Zone Discussion: Djinn's Archives

[Princess Ana]

Spoiler: show

The Djinn's Archives
Lost Library of Goldenridge's Heartland

The war-torn city known as Goldenridge has an intriguing past. Millenia ago, a wise and benevolent pokemon resided over the lands, generous to all, and to the peoples their name was Hyun-pa. As time went on, greed and corruption among the nobles of the land tainted the heart of Hyun-pa, and in a fit of great rage he razed the lands around him, casting out those who harboured no ill will towards him. While he was immensely powerful, he knew that the actions of a few would not condemn the many, and was willing to forgive humanity, but as his anger left him and he saw the devastation he left upon the world, he wept. In an act of repentance, the wise pokemon would seal himself from the world, into their own personal prison to repent for their actions, and the name Hyun-pa faded from the annals of history.

Following the victory of the Marshals over the Rocket splinter group known as the Shells, through reluctant military intervention, the authorities readied themselves to turn their attention to the other faction, the Ribs, when the leader of said group contacted the lead Marshal personally, requesting his presence within the centre of the building to negotiate terms of surrender without bloodshed. Accepting the invitation, Lieutenant Vicefeder met with the enigmatic leader Piper, who revealed several great secrets of the city, and showed the man an interesting discovery deep within the depths: a mysterious doorway.
Now exposed as Gabriella Kalsdottir, last of the Council, she formally disbanded the Ribs and requested to serve her likely life sentence through what lay beyond the doorway. With some work, the entire structure was excavated and transported outside the gates of the city, and after thousands of years humans once more met with the wise Hyun-pa, who in their time had used their immense powers to construct a vast library containing knowledge beyond knowledge. Known as the Djinn's Archives, the pokemon resides within their self-contained prison, with Gabriella in service to them, the mythical pokemon Hoopa opening invitations to all to peruse the tomes within, to build on their incalculable collection and to see for himself how humanity has changed.

The Djinn's Archives serve as a training zone for ZUs, and is designed to provide both adventurers and updators the freedom to create their own stories, with open ended opportunity for roleplaying. The magicks of the archives prevent the use of empty pokeballs for capture within the building itself, but those curious for an experience may tap into the magic of the library. Hyun-pa, being a mythical pokemon of great dimensional manipulation, has forged several receptacles around the floors of the Archives, through which trainers may place a book upon. The power of the receptacles will open a doorway to a pocket dimension related to that book, so that trainers may literally engage in the stories, and due to being outwith the confines of the archives, capture opportunities are open within these dimensions.

Reception and Recreation (reply in linen)

The crux of any adventurer's journey through the archives, the main reception chamber is a vast hall with a number of seats for casual visitors to browse the library's contents, and more often than not is where Gabriella, the Prime Archivist, and Hyun-pa, Director of Their Namesake, can be found. Always interested in hearing stories, the reception area is floored with unbreakable glass through which one can gaze upon an endless sea of pages, swirling from nowhere and upwards into the archives to become books, and trainers who wish for a relaxed time can ask the patrons if there's any work to be done. After all, the archives are far from complete, and any small token of assistance is appreciated.

Department of World History (reply in burlywood)

Much can be said of the world we live in, both the good and the bad, and it was this aspect of the world's history that the Djinn looked for first. Within this well-kept and vintage department, with mahogany carvings and the scent of pine, lies books pertaining to the lives and happenings of the world's people and nations, with autobiographies and eyewitness accounts of famous events lining the shelves. The patron of this department, Ria, is a prim and proper Sigilyph who is not one for silliness, yet the Chrono Archivist is certainly keen to allow people to peruse the books. For trainers who want to experience history as it happened, there can be no greater haven.

Department of Literature and Fiction (reply in peru)

It is not just the true stories that piqued Hyun-pa's interest, but the stories created by authors as well. Sequestered above World History, Literature and Fiction expresses the creative minds of countless individuals, with famous and obscure titles everywhere, fairy tales standing in the same room as great sagas and simple drabbles and poems nestled with exotic novellas and works too risque for younger readers. Much to form, the Whimsical Archivist, Nimmi the Aromatisse wanders carefree, pointing visitors in random directions to whatever she feels fits them. Trainers who want a fanciful, unpredictable journey would be at home on this floor of the archives.

Department of Arts and Crafts (reply in lawngreen)

Not all books accumulated by the Director are word-laden tomes. Many of them are filled with the visual imaginations of people and pokemon alike, and these are located in the domain of Elole, a Cinccino bearing the title of Creative Archivist. Contrasting to the prior floors, Arts and Crafts is a kaleidoscopic afrenzy upon the senses, colours and shapes situated everywhere, and the works within feature all sorts of artwork, from painting and drawings to sculptures and installations modern and classic and even music, all unique in its own way. Trainers with a taste for a bombastic display of an adventure can choose to spend some time here.

Department of Technical and Scientific Studies (reply in steelblue)

By all standards, discoveries of technology and the nature of science itself in the past few centuries would fill a library in their own right, and it is no surprise then that Hyun-pa took vested interest in what humans had created. This department, as expected, is more an extensive laboratory than a repository for knowledge, with sturdy and practical benches and tables with little cushioning surrounded by whitewashed bookshelves littered with tomes ranging from chemistry and physics to mechanical works and records of inventions over the years, and Ibra, Beheyeem patron and Engineered Archivist will treat all visitors as carefully as they treat their ward. Trainers who would like a technically based story would be welcome to utilise the books located here, though some have been advised as rumours tell that some of the tomes here are of future creations.

Department of Tongues and Philosophies (reply in tomato)

Located at the back of the archives, the concept of languages has been strongly discussed even from the mythical Tower of Babel, and often lands hand in hand with the realm of philosophy. Within this dark corner of the Djinn's home, indescribable volumes tower over the desks, each book inlaid with gold and worth a fortune in their own right, yet as one wanders the halls the whisperings of a thousand languages will draw them, while deep thought processes and ideologies will detract one from their own train, and the Silent Archivist, Tarius the Bisharp will naturally be able to read the hearts of trainers over the course of centuries of experience. Trainers with a desire to face their inner selves will invariably find themselves drawn, and may find out something they didn't realize lay deep down.

Hello all, now that I have been given the reins of power yet again, and also been made the ZA of this zone, it's coming it to be workshopped. I am maybe perhaps not the greatest person for discussing criticisms of this zone because I really quite like it, but it's important to here what the community has to say about it. So I'm opening this up to the public so see what everyone has to say about it. I've included the original OP at the top for ease of reference.

I'm going to ask a number of questions here as well. Please do not limit your feedback to these questions. It is very important I get your full and complete thoughts on the matter.

• What is your opinion on the structure of the OP?
• As an updatee, what is your opinion on what the zone brings to you for adventures and how accessible is it?
• As an updator, how easy do you find updating this zone and are there any unique difficulties?
• If you are neither updating nor having an adventure here, are there any fundamental reasons why?
• What would be your preferred method of action if you believe this zone to have problems?

[Prof.Enigma]

Originally Posted by Emi

I'm going to ask a number of questions here as well. Please do not limit your feedback to these questions. It is very important I get your full and complete thoughts on the matter.

• What is your opinion on the structure of the OP?
• As an updatee, what is your opinion on what the zone brings to you for adventures and how accessible is it?
• As an updator, how easy do you find updating this zone and are there any unique difficulties?
• If you are neither updating nor having an adventure here, are there any fundamental reasons why?
• What would be your preferred method of action if you believe this zone to have problems?

I have no qualms with the structure of the OP, there's a lot to chew but I feel it fits with the zone.

As an updatee I believe I haven't actually even stepped into this zone, I will say I do like the options available and just haven't gotten around to posting a zone intro.

As an updator I really don't like How much freedom I have. I am not good without structure of areas, ( look at lilts DA adventure and you can probably see where I was struggling ) I could probably be fine within L&Fiction but for other parts of DA i could see things struggling.

Im not fully sure how to go about fixing these issues with at least my standpoint as of this moment in time only because I feel they are more interpersonal and may not be entirely zone related, but if they are I would recommend some form of structure in the form of a little bit more descriptive parts where the sections take place ( think laboratory for Tech and Science etc etc )

[lilboocorsola]

Personally I'd like to see the intro blurb trimmed down a bit, at least/especially if we're keeping this as a purported "Training Zone" for ZUs. Like I've said before I don't think we need a lot of background loredump out the gate, if we can keep the OP introduction to no more than a paragraph or two so as not to overwhelm newbies.

[Ironthunder]

I agree with the prior assessments of the zone from Discord discussions: It's a decent zone, but it could probably do with being a little less open-ended for the updaters' sakes. People rarely come to adventures with anything in mind more than a goal and a general vibe for the adventure, and the updater is left to throw an adventure together from that, the zone and their own imaginations, and while I don't update, I can't imagine that having such zones as these would help. Largely because the bulk of the adventures don't actually happen within the described zones, but within little freeform pocket worlds. Updaters have to create the world, the characters, the story, the backstory... They're essentially expected to create a microzone every single adventure, and I think that's too much to ask. I'm not exactly sure how we remedy this, though: Maybe have the books modify areas of the library and become more visual/interactable displays rather than "drag you into a pocket world", especially for areas like Science and History? I feel like keeping things within the set bounds of the zone would probably help updaters immensely.

[Naru]

Originally Posted by Emi

Spoiler: show

The Djinn's Archives
Lost Library of Goldenridge's Heartland

The war-torn city known as Goldenridge has an intriguing past. Millenia ago, a wise and benevolent pokemon resided over the lands, generous to all, and to the peoples their name was Hyun-pa. As time went on, greed and corruption among the nobles of the land tainted the heart of Hyun-pa, and in a fit of great rage he razed the lands around him, casting out those who harboured no ill will towards him. While he was immensely powerful, he knew that the actions of a few would not condemn the many, and was willing to forgive humanity, but as his anger left him and he saw the devastation he left upon the world, he wept. In an act of repentance, the wise pokemon would seal himself from the world, into their own personal prison to repent for their actions, and the name Hyun-pa faded from the annals of history.

Following the victory of the Marshals over the Rocket splinter group known as the Shells, through reluctant military intervention, the authorities readied themselves to turn their attention to the other faction, the Ribs, when the leader of said group contacted the lead Marshal personally, requesting his presence within the centre of the building to negotiate terms of surrender without bloodshed. Accepting the invitation, Lieutenant Vicefeder met with the enigmatic leader Piper, who revealed several great secrets of the city, and showed the man an interesting discovery deep within the depths: a mysterious doorway.
Now exposed as Gabriella Kalsdottir, last of the Council, she formally disbanded the Ribs and requested to serve her likely life sentence through what lay beyond the doorway. With some work, the entire structure was excavated and transported outside the gates of the city, and after thousands of years humans once more met with the wise Hyun-pa, who in their time had used their immense powers to construct a vast library containing knowledge beyond knowledge. Known as the Djinn's Archives, the pokemon resides within their self-contained prison, with Gabriella in service to them, the mythical pokemon Hoopa opening invitations to all to peruse the tomes within, to build on their incalculable collection and to see for himself how humanity has changed.

The Djinn's Archives serve as a training zone for ZUs, and is designed to provide both adventurers and updators the freedom to create their own stories, with open ended opportunity for roleplaying. The magicks of the archives prevent the use of empty pokeballs for capture within the building itself, but those curious for an experience may tap into the magic of the library. Hyun-pa, being a mythical pokemon of great dimensional manipulation, has forged several receptacles around the floors of the Archives, through which trainers may place a book upon. The power of the receptacles will open a doorway to a pocket dimension related to that book, so that trainers may literally engage in the stories, and due to being outwith the confines of the archives, capture opportunities are open within these dimensions.

Reception and Recreation (reply in linen)

The crux of any adventurer's journey through the archives, the main reception chamber is a vast hall with a number of seats for casual visitors to browse the library's contents, and more often than not is where Gabriella, the Prime Archivist, and Hyun-pa, Director of Their Namesake, can be found. Always interested in hearing stories, the reception area is floored with unbreakable glass through which one can gaze upon an endless sea of pages, swirling from nowhere and upwards into the archives to become books, and trainers who wish for a relaxed time can ask the patrons if there's any work to be done. After all, the archives are far from complete, and any small token of assistance is appreciated.

Department of World History (reply in burlywood)

Much can be said of the world we live in, both the good and the bad, and it was this aspect of the world's history that the Djinn looked for first. Within this well-kept and vintage department, with mahogany carvings and the scent of pine, lies books pertaining to the lives and happenings of the world's people and nations, with autobiographies and eyewitness accounts of famous events lining the shelves. The patron of this department, Ria, is a prim and proper Sigilyph who is not one for silliness, yet the Chrono Archivist is certainly keen to allow people to peruse the books. For trainers who want to experience history as it happened, there can be no greater haven.

Department of Literature and Fiction (reply in peru)

It is not just the true stories that piqued Hyun-pa's interest, but the stories created by authors as well. Sequestered above World History, Literature and Fiction expresses the creative minds of countless individuals, with famous and obscure titles everywhere, fairy tales standing in the same room as great sagas and simple drabbles and poems nestled with exotic novellas and works too risque for younger readers. Much to form, the Whimsical Archivist, Nimmi the Aromatisse wanders carefree, pointing visitors in random directions to whatever she feels fits them. Trainers who want a fanciful, unpredictable journey would be at home on this floor of the archives.

Department of Arts and Crafts (reply in lawngreen)

Not all books accumulated by the Director are word-laden tomes. Many of them are filled with the visual imaginations of people and pokemon alike, and these are located in the domain of Elole, a Cinccino bearing the title of Creative Archivist. Contrasting to the prior floors, Arts and Crafts is a kaleidoscopic afrenzy upon the senses, colours and shapes situated everywhere, and the works within feature all sorts of artwork, from painting and drawings to sculptures and installations modern and classic and even music, all unique in its own way. Trainers with a taste for a bombastic display of an adventure can choose to spend some time here.

Department of Technical and Scientific Studies (reply in steelblue)

By all standards, discoveries of technology and the nature of science itself in the past few centuries would fill a library in their own right, and it is no surprise then that Hyun-pa took vested interest in what humans had created. This department, as expected, is more an extensive laboratory than a repository for knowledge, with sturdy and practical benches and tables with little cushioning surrounded by whitewashed bookshelves littered with tomes ranging from chemistry and physics to mechanical works and records of inventions over the years, and Ibra, Beheyeem patron and Engineered Archivist will treat all visitors as carefully as they treat their ward. Trainers who would like a technically based story would be welcome to utilise the books located here, though some have been advised as rumours tell that some of the tomes here are of future creations.

Department of Tongues and Philosophies (reply in tomato)

Located at the back of the archives, the concept of languages has been strongly discussed even from the mythical Tower of Babel, and often lands hand in hand with the realm of philosophy. Within this dark corner of the Djinn's home, indescribable volumes tower over the desks, each book inlaid with gold and worth a fortune in their own right, yet as one wanders the halls the whisperings of a thousand languages will draw them, while deep thought processes and ideologies will detract one from their own train, and the Silent Archivist, Tarius the Bisharp will naturally be able to read the hearts of trainers over the course of centuries of experience. Trainers with a desire to face their inner selves will invariably find themselves drawn, and may find out something they didn't realize lay deep down.

Hello all, now that I have been given the reins of power yet again, and also been made the ZA of this zone, it's coming it to be workshopped. I am maybe perhaps not the greatest person for discussing criticisms of this zone because I really quite like it, but it's important to here what the community has to say about it. So I'm opening this up to the public so see what everyone has to say about it. I've included the original OP at the top for ease of reference.

I'm going to ask a number of questions here as well. Please do not limit your feedback to these questions. It is very important I get your full and complete thoughts on the matter.

• What is your opinion on the structure of the OP?
• As an updatee, what is your opinion on what the zone brings to you for adventures and how accessible is it?
• As an updator, how easy do you find updating this zone and are there any unique difficulties?
• If you are neither updating nor having an adventure here, are there any fundamental reasons why?
• What would be your preferred method of action if you believe this zone to have problems?

- What is your opinion on the structure of the OP?
I agree with Yuki that it's a MASSIVE lore dump that, while it provides a bit of context, is super bulky and a bit hard to digest. It could use a bit of a buzzcut, or even a slight tweak of the massive lore dump at the beginning. I don't even think the descriptions of the areas themselves are that bad, they're just bulky.

- As an updatee, what is your opinion on what the zone brings to you for adventures and how accessible is it?
I have never adventured here because it does not appeal to me outside of one area: The Department of Tongues and Philosophies. However this raises an issue for me as someone who also updates because if I get a less talkative updater that does not want to reach out they may read my characters wrong and like whoever I would send here... I'd want them to suffer lmao. Elka and Isaac need to suffer.

My main qualm would be someone not understanding my intention or just writing it in a way that it pushes my ideas down, and I find certain aspects of this zone to be very limiting in that regard. I do think some areas as a whole need tweaking.

- The two most popular areas at a glance seem to be World History and Arts and Crafts. I think only Marion has done a forray into the portion I really admire and it looks like Blu took on the Tech and Science before they changed their trainer character. I think the tech and science area needs a larger rework than the others, as I'm a bit... confused from both sides as to what a lot of it means? I think it's trying to lean into an idea of machines and science, but at the same time we kind of captured that as an idea with SF so it may need some tweaks.

- As an updator, how easy do you find updating this zone and are there any unique difficulties?

[SmokingBunny.png]

I'm ngl I hate updating this zone.

If I get stumped while planning adventures I will often reach out to people to see what they had in mind which is almost a need with this zone (not an issue). The main issue is if the updatee stays quite vague on what they want, especially in the history section, it can be a nightmare to plan an adventure around as there's just... SO MUCH THEY COULD DO.

It's FAR too open imo. I think some zones do need a limiting factor, and while I understand that this was created in a time that people really wanted open ended zones it just... does not always work.

The problem I stated with adventuring here myself also sticks here, as some people might get upset with me if I portray their character wrong in one of the more reflective areas. It's just... it's an updaters nightmare dawg.

- What would be your preferred method of action if you believe this zone to have problems?

Like 4 months ago I wanted this zone scrapped. In some ways, I still do. But I largely think an overhaul of areas could do it wonders or even like a "tone it down". Throw in some sub areas for the history zone, hell, take from Dialga's Gate in that regard so that I at least have an IDEA of what time period people want to be in or even a vague location.

[Princess Ana]

Originally Posted by Prof.Enigma

As an updator I really don't like How much freedom I have. I am not good without structure of areas, ( look at lilts DA adventure and you can probably see where I was struggling ) I could probably be fine within L&Fiction but for other parts of DA i could see things struggling.

Im not fully sure how to go about fixing these issues with at least my standpoint as of this moment in time only because I feel they are more interpersonal and may not be entirely zone related, but if they are I would recommend some form of structure in the form of a little bit more descriptive parts where the sections take place ( think laboratory for Tech and Science etc etc )

The freedom in updating thing is something that has come up a lot and I do think that it is worth looking into how to address this. Admittedly, I do want to find a way to address this while keeping with the general flavor of the zone as a whole. I don't really want to simply add a laboratory for the Tech and Science floor, because that's very cliche and I don't know if it really solves the issue in any meaningful way. My goal in adding structure into the zone is not to then make it feel dissonant.

Originally Posted by lilboocorsola

Personally I'd like to see the intro blurb trimmed down a bit, at least/especially if we're keeping this as a purported "Training Zone" for ZUs. Like I've said before I don't think we need a lot of background loredump out the gate, if we can keep the OP introduction to no more than a paragraph or two so as not to overwhelm newbies.

Yeah I'll see about condensing this. I don't really think this matters all too much because none of the two paragraphs of intro really matter in how anyone decides to interact with the zone as a whole, but it does occupy a lot of space so I can see it from that angle. Ultimately it's lore than you can completely ignore which is a sentiment I've expressed in the past.

Originally Posted by Ironthunder

I agree with the prior assessments of the zone from Discord discussions: It's a decent zone, but it could probably do with being a little less open-ended for the updaters' sakes. People rarely come to adventures with anything in mind more than a goal and a general vibe for the adventure, and the updater is left to throw an adventure together from that, the zone and their own imaginations, and while I don't update, I can't imagine that having such zones as these would help. Largely because the bulk of the adventures don't actually happen within the described zones, but within little freeform pocket worlds. Updaters have to create the world, the characters, the story, the backstory... They're essentially expected to create a microzone every single adventure, and I think that's too much to ask. I'm not exactly sure how we remedy this, though: Maybe have the books modify areas of the library and become more visual/interactable displays rather than "drag you into a pocket world", especially for areas like Science and History? I feel like keeping things within the set bounds of the zone would probably help updaters immensely.

This is actually a pretty stellar idea for changing how things end up. Like this is genuinely good, I will probably be folding this into a rework of the zone because it definitely nails the idea while being more restrained.

Originally Posted by Naru

- What is your opinion on the structure of the OP?
I agree with Yuki that it's a MASSIVE lore dump that, while it provides a bit of context, is super bulky and a bit hard to digest. It could use a bit of a buzzcut, or even a slight tweak of the massive lore dump at the beginning. I don't even think the descriptions of the areas themselves are that bad, they're just bulky.

- As an updatee, what is your opinion on what the zone brings to you for adventures and how accessible is it?
I have never adventured here because it does not appeal to me outside of one area: The Department of Tongues and Philosophies. However this raises an issue for me as someone who also updates because if I get a less talkative updater that does not want to reach out they may read my characters wrong and like whoever I would send here... I'd want them to suffer lmao. Elka and Isaac need to suffer.

My main qualm would be someone not understanding my intention or just writing it in a way that it pushes my ideas down, and I find certain aspects of this zone to be very limiting in that regard. I do think some areas as a whole need tweaking.

- The two most popular areas at a glance seem to be World History and Arts and Crafts. I think only Marion has done a forray into the portion I really admire and it looks like Blu took on the Tech and Science before they changed their trainer character. I think the tech and science area needs a larger rework than the others, as I'm a bit... confused from both sides as to what a lot of it means? I think it's trying to lean into an idea of machines and science, but at the same time we kind of captured that as an idea with SF so it may need some tweaks.

One of the things I'm thinking about is cutting down the number of available areas to explore to find a way to hone it down a bit more. I think Tech and Sciences could probably go and honestly I feel like the Reception Area is unneeded but I like the idea of the other three (and I guess Arts and Crafts that's popular I guess).

I think Tongues and Philosophies probably needs some indication that its an area that requires some more communication, or a slightly different updating style. I actually think it is a good part of the zone and offers something unique, but I'd actually rather move away from Djinn's Archive being a training zone (the distinction is entirely pointless in current FB anyways) and this would allow the zone to pick up a little more complexity in that regard.

- As an updator, how easy do you find updating this zone and are there any unique difficulties?

[SmokingBunny.png]

I'm ngl I hate updating this zone.

If I get stumped while planning adventures I will often reach out to people to see what they had in mind which is almost a need with this zone (not an issue). The main issue is if the updatee stays quite vague on what they want, especially in the history section, it can be a nightmare to plan an adventure around as there's just... SO MUCH THEY COULD DO.

It's FAR too open imo. I think some zones do need a limiting factor, and while I understand that this was created in a time that people really wanted open ended zones it just... does not always work.

The problem I stated with adventuring here myself also sticks here, as some people might get upset with me if I portray their character wrong in one of the more reflective areas. It's just... it's an updaters nightmare dawg.

- What would be your preferred method of action if you believe this zone to have problems?

Like 4 months ago I wanted this zone scrapped. In some ways, I still do. But I largely think an overhaul of areas could do it wonders or even like a "tone it down". Throw in some sub areas for the history zone, hell, take from Dialga's Gate in that regard so that I at least have an IDEA of what time period people want to be in or even a vague location.

I'm not totally against this zone being iceboxed for the record. This is a zone that's grappling with a unique idea and I am probably the only person here outside of like Connor who really gets and understands where this zone is coming from, but I also think that it needs reworking to some degree. The concept was cool experimenting with but I think it ultimately needs to change somewhat to avoid clanging against more established practice.

Also if Phantom Isle has taught me anything Fizzy Bubbles has a grudge against trains.

[Lil'twick]

Alright so this zone. This is the one zone I just refuse to update in now and Naru pretty much. When we had the zone election for a "training zone", which btw we've scrapped this being that for over a year now so please take that idea and throw it into a trash can. Anyway, we did ask for an open-ended zone for people to try and get their updating training wheels in since the other zones are the time were "big and intimidating and lore-heavy". Well, we gave a brief, this zone perfectly fit the brief, and now we're realizing the brief was dogshit.

I've had two adventures in this zone. The first one ended because the updater was sort of overwhelmed with the size of the adventure they had planned and realized they didn't wish to update. The second one was short, but the updater struggled immensely with the adventure due to the sub-area. While I did enjoy parts of both adventures, I realized that the zone itself was limiting both of them. Thus, it's sort of something where I'm not too inclined to want to adventure in here unless the zone is heavily reworked. Which is a shame, a magical library can be hella cool. I do think Iron's idea has a lot of merit and makes it feel more like a magical library instead of just the Free-For-All Zone with a fresh coat of paint.

As for being an updater, no. Just, no. I've only ever updated two adventures into this zone, one of which is currently inactive. For the first one, I pulled inspiration from the more classical Repunzal fairy-tale and still struggled to feel like I was fully fulfilling the story beats. The other is using the Pokemon Mansion as a background, and I feel is a lot easier to have breathing room with as a result. Often as an udpater here you'll need to pull from stories or facts from history. The other sub-areas deal with a lot more abstract concepts and for me that's really challenging. As an updater, the zone really needs to be a concrete setting that's easy to comprehend from the OP for updating. (MR, parts of NFC, the Nyx Labs, and the Confalgerant Spire are all perfect examples here. Good ol' Cultist Volcano). It's too much of a headache to have to craft every single aspect of the adventure yourself with a vague theme or want being presented from the update. And if the updatee is along the lines of "do whatever you want/surprise" it's a massive SOL feeling.

I feel like part of the zone should also lean more into the library itself. Not everyone is going to want to experience stories or history but still want to come to a library. I was looking for a more clerical adventure my second go around and the zone in theory should support this, but in practice, it doesn't. I know CB submitted a magical library zone in a zone submission a while back that did have some good beats to it that DA could probably correlate (with their permission obviously). Like, I feel the concept of "magical library" very much could work in Fizzy Bubbles. Capture the magic that LMN, HM, and other zones of that brand had that we're sort of missing. Just, not in its current state. I very much am fine with scrapping how DA currently is, but I do feel the concept itself warrants existence.

[Princess Ana]

The Djinn's Archives

This archive had been named for one of the powerful Pokemon said to lie in its belly as a prison, Hyun-pa, the Hoopa. It was a suitable enough explanation for the people of Bedlam Ridge, whose rediscovery of the lost library had been a source of both political intrigue as well as greed. It has been said that the library was the source of all knowledge in Fizzytopia history, containing the secrets to all in existence. But mankind, in their greed, made a simple mistake. They opened books never meant to be open. In the absence of the librarians who normally kept the Library in a stable state, chaos reigned as books swallowed people whole.

With the return of the Library's workers, slowly, peace began to settle back into the Archives. The more dangerous books were put away, and they knew once more than mankind would need to be tempered in their greed of the knowable. With this, they worked on reshaping the Archives, a thought once believed impossible, into the state it is in now.

Hall of Reception (Please reply in linen)
The large entry hall serves as both the entryway into the Archives, but also as the main hub of the various workers here. The Archives are massive, and so the need for more workers is always present. One could easily volunteer their services here if they need to, although there are no guarantees on what kind of work might end up being done. It could range from simple clerical work, to trawling the closed down floors, hunting down the dangerous library books still brimming with magical power.

Bach is the Senior Librarian here. He is serious, stern, and incredibly direct to the point as a person, gaining the reputation amongst the lower Librarians as a slave driver of a boss. He cares the most about the image of the library and keeps everything in perfect working order.

Study of World History (Please reply in burlywood)
On the next floor is the Study of World History, both as a space and as a vocation. Those here may choose to simply relax in the quiet environment or take note of the various history books lying around. Opening them will create a simulacra of the events, people, and places recorded in them, entirely confined to the space within the library. Visitors are encouraged to not leave the books open for long though, as the figures inside sometimes want to leap out of the pages and back into the real world.

Esther is the Senior Librarian in charge of this floor. Her attitude is cheerful and upbeat, and she often eagerly welcomes visitors whenever she can. She can usually be found with a couple of her treasured Pokemon: a Bewear named Stuffy, a Vespiquen called "Her Highness' ', and a Litwick named Matchlight. She believes that no matter what awful things are written in these books, it is the capability of mankind to overcome and move past them.

Parlor of Literature (Please reply in peru)
The fevered sound of pen to paper, the quick rattle of typewriters, and the quiet hum of computers fill the air here as people here consume not only the finest in literary works, but create them as well. A rumor has had it that any work penned here will be so spectacular that readers will be ferried off to that world, although such a thing hasn't yet happened.

Despite the best efforts of the Senior Librarian, Rose, manuscripts often litter the tables and floor of this part of the library. She frequently requires outside help both in keeping the place tidy and in dealing with the mad ravings of the authors that sometimes occur. Despite everything, Rose is very kind and helpful to the authors, believing that the joy and happiness a good story can provide is worth any effort.

Studio of Arts and Design (Please reply in lawngreen)
The floor afterwards is dedicated to the Arts, a massive studio dedicated to all kinds of different art forms, including the kinds that can only be found here. Paintings can move on their own, guided into moving canvases by the painters hands, statues can slowly locomote like karakuri puppets, and often the drawings will leap from their pages to frolic with their graphite friends nearby. It is a place of true artistic expression, but also often dangerous, as conflict is quite common here, both between the creations and their creators.

The Senior Librarian here, Matthew, is utterly detached from the state of his floor, much to the chagrin of the other three remaining Senior Librarians. Getting him to stop imbibing and taking his job seriously is a constant, especially as some of the art runs rampant through the studio. This said, underneath his uncaring expression belies a deep respect for the arts and a desire for them to run free.

Lounge of Tongues and Philosophies (Please reply in tomato)
The smell of black tea is the first thing to hit people as they come to this floor. In contrast to the rest of the floors, this floor hardly seems anything like a library, merely having many places to relax and some small stands with books placed decoratively on top of them.

The Senior Librarian, Tabitha, explains that this floor is one of the last floors with great power in them, and that it allows for one to experience self-reflection like no other. Falling asleep here can cause one to fall into a dream that can feel like it takes weeks to recover from, and one's circumstances can be painted like magic onto the walls to study and analyze. Tabitha requires that all visitors who wish for these services, however, fill out a form expressing their desire for such a visit, claiming incidents previously involving demon summoning before laughing.

Draft of the zone is now live. Please give your feedback and what not

[Ironthunder]

This genuinely reads like a massive improvement. I wouldn't have any objections to this going live as-is, though I'm not overly sure on direction for the Literature area. Might just be me, but I'm struggling to imagine how an adventure there would go.

[Naru]

Originally Posted by Ironthunder

This genuinely reads like a massive improvement. I wouldn't have any objections to this going live as-is, though I'm not overly sure on direction for the Literature area. Might just be me, but I'm struggling to imagine how an adventure there would go.

Yeah I said in mod chat that I think the literature area is overall the weakest but otherwise I *really* like the rewrite and actually would not hate adventuring/updating here anymore. My only issue is I don't know how I'd even change the literature area.

[Heather]

All told, this reads like a place you could go to, but with the tweaking of the Magic Tree House-like mechanics keeping everything inside the physical location of a library, I become really, really uncertain of what you could actually do with the place. You really don't want Pokemon battles or any such things going on in a place chock full of valuable texts, or delicate computer equipment, or what else have you. Not to mention that while a lot of people have raised issues with just how directionless the Zone's current form can feel, the more FFA nature of that iteration has its strengths as well. When I made my intro post to this Zone, there wasn't really a sort of "mostly vanilla forest/nature area" type pf place. If there was one in MR, there was too much preternatural going on for my tastes, and UA's nature area is very much corrupted and sickened, which wasn't going to work well when my objective was to find my Farfetch'd a healthy Leek. DA was the only place I really felt I could get the environment I wanted, because I could just describe myself asking after the sort of book that might contain it. In short, something needs to be there to facilitate the types of journeys that, for one reason or another, don't fit anywhere else-otherwise, the draw of being able to journey how one wishes starts to fizzle out.

I also didn't particularly have trouble devising Blu's adventure for my part, just seeing how Elijah and Ion bounced off each other in the intro, combined with the chosen section, gave me an idea of what I wanted to do quickly enough, though I recognize we won't all be that lucky.

With that in mind, I think the main flaw of the original draft is that while it kind of has directions on where to go for certain kinds of adventures, those directions can be kind of vague and unhelpful. Like, the "Tongues and Philosophies" section indicates that its for journeys of self-discovery, but not only is that very non-specific, there's no reason that an objective like that can't be accomplished in any of the other sections. Being thrust into a historical event, or the world of a long-lost legend, can just as if not more easily draw you into a situation that helps break open what makes an adventurer tick just as much as a philosophy text.

As such, I think it would be prudent to have some kind of system in place that accounts for this, some means of being able to freely yet clearly and systematically direct both the setting genre and themes of an adventure. Like, if I wanted to put Catharine's moral thought processes to the test in a "chips are down, no real right answers" scenario, specifically in a historical setting that doesn't actually interact with the Pokemon universe's canon historical events (eg AZ's war), I would have some way to indicateva genre of "Historical Fiction" and themes of "Difficult choices, introspection, heavy subjects," or something similar. It does look at first blush to be difficult to square with how Zones are traditionally written up, but to be honest if the goal is to maintain the sort of Zone that serves do do "everything the others can't," maybe that traditional writeup format just won't cut it per se.

I don't know, I don't have all the answers. I just worry about what the effect of so drastically constraining the physical setting will do for the purpose the Zone has historically fulfilled.

[Lil'twick]

Hi yes here I go with my thoughts on the zone yes:

Originally Posted by Princess Ana

Hall of Reception (Please reply in linen)
The large entry hall serves as both the entryway into the Archives, but also as the main hub of the various workers here. The Archives are massive, and so the need for more workers is always present. One could easily volunteer their services here if they need to, although there are no guarantees on what kind of work might end up being done. It could range from simple clerical work, to trawling the closed down floors, hunting down the dangerous library books still brimming with magical power.

Bach is the Senior Librarian here. He is serious, stern, and incredibly direct to the point as a person, gaining the reputation amongst the lower Librarians as a slave driver of a boss. He cares the most about the image of the library and keeps everything in perfect working order.

This is already a lot better for this sub-area. It gives some pretty clear guidelines on what exactly someone can do at the reception area. I do like finding at least some detail on the floor librarian is a good thing as well, as it allows updaters to easily pick up these NPCs and use them within the adventure.

Study of World History (Please reply in burlywood)
On the next floor is the Study of World History, both as a space and as a vocation. Those here may choose to simply relax in the quiet environment or take note of the various history books lying around. Opening them will create a simulacra of the events, people, and places recorded in them, entirely confined to the space within the library. Visitors are encouraged to not leave the books open for long though, as the figures inside sometimes want to leap out of the pages and back into the real world.

Esther is the Senior Librarian in charge of this floor. Her attitude is cheerful and upbeat, and she often eagerly welcomes visitors whenever she can. She can usually be found with a couple of her treasured Pokemon: a Bewear named Stuffy, a Vespiquen called "Her Highness' ', and a Litwick named Matchlight. She believes that no matter what awful things are written in these books, it is the capability of mankind to overcome and move past them.

I do like that there is a sense of urgency within the subarea. That yeah, you can peruse as much as you want, but be expedient in what you do partake. Though, it doesn't necessarily fully address my problem with the sub-area in that world history is still a very broad subject and can be taken in a large variety of ways. Not to mention thinking of it specifically translating into the Pokemon world. I feel like this subarea best works when you're looking to explore canon events, compared to IRL historical events.

Parlor of Literature (Please reply in peru)
The fevered sound of pen to paper, the quick rattle of typewriters, and the quiet hum of computers fill the air here as people here consume not only the finest in literary works, but create them as well. A rumor has had it that any work penned here will be so spectacular that readers will be ferried off to that world, although such a thing hasn't yet happened.

Despite the best efforts of the Senior Librarian, Rose, manuscripts often litter the tables and floor of this part of the library. She frequently requires outside help both in keeping the place tidy and in dealing with the mad ravings of the authors that sometimes occur. Despite everything, Rose is very kind and helpful to the authors, believing that the joy and happiness a good story can provide is worth any effort.

I do feel like this is the weakest subarea, just because there isn't a whole lot of draw to it in particular. I can understand the idea of a writer's parlor. It's often important for writers and authors to get together, chat about their works, and get feedback This, however, feels more like a writing shop than that. It also clashes in the next subarea in something that's more focused on creativity then reading.

My suggestion is to sort of wrap the writing part into that and have this be more focused on fairy tales and folk stories. Something that can reflect the fun and whimsy that fantasy worlds often have. With, or without, the dark undertones that often accompany them. With MR moving away from a general high fantasy and more focusing on ancient ruins and the supernatural, I feel there is room for that aesthetic to exist.

Studio of Arts and Design (Please reply in lawngreen)
The floor afterwards is dedicated to the Arts, a massive studio dedicated to all kinds of different art forms, including the kinds that can only be found here. Paintings can move on their own, guided into moving canvases by the painters hands, statues can slowly locomote like karakuri puppets, and often the drawings will leap from their pages to frolic with their graphite friends nearby. It is a place of true artistic expression, but also often dangerous, as conflict is quite common here, both between the creations and their creators.

The Senior Librarian here, Matthew, is utterly detached from the state of his floor, much to the chagrin of the other three remaining Senior Librarians. Getting him to stop imbibing and taking his job seriously is a constant, especially as some of the art runs rampant through the studio. This said, underneath his uncaring expression belies a deep respect for the arts and a desire for them to run free.

This is my favorite sub-area and not by a small margin. This actually gives me, as an updater, proper inspiration just from the sub-area alone. Some artist's rogue sketch is wreaking havoc? A sculpture that has come to life and is wondering what it means to live? Some sort of crayon dragon or something, oh wait that's just Druddigon, making its lair deep within the walls? The possibilities are endless. And the floor librarian is someone who just wants to let it happen? Perfect.

Lounge of Tongues and Philosophies (Please reply in tomato)
The smell of black tea is the first thing to hit people as they come to this floor. In contrast to the rest of the floors, this floor hardly seems anything like a library, merely having many places to relax and some small stands with books placed decoratively on top of them.

The Senior Librarian, Tabitha, explains that this floor is one of the last floors with great power in them, and that it allows for one to experience self-reflection like no other. Falling asleep here can cause one to fall into a dream that can feel like it takes weeks to recover from, and one's circumstances can be painted like magic onto the walls to study and analyze. Tabitha requires that all visitors who wish for these services, however, fill out a form expressing their desire for such a visit, claiming incidents previously involving demon summoning before laughing.
[/CENTER]

What I've already summoned one demon, what's one more going to do? In all seriousness, I do sort of agree with Heather that the type of adventure this is meant to target can happen in any other area. However, it's often hard for that to naturally happen, and if you need a character to just confront something this is the perfect place for it. Having the ASMR Librarian is a very nice touch there, and having a guiding hand NPC easily allows updaters to pick up the character and play the role. However, I will say, that this is very much a sub-area that requires updaters to do their homework. And some of us have a lot of homework.

Overall I will say this is a massive improvement for DA! I do like the idea of the books being projected into the library itself. The grounded presence is very much a good approach to making it still feel like it's a magical library zone. The sub-areas also are a lot more suggestive in terms of what you can do there as an updater and what types of adventures you may expect to have there.

But. I really only feel like three sub-areas properly tackle the issues I have with the zone. World History very much has the same problems I have as I do with the rest of DA, where if an update comes at you with nothing and you can't get a solid plan down, you're SOL. It is less of a concern when we have more updaters actively updating, as that's a higher chance of someone picking up something for the adventure. But when it's down to a one-to-two-man show it's very shitty. As for lit, I pretty much tackled that in my breakdown review.

Furthermore, I feel like it's still missing the feeling of being a library. Independent Libraries often have a kid's section, for example. It also feels like a lot of the books that a library may carry, like guides, cookbooks, etc, are sort of lost here.

I sort of can understand Heather's concern about this affecting Pokemon Battles, but this is a magic library created by Hoopa. Let's be real here, this place is so magically cracked out that the shelves and books are almost definitely heavily warded. I feel having a more condensed, limited environment adds a sense of tactical difficulty to battles that may occur here. I do understand getting lost in a book or a world is a very much real thing, been there, but it's sort of hard to role-play that. And frankly, it is quite exhausting having to create entire worlds for a single adventure. Zones should be able to serve as the whole setting themselves. If they aren't... then there are massive problems.

[Princess Ana]

Originally Posted by Heather

All told, this reads like a place you could go to, but with the tweaking of the Magic Tree House-like mechanics keeping everything inside the physical location of a library, I become really, really uncertain of what you could actually do with the place. You really don't want Pokemon battles or any such things going on in a place chock full of valuable texts, or delicate computer equipment, or what else have you. Not to mention that while a lot of people have raised issues with just how directionless the Zone's current form can feel, the more FFA nature of that iteration has its strengths as well. When I made my intro post to this Zone, there wasn't really a sort of "mostly vanilla forest/nature area" type pf place. If there was one in MR, there was too much preternatural going on for my tastes, and UA's nature area is very much corrupted and sickened, which wasn't going to work well when my objective was to find my Farfetch'd a healthy Leek. DA was the only place I really felt I could get the environment I wanted, because I could just describe myself asking after the sort of book that might contain it. In short, something needs to be there to facilitate the types of journeys that, for one reason or another, don't fit anywhere else-otherwise, the draw of being able to journey how one wishes starts to fizzle out.

I also didn't particularly have trouble devising Blu's adventure for my part, just seeing how Elijah and Ion bounced off each other in the intro, combined with the chosen section, gave me an idea of what I wanted to do quickly enough, though I recognize we won't all be that lucky.

With that in mind, I think the main flaw of the original draft is that while it kind of has directions on where to go for certain kinds of adventures, those directions can be kind of vague and unhelpful. Like, the "Tongues and Philosophies" section indicates that its for journeys of self-discovery, but not only is that very non-specific, there's no reason that an objective like that can't be accomplished in any of the other sections. Being thrust into a historical event, or the world of a long-lost legend, can just as if not more easily draw you into a situation that helps break open what makes an adventurer tick just as much as a philosophy text.

As such, I think it would be prudent to have some kind of system in place that accounts for this, some means of being able to freely yet clearly and systematically direct both the setting genre and themes of an adventure. Like, if I wanted to put Catharine's moral thought processes to the test in a "chips are down, no real right answers" scenario, specifically in a historical setting that doesn't actually interact with the Pokemon universe's canon historical events (eg AZ's war), I would have some way to indicateva genre of "Historical Fiction" and themes of "Difficult choices, introspection, heavy subjects," or something similar. It does look at first blush to be difficult to square with how Zones are traditionally written up, but to be honest if the goal is to maintain the sort of Zone that serves do do "everything the others can't," maybe that traditional writeup format just won't cut it per se.

I don't know, I don't have all the answers. I just worry about what the effect of so drastically constraining the physical setting will do for the purpose the Zone has historically fulfilled.

To be clear, we are moving away from this being a Training Zone and having it be a zone that largely just works as a regular zone.

Originally Posted by Lil'twick

Hi yes here I go with my thoughts on the zone yes:



This is already a lot better for this sub-area. It gives some pretty clear guidelines on what exactly someone can do at the reception area. I do like finding at least some detail on the floor librarian is a good thing as well, as it allows updaters to easily pick up these NPCs and use them within the adventure.



I do like that there is a sense of urgency within the subarea. That yeah, you can peruse as much as you want, but be expedient in what you do partake. Though, it doesn't necessarily fully address my problem with the sub-area in that world history is still a very broad subject and can be taken in a large variety of ways. Not to mention thinking of it specifically translating into the Pokemon world. I feel like this subarea best works when you're looking to explore canon events, compared to IRL historical events.



I do feel like this is the weakest subarea, just because there isn't a whole lot of draw to it in particular. I can understand the idea of a writer's parlor. It's often important for writers and authors to get together, chat about their works, and get feedback This, however, feels more like a writing shop than that. It also clashes in the next subarea in something that's more focused on creativity then reading.

My suggestion is to sort of wrap the writing part into that and have this be more focused on fairy tales and folk stories. Something that can reflect the fun and whimsy that fantasy worlds often have. With, or without, the dark undertones that often accompany them. With MR moving away from a general high fantasy and more focusing on ancient ruins and the supernatural, I feel there is room for that aesthetic to exist.



This is my favorite sub-area and not by a small margin. This actually gives me, as an updater, proper inspiration just from the sub-area alone. Some artist's rogue sketch is wreaking havoc? A sculpture that has come to life and is wondering what it means to live? Some sort of crayon dragon or something, oh wait that's just Druddigon, making its lair deep within the walls? The possibilities are endless. And the floor librarian is someone who just wants to let it happen? Perfect.



What I've already summoned one demon, what's one more going to do? In all seriousness, I do sort of agree with Heather that the type of adventure this is meant to target can happen in any other area. However, it's often hard for that to naturally happen, and if you need a character to just confront something this is the perfect place for it. Having the ASMR Librarian is a very nice touch there, and having a guiding hand NPC easily allows updaters to pick up the character and play the role. However, I will say, that this is very much a sub-area that requires updaters to do their homework. And some of us have a lot of homework.

Overall I will say this is a massive improvement for DA! I do like the idea of the books being projected into the library itself. The grounded presence is very much a good approach to making it still feel like it's a magical library zone. The sub-areas also are a lot more suggestive in terms of what you can do there as an updater and what types of adventures you may expect to have there.

But. I really only feel like three sub-areas properly tackle the issues I have with the zone. World History very much has the same problems I have as I do with the rest of DA, where if an update comes at you with nothing and you can't get a solid plan down, you're SOL. It is less of a concern when we have more updaters actively updating, as that's a higher chance of someone picking up something for the adventure. But when it's down to a one-to-two-man show it's very shitty. As for lit, I pretty much tackled that in my breakdown review.

Furthermore, I feel like it's still missing the feeling of being a library. Independent Libraries often have a kid's section, for example. It also feels like a lot of the books that a library may carry, like guides, cookbooks, etc, are sort of lost here.

I sort of can understand Heather's concern about this affecting Pokemon Battles, but this is a magic library created by Hoopa. Let's be real here, this place is so magically cracked out that the shelves and books are almost definitely heavily warded. I feel having a more condensed, limited environment adds a sense of tactical difficulty to battles that may occur here. I do understand getting lost in a book or a world is a very much real thing, been there, but it's sort of hard to role-play that. And frankly, it is quite exhausting having to create entire worlds for a single adventure. Zones should be able to serve as the whole setting themselves. If they aren't... then there are massive problems.

So to tie it all together and discuss my overall goals with this rewrite

I do think that the initial idea, while a generally nice idea, probably went too far. I wanted to reign it in somewhat, while still having the option open in order to have some similar styles of adventure. That's why World History is still the most open of the areas, because while that is not everyone's cup of tea, it is some people's cup of tea. Some people are going to want to still have the kind of open ended adventures they were having before, but I think it is important to give options that will fit other people as well. I'm not fully ripping it out.

Second, Djinn's Archive is not a normal library. I'm not basing it off of libraries you would see in real life. It's much closer to the kind of library you might find in a magical castle or something along those lines. I don't want to include a kid's area or to simply have an entire section of the library devoted to cookbooks or whatever. In addition, I don't want to this zone to have too many zones to explore it, but I will consider adding in one more because I get to do my favorite of the bunch.

I definitely could add that to the Literature Parlor though. I'll think about how I want to draft that up and come up with something soon.