Changes and New Stuff

Okay, I've been thinking for the last few weeks on how Felarya was getting very stagnant. I have come to the conclusion that the community in general is very shallow. The reason is simple, too many thinks vore is what Felarya is made of. Now before you all flame, I still fucking love vore. But come on, that's not the only thing about it. If is was, every single Felarya stories would be carbon copies of each other. I mean, it's a fantasy world whose main distinguinshing feature is that most sentient preds vore people, not the opposite.

Now the second thing I noticed is that we don't see enough classic creatures of fantasy worlds. I remember the wiki says that Felarya's fauna is extremely diverse, coming from many different worlds it connects to. Now, instead of always making wholy original creatures, why not inspire yourself on classics like orcs?

The third thing is that we don't know much about the different cultures of Felarya. We know pretty much where they live. But beside surviving, we don't know their belief, what they do, how they do it, what's so special about them, and stuff like that.

Now, let's face it. Unless we bring more depth to pretty much everything in Felarya, it's going to be shallow beyond redemption. And there's also the lack of character development. Many established characters are as shallow as a kiddy pool. I won't name who, if you don't figure it out, go get a brain.

So, I think we need to stop expanding the world, and begin expanding what we already know. For example, more sub-zones, more races (especially major races), more cities, more not-so-original creatures, more depth, and more character development.

Right now, I'm no longer making brand new creatures for a while. My stories don't gravitate around vore anymore. It's still a reccuring theme, but it now gravitates around adventure. And, I make sure all my characters grow and has development instead of becoming stale.

So, if you want to spark a new life to Felarya, begin making stories about surviving in Felarya instead of voring here and there all the freaking time.

I agree with a lot of that.

I've also noticed that the IRC is dying. Several times, I've been in there, and the room has been 100% devoid of life. It's as if everyone has run out of topics to talk about, or ideas for the world.

Wake up every one. This is a place where anything is possible. You could pretymuch come up with just about anything and aslon as it isn't silly or pathetic, like bringing in the power rangers to fight dryads and nekos in some holy war, you'll likely have our support.

Activity Ratio: probably more then 90% of the members on this forum are never active in any way. I'm not talking about not posting 300 times a week, but some people don't even bother to say "hi", they get an account, and poof, it's like they were never here.
I don't post very often, but i'm in the IRC every spare second I get. I'm not very creative, so it takes me a rather long time to come up with ideas, but atleast I try. There are people out there who prectically shit out ideas, and there are people like me who take forever. It doesn't matter how long it takes, or even if it's genious, or just run-of-the-mill, try.

Vore? Yes, I love vore, lok at my name and it's easy to figure out, bu like Sean said, this world isn't just vore. Yeah you could argue that all things eat, but you get the picture. Not everything revolves around a naked half woman, half animal giantess swallowing some poor lost adventurer. There are plenty of things that dominate felarya alongside the vore.

Some thoughts:

Underworld? Every society has one, the dark place where drug dealers, murderers, and thieves dwell. I don't see much of it in Felarya. I haven't read every story, so there may be some I'm not aware of, but in all I think there could be some improvement.

Human Society? Negav, wow, big freakin suprise. But could there possibly be more then one strong hold in felarya? maybe not a large city, but some place, some reprive for explorers? Maybe some place where even predators know not to feed. Could there possibly be a safe zone somewhere in the wilderness? Not a big one, but just a quick reststop for the weary and faint of heart, not even a village, but just a small building that predators won't attack?
And just some other food for thought, more villages, with defined religions, social structure, medium population?

Predator Co-operation? They aren't stupid, so they can obviously work together to accomplish goals, why don't they?

Entertainment? What the fuck do people and predators do in their downtime, when they are not exploring, feeding, or what not? All I see are countless acts of vore, and plots that involve constant action or interaction with other characters. Is there a bowling alley, some music, clubs, bars? Seriously, Felarya can't all be business.

I've got plenty more, but little time. I'll type up some of my ideas that I've been working on and post them in a new thread in the Ideas board. Just chew on this for now and please try, for the sake of Felarya, to do something.

The only thing I can really turn around here is the "More cities" argument, and that's just because Felarya is a dangerous place, but otherwise I can't really argue with you. It takes me some average amount of time to think of an idea, but the thing that beats my ideas to the ground with a baseball bat covered in rusty nails is the fact that I am terrible with names. If someone ever asks me for a name, I just freeze up.

So basically, I have lots of ideas, just no names for them. >_<

Bringing in more on currently existing species / classics is a nifty idea. Similarly, I'm wondering why [beyond a select few] most things seem to be coming from a "Earth, with more water" or "Earth, with less light" planet and not something a bit more advanced / changed.

The culture thing is a real thing I feel should be worked on. Were there any great riots or fires inside Negav? What were some of the many marvels the citizens of Ur-Sagol had before the collapse? What is depicted inside the Temple, and to which God does it seem most likely to be dedicated at? Heck, what do Predator 'Villages' look like?

An underworld does sound nice, and would make a good deal of sense. Smugglers bringing in objects that are considered 'taboo' by certain cults or business persons, a network of informants for all sides would be plausible (Right now, it's only the Sinerians that seem to be part of such), replicas and false artifacts, etc.

Human society needs improvement, but so do societies in general. How might one 'breed' of Nekos react to another? Do the human-sized Elves have any alliances with other nations, or any specific good they can export better than other nations?

Predator cooperation seems to be more an issue of the spread of Predators and their feeding habits. While a pair or trio of Predators working together would work fine and be plausible in more explored areas, a large group concentrating in one area would likely need to either be around a huge source of food [A town smaller then Negav but larger then most normal villages], or a shift on their lifestyles and diet that would most probably discourage frequent humanoid hunting anyways.

Personally, I'd like to see more instances of things like Spine Beetles, Kensha Beasts, etc attacking caravans and the liking. Not because I like the end result, but more because it enforces that it isn't just the 'big' things you need to worry about.

Also, as stated at the top, persons arriving from planets that aren't mimic Earths. Better yet, some things that perhaps don't even look human arriving from such and settling down. Even something like Illithids would be preferable over another 'Humans with pointy ears and longer limbs' race.

Also, I think we need a break from half-human/half-something. How about new races that aren't hybrids for a change?

Sean Okotami wrote:

Also, I think we need a break from half-human/half-something. How about new races that aren't hybrids for a change?

Agreed. I want to see some things that share no lineage with humanity. E'er heard of a Tri-Keen?

Malahite wrote:

Sean Okotami wrote:

Also, I think we need a break from half-human/half-something. How about new races that aren't hybrids for a change?

Agreed. I want to see some things that share no lineage with humanity. E'er heard of a Tri-Keen?

I spy, with my little eye, someone who has visited Athas?

I agree with many points people say here but I notice one thing in general many stories gravitate a lot around a character (predator or prey) .

At the begining the story focuse on the character there is some vore it's normal but there is one thing I regret the story turn too much about the characters or the race the writers wants to developp.

There is few stories which focuse one the world of Felarya itself, how vast it can be or how it changes and evolve without to be influenced by the characters.

gwadahunter2222 wrote:

I agree with many points people say here but I notice one thing in general many stories gravitate a lot around a character (predator or prey) .

At the begining the story focuse on the character there is some vore it's normal but there is one thing I regret the story turn too much about the characters or the race the writers wants to developp.

There is few stories which focuse one the world of Felarya itself, how vast it can be or how it changes and evolve without to be influenced by the characters.

Well, most stories has a central protagonist, so that's pretty much unavoidable.

I may be misreading it, but I think he meant something along the lines of a character who doesn't make a big impact on the world. An adventurer who doesn't have his name writ in the annals of history, a Predator that doesn't become known and the friend of a large band of Predators, etc.

EDIT: And sorry, only familiar with them from the 2nd Ed. Monstrous Manual.

Oh that. Yeah, it's a bit of an issue.

Malahite wrote:

I may be misreading it, but I think he meant something along the lines of a character who doesn't make a big impact on the world. An adventurer who doesn't have his name writ in the annals of history, a Predator that doesn't become known and the friend of a large band of Predators, etc.

EDIT: And sorry, only familiar with them from the 2nd Ed. Monstrous Manual.

It's that I want to mean

Also, some creatures we're basing on can be slightly altered in Felarya. Basically to indicate a sort of evolution or adaptation.

Sean Okotami wrote:

Also, some creatures we're basing on can be slightly altered in Felarya. Basically to indicate a sort of evolution or adaptation.

No no I mean shows the world how it is. Make in the story people feel how the world is living.

I was talking about something else gwada.

ok sorry

A story that isn't driven by characters is known by most writers as a BAD story.

Even one that centers around the theme of world development and the like should be driven by individual characters. Without characters, the status and development of that world can't be conveyed.

Just throwing that out there.

Sean Okotami wrote:

But come on, that's not the only thing about it. If is was, every single Felarya stories would be carbon copies of each other. I mean, it's a fantasy world whose main distinguinshing feature is that most sentient preds vore people, not the opposite.

[Cypress] I beg to Differ!

[Me] this is a valid point though. there is a surprising void of culture forming... and i blame myself for some of it. I haven't continued the Juggle bowl in a while, and that was one of the few differing pred view stories I know of>.> and my attempts of writing about Ur-Sagol have fallen short.... perhaps i should try and get back on the horse a bit ^^;

oh and on character driven stories... GREGOLE is right. besides the cluless protaginist is needed to act as a surrogate for the reader, so when they learn about the culture and society of the world, so does the reader. problem is writers aren't filling any one in DX

I don't deny the characters drive the story.

But why all the stories took in the same place, and why there is a necessity they meet the known characters. by example why they don't have characters who don't know each other. Why they don't have a story about a fairy who lives in the fairy kingdom who knows some members of the Temi's pack but not all the members or Crisis and Anna.

Why in a story the known characters don't have their own life without including the others. By example a story involving Léa and Subeta are the main characters and the other characters like Crisis and Temi don't appear.

What I want to say by a living world it's showing many characters who are not necessary friends or ennemies who lives their life.

I know there are some stories, like Rin's adventure or the Jungle of Bowl etc...

But there are some even if there is different characters but their personnality are the same or similar to existing characters

I'm doing my best to flesh out some existing creatures that I don't see used often, though I'm trying to steer away from making well known and named characters to a minimum. (the only one seen in the whole story has been Drayla, and not for very long, in her case.)

I'm also trying to vary themes on the existing races. Thyne's pack of organized Fairies have been pretty well explored, the non-swamp-based Gerridi will be more and more in the story in the next few chapters, as well as the fairy-allied Dridders.

Also, hope you don't mind, but there will be a few smart nekos too (not the whole town of em, just a few).

Feign wrote:

Also, hope you don't mind, but there will be a few smart nekos too (not the whole town of em, just a few).

Don't Mind? That's pretty much the point that I eternally vow to keep reading.
Just don't mess it up! I'm very neko-centered.

Malahite wrote:

EDIT: And sorry, only familiar with them from the 2nd Ed. Monstrous Manual.

Ah, my mistake. I forgot they even made it into the 2E MM, only really ever used them in Dark Sun games.

As for the topic... I guess I haven't been around long enough to see this stagnation people are talking about? I just finished (finally!) reading Cypress' Jungle Bowl stories, which motivated me to put down the freaking DS and get back to work on my own projects.

Edit: I wanted to post something in regards to characters, but I'm not feeling all that coherent at the moment. Maybe later.

Quote :

Also, hope you don't mind, but there will be a few smart nekos too (not the whole town of em, just a few). Razz

.... Ok, now, at what point was anyone obligated to make nekos inherently stupid? I don't recall anyone ever implying that they were or needed to be stupid. So what's with this "Hope you don't mind" tomfoolery?

There's a difference between average and smart.

S-Guy wrote:

There's a difference between average and smart.

I think the point was that many stories tend to portray the prey as, well, dumb.