Board Thread:New on Galactic Crucibles/@comment-1743498-20160520143437

I know I've been very busy, so only now have I got around to writing all this. I would like to take this quick moment to clarify on the current plans for the Omniverse Nexus.

What is a setting?
As we've continuously asserted that all of the settings take place in the same universe, the idea of their rigid separation is starting to feel obsolete. So instead, the setting label is going to be more of an indicator of what kind of style the story is written in. For example, even though the Omniverse Nexus is technically science fantasy, it would feel out of place to use Star Trek-type technobabble in a fantasy setting like Erudite Tales. Instead, we would keep writing in Erudite Tales using only mythical-type terms that the inhabitants of the United Plane would actually know. Settings would be nothing more than just the name of a collection of stories. Mini-franchises or IP's that share the same universe, like X-Men and the Avengers.

So for the time being, the only real reason to create a new setting is if it covers a specific type of genre that the others do not. So going down the list, we have the following:


 * Erudite Tales - High fantasy
 * Galactic Crucibles - Science fiction
 * Hallowed Worlds - Surreal fantasy
 * Heroic Ages - Superheroes
 * Infinite Histories - Alternate history
 * Miraculum Chronicles - Urban fantasy
 * Myth Galaxy - Science fantasy

As for Tapestry of Stars, I really haven't heard from Suppy on it. It is just an alternate version of Galactic Crucibles, so if we do end up updating it at some point, then it's going to get merged into another setting.

Canon
Due to the large amount of articles, it's probably easier just to reboot a few aspects. I'm looking to have no duplicates or alternate versions of anything just to eliminate confusion and to avoid watered down versions of other articles. The main two settings that this concerns is Myth Galaxy and Galactic Crucibles which share a lot of the same species and locations. So now, the two settings are going to be completely separated with their only connections being references to the overall Titan mythos.

But before we go removing articles and whatnot, first, let's clarify the way canon works. Nothing is too set in stone, and it's really up to interpretation. Much like Star Wars, there are canon priorities in the Nexus.
 * Tier 1 - Featured stories or any notable media adaptations have the highest canon priority. As these are our best works, it only makes sense that they get the spotlight.  We advertise these as the finest examples of what the Omniverse Nexus has to offer.
 * Tier 2 - All other stories are next. These other stories may be changed around, but the point is that the Omniverse Nexus is now more story centric.
 * Tier 3 - We have all articles that are not in direct contradiction to the stories. Think of these as supplementary material.
 * Tier 4 - Any articles which do significantly contradict the stories are non-canon. However, this does not imply that non-canon articles are irrelevant.  We can always say they take place in some unspecified alternate universe, or we can change them slightly later.
 * Tier 5 - And finally, we have any articles which are deliberately non-canon. We should allow users to be able to write stories on totally hypothetical situations.  Anyone remember this: Story:The One-Man Army?  Just an example of one of those.

Any content by new users would be considered Tier 4 canon, or Tier 3 if there happens to be no contradictions. If they do enough to impress the other story writers/admins or their content becomes directly involved with other user creations, it has the potential to be promoted to Tier 2. And if it's really good, then it's Tier 1.

Specifics
We should have maps for all the settings to give clear visual indicators as to where things are. We should also designate a specific present day, or at the very least, some kind of base year to go off of to help solidify the perspective. So for example, in Erudite Tales, the present day would be the Volveros Revolution. Myth Galaxy and Galactic Crucibles have some confusion, but here's what they are: And lastly, the story infobox now has the options Genre, Timeframe and Era to help clarify as to when and where a story takes place.
 * Myth Galaxy - Events of the Dark Prophecy, foundation of the Galactic Senate.
 * Galactic Crucibles - Events of The Corrupted Light, the time when VERN was created which is about 20,000 years before the present day.

What is still canon in Galactic Crucibles?
So since we are changing it so that no locations are shared between settings, Galactic Crucibles is going to be significantly altered. First and foremost, any duplicate species and planets would be retconned as brand new content. Vaikan are different enough from the Dhragolon to stay the way they are, but other species like the Eteno and the Karnasaurs would have to be changed into something else.

The events of Chaos Crisis are implied to still be canon since we do have at least one story set during that time, but the events of Corrupted Light take canon priority.

What is still canon in Myth Galaxy?
Most of the old species would remain the same. However, the Omni in Myth Galaxy are a little redundant since Dark Prophecy focuses more on the Titans as being the precursors. Given that they are hardly mentioned, if at all, in Dark Prophecy and play no integral role to the plot, this minor detail isn't a huge concern as the focus is on the characters.

Setting ownership
Just to broaden our perspectives, we shouldn't really have it so that one person owns a setting. What they own instead is just the storylines they create. We could have setting curators who are experts on all the associated lore though, but we can rank any articles by new users as either Tier 4 or Tier 5 canon until they get properly integrated if they want to at all.

What is our main focus?
We need to make sure people can actually find out what they are supposed to be reading. So site navigation is a priority. Noble has been hard at work, experimenting with CSS and HTML to create flashier looking user pages (which I may or may not have tactically acquired), and to make the site look better and more professional overall.

Mass importation of articles is not as important as sometimes, it's easier just to rebuild things from the ground up. Don't be too concerned about the canon for now. Instead, I would concentrate on just creating good stories. The stories are what people find easiest to read and follow. If they are curious about additional lore, they can always delve into the other articles for more information.

I hope that clarifies things. Let me know if you have any further questions. 