Geography / Mapping

I would like to request some sort of a grid-to-tile conversion, to assist with the various stages of mapping. I was very impressed with the mapping progress in the article for the old area, called Xartune. I think it would be helpful to use the grids on the world map, as actual coordinates. I don't care if there is a series of sub-grids within each grid-square, so long as it eventually equates a real coordinate, in terms of tiles in the game environment.

If questions of size and perspective arise, we should start to ask questions like, "How long should it realistically take to walk from "point A" to "point B"..?" I don't think this world should be the size of Earth, but it should be "big enough" to keep things reasonably spaced out. (whatever that means.. ;) Bottom line for the entire world: it'd be nice to somehow promote low-density areas, to keep lag at a minimum.

Story Outlines

With the "Backstory" broken up the way it is now, it's more comfortable to document world history using two fundamental perspectives. The timelines are examples of event-driven writing, as are most outlines for stories. Actual stories however, will probably tend to be slightly more character-driven. Currently there is a void of character-driven writing, that I hope to begin filling soon. This should be a great opportunity for anyone interested in devoting some time toward concept art, as well people who are interested in illustration. As I have mentioned before, I think we should consider illustrating the wiki in the style of an instruction manual or a strategy guide, where appropriate. Obviously, describing the minute details of every idea, person, place, etc.. can be tiresome for the reader and author alike, creating ample need for visual aid.

We had discussed getting in touch with some people, about creating some web comics and I believe I'm ready for an initial installment of four short stories. I can do them myself, but I worry that my time constraints would keep them on a back-burner for too long. I see no reason why it can't be a team approach, to a certain extent. I usually have enough time and effort in the day, to devote to preliminary outline imagery, but it'd be great to have some help pulling a complete comic out of it all. Anyhow, the following is a quick run down of my idea for stories.

the Crystal of Water shatters

Keep in mind, the intended idea is that after the Gods were banished, mankind never really became aware of the existence of the Crystals. This is first of the crystals to suddenly shatter, but why exactly did it happen? The God of Water within didn't simply "break free" through its own free will; if it could, it probably would have much earlier, right? Here's how it happened:

During Keshlam's invasion of the newly founded nation of Ancea, a young member of the Tritan royal family is chased by the enemy forces, to the far outskirts of the capital. Though he manages to elude his pursuers, he finds himself trapped in an underwater cavern, where he had taken refuge.

The situation seem dire, when the boy begins to hear a voice calling out to him.

He follows the distant voice through the watery caverns, which eventually lead him to the open sea. The voice then instructs him on a long journey, coaxing him with promises of safety and help with his troubles.

After more than a day of playing hide and seek with the Keshlam troops, the boy finally arrives on a small island, far from the capital city, which he had been forced to flee. The voice gradually becomes faint and its words grow vague, until the messages finally cease.

As he ventures in to the heart of a small forest, he is greeted by a small lake of fresh water, which almost seems illuminated. The voice suddenly becomes more intense and suggestive, urging him to explore the depths of the lake; insisting that the solution to all of his problems lie at the bottom.

The boy of course, submits to this claim, proceeding to swim to the lake's deepest point. The voice ceases and the boy now finds nothing immediately impressive about the area. Now standing with his flippers on the ground, the Tritan feels a very slight vibration, which seems to hum with a familiar harmony.

Feeling compelled to find the source of this strange vibration, the boy dusts off the surface layer of sand, revealing the surface of an immense crystal. This crystal actually encompasses most of the area beneath the lake.

When the boy finally places his hand on his discovery, the God of Water musters all of his strength to puncture through the crystal's surface. The temporary breech lasts long enough for the God to escape, using the boy as a conduit to the outside world.

With the God no longer at its core, the Crystal shatters.

The following three stories are about the subsequent Crystals and how they were discovered. I had hoped to preserve part of Tonori's original intended history, with the tale of the Crystal of Fire.

the Crystal of Fire shatters

When the Kingdom of Tonori was nearly founded, by the gathering tribes of the jungle, two differing opinions about where to build the kingdom began to take shape. One view, lead mostly by the Ifriton, posed to place the kingdom around the recently active volcano. The group of mostly Human opposition did not see the volcano as an idol of worship and argued to place the kingdom near the southeastern coast, close to a large and sustaining aquifer.

A witch who leads the worship of the volcano ends up setting off in to the mountains, where she of course, finds the Crystal of Fire. Like the god before it, the God of Fire escapes through her body, shattering its former prison.

Countless crystal fragments now cover the jungle, emitting enough heat to alter the environment. The jungle, which was recovering so beautifully, becomes a wasteland in a matter of days.

--- I really wanted to try to keep that whole notion that a witch was somehow responsible for the apparent "spell" cast over the area. I just thought that it could stand to have a bit more room for folk lore. Gispaa then tells the story and recants it with a sense of pride and glory, while anyone in Tulimshar would tell it with a twist of hatred and implied evil. The witch was actually just going to "ask the volcano" for guidance and happened upon the crystal.

Etc..

I don't have much in mind for the other two events, suffice to say that they happened in a similar fashion. The crystal of Earth is somehow found by someone digging a tunnel or something like that. Perhaps a Talpan seeking some privacy or building a home. Nothing extensive to make out of that. The crystal of Air.. a Sparron finds it, perhaps simply floating in a tucked away spot in the sky.

the system, in general

We need to have the basic foundation of a system laid down by the end of next month, but I think we can do it faster. I will try again to write a new proposal to consider, tear apart, etc.. ;) Though a lot of what is already on the wiki gives us a great idea what we're shooting for, it doesn't really serve as steady ground to build a balanced game system on.

the crystal conundrum

Here are some quick examples of how the crystal shards might work, in the game.

• they are somehow made to be the backbone of a magic system.
  • examples of magic systems like that can be found in a number of games..
    • ..like final fantasy 6 & 7 .. and Chrono Cross.. and probably a lot of games that I am forgetting or just haven't played.

• just part of a large ongoing quest of finding gems (shards, jewels, stones) for the purpose of modifying your equipment..
  • for an example, each of these items could have some use or application, where they would somehow become part of your equipment. Probably by "equipping" gem-type objects on to your existing equipment, to modify the benefits (and penalties) that you receive from it.
    • maybe you have a long sword with one "slot".. you place a pure red crystal fragment in this slot and now that weapon's elemental damage-type is "fire".. maybe there is even a weapon spell effect that is randomly activated during normal attacks. The same sort of effect could apply to armor; like equipping that same red fragment to the slot on your breastplate, would produce some sort of fireshield effect..

• both of those ideas could work together. Perhaps when you get the spell effect to function for the first time, it begins the learning process. This could also be one of a few ways to learn magic.
  • other more traditional methods can be present as well; books, scrolls, runes.. etc.
    • the latter (script & text) method could be reserved for advanced magic. Maybe the crystal shards can teach you a number of basic spells, but the more intricate ones require actual concentrated study.

• the idea was raised that perhaps it's the unspoken duty of each player to return what crystal shards they find, to the original crystal. These "main" crystals would actually fluctuate in size with the amount of shards donated back to them.
  • part of the idea was that the world's supply of energy could actually be depleted, perhaps to the point where people can't use magic, unless something is done about it.
    • it would be a definite ongoing quest, because of its hindering effect on magic-use.
      • Pauan didn't like that part of the idea as I recall, because it discriminated against magic-users. I suppose I tend to agree. The entire idea is just a little too flimsy, though. I just thought it was worth mentioning for some reason.

• at any rate, the crystal shards should be worth something. Enough that the Gods are seeking to collect them, before Mankind realizes their "true potential" (whatever that ends up being) .. The Gods create monsters to help gather the shards and hopefully, to destroy Mankind in the process.

Concept Art Requests

Anything that's been described so far that anyone feels any desire to sketch, draw, etc.. please do so. I think it'd be ideal to decorate these pages with imagery relevant to the subject-matter.

A large chunk of this will end up being the animals and monsters sections. I think we could start using categorizing flags for each creature, to be used in any number of combinations. The flags could be things like: (diurnal) (nocturnal) (herbivore) (carnivore) (aggressive) (undead) (general animal-types)..etc ..basically descriptives that can be used to group creatures together in various ways, that can also be adapted if need be, to some sort of in game behavioral status.

• example: the creature in the room is an herbivore; lucky for you, you're not a plant!
  • another example: the creature in the rooms is an herbivore but is aggressive! LOOK OUT, plant and meat alike!

Bottom line, we should have a nice full realm of creatures, though I'm all for the notion of using monsters as templates for "new" monsters.

Geographic detail. The map is fine to tell us what type of terrain is where, but I'd like to see some takes on what some of these places might look like and likewise, I'd love to have images to place in each location's article. With the articles for the continent's for example, instead of just cropping the map to show what the area is, it'd be nice to have a mock-photo of it. Even if it's just a sketch and you don't feel like doing the coloring, pass it along.

For the basic elements of each area, we don't need a ton of descriptions to get the lay of the land sketched out with a little more detail. If something is thought up after the fact, like a city or something else noticeable from a distance.. I'm sure it's within our collective capabilities to just add it to the picture later.

Besides that, I'd like some help with ideas for things like natural landmarks in some of these environments.

Other stuff

Names are becoming something of a dizzying task for me. I'm not opposed to using real life names for certain things.. we can't avoid it to a certain extent.. but I'd like to make an attempt to have some original names for just basic things like types of metal and other materials.. obviously, names for original animals, even if they're strikingly similar to something in real life. We're locking the race names down for the time being.

Cities and other notable landmarks will be added to area articles soon.

--BAH.. I have to cut my rambling short again, to go to work. Dabe 10:15, 22 May 2007 (CEST)

EMAIL ME WITH COMMENTS! david@inotthink.info