Well.

It's been about a year since Specimens started and I've enjoyed the ride. It's been a lot of fun writing, and I think I've learned a lot along the way as well. Thank you to everyone who's stuck with me all the way.

My next serial will be Codex. You can check it out here: https://codexserial.com. The first chapter is already uploaded, but scheduled posting will begin on August 1st. Codex is high fantasy, following a group of magically bred slaves through a hostile, xenophobic world.

There will be one epilogue chapter posted next Tuesday as normal. It will feature Splinter.

test

Fixed, thank you.

Things definitely got out of hand on this job.

Fixed, thank you.

There will be an extra interlude chapter featuring Alloy posted tomorrow (5-29-2018).

It's not called Desertification for nothing.

Sorry about the late update. There will be a bonus interlude on 5/30/2018 to make up for it. Vote for the character you would like to see featured here: http://www.rkursem.com/poll/view.php?id=856a60f65.... I'll do any already-introduced character that hasn't had an interlude (Adam, Josh, Gladiator, Barrett, Hurricane, Phoenix, Lori, Athena, Revenant, Nettle, Tombstone, Fuse, and the Professor).

Fixed, thank you for pointing out that inconsistency.

Hmm, he actually isn't dead, but Viridian's reckless enough that she'd probably assume he was (he's in hiding, so she wouldn't know he's alive). I'll go ahead and fix that.

spoiler ahead:

Catalyst doesn't actually work on Baal, because his power isn't regeneration -- it's transformation, and he happens to regenerate in his transformed state. If Viridian had injected him while transformed, then iit would work except that Baal's immune to poison while transformed. So he never even realized he was poisoned because as soon as he used his power, his transformation back reverted him to a healed state. Transformation works in a different way and intelligently restores the person to their original state, mixing the transformed and untransformed states. Catalyst is a very specific, very targeted poison, not a magic bullet.

Note that Athena's exact words were: “Regeneration powers work by taking a kind of… snapshot, of the person they’re linked to. When the person differs from the snapshot, the regeneration kicks in. Catalyst doesn’t just affect the person; it also affects the snapshot, turning the person’s own power against them.”

She also said she had incomplete info: “I don’t know.” Athena drummed her fingers against the tabletop. “I don’t study imperiology. All I have is the scraps that I’ve been told.”

And Athena gave them the catalyst in the context of killing Tombstone, not Baal. This whole thing was meant to kind of underscore what Tempest was complaining about in the arcs leading up to his death -- Viridian's becoming reckless and careless, without even realizing it.