STORY UNIVERSES (S-Z)
STORY UNIVERSES (S-Z)
[Universe Creator Mistress Christine Stephanie Charlemagne. (E-mail: none)]
SYNOPSIS: The Sorority of Delta Iota Alpha seems to be just another normal college sorority on the outside, but it is really a religion worshipping the goddess Dia, who is the source of their power. Although transformation of men into women is the most common transformation, they are capable of transforming anyone or anything into anyone or anything.
For more details, go to http://www.fortunecity.com/rivendell/caelius/55/diaindex.html.
[Universe creator: Mike Nelson (E-Mail: mnelson@www.greyhills.cc.az.us)]
SYNOPSIS: It was a story starter about you, who had a flat tire on a country road one day, and approached a farmhouse to ask for aid. Three men ran out of the house and chased you into the woods, where you sprained your ankle. After hiding in a stream for a while, they caught you, and took you back to their farmhouse where there were four stills set up.
They told you the first would change you into a critter-a mouse, raccoon, rodent, deer or other smaller creature or prey. The second would turn you into a varmint, a bear, a fox, a wolf, or other predator, The third would change you into a draft animal, an ass, a horse, a mule or a pig; and the fourth would change you into a woomun.
So far there have been two spinoffs-Eddie's, where you turned into a woomun, and Bill's where you changed into a were-bear.
[Universe creator: Jack DeMule (E-Mail: mules@people.net)]
SYNOPSIS: The ground rules are simple: Your character, who doesn't have to be based on yourself, must be of grade school age. The setting is the Circe School for the Gifted and Talented, and borrows heavily from the Circe Treatment series in which Bob Stein was turned into a unicorn. The Circe School and its community were on the outskirts of the magical blast he unleashed, so still have normal, everyday people (but why bother with them?;) as well as the school's magically gifted students.
Most of the characters (all, in fact, barring Rod StickMaker's Rod character) are students of Thomas Hassan, who teaches the beginning shapeshifting courses. The city is unnamed (what a shock;), but the school is near a large park with trees, and not too far from a lake. Also within dogtrot (and dogcart) range of the park (as my character knows) are: a Wendy's, a grocery store, and the residential areas.
Note, however, one exception to the age rule: if your character is a teacher, all age rules are off ... but your insurance rates are going to skyrocket.
The town does have a name....Tsaville. Ichabod Tsa and his trusty mule parted ways, when the mule discovered Ichabod was hunting for sand fish, not prospecting. The mule ran off to a bad end in Las Vegas.
Ichabod, now without means of transportation, decided that it was a purdy place....so he ruined it by building Tsaville. Pronouned Sah-ville.
[Universe creator: Bill Hart (E-Mail: bill.hart@macsch.com)]
SYNOPSIS: Spells 'R Us is a small shop located in the mall and run by an old man who more often than not wears what looks like a bathrobe. In the shop, magical spells and/or items may be purchased. It is a universe, where, quite obviously, magic works. However, few people believe in magic, which in turn leads to careless and sloppy spellcasting. And when you add in the shopkeeper's somewhat warped sense of humor, just about anything can and does happen. Simply, this universe can be described as: "What you see, ain't necessarily (or usually) what you get." It is also a universe which is easily carved into sub-universes. The "Animal Crackers" and "People Crackers" stories by Michael Rich spring to mind. Each originate at the Spells 'R Us shop, but then each set of crackers takes on its own independence.
GUIDELINES:
[Universe creator: Mark Van Sciver (E-Mail: mvan@sprynet.com)]
SYNOPSIS: Read the original story Tales from the Blind Pig at the TSA site for background on how the Martian Flu and SCABS developed in the human population. SCABS is a worldwide phenomenon and stories can be set in any locale.
The flu acts like influenza. Approximately 87 percent of the world population will contract Martian Flu during their lives but only 8 percent will develop SCABS - Stein's Chronic Accelerated Biomorphic Syndrome - named by Dr. Robert Stein, chief researcher at the Center for Disease Control.
A person will develop SCABS within six months of catching the Martian Flu or not at all. Approximately 8 percent of those affected with Martian Flu develop SCABS.
How SCABS Works
SCABS is able to tap into the racial memory of humans. Moving backwards and forward along the path of evolution using information buried deep within our genetic code, SCABS - depending on it's host - goes backwards in genetic time to the single organism stage and then branch out along any path it chooses, up to and including any modern animal.
SCABS is the key to the genetic footlocker. Each person's body has a genetic lock that the virus searches out. For the majority of humanity, the virus doesn't fit their lock, so they experience nothing beyond the flu. SCABS variations can run from hardly noticeable to a complete transformation of genus.
If a person contracts Martian Flu and doesn't develop SCABS within a year, they never will. Martian Flu tends mostly to infect adults rather than children below the age of puberty - 99.9 percent of people with SCABS are older than 13 years.
Since SCABS develops within a person's individual genetic makeup, the odds of a SCABS genus producing offspring with the same characteristics are so high as to be impossible. As long as their reproductive organs remain essentially human, a couple would produce a human baby - only the human DNA transfers.
SCABS Variations
Animorphs have the characteristics of animal species. 70 percent of the people contracting this form of SCABS partially transform and lock into a specific cross between human and animal. Morphlocked SCABS are unable to become fully animal or fully human again. The other 30 percent have varying degrees of control over their abilities.
Chronomorphs are a rarity. They can increase or decrease their biological or physical age. They may also have a limited power to change the physical age of others for brief periods.
Gendermorphs are gendershifters. This can be a voluntary or involuntary (i.e., morphlocked). This form of SCABS affects mostly men - 95 percent of all gendermorphs start as men.
Inanimorphs can take on the characteristics of inanimate objects. This is the rarest form of SCABS. Less than one tenth of one percent of the SCABS population are inanimorphs.
Polymorphs have the power to become any shape, age, animal or gender at will. They are very rare, with fewer than 1,600 known polymorphs worldwide. They have the limited ability to affect changes in appearance in others for up to three days.
In all cases, transformations are NOT instantaneous. On average, it takes most SCABS 15 to 30 minutes to change form. With rare exceptions, SCABS have to return to human before changing to another form.
Morphlocked SCABS stay in the form they are in without change or alteration. Some powerful SCABS can transform others SCABS and norms for limited periods except for morphlocked SCABS.
The Bar
The Blind Pig Gin Mill is where the first story in the universe was set. The city is unnamed and should remain so. It's located in the Northeastern United States, but that's as specific as I will get.
The bar is owned Donnie Sinclair, a 640-lbs. animorph with the head and internal organs of an extinct breed of wild cattle called Auroch. Because he no longer possesses human vocal chords, Donnie only communicates through American Sign Language or by written word. A character's creator must decide whether a character still has human vocal chords.
Donnie owns the building where the bar is located. The basement houses the bar. The first two floors are the home to Sinclair's, an upscale restaurant featuring an all SCABS staff. The third floor is a banquet hall where people can rent rooms and facilities for weddings and other social events.
Miscellaneous important stuff
The Martian Flu and SCABS - cures vaccines, origins and ultimate fate - belong to the universe creator who plans to reveal all in the course of the 100-year history of the story universe.
If you use existing characters in stories, PLEASE get the permission of the character's creator. Don't kill off, change, alter, bend, fold, spindle or mutilate other people's character without their permission. Most TBP authors can be contacted through Thomas Hassan's TSA-Talk group.
[Universe creator: Oren the Otter (E-Mail: bevary@atcjet.net)]
SYNOPSIS: This universe casts the members of the TSA as the staff, faculty and students at the Transmogrification Studies Academy.
There are no rules. TSA Academy is devoted to the ridiculous. The less sense it makes, the better. Think #TSA_list meets "Airplane".
[Universe creator: Michael J. Rich (E-Mail: m.j.rich@worldnet.att.net)]
SYNOPSIS: Earth has been bombarded by fragments from a giant asteroid that collided with a comet. The fragments emit a strange radiation that didn't seem to be dangerous at first. Now, however, the public is increasingly becoming aware of the strange effect of the radiation 'clouds.' They create 'tunnels' through space that instantaneously drain and send energy from one place to another, storing it in the nearest available energy receptacle. These clouds relocate at random and are completely unpredictable. In effect, life forces (minds, souls, whatever you prefer)are being swapped. Animals, plants, and machines are among the energy sources that are being 'turned about.'
GUIDELINES: Anyone is invited to play in this world of unpredictable body exchanges. Stories may be serious or silly, and I'm not picky about details. Just don't take away the potential for the swaps. After all, that's the whole idea!
[Universe creator: Bob Stein (E-Mail: Posti@aol.com)]
SYNOPSIS: The 'Walk A Mile' universe is pretty basic. The central idea is that the story's subject (victim, hero, etc.) finds a shoe store named 'Walk a Mile." In effect, the person finds himself/herself actually becoming the prior owner at some earlier point in time. For example, in the origin story 'Walk a Mile,' the person who buys a pair of boots suddenly finds himself getting up from the accident that killed the prior owner. He simply started the other person's life where it ended. If the buyer removes whatever shoes he bought before walking a mile in them, the change is cancelled, and the person is returned to the store. If the person goes further, they become the prior owner in full, with no memory of their own life. This is offered only as a guide. Any and all variations are welcome and encouraged.
[Universe creator: Jon Sleeper (E-Mail: jdsbuck@concentric.net)]
SYNOPSIS: On June 17, 1996, a universe much like ours collided with a "furry" universe. As a result, every adult -- adult meaning having gone through puberty -- was transformed into a furry. The Change, as it is known, occurred simultaneously around the world at 5 AM Pacific time, 8 AM Eastern (and you can take it wither way from there). The Change was not instant, but its duration differed widely from area to area and even between individuals.
Every human became something (nobody is immune), but what everyone became was apparently random. Thus while a college man might become a horse man (or morph, as they are called), his parents might become a bluebird and lion morph. People too young to be Changed on June 17 slowly Change as they pass through puberty.
Some people had a higher degree of Change than others. Thus one wolf morph may just have an ears and tail while another might be able to stand in for the Big Bad Wolf. It varies from person to person and is also randomly determined.
In addition to this incredible change, there is another. Many -- approximately two-thirds of the planet's population -- gained Powers. These are essentially anything you can think of from a comic book, from shooting lightning from one's hands (or paws) to turning invisible to changing shape.
However, before the Change this universe had several distinctive differences from our own. For instance, the world population was about 2.5 billion. Why? Near the end of World War II (in that universe called the "Plague War") there was a Plague. Not just any plague, but one that decimated most of the planet. This Plague would activate old genes, eventually turning the victim into a mass of disorganized, cancer-like cells. The cure was found in a section of Brazilian Rainforest that had been slated for slashing and burning, the tree only grew in that place. The "cure" made the Plague virus into a symbiont (one that actually helped people somehow). Once it was learned what the chemical was, in a burst of scientific discovery a way was found to make a synthetic. Progress of the Plague was slow enough so things weren't' too rushed to make the cure. So the Plague lasted from 1945-52.
But a side result of this was what was called the "Science Boom." happening from the late 50's through the 60's, (they had Pentium-class computers by 1975.) Another reason was a huge world environmentalist movement in the 50's that would almost eliminate nearly all automobiles internal combustion engines by 1985. They use hydrogen fuel cell electric motors instead, with the hydrogen and oxygen generated from seawater by solar power or other clean energy production units, or alcohol-powered Turbine-electric engines.
Absolute Rules (not many of those)
For a more complete list of rules and guidelines, as well as a list of Powers, go to http:www.sonic.net/~xodiac/wocinfo.htm.
[Universe creator: Eddie Glover (E-Mail: eglover@neomet.com)]
SYNOPSIS: WIZ-TV deals with Kevin Munson, the president of a new, magic-related TV station. All the shows in this universe use magic in one way or another-and as a result, it's open to all changes (TG, equine, age regression, mind-swap).
GUIDELINES: The only thing, I ask is that the characters from my story be respected and not zapped and/or altered as I have already written in the base story. What I'm hoping for are spin-offs describing the shows or such. I have plans for Johnny Train and Mangler in the wrestling show but anything else there is up for grabs.
Magic is mostly transformation-related. Although Cooking With Magic' deals with heat spells and such. I only ask that the main characters stay out of any major changes.
[Universe creator: Oren the Otter (E-Mail: bevary@atcjet.net)]
SYNOPSIS: Witch Trials is the saga of a group of very special people, shape changers who are falsely accused by normal people of being witches. They are called the tiyessa. This is also the name of the group of shape changers at Safe Haven, which is then spelled with a capital T.
The ability to change is genetic. However, tiyessa pop up at random from normal parents. They seem, as a rule, to crop up in times and places where they are most needed. Currently, however, there has been an improbable number collecting in one place.
A tiyessa who marries a human has a chance of about one in fifty of having a tiyessa for a child. Two tiyessa, on the other hand, will always have tiyessa children. Those born normal but having tiyessa blood enjoy a closeness with animals which few others know.
People's generally get the animal form that is needed for them. To most, it appears perfectly random. For instance, the Websters, who are a seagul and a mouse, have a son who is a sea otter. You don't have to have an indigenous form, either. You can be a gorilla or a platypus or even a struthiomimus, just nothing imaginary.
Tiyessa begin changing at puberty. It tends to happen on its own the first few times. If the tiyessa never starts using the power voluntarily, it will continue to change them on its own until they reach adulthood, at which point it vanishes forever. If they do change voluntarily, they gain control over the power and it lasts as long as they exercise it. For those born to two tiyessa parents, however, the power is theirs from birth and never goes away.
A select few have more than one form, usually only three, including human, They can also combine forms. (Within reason; I'll make allowances for having wings and arms both, but that's it!) About one in a million is a polymorph.
If a tiyessa attempts to talk, their mouth generally alters slightly to allow it. In their first few shifts, most young tiyessa overcompensate and end up making nonsense sounds.
Clothing goes along for the morph. When a tiyessa returns, it goes back to the way it was. Yes, you still need to do laundry. Injuries follow from form to form, though alterations in proportion, or even morphing a limb away, may reduce the damage.
Little people are friends and distant relatives of the tiyessa. Tiyessa change species, they change size. The one little person living at Safe Haven, Jonathan Eaves, knows a lot about neo-mythical peoples and is almost like a near-human encyclopedia of the abnormal.
There are also some true witches. The humans just get confused over who's who. Adira, a former witch who is now stuck as a grotesque sort of mermaid, is proof enough of the reality of witchcraft.
This all takes place in pre-US Massachusetts, back when everyone still used English accents. Yes, the dialogue is written in the modern dialect, but I did that on purpose to demonstrate that the people of this era are still people, just like us.
There are no rules, really, to writing here. Just be polite when dealing with other people's characters, and try not to change the entire universe. If you're not sure, E-mail me at bevary@atcjet.net You can also check out the Witch Trial on-line archive, kept by Lion at http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Labyrinth/5730/wt/.
[Universe creator: Brian Eirik Coe (E-Mail: becoe@concentric.net)]
SYNOPSIS: The Visionary's Saga is a loose collection of stories that all revolve around a single individual: the man in black. He has no name, and his origins are a mystery, but he surfaces to help those that need it or punish those that deserve it.
GUIDELINES: If you are interested in writing in this series, you should just follow a few simple guidelines:
