2011-01-27

The Spivrva and Prednisone are really helping, I'm back to about 65% of normal and yes, twitchy as hell. Yesterday, after Kirsten complained that she couldn't get to where we were storing all the Rice-a-Roni (a staple food in our household) I not only completely rearranged the shelves, but made sure that the different flavors were grouped together and shelved so you could see at a glance what we had. I did not alphabetize them, that's today's twitchy project.

Kirsten wasn't feeling well this morning, and took the day off. I seized on this as a chance to get out of the house. I needed to make a run to Smart'n'Final, but was a bit leery of going alone. I'm still not entirely on my feet, so to speak, and wanted someone there with me. We took my truck (which desperately needs a bath) and I drove for the first time in weeks. Picked up some necessities and came home. Which, considering how bad I was just two weeks ago, when just walking out to the truck would have left me needing an inhaler and 20 minutes to recover, is pretty damn cool.

Despite shopping hungry, I think we did a pretty good job controlling ourselves.

Still waiting to hear from various services, agencies, and the airship people. Still looking for work that won't stress me right back into this hole.

I've decided on using mangled German for the Dwarf names for the deities, and mangled Esperanto for the Elves.

But that leads to an interesting question.. all intelligent races worship the same trinity. But obviously the Dwarfs are going to spend more effort worshiping the Building Father (who created them) and the Elves the Growing Mother (likewise.) So how would each race address the opposite deity in their liturgy? Life everybody likes, so that's no problem, but a big part of my theology is that Life (and his unspeakable twin) were created from the union of Law and Chaos.

This extends to the formal names in the Dwarf and Elf pantheons for the deities. Elves and Dwarfs may loathe each other, but the gods are a different matter.

I've sort of settle on a Europe in the late 9th Century but with a couple of major changes.

Charlemagne didn't divide his kingdom between his brothers, instead passing the crown to his eldest son. Thus the Kingdom of the Franks is still a united, going concern with some powerful nobles providing intrigue.

Of course, the Carolingian line died out in the mid-ninth century, so I could have a new dynasty on the throne, making things a bit more unstable.

In the east, the Byzantines are going strong. You also have Great Moravia, the embryonic Polish state, and scattered Varangian city states and trading posts. Farther east, beyond the ruined dwarf mines of the Urals, lay the Goblinlands. Human and goblinoid barbarian dominate here.

Italy is dominated by the Holy Church, either through direct lordship or holding power of the secular lords. Venice is a growing power. Iberia is split between several small states. In my world, there was no Moorish conquest due to a MacGuffin in the Western Sahara.

Egypt and the Easter Mediterranean, the ancient home of the Dwarf Empire, is quiet. The only real center of note is the Great Monastery in Alexandria, home to the greatest collection of written works and artifacts in the known world.

South of the deserts, rumors abound of strange civilizations. Here there be dragons.

England is dominated by the Elves, who have been largely forced off the continent. Some humans still live there, mainly in Scotland, and make their living raiding the mainland.

Ireland, home of the Sidhe Court, is a mystery. Almost no one who even sails close returns.

My biggest accomplishment of the week: I've complete caught up on Top Chef: All Stars