So I should put this on hold and work on the Plane (setting) first, right?

And my characters are always organically written - I never really stop and think about them. It's just a stream of consciousness thing.

RIGHT THEN!

So this is on hold until Vlastimir is written up I suppose. And then we'll have this exact same problem all over again XD

It's sort of up to you, like I said. Work on the one you'll find most interesting. But in the case of your originally posted character, being from this plane, naturally, the plane would have necessarily shaped the character.

Now, having said that, there are certainly exceptions. For example, many of us have thought of a good character, and literally build their original plane to fit them. So it can certainly work both ways. But just based on what I've seen you say, my instinct (and I could be wrong) is that you're more setting-focused (which is perfectly fine) and so yes, I would recommend getting the setting sort of fixed first. In this case, anyway.

Raven also mentioned Wild Card, and I'm pretty sure that's the one I was thinking of (and I mean that story's climax hinges on one particular spell to pretty incredible effect) but yeah, any of those three would be good:

Wild Card can be read here: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=5171

I have to ask whether this is a personal thing that you feel you can't have a story until you've gotten characters accepted into the Archives, because that is not a requirement. We have well over a dozen characters in our Archives which have full stories devoted to them without having dossiers, and more that didn't have dossiers until well after their first stories were in the Archives. Just want to make sure you're clear that there's not a required order of operations to be observed for works.

I'd also like to take a moment and say that you're pretty cool for putting up with all of us in the way you have been. In my tenure among this community I've seen people who escalate things into arguments over a lack of understanding and/or won't give up their position in an argument even when the majority is against them. I realized after a few days of thinking how forward you were that your questions on the colors' philosophies were seeking clarification and not taking a defensive stance.

He has been a pretty chill guy with an obvious respect for our peculiarities and a real willingness to sink into stuff and learn more. It's a legitimate pleasure to have him around.

And I am sorry to speak of you in the second person that way. I hope you don't mind.

Well, if a story featuring characters who aren't accepted is accepted, it kinda sets a precedent that those characters will be accepted, right? Even if they don't necessarily deserve to be! That's how problems sneak in, no?

Eh it's alright. You don't get to where we are by being egotistical or easily offended or unwilling to look at things from differing angles! besides I've been writing for 8 years now - I'd be worried if I didn't have that urge to learn any more!

Anyway, thank you for the ego boost, but back on topic! Valentyn is on hold until the Plane thread is accepted I've noted down my guidelines regarding the colours for ease of reference and to hopefully help people see where I'm coming from when I get back to designing this guy!

Eh, sort of? I mean, it has happened before that things get accepted as "implied canon" because a story featuring it gets voted in, but it hasn't yet made a big difference because, for one, those stories often show how great a setting/character that it can be firsthand (as was the case with Jakkard), and for two, sometimes it can lead to a sprucing up of the unfinished dossiers of the "implied" work. Besides that, we probably have a thousand minute elements that are in as "implied canon" just from being mentioned offhand, like say Illarion Vale meeting Renn Winmoore, or say the two dozen named and unnamed planes where one section of one story takes place but is never seen again.


Hm... Now you have my attention. I'm interested to see how you handle full stories in the future, since dossiers like this are a completely different affair.


That's fine, too. We may be kind of the elitist snobs of fanfiction, but we're also happy to have new people join in and always happy to give a word or two of advice whatever they may be working on.

Usually in the past stuff that might cause problems with characters later is pretty obvious and is flagged when the story's written. As Luna says, implied canon is a thing, but if a detail doesn't show up in a story it's not really like... a part of the canon until it is voted in, you know? So it's actually not the issue it might appear.

Anyway sometimes stuff that would be flagged in a dossier is let through in a story because like... when you see some ideas in action they actually make more sense than in the abstract. I don't think Raven's idea of twin Planeswalkers would've gotten accepted, honestly, if not for the existence of the story Planes of the Dual-Walkers. That's an obvious case of something "breaking the rules" but being accepted anyway because the story was compelling enough.

Yeah, there's a big difference between "Imagine a set of twins...who are both planeswalkers!" and the Syl and Chardis we've all come to know and loathe.

Vasilias is another good corner case where the abstract seems like a bad idea, but the implementation is fantastic. A lot of it comes down to how things are done, the quality of the writing, and the community effort to work out the kinks (and I don't mean to exercise the singers of Lola.)

...can we get some of this stuff quoted in the M:EM rules? XD

An excellent suggestion, actually. The rules are... a bit outdated at this point. I keep saying I should sit down and edit them to reflect our modern operation, but I never find the time to actually do that...

I mean these aren't so much rules as like...

Caselaw?

That's that stuff made out of cabbage and salad dressing, right?

Naw, your thinking of Cale's Law. If you ask your Pawpaw, he'll tell you he saw Cale's Law back in "fifty-faw".
I'm not sorry.

This is a Very Serious Forum where Very Serious Work Gets Done.

Barinellos is hell on threadsTM

Wait...

Puns are, indeed, very serious work. I'm working on a dramatic production about them, and I need to collect all the data I can.

It's going to be quite the play on words.

My tendrils are long reaching.
and already in your heaaaaad.

Interesting and totally unrelated note: it took me years to learn that "pun" wasn't an abbreviation of the phrase "play on words". In my defense, I was only like 10 at the time.

Hey!