Poll Result and Planning

[Kessie]

Eh, maybe an oriental setting isn't the best for us, since we'd have to do so much research. I don't know, what do you guys think?

Isn't the villain consuming human lives to extend his own kind of cliche? I mean, that's like the Balled of Tam Lin, right? I have a villain who uses human life force to brew the Elixir of Life, since the Philosopher's Stone is a myth. And my beta reader griped at me for it, because it's a cliche.

I suppose it might work, though. It'd be kind of like the Aztec sacrifices--you don't want to get tapped for one.

What if the villain is a dragon in human form, and feasting on human life is how he stays alive?

[This Baron of Mora]

I'm with stormiel in that I might not be able to contribute to much, but am happy to help on various things (though if you're going oriental I probably am basically useless) character development is probably my weakest trait, earth-building (world building is an inaccurate term since world means "age of man") the strongest, and I've been known to use archaic wording and often write in the style I might call "Romantic Old Testament-esque" or in other words its very "myth-woven and elf-patterned."

[This Baron of Mora]

As for ideas (both big and small) mine will be more country-culture-history-geography based than plot or character based (that comes later) the following is an example of my "process" in a way (obviously details of the lands come later) so you can get an idea,

One I thought up a long while ago:
"Of old there was the great Kingdom of Rusva that stretched across the vast northern lands, at length the barbarian hordes invaded...the great Kingdom, the light of the north was put out, but one single commander led his army to the far western reaches of the land where a new nation was formed, The Mark and it became the new light of the world, but like bats and moths the hordes gathered to swarm the light and thus threatened to snuff it out. At length the four "Marks" (lands) form after internal strife following a war with the invading Rusva tribes and death of the King. Our story begins in a single household in a small village, in the impoverished Nordmark."
I could makes this longer but basically,
1. The older brother goes off to the Ostmark to work where he becomes the rallying leader to their armies and is placed on the throne after a miraculous victory over another Rusva invasion
2. On their way to the Ostmark the younger brother and the mother are attacked by bandits, she escapes he is captured and brought to the King of the Vastmark (here he goes on a Joseph like journey to become the King of the Vastmark, and he makes peace with the Saudermark and binds them in an alliance)
3. The sister who has stayed in the Nordmark becomes Queen of the Nordmark
4. The younger brother surprises his older brother by sailing a great fleet to his support, the sister also arrives with the King to give their support, in effect The Mark has been reunited
5. You choose the ending (and the in between) I imagined a third victory much like Ethandune in the Ballad of the White Horse by. G.K.C.

[rjj7]

I don't think we should think in terms of an oriental setting vs medieval setting, but rather just come up with a setting that incorporates ideas we like that can come from either or both. I'd actually love to have a bit of oriental flare in the story; I just won't be contributing any of it.

Kessie: Regarding my idea, well founded concerns. But my defenses are ready, and my elite forces shall bring about your ruin, you paltry champion of originality! MWAHhahaha!

I was actually thinking of it more along these lines: there is an upstanding member of society who is seeking eternal life. He's not condemned, or even particularly concerning. If anything, the people of his city point to him as a fine example of a citizen. He's popular in politics, has a sensible approach to foreign policy and domestic concerns, and early in the story gives a fair amount of wise advice to whatever character finds him/herself in a sticky emotional state. In other words, he's set up to be an older, wiser voice of reason, and a support that some of our characters can lean on in time of need.

But later on, it's discovered that he's been pulling people off the streets or out from farms to use in experiments. He hasn't gotten anywhere yet, but he's convinced that he's doing something that is morally justified. Sacrificing lives for the benefit of advancing 'medical science' (it's happened before, and in the real world too!).

It's a little bit less like 'using people's life-force to sustain his own' and more like that one episode of Fullmetal Alchemist**, where there's that respected scientist who's a leader in his field, and its only later discovered that he murdered his wife and kids in order to make his advances.

**I can't believe I just referenced an Anime. My exposure to different story-telling mediums is broader than I realized.

That may still be a little bit cliched, but I think if we shift the focus away from 'killing people from eternal life' to 'great seeming guy has a moral blind-spot and is actually really evil' we can get away with some cliche. Of course, maybe I'm unknowingly walking straight into another cliche; my popular culture know-how isn't the greatest.


@baron of Mora: That's... really cool actually. Yeah, I think you've done a good job of defending your claims to specializing in earth-building. So far as I'm concerned, you're welcome to contribute as much as you'd like. They're gonna need someone to compensate for this here pile of dead(drake)weight.

[Joel P.]

Okay, so I think we need to take this to the next level: I'll start two threads, one for ecology and geography development and one for culture and magic system development. In each thread I'll summarize our progress in the selected area so far.

But first, per a suggestion Randy made, let's decide on a name for our world/primary kingdom.
A few ideas:
Enthorië
Kalastyr
Vestraten
Iyokyar

Whatever name we choose will preface any future threads.

[rjj7]

Of those, I think I like Vestraten, though Kalastyr is close and the other two are good as well.

My name generation skills are pretty lacking, so I don't have anything to suggest at the moment.

[Ranger Varon]

I probably won't really participate, because I actually don't write high fantasy. I tried once, and it was so cliche and terrible I went back to my genres of sci-fi and more personal adventure stories. Once y'all get the setting and stuff figured out I might throw some character concepts (or even Hero Machine portraits) at you on occasion, since I'm trying to get all the pre-drafting stuff for my novel done by June so I can seriously start drafting.

[stormiel]

I like the names Vestraten and Kalastyr also. I have a few short character ideas. Are you guys already working on characters? I could post what I have if you want.

[Ranger Varon]

Kalastyr is my favorite name of the ones listed, but I can be discounted.

[Joel P.]

Okay, so unless Kessie shows up shortly, I think we should go with Vestraten for the country name and Kalastyr as the capital city. Sound good?

That's fine, Ranger. It looks like Randy and I will be doing the actual writing once we get around to it.

Stormiel, I haven't even thought about characters yet. Let me get the sub-threads started, and you can toss out any ideas you have on the characters/plot one.

[rjj7]

Just wanted to throw out an apology for vanishing for upwards of a week. I even had a perfect idea for what to call the world, but I guess it's too late now. Offering it anyway for any takers.

After all, this is a good world. Our story will thrive and prosper in it. We will call it... 'This World'.

*pushes some toy dinosaurs onto the forum*

[Joel P.]

*GROOOAN*

I shoulda seen that coming.

[stormiel]

What tone is going to be set for the story? From most of the plot ideas folks have posted it looks like it may lean a little bit towards the darker side. Anyway, what should we plan for?

[rjj7]

I am a dark and dreadful soul, filled with shadows and malice, and my one desire in life is to make my readers suffer and feel a portion of the agony that fills my days. Which is to say that I tend towards more serious plots. However I love a good, light-hearted story, and would be happy to turn my thoughts in a more fanciful direction if people would prefer that. I don't happen to prefer dark stories, I just default to them.

For my part, unless I'm told otherwise, I'm probably going to be generating a fairly shadowy tone. Unknown enemies, hidden plots, and dark secrets.

[Joel P.]

And explosions! Don't forget the explosions!