History of the Multiverse, Part 1

[Endoperez]

I completely agree with Johan in that the mystery is more alluring than clearly detailed. That's why I'd like to see details about a Pangaea/Abysia war, but not the war in which Abysia corrupted the Grove of Gaia, weakening its magic and thus driving Pangaea towards the New Era. We know that there's been many wars between Pangaea and Abysia, and writing about that is safe. Coming up with something that isn't supported by the game itself, or that details something that should remain a mystery, should be avoided.

I tried to say the same thing with my above "widening the world, not creating depth" post.

[HoneyBadger]

I'm sorry, but I fail to see what great mystery you're trying to conceal.

I'm taking about an atleast somewhat consistent history for, and modern relationships between, the nations of Dominion, so that some decisions made in-game can have a basis in good role-playing.

I'm not trying to hunt down Bigfoot so I can stuff him and put him in my den. Some cultural touchstones would be nice, but details like that, in my experience, add to characterizations, they don't take away from them.

Funny sounding names alone don't a good setting make.

[Endoperez]

We don't have to know who broke the seal, how he broke it and how that destroyed the Oracles. We know that the Seal was broken, and that the Oracles have died. That's the mystery. Until we get a national summon, hero or something for EA Agartha, we won't know, and until that point, we shouldn't add anything of our own. I'll use my mods as an example. I've created several heroes, like the Obsidian Medium of Agartha. An ancient statue that was infused in Earth magic, became aware and slowly learned to think, and then slowly found its way towards Agarthans whose presence it felt, only to appear too late and find the remnants of the Agarthans living with humans... It's outside the bigger picture. It isn't mentioned anywhere. It doesn't change anything. The Seal is still broken, Agarthans are still doomed, the Medium can't change that. I've also made an Agent of the Oracles - a Golem Crafter with Earth/Death/Fire and Holy due to being personally trained by the Oracles. Again, a small story that doesn't affect the big picture.

I'm not interested in precise history, or stories about Spornsjarl, or Angelique d'Armant or Carmont the Cardinal, not unless the IW team got their word in and the writer was really good.

[HoneyBadger]

Why shouldn't we know who broke the seal? Knowledge of such a person or being leads, itself, to other questions, which in turn give the imagination more toys.

A better question to leave unanswered is the exact nature of what was *behind* the seals-3 gods, maybe. Maybe not.

It becomes speculation about the nature of the setting, not just a misplaced record. It's not the person who broke the seal that's necessarily of interest, unless the person or his reasons are of interest.

Not being able to know what, how, and why is a lot more fun than not being able to know who, where, or when.

[Endoperez]

We shouldn't know "who", because that changes from game to game. "It was God of Agartha, the Ancient Olm" isn't a good answer if you have a Dragon.

[HoneyBadger]

Was it your Pretender that broke the seal though? I always understood that either the gods broke out finally, by themselves, or that they were released by curious humans, either accidentally or intentionally.

If it was your Pretender, then it's a simple enough device to leave out the description of who did it, other than to say just that-that it was your Pretender.

[Endoperez]

HoneyBadger said:
Was it your Pretender that broke the seal though? I always understood that either the gods broke out finally, by themselves, or that they were released by curious humans, either accidentally or intentionally.

This is also a good reason not to detail the "who" part. There are so many possibilities to choose from, and writing out one of them would make one of them more real than the others. Not good.

[HoneyBadger]

But, if you don't write out some of them, or even most of them, then you end up without definition, any sort of consistency, or even a real setting, since everything's possible, but nothing has any meaning.

It's like one of those shows where you watch it for a whole season and then at the end, somebody wakes up from a dream and everything's completely different. Some mysteries are fine, and they add to the setting, but too many mysteries just make the setting shallow.

[Foodstamp]

Would you consider Hemmingway a bad writer? Story telling is about giving the reader 10% of the story but being aware as an author that the other 90% exists and writing your stories accordingly.

[HoneyBadger]

That goes without saying, but here, we've got about 0.0001%

Minimalism is only good to a point, and in the story of the Old Man and the Sea, we know there's an man, he's old, and he lives by the sea.