Walking in the door, trying not to show my apprehension...

[Sy23]

Well, greetings. So - where do I go from here?

Let's see - I'm an Australian of British birth, patriotic about my nation but not, I hope racist. Similarly I'm a heterosexual who seems to have acquired a lot of homosexual friends. I'm an eccentric, a curmudgeon, a cynic, an existentialist and have a very strange erotic fetish, which I do not necessarily seek to RP, though it's always an option. I accept just about any fetish/orientation in others, even if I don't share them, as long as they are between consenting adult humans. (In RP I extend this to fictitious hybrids such as nekos, kitsunes, etc)...

Creatively, I am a published writer, albeit only in a small way - six novels used in the Australian Education System, plus various poems, essays and stories published in collections and anthologies, plus a wide variety of works to be found on the web (if they are still there - the landscape of the net is volatile and nebulous at best). Other creative activities include computer art (at a very unambitious standard), poetry, film-making (even worse than my drawing) and, of course, RP.

Favourite artists: Vincent Van Gogh, Sandro Botticelli.

Religion/Philosophy? An Existentialist, with touches of Theosophy / eastern thought, fascinated by Taoism but probably not emotionally suited for the faith.

And - look, has anyone actually read this far? Talk to me in chat, or in OOC. RP with me. Condone my eccentricities, pretend to fall victim to my charm, demolish my pretensions. Flirt with me. Especially, flirt with me. Really, you'll come to know me far better that way.

Thank you for having me - may I bring something to this group.

[Lord Revan]

Welcome to FoG, SY23. You came to the right place if you are looking for a group of open-minded role-players. That is great that you are already published. That is a great accomplishment.

My name is Marc and I am one of the OOC Mods here, so if you need any help or have any questions feel free to contact myself or any of the other staff and we will be glad to assist you.

Enjoy your stay!

[Gadreille]

Shiny profile

Welcome to FOG! For the record, I did attempt to say hello to you in the chatbox. Alas, you disappeared.

[Sy23]

Marc, many thanks for the offer of help - you may regret it

Gadreille, sorry I vanished - a sudden electrical supply issue meant I had to restart. I'll lurk around for a few minutes if you are still on line.

And thank you both for the welcome...

[Lord Revan]

I doubt I will regret it. I do enjoy that part of my job.

So feel free to ask me anything.

[Sy23]

Thanks Marc, and nice to talk to you in chat

[Tartra]

Is Australia actually racist?

[Sy23]

Unfortunately, Tartra, some Australians can be, just like any country, but that isn't exactly what I meant.

I was trying to say that I love my country, but that it doesn't mean I wish to put down people of other nationalities or races that aren't Australian. I'm a patriot but I see virtue in other countries too, I guess...

[Tartra]

Odd thing to bring up at all, but sure. Good to hear.

[Sunwolf007]

Welcome to FoG! It's really cool that a published author is hanging around our little site. If you got any questions don't be afraid to ask and enjoy your stay.

[Sy23]

Thanks, Sunwolf007 - I will!

[Kalon Ordona II]

Welcome to the FOG, Sy!
Eccentricity is like infectious interestingness.
All the best people are totally bonkers. Or at least, so anyone involved with any form of Alice in Wonderland would have us believe. xD

Hope you enjoy yourself here!
As has been said, any questions at all feel free to ask!

Happy writing!

[Sy23]

Thanks, Kalon. Perhaps this is a safe haven for people like me...

[Silvan Arrow]

Welcome to FoG, Sy23! You're definitely in the right place for role-playing spanning all genres and excellent storytelling with fellow talented writers. That's so great that you're already published! Quite a few people here have novels and other pieces that they want to publish someday.

And yes, FoG is most definitely a safe haven. We have people from all walks of life with all sorts of writing preferences. As long as you stick to the rules of the site, you can role-play about anything you want. We have some downright crazy folks too (but in the best way possible!), so you won't find any judgment here!

Enjoy your stay! I'm Silvan, one of the global mods, so don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions!

[Sy23]

Thanks Silvan for such a great welcome - I have to make a point here, too, to Marc and yourself, about my being a published writer.

If Vincent Van Gogh had taken up, say, engraving, there's no guarantee he'd have set the world on fire. George Bernard Shaw wrote some of the greatest plays in the English language - but his poetry is some of the most insipid in literature. Lewis Carroll wrote two stupendously great comic novels about Alice, but his attempt at a serious fantasy novel - "Sylvie and Bruno" is more or less unreadable!

My point is that while some of the novelist's skills are transferable to RP, conventional prose and RP are two very different disciplines. I am extremely conscious of my limitations as a RPer, so I'll certainly be seeking advice and feedback once I get RPing here. I might end up driving you both mad by the time I've finished

[Silvan Arrow]

You make a great point, Sy23, and I can understand to an extent. I did a lot of creative writing just as a hobby before starting to RP, and, while some of my writing skills easily transferred, it was still a major change of mindset. I think the biggest shift for me was learning how to feed off of the other writers in the RP and respond to their characters' actions in my posts.

But still, don't beat yourself down too much. You have a lot of writing experience, and that can only help you when you start RPing. By all means, ask as many questions as you like, and we shall endeavor to answer them to the best of our ability (while not trampling over each other in our race to deliver the paragraphs-long exposition )!

[Sy23]

Having just read about your first offshore research cruise on the Palmetto, I think it's pretty obvious you've got conventional prose pretty well nailed down, too! Makes we wish I did fantasy so I could RP with you

[Silvan Arrow]

Oh wow, you're reading my blog?! Thank you! I've been trying to get it off the ground and get some public outreach going. I'm also glad a published author has now given my prose the thumbs up

Too bad you don't role-play fantasy. While I can certainly do other genres, that's definitely my best one.

[Sy23]

Are you up for a challenge, Ms Arrow? Convince me of the virtues of fantasy, drag me out of my post 1800 comfort-zone, lure me to your bower of elven (intellectual) bliss and banish my prejudices in a flash of fairy-dust.

Er, I write better than this in RP - honest!!!

[Silvan Arrow]

Hmmmmm...your proposition is most appealing. When I say I write fantasy, that does not necessarily mean high fantasy involving elves, dwarves, dragons, and the like. I just like writing in completely made-up worlds and exploring something out of the ordinary and mundane. As it turns out, I have a couple of "pet" ideas for novel series that are essentially fantasy but based on the modern world. I have had some writer's block for my novels, though, and have considered doing a small role-play with one or two people just to explore some of the elements of the story.

[Kalon Ordona II]

High fantasy ftw!!

If that doesn't convince you of the virtues of fantasy, ---nothing will--- ---we can't be friends--- ---I'd be willing to bet you've never even seen a dragon in real life--- well, we'll just have to cure you of that. ^_^

Fantasy is like one giant metaphor for life. No other genre combines escapism, creativity, allegory and the realm of unseen reality quite like fantasy. And, while I include a lot of sci-fi in the 'fantasy' term, you've specifically asked after high fantasy, so here goes.

Elves and Dragons are awesome!!

or

There's just something about the pre-industrial era and exaggerated nature-ness and magic of High Fantasy that lies closer to the heart of storytelling. A gun could never be as symbolic as a sword, for example. High Fantasy helps fill our need to reconnect with the natural world and the unseen truths we all know. It tells us we need strength, order, selflessness and understanding, and that the darkness threatening the world or the darkness within ourselves must be overcome if we are to reach a happy ending, where everything is resolved and in balance, and where the heroic protagonist--symbolically, ourselves--can carry the torch for the next generation.

Also, there are castles sometimes.

*tosses fairy-dust* xD

[Sy23]

A gun could never be as symbolic as a sword, for example

Kalon, my friend, obviously you haven't read Michael Moorcock's "Jerry Cornelius" books. In which a gun is a sword - well, kind of, in a sort of a way...

I'm also struck by the way a sword seems to have more romance about it than other weapons of the time. You rarely read of a lance or a morningstar having a name - it would somehow seem ridiculous!
Imagine if the sword in LOTR had been the club that was broken - somehow doesn't seem to have the same, er, ring about it!

And sweet Silvan, do please, please tell me about this imaginary world of yours. You might know the invention of imaginary worlds is a hobby of mine - If RPing it helps break your writer's block, what can any gentleman do but at least consider frolicking in such a place with you?

[Silvan Arrow]

Kalon, I too love role-playing high fantasy. I mean, just look at Battle of Celebrant! Most of the fantasy books I read have dragons involved in some way...because dragons are totally awesome...

Sy23, how can I resist such a generous request? But I must clarify first that I personally have not fully invented any imaginary worlds yet. My two novel ideas, either of which I might consider role-playing, are actually set in the modern world, though one includes a couple of minor tweaks and is based in mythology for convenience's sake. As for imaginary worlds...well, I started getting an idea for one last year, but alas, it is but a tiny bud that has yet to fully blossom into a complete world with a potential RP plot. If you like, I can always type up a brief summary of these three ideas and see if you might be interested in exploring one of them with me once my life settles down after midterms.

[Sy23]

Silvan, I'd love to see them.

My own imaginary world - which I used to spend a lot of "literary time" in before I obtained the commission for my professional work - was based on my own philosophy of the creation of such "alternate worlds". Essentially, my technique is to juxtapose elements of two different eras.

In the case of my fantasy country - which was called "Edenglassie" - I mixed the modern era of the time (roughly the end of the 20th century, when I was writing them) and the 1930s. Thus, my world had wide-screen TVs in mahogany cases, cars with fender-spats and on-board computers, women wore beaded gowns and hats, with jeweled mobile phones hanging from their belts, etc. Airships (with computer-regulated engines) and monoplanes crisscrossed the sky, steam engines in bright livery pulled Pullman cars complete with on-board gaming consuls, and the social mores and snobbery of the 1930s was accented by constant gossip on the internet and cellphones! It's great fun to mix two ideas in this way...

So, I long to hear of your own ideas here!

Kalon, you make a most intriguing and valid point about there being different types of fantasy worlds. I think few would dispute that "high fantasy" is what people normally think of when discussing the genre. But these worlds are, like the elves that first answered the call of the Valar, situated in the center of the land we call "fantasy" - there are outlying suburbs too, less trendy or snobbish neighborhoods, perhaps, but still part of the land.

Places such as Mervyn Peake's "Gormenghast", which is a totally imaginary world with plenty of ritual, but no magic. Or Thomas Hardy's "Wessex", a totally imaginary land, but so much like our own as to be almost identical. Or stories set in the modern world, but where a ghost makes a visitation (Dicken's "Christmas Carol" is a good example) - or "soft core" Sci-Fi, with its faster-than-light drives and cyborgs.

There could also be a case for including romantic fiction, of the "Mills and Boone" type, where the girl always gets the guy (and vice versa), or even pornography where, unlike our own world, every casual encounter leads to a sexual liaison and no-one ever gets erectile dysfunction or a headache! Or adventure stories where good always trashes evil, and "good' people are 100% good, and baddies totally, irredeemably bad!

In fact, if the center of "The land of fantasy" with its dragons, elves and wizards wished, it could possibly lay claim to three quarters of literature... I guess it's a matter of where the individual draws the line.

[Silvan Arrow]

Very well, I shall reveal my carefully concealed worlds and ideas to you. In the interest of keeping them from too many prying eyes (I trust FoG people, but you never know who might be lurking around waiting to pirate other people's book ideas), I'll write them up in a PM sometime today. Who knows, I may end up trying to publish these ideas at some point in the future, but it just depends on where life takes me.

[Silvan Arrow]

Please excuse my double-post, but you should check your inbox. I decided to procrastinate on studying yet again

[Sy23]

My suggestion is that you leave off the procrastination until tomorrow

by now, you've probably read my pm - your second pm (I will not mention the subject in open durbar!) contains even more fascinating ideas, and I think you can guess what I will dream of tonight.

Note: To avoid embarrassment to Silvan, may I point out to anyone else reading this thread that our pm discussion was of a literary and not an erotic nature! It was merely my intellect that she drove to the point of ecstasy!

[Kalon Ordona II]

Huzzah for intro threads going viral! xD
That's a pretty cool setting you had. Reminds me of the retro-futuristic combo in the movie Treasure Planet.

"Fantasy" can indeed mean several things. I note a particular line, for example, between what one might arbitrarily call metaphorical fantasy and tantalizing fantasy. The latter are centered around egotistical gratification, or the fanciful realization of base desires, while the former holds up a looking-glass to life. Yet we tend to use the term 'fantasy,' perhaps erroneously, for both.

I also note aside that the gun has to become a sword to carry symbolic weight. xD And it is indeed amazing that there's not that overwhelming drive to name weapons besides swords. There's just something about a sword. Just as there's something about a castle, or a mountain, or a dragon, or a knight, or elves, or the worldmaps that so draw us in when we open the cover of the book. ^_^ We feel it in our bones, but most of us can't quite put it into words. Fantasy tries to tell us, in thousands of words if the author can't sum it all up in a sentence, what all of it is about.

I'd even count Star Wars in the "proper" fantasy category. It shows us on a symbolic scale who we are, who we ought to be, and what it takes to overcome the darkness Out There and within ourselves. Destroy the evil dark lords (or turn them good) and don't give in to the daahk saiyd. Interesting that they have laser swords, too.

[Sunwolf007]

I am just going to comment on the Star Wars classification. I have always thought of it as a fantasy/sci fi movie. It has major elements of both so it must be both. Anyway that's my 2 cents. As for world creation most of my RPs are fantasy since I have a habit of making new worlds. Silvan can vouch for me at lest on the last one.

[Sy23]

I certainly count the "Star Wars" series as fantasy. There is, after all, very little science in it. No attempt is made to explain the technology used, and the precise temporal setting is not even given. Ir could be any time, way way in our future, or the same time in our past.

And I think that's deliberate. It is, after all, a myth - full of archetypes, like the hero hidden away in obscurity until his time is right, the oedipal conflict between father and son, the warrior of light corrupted by the dark side, the wise old man who trains him, the outcast anti-hero... the saga echoes just about every myth and Jungian archetype known to our world, from the epic of Gilgamesh to the American West.

And I really think it's no accident that a light-saber looks (and is used) just like a sword!

Read a certain Mr Joseph Campbell for a far more lucid and erudite analysis of this phenomenon than I could give.

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