Actually, it would go deeper then that. Clowns are unusual.... but the fact is, so are the entirety of circuses. We go to see the bizarre. But when the bizarre comes to see us, we get uncomfortable.

Here's a theory: the phrase Frog Blast The Vent Core will be used in the next NiGHTS game.

Hey, what if dualization was used as a method of nightmaren reproduction? Think about it; first and seconds are infertile, but thirds are found in drove. Dualization can be used to avoid the messy business of sex (something Wizeman would learn about from wet dreams) and saves a lot in the cost of production at the price of power!

Maybe I should go to bed now. I'm starting to make sense.

In the begining, there were the Archetypes, and forsooth, amongst them was the Wizeman.

Owl, for instance, is the archetype mentor. He probably has the same amount of power as Wizeman, but he can't use it in the same way. He can only use it to mentor people. Wizeman can use his power to destroy all light, because he is Lord of the Dark. He can create shadows, that is Nightmaren, because they are a diluted form of Darkness. And in the candlelight, Darkness is darker, thus his obsession with Ideya.

Darkness in the hears of men in the hearts in the hearts in the souls....

So you're saying that NiGHTS, Reala, and Jackle are all retrodualized from the original source? If we assume, as is logical, that retrodualization evenly splits power, and that apparently Reala and NiGHTS are evenly matched, then Jackle is logically twice as powerful as NGHTS or Reala.

Actually, I don't think Nightmaren are Archetypes. They're creatures made by an archetype--specifically, ol wize dude--but not archetypes themselves. Nightopians, on the other hand, could be made by some other archetype.... and Mepians are fun when they cross. WHOO! Mepian equality, yall!

Here's a thought: Game one, every time NiGHTS fights a boss, he has five Ideya under his belt. Right? They just spun around collecting them, and all.... but in JoD, he has less then that in all his fights. Even the secret ending fight. No really. It makes perfect sense that he's less powerful, because he's running with less batteries.

Or she. Forgot the or she in there.

Okay, and now for my theory regarding first levels. Wizeguy made five (although only three appear in game), and each was to steal a certain type of Ideya. First off, Jackle. Target Purity. When you really think about it, Jackles perversely insane and insanely perverse, so he's perfect for throwing out whites. Problem, though, is that his insanity makes him unpridictable, and his sheer power is a bit of a bother. Wizeman lets him live because, hey, even if he's not getting whites, he's getting darks.

While Jackle opens a fast food chain, Wize starts on the second. A heck of a lot more obedient, and not nearly as powerful. Target: Hope. And we get Reala, who's cunning, conniving, and absolutely at a loss without orders. Picture it: Every time he brings home an Ideya, he stands there, looking sheepish, until he finally asks "What next?" Every. Single. Time. Finally he just gets standing orders, and Wizman turns his hands to the next level one....

Now here's where it gets vague. For my theory to work, there have to be two other unnamed, unseen Nightmaren that the programmers can introduce in the sequel. Did NiGHTS come immediately after Reala, or was he a few steps down the line? Jackle knows, but he ain't telling me.... whatev.

Anyways, these guys have some of Jackle's independence but aren't going to defy Wizedude because, well, he's big eyehand man. Now, this next part sounds patently ridiculous, but remember that old comic where they said the jewel on NiGHTS is a red Ideya shard? Sit down, I'll justify it! In game two, Owl mentions that jewel mountain spouts, guess what, "shards of the Ideya." Therefore, there ARE shards, and they can be handled by Nightmaren. Is it really that big a leap for this purple guy, goaded by someone who's probably Jackle, to take a dare and lodge it in his chest?

This actually ties into my theory that Jackle's planning to take control of Nightmare, but that's another story.

ANYway, now NiGHTS gets a taste of courage. He starts to realize, hey, he doesn't have to follow Wizeman at all! Wizeman, who's making all the lesser nightmaren now because he realized that level ones have expensive upkeep, suddenly gets interupted by this purple jester punk who rants on about this stupid idea of free will---and comes down hard on the guy.

Question: What is the darkness that Wizeguy speaks of? I would assume it's a lack of ideya, because Ideya apparently produce light. Here's a fact: When Helen gets scared in Bellbridge, the Ideya of Courage leaves her. This implies that something similar happens for other Ideya; feel hopless, there goes yellow, feel impure, whoops, white's out. If you do that with all of the Ideya for a visitor, then hey, you've got an impure, cowardly, hopeless, unintelligent, stunted dude, and don't that sound dark now? So by stealing Ideya, Wizeman's not only destroying nightopia, but ADDING TO HIS OWN POWER.

And now for something completely different.

Owl, Wizeman, Cerebus, and Octopaw. What do they have in common? They're all brothers. Or rather, they're all archetype type thingymajig type things. Owl is clearly a mentor figure, all knowledge and no action. Wizeman is the big bad evil guy that all stories have. Big, bad, and evil. Cerebus.... well, he's a representation of a different kind of evil, maybe blind rage or endless hunger. And Octopaw? The unknown. Curiosity. Exploration.

Dulia sighed. Dreamers were always so passive...

"Isabelle," he commented. "That's a rather nice name... But I digress. Isabelle, your friend is most likely going to be executed soon an," he waved toward Syckhell and his companions, "probably well guarded until then. Now, you cannot trust me... not as much as NiGHTS.... But if you went with him, you'd be stuck battling every guard on the way, and be far too late to save Sparks."

He bowed low. "I, on the other hand, have ways to bypass the guards. Most of them, anyway. And you will be able to reach your friend... perhaps even rescue her? Of course I might betray you. Or, then again, I might not."

He straightened. "What is it to be, Visitor? A guaranteed failure..." He stretched his hand out towards NiGHTS. "...Or a possible success?" His clawed glove rested on his chest plate. "The clock is ticking, fast..."

"NiGHTS...."

Dulia, forgotten in the forest, had decided to track Scykle after he left. Of course, this meant that he had not been part of the proceedings until now, being too far behind, but the orange-and-read nightmaren had decided to catch up.

Which left him shaking his head at the purple jester.

"It's always the visitors with you, isn't it? Always, always. Your visitors are powerful, in their own right, but power isn't everything."

He flew closer, toothy smile on his face.

"I prefer... control. Yes, quite a bit of control." He turned his gaze to Isabelle. "That said, I wouldn't mind dualizing with this one myself... and I think I have more to offer her."

Out of the corner of his eye, he watched Scykle's battle. He won't stay dead, indeed...

"I would join you," Dulia said, smile unwavering, "but I'm rather unfortunately on the run right now. I hope you understand when I remain behind?"

"Oh, you misunderstand." Dulia's smile grew. "I am simply delighted to have found you before this.... travesty could continues any further."

He floated over to Lucas. "After all, we can't have our dear, dear visitors all enslaved by those wicked, evil Nightmaren, can we?" His gaze was brought to meet the boy's. "Especially so young..."

"Zac Efron," deadpanned the orange-and-red clad jester. "It doesn't really matter, though, does it? I would personally be more interested in the increasing lack of unpossessed visitors. They're dissappearing..."

He smiled.

"...nightmarishly fast."

Hidden in the trees, Dulia rose an eyebrow.

So, the blue-belled nightmaren could come back from the dead? That would be a useful ability to have. Quite useful.

He came to a decision and descended from the branches. "I am so sorry to interrupt this delightful reunion, but I fear that I must inform you that the nearby portal is seeing an awful lot of activity. An awful lot."

Name: Dulia
Race: He's a Nightmaren, what else?
Alliance: Neutral (ooo the drama!)
Ideya alliance: Hmm. I'd have to say intelligence.
Abilities: Agile flight, basic shapeshifting, capable of generating energy from his dark and twisted soul, has a persona that allows him to turn into a monstrous bat (in which form he can consume the life force of others), and a fairly good swordsman.
Appearance: Here ya go.
Personality: Dulia's loyal to Wizeman on a practical basis. The guy's powerful and can do a lot. But he can't do everything, so sometimes, Dulia betrays him. Of course, he sometimes betrays his friends to Wizeman as well. It all depends on what will be best for him.

Actually, the blue spheres I was referring to are what I think you're calling "dream drops." And since NiGHTS rebelled, it seems other Maren might too... Whatev.

Anyways, I like the dichotomy of Nightmare versus Nightopia, but I think the Nightopians and Mepians should essentially be builders for hire, as neutral civilians. Also, blue chips should be a universal currency, applicable to both sides, although one side racks up more expenses in some areas then others.

Hmm... Also, I'm not sure having the real world be the final Nightmaren zone would be a good thing. The order should be Nightmare, Nightopia, Bellbridge, if only to unify the endings of the "central plot." And the dream gate should be a neutral area, where Nightmaren and Dreamers all intermingle. Perhaps an area where they can buy each other's wares?

Somehow we've got to make dreamers seem as interesting to play as Nightmaren. Most fans will go for the Maren side, even if it's evil... although the inherent evil might repulse enough to even out the numbers, plus Dreamers get NiGHTS (who everybody loves). Although that might make Dreamers seem like the Noob side...

Possible thought: The "base appearance" of a player model is based on a psyche test the player takes when making a character and we have them just manipulate the details like eye color, hair color, etc.That way we get plenty of unique dreamer faces and Maren hats. I personally wouldn't want to see loads of jester-tails wandering around because everybody is NiGHTS' second cousin (read stalker fan).

I vote invisible, although he does have a bodysuit that he never uses. Of course i subscribe to the Five hunters theory... but that's a whole other debate entirely.

Point. But in practice, they'd probably be NiGHTS expies, so the gamers would be happy.... and Wizeman seems oppressive, so we could say ingame that they're "running from Wizeman" and that "Dreamers can somehow protect them". Maybe with those blue sphere things, what were they called...? Anyway, amount of spheres determines amount of Nightmaren and/or power of Nightmaren.

I was thinking that the players made their companion Nightmaren as well as the Dreamers.

See, I think the problem is that we're so conditioned by WoW for a "fight and grind" MMORPG that we forget there are other kind of RPGs out there. The central plot should be simple, short, and sweet, maybe even being covered in the tutorial. If we then allow for the players to be able to make their own Nightopian realms and minimissions (although they would be called "dreamscapes" and, um, "Daydreams?"), then we have the potential for a great game. Maybe we could also have each player as a Dreamer to start out with, but they could collect Nightmaren companions and Nightopian, well, "pokemon" as they went along.

Also, perhaps we should have it be one-player (sort of) but with the ability to join others in Multiplayer "daydreams" and virtual chatrooms (Dreamhubs?). And if we eliminate the concept of levels, instead going for pure experience and stats, then we don't have to have "ZOMG I IS LVL 29 LOL!!!" all the time, and the game would be more relaxing.

Just my five dollars. I say yes, this would work, but only if it isn't a grind-level game.

I met the Tails Doll.. I know the curse is true.

Oh shut up, you don't know what you're talking about. Besides, you're from a sonic-style universe, of course it's true in your world.

And this relates to the so-called real world, I know. I merely wish to indicate truth and nontruth are... blurred.

That is quite true, indeed. For the record, I say false, in this world anyway.

I've been looking over my previous posts and realizing exactly how childish and stupid I was. Therefore, with this topic I say I shall reform, being fully intent on remaining polite and bettering myself.

However, that is not the point of this thread.

Let's face it; sometimes, we have to disappear for weeks on end. The waking world is always demanding, and often overwhelming. But are we to assume you've died?

No!

Here, in this thread, you can remind us that you do still exist, and that you WILL be posting as often as you can. So go on, those of you who had blackouts, or were on vacation, or suffered a stampeed of kangeroos through your living room, tell us that you've returned! And let us celebrate!

That is all.

Home again, home again, jigity jog...

I'd like to announce that the RP is being called OFF. That does not mean the Nightmaren war is over; I simply wish to write it as a semi-serial fanfic elsewhere. I'm going to copy and paste my entire first post though, so in case any of you want to use this as a background for a fanfic, you can, although I would ask that you state this is the Nightweaver interpretation. Thank you... and have a pleasent nightmare.