Summary of Chapter 17

[Beowuuf]

Yep, it's that time again folks! Time to summarise all your brilliant prose into a few pitiful sentences or paragraphs, just to realise how little you've actually said

Anyway, unlike other summaries that would then be at the start of the new chapter, these summaries will only be archived in the uber-summary thread for those wishing foolosihly to know what happened previously, but don't have the courtesy to read all 2000 pages.

If you also have ideas for the actual summary for Book 2, please feel free to post them here too, it shouldn't be too confusing (I don't think)

[Beowuuf]

Here's my idea for the 'Story So Far...' of book 2 (and so the main SSF thread too)

The Story So Far...

It is the year MS5106, and the fight against evil continues in Magnamund. The powers of good have grown strong, and yet the balance of Aon shifts equally to restore and create dark champions.

Old heroes pass to allow new - Guildmaster Banedon, Lord Rimoah, and Gynian the Sage had all died as age and the rigours of the fight against Naar took their toll. The Second Order of the Kai has grown powerful with several Supreme Masters, yet lost their founder, the hero Lone wolf. Lone Wolf did not die though - he left the Sommerswerd and Monastery in the care of his greatest pupils and departed for reasons he did not disclosed. Perhaps one day he will return if he succeeds in his secret journey, or perhaps when is needed most. Even now, the Sommerswerd again resides with Durenor to renew the vows of alliance once made.

Meanwhile, the Nad-Adez-Konkor appeared on Magnamund. These Kai Hunters - once Kai themselves, turned by dark ritual and tainted blood - have began a silent campaign of terror, always appearing when least expected and least wanted.

Old champions of Naar have tried to regain a foothold in Magnamund. Darklord Vashna, mighiest of the Darklords, finally managed to free himself from the bonds of the Maakengorge and returned to the destroyed Darklands to rebuild. Helgedad was raised anew, although the campaign he masterminded to destroy Sommerlund in MS5100 was defeated at the great Battle of Toran. Vashna was not seen again.

Other Darklords managed to raise themselves, yet always have the powers of good vanguished these old champions of Naar before they could take hold. In recent times, the Darklord Xog had managed to free himself from the bonds of death. By the Doomstone of V'Ka and the actions of a Nad Adez Konkor called eviltb, Xog has gained both life and great power.

Darklord Xog entered Sommerlund without others realising, obliterating all those around Eshnar. However, his life was ended when it was revealed his actions were only to free the true enemy in Eshnar - the Chaosmaster of the Daziarn.

Good is not without its means against these perils though. The Orders of Sommerlund - the Brothers of the Crystal Star and the Kai Lords - remain as strong as ever. The Kai have even secured a great military might - the Lastlands Navy. The Dwarfs of Bor have made movements in the world, solidifying alliances and fighting against the evils shoulder to shoulder with those of Sommerlund.

Similarly, the knightly orders of Magnamund - the Sommlending Knights of the Realm, the Knights of the White Mountain of Durenor and Vakeros of Dessi - have founded the Magnamund Knights' Council, a powerful accord for mutual defense and information sharing between these three knightly orders.

This entente was finally made flesh during a great meeting where the existence of Xog - alas discovered too late - was reported. Even now, a great army of the Knights' Council and their dwarfish allies seeks to move towards Eshnar and discover the truth to the rumours of the return of Darklord Xog.


And so begins Book 2 of the West Watch, detailing the great struggle against the Chaosmaster that would bring together the mightiest champions of good and evil to protect the balance of Aon.

[crysis]

Well, we really do have to mention Hazelae and the new character, Sera Veshin, if we're summarizing the last chapter.

"The Demoness Hazelae has finally been vanquished, though not by the holy light of Senoria, nor the blades of the Knight's Council and those brave souls who followed the Yellow Robes into Eshnar. Her demise came indirectly at the hands of Dharn, who had imbued the child Hazelae (now revealed to be the incarnation of the demoness' power) with a sense of compassion. This compassion was like a poison to the Demoness and once she took in the child, it destroyed her.

The dead of Eshnar have returned to their eternal slumber, but the consequences of Hazelae's evil have yet to be fully felt. Many were those who died in Eshnar, among them the Cat Creature Zipp and many of her high ranking members of the Yellow Robes. Also dead are much of the townspeople, leaving many orphaned children within the city. One of these, a girl of 14 named Sera Veshin, has fled the city as the orphans turn on each other. It is yet to be seen what destiny awaits her in the wilds of Magnamund."

To be fit in where you will, as far as last chapter's summary goes.

For the WW summary, see below.

[crysis]

Now that I think about it, the bit about Xog freeing the Chaosmaster from Eshnar could use a bit of fleshing out in your version. Nothing major, but it's a bit misleading. The Chaosmaster wasn't really IN Eshnar originally and I never got the impression that he was trying to free the Chaosmaster... that seemed like something that surprised him, though I could be mistaken on that count... it wasn't my post.

Maybe something like the following would work better:

"Darklord Xog entered Sommerlund without others realizing, manifesting near the city of Eshnar, which had fallen prey to an ancient demoness. In the confusion left by the Demoness, the Chaosmaster was able to bring his physical presence to Magnamund. In a confrontation with Xog, the Chaosmaster destroyed the Darklord and proclaimed a new age of Chaos would befall Magnamund."

[Beowuuf]

I'm not sure we have to mention the demoness - just as the PA thread said, if you are doing something episodic, don't mention anything you don't have to. The only reason to mention Xog is because that will be the delusion everyone will be labouring under, and more importantly I'm sure the hook will be needed by the end of the CM saga to explain exactly what he needed to get to Aon. Ressurecting and killing a Champion of Naar seems a good and large requirement

How about: "Darklord Xog entered Sommerlund without others realizing, manifesting near the city of Eshnar. However, what had drawn Xog and ruined Eshnar was used by the the Chaosmaster of the Daziarn to draw his own physical presence to Magnamund. In a confrontation with Xog, the Chaosmaster destroyed the Darklord and proclaimed a new age of Chaos would befall Magnamund."

Opinions everyone?

Edit: Just realised I kept the vague references to previous Darklords. Eh, who knows!

[crysis]

I think in this case it's actually more confusing if we DONT mention the demoness, though. The point is that the demoness is what brought Xog to Eshnar and allowed the CM to manifest. Since that's part of the bad guy's motivations for even being here on Magnamund it just seems a good idea to throw it in. Something brief, nothing like the paragraphs I wrote above (those are meant for the chapter summary, in case that wasn't clear).

Someone else should chime in at this point... Simey? Al?

[Al]

How he got there is irrelevant - what is important is that a Darklord is back.

I will need more Boompowder.

And Ale.

Lots of Ale.

[Simey]

Hmm, it's difficult to think how to mention Hazelae briefly without raising lots of questions.

It seems simplest to point out: Eshnar pretty much destroyed; Darklord Xog there; CM uses destruction of Xog to manifest on Magnamund. A new reader may assume that Xog caused the destruction of Eshnar, but how Eshnar got destroyed is not especially relevant right now.

If Hazelae is mentioned, it should be in as brief and straightforward a way as possible. For example, Eshnar, the southern Sommlending city, was recently destroyed by the undead hordes of a demoness that was eventually vanquished there. But Eshnar's troubles were not at an end, for the recently resurrected Darklord Xog.... That sort of thing would hopefully tell you more than you need to know without being confusing. I think any details of what Hazelae did, who fought against her or who vanquished her are definitely irrelevant at the moment.

[Beowuuf]

Sounds a nice compromise.

Edit: Though if the undead are all wiped out, then I guess we don't have to mention them either. Wow, this truncation stuff is tricky

"Eshnar bad. Chaosmaster worse. Knights good." There we go!

[zipp]

Well, we have a couple of things to consider. Eshnar is no longer a viable city for anyone to hold characters in without knowledge of what has happened to it in the past. The only other city I can think of with this restriction in the WW is Lyris, which was burned during the Night of Fire. It might be good for people to know of these cities so they don't inadvertently set their adventures there.

On the other hand, if we don't care about that, then really I don't think we should mention Eshnar at all. "Darklord Xog reappeared on Magnamund, but was vanquished by a more powerful evil: the Chaos Master, reborn and intent on enslaving Magnamund to his will."

[Beowuuf]

The state of the world thread is www.daziarn.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=wwatch&action=display&thread=112 for that purpose, to get people up to speed quickly

[Simey]

Hmm, I dunno. Eshnar grew to a city then recently got fairly much razed to the ground. Seems pretty simple. If you're one of our characters, you know what happened. If you're not then you don't, so you just have your character in the ruins of a city - why it's ruined might be a mystery, but that doesn't change the fact that it's ruined. And yeah, if there're no undead, maybe don't mention them, but I liked the idea that Hazelae's essence had sort of poisoned the very land of the city - or the centre of it at any rate - so that it might continue to be a place where ghoulies and ghosties walk abroad.

I'm not trying to belittle the Eshnar storyline at all, but it was confusing enough for those of us involved with it! ;D Best to leave any details aside for now. If they crop up later via an ignorant character questioning a knowledgeable one, that'll be a cool thing to happen, especially as it'll show how subjective the experience was. But in terms of getting into the new Chapter/Book as easily as possible, I think simplicity is the key.

As for Lyris, that's a little trickier, 'cause it's a long time since Maerin wrote in the WW, but he did have a very interesting thing going when he did. So much time has passed now that I think development of the situation in Lyris by someone else would be fine, but if someone wanted to do that, they should probably be prodded in the direction of a quick summary of previous events, not because they should have to be slavishly beholden to them or sew them all carefully into their narrative, but just so as they don't start with, All has been peaceful in Lyris for the last two decades or something else wildly contradictory to what has gone before.

Anyway, just some thoughts from someone who has forgotten what prompted him to start this post....

[crysis]

Let me come at this from another angle.

If we're trying to do a real summary of events for those who are new to the WW, then really we shouldn't go more than a paragraph. It's quick, it's not overwhelming, and it tells people what's going on. Looking back, that's actually what let me get into the WW in the first place. I remember buzzing Tyrenis about the WW and he sent me a very quick summary that went something like:

"The Kai are fighting a naval battle. I'm meeting one of their dignitaries in Lyris. Want to get in on that?"

So I'm thinking we should cut our summary down to size, too. Maybe something like this:

"It is the year MS5106, and the fight against evil continues in Magnamund. The powers of good have grown strong, and yet the balance of Aon shifts equally to restore and create dark champions. Old heroes pass to allow new - Guildmaster Banedon, Lord Rimoah, and Gynian the Sage had all died as age and the rigours of the fight against Naar took their toll. The Second Order of the Kai has grown powerful with several Supreme Masters, yet their founder, the hero Lone wolf, has disappeared. The loss of these fighters for good has led to a call to arms for potential heroes all over Magnamund, as well as allowing new bastions of evil to arise.

When rumours of Darklord Xog being reborn near Eshnar surface, the knightly orders of Sommerlund dispatch a scouting party to figure out the truth of the rumours. Little do they know of the true evil that awaits them there, for the Chaos Master has manifested on Magnamund and eagerly awaits shedding his first blood."

[Beowuuf]

Sounds great to me.

Perhaps eviltb can briefly explain what a NAK is when he first introduces himself (a sort of in passing comment on what NAK are)

[crysis]

Yeah, the NAK are cool, but unless someone specifically wants to play one, I can't see them as having any relevance to an incoming writer.