All posts by Krayfish

In an effort to improve this wiki's overall quality, I have proposed a series of changes that could lead up to a new storyline that connects the various factions and creations together.

Changes

Terranovians

Firstly, I'm proposing to redo the Terranovians from the ground up. Conceptually, they would still be a race of humans with superpowers, but they will be less overpowered. With what I have in mind, they are still humans, but their augments push human potential to their limit. These are the (only) powers that an average Terranovian would have:

• Rapid healing - Wounds heal within seconds making them immortal. However, they are not invincible.
• Near instant reaction time - Terranovian brains can process information at higher rates.
• Super strength - Nothing physics defying, but they can lift objects far heavier than themselves.

These changes should still put them in position as ultimate human beings, but I would imagine that these are the powers that they would use the most in everyday work. Everything else such as flight, vision powers etc. could easily be accomplished with conventional tools. They would not be necessary for everyday civilian life in their society.

Secondly, the Terranovians would not be totally incorruptible, and they would have greater cultural diversity. This is to make it so that every Terranovian is not exactly the same as one another, thus removing the Planet of Hats.

Storyline

My new proposed storyline revolves around the origin of the Terranovians. During a time when Earth's political and environmental state was in decline, a currently unnamed scientist experimented with augmenting human beings (which would later be known as Terranovians) that could more easily adapt to various environments of other planets. This of course was met with ethical controversy. A holocaust ensued as the augments were persecuted out of fear of them surpassing regular humans. Eventually, the government decreed that these augments would be exiled from human territory and given their own planet Terranovia where they could build a society of their own.

One of the early Terranovian kings Chandra Kuasa wanted to end the schism between humanity and the augments. He had the vision to convert all humans into augmented individuals. Eventually, he would be defeated and put in prison while a new Terranovian king from a different family would be put in power. This new king (currently unnamed) would reform the governments of Terranovia to be closer to that of a democracy, and he also created the Intergalactic Alliance of Freedom (we may want to change that name since they don't seem to be intergalactic).

Chandra Kuasa, however, had a son named Bisera Kuasa who believed that the he was actually the rightful ruler of the Terranovian people. He not only wanted to continue his father's ambitions but also acquire more augments to become a god. Thus, he formed the Hundred Moon Clan with the intent of taking down the Terranovian government and remaking it in his image.

There are still a lot of loose ends to figure out such as which characters do what and what factions are involved. However, I just wanted to create a more solidified storyline to work from that could unite the various creations of the wiki. What do the rest of you think?

Now that I've had time to settle into ATH Wiki, I figure it is time to do another proper review. One of my main concerns at the moment is the quality of some of the creations. Yes, this review is going to focus on the negative aspects of the wiki, but it is a necessary part of development.

A handful of them seem to come across as unoriginal and cliche - some of them are closer to being defined as fanon rather than original. Others seem to contain obvious scientific errors. Yes, I know this is supposed to be science fiction, but these were some errors that I beleive even someone with cursory knowledge on the subject could spot.

I have a lot to say about this wiki, so I'll be splitting this into multiple parts that will come at later dates.

Characters

Thor

At first glance, nothing remotely seems original about it. He seems to be directly ripped from the source material with no sort of unique spin put to it. The Thor from Marvel was well integrated into the sci-fi setting he was part of, but this Thor sticks out like a sore thumb and quite frankly doesn't belong. There's a slim chance of being able to redeem this article, but I would honestly scrap it.

Races

Terranovians

My first thought is that these are pale imitations of the Kryptonians. The fact that one of the characters claims, "I'm like the modern day Superman", makes its status as a copy-cat even more obvious. However, unlike the Kryptonians which have been given extensive history and development, the Terranovians come across as a race of Mary Sues.

Giving weaknesses to a Mary Sue race is not enough to get rid of the status. More specifically, there's mention of them being an incorruptible force of good, and that they are described via superlatives. (i.e "They are said to be one of the most powerful ultra-terrestrial species of human beings ever.")

Lastly, a major pet peeve of mine is when a race is described as "evolution's next step". Once again, I still acknowledge that this is supposed to be science fiction fantasy, and I don't want to sound very demeaning or lecturing, but this is a very obvious error even to those who have a basic understanding of how evolution works. (Unfortunately, Hollywood is mostly to blame for this one.) In reality, evolution doesn't favor the strongest or the smartest. Instead, evolution favors the most adaptable, the ones who can easily respond to changes in their environment.

If there's one thing I do have to give credit to the Terranovians, the genetic match is an original concept. I would have liked to see more elaboration on it - it could ultimately save this creation from being immediately scrapped.

Quatonaiens

These are too similar to the Terranovians in my opinion or rather more accurately, the Kryptonians, right down to attaining abilities under different colored suns. I would scrap them as it just seems to be hardly anything more than a carbon copy of the Kryptonians, even moreso than the Terranovians.

Werewolves

This idea can work, but it seems to be poorly executed. If they were genetically engineered, then why would they have a weakness to silver? Not to mention, if they were created in 2444, then why do they just so happen to behave like werewolves of classic myth? Scientific werewolves are a cool idea, but these come across as trite.

Vampires

Again, this is another race that could work well if done right, but it's poorly executed. Why do they have the same weaknesses as their mythological counterparts? Like the werewolves, the sci-fi setting is not taken advantage of.

Arachnoids

They were created by humans during the Jurassic period? Modern humans are not even a million years old. I haven't found any lore that states otherwise, so this is an outright contradiction to established science. Not to mention, is there any reason why they need to have been created during the Jurassic Period? Based on eastablished lore, they could have just as easily been created in the current present day setting.

Elves

"They are said to have one of the most amazing lifestyles within the whole universe."

Where to even begin? I'm sorry if I sound extremely cynical, but do I really have to say anything else? That line alone is an instant indicator of Mary Sueness. This is only one of a number of superlatives in the article that describes them as being the best in the universe at something. It comes across as utterly demeaning and arrogant towards other user creations. It is no different than flat out telling someone else, "My creation is better than yours. Deal with it".

The alternate name of "Tolkenians" doesn't come across as a reference, but moreso an indicator that it is directly supposed to be the elves from the LOTR. And learning how to build, create cities and their own language all within 20 years of their existence defies all common sense. It is a blatant violation of willing suspension of disbelief, and it just doesn't happen.

There are far too many things wrong with this race, and I would say that it is best to scrap it altogether. There's little that can be done to salvage it aside from starting from scratch.

Powers of the races

I do not really like the way that powers and abilities are just slapped on as quick labels without much of an explanation. Not to mention, why is that humans are apparently the only species in the universe (minus a handful of exceptions) that lack any sort of superpowers?

If there are any others you want me to pick apart and review, please let me know. I'll be sure to cover it in my next review.

Once again, I've been requested for feedback in regards to this wiki so far. Rather than nitpicking through the minor details like I did with the last review, this time, I'm going to go for something a lot more generalized.

Pros

• Character detail - I'm genuinely impressed by the amount of effort that has gone into the characters. Undoubtedly, the characters are the highlight of this wiki.

• Good weapons and vehicles - The numerous pages on the weapons and vehicles are excellent at defining what kind of setting we can expect in the ATH wiki.

• Good categorization - The wiki seems to be well-organized when it comes to categories. Using only the category system, it was fairly easy to find new articles to read rather than only hitting the random button.

Cons

I like the amount of detail and effort put into it. However, the main cons of the wiki are not so much the content, but rather what it is missing.

• No hub pages - It's difficult to see how all the content relates to one another when there are no hub pages. Hub pages contain links to many other pages, and they indicate relationships between articles. The navigation bar could also use some work as well. I later came across a Timeline page, but shouldn't such an important article be linked to on the main page?

• No story pages - It would be best if all of the history was written down in just one place. It's easier than sifting through various articles to figure out what is going on.

• Magic? - One thing that I find rather unexplained is the presence of magic. I get the impression that even though there are species which resemble stock fantasy monsters, they all have scientific explanations to them. Yet, on some character articles, magic is listed as a weakness. While it does sound like a nitpick, this seems to be something important to address in order to properly define ATH's genre.

One last thing: On the planet pages, it would be a good idea to indicate the unit of measurement for the temperature. Is it Fahrenheit or Celsius?

I've been asked to help shape this wiki so that it is much easier for new users to become introduced to it. In the process, this will require me to understand what is present so far.

I've taken the time to read as many articles as I can, but of course, I am unable to read them all. At the moment, I haven't found any guides or detailed information on what the wiki is about. However, here is what I gather so far:

Observations

The wiki seems to most definitely fit under the category of science fantasy. Primarily, it has a similar feel to superhero comics with characters driving the story rather than factions. In many ways, this is quite different than Galactic Crucibles which tends to be faction driven, so I will review this based on the rules about the superhero genre rather than plausible science fiction.

Oddities

These are oddities - the strange things about the wiki that would definitely be a potential source of debate for new users.

Good versus evil

I have noticed that characters and factions tend to cleanly fit into the category of either good or evil. Based on what I have seen, "good" is portrayed as democratic freedom while "evil" is portrayed as totalitarian fascism. What if a user were to create a faction that was in a blurry line area? That is, a faction that is not pure enough to be considered good or evil enough to be considered evil. Galactic Crucibles tackled this question by defining "good" and "evil" as relative concepts, but I'm not sure how it should be done here.

Desire to conquer the galaxy/universe

I've been seeing galaxy and universe being used interchangeably. Yet, the size of these factions are no more than a handful of planets. Is this all taking place in the Orion Arm in only a small radius from Earth? I've seen references to the Andromeda Galaxy, though it wouldn't really make sense for a civilization of only a few planets to travel so far.

Technology levels

What is advanced technology on this wiki? It's a very relative term.

Live action images

Where are the images coming from? Are you allowed to use these images of real people? It should be fine if they are stock photos, but be sure they are getting used with permission.

Elements to reconsider

I have noticed a few aspects about the wiki that would be considered cliche if they were on Galactic Crucibles.

Planet of Hats

From what I gather, I've only found humans to be the only species on this wiki that has multiple cultures. For the Fascirians for example, could every individual Fascirian be described as war-like? Is it not reasonable to believe that other alien species can be as diverse as humans?

Superior species/Superpowers

So far, the main example that comes to mind is the elves. They don't seem to have any particular significant flaws, and they seem to be superior to the human race in every way. It's not the elves in particular that may be problematic, but it could pave the way for new users wanting to create god-modded civilizations.

It may be wise to establish some rules about balancing out characters and civilizations. Having tons of superpowers should be taxing when it comes to energy.

Aliens visiting Earth's past

This is only my opinion, but is there any reason for so many different aliens to visit Earth? In Galactic Crucibles, we made a rule against this, because it made other parts of the universe look uninteresting. It's not totally necessary to change this, but it is something to consider.

Conclusion

There's quite a lot of work to be done here, but I do like the amount of effort that has gone into this. Before this becomes ready for other users, it will be necessary to establish some rules, and create starter guides.

Currently, I can see this wiki moving towards becoming a role-play. Stories are another option, but seeing as this is primarily character driven, RPing may be the best option.