Server Fanon

[Knock]

Here's a little something from wikipedia.

Though it is distinct from canon, fanon is an interrelated concept in that the term encompasses invented (non-canon or not verified as being canon) facts or situations, especially those which are used so frequently in fan fiction that they become seen by many as an extended part of the canon. They become memetic within the fandom as many writers and fans adopt the same fanon, often within a relatively short time frame.

So here's my thought. There are so many areas in WoW lore that are completely vague or even contradictory, and it's left up to the players to interpret what they can from very little solid information. Though we all try and follow the official lore as much as possible, there are some situations where it's just too vague to have a solid basis.

What I propose that we do is to create a category on the CoTH wiki dedicated to server fanon. Examples of what could be included would be things along the lines of Orc Marriage, as proposed by therew. If we take an idea like the wedding ceremony proposed by therew, and place the basic ceremony on the wiki as fanon. Hopefully, it would then become the standard practice for Orc Weddings.

Over time, this would create a section of the wiki laden with lore unique to this server. Nothing that would contradict blizz's stuff, obviously, but more of an expansion on areas of lore that are relevant to us but have been forgotten by Blizzard's writers.

Take, for example, Blizz's lore on Felwood. In this article, we have two contradictory statements which drastically change the lore, should someone want to create a character from that area.

The leafy corridors of the forest rang out with the music of songbirds. It was as close to a paradise as the world has ever known. Then the Burning Legion befouled the land using The Skull of Gul'dan.

This simple statement makes it apparent that Felwood became corrupted during the Third War. However,

It is home to no cities to speak of; the night elves fled the area thousands of years ago, and no one had found the ambition to settle in the cursed forest since.

This implies that the corruption of Felwood took place thousands of years ago, most likely during the War of the Ancients.

If we take an area like Felwood, we've got two contradicting pieces of information from the official WoW lore. With a server Fanon section on the wiki, we could simply state once and for all which piece of lore CotH adheres to. It'd certainly be helpful to anyone hoping to create a character from the area.

Those are just two simple examples of how we could help to improve upon the lore that we've been given by Blizz. The creation of Fanon could allow us to really expand on our RP, creating new traditions and customs. Not break lore in any cases, but help create our own expansion of official lore, and allow us to create much more vivid and realistic cultures that our characters could become a part of.

Another random example.

The symmetrical markings worn by many night elf females do have some meaning. The tattooing "mark[s] an earlier rite [sic] of passage".[10] It is yet not clear what the rite of passage consists of, or whether the act of tattooing itself is the rite of passage.

Why not make it clear what the rite of passage is? Maybe it's a ceremony similar to christian confirmation, whereby Female Night Elves are recognized as adults within society. We could keep it vague, like Blizz did, or we could decide for ourselves.

As a private RP server, we've got a lot of talented, creative, and imaginative people here who love WoW lore. Teams of Blizzard writers are paid to come up with walls of text for us RPers to gobble up. But we, as RPers, are passionate about the WoW universe. We'd write walls of text just because we want to.

Essentially what I'm proposing is this. We create a forum for Fanon. Here, players can submit articles about the world of warcraft, its people, its cultures, whatever. But the goal is to expand on the lore, not try to improve it. We fill in the blanks Blizz left, and after GM approval, the articles are uploaded to the wiki, under a new 'Fanon' section.

Whad'yall think?

[Xigo]

If there are discrepancies in the lore (like Felwood), yes, this is a good idea.

If there are none, no. For we do not create lore. We adhere to the lore created by Blizzard. That whole 'Orc Marriage' thing is really against the lore in the first place.

Also, that's a terrible jab towards the writers at Blizzard. No one becomes a writer because they don't enjoy it. Becoming a writer in the first place requires a passion for writing. It's not that they don't like the lore, and don't enjoy writing. It's just that they're bound to make mistakes here and there.

[Amerason]

At first I almost replied that I think that we should NOT be allowed to do this without GM approval... but you already covered that. :P

Either way, I like the idea and read your entire post so I give it a thumbs up for whatever that counts... there are a few concerns, for one with the approval method for this I would highly suggest a literal poll for players to do voting yes or no, rather than just GM approval... because let's face it, stuff can get super super duper duper bias. :P

[Xigo]

At first I almost replied that I think that we should NOT be allowed to do this without GM approval... but you already covered that. :P

Either way, I like the idea and read your entire post so I give it a thumbs up for whatever that counts... there are a few concerns, for one with the approval method for this I would highly suggest a literal poll for players to do voting yes or no, rather than just GM approval... because let's face it, stuff can get super super duper duper bias. :P

The GMs have their own biases, true. But when it comes down to stuff like this, they are mature enough to put their biases aside and see what should be done.

Ultimately, whether or not we do one of these little 'fandom' things is absolutely at mercy of the GM team. There should be no 'public voting' unless they themselves cannot come to a decision on it.

[Knock]

If there are discrepancies in the lore (like Felwood), yes, this is a good idea.

If there are none, no. For we do not create lore. We adhere to the lore created by Blizzard. That whole 'Orc Marriage' thing is really against the lore in the first place.

Also, that's a terrible jab towards the writers at Blizzard. No one becomes a writer because they don't enjoy it. Becoming a writer in the first place requires a passion for writing. It's not that they don't like the lore, and don't enjoy writing. It's just that they're bound to make mistakes here and there.

You're right about the jab at blizzard writers, I apologize, it was unfair of me to say so.

As for us adhering to Blizzard Lore, in some places it's just too vague to have anything to adhere to. This inevitably leads to contradictions between characters. I'll take the example of the Night-Elven tattoos mentioned above. Though I haven't looked into it, let's say that there are two character profiles on the wiki, one stating that the character earned the tattoos by killing a wolf, one that she was given them upon reaching adulthood. If both profiles have been approved, both have essentially been made into a form of server lore, though they contradict one another.

As for us not creating our own lore, every character profile undoubtedly mentions places throughout the history of that character.

I'll take my own character, Serpicus, for example. His father was a tanner in Pyrewood Village. Was there a tanner's shop in Pyrewood village? It's never been stated in official lore, but now, because the profile is on the wiki, there must have been a tanner's in Pyrewood belonging to Serpicus' father. In a sense, some pieces of information have become part of server lore, even if it's only particular to that character.

There are numerous mentions of Night Elves being raised in orphanages, for another example. There are no Kaldorei orphanages in-game, nor are there any mentioned in lore, and yet we accept their existence because it helps our characters to have a background.

To me, it'd be the same idea with creating a fanon section of the wiki. We've all created our own little tidbits of server lore through character profiles, however unintentional. I'm not proposing that we write about anything lore-breaking or drastic, but enough tidbits to really fill out the world, in the absence of detailed lore from Blizzard.

[Aedeneau]

It's possible to reconcile the Felwood lore. The nature of the curse isn't mentioned. It's only implied that no Night Elves considered settling there. If, for whatever reason, the forest there was hostile, they'd avoid it, but that hostility might not extend to songbirds. A stretch? Maybe. But it's not outright contradictory.

For we do not create lore.

I must disagree with the greatest emphasis, and point to Knock's reasoning in the previous post as to why. If we did not create lore, we could not create characters with any kind of story apart from in-game quests. That would be dreadfully boring, and Blizzard certainly doesn't mind such things happening among major RP guilds on their own servers.

[Ben]

We do not create lore that could change a person's perspective on the lore written by the people of Blizzard. The stories of our characters are people living within a world of history - lore. In the world our characters are current, and so not history, not lore. Our characters are created using our imaginations bound to the information given to us via our perceptions of society, and what we know as truth about the races of the Warcraft universe; to counter that point on lore.

On the point about initiation ceremonies and the like, my interpretation is that each race has several classes. Each class will have a way of becoming an 'adult' - a rite of passage - based upon that. For a shaman, this could be their first time communing with the spirits, or for a hunter killing a wolf. It's about proving yourself to society, not set rules.

I think on issues such as the Felwood topic, then yes, this should be done to clarify. On any other issue, like Orc marriages to take the example given, then no. People don't always bend to the wishes of society, so we can do what we want at social events such as this. There's nothing to strictly say how it should be done.

[Amerason]

At first I almost replied that I think that we should NOT be allowed to do this without GM approval... but you already covered that. :P

Either way, I like the idea and read your entire post so I give it a thumbs up for whatever that counts... there are a few concerns, for one with the approval method for this I would highly suggest a literal poll for players to do voting yes or no, rather than just GM approval... because let's face it, stuff can get super super duper duper bias. :P

The GMs have their own biases, true. But when it comes down to stuff like this, they are mature enough to put their biases aside and see what should be done.

Ultimately, whether or not we do one of these little 'fandom' things is absolutely at mercy of the GM team. There should be no 'public voting' unless they themselves cannot come to a decision on it.

Allow me to state that through quoting you I am not in by any stretch of the means assaulting you or attacking you. I am simply stating my opinion, I personally believe that it should be entirely up to the player base as well as the GM staff to decide whether or not this is something that is applicable to the well-fare of the server.

A public poll would best serve to this means should this actually be an approved idea and new system for the server, which, in itself is highly unlikely. The reasons in which I state this is because it is the PLAYERS who create the server and the GMs who oversee the functions and well-being of the server. This has been stated time and time again. If there is to be any fabrication of our own server lore - which there has been before and it was not "always" a tremendous failure - then it should come down to the justification of the entire server as a whole to best discern what would be acceptable to the majority. Unless, of course, it is to be a dictatorship in which case there was no point in me even voicing my opinion. :P So it all is well I think, and in reality it'd come down to the GMs terms in the end, still, though, I personally believe that a public poll would be the best course of action should this become an acceptable course of direction for the server.

On another note, we've created lore time and time again... for example with Knock's example of his father, the entire... War in the Southern Barrens event is kind of an extension of lore to what was pre-established by Blizzard.

[Aedeneau]

In the world our characters are current, and so not history, not lore.

Every character profile has a history section.

[Ben]

Our characters are created using our imaginations bound to the information given to us via our perceptions of society, and what we know as truth about the races of the Warcraft universe; to counter that point on lore.

[Aedeneau]

Edit: Derp.

[Stormgald]

I was saying something very similar in the Worgen discussion post in General and I would have to agree with Knock on all points. If we adhere some parts here and there to make things fit, whats the harm? Its not like Blizz is going to throw a tantrum or anything. I vote "yes" on Prop Knock. :P

[Etmosril]

I agree with this. This is, frankly, a terrific way to get rid of all the ambiguity Blizzard leaves us with.

[Incognito]

Fanon will spring up anyway. That's what it *does*. When you find you've RPed into territory Bliz hasn't covered, and you make a few logical deductions based on it, while making a few assumptions on the matter, you're creating fanon.

Keeping track's useful to smooth out RP everywhere.Besides, if the project gets GM approval, it's a nice idea, so why not?

[Shane]

I think its a good. I don't really think we should just follow Blizzard's lore blindly, there are some things that the CotH can improve whether its orc marriages or something else.