Creating a plot for the 1.3 Community Project: ENDED

[VSMIT]

Since the previous thread seems to have devolved into simply respelling the current stories, The Management is going to try something different.

The story authors for the current stories should post here first, with a highly distilled version of their story.  Basically what we want are the main points of the stories, basically a, "What sets one story apart from the others?" kind of thing.  Once we have all of that out on the table, we can start seeing exactly what aspects of a story are liked/disliked, and from there we can begin weaving the 3 stories into one coherent plot.

One rule in this thread: Don't beat a dead horse.  If your point has been refuted before, don't bring it up again, without good reason.  On that note, don't beat a live one, either.  If something's already been said, don't repeat it.  If a point has been neglected, you can bring it up again, but don't just say, "I like/dislike time travel, do something else," endlessly.  That will simply earn you the ire of everyone involved, and will cause your posts to disappear.

Go at it.

The poll will be edited once we get replies from the authors.

EDIT: Once AHadley responds here, I'll go through and distill everything some more, and enable/edit the poll.

[ScrapPool]

The following is the story proposal which has my full backing.
Sorry, this is about as distilled (I would say: unthorough) as its going to be from me...


Call it: ScrapPool's "Blend"

This is mostly a re-post from the "Creating a plot 2" thread... mostly.

"The blend goes something like this: it could be presented as a three "act" or "part" story.

PART I: EXTINCTION OF THE THIRD FACTION AND HIDING OF THE DRIVE

This part would be concerned with the extinction of the Third Cthonian Faction in a fight with other Cthonians over the Third Faction's superior technology.

This part is rather vague to me... and so I kind of want to nod to Mr. X's history of the Third Faction for this part... but it might be centered around the Hadeans trying to get their hands on a significant piece of Third Faction technology: the Alcubierre drive. The third faction hides it successfully, and then are killed off (but not before activating their gravity well to bring the cthonian moon down, more on that later).

One might play as a Third Faction Cthonian (in the "past"), as one of the last defenders of the team hiding The Drive on the a distant and ancient world accessible only by a special portal. (If it fell into the hands of the Ancient Hadeans, they would surely become the dominant race in the universe.)

The Cthonian's homeworld's moon might be partially terraformed, the Third Faction would have culturally separated from the other two cthonian factions because they are accustomed to the day-night cycle of the moon. The Cthonian Homeworld itself does not have a day-night cycle, it is tidally locked, and so has one side of the planet in constant night (home to the olympians) and one side of the planet in constant day (home to the hadeans). As the third faction is exterminated, it activates a gravity well designed to crash the moon to the planet.

PART II: CERBERI HUNTING AND DISCOVERY OF THE DRIVE

Part 2, we jump ahead to the future (possibly after Perfidious, just so that that story might remain in tact) and we join the Scions (player=the ambassador from full circle, on EDF oversight duties) as they are hunting the last of the Cerberi.
Our scions follow the retreating Cerberi through modern Hadean space portals, fighting and exterminating them, until finally the Cerberi discover a rather more-ancient, buried portal, activate it, and retreat through. The scions follow, and once they reach the other side, discover a wold filled with Cthonian relics. Here they exterminate the very last remnants of the Cerberi, but at the end, discover the Alcubierre drive hidden by the third faction in the distant past. At this point, all seems calm and concluded, and the scion forces return to mire with their prize.

NOTE: There is potential, before the Cerberi start to retreat through Hadean portals, that they have spread to SOL worlds, eg., Mars, the Moon, Europa, Titan, etc, and so, we could, for a few missions, go Cerberi hunting on the worlds from BZ1 as scions! This possibility excites me the most.

PART III: CONSTRUCTION OF THE ARK III AND MODIFIED "FULL CIRCLE"

The Third Faction's Alcubierre drive, discovered by the Scions at the end of their Cerberi hunt, is the centerpiece for the construction of the ARK III...

Here we resume the plot of Full Circle to conclusion with the following suggested modifications:

The ARK is brought out of warp by the gravity well activated by the third faction on the cthonian homeworld, not by crashing through the moon.
Cthonians DO NOT reverse engineer biometal, instead they use fallen pieces of the ARK as their source, just as the scions do.

There are some other suggested modifications to full circle that I wanted to include but I cant remember what they are at this time... they were really good too... if yall could er... re suggest them, id like to have them in here....

IMO: -this plot reconciles the "portals/no portals" discussion, because portals are included, but are not the main recurring theme of the story.
       -this plot reconciles the "cerberi/no cerberi" discussion, because there are cerberi, but they are exterminated.  
       -we would (eventually) get to play as each of the three proposed races of cthonians, in addition to the scions. (the third faction by default, and either the hadeans or olympians when you are prompted to join each of these factions in the eventualities of FULL CIRCLE)
       -we would get to re-visit mars, titan, europa and even the moon as we go cerberi hunting. and so, this plot could solve one's desire to return to those worlds.

The one bit this plot does not include, and the one discussion this does not resolve is the time portals. But you already know that I am anti-time portals. So their exclusion in this draft is very explicable. HOWEVER, I BELIEVE that if the cerberi are causing trouble and inciting damaging shenanigans as they are retreating through these hadean space portals, that the same plot-sense effect is achieved (as if they were traveling through time), and that is: lets follow these guys through this portal and stop them from causing trouble. Same thing as the time cop, but without the time portal. "



DISTILLED SUMMARY:

Play As:           Third Faction Cthonians (Name TBA), Scions, Ancient Olympians or Ancient Hadeans.
Play Against:    Ancient Hadeans, Ancient Olympians, and Cerberi.

Contains:
-"BZ2 Mission 14" Campaign fork, in which one must join either the ancient Olympians or ancient Hadeans in order to defeat the other and escape the falling moon. (See FULL CIRCLE)
-SPACE portals
-Cerberi
-FTL (faster-than-light) "accidental/relativistic" time travel
-Cthonian Homeworld (Possible)
-A closed timelike curve, or "time loop" (NOT PARADOX! (@ VSMIT)) in which the events of this story cause themselves to happen.
-Scion-Human Love Story
-Possible channels through witch the nature of biometal might be reavealed (third faction's expertise w/ etc...)
-Possible re-visitation of Mars, Venus, The Moon, Europa, Titan, etc...
-Possible channels through witch the history of the Cthonians might be fleshed out
-A moon crashing to a planet
-The possibility of an epic boarding party/defense mission.
-LOTS OF FASCINATING SCI FI SHENANIGANS LIKE: the Alcubierre drive, Faster-than-light "time travel", Habitable tidally locked planets, and Closed timelike curves, amongst many many other great and numerous possibilities (perhaps biometal is another version of the Monoliths from 2001 (that is, inorganic, self-replicating machines designed to explore the universe, alien space probes) or an inorganic life-form) ...
If you're bored, thorough reading of each link in the above list might prove a boredom-resolving and maybe even mind-blowing activity.

And if you haven't read  this yet, I highly recommend that you take the time to accomplish a thorough reading of it so that you might have a little bit of context for this blend. But I think I've made that quite apparent by my extensive linking to it in this post.

Virtually everything is possible with this framework except direct time travel.

[Mr X]

-Third, neutral, Cthonian faction called the Metians creates incredible technology. Including Biometal and Time-Space portals. Hadeans find out about this technology and want it. The Metians are wiped out but the Olympians come to the planet in an attempt to stop the Hadeans getting the advanced tech.
-To destroy the Hadean armada that followed them the Metians create a gravity well to bring their world's moon crashing into it, obliterating it completely.
-Scions, much much later, discover a  time portal in deep space that takes them back in time to this Hadean-Olympian war for the planet.
-The two factions open fire upon the scion vessel, the missiles destroy the ship along with the portal.
-The scions must join either the Hadeans or Olympians. (campaign splits here)
-Hadeans find a master portal that can connect to any other at any point in time. If you joined them you must hold off the Olympians until it recharges. If you joined the Olympians you must break through the Hadeans. All of this must be done before the moon hits.

Summary:
Play as: Scions, allied with either ancient olympians or ancient hadeans.
Against: Ancient Hadeans or Olympians.

Includes:
The scions are finally in the starring role!
Time portals
The origin of biometal
The obliteration of the metians
Both Cthonian factions

I really think the third faction should be destroyed like this, because there are already two warlike cthonian factions, I don't want another.

Incidentally, who on Earth has already voted!?

[AHadley]

I think I like SP's Blend best, and I'm not sure I can make many changes to it.

I do, however, have plans to integrate Perfidious even more with this storyline, possibly even as a direct prequel to it (though not a Community Project), filling in the events between Forgotten Enemies and Full Circle (if it is to be called that) in a similar way that BZC may be filling in some of those between BZs 1 and 2. I've put these changes below by way of my input:



Adam is the main character of Perfidious. Since he doesn't have a surname yet and will need one, I would like to suggest Corrigan. He meets Eve during the campaign and they become friends, their relationship does not reach the depth it reaches by the end of Full Circle). Similarly, I would like to suggest Collins for Eve's surname. Of course, this will probably have some major effects on the Project's relationship development.

When the Humans, Scions and Hadeans attack the dead Cerberi planet, they immediately step up their attack and launch an attack from a force which was already poised to invade Sol. These are the Cerberi you fight during Full Circle. This probably won't change the storyline too much.



I know, it's not much, and it doesn't particularly pertain to the stories we are suggesting, but I really can't think of how to improve Scrap Pool's blend. The fact that my mod will remain intact whatever the outcome doesn't exactly help either.



Here comes the big part. I would like to put myself forwards to play Adam (Corrigan?). I'll have to record a sample of my voice acting though, I don't have any handy.

[Mr X]

I plan to get some significant work done on the third factions history tomorrow, seeing as its going to be in there either way and they seem to be popular.

Incidently, I have an idea for Scrappool's cereberi hunt, there are two A-drives (easier to say, I think this should be the nickname. I've been thinking though, if the Metian Cthonians invented it, shouldn't it have a completely different name?), the last part of the cereberi acquire one and so do the edf-scion alliance, they both find that it can only function on pre-determined routs, with only one programmed in. The co-ords lead them to a world where they can obtain information required for another trip, this carries on for a few missions with you visiting different planets chasing the cereberi until you reach the Metian homeworld, just in time to watch the last Metian city be destroyed from orbit by Hadean forces. (Important note, there are Metians left, but only a handful of small bands that refused to go quietly, they have turned their intelligence to war and are quite effective, but only limited by the numbers, they do ambushes to aid the Olympians.)
 
From here you get shot down along with the Cereberi. You pick one side and the cereberi fool the other into thinking that they are friends.

In the last mission you are to escape along with your allies through a starportal, but events alter this. One of the last Metians begs that the EDF and Scion forces move through the portal before anyone else can, destroying it behind them so that all the Cthonians on the world are killed (along with the last of the cereberi) when the moon crashes down, he also asks you to take with you two drives(the A-drives) and hide them. In the last mission your only help comes from a Metian force with some awesome tech. Only the Human and Scion main characters survive and their ships are damaged because the portal didn't have time to reach full functionality, so the two must abandon their craft, destroying all hope of finding another portal and passing through it. Stranded on an inhospitable planet in the distant past they hide the drives and die of starvation and dehydration.

We need to have everyone killed because otherwise Cthonian history would record the existance of the Scions and Cereberi. It also helps to explain why Humanity never found out about the Metians.

What does everyone think?

BTW Ahadley, would you mind letting me and SP help you work out the plot for perfidious so that we don't end up contradictiong each other?

[VSMIT]

Hold on, people.  Let me get this story stuff straight before we start discussions.

I've removed the relationship portions of the stories, as they can be added later.

Full Circle:

• 3rd (not so peaceful) Cthonian faction
  
• Player race TBD (3rd Cthonians, Scions, Olympians/Hadeans)
  
• Cerberi Enemies
  
• Time paradox loop
  
• Relativistic time travel
  
• Possible "History of Biometal"
  
  Mr X's Unnamed story:
  
• 3rd (peaceful) Cthonian faction
  
• Direct time travel
  
• Play as Scions
  
• Ally with ancient Olympians or Hadeans
  
• Cthonian enemies
  
  Perfidious:
  
• Human/Scion/Modern Hadean Alliance
  
• Cerberi Enemies
  
  Consolidated (These will go into the poll):
  
• 3rd Cthonian faction
  
• Relativistic time travel
  
• Direct time travel
  
• Cerberi enemies
  
• Cthonian enemies
  
• Time Paradox loops

[Nielk1]

I have voted for the following and here is why:
3rd Cthonian faction - Yes
Relativistic time travel - No (Not as the key)
Direct time travel  - Yes
Cerberi enemies - No (This hurts EPIC rather bad and the Cerberi are still somewhat a mystery.)
Cthonian enemies - No (See Below)
Time Paradox loops - No (Those supposed already are not very good paradoxes or loops and screw up much of BZ story in the process.)

Here is my description of time portals. The Hadean Crown bases their portal technology of of a now destroyed 3rd faction. It is this technology that spurs the conquest of the Mire and Sol systems for the space time nexuses that would allow for intra and even inter galactic travel. The Hadeans don't succeed of course. Now, the portals are never well explained, we know biometal can travel from 1 point to another, and even allow non biometal to transport too, but not at such a scale. The space time nexuses might be required to use this inefficient method to go as far as stated in the FE story.

The 3rd faction of Cthonians should be alive in the past with knowledge of the future, as in, they escape into the past. Now, to have them exist this way they had to have time portals, and this is how I propose they worked. The time or super long range portals make matter loose coherence so it is in a quantum state. Any observer becomes incapable of observation, even of itself, when it enters this state. The quantum form information is then re-established by an artificial observation provided by a brain in the portal. This brain can be dead, and you have to replace it. Talk about a moral letdown if you have to do worse than kill a crew member to place them in the portal. And how do you program the brain to overpower it's native intelligence and feelings?

Now, the time portal can get to whoever in many ways. Here is an example. If the key to time portal technology was sent to the scions by a probe moving at light speed or near it (because under siege and with some portals captured the 3rd faction cannot list letting the Hadean Crown see the true power of the portals). If the portal was to beam something from the probe while moving at light speed, it could conceivably beam the object to the time when the object entered light speed (even if it is not a time portal). Noting this, instant travel would occur even if the portal itself cannot attain the range, but the item teleported would have existed a long time in that instant moment. Also the shell of such a probe would still exist far in the future, though it's entire travel time even, and could be collected and studied. Thus the Olympians could, for example, attain the portal's true secrets and some of them escape like one of the Stargate Episodes with an Alpha/Beta site. Now, that would mean some level headed Cthonians still exist, weather they escaped way back then or much later, perhaps after helping the Scion Ark II escape. Now, depending on the time the probe can reach the Olympians and give the portal technology, or the true key to it, personally without use of a portal. It could be that the Cthonians used something like subliminal speed (near the speed of light) to travel before portals, and thus traveled with SOME time dilation but still traveled. Also, the Olympians, back in the time of the fall of this 3rd group could, could be a larger group and have traveled with the Hadeans, secretly, to defend their 3rd faction Cthonian brothers. They could be the one who sends the secret of the true portal technology's power to themselves. Maybe the Ark II could escape with it, since I am sure the Olympians would have offered to send the Scions though it if it worked. This would help make the Scions the lead in the story.

Now, on the topic of the enemy. I do not know if the Cthonians have to be enemies. I kind of like the idea of ending up in a war suddenly, but I don't know. In ANY case the 3rd Cthonian faction should become an ally at some point in time. Perhaps there should be a new menace to the stability of time itself. Something that would have destroyed their small section slowly, but upon registering time travel they attacked the 3rd Cthonian faction and clocked them in war (Daleks anyone? Just kidding, but you get the though). Thus they would get the Scions dragged in too, MAYBE some Olympian survivors who escaped on the Ark II or all those years ago with the 3rd faction. Being a time war with the theoretical ability to make a lifeform unable to establish its own existence, this would be a darn dangerous war. Now, as a result of being included the Scions can cause a time cop style story to occur as a secondary arc to the main struggle against this horrible force. Being time related, if there is really an issue of which FE ending occurred (I think both can occur without or without the user) time travel could allow Corbin to do BOTH at the same time. With a Time Cop story, you could have people who should have never existed, a Canadian Space Army member for example, who was never born in the normal time line, join your team.

I want to know the thoughts on this. Details from the other stories could be added mostly easily to this story frame as it allows for the time travel required for paradoxes and also provides a reasonable limit to the time travel. It is quantum based, on a living brain for establishment and targeting. Who knows WHAT could happen when you try to use it?

[bb1]

What would happen is the player and the storyboard conceptors would get very confused very fast. It looks like as soon as the time travelling plot begins, it hits the ground running and the story will unravel quickly from there, hopefully not leaving players grasping for air. Like those books with time travel.

[Mr X]

I like the idea of the fighting against the Hadeans or Olympians,

my reason for this is simple, its a part of established BZ history, so it would be very interesting to get to be at the forefron of the Hadean-Olympian war.

Also, I've created another topic with my backstory for the 3rd faction.

[AHadley]

I too think a story based on NK1's above statement would be extremely confusing. I am getting confused myself, and I'm going into A-Level physics. Not a good sign, for me or the suggestion

[Nielk1]

lol, ya know I used the pseudo physics in 90% of modern scifi movies. The stuff that is oddly true half the time?

EDIT: As a side note, who here REALLY knows what happens in BZ2 and FE? I know I do, but with how many people think the Dark Planet became core and then the ISDF blew it up or some other poppycock combo ending has no chance in hell of following what I wrote above.

EDIT2:
for double reference for those smiting me for this, sarcasm is not a forum sin, and I explained the comment literally 2 posts later, so come off it and grow up.

[AHadley]

I think you've helped me get a grasp on most of it.

[Nielk1]

I think you've helped me get a grasp on most of it.

for refference

* Nielk1 was referring to many You-tube videos that have come and gone about BZ2

[Rocket]

howcome votes can't be changed?

[bigbadbogie]

howcome votes can't be changed?

Ever voted in an election? Try going back to the ballot box and pulling out your vote card to change it and see what happens (with the security staff).