Spirits of Alaruk

Just hoping it won't get banned because it has LGBTQ characters in it.

Trying to figure out who my readership will be for my book and I'm pretty sure it's going to be kids around 12-14 years old. That's about when I started to get into worldbuilding. There's animal people, adventure, and no romance, nor adult themes, but some of the concepts are kind of complex.

I managed to reach 50k words! Still not quite done with the story, but I'm getting very close.

Many of my local grocery stores will donate anything that's not sold that isn't spoiled to food banks. That's not a common practice in most places and in fact most grocery stores will put locks on their dumpsters so people can't get thrown out food.

November might be the month I finish writing my book and reach 50k+ words. I started writing it in 2022, but planning started right before covid hit. Five years of working on this project and I'll finally have something completed.

the watch streak notifications are so, so bad, for both viewers and streamers. if you are a streamer, please consider turning off watch streaks. we can't be supporting this kind of behavior from Twitch

White supremacy is still absolutely a thing, and anyone who tells you they "don't see color" is just turning a blind eye to racism. Race blindness was made up during the Reagan era to ignore racism, especially against black folks, and now it's enabling and empowering white supremacy.

We have actual Nazis in the federal government right now but if I say that around white people then I sound like a crazy person, even though there's clear evidence of it happening. Nobody took the Nazis seriously back then and they sure aren't now either, and that's why we are absolutely cooked.

I feel like I'm going insane when I walk down the street or visit the super market and I hear PoC have conversations about how bad shit is getting, but most white people I talk to directly aren't even aware or outright refuse to talk about it. White people don't understand how privileged they are.

I'm still alive! I just haven't been posting because social media is draining and not good for my mental health. I've started working on what might be the last chapter of my book. I'm really excited that I'll be finishing such a big project soon.

There's so many things out there that deserve positive attention but aren't getting any because people are too focused on negative attention for popular things they don't like. If people could just give other things a try they might find something really cool.

I once told a spammer bot on Bluesky to delete its account and it was gone almost instantly.

I go to a trans support group so literally all my IRL friends are trans. I love my trans friends.

Drawing of volcanic fuglans and their traits and skin tones. One volcanic fuglan shows their limbs with skin stretched between them.

Volcanic fuglans! These are the smallest of all fuglan tribes and are able to glide on pockets of warm air. #WorldBuilding

More lore here on my website: alaruk.com/fuglans/volc...

Spirits of Alaruk: Chapter 8

alaruk.com/stories/soa8m

Chapter 8 of Spirits of Alaruk is now available to read for free on my website. #writing #fantasy

Fascists don't understand satire. They ARE the satire.

Rak markings! This is the Greater Rak, which is the larger of two species.

A sketch of a rak, an original species. Its forked tongue is sticking out.

I don't have much else to share other than I'm also currently reworking raks, which are predatory obligate carnivores. They especially love kudak eggs.

Currently working on chapter 14 and planning on finishing it this month. I'll be putting it on my Ko-Fi for anyone to read it early. After that I'll edit chapter 8 to put it on my website.

A drawing of a wetland and their traits and skin tones.

alaruk.com/fuglans/wetl...

Wetland fuglan traits! These guys live in swamps, marshes, and along riverbanks. #WorldBuilding

I am now caught up to where I was before I redid my website when it comes to fuglan tribes. I still have three more to go.

Uganda is in Africa, he has a right to say he's from the continent he was born in.

If anything, I want people to collectively punish the individuals who are responsible for allowing things to get this bad. This just plain sucks.

I have lore of these guys on my website now.

alaruk.com/ecology/mobile

That's a lot of great information, thank you!

Ooh, I have a nomadic pastoral desert clan! They rely on their herd of grazing animals and migrate when the wet and dry seasons change. Another desert culture trades with sea-faring folk, but they are also able to sustain longer periods of fasting due to low metabolism (they're reptiles).

alaruk.com/glossary/mob...

My #ConLang grows with common phrases! I translated one of my favorite sayings into Fuuglanese, "Enthara zu sata." It means, "Good luck, don't die." I may say it in a facetious way, but a fuuglan who goes out to see might not come back. It's more of a personal blessing.

A drawing of Karrak, an evil forest fuuglan. Negative energy emanates off of him while he floats through the air.

Karrak, the antagonist of my story, Spirits of Alaruk. Craving power, he starts a cult using sheltered people by manipulating them and promising them land and resources if they follow his plan to invade a nearby fuuglan clan.

My worldbuilding has no colonialism so that I can create interesting cultures that practice traditions out of practicality and survival. It incentives me to do a lot of research about real world cultures, like religious fasting done to prevent widespread starvation in the desert.

Spirits of Alaruk: Gallery

alaruk.com/gallery/mobile

I've added Design a Fuuglan to the art gallery on my website. These are fuuglans requested or commissioned by friends and viewers, then designed by myself.

Added more pronouns to my #ConLang Fuglanese today: alaruk.com/conlang/mobile

So many pronouns and none of them are gendered.