It started with one of those ideas that come out of nowhere and follow you home and keep showing up no matter how many times you try to discard it. I'm sure a lot of us have had ideas like that: Yell at it, refuse to feed it, kick it a few times, beat it with a stick until it runs off, maybe even fire a few shots (metaphorical, of course)... but in a few days the idea shows up again, still just as alive as it was, and apparently looking to you for a home, whether you like it or not, no matter how many times you behead it with a machete, stab it in the heart with a massive wooden stake, or jab gold powder into its air vents.

The genesis of this idea can partially be blamed on the fandom of [the ''Freefall'' webcomic]; specifically the person who made a very lovely costume of the character "Florence Ambrose", a very lovely genetically-enhanced wolf lady. Upon seeing the photos, I thought to myself (since no one else was around), something along the lines of "Wow, that costume was put together really well."

A few days later, when I'm lying in bed late at night, "dreaming with eyes open while waiting for sleep", I suddenly find myself wondering, for no good reason, what Florence would've been like if she hadn't been put together as well by the genetic engineers at Ecosystems Unlimited, led by brilliant scientist Dr. Bowman. Although I dismissed the question rather quickly, since it was rather dumb and uninteresting, that random thought is the one that eventually evolved into the dreaded "Undead Relentless Immortal Zombie Idea That'll Never Ever Go Away". (Or U.R.I.Z.I.T.N.E.G.A. for short.)

So the idea hid for a few days, then resurfaced, thinly disguised as another "what-if" which was rather similar: "What if someone who didn't know what they were doing tried to duplicate Dr. Bowman's success?"

I had to whack that one with a stick a few times before it went away.

Now, if I hadn't been so involved in my hobby of writing music at the time, that probably would've been the end of it... Naah, probably not.

Anyway, I had just finished my remake of the music from a Commodore 64 program named "Marc's Movements" (a programming demo from Holland). I was rather proud of what I had done with the strings in that piece, and wanted to try that style again. Another piece I had recently done was named "Futility", and had a chord sequence I really liked, and wanted to expand somewhat and reuse in a different style.

So I started a new piece, and soon had a nice long chord sequence being beat out with violins. Then I added a little bass guitar to it, and the result sounded a little melancholy (some influence from "Futility" still showing) so I added an equally melancholy melody with piano. It sounded nice, so I continued in that direction.

And then I tried adding an electric guitar at one point, which sounded rather growly, like an angry dog. It worked for the piece, though, so I kept it. After a while, I saved the piece, giving it a working title of "Linseed" for no real reason at all; just so I'd have a filename.

Later, though, I wondered why a dog would be growling in a piece of melancholy music. Naturally, I had the answer almost instantly: "Because the geneticists put him together wrong." It was around this point that the U.R.I.Z.I.T.N.E.G.A. took off and grew exponentially, apparently due to someone feeding it some special tea with plutonium and uranium and monosodium glutamate and magic pretzels in it while I wasn't looking.

It was another sleepless night, another one of those where I'm trying to sleep but my thoughts keep me awake by being as loud and random as a retirement home for old pro wrestlers with Alzheimer's. In this case, my thoughts returned to the pictures of the Florence costume, my desire for a "Bowman's Wolf" of my own (like an adopted little brother with a tail), and the idea of a Bowman's Wolf with serious genetic flaws... And the name "Linseed".

Suddenly my far-from-finished song was about a character I might play if I could get a good enough wolf costume made by the next time I'd attend a convention with a "Freefall" room party (to be honest, though, that will probably never happen). It seemed like it could potentially be a wonderful prank to play on everyone, to have another genetically-engineered wolf just suddenly show up and start interacting with the lady wearing the Florence costume. The differences between Florence and Linseed would confuse everyone a little bit, until later when it'd be revealed that they weren't related. That, of course, would raise more potentially interesting questions. Questions are fun.

Of course, it'd be a better prank if no one knew whose character it was. Therefore, Linseed would have to be mute; one word and everyone would know it was me, which would ruin some of the fun. Of course, Linseed being unable to say anything would also ruin some of the fun. The solution was obvious, as it probably would be for anyone staring at their ceiling in the middle of the night trying to sleep instead of think about it: Give Linseed a voice synthesizer. Perhaps a laptop, one with just enough processor power to operate a sophisticated voice synthesizer. I had a particular Commodore 64 program which could provide the perfect voice if I ported it. I could hear it in my head already. I was already imagining possible conversations between me and my character. (Admit it, that's something you RPers do a lot, isn't it?)

Anyway, damn that undead idea. It was talking to me now. It's always harder to be mean to things that can talk to me.

"If I could howl, how do you think I'd sound?"

And this was how I finally figured out how I was going to finish the rest of the song, which ended up with the official name "The Howls of Linseed". With some clever use of the electric guitar sounds I had available, I was able to simulate, at least to some extent, some angry growls, lonely howls, pained yelps; and even a long, sad, death cry at the end. (I know I've got a great ending to a song when I feel like I've murdered someone close to me!)

While I worked on the music, I was also simultaneously hammering out a lot of the details of the Linseed character. I ended up deciding that Linseed would be a rather tragic character, though; sufficiently so that his presence at any party could potentially be a significant downer. (In the case of most of my Freefall friends, the last thing they need is another downer in their lives. It's bad enough that most of them are total nerds! Ah, how I miss them sometimes!)

Thus, I gave up on the idea of having a Linseed costume made. (It, like all good things, would've been prohibitively expensive anyway.) A character like this would be much better suited for fan-fiction. And, of course, I soon had an idea for that, too. An undead relentless zombie idea, even...

Damn, this song is old.