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Topics - Jubal

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136
Announcements! The Town Crier! / Exilian Articles: Bursary Scheme Launch!
« on: February 04, 2023, 12:32:40 AM »
Exilian Articles - New Bursary Scheme


As of today, we're announcing a new scheme for Exilian Articles: for the first time, we're introducing the possibility to apply for small writing bursaries, to help provide a little bit of additional support for article writers and especially those who have financial or other barriers to writing for us. As of today, potential writers can apply for £25 or £40 (GBP) as awards when pitching an article, and we'll support selected pitches accordingly as well as of course providing our usual support for formatting, high-quality editing, feedback and promotion. You can find the updated article pitching guidelines here.

We're aware that these awards generally won't cover the full costs of a writer's time: Exilian has always been dedicated to a voluntary, communal sharing of information, creativity, and ideas, and these bursaries are there to provide thanks and support as well as a small organisation with no permanent income or staff can, rather than to change that basis for how we work. Nonetheless, we're excited to be able to get this scheme running, and we hope that it'll be a meaningful way to improve the balance of articles and voices that we're able to host.

Of course, this system will only be possible in the medium term if Exilian is better supported financially: we've always run on a low income, low outputs basis with a handful of members giving the vast majority of our income, and we'll need to increase that to keep this system running and potentially expand it in future. If you're reading this and you can afford to support the bursary scheme and the running of this site as a whole, we'd hugely appreciate your support.





137
The Medieval Caucasus / Paper in "Chronos" on the Orbeli Rebellion
« on: January 31, 2023, 08:19:28 PM »
I got a paper out in Chronos, published by Georgia's Ivane Javakhishvili Institute of History and Ethnography.


It digs into the Orbeli rebellion of the 1170s, against Mepe Giorgi III. His nephew (and arguably more rightful monarch) Demna rose up with the backing of his guardians, the powerful Orbeli family who included the governor of Kartli (the central province) and the Amirspasalar (senior army commander). Ultimately Giorgi's victory paved the way for his daughter Tamar to rule. However, the motivations and timing of the rebellion are somewhat confused in our sources, and in this paper I go into detail about what we can learn from the event about Georgian elite society, details of an alternative possible chronology for the rebellion, and what the implications of the chronology are for how we view the events and motivations behind what happened.

You can grab a PDF easily at https://chronos.ihe.ge/index.php/journal/article/view/41


138
General Gaming - The Arcade / Discovering The Beauty of Dawn (Tamriel/Elder Scrolls General Thread)
« on: January 31, 2023, 05:51:52 PM »
I made a specific thread for my Skyrim stuff, but realised we didn't have a more general Elder Scrolls thread.

The reason I realised this is that I'm now tackling Oblivion as a game, with a stabby lil Wood Elf vaguely bardic kinda guy. Not planning to start the main quest for a while, I want to bumble around a bit first. Wish me luck!

139
General Chatter - The Boozer / CatGPT
« on: January 31, 2023, 12:40:09 PM »
https://catgpt.wvd.io/

This is delightfully silly.

140
Announcements! The Town Crier! / Winter Competition Deadline Extension - To February 5!
« on: January 31, 2023, 11:03:13 AM »
Snowstorm Competition - Deadline Extended

As we know it's been a tricky January and we've heard from several people who are racing to finish their Winter Competition entries on time, we've decided to extend the deadline by a few days to make sure people have the time to complete their projects and ensure the best possible Snowstorm showcase! If you'd like to get your entry in still, you now have until FEBRUARY 5, 23:59pm GMT, to submit your creative works on the Snowstorm theme. We and our lovely guest judges are really looking forward to seeing what you come up with!


141
Exilian Articles / Goblin Week: 28 Goblin Concepts To Cause Chaos In Your Stories
« on: January 29, 2023, 09:28:11 PM »
Goblin Week: 28 Goblin Concepts To Cause Chaos In Your Stories
By Jubal

It's been goblin week! On this momentous occasion, chunks of the internet come together to, well, post goblin stuff. And it seemed like a good time for us to do it, too, so this week we've been posting daily concepts for goblin NPCs on the Exilian Mastodon account. To ensure that this trove of ideas didn't disappear into the long dark of the internet, here it is, reproduced in glorious Exilian Articles form.

Goblins are one of the commonest creatures in modern fantasy, but at the same time can be hard to use well. Since the division between Tolkien's goblins appearing in the Hobbit and then the term Orc being used for the more epic threat in the Lord of the Rings, the idea of a goblin has been increasingly pressed into evoking the chaotic, children's storybook feel of Bilbo's adventure rather than the epic nature of Frodo's. This idea of a small, almost childlike nature can pose problems with game styles where one is simply fighting them in combat encounters, and they can easily lose their sense of mischief and chaos if made into generic enemy cannon fodder.

At the same time, goblins aren't goblins if they're easy to live alongside. Whether due to confusion or malevolence, whether in funny or scary ways, goblins are here to make our lives more difficult, and to sit at best uneasily alongside humans who have jobs to do and mouths to feed and who value a lot of things, like safety, that have never really occurred to goblins.

So that was part of the challenge for these goblins - it being goblin week, the aim certainly was to celebrate goblinkind rather than simply produce malevolent cookie-cutter bearers of evil. But nonetheless it was important to produce goblins that evoke that sense of childlike mischief. The other part of the aim for goblin concepts was to think of goblins as individuals - a goblin horde nees little introduction, but giving goblins an individual existence for story characters to interact with is a different tricky challenge.

So without further ado, here are 28 goblins, four for each day of goblin week, with a few sketch illustrations by the author. Hopefully you'll find some of them interesting, useful, or simply enjoyable - do let us know if you use any in your RPGs or storytelling. And, of course - happy goblin week!


Thrrrbt is a goblin whose sole aim in life is to ride on the back of a heron. To this end, Thrrrbt owns many nets. Nobody has pointed out to Thrrrbt that the nets are only big enough to catch water-voles.

Pritskik is a goblin who values order, and to that end thinks that nothing should move its location ever. Goblins breaking things is a known problem: goblins nailing, bolting and glueing everything to everything they can find is a new challenge.

Mroblaff the goblin is a mage-priest, granted spells by gods who are very absent minded, can't spell well, and don't understand mortal life. Mroblaff's spell list includes Summon Ladybird, Somewhat Ladybird, Moss Depth Word, and Ethereal Beak.

H'thizz meanwhile hunts rabbits with the aid of a pack of stoats. H'thizz has one great rivalry in the world, with an enormous green-eyed housecat called Godfrieda. Neither has yet won.

Urhtmot is technically a goblin, but was cursed by an angry witch to be as small as its limited thoughts. This happened when Urhtmot was daydreaming about how large trees are. Urhtmot is no less dim, but dutifully carries the goblin village in a basket on his head, nowadays.

Lubgom the goblin has one eye, a stick too big to carry, and a tendency to pick fights with angry chickens for fun. The main surprise is that Lubgom has an eye remaining.

Mujg the alehouse goblin throws salt in the beer, drains the flasks of anyone bringing their own liquor, and switches the mugs of anyone putting potions in someone else's drink. The barkeep is yet to work out why her tavern does so well.

Frottl is a goblin that steals naughty children, on the assumption that they must really be goblins who need better training. They are usually returned within ten days with strict instructions on how to vex their parents yet further.

Stiglit is the goblin who "borrowed" the third day’s post in this series, both out of curiosity and to use as nest lining, which is why it only appeared on day four of Goblin Week.

Jumbrokkle is a goblin who lets deer and moles into people's gardens, because they look horribly tidy and it can't be good for anyone to have things all straight and pruned like that and Jumbrokkle has Concerns.

Dlup the goblin was a legendary hero who went around human weddings across the world, breaking their crockery because the noise sounded pretty. In some cultures breaking crockery became so expected that humans started breaking their own as a tradition. It is perhaps a pity they do not invite a goblin to enjoy doing it.

Q'dish is a goblin who once heard the story of Persephone and now thinks people who eat pomegranates have to stay wherever they do so, and so tries to "trick" and "trap" travellers by leaving nicely crafted food with pomegranate seeds in out for them.

Sopipt is a very small goblin who makes little holes in feather mattresses and crawls in them to sleep or store shiny things, which has been the cause of a number of back pain problems among the local nobility.

Aaugh just likes yelling. Aaugh has gone looking for a thing called a "void", having been told that it's there for you to yell into, which sounds *perfect*.
 
Xherb likes rotting smells and carefully sneaks around putting single bad fruit or occasional dead voles into barrels of fresh-picked produce every harvest time, just to make sure everyone else can enjoy them too.

Peppkrik wants to be a lighthouse keeper, but lives next to a mud pond in the fens. The dancing lights of Peppkrik's home in a large bush have caused many a full boot as people head off the path at night. It has been nearly a year since the reed-bed was last set on fire which is probably good going.

The only earth-creature to have actually been abducted by aliens, Hchorb the goblin, spent one hour on their ship, tried to eat their hyperdrive, turned a fart into neurotoxic plasma in their lab, and re-tuned all the corridor lights to magenta-cyan strobes. Hchorb is why the aliens do not return.

Tsmits the goblin grew up without other goblins in the cave of an owlbear, and wears a feather hat and a fur coat because it's just Correct that things are supposed to have feathers at one end and fur at the other. Tsmits is almost a brilliant tracker but makes Very Excited Owl Noises slightly too often upon seeing a quarry go by.

Flimminy lives on a mountain and pretends to be a goat. The lack of difference in attitude means few goatherds ever notice.

Very Goblin Svleck lives in a goblin village in the marshes and actually *is* a small goat. The lack of difference in attitude means few goblins ever notice.

B'blat is a goblin who wants to know how to turn sheep wool into snow. This has not been popular among the local sheep who wake up with chunks of fleece mysteriously missing.

Jlamk is a goblin general in the finest traditions of generalship: wearing Many Shiny Items, making Loud Shouty Noises, and Not Getting Near Actual Scary Fighting. Jlamk is very successful at all of these. Especially the last one.

The goblin called Oorasolb has ears long enough to trail on the ground, a problem resolved by tying them up into a large pointed hat. Most goblins now assume Oorasolb is a wizard, and that any protestations otherwise are sheer modesty.

Rvaich the goblin is an artist who sculpts in mud, straw, and horse dung. Rvaich leaves very kind gifts of modern art outside the doors of less artistically inclined humans in local villages, and assumes their rapid disappearance is because they have been sold so quickly.

Some goblins want goblinkind to rule the world. Proglik, who lives on a rock in the middle of the ocean inhabited only by seabirds, is unaware of the rest of the world and believes goblin rule has already been achieved. The gulls, certainly, seem to have been taught goblin ways very successfully.

Metterflup is confused by humans making themselves work so much, and steals people's work tools in the hope of giving them a hint that they ought to not do so sometimes.

Klab lives in a rockpool and likes eating sand, and quietly makes sure any food people take onto the beach gets a good seasoning of it as well.

Zrand maintains a ruined temple. Humans don't appreciate how much work refurbishing wall art in nouveau mud-and-rat-bones style is. Zrand carefully piles skulls, scatters straw, and places rusted spears that shine in the moonlight, in case someone visits.

And sometimes, in the old chantry, the goblin sings.


142
Questions and Suggestions - The High Court / Exilian turning 15: What shall we do?
« on: January 29, 2023, 11:09:15 AM »
On March 18, this website will be fifteen years old. I think we should definitely do something, or multiple things, to try and mark the occasion, but I'm not sure what & am very open to suggestions!

There's the option of a bonus version of a usual thing we do - having the March pub on that day is an option, running an extra competition might be a lot of work though not impossible. Or we could do some shared gaming of some sort, I could do a brief concert if people want to hear weird bardic songs... it's possibly something we could invite guests for somehow but I dunno in what capacity. Would definitely be keen to hear thoughts.

143
Announcements! The Town Crier! / Exilian Election Results, January 2023
« on: January 28, 2023, 10:22:42 PM »
Election Results

This month we thank two departing members of volunteer staff: GMD who is stepping down as Spatharios, our senior moderator, and Lizard who is stepping down as our tech officer, the Technikos. Huge thanks to both of them for their support for and service to Exilian in recent years. The full election results were as follows:

Regularly Elected Staff

Jubal (FIF) re-elected unopposed as Basileus, 6 votes to 0 with 0 abstentions
Tusky (Ind) re-elected unopposed as Sebastokrator, 5 votes to 0 with 1 abstention
Spritelady (Ind) re-elected unopposed as Tribounos, 6 votes to 0 with 0 abstentions

No candidates stood for the role of Spatharios.

Ratification of Permanent Staff

Jubal (FIF) ratified as Megadux, 6 votes to 0 with 0 abstentions
Glaurung (Ind) ratified as Sakellarios, 5 votes to 0 with 1 abstention
Lizard (Ind) not ratified as Technikos, 1 vote to 4 with 1 abstention


Thanks to everyone who voted and to all our staff: the next regular elections will be in January 2024, with opportunities for joining the staff team in the meantime - including filling the vacancies created by the above departures - likely to be announced in the Questions & Suggestions forum.

144
Skills & Resources Offered / Grey Gnome art assets by Jason Glover
« on: January 26, 2023, 04:27:19 PM »
Saw someone sharing this free art set, and thought I'd post it here - really nice "old school TTRPG rulebook" style to it.

https://greygnome.com/free-art-assets/

145
Writing, Poems, AARs, and Stories - The Storyteller's Hall / Specialisation, skills, and flaws in modern and premodern heroes
« on: January 18, 2023, 03:49:34 PM »
It's interesting perhaps how historically uncommon the "everyone has strengths and weaknesses" model actually is in fiction. Admittedly premodern heroes perhaps had fewer skill-sets to use, but by and large I can't think of a huge number of texts until (in historical terms) quite recently where the protagonist isn't essentially a brilliant all-rounder.

(Topic split off from What Are You Reading?)

146
Discussion and Debate - The Philosopher's Plaza / UK Politics 2023
« on: January 09, 2023, 11:44:21 PM »
Hopefully containing fewer Prime Ministers than 2022's trio.

The focus of politics has rather moved out of Westminster for a winter of discontent, we start the new year with Lots of Strikes (no really, lots), and the unions at loggerheads with a Conservative government that's very unwilling to compromise. Rishi Sunak hasn't revived Conservative fortunes, and Keir Starmer is still sitting on an enormous polling lead on the basis that he's not Those Bastards. The Lib Dems are sitting rather statically on ten percent ish or a bit less, the Greens and hard-right Reform on a few points each, the SNP sabre-rattling about independence... it all feels rather strange, with a pretty lame duck government, an opposition touting very few ideas, and a desperately exhausted and angry country not entirely sure where to turn.


Someone recently linked me to this, noting the Lib Dems' soft-pedalling of their drug policy, which is a microcosm of where the party is generally under Ed Davey. Very much going for the softly approach to avoid upsetting anyone and hoping enough people will be put off the Tories to win us some seats.
https://volteface.me/missing-the-liberal-democrats/

The bad news for the Lib Dems is that there have been some reports that the Tories are going to give up on the northern seats they're fighting with Labour altogether, effectively conceding the election, in favour of a really hard push to keep affluent southern voters onside rather than risk losing on both fronts. That could really screw over the Ed Davey strategy, given the resources Sunak would have for trying to hold those seats.


Anyway, the real story is the cost of living. Things are pretty desperate in the UK right now, and it's hard to see much change happening this year as the Conservatives try to hang on as best they can (I doubt they'll call an early election to get the pain over with: they'll just be hoping the economy revives a bit and they can take credit next year).

147
Discussion and Debate - The Philosopher's Plaza / World Politics and Elections 2023
« on: January 08, 2023, 08:28:42 PM »
For those places that don't have a separate thread.


We start the year with déjà vu news of the hard right storming the capitol - but this time we're in Brazil, where supporters of Bolsonaro have tried to attack the presidential and parliamentary buildings in Brasilia. Not yet clear what the outcomes will be.

148
General Chatter - The Boozer / January Pub - 27th?
« on: January 08, 2023, 03:07:46 PM »
We're overdue a Friday pub rather than a Thursday as the last two have been, I don't think I have a strong opinion between the 27th and the 20th but maybe the former?

149
Ren: The Girl With The Mark / Ren Series 2 Updates & New Patreon
« on: January 08, 2023, 02:59:54 PM »
Some announcements on this! Ren as a whole got shelved after the 2019-20 Kickstarter failed, but there's now a plan for new episodes with Neil Oseman taking over as the showrunner. My sense is this will be shifting back to a more shoestrings way of doing things like Series 1 had (S2 was originally planned to be quite a big expansion in capacity and cost), so hopefully that'll be more affordable. There's a new patreon which has some funding coming in already, and S2 is apparently planned to be four episodes.

Patreon link is:
https://www.patreon.com/renthegirlwiththemark/about

I'm happy Ren is coming back - it'll be interesting to see how the big casting changes (Sophie Skelton isn't returning AFAIK so that's the title character shifting for one) affect the series. But it's nice to see good indie fantasy web series content being made and I'll be following it closely.

I've also been updating the Wiki in light of the new information.

150
Announcements! The Town Crier! / Updates from the Forge 48: New Year 2023
« on: January 07, 2023, 06:06:30 PM »
Issue 48: New Year 2023

EDITORIAL

Welcome back to Updates from the Forge for another year of creative geekery! In this issue, we'll cover things that happened around the Exilian Community in the last quarter of 2022, giving you a flavour of what we're all up to and maybe sparking some fresh ideas for 2023.

The last quarter of 2022 saw several announcements for Exilian. We've moved our Mastodon account to indiepocalypse.social, which has given us a much smoother user experience and from where we've managed to make some great new contacts for the community in recent weeks. Thanks to the InPoc-Social admin, Tamitha, and the Indiepocalypse local community for the welcome we've had there.

Two big upcoming/ongoing events have also been announced: the later one is that Coding Medieval Worlds 3 will be happening in February, run by Jubal again as convenor. We have some spaces free still so please do get in touch if you'd like to attend. More immediately, our Winter Creative Competition is ongoing so please do get your entries in by the end of January! This year the competition is on the theme Snowstorm, and our wonderful guest judges are modern folk artist Lucy Wright and historian and game developer Katrina Keefer.

On top of all that, we've got plenty of creative projects to tell you about. In this issue, we have everything from Cyberpunk sounds to English folklore, fantasy taverns to futuristic space crashes, and poetry to tabletop RPG projects. Read on for more...

CONTENTS:

  • Editorial
  • Game Development
    • Turnings and Tables - New Worldbuilding in Kavis
    • Shewstone Kickstarter Success
    • No Armor Required in Innkeep!
  • Arts & Writing
    • The Revenge of Tyrants continues: New Infinitas Stories
    • Jubal's Poems: Music, Wine, and Solitude
  • Miscellany
    • Cyberpunk Tracks from Eric Matyas
    • Non-Fiction - What've You Been Reading?
GAME DEV
Turnings and Tables - New Worldbuilding in Kavis

What places might you find in the wilds and whispering woods of Kavis?

We’ve had more updates on Jubal’s Kavis setting over the second half of this year, fleshing out more aspects of this early medieval fantasy world and potentially providing inspiration and ideas for your own fantasy settings. Kavis is a multi-continent spanning fantasy world that focuses on folklore and history as inspirations: rather than epic armies of orcs or earth-shattering interplanar magic, this is a world where magic is wrapped into the spinning thread of cottage-wives, sung by fey creatures in the rocks and reeds, and mixed in pots by wise gnomes and very unwise goblins. It’s a changing world where little is certain – there are myriad faiths, creeds, and understandings of how the world works, and everyone from mad holy men to venerable philosophers to peasants to kings may have their own idiosyncrasies in their ideas.

Many of the recent Kavis updates have focused on aspects of beliefs in the setting, including a recent post on midwinter festivals across the world that introduces festivities such as the wild dancing and music of Watermasque in the Heirophancy, the chaos of Jack O'Deer's festival of misrule in the Serraty fens, and the bright blazes of Chith's coalbitings around which people gather in Alasia. We've also had notes on the Table Societies, semi-secretive sworn brotherhoods of mutual aid that underpin life across the Heirophancy.

New posts are often being updated and old ones expanded and updated in the Kavis forum: why not take a look and see if you can find some inspiration and ideas for your own work?



Shewstone Kickstarter Success

Images from the bestiary: by Steven Bachan, Angela Taylor, and Colin Throm.

We're delighted to be able to report that new Exilian member Shewstone Publishing, who came here to promote his kickstarter for A Bestiary of Enchanted England, has successfully funded the project with quaduple the minimum success level achieved! The bestiary will feature a wide range of lesser known mythic and folkloric creatures from around the British Isles, including the clack-toothed Hobyah, the portentous Merchicken of Portland, the weird Questing Beast, and Milcha, Queen of the Enchanted Isle, snubbed by the Bard himself... dare you discover this diversity of creatures?

Whilst the Kickstarter campaign is over, the book will eventually be available for general purchase - aiming to reach the Indie Press Revolution booth at Gen Con 2023. The system it goes with, Magonomia, focuses on Renaissance and Elizabethan tales and is already out and available from Shewstone. They have several new projects in the works, too, including a system-agnostic fantasy setting called the World of Drintera, so there's plenty exciting to see out there. Why not take a look?



No Armor Required in Innkeep!



The new trailer for long-time Exilian member danieloburke's Innkeep, a game about a vagrant who accidentally becomes an 'honest gent' with a fine [citation needed] tavern to look after, arrived in November! Entitled No Armor Required, this preview shows a range of key mechanics and story beats in the game. Unique groups of guests will visit the inn as you progress through the game: by eavesdropping, stealing, serving them, um, interesting and excessively fresh local produce, and via numerous other interactions, you will be able to maximise your advantages and survive in a harsh world.

Why not take a look at the latest updates on the Innkeep Exilian thread, or the IndieDB page for the game which includes a range of design articles?


ARTS AND WRITING

The Revenge of Tyrants continues: New Infinitas Stories

Exilian's BagaturKhan (A. Krokhmal) has been sharing more translations of his epic science fiction tales from the Infinitas setting with us here on Exilian. Three new stories in the Revenge of Tyrants continuity have been published: in Storm of Souls, the corruption of an officer brings disaster; in Dragon's Destiny, a prequel tale, a heroic draconid officer begins to learn of the name Marfur-Niari and the terror that it can bring; and in Not A Lucky Adventure, the story of Dragon's Destiny continues and the hero encounters an enemy known as Phantom 13, whose powers can even extend into people's minds...

These tales are twisting, turning reads about a very wide-ranging science fantasy universe, drawing on a huge variety of cultures from across and beyond our world in fast-paced, high-threat futuristic worlds. If you have your own stories and worlds to share, do come and let the Exilian community know about them in our writing area, and




Jubal's Poems: Music, Wine, and Solitude

Quote
Bring me down -
The eagle sky-clad soaring to the sodden ground
When the loneliness of empty air
Too much to bear   
Becomes weight on shattered wings
That turn and fall
Featherless

Recent poems by Jubal include the lyrics to the musical pun extravaganza Where Is My Capo?, Bring Me Down, a twisting, turning poem of metaphors on solitude and loneliness, and the chorus song Blackberry Wine which focuses on the difficulties of balancing grief, activism, and rest through a folk ballad style.

Jubal's inspirations include not fantasy literature, world history and folklore, traditional British folk music, and writers from Clive James to JRR Tolkien to WB Yeats, leading to a deep repertoire of lyric and metaphor that underpins his songs and poetry. His output nonetheless includes the profoundly silly, with animal humour or wordplay poems sitting alongside fantasy epics or more serious pieces. You can read all these and more on his ongoing thread, which contains a great number of his works from 2008 onwards, nearly fifteen years of songs and lyrics:


MISCELLANY

Cyberpunk Tracks from Eric Matyas


Long-standing Exilian member and free music king Eric Matyas has been producing more music and soundtracks that can be used in your games, videos, audios and other creative projects. All of Eric's tracks are free to use in both commercial and non-commercial projects, with licenses available where non-attribution is needed and the possibility for custom work as well.

His recent pieces include "Endless Robot Runner" an upbeat cyberpunky techno-futuristic track that could work well in a game level, and "Cyber City Dreams", a more synthy piece that could work well as menu or calmer background music for a futuristic or sci-fi setting. If you're doing any sort of game dev or creative work that includes audio, his background tracks are well worth checking out.

Non-Fiction - What've You Been Reading?


Among other forum areas, Exilian has the Great Library, our hub for discussion about history, science, and other interesting information. You can head over there for threads about the issues of AI, scandals in historical manuscript studies, cool things Exilian folks have written and published, and exciting news about history, astronomy, and other parts of our knowledge of the world.

One new thread there we'd like to highlight for this Updates from the Forge is that we've opened a What have you been reading? thread. We've long had one of these in our writing and stories area, the Storytellers' Hall, which has let people discuss the fictions and fantasies they've been recently diving into. Now we have a parallel thread for the non-fiction, where Exilian users can discuss what they've been looking at recently. Our first entry is a discussion of James Boyce's Imperial Mud, on the history of the east of England fens and the resistance to their drainage within the context of the ideology and contests that shaped the British Empire.

What have you been reading recently and would you recommend it? Do let us know.



Thanks once again - or for the first time, if you're new here - for reading Updates from the Forge. We hope this will be just the start of an exciting creative year here across our community, and we've got more announcements coming soon that will help make that a reality. Do keep making and sharing your creativity: whether you're taking tentative steps or composing a masterpiece, we'd love to hear from and support you. Until next time!


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