The Scepter of Fire (short story) Intro is up

[Thanatos]

Indeed - I wouldn't see a probelm with having a look at someone's wesnoth-based fiction (on which note, if you're basing something in the wesnoth verse, are you prepared to release it under GPL...?) in this forum.

The more interesting question would be: Would he HAVE to?

[Turuk]

I would say that once it's put on this forum, then it's fair game, yes.

[thespaceinvader]

IANAL, but I think that derivative works of a GPL work like wesnoth would probably have to be GPL too. Anyone know for sure?

[Thanatos]

IANAL, but I think that derivative works of a GPL work like wesnoth would probably have to be GPL too. Anyone know for sure?

A quick google search just brought up the fact, that "Untangling the question of what constitutes a derivative work is the thorniest issue the GPL raises". [Source]. GPL3 doesn't seem to mention derivatives at all, while GPL2 states

0. This License applies to any program or other work which contains a notice placed by the copyright holder saying it may be distributed under the terms of this General Public License. The "Program", below, refers to any such program or work, and a "work based on the Program" means either the Program or any derivative work under copyright law: that is to say, a work containing the Program or a portion of it, either verbatim or with modifications and/or translated into another language.

But I am no lawyer.

[Turuk]

Ignoring the GPL relation to Wesnoth itself, if he releases his work on this forum, what else could he claim?

[Thanatos]

Ignoring the GPL relation to Wesnoth itself, if he releases his work on this forum, what else could he claim?

IF he does, nothing, I assume. He COULD of course publish those stories on his own website, or on some fan-fic-community.

[Turuk]

Ignoring the GPL relation to Wesnoth itself, if he releases his work on this forum, what else could he claim?

IF he does, nothing, I assume. He COULD of course publish those stories on his own website, or on some fan-fic-community.

RIght, but we are not getting involved in some debate about where else he might publish his work. He started talking about it here, so we are under the assumption that he would post it here. You are bogging this thread down when he has not yet even written anything. Leave it alone.

[Thanatos]

RIght, but we are not getting involved in some debate about where else he might publish his work. He started talking about it here, so we are under the assumption that he would post it here. You are bogging this thread down when he has not yet even written anything. Leave it alone.

I will, knowing that you're the emperor and I am just a lonely minion.

But just for clarification: I am not "bugging anything down" here.
I am raising a serious question, and at least tsi seems to see that. You know as well as I do, what happend in the music forum on behalf of licensing. Also the opener already asked

So then would no credit go to me?

which indicates perfectly that he might need some clarification about what is to take care about. Also he stated nowhere that he would actually publish his works here.

Don't get me wrong. I don't want to spoil anything. I want to clear it up from the start, so that later there's no whining again about licenses.

/leaves

[Turuk]

You know, I don't remember posting please keep responding in the same line so you can get the last word, and then stop posting. I said leave it alone, which seems damn well clear enough to me. People seem to be having issues with comprehending this lately, and I am getting sick

He has expressed that he is concerned about getting credit, which is different than retaining control over the work. If his fan fiction is adopted as influencing canon (as he strives to make it historically accurate), he just wants to be given credit for his influence.

which indicates perfectly that he might need some clarification about what is to take care about. Also he stated nowhere that he would actually publish his works here.

As I stated previously, he started talking about it here so we are under the assumption that he would post it here. I know that he can post it wherever he damn well pleases, but if he wants it to be readily available for use as canon for the game where it might be referenced in a UMC or somewhere else, it would be published here under GPL.

[Hatter_Madigan]

Thank you Thanatos, I was looking for some clarification. I've been thinking about it for a while, and I know that I just write for the sake of writing. Because of love to write. So if people read my story, and I get positive feedback, I am extremely happy and actualy have a reason to write more, because it takes alot of motivation to get me to start writing again. And it is true that publishing it not only here but elsewhere, like a fan-fic sight, would get more people reading it. But more people here would actually know what the story is that I'm talking about, and would actually be able to relate the game to the story line. Unless, publishing it elswhere would bring more curious readers to the game? Just a thought.

[Turuk]

And it is true that publishing it not only here but elsewhere, like a fan-fic sight, would get more people reading it. But more people here would actually know what the story is that I'm talking about, and would actually be able to relate the game to the story line. Unless, publishing it elswhere would bring more curious readers to the game? Just a thought.

Publishing it elsewhere with a link to Wesnoth as reference might bring more people to the game, but few people reading would understand the context or be able to correct you on any errors in the history, context, and so on.

Publishing it here would give you an audience of users who are very familiar with the subject matter, and will probably garner you more responses.

[Hatter_Madigan]

Any way, here is the intro to the scepter of fire. I haven't yet taken the time to read back through it. I have a headache right now lol. And I haven't made any changes to the tabbing, which I usually do the first time around, but I've felt unusually lazy in my writings as of late. Anywho, hope you enjoy the intro. Feel free to leave feedback. It's a forum anyway. If I didn't want you to, I wouldn't post it here.




The Scepter of Fire

If you’ve already begun to read these neatly undefined scrolls in hopes of running your eyes over dried up ink smoothed into thousands of words, then your desires are anything, but not in vain. Although, I must also willingly inform anyone that these notes may concern, that if you’ve started this in order to read of glorified heroes of war dying valiantly in their final, bloody battle, then you will come to be greatly disappointed in the end, my ill advised friend. This tale is not of legend, but rather of what lies underneath the legend. What the scholars of old regard as nothing worth remembering. And for the most part, they are right. This could be of importance to none. Most likely in the end, the aching hand and worn pen will be all for naught. Then what is it worth for you to go through the trouble, you may ask. It would be difficult to say exactly why, but i suppose for own my sense of personal satisfaction. I have lived for nearly six hundred and sixty-nine years, and this event has been the most recurrent inside my realm of dreams. The one event in my entire life that will not humor the idea of leaving my thoughts. It’s like an ungrateful parasite living inside of my brain, feeding off of all other memories residing beneath my dull eyes. Hopefully writing all of the events down will lead to a startling solution to my on-going parasite problem. I am just ready to flush these persistent thoughts out of my mind. If only to soothe it for enough time for me to sleep again would be a great feat to accomplish at any rate. It urges to get out, not letting me sleep in the process. I have lived through several attempts at suicide, coming away more taken aback with failure each time. I know without a doubt that there is no possible way, in this generation, for me to be killed. I’m one of the best kept secrets amongst the elves, and yet, I know in generations to come word will get out. Legions and empires from all around Wesnoth will trudge forward onto any and every bit of Elvish territory in the slightest hopes of accomplishing the task of finding me. They hope to obtain all of the information that my old mind has locked away deep inside of my thoughts. For this, I am sorry for my people, but yet, feel remorse for none but myself. At least they get to feel the cold embrace of death’s arms, as they finally come to a rest. Yet more than that, I’ve outlived almost my entire line of family. I have outlived my friends. My lovers. They all leave me in this world to rot and decompose, but never to die. I don’t know why any man would seek immortality. It is the absolute worst fate that any man could ever suffer. You may take my word on that bit of raw knowledge. As I have gone through living, surpassing war after war, battle after battle, siege after siege, I have come to realize one very important thing. This thing comes from a question I used to bug my father with when I was a child. I would ask him, “Father, when will this war stop? Why must everyone fight? What is the grand purpose of chopping another creature to bits with the steel of your blade? What good does come of this?” and that was usually when a slow tear would drift further away from the eye that spawned it. He would turn to me and reply with yet another question. “We can’t be at war forever, can we? It has to stop sometime, am I right boy?” I would look back up into his eyes, and after noticing the smile on his face, I could feel myself slowly rising higher and higher in the ranks of optimism, and I would greet his smile with one of my own. I knew that he had to be right. That he had lived longer than me. Seen more than my newly developed eyes had even had a chance to see. That I had yet to develop past my youth kept me bellow my father’s intellect. What a wise man I thought my father was. How utterly dim-witted and wrong I had been. How wrong we had both been. I have lived all of these years, and not once have I seen enough damn peace to get me through the night with a sound mind! All the battles I have seen, all the creatures I have slaughtered! If my dreams were filled with butterflies and rainbows then, then what do I have now to shadow my thoughts in lies? In wellness? How my dreams do transform! Flowers turn into decapitated heads on sticks, that were only seconds before screaming for their life! Those beautiful butterflies turn into winged beasts on the horizon, spitting fire from their tongues, turning houses that took lots of blood, work, and time to finish, into smoldering ash. Turning men, women, children into crisping corpses. And burning down every last place that you could ever think to call home. Rainbows become the dusty trail of rock debris, falling swiftly away from hurdling boulders being tossed nimbly by giant trolls, in hopes of crushing in one’s skull. These are the things my dreams are made of. What so much of my life before was made of. Who would want to live and dream a life of this? Of course you might say yourself, for you are one filled with false hopes and dreams. You that have the safety of death to fall back upon. You, that does not have the added on pounds of six hundred years worth of war and suffering. How do you think you would fare with sleeping then? I don’t think even the strongest of Orcs could, if given the chance. But the difference is that they don’t share the same remorse. But I’ve come to learn the importance of everything over the year. How important it is to know the warmth of the world. But warmth is there left for me to feel? All I have felt after childhood, is the coldness of war. There was a time when I was at extreme peace with myself and the world around me. A long time ago. A time where I could sleep at night and the flowers would stay flowers. The butterflies would stay butterflies, and the rainbows would stay rainbows. There was I time when I was a High Lord. When I lead the soldiers into battle. How much I spent of my life recruiting soldiers, and slaughtering more. The enemies turned out to be half of the battle each time. Creatures usually came from secretly out of the wild without our prior knowledge. Many lives were lost for no reason, just animals being animals. The same term I use to describe the so called “humans”. We Elves have always been the masters of the forests, but while we are extremely outnumbered, it’s hard to keep focus on one oncoming obstacle at a time. But, look at me. In my old age I have forgotten what I have started this in order to do. Not to drone on about my own life, but to tell the very important life of three others. Three very different creatures. Ones that truly showed me what it meant to live. They were the ones who taught me not to take life for granted. Not to take those around us for granted. And that is the importance they hold for me. The one event that shrouds my world in nightmares revolves around those three, and encircle them, not unlike a most natural whirl wind. This story takes place from the time the ruby of fire was created, and shortly after the scepter of fire was made. You may wish to join me in my retelling of these cataclysmic events. Or you may wish to not. Either way, it really makes no difference to me.

[Hatter_Madigan]

Publishing it elsewhere with a link to Wesnoth as reference might bring more people to the game, but few people reading would understand the context or be able to correct you on any errors in the history, context, and so on.

Publishing it here would give you an audience of users who are very familiar with the subject matter, and will probably garner you more responses.

Could I possibly do both, and post elsewhere for possible promotion of the game?

[Turuk]

Could I possibly do both, and post elsewhere for possible promotion of the game?

Certainly, it never hurts to promote for Wesnoth.

[The1exile]

Here's some suggestions for the first half - I'm short on time right now, but I'll try and give you feedback on the second half later.

"these neatly, undefined scrolls" needs to remove something for it to make sense - either the comma or the "ly", probably.
"in hopes of running your eyes" --> "in the hopes of ruining your eyes"
"are but not in vain" - I'm not quite sure what this means?
The second sentence seems to make very little sense. "Willingly" seems out of place, as does the ending "my ill advised friend", and you're confusing singular and plural with "heroes... his". I suggest something more like "However, reader, this tale is not one of heroes of ages past, and if you seek a tale of mighty dying deeds performed in the heat of epic battles, peruse this text no further for you will not find it within these pages."
"What the scholars of old regard as ‘forgetful’ information. Nothing worth remembering. And for the most part, they are right. This could be of importance to none." The tone is a little too short and probably better as one longer sentence - I also don;t know what you mean by "forgetful" information. I suggest "Scholars of old regard this as "forgetful" knowledge, not worth remembering, and perhaps they are right. The importance of this text can only be judged by the one who requires it."
Change "the aching..." to "my aching..." in the next sentence, and consider a different adjective to "chiselled", such as "worn".
"Then what is it worth for you to go through the trouble, you may ask." should be superfluous to anyone heeding the intitial "no fun stuff within" sentences of the beginning, but if you must keep it, change it to a clearer question like "then why go to the trouble of recording these events?"
"I really couldn’t for the life of all be able to explain why. Mostly for my self." - don't say you couldn't explain and then do so try something like "it would be difficult to say exactly why, but i suppose for my sense of personal satisfaction."
"The one event in my entire life that will not humor the idea of leaving my thoughts" - cut out the "humor the idea" bit. brevity is the soul of wit and often the spouse of clarity.
Next line is good, maybe change "old" for "dull", though.
"Hopefully writing all of the events down will lead to a startling solution to my on-going parasite problem." sounds odd, to me. Some inspiration from "like the hectic in my blood he rages" wouldn't go amiss for a rewrite, or remove the line and rely on the next couple to serve the same purpose.

The Scepter of Fire

If you’ve already begun to read these neatly, undefined scrolls in hopes of running your eyes over dried up ink smoothed into thousands of words, then your desires are but not in vain. Although, I must also willingly inform anyone that these notes may concern, that if you’ve started this in order to read of glorified heroes of war dying valiantly in his final, bloody battle, then you will come to be greatly disappointed in the end, my ill advised friend. This tale is not of legend, but rather of what lies underneath the legend. What the scholars of old regard as ‘forgetful’ information. Nothing worth remembering. And for the most part, they are right. This could be of importance to none. Most likely in the end, the aching hand and chiseled pen will be all for naught. Then what is it worth for you to go through the trouble, you may ask. I really couldn’t for the life of all be able to explain why. Mostly for my self. I have lived for nearly six hundred and sixty-nine years, and this event has been the most recurrent inside my realm of dreams. The one event in my entire life that will not humor the idea of leaving my thoughts. It’s like an ungrateful parasite living inside of my brain, feeding off of all other memories residing beneath my old eyes. Hopefully writing all of the events down will lead to a startling solution to my on-going parasite problem.