The Tanuki and the Kitsune- part one

*rustle, rustle*
The raccoon was drinking from a bowl of milk left by the humans in a small village.  Food had become scarcer since the Calamity, but there were always generous humans looking out for the species less capable of fending for themselves.
'Tan Tan Tanuki no kintama wa'
The raccoon had been spotted, as the song came from a nearby window.  Looking up cautiously, the raccoon saw a small girl at the window looking at him.  She seemed happy, but the raccoon would be ready to run if anyone came any closer.  It carefully carried on drinking from the bowl.
'Kaze mo nai no ni'
The raccoon suddenly perked up.  Something felt wrong, like a wave of energy was heading towards it from the west. As it turned to face whatever it was, the force of magic hit it, and it started transforming.
'but still they swing, swing, swi-'
The girl gasped, as now in front of her there was a naked rather chubby man with slightly brown striped skin turned away from her.  The man heard her, shocked at being able to understand her song for the first time since the humans started singing it, and turned to face her in wide-eyed surprise.  The girl's mother appeared at the window, and on seeing the man quickly covered her daughter's eyes as she shrieked at seeing how the Tanuki swings.  The raccoon-man quickly ran off, taking the bowl of milk with him though splashing the contents everywhere.


As he hurried back to his burrow, the raccoon's mind was racing.
'What will they think?  Why am I human?  How do I convince them that I'm actually a raccoon?  Will they run from me?'
He reached his burrow, and quickly clawed his way in, completely oblivious to the fact that he had in fact turned back into raccoon shape on his way back.  Inside, there was another human with strange markings that filled the entire burrow, unable to move, with no sign of the rest of his family.  The raccoon's first instinct was 'human- run!' completely forgetting he was a human not a moment before.  He got outside, not listening to the muffled cries for help from the human inside, but was approached by his father who attempted to calm him down.  He directed him to the rest of his family, some of whom were in humanoid form with the others looking at them carefully.  He also noticed his brothers digging at the entrance to the burrow, presumably trying to make the opening big enough for the human inside to escape, who he now realised was his nephew.  All were clueless as to what had happened, as the raccoon told the others of how he was drinking at the human village and could suddenly understand the human child when he transformed.  It was decided they would try to get more information the next day.


The night passed relatively uneventfully, though there were unusual shouts from the nearby fields that sounded like cries for help but the raccoons would not be able to help them, so didn't bother trying.  They had all managed to return to their raccoon forms that they were more comfortable with, but were strangely aware of how to turn human if needed.
On waking, they had their usual several hour waking up and eating session, using their human forms to help reach some berries and fruits.  Afterwards they held a family meeting to decide what to do next.  It didn't go well, as they were constantly getting distracted, but eventually they came to the consensus that the raccoon that was most comfortable around humans would go to the village pretending to be one of them to get more information, which he reluctantly agreed to.
On arriving at the human village, he saw it was much busier than usual, with many humans he didn't recognise.  He was wearing an old sheet the raccoons had been using as bedding that barely covered his whole body, and a straw hat to cover his face that they had found in a nearby field- probably dropped by a human in their panic.  He was a bundle of nerves, and having seen what humans do when they look nervous he did what they would- head to the bar.  Sure enough, the bar was busier than anywhere else in the village, though he still managed to pick up a bottle of rice wine, which he took a gulp of and already felt more confident.  He walked out, still carrying the sake which he didn't realise he had to pay for, but luckily in the chaos then no-one was paying particular attention.  He headed to the largest gathering of people, some he recognised though many he didn't who had longer and thinner faces than most humans he had seen.  The elder of the village noticed him and seemed slightly taken aback by the raccoon's appearance.  He looked to one of the long-faced humans who smiled and nodded back.
'Remarkable...' said the elder, 'I'm guessing you're here representing the raccoons?'
The raccoon was suddenly terrified again, and took another swig of his stolen sake.
'Wh-wh-wh-how do you mean?' he said trying to calm himself.  'How do you know I'm a raccoon?'
'Hm, the attire gives it away somewhat,' said the long-faced man as the raccoon looked down at his sheet.  The man gracefully stepped towards the raccoon, shaking his hand.  'Of course, we are firm friends are we not?  I, Hikaru of the Kitsune, and you, Taichi of the Tanuki.  I was just telling our dear human friend here that we had agreed to announce our transforming skill to them, now that all animals are getting in on the act.'  The fox-man spread his arm, indicating much of the rest of the crowd who had strange markings similar to other animals.  The raccoon was thoroughly perplexed, having no idea what this strange person was going on about.  Hikaru turned to the human again, though keeping his arm wrapped around the raccoon's shoulder.  'Please, if you do not mind I would like to discuss some things with my raccoon friend.  Please excuse us.'  And with that, the fox led the raccoon away to the library building.  The raccoon followed in a trance, hoping someone would tell him what was going on and why he had suddenly been named as 'Taichi'.
As the pair entered the library, the fox shut the door behind them so they would have some privacy.  'Taichi' noticed a bulge on the back of Hikaru, evidence of a tail being covered over by clothing.  The fox did his strange gleeful leap again as he came to the side of the raccoon.
'I give you raccoons less credit than you're due, it seems!  Dressing like those folk drawings, they probably think you're a prophet now!'  Hikaru looked carefully at Taichi as the raccoon still looked utterly perplexed.  'On the other hand... you have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?'  the raccoon shook his head, and the fox sighed as he reached for a nearby book.  'Look at this.  Here is a drawing of us- the kitsune and the tanuki.  The humans seem to have believed that we could transform for thousands of years, though obviously we couldn't- but they don't need to know that.'  He turned the page.  'This is you, the tanuki- see?  The shawl, the straw hat, even the bottle of sake and the, er, lack of modesty.'  Taichi looked down.  Hikaru turned the page again.  'And this is me- a kitsune.  Apparently we're intensely magical, and could probably get the humans to do whatever we want if we keep up the illusion- as far as the humans are concerned, we've always been able to do this, right?  Follow my lead, and we'll go far.  We just need to do something about the other animals that can transform now...'

Error 404: Aethernet Not Found

January 17th 1912
With a lack of anything better to do, and my girlfriend going shopping with her mother, I have used today to get some writing done for tomorrows deadline.  As such, today was mostly uneventful, although we were treated to some fish and chips tonight.

January 18th 1912
Annoyances abound!  All the work I produced yesterday has been destroyed, thanks to this infernal machine.  As such I have decided to delay writing until I return home, and although it's tempting to return by myself today then there is not much point as I would only have to journey back at the weekend regardless.  To calm down, we visited a friend of ours who owns a shop in town- mostly childrens toys, but also costumes for parties.  We got talking about a party another friend is running soon, a Roman theme where he promises much merriment.  On our return to my girlfriend's parents we walked into yet more friends, boys we knew from a shop we frequented until it closed down.  It was nice to catch up, but then we had to hurry home so I could make dinner, my signature dish of Hunter's Style Chicken.  It went down well as always, though the chicken turned out a little dry.

January 19th 1912
With the absence of access to the aethernet, we decided to get something productive done- specifically the tidying of the boys' room, the room I previously mentioned that we have been moved into.  The intention was that we would donate their toys to a local charity, taking what we wanted, but to much annoyance my girlfriend's father has filled the room with his own belongings.  We do not know which is for keeping and which for leaving, so we got what little we could done and told him that he would have to sort his own items before we can continue.  In the meantime, we took some items to the local waste disposal area, which was a change of pace.  We searched for items we could salvage, but to no avail- instead we got charged for leaving our own items there!

January 20th 1912
Unable to do any writing without access to aethernet, and without anything productive to do, today we decided to do something different to avoid boredom.  On the advice of our young friend from the other day, we decided to pay a visit to the local marble museum.  An interesting subject for a museum, but it does not charge admission so would kill a few hours.  It was much as expected, lots of marbles with bits about their history- though in their games section we did find an artefact similar to the dice we use to play our own games, made of glass which was quite interesting as we believed our game to only date back thirty years or so.  Also of note were the marble runs there, large devices that are on a constant loop as marbles go in all sorts of directions, an example of many moving parts working together which was very mesmerising.  After the museum we headed to another local marketplace for a few supplies, and had a look at the animals they had on display there.  Unfortunately they looked quite stressed, birds with plucked feathers and small mammals living in their own waste.  My girlfriend approached one of the workers there to question their living conditions, but backed down when the keeper became visibly annoyed with being questioned.  Needless to say, we will file a complaint with the authorities when we gain access to the aethernet again.

January 21st 1912
Today we had lunch with my girlfriend's grandmother.  We were supposed to go with my girlfriend's sister and her boyfriend, but having had a tough week at work then the boyfriend did not feel like coming, though my girlfriend's sister still did.  The meal was sub-standard, but it was still nice to catch up on things.  Later today we played our weekly game, though this week things would be slightly different, as we would be playing a game set in outer space, named 'War of the Stars'.  An unusual setting with all manner of weird species-for instance I played a creature similar to a terrestrial lizard- and although it was fun I think I would have preferred to play our usual medieval fantasy setting.  We also had an associate of our friends play as well, who can quite frankly be annoying at times, but was pleasant enough company tonight.  On concluding our game, my girlfriend's sister's boyfriend was still awake and visibly annoyed with something.  On enquiring what, he explained that when we were out then my girlfriend's mother had lost her temper at him, accusing him of doing (or, rather, not doing) various things about the house which we perceived to be a lie, as he often does helpful things when we are around.  Regardless, the conversation served as a helpful reminder that she is best avoided when she is feeling ill.

January 22nd 1912
Another quiet day today, as we spent the day mostly relaxing.  My girlfriend's mother's mood was slightly better today as her illness (which I fear she may have caught from me) was starting to recover.  The boyfriend made dinner tonight, the hype for which had been building all week.  Disappointingly, it didn't turn out quite as planned- a steak and ale pie, and though the cooking was fine it was unfortunately not a very good cut of meat, making it tougher than it should have been.  A few mouthfuls were beautiful, but the majority was too tough to enjoy fully.  Afterwards we headed home, as I am now woefully behind on my work and would like some time to myself before spending all day writing tomorrow.

January 23rd 1912
I cannot say too much today, as the whole day has been spent catching up on my week's writing- apart from a brief visit to the local shop to pick up some vital food.  I'm still slightly behind, but managed to set aside enough time to write this brief journal entry.  Again to my annoyance, it seems that my girlfriend's parents are fixing their aethernet connection today, not that I can benefit.  It would have been much more useful last week, but as the French say: C'est la vie.

Mostly Concerning Ranting About Traveller, With A Bit of Star Wars Praise Thrown In

Firstly I want to apologise for being late with these blogs, I had hoped to not stray from my routine at all but annoyingly, at my girlfriend's parents the internet currently isn't working.  I just about managed to post last week's steampunk blog, but after that the internet just failed.  Her dad thinks it's because it was windy and the tree over the road was banging against the phone line, but has finally called the internet people who should have sorted it out today.  So because of this, I couldn't post my blogs meaning I'm slightly behind, but by wednesday normal service should be resumed.

All that being said, today's blog is about something new we tried at the weekend- a sci-fi tabletop roleplaying game.  Firstly, the original plan was to play Traveller, a very old game that's supposed to be 'D&D... in space!' but I fail to see the similarities (though I should point out this info is about the GURPS version, not the original so some things may be different).  We were given the race books to look at, as we already weren't convinced with some of what we had heard, and after looking at the books we were even less convinced.  We were told that the race you play is a tiny insignificant detail, which may well be the case but it's still what your character's going to look like and you need to be at least slightly willing to act as your character for probably weeks if not months on end.  I'm not sure where to begin with what's wrong with the races...  But I'll start at the beginning of what I looked at: the Aslan.  I first heard the name and thought 'that's a lion', and turns out I wasn't far off.  They're actually Thundercats.  Basically, a feline species (that definitely aren't related to cats at all, the book was emphatic about that), and their main gimmick is their laws and customs- men get offended if they are offered money, as that's a 'womans' role, and if they get offended then they're obligated to fight for their honour.  The book also stated that they definitely aren't japanese samurai with a cat skin, but if you want information on how to play them then look at japanese movies and feudal history.  Also their hands/paws have a dew claw at the base of their thumb, which is located at the bottom centre of their hand.  At this point, I figured that I didn't like that race but they're just one race- I'll move on to the next one and see if that's any better.  It wasn't.  The K'kree, or 'centaurs' (a gross misunderstanding of the term), are intelligent herbivores evolved from herd animals.  I could go with that, but I made the mistake of reading further.  They evolved by raising their heads for higher plants and foliage, and developed front arms.  OK.  Because they were higher, they had a better vantage point to see predators, and to improve their sight further their eyes moved to the front of their heads... wait, what?  The reason predators have front located eyes is so they can lock onto their prey... prey have side facing eyes so they have a larger field of vision to see predators at any angle around them.  They have 2 spines... right.  Their hands are relatively normal, except they have hooves instead of thumbs- again, what?  The whole point of a hoof is that it's several fingers fused together.  The book says the lack of a thumb makes them more dexterous but also gives less of a grip, but also more dexterous and a tighter grip... And when their natural predators got bored of hunting lesser species, they used their newfound intelligence to hunt their hunters using their own methods despite the fact they were using tools when their hunters weren't.  They then took that a stage further by vowing to rid the universe of any meat-eating species, despite the fact they readily acknowledge that they are technically eating meat if there's a fly in their food, explained away as 'anything to small to be an animal is not an animal'.  Maybe if I read a little more then they'll redeem themselves?  Scent is a powerful thing for K'kree, they communicate by involuntarily producing gas from orifices and they judge each other based on the potency of the smell.... Yeah that's enough of them.  I'll just flick through the other races... a dog that's been awakened by druids or something... space nazi humans... some abomination thing... the hell is that?  Some sea creature that looks like a deformed jellyfish- I may as well read.  So, they're a parasitic species that feed off of whales, and for some reason they developed intelligence and are now a strict bureaucracy.  OK so the races are pants, but I can always be a human that hates every creature in the universe- I'll look for stories about the game instead, see if there's anything interesting.  Quick search online... well images comes up with no fan art at all.  That's not a good sign.  Hundreds of ship plans- well I couldn't care less for ship designs.  And as for actual stories... every single one of them is a story by a DM/GM about cool stuff they implemented- I couldn't find a single story written by a player- that says to me that the DM might as well be writing a story than having people play.  So Traveller is definitely off the list.  (I should point out that these are just my views, and yours may very well differ.  Hell, mine might as well if I actually played the game but I still haven't been told any redeemable features other than the GURPS system, which can be used for any setting.)

So instead, we settled for Star Wars RPG as a compromise- it's still in space (not ideal as I'm not in to point-and-click weapons like blasters), and it's a different system from D20 but it's at least a setting I know a fair bit about, and the races are somewhat believable.  And I must say, I enjoyed it.  My character didn't turn out exactly how I hoped, a Trandoshan Smuggler, but I didn't find the classes particularly appealing.  Plus within the first 5 minutes I was running from an insane drunk jedi who was cutting down the imperial stormtroopers in the cantina, causing me to get reflexively shot at by said stormtroopers, but I turned out ok.  I didn't intend to literally run like a headless chicken, but I thought I may as well go with it, turning me into the group's Zoidberg.  So far we've got a good bit of intrigue regarding a mysterious statue that gives force sensitives headaches, my companion is getting advice from the aforementioned drunken jedi, and I'm being stalked by spider droids, and although I'm still not entirely convinced by the system- seems a bit too much 'this happens because the dm says so' compared to d&d- but it's still good fun and simple to pick up.  I'm sure I'll update people on how it progresses, as I won't be transcribing this game like I have in the past, what with my other two blogs on the go.

Rise of the Elves

The Gods move in mysterious ways.  My name is Jared, and I am a close friend of the man that many are proclaiming as the new messiah, Adam.  I write this note as a record for these times when records are scarcely kept due to the chaos of the last few years.

A few years ago, Adam went out with his father to scavenge for supplies at the remains of the local city, but it was far from a routine trip.  Whilst he was gone, there was a large commotion in the village- lots of shrieks and shouting.  I went to have a look, and there were hundreds of people, far more than inhabited the village.  Some were huge and vacant looking, others were tiny and terrified, but all had peculiar features, whether they were strange patches of body hair, colourations of the skin, or their size, then all were different from any human I have seen before, and no animals were to be seen.  Many villagers quickly came to the conclusion that these were those animals, as when you have exhausted all other possibility then what remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.  I read that in a book somewhere.  Anyway.  When Adam returned, he was carrying one of these strange humanoids, and had another walking with him.  Apparently he had got into an argument with his dad, and when his dog tried to protect him then the dog transformed, as did the nearby birds- one of which was the one with him.

The bird-man tried to explain his thoughts on what happened, that humans were too short-sighted in the eyes of the gods and forgot too easily, so with animals walking as humans did then it would serve as a reminder of the god's power and the fact they are always watching, and being more 'simple-minded' they could offer a different perspective on world affairs.  He seemed slightly upset though, like he was battling inner demons, much like when Adam was talking about his father before setting out.  I don't think the bird liked the idea of being used as a tool for the sole benefit of guiding humans.  Now something had to be done though, because all these animals couldn't live in this village and we had to consider that what we once thought of as 'pets' or 'domesticated' animals could now be thought of as slaves, if their intelligence matched that of humans.  It was soon discovered that this was only true of some species though, such as the cow-people who seemed just as docile and subservient as regular cows, but it still didn't feel right to be herding them about in that shape.

Fast-forward a couple of years, and things changed a lot.  Some villages are trying to coexist with the animals, sharing responsibilities and letting cows and horses work for wages in their animal forms, and others have decided coexisting is impossible in these circumstances and have segregated into separate societies.  One of these is the one I joined, as Adam decided to found a new world based on nature and self-sufficiency- something I agree with, because it can't be doubted that a lot of technology leads to power, and power leads to corruption and death.  This is where the messiah stuff comes in- it seems that Adam was definitely the cause of this miracle, and as such was at the eye of the storm- a huge surge of magic originating from one spot and spreading throughout the world.  This has had a profound effect on him, as he seems to have some use of this magic- only little things at this point, but there nonetheless.  There's also the mysterious circumstances surrounding his father's death... I would have thought he would develop some power also, but died before he could make use of them, which Adam keeps very quiet about.  Another somewhat disturbing consequence of the animal humanoids, now we're a couple of years on, is that babies are being born.  And they're not normal human babies, nor normal animal babies.  I think you see where this is going.  And it's rumoured strange unexplainable things happen around them also.  I shudder to think of what will happen when these babies grow older, if their respective parents will let them.

Now to the present- we've set up a village in the forest, mostly made of treehouses.  Things are going well, I guess, but all these things take time to develop.  Adam has let the power go to his head slightly, declaring himself founder of the new breed of human- he believes that as animals gained intelligence and human characteristics, so it would make sense that we have also- as the 'morally superior' humans.  With animals resembling creatures of legend appearing, such as vampire bats and pixie-like insects, he found it only fitting that he should name our new species 'elves' after the glamorous mythical creatures, and with a name with such good connotations then many are embracing this.  I'm a little less optimistic.  No utopian society has ever succeeded, indeed many crash and burn and their leader never sees it happen, and although elves come across as beautiful and graceful in literature, there's just as many instances of them being less than pure.  Despite this, I shall remain at Adam's side and hope that he will listen to me if things take a turn for the worse.

I also grow increasingly concerned for the bird that first accompanied Adam back to the village.  He left without trace, taking a flock of his kind with him to the north, and so far we are yet to hear any more.  With his mood over the days before he left, I increasingly worry for his well-being and his intentions, especially if he has developed some magical ability as well, being an eyewitness.

I can only hope my predictions are misguided, but time will tell.

Mid-January Blues

January 10th 1912
As the sky cleared for the first time in days, and I have started recovering, I decided I should try and get out of the house for some fresh air which would give my girlfriend a chance to take some photos,  Unfortunately, not long after we left then the skies clouded over once again and it started to rain, and my nose was rather opposed to the cold weather making it quite sore.  Another unfortunate side effect to the late stages of my illness is that everything has the same taste- that of novelty fondant filled eggs.

January 11th 1912
Today I decided to try giving the walk another try, as the skies were clear again.  We took a different route this time, somewhere we hadn't been before out into the fields alongside the river, and it was enjoyable- I have made much recovery, and had little more than a runny nose when we were out.  We also noticed an abundance of squirrels in the trees, seeing at least twenty down one small stretch of path.  We soon came to a crossroads, and of course the path we took proved to be erroneous- it was exceptionally muddy from the recent rain.  We turned back and took a different path, one that rounded back around the local school fields and we soon found ourselves back where we started.  Once we got home, I decided to test my new apparatus with a thought experiment called Oblivion- many of my associates have been talking about it's successor, Skyrim, but I had yet to try this one so thought now would be as good a time as ever, and indeed it worked marvellously.

January 12th 1912
My main agenda for today would be to undertake some proof-reading for my friend.  She has just written a novel concerning vampires set in the present day, and before releasing it she wants some opinions from friends, which I was happy to volunteer for.  So far it seems enjoyable, and I'd be happy to recommend it to others- I shall speak more of it when it is closer to release.  Meanwhile my girlfriend worked some more on her current project- converting a pair of guns to make them more aesthetically pleasing.  Thankfully I am now fully recovered from what ailed me, though tonight I did suffer a small bout of depression- mostly concern over failed projects and whether my novel will gather an audience.  I suppose only time will tell.

January 13th 1912
I spent most of today preparing for our game tomorrow, as we haven't played for weeks, so I don't have much to say.  Of course, today is Friday the Thirteenth, a day that has recently gained a reputation for bad luck probably in part thanks to that story that came out a couple of years ago, regarding a stock market crash- something I personally can't see happening for a good many years to come.  Needless to say, nothing particularly untoward happened to me today, so I hold firm to my belief that Friday the Thirteenth is just superstitious hogwash.

January 14th 1912
Much packing today as we have gone to my girlfriend's parents again, for a week this time.  On the way down, we stopped at our friend's for our weekly game, which was as enjoyable as always- although I have some reservations over the game that my friend wants to run, some science fiction game set in space, a setting neither I nor my girlfriend are entirely happy with.  I will probably attempt to play regardless, but am unsure how long it would last- hopefully he will decide to run a different setting that we are more comfortable in.  On arriving here, my girlfriend got a fright from her sister who heard us come in and waited in the kitchen ready to jump on her, which was quite amusing.

January 15th 1912
Annoyingly my portable writing device is playing up whilst I'm here, there must be some problem with the
aethernet... Luckily I don't have much to add to my journal today, as most of the day is spent unwinding from yesterday's game and catching up on events with the in-laws.  Though I would like to note that I had lamb for dinner.  Lamb is my least favourite of all meats, but I was so hungry I enjoyed it regardless.  I feel like I am saying regardless a lot... I'll have to rectify that.

January 16th 1912
Still having problems with the portable writing device, but continuing on regardless (blast...).  Today we went into the local town for some crafting supplies, specifically buckles but to no avail- the only ones we found were cheap flimsy things.  As it was, the only item we got was a biscuit each.  We did make one discovery though at the toy shop, that they are now producing a game we used to play called Quest of Heroes for a younger audience, made out of interconnecting building blocks which was... interesting.

On the Origin of Mythical Species

This is a subject I find extremely interesting, and a lot of my novel is trying to educate others on the true origins of creatures we may have forgotten.  Similar to the Hogfather by Terry Pratchett, which explains that Santa Claus goes back much further than Saint Nicholas, many of the standard fantasy races like elves and orcs go back much further than Tolkein, and indeed Tolkein changed a lot of them from how they used to be.  So here I shall cover some standard races from my fantasy setting, many of which will actually be introduced in next week's blog.

Elves:  Probably the most prominent race that springs to mind when you think of fantasy literature, elves weren't always the androgynous homoerotic species that Tolkein made them out to be.  In fact, in the original Germanic myth they were magical divine creatures, and in Norse mythology there were two distinct types of elf- the light and dark elves, which were drastically different from each other, in fact light elves were associated with gods and the dark elves were described as similar to dwarves; considerably different from the modern view of the only difference being skin colour and moral alignment.  When Norse religion went out of fashion, elves became associated with fairies and in the 19th century they returned to being beautiful magical humans.  This is also the point where Americans started the Christmas elf image, but that's a different matter.  As you'll see in my stories, my elves base themselves off of the Tolkein image, but it's possible they'll take on aspects of their shadier origins.

Fairies: a generic term that covers many fantasy creatures, much like dragons (don't even get me started...), fairies are most commonly associated with pixies.  In modern folklore, fairies are considered 'nice' creatures, in images that frequently include flowers and butterflies and mischievous pranks.  This image couldn't be further from the truth.  The true origins of fairies are shrouded in mystery, but theories have included them being a manifestation of ghosts, a species equivalent to humans and angels, lesser angels, or straight out demons.  Those that are familiar with the dark side of fairies will mostly know the changeling stories, of how a fairy may abduct a human child and leave a fairy one in it's place, but fairies are also described as malevolent yet elegant humanoids, much like the elves in the Discworld series (which in real terms are a hybrid between elves and the old style of fairy).  Some say they will only cause harm if you disturb their territory, others say you should always have protection against them if you're anywhere near them, usually cold iron or certain types of flower, or even obscure practices like wearing your clothes inside out.  In my novel, they're not as outright evil as they are in this world, more acting as pests- like mere insects.

Vampires:  I'll make this short, because thanks to Twilight there's no shortage of outraged blogs about how stupid vampires are now.  Suffice to say, those that say vampires should be more like Dracula are effectively Twi-hards from 100 years ago.  Sure, vampires don't sparkle in sunlight- but neither do they live in castles and steal girls to be their brides.  In actuality, the modern view of zombies is much more accurate to how vampires should be, the difference being that vampires would be less decomposed and slightly more bloated than they were in life, and generally weren't too much of a threat- some poltergeist activity, some killings of animals and rarely humans.  Like I say, anything else about vampires is going to be covered elsewhere- but if you want to know more let me know.  In my world, vampires are as much legend as they are in real life- but sightings are increasing, and they're much more animalistic than Dracula or Edward.

Angels:  I don't have much to say about angels, other than what do you think when you think of angels?  Well you're wrong, at no point in the Bible are angels ever described as having wings- you're thinking of Cherubim and Seraphim, and they generally had four wings or more and were sheaved in fire.  In fact, the angels could just be ordinary men, the name only meaning 'messenger' which could refer to human prophets, it was just artistic license that caused them to become winged men- although as beings of incorruptible goodness they pretty much fit the bill (even Lucifer had good intentions).  In my book, the hybrid forms of some birds could be considered 'angels' but that doesn't make them angelic.

Currently I don't have any plans for dwarves, though I am considering them, and I'm still researching some of the non-european creatures I can make use of such as Rakshasas and Nagas, but they'll have to wait for another time.
Next week- the conclusion to my trilogy of creation myths, internet connectivity allowing (there may be problems).

Creation of a Myth

After the tragedy of the Calamity, many years passed allowing the humans to rebuild their lives, many returning to a primitive tribal system.  Of course, it did not take long before problems arose once more, as some humans believed the world should be rebuilt to its former glory, with cities and advanced technology, whereas others believed the Gods punishment was due to that very reason, and the creation of cities and technology resulted in a lack of belief.  Things soon escalated into a civil war of sorts, but before events could get too out of hand then strange things started to happen.  It all started at the site of one of the ruined cities, where two men- a father and son- and their dog were scavenging for items in the wreckage.

'Father... why are we doing this?' asked the younger, poking a piece of rubble with a metal pole as his dog sniffed around.

'What do you mean, son?'

'This salvaging- do you not fear for the wrath of the Gods again?  That is the reason why the cities were destroyed in the first place...'

The older man laughed derisively.
'Don't be a fool, boy- yes the Gods destroyed the cities, but that's because we didn't believe in them.  We've seen them now, we'll believe them forever.'

'Yes, but I haven't seen them- it happened before I was born.  In a couple of generations time people will just think it's a story, a metaphor for an earthquake or something.  It's a bad idea to rebuild the cities because things will go back to the way they were before.'

'I still say you're speaking nonsense Adam, keep looking for those goods- we could be rich with just one working cd player, especially if we find some audio books we can sell as historical records!'

The young man threw down his pole, causing his dog to stop and back off to the side.  A flock of birds cleared a nearby tree that had grown from the city's remains, and landed nearby to watch.

'I refuse.  Already you're talking of making money from a disaster, it's just not right!  It goes against God's will!'

'Hah, God's will, it took them thousands of years to do anything before- why should things be different this time?  Live for the present, make a bit of money now and the trouble our sons get into in a few thousand years time is their problem.'

The dog started growling at the tension rising between the two, as Adam's anger was rising- thinking about all the trouble his father had put him through in the past, and incensed at how he would be willing to inflict this misery on his descendants- his own flesh and blood.  His father had lived in a life of luxury before the disaster, and now he knew more about technology than anyone else in their 'tribe' he was abusing the knowledge for his own ends.  He would lead this tribe to ruin if he continued, and if too many tribes fall then so would the future of civilisation.  Adam reached for the pole he had dropped, anger in his eyes.  His father had to be stopped.

'What do you plan on doing with that, boy?  You would pick your god of destruction over your old man, who just wants to bring life back to the world?'

All Adam could do was let out a scream of rage as he charged at his father, tears streaming from his eyes as he held the pole in front of him like a spear.  His father didn't bother trying to dodge, merely reaching for something in his pocket.  The dog started to run towards them.

'Technology means progress kid, and progress means success.' said the father with a sigh as he pulled the trigger on his pistol.  As the shot rang out, the dog barked with a commanding tone, almost as if shouting 'Stop!' as he leapt between the two, grabbing the pole in his jaw and taking the bullet before falling to the floor and sliding into a pile of rubble.  Both men immediately ran to the dog's side, forgetting their rivalry for a brief moment.  Much to their surprise, the dog was nowhere to be found- instead lay a naked man, with oddly coloured skin that seemed remarkably similar to the dog's markings.  Adam was first to speak.

'What the hell was that?  You have technology that can turn animals to men?!'

His father was just as perplexed.

'No- it's just a gun... all they do is cause injury...'

The man that a moment ago was their dog coughed before speaking weakly.

'What... happened?' he said with the last of his breath.

All the two men could do was look at each other in shock, until one of the birds that had been watching stepped forward.  It was a large black raven, until the moment it too transformed into a large black man- a relatively smooth transition despite this being the bird's first attempt.  The other birds in its flock were also transforming, with varying degrees of success.  The raven twitched it's head a couple of times before attempting to speak.

'I... I think I can explain...'

The two humans were too much in shock to interrupt.

'I think... this is the Gods' work again.  Long have we ravens been associated with deities, so we have gained a sense for detecting when their magic is in the air, and there's certainly a lot of that here- more than even the Calamity.  I cannot speak directly on their behalf, but if I were to guess, I would say they do not want to risk the fall of humanity again- so upon witnessing a fight between father and son, and an animal's desire not to see either injured, they had to step in.  Causing my present form, and I'd guess similar has happened elsewhere- giving a voice to those otherwise unheard.'

'You... you can talk?'  asked Adam's father in bewilderment, as Adam stared at the other birds struggling with their new forms.  Some were phasing between human and bird, others had found a weird hybrid form.

'It is as much a mystery to me as it is you, as you were talking gibberish a moment ago but now I share your form then we also would appear to share languages.  This is a little too much to comprehend at the moment... we should return to our homes and see how things are tomorrow.  I would gladly accompany you to your human settlement though, as witness to today's events.'

Taking their humanoid dog, the humans agreed to take the raven with them and did indeed see that similar scenes of chaos were happening everywhere.  Cows, sheep and horses in fields were all varying degrees of human/animal hybrid and in a state of confusion, and the chaos only got worse when they returned to their village.  Some small humanoids were running out of a building with a fruit basket as they were being beaten with a broom, others were huddled together as humans cried in fear of them.  The two men and the humanoid bird entered the village, causing some of the chaos to lessen as the villagers and animals could see the dead dog being carried between them.  The highest priority would be burying the animal, and then they would try to make some sense of the situation...

...the consequences of which will be covered next week, when the timeline will be fast-forwarded a few more years.