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Post by Sandafluffoid on Jan 18, 2011 8:08:14 GMT -5
I'll vote for Shifting World, and I really can't say about media, so Wordpress sounds fine to me.
Sigma's revision to the magic system, using sustained focus seems alright to me, but I would think that the situation you described of creating a new pattern for the body to work from would be a different spell to temporary transmutation, and if we go with magic as no replacement for knowledge wouldn't that require some knowledge of DNA? Or perhaps have centuries of magical experimentation pretty much getting the knack of it, but not understanding quite why it works?
I'm fairly okay with the trifetica of races, but I'd like them to be relatively distant from archetypical fantasy races. They'd have seperate cultures and ethnicities, just like we do. Elves should definitely not be immortal, and I don't think dwarves should be truly subterranean for storytelling purposes more than anything. I'd also vote on the mule option for hybrids.
As for Djinn etc. I'm not sure, ideally if someone could come up with some more concrete ideas of how they might work and we can see if it looks any good?
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Post by CtraK on Jan 18, 2011 9:46:22 GMT -5
OK, so it's two votes from Sleepy, Sigma and Lithp on the name front to confirm "Shifting World", unless they have their own ideas.
Let's not forget that however many races divided between half a dozen or so authors is easier than the same number from one author. And you don't necessarily have to write about all of them, either. I can't imagine writing all that much about dwarves, for instance.
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Post by Sigmaleph on Jan 18, 2011 17:49:32 GMT -5
I also vote yes for Shifting World. As for media, Wordpress sounds fine, though the idea of a Wikia is also appealing. No reason we can't have, say, a main blog where stories are published plus a universe wiki to host discussion on setting.
But that's overcomplicating it. Yes on wordpress, wiki can be dealt with later.
Races, I'd prefer sterile, but I don't mind mules. 3 main sapient races plus Djinn looks manageable.
Elves should not be immortal, unless we want to develop a separate magic system for elves that has provisions for that kind of thing. And I'd really like to move away from typical fantasy stereotypes, so hopefully elves won't just be pointy-eared tree-dwellers and dwarfs won't just be short and bearded miners.
Some body-altering magic would require knowledge of DNA to make it lasting, probably. But not healing injuries, at least, which was what I had in mind when I wrote that explanation. Disease would be a whole other thing, depending on the cause and whatnot, but definitely much more complicated.
The difference between a healthy body and an injured one is not DNA-based. And they are both stable patterns, if that makes sense. Basically, let's say someone chops off your arm. If you transform your body into a body that has an arm, like you used to, then you are giving yourself a new form, and tricking your body, over time, into turning it into a stable form. Replicating an arm from scratch won't be easy, knowledge-wise, but provisions could be made for, say, using your other arm as a blueprint. Or possibly someone else's arm, but that would require some basic knowledge of genetics, to know that you have to mix the other guy's arm pattern with your own cell pattern. Which should not be impossible but should be a very new development.
Further ideas about magic shall wait until we have a proper site.
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Post by Yla on Jan 18, 2011 20:10:44 GMT -5
I also vote yes for Shifting World. As for media, Wordpress sounds fine, though the idea of a Wikia is also appealing. No reason we can't have, say, a main blog where stories are published plus a universe wiki to host discussion on setting. Actually, I understood it we'd have one. Don't we? I don't know much about Wordpress, but a wiki format is going to be verry useful both in the worldbuilding phase and as a reference later in the story-writing phase. In my mind, elves are currently pointy-eared communists.
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Post by CtraK on Jan 18, 2011 20:18:17 GMT -5
Actually, I understood it we'd have one. I've set a rule that one more vote means we're getting one, but no-one seems to be online for it, so that's gonna wait until tomorrow US time.
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Post by Yla on Jan 18, 2011 20:24:51 GMT -5
Correction: I understood it that we'd get one. I was well aware of your hunt for votes and respect that.
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Post by John E on Jan 18, 2011 21:07:17 GMT -5
I vote yes on the wiki.
I've been thinking about the magic system. At first it bugged me that magical changes to inanimate objects were temporary but changes to the human body (specifically healing) were permanent (your wound doesn't open back up after the mage stops concentrating). I figured it should be one or the other, temporary or permanent, but then it struck me that difference is that living tissue naturally regenerates anyway, and that process could explain why changes don't revert.
That led me to imagine that there might be ways to permanently fix changes in certain inanimate objects, such as with special heat or chemical treatment. It would be much to inefficient for any kind of mass production, but it could be used to make rare, quasi-magical artifacts.
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Post by Sleepy on Jan 18, 2011 22:19:25 GMT -5
I also vote yes on the wiki. That'll be a handy reference tool.
For the races, I don't want them to be completely stereotypical or completely out of the ordinary. A nice balance of tradition and uniqueness would be best in this case.
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Post by Sandafluffoid on Jan 19, 2011 5:54:51 GMT -5
I picture elves as black. Not sure why, it just appeals to me.
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Post by Admiral Lithp on Jan 19, 2011 5:59:03 GMT -5
I'd figure their pigmenation would reflect where they were from, like how it is with humans.
I am really confused right now, I'm not going to lie.
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Post by CtraK on Jan 19, 2011 7:55:34 GMT -5
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Post by Sleepy on Jan 19, 2011 8:39:57 GMT -5
Hurray, this Wiki excites me immensely.
What are you confused about, Lithp?
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Post by Admiral Lithp on Jan 19, 2011 9:46:45 GMT -5
Everything. I can't follow this thread for shit.
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Post by Yla on Jan 19, 2011 11:19:43 GMT -5
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Post by CtraK on Jan 19, 2011 12:48:03 GMT -5
Would it be too obvious if I called a nation the Vespun States of Usonia? Or even, for that matter, Vespun Usonia?
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