BONUS « Phantasia

Will you stand beside me? Etc.

Right, enough Machine Head jokes, I can’t imagine many people getting them D:

At the end of this month, the annual hosting bill comes in. Although not a mighty amount, it’s still a pretty big deal for an impoverished bohemian-type like myself, so I’m offering you the chance to help out!

In return, you’ll get to see the title image for the next chapter, which is a rather epic piece that’s taken bloody ages to produce (longer than anything else I’ve done thus far!). Plus they’ll be wallpaper/hi-res versions for those of you into that sort of thing.

Here's hoping this whets your appitite...!

And get this: donations go directly towards the hosting fees. I don’t get a pennycent of it! But even the smallest of donations will go a long way. And if you’re worried: no, this isn’t blackmail, and the site will still continue on even if no one donates – I’ll just have to fast for a few months XD

At any rate, this button below is what you’ll want to be clicking if you want to help prevent me living off of 17p tins of soup for the foreseeable future:

PS. If you want the wallpaper, but it’s not available in your resolution, let me know. I think I’ve covered the main ones…

PPS. I hate writing these donation appeals x_x

PPPS. Hand-made t-shirts are being prototyped soon. Yes, hand-made. None of this online mass-produced Cafe-Press bollocks here!

It’s a preview of the 2011 site redesign I’ve been putting together! I can barely stomach to look at the current set-up, knowing what the new one is going to be like.

While on the subject, now would be a good time to make any suggestions for things you’d like to see included in the redesign!

Meanwhile, #76.3 will be here tomorrow, after a cataclysmic virus attack wiped half my primary hard drive D: (mainly by taking out all the exe files, though thankfully it left the other hard drive, where I keep all my work files, alone!)

Someone asked a couple of months back (probably longer!) about pronunciations of character names. I figure some of them are fairly obvious, so I’ve only listed the ones that might be causing problems (or might be getting mispronounced!).

I’m not going to claim accuracy on all the pronunciations. This is how I pronounce them personally, and I’m aware I might be getting a few wrong! Especially some of the Welsh names (Dyfrio etc).

Phantasia (fan-tay-zia) Celeste (cel-ez-tay)

Dante (Dahn-tay) Orpheus (Or-fee-us)

Kaori (Kau-lee (not kay-oh-ree!)) Shimomura (Shi-mo-mu-ra (just remember that Japanese syllables flow together more than they they do in English!))

Lysander (leh-zan-dir)

Byron (Bi-ron) d’Arcadie (dar-kay-dee)

Lyra (le-rah (it’s from the same root word as ‘lyric’) Byrne (burn)

Theseus (fee-see-us)

Elone (el-on-ie)

Phoenie (fee-nee)

Astrid (az-trid)

Ceres (seer-eez, similar to ‘cereal’ as they share the same root)

Korrigan (korrie-ann (in this case the ‘g’ is silent)) Wedekind (wed-e-kinned)

Hermia (her-my-a) Adelheid (ah-del-hide)

Horatio (ho-ray-sho)

Vespa (vez-pa)

Rembrandt (rem-brant) Payne (pain)

Azarat (az-uh-rat) Haan (harn)

Sabeen (sah-been)

Yuki (you-key)

Thetis (feh-tiz)

Dionysus (dio-nigh-sus or dye-oh-nee-sus, I’ve heard it said both ways)

Titania (te-tanya)

Diffaith (deh-faith, or perhaps dy-faith)

Tirio (teh-ryo)

Awyr (e-yuh, a lot like ‘air’)

Dyfrio (dweh-free-oh)

Yokai (yo-kie) Kitsune (kitz-nay (not kit-soon)

Apeliotes (ah-pele-oh-tez)

Cecaelia (ce-kay-lee-ah)

Leansidhe (lan-shee)

Rosencrantz (roz-en-kranz) / Wotan (woah-tan)

Let me know if there are other names that I’ve missed!

You want to see the statistics for Sapphire? Of course you’ll have to wait until tomorrow… But I’m not so cruel I won’t give a little detail on what all these crazy statistics are actually ABOUT. And tomorrow I might tell you about some of the crazy SYMBOLISM behind this. Because there actually is some. Seriously.

So those stats, ey?
For a stat, they’re ranked 0-10, or at least they are for students. I’ll show you someone else’s later in the week… Now, as far as SEELIE is concerned a second year student ought to be achieving around a 3 in everything, with a 6 representing considerable talent. To even be considered for an Academy, a prospective student must score a total grade of 20. This grading system is also used to determine what year a student should start in (first or second – third year is structured a little differently).

As for each individual stat, they cover a variety of things, but I’ve summed up the basics below.
ST: physical strength, stamina, endurance, that sort of thing
DX: physical dexterity, hand-eye co-ordination, perceptive skills
KN: general knowledge, understanding and common sense
TC: technical/scientific knowledge and ability, mathematical skill
SO: social skills, charisma, leadership, empathy
CR: creative ability, both in terms of artistic endeavours and improvisation/quick-thinking
MK: ‘magical’ knowledge
DF: defence, such as mental emotional barriers
CN/SN/AP: the three methods of using mana: Controlling it, Sensing it and Adapting it.
CP: chi capacity, how much spiritual energy/mana that person naturally contains

That’s a rough guide anyway. Obviously each area contains numerous specialisations, and then everything gets affected by an individual’s personality (which also reflects in their aura/elemental nature). No two people are the same, even if their grades are! And writing all this out just reminds me of playing paper-and-pen RPGs in the mid-90s…

ANYWAY! Now it’s time for Emerald Second, the highest rating group in the second year…

Horatio

The sports-loving boy who fled from the big city has decent all-round abilities. Like Theseus, he’s gathered a degree of control over his own chi through sports and martial arts. His focused interest in physical games is a deterrent when it comes to learning about more spiritual matters, which means he wouldn’t be of much use in SEELIE, but he could easily be employed by a more mundane army or mercenary force. His willingness to follow orders supports this potential career path.

Hermia

Hermia isn’t too different than Horatio when it comes to her grades, although she is slightly better in most areas (including strength!). Her social skills are more developed, which reflects in a more rebellious personality – Horatio didn’t leave the city of his own choice, after all – but she isn’t quite as creative a thinker. In many ways, Hermia and Horatio’s areas of expertise compliment each other, although both would be in a lot of trouble if confronted by a demon or psychic!

Amanda

You wouldn’t expect Amanda to grade so well, especially when she has always been in the shadow of someone else (Phoenie, Astrid), but that quiet exterior hides a dedicated student. Phoenie herself would hate to be told it, but Amanda’s involvement with Godhand has been of great benefit to her spiritual abilities. These are complimented by her creative and social skills, honed through her love of acting. Getting involved with Godhand may have helped Amanda achieve, ironically, the sort of grading that would get her into SEELIE.

Elizabeth

The first of Astrid’s devoted friends, Elizabeth covers the social areas that the more-physical Vespa lacks. Raised by a rich family steeped in social graces, Elizabeth is very much the embodiment of aristocracy. As with the other Godhand-ers, Elizabeth’s spiritual prowess is better than most students because of the church’s spiritualist leanings. They may despise demons and ‘witchcraft’, but in many ways they aren’t far from such things themselves…such is, of course, the nature of the world…

Vespa
	Unlike Astrid and Elizabeth, both born into powerful families, Vespa is an orphan. Her tribe was wiped out by Godhand and its children adopted into the church. A deep subconscious urge draws her into more violent past-times, promoting her physical skills at the expense of social and spiritual areas. She could improve, but she would have to overcome her inner turmoil first – and since that is ultimately directed at the very group who seek to control/teach her…
Astrid
	Of the Godhand Girls, Astrid grades the highest with skills greatly enhanced by her own inheritance. Being the daughter of Bishop Wotan – no matter his standing in the greater echelons of the church – has given her advanced social skills and knowledge. Her father had the foresight to teach her things beyond the guidelines of Godhand too, albeit in subtle ways not dissimilar to how Rembrandt Payne has been forced to teach his students. If it wasn’t for her attachment to Godhand and its beliefs, she would easily make SEELIE and currently ranks as one of the top five students in the year.
Korrigan
	Korrigan may be a blundering ditz with bizarre social etiquette, but that her social grading is so high speaks volumes for her charisma. With a devoted fanbase among younger students, her sporting talents would be enough to take her far in future, but she backs that up with musical ability (she’s some kind of teenage pop-star?) and spiritual powers in development thanks to Ceres. At the rate she’s going, the only things holding Korri back will be her lacklustre technical skills and atrocious common sense!
Ceres
	Vying with Deneb for Student of the Year, purple-haired Ceres has been gifted by her ancestry with all-round excellent grades. Because of her current ability, Rembrandt Payne treats her as if she were a third year student already, explaining her appearances in odd situations – one of her duties is to keep an eye on her fellow students. Her biggest failing would be her general disinterest in the everyday world: things like technology just don’t interest her, and it’s because of this that her potential grades lag slightly behind the more well-rounded Deneb’s. It makes you wonder if there are any guys with decent grades around…

Now it’s time to have a look at the students of Ruby Second, the smallest of the second year groups (which means less writing for me!). I should note that there might be a couple of students missing if you cross-reference with the cast page – that’s because I’ve avoided writing about any who haven’t really done anything. Because I’m lazy. And because there isn’t much to say about them other than “lol, failures!”. For now.

Vincent

The wanna-be leader of the Torsten Hawks spends a lot of his time slacking and smoking weed with Byron (just don’t tell the Hawks – they’re really quite straight-edge…). If he put the effort into his studies that he puts into his appearance, he might be getting better grades: not SEELIE quality, but still better than what he has! One thing to note: he does have the potential for leadership…whether he gets motivated to use it, however…

Byron

Byron is held back by the same things as Vincent – not much a surprise given their friendship. Byron has greater potential, however, especially when it comes to his creative ability (he focuses a bit too much on his poetry!) and his chi (which is already strong by nature). If he were to focus more and avoid transitory temptations – such as drugs and sex – he would fare a lot better. His tendency to sever social bonds in the most dramatic way possible doesn’t help him much, either.

Lyra

After Deneb and Ceres, Lyra is one of the year’s top students. Is it any coincidence that, like Ceres, she comes from a vagrant tribe? She isn’t quite as talented as the purple-haired witch, and doesn’t have her potential, but Lyra still outperforms most other students. Of course the fact her ‘magical’ grades (down the left) are more than basic does her overall grading wonders. Her biggest weakness comes from her abrasive personality – she just isn’t a nice person!

Theseus

As expected, Theseus shows a strong performance is physical areas with potential to improve to top-of-the-year standards – and because of his martial arts training he has developed (without even realising it) a decent degree of control over the magical energies flowing through him! Other, more mental, areas are lacking, but then Theseus has never pretended to be a clever person. Even with his distain for all things supernatural, he actually has the potential to achieve a passing grade in the second year.

Katrina
	Katrina’s chi is well above what anyone would consider average. If she could learn to use that natural spiritual power, she could achieve a great deal in magical areas – if there was ever an individual who showed up just what damage Godhand has wrought upon the Academy, Kat is probably it. Only her physical skills are lacking, thanks to her bumbling dexterity and general lack of exercise.