Michael And Travis 2020-04-09

[Audio Begins] [00:00:00] This call is now being recorded. Speaker 1: Here we go. Thank you Michael. Appreciate your patience. Alright, so, just to recap. You figured out the alphabet for [inaudible 00:00:21] that we can use and I think that’s going to be a great asset to other parts of the series. And you’re going to record from audio of the sounds that you’ve already described on the wiki. Is that correct? Speaker 2: Yes. Speaker 1: Okay, then you’re going to work on getting the scene put together. And I am going to scan these notes that I’ve already made and send that over to you, and we’ll see if we can incorporate them into the story we’ve already made. It’s not a necessity that these end up in the final project. I just figure I have some content that I’ve already worked on and some scenes and things. That we might as well have that available. So, as far as these notes are concerned. Would you mind… maybe I could just… No, I probably won’t have time. Do you mind typing them up? So that we can… Speaker 2: Yeah, sure. Speaker 1: So that we can copy them into the wiki? Speaker 2: Mm hmm Speaker 1: That would be helpful. And then the other thing that I wanted to talk about were characters, so that we just have more information about each of these characters. And unfortunately, I don’t have the picture portraits of family. [Inaudible 00:02:12] Do you have a favorite character so far? Speaker 2: Honestly, not at the moment. If there is one to be had I think the closest is probably Jonathan. Speaker 1: I like him too. So, let’s start thinking about… Speaker 2: Because I’m in anticipation of you having write more scenes. And I’ve thought of other scenes. Just other things that I’ve seen him in. Specifically, the one where he is killed initially is like, okay, this is like a character I could absolutely love. Speaker 1: So, let’s talk a little bit more about that scene. You’ve already got an outline for it but what do you have in mind? What would be the most awesome part of that scene? Speaker 2: The one that you have me writing for this project. The one about the siege? Speaker 1: Ah, yeah. Speaker 2: Well. Most of my inspiration is the siege of Minas Tirith in the book “The Return of the King”. Because Tolkien goes into a lot more detail of how the orcs set up their siege around the city. And part of my inspiration for the fortress was kind of a mix between Minas Tirith, Helm’s deep, and the siege of Vienna. Speaker 1: Okay, talk to me a little bit about the siege of Vienna. Speaker 2: Okay, so in 1618, well, okay. Are you at all like a metal fan or anything?

Speaker 1: Metal? Like… Speaker 2: Metal music. Speaker 1: I like rock music, yeah, one might… Speaker 2: Okay. [End of Audio] [00:04:44]

[Audio Begins] [00:00:00] This audio is being recorded Speaker 2: Perfect. So umm in 1618. The reason I asked about music is because there’s a metal band called “Sabaton” who sings about the siege of Vienna. They sing about military history in general. Speaker 1: You said it’s “sub aton”? Speaker 2: Yeah “Sabaton” Speaker 1: Oh “Sabaton” Okay. One of my favorite bands is Breaking Benjamin. So… Speaker 2: They’re a bit heavier than Breaking Benjamin. They’re a Swedish metal band. But anyway the siege of Vienna. Actually the siege of Vienna wa s the inspiration for both Helm’s deep and Minas Tirith for Tolkien. It was in 1618, the Ottoman Empire was expanding and there was a coalition called the “holy league” which was led by the king of Poland which at the time was a prominent kingdom in Europe. And he had this type of group called: the winged hussars. They were called that because they had large feathered wings that were on the rears of their saddle. And so, they were highly regarded as the greatest ranchers in all of Europe. So, the ottomans come to Vienna, they surround Vienna, and for sixty days they [Inaudible 00:01:32] Vienna under siege. During the siege, they build a sapping mine under the wall, set fire, the wall collapses and they begin to charge through. Just as they sing the city to be taken, as the line in the song says “the winged hussars arrive”. And this massive hoard of cavalry just appears on the hill on the other side of the janissary army of the Ottoman army. And they rush down, they ride down, and just decimate the janissary positions. In very much the same way, they then destroy the armies of Mordor before Minas Tirith Speaker 2: I love that. Speaker 1: Obviously, Tolkien’s adaptation of that is classic. Why don’t we, instead of using cavalry, why don’t we develop another type of unit? Speaker 2: Okay, so, instead of the cavalry charge, something else? Speaker 1: Instead of riding horses, they’re riding something else. Speaker 2: Okay. Let me think, well the whole area that they’re fighting is situated around a large mountain range. There is a sort of steed in dragon age inquisition that you can buy. That is basically a horse but it’s draconic.

Speaker 1: [laughs] so, it’s the same proportions as a horse but it’s a reptile? Speaker 2: It’s specifically a dragon. Speaker 1: Man that would be awesome. Speaker 2: Let me see if I can find a picture. Dragon age inquisition… dragon steed. It was a dracolisk or something like that. Speaker 1: The great thing about this solution, I was just thinking about the biome, right if it’s in the mountains. Whatever’s surviving up in the mountains, if it’s going to be moving around a lot, it’s got to be warm-blooded. And there isn’t anything more warm blooded than a dragon. So… Speaker 2: [laughs] In more ways than one. Speaker 1: Yup. Speaker 2: Let’s see. Dogs are going crazy. Yeah, dracolisk. This is the one that I used a lot. Speaker 1: So, we might need to come up another name for it but for now we can just call it a dracolisk. Speaker 2: Yeah. Speaker 1: So, part of Jonathan’s... We already discussed a little bit doing it… going more into Jonathan’s journey in the underworld, right? Speaker 2: Mm hmm. Speaker 1: Rather than just having Jonathan explain what’s happened to him. Like, Gandalf does. Well, so, in… Tolkien does this a lot where Gandalf exits the stage right, and then he comes back, and he’s had this adventure and he kinds of explains what happens but it’s a major part of the story that we just don’t get to see, and I want to avoid that with Jonathan. I want Jonathan to be a protagonist rather than to be the supporting character. Speaker 2: Deus ex machina [Inaudible 00:06:08] Speaker 1: Precisely, Gandalf is awesome but… yeah deus ex machina, that’s a great way… that happens way too much. I would really like to have a plot for Jonathan gathering the- you said they were dracolisk? Speaker 2: Yeah, I sent you a photo on Whatsapp. Speaker 1: Okay, cool. So, that will be part of his struggle in realizing that he needs to bring help and then managing to get the help of whoever works with Dracolisk. Whoever rides the dracolisk. Speaker 2: Yeah. Let me think. Well, I do have in the outline, like a mercenary company. Maybe they’re like the last who rides the Dracolisk. They were supposed to be a mercenary company that was hired by [Inaudible 00:07:18] but after [Inaudible 00:07:19] fell they just kind of became a free band. Speaker 1: Uh huh.

Speaker 2: So, I already got this idea in mind cause like Voros, the capital of Voray, was not built by Voray. That’s in the wiki. And Voray was named for Voros rather than vice versa. So, I was thinking maybe there was this older civilization and these dragon riders are the last of their kind. Speaker 1: [laughs] Awesome. Speaker 2: You know like finding the last remnants of the first legion in Britain. Speaker 1: Wow. That’s some story potential right there. Speaker 2: Well, that’s straight out of a movie. There’s a movie that kind of a quasi-Arthurian legend where they flee to Briton and they find the remnants of the first legion who have assimilated into the Britonnic culture. But I was thinking more along the lines of these are the last… their empire was once great and founded with Voros but then after it fell to shambles. Probably about the same time, if you’ve read the wiki, the people of Genglar began to migrate. This empire crumbles and these dragon riders become sort of these nomadic people. I’m thinking kind of like the Mandalorians of Star Wars where they’re this great civilization but they’re crumbled by the republic. They turn into [Inaudible 00:09:18] bounty hunters [inaudible 00:09:22] Speaker 1: That sounds awesome. Speaker 2: And then cherry on top they ride freaking dragon horses. Speaker 1: Okay, so. The leader of this band of dracolisk. Let’s make it a woman. Speaker 2: Okay. Speaker 1: What culture should we model these guys are after? The dracolisk riders. Speaker 2: Well, if… let’s see. If the leader is female, we’re thinking a matriarchal society. Which there weren’t too many in antiquity. The only true matriarch, well not necessarily matriarchal, the best you’re going to get is an egalitarian society which the only two that I know of are any of the numerous Celtic cultures which is [Inaudible 00:10:46]… and Sparta. And only one of those [Inaudible 00:11:01] amount of land. The Celts after the migration of [Inaudible 00:11:07] control the territory from Marseilles to Scotland and from Portugal to Turkey but they weren’t united. They were almost united by Vercingetorix but Julius Caesar defeated him. But they were… there is evidence of [inaudible 00:11:30] civilization before the Celtic tribes where it was the massive kingdom or kingdoms that all existed in unity. So, like, the Phoenicians were traders of the Mediterranean. These guys were before the Phoenicians, and they traded from the Baltic state all the way down to the Mediterranean and they have artifacts from Scandinavia in the Mediterranean, in the Mediterranean Scandinavia because of these traders over land. So I was thinking maybe Genglar is the last remnant of this massive civilization that crumbles and then Genglar is the only one that can maintain any sort of unity of the original culture or, the high king Genglar, unifies everyone and out the political rival in the mass migration. And, so these people are the last remnants of that old culture. If you follow me. Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah. I like it. So, we’re thinking like ancient, ancient Celts? Speaker 2: Yeah, before... pre-Gaulish Celts. So, we’re talking around the time… we’re talking even before [Inaudible 00:12:04] ]the great who sacked rome befor rome was really an empire. Probably predating him about 200 years.

Speaker 1: You seen anything about the reconstituted Indo-European language? Speaker 2: No. Speaker 1: Well, basically what they did is kind of ran language backwards. The linguistic [inaudible 00:13:45] yeah. Speaker 2: Okay Speaker 1: And it’s pretty cool. I’ll find a link for you. But that might… some of their linguistic forms might be a little [inaudible 00:14:01] inform our little remnant dracolisk riders. Speaker 2: Yeah. [Inaudible 00:14:12] trying to understand [Inaudbile 00:14:18] cause one he is already had to learn the language of Genglar, and now he has to learn the language of [Inaudible 00:14:25] so it’s like somebody’s trying to learn proto-Latin after he just having learned Latin. Speaker 1: [laughs] Speaker 2: Or triyng to learn [Inaudible 00:14:39] after just learning Modern Greek. Speaker 1: Yeah, so we’re going to have to either give him plenty of time to keep adapting these different languages. Speaker 2: Yes. [Inaudible 00:14:58] Speaker 1: I don’t want to push it too far beyond 110,000 but… Speaker 2: Yeah Speaker 1: If we had too many ideas to fit in the one book but that’s not a problem at all. Speaker 2: We can just take it on another… Speaker 1: Yep. Speaker 2: Or we can do like... The guy who I’m thinking of, I cant pronounce his name ‘cause he’s polish but her wrote “The Witcher” series. About half the stories is in short stories. Speaker 1: Yeah, so that’s another… I’m glad you brought that up. I just got done reading a series called “Galaxy’s Edge”. Speaker 2: Okay Speaker 1: And they do that in a number of their books where… Speaker 2: Basically the idea is if you have a story that doesn’t fit in a novel, and it can’t be a novel in itself, write a short story. Speaker 1: Yeah. I think that’s definitely something that we should look into is that conglomeration of short stories all based around certain events so that we get perspective from a bunch of different characters. I think they take it to an extreme where they’ll have… like… It’s truly an ensemble cast. It has so many characters coming and going. So, I wouldn’t want to get beyond 5 POV characters but I do like the idea of short stories.

Speaker 2: Yeah. Speaker 1: With that being said, we could even focus on short story length for a given event like Jonathan… I feel like Jonathan is going to be the meat and potatoes of the story. Speaker 2: Yeah Speaker 1: He’ll take up most of the time but things… like explaining why the dracolisk are in a place to accept Jonathan’s proposal to go and have this great last stand. That would be kind of cool. And maybe some of Ned’s story could be in short story form because Ned is vital to this story. Speaker 2: Well, yeah. Speaker 1: And I’ve always wanted for Uncle William to end up as a POW and have his early American culture clashing with this alien world and that just kind of explore how he deals with those two cultures coming together. Yeah. So that could be a short story in itself, and then the Princess can kind of have a short story arc where she maneuvers- okay, I’m getting warmed up to this story right now. She is going to be much more involved in the politics. The political side of getting everything together. Speaker 2: Sure. Speaker 1: There could be another short story of just her struggle, and trying to get support to move things along. And the intrigues involved with undercutting her authority and what not. Speaker 2: Mm hmm. Speaker 1: Okay, well. Speaker 2: Yeah, so I’m currently working on the world behind the [Inaudible 00:19:43] and what I came up with so far is they live shorter because… and this is a classic trope of [Inaudible 00:19:50] is that they’re warriors of pain and so, in order to gain the power that he did… he made a deal with the dark god Arvantar which I’m probably [Inaudible 00:20:11] but he made a deal with him. He got the power but the power was too great for his mortal body. So, it began to tear himself apart. The warriors thus forced to endure this pain which does make them… power that the pain comes with does make them stronger and dominable in battle but they live half as long as [Inaudible 00:20:39]. Speaker 1: Half as long as a what? Speaker 2: [Inaudible 00:20:44] Speaker 1: Oh, okay. Speaker 2: [Inaudible 00:44:48] and the immortals are the exact opposite. The first immortal were as the first Raver went looking for the power because his family was slain by the rival tribe in Genglar. The immortal dies defending his family from Genglar. And so he dies out of love whereas the other guy sought power through hate. Speaker 1: think that is awesome. I think that is fantastic.

Speaker 2: The immortal, because he died of love, he can no longer die so long as his heart is not destroyed. Because that’s sort of the source of his immortality is the love in his heart which I know is arbitrary but you’ve got to give him a weakness. You can’t just have a bunch of gods walking around. Speaker 1: Yeah, it seems that works very well. Speaker 2: Yeah. It makes two excellent [Inaudible 00:22:02] for each other. Speaker 1: Mm hmm. Yeah, the one is a positive long lasting influence while the other is a hot burning native influence that winks out quickly. Speaker 2: Yeah. Speaker 1: Yeah. There’s lot of analogies for that [Inaudible 00:22:30] I think that works really well. Okay, so I would like there to be… I don’t know where she would fit into the story but kind of a matronly character. Speaker 2: A what? Speaker 1: A matron. A woman who is… She’s… Yeah, well. I definitely like the idea of the dracolisk riders having matriarchal society. And Jonathan, I’m excited to work out how Jonathan initially deals with the different culture and then convinces them to work with him. ‘Cause initially I was thinking oh yeah he goes and he wrestles a dracolisk or something and that gives him the prestige to ask this huge favor but if it’s a matriarchal society, the things that she’s going to care about are going to be pretty different. Speaker 2: Yeah, I was thinking more along the lines of Avatar where you have to have a connection with the animals. Speaker 1: Oh, yeah. Speaker 2: So, instead of conquering the beast. You have to befriend the beast. Speaker 1: Which would be a really good growth moment for Jonathan since his power is… he is an immortal, right? [Inaudible 00:24:32] Speaker 2: He’s an immortal so basically... yeah. Speaker 1: So that could be kind of character development for dealing with his immortal powers, right? You don’t wrangle them like a cowboy, right? It’s more like you forming… you form it… you take care of it. And through patience and diligence, that’s where it comes from. Speaker 2: Yeah. Speaker 1: That’s awesome. So, she could be kind of the one that teaches him how to do that. And so his epiphany of how to reach deep down inside of himself and uses immortal powers comes from his experience with the dracolisk. Speaker 2: Mm hmm. Yeah Speaker 1: So, the matron character that I was talking about. I want her to be empathetic. I think it would be great for her to be. I don’t want to say comic relief character but I think that she should have a

good sense of humor and be really, really… it’s not physically strong, strong in something. So that the character matters. Speaker 2: Sort of like a Gaia archetype. Like caring and nurturing but certainly not incapable. Speaker 1: That’s a really good archetype to invoke. Speaker 2: There is a… going back to Celtic mythology. There is a character in the legends of [Inaudible 00:26:31] who is basically that. She had this group of warriors and becomes sort of a mother figure and also had romantic interests. It’s Irish. [Inaudible 00:26:49] Speaker 1: Okay. I’m not familiar with it but if you could reference… is there a Wikipedia article on her that we could kind of Speaker 2: I forget her name. Speaker 1: Well, if you could locate some basic information on her so that… I’m not sure where I want this character to be but I think that it would be cool for her to not be part of the dracolisk but for her to be like a kindred spirit of the dracolisk society so that if they ever come in contact, they bond really well. But I want her to be… Well, so… Have you read the Harry Potter series? Speaker 2: I have not. Speaker 1: Okay. Harry Potter’s best friend is Ron Weasley, and his mom Mrs. Weasley is… Early on she’s kind of bumbling and overprotective and stuff like that but later you discover she is extremely capable. And I don’t want to base this character off of Mrs. Weasley but I was just kind of invoking that. But if you don’t know the story, kind of think of… I don’t want to say Galadriel. I don’t… I’m not looking at something quite that over-powering, but a character… Speaker 2: [Inaudible 00:28:38] Speaker 1: A what? Speaker 2: An amazon? Speaker 1: Mm. Amazon maybe in personality not necessarily in martial ability. Speaker 2: Okay. So somebody who certainly isn’t helpless but not necessarily trained to the peak of potential. Speaker 1: Right. She’s not just another warrior. Her arena where she sines isn’t necessarily just in the warfare. Yeah. Speaker 2: Okay. There’ll have to be more of the dragon rider culture that gets flushed out before I think we really understand this character we’re coming up with. Speaker 1: Yeah. That’s fine. Speaker 2: So, she’s closely connected to them. Then we need to know what role needs to be filled that she’s good at.

Speaker 1: Well, what I’m saying is I don’t want her to be initially associated with them. I think that it’s fine if she’s from Genglar or Valerian. Sorry, Vlar. I think it’s fine if she’s one from those cultures. I was just saying that eventually when she does encounter the dracolisk. The dracolisk priestess or whatever position the matriarch holds. They’re instant buddies. Speaker 2: Her and Jonathan? Or her and the dracolisk? Speaker 1: Well... I think that she would fit well as the mentor figure for Jonathan. Speaker 2: Okay Speaker 1: Cause Jonathan, his experience with the dracolisk riders is secondary to coming to… leaving earth. So she could be… Speaker 2: [Inaudible 00:31:02] Speaker 1: Yeah. She could be somebody that he needs early on that is kind of helps point to him the direction where he’s supposed to go. Speaker 2: [Inaudible 00:31:14] master type person? Speaker 1: Yeah, that’ll be pretty cool. Where she just… Speaker 2: Somebody who can… So, Jonathan can be a sort of surrogate for the audience. Okay this is a fish out of water, this is not only Jonathan’s but also the audiences’ moment like okay what is this world? Speaker 1: Yeah. Yep. Speaker 2: Okay. Speaker 1: I think that would work really well for her. And… Speaker 2: I think that works pretty well with the kind of idea that you’re going with somebody who can mentor but also isn’t necessarily skilled in combat. Speaker 1: Right. And as an officer of… that is kind of where Jonathan is coming from. Right? Let’s conquer this thing, let’s stay on task, let us do what we have to do. Speaker 2: His modus operandi had been hit it with your head. Speaker 1: Yeah. And she might be one of the first one… okay so she’s going to be fascinated with him because he’s exotic. Right? But she’s going to have kind of an academic approach to it. She might be the one who teaches him how to speak their language. I don’t know Speaker 2: Yeah Speaker 1: But anyway, she shows interests in him, and kind of helps him figure things out. Speaker 2: Mm hmm. Speaker 1: And, yeah. I like where that’s going.

Speaker 2: Now, I’m starting to think maybe Ned has an ear for language where he picks it up more but he’s not too like engaged in the whole religious part of the culture like the god and what not. And then Jonathan sort of has the last samurai, dances with wolves type [Inaudible 00:33:37] Speaker 1: Oh my goodness. Oh man. I love that idea. Both of those movies are fantastic, and that idea that Jonathan is just kind of tossed in way over his head. He kind of starts off as an antagonist as far as the dracolisk riders are concerned but by slowly invoking that immortal patience that he’s going to need, he makes a big impression on them. Speaker 2: Yeah. Speaker 1: Potentially Jonathan... Well, no. one way or another Jonathan is going to be the last Dracolisk rider, right? Speaker 2: Yeah. Sort of. He’s not only a dracolisk rider but he’s also an immortal. Speaker 1: Yeah, eventually. Oh man. Speaker 2: Huh? Speaker 1: I was just trying to think of anything, any other ideas that I have wanted to incorporate into the story. Like, one archetype that I really like is the intelligent giant. Right? Where they just have massive amount of strength that people underestimate them. Thinking they’re not very smart where they are quite observant but I feel like Ned kind of fills that niche. Speaker 2: Yeah, he could, yeah. Like maybe, okay, maybe he… Jonathan is purely cut a soldier. And Ned could be… okay, I’ve got it. He would go away at Harvard but then he had to come home to help because something happened, and then the revolution started, and his friend Jonathan goes to war. He’s like I’m going to follow my friends [Inaudible 00:36:16] Harvard. And that makes sense because Harvard predates the United States, so. Speaker 1: So, you’re saying that Ned was going to Harvard? Speaker 2: Ned was going to Harvard but then maybe his dad died or something he has to go back and help out that’s why he’s so good with an axe. He, like, cuts wood and what not. And then… so he’s a big but his brain is just as big as his biceps, and he goes to war with Jonathan. Speaker 1: That’s awesome. Because one of Ned’s defining characteristics is his loyalty. Yeah. And so, if he’s like oh Jonathan’s going to get himself killed. I’ll go as well. Speaker 2: He would do that. I love it. Yeah. Speaker 1: Which makes the fact that… Speaker 2: Ned thinks he loses Jonathan that much more powerful. Speaker 1: Yeah because the whole time. Speaker 2: [Inaudible 00:37:20] the one thing he knew without a doubt that Jonathan loved. Speaker 1: Yep. Oh man. Yeah.

Speaker 2: [Inaudible 00:37:33] character. Speaker 1: Good. I would really like… I said early on I want all of… well not all of the characters. There’s got to be some idiots in there that are easy to hit like easy targets. But I do want the characters both the protagonists and the antagonists to be quite capable. Yeah. Cool. Speaker 2: And with the idiot [Inaudible 00:38:06] somebody who happens to [Inaudible 00:38:09] as good as the main characters that’s why they’re the main characters, the A-team of the story. Speaker 1: Yep. And in… maybe one of those short stories we can explore somebody who isn’t as competent but is just as pivotal to the situation. That would be kind of cool. Speaker 2: [Inaudible 00:38:34] like from the film [Inaudible 00:38:38] he’s certainly not like a [Inaudible 00:38:41] or a baron, or a [Inaudible 00:38:46] but he still got a story that is pivotal cause he managed to kill the dragon that impressed elves. Speaker 1: So, I have to say Michael, I’m super excited about the direction this story is going. I think that what I’m going to do is have the transcript of our conversations written up so that we can … we might just have a separate page on the wiki for minutes, meeting minutes, and then we can refer back to them and kind of copy and paste and expand things from the minutes into the body of the outline. Speaker 2: That sounds good. Speaker 1: I feel like we’ve been super effective this week. I appreciate your willingness to work on this project. Speaker 2: Mm hmm. This is what I love. Speaker 1: I’m glad. I hope that your week goes well. I hope you and your family are all healthy and everything. So, I would definitely like to plan on having another meeting next Thursday around the same time if that’s alright. Speaker 2: Mm hmm. Speaker 1: Cool. Well, have a great week. Speaker 2: Good. [End of Audio] [00:40:27]