Felarya fundamentals

Like said earlier in another thread, I am planning to create a page in the wiki recapitulating the essential aspects of Felarya.
Those things that, no matter what is the tone you use, those can never been really changed - Not in any canonical way anyway - for clarification sake and also to be more accessible for people who are new to Felarya ^^

For example the soil of Felarya revitalizing creatures in contact with it. This one is a stable feature.
So Im' curious what you think are those things ?

Also do you think such page be should be neutral in tone like the rest of the wiki or break the fourth wall ? Speaking directly to the reader about what Felarya is and so ?

If you were to ask me, I think this page should approached as if you were describing a core setting for a role-playing game's player book.  What are the absolute must-know for someone wanting to get started in this setting?  That's what you need to ask yourself.  Tone and such should not be the question, that's really up to the author to approach his story however he sees fit.

I imagine this thread is going to be a cliff note version, so I would say the absolute essentials, so far, are:

The soil revitalizes creatures on contact (I'll ask for stuff about it later).

The world is incredibly dangerous and the fauna have adapted to prey on humans.  Among these are giant, sapient creatures, half-human and half-animal, who have the odd fascination of swallowing small preys whole and alive.  (This one should be more impartial, as a problem with the way it's currently worded is that humans are swarming around the jungle and they're the staple diet of the giants, who will ignore everything that isn't small and look like a human.)

The world is saturated with magic.  It's a mage or alchemist's paradise, or rather it would be if everything wasn't almost literally trying to kill you.

It is said that there are countless riches and treasures to be found, and that this, along with the soil and the saturation of magic, is what drove so many people to Felarya.  (This too should be somewhat reworded, as while it makes sense for the greediest and most foolhardy people to venture into Felarya not knowing of its true nature, it doesn't make mention of the people who settled in the place, who should know all about how dangerous it is, and thus would be much more cynical about venturing outside.)

Spells that involve reviving the dead in any fashion don't work.

The overall level of technology.  (That one especially needs to be put to bed, because how technologically advanced most places are have never been consistent)

Oh, and I guess the translation spell, even though the explanation for it is pretty weak and feel like a lazy handwave.  Some really super powerful dude just cast a comprehend languages spell that affected Felarya globally.  A literal case of A Wizard Did It.  I'm of the camp that it shouldn't really be explained.  It adds more to the mysticism of the setting in my opinion.



That's about it for essentials, but there are certain pervasive question that have yet to be answered, but would now be the perfect time to finally be put to rest.  Mainly, does Felarya have good resources other than magic?  Like it's rich in minerals or good quality wood, or anything that would entice people to come to the place and make rich by exploiting some incredibly rich resource.

The other thing, would you consider retconning what the soil does?  We've brought up many times about the implications of the soil making people eternally young in safe places like Negav, or how it makes people completely immune to diseases and illnesses seem a little too strong and closes many avenues for potentially good plots.


That's all I can really think of right now.

Karbo wrote:

Also do you think such page be should be neutral in tone like the rest of the wiki or break the fourth wall ? Speaking directly to the reader about what Felarya is and so ?

I prefer no 4D-wall breaking, because it sounds lazy, break immersion and make the wiki sounds like a game manual instead.

I think it would be better if stuffs on wiki is designed like a tome that contain knowledge extracted from the documents written native Felaryan's researchers. Idea contributors would look like native researchers who expand the tome of knowledge over years.

I believe it gives readers and contributors (to some extent) better immersion when they join Felarya.

Karbo wrote:

Also do you think such page be should be neutral in tone like the rest of the wiki or break the fourth wall ? Speaking directly to the reader about what Felarya is and so ?

Actually I'd like not the wiki to speak to us but a Professor Oak type character or characters possibly with some visual aid. I know it's be a little work but it doesn't have to be detailed. Think chibi stuff like "Felarya Strips" of old but with a more lore based educational thing going on.

jedi-explorer wrote:

Karbo wrote:

Also do you think such page be should be neutral in tone like the rest of the wiki or break the fourth wall ? Speaking directly to the reader about what Felarya is and so ?

Actually I'd like not the wiki to speak to us but a Professor Oak type character or characters possibly with some visual aid. I know it's be a little work but it doesn't have to be detailed. Think chibi stuff like "Felarya Strips" of old but with a more lore based educational thing going on.

This is a pretty effective tactic if we can go this route. The Blazblue series does essentially the exact same thing to explain its universe in "Teach Me Miss Litchi" segments, in which one of the game's characters explains the game's world to another one of the game's characters.

The downside is that it certainly would take more thought and effort to put together something cool in this fashion.

Two the two post above. It takes a lot of time for artist to do that to explain all lore, and the only reason animes or videogames (that are admittedly anime like) is because they have the artist and the visuals to do it. An actual team. I'd actually rather perfer you do them like the destiny grimoire cards and close to what shady and tkh doing. Give some remarks from characters that have dealt with the piece of land/equipment/monster predator and have them reffer what their say in it is sometimes then have a detailed short essay or paragraph of what it actually is.

And if and when you can, do a short comic to explain something pretty important. Such as chibi strips or comics, something that would need visual aid.

Yes, I completely agree that doing something to that extent is not feasible. The part of it I consider valuable is to have some kind of guided path through learning the material, not just jumping from A to X to D to M, etc.

It can still be as simple as a set of pages on the wiki; my recommendation in this regard would be to make sure there's a clear order so a reader knows what to go to next. I'd also recommend not putting too much on a single page for this.

So in this framework, it'd make sense to start with Felarya Fundamentals I: Felarya, covering the world in general. Then Felarya Fundamentals II could be cover a handful of important characters, Felarya Fundamentals III could cover a handful of important locations, and so on. Tackle things in the order from most important to least important.

While an in-universe lesson could be a fun framework for readers, it's obviously more difficult and not really necessary.

Also, I see Karbo's question is more asking for the specifics of what should be the most important fundamentals to include in the first communication to a new reader, so I've gone off the rails a bit, riding the second question off on a tangent. Regarding the first question, I can't provide a great answer, but what I will recommend is to imagine someone writes a story purely based on the information on this first exposure. What would that story be missing? And if it's something important, then add it into the page.

About the beaking of the fourth wall: I think it depends on what you want to achieve.


1.
Breaking the fourth wall allows you to be very clear and precise about things, it would serve mostly as a manual for writers and artists, how they make their work, well, Felaryan-looking. It allows for quick reading up on facts, and helps especially for those who come back to the page, looking to confirm or read up on specific details of the setting. It is also shorter, MAYBE increasing reader's motivation to even read it, because i have seen a lot of "experts" within the community who refrain from reading articles (such as the length i tend to write them at <.< ) that are too long. So to reach those guys as well, it would be useful to make it short and precise.
Didactic advantage:
Having the reader adressed instead of it being written in immersed tone will strike the reader as unnatural, and may trigger the readers sense of "serious mode", causing them to be more focused on the matter as they notice its important. This allows for easier understanding and it will be better memorized later on. It will be easier to use for those who are serious about creating new content for the setting.

2.
Staying immersed into the setting will improve the readers joy in reading it and may seem more fun overall. It may motivate those who just browse the wiki for interesting texts, though seeing how these are the basics of Felarya, EVERYONE should read them. A nice tone might motivate casual readers to re-read the page though, but it has the disadvantage of being less compact, so looking for a specific note or detail is hindered a little bit.
Didactic advantage:
the content might be more accessible and motivating, aiming towards casual readers. Seeing how Felarya is supposed to be fun, this might be the more suitable and convenient solution.



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Seeing how both methods aim at different types of people, I would recommend to make both versions and have them linked to each other.
One guide for contributors to the setting via Stories or other art, and one Guide for "Newcomers", be it real felaryans and interested readers alike. The latter was actually planned to be done by Scryangi, she called it the "Entrepeneurs Guide to Felarya" but i think it was dropped due to a lack of interest.

I am aware that two articles means twice the work amount, but seeing how this IS an important topic, and the troubles we had that lead up to this discussion in the first place, I feel like the amount of work to the writer/s is not THAT significant, especially since once you got the essentials down, the rest is just getting it into a nice form.

IF I had to choose only one of the two types of text suggested, I would recommend the serious, 4th wall breaking type, since it is more directed at those who plan to do something serious about Felarya in the first place (otherwise they might not even look at the wiki in the first place).

Also, I strongly recommend that once the article, in which form ever, is done, to have it posted on the DA group as well, maybe even as a permanent journal entry on the front page of the group.

I think it would be nice if the "survival" aspect of Felarya were highlighted over the idea of "humans vs. predators" or whatever nonsense drives people to write about characters who go around beating up giantesses to get them to stop eating people. I'm not sure how prevalent that kind of thinking/writing is, but I know it happens enough that I'm aware of it, and I'm usually pretty out of the loop. Lower-tiers' role in Felarya isn't to fight against the predators, it's to try to survive them (and contribute to vorish fanservice if/when they fail). Just my two cents.

Nyaha wrote:

I think it would be nice if the "survival" aspect of Felarya were highlighted over the idea of "humans vs. predators" or whatever nonsense drives people to write about characters who go around beating up giantesses to get them to stop eating people. I'm not sure how prevalent that kind of thinking/writing is, but I know it happens enough that I'm aware of it, and I'm usually pretty out of the loop. Lower-tiers' role in Felarya isn't to fight against the predators, it's to try to survive them (and contribute to vorish fanservice if/when they fail). Just my two cents.

XD That totally just made me think of Red VS Blue with a more twisted and humorous spin. XD

Hmmmm I sit on the fence on the issue of people making OCs to fight Preds all" Shonen Warrior" style BUT I also see groups like the Isolon Fist as made to facilitate this,  if not as aggressively or actively as some crazed monk-mages. The wiki even says that Isolon Fist are used as Gaurds for mining caravans to lend an edge against Harpies. Though the average person should lean towards action survivor rescues rather than badazz ones. But sometimes you just have more fun with "super heroes"  than ordinary ones

However it occurs to me I've seen a decline of Predslayers in novels, comics and art. :O Last one was Remus in SS when he killed Magnus' sister or took out the big bad of the story.

The thing with the Isolon Fist and what sets them apart from the bad monster hunter plots is that their objective is to defend certain places rather than actively seek out the beasts.  They don't really care if they get to fight against a giant or not when dispatched to protect miners or secure routes, though some probably do cause every fictional army has its share of glory hounds and battle freaks, but their objective doesn't necessarily require them to actively hunt down giants to be considered a success.  The reason for that is because the jungle and mountains are their turf.  They have an actual home field advantage actively seeking them out is usually going to result in suffering more casualties than if they instead come to a more reinforced area.  That said, I can see them be deployed to secure key locations if they get overrun by beasts or maybe a few giants, but those places would have to be vital and they would need to change their tactics.

Karbo wrote:

Also do you think such page be should be neutral in tone like the rest of the wiki or break the fourth wall ? Speaking directly to the reader about what Felarya is and so ?

Why not do both? A text that attempts to be neutral, but is addressed to the reader and written by someone in-world, like in so many stories? Like Jedi suggested with Prof. Oak. I'd volunteer Locust, what with him making signs for people in Felarya... but better than a sign, I'd rather have a picture of Vivian looking at the reader with doe eyes and quotes in italics before explaining the basics. (At the end of Vivian x reader, she gets peckish so she has to cut short your introduction. Mennysan can do Basics II, lol. Alternatively, she can give Reader to Crisis, who wants to feed Reader to Anna. Anna probably has a different sense of what is important...)
Then you can make a 4th wall breaking post, like Amaroq suggested, separately, in the same fashion as the "Swallowed Whole and Alive" page in the wiki.

EDIT: it would depend on how do you want it to link into the rest of the wiki. The main page already has an overview of the essential aspects, if you need a neutral-tone reminder, it'd have to be linked at the bottom of the overview. If you want an insider's perspective, you'd need a reason to place a link to that perspective somewhere in the first place.

P.S: Back in Planewalker, they used multiple characters' viewpoints, come to think of it... might work for you to explain there's more than one way of seeing things. Still, it's probably easier if you write it as a neutral document.

Shady_Knight wrote:

The thing with the Isolon Fist and what sets them apart from the bad monster hunter plots

If you wish to explain that predslayers aren't that common, maybe we can highlight that size is a commanding force in Felarya, and that evening the advantage is close to impossible. Or that monster huntering isn't a long-lived profession.

That said, we know civs across Felarya did their fair share of pred-hunting. Sagolians were a danger to everyone, the elves fought dridders and fairies, the dridders too, and now it's up to the Isolon Fist (and p'haps the Kensha Hussars or so) to do the awesome. You might want to highlight that they've never done it through superpowers, but through vigilance and manpower.



I think... there is another aspect, that may seem less important, but what about Felarya being a world 'tween worlds? It's central to half the vore plots, after all.

Also, I was wondering if making the vore less blatant in the introductory text would help make it look... smarter, I don't know. Using subtext in order to highlight the vore but leave it unspoken, with perhaps a link to Swallowed Whole and Alive somewhere it is very blatant might do the trick.

I'm not saying monster hunting doesn't happen, it's just that it can't be a lucrative business because of its incredibly high mortality rate, and veteran monster hunters have to be ridiculously rare since most die on their first few hunts, usually their very first. There's also the fact that the sapient giants have a significant home field advantage and are able to adapt their hunting tactics just as well as a human can.

How 'bout that. We never actually said how often monster hunting happens, come to think of it... maybe it would be a worthy subject?

Considering that the idea of Felarya is that man is no longer "God's creature", I imagine most monster hunters would be off-worlders like most treasure hunters, who heard rumors of big and terrifying monsters, and have come here thinking they can find fame and glory. Instead they find out that many of the monsters here, especially the sapient giants, are a cut above the average monsters you'd find in other fantasy settings. Most Negavians or native Felaryans probably think that the majority of monster hunters are foolhardy at best and are walking straight to their death for no reason.

That's great news. If I can recommend just one thing, I'd ask that it be readable cover to cover to effectively serve as a primer for the uninitiated. Or if not, that there's at least some part of it that serves that function.

Got to protect the future!

Lockheed X-17 wrote:

I salute you, sir. In fact, I am planning a Felaryan Handbook for Tourists and Adventurers.

Mod post: Please reduce your post signature. It's so long that it's causing a page break.

Edit: Thanks; perfect.

I'd also like to see Felarya's relationship with Earth addressed clearly and plainly. Thus far, I've held to the idea that Felarya and Earth hcan have nothing to do with each other, for one reason or another. I think that reason is that Earth is not a magic-rich world, but I'm not sure, and I have no idea where on the wiki I should look for a reference, and thus also cannot point anyone towards written proof if I tell them that their OC can't have been born and raised in Ohio because Earth doesn't connect to Felarya, unless they're okay with being that far separated from canon. I think this is something that should be made clear to those new to Felarya.

Nyaha wrote:

I'd also like to see Felarya's relationship with Earth addressed clearly and plainly. Thus far, I've held to the idea that Felarya and Earth hcan have nothing to do with each other, for one reason or another. I think that reason is that Earth is not a magic-rich world, but I'm not sure, and I have no idea where on the wiki I should look for a reference, and thus also cannot point anyone towards written proof if I tell them that their OC can't have been born and raised in Ohio because Earth doesn't connect to Felarya, unless they're okay with being that far separated from canon. I think this is something that should be made clear to those new to Felarya.

This and the tech level bug me. I personally have two OCs from Earth(s) , know a few of others, and there's also the big fact we are humans from Earth and thus we write like em. Well some of us more skilled RPers can mimic the personas of the races we love, but those also have ties back to Earth. Now you may mistake me for somebody who is all for Earth is in everything... You couldn't be more wring. Out of the 50+ RPs I do? One has a true "Earth" in it and I only co-own it and mostly I just design tech and defenses. I use alternate Earths: simular and they work for a variety of things.
1: Kate us from a very similar Earth to ours but that secretly has magic in trace amounts. Axel is from an Earth that has survived alien invasion and thus is far more technologically advanced. As you can imagine when they talk the differences in their cultures and histories! Wouldn't be possible without "Alternate Earths".

Well, I think you guys knocked it out of the ballpark! I really don't have anything to add. But perhaps a guidebook idea from the Adventures guild?

In general, I leave Earth out of the equation entirely when it comes to Felarya. For starters, I had a shitty story starring Earthlings as main characters, though the problem wasn't that they were Earthlings, it was the way I set up my story. However, the thing with Earth is that it's usually one big tell of a possible self-insert, especially if it's a present-day Earth. But for me, the big problem isn't so much Earth, it's that everyone who writes a story that isn't about one of the giants, it's about someone from a different world. There is practically no story about a Negavian or a Kortikian and its everyday life, it's always a fish out of water scenario. Like with everyone being a mage, it gets so one-sided that the usual effort to make the character special ends up making it generic instead.

Alright thank you for your imput ^^

Shady Knight wrote:

That's about it for essentials, but there are certain pervasive question that have yet to be answered, but would now be the perfect time to finally be put to rest.  Mainly, does Felarya have good resources other than magic?  Like it's rich in minerals or good quality wood, or anything that would entice people to come to the place and make rich by exploiting some incredibly rich resource.

Yes it's definitely rich in mineral and has some woods with unique properties.

Shady Knight wrote:

The other thing, would you consider retconning what the soil does?  We've brought up many times about the implications of the soil making people eternally young in safe places like Negav, or how it makes people completely immune to diseases and illnesses seem a little too strong and closes many avenues for potentially good plots.

Some retcon to the soil effects is something I'm considering. Not the immunity to diseases though but the eternal youth could be changed to something like the soil greatly reduces effects of aging for certain species ( not the elves for example ), but not completely. It's more open this way and having some more aged-looking characters in places can be interesting indeed.

As for using both tones for the article, alright we can do that ^^ A in character tone of someone explaining to the reader the basics, and then a sort of summarized, right to the point , 4th wall breaking version at the bottom for example.

Karbo wrote:

Some retcon to the soil effects is something I'm considering. Not the immunity to diseases though but the eternal youth could be changed to something like the soil greatly reduces effects of aging for certain species ( not the elves for example ), but not completely. It's more open this way and having some more aged-looking characters in places can be interesting indeed.

I'd rather we didn't, to be honest… I've written all my stories based on the idea that native Felaryans remain eternally young, and that anyone older-looking is automatically identifiable as an off-worlder. Or, in Ajab's case, that he's spent time off-world, since he's the only giant predator who doesn't look very young.

If Felaryans do eventually die of old age, it rather changes the dynamics of the whole place.