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Review TopicChapter 1 - Fish Kreth pushed himself to his feet, coughing.He drew his sword and span on the spot, in time to see a single bomber soaring over the south-west horizon.Their attempts to cover their tracks had failed; the Brethren clan had destroyed the selection of tents and shacks that they called a base camp.Kreth turned away from the horizon, examining the wreckage. His close friend Slohaz was clambering out of the rubble, keeping a tight grip on a single fish.Food was hard to come by on Barrawahi, and even then it was mostly crops grown on the coveted fertile land.Slohaz was not bright, and he knew of the value of the food the clan had managed to buy from the Rockfoot Clan.He had personally guarded the food supply once it arrived, and even when the camp was in flames, he had made that last attempt to save one bit of it.Some would have found it amusing Slohaz had gone to such trouble to save a single fish, but to Kreth the sight of the bulky Skrall standing there with the fish was just a depressing reminder of the clans desperation to leave this world, and the deal that had cost them everything they had worked to gain.The clan was a small and informal one. It was known as the Escape clan, with no official title. No coat of arms, or motto, and only one code of honour.‘This is not the way to live’As the clan ‘title’ suggested, they simply wanted to leave the planet-wide warzone for somewhere better.Unfortunately, the clan system was severely flawed.The lack of true honour in the group was inconvenient; there was no sense of comradeship.All the members were determined to leave the planet. Many ended up jumping in Olmak anomalies, while possible, it was considered suicidal.The more successful escapees sold out their clan for a totem trip to freedom, some of the more insane ones thinking they’d be better off on Tanuuk or Izumal.On this occasion, Kreth was the sell out. Not for his freedom, but for the clans well being.He had given information to the Rockfoot Clan in return for food.This was a bad move, as the Escape Clan lay on the borders of the Brethren clan, who up until now they had had a mutual agreement of peace.Kreth became aware that Slohaz was limping towards him, and that his leg seemed fairly severely injured.Kreth quickly bent down and picked up an enormous Protosteel axe out of the dust. He passed it to Slohaz, who used it to take the weight off his injured leg.Slohaz had the look of a true warrior in battle. He had elite Skrall armour, and the enormous axe gave him the look of a Barrawahi champion.As far as Kreth knew at least, he wasn’t.Slohaz certainly didn’t have the skill to be a champion; his combat abilities consisted of swinging the axe as hard as he could at his enemies, usually with no awareness for his own safety or surroundings. Occasionally though, he had surprising bursts of unprecedented skill, but these vanished as quickly as they came.Kreth looked away from Slohaz, seeing the rest of the clan helping each other out of the rubble, one Toa of water was extinguishing a burning tent.He was sad to see some people in the wreckage had been left. On Barrawahi, moving your dead was usually an unwise way to spend your time.He was glad to see an Ice Agori picking his way through the wreckage towards them.His name was Gapii and he had been with the clan for 10 years, having arrived through an Olmak anomaly from Tanuuk.Kreth felt sorry for the Agori, as he was often dwarfed in the area, with very few of his own species for company.Gapii had spirit though, arriving from a place as terrible as Tanuuk, most people would give up hope arriving on an equally derelict planet, but he had a constant will to make his life better.Kreth expected others to join Gapii in gathering around him, Kreth was the leader of the clan, and they should look to him for their next move.Instead, they were walking away, heading north, towards Iron Hawk territory.“Where are you all going?” Kreth yelled after them.There was no response, so he looked to the two beings that were walking towards him.“Some honour still left then,” Kreth said.“We’re all in the same situation,” said one of them, a Toa of fire. “I say we stick together.”The other, a Skrall laughed at this.“I just stayed to do this,” he sneered. And he spat at Kreth’s feet. “You’ve brought this clan to destruction, and you only lead it for a week.”Slohaz hobbled between the two of them, staring his fellow Skrall down.“Bring it on, Brainless!” the Skrall said, laughing manically.He kicked the handle of Slohaz’s axe, and the Skrall toppled onto the floor.“You think you’ll last out here like that?” Kreth said, drawing his sword. “It’s honour that gets you places here, and you don’t have a shred of it.”Kreth was uninjured and armed, and the Skrall could see that. The Toa of Fire was also now standing at Kreth’s side, conjuring a fireball in his hand.Even Gapii had picked up a piece of timber and was glowering at the Skrall.Recognising defeat, he backed away.“Are you coming?” asked the Skrall. This was directed at Slohaz.Slohaz shook his head, and Kreth snapped, “Why would he come with you?”“We’re Skrall brethren. We stick together. And he can’t think for himself, he needs to be with his own kind.”“Slohaz can make his own choices,” Gapii said.“Yes,” Kreth said, though this was not entirely truthful.Anyone else in a campsite would forget their orders to protect the food while it was being bombed, and instead take cover. Slohaz just continued with the orders he was given.“I’m staying,” Slohaz growled. “Wherever Kreth goes, I go.”The other Skrall swore under his breath, and turned and ran after the others who had left.Gapii threw his timber to the floor, and the Toa of fire flicked the fireball away.“Azlok isn’t it?” Kreth said, turning to the Toa.“Yes,” he replied.“I’m grateful for your loyalty,” Kreth said. “You too, Gapii. And I always know I can count on you Slohaz.”Kreth knew that it might have been fear of ‘the reign of Slohaz’ that partly led to most of the clan deserting him.The longest serving member of the clan was always the leader. If Kreth was killed, or forced to leave the clan, Slohaz would be in charge.Kreth wasn’t sure if this rule would stand, but many members probably wouldn’t want to be around to find out.“What’s the plan Cap’n?” asked Gapii, upbeat as ever.“Seek sanctuary in Zien,” Kreth said. “There’s never full on wars going on there, and we might be able to join up with another clan.”“The escapes over?” Gapii said, saddened.“For now, yes,” Kreth said, equally down heartened.Azlok also looked disappointed, but Slohaz simply looked confused.Kreth had concluded Slohaz didn’t really want to escape. Again it was a case of his inability to think for himself, Kreth had recruited the Skrall and explained the clan’s aims and why they were good.Slohaz was part of war-like species though, and was unlikely to find himself any kind of occupation on another world. He was the purest of Barrawahi warriors really, and part of Kreth regretted making him think he would be happy elsewhere.“So Zien?” Gapii said, with only a slight trace of enthusiasm. He gestured to the northeast.The four of them headed that way, aware that the constant slight upward slope would make their life seem much worse.They quickly formed a procession, Slohaz at the front ploughed on at a constant speed, untroubled by the pain in his leg or the irritating gradient.Kreth and Azlok mostly kept pace with each other, occasionally falling back to the rear to walk alongside Gapii, who struggled to keep pace with his longer legged fellows.It was a pretty unique selection of beings, Kreth thought to himself.Slohaz seemed to have some mysterious past, but the earliest thing he admitted remembering was being sent by Hand of Faith to rescue Gapii from Shadow Honour.Shadow Honour had locked up Gapii soon after he arrived on the planet.Matoran and Agori were often used to sneak behind enemy lines, and Gapii’s sudden transportation to Shadow Honour territory had been far too suspicious to just let him leave.Kreth himself used to be a Red Skull champion. He had idolised the Legendary Bajnok, but had fled the clan a few years before the Skakdi champion’s disappearance.He did not like to relive that day.Azlok was a fairly normal Barrawahi inhabitant. A strong sense of honour and loyalty and as a Toa of Fire with a mask of Parabolic vision, he was a strong asset to any side.Azlok was also unique in his choice to very rarely use Toa tools. He was a master of simply conjuring his element and manipulating it to his advantage.The group suddenly came over a crest, and found themselves looking out over a cliff edge.The sight was impressive, not because of the height of the cliff and the view all around, or the imposing archway of Zien to the east.What was impressive was the battle they could see raging below, the Iron Hawk clan locked in a brutal fight with the armies of the Brethren clan.Bombers flew overhead, and the landscape looked like it was on fire.Gapii stood and gaped at what he saw before him, before Azlok dragged him back.“People on top of a hill over a battle field,” he said, “could be on anyone’s side if you don’t know who they are. If I were down there, I’d assume we were the enemy, and fire.”“Agreed,” Kreth said. “We’ll try and stay away from the cliff edge.”The group headed east for a while, but quickly came to a long, rocky, ridge down to the ground, the only way down from here to Zien.By now the echoes and flashes of the battle were distant, but walking along this ledge, silhouetted against the glowing blue sky was incredibly risky.Nevertheless, it was the only option available, so they made as fast a pace as possible over the rough terrain.They were halfway down, when there was a whistling sound, and Slohaz yelled, throwing himself to the ground.They were under fire.
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I think the title explains it quite well .Here is the original epic, Hopeless Wars. Constructive criticism is appreciated .
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Since my last disastrous attempt at a comedy, which featured cannibalism, gore and Justin Bieber music and was therefore rightfully closed, I have decided to try and write a new fanfic, for real this time. I decided to post it in the epic section because it has a serious plotline overall, even though there will probably be some humor in the chapters. If there's any spelling mistakes, please tell.The epic is set in the Expanded Multiverse, which you have probably heard about. If not, here is the discussion topic. This fanfic features a bunch of toa from Alarist which are sent to Barrawahi to help Hand of Faith solve a hopeless conflict between 2 clans.Here's the review topic.Chapter 1: The first chapterListen again, friends and creepy online persons, to another EM fanfic of the bionicle. It's the year 498...Hi, my name is Kazuma and I'm from Central. Today, when I got out of bed, I found a package lying on my doorstep. I read the tag and it turned out to be from the Wiki Nui, which was made obvious by the logo on the tag.I started reading: "Hello Kazuma. We are pleased to inform you that an anonymous donor has given you a certain object. Provided you accept, you will recieve it this evening in room 236 at the Wiki Nui. Password is reverse.I was kind of shocked, as something this seemed more important than stuff I usually dealt with. I even suspected the criminals of having something to do with it. However, I decided to pick it up anyway, for kicks. I guess I had been too bored those days.When I arrived at the Wiki Nui in the evening, it was starting to go dark. My brain was restless, because I had had nothing but normal work today at my job, dishwashing in the popular forum plaza "Kopakabana". Which meant I could only wonder what the heck it could be that would happen. I've never been to room 236 before, must be one of those supersecret rooms that are used for weird purposes. I had heard all about it in the forum plaza: Shady businessmen from Industrial making even shadier deals, Hand of Faith members asking for nuclear weaponry, scientific expiriments that would cause commotion if they were made public and AAG officials making deals with the criminal underworld.When I asked for room 236 at the help service, the worker first asked my what I was to do here. I replied:"I have to pick up a present of some kind" The worker said she had to ask for confirmation so... Yeah I had to wait a second. After a while, I was joined by someone else, a red matoran I assumed was a Ta-matoran. After an uncomfortable silence he asked:"So, why are you here exactly?""You first." I replied."Well, I need to pick up something... It's kinda weird, I just got told this morning""Dude me too!" I replied. "We should be bros. What's your name?""I'm Laika the Ta-matoran, from the Wiki Nui." He said, sounding tired. "And you look like you're a Ko-matoran to me.""Thanks, toa obvious. I'm Kazuma, I work at the koro""Must be exciting out there." He said, slightly sarcastic."You bet. It's awesome." I said, trying to outsarcasm him.Before we could continue, the worker returned, saying she had confirmed our access and told us where the room was. When we arrived, I stopped. I had completely forgotten that there would be a password gate. This one had voice commands"You knew there would be a password, right?" I said"Yeah it's reverse" He said. The door did nothing."Maybe it's a code!" I said. "It's password in reverse! Drowssap!" Nothing happened.Laika looked at me weird. After a while of trying a third matoran walked in, apparently with the same mission. His name was Usilas and since he was transparent I assumed he was a Ka-matoran("You don't say").After a while he came up with a suggestion: "Maybe, it's reverse IN REVERSE!""What, you mean like esrever? That's the stupidest idea since my boss suggested I should travel to Enigma in a canoe if I would not accept my demoted salary." Laika said while the door opened."Or not." He said irritatedly.Inside the room, which was much less shady than I had imagined, was an AAG official, an green agori which was waiting on a couch. When he saw us, he quickly stood up and started talking."You have been called here this evening because one of our agents, Toa OIetsj, left you this." He pulled out three packages and gave them to us. Laika and me simply took them, but Usilas was hesistant."And how do I know this thing isn't just going to explode in my face? I don't like this whole thing. If you wanted us to have it, why didn't you just send it by mail? Why does this have to happen in a secret room, where nobody is listening? Why is this room locked with a cryptic password. When I looked I away I noticed Laika had dropped his package."Because" the agori spoke, "It only works in this building." He picked up Laika's package and revealed what was inside, a glowing crystalline thingy. "This is a toa stone" the agori bellowed. "Toa Oletsj resigned from our organisation and chose apparently random 6 matoran to be his successors."What organisation are you talking about?" Usilas said sharply. "I hope you don't mean the syndicate: I'm not going to throw my life away to work with criminals like you!""I'm a representative of the Awesome Brotherhood. We are nothing like the syndicate, We strive to do good in the world and fight evil! Ask yourself this question: If we were criminals, why would we have any interest in you? A cleaner, a dishwasher and a banker? No, I'm only doing this because I know Oletsj wanted you to do this, to be in here and part of our organisation."He turned around. Everyone was looking startled. Usilas and Laika had pick up their package again.The agori looked pleased. "I have arranged you'll meet the others tomorrow. I'm afraid you have no choice..."End of Chapter oneComments and constructive criticism are appreciated .
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A Tale of Two PathsReview Topic Current Chapter: #14: "Statorak Furax"A Tale of Two Paths is the story of a Ga-Matoran from the Water Fragment of Shattered, who through the Olmak Effect anomaly is stranded far from Clysmax with almost no hope of ever returning. Along with her, as a Ga-Toa from Tribal, who forms a bond with the Ga-Matoran after the crash. Soon afterwards, they are separated.Constructive criticism and mountains of praise are welcome. (Preferably the latter) Also, if you have some suggestions to improve my writing style, tell me.This story was originally posted on the old boards, unfinished. Recently, I decided to pick it up again and (hopefully) finish it. I will gradually repost the chapters until I hit the new stuff, in order to avoid having the boards automerge the chapters.Mini-Guide:To those unfamiliar with the Expanded Multiverse, much of this may be confusing. To remedy that predicament, I'll place information relevant to the story here, so you don't have to dig through the EM guides to find the information you seek.The Expanded Multiverse (or Aethion) is a project created by bonesiii and Swert, for BZPower members to participate it. You might call it BZP and BS01's official fanon. In-story, Aethion was created when that Kanohi Olmak that Toa Empress Tuyet lost in Dark Mirror was shattered while in dimensional space. The result was the creation of a highly unstable alternate universe containing eight worlds seperated by a dangerous field of dimesional energy called "Bluespace". The universe is endangered by the growing instability of the "Olmak Effect" which is essentially the manifestation of dimensional warping. This causes unstable portals between worlds to be created, altered history, appearances, and other stuff that would make Dr. Emelius Brown throw a fit. Time-space continu-whatever and 88 mph. and all that. The governments of some of the worlds have started projects to try to combat this entropy, like Team Cipher, the subject of The Cipher Chronicles. But that doesn't matter all that much in A Tale of Two Paths.The only safe method of travel between the planets of Aethion are Olmak Totems: little wooden objects containing the fragments of the shattered Olmak. By touching one, a person is teleported from that totem to its corresponding totem on the destination world. Many beings are teleported unwillingly by Olmak anomalies: turbulent portals that are created when the Olmak Effect is particularly unstable. These anomalies are extremely dangerous, and can cause great potential physical and mental injuries. New beings are created by the olmak effect in Aethion, and like the rest of the expanded multiverse, they are usually combined from beings from the various other dimensions, and some characters, like Akla, in this story, bear an almost exact resemblance to other beings, although they always are differentiated from the source material in several ways.A few other miscellaneous facts about the Olmak Effect taken from the Official EM Reference Topic: When the Olmak Totems of a planet are brought closer together, the Olmak Effect on that planet gets worse and for this reason they are usually kept apart. Some believe that if the six totems of a planet were brought together, the resulting distorsions would teleport a person to Enigma. The Olmak Effect doesn't occur near the Izumal power source, though the reason, like the power source itself, is unknown. The only beings who don't know about, or don't accept, these findings are the Atohune natives, who believe the Olmak Effect is caused by the boredom of the spirits.Atohune is the Tribal world. Heavily forested, it is populated by inumerable primitive tribes that worship 'spirits' living in gigantic towers that contain the Olmak totems of this world. These towers are carried by tribes from one location to the other for the purpose of entertaining the spirits. Since they believe that the spirits cause the Olmak effect when they are displeased, they give the towers priority over everything, and no tribe ever gets in the way if they can help it.In this story, however, one of the tribes is in a bit of a tight spot. A tiny tribe of nomads is trapped between all of the tribes bearing totems, and one of the tribes want to move their tower to the location of the nomads, and unless they scram, the agressors will take them out of the picture. Their turaga will have to buy time in order to survive, but how long can they hold out?Izumal is the Enlightened world. Izumal is entirely separate from the other planets, both for their extreme technological advancement and for its culture of enlightenment and purity. This planet is unique in that it is made primarily out of protodermic silver and gold. Its main citizens live in a single city made mostly of powerful silver nanites with protodermic powers and a highly secret unlimited power source (or so they claim). Virtually anything you can imagine is made possible by the nanites there, and its citizens are totally at peace with each other; crime is almost unheard of, and few ever desire to leave. They do not allow travel to here from other worlds; visitors are told to immediately go home, or be imprisoned, lest the harmony of this world be unbalanced. They have become able to control the weather, so that clouds from the oceans move directly into receptables in the city that feed water to canals. They can also use controlled tornadoes for security purposes.There are outlying criminal camps in the wilderness, and criminals enter the city sometimes. There are thus police and investigators. Most crimes involve hacking, so the camps are also called hacker camps, though not every camp has hackers in it. Agents wearing powerful nanite suits war against these camps, and from time to time, they show up on mysterious missions on the other planets, bullying their way to whatever it is they want. When they go on these offworld missions, they are unstoppable and spark terror in the hearts of all, but they do not kill, and their goals don't even seem to make tactical sense. They claim to be good, but most Aethion inhabitants see them as the real evil of this universe. (Taken from the Expanded Multiverse Reference Topic)The other worlds are the Central planet, Alarist; the Shattered planet, Clysmax; the Industrial planet, Promathus; the Tyrant planet, Tanuuk; the Warzone planet, Barrawahi; and Enigma. Information on all these (except Enigma, obviously) can be found here, but none of the story takes place on any of those planets, so it shouldn't be too important.Main Characters: Laro is a toa of water from Atohune, who was sent by the turaga of her nomad tribe to retreive help from Alarist for one of their villagers. She wears a Great Mask of Concealment, and looks basically like a Toa Mata. You'll learn more about her as you read. Kiasu is a Ga-Matoran from Clysmax, and serves in the air force of the Allied Fragments of Clysmax. In the midst of a firefight, she was brought to Atohune by an Olmak anomaly caused by the convergence of various Tribal Olmak Totem towers. She looks like a smaller version of the Av-Matoran/Shadow Matoran from '08, and wears a kanohi shaped like a Great Hau. She has extra armor on her torso and shoulders issued by the Clysmax military, and bears the insignia of her unit and rank on her shoulders. Like Laro, you'll learn about her as you read. Here's a height comparison for your convenience:The rest of the mini-guide information will be placed in spoiler tags corresponding with each chapter. Some of the work is still in progress, so you may not find what you're looking for yet.Credit to:bonesiii and Swert for designing the Expanded Multiverse.The winners of EM Contest 2: Name the Expanded Multiverse, for the names of the planets/multiverse/etc. More specifically, Lloyd: The White Wolf, for the name "Aethion"; Advant, for the name "Alarist"; ~~Zarkan~~, for the name "Promathus"; Xander004, for the name "Atohune"; Uzumakikunai, for the name "Barrawahi"; makuta of xhini nui, for the name "Tanuuk"; TRINUMA NUVA: One Traveler, for the name "Izumal"; and finally, Good Omens for the name "Clysmax".Credit to Axinian for the character of Statorak Furax, featured in Chapter 3.Credit to BCii for the original idea of the Judgement Cannon.And all the other Expanded Multiverse contributors.Special Thanks to:GaliGee, for if she hadn't written her stories, I might not have attempted to write mine.Exo-Fat for creating the Abyss and Abyssal Plain RPG's, in which I created the original character of Akla, and otherwise, Akla would not be in this story.Charles Dickens for writing A Tale of Two Cities, which gave me the idea for the title. If you enjoyed A Tale of Two Paths:Please show off this banner. Thank you kindly. [url=http://www.bzpower.com/board/index.php?showtopic=6665][img=http://www.majhost.com/gallery/LewaLew/NewBZP/akla_quote.jpg][/url]
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A Tale of Two Paths PrologueListen again, friends, to our legend of the BIONICLE.Five hundred years ago, a Great Mask of Power called the Kanohi Olmak, an artifact that granted travel through the dimensions of existence. After being lost by a toa warrior in a battle, it was trapped floating through dimensional space.But as it traveled, it struck a barrier of an unknown power, shattering and melding the dimensions together into a ring of seven planets separated from each other and a mysterious eighth planet by a destructive energy called “Bluespace“. This collection of universes -- a “Multiverse” -- became known by its inhabitants as Aethion.Aethion is constantly threatened by the force known by most of the Multiverse as the Olmak Effect, which warps physics and is slowly tearing down Aethion. But for some, the Olmak Effect is merely an afterthought, as equally dangerous challenges face them at every moment… Chapter 1: "Clash over Atohune"Ga-Toa Laro hurled one powerful bolt of water towards an orange-armored Agori below. After wiping his eyes, he responded with three wooden darts towards her mask, convincing her to rush farther up the ladder. She scrambled up a few more rungs, focusing only on her goal.That goal was to reach Alarist, to get some help for one of her tribe‘s agori. During a border dispute with the very tribe whose territory she was trespassing in, the agori suffered what could be a lethal injury, if not assisted quickly. Unfortunately, her small tribe had no one skilled in healing any species with as much organics as agori, so they had to fetch help from somebody on Alarist. Unfortunately, the tribe they had the dispute with was the one in possession of the Alarist Olmak Totem, and they were not going to allow a toa from her tribe anywhere near the spirit they hosted.She had been able to get a head start on them by using a Noble Kanohi Huna, but now it didn’t look like that head start would matter much.About thirty feet left to the top. Laro thought to herself. Thirty feet from Alar --Her thoughts were stopped short by a shock up her back. A le-matoran had thrown a wooden dagger into her back, and it had wedged itself in the gears in her back, immobilizing her mechanical parts. As the gears tore through the knife, she screamed mentally -- since her immobile mechanical parts prevented her from opening her mouth.In a sudden start, her gears shredded through the wooden knife, and her mechanical parts whirled to life again. With new energy, she continued climbing, with the orange agori hot on her heels. She reached the top shortly, and hauled herself up onto the platform.“There it is!” Laro exclaimed, dashing for the Olmak Totem. Sure enough, it was marked for Alarist, and she was only a few feet from it now. In her eagerness, however, she failed to notice an anomaly open until the last moment.“Get out of here!” yelled the orange agori. “Don’t you see that you’ve angered him?” He said, referring to the spirits that lived in the towers and controlled the blue energy.“I have no choice!” She replied. “One of your tribe caused the trouble when he attacked one of our agori.”The agori said nothing, and instead leaped over the edge of the tower, grasping one of the rungs below. Laro turned to see a large flaming stone shooting out of the blue energy. She dove to the ground, just avoiding the flying boulder. The rock flew over the tower, and stopped spinning long enough for Laro to recognize it. It was one of the flying metal chunks that those from the Shattered planet called a spacecraft.She didn’t have much time to observe it, however, thanks to a zealous attack by the orange agori and the le-matoran that pursued her earlier. As the orange agori hit her from behind in her legs, the le-matoran hit her high from the front, knocking her over the edge of the tower.Laro’s thoughts went silent as she tumbled through the air. What is there to think about? she asked herself. After all I don’t --She blacked out shortly from the impact. When she could see straight again, she pulled herself up, and found herself on the back of the Clysmax spacecraft. Desperate to get back to the top of the tower, she opened a hatch of the craft, hoping to somehow pilot the flying "rock" to the top again. *** “I don’t take passengers!” called out Kiasu. After having her ship torn apart and transported to Atohune by the OE anomaly, the last thing she needed was a hitchhiker.“Sorry, I have no other options.” the visitor, a toa of water, said. “I need to get to Alarist.”“Well then you’re out of luck.” said Kiasu. “The only place I’m headed to is Ga-Clysmax.”“Please, matoran. One of the agori in my tribe is injured, and none of us know how to heal agori or glatorian.”Kiasu was about to respond that her ship was going down, but she was too distracted at the moment.“Forgive my apparent carelessness, Toa,” Kiasu said in her typical sarcastic tone, “but my steering fell apart in the first anomaly, and there’s a second one waiting for us!”Both toa and matoran closed their eyes in fear as the ship spun into the anomaly. Review Topic
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Read! Enjoy! Review! =D
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Fractures By: Click Credits to Expanded Multiverse Contributors “My world was falling apart, literally. It seemed like it would always last, but it had been slowly falling apart for thousands of years, but we could have prepared for it. I know we could have. We shouldn’t have relied on those lying silver freaks that call themselves Agents. Our worlds are much closer now, but it takes time to heal scars of the past. They have destroyed without mercy, without reason, everything the beings of the Aethion have worked so hard for, but they couldn’t stop there. They destroyed the things we took for granted but tried to hide it. Now, all of us will succumb to the same fate, and only this tablet may help us. I have been exploring the causes and every piece of evidence points to the Agents. I’m sure…”“Come on now, Soren, you know you can’t believe that. None of your evidence points to them. In fact, they have helped us more than your narrow-minded head can see.”Soren looked up from the tablet he was writing to see Turaga Vanhri peering over his shoulder. With his anger barely under control, he hissed “How many times have I told you to knock when you come in, Turaga? And this is private business!”“It isn’t very private if you do it in the middle of your hut. It was all too easy to come in and watch.”Soren slid the tablet under a desk, and his Gadget quickly grabbed it and hid it carefully away. He slowly got up to eye level with the ancient Turaga. There were a few tense moments with the two trying to stare each other down. Finally, Soren spoke. “Maybe you should keep your mask out of other matoran’s business. I know there is something strange about the agents, and they know more than they show. This is all their fault, even if no one else knows it. They can call my crazy, but I know this for a fact!”Turaga Vanhri slowly walked out of the hut. Soren just stood there, staring daggers at the door. Eventually, when he was sure the Turaga wasn’t going to come back, he motioned to his Gadget, who brought out the tablet.##########3 months earlier…“Today was a day like any other. No one looked at me, no one really even acknowledged me except when they had to. I’m not even sure why they would do that. I’m just an element like any other. We are much rarer, but there is a few of us out there. No matter what I do, it’s like I’ve been disgraced from my home, just for being me. Unfortunately for them, I know a lot of things they don’t. Shattered is falling apart. I’ve been detecting lingering radiation from the coldstone, and it’s making everything unstable. It’s just one of the abilities of Ur-Matoran: a sixth sense for radiation and it’s everywhere. One false move by anyone, and this whole planet could be destroyed. I have to watch for any suspicious behavior, but there’s only so much I can do. I can’t see what Ko-Clysmax is doing, and as much as everyone fears them, I’m more worried about Enlightened. Their visits to Po-Clysmax are growing more frequent, and with every visit, the radiation is stirred up more. It must be how they get from planet to planet. Today, I’m going to try to find out how they do it.”Soren finally took a break from his writing. He had a busy day today. He needed to get all the way to Po-Clysmax and back to watch for the Agents. Whatever they are doing is accelerating the countdown, and if they continue, bad things are going to happen. There was only one way to stop them, and that is face to face, but the only place they visit on Clysmax anymore is Po-Clysmax. There’s no time to lose. It’s either get on the Spacetrain now, or wait until tomorrow, but there isn’t enough time to wait until tomorrow, so Soren quickly packed up and left for the station.On his way, as usual, no one even looked at his bizarre green and black colors with silver armor. Even though there are plenty of strange creatures on Shattered, to everyone else, he was the strangest. He shook it off as usual, and continued walking. He ordered a ticket for the first Spacetrain from Ta-Clysmax to Po-Clysmax. The wait wasn’t long, and he was glad for that. The Spacetrain quickly pulled up, and they went off to Po-Clysmax. Suddenly, something didn’t feel right. Soren could sense a gathering of radiation, and knew he was running out of time. The Spacetrain could almost make it, if it just hurried a bit faster. Soren stiffened up, preparing for the worst, when he realized the train was airtight in case of just such an emergency. He couldn’t speak for the others, because Shattered was feeling safe. No apocalypse has happened for thousands of years, so why would one happen now? The airfields were very hard and expensive to make, so not every train had them anymore.The radiation gathered and seemed to dissipate, as Soren had noticed it had, and then suddenly exploded outwards, doubling in energy and quantity, and four beings appeared on the opposite side of Po-Clysmax. Four was far too many, and the radiation had reached a dangerous level. Anything could set it off now. Why couldn’t Enlightened just use a Totem for once? The coldstone radiation was powerful enough to go off, but only something drastic could set it off…And then something drastic happened.A satellite out the window suddenly started arcing energy. The beings with the electricity element suddenly looked nervous, but seemed to quiet down. Then suddenly, the satellite exploded, rocking the Spacetrain. Everyone in the train could only watch as the airfield that provided Shattered’s atmosphere faded out and the air inside was sucked into bluespace. The lights inside the Spacetrain blinked out, and it began free floating. The train was the least of Soren’s problems as the beings on Po-Clysmax began feeling the effects of the thinning air. Soren worked his way up to the front through floating passengers and baggage, and jumped out the door before the driver could stop him. He floated gently to the surface, and immediately began yelling “Everyone, to the train! The airfield is still working, it can help! Go to the train!” Some got the message, and struggled though the vacuum towards the Spacetrain, which had now landed on a nearby rock.Soren began feeling the effects of the vacuum. He tried to continue yelling, but his vision was fading, and he was gasping for breath. He was just about to pass out when something shiny landed in his vision, and hooked something to his mask. Precious air began to flow in, and Soren fell on his back in relief. Through his dimmed vision, he could make out a silver figure flying around handing out the strange Enlightened technology. Those nearest to the train were given a bit of an extra push and got there safely, or so they thought. Coldstone radiation was building up again, and there was another power surge, shutting off most of the power, including the airfield. The Agent now had many more victims to save. Soren knew he couldn’t do it alone. He ran up to the Agent and said “Let me help! You know you can’t do it alone!”Soren couldn’t get the Agent’s attention, because he was staring at something off in the distance. Soren followed his eyesight and saw Ta-Clysmax. Suddenly realization hit him. “No!” he cried out as the first explosions shook the fragment. The gases inside Ta-Clysmax were ignited by the ‘controlled’ flames of the fire farming. The fragment blew apart, pushing the other fragments around. Ice fragment got the worst of it because it was near opposite Ta-Clysmax. Before the Agent could do anything about it, the Ice fragment floated off into the Bluespace. It disintegrated on contact, and only a few ships got off the fragment, probably military leaders and the King. With nowhere to land, they each aimed towards the nearest fragment. One came directly towards Po-Clysmax, just about where the Spacetrain landed. This one seemed different, and it came in veering out of control. It hit the dirt without any landing gear, and stopped just in front of Soren and the Agent. A quick look inside told Soren all he needed to know. There had been no Agent on Ko-Clysmax, and this ship was not airtight.The two Agori inside were dead. #################### With the sudden shock, the Agent remembered what he was doing, and he quickly handed Soren a few of the strange rebreathers. The two quickly searched out beings in need of help. Soren was just bending down to help a Nurop, and was trying to figure out where to place the rebreather, when the quakes happened. The radiation had unleashed again, this time causing huge quakes in the remaining fragments. Buildings all around were falling, and Soren was having trouble keeping his footing. Suddenly, he heard a yell, and looked around just in time to see the Agent underneath a building. Soren didn’t believe it at first. Surely there was some nanite power that would help him escape it! And yet, the Agent sat there, not moving, not trying to do anything, at least, for a moment. Then, the nanite moved around like a rough sea, and flowed out from under the tower. Soren sighed in relief, but then realized the nanite was empty. The Agent’s body was left behind, uncovered. Soren quickly ran towards the Agent, suddenly stopping. His body was unlike anything Soren had ever seen. It was almost completely mechanical, with a strange color of a light blue with a lot of silver beams and pistons holding it together. There were also a lot of bluish crystals along the body, pulsing energy, mostly leading into his hands and legs, where the biggest crystals were. The Agent wore a noble mask of night vision, also in the crystal, which was very strange for a Toa.Suddenly, Soren became aware of a figure sitting next to him. He almost thought it was another Agent, but when he looked, it was a figure in a nanite cloak. Then, the figure turned his head, and Soren jumped backwards. Instead of a usual mask and head, the figure had a pulsing ball of molten protosteel and electricity. Its hands were of the same composition. It didn’t have much of a body, and yet, it almost reminded Soren of the dead Agent. It was like his nanite armor had come to life. Soren couldn’t take it anymore, and he ran. The three other Agents came down over him, and the cloaked figure fled. The other Agents looked at Soren curiously, and then left to examine the body of their fallen comrade without saying a word. When they had seen that none of their technology remained for anyone to examine, they left, and Soren saw their radioactive auras disappear in another teleport. Soren silently collapsed from exhaustion. ############################ By the next day, enough radiation had been sucked into bluespace that everything was back to normal, or as normal as it can get after an apocalypse. Le-Clysmax was working frantically to repair the airfield, and no one could explain how it shut off. It wasn’t the lingering radiation, but seemed to come from inside the satellites themselves, as reported by Toa Hanashi. Soren watched the news on a borrowed Gadget in a Po-Clysmax building, breathing slowly into the rebreather. Apparently, the loss of life was not as great as someone would expect, due to the remains of the equipment previously designed for this kind of emergency.Soren quickly sat up when he didn’t hear anything about Agents. It was either the Agents pulled some strings to not get advertised, or Po-Clysmax had the only one. Soren knew there were three more Agents that appeared that day and maybe more afterwards. During the chaos, Soren didn’t have time to notice any more Agents. Soren had to find out for himself. He quickly, but reluctantly, got aboard another Spacetrain to Ga-Clysmax. He knew what happened last time he was aboard a Spacetrain, but the ride still passed without an incident.When he got to the station at Ga-Clysmax, it was like he had never left Ta-Clysmax. Almost no one even looked at him, and those that did only looked with curious eyes. Soren tried to shrug it off, but he still needed to talk to someone. Every time he tried to talk to someone, they ran like he had some kind of disease. Maybe he did, maybe being a matoran of radiation had some harmful affect to those around him. He was just about to go home and forget about the whole incident, when suddenly, he heard a voice from a hut. He carefully moved towards the hut, wondering if the brief whisper was for him. What he saw was an old Turaga of Electricity.“My name is Turaga Vanhri. I can tell you are one in need of some assistance.”Soren was stunned that someone would actually talk to him, and he didn’t have to force them to. He couldn’t speak for just a moment, but he finally got the words out. “Uh…I guess. I just was wondering about something. I could only go to another fragment to find out the answers.”“I see. No wonder I’ve never seen you before, and yet, you remind me of someone I met long ago. It seems you two have the same problem.”“Someone else came wondering about the Agents?”“What? No, he was also a rare element. I think he might have come back to Ga-Clysmax a short time ago. Listen, I’m not supposed to be sharing this, but there is a Toa of Technology inside Lake Aerospace. If you are wondering about Agents, or need someone who can sympathize, you should go see him. Just get into Lake Aerospace somehow, and ask for Daelus. They should know what you’re talking about. If they persist and say that there is no Daelus there, tell them Turaga Vanhri sent you. They should be much more open to that.”“Oh, um, thanks. How do you recommend I get to Lake Aerospace? That place is more heavily guarded than a Tyrant castle.”The old Turaga smiled. “Just walk in the front door.” ###################### Please review here
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SSC#9: In The Darkness Bind Them entry Tirashos, Southern BZ-Koro Coastline, Year 271, Day 25, 6.45 Lunar TimeThere was only One thing that mattered, and that was his golden Kanoka.He remembered his turaga saying, "Keep it out of harm's way. It is the One Kanoka to rule them all. It cannot be damaged, but hold it close to you, Galuk.""Yes, Turaga. But should I go into hiding?""No. They will find you and take the kanoka, no matter what," The turaga paused for a second. "Stay on the move, and stay in a spot only overnight."Turaga Braap looked at the teal toa."I depart at morning," Said Galuk.---Tirashos, Day 26, 2.12 Solar Time"Galuk! Wake up," a matoran whispered forcefully."Dala? What's wrong?""Turaga Norel told me to find you. She says her scrying has found Zyglak coming to the mainland.""So I leave now?""Hang on," the matoran stated. "She said to try to evade them as much as possible. They know you're somewhere near BZ-Koro, but don't exactly know where. She suggests you go to Warzone.""Tell her I'll leave at 5.""I will."---Barawahi, Horizon Castle, Year 271, Day 26, 5.45 Solar Time"You must be Galuk. Welcome to the home of the Hand of Faith Clan, Horizon Castle.""And you are...?" Galuk asked."I am Makor, and Makor means Me!""What is your position in the Hand of Faith?""I am Lord Makor, King Xaran's secretary and chief adviser.""Has His Majesty been informed of my arrival?""Let's walk. His Majesty has been told of a visitor, but nothing more than that," explained Makor."Then I guess we should meet him, eh?""Yes. My Lord," Makor spoke into his gauntlet, "We have a visitor.""Makor!" A hearty voice exclaimed from the speaker. "Bring him in! I'd like to see him.""Yes, Your Majesty."---Horizon Castle, 6.00 Solar Time"Ho ho ho!" Laughed King Xaran mirthfully. "So you're saying that this 'magical kanoka' cannot be destroyed?""Yes! Exactly!" Exclaimed Galuk."May I see it?""Be my guest," says Galuk, handing the kanoka disk to the king."Makor, fetch me a Blue Grime grenade.""Yes, m'lord," says Makor."What! Are you crazy?""Actually, the term you're looking for is 'insane'," corrected Xaran. "And yes, I'm insane. However, I have an inkling as to what this disk actually is." Makor reappears and hands the king a blur grenade, one without a pin, and a taser-like object and walks back to the side. King Xaran then places the grenade on the kanoka and carefully, slowly, surely just barely touches it with the taser.---Horizon Castle, 6.10 Solar TimeThe effect was instantaneous: Blue exploded everywhere but quickly dissipated. The beings were a bit flustered and shaken up by this, and yet were surprised when the golden disk still remained intact."Just as I thought," said the King. "This is no ordinary kanoka. This kanoka grants the user invisibility, but its powers are not just limited to just that. Fire it, and no one can see you. Once it automatically returns to you, fire it again, and you're visible. It cannot be destroyed, unless by the fires of the Magmoor Volcano on Tyrant."All of a sudden, an alarm sounds very loudly in their ears."What's that?""Oh, just nothing. Probably another clan trying to beat us. It happens many times."Sir, come take a look at this," one of the sentries called out."What is it, Reklon?" Asked the King. "Oh, dear, this is much worse than I thought.""What is it," Galuk asked. "Heavy warriors?""Worse than that," Makor said grimly. "Zyglak."---Horizon Castle, 6.30 Solar Time"No," protested Galuk. "I'm coming with you.""Have you any weapons?""No.""Then you're not coming.""Can I at least get a launcher for my kanoka?""Sure," said the ignorant General Zaar. "It's not like you're going to be allowed anywhere near the front lines." Zaar was heading to the Armory to 'suit up,' per se. When they both got there, he gave Galuk a kanoka launcher and a few daggers, just to be safe. "My gift," Zaar said."I can't take this.""Sure you can. Now get to the battlefield and GET INTO BATTLE!!!""Okay," Galuk says while running.Once he's on the 'drawbridge,' he sees total chaos on the battlefield. King Xaran casting magic spells, Zyglak infecting warriors, artillery shells exploding at every turn, et cetera.He makes is way to the King, and hears him shouting "YOU SHALL NOT PASS!!!" After this, a barrier appeared and incinerated all Zyglak that even touched a mere portion of it. "So glad to see you. my friend. I was afraid that you couldn't make it. ZAAR!""Right here, sir!""Get your troops lined up.""Your Highness, that could take all day."":Well, just be glad that it's morning!""Galuk, I want you to turn invisible and kill as many Zyglak as you can. I fear they're after you. Go now!"Galuk did as he was told. He put the kanoka into the launcher and loaded it up. After a few seconds, it fired, and Galuk was nowhere to be seen. Meanwhile, General Zaar noticed many Zyglak randomly falling.To Be Continued... INFORMATION I do not own or have any claim to ownership of the Code Lyoko XANA eye. I also claim no ownership of the Lord of the Rings series. QUOTES: "...One Kanoka to rule them all..." ~ "One Ring to rule them all..." Fellowship of the Ring, Chapter Two"I am Makor, and Makor means me!" ~ "I am Gandalf, and Gandalf means me!" The Hobbit, Chapter One"YOU SHALL NOT PASS!!!" ~ "You shall not pass!" Fellowship of the Ring, Multiple times throughout the entire book
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My first MOC in 2012, and possibly my greatest work so far. Front (with angle)BackHolding swordLink to gallery (when public)I got the idea for the backstory as I was writing this topic.Origins:Darkstar is an alias; his real name is Dhallham (pronounced "duh-LAHM"; name meaning "darkness" in Arabic). He is a member of an unknown species, and never discusses his origins with anyone of his colleagues or acquaintances. Darkstar is a mercenary spy who works for the person/organization that offers the most pay-not that he needs any money; he does it to insinuate a sense of self-pride and self-worth to himself. Darkstar does not live anywhere in particular; he has many abodes scattered all around Central, Industrial and Enlightened. Powers:Darkstar possesses a wide array of powers that can be deployed at will; super-sensitive capabilities, super speed, weapon (mostly sword) mastery and elemental power over electricity. He is a skilled warrior with a somehow "belligerent" attitude. He does not turn back on a fight, and never abandons any of the teammates he is (if so very rarely) he is assigned to work with.Personality:Darkstar is a rather solemn, reclusive figure who has a cynical attitude. His care-free demeanor means that nothing motivates him, and also means that he is a recalcitrant character who doesn't submit to anyone's commands, When he is assigned a mission, he executes it in his own way, and doesn't take orders from anyone. This is probably why he has gained much deference and respect from many Enlightened Agents and some rather "unwanted" recognition from the CEO's of the Industrial giants. I am quite happy with how this MOC turned out. The head is completely custom, something rarely used (if ever) on my humanoid MOCs. The torso is custom as well. While I know that some parts (such as the arms) detract quite a lot from the sleek, slender style of the MOC, you must remember that ordering Lego pieces online is virtually impossible where I live, so I only work with what I have. This guy has been visiting me in dreams for three nights until I delved into the process of building him. Not much of an easy task, building out of dreams.The build was heavily inspired by BZPower's member retinence's (not sure if that's how it's spelled) creations, especially Eva Unit 02. I hope you guys like it, and appreciate any comments or criticism you have to offer.
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Hi there. This it the review topic for my Expanded Multiverse Epic, Dual Sides.The story is broken up into two parts running roughly side by side to each other. The half revolving around Vanus will be listed as Chapters, where as the other half revolving around Darque will be listed as Acts. There will be parts where they intersect, and they will be listed as both.Feel free to post any comments or criticism. Thanks.
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Dual Sides This is the story of two radically different beings whose destinies are linked. Two parts of one whole. Two sides of the same coin. They don't know it yet, but their worlds will soon collide, and set them on a course that could change their lives forever. And so it begins... ~~~ Chapter 1: An Enlightened Beginning Vanus lay back in the eye of the giant Hapori Tohu statue on the central island of BZ-Koro and watched the sun set on Alarist.Technically it wasn't really a sun but the Alarist cargo star, but that doesn't matter. What matters is that you know about Vanus and his past.At first glance, Vanus appears to be your average gold and red Toa, but he's not exactly a normal Toa. Vanus is the combined form of two Energized Protodermis altered Matoran, Astris Janus and Vakarma. During an incident with a Olmak Anomaly, Vakarma's fusion ability went haywire and he and A-Janus were fused. Normally this wouldn't be a problem; Astris and Vakarma fused often to form Vanus. But this time they couldn't unfuse. Now, Vanus was stuck and there was nothing he could do. Other than help others with his own powers.Anyway, as Vanus watched the cargo star set, he considered his current situation. I'm a protector, he thought, and I'm good at it but... I need to find a new challenge. He closed his eyes for a moment, before it came to him.I'll go to Enigma! he thought. It will be the ultimate challenge. I'll bring together all the Olmak Totems and use my energy manipulation to lower the spatial distortions and chaos. I'll take a video device with me and send a live feed back to my gadget for recording. He stood up, the sheepish expression he was wearing now replaced with one of excitement.Just then, a gadget climbed into the eye where Vanus was standing. It had a news of a bank robbery in Wiki-Nui displayed on it. Vanus examined the report before looking towards the shores of Wiki-Nui. "Just got to finish this first," he said, and beckoned to the gadget. It jumped up and latched itself onto his arm. Vanus closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. As he inhaled, his toa tools (a pair of scythes and a pair of fire great-swords) appeared on his back and reformed into the framework of a pair wings. As he exhaled, golden energy flowed between the blades and formed what would be the wing membrane.Vanus opened his eyes and took flight to Wiki-Nui. *** Night had fallen over Alarist. At the northern tip of Wiki-Nui, the Olmak Totem to Izumalcould be found. This was Vanus' first target. There are a few reasons for this choice. Mainly, it was because there was no Interplanetary Transport Hub for it, so it was rather easy to take. Also, because it was the totem to the 'Enlightened' planet, no one bothered to go to it.Vanus slowly approached the totem. He was being careful, and was making sure to keep a lookout for other beings and Olmak Anomalies. Actually, it was more about the anomalies than other people. Ever since the fusion, he had always had problems with anomalies. They made his powers go haywire, which, in turn, could cause him to unintentionally activate Olmak Totems. Another side-effect of the fusion was that, after transporting through a set of totems, he couldn't go through the same set of totems again for twenty-four hours. If he tried, the totems would send a powerful discharge of energy through him, shocking him. He would either have to wait for the effect to wear off, or find another set totem to go through.Vanus lifted the totem from its pedestal and began to walk away. He grinned. “Nothing to it,” he said to himself. “Piece of ca-“Before he could finish his sentence, Vanus tripped over a rock. He gasped as he hit the ground, still grasping onto the Olmak Totem. He examined it. It looked the same as before. He breathed a sigh of relief. “Nothing broken,” he said, “and nothing has happened to me.”Those words he soon regretted.After he said that sentence, an Olmak Anomaly appeared nearby. Vanus’ hands began to glow blue, and the glow then spread to the totem. Vanus had a look of distress now.“Oh Karaz-“Next thing he knew, Vanus was flat on his stomach in a small, silver chamber. He got up and realised that there was an Olmak Totem behind him. He turned to examine it. It had the emblem for central on it.And then there was a voice.“The inhabitants of Izumal ask that you go back,” it said, “or face the consequences.”Vanus looked at his hand. He moved it nearer to the Olmak Totem. Blue static jumped between his hand and the totem. If he tried to touch it, he would be shocked. He turned away from the totem. “I can’t.”“And why not?” the voice asked.“I can’t go back through a set of totems twice in a row,” Vanus said, trying to remain calm. “If I try, I will be severally shocked.”“Interesting,” the voice said with a tinge of curiosity. “This means that you must be sent to the criminal camps.”Vanus panicked. “No,” he said. “No! I just need a day for the effect to wear off!”His words did nothing to help his situation. There was a swirl of silver, and he was in barren metal desert. Vanus was stranded on Enlightened. ~~~
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They're up! Okay it's not much yet, but it's a step.
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Updates: 1) Go check out Swert's latest "bonus" Multiverse story, The Unauthorized Biography Of Toa Pumaa! This is an "episode 4.5" of sorts but it doesn't really spoiler anything from Cipher Chronicles, so check it out even if you haven't read those! It's been a fun project to work with Swert on, and we hope you guys like it. 2) Taxes are taxing. Yeah. 3) I've got Endless Blue almost totally written. Just the final few chapters of the end showdown to write. I think yall'll like it. 4) I've come up with a concept for a new computer game, which I've made several preliminary graphics for (minus shading/lighting). It will be very much like MNOG 1, click-through screens and stuff -- it's always felt disappointing to me we never got a game very similar to that, and from the fan works I've seen most seem to be more like MNOG 2, which is fine but they're slower with more chores. However this will have a lot more battles, including early on, if I pull it off. I do not plan to tie this into any other stories. It'll standalone in a self-contained setting taking place in the distant future on the restored Spherus Magna, but with completely new characters and species and everything, without relying on much if anything from old story. I want this, ideally, to do a lot of what MNOG did and thrust the player into a whole new world -- definately Bionicle, but so new as to feel very mysterious. It will work totally in a major canon gap that I doubt will ever get filled -- you'll see why just from the title when I'm ready to reveal it. So basically it "could" be canon, except there are no sets, heh. I plan to make this in Gamemaker most likely, unlike all the past games me and Ojhilom have made. It'll be heavily quality-graphic and gameplay-battle oriented, with minimal chores or speeches, just enough to add interest along the way. I want to focus on the fun factor and cool imagery factor as much as possible. Ojhilom probably won't have time for the coding but I've done enough code tests to know pretty sure I can do it myself, the hard part will mostly be making all the graphics, which I'll be doing in Powerpoint -- this won't be pixel art as I'm planning. It should appear much more like MNOG's art. So yeah, I dun' wanna reveal more at this time but there's some heads up to tease it. After taxes are done I want to finish EB, and then work heavily on this. 5) Just to confirm, I haven't forgotten about Unseen, got the final two chapters planned but not written, and many apologies for the huge delay. But right now the final chapters probably need to involve something the BSS is actually discussing right now and given that I have other things to do, I think I'll most likely wait to see if anything is done with that canonically before I go ahead with my version of it. EDIT: 6) Oh yes I knew I forgot something I was gonna post here lol. I have untracked all my tracked blogs, bar none. I finally realized that I keep having to go past them all to look at pages 2 and 3 to see other blogs, when now blog activity is slow enough there's no need, I can just untrack them all and see them right on page 1. I might be crazy but it seems to be working, heh.
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It's been posted! The Unauthorized Biography of Toa Pumaa I hope it was worth the wait. [/Valve Time]
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Multiverse updates: We have picked the guest writer for Episode 5 of the EM Cipher Chronicles! Congratulations, TakanuvaC01, and thanks to Takuta-Nui for doing an excellent job in running the volunteering topic! For those that are curious, we have provided a basic impetus for this episode and some details, even a few secrets, TnC01 can use. But the vast majority of it will be totally up to him, and I can't wait to see what he comes up with. To those that didn't make it this time, many of your submissions were excellent and you guys have great potential for future guest writing opportunities! Lemme tell you, choosing wasn't easy! I'm nearing the end of the writing for Episode 4. The "grand finale" is about to happen, and it's coming along quite nicely. If all goes as I expect, you will see it begin to be posted in the Epics forum well before the end of September. I can now confirm that Episode 4 will be roughly 20 chapters, over twice the length of the average normal CC episode. In addition to its main plot, it is also a major "pulling-together" episode of plot threads from the first three episodes, and establishing major basics such as Team Cipher's headquarters, so the stage will be clearly set for the episodes to come. In contest news, if you're wondering where the Denizens, Tyrants, and Vehicles PDFs are, basically I am waiting till I've got Episode four's "final" draft done before I get to that. Also, Tyrants will likely not get a PDF only for that, but will be put off for a Sapient Species guide later. Whether we will actually do a contest and what the nature of that contest might be for other species, hasn't yet been decided. Episode 4 also uses several winning entries from the Weapons and Denizens contests, which were completed before I began writing, and the latter half of the episode even includes some entries from Tyrants and Vehicles. Also, the next EM contest will indeed be about Wildlife as we've speculated in the discussion topic before. Bionicle Story Squad updates:The most important thing I'd like to bring to your attention is the Canonisation Blacklist topic. Essentially, we're asking, what things do you NOT want canonized? I had something along these lines planned even before the BSS was formed, but no clear idea where to go with it. Even now, we want to caution that it is just for interest -- we can't impose anything on Greg, but we do think it will be helpful to know what you guys think about this. We've also got some polls just started. There is the simple Sundial Hours suggestion. We have a suggestion about masks for Makuta, with two current polls: Makuta Masks 1: Icarax And Tridax and Makuta Masks 2: Kojol And Stelty. Tiebreakers if necessary for this are planned, and the final choices will be polled yes/no to see if people agree with it. Edit: Just launched, a topic about the mask for Toa Naho. Most popular suggestions (from existing masks) will then be polled. Some internal changes are underway, as Tilius has announced here.Storyline & Theories updates:The main Bionicle story has ended. S&T's pinning space is cluttered. Other stuff. I don't feel like announcing details yet, but basically a whole slew of streamlining stuff will be happening soon to adapt S&T better to today. Yarr. I am sorry, but Memoirs of the Dead is officially delayed. I shouldn't have tried to do two short story contests that close together in the first place. In order to properly judge ATYU2 with all I've got going on, it's going to take more time, period. But still working as fast as reasonable.
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EM Vehicles Results Topic.
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A while ago we asked you guys to invent names for a secret character in Cipher Chronicles Episode 4. We decided to use several of the names for characters in the episode, and now we are ready to announce the results. Thanks for the suggestions! Here are the results, and see the note in bold for another related opportunity to help us out. Arrik Xell A two-part name; Arrik is by Kini Hawkeye and Xell by LukaRhotuka. This is the secret character. Regnius By Lewa Krom A Toa of Air on Alarist. Right forearm replaced with an Earth Claw (from the Weapons contest). Affiliation I'll keep secret for now. Tarko By Shadow Destroyer A Tuma-level Skrall of Shadow Honor clan on Barrawahi. A lower-level military group leader. Sulmiris by Skrilax Female Tyrant, Lady of a small town in Duke Mokuun's territory on Tanuuk. See here for a short bio, under Lesser Tyrants. NOTE: You have an opportunity to help pick her power (from the 12 standards just announced in the Tyrants Results topic). See here for my request in the Discussion Topic and some minor spoilers from Episode 4. Zereldar By Skrilax Female Turaga of Silver, leader of Tribe Rapid Spirits on Atohune. Ally of Turaga Xata of neighboring Tribe Echostone (M'konglii's tribe). See here for information about her and her tribe. Zakar and Mualma By Zaveno and Lewa Krom Two Matoran of Lava, the founders of the secret unnamed slave refugee organization (formerly known as Broken Limpet) on Tanuuk. Zakar is male and Mualma is female; the Lava element is one of only a few naturally bi-gender EM elements. They are often referred to in code as the Two Lava Rocks. Most organization helpers never meet them, but they are a legend, and even just hearing of their advice in your own predicaments, passed on by Gadget or in-person messengers, is considered a great honor.
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In other news, sorry I've been neglecting Unseen and The Dynasty; have been writing the next Cipher Chronicles episode. Got three and a half chapters so far. And yes, Tyrants results are coming soon, please bear with us as we're very busy. Not much else to report at this time. Enjoy the contest!
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3rd Em Leader, Hf Villain Creator, Name Suggestions, & More Updates
bonesiii posted a blog entry in blogs_blog_39
1) Major Expanded Multiverse announcement. Takuta-Nui -- author of the third Cipher Chronicles episode, Library staff member, active in the Library etc. has joined Swert and myself as the folks in charge of the Multiverse. Thanks for joining the team, TN. We look forward to working with him on the Cipher Chronicles' story development, choices of guest authors, and more. 2) Hero Factory site villain creator is fun. I made four. Piston Troll Tankclops Squidbot Helicreepter 3) Am working on Cipher Chronicles Episode 4. Quick, can yall throw random made-up Bionicle character names at me? I need one for a secret purpose in the story. Shorter the better. Cred to the suggester will be given. Suggest as many as you want. I'd like to pick one by this time next week. More EM updates below, but first: 4) Recently some questions came up about the reasons the Multiverse is being done, and in the way it's being done. Any melodrama that may have came up along with these questions aside (and please do not comment on that here, if you saw it), they are good questions. So Swert and I wanted to take a moment along with the above announcements to clarify our reasons for doing this. The questions include, why was a fanon collection project like this thought of by staff of reference sections (S&T forum and BS01 wiki), instead of Library staff? Answer is, really, I do not know, because we were not the originators of the original (failed) Expanded Universe project, which was started by my predecessor in S&T. And as you can see above, we are indeed involving Library staff. As far as we are concerned, we thought the idea of a fanon collection was a good idea, and we applied lessons learned from the canon Bionicle story to attempt to make the new incarnation of it successful, unlike its predecessor. So more or less, it's just how it happened, I guess. Also, both Swert and I are and/or have been fanfic writers. It isn't surprising that fans of story got involved in a story project. If I was to make a guess, psychologically speaking, it would probably be that the Library's focus has traditionally been on individual fanfic writers of their own universes, whereas we are more used to something (the Bionicle canon) that has had many authors and contributors and is designed on a larger scale than the typical fanfic. So I suppose it's a natural fit. A related question is, why is the EM IN S&T and the BRC, rather than in the Library? The answer is, it's actually in both, and it is also in BBC, Artwork, and any number of similar creative expression forums. The EM is about much more than just fanfiction, and more to the point, it is intended to act as a freeware collection that anyone can submit content to, and anyone can freely use the content without the need for express permission from the creators. In other words, "fanon". As such it makes sense for the collection and the major two topics (Discussion and Story Submission) to be in more visible locations so it is easier for fans to reference content they would like to use. However, the Cipher Chronicles, and the Submitted Stories, are indeed in the Library. Why do we report on the EM, and specifically the Cipher Chronicles, on BZPower's front page, even though, for example, it is non-canon? Why don't other fanfic works get frontpage recognition? Well, part of this is easy to answer. The EM's content is usually added to via an official S&T series of contests, and for several years now, the administration's policy has been to advertise official BZPower contests on the frontpage, to encourage involvement. So just as a BBC, RPG, Art, or Library contest (among others) will be reported on the frontpage, the EM contests are as well. What about the Cipher Chronicles, and other major EM updates? Generally speaking, they are either basic reference updates that are ONLY done along with more important updates, and all EM updates are done with Black Six's express approval each time. The Cipher Chronicles, the PDF downloads, and a few other things are the prizes for the winners of the contests, as well as serving to inspire others' creativity in fanfics. Remember that in the original plans to revamp the EU, the main thing we felt was needed is some kind of reward, and contests to earn them. Before we had come up with the Multiverse, we had planned to add a fanon side to our S&T canonizing contests. Later we realized it would be far better to make our own universe that we could tell our own adventure mystery story about, rather than just contests, since Bionicle's success was so much about its story. So, S&T canonizing contests became a separate series, and the Multiverse's prize became the featuring of the winners in the Cipher Chronicles, etc. Also, in the future we do plan to do story contests, as CC episodes that will get frontpaged. As for other people's fanfics getting frontpage recognition somehow, that is an excellent idea I would fully support. Up until now, nobody had thought of it and nobody has volunteered to do the work necessary to make such an idea come to fruition, but is the EM meant to compete with other fanfiction; in fact, it is meant to encourage and help inspire it. Also, we will be choosing guest writers based on what they have proven themselves capable in past works (aside from the story contest option I mentioned), and we may also advertise those past works as part of that process (at the very least, they would be able to do so in their sigs in the Cipher Chronicles story topics). Who runs the Multiverse? Who decides what gets featured majorly in it? The short answer to this is you guys run the Multiverse. The vast majority of content is created by anybody who wants to enter the contests, and voted on by the membership in contest polls. Also, most of the lesser basics besides the stuff in the Multiverse guide is decided as a collaboration in the Discussion topic (for example, what the Clysmax Shard Moons are like, or what elements we should include, mask powers, etc.), with only the final decision being made by us. But in order to have a framework within which to set the content, and have a mystery adventure story that we could hopefully thrill readers with, we did need to create the basic settings, background, and mysteries ourselves. Although, we did ask for some others' advice on some of those things before we launched the 100 page guide. Finally, since any project needs leaders and of course, originators, the Multiverse was invented by Swert and myself, and now we, along with Takuta-Nui, are in charge of it. There are some things that we have to make executive decisions on in the Multiverse, similar to what Greg does in the canon -- and yet, they are much fewer and far between than in Bionicle canon. A normal fanfic, of course, is ruled totally by its single author; the EM is ruled much more by anybody who wants to get involved. (However, we introduced the concept of reality shifting so that even our final decisions can be reinterpreted or sometimes even ignored outright in others' EM fanfics. We have also purposefully designed "gaps" in the story and world to avoid painting EM fans into corners.) Does the EM have anything to do with the canon? What about canonization? The short answer is no. The concept of a fanon collection was invented in S&T long before anyone thought of, or I and Greg approved, the original canonization contest, Treespeak in Metru Nui. That was during my time in charge of S&T, but the EU was thought of by my predecessor, as mentioned above. Now, for the long answer, when we were planning out how to revive the concept of a fanon collaboration, we did consider involving canonization ONLY for the winners of the contests, and that was actually done with the first EU contest, Xian Weapons (later this contest was modified to be called the EM Industrial Weapons contest, although the Xian part still applies to the 15 winners). The only other involvement of the canon was 1) simply to make sure Greg was not going to use the canon Olmak that Takanuva dropped in the space between universes, which we are using in the origins of the EM, and 2) the ten Sayger/art masks that had canon appearances as listed on BS01, but their powers were unknown. Since we needed to come up with mask powers for the EM guide, since those masks were being neglected by all others, and since several of them inspired EM mask powers, we decided to try to kill two birds with one stone. If we had not involved the EM with those masks, we were already planning to attempt to resolve the issue of the unidentified masks via something like a contest -- but we would not have had room in our schedules for a mask contest for a long time. In the interests of time management, we opted to try for the "kill two birds with one stone" approach, and Greg approved. Also, a mask contest that may involve the remaining unknown canon masks among other possibilities may still be on the table in the future for S&T. If so, it might also involve the EM for the non-winners, similar to the Weapons contest, but this has not been decided at this time. Those are the only three instances of canon involvement with the EM; the rest of it is intended, at least for now, to be strictly non-canon. We think it simply works better that way. However, let's also keep in mind that canonically, Greg has said that all fan fiction stories exist in alternate universes, and the EM's alternate universe status is clearly stated. So in a sense, the EM is entirely canon as an alternate universe -- and so can your fanfics be. (Also, for purposes of simplicity, we have begun to use terms like "EM canon" to refer to those things definately approved to exist in the EM, which should not be confused with Bionicle canon; this is simply for lack of a better term.) Why isn't it in its own subforum? Basically, if it actually became so active as to warrant existing, it might become to busy to fairly moderate. For the moment, it works better where it is. Also, if it was in a subforum, that would imply that all creations for it would have to be stuffed into it, so for example, a MOC topic could not be in BBC, which is confusing and redundant -- let alone would rob the creators of those MOCs easy visibility to reviewers of MOCs in the place those reviewers are used to going. Similar issues would come up with Epics versus short stories, let alone that they would be redundantly placed anyways. So most likely a subforum will not happen. 5) In other EM news, the wiki Kanohi page has received major updates, including new art for my Paracosmos masks that were submitted to the EM (especially noble versions of Greats and vice versa). Some of the canon masks have new angles drawn to make it clear what they (noncanonically) look like in the EM. A handful of the fan-created masks also have images now, and more are hopefully to come soon. 6) Well, I had been hoping to have the organizations announcement ready for this, but failed lol. That and Tyrants Powers results, plus new Tyrant details, I hope we can work on this week. And yes, I'm preparing a reply to the (many) new questions/suggestions in the Discussion topic, but that may get delayed for a while... 7) Somehow or another, we plan to open up authorship of the next Cipher Chronicles episode after number four (so episode five) to a guest writer. What method to decide who, though, hasn't yet been decided. There are a lot of pros and cons to every possible method. I am leaning against a literal story contest at this point if only because I will have to judge the ATYU story entries very soon anyways, so that would be a bit much. That probably leaves a volunteering system, a picking based on the best Submitted Stories, and/or a picking based on stories in general, or some combination of these... or something we haven't thought of yet lol. Hopefully yall should hear an update on that soon. -
COMING SOON
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The following top winners of the Multiverse Guide Art contest (see the Results entry for the full array of winning images) are invited to create more art in specific remaining art slots. Congratulations to: Chrome -- photorealistic style A-Janus -- good at logos and other simple things Veq -- good at sketches and stylized computer art lewathetoa -- incredibly detailed paper art MechaFizz -- very good at computer art Shadow Velocity -- stunning computer art Kayru -- high quality paper art The art slots that these specific members are invited to create art for: 1 Contents whitespace -- any image that represents the Multiverse, preferably small 4 after Writing Rules, tons of space for a big image (could be multiple medium images here) 6 room for a pic on any topic from the basics text 13 another more accurate version of Blue Grime, small 19 small pic of an ITH interior on Central, preferably WN 21 lots of room for a big pic, any Alarist theme 25-26 Promathus CEOs & Union bosses, very small 27 Stadium, with ongoing Clash game probably, medium 33 Another small Industrial pic, any theme 55 Tyrant Duke Choruul, small (must wait for the Tyrants MOC results, coming very soon) 61 random small tyrant-themed image, maybe the winning Tyrant MOC??? 69 Enlightened scene 72 Izumal hovertower 83 an agent, realistic metallic lighting on the armor 87 Cargo Star colored Winners, discuss in the comments to this entry who wants to take what slots. Probably best to avoid more than one artist taking the same slot for this (with some exceptions). We'd ideally like to include everything you make for this. I'm not officially assigning a deadline to this, for now. ASAP, though.
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Entry List is up to date. There are a number of comments with problem entries under Powers. Anyone who wrote a Powers entry should look through. All MOCs except one qualified. I won't have time today to send out the PMs, so the final week for the edit period has NOT started yet. I'll probably try to send the PMs out tomorrow, after rechecking the list against all entries to make sure none were missed (with one sole exception hopefully/apparently, that will be looked into), then I plan to start the final week on Monday, so the week will also end on a Monday ('cuz I won't be able to do the polls on the weekend anyways). In other news, on the off chance you don't read every single frontpage news article of BZPower (shame ), we announced a ton of Multiverse updates last Thursday here. Updates in there include: The launch of Swert's Cipher Chronicles Episode 2: Escape the Fire. BTW, yesterday he posted both chapter two and three. Read. He plans to switch to one chapter per week (on Tuesdays if possible) from now on. Multiverse Guide PDF V3, with the Guide Art results.Links to results of both Denizens and Guide Art contests.Wiki, including which pages had content at the time, such as the new species info. BTW, some new details have been added on that page to the Teralpid species from MechaFizz.In other other news, I just finished chapter 6 of Endless Blue, and truckin' along pretty well there. Will try to post the Blue MOCs results next week. Try. Key word. For those who follow the Paracosmos, some tidbits to add to what I had said already... I plan for every chapter to have at least one section from Bhukasa's point of view. Am trying to be very careful how I jump from thread to thread so it doesn't seem to be jumping all over the place. Not easy because I do have a lot of threads to follow. I decided not to feature the Rathoa thread at all until maybe chapter eight (got it mapped out how I want to lead into it, though), and to focus primarily on the threads for Bhukasa, Lewa, Niaka (and the Eight Matoran team she's leading), and Hujo. Lewa's thread is introing the Kanoka/Mukana thread too. Also, I'm doing two more threads. I am having a bit of a thread from Krohlaba on Kriitunga Island -- he's the Angry Miner from TI, but now he's a good guy due to his experiences in that story. This is tying directly in with the Bhukasa thread and Gali and Pohatu's promise to return to Kriitunga Island (also Twayzivl and the Haze Glow Beasts, who are mutant Kriitunga returning home, on Bhukasa's boat). The other thread, I can't reveal anything at all, except that even the reader won't know whose point of view it truly is for a long time. I've got a bit of cameos of the contest winners started, but mainly I'm establishing the main plot threads in a coherent way first, so I'm not ridiculously flooding the early parts with hundreds of characters XD. There's a ton already. In many cases, a character you met from a past story will be mentioned only if absolutely necessary, and then without the name, such as Jorthao, who is just called the owner of the zoocraft, to limit the number of characters. I'm even thinking of doing that with most of the Eight Matoran, but I'm not sure. A'ight, that's about all I wanted to say right now. Go read Swert's latest chapters if you haven't already.
