# Shared Worlds: A community World Building Project



## Browder (Jul 3, 2010)

The idea of a shared universe, or a shared world isn't a new one. Essentially a group of writers make, develop, or improvise a world and then write (usually) independent stories inside of it. Furry Fandom has had several, and though most of them are inactive a good number of them boast more than 50 stories and more than half a decade of effort.

I think this would be fun. My personal life has largely drowned out my impetus to write things and I think that a group project would be a good way to get back on the saddle. Plus it'd be good practice for writers to produce a story that they can be proud of in a setting they may or may not feel comfortable with initially.

What do you guys think? Good idea or bad? If you're all down, then how would we go about creating the universe in the first place? I've got a few ideas but I don't want to be laying down rules for a project that wouldn't be even mostly mine. Do you feel the same? Please, share your input.

EDIT
Here's the working draft for the _High Risks,High Rewards_ world by Browder. 

Here's the working draft for the _Tango ExtraÃ±o_ world by Sunandshadow (EDIT not really a world. A collection of ideas. I misinterpreted the intentions of the author. Still the name is cool and I'm keeping it.).

And here's Pliio's as of yet unnamed Sci-fi world draft.

In all cases, comments and critiques are appreciated.
Authors:
*Browder*
*Ticon*
*Altamont*
*Sunandshadow*
*Pliio8*


----------



## sunandshadow (Jul 3, 2010)

I like building worlds but I've only once had someone express interest in writing a story set in one of my worlds, so I have doubts whether anything I suggested would gather writers.

But here's a thought, maybe we should mention our favorite existing shared worlds, and describe what made them great/inspiring to write, roleplay in, and read.  Also what are your favorite fandoms to write and read fanfic for, and why?

Example:  One of my favorite shared worlds was The Palace of Keys.  The setting was a vast magical brothel where the slaves were referred to as keys, and ownership of each was symbolized by a physical key which opened the door of that slave's suite.  Challenges for keyfic writers often came as a themed set of keys - one was sign of the zodiac, one was gemstones, etc.  A second type of challenge I was not fond of, but others liked, was that writers could create a character to be a key or an owner, then post these characters for adoption by other writers (to use in their stories).  Some stories were co-written by two people roleplaying the key and owner.  A nice thing about this universe was that the brothel was supposed to exist pretty much every time and place, so the setting outside the brothel could be basically whatever the writer(s) wanted.  And perhaps my favorite aspect of the shared world is that it specified that all stories would be romance and/or erotica, a reader would not find a random story of another genre in the keyfic archive.


Or, do you think it would be more useful to skip the 'favorites' stage and go directly to everyone suggesting possible shared world themes and elements?


----------



## Browder (Jul 3, 2010)

Firstly, that's an incredibly cool sounding world.

I just think that we should skip to what we want to write about though. C:

I'm pretty much down for anything as long as it doesn't limit me to only one character at only one class level. The Key world has strict rules where you either have to write as an owner or a prostitute, and strict color coordination. I'm not really a fan. I like a world where you can describe the realities of a situation or a setting from the point of view of virtually anyone who lives in that setting. For example I would have liked to write as a customer maybe. Or a legislator who was trying to issue a crack down on the brothel. by the rules you posted that wouldn't be allowed.

Like I said, I'm down for anything, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Future, Present, Past, Earth, or Otherworld. I just want to be able to explore a full scope of characters. Oh, and obviously I feel like it should be anthropomorphic in nature.

I'll get you guys started; Suddenly on people are changing in to animals for no reason and animals are turning into people. The numbers appear to be balanced and there are only about Thirty-Thousand "swaps" per year. The stories would explore how both humans deal with being animals and animals deal with being human. Like? Don't like? Post yours!


----------



## Crusene (Jul 3, 2010)

Sounds like a fun idea to me; if I wasn't working on a couple of writing projects already I would be inclined to join. As it stands, I'll just throw out some brainstorms of my own.


 Browder: Sounds interesting, at least. You'd have news reporters at the scene, (maybe even have them change mid-reporting) government scientists poking and prodding at the changees, maybe some rioting... Could be fun.



 Here are my brainstorms.


 Scifi: Instead of traveling space via ships large gates left on worlds and space platforms allow for many different species of different tech levels to meet eachother.


 Blagggh. That's the first scifi thing that pops into my head, and it is nothing but a rip-off of stargate. Could be salvaged via ignoring that series completely and going through with our own plotlines. Wouldn't have to be humanity, lets just say that a Napoleonic-era civilization finds their gate and sends some musketfurs through, startling the bronze-age population chucking spears at eachother.


 Fantasy: Could have  a fantasy multi-verse  where an all-powerful god or pantheon of gods create many different worlds that worship them exclusively; these worlds worship the same gods but have different fantasy themes. One could be Tolkien-esque, with an epic struggle of good vs evil, another could be like a Song of Ice and Fire, another could be a pastiche of D&D, ETC. Priests of the gods and such could cross-over into different worlds and still connect with eachother via religion.




 Wait, I've had another brilliant idea (stop me if my ideas are just too clichÃ© or lame)


 had a dream once where I was a knight; went through a stonehenge-like portal after a battle and ended up fighting furries instead. As an elaboration, lets say a group of the nastiest and most bigoted crusaders in Europe, the Teutonics, went through a portal of their own and discovered one more pagan land to conquer, civilize, and bring Christianity to, that happens to be furrier than the last one. Theres only a few of them, no more than a hundred, as opposed to hundreds of immediate hostiles and an entire world against them.


----------



## Browder (Jul 3, 2010)

The first and last ideas are pretty cool. Sorry you can't be part of this (for now) nonexistent project.


----------



## sunandshadow (Jul 3, 2010)

Not really keen on a lot of people randomly turning into animals, but I did enjoy some harry potter fanfics where one of the characters got transfigured into an animal and stuck that way for several days until they were rescued.  Being the lone animal in a human world just strikes me as more interesting as being one of a group of ex-human animals.  It would also be interesting to find yourself in a non-human body and suddenly have to learn to live in an established society of these non-humans.

My pet idea that I would have turned into a group roleplay if I had more motivation, is this: A group of warriors (mercenaries or the remnants of a defeated army or a ninja clan, whatever) find themselves wealthy at the end of a war, but their population is too small.  So they decide to acquire a lot of spouses.  They might hire a matchmaker, or someone among the group could take the role of matchmaker, and the spouses might be bought from their parents, mail-order brides, or purchased slaves.  The individual stories would then be about one warrior and one outsider getting together, with possible interference or threats from rivals, the matchmaker, the families of both parties, and the warriors' old enemies.  There would be room for some variants like one of the warriors being incestuously in love with a relative and thus not wanting to be matched with an outsider, or two outsiders deciding they preferred each other, or a gay couple resorting to mpreg because the point of getting the spouses is to increase the clan.  The matchmaker character could of course have their own romance.

This idea would work in several settings, the only real requirement is that they be relatively peaceful and non-modern (either fantasy or sci-fi would work).  People who didn't want to write romance could use the same general setting as long as they didn't make horrific or violent events happen in the same specific location.


----------



## Browder (Jul 3, 2010)

The universe you suggest seems a tad, relationship-centric for my tastes. Still I'm willing to try.


----------



## sunandshadow (Jul 4, 2010)

Yeah, personally I don't see the point of stories that aren't at least partly about the development of a relationship (preferably a romance), but I'm aware there are a lot of writers and readers out there who aren't really interested in relationships as subject matter.  I could suggest different types of worlds, for example one with lots of superheros and supervillains running around and school rivalry between the hero school and the villain school, or a situation of first contact between humans and a race of anthro aliens, but to me those settings are interesting because of their potential for romance, not for action or adventure or some other genre.  That's just how I see things. *shrug*


----------



## reian (Jul 4, 2010)

This sounds interesting...

A neat world idea that http://www.furaffinity.com/user/darkr3x and I have come up with is something where there are Humans, Anthros, and a mix between the two called halfers.  I wrote my character Variel as the launch for the world and he adapted it a little bit for his two of his characters.  It allows for a large number of writing styles and character types as well as interesting interactions between all characters should that happen.  My version of the worl is a little more...cut throat than his version, but it has the same basis.  

It also helps that we live together and can actually talk these ideas out XD


----------



## Pliio8 (Jul 4, 2010)

I love Con-Worlding, its a hobby of mine to design planets and universes with technologies and Cultures. Should such a collaboration come about, what would you need help on?


----------



## Browder (Jul 4, 2010)

reian said:


> This sounds interesting...
> 
> A neat world idea that http://www.furaffinity.com/user/darkr3x and I have come up with is something where there are Humans, Anthros, and a mix between the two called halfers.  I wrote my character Variel as the launch for the world and he adapted it a little bit for his two of his characters.  It allows for a large number of writing styles and character types as well as interesting interactions between all characters should that happen.  My version of the worl is a little more...cut throat than his version, but it has the same basis.
> 
> It also helps that we live together and can actually talk these ideas out XD


 
The user link doesn't work but I'd love to see whatever you have. 

And we're just working on conceptualization for a setting right now. It can be anywhere, anytime, anyworld. Right now we're in the "through out ideas" stage, so whatever input you have will be welcome Pliio.


----------



## reian (Jul 4, 2010)

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/1930536/ <- There is the originial of the what started this world off

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/2893891/ <- That is the first of what Rex wrote for it...

I have written 5 pieces with Variel and Rex is currently writting a transformation/erotic story in the same world.  Once I get some time I'm going to actually write a whole thing for it...if that ever happens


----------



## sunandshadow (Jul 7, 2010)

I was thinking about what all the fandoms and shared worlds I like have in common, and I think one of the most important elements of a good shared world is that it has at least two distinctly different races/cultures who can look at each other as foreigners.  This can be a hero side vs. a villain side, or humans vs. aliens, or humans vs. a mythological race such as dragons or centaurs, or one type of anthro vs. an anthro based on different type of animal (flying vs. ground-bound, or predator vs. prey or some other archetypal enemies like dog vs. cat).


----------



## Asswings (Jul 7, 2010)

I might look (and act) like a derp most of the time, but I'm actually incredibly interested in writing stories, and especially community worlds. Reminds me of Tales of the Vulgar Unicorn and other Thieves' world books, which is a GOOD thing. I would be all for this. I may not write stuff for FA, but I do write, and this sounds like an amazing idea.

Have any of you guys thought about Steampunk? It's kind of a mash-up as is, and can be combined with even more genres (Think unexplored woods with more tribal groups, you could add groups that are exploring actual magic, maybe there's a slave-trade, ect) so it might be a good place to start, so there's variety for people to focus on.


----------



## Browder (Jul 7, 2010)

Steampunk sounds fine, but I'm not a fan of the "One group versus the other" idea. I like it when there's an interesting setting or situation that different characters approach in ways unique to them, thus showing what makes both the setting and themselves interesting.


----------



## Asswings (Jul 7, 2010)

Not so much fighting against each other, but more coexisting in a general area, if that's what you mean. But I'm pretty sure you mean not so much one person one group but just one group at all, which I do agree sounds more interesting, now that I think about it. You'd have to definately set up a very defined setting for that, I'd think. Maybe not even use a genre? But that might end up TOO clusterfuck-y.
I dunno. I'll definately keep an eye on this thread, though! I wanna be part of this. XD


----------



## Browder (Jul 7, 2010)

Ticon said:


> Not so much fighting against each other, but more coexisting in a general area, if that's what you mean. But I'm pretty sure you mean not so much one person one group but just one group at all, which I do agree sounds more interesting, now that I think about it. You'd have to definately set up a very defined setting for that, I'd think. Maybe not even use a genre? But that might end up TOO clusterfuck-y.
> I dunno. I'll definately keep an eye on this thread, though! I wanna be part of this. XD


 
I was mostly replying to Sun. I'll try to lay out a draft soon though. you guys can modify it if you want.


----------



## Asswings (Jul 7, 2010)

Oh, I guess that makes sense. XD
I'll check for the draft when I get back from DnD. 

EDIT: I'd also prefer to shy away from pure relationship worlds, the majority of what I would write would not include romance, so that would be seriously limiting to me, as I don't really feel like writing smut.


----------



## sunandshadow (Jul 7, 2010)

I didn't mean one group vs. the other in the sense of a war.  But I think many of the best stories have two characters who are physically and culturally alien to each other learning about each other and becoming friends or more.  Overcoming prejudice is another great theme.  One of the things I like least about modern settings is that there's no frontier, no first contact with 'the other'.

Steampunk isn't one of my favorite settings unless it's a more heavily magical, less gears-and-springs version of the setting.  I tried working on a steampunk setting once before but no two people involved in the project could agree on what steampunk was and what a steampunk world should be like.


----------



## Browder (Jul 7, 2010)

Draft:

The _High Risks, High Rewards_ World

In this version of Earth thereâ€™s a Spirit World, invisible and intangible to anyone with not in the know. Time doesnâ€™t run the same way, and things like physics are fluid. Like the material world above and around it, most of the inhabitants of the spirit world donâ€™t know that thereâ€™s anything else, except for the eldest whom humans have called Oreisha, Faeries, Yukai, or Gods. When on Earth they incarnate as animals.

One day, mostly for shits and giggles, a powerful human and a powerful spirit got together and decided to tear the divider that kept the two worlds apart. The barrier is resilient so the effect was only limited to Vegas, the humanâ€™s place of origin. Chaos quickly ensued and just as quickly ebbed away as the new laws of nature for the city kicked in. They did it badly.

Imitating the spirits, all humans within the city are now animal-people, the animalâ€™s taken seemingly out of random. While in poor taste, itâ€™s not uncommon for residents to eat one another based on species. Everyone can breed, but the offspring is usually never that of either of the parents. There are no hybrids or mythological species.

Furthermore Las Vegas doesnâ€™t exist in time like everything else does. Chunks of the future and past have settled around it making it rife with anachronisms. Time still moves forward with the rest of the present but people, things and technology have drifted and settled in the city from history and many possible futures. However screwy this is, things have settled down. People in Las Vegas cannot and do not time travel.

Las Vegas has no corresponding Spirit world overlaying it. It is itâ€™s own corresponding spirit world. As a result opportunistic spirits now given corporal form (less than 100) occasionally like to have fun with the population. Since itâ€™s Las Vegas though, all magic has to be done through games of chance, shows, glitz and glammer. The magic may run wild by itself and often does. The post-humans cannot do it. The one sorceress who could has skipped town.

Regardless of how screwy this is, most of the inhabitants donâ€™t notice. Itâ€™s always been Reality although it makes little sense if examined with the rest of the world. Once someone leaves Vegas the effect ends. All news they get and receive makes sense from both parties although the subconscious has a moments pause when it goes WTF? Outside there are still humans. Inside Vegas Cats are eating Mice who cheat at cards. The new Reality although sloppy, wonâ€™t let anyone acknowledge this as out of the ordinary.

Inspired by this song, and this show (barely NSFW. Barely.).


----------



## Asswings (Jul 8, 2010)

I.... Really really like this idea. A LOT, haha. I actually can't think of a way to improve it, at the moment, but I'll think more on it.  ffff sign me uppp. XD


----------



## Browder (Jul 8, 2010)

Cool. I've added you as an author in the OP. I've also linked to the draft.


----------



## Asswings (Jul 8, 2010)

I didn't get to see what you linked yesterday... Ahaha, now you make me want to write one inspired by Some Kind of Nature.

So, for rules... Hrmmm. I guess one thing to set down is characters. I know there aren't any stories yet, but there will be at some point. XD
So should characters from other peoples' stories be untouchable, or only mentionable, or usable to a small extent, or what? Personally I like the idea of being able to have characters from other stories in your own as like... Side characters, just because it is a smallish location and it helps tie them together. What I do want to avoid though is people killing off main characters from other people's stories, or eating them, ect.


----------



## Browder (Jul 8, 2010)

Ticon said:


> I didn't get to see what you linked yesterday... Ahaha, now you make me want to write one inspired by Some Kind of Nature.
> 
> So, for rules... Hrmmm. I guess one thing to set down is characters. I know there aren't any stories yet, but there will be at some point. XD
> So should characters from other peoples' stories be untouchable, or only mentionable, or usable to a small extent, or what? Personally I like the idea of being able to have characters from other stories in your own as like... Side characters, just because it is a smallish location and it helps tie them together. What I do want to avoid though is people killing off main characters from other people's stories, or eating them, ect.


 
Sounds fair. Maybe you have to tell the author if you're planning to do anything major.


----------



## Altamont (Jul 11, 2010)

Hey guys! I hope it's not too late to join in on this shared worlds project; I've always been interested in participating in this sort of venture  So are we going with Browder's "High Risks, High Rewards" idea? It sounds really cool  If people are still shopping around ideas, though, I've been working on a concept called _Third Earth_ for awhile now, if you're interested in hearing of it.


----------



## Browder (Jul 11, 2010)

Altamont said:


> Hey guys! I hope it's not too late to join in on this shared worlds project; I've always been interested in participating in this sort of venture  So are we going with Browder's "High Risks, High Rewards" idea? It sounds really cool  If people are still shopping around ideas, though, I've been working on a concept called _Third Earth_ for awhile now, if you're interested in hearing of it.


 
I don't think we'll finish conceptualizing until we have at least five people willing to start. So far we have three including you. Please post your idea and don't forget to tell anyone you think might be interested!


----------



## Asswings (Jul 11, 2010)

I would like to hear your idea! 

Right now I'm just messing around with character sketches and things... Which leads to another question, is this expanded to artwork, comics, poems, songs (if the concepts bring lyricks to mind or whatever, IDK) or is it just gonna be traditional short stories?


----------



## Browder (Jul 11, 2010)

Ticon said:


> I would like to hear your idea!
> 
> Right now I'm just messing around with character sketches and things... Which leads to another question, is this expanded to artwork, comics, poems, songs (if the concepts bring lyricks to mind or whatever, IDK) or is it just gonna be traditional short stories?


 
My original thought was just traditional stories, but I honestly don't see why it shouldn't incorporate everything else.


----------



## Altamont (Jul 11, 2010)

Cool! I'm working on a summary of this universe for another forum as well, so give me a bit and I'll have it up


----------



## Browder (Jul 11, 2010)

Altamont said:


> Cool! I'm working on a summary of this universe for another forum as well, so give me a bit and I'll have it up


 
Other Forum? Where?

And how big is the summary?


----------



## Altamont (Jul 12, 2010)

The other forum is the Furry Writer's Guild Forum, and the summary isn't particularly long


----------



## sunandshadow (Jul 12, 2010)

Ticon said:


> I would like to hear your idea!
> 
> Right now I'm just messing around with character sketches and things... Which leads to another question, is this expanded to artwork, comics, poems, songs (if the concepts bring lyricks to mind or whatever, IDK) or is it just gonna be traditional short stories?


 Typically shared-world projects allow any media people want to use, I always enjoy the illustrations and comics, and poems or songs would be fun too.  I've even seen fanimations - an animation is created using some kind of 3D software, such as a sims game or the wow mechanima website or maybe poser, then people in the community supply voice-acting for the dialogue.


----------



## sunandshadow (Jul 12, 2010)

I'm really hoping the setting eventually chosen will be something which bears no relation to modern earth, cause I just don't like modern settings.  So I'll toss out some more brief ideas:




Playing with gender:
- A hermaphrodite species, every individual is capable of both siring and bearing children.  Optionally there are two subspecies - one cannot carry their own eggs to term and needs to implant them in a person of the other subspecies.

- A genderless race of shapeshifters.  These beings' natural form is something like a giant amoeba or 'slime'.  Since they have no reproductive organs, they can't have gender, although they are capable of mixing some protoplasm from two or more of them to make offspring.  But they are capable of altering the outer layer of their body down to the molecular level - they can use this to look like a human or anthro, can produce small objects like sheets of paper and gemstones, can do minor healing by shapeshifting, and can function as a mecha, battlesuit, warhorse, or any number of things a human or anthro military finds tremendously valuable.  Thus humans or anthros will go to great lengths to obtain the partnership of one of these shapeshifters.  Yet, because the shapeshifters often take non-humanoid forms, they find that the humanoids tend to take them for granted and not regard the shifters as being people.

- A three gender race.  All three genders contribute genetically to the offspring (a detailed description can be found in any of the synopses in my furaffinity gallery).  People of any two genders can fall in love, but the 'ideal family' is a triad and their children.  This set-up gives an interesting twist to jealousy issues as well as inheritance issues.




Social context ideas:
- Some sort of special school, ideally a school for people age 18 and up instead of a younger age group.  This could be a military academy, a magical university, a university for space pilots, technicians, and diplomats, a finishing school for young nobility which also 'matchmakes' them with partners or servants, a training facility for ninjas or secret service agents or pet monster trainers, or a school for superheros or supervillains.

- A mercenary troop, it would travel where its services were needed, and would take jobs doing construction, migrant labor, bodyguarding, being the staff for a noblewoman's party, and retrieval of items or people, as well as military campaigns.  This is like the equivalent of medieval Star Trek with no ship.  Or they could have a ship, a magical airship maybe like the one in Last Exile.  But basically there would be a captain and officers who would be more or less public property and any writer could use the whole troop for their story provided they didn't kill off any important characters.

- The Court, this would exist at the capital of some country and would basically have a lot of noblemen playing politics with each other, as well as holding big parties like masquerade balls and tournaments.  A location like this would also naturally have a big black market and could support an underworld of thieves and assassins.  Other possibilities are a slave market, a regular market district or fairgrounds for periodic markets, a gladiatorial arena, a huge library, there might be a seaport with ships and warehouses, and the capital or a nearby suburb would also be a natural location for either an academy or the headquarters of a non-migrant mercenary troop.


----------



## Pliio8 (Jul 12, 2010)

Anything I can do to contribute? I'm a bathtub of ideas when I get my mind on the right track


----------



## Asswings (Jul 12, 2010)

I don't really want to mess with genders or species that revolve around relationships. It's very limiting, and not something that appeals to me. Movin' a little too much over the 'fetish' line, imo. Plus think of how boring the stories would be... There are only so many themes you could branch into.

As for time periods, if we go with the anachronism route, maybe there are a few 'districts' where rifts are that have gathered more things than the rest of the area? Just an idea to toss out.

And sure Philo, you can brainstorm too! There's no special club or anything.


----------



## sunandshadow (Jul 12, 2010)

Ticon said:


> I don't really want to mess with genders or species that revolve around relationships. It's very limiting, and not something that appeals to me. Movin' a little too much over the 'fetish' line, imo. Plus think of how boring the stories would be... There are only so many themes you could branch into.


 Well, I don't think it would be boring since that's the kind of thing I write and enjoy reading.  You could take basically any story you can do with normal people and do the same thing with a herm race or a 3-gender race, and the genderless race would presumably exist alongside a normally-gendered race.  I'd also argue that humans are a species that revolves around relationships.  But I do understand that non-standard genders aren't going to appeal to a wide group of people.  I'm just tossing out ideas that interest me in hopes that they will interest others also.


----------



## Altamont (Jul 12, 2010)

Well, my universe is definitely more Earth-oriented, but I'm certainly interested in something more Space-y or even old world fantasy.


----------



## Browder (Jul 12, 2010)

I'm not sure I like your world, Sun. The main thing that sets it apart from other worlds are the gender differences which aren't very relatable to an average reader and make almost all of our stories relationship exclusive. Also in this kind of world there are absolutely no other reasons to have anthros besides it being about aesthetics. Still I've put your draft in the OP and added you to the authors list. I'm calling it the _Tango ExtraÃ±o_ (Strange Tango) world because of its courtly air, and the subversion of the idea that it takes two to tango.

And feel free to start flinging ideas Pliio!


----------



## Pliio8 (Jul 12, 2010)

Most of the times I do well with Colonies in a Sci-fi setting, and its clear we can't go too far on one world alone, my idea is for a single colony, of which has no name, on a semi-arid world, the planets properties are as follows:

Name: Untitled for the time being
Size: Medi-Terra
Classification: (Using my own System) Gf
Axis tilt: 34 Degrees, Seasonal tilt
Day cycle: 34.2 Earth Hours
Year: .4 Earth years
Surface Water: 62%
Dangerous events:
Active Hurricanes

Colony:

Name: N/A
Population: 123,943
Government: Militaristic Republic
Current state: Disarray
Listed Problems:
Crime rate above 50%
Recession


Simply put: My thought is a splatterpunk inspired dystopia, where murder is a common occurrence on the streets, and those around have a "Someone else's problem" complex. Assaults and Murder's occur daily, and the law enforcement of the Colony is over-whelmed, leaving the government that owns the Colony to react with military force, putting the Colony into a state of further disarray as they close all schools, churches, stores and other facilities, which in the end, causes the crime rate to jump as they fight against the colonial government and against others for scarce resources. Leaving this open, the ultimate fate of the Colony is not really, in my mind for the moment.


----------



## sunandshadow (Jul 12, 2010)

Browder said:


> I'm not sure I like your world, Sun. The main thing that sets it apart from other worlds are the gender differences which aren't very relatable to an average reader and make almost all of our stories relationship exclusive. Also in this kind of world there are absolutely no other reasons to have anthros besides it being about aesthetics. Still I've put your draft in the OP and added you to the authors list. I'm calling it the _Tango ExtraÃ±o_ (Strange Tango) world because of its courtly air, and the subversion of the idea that it takes two to tango.


 *blink* Oh.  I didn't intend those ideas to add up to a world, I meant them as separate elements that could be combined with others' ideas to make a compromise world.  But, fun name. 

I typically use animalistic aliens or fantasy races instead of other possible types of anthros (e.g. genetically engineered ones or those produced by simply transforming the body of a modern human).  The thematic reason for anthros to be in my stories is to show how having different biology results in instincts and cultural practices different from human ones.  This can be done by also having humans in the story, or it can be done by having only anthros in the story and having the reader's mind supply the contrasting info about humans.

What do you see as good reasons for having anthros in a world?


----------



## Browder (Jul 12, 2010)

sunandshadow said:


> *blink* Oh.  I didn't intend those ideas to add up to a world, I meant them as separate elements that could be combined with others' ideas to make a compromise world.  But, fun name.
> 
> I typically use animalistic aliens or fantasy races instead of other possible types of anthros (e.g. genetically engineered ones or those produced by simply transforming the body of a modern human).  The thematic reason for anthros to be in my stories is to show how having different biology results in instincts and cultural practices different from human ones.  This can be done by also having humans in the story, or it can be done by having only anthros in the story and having the reader's mind supply the contrasting info about humans.
> 
> What do you see as good reasons for having anthros in a world?


 
Actually pretty much the same. I also like to do it as metaphors or to see how people can either live up to or refute their 'nature".

And Pliio's Sci fi world sounds swell to me. It could be fleshed out a bit more but it does have potential. I don't want to go the "endless galaxy route" though because it becomes too hard to impose some limits. Still added.

Also in general. I've been thinking. Maybe a good way to do this would be to propose a world each, then when we have a sizable number, (say seven people) decide on one. Then we tweak the hell out of it. What do all of you think?


----------



## Pliio8 (Jul 12, 2010)

Browder said:


> Actually pretty much the same. I also like to do it as metaphors or to see how people can either live up to or refute their 'nature".
> 
> And Pliio's Sci fi world sounds swell to me. It could be fleshed out a bit more but it does have potential. I don't want to go the "endless galaxy route" though because it becomes too hard to impose some limits. Still added.
> 
> Also in general. I've been thinking. Maybe a good way to do this would be to propose a world each, then when we have a sizable number, (say seven people) decide on one. Then we tweak the hell out of it. What do all of you think?


 
That sounds good, though it'd leave a bunch of proposed worlds abandoned.

The infinite Worlds thing is problematic, though you have to remember most worlds out there are inhabitable by our biology, so there'd be more stations than colonies.


----------



## Altamont (Jul 12, 2010)

I've got one: How about an alt-universe earth where human Europeans arrive in NA and SA to find that instead of different Native American tribes, there's different races of anthros?


----------



## Browder (Jul 12, 2010)

Altamont said:


> I've got one: How about an alt-universe earth where human Europeans arrive in NA and SA to find that instead of different Native American tribes, there's different races of anthros?


 
Sounds cool pretty cool to me, although it could smack of racism and  be full of The White Man's Burden. Flesh it out though, and I'll add it to the top.


----------



## Asswings (Jul 12, 2010)

That sounds pretty awesome Pliio! I think it would work out really nicely, but probably if people only wrote about the one colony, instead of spacetravel to other parts. Maybe it was a refugee area with different species from various planets who really don't have the money or ability to leave anymore? 

Altamont, that sounds neat, but I think too specific to true history. There's still a lot of hurt over the real events, and it could be bad news if anyone wanted to write from the settler's point of view. Maybe the same concept, but make it more... generic happenings, instead of saying North America and South America, and Europeans?


----------



## sunandshadow (Jul 12, 2010)

Ticon said:


> make it more... generic happenings, instead of saying North America and South America, and Europeans?


 A non-real world version also wouldn't be crippled by the extreme christianity a lot of the original europeans to arrive in the americas suffered from.  Put it in a fantasy world and we could leave religion out and add magic too.


----------



## Asswings (Jul 13, 2010)

I'd personally rather have a makebelieve religion than magic as it is normally used in fiction (wizards and stuff)
But I do understand it's not up to me alone, I just wanted to throw that out there.


----------



## reian (Jul 13, 2010)

I like Pliio...I would like to stake a claim on the title Emergency manager for that world XD

*goes back to her internship with DEM*


----------



## Browder (Jul 13, 2010)

reian said:


> I like Pliio...I would like to stake a claim on the title Emergency manager for that world XD
> 
> *goes back to her internship with DEM*



Ah no! Don't go! Seriously we're much more fun. If you have any ideas don't hesitate to post them, even if you don't want to be a part of the project. Yet.



Ticon said:


> I'd personally rather have a makebelieve religion than magic as it is normally used in fiction (wizards and stuff)
> But I do understand it's not up to me alone, I just wanted to throw that out there.


 


sunandshadow said:


> A non-real world version also wouldn't be crippled by the extreme christianity a lot of the original europeans to arrive in the americas suffered from.  Put it in a fantasy world and we could leave religion out and add magic too.


 
I've been doing some thinking about my preferences for stories and I've come to a conclusion about magic. I'd generally be much more comfortable if it didn't run on rules. Deciding on a magic system would be a pain and the ass and it's just baiting Chosen One stories. 

I'd much prefer more of a Wild Magic thing, or having a setting with magic that isn't accessible to any of of the characters. Less Harry Potter and more Hayao Miyazaki if you get what I'm saying. Assuming we have magic at all.


----------



## Pliio8 (Jul 13, 2010)

I've always been a fan of a more futuristic setting with Magic, like a Sci-Fi/Fantasy thing.

Wild Magic is also something I'm more comfortable with, its a hell of a lot more flexible and can be much more creative, for the people in the created world to devise their own system, rules and names. (Or rather us)


----------



## Browder (Jul 16, 2010)

I wanted to wait a little before doing anything but I suggest we start choosing our worlds now. Personally I feel comfortable doing either Pliio's or my own. What do you guys think?


----------



## Altamont (Jul 17, 2010)

I hate to be unhelpfu, but I'm totally fine with either one


----------



## Asswings (Jul 18, 2010)

Hrmmmm... Having to pick just one, I think I like the vegas one better. Just because it sounds more... Open I guess? In theme.


----------



## Pliio8 (Jul 18, 2010)

I'm fine with either one...

Could we combine them together? If its a space thing it leaves the boundaries limitless or near that in terms of growth, we could include both ideas in the same.


----------



## Altamont (Jul 18, 2010)

I like Plio's idea of combining the concept, because the space idea leaves ample room to develop the universe as we see fit  That's my vote


----------



## Browder (Jul 18, 2010)

I don't know about combining guys. I really don't know how that would work.

I want to see a more definite space concept to be honest.


----------



## Altamont (Jul 18, 2010)

Well then, let's do space. It seems like we're all in agreement about the benefits of potential and expansion. Are we gonna stick definitely with plio's concept, or are we going to develop something a bit new?


----------



## Pliio8 (Jul 18, 2010)

Altamont said:


> Well then, let's do space. It seems like we're all in agreement about the benefits of potential and expansion. Are we gonna stick definitely with plio's concept, or are we going to develop something a bit new?


 
There are multiple worlds, multiple places. Species, governments, cultures, dystopias, utopias. We could abandon the unnamed splatterpunk dystopia for something else.


----------



## Browder (Jul 18, 2010)

Pliio8 said:


> There are multiple worlds, multiple places. Species, governments, cultures, dystopias, utopias. We could abandon the unnamed splatterpunk dystopia for something else.


 
That's what I was afraid of to be honest. How do we reign this into a unifying concept?


----------



## Pliio8 (Jul 18, 2010)

Browder said:


> That's what I was afraid of to be honest. How do we reign this into a unifying concept?


 
I actually have no idea. We all work on one thing at a time, working it until its drained and then move on elsewhere, or have one unified concept of the universe to work off of, like an arc, then move on elsewhere, maybe returning to where we began.


----------



## FistofFenris (Jul 18, 2010)

OK, I followed and skimmed through this thread a little and it's starting to look like it's a little late for an idea I had...

But I had one over-reaching idea which I'll break into more appropriate sub ideas in a second: Instead of one world, have it be a mesh of realities somehow, or share reality in some ways, have people coming over from different dimensions such as one where Napoleon was successful or where Hitler became a painter and ordered the holocaust..., you know, just one big melting pot of dimensions and timelines.

Anyway, the sub ideas are:
-New people enter this world not knowing what's on the other side.
-Other realities start to become absorbed by this and it's starting to cause damage to the time-space continuum.
-Maybe there's something more going on here, like that this is the actual way universes are created or something.

Also, you guys were looking for a tying theme? What about anarchy? I know it's kind of the easy route, but what about this becoming partially an allegory about the nature of chaos and order; how from chaos, order could eventually spring? Or how order could delve into chaos by becoming too orderly to the point where you have to fill out sixty forms to use a public toilet, and then the paper work gets shuffled and never seen again meanwhile you've pissed yourself because you can't wait that long? (Excuse me, riffing a bit more than usual today.) 

Anyway, those are the ideas I have after reading through this.


----------



## Asswings (Jul 19, 2010)

If there are tons of realities and places, how is it really a shared world? I think what Bowder is worried about (and why I am iffy on space for sure) is that everyone will go off in different directions and we might as well just be writing on our own. For a group project like this to come together cleanly, it really has to be a small scale area (in comparison). Aka... One city, one medieval country, stuff like that. Something where if we're talking about buildings, we'd have to be talking about the same buildings, if there's a specific hangout, it's all the same specific hangout. Like a local newspaper but with more pizazz? Hopefully I'm making sense. It's a hard concept to explain.


----------



## Pliio8 (Jul 19, 2010)

We can easily keep it to one planet or colony or a series of colonies.


----------



## FistofFenris (Jul 19, 2010)

Ticon said:


> If there are tons of realities and places, how is it really a shared world? I think what Bowder is worried about (and why I am iffy on space for sure) is that everyone will go off in different directions and we might as well just be writing on our own. For a group project like this to come together cleanly, it really has to be a small scale area (in comparison). Aka... One city, one medieval country, stuff like that. Something where if we're talking about buildings, we'd have to be talking about the same buildings, if there's a specific hangout, it's all the same specific hangout. Like a local newspaper but with more pizazz? Hopefully I'm making sense. It's a hard concept to explain.


 Good point. Now might be a time for me to mention that I have not had much experience with "group projects" like this one. I guess maybe I'll keep watching and see if I'll be any use to you.


----------



## Altamont (Jul 19, 2010)

Pliio8 said:


> We can easily keep it to one planet or colony or a series of colonies.


 
We can, and honestly, I don't think expanding to multiple settings is necessarily a bad thing; one of the key concepts of a shared universe is the history of that universe i.e. reasons the anthros are the way they are, the politics and relations of the most prominent nations and ethnic groups, major conflicts throughout the world, things like that. I think we _should_ start off with a single location and a relatively simplistic back-story for that setting, but when we get more comfortable with the universe we're trying to create then we can easily expand upwards and onwards while including all of the authors involved in the project


----------



## Asswings (Jul 19, 2010)

Altamont said:


> We can, and honestly, I don't think expanding to multiple settings is necessarily a bad thing; one of the key concepts of a shared universe is the history of that universe i.e. reasons the anthros are the way they are, the politics and relations of the most prominent nations and ethnic groups, major conflicts throughout the world, things like that. I think we _should_ start off with a single location and a relatively simplistic back-story for that setting, but when we get more comfortable with the universe we're trying to create then we can easily expand upwards and onwards while including all of the authors involved in the project


 You're thinking too far ahead... We don't even have the original area yet haha. Let's just start little. To start off... A purpose. Why are there various anthro species here? Is it a Crossroads? A vacation spot? A game? An ark? Personally, I like the idea of a refugee area. 
If you don't mind me building off your idea, Piilo, I'd like to offer ideas?

Far on the outer regions of the known universe, there's a planet. It's bare, winds unbreathable, the dirt and heat turning the land into nothing but a sooty black dust. Not one of the various powers that be care to fight over the place, and perhaps that is why it is a sanctuary. No one knows who started it, but a dome was built, and a city beneath it. It became a safe haven for any race that needed it, and with a constant influx of hopeless nobodies, the city thrived. Until the storms began. No one had cared to study the planet, and so when a new cycle began it was a complete surprise. Outside the dome there is only black dust and buffeting poisonous winds, all communication is broken, and there are no new arrivals. Inside,the makeshift 'government' has gone berserk, attempting to rule with an iron fist. Many things are illegal for the general populace. Food is scarce and doled out almost mouthful by mouthful. Crime runs rampant. But the people are not entirely in despair, a great many of them brought ideas and skills of various forms of entertainment from their homes, and at times the city is almost alive with it. 

And that's uhhhh a sloppy idea of a theme/world. Maybe I'll clean it up, idk. Depends on if you guys like it.
In order for the stories to be a bit more unified, though, I would put it at.... Maybe two generations since the storms began, so while there are old people who remember before, there aren't many, and the majority was born there.  most things that don't belong to the 'government' are trashed but still work, anndddd there's no leaving or entering the dome.

So yeah I'll stop babbling now. Honestly though I'd farrrr rather go with Bowder's idea.


----------



## Browder (Jul 19, 2010)

I'm working on a space setting now. I can't bring myself to make aliens that look exactly like Earth animal's. Still I've got an idea. Will post later.


----------



## Asswings (Jul 19, 2010)

Awesome!


----------



## Nyedyr (Jul 21, 2010)

How goes the project? I'm excited to see what you guys come up with. Hope you guys don't abandon it.


----------



## Altamont (Jul 24, 2010)

I for one will not abandon it  If worse comes to worse I'd be totally up to expaning my own little fictional universe to allow more creators to participate in it


----------

