Brainstorming Story Ideas:::

[Sprayber]

Is there anyone out there?

Though I can't complain since I disappeared for so long myself.

I played the game the other day and it got my mind going over ideas for stories.

Hydro's story was very interesting take on AC and it made me wish I had kept at my stories from way back. Is there anyone out there intersted in a cooperative story for AC? It wouldn't have to be as involved as earlier incarnations and perhaps take a different route.

My idea was to start a sort of historical telling of AC.

Each writer take a faction(s) and begin short narritives as if you were writing a history from a far off perspective as a current historian would write about the Holy Roman Empire or the British Empire.

Things you might include:
Recorded quotes about certain leaders or events.
vid footage of historical events.
Official faction records
Or even first hand knowledge ( you were there and you are telling a new generation about events of the past)
Main point being is that it is a narritive.

Things that would have to be agreed upon.
Are we all in the same time and place. example being some distant empire/goverment has commissioned a history of the Chiron Peoples and each person has been given a specific faction and told to dig up all available information. Or are we on Chiron in the future and the UN has decided to publish an offical history of chiron. could be assigned to people who were there for most of that history. since there is the ability to extend human life for hundreds of years that could be possible. We would also have to come to some kind of agreement what a definite series of events so that we all end up on the same page. Perhaps an official timeline of events stating beginning of wars, cities lost and won, historical people born/die/events in life, outcomes of wars, factions established/elimenated. alliances/wars.

Of course I am open to any ideas . I'm just throwing a rock in the water to see if anything comes of it

[Illuminatus]

I am interested, of course. Sounds interesting.

[Sprayber]

Originally posted by Illuminatus
I am interested, of course. Sounds interesting.

Great to see your interested. I haven't been to the AC Fiction forum in a long time. In a way I have kind of avoided it because of all the old stories left unfinished. So I was suprised to find the Chiron Archives thread with all the stories listed and as I scrolled down the page I saw my unfinished works and a bit of guilt came over me for not following through with that or Beyond Alpha Centauri.

[Mr. President]

I remember you It's been such a long time.

I definitely hear you on that last comment. I always felt like I could or should have kept going on Beyond Alpha Centauri; if nothing else to give it something like an ending.

But it would take more than a miracle to gather all the scattered writers from the corners of the multiverse again.

I started writing stories in the NationStates forum on this site, but that could never provide as good or as rich a basis for storytelling as Alpha Centauri. I think the retrospective idea is a good one. At this exact moment, I have only one comment, about the issue of

We would also have to come to some kind of agreement what a definite series of events so that we all end up on the same page. Perhaps an official timeline of events stating beginning of wars, cities lost and won, historical people born/die/events in life, outcomes of wars, factions established/elimenated. alliances/wars.

Specifically, I think it would be more effective in this type of project to give this to just one person, with input and comments from the other participants. I remember at the beginning of Beyond Alpha Centauri, when everyone was told to make a timeline for their own faction. The aggregate length of all timelines ran over 20 pages, and their consistencies varied from poor (the people who finished first) to almost good (the people who waited until after other people finished theirs to do their own).

[GeneralTacticus]

I'd be interested in participating, although my ability to do so may vary depending on school.

[Hydro]

I'm game. I, too, feel guilt over the various unfinished SC fiction projects out there.

One request is that the timelines have some consistency, which would require one guiding voice to provide a framework. Otherwise there will be a lot of noise, which is frustrating. On that line, one option is that the various recollections be at odds, which would alleviate the need for consistency. But that could be laid out in the framework.

Hydro

[Bearcat]

I might be able to do a bit of writing, I'm open to whatever.

[Sprayber]

I suggest there there only be one timeline to incoporate history up to a certain point. The basic hard facts of the history from the initial landing including a map of where they all landed on a map of planet and when splinter factions might appear, then everyone could pick a particular event that they are interested in doing and flesh out the details of the event from whatever perspective they choose. First person or a simple retelling of the events. What might be fun is to get two different perpestive on the same event. The same basic facts would be there (outcome of battles/border changes/number of deaths) but it could be told from different perpectives. Say for instances a war between the Spartans and Peacekeepers. Each side would have their own interrpretations on what started or happened to them during the war even though the same basic facts would apply to both eg. Spartans end up with a peacekeeper base that they have to pacifiy and make Spartan.

All the histories would be put in the same thread or we could make separate threads for different factions. A story about how the Spartan -peacekeeper war might be followed up by a history on how the Spartans had to deal with the challenges of making a UN base a Spartan one. This way the committment to write is soley when one of us can because I know we all have lives to lead we can't totally immerse ourselves in the story. It can be as long or short as the writer can spare.

[Hydro]

A few thoughts.

We may have to assume that there was no transcendence since Planetmind and the absorption of most of humanity would make the exercise of historical exploration irrelevant. After all, the sum of human knowledge and hundreds of thousands of its members are now active members in this essentially immortal entity.

Here are some possibilities, each of which has a very different ‘voice’:

• Supreme leader – unites under single banner (PK?); world government, subjugation of rogue factions
• Conquer – unite under single banner (Spartan? Hive? Other?); military dictatorship or autocracy (likely not benevolent)
• Indeterminate – catastrophe gripped Chiron, reducing much of humanitry or driving humanity to extinction; society largely destroyed; perhaps there was a Flowering, or a failed attempt at Transcendence? Or perhaps human-caused damage by PB wars, rising oceans, volcanoes, and rampant fungus blooms? The human voice could be from survivors that have reestablished their society, or perhaps from human colonies that find a devastated Chiron and a seething Planetmind.
• Aliens arrive – this would be difficult since the aliens would likely exterminate human vermin. Of course, the dialog could be from a Progenitor point of view as they try to find out where these pesky aliens came from, and where they need to go to finish the job. Perhaps a small set of human slaves are doing this work for their masters if humans were allowed continued existence – an interesting point of view, to be sure.

[Sprayber]

Thanks everyone for the input and interest.

I find myself coming up with ideas but they generally lead to more involved story lines than I had originally intended.

Something that has stuck in my mind is of a Supreme leader of a very much active faction (may be only faction left or perhaps the strongest with other factions still holding out) commisioing a report from a group of "specialist" on wheither or not to go ahead with the attempted colonization of another world to spread chiron civilization or to focusing on chiron only. (could also be a question of wither the dominate faction should indeed focus attention on totally conquering the entire planet instead of letting the hold out factions be) after each telling of a particular episode of history the writer would then give his or her insight on the consequences of the event in regards to the ultimate question if humanity is ready to take yet another step to the stars. an example of this would be in real terms an american historian relating the Vietnam war and then advising the President wither the iraq war was a good idea or not. To be realistic this probably would fit well only with the PK-Gaian-Morganite(financial risks vs gain)and maybe University factions as all others probably would rely on the sole decision of the leader. Asume the breakaway factions have been involved with chiron history as well.

after writing this I really like the idea of a commisoned report as to the question of since the leader has been elected supreme leader should our next course of action to be immediately conquer the lone hold out factions. Each writer would be apart of the commision and present historical situations that support a view of yes or no. things that would be brought up is the resources that would be requried and if we as a faction can justify that. is the hold out factions dangerous enough to warrent a prolonged war to bring them to heal and what exactly would be done with the leaders of those factions when they were caught? punishment spheres? (a look at the historical use of punishment spheres might be included in such a report).

When you take up the task it is entirely possible that in the over all course of doing the histories an overall writers reccomendation may chage as they look at the entireity of chiron history. A faction such as the Spartans would look bad in the early tellings but gradually change as time went by or the great hope of Domai's Drones may turn into a nightmare as he gains more and more power and ends up doing the same things as Yang did. Those are just suggestions at the moment.

Perhaps each writer can take a certain faction and follow them through history. You would get things such as two writers writing on the same event Spartan-Hive war and get two accountings slightly different depending on each sides point of view. Thing is this doesn't have to be a time limit on these things. this is something for us to play around with when we can. but I think it might should be done in a chronogcial order meaning writing events from the Unity break up down to the present.

Anyway, those are just a couple ideas that floated in my head today.

[Sprayber]

Originally posted by GeneralTacticus
I'd be interested in participating, although my ability to do so may vary depending on school.

Any time you could devote would be greatly appreciated

[Sprayber]

Originally posted by Mr. President
Specifically, I think it would be more effective in this type of project to give this to just one person, with input and comments from the other participants. I remember at the beginning of Beyond Alpha Centauri, when everyone was told to make a timeline for their own faction. The aggregate length of all timelines ran over 20 pages, and their consistencies varied from poor (the people who finished first) to almost good (the people who waited until after other people finished theirs to do their own).

Yeah, I remember the troubles of BAC because of our decentralized process. In this one there would be one timeline with a set of facts and figures associated with those events and everyone would flesh out the details and any questions or suggestions would be brought to the timeline maker and he/she would make a decision. but I think ther e would be a lot of room for creativity within that framework.

[Sprayber]

Have i lost everyone

[Illuminatus]

Not quite. Don't worry, I have a cunning plan.

[Rand Al'Tor]

Well, I'll be keeping an eye on the plan. Sounds like a cool idea, though I tend to be erratic in my writing/RP-ing pace.