Richard Quest's Posts - Wild Minds network2024-03-29T09:22:26ZRichard Questhttps://wildminds.ning.com/profile/RichardQuesthttps://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3145253191?profile=RESIZE_48X48&width=48&height=48&crop=1%3A1https://wildminds.ning.com/profiles/blog/feed?user=2go582ytu9msz&xn_auth=noTurning MD in Something Productivetag:wildminds.ning.com,2017-03-06:4661400:BlogPost:2534862017-03-06T08:31:16.000ZRichard Questhttps://wildminds.ning.com/profile/RichardQuest
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150708447?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-full" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150708447?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="599"></img></a></p>
<p>(Visual of me in my world as a General Edward Stratton, of the FSKDF)</p>
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<p>That's it guys, I've done it. I have figured out how to properly channel my MD into something productive. I have created and am currently working on a magazine that is a conglomerate of my and other people's daydreams. Channeling my daydreams into something productive like this…</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150708447?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="599" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150708447?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="599" class="align-full"/></a></p>
<p>(Visual of me in my world as a General Edward Stratton, of the FSKDF)</p>
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<p>That's it guys, I've done it. I have figured out how to properly channel my MD into something productive. I have created and am currently working on a magazine that is a conglomerate of my and other people's daydreams. Channeling my daydreams into something productive like this actually gives me something to strive for.</p>
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<p>I hope that this website is treating you well. For me, my MD is cured. You can now find me mostly posting at reddit.com/r/worldbuilding instead because I have overcome my problem and channeled it into something great!</p>
<p></p>The Good Queen and Her Inspirationtag:wildminds.ning.com,2016-10-17:4661400:BlogPost:2466552016-10-17T04:26:19.000ZRichard Questhttps://wildminds.ning.com/profile/RichardQuest
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150708462?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-full" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150708462?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"></img></a> The Queen Victoria Corona of the Reformed States of America</p>
<p>My daydream I have built over the last ten years has many characters that I directly base off of people I know. The most important and pivotal character, Queen Victoria Corona is based 100% off of this girl I liked in middle school. In my real life I might have only talked to her once or twice before she moved…</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150708462?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150708462?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-full"/></a>The Queen Victoria Corona of the Reformed States of America</p>
<p>My daydream I have built over the last ten years has many characters that I directly base off of people I know. The most important and pivotal character, Queen Victoria Corona is based 100% off of this girl I liked in middle school. In my real life I might have only talked to her once or twice before she moved to a different town, but she is the basis of all of my daydreams. When I turned this girl into a character, I changed her name and tweaked some personality traits, but literally everything else I kept the same. </p>
<p>Victoria Corona rose to power as Queen of a small city-state during the Apocalypse of 2015. Her military campaigns and her diplomacy quickly united the disease stricken Midwest before the invasion of the evil Hoffman Empire. Her reign saw the stabilization of life for her citizens, a chaotic land turned to democracy once again, and expansion of her country of over 4000%. She ruled with a nonchalant hand, but always tried to be fair. She he many fans, but some people could not fathom a monarchy in the former United States. These people known as the Republicans tried their hardest to discredit the Queen and even might have attempted an assassination or two. Her reign was not without failure though, she started a war that would decimate the continent, accidentally burn Chicago to the ground, her capital would invaded twice, and a trading hub under her rule was reduced to a gang-infested cesspool. </p>
<p>Once she left her office for the country to establish a proper presidential republic, she became the most beloved figure on the world. When she retired to a personal castle built far away from literally everything else.</p>
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<p>I haven't posted here in a very long time, sorry guys. I have mostly moved over the reddit's /r/worldbuilding you should check it out!</p>
<p></p>Getting more in depth here...tag:wildminds.ning.com,2016-06-18:4661400:BlogPost:2338162016-06-18T21:35:56.000ZRichard Questhttps://wildminds.ning.com/profile/RichardQuest
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150708471?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-full" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150708471?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"></img></a></p>
<p>The Western Union, a country that I have talked about before, mapped out for the first time in its entirety.</p>
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<p>I have gotten so far into depth with my day dreaming that I have drawn in world maps and propaganda posters. …<a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150709396?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-full" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150709396?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"></img></a></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150708471?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150708471?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-full"/></a></p>
<p>The Western Union, a country that I have talked about before, mapped out for the first time in its entirety.</p>
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<p>I have gotten so far into depth with my day dreaming that I have drawn in world maps and propaganda posters. <a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150709396?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150709396?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-full"/></a></p>Naturetag:wildminds.ning.com,2016-05-11:4661400:BlogPost:2304332016-05-11T06:09:45.000ZRichard Questhttps://wildminds.ning.com/profile/RichardQuest
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150708450?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-full" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150708450?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"></img></a> Bella Woodman and her dog Buddy on a daily round of the forest.</p>
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<p>The early days of my world is where Nature starts to take itself back: wildfires would burn down whole towns, hurricanes would level whole coastlines, city streets would flood like rivers, trees and shrubs started to grow in the cracks of the pavement, and feral packs of dogs and cats roamed the…</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150708450?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150708450?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-full"/></a>Bella Woodman and her dog Buddy on a daily round of the forest.</p>
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<p>The early days of my world is where Nature starts to take itself back: wildfires would burn down whole towns, hurricanes would level whole coastlines, city streets would flood like rivers, trees and shrubs started to grow in the cracks of the pavement, and feral packs of dogs and cats roamed the land. You might even have the fortune/misfortune of crossing escaped zoo animals such as giraffes, elephants, monkeys, and lions. Humans as a whole realized that it was impossible to continue living at standards before the pandemic that destroyed the world, and they totally rethought everything from housing design to diets. Kennedians especially learned how to respect and live with Nature: above is a Guardian of the Forest pictured in the early days of 2019. They learned how to give back to Nature and how to make each other thrive on what was given to them, and they even buried their dead under trees as new graves.</p>
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<p>There would come a time where several religions are based heavily on Nature and the bonds that it has with humankind, but at the same time, as people relearned more and more of their old ways, they started to live like modern humans again. All throughout my world there are subtle undertones of the fight between man and Nature, and the men who live with Nature are the ones that usually prevail.</p>
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<p>Just a thought from my day dreams. What is nature's role in your day dreams?</p>Characters in my story: major and minortag:wildminds.ning.com,2016-05-10:4661400:BlogPost:2304122016-05-10T02:54:48.000ZRichard Questhttps://wildminds.ning.com/profile/RichardQuest
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150708474?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-full" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150708474?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"></img></a> Samantha Agnew of the FSK in tears after what was supposed to be a fun night out with the girls.</p>
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<p>Characters in my daydream vary from being really flat to being almost human in their nature. Over the several thousand year long timeline of my day dream, I have accumulated many hundreds of characters, each one having an important role in the formation of the…</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150708474?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150708474?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-full"/></a>Samantha Agnew of the FSK in tears after what was supposed to be a fun night out with the girls.</p>
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<p>Characters in my daydream vary from being really flat to being almost human in their nature. Over the several thousand year long timeline of my day dream, I have accumulated many hundreds of characters, each one having an important role in the formation of the story. Here are some:</p>
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<p>Commander Samantha "Sam" Agnew of the Free State of Kennedy Defense Forces pictured above when she was only 17 years old. Sam grew up in a relatively normal Kennedian house with many brothers and sisters and many more cousins. After completing school through the university at an accelerated pace, at just the age of 17 she and her friends went to a fortune teller to hear their fortunes as a joke. After the other girls got normal fortunes, as soon as the fortune teller touched Sam's hand, the blind woman screamed. The teller got really quiet and stated that "Samantha Agnew, you will single handedly destroy civilization and kill billions of innocent souls. You are the destroyer of worlds." And with that, Sam ran away from the fortune teller and denounced her as a fraud while crying. Which is pictured above. For the rest of her life she blocked out that night, and taught herself how to forget it until it was too late.</p>
<p>She was drafted into the military at 18 and was quickly promoted to the rank of captain even though the FSK had no real outside threat. She was sent to the Barrens, a land west of the FSK, and east of the Western Union overrun by "lawless gangs and tribes." She was tasked with the duty to keep them in line and track their populations, alliances, and trade. She and her small unit of 50 soldiers on horseback was on their routine patrol when a disheveled and panicked Western Union scout on horseback came across them on his way to warn the FSK's government about an invasion happening of the Western Union. She decided to lead her unit into the Western Union to assess the situation and help their allies counter attack the invasion. </p>
<p>Her ventures into the Western Union and to the city of Union, where the FSK embassy is located, is where she saw that she takes on the yoke of a resistance leader. After a long winter, she gathered over one million people to stage a massive push to oust the invaders while the FSK's regular army was still mobilizing. 7 long years of war finally lead to an opening where she and the rest of the FSK and the Western Union could attack the invading nation's capital of Kingsland. It is located above the Yellowstone Caldera, where they use geothermal power to light up the city. She lead a contingent of soldiers to attack one of these geothermal towers and shut it down, but she took it a step farther. She wanted to blow it up as to show the metaphorical fall of their power as to their literal fall as well. </p>
<p>After the charges were lit and she got out of there, Sam remembered the fortune teller, and sprinted back the tower to stop the charges, but it was too late. It exploded, causing a massive eruption of the super volcano that powered the station, instantly vaporizing her and a million other people within 200 miles of the site and releasing an ash cloud that plunged the earth into a new ice age that ended civilization. Her story is akin apocalyptic tragedies and Greek mythology, and is a major character prophesied in all major religions on the planet.</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150708477?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150708477?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-full"/></a>This is Councilwoman Myriam "Mary" Oaks official portrait wearing her City of Centralia government badge.</p>
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<p>A more minor character is Mary Oaks, or "mother of Centralia." She was the head councilperson when the enemy invaded the Western Union and besieged the capital of Centralia. The city was placed under "quarantine" in which the gates were locked and nobody could go in or out, but the supply of food was dwindling. With spies on the outside saying that an FSK army was on their way to save them but were beaten back, Mary lead a movement to attack the weakened garrison of enemy troops around the city and take back the suburb of Keating, which has many food supplies. This whole event was known as and written down as the "Ballad of Centralia" a book which sold out all over the world. That is basically her contributions to my world so far.</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150708529?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150708529?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-full"/></a>Finally there are these two people: Commandant Franklin Warren and Elector-General Danielle Luck of the Western Union. (I have detailed manuals showing what every medal is, their meaning, and uniform placement for the Western Union. As well as senatorial badges from each of the 26 provinces like the one Danielle is wearing on her senatorial robes and gold laurel wreaths)</p>
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<p><span>These two people are in control of the remaining resistance forces left in the Western Union's province of Asteria during the Western Wars where an invading army has almost completely capitulated all government. Danielle Luck is the last remaining Elector, a class of senior senators, one from each of the Union's 26 provinces, chosen to elect the Arch-Steward of the republic. Along with that job they are given many more duties and privileges beyond a simple senatorship. She being the last one alive, uses her power to save the country through armed resistance to the invaders. She has taken the role of an Elector-General who works within the government and the army to get things done. But the thing here is, she IS the government in the country. Commandant Frank Warren on the other hand, is more on the front lines of the insurgency. He personally leads his legions into battle against the occupying forces with proper planning with Senator Luck. Eventually, the war will come to a point where Luck is also leading attacks on the front lines. These two people are responsible for the continuation of the Western Union through the enemy invasion; as well as the attack on the enemy's homeland where Sam Agnew ends the world. </span></p>Role Models in my Day Dreamstag:wildminds.ning.com,2015-12-28:4661400:BlogPost:2213372015-12-28T07:02:03.000ZRichard Questhttps://wildminds.ning.com/profile/RichardQuest
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3094561261?profile=original" target="_self"></a></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3094561261?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-full" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3094561261?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"></img></a></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150709905?profile=original" target="_self"></a></p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150709905?profile=original" target="_self"></a></p>
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<p>In my day dreams I often create characters that I can look up to. They are the embodiment of certain traits I want to have in my real life. For example the character pictured, Saint Leah Brighton of the FSK is extremely pious and environmentally minded. In her specific case, I tailored her story so she could stand for what she believes in even if she is punished and tortured. I want to be like that so I created her story I can live through.<br/><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150709905?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150709905?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="753" class="align-full" height="1047"/></a></p>
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<p>(Her halo inscribed in Latin reads: Arressito Dispensatore Domus Saltus Deo et Hominibus; which means Steward of the forest of God and men.)</p>
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<p>As for her story, Leah was born into a good and loving family in the FSK right when their huge neighbor, the United States, was collapsing. After the collapse of the United States, almost all semblance of order outside the city walls of the FSK vanished. It turned into a very violent world, this was the world that she grew up in. As a child, her family would take her to church services in the sacred forest every Sunday, and every day after school she would return to the forest and explore. Leah found the forest to be extremely spiritual, something that most Kennedians longer felt. It was during her teenage years that she learned that certain companies in the FSK were planning on plowing down the whole forest to make way for the expansion of the city: a move previously prevented by strict US border security. These companies were toying with public opinion to sway the Kennedians to vote to demolish the forest in order for them to make money. Many of these companies were foreign owned, but also were para-militaristic in a sense due to the fall of America.</p>
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<p>It was during these times Leah felt a spiritual calling to save the forest she loved so much. The Sacred Forest is actually a living cemetery where Kennedians have been buried under saplings for centuries. She wrote a book called the Gospel of the Trees, AKA the Book of Brighton, which became an instant best seller all over the Kennedian world. It stated that the Holy Spirit of God flowed through all living things and the souls of the people buried in the forest became the life essence of the trees. If the people allowed for the removal of the trees, they would be basically killing their deceased relatives again by disturbing their graves and reborn lives as trees. This book was so successful, Brightonism became a recognized religious movement in the FSK, which totally decimated the many corporate plans of tearing down the forest.</p>
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<p>After her victory, she moves to the Cloister of Bedson Grove to become a nun. She finds her peace with God while in the cloister, which is deep in the woods away from the city. </p>
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<p>A fairly large bounty has been placed on her head by several companies wanting her dead in revenge for their great loss of profits. About one million Kennedian Cervos for her capture alive so she could be killed by the CEO of a development company. One million Cervos is huge money (close to $15 million USD in today's cash). Leah was betrayed by one of her sister nuns, who called in a bounty hunter to capture her in return for 100 thousand Cervos. The bounty hunter came in the dark of the night and took her away on horseback without a fuss: Leah believed that this was her destiny.</p>
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<p>The horseman delivered her to Northland, a complete wasteland of a city overrun by gangs. It was here that she was to be killed by the CEO of the development company. But through a stroke of luck, and a change of heart from the bounty hunter, she was able to escape the corporation inside the city of Northland. Leah gets captured again, but this time by a human trafficker collecting slaves fit for house labor. The man chains her up, alongside fifteen other people and locks them in a carriage headed towards the Western Union. Inside the dirty carriage, Leah never gives up faith and her good attitude even if the people around her were dying.</p>
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<p>She spent three years inside the Western Union, being sold from owner to owner, and one step ahead of the Western Union's government looking into illegal slavery. She was forced to clean and do chores, among other things. Finally, she is sold to a woman from the South Empire in South America, and they make their journey south on foot. Her new owner treats her like a friend, not a slave, but still refuses to give her freedom. After a good ten years wandering to the south, doing odd jobs and sleeping on the streets, she makes it inside the walls of the South Empire, which is not entirely evil and backwards like the old American propaganda suggests. </p>
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<p>Meanwhile back in the FSK, Leah has been ruled dead in absentia by the government. A Kennedian religious tradition that happens once every one hundred years is called the festival of the Canonization, which is a deeply religious festival and court that votes on whether anyone that has died in the last one hundred years deserves to be a saint. Many times no one becomes a saint, sometimes there are one or more. But the criteria for becoming a saint in Kennedian religious tradition requires the person to be dead, be deeply religious, performed a brilliant act of faith against all odds, and often times they are martyred for their faith. According to the Kennedian population, Leah fit these criteria nicely (they all thought the company actually killed her). They voted her a saint. Kennedian sainthood is a huge deal, big statues, and parks and towns are named after you, a holiday in your honor, people pray to you, and you are considered holy in the eyes of God. Culturally speaking, this is huge. Sainthood under no circumstances can be revoked after it is voted upon, so people don't take this seriously. </p>
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<p>Leah is forced to stay fifteen years in the South Empire alongside her owner who loved adventures. At one point she was put a submarine with her owner to escape the authorities. The submarine took them to the Galapagos Republic in the middle of the Pacific, where her owner was forced to sell her when they upon hard times. Leah was sold to an expatriate Kennedian man who recognized her when she took a shower and cleaned up. After all, she was on the backside of her own book, which he kept at his side at all times. He was so shocked and awestruck he freed her immediately and came with her on her long journey home.</p>
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<p>When she finally returned to the FSK, people were in awe: they thought that their holy saint came back from the dead. In accordance with Kennedian law, she was required to have a hearing with the Department of Transcripts and Testimonies in the court house because she was legally dead, so she had to explain her story to the court on how she was alive. This testimony lasted several days and drew record crowds to the hearings--they all wanted to hear the living saint's story of survival. The transcript was printed into a book and sold throughout the world. In all this pandemonium Leah never lost her faith in God or her beliefs. Since sainthood could not be reversed, she lived with being the world's only living saint. It was definitely weird to walk in a park and see your statue standing in the middle of it--living people never had statues made of them, it was considered vain and egotistical. She just had to learn to live with this fame.</p>
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<p>TL;DR</p>
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<p>I know that this was long, but I would like to know did you like the story? the drawings? I know that this story doesn't provide much details, I'm summarizing a summary of the story. If you want to hear more just ask! :D Do you make characters you look up to?</p>Flags of the Western Uniontag:wildminds.ning.com,2015-12-24:4661400:BlogPost:2212292015-12-24T01:11:10.000ZRichard Questhttps://wildminds.ning.com/profile/RichardQuest
<p>A favorite pastime for my day dreams is to go into the really obscure details to make my world seem really real. Since returning home for winter break, I've been designed flags of the Western Union, a country from my day dreams that you can read more about in my other blog posts. </p>
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<p>I decided to make flags for each of the Western Union's 26 provinces to give them an identity on the battlefield when I draw battle flags. The Western Union is like the United States insofar that it…</p>
<p>A favorite pastime for my day dreams is to go into the really obscure details to make my world seem really real. Since returning home for winter break, I've been designed flags of the Western Union, a country from my day dreams that you can read more about in my other blog posts. </p>
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<p>I decided to make flags for each of the Western Union's 26 provinces to give them an identity on the battlefield when I draw battle flags. The Western Union is like the United States insofar that it is a federation made up of smaller units, but unlike the US, the Western Union gives these provinces a little more autonomy. It's like the European Union where countries are still sovereign, but like the US that there is a strong federal government. </p>
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<p>I wanted to design each flag with a similar color scheme to show the Western Union's national unity, but the flags are also very distinguishable from each other. I followed all proper flag design to make them aesthetically pleasing. Here are some below:</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150710241?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150710241?profile=original" width="600" class="align-full"/></a></p>
<p>The Province of Asteria is simple blue representing the sky, and gold representing the expanse of wheat crops. The Laurel Wreath is part of the seal of the Western Union.</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150710708?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150710708?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="603" class="align-full" height="401"/></a></p>
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<p>Bastille is the Military stronghold of the Western Union and East of the new Wester River which is in blue. The three stars represent the tri cities in the province. The fluer-de-lious is a symbol of the military, which has a officer's academy in the capital of Westerlyn.</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150710721?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150710721?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="606" class="align-full" height="403"/></a>Bridgeport is the Southern Capitol of the Western Union and the only province with a substantial shipping industry, which is represented by the anchor. The seven stripes are the seven bridges in and out of the city state.</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150710730?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150710730?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="607" class="align-full" height="404"/></a>Cobalt is on the Southern part of the crossroads between the north and the south of the country. Which is represented by the gold cross. It also has a major christian population, which is seen in the white cross. The eight pointed star in the bottom corner is the position of the provincial capital in reference to the trade routes.</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150710739?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150710739?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="610" class="align-full" height="406"/></a>Lisle is the only former American city state to be in the Western Union, so this flag was changed from the original red, white, and blue color scheme of the old imperial flag. The snakes are the city's symbol.</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150710768?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150710768?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="610" class="align-full" height="406"/></a></p>
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<p>Manitoba was a former Canadian province before it joined the Western Union so it borrowed the maple leaf. The Yellow represents the purity and the massive gold mines in region.</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150710811?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150710811?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="610" class="align-full" height="406"/></a></p>
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<p>Napier used to be ruled by three related clans before the Western Union was created. These three crescents are a common clan symbol for unity.</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150710839?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150710839?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="610" class="align-full" height="406"/></a></p>
<p>Troy is the hunting capital of the country so the running stag fit the flag perfectly. The yellow part of the flag is actually a cut off letter "T" for Troy.</p>
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<p>I know that these are not all of the flags, but I think you get the idea. What flag was your favorite? Do you like the similar color schemes for flags in the same nation? </p>
<p></p>Since College: Deeper into the Western Uniontag:wildminds.ning.com,2015-11-02:4661400:BlogPost:2170642015-11-02T19:23:06.000ZRichard Questhttps://wildminds.ning.com/profile/RichardQuest
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150710356?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-full" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150710356?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"></img></a> Since I left for college, my day dreaming has been confined to one single moleskine notebook. In it, almost exclusively stories and pictures of the Western Union. If you could divide my day dreams up into neat sections, the Western Union is the most recent. Here are some of the pictures for you. Above is the the Steward of Centralia, General Caesar North. The Western Union…</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150710356?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150710356?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-full"/></a>Since I left for college, my day dreaming has been confined to one single moleskine notebook. In it, almost exclusively stories and pictures of the Western Union. If you could divide my day dreams up into neat sections, the Western Union is the most recent. Here are some of the pictures for you. Above is the the Steward of Centralia, General Caesar North. The Western Union split into two unions, north and south due to growing sectionalism. Here General North is giving his famous speech on how a united Western Union is a strong one, he warned if they remained divided, they would be easily conquered. Which was exactly what happened.<br/> <a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150711667?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150711667?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-full"/></a>When coming up with the Western Union, I thought up an immense political system as well. The Senate is made up of senators from each province. Each province is award a number of senators according to it's population. The longest serving senator from each province is also that province's Elector. Electors select the Arch Steward, which is the equivalent to a president. Along with senatorial duties, electors also can serve as generals in the military.This particular Elector, Danielle Luck, the Elector of the Province of Asteria, is the last remaining elector after the senate was attacked in Bridgeport by the invaders. She rallies an army to repel to invaders. She is a very important character.<br/> <a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150713589?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150713589?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-full"/></a>I drew out the the types of soldiers seen in the Western Union. Above are the High Guard and the Unified Sharpshooters. Who are guards in the senate and snipers on the field respectively.<a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150713707?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150713707?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-full"/></a>Here is the Vanguard, they are the best equipped troops and extremely well trained. They usually spearhead assaults in the war.<a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150713824?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150713824?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-full"/></a>The picture above is General Tyler Bourdains and his army retaking the capitol of Troy, a province of the Western Union that was overtaken by the Uzahn armies.<a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150714167?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150714167?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-full"/></a>This is the Province of Tyndall's resistance movement recapturing the capitol of Irondale. This war in the Western Union is very extensive . The Union soldiers are not heavily trained because of the peaceful nature of their nation, but they have the advantage of having guns while the enemies have swords. The advantage can be seen here: the resistance just needed to dig trenches and keep the enemy army from coming too close. This was how they pushed the enemies from their country.<a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150714267?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150714267?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-full"/></a>This is Commandant Amber Hamilton of the Cordish resistance movement on the province of Cordon. In the occupied territories, the only resistance was underground since the invaders destroyed most of the communication system and killed most of the Union leadership.</p>
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<p>Overall, I've begun to hone in on the details of this story from start to finish. I can't wait to finish this story!</p>Mapstag:wildminds.ning.com,2015-10-11:4661400:BlogPost:2158312015-10-11T20:47:07.000ZRichard Questhttps://wildminds.ning.com/profile/RichardQuest
<p>I am very fond of using maps to visualize my daydream world down to the very street names. It helps me keep track of where and when my story takes place, and what I could use in later parts of a story. <br></br><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150709497?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-full" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150709497?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"></img></a> (Map of the Kennedian homeland)</p>
<p>Sorry if you cannot read the small black font in the green of the forest, those just point our certain landmarks such as family…</p>
<p>I am very fond of using maps to visualize my daydream world down to the very street names. It helps me keep track of where and when my story takes place, and what I could use in later parts of a story. <br/><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150709497?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150709497?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-full"/></a>(Map of the Kennedian homeland)</p>
<p>Sorry if you cannot read the small black font in the green of the forest, those just point our certain landmarks such as family burial rings. Possibly the most well mapped area of my dreams is Kennedy just because it is so small and close to my real life home. I actually made this map by overlaying a piece of paper over google maps of my hometown: some of the roads that exist in real life exist in my story. Kennedy is well known for its sacred forest and I wanted to map it out because many side stories occur in the forest. </p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150709776?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150709776?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-full"/></a>(Map of the FreeState of Kennedy)</p>
<p>This is a zoning map of the FreeState of Kennedy, I often look back at it to draw correctly the buildings in my city. It took me several days to come up with proper street names that will make sense in my world. Again I overlayed the map onto google maps to draw in current streets and to keep the buildings the right size. </p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150709837?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150709837?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-full"/></a>(Map of QueensLand)</p>
<p>This is probably my only map of the capital city of the United States, QueensLand. I don't really like the street layout and how it was built, but I kept it to keep my story going. In the city it is very crowded to the point the Queen bans the use of cars within the city walls just to keep the noise and pollution down. The capitol building which is located in the river was put there to make it safe from invasion, but it just made the city more congested. This reveals how quickly and relatively poorly planned the city was.The walls are basically useless because it just traps the army inside the city, but to no real advantage at firing other than height. Many people do not like the layout of QueensLand and many times people have proposed to move the capitol somewhere else, but the Queen loves it there so it remained the capitol of the country. Other than Northland, this is the worst city to live in the union.</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3094560475?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3094560475?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-full"/></a>(Early Map of the US)</p>
<p>This was a very old map I drew a couple years back, it's not entirely accurate though. I drew arbitrary state lines and labeled them, but other than that, I haven't actually named the states of the union in my 10 years of daydreaming--they're just not important enough. Another weird thing is Grande Mexico, I thought up that country but didn't do anything with it yet, so at this point, it's just sitting there with no back story.</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150710735?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150710735?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-full"/></a>(Map of Everglade City)</p>
<p>Perhaps the weirdest city I've come up with is Everglade City the gambling capitol of the world. Located in the swamps of the Florida Everglades, it's like Venice of America but without the glory, and with the extra trashiness. There are no roads, but there are canals for boats to navigate. the walls are only for protection from hurricanes, because pirates often sack the cities casinos from the sky, making the walls useless defensively. </p>
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<p>These are only a few of my maps I've created, do you guys do something like this? Do you want to learn more? Comment! :D</p>A Look Into Everything (or a good portion of it)tag:wildminds.ning.com,2015-08-10:4661400:BlogPost:2128452015-08-10T04:38:48.000ZRichard Questhttps://wildminds.ning.com/profile/RichardQuest
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150709524?profile=original" target="_self"></a></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150709524?profile=original" target="_self"></a></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150709524?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-full" height="504" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150709524?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="672"></img></a></p>
<p>I want to preface this blog post with the fact that these pictures seen here are in no way my whole collection of DD art: there are…</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150709524?profile=original" target="_self"></a></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150709524?profile=original" target="_self"></a></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150709524?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150709524?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="672" class="align-full" height="504"/></a></p>
<p>I want to preface this blog post with the fact that these pictures seen here are in no way my whole collection of DD art: there are hundreds more drawings in sketchbooks, hung on the wall, tucked away in many places, and given away. </p>
<p>I laid them all out in a general sense of a singular timeline, but since I ran out of space I had to squeeze it all into a massive collage.</p>
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<p>Starting at the very beginning is the creation of the school that would become the FSK's Bedson Grove, next is the Green Plague, the settlement of Queensland, and the founding of the Hoffman Empire. I know a lot of people will be confused by this, but I have posted much more in depth for other stories in here. </p>
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<p>It's hard to believe I can visualize my DD so well and so often: I am overwhelmed by all the drawings. Each one with a different story; they are all connected and provide a dense background for my fantasy world. In this display you can see my art progress over the years, with pieces as old as when I first started out, all the way to my more complex drawings of today. </p>
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<p>Not only do I draw people, I draw buildings, maps, actions scenes, and even seals and flags to add depth to my fantasy world. Many maps you'll see are the progression of Kennedy to a full fledged nation. You can also see Parker and Amanda Prophet's story progress in the first and second frame. </p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150709780?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150709780?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="670" class="align-full" height="502"/></a></p>
<p>Sometimes I cover aspects of my world and never return to them; I just accept it as fact for future reference. In the above frame you can see many pencil drawings of airplanes and flying ships. The very first subject that started my whole daydream, but after I got bored with them I never came back to them, instead I developed stories elsewhere. One such story is the biker gang of the Guardian Angels, who make Queensland their home. (anyone wearing a black leather jacket is part of the organization). They provided a framework to work my Parker-Prophet epic off of. (Which can be read about in my other blogs).</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150711629?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150711629?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="674" class="align-full" height="505"/></a></p>
<p>Perhaps the most drawn character I have is Parker (the girl who's the American Hero, and pictured in front of the flag), often I wonder why she is the most prevalent character in my whole universe even though she isn't the most important. I now realize that she's drawn so much because her story is one of the most pivotal and fascinating in my universe. A girl who's born in Canada before the green plague, but get amnesia when attacked by Hoffman forces, she becomes number XXI in the Hoffman army register, and forced into serving the dictator. She gets her break on the frontlines when she defects to the American side and becomes the world's deadliest killer and spy. (If you want to hear more, look at my other posts). Also seen in the frame above are extremely detailed pictures of Kennedy, painting a very accurate picture of the country. </p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150711802?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150711802?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="667" class="align-full" height="499"/></a></p>
<p>I also drew many hundreds of famous building and places for my characters to travel to and fight over. In the frame above one can see the destruction of Northland by gangs, one of the more sad stories of my universe. Keep in mind that pictures near each other happened close together: at the same time that Northland was going to ruins, Colonel Willows was expanding the American Empire around the globe. Everything is put into perspective.</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150712592?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150712592?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="673" class="align-full" height="504"/></a></p>
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<p>The later I go on in time, the more I concentrate on Kennedy: in the frame above is a drawing of the streets of the city next to the sanctuary of the forest. Above the Queens, is a complete map of the surrounding forest and burial circles for Kennedy. It seems that Kennedy has most of my focus. Mainly because it is small enough to chart out entirely and vividly.</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150713553?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150713553?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="671" class="align-full" height="503"/></a></p>
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<p>In the frame above you can see the fall of the Hoffman Empire, which lead to the South Empire and its powerful Empress Vivian Grey (the big eyes). Much of the latter history was thought out and drawn much more recently than the other stuff, so I'm not done mapping everything out and finishing the story lines.</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150713805?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150713805?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="661" class="align-full" height="495"/></a></p>
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<p>With the arrival of more Maroon and Gold, one can see the rise of Kennedy in the age after the fall of America. These are latter times indeed, where the timeline jumps around 4000 years ahead to the year circa 7000. I do have an idea of what comes in between those two times, but I haven't had the time or will to draw it out.</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150714059?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150714059?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="661" class="align-full" height="495"/></a></p>
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<p>These drawings start to reflect the end times of my universe: from dictatorships to war between free and enslaved. The Tri-Star Alliance between the FSK, the Western Union, and Asteriskia, against the tyranny of King Jacob's Uzah.</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150714178?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150714178?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="656" class="align-full" height="491"/></a></p>
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<p>I even mapped out the final battle and the end of my recorded universe (it's own blog post)</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150714302?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150714302?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="655" class="align-full" height="491"/></a></p>
<p>Among all of the mess, I keep framed pictures of the Corona family, one good and one bad. These are the driving characters behind conflict in my world. </p>
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<p>I understand that I grazed over many pictures here, if you want to know more, you can always ask me, or look at my other blog post detailing some of it! I'm trying so hard to get all of this documented before I leave for college next week.</p>
<p><br/>Feel free to comment below on what you feel and ask any questions you want!</p>Increasingly Doing Better: Thank You, Guystag:wildminds.ning.com,2015-08-08:4661400:BlogPost:2127512015-08-08T03:13:39.000ZRichard Questhttps://wildminds.ning.com/profile/RichardQuest
<p>The reason that I haven't posted on here in a long time is because, little by little, I am getting over my DD! I will be moving into college next week so I'll be plenty busy to stop even more. I have been extremely involved this summer, that helped curtail my DD: I taught summer school in Englewood, volunteered for Bernie Sanders, went on a road trip, and spent time with friends.</p>
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<p>With that being said, I haven't stopped completely. I still draw and paint about it, but I have…</p>
<p>The reason that I haven't posted on here in a long time is because, little by little, I am getting over my DD! I will be moving into college next week so I'll be plenty busy to stop even more. I have been extremely involved this summer, that helped curtail my DD: I taught summer school in Englewood, volunteered for Bernie Sanders, went on a road trip, and spent time with friends.</p>
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<p>With that being said, I haven't stopped completely. I still draw and paint about it, but I have found that to be therapeutic. I will continue to post my stories on here though! </p>Disconnected Dreamertag:wildminds.ning.com,2015-06-12:4661400:BlogPost:2083992015-06-12T14:55:52.000ZRichard Questhttps://wildminds.ning.com/profile/RichardQuest
I think that my daydreaming is directly connected to the amount of time I spend with people around me. Since my break up with my girlfriend a week ago my day dreaming has sky rocketed. It has become much more clear and much more pervasive to my life. I can now vividly walk through my world as if it were real. This scares me. Can anyone help?
I think that my daydreaming is directly connected to the amount of time I spend with people around me. Since my break up with my girlfriend a week ago my day dreaming has sky rocketed. It has become much more clear and much more pervasive to my life. I can now vividly walk through my world as if it were real. This scares me. Can anyone help?Details, details, details...tag:wildminds.ning.com,2015-05-06:4661400:BlogPost:2065262015-05-06T23:50:32.000ZRichard Questhttps://wildminds.ning.com/profile/RichardQuest
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150709653?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-full" height="847" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150709653?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="635"></img></a></p>
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<p>(Seal of a minor university in the FSK)</p>
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<p>I believe that in order to be considered a true daydreamer, one has to be stuck in the minutia of the details of their dreams. My dreamworld is so vivid to me that I can clearly picture just walking down a street in one of my cities and know exactly what to expect. …</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150709653?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150709653?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="635" class="align-full" height="847"/></a></p>
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<p>(Seal of a minor university in the FSK)</p>
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<p>I believe that in order to be considered a true daydreamer, one has to be stuck in the minutia of the details of their dreams. My dreamworld is so vivid to me that I can clearly picture just walking down a street in one of my cities and know exactly what to expect. </p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150709898?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150709898?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="629" class="align-full" height="839"/></a></p>
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<p>(Queensland in all her glory)</p>
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<p>I spend hours upon hours of thinking of every little detail needed to create a wholesome world, with life that could be real to me. Sometimes I would draw for weeks on end about the most random things in my world:</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150710622?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150710622?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="567" class="align-full" height="756"/></a></p>
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<p>(Street lamps: A special Kennedian artisan-made, a symbol for the city)</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150710797?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150710797?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="569" class="align-full" height="759"/></a></p>
<p></p>
<p>(Battle plans: battle plans for the invasion of Gulf City by the Americans that lead to the end of the Hoffman Empire.)</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3094561261?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3094561261?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="579" class="align-full" height="610"/></a></p>
<p></p>
<p>(Minor religions and Saints: Saint Leah Brighton from the FSK, who wrote <em>The Gospel of the Trees,</em> an environmentalist treatise that galvanized a nation)</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150711461?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150711461?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="555" class="align-full" height="740"/></a></p>
<p></p>
<p>(even flags, and here one nation's flag over its entire existence: The Reformed United States of America, current flag, founding flag, expansionist flag, Northland flag, and a Asteriskian flag.) </p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150711615?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150711615?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="539" class="align-full" height="719"/></a></p>
<p></p>
<p>(architecture: first church in Queensland )</p>
<p>and the list goes on and on forever. Do any of you daydream like this? Just random details of your world? I daydream details until it is believable? Only then I start to place characters and weave an intricate story within the confines of this established world. I can see it progress like a movie plot--it is just so vivid. </p>
<p>Comment below if you guys do this, and what details you focus on!</p>Strong Characters in my Daydreamstag:wildminds.ning.com,2015-04-21:4661400:BlogPost:2051652015-04-21T03:00:00.000ZRichard Questhttps://wildminds.ning.com/profile/RichardQuest
The strongest of my main characters in my day dreams are usually women. I don't know why but it may stem from the fact that most of them came from dreams of my old real life crushes. In each and every one of them I wanted to see a strong and down to earth personality, so I copied it to my day dream world. The looks and some personality traits stuck while names and back stories were changed drastically. In the end, the final product was almost always a distorted image of an ideal crush for me. A…
The strongest of my main characters in my day dreams are usually women. I don't know why but it may stem from the fact that most of them came from dreams of my old real life crushes. In each and every one of them I wanted to see a strong and down to earth personality, so I copied it to my day dream world. The looks and some personality traits stuck while names and back stories were changed drastically. In the end, the final product was almost always a distorted image of an ideal crush for me. A whole new person was created each time I did this. I did it often--these characters down here make up an incomplete list:<br />
<br />
Below is Queen Victoria Corona of the Reformed United States. She is a sassy person. With a "get it done" personality. She was modeled off of my first crush back in 6th grade.<br />
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3094560949?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3094560949?profile=original" width="512" class="align-full" height="788"/></a></p>
<p></p>
<br />
Below is parker aka XXI or blackjack. In my daydream she wakes up with amnesia about the whole green plague after being hit in the head by a hoffman soldier. She was one the first people to be conscripted into the Hoffman army (the bad guys) and against her will too, but she fought with bravery and became a top field operative. She defects to the United States during the war and becomes the American war hero. She is ruthless in battle, and is a total tomboy. Like my second real life crush, she shares all the facial characteristics and bravery: she was known to stick out for herself.<br />
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3094560805?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3094560805?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="513" class="align-full" height="359"/></a></p>
<p></p>
<br />
Below is General Danielle Luck, a high general in the western union during the western wars. She is considered the smartest person in the country at the time of the war and a great tactician. She uses her skills to her advantage and often makes her enemies underestimate her because of her looks. Because of this, the western union pushed the enemy back all the way back to their capitol of Kingsland, winning the war. Too bad the world ended with the battle (look at my ending post). She is based off of a small crush 4 years ago, where the person was extremely beautiful, but much smarter than everyone else in the room.<br />
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150709990?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150709990?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="587" class="align-full" height="440"/></a></p>
<p></p>
<br />
Below is Samantha Agnew a Kennedian soldier during the western wars, known to the people of the western union as the angel of the east. (Read my prior blog posts) she saves the western union from total destruction by enlisting the help of local tribesmen. In real life she is a down to earth socialite, she is very easy going but can kick your butt if got in her way. But she ends up actually destroying the world through her blind arrogance and sense of self pride. (Something she shares with my real life crush)<br />
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3094562448?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3094562448?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="568" class="align-full" height="595"/></a> </p>
<br />
Below is Amanda Prophet one of my most interesting characters. I have a whole story dedicated to her on my blog. She shares my characteristics with my real life crush: religious, a businesswoman, very sensitive, helpful, and just an all around compassionate person. She does though have some thing of an ego problem though, which is reflected in her chain restaurants and "sainthood".<br />
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150710852?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="384" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150710852?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="384" class="align-full"/></a></p>Folklore in My Day Dreamstag:wildminds.ning.com,2015-04-02:4661400:BlogPost:2035672015-04-02T01:57:56.000ZRichard Questhttps://wildminds.ning.com/profile/RichardQuest
<p>My day dream is full of folklore and urban legends. The place that has the most vivid tales of folklore is the FreeState of Kennedy and its surrounding forest. This is a story written in the perspective of a Kennedian man during the height of the FSK's power. It was taken as a truthful testimony in the court of law, and became a bestseller worldwide: </p>
<p align="center"></p>
<p align="center">The Testimony of the Poltergeist</p>
<p> <i>They cannot say on what accord that this…</i></p>
<p>My day dream is full of folklore and urban legends. The place that has the most vivid tales of folklore is the FreeState of Kennedy and its surrounding forest. This is a story written in the perspective of a Kennedian man during the height of the FSK's power. It was taken as a truthful testimony in the court of law, and became a bestseller worldwide: </p>
<p align="center"></p>
<p align="center">The Testimony of the Poltergeist</p>
<p> <i>They cannot say on what accord that this testimony reigns true. But within the court of law, the plaintiff has exonerated the defendant by incriminating himself in front of the entire court. His account is as follows:</i></p>
<p> “I am not a man of faith,” I told the young priest while walking through the ancient woodlands towards the spot of the burial of my own family. This is a forest like no other; it has been in tradition for many millennia to bury one’s dead within these woods, and plant a sapling over the body. The resulting trees sprout from the life essence of the deceased. The trees <i>are</i> alive.</p>
<p> The priest, who was following behind me, had no words. He seemed very nervous, as for the sun was setting; it only meant that he had little time to return within the city walls before the guards locked the gates for the night. As we approached the twelve tall oaks in the burial ring of my family, I saw in the corner a sad and withering sapling over a recently filled hole roughly in the shape of my former beloved, Olivia.</p>
<p> It was customary in our culture for the family of the deceased to spend a night in the woods after their loved ones passed. I was the last patriarch of the King family; I will be alone. The priest was only there to send me off on my spiritual journey.</p>
<p> The fair haired priest spoke softly as we strolled to the center of the ring, “Daniel, I know that you miss her more with every passing minute, and by God, her killer will be condemned on the morrow. The courts will find swift justice at the earliest hour convenient. I hope you’ll return from your pilgrimage before then.”</p>
<p> I kneeled down before the earthen tomb of Olivia with a heavy countenance and said: “By God, he will burn for this.”</p>
<p> The priest, behind me softly whispered, “Let the souls of the woods speak to you tonight, but be careful to not approach it with a heavy heart—it will change you.” I turned my head around to question the priest, but he vanished, nowhere to be found.</p>
<p> As the final rays of the sun’s warm embrace disappeared from the twilight sky, I laid myself down against the tree of my forefather, facing Olivia’s sapling. <i>What have I done?</i></p>
<p> In the distance, the city’s bells tolled nine times. The gates were locked. There was no turning back at this point. <i>I do not believe in the undead—I do not.</i></p>
<p> For many an hour, I lied down against that oak, hands in my overcoat pockets. The moon was waning, so I had limited vision. I craned my ears to hear everything. Maybe it was a wood shrew. Maybe it was the wind. <i>I am a coward.</i></p>
<p> A gust of wind rustled the many leaves of the living forest. I listened closer. Millions of whispering and inquisitive voices crowded my head. <i>Dear God!</i> The wind’s pace quickened to a tempest and the voices droned louder, louder, LOUDER STILL. I covered my ears from the hideous and eerie sounds of death, but to no avail; for the voices were in my head! <i>Get out!</i></p>
<p> I jumped up from my position and ran to the center of the ring, looking up as I screamed: “What must a man do to erase his guilt?”</p>
<p> A low and piercing voice uttered through the millions of whispers. “Confess your sins unto the spirits of the woods, Sir.”</p>
<p> I spun around to pinpoint the direction of the voice amongst the sea of whispers. A blinding light floating above Olivia’s grave caught my eye at once. Shielding my face from the florescent aura as my eye adjusted, I inquired, “To whom do I have the privilege of speaking?” </p>
<p> The brilliance of the light faded, revealing a beautiful apparition—Olivia.</p>
<p> Wearing a white robe, Olivia was stunning even in death. Her skin massively decayed and rotten, the hollows of her eyes emitted a blackness so complete that my bowels lost control. The poltergeist floated effortlessly toward me, illuminating the forest in a glorious white light. The millions of whispers quieted as the ghost opened her jaw: “I know what you did, Daniel. But, <i>why</i>?”</p>
<p> Standing there, completely dazed, I could not move my mouth to answer. She lifted her decomposing arm up towards my face as she glided ever so closer. A chain was dangling from her clenched fist, a brass heart-shaped locket hung at the bottom. <i>The murder weapon.</i></p>
<p> “It was <i>you</i> who killed me, not that man set to be condemned to death tomorrow! Why would you ever do such a thing? I <i>loved</i> you!” She came closer and spoke louder with every syllable, until she was screaming. I stumbled over a root as I tried to back away from her growing anxiousness. Falling back on the ground, I tried to reason with myself: <i>Daniel, this isn’t real. Be a man.</i></p>
<p> “Oh it isn’t real?” The poltergeist shouted as she swooped down towards me. Her bony face almost connecting with mine, “I’m not real?” She took her other hand and touched my quivering face with her cold, skeletal digits, and deeply scratched my fleshy cheeks. “Of course I’m real! You condemned me to death with my own locket!”</p>
<p> I was too shocked to do anything. I put my hand against my face and wiped off blood. The shrill scream that exited my mouth in complete terror of the realization of my current situation awoke hundreds of crows and sent them flying. <i>This is real.</i> The hairs went shooting up my spine as I tried to answer Olivia’s original question: “I’m sorry!” I said between intense sobs of fright, “I am a murderer!” I cried. </p>
<p> “A murderer indeed! Daniel, you shall burn in eternity for this!” the banshee screeched, with each word piercing the inner workings of my skull. “Why did you end my life‽”</p>
<p> As she hovered dangerously close right above me, the locket dangled from her fingers directly over my eyes. Every bone in my body was shaking to its core as I tried to explain my irrational thinking: “y—yes, I am your killer. It was jealousy, the demon the possessed me and forced me to take your life.”</p>
<p> The specter showed no sign of emotion as it hovered directly above me. A globule of freezing water splattered onto my forehead. And then another followed suit. <i>Tears?</i></p>
<p> I stared deeply into the dark and lifeless eye sockets and found nothing. The void of those black holes petrified me far greater than any ghastly scream could.</p>
<p> “P—please give a response you—you demon! I cannot bear this anymore!” I wailed pitifully as I writhed in mental pain on the ground.</p>
<p> Dark clouds formed above in the break of the trees and started to swirl. Olivia let go of her locket and it landed around my neck. With a movement so swift and light, the ghost ascended into the cloud formation above.</p>
<p> The forest became quiet at once. I then realized what a mess I have become. </p>
<p> <i>That man set to die tomorrow is guilty of no crime; other than the attempted theft of my beloved. O what have I done?</i> I then stood up and faced the sky and spewed an expletive yet heartfelt apology until the rain fell in saddening torrents. My tears intermixed with the rainwater and blood as it slid down my remorseful face. <i>I must make things right.</i></p>
<p>* * *</p>
<p>With the light of day and the toll of the morning bells, I sprinted with all of my might through the woods like a madman. I was accompanied by the rustle of the fallen leaves and the snapping of twigs. I ran past the open city gates, my feet smacking hard against the cobbled streets. The people of the city looked at me as if they had seen a ghost, but it was I who had seen it. I arrived at the brick courthouse just as the proceedings started. In a wild motion I barged the massive oak doors open; the whole courtroom turned their heads to face me and gasped. A disheveled and bleeding lunatic is what they think of me. With my failing breath, I exclaim: “I AM THE MURDERER! I KILLED MY BELOVED OLIVIA, NOT HE!” and with that, passed out from exhaustion onto the cold floor. </p>
<p></p>
<p>TL;DR I tried to write a story in my universe that didn't focus on the massive plot. I hoped you enjoyed it! Tell me about your writing and things like this in the comments!</p>A closer look: the city of Asteriskiatag:wildminds.ning.com,2015-03-30:4661400:BlogPost:2037222015-03-30T00:36:59.000ZRichard Questhttps://wildminds.ning.com/profile/RichardQuest
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150710587?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-full" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150710587?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"></img></a> (skyline of Asteriskia, after the American discovery)</p>
<p>This is an outline of one of my cities in my daydream, Asteriskia. During the great Plague, a 14 year old boy started seeing vivid hallucinations. He would mumble nonsensical words in a stupor. This could happen at any time in the day: while he was in the bathroom, during a walk outside, etc. He kept saying the same…</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150710587?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150710587?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-full"/></a>(skyline of Asteriskia, after the American discovery)</p>
<p>This is an outline of one of my cities in my daydream, Asteriskia. During the great Plague, a 14 year old boy started seeing vivid hallucinations. He would mumble nonsensical words in a stupor. This could happen at any time in the day: while he was in the bathroom, during a walk outside, etc. He kept saying the same thing over and over again--until someone wrote it down. What ensued was weird: what he said came true. This kid garnered a huge cult following in the weeks after the epidemic killed off all adults. His name was Kevin. He never provided his followers with a surname. He wandered his hometown of Green Bay, Wisconsin with his disciples until he received a vision from God to build a white city of guilded domes on the banks of Green Bay. After a few years, the city was finished and Kevin's book of prophecies was finished, he needed a name for both of them. Within the pages of his books, contains many footnotes marked with asterisks (***) They provided most of the bulk of the book, from living a good life, to prophesying the future. Kevin named his new city Asteriskia and his fledgling religion, Asteriskianism. </p>
<p></p>
<p>The city and it's inhabitants grew rapidly for the next 80 years of expansion, controlling trade and culture in the Great Lakes. Oddly, they did not meet the United States until far later. </p>
<p>CULTURE AND TRADITIONS</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150710830?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150710830?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-full"/></a>(Asteriskia has a two flag system in which they fly white flags in times of peace and black flags in times of war)</p>
<p>Asteriskia is considered one of the most religious cities in the world because of Kevin the Great and his religion. Due to this, Asteriskia has their own distinct identity compared to the other American citystates. Historically, there have been two sects of Asteriskianism in the city: Orthodox Asteriskianism, which follows Kevin the Great only; and Christian Asteriskianism, which combined the book of prophecies with the Christian Bible to provide a more whole religion. The people of Asteriskia live under a rare form of government before the American times. They had a theocratic oligarchy. Two councils headed all the business in the city, they both answered to Kevin the Great. The lower council was all democratically elected and secular, while the Higher council was the leaders of all the area churches. Religious law was the same as civil law before American contact too. But it is different than what it sounds like: material possessions were considered sinful so people were limited to a certain number.</p>
<p>HISTORY</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150711103?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150711103?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-full"/></a>(Kevin the Great declaring war after Hoffman incursion at Cana Island)</p>
<p>When Asteriskia expanded their trade empire in the Great Lakes, the Hoffman Empire heard of a great city of golden domes and marbled walls. Heather Hoffman sent off a force to loot the city. Kevin had placed island forts all around Door county to discourage piracy, but these forts were no match for the enemy airships that bombarded them. Cana Island, the largest of these forts, was completely destroyed. The airships landed due to high winds and the enemy army raided the countryside.<a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150711458?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150711458?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-full"/></a>(Cana Island being bombarded)</p>
<p>The resulting conflict lasted 11 days. The Hoffman soldiers raided Asteriskian cities closer and closer to Asteriskia proper until they were knocking on the great white walls. A siege followed until Kevin decided it was enough. He and his army came out of the city and chased away the invaders, but Kevin was captured in the process. (this is where another story of mine intertwines go check my blog for it) This girl, Amanda Prophet went out and found the dying prophet tied to a tree and bleeding out. She walked him back into the safety of the city, where Kevin died from his wounds. After driving the invaders from their country, Asteriskia quickly closed its doors to outsiders. Without a leader, the council had no desire to fix the city and expand power again. People were still in shock for their dead leader. For 20 years the city laid dormant in the landscape, the people never venturing too far out, and almost never accepting outsiders.</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150711733?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150711733?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-full"/></a>(the damages from the siege weren't repaired for 20 years)</p>
<p>It was prophesied that once the great leader fell, the military would drill every day. Due to this Asteriskia had the best army, but they didn't use it because of another prophecy stating they don't open their gates until 'an eagle from the South asks for hand in marriage, and trains soldiers for the greater good' This was Colonel Willows from Queensland asking for an alliance against the Hoffman Empire. He fulfilled the prophecy completely. When added to the union, Asteriskia was forced to be democratic and the religious council moved down only to religious and ceremonial purposes. They retained their massive and unique identity though. (like Texas)</p>
<p></p>
<p>This city will continue to be a hotspot of my plots for the rest of my daydream. They played a huge role in the Western Wars as well. This outline of my city only scratches the surface contentwise. </p>
<p></p>
<p>I hope you enjoyed this! I'll make more blog posts like this with my cities! Do you guys have any input?</p>Beginnings of My Daydream Worldtag:wildminds.ning.com,2015-03-29:4661400:BlogPost:2038112015-03-29T22:58:38.000ZRichard Questhttps://wildminds.ning.com/profile/RichardQuest
<p><img id=""<p" name=""<p"></img> <a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150709807?profile=original" target="_self"><br></br></a></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150709936?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-full" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150709936?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"></img></a> (Scene of the Great Green Plague released in 2015 by a far right terrorist group)</p>
<p>As promised, I went through all of my old drawings when I cleaned my room and definitely found sound old stories I left out when first posting on here. This…</p>
<p><img id=""<p" name=""<p"/><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150709807?profile=original" target="_self"><br/></a></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150709936?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150709936?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-full"/></a>(Scene of the Great Green Plague released in 2015 by a far right terrorist group)</p>
<p>As promised, I went through all of my old drawings when I cleaned my room and definitely found sound old stories I left out when first posting on here. This is the story of how my day dream world came to be. Ten years in the making, my world has been through massive overhauls and characters changed, added, deleted and such. Some drawings on here will be, er, um, well, I drew some as far back as the second grade so the artistic value of my work can be seen improving up until now.</p>
<p></p>
<p>THE STORY</p>
<p></p>
<p>An organization that was founded by teenagers to help teenagers in the real world was formed in 2010, it was known as the Preparers. It had four components: ShadowForce, a pseudo-military arm; ScienceForce, a science arm; CookingForce, the home arm; and BusinessForce, the corporate arm. It gained popularity to a point where it opened a new chapter every week. ShadowForce quickly became the organization's most popular arm, and in retaliation, the other three cut off most of the funding to ShadowForce. It wasn't a good idea. After a huge feud caught on national television, ShadowForce split from the Preparers. This caught the eye of congress, who were growing ever so more weary of ShadowForce's growing power. Congress started writing a bill to outlaw ShadowForce, so Colonel Willows, the head of ShadowForce tried to prove its use to the nation. He started campaigns for survival awareness, helped out in natural disasters, donated all lot of dues to charity, and started spying on suspected terrorists.</p>
<p>One group that ShadowForce spied on was the Hoffman Terror Group, headed by religious extremist Walter Hoffman and his whole family. Walter wanted to start the Apocalypse so he and the righteous could be raptured ( be the last ones left on Earth) his daughter, Heather wasn't convinced about the religious stuff, but she wanted to be powerful. She and her friends helped her parents with starting the Apocalypse by finding the best scientists in virology and kidnapping them. <a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150710599?profile=original" target="_self"><br/></a> <a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150711681?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150711681?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-full"/></a>(Heather Hoffman, founder of the Hoffman Empire)</p>
<p></p>
<p>They then forced the scientists to construct a virus to kill off most of humanity, spies from ShadowForce found out about it, and ran quickly to the Federal government, but they dismissed the plot and continued to pursue ending ShadowForce. Walter Hoffman forced the scientists to try harder and faster to make the perfect disease, but as ShadowForce was closing in with harder and harder evidence, he grew weary. Finally a ShadowForce spy infiltrated the Hoffman compound in New York to get evidence, but was captured. <a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150711788?profile=original" target="_self"><br/></a></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150713107?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150713107?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-full"/></a>(This was the spy, identity and fate unknown)</p>
<p>It was too late for anything now, Walter rushed production before final tests and killed the scientists. Millions of gallons of the stuff were shipped across the world and released at the same time. (picture at the top of the article) people inhaled the gas and got terminally ill. People died usually a day or two after being infected; except for the world's youth. All of the children and most of the teenagers were unharmed while all of the adults died off. This is the start of my world.</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150713267?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150713267?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-full"/></a>(Images of after many people died, ShadowForce provided help. I drew this in 6th grade)</p>
<p></p>
<p>Chaos of the epidemic ensued, mass suicides, looting, break down of all government happened in weeks. ShadowForce tried to consolidate in the Chicago area. There was a massive warehouse of supplies by the banks of the Kankakee river to the South of Chicago, Colonel Willows led a march to it, away from the danger of the city. Queensland was founded.</p>
<p>TL;DR, this is the beginning of my daydreams. How do your day dreams start?</p>
<p></p>Cleaning Through My Old Stuff Through Spring Breaktag:wildminds.ning.com,2015-03-28:4661400:BlogPost:2036192015-03-28T04:56:30.000ZRichard Questhttps://wildminds.ning.com/profile/RichardQuest
<p>Hey guys!</p>
<p>It's spring cleaning time and I'm going through everything in my room one last time before I leave for college. Sifting through the huge piles of papers and stacks of sketch books is going to be fun; I always find gems from my DD that I have forgotten about. So I think all next week I'll be posting old pictures and stories all the way back from when I first started to day dream (around first grade). I might even super compile everything and log them into one continuous…</p>
<p>Hey guys!</p>
<p>It's spring cleaning time and I'm going through everything in my room one last time before I leave for college. Sifting through the huge piles of papers and stacks of sketch books is going to be fun; I always find gems from my DD that I have forgotten about. So I think all next week I'll be posting old pictures and stories all the way back from when I first started to day dream (around first grade). I might even super compile everything and log them into one continuous timeline and post it here xD</p>
<p></p>
<p>woooooot xD I hope you guys have fun on your spring vacations! </p>Looking Closer At My Characters: The Corona Familytag:wildminds.ning.com,2015-03-21:4661400:BlogPost:2031422015-03-21T04:08:28.000ZRichard Questhttps://wildminds.ning.com/profile/RichardQuest
<p><br></br><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3094562611?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-full" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3094560949?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="643"></img></a> (Queen Victoria Corona, 1st leader of the reformed United States)</p>
<p>When I started daydreaming over ten years ago, many of my current characters were in their creative infancy. The idea of an American royal family came to me back in the 6th grade, when I did fall completely in love with this girl; who turned into the good Queen that my entire daydream is built upon.…</p>
<p><br/><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3094562611?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="643" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3094560949?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="643" class="align-full"/></a>(Queen Victoria Corona, 1st leader of the reformed United States)</p>
<p>When I started daydreaming over ten years ago, many of my current characters were in their creative infancy. The idea of an American royal family came to me back in the 6th grade, when I did fall completely in love with this girl; who turned into the good Queen that my entire daydream is built upon. This girl was witty, cunning, smart, and funny: just like a leader. </p>
<p></p>
<p>This is the story of Queen Victoria Corona, a girl with two siblings that came from a lower class neighborhood on the south side of Chicago before the Great Green Plague (check out my earlier stuff to get caught up). She and her younger sister and brother fought for their survival on the way down to the safe haven of a city that was being constructed to hold as many survivors as possible. On her way in, she met the commander of the city's army, John Willows, and he was convinced that she would make a good leader for the new forming nation. With the several thousand citizens of the city, they voted her into office of leader, with the details to be smoothed out later. By the time the first winter came, the city built a massive wall out of snow to keep bandits and criminals out. A motorcycle contingent from the east tried to enter the city, but when refused by the guards, they opened fire and attacked the city. Victoria then vowed she would step out of office when that specific band of bandits were taken care of. Thinking lightly of it, John Willows jokingly make her "Queen", but the title stuck, not only to her but the city around her, now called Queensland. What nobody knew was the motorcyclists were not part of a gang, but a separate and expansionist nation called the Hoffman Empire (see <a href="http://wildminds.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-south-empire-under-the-microscope">http://wildminds.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-south-empire-under-the-microscope</a> ) She unknowingly declared war on the most powerful dictatorship to arise since Hitler. Her term in office that was supposed to be a year at most ended up being very very very, long. She held steadfast though, she never let her position of power get to her: she was always very informal, personal, and vocal about every issue. She wasn't almightly powerful either, there was a court system, a senate, and a house to check her powers, but she remained highly popular even during controversy and numerous failed assassination attempts. She was considered a mother to the nation.</p>
<p></p>
<p>When the time did in fact come to step out of office at the end of the bloodiest war in history, she cemented herself as one of the greatest forces in the world. With her pension and backpay, she went to build her own private retirement castle, really far away from Queensland, in a place once known as yellowstone. Here is the place where her brother rises to power...</p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3094562611?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3094562611?profile=original" width="642" class="align-full"/></a>(King Jacob Corona, the second monarch of America)</p>
<p></p>
<p>Jacob Corona was not like her sister. When she and her sister would go out all the time o perform stately duties, he would stay at home, lurking in the shadow of his sister's glory. Jacob is not the nicest person to be around, and that was probably why the other two siblings alienated him. For his sister's entire reign, he plotted and plotted. By the time Victoria stepped out of office, America switched to a presidential system until the country's downfall around the year 6000 AD. At America's height of power, they controlled over 98% of the world's landmass. But the system failed, and the world fell into the dark ages after millions of people left the Earth on space ships to colonize the galaxy (including Victoria and her sister) When contact with the space ships ended, the world slowly but surely stopped knowing how to create and use technology. This was when Jacob ascended to the throne at his newly declared capitol in Yellowstone called Kingsland. He even spent the trouble to create a new language for his people to learn so they could stop reading enlightened english.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150710761?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150710761?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="595" class="align-full" height="793"/></a>(The language he created to make sure his people were subservient)</p>
<p>He was power hungry and expanded his empire mercilessly. Anyone who didn't come from his empire were considered rebels and were treated as such. His armies were massive and wielded swords and shields, they invaded the Western Union and started the Western Wars, (see my older posts) that would end civilized life on Earth. Cheery guy.</p>
<p></p>
<p>In the end, I try to make my daydreams as human and intricate as possible. The characters in my head have been developing and maturing for the last ten years... they're not done yet.</p>
<p></p>
<p>If you guys have any interesting people or stories from your DD, share!</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>The End of Pretty Much Everythingtag:wildminds.ning.com,2015-02-27:4661400:BlogPost:2020072015-02-27T22:08:16.000ZRichard Questhttps://wildminds.ning.com/profile/RichardQuest
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150709661?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-full" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150709661?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"></img></a> (The all out assault on the Uzahn capitol of Kingsland at the conclusion of the Western Wars, and civilized world)</p>
<p></p>
<p>This is what I believe to be the final parts of my very very long daydream.</p>
<p></p>
<p>The Western Wars is the conflict between the largest of my nations. One one side is the Freestate of Kennedy, Asteriskia, the Western Union, and Queensland…</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150709661?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150709661?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-full"/></a>(The all out assault on the Uzahn capitol of Kingsland at the conclusion of the Western Wars, and civilized world)</p>
<p></p>
<p>This is what I believe to be the final parts of my very very long daydream.</p>
<p></p>
<p>The Western Wars is the conflict between the largest of my nations. One one side is the Freestate of Kennedy, Asteriskia, the Western Union, and Queensland that make up the Tri-Star Alliance; one the other, the massive empire of Uzah headed by a land hungry King Jacob Corona. Halfway through the war, another player entered the game on a third side: the South Empire also taking land, fighting both the Tri-Star Alliance and Uzah.</p>
<p></p>
<p>The Uzahns pushed as far east as Kennedy, and the Kennedians rallied with Sam Agnew to push the front all the way to the doorstep of Kingsland. <a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3094562835?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3094562835?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-full"/></a>(Battle of Kennedy Roads, where over half of the Uzahn army was meticulously slaughtered.)</p>
<p></p>
<p>The push to Kingsland had been a hard and arduous one, fighting through miles of enemy territory, almost exclusively wilderness. This war was putting a toll on the Kennedians. With the winter looming above, the Tri-Star Alliance had to move on Kingsland quickly before they were snowed in and starved to death. It was too deep into enemy territory to turn back now. </p>
<p></p>
<p>Along with that, the Empress Vivian Grey and her South Empire was approaching the capitol as well from the south, destroying the countryside.</p>
<p></p>
<p>Kingsland is situated in a place once referred as Yellowstone, the white walls of the city ram up against Lake Yellowstone, and surrounding it, were miles and miles of peasantry suburbs. The king had geothermal power plant hooked up to the many natural geysers and hot springs to make power.<a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150710663?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150710663?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-full"/></a>(There were four of these in the surrounding area and powered the entire city.)</p>
<p></p>
<p>These tall towers loomed over the row houses like massive chess pieces and were called Rooks. They were the key to a Kennedian victory. The Asteriskians were superstitious of these and decided to turn around and march back to their home city, quitting the war and the alliance. They were on to something, the very last verse in the Asteriskian book of prophecies goes like this: "The Angel shall tip the Rook, and the first seal of Hell shall open. Hell shall break loose and reign upon the plains of the Earth. The Good shall be removed to the Heavens. The sad age of man will end."</p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150710825?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150710825?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-full"/></a>(Commander Samantha Agnew, the Angel of the East, according to the people of the Western Union).</p>
<p></p>
<p>Sam Agnew (from my other blog post) is tasked with heading a charge on one the the Rooks, known as GP No I. She and a contingency of 1000 volunteers stormed the Uzahn line protecting the compound and quickly set up explosives to eliminate the power source. A Kennedian chaplain, who was one of the few Asteriskian denomination origin asked her not to blow up the tower, she refused.</p>
<p></p>
<p>A few hundred miles to the west, a group of Kennedians headed by General Edward Stratton were wrecking havoc on Uzahn cities. He and a few other men walked up to the tallest tower in the city to see if they could see Kingsland from there. </p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p>WHAT I REMEMBER FROM 9TH GRADE EARTH SCIENCE IS THAT YELLOWSTONE HAS A MASSIVE SUPERVOLCANOE. The geysers and hot springs were a product of a magma chamber the size the world has never seen. If disturbed, the whole thing could blow up.</p>
<p></p>
<p>In the heat of battle, hundreds of thousands of soldiers fighting each other all stop at once when they hear the massive Rook explode and fall over. Power fails across the city, leaving communication cut off. The ground starts to shake in the greatest feat of nature ever seen, and a tower of lava comes shooting out of the ground where the Rook was, killing Sam and her com padres. The whole area continued shaking as more and more Rooks exploded into pillars of molten rock, spewing into the atmosphere. People were running everywhere.</p>
<p></p>
<p>General Stratton could see and feel the whole thing. </p>
<p></p>
<p>The entire sunken caldera exploded, eating up the entire city, King Jacob Corona, Sam Agnew, Vivian Grey, Caesar North, and millions of people who were fighting. the ash and lava flow head east with the winds all the way to Kennedy, leaving the Western Union in over several feet of ash. Hundreds of millions of people died in the ensuing minutes and hours.</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150711601?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150711601?profile=original" width="614" class="align-full"/></a>The billions of pounds of ash in the atmosphere cooled down the planet and sent it into a new ice age. The human race almost went extinct. Only several thousand of people at the equator survived. The age of civilization is over, just as prophecy stated.</p>
<p></p>
<p>Is this the end of my daydreaming? Probably not. </p>
<p></p>
<p>TL;DR I ended my daydream in the biggest and most epic way I could think of. What do you guys think? Anything you could add or whatever? I know I need to do some more drawings, I will put them up later!</p>The South Empire: Under the Microscopetag:wildminds.ning.com,2015-02-27:4661400:BlogPost:2018692015-02-27T18:01:32.000ZRichard Questhttps://wildminds.ning.com/profile/RichardQuest
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150711597?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-full" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150711597?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"></img></a> (Map of the South Empire in its reclusive stage during the American blockade)</p>
<p></p>
<p>This is a nation from my daydreams.</p>
<p>The South Empire started off as the last vestiges of the formerly glorious Hoffman Empire (it's full official name is "the Southern Extent of the Hoffman Empire"). When Heather Hoffman was killed, this part of the empire was unexplored by…</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150711597?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150711597?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-full"/></a>(Map of the South Empire in its reclusive stage during the American blockade)</p>
<p></p>
<p>This is a nation from my daydreams.</p>
<p>The South Empire started off as the last vestiges of the formerly glorious Hoffman Empire (it's full official name is "the Southern Extent of the Hoffman Empire"). When Heather Hoffman was killed, this part of the empire was unexplored by Americans. As a safety measure, the Hoffmans built a massive wall through thick rain forest and mountains to block out the Americans. </p>
<p></p>
<p>By the time the Americans got there the walls had been up for 30 years. As a policy handed down from the founding of America, they were to be at permanent war with the Hoffman Empire until one or the other was destroyed. At this time America had sights on global imperialism, or their eyes, "manifest destiny" they incorporated the entire surrounding regions into their own empire and had the largest garrison ready to attack the SE at moments notice. During the next several centuries, America reached that goal. Except for the South Empire.</p>
<p></p>
<p>All this time the South Empire was reclusive like North Korea. With a new structure of leadership called the "Hoffman" the SE grew into a powerful, but defensive force. This system was based on the 17 houses of nobility which when a new Hoffman is needed, they send their best girls to fight it out to the death in hopes of becoming the next Hoffman or "Empress". This system is loosely forming a new religion where people feel the life force of Heather Hoffman flow from one rule to the next. When that life force feels weak, the empress is assassinated and the game for new empress starts over. This was an excuse early on to get someone out of power. The people truly think that the current empress is God incarnate and will do as told. </p>
<p></p>
<p>The first thing said from a "god" empress was to hold out behind the walls and wait until the U.S. collapsed to take everything up. Every other empress followed suit.</p>
<p></p>
<p>The culture here is a mix of the english speaking nobility classes that came from the original Hoffman Empire, and the largely spanish speaking proletariat. Over time a laid back culture formed in where the nobility tried to throw the biggest parties for the proles to keep them appeased. This is a maternal society, in where that everything flows from the mother's side. The women hold all the power, and men are expected to be subservient. Men serve in the army and do the dirty work, while women do refined things like lead the army and take charge of the nation.</p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150711775?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150711775?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="600" class="align-full" height="800"/></a>(various uniforms of the South Empire)</p>
<p></p>
<p>The South Empire knew it couldn't survive the constant blockade by the Americans, so they thought of something brilliant. No other nation on earth used submarines anymore. American ships weren't even capable of sonar. The SE used hundreds of submarines to ship in food, goods, and ideas to the Empire. They created a pseudo country of the Galapagos Republic which the Americans shipped goods to all the time. This hub of trade smuggled supplies to the SE by submarine tunnels and covered submarine docks. They were never found out.</p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150713016?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150713016?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-full"/></a>(Empress Vivian Grey, the last Empress of the Empire, and known to be rather kind and funny)</p>
<p></p>
<p>The South Empire sprouted from the evil of the Hoffman Empire, but over the ages it has mellowed into a rather vibrant and relatively peaceful culture. When the American Empire did in fact crumble in 6200 ADC, the newest Empress Vivian Grey chose to act upon the the suggestion of the first empress and invaded neighboring regions. They treated the conquered people rather well, so they didn't mind. Vivian pushed up all the way to UZAH and the Western Union by the time of the Western Wars (C. 7000 ADC) and fought both sides until reaching Kingsland with the Kennedians and Uzahns in an ultimate three way battle. </p>
<p></p>
<p>This was the end of times. (more on the battle later)</p>
<p></p>
<p>TL;DR another country in my head.</p>
<p>Comment on what you think! Does anyone else do this?<a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150713721?profile=original" target="_self"><br/></a> <a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150714056?profile=original" target="_self"><br/></a> </p>Looking Closer At My Daydreams: The FSKtag:wildminds.ning.com,2015-02-14:4661400:BlogPost:2009742015-02-14T23:58:30.000ZRichard Questhttps://wildminds.ning.com/profile/RichardQuest
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150709776?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-full" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150709776?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"></img></a> (The map above is to the Free State of Kennedy, or the FSK, it is by far the smallest capitol in the world.)…<a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150710786?profile=original" target="_self"><br></br></a> <a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150711727?profile=original" target="_self"><br></br></a></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150709776?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150709776?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-full"/></a>(The map above is to the Free State of Kennedy, or the FSK, it is by far the smallest capitol in the world.)<a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150710786?profile=original" target="_self"><br/></a> <a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150711727?profile=original" target="_self"><br/></a> <a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150711827?profile=original" target="_self"><br/></a></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150710622?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150710622?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="603" class="align-full" height="804"/></a></p>
<p></p>
<p>(Street lamp at Johnson and Stratton Streets)</p>
<p>When I daydream, I immerse myself into the world in my mind. I spent a couple hours yesterday going through my mind to draw out an exact map of the FSK with street names and everything. I ask myself what would be the most convenient place for trade, learning, living, and thriving in this extremely cramped environment of less than a mile square in area. This is one of many cities that I have centered my Dreams around, since it was by far the smallest, I wanted to know what exactly goes within it's walls. </p>
<p></p>
<p>The FSK was formed in the aftermath of the Green Plague, in the exact spot where a soldier and his team left to found another city called QueensLand, (more on that later). The people of the FSK are among the world's most diverse, they strive for knowledge in this dark world. </p>
<p></p>
<p>A direct democracy that holds weekly meetings in the commons, every citizen has a vote in what goes on in the city. There are no leaders per se, only a mass of people. The only person akin to the presidency is the chief of police, who heads the FSK Defense Forces. When the United States came again, asking for their admittance into the Union, the people voted and declined. Thus creating a tiny nation-state in the middle of America. this is the FSK we know today. When the original wooden walls were burned and the city sacked by the Hoffman Empire, they rebuilt it to magnificent glory seen in the map above. They joined America in the war against the Hoffman Empire (look at my older posts to get caught up).<a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150713110?profile=original" target="_self"><br/></a></p>
<p></p>
<p>--RELIGION--</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3094561261?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3094561261?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-full"/></a>(Saint Leah Brighton among the trees in classical Kennedian dress.)</p>
<p></p>
<p>When constructing the FSK in my mind, I wanted it to be different from the other cities. Most of the rest of the world in my DD are Asteriskians, which is a prophetic faith based in Asteriskia (Green Bay), I wanted the FSK to be unique. I wanted a religion that reflected their ideals perfectly. A couple years after the Green Plague wrecked the Earth, a man who lived in the woods just outside the city walls received a vision. They called him the great editor, Saint Nicholas Woodman took his Bible and cut out all the misogyny, hate, racism, homophobia, and useless parts to make a reformed edition. He taught love and peace, and above all, respect for Nature; after all the FSK was surrounded by a massive forest preserve put there by the Americans to keep the Kennedians secluded. They thrived in this atmosphere, burying their dead in circular tree rings throughout the forest, each sapling growing from the life essence of the deceased. The forest for the Kennedians became a spiritual place, where families would go and wander on the weekends. </p>
<p></p>
<p>Since the FSK was a direct democracy, their religion reflected that, when someone was martyred for their faith, their name would be brought up at the bi monthly ceremony in the commons, and they would vote for Sainthood.</p>
<p></p>
<p>--CULTURE--</p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150713866?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150713866?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-full"/></a>(Kennedians have a great sense of family, these are the most prominent 25 families in the city)</p>
<p>Since the beginning of the country, people clung to their families for a sense of safety, people coming in later could join a family and work for them in their common houses. People in the same families tended to stay together in one building unit as seen on the map above, this is the traditional way of life in the FSK. There would be friendly competitions between the families every week and the family with the most points of the year was commended and given a house trophy. This evolved into sporting events held in the JFK Memorial Stadium, and eventually the onset of the country's favorite sport: Timberball. </p>
<p></p>
<p>Timberball is a blend between hockey, soccer, football, and tennis. Padded players would have to get the ball through a ring at the other team's goal to score a point, and only defense could use paddles to swat away the ball. Originally made of hard wood, after many injuries the state changed it to a heavy ball. The teams must be made up of people from the same family and has to be co-ed, winning the Timberball Championship is considered the hardest thing a family could do together.<a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150714128?profile=original" target="_self"><br/></a><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150714305?profile=original" target="_self"><br/></a></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150714332?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150714332?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-full"/></a>(Official rules for Timberball, the most popular sport in the FSK, and third most popular in the world)<a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150714897?profile=original" target="_self"><br/></a><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150714128?profile=original" target="_self"><br/></a><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150714128?profile=original" target="_self"><br/></a></p>
<p>Above all else, the Kennedians value education and knowledge. This was the first city to establish a school of any kind let alone make it compulsory for all voting members of society. the University of Kennedy, Woodclyffe is the most prestigious school in the world, the waiting list for non-kennedians is over 200 years long just for admittance. Universal truths are sought out here, world views revised, books written, among other things. The most important discovery of the university was the effects of the Green Plague on the carriers, rendering everybody biologically immortal. <a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150718228?profile=original" target="_self"><br/></a><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150718342?profile=original" target="_self"><br/></a> <a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150718431?profile=original" target="_self"></a></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150718431?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150718431?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="501" class="align-full" height="668"/></a>(Seal of the University)</p>
<p></p>
<p>one of the most practical inventions of the school was the new armor for the FSK Defense Force, which is climate controlled, light weight, and very strong.</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3094562448?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3094562448?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="590" class="align-full" height="618"/></a>(A woman in the FSKDF's new armor that defined an era.)</p>
<p></p>
<p>After the fall of the United States, Kennedy spread to consume the entire midwest, but due to the overall decline of technology and communications, the rest of the world became unconnected. People had to revert to messenger on horse back for news. So the university sent out the man named Samuel Lincoln on a mission the chronicle the world's nations. He and he regiment of horse rode around the world, sharing knowledge and receiving information of the many cultures and countries that the U.S. left behind. <a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150720046?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150720046?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-full"/></a><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150720119?profile=original" target="_self">T</a>he Kennedians are a powerful force until the end of days, the Western Wars. (look at my other posts to get that story).</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p>TL;DR, This nation is completely in my head and I have chronicled its entire history and culture.</p>
<p></p>
<p>How in depth do you guys go with your daydreams?</p>
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<p></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>A Little About Me (Something Other Than My DD)tag:wildminds.ning.com,2015-02-12:4661400:BlogPost:2007382015-02-12T02:00:02.000ZRichard Questhttps://wildminds.ning.com/profile/RichardQuest
<p>Hey guys, </p>
<p>I feel that I often forget to mention facts about myself, which might be important for why I DD...</p>
<p>I live in a suburb of Chicago, Illinois.</p>
<p>I will be graduating in a couple of months to begin to study as a teacher.</p>
<p>I have traveled to over 50 countries and I love this world that we live in, making me a massive environmentalist. (I set my daydreams in places I've been to)</p>
<p></p>
<p>I've lived in Singapore for a little bit as a…</p>
<p>Hey guys, </p>
<p>I feel that I often forget to mention facts about myself, which might be important for why I DD...</p>
<p>I live in a suburb of Chicago, Illinois.</p>
<p>I will be graduating in a couple of months to begin to study as a teacher.</p>
<p>I have traveled to over 50 countries and I love this world that we live in, making me a massive environmentalist. (I set my daydreams in places I've been to)</p>
<p></p>
<p>I've lived in Singapore for a little bit as a child.</p>
<p></p>
<p>I'm half chinese.</p>
<p></p>
<p>I've always had a high-flying imagination, and remember having the same daydream as far back as 1st grade.</p>
<p></p>
<p>I'm inherently liberal because of growing up during the idiocy of president Bush, so my DD has elements in it that critiques right wing politics, organized religion, homophobia, etc. On the other hand, many good nations in my DD are extremely liberal and have open and flowing knowledge. Almost kind of a world I wish to live in,</p>
<p></p>
<p>I have a lot of friends and I incorporate them into my dreams.</p>
<p></p>
<p>I've had the same girlfriend for years but she had only a really minor role in my DD.</p>
<p></p>
<p>Before meeting her, I was extremely awkward when it came to girls I liked, and the only real interaction between them and I was in my DD, which now that I think of it, is vastly centered around them.</p>
<p></p>
<p>Lastly, my name is not really Richard Quest, he's just my favorite CNN anchor.</p>
<p></p>
<p>Feel free to share about yourselves on here or just ask questions!</p>MD is more common than I thoughttag:wildminds.ning.com,2015-01-29:4661400:BlogPost:2001572015-01-29T00:47:19.000ZRichard Questhttps://wildminds.ning.com/profile/RichardQuest
<p>Yesterday I was talking to my friend about MD for the first time, and he said that he had the EXACT same condition! He showed me all his journals and maps, and he actually constructed his own language awhile back and he can speak it fluently! I was amazed that I knew someone not online that went through the same I did!</p>
<p></p>
<p>Another case was a couple years back on a backpacking trip, my friend told me his entire DD plotline, (which was incredibly intense and awesome, basically Star…</p>
<p>Yesterday I was talking to my friend about MD for the first time, and he said that he had the EXACT same condition! He showed me all his journals and maps, and he actually constructed his own language awhile back and he can speak it fluently! I was amazed that I knew someone not online that went through the same I did!</p>
<p></p>
<p>Another case was a couple years back on a backpacking trip, my friend told me his entire DD plotline, (which was incredibly intense and awesome, basically Star Trek but on steroids) He went into the very minutia of every detail and even said that I was one of his main characters, albeit I die heroically. He was so detailed that he figured out how life could be sustained using silicon as a base instead of carbon. I was too scared to share my story though, and I regret it.</p>
<p></p>
<p>That poses the current question, how common is Maladaptive Daydreaming? Do any of you guys know any other people from everyday life that has the same condition as you?</p>Unfinished Short Story From My DDtag:wildminds.ning.com,2015-01-28:4661400:BlogPost:2001342015-01-28T01:46:06.000ZRichard Questhttps://wildminds.ning.com/profile/RichardQuest
<p>(This is a story that I lost interest in halfway through, and it vividly depicts life in one city from my DD. Share your own work and critique mine! :D)</p>
<div class="WordSection1"><p></p>
<p></p>
<p>CHAPTER I</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p><i>Centuries pass.</i></p>
<p><i>Buildings crumble.</i></p>
<p><i>Nations rise,</i></p>
<p><i>And they fall.</i></p>
<p><i>But I am still here.</i></p>
</div>
<p></p>
<p> The graffiti on the side of the graying depilated brick office complex…</p>
<p>(This is a story that I lost interest in halfway through, and it vividly depicts life in one city from my DD. Share your own work and critique mine! :D)</p>
<div class="WordSection1"><p></p>
<p></p>
<p>CHAPTER I</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p><i>Centuries pass.</i></p>
<p><i>Buildings crumble.</i></p>
<p><i>Nations rise,</i></p>
<p><i>And they fall.</i></p>
<p><i>But I am still here.</i></p>
</div>
<p></p>
<p> The graffiti on the side of the graying depilated brick office complex was getting more poetic.</p>
<p> I stopped from my daily walk home from the black market to take a look at the graffito. It stood an imposing several stories high on the bare concrete side of the building. The red blocky words rest in neat rows, each letter the size of a normal person standing straight. The poem seemed to pop out of the building with the help of the red and black lines of paint behind each individual letter. The bright colors juxtaposed with the faded cool hues of my city made it look out of place, alien even. This wasn’t here when I came through in the morning, and from the looks of the still drying paint, whomever did this is still in the area. People who tag walls are always gang members, and from the looks of this elaborate motif, it was probably at least a ten man job. Reminding myself that the gangs are vicious, even more so after the coming darkness arrives, I decide to return home for dinner.</p>
<p>I briskly walk past heaps of stinking refuse under the motif; it was smoldering in the later afternoon hours. I kicked several aerosol spray cans aside as I reposition my heavy rifle and backpack. The gun shouldered on my back has not been loaded for a very long time; it’s mostly just to scare away the numerous gangs that operate in the maze of streets and narrow alleys we call home.</p>
<p>My city, Northland, has been officially severed from the rest of the world several hundred years ago. Instead of solving the problem of the gangs, our government sealed us off and left us to rot. Northland, once a mighty industrial giant hailing over one million citizens, fell hard after the Empire’s invasion. Half of the city left afterwards, not wanting to pick up the mess. Gangs settled here, and took root, deep. People were starving, and the only way to food was joining a gang. Five years after the invasion, over seven hundred gangs existed: selling drugs, trafficking people, and many other illicit activities. The police were overwhelmed to the point that two officers were shot every day. Soon the police force was gone. The local government was filled with gangs members, officials were getting assassinated left and right. Martial law. Government trucks would drive in convoy through the city’s gates. Gunfire would shortly pursue. After awhile I think the people in the Capitol, only twenty miles away, were getting weary.</p>
<p>2142 A.D. The gates were shut for the last time. “Quarantine” the politicians called it. Half a million citizens swept under the rug. The 30 meter high stone walls surrounding our city no longer protected us from the world; it protects the world from us. Inside the walls, everything was deemed legal, all government terminated.</p>
<p>The gangs got smarter; they consolidated, grew harsher, and took over. Now there are only about 25000 people left. The Northland experiment had begun.</p>
<p>* * *</p>
<p>“Mike! Michael Woodman!” a voice booms out of the shadow of a doorway. I glance over, trying to remain inconspicuous. Even in broad daylight gang warfare can occur, plus there are snipers in various church steeples picking people off just for fun. I walk closer to the doorway; my friend George greets me with a warm hug. I quickly walk through the door and he shuts it behind me. “Hey George, how are you today?” I ask idly.</p>
<p>“I’m fine, with the exception that we’re out of food again. On the other hand, Mike, no offense, but you look like shit,” he jeers as he jokingly jabs me in the chest.</p>
<p>“George, I want to stop this madness. I want to get out,” I whispered to him even though no one else was in the room.</p>
<p>“I know, Mike. You, I, and the rest of the whole damned city would leave if we could!” His face grew a little red after noticing that he was shouting. He then continued to whisper, “Building that wall was the dumbest idea ever. It didn’t stop the enemy, but it has us locked in forever.”</p>
<p> I knew my friend George since before the invasion; he was the only one other than me to stay living in the apartment building even after the Hoffman troops marched through the city. He was a nice fellow, filled the room with his spirit. Only about five feet two inches tall, George looked like he was still thirteen, but in fact he was well over one hundred years old.</p>
<p>Well everyone looked adolescent; thanks to the Empire, the glory of immortality was unleashed upon the human race through their horrible biological weapons. Everyone over a certain age was killed off by a disease, the very same one that is in all of our veins that keep us alive. People are born and they age until some point in their teenage years, and live like that indefinitely.</p>
<p>George used to be my fat friend before the quarantine, now he just looks emaciated like the rest of us not in gangs. His reddish hair is cropped close to his head, and it seems to shimmer in the light through the glass window. His blue eyes of his look at me reassuringly. I move to sit on a wooden bench adjacent to the entryway, obviously tired from searching the city for food and goods to trade.</p>
<p>“Mike. What are going to do? We can’t just keep living like this. Like rats. Being afraid of getting killed for no reason is not how I envisioned my life. Fuck the walls. Fuck the gangs. Do you even think people notice that we’re gone? A whole fucking city! And an important one too!” He said while trying to remain calm.</p>
<p>“I don’t know, George, no fucking clue,” I say, looking at a faded framed portrait of the Queen on the wall. “I want to save this city from the hell it’s in now. I think they closed the gates so we can figure it out for ourselves.”</p>
<p>George sat down next to me on the bench, I could smell him. No one in the city has taken a proper shower since the gates were shut. He looked at me, puzzled. “What the hell are you talking about?”</p>
<p>“The gangs have us living in fear; we’re shaking in our boots. The nine sectors of the city have been partitioned off. Divide and conquer. We just need to band together and take them down.” I say at him more than to him.</p>
<p>“You’re an optimist. Here it’s called being—out of your fucking mind!” He jokingly yells at me, but inside I knew he’s not lying.</p>
<p>I get up from the bench and take off my rifle. I open up my backpack on the kitchen table and empty its contents for George to see: a water damaged map of the city, five cans of spam, three fresh apples I picked from the tree in the city’s heart, and a notebook. I unclip my water bottle from my belt and hand it to George. “Is this it?” he asks, clearly disappointed.</p>
<p>“Better than nothing.” I retort. “Dig in.”</p>
<p>As George starts on supper, I walk over to the mirror on the wall and comb my pitch colored hair. The downside of being forever sixteen is that I can never have a manly beard. My face is nice and round, a little prickle of facial hair grows out of my chin. My brown eyes see into my own soul. One maimed with sadness and violence. “Hey beautiful, quit looking at yourself and eat your food or I will.” George hinted.</p>
<p>I shrugged and joined him at the table. The sun no longer showed itself through the front window, dusk is approaching, and with it, violence. Lighting a candle in the center of the table to lighten things up, I grab a can of spam and work it open. George looks up at me from across the table. “How romantic, an evening dinner date with my main man Mike.” he snickered.</p>
<p>“Oh shut it,” I answered. “I think I should find you a girlfriend. After all, you're not that bad looking.”</p>
<p>“All the pretty girls are with the gangs, Mike. Plus I’m short; no woman enjoys a short man.” George explained. “The only place I know of that girls hang out is Prophet’s Diner, and that’s on the other side of town. Frankly, I don’t want to die while trying to hook up.”</p>
<p>I picked at my spam. It is expired by only a few days: fresh food is dropped by relief helicopters every other month or so. Last month might have been the last time they do it though because it was shot down by one of the gangs while dropping aid for the citizens.</p>
<p>“Oh whatever George, I just want some new faces; I am kind of tired of seeing your ugly ass every day.” I piped. “Sid got shot dead last year, and Abdullah went missing ten months ago. Our friends are all gone. I think we should move into the poorhouse down the street. It has other people, a nice wall around the yard, and food is always abundant there.” Pleading with George is never easy; his old Irish stubbornness is ever present.</p>
<p>He looked at me, at his food, and stole a glance around the decrepit room. “Yeah, you’re right. Living alone with you is lame as hell, plus this place smells like shit.” He confided, “Do you think that they still have room? Only non gang members are allowed, but not many people are left in this sector. One thousand, maybe two.” </p>
<p>The city is split into nine different sectors, eight around a central one, all separated by 20 meter high partitions of houses. The only official way to get from one sector to another is to go through a gatehouse, most always guarded by a gang asking for tolls. Our sector, sector four, is relatively the safest, because no gang has control of it. We’re the unwanted sector: mostly industrial complexes, office buildings, and a few apartment buildings.</p>
<p>I stare idly at the washed-out head of our Queen, thinking to myself. I answer after awhile, “there is no harm in trying. We’ll go tomorrow morning after I get back from the market to check it out.”</p>
<p>“So it’s set. Mike, pack your shit, and I’ll pack mine.” George said as he got up from the table, finished with his dinner. George stood at the table, his head slightly higher than mine sitting down, “you’re the only thing that keeps me from blowing brains out. Mike, you’re a true friend.”</p>
<p>“Um, thanks? Let’s get ready for bed,” I say trying to lose the awkwardness. “You know the drill.”</p>
<p>We struggle to move a bookcase in front of the locked door, lift up a piece of rotting wood board and place it carefully in front of the window. This routine is daily, a deterrent for nocturnal thieves that roam the city after dusk. The room falls dark. Only one candle flickers, creating elongated shadows over the bare white walls. To make noise after dark is to have a death wish, so George and I play card games silently on the uncovered floor.</p>
<p>Strident bangs and muffled shouts fill the darkness. It seems someone was caught outside by a gang. We try to focus on the cards and not the cries for help outside on the street. I cringe when the final gunshot pierces the night. Silence.</p>
<p>“I’m going to bed,” I mumble at George, who seems to have the same idea. Getting up from the bare concrete floor, I stretch my arms towards the cracked ceiling. Living on the first floor has its issues. The building that we currently squat in is the old “town homes” project. Nothing is centralized and the only way to get into each unit is from the street. Our “home” is tiny; but just perfect for us. It has one dining room, a kitchenette, a bedroom, and a broken bathroom. Everything was looted when we came here, except for the framed portrait of Victoria Corona, America’s Regent; and a bookcase full of classics like: <i>Walden, Common Sense, These Chicago Knights, the Book of Prophecies</i>, among many countless others. We filled our nights with reading and rereading books in the two single sized beds in the bedroom. </p>
<p>“Hand me the Book, I want to see what’s going to happen next.” George asks nicely from the bedroom. I walk over to the shelf, pick up the oversized dusty white volume, and carry it toward the bedroom. Inside the book are over ten thousand prophecies, in chronological order. These are all written in some emblematic words; to me it’s just gibberish. Some prophet sputtered all these out several hundred years ago, and apparently everything has been true so far. </p>
<p>I don’t believe in that stuff, but I am sort of religious. In fact one of my ancestors technically started his own religion: he cut out all of the misogyny, racial hate, useless history, and homophobia from the Christian Bible and made his own annotations. The end product was a new Christian religion that only worried about helping others, not judging their lifestyles. Let’s just say it caught on like wildfire in the Free State of Kennedy, my homeland.</p>
<p>“Here, you superstitious oaf,” I utter as I toss it at him. The bedroom is tiny, and it has no natural lighting. It’s pretty clammy. In the corner in front of a mirror are twenty candles, beyond usable, but still burning. The shadows it casts only add to the whole gloom and doom effect. I kick off my old and stolen black leather combat boots and jump onto the ancient, moldy mattress. </p>
<p>“Ah. Here it is,” George somewhat whispers to himself.</p>
<p>“What is it now?” I ask, staring at the cracked ceiling.</p>
<p>“Prophecy number seven thousand forty two: <i>‘Two fallen lions shall surmount the bedlam that is called the Noose.’</i>” George says hopefully as he reads the holy manuscript while sitting up against the wall.</p>
<p>“George, that could mean anything, it is written so that everything is extremely vague so it could be applicable to any situation.” I retorted, adding: “plus, how do you know which prophecy you’re on? Doesn’t the High Council in Asteriskia decide that stuff?”</p>
<p>George was too engulfed in the book to hear. I let out a deep sigh and pulled the sheets over my head. “I don’t care, Mike, I really just need <i>something</i> to hold onto…” George trailed off, obviously engrossed by the meaningless words on those thin pages.</p>
<p>Minutes passed with no noise, other than the annoying sound of George’s intense page flipping. “Hey do you know the new graffiti on the wall outside?” George finally asked after several minutes of quiet.</p>
<p>“Which one? Literally every wall in the city has <i>some kind</i> tag or graffito on it… If you’re asking about any new gang tags nearby, then no; I haven’t seen any,” I answer with some extra unnecessary sass.</p>
<p>“No, no, no… It’s the huge black, red, and white poem several stories high on the blank concrete wall of the office building next door. It’s beautiful… do you know why?” He spoke softly as if trying not to wake an imaginary sleeping child. Without even giving me time to respond, he answered his own question, probably because he gets excited easily. “It’s the prophecy of the one before the one I showed you, word for word.”</p>
<p>“Doesn’t mean anything, George. Just blow out the candles and go to bed,” I snap at him from under my covers.</p>
<p>“I wonder who put it there… Could it be people trying to overthrow the gangs?” George queried almost absentmindedly. His voice grew more tired after each syllable.</p>
<p>“Who else tags walls other than gangs? Plus, it was <i>huge!</i> Only a gang would have enough resources to do that.” I spoke to him from the solace of my putrid bedspread.</p>
<p>George was stumped. A moment passed before he finally answered. “It’s weird for a gang to be quoting scripture in their tags… Don’t they only use symbols? And aren’t their tags relatively small?”</p>
<p>Now I was stumped. “Uh, I think it is a <i>little</i> odd, but it’s probably gangs now trying to outdo each other with their tags…” I knew that was a bullshit answer, I just wanted some sleep. Maybe tomorrow I’ll set out for some answers about the mysterious graffito.</p>
<p>“Maybe, I hope there aren’t any new gangs forming though, I don’t want a turf war in our sector.” George stated while he slammed his book closed with a <i>thump.</i> I heard him wave the cumbersome volume at the warm candles near his side, causing them to flicker and go out. The tepid glow that permeated through my bed sheet that was drawn over my head vanished and it was night.</p>
<p></p>
<p> </p>
<p>CHAPTER II</p>
<p> Cities have fallen from grace before: there was the Detroit of the olden days, and the mighty Chicago’s descent into chaos after the great purge. Unlike our current situation, both of those cities recovered, excluding Detroit, that city crashed and burned out of existence just before the cleansing.</p>
<p>Our city is different. Most big cities that were founded after the purge built high and imposing walls to surround and protect them from outsiders. Neither Chicago nor Detroit had these, and that is what saved them from the menace within. When everything just failed, the national government shut the gates and threw away the keys so we could solve the problems on our own. That wasn't a good idea.</p>
<p> * * *</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3094561566?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3094561566?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="676" class="align-full" height="465"/></a></p>
<p> <i>Mr. Michael Thomas Woodman,</i> reads my now defunct dual citizenship ID card. My weathered face looks a ghostly white in the picture on the plastic that is my only way in and out of sector one. The maroon shield and calligraphic letter K emblazoned next to the great seal of the United States cover most of the card, leaving some room for my personal information. This card is my lifeline, without it, no gang or relief organization will give me aid. George already lost his awhile ago, so we split my rations directly in half.</p>
<p> The gate to Sector One is a small tunnel at the end of a shop-lined street, the ruinous houses that tower over each side of the thoroughfare casted the street in darkness even though it was almost ten in the morning. Shades of grey and brown dominate the landscape. Hundreds of people bustle through the street in an eerie but normal silence; like the color of their clothes, their voices were muted. The only vivid color that could be seen was spray-painted on a battered steel door, marking a gang’s presence.</p>
<p> The long line that I am waiting in is the entry line to Sector One, the central region of the city. Most of the black markets and all of aid stations are located within the sector’s walls, so security is tight.</p>
<p> People bustle around the gate; little stalls are set up with people bartering for goods. It was a messy scene. I was standing silently in line when someone tried to cut in front of me. Her black leather jacket with large angel wing patches on the back only meant one thing—we have a Guardian amongst us. But the fact of the matter is that she is trying to cut me.</p>
<p> “Excuse me, I was here first. I need to get supplies quickly and you’re not helping,” I said to the straight black locks of hair on the back of her head.</p>
<p> Without even looking my way, she reached into her front jacket pocket and took out a folded piece of paper. Ever so stealthily, she moved her hand to her side in a swooping motion. After clearing her throat and shaking the note in her hand, I quickly snatched it from her fingers. <i>This is really weird.</i></p>
<p> As the line of disheveled people moved forward to the gated checkpoint, nobody seemed to notice an extra disheveled person in front of me. <i>What’s a Guardian doing in this city? How is she not dead?</i> Thoughts swirled in my mind as I carefully pocketed the piece of notebook paper. <i>Why did she hand me this?</i></p>
<p>Being wiser than most, I decide that I would read the mysterious note once I was alone. For now, I should probably follow this girl. It seems like she needs me for something.</p>
<p>The guard didn’t bat an eye when he saw the girl in the black leather jacket, he just accepted her gold coins and glanced at her identification card and waved her through. Looking at me and silently motioning me to move forward, the greasy-haired attendant outstretched his hand to receive the toll. I fumble through my pockets to find the right amount of change to hand to the man. He weighs it on his scale and lets me walk through the dark tunnel.</p>
<p>I emerge on the other side only to see a loud mass of people bartering for their food at the large market. The mysterious girl is nowhere to be found.</p>
<p>Looking up at the mess of primitive concrete-box high-rises, I’m reminded of the hard times. Concrete was smuggled into the city and the largest gang wanted to show their power to the rest of the world; a tall and haphazardly built structure rose upwards of forty stories in the air, culminating into the largest middle finger gesture the world has ever seen. F-Central, as we would call it, is a literal <i>fuck you</i> to the capital city only twenty miles away. It was the center of the city, and thousands of people lived inside of it.</p>
<p>Remembering what I had to do, I veered off to a side alleyway by the gatehouse to look at the weird paper the girl gave me. Leaning against a crumbling concrete wall, I take out the note and read it. Inscribed in the most beautiful cursive I’ve seen in ages, it read:</p>
<p><i> </i></p>
<p><i> </i></p>
<p><i> </i></p>
<p><i>Dear Mr. Woodman,</i></p>
<p><i>I know that you weren’t born in this city and would love to leave it as soon as possible, I can help with that. I know you’ve at least heard of me before, but we haven’t met in person. I’ve been following you for several days now, trying to see if you are the type of person I need for the work I have chosen for you. You are.</i></p>
<p><i>If you complete the task I give you, I will help you and your friend escape the city for greener pastures. As you might have guessed, I’m a Guardian Angel from Queensland. I’m not here on official Angel business, but on my own accord looking to end the Quarantine, or at least harm the gangs in any way possible. If you choose to accept my job for you and to learn more about what you have to do, meet me at the back door of Prophet’s Diner in Sector Eight tomorrow night at eleven. If you don’t show, I’ll take it as a decline on your terms.</i></p>
<p><i>Michael, I need your help, but more importantly, the city does.</i></p>
<p><i>--A</i></p>
<p>What the Hell?</p>
<p>I read and reread the note over and over again, each time it seems more ludicrous. <i>How does she know my name? Who is she? What does she want?</i> Confused, I slide down the wall until I’m sitting down. I need to take this all in.</p>
<p><i>How do I know her?</i> As I put the note back into my pocket, I didn’t notice a group of thugs turn my way into the alley. By the looks of it, they were gang affiliated—all wearing the same orange and black armband. The three of them quickly closed in on me</p>
<p> Just as I tried to jump up and run in the opposite direction to the safety of the crowded street, the three buff figures sprinted to catch me. They grabbed me by the cords on my backpack, and that’s when I knew I was finished. There was no shouting for help from gangs in this city; the gangs <i>were</i> the only authority. “Hey!” I shouted, “What’s the big idea?”</p>
<p>They encircled me, threw off my backpack and empty rifle, and pinned me up against the concrete wall. The sheer force of it knocked the wind out of me. The largest and hairiest of the thugs spoke to me in his clammy voice: “Didn’t you hear? New <i>ordinance</i> stating anyone idling in the back alleys is to be made example of.”</p>
<p>I look up. <i>The examples.</i></p>
<p>The gang that controlled Sector One was notorious for frivolous violence. They called themselves “The Posse”, and they had a nasty habit of hanging their victims up on telephone lines to ward off other gangs.</p>
<p>Crossing over the alleyway was a telephone wire, on it hung several ropes with decomposing bodies strung through the nooses. They swayed in solemn unison, almost as if they were agreeing to my punishment.</p>
<p>Totally scared for my impending doom, I pleaded with them: “Come on, I didn’t know that! You can take everything I have, just don’t kill me!”</p>
<p>The shortest man of the gang looked up from rummaging through my backpack. “He doesn’t really have anything of value to us, I say we just fillet him right here and show him off in the market!”</p>
<p>“I have a better idea,” said the man who was pinning me up against the wall.</p>
<p>He grabbed me by the hairs of my head and slammed my face down onto the pavement. Nothingness.</p>
<p></p>
<p> <a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150709739?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150709739?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="646" class="align-full" height="861"/></a></p>
<p>CHAPTER III</p>
<p>Headache.</p>
<p>The throbbing veins in my head are making it hard to remember what the hell happened. There’s a blindfold over my eyes and my arms and legs are bound too tightly together. They’ve taken my clothes off, and replaced them with a scratchy sack with holes cut for the head and arms. I’ve been kidnapped.</p>
<p><i>Oh God, I remember what happened.</i> I was on the way to the market to get supplies for the move to the poorhouse when running into that girl ruined my whole day. If it wasn’t for her I would never had gone into that alley, and that gang wouldn’t of have kidnapped me. What am I going to say to George? Am I ever going to see him again?</p>
<p> Cold, I feel cold.</p>
<p> I’m lying down on the cold hard concrete floor in some sort of cell—but I’m not alone. I can feel the heat of another body budding up against my back. The cramped room is filled the disgusting aroma of feces. I’m probably laying in it now. <i>Oh no.</i> I know where I am.</p>
<p>There’s a cold draft blowing through an opening in the wall, as the wispy air flowed over my back it sent shivers down my spine. I must be high up in a building somewhere, mostly likely F-Central, the Posse’s headquarters. <i>There’s only one reason why they would bring me up here.</i></p>
<p>Remembering almost immediately why the Posse would carry me up so many floors, I freaked out, trying to cut loose from my bonds. It was futile. <i>They were going to publicly execute me.</i></p>
<p>F-Central has gallows set up on their highest levels so that the world can see their ruthlessness. I’m going to die and rot for the entire world to see. For what? Going down the wrong alleyway? I should have never moved out the safety of my homeland to this barbaric city. I’m going to die here.</p>
<p>Just when I thought all hope was lost, the body next to me started to stir. A hard elbow knocked into my side to get me to stop squirming. A whimpering feminine voice, just louder than the wind outside whispered: “Stop moving, they’ll know that you’ve woken, and they’ll take you!”</p>
<p>“Where are we?” I inquire, softly as possible.</p>
<p>“Slave receiving room. This is where the slave-catchers, bounty hunters, and gang members sell people into slavery.” She replied.</p>
<p><i>At least they’re not going to kill me.</i></p>
<p> “How do we get out of here?”</p>
<p> She didn’t reply for a couple minutes, I almost thought she nodded off or worse, but sure enough she murmured a response: “Maybe if we could somehow cut through these ropes and remove our blindfolds before the guard comes in and checks on us.”</p>
<p>“We could overpower him and escape. From my knowledge, I don’t think the Posse is too organized, so we can easily find our clothes and steal a couple armbands and walk right out of here!” I replied, optimistically.</p>
<p>I wiggled my fingers and moved all my joints in my hands to try to loosen the rope’s grip on me. After sometime of hearing me and her heavily breathing to take of the ropes around our arms, I could hear her break loose.</p>
<p>Moments later, after starting and stopping every now and to listen for guards, she finally got her blind fold off and unbound her legs. I could sense her leaning over me through the dim light that casted through my blindfold. She tore it off along with all the ropes, and revealed to me was a cramped concrete cell with a locked wooden door and a single barred window for air. Her features were cast in the shadow of the window; the moonlight surrounded her dark head as if it were a halo. “I’m Olivia. Olivia West.” She said.</p>
<p>“Wait, West as in the Kennedian West? You’re from the Free State too?” I ask, almost not containing my glee. She nodded. “I thought I was the last and only Kennedian to live in Northland!”</p>
<p>“Well, errrm, what’s your name?”</p>
<p>“Michael Woodman, descendant of Saint Nicholas Woodman!” I almost half shouted. I haven’t seen a fellow countryman in several hundred years.</p>
<p>“Ah, yes, Michael, I’m actually fairly new to the city. I’ve been here for about a month now—I was in that relief helicopter they shot down, and they only just captured me a couple hours ago.” She whispered, hinting at my volume. “I want to get out of here as much as you do, as soon as that door opens, we beat that guy senseless and tie him up. We’ll just go from there, okay?”</p>
<p>I stood up on my feet, stretching out my cramped muscles in my entire body, suddenly I felt lightheaded. The room started to swirl around me, as my vision went into a dark tunnel. Olivia grabbed me before I could fell; her short stature against my towering body did little help. She moaned trying stand me up: “maybe we should wait a little bit for you to get better, take a deep breath, inhale, and exhale.” She looked at my face in the moonlight. “Holy Shit they messed you up. There’s a massive gash in your forehead, no wonder you’re not feeling good.”</p>
<p>“Yea, they beat me up in an alleyway, next thing I know, here I am.”</p>
<p>“What were you doing in an alley? I would think someone who’s been here as long as you would know better!” She exclaimed, running her fingers over the wound, surveying the damage.</p>
<p>“Long story, I’ll tell you lat—” I was cut off by the loud sound of the door creaking open.</p>
<p> </p>
<p></p>
<p> </p>
<p>CHAPTER IV</p>
<p> As the large door groaned open, Olivia and I silently moved to the wall next to the hinge. Peering through with a torch, the lonesome guard, clad in just a tee shirt and jeans, stepped into the cell.</p>
<p> That was his mistake.</p>
<p> At once I forcefully grabbed his torch arm with all my remaining strength, while Olivia put her hands over his mouth to quiet his screams. (THATS WHERE I LEFT OFF IM SORRY)</p>
<p></p>
<p>TL;DR It's a story from my daydream world, I hope you guys enjoyed it, comment on what you think of it!</p>The End of the Western Uniontag:wildminds.ning.com,2015-01-26:4661400:BlogPost:2000162015-01-26T02:36:21.000ZRichard Questhttps://wildminds.ning.com/profile/RichardQuest
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150710678?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-full" height="771" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150710678?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="578"></img></a></p>
<p>(General Caesar North, the last real hope for restoring the Union)</p>
<p>My daydream's plot is getting more and more complex. I've added over 20 new minor and maybe major characters to the current events going on in the Western Union.<a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150711693?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-full" height="505" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150711693?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="673"></img></a></p>
<p>(These…</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150710678?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150710678?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="578" class="align-full" height="771"/></a></p>
<p>(General Caesar North, the last real hope for restoring the Union)</p>
<p>My daydream's plot is getting more and more complex. I've added over 20 new minor and maybe major characters to the current events going on in the Western Union.<a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150711693?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150711693?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="673" class="align-full" height="505"/></a></p>
<p>(These are the the main military leaders from the Western Union involved in the Western Wars, the X's indicate if they have been killed)</p>
<p>After massive capitulation of both military and civilian authority, the Western Union is in disarray. Nothing can stop the Uzahn advances further into friendly territory. After the fall of the confluences, all was considered lost because over 90% of the entire nation's military was destroyed, leaving it defenseless. Only three generals remain, two good ones in the Northern half, and one incompetent coward to the south. </p>
<p></p>
<p>This is what I have DDed about this weekend, I did realize that most of my character before were all white, so I'm trying to account for more diversity within my world. As you can see the Northern Western Union is much more diverse and a post racial society: most of their leaders are PoC. On the contrary, the south, considered a little bigoted and racist, all of the generals are white. I know in other time periods of my daydream there is much diversity and conflict, just here, it's lacking a little. I need to work on that.</p>
<p></p>
<p>DD for me isn't really an issue, I love making stories in my head and building characters. I just need to have more details now.</p>
<p></p>
<p>(you guys can share your feelings and DDs on here! I would love to hear from you!)</p>Recent Daydreams (Western Union)tag:wildminds.ning.com,2015-01-17:4661400:BlogPost:1995292015-01-17T05:25:39.000ZRichard Questhttps://wildminds.ning.com/profile/RichardQuest
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3094560625?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-full" height="339" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3094560625?profile=original" width="403"></img></a> My most recent daydreams have been permeated by this country called the Western Union, formed over 1000 years after the fall of the United States by a Kennedian merchant who wanted a "wall" between the FSK and the unknown west. The merchant brought together over 30 small republics and tribes in the North American Great Plains region to form a long and narrow nation whos…</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3094560625?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3094560625?profile=original" width="403" class="align-full" height="339"/></a>My most recent daydreams have been permeated by this country called the Western Union, formed over 1000 years after the fall of the United States by a Kennedian merchant who wanted a "wall" between the FSK and the unknown west. The merchant brought together over 30 small republics and tribes in the North American Great Plains region to form a long and narrow nation whos western border is a river which nobody crosses. Over 1000 miles tall and just 100 miles wide at it's widest, it was large. The republic's capitol was in the northern city of Centralia, which was founded as a halfway marker between Queensland and the old Queen's vacation castle up by where Yellowstone once was. (This is where her brother Jacob Corona forms Uzah, a huge kingdom, bent on restoring to the size of America's former glory i.e. take over the world).</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150710582?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150710582?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="382" class="align-full" height="241"/></a></p>
<p></p>
<p>At first this nation was harmonious, but after growing sectionalism, it split into two nations after 200 years (both still being referred as the Western Union, the only difference being which way the chevron faced of the flag: up for north and down for south). The Southern capitol of Bridgeport was massive, but in a weak position (situated on an island on the border river that defines the edge of no man's land, only connected to the rest of the country by a bridge). </p>
<p></p>
<p>The FSK tried it's hardest to reunite the country through setting up the Ministry of Reunification, whose only job was to use propaganda to get enough votes to reunite the country. They failed.</p>
<p></p>
<p>Unbeknownst to the Western Union, the Kingdom of Uzah is rising in the west, taking up swathes of land, and nobody knows. Villages and tribes in no man's land the west of the Union are incorporated into Uzah, the king forced the peasants to learn a language he made up and sent the English speakers on suicide missions in the army to kill them off. With millions in his army, he could march straight to the East coast if he wanted to. (Since the fall of the United States, guns are very hard to come by, so Uzah's army wields swords and shields and dons metal armor. While the Western Union still uses musket shot and cannons, their ammunition supply is heavily limited because they have the same supply since the fall of the US but they're a peaceful nation).</p>
<p></p>
<p>Invasion</p>
<p></p>
<p>All at once, the king's massive army emerged from the woods across the river and attacked cities of the Western Union (they blew up the bridge at Bridgeport and starved them to death, and besieged Centralia). Coincidentally, the bulk of the Western Union's army was at the Confluences for military exercises, the Confluences being massive forts along the border between north and south. It was a stormy night when massive of soldiers overran the embankments of the two largest forts. After running out of ammuntion, the Union soldiers charged the metal clad army with bayonets and were quickly slaughtered by swords. The only real army that remained retreated with some civilians to the FSK through miles of tribal territory.</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150710673?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150710673?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="373" class="align-full" height="319"/></a>(the flag on the far right symbolizes their unity through their differences, a beautiful lesson even though they were slaughtered.) </p>
<p></p>
<p>After the fiasco of the Confluences, the rest of the country was overrun by Uzahn troops and occupied by the ruthless sons of King Jacob. Kennedians were quick to help, the first being Samantha Agnew, who was on a routine journey through the tribal lands when Unioners asked for her help.</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3094562448?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3094562448?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="373" class="align-full" height="391"/></a>She and her unit of 100 soldiers caused a rebellion of the Western Union's constituent tribes against the Uzahn occupiers. Known as the Vagrant Winter, where the snow didn't melt all year, she and 1,000,000 tribesmen wreck havoc on the Uzahns.</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150710905?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150710905?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="381" class="align-full" height="508"/></a>And that's kind of where I left off...</p>
<p></p>
<p>TL;DR, I have movie plots in my head and this was awesome. Any good stories from you guys?</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>My Most Interesting Character's Storytag:wildminds.ning.com,2015-01-02:4661400:BlogPost:1983162015-01-02T01:47:11.000ZRichard Questhttps://wildminds.ning.com/profile/RichardQuest
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150709917?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-full" height="517" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150709917?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="388"></img></a></p>
<p></p>
<p>(this is a rough sketch of Amanda Prophet, one of my most interesting characters.)</p>
<p></p>
<p>When I daydream, some times I make up weird or eccentric people. The girl pictured above, Amanda Prophet, is no exception. Her story begins right when the massive disease hits, (go back to my other posts to learn more) when she loots this empty house for…</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150709917?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150709917?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="388" class="align-full" height="517"/></a></p>
<p></p>
<p>(this is a rough sketch of Amanda Prophet, one of my most interesting characters.)</p>
<p></p>
<p>When I daydream, some times I make up weird or eccentric people. The girl pictured above, Amanda Prophet, is no exception. Her story begins right when the massive disease hits, (go back to my other posts to learn more) when she loots this empty house for supplies. She stumbles across this room with thousands of drawings depicting the future (this is in fact my real life room) front and center is a massive drawing of a gas/disease killing millions of people with the date in the corner. It matched the exact date of when it happened in her universe. She freaked out, continuing to look through this person's drawings, maps of the area for next 10000 years,notes, and even a depiction of her looting the room. Amanda took all of these drawings and books and stuffed them into her backpack, with the map heading for Queensland (which she didn't knew existed.) </p>
<p>She basically know has the knowledge of the future in her hands.</p>
<p></p>
<p>You know what she did with that? She thought it would be pretty funny to open a restaurant in every new city before those cities knew about each other. The chain was called: "Prophet's Diner" where she fed food to the poor for free and everyone else at discounted rates. It's weird.</p>
<p></p>
<p>She joined the Guardian Angels, a biker gang that protected Queensland from bandits, helped the needy, and provided settlement houses.</p>
<p></p>
<p>She was loved by all.</p>
<p></p>
<p>On her trip to Asteriskia to build her restaurant, the city was brought under attack by the Hoffman Empire and the Prophet of the city, Kevin the Great was taken out and nailed to a tree. She found him near death and took him down, walking him to the safety of the city. People celebrated her as a hero and a saint and Kevin declared that day as Prophet's Day to be celebrated each year with a massive feast and gift giving. While Kevin was mortally wounded and dying in his hospital, Amanda took care of him. He took a liking to her, asking for marriage, but she refused, declaring that she was a lesbian, and it was not him. Upon hearing the news, the religious people of the city where torn over her sexuality, one faction stating that being gay was a sin, and the other stating that nothing was wrong. the protested, counter-protested, even rioted in the streets, beating each other up about someone's basic human right to their own body. Amanda left the city after establishing her diner and the death of Kevin the Great, to never return again. The church never healed from that division, and there remains two sects that preach totally different doctrines. Though Prophet's day is still celebrated by both.</p>
<p></p>
<p>She returns to Queensland, meeting Parker, who is the nation's best soldier (and defect from the Hoffman Empire, she's killed over 15000 enemy soldiers, won the Medal of Honor, and saved the Queen from assassination). Their friendship quickly turns romantic, and again conservatives throw a fit. But this time it's the conservative led Court of Justice who inquires on Parker's allegiance to the United States, stating that she came from the Hoffman Empire to kill the queen. The trial had no jury and 7 out of the 9 judges already wanted her convicted before the trial even began. One judge, Olivia, a friend of Amanda's and the only female and true incorruptible person in that court, fought with all her heart to save Parker (the penalty for treason and disloyalty to the government was death by the way). The city outside was split on the topic too. On the southside where most o the LGBTQ community lived, they rioted to protest the unfair judgement of Parker, who was an American hero. The more conservative northside rioted and protested against the "homosexual agenda".</p>
<p></p>
<p>Amanda stopped serving court supporters at her diner and the Guardian Angels trashed the judges' cars and apartments. When the verdict was read, condemning Parker to death, the whole city went wild. Then the courtroom doors bursted open and everyone was quiet. The Queen walked in with her guards, she came up to the judges' bench as everyone looked at her in silence. She stared into the eyes of the chief justice and said Parker was to be pardoned of all charges, promoted in the army because she had to deal with this, and said that the court was to be dismantled and replaced with something more democratic. </p>
<p></p>
<p>There was obviously a mixed reaction from everybody, and when the Chief Justice complained, the Queen moved to arrest him and 5 others on corruption charges. Parker and Amanda kissed, and the world was a better place.</p>
<p></p>
<p>My universe is filled with weird stories; Amanda stumbled upon the knowledge of the future, started a restaurant chain, started her own holiday, inadvertently divided a religion, and reformed America.</p>
<p></p>
<p>It's weird, just like real life.</p>
<p>Anyone else have weird characters?</p>How to end the plot in my daydream effectively?tag:wildminds.ning.com,2014-12-28:4661400:BlogPost:1981632014-12-28T15:50:29.000ZRichard Questhttps://wildminds.ning.com/profile/RichardQuest
<p>For the past two years I've been stuck in the same spot in my daydream--in a massive war. I don't even know which side should win, and don't get me started on how...</p>
<p></p>
<p>I basically have an evil monarchy/power hungry dictatorship on one side vying to restore the power of the former United States, using brutal tactics to get things done. This king is related to the American queen earlier (look at my drawings and other posts to catch up) he and his army steamrolled through the…</p>
<p>For the past two years I've been stuck in the same spot in my daydream--in a massive war. I don't even know which side should win, and don't get me started on how...</p>
<p></p>
<p>I basically have an evil monarchy/power hungry dictatorship on one side vying to restore the power of the former United States, using brutal tactics to get things done. This king is related to the American queen earlier (look at my drawings and other posts to catch up) he and his army steamrolled through the western union on the way to the former American capitol of Queensland. On the other side of the conflict is the democratic coalition called the Tri-Star Alliance made up of FSK, Old Queensland, and Asteriskia. Most of the battles takes place in the Western Union, as the King's men push further to FSK territory. Eventually they make it to the sacred fields and forest around the FSK capitol, where the FSK use their last explosives to destroy the entire enemy army. Eventually they takes sides on the Mississippi River, and that's where I'm stuck.</p>
<p>I don't know who should win this war, but all I know is that eventually humanity is ran into the ground by a couple thousand years later.. any help with this? Its been bothering me for a while! </p>The Content of my Extensive Daydreams (and how I got here)tag:wildminds.ning.com,2014-12-07:4661400:BlogPost:1972372014-12-07T03:59:01.000ZRichard Questhttps://wildminds.ning.com/profile/RichardQuest
<p style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150706098?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-full" height="519" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150706098?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="395"></img></a> (one of the earliest drawings I did when I was 10)</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">So basically I've had the same daydream for the past ten years. The first thing I imagined was a magnificent flying warship in the skies. Ever since, I built around hat concept. By the time of 5th grade I had a nice plot going, with things being added left and right.…</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150706098?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="450" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3150706098?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="395" class="align-full" height="519"/></a>(one of the earliest drawings I did when I was 10)</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">So basically I've had the same daydream for the past ten years. The first thing I imagined was a magnificent flying warship in the skies. Ever since, I built around hat concept. By the time of 5th grade I had a nice plot going, with things being added left and right. I added a crew to that ship, named it and put a nice back story behind it. Everyone on board was a child, it was like the boy scouts. I took this idea from one of my favorite shows: Codename KND, So I tried to figure out how to remove the adults from the equation in my daydream: an alternate universe--nawh, they all left--nope, I finally settled on the fact that everyone over a certain age would die from some horrible disease. </p>
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<p style="text-align: left;">Later I realized that this disease should be intentional, so I formed a small terror sect in my mind (with their goal of world domination). That formed to be the main antagonists of the plot. They would be called the Hoffman Terror group named for their founder Walter Hoffman, some strange religious nut. He had a daughter named Heather, who is egotistical and a major sociopath. (though she doesn't share Walter's religious fervor, she desperately wants to rule the world) She goes with her dad to all terrorist meetings in upstate New York and even contributes to some. They create a disease by kidnapping several scientists and forced to do the dirty work. Jumping the gun, Walter decides to go through with the plan of releasing the disease in a major city centers around the world before it was tested completely. This disease was released, but it only seemed to kill people over the age of puberty, including Walter Hoffman. Leaving over 50% of 7 billion people dead in under 5 months, the disease quickly mutated again, but this time people didn't see the results. </p>
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<p style="text-align: left;">When I was in 6th grade I learned about senescence, or deterioration due to aging, and what the leading cause was. It was due to the shortening of the ends of alleles during mitosis. This disease then attached itself to the ends of alleles thus stopping the aging process when puberty ends, leaving everyone biologically immortal.</p>
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<p style="text-align: left;">Which I thought was pretty cool back when I was younger. So these characters I made up don't die unless of an accident or being killed. I know there are some plot holes for other diseases and cancers, but I'm saying they're all immune now for the story's sake.</p>
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<p style="text-align: left;">This universe actually starts in late 2015, it was a long way off when I started this daydream. The main characters for the first couple hundred years at least are: Colonel John Willows (a better version of me), Queen Victoria Corona (a version of my old middle school crush), the brute Adam Cooke (a real life asshole), Heather Hoffman (a figment of my mind based loosely on Hitler), Lieutenant Parker (another old crush), John and Michael Woodman, Amanda Prophet (physically the female version of me), and hundreds of other smaller characters that live their lives struggling to survive in this cruel new world.</p>
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<p style="text-align: left;">I would arrive to the fact I made myself a completely new world on accident. And I loved it. When I was younger, I would walk in the woods behind my house, acting out battles between nations, talking out lout. (passerbyers were confused). Then I resorted to drawing them down so I wouldn't forget.</p>
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<p style="text-align: left;">A big part of my original dream was the fact that there were huge ailing ships in the sky, all fighting each other in massive sky battles. I still acknowledge their part in my new world, but not stress their importance anymore (because I didn't think a wooden ship could be put in the air by helium alone--major plot hole.)</p>
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<p style="text-align: left;">I would draw maps like the one at the beginning of the post, and redraw them, and redraw them. These boundaries were fluid and changed as my dream progressed in scope and time. I even made some sort of flag atlas for country facts and flags. </p>
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<p style="text-align: left;">Whenever I go on vacation somewhere, I bring my imagination, for example when my family visited the Everglades, I thought it would be dandy to have a massive Venice-like city there and be attacked by pirates. The possibilities are endless.</p>
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<p style="text-align: left;">I have recorded history for this universe well past the year 10000 AD... if you guys want to know more, see the pictures section or some of my comments in discussions, I love to share this story, I might write and publish a book on it someday. I know I'm not done with my daydream, but more important it's not done with me.</p>
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<p style="text-align: left;">Ask me questions! I can help you cope with your MD too... it's been a struggle.</p>