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http://galactic-crucibles.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:Krayfish/The_New_Galactic_Crucibles

The Omniverse Nexus site now has a forum feature! The extension is still in beta (as in, the creators of this extension haven't actually finished it yet) and stylewise, aesthetics isn't my forte, but the new site now has a discussion board. If you guys find it to be user friendly enough, we could very well be able to move away from wikia for good. Your feedback is essential. I need to know what kind of forums you want or any other features you might find more convenient.

So here's the forum itself: http://omniversenexus.net/index.php?title=Special:WikiForum

I also created a separate forum for all things related to Light World: http://omniversenexus.net/index.php?title=Special:WikiForum&forum=12

Blog pages are still nonfunctional though and I'm thinking it's probably best to get rid of them entirely in favor of this new forum. Also, I still have account creation disabled so let me know if you want to make an account.

Lastly, there's a new role called forum admin. I promoted Tim to one so that he can edit the Light World threads.

In other news:

• The chat system now has smileys. Try some out!

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 multiverse, 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 multiverse, 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:

• 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.

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.

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.

So as most of you know, most of the work that's been going on with the new site has been all about importing articles from across all wikias and labeling them with their respective settings. I've mostly been doing either my own articles, the articles of active users (specifically ones that are used in crossovers) or general articles that play an important role in the overall continuity. However, as I've been combing these wikias for content to import, I've thought of a few questions for all of you:

• Should archived articles be imported? Since the original authors of these are no longer active, if they do get imported, then they'll have to be restructured as something new.
• Do you want me to assist in importing Infinite Histories articles? I haven't done much there, but I'm aware that Atra Mors and Romanum are the most active timelines.
• For articles that I did not create, do you want me to change them around to fit the continuity if they are out of date?
• What other site features would you like to see? If you found an extension you want to see implemented, post the link to it below. (For the bugged blog system, I have yet to receive a response after asking for help for about two weeks so I'll have to look for a different extension.)
• Lastly, I've been thinking of adding a new namespace titled "Essay". I got this idea from all those analyses that Suppy did on warfare, and I figure that because we primarily use blogs to make temporary announcements, anything that's essay-like should deserve some way of being found more easily rather than sifting through older irrelevant blogs. Basically, these essays can be about anything such as warfare commentary like Suppy has been doing, about writing cliches, or perhaps even about your own creations so that you can explain where you got your inspiration from. What makes them different from regular articles is that they can be written in a personal style so that you can get out info that would otherwise not conform to the encyclopedic style of the rest of the wiki.

Also, about the whole changing backgrounds depending on categories, after some research, I've found that it's definitely possible, but it will require the creation of a custom skin. It will just be a matter of me figuring out how to actually code it. For now, the priority is still importing articles since we still need content to look at, but I'll keep working and trying to figure things out.