As I progress Out of the Ashes, I'm going to start involving one or two characters from other stories, in cameo appearances. In order to make sense of the whole who-knows-what-and-when thing, I've decided to apply a SLIGHT retcon to my original story, in order to fit the events in with the existing stories. Somehow I slipped up with this the first time around.
So, a simple change: In Out of the Ashes, Dan Hunter dies, and Miss Mars is born, in the first week of August, 2011. I've updated the wiki timeline accordingly. (According to the official timeline, Jade's story doesn't occur until October, 2010 -- next month! -- so August 2010 doesn't fit at all.)
This puts the story AFTER the events of almost all the other stories so far, and almost a year after Jade first appears. On a superficial level, I need to rework a paragraph in each of the original two chapters, so it's a pretty minor change for Miss Mars. I'll do that once I get the next chapter posted, so soon. Ish.
On a deeper level, if I'd realized this when writing the original story, I'm sure the state of the world a year after superhumans began appearing would have colored the story a great deal more. *sigh* We move on. :)
Prior to deciding on this retcon, I'd been in touch with the authors whose characters I'd like to involve; hopefully they're not planning any major changes to their characters to occur between now and next fall :)
Misty
Comments
Might be a mistake
It might be a mistake to use actual years, like 2011, in dating stories. Dating GL as the founding event of the Retcon Universe, it would probably be better to date things BL (before lantern) and AL (after lantern).
My own stories take place several years after GL and I don't want to have to think I need to predict the world in 2020 or whatever. Real comics use such a floating timeline which is why they have to have a retcon every decade or two.
What do the other writers in the RCU think?
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Green Arrow
Green Arrow is BL and then AL. I haven't gotten around to adding much to the wiki timeline but I will soon, especially now that I've finished the story.
fear not!
I have no intention of actually using specific dates in the story. But I have a problem, of my own making:
Miss Mars occurs in the late summer, recognizes she's a Metahuman from Jade's announcement, and starts school in the fall.
Except according to the official timeline, Jade didn't appear until October.
If Miss Mars was going to continue as a stand-alone, I'd shrug and scuff my toe in the sand, and promise to be more careful next time.
BUT, if I introduce any existing characters from other stories, I need to take into account where they are in THEIR stories, at the time they meet MM.
So, the simplest way to preserve continuity is to say, all this happens the NEXT fall after Jade appears (AL). Which conveniently, is AFTER almost all of the existing stories, so there's no need to explain why they don't know about her before they meet.
But this is all external to the story, just to keep me sane, and for the benefit of the other authors who might wonder where she fits in.
But yes, it also introduces problems, and as Faraway points out in another comment, Heatstroke is one of them.
My first thought is to handwave that. Powerful metas are exceedingly rare, I believe only 600 in the world. So say for the sake of argument that one-quarter of them appear in the U.S. -- which is statistically very generous. That's 150 of them, some good, some bad, but only one per 2 million people. So, if you know two million people, one of 'em might be a powerful meta.
So, anyway, my point being that rhere's a LOT of communities that may never see a superpowered meta.
As a reader
I would like you to consider the following things to have changed by the end of year 0 AL (yes, Erin, I think it's a great idea to choose an arbitrary event and go with it... although those living in the universe proper will likely disagree - you know those conservatives... ;) )
Let's see - we'll have to change the fact of mystery disappearance of the witness and the weirdness of Heatstroke - because metahumans are THE theme for all the mass media. So they will have to be considered by the operatives.
We'll have to consider the involvement of the Feds, who made a department to monitor metahumans (as seen in Mystique's origin story).
We'll have to think when Heatstroke emerged and how he got into the Crime, was it BL or AL. Because, well, if he came BL he's unique, if he came AL but before Terra, he's 'the very first metahuman - and he's OURS!', but if he came after Terra he's going to be just a 'first metahuman villain' at best. And that changes how the Crime relates to him, and how it changed after a while. He can even be demoted to 'goon, useful but nothing worth privileges'.
That said, if you think it's a good idea, GO FOR IT! You after all have the best perspective.
Faraway
Big Closet Top Shelf
Where you can fool around like you want to and most you get is some bemused good ribbing!
Faraway
Big Closet Top Shelf
Where you can fool around like you want to and most you get is some bemused good ribbing!
Don't feel bad about this.
Don't feel bad about this. There are several issues with continuity already. It's the nature of the beast with as many stories and contributors as we have already. Unless this becomes some major (across the internet) sensation (highly doubtful) then it's not really going to matter. I tried to be as specific as possible with the first stories to establish a timeline that I was working with. Then someone asked if they could add to the universe, then another, then another, then another.
The first real date was in "Terra..." stating that it was Halloween. In "American Dream..." it was the beginning of December and the Feds didn't know of any other Metas at that point, and making references to the iPad being introduced a few months back, so it wound up being 2010 (in case you where wondering where I picked the years from)
But if you don't sit down with a pen and paper recording all of these things it's easy to forget about them. That's why the timeline was created at the wiki: so we can try to keep some semblance of organization in place.
I never thought this was going to be an actual universe that people would want to take part in (much like my Fearie Queen universe) I just called it that to show it wasn't a part of anything else I was writing since I link a number of my stories together. Then poof: dozens of stories.
So don't sweat the minor details like this. If DC or Marvel or whoever wants to pay us to put all of this together on Earth XXX then we can all get together and make the adjustments needed. I'm more concerned with major continuity errors at this point, like two people writing about the exact same character and giving him/her two different origin stories.
Even the professionals make errors like this, hence the origin of the term Retcon. In fact they still screw it all up, even today.
~Lili
Blog: http://lilithlangtree.tglibrary.com/
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/lilith_langtree
~Lili
Write the story that you most desperately want to read.
October/Halloween as the time of Jade & Terra's appearances ...
is not necessarily a problem,
How about Miss Mars as a late semester transfer student? Or as post Christmas holidays enrollee? That should solve many of the continuity/timeline snafus. The post Chrismas, post New Year's start would give her a while to get used to being female.
She does have the help of various metas and Jade, several Jades come to think of it so the documentation is no biggie, just her getting used to being a girl and maintaining control over her appearance though the ring helps with that.
Great little universe and lots of fine tales so far. Still wondering about a dabble into either The Center or the Recon universes but with a weird and seemingly useless power that turns out to be rather handy in the right circumstances. *Hero support* or sidekicks are important as we learned in Sky High.
John in Wauwatosa
P.S. Hey when will Jade number one be outed as a male? At least one of the females in the recons is sexually attracted to her, um, him so at some point the secret may *rise up*?
I'll wash out my mouth with soap now.
John in Wauwatosa
Jade's secret
... belongs to Lilith; in my opinion it would be very bad form to out Jaden without Lilith's consent.
I *am* feeling a little sorry for her, though. She's so gosh-darned *nice*, and it must hurt terribly to see so many others be gifted with the change she wanted so badly. She deserves a little happiness of her own.
Lilith, surely the med bay in the Starcruiser can do a little surgery? If the quacks practicing primitive 21st-century Earth medicine can do it...
Probably aganist the guidelines of Oa
I mean, they were specifically seeking out transsexuals as people with significant willpower, what's the reason to change them to their desired form - they will be lost in the feelings... And feelings are what Oans frown upon.
Faraway
Big Closet Top Shelf
Where you can fool around like you want to and most you get is some bemused good ribbing!
Faraway
Big Closet Top Shelf
Where you can fool around like you want to and most you get is some bemused good ribbing!
In DC Canon, the Power Ring
In DC Canon, the Power Ring has the ability to change a person's physical appearance over time.
Lynceus and I PM'd over possible GL storylines in the future. Eventually the war in Sector 666 will come to a conclusion and the other Green Lanterns that patrol Earth's sector will return to a much changed Earth. I've been contemplating Retconning Nova (Frankie Raye, Harald of Galactus) which would make a decent space venture story with Jade in tow. Or perhaps once the war is over and the other GL's show up they might take issue with the Star Heart still existing which would bring Alena into the mix an possibly a venture into space.
Long story, short? Jade will have another story that will delve deeper into her past, present, and future. Maybe a love interest and a change of her own.
~Lili
Blog: http://lilithlangtree.tglibrary.com/
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/lilith_langtree
~Lili
Write the story that you most desperately want to read.
oh! oh! *waves hand in the air*
I think Miss Mars is one of the few space-going metas. If she can help, Jade has her number :)
*Smiles fondly to Misty's antics*
*While replying to Lili*
Oh, I didn't know that about the rings. I'll google it a few. :)
Faraway
Big Closet Top Shelf
Where you can fool around like you want to and most you get is some bemused good ribbing!
Faraway
Big Closet Top Shelf
Where you can fool around like you want to and most you get is some bemused good ribbing!
Here is the better informed
Here is the better informed Wiki page.
http://greenlantern.wikia.com/wiki/Green_Lantern_Power_Ring
~Lili
Blog: http://lilithlangtree.tglibrary.com/
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/lilith_langtree
~Lili
Write the story that you most desperately want to read.
Are you referring to
Limited Cellular Regeneration entry in the powers section?
On a side note, I guess I found a possible explanation of Starheart's reported misdeeds in the canon DC timeline - it was corrupted by Yalan Gur... Just in case if someone pays attention. ;)
Faraway
Big Closet Top Shelf
Where you can fool around like you want to and most you get is some bemused good ribbing!
Faraway
Big Closet Top Shelf
Where you can fool around like you want to and most you get is some bemused good ribbing!
One storyline that I know of
One storyline that I know of where a GL's body was changed was with Soranik Natu. She was sucked into a black hole and confronted by these spider things that were looking to steal her ring. She swallowed it and told the ring to transform her into something that the spiders wouldn't be interested in. Or something like that.
And I just noticed I gave you the wrong link. I have several when I was researching for Jade's story. Here's the proper one. It's mega detailed.
http://glcorps.dcuwiki.net/w/Green_Lantern_Power_Rings
Ninja Edit: Found it.
Quote: Physiological Effects of Power Ring Energy -- Arisia's change was from a teenager to an adult. Over the course of a few weeks her body grew and her mind developed. Her change was part of a subconscious desire to make herself more attractive to fellow Green Lantern Hal Jordan. The forced maturation left Arisia mentally vulnerable to attack by Star Sapphire and Hector Hammond. - Green Lantern Corps Vol. 2 #201- #213
~Lili
Blog: http://lilithlangtree.tglibrary.com/
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/lilith_langtree
~Lili
Write the story that you most desperately want to read.
Continuity, schmontinuity!
If anyone here is guilty of totally walking all over any semblance of continuity, it is I, Captain Discontinuity! Oh the headaches I've had (and will continue to have) because I don't think about these little details when I write!
So yes, you're the last person allowed to feel bad!
It's ironic, really, that Jade keeps such a big secret from the others. In fact, she's surrounded by people who could easily relate and accept her, and yet, she keeps "Jaden" hidden. Why is one of the big mysteries of the character, and I can't wait for Lilith to start writing for Jade again; I use the character a lot, but I can't hold a candle to her writing!
As an aside, I really hated the whole Arisia thing. "ZOMG, Hal Jordan is dating a teenager?! The world will end!"
Even with the backhanded retcons they've given it later, to try and adjust her chronological age. I actually liked the old Arisia better as a character. It's funny that DC keeps playing with this concept (wasn't it just Captain Marvel and Stargirl a few years back?), then jumping back like their hand just caught fire!
But that's the comics, I suppose. Anything groundbreaking only lasts a short time. Then status quo reasserts itself. I mean, the list is huge, but let's look at a few other fun examples:
Walter Langowski (Sasquatch) becomes a woman.
Shade the Changing...Woman?
Oh how about the time they turned Storm of the X-Men into a preteen?
Magik. Just. Magik. Poor thing.
I think I'll stop now, it's depressing.
People assume that time is a strict progression of cause-of-effect...but actually, from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint, it's more like a big ball of wibbly-wobbly...timey-wimey...stuff.