Wordman/ArtifactBookProposal

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This page is now obsolete. The main result of this proposal can be found at WhenAutochthonDreams.

This page will be kept around for posterity, but should not be edited.

Some time ago, I created the Artifacts/BestOf pages, with the idea of building a PDF collecting the wiki's votes on its best work. After running for several months, no one voted. To my mind, this frees me to build a PDF of artifacts based entirely on what I like, which I am contemplating doing. It also frees me to use sources other than just this wiki. I also have some ideas about getting some Exalted artists to contribute, but I'm not sure they will work. Quality-wise, the layout and such should at least match ForgottenSuns.

The following is an outline of the PDF I would like to build (sooner or later, more likely to be later). The artifacts I'd like to include are listed, in no particular order (they will probably be alphabetical in the final doc). Since I, of course, don't own these artifacts, I'm seeking permission to include them in this PDF, with the following riders:

  1. The author's name, hyperlinked on request to where the author wants it to go, will be included with each artifact.
  2. Each artifact may be edited for content or space, such as correcting a typo, changing a word here and there to make a paragraph fit the layout, etc.
  3. Each artifact may be edited for tone (for example, to remove passive voice, to prevent first person usage, to make the presentation match the others, etc.).
  4. If the author gave clarifications or corrections in comments that didn't make it back into the main body of text, the text may be altered to include them.
  5. If the artifact is a type that needs different stats for different editions, and the page does not provide such, stats will be created by me.
  6. Artifacts will have their creation stats (Power, Plot Immunity, etc.) listed, if provided. There is a (very) slight chance they will created if not provided, but I don't think I'm going to do that.
  7. Prior to general release, any author who asks for it will be provided with a "preview" release, and be allowed to remove any number of their artifacts from the final release if they don't like the changes made.

If you are an author of one of the artifacts, and consent to have it used under the conditions above, please append "approved" on the line for each artifact. If you don't want your work include, append denied, you don't need to explain why. If you know authors on this list and know that they don't frequent the wiki much anymore, please contact them and point them at this page.

Deadline

I'm setting a deadline for responses from authors of July 15, 2008. I've done all I can think to do to find those who have not yet responded. If I don't hear from the remaining authors by that time, I'll have to cut their content from the book.

Nonresponsive Author Tracking Progress

If you know how to find any of these people, please let them know about this page.

  • FlowsLikeBits - trying to find
  • Jarons20 - trying to find
  • MageDragon - trying to find
  • Mempo of Beautiful Yokai - message left on Pattern Spider
  • Scrollreader - message left on rpg.net and livejournal
  • Seiraryu - message left on rpg.net and the freedomstone
  • Translucidity - message left on livejournal
  • willows - trying to find, email sent

Title Suggestions

I'm still looking for title suggestions. Add them to this list if you have any:

  • Annealed Concord Reliquary is the title I've been working with, and will be used unless something better comes along. I like what it means, but am not so crazy about how it sounds.
  • Engines of Perfection - suggested by Telgar
  • August Manifest of Masterworks - suggested by Telgar
  • Scroll of the Magic Engineers - suggested by Telgar
  • Inscribed Codex of Artifice - suggested by Telgar
  • Tome of Resplendent Artifice - suggested by Han'ya (Quendalon likes "Resplendent Artifice". "Tome", not so much.)
  • Naming of the Wonders - suggested by Han'ya
  • Instruments of Glorious Might - suggested by Han'ya
  • A DIY Guide for the Educated Artificer - suggested by Han'ya
  • Tools of the Chosen - suggested by Paincake
  • Encyclopedia of Otherworldly Genesis - suggested by Paincake
  • Exalted, Wicked Wonders - suggested by nikink
  • Codex of Inspired Assembly - suggested by DarkWolff (Telgar likes this one)
  • Relics of the Forgotten Age (If these were First Age this would sound better)- suggested by Paincake
  • Treatise: The Created - suggested by Paincake
  • Book of Fancy Stuff - suggested by Paincake
  • Artifice of the Elder Exalts - suggested by Quendalon
  • Compendium of Wonders - suggested by Quendalon
  • From the Vaults of Lookshy - suggested by Quendalon
  • Illimitable Artifact Concordance - suggested by Quendalon
  • Masterworks of Essence - suggested by Quendalon
  • Register of Enchanted Devices - suggested by Quendalon
  • Treasures of the Enchanter's Art - suggested by Quendalon
  • Register of the Essence-Smiths - suggested by Telgar
  • Supinely Inspired Assemblage - suggested by Wordman
  • Serenely Inspired Assemblage - suggested by Wordman
  • Etiologically Inspired Assemblage - suggested by Wordman
  • Inspired Assemblage - suggested by Wordman
  • Inspired Assembly Tablets - suggested by Wordman
  • When Autochthon Dreamed - suggested by Quendalon
    • I like this one a lot, though would want to change the tense to something like When Autochthon Dreams, As Autochthon Dreams or 'While Autochthon Dreams. The Maker is still dreaming, after all. - Wordman
  • Craftsman Needs No Tools - suggested by Quendalon
  • Crane Mends Wings - suggested by Paincake
  • Hand Guides the Spirit - suggested by Paincake
  • Spirit Guides the Maker - suggested by Paincake
  • Elan d'Arte - suggested by Paincake
  • Inspired Assembly Concordance - suggested by EwindaleMoss
  • Resplendent Artifice Reliquary - suggested by EwindaleMoss
  • Harmonious Repository of Most Wondrous Creations - suggested by Smeggedoff (via PatternSpider)
  • Most Glorious Inventory of Lookshy : Year xxxx, Hopping Locust - suggested by Smeggedoff (via PatternSpider)
  • The Wandering Bazaar" - suggested by Smeggedoff (via PatternSpider)
  • The Book of Five Metals - suggested by Smeggedoff (via PatternSpider)
    • This one isn't bad either - Wordman
  • One-Thousand Fold Spidersilk Loom - suggested by Smeggedoff (via PatternSpider)
  • Reflected Visions of the Great Maker - suggested by Smeggedoff (via PatternSpider)
  • Heaven's Metal Winery - suggested by Rocketbilly Redcadillac (via PatternSpider)
  • Splendid Armamentarium of Heroes - suggested by NateDojo (via PatternSpider)
  • Splendiferous Armory of the Demi-gods - suggested by NateDojo (via PatternSpider)
  • Resplendent Array of Forged Genius - suggested by NateDojo (via PatternSpider)
  • Spider Crawls the Web - suggested by Flagg (via PatternSpider)
  • Spider Spins Metal - suggested by Flagg (via PatternSpider)
  • Dreams of the Great Maker - suggested by Arthur (via Pattern Spider)
  • Legacy of the Great Maker - suggested by cyl (via Pattern Spider)
  • Copper Spiders' Spin - suggested by Rocketbilly Redcadillac (via PatternSpider)
  • Forging of Silk and Steel - suggested by Coyotekin (via PatternSpider)
  • Autocthon's Echoes - suggested by Jukashi (via PatternSpider)
  • Primordial Reflection - suggested by Jukashi (via PatternSpider)

So far, none of these have sent me, though Codex of Inspired Assembly comes close. Two reservations: 1) the word "codex" is sort of a cop-out that is overused and doesn't really mean anything other than "book"; this is why I like "reliquary", because it actually means exactly what the book is, 2) use of the word "of" in names seems very D&D-like to me (Wand of Wonder, Deck of Many Things, ad nauseum); something like "Inspired Assembly Codex" is more Exalted like.

Another idea: all of the above are fairly litteral. As a comment says below, they all boil down to "Book of Stuff" and are mostly unsatisfying. Another tactic might be to use a more metaphorical title. For example, the charm Dragonfly Finds Mate is a metaphorical description of what the charm does. I'm not sure what sort of imagery best says "geeks making toys for fictional game", but I'm sure we can think of somehing. (I also just sort of like the idea of a Noun Verbs Object title.)

Outline

Sample

A very preliminary version of this document can be downloaded here. This will be the last public preview. Important note for authors: If you want to see a preview version of the near final version prior to release, you must do the following:

  1. Download the pdf at the link above.
  2. Find the e-mail address at the lower left corner of the credits page.
  3. Send an e-mail to that address with "Reliquary" in the title. In this e-mail, detail the following:
    1. How you want your by-line to look on the credits page. By default, it will be your wiki user name.
    2. If you want your by-line on the credits page to link to somewhere and, if so, the url to use.
    3. How you want your by-line to appear when it appears in articles of the book. By default, it will be your wiki user name.
    4. Some way of contacting you privately to inform you of the impending release.

Timeline

  • 26 Nov 2006: Started Artifacts/BestOf
  • 1 Feb 2007: Killed Artifacts/BestOf
  • 26 Mar 2008: Initial proposal made
  • 1 Apr 2008: Conceptual download made available
  • 9 May 2008: Another conceptual download made available

Comments

Unless explicitly told otherwise, you're welcome to use any or all of my stuff in something like this. I think I tagged all of mine in the above list, but if I missed one, it's by accident. I'd love a preview copy anyway.
-- Darloth

You are fine to use FiveGreatAlchemies, far as I am concerned, and talking to the people on IRC, from the rest too. I'll try to see if I get ahold of willows to ok the chrysantemum or not for you, but he hasn't been around much. ~ GoldenCat, who probably should collect all the Artifacts he made for Games on a page.

Any thoughts on how FiveGreatAlchemies would change for Second Edition? - Wordman
Same way. The Abyssal Armor fear-effects should be Keyworded(I forgot the specific Keyword), Orichalcum shouldn't lower speed and Jade should give -1 speed, but the rest is as it should be. Some of its effects are taken from 2e effects, even, as some did get btter there... just not as much as they could ^_^ ~GoldenCat

You are more than welcome to use my artifacts. I wish you had included my NA artifacts, but I can see why you wouldn't. But while I won't take my approval back or anything, I ask you look again at the Blood Rose Ring (Artifact 3). I really like that, and think there need to be more assassin's tools. But that's my opinion. Oh, and I'd love a preview copy. - haren

Artifacts included. The reason your NA artifacts, which are frigging brilliant, were not included is that I've never seen them before, because they were not listed in the Artifacts pages. I have rectified this. A thread common to these added artifacts is that all of them open up a lot of role-playing opportunities, which is rare. - Wordman

Been awhile since I've frequented the site. Heard about your project through the grapevine, Wordman. You've got my blessing to use these and any other devices or content from my page. I'm interested in seeing how this turns out. -Ambisinister

I would definitely like to see the preview release and have a chance to defend myself against crazy edits. ;) Looks like a good project.
~ Shataina

Suggestion, Wordman, maybe you could add Moxiane's Ultimate Weapons? They are a solid group of high-level weapons, and have been very useful to me either by taking them out wholesale or using them as basis for equivalent weapons... ~GoldenCat, who does love to arm antagonists with big people-crushing fists.

Done. This, btw, is another instance where I never saw Moxiane's work, because it was never posted to the Artifacts pages. - Wordman

Any of my contributions are fair game to use. I'm pretty impressed something I created is being chosen for something like this, actually! B-) - nikink

You can download a very, very (very) preliminary version of this document (see above). This will probably be the only public preview, but it gives a fair idea of the direction I'm headed. More importantly, it provides a couple of the more severe examples of editing I mentioned in the riders at the top of this page, including ripping apart a number of wiki pages and putting them together differently to fit into the book's format better. This should be as intrusive as it gets. - Wordman

Hmm. I need to do some color correction. Background looks like a wonderful faded paper shade on a Mac. Looks urine-yellow on Linux. Also had some issues with the PDF plugin on Linux, so I probably need to downgrade compatibility to version 6. - Wordman
Looks fine on the Dell I use at work. Interesting format choice for the [element]dust ... I'm not sure it's a good idea to have it all split up like that; it strikes me as confusing. On the other hand, it does reinforce the idea that the dust could occur "naturally". In the end I think it's your call, but maybe you should have a few people who have never read these artifacts before go over the PDF, and later see if they can sum up what Caskets actually do. So I think it's all fine, in conclusion, except for the word "elementdust", which is lame. I used [element]dust with brackets as a general term, but when the word is used as a word and not an editorial shorthand, I hate it. I'll try to come up with something better, and I welcome ideas. Oh! Also, could you put my real name after "Shataina" in the credits? If you have some ideological opposition to doing this don't bother.
~ Shataina
"Elemental dust"? "Dragondust'? "Poledust?" Dunno. And authors can have their name written any way they please (including links). - Wordman
Dragondust is perfect. Thanks.
~ S.

I have approved use of all my Artifacts. I would also like a preview copy of this book. I don't know if you've looked, but there are several things on my Artifacts/Telgar page that aren't directly linked to the Artifacts page and you may be interested in them. I'm especially proud of my Guns and Ammo. - Telgar

Feel free to use my stuff, too. Hell, it's why I put it here. - Moxiane

You may use my artifact. - IanPrice

You've got an open approval with all my stuff, Wordman. Just pass me a link to the preview when it's done? ^_^ - Haku

I'm wondering what to do about authors who don't respond either way. I'm leaning towards considering this to be an "opt-out" process. That is, if people don't explicitly refuse by some date (to be determined), I assume tacit permission to include their artifact. This is largely based on an assumption that if they were bothered by people using their work (giving them full credit, of course) they wouldn't have posted it to a public network like this. But, I dunno. Is that smarmy? - Wordman

The only difference I see between putting something on a public wiki, and putting them in a free pdf is that more people will see the pdf. I don't see that as a bad thing as long as credit is given. I know I wouldn't mind. - BlackFlame

I had an idea to do something similar a while back now, and I was told that line of reasoning was in fact, no good. Even if someone posts the test on a public forum, it does not give someone the right to use it in a pdf, even if it was a non-profit, freely shared, collection of material. My little project thus stalled and basically died due to waiting for resposes from potential contributors. B-( I didn't really agree with the restriction (for the most part), but I abided unto death. Alas. IANAL, and I suspect the person advising me wasn't/isn't a lawyer either, so YMMV. Just throwing in my two oboli. nikink

Well, I'm less interested in what is legal and more interested in what is right. You can't copyright game mechanics anyway, so if I was really intent on using the artifacts without paying attention to copyright, I could just strip them down to their mechanics and use them without any attribution at all. That would be perfectly legal. It would also be a shitty thing to do. The question is: if you were someone who posted something here a long time ago and hasn't been back in a while, if your work showed up in a PDF, listing you as author and maintaining your copyright, would you feel that you had been wronged? - Wordman

Well, I wouldn't be annoyed or feel wronged, no. :) In fact I'd be surprised and chuffed. :) But that may just be me. nikink

I am not on there. D= Sad face. Can't wait to see the PDF though. Paincake

Please use anything I've posted here as you wish. ~Capric

Feel free to use mine.
--DarkWolff

LibraryMailanka = Mailanka aka Daniel Dover. Knock yourself out
--Mailanka

Go right ahead and use my stuff. - Falcon

If we suggest enough different ways to say 'Book of Stuff', eventually you'll be able to pick and choose from the best sounding combinations. =D Paincake

Annealing is a specific heat-treating process for metal. Concord is either a pact or a state of agreement. A reliquary is a box used to hold the physical remains of saints. So an Annealed Concord Reliquary might be some kind of metal box used to contain a sanctified contract, or something like that. That would be an interesting artifact, and I'm tempted to write it up. But as a name for a book describing Exalted artifacts, it makes no sense whatsoever. You should definitely go with some other title. Several of those already listed have potential, and I've added a few suggestions of my own. Note that many of the extant suggestions have awesome bits in them, and some mixing and matching of multiple suggestions may be the way to go. - Quendalon

Annealing is a process by which something (usually glass) is very slowly cooled to reduce brittleness. It tends to take a long time. Used in the title, it is a reference to the long, drawn out, process by which this project gradually hardnened into its present state, as well as an oblique reference to a process used in making stuff. "Concord" in title represents the agreement of the authors to include their work, and also has a musical meaning which reminded me of the rythmic sounds of hammers and other processes of artificing. The definition of "reliquary" is "something that contains or displays relics". The fact that the Catholic church uses the word more specificially doesn't alter its broader meaning. In this case it means "a container of artifacts". So, the title makes perfect sense to me, even if it is a little oblique. As for combining terms, the only combination I like so far is "Inspired Assembly Reliquary", since both "inspired" and "assembly" have nice double meanings here. - Wordman
It's overly oblique and metaphorical for my taste, but it's your book. - Quendalon
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