Good Intentions

…do I know about symbolism? I know, that people who find power residing in them, follow them blindly - be it a flag, an emblem or a word - disregarding all reason and dialogue. Anyone opposing their symbols is an enemy, unless of course their enemy is one of yours. Some justify any brutality under their symbol, no…

By ThatOneFinnishGuy

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A Shade of Wilderness

A student of art history starts a hunt for the story behind an obscure 1700's German painter. Can it help her finish a master's thesis?

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…I had been utterly frustrated with the odd jobs I was surviving by, I had likely never managed to motivate myself and return to my master’s thesis to finish my degree. My studies in art history had been miserably delayed. There were probably several reasons for my procrastination. After the final months of student-support gone by, I had ended up working a low-wage job at the Helsinki Kunsthalle. I had hoped that the job…

By Teemu Korpijärvi

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Incitatus

The first chapter of "Incitatus", a novella set in the world of upcoming hard sci-fi tabletop roleplaying game, Project Aphelion. On board of “Incitatus”, a prison ship for convicts deemed a nuisance enough to be imprisoned for a whole twenty-year-trip, multiple factions find themselves tied in the fight for an incredibly valuable… for lack of a better word, thing.

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…ship slid through the void, dark except for an occasional flash of manoeuvre thrusters correcting its course. Its main engine was cold, having done its job many weeks ago – double rows of rocket exhausts idle. The rocket formed the core of the ship, with the crew quarters set on protruding columns forming an axis on which the bulbous hull rotated slowly. Overall the ship resembled a giant, pale mushroom with a conical…

By Jakub Wisz

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