Addendum

Obviously, "to crosssanction" means to encourage something while in public condemning it. Whether you upsanction or downsanction crosssanctioning is up to you, but it's too useful to give up regardless of public opinion.

Resolving the Sanction Problem

Proposal:
- "to upsanction" means to approve, condone
- "to downsanction" means to censure
Typically we would stick a hyphen in there for an indeterminate time, but we can forgo that, can we not?

The Font of Elevation

One day, the Horrelfot Geyser sprayed gold instead of water. The margrave, thinking of the costs of his current and contemplated entanglements, sent men to dig there, whether for gold or more likely some item strange in its properties.
A few yards of pit later, the men unearthed the cause of it, which was a gnome holding a mass gold. He explained that he realized recently he had neglected to wash his bedding for a few hundred years and nothing less powerful than the geyser would do. The bundle, unrolled, proved to be thick sheets far too heavy for any one of the helpful diggers to lift even when they agreed to assist with the washing.
One among them, not content to suppress his curiosity even when dealing with creatures from whom no sense could be expected, asked the gnome if he would not prefer softer sheets, linen perhaps. The conversation revealed the ignorance gnomes have of comforts. A trade was arranged so that the gnome went away with the softest sheets in the county which were the margrave's own, and his bed too, and his pillows.
The margrave prospered after that, nor did he forget to bestow upon his able servant lands and honors. The new vassal's emblem became a golden sheet in commemoration of that incident, and not because "nobody could think of anything meaningful for that undistinguished family," as you alleged in your scandalous publication. Now that this court has instructed you better, an apology is expected and will reduce the fine from devastating to instructive.
Finis

Halloween Sustainability

The wonks have noticed, but most people are unaware that we have simply run out of mummies. The Egyptians, impressive as the accomplishments of their alien buddies were, produced only so many. For that reason, support the upcoming initiatives to entomb everyone who has ever held national elected office using ancient techniques which inexplicably confer magical powers a few thousand years later that later generations might enjoy what our own cannot.

Approaching Science Fiction Scale

First question: Is a space knight a fighter pilot, a ship officer, a ship captain, a squadron captain, or a fleet captain? Mechs are of course fighters, but as for the equivalency for space dragons or other space monsters, that's the second question.

Addendum

It doesn't have to be top vs. bottom, either. Try some diagonals. Some curves, too. A single mixed field.

On Digital Card Games

Fellas! The cards don't have to look like little cards! Explore the aesthetic space! They can unfold like newspapers, open like pamphlets, just be the monster which ordinarily would be depicted and when you click on it a cartoon speech bubble pops out from it with the rules text, and more.

Arguments for Giving Your Science Fiction Setting One Moon

If most of the galaxy was destroyed in an interstellar war, what do you expect? The remaining one probably has all the wizards on it.

Arguments for Giving Your Fantasy Setting One Moon

1) Nobody cares about the moon unless the story goes there at some point, and going to multiple moons is something accommodated by only a few stories.
2) Plus you gotta name 'em and junk.

On the Other Side of the Lethe

I was driving toward the herpetology conference when the evening and weather, dismissive of the intellectual as they always are, conspired to obscure the way. I paused at the first establishment which appeared both open and likely to have working wifi, which surprised me.
Not beause of the lack of customers; I anticipated that when I saw it to be a bookstore just large enough to prevent suspicions of a repurposed meat locker. Not on account of the shelves, at first glance, contained little but popular mysteries and fantasy epics popular during a period not indicated by "a couple years back," or the absence of functioning wifi. That it was open was the surprise. That is, open in the sense of existing as a business.
As for employees, it had one, a number I thought a trifle high. He happened to be a friendly man, Kirk Wentworth by name, who was able to describe the best route to the venue once I remembered part of its name, and soon I was underway again.
I am not a man accustomed to becoming lost solely because I check and recheck and 10 GOTO 20. Wishing to review my progress, I paused again at, this is a true tale, a newspaper stand by the roadside. It boasted a roof, to explain my choice.
A patron, the only one, thumbing through a magazine became interested in my mumbling, for I admit my sentiments did not permit a perfect dignified silence. I told him of the circumstances. He exclaimed at them. Kirk Wentworth, it seemed, had passed away some fifteen years earlier.
He therefore could not have known about certain construction projects which had altered the traffic situation. By contrast, the person to whom I was then speaking had died a mere eight years prior and accordingly was able to instruct me better. I arrived well in time. Several attendees shared similar incidents. We interpreted them as proof of the importance of the field of study which had captivated our mental energies.
Finis