Flight Rising Discussion

I think the issue isn't necessarily that the Sandsurge lore is a little goofy, or that the Aether lore is goofy- I think it's more that we got two goofy breeds back to back. In all storytelling, you need tension and release, yeah? You need moments of levity in a drama so that people don't get tired of caring about the stakes, and you need moments of seriousness in a comedy so that people get a bit invested. I [i]loved[/i] Aether lore- they're such goofballs, it gave them a very nice niche! But also... compare them to Gaolers and Banescales, who were in a monastery equivalent and extirpated, respectively, because they were [i]genociding each other[/i]. Veilspun were hypnotizing travelers, and doing who knows what to them, and only came out of hiding because a portal was reopened [s]by a teen who was rebelling against his parents..[/s]. Aberrations felt scorned by their deity and are always trying to get stronger. That's pretty heady stuff! Undertides are in a weird place because of where their lore happened in the IRL timeline of the site, right next to when the Beastclans lore got its revamp, so I think they're ok to consider an outlier... but on the whole, the Ancients have been pretty serious, and now the new ones' lore is a joke (in the non-metaphorical sense, it has a punchline and everything). It sits weird. I think it's also worth considering the whole "the site can't use any lore the players were spitballing during the livestreams" stuff... we could have taken away a really cool angle from the breed for legal reasons [emoji=sandsurge sad size=1]. It could have been cool if the Surges weren't just a construction team- they were also an elite, advanced strike force! But if somebody suggested that during the livestream, [i]the staff couldn't use it[/i]. My point is, it's a bit unfortunate when this fell. I think that if we had a more serious breed between Surges and Aether, it might have felt a little bit less awkward that the Surges were just hiding underground. Then again... y'all know there's only gonna be so many ways the devs can say "these guys weren't interacting with everyone", yeah?

[quote name="bulrush" date="2023-07-31 14:24:44" ] my opinion on the site lore is probably really unpopular but i wish the entire thing wasn't as serious and dark as it presents itself, its better now that the site isn't accidentally paralleling real world colonialism but there's still a major disconnect in terms of theming. we're allowed to have dragons from every flight in our lairs and every month the denizens of sornieth come together to celebrate every flight but we have an origin story for banescale which subjects them to a genocide. and of course you can have lighthearted and dark themes together in media but it feels super weird that its just something an entire breed has to just deal with because it affects nothing about how the game is played (other than the distribution of the breed itself which was only relevant for a week or so). the fact that site lore has very little to do with the mechanics of the game and that so many users outright ignore it or don't even know we have lore makes me wonder why so much effort is put in to construct a world people don't even want to bother with. and it sucks because there's so much cool stuff i really do enjoy the nature/plague parallels though that dissolves as soon as i remember im in nature and don't want to subject my lair to beliefs i don't hold myself. all that rambling to say that im also not the biggest fan of goofy lore, i was on board for it with aethers because its a nice contrast to have an entity that keeps trying to blow up the damn world and their silly little minions so to speak. there's just too much stuff that doesn't fit with each other and i don't know what sort of story the devs are attempting to tell, maybe they aren't jiving with what the original concepts were? or maybe writing is just hard. [/quote] If I recall correctly the "accidental colonialism" was simply a relic of the times surrounding the site's inception; The devs wanted a for-teens petsim site about dragons, so they pushed for themes that would have marketed the site as for-teens. And honestly, what creative hasn't tried making something with All Of The Gritty Darkstuff while they were still young? There's still quite a bit of lore cleanup that has to follow that though, and while they are certainly working on it, this year's ancientpalooza feels sort of like slapping a post-it note onto the endpaper of a notebook rather than properly writing it all in. Everything's in a very patchwork-y stage right now.

@NightmareValley ack that came off as more dismissive than i thought, i could completely be looking in the wrong places but outside of the framework for the site (things like beastclans existing, guardians having charges is still very popular, breed anatomy being adhered to) i barely see people following the lore. technology that's too advanced for the times, dragons with different elements or being able to control multiple, the gods flat out not existing, lore written as if the dragons are humans instead, dragons being able to be gods or demigods, size differences ignored. i do enjoy aspects like i said im just kind of frustrated that the lore has very little impact on the type of game we're playing and its far darker than game mechanics allow. though this is just how running a pet site is fated to be i suppose, neopets wasn't any different.

@LilLegendary yeah this is a 10 year old site we're playing, the devs weren't in their teen phase but it is clear that there are different feelings and priorities they want to tackle than when the site was developed. i don't know if continuing to add lore that speaks to a different tone is the best idea but im not a writer or anyone who creates things in any capacity so i could be complaining about something baseless. i do understand this isn't an easy feat to try and rework a story like this though, i don't know i just feel frustrated because i do genuinely want to engage with the lore we're presented with (that post i made finding which fr colors existed in universe was some of the most fun i've had interacting with the game!). not fully because its always fun to break canon but everything just feels so mean when my own personal lore is just so, dopey and saccharine in comparison.

I don't mind it, I don't use a lot of site lore, but now that it's been mentioned... yeah it's a little goofy compared to what we've been seeing

I really don't feel as though the Sandsurge themselves were goofy?

The story itself only actually gives a brief glimpse as to what was going on with the Sandsurge themselves. The goofiness of the story comes from what dragons other than the Sandsurge were doing. And when you take something that's supposed to be serious, which the Sandsurge were (I will explain), and instead have it interact with something goofy, I agree that it can make the entire thing feel goofy and rather unceremonious.

The Sandsurge in the story were genuinely doing everything they were supposed to in the way that they were initially told to. The idea of breaking away from the Stormcatcher and surface dwellers because they didn't want any interference or unwanted management from them doesn't feel goofy to me. It feels more like a genuine and valid choice to have made. I kind of get it because I will do the same thing if I've found a workflow that already works for me.
And even then, they continued to be serious in their ways because they continued to expand and maintain Lightning's infrastructure all the way up until the point of their reveal. They made a system that worked to help them still have contact with the surface when they needed it and maintained very seamless workflow in their endeavors going towards what they were originally tasked with doing, which they clearly did well. I don't see a lack of seriousness in that at all.

However, when the surface team in The Cost of Efficiency decided to actually break from all the routines that had been set up thanks to the idea of the Sandsurge getting paid more, something that does sound goofy, that's when the seriousness for everyone falls apart. The Sandsurge themselves get rudely distracted from their seriousness due to a rather goofy theory, and they're right to be angry about the whole thing, but it's not really their fault in the slightest, it feels almost unfair to them to say that their entire story and lore is goofy.

I suppose, in summary; yeah, the Sandsurge reveal story was goofy, but the Sandsurge themselves aren't.

I absolutely loved the aether lore. It was adorable and hilarious.

I also enjoyed the sandsurge lore - the corporate shenanigans angle is fun, and very lightning-esque - although it would've been cooler if they had been strikebreakers/rebels/yakuza/etc.

Overall I think the lore has improved lately, compared to undertide lore which was not particularly interesting to me.

I really really really hope that FR lore doesn't take a Marvel approach to things from now on. I get that they want to lead away from the race war stuff that used to permeate the Encyclopedia, but dear god please don't devolve into one-liners and quirky Tumblr fanfiction tones.

I wasn't a fan of the retcons in the first place. Conflict provides a great avenue for storytelling, it's needed for storytelling actually, and I just don't see the same rich world when so much of that conflict is being stripped out with nothing added

Aethers especially just make me go :\ The names especially are just.. why? It's just weird. The most recent lore that's been added just sounds like it doesn't want to be considered seriously at all

I can admit that I was expecting the ancient's lore to be a bit more...bombastic ? I remember when gaolers first dropped and it was like WOW the ancient wardens type deal and I guess I figured the ancients that followed would kind of give a bit of - insight - i suppose ? into the older workings of the deities etc

Sandsurges especially did feel as if they were missing a bit of that drama- I almost would have preferred the lore to be something like "they were made ONLY TO WORK so that's what they do" vs "they work a lot because that's what they like"

- perhaps it's a hesitance to cast the deities in any implied negative light but angst is what keeps the gears turning at the end of the day really. Like if the sandsurges don't get paid they just work because i mean...that's what they were built for by Stormkeeper. I would have def preferred a sort of "tireless toiler because that's what they are geared for and all they've known" type deal

I personally would also really love to see some more lore irt world building- while I love that it's kept vague- and I understand the recent retconning with the Beastclans- I'd love to see some more drama. Some exploring of the conflicts between flights, etc. We get a bit here in there but we don't often get follow ups on it - and I'd love to see a bit more drama overall