I’m currently sitting at 998 reputation on Stack Overflow. Anyone willing to upvote some of my answers to push me over 1000?

Speaking of which, most software developers are rapid consumers of Stack Overflow, but how many give back by actually answering questions? About 8 years ago I started trying to spend a bit of time each week contributing, and while my consistency dropped off after a few months, it was a rewarding experience. It didn’t hurt that I was also trying to beef up my online presence during a season of job hunting.

My current workplace has an internal developer Q&A site which I’ve just recently started actively contributing to as well. For one, it’s good writing practice. And also because learning is best done in public.

All the time spent indoors during the pandemic quarantine has afforded unique opportunities for creativity. Last night we played some D&D as a family, and to get in the right mindset, I wrote a backstory for my character. Thought I’d post it here for posterity. Enjoy!

I never knew my parents; no one did. I was left in the dead of night on the portico of the Second Temple of The Mother, naked and shivering. Reverend Shaeltiel brought me in, and quickly became like a father. As I grew, it became clear I was more than human. Not just because of my lanky frame and luxuriously long and straight hair. The reverend had never seen anyone with my thirst for knowledge. By my sixth year-day I’d memorized the entire Sacred Codex, and by my tenth there were no more books in the temple library I hadn’t read at least twice. Still I craved more.

It first happened during a thunderstorm. I laid awake, reciting an ancient poem to myself in a failing attempt to soothe my anxieties. Simultaneous with a flash of lighting outside my window, I felt a prickling sensation on my hands, and behold! Little arcs of electricity bounced between my fingers. I caught my breath, and the sparkling stopped. I would get no sleep that night.

Early the next morning I went to Reverend Shaeltiel and explained what happened. He sighed, and brought me to his study. Only behind the heavy doors did he tell me that he’d long feared for this day, for my prodigious intellect had tapped into forces older than any beings on earth: the elemental forces. He explained that with further study and practice, I could master these forces. How did he know this, I asked. Because he too could command them. It was a skill forbidden by the church, however, and in his zeal for faith he’d resisted its practice. With time, he said I could do the same, but first I had to learn control.

For months we trained together, always in secret. I brought forth light from darkness and summoned great bolts of fire from my hands. From a hidden chamber in his study, Reverend Shaeltiel provided massive tomes containing even greater possible feats where even the great storms could be tamed and focused. My knowledge grew, and my power grew with it.

In retrospect, it was inevitable that I’d be exposed, for there are to be no secrets in the Faith of the Five, and this was a small temple, in an even smaller village. I’d been practicing a thunderclap incantation, and how I might combine it with an amplifying focuser. Little did I know the resulting shockwave would explode from my chambers, shattering the stained glass in the adjoining sanctuary and echoing across the valley. Reverend Shaeltiel came running, his eyes met mine, and together we came to the same conclusion: it was time for me to choose: either embrace the rules of the faith and rein in my burgeoning abilities, or find my fortunes elsewhere. I chose to go.

That evening I left the temple, and now I quest for further knowledge and how I can bring the power I wield to defend truth and justice, and to show to myself and the templars of the Faith of the Five, that they needn’t fear the ancient elemental forces. They are but tools for a greater purpose, a purpose only the future can reveal.