Official Guardians of Enthia Wiki now live!

That's right. You've heard it first here, folks.

Now, we all love Guardians of Enthia. But sometimes, the lore is just too damn complex. Like, who is this Staav guy? What is this faux-Bible shit? Why are fantasy black people so damn racist?

Fortunately I have now developed a way to answer all these questions and more using the *Official* Guardians of Enthia wiki. Use it as your guide through the Region of Spring, with either new pages added or updated every day! (Just look out for spoilers, though. Currently I am working on making the wiki as spoiler free as possible).

That's all for now. Either take it with you on your first journey through GoE, use it to clarify details of what you've already read, or use it as a podium for your fanfiction. The possibilities are endless!

Haven't started reading GoE? You can start it by going here.


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Twitter: @CodexofAegis
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Codex of Aegis Compilation: Now In-editing

So, as it turns out, I forgot to post about how I had finished putting in all the content into the first Codex of Aegis compilation book and how I had now gone on to the editing process. I had also forgot to update the main progress post. And we started in editing about a month ago. Whoops.

But at least now you all know. In addition to this, it is now very likely we'll make a Winter 2015 release date. Once we get done with editing, I'll start making all the hype posts about where you can get it and such things, but as for now this is all. And yes, I'm aware half of the sentences in this are awful. I just woke up, give me a break.


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Twitter: @CodexofAegis
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New game! The Tower!

Play here: http://www.kongregate.com/games/Astuka/the-tower-demo

The Tower is a dumb little game I made to test out my mad skillz in Unity. Using it, I was able to at least learn that I am really, really terrible with lighting placement. Feel free to recommend me places where I should put lights, and where I should take them out.

Now that the game is done, it means all my focus will be exclusively on the compilation book (and my summer assignments, but that's another thing all together.)


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Twitter: @CodexofAegis
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Some changes to Codex of Aegis: Volume I

Well, about three months worth of work and it looks like we're finally in the home stretch.

As most of you who have been following close know, I have had the firm intention to release at least something in summer 2015, and now that seems like its a reality. However, I have had to change some things.

First of all, though I originally intended put up all of the stories that have been released so far on the blog, I'm now cutting that down to the halfway point, stopping at "The Creation of Annoa". The reason for this is that if I were to write commentaries for all of them, it would likely take another 3 months, meaning a total of 6 -- as well as missing the summer release date. That, and I just didn't think I could write enough unique commentaries for every single one. Even with the few I did, near the end they ended up just being short paragraphs that could be summed up as "Ah, yes. This one was bad. Some of my others are bad too. Huh.".

Fortunately I still do have over 80 pages of work in terms of the short stories alone, and I also plan to be making it up in the form of Guardians of Enthia. I was originally only going to include the ones I have posted, but now I'm doing all the ones that I've finished -- an additional 6 chapters that, at least for the time being, will only be available in Codex of Aegis: Volume I!

Another thing I'm changing is the "stories that never made it". As it turns out, I pulled a John Green and thought I made something that I actually didn't. As it turns out, ALL stories that I worked on for Codex of Aegis have either been put or are eventually going to be put on the site. I guess that just goes to show how low the quality baseline for this is.

So anyway, to replace that, I'm going to be adding some classics -- and I'm not talking "Astuka Goes Back" old, I'm talking full on, 2nd-3rd grade writing. It's going to be awful. And embarrassing. But hey, it's content!

Anyway, that's all for now. Next post will probably be when the compilation book is done. As always, the main update post will continue to be... er... updated.


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Twitter: @CodexofAegis
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Codex of Aegis Collection: Volume 1 Progress Post

As the hiatus is going on, I've decided to fill the few of you in by posting my progress, as well as any important events, on this single post. This is dynamic, so I'll be editing this one over time instead of just making multiple posts.

As taken from the meta-blog "State of the Union":

First off, in the last post I hinted at the idea of a Codex of Aegis compilation ebook, with extra features, commentary, and the rest of the works. It was originally slated for Winter 2014, but it never came out -- and that was purposeful on my part. To make sure I would have enough content to work with in making the book, I decided to set a point in which I finally start making it after I upload X amount of stories. Well, as of today, the X amount has been reached -- so I'm now announcing that Codex of Aegis will go on hiatus while I'm busy compiling it. I plan to add the following:

• All stories from the blog's inception up until today's

• Commentary/critique on each one

• A special "Astuka Looks Back" section

• A few chapters to a book that was originally going to be released in 2014 but will now be later

As for price and release date, I'm still working on it -- though I hope to finish by at least Summer 2015. 

Here are the current sections that are done (stuff in bold are headers, and doesn't mean that that entire section is done):

LAST UPDATED: 8/12/15

Introduction

The Codex of Aegis Collection

The Darkness/Commentary

Fu Chen and the Journey To Macau/Commentary

Some things are not to be repeated/Commentary
The Prisoner of Steubenville Penitentiary/Commentary
Dreams/Commentary
The Three Laws of Robotics/Commentary
The Gate/Commentary
The OTACON Series/Commentary
Stay/Commentary
Time/Commentary
The Light/Commentary
Too Late/Commentary
Her Name Was Amanda/Commentary
Adamkhuni/Commentary
The Job/Commentary
The Johnny Rocket Show/Commentary
The Creation of Annoa/Commentary

Guardians of Enthia

Introduction
The Guardians of Enthia

Astuka Looks Back
Introduction
Astuka Looks Back
The "Other" Ones

Introduction
Guardians of Enthia, First Draft
Guardians of Enthia, Second Draft
Collection of Early Stories

Crossroads
Introduction
Crossroads

On to editing!

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Twitter: @CodexofAegis
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Guardians of Enthia -- Chapter III

[A quick notice that this might be the last post for a while. Just keeping this up just in case I don't find time to give the update by the time of the next two weeks. Don't worry -- the update is good.]

Even in the lands of sorcery and monsters, there are still characters most would find unamusingly dull. Garth Monty, captain of the Eyrican City Watch, is one of them.

To be fair, to most foreigners Eyricans are a fairly bland race all together. Their origins stem from the same ancestors as most elves, however they lack any of the distinct features. To the reader, these Eyricans were the preamble to the common Annoan and Human races. Despite their blandness as a species, they make up most of the Groundlands council and most are fairly high on the societal ladder.

Back to the scene at hand, Garth sat a pale wood desk, with two of his inferiors sitting across from him. These fellow Eyricans were known to those who knew them as the Staav Brothers, Yui and Alistair.

Being the one on the offensive in this intense discussion, Garth was the only one to find the ease to recline back in his chair. “I don't care who your mother, father, father's father, or ANYONE you might have stemmed from is. You are under my banners, and so you will follow my orders.”

This was brought up in light that the Staav brothers did actually have some royalty in their blood; that of Relico, the man who united the warring city-states together to what we have all been introduced to as the Groundlands. To this day the family still lived in a light of fame and wealth, that the Staav brothers had not known since they were teenagers, and kicked out due to their lack of 'work ethic'.

“Listen, I'll be honest with you, Monty-”

“That's Captain, to you.”

Alistair, who said the previous words, had to recollect the rest of them in result of Garth's interruption.

“I'll be honest with you, I don't even know what the two of us have done.”

And it was true; Yui and Alistair had only came in moments before this part began, and being told to come by the watch courier, who told them no words besides that of 'The captain wants to see you', the state of confusion of the brothers was at an all time high.

“You know exactly what I mean, implying the rumors are true,” Garth growled at the former speaker, “and the fact that these rumors come from men much more trustworthy than you do not defend your case.”

“Please tell me this isn't about-”

“The brothel?”

“Gah!”

At this reaction, the senior Staav gave an audible sigh. “Captain,” Yui began to reason himself into the conversation, “If you think the actions of my buffoon of a brother are a reflection of my own character, you are sorely mistaken.”

“Yes, that's – well – well yes it is true, but I would also like to say that the visitation of the aforementioned gentleman's house does not condone harsh treatment on my part, either.” Despite Alistair's leaking of wit, Garth seemed entirely unamused.

“It's not the where in this case. It's the time.” In order to emphasize this, at the last word Garth gave a sharp blow to the desk, attracting the eyes of the room to the pocket-watch near it's epicenter. “You directly left your post, and it is with that I have to give you unpaid suspension your watch for two fortnights.”

“Two fortnights! For visiting a brothel?”

“No, for leaving during your watch.”

“But, let's be honest – this is just because of the brothel, is it not?”

“Alistair, if I suspended every man for trying to get inside of a cheap wench, we wouldn't have a watch.”

Seemingly satisfied with this rebuttal, Alistair laid down his assault; which lead to Garth coming back to a previously mentioned point.

“Yui, the reason I bring you here is that I would like you to take your brother's watch in these two fortnights. In reward, you will get his pay.”

“What!”

While Garth looked at Alistair sharply due to his interjection, Yui came into realizing that he had no other choice but to say yes.

After the brothers found themselves back on the roads, Alistair was the first to speak.

“So, are you going to give me the pay I deserve?”

“Deserve? You think I'd like to have two watches? I'll be working a full day for two fortnights because of your lack of a brain!”

“Yes, but aren't you happy you get more coin now?”

At this, Yui let out a sigh much sharper than the last, leading into the muttered namecalling of a certain sibling being a 'fool' and the beginning of a trek to the long walk back to the barracks.


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Twitter: @CodexofAegis
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A Drop of Jupiter

The lights of the Ellis stationwagon flickered as they went through the night.

Burris Ellis had always made a decent living doing what all his relative's before him did – growing the plants and breeding the animals on the Ellis family farm. Unlike the other farmers in his county he was not much one of superstition; he didn't believe in aliens and didn't read the bible, both of which are considered grave sins in the community. Of course, Burris didn't believe in the act of sin either.

So when Burris saw the bright blue flame streak across the sky, he thought it was what any city-folk would think it would be – a comet. It wasn't until after the shaking and the boom that Burris decided to investigate.

In the clearing the comet created, there was nothing but ash – nothing but ash and a small metal sphere in the center of it all. The Ellis Patriarch examined the sphere closely – despite its strong impact on Earth, the sphere was perfectly rounded. A quick hand raised above the sphere revealed that it was not hot at all, but rather the opposite – an icy cold irradiated the surface of the iron.

If Burris didn't believe in the supernatural before, he sure did now.

Suddenly, the sphere began to change – to form and contort all over. Blue lights turned on from inside the capsule, as it opened up to reveal a beautiful blonde woman, completely naked.

Burris stumbled back, managing to get caught under a tree root and fall. To the noise that he made upon impact the woman turned around to look him straight in the eyes. Her eyes glowed blue just as the sphere did.

“W-w-wh-who are you?” Burris managed to stuttered out.

“Amanda.” Before Burris was even able to continue Amanda fired with a question of her own: “Do you know how to get to Steubenville from here?”

“Uh, yeah. It's a few miles up the road,” He pointed in the direction, “I can show you-”

Before he could even finish, the woman was already walking to his car. With a jolt of electricity from her hand she opened the door, and with another jolt she turned on the car.

Burris shouted at her and attempted to chase, but by the time he got himself out of the root she was no where in site.

The next day he told everyone, but the police, seeing he fit the farmer stereotype, decided not to believe him then. The fellow farmers, however, knew he was not suspicious – knew that he wouldn't be saying these things unless he saw it, and it was unmistakable that he saw it.

Either way, a new creature descended from the heavens that day. And her name was Amanda.


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Twitter: @CodexofAegis
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The Fjord Preamble

Why do we fight?

Men have always done it. They would start fights when they were angry at another, when they had something to protect, or when they needed to protect themselves. But that was personal conflict. That made sense.

When civilization finally came along, these were no longer excuses for fighting. Civilizations couldn't be angry, because they were not people. Nor were organizations or corporations. Yet even then, they got the support of people to fight their wars. Wars were no longer personal – they were fought over religions, over resources, and sometimes for no reason at all.

That's how it still is. The majority of us tend to dislike war, yet we never think of what the war is fought for in the first place. We never realize that we've never been forced to fight a war, that one day we can all sit down and not do anything.

I'd like to see their war then.


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Twitter: @CodexofAegis
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A Knock at the Door

There was a knock at the door. With a sigh and a heave off his chair, Jim Greenson decided to check to see who it is, to which he could not believe.

With his main arm he opened the door to see the same figure, but could still barely believe it.

Her brilliant dark red hair, storm green eyes, and fair, soft skin. It was her.

“Anna.” Jim simply said to her.

“Jimmy.”

He opened the door wider, giving her a chance to walk in, put her bag down, and sit on the armchair across from where Jim would sit only a few seconds later.

“So,” Jim began, continuing to eye Anna suspiciously, “What brings you back?”

“I've been visiting the entire city actually. All of my old friends, the park, the schools – figured it would only make sense to see you again as well.”

“The park? Did you see the swing set that broke your arm that one time to give it a few punches?”

Anna gave a slight smile to the comment, but it was simply a mask. Her smile was just as cold and stoic as the delivery of Jim's witty comment.

“No, the swings are no longer there. I would've if they were there, though.”

Jim gave her a smile of the same intensity as the one she gave him.

There was a moment of silence, before Anna picked up a nearby picture of Jim smiling a real smile and standing next to a brown haired girl in a softball outfit.

“What's her name?”

“Savannah.”

“Does she have a mother?”

Jim shook his head. “I adopted her from the Saints Orphanage.”

Anna gave an 'Oh' that was inaudible but could be read easily on her lips.

“And what school does she go to?”

“Concave High-school.”

She nodded with mixed approval. “I remember what happened to those kids who went there awhile ago. That was awful.”

“Yeah, but it was when she didn't go there. This is her first year.”

“I guess she's at school now, I take it?”

Jim shook his head again. “Nope, she's with her friends at the mall.”

Anna gave a smile, which was genuine but not directed towards Jim. Instead, she was reminiscing. “I remember when we all used to hang out at Sunrow Ridge when we were in high school. Us girls would all hang out on one side of the mall while the men were on the other side, and we would always pretend we wouldn't notice each other even though we always did.”

There was another lapse of silence, until Anna spoke up yet again. “Well, you certainly have a nice house. I guess you really made it with your writing career after all.”

Jim nodded, but it didn't stop him from going on the offensive. “I guess it was a bit better than – what are you doing now, waiting tables?”

Anna sighed, finally seeing now that what she was trying so desperately to avoid was the inevitable.

“Listen, I did what I had to do, you know that.”

Anna expected Jim to lash out at her, but instead he stayed calm and said the following:

“I don't care what you had to do, but I don't hate you. I'm not even mad at you. I couldn't be if I tried, even after all these years. It's just that – it's just that occasionally, still hurts.”

The two stayed silent, yet now felt a lot more soothed in Jim's company. Finally he got up, and made his way to the fridge.

“I want something to drink. Do you want anything?”

Anna shook her head. “No thank you, I think I might head out in a little anyway.”

Once again, there was nothing but the sound of the fridge opening, and a refreshment being poured in. Anna felt like this was finally the point in which she could be forgiven. To move on from this point in her life.

But she was wrong.

The pain came only after the realization that there was pain to be felt. She heard the noise, and felt the soft dripping of liquid, to which she look down to see the blood run from her chest.

In that moment, there was nothing. No anger, no sadness. No inane rant from Jim on which why he did it. Anna just looked up with her shocked eyes to him and his revolver, and mouthed only a single word.

“Why?”

And that was the last thing she would say, because the second shot was lethal.

Jim sat down in his armchair. He didn't bother thinking of what was going to happen to him in the next few hours. He just sat and thought about the moment. About how he had just finished what he needed to. How he could move on from this point in his life.

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Twitter: @CodexofAegis
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Guardians of Enthia -- Chapter II

As Princess Aladicci got off the zeppelin, she was met with three things – the autumn breeze of the Enthian dock, a marred man with a greatsword holstered on his back, and a naïve yet charming young man she knew as Warius Skyranger.

“Need a hand, mi'lady?” Warius extended his hand to the gowned princess as the other man in attendance watched carefully. She graciously accepted his hand, and stepped off the boat. A few Kharidi guards stepped in behind her.

“It's been a long time, Warius. Too long.” She offered her childhood friend a warm hug, which he gladly accepted.

“Actually, it's captain to you,” Warius grinned, as Aladicci's face lit up at the notion. “Got my own ship and everything.”

She congratulated him, but stopped as to look at the man off to the side. Suddenly, she had an epiphany – “Wait a minute, I do believe I recognize you as well.”

“Perhaps you do, my lady.” For such a tough look, the scarred man's voice came out as fairly soothing.

“You're the Wolf, aren't you?”

“Yes, mi'lady – that's me.”

“They say you killed 20 people at the Battle of Blackboar with your own hands. Is that true?”

Though the notion gave the Wolf a grin, he nevertheless answered piously. “I don't tend to listen to what folks say about me, good or bad.”

Aladicci smiled back at him, before turning towards Warius yet again. “Well, shall you show me to my room like the peasant you are.”

Warius grinned yet again. “Peasant and poor, my lady.”

As Warius left with the princess and a battalion of Kharidi warriors, the Wolf simply watched them until they were out of view, sighed, and began to help the zeppelin prepare for its journey back home.


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