Talk:Collaborative Writing Project: TAO: Rize of the Ying-yang

Fix the Bios
Can someone fix the bios? Thanks. --ScorpionTail (talk) 17:06, September 13, 2013 (UTC)
 * Yes, quite confusing when he have no character background to go off. Rainbow Shifter 17:52, September 13, 2013 (UTC)

Thanks for your input guys, but these were the bios given by the creators of the characters. We put them up exactly as is to preserve the spirit of the master's creations.

Kate 18:29, September 13, 2013 (UTC)


 * But those are the characters from the Red Bat project. Rainbow Shifter 18:32, September 13, 2013 (UTC)

Hey Rainbow Shifter,

I'm afraid I'm a bit confused. Which characters are from the Red Bat project?

Kate 18:54, September 13, 2013 (UTC)

The original synopses given for the witch and the buddhist maiden were the Vanarchist and the Girl respectively (Anonymius (talk) 19:19, September 13, 2013 (UTC))

Oh I see, thanks for the clarification, it must have been fixed by another staff member- sorry for the confusion!

Kate 20:20, September 13, 2013 (UTC)

Clearing Up Confusion
Is there a way we can clear up confusion without violating any rules? --ScorpionTail (talk) 21:34, September 13, 2013 (UTC)

Girls or Samurai?
Which category is this?

TheReturnOfTheKing - O_o I'm watching… 21:45, September 13, 2013 (UTC)

Girls. Think you can contribute to this story? --ScorpionTail (talk) 21:46, September 13, 2013 (UTC)

Definitely, but I was looking forward to the Samurai tale.

TheReturnOfTheKing - O_o I'm watching… 16:52, September 14, 2013 (UTC)

Inconsistency
Every since Zero Gravity made his contribution, everything began getting complicated. Seeing as he wasn't allowed to post like that, can the staff do something about this? --ScorpionTail (talk) 22:30, September 13, 2013 (UTC)

Contribution in past plot
Zero+Chemistry+

Your contribution, the last post before the chapter "An Arrival" started, was added after the story had already moved on. The rules say that new contributions are to be added after the most recent post, otherwise the later contributions might make no sense. Stefan (Shikai - &#34;Rust &#38; Shatter&#34;) (talk) 22:59, September 13, 2013 (UTC)

Someone needs to delete that post. --ScorpionTail (talk) 23:00, September 13, 2013 (UTC)

Shaping Up Nicely
This story is shaping up surprisingly well. If we keep this up, it just might surpass Red Bat. --ScorpionTail (talk) 06:00, September 14, 2013 (UTC)

Agreed, and if it's going this well, can you imagine how awesome the Samurai story will be?

TheReturnOfTheKing - O_o I'm watching… 16:56, September 14, 2013 (UTC)

It'll be a gem. :D And I have just the right plot and scenarios for it, too. :D --ScorpionTail (talk) 16:58, September 14, 2013 (UTC)

don't these elements go more towards the Greek concept; I heard that the Yin-Yang aligns with fire, wood, water, earth, and metal, it's pretty much what puts them in the Onmyodo thing.
That's incorrect. The Japanese five elements are the same as in the west, with 'void' or 'sky' being the equivalent of 'aether'. (Anonymius (talk) 10:39, September 14, 2013 (UTC))

That is exactly right, Anonymius. --ScorpionTail (talk) 10:40, September 14, 2013 (UTC)

Mitrægaëyia
It seemed like some of the contributors were unaware that the main characters had just been transported to a magical world, so I decided to make it more clear and give the world a name. How do you like the name Mitrægaëyia? Doesn't it just seem awesome? Don't you hear that name ring with exotic, magical wonder?

TheReturnOfTheKing - O_o I'm watching… 16:55, September 14, 2013 (UTC)

It sounds awesome, King. It really does. --ScorpionTail (talk) 16:57, September 14, 2013 (UTC)

Erika/Julia
Alright I'm confused. Earlier someone named the witch girl 'Julia'. Then another character looking for her Tao deck named Erika came up at a completely different spot and joins the group later. And then some bozo goes up makes them the same person, what's up with that?--Zeromaro (talk) 22:50, September 14, 2013 (UTC)

We were hoping that the original author would end up changing Julia to Erika, as the name stuck after awhile. --ScorpionTail (talk) 22:52, September 14, 2013 (UTC)

But isn't 'Erika' a villain who made a deal with some kind of demon god at a completely different place or is someone gonna change her name too?--Zeromaro (talk) 22:54, September 14, 2013 (UTC)

No. One of the contributors had made the witch Erika after he posted in between posts, and the name stuck after some time passed. Seeing as more people were using Erika more than Julia, we were hoping that Julia would be changed to Erika. --ScorpionTail (talk) 22:56, September 14, 2013 (UTC)

The who the heck is the witch who made the 'Devil's Deal' with Asura?!--Zeromaro (talk) 22:59, September 14, 2013 (UTC)

Erika. --ScorpionTail (talk) 23:00, September 14, 2013 (UTC)

How can she do that in a dark cave when Erika was with Mibu at a shrine location at the same time? This is making less and less sense!--Zeromaro (talk) 23:02, September 14, 2013 (UTC)

Ah. I have an idea. We make Erika have a clone of herself. --ScorpionTail (talk) 23:04, September 14, 2013 (UTC)

Maybe a doppelganger or a copy* of her made by the Elemental Demon Lord?
 * A version of her made by her negative emotions during the time she was imprisoned. --ChaosWyvern-i (talk) 23:42, September 14, 2013 (UTC)

That sounds awesome! :D --ScorpionTail (talk) 23:43, September 14, 2013 (UTC)

Yeah, that could lead to an interresting reunion, where the "good" Erika and her "evil" counterpart must face each other as enemies. Stefan (Shikai - &#34;Rust &#38; Shatter&#34;) (talk) 01:33, September 15, 2013 (UTC)

It goes with the Taoism aspect of the story well. Also, let's have the copy's other eye be covered to represent how opposite she is compared to the true Erika. --ScorpionTail (talk) 01:35, September 15, 2013 (UTC)

That would be quite symbolic and it would probably confuse the Maiden and Mibu into thinking she did revert to evil until the"good" aspect of Erika returned/appeared, resulting in aforementioned battle by Stefan. --ChaosWyvern-i (talk) 01:42, September 15, 2013 (UTC)

Good Erika? Evil Erika? HAve you all already forgotten that the witch character is supposed to embody darkness and evil, in opposition to the maiden that embodies light and good? (82.28.146.233 11:48, September 15, 2013 (UTC))

As A Reader, This Is Incredibly Difficult To Read
I'm not a contributor, I'm only a reader, and I have to say that the story is horribly hard to follow. There are a handful of contributors who constantly insist on promoting their characters and trying to put things in place for the future so that the story HAS to conform to their design. Within the first few sections there's talk of Sword Brotherhoods or something, and elemental warriors and demon kings. I thank the contributors who don't add their own design to the story, they add their own flavor and build on the story. Guys, this isn't YOUR project, it belongs to an ever-expanding group.

If people take offense to this, I'm sorry but it must be said. The original idea for the project, as what appears to be an action-fantasy revolving around the chemistry between 3 principle characters, most especially the romantic tension between the boy and the witch and maiden and the enmity and violence between the witch and the maiden (as its described in The World) is warping because there are people who ignore the rule to Contribute to the story in a linear fashion)

Please, please, please don't turn this into sewn together cacophony of characters and violent, arbitrary plot developments. A professional manga artist is making this, please respect him and his career

Jottie22 (talk) 03:33, September 15, 2013 (UTC)Jottie22

But we are respecting him and his career. This is a collab, and as such, posts that others make are welcome. We know that this is everyone's project. --ScorpionTail (talk) 03:43, September 15, 2013 (UTC)

Apart from those that contradict previous entries, because that is basically disrespecting other contributors' work which is against the rules. Mind you I do see where this person, and other people, are coming from. It does feel that the original premise has been distorted somewhat (ahem, justlikewithredbat!) (Anonymius (talk) 12:03, September 15, 2013 (UTC))

The Story for RedBat was good, this is jsut gay
OK guys, I was here from Septemebr 9th, for RedBat, I helped set the stage for arborius' defeat, I wrote the ending (until it got deleted by Kate.Moon for being too long) and I helped User: ScorpionTail and User:Ezvil as well as User:Stefan (Shikai - "Rust & Shatter") plan TAO, but when I logged in Firday at 4pm after school to work on TAO, it was already pretty screwed up, then when I started helping, DuskNeos, jsut screwed up the story. He actually messed it up so much i got completely lost in a story where I had helped plan most of the stuff. I have read through TAO, and even though it has gotten better, the introduction is weak and to someone who ahs no idea what this is, I can imagine it being EXTREMELY confusing. I think we should work on helping the story get better and les sconfusing, also We need backstory on all the characters! -- User:Sunami king

already been working on that! (Anonymius (talk) 13:26, September 15, 2013 (UTC))

THANK YOU! Also sorry for the typos

I can't really take credit for helping you guys plan the storyline, Sunami king, since I merely read what you had already come up with, and since I didn't have time to post consistently, I chose to focus on the main characters. Around thirty characters have been introduced so far, but only a handful have any development to speak of, and I prefer quality over quantity. Stefan (Shikai - &#34;Rust &#38; Shatter&#34;) (talk) 13:52, September 15, 2013 (UTC)

I don't think you can make a story like this without it being really, really confusing.

TheReturnOfTheKing - O_o I'm watching… 21:57, September 17, 2013 (UTC)

Confusing Character
Alright, the witch Erika Marigold is one messed up character. She's formerly known as Julia Arlstrom, before taking the name Erika, and she then, temporarily, had her name taken away by Mizuki in "A Brave New World", and she is later revealed to have changed her name in order to stay hidden from evil powers, even though she's supposed to be evil herself, and is currently helping the good guys, or is she?...

One of the more confusing chapters is "Deadly Alliance: Erika and Asura", where Erika, who had been talked into helping the group by Mibu and was now with them, without explanation suddenly starts casting forbidden spells, making a deal with Asura (the God of Death), without anyone lifting an eyebrow. In "A Brave New World" she then apparently left the group to fetch her missing deck of TAO cards from the Marigold guild mansion, after being teleported to another world by the maidens, again without alerting her companions.

My conclusion is that Erika either excels at disappearing/reappearing, without attracting unwanted attention, or the rest of the group are just plain dense. Stefan (Shikai - &#34;Rust &#38; Shatter&#34;) (talk) 15:35, September 15, 2013 (UTC)

That's in the process of being remedied(See one of sections above that talks about there being two versions of her. I have no clue about the name thing, that seemed a little rushed, but it was trying clear up some confusion. Erika, the one with the Maiden and Mibu is supposed to be of the good alignment.), but the meeting between the group and Asura sort of broke that, which will probably anger a few people(mainly the ones trying get the story some semblance of making sense). The main contributors should really get together and collaborate or else the story will end more broken than it is now(Note, that this doesn't mean people who contribute less often have less important things to say/add, it means that their ideas will be incorporated and discussed.) because of one or two people going their own way(not wrong, but it makes things extremely confusing.) and mostly ignoring others. --ChaosWyvern-i (talk) 15:49, September 15, 2013 (UTC)

Problem solved. There are now two Erika's, which explains this inconsistency. Thankfully, I also got rid of some of the other antagonists, so now, the story is more sensible now. --ScorpionTail (talk) 16:01, September 15, 2013 (UTC)

Good Erika....Bad Erika?
Right, that does it, I am now officially withdrawing from this damn stupid project. Congratulations you have now driven me away from this. ERIKA IS NOT SUPPOSED TO HAVE A GOOD SIDE SHE IS SUPPOSED TO BE THE EMBODIMENT OF F**KING EVIL HAVE YOU NOT BEEN FOLLOWING THE WORLD SECTION AT ALL? Have you no regard for this story's genre, do you think that just because it's fantasy you can do whatever the hell you like? You know what, I'm just doing one more section and that's it. Also I may post all of my other ideas I had for this story, feel free to pick at them, or you may likely not. Hopefully when the Samurai story comes along you will not f**k up that story and make it jump the shark like you did with the last two! Just one more thing before I go. Khopesh and the legion of swords would have fitted much better in the samurai story, THAT'S WHERE THEY BELONG..... (Anonymius (talk) 16:11, September 15, 2013 (UTC))

I was just trying to make things better, dude. This is definitely something that we have all been trying to do. Also, she can still be the embodiment of evil, it's just that one Erika is more evil than the other. --ScorpionTail (talk) 16:14, September 15, 2013 (UTC)

Embodiment of evil means that they are EVIL. There should be no room for a good side, that defeats the whole point of being an embodiment of evil. You have not made the story better, you have taken it even further from it's original premise. I really dread to think what your plans are for the samurai story. (Anonymius (talk) 16:36, September 15, 2013 (UTC))

You do realize that she can simply be using the hero, right? --ScorpionTail (talk) 16:42, September 15, 2013 (UTC)

Since both Erika and Wrath are originally the same person, and are currently incomplete, the battle between them could lead to them merging into one "evil" being again, either through physical contact, or when one defeats the other. Having previously "discarded" her dark nature, would explain why Erika hasn't shown her evil side yet. This in turn would allow Erika to become a main antagonist, as was intended by the story creator. Stefan (Shikai - &#34;Rust &#38; Shatter&#34;) (talk) 17:08, September 15, 2013 (UTC)

Other ideas
Right. These are other ideas I had for this story. Feel free to pick at them if you will, or ignore them. Other they may contradict what was previously stated.

The legion of swords are a mercenary organisation that transcends worlds. When joining it, they discard all aspects of their former identity, bearing only the name of their type of weapon (hence Khopesh and Claymore).

Dagger units specialise in stealth. They can be easily killed but with one strike they can kill you.

Some Katana units are used to defend the headquarters.

The seven swordsmen are the elite warriors in the legion, and are the only ones who have names that do not reflect their weapon. They are the gentleman, the demon, the temptress, the fanatic, the warlord, the ice king, and the youth.

The grandmaster is a master of stealth.

The elemental demon gods include Behemoth (earth), the guy in the water armour (aquarius), infernace and a wind elemental, led by the sage (aether). It would later turn out that the sage was actually working for the fairy king.

The entity that the witch is the avatar of is the kami of the abyss and enemy of all life, and is more powerful than Asura. In the beginning, the kami paired with Deva, the kami of light, and they gave birth to the universe, later, falling out and creating their avatars.

The witch, Erika Marigold, was once a human named Julia Arstrom, a teenage, athiestic goth who was always in trouble. When she died in the bus accident, rather than fear the darkness she embraced it, and the abyss made her his new avatar. With no memories she found herself in tokyo, and came to the marigold mansion, where the witches adopted her, gave her a new name and gave her toppa, who held the knowledge of all previous avatars (unlike the avatar of light, who is made immortal, the avatar of darkness, although forever young, is not immortal, and lives a normal lifespan)

The avatar of light follows a three-fold path: Be true, enjoy life, and always do what is right (which includes no killing. The light avatar has always tried to keep the dark avatar at bay rather than kill her)

Mibu, the omni'yi, was prophesied to bring balance between the two sides.

He would have lived in Hikarichan's shrine, while at the same time be drawn to the witch (Anonymius (talk) 16:36, September 15, 2013 (UTC))

Urumi
This is an urumi. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urumi

Character hijacking
ScorpionTail, though you mean well, I don't approve of your, in a sense, "undoing" DuskNeu's contribution, where the two aspects of Erika merged into one. I don't see anything unreasonable about his/her contribution, and dismissing it as a mere dream is not far from edit warring imo.

Another issue is that in the blink of an eye, Wrath became Queen Urumi: Commander of the Legion of Swords, which is quite a leap from being a witch, who's bent on finding Erika. There's nothing wrong with guiding characters into a storyline, but that was more of a hijacking tbh.

Now, let's make sure we all get along and actually work together on this story, as we're not even halfway through it yet. Stefan (Shikai - &#34;Rust &#38; Shatter&#34;) (talk) 01:57, September 16, 2013 (UTC)

Sorry about that. I was just trying to advance the story. And if DuskNeo is reading this, then sorry about that. --ScorpionTail (talk) 01:59, September 16, 2013 (UTC)

Oh for goodness sake
Is this Urumi character just going to get constant power ups throughout this thing? I mean she already seems to have numerous powers and titles, how many more is she gonna get?

You know what, I've decided that none of what has been happening has actually been happening! I've decided that some characters are trapped in this crazy illusion reality, either than or they're high. Hmm, dare I actually post an entry that reveals that? I'm sure it'll just get reversed or ignored though if not too popular.

Don't worry, Anonymius, we're trying to remedy the situation. --ScorpionTail (talk) 15:51, September 16, 2013 (UTC)

Reminder
Hello all, Thanks very much for your contributions to the story. Just a few reminders regarding the rules that I see being broken the most. Please do not edit or revert the work of your other Wikians- staff is being kept abreast of the situation and we're doing our utmost to help. We will be making the final decision regarding edits. Please also keep to the six sentence minimum, we will be deleting and changing your contributions to fit that rule.

Thanks,

Kate 16:58, September 16, 2013 (UTC)

The pictures
I was just wondering about the two pictures at the top of the page, which I find a little disturbing. They are essentially scantily clad, very young women, and I think they almost qualify as pornography. Should't something be done about that? I know they're supposed to be original art from the masters, but I just really don't think they spread a good image about this project.

TheReturnOfTheKing - O_o I'm watching… 22:03, September 17, 2013 (UTC)


 * Hey there ReturnoftheKing,

The images do not violate our TOU and are part of the project as illustrated by the Masters.

Thanks, Kate 22:36, September 17, 2013 (UTC)


 * Understood, I just find them a little disturbing.


 * TheReturnOfTheKing - O_o I'm watching… 19:28, September 18, 2013 (UTC)

The Next Project
Hey guys.

So, I'm sorry if it's inappropriate for me to post this here during this project, but I just wanted to make sure that all potential authors would be able to read it. If this is the wrong place and/or time to post this, admins, please take it down.

I've heard talk that the next project is going to be a samurai project? If someone could confirm or invalidate this, that would be appreciated. If it is so, then I strongly urge all authors planning on making contributions to the next project to sit down and seriously bone up on knowledge about the samurai. The samurai are an ancient and treasured tradition of Japan, perhaps the best known figures of their honorable heritage. Remembering that the piece will also be illustrated by a Japanese artist, we must be competently knowledgeable of the samurai! It would be beyond unacceptable if we disrespected the ancient samurai and we would make fools of ourselves if we were ignorant as to the customs of the samurai class.

I would say that all contributors, in order to avoid offense or embarrassment, should have a general knowledge of the various eras of Japanese history in which samurai were greatly involved or otherwise significant, learn the names of various samurai motifs (such as swords and clothing), and understand at an at least amateur level stances and styles of Kendo and Bushido chivalry. Anyone previously knowledgeable of the samurai way and history would be very helpful as a resident fact-checker. Even simply rereading and/or rewatching chanbara and historical pieces would be valuable.

If the next project does not concern samurai, please ignore this post and forgive my embarrassment ^_^

Jottie22 (talk) 23:06, September 18, 2013 (UTC)Jottie22

Actually, it does concern samurai, so thank you for the suggestion. I'll make sure to research Japanese culture in general. --ScorpionTail (talk) 23:10, September 18, 2013 (UTC)

It will be about samurai Jottie22, and it will start next Monday. Thanks for your interest! Kate 23:37, September 18, 2013 (UTC)

Next Monday, can't wait! I hope to be able to contribute to that one right until the end as the Red Bat one I was not able to contribute to at all and this one I contributed to but I just couldn't follow the plot so decided not to post. Rainbow Shifter 16:40, September 19, 2013 (UTC)

I hope you do decide to contribute Rainbow Shifter, we'd love to have you!

Kate 16:47, September 19, 2013 (UTC)

Two Branches
The plot seems to have split into two branches, where one branch has Mibu training with Hane, while in the other Mibu is out cold, and Eugene is fighting off an intruder. You'll have to agree on which branch to follow, or the plot might make no sense, should the two branches merge again and one branch be revoked, when editing the finished story. Stefan (Shikai - &#34;Rust &#38; Shatter&#34;) (talk) 13:03, September 19, 2013 (UTC)

The fight with Mibu and Hane is happening in his head. An entry mentions how he drifts to sleep and encounters Hane.

Alright, never mind then. The pace of the overall plot seems to have settled down a bit, and it's coming together nicely, from what I can tell. :) Stefan (Shikai - &#34;Rust &#38; Shatter&#34;) (talk) 15:51, September 19, 2013 (UTC)