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Okay, since we've had a couple of questions about the overarching plotline of the story, I thought I'd write a small summary of the events leading up to the main plotline of the story that hopefully doesn't give too much away. You might have heard us referring to certain events as "storyline" or "pre-storyline" - this is because we're planning to illustrate this as an online comic eventually, and the "storyline" bits are the events that actually take place during the timeline of the comic. The pre-storyline stuff will be revealed by explanation or in flashbacks or something.
Pre-Storyline Summary
Diamond was a relatively young minor god who can best be described as loving experiences. He loved experiencing what it's like to be a human, a dog, a dragon, a cloud, or a spot on the floor; and his godly shape-shifting ability allowed him to become these things (in form, at least). He soon grew bored with these simple experiences and turned his curiosity towards the elder gods. What is it like to be one of those? What is it like to create? What is it like to have those you've created around you? Those are the kind of questions Diamond had in his mind when he decided to make the Crystallians, a race of his own beings.
The Crystallians would offer the answer to these questions in several ways. First and most importantly, they would grow into powerful soldiers that would help him seize control (and the power to create) from the pantheon of the gods. Even if he wasn't successful at overthrowing the other gods, if the Crystallians believed that he created them out of nothing, he would be able to experience the worship of his "creations." If he allowed himself to get emotionally close to them, he could even experience what it would be like to be a father.
Diamond didn't have the power to create something out of nothing, so he did the next best thing and modified pre-existing beings into unique beings of his own, the Crystallians. The Crystallians would be "better" versions of their former selves - they'd have significantly increased lifespans, as well as greatly boosted magical and physical abilities. To get as diverse of a range as possible, he chose beings of many different races - for example, Zircon and Onyx were black dragons, Spinel was a white dragon, Amethyst was a fae, Ruby was a demon, and Jade actually started out as a normal human being. To make sure that the Crystallians worked well as a unit, Diamond would make them so they would start out relatively weak and slowly grow more powerful over time. If problems arose, this would give Diamond enough time to tweak the group until they worked according to his plan.
Some of those whom Diamond chose submitted willingly to becoming a Crystallian, others did not. Some were already well into adulthood when Diamond chose them, others had barely made it into adolescence. However, all of them had some kind of life before they became a Crystallian. The amount each of the Crystallians remembers from their previous life varies greatly from individual to individual, but the ones who consented to becoming a Crystallian generally remember more than the ones who didn't.
The process of creating Crystallians was not instantaneous - Diamond would have to go out and get the chosen individual, put said individual into a kind of stasis or sleep, and then get to work on transforming them. The first few Crystallians were made very quickly (a matter of months for each one), but for some of the later Crystallians, decades would pass between the time Diamond put them to sleep and when they awoke as a Crystallian.
The first Crystallian that was created was Zircon, a very powerful black dragon. In his pre-Crystallian form, he made a deal with Diamond that went basically like - "Okay, I'll let you change me into one of these beings of yours and I'll take orders from you. In return, you're going to make me the most powerful of the Crystallians and make me their leader. I also want some of the members of my clan to come with me, and I want a queen befitting my newfound position." Diamond agreed to this and turned the dragon into what is now Zircon. Although Diamond could see from the beginning that Zircon had tendencies towards cruelty and pride, Diamond didn't want to pass up the opportunity to work with such a fantastic "starting material." In a way, he viewed Zircon as his first-born son and was willing to look past a number of character flaws because of it.
Diamond continued to make several more Crystallians (Onyx, Jade, Serpentine, Spinel, Amethyst) and eventually cleared a large area of land for them to live on while he continued to make more Crystallians. The group began interacting and forming the basis of their social structure. Diamond wanted them to work well together and act as a semi-functional family, so it was important that some kind of acceptable social equilibrium was established. As the size of the group grew, Diamond would keep the newer Crystallians in isolation for a while. After he decided the new member was stable and functional, he would introduce the individual to the rest of the group. Several times Diamond got fed up with the interactions within the group and put them all to sleep again to do some major tweaking. After two such occurrences, he finally got the group to the point where he would only have to do minor tweaks on certain individuals. Diamond made about 20 Crystallians over the course of 600 years. During this time, the older Crystallians were steadily growing in power according to Diamond's plan... including Zircon.
At this point, Zircon was not very happy with the direction Diamond was taking the group. In the beginning, Diamond's intentions had been focused on overthrowing the elder gods and making soldiers to achieve this goal. But as time progressed, it seemed as though Diamond became more and more interested in making a family out of these supposed soldiers. Diamond also had no interest in the mortal realm other than as starting materials for more Crystallians, whereas Zircon had always viewed it as something to be conquered. It's unknown if Zircon had always intended to overthrow Diamond or if he came up with the plan as his dissatisfaction with Diamond increased, but he resolved that Diamond would be the first god he would overthrow.
Zircon confronted Diamond and their conversation quickly escalated into a fight. Diamond kicked Zircon's a** around pretty hard and intended to put Zircon back to sleep so Diamond could do some major tweaking on Zircon, but he never got the chance. Zircon made a quick comeback and incapacitated Diamond, then proceeded to eat him so as to gain Diamond's powers. (Yeah, lots of bloody gory cannibalism here.) When the other Crystallians found out about what Zircon had did, it created a major rift in the group. Although they had all spend the last 600 years with Zircon as their leader, many of the older Crystallians viewed Diamond as their father and were horrified by Zircon's actions. Other Crystallians had had little interaction with Diamond or has never actually met him (they were still in their transformation sleep, and woke up when Diamond was killed). The group was split into three factions - those allied with Zircon (the "bad" Crystallians), those allied against Zircon (the "good" Crystallians), and those who didn't take sides. Another complicating factor was that the Crystallians were also spaced out over a large area at this point in time, so only some of them even knew Diamond had been killed.
The group of Crystallians that found Zircon eating Diamond's body (Quartz, Topaz, Jade, Amethyst, Ruby, Aquamarine, Gold, Sapphire), were the most horrified. They all attacked Zircon but were easily repelled by his newfound power. Quartz and Topaz were killed, and the rest of the group fled the area to form the core group of "good" Crystallians. Meanwhile, the Crystallians who were in stasis elsewhere (they were either in the process of being tweaked, or had never actually woken up from their transformation sleep) all woke up at the same time. As they were all far away from the main living compound and isolated from each other, many of them were confused and alone and simply wandered off to the surrounding areas. These individuals would later become the "bad" and neutral Crystallians.
Zircon wished to continue with Diamond's original plan of overthrowing the elder gods, but the good Crystallians wanted nothing to do with the person who had murdered their "father." Zircon decided to start with the neutral Crystallians first before pursuing the "good" Crystallians. After finding some of the neutral Crystallians and convincing them to join his side (Angelite, Jet, Garnet, Bronze), Zircon set his sights on getting the "good" Crystallians back under his command. The neutral and good Crystallians simply want to live their lives in peace. The good Crystallians have the advantage of being together in a group and knowing Zircon's true nature, whereas the neutral Crystallians are isolated, alone, and don't know what Zircon did to Diamond.
Storyline Summary
The overarching theme in the storyline is Zircon's quest to reunify the Crystallians under his command. The story is told from the point of view of the "good" Crystallians, who have managed to establish a small place to live in an isolated stretch of woods. Their primary goal is to hide from Zircon until he leaves them alone, but as time progresses and Zircon becomes more aggressive in his tactics, they realize that hiding isn't an option.
Meanwhile, Zircon is trying to gather as many Crystallians under his command as possible. He starts out by going after the neutral Crystallians - they either agree to join up with him, or he kills them to prevent them from joining up with the good Crystallians. Eventually he gets enough individuals back under his command that he feels confident in attacking the group of good Crystallians. He is especially set on getting Jade back alive, as she's the "queen" that Diamond made for him. Although he has no qualms about killing the neutral Crystallians if they refuse to join him, he would rather have as many of the good Crystallians on his side as possible. This is primarily because the good Crystallians tend to be more powerful than the neutral ones - the good ones are simply older and more experienced. The more Crystallians Zircon's able to get to rejoin him, the easier his goal of taking over the mortal and godly realms will be. That being said, the only good Crystallian he wants alive for sure is Jade.
So, as a summary, this is where all of the Crystallians start at the beginning of the storyline:
Good Crystallians - Jade (f) - Amethyst (f) - Ruby (f) - Sapphire (f) - Aquamarine (m) - Gold (f) - Topaz (m) (dead) - Quartz (m) (dead)
Bad Crystallians - Zircon (m) - Angelite (f) - Jet (m) - Bronze (f) - Garnet (m) - Adventurine (f)
Neutral Crystallians (as of the start of the storyline - many will take sides later) - Onyx (m) - Spinel (m) - Serpentine (m) - Moonstone (f) - Emerald (m) - Obsidian (f) - Silver (f)
Iyou · Wed Apr 07, 2010 @ 04:23pm · 0 Comments |
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