Re: Othaglot and Cane - Story Thread
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">If that's all it turns out to be I'll be well pissed off. Thanks for the advice though, I'll try it.

That's a bit crappy if it won't accept relative addresses- it will make code a hell of a lot less flexible and portable.

It will also require me making changes to over 150 files...

EDIT: Changed a few files (menu, first 6 chapters of )&C) and uploaded them- see if that makes a difference

[ May 27, 2004, 15:08: Message edited by: dogscoff ]

Re: Othaglot and Cane - Story Thread
 

I think that relative addresses will work inside the JS code. Where I don't think they work is in the HTML that tells the browser where to get the source. That's what I meant -- the source for the frames themselves. Why does the sci_fi.js file still have no URL reference? It's just a bald file name.

Edit:
BTW, the errors I got on the early Version with IE were 'permission' related. So that makes me think that your remaining problems could be with the stricter security of browsers like Mozilla.

[ May 27, 2004, 16:54: Message edited by: Baron Munchausen ]

Re: Othaglot and Cane - Story Thread
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Heh... that's one of the few places I *have* used full paths.

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Well... because it's in the same directory. I don't have to include full paths for every single .gif file I reference do I?

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">OK, well at least that gives me another angle of attack to this problem. Take the timestamp of this post and add ten minutes, and from then there will be a new Version to test. Thanks for all your help so far.

Re: Othaglot and Cane - Story Thread
 

Just had a thought... Does the Quote-o-matic work for you? I thought it did. It does in Opera anyway, which refuses the menus.

That uses the same javascript files as everything else, so if that works, the problem can't be that the files aren't getting read...

Re: Othaglot and Cane - Story Thread
 

OK, big leap forward, with the help of Opera's javascript console. The problem (as far as opera is concerned anyway) was that I was using
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">code:</font><hr /><pre style="font-size:x-small; font-family: monospace;">createElement(&quot;&lt;A&gt;&quot;)</pre><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">instead of </font><blockquote><font size="1" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">code:</font><hr /><pre style="font-size:x-small; font-family: monospace;">createElement(&quot;A&quot;)</pre><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">IE managed to work around this, but Opera lacked the imagination. Opera is now working fine. Does this improve matters with Mozilla etc?

[ May 28, 2004, 10:02: Message edited by: dogscoff ]

Re: Othaglot and Cane - Story Thread
 

Well, since the result hasn't changed here I would assume the reference thing wasn't the problem for Mozilla. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif But in the Mozilla Javascript Console (which I just discovered in the Last week or so) I'm getting a 'syntax error' for each js file. It seems to be some sort of 'comment' at the beginning of the file rather than the code.

< !DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//IETF//DTD HTML 2.0//EN">

Is that the JS file or some other file on your server? When I click on it and get the details it looks like a 404 error page, because it says "The requested URL /fiction/general_functions.js was not found on this server." Weird.

Edit: What is especially weird is that I can load those files in seperate windows. No '404' error when you go for them directly. It looks like the problem might be something to do with the frames.

[ May 28, 2004, 15:26: Message edited by: Baron Munchausen ]

Re: Othaglot and Cane - Story Thread
 

Hrm...

Now I look at the source for the Quote-o-matic frame.

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">code:</font><hr /><pre style="font-size:x-small; font-family: monospace;">&lt; script language=&quot;JavaScript&quot; type=&quot;text/javascript&quot; SRC=&quot;../../extern.js&quot;&gt;&lt; /script&gt;
&lt; script language=&quot;JavaScript&quot; type=&quot;text/javascript&quot; SRC=&quot;../sci_fi.js&quot;&gt;&lt; /script&gt;
&lt; script language=&quot;JavaScript&quot; type=&quot;text/javascript&quot; SRC=&quot;../../general_functions.js&quot;&gt;&lt; /script&gt;</pre><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Why the double ../ thing? It seems to work, though, while the direct reference does not... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/rolleyes.gif

Edit:
Another possibility is that body tag containing an 'onload' statement. Could you move the 'onload' statement to a seperate tag, maybe even after the script references?

[ May 28, 2004, 15:38: Message edited by: Baron Munchausen ]

Re: Othaglot and Cane - Story Thread
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">because some of the .js files are in my webspace's root directory, and others are in root/fiction. THis is deliberate, becasue I thought I might one day use general_functions in other areas of my website.

That means that to reference them from a subdirectory of fiction (ie root/fition/stories) you have to use either ../ to go up one level or ../../ to go up two levels. It works.

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I'm pretty sure this is how javascript is supposed to work, in all browers.

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">No, i really don't think it is. Like I say, changing this createElement commands fixed it in Opera. Please try again, and make sure you hit refresh so you're not looking at a Cached Version.

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">This doesn't appear in any of my files, it's added by the browser to identify the various Versions of Languages, protocols and things being used.

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Try www.dogscoff.co.uk/general_functions.js instead of www.dogscoff.co.uk/fiction/general_functions.js

Thanks for your help with the testing BTW Baron. I really ought to name you a character, I think a Munchausen would fit quite nicely into one of the Courier stories...

***********************

Anyway, in order to celebrate my triumphant victory over Opera (if not Mozilla) I have decided to post here chapter 30. Also because I can't be arsed to mark it up and upload it to my site=-)
This still might be subject to a little tweaking, but i don't think it will change much between now and chapter 31 (which is at least half-finsihed, btw.)

Chapter 30
A tide of crimson ran across the surface of the slab and poured down the irregular sides, striping the stone platform as blood filled familiar channels in the uneven floor. The twitching carcass was held aloft to the cheering of the crowd as the priest offered prayers to Odin and Heimdall, and then passed back to the roasting spit and behind me somewhere a deep, throbbing drum began an urgent rhythm. It occured to me that I hadn't read of any such ritual in the ancient norse cults, but the hooting, hollering people all around me didn't seem to care much for historical accuracy. For what it was worth, neither did I.

I was drunk again.

Then again, it was my party in a way, so I felt I was justified. I threaded my way to the back of the semi-circular audience, shouting greetings to everyone I saw. Eventually Bern, a great hairy heap of a man I had spent the day working with, broke free from a group of revellers and stood before me, grinning. With exageratted, Earthly courtesy he bowed and asked me to dance. I decided to give it a try. Following Bern's example, I jumped up and down, flailing limbs randomly. I had to admit to a certain feeling of liberation, and Bern certainly seemed to be enjoying himself. I decided that he deserved it, having worked ceaselessly all day with his crew. He grinned at me once more, and a quick look into his booze-fuzzy mind showed me that he had some kind of romantic interest in me. He wasn't the first, and I wondered just why that should be. Obviously I was playing my role as a female very effectively, but it seemed odd to me that these humans could take such an attitude to someone so obviously alien in form. Perhaps human relationships are more emotional and intellectual than physical, making them more ready to ignore the biological divide. Perhaps curiosity was the underlying motivation. Bern winked at me through the bruise I had inflicted a week previously on his left eye. Perhaps the heavy intoxicants, hot weather and unbalanced gender ratio on this isolated clump of land had scrambled his simple brains beyond all reason.

I decided to stop worrying about it, it kept me in free drinks, and I confess to having developed quite a partiality for a mug of something cold at the end of a day's work. I caught Bern's attention with my left eye and looked down at my empty beer-mug with my right. He caught the hint eventually and trotted off to fetch me a refill. Within hours of arriving here nineteen days ago I had learned that this simple, macho culture appreciated strong, assertive women. The meek were either almost entirely disregarded and often mistreated, but anyone willing to earn respect through hard work and combat would assuredly earn it. I had no problems living up to this expectation, and several of my friends and admirers here sported minor injuries to prove it.
"Great party, Faf, thanks" called Danger, one of the project's technical instructors.
"It's not my party," I returned, "it's Hammer's." But he wasn't stupid. He just laughed and returned to his conversation, mead sloshing from his brimming mug to his boots.

The drumming stopped abruptly, and the dancing with it as everyone turned back to the centre of the stone circle. Tor Hammer was across the platform, carefully disguising his distaste as he splashed through the sacrificial puddle. He had picked the hour when the setting sun shone between the stones and directly onto the great central slab, making the animal blood look deep and rich like an exotic fabric draped over the altar. Apparently the stone circle had been erected by some other retro-cult: pagans or druids or something, who had later abandoned the island for reasons of their own. The Vikings had moved in some years later, and Hammer seemed to have no qualms about using the trappings of another cult to entertain his own.

In contrast to when I had first met him, he now wore full viking garb. I couldn't be sure with the cheap translator I now used but I think he also modified his accent and language, pitching it down to a level more readily accepted by his followers. The man was a fraud, and I disliked him intensely for it.
"Vikings!" He shouted, raising his arms for the inevitable cheer. "This is a great day!" He smiled and laughed as the cheering continued, then eyed the crowd for silence. "This is a great day." He repeated, this time toning down the triumphant edge tha twould have illicitted another cheer. "Today we have passed a major milestone on the road to Asgard, and tonight we celebrate!" More cheering, but inwardly I just chuckled. There was no milestone, the whole party had been invented just to boost morale. It hadn't been my idea- I had sensed the despondancy among the island's occupants and stolen the brainwave for a party from one of the security staff, presenting it to Hammer as my own. A cheap trick I know, but my life depended on maintaining his goodwill. So far it seemed to be going well. Someone at the back of the crowd threw a full mug over the sea of heads in celebration, and soon the air was thick with riotous laughter and the sound of projectile beermugs clanging off of helmets.

Hammer continued to smile passively at the spectacle, but I sensed deep impatience behind the placid facade. Eventually the laughter died down again and attention was focussed on the man at the altar once more. "Soon, the dream we have dreamed for so many long years will become reality. History will remember us as the parents of a new way, the Way of the Warrior brought to life!" Once again, I sensed insincerity. Details of Hammer's true background and distinctly un-warriorlike nature were carefully hidden from the vikings that followed him, who probably wouldn't have identified with his well educated, middle-class roots. Instead he maintained an eleborate history of working man made good, carefully calculated to appeal to the broadest possible demographic within the organisation. It amazed me that such a blatant lie could persist so long in this informed day and age, but his followers were precisely the kind of people who wouldn't bother to snoop into another man's personal history. The Viking culture was centred around story-telling, trust and honour. Once you were accepted you could get away with almost anything, as I was discovering myself.
I listened to him carry on in this vein for a half-minute or so, placing great emphasis on words like dignity, honour, courage and freedom, all the while noting that his emotions failed to live up to the enthusiasm of his words. He kept it short, however, well aware that his audience only had a limited patience for speeches, and soon the party was underway again.
Once he'd finished talking he caught my eye and held it significantly. He wanted to talk to me.

I straightened myself and tried to shake off some of the intoxication, reluctantly refusing the mead Bern had just returned with. Obviously I couldn't afford to fall out of favour with Hammer, but sometimes- particularly when I had been drinking- I resented the obedience I showed him and the ease with which that obedience came. He certainly possessed a naturally autocratic air, but I think the years of commands and discipline within Frontier Order made me crave authority: I had certainly felt lost since leaving the commonwealth and being cut off from my chain of command.

Now, however, I was back inside a structure, and I admit to feeling almost at home there. Technically, I was Hammer's second in command. At first I had been surprised at the level of trust he was prepared to invest in me, but it soon became clear that he had little choice. In spirit he was a no more a viking that I was, and he desperately wanted to avoid any kind of personal contact with his viking followers, for fear that they would see through his disguises and expose his true nature, which would almost certainly cost him his leadership. Using my psychic skills and supposed experience of the Viking Way, he therefore wanted me to be his interface between the clan and its leader, mingling with them, learning about their needs, wants and worries, and informing him so that he could adapt his image and policies accordingly and present himself as the perfect leader. Similarly, I had to communicate in the other direction, interpretting his ambitions into instructions and guidance that would be readily accepted by his followers.

Olric had done this job for several years, but Olric had been an idealist- something no-one could ever accuse Hammer of- and inevitably there had been a disagreement. About a year ago Hammer had arrogantly decided that he didn't need him after all, and sent him on the mission to steal the armour designs on Earth, and then the other technology from the Outlier where he had met his untimely end. Hammer admitted to me more than once that sending Olric away had been his greatest mistake. He hadn't particularly like him, but they had worked well together and he had soon realised how much he was needed. Things started to slide and he soon felt himself losing his grip on the clan, so naturally he tried to find a replacement. He had taken on a woman named Brynhilde, but she only Lasted around six months before she 'retired'.

Apart from his lack of any real connection to his followers, Hammer's other great failing was his paranioa, although in many ways it was well-justified. This project had been his idea. He had provided the funding, the organisation and the political contacts needed to make it work. However at this late stage he was practically redundant, and it would soon reach the point where almost anyone with decent administrative skills could pick it up. He was scared that someone would realise this and decide to replace him. Of course, if he had known the people who served him, he would have known that the kind of arbitrary betrayal he personally specialised in was completely contrary to their nature, but I suppose it was entirely possible that Olric's replacement had really been trying to take over the operation. After all, Hammer would necessarily had to have taken on another 'true' viking like Olric- who would soon grown to know and despise the man behind the facade- or a callous, ambitious cycnic like the one I was impersonating, who would have slit his throat as soon as it became convenient. I don't know which Category this Brynhilde had fallen into, but by all accounts she simply disappeared one day a few months ago.

Since then Hammer had been running the clan on his own, and it showed. In that time his own self-importance and the extreme secrecy that was a product of his paranoia had distanced himself further and further from his followers, and he had tried to compensate with brutal and oppressive management. Morale had hit an all time low and his worries of a rebellion had started to look like a self-fulfilling prophecy. Hammer had been getting desperate, and it seems I had dropped into his life at just the right moment to land in the ill-fated boots once worn by headless Olric and the vanished Brynhilde.

Of course, had he known the real me, he'd have known that I was about the Last person anyone could possibly hope to pick for such a role. It had therefore been an enormous surprise and relief that I was actually very good at it. I had spent at least a day with each and every work crew and training team, talking to the clan members, mapping their minds and getting a real insight into their mentality. What's more, I had enjoyed it. At first, it had just felt good to work again. Ever since leaving the Commonwealth I had been more or less at a loose end, and simply killing time was completely against my nature. Therefore I found even the hard, manual labour and training critical to project Asgard to be satisfying experiences. My enthusiasm gained me respect from my comrades, and soon I found myself appreciating their friendship as well as their dogged endurance and enthusiasm for their work. It was customary to sink a few pints at the end of the day and before long I began to enjoy this as well.

That's why I was experiencing a wide variety of conflicting emotions as I made my way through the crowd towards the altar. First among them though, was fear. Today had been the day, the day he was supposed to take delivery of the stolen technology I didn't have and he badly wanted. I knew I would have to talk quickly, or he would be looking for yet another replacement.

[ May 28, 2004, 23:40: Message edited by: dogscoff ]

Re: Othaglot and Cane - Story Thread
 

Just downloaded both Mozilla 1.6 and firefox 0.8. There is some graphical wierdness on the left-hand menu in both browsers (which I can explain but not yet fix- result of lazy coding, basically), but everything else works perfectly.

So, just to recap:
IE 6: Works perfectly.
Opera 7: Works perfectly.
Mozilla 1.6: Works well enough, some graphical wierdness.
Firefox 0.8: Works well enough, some graphical wierdness.
Netscape: Dunno, but I'm hopeful...
IE on Mac: Dunno, it wasn't working Last week but I'm hopeful now.
Lynx: Not bloody likely.

*dogscoff feels smug.

Re: Othaglot and Cane - Story Thread
 

I've started getting run time errors under IE...
All I can see are the random quotes, and the story links are cut off.
Line 113: Object dosen't support this property or method

With Mozilla, the story links are there, but they just change the random quote instead of bringing up the story http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif .

Re: Othaglot and Cane - Story Thread
 

No change here. Still no graphics on the left-hand side. I am using Mozilla 1.5 but I don't think there would be that much difference between two minor Versions. But... I clicked the Quote-o-matic a few times to get an O&C quote and then clicked the story link in the top frame. It worked! I can enter the O&C story reader from the Quote-o-matic but not from the normal menu on the left frame.

The links that you posted to the js files don't work if I click them. I get 'not found' again. And yet those same files work in the Quote-o-matic. It really does seem to be a file access problem. Let's try using the same double ../ on the left frame as you use in the quote-o-matic?

Edit: Oops, forgot I was running in 'high security' mode. Just checked the 'allow scripts to change images' box in Mozilla and now I can report that I've got the same situation as SJ. The graphics appear now, but clicking the story button just changes the Quote-o-matic.

The chapter is numbered 31, not 30. Did you skip something? Or is that just a typo?

[ May 28, 2004, 21:53: Message edited by: Baron Munchausen ]

Re: Othaglot and Cane - Story Thread
 

Unbelievable... It works fine in 1.7, really it does. As for not working in IE... what Version?

I really can't get my head around this, it works!

EDIT: S_J, it was typo. fixed now.

Is *anyone* seeing it properly? Anyone?? Please?
I think I'll give the javascripting a rest for a while and concetrate on the stories.

[ May 28, 2004, 23:41: Message edited by: dogscoff ]

Re: Othaglot and Cane - Story Thread
 

Still no change. It says the JS files cannot be found (404 error) in the left hand frame, but still finds them in the top frame.

I'll be upgrading to Moz 1.7 when the 'real' release is announced. That will be a few weeks, though.

Re: Othaglot and Cane - Story Thread
 

It was quite a night. We started, as always, in the garden of the Swan- a quaint, quiet little pub at one end of our road. It was an ideal place for catching up, and with sunny decorations and cheap booze for the summer festival it was impossible not to relax. There I told my friends all about my adventures in Outlier and on the Marilyn, although I left out some of the more sensitive parts, not wanting to jeopardise Othaglot's undercover mission with gossip. Faust in particular was fascinated by our investigations on the mining colony, and Grett expressed a keen loathing of Sloo. However I found myself spending longest describing my time on the Worthwhile Endeavour- the mental disciplines I had learned from Loorl, the combat training I had undertaken on board and the decisions I had come to about making changes to my life. The topic of conversation quickly changed, and as the sun drew closer to the horizon we drank up and moved on to the Bug Factory, an old grasshopper tinning plant just around the corner that had recently been converted into a nightclub and cabaret review. The nightclub wasn't particularly good, but we went for there for the entertainments, which were superbly kitsch- especially for Grett and Degg who were giggling uncontrollably after crunching down a 'trope bug each - and we enjoyed about a drink and a half before being politely asked to keep the noise down or leave.

There was some dispute over our next destination- Grett wanted to go dancing at Colonyz, a huge, garish club back on the other side of the park, and Faust wanted to go to all the way across the city to Mossy Molasses' to soak up some zuzz-jazz, look cool and introduce himself to a waitress he had spotted there the previous week. In the end we compromised, paying way too much to get into the White Eye, a seedy little mosh pit just up the road specialising in loud, dirty ska-zuzz that Grett could dance to, while attracting enough single women to fulfil Faust's predatory instincts. It was on the way to the Eye that we bumped into a crowd of Degg's friends who joined us. I also tried to call Loorl to find out what he had been up to while I was visiting my family.

It must have been about two when we all fell out of the Eye, Faust with his arm around one of Degg's female acquaintances and Grett insisting that Degg carry her because- or so she said- she had danced her feet dead. Loorl returned my call just as they all were arguing about what to do next, and it was decided that we should all head down to the beach and light a fire. Loorl met us all there, and after rambling introductions we all settled down on the sand. Degg produced a bottle of grappa- filched from my room by the look of it- and Faust wanted me to tell my story again for the benefit of those who had only recently joined us. Reluctantly I did so, with Loorl contributing all kinds of details I had forgotten or left out.

At the end of the tale, I once again talked about the training I had undergone and the taste of self-discipline I had had aboard the Endeavour, and that I intended to find some direction. This was met with jeering and mockery, and before long I found that no-one awas even listening. Instead they were all challenging one of Degg's friends, who claimed to be able to tell the star-sign of any of the humans present- No mean feat given the massive complexity of astrology in an interstellar civilisation, but he correctly recognised Degg as an Earth Virgo (despite his accent) and myself as a Plentian Lupus. It soon became clear that the only reason he was doing all this was to make a clumsy pass at Grett, and as the group splintered into twos and threes I found myself strolling through the surf with Loorl, who was discovering with delight that that suitable foodstuffs had been introduced into Primavera's coastal waters to accomodate Plenty's small minority of Cue Cappan immigrants.

He had had a fairly good time since arriving, tracking down a few Viking haunts in the west of the city and buying rounds for the locals. I commented that he wasn't wearing his helmet, in reply to which he displayed a painful looking tattoo and told me that he was experimenting with paganism, since the pagans didn't spend quite so much of his money on mead. He had pretty much run out of cash and clearly wasn't sure what to do next. Part of his deal with Othaglot was an open ticket to get him back home so he could just go back at any time, but he said he wanted to stay here for as long as he could. I could see what he was fishing for but I didn't want to invite him to stay at the flat without consulting the others first. Looking back on it I don't know why, because inviting relative strangers back to stay was just the kind of thing we all did all the time anyway. At that moment though, it just didn't feel right.

By four or five the fire was dying and we were cold and hungry, so we decamped for the Sandbar, a strange little shack of a beachside cafe that catered primarily to the city's community of water-taxi drivers. It was open around the clock and served nothing but hearty all-day breakfasts and an array of strong liquors. Degg's other friends had drifted off at some point, and only the five of us remained. We all ate our fill- including Loorl- and Faust and Degg sipped vodka. Grett somehow persuaded the gruff barman to mix her a sugarstorm, while I was jeered and mocked again for ordering a fruit juice. However the ridicule soon dried up when I offered to pay the bill- I had been well paid for my visit to Outlier and I knew that tonight's activities would have completely bankrupted the others.

I awoke about midday the next day to find Loorl glugging quietly in his sleep on the kitchen floor (at Faust's invitation) and Grett, pale and bleary, wrpping her senses around a steaming mug of fragrant tea from Mr Yin's while trying in vain to absorb a particularly dull-looking psychology textbook. All in all it had been a fairly typical night out for us, and thoroughly enjoyable at that. However I was troubled by a subtle change in the atmosphere. Whether their attitudes toward me had changed, or mine toward them I couldn't tell, but something wasn't quite right. I wanted to get to the bottom of it, but I didn't feel too well and Grett was clearly not in an approachable mood, so I got dressed and went out to clear my head and plan my future.

I turned right out of Marjorie Street onto West Ostel Road, which headed towards one of the city's more exclusive islands. I had a hangover. West Ostellers were notioriously pretentious and the further West along the road I travelled the more chic and idiotic the architecture became. I didn't particularly like this area, but I realised my feet were guiding me toward the docks. I used to keep a small boat moored there, and found myself wondering why exactly I had sold it and what I had spent the money on. The docks were a long way away though, so I turned back towards Overidge Park, approaching it now from the South-West as I used to when I lived in one of the Institute's residential buildings. That block had been knocked down three years ago, and now a gleaming hotel built in some poorly-imitated antique Sallegan architectural style stood in its place. It had been a ugly old building, and I had hated it when I had lived there, but I missed it all the same.

I skirted up the western fringe of the park, barefoot again, trying to ignore the sick feeling in my stomach by paying close attention to the crumbling residential buildings on the far side of the road. This was one of the city's older districts, and most of the construction here dated back to the first wave of colonisation. The squat, two-storey buildings were dwarfed by the line of trees that seperated the road from the park. The buildings might have stood there for almost a century, but not one of those trees was more than fifty years old. Anyone who knew the history of Plenty's famine should have realised that, but the fact had never really sunk in before. My stomach was definitely not right, and I for a while I thought I might throw up. The whole area was marked for redevelopment.

Just before I reached the Institute's main campus I decided that what I really needed was food. I stopped at a corner-cafe to buy myself something to eat. It was in this cafe that my brief romance with Grett had both begun and ended. Given her temper, it suddenly occured to me that the whole two-week flirtation and subsequent breakup had been surprisingly smooth, and it was quite amazing that she should have agreed to come and live with us afterwards. Just up the road was the Institute's main campus, an assembly of relatively uninteresting halls and classrooms that nonetheless held a thousand memories safe for me: The lecture hall where I had presented my thesis on non-verbal xenolinguistics; the adjoining lobby where I had thrown up four times from nerves while waiting to the present my thesis on non-verbal xenolinguistics; the library where I had met the guy (whose name I can't even remember) who offered me a shot of mind-blowing redflower rum and eventually introduced me to Degg. The breakfast had settled my stomach but left me in a maudlin kind of a mood with old memories running rampant in my head. I tried in vain to herd them into some kind of useful order, but it seemed hopeless. I suddenly wondered what Othaglot might think if he were to pass by and eavesdrop on these thoughts, and at once I felt my defenses going up. The mental techniques Loorl had taught me came to the front of my mind and at once I found my runaway memories re-ordering themselves, each one lining up and waiting its turn. The mental discipline I had tasted aboard the Endeavour came into play and those memories now seemed to stand to attention. I had come out here to plan my future. I needed to figure out what to do next, and the only way to do that was understand the present. How had I come to be in my current situation?

I had met Degg, as I have already stated, through a mutual acquaintence who recommended Degg's home-brew to me. We became good friends very quickly, and before long a room became available and I was in a position to take it. This had been almost five years ago, the first three of those my final years at the institute. Faust's predecessor moved out shortly after I arrived- possible as a result of my arrival, I was never quite sure- and the room didn't stay empty for long. Faust was introduced my Norbul, The man in occupation of Grett's room at that time. The four of us had a lot of fun; me, Faust, Degg and Norbul, although there were some fierce arguments, but Degg was the glue that held us all together- a kind og benevolent, vaguely paternal ringmaster. He was something of a role-model to me, I suppose- certainly a massive influence- and I learned a lot from him about meeting people, reading them and interacting with them. I graduated, despite the many distractions life at Degg's provided, and not quite knowing what to do with myself after graduation I stayed on, running odd-jobs and errands for my uncle, occasional cash-in-hand work, touting the family's wine and grappa in local markets and scrounging cash off the others when things got tight. Soon I discovered that I could survive fairly comfortably like this, and the pressure to do anything more soon dropped away. Norbul packed up and moved in with a lover about three years after my arrival and after a few incompatible room-mates we- or rather I- finally stumbled on Grett, who seemed to fit in perfectly. Perhaps we had all been getting too comfortable with one-another, because Grett's fireworks and dramatics had seemed like a breath of fresh air at the time. She was totally different to the rest of us in one way, but in another she was the same. Like me, Degg, Faust and Norbul she had almost no ambition, no long-term plans, no real job and no particular commitments to anything. Degg's place was a kind of ever-shifting mutual support community, a self-justifying, self-perpetuating haven of semi-bohemian slovenliness in the industrious heart of the galatic community's most driven and motivated city.

That's when I realised what the change in attitude was all about, and why I no longer felt entirely comfortable in my own home. They were holding me back. That realisation hurt more than anything inflicted on me by Sloo, but I was determined to do what needed to be done. I just had to find a way to tell them.

Re: Othaglot and Cane - Story Thread
 

Even with a format and fresh install of everything, IE 6 only gets as far as the Title, but there, all the purple chapter links are broken.

I'd be happy to type in URLs manually if it meant...

Aha!
http://dogscoff.co.uk/fiction/stories/story_O&amp;C&lt;insert-chapter-number&gt;.htm
Yay, now I can read the story http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

Re: Othaglot and Cane - Story Thread
 

A new chapter! A new chapter! Look, everyone, a new chapter!

*TerranC goes crazy from the excitement of seeing a new OnC chapter*

Re: Othaglot and Cane - Story Thread
 

Now, when do Cane's new plans collide with Othaglot's under-cover operation? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/confused.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/confused.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/confused.gif

The site works fine with Mozilla 1.7.x btw...

Re: Othaglot and Cane - Story Thread
 

/me watches TC move over one inch.

Re: Othaglot and Cane - Story Thread
 

I developped the site in IE6. It works fine. Remember you have to have javascript switched on to view the site. go to tools/options/advanced and make sure the JIT compiler is switched on. If it's switched on already, go to the site and look in the bottom right corner. There will be an icon to tell you what "internet zone" IE has put my site into. Then go to tools/options/security and move my site out of that zone and into a friendlier one. If that still doesn't fix it, install firefox and stop using IE. IE do suck.

Ohhh, give it about 3 chapters...

Yes it does. Firefox too, and Opera, and IE6.

:-D Thought I'd try to sneak it out there, thanks for noticing...

LOL! I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about Narf. &lt;/sarcasm&gt;

Re: Othaglot and Cane - Story Thread
 

--&gt; Jumping on Dogscoff
--&gt; pointing a phased beam on Dogscof's head
--&gt; firing the beam 6-7 times
--&gt; starting asking questions :
"where's my text ?"
"what are we waiting for ?"
--&gt; threaten to use violence if Dogscof deosn't answer immediately

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...ies/tongue.gif

Re: Othaglot and Cane - Story Thread
 

Wikipedia O&amp;C spoiler/ reference pages: http://invirtuo.cc/phpwiki/index.php/O%26C%20Spoilers

Re: Othaglot and Cane - Story Thread
 

Chapter 32 is up.
www.dogscoff.co.uk/fiction

Re: Othaglot and Cane - Story Thread
 

Cripes... I've nearly forgotten where we are in the story... again.

What will you do when SE V comes out if it radically alters the backstory of the Cue Cappa? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: Othaglot and Cane - Story Thread
 

That's what the "summary" section is for. Of course you can always go back and re-read a few chapters...

Heh... I'm still waiting for Aaron to phone me up and ask me to re-write the backstory of the Cue Cappa using O&amp;C as a base http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif
Seriously, the CC in O&amp;C don't even comply with the se4 Version- they ought to be water-breathing squiddies living under an ice-sheet. Instead I have them as air-breathing amphibians living in coastal shallows.

Re: Othaglot and Cane - Story Thread
 

Reading it for the frist time.... impressed.

Rasorow

Re: Othaglot and Cane - Story Thread
 

Cool! Great to get another reader, thanks. Take your time though, updates tend to be somewhat infrequent...

Re: Othaglot and Cane - Story Thread
 

By the way, has anyone checked out the spoilers? http://invirtuo.cc/phpwiki/index.php/O%26C%20Spoilers

There are plenty of details in there that don't appear in the story.

Re: Othaglot and Cane - Story Thread
 

you mean the broken XML page? no, never checked that out.

edit: oh, there is a page there if you search for it. seems like the unicode link was just distastefull either to my browser or to the server...

Re: Othaglot and Cane - Story Thread
 

An unusually short chapter, but I hope you'll all agree that what it lacks in length it makes up for in drama.

************************************************** *********
O&amp;C Chapter 33.
************************************************** *********

About three weeks later, I had moved out of Degg’s and got myself a job. I didn’t exactly plan to make a career at the spaceport’s information desk, but it was a start. The pay was enough to cover the rent on a tiny flat of my own on Ystin island, and by working overtime I found I could afford to buy food and pay bills as well. I hoped that a little experience with off-world visitors might qualify me for something more highly paid later on, perhaps in the tourist trade. My uncle had offered me a position in the foreign office, but I had regretfully declined. The pay was better and I liked the idea of getting into the diplomatic business, but I wanted to do this without any strings being pulled for me. Uncle En smiled proudly when I told him so.

My departure from Degg’s hadn’t been as smooth as I would have liked. Grett had taken my leaving as some kind of personal attack - she took it to mean that I thought myself too good for them- and the ensuing fireworks had sucked in Degg, Faust and Loorl, resulting in massive argument that left a bad atmosphere hanging over the entire household, and was still present when I went back to collect my belongings a few days later. Loorl had already moved into my room by then, and had accumulated almost an entire tentacle-full of pagan tattoos. He said he was learning tattoo artistry for himself, and hoped to make enough money doing it to stay in Primavera indefinitely. I knew he’d manage it just as I had, surviving on what little money he could earn here and there and scrounging cash from the others when things got tight. I wished him luck, and he seemed to accept it in good faith.

After three weeks I hadn’t managed to find the time or money to go back across the city and visit the others to patch things up, much as I would have loved to. Life was a little dull without them, and I didn’t know anyone in this area at all. My colleagues were friendly, but not much fun and the work was interesting enough to keep me going through the day. The routine was easy to adjust to, and after just three weeks I felt as though I had been living this way for years. Degg’s place seemed light years away, and my adventures in Outlier and aboard the Marilyn felt like another lifetime. I was somewhat shocked, then, when this quiet new lifestyle to which I had become so acclimatised was disrupted by a ghost from the past.

My station in the spaceport was near the arrivals entryway, and I found myself staring at a familiar face. It took some time to place it, but eventually I recognised Yenn, the only crew member other than Captain Frasier to survive the destruction of the Marilyn. She was walking seriously and purposefully toward the taxi dock, and I was suddenly struck with indecision. Should I abandon my post to speak to her, or would it be better to let her go about her business? Before I could make my mind up, she was gone, her close-cropped head lost in the crowd. Immediately I regretted not having spoken to her, so when Captain Frasier walked past a moment later I vaulted my desk, leaving a colleague to deal with the queue of tourists alone, and ran after my old acquaintance.

He was still limping along on the prosthetic legs he had been fitted with aboard the Worthwhile Endeavour, and I realised he and Yenn must just be returning from their salvage trip. I caught up with him easily, and not really knowing how best to initiate conversation, simply stood in front of him.

“Why, Mister Cane.” He said, understandably surprised.
Until that moment it hadn’t occurred to me that he might not welcome my presence. After all, I had lied to him about the nature of my journey when I came aboard his craft, and- although I could in no rational way be held responsible- had been tangled up in the whole affair that had led to the destruction of his ship and horrific murder of his crew. He had been civil enough to me aboard the Endeavour, but that might have been politeness, or perhaps his opinion of me had altered in the time he had spent surveying the nightmare-ridden wreck that had once been his home, livelihood and investment.

“Captain Frasier,” I said, somewhat at a loss for anything else. “How are you?” I silently cursed the question for its stupidity as soon as I had uttered it, but he didn’t bother to answer. Instead he grabbed my wrist and looked around furtively. Content that no-one was listening in, he pulled my arm until my ear was close to his mouth and said,
“We must arrange to meet later. My insurance assessor and the salvage crew are all around here somewhere, and I can’t let any of them know about any of this. You must meet me, it’s vitally important.”
“Why?” I asked, somewhat bemused. He fixed me with an intense stare that was grim determination and abject terror all at once.
“It’s her.” At first I thought he meant Yenn, but after a half a second the meaning sank in. “She’s alive, and now she’s here.”
He slipped a contact card in my top pocket and left me staring dumbly into the crowds, eyes wet, guts clenching uncontrollably and fists slowly tightening until my fingernails drew blood from my palms.

************************************************** *********

What do you mean you haven't read the rest? Go read it now! http://www.dogscoff.co.uk/fiction

Re: Othaglot and Cane - Story Thread
 

*BUMP* for different timezones.

Re: Othaglot and Cane - Story Thread
 

You couldn't post the whole story up here as zip or something could you? This flavour of IE doesn't like the javascript on your site so I can't get to the rest of the story. If it might help here's the error I get

Line:: 71
Character: 5
Error: 'null' is null or not an object
Code: 0
URL: http://www.dogscoff.co.uk/fiction/scifimenu.htm

Can't do anything about this browser it's locked down by the resident IT monkeys so if the problems at this end I'm stuck with it http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

Re: Othaglot and Cane - Story Thread
 

EL_PHil: That's my fault. I'm currently trying to fix the site so that it works properly with non-IE browsers, and in doing so have broken it for IE&gt;

I'll switch it back to the old code (Wasn't getting anywere anyway). Try again.

EDIT: Working again (as well as it ever did, anyway.)
If you (or anyone) ever have problems with it, just go to http://www.dogscoff.co.uk/fiction/stories and pick out the story files one by one.

Re: Othaglot and Cane - Story Thread
 

Ahh cheers for that.

Well there goes a big chunk of my spare time while I get up to date! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

Re: Othaglot and Cane - Story Thread
 

Do you have php support on your server? It would be easy to write a few php functions to do what you are wanting and avoid javascript entirely.

Re: Othaglot and Cane - Story Thread
 

No idea. It's hosted by my isp, www.plus.net

Define "easy". If "easy"="easy for Fyron" then yes, I don't doubt it. However if "easy"="easy for poor, stoopid old dogscoff" then the answer might be somewhat different. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/confused.gif

Re: Othaglot and Cane - Story Thread
 

You can test php functionality by creating a file named "test.php", adding the following code to it, and uploading it to the server:

<font class="small">Code:</font><hr /><pre>&lt;?php
$hello = "Hello ";
$ds = "Dogscoff.";
echo $hello.$ds;
?&gt;</pre><hr />
The output should look like this page.

Re: Othaglot and Cane - Story Thread
 

*BUMP*

ANyone read this latest chapter?

El_Phil, how did you get on with the rest?

Re: Othaglot and Cane - Story Thread
 

Yes, but it's so very short and its single point is long expected. What's to comment on? Why didn't he tell us how he learned she was alive? Why isn't he dead if he discovered her? You'd think that would make for quite a story...

Re: Othaglot and Cane - Story Thread
 

Well I can safely say that many hours were enjoyable wasted when I really, really should of been working.

Excellent read, but I would of prefered to start reading it ohhh... in about two days time when I should have some spare time.

Re: Othaglot and Cane - Story Thread
 

Yeah alright then. All those revelations come next, but I just couldn't bring myself to hide Frasier's news (however long expected) in the middle of a chapter. It deserves to be at the end of a chapterwhere it belongs, with a big dramatic "DUN DUN DUNNNNN!!!! Tune in next week* for the next thrilling installment of..."

*Yeah, I know, weekly installments, as opposed to sporadic spurts of writing every 4 months or so would be great, but I know myself too well to ever promise anything like that. Rest assured though, I'm working on Chapter 34 today. That much I can promise.

Re: Othaglot and Cane - Story Thread
 

I think it does. go to my website to see if you agree. Chapter 34 is up. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

http://www.dogscoff.co.uk/fiction

As usual I look forward to reading everyone's comments, criticisms, praise, speculation and reports of typoes/ gaping plot holes in this thread. Thanks for reading.

Re: Othaglot and Cane - Story Thread
 

So are we doomed to eternal limbo on this story?

Re: Othaglot and Cane - Story Thread
 

Wow... talk about thread necromancy =-)

I'm afraid I have lost the will to finish writing it. I feel I lost my way with it, really, and to be honest there are some cringingly bad bits in there that make me want to just delete it all and hope that everyone forgets it ever existed. Apparently they won't though, and reading back through I concede that there are some great bits that I really like.

I haven't written anything for almost a year now (I have at least two other non-SE4 writing projects on the go, neither of which I have posted here), and I don't think I'm ever likely to finish O&amp;C properly. Totally re-written, it might make a decent story, but I doubt I'd ever get round to that.

However, I did have an idea of where the plot was going, and (believe it or not) it almost all falls into place and ties up the loose threads without leaving any (or many) gaping plot holes. I think. Here then, for the sake of closure and as a way of thanks to those of you who supported me through this bizarre project, is who the story ends:

Othaglot &amp; Cane: Chapters 35 to end (summary).
**********************************************

After chapter 34, Othaglot makes his call to Loorl, with Hammer listening in. Loorl doesn't give him away as he'd feared, but does say some things to make Hammer even more suspicious. Loorl goes straight to the Canes, and they immediately set about locating Project Asgard's secret island. Meanwhile, they are also searching for the rogue Cue Cappan, now known to be loose in the city somewhere.

Hammer decides to kill Othaglot, mostly out of paranioa. He tells him that he's decided to let him go back to the city and pick up the tech in person after all, with the intention of killing him on the flight and dumping the body in the sea. The execution is botched when some of the Vikings turn on Hammer in defence of Othaglot, who has become very popular. During the struggle, Othaglot is thrown out of the vehicle into the sea. He can tell from the craft's con trail which way Primavera city is, and he's a semi-aquatic species anyway, so he begins swimming for civilisation.

Weeks pass. Eventually they locate the island, but it's abandoned. From evidence found at the site they are able to identify the coloniser (disguised as a transport), but it has already begun its journey. The Endeavour is undergoing a refit and training up new crew, and once ready it will be despatched to catch the colony ship. They find the stolen armour plans on the island, along with an apologetic note. The stolen Cue Cappan technology (from Chapter 28) remains unaccounted for.

There is no sign of Othaglot, and everyone is really worried. They hope he's safe aboard the colony ship.

Soon afterwards, thanks to a lucky encounter by Cane's ex-flatmates (who mistook her for Loorl), they also track down the rogue. One way or another it turns into a one-on-one confrontation between her and Cane, at the docks near the Sergetti quarter. Holding her at gunpoint, he listens to her plead for her life.

She says that's she's not the psychotic killer everyone thinks she is, but the innocent traveller she said she was on the Marilyn. She hid when the Endeavour arrived because she thought they were being boarded by pirates, and then stayed in hiding when she realised everyone thought she was a murderer. She saw a second cue cappan and an empty cryotube in the cargo hold before the explosion. After the explosion, she took Othaglot's suit and floated around in the wreckage, dodging the Endeavour's cleanup crews, before taking up residence in the re-pressurised bridge. When the salvage ship arrived, she snuck aboard and when Frasier came down to the hold that night, she chased after him (holding a tin opener, not a knife), desperately begging for help, except she'd lost her translator. He slammed the door on her and then, for some reason she didn't understand, kept coming down and giving her food for the rest of the voyage.

She tells a very convincing story and Cane isn't sure. He's seen both Sloo and the killer, but didn't know enough about Cue Cappans during the fight in the cargo container to be able to tell if they are the same person. The only person who could tell for sure is Othaglot, who would recognise the killer again if he encountered her. Cane can't pull the trigger, but then the police arrive. It looks as though she's going to be taken in when Cane notices something purple in the water. It's Othaglot, floating lifelessly. He dives in to save him, but is immediately confronted by a pair of Sergetti hunters: They claim the body as a trophy due to the long-standing animosity between Cue Cappans and Sergetti (First mentioned in Chapter 27 - it all ties together, see?) and refuse to relinquish it. They threaten Cane and look as though they might kill him. Suddenly the Cue Cappan rogue, moments from being captured by the police, dives into the water and lands right among the Sergetti. A battle ensues ( http://www.dogscoff.plus.com/fiction...scififight.jpg )
in which she is killed, but Othaglot's body is released for Cane to retrieve.

It turns out that although the host is dead, killed by exhaustion and malnutrition (the partially-terraformed oceans of Plenty didn't provide very much to eat), Othaglot's cappa has just survived, although it is very weak and doubtless traumatised by the experience. The only way to save it is to implant it into Loorl, the nearest available host. Othloorl is born, a personality distinct from either Othaglot or Loorl, but sharing traits of either. Othloorl has Othaglot's keen mind and sense of duty, but Loorl's laidback attitude and sense of mischief. Despite fears that their personalities will be incompatible and lead to some kind of mental instability, it turns out that their recent experiences have made them more alike than anyone would have supposed 20 chapters ago, and the new personality is viable.

Further investigation into the unjoined rights movement mentioned in Chapter 28 reveals that the killer was a Cappa born with a very rare natural psychic sense, one that requires no Cue. People born with this condition do tend toward mental health issues, and in her case it (combined with various traumatic events in her life) made her into a killer. Her actions and motivations can mostly be pieced together from the conversation in Ch 28. Records of a person named Sloo, matching the story given by the passenger on the Marilyn are found, but whether that was the actual Sloo or whether the killer just murdered her and stole her identity is unknown.

The body of the rogue is never recovered from the Sergetti, so her identity of the Marilyn's passnger is never clarified. Was it the killer in disguise that Cane befriended, who dived into the water to escape the police and got caught up in a fight with the Sergetti unintentionally? Or were there really two Cappans; the killer who presumably died aboard the Marilyn (but may still be at large) and Sloo, the innocent tourist who dived in and gave her life to save Cane? We'll never know.

OthLoorl and the two Canes are invited aboard the Endeavour for the mission to catch the colony ship full of vikings. The ship is heading through Gamallon, toward the Outlier system (See map: http://www.dogscoff.co.uk/fiction/st...p_O&amp;C0.htm ) and the Endeavour is fast enough to catch them on the Human side of the Outlier warp point. However, due to some teething problems with their new, refitted engine systems they don't catch up with them until the the Outlier system, just in time to see the colony ship plunge through the hazardous third warp point there, to what can only mean certain doom. To everyone's surprise and dismay, the Captain orders the Endeavour to follow, and it arrives unscathed in orbit around the black hole. There, undamaged, is the colony ship. The stolen armour technology, fitted to the colony ship and a component in the Endeavour's recent refit, has made safe navigation of the warp point possible.

When they open communication with the Viking ship they find Hammer conspicuously absent. No-one will actually own up to killing him, but it is strongly suggested that "honour was served" before they left Plenty. It becomes clear that the Vikings, suddenly leaderless, panicked and decided to attempt to complete project Asgard anyway, despite not having the Altoona's stolen technology (mentioned in Chapter 28 - it turns out to be psychic scanners, which explains the mystery of how the Cue Cappans found a dead body in space in the first place), which was to be to be given to the Sallegans in return for colonisation rights to a system on the borders of their space, beyond the black hole and second warp point. (First mentioned in chapter 2- See map again- see, there *was* some planning going on, even back then) The vikings didn't know how to deal with the Sallegan problem, so many of them are almost relieved to have been caught.

The moment the Vikings see Othloorl they immediately forgive him for infiltrating them as an undercover spy/ policeman and are generally delighted to see him. They keep soliciting for advice, and it doesn't annoy him nearly as much as it would have done Othaglot.

The Endeavour forces the colony ship back through the warp point to go home, but discover a number of Cue Cappan warships waiting for them. They want to claim custody of the Vikings, and it looks as though some kind of interstellar incident may arise. Luckily Cane Senior (a foreign office diplomat, remember) is aboard and, after some serious wrangling, it is decided to allow the Vikings to go on their way and create their new colony. The Cue Cappan and Human governments even promise to intervene with the Sallegan government on the Vikings' behalf, using their knowledge of the Sallegan's attempt to buy stolen technology as leverage. In return the Vikings, now living on the borders of Sallegan space, must keep a close eye on the Sallegans on behalf of the humans and Cue Cappans, especially since the (no longer secret) armour technology means that the warp points can now be safely traversed, making the Outlier system a strategically significant junction of Cue Cappan, human and Sallegan space.

Othloorl realises that he's tired of policing, spying and his lifestyle in general, and decides that colony-building might make a nice change. He accepts the Vikings' offer of leadership, boarding the colony ship to guide them into their future.

Cane returns to Plenty and moves back in with his friends, to await the not-forthcoming sequel.

Re: Othaglot and Cane - Story Thread
 

Woot!

Re: Othaglot and Cane - Story Thread
 

Yay for closure!

Thanks, DS http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif