*Round-Robin ‘Riting.
Another MuseBlog saga keeps unfolding. This one began unfolding on October 4, 2006 (by request of oxlin, who bore a different name in those days) and shows no signs of refolding anytime soon.
Continued from Part 4.
Patience, Please
This site is under reconstruction and will look strange for a while. We regret the inconvenience.
w00t! First post! Thanks GAPAs!
Hi. Sorry I’ve been neglecting this and other RRRs. I’m still adjusting to school.
So where were we? Trying to fix the Codex Aetherica, I believe.
2- Explain again what was wrong with it?
It’s too powerful and easy to use, thus increasing Elanor’s MShood.
4- Ah… So…what if it wasn’t the source of her magic? Is that too drastic? What if it was just this book containing all the information but no power, and all the power had to come from Elanor? I don’t know, maybe it already is, but that’s the first thing that popped into my head.
but wouldn’t that make her even more MS because then she has supernatural powers? If the powers came from the book, then she might not be anyone special at all, aside from the fact that she can use the book.
Hey! If it’s the book who has the power, then we can do fun stuff with the book being stolen, lost, or something like that. Or maybe even intentionally destroyed! What would happen if the Codex was destroyed?
But she doesn’t have much power, at least no more power than anyone else in Etheterre. So the Codex is extraordinarily limited, and there are all these spells and things that she should be able to do but can’t because she’s just ordinary.
Exactly! So, she’s a failure to the world she has inherited! Excellent! And she’ll more then likely die at the end, leaving Lance as the evil emperor to rule the intire universe! *evil cackle* Wow. That would be depressing.
Am I allowed to join in the editing this late in the process? I haven’t read the threads, other than the fourth, but I’m planning on doing that. Can I?
Certainly.
I’d also like to join the editing/rewriting crew.
Awesome! You are welcome!
Right. I finished reading all the threads. I need to go through and compile a guide to Etheterre, including all the Usurpers, for my reference. I get confused, especially with the names of the continents and the Usurpers.
Okay, random comments on everything I could think of:
How to phrase this…
I’m thinking that the Codex Aetherica is the… Personality, or power, or something, of all the former rulers of Etheterre. It only does something if all the rulers agree to do it. They always agree that protecting the current ruler is a good idea, and so always protect en. It probably wouldn’t be the life force, because that sounded different, and these personalities shouldn’t be able to communicate with the outside world, but it’s an idea.
Alternatively, the Codex is extremely unpredictable. As in, it might kill somebody for bumping into the ruler, or it might just fend off someone that’s trying to kill en.
I don’t know, I think that we need to get the magic system sorted out. Where does the power for spells come from? Why do they work? Maybe once we have that down, the Codex will be easier to solve.
On portals, from the last thread:
I like the idea of some creatures can move freely, and then it gets easier for others to move in that same place. What if it’s completely random, who can teleport and who can’t? As in, a few creatures have the ability to transport at will, and they were born with it. I’m thinking it’s completely random, occurring equally often in all of the sentient creatures. I’m not sure.
Right. I compiled that guide. Took two hours or so, but I did it. I feel no qualms about double posting, since nobody else is posting, so it’s not really my fault. Sorry this is so long.
The Complete Guide to Etheterre’s Climate, Rulers, Creatures, and Unclassifiables
Capenlents are about five feet tall, and have orange, glowing, skin, which dims when they sleep. Their faces look mostly human, though their ears look like squiggles protruding from their heads, and their eyes are bright purple. Their hair is green, and each individual hair is much, much, thicker than human hair, and each strand moves.
Xixins are small, hovering balls of fur, with long, whippy tails. Their fur is generally one solid color, often blue, green, or red. They have amazing eyesight.
Fenkins are small furry creatures, with a square turquoise noses and enormous violet eyes. Paws.
Kikithns are winged creatures. They don’t eat, and they never stop singing, but they have built-in GPS. (I was serious about that – they always know where they are) They look similar to a cross between an eagle and an ostrich with golden and purple plumage.

Midepils:
Slug-like creatures. Quite a nuisance. They’re like Sphinxes in that they love to ask riddles. The rest of the description is open to anyone else.
They look like slugs the size of a couch, but change color to match their surroundings. They live on every continent, but in small areas which every other species avoids, except the Wubbs (little blobs of jelly with black eyes) which have no brain at all, but simply bounce in a straight line and eat whatever they find if it’s smaller than them. The Midepils feed on the Wubbs, but get very tired of such a monotonous diet because a) Wubbs taste disgusting, and b)they can’t answer riddles. Midepils get very excited when some creature is foolhardy enough to enter their territory, and they will instantly converge upon this being and ask confusing riddles. If the creature fails to answer, it becomes lunch.

Kopites:
Some sort of sticky paper-thin organisms, who only move when they need something, and eat but two things; deep fried, dried, and expired tigos and pudocus, which last the lucky Kopites that can find one for a lifetime)
Scaly, kangaroo-like race. (Tsinglok)
Tentacled, octopus-like race (Woalt)
North America = Kolombent
Under control of Regency. Previously captured by Usurpers and under control of Gaelor, actually Nicolas Roglea. Climate unknown.
South America = Lillixa
Kaabne
The Usurper of Lillixa
An old, warlike Xixin with red fur, he is never seen without his ornamented helmet and tailspike. Not a very accomlished mage, but the magical shield of the Usurpers does extend to him. His fortress is high up in the Ukuland Mts.(corresponding to the Andes), but he is more often at the southern border of Kolombent, directing his vast hordes against the magical defenses of the Regency. 

Antarctica = Tsinglonk
Mostly rainforest/desert
giant lobster/insect thingies
Usurper: Hiskar, (Human) had the misfortune of having his joke about the Usurper reported to the head honcho himself. While able to retain his power, he the Usurper took particular pleasure in assigning him to rule over Tsinglock. With few provisions and frozenmelted supplies, little progress has been made. Hiskar lives in the small sand ((sandstone?)) fortress with Capenlent slaves. Hiskar is obviously not pleased with his position and is often seen wearing a scowl and ordering for more Capenlents to fan him, though he dare not say any word of complaint lest it is leaked to the Usurper
Africa = Evencald, Fenkins
Cold climate.
Usurper of Evencald- Athrana, a Fenkin
Athrana is not the most powerful mage among the Usurpers, nor the strongest in battle- she has a rather slight build, even for a Fenkin, and her magic is only middling- but she has an aptitude for tactics that rivals Zefethelyan himself. She is a genius at palkaala, a strategy game popular in Evencald, and her grasp of magical theory allows her to invent new spells in hours that would take weeks normally. She stripped Twiggnth Wing of his powers shorly after the death of Atherton, and kept him captive for the rest of his life. He could still teach, however, and began doing just that when Emburr du Kendomalin poked his head into Twiggnth’s cell window one day. This knowledge helped Emburr to escape Evencald, years later, after his tutor’s death.

Asia = Woalt, Palpos
Dinkikiniscius (pronounced din-kick-in-eye-sis. Anyone who mispronounces his name will be severely tortured, and those who correctly pronounce it get kicked hard in their eye if in earshot of one of his guards/patrollers.)
The Usurper of Woalt
A nice-looking Fenkin, with good clothes and good manners, a nice gentlemanly voice, and average height. But there is one thing odd about him: his midnight-blue eyes. They have many qualities, one being vision three times as good as a Xixin’s. Another of their qualities is hypnotism. If you look straight into the eyes of Dinkikiniscius, you will become one of his guards, but not until you get taught by force what you are to do. He has fantastic fighting skills, which are exercised quite often on guards and prisoners, and he has a softness for baby Capenlents.
He is also strange because he is much shorter than all other Fenkins, and also because he is a Fenkin at all. Woalt has a climate that would make it very hard for a normal Fenkin to live. But he manages just fine, and he very much enjoys attacking random Palpos that seem the slightest bit suspicious. Actually, the ones that don’t look supicious are fine to attack, too.
He is Zefethelyan’s most accomplished mage, although he is one of the youngest recruited to the Usurpers. It’s a pity he had to move to the dark side. He was Intignet’s (Twiggnth’s uncle’s sister-in-law) best friend.
Australia = Surriskar
Usurper: Selvana – Formerly the leader of the Usurping in Surriskar, she recieved the continent in thanks. Selvana is a reasonably good mage, but enjoys engaging in hand-to-hand combat more than fighting with magic. She was once trained by the great fighter Aparanox and, aside from being the Usurper of Surriscar, she also heads a fighting group for possible wars. Selvana is an Acropon with a mix of green, purple and blue scales. Such a color combination was very rare, and she was often teased for it as a child . This could have been one of the factors in becoming part of the Usuping. She resides near the Ayer’s Rock ortal to keep a more vigilant eye on who comes and goes. Unwanted guests are often quickly disposed of, not by the guards, but by Selvana herself
Europe = Zundor
Lwdyn, the Usurper of Zundor
He is a Kikithn, but he is unable to fly, having been born with stunted wings. He is neither a great mage like Dinkikinisicus, a mastermind like Athrana, or a great fighter like Kaabne, but what he lacks in those qualities he makes up for with pure cruelty. Since he cannot fly, his legs are unusually well developed and powerful. Whether enhanced by magic or developed in absence of other abilities, the defensive spurs on his ankles have grown to nearly twice the size of those on other Kikithns. Not being able to fly would be terrible enough for one of his kind, but a bully in his home nest-colony attacked him one day, severely damaging his vocal cords and robbing him of his ability to sing. This left him bitter and seething for revenge. When he was young, other Kikithns regarded him with a mixture of pity and disgust. Now, they regard him with fear. The bully who had attacked him died under mysterious circumstances five years after Lwdyn came to power.

Tigoses are the equivelant to a mango – only bright blue, and tasting like the smell of sharpies when ripe.
Pudocus are about 50 foot long, hot pink, smell like erasers, and taste like canned pumpkin.
The only places books exist anymore are in Labarynth City and a few secret libraries around
the Etheterran globe.
Lik-u:
The equivelant to glue/tape – some sort of magical adhesive.
The sun appears to be violet? I don’t know, at one point ‘The violet sun was setting.’, or something like that. Is the sun always violet?
Itlianpokis; Atlantis, in Etheterre. Formerly Capital of Etheterre, now taken over by the Usurpers.
Omnilinguic was a pre-prepared spell that allowed the speaker to be understood by speakers of any language.
It turned out that a magipult was a weapon invented by the Xixin Resistance for their acrotrains. It was a simple tube that could be angled in any direction. It also had a spell on it that enabled it to quickly shoot anything inserted into it (which was always a stone marble) forward.
Etherics appear to be a unit of measurement similar to miles.
Aeroak, some black stone? (The table in bk. 1’s epilogue)
Acro-handcar: A smaller version of an acrotrain (see.) Hand-cranked. For one or two passengers.

Szarken Strait: The passage between Terrafieg (see) and the mainland of Lillixa (see.)

Drikk: A Tsinglonkian (see) creature trained by the Usurpers for battle.
Fenkin: A sentient, rodentlike creature, native to the cold continent of Evencald, which corresponds to Africa.

Skrelch: Very, very bad curse word.

Acrotrain: A steam train enchanted to be nearly weightless. A side effect of the enchantment is that the vehicle gains a rudimentary mind, with no coherent thoughts but a semblance of emotions.

Qaadrekth: Not quite as bad as skrelch, but still pretty awful.

Xixin: Small, hovering ball of fur with prehensile tail, native to Lillixa (see).
Omnilinguic: An enchanted headset that acts as a combination real-time translator/intercom.

Terrafieg: A large island off the south coast of Lillixa (see.)

Lillixa: A continent of rainforest/temperate forest, mountains and steppe, corresponding to South America.

I’m back, but… have we decided on how we’re going to fix the Codex?
10- No. I think we need to fix the entire magic system. Or at least define it. As far as I can tell, it’s just a basic I-say-something-and-something-happens system. There’s no hint at using up energy or anything else. If that’s the case, then why can’t the Codex just be a sort of instruction book that also helps defend the Heir, until they can take care of themselves? Or should we re-work magic?
Also, I think we need to resolve where, exactly, Capenlents come from. It was proposed they were from Tsinglonk, but then someone who hadn’t read that part came in and transplanted them to somewhere else, which I don’t remember at this time. A small, previously unmentioned, island off the coast of either Tsinglonk, or Surriskar, I think. This pushes them out of Tsinglonk, which now has unnamed lobster/insect thingies which has been mentioned once, and makes them into a non-major race. I dislike this, and propose that Tsinglonk be returned to its previous jungle state, and Capenlents restored to their place. They’re slaves there, because Hiskar was too lazy to cart anything else. This means that there’s a small faction of Capenlents peacefully living hidden in the rainforest, (So as not to be too similar to the Xixin Resistance), and the slave Capenlents are torn whether to try to escape, because it would mean leaving their home.
And, because I’m extremely opinionated, I wanted to add that I hate the idea of changing Etheterre to have more mythical creatures in it. I’d sooner change Etheterre’s concept. Which is quite possible. I think Mr. Roglea presented it as ‘the realm of possibility’, which I do like. In Reality, what’s possible and what isn’t is clearly defined. In Etheterre, what’s possible isn’t limited by any defined means. Something like that?
Anyway, that’s all I can think of right now. I’ll probably think of something else moments after I post. Or hours, or something.
Wowsers. Something has actually happened while I’ve been gone!
Thanks Errata! Your guide is very helpful! I like your idea bout the concept of Etheterre as being the “realm of pssibility.”
12- Wowsers, somebody else posted! Sorry, I just spent several days being inspired by this story, and unable to do anything due to my extreme fear of double/triple posting.
I had fun doing the guide. It was all spaced evenly, but it got messed up when I pasted it into the box, and I didn’t proofread it carefully enough.
That’s just my interpretation of somebody else’s idea. I can’t remember who originally wrote it, though.
Oh, OK. I mean, I haven’t been on the computer much lately, but I know how you feel. When I first found this thread, I had a lot of inspiration, but no one posted, so it sort of went flat. Honestly, I think we need to seriously patch up thsi story. It’s a fantastic idea, but it was gone about in a not good way. And… ARG! I have to go again. Every chance I have to turn around and go on MB, I have to go do something else. Alas. Goodbye.
I think we need to start doing something again. Sitting around debating is all very well and good, but you can only do it for so long before you get tired of it. Besides, I haven’t been debating anything. I’ve been posting a bunch of ideas, and poking everyone else, hoping they’ll come and debate with me. Whatever. At least people are coming by occasionally… I sound really whiny.
I dreamed I came on this thread and there were several, decently long, posts. And it was all a dream!
That actually isn’t the first time I dreamed about it. Last time I dreamed that I came on and THF had posted, and her avatar had gotten stretched somehow and was something like three inches long, and this time I dreamed that there was a new person posting, with a really cool avatar that was, I think, green with one of those bubble rings across it. It was pretty.
Anyway, sorry about the randomness of this post, but I don’t have anything else at the moment, and I figured I might as well post it. SFTDP, also.
I’m back. Sort of. I fell really bad because I haven’t been going on any threads lately and they all seem to be as silent as the grave.
I haven’t been on the computer since forever and I really shouldn’t be on here now because I should be writing a paper. *sigh*
Anywho… We’re just going to rewrite the whole thing correct? So, we need an opening paragraph. Wait? Didn’t I write something before for the prologue? I don’t remember. I’ll go check.
You did. I’ll re-post it.
Breathe in. Breathe out. Keep it steady. Keep it going.
Rain slashed against the boy’s already drenched body as he propelled himself forward. The sky was dark, as if someone had flipped a switch on the sun. The earth rumbled threateningly and suddenly the world lit up with a flash of lightning. That split second revealed the landscape, a thin dirt road stretching through a thick forest of limbs and debree. The world once more surrendering to darkness, the boy hoped fervently that he would not stumble over any of the wreckage. A gust of wind hit him forcefully in the face and he bent over with added exertion. No matter the odds, he must reach his goal. His message was too important to be lost. Everything depended on it. He clutched the scroll tucked protectively inside his coat with determination.
A light flickered ahead and he gasped with relief. He had made it. With one more burst of speed, he took off down the last stretch, almost colliding with someone on his way. He twisted around to avoid contact and lost his balance. This a sickening squelch he landed in the mud.
“Here lad.†came a gruff voice above him.
Gratefully, the boy took the extended hand and pulled himself up.
“Do have a message for me? Of some importance?†the voice asked.
The boy nodded mutely and the man pursed his lips sadly. “Come.†he said and led the boy away.
There we go. Now we start on the rest, I assume?
I’d do something, but I only just joined, with regards to what’s happened since I joined, and I’m rather nervous. So I think I’ll watch for a while, or until I get too impatient. Which shouldn’t take too long.
Hi again. I actually tried to post what you just did after I did that first post, but my computer died, so I was sad. But now I’m back. Sort of. But more then likely not for long. *is guilty* Well, here goes! Rewriting the first paragraph!
Morning shadows crept across a somewhat disheveled bedroom, causing certain segments of the rusty shag carpet covering the floor to glimmer as if it was a bed of shimmering coals still twinkling after a fire. Ever so slowly, the ghostly shadows of the night moved across the room, as silent as ninjas stealing away from the brightness of day. The light of dawn triumphed in its battle against the night for the time being, ending in the entire illumination of the room and the revealing of a lump of blankets huddled on the bed in its center. The perfect stillness of the pile left any observer to conclude that the small mound could not possibly be anything but a peculiar extension of the bed itself, a malfunction in its make up that should be addressed immediately. Suddenly, the silent calm of the morning was interrupted by the greatest of clamors, a small clock on the opposite side of the room from the bed that was practically jumping up from its roost with agitation, demanding that it be attended to. “*%&*#@!â€, came an exasperated cry from the depths of the blanket covered mass. In a move that was most characteristic of an insect coming out of its cocoon, Elinor ______ (last name?) squirmed out of bed and dived towards her alarm clock, only to become tangled in her sheets and fall with a crash to the floor.
How’s that? It amused me…
Well poo. I think Errata got impatient. Alas.
No, sorry. I’m still checking back, but I’m busy with NaNo. I’m still here.I really like your rewrite
Isn’t her last name Wing? Or did she have a different one in Reality?
A have no idea.
We need input from Alice, POSOC, or THF on this one…
Taking my first cautious foray into rewriting something, seeing as there’s nobody else on this thread… Other then you, but I can’t let you rewrite the entire story by yourself. I’m hoping this is slightly better than the original, but if it isn’t, just tell me. Also tell me if it’s completely horrible and not in the slightest better.
*******************
“Urgh.” She sighed. Carefully untangling herself, she walked over to her alarm clock and hit one of the buttons. It went off. She looked at it. 6:23.
“You went off seven minutes early? I could have slept!” she furiously told it.
After grumpily getting dressed and moving downstairs, to eat breakfast, she was in a slightly better mood. Oreos made everything better. Until, of course, her mom came downstairs and yelled at her for eating them for breakfast… She picked them up and put them away again. Time to find some real food.
When her mother came downstairs, later than usual, Elinor was sitting calmly eating granola. Her mother stopped at the table. “Sorry I’m up late. My alarm clock went off seven minutes late.”
“Huh. Mine went off seven minutes early.”
Her mother’s eyes went out of focus, gazing at something far away. “When one clock gives time to another, amazing things are about to happen” she said, in a matching voice.
“Okay, Mom. If you say so.”
Her mother looked at her, slowly coming back into focus.
“Oh, no. It’s- it’s just a superstition. Nothing more.”
“Okay.”
Elinor finished off the last of her granola and stood up. Might as well start for school, maybe be slightly early.
“Put your bowl away, Elinor.”
“Right, sorry Mom.”
*********************
That good? At all? I tried my hand at foreshadowing, which may or may not have worked. Also trying to hint that her mother knows something she isn’t telling. Also may not have worked. You like it, though?
I like it, thought you do give reference to Elinor’s mom coming downstairs twice. But that can easily be remedied!
I think it’s odd that our original didn’t say all that much about Elinor’s mom…
Oh… The first time was Elinor thinking about what her mom would say when she came downstairs. That wasn’t clear, was it. Sorry.
Edit that sentence to “Of course, her mother would come downstairs soon and would yell at her for eating them for breakfast…”
And that sounds clumsy. Well, at least it’s clearer.
Okey day!
Well… let’s see… now Elinor leaves home for school. How does she get there? Walk? I suppose that’s if she lives in the city. Does she? What do you think? Or does she live in the country and ride the bus? I’d say the city.
She walked in the first draft. Doesn’t matter if she walks here or not. Though I would say city is more likely, for a single-parent home. Which city is this, anyway?
You have a good point. Does it matter what city it is? I mean, it wouldn’t have to be a huge city like DC or New York, it could just be a biggish city like *thinks* Charlotte in NC, though you more then likely don’t know where that is. I just thought about her transportation because we never actually specified where she lived and walking might not make sense, depending on where exactly that was. Oops. Now I have to go. Sorry. Bye.
In a rush, Elinor ran down the stairs of her apartment and out into the streets of _________. The sidewalks were filled with early morning bustle and Elinor hastily pushed her way through the crowd. It was crucial that she not be late for school. Not so distant memories of being taunted by the local gang still filled her with a feeling of dread. Elinor was lucky that her school was located just a few blocks away from her home, but this single fact led her to often procrastinate when actually setting off for the place, which Elinor kept forgetting was a bad idea. She slumped her shoulders dejectedly as the school bell rang in the distance, telling Elinor that she would be late again. Sliding hastily out of the city crowds and into the quieter street of her school, Elinor began to run towards the building.
And now I must go. Au Revoir.
She hadn’t gotten far when Brogan and his cohorts sauntered into view. Elinor cringed as one of the boys gestured in her direction and twisted her purse in front of her like a shield from their scorn.
“Well here comes snooty girl.” Brogan declared as she came within hearing distance. “Late for school are we?” His cronies sniggered stupidly behind him. “You just never learn do ya? I guess since the school ain’t doin its job, then I’ll have to teach y-OOMPH!” Something had just struck Brogan in the head, causing him to fall onto the ground. Elinor stared unbelievably at his unmoving form lying on the sidewalk and then quickly looked around herself. No one was there except for Dumb and Dumber, Brogan’s buddies. They gazed with rapt attention at Brogan, obviously expecting him to jump back up with guns blazing. Finally, as if their brain waves were not flowing quite fast enough to realize that Brogan was unconscious, they squealed and ran away with their hands over their heads like shields protecting them from more projectile objects. Covering her smile with her hand, Elinor looked around once more for her savior, but to no avail. Perhaps there was a name in the book? Elinor hurried over to Brogan’s unresponsive side and picked up the book that had fallen nearby. It was a fairly thick book with a smooth, dark green cover and the smell of age across its pages. The inside cover had no identification inside, but it did contain something else: a piece of paper that read “Rose Cafe. 4 pm. DON’T BE LATE.”
Oh my bad. Instead of “Something had just struck Brogan in the head”, it should read “A book had just struck Brogan in the head”
Good catch; I completely forgot about the mysterious note. *headdesk*
It might be better this way, though, since the first draft was rather vague about where she got it.
Great. My first attempt, and I very nearly ruin things. I can see where this is going.
Oh no, you were fine. I think we had been talking before about doing away with the note altogether, so I thought that you may have been thinking that. But then I thought, “Hey, this would be a good idea!” so I went with it. You’re doing fantastically!
You have bunches of new ideas to put out there!
Plus, I’m honestly glad that you’re here, since all of the old writers seem to have ran off.
Nope, I just completely forgot about the note.
This way makes much more sense, though.
Yeah, I wish everybody else would come back. I’d write more, but I need to go.
After a reading the note three times, she stuffed it in her back pocket. Who knew where the note had come from, or who, but there were answers somewhere, and she’d find them. If the note wasn’t directed at somebody else. She stood up, looked around for something to do with the book, then stuffed it in her backpack. She could look at it later. Then she went into the school building, very late by this time.
***
Are we still using the Homonuculus-thing? I forgot exactly what they’re called…