LATEST INTEL FROM THE FRONT LINES

(15 October 2018, 0655 EST)

It ha been a couple months since the last update here, and I can say with certainty that the end of our escapades in home remodeling are done for this year. Next year is another story, granted, but we will deal with that monstrosity as it comes along. For today, know that my time focusing on writing has been improved, though in coming weeks I have Christmas Candy making, Thanksgiving and Christmas on the menus, so by no means am I straight-board free.

On the writing front, the chapter of AAA has been posted from my last mention, I snuck in a chapter of Jokers Wild 2, and am presently about halfway done with a chapter of Multimage Chronicles. That said, I also have two side-stories to work through for Multimage Chronicles, bioth pertaining to the years between the two Sets, and both will show the eventual change of cultural norms between the rest-of-world and the Mages. Neither story will be particularly earth-shattering, but both will have profound effects in time for the future. And, as always, I am looking toward the future of the Sigma Mercs stories, because I have sworn I will not give up.

Still dabbling in Visual Basic .Net 2017 to get myself used to the new coding and control procedures, but haven't really knuckled down on my programming as of yet. Been doing a lot of modded Falout 4 and just started in on the new Battletech game. but I've not yet completely given up on writing or coding. The story shall advance! ...probably not very fast, though.

OPEN CALL: If anyone wants to add side stories to any of my series, give me a shout. I know a few of you perspective authors have ideas, now I'm offering you a platform to make them real. Send me a PM if you're interested.

Here are the present chapter stats:

Archangel's Amazing Adventures: Section 6 is in operation, I initially planned 8 more sections and several one-shot destinations but am unsure if the dice will hold to that.
Dilemma of Flay Allster (Revised): Indeterminate chapter expectation, likely 2 to go.
Multimage Chronicles 1: Completed, have begun planning phases for MMC2.
Flight Of The Jokers Wild: 3 chapters remaining.
Inferno In Chicago: Chapter 1 up, planned 12 chapters. I really haven't touched this as I should have, but I think I will revisit it after I chew down some of my other obligations.
Sigma Mercenaries 0001R: Chapter 14 published, chapter 15 in concept phase. Got quite a while to go, so...
Sigma Mercenaries 0002R: Chapter 5 written. Chapter 6 written but awaiting other chapter timing. Short side story, nothing hugely special.
Sigma Mercenaries 0003: 1 more chapter to go in this first story.

Ops On Hiatus:
Section 4: No changes at this time, planned 10 chapters still to go.
Red Shift: No changes at this time, planned 40 chapters (small chapters)

Further updates to follow. Put 'em on safe and holster 'em, unless you are about to use 'em. You know the drill, people, stay safe out there.

PROFILE

Name: CSS_Stravag. CSS is the name of my old gaming clan, the Crack Suicide Squad, back when I almost became a professional computer gamer. If you know Battletech, you know what a Stravag is, unless you're one of those anti-canon llamas that disavows anything after 3048 :P

Alternate Name: "Thunder God" Stravag. If you've ever heard someone fire a .357 Mag with six shots in two seconds, you would understand why.

Age: somewhere over 25. End of story.

Location: United States, Ohio, South-central area.

Profession: Computer Technician (broad grounding in computers, networking, phone, system analysis, software.) Just promoted to specialist position.

Employed: Yes, same company as before, just under different duty sets.

Hobbies: home improvement, history, reading (sci-fi, techno thrillers, some fantasy), writing fan-fiction, programming, military and combat theory, target shooting (long range and close quarters). Listed in no particular order.

Best subjects back when I was in School/Vocational/College: Computers, English, History. I am good at chemistry and math, but to do them manually does not enthrall me. More recently, I prefer writing simple programs to do the scut work of the latter two subjects.

Likes: anime, manga, well-written and cohesive (i.e. logical) fanfiction, strategy and RPG video games, firearms, and those chalky yet tangy sweet-tart knock-off candies you can get out of the vending machines in a handful for a quarter. Well, when you take the list in a cost-analysis fashion, the sweet-tart-look-alikes are the cheapest on the list, hehe. Internet connections cost out the ass, strategy games cost severely, anime and manga are never cheap, ammunition costs two chunks of cheddar out the arse, especially for my .357 Mag. Oi, expensive tastes ;P

Dislikes: Statists. Those who broker power, those who amass power, those who blindly support the power.

General Description / Comments: Edited on 22 August 2008

Inasfar as the material I write, I have been doing so since I was 12. A bit of truth: I do not even remember what the original fics I wrote were about, nor do I have an active record or archive of them, but I can say with certainty that the works I write now are descended of those first forays. The story has gotten all that more complicated, more involved, and a lot more broad than initial, and any attempt to explain a brief overview of the plot to even the most anime-knowledgable of my comrades has collapsed after fifteen minutes. EDIT: Now that I am on a writing kick, I may revive these ye olde stories, clean them up, and post them. I still have some of the source files for the old Multimage Chronicles. It will take a lot of work getting everything cleaned up, though, as my writing style has changed drastically over the past two years, much less over the past twelve.

I am not blind to the realities around me, thus I am prone to write more realistic than sensational. This may make parts of what I read seem overly dry or go against canon, but in the end reality slaps all, usually hard enough to loose teeth. Reality is my friend, though a cold one; I find myself markedly stable even in times that others would be given to flights of fancy. Kind of unusual, really, but useful. And where others are sometimes surprised by reality, I am already prepared for it. Very useful in being a computer technician.

It's been a bit of a decade since I started writing here, and with almost 2 million words on the site I feel like I've done plenty but completed almost nothing. Some days I am more motivated to write, other days I am motivated to do some gaming, but I always come back to the writing -- that which is in my head does not leave until it is written. I've got plot bunnies for days, and some days it is a distraction that is almost insurmountable. Even if the underlying core material is no longer relevant (Gundam Seed, Battletech), I will keep writing just because it's worth it. I know there are some out there that read my stories still, and for anyone who does, thank you for the feedback if you are so inclined.

Stravag's Project Listing!

Present Stories (Still being updated or written):

Archangel's Amazing Adventures: In Progress, helluva long way to go. Due to massive fan feedback on this, I've decided to make it even longer and include more works. Min 13 sections to be executed..
The Dilemma of Flay Allster Revised: In Progress, at least 1 chapter to go.
Flight Of The Jokers Wild Rebuild: I am, at some time soon, going to back through and revise it while maintaining the original in an unaltered state.
The War Against Section 4: In Progress, a lot more to go before it is done. Little feedback on this one, but I am continuing working on it at some length. Do not give up hope, people! Section 4 will be thwarted!
Changing Fates: Red Shift: In Progress, planned 40 chapters with small net length per chapter.

Upcoming / In production:

Shadows Of Los Angeles: SWAT (movie) x Lethal Weapon Series crossover. Still in planning stages, so not much to say about it at this time.
Multimage Chronicles 2: The next part of the Mutlimage story will cement the Atrebas family into the progenitors of the Star Empires, and resolve a few standing conflicts for each of them.

Planned Operations:

Fury of the Jokers Wild: Set 3. 400 years later, new OC cast with roots all the way back to SEED, plenty of conflict even 400 years after the fact. And what is that dark shadow everyone thought was long gone?
Tales of Lodonia: A one-shot about some of the events in Lodonia during and after the Flight of the Jokers Wild. Possible Shani x Stella here, people. You have been warned.
Boldly Going Nowhere Fast: A one-shot about a Intrepid-III jumpship that gets marooned with a dead jump core, and the tales of what happens around it. Post Flight-JW, pre Fury-JW.

Ops On Hiatus:

None.

COMPLETED OPERATIONS:

Multimage Chronicles, Set 1: Completed at 26 chapters / 490K words

Legend Of The Jokers Wild Revised: Completed, 20 chapters / 470K words

REMOVED OPERATIONS:

Legend of the Jokers Wild: Story is outdated and is fully superseded by Legend of the Jokers Wild Revised.
The Dilemma Of Flay Allster: Story is outdated and fully superseded by Revised version.
Azalia In Wonderland: Story concept is rendered obsolete due to changes in the Flight JW story line. It was a good concept, but ultimately not necessary.
Flight of the Jokers Wild: Original version is rendered obsolete by changes in the Legend of the Jokers Wild Revised. TROs and further information will be included in Flight JW Revised.
The Inferno That Is Chicago: Original version has been superseded by the proper version for the revised Jokers Wild series.

Timeline and explanation of the MMC and JW series

Short explanation, the Multimage Chronicles and the Jokers Wild are two halves of the same epic crossover story, showing two different facets of a history that could be. At the core, it is a complex look at fate, destiny, life, honor and duty, told by way of the people that have to live with a grim destiny and by those trying to stave the inevitable fate of Existence. A look, in essence, on two solutions to one problem that may never be solved.

It started as a possibility, with only a few crossover elements, and blossomed into a massive story combining everything from Viking myth to Gundam SEED. The concept of the story was first designed by me in 1996, though little of that old tale remains intact outside the core concept. It has been severely modified five times, collapsed to oblivion twice, gained and lost elements by the hundreds, and has only become more bloody and gritty since the original writing.

Now, in 2009, I have planned and prepared long enough, and am finally ready to write down my take on Fate itself.

This is the general timeline of the story, as broken down into the story arcs, irrespective of the outcome of said events. As the story advances, I will update these entries with the major events of their respective timelines.

Multimage Chronicles

Set 1: Legend of the Founding

Set 2: The Empire of Mages

Set 3: Divine Retribution, Transcendent Journey

Set 4: The Star Empire Wars

Set 5: Years of Peace, Moments of War

Set 6: Quarter Moon, Thunderbolt of Retribution

Set 7: The Calm of Existence

Set 8: The Second Star League

Final: The Days of Ragnarok

The Jokers Wild

Set 1: Legend of the Jokers Wild (CE 71 to early CE 72)
--Side Story: Dilemma of Flay Allster (CE 72 to CE 74?)

Set 2: Flight of the Jokers Wild (CE 72 to CE 75)

Set 3: Fury of the Empire

Set 4: The Six Empires

Set 5: The Impossible is Defeated

Set 6: The Eternal Darkness

Set 7: The True Face of Fate
--Side Story Series: Sigma Mercenaries

Set 8: Homecoming

Final: The Days of Ragnarok

Stravag's Final Word:

If you read it, review it. Every author here, regardless of skill, aim, story type, or grammar is looking for feedback from his or her works. If you like it, tell them why. If you don't like it, tell them why. And no author is looking for flamers to drop them a pointless 'u suck' review. If you believe in these tenets, copy and paste it into your profile. Spread the love. Spread the reviews.