Quick Recap

Posted on by D. D. Wolf

When I started this experiment, I said I would not use it for political, religious, personal tirades, nor post something simply to post it. So I’m not going to start now. That will make for a quick update, however!

The Show

Accompanied by an irreplaceable and indispensable technical specialist from the S3, I had a fine time at the comic show. I had three scene write-ups from Orchids Ablaze and one from a completely different genre than superheroic fiction [don’t tell anyone, it’s somewhat of an action-horror theme… and horror is not my best gig].  Two of the artists at the show fit with what I’m looking to use as book covers and/or internal illustrations. I’m not sure when or even if it will work out, but it was one more step along the writing/publishing education curve.

Otherwise, I took the time to enjoy the show, say hello to a few people that I’ve seen at other shows, and somewhat geek out at all the comics that I didn’t know I just had to have. Not to mention seeing many old friends and favorites from my younger days. I might have even had a dash of mad inspiration [see previous comment on horror…].

There you have it! If anything happens on the art front, I’ll keep you posted.

 

DDW

 

Keeping Score: Late-ish October

Posted on by D. D. Wolf

Quick update

No, really. I put down almost a thousand words the past week, but (isn’t there always) they were all on other stories than Lodge of the Wolf #2! I was looking for short story material in particular. I ended up editing, changing, and adding rather than extending my existing material. The ideas in each case seemed solid, but I either needed too many words to tell the story or didn’t have a good ending for a short story.

Short stories are HARD. I knew that intellectually, but there’s nothing like a little reality to make something sink in… usually painfully.

News

Comic show this weekend! Primarily I’m headed out to see if there is an artist there that

  1. takes commissions and
  2. wants to pick up original work. I’d like to augment Orchids Ablaze with a few interior pictures.

There’s some indication that the existing, original cover may not be the attention-getter I was hoping for, so I may look toward replacing it. Wish me luck! I’ll post back how it went.

DDW

Supercomputing in a Superhero World: Part 3

Posted on by D. D. Wolf

Welcome to TekTalk with Psykout!

Alrightie then, we’re going to assume you’re already familiar with my little piece of the digital Jagged Earth world. If not, check out the first two installments on supercomputing [Part 1  & Part 2]

Quickie version: I’m Psykout and I’m the resident tech savant for the Lodge of the Wolf, if I do say so myself. I won’t be revealing all the secrets to be found in The Jagged Earth in Psykout’s Secrets, there’s too many of them even for an insomniac with lots of time on her hands and access to computing resources that literally defy belief. Speaking of such, meet…

BASTION

The supercomputer operated by the International Cooperative for Containment of the Criminally Enhanced (IC3E) is code-named “BASTION“. Many operational details are available only with a verified “need to know” information request directly to the IC3E. As an international body operating through an ambassadorial embassy within Aurora City, the IC3E is not subject to the United States of America’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.  The following approximate technical details have been provided by the IC3E in the interests of the supercomputing community.

Psykout here, and you wouldn’t believe the trouble lurking in the IC3E nets for you ambitious entrepreneurs out there. Seriously, you wouldn’t. I know I’m wasting my electrons here, but really, just don’t do it. If you absolutely can’t help yourself, make sure your organ donor cards are up to date. Yes, I’m kidding. A little. I think.

BASTION is designed primarily to support data aggregation and analysis of complex regional, political, and law enforcement data, consistent with IC3E’s mandate. While a portion of the data is derived from various “data lakes” of unstructured data, the majority of the information made available to BASTION is received from detailed field reports of Augments and Augmented activity across the globe. BASTION correlates empirical data, field analysis, and theoretical research in the fields of chemistry, energetics, medicine, and physics with specific application to Augmentation concerns.

Public Announcement Aside… ICE is the traditional acronym used for intrusion countermeasures. We call the IC3E “icy” or “icee” (for those familiar with that culinary delight) and, while merely a happy coincidence from their perspective, they are dead serious about deserving that apellation. Yes, I’m still trying to keep you optimists from beating your head against an iceberg. Trust me, you’re only going to annoy it.

The IC3E is responsible for the Supercomputing Analytics Bridging Earth-based Resources (SABER) initiative in Aurora City. SABER is a joint effort between the Specialized Weaponry and Ordnance Research Directorate (SWORD), the IC3E, and The Chalice Bureau to establish, optimize, and operate ground-based aggregation of supercomputing resources. As envisioned, the SABRE collective resources would be first connected using dedicated fiber-optic lines in a sealed and shielded infrastructure between locations. The full brief for SABRE includes the creation, test, and implementation of high-speed, line-of-site, satellite uplinks and downlinks using particle or energetic systems. While significant research and development of quantum-based supercomputing and post state-of-the-art transmission technology remains, at full capacity SABER would allow direct pooling of compute, analysis, and data resources between all supercomputing-capable partners anywhere in the world. Combined in this fashion, the virtual SABER cloud could function, albeit briefly, at such an order of magnitude to be able to process active data feeds with historical information to enable subsurface, oceanic, and meteorological analysis, modeling and simulation on a global scale.

They are still working on the quantum entanglement problems reaching outside the limits of a small to mediumish city, but what they already have available is enough to make a girl swoon if I was the swooning type. We’ve barely scratched the possibilities of what we can do when this puppy is connected to my baby and the TCB super. Error correction, internal garbage collection, and the uncertainties inherent in quantum computing are keeping the eggheads up at night (*yawn*) and working feverishly to solve the issues of making this bad boy suitable for public consumption.

 

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Name/Designation: BASTION (Mark 3 Mod 0.7)

Partners/Designers

  • Prime Contractor:        Specialized Weaponry and Ordnance Research Directorate (SWORD)
  • Facility Design/Build:   John Little Defense Designs (JLDD), Keep Containment Technologies (KCT), United Kingdom (UK) Augment Enforcement Administration (UK-AEA)
  • Installation:                 Specialized Weaponry & Ordnance Research Directorate (SWORD), Silicon Integration International, Inc. (SI3)
  • Additional Funding:     Representative Assembly for Pan-American & International Executives on Robotics (RAPIER), Convocation of Nations, United States of America (USA) Department of Energy (DoE), European Space Agency (ESA), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (USA NOAA)
  • Hardware/Software:    Jackson P. Catas – Deep Space Research (JPC-DSR), Glacier Freelance Research (GFR), Coherent Light (CL), Daedalus Research (DR)

Basically everybody, their brother, their cat, and their third cousins’ kittens have an interest in this one. It’s a veritable who’s who listing of movers and shakers and bakers. Not everyone is listed here, but the ones that are should, I say again, SHOULD give a very good picture of how important this setup is to the international community. So, okay; that’s my last public service announcement. You’re on your own.

Processing Hardware (Exact specifications are classified under SWORD authority)

  • More than 5000 GFree quantum core compute cells (QC3s)
  • More than 15000 Daedalus Research holography-based based acceleration cells (HACs)
  • 850GB Coherent Light primary memory modules primary memory modules (PMMs)
  • 320 GB Coherent Light non-volatile memory modules (NvM2s)

Standard Compute Capacity

  • More than 2.0 mixed-mode trinary resolutions per second (MTRS)
  • More than 5.0 exaOPS (mixed precision operations per second)

Estimated Peak Performance

  • 2.25 MTRS
  • 6.5 exaOPS

Storage

  • 65 petabytes (PB) primary storage @ > 5.0 terabytes (TB) per second
  • 40 PB secondary storage @ > 4.0TB per second
  • 20 PB auxiliary storage @ > 3.0 TB per second

Power and Cooling
Classified under SWORD authority

Filesystem
Classified under SWORD authority

 

So there you have it, dear readers. That’s the Big Three wrapped up in a silicon nutshell. Don’t get me wrong, I’m dead certain that similar initiatives are under way, or are already in place, on the dark side of the Augmented community. I’ll bring whatever I can ferret out back to you, but I’m fond of these neurons of mine and my kitty Boo would be most cross if I ended up dead. My Lodgemates rarely concatenate the word “caution” with “Psykout”, but this is a very deep pool with piranhas and sharks and other bad things I can’t think of at the moment, so caution it is. I’ll get the goods though, eventually, so stay tuned.

Aurora City In’s and Out’s

Posted on by D. D. Wolf

Warning! WIP (Work In Progress) Ahead!

This post is somewhat of an experiment in ways to present sourcebook styled material. Unlike the first few posts of Psykout’s Secrets, this post is non-(pseudo) technical. She’ll be handling the technical aspects of The Jagged Earth sourcebook material (see her posts on supercomputing), but not everyone is interested in (comic book) high-tech talk. So, for those of our dear readers who wanted to know more about Aurora City’s background… Hopefully you enjoyed Part 1 in a previous post. Part 2 is ready for you to check out!!

A Setting History

Aurora City is the setting within The Jagged Earth setting. It’s where that magic, often literally, happens. But how did Aurora City get to be Aurora City? It went something like this…

A Brief History of Aurora City [Part 2]

Rail travel back and forth along the spur line followed the fate of the mines, becoming nearly non-existent once strip mining was no longer permitted in the area. Much of the continued decline was blamed upon the result of negotiations with the Eastern Band of Cherokee in the Qualla Boundary (the Eastern Tribe of the Cherokee) reservation. Even now there remain pockets which lay the blame for their fallen family fortunes directly on the doorstep of the Qualla Boundary. Today, most rail travel to and from Aurora City involves bi-directional transportation of large industrial-grade equipment and resources (new, upgraded or repaired, or needing repair) associated with the Aurora International Airport and the docks of the re-christened Port Gateway Marine Terminal (Port Gateway). This contributed significantly to the creation of the area now known as Docktown as outdated and damaged transport containers were dumped in the area north of the Port Gateway docks.

Preservation Efforts

As the first location to be designed with the needs and abilities of the Augmented, nearly all of the original city structures and transportation capabilities were removed or repurposed. Contrary to much of the area’s history, city planners and architects involved the nearby Qualla Boundary  in the long-term design for Aurora City. The largest visible influence was in the assignment of reserved land and the design of certain geographical elements of Aurora City and the surrounding area. Multiple regions were designated as National Preserves including Tsalagi Grove, Emerald Hills and Serenity Falls.  Even further, the Tsalagi Grove Preserve was established around Cloudcatcher Mountain as a nature area suitable for hiking, camping and similar recreational activities, except for the mountain itself and its immediate environs.  That area was restricted for the sole use of the Eastern Band of Cherokee.

Dawn of the Augmented (City)

The Tchalitkee River formed the southern boundary for Aurora City at that time. Completion of the Aurora International Airport (AIA) drove development south of the river, in accordance with long-term development plans for expanding the city to the south and west. The area south of the river became known as the Lockeheart District while the original city north of the river became the Aurora District. The name Aurora City then came to include the combination of both districts. The ruggedness of the Jigsaw Range again determined the fate of the city. With very little available room to expand to the east, the majority of growth spread westward and eventually became part of the Aurora City Greater Metropolitan Area (GMA).

The establishment of SWORD (Specialized Weaponry and Ordnance Research Directorate) Station Aaron effectively marked the limit of westward expansion of the Greater Metro Area on the northern side of the river (Aurora District). South of the river, the Lockeheart District continues to expand somewhat eastward, putting pressure upon the Emerald Hills Preserve, but primarily development is progressing southward to take advantage of the natural geography out to Lake Inspiration.

Aurora City In’s and Out’s

Posted on by D. D. Wolf

Warning! WIP (Work In Progress) Ahead!

This post is somewhat of an experiment in ways to present sourcebook styled material. Unlike the first few posts of Psykout’s Secrets, this post is non-(pseudo) technical. She’ll be handling the technical aspects of The Jagged Earth sourcebook material (see her posts on supercomputing), but not everyone is interested in (comic book) high-tech talk. So, for those of our dear readers who wanted to know more about Aurora City’s background… Please enjoy the following Part 1. I tend toward long posts, but this one really needed breaking up. Part 2 won’t be far behind.

Continue reading “Aurora City In’s and Out’s” →

Keeping Score: Late September

Posted on by D. D. Wolf

Welcome back to “Keeping Score (at Home)”

I haven’t built one of these in too long, but I feel like I’m back to making some progress. It’s been a stressful month on many fronts, but writing helps. It’s not just focusing on the story, or the characters, or even the craft. Rather, it’s not any one of those things; it’s all those things rolled together. Is it a distraction? Sometimes. Can I lose myself in the story even while I’m writing it? Often. Does anything useful come from it? Well, gentle readers, you’ll have to tell me that in due time.

Encyclopedia Aurorae

I’ve put together several sourcebook entries (pushing a couple of thousand words) that I’ll post at various times to -hopefully- pique your interest in the larger world of The Jagged Earth. For the first batch I’m focusing on material that directly relates to Orchids Ablaze or to the second book or both. The connections aren’t always obvious to readers because one of the stranger things I’ve discovered about writing is that the majority of all the background lore that I dearly love may never see the inside of a novel. It may never be seen at all! But it’s all part of what I need in order to create a believable story in an unbelievable world. Eventually it will all find a home, here at E3ink.com if nowhere else.

Continue reading “Keeping Score: Late September” →