Coelhinho do Coração

Como comentei na minha postagem anterior, estou jogando Spore. Em Spore você começa jogando com uma criatura unicelular no meio do oceano, a criatura vai evoluindo a medida que você adquire partes de DNA de outras criaturas, até ela adquirir patas e sair finalmente dos oceanos. Logo após, sua criatura continua na sua busca pela perfeição, continua evoluindo, até que ela tenha a capacidade mental pra se tornar um ser vivo consciente, e formar uma tribo. A tribo eventualmente se desenvolve numa civilização, e esta por sua vez um dia chega ao espaço e então você tem que conquistar a Galáxia.

No meu jogo mais avançado, eu já cheguei a fase da civilização. A minha criatura mais avançada é o Coelhinho, que vive no planeta Coração. É uma criaturinha singela, fofinha, como vocês podem ver abaixo nas imagens:




Bem graciosa, não é verdade? Os Coelhinhos são uma espécie carnívora, predadora e altamente agressiva, que durante o seu processo de evolução acabou exterminando várias espécies inferiores. E assim que eles saírem do Planeta Coração, farão da Galáxia o melhor lugar do Universo, onde a única espécie permitida serão Coelhinhos...

Caso haja alguma dúvida, na face dos Coelhinhos existem tentáculos, e não chifres. Os chifres se encontram apenas no alto de suas cabeças. E aquelas coisas nos ombros são espinhos venenosos que podem ser lançados a distância. =)

Cliquem nas imagens para ampliá-las, caso assim desejem. :P

Games for the Future (?)

Here is the list of games that I have to buy and play in my near future:

• Grand Theft Auto IV (PS3)
  
• Mass Effect (PC)
• Bioshock (PC or PS3)
• Little Big Planet (PS3)
• Rock Band 2 (PS3)
• Fallout 3 (PS3 or PC)
• The Witcher (PC)
  

That is the list of games already released that I do not have. I still have to finish Assassin's Creed for my PS3, and I am kind of playing Spore for the PC too.

My first priority in that list is Fallout 3, and I guess I will give me that as a birthday present next month. :)

Of course, I will probably not be able to play all those games soon, as I have a PhD to finish, but I will use some of my almost ephemeral spare time to play something.

Actually, I also have a huge line of books to read, too...

Kallisto what?

You might be wondering - who in The Nine Hell's of Baator is Kallisto? Well... Kallisto is simply my current RPG character, and I decided to write an adventure diary to her. Inside there you will find her views about the facts that happened in her adventures. Kallisto lives in a world called Eberron, in the continent of Khorvaire, and until now, lived her life in a small undisclosed town in the country of Breland.

If you have no interest in RPG or in a Fantasy setting, you might as well just skip all the entries in Kallisto's diary, otherwise, you can keep reading as her adventures unfold. There are at least three entries in her diary, that were not written yet, but they will be written in the next few days... And she will still have a lot of stories to share with you, I hope...

Kallisto's Diary II - Going to Brindol

The trip to Brindol took around 3 weeks, and the caravan had no problems at all during the trip. That does not reflect exactly my situation though. I am a tielfing, and a tiefling is not a common sight is most of the Khorvaire's territory, not even in the cosmopolitan country of Breland where I always lived. The fact that I have demon blood running through my veins does not mean that I am an evil person, or that I am a bad omen, as some people think. And there are many other and worse superstitious tales regarding us tieflings. Merchants are used to meet tieflings in their trips, it is unusual though. During my entire life,I had not yet met even a handful of my kin.I am not a unique person, and we tieflings once had our own great civilization. Common folk, though, are more superstitious, and usually got uneasy with in the presence of tieflings. And of course that was bound to happend with the common folk travelling with the caravan. I am proud of being a tiefling, and I don't care about what people think about us, so I decided not to hide my racial identity. I never had any problems with my racial identity, and it won't be now that I will start to hide my heritage. To make everyone's life easier I had decided to be the further I could from those suspecting folks. And I was always near some of the more open minded merchants, and some of the more accepting travellers.

The trip was a very peaceful one, and after some days without incidents, people started to leave their prejudices behind and be more relaxed around me. I am good at dealing with people, and it makes me good at making friends. This skill helped me a "little" bit during the journey. I am a tiefling, but I am first a girl, and in my 18 years of life, I learned very well how to deal with most men. I also know that most men feel very attracted to me, they usually tell me that I have an exotic kind of beauty. The fact that I have a crown of horns in my head, and a tail, does not make me ugly. In fact, it quite the opposite. The fact that I am so different from most girls, make me attract men more easily than if I was just human or even elvish. This helps me a lot some times. Men, no matter if human, elven, dwarven, or whatever, are always the same, and they are always very eager to help a beautiful defenseless girl. Unfortunately, that usually does not work with the women, and most seems to like me less and less if their men start to help me too much. To gain the confidence of a woman you have to follow a different approach, and one that does not work for me all the time. Woman are much more suspicious than men, more yet when their mates did not take their eyes off me, as it usually happen.

To minimize all my problems with men and women, I chose someone to be my best friend during the trip to Brindol. A guy called Ian, a wizards as my father, and also going to Brindol. We had lots of very interesting chats about a lot of interesting subjects. He has a very deep arcane knowledge, and that is one of my favourite subjects. And he also knows a lot about history and other stuff, so he was always trying to impress me with his knowledge. It was very easy to become his friend, and I spent most of the time in the trip chating with him. He is kind of cute, but not really my type. I liked his company, and that was it. And of course, that help me with the women. At least, I was not alone, and I was not spending my free time talking with anyone else's boyfriend or husband. The women thought I was interested in him, and because of that they left me alone.

There was this other guy, Zoltan. He was the quiet type, with a very deep scar in his face. A man of few words. I got the feeling that if my father was paying someone to take a look at me, it was this guy. I got him looking at me from afar many times. Whenevert something troublesome was starting to boil near me, he was there to help sort things out. And he was also working for the merchants, as a hired guard. It was just a feeling.

I had no weird dreams during the trip, and that was very fortunate for me. It would surely arouse people's suspicious towards me. Strangely, with each passing day, I felt more connected to the stars. I started to fell that those uncontrolled powers were tamed after all. I don't know how that happened, I just felt that I could use them if I concentrate, whenever I wanted. Even feeling like that, I decided not to test if I really had such control over my powers or not... I thought Brindol would be the perfect place to test my control over my strange powers.

We passed through many small towns, and villages during the trip. And the caravan always stopped at those places for a day or two before taking the path to Darguun again. It was always good when we stopped at those civilized places. I could have some fun at night in the taverns, I could have a real bed to sleep, and the best thing was to take a good and needed bath. I got used to sleep inside tents on the cold floor with my bedroll, but I could not get used to be two or three days without a bath. Ian, always a good company during the journey, could not stay awake for a drink or two in the taverns. He always had something to eat, and drink, and always left before the party really started. I had to have my fun with the other people, with that I started to be closer to the other people in the caravan, and I always had a new friends the day after. Ian seems to be too old and grumpy sometimes, but he is a nice guy overall.

After three weeks of journey, the caravan reached Brindol. Most of the common folk that started the trip with me, left in one of those small towns. All the merchants and hired guards were already very friendly towards me. Just a few suspicious people left, and they were happy to see me finally leaving. The few clothes I had brought with me were already worn out and very dirty. I had to buy more clothes as soon as I was able. Maybe I could wash my dirty clothes and sell them somewhere. But my greatest desire after that long journey was a horse. If I had a horse I could carry a lot of clothes, and all the things a girl need to survive in the wilderness. Unfortunately, I had not enough money to buy my dreamed horse yet.

Zoltan, the strange guy, left the caravan in Brindol too. The merchants suggested the Silk and Spoon Inn, so we went there for a place to stay. We rented rooms there, and later we found out that Zoltan was also there. I was starting to get suspicious of this Zoltan guy. I had to keep my eyes open on him.

I was in Brindol after all. I had to test if my feeling about my powers were correct, and something was telling me that Brindol would be the perfect place for that. And I had to wait for a sign... After all, what was I supposed to do here in this city? I am sure something was going to happen, but what, and when? Would the sign be another dream or I would find them looking at the stars?

Kallisto's Diary I

I always had those weird dreams, since I was a small girl, but never before they told me what to do. Even being just a dream, I knew that for some reason I had to go to that city, as I have seen in the dream. I was never so certain of anything as I was certain of that. And I could see, looking at the stars, that something was really supposed to happen.

Since my early teen years, for some strange reason, I started to discover some mysterious powers contained within me, and I knew the source of those powers were the stars, or maybe something among the stars. Strange names, words appeared in my mind, my mouth performed the eldritch utterances and what followed were small, sometimes not so small, bursts of energy, coming from my own being, or from the stars themselves. The understanding of that was far beyond my comprehension. I was just a kid, but I was never scared, and I knew that was part of me.

I can say that the stars, then the dreams, and finally those powers help me define who I am, or better, who I was by that time. Of course, my bloodline, my family and friends also helped to define myself, but the weird is what sets you apart from the pack.

After that dream, I got the revelation that my path would start at the city of Brindol, but that was not the only revelation I got that night. When I awoke I knew my real name was not to be used for a while. Something inside me told me that your real name was not a given name, but a name earned by yourself. Kallisto was the name my mother had chosen to me before I was born, when she was still alive, as my father always told me. And I always loved that name. My friends always called me Silver, though. So it was not so difficult to choose another alias. And after the dream I started to use the name of Silver. The name Kallisto was kept only in my identification and traveling papers, and the true name I earn is still lost among the unknown stars.

I had to find where was this city before departing, and after looking for information on the countless books in my father's library, I discovered it was in Darguun. I always thought about the day when I would leave my home, and my father, and start a life of my own, exploring the world, but I never thought my first stop would be in Darguun. I expected something like Aundair, the Eldeen Reaches, or even Zilargo, but never Darguun. The unexpected was always funnier and more interesting than the carefully planned. I started to made the preparations, hidden from the watchful eyes of my father. I knew it was very difficult to hide something from a wizard inside his own house, and my father was a very experienced one, but I tried it anyway. But the day after I started to prepare my things, he came to me to talk about my strange behavior of lately.

He always knew about the dreams, and the stars, and those weird powers, and that seemed to scare him a little bit. But he also knew it was part of me. When I told him about Brindol, he knew I was meant to go there. Coincidently, he had just met some merchants, part of a caravan that had just arrived at our town, and they were heading that way. That struck him as an omen. Of course, it was not so easy, as it seemed to be. I had to convince him, that I would stay safe, and I had to promise that I would not look for trouble, and if a dire situation arise I would leave the city immediately, and go back home. He did not think I was ready, but he knew he could not convince me otherwise. After all, once he was my age, too. And I am sure he paid someone in the caravan to keep an eye on me. I love my father, and I knew that he just wanted to be sure that nothing bad would happen to his only daughter.

I spent the last two days in my village, with my father during the day. He kept telling stories about his days of adventures, and about what to do, and what never do in case of danger. He covered so many situations that I could barely remember most of them. He was always a good father, and I miss him. The nights I spent with my friends, drinking, eating and singing at the local tavern. I will never forget those days.

The life of near ignorance of the world was gone. Before me was my path, a path I was not so sure was under my control, and a path that I did not know where would lead me... A path that would lead me to a far away city, in the middle of a unknown country... Brindol...

The caravan left my town in Breland, heading east to Darguun, five days after that revealing dream... Brindol was also near the Mournlands, a place covered by mistery, death, chaos, and decay... Was I ready for this trip? I was anxious, excited, but there was also fear... I was alone for the first time in my life... Would those uncontrolled powers help me if I need them?

Estagnação mental e um talvez qualquer

Um mês sem escrever aqui, e o mundo está acabando. Economia mundial em crise, na próxima terça começa a invasão alienígena, e meu doutorado estagnado. O LHC está parado, e parou antes da primeira colisão. Muito sem graça. Nenhum buraco-negro foi criado para destruir o planeta, agora só no início do ano que vem. Vamos ver se a economia colapsa de vez, e logo, porque aí não precisamos esperar mais 6 meses para o fim do mundo. Ou que esses aliens apareçam mesmo e cheguem pra criar Caos no planeta.

Como podem notar, estou perdendo a paciência pra chegada do Apocalipse! :P

Jogando Half-Life 2 - Episode 2, ainda lendo Grande Sertão: Veredas.

Amanhã tenho uma prova didática para professor substituto no CEFET. Salário baixo, três matérias da matemática (Cálculo I, Cálculo III e Equações Diferenciais A), pra começar semana que vem, dando de 3 a 4 aulas por dia. Resumindo, ou me mato preparando e dando aulas, ganhando quase nada, ou continuo meu doutorado. A escolha é meio óbvia. Acho que nem vou aparecer lá amanhã pra perder meu tempo. E teria que apresentar uma aula de uns 20 minutos sobre Séries de Taylor. Prefiro dar prioridade pro meu programa que não funciona, e esperar um cataclisma...

Está na hora do mundo ficar cyberpunk de verdade.