The Sound of Thunder - EPIC Collaborative Story - Character creators, writers, editors, idea people, artists EVERYBODY WANTED. · 2:43am Sep 9th, 2013
Copy and Paste Time!
The Story - Alternate Universe (Sort Of)
One thousand years and the world had changed completely from what Luna had known. It all began when Princess Celestia banished her sister, the deadliest enemy Equestria had ever faced, only to draw the attention of another. With one the world's most important goddess' gone, and the other reeling from an emotion blow, he leaped from the shadows, and struck her down: the Old God of the Sea, Nathusha.
Pictured Above: Nature's Asshole
In a cruel twist of irony, he locked the Princess of the Sun away in an unknown location, before setting his eyes on the rest of the world. With his power, he managed to keep the sun and the moon rising and setting, but he was still far from benevolent. Angered at the world for what he only knew, he cursed its entirety with rain that lasted an entire cycle: an entire year. He literally drowned the world.
Finally, his power expended, though satisfied that he had put nearly 90% of all land beneath the waves, he sunk back into the unknown deep, leaving the world above as quickly as he came.
Though many managed to survive, the world had changed as they knew it. Though still: they adapted as they always did. Sea travel, and eventually sky travel via massive airships became a way of life, and for a thousand years, the status quo remained. That was until the thousandth year - where the stars aided in Nightmare Moon's escape. Fortunately, six young ponies, the Elements of Harmony managed to free her from Nightmare Moon- as prophesied by Princess Celestia years ago.
And Luna isn't about to let the world stand as it is.
Taking control of the Equestrian Remnant, who were eager to once again have an immortal ruler, Luna then took command of the small island nation's finest airship, what would be renamed as the Nocturnal Thunder. With it, she has recruited the finest crew in all the lands, including the Elements of Harmony, with the plan of finding and freeing her sister and restoring the land to what it once was....
No matter the cost.
What's Needed
As you've read, this is going to be my first collaborative story project I've ever led. However, if there's one thing I've learned about collabs, is that consistency can often be a problem. I'm not talking about a consistent writing style: I honestly don't care about that, I'm talking more of story consistency. However, I have a plan to get through that tricky situation. I'll get to that in a second. Below are the roles I'll be needing...
1. Character Creators - Basically, OC makers. I'm would love to have a butt-ton of them since, well... look at the ship below. Here's a basic format to help you get started. Submit as many as you want. They can be heroes, villains, blah blah blah. Doesn't matter. I'd prefer the lot of them be on board the airship, but if you want to put them outside of it, that's fine, too. You can either write them yourself, or have them being written by someone else. See below for that...
OC's can be submitted at any time.
Character Name:
Location:
Role/Duty/Occupation: Cannon operator, Marine (boarder), Nautilus Pilot (The submarine - see below), Skysword Captain (The scout ship - see below), navigator, Requiem (Magitek Cannon) charger (unicorns only), mini-gun operator, bombardier, pegasus dogfighter, ext. ext. ext. ext. Look below for ideas.
Race: Seaponies, griffins, minatours, goblins, changelings, ext. The Equestrian Remnant is a nation that accepts pretty much everyone.
Skills: Expert sword-fighter. Lady's colt... ext.
Appearance:
Personality:
Biography:
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral, Neutral Good, ext.
Post OCs on the forum (see below) or send me a PM.
2. Idea People. Basically, people who throw ideas at me, be it lore or whatever, really. A fic of this magnitude is going to need them. You don't really need to sign up for this.
3. Editors. I'll be looking at every chapter submitted myself, but having two to four editors/revisers look them over would be awesome. Should be a simple job, just scan the forum once and a while for chapters and then do a revision when you can. You don't need to hit every last one of them.
4. Artists. Having people make some cool art for this would be awesome. You don't have to be an expert, just decent.
5. Chapter (or chapter group) intro maker. I think it'd be cool to have a little intro video with music, like this for example:
And it would definitely be cool to have a story intro, such as this:
The Most Important Thing - Other Writers
This is a collaborative story, after all, so other writers will be needed. You don't need to be a perfect writer, either: this whole thing is for fun, right? As stated above, I do have a system in mind, so let me elaborate.
How To Become An Author Involved With This:
1. Choose a character to follow. Your writing should either be first person or third. You could also make a simple journal log of their's, if you want. Doesn't bother me. Just make sure to follow around only one or two characters. These can be OC's or literally ANY MLP character (Save for the villains) re-imagined for this environment (and all can be on the ship, too): Gilda, Bon Bon, Time Turner, some random changeling, Shining Armor, whatever! Doesn't matter. And since this is an alternate universe, they don't have to be their respected races. I'm planning on making Lyra a seapony :). I call Princess Luna, though :3.
Oh btw, you still need to post a character profile for whoever you're writing, non-OCs included since this is an alternate universe.
2. Wait for your turn in the queue to write a chapter.
As I mentioned above, a consistent story is important, so here's what I plan on doing. Basically, I'll post the initial chapter or two. Then, another person will post a chapter following their character - either SLIGHTLY in the future (no big events, please like airship attacks or whatever - that would really screw me over) or at the same time as the initial chapter, then another, and another until every writer is done who wants to be involved in that particular section of the story. Then, once that is done I will Frankenstein everyone's work together into one or multiple chapters.
You HAVE to wait for previous person to post his/her chapter before posting your own, though you can begin writing it whenever. Just remember to read everyone's chapters before yours. And when will you know when to post?
Easy - I'll be putting everyone in a list, with first come first serve. You post in your place on the list, so for example:
1. Silent Bob
2. Dick McGee.
3. Captain Jack Harkness.
Captain Jack would post his chapter after Dick McGee's is done.
IMPORTANT: You have to post your chapter within three days of the previous chapter, or it will not be included. Sorry, but I want to keep the ball rolling. This does not mean you're booted from writing future chapters, of course.
I would like to have up to, and ONLY up fourteen other writers involved in this, so fifteen in all including myself.
This part is a bit complex, so question away, mateys!
I will creating a separate group specifically for this story. Do not post your chapters here.
The Airship
Well, it's what the story is centered around, so for maximum consistency, HERE IT IS!
A blueprint.
The Key:
1. Mast
2. Mini-Cannon Platform. Cannons can rotate 360 degrees.
3. Crow's Nest. Freeze your balls off!
4. Cannon Gallery
5. Deck Cannon Gallery
6. 'Ground Pounder' Mini-Cannon Gunning Room. These guys can shoot at pretty much anything below the ship.
7. 'Big Bertha' Requiem Magitek Cannon. The biggest requiem cannons on the ship. Basically, their cannons that fire pure, weaponised unicorn arcane magic. Nearly one-hundred-eighty degree rotation. Unicorns charge them and their crystals act as a catalyst. These things can fuck shit up.
8. See the cone-thing shooting flames out of the end of the ship? That's its primary magitek thruster. Fuck propellers.
9. Crew Quarters. Where all the sea-scrubs sleep on shitty, moth-eaten hammocks.
10. Nautilus mini-sub launch bay. Yep, the ship carries a prototype magic powered mini-submarine equipped with torpedoes and a mini-Requiem Cannon.
11. Scout Ship Skysword Launch Bay. She also has a scout ship. Why does she have a scout ship when the ship has pegasi aboard? Because fuck you, that's why :D.
12. Command Room. Navigation, tactics, ext. takes place here.
13. Captain Luna's Quarters. Where no clopping will take place.
14. 
Finn.
15. Powder and Cannon Ammunition room A.
16. Powder and Cannon Ammunition room B.
17. Armory. Where all swords, rifles, crossbows, and hoof-held weapons are kept, as well as ammunition and powder for them.
18. Galley or Mess Hall, whatever you want to call it. Either way, this be the anti-scurvy room.
19. Leviton Device - Again, a crystal within uses unicorn magic as a catalyst to perform a specific task. If you notice, the ship doesn't happen to have any sort of balloons: that's because this thing holds it aloft. If it is destroyed, the only backup is Princess Luna, who can use her magic to hold the ship aloft for a brief time.
20. Shield Generators - Again, another arcane-powered device. These create a shield around the shield for a battle. It can take a number of hits, but only too much before they overload.
21. Medical Ward - Where they shove apples in your mouth until the scurvy goes away.
22. Command Deck with wheel. Luna gets to use her Royal Canterlot Voice a lot here.
23. Ze Brig: where the shitheads go.
24. Recreation Room/Library - Where one can go to find peace and relaxation right above ponies practicing shooting cannons.
25 (and the 16 next to it) - Higher Rank Quarters - Three rooms, three cots per one. Not as good as college, but whatever.
26. Bomb Bay - Drop fire and stuff on enemies below.
27. Stern Requiem Cannon Room/Gun - Smaller than Big Bertha (they all are), but still packs a punch. Nearly one-eighty degree rotation.
28. Bow Requiem Cannon Room/Gun - Like the stern, only on the bow. One-eighty degree rotation yadda yadda.
29: Navigator and Quartermaster Rooms.
I'll probably be making a world map soon, too, but don't be afraid to make up locations as long as they aren't super-nuts.
Additional Info
We'll be using pirate ranks/positions as a base for titles and such. Why not Royal Navy? Cus Pirates are fucking cooler, that's why. Try to familiarize yourself with ship-terminology as well. Of course, there will be special ranks such as marine, so don't go overboard (haw haw haw) with accuracy. I also wouldn't mind some pirate slang, but that isn't required, of course. Keep in mind, this is only a pirate ship... some of the time, so it's a lot more Royal Navy than Black Pearl.
Here's some sites that can help you out, though:
Pirate Ranks and Positions
Contains A Shit Ton of Nautical Terminology/Ship Terms
Final Crap
Anyway, I hope this will be a fun as shit project for everyone involved. Remember, no need to take it too seriously, and everyone keep that in mind if you get annoyed with someone else involved in the project.
Let's kick some booty. (Yar har har) We'll start as soon as we get enough people!
Any questions, ASK ME IN DIS BLOG POST.
For discussion, sign-ups, and everything else, GO HERE!
Sweet jesus.
You really put your all into this, didn't you?
Welp. If I can clear up some of my schedule/readings/pre read jobs...
Count me the fuck in.
~Skeeter The Lurker
>the sound of thunder
Fuck you thunder, you can suck my dick! :3
wait so the go here thing is for inserting OC's?
1337732
Yar!
On the ship schematics, it appears that the crew lives inside the engine. But I like the look of this. I guess I'll start making up some OCs and possible locations. I probably won't be a writer on this, but I'm thinking about it.
Note: I believe you screwed up some of the numbers, like 8 and 26.
On topic, I ca be an idea lobber. I procrastinate too much to be reliable.
1337783
Good enough for me :3.
Interesting. I don't have the self confidence to actually write for this sort of thing, but I can occasionally come up with a decent character, or so I deceive myself. Any asshole can toss OCs at you?
And, Er, if we do, I assume that doesn't mean an OC we contribute to this is off limits for our own projects? I know you can't stop us but courtesy and all that. I may not plan on writing my own things but I try to keep my options open.
1337831
Course not :). It's your OC. You do what ye wish with it.
1337833 super. I'll see if I can't give you something compelling. And damn you're fast.
Holy damn.
If you'd let me, I'd be willing to put my other projects on hold to write for this. I'm a slow updater, but I can work with a deadline.
This might get me out from my writing dump, if you'll have me of course. I‘ll try brainstorming for a bit.
1338108
Dude, of course I'll have you :D. Welcome aboard. Just make sure to sign up as a writer before all the slots are filled :D.
1337867
If you're down for it, my friend :). Make sure to sign up before all the slots are filled, though!
I'm absolutely going to write for this. Is it OK if I take a writing spot now and submit the OC some time later today? I'm just not sure of a few personality traits and whether I want to write him or not.
1338801
Unfortunately, the writing spots have already been taken, but you can feel free to claim a backup writer spot since I'm sure someone will drop out eventually.
We always accept OCs :).
1338813
Alrighty. I'll submit the OC soon
Writers slots are all taken?
Dang... then again, my school year has me pretty much filled.
Can I still submit an OC?
And will I have some say on how my OC should act, or is it truly up to the writers?
1339052
Feel free to go in as much detail as you want :).
1339056
Alright. Is it kay if I PM you?
1339137
It'd help with organization if you added to the thread, but you can pm if you want :).
1339167
Alright. I'll reply to you on the thread then.
1339167
I'm kinda interested in the Scout Ship. Who is that for?
1339208
Nobody, really. It can be used when needed. It'd probably have a designated captain, though *wink wink*.
1339222
Okay... but now I'm interested that there are Royal Guards.
Do they see a lot of action?
And are there any spots available?
1339239
For writing? No, unfortunately they've been taken, but you can sign up as a backup (people are bound to quit). You can also submit OCs, add to the lore, do the journal thing, ext.