That took a frustrating amount of time to get my https://d.moonfire.us and https://fedran.com working on Woodpecker CI again (for the first time for Fedran's). I ended up removing the built-in clone Git plugin and switched to doing it via an Alpine image. (I got the "cannot enter user name" bug I get periodically and never found a consistent way to fix.)

Switch from SSH-based Git cloning to HTTPS. I was trying to be SSH-only because of vague hopes of eventually getting to like SourceHut (which doesn't allow HTTP-based clones).

But, I also managed to stop using my custom NixOS docker image and used nixpkgs/nix-flakes instead, though I had to jump through a couple uncomfortable hoops to make that work.

But, it's working which means, I have a now page for my blog and Fedran should poke Antenna on Gemini when I post new chapters.

( #Fedran #NixOS #WoodpeckerCI #Gemini )

Another thing in my idle thoughts is the idea of monorepos and multirepos for my writing. I managed to work through the reasons I'd want all my Fedran novels, then managed to circle back to remind me the reasons why I don't use monorepos anymore.

But it got me thinking about that. There are places where a monorepo does make sense. In specific, the generation for aggregate books (combining every POV into a single ebook or combining every story into a single linear book), website generation, and the coordination system¹.

I've had a lot of trouble with git submodules in the past (renaming, adding, and removing), so I avoid those in general, which is why my website has a download-source.sh script to pull in all the repos from my Gitea server and put them in a standard location

That would be the same logic for the three examples... so, maybe I should have my metadata project be a monorepo for everything but the sources themselves, which need to remain separate.

¹ The coordination system is something I'm working on that lets me put some metadata in a chapter with things like "must happen before chapter 4 of this book" or "16 years after X is born". It is intended to help me date all of these chapters in preparation of the aggregate books.

( #Git #Gitea #Fedran #WorldBuilding )

I was talking about my planned Fedran stories and I was trying to explain one:

Imagine Shadows of the Colossus but with retrofitted steam train engines used as missiles and breach pods.

I am saddened by the blank looks I got.

( #Fedran )

Some time ago, I switched my stories so I have one Git repository per story or novel. Today, I have about 257 of them, with roughly ⅔ in one byline and the other (Fedran, actually).

One of the constant pains is setting up the repository, so I'm always trying to figure out a good pattern to reduce the "idea to chapter 1" process.

On the Fedran site, I've been working on a Rust CLI that creates the repository, sets up Gitea and Woodpecker, and does a whole bunch of stuff. Fedran is also "strict" because I have genres, categories, trigger warnings, and track every single character, location, and even concept.

It is also a lot of work to make changes. Not to mention, I still struggle to get NixOS to play well with letting me set up something to build the project and also include as an input into my laptop while playing as a flake.

The other byline is sloppier, so I'm trying to find a lower friction approach. Today, I'm trying (for the third time) using a Git repository as a project template and then adding it as a secondary Git origin (template) and then occasionally doing a git pull template main --rebase=no.

It seems to work, mainly because the bulk of the files don't have the project names inside them, but does anyone have suggestions for something that is Nix friendly (e.g., has a package), and doesn't require a lot of overhead, and (importantly) allows for the template to be updated.

I've tried yeoman, degit (doesn't like private Gitea), degit-rs, and they doesn't quite work.

( #Gitea #Git #Fedran #Woodpecker #Rust #NixOS )

My obsessive tendencies want to try migrating NextCloud again to the new instance, but I really should work on the 10k word story due in 36 hours with a bonus of writing a Fedran story before the end of the month.

The main things that were causing me problems were that the NixOS version was very slow (either due to the instance, not having memcache or not having redis) and I couldn't find the error logs that were causing logins to completely fail while using the same MariaDB on the new machine. I suspect it has to do with the home directory not working, but I can't really tell and it takes 5-10 minutes just to bring up the page.

It would be nice to retire that instance though, I haven't been able to update to the new Ubuntu release in about six years due to mis-sizing the root drive.

( #NextCloud #Fedran )

It's been years since I felt creative and I completely forgot the fucking "I can't sleep because I keep writing stories in my head" insominia.

So far, one about a young girl's father who is killed showing off the 89th star. And a kater one of the girl being rescued after almost dying in the desert. And then a third that ties into Neither.

The beginning of Foreign Concepts which works better from Bor's POV instead if Sal's. Also a major lane violation but I don't care.

Details around Ronamar's first wife's assassination.

A city guard's story at the desert border. And another POV of ACAB of the same guards.

A romance between Viola and a city guard assigned to protect her during an investigation.

A story about my favorite brickpunk couple resupplying Baby.

Maybe writing this out will let me sleep.

Tags: #Fedran

Flight of the Scions

https://fedran.com/flight-of-the-scions/

Can she survive without magic?

Kanéko's childhood fantasies died the day the letter came to confirm she had no ability to use magic. She would never hear the whispers of her mother's clan spirit. Nor would she be able to follow in her father's footsteps as a mage-knight of Kormar.

Soon she found a new purpose: to prove to her father she wasn't a delicate flower that required protection. Without magic, she latched onto the new world of mechanical devices and engineering. But, her self-taught experiments went awry and her father sent her away in a fit of fury. Two others would join her on a trip across the country, a dog girl with a short temper and a boy with an unnatural presence.

When she didn't think it could get any worse, a wanted poster sets off a frantic race home for safety. As ancient and modern forces fought to claim her, she and her friends would test the abilities their parents gave them: knowledge, loyalty, and drive.

🏷 #Fantasy #Fedran #Steampunk

The thing that is holding me back today for creating a map for Fedran is because I don't trust my ability to create a "realistic" map that I can scale down, make details for, and still get things like moisture, wind, etc which is important since I set up the world on a supercontinent and the center is very hot and dry (hence the desert setting).

🏷️ #Fedran #PlateTectonics

I really want to get to my phase two stories because that's when the wooden and brick mecha really come out. #Fedran

Wow, #Fedran is almost usable by just turning on the #Gemini #Gemtext rendering pipeline. Just... not pretty in certain places.

Naturally, I couldn't just stop working on the #Fedran website. I had to put in some code that removes almost all dead links so there won't be any "lies" while going through the wiki.

I also add footer pages to chapters that have cross-linking, so now if you don't know who a character is, you can scroll to the bottom of any chapter (verses this one) and see everyone in the chapter along with locations, organizations, and topics/concepts (like books, plays, etc).

Just finished @dmoonfire 's book, Sand and Blood, and I really enjoyed it! The first ~half was kinda rough to me because it was setting up the story and the characters were terrible people, but it gets really satisfying. I wrote a review on Goodreads, but I'm not very good at reviewing things I like:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1972507139

The whole #Fedran series and more is free to download on his site:
https://fedran.com/sand-and-blood/

#review #book #fantasy