Quiver

Cur! You dare speak treason against the Kobold King?!

Hmm. I'm sort of interested- and I have a character or two in mind- but I admit, the random role assignment is making me pause; makes it a little harder to come up with a name, character and background. So... I'll flesh this out when I get more details about "who" they are, but for now I have a name at least- Theia. (Or, if you don't want a female character, Noden. I don't mind which.) (And no, Theia isn't a misspelling of Thea, as in Thea Queen, as in Arrow, though I did basically steal inspiration from it. A quick wikipedia search describes her a Greek diety; specifically, a Titaness, mother of the sun, moon and dawn gods, amongst other attributes. Noden(s) is the name of celtic God of hunting, as well as some sort of Lovecraftian diety)

The Mafia Six- abbreviated descriptions at the bottom on the second to last page of the Herd topic- are my version of Equestrian mobsters lol. I was joking to Kobold about his Kobold Mafia gang, starting doodling some ideas and...ta-da. The Equestrian Multiverse now has a gangster world.

Look at the bright side, Panda. If things went badly, I might have had to sic Mafia Dash on you two. Can't have you roughin' up this suckers Iredomi's joint, now can we? (I really need to codify the Mafia Six's personas somewhere. And I'm using the Mafia Six here, Science!Twilight in the Pack thread...and still haven't got a Quiver pony anywhere. I find that funny.)

Hmm. Even outside the social forum,mI find myself disagreeing with pandas lol. My royal sister of choice is Celestia Vivenna. I just find her character arc the most interesting part of the book... though I will concede that her storyline running parallel to Siri's might influence that a little. Still. Vivenna is Best Princess.

Interesting thoughts Yados- please accept my up votes. That said, I'm not entirely sure that I agree. Obviously, sexuality and gender identification are tricky subjects, representation even more so; at the moment, there simply isn't enough of it. Which is problematic in itself, but it also lends itself to certain implications about characters which might not otherwise be relevant. Honestly, I think Moffats writing, in Who and Sherlock, is not particularly LBGT-friendly. On Who, Vastra and Jenny are cool characters; I enjoy them (partly because I love the Vctorian aesthetic)... but they also are a bit of a punchline. See their introduction, when Vastra wonders why Jenny puts up with her, followed by her using her tongue to knock someone out. Or their introduction in the Christmas special, being deliberately calculated to knock a Victorian man out with how uncharacteristic is for those times. On their own, those aren't bad. After all, every LBGT individual being perfect is just as unrealistic as them being villainous. But in the pattern of Moffats other work, I'm a little less comfortable with it. The Fat-Thin Tall-Short Gay Anglican Marines for instance; again, a couple which I didn't mind, since I took their flippancy as part of their character (since one of them was awful chipper about conversion and all), but I have seen complaints about it. Clara introduced herself to Rory by mentioning a former girlfriend, and brushing it off as her going through a phase. Again, on it's own, not especially bad; it's a character who apparently took time to figure out their sexuality, with gay/bi being mentioned as an option. Except that is never really mentioned again, as Clara falls for the Doctor. Same goes for River Song; I believe it was implied that she at least kissed Cleopatra in Pandorica opens, but that is brushed under the carpet for her "real" love story- the normal, male/female one with the Doctor. And, since I mentioned Sherlock... Irene Addler. One of- if not the only- character in that series to openly declare her sexuality as being gay, falls in love with Sherlock Holmes. And not only does she fall in love with him but she loses because of it...which I found particularly egregious, since Irene has a reputation as one of the few people to outwit him in the canon. Here though, he not only beats her at her game, but he makes a lesbian fall in love with him- not only in an emotional or intellectual sense, but to the point where she wants to ply her trade on him, and sends him a goodbye text? Not to mention, where Jenny/Vastra and the Anglicans (and "Miss Addler") are played for jokes to an extent, the straight relationships aren't. Rory and Amy, Doctor and River, even Clara and the Doctor are possibly-romantic relationships that literally decide the fate of the universe. It's a little unbalanced to show "flashy and cool" gay characters on one hand, while implying it was a phase, or throwing off "I built a boyfriend" as a joke, whereas straight couples decide the fate of the cosmos. There's an imbalance there. ... Oh, and I admit, I have a similar problem with the first two seasons of Torchwood. Among other problems, but still... I found it difficult to get invested in Jacks relationship with Ianto because it felt like the producers wanted to keep teasing Gwen... though, to be fair, Jack/Ianto did take on a world shattering importance to match Rory/Amy and Doctor/River, so it's a little less egregious, but still... Complicated situation.

Yeah well...cookies and non-Herd based Muffins are great and all, but they cut into the Mafia Six's profit margins, if you know what I mean. So, unless you want to mess with the Equestrian Mafia, I suggest you guys watch yourselves, capiche? (I've been looking for an excuse to use the Mafia Six somewhere, and a turf war over baked goods seems as good as any lol)

Well, technically Iredomi's campaign is only directed against evil panda's and bakers. Which means the Herd is still free to offer complimentary muffins. I mean... c'mon. Do these look like evil bakers to you?

You do not want to get me started on that episode. I mean it, you do not even.

Agreed; we have had quite a few new monsters in new Who (the two-dimensional beings or the robots from Sherwood, for some Capaldi examples), but they seem to be used as just one-off villains. The only new species I can think of which has been added and consistently used are the Weeping Angels... though even there, I think they've kind of lost a lot of what made them cool in the first place. With each appearance the Angels get, the less threatening they seem to be, even though Moffat keeps adding new powers to them. (Though I maintain that the whole "image of angels become the angels" thing is how they reproduce, because that makes them terrifying to me. You can avoid them by staring at them, but if you stare too long, you get turned into a new angel. That's my head canon for them, anyway.)

Rainbow should also have a passive ability to always be fabulously dressed, obviously. Also: that is a cool story, Twilyght.

Can I just take a minute to tell everyone that they should be reading those comics? Because seriously, those comics are awesome. I actually got into the Pony-thing partly through them, by picking up the first volume of the comics from my local store. Of course, my local store is more than an hour away, so I've settled since on just asking them to add "My Little Pony" and "Friends Forever" to my pull list with them... but increasingly, they tend to be the comics I most look forward to every month. In case anyone is persuaded by my oh-so-wise words, recommend either the first volume or the third. The first is a sequel to 'A Canterlot Wedding', with a four issue story arc, while vol 3 has two 2-parters which are hilarious, and actually add some characterization to background characters. (Vol 2 is about Nightmare Moon and Luna; it's a good story, but I think those other volumes are better.)

Mmhm, muffins. Anyway, welcome! Vin is definitely an interesting character; she was the first character I emphasized with in a novel for a long time.

Yeah, Kaladin is definitely... prejudiced? As others say, it can't be described as racist, since Alethi are of the same race-and I don't think he's disparaging towards the non-Alethi characters- but... Yeah. He's prejudiced. It's actually one of the more interesting points about him, really. As great as it would be for racist individuals to be obvious, over the top and easily recognizable... they aren't. Kaladin is a heroic individual, one who the audience admires and sympathizes with... and he's racist. Part of his character arc is definitely about overcoming that problem- starting by deciding that Dalinar was an exception to "All Lighteyes are evil", and kind of going on from there to deciding that the color of ones eyes don't determine their character. It's a nuanced characterization, particularly since-despite the fact Kal has some "basis" for his prejudice (Amaram, etc)- msot of the other viewpoint characters, like Shallan, Dalinar and Adolin are Lighteyes. Kal's attitude towards Lighteyes is a problem, one that can turn readers off... but that's kind of realistic. He's a complicated character.

Just want to add, I hope Rysn becomes a Dustbinger. For whatever reason, I found her interludes to be some of the most enjoyable chapters in both books (probably because she introduces us to more of Roshar, which is the BIG draw of the series to me).

There's a sub-forum of roleplayers who would disagree with that assessment ; ) Anyway.. welcome! (As a completely neutral by-stander, I will not chime in one way or another on cookie-consumption. If you do deign to eat it, however, I request that you report to the Herd immediately, for scientific evaluation.)

Welcome! That is a pretty great line from Hero of Ages... So... enjoy your stay!

Boy did you come to the right place! Tell 'im Queenie! ... FORGETTING SOMETHING? Anyway, Elsa's "accidental" overlooking of the Herd aside... welcome! And, in all seriousness, I hope you enjoy your stay. One of the reasons I joined up was because I wanted to practice writing, so I kind of relate to you on that regard. If it helps any, some members are doing a writing prompt-thing in the creator's corner; January's is almost over, so you might want to start with next month, but still... might help if you want to practice stuff. So.. welcome. Hope you enjoy your stay.

Maybe this would help? http://coppermind.net/wiki/Chronology I have no idea how accurate that is; I'm rather iffy on the timeline stuff myself. Still, might be a good starting point (and if it's wrong, bringing it up means someone can edit it).

Aha! We have three! ..Two of which are the only deserts I know of. damnation it Kobold, you couldn't be a little more co-operative with my evil plan?

Hmm. You didn't specify which world... I'd say I smell a loophole, but I don't really know any deserts, period. (Funnily enough, the first time I tried writign a fantasy novel was using a desert setting, because I wanted to do something different. But I don't think you'd appreciate me making up seven deserts and claiming them as part of my old fantasy world )

I think your reputation is enough that now the moderators want to take their pictures with you. (As for the game, urgh. I'm certain of four of the main cast, and though I'd recognize the other three's names in credits I can't remember them.)

We have a recommendations page for books, so I figured why not have one for fan fiction? After all, the sheer volume of fan fiction available can make finding good stories difficult, if not downright impossible; having a place to give recommendations and put "I think this is good! Link!" comments seemed like a good idea to me. (Of course, me having a good diea is a novelty, and most likely to spontaneously combust, but we can just leave the topic up and see what happens). Basically- have you read a fan fiction recently that you enjoyed? Post a link to it to try and let other members know that this good piece of fan fiction exists. Feel free to post any fandom, genre etc. So, to get things started... Beneath the Bells of Kharbranth Starting with a Stormlight AU seemed appropriate. Written by Featherwriter, it's a one-shot suggesting what might have happened if Kaladin's life had gone a little differently. It's one of the few pieces of SA-fiction I've read, and it's a nice short- and kind of horrific- concept. Word of warning though, since it's got MAJOR spoilers for the Way of Kings. Asylum Well, I had to get the distinction of nominating the first MLP fic, right? Asylum is another sort-of horror story. The premise is that Twilight wakes up in an asylum, the doctors telling her that her entire life up to that point (ie: the show) was the result of her mental illness. It's a fairly long fiction- just over 180,000 words- and while it's not finished, the author has suggested there are only a hoof full hand full of chapters left in it. While I'd definitely recommend it to fans of the show, since it's sort-of using an AU set-up, I think people who haven't watched the show would still find it interesting; there are a lot of callbacks and reinterpretations of the source material, but it provides information for newcomers to get the point across.

Hey, welcome. If you're new to Brandon's stuff, might I recommend Warbreaker? As well as being free to download on his website, I think it's a perfect companion book to Mistborn. ...Er... shilling my favorite nvoel aside though, welcome! Enjoy your stay.

That was as far as I got in the introduction post. Welcome! I am now drafting you as my friend, because you are someone else who really, really likes Warbreaker. (Though I will admit, I'm seeing a lot more fans of that book lately. When I joined up, Warbreaker seemed to be the Brandon novel everyone overlooked, because it wasn't his epic (Stormlight), his debut (Elantris) or his most well known (Mistborn). It's gratifying to see it get a wider audience) But...anyhow. Welcome!