The Journal Entries: A historical reference

[Editors Note]
The following was taken from "Journal Entries -Commentary, Bibliography, and Glossary, posted 22 Apr 1991 (Yes, I know these are not in chronological order, but I felt that there was more continuity in this arrangement.)

[Noder's Note]
I do not believe this was composed by Elf, because in 1993 he stated he had not assembled any sort of a glossary.

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SOME VOCABULARY:

AI

Artificial Intellegence.

Angwurth

"iron death," cancer.

Ceep

From CP, Cyberpathic, able to interface with a computer without additional hardware.

Centaur

traditional Centaur.

Coimelin

Mate, lit. "Love of my life"

Eldarfaroth

(left as an exercise to the reader)

ELF

eldar-los-faunos, the holographic image an AI uses to represent hirself in public. lit, "ghost of an elf."

Felinzi

The smaller of the two feline species.

Gerion

A semi-feline race with serpentine lower torsos.

Markals

Anthropomorphized rodents.

Mephits

Anthropomorphized skunks.

Mustel

Anthropomorphized ferrets.

Nanobiotics

A specific variety of nanotech for medical purposes.

Nano-proph

Birth control-oriented nanotech

PADD

Personal Access to Data Display

Pallaeon Elen

lit "To the farthest star."

Pandora

A planet circling within the orbit of Pendor.

Pin

The sun of Pendor

Pindam

The moon of Pandora.

SAE

Solid Artificial Ergasythesis, a technique of powering nanotech from radiant sources.

Satryl

A feline satyr-like species.

SDisk

Teleporter platform

Securor

A variety of combat-oriented robot.

Shirow

A variety of powered armor.

SSphynx

A feline hexaped, or Cat-centaur.

Tindals

A blue-furred humanoid species with tentacular manipulators.

TDisk

A simple conveyance, a self-propelled tray.

Teek

from TK, Telekinetic

Tellakelvar

lit "The Last, The First To Run"

Tleil

Any animal grown in a tank.

Unczia

The larger of the two feline species.

Valturme

"Powered Armor"

Vatare

"Father", hence Vava: "Daddy"

Vy Dul Moria

"Head with a Hole," Empty-headed, stupid.

White's Theorem

"A space-faring species' first encounter with another space-faring species is most likely to be a distress signal."

Species Notes:

Centaurs, developed and decanted in the year 0000. The first two Centaurs were Paul and Carroll Lewis. They are classical centaurs, and as such have a native language of Greek.

Humans. Year 0003. Standard.

Felinzi. Year 0006. A light-weight Feline race, with a muted muzzle and a wide variety of fur patterns. Traditional Felinzi names consists of a first name prefixed with the first phenome of the family (or clan) name.

Unczia. Year 0008. The heavier feline race, averaging over 2.5 meters tall, covered in a grey, shaggy pelt. A design flaw gives them poor body-temperature maintainence; before this was corrected the majority of Unczia had established themselves in two climatorial belts running the circumferance of Pendor. These lands have become extremely valuable, and yearly physical competitions for the right to hold land in the UCZ have become traditional, with the land closest to the Vinyare' Ocean being the most sought-after.

Tindals. Year 0049. A less classical species, Tindals are blue-furred humanoids averaging about 175 cm. The fur color averages from light blue to deep indigo, although many Tindals have splotches of fur with no tinting to them whatsoever, making them white. More rare is a light grey coloring, and exceptionally rare is gold streaking. After the fur color, the most striking characteristic of Tindals is that rather than lever-hinge elbows, Tindals have supple tentacles slightly longer than human arms, ending in a large pad with opposoble thumb. This pad has no bones, so is extremely supple and variable in geometry. Although this makes them physically weak as a species, this is made up for somewhat by the fact that they evolved into a pre-existing technological base, and by their telepathic abilities, which are the strongest of any Pendorian species. Other characteristics include solidly-colored eyes, ranging from deep brown, through green and yellow and blue, and their exceptionally large ears, which stick straight up from the sides of the head. Some Tindals have a slight bend to the tips of their ears.

Satryl. A semi-feline humanoid race, they are relatively indistinguishable from Humans when fully dressed. Undressed, however, from the hips down the legs have a distinctly feline appearance, becoming thinner and stronger, with an even more feline foot than Felinzi have. A fine, dense fur runs up the back and sometimes exhibits itself as far as the cheeks of some individuals. The most common fur coloring pattern is a greyish-white shot through with orange and the common black circle-and-ring pattern most often assiciated with cheetahs.

Dolphin. Traditional.

Mephits. Year 0103. A more traditional anthropomorphosis of the common Skunk.

Ssphynx. Year 111. A hexapedal feline race, i.e. Cat Centaurs. A rather reserved and private species.

Dragons. Year 118. Traditional, and not quite all-organic. Dragons can reproduce normally, but the mechanisms of reproduction are accompanied by a symbiotically linked nanotech mechanism.

Markals. Year 122. Averaging 155 cm in height, Markals are a rodentine species. Although classically thought of as 'nervous,' Markals are actually quite calm.

Geryon. Year 116. A feline race with a large, fur-covered serpentine base rather than legs.

Pamthreats. Year 575. Technically, there were originally only two Pamthreats, although by accident these two formed a gestalt personality and are known collectively only as 'Karri.' Since I haven't written anything beyond Karri's mere existance, I'm leaving the future of her species up in the air.

Mustels. Averaging less than 100 cm, the Mustels are the smallest of the Pendorian species. Anthropomorphized ferrets.

- unknown

[Editors Note]
Here a long section relisting all titles to date was deleted.

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   And now the part that more or less belongs on alt.angst, but I'm putting here for archival reasons. Why I started writing the Journal Entries of Kennet R'yal Shardik. Skip it unless you're real curious.

   I started writing the Journal Entries down in 1981. At the time, I was at a very elite boarding school in Pennsylvania, the kind where I had to wear a tie and go to chapel daily. Daydreaming was my major source of escape. Especially since at the time I was going through a major depression, being 1800 miles from home and family. At the time, that seemed important.

   It all came to head on Thanksgiving, 1982, when I was stuck there for the holiday. By this time I had copious notes on characters, situations, a few scrawled maps, just to keep my fantasies straight. 'S funny how badly I wanted continuity. But I wasn't writing them down, not in any real way. Just keeping track of names and dates.

   But I was depressed, and that day, even the daydreams didn't help. I had created this character who was so much better off than I was, so I could escape into his world when I was in a bad mood, but it just wasn't helping. I guess if I'd wanted to identify more strongly with him, I could have given us the same first name, but I didn't.

   I can't explain what happened then. But I started talking to Ken, arguing with him. I guess I went just a little crazed. It finally came down to "Well, if you're not going to make me feel better, I'm going to make you feel worse!"

   At the time I had a character in my fantasies named "Donna," although everybody called her "Hyzen." (The name is left as an exercise for the reader). Shardik was very much in love with her, in a fatherly way, because she was the firstborn of Carroll, Shardik's firstborn Centaur, and about whom Ken has more than a few hangups. The fantasies about Donna were completely non-sexual; they were about the simpler things in life I wasn't being given because I had to be, well, 'preppie.'

   That afternoon I wrote down the first Journal Entry, and it went into a folder. It was six pages of hand-written story, in a very tiny block writing, in which Donna was killed during a visit to Terra, by anti-Pendor protestors. It was a sophmoric story on one level, but deep down it was rather revealing. Ken now was more miserable than I was, and that made me feel better. The villians told me who I was blaming (all of 'YOU', i.e. humanity), for what they were doing to me.

   In the end, it was a "write-or-swallow-a-whole-bunch-of-pills-and-see-what-happens-next" night, and I chose to write.

   Which is why I'm still here today. And why I'm still writing. I suppose I could have followed the path of my friend, Mark K., whose writing took him down the dark path to madness and murder, and who is now incarcerated in the State Mental Health Facility outside of Montreal. But I chose to keep at the higher side, the more fun.

   So why are they being posted now? Well, I've only had my computer for two years. It's kind of hard to post without one. But also, I've only recently begun to move away from the wish-fulfilment tales I wrote when I was younger. Don't take this badly, but while I enjoy writing erotica and science-fiction, this does give me a forum to express my personal opinions and to subject you to them. So far I seem to be doing okay.

   But on a distinct level, Donna died for me. And I doubt I could ever forget this. I don't care if you care to disbelive this, but just writing that phrase, "Donna died..." hurts. Hurts a lot. Even now

   Oh, and I did mention a soundtrack. Forget it. I looked at the first few entries and said, "They'll never believe me." They were:

• Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 in G Major
• Iron Maiden Flight of Icarus
• Sheena Easton Sugar Walls

   I decided no one would ever believe my 'writing' tape has a list like that, so I decided to forgo the list. But, I should mention that two of the pieces on the tape are Tom Leher's "SMUT!" and the opening soundtrack to BubbleGum Crisis (if you have to ask...).

   So, what else do y'all want to know? I've been thinking of a B&W GIF of a few simple maps. Shouldn't be that big a deal.

         Elf !!!

- Elf Sternberg

[Editors Note]
Well, this marks the end of what I have that has been posted. I hope this has cleared up some confusion.
Enjoy!

Well, that's all she wrote. This certainly was enlightening for me when I read it after reading most of the Journal Entries, and I hope it was for you too.