Contingency plan Storyline

[Owehn]

A bigger disjunct that is probably just going to have to be ignored is going from a Cavern in which even the DRC, with a monopoly on information, couldn't Write Ages, straight to a new and stable Age actually Written by a non-DRC explorer. I'll take my hat off to anyone who can come up with a plausible and consistent explanation for that.

Dr. Watson has been to Releeshan. He brought back training materials that have the benefit of D'ni expertise AND the combined genius of Atrus and Yeesha.

That makes a ton of sense: Since Dr. Watson thought that the answer to the bahro war lay in explorer-written Ages, he would've wanted us producing new Ages as soon as possible.

[Trylon]

Indeed a good idea, let's keep it

[Zander]

I've conjectured something similar in my journal, though given the current state of our practical knowledge, I've downplayed the "genius" a bit.

[T_S_Kimball]

Over the weekend, I wrote up a little something for another game (a local LARP that allows you to play just about anyone from any source). I'm basically going to import a version of my MOUL persona into the game, and wrote up the final moments before his introduction (basically the final events of the Exodus).

Here's the link to the forum post there: http://www.dexposure2.com/forum//index. ... 831.0.html

Note that I'm taking a few liberties, since I'm writing my own backstory for something local. However, it's an interesting starting point.

--TSK

[Zander]

It always gives me chills to find that people can contemplate destroying books of any kind with equanimity. Even in fiction.

I would be really happy if we didn't have to start our new life with that kind of atrocity.

[T_S_Kimball]

Yes, I had problems with the idea, but I wanted to experiment in darker fiction (something that I never did before). Plus it helps get a 'foot in the door' early with certain characters that exist there, whom I want to be on better terms with than before...

I don't want that route for what we're trying here either, and properly sealing off the books would probably work pretty well (for awhile anyway - the story in "Book of D'NI" comes to mind). If/When we get enough info to determine the final outline, I'd be happy to draft the (much lighter) intro.

[Lontahv]

I think we should not try to fabricate story--we shouldn't lie about what happened. I think we should just say that it's a new place that explorers are gathering because the cavern is closed, let's leave it at that.

Why I say this is that WE DON"T KNOW WHAT WILL HAPPEN IN THE CAVERN--if we make up some long story about how we got sick on the musty air of the cavern and started to eat too many Teledahn mushrooms, and that we can never go back there for fear of getting sick. Then UruLive comes back, then where are we?

As I see it:
This is not a story-game we're making, this is a place to hang out and progress the story that cyan has given us--we should start writing code rather than writing crazy reasons why we're here. The reason we all would go there is the TRUTH not some story that someone made up. We don't have to lie. The city and the rest of the ages are closed for now--do we have to explain the WHY. We don't know why, but we don't have to know why to enjoy D'Nay. Remember, "Only the maker knows all"--the maker for us is cyan.

I really don't mean to come down hard on you people that are deciding the story it's just that, I think if we make some kind of strange story with journals and stuff, we make cyan resentful, THEY'RE the story tellers, whoever makes the game, if it's a myst-like game. Our job is to work on the info we have right now from the DRC and cyan, not to extrapolate it.

When Cyan makes stories about D'ni; it's content.
When we make up stories about D'ni it's called lying.


Fan stories in fan ages are one thing--go make up a little story for your age, this is different this is BIG we shouldn't dare to touch this kind of thing with a ten-toran stick of nara. I think that if we don't do this D'Nay thing right the GoW could prove to be a "pile of upstart fans" in Cyan's eyes. That's why I felt it was my duty to everyone at the GoW to tell you how I've been feeling about this lately. There's so much to enjoy about this project--why ruin in in it's beginnings with some story that invades cyan's turf.


~Lontahv

[Trylon]

I think Lontahv does have a point with that.
We should be careful not to invade too much on the cavern.
(Which is too bad, as I had a really nice story about imprisoning all the Bahro Nekhisahl in the Cavern, by taking away their linking ability due to special properties of the cavern walls, which amplifiy the pulse that a specific animal found in a Human Written Age gives off, which inhibits linking of any kind - guess that one's off limits)

However, we can and should most certainly provide a backstory on going there. How about this for a quick draft (just a base setting ofcourse):

I think we can safely say that we have only seen the Bahro Nekhisahl in D'ni written ages so far, and not a single case of a Bahro coming into a human written Age. Since our safety in the cavern is depending on outside factors (the good Bahro protecting us), and it is not a certainty that they will forever do so, we decided to exit the cavern and make our home into other Ages. (Perhaps also to give them the opportunity to do something else besides constantly protecting us).
The cavern was simply too unsafe, especially since the flock of Bahro that circled Aegura last autumn...
And one of them abducted Thend. (Poor guy, he hasn't been able to write another KiToon since ).

Personally, I think that that should be the last we see or hear of the Bahro until Cyan takes them up again.

[Zander]

Well, first of all, I see Lontahv's point about the reason for us leaving the Cavern, and he wins the pennant for Best Reason Not To Write A Story EVER. If Cyan decide to bring Uru Live back, they'll take care of that for us officially. If they decide it's never going to happen, then we can start retconning (us making up stories about the D'ni is fanfic, not lying). In the meantime, best to let it be and await the word.

The rest of the post, however, seems to show an attitude which I've been worried about since this whole thing started: the idea that story is the least important element of Age Building, something you can tack on if you're really bothered about it ("make up a little story for your Ages")after you've done the important coding stuff. I say again what I've said before: without a solid story to give it a reason for existing and us a reason for going there, an Age is nothing. We go to the fan Ages we have right now because (a) they exist at all--wow! fan Ages!; (b) they need checking up on to make sure they work; and (c) in case they have ideas we can ste--I mean, ideas that may inspire us to come up with our own creations. Once the novelty's worn off, the Age is guaranteed to be sound and we're all creating brilliant Ages ourselves, those Ages are going to languish, forgotten, unless they have something to attract people above and beyond the splendour of the vistas and the intricacy of the puzzles. That something is--can only be--story.

Andy's Camp Bravo has a purpose for being there, and it will be visited by trainee Maintainers and others who want to hone their skills. It will survive. The German Ages have numerous journals, and if my German wasn't so rusty (I shouldn't have left him out in the rain) I would be able to tell if they will have lasting appeal, but I would bet they do. Apart from these, I have yet to see a fan Age that is built on a story the way Channelwood, or Riven, or Narayan, or Kadish are. There are some beautiful Ages, some impressively large Ages, and some Ages with fiendish puzzles. Speaking purely as a player, and risking being blunt to get the point across, I don't have a single reason to go back to any of them.

As regards the leaving of New Mexico, fine, leave it vague. But don't "make up a little story for your Age." Write the story, and *then* build the Age.

[Trylon]

As regards the leaving of New Mexico, fine, leave it vague. But don't "make up a little story for your Age." Write the story, and *then* build the Age.

Hear hear.