The Sign of the Suncat

My apologies for not posting sooner. There was a thunderstorm last night, and it wasn't quite worth the risk to turn on the computer, seeing as how we've already fried two in the past few years and actually watched a phone jump off the wall. While it would be interesting to watch the computer leap a few feet after being struck by lightning, I think fireworks are a much easier, cheaper way to celebrate the fourth of July.

On a different note, I now present to you the story of the sign of the suncat.The suncat itself is an ethereal being in a different world (set in our equivalent to the middle ages) that takes on the form of a cat made entirely of sunlight. To the (for the most part) humanoid inhabitants of this world, the cat is regarded as something of a deity, and has evolved its own legend that ties in with the recent history of this world....

The Sign of the Suncat

It is said that the suncat appeared after each great war, when the scale between peace and turmoil needed only a tiny tipping of the scales to go either way. Ever since then, the suncat has been used as a symbol of peace, one that even the most warlike leaders must honor when it is raised on the battlefield.
The kingdoms are dissolving, however. The Queen and her Esk Queen have engaged in a vicious war against the plant men of the south, and all the forests between the Royal Palace and the front line of the battlefield have been burned, chopped down, or trampled by the thousands of feet of the Queen's warriors.
That swath of burned forest is growing, for the Queens are slowly winning. Though powerful, the plant men are not fighters by nature, and are being slowly driven back to their final defense; the castle of the Redwoods. Should the battle reach here, the war will take a far more deadly turn. The great Redwood Giants, the oldest and most powerful of the plant men, would be awakened. Unlike their cousins, they are not peaceable creatures. They were sent into a deep slumber eons ago because of their endless need to destroy, and should they ever awaken again, they would not distinguish friend from foe from the innocent.

The Plant Men

The whole world would fall, and not even the power of the suncat, should it choose to appear again, would be able to save it.

The "Esk Queen" I came up with after watching a Cirque du Soleil performance. She would basically be a head adviser or second in command to the Queen, and she would be capable of silently manipulating the way the country is run if the Queen was not strong-minded. I'm basically trying to put together a political mess, with tyrants attempting to seize control from all angles with a few honest people caught up in the middle. If/when I finish my latest book, this idea is one of several that I'm considering working on.

As always, the latest chapter in the As Yet Unnamed Story is up. In this chapter, I finally introduce Uncle Avon and his servants, Betty and Aver. It's taken me awhile to get a bead on Avon's personality, and I think I've finally figured it out: the man's just nuts.
Enjoy!