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		Leon5550 - Procede. Fac mevm diem, pvnc. TALK - 12:19, November 10, 2009 (UTC)



		My English teacher said that in order to improve my (~~already exceptional~~) writing skills, I should write more stories. At first the thought of a fanfic crossed my mind, but what's better than a fanfic?! A Collab Fanfic! So here I am, starting a collab fanfic for academical purpose.

RulesEdit

First rule is that you do not talk about the story.
Batshit insane asspulls will be punished by the offending writer's character having a bridge dropped on him/her.
No retconning of any kind, use your skills and imagination to fix the last post's mistakes.
The setting will not be decided by me, but by all of the willing participants. But I will write an initial setting, but it is very possible to change it.
This is a story, not a game, so please resist the urge of putting skill tables for your characters, and describe the spells, monsters, characters, cities, countries, ect. Even it they already have their own descriptions.
Guns exists, but I swear to God, pull a Liefeld on me and your character's dead, from anal inflammation.
You do not talk about the story.

The StoryEdit

<Insert title here>
Contents
Part One
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3

Part Two



♠♥♦♣

Setting and Time Period (Make sure you read this before editing)

SettingEdit

(This is what we've come up to...) In a world not unlike our post WWI era.

Click to see the finalized map

We are featured with the Republic of Etheria, a mostly cold and continental country, the Constitutional Monarchy of Graziano, a more Mediterranean state, and the People's United Republic of Svanire (Communists), with a more North Africa like climate. Oh, and let's not forget Vilford, a Meritocratic Democracy (Only people who've served in the army, contributed to the nation culturally, scientifically, or economically can vote, since "great powers comes great responsibility")
Etheria, Graziano and Svarine are having a near three way war, they never fight each other at the same time, but yesterday ally might be tomorrow's enemy for them, sometimes literally. These are rich and powerful nations, and they don't fight for gold or resources, the fight for location, they fight for the economical crossroad that Etheria currently holds (it's the Etherian patch of land at the center of the map.')
Svanire, being a communist state, also have an agenda of 'spreading communism everywhere, either passively, or violently, this pissed Graziano to no end since they're a bunch of very religious bureaucrats.
Vilford remained untouched because 1) They are super rich, think of it as Singapore while the others are the other SE Asian countries, 2) They have the most powerful soldiers (normal considering you have to be one if you wanna be a citizen there) and 3) it's also among the most scientifically advanced nations (same reason as before, albeit with science), sure they don't have flying cars, but they're like Japan. Their overabundance of soldiers and their passiveness means they're also a very big supplier of super mercenaries, resulting in fellow Vilfordians facing one another in the field of battle occasionally.

Now let's move on to warfare. It's a post WWI era, where wars are fought in muddy trenches, where guns are rifles and can only fire one bullet per minute, where tanks are just big chunks of metal meant to flatten the trenches and planes are made of paper and used only for recon.
Guns are bolt action and very expensive and fragile, they're not muskets, but they're also not chain-guns. They tend to jam in the mud, and given the way people fight, it is said that "A soldier's 1st weapon is his shovel, 2nd his knife, 3rd his fist, and when they're all gone, his gun." The only use of guns is to snipe incoming soldiers trying to cross the No Man's Land, in which they'll be put aside in favor of the more handy and reliable shovel.
Handguns also exists, but their small size means they're one shot guns: every bullet must be reloaded into the gun before shooting, which makes them even less reliable than rifles, especially with the common saying of "It's longer to reload [the gun] than to manufacture [it]."
Of course, this doesn't mean swords and spears are glorified, seeing a random baker carrying a sword, or a soldier carrying around his rifle, or... I dunno... a married pilot piloting a plane while carrying his goddamn AXE?!! "Heeeeereeee's JOHNNY!" will result in these characters being at least stopped by the local authorities.

The field of aeronautics, transportation, architecture, religion and culture hasn't been aborted yet.

Magic and Summons (Make sure you read this too)

Magic and SummonsEdit

Let's start magic: there's practically no magic here.
Yes, you read that right, no fireball-casting, thunder-wielding or poison-spitting here. Because when I look at most fanfics, and saw that 70% of the cast can make a flaming ball fall on your head, I'm asking myself, why do they still bother with swords? Why cant everyone just have lightning coming out or their ass to kill enemies?
That said, I did previously used the word "practically", there is magic here, but they are like today's "magic", mysterious, passive, and not too reliable. For example, a magician wont hurl an iceberg on the enemy, but more like curse them, or make them sick from afar with a lock of their hairs and weeds. They can predict the future by reading some random bones, or "heal" someone by dancing and drinking liquor instead of saying "CURA!" and poof save the day. Oh, and the witch hunt is still on, so ye magic users out there, either make it a secret, or be outcasts of society.
But powerful enough warlocks might be good enough to summon fires or even... raise the dead...

Now, on to summons: There's practically no summons here.
Yes, you also read that right. In most fanfic I've been, every characters (but of course, mine) have a half dozen divine beings to do their bidding. Same problem with magic here: Why bother raising a sword if you can just send a god to fight for you? And dear God, dont get me started on the "Oh you have Bahamut? Wanna trade?" syndrome...
Buuuuuuut, "summons" here is a bit different. One, they are sentient, intelligent beings, two, they're spirits and three, the only thing they can do is talk. You can see that they wont do your bidding and crush an enemy any time now. What do they do? Well, I dont know about Squeenix staff, but I find another use with millennium old beings with infinite wisdom and knowledge... No, it's not to order them to bash each other's skull, but gee... Maybe put the "beings with infinite wisdom and knowledge" part to good use!
Summons here are ghosts of ancient gods, trapped in jewels that are mostly the crown jewels of countries, which make them serve as advisers to Presidents, Kings and Great Comrades. They can only be heard and seen by the owners of their artefact, which means the rulers of countries. But of course, their existence is a matter of national secrecy, it wont help to have the magical spirits guiding the rulers of a people who shuns and hunts magics...
But maybe a protagonist owns one...

Here are the Summons, there are seven of them, but they are chosen for their wisdom, so no Chocobo or Cactuars (help me out with the titles here...):

Name	Represents	Description
Gevurah	Judgment	Machiavellic adviser, preferring a more straightforward and pragmatic decisions. Believes ruling is already a heavy burden on it's own, so pity, compassion, and petty concerns have no right to be there.
Khesed	Emotion	Polar opposite of Gevurah, advises with swift and powerful decisions, usually rash, but since it relies on feelings, it's most of the time the right thing to do...
Chokhmah	Wisdom	Wisest motherfucker of them all, but also the most detached. More concerned at seeking knowledge for himself rather than giving you advises, but when he does, it helps, alot.
Tiferet	Beauty	"Hippie" of the group, Prefers negotiations over bloodshed. Two words: Hate. Wars.
Keter	Crown	Crown of all. Gives advises to whomever is seen as the 'King of men'. Advises are short and swift, mostly in riddles to test if the person is worthy of his/her title. By far the most pragmatic Summons out there, but also pretty wise. In short, a less poetic Solomon.
Netzach	Victory	Fuck you, the end justifies the means.
Hod	Splendor	Gives the weirdest advises. Not in a riddle-fashion, but... Off topic. At first. For example, hi answer to famine is "Shut down half of the factories." Why? Oh, so the workers will go back to the countryside and work the fields, and peasants will be less tempted to go to cities. Of course, it have drawbacks...

The Countries and their respective Summons

The Countries + Respective SummonsEdit

Nation	Description	Summon
Republic of Etheria	Ruled by a President and his Prime Minister, elected for seven years by the senate. Freedom of speech and human rights exists.	Keter Hod
Constitutional Monarchy of Graziano	Ruled by a King, but the Parliament of Seven Houses have executive rights, and can also veto the king with enough tally from the people.	Gevurah Chokhmah
The People's United Republic of Svanire	Ruled by a Great Comrade, along-side the Great Six. You know how communism works...	*Netzach
Meritrocatic Democracy of Vilford	Pure, but not complete, Democracy. Any citizens are eligible elects their government authorities. Runs on elitism where the people must contribute to the society one way or the other. The only nation where the Summon's existence and use is made "public"	*Tiferet

The Protagonist and co.

CharactersEdit

Name	Nationality	Summary
Eleanor "Ellie" DeCaste	Etherian	Protagonist. Daughter of a General. Goes to visit wounded boyfriend who is a soldier and got dragged into crazy conspiracies and war. Hilarity ensues.
Jack Arthur DeCaste	Etherian	Ellie's dad. A general of the Etheria Millitia and is rather protective of his daughter. For some odd reason, orders punkass soldiers to protect her daughter when he's not around, or there lack of.
Nathan Summers	Etherian (?)	MacGuffin guy. Super Soldier. Is Ellie's boyfriend who may or may not indirectly create the crazy conspiracies and war. Hilarity ensues.
Razelle Ashwood	Etherian	Second-banana. Is a prick. Got summoned by Ellie's dad to take care of her and got dragged into crazy conspiracies and war. Hilarity ensues.
Leon Cuchulainn Castiglione Jr.	Vilfordian	Giant lumberjack working under Graves' Lodging company (Kale's dad). Family guy. Is on trail with Ellie and got dragged into crazy conspiracies and war. Hilarity ensues.
Freya Duelson	Etherian	Ellie's friend. Probably the nicest character. Got visited by Ellie and dragged into crazy conspiracies and war. Hilarity ensues. Also has a dog called Dusk.
Kale Graves	Etherian	Tagalong kid. Rich kid. Has a small lead on Nathan which he shares with Ellie, dragging him into crazy conspiracies and war. Hilarity ensues.
Adrian Stephens	Grazianian	Classier than you. Quirky opposing enemy who is on a mission connected to Nathan. Is also involved with crazy conspiracies and war. Hilarity ensues.

CommentsEdit

MapEdit

click here to see the map
So yeah, I drew the map. Pay no heed on what the colors represents, though, it's merely added to make it look more funky. Now here's my request, since I suck at coming up names, it'll be nice of you guys to pitch in some nations' (and their respective capital cities) names. Oh yeah, the nations are also divided by lines (not the colors), although, it is subject to change.

....Considering the color scheme on the map, I think I'll call the world "Chocolate Sundae meets Vanilla with a dash of Green Tea" N/A 11:22, November 12, 2009 (UTC)

Add your ideas below this sentence:

That's alot of countries... Why cant we have the line as provinces (which will be important to the plot, of course) and the colours as countries? That small blue country can be a small, neutral country, or something... Leon5550 00:15, November 13, 2009 (UTC)

Here are the names I can think up so far:

Neathalia/Etheria
Vilford
Reunió

Feedback would be appreciated you guys. N/A 14:25, November 13, 2009 (UTC)

Here's one I can think of:

~~Kvatch~~

Armageddon11! 15:33, November 13, 2009 (UTC)

And will it be destroyed by the armies of hell spawned from hellgates juuuuuust before the heroes arrived? ;) Leon5550 15:48, November 13, 2009 (UTC)

Worth a try ^^; Armageddon11!

15:57, November 13, 2009 (UTC)

My names:

Port Dunwich
San Juan
Little Redwood
Megalopolis

Yeah, they suck, but that's all I can come up with -.- Leon5550 15:48, November 13, 2009 (UTC)

I forgot to ask again (really sorry), considering the map is referenced from this, I would like to know how many nations we need. -- N/A 09:35, November 14, 2009 (UTC)

Ok, my opinions:

Either 3 big ones.
2 big ones with a smaller one
2 VERY big ones with 2 VERY small ones in between
1 VERY big one facing a small coalition of VERY small ones.

cheers. Leon5550 10:26, November 14, 2009 (UTC)

IMO, just from looking at the map, three. The peninsula on the right and the two largest islands next to it would be the same country, in my mind. - +DeadlySlashSword+ 07:05, November 16, 2009 (UTC)

Update: New map with named nations you guys. N/A 11:48, November 16, 2009 (UTC)

I actually love the setting for this. It seems a lot better than TC's. Great job you guys. Although 3 larger nations does seem slightly strange. Also, I don't understand why if Vilford has the strongest soldiers, why they don't have more land. Can someone please explain? Ultima

15:46, November 25, 2009 (UTC)

Singapore have the best soldiers and Navy in all of SE Asia, why dont they just go and attack Indonesia, Malaysia, ect? Well, it's because they need the alliance. Vilford is the same thing. They have the best soldiers, but they rely mostly on commerce. I dont think other countries would continue trading goods with you if you start attacking them...
Another reason is that Vilford is a small country, with not much people in it. Attacking a massive enemy means letting your country wide open. And in this setting Alliance is everything. Yesterday's enemy is today's ally. If Vilford attacks one country, chances are, the other countries will make a coalition and attack the small kid, and share it like a pizza.

This goes the other way around too, the reason Vilford haven't been conquered is simply because they have the best soldiers. The other smaller countries has been conquered by the bigger ones, but they cant get to Vilford. Of course, in they end, they just give up and let Vilford it's place... For now...
In a nutshell, Vilford is like the small, rich kid living in a poor neighborhood filled with big, scary thugs, the kid gotta kick some ass if he wants to survive there, but he doesn't ass kick enough to start taking over the neighborhood.
Hope that explains it. Leon5550 00:15, November 26, 2009 (UTC)

Other IdeasEdit

You can add other ideas here, where we will discuss them.
Remember, this is an open collab fic, any and all ideas are welcome, so dont be shy!

Deciding the real main character of the story before beginning, and nail it permanently until the end of the story. N/A 15:19, November 11, 2009 (UTC)

So who is it gonna be? Leon Cuchulainn Castiglione Jr. wont be the protagonist, that's for sure. Leon5550 00:09, November 12, 2009 (UTC)

~~Summons can just go fuck themselves~~ Okay, summon-stones implies someone with very high nobility (like a royalty heirloom). N/A 15:19, November 11, 2009 (UTC)

I agree, since summons are like crown jewels, and they are a bit like the litteral 'spiritual' advisors to the monarchs. Leon5550 00:09, November 12, 2009 (UTC)

Perhaps Magic/Witchcraft and all that stuff can be portrayed similar to that of the middle ages of Europe?
Propose setting to be on WWII-ish. N/A 15:19, November 11, 2009 (UTC)

I would say more late WWI-ish, with trenches, big, near useless tanks, fragile aircrafts used only for recon, guns who wont hail bullets and the depression. If we take WWII-ish era, then we're gonna have to accentuate on the guns and tank, ect. Leon5550 00:09, November 12, 2009 (UTC)

Tone down the Final Fantasy references (ie: no Chocobos/Moogles. Use horses, damnit.) N/A 15:19, November 11, 2009 (UTC)

Oh, yeah, I'm down on this one. I'm against different sentinent species and if we must have Chocobos, let's put them as a sort of delicacy. I want to keep horses, and IHMO, bipedal ostriches/Big Bird makes a very bad steed, unless you're immune to motion sickness... Leon5550 00:09, November 12, 2009 (UTC)

Theme focuses on war.

MOAR Firearms, Tanks, and probably Combat aircraft goodness (see point above). N/A 15:19, November 11, 2009 (UTC)

Um... I dont want too many use of guns, but for tanks, we can make them like the WWI-ish tanks, and same for aircrafts, we gotta decide more carefully here. Leon5550 00:09, November 12, 2009 (UTC)

Character-wise, story focus on giving the characters more depth and development.

In my opinion, the fun in collab fics is to see how your characters interact with the others, and whether did you manage to show the readers on how you perceive your characters, so yeah. N/A 15:19, November 11, 2009 (UTC)

I have a solution for this: develop your goddamn characterzs! Dont just write their personality/backstory in their page! Write it in the story! We know Aragorn is the heir of Gondor because it is told in the book, not because we read Tolkien's personal notes/mind. Leon5550 00:09, November 12, 2009 (UTC)

Keep to a small number of writers. Too many, and some become characters become unimportant and dead weight. - +DeadlySlashSword+ 22:29, November 11, 2009 (UTC)

We gotta agree to a number, then. Leon5550 00:09, November 12, 2009 (UTC)

Six, seven as an absolute max. - +DeadlySlashSword+ 01:51, November 12, 2009 (UTC)

Yup, seven's my favourite number :P Leon5550 09:26, November 12, 2009 (UTC)

Keep the amount of characters in the main party in a sort of flux so that they don't become "dead weight". Armageddon11! 23:41, November 11, 2009 (UTC)

That is up to us to decide when the story goes. Leon5550 00:09, November 12, 2009 (UTC)

Develop the world as you go. Don't assign a set amount of cities and lay down borders initally only to have the story become a "okay, let's go to town X", which is restrictive. Yes, you do need a starting world, but invent places of importance as the story unfolds and faithfully add them to a list. 8 bit 03:39, November 12, 2009 (UTC)

I cans haz draw a map beforehand? N/A 09:17, November 12, 2009 (UTC)

If you do, then you have to bear the responsibility of naming the countries, positioning them, ect, ect ad nauseum. Leon5550 09:20, November 12, 2009 (UTC)

Limit the amount of plot-twists: It's arguably self-explanatory, but seriously, limit the amount of plot twist. Applies to all of us. A plot twist is nice once in a while so the story would actually have an impact, but by spamming them (see my old shame) makes the story confusing (and not to mention losing its focus) and hard to continue. -- N/A 05:10, November 28, 2009 (UTC)

First draftEdit


		NëA ^{TRANSMIT MESSAGE}



		First, it's cool that "Cease Firearm" rule is damned to hell and replaced with 'reasonable firearm' availability. Personally, I don't really like post-apocalypse setting, it gives off a "Friday-drenched-smelly-socks" feeling to me. I prefer somewhat of a more modern Ivalice setting (kinda post-WWII with combat aircrafts and tank goodness). I'd also like a sense of realism towards the story, so it'd be nice to limit the Magic references. Speaking of references, can we seriously nerf down the goddamn summon crystals? Cripes (best to just null it). While we're talking about war/battle/sequence, I'd like see more realisms too. As in, no "A wild Malborox appears! Do you A)Omnislash it. B)Ultima it. C)Run away like a little girl? leading to 'it's super effective'" crap. If possible, I also like to see the story focus more on personal character developments and political issues and all, instead of you know, "A Bwahahahamut appears! Choose your Esper!". Finally, I'd like to propose a plan of deciding the real main character of the story before beginning, and nail it permanently until the end of the story. It's not saying that I don't like the user-handle system, it's just that when you're working on an agenda of your own, you're subconsciously ripping the plot to shreds. Writers would have to come to a conclusion about the main character's motive, actions, and what he/she would develop to before the story starts. Also, deciding on the story is told from whom's point of view would help, seeing as it would decrease the usage of "Meanwhile, thousands of miles away...". Having mythological references for the story isn't a bad thing, but I wouldn't like to see multiple references crammed into a blender. It sucks, it really does. While we're on it, I'd like to tone down the Final Fantasy references. Heavily (see the Summon section) or just null it. Sorry for the long post.


		Leon5550 - Procede. Fac mevm diem, pvnc. TALK - 13:14, November 11, 2009 (UTC)



		Ok, after a refreshing day, here's what I came up with: Magic: Ok, we are humans, and it's human nature to fear what we dont understand, and it's human natural response to shun and fight what we fear. In order to add a sense of realism (and consistency) I say we minimise magic here, as in greatly. Magic users are outcasts of society and are hunted down like turkeys. To make things worse, they cant fight back, because you cant just make a fireball to immediately appear out of nowhere on the guy who's swinging his sword at you. Magic here is more passive and transparent, and the few who can make fireballs appear are scattered and weak. Now for summons. I DO NOT ever want to see the following conversation: "Oh! Do you have a Bahamut? I have an Ifrit and an Odin! What else do you got?" Jesus Christ NO!. The summons are the spirits of the remaining Elder Gods, so they are no monster to be called and fight for at whim, but wise spririts giving guidance to the ones they see fit. Which means different summons have different personalities, such as a hot headed summon would be more at home being with a hot headed guy, ect. Now, I let you guys decide what the summons are, but no more than SEVEN summons are allowed! Here the summons are the essence of the Gods, which makes them characters themselves, not cattles to be used as badges. Now, for firearms. They are not absent nor overly present. They are craftings on par with the greatest works of art, as guns, and even bullets accompanying them are very, very expensive. So not only you wont see peasants Swiss Cheesing soldiers, but you'll also see guns used more as a sniper's delight than a berserker's sweeper. Only the highest ranking and most elite soldiers could afford guns, and they are mostly snipers, as in this world "Anyonce can make a human, but only the gifted few can craft the most basic of bullets." so one shot, one kill. Well, thats all I can say today, so feel free to criticise my comment or even add more ideas. Cherrio!


		NëA ^{TRANSMIT MESSAGE}



		Alright, now you got my interest. Regarding the summons, I'd like to suggest possessing it implies a status of very high nobility (perhaps a royalty heirloom?) Cuz, quite frankly, the summons annoy me to no end. On the topic of firearms (tied in with era and setting), to put it bluntly, I'd prefer it to be more army-friendly. Which relates to the setting, as I've said before, I'd like the era being I dunno, more WWII-ish. And since you've mentioned firearms being more of a snipers' preference, it should be decided whether it's following the "steampunk-ish flintock" style or "assault-rifle" style. So I guess what I'm trying to say is, I'd like the story to focus on the theme of war and more firearm-goodness elements, and have the summons to GTFO.


		Leon5550 - Procede. Fac mevm diem, pvnc. TALK - 13:47, November 11, 2009 (UTC)



		Then put it in the ideas stuff. Put your name, date, and bla bla, and put your ideas, and we'll see how others (if there are others) would be interested in it.


		8bit BlackMage - Beyond the Sky TALK - Why do chemists call helium, curium, and barium 'the medical elements'? Because, if you can't 'helium' or 'curium', you... um... ._.; - 04:48, November 26, 2009 (UTC)



		I'm a little worried about the exclusive third person POV thing. It will help to build on that one character Elanor, yes. Also, if you use the view right, your other characters will have more of an effect on the storyline. I.e., Elanor will rely on them to gain insight into other cultures, ways of thinking, government, feelings, etc. You can't just shift over across the globe and go inside another person's mind. So that could make for very good writing if you have the supporting cast convey ideas to Elanor gradually and effectively. It would also seem more like a novel than a fanfic, which is nice.


		Leon5550 - Procede. Fac mevm diem, pvnc. TALK - 09:41, November 26, 2009 (UTC)



		That's the plan, but we have a small problem on the 'developpment' part. Ellie's entire profile is now solely written by me, and let's face it, I suck at choosing personalities. I want everyone to contribute to the building of Ellie, that way they have a sense of "ownership" towards her and considers her more like their own character, not some NPC they're forced to write. This makes the writers more comfortable at writing Eliie, instead of dropping her and put the full spotlight on his/her character.

Call me a whambulance, this ain't gonna be pretty. Edit


		NëA ^{TRANSMIT MESSAGE}



		I believe that we have all come to an understanding it's ~~basically~~ completely just me and Leon doing all the settings, characters and giving out efforts for the story. For this I ask, seriously? Are you guys even participating? I mean, I don't mind doing all these things, but you guys should at least give us feed-backs and opinions. Now that we've completed the settings, with all that's left is you to write a draft sketch of your dudes/dudettes (and some opinions on how to improve, again). So far, only me and Leon has done that (again). Quite frankly, I'm getting sick of this. I don't want this story to turn into a(nother) Duke Nukem Forever, and if you're not even interested in the updates, why are you even putting your names in the "joining" section the first place? So I ask of you to take your names away if you're no longer interested; it'll make things easier this way. P.S: Dial whine-one-one for me, I think I need some chill-pills and a whambulance. Pronto.


		Leon5550 - Procede. Fac mevm diem, pvnc. TALK - 11:59, November 25, 2009 (UTC)



		I agree. I mean, I write (You can change this if you dont like it) on top of EVERY seccion, meaning there's no reason you guys don't participate. Hell, at least give us the names of your characters! I mean, only me and NA did something (hell, even 8bit, who isnt in the cast proposed a few ideas) can you guys at least give a tiny, miniature link between your character and the protagonist. Can you guys at least comment on the revolutionary idea that there would be minimal magic, no summon and a single protagonist? Hell, can you guys at least read these two comments?


		Born from Darkness ^{Talk · Contribs} 17:07, November 26, 2009 (UTC)



		You guys WERE doing an amazing job by yourselves... o_o I'll try to join in. D:? Is the story gonna be first-person or third?


		Leon5550 - Procede. Fac mevm diem, pvnc. TALK - 02:22, November 29, 2009 (UTC)



		That's a good question... I say third. Maybe it wont make it as close and personal as first, but at least it wont be weird when sometimes we have a small (I repeat, SMALL) appendix concerning the other characters, where we have to use third POV.

BIG HONKIN' ALERT!!!Edit


		Leon5550 - Procede. Fac mevm diem, pvnc. TALK - 09:13, December 3, 2009 (UTC)



		In one day I'm starting this fanfic Wait, before saying "We're not ready/The characters/plot/setting are not described enough!" Well, I'm gonna say "That's why we're starting now." I want the above items to be developed inside the story, not outside of it like all fanfics I've worked on. This way, the story will be rich in description and explanation. That way when a character comes, we're gonna describe him/her and not just go "You know who he is, check his character page". I'm starting the story now/soon before we develop too many things outside and gets lazy and describes nothing inside (Who would want to write the same thing twice?) So for those who haven't made a character yet (you know who you are), well, you have 24 hours to write him/her, or you will be removed. Please comment.


		Prinnyvolence - Yuanchosaan is now an ADMIN HURRAY!!! TALK - Congratulations Yuanchosaan!!!--Malevolence Crystalised 09:22, December 3, 2009 (UTC)



		Kay i'll make one see ya


		NëA ^{TRANSMIT MESSAGE}



		Malevolence, sorry to inform you but the numbers of writers are already limited. So the story will be.... In 3-PS. focusing on Ellie's PoV. having no character named Jack Redrum. focusing on characters interaction and development. having no fucking statues. (hopefully).

Religious Believes/Culture Edit


		NëA ^{TRANSMIT MESSAGE}



		I know we may or may not touch this subject in the story (who knows, maybe there's one president/ruler/authority who's a zealot), but I'd like to discuss on the subject of the religious figures in this story. As we all know, this story takes place in a fictional universe/alternate timeline/alternate dimension/whathaveyou, but I ~~loathe~~ ~~hate~~ don't like the idea of naming the religious figures after the Final Fantasy Series characters. So, here are my thoughts: Since Etheria is roughly based on America/Europe (or, at least, what I think of it), its national religion should Christianity/Catholic (I'm don't really do much research on this, so sorry if I got them wrong). Graziano's probably Christianity/Catholic as well, though since it doesn't have much light shed on it at the moment, it'll be hard to nail down its religious believes. Svanire should be the country that says "fuck conservatives, I have a country to improve", so yeah. Vilford is roughly based on Singapore, so I'm guessing that it'll be a multi-cultural country. General As I mentioned before, since I dislike the idea of naming the religious figures after the Series' character, here's my idea; we uses the names of religious figures in real life, I dunno, maybe some sort of vague allusion? Example: Jesus --> God Santa --> ~~Big Brother (1984)~~ Is still Santa. Allah (first one who makes a Jihad reference gets it) --> God Buddha --> Honestly, I'm not sure we're having Asian cultures in the story, but please tell me if we does. God is well, God, so we don't have any much to say for it. However, this may also bring some contradiction with the ~~Pokemons~~ Summonstones, since we have: ~~Trap~~Shiva Ifrit ~~Pikachu~~Ramuh ~~Machamp~~Titan Odin ~~Stupid overused summon~~ Bahamut, and least we forget ~~SPLIT YOUR LUNGS WITH BLOOD AND THUNDER, WHEN YOU SEE THE~~ WHITE WHAL--I mean, Leviathan As you can see, the whole 'mons comes from different religious beliefs, myths and cultures, and pardon my nit-picking and selfishness, I can't get right pass this whole thing even if we are to merge them under the same mythology. If we do that, you (yes, you. I'm not gonna do it) will have to write a believable myth regarding the deities (here referring to the summons) before and after their got caught in that nifty pokeballs. In addition, the 'mons seemingly refers to be gods in the story's universe. So is the "real" god in the story composed to a singular entity (like YHWH) with the 'mons being the angels? Or is the "real" gods in the story composed of really powerful individuals(like the Gods in Greek Mythology)? I can't believe I'm saying this, but in terms to writing a Guide FAQ (read: Just rough drafts in the story board, not inside the real story) on the universe's mythology about the gods, I'd say Twilight Crystal would have a better shot (shame the whole thing got watered down for a young girl's coming of age story). Sorry for the long post Thoughts?


		Deadlyslashsword - +It takes disaster to learn a lesson, but you're going to make it through the darkest nights+ TALK - 11:38, December 12, 2009 (UTC) - Some people betray and cause treason...we're gonna make everything alright.



		Hey - I saw that! Anyway, I do agree with not having these religious figures named after FF summons, but I'm a bit wary to start naming them Jesus, Buddha, Santa etc. I'd opt to go with original names just to prevent confusion. I'd also say that these "summons" are the only religious figures, and that there isn't a rule-all deity. Don't merge their mythologies, that'll only complicate things. If this indeed is the case, then nobody will have to waste their time writing a myth about how they're captured and brought together. (liek, they r not pokemanz, srsly.) We don't have to go that deep into this.


		Leon5550 - Procede. Fac mevm diem, pvnc. TALK - 14:26, December 12, 2009 (UTC)



		I really dont think we're gonna go deep in the religious thing, because unlike TC, this story isn't told from the eyes of kings, queens, and chancellors, but from the eyes of a girl, so the notion of religion souldn't be that big of an issue. That said, I like the idea of giving certain characters different degrees of different religions, let's say Leon is a devout from Religion A, well, he's gonna have some beef with Ellie, who's a not serious practicioner of religion A, and also with Kale, since he's a devout from Religion B and also the Prophet, because he's a magician. I see this story as a (much, much more mature) coming of age story of a girl named Ellie. But instead of baseless angts and plot holes (NOW I understand what "Die in a hole" means, ZERO...), her coming of age will come from the fact that she travels with a VERY varied bunch of people, struggling to not kill each other as they have to walk the same path toward a common goal, thus learning the way of the world from different point of views. I say let politics and religion be in an omnipresent background instead of the main acting gears. This fic is like the polar opposite of TC: while TC was meant as a political and religious drama, it veered into crappy coming of age story. This fic is meant to be a mature coming of age story, so let's not make the same mistake with TC and turn it into something it wasn't meant to be: a politcal and religious drama.


		Ultima - All worlds begin in darkness and all so end. The heart is no different. Darkness sprouts within it. It grows, consumes it. Such is its nature.



		I actually like the idea of religion, as long as it is actually used in the story, and not just left as a sub page or something. - 16:29, December 12, 2009 (UTC)


		NëA ^{TRANSMIT MESSAGE}



		Well, here's my idea of changing the 'mons names into something more standalone-ish. ...Which is naming them after the attributes of Sepirot (yes, 10 attributes/emanations in Kabbalah; not that fucking solo-wing angel that won't bite it) Shiva, the Stoic --> Gevurah Ifrit, the Impulsive --> Khesed Ramuh, the Wise --> Chokhmah Titan, the Kind --> Tiferet Odin, the Just --> Keter Bahamut, the Terrible --> Netzach Leviathan, the Untamed --> Hod


		8bit BlackMage - Beyond the Sky TALK - Why do chemists call helium, curium, and barium 'the medical elements'? Because, if you can't 'helium' or 'curium', you... um... ._.; - 19:43, December 13, 2009 (UTC)



		NA's idea sounds like win ^^ I looked up the Sepirot on wikipedia, though, and I have suggestions: Khesed supposedly emulates kindness and love, so Titan would be a better choice than Ifrit; Tiferet could go with Ifrit. Beauty can be dangerous. The others seem to fit perfectly, though. Perhaps you'd like to think about how organized and friendly with each other these religions are. The example given was "A follower of belief X will not get along with one of belief Y". Of course, these things change with the level of faith of one person. Having multiple relationships between seven religions may be tricky. To simplify things, I notice that all countries except Svanire "own" two summons, so maybe dwellers in on country have mostly positive opinions on both? Or does faith shatter political boundaries? Also, Leon's plan of exposing these sorts of things during the story rather than listing large paragraphs about them in subpages is a good idea. If you want to tell me that "WE HAS IT PLANNED SO STOP POKING US WITH QUESTIONS", then that is fine ^^ And if the religion doesn't pan out, like in TC, there isn't an abandoned subpage that writers need to feel pressured about :P


		Leon5550 - Procede. Fac mevm diem, pvnc. TALK - 00:27, December 18, 2009 (UTC)



		For the Sepirot thing, I like 8Bit's suggestion, but then I realise Khesed emulates Kindness and love, and both are strong emotions, and Ifrit is like an emotion nuke bomb, so it actually makes more sense that Ifrit, the most emotionally charged adviser is actually associated with Kesed. Now on to Titan, Titan represents nature and Tiferet is beauty. See the obvious link (for you slow ones at home, Nature is Beautifully deadly) and even though I'm not too fond of physical 'gods', if Titan should be represented, I say have it as a woman, representing Gaia, mother nature, who is a Titan. Now on to serious things, I see we seriously lacks writers. That may seem good in a sense that the story is less likely to fail horrendously, but it makes writing slow, so I propose we... invite, people to join. Let's all decide for who shall be invited here. I put 8Bit in the hat.