-)- Dystopia (Discussion)

[SA]

Ascending past the mist
A hundred score and they were one
The soil despoiled with blood and soot
Disgorged them t'ward the sun
Their faces shone with blackish light
Their eyes beheld the blade
Which from the clouds supernal sang
And clave apart the Shade
-Terminus Corpus[/color][/center]
As for the City of Eternal Rain, that'll be featured in Iounennion, so you'll know before the week's end.

On another note, a little extra text has been added to the Core Ethos in the first post.  Not much, but it should have been there in the first place.  It is thus:

[ic=Addendum]Rebirth
The earth is older than the universe.  Man is older than the earth.  There have been innumerable incarnations of the Eternity, born, shattered and reforged, for all that dies is not dead eternal.  A princely shade sits perched upon the crown of existence, and with diamond hands he twists the cosmic skein and weaves anew the lattice of Creation.[/ic]

[Raelifin]

I'm going to provide counterpoint to my earlier suggestion of a change in writing style. Though the etymology section is thick and imo, irrelevant, the next discussion of the nature of Myr is greatly boosted by the verbiage. When reading about the nature of mind and matter the reader can be drawn into a discussion of the magical nature of the setting solely on conjecture formed in the mind of the reader. This is a brilliant move because it engages interest and explains something while keeping it mysterious and locked. Because of this, I'm actually going to suggest a re-phrasing of the core idea of "Perception as Power" so as to leave a little more mystery.

I still think you might want to tone down/move the etymology section though.

A question regarding the great spheres (read: planes):
Though Myr is magical in its very nature, are the planes an important part of the setting? I'm always a bit hesitant when someone brings up planar travel, because it draws focus away from the world. What, if I may ask, is the purpose behind the otherworlds?

More content! Though you have 8+ pages of words I fear that I only see 1-2 pages of ideas. Keep writing!

[Lmns Crn]

Hello! It's been about a year since I've really kept up with Dystopia, and like a twitchy addict, I decided it's time for another fix.

I do believe you've pared away a lot of your material in the process of revisitation, and I wonder what you intend to reimplement and what you intend to do without. Unless I have missed links to other pages where the remainder of the information is stored, of course.

I do miss the cephalopods and their defense of their ancient and strange ways against the encroachment of surface-dwellers and skin-takers. I miss Tammaurand (which I have probably misspelled!) and the machinery of its soot-clogged depths, the peculiarly ocular seas. Most of all, I think I miss the IoValde and their terrible machinations, the dreaded plasmoclast engine, and the stilled streets of Penumbra. I see that you are refocusing your attention to other facets of Dystopia (particularly the philosophical, it seems), but I'd hate to see all of this go away entirely.

What seems new to me is the matter of Yawd, Basch, and Aub. Although I was at first struck with some unusual associations, I found this quite compelling. It underscores quite succinctly the ideas you have discussed elsewhere: namely, the perceived yet illusory dichotomy between opposites, the eventual and inevitable decay of all things, and the way that destructive forces act without malice, but with some sort of twisted and unconventional affection.

You've said it before, but here, you are showing it, and that is powerful. I feel that in many places, your way with words distracts you, and leads you do explain and to allude, when presenting your ideas in a more visual and narrative manner is far more evocative and satisfying. You damn tease.

I feel I can address Raelifin's question about the importance of the great spheres and the purpose behind them. Feel free to correct me if I am in error, of course. But Dystopia has never struck me as a setting that is literal-- instead, it is a metaphor for examining, insofar as it is possible to do so, the dark and sordid corners of the mind. Used in this context as an illustrative tool for mental concepts, conventional geography leaves much to be desired, and the various and bewildering Geodesics are much more appropriate.

The relation of the various Geodesics to Myr cannot be considered analogous to the relation of the various planes of a standard D&D cosmology to the Prime Material. (Indeed, I almost hate to mention such terms here; I feel as if by invoking such vocabulary I am breaking some kind of spell.) The otherworlds do not "draw focus away from the world," I think, because the fractured and layered nature of reality (can we call it that?) is an essential element of this world.

Again, Dystopia is a "world" that I have trouble envisioning in terms of conventional geography; I have trouble assigning labels like "space", "distance", "weight", "North," etc. to it-- it seems to elude them. I think it is more likely that Dystopia might be a shared dream or hallucination, or the mental landscape of an individual slowly losing sanity, or some sort of elaborately-constructed thought prison containing the minds (but not the physical forms) of countless creatures who perceive themselves as its inhabitants. I ramble, but my point is that I don't think that the usual sorts of consideration and questions apply here.

That said, I hope that Dystopia continues to grow in size and in detail. Right now, it feels as if most of the landscape has been boiled away, leaving only a sad shell: a philosophy assignment.

Or have the IoValde succeeded at last, and Myr become Penumbra, and I am only now discovering this? :(

[SA]

Hello! It's been about a year since I've really kept up with Dystopia, and like a twitchy addict, I decided it's time for another fix.

I do believe you've pared away a lot of your material in the process of revisitation, and I wonder what you intend to reimplement and what you intend to do without. Unless I have missed links to other pages where the remainder of the information is stored, of course.

I do miss the cephalopods and their defence of their ancient and strange ways against the encroachment of surface-dwellers and skin-takers. I miss Tammaurand (which I have probably misspelled!) and the machinery of its soot-clogged depths, the peculiarly ocular seas. Most of all, I think I miss the IoValde and their terrible machinations, the dreaded plasmoclast engine, and the stilled streets of Penumbra. I see that you are refocusing your attention to other facets of Dystopia (particularly the philosophical, it seems), but I'd hate to see all of this go away entirely.[/quote]Tammurand[/i].

Some things changed and some things not...

The dhampir are now the descendants of the rulers of the Veighasht (rather than the rulers themselves), the rulers being a far older people called the Sangheil.  Their nature is inextricably tied to the Taint of Aggremoor.

The cephalopods have not changed.  If there is one thing I am adamant about preserving, it is the psychology of the cephalopods.

Das Dramurr has expanded in physical size but diminished in political power, and the alsin (the analogue to Old Dystopia's humans) are equally prevalent in the newly conceived kingdoms of Calleinn.

Chaultine is now far more habitable, although the Whispering Coast remains, as testament to the Plasmoclast.

The IoValde have been repositioned in the history of Mýr, although their influence is now arguably stronger.  The Cataclysm occurred soon before humanity's population of Chaultine {making it thousands of years before it did in Old Dystopia).

Humanity is now native to the Sundered Isles: the earliest humans are the jutra, whose first empire (in the Clockwork Kingdoms) still remains, guarded by the aeons-old golemn[sic].  Now, humanity exists as the jan, jutra, samkha and ulven (thus, they no longer exist as separate races in the conventional fantasy sense).

Heaven is much the same; only the nature of the Fall has changed (now engineered purposefully by a select few among the angels, for reasons you may not expect).

The Sorrow Plague is still around.  As in, it happened, and it's still happening.

The Focus of Worldly Power has shifted from Baennet Zzar into the Iounennion Sea.  This has a lot to do with the politics in the aftermath of the Great War, when the Merchant Kings all but nullified trade to all conflicting nations (Draum exists right between Dramurr and West Corlainth), thus asserting their own economic might.

Baennet Zzar is now a collection of nations, rather than a singular one.

Ehrune is now more "worldly'.  That is, it has more physical substance than it seemed to in Old Dystopia.  It is also the place where the manifest desires of gods go to dwindle into oblivion.

The Future seeks to devour the past.  Penumbra has not yet come to be, and yet already it seeks to reach backward through inconceivable ages, retroactively engineering its own premature existence.  It doesn't take a genius to see this is an ontological paradox on a monolithic scale.  Bad news for the Cosmos...

And much more!  Again, a lot of what you recall will remain, plus a helluva lot more that youâ,¬,,¢ve never seen.

What seems new to me is the matter of Yawd, Basch, and Aub. Although I was at first struck with some unusual associations, I found this quite compelling. It underscores quite succinctly the ideas you have discussed elsewhere: namely, the perceived yet illusory dichotomy between opposites, the eventual and inevitable decay of all things, and the way that destructive forces act without malice, but with some sort of twisted and unconventional affection.

You've said it before, but here, you are showing it, and that is powerful. I feel that in many places, your way with words distracts you, and leads you do explain and to allude, when presenting your ideas in a more visual and narrative manner is far more evocative and satisfying. You damn tease.[/quote]I feel I can address Raelifin's question about the importance of the great spheres and the purpose behind them.... my point is that I don't think that the usual sorts of consideration and questions apply here.[/quote]you[/i] should be writing this...

That said, I hope that Dystopia continues to grow in size and in detail. Right now, it feels as if most of the landscape has been boiled away, leaving only a sad shell: a philosophy assignment.

compliments[/i] - rather than dominates - the (pseudo)corporeality of the world.

...Or have the IoValde succeeded at last and Myr become Penumbra, and I am only now discovering this?

Perhaps.

[Raelifin]

[quote SA]Any suggestions as to how I should go about this?[/quote]Perception and Illusion
Are we wanderers in a great cosmic web, watching the strands unfold, or is it because we perceive with such lucidity that we believe we exist? Is an illusion real if there is no flaw? Is a thing real if it is never found? The rules of reality are blurred here, and things that do not, or should not, exist are often too real.[/ooc]

I'm sure you could write something better, but the idea is to muddle up the perception of magic to aid its mystique.

[Lmns Crn]

The Future seeks to devour the past.  Penumbra has not yet come to be, and yet already it seeks to reach backward through inconceivable ages, retroactively engineering its own premature existence.  It doesn't take a genius to see this is an ontological paradox on a monolithic scale.  Bad news for the Cosmos...

Fun story!

I read your response this morning, thought about it for a while, resolved to check the thread again later, et cetera.

Then I went to class. My Tuesday/Thursday class is Electroacoustic Composition, which is an electronic music class that involves a fair amount of computer programming and related sound manipulation. The final project for this class is the construction of a piece, to be performed at a concert at the end of the semester, which must feature some sort of interaction between one or more live performers and a computer patch.

So I was sitting in class, trying to make sense of this program and what it can do, and thinking about Penumbra, sitting at the far end of the timeline, reaching back into the past in improbable and meddlesome ways. It's given me an idea of how to set up my piece.

I guess what I am trying to say is: would you be okay with the idea of me using Dystopia as inspiration for a piece of music Y/N?

[SA]

I can't put a chain on your inspiration.  Let your creativity flow free!

Ahem.  That means yes.  Anyone can do anything with Dystopia, so long as they remember where it came from, and treat it with respect.

[So-Keher]

im reading your setting tomorrow
if i dont, feel free to hunt me down, tie me to my laptop and make me.

[SA]

Then it's a date!

[SA]

Posted a short story set in Iounennion.  The juicy bits shall follow close behind.

[Tybalt]

I like the story, it has a nice combination of mystery and cynicism and action, which are things that immediately come to mind with your setting. If I were to warn you about anything it would be this: the story is a really good example of how to keep such a setting interesting, ie character and drama. It would be cool to see more of how someone's character could fit into this world.

[SA]

Thanks, Ty.  I think Dystopia will end up being presented primarily through narrative.  Next one will be from a lizard's perspective.  Well, kind of a lizard.

[Tybalt]

Yay, I can't wait, one of my favourites!

[Kindling]

Wow. That story is fantastic. I've always been a fan of Dystopia, but seeing it portrayed in such a way, from a human perspective, makes me see it entirely afresh.

I'm very glad you're planning to do more narrative-based stuff, and I eagerly anticipate it.

[SA]

Yeah, it started out being a short vignette to introduce the section on Iounennion, but when I got into full swing it ended up being 1'200 words, which is a little long for a vignette (by my standards).  Decided to add it anyway, as a post was long overdue, methinks.