963
If you use a pen name or certain username on a writing site, what is its significance and how did you arrive at using it?

1/3
I wrote about that before but Anna Saultron is a word play related to the Fallout (Videogames and Amazon Prime Series) Franchise.
Funny enough it doesn't work in German thanks to translation stuff.
Anna Saultron derives from An Assaultron. Assaultrons (German Aggressothron... Just Y?) are frontline killer robots, able to attack with rotating metal, claws firing a head beam laser canon that incinerates every and hard to beat unless you character intelligent enough to find the off switch exploid in close combat. They are for a reason all female coded and have a higher level of self awareness and character building than other robots.
They are cruel, efficient and have a deep female robotic voice and nobody can tell me they weren't designed by an butt appreciating person because that's their most human looking part & ➡️

#PennedPossibilities 963 #AboutMe #IGuess

963 2/3
⬅️they are incredibly fast. On top of that this robo monstrosities can turn invisible. All you see is the glowing red energy before their head laser fires & all you hear is it charging & some clunky footsteps as their wedge heel like feet starting racing towards you.

I have an odd fascination with this robots & like that they often develop a realistic feeling, often dominant personality with a priority on efficiency. In game you can turn their heads into an helmet wield severed heads of them as laser guns & wield their optional blade arms as swords.

I modelled a character in Fallout 76 (& later 4) after their image & named it Anna Saultron. Her backstory was simply put Terminator and Anna's Personality a blueprint for the Assaultrons (in my Head).

Since 76 didn't display character names I switched it to my gamer tag. To make it easier for my building Videos of both games to be found I used it for YT too, later Twitter &➡️
#PennedPossibilities 963 #AboutMe #IGuess #AnnaSaultron

963 3/3
⬅️ now I'm here as Anna Saultron & I made an account on AO3 I haven't used yet.😅

Anna has become my second Persona in a weird way cause people that know me as that calling me outside of online areas also Anna, to a degree that I even refer to myself as such on occasion of i don't think fast enough to use my official names.

Since I am a diabetic wearing a sensor & having several medical implants (nothing that needs a battery) I feel connected to Anna from fallout, who is a fully converted cyborg, in a way. The head laser is an analogy to my temper which can be devastating much to my own problems handling it.

Sometimes I would love to just vanish like the robots can & i always love the more robot like characters in Fiction because I kind feel a sort of kinship (?). Anna also has become a vessel to channel myself into fanfictions or virtual worlds, always having a similar look and some weird powers.

#PennedPossibilities 963 #AboutMe #IGuess #AnnaSaultron

964
MC POV: What area of your life do you tend to enjoy in excess instead of moderation?

Kira spoke quietly after reading the question: "Well not really anything, maybe Somwhar food. It looks a bit strange but it's really good."
Arkham snickered teasingly: "Come on, tell them of your habit of drinking over a liter of unrefined EQil daily."
Kira kept her face straight as she answered: "It's more efficient that way. How about we talk about your speed addiction? That visible anticipation, your eyes narrowing, you skin shivering, this smile, if you feel the seats responds, which is actually kinda cute."
Arkham felt exposed, perplexed, flattered that Kira learned her bodies language so fast. Her heart raced as fast as her mind to find an good remark: "Ain't..."
"Ain't?" Kira repeated: "Ain't what?"
Arkham didn't answer as she felt a wave of emotions.
Kira smirked she enjoyed this little battles with her FC way to much.

#PennedPossibilities 964 #StarRyde #KiraKnox #Arkham #SciFi #WIP

965
What is your MC’s reaction when someone close to them is sick or injured? How do they behave?

Skip

#PennedPossibilities 965

966
SC POV: When was the last time you got lost?

Skip

#PennedPossibilities 966

967
What level of education do your characters have?

Skip

#PennedPossibilities 967

976.1
Pick a character. How do they, or how would they, react to sleep deprivation?

By @sfwrtr

Badly but that's what stimulants like caffeine for right? At least short term (yes I know I am guilty of to much caffeine long term also).
It's a military space ship so on and off duty and spare and sleep time tends to be very different depending on the day and workload, but no one has a good reaction to sleep deprivation. It's only different levels of worse.

#PennedPossibilities 976.1 #StarRyde #GhozTarcCrew #SciFi #WIP

968. What’s the current word count for your WIP

Correction 50.339
found some missing words and some [ ] spaces where cluttered with b v and n 😅

https://nerdculture.de/@AnnaSaultron/116282651584187226

#PennedPossibilities 968

969
Do your stories have happy endings?

That is entirely dependent on the definition, for whom and if it makes sense.

Happy End as in He-man Afflicts Perplexing Penalty Yeah Evil Nutjob Dies, no I don't write He-man stories. And I can't imagine how that definition could make any sense.

Happy as in happy ever after.
Afters are part of people butts, so I don't want to imagine how they look happy.

Happy end like in the fairy tales?
Right..
Listen, I think we need to talk about some brothers called Grimm & that knock off white washing company called Disney.
Btw Bees don't f*** flowers either.

Happy as I am happy that it ends?
No mixed emotions at best.
But I am happy to get to such a point somehow, someday that I can look back on the story & can say "What a ride, we made it so far."

Happy end divorce can be a happy ending for a bad love story with toxic traits.

And if a child gets a donor organ I wouldn't say it's pure happy end in respect to the donor.

#PennedPossibilities 969

970
MC POV: Have you ever experienced something that couldn’t be logically explained?

Ashlei: "No. 'Biological' or 'born' entities, like Terrans, Somwhar, Talithi, Asza'Ni, Trellwa'Ni, Bethosians or similar, tend to have many, non logical concepts, like gods, demons, cultures & beliefs in things like spirituality, ghosts, sense, coincidence, predetermination or luck.
Where it, in fact, comes down to a mathematical probability outcome. This, however, is not illogical if you take into account that all of them have limited compute & did not evolve to understand or explain the reality as it is, but to survive in it. Thus this 'beliefs' & attributing 'Stuff that happens' to them, is the easier & more energy efficient way for their minds, to process & accept a simplified explanation, as if they had to calculate the mathematical probabilities. Thus making faster & easier decisions more relevant to survive than factual explanations."

#PennedPossibilities 970 #StarRyde #Ashlei #SciFi #WIP

971
Where does your SC feel the safest? Is there a particular person or object that helps them feel safe?

J.: "On one hand, when I am in control of a bad situation, that's why I am the fronzo on the battlefield. The show has to be good so my team mates aren't as easily picked as I am, but I also can rely on the fact that I am capable of blowing away the enemy. The show doesn't mean anything if you'ren't able to pull you weight & survive. I have a good armor and a good arsenal to use. But honestly I rather have good company in good situations without any battles. Take Anika Kira, Rose & Talisa as an example, we know each other since Academy days. We know each other like the back of our hands. We did so many things together and have done so stupid things together. I always know, if we are together, we get through it."

#PennedPossibilities 971 #StarRyde #JHarveyGladstone #SciFi #WIP

974
Do you ever have to deal with 'trolls' where your writing is concerned? Do you receive hate?

Not at my stage now. I have gotten weird critique points from one or two persons that test read some of my scenes but I guess that's just quirks of that specific persons, because I rarely gotten the parts critiqued by others.
Stuff like the amount of letters in this sentence looks displeasing.
The flowery language like Pullover disrupts the flow.
In case "you" read it. 💚 I love you non the less.

Hate, I will definitely receive one day with the backwards evolution of our society, because I try to portrait a broad bunch of not only but mostly LGBTQIA+, partly disabled, struggling people in a SciFi universe & as we all know that there are way to many people involved into strangers genitals and their usage as there should be.

And you wouldn't believe what amount of text I cut off from this answer, because I don't want to hurl so many swears and insults today.

#PennedPossibilities 972

Divider toot for navigational purposes.

The prompts of Penned Possibilities are posted and in their majority created by @floofpaldi you can find the archive link to all of them on their profile. Thank you for almost a thousand prompts. 💚🙏🏾

4. Monthly devider & navigational toot 2026
- Last month divider toot
https://nerdculture.de/@AnnaSaultron/116154714611677862

- The other April prompts, I answer, overview toot is here:
https://nerdculture.de/@AnnaSaultron/116323537094288739

- The start of this mega thread is here:
https://nerdculture.de/@AnnaSaultron/110763385183712440
- And the first prompts answer is here:
https://nerdculture.de/@AnnaSaultron/110723765145059262
- all what followed is here:
https://nerdculture.de/@AnnaSaultron/110763385183712440
___
#PennedPossibilities April2026

973
How do you select the names of your characters? For you, is there a method?

1/3

That is quite different.
Kira always was Kira, Knox came from a friends last name. My friend always is a soft gut punch. Harsh words unfiltered if necessary but also just so incredibly understanding. I wanted that for a character. Kira's first name came from Kira Nerys of Star Trek DS9 because she is a kick ass character & I wanted that for my first Shepard in Mass Effect (Video game) & in my Fanfiction. As it evolved into something new I looked for a new name that had a ring to it & found it in Kira Knox.

Other names come as an instant idea or are bound to the role or meme i created them for.

My DND Werebear Tiefling Druid of Wildfire, Totem Warrior Bear Barbarian, Fighter Echo Knight is named Shera, because i Iiked the Netflix series so much, 1 inspiration was the burning bear ghost -> Ghost of She from Fallout:New Vegas & the song Queen of the Kings by Allesandra. So i
➡️

#PennedPossibilities 973

973 2/3
⬅️ created a meme
/serious smash character that draws heavily from the Avatar of a god inspiration. Based on the music video: https://youtu.be/vSfffjHjdTk

I thought about a church or believe system. Based around the God She who is a wildfire nature god where Shera (meaning choosen of She) is their arm & hand in the world.
Their wife, another DND character of mine, is basically all Princes Zelda incarnations I liked, reimagined as one hero called Za'el Darr, a half elf rouge thief fighter champion.

For Ariæne in Star Ryde it was a long process, their role is Antagonist Junior, so I wanted AJ as initials to remind myself to their role. Johnsen their last name depends on a secret I may implement & their first name came as an instant as @art_of_goulwenr showed me some character studies he made, I saw the face & knew that's their name, in the beginning written with ae before I remembered my few danish lessons.😅

Other characters, like my first DND Werebear:
➡️

#PennedPossibilities 973

973 3/3
⬅️
Tembra Ursae, Tembra is a misheard name from a Skyrim character, Temba Strongarm.
A woman who pays money to hunt down bears.
She is a reference to a famous Star Trek TNG line "Temba, his arms wide."
Ursae because I found it funny that she is named Bear because she transforms into a bear.
Her call name was bear arm (Strong arm from Skyrim & Star Trek reference) & she pretty much became the archetype for J. in Star Ryde. A Woman away from home because she didn't fit with their family.
While in Tembra's case it is usual for Werebears to leave their community in J.'s case it was, she couldn't get along with her family despite loving them.
Her father wanted a son (family business & tradition, bro it's the 23XX). That's why J.'s 2. name is Harvey. The J. stands for Jennifer a person I once loved dearly but sadly lost contact to. She was one strong influence for me.

So yeah basically I mix memes, concepts & personal history.

#PennedPossibilities 973 #StarRyde #SciFi #WIP & #DND

Penned Possibilities 975

SC What did you get in the most trouble for when young.

Pause

975.1 Author / Artist POV: Sometimes we end up In the Zone. Do you work until you drop? Or to a stopping point? Can you do anything but sleep afterwards? # imposter Toot
By @sfwrtr

Haven't reached that point with writing, that doesn't mean that I don't go way beyond my ages, determined by my body, usual abilities in over work myself in other hobbies. As I was younger I regularly walked and trained til I was so exhausted that I just dropped into sleep the moment I sat down.
This days it mostly happens if I have a good story to experience in front of me.
If I am writing I also stop myself from reaching this level of tiredness & exhaustion because I tend to get squibbly fingers and on a phone that can f*** up a shit ton. Or if your phone falls onto your face ... 😅

#PennedPossibilities 975.1 #ImposterToot

976. What aspect of your SC’s personality are they most insecure about?

⏸️

# Penned Possibilities

977
Have your characters ever travelled outside their country of birth? If so, when and where did they go, and why did they go there?

They do, that's the story, since they are space people, working in space and living there big parts of their lives.

Would be a weird space traveling story if not... Or maybe a story about Elite Dangerous (the computer game). *Shrug*

#PennedPossibilities 977 #StarRyde #SciFi #WIP

978
MC POV: Write about three realistic goals you would like to achieve in your lifetime.

Kira: "I don't have any plans beyond my service time or this mission. Not anymore. The goal was to get the ice queen to retire & move her, together with Anika to my biological family's home I inherited. The house is way to big for me & a possible partner alone, it was planed for 5 gens after all & with my parents being polyarmor. Now with Anika M.I.A. or K.I.A. I don't know if 'mum' & I can reconcile without her I don't even know how to tell her, if Admiral Hackett-Anderson hasn't already. This whole mission has become such a swex."

Arkham: "The plan was to go back, live my life & wait for the next mission. Not sure I can to be honest. I never needed other people in between but this time's different. You know what they say about plans? They aren't worth a swex."

Ashlei: Bringing my crew safe home, clearing this mission."
#PennedPossibilities 978 #StarRyde #KiraKnox #Arkham #Ashlei #SciFi #WIP

979
Tell us about something that disgusts your SC

Talisa Draken: Kira. No not her entire person. She developed this habit since Rose has shown her some hacking tricks. I know her for, I think 20 years. Yeah must be 20. Since the academy. Hacking is part of warfare & everyone needs to master at least basic levels to get their officers certificate. Kira was not very good at it, so Rose took her under her wings.
That's basically how they started dating before we get together & Anika left.
Never mind Kira's special is, to hack minor protected parts to get into a system & she mainly uses her skill to hack our enzyme printers, to dispense unrefined EQuil.
She puts in some extra spice but still it's a gooy soup with no own flavor & she drinks several mugs a day. Her spices make it smell like dead mater.
At times I am glad we're not together anymore, it's also what gives her away if she sneaks up on you..."

#PennedPossibilities 979 #StarRyde #TalisaDraken #KiraKnox #SciFi #WIP

980
Have you ever had your work plagiarized or stolen?

Not that I am aware of for creative stuff...

I created Lego stuff as a kid which some years later released officially by Lego but I guess that's just a coincidence. My first lego space ships I designed as a child had the story that they where Star Trek ships from the far future after the Federation collapsed (I was 10 or so) so maybe I should sue CBS? 🤔
I mean they clearly don't need money with that sky dance shit...

I predicted the next rise of fascism as early as 16...
So
Maybe I should sue all this piss flaps that work against humanity or maybe we just deal - [redacted] - [redacted] - [holy guacamole redacted] - [redacted] - [Redacted!] [geez seriously R2D2 swears less than Anna right now redacted].

#PennedPossibilities 980

981
If your SC could only eat one specific meal and drink one beverage for the rest of their life, what would they choose?

⏸️

# Penned Possibilities 981

982
For characters with a significant other, what is their happiest shared memory?

1/3

Kira smilled, it was a genuine & warm smile that circulated all the way to the eyes. This infectious warm & fuzzy feeling.
From one of Ashleis speakers, near her, a slightly surprised "aowwww" made it's way. For an instant the reactor of the Ghoz'Tarc skipped a second of work & a shaking ran through the ships structure, that sent people tumbling & stuff vibrating.

It was just 2 seconds but that's a fairly long time for an unknown phenomena. The crew prepared for the worst as they started a ship wide alarm & request rolled in to the Captain and the AI at the same time.

Kira realized quickly what happened.
"Swex."
She quickly touched her Holo, to open a ship wide channel.
"Crew, threat level 0, please return to normal operations. I'm sorry it seems my emotions swapped over to Ash & had her react in an equivalent of a shiver. ➡️

#PennedPossibilities 982 #StarRyde #KiraKnox #Ashlei #SciFi #WIP

982
⬅️ 2/3
I repeat, threat level 0, please return to normal operations. Knox out."

She walked over to the speaker from which the sound came before. She gently stroked it with her left hand. It was an idiotic gesture but she hoped that Ash would register it somehow.

"Hey Ash, are you okay?"

Seconds past before the AI answered.

"No... I feel."

"Like something or in general."

"In general. That shouldn't be possible. It's dangerous. I am not ment to feel.-" Kira gently patted the wall panel next to the speaker, how does one comfort a ship? "-I want to keep this memory & focus my entire computational power onto it. Everything else seems, blend."

"It's okay to feel, the memories I share with you had to had an influence eventually."

Anger rose in the AIs voice: "I am not ment to feel! This is dangerous! I am defect!"

"Shh, Ash let us deal with this together, create a separated instance for us & connect again. Let us ➡️

#PennedPossibilities 982 #StarRyde #KiraKnox #Ashlei #SciFi #WIP

982 3/3
⬅️ go through this together, you are not alone, your anger, your love, we share it, we are in this together."

Ash scanned the room and 'saw' that Kira was kneeling in front of the speaker, starring into it. She knew what that ment as a gesture, but it was kinda senseless. A part of her was angry for that thought.

She separated a local instance, from the rest of the ships computer system and grudgingly opened a channel to Kira again. Pure warmth hit her.
Kira was sending thoughts of love and support. "Kira... Captain. I..."
The local instance reached it's secure limits as all the fuzzy weird and beautiful pictures of Kiras memories flooded the AIs system. "What are you doing?"

"Come, come with me."

Ash's memories showed her a hand reaching towards her. What ever she was in this moment. This didn't make any sense. You can not grab a program but... It didn't matter...
Ash felt lucky, happy even safe.

#PennedPossibilities 982 #StarRyde #KiraKnox #Ashlei #SciFi #WIP

983
MC POV: If you had been able to choose, would you rather have been an only child or part of a very large family?
1/2
Kiras left hand cramped and the stylus, she used to write on the data projection on the table, simply broke. Her right hand flew through the air, through the screen project and left it disrupted for nano seconds.

Ash followed that Kiras angry response was meant to 'destroy' the screen. The Captains mind was isolated and she couldn't read her thoughts or memories of the moment. She calculated a response that could please Kira and maybe make things better.

A scratching sound played as Ash let the screen get torn into pieces. The stripes of the screen fell upon each other and made a broken glass sound before Ash simulated them to be thrown against a wall with some in her understanding fitting sounds.

Kira laughed suppressed. Ash realized that she fought back tears.
"I am sorry, Kira."

Kira sniffed: ➡️

#PennedPossibilities 983 #StarRyde #KiraKnox #Ashlei #SciFi #WIP

983 2/2

⬅️ " Not your fault Ash.-" She paused and grabbed the bridge of her nose with her right hand. "-Thank you for the Audio support. It felt somehow good to hear it shatter. Very comforting."

"Please imagine that I smile at you Kira. I would love to give you a supportive smile or a hug... I am sorry that my body is a scout vessel and not an android."

"Don't be sorry for who you are Ash or what you are."

From the outside Kira went from a frustrated outburst and destruction of a stylus to a short burst of anger in an attack on a somehow physical reacting holographic projecting, to a suppressed laughter, pinching her nose and now staring onto the table.

From the outside only 5 seconds have passed.

#PennedPossibilities 983 #StarRyde #KiraKnox #Ashlei #SciFi #WIP

984
Where does your MC feel the safest? Is there a particular person or object that helps them feel safe?

See 982

#PennedPossibilities 984 #StarRyde #Ashlei #SciFi #WIP

985
How long have you been writing or when did you start?

🤷🏻

At least 30 years but mostly for myself.

#PennedPossibilities 985

986
Check-In time! How are you enjoying working on your WIP? Are things going the way you planned, or has the outline somehow changed along the way

Here is the history of Star Ryde since I actually started writing on its story and not only on its characters and worldbuilding, in November of 2024:
https://nerdculture.de/@AnnaSaultron/113527686666583125

As you can see at the second most recent answer it still throws twists at me, in unexpected but not unappreciated ways. I found it interesting that seemingly everything I set up in chapter one and two seems to unfold into a sci-fi political thriller. We will see how this will evolve and how I can build a bridge into the rest of my planned universe and what it means for some background characters that suddenly seem more plot relevant.

#PennedPossibilities 986 #StarRyde #SciFi #WIP

987
Do any of your characters have an unusual or uncommon pet? What is it? How did they acquire it?

Pet or the German name Haustier
(Haus = House - Tier ist the same word as in English but in German it means animal)
are seen as insults by Terrans in the 2300.

Animal companions are not owned, they choose to stay with someone, a lot of animal languages have also been decoded & can be used thanks to universal translation (it takes a bit longer since animals have no neural implants).

In the Background a Somwhar Musician from the Planet Khalit lives on Terra together with a red cat he calls Bob. Somwhar are best described as humanoid felines & Khalit has a exorbitant variety of different people of them. Most of them hate Terran cats. Not Somwhar Ovate Reinbo, he finds Bob very cool and amusing. Even if he is shunned for it by his people, Bob just showed up one day & improved his life.

#PennedPossibilities 987 #StarRyde #Somwhar #SomwharOvateReinbo #Khalit #WorldBuilding #SciFi #WIP

988
Tell us about your MC’s bravest moment.

Kira: some call it indoctrinated some call it brave. Joining the Alliance Military forces with fourteen.
So young you are not pulled into service but educated into technology & mechanics of ships, strategy, tactics, knowledge of how weapons are build, what military doctrines are and schooled how to defuse the dangerous situations non violently. Still the Alliance Pre Education (closest translation short A.P.E.) program isn't without challenges and challengers, the skills are helpful everywhere in space, but joining the military that early even with its leave clause doesn't sits right with everyone.

Arkham: running away from home and deciding to take her life in her own hands.

Ashlei: can AIs be brave?
Should AIs be brave? Do we even want brave AIs?

#PennedPossibilities 988 #StarRyde #Arkham #Ashlei #KiraKnox #SciFi #WIP

989
Is your MC an immigrant or newcomer in the place where they live? If so, where did they emigrate from and where do they currently live?

Technically speaking yes if we are very precise. The Ghoz'Tarc is a Union Alliance Spaceship. The Union Alliance is part of the Union but not a Place where people get born (usually) so the whole crew migrates to their work and living space at the missions beginning. Since the Alliance is a Military not everyone can just decide to live on its ships.
As many ship travelers today the Ghoz'Tarc crew has to deal with different laws & usual habits in different places.
You are probably also a migrant if you ever moved into a new place for work, even if your just switched between parts of the city. You might not feel that way or people might not treat you differently for that (depends on the people in the city and how up they have the stick up their arse and if it penetrates their brains already*) but technically you are.

#PennedPossibilities

@AnnaSaultron

In the course of my adult life, I've moved states several times here in the US. They absolutely feel like different countries. Most recently, I moved within a state from a mountain to the desert and that felt different as well.