How soon things change ...

[binidj]

I know I shouldn't go anywhere near it, but every now and then something prompts me to go to the Harts website. Of course once I'm there I just can't help sniffing around and occasionally I dig up something like the following in the Ancestors of Albion section:

The Architect
The Architect was originally an Imperial ancestor and one that lost much power after the destruction of the Empire. He represents wealth, prosperity and civilisation ... and encourages his followers to see such things as signs of personal growth. Worship of the Architect is on the increase, especially in the southern duchies of Cornwall and Winchester. He is however often shunned by Albion's more tribal races (such as the elves).

Now I know this is bollocks on account of how I helped JFS to write it. Ordfinarily I wouldn't bother to raise this but I was fairly sure that confirmation that this was utter bollocks had been found by players several years ago.

I know it's none of my business any more but still ... it's annoying to see something that you have written and were once quite proud of, changed beyond all recognition. A bit like CS Lewis coming back to discover that Jadis had been re-written as one of Aslan's helpers.

Comments

[westernind.livejournal.com]

hang on a mo - wasn't the Architect the avatar of the supergribbly Enemy? And a big faker? (Simon says yeah, he thought that was in the plot document he handed over when he quit.)

Makes you wonder about real-life prophets, eh.

[wildwinter.livejournal.com]

Yes, I too, thought it odd (being a Hart, these days). But then players do have a three event memory-span.

Count yoursel(f/ves) lucky; we're still in the game system, and plot we were running as recently as last year has now been completely rewritten. Some things have clearly 'unhappened'. Despite us leaving possibly the most copious notes (an entire Wiki full of it) ever handed on to another plot team in that faction...

Tum-ti-tum. I just ignore it. I mourn some of the untold stories; but shrug my shoulders and feel just a teeny bit superior about it all. "Look at what you _could_ have had..."

And I count the free hours I have, and count my blessings...

[kneeshooter]

Put the keyboard down and walk away. You have twenty seconds to comply.

[woodbrook.livejournal.com]

I would say that information in that section is currently 'what we know ic' as there are some bits on Puck that are now hugely out of date.

That said I did just send some other stuff that supports the 'not enemy' thing...which we found an event ago. I might go read it again with a suspicious eye. I know that the 'Architect' certainly has some suspicion being aimed at it at the moment as some ancestor noone's heard of before.

[delvy.livejournal.com]

Yeah, well.... um, yeah. There are entire encounters that occurred last year that some of the current plot team have claimed never existed. Despite me having sat through them while they reffed them. Ho hum. Revisionism is the way of the world it seems.

[jfs.livejournal.com]

We co-wrote it :-)

And yes, it made me laugh.

Cos it fulfils the adage "It's all shit, really ..." yet again.

Though to be fair, that write up is "exactly" how the Enemy wanted the Architect to be perceived ....

[ephraim.livejournal.com]

Did you keep a copy of the original plot docs and write ups? I have copies of most everything that I wrote (somewhere), so will always have the originals to hand.

To extend your Narnia analogy, I tend to look at the evolution/mutilation of the plot that I wrote for the LT as more akin to Slash fic than anything else. OK, so in the original Aslan and the White Witch never got it on; but someone somewhere wanted them to, and that person is probably writing plot for the LT. Patronising? Yes. Unfair? Probably. A good way for me to deal with the whole business? Absolutely.

Lifes too short to worry about what they have done to your babies, and one should always avoid thinking about the revisionist LT gibbon hunched over his keyboard frantically typing with one hand as he...

[quintus.livejournal.com]

You are mistaken citizen, the chocolate ration has always been 25g and was raised to 50g and we have always been at war with Eurasia.

Ignorance is Strength

[smokingboot.livejournal.com]

It is as irritating as all hell when this happens; an entire Sicilian event was based around a Deodati duke who was holding a ball or an auction or something; said gentleman had died more than two years previously during the break-out of plague on Sicilia, part of a past, not just written but roleplayed, to which players had responded a long time before.

I don't see to what extent the LT can be blamed for this kind of thing unless they are writing the faction plot lines themselves. Plot teams do tend to re-create the past, often very badly, cos they want to put their stamp on the faction. It isn't right, but considering how folk re-write real life, I can't be surprised at it.

[castorlion.livejournal.com]

Having been in pretty much this position, I will state that vicious and deliberate attempts are not being made to rewrite what has been written.

Rather, what is happening is that plot team members are being drawn from the ranks of the faction players, often the longer term players who remember with fondness the plot lines they themselves played through and enjoyed. These plot team members are paying homage to those plot lines, and attempting to both preserve them as part of the setting and also bring a measure of the enjoyment they had to the newer players.

Unfortunately, these plot team members don't have access to behind the scenes information; what they have is information that they and other people uncovered IC - and although we know how unreliable that is, it's still very difficult to acknowledge that what you "know" as "fact" could well be a tissue of lies.

One way or another, whether through lack of communication or through a corruption of information caused by the chinese whispers of NPC replacing etc, the definitive info is not available, and those of us who know you respect your wish to remain LT-negative, therefore making it very hard to approach you for advice on plot lines that you wrote. So the plot team member goes ahead with it anyway, because it's now part of the history, part of the story, and part of legend and because they want it to remain so.

It's not an insult, or deliberate revisionism; it's an attempt to preserve what was written. Misguided, perhaps. But no one is perfect.

[pax-draconis.livejournal.com]

Learn not to care, Bin. It's a long time ago, and not actually very important any more. Poking at old sores just makes you hurt; shrug, and allow to yourself that it is only a game, and a pretty silly one at that.

You only ever rent control of this stuff, you don't ever really own it.

[nortysarah.livejournal.com]

I remember Nick playing one of the messengers of the architect way back at that site at the top of the M3. I've got the plot doc's as well. The problem is I don't think any of the current plot team were in the Harts when that event happened...

hmm

[forbinproject.livejournal.com]

The 'Enemy eating an earlier Ancestor' might be my fault I'm afraid. I think I put summat in to that effect - although I would've thought that I'd have run it past you and SiB.

Dunno, can't remember, I didn't keep any of my plot docs outside of the JFS/Roz/Me Summerlands stuff.

Fessing up

[jcrollie.livejournal.com]

Probably mostly my fault really as I was the 4IC following you guys

I remember thinking same as Matt Matt that some of you would not want to talk about LT and sure I remember a couple of "Your not going to talk to me about LT are you" type comments, although they were probably in jest (and mostly from Schokley!)

I definitely missed (and still do) having you all around as you, Simon, Simon, John and John were big influences on my perception of LRP and plot

Will do better next time!

James