Impressive. Most impressive. And now I know the Gek-like creatures are called Grunts. 
Nijol will be most pleased with this information.
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This is totally off topic, but I’ve been working up to that one painting since freaking July 30. It has been an ordeal. I FINALLY got around to gessoing my canvas board, and google “gesso” to understand what I’m talking about. Artists know. It’s Blick Master Gesso - from 2009. Only twelve years old. Fortunately it’s still in great shape. I spread it on…
And completely wiped out my sketch on the canvas. That stuff is opaque as a sheet of metal! All that work… ZOMG. 
I’m trying to get some of it off now, because otherwise I’ll have to start from scratch. If nothing else, I can art up the pic I took of the diorama study, which should still result in a great piece. It’s just that I have $600-plus in oil paints and I’ve been itching to use them… so keep me in your prayers. And for life crud too, but that stuff is too… ugh. 
On a happier note, I have a chapter that has been ready to go for a couple weeks. I just need to get a painting or two down.
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I have gessoed many a canvas. But I always preferred pen and ink or conte crayon on colored papers.
Take a deep breath. 
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I seldom use canvas. For acrylics, I generally use 200 GSM and above paper or card. For oils I use extra heavy (1.5mm) greyboard or hardboard (Masonite).
With acrylics on card, I don’t bother with gesso - I just give the whole thing a primer coat of white acrylic. With oils, however, I always gesso the board first - sometimes 3 or 4 coats, sanding down between coats.
And yes, gesso is opaque, and will obliterate anything under it. I always thought that was the point. If I’m doing layout sketches, I do them over the gesso.
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The only thing I ever managed to do with physical colors is making a mess of myself and my environment… How some people manage to keep that from happening while also managing to paint a picture is still beyond me.
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I only described the materials I use. I never said I could paint good pictures…
Some things are best left hidden.
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You like that smooooth surface, do you, which results in a marvelous accurate stroke of color. I figure with canvas, it’s good for less detailed work, letting the fabric grab the color and texture it itself for a more impressionist approach. I’d rather not get too bogged down with detail work, which the one piece I’m about to slather paint on isn’t really about details anyway.
This is the first time I’ve used pro level art stuff. Previously it has either been budget acrylic or watercolor, and the Liquitex gesso I bought was always accommodating to letting either pencil, pen or perm marker work show through okay. Not this Blick Master stuff, gosh, it’s dense. But I managed to get it to wash down enough that my sketchwork shows through plainly, so lesson learned. Anyhow, a bite to eat, and then I start mixing blacks. 
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I guess this is my “famous last words” moment. I’m about to Grah, a lot.
Not only do I want to do a little bit of detail work, I hyped myself into thinking that water soluble oils were like cool, workable acrylics. And they’re not. They’re oily, especially the cheaper 12 year old paints I’m being forced to use because dumb me thought I could skate with some budget media. Weber wOils, which are apparently not being sold much these days, if at all. Not only does it smell suspiciously like cooking oil, it stains freaking EVERYTHING. My tubes are taking on the oily tint of their pigments because the oil is separating, and it oozes all over. Every brush I’ve used looks like I’ve been painting with greasy blue-black used motor oil. I look like I’ve been working on my car. Thank God it washes out with soap and water. With some work.
Life lessons can be irritating. My artistic “career” began with student oils, and that was a deep pool to dive into. I quickly migrated to acrylics and watercolors, and developed all my techniques on these faster drying media. I guess I’ll have to save up for some Golden Open acrylics. Meh. 
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Water soluble oils? Is this some new kind of eco-friendly oil paints? Sounds ghastly.
I kept the same brush cleaning rag for many years. It was so saturated with terpentine and oil paint, you could get high by just sitting in the room with it. I loved the smell. 
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Actually, water soluble oils are quite the rage with a number of artists who are sensitive to turpentine. That “get high” thing and others. And the quality is great. Just be sure not to get the cheapest paints and let them sit around for more than a decade. My problem is I bought some essential colors in that Weber brand, and the painting is about two-thirds painted, so I either have to quit or see it through. And I’m kinda stubborn that way. Must be that Murica thing.
I should have just bought a bunch of Windsor & Newton, Cobra and Grumbacher, it would have cost almost the same. And I love the smell of the good oils. I’ve gotten a bit sensitive to turpentine over the years, so that’s why I switched. Maybe I need to sniff some linseed oil.
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I’ve never heard of water soluble oils, and I must say, the concept sounds to me like a solution looking for a problem. I love the smell of genuine turpentine, but it’s getting hard to obtain these days. I suspect, as with most things, the health warnings are overblown, and you’d actually have to drink a bucket of the stuff before you suffered any real harm. Otherwise, how did all those old-time painters manage to work for 50 years, being exposed to turpentine all day, every day?
Still. white spirit (mineral spirits) is cheap and easy to get hold of, and it does the job just as well.
I’m not under any illusions about the aesthetic or cultural quality of the stuff I make. I do it for my own satisfaction, and I don’t show it. Consequently, I’m not too bothered about using “proper” artist’s materials. I very much doubt that in 300 years, museum curators will be stressed about the deterioration of my work.
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A little afterthought -
Once you’ve freed yourself from the tyranny of “proper” artist’s materials, you can happily experiment with other things.
One interesting discovery I’ve made is tung oil. Pure tung oil is almost impossible to buy, but it turns out to be the main ingredient of a wood finish called danish oil. Most hardware shops will sell you a small can of danish oil quite cheaply.
Try thinning oil colours with danish oil. It makes fantastic colour washes and tints. It dries fast, too.
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It is also wonderful for sprucing up old furniture. Tung oil, linseed oils, turpentine…my mom had a special concoction for maintaining an old farmhouse table with benches.
At least it seems you can still find titanium zinc white. For a time, I recall being unable to find zinc white.
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While we’re on art stuff, Jerry’s Art Supply and Dick Blick have extensive online stores and have roughly the same prices. Blick stores are also located in most major cities, and can be even cheaper than the online shop, though local taxes apply. And free shipping with a reasonable amount of orders for both. You can check out those watery oily guys. I’m also quite fond of Hobby Lobby and Michael’s.
But I agree that the old smell of classic oils and turpentine is something I remember fondly. Meanwhile, my upstairs is beginning to smell of rancid cooking oil. GRAH! Attic fan run hard! 
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From: traveller-fox@DSC9-infineonII
To: ertosi@sol-eng.FC6E7007
Most excellent Ertosi, First Servant of the Grand Conjunction,
Pardon the late delay, but I have been traveling, among other things. Life in Euclid is quite an adventure sometimes. I have a few questions I hope you can answer. Pardon the length of the mail, but I suffer a voracious appetite for knowledge.
The Chronoproject: the very title stirs my imagination. I was wondering if you have made any efforts to travel back in time to periods before the first Reset, before the arrival of ATLAS, perhaps to explore the previous Age, which I have been nostalgically calling the Civilized Age? I don’t know if there are any answers to our respective quests to be learned in such a journey, but I can’t imagine anything more scientifically, historically, culturally or emotionally fascinating. Within Resets, have your folk made any significant discoveries concerning ATLAS, or the Sentinels? I understand the Traveler groups are giving the Resets names, and it seems we’ve recently had another one. Has it been named yet, and how are those names determined?
Subspace Systems Research: is this a study of the star systems along the extreme edge of the Euclid Galaxy known as The Fade? This region bordering the rim of the galaxy sounds exactly like what you’re referring to. Have you gleaned any knowledge as to the physical characteristics of this spacial oddity? If I have that wrong, what are you referring to? Also, is there any method of traveling to other stars than by Hyperjump Drive? It’s my understanding that directly jumping to these systems in The Fade doesn’t work. What method do you use?
Derelicts: I encountered a singularly unique Entity, to say the least, aboard a wrecked Freighter, the SV Ambax IX. It was a threat the likes of which I had never seen before, in fact quite terrifying. It seemed to have corrupted the minds of the crew, turning them to a level of insanity that was downright depraved and brutal to each other. I was given an application which makes scientific records of various characteristics of anomalies, and the gist of this demonic being is as follows:
Entity discovered: aboard Freighter SV Ambax IX
Entity level classification: Psi level being
Entity form classification: naked lifeforce, variable physical form
Entity energy state: ~10^18 Joules
Entity intellect class: unknown
Entity motivations: unknown
Entity behavior patterns: irrational, hostile, violent, predatory
Entity assessment: demi-lifeform, extremely dangerous, lifeforce hazard
Additional details: subject to data analysis by X000 Class computer system
I’ll make the data files available if you so desire. I’ll get into one of the reasons for mentioning this presently.
ATLAS: are you privy to any knowledge as to its origin? So far, I’ve been unable to glean anything in regard to this. I’m particularly curious of an association with the appearance of us Travellers. Are you aware of any indications as to its motivations or goals? Has it indeed erased entire planets, star systems and universes?
Resets: does anyone have a clue why they happen? Even with my Reset Amnesia I’m struggling with, I recall that this universe was once very different, and I really should explore your findings of The Chronoproject. I recall that extreme weathers are a fairly recent phenomenon, and many of these have to be threatening the environments of garden worlds. Has anyone cataloged the changes between Resets? Seen any patterns to them?
Travellers: we are many different races, all very distinctive. Are you aware of any concept of our origins? All I’ve been able to come across are mentions in the sagas of Hirk and Nal. Do you or anyone suspect we come from the previous Age? I have had dreams which indicate my origin is from another universe entirely. I was wondering if anyone had similar intuitions.
This universe: I’m trying to wrap my head around everything I know of it, and a lot of it makes no sense to me. I’ve encountered lore in old documents, Planetary Archives, and shared by Korvax sages which indicates this universe is a simulation. I’m aware of the theory, but unsettled by the implications. I suppose I should just admit, I’m concerned that my friends and loved ones are real, living beings. That I’m conversing over mail with a person, not just an entity which is a bundle of code programmed with certain parametric responses to its environment. Has anyone wrestled with this kind of existential angst?
The galaxies themselves are another huge puzzle. I’m fairly certain that in my early days as a Traveller, Euclid was much smaller, and I recall a radius of about 120,000 light years or so. Now, it’s something around 800,000, which is gigantic. And from the information I came across, it seems that all galaxies have the same dimensions - and vaguely similar histories! Is it really true that on all galaxies, there are only the Three Races of Gek, Korvax and Vy’keen, and no others? And that there are only 255 galaxies, reachable only by some means afforded by ATLAS? I recall in dreams of my possible previous life in another universe, that it was far larger than this one, with essentially infinite galaxies in massive superclusters, strewn through vast expanses of space like cobwebs, and some of them visible without need of optical instruments. Are these 255 galaxies roughly mirrors of each other with subtle differences, instances of one template galaxy, Euclid? Are they separate micro-universes? Is this confirmation of a simulated universe?
Abandoned Outposts: I’ve come across a number of these, and each one bears an increasingly disturbing message from one or more Travellers. They had encounters of unsettling natures, coming across ever more unusual and mentally challenging things. They mentioned highly unusual worlds in their quest to the center of the galaxy, which I’m assuming is Euclid. Among these unsettling elements, they spoke of a Voice, guiding them, calling to them, urging them on. I myself have been sensing Voices in my head, one of which was from that horror I stumbled into on the Ambax IX. Are you aware of anyone having similar experiences? Have they gone so far as to try to communicate with them?
This / these Travellers spoke of singularly unusual worlds tied to some sort of revelation. There was one mention of The Haze Zone, located near the galactic anterior, and that they reached a star system using a unique hyperdrive. Also, I’ve heard mentions in my travels of people speaking ominously of The Last Days. There doesn’t seem to be any consensus as to what that phrase means. Is there anything definite you can offer on that, or unusual worlds with highly significant ties to ATLAS or some other revelation? Any hint of the location of a Haze Zone?
Other races: are Euclid and the other galaxies home to any other races to your knowledge? Is there the slightest chance that some vestiges of peoples escaped the ravages of the Gek First Spawn in their genocidal conquest of Euclid? I know that it could be a needle in a haystack chance of an encounter, but it just seems plausible that with a near infinite number of inhabitable worlds, a vestige of races from the Civilized Age still exist. I may have come across a couple of unique sentient races myself, and I wondered if others have. I ask this because I managed to wrangle some good relations with a clan of Vy’keen pirates, who’s leader saved my life by the way, and they lived in villages unbothered by Sentinels because that particular region of uncharted space was somehow Sentinel free. Are there any other such worlds where some vestige of civilization exists? Any ruins of the previous Age?
The Ancients: I might be a source of controversy on this. According to majority of scholarly opinion, the Ancients were either a cosmopolitan group of races in the Civilized Age, or perhaps all the races of this Age combined. But I’ve come across some information which indicates strongly that the Ancients were a unique race of beings from this period, and fled this universe sometime before ATLAS put a kibosh on organized civilization. They once had major cities strewn through Euclid. Is there any indication that remains of these cities still exist?
Is there any attempt to bring about another Galactic Council? Or are the Three Races too ethnocentric to attempt another one? Or afraid of ATLAS?
Am I asking too many questions? I beg your pardon if I am, but as one Korvax sage put it, I’m driven by a unique and ravenous hunger for knowledge. I have a feeling there are many things which depend on answers to my insistent quest for Truth. In any case, I think this is enough for you to digest at your leisure.
Thank you again for your time and fellowship, if over a mail.
Your friend and fellow questor for Truth,
~ Nigel Fox
(And as this is for my fiction, feel free to take liberties with the NMS Lore and craft whatever findings, evidence and truth you like. Nigel is already scratching his head over conflicting bits of information and lore. “We don’t knows” are certainly fair game. Thanks again for playing along.) 
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