So...

I was thinking.

Most of us have some kind of Meta universe, and this is probably the hardest thing to make meld between canons.

Here's the deal:

What would be the reception for a thread that attempted to create some kind of over-arching meta-universe list/organization much like the Fictional Org list?

That's why all my characters live in Vauge City. In reality though, there's like a size cap type issue that can make things tricky. If you're too big, then everyone has to deal with you, but smaller things can go under the radar. Similarly, overall group cannon makes aliens, demons and all that real. Not too bad a thing, but can run into problems for people who write from an angle where magic is scary.

I'm not apposed to it, but I personally would keep unstoppables as a referanceable thing in my world. Both people and organizations

Been thinking about this for a while.

Might be difficult, especially considering the... chat we had.
But ime (in my experience), canon-merging when you are trying to write a grand universe with a bunch of other people is one of the most important and awesome things you can do. So let's do it.

I agree, finding some way to combine all the wRHG's cannons to make one giant over-arching meta-narrative would be really cool. I say we go for it. I'm in.

Canon merging is difficult.

As Crank said, some characters/canons would like to keep to themselves. Especially with organizations so large that it affects things, its a dislikable fact for some writers to always have to look over ones shoulder to write something that would be impossible due to something that isn't their own. I wouldn't say this is a bad idea in general, as some may just opt to ignore this whole canon deal as they did in the Fictional Org Thread.

I'm fine with the thread's existence as long as it doesn't push itself as the main canon.

I have a few issues with this for varying reasons. I too have thought many a time of proposing something akin to this but I've always allowed myself some time to sit on this question and ponder some of the immediate probable outcomes.

Let me start off by saying that I think one of the wRHG's attractive factors is its malleability. In the end, it can be anything you want it to be. Having a single centralized canon will be a bit dogmatic. Now, that may be not what you're trying to say here but if not, then what is your question?

Second, there's a lot of conflicts in between multiple canons and I think having the freedom to be able to work around certain aspects of some canons is a very nice one to have. It'd be a fallacy to say that most people are on a similar level of skill here. There may be some who would like to disagree, like Azure, but honestly there's huge gaps in skills between some of our active members and I think there's some people here who wouldn't like to have their own canon bogged down by other people's more poorly written or thought through ones.

I mean, Alphaeus, I did recently contact you about certain issues with your canon and how they were becoming very obtrusive to some to the point where I myself saw myself forced to either circumvent your canon as a whole, or pretend it didn't exist every time I'd come in contact with it. Both of those are really bad options if you think about it and having a single over-arching meta narrative won't be helping out at all there.

Again, I think that having the freedom to choose which aspects of whose canon you wish to incorporate is a very good one to have, especially in a place such as this one where the skill discrepancy can be a bit big sometimes.

Now you may argue that not everyone has to submit to this over arching meta narrative and it could simply be out there for those who would wish it, but I have two issues one. The first is the biggest, being that doing this can create an "us vs them" gap in our community that can go either of two ways ; Either not enough people are interested in this overarching meta narrative and those few who end up embracing it may become increasingly isolated because nobody that's part of it really wants to have much to do with it, which may create situations akin to the one I had with Alphaeus' canon, OR too many people will adopt this meta narrative at which point others may start feeling peer pressured into it. I know this isn't really a peer pressure-esque community (thank God) but that doesn't take away that this meta narrative can become very opressive to the few that wouldn't wish to adopt it.

My second issue with having it being so optional and up in the air is that it'd be utterly redundant. We already see so many people merging their canons up to very severe levels willingly, we see influences from other people's writings and depictions of this universe pop up everywhere and we've already set up some conventions that are near universal anyways.

To list a few ; There seems to be a general consensus that the RHG is both a corporation and a system, the city the RHG is set in (which varies for many people) seems to largely also serve as playground for these battles. We see little interfering from the government in any canon which can lead us to assume that the RHG corporation also owns this city.

Stuff like magic, supernatural occurences, aliens and metahumanism seem to be commonplace and, while often shunned in other places, more welcome in the RHG itself. It seems to be a bit like X-Men where sometimes people are simply born with extraordinary abilities (though we don't refer to them as mutants).

Things like conspiracy-esque organizations are also largely embraced to exist in this universe. These are usually also the ones to supply us with all this funky ultra-technological stuff we have in our stories.

Generally though, as Crank observed, there's simply too many people who make their canons quite big and trying to merge all those together would cause too much conflicts, let alone taking into account all those smaller canons. Too many compromises would have to be made, compromises neither party would be glad with.

So what I'm trying to say is, there's nothing wrong with doing things the way we're doing them now. I get that it's nice to write things down concretely sometimes, but in the end if people want to merge canons they find their own ways and it usually works out for the better, so just let em. This is taking it a bit too big for my tastes.

My main problem with this idea is pretty simple. My canon (which I share with my IRL friends, some of which do have accounts but haven't really used them) is FUCKING GIGANTIC. I haven't told any of you just how far my canon goes. The closest I've got is a little chat with Alphy, and I barely scratched the surface(you can see that'd be scared, my man. you can see how). So if we include my massive, (probably god-awful), ridiculous canon with someone like Vern or Crank's canon, we'd have a problem. Just the power gap would create a problem.

My idea is this: we create a list of terminology(and who submitted for ease of canon usage). So when I am busy talking about my fluid loci and Fundamental Edicts, you have at least some understanding of what the hell I am talking about.

EDIT: you cheeky motherfucker, Alph.
Being from a literal, pedantic family, I noticed your wording.

"A thread that attempts some kind of over-arching meta-universe". You never said you would collaborate with the rest of us about what to put in said thread. If I am correct(don't think I am though) then we have some REAL NONO's going on.

Oh boy... I feel the desire to make a somewhat-but-probably-not-super-big response to this...

To sum up my opinions, I think this idea is amazing, especially considering that it would supposedly only affect people who agree to it (looking at you people saying "no" to this idea above me... I don't think it's wrong to connect certain wRHGs together and not the rest, who would be saying "no" as a choice, really, assuming people can join this expanding universe overtime as it develops. We can still do fights with anyone. Hopping realities to beat the s### out of each other isn't exactly a problem that is made worse by any links between specific wRHGs as far as I've noticed).
I would be totally up for this, but I really want to emphasize that I feel that all those involved should have some degree of influence with their opinion on how this universe should be shaped. Of course, this would be regulated by the others, but I think it would be better than say... Having one to a few fellows make up the entire thing by themselves. I guess this was something that was already pretty obvious to an extent. Figured I'd say it just in case.

(Edit:
I guess what I'm trying to say here is that hopping universes isn't a problem that would truly be made worse by something like this.

Reading a bit more into the other comments, I guess that peer-pressure and the separation something like this may cause is a real potential problem...
Despite that, I think the risks relating to those things, among with other concerns on the subject, are worth taking in exchange for the great interaction this would allow and improve. I think some clans have done something similar, but it seems to usually be limited to the group itself, which is probably for the best in many cases. I think an important part that's missing for many of us is a platform for people to organize their interactions on if they feel the need. I'm not saying it's something that anyone requires, but it gives those who are in it the ability to relate greater elements of their worlds together to have more compelling plot points that have greater meaning. I think that alone has huge value when it comes to advancing character stories.
Really, I'm sure it could be built up in a way that is friendly and not pressing to those not in it, something like elaborating on the idea that separate realities are referenced clearly in the structure of such a setup being an example.)

While the idea of an expanded universe is fine and dandy (we're doing it already with collabs and clan wars), they're kind of like small pockets of intersections not one whole overlap. We can reference others for sure but if we do this officially, its dangerous.

The reason why the Marvel Universe, despite all the groups, is fine is because its all under one publishing co. Its fictional powers, organizations, and everything under it are governed and kept in check. Think of it this way, the reason why I see this difficult is that I see (for example) myself as Marvel, then I am made to coexist with DC. I'd have to make time fix timelines, manage power levels, distribute the heroes and villains right. Its alright for them, I suppose since they do indeed have the manpower but do we?

Using Dooms as an example, he says he has large canon and to be able to implement that, those participating would have to read up, learn and adhere to that, make compromises and begin rewriting some things. Likewise, Dooms would have to do the same for the worlds that are to participate in the expanded universe. For those who have their worlds already set up, this is a large task for them. We all have our own little canon built with rules that encapsulate them in their own bubble like worlds, if you try to grab another bubble, it could either grow or pop. Super large organizations like Nehushtan or my upcoming The Bloodline will be a monumental task to try and implement through lot of canons and some don't really take a liking to it.

I'm just going to say that I agree with Vern and like I said before, I am fine with this as long as it isn't pushed as the main canon of wRHG.

Originally I agreed to this, but now I agree with Vern and ErrorBlender. While it would be cool to see a successful attempt at merging all the cannons, it would insanely difficult and possibly disastrous if it went wrong.

While I still want to see the world's of the wRHG's come together, I now think it isn't for the best that it tries to happen.

Its sad, because if everyone got involved and no-one got pissed about canons like mine (e.g. EXTREMELY OP AT THE HIGH END), then this would work. But the thing it needs most are the vets. And they are the least likely to want to do this. It can work as the main canon. It just won't. And I'm ok with that. I still want a list of different jargon from different people. I'll manage that if necessary(I just think literally everyone else would be better at it).

EDIT: just noticed something. There isn't a main canon. So we can't really talk about it. Just saiyan.

Quote from 969_DoomsDruid_969

Its sad, because if everyone got involved and no-one got pissed about canons like mine (e.g. EXTREMELY OP AT THE HIGH END), then this would work. But the thing it needs most are the vets. And they are the least likely to want to do this. It can work as the main canon. It just won't. And I'm ok with that. I still want a list of different jargon from different people. I'll manage that if necessary(I just think literally everyone else would be better at it).

I don't know if I can be considered a vet, but I do have quite some experience with plot bridging and writing. If this does eventually work out and you need someone to help organize the thing, I'd be happy to help. (And if I am a vet, it's pretty hard for me not to like you. Most of your posts make me laugh...)

The vets thing was entirely based upon the hypothetical Universe Guidance Thread.

The thing with the jargon is for writers like me and to a lesser extent Alphyboi. Reason why I say this is because, well, do any of you know what a fluid loci is? No? Ok then. Fundamental Edict 1 or Fundamental Edict 56? No?

You see my point. I'd like there to be a compiled list of being types/subtypes, planes, places, species and rules(for certain uni/multiverses).

I don't disagree with the consensus y'all are coming up with. I think the main part of why I'm not really turning away from this idea at all is that I don't believe it ever needs to be main cannon.

What I was commenting on was specifically the concept that this would just be another reality and/or universe within the grand scheme of things that certain people could jump in to in order to connect their stories better. Obviously something like this doesn't work for everyone, but those that it does work for would certainly find it useful and supportive towards interacting with some other characters.

Well, it would useful to have a list of those things because for me, a guy who's completely lost in his own canon, it would be helpful to have something like that. I agree to that part as much, but everything else is kind of non-important to me.