Dawn's Journal

Tenacity!

dawnshadow — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 06:27:12 GMT

As my trial of Tenacity, I was directed to walk from the Dark Portal to the city of Shattrath, and meditate along the way. I started, of course, at the Portal itself, taking the portal from Exodar to the Blasted Lands. I walked through, having prepared myself for the walk.

Somehow, the Draenor side of the portal is larger than the Azeroth side, although the design is similar. While the Legion has largely been routed, there are still a few remaining, either left behind or, perhaps, sent to harry and test at the remaining defenders. Both the Alliance and Horde, therefore, have kept a token defense at the foot of the Portal.

When I stepped through, the Portal was under assault by demons. This is not unusual, from what I gather. I had a long road ahead of me....

They were relatively weak demons, and were easily vanquished.

The next, however, was a Pit Lord Commander-- far larger, and more difficult.

I was able to parry many of his attacks, and my armor also warded me well.

In the end, he fell. For a time, the Dark Portal was left in relative calm. And, the path cleared and my blade Tyrfing's thirst sated, for the time being, I was able to do what I had intended to do.

The fel-bound orcs called it the Path of Glory. It is not pleasant to walk upon, but it is important that we keep fresh in our minds-- and the minds of our neighbors-- what evil the Legion is capable of. We are all connected; perhaps, if we had warned the orcs of the Legion and befriended them as we later did the natives of Azeroth, they may not have been so easily swayed.

I stopped, for a time, and paid my respects to the fallen, whose bodies and bones became the Path that led the orcs into Azeroth, the fallen demons' blood soaking into the Path. Perhaps any of them whose spirits still lingered there gained some sense of satisfaction.

Much of my walk through Hellfire was uneventful. The land was once beautiful and fertile, but as it is now I barely recognize what it once was. I fought a few lesser demons, and took no real injuries that were not quickly mended through their life energy.

I spotted, in the distance, a Fel Reaver. I had thought them all destroyed, long ago. To see one now, when no one would expect it...

I had no choice but to try to bring it down. It is a tricky proposition; mechanical constructs cannot be diseased, nor do they have life force to draw upon, to mend my own wounds.

The scale of the machine is incredible. Its head alone is as tall as I am. However, it is slow, its attacks telegraphed; I was able to dodge its crashing fists and climb its body, severing cables and anything that looked as if it might be broken on the way. It is fortunate that such constructs are run on fel energy and not electricity....

And, in the end, it fell.

As I said, the head is as tall as I am. I considered taking it as trophy, but even for me it would be too heavy to carry.

I continued my trek across Hellfire....

The region is large, and much larger when one goes on foot, instead of on the back of horse or gryphon. gave me much time to think, to meditate. I saw no more demons-- although a part of me wished for more-- and the wildlife steered clear of me, likely smelling the demon blood or whatever strange fluids the Reaver leaked.

I decided to take the path west, rather than south. I could not go into Shattrath reeking of demonic blood, after all.

And, in time, I reached the border to the Zangarmarsh.

The Zangarmarsh is, to the Draenei, a refuge, a sanctuary. It, along with the plains of Nagrand, is one of my favorite places remaining on Draenor, and simply crossing the border seemed to calm my spirit from the thoughts of the Legion's cruelty and manipulations. I avoided the Cenarion camp, knowing that my appearance would likely draw questions, and instead turned south, heading for the shallows of the nearest lake.

Ever since the naga were driven out, the water levels have started to recover. I stopped and bathed at the edge of a lake, although I stayed in my armor-- elememtium does not rust, and it needed cleaned as much as I did. Once I was clean-- if wet, although it was raining; I would have been soaked through either way-- I continued south, through the marsh.

Even the small mushrooms are the size of a fel reaver's head. I considered taking some as an offering of food, as I was close to Shattrath by then, but I am not sure which are good eating and which are not.

It is, perhaps, more interesting to hear of my killing demons and destroying Fel Reavers than my thoughts as I walked through the marsh. I saw no one aside from a few Lost Ones in the distance, and a glimpse of a cat that I suspect was actually a druid, possibly a Cenarion patrol. It was... rather peaceful, in many ways; my hunger having been so recently sated left my mind clear to think on the meaning of this-- being sent on foot on a trip that would take a mortal days. Even for a death knight, who does not tire, it took the better part of a day.

The nature of Tenacity. To continue on, despite difficulty. To cling to the Light, although it sears and seems to reject you. That is one form of tenacity. And this-- my trial-- was another, to resist the temptation to summon my Deathcharger, to keep going, alone with my thoughts and doubts.

It was not long before I reached the border to the Terrokar forest. Shattrath is less than an hour's walk from this spot. I started to see a little more foot traffic, although not much-- a handful of Soprelings returning to the marsh, a few hippogryphs and windriders overhead.

Shattrath is a beautiful city, even from a distance. Adventurers and soldiers rarely venture there, these days-- some go to learn the faith of the Aldor, or whatever it is the Scryers teach-- I think Barnaby once mentioned his human friend learning enchanting from them?-- and others to see the Naaru. And there are still refugees, who have adopted the City of Light as their home.

The guards still view death knights as strange and suspicious. This one questioned me, as I entered the city. I was allowed in, after I spoke to him.

Because I took the north entrance, I was able to go straight to the center chamber, and bypassed the Lower City.

And, at last, I made it to the heart of Shattrath. I am... cut off from the Light, in my current state. I cannot hear the voices of the Naaru, and being close to them is... uncomfortable, though tolerable. But today, the sting of the Light felt almost welcome, similar to the soreness one has after a well-fought battle. I stayed for a time, and continued my meditations, on the nature of the Light, and my connection....

I am cut off from the Light, yes, but there is a theory I have had for some time, one that seems proven right, time and time again. Although my direct connection is severed, perhaps through my friends and allies... perhaps that is how the Light tries to reach us. Not just death knights, but the Broken, and others whose faith has been lost.

I do not think it gives up on us, no. It is up to us to have tenacity-- to keep going, and keep reaching for it.

-end-

(Bonus picture: This is what the UI looks like when it's turned on. A few of the other pictures also link to a full-size version.

F. M. L.

dawnshadow — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 07:22:49 GMT

So my desktop computer's been out for a month-- I was having some weird issues that I eventually tracked down to the power supply, which took three weeks to RMA. I finally got a power supply tonight-- a friend's spare-- and I went ahead and hooked it up, then turned the computer on.

It worked, so I installed the update to the antivirus software. After the update, it abruptly rebooted, and I noticed an odd whining sound. Upon inspecting the computer, I realized that the fan on the processor cooler wasn't spinning due to lack of use and gave it a nudge. It started going the next time I switched it on, so I went ahead and turned it off again, unhooked my anti-static wristband, and started to put the side back on. While doing so, my hand slipped and touched something inside and the LEDs blinked.

...The computer is now dead again. *cries*

I can has internet!

dawnshadow — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 21:44:03 GMT

We finally got our internet installed. It's great; amazingly fast.

The only annoying part is that the firewall in the router/modem/cable box conglomerate is a bit screwy and cannot be turned off. :( Ah, well.

My housemates want me to play World of Warcraft with them. I got a trial and I'll give it a shot, but when I played before-- an afternoon with a fresh character on one of their accounts-- I found it terribly boring. Anyway, they have Aliiance accounts on the Azjol-Nerub server, and I think they want to put Horde on Steamweedle, which is RP-based. If anyone happens to play, as well, and is on one of those servers I'll probably start an alliance paladin as soon as the gigantic multi-gig patch finishes downloading. They're supposed to be hard to kill, which is generally a good thing....

Has anyone seen dawnsshadow lately?

Random memory.

dawnshadow — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 05:23:50 GMT

When I was younger, I had a book on the US Presidents. It included a section about the official and unofficial requirements for President.

The first two unofficial requirements were as follows:

*You must be male
*You must be white

I wish I still had that book, so I could take a pen and cross the second statement out.

Congrats, Obama. ^_^-b3

I can has apartment!

dawnshadow — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 02:33:52 GMT

Well, townhouse, really. It's very nice, but the free Wifi sucks. And I left my purse and laptop in my mother's SUV by mistake, so I'm stuck with the desktop and an ancient wireless B adapter until someone brings me a laptop.

Ah, well.

More later; I need to finish unpacking.

Reply to part_b

dawnshadow — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 00:17:00 GMT

This is supposed to be a PM about a roleplay.

Huh, the message system isn't working.

I was thinking about Kitaniji; I find him to be an interesting character, but at the same time the game (and what little supplemental canon there is) leaves a lot of room for personal interpretation. If I pull him from anytime during the game, he's going to have a timer (and probably be quite panicked about getting back home before it's too late to save it.)

Seeing as one of his abilities is to temporarily suspend time, making the timer simply stop would be very ironic.

On another note, I'm actually of two minds about how his abilities would be reduced. Canonically, Reapers lose all their powers in the Realground, and I'm betting that he won't be able to run around in the UG alone. So the most logical method would be to have him not have any powers at all. On the other hand, it seems like most characters will have some sort of abilities, so I might just say he's like the Composer in that he's powerful enough that he can use some fraction of his power in the Realground. (I'm still pondering this point.)

Thanks!

--Dawn

;-;

dawnshadow — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 16:17:12 GMT

I can't has U-haul. Huge mileage surcharge, and no one is around to drive it.

Waaaaah.

Moving, moving, moving...

dawnshadow — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 20:13:37 GMT

My past year:

Got job at superstore. Survived half-year in small apartment with sister. Sister moved out. Enjoyed half-year in apartment alone, but failed to find roommate. Made agreement with friends to rent house for a year or two. Found house. Found out that house lease sucked. Kept looking. Found townhouse. Left job and moved home when lease ended and lived at home for three weeks waiting for the townhouse to open up (yesterday). Found out that truck was unavailable yesterday and had to wait more.

I'd planned on moving next weekend, but I just found out that my friends and future roommates will be bringing the U-Haul they rented here sometime tomorrow.

I am not ready to load things. I was going through boxes in order to choose what will go and what will stay and they're all mixed up. And, since almost an apartment's worth is stuffed into half a garage and the other half is needed for a car, there's really not much room to sort things out.

I've been told the townhouse we got is awesome, and I'm looking forward to moving in. I hope I get all my stuff moved tomorrow and don't have to stay to finish tidying up or anything.

Wish me luck?

...so... um... yeah.

dawnshadow — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 01:44:39 GMT

Well... Insanejournal is very quiet. And Livejournal is getting a bit better. (And under new ownership.) And I miss my friends and acquaintances.

(That, and I'm not really staying away from anything but posting.)

So... um... forget all that stuff I said about leaving forever!!1! about a year ago. I think I'll come back. Maybe do a few memes or something.

...I need new userpics.

Content Strike, anyone?

dawnshadow — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 17:53:34 GMT

ONE DAY CONTENT STRIKE

For one day, Friday, March 21, make no posts. Make no comments. Let there be NO new content added to LJ.

SUP obviously does not realize that Basic users have given something of value to them, that it is content that drives the site.

So, for one 24-hour period, from midnight
GMT to midnight GMT, let's see how many people we can get to pledge to contribute NO CONTENT.

This will create a permanent downward spike in the daily-posts statistics, a permanent reminder of the power of the userbase.

Full information at The Fox's Den.

SPREAD THE WORD!

(I wish more people were on Insanejournal with me.)

It's the end of the world as we know it...

dawnshadow — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 14:23:00 GMT

Upset or unsure about the whole SUP thing?

Join me on Insanejournal. We have cookies.

Gone....

dawnshadow — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 23:23:19 GMT

There are no open wireless signals to leech from near my apartment, unfortunately. I won't be online much at all until we get cable.

See you around!

Now I remember why I stopped updating my old website. (OK, one more update before the end...)

dawnshadow — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 02:50:38 GMT

About the time of the original Strikethrough, I started work on a new website, which Fran generously offered to host on her web space. (I used to have a web site on a wonderful host in high school, but it was hacked year ago, I lost the HTML in a hard drive crash, I no longer have the password to the website or access to the email I used back then, and the web site no longer hosts free sites nor provides support for the legacy free sites, assuming they've not stopped hosting them altogether in the past couple years. Even worse, the CD that had the rather useful, if sparse, HTML editor I used back then-- I think it was called Clarisworks Light-- has also been lost, and I can't find that program anywhere.)

I'd just forgotten how much -work- designing a web site-- even an extremely simple one-- is, especally since I have to learn a new program. I picked up NVU, which I'm pretty sure is open-source, and have been finding it pretty nice. This is why I dropped the web site, I suppose, and went to automated archives like FF.net and LJ.

Anyway, whenever I finish the site I'll link to it in my user info. I've signed up for both Insanejournal and Greatestjournal, but I can't get Semagic to cross-post and I think I'll just stick with IJ, for now. (I'll friend people on GJ and check my flist, at least.)

There are three reasons why I decided to leave. First of all, I think that Livejournal has handled both recent situations horribly. This is their server space, and they have the right to decide what content goes on it. However, they refuse to publish out clear guidelines for what is acceptable. If they did, I would have no problem with them banning people; it would just be nice to know what the guidelines are.

Secondly, there's the fact that they're calling the pictures that people were banned for pedophilia when they're clearly not. MedicineNet defines pedophilia as "...fantasies, urges or behaviors that involve illegal sexual activity with a prepubescent child or children (generally age 13 years or younger)." (Emphasis mine.) In other words, pedophiles aren't into teenagers, much less people who are pretty close, if not over, 18. Yes, the art involved subjects who might have been underage, but they were definitely post-pubescent. The problem is, LJ labels them as pedophiles and a lot of people automatically take LJ's side. But there is a difference between someone who draws a picture of a guy who could be anywhere from sixteen to twenty-two in what seems to be a consensual sexual encounter and someone who molests and abuses living children. No sane, thinking person should lump them in the same category.

Unfortunately, in moral panics sane, logical thinking is often the first thing to go.

Granted, I don't tend to write sexual content, nor are most of my favorite characters under 18. But what happens if the which hunters decide that anyone with fannish interests is a pedophile, or something similar?

My third problem (which, fortunately, I don't have to deal with directly) is the fact that they refuse to give any refunds, even to paying customers who were banned. I think this just seems unfair; they should at least give the paying customer a partial refund.

I'll stick around for the communities and friends who aren't transferring, but this really will be it for posting.

Leaving for InsaneJournal.

dawnshadow — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 18:31:52 GMT

(Edit-- Semagic crossposts somehow, so I'm making a pair of journals.)

Out of principle, I'm leaving for InsaneJournal and Greatestjournal. Still dawnshadow at both sites, so please feel free to friend me if you're there, too. I exported my entries to IJ and will be to GJ sometime soon.

I'll stick around on LJ for communities and friends, but I will no longer be posting here.

So long, LJ, and thanks for all the fics.