Yeah, it was good stuff. Kirby swoops in, makes his post of epic awesomeness, and swoops away

In any case, I've scanned through the first 40 pages of NeS, and here's a list of characters that more or less fit Kirby's description for the Forgotten Character, though I've already talked to Kirby and one of the oldest canidates (Twin Suns) is likely the best. Clicking on their names will link to their first story post (and sometimes their last as well.) Since we still have Forgotten characters (besides the one Mayaal found in Bhac's domain), this might be a helpful list when we return to dealing with that whole sha-bang.

=Zuljin
=bug
=Twin Suns
=Space Orca
=JK Meteor
=ST_Clan_Leader
=Lord Crud
=Hebedee
=Dark Lancer
=Dark Duke
=Falcon
=Al and Zelma
=Cave Demon
=Spasm
=TX3_Gandalf
=Taz
=Fluffy
=Amy Green
=Roadmaster
=Katiana Alyce

I'd like some input before I finalize Twin Suns and rewrite my post to fit that character. Anyone?

Ha ha, bring back Lord Crud.

AMAZING show! That "Shut up mutha****er!" was gold. Pure gold.

I'll write the next post for Twin Suns in a few minutes. Then we'll see what happens with Bhac and Mayaal.

So Tracer, not to be one to go poking at every plothole in NeS (because that'd be stupid) but uh... some questions about your NeShattered post:

• Where's everyone else that came with Semievil? You know, Coolmatty, Mimiru, Gebohq...
• Hadn't the guy-on-a-camel bit been posted BEFORE Sem, Geb and the others got themselves into NeShattered?
• Why did the disposable cliched minions go capturing everyone, instead of just Geb?
• For that matter, how is it they're not being DISPOSED OF? They're DISPOSABLE MINIONS! These guys are heroes! TLTE alone should wipe the floor with them!

EDIT: The last two aren't terrible problems -- they could actually probably make for a good joke when Evil Geb's all "WTF?" But eh, figure I'd still bring it up.

I'm getting the feeling maybe not enough explination/direction was given on my part in regards to this whole "stopping evil wedding thing..." Please, let me know if that's the case. I'll do what I can to work on it, really.

Oops. I made up a thing for them seperating in my head but then forgot to add it in.



*shrug* I dunno. How do you coordinate the timing between two threads? It didn't occur to me to check the dates...

My response to your last two points is that I thought the next move for the heroes would be over to Evil Geb's base. I did forget that you had Evil Geb order the minions to capture only Gebohq. I guess I didn't get a good read on your intentions with the evil minions...

Was it really that bad a post?

Edit - Sem/Geb/CM/Mirimu moved to NeShattered on June 30. Sarn/Sok/TLTE got there on the same day.

Not a bad post - though poor Semievil is getting dumber by the minute ;). I'm mostly ust concerned that maybe it was getting difficult to write for the current situation and whatnot.

Uh, yeah...I, uh...

Yeah.

Do you think I should not do it that way? And what were you thinking about the Evil Wedding? My thoughts were heroes teleport to NeShattered, heroes go to Evil Geb's base, heroes try to stop evil wedding. What are your intentions? (it wouldn't nessecarily be that short)

To clarify on an earlier note, when we've done this sort of cross-thread thing in the past (something I try to avoid when I can), I've gone by post dates when aligning events together. TLTE, Sok and Sarn jumped in NeShattered around the 26th or something (TLTE's post, first one on page 2), they then notice the guy on camel (your post, the 30th), and a few hours later on the same day, CM, Geb and the others transport into NeShattered. It's really not much of an issue, but... eh. *shrug*



I remember you said you were fond of having a "dumb guy" to work with in your posts -- it had been Sarn at one point, it was likely other people at other times, and recently, it's been Sem. It's not a style you should go abandoning altogether, but since you've used it a lot, it'd probably work better if you kept the dumb guy-type a different character between posts or scenes or what-have-you. Of course, you should probably try not relying on that style alone as well. You're talented when it comes to comedy -- I have no doubt you can keep it funny



Yeah, that's pretty much what I saw happening too. Of course, to fill it out, I'm hoping random conflicts can be thrown here and there. Hopefully, I can think of things other than fights. The only non-fight idea I have at the moment is the hero-types being swarmed by the hero-rejects of NeShattered -- it's a post-apocalyptic realm where Evil Geb has had the upper hand for a thousand years, and I'm sure the (very few) good people of NeShattered AREN'T happy to see his return. They'll likely latch onto TLTE and the others like beggars, and that could present some problems...

just want to say, West Wind's post is awesome. I'm really excited about the climax building in the hawthorne/thatchett/detective/voodoo storyline.

Geb and I were talking about the potential "Final Conflict" of NeSquared, and I kinda got an idea in my head on what that might look like, so I thought I'd post a rundown, see what the rest of you think.

It's still completely open, but this might give us an idea to go on, feel free to make comments/suggestions/revamp the whole thing, etc...

(I'm just gonna post the relevant part of the chat log)

Jon says: (in regards to Geb explaining to me what the darkfoil is and how it corrupts the weilder)
which brings up the question, if ultimately the final plot for NeSquared is to have the heroes fight TLTE, could it be possible that TLTE somehow gets ahold of the darkfoil which plays off his inherent (yet hidden) evil?
Gebohq says:
yeah, I could see that happening
Gebohq says:
I'm not entirely sure how it functions outside of imprisoning evil, assuming it does function any other way. it apparently DOES grant insight into the ways of NeS or something though
Gebohq says:
*goes check*
Gebohq says:
It has been described by Dalaes (a former owner) as "more than a source of power, it's a source of knowledge of the inner workings of the story, knowledge of the hearts of those prominent to the story." It is unknown how much evil it can keep imprisoned, but whomever wields the weapon is subject to the evil influence which the darksaber contains
Jon says:
hmm... which would work for TLTE deciding to "take over the NeS" with his new-found intellegence, potentially.
Jon says:
and.. could it potentially be used to trap good?
Gebohq says:
I have no idea
Gebohq says:
I'd have to ask Ante
Jon says:
lol, well you're the NeS genius!
Gebohq says:
yeah, but I didn't make it up
Gebohq says:
but, IMO, it's a sound theory
Gebohq says:
it would make the quote I gave a little more sensible
Jon says:
I'm just envisioning a storyline whereby one of the main male heroes (Ante, Sarn, or CM or someone) sacrifices himself by allowing himself to be trapped in darkfoil, in order to destry the evil from within, in order to stop it from influencing TLTE.
Gebohq says:
hmmm
Jon says:
But the idea would be that it would be a "one way trip"
Gebohq says:
right
Jon says:
Once the hero is trapped, he can't get out. Which would put a bit of a darker spin on the victory
Jon says:
which I know is one thing we've wanted to do.
Gebohq says:
I'm not entirely sure if one hero could out-power even one of the evils trapped, much less 3
Jon says:
well I thought about that, but I don't think we could very well sacrifice *all* our main characters, or we wouldn't be able to make NeScubed.
Gebohq says:
right right
Jon says:
Besides, we could write in a way.
Gebohq says:
well, personally, my suggestion would be to put the idea up on the workshop. see what TLTE, Ante, CM and the like thinl
Gebohq says:
*think
Jon says:
yeah
Jon says:
kinda brainstorming for example, Sarn's dagger and alternate personality Kern Saldin hasn't been explored much, but we do know he was a relatively even match for Bhac (who's pretty much a god in a sense). And both Bhac and Mayaal respect/fear that dagger. Sarn could potentially learn over the coming pages how to control the change from one personality to the other, but decide that he doesn't like being Kern, so he stays away from that personality. Then the heroes are sitting around trying to figure out a way to free TLTE from the influence of the darkfoil, and someone, perhaps Thand, mentions that "the dagger has the power to do what you seek" or some such.
Jon says:
which could also be tied in the "message" Thand gave to each hero and more specifically the message he gave to Sarn (which hasn't yet been extrapolated).
Gebohq says:
*nod*
Jon says:
Plus I think that would make a nice tragic ending if Sarn was trapped for eternity shortly after things come together between him and Voodoo, and it would give Voodoo some motivation for the next installment.
Jon says:
(ie, "there must be a way to free Sarn!")
Gebohq says:
that'd be pretty darn tragic indeed
--------------------------

Also, I think that if there were a battle going on "inside" the darkfoil (I envision some kind of ethereal struggle expressed physically, see Wheel of Time in the (I think) 3rd book where Rand battles the Forsaken over the skies, while another battle against the Seanchan rages below), there could be a battle in "the real world" going on concurrently with the other main characters (think LotR, ultimate battle is Frodo destroying the ring, but just as important, Aragorn and party destroying orcs)

Anyway, guys... thoughts? (Again, this is just braingstorming here. If this won't work, or you guys don't like it, I'll throw it out (I'm not over attatched to the idea... yet) but I think there may be potential or at least parts of this idea could be used.)

That's an interesting idea, Sarn, and I do like it: the only part I disagree with is that the Darkfoil would actually "influence" TLTE. As in (going with one of your suggestions, and exaggerating for the sake of my point):

-TLTE has the Darkfoil, evil business, epic battle, lots of killing and rah rah rah.

-One of the heroes nobly sacrifices themselves, severing TLTE from the Darkfoil.

-TLTE blinks, says "what a terrible dream! I'm glad to be back on the side of the NeSHeroes!"

I can't agree with that, because I think the major theme of NeSquared that has me so damn excited is that the NeSHeroes are becoming more and more aware that they are in a story. They are, as Michael MacFarlane laments, "words on a page" - apparently subject to the whims of the WriterGod and the writers themselves. Some, like many of the NeSHeroes, no doubt are taking comfort from this, but for others (like MacFarlane) it drives one to the brink of insanity, because they don't seem to have any real control about what will happen to them.

This for me is no longer a story about free men, who could well be influenced by a convenient plot device like a Darkfoil. It's about, say, TLTE, who is learning with dawning horror that his apparent redemption and newfound virtue could well mean nothing in the scheme of the story, which has resolutely cast him as the villain. It's about Gebohq, who will also come to realise that he will be called on again to fight and kill TLTE, one of his closest friends and allies, just because the NeS has cast him as the saviour. The idea for me that we should be chasing is whether the NeSHeroes - and indeed, the villains - can resist the fates that were written for them from the very beginning.

This, then, is the truly seductive power of Arkng Thand. Thand answers to no one. He is, perhaps, the only free character in the story, which makes him the strongest.

COMMENTS FROM THE PEANUT GALLERY (i.e. yours truely, Gebohq):

TLTE is right -- NeSquared is about the characters dealing with their existance as objects in a fictional story. Writers controlling characters, writers causing the evils the characters face, characters who have been forgotten... these have all become major themes.

HOWEVER!

This does not mean that all the characters in NeS have been clueless about their existance as objects in a fictional during the first 50 pages of NeS and before! On the contrary, it's been established early on that at least SOME of the characters in NeS are aware of their existance -- the 4th wall has been broken even in the early pages, characters such as Semievil would talk to Gebohq about the power of the writers, etc. etc. It's simply that, since the end of page 50 and into NeSquared, the characters have begun to see that not everything is lucky gum-drop happy, and thus their "faith" in the writers is, at the least, being questioned.

So how free ARE the characters in NeS? Are traditional threats such as the darkfoil NOT an issue for the major NeS characters? I say no! While characters may be more aware of their existance as a work of fiction, and may even be able to bend and break the *representational rules placed on most fiction with meta-fictional powers (like Evil Geb), they are still (at the very least) THREATENED with one of (if not their greatest) enemies -- the Ever-ending Plot (the EeP being Plot Incarnate). Plot requires cause and effect, that representational rules be enforced, that devices such as the darkfoil COULD have, and DO have influence over characters. As of right now, the EeP is weak -- it's still uncertain if it's really the same EeP from page 50 or if it's some nightmare of NeS made manifest and then harbored in Evil Geb. Whatever the case though, the characters are still born and bound in their own reality as it's represented. If for no other reason, consider this major problem -- if all the characters were no longer threatened by traditional threats, wouldn't the characters cease to be human/real? Wouldn't the story itself go to a level we could no longer really relate with?

Which brings me to a somewhat random favor I'd like to ask for everyone writing in NeShattered. That thread, in particular, has always been even more "presentational" than the rest of NeS -- plot and its representation of reality has always been at its weakest there and the fourth wall is virtually non-existant. If you all don't mind, I'd like the upcoming conflicts with Shattered Geb to be originally written as the hero-types easily winning, and then I'd like to edit your posts and alter the content (using strike-out so that the original content is still readable) so that Shattered Geb then has the upper hand again. It's part of how I see Shattered Geb abusing his story-wielding powers on his "home turf." And then, of course, the issue becomes much more dire -- how do the hero-types stop someone who can rewrite their reality like so? Might they have to appeal to the EeP's nature? Will Gebohq be able to rise up from his emo-state and stop Gebiyl with his own story-wielding? Can Young help in any matter? Are there some other avenues that have yet been unexplored? So yeah, if you all don't want to do that, I understand, but I think it'd be really cool myself.

*NOTE: For those who don't know/don't remember, "representational" is, in a theater context, a story that more or less aims to be realistic -- a story that represents (a) reality. In the strictest representational plays, two hours in a play is two hours in real life. "Presentational" on the other hand, is when a story is shown to NOT follow (a) reality. Anytime a monologue is addressed to the audience, it's presentational. Breaking the fourth wall is presentational. Acting as mimes do would be presentational. Of course, most plays (and stories) aren't just one or the other.

And just in case it's wanted, here's some information regarding NeShattered:

• First off, in the current storyarc, if something is happening in NeShattered, it's being written in the NeShattered thread, and if it's happening elsewhere, it's being written in the NeSquared thread. The easiest way to "line up" events between the two threads is simply to see the date and time the events were posted on.
• Second, reading the first page of NeShattered is NOT required! Hell, it's not even SUGGESTED (not because it's bad, but because it's pretty hardcore reading even for NeS veterans). I edited the former NeShattered content to fit on one page so that it could stand on its own -- that people could just focus their attention on one page.
• "But Geb," you say, "how the hell do we know what NeShattered is like? Can you give us some basic information on it?" Of course I can! Read below.

NeShattered is, in short, a part post-apocalyptic, part "bizzaro" dimension/world/thread that runs parallel with NeSquared. It came into existance after page 50 of NeS when Highemperor (a "powerplayer" character) attempted to take the power of NeS for his own. "The Question" deals with Highemperor being hunted down by a form of TLTE called The Answerer. Highemperor's methods to gain ultimate power marked him as a "powerplayer" and thus needed to "answer" for his crime. The conflict rose on apocalyptic levels -- nearly all the characters of NeS died. Eventually, however, Highemperor appeared to have come to his senses, then was carried away to heaven, leaving NeShattered to be a potential paradise. In "The Answer" however, Geb (of NeShattered) took upon himself Highemperor's former dreams and goals when Geb made himself the villain of NeShattered. A thousand years pass, and the potential paradise that NeShattered may have been falls into a post-apocalypic world instead. The Answerer visits Geb and battles him, with Geb surviving. Geb then brings the Answerer to the graveyard of the NeS characters and leaves the Answerer to Morthrandur. The Answerer then "answers" for his own crimes, and dies fufilled. In "The Potential and the Lost," we're simply introduced to the Potentials (who speak of Morthandur and his plans to supplant the good/"real" Geb with the Geb of NeShattered) and to the "lost" TLTE clones.

If there are any questions, as always, please speak up. NeS has always been confusing, I know

EDIT: TLTE, please check your PM box. I just sent you something (not NeS related, but ISB-related.)

Checked and replied, Geb. That was an interesting summary of NeShattered, by the way. I never really dwelled to think on it, but it could be read that Geb manipulated TLTE/The Answerer after their initial battle into his eventual death. Neither of them achieved a resolute conclusion to their fight, and assumingly had The Answerer survived his own battle with his demons, they would have fought each other again for closure of the matter.

Hehe. Trust me when I say that trying to summarize NeShattered wasn't easy. There was a lot of "Highemperor does crazy epic stuff" and "Highemperor has deep, philosophical moments" which you and I followed up with ourselves. As for your observation, I'm of the understanding that, in their battle, The Answerer likely did enough damage to kill S. Geb (though being close to death himself), but that Geb used his "powerplaying" (abusing his storywielding) to keep himself alive. So yes, the idea that S. Geb lured the Answerer to Morthrandur in hopes of The Answerer dying is very plausible to me. If they had a second battle, I personally think S. Geb would die beyond his own saving. Then again, in S. Geb's current state (harboring the EeP, wielding the weapons he does, etc.), if they were to fight... who knows? In any case, I've been reminded that Morthrandur and S. Geb have known each other somehow (I wrote them, up to recently, as them not really having known each other). I'm not really sure what this implies as far as their relationship goes... it really depends on how they knew each other before the mention of Morthrandur in NeShattered.

And yay for PM reply! I'll have to get to work on it when I can then. I actually have another idea too, but I'll spring that one as a surprise

FYI: I deleted Kirby's NSP post on the story thread. Here's what it said.


I also changed the unofficial "official" NeS IRC channel to #teapot. I made note of it on the first post of this workshop thread.

EDIT: So I've got my story post up, and I wanted to say a few things about it:

-I was hoping to work sugarless more into the "main" storyarc of NeS, so I borrowed Antestarr as sort of her guide into it. I didn't end up actually doing the "tour of NeS" like I had originally thought of doing, but it's probably for the better. I think I got the important things about being new to NeS in anyway. Hopefully.
-I've been wanted to put The Otter in a situation where he suddenly found his drinking to be a serious problem, and sugarless and the situation presented me with one, so I took it. I don't expect The Otter to be cold-turkey sober from this point on -- far from it really. But I wanted to set in that conflict, and perhaps, after a long trial, he won't have a drinking problem anymore. Or maybe he'll turn down a darker path. Who knows? It's just something I felt was needed for his character.
-Qhobeg's reasons for wanting to visit Jim Seven could be virtually anything really -- it was more a good excuse for them to be driving in Canada/Hell than anything else. So if it gets followed up with, that's cool. If not, that's cool too.

So where do I see Antestarr, Sugarless and Qhobeg (and prossibly Otter) doing in the immediate future? Well, they're in Canada/Hell because Antestarr wants to rescue Young from Evil Geb probably more than anyone else, and as far as he knows, the only way to NeShattered (where Young and Evil Geb are) is through a portal that Arkng Thand had mentioned before. First they'll have to deal with the demons likely swooping in on them (and they're not likely going to be nice). Then they may go to Jim Seven (also known as Satan) for whatever reason in the proccess of finding said portal. From there, who knows?

Dammit, this is exciting! Well done.

I moved to the big city last week and have no real internet connection. In case anybody was wondering.

Do you know when you will get (a regular) internet connection again?

First, welcome Ari. Good to see a new face.

Just got done with a post to solidify her entry into NeS. Couple notes. Geb says that Ari's character is to be somewhat clumsy, but has a knack for getting stuff done... by accident (kind of a parallel to Sarn's egotistical ignorance balanced by his blind luck).

Also, expanded a touch on the Maintenence Dudes.

(quick note, I guess Ari hadn't quite decided if she wanted her character named after her screename, so I kinda took a liberty there after asking Geb. So, Ari if you want to call her something different, post here, and I'll edit my post.)

Is it me, or do I detect a touch of the Moles from the Redwall series in the Otter's speech?

Majir: I can tell you that, if that's the case, it's entirely unintentional on my part, as I don't know the reference you're making. I just do what I can (with my limited knowledge) to give The Otter the occassional British accent in his speech and, when he's drunk, a stereotypical "drunk" speech.

Also, Dormouse linked this on #teapot, which I find facinating on its own, but could also be applied to the sort of intelligence and wisdom that Arkng Thand might have:

http://www.infinityfoundation.com/ECITmandateframe.htm

The writer is attempting to more or less describe why the study of humanities/philosophy should be heavily required. Admittedly, a lot of it felt over my head (and, if Semievil reads it, he may chime in with a "this is sound - here's some explination in laymen's term" or "this is crap, don't read it!"), but the introduction about the differences she came across between her Remedial class and Honors class, as well as the general idea of knowing and understanding oneself versus understanding everything else is what hooked my attention.

I am in the midst of writing a post that will update us on Grismath and the Canadian Collective.

I just made my first meta-story dealie. I hope you don't mind, Tracer -- I was having real difficulty trying to "actually" work your last post into the story, so I took the opportunity to make this first example. If need be, I'll write a follow-up, but that may not be necessary. We'll see.

And nobody's responded to "TLTE's Institute for People Who Can't Write... Good" thread...

I haven't had time to read it yet, Geb, but whatever it was I don't mind. I think the best thing for a story like this is to creatively write out and around things you don't like. I also think that the more active writers (like you) should be given more slack since they're actually cranking out stuff that's advancing the story. So I'm cool. I expect to get back to my regular DSL line by the end of august...I'm hoping that during the school year I can stick to a once-per week kind of contribution, like getting in a post on each ISB story that I'm sort of helping write every Sunday or something.

I also intend to continue with the Massassi Soap Opera and finish my Spooky Taco revival project at that time.

But I should stop clogging up this thread with this blog-type junk and let you guys get on with the story...

Okay, I just read it. No problems.

I don't want to be the next person to write for Twin Suns I wanted him to be a community character, not a Kirby-written character. God knows I don't post enough to have my own character.

So everyone knows, I'm going to be busy for the next week-ish, as it's the week before the performances for the show I'm in, so... you all better post! Yeah <_<

Nearly back into the swing of things, gents.

Yay!

I should be makin' a storypost, but I'm feeling lazy about it right now, so instead I post a bunch of random stuff:

1)
(a) Who all is currently still around? I know Antestarr's currently on leave in Wyoming, but otherwise, I don't know what the status of the rest of you all is. Give a shout-out here if you're around, please, and maybe what you all are up to, just so I can get an idea who all is still active. I'll have to assume that you've dissapeared off the face of the planet if I don't hear from you all soon.

(b) How often do you all check this thread and the story thread? I seem to notice that some people (looks at Semievil, Antestarr, etc.) have a habit of not checking at all for weeks at a time, and then find it so difficult to "catch up" when you do check it. If that's the case, I'd simply like to point out that it's a LOT EASIER to just take a quick look here once a day or, heck, once a week even. The more I hear from you, of course, the less I wonder about question part "a"...

2)
(a) We've talked about this before, but I'm forgetful, so I ask again. What kind of story ideas do you all want to write about in the pages to come? What pre-existing story-stuff do we want to keep tackling, and what new stuff do we want to play with? What would be your ideal story-arc (even if it's one that's already been done)? Be as general or as specific as you'd like.

(b) Same question, but with characters instead of plot-stuff. What kind of stuff do you want to look into with the characters we have? What sort of new characters would you like to see come about? What would be an ideal writer/character for NeS? Again, as general or as specific as you'd like.

3) OK, I know I've asked this before, but I never really got an answer. Could someone explain to me what's going on with the story-stuff that Majir and West Wind have written, mostly in regards to the events that's been going on in Knowhere Valley and the Detective and the like? I have a suspicion that nobody except Majir and West Wind know the answer to that, and I'm not so sure if even they know... <_< Please prove me wrong. Please?

4) What do you see happening in the CURRENT story arc? If you're at a complete loss on this one, now would be the time to speak up... :p

5) How much of NeS have you all read? How many times?

And to answer my own questions...

1)
(a) I'm here. I still have another weekend of performances coming up, and then soon afterwards I will be without internet access for about a week-ish as I go to Ocean City (the beach) with my family. School will start at the beginning of September, I still need to get a job soon, blah blah blah...

(b) I'm a Massassi addict -- I'm refreshing the forums every other minute when I'm by my computer, which is a lot... >_>

2)
(a) Some day I still hope to do a story arc involving the still-uncompleted Story Arcade game and probably a crossover with another forum called the Gaming Guardians. However, considering my current success at having done so (it being over a year at least since I wanted to do this), I wouldn't hold my breath on that. Besides the current storyarc, I mostly want to see a lot of previous things dealt with -- the battle between the demons and the Forgotten characters on Earth, the whole "Jupiter is now a second sun" deal, the consequences of the deaths of the Potentials (particularly with Geb) and eventually, working with conflicts versus Thand. Also, I'd like to have more conflicts that are more "real" (i.e. mundane) like being sued or being broke and not being able to pay for necessities like food and electric and whatnot (I mean, Geb's supposed to be a professional hero -- when's the last time he got PAID for doing that?)

(b) I'd like to work with Maybechild and Losien, in regards to their love issues. I'd like to work with Thand and EeP, in regards to their plotting (I think, depending on how things go, Evil Geb might take a break after this storyarc, which may affect characters like Morthrandur and Qhobeg as well). I'd like to lightly work with The Otter's possible change of character, which I might want to "tie up" with other characters like Maybechild. Hopefully something can be done with Twin Suns too. As for an ideal writer/character, I dream of the day that NeS becomes popular enough that someone jumps on aboard as a "paperwork" dealing type, and that the writer spends a great deal of their time organizing a resource page with character bios, storyarc summaries, etc. etc... Not likely going to happen though.

3) I really don't know. And since I'm usually one to know most EVERYTHING that happens in NeS, this sort of troubles me.

4) Basically, I see TLTE and co. meeting up with the guy on the camel (who I think should actually be a random "hero" of NeShattered ("hero" in quote because, like the other hero-types of NeShattered, they basically suck) and not Semievil), and be led back towards some semblance of civilization, where they'd have to deal with more or less victims of Evil Geb's villainy clinging onto TLTE and co. with guilt trips and "stay and help us" and all that jazz. Geb, CM and co. should encounter the disposable, overly-cliched minions, kill 'em and thus find their way either to TLTE and co. or right to Evil Geb's place. Ante, sugarless, etc. meanwhile will likely pay a visit to Jim Seven/Satan and then into the portal into NeShattered (where Antestarr will seperate from the group). They might get captured, or meet up with Geb and co. or with TLTE and co. or both. Eventually, they'll work their way to challanged Evil Geb, where they fight the killer wedding cake and other things to keep them occupied as Evil Geb tries going through the evil wedding ritual with Young. The biggest problem, of course, is Evil Geb being able to abuse his story-wielding. Some options appear present for the time:

- The hero-types appeal to the EeP, which is inside Evil Geb and, likely, in enough of control over Evil Geb. The EeP, being Plot Incarnate, would likely accept a request to stop Evil Geb from abusing his story-weilding as such, as it pretty much is a slap in the face of plot (debates about "revision being the most important part of forming a good plot might come into play). The EeP, of course, would require something in return, something which may, at the present, seem insignificant but later down the road become vital in the EeP's plan to end the NeS as we know it. What that something is I don't know.

-Young is likely immune, at least to a certain degree, to Evil Geb's story-wielding. If the hero-types somehow work with her, she could likely help them level the playing field. The whole "paradox" bit has already happened back in the Siberian bunker -- the whole paradox bit might crop up again here.

-Evil Geb HAS not only loss his Potential (like Geb and TLTE) but has also been cursed (from stealing from the convinience store of the DAMNED, as are Ares and Morris, though such a curse might actually have the opposite effects on him, as he's a villain...) It may play some small role to help the hero-types.

It should be noted that I intend to have a "rematch" between good Geb and evil Geb, but I FULLY intend to have good Geb lose this time (though still be able to walk away from the fight). Hopefully by that point, Antestarr (the writer) will return and be able to work his bit into the story. Despite all the blathering I've done, I really don't have much of a plan for this story-arc and I hope to keep it more comedic and absurd as a whole than our previous conflicts (Thand alone will be plenty serious enough of a conflict for NeS to deal with for the next 30 pages at LEAST :-p).

5) I've read the whole of NeS multiple times (at least 5) and I'm hoping to read through it again before I start the next semester up. I know there are few here who have read the whole of NeS, and I think I may be the only one who's read it more than once.

As a last note, PLEASE check out TLTE's Institute for People Who Can't Write...Good thread and reply! I'm hoping to still work on it some more, but I made some posts a while ago, and I was hoping to get some replies to it. Anything's better than nothing, really!

Aaaaand I'm done my rambling. For now...

1.
a. I am here
b. Whenever I see the icon change, and actually feel like reading. You know my schedule >.>

2.
a.. I want to see Wai's plot through to the end (I think I told you my ideas for it already, Geb), and also explore Subaru and Antestarr's relationship. After that, I'd like to see Mimiru and CM get married or whatever (this could happen between arcs), and, if possible, really dive into what happened to their parents.
b. Subaru needs attention, her ties to the story are weak at best. And Wai needs to move from plain comedic relief to what he really is, and when his plot is finished, possibly say his goodbyes (aka no more Wai). All depends on how the writers on a whole feel about him when that point arrives. I know it's been discussed that dropping some characters might help, and I do think Wai could leave then.

3. I have no damn clue.

4. I don't want to see Arkng Thand just fall away as a secondary character, which might happen considering all the discussions about Evil Geb and such. Since he IS the mastermind for all this, we need to make sure we keep that clear, that he is planning this stuff. Maybe make sure he checks in every once in a while or something, to remind the heroes where they stand.

5. I've read up to 3 pages before I started posting (late 30's, early 40's of NeS1? ). I have read that portion 2 times, I think.

1)
(a) I am still around. I’m working my *** off, and classes are about to start in a few weeks which may either increase or decrease my workload, but I really have no clue right now.

(b) I check the story any time I visit Massassi (which I do at least daily) and there is a red icon next to the ISB. That’s not to say I read it right away, but I usually read all new posts within a week.

2)
(a) and (b) You don’t want to ask that question… well. Ok you do, but you don’t want me to answer. Well… you still might want me to answer, but you wont like it… FINE. You win: If you cant tell, the Hawthorne/Thatchett/Detective plot is about to wrap up. Literally, my next post (which I am working on presently) should bring the Hawthorne/Detective stuff to a closure. As for what happens afterwards. I plan on declaring a few global changes to NeSquared (not that people are expected to follow them or anything), introducing a new major player into NeS, retiring several others, and hopefully preparing for a “homecoming” story arch for when the “heroes” return from their trip to NeShattered.

3) YOU DARE TO QUESTION MY AWESOME CREATION! Ahem… Yes, Majir and I do have a pretty good idea as to what is going on in the Hawthorne/Detective story. He has been writing the “flashbacks” while I have been pushing the story closer to the climax (if you could not tell, Majir’s last post was indeed another flashback.) I will either sum up the story so far a little later, or wait until I finish up the arc and then just post a global recap.

4)

5) I am shamed to admit that outside of the page-range of I have posted in, I really have not read much else (Basically pages 12-current)

As for CM, if your worried that Thand is about to fade out… don’t be… I have plans for him… BWAA HAaa Haaaa haaa

West Wind/Majir: Don't get me wrong -- it's obvious you guys put a lot of effort into your posts, and they look cool. It's just been difficult for me to understand the plot details, as it were, and I usually pride myself on knowing what everything's about in NeS. So yeah, either a workshop post or a story recap in the story thread itself is cool... whatever works.

Don’t feel bad, there was quite some time there where neither of us knew (or really cared) where things were going. Then we suddenly realized we had built up so much that either we would have to simply drop everything, or try to tie it all up... And that's when I started scheming...

I'd personally like to put in a vote of confidence to you guys (West Wind and Majiir). Your posts rock. The only problem that I see is that the rest of us have no idea where they're going, and they're tying up characters that would be useful elsewhere (ie, I want to develop Sarn and Voodoo's relationship).

So get it finished up. I want to find out what happens (seriously this arc has me on the edge of my seat) and I want to be able to write regarding Voodoo.

(Oh, and Geb, I'll answer your questions in the morning. I'm on my way to bed right now)

So instead of the "ultimate" post I was hoping for tonight, I guess I will have to settle for this "Penultimate" post.

I seriously have another three pages already written to this (MS word pages), but I broke it off at a convenient point. Hopefully I can wrap this up soon.

You guys seem to have a good grasp of things, so I'll just keep whittling away on my end for a while. By the by, Geb - the man on the camel is not an old NeSHero, or even a new one. The dam burst in my mind yesterday, and I saw the story as it will be in about 30 or so pages now. So I need a new character. More on this later...

[QUOTE=The Last True Evil]You guys seem to have a good grasp of things, so I'll just keep whittling away on my end for a while. By the by, Geb - the man on the camel is not an old NeSHero, or even a new one. The dam burst in my mind yesterday, and I saw the story as it will be in about 30 or so pages now. So I need a new character. More on this later...[/QUOTE]


Wait, is this a PLAN? It can't be a plan! NeS doesn't have plans!

I'll respond to Geb's roll-call. I already made a 'why I'm too lazy to write'-style post recently, but I guess that posting in the story planning thread is better than no post at all...

1) I'm here. I haven't read NeS in several weeks (no time), but I hope to be back by September on a weekend-posting basis.

b) I did check both NeS threads quite frequently, either to read new stuff or to fish around for old new ideas. I don't know how many times I've read the whole thing, but I do go back and read parts of NeS 1 and 2 quite often. They're really good reading.

2) I don't really have any grand designs - I prefer to latch on to someone else's good idea. Similarly, I can't think of any 'ideal' story arc: looking back, I've enjoyed all the ones I've read, whether I participated in them or not (like, I missed pretty much the whole dreamstate story arc - I was sort of frustrated with writing for NeS and backed off for a while. Recently, I finally read it and discovered how great it is).

b) I don't know about characters. I had kind of adopted the Semievil character for a bit, so I'd like to do some more stuff with him, Grismath and Tumbleweed (if they're still around). TLTE is always fun to write for - I sort of had this idea of creating some tension between him and the duo of Sarn and Sok Munkey. Twin Suns seems pretty interesting, and I want to do some more with the Evil Geb character. Also, I think that Arking Thand should be worked in somehow, just as a reminder that he's out there (calling the shots?). Oh, and I'd like to snap Geb out of his teenage depression sooner rather than later.

^But that's all conditional on those characters still being in more or less the same spot as they were the last time I read NeSquared (around a month ago). Really, I'm cool with rolling with the punches and trying to write for whoever's currently doing what.

4. If we're still on Evil Geb's Evil Wedding, then here are my ideas:

• Grismath has some kind of angle on either Evil Geb's wedding or Arking Thand's plans (if the latter then just a tiny inkling. Maybe he doesn't even know who Thand is - just that something big is up with TLTE, so he uses Sem to spy on him (TLTE))

1a: I'm around in some sense of the term. Basically NeS has probationary status in my life right now. I'm going to wrap up Thatchett's plot, since West is going to be handling the Hawthorne end of things. With my Sugarless blunder a few weeks ago and my subsequent act of BS to correct it, I've introduced characters I might work with in the future.

1b: Whenever the forums deign to send a new post notification message to my email, and once every couple weeks if I don't hear anything.

2a: The face of NeS is going to change pretty soon, and I can tell we're in reformation for something that will eventually lead in to another arc. I can't really say anything until I see what that new face is going to look like. All I know is that if I do write in the future I am going to try my best to stick to stories that won't end up rearranging time and space as we know it while utterly taking over the serious storytelling.

2b: I'm not much of a superhero writer, so I'm not one to say anything at all as to what kind of characters I think we should get. If I continue to write, I will be working more with the substrate of the story, with the Maintenance Dudes as my avatars. If you couldn't tell, I really get into narrative pseudoscience, and the MDs are my way of manifesting that in a more interesting way than just screwing around with theoreticals.

3: I think West answered this pretty well, but here's my take: the Hawthorne/Detective plot it something that has to be read chronologically in story time rather than real time to really be understood (at least for now). There is a lot of clutter in the story due to the evolutionary nature of NeS. West and I have our own overlaid slightly different takes on the story, giving us a sort of stereoscopic conception of a wide-spread meta plot. We really didn't know what we were getting into initially. What I think happened was that for a while we were the only people carrying a coherent plot because a lot of the regulars were doing other things, and we started answering questions about offhand things that we would write. The whole Detective-doesn't-light-up-and-Hawthorne's-got-his-lighter thing is the perfect example. I especially ended up with huge plot things on my hands just because I wanted to do something small. Sasha ended up being a player because I was making a bow to one of my favorite webcomics Sluggy Freelance and introduce the fact that Hawthorne had the lighter. So what's going on? We didn't know at first, but we really do know right now (well, West knows... I just write Pratchett-Noir). After everything is said and done I am going to take some time to rewind back to the first splinter and stitch everything together and edit it into one large cohesive story that should make some sense. I'll be asking for help from you guys when that day comes.

4:

5: Unfortunately, not very much. I think I picked up somewhere around page 13. I've skimmed a bit before that, and read some reference posts from earlier arcs, but that's about it. Basically I read stuff that has something to do with me, either to make sure I don't break anyone else's story (or to very deliberately break something, ahem... sorry Sarn, I subscribe to the philosophy that romance isn't about getting the people together, it's about ripping their asses apart and giggling maniacally at the antics they have to go through to get together [but I'll see what I can do about that last part]), or reading what other people have written in something I'm working on.

i'm still around, i'm still about 2 pages behind, but i'm slowly catching up.

still working on the Ford the hero storyline, but i've been a bit busy lately. (having a "real life" says my g/f.)

i didnt read the rest of the post so maybe i'll reply again later.

okay

1) (B) i read about once a week now. like i said, slowly catching up.

2) a+b) working on the ford the hero grassroots fight against demons/forgotten characters storyline. admittedly i havent got out into the world yet, but i'm working on it.

3) so far i havent found it too confusing, but i'm still on page 14 or 15 so maybe it gets confusing later.

4) i havent even reached the current story arc yet.

5) i've read about half of the original, rereading the occasional section every once in a while. mostly looking for my posts, cause when i go back to read them they're much funnier than when i originally posted them.

i've read MOST of the NeSquared. only reread selections to catch up where i left ford off last.

i hope thats enough information for you.

pardon any spelling errors, i'm a little drunk.