Writing pile 2026

I am going to bring back the concept of having a writing pile for myself. As my last post referred to, I’ve now decided to run three rather than two projects side by side. The twin sister story is still going to be the primary project since I’ve already started to outline it since the other two stories seem still to be lacking a basic plot. Story 2 is still the mother-daughter relationship story and I knew that I am going to set in in my Dragon Empire setting but I can’t seem to find an interesting set of events to peg it towards that I want to develop further. I may dig a little deeper into the characters to see whether that goes anywhere for me. 

For the brand new story 3, this came purely from ChatGPT generated story premises revolving around the concept of found family. I mean, I think I should really face up to it: no other topic interests me except family themed stories set in a fantasy setting. That’s basically the type of story I want to write. And I’ve already used the premise for my last CCC entry. Basically, the basic premise is this: Two thieves, who as children could see spirits, fled the same execution wagon. Befriending each other, they chose to stay together even though they were cursed to age differently. I don’t know much about the curse yet but I do know that I want to focus on how they deal with the curse as they stay together. I even know the title of this story: Night Star which are the combined names of the two friends that are joint protagonists for this story. But I’m not quite ready to move onto outlining it yet. 

That’s all for now. A March update is coming up, by which point more details will be shared. 

CCC day 31- Thieving Friends (Fate Accelerated) 

For the last day of CCC, I’m really short on the premise so I’m just going to grab a novel idea that is not active, generated by ChatGPT, about two thieves who escaped an executioneer’s wagon and then was cursed to age differently. 

Ye (Night)

Aspects: 

  • Perceptive thinker (High Concept)
  • Ageless in appearance but not body (Trouble)
  • Stubborn 

Approaches: Careful+3, Sneaky and Forceful+2, Clever and Quick+1

Stunts:

  • Because I am a big picture thinker, I get a +2 when I Carefully create an opportunity 

Xing (Star)

Aspects: 

  • Optimist (High Concept)
  • Ages backwards from age 30 (Trouble)
  • Indulgent in play 

Approaches: Clever+3, Quick and Flashy+2, Careful and Forceful+1

Stunts:

  • Because I carry more childhood with me than others, I get a +2 when I Cleverly create an opportunity 

CCC days 27, 28, 29 and 30- Time Line Protectors Team 2 (Fate Accelerated)

I can’t think of more premise for my character so I’m going to create an alternative team of characters for the same premise as the last post 

Melinda Howl, The Alpha

Aspects: 

  • Mock werewolf (High Concept)
  • I enter with a Bang! (Trouble)
  • I’ve always got a cool gadget with me

Approaches: Flashy +3, Quick and Forceful+2, Careful and Clever+1

Stunts:

  • Because I’ve always got a cool gadget with me, once per session I can Flashily create an advantage with the gadget 

Heather Black, The Beta

Aspects: 

  • Occult specialist (High Concept)
  • Grimy appearance (Trouble)
  • A yearning for drama 

Approaches: Forceful +3, Clever and Sneaky+2, Quick and Careful+1

Stunts:

  • Because I am seen to wield magic, I get a +2 when I Forcefully create an advantage by displaying my power 

Oriole, The Delta

Aspects: 

  • Highly competitive warrior 
  • Condescending (Trouble)
  • Tendency for sarcasm 

Approaches: Clever +3, Sneaky and Quick+2, Careful and Flashy+1

Stunts:

  • Because I am quick witted, I get a +2 when I Cleverly attack 

June Huang, The Gamma

Aspects: 

  • Stolid (High Concept)
  • Scatterbrained (Trouble)
  • Insecure of personal judgment 

Approaches: Careful +3, Sneaky and Quick +2, Flashy and Forceful+1

Stunts:

  • Because I am stolid, I get a +2 when I Quickly heal a target 

CCC days 23, 24, 25 and 26- Time Line Protectors (Fate Accelerated) 

This is a game I started but abandoned after one session because one player in our gaming group consistently claimed that he had no energy to run a game for us and then whenever one of us tried to cover for him gave really convincing reasons of why real life took him away. 

Anyway, the game premise is basically this: 

The game is set in Earth in the near future, where a dimension incursion was repelled with the use of new time travel technology. However, the technology itself was later captured by the invaders which gave rise to a disrupted timeline. So a band of fighters was formed who constantly wage wars with the invaders across timelines in various ways with the help of subsidiary characters summoned from history or stories. 

The fighters operate in units of 4 as a hit team, with fixed roles within the team. They embark on missions with a range of explicit objectives that all ultimately contribute to thwarting the dimensional invasion. 

In this setting, PCs are at least partially robotised which makes rotation across roles possible: you just need different calibrations to your mechanical body parts for the different roles. There is also good camouflage technology to make the most outlandish subsidiary characters blend in at any given timeline. 

Since PCs are playing together as a single hit team, there can be no overlaps in character classes. The classes and class-specific perks are as follows:  

  • Alpha (the Leader)- determines the order of turns in combat 
  • Beta (the Analyst)- once per session, you may ask the GM a single “yes or no” question. Unless it would ruin the overall story, it will be answered truthfully.
  • Delta (the Muscle)- once per conflict, can use one additional out of turn move. 
  • Gamma (the Medic)- once per conflict, can cast a shield absorbing up to Moderate Damage on a PC separated from the rest of the group 

Simona Chan, The Alpha

Aspects: 

  • Dedicated role player absorbed with play (High Concept)
  • Woman with a vice (Trouble)
  • Brain: Super fast processing time (robotic implant) 

Approaches: Sneaky +3, Flashy and Clever+2, Quick and Forceful+1

Stunts:

  • Because I’m a good performer, I get a +2 when I Sneakily create advantages when I’m in conversation with someone 
  • Because I’m a woman with a vice, once per session I can unearth a seedy contact for information with the Sneaky Approach 

Todd Willer, The Beta

Aspects: 

  • Bumbling perfectionist (High Concept)
  • Too good looking for his social skills (Trouble)
  • Brain: extra storage space for retrieval (robotic implant) 

Approaches: Careful +3, Flashy and Sneaky+2, Clever and Forceful+1

Stunts:

  • Because I am slow and methodical, once every two sessions I can Carefully discover new information 

Shinji Yamato, The Delta

Aspects: 

  • The nerdy ninja (High Concept)
  • Strong belief in self sufficiency (Trouble)
  • Retractable limbs (robotic implant) 

Approaches: Quick +3, Sneaky and Forceful+2, Clever and Forceful+1

Stunts:

  • Because I am out for speed, I get a +2 when I Quickly attack

Fatima Asal, The Gamma

Aspects: 

  • Cool beauty (High Concept)
  • Stubborn (Trouble)
  • Eyes: medical scanner (robotic implant) 

Approaches: Flashy +3, Clever and Careful +2, Quick and Forceful+1

Stunts:

  • Because I am charming when I want to, I get a +2 when I want to infiltrate a place

TBR list 2026

I have already picked my Oriental fantasy this year, which is about the Mongol invasion of Persia- The Judas Blossom, and have finished with it. I am also continuing with the mini reading challenge this year and am thinking of picking a flower theme this year just to vary it up from last year (I feel like I have the tendency to go for a natural element otherwise eg. cloud, not sure if that’s influence from Chinese ancient poems, I don’t read a lot of them but had read some ancient literature written in modern Chinese). 

For Broadening Horizons, I think I’m going for Romance (book undecided yet) since I’ve already read sci fi at the start of last year and then I’m going for Magic Bites where apparently magic and science exist side by side and are in conflict which is a sub-genre of fantasy that I haven’t yet touched. I almost went for Redwall until I remembered that I had read the novel starring rabbits before (I think that was fantasy although I could be wrong, I might scroll through my Goodreads account on a later day to pin down the novel I’m thinking about). 

CCC days 21 and 22- Investigators against Occult Terrorists (EstoTerrorist using Gumshoe rules) 

Out of ideas and just had my hands on the EstoTerrorist rulebook so here are two characters: 

Wiccan witch 

Investigative Skills:

  • Bullshit detector (Interpersonal) 6
  • Flirting (Interpersonal) 3
  • Impersonate (Interpersonal) 4
  • Photography (Technical) 2
  • Electronic Surveillance (Technical) 5
  • Data Retrieval (Technical) 4 
  • Cryptography (Technical) 5
  • Trivia (Academic) 1
  • Natural history (Academic) 3 

General Skills:

  • Stability 12
  • Athletics  24
  • Health 8
  • Infiltration 8
  • Surveillance 8

Werewolf druid

Investigative Skills:

  • Occult Studies (Academic) 7
  • Natural History (Academic) 3 
  • Forensic Account (Academic) 5
  • Forensic Psychology (Academic) 5
  • Linguistics (Academic) 2
  • Reassurance (Interpersonal) 5
  • Astronomy (Technical) 5

General Skills:

  • Stability 6
  • Athletics  6
  • Health 28
  • Preparedness 14
  • Shrink 6 

CCC days 19 and 20- System bounty hunters (Fate Core) 

This is from a game I’m currently GMing in Fate Core. The last game was put on indefinite hold due to one of the players being taken away from gaming due to life events. The new game features an alternative Earth where Systems run amok, coming from other dimensions via breaches. They take human beings as hosts and may or may not harm the host. They also have various goals, which may be harmful to Earth or not. 

Margaret Man 

Aspects:

  • High Concept- Pedantic socialite 
  • Trouble- Lecherous
  • Values equity 
  • Proud 
  • Fussy 

Skills:

  • +4: Contacts
  • +3: Resources, Charm
  • +2: Notice, Athletics, Physique
  • +1: Will, Empathy, Deceive, Rapport

Uncle Five

Aspects:

  • High Concept- Sarcastic Daoist 
  • Trouble- Fickle 
  • Values external approval 
  • Melodramatic 
  • Faithful 

Skills:

  • +4: Lore 
  • +3: Athletics, Fight
  • +2: Will, Crafts, Provoke  
  • +1: Physique, Rapport, Stealth, Contacts (ghosts) 

CCC days 16, 17 and 18- Immortals (Fate Core)

I had to raid my childhood memory for a premise for character generation and the one I went with was just Daily Lives of Immortals with frequent visits to the Mortal Realm and no basic plot, just scenes that we wanted to act out on a given day (I was the Flower Immortal, my classmate was the Butterfly Immortal and her little brother was the Swan Immortal). I decided to dispense with Skill and Stunts. 

Flower Immortal 

Aspects:

  • High Concept- Flower Immortal 
  • Trouble- Spiteful 
  • Values planning over improvisation 
  • Socially quirky 
  • Power hungry 

Butterfly Immortal 

Aspects:

  • High Concept- Butterfly Immortal 
  • Trouble- Unconventional 
  • Values challenge 
  • Practical 
  • Insinuative 

Swan Immortal 

  • High Concept- Swan Immortal 
  • Trouble- Deceitful 
  • Values love 
  • Innocent 
  • Meek 

CCC days 14 and 15- Mage mother and daughter (Fate Core)

This is from the premise of my second novel project that was based on a line that popped into my head from a daughter to a mother, “I don’t have to be like you to love you.” I have decided they are both mages and below are their separate FATE profiles:

Mage mother 

Description: short woman with strong aura

Aspects:

  • High Concept- Protective mother sticking to tradition
  • Trouble- Immature because she values mischief 
  • Hedonistic > traditionalist 
  • Aggressive 
  • Loyal

Skills:

  • +4: Fight
  • +3: Will, Physique 
  • +2: Athletics, Notice, Contacts
  • +1: Resources, Rapport, Deceive, Lore 

Stunts:

  • Fiery warrior. Use the power of Fire to gain +2 when Attacking with Fight. 

Mage daughter 

Aspects:

  • High Concept- Leisurely mage carving a new direction with mage craft
  • Trouble- Family taboo against personal ambition 
  • Values logic 
  • Foul-tempered 
  • Pessimistic 

Skills:

  • +4: Will
  • +3: Provoke, Lore 
  • +2: Notice, Investigate, Athletics, 
  • +1: Physique, Contacts, Resources, Empathy

The Role of Etiquette in Chinese culture (4)- Number of wives 

Chinese society is very hierarchical and one of the aspects that evidences this is the number of wives allowed between different social classes. The lowest class or commoners tend to practice monogamy while the wealthy have a wife and various concubines. And depending on the dynasty, sometimes merchants are considered to be a cheap social class and forbidden to take on concubines even though they can afford it, at least technically. I’m also not sure how you can enforce stuff like this when a rich merchant can just sleep with a bunch of maids and not take them on as formal concubines. 

According to the Zhou Etiquette, an Emperor should have:

  • 1 Queen
  • 3 Fu Ren (or Fei). Depending on the dynasty, they might be granted the title of Kui (high status) Fei, Shuo Fei, De Fei and Xian Fei that all translate to the Virtuous Royal Concubine, Hui (kind) Fei, Li (beautiful) Fei, Hua (flowery) Fei, Rou (gentle) Fei, Wen (literature) Fei, Yuan (first) Fei, Zhen (true) Fei or Chen (Imperial) Fei. By far, the most common combination is a three or four Fei being made up of Kui Fei, Shuo Fei, De Fei and Xian Fei. They are in charge of female virtue and etiquettes
  • 9 Pins, with two-character titles made up from the 3 prefixes of Zhao (bright), Xiu (cultivate) and Chong (fill) and the 3 suffixes of Yi (manners), Rong (looks) and Yuan (beauty). They are in charge of the areas that comprise female virtue- virtue, speech, looks and achievements. 
  • 27 Shi (generational) Fu (married women) separated into three stratas: nine Jie Yu, nine Mei Ren (Beauties) and nine Cai Ren (person of talent). They are mainly in charge of funerals and foreign dignatory visits. 
  • 81 Yu Qi (Imperial Wife), again forming 3 equal sub-stratas including Bao (Treasure) Lin (Forest), Nu Yu (Maiden under Control? Yu can also mean Imperial but here probably referring to control in the context of riding a horse) and Cai Nu (Colourful Maiden). They are responsible for sleeping with the Emperor and internal affairs

In total, this is only 121 females that a Chinese Emperor can have at the Imperial Palace. But in reality, many far exceed this number. But mostly, each dynasty adheres to the Zhou Etiquette tiers at least if not in number.