!Tilly!
Aware
i love scifi stuff but im too stupid to take part lel
Posts: 145
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Post by !Tilly! on Apr 15, 2016 1:09:21 GMT
Soooo, I need a little help with choices.
I have this idea of writing a story (inspired greatly by Thrive!), wherein a strange alien presence sees what humanity is doing and decides to do something about it. They care about humanity, for reasons unknown. They don't want humanity's legacy to die, but they know humans will implode on themselves... soon. So they decide to take a very common animal and lift them off to their own planet, where they will become the dominant species - the sort of "heir" to humanity's "throne."
So far I have a few ideas, and a vague sense of where their culture would be at. The story would be set in a time right when Fire has been recently discovered and they've started herding livestock or farming, depending on the diet. All the creatures chosen are closely associated with humanity in some way.
AFRICAN GRAY PARROTS
A close-knit group that is broken into sections for the sake of resources. They still consider themselves part of the same faction, just... living in different areas! They share a lot of their resources/belongings, and don't mind meeting up from time to time. Naturally, tensions do stir up, but not often - and rarely do they end out in bloodshed. Their society has a lot to do with goofy imitations, jokes, and breaking up tension with cracking (inappropriate...) jokes. Their world is in a permanent state of Summer, making the world somewhat tropical, reminiscent of their ancestral homeland.
RATS (or mice... maybe both?)
A single large group that does everything it can to stay together - you need strength in numbers when you're hardly 10 inches tall at the most! They would be the most dextrous of the lot, despite also being the smallest. They would value the virtue of cowardice, and if you have the sense to run, you're regarded as legendary. Fighting one of their many foes head-on is considered dangerous (obviously), rash and unreasonable, and is likely to get you kicked out of somewhere if it's bad enough. Like the cats, they mate indiscriminately - but giving birth and nursing is considered very private and personal, only between a doe and her pinkies. Their world would be in a constant state of twilight, as they would be dropped off on a planet where 1/2 was day and 1/2 was night - leaving a strip of dusk in the middle, a rat's favorite time. |
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Post by Atrox on Apr 15, 2016 1:25:21 GMT
Ooooo a tidally locked rat infested world :0
I know what I'm voting for.
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Post by mitobox on Apr 15, 2016 1:25:31 GMT
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Post by Atrox on Apr 15, 2016 1:34:49 GMT
Dogs
 What's this from? |
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Post by mitobox on Apr 15, 2016 2:02:03 GMT
It's a scene from Tokyo Jungle (a game where you play as either a herbivorous or a carnivorous animal in Tokyo after humanity's mysterious disappearance). There's survival mode, where you and your bloodline survive as long as possible, and story mode. Quite a few videos on YouTube (OMFGCata did a full playthrough of the campaign). EDIT: To clarify the image itself, it's a pack of beagles confronting a pack of tosas for supremacy during story mode. |
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Post by Atrox on Apr 15, 2016 2:10:43 GMT
Oh right! I believe you linked to a video of this game a few months ago. This guy was playing as a Pomeranian.
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!Tilly!
Aware
i love scifi stuff but im too stupid to take part lel
Posts: 145
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Post by !Tilly! on Apr 15, 2016 22:12:49 GMT
So since Dogs, Birds and Rats all had the exact same amount of votes, I reset the poll to just include the top three :0 This'll be the tiebreaker. After this, I'll get writing!
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Post by lowry on Apr 15, 2016 22:40:20 GMT
why not have this poll decide on the race you're following during the story, but also have the other races in play. It would prove interesting. Imagine Homo Canis meetings inteligent tool using Terror Birds... Just a tought <3
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Post by tammio on Apr 15, 2016 23:43:07 GMT
I like the rats idea, if only because they are a unique blend between hive and a individual. They are self-concious, and inteligent, but act like a seething mass of... well rodents. BUT I think you should redesign the cowardice "system". You can only be a coward if there are those who would fight you. Being a coward in the face of natural catastrophes is not cowardice but common sence. Being a coward in the face of Predators would be fine except... when they are the dominant species, they would not fall prey so often a whole culture could be built around it. So a society can't make cowardice a norm if there isn't a hyper aggressive comuntity too. If you drive rats in a corner, or they are hungry, or they just have a bad day, they will fight. Just simple cowardice in every situation, allways, is too simple a solution. But a multi layerd, seemingly cowardistic culture will provide the depth you will need to captivate your readers. If you choose to write in such a manner, you stand a fair chance of taking something seemingly familiar (the idea of an animal civilisation) and turn it into something beautiful. You lure your readers in with something wich is at first glance familiar and turn it into a entricingly alien. That is what most Fantasy and Si-Fi lacks in my oppinion. Not creativity, not inteligence, sometimes not even beauty of wording or plist of plot. But nearly allways it lacks depth. The fathomless depths of culture and society.
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Post by lowry on Apr 15, 2016 23:51:16 GMT
I like the rats idea, if only because they are a unique blend between hive and a individual. They are self-concious, and inteligent, but act like a seething mass of... well rodents. BUT I think you should redesign the cowardice "system". You can only be a coward if there are those who would fight you. Being a coward in the face of natural catastrophes is not cowardice but common sence. Being a coward in the face of Predators would be fine except... when they are the dominant species, they would not fall prey so often a whole culture could be built around it. So a society can't make cowardice a norm if there isn't a hyper aggressive comuntity too. If you drive rats in a corner, or they are hungry, or they just have a bad day, they will fight. Just simple cowardice in every situation, allways, is too simple a solution. But a multi layerd, seemingly cowardistic culture will provide the depth you will need to captivate your readers. If you choose to write in such a manner, you stand a fair chance of taking something seemingly familiar (the idea of an animal civilisation) and turn it into something beautiful. You lure your readers in with something wich is at first glance familiar and turn it into a entricingly alien. That is what most Fantasy and Si-Fi lacks in my oppinion. Not creativity, not inteligence, sometimes not even beauty of wording or plist of plot. But nearly allways it lacks depth. The fathomless depths of culture and society. My question to you my friend is how? How can you not fall in love with Wahammets expansive information on all of its fantasy races. What about the Bulgariad books? The Shannara Chronicles? If you're looking for fantasy just look for the classics. If you need sci fy look a little harder. I find endless amounts of brilliant space operas or steampunk worlds teeming with well thought through races, people, empires. Just try the Saga of the Seven Suns or the Stainless Steel Rat. Deptg is out there, everywhere, so I personally, struggle to see your point. EDIT: Plus WarHammer already has the Skaven who are essentially ratmen but not ratmen with a society built upon personal gain and betrayal over cowardice. So for me, rats are overdone |
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Post by tammio on Apr 16, 2016 0:17:18 GMT
Obviously there are certainly beautiful books out there! But just through how many do I need to sift through untill I finaly find one I like? And true beauty in litterature is not simply an engaging story like Brandon Sandersons books. Or lots of Info, like the Warhammer fluff. With both you might fill a weakend. But it is not enough to still my hunger for true beauty. But here I must pose the question, what is "true" beauty? It is nearly intangiable. It is a marrige between the Art of Wording, and the Brutality of Stating, just as the situation requires. But it is more too, expecialy in Fantasy or Sience Fiction. These genres enable us to imagine worlds and people and scenarios that exceed our pitifull life. Fantasy should never be only about the hero vs. the Evil or Si-Fi about the AI taking over, it must pose and attempt to answer the same questions as other genres. The Fantastic genres are not only about imagining the impossible, impropable or insane, but transcending our meagre selves. Great Fantastic literature always is a distorted reflection of our own realities, our own lives, or love and hate, our hopes and dreams.
Oh and just a side note: I increasingly find myself attracted to the classics. I just read Goethes "Faust I" (Goethe => Most important German writer EVER died 1832) Not an easy but a rewarding read. Just Google Faust.pdf, its Public domain. Oh and while you're at it give Dostojevski's "The Grand Inquisitor" a shot. My absolute favorite novel/text/extract at the moment
Edit: I think it's Dostoyevsky in English.
And Sharpie, sorry I didn't whant to tell you what to do or how to write your text. I always get so carried away when witing about my favorite topic.
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!Tilly!
Aware
i love scifi stuff but im too stupid to take part lel
Posts: 145
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Post by !Tilly! on Apr 18, 2016 11:54:43 GMT
Oh gosh, one more tiebreaker xD Now we've narrowed it down to two! Who will win? Dundundunnnnn!! >D tammio - Y'see, this is the fun piece. I didn't want the depth - yet. The society is supposed to be fairly new at the start, so they haven't experienced all the possible situations! The depth comes with time - over the course of the story, they're going to learn that running away is not the easy one-size-fits-all answer they thought it was. So I wasn't looking for depth... at first. :> |
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Post by elementalred on Apr 18, 2016 18:00:27 GMT
For some reason the idea of this story makes me think of Overgrowth, an independent game with anthropomorphic animals that practices martial arts (except there are no birds or humans in this game...).
Also, @sharpie without being indiscreet, how are you doing with Sceculea?
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