Monthly Updates: September of 2026

Writing, Editing Progression:
Hey there my dear readers! 
As mentioned before, the month of October will feature three Spookinktober stories I worked on the past two weeks.
First of which will be tale set in the First Era of Mending, based on the Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allen Poe. Though in this case, it will feature a quarter-dwarf Arghyrian Noblesse and a Disciple of the Black Rose who poisoned her court with her otherworldly elven beauty. 
Second is based on M.R James The Mezzotint, a story focusing on a lone Vordriarh growing bored during her patrol in the raided mansion of a Necrolyte noble. As it sometimes happens in horror, her curiosity may lead her to her doom, when she steps in the forbidden Display Room.
The third and final story, is based on Algernon Blackwood’s The Wings of Horus. Here too, the main POV shall be an empathetic, kind dark elven Vordriarh, tasked with guarding a dracorith noble afflicted with a madness making him think he is Great Nadrediorn himself. 
All three are fairly short from the usual. Aimed for 2.5k words at max, a little bit of practice against meandering. And hopefully, by the time this goes up, all three will have their final edits, and uploaded for early access.
Lastly before moving on, November. As of now, I am thinking of either doing four short stories, or two stories, each at 2-chapter length. Or one two-chapter length tale and two short stories. Which is what I am leaning towards as of writing.
Either way, the 2-chapter length one will most likely feature Selindrae, just not yet decided on what adventure leads her to be a damsel in distress.
And definitely want to do a story involving a rebellious Void Colony sabotaging a ship from calling on reinforcements. There are a couple other ides floating in my head, written down in a file where I am collecting them, but not sure yet if they’ll be the ones.
Now, onto Story and Worldbuilding Progression!
Story, Worldbuilding Progression:
For this past month, I remained focused on the Covenant, specifically on the sub-factions a little bit, and more so on the caste system. Also decided that Nairenthian/Nauheimian will be their primary language for everything, except the more personal branches, private armies of the Hersiths and Thegriths (who got a bit of promotion from captains/field generals). 
Won’t go into great detail, as things are up for change, adjustments. When it comes to the Thaumaturgic Hosts, both the all inclusive and witches-only Prime-Branches share all the castes, one just has a different name because it has a gender-specific history. Namely Skjaldmaeriths are the shield-maidens of the Viduthian Prime-Branch, Huscariaths are all-inclusive noble hex-warriors.
There are also the Einharjeriths and Valkyrieths who work on the same logic. But beyond those four, they’ll have the same castes.
Now for the military, infantry remains the Drengriarhs, the most common. Ginnungriarhs will be the naval equivalent, instead of space police (bit of a promotion). And there are two additional ones, as of now a marksman type caste and a pure close-range combat caste who are shock troops, infantry employed as the second wave in battles.
For mage-castes, Seidhaeth and Volvaeth got separated, with the Seidhaeths being pure battlemages, Volvaeths more a support unit. Heillaeths remain too, though may get their own group. And scouts, sentries are also pure mages, with the addition of being the first step to becoming a Covenant spy/assassin of the Tenebrous Hand.
Noble-Castes change is that they will have noble-caste mages (I do plan to add retroactively to the Eminent Circles and Covens too). The warrior side of this echelon remains the same (above mentioned + Varangriaths), maybe will get another.
The mage side will have Kunningarkens, who are just adept Seidhaeths/Volvaeths in their chosen schools of magic. Dragon/Gryphon/Winged Mount riders also fall into this section. Originally I was thinking of putting them in the warrior caste, but making them mages, with some weapon proficiency made more sense. Using a sword or even a rifle on a dragon seems hard or even pointless in my mind. And there is another caste, but for now, I leave them a surprise/secret.
Now for the Thaumaturgic Ministry of Harmony and Order, they are slightly more complicated. Starting with, their two Prime-Branches are the Fist of the Court (name still up for change) and the Umbral Court (Hidden Sects and secret police, like old NKVD, a bit of FBI).
The Fist have the Vordriarhs who in function remain the same, just as the Drengriarhs. The common constable the common folk can rely on (in a perfect world). But Hirdriarhs also make a return, in a similar role to their first and I think sole appearance (Practice Makes Perfect story). Constables specifically guarding the lands of nobles and politicians. There are also Vigjiarhs, a religious constable-caste, also responsible for dealing with heretics and Veurriarhs who are the military police.
They also have their own Magi-Castes, but beyond the Seidhaeths, Volvaeths and Gudlaeths, they other two are up for change.
Their Noble-Castes still match the Thaumaturgic Hosts (Warrior, Magi castes). These include the Asthyrr, who see a bit more combat compared to the common constables; the Hlaupthyrrs who are mounted constables, manhunters; Praethyrr who are the royal guard; and the Jafthyrr who are Justiciars, the elite police protecting cathedrals, and high priests, dealing with the more dangerous heretics.
For their Noble Magi-Castes, I have four ideas, but the names, I dislike. They too have their own adept magi, and holy sorcerers/sorceresses, but beyond those, the only unique one I am settled on are a proficient clairvoyant using their skills for detective work. Still want a fourth one, but the current binding-caste is needless, as skills like that seem important enough for a constable mage to possess.
For the Umbral Courts, castes are separated less on constable/mage, more on which division they belong to. The Umbral Archon branch being the secret police, has its own constables hunting political dissidents, terrorists, separatists, ETC. And wardens as they also responsible for running prisons and penal colonies. These being (as of now) are the Nattriarhs and Wardriarhs.
Similarly, their noble caste has their elite commando units, a mounted manhunter focusing escaped prisoners or dissidents on the run. And in their case, they also (rarely) have winged mounts, though no dragons. Dragons are the privilege of the military.
The Blacklight Court being the surveillance focused division, employs mostly wizards. And in their case, it also entails relying on prisoners either promised freedom and a well-paying job or brainwashed into service. And most of their ranks are filled with divination focused mages. Though they also train manhunter wizards/witches lent out to the Fist or the Umbral Archons.
Their elite, noble mages are a bit more colorful. There are the Dromlaug, mages who can mine or invade the dreaming mind, or even possess others. There are also the Runlaugs, who use enchanting in the form of runic-tattoos to create infiltrators, their very own spies. And want at least one, maybe two more.
And lastly, there is the Tenebrous Hand, the division of responsible for carrying out assassinations, sabotages. Their lowest are the Veidrin-Maorn who are practically assassins interns usually working under a Daodrin-Maorn (formerly known as Daormaorns) their seniors and the proteges of the higher caste assassins. Then there are the Fegryl-Skourn, the spies who do carry out hits, but more often, act as honey pots, take the sabotage jobs. They also have the specialized Hathrae-Hleyaern, witch-spies utilizing shapeshifting and mind-reading.
Their noble-castes are made up from the former top assassins, spies of the Hidden Sects. Which for honesty’s sake, was an accident. But the castes are the Hrafein-Rhyl, former Eyes of the Black Roses and the nightblades of the Eminent Covens in the south and the north, the Shinorhyl, formerly the Shinobi of the Lunate Circle, the Faudhn-Ithra the former Duskscales of the Snow-Scaled Hidden sect, with the addition of being assassins utilizing small beasts, insects. And lastly, the Augn-Murrid who are just the top assassins of the leftover.
And before I forgot, also did some adjustments to their leadership. In terms of castes, Hersiths are no longer the top-most, there will be a new one, but haven’t yet given it a name. But in terms of structure, the High Thaumaturgic Seat consisting of 9 members of this caste will be the supreme leaders of the Covenant. Below them are the High Seats of War and Ward, a war council of 10 Hersiths and the High Tranquil Seats of Order of 12 Hersiths overseeing the Thaumaturgical Ministries, and there are some lesser councils/seats comprising Thegriths.
Lastly on the Covenant, two small changes and additions. Ship-design is something I have been rethinking in terms of approach, classifications and so on. Monster-designs will remain, though may lessen and be the classification of battle-oriented ships. The small additions are mostly for uniform materials, and some design elements, mostly just added in a few branch specific fabrics. 
Beyond the Covenant, also started on expanding on the Grand Guilds, given them their alliance its final name, the Illustrious Golden Unions. Their structure was my main focus for this week, a bit similar, but less branching compared to the Covenant.
Their top is for now referred as the Court of Trade-Princes, that branch by rank (Trade-Prince, then their direct relatives and sycophants).
Below them for now is the Nine Legions the Grand Guilds own through bribery, and serve as their military arm. Then they have the Illustrious Ministry of Advancements (Research and Development) consisting of the lesser magi circles and covens of Heleion, Northern Ralikhai and Baaneath, essentially enslaved through contracts (the inverse of the Covenant). 
Then they will have the Umbral Archons, their covert intelligence branch and secret police during the Second Great War. And the Mercenary Guilds, their private armies created after they practically brought the Common Ministry of Fortune and Glory (adventurer’s guild).
In regards of the Nine Legions and the Mercenary Guilds, they are consisting of Cohorts (20 for the Nine Legions, 8 as of now for the Mercenary Guilds). Though the personnel number in their cases I’ll keep ambiguous possibly even after the end of the Story Arc. I did set a billion for the each Cohort of the Nine Legions at first, but as the conflict will stretch into a galactic scale, that seems small. Mercenary Guilds on the other hand a bit easier, though is up for change. But as of now their Cohorts are either 5k strong, or 10k strong.
Almost at the end. The last two things I briefly want to include here, about the overall storylines. Specifically, the two storylines that will feature prominently next year. 
The Second Great War, which will be the main focus for next year, with its Year One. As of now, I had been brainstorming the events leading up which are as follows:
  • The formation of the Covenant, a good century before the Year One.
  • Various uprisings affecting both galactic powers across their void colonies.
  • The Fourth Corsair Troubles, where the two momentarily had to bend together against another alliance of space pirates.
  • And lastly, an uprising that serve to weaken the Union a little bit, allowing the Covenant to make their first move.
This last event, will lead up to the starting event. A 9/11 of sorts, involving a space station chock full of Thulyandivian merchants. An event behind which the Covenant may be responsible for encouraging the “alien” terrorists, or at least will capitalize on.
Beyond that, there are a few rough points I’ll want to hit along the way. This includes:
  • One that will directly follow the conquest of the home system, possibly with a returning assassin-type character taking out Trade-Princes, their closest sycophants in capture of the Covenant. A mini-storyline.
  • The second, is a secret project of the Covenant, they have been working on in Empty Spaces (more on them at a later time).
For the last, the Cabal Storyline. As of now, the couple of three things I outlined are:
  1. The number of tales, stories it will last. 
  2. The first two stories, both of which will focus on the main antagonist, the Wrathful Rhonin, a member of the Orphanage of the Damned (Cabal, as of now, this is their finalized name).
  3. And expansion on his backstory, what drives him, what will be his overall goal that would make him a worthy Bond villain. Also came up with a fun gimmick to give him some conflict.
And that’s pretty much it. There are a few other small things, like a new alien race, and a couple other storyline ideas, but I leave those too for another time.
Thank you all for reading all this rambling. The next three stories will begin on the 28th of this very month. Until then, take care and have a pleasant September.