Starting Small -- A Web-Based Story To Fill A Niche

[Inanna]

I know from my own past experience writing for a computer game that it seems so easy to picture a place and a reason to be there, but far beyond the idea we have to deal with art, movement, choice points -- how many and in what order -- and the list goes on. So before I go launching into age creation (my tech and graphic skills are limited) I thought I would start with something that I know can be done with nothing more than what we already have -- multiple avatars and talented people.

I have edited the following to be more in keeping with the GoW's policies -- Inanna, 12/03/2007

Several friends from different bevins have joined together to form The Friends of the Fissure. We have a forum where we are hammering out ideas, including back-story for the group as a whole and for each person's role as he or she wishes to play. At present this is all still in development and anyone who wants to join in the effort is welcome. This is strictly a role-play for now, requiring some acting and scripting ability, but I am hoping that it can someday expand to include some related ages.

Friends of the Fissure (also called FoF or The Order) is devoted to the deeper, more spiritual meanings in URU, specifically the words of Yeesha. The group was founded to answer the needs of those who were not happy with the creation of the guilds (and yes, I do appreciate the irony of posting this to GoW) and those who felt that there should be more emphasis placed on that initial "call" we all heard that led us to the Cleft. There is no drama without conflict. Certainly the game creators have injected plenty of that with the bahro war, and certain abrasive characters in the DRC. FoF only wants to inject some story of our own creation, something that can follow the accepted canon, running parallel. FoF is not anti-guild, it is non-guild, giving those who do not want to work within a guild structure another outlet to affect the story.

Accepted History
The Cleft of Tomanha is in New Mexico and the native people of the area certainly knew that it was there even if they never knew what it was. At some point The Stranger found the Myst Book and fell to the island. The Stranger's contact with Atrus and his family were recorded in journals that in the late 20th century were used as the basis for several successful computer games, the proceeds of which were used to fund the DRC. With URU we were all "called" to that fenced-off area, where we met Jeff Zandi, son of the DRC's late Dr. Elias Zandi. The fence marks the land that he purchased, which presumably upon his death went to his son Jeff.

But what lies beyond the fence? And who was there before Dr. Elias Zandi arrived?

The Adjacent Land
In the FoF story, there is another parcel of land upon which sits an old Spanish mission, just a few miles from Tomanha. A college professor purchased the land in the 1930s. He was an anthropologist interested in tribal history. He moved to the area right after the war with his wife and daughter. We do not know her real name. She calls herself KoHama (from two Navajo words -- Fire Mother). She was a flower child in the 60s, and after her parents died she continued to live in the mission, supporting herself by selling herbs and crafts. Around her grew a little group of commune-types.

She made friends with the man who had purchased the adjacent land. Elias showed her how to enter the underground city, and they explored the area together for years. Later he gave her the
name niD'ni-- meaning daughter of D'ni. Elias and KoHama were close friends, perhaps even lovers. She feels that her relationship with Elias may have damaged his relationship with Jeff, since it is well-known that the two men were estranged for many years.

Over time the commune grew and turned its attention to local history in general and the Cleft in particular. The Friends of the Fissure took up residence in the Spanish mission. One of the earliest to join the group was Okasan, another flower child. The current members of FoF have long thought that there were other branches of the group, earlier chapters, perhaps. But they are scattered. We only know of those who are here now and have made themselves known to us.

When Elias died suddenly (about 10 years ago), KoHama placed her affairs in the hands of her friend Okasan, then grabbed one of the linking books Elias had tucked away and linked out, stating that she never intended to return to Tomanha. She did not want to deal with Jeff Zandi, and could not bear to see all those "intruders" in what had once been her private place with Elias (I never said my characters were particularly sane ) However because of recent events, especially the bahro war, Okasan found a way to contact KoHama, and begged her to come back to Tomanha. KoHama has returned as requested.

Friends of the Fissure Structure
The seniors are Protectors of The Order, in D'ni called Ahreeuhtahn. The word is gender-neutral. The lower rank are Servants of The Order -- men are called Acolytes and women are called Handmaidens. We are non-monastic, non-celibate, philosophical rather than religious. We are not fanatics. We are philosophers, and we do not pretend to have all the answers -- or even to know all the questions.

So This Is As Far As We Have Gotten
If any of the above strikes you as interesting please let me know. This is the easiest form of story content to create because it does not require special training or tools. We are working with what we have at the moment. We hope that we can expand the group's role in the Cavern.

[BAD]

So you know, we do appreciate your willingness as a writer to help this guild out.

We do not appreciate you advertising your group on here. We are not here to roll play.

We are here to add new ages and content to Uru and Myst Online Uru Live.

I will not lock or delete this thread for now, but if it gets out of hand I will lock it.

Please refrain from trying to lure initiates to your group from our forum.

BAD

[Chacal]

Inanna, I find your story well fleshed out and fascinating. I don't know about your organization though, it sounds a little weird to me.
It would be interesting if you explained further how this ties up with what we do here. Perhaps you need ideas for the story, pictures, models, etc?

[Inanna]

So you know, we do appreciate your willingness as a writer to help this guild out. We do not appreciate you advertising your group on here. We are not here to roll play. We are here to add new ages and content to Uru and Myst Online Uru Live. I will not lock or delete this thread for now, but if it gets out of hand I will lock it. Please refrain from trying to lure initiates to your group from our forum. BAD

My apologies for my mistake. It was not my intention to "advertise" for anyone or any group, and I have removed some of the material that might been misinterpreted as advertisement. Someone on MOUL asked me to post information about the FoF storyline, and I thought the Writers might be interested. Apparently, this was incorrect and it will not happen again. I am unclear what constitutes the difference between a "story idea" and a "story proposal." Perhaps someone will be kind enough to give me a specific definition of how the word "story" is being used in this context. It has always been my understanding that story is content, or as the old theatre saying goes, "if it ain't on the page, it ain't on the stage."

This is a story just as the death of Wheely Engberg was. Did we see her die? Was there blood? No, we were told what was happening, learned the story through words. Wheely was a role-play by someone on the Cyan payroll. For all we know, Rand Miller was playing Wheely. Her death was just a story made of words, and yet it had a profound effect throughout the Cavern.

That is all I am doing -- writing words -- and if that is not what GoW does, then I will attempt to contribute in some other way, but first and foremost I am a storyteller, not a graphic artist. I have no expertise with rendering programs. Perhaps the name of the guild is misleading in this respect and it should be called Guild of Age Builders, as some have proposed.

Inanna, I find your story well fleshed out and fascinating. I don't know about your organization though, it sounds a little weird to me. It would be interesting if you explained further how this ties up with what we do here. Perhaps you need ideas for the story, pictures, models, etc?

FoF really is not much of an "organization" and we have taken a very go-slow approach, researching every aspect of each character and each relationship. We are not fanatics or street preachers. We are actors, creating a plot with a script in which the players will be philosophers of varying level of experience. We are trying to make a contribution without treading on toes or crossing canonical storylines.

And yes I do have age creation in mind, starting with jumping the fence in the Cleft and making your way to the house on the adjacent property. Once there the explorer should find the linking book to the age where KoHama lived for the last ten years. For that age I have a number of elements in mind -- ocean, beach, cliff, forest, maze, eventually a bahro cave I suppose. However, until I know how ages are to be created, I prefer to start small, sticking to what I know how to do, and see how things evolve. For those who are interested in the storyline I have proposed, please communicate with me via PM so that no feathers are further ruffled.

[BAD]

My intention wasn't to discourage you from writing stories for ages, but to warn you about advertising your group on our site. I apologize if you took offense to it.

I do have to point out that you indeed are treading on canonical topics, such as giving Elias Zandi a love interest, and suggesting adding a section to an already existing Cyan age. Please don't take this as discouraging either, because we do not yet know what kind of stories and content Cyan will accept for a fan created age license. It is generally believed we shouldn't touch any direct characters of Cyan's story and that we should not design any content intended to add to Cyan's existing ages.

We are the GOW because Cyan wants a GOW. We are simulating the creation of ages as the original GOW did for the D'ni People. On this site we use terms like building and coding, but when we have stuff to use in an IC sense, we will be claiming to "write" the ages we put forth. IC wise, calling us the guild of age builders would be out of character.

[Inanna]

One of the things that has always interested me about many of the ages we have seen thus far is "what is beyond" the boundaries which keep us on a certain path to a certain solution. I would love to climb down from Jalak or Gahreesen to have a look around the woods. Or climb out of Negilahn to see the jungle. So jumping the fence in the New Mexico desert was no great leap for me.

As for the "love interest" -- it need not be more than just a close friendship, but even if it were more intimate than that, is there some canonical list of who slept with whom and when? No one is claiming to be the child of Yeesha, or a long lost cousin of Atrus. It seemed an inconsequential inclusion, but not one that has to be emphasized. It can even be deleted entirely if that aspect is particularly troubling.

What I wanted to focus on was the area through which we all entered URU. There must have been people in the area of the Cleft long before Elias and co. arrived, and there are people living in the area now. What did the locals think of the place before the DRC and all these explorers showed up? What would tribal legend know of the D'ni, if anything? If the place was taboo, then they would have stayed away. If it was sacred, then its secrets would have been discovered long ago by the tribal shamans. If no one cared one way or another, then I doubt the secrets would have been held until the late 20th century.

Once Elias shows up and starts his studies of the D'ni, where did he buy food and gasoline? He must have made some contact with the locals, and so I am offering a story about those locals. As I said, this was just a small story starting with something that would not require any great leaps of writing, or major technical skills to create.

[Chacal]

I share your interest for what's behind the scenes, or what was before the events of Uru.

Of course you can write anything in a fan story, but as BAD says it has the risk of not being accepted as canon, because Cyan actually has a very precise story line, little of which has been published. It is a problem for any Age we create, if we want them to have a chance of being integrated into MOUL some day. If Cyan objects to some element, it can be removed, or you can choose the Age to remain fan art and not submit it. Fan art isn't bad, there are thousands of pages of it on the net for different universes (Star Wars, Star Trek, etc).

[BAD]

I want to accent what Chacal is saying by adding that We are discussing the writing (building) of ages and what they would include (content, story, etc...) not your roll playing group. Your group can make any claims you want since it is your own world, and you are not looking for acceptance from Cyan (even tho that would probably be pretty cool!) in that regard.

[Chacal]

What I wanted to focus on was the area through which we all entered URU. There must have been people in the area of the Cleft long before Elias and co. arrived, and there are people living in the area now. What did the locals think of the place before the DRC and all these explorers showed up? What would tribal legend know of the D'ni, if anything? If the place was taboo, then they would have stayed away. If it was sacred, then its secrets would have been discovered long ago by the tribal shamans. If no one cared one way or another, then I doubt the secrets would have been held until the late 20th century.

We know from the Book of Ti'ana that Anna lived in the cleft with her parents. She found a small crack that led to tunnels, the great shaft and D'ni. She was the first and only outsider ever to come in contact with D'ni before the Fall. Local tribes would not know of D'ni.

From the Book of Atrus we know that after the fall Anna went back to the cleft where she raised first her son Gehn, then her grandson Atrus. Then Anna, Atrus and Catherine lived on Myst, where Anna died. Atrus' youngest child, Yeesha, went back to the cleft in her quest for D'ni. We know from pictorial evidence that she met with a local tribe and possibly was initiated in it, possibly accounting for her strange dress and a mystical fervor she didn't have as a teenager (those possibilities being my own theories).

We don't know much more than that. The problem is compounded by the fact that the cleft was situated in the middle-east in the book, but was switched to New Mexico, USA, in the Uru game, for reasons best left undiscussed.

[pappou]

I love your story line Inanna. Many of us long to jump the fence and many have tried -- in both directions (some to get swallowed up by demons of the volcano).

Still, that does not change the reality of Cyan's determination to protect its copy writes. That determination is not nearly so casual as we may have led you to believe. Defense of their property affects Cyan's bread and butter, and this has been a theme they have learned to play since the beginning.

So, you should not think that you may do as you like with Cyan's property -- its names, ideas and all copywriten material. If it were done privately then i doubt anyone would care, but if you intend to publish your Zandi relationships, i would advise you to contact Cyan first.

The nice cozy world of Myst can be tough as nails -- if i correctly judge what the horse's mouth is saying.