old ideas and dodging studying for a test.

Vote for your favorite story idea(s) (Read below first)

Poll ended at Thu Oct 13, 2005 10:56 am

Idea #1: The Symbions
5
8%
Idea #2: Angel's Feather
4
6%
Idea #3: One Way Ticket to Earth, Please
4
6%
Idea #4: The Navigators
2
3%
Idea #5: The Fox and the Hawk
25
40%
All of the ideas
17
27%
More than 1 idea (Comment Below)
4
6%
None of the above ideas
2
3%
 
Total votes: 63

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Fel
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old ideas and dodging studying for a test.

Post by Fel »

So, to continue to avoid studying for tomorrow's Calculus test, allow me to bounce a couple of old story ideas off you guys, just so you get an inkling of old stories that either died before they were done or were lost when my hard drive burned out several years ago.

---Idea #1---

Ok, back when I was writing Firestaff, like 15 years ago, I decided to kinda lift some of the characters from the series and plant them in a different setting, just piddling for fun kind of thing.

Tarrin didn't transplant literally, but his appearance did. The vast majority of the transplants were the Wikuni, who were used as a template for a part of the storyline. The story was called "The Symbions."

Theme: Modern Fantasy

The setting: Modern Day, basicly global.

Plot: Earth is invaded by an extra-dimensional culture that utilizes magic. Their use of magic makes modern weaponry useless, forcing the defending peoples of Earth to revert back to using swords, spears, etc. To combat the invaders, they capture enemy magicians, break them, and learn how to harness magic themselves.

One of the programs was the Symbions, where the dying or the severely handicapped were given the chance to gain new bodies...but there's a catch. Becoming a Symbion meant being magially merged with an animal...hence the "Wikuni appearance." Symbions are stronger, faster, and tougher than humans, most possess some form of magical power or ability, but the bonding process is unstable, and most Symbions go insane within 2 years.

The story revolves around a Symbion only known as Stalker, the oldest and most experienced Symbion (and also the character sharing Tarrin's physical model). He's almost a legend in the army both for his ability to survive almost impossible odds and his penchant for insubordination, and is rare among Symbions in that he has more than one magical power; he possesses the rare and powerful magical ability to teleport himself over short distances, and also has the power to heal himself by draining the life energy of others, a vampiric touch.

The plot follows his travels from the deserts of Syria where he takes part in a series of escalating battles against their enemies, known as the Raks, to the mountains of Switzerland, when he receives a mission: take a company of Symbions, invade the Rak citadel, and assassinate the Rak Emperor when he comes to visit the Earth dimension to assess the progress of the war.

---Idea #2---

Ever wondered what happened to the angels that fell from grace? Once, I wrote a short story about life, love, angels, demons, magic, high school, and just finding your place in life. It was called "Angel's Feather."

Theme: Modern Fantasy

Setting: Chicago, Illinois, America, Modern Time.

The plot follows Julie, a misunderstood young lady who everyone thinks is a bit "weird." Well, it turns out that she IS weird, because she has the gift to see magical auras, and can see those hiding behind magic as they really are.

She runs into Adam, a Fallen Angel who was cast from heaven by not taking up arms against the Archangel Lucifer and his followers when Lucifer rebelled. He did so out of love for an angel who rebelled, named Lilith, and did not want to risk hurting her. Instead of casting him into hell, God instead exiled him from heaven, and he spends eternity seeking some way to somehow rescue the angel he loves from her fate as a demon of hell.

Adam befriends Julie, and together they embark on a journey both to protect Julie from the both the forces of darkness and the forces of light, since her ability to see the truth of things is an exceptionally rare gift that would give them tremendous advantage, and to help Adam seek out a mythical object known only as Vander's Bell, which according to legend can purge the evil from any who hears its chime, and can only be seen by someone with the rare gift that Julie possesses. He seeks to find the bell and use it on Lilith, and during the course of their mission they begin to search for the reason why magic, once a strong and prevelant force on Earth, faded away into nothing more than myth and legend.

Julie has the gift of magic, but she's one of only a handful of people on Earth left with such a gift.

---Idea #3---

Dragon Star was an evolution of an earlier idea, one that I had much fun with, until the HD fried in my old puter and I lost the files. This story also involves a regular guy thrown into the intergalactic world, but was much more light-hearted...it was probably my only ever attempt at comedy, though it came off as much more satirical than funny. It was called "One Way Ticket to Earth, Please."

Theme: Science Fiction


Setting: Puyallup, Washington, America, Modern Time

Plot: Ever wonder if there's life out there? Well, Kevin McGee never really cared...until the day he found a crashed space ship in the lake out behind his house, which had been buried in the mud out there for over 30 years.

The story is about Kevin's attempts to puzzle out the ship, his attempts to hide it from the Feds, and then later, after the ship abducts him, about how he manages to come to understand an alien culture and bridge the species gap and make it in on an alien world. The aliens themselves show that they're quite perplexed about Kevin, mainly because he's an "illegal alien" and they have no legal way to return him home.

The story has a "fish out of water" angle as an Average Joe finds himself thrust into the realm of intergalactic politics, where the Kitani, the race that rescues him from the alien vessel, like him and they'd really like to do something for him, but see, that ship was the legal property of the Krvarian Empire and has already been returned, and Earth never filled out the FCR-49382-A Legal Alien Incursion Into A Non-Spacefaring Star System form in triplicate to permit a shuttle to return Kevin home...

Where Dragon Star will be much more serious, with the undertones of danger that Intergalactic poses to Sam, this story was much more light-hearted, more about a guy trying to open an account down at the Galactic Bank without ID and confront the mortal perils of a multi-species laundromat while he waits for the Powers That Be to wade through the red tape and finally send him home. The only danger Kevin really confronts is just what they put in those Meteor Sandwiches down at Krprkrtrn's Cafe.

The highly advanced aliens in Kevin's universe show both their alien natures and also very human emotions, that show that even the very different can find something in common...things like bureaucracy and political chicanery.

---Idea #4---

Always one to embrace the concept of comic books, I once wrote about 5 chapters of a story that ran along those lines. It was called "The Navigators." This story too was lost in the Great Hard Drive Failure of 1997.

Theme: Modern Fantasy

Setting: New Orleans, Lousiana, America, The Near Future.

Plot: the entire story is a first person flashback of Zachary Wilson, also known as the First Navigator. The Navigators are genetic mutations caused by a virus of alien origins, which caused .00001% of Earth's population to develop gravometric powers...at least the ones that survived.

The powers of the Navigators are gravometric in nature, including the ability to create wormholes in space to allow a craft small enough to enter the wormhole to travel to other planets.

The story is how these first Navigators came to understand their new powers, and then how they used those powers to open the vastness of space to the human race. It deals with their maturation as a special segment of the human race, the racial prejudice they face, and the personal side of suddenly becoming something so much different than what you once were.

---Idea #5---

So, if you've ever played AD&D, you know there comes a time when a character gets so obscenely powerful that it's time to retire him and start over.

So, what does a level 30-ish adventurer who's looking to hang up his sword do, exactly?

Well, if you're Fox the Wanderer, you marry the Halruuan magic-user you've secretly been in love with for the last 60 years, find a place, settle down...and destabilize the politics of an entire region. It was called "The Fox and the Hawk."

This one was set in the Forgotten Realms world, because Fox was one of my original AD&D characters, and that's where he spent most of his time. And if you're curious, Fox the Wanderer is a level 37 fighter. ;)

Theme: Fantasy.

Setting: The Forgotten Realms, the Sword Coast, post Time of Troubles.

Plot: The one thing that most people don't understand about a high-level adventurer is the tremendous amount of baggage he can be carrying around, both literal and figurative. Someone who's been around that long has both a very big reputation and a very long list of enemies who'd love to see him dead, and has had lots and lots of time to collect up all sorts of treasure, trinkets, goodies, and assorted knick-knacks.

After almost 200 years as an aimless wandering adventurer, getting into mischief and adventure from Kara-Tur to Waterdeep and from Icewind Dale to Halruaa, the legendary warrior Fox the Wanderer is calling it quits...which is what Amarra Lurenne, a Halruuan magic-user and Fox's on-again off-again lover for the last 60 years, has been waiting for for quite a while. Part and parcel of that retirement was the old promise of marriage when he finally hung up his sword, and the story literally begins at their wedding.

Now, like most adventurers of his elite level, Fox has a very, very long list of both friends and enemies. From the Sirens, the all-woman adventuring company he helped create some twenty years ago, to the Red Wizards of Thay, who hold him personally responsible for the destruction of one of their major plots to conquer Aglarond and kill the Simbul, there's not an important personage or kingdom that Fox hasn't affected either directly or indirectly in some manner. So, when a person like this decides that Dragonspear Castle, an ancient ruin south of Waterdeep, is where he'd like to settle down, well, the Lords of Waterdeep and the leaders of Baldur's Gate and the merchant kingdom of Amn sit up and take notice.

The story is as much about finding domestic bliss in the eye of a hurricane as it is about political intrigue and old grudges. The area Fox has claimed as his own is wild and lawless and it's an area he intends to tame, and that plan threatens to put a potential tax barrier on the lucrative southern overland trading routes...which is something the merchant barons do not like at all. Fox hangs up his sword, but finds himself wielding the weapons of diplomacy as he slowly yet steadily transforms from a free-wheeling, happy-go-lucky adventurer to a methodical and wise ruler, even as the land he claims slowly transforms from a lawless haven for bandits to a region of peace and safety...which is mostly the work of Amarra, as she quietly molds her husband and prepares him for the burdens and demands of rulership.

But those who oppose what he's doing and those who have a laundry list of old grudges just won't leave him alone, now that the legendary wanderer now has a permanent address.

It's a story about an old war dog learning to find a new place for himself after the wanderlust fades and he discovers that his towering reputation can be a double-edged sword. It's also a love story about old, comfortable, "broken-in shoes" love between two people old enough to not bother with games, but young enough to enjoy their romance.

There, some old ideas from the Vaults of Fel. So, what do you guys think?

edit: I R gud speller. Reely.
Just another guy from the shallow end of the gene pool.
J-Man5
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Re: old ideas and dodging studying for a test.

Post by J-Man5 »

#5!!!!! That sounds fun. Funny and exciting. All at the same time but not necessarily in that order.

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Re: old ideas and dodging studying for a test.

Post by Finn »

argh, #2 and #5 sound fantastic =) Definitely keep these in mind for future endeavours...
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lagomilo
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Re: old ideas and dodging studying for a test.

Post by lagomilo »

I prefer #4 and #5. Try them as shorts and see who likes them. Also get a thumb drive to backup your stories on. It will save you and your loyal readership lots and lots of pain thereby allowing us to read your woderful stories. Good luck with your choice.

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Re: old ideas and dodging studying for a test.

Post by Shadowhawk »

To admins: could you please add a pool to this thread which story ideas we do like most. It would be nice to have multiple choice pool, but I don't think that it is possible in phpBB.

My proposition for options:
  1. Idea #1: The Symbions
  2. Idea #2: Angel's Feather
  3. Idea #3: One Way Ticket to Earth, Please
  4. Idea #4: The Navigators
  5. Idea #5: The Fox and the Hawk
  6. All of the above
  7. Some of the above (more that 1)
  8. None of the above
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zedd
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Re: old ideas and dodging studying for a test.

Post by zedd »

my vote goes to Idea #1.
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Re: old ideas and dodging studying for a test.

Post by Lochar »

All of the BELOW?!?!?

*grin*

Oh, and my vote's for #5.
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Re: old ideas and dodging studying for a test.

Post by Spec8472 »

Lochar wrote:All of the BELOW?!?!?
Yeah, because the poll is at the top of the page, instead of below the original post (where it should be, imo).

My preference is for Option 3. It sounds similar to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hitchh ... xy">HHG</a> (ignore the movie, it was crap - the book was good though), but better :)

However all of them sound great.
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Re: old ideas and dodging studying for a test.

Post by Shadowhawk »

Spec8472 wrote:
Lochar wrote:All of the BELOW?!?!?
Yeah, because the poll is at the top of the page, instead of below the original post (where it should be, imo).
Perhaps it should be "All of the ideas", to avoid confusion. And "None of the above options".
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Re: old ideas and dodging studying for a test.

Post by Fawks »

I would really rather see subjugation completed first. :D
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Fel
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Re: old ideas and dodging studying for a test.

Post by Fel »

I intend to.

I was just showing people some old stories, and asking which you thought were good.
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Re: old ideas and dodging studying for a test.

Post by Saelamin »

2, 3, 4 are the ones that sound most interesting to me. I dont know what it is about the other 2 but they just dont seem to interest me and for the life of me i can't figure out why. oh well, if you do get around to writing these I'd be happy if not meh!
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Re: old ideas and dodging studying for a test.

Post by Journeywoman »

I like 3 and 5 would be my favorites. 3 because I can relate through experiences living overseas and 5 because I play AD&D.
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Re: old ideas and dodging studying for a test.

Post by Texfire »

They all possess that spark that makes a story interesting to read. You are going to be wasted as a physicist Fel. :)

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Re: old ideas and dodging studying for a test.

Post by canilash »

The one I prefer is #5. It is an interesting scenario.

Number a and 3 are old ideas. #1 could be interesting, if done properly. From your previous works, I think you can easily do it. I would not bother reading #3, as there is a large number of stories with a plot very similar to that one.

I like number 2, and prefer number 5. #5 is very interesting

number 4 reminds me of Dune, but without the atmosphere, and intrigue.
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