Kneenibble's Knack for Knightly Knickers: a Knell for Random Banter #184

[Devmaar]

Well, that certainly sounds fun, but I'd need to learn how to fashion armor from bones at some point.

Gaffa tape

[Dimonite]

Under a week until NaNoWriMo kicks off, and I find myself with a bit of a problem in that I want a lot more background characters than I currently have...

Does anyone here fancy creating a character (or even being a character) to be written into a work of military science fiction with both tanks and mecha in evidence?


Edit: Also, in reading the last nine pages or so of this thread, I notice that we have a proposal to ship Mooncat with vast numbers of people, but no name for this endeavour... I propose MoonCult as a catch all term for all efforts in this direction.

...
I never plan my Nanowrimo. It just sort of happens...

[Elemental]

Just going to point you to my edit above, and the sudden promotion your character received.

Just noticed that.
Okay. It's your story, you do whatever makes sense to you. As I said, it was just a description that took a minute to come up with.


Anyway... I'm going to bed.
Goodnight everyone!

[Kneenibble]

Goodnight, friend Elemental!

Just as a furry and too-late morning dawns on me.

[LaZodiac]

Goodnight, friend Elemental!

Just as a furry and too-late morning dawns on me.

So I take it you're a night bird? That's my understanding of what you said, which arguably might be poor since I'm silly.

[Cobra_Ikari]

I can't picture Kneen at any time of day other than evening. That might be because it's the classiest time of day, though. =3

[Coidzor]

I can't picture Kneen at any time of day other than evening. That might be because it's the classiest time of day, though. =3

Mostly because Eveningwear and the Evening just go together.

[AtlanteanTroll]

I tried to do NaNoWriMo once. But it really wasn't my thing. Did a January/February Comic Writing Month once, but it fell through. Perhaps's I'll have my act together next year. But for now I'll just stick to No Shave November. Something I can actually do.

[Kneenibble]

Looks like someone crashed a spaceship deep into the earth. I like it!

And for the record, even if I find brutalism to be a bit dominant in a given environment (I mean, you can't drop it into an over 220 years old botanical garden and claim that it fits in), I kind of like it. It gives of sort of a bunker-esque feeling, and I have a soft spot for bunkers.

Modern cubes of glass and steel... not so much. It was okay when they built our concert hall in that manner, because it was new to us, and didn't fit in all too badly where it was constructed, but when they took our lovely station house (almost 150 years old)...

Spoiler

Show

...and, after a number of assurances that they wouldn't make anything too inharmonous to the old style of the building, expanded its right wing with this...

Spoiler

Show

...I just gave up and declared the Town Building Office out of their minds. Not like that was something new, but still.

I'm sorry that has happened. The unrelieved & disharmonious disregard for the aesthetics of the original disappoint me [what style would you call that? neo-baroque?]. Although I still have to say, taken apart from the awful hybrid in which it is installed, I think the addition itself is nice.

The hybrid of modern and old-timey is not always bad, though. There are several examples in my city of gorgeous Victorian-era brick buildings with ornate stone façades incorporated into modern expansions with a lot of glass and steel. For example:

Spoiler

Show

So I take it you're a night bird? That's my understanding of what you said, which arguably might be poor since I'm silly.

You may be silly, but only in the best possible way.

I'm normally quite chirping happy in the morning, but in this case I may have enjoyed my pinot noir a little too much last night. I was reading a history of alcohol in Canada, and I couldn't get through a single page without wanting a drink.

The same damn thing happened to me while reading A Song of Ice and Fire. Every time Tyrion had a chapter, I would think, "I should go buy a bottle of wine." And he has a lot of chapters. ;____;

I can't picture Kneen at any time of day other than evening. That might be because it's the classiest time of day, though. =3

*hugs* Evening is classy! I am flattered you associate me with it. A time for celebrations, and fine things, and pretty lights, and fresh evening air. Let us take a walk by the river and kick up piles of papery leaves.

Mostly because Eveningwear and the Evening just go together.

If you're picturing me dressed like Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's, you have my explicit permission to continue doing so.

[LaZodiac]

You may be silly, but only in the best possible way.

I'm normally quite chirping happy in the morning, but in this case I may have enjoyed my pinot noir a little too much last night. I was reading a history of alcohol in Canada, and I couldn't get through a single page without wanting a drink.

The same damn thing happened to me while reading A Song of Ice and Fire. Every time Tyrion had a chapter, I would think, "I should go buy a bottle of wine." And he has a lot of chapters. ;____;

D'aw, thanks.

Aaah, ok. The vicious ravaging of wine. I assume anyway.

Oh Tyrion, you're never not the best thing about that series. And I've only read the second book.

[Mercenary Pen]

What exactly are you wanting? Like, physical descriptions? Surface level mannerisms?

My biggest problem with NaNoWriMo is that I'm terrible at creating characters and can never come up with a good plot that seems like I can take it from setting up the premise to a conclusion on the premise. That, and once I get a rough picture I'm rubbish at doing the rough outline of events.

Basically prose seems to escape my efforts to tame it in general. About the only thing I've not been total rubbish at so far has been vivid descriptive imagery and setting a mood, though that's most likely just because of all of the practice I've had writing erotically charged love poetry. Oh, younger Coid, what was wrong with me?

I was thinking in terms of just a name, and a couple of minor factoids to go with it (with anything extra being a bonus), but if creating characters isn't your thing, then fair enough.

[Kneenibble]

D'aw, thanks.

Aaah, ok. The vicious ravaging of wine. I assume anyway.

Oh Tyrion, you're never not the best thing about that series. And I've only read the second book.

It was vicious delicious.

He only gets better! Gurgle, I just love that series.

[LaZodiac]

Best thing I can come up with involving me is a mechanic who really, really likes the machines she works on, almost to the point of considering them better then people, and definitly thinking that they're things that should be treated politely.

Like, most people would call it an it, but she's call it a he. If that makes sense.

EDIT: I've heard, Knee! I intend to read them all, eventually!

[Cobra_Ikari]

Best thing I can come up with involving me is a mechanic who really, really likes the machines she works on, almost to the point of considering them better then people, and definitly thinking that they're things that should be treated politely.

Like, most people would call it an it, but she's call it a he. If that makes sense.

EDIT: I've heard, Knee! I intend to read them all, eventually!

Mmm, like shouting at the pilots after they come back for not treating their mecha with enough care? =3

I also need to reread that series, I just got the first book back (it was returned inside a Helghast helmet, I have awesome friends), although I seem to remember some parts dragging on. And apparently, the author is a giant creeper. So there's that. >.>

[Mercenary Pen]

Best thing I can come up with involving me is a mechanic who really, really likes the machines she works on, almost to the point of considering them better then people, and definitly thinking that they're things that should be treated politely.

Like, most people would call it an it, but she's call it a he. If that makes sense.

EDIT: I've heard, Knee! I intend to read them all, eventually!

Okay, well, let us see what we can achieve here...

Name: Zoe LaDiaque (close enough to your username without being an obvious username)

Personality seems a little like Kaylee out of Firefly, is that close enough?

(Might end up throwing you into a support mecha somewhere along the line, maybe even give you some simulator time on one of the combat models)

[Teddy]

Also, tanks AND mecha? I feel bad about wheter to suggest myself or Teddy since we'd both enjoy it.

Actually, mechas are a bit of the laughing stock here in my family. Especially since I invented the element of "katanium"...

Also, it's hard to give them 1 metre's worth of armour plating. Just saying...

As things stand, you and Teddy did sort of spring to mind, but I'd say Teddy would have to give permission himself for me to use him (or a character based on him), but feel free to create a character based on yourself and I'll be more than happy to give you at least a cameo role.

Permission granted. Now, how would I be characterised...

I would probably be a commander of some sort, as I'm prone to planning and analysing whether it's called for or not., but if it just would be a (tank) platoon commander, or as high up as a field general makes little difference to me. I mean, both have their qualities.

As I said above, I'd probably be partial to tanks. It wouldn't make all too much of a difference if I'm higher up in the command and thus am in control of both kinds of vehicles, but if I'm only in charge of tanks, I'd probably sport a healthy rivalry toward some of the mecha commanders. The kind that makes you count kills and perhaps act a little bit rash to beat them to some objective, I mean.

On a lower command level, I'd be aggressive, but not overly so. I'm of the idea that you must be quick to reach forward positions to be able to make optimum use of the terrain and the element of surprise. If you're on the defense, you need to go out and meet your enemy so that you have enough room to fall back, and if a part of the enemy front starts to falter, you should press the attack in that area to break through and cause his whole line to collapse.

On a higher level, I instead aim to maintain consecutive lines, use the terrain to my advantage to hold him off where he's strong, and focus my attacks to break him where he's weak. I'd use paratroopers and insurgent forces to capture and hold key installations until my main army arrives, or use guerilla tactics to conduct sabotage against their supply lines if my forces can't move in to assist them.

In demeanor, well, I'd try to be considerate toward others, but I'd tend to view my own plans and ideas as superior, even if I wouldn't say so explicitly. I wouldn't go against an order unless it's way off the insanity chart, but rather aim to do what I can within it. I wouldn't be prone to surrender, but will sound the retreat to save my men from an hopeless situation. I'd take on way too much responsibility. I'd grieve the loss of someone important to me in silence.

That's... quite a lot of information. Feel free to change anything as you like.

ION:
SNOW!!! It was just a short snowfall, but still, it was snow! And there are still a few white spots left on the colder parts of the ground.
...
Snooooooooow!
:3

[LaZodiac]

Haven't watched Firefly, so I wouldn't know. Sounds good though.

Silly Teddy. The mechs where for me, it was the TANKS that were for you

Also, hooray for you having snow! Have fun!

[Dvil]

I had to share this, but it's not really worth its own topic.

My university's Kendo club just got an email from the manager of the gym building we practice in. Apparently, after our two-hour training sessions there's sometimes a residual scent of sweat in the room right afterwards. He wants us to do something about this.
That's right. The manager of a gym is complaining because the people who use the facilities get sweaty. I really can't take him seriously on this.

Our committee is heavily tempted to just send him a febreze and tell him to man up

[Teddy]

I'm sorry that has happened. The unrelieved & disharmonious disregard for the aesthetics of the original disappoint me [what style would you call that? neo-baroque?]. Although I still have to say, taken apart from the awful hybrid in which it is installed, I think the addition itself is nice.

The hybrid of modern and old-timey is not always bad, though. There are several examples in my city of gorgeous Victorian-era brick buildings with ornate stone façades incorporated into modern expansions with a lot of glass and steel. For example:

Spoiler

Show

I can't say I'm entirely in agreement with that. It can work, but you need intermediate layer where both styles meet and blend together. I just don't like sharp contrasts.

And mum says it's neo-renaissance. And very Oscarian (our own counterpart to Victorian).

I was thinking in terms of just a name, and a couple of minor factoids to go with it (with anything extra being a bonus), but if creating characters isn't your thing, then fair enough.

A name you say? Calling me Teodor would feel strange thanks to LaLa's roleplaying campaign. And the English language lacks names that are synonymous to "bear". I'll have to think about this one for a few minutes.

*a few minutes later*

Hmm, still no good name, but give me one of those russian fur hats in authentic bear fur. That should be as good reason as any for having "Teddy" as a nickname at least...

Silly Teddy. The mechs where for me, it was the TANKS that were for you

Still the laughing stock of our family.
(Although to be honest, we have a lot of laughing stock in our family. Giants are the greatest of them all.)

Also, hooray for you having snow! Have fun!

I'm thinking about going out and see if I can make a snowball. At least a small one.

[Mercenary Pen]

Actually, mechas are a bit of the laughing stock here in my family. Especially since I invented the element of "katanium"...

Also, it's hard to give them 1 metre's worth of armour plating. Just saying...



Permission granted. Now, how would I be characterised...

I would probably be a commander of some sort, as I'm prone to planning and analysing whether it's called for or not., but if it just would be a (tank) platoon commander, or as high up as a field general makes little difference to me. I mean, both have their qualities.

As I said above, I'd probably be partial to tanks. It wouldn't make all too much of a difference if I'm higher up in the command and thus am in control of both kinds of vehicles, but if I'm only in charge of tanks, I'd probably sport a healthy rivalry toward some of the mecha commanders. The kind that makes you count kills and perhaps act a little bit rash to beat them to some objective, I mean.

On a lower command level, I'd be aggressive, but not overly so. I'm of the idea that you must be quick to reach forward positions to be able to make optimum use of the terrain and the element of surprise. If you're on the defense, you need to go out and meet your enemy so that you have enough room to fall back, and if a part of the enemy front starts to falter, you should press the attack in that area to break through and cause his whole line to collapse.

On a higher level, I instead aim to maintain consecutive lines, use the terrain to my advantage to hold him off where he's strong, and focus my attacks to break him where he's weak. I'd use paratroopers and insurgent forces to capture and hold key installations until my main army arrives, or use guerilla tactics to conduct sabotage against their supply lines if my forces can't move in to assist them.

In demeanor, well, I'd try to be considerate toward others, but I'd tend to view my own plans and ideas as superior, even if I wouldn't say so explicitly. I wouldn't go against an order unless it's way off the insanity chart, but rather aim to do what I can within it. I wouldn't be prone to surrender, but will sound the retreat to save my men from an hopeless situation. I'd take on way too much responsibility. I'd grieve the loss of someone important to me in silence.

That's... quite a lot of information. Feel free to change anything as you like.

ION:
SNOW!!! It was just a short snowfall, but still, it was snow! And there are still a few white spots left on the colder parts of the ground.
...
Snooooooooow!
:3

This will take a bit of thought to distil down, but I'm thinking in terms of a Captaincy for you. Insurgent forces won't be available due to the colony planet versus alien invaders scenario, but supporting fire from artillery and air force units could be called upon as circumstances and the local balance of forces dictates.

Unfortunately, due to characters being obstinate within the storyline, you tank guys won't be getting early access to some of the shiny toys that LaLa might get a chance to play with (though Land Battleships might be available where terrain permits)

Heavy rivalry with mecha commanders fits very nicely indeed with my expected storyline, especially since you'd be on the bad end of the tech imbalance...

[Teddy]

This will take a bit of thought to distil down, but I'm thinking in terms of a Captaincy for you. Insurgent forces won't be available due to the colony planet versus alien invaders scenario, but supporting fire from artillery and air force units could be called upon as circumstances and the local balance of forces dictates.

Sounds good.

Unfortunately, due to characters being obstinate within the storyline, you tank guys won't be getting early access to some of the shiny toys that LaLa might get a chance to play with (though Land Battleships might be available where terrain permits)

Sounds perfect! Even gives me a reason to disdain the mecha guys.

Heavy rivalry with mecha commanders fits very nicely indeed with my expected storyline, especially since you'd be on the bad end of the tech imbalance...

I'll count every victory meticulously. And write them down in my journal. Enemy losses an everything.

[Mercenary Pen]

Sounds good.



Sounds perfect! Even gives me a reason to disdain the mecha guys.



I'll count every victory meticulously. And write them down in my journal. Enemy losses an everything.

All we need now is a character name... and an excuse to let you use 280mm shells.

[Totally Guy]

I'm in New York City! Whoo!

[Teddy]

All we need now is a character name... and an excuse to let you use 280mm shells.

Hmm, I can't come up with a good first name, because, for some reason, English speakers don't like to name people after animals. Which is sad, because my Swedish name sounds bad in English. I mean, try to pronounciate "Björn" and see for yourself.

Hmm... "Beorn" sounds too much like a LotR reference, but it's more similar phonetically to my name than what at least half of you probaly managed to do above (, and for the record, my name is pretty similar to "burn", but with a 'j' before the 'u'). Perhaps if you swap a letter or two in it...

Perhaps I should go back to finding names that sound similar to "Teddy" again...

And 280mm, is that for the artillery? Or the tanks!?

[Mercenary Pen]

Hmm, I can't come up with a good first name, because, for some reason, English speakers don't like to name people after animals. Which is sad, because my Swedish name sounds bad in English. I mean, try to pronounciate "Björn" and see for yourself.

Hmm... "Beorn" sounds too much like a LotR reference, but it's more similar phonetically to my name than what at least half of you probaly managed to do above (, and for the record, my name is pretty similar to "burn", but with a 'j' before the 'u'). Perhaps if you swap a letter or two in it...

Perhaps I should go back to finding names that sound similar to "Teddy" again...

And 280mm, is that for the artillery? Or the tanks!?

Well, I'm perfectly willing to go with Bjorn, and I'm using at least a few international names anyway...

And with regards to 280mm, I did mention Land Battleships- well they get three of those on their long range turret, with smaller weapons such as twin 88mm turrets and CIWS to support it.

[LaZodiac]

I had to share this, but it's not really worth its own topic.

My university's Kendo club just got an email from the manager of the gym building we practice in. Apparently, after our two-hour training sessions there's sometimes a residual scent of sweat in the room right afterwards. He wants us to do something about this.
That's right. The manager of a gym is complaining because the people who use the facilities get sweaty. I really can't take him seriously on this.

Our committee is heavily tempted to just send him a febreze and tell him to man up

That sounds HILARIOUS. Hope it doesn't lead to anything bad happening though.

Still the laughing stock of our family.
(Although to be honest, we have a lot of laughing stock in our family. Giants are the greatest of them all.)

I'm thinking about going out and see if I can make a snowball. At least a small one.

A mech of sorts could totally work in reality, if that's what you mean.

Good luck with that

This will take a bit of thought to distil down, but I'm thinking in terms of a Captaincy for you. Insurgent forces won't be available due to the colony planet versus alien invaders scenario, but supporting fire from artillery and air force units could be called upon as circumstances and the local balance of forces dictates.

Unfortunately, due to characters being obstinate within the storyline, you tank guys won't be getting early access to some of the shiny toys that LaLa might get a chance to play with (though Land Battleships might be available where terrain permits)

Heavy rivalry with mecha commanders fits very nicely indeed with my expected storyline, especially since you'd be on the bad end of the tech imbalance...

Sounds really interesting.

Also, SHINY TOYS

Hmm, I can't come up with a good first name, because, for some reason, English speakers don't like to name people after animals. Which is sad, because my Swedish name sounds bad in English. I mean, try to pronounciate "Björn" and see for yourself.

Hmm... "Beorn" sounds too much like a LotR reference, but it's more similar phonetically to my name than what at least half of you probaly managed to do above (, and for the record, my name is pretty similar to "burn", but with a 'j' before the 'u'). Perhaps if you swap a letter or two in it...

Perhaps I should go back to finding names that sound similar to "Teddy" again...

And 280mm, is that for the artillery? Or the tanks!?

You COULD just be called Ted. It's a name that would realistically lead to the nickname Teddy, after all.

[smellie_hippie]

Hooooooooooly crap, I have had too much coffee!

I haven't done this to myself in a looooooong time, but I can almost feel my heart beating! I need to get off work and take a nap!

*jitter jitter jitter*

[Teddy]

Well, I'm perfectly willing to go with Bjorn, and I'm using at least a few international names anyway...

Could work. I could try and tell people how it's really pronounciated. Then either I or everyone else could give up and just call me Teddy instead. Or refer to something like this happening way back.

And with regards to 280mm, I did mention Land Battleships- well they get three of those on their long range turret, with smaller weapons such as twin 88mm turrets and CIWS to support it.

Oh, right, forgot about them. And 280mm... *goes to Wikipedia* ...happens to be exactly (okay, not really, but everyone says that anyway) the calibre of HMS Sverige. And 88mm is a good choice. I approve.

A mech of sorts could totally work in reality, if that's what you mean.

Not with 1000mm of frontal armour.

Not today at least.

Good luck with that

I actually tried, and succeeded in making one with a diametre of a whopping 2cm. Which I then threw away. Managed to numb my right pinkie in the process, because scraping up miniscule amounts of snow from the ground barehanded takes time, and it's quite cold.

You COULD just be called Ted. It's a name that would realistically lead to the nickname Teddy, after all.

Nah, it's a bit too short for my tastes.

[Coidzor]

Good luck with those jitters. I find I like to cycle for a bit when I get those though, rather than sleep.

I'm in New York City! Whoo!

Sweet. Gonna catch you some of dat broadway?

As for names, I've always been rather fond of Magnus. Jannick might work as well? Toralf is getting thrown out there. Also, Sven.

[Mercenary Pen]

Could work. I could try and tell people how it's really pronounciated. Then either I or everyone else could give up and just call me Teddy instead. Or refer to something like this happening way back.



Oh, right, forgot about them. And 280mm... *goes to Wikipedia* ...happens to be exactly (okay, not really, but everyone says that anyway) the calibre of HMS Sverige. And 88mm is a good choice. I approve.



Not with 1000mm of frontal armour.

Not today at least.

Well, I was trying to work with real world gun diameters- and I thought that 120mm would be a little excessive for a secondary turret if I'm trying to fit two barrels in... as for the main cannons, I wanted to go for guns at the lower end of real battleship weapons, so I just converted 11 inches into metric (and remembered the .4mm- its been a while since I had to convert from inches)...

I suppose with the number of elements drawn from anime, I could have based her guns on those of the Yamato, but 457mm shells seem a little excessive for SF...