Talk:Pig and Whistle

Thanks for that work, Cubist! — ShadowWolf 21:18, 28 August 2007 (EDT)

De nada!
Question: Who gets the credit for creating this thing? That is, who holds the copyright on it? This is of more than academic interest, since there's a fair chance that some of the stories for this setting might end up in one of the ANTHROlogy paperbacks, which, in turn, means that it'd be nice to address the question of who gets the "creator's cut" of whichever profits (if any)... Cubist 06:05, 29 August 2007 (EDT)

I'd have to say nobody. This creation arose out of numerous conversations and e-mail exchanges. While it seems, to me, that I instigated it—I can't say that I deserve creators rights. At the same time I can't say whether anyone else that participated in the design deserves them either. What this means is that I'd rather we run this as a trust—that is, everyone listed on the byline has equal rights. If it comes to a head—such as someone wishing to use the setting as the backdrop for a commercial project—then there should be some form of trust such that whatever community grows up around PAW benefits from it rather than any one individual. — ShadowWolf 15:12, 29 August 2007 (EDT)

Rules for submission (Or how I learned to keep the record straight.)

Speaking from my experience as one who came in via reading the years of TBP stories produced, I believe there are some very critical rules that are required to help keep the story universe from turning in to an incoherent jumble that is confusing to read and impossible to keep track of in any meaningful way either as reader or writer.

These rules are for a story to be canon. One may still write stories in the setting that remain non-canon.

1. The author must note the timeframe, as specific as possible, into a date range on the story universe timeline. While a vague range is expected, it should be ideally given within the right year.
2. Any cannon story must be included on the central repository. You can still display it elsewhere, still retain rights to it, it just must be filed on the central repository. As a reader coming in to the scene as TBP was apparently falling apart, it became incredibly aggravating to try and find the stories to read. Many stories are effectively lost to the ages. Erosion of the founded history of the story universe will kill it quite dead.
3. Now this rule is somewhat more up to opinion. The inclusion of your PaW story as canon means you authorize its duplication into a collected work of all the PaW stories. You lose no rights. You only authorize the story be able to be printed in book form if for some reason in future this can be arranged. Not-for-profit and what not of course included in the legal jargon.

- Timelord 02:44, 26 September 2007 (EDT)

Cleaned up, elucidated on and added to the guidelines. Thanks for the great suggestion! — ShadowWolf 03:11, 26 September 2007 (EDT)

Just a thought on note 4 but the punishment meted out can be monitored by various people(the press, concerned citizens, the international community) and it would be transparent to mete out a slap on the wrist for an asassin. A better alternative would be to just simply put someone in charge of investigating who would 'run out of leads'.

--Devin 04:47, 2 October 2007 (EDT)

Nothing to say that that isn't done in some cases. It all depends on whether the assassin is known or not. (And we also don't want to head off into "NMF" territory with a hyper-specified, iron straight-jacket of a setting description) — ShadowWolf 14:11, 2 October 2007 (EDT)

Question concerning the nature of the Disease

If it's possible to get the Blowtorch Fever more than once, how does it come back? Does one get re-infected? Or is it like the Chicken Pox, where you get infected ones, it then stays with you (though you are not infectious anymore) and then there's a possiblility of it reviving itself, like Shingles? Are you always a carrier of the disease if you are once infected with it? Saber

All of the above? Seriously, though, that's getting into the mechanics of the disease and those mechanics aren't going to be revealed this early. Not that "All of the Above" isn't the correct answer... ShadowWolf 17:34, 11 October 2007 (EDT)

Question about uplifting

When it mentions the 2050 date for the time when biologists confirmed that TFOR affects non-humans, does that mean if we write a story with an uplifted character it has to be set no earlier than 2050? -- Lloyd

"Confirmed" - ie: it has been proven that a non-human origin 'Teefer' exists. The point is that it is in 2050 that they are confirmed to exist - prior to that it was all unconfirmed reports. -- ShadowWolf 21:05, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

Thankee -- Lloyd

I quote, with appropriate emphasis: "'Uplifted animal' teefers have existed all along, but given the chaos and societal breakdown that accompanied the disease's advent, it wasn't until the 2050s that any biologist managed to confirm that the disease does hit species other than human." Just as neutrinos existed before scientists discovered them, so can uplifted-animal teefers exist without any scientist recognizing them for what they are. As well, note that characters can have their own beliefs about things, beliefs which may or may not be true; if you want to write about a pre-2050 teefer who sincerely believes that they're an uplifted animal, go for it! Maybe they're mistaken about that (in which case you have the seed of a story in which they discover the truth about the human being they used to be), and maybe they're right (in which case one of their character traits might be a jaundiced view of scientists, seeing as how those idiots simply refuse to acknowledge that the character "really is" an uplifted animal). Cubist 08:22, 29 March 2009 (UTC)

Confirmation of Possibility

Me again with another question, would shapeshifting be allowed if it follows certain biological capabilities? For example, someone with an overly flexible bone/muscle structure who could shift their body's proportions? -- Lloyd

If you can find a potential method that can be made to sound extremely plausible, then yes. However... we actually already have a shapeshifter, though her abilities are somewhat limited. -- ShadowWolf 01:27, 5 April 2009 (UTC)

Nuclear Weapons and Texas

I discovered this when doing research for my short story. It seems that Most, if not all, of the USA's nuclear weapons are maintained at the Pantex facility. Does this mean that Texas had a fair number of nuclear weapons when it Split off into the new Republic of Texas? How do Nuclear weapons fit into the world setting? --Concerned Reader 07:24, 6 June 2009 (UTC)

They are feared by all. And with Europe and Asia still fighting to get back on their feet as late as 2038... There are two flat-tops and at least one battleship missing - and those are being sought by the NAR, Texas and Quebec. Most of the strategic submarine fleet from the US was at sea when the collapse happened and, like the rest of the US Navy, turned privateer for the period of the collapse. However... One of the Ohio Class SSBN's never reported back and is listed, officially, as "missing, possibly destroyed" but is being hunted as a potential renegade element. -- ShadowWolf 13:13, 6 June 2009 (UTC)

I'd just like to add that anyone who intends to write a story about this should be VERY careful. One of the things that, in my opinion, led to the downfall of the Blind Pig setting was the introduction of millitant groups like the terrorist luddites. --Lloyd

I agree completely. I don't trust myself to handle nuclear weapons, or most military storylines. I asked for reference, as my characters dad works as a guard at the Pantex facility in Amarillo, TX. If you don't mind, should we add this info to one of the timelines? Or is it more of a behind the scenes sort of information? --Concerned Reader 16:44, 6 June 2009 (UTC)

It seems important to warrant being on the timeline, but anyone who plans to incorporate it into a story should do so with caution is all I'm saying --Lloyd

Lloyd is right about this. Everything in my original answer should be noted somewhere. There is more - see Enter a Wolf for a chat between two aging soldiers about some of the things that happened in the war. Dash was part of the US Navy during the collapse and if the Collab is ever finished there might be some information on how the US Navy survived during its Privateer days...

Basically, though, what I mentioned in my original answer is stuff hinted at but never directly covered in any of the conversations about the design - or it was talked about and not encoded in the final design. In either case it was handled that way to be careful about being over-specific so that the writers of the setting could help create it. Looks like some of it (including the bits about the nuclear weapons) should have been specified anyway. -- ShadowWolf 19:54, 6 June 2009 (UTC)