The PPC Posting Board - Latest posts

I wouldn't mind answers to hS's questions before I fully commit with Agents etc. But I'm in for this.

But as to the PPC Discord... it's not dead persay, but it certainly feels like a lot less PPC-based discussion goes on there than it used to. Rudi's is still an active place, however you usually have the same rota of people in there, and oftentimes it can be continuations of previous days RPs which feel (at least to me) rather hard for someone different to enter. And Rudi's is the only channel out of the 11 total that regularly deals with PPC stuff (besides Badfic, but that feels more like it's just quoting badfic than anything else). Oh and Rudi's doesn't always seem to be canonical anymore, but that may just be me.

It's acutally something that I've been thinking about talking/posting about for a while now. The PPC-ness of the PPC community feels like it's been draining away slowly. I was thinking about all the Discord servers I was in the other day and realised that the main reason I'm still in the PPC one is because of the D&D campaign that Badger is running in there. The European friendly write up while great has been a singular occurence, and I feel like it's become more of a chatting place for several groups of friends that interlink, rather than a chatting place for a writing community. The main reason I joined the PPC was to help hone my writing skills because I felt like it was a friendly community where doing that was not just easy but also actively supported, and yet I feel like that has been left by the wayside more and more since the launch of the Discord.

I mean, this is just my opinion obviously, and it's a fairly bleak look at things. But part of me suspects that my experiences aren't necessarily too far from the truth.

Nova.

I think it was the moon that was an egg for some giant space creature. And it hatched, or at least started to.

And, IIRC, there were no massive consequences on Earth, and it was never mentioned again, because physics and continuity are for rubes. {= P

~Neshomeh has always wanted to like Doctor Who but has trouble overlooking these things.

Though sometimes I'm too much of a Nightmare Fetishist for my own good... XD

... is apparently a whole thing. At least, I have vivid memories of being terrified by a book where the cover was a planet-scale blue egg cracking open to reveal red light inside.

... now I want to know what it was. If only so that I can avoid ever reading it again.

hS

Though, that title just makes me think of the horror story where all the planets are themselves eggs. "The Sun's Children", or summat like that...

Finally made an account here, so I won't suddenly disappear come next month. =P

Howdy, y'all!

And, to make this a little more interactive - anyone do Tarots? Or, which Major/Minor Arcana do you think you would be? Or are commonly accused of being?

I'll probably sign up, but I have a couple of questions:

-Are signups just for agents in the same RC? I have a few agents who act as solo consultants and could conceivably be pulled into any mission, but equally you might be thinking just of natural teams.

-Are the agents all individual players? So it would be (say) Kaitlyn has to target Edward, but Mira is targetting Selene?

-If one of your agents has to kill another of your agents, do you get to write that? Or would that be an 'ask for a reshuffle' scenario?

-Is there an active (PPC canonical) RP community on the Discord? I ask because there's not a whole lot of stories being published these days, and I don't want to be a pain and be The One You Have To Write With rather than just a quick RP (particularly since I'm notoriously bad at keeping up with cowrites).

(Actually, just generally: how active is the Discord? The Board is practically dead, but is that because everyone's moved over to Happy Fun Chat Land, or because everyone's just left?)

hS, talking himself out of it more and more

Entering for Agents Edward, Kat and Mira.

Objects: pen, D.O.R.K.s, DVD

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" asked Edward.


Kat grinned, turning around from where she was pinning a piece of paper to the noticeboard in the Cafeteria. "What could possibly go wrong?"


Edward shot her a death glare until she admitted, "Okay, I did that on purpose to annoy you."


"When the Ironic Overpower ruins all this, it's your fault."


"It was my idea in the first place," said Kat, "I'll take responsibility for it." She jammed the final pin into the board. "There we are!" she said, stepping back to admire the notice. It read:


PPC Assassin!

Ever wanted a PPC game of Assassin? No? Well, I made one anyway. The rules are as follows:

Sign up below by writing your name, RC number and an object commonly found in HQ or on missions. Sign-ups close two weeks from now (22/10/19), and you will receive your target and object shortly after.

To kill your target, all you have to do is give them the object that you were given before you are killed yourself. However, they must willingly take it: no forcing it on them, giving it to them when they are unconscious, or mind-controlling them into taking the object.

If you are killed, you must tell your killer who your target and object were and they will then take on that role. If at any stage you find yourself having to kill yourself, let me know and I will reshuffle the surviving players.

Good luck, have fun, and let me know if you have any questions.

Sincerely,
Katarina Eagle, DMS
RC 841.720

(OOC)
The rules as stated IC apply for this. There is no time limit; it can go on as long as it takes. For one of your agents to kill someone, you have to write a canonical PPC story (mission, interlude or RP) featuring one of your agents giving their target the object.

As that previous statement implies, sign-ups are only open to people with Permission and at least one story featuring their agents. Enter in this thread with between one and four agents and the same number of objects commonly found in the PPC, and please make your email clickable so I can send you your targets once sign-ups close.

If the target one of your agents is given means you have to co-write something with someone you wouldn't normally co-write with, you may post something along the lines of "one of my agents needs to kill one of your agents, can we do a co-write?" but don't reveal which agent.

This next rule should go without saying, but no meta-gaming. Just because you know someone is trying to kill one of your agents doesn't mean the agent is allowed to know that. Try to respond in-character as your agent, even if you know that means they'll get killed.

Good luck, have fun, and may the best agent win!

Snowblaze.

The bit about life on stars being rather unlike anything we would recognize reminded me of Dragon's Egg a nice bit of rather hard sci-fi (having checked, it has a technical appendix even for the people who care) about a species of aliens living on a neutron star. Among other things, they're very flat, only really have bones temporarily (they prefer flowing around), and find it much easier to move (IIRC) east-west than north-south, due to the magnetic fields.

- Tomash

Given the dominance of Dickens in Victorian fiction (I think I already posted that Little Women features honest-to-goodness Dickens fanfic), the linotype machine makes absolute sense. The Difference Engine... is actually essential, because you need to translate telegraph messages into linotype instructions.

One presumes that the bosses would much prefer to just call everyone up on the electric telephone, but that would take far too much time. Much more sensible to tap the messages out one Morse letter at a time, what?

hS

From a copy of 'The Worlds of Space: A Series of Popular Articles on Astronomical Subjects', dated 1894:



"1. Are the planets habitable?

"I do not ask, Are the planets inhabited? That is a question to which an answer will probably never be vouchsafed to man. Even in the case of our nearest celestial neighbour, the Moon, the highest power of our largest telescopes would fail to reveal the existence of any living creatures on its surface. Animals the size of elephants, or even as large as the gigantic saurians of geological times, would be quite invisible in the giant telescope of the Lick Observatory. Large cities, or buildings of great extent - if they existed - might possibly be discerned, and thus afford evidence of the existence of intelligent beings. But this only on the Moon. All the planets are much too distant to enable us to see anything but marking on their discs, these markings being only dimly visible on most of them..."

Discovered in - get this - Baggins' second-hand bookshop yesterday. I didn't buy it, because it cost £25, but you'll be delighted to know that the entire book is available through archive.org. (The author's answer to the question of whether the planets are habitable, incidentally, appears to be a hard no.)

-- and I've just found that he engages in a glorious display of snark, at the beginning of chapter 3:

"The question is often asked, Are the stars inhabited? To this we can confidently answer, No. The stars themselves are certainly not habitable by any forms of life with which we are familiar."

hS

...I chose that voice for Rumbridge before reading all of her lines.

However, I will say it was the best choice in the long run.

Also, I played Vampire in the first half of the recording

(First up, I'm not sure if I've confused people: I think Matriarchal Weyrs was Anne's idea during the writing of Flight, but by Quest she'd decided they were patriarchal. So all later books, even the prequels, reflect the new idea, not the original one.)

(Secondly: oh that's an adorable website. I've just found a genuine early-noughts 'Some of these images are very large and may take a while to load' - for a page with four! whole! pictures! you utter fiend.)

So, Matriarchal Weyrs. Would much change? I'm not sure it would. The Holds have shown that they aren't much influenced by Weyr practices, so I feel like the Fax affair would probably still happen. His primary interaction with the Weyr was killing F'lon - but F'lon's Weyrwoman was Jora, and she was useless. Benden would have to run under its Weyrleader, which means we still get R'gul's ineffective reign.

The one thing that might change would be that a Weyrwoman would have been more open to trading for supplies, which I remember being the primary driver of the Hold Rebellion in Flight. If trade had commenced under Carola, say, then the Rebellion might never have happened. Given that it had no effect on the ongoing plot, though, I don't think that matters.

Lessa would still act much the same; R'gul wouldn't want her to assert her traditional role (and, in fact, I seem to recall that he didn't), F'lar would support her, we know how this goes. She'd still go on her Ride, and bring the Five Weyrs through.

Dragonquest is where things change. That's the book where the Weyrleaders Gonna Weyrlead setup really takes off, and they're... kind of... universally awful? T'ron is hidebound, T'kul is a flaming sociopath, T'bor is an impulsive F'lar fanboy... and we all know where this leads.

Instead, let's imagine the Weyrwomen stepping up.

-Kylara is in sole charge of Southern, which is... kind of terrifying and awesome. She flits between 'stuff you, T'kul, I'm taking your Weyr and fighting your thread' and 'meh, I'm off to canoodle with the Lord of Nabol'. The wiki already says that in her useless periods Southern 'looked to Brekke for leadership'; now picture that conflict with the full power of the Weyr at stake, instead of just food supplies.

-Mardra, Weyrwoman of Fort, wanted to stay in the North; she wouldn't let T'ron ruin that with his stupid duel. She was also a primary driver behind Fort's superiority, so a Lessa-Mardra conflict to mirror the F'lar-T'ron one is not out of the question. Remember that Mardra is a daughter of Ruatha, so this story drags Jaxom right into centre-stage.

-Merika, Weyrwoman of High Reaches and mate to T'kul, doesn't get much screentime, but the wiki says she shared leadership duties at Southern after the exile. She's clearly a strong personality. I'd lean into that and have her chain T'kul up like a rabid dog. ^_^ Maybe not, but you get the point: he'd be on a very short leash.

-What do we know about the others? Fanna of Ista seems fairly mild; Bedella of Telgar is called dim by Lessa. Do we know anything about Nadira of Igen? I think this will remain a Benden-Fort-HR-Southern story.

So, rather than the duel in Quest, we have Lessa and F'lar breaking tradition by acting as co-leaders; Mardra asserting her authority and even considering laying claim to Ruatha itself (I think she considered it in the book, and now she has even more power to play with); Merika being a conniving schemer; and Kylara as a fickle wildcard who could go either way on any issue.

... and Brekke, who at times is unofficially leading Southern. And who wants her Gold to mate with a Brown.

I'm picturing two core arguments in Book Two:

1/ Mardra is spending half her time at Ruatha 'overseeing' Jaxom's education. When Jaxom impresses Ruth, she asserts that since the Lordship of Ruatha now has no choice but to fall on a dragonrider, it should go to her, as she has the stronger claim. Merika supports her, because frankly she'd like to claim a Hold for herself. Kylara is neutral-leaning-Mardra, because "Southern is practically a Hold anyway" (they farm their own food, remember). And Lessa... well, Lessa a) resents Jaxom, and b) is convinced that he and Ruth are going to die soon anyway. So she decides that her best response is to press her own claim to the Lordship.

2/ Meanwhile, Brekke is running Southern while Kylara is playing politics. When Winreth rises, Prideth is nowhere around - but F'nor and Canth are, and Canth successfully flies the queen. Shockwaves run through all the Weyrs: the brother of the Benden Weyrleader (who is, ironically, being the voice of Tradition about Ruatha's lordship, putting him into direct conflict with Lessa) has flouted the oldest tradition of all! And it looks like Brekke and F'nor are attempting a coup at Southern (they're not, but Kylara's off in the North, and T'bor... let's have him injured by felines, that always works). This is nothing less than a hostile Bendenite takeover!

Where does the story go? I feel like 'dragon fighting dragon' is less likely than 'the Weyrs play politics'. Perhaps Merika pressures Bedella into extending Telgar's authority over Lemos Hold, stealing it (and its tribute) away from Benden? If Igen and Ista stand with Benden, I can also see Mardra siezing control over Ruatha and attempting a march on Igen, supported in a shocking twist by Nabol (hi, Kylara's influence). Heck, Merika might well decide that if Mardra can have Ruatha, she deserves to reclaim Fax's title as Lady of Six Holds and One Weyr. The dragons aren't involved in the fighting - they won't attack humans - but their riders are the ones moving the playing pieces around.

hS

The subject line conveys a good summary of the news item.

So, overall, I'm looking forward to this!

Not sure what else to say ... I'm pretty sure I plugged this show on the Board at some point, and if I haven't, there's a lot of folks who could've, so ... general Dragon Prince discussion thread?

- Tomash

Here's a link to a reading of the rest of My Immortal.

It is not safe for work or your brain, and definitely not safe for Silent.

Thank you to doctorlit for keeping this reasonably accurate (as much as it was possible to keep anything straight in this fic) credits list:
GoodModAddict/Iximiz/Neshomeh--Narrator and Ebomy

SillyKitty—Vampire Potter

Doctorlit—Dumbledore

Iximaz--Snaketail

Tomash—Draco

FourMoonsWatching—B’loody Hermione—GoodModAddict

Mattman—punkgoff salesman=Tom Rid=Voldemort=Satan--GoodModAddict

Akrinor—Hargrid

Neshomeh—Willow--SillyKitty

SillyKitty--Navel

Tomash—Loopin

Mattman—Snake? Snap?—Tomash—GMA

Four Moons--Cornelia Fudge--doctorlit

Mattman--Rumbridge

nonspeaking--Filth

SillyKitty--Mr. Norris

Athena--Professor Sinister

Neshomeh—Professor Trevolry

--Lucian

SillyKitty--Serious

Akrinor—McGoggle

Tomash--Tom Satan Bombadil

Tomash—Lucian Malfoy

GoodModAddict—Jamez Samaro

doctorlit—Morty Mcfli!1

Akrinor—Professor Slutborn

SillyKitty—Marilyn Manson

Thoth—Hedwig

Tomash--Ginny

Yes, you're right about Sorka and Sean. They were leaders before the dragons were introduced.

Nothing else to add, really. You covered all the bases.

The Weyrwomen were definitively in charge in the Pern RP scene on Neopets back in the day. It was all organized around NP's guild system, and the Guild Leader position was almost always the Weyrwoman. I know this because I started up a Harper and Healer Halls guild, and I kept records. ^^ The old site still exists, if you want to go see the Big List of Weyrs on Neopets. (Beware, old Tripod site is old and uses frames, and might still have an embedded sound clip, too. *shudder*)

... Man, I had ambitions back then.

Anyway: Yes, I totally agree that was probably the original idea, because it's the only thing that makes any logical sense AND it works in practice. ^~ But even having your Thread-fighting leader change too often would be problematic, too. There's an argument to be made for giving your high-status members a fair shot at proving themselves to assuage egos, especially in peacetime when you have more leisure; and if you're shopping around for the right co-leader, sure; but during a Pass, once you find the right guy, I think you're better off keeping him!

Also, my recollection is that Sorka and Sean rose to authority because of their own leadership rather than their dragons'? And it seems to me that human leadership is the entire point of the dragon-human partnership. Humans might bow to draconic needs in matters of biology, but when it comes to strategy and politics, human intellect surely must take precedence over whatever social hierarchy the dragons would establish if left to their own devices. Or compromise with it somehow. The dragons are intelligent enough that you could probably convince them of the need. Failing that, a dragon's unconditional affection for their rider is a powerful lever, and ensuring the intelligent and harmonious function of the Weyrs and Pern at large seems like a good reason to lean on it.

Somebody write the Weyrs Remained A Matriarchy AU now, please! I understand why it isn't: society regressed quite a lot due to requiring most of its women to be baby-factories and little else (with some justice, since the colony faced extinction for a while and really needed all the warm bodies it could get), and then forgetting they could be more. But what if they'd avoided that regression? What would be different come the Ninth Pass? Could Fax have happened? Could any of the mainline books?

~Neshomeh

I last read the books ages ago, so my memories are vague, but the trailer seems to capture the atmosphere of wonder and danger I seem to recall. The effects look decent, too.

Given the casting of Lord Azrael, I will be very disappointed if we don't get at least one song out of him. {; P

~Neshomeh

...upon further review I have concluded that my characters are too heavy and loaded with Issues™ for the PPC, and on top of that, Leo's a bit of a strawman rather than a three-dimensional character. Therefore, my already-written Permission Attempt is rendered null and void. (I forgot to write the bios anyway.)
Thank you for offering to look over them, but I don't think there's anything that can be done to save them in their current forms.

And while I can't speak for what McCaffrey wanted, I can say that Lessa doesn't seem to be less of a force than she was. Because even if she's not in the room, it's safe to say that F'lar is either consulting her or getting an earful. ^_^

But of course, that perception is based on those early books...

First off: sure, no polyamory, or no more than usual. My supposition is that Anne originally aimed for promiscuity, refined that into serial monogamy, and then realised she was only comfortable writing committed monogamy. She only pulled away from that a few times.

(My confusing use of the conflated 'polypan' was intended to indicate something of this sort, rather than pointing at specific source words.)

Now, on Weyrleaders and mating flights: did anyone else get the feeling during the early parts of Dragonflight in particular that the natural order of things was for the Weyr to be led by the Weyrwoman? They make a big deal of how useless Jora was, and Lessa both received lots of training in running the place, and rebels against the strictures placed on her by R'gul.

The idea here would be that, normally, the Weyrleader's role is limited to actually flying Thread. In that situation, most of his authority comes from his dragon anyway, so you'd absolutely want the strongest bronze in charge. It's just that Ninth Pass Benden was completely broken, so this was never instituted.

One key pointer to this is that the biggest historical name featured in Dragonflight is Moreta - a Weyrwoman, not her Weyrleader. She, like Lessa, was the one to take huge risks for her Weyr - not her associated Weyrleader.

Of course, if this was the idea, it went out of the window by the second book, which is all about Weyrleaders posturing while their Weyrwomen... I don't remember, mostly 'be old' I think? But I do wonder if her original intent was something a bit different to what we got.

hS

Interestingly, Dragonsdawn goes some way toward trying to (re)establish non-monogamy among the dragonriders. There's a line somewhere in there about encouraging the golds to mate with as many of the bronzes and browns(!) as possible, to ensure a level of genetic diversity (which proves Anne was more sensible than Todd about genetics, at least). The riders might have their preferences outside of mating flights, but they are expected to put them aside to ensure the future of dragonkind. That expectation doesn't change down the years, though perhaps the need for gold dragons to be promiscuous lessens somewhat as the breeding pool expands. I'm not sure.

If they did remain promiscuous, though, the leadership of a Weyr would never be stable; there could be a different Weyrleader every Turn or less. Mating flights are kind of a really stupid way to determine the leadership of a Weyr, even allowing for dragon intuition choosing boys with the right potential as candidates and bronzeriders. Perhaps the idea WAS for golds to settle down eventually?

Also, I think the rumors about how promiscuous dragonriders get are greatly exaggerated, and more to do with the fact that they have relatively more sexual freedom than holders do. Holders, especially higher status ones, are expected to wed for said status, and to be monogamous to ensure the line of succession. They're also expected to have lots and lots of babies, which female dragonriders and weyrfolk are exempt from if they want to be. It's stated somewhere that women who are Searched often choose to stay in the Weyr even if they don't Impress for those reasons: sexual and reproductive liberty.

But, I agree with Thoth, I don't think the idea was ever that dragonriders tend toward polyamorous relationships. Serial monogamy and outright promiscuity (no serious commitment among flings), sure, but that's different. And, while it's accepted that you could end up sleeping with anyone based on the whims of your dragon, and that it shouldn't be a cause for jealousy, that doesn't mean it wouldn't be, especially considering the emphasis eventually placed on the fact that rider preferences DO influence dragon choice. You'd always have to wonder, wouldn't you?

Let's not forget that riders can sleep with willing non-riders, too. That's a thing. I'm not sure how it fits anyone's point, but it seems like it might be relevant somehow.

In the end, I figure dragonriders enjoy more or less the same spectrum of relationship types as the rest of the population, with or without exception for mating flights. Even if the rider population is more evenly distributed between hetero-, bi-, and homosexuality than the general population, that's a different spectrum. If McCaffrey had other ideas at the time, too bad, she was wrong. {= )

~Neshomeh