All right, this topic is to know how can we discuss more informations about the concept behind PlaneShift's world, without going into technical/programming concerns, trying to alter the concepts already made clear, and without confusing the discussion - wich is oriented to RP - with RP itself. Let me explain better...
I miss a lot of detailed information about Yliakum, it's inhabitants, it's history, it's races, it's geography, it's cultures. Sure, the basics are all there in the main site to anyone who wishes to read it, but I mean
detailed information.
We all try to RP the best we can inside PS concepts, and a lot of people writes great stories in doing that, but one thing always get to me: what is reasonable and what is not? How can we know that our imagination is not being incoherent with the original concept when we creat a lot of details for our characters that are not in the settings page? What do we know, guess and imagine about all the places and people of Yliakum, the Stone Labyrinths, Kadaikos, and even the surface or the race's native planes?
I know that Yliakum's history is still not interely complete, but only defined in it's major aspects and events, and that's why I'm writing this: not to complain, but to suggest.
I think it would be good to our RP and to dev's work if we had a place to discuss Yliakum history, culture and geography. So we would know more about how other people (especially the devs) are imagining this wonderful world we share together, and what could and could not be out there. I refer to topics who would implement RP and understanding of the world, like:
History: to what great event the year counting refers to; important political events of the past; the stabilishment of different population on Yliakum's levels over the years; how much time do we speak of when we refer to different "Epochs"; different evolutions on religious thoughs; etc.
Geography: size of different populations and their distribution; possible locations of natural resources; what are the better-known places and the mysterious ones; natural difficulties different populations faces and how they react to them; etc.
Culture: different religious dogmas; different races habits and costumes; possible myths created during Yliakum's history or brough by other plains; scientific and magical achieves and difficulties; regional cultural differences; etc.
Of course these subjects are all spread over the forums, but I think they usually are mixed with other concerns than contributing to a more detailed description of PS world. Normally, people would talk to me that this kind of things should be in the RP section or on the wish list, but I strongly disagree. Why? Wish List: usually a place to discuss in-game implementations, what people would like to actually see with their eyes, and thecnical issues. These topics I mentioned above are confused with topics of "what would work best or not", rather than "how we imagine PS world". The RP section: people use this section of the forum to write interesting stories, and I agree that this contributes a LOT to the topics I've mentioned, but the actual RP and good storytelling are the major concerns there, not the "how we imagine PS world" thing.
I think it would be good to have a sub-forum for this, maybe in the RP section, since it's the most related to. The difference would be that it's not intended to do RP in there, nor to just post any story (of course, places' and habit's descriptions could always be told in story format, but not necessarily). There we could discuss about what would be more reasonable or not in PS world, imagine new places, describe better races specifications, and the devs team would know exactly when to say: "No, no, this won't do it. Why? Because we don't like it." I would be more than ok with that. I would be grateful, since it would mean I'd understand more about PS world. This sub-forum, of course, would NOT be meant to: try to change what's already defined by the devs team; imagine things incoherent with PS history's and race's descriptions; discuss technical details and possibilities for implementations; request new elements in-game or just in Yliakum just because they would be "cool"; adress to details the dev's wish to keep mysterious.
Personaly, I'd like to contribute more to PS through that, since I'm not a programmer, not a designer, nor a good storyteller. It happens that I am, in RL, a history teacher/student, and my imagination is much excited about descriptions and social discussions when I'm trying to picture a world, and not only by stories. I believe (or hope!) that others could feel the same as I do.
What does other people think of this? What's the possibility for such a sub-forum be created? If it's impossible
, then how can I contribute the way I just said I can do?
If people think my idea to be a reasonable one, I have at least one place imagined to elaborate a description and a LOT of topics that I would like to see people discussing more.
Thank you for your patience.
