Famgor OOC/Other Stuff

[TheBlob]

I don't want my Story thread to get filled up with stuff, so go ahead and do OOC Stuff over here.

I'm working on A part called Orcish Rule, about the Orcs, then I will work on the Time of the Dragon, which is the tale of the Dragons. Any suggestions or any critisism?

Here is a link to the Topic, I'm not sure if I will keep it all in that one topic, because I might make multiples, but here it is for now:
Tales of Famgor

[DragonHeart]

Well, I just went over your prologue-type thing, I hope you don't mind but I did a quick crit. Added comments in parentheses and some general oberservations at the end.

IN THE BEGINNING (Caps lock? ) there were the five. (The five what? Gods, people, rocks? )

The Council of Five, as they were called. They lived in a twisting nether of Mana and Chaos, where no life but their own could survive. (Then who calls them the Council of Five if no one else is around? ) The five were of Flesh, Blood, Deep, High, and Old; Char, Jira, Nen, Avari, and Xannon. (Maybe put their names with their titles so it’s less confusing.) The Council of Five decided to create their own world, with life that was created in their own image. (Is there a reason, or did they just get tired of Monopoly? ) But first they escaped the Twisting Nether, having to use much of their power in order to create a new universe, in which their life would live. (What kind of power?) They then left the twisting nether and entered their new universe. (I thought they escaped it in the previous sentence. Seems redundant to me.)

Char of Flesh created the flesh of their new world, the rock. Jira1 of Blood created the Blood of their new world, the Plants. Nen2 of Deep created the Deep of the world, the oceans. Avari3 of High created the High of the world, the sky. Xannon4 of Old was left with nothing to create, so he told the others that he wished to create a new kind of thing, life. (This entire section is redundant. You don’t need to beat their titles into our heads with boulders, you know.)

The Council of Five elected to create this life, but also decided that this life could not be a forever type of thing, so Xannon of Old created something of his own name, death. (If his name is “Old” how is death part of his name? ) This death would come with Age, so that none would live forever, especially the evil. (How do they know what’s evil, or if there is any?) Each of the Council of Five created one race that would fill the new world.

Char of Flesh created the Dwarves, a strong and stout race which were capable of creating technology without mistake, and loved to be within the mountains that Char of Flesh made himself. Jira of Blood made the Orcs, a race of green-skinned creatures based much off of the dwarves, and Orcs were filled with the blood rage, and were vicious warriors. (I feel like I just stumbled into WarCraft.) Nen of Deep created the Yaar, a race of fish-like people that swam in the oceans that Nen of Deep had made with love; and worshipped the animalistic Deep Ones. (Ok, starting to get creative here…) Avari of High created the Dragons, a race that flew through his precious skies and sent fire raining upon all that opposed them. (Or not. Sigh.) And Xannon of Old created a race called the Kelalens; they were a slightly taller Dwarf that was forever curious and very smart. (Sounds interesting, yet more redundancy with the names. You don’t have to write their full names every single time, it only gets irritating after awhile.)

Overall it’s not a bad start, but it’s very stereotypical and, to be honest, rather boring. I just get the feeling of “oh, another divine creation story, next please”. There’s nothing that really makes it different from every other creation story used in the fantasy genre. I’ve read books with prologues exactly in this style, just with different names, and it does get tiresome.

On the bright side, your writing is fairly good, and I like the attempt at originality despite using the three most overused races in the history of everything. I’d suggest branching off more, like you did with the Yaar and the Kelalens. Being different is a good thing in fantasy.

And on a side note, I see I’m not the only one who uses Baby Names. If you’re interested I know several other sites with more comprehensive name lists from just about every language you can think of.

~DragonHeart~

[TheBlob]

IN THE BEGINNING (Caps lock? )

No, it makes it look nice on the font I use on my computer, but TFF doesn't have that font...

there were the five. (The five what? Gods, people, rocks? )

I thought it made it sound a little Mysterios... maybe not...

The Council of Five, as they were called. They lived in a twisting nether of Mana and Chaos, where no life but their own could survive. (Then who calls them the Council of Five if no one else is around? )

Well, I meant that they were called that later by their creations, it says about that later.

The five were of Flesh, Blood, Deep, High, and Old; Char, Jira, Nen, Avari, and Xannon. (Maybe put their names with their titles so it’s less confusing.)

Good Idea

The Council of Five decided to create their own world, with life that was created in their own image. (Is there a reason, or did they just get tired of Monopoly? )

I would Imagine godlyness is boring if you have nothing to smite.

But first they escaped the Twisting Nether, having to use much of their power in order to create a new universe, in which their life would live. (What kind of power?)

Their Godly power, the stuff that the Twisting Nether gave them when they were created.

They then left the twisting nether and entered their new universe. (I thought they escaped it in the previous sentence. Seems redundant to me.)

It is kind of pointless, thanks.

Char of Flesh created the flesh of their new world, the rock. Jira1 of Blood created the Blood of their new world, the Plants. Nen2 of Deep created the Deep of the world, the oceans. Avari3 of High created the High of the world, the sky. Xannon4 of Old was left with nothing to create, so he told the others that he wished to create a new kind of thing, life. (This entire section is redundant. You don’t need to beat their titles into our heads with boulders, you know.)

That was to show what they each made, and how each of the Council of Five has their own place. And, who knows, maybe you do need some beating.

The Council of Five elected to create this life, but also decided that this life could not be a forever type of thing, so Xannon of Old created something of his own name, death. (If his name is “Old” how is death part of his name? )

Because when you get old, you die.

This death would come with Age, so that none would live forever, especially the evil. (How do they know what’s evil, or if there is any?)

Well, they would just know, they're Gods. There wouldn't be any at the moment, but later of course their would be evil people.

Jira of Blood made the Orcs, a race of green-skinned creatures based much off of the dwarves, and Orcs were filled with the blood rage, and were vicious warriors. (I feel like I just stumbled into WarCraft.)

Orcs were mostly implemented so that I could have another race come in later.

Nen of Deep created the Yaar, a race of fish-like people that swam in the oceans that Nen of Deep had made with love; and worshipped the animalistic Deep Ones. (Ok, starting to get creative here…)

Thank you!

Avari of High created the Dragons, a race that flew through his precious skies and sent fire raining upon all that opposed them. (Or not. Sigh.)

Hehe.

And Xannon of Old created a race called the Kelalens; they were a slightly taller Dwarf that was forever curious and very smart. (Sounds interesting, yet more redundancy with the names. You don’t have to write their full names every single time, it only gets irritating after awhile.)

Maybe I don't, but it just makes them seem more godly and makes everything else seem to pale in comparison. Maybe I'm wrong, but eh.

Overall it’s not a bad start, but it’s very stereotypical and, to be honest, rather boring. I just get the feeling of “oh, another divine creation story, next please”. There’s nothing that really makes it different from every other creation story used in the fantasy genre. I’ve read books with prologues exactly in this style, just with different names, and it does get tiresome.

That it does, but I feel like I had no other way to do it. I didn't want to just do, "Well, the world was here, and there were people, and it was good"

On the bright side, your writing is fairly good, and I like the attempt at originality despite using the three most overused races in the history of everything. I’d suggest branching off more, like you did with the Yaar and the Kelalens. Being different is a good thing in fantasy.

Thank you! I had to have some of the most overused races ever, but unfortunatly I have two more Generic Races coming, but one in a different way. The Humans and the Elves, but the Elves have an interesting way of coming about at the Least. I also have a few more Original ones, Two that I made myself and One that is used in a different way.

And on a side note, I see I’m not the only one who uses Baby Names. If you’re interested I know several other sites with more comprehensive name lists from just about every language you can think of.

Ooh, I would like to have some of those! Thanks in advance!

EDIT: Crap, that's long, sorry!

[DragonHeart]

And here I was expecting to find an angry reply about how little I know about the story. I love giving my opinion but alas, not everyone is happy to recieve it. I am very happy that you realize it's not a personal attack on your writing, just my take on it from an outside perspective. ^^;

I'll PM the links, not sure if it'd count as advertising or not, so better safe than sorry. XD

Let me know if you'd mind me critiquing the rest of what you have posted, I won't if you don't like the way I do so. I just like being honest wherever possible. *shrug*

~DragonHeart~

[TheBlob]

Thanks again for the links, and no, I wouldn't mind if you critique the rest of it. In fact, I would be happy if you did, since that is really the only way to learn as a writer.

[DragonHeart]

Another quick crit, all my opinion as usual.

Kelalen Rising

XANNON OF OLD watched over the world like all his counterparts in the Council of Five, watching his creations as they grew across the world now known as Famgor. (Very wordy. You could easily cut this sentence in half. “Xannon watched over his creations as they spread (grow across makes no sense by the way) across the world of Famgor.”) Char of Flesh had made the mighty land of Kell, in the center, with the Yaarish islands just south of it. These islands had been created by Nen of Deep so that his Yaar could live and love upon it. Xannon created Limend just south-west of Kell, a small, desolate smitten of land that was covered in “The Wasteland”, a nearly impassible chunk of Hell-Incarnate. (Is there a hell in this world? Also, the way it‘s worded made me think Limend was the wasteland, not Kell.) Xannon created this so that he could place his black citadel upon it, and so that one day his children could live there with him, in the seat of a god. (A lot of passive voice in this paragraph. Had made, had been, could live, etc. Make the writing stronger by removing the hads and coulds.)

Xannon of Old also created a vast desert of the land of Limend, the only inhabitable areas he thought would be filled with his children, and in time it was. (I had to go back and reread the part about Kell for this to make sense, as noted above.)

Xannon of Old’s children (I‘m really getting tired of hearing his full title at this point), the Kelalen were a race that resembled the dwarves but were much taller and lankier. They did not have the strange love of rocks that the dwarves had, nor did they build things that the dwarves did. (What things? My idea of dwarvish construction is probably different than yours.) The Kelalens were warriors for the first few millennia of Famgor, while the brutish Orcs were ruling Kell with an iron fist, the dwarves tinkering with machines in their mountains, and the Yaar swimming around while the Dragons flew through the skies. It was in the year 1342 V.V. that the Kelalen discovered magic. Within a decade, the Kelalen race was split, half of them being mages and the other half being warriors. The Kelalens had wars among themselves for hundreds of years, until the Spellweavers and their leader, Kimalio Strine, came along. (Is this supposed to be a story or a history lesson? I’m starting to fall asleep over here. Where’s the action? I thought the prologue got rid of all the boring backstory.)

When Kimalio was young, he lived on Kell with the rest of the Kelalens, but at age five he heard an otherworldly voice speak to him. The voice was strong and wise, and came from all directions at the same time, as if there was a crowd of this one man surrounding him, all speaking the same thing: “Hello Son,” The Voice had said, “Come to me in the dark wastelands of the West.” (This could be the beginning of a story in my opinion. At least something is happening, at any rate.)

This voice was so commanding that Kimalio had no choice but to follow its command. He journeyed for fifteen years to the Westlands and made it into the Wastelands, armed with not but his spells and his blade, and the Faith in The Voice, he walked onward. He was attacked many times by beasts, monsters, and demonic beings too horrible to describe, but none could hurt him. He had the Word, Power, and Armor of a God about him, and he could not be harmed. His blade sang in the sick pleasure of the battle, and his voice was strong like the one he had heard so many years ago, causing his spells to light up the skies and slay the mightiest of dragons. His shield would never break, never dent, and never scratch because the Council of the Five had great plans for him. At the age of twenty years, he reached the blackest citadel that the world could have ever seen. It seemed that this place was of pure evil-incarnate. (This sounds interesting. I want to know more about this stuff and less about everything else. Kimalio sounds like he’s got a great story to tell.)

He had a god on his side, though, and had nothing to fear. He told whatever god was listening that he believed, and that he would forever follow their holy will. He entered the citadel and faced the last guardian before he would come to do whatever he was meant to do. This creature was old, very old. It was perhaps the first creation of the Council of Five, and now it was to be slain by one of their Children. The beast was made of rock and filled with the Hellfire, it lurched slowly towards Kimalio but he stood firm. (So…why would they want him destroying something they created? )

Then the voice spoke again, “Let me see your true power” Kimalio felt his armor of the gods falling from him and he felt his blades maniacal laugh at the fight slowly die and his own voice grow weary. The beast charged at him but Kimalio still had faith in his gods. He charged into battle again and he was struck down.

Kimalio could feel himself and some powerful energy near him, a god?

“You made it, child,” said the Voice, “I am Xannon of Old, one of the Council of Five as you have deducted on your own I see. Listen to me, Child, I have need of a disciple.” (Bleh, back to boring.)

It was five years before the end of the Mage-Knight wars of the Kelalens when a twenty year old man stumbled out of the Wasteland. He told others of insane stories of his defeating beast and slaying dragons with the simplest of spells. None believed him until he showed them the magnificent powers and items that had been bestowed upon him. He had a helmet forged of the same black jewel, Jet, as the Black Citadel of the Final Guardian. His blade now shown a sharp red light whenever a beam of light touched it, and his neck was adorned with a necklace made of gold and jet. There were runes of Old carved into the Amulet that changed depending on how you looked at it. And he had attained the ultimate weapon, the spellcloth. (And I care…why? All I need to know about is the spell cloth, from what I can see.)

Kimalio was the first to have a spellcloth, and over the next thirty years worked to with his friends and family to create a society of over five-hundred Kelalens, the Spellweavers. He was their leader. Spellweavers used the magics that the mages had learned to meld them with rags and pieces of cloth to make a spellcloth. Spellcloths were much easier to use than normal spells because they required the material and energy of a spell only once, then never again because they were bound to the cloth forevermore, or at least until they were dispelled. (Interesting concept, but I need more information to feel that I understand how it works.)

Kimalio spent most of his time with the “Greatest Spellcloth” as he called it, because it was so powerful. He would never reveal what it would do to someone, or how, but he told everyone that it would be amazing. He told all that he would have to use it, that their own Creator, Xannon demanded that no one else cast the cloth, or it would have disastrous results. (Awkward wording on that last sentence. Sounds fun though, makes me want to try it and see what Xannon does. )

Xannon had granted Kimalio with another life, and with an extended one at that. As Kimalio created his mighty Spellcloth, the entire Warrior Kelalens became Spellweavers, as the mages had already been subjugated. In essence, neither side had won the wars; a middle man was the one who had finally won it for them both. (I don’t know if subjugate is the word you want here. Did he force the other mages to become spell weavers? )

Kimalio finished his cloth at the old age of one-hundred fifty-three, the oldest of the five races on Famgor at the time, except for the dragons that live for hundreds of years. He had finished his cloth but died in the process. He gave birth to a son and a daughter beforehand, though and he believed that perhaps they could perform the casting. His son, Arth Strine, came to the shrine where Kimalio had set up for the casting and attempted it, what he did would change his race, The Kelalens, forever. (How did he die? And how does a man give birth, unless you mean his wife did. A bit of foreshadowing at the end, nice.)

The spellcloth was to make all Kelalens both Wise and Forever young, something that Kimalio could have done with his immense power and his godly will. (Wise and immortal, you mean? They can’t be wise and young since wisdom by definition comes with age.) His son was incapable of casting it and called for help, when no one came; the spellcloth took over his whole body and made him a walking machine of destruction for a few moments, burning all life around him along with the shrine, and himself. When he died, the spell shot forth in all directions, one beam for each and every Kelalen. Kimalio had woven that in, but his plan for a better future for all Kelalens had turned into something horrible. (This paragraph on the whole needs work. Separate your longer sentence or recheck your punctuation. I had a hard time reading it because several things were happening in one sentence.)

Kelalens began to live for much longer than ever before, nearly two-thousand years, depending on their health, and they were bestowed a curse. Kimalio had planned to change the gene growth in the Kelalen mind, because Xannon had told him to, which would make them take in things better than any other beings on the planet, but with Arth’s incapability, it had gone haywire. Kelalens took in information so amazingly that it made them age at a hyperactive rate. When a Kelalen heard another race’s name, they would suddenly see that entire person’s life in a flash before their eyes, and they would experience it, and they would live that person’s life. (Check that last sentence for coherency. Another race’s name, or another person‘s?)

They had the feeling that they were that person and that they were living out the life, thinking the thoughts, and feeling the feelings, but they did not. They would just store an entire life to memory in the blink of an eye, and while this happened, the Kelalens body aged. It was a horrendous thing to see. A very unfortunate Kelalen was the first to discover this curse. A five-year old Human, the race that had landed on the south shore of Kell that the Kelalens had gone to greet, told him her name and suddenly he saw her entire life before his eyes then aged what appeared to be fifty-years. (Freaky.)

The girl screamed and the man ran for his life. Before the confrontation with the Humans, the Kelalens had done a weak mind link, just enough to know when another was in distress and where they were, just in case these new creatures were hostile. The Kelalens broke into a frenzy and killed five Human soldiers, along with the young girl, through Spellweaving. Their leader, Herenula, cast a mass teleportation Spellcloth and sent the entire group of Kelalens far away to the land of Limend. (For a moment I thought Herenula was a human.)

The entire Kelalen race was collected through Spellcloths and brought in front of their king. Herenula then spoke. (He’s a king? Might want to mention that when you introduce him. I’m also a little fuzzy on how they get ‘collected’ with spell cloths.)

“Listen my people; we have a curse about us. We must never speak to these accursed humans again, or at least never let one utter it’s name to us, the Kelalens.” (Does he have to say what race they are? I thought they would know…)

With that Herenula used his great power and a spellcloth to create the largest forest that Famgor had ever seen, and named it the forest of Doom. With another Spellcloth he made it that the forest was impenetrable for all but the Kelalens and those who were with them or invited in. When they reached the Eastern edge of the Forest of Doom, close enough so that it was an hour’s walk to the shore, but so that they could intersperse their warriors within the forest to protect from all enemies and to hunt, Herenula cast one last Spellcloth, one that built a great city, and named it after himself. (Forest of Doom, how original. You really should explain how these cloths work, and what, if any, recoil there is.)

Herenula then declared it illegal to use Spellweaving, and punishable by death. He then created the Council of Five, a mock up of the Godly version, which would, along with Herenula himself, vote on new laws and keep each other in check. They did their job for a long time, until Herenula died and a new king was to be elected. An Elf appeared in Herenula that day and spoke her name to a young Kelalen, this Kelalen’s name was Arch Mitine, and the Elf’s was Minstre Lightningrage. (I’m getting confused with all the names that only get mentioned for a paragraph or two.)

Arch aged nearly five-thousand years in one second and experienced a five hundred year life in moments, but to him the entire five hundred years. He suddenly awoke and stared into the woman’s eyes. “You bitch!” Arch screamed and tore out a spellcloth, shouting the casting word and letting it loose. The woman was dead in a moment, her eyes glazing over and her mouth laying agape as she fell slowly down to the ground with a whoosh! (The beginning was confusing but finally, something happened! Woohoo! )

Guards were around him in a second and he was brought in chains to the mortal Council of Five. They gave him a choice: death or banishment. Arch Mitine chose Banishment. (If it’s punishable by death how come he can get banished? )

Arch left the Forest of Doom, and found creatures called the Ogres. They were half-breeds, half-orc, and half-human. He told the Ogres of his plight, and they told the Kelalen of theirs. Arch was horrified to hear that their long allies, the Orcs, had been completely eliminated. And that now the Humans were the ruling race in the land of Kell. He also heard of new races coming into the World, the Ogres claimed that the humans were not children of one of the Council of Five, but a sixth power. (Eww, orc and human? I don’t even want to know. Sixth power, how mysterious…dun dun dun.)

Arch knew little of the powers. When Famgor was created, all of the races were gathered after a mighty war between the Orc and Dragons, The Famgor Revelation, as it was called. The Council of Five descended from their higher place and landed on Famgor in Physical Form. Each was nearly twelve feet tall, and carried gleaming weapons and wore armor that represented each of them. (This war was never mentioned before.)

Char of Flesh wore armor made from diamond and carried a spiked mace the size of a normal person. Jira of Blood wore armor that was made of ruby, and red with blood, his crimson bladed sword gleaming in the low light. Nen of Deep sparkled in a suit of sapphire and aquamarine armor, with two short swords at his sides. Avari of High stretched his great wings, larger than any dragon and bristled his scales under is cream white pearl armor and his halberd that would cut down forests. Xannon of Old was hidden in shadow because of his jet studded black-mithril armor and his Wand that could make Spellcloths with the flick of a wrist. (And I care…why?)

The Council of Five revealed the story of Creation1 to the five races, to their children. Each of the Council of Five went to the corners of the world almost like a giant seminar through magic. They then told their versions of the story, The Council of Five are incapable of lying, at least to their own children, so they told the stories to the best of their knowledge. At the end of their speeches, when everyone was becoming restless and wanted to get a chance to digest the information, each of the Council of Five spoke of a Sixth god, born from the energy that the Council of Five had to leave behind in order to break into their new universe that they had made. (I’m getting restless too. Where’s the story? Nothing’s happened yet…I’m ready to go find something else to do.)

They referred to this sixth lone power as Kellan2 of power, or the Other One. Apparently this Sixth God was created to defeat the Council of Five, and had made its own race that would arrive much later to take over Famgor and subjugate all other races, making them slaves. They were also said to make cross breeds with the now existing races and make creatures of Evil. (If the Council created everything, who created the other one?)

Arch was sent back to the Forest of Doom by the Ogres, they felt Empathy for the banished Kelalen, but could do nothing for him. When Arch reached Herenula again and told the others of the Ogres and their story of the Humans and the extinction of the Orcs, the Mortal Council of Five was mortified. They sent Arch back to the Ogres with over one-hundred negotiators along side. When they spoke to the Ogres, they agreed to bring two-hundred Ogres alongside the negotiators to the city of Herenula. (I have a hard time believing that they’d take his word at face value after being banished.)

When the Ogres reached the edge of the forest, an army of nearly one-thousand Kelalen warriors and archers came out of the forest and laid siege to the Ogre forces. Nearly half of the Kelalen force was cut down before the last surviving Ogre fled on horseback, and told the King of Ogres, Yikovin Killman II, the news of the battle. (What? I’m confused…that came out of nowhere! They went from negotiating to killing each other in three sentences.)

A great war began that last for nearly one century before the Ogres and Kelalens signed a peace treaty, and became one great nation that ruled over the land of Limend. (Something else that’s a bit hard to believe.)

It was only Ten years later that they met with someone called Drako Fisk.

Overall, it feels like an extended prologue. Nothing whatsoever happened. I don’t remember any of the names, nor do I really care to be honest. In fact, it feels like you wrote all your world building into the story, leaving no room for the plot. I’d take out most, if not all of the backstory and start with something that is actually happening in the present. Anything that’s important enough to directly affect the plot can be mentioned when needed instead of putting it all in the front. The object is to hook the reader in the first few pages, not put them to sleep.

~DragonHeart~

[Psiko]

This post really serves no purpose other than to reemphasize some of the points made by DragonHeart.

I read your Prologue. Once. That is all the more I want to read it. No offense, but it is too much like an information dump. Yes, your world is "unique", but the ideas are not. Give the information during the story in bits. Have it start, perhaps, in an area where one of the Five is worshipped or something, and then you learn in the first few chapters about some of his brethren. Have it begin in a cultural hub, so to speak, where you are exposed to the different races in a place like a tavern. Do ANYTHING but an information dump as a prologue.

Before I buy a book (unless I have read several others by that author), I read the first five pages. Your first five pages would cause me to put it back on the shelf and move on. Most editors will do the same when you send that out. You don't necessarily have to have a lot of action in those first pages, but you need something resembling progress. We should know the main characters, perhaps even the main villain, as well as the idea behind a core plot within the first five pages. That is what I've read, at least.

You have none of that.

Nobody cares that the ogres were bred from orcs and humans? It has no effect on the story, and even if it does now is not the time for us to know that. We can learn it later. I'm going to quote the most overused line in all of writing, and I advise you to listen to it.

Show, don't tell.

Your prologue tells us what happened. We aren't here to read a history book. Show us this information over the course of the action in the story. Drop in pieces at a time. I know many people consider Tolkien's Silmarillion to be brilliant, but I couldn't read that again if I tried. His ideas in there are wonderful. His textbook-ish writing is not.

To summarize: show, don't tell. Ditch the prologue and let us start with Chapter One. If you MUST do a prologue, do something where the Five gather together for a meeting of sorts. Have it possess life of some kind. Keep this world-building information, because it is useful for you as a writer, but no reader will want to see that. I promise you that.

[TheBlob]

Hey, uhh, I kind of totally forgot about this topic.. It's been, what is it? 10 months? Wow.

I just read through this and all I can say is that your words are very helpful. They may have even inspired me to rewrite this and, as Magus Reddicus said,

Give the information during the story in bits. Have it start, perhaps, in an area where one of the Five is worshipped or something, and then you learn in the first few chapters about some of his brethren. Have it begin in a cultural hub, so to speak, where you are exposed to the different races in a place like a tavern. Do ANYTHING but an information dump as a prologue.

Hmm, I could really go and re-write this now.