Fates Weekly Update #52

Hello, folks. Guess who is finally back from his romp around the world. I was starting to think that I was never going to make it back. Fuzz hasn’t allowed me out of his sights since I got home. I don’t think he knew what to do with himself with me gone. It’s the first time I’ve ever came back from a romp around the world and had someone there at home excited to see me back. Quite a nice feeling. Oh, we are also at #52 for our updates! That’s right, we’ve been updating every single week for the last year straight. Time to pop open a bottle to celebrate consistency!

Wordcount: 7,729; Most of this week was spent more on the codex and other material for backers than the actual story. I’ve been trying to catch both sides of the house up so things don’t fall behind any further than they have so far. Part of the problem is that every time I get a decent way through a short story, I have this inexplicable urge to turn it into a visual novel. It’s dawned on me that I’ve been writing visual novels so long that it has basically overtaken traditional prose as my default style. So part of me has been considering turning the book of short stories into a book of short kinetic novels. While that would be fun, it also is a money pit as art is not what you’d call cheap and nobody has ever wanted to play a game drawn by me.

The story taking up my writing is quite a fun one that really would play well as a visual novel. It’s the story of the greatest hero of them all, Kika Starr, as she is beckoned through time and space to represent her galaxy in the interdimensional mech fighting tournament. With her sponsor, Old Man Chief, she fights to again prove that her position as the Starr. Then, after I got absorbed by the idea did I remember that Kika, despite being a navigator, has never actually piloted again. She doesn’t even know how to drive the car because everyone has always chauffeured her around. I was a bit disappointed there for a moment as I was ready to drop Kika into her first battle that she couldn’t win without deus ex machina… so I decided to drop her in anyway and watch the great hero figure out what stick did what. Turned into a pretty nice story about Kika facing something she had never had before, putting pride slightly aside, and trying to become the hero she thinks she is. And giant robots. Giant robots are awesome.

We are going to continue our lead up to Fates’s release with a couple of contests. The second contest is everyone’s favorite, a writing contest!

Theme: Challenges to overcome; One of the reoccurring themes in all Rising Angels games is that the world isn’t there to just give things out to you. Hard work, dedication, and that little ounce of luck are the driving forces. Sometimes those challenges are easy, sometimes those challenges are not killing Stan. Either way, a challenge is what awaits you, dear writers! Now overcome it!

Eligible games to use characters from: Anton’s Vacation, Rising Angels: The Red Rose, Rising Angels: Reborn, Rising Angels: Fates

Prizes, what you all are interested in! Both the writing contest and art contest have identical prizes. Now, I’d like to give out more than large cash prizes, so if there are any donations to our contest, I’ll welcome them. I’m chatting with a couple people to see if they would be willing to lend some aid, so prizes may increase.

First place: $200 USD via Paypal

Second place: $100 USD via Paypal

Third place: $50 USD via Paypal

Contest officially starts on September 19th, 2015

Deadline: October15th, 2015

Results announced: October 17th, 2015 during our regular Fates Weekly.

Judging: All pieces will be judged on creativity, relation to the theme, grammatical accuracy, and plain old awesomeness. All pieces will be reviewed by the dynamic IDHAS trio: Chief Editor Komi and his two bumbling assistants. Depending on the number of entries, we might include a fan vote in there as well.

Art contest rules:

1. You must have at least one character from either Rising Angels: The Red Rose, Rising Angels: Reborn, or Anton’s Vacation. You can include other characters, if you wish.

2. Proper credit must be given to all characters. (Mostly if you include characters that aren’t yours or the studios.)

3. You must include the theme in some way, shape, or form.

4. You can submit up to two pieces for contest.

5. Keep it under XXX rating. IDHAS has never been a family friendly studio, but let’s keep the smut out of this one. You can toe that line, just don’t cross it.

Either post entries or send them to overwatch@idhasstudios.com . Winners will be announced on the website and e-mailed.

Okay, time for some learning time! This week (and next because this turned out to be really long), we are going to talk a little bit about the arrangement of the Katajion Directorship and its sectors. As those of you who have read some of Reborn’s codex or listened to Faye in Red Rose, there are fifteen different sectors in the Katajion Directorship. Each of these sectors has a unique purpose and responsibilty to help manage in the directorship. In addition to their duties, each sector has a unique colored uniform to help differentiate them at a quick glance. For example, blood red is the color of the Katajion Space Sector. While this is a short summery of the first seven of the fifteen sectors, I hope it is interesting. Next week, we’ll cover the other eight.

1- Governmental The first and most powerful sector of the Katajion Directorship. Governmental is responsible for the integrity and unity of the fifteen sectors. When a proposed rule change by a sector is announced, it is up to the Governmental sector to ensure that it meets the outlines laid out in the charter. Day-to-day operations of the administrative side are part of the core responsibilities that the sector manages.

Color- Black

2- Judicial Judicial acts as the hand of the Governmental and is responsible for policing citizenry and judging those who have been found guilty of violating the laws of the charter. Due to the loose confederation of sectors, Judicial often has trouble enforcing laws in several sectors due to the power that those sectors hold. Most of the time, Judicial only deals with the crimes of the lower ranks of Katajions.

Color- Brown

3- Intelligence Intelligence holds a high position in the directorship for one reason. Where Judicial fails to hold sway, Intelligence is there with both a secret and a knife. While their primary mission is to constantly watch the stars to ensure the safety and security of those who would seek the downfall of the directorship, Intelligence often takes it upon itself to police those who would seek to abuse their power. Many corrupt directors have fallen to the stalwart guardians of the Katajion Directorship’s Intelligence Sector.

Color- White

4- Economic Though the title of Economic sector sounds like a regimented and controlled sector, the independent nature of the Katajion Directorship has turned the Economic sector into more of a massive collection of guilds, businesses, and individuals than a united sector. While they serve under a single director, planetary councils and guild heads often have more control over businesses and practices than the figurehead director does. All commerce falls under the massive sector.

Color- Light Blue

5- Medical A relatively small sector, but one that enjoys the full support of both the Katajion Defense Force sectors and that of the general population. Directly working with Sector 11 to advance their medicines, Katajions enjoy plentiful and advanced medical treatment in most fields. Unlike other sectors, the charter was written so that medical treatment was considered a basic right and that its funding is a paramount responsibility of the economic sector. However, that hasn’t stopped the economic sector from occasionally branching into Medical’s territory.

Color- Purple

6- Ground Together with Naval, Space, Air, and Intelligence, Ground is a key member of the Katajion Defense Force. Ground is responsible for planetary defense against all ground threats.

Color- Dark Green

7- Naval Another member of the Katajion Defense Force, Naval is responsible for all activities on and below liquid bodies. For most planets, Naval has a very small influence and is often subservient to operations and command by Ground forces.

Color- Yellow

That’s all for this week. Get those writing entries in! Until next week, Chief out!

Video o’ the post this week is a Jpop song stuck in my head. Don’t ask.

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