown Prince waited with bent knee as the Emperor slowly came into the room.

"N'ikh nhar, ga'ha du aj'kbalan." Rag'nithjhak'drishk ra alpaqorkork takh Rag'nith'jaq v'eks du dai hukutav.

("N'ikh nhar" would probably better translate as "Mine father". Not an exact translation but I think Gilkarg was speaking with a bit of flourish in this situation, considering who he was talking to. He could've just as easily said ga'ha aj'k = "all is ready" and meant the exact same thing.)

EDIT:

Could I use kna as a name? Thanks!

You could. Onomastically it would be the same as kn' = void / nothing / black / night. There are several Terran cognates, 'Orpheus' being among them.

 

[EmuMusicFan]

Not an exact translation but I think Gilkarg was speaking with a bit of flourish in this situation, considering who he was talking to.

Thought of something interesting. Given that Action Stations is a novel within a novel, it's worth considering whether this plot is pure fiction or based on fact. If this was written by Col. Schwarzmont based on fact, from what source might this sort of thing flow out? I think of one: Gilkarg -> Thrakhath -> Melek -> Schwarzmont

 

[capi3101]

If this was written by Col. Schwarzmont based on fact, from what source might this sort of thing flow out? I think of one: Gilkarg -> Thrakhath -> Melek -> Schwarzmont

Fair warning: this is the sort of question that has been known to cause thread-derailing debates before...

I'd have to go back and re-read the novel one more time, but I'm inclined to think the scene was intended as a dramatization of "factual" events. I think Col. Schwarzmont is supposed to be an in-novel personification of William Forstchen (i.e. the author; it's a common literary conceit to have a character in a work of fiction that represents the author themselves - in this case, a 27th century alter ego), based on information that Vakka nar Jukaga provided from the Ki'ra clan records after the war ended (which I think is mentioned in the book's prologue - again, I'd have to re-read it).

(As an aside, in my interpretation of the name structure introduced in False Colors, nar is the wrong honorific - it should either be dai or lak, depending on when the elder Vakka died / the younger Vakka was born).