Contingency plan Storyline

[Kato]

Here's my idea:

With the DRC gone, the explorer base dried up. There was no reason to visit the Cavern anymore. For all intends and purposes, it was dead.

But the Guilds, they had their solutions, they Wrote a new Age...we'll call it D'nay for now. But how to get to D'nay?

A small desert town. Las Belleza. A few miles from the site of D'ni. The Guild purchased an abandoned church there, and placed the Book to D'nay, allowing all explorers to know that they were in the right place upon seeing the Church's iconic structure.

Once one arrives at the church (and finds the way in ), one is presented with a KI (or whatever device we're using for the interface) machine. Once the machine is used, a Book to whatever sort of hub we have (I'm thinking like a Nexus + Relto kinda thing, a small but personal area) is produced. This Book does NOT go on your hip (we aren't capable of that) but you can access stations in the Ages (like Nexus stations) to get to it. You are provided with a Link to D'nay at first, and, much like the Nexus, your new Ages are added here.

And that's my idea for how we actually get there. It's plausible, IRL.

Note: The concept of Las Belleza is an old one that I worked on with a friend back at GoAC, as a real-world Link to the Cavern (a town where explorers could buy supplies, find a safe home near the cavern, etc.). The church was partially built and so was a gas station and a few other things for the town. In my mind, there would be two versions of it--the "entry" one (like the Cleft) that I described here, empty of people, and one much more like the City--one set at night. This would be, ICly, how explorers get back the surface--and could also serve for some storyline events, seeing as it's public.

-Kato

[Owehn]

Las Belleza sounds nice. What sort of iconic structure were you talking about for the church?

[Floydman]

This Book does NOT go on your hip (we aren't capable of that) but you can access stations in the Ages (like Nexus stations) to get to it.

Ah, but what about linking out just in time to miss being submerged in lava or falling off an island in the clouds?

[Trylon]

What about the idea of small panic linking books that link you to a "panic reception", where you can retrieve a new panic book.
(Printed automatically by the newest printing techniques).

One problem with that is that the ground would eventually be littered with panic linking books.
(Or would it make sense if they were to incinerate after one use?)

[pappou]

Saturday, 16feb08

My mind had been fairly set on the need to distance any new age from D'Ni and all things Cavern, ever since Greydragon stomped upon the SR Museum (at least, upon its presence in the Cavern).

However, Trylon's 'Contingency plan Storyline' (and especially some of the commentary which follows it) makes too much sense to ignore.

What I see in it can be spoken in the short caveat, Shards are in!

Shards may fall in line as Trylon and others are suggesting; BUT separate shards may also be seen as existing prior to the destruction of the Cavern.

This means there should be no prejudice against shards which do not follow directly in the lineage of Uru, as long as they do not contradict existing cononisity. They should, in fact, be encouraged.

That is the short caveat:
Trylon's message is that the old Cavern emerges once again in Shards, but it should NOT be taken that nothing else has (n)ever existed; rather, places like TwoCities should be encouraged as a separate type of Shard with all the linking privileges and communicating devices given to the D'Nay.

[pappou]

Certain Ramifications

The future of Shards as the medium for the continuation of the Uru Story means that the children of the Cavern should emerge, not as step children, but as the progeny of D'ni heritage. In Trylon's thread they are being called the 'D'Nay'. But...

There should be no enforcement of a centralizing power. Chacal's caveat that there be no hard core central story makes too much sense. There are no Cyan lawyers here, giving advice on how to operate a new Soviet amongst the Shards. A central authority would be a mess and succeed only at making all other story lines illegitimate. It would surely stifle development, not encourage it.

Rather, the wise suggestion is that the progeny of D'Ni, the D'Nay, should be dispensers of the Ki and operators of the Nexus servers. This may include a substitute relto (definitely not the old one) and perhaps they have the franchise for candy machines and cold cokes. As Chacal says, let the Progeny operate the servers, add the age books to the book shelf (it was Owen who mentioned nexus duties), but there is no room for a centralized police force keeping watch over the correct storyline.

It would be nice if the Maintainers kept up their good work in keeping the machinery oiled.

But it just makes too much sense to give up any claims to the bahro stories (following Andy's advice); they were fun, but they are not for us. Yeesha probably should be convenient to memory only.

And I agree heartedly, Owen: Kato's little funky service station, with pull-handle fish-tank gasoline pumps, sounds wonderful!

Kato, are you thinking of that cult movie in the desert, where Jack Palance played an artist living at a truck stop in the California desert: 'Bagdad Cafe'? That would be the perfect way for disguising an entry to the new world of D'Nay. [You called it, Las Belleza, but should that not be, Las Bellezas?] Either way, it is a great kick off point.

I hope that everyone is convinced that the use of Shards will help the various stories come to life. Each Age may be more or less attached to the book-linking nexus, etc, from the old gasoline station, but there should be room too for TwoCities, with its version of a rogue linking book.

[Trylon]

I hear all nice ideas here, but I sense a little confusion when it comes to shards.

Personally I'm hoping that with a distributed server-system, the need for shards will be minimal, and that it will be possible to keep the Ages connected in one system. Nevertheless, having different ages and philosophies - even different groups, beyond one "central" authority is a good idea to keep the ages centralized.
People who don't want to be involved with the guilds, but want to have their own Ages, should find a place there.

But I think that total freedom is something to guard against. If it becomes another sandbox for people to play with, the quality of ages might soon deteriorate. So a system (maintainers) should be in place that ensures quality ages that adhere to basic Link guidelines.

As far as a central authority, I think that D'Nay will become more interesting, if IC a central authority is not enforced/present, but rather a central group is present that provides Mainstream direction (the Guilds).

To the aspect of storyline - some have said that we don't need a central storyline. I tend to agree with that to an extent:
As most have said, there will be a transfer-storyline needed, and I think that exploration of ages will be more interesting if there is a storyline present.
A collective background backstory however, will be beneficial, to ensure a level of continuity between the many stories that will potentially be told.

[andylegate]

I'd like to interject one thing about the Maintainers right now, and can since I have the authority to both represent them and speak for them:

The current Maintainers are more than willing to inspect Ages, look at these Ages and make sure that they follow any and all guildlines set up by the GoW. Report our findings to the GoW in detail.

Just please keep the following in mind: The Maintainers of today are NOT a police force of any kind at all. We can report something to someone if we think we need to, however, we do NOT enforce anything at all.

That is something that could change in the future, but for now, the current leadership, and members of the GoMa feel very strongly about this.

Just wanted to remind everyone. Thanks!

[pappou]

Responding to Trylon's hesitation above, it seems to me:

...On the one hand that the shard system could be the means for joining into group efforts while maintaining the texture of an aggregate – the separateness of individuals joining together. (It would be an oxymoron, except this is also the story of society.)

On the other hand, shards could be a means for one sect striking out quite differently from its fellows and expanding the limits of what Cyan hath wrought.

Being 'shards' of Cyan's parentage itself implies that certain common traits should be followed (say for one, the overall spirit of real exploration in fantastic settings) and that certain traits should be considered repulsive (say the 'shoot-em-up' mentality of so many popular games).

I suspect Trylon is hesitant concerning just how we set about encouraging the one and forbidding the other.

First of all, my sense of it is that these limits cannot be successfully legislated.
What then?

**********

It is as Trylon suggests: The Guilds are the best guys to oversee this common good.

So, if we toss this hot potato into the Maintainers court, then they must have guidelines upon which to act. But as Andy says, they are not the cops – just the zoning inspectors. That would then suggest a court of decision making held by the Guilds (not just Writers). The court's decision would be a collegial value judgment. It would determine whether the Maintainers rejection or acceptance of a created age were to be, according to the wisdom of the court, supported or rejected.

The hidden guide behind all this is almost certainly going to be the picture of 'canonisity' which each person carries around in his bag of beliefs.

From this point, the argument carries on, and on, and on. Many branches.

*********

Let us go back and label the obvious problem here as being oligarchical: The problems emerge as the body of decision makers (the court) enforce their firm beliefs to the end that some age is not canonical and therefore cannot enjoy the fruits of the Collective (Guild system of advantages). This is oligarchical because the Guild of Writers, the strongest guild, is already controlled by a 'family'. It is a family of code writers who are producing the wares for operating some new Uru. They are essential. And by their essential nature they exercize considerable power in order to be productive; and thus they will tend to enforce what seems good to them, and they will reject the alternatives.

*********

This, I think, is the crux of the problem, and i see the potential of extending the shard system beyond what it was in UU to be a means for balancing the power of the 'family'. (No, clearly shards were not used in this fashion in the past, but they seem to be the vehicle of choice for supporting individual expressions now, and avoiding the burden of a too restrictive set of family rules.)

My fear of the family may seem fanciful, even neurotic. But note that contrary to the common good, the Guilds have had an overbearing and destructive agenda in the past – witness the demise of D'Ni. The Guilds themselves are the best argument i can think of for balancing their power with an aggregated system of shards.

I do not deny Trylon's reasons for hesitation, but i support a balance achievable through a new shard system.

[belford]

The hidden guide behind all this is almost certainly going to be the picture of 'canonisity' which each person carries around in his bag of beliefs.

Exactly so. We all have notions of what kind of Ages are consistent with the Myst/Uru style. And of course everyone's notion is different. If we set up a panel to rule on the matter (under whatever imprimatur), the differences will become very obvious, very quickly. That's not an argument I look forward to.

I still like the notion of each shard maintainer selecting what Ages his shard links to. That's a voting mechanism which has weight, but not absolute control. And it's two-way voting -- players can decide which shards to frequent.

As to quality, I'll repeat what I've said all along: you can't make quality by filtering what people are allowed to release. You can only make people release less.