User:Shaudawn

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Not only a forum profile, but a character too! [murdered June 11, 2019]

—Shaudawn (talk) 04:43, 21 August 2014 (UTC)


I'm perhaps a little OCD when it comes to simulations, particularly social and building simulations, so Cantr is a guilty pleasure. As an advocate for knowledge sharing, I wholly endorse and contribute to to this wiki whenever I can. It may not always be accurate. But, I hope it helps and that with time it will help new and old players alike enhance their roleplay possibilities.

Leave me a note here or buzz me on Discord and I'll try to get to respond as time permits. However, I do ask for your patience. Lots of patience.  :P

— Shaudawn (talk) 22:05, 24 August 2021 (UTC)

TO DO List:

Feel free to add suggestions here. Just make sure you let me know that it needs doing.

Entries

Large, General Projects

some cleanup and adding notes regarding the boats that can be built on other ships and boats
maybe add tables?
  • buttons and user interface is way, way in need of some major lovin'!

Primitive Clothing Crafting Time Reductions (2021-08-24):

Chocolate

Finished items are in Done-Done
Progression

Beans are first roasted into nibs in the ovens, then ground into paste on the manual grain grinder or millstone, then pressed into either cocoa butter or cocoa powder in the press.

OM-Nom-nom-nom
  • cocoa powder:
    • chocolate -- Making chocolate (propane) (requires cocoa paste, cocoa powder, sugar, milk, propane); whisk, pot of stone, copper or steel
      1. campstove: 200g cocoa paste, 200g cocoa powder, 100g sugar, 100g milk, 15g propane --> makes 600g
    • brownies - (regular oven, coal oven or gas oven); whisk, casserole dish
      • regular: 200g cake flour, 100g eggs, 100g sugar, 100g butter/margarine, 200g cocoa powder, 300g??? wood or firewood --> makes 700g
      • coal: 200g cake flour, 100g eggs, 100g sugar, 100g butter/margarine, 200g cocoa powder, 45g coal/45g charcoal --> makes 700g
      • gas: 200g cake flour, 100g eggs, 100g sugar, 100g butter/margarine, 200g cocoa powder, 25g propane --> makes 700g
    • brownies with nuts - (Let's pretend these aren't the evil brownies) - (regular oven, coal oven or gas oven); whisk, casserole dish
      • regular: 200g cake flour, 100g eggs, 100g sugar, 100g butter/margarine, 200g nuts, 200g cocoa powder, 300g??? wood or firewood --> makes 900g (72000g max)
      • coal: 200g cake flour, 100g eggs, 100g sugar, 100g butter/margarine, 200g nuts, 200g cocoa powder, 45g coal/45g charcoal --> makes 900g (72000g max)
      • gas: 200g cake flour, 100g eggs, 100g sugar, 100g butter/margarine, 200g nuts, 200g cocoa powder, 25g propane --> makes 900g
    • chocolate cake - (regular oven, coal oven or gas oven); whisk
      • regular: 200g cake flour, 100g eggs, 100g sugar, 100g milk, 100g butter/margarine, 200g cocoa powder, 300g??? wood or firewood --> makes 800g
      • coal: 200g cake flour, 100g eggs, 100g sugar, 100g milk, 100g butter/margarine, 200g cocoa powder, 45g coal/charcoal --> makes 800g
      • gas: 200g cake flour, 100g eggs, 100g sugar, 100g milk, 100g butter/margarine, 200g cocoa powder, 25g propane --> makes 800g
    • hot cocoa; pot of stone, copper or steel, whisk
      • campstove: Cooking hot cocoa (propane) (requires 200g cocoa powder, 300g milk, 100g sugar, 20g propane) --> makes 600g
      • fireplace: Cooking hot cocoa (propane) (requires 200g cocoa powder, 300g milk, 100g sugar, 300g??? wood or firewood) --> makes 600g
    • hot cocoa with marshmallows; pot of stone, copper or steel, whisk
      • campstove: requires 200g cocoa powder, 300g milk, 100g sugar, 100g marshmallows, 20g propane -> makes 700g
      • fireplace: requires 200g cocoa powder, 300g milk, 100g sugar, 100g marshmallows, 300g??? wood or firewood --> makes 700g
  • TBD (anything I've missed)

Upcoming

Note: these will not be started in the wiki until actually implemented in-game. Some are still just at concept stage.

  • Peppers
  • Armor
  • possibly new fighting mechanics
  • possibly new healing mechanics

Miscellaneous

I created a stub a while back. It could really use some spit and polish. Unless it's self-adhesive, then not so much spit.

Note Beautification

Though CSS may be outside of the scope of the game, the implementation of it in notes can be tricky, particularly since notes automatically get edited and will delete content if you don't now what you're doing, potentially breaking the note (for the creator). I believe that a tutorial or brief page showing how to create more beautiful notes and pages is in order.

Perhaps there can even be a mention about the CSS templates used in the game itself to modify the look of the game.

Done-Done List

Primitive Clothing Crafting Time Reductions (2021-08-24):

Pet Update, 2021

Announced on Day 7000 (2021-08-28), dogs and cats can now be domesticated. So I'll probably have to work that into animal domestication along with Elephants, which can now be saddled.

Plus, two more items:

  • pet brush: needed for describing animals (not steeds yet). YES!! You can now describe animals!! ✓ (done) (2021-08-29)
  • pet beds: containers where you can put your animals, up to 5kg.
  • cats ✓ (done) (2021-08-28)
  • dog updated to be domesticated ✓ (done) (2021-08-28)
  • elephants updated to be domesticated as steeds ✓ (done) (2021-08-28)

Seashell Items

done

Chocolate Items

not Done-Done items are found above in User:Shaudawn#Chocolate

Beans are first roasted into nibs in the ovens, then ground into paste on the manual grain grinder or millstone, then pressed into either cocoa butter or cocoa powder in the press.

  • cocoa beans - raw resources harvested from trees. ✓ [Done: 2021-09-13]
    • Cocoa beans are collected at 100 grams per day and use the forestry skill.
    • With a walking stick you can collect 350 grams per day,
    • with a machete you can collect 500 grams a day
 walking sticks are the strong enough, but normal sticks are too weak, that is the justification I suggest
 Walking sticks are the best one for nuts better than they are for cocoa :stuck_out_tongue: --wasindeer the hoplitomeryx
  • cocoa nibs - roasted in an oven from beans ✓ [Done: 2021-09-13]
    • cocoa paste - millstone/manual grain grinder: Grinding cocoa nibs (requires cocoa nibs) ✓ [Done: 2021-09-13] (incl. mills)
      • cocoa butter: press - Crushing cocoa paste (requires cocoa paste) ✓ [Done: 2021-09-14] (incl. press)
      • cocoa powder: press - Crushing cocoa paste (requires cocoa paste) ✓ [Done: 2021-09-14] (incl. press)
  • cocoa paste:
    • chocolate liqueur: (cask) - Fermenting chocolate liqueur (requires cocoa paste, sugar, grain spirit) ✓ [Done: 2021-09-15] (incl. cask)

Miscellaneous

References

Cheating

No, not in the game! Never ever break the cardinal rule or you'll go to that very special hell reserved for parents who let their children get sugared up and tease dogs, people who look directly at you while talking on their cell phone, and door-to-door sales associates who keep talking after you told them you don't want their damn cleaning solvent! I'm talking about the handy little cheat sheet for editing wiki pages: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Cheatsheet

Templates

Templates on this wiki can be found at Category:Templates.

Style Guide

Policy guides

Da Rulez

Some Other Helpful Categories for Hyperactive Wiki Ninjas

for Wacky Wiki Wizards
Administrative Categories
Other Other Categories

Player Rights

Historical Context

The topic of Player Rights was a statement bill of rights concerning the interaction between players and the moderators of the Players Department somewhere around April 2016. As put in the first version found here: "This is not to be taken as an opinion about staff behavior, and holds absolutely no authority (at this time) but is simply an investigation on the subject. Input is welcome as long as it is constructive and made in the spirit of greater game enjoyment." --Shaudawn (talk) 18:12, 21 April 2016 (UTC)

While much has changed regarding ownership and governance of the game, perhaps a version or rewrite of the Player Rights (perhaps call it the Player Bill of Rights and Responsibilities?) ought be maintained in order to remind ourselves (IMHO) why we play. I have separated a portion called Canonical Hierarchy, the Capital Paradox, and Character Knowledge to try to simplify the list. See the page history for earlier versions of the BoR

The Player Bill of Rights and Responsibilities

  1. The Capital Rule serves the players. The players do not serve the Capital Rule.
    • The operative term players means the collective player base as a whole and not one individual.
       (Thus, for example, you cannot violate the rule on consensual adult roleplay simply because you, as a single player, want to.
       Nor does it mean that because your character is a creep that you, as a single player, can ignore that rule.)
  2. Reporting a player for Capital Rule breaches is at the discretion of the offended player and shall not be obligatory.
    (i.e. If it doesn't bother you, don't sweat it.)
    • If it bothers some other player whose character is directly involved, it is the right of that player to bring the complaint to the appropriate game authority. The players right to bring such a Capital Rule breach shall not be punishable.
    • Additional players have the right to remain uninvolved in the dispute if they wish.
    • Additional players may be questioned by the appropriate game authority to give evidence or opinion concerning the perceived violation, but are under no obligation to provide evidence or opinion.
      • Furthermore, any refusal to provide any information concerning Capital Rule breaches shall not be punishable.
  3. A player is assumed innocent of Capital Rule breaches until proven guilty.
    • The primary concern of this right is the perceived and Capital Rule violations in which character action, interaction, and knowledge are in dispute.
    • At the moment, the judging authority is solely the Players Department. However, if there should come a time when a jury or player input becomes implemented, the right to trial shall not be infringed.
    • A player can be warned, educated, enlightened, etc., but punishments such as player account suspension, player account deletion, or other access to the game cannot incur.
      • One possible exception might have to be in terms of consensual roleplay involving minors or nonconsensual acts of an adult nature due to legal obligations outside of the game.
  4. What a character says is not a Capital Rule Violation. What a character does may or may not be.
    • A character is not a player.
      Thus, for example, if a character says that they can create a coconut out of thin air using magic, that is not a rule violation against the use of magic in the game. The character may be crazy, lying, or delusional. But the claim itself cannot occur in the game due to the actual game mechanics. However, if the player indicates that an actual action is being performed by their character (in the english world, usually denoted with asterisks -- such as "Player says: *He hovered six inches off the ground and turned into a bat.*) then the action may be reported. Reading another character's mind or knowing something is said or occurs on another island (assuming no radio contact) is an action.
    • Likewise, a character's beliefs shall not be infringed. (i.e. whatever a character believes about the Cantr world shall not be considered a violation of the Capital Rule. The character may be wrong. The belief may even be contrary to the game mechanics. But when stated as a character that it is that character's belief to the contrary, it shall not be considered a violation.)
    • A player shall not be in violation if they speak a foreign language incorrectly after learning how to speak it through legal means (i.e. learned through role play). Nor if a dictionary is used shall it be considered a violation if the phrases or logically deduced phrases from such a guide are used, correctly or incorrectly.
    • A player that uses a word in the Cantr world may use that word despite being incongruent with game mechanics.
      (For example, characters that refer to other characters as "family" or by familial roles like "father", "mother", "brother", and "sister" shall not be considered in violation of the Capital Rule. This includes other words.)
  5. A player has the right (but not the obligation) to divulge basic information about their character out of character (OOC),
    including on Discord, the Cantr player forums, or any other extra-game venues provided that the Four Day Rule is observed.
    The responsibility of using that information from another character is up to you and not the divulging player.
    (e.g. If player Alice says she plays the character Agnes, player Bob cannot use his character Brad to act on the information player Bob is told/discovers. In other words, player Bob has the responsibility to keep OOC information out of character Brad's head; not player Alice.)
    1. The information divulged may include, but is not limited to:
      • What characters they play.
      • General character actions, including death.
    2. While it is wise to not divulge too much information OOC, it is kind of a spoiler. It may even be dumb. But it should not be punishable.
  6. A player has the right to name their character. This includes repeated names provided the following:
    • The name is not legally offensive (i.e. has a potential for legal problems outside the game which include racially offensive or sexually explicit names)
    • The character is not a reincarnation of the previous character with the same name.
    • Does not have the knowledge of any previous character
    • Does not literally impersonate the character of another player (have explicit knowledge of another character, though after enough role play may, as a character, choose to impersonate another character)
    • Likewise, a character has the right to a basic, general, and/or vague background story (I realize this is in direct contradiction to what is stated in the Rules) provided that it does not involve any already existing character, event or location.
    • Likewise, a character has a right to their own personality, motivation, physical description, and goals before spawning provided they do not come in direct conflict with game mechanics (e.g. saying that your body is build like a brick outhouse when, in fact, you are "very weak." Granted, people on steroids might actually be like that, but the lack of steroids in the game make that very difficult).
  7. Events that occur as a result of legitimate role play cannot be held against the player.
    (e.g. If another character steals your character's boyfriend that you really, really, wanted your character to date, you cannot contact the other player through PM/e-mail/Discord/etc. and tell them, "Back off; he's mine!" Bullying like that is wrong (and illegal in some places). Likewise, if some bloodthirsty pirate character shows up out of nowhere and kills your character without a word, the Players Department cannot automatically rule that a Capital Rule violation. It might be bad roleplay. It might make you angry, and you have that right to be angry, but it doesn't mean the other player has to be punished. You have a right to report it, but don't expect that the Players Department is obligated to sanction that person.)
  8. A player has the right to briefly use out of character (OOC) communication in-game to help other players play the game.
    • This right should be allowed (I recommend in whispers and with clear markings such as ((OOC: You press the 'Talk' button.)) ) since the other player may not wish to divulge their personal information through the forum or other non-game means. There may not be any other way to let game play proceed.
    • The term briefly is loosely defined on purpose and may depend on the collective tolerance of the other players whose characters are within communication range.
    • Yes, even with the existence of the training server known as Genesis.
  9. Having two characters in the same location does not automatically constitute a Capital Rule violation.
    • Due to the player base reaching historical lows, it becomes increasingly paradoxical to expect characters to never interact with one another in any way. The paradox becomes that the OOC knowledge of which characters are where comes into conflict. For example, say you have a character as part of a ship's crew and the captain (not yourself) chooses to dock at a location where another of your characters happens to live. It becomes unreasonable for one or both of them to "play dead" without any interaction. This kind of encounter begins to come under the conflict of the following Rules:
      • "If you cannot avoid having two of your characters meet, it is best that one 'sleeps'. If interaction is unavoidable, you must carefully play as if they were played by strangers. But keep in mind, that since you as a player are controlling when your characters are awake and what they know, there are some intrinsic advantages to their interaction that no kind of roleplay can mitigate and which are unfair to other players." and
      • "Some exceptions are occasionally made in new and developing regions to allow players to have multiple characters living together."
      • Since the player base remains at historic lows, nearly all locations should now be considered the same as "new and developing regions".
      • The operative word is automatically. Players should still be extremely careful and it is wise to avoid such contact, but neither shall it be a violation. Note that the rule is worded with the idea of other players in mind (see Right #1).
  10. A character has the right to inaction. OR, a player has the right to not play their character.
    Grudgingly, though I'd much rather people take up the challenge of doing their utmost best even if they have crappy skills or start off in a lousy location, since every good writer knows that drama comes from conflict and not being a Mary Sue, sometimes you just don't want to play. Real Life gets in the way, as it annoyingly does.
    • Likewise, a character has the right to die. OR, a player has the right to kill their character.


Canonical Hierarchy, the Capital Paradox, and Character Knowledge

Background

Over time, there became some confusion between the Capital Rule and the roleplayed use of Earth knowledge. This often lead to enforcement from the Players Department regarding the usage of terms used during roleplay that another player deemed a violation. For example, if a character had learned another language using the guidelines of roleplaying it for a few years of interaction with another native speaker, but who would, in the course of speaking with a different character, would use incorrect grammar or vocabulary that the offended party didn't believe the other player ought to know, the offender was often reported and potentially punished.

This, in my mind, lead to a paradox which I coined the Capital Paradox in which the arbitrary nature of what "should" and "should not" be said/done/spoken started to overshadow the actual intent of the Capital Rule, which was to maintain a balance of play, not to dictate how another character ought or ought not roleplay.

I've broken the previous list (formerly part of the Player Rights) into a few general categories:

The Capital Paradox

The essence of the paradox is as follows:
It is/was explicitly stated in the Game Rules that every character must be played as human (and not centaur, robot, etc.) and that there is no magic in this world. (i.e. every character is expected to behave and operate as a "normal" human being, obey the laws of biology and physics, etc.)
However, this is impossible to do for the following reasons:

  • At the very least, this is both a game and a simulation. Not exclusively one or the other.
  • In reality this is neither a game (i.e. no winnable objective) nor a simulation (because the fundamental definitions, constructs, and conditions of what Cantr is to simulate cannot be fixed without starting from scratch).
  • Cantr life is canonically both real and not real. (see Canonical Hierarchy below)

And because of this conflict, the potential for arbitrary judgment exists. Those who have the power to execute these judgments will inevitably act arbitrarily despite any pretense of objective and fair play.

The Paradox and Player Rights

These are a few declarations of player rights as a result of the Capital Paradox:

  • Anything not mentioned in a canonical source can be roleplayed without being deemed a Captial Rule breech.
    (e.g. the "Do bees exist in Cantr?" question. While a beehive is an in-game machine and produce honey when you apply various flowers or beeswax when you apply honey, bees themselves are not part of the game mechanic. Some people argue that roleplaying getting stung while nearing a beehive is a Capital Rule breech. Likewise, any mention of the sun, day or night, oxygenated air, etc. Since there is no explicit rule stating that bees absolutely do not exist in Cantr, it is reasonable to assume they do exist and can be legally roleplayed as such and should not be considered a Capital Rule violation. Likewise with other reasonable entities.)
  • Note aesthetics is not a Capital Rule Breach! Just because a person uses the same font, icons, formatting, CSS styles or aesthetic background does not make it a breach of the rules. Aesthetics is not content.


Canonical Hierarchy

(proposed)

  1. Jos Elkink [Jos resigned 2019-04-26], speaking in the capacity as Word of God.
    (His game, his rules. Jos as a player...that's different and not even the Almighty incarnated should be allowed special privilege (in my humble opinion).)
  2. The Current Owner of Cantr
  3. The game mechanic (only insofar as that the function is maintained devoid of perceived meaning)
  4. The Capital Rule
  5. CantrWiki (as it pertains directly to game mechanics)
    1. Posts explicitly declared authoritative by current, sanctioned members of their respective Departments
  6. Physics, human biology, animal biology and behavior
    Note: this is why Cantr cannot ever be considered a full simulation—because in a true simulation, physics, human biology and behavior are the mechanic and are primary over the wills and whims of any staff, the owner, and even the creator.


Fiction

Chupacabra

Is it too late to repent?  I pray to the gods not.  But should anyone find this note along with my half-eaten remains on the frontiers of some abandoned town, then my repentance was judged and found wanting.  I pray instead, then, that this note be a warning.  I was known by many names in my lifetime.  All of them lies.  Who I really am is of little consequence.  Only this tale remains.  Heed it well, lest you find yourself screaming down the same dark path I now find myself upon.  

I spawned two decades ago in a sleepy little pastoral hill town somewhere between Pacifica and New South Pass.  Ignored and scorned, I soon fell in contempt of the map-stain of my birth and sought to make my way in the world on my own terms.  Through my patience and cunning, I soon learned the patterns of the long slumber of the old ones, punctuated by the occasional misspawning of some broken man or woman in their twenties who, if they uttered their name before falling permanently comatose, wasn't even enough to rouse these so-called elders.  With careful planning and subtle practice, I would pick up a blade here or a scrap of iron there.  I demonstrated my daily activities, eventually gaining the confidence of those bloated sloths, and was given keys.  Here.  There.  Access to resources and back rooms.  They grew further in their complacency.  Sometimes I would have to find a room deep within the cold stone hall and vomit or scream my contempt. 

I sparred daily.  Already an expert fighter--one of my few skills of value in this wretched backwater--I grew strong and dangerous right in front of their half-lidded stares.  Encouraged, sometimes, when one of them dared stir just enough to grab years worth of food barely better than raw potatoes and return to their hibernations.  I kept my daily practice until I could stand no more. 

On the day I had chose as my reckoning, lo, a young man in his twenties appeared before me.  Strong like me, I attempted to subtly convince him of my plan.  But it didn't take long before I could tell that he wasn't of the cunning sort.  Pure of heart, he was, intentional and kind.  He smiled constantly.  His annoying laughter burrowed wormlike into my mind.  But, worst of all, he was eager to be of assistance.  I soon knew that I would have to kill him.  But first, I would prey upon the malady of his innocence and naiveté.  I told him stories about bandits coming down from the mountains to the south, and of my grave concerns of wild animals.  I spun tales of violence and misery, and with eager wide eyes, he drank of my poisonous tongue.  It then took hardly an effort to convince him to help me shuffle off the old ones into the deep recesses of an old, decrepit stone hall.  

When we had dragged the last of them in, I shut the door, and then the window, and locked them both.  I sipped my tea as the young man smiled at me, and I smiled back.  He was eager to start farming potatoes, ready to make them into something with which to feed these invalids.  I said nothing to him for a long time.  I savored the moment, sipping my hot tea.  Eventually I told him about the true nature of my feelings.  I can still see the look on his face as it fell.  The gleam of his smiling teeth was replaced by the wide white of his eyes, now overflowing with terror.  He screamed and clawed at both door and window, knocking until, by the will of the slumbering gods themselves, he could no longer.  
 
He had barely a stone knife and nothing more.  I, on the other hand, slowly withdrew the battle axe from its crouching perch upon my back.  It took only three days.  In all that time, not a one of the old ones stirred--not that it would have mattered as I had changed the locks already.  In another handful of days, the ones who had the wherewithal to carry a crowbar were extinguished.  The rest, I just let rot where they slept.

Finally liberated from my decades of suffering, I broke out into the wide world.  I had always wanted to see Pacifica for myself, that fabled settlement said to hum with vibrant life and commerce!  The place of my spawning was barely a speck upon the world, far off the common routes and utterly lacking in any desirable resource whatsoever.  It would take days just to arrive.  From the moment I had heard about Pacifica, I had begged for some way to get there.  Dozens of unused vehicles lined our streets.  I offered to work for a van, a motorcycle, a tandem bike--even a wooden cart, but even on the rare occasion that one of the townsfolk dared open their crusty mouth, they would question my desire.  "Why would you ever want to leave?  It's too dangerous out there alone.  It's best if you just stay here and tend to the potatoes."  And they would either ignore my pleas or insult me anew.

But now that I'd exacted my revenge, there was no one to stop me.  Now it was my turn to ignore the occasional knock or desperate note pushed under the door, pleading for release.  The only release they would know now was from their own mortal coil.

Yet, fate hadn't finished with me yet, for although I now had the means and patience to break any of the locks, there was hardly a drop of petrol or propane or even alcohol to fuel any gluttonous vehicle.  So I had to be content with a tandem bike.  No matter, I lied to myself.  I will just have to make do until I could ambush another sleepy soul and pry the key from their cold, dead, undeserving hands. Only now do I see that I had grown my own deceptive skills to the point that I was deceiving myself.

Eventually, I struck out on the tandem, carrying as much as I could to survive, hoping that the meager pittance I hauled with me had some value beyond our dead-end valley.  And eventually I did come across an unfortunate soul, so entranced in his mining for some mineral of which I have such contempt that I cannot remember it now.  Playing the friend, I attempted to engage him in conversation, but he never said a single word to me.  He kept on with his sleep-work, oblivious either by design or circumstance, I could not tell.  Finally, I had enough of his willful ignorance and struck a blow with my mighty battle axe.  While it did not fell him, this act did entice him to awaken.  But although he struck out upon me, his strength or skill lacked considerably.  His violent retort did little but scratch me.  So with nothing left but his biting tongue, he cursed me and fled down the long path.  I was unable to land any further blows, but I was unperturbed.  My skill at deception would obfuscate the facts, making it seem he the one who attacked first whereas I would claim naught but self-defense.  A misunderstanding at most.

For days I traveled the foreboding, yet dull landscape.  I passed one abandoned town after another, picked clean by either scavengers or time years before I had crawled forth upon the grime of my spawntown.  Until, one day, I came upon a great crossroads.  My pitiful excuse for a map shed no light as to the correct way to Pacifica, as if somehow roads were planted where there ought not be any.  Yet, I pushed on, making the best guess available that might take me towards the promising shores of my salvation. 

And then one night, as the shadows of the mountain pass I was attempting to traverse darkened the way, I heard a sound upon the wind that finally branded fear upon my heart.  It sounded like the hysterical scream of a woman.  Or perhaps of an animal strangling to death in some unseen thicket.  My attempts to lie to myself found little purchase upon my heart, for my knuckles turned as white as death as I clutched the tandem's grips.  As the light failed, I heard the beast dart along just a blur beyond my comprehension.  Bushes rustled where the was no wind.  Pebbles trickled where there was nothing.  Every creature and bird had ceased their activity. 

Who goes there? I demanded.  But there was no reply.  Again I attempted to soothe myself; surely it was old meat jerky obfuscating my wits and nothing more.  As I crested the pass, I peddled harder.  The next town was in sight, just upon the horizon.  I would make it by the morning.  But no sooner had my spirits raised at the thought than the slash and sting of the creature's claws bit into my leg!  Frantically I let my battle axe fly!  It caught only air.  I thrashed until I could no longer lift my weapon.  The beast was nowhere to be seen. 

Somehow I made it to the next town.  Like the many others I had passed, it was a mere empty shell.  Its resources were little more than mud and reeds and garlic.  Its hunting grounds pitifully depleted, I settled for a mere pigeon as my sustenance.  But I did not tarry.  As soon as the fowl was roasted over dried dung and consumed, I fled the village.  I could feel myself being watched, though I was never quick nor clever enough to prove reason for my paranoia.  And in my haste I realized too far along the path that I had chosen the wrong road.  With a mighty bellowing curse, I turned my tandem around to backtrack.  But, again as the previous night, it ambushed me.  Again it slashed, this time upon my other leg, causing a flow of blood that left my head to swoon.  Yet again, I was unable to glimpse the vicious creature, let alone land a blow.  By the next morning I had returned to the abandoned village.  I didn't even stop to hunt, but this time took what I thought the correct path towards Pacifica. 

And then on the third night, as I saw the next town cresting the horizon and the light had ceded its power over to shadow, I was forced to slow my tandem to stillness.  For there in my path loomed a dark creature as tall as the tallest bear with a stench more rank than a dire wolf.  Antlers, like that of the largest of elk, sprouted from its head.  Its eyes blared at me as would angry red lanterns, but they cast no light to see even my trembling hands before me.  From deep within its chest rumbled a growl that turned my bowels.  I brandished my axe and stood tall, determined to appear formidable. 

I demand your name! I shouted. By right I should know the identity of my foe.

The silence consumed everything.  I opened my mouth to challenge the beast again, but before I could issue a second threat, it hissed and rumbled its reply:

CHUPA. Chupa-cabra. 

And before I could even move or utter a cry, it leapt upon me, thrashing its teeth and claws, ripping at my chest.  My attempts to strike it with my battle axe were in vain.  Blood stained the path--drenched my eyes.

Hours later, when the light returned, I awoke and found myself upon the soaked ground.  I hauled myself onto my tandem, struggling with every ounce of strength and determination to get myself to the next town.  Surely sweet Pacifica was within reach.  Surely, the next town was but an outpost and I would survive.  These lies I told myself until, like my blood, my conviction drained.  

Now, as I pen what I am now resigned to acknowledge as my final confession, my weakness is making it too difficult to concentrate and continue with much speed.  I see the light waning, and I know the Chupacabra will soon be back.  I can hear its pursuit already, though I still cannot see my invisible hunter.  Already I know I will not be able to reach the town in time.  I have but a few hours left to pen these words. 

I think I hear it now.  Yes.  It is close.  Closer still.  It is laughing.  Laughing at me.  I know that laugh.  One that had burrowed itself into my mind like a worm.  It sounds like a young newspawn, eager to help.  But this time, no longer innocent and naive.

Wendigo

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