Need Help or Ideas? Come to the Think Tank and Idea Box!

[I am The Compendium]

Brodie Asturias

Okay, I got bored with my other story, so I'm trying my hand at High Fantasy now.

I've got my world mapped out. I've got my races. I've got my good characters, and some bad ones. I've even worked out the seasons. Actually, I'm a bit of a liar -- the world my story is set in is actually just Ice Age Earth, with a little variation in the Ice Sheets. It's... well, it's Ice Age Earth with elves, dragons, leviathans, magic, a couple of invented islands, a little different geology here and there and 15th Century technology, so I am cheating just a little. But I just happen to like the shape of Earth and it's existing continents so much. Earth works already.

Now, in High Fantasy you seem to need some sort of Ultimate Villain. Or, well, just about every High Fantasy book I've ever read has had an Ultimate Villain (Sauron, Torak and the Dark Prophecy, Galbatorix, those cold things in Game of Thrones...) so I need to come up with something of the sort for myself.

I have worked out that my Ultimate Evil comes from the tundra to the northeast, and it is trying to come south to escape the frigid winters. But I have not worked out what it is. Just that it originates in the north. And I haven't really come up with a reason for why it is Evil. I love these books, but I hate the fact that the UE never has a really clear reason for being an Ultimate Evil in the first place.

So, Think Tank, I ask you this: Will you help me come up with a sound reason as to why this UE is, in fact, evil, other than the fact that it hates the cold?

My HF has no ultimate evil, so I'm not sure how much help I can be.

Perhaps they don't have to be evil. Perhaps your bad guy has been forced to migrate to a new territory and acts like all animals do when they establish a territory: eat what they want and get rid of anyone they think will prevent them from hunting, mating, or having authority over their new territory.

[0green-eyes0]

Brodie Asturias

So, Think Tank, I ask you this: Will you help me come up with a sound reason as to why this UE is, in fact, evil, other than the fact that it hates the cold?

maybe the UE isn't an individual, but something like.. global warming

... >.> bad joke?

ok. What is your UE trying to do anyway?
...
i guess being evil would be one thing. I don't remember any stories explaining why their UE's are evil, because once you explain it doesnt seem very evil anymore (therefore not truely UE).
...
Maybe it loves the cold and wants to wipe everything that is not snow off the face of the earth?
...
Maybe it was a 'good guy' but became disillusioned by some event, and now hates the guts of anyone who acts or thinks like a 'good guy' ?

Or maybe its just doing what it needs to survive, and what we think of as evil it thinks of as natural?

.-.

[Faliry]

Brodie Asturias

I have worked out that my Ultimate Evil comes from the tundra to the northeast, and it is trying to come south to escape the frigid winters. But I have not worked out what it is. Just that it originates in the north. And I haven't really come up with a reason for why it is Evil. I love these books, but I hate the fact that the UE never has a really clear reason for being an Ultimate Evil in the first place.

So, Think Tank, I ask you this: Will you help me come up with a sound reason as to why this UE is, in fact, evil, other than the fact that it hates the cold?

Well, if I were you, I would first think about UE's goals, make its goals as evil and selfish as possible and make the means to achieve these goals with lots of cruelty and, you know, bad things. For instance, it could not only move to warmer (?) lands, but try to conquer these lands and try to slave its people and creatures for his own good or something. Not sure if helpful. sweatdrop

[Faliry]

I need help naming magick. 3nodding

I want to write a story set in a world just like ours, but where magick was always known, so I want names that would fit better our world, a little more "scientific" or descriptive than white/black/blue magic and such.

I gave it temporary names, some are okay, but I'm not completely satisfied. I think they could be better, so I'm asking for ideas/suggestion/help. I'll list all types of magic with their temporary names:

1. (Mechanical Magic): it enables its user to do all sorts of things you usually can do with your hands or tools (move, throw, cut, punch holes, sew, slice, assemble, etc) with a simple spell.

2. (Elemental Magic): its user can produce and control fire, water, ice, lighting, etc. (kind of like RPGs' black magic)

3. (Medical Magic or Physical Magic): just like white magic, its user can heal wounds, relieve pain, heal some magical conditions and give some buffs, like increased agility, strength, stamina, etc.

4. (Physical Magic or Martial Magic): kind of like monks, this kind of magic allows its user to control a magical energy inside their body to increase its strength, reflexes, endurance and such and even heal their own health (it can't be cast in someone else though).

5. (Psychic Magic or Mental Magic): enable its user to inject emotions, feelings and thoughts in another person, subjugate others will and things like that.

6. (Natural Magic): a little like blue magic, its user is able to control plants, animals and monsters.

7. (Alchemy or Brewlogy): enable its user to imbue magic while merging ingredients to create all kinds of potions and bombs.

8. (Transmogrification): magic that makes possible to change attributes (color, size, shape, texture, etc) of things and even beings.

9. (Tinkerism): not exactly a magic, but it's like a science that does not obey real science laws, but needs a lot of study, calculus and applied concepts to create machines powered by crystals previously imbued with magick by a mage.

That's it, thanks, Think Tank!

[Brodie Asturias]

Faliry

Brodie Asturias

I have worked out that my Ultimate Evil comes from the tundra to the northeast, and it is trying to come south to escape the frigid winters. But I have not worked out what it is. Just that it originates in the north. And I haven't really come up with a reason for why it is Evil. I love these books, but I hate the fact that the UE never has a really clear reason for being an Ultimate Evil in the first place.

So, Think Tank, I ask you this: Will you help me come up with a sound reason as to why this UE is, in fact, evil, other than the fact that it hates the cold?

Well, if I were you, I would first think about UE's goals, make its goals as evil and selfish as possible and make the means to achieve these goals with lots of cruelty and, you know, bad things. For instance, it could not only move to warmer (?) lands, but try to conquer these lands and try to slave its people and creatures for his own good or something. Not sure if helpful. sweatdrop

Okay. So he wants power. Dominion over the lands to the south. Power is a real thing that has actually caused people to perform atrocities in the past (Hitler, to name just one). I like the idea that he will enslave the people rather than eradicate them though. But WHY should he want power? Power for power's sake, or should he want it for something more?

Now I've got to work out the nature of his speshul magic powers. I've already decided that he is not human. Without intervention, he will live indefinitely. That means I've got to decide whether he is a sort of a Heavenly being that turned evil (for example, Satan/Lucifer) or whether he was once a creature of the land who then gained his powers in some fashion/drinking from the Spring on the Mountain (in the same way Galbatorix did, by stealing the Hearts of Hearts). Does he take a humanoid form, or is he something else (like a Balrog)? And what other magical stuff should he be able to do? I already know that mortal weapons will not slay him, only injure him, and the MCs have to go on an adventure to the Holy Land (by becoming pirates!) to implore God to give them some magical artifact with which to slay the UE.

I've also already decided that he has three lieutenants. Like, three mini-bosses that have to be tackled before the UE can be killed. These lieutenants were elves, but they drank of the Spring On The Mountain, gained extra abilities, and became evil magical talking animals: blackwolf, a dragon and a boar.

[0green-eyes0]

Faliry

I need help naming magick. 3nodding

I want to write a story set in a world just like ours, but where magick was always known, so I want names that would fit better our world, a little more "scientific" or descriptive than white/black/blue magic and such.

Names change over time. If your world always knew about magic, you could give them both 'historical' and 'modern' names.

[0green-eyes0]

Brodie Asturias

Okay. So he wants power. Dominion over the lands to the south. Power is a real thing that has actually caused people to perform atrocities in the past (Hitler, to name just one). I like the idea that he will enslave the people rather than eradicate them though. But WHY should he want power? Power for power's sake, or should he want it for something more?

Now I've got to work out the nature of his speshul magic powers. I've already decided that he is not human. Without intervention, he will live indefinitely. That means I've got to decide whether he is a sort of a Heavenly being that turned evil (for example, Satan/Lucifer) or whether he was once a creature of the land who then gained his powers in some fashion/drinking from the Spring on the Mountain (in the same way Galbatorix did, by stealing the Hearts of Hearts). Does he take a humanoid form, or is he something else (like a Balrog)? And what other magical stuff should he be able to do? I already know that mortal weapons will not slay him, only injure him, and the MCs have to go on an adventure to the Holy Land (by becoming pirates!) to implore God to give them some magical artifact with which to slay the UE.

I've also already decided that he has three lieutenants. Like, three mini-bosses that have to be tackled before the UE can be killed. These lieutenants were elves, but they drank of the Spring On The Mountain, gained extra abilities, and became evil magical talking animals: blackwolf, a dragon and a boar.

You know, after reading the part about the UE being inhuman, I remembered a myth where a giant dragon attacked some group of gods because they killed her husband. The reason for being a UE could also be about revenge. Though that would make it harder to explain the 'keeping power' thing. Unless they were trying to take revenge on a group other than the one they took over, using the subjugated group to get revenge (attack) the UE's true enemy group.
... you could also just make the UE insane. Don't know how well that would work though.

[Brodie Asturias]

0green-eyes0

You know, after reading the part about the UE being inhuman, I remembered a myth where a giant dragon attacked some group of gods because they killed her husband. The reason for being a UE could also be about revenge. Though that would make it harder to explain the 'keeping power' thing. Unless they were trying to take revenge on a group other than the one they took over, using the subjugated group to get revenge (attack) the UE's true enemy group.
... you could also just make the UE insane. Don't know how well that would work though.

I dunno. Going down the insane route seems like a little bit of a cop-out. (And also, having spent 9 months in a psychiatric hospital myself, I'm actually more likely to make an insane character my protagonist!)

Revenge. That's an idea, but I can't really see why he would be seeking it, to be honest. So far what I've got is my UE did not/could not/wasn't allowed to go to the Holy Lands with all the rest of his kind, his kind normally being sort of localised nature deities. Perhaps he was not allowed to go to the Holy Lands because he had an impure heart, so he had to remain in the mortal lands. And then his angry feelings over being left behind festered and he decided to take over the mortal realm and make it his own sort of holy land. I don't know. Does that sound feasible?

Others of his kind stayed behind too, electively, and they are fulfilling their purpose as local nature deities. But they won't be drawn into his war. They're above war.

[Tenshi Yaminade]

Brodie Asturias

0green-eyes0

You know, after reading the part about the UE being inhuman, I remembered a myth where a giant dragon attacked some group of gods because they killed her husband. The reason for being a UE could also be about revenge. Though that would make it harder to explain the 'keeping power' thing. Unless they were trying to take revenge on a group other than the one they took over, using the subjugated group to get revenge (attack) the UE's true enemy group.
... you could also just make the UE insane. Don't know how well that would work though.

I dunno. Going down the insane route seems like a little bit of a cop-out. (And also, having spent 9 months in a psychiatric hospital myself, I'm actually more likely to make an insane character my protagonist!)

Revenge. That's an idea, but I can't really see why he would be seeking it, to be honest. So far what I've got is my UE did not/could not/wasn't allowed to go to the Holy Lands with all the rest of his kind, his kind normally being sort of localised nature deities. Perhaps he was not allowed to go to the Holy Lands because he had an impure heart, so he had to remain in the mortal lands. And then his angry feelings over being left behind festered and he decided to take over the mortal realm and make it his own sort of holy land. I don't know. Does that sound feasible?

Others of his kind stayed behind too, electively, and they are fulfilling their purpose as local nature deities. But they won't be drawn into his war. They're above war.

Revenge is good. But honestly if you have a storyline/plot/main good guy character developed well enough, I'm thinking you could derive a purpose from that.

Every story has to have a character with a goal. What is your main character's (or even just a side character, someone the main character has to stand up for) goal? What exactly does this guy do to get in the way of this goal? Don't make it something like an elf child was chasing a ball and the guy took the ball to be an a**hole.

To suggest a few things:

One of the elves or someone from one of the races is forced to go on a task to save a loved one. Very cheesy and overused I know. Of course, when this bad guy comes down from the north, winter is continuously on his curtails, a curse previously given him by a deity for just glancing at (or trying to woo) his goddess girlfriend/crush. To make it better, the deity that cursed him is his younger brother. Ooohhhhhh!!!

OR this UE is not just coming down south to get away from the cold. He's trying to get to something that was once covered by ice, but because the world is warming up a little from some sudden bursting underwater volcanoes that make the water poisonous to drink or use (which starts the heroes on their investigative journey). This lost item would give him control or the ability to force aforementioned goddess crush to fall in love with him and allow him to keep her in his world (something of a repeat of the myth of Hates and Persephone). This drastically changes the seasons to a point where it's threatening the lives of all the other races so a bunch of them band together to try to fix the problem. YAY!!! (Just personally, I'd like to see them lose for once and have every last one of them die just to shake it up a little. No one ever writes about what would happen if the good guys lost and how life would be for those who remained.)

OR ...actually it's pretty late so I'm running this plot pretty thin in my head.

Anyway, good luck with that.

[Brodie Asturias]

Tenshi Yaminade

Revenge is good. But honestly if you have a storyline/plot/main good guy character developed well enough, I'm thinking you could derive a purpose from that.

Every story has to have a character with a goal. What is your main character's (or even just a side character, someone the main character has to stand up for) goal? What exactly does this guy do to get in the way of this goal? Don't make it something like an elf child was chasing a ball and the guy took the ball to be an a**hole.

To suggest a few things:

One of the elves or someone from one of the races is forced to go on a task to save a loved one. Very cheesy and overused I know. Of course, when this bad guy comes down from the north, winter is continuously on his curtails, a curse previously given him by a deity for just glancing at (or trying to woo) his goddess girlfriend/crush. To make it better, the deity that cursed him is his younger brother. Ooohhhhhh!!!

OR this UE is not just coming down south to get away from the cold. He's trying to get to something that was once covered by ice, but because the world is warming up a little from some sudden bursting underwater volcanoes that make the water poisonous to drink or use (which starts the heroes on their investigative journey). This lost item would give him control or the ability to force aforementioned goddess crush to fall in love with him and allow him to keep her in his world (something of a repeat of the myth of Hates and Persephone). This drastically changes the seasons to a point where it's threatening the lives of all the other races so a bunch of them band together to try to fix the problem. YAY!!! (Just personally, I'd like to see them lose for once and have every last one of them die just to shake it up a little. No one ever writes about what would happen if the good guys lost and how life would be for those who remained.)

OR ...actually it's pretty late so I'm running this plot pretty thin in my head.

Anyway, good luck with that.

My main character has two main goals. The first is to survive. His bloodline is unfortunately cursed, and every single member of it is destined to go north and join the UE in his attempt to dominate the mortal world. As such, all of the other good guys wants to kill MC at birth, and end the bloodline there and then. Also unfortunately, this bloodline is the bloodline of the true High King. Without the High King on the throne, the mortal world has no ability to protect itself from the UE when he comes south again. This is fun because the very person who can stop the UE is cursed to join the UE in his cause. I've already got the workaround for this sorted out, but anyway, all of the races of Man and Elf want this MC dead, though the UE couldn't care less because MC is suppoosed to join the UE at some point. So he's got all the other good guys out for his life.

His second goal is to eliminate the UE once and for all, largely because as the true High King this is his duty, and then take up his mantle as the king. And to do that he has to go on several adventures. I've got all of this sorted out, but the bit I've come for help with here are the motives of the UE.

[I_Write_Ivre]

I have a premise/scenario I need a plot for and to fill in some holes:

The world is inhabited by dwarves, elves, and fairies. One day, a sun appears in the sky when there never was one before. The dwarves are driven underground by the lack of food and now constant attacks by elves in airships. The only dwarves above ground are exiles who have turned the scraps of old airship parts into motorcycles and the two races are constantly fighting for supplies and territory; the elves with magic and the dwarves with refurbished tech (not sure exactly what kind).

The fairies are like horrible bees, devouring any creature or person that comes near them, and regurgitating it to keep the power plants they live in going, which keeps them alive.The fairies accidentally created the sun by ripping a hole in the fabric of the universe (or something) and shoved a soul in it (their power plant runs on this), but instead of fixing it, they made it sentient it became the new sun.

I'm not sure how it fits into the world, but I was hoping to incorporated some sentai-ish armor into the story.

[iLuvFluffy_Yaoiness]

I'm thinking of doing a Sci-Fiction story where a young girl is saved from being captured and taken as an evil landlord's wife and rescued by mythical dolphins from outer space who turn into humans themselves and hide her away on their planet. I really don't like Sci-Fiction, but I guess it depends on the style.

I need help with names for the girl and the planet. And perhaps maybe some for the five dolphins(: Let me know what you think of this idea and what you come up with.

[Maltese_Falcon91]

Yaoi-Mystic

I need help with names for the girl and the planet. And perhaps maybe some for the five dolphins.

Well, when astronomers discover new planets, usually they pick a name from mythology. So there's always that. Or you could go to any number of random planet name generators (I've found them helpful in the past.)

[iLuvFluffy_Yaoiness]

Maltese_Falcon91

Yaoi-Mystic

I need help with names for the girl and the planet. And perhaps maybe some for the five dolphins.

Well, when astronomers discover new planets, usually they pick a name from mythology. So there's always that. Or you could go to any number of random planet name generators (I've found them helpful in the past.)

Thanks! ^^