..  Titling
    ##++::==~~--''``

Introduction
============

Thanks for choosing Balladeer for your next writing project!

You will be steering the vessel, of course. All I did was pick the crew.
And here they are:

Python_
    A popular, elegant, flexible programming language.
SpeechMark_
    A simple, expressive dialogue markup system.
TOML_
    A structured data format. Highly specified, and widely adopted.
HTML5_
    The ultimate syntax for semantic, portable, electronic documents.
CSS3_
    Powerful styling rules for layouts, themes and animation.

The challenge I had was to stop this bunch from fighting.

It took me a while to find the right role for each of these special talents.
Then I had to put them all together without there being any friction.
In the same way a waveguide finds the match between an amplifier and an antenna.
Or how a gearbox couples an engine to a loaded axle.

So there was me, five salty seadogs, half a gallon of rum, and three ounces of butter.
I gave them each a duty, and now they're getting along just fine.

If you're reading this any time after June 2023, we'll have completed our trials
and stand ready for action.

    Balladeer is a great option for every kind of mission.

    * Parser-driven interactive fiction
    * Choice-based game books
    * Multimedia web art
    * Poetry
    * Screenplay


    You'll find Balladeer simple to handle. And she'll take you anywhere you want to go.

    -- Tundish

.. _Python: https://www.python.org/
.. _SpeechMark: https://github.com/tundish/speechmark
.. _TOML: https://toml.io/en/
.. _HTML5: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTML5
.. _CSS3: https://www.w3.org/Style/CSS/
