Other Worlds Than These (Discussion Thread)

[feawen]

oh i have missed you in LLL's!

[Aikanáro]

Originally Posted by Curufin

I want to do this...just give me a few days to decide what kind of character I want to play.

Yay!

Glad to have you joining us! I look forward to seeing the character you come up with.

[Varnafindë]

Curufin!
Great to have you RPing with us again!

[Curufin]

I was supposed to be off tomorrow, and I was going to work on my character then, but I got called in. XD So I will try to get my character figured out on Friday, when I'm off again.

[Aikanáro]

No worries, Curu, whenever you have time

Rivailen pointed back at the still-glowing circle.

She might still be pointing when someone falls out.

[feawen]

Anahera is free to be pointed at when every your ready!

[Varnafindë]

I'll try to post later tonight - and perhaps to point at you

[Midge]

I love this idea. I have some questions, though. Are you going with already established worlds/universes (like Narnia, for instance), or are we allowed to make up our own? Can we start playing people from the other worlds before they discover the rifts, in the other worlds? Obviously we're allowed to play different creatures from other worlds, too, yes?

I'm reading Perelandra right now and I think I'd like to play a son or daughter of Tor and Tinidril, or maybe a pair of siblings... I think I'd like that best.

[lightbulb /]

Oh, I totally just had a great idea for a bad guy for this RP based on that series, but I guess Aika has that part under control already...

On another train of thought, it would be fantastic to bring Ransom himself back to his world-traveling days, but I'm not sure I'm worthy to take up that mantle.

Edit: Thought of another question - Are these portals going to be littered over a longer period of time or are they going to occur suddenly and then we'll have to search for them again?

Edit: Completely philosophical question - what would happen if Aslan ran into Eru?

[feawen]

for your last question the world would implod! lol

i think i can answer the first few for you! my person is from a world i have made up and there was a few post ive done for her in her own world.

[Midge]

I'm in the process of coming up with some a pair of twins as characters from Perelandra. I'm afraid it will sound like I'm breaking one of the main rules of character making in RPs - your character isn't perfect. However, technically, mine would be, because sin had not entered their world. There would be issues because they would be ignorant of much of Middle-Earth's customs, etc., and they wouldn't be invulnerable or anything, but I can't sit there any say "so and so has a temper" kind of a thing.

There's also the issue that the Lewis Space Trilogy is MUCH less well known than say, Narnia, and that might cause issue too...

How about if I post what I have and you experienced RP'ers let me know if you think they would work? If they won't, I'll give up on it and my characters will continue to live in peace and quiet in Perelandra.

[Aikanáro]

Hi Midge!

I haven't read Perelandra, so I Googled it to get an idea of what you're talking about. Now I want to read it! Anyway, to try to answer a few of your questions...

Are you going with already established worlds/universes (like Narnia, for instance), or are we allowed to make up our own? Can we start playing people from the other worlds before they discover the rifts, in the other worlds? Obviously we're allowed to play different creatures from other worlds, too, yes?

Yes to invented worlds, yes to playing characters before they discover the rifts, and it depends on what you mean by creatures. Other non-human sentient species will generally be fine. Animals and such depend on the world they're from and how they'd actually fit into the story.

Are these portals going to be littered over a longer period of time or are they going to occur suddenly and then we'll have to search for them again?

Each portal leads to a different world. They don't stay open for long, so we're going to have to look. In the interest of story development, though, it's quite possible for someone to come through a portal when the group is not present, and find them a little later.

Oh, I totally just had a great idea for a bad guy for this RP based on that series, but I guess Aika has that part under control already...

PM me? I'm curious now.

Completely philosophical question - what would happen if Aslan ran into Eru?

Heh, is that the kind of question this story is going to bring up? Fun. I wonder if Eru might not have more in common with the Emperor-Over-The-Sea.

I'm afraid it will sound like I'm breaking one of the main rules of character making in RPs - your character isn't perfect. However, technically, mine would be, because sin had not entered their world.

I'm a little concerned about this, to be honest. I'd love you to join in with the RP, but I'd like to find out a bit more about these characters first. What does it mean in practical terms? Is it just in terms of morality - they're always Lawful Good, as it were, and without the usual character flaws? Can they make errors in judgement and be wrong about things?

[Midge]

Originally Posted by Aikanáro

I'm a little concerned about this, to be honest. I'd love you to join in with the RP, but I'd like to find out a bit more about these characters first. What does it mean in practical terms? Is it just in terms of morality - they're always Lawful Good, as it were, and without the usual character flaws? Can they make errors in judgement and be wrong about things?

Well, the book in a nutshell is essentially the story of Eve being tempted. It's different in several ways from the Bible story. One of these is instead of giving in to the temptation and disobeying God, the tempter is stopped and the Eve-character doesn't disobey, so sin has never entered Perelandra. The way the book ends makes it sound like the opportunity for the inhabitants to sin has passed and so they really can't sin. So I don't think they would have character flaws like pride or anger streaks or anything.

However, they would most certainly be capable of making errors in judgment, at least according to Middle-Earthian eyes. As a matter of fact, that would probably be one of the ways I could introduce them. They would arrive in Middle-Earth naked, for everyone in Perelandra goes naked, so someone would have to teach them clothes. Because of the no-sin thing, they are very trusting, so they might reach for a bad fruit when they were hungry. They can be faulty like that, of course. And being from such a different world, confusion is a given. Especially since in that world, they have not experienced corruption, deceit, etc.

And of course, they wouldn't be invulnerable or all-knowing, and they wouldn't see themselves as superior to any other being.

I'll PM you real quick with that idea.

[Midge]

Here's my characters' bio. If you see something that could be a problem, let me know.

Names: Lur and Lantura - Twins (one boy, one girl) of Tor and Tinidril, King and Queen of Perelandra.

Age: Unknown - they refer to their "oldness" in terms of knowledge, not time. Therefore, when they learn or understand something new, they have been made "older". However, they were Tor and Tinidril's 10th and 11th children. Lur is a few minutes older than Lantura.

Physical Appearance: They are shaped like humans, though they have no genetic connection to humanity. Their skin is a green color (I have never found a specific reference as to the specific shade, except that The Green Lady looks like a marble statue at one point, which puts this shade in mind.) Both are tall and slender of form. Lantura is known for her grace of movement and thought, and Lur is known for his strength of body and mind. They are both fit and arrive in Middle-Earth stark naked, as everyone on Perelandra is. They appear to be in their mid-twenties, though their actual age (the exact number is unknown) is many more than 30.

History: For those who have never read Perelandra, the world is very different from Middle Earth.

Because Perelandra is a Lewis book, it is about God and Christianity, of course. The premise of this book is that Perelandra is not a world plagued by sin. There has been no Fall of Man there. Because of this,

• All beasts are pets and the inhabitants eat fruits and other vegetation, so the twins will (at least at the beginning) be vegetarians.
• Food is readily available on Perelandra, so the idea of having to hunt or scavenge will also be foreign.
• Clothing is not worn, partially because the planet is so warm and paritally because the people there have no shame to cover with clothes.
• There is only peace in Perelandra and therefore, no bloodshed. The twins heard a legend of blood from their parents, who both saw Ransom's heel bleed while he was in Perelandra, but the twins have never seen blood themselves.

The most important thing in life to the twins is Maleldil. Maleldil is the name that is given to God in Old Solar, the language of the heavens (according to Lewis). Because of the similarities to Old Solar, the twins will understand Westron, but they will not understand Quenyan, Sindarin, Dwarven language or any of the other languages of Men or Hobbits (if there are any other languages of Hobbits). Maleldil often speaks directly to the twins in Perelandra. He may do so occasionally in Middle-Earth (I'm not sure I want to put words in God's mouth).

Despite the fact that the twins are ignorant of so much in Middle Earth, they are wise in their own way. They have lived many years in Perelandra and are counted relatively "old" there. A little less than 200 Perelandrian years have passed since the world was born, and Tor and Tinidril have had nearly 100 children. Some of their first children have married, and so Lur and Lantura have siblings and nieces and nephews, but the idea of more extended family or non-relations is foreign to them.

The twins will also be very trusting. Because of the nature of things in Perelandra, they will have no concept of deception, corruption or even the difference between bad fruit and good fruit (to eat), as I mentioned before.

Skills: Perelandra, having no sin, is a planet of peace. The twins have no skills with any weapons either for war or for hunting food. They may learn some of those skills in Middle-Earth, but each will have different strengths. They will retain their respective strengths from Perelandra, of course. The twins will seem to have a power over some beasts in Middle-Earth; it will be only reminiscent of the relationship they have with the beasts of their own world.

[Aikanáro]

Approved.

While they're definitely on the perfect side in some ways, I think the complete culture shock they're going to suffer in Middle-Earth makes up for that from a storytelling perspective. They sound like they'll be good fun to interact with.

Perelandra has some overtly religious themes, and I think it'd be really interesting if some of our characters got into a theological/philosophical discussion at some point, I don't want to stifle that. What I would be wary of is any sort of divine influencing character, but as long as Maleldil's just speaking on rare occasions and not directly acting on Middle-Earth, that should be fine too.

Unknown - they refer to their "oldness" in terms of knowledge, not time. Therefore, when they learn or understand something new, they have been made "older".

I love this!

How would you like to introduce them? The group probably won't come across another portal for a while, so you could either post from Perelandra for a bit, or write that the twins came through an earlier portal and have been wandering the plains a little lost since then. Or maybe you have another idea for it?

[Midge]

Originally Posted by Aikanáro

Approved.

While they're definitely on the perfect side in some ways, I think the complete culture shock they're going to suffer in Middle-Earth makes up for that from a storytelling perspective. They sound like they'll be good fun to interact with.

Perelandra has some overtly religious themes, and I think it'd be really interesting if some of our characters got into a theological/philosophical discussion at some point, I don't want to stifle that. What I would be wary of is any sort of divine influencing character, but as long as Maleldil's just speaking on rare occasions and not directly acting on Middle-Earth, that should be fine too.

Well, I was thinking about that. In addition to putting words in Maleldil's mouth, it could be that would be an opportunity to make them seem omnipotent, which I don't want to do.

I think what I'll do is let them hear from him a couple of times in Middle-Earth, but gradually he speaks to them less. They will not fall out of His will (they know His nature and commands well, after all), but they will need to learn caution and how to deal with people who have evil natures, etc. They will be able to take this oldness back to their own world and teach it to their people there.

Originally Posted by Aikanáro

How would you like to introduce them? The group probably won't come across another portal for a while, so you could either post from Perelandra for a bit, or write that the twins came through an earlier portal and have been wandering the plains a little lost since then. Or maybe you have another idea for it?

I was thinking I'd write a couple of posts in Perelandra. That way, if you're just reading the story, you can get a feel for where they're coming from and their way of life, etc.

[Aikanáro]

Originally Posted by Midge

Well, I was thinking about that. In addition to putting words in Maleldil's mouth, it could be that would be an opportunity to make them seem omnipotent, which I don't want to do.

I think what I'll do is let them hear from him a couple of times in Middle-Earth, but gradually he speaks to them less.

That sounds like a good way to handle it. I think any perceived omnipotence would depend entirely on the way in which we wrote it. I can't imagine that all the other characters would react to one of the twins saying something like 'my God is speaking to me' in the same way Perelandrans would.

but they will need to learn caution and how to deal with people who have evil natures, etc.

Yes! And not even just evil people but people who are basically good but also flawed - telling the difference between the two might be tricky for someone with a prelapsarian mindset.

I was thinking I'd write a couple of posts in Perelandra. That way, if you're just reading the story, you can get a feel for where they're coming from and their way of life, etc.

Sounds good! You're welcome to fit those posts in wherever you like, since they're not directly impacting the other characters just yet.

[Midge]

Originally Posted by Aikanáro

That sounds like a good way to handle it. I think any perceived omnipotence would depend entirely on the way in which we wrote it. I can't imagine that all the other characters would react to one of the twins saying something like 'my God is speaking to me' in the same way Perelandrans would.

One of the problems with this is that if Maleldil still speaks to them as He would in Perelandra, I'm afraid they would listen to Him over their companions, which, if any of the companions are convinced that Maleldil is a delusion, could result in a rift or even a fight.

And if I were to have Maleldil speak at the wrong moment or say the wrong thing (I am not God, after all), I could ruin a story.

[feawen]

oh i think i may play Anahera from a godless sociality! may create a bit few debates! i also thought i may have her not really understand weston but some thing a little like it, could lead to a few misunderstanding.

[Varnafindë]

Wow! I know Perelandra - I've only read it three or four times, but I last read it last year. Baru will be interested in the philosophy and see the similarities with Aslan speaking to people in Narnia, where she grew up.
Great idea! (And I'll post for Baru tonight or tomorrow.)

[Midge]

I don't want to write a whole pre-novel... it might be difficult for me to determine what is important to write about Perelandra in only two or three posts. It's okay, though. I'll do it.