The Language of Elicoor II/Writing Tip #1 - Writing Believable OCs/Fanfic - The Dark Sorcerer

[star_ocean_fan]

The Language of Elicoor II - Is it the same as the English language of Earth?

As mentioned in yesterday's post, throughout most of last week, I returned to the very first game that hooked me into the Star Ocean fandom - Till the End of Time - and played for hours at a time, progressing the story and creating items (always fun). In playing the game (and visualizing potential story ideas), I got to thinking about language.

Now, in all of the Star Ocean games (as I am surmising, since I've only played Till the End of Time and The Last Hope), communications between the hero and his party is . . . shall we say, simple, even when the party members aren't human and don't speak the Terran language. This is accomplished because translators are built into the communicators carried by the hero and his party, and it also holds true for those they encounter on the planets they're exploring (like Roak, Expel, Vanguard III, and Elicoor II).

It is my understanding that the translator also works when it comes to reading the foreign language of the planet. In The Last Hope, Faize, Bacchus, Myuria, and Arumat (for sure) have no problems reading the computer monitors in their respective stations or the readouts from The Calnus, which is in (for most of us) the English language. This also holds true for Fayt and his party when they're on Styx and in the four-dimensional realm.

There is one thing, however, that would possibly indicate otherwise, and that's the moment when Fayt is talking with Dion about Aquaria's Thunder Arrow. In those scenes, before he, Cliff, and Nel dash off for the Bequerel Copper Mines, he's examined the blueprints, written down a few suggestions to improve the Thunder Arrow and handed them back to Dion. Fayt then tells Dion he's written down some suggestions to improve the Thunder Arrow, and the other man reads over them, seeing exactly everything working the way Fayt has suggested. This has me wondering just how different the Aquarian/Glyphian languages are from the English language of Earth, unless, of course, Fayt wrote his suggestions somehow in the Aquarian language thanks to the translating device in his communicator. I realize that this, too, is equally possible, but the only time anyone mentions the translator in the communicator is on Vanguard III, after Fayt's destroyed  his to free Niklas.

In wondering about the language of Elicoor II, or at least the one spoken by Glyphians and Aquarians, I wonder how it is they look so human. Are they the descendants of settlers from Earth? Seven hundred, sixty years have passed since the UP3 was drafted and enacted upon. It's possible, especially if they're believers that technology could bring ruin to the human race. It isn't too far of a stretch. The Eldarians gave up their technology when they emigrated to Lemuris.

Truthfully, I don't believe humans emigrated to underdeveloped planets, but I also won't rule out that possibility. The games are spaced so far apart in terms of time, anything really is possible. There are so many areas to write into the timeline for fanfiction, it's anyone's guess. Since there's nothing official, it is up to the fans.

I now present the questions to my fellow Star Ocean fans - What do you think?

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Fanfiction Writing Tip #1 - Writing Powerful, Believable Original Characters


As with any fandom, Star Ocean has become inspiring to many people. Depending on the talent of the person, the love comes out in the form of art, cosplay, fiction, and creations such as plushies, t-shirts, and coffee mugs, to name a few of the ways that love shows.

When it comes to writing fiction, one thing I've noticed that people like to do is inject him/herself into the story s/he is writing. Personally, I feel that there's nothing wrong with that. It's a way to live an adventure, to relieve the stress of every day life, and just to have fun. I've written original characters into many of my stories as a way of character development for original stories.

What bothers me about original characters, in any fandom, is how said original character becomes stronger, faster, smarter, and more devious than the established powerhouse character, be it the villain, the hero, or both. In the case of Star Ocean, the resident, overall powerhouse character is Luther Lansfeld, whose creations rise against him in an effort to save their world. (Which, they are both victorious yet defeated.) Naturally, his counterpart, Fayt Leingod would be equal to him in both strength and intelligence. Still, even though they are the resident powerhouse characters, both Luther and Fayt have flaws. Luther's biggest flaw is his inability to comprehend that he actually has created life, much like the title of Creator he possesses. Fayt, well, depending on the view you want to take, his biggest flaw is the ability to pile as much guilt onto his shoulders for the actions of others onto his shoulders.

Those flaws, when writing fanfiction, are fun for someone like me to exploit. The one thing I never do, though, is write any original characters as being more powerful than either Fayt Leingod or Luther Lansfeld. I may write Luther agreeing to something my OCs want (like in The Power of Fayt), but they can't outstrip him when it comes to intelligence and power. I don't allow them to do that. It's easy to ruin a story when a Mary Sue/Gary Stu is written in and can outdo the hero/villain without repercussions. Nothing brings the Mary Sue/Gary Stu down. The character is always happy, always perfect.

Characters are not meant to be perfect. I realize that, because we as humans aren't perfect, we want our original creations to be perfect in every way, to be what we can't be in our real lives, but, as a reader, I don't want to read how Susannah Jane of the Kenny bloodline can be the perfect soldier, perfect Symbologist, and perfect scientist so she  therefore knows everything about everything, including Professor Leingod's top secret research. I don't buy it. I wouldn't ever buy into that premise.

Now, that isn't to say I won't buy into powerful characters. After all, I love the likes of Luther Lansfeld and Fayt Leingod, and they are considerably powerful characters. They're also flawed characters. They've endured events that have changed their lives. They can either grow from those experiences or regress backwards, and that's what I love about them.

So write your OCs. In truth, no one can really stop a fanfic writer from adding them into the story. Just remember believability is more palpable than the super character who doesn't have a weakness.

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Title: The Dark Sorcerer
World: Till the End of Time
Rating: PG
Characters: Luther Lansfeld, Fayt Leingod
Warnings: N/A
Summary: All he had time to do was think.
Disclaimer: I do not own Till the End of Time and I do not profit from writing this story.

 

What happened when the God you knew turned from a shining beacon of light and hope to a menace of darkness and fear? How were you supposed to react? Were you supposed to give up and die, as your God commanded you to or did you fight?

Those were the kinds of questions that floated around in Fayt's mind, and they drove him beyond distraction. Of course, given he could not move an inch without assistance, all he had left of himself were his thoughts. It was not that he could not feel his body. It was that he could no longer use it. His fabled powers of Destruction had lived up to their name, destroying as many of his abilities as imaginable. No one knew how to help him, save Luther Lansfeld, perhaps, but those were thoughts Fayt did not want entering his mind. He heard someone walking into the room, footsteps he did not recognize. Whoever wanted to see him stopped just before entering his line of vision.

“It seems as if the White Knight is in need of the Dark Sorcerer to save him from his prison, after all,” the person said. He then stepped into view, and, for the first time since the final battle, Fayt laid eyes on Luther Lansfeld.

His blond hair still retained its reddish gold sheen, but his face had become more careworn, more haggard. His clothes appeared as if they hung loosely onto his body instead of clinging tight, but that could have been an illusion for all Fayt knew. He stared wordlessly at his enemy. Luther paused and then regarded him.

“You can see me,” he murmured. “You are aware of me. I suppose that is a good sign. I don't even remember how long it took me to find you. Yet here I am, and there you are, silent and immobile. That is not a good sign, White Knight. Perhaps a change of scenery is required, away from these doctors and scientists. Are you willing to leave to find out? A few days time will tell the tale.”

Fayt could only stare as dark energies swirled around Luther, dark energies mingling with white and violet lights. Everything else faded from view . . .