Hey all, wanna play a forum game? If you haven''t seen one of these before, it''s basically that we all contribute story ingredients and combine each others'' to make a (probably increasingly bizarre) game story. So, here are my ingredients to start with: - a military commander is captured by the opposing force and given to a high-ranking noble of the other side as a slave - something or someone is named Aravian - a person acquires wings through any means you like, but it has to occur during the main story plot, not as backstory. - the best-laid plans of mice and men often go spectacularly awry - with very funny results. - pick an animal and use it as the basis for a heroic metaphor characterizing either a character, a ship, or a political faction; you can use anthropomorphism or heraldry but not both. Have fun! "Have come to the conclusion that fandom is not a hobby for all but rather a combination non-competitive sport/full-contact tea party. Only, like, the Mad Hatter''s tea party, and the Dormouse is totally hitting on the March Hare." --Ins, livejournal entry

Sunandshadow, I think you need to take the initiative and jumpstart this. What is the format? Discuss the elements of the story? Or actually begin writing the opening segment of the story?

*scratches head in puzzlement* Everybody figured it out last time... People can do whatever they want - contribute a joke, two lines of dialogue, a concept, details for a concept someone else has already put forth... whatever you all like do do during your creative process.

Like the next person could build on my suggestions by saying 'the best-laid plans' refers to one man's driving vision of a world without slavery... but he screws up and ends up a slave himself, specifically the military commander who is captured and enslaved. And this reversal is the climax of the first plot-arc of the game, out of perhaps 3 plot arcs. The second plot arc will be him replacing his theoretical preconceptions about slavery with real experience of it, and how this affects his motivating vision.

And then the next person could add:
- someone gets hit with a fish
- in this story wings have a symbolism opposite that which they have in the real world; which is to say, wings are like a hobble rather than granting freedom, they symbolize inferiority rather than superiority or divinity.
- someone says, "Underneath every ant is the whole of the Earth."


It's really not a difficult concept, is it? It's just a cooperative story-telling game.



[edited by - sunandshadow on March 27, 2003 3:37:52 PM]

...find the Chosen One, he who bears the mark of the Fish.
* * *
Above the surface, Aravian reflected upon his situation and what had brought him to his present state, that of a slave in the household of Adelviong, count of Lyonnais, Beaujolais and the march of Basse Savoie.

Not so long ago, he was still commanding a squadron of riders, the Grey Pilgrims, patrolling the borders of the duchy of Savoie for marauding Burgunds, Helvetians and other barbarians inhabiting the slopes of the Alps and Jura in the eastern borders.
On his powerful bike he would inspire terror to his enemies, the sheer noise of its engines, the shine of its machinegun, the speed... ah, how he lacked the feel of the wind on the dusty mountain roads.
His merit was well known to the Duke, his bravery had been tested many times, and more than once had he fought with overwhelming odds against him. And yet he had survived.
And so it was that on a clear summer morning, he had secretly been summoned to the Duke''s palace, fort St Bernard, on the borders of the lake of Annecy, the jewel of Savoie, with its clear waters, gentle moutains, and powerfully fortified city.
The situation was simple enough : there was trouble brewing in the west. The Count of Lyonnais, master of biggest oil reserves for what was left of France, had started to extend his gaze towards the duchy of Savoie and its strategic position, guarding the way to the lands beyond the Alps : the Helvetians clans and their renowned craftmanship, to the north the mighty Teutonic lands with their resources in wood, to the south the cunning merchant princes of Venice, Florence, not to mention the cyber-papauty of Neo Roma.
Simply put, Aravian''s task was to go to Lyon, and there infiltrate any way he could the power structure, possibly becoming a military leader, in order to divert the efforts of the count and help the duke of Savoie to prepare defences.
Since he was well known, disguising would prove difficult and dangerous, so another solution was found : become a prisoner.
As a prisoner of war, he would most certainly become a slave, but given his rank, he would surely be sent to a rich and powerful family. No doubt, his captor would thusly gain some prestige in the eyes of whoever would receive the present.
The Lyonnais were known for their eccentricity and depraved manners, and more than killing, they enjoyed humiliating their enemies. Reducing a former general to the state of slave would certainly bring them great pleasure, and Aravian a perfect occasion for spying.
Given their system, a valourous slave, with enough efforts and by proving his worth at the service of his masters, could eventually be given some responsibilities, including the commanding of troops (although usually on non vital or suicidally dangerous missions ). This would be Aravian''s chance to proves his worth, and accomplish his mission.

...

Sancte Isidore ora pro nobis !

Wonderful! This is a great start - there''s so much fun atuff to play with I think I''ll have to take another turn! ^_~

Okay, so we have alien french nobles enslaving humans. Or maybe the aliens are the leaders on both sides of this war, and the humans are continuously caught in the middle. The slaves are marked with the symbol of wings. Not just a symbol - a seed! See, the aliens have wings, and they can fly. They think humans are really ugly if they''re wingless, so naturally they want to give their house-slaves and pleasure-slaves wings. But, they don''t want the slaves able to just fly away, so the wings have to be pretty but non-functional, so that they are actually a burden, marking the human as a slave and keeping him or her "shackled to the earth with chains of gravity". When they take a human as a slave they brand the center of their back with a little tattoo of wings, and put a genetic seed there - a little packet of a genetically engineering virus that makes the humans sprout fanciful, artistically designed wings. We can have a nice little Japanese-style horror fmv illustrating this.

Here''s some more little bits:
- "Those who are the most horrified at the idea of owning slaves are those who would make the best slaves themselves."

- As long as were playing with fish symbols, let''s use the progression: regular fish, darwin fish (the one with legs), evolve fish (the one with a wrench for genetic engineering). Hey, let''s have one with wings too.

- The fish symbol branded on Aravian is on his right hip.

So since everyone''s talking about the theory of making up titles, why not try to make up some titles for this game concept? Also, we still need to know what the climax and resolution of the game will be, if anyone has any ideas for that.