Ambrosia Software Web Board: Some issues to be resolved - Ambrosia Software Web Board

The world of Cythera is rapidly fragmenting under our guidance. We will probably soon face a point when we will no longer agree on what happens in the Cytherian future.
Already, seeds of discontinuity are sown, will there be a New Empire, a Confederation, or a continuing Monarchy for Cythera’s future?

I thus feel it imperative that we hold a council to resolve which parts of the future that has been portrayed in the recent glut of future chrons is canonical. We should try in earnest to, if possible, consolidate a time-line. I realize my own rather controversial future will probably be mostly struck down, but I am willing to accept this. On the other hand, I also may no longer be able to continue contributing to Cythera, if conditions become too unfavorable.

I know this is a thorny issue, but it is one we must confront before it is too late to recover, and we end up with a major schism on our hands.


To formaly convene the council -
This is too be resolved by debate. Post any elements of anyone's future/present creation you find objectionible. The creator or others are then free to defend/attack the point. At some reasonible point, after both sides have been heard, we will vote on the issue and decide if it is cannon or not.

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"Why do these candles say T-N-T?" - (famous last words 104)
     
Where do you want to [url="http://"http://www.macclassics.com/cythera/tricks/rJade.htm"]teleport[/url] today?
  

And people wonder why I don't read very many chronicles...

Personally, I think whatever future "we" decide "Cythera" will have should take place far into the future. I've been trying to time most of the Team Stories far enough ahead that it gives gandreas a significan gap to do what he wants to do with the Cythera world in the realm of sequels and such, and I'd recommend we keep that gap there. A few decades, or a decent chunk of years (40-120) should be plenty sufficent.

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"I hate that! Your answers are always short, precise, and utterly useless!"
"Yes."

.Issue - Too Many Elves

I hate to raise the first issue, and I know this will not be received well...

I object to so many elves.

I can understand one or two, for variety. Fine. But there is a veritable preponderance of them of late. They aren't even present on the Cytherian world, have (With the exception of Moonshadow) almost no background story, and are merrily plucked form the annals of LotR, and yet they have almost as many members as humans do.

Any character should have background. "I'm a dark elf from suchandsuchland" doesn't count.
Characters need not only personal backgrounds, but their race needs one as well. Horgan is a dwarf, he has a limited personal background, but his race is well documented for the benefit of readers.

Some characters don't really need as much race background, such as humans. We all know about them, so we can focus on personal background for human characters.

Anyway, I think the elf plague has got to stop. I vote for keeping the established elves, that have been around for more than a year, but I think the new ones should be removed.
Or, preferably, they could be written into the world as a race. That would also fix the problem of their background, with much less detriment to elf-users.

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"Why do these candles say T-N-T?" - (famous last words 104)
     
Where do you want to [url="http://"http://www.macclassics.com/cythera/tricks/rJade.htm"]teleport[/url] today?
  

I do agree that there are too many elves. One of the reasons I haven't publicized my racial background is, well, it wasn't really related to cythera - they usually got stranded here for some reason or another.

Then again, my dark elves made a brief appearance, and then vanished - you may hear from them in the future, you probably will not - but I was using them to set up for a significant event in the future, not to mention the story I've been writing interspersedly on Cythera also has a continuation elsewhere. They only remain in the character info so people know at least something about who they are.

As for my recent elf, Lemenath, he's staying for the duration of the story he is in. (if you haven't noticed, I could also argue he hasn't taken up residence on cythera ) He might hang around for a bit afterwards (if he gets that far)

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"I hate that! Your answers are always short, precise, and utterly useless!"
"Yes."

Well, do you really care if all the stories make sense together?

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Legends fade and die.
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Thinking for yourself is a wonderful thing.

They don't, as newer ones come the older ones are neglected.

Which might be a good approach to take after all.

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"I hate that! Your answers are always short, precise, and utterly useless!"
"Yes."

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No! That's just asking for trouble. We have to resolve the issues, not sweep them under the carpet.


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"Why do these candles say T-N-T?" - (famous last words 104)
     
Where do you want to [url="http://"http://www.macclassics.com/cythera/tricks/rJade.htm"]teleport[/url] today?
  

I object to the getting rid of less than a year old elves. I have only created 2! Larc, and Martel. I want them to stay. I have planned a backround story for them and their race (Yetsonian Elves) in a couple of chronicles. I would like them to stay. They have been in two TS's, and it might take a while to come up with a good reason for them to leave. They are my main characters, and I don't want them erased. I would be happy to provide sufficient documentation. As for the rest of the complaint, yes, there are too many. I am sorry, as I did not realise how many there were when I created them.

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"To listen, one must be silent." -Ogion, A Wizard of Earthsea

If we get people to stop cross-referencing things (like cache) we could have each story pretend to be in its own seperate universe (save that characters retain developments they may have had). Most people ignore the fact that what they are doing is heavily contradicting something already said/done, and that's a chunk of the problem. Besides, if everything was unrelated, we could also have more people active in more of the stories without having to struggle in inventing a new character, or running fifteen personalities at once.

This way we also settle the fact that some people strongly dislike events someone has set forth somewhere that contradict with their own personalities.

Of course, establishing specific things that everyone needs to follow (that took place in all futures) that are set in stone would be a good idea. An example would be that the events in the game of Cythera everyone would have to acknowledge took place. Also, the fact that the tavern exists in Cademia would be another thing.

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"I hate that! Your answers are always short, precise, and utterly useless!"
"Yes."

There are no issues. No-one should be bound by someone else's vision of the future, except to the extent they themselves choose. This discussion is moot.

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The e-mail of the specious is deadlier than their mail

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Then why do you take to caring about Wolmark's feelings about the confederation, possible future tampering with the etheral void, et cetera?

The discussion is far from moot, comrade. Little wreaks things quicker than discontinuity in fiction.

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"Why do these candles say T-N-T?" - (famous last words 104)
     
Where do you want to [url="http://"http://www.macclassics.com/cythera/tricks/rJade.htm"]teleport[/url] today?
  

You do have a point though, if everyone just starts ignoring what they don't like, the universe will be in chaos.

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"I hate that! Your answers are always short, precise, and utterly useless!"
"Yes."

I personally don't see a problem with having several mutually contradictory time-lines. The purpose of this board is to have fun, not create a flawless alternate reality.

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Slayer's guide to Cythera:
[url="http://"http://www.macclassics.com/cythera/cythera.htm"]http://www.macclassi...era/cythera.htm[/url]

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Its not fun if it does not make sense. If we want to settle on having two diffrent time lines, or even maybe three, then so be it, but at this rate each poster is going to have a their own future. That's just plain not good.

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"Why do these candles say T-N-T?" - (famous last words 104)
     
Where do you want to [url="http://"http://www.macclassics.com/cythera/tricks/rJade.htm"]teleport[/url] today?
  

Actually, that's just fine. Its been done for some time now, and probably will continue to be done in the future. This way you don't have to worry about arguements like "my character wouldn't let that happen." Or things like "I don't think my characters would want to live in that future."

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"I hate that! Your answers are always short, precise, and utterly useless!"
"Yes."

Oh heck, first people ask for honest opinions about their chrons, and when they get something negative, they get all worked up over it. If you like the way your Cythera is going, then that's fine with me.
But I don't think a single person has the right to set a future for Cythera and think it has to be generally accepted, or else....

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Wer denken kann, ist klar im Vorteil.

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I ment my writing. Cache's McGuffin comment comes to mind as an example of a good comment.
I also try my best to be true to other people charicters, and as cache can testify, am willing to make adjustments to my text when people think their charicters are behaving oddly.

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"Why do these candles say T-N-T?" - (famous last words 104)
     
Where do you want to [url="http://"http://www.macclassics.com/cythera/tricks/rJade.htm"]teleport[/url] today?
  

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Ah, so I'm not allowed to comment on the plot?
After all, the plot is still the more important part of a chron...

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Wer denken kann, ist klar im Vorteil.

You asked for opinions, you got them. You don't have to like them, but realize they are other people's opinions, not yours. You don't have to agree with them, you don't have to disagree with them. You can read them, you can chose to ignore them. However, if you ask for opinions, expect to get them.

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"I hate that! Your answers are always short, precise, and utterly useless!"
"Yes."

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Nah, go ahead and comment the daylights out of it. I realize my reply was a little touchy, sorry. The quality of a plot is also an issue I care about, but 'I dissagree with your view of the Cytherian universe' is kinda diffrent from 'Your plot was weak because of suchandsuch'

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Tantalum - grey blue metallic element used in electronics. Also way cooler than Osmium.

Blast, bad karma insulator account! Sneaking out like that...

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"Why do these candles say T-N-T?" - (famous last words 104)
     
Where do you want to [url="http://"http://www.macclassics.com/cythera/tricks/rJade.htm"]teleport[/url] today?
  

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Actually, in terms of chronicles, that's exactly how it should be. Do you really think, if there ever is a Cythera 2, that it's going to conform to the worlds we've created based on the original? No. Glenn has his own ideas, and he should stick to them.

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The e-mail of the specious is deadlier than their mail

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That was a matter of characterisation. The Ronin simply wouldn't be comfortable in that world.

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At the time, I was still trying to hold to the 'single future' idea. I hadn't considered a few of the broader issues.

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True, but not exactly relevant. Since chronicles are (usually) written by single individuals, they should each be considered in isolation. No connection to any other chronicle or TS should be assumed unless it's explicitly woven into the chronicle in question. I've chosen to link mine into several that preceded them, but I'll be ignoring others. It'll be entirely at my own whim.

TSs are a different matter. We should try to keep continuity there.


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The e-mail of the specious is deadlier than their mail

I disagree with that last statement. I think TSes should be the same way as chronicles. (if you want examples, I can find some) Unless explicitly written into the plot of the story, it should have no real relation to other stories.

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"I hate that! Your answers are always short, precise, and utterly useless!"
"Yes."

Oh - if anyone wonders, I edited these two posts for language content.

[This message has been edited by Avatara (edited 07-30-2002).]

It was also made fairly clear (by the time I joined) that OA (and other stories) were set long after the current TSs. So, no conflict.

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The e-mail of the specious is deadlier than their mail

[This message has been edited by cache22 (edited 07-30-2002).]

[This message has been edited by Avatara (edited 07-30-2002).]