Proposal For Library Direction For 2014
I'm doing this in borrowed time, so apologies in advance for inevitable errors or confusion. The idea here is the expansion of this site.
INDEX PAGE CHANGES
- Changed in-character conceit: The Index is run by the Serpent's Hand, and is a collection of knowledge gleaned from texts in the Library. Founded by L.S., but now run communally and/or by the Nest (new background characters).
- May be actually named The Index instead of The Library.
ARCHIVES PAGE OVERHAUL
- Emphasize equally with The Index.
- In-character conceit: The Archives are the collection of information (in story/interview/etc) form, maintained by a few of the Hand's "leaders" (the Nest), to create a living record of what's going on with the people in the Library, esp Hand members. The Hand has lost much information due to its splintered nature — the Archives are an attempt to counter that.
- Despite in-character justification: Stories still don't need to be written in character.
- Origin Story ("Mysteries") Hub Pages — this gets its own section.
- Tweak Author/Compiler pages (may add some for people who haven't made them)
MYSTERIES HUB PAGES
- Hub Pages on the Three Mysteries that concern the Serpent's Hand. Not the only mysteries, but the greatest. Everyone can submit stories to answer the Mysteries. Namely:
- What is the origin of the Serpent's Hand?
- What is the origin of the Library?
- What is the nature of the Hand's connection to the Library, and what occurred or did not occur during the Library's Rediscovery by the Hand?
- Each Hub Page will be in-character (drafted by Moose/Mann/Troy with outside input) and will establish what the Hand knows, or thinks they know, about each of the Mysteries. A baseline for starting from. Will use Nest characters. (Stories can STILL contradict what the Hand believes they know about each Mystery.)
- Any author can submit stories to these pages. No specific story will be chosen as the true answer. Maybe they all are — maybe none of them are!
- Accounts can be fragmentary, so long as there's enough there to be voted on. Can be in ANY style, from campfire, to spooky shit, to recovered texts, to Hand members directly talking to the reader, to full-on stories. Doesn't have to be Hand members.
- In-character conceit: Due to splintered reality, magic, memory alterations, or other supernatural forces or what-have-you, it is unclear to Hand what actually happened during the Rediscovery of the Library, or indeed even why the Hand had lost access to the Library. This also applies to the Hand's origins, which are lost in time. And if the Hand ever knew the Library's origins and true nature, the knowledge has been lost or forgotten. That's the in-character conceit for why anyone and everyone can submit a story (or more than one story) to answer any or all of these Three Mysteries.
- Note: Need to figure out how to deal with stories that attempt to answer all three of these Mysteries. Maybe on a central hub page?
- Can be more Mysteries if someone thinks of them.
BACKGROUND INFO PAGES
- We have the Librarians page… and the FAQ page. Both of which aren't quite at a good level for letting people know what the world of the Library is even like.
- Potentially could have hub pages like the Mysteries hub pages, with, say, magic systems that the Hand are researching, or the nature of the Ways, or stuff like that? Maybe Greater and Lesser Mysteries? Dunno.
- Universe FAQ should be reworked into an in-character thing (probably multiple in-character pieces), and much of it should be clarified as not-set-in-stone.
- Characters for in-character background info pages must have a lot of female members because honestly a boy's club Hand/Library membership feels vastly out of character.
- L.S. should be established to be 'off-screen'.
- Establish a theme: More of a cross-world, wanderer focus than the SCP Foundation's dark and sterile labs & containment sites. Where the Foundation hides, the Hand discovers. Stepping into the larger world with fear and trembling but also wonder.
NEW INTRODUCTION PAGE
- Rewrite & Expand the Introduction story that Mann wrote. http://wanderers-library.wikidot.com/introduction
- The new page will serve as an introduction to the Library and to the Hand from the perspective of someone just joining.
- [Random idea: Flyers left around on Hand-run bulletin boards? Online message boards? Give people ideas for what sort of stories to write with Hand characters]
OTHER NOTES:
- FAQ should be updated.
- Orientation Page could be set to suggest a random selection of highly rated stories? Maybe? Dunno.
- Need to make sure all pages that don't take place in the Foundationverse are under the correct license.
- Need a licensing guide!
THE FUTURE
- An RPG tied in with the site. Can have site articles written based on events or characters. Can reference or base plots on material from Library books (or Library books can be written that are made-up for the RPG!)
- More site promotion.
UPCOMING CONTESTS
[EDIT: Note — Only the Hand contest is planned to definitely happen so far.]
- POSSIBLE New Year's 2014 contest to coordinate with the SCP wiki. Need to figure out feasibility with Troy.
- "The Serpent's Hand" contest — Summer 2014. This should be a big one. Write a story, or series of stories, starring a member or members of the Serpent's Hand. May have an equivalent on the SCP wiki.
- Wiki Crossover Double-Header Contest — Unscheduled. On the Library: Write a tale dealing with the Foundation Staff. On the SCP Wiki: Write a Foundation Tale involving the Hand & something from a story on the Library.
- SCP contest — Unscheduled. Write Library stories or Hand stories based on SCP articles. (Possibly more than one of those options.)
- SCP Articles Annotated contest — Unscheduled. Copy SCP articles & heavily annotate them (by a Hand member, a Hand scholar, an independent Library scholar, or whatever).
- [Let me know if I've forgotten some suggestions]
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