It Began in a Tavern (OOC Thread) (Part 2)

[Louanne Learning]

I'd ask which type of story we're wanting to write first. I always write philosophy and metaphor into my stories. I think it adds a lot of value to them.

I'd agree with this. I think our theme is related to time?

 

[ps102]

I'd agree with this. I think our theme is related to time?

There are a lot of themes since multiple people are writing this. There is self-discovery (Olive), discrimination (because of the class system and Ravenna), dystopia (the queen's government), family (because of Katara) and even good vs evil (our characters versus the authoritarian government). There is probably more I'm forgetting.

The Queen doesn't want to stop time. Time is just a side effect of what she is doing. She wants to assemble the fragments into a gear for power in order to fulfill her ambitions, which haven't been explored yet. If I were to describe it in one sentence, I'd say that the queen wants to reach heights that nobody ever has before because of her deep curiosity.

Recall these paragraph:

The queen rose her hand towards the brightness. “I want to know. I want to know what we are. I want to know where we are. I want to understand this reality—this perfect mixture of light and darkness. I want to find it. To find the root of existence. And once I do,” she clasped her hand around the air, “I’ll cease it for myself.”​

Whenever I imagine this story, because it has all these different philosophical elements, I crave the desire to make it deeply meaningful somehow. I want our characters to reach some sort of high truth.

These are my thoughts. I'd love to hear everyone else's.

 

[Louanne Learning]

These are my thoughts. I'd love to hear everyone else's.

I think it might be beneficial is we try to find the thread that connects all these different themes.

I think self-discovery might apply to all three young women. For example, Katara wants to know who her father is. She straddles the worlds of science and poetry. Where does her heart truly lie?

I'm going to spend some more time thinking about all of this today. Thank you so much for the synopsis.

 

[ps102]

I'm going to spend some more time thinking about all of this today. Thank you so much for the synopsis.

It needs a lot of thought from all of us. I'm still not sure what the ending will be like.

 

[Louanne Learning]

It needs a lot of thought from all of us. I'm still not sure what the ending will be like.

it will come to us in time. But I do think it is time to start connecting the different threads.

 

[Luxuria]

it will come to us in time. But I do think it is time to start connecting the different threads.

Agreed. I am excited to see how it all gets put together.

 

[Luxuria]

I'd agree with this. I think our theme is related to time?

I know you replied to this already, @ps102, but I am wondering if we want to play around with time in the story. Like with some rewinding, fast-forwarding, etc. Thoughts? I am wondering if Olive can do all this or something.

 

[ps102]

I know you replied to this already, @ps102, but I am wondering if we want to play around with time in the story. Like with some rewinding, fast-forwarding, etc. Thoughts? I am wondering if Olive can do all this or something.

Olive's current power comes through Yuuna, but Yuuna as the spirit of light has no command over time. Also, as it should be, Olive currently has little control over Yuuna's power. That rod of light she crafted was impressive to herself because it's the first time she has given shape to magic.

You've been interested in time before. Here is an idea: What if Ravenna's motivation, wish, or desire is to go back in time in order to undo everything that lead to her family's suffering in order to save them?

I do gather that Ravenna should have agency and a motivation of her own. Maybe deep inside, she hopes that Olive's new power can take her back in time once all of this is over.

It's not possible right now but who knows what we can come up with by the end?

It's just an idea. But a great side benefit is how this can be reason for Ravenna to get closer to Olive. I think we established that they should all come closer as a group. Little advance has been made in that goal so far though.

I'm just throwing ideas since you seem to like the concept of time.

 

[Luxuria]

You've been interested in time before. Here is an idea: What if Ravenna's motivation, wish, or desire is to go back in time in order to undo everything that lead to her family's suffering in order to save them?

Yes, I feel like it's something we need to mess with somehow. And yes! I love that idea/motivation. I think that would be a wonderful thing to attempt at least. I have always wondered what her family did to get sent to the labs and maybe, we learn in the current time they are in fact dead. So, Ravenna wants to go back in time to save them somehow.

I do gather that Ravenna should have agency and a motivation of her own. Maybe deep inside, she hopes that Olive's new power can take her back in time once all of this is over.

Agreed. I know her family is a major piece of motivation. And yes, I think that's why she's also going to stick around as long as she can. Because she wants to use Olive's powers to save her family.

It's just an idea. But a great side benefit is how this can be reason for Ravenna to get closer to Olive. I think we established that they should all come closer as a group. Little advance has been made in that goal so far though.

Agreed! Let's do this somehow.

I'm just throwing ideas since you seem to like the concept of time.

 

[ps102]

I think that would be a wonderful thing to attempt at least.

Okay, fine by me! I will leave setting that up to you. But I would tell you how I would approach it. As it stands, Olive's magic is extremely unique, and as someone who has spent time in the labs seeing all kinds of magic through experiments, she should be very impressed by Olive's magic. It's not only unique, but there mere light of it signifies peace and seeing. Maybe she sees the light and thinks "What if..."

 

[Luxuria]

Yeah, once Ravenna understands what it is, I wonder what she's going to do. I also wonder since there is 'light' magic, then it would be natural there is 'dark' magic. Which, weirdly enough, we have! I wonder if we should also use that more? Or have a group that wants to defy the order of things and is determined to bring magic to the masses so equality can occur. I love writing internal world politics as much as Ps102 love lore. I think there should be a different group in the labs trying to figure out how to use Dark Magic for the benefit of everyone. But the High Scientist doesn't know about these off-record experiments. But the end goal of this group is to make magic avalible to everyone. I think they are figuring out the E-Cell thing and want to somehow develop a pill that can be used by anyone to gain temporary magic? I am sure they are also looking into how to make it permanent.

Anyway, I love your light magic, Ps102.

 

[ps102]

I also had another flash just now. Olive wants two things: Peace and her memory. But peace is more important to her. She doesn't want a noisy life. Still, she realizes that she must fight for it because of what Alua said, who did earn peace for herself.

Alua hid from the broken, authoritarian world. What if Olive, now realizing that she has the power, resolves to fix the world by destroying the current government and forcing a regime change in order to create a more peaceful and fair world?

Ravenna should feel the same, and they can bond over that. Olive can realize that she is not the only one who has suffered. She can learn more deeply of her past and that further strengths her motivation to destroy the totalitarian government.

That works. How does Katara resolve to do the same? How do we tie them into the same motivation? They should all resolve to a common goal. But that's up to Louanne.

 

[Louanne Learning]

What if Olive, now realizing that she has the power, resolves to fix the world by destroying the current government and forcing a regime change in order to create a more peaceful and fair world?

I love this!!! I think this should be our end goal.

How does Katara resolve to do the same?

I think once Barnabas finds out she is his daughter, he is going to go through a life-altering change, and this will impact his relationship with not only the Queen, but with our three young women.

Something for us to think about - Who will be on team Olive? And who will be on team Melina?

 

[Luxuria]

Ravenna should feel the same, and they can bond over that. Olive can realize that she is not the only one who has suffered. She can learn more deeply of her past and that further strengths her motivation to destroy the totalitarian government.

Yes, I think she does. But doesn't think she has the power to do it, so just decides to never even try. Which is sad, but true. Yes. Having Olive realize she's not the only one who has or will suffer will help. I am trying though, to figure out how convey that in the story without too much Ravenna-Self-indulgent-tango. Unless, it's a scene we DO need for Olive to understand. But then again, she seems empathetic, so might already be picking up on this idea. Let me know if we need an angsty sad scene. I'm here.

Alua hid from the broken, authoritarian world. What if Olive, now realizing that she has the power, resolves to fix the world by destroying the current government and forcing a regime change in order to create a more peaceful and fair world?

I like this. It's very good motivation and adds to the fact Olive is the only one who can do this. I also think that we talked about Olive and the others over-throwing the government a few posts ago. But adding this motivation helps flesh out the idea.

 

[Luxuria]

Something for us to think about - Who will be on team Olive? And who will be on team Melina?

For my characters:

Ravenna feels like she could go either way. She does want the system to be destoryed. If there was a way to give everyone magic, it would fix it. But also she will most likely care about Olive and Katara. So, may be willing to play the double-agent for the team. If they have a big enough fallout, the bad guys might take her seriously.

Nalki feels like someone who doesn't want to get in the middle of the mess and just live his life.

Charin though, might side with those trying to bring magic to everyone. Because he's tired of the division of people. In fact, he might be a good character to introduce this underground research through. He may already be involved.

Alua's camping and too busy eating S'mores to help.

 

[ps102]

I think there should be a different group in the labs trying to figure out how to use Dark Magic for the benefit of everyone. But the High Scientist doesn't know about these off-record experiments. But the end goal of this group is to make magic avalible to everyone. I think they are figuring out the E-Cell thing and want to somehow develop a pill that can be used by anyone to gain temporary magic? I am sure they are also looking into how to make it permanent.

It's not a bad idea, but it's another subplot that we don't really need. I can totally imagine that the labs are trying something like this though. But the government wouldn't be interested in equality. If they're trying stuff like that, it's for nefarious causes.

In terms of lore, such pills would be extremely hard to develop because non-mages bodies are fundamentally unable to handle the recoil that comes with magic. Think of a house with poor earthquake protection, like one from the UK. I know it's impossible, but suppose for a minute that we somehow "move" the UK house to a country like Greece. The UK house would crumble in a typical earthquake. But the Greek-built homes would stand, as they continue to do.

There is no fixing the bad earthquake protection from houses because they're fundementally not made for it. It would take their complete reconstruction to fix that. The same concept applies to making non-mages to mages. Maybe it's doable, but a single pill would be rather unbeliavable.

But I've had thoughts around the inequality too. I feel like a society with good equality principles doesn't change the people. It is accommodating and accepting of the people as they are. So people without magic should have equal opportunity for better likelihoods. Again, the current government isn't interested in that. It's full of power hungry monarchs. Though Melina is quite unique among her family, I should note.

This last part comes from me, a person with autism. I don't really want to have that "cured" if that makes sense. I just want to be accepted for who I am. Maybe non-mages feel the same way. They don't care about magic. They just want to live their lives as they're without the discrimination.

Just my thoughts to the subject

 

[ps102]

I like this. It's very good motivation and adds to the fact Olive is the only one who can do this. I also think that we talked about Olive and the others over-throwing the government a few posts ago. But adding this motivation helps flesh out the idea.

I think this was the plan all along. A big Melina vs Olive scene at the climax feels inevitable.

 

[ps102]

I love this!!! I think this should be our end goal.

It makes a lot of sense. Olive wants peace. She sees that this is the only pathway to it.

And also, since she has lived in a family like Melina's (high elite mages), she wants to see an end to people like them. Or more accurately, society's fundamental favour of them.

Basically, Olive wants to see a society that's kind to everyone. And after discovering who she is (through Gamma, who has promised to tell her), she can live in true peace.

 

[Luxuria]

t's not a bad idea, but it's another subplot that we don't really need. I can totally imagine that the labs are trying something like this though. But the government wouldn't be interested in equality. If they're trying stuff like that, it's for nefarious causes.

It's another sub-plot, yes. But I think what always gets me in stories that it feels like no one else is trying to do something. When in fact, to me, it's more realistic if there are several people trying to do things in different ways. This whole research thing doesn't need to be a huge plot- not all. It may just need to be mentioned a bit, because it feels more realistic that there would be many people dissatisfied with the way things are and trying to change it how they see fit.

In terms of lore, such pills would be extremely hard to develop because non-mages bodies are fundamentally unable to handle the recoil that comes with magic.

That's true. The thing is though, they don't need to be a success. They can be an utter failure with only a high body count to show for the efforts.

. It is accommodating and accepting of the people as they are. So people without magic should have equal opportunity for better likelihoods. Again, the current government isn't interested in that. It's full of power hungry monarchs.

True. Maybe there is another group championing this cause. That people without magic deserve to be respected and treated the same. That would be an interesting addition. I mean, even though the Queen is a dictator, I am sure there are interest groups who she has to balance with to keep everyone placated. Not happy, just calmed. Even in Kingdoms, the king or queen had to listen to a bunch of different people.

This last part comes from me, a person with autism. I don't really want to have that "cured" if that makes sense. I just want to be accepted for who I am. Maybe non-mages feel the same way. They don't care about magic. They just want to live their lives as they're without the discrimination.

That does make some sense and it's possible many non-mages feel the same. However, the plot with the experiment is not the end plot. It is merely another piece to the puzzle that will be failure. The thing is that again, I feel like there would be other people TRYING to do something- then Olive crashes in through the wall "Oh, Yeah!"

 

[ps102]

I am trying though, to figure out how convey that in the story without too much Ravenna-Self-indulgent-tango. Unless, it's a scene we DO need for Olive to understand. But then again, she seems empathetic, so might already be picking up on this idea. Let me know if we need an angsty sad scene. I'm here.

I'm not sure what you mean by self-indulgent tango. Do you mean scenes that highly focus on Ravenna? Those are good. We want those!

I totally welcome more Ravenna scenes!