User blog:Varkanax39/Reflections on 2010

I'm sorry I've been less active recently, I've been busy in the evil realm of Teridax (e.g. school). Rest assured, I will finish Into the Darkness.

But that's not why I wrote this blog. This is to celebrate my 1 year on this Wiki! Yes, today, January 5, 2011, my account turns one. Congratulate me here, etc...

The Story of Varkanax39
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away... One year ago...

My friend Golden Ignika (Now Minish Link) were talking on the phone and he told be about CBW. I proceeded to make an account that night, and named it after my self-MOC, Varkanax. I still have not idea why I stuck the 39 on there, so don't ask me...

Anyway, my first page I created that night was Shardak (Which, by the way, I didn't save, due to the fact I somehow exited the browser. The next day I rewrote the Shardak article, creating what was to become the Xaterex Multiverse Storyline. Minish Link and I had created large amounts of story summaries, so it was no trouble finishing Dissolution, my first story. It's now called Into the Darkness, so you can read it now.

A few months or so later, I began creating many, many pages, some of which badly need rewriting (Translation: Help me!) Back then, my storyline wasn't much, just a series of stories about Seven Traitors who want (Or, in later novels, rule) the Xaterex Multiverse. Blast, Shardak, and many other rebel factions oppose them.

Then I created TEGC, which changed everything.

The Eternal Game's initial idea came from a massive one on one MOC contest between a Toa and a Makuta back in 2008. Later, Minish Link and I decided to expand the idea further, into a competition between multiple MOCs. The Fight to the Death idea comes from novels such as The Battle Royale and The Hunger Games.

When I opened entry for TEGC, I expected to get a few contestants, maybe twenty MOCs if I was lucky. A staggering 18 users entered the Eternal Game (19 if you count me), and I had to revise many of my early outlines. The Eternal Game proved to be a massive, difficult, and exceptionally fun story to write, with memorable characters created by many other MOCists. My initial plan was for TEG to be set in an alternate Xaterex Storyline, but I eventually combined the two story ideas. (Into the Darkness is now the sequel for TEG, and TSC comes after Into the Darkness).

The most fun scene to write was the final battle scene. Literally as soon as I finished it, other users began to congratulate Fairon for his victory in the games. I also enjoyed writing the ominous epilogue, where the ruler of the CE appears, Nihiltidax

Halfway through TEG, Chicken Bond approached me with an idea for a new story, set in an alternate universe where Eostra and Millennium rule over all other beings. Soon after, J97 agreed to join the writers of DR, and The "Dark Lord" was added as a third ruler of the Dark Empire. Much of my post-TEG writing was for DR, and I consider it to be an excellent story and am proud to co-author it.

Eventually, I began work on a re-write of Dissolution, called Into the Darkness. It was rewritten to continue both the TEG storyline and the Xaterex Storyline, and TSC will being Fairon and Shardak together as protagonists in the Second Multiversal War.

In late 2010, I became an administrator. If you want to read my acceptance speech blog post about that, go here.

What I've accomplished on CBW in 2010.

 * I've finished two stories, (Dissolution and The Eternal Game), and started many more (Mindeater: Empire of Shadows, Arcturus Magna: Planet at War, Into the Darkness, Dark Realities, and Twilight Void), as well as two that I've canceled (Blast Alone and Condemnation).
 * Created nearly 100 pages, most of which need major rewrites.
 * Suggested policy changes (I think I'm the only user other then TheSlicer who has posted policy ideas).
 * Helped write two stories created by other users (DR and Mission Into Darkness)
 * Become an administrator.
 * Learned how to use both wiki coding an HTML.
 * Met lots of new people (None that I know in real life, however).
 * Worked on fixing other user's articles, mainly fixing templates. (Which I had so much trouble using when I was a n00b).
 * Added at least 80 characters to my storyline in The Eternal Game.
 * My writing, I think, has improved greatly. Compare these:
 * The prologue of TEG:

Shardak fell. He fell downward into a void of shadows. Down, down, down he and Blast fell through shadows and darkness.

Suddenly, Shardak felt a rift in time, similar to the time he'd fallen into a Hand of Mata Nui dimensional gateway. But this was different in ways Shardak could not fathom. His body aged, his Kanohi Ignika vanished before he collapsed on the ground, his body weak, his mind aching as he recalled the past few days. Or nightmares, as he'd rather think of them. But he knew they were more real then anything.

He saw the storms of the Far Realm bearing down on them, saw Icyklia and Kyhrex calling to him to run, saw the vicious battle where Abinak and Xandrek were killed, saw thousands of Soul Marauders attacking Zralk and ripping him to shreds, saw the Soul Eliminator toy with him before hurling him into the void, and lastly saw the crazed Fenrakk Mage holding Ryger, Icyklia, and Kyhrex's limp bodies, and watched the sky explode as the Twilight Void was ripped apart and the crumbling spire and all the combatants vanish into the Far Realms. He and Blast were now totally alone.

There were no happy endings this time. The Hand had been destroyed by the White Lightning Division. Above, Eostra had won. Below, the realms were in chaos. The Toa were almost totally quelled. Hopelessness washed over him. Everything had been lost. Nightshade had even killed Arcturas, just to spite Shardak. Nightshade... Shardak hated her. She'd drawn him in to a war against the Corpsians, and even after Arcturas had been restored to him, she'd killed him again with her deadly soul-eating dagger.

But Shardak knew that he couldn't stay like this. He needed to get himself and Blast out of here. Reaching over to his Toa-Brother, he shook at Blast's limp form. The Toa blearily opened his eyes.

"Shardak..." he said.

"Yes, its me," he replied

"You're alive." said Blast. Then he looked shocked.

"Oh, Mata — Kyhrex!"

"She's gone." Shardak told him hopelessly. "After you fell, the Fenrakk Mage grabbed her, Ryger, and Icyklia. When the storm struck the tower, they were absorbed."

"Mata Nui, no..." Blast gasped in horror. "We are FINISHED."

"No, we're not." Said Shardak. "We can still win, but we need to survive. We can't do anything if we stay here. We need to find more Toa who can fight. Then, maybe, we stand a chance."

Then a raspy, nasal voice spoke.

"You never stood a chance, rebels," The Soul Eliminator said.


 * Taken from the prologue of Into the Darkness:

The dark Elemental stood at the helm of the Corpse Fighter, watching the thousands of glowing lights flash by the starship. His eyes gleamed in the darkness, and he stood erect and tense. He gazed at their quarry disdainfully, as if he was pondering snuffing out the life of an inesectoid Rahi. His body was quadrapedal, and his armor shone a deep jet-black.

A large number of Corpsians stood beside him, their black robes concealing their faces and bodies. Only their Corpse-like hands could be seen, gray and tinged with green, like those of a corpse. Their eyes shone red in the darkness, deep pools of garnet. They radiated a fierce, dark charisma and shadowy power crackled at their fingertips.

"Lord Skorpix, we are closing on the Xaterex Starcraft. Soon we will run them down and destroy them." The Corpsian's voice was nasal and devoid of all emotion. A thin, long scythe suddenly materialized in the Corpsian's hands. It was made of Obsidian that shone as bright as the Elemental's armor plates and gleamed in the darkness.

"No! Do not destroy them." The Elemental snarled, lashing his scorpion's tail from side to side. "We need the Shadow Orb. Our masters instructed us to find and return the Shadow Orb fragment. We cannot fail." The Corpsian nodded in acnowledgement, and returned to his post. In the clicking, nasal language of the Corpsians, he relayed Skorpix's orders to the other groups of Corpsians. The Corpsians made no sign of acnowledgement, but turned as one and readied their scythes.

Beams of pulsing blue light streamed from the Corpse Fighter and slammed into the Xaterex Craft, smashing the starship off-balance. The Corpse Fighter fired again, slamming into the ship's port fender. The Xaterex ship was flung off-balance, and the Corpse Fighter readied to ram the smaller ship.

"Crush them." Skorpix snarled. "They shall be examples of what happens when anyone defies the might of the Empire." The sleek Corpse fighter slammed against the dangerously drifting Xaterex Starcraft, and both the ships were flung off-balance.

"Crush them!" Skorpix screeched, and the Corpsians charged onto the Xaterex Ship. It was a small, realatively weak ship, that could not hold up to the might of a Corpse Fighter. Skorpix boarded the ship last, watching as the Corpse Fighter struck the Xaterex Craft, causing flames to erupt across the Xaterex ship. The Corpse Fighter did not burn. It was impervious to fire, and most of the other elements. Skorpix watched as fire danced along the edge of the Corpse Fighter before vanishing completely into smoke, then dissapearing. He then rasied his jet-black hands, and twin blades materialized in his hand. They glowed with power, dark black tipped with silver. Skorpix watched as his shadowy power spread along the tips of the weapons. The Corpsians raised their scythes and charged onto the burning starcraft, scythes extended. Skorpix followed.

Three Toa of Ice stood guard at the edge of the ship, and turned in shock and terror as they saw the Corpsians. A tall, black-robed Corpsian rasied his scythe and cut down a Toa before the others could even move. The Toa collapsed dead to the ground, and the other two attacked. Their swords glowed an icey blue, and bolts of hail rained from their swords, striking the Corpsians dead on and felling three. The Corpsians raised their scythes, and red bolts of shadow were flung from their sickles, cutting down the Toa in seconds. More Toa of all types charged from all sides, engaing the Corpsians in melee combat. Their leader, a tall toa of fire, stood at the edge of the battlefield, watching grimly as his forces were cut down by the Corpsian's merciless Scythes. Skorpix smashed the Toa he was fighting to bloody shards, then charged the Toa, his blades raised. The toa cried out as the blade buried deep in his chest, and Skorpix raised the other above his head. Skorpix glared at the Toa, and a mental ray of immense power invaded the Toa's conciousness, crushing out all hope of escape.

Where is the Shadow Orb?! Skorpix screeched telepathically into the Toa's mind.

"I'll tell you nothing, traitor!" the Toa snarled.

"You know nothing." snarled Skorpix. His Kanohi gleamed with power, and blood exploded from the Toa's body as Skorpix cut the Toa to the ground. He turned to the Corpsians, who had overcome the Toa, and readied his gleaming Shadow Blades. The twin swords crackled with evil energy as Skorpix unleashed his shadow power, crushing a nearby table to dust.

"Come" snarled the Elemental, and the Corpsians followed, gliding over the ground like spectres rather than walking. Their darkness pervaded the Xaterex Starcraft, and the stench of death clung to them. The Corpsian's robes were stained with the blood of the Toa they had killed, and red lightning crackled from the tips of their scythes as they readied to kill once more.


 * I'm not as good a writer as TheSlicer, but I think I've improved over the past year. Into the Darkness' prologue is much more descriptive than the beginning of TEG

Wow, that was a long post. That's all for now. Happy New Year!