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Post by forestpaw on Mar 14, 2017 19:20:57 GMT -5
Just wondering if anyone would be up for it! ^^ we can build off from there!
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Post by Aphelyon on Mar 14, 2017 23:58:43 GMT -5
Hm I've never been a centaur before. I'm down for it.
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Post by forestpaw on Mar 15, 2017 7:08:04 GMT -5
Cool. So, I was thinking for plots maybe this;
1.) so this one is kind of fantasy/mid evil themed. So, there's a kingdom or something that are fighting against this one group of outsiders. Now, each of the leaders has had a child (our characters) the two children were friends when they were younger. They meet up either in battle or something else by accident. They begin to meet up more and more in secret. We can build off from there
2.) there are a group of centaurs on this stable for centaurs to live peacefully with humans
3.) I'm open to any other ideas!
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Post by Aphelyon on Mar 15, 2017 12:33:03 GMT -5
So in the first one, it's two kingdoms of centaur fighting against one another? Hm. Simple, but it could certainly work. I'm not all that much of a fan of the second idea, though, unless there's more to it than that. It's more of a vague concept than a plot, and it seems more... idealistic, than I generally prefer. Not to say that a good plot can't come of it, though.
Okay, trying to think of some other centaur-related plots. Hm.
1) Our characters are essentially chimeras, the chimera being a fusion between horse (or similar equine species) and human (or similar humanoid species), created by an experimenting magician. The two manage to escape, and must try to keep ahead of the magician and find a haven for themselves while navigating a confusing and unfamiliar fantasy world. This would, essentially, be a centaur origin story.
2) A herd of centaurs lives somewhere in the wilderness, far away from humans, who don't know about them. At some point they are discovered, and humans come to try to capture them so that they can show of their strange discovery. They manage to capture two young centaurs and bring them to a human village as part of their "zoo" of strange creatures.
3) There is a disease spreading in the herd that is fatal and seemingly incurable, but a shaman from the tribe receive a vision of a plant growing somewhere far away that can cure the disease. Two young members of the herd are chosen to travel to the place and retrieve the plant, and must complete their journey in time to save the herd from the disease.
4) Two different herds were recently decimated by some sort of cataclysm (disease, war, starvation, enemies, whatever) and a member from both find each other and decide to stick together- if only because centaurs are herd animals and live better in groups- and must overcome the cultural and ideological differences from their herds while trying to find a safe new place to live as well as, hopefully, other surviving members from their herds.
5) It's come time to choose a new future leader for the herd, which entails extensive contests between members of a certain age group from the herd, where the victor will become the leader in the future. Our characters are two young centaurs of this age group who are the favorites to win; however, which will prevail is uncertain, and thus they are intense rivals.
6) If you want something more overtly romantic, or perhaps more potentially comedic: the way our herd chooses mates is that the shaman consults the spirits, who will pair two members of the herd. Then those two members must go out and survive together in the wilderness for a certain amount of time, or make a journey to complete some sort of task, and if they succeed it means they are meant to be together. Only members who have been chosen to make the journey and succeeded are allowed to have foals, and they may only make the attempt either once in their life. Our characters are chosen to make the journey, but there's one problem: they don't like each other. However, both would like to have a family someday and since they only have one attempt they must try to complete the journey together despite their differences, as it's their only chance of ever having a family of their own.
Not sure if you like any of these but it's what I managed to come up with off the top of my head lol. We can always change details or combine them, of course.
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Post by forestpaw on Mar 15, 2017 17:55:39 GMT -5
Hmmm....I love al of them! No steely, they're so much better than all of mine! What do you like the most?
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Post by Aphelyon on Mar 16, 2017 14:10:28 GMT -5
Sorry for the delay. My boyfriend is over so I'm mostly hanging out with him.
As far as which I like best... that's a tough one between 2, 3, 4, and 5 probably. Of course, elements of each could possibly be combined into whatever plot we decide on.
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Post by forestpaw on Mar 17, 2017 9:56:32 GMT -5
Maybe it could be like plot 5 where they're deciding who to be the new leader. But, soon after, or during the trials something happens making them need to escape their homelands and they get captured. They then have to learn to live in captivity, or at least try and escape. The two rivals learn to work together. But, the captivity also makes disease spread throughout those who are left of the herd.
It rough and off the top of my head but it tried my best to combine the plots
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Post by Aphelyon on Mar 18, 2017 16:02:01 GMT -5
Hm okay, I like that. So, how about something like....
One of the final trials is to travel to a nearby place, about a day's journey away, to fetch some kind of thing (a rock or shell or something) and bring it back. So our two go, and shortly after they leave a fire (or something similarly disastrous) sweeps through the area. Our two return to their home but find that everyone is gone, and so they set out to try to find where they fled to. During this time is when they happen upon some humans, who capture them. They're stuck in the zoo, which travels and takes us far from our homeland, for a long time, but possibly escape. And perhaps at some point one or both of them contracts a strange disease and so in addition to trying to find their herd and return home, they must also try to find a cure for this disease? The last one's a maybe.
But anyways, how does that sound?
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Post by forestpaw on Mar 19, 2017 7:45:35 GMT -5
Great! Want to make me another thread or do you wanna finish our last bits of planning and RP here?
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Post by Aphelyon on Mar 19, 2017 12:04:43 GMT -5
Hm. I feel as though there's probably still a few more details to iron out first, but not too much. First, will we start at the beginning of the leadership trials and work our way through all of them, or just with the last one where we travel? Obviously if we start with the last one we can just into the action faster, but going through one or two of the previous ones would allow us to sort of set the setting, get to know the characters, and sort of build the backstory for a greater impact when all of that is taken away. Neither option is better or worse, it's just a matter of preference. Either way, we should probably figure out at least what the other trials were, just so we know what our characters had actually had to do and how they performed, which would give us a good starting point for their practical skills.
Besides that, probably at least a vague description of what the area is like would be good to familiarize ourselves with the kind of setting, just so we're on the same page. Location is also important- is this supposed to be in the real world, where magic exists (as far as humans know) only in myth and folklore? That would mean that seeing a pair of centaurs would be pretty surprising for humans. Or, is it in a fantasy world where magic is a bit more commonplace? Like, perhaps not super common, but people are aware of it's existence and so seeing magical creatures is less shocking?
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Post by forestpaw on Mar 19, 2017 15:36:21 GMT -5
Oh, I forgot about all that! Sorry I rushed! Hmm...I think it would be better to start at the beginning of the trails just to get a better sense of each character. We could even start a little before to get a sense of what their life is like, who leads them, why is their group so important to them, etc. but, it does all depend on how many trials there are. If we end up having many trials then we should start mid way, or not even through the trails. As far as what the trails consist of physical strength, leadership skills, sense of honor, bravery, know lags of their people and the world around them, how they treat the world around them, etc. Idk what the traveling one would be though...'ache the two finalists would have to travel away and choose from a number of different gems(or something else), if they chose the right one they would become leader, if they didn't choose correctly however, chaos and death would come for both them and their herd... And of course one, or both might chose wrong...but that's just an idea. I think their location should be the modern, or slightly in the past real world. I think the exact location could varie depending on where they travel. They could start off someplace where there aren't many humans around such as some places in Ireland, or Africa.
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Post by Aphelyon on Mar 19, 2017 16:27:29 GMT -5
As far as time period and exact location, definitely somewhere in Europe as that's primarily where centaurs are from mythologically, and I would think probably in medieval times, but if you wanted to make it more modern I would say Renaissance or possibly Victorian? If it's too modern I think that would make it a bit TOO complicated, what with all the technology and such, and so you're getting into a whole other can of worms there. As far as the specific country, Ireland is definitely a good option as it is very myth heavy and also quite picturesque for fantasy settings (not least in part because many fantasy tropes and creatures originate there).
I do like the idea of having to choose a gem. Perhaps the choice shouldn't be quite as success vs. doom for the whole tribe, but having a meaning attached to each type of gem which is not known to the choosers and only to the current chief/shaman could be a thing. Not anything crazy, but just more of what a particular gem might say about the chooser's personality and future. Of course, we probably won't get as far as returning with the gems, possibly not even as far as actually getting them, but knowing the goal is definitely a must.
As for the trials... I would say there should probably be like, five or six of them, including the last one. Of course, we can always start before the trials but summarize most of that part of the story, only detailing out specific important parts. As for what the trials would entail... definitely physical skills, but also mental and leadership, as you mentioned. So I'm thinking probably two primarily physical trials, a mental trial, and a leadership trial. And then the last, which is fetching the gem, and which sort of ties the whole thing together.
So, the first two trials I think would be pretty simple. One would probably be combat, where the competitors fight each other or older members of the herd to test their combat skills and strategy. Then there could be, like, a race or something- as flighty herd animals, being half horse, speed is probably very important to the centaurs. For a mental trial, perhaps they have to solve a complex riddle or problem correctly, possibly in a limited amount of time. For the leadership trial, all competitors take a randomly-assigned group of other members of the herd who aren't competing, and go out on a hunt or something. The group which catches the biggest, best prey the quickest and most efficiently scores the highest. And then finally, the last trial which is more about personal survival skills, and is also a bit spiritual what with the gems and their meanings.
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Post by forestpaw on Mar 20, 2017 8:29:31 GMT -5
I think Europe is a very good general location. I think we could make their location near Rome since that's where centaurs originated from as far as Greek mythology goes. I also think that maybe as they travel to try and find their herd they would travel closed down to Ireland, where it would be less praised and more of w surprise to see a centaur. I also like the idea of the 'future personality' aspect.
I had this idea for all the trails.
Okay, so this would be placed during midevil times. So, every time the previous leader dies, the strongest, smarted, and most cunning of the heard would go head to head in a race for a chance to be the next leader. This race goes through forests, across vallies, fields, and streams. But, there's a catch, each contestant is blind folded. Centaurs train all their life for this, even if they never get the chance to actually race. Now, this has been completed successfully before. The centaurs have to use only their senses to be able to navigate through the race. I was also thinking maybe centaur could somehow have this sixth sense so they could vaguely see their surrounding through their minds, King of like a third eye type thing. During this race many die, or are seriously injured which tests who would be the strongest, smarted, most focused, and most cunning of the contestants. The centaurs that get above tenth place out of the many that try would then be escorted to some sort of sacred site of sorts to them. (I was thinking maybe some sort of tree?) each centaur would step forward and kneel before the tree (or other thing) say, a prayer and connect with the tree. They would then get a vision that either consists of death, or great fortune. Those who have a pleasant vision meant they had been accepted by the gods, and could continue, but the ones who didn't would be eliminated. The next trial would be a battle to almost death until the final three are uncovered. The final three would have to do some sort of task, like hunting. The last two contestants would be sent out into the wild, with no idea where this cave with gems are. They have a certain amount of days to find the cave, and return with a gem. However, in this case something would happen along the way and thus, the plot would continue as we already roughly planned it.
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