If you've read The Hobbit you may recognise this as the cheat in the riddle contest that Bilbo used to trick Gollum into letting him go.
Why did I name a thread this...becasue I am gonna show you exactly what is up my sleeve. I am not opening this for debate about why...I do intend to write many of these ideas as I can.
But I am doing it becasue of something Adam wrote...
There are, in essence, two ways in which we have to approach each other: as part of the audience reading the story, and as co-authors of a collaborate story. This is all well and good, except that I think we tend to favour the former over the latter to our detriment.
So I am letting my own cats out of the bag.
I am doing this to clue you into what I have planned and how it will affect all of you. As a writer, I want to see if you are reading my things. So when I write a "Holy Shit!" moment I like to see the comments from everyone echoing that "Holy Shit!"
That tells me that 1) You read my stuff, and 2) You were moved by it.
But as I thought about Adam's comments it occurred to me that if all of us are doing this then we are all shooting ourselves in the foot.
If I plan a
holy Shit and get nothing then I feel like nobody cares...so I write my own stuff.
If I withold something and then spring it on the others and it ruins something for someone else then it makes them angry and they aren't having fun
If we both do something that is similar who copycatted whom? Or is it a case of parallel development?
Any way I stack it up, holding back for that AHA is costing us as writers.
I have had to think about this some over the past couple of days and the next post is gonna have spoilers for you. But I thnk that if you need to know it'll make it better in the long run.
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Secrets and spoilers
This isn't all of the subplots and things that I am still sitting on becasue they belong to to other people or others have their stake in them. And I urge you strongly not to look just becasue you can. Think about whether you really want to (or need to) know or not.
It is important that if it has a global effect that you reveal your hand slowly so as not to kill that AHA moment that we all really like. Look for these stories to appear soon (before the beginning of the next season).
Q: Who are Pentacles and Cups
[hide]Pentacles and Cups work for Wolfram and Hart. They are trying to find the new location of the Hellmouth, and they can only do that by testing the evils and goods around it. W&H wants to plunk their new office on top of the Hellmouth. They are doing this so as to preserve the "secondary effect" of the presence of the Hellmouth without exposing it to the kind of danger that opening it will cause. [/hide]
Q:Where is the Hellmouth going to open?
[hide]It is going to open under the Hyperion Hotel. But there is a bizarre effect of the presence of Wolfram and Hart in that all of their offices are identical. So they are going to alter reality to place their office on the site of the Hyperion and the Hyperion on the site of the old W&H building. This will have the effect of making it as if Marcus had always been in the Hyperion and renovated it to his use and since it is an alteration of the reality of the world, it will be that way for everyone.[/hide]
Q: So who is this mysterious Ally you alluded to?
[hide]Zayn'Jae Vex aka "Zayn". She is a "powers that be" that was ejected. It has never been revealed why she was ejected and it is safe to assume she is working her own angles. She has insider knowledge of the operation of the cosmos that will help us pin down where the Hellmouth is and even arrange for us to have access to it once in a while. Ultimately, however, hers is a longer term story than this season, but it will be safe to say that by the end of the season it will be obvious that she isn't on our side.[/hide]
Q: So where to Pentacles and Cups' bosses fit into this?
[hide]They are passive players like the Order of Valor or Majestic 12. They don't have a direct part to play as anything other than what I have outlined...the guardians of the Hellmouth. However they are there to be used. Everyone is invited to use them.[/hide]
[LABN] What is in your pocketses?
That is really cool actually, and the spoilers I read left me with a few 'Ahhh' moments of realisation as those cryptic little things that have been said here and there finally fell into place.
I totally agree about the Holy Shit moments, it's terrible when you plot, plan and write something only for it to be passed over like it never happened. For this very reason I decided to actually vocalise my praise when I read something that made me smile or laugh out loud or get all cringe-worthy, I'm not saying we should just offer hollow praise all the time, but those occassional pats of the back sure do make you glow.
I'm really glad you revealled the stuff on the Hellmouth since it really will influence the way I approach Season Five (as I've mentioned my story will be more focused on that aspect). As for my own plans I should probably write something similar when I eventually get them nailed down to specifics. At the moment I'm still going with the flow.
Re: Secrets and spoilers
A very small part of my current Midseason plot will tie in with some of Dave's. A very small part, only. As for my current Midseason plot - yes, I'm keeping stuff secret for the moment, because it's Midseason and we can do that sort of thing then. :) I really thought it would have been well and truly posted by now. Most of my stuff was written back in November, but then I had to wait for the musical to finish, and now I'm just waiting on a post from Sherlynn but her area's been inundated by storms and she has no internet. *shrugs* Them's the breaks. It's soon, guys, real soon.
However, for what it's worth, my small part in Dave's spoilers follows:
[hide]Remember waaaay back when Tash was idly wondering why Victor had included an ampersand between the W and H of "White Hats"? Think about what else W&H might really stand for. And if they're the lawyers who deal with the Foundation's affairs, there's a chance of involvement further down the track. So far there's no real involvement planned, but the potential is there.
That's about it, really. Yeah, boring. The only other thing I'd like to add is even narrower in scope, but Kris at least may want to click on the next link.
[hide]The Foundation only has one employee on its books, and that employee has never been terminated despite a long absence. The janitor, Sam Aubrey. [/hide][/hide]
[LABN] What is in your pocketses?
Q: So who is this mysterious Ally you alluded to?
wow i was planning to do something very damed simmlar with vincnet and the creature who created him if you wanna now more pm me on msn or something
[LABN] What is in your pocketses?
I want to note that this is mostly background information for my plot, and (rough) sketches. Much of the detail is still subject to change. Why tip my hand on all of this? Well… because while it won’t affect everyone, an idea is starting to occur to me that could make some knowledge of this useful.
Especially near the end.
A number of these are pre-post exposition. Anything question in blue contains not only exposition, but things that are plot twists or otherwise supposed to be surprising. Strictly speaking, you don't have to read any of these to understand what's going on; I'll be making things clearer and revealing everything here later on in-game. This is just for those of you who want the background knowledge in advance, and like me, don't mind spoilers. :)
(For those of you wondering, if you expose all of the hidden text in this post, it adds up to four pages)
Q: Just what is Vard-Lokkar?
[hide]He’s a Lich – one of nine, in fact. Literally, for our purposes, what this means is that he’s a member of the undead, though not a vampire or anything like that. The Lich are intended to be an intermediate class, neither dead nor alive. Just existing. Kind of like their philosophy of keeping a balance, they are in the middle.[/hide]
Q: So, what about his abilities?
[hide]Vard is the Artificer. Each member of the Lich has their own set of abilities, with only the 2 Warriors and 2 Mages doubling up. Vard knows a little about everyone’s magic, making sort of a ‘jack of all trades’ in what he can actually do. When it comes to enchanting, though, he’s better.
The ONLY reason he was able to revive Valdis was because, unlike her, he needed all the astrological signs in the right place. Hence his complaint to a vampire about a possible delay in reviving her.[/hide]
Q: What’s the Valdis connection?
[hide]Valdis is the leader of the Lich. She’s also the Necromancer. Most of her stuff is off-screen until the end of the current segment of the plotline.[/hide]
Q: How long does this plot have to run?
[hide]A century for the whole thing; the segment I’m writing about, dunno. That’s up for negotiation, but Vard will be around, at a minimum, through season five. There may be an epilogue, set in the future.[/hide]
Q: Vard’s up to something, isn’t he?
[hide]Naturally. But there’s some reason slight of hand going on here. What you think he’s deceiving you about, he may not have been.[/hide]
Q: Expand on the last remark, please. Yes, I am aware that this contains major plot twist info.
[hide]You asked for it.
Vard’s being completely upfront about being sent there by Alina-Ruya, and about their philosophy. I made the first post to give a context, and to give you all the suspicion that he’s up to something. Naturally, everyone will assume he’s being a manipulative bastard, because (1) I’m evil, (2) Rutger Hauer plays a great villain, (3) the first time you see him, he’s acting rather, erm, determined.[/hide]
Q: What’s the non-spoiler version of the Sindel remarks that were made in the first Vard post?
[hide]You can probably guess by now that the Lich were working for a demon. Actively supporting an evil cause this time, in fact. 8 of the 9 fell in battle to Sindel, with Vard alone escaping, as Alina Ruya saw.[/hide]
Q: Anything more spoilery in that former remark?
[hide]Yeah. The Lich aided the demon… sort of. They knew that, one way or another, the demon was getting a bunch of powerfull magicians. Alina Ruya also saw that, without being able to manipulate the situation, the demon wins. So they joined him specifically to undermine his plans, and bring about his defeat.[/hide]
Q: Any signifigance to the names, like Vard-Lokkur and Valdis?
[hide]Yep. A full list, by gender, name, meaning, and origin. The people marked with a * are currently around and alive at the time of the game.
FEMALE
*Valdis – The Lich Queen. Necromancy. (“Dead Goddess” - Scandinavian)
*Alina Ruya – Clairvoyant. (“Lofty,” “Sight” – Arabic)
Shamira – Warrior (“Protector” – Jewish)
Gudrun – Magician (“God’s Secret Lore” – Old Norse)
MALE
*Vard-Lokkur – Artificer (“Warlock” – Old Norse)
Basajoun – Nature Magic ( “Lord of the Woods” - Basque)
Thanatos Panagiotis – Healing (“Death,” “all holy” - Greek)
*Fravardin – Warrior (“Guardian Spirit” - Persian)
Khodadad Magus – Magician (“God Given,” “Wise Man/Magician” – Persian)
Incidentally, each generation is replaced about once every 500 years, and each takes its own title to go by. The title for this generation is ‘Estebe’, as Basque word meaning Crown.[/hide]
Q: Can Vard die?
[hide]You can destroy his body, yes.
A complete death can only be achieved by destroying the Soulstone around his neck. However, only the Lich know this so far. Odds are, I’m going to keep it that way.[/hide]
Q: You mentioned something earlier about how it can tie in to other ideas….
[hide]Yes.
The Lich were always intended to be created by the Powers that Be. Get all of the final deaths mentioned in the previous connection, they probably create a new set of Lich to serve them. No, they aren’t Necromancers, in case you haven’t read the one about Vard’s powers.
Part of this is all supposed to tie into the position of evil itself (and conversely, good itself) as, in essence, necessary for each other. There will eventually be a more philosophical post where this becomes clear.[/hide]
Q: What about Nikolai’s apparent apprenticeship?
[hide]Just what it sounds like. The Lich and this school have the same philosophy, letting him leave sooner and still have someone to study under. Vard will try to teach him magic, and fail. Nikolai goes the spiritual warrior route instead.[/hide]
Q: You’re not telling me everything about that last remark, are you?
[hide]As I’ve aluded to before, ALL of the Lich need to be replaced. That includes Vard, who would be the only one still surviving. However, he won’t be replaced until sometime in the 2060s. Though the process may start sooner.[/hide]
Q: You’re still being mysterious
[hide]More like letting you decide how many twists to reveal at any one time.
Vard is going to be defeated at the end of the current plot. His replacement, however, will not take his place for another 50 years, with the soulstone providing the necessary knowledge and magical ability.[/hide]
Q: Ok, I give up. What is your ultimate goal for the part of the story in our timeline?
[hide]Eventually, Vard-Lokkur will be making progress to send word to Valdis that they are prepared to revive the Lich Basajoun. This will involve having to kill someone, and Nikolai making the choice to put an end to the ritual. The exact details of this are up to negotiation.
[/hide]
Q: I get the feeling you’re still hiding something….
[hide]Yes. And I just found out you can nest hidden text.
[hide]Alina Ruya is intended to be the most powerful Clairvoyant we have in game. When she has a vision, it happens. When she makes a prophecy, it happens, and you only have the wording to deal with. She may well be the Seer at the Temple – I haven’t decided yet. Or that the Seer in the Temple is so efficient because there’s no time there.
Alina Ruya saw who would replace each of the Lich – including Vard-Lokkur. So, she and Valdis have manipulated the situation. Basajoun already lives, and the entire point of the false sacrifice is for Vard-Lokkur’s eventual replacement to kill him. Nikolai won’t be taking on Vard’s soulstone and gaining his powers in-game, though – that won’t come until he’s old in the future, and seen Reah go away.
What we’re seeing in LABN is a fraction of the much larger story: the end of the physical body of the last Lich to “die” and the anointing of his successor, though not the actual succession.[/hide][/hide]
[LABN] What is in your pocketses?
This is a good thread. I just found it. For those of us who tend to get lost in information, it's very helpful. Yea, I looked at all the spoilers. Couldn't help myself. And I love how you've nestled the spoilers in clickable chunks.
Heather, don't think your secrets have escaped my eyes. :wink:
I myself am terribly inspired by the colding mythos. I plan on writing a parallel story to the main board (found in the Diary forum), meaning that Oliver Bell will continue to be an NPC, so not to make waves when I eventually flake.
I understand that I've created NPCs, so I won't whine if one of you players need to use Griffith Observatory and do something with my characters that I didn't expect. Of course, I hope to take part in the occasional collaboration, as was Dave's original offer. Oliver's story will hopefully alter itself to fit the Season 5 events. I already plan on using street children who are well aware of the Blood Mary myth.
To stress an obvious point, this is playtime for Sid, and I don't expect my story to be read. It's not a segment of the main board, not obligated reading. I'm getting plenty of creative satisfaction writing for myself. However, I do plan on keeping up with the storyboard so I can mirror those events.
I realize that my parallel idea might annoy some, those of you who diligently post AS A TEAM, so please say so if this is the case. It wouldn't be unreasonable for me to get my creative juices out elsewhere, say if I started an off-site message board to post Oliver's tale. I'll still pop in to LABN for the social thing.
[LABN] What is in your pocketses?
If you hadn't said this I was going to. It would have simplified your post tremendously.
[LABN] What is in your pocketses?
It would have, a great deal. But by the time I DID find that out, I'd already written everything except for the stuff in that section. By that point, I figured it was more work to make everything neat and nested, rather than just leave it as is.
Ah well. It'll come in handy next complex plot. ;)