Might be a touch of arthritis, might be neuropathy, might be overworking them with all this typing! In any case, I’m slightly above where I need to be; the daily goal is 18333 and I’m at 18698. We have a write-in tomorrow morning where I hope to reach 20K!

As an aside, I’ve decided to rename Percy the rocket duck. I had originally wanted him because he reminded me of Thunderbird Three. My brother realized this and named his own rocket duck for one of the Tracys. So, instead of going the same way he did, I’m going to rename Percy as Steam Kodiak, commander of Firefowl XL-5! (My fellow Thunderbirds/Gerry Anderson fans will understand the reference.)

I’ve been writing a lot about the Covenant, the main educational institution of this particular continent. My main character, Lucanthea di Mareten, is a student there–one who is in the upper classes, so she has been there for a while. The Covenant trains scientists, physicians, educators, and does research into better farming methods, ways of cutting stone, mining, woodworking, fishing, architecture–just about anything the communities need, they teach and research. New discoveries are taught to the master-level craftsmen (after discussion with the grand masters), who then teach them to their journeymen, apprentices, and novices. (Yes, I’m riffing off a sort of medieval guild set up. I might find different words to describe them, though.)

The Covenant resides in the Temple Celestial, in the mountains just north of the Keep–the seat of political power. I originally had this building as funded and created for the Hex Majestorum, but I think it’s better off that I don’t. It is presided over by the Aesla (think college president or chancellor) and below him are the Avoi (think Deans). I still should come up with better names for the actual professors as well as for the student levels.

Lucanthea is in a unique situation. She is a majii who was sent to the Temple to learn how to be a physician. Her father sent her there because 1) he doesn’t like having a majii in the family (for reasons I won’t go into now), 2) it would bring prestige to his region if he had a physician living there, and 3) because there’s already been one fire drake attack and he thinks living in the Temple will keep her safe.

The problem is: the Covenant doesn’t want majii in its ranks. It has an ongoing enmity with the Hex Majestorum and vice versa. The Covenant feels the majii don’t do enough for the common man, so they are the ones who must fill the gap. The Hex sees no need for science in general. Then there is the issue that the Covenant focuses solely on humans, while the Hex welcomes majii of all races.

Lucanthea sees both sides as parochial and hidebound. She loves science; it fires her imagination even though she decide not to study as a physician. She doesn’t understand why the two groups can’t get along–which becomes important to the story later.