Dear watchers,
I know it has been a while since I made my last journal entry, but due to large papers (see my previous journal entry about writing my essay for my Argumentation class about the Furry Community) and incredibly challenging engineering classes, I haven't been able to post journal entries or display new works here on DeviantArt.
But, now that I'm here and it's the summer, I will be here more often.
Through the night and wee hours of the morning, I was busily sketching "guides" of all sorts. From cats and dogs to pandas to even a giraffe, I also had the typical bearded old-man Gandalf-looking guide. In our lives, there are people from all walks of life who instructed us in some form and their lessons have been embedded in our hearts and minds; whenever we are confronted with an issue, we go with our gut feeling. Those who imparted us that knowledge we call upon when thinking or making a decision are our "guides."
This is the basic premise for my newest story concept, tentatively called, "The Soul Scrolls." In this world, a grave demon haunts the land, tarnishing the esteemed glory of the allied kingdoms of the land. This demon, named Tortorus, the Foul Fiend, feeds off the souls of the wicked for he himself is wicked. But, this demon does not torture the land without opposition. From the beginning of time, there have been wise disciples who devote their lives to protecting the people of the land from the clutches of the Fiend. These disciples, named Guides, travel about the land chanting the lessons and morals of their faith, contained in the sacred text, the "Canticles of the Auspices." For those who believe, their soul is fortified and largely invulnerable to the evils of Tortorus.
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Given the mastery of the Guides, there are storied legends of those who took the mission to vanquish Tortorus using their power. However, besides these legends, few precise details about these heroic guides exist. To that effect, the mission of Guides is also to uncover clues about these heroes for the hope that one day, the narrative of one hero can be anthologized in a biography, whose works will be a constant reminder of the strength and significance of all Guides.
Yet, it does not take much to understanding to realize that since Tortorus still breathes in the land, he has not been defeated. His evil still percolates and poisons whatever he consumes. In order to mitigate this destruction, the patience of the allied Kingdoms has dried up and have conscripted massive armies to destroy the Foul Fiend. Exhausted of the failed attempts of the Guides to liberate the people from the demon, the Kingdoms have considered their beliefs and traditions to be useless, if not inimical to the peace of the Kingdoms. Therefore, the Kingdoms have ordered that all Guides be captured or slain; large ransom payments are offered for their heads, further eroding the trust and reverence the people once had for the Guides.
The irreverence the Guides suffer beholds a dire crisis. They must proselytize in order to gain more allies to sustain the faith, but to also survive from the Kingdoms’ armed forces. When faith is their only defense, no other choice remains but to tap into this ultimate strength.
In the first book, we enter this world through the eyes of Deleta, a newly instructed Guide. Like most characters we encounter in literature, we arrive in the middle of a crisis. Deleta understands there is much danger involved with travelling the unknown world. Fearing the unknown is both enfeebling, but for Deleta, she internalizes the importance of her mission. In order to assume her role as Guide, she must bless herself through the eight Serene Pools scattered throughout the land in order to fortify her faith necessary for her to proselytize successfully. Having little more than a satchel and leather sandals, she will rely on her knowledge to help her through the travails that come from preaching to a non-believing audience for the hope to save her receding faith community--and, this might not be a stretch--to dispel the evil lurking in the land.
Theralm here! There is this large final paper I need to write for my English course. The topic is on slacktivism, which is when social movements make use of the internet to present their positions and to recruit new members. Civil disobedience is a shell of its former self. Instead of political protests, people make comments against societal problems online. Instead of being open to fire and bullet shots, slacktivists are dodging memes and posts--nothing that puts their lives at risk.
An area of slacktivism I want to study is how do groups form online and use social media to converse and unite. For this reason, I would like to interview members of the Furry Community, which thrives in the city of Pittsburgh. Knowing that I am just a few blocks from the site of Anthrocon and a couple messages from Furries, I am hugely interested in knowing more about how the internet unites the Community. I already know about how Deviant Art brings lots of like-minded folks together. I am familiar with Furcadia, an anthro chatting MUD and Fur Affinity.
But a question I do have is even though Furries are active on mainstream social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr, then why haven't more people heard about the Community?
So, I would like an insider's perspective from some of the Community. If someone could kindly volunteer maybe 15-20 minutes to describe how online chatting and social media introduced them and unites them to other Furries, that would be wonderful!!
Sincerely and many thanks in advance,
Theralm
The Dream Engineer