Scholars of Novia - An Introduction and a Charter

Greetings from the newly-formed Scholars of Novia.

By way of introduction, we are a player-run team of highly motivated people with wide interests in written works and lore across all of Novia and New Britannia. The Council of Scribes has been decommissioned.

Over the coming week, we will be putting out a Call for Submissions in this Scholars of Novia forum and working with authors to review their books. Our goal during the pre-alpha releases is to come out with recommended reading lists for those books consistent within the loric framework of the game and publish those books in the online Sota Wiki Library. We will also be researching, studying, and documenting lore. When printing presses are available for testing, we plan to test those mechanics using books on the recommended reading lists.

Below is our charter so you may know what we are, how we operate, and how you may become involved.

On behalf of the Scholars of Novia and our Grand Masters AmberRaine, Malchor2, and Winfield, thank you for your interest.

"The Scholars of Novia"

Charter​

DEFINITIONS:

• Lore: A body of knowledge, especially of a traditional, anecdotal, or popular nature, on a particular subject. May contain Canon, Fan fiction, Wiki entries, and in-game content.
• Canon: In fiction, canon is the material accepted as part of the story in an individual fictional universe. It is often contrasted with, or used as the basis for, works of fan fiction. The term "canon" can be used either as a noun, referring to "the original work from which the fan fiction author borrows," or as an adjective to describe whether or not certain elements are accepted as authoritative parts of the fictional universe.
• Fan Fiction: Stories about characters or settings written by fans of the original work, rather than by the original creator. Fan-fiction would be described as "non-canon," while an event from the official source material would be "canon."

VISION: We envision a New Britannia filled with great player-created literary works to entertain, educate, and inspire people for many, many years. We seek to foster a community which loves to read and write. We are committed to discovering and documenting lore for everyone's enjoyment.

MISSION: The player-run Scholars of Novia are devoted to the promotion of a rich literary culture in New Britannia by encouraging player-authors, compiling and curating a collection of canon- and lore-consistent literary works in New Britannia, and providing in-game and out-of-game resources which foster the development, study, and enjoyment of in-game literature. To this end, the Scholars will offer services to allow those who choose to have their literary works peer-reviewed, recommended as consistent within the loric framework of the game, published and cataloged. The Scholars also wish to provide an opportunity for authors to interact with a large community of readers and authors throughout New Britannia.

ORGANIZATION:

1. The Scholars of Novia are a purely player-run group of people.
2. We are led by three Grand Masters:
   • Grand Master of Scholars who ensures The Scholars of Novia operates smoothly.
   • Grand Master of Scribes who receives and discovers player-written lore.
   • Grand Master of Lore who discovers and researches all lore.
3. Masters directly support the Grand Masters as needed.
4. Scholars include the Scribes and Lore Keepers who do the detailed work of the Scholars of Novia.

METHODS (prior to persistence in game):

Prior to persistence in New Britannia, player-written lore will be received, discovered, reviewed, and recommended via the SotA Scholars of Novia forum.

1. We will issue Calls for Submissions to the public on the forum.
2. We will receive author submissions via the forum.
3. We will review the submissions for literary quality and consistency with lore.
4. We will work with authors as desired to enhance the quality of the work.
5. We will add books to our recommended reading list on the forum.
6. We will publish books into a repository (Wiki Library) and an in-game library (when available).

FUTURE METHODS: When more capabilities are available in New Britannia for testing and eventually persistence, we plan to have one or more in-game libraries where we publish and put books on display. We intend our library to contain high quality works that will be enjoyable to be read by many people across New Britannia.

 

Good start.

One question to begin with:

When the Council says they will publish their chosen books in an ingame library, does this mean the Council will cover the ingame cost of publishing books (whatever that ends up being) instead of the author?

 

Thanks for your interest! The Scholars of Novia certainly would like to publish books in the game. As the printing presses become available for testing and more is known, we will certainly work out the details.

 

I think authors deserve more opportunities for publishing their work then one council of their fellow players.

What are the standards for "literary quality" and "consistency with lore" and why are the scholars more qualified than others to judge this?

Can others publish their recommended reading lists on the SoTA Wiki?

If we are only talking pre-release, this only removes one step from the process that was in place before and doesn't seem to solve the problems that caused the ruckus in the first place.

Do we need this much of a process when the original request only generated 3 pages of submissions?

 

Thanks Winfield

Vyrin, nowhere has anyone said that the Council will be the sole way to publish stuff in Shroud (they won't be!).

 

So other groups who might want to publish books will get an official forum account? Who else is publishing recommended reading lists on SoTA wiki? It certainly has the appearance and tone of exclusivity if not in actuality. I think it should be clarified by Port.

 

Hm, ok, that's not an unfair observation.

However, we won't know the answer to your question unless someone sets up a worthy-looking 'rival' writing circle, presents it to FireLotus, and actually asks for a subforum, will we?

I'm sure there are people interested in making libraries for all player books. Someone just has to go to the effort of setting something up, like these guys have.

 

The standards for "literary quality" and "consistency with lore" are pretty basic. The works should be grammatically, mechanically, and stylistically readable. For lore consistency, an author should learn what lore exists in Novia as canon and see what other lore is written by other players ... so references to similar things remain consistent between authors.

Our Scholars do not claim to be the most qualified scholars in all of Novia. We have assembled a good group of people who have high interest and focus in this area. I am certain there are other greatly qualified people. Our Scholars have literary backgrounds in different venues and have studied lore in many places. What we offer to any author is the fact that we have several sets of eyes focused on each submission.

Anyone can publish his or her own works and recommended reading lists on the Wiki or any other place on the web or in game.

We are only talking pre-release right now because that is what we know best. Our process is simple enough to keep our team moving quickly and efficiently as we review submissions.

 

The Scholars of Novia account here is not an official SotA account. It is a player-controlled alternate account to put out announcements on behalf of the Scholars of Novia group. There is no intent of exclusivity whatsoever. Also, anyone may publish recommended reading lists on the SotA Wiki.

 

I am so so confused by all of this. I've been waiting for the chance to write and submit works but I must lack the brain power to understand what is happening here with all of this. Being truthful I don't have the time to spend trying to figure this out and reading between the lines on my own nor do I have anything to add to this thread, other than my statement of confusion, that hasn't already been said or asked in the other Scribes threads or Bowen's book thread after reading through them all.

It is hard for me to get behind something I don't understand in full, I understand the College of Arms and I understand the Poets Circle, it just so happens I can't produce music of any quality That is why it is so disappointing with writing which to me should be an easier process, but I will be wait until I have my own ability in game to create and distribute writing even if it means nobody ever reads my works. I hope that that actually will take place in Episode 1.

Good luck to everyone here and to the Scholars!

 

So, how does one go about submitting a book?

 

How do those of us who submitted content previously for the Tales indicate that we don't want them to be part of the process of the Scholars?

 

A question:

I am coming to Shroud from playing UO for several years (as are many others) however I have not familiarized myself with the backstory of uo as it seems to be not only extremely convoluted, but also rather piecemeal (also the little i have attempted was actually painful to read, as the authorship was... lacking).

... so my question is, do we need to be familiar with UO's backstory in order to create lore-consistant works in Shroud?

 

This is a separate game, officially outside of the Ultima franchise, so there shouldn't be a need to know it. Furthermore, allusions to previous Ultima include just as much the solo RPG's, if not more, than UO.

Hopefully the lore here will have a certain consistency with what LB has done before, but it will be encapsulated enough to ensure that this game is all you need to know. Exactly what the connections are to previous Ultimas is not known at this point except in the broadest outlines. But again, I don't think you will need to know it to feel like you are fully a part of this game.

 

In the next couple of days, we will be posting an official Call for Submissions. Those wishing to submit books answering that call will be instructed to reply to that specific thread. All of the specifics including topics, submission lengths and due dates will be included in the post. Future calls for submissions will follow

 

Any player-author who has previously posted content anywhere on the SotA forum shall not have his or her writing considered by the Scholars of Novia unless he or she pastes said content into a Scholars of Novia Call for Submission thread. As far as the Scholars are concerned, there is no need to opt out of any previous submission circumstance, as only submissions posted to a Scholars' Call for Submission thread shall be considered by the Scholars.

It should be known, however, that the Scholars of Novia will very much welcome for consideration the resubmission of any previously posted content from anywhere on the SotA forum so long as the content answers the call for submissions, and so long as the author of said content has demonstrated his or her intent to have his or her writing considered by the Scholars by reposting the piece into a Scholars of Novia Call for Submissions thread.

 

The phrase that has been bandied about the SotA community regarding SotA's connection to UO is that SotA is the "spiritual successor" to Ultima Online as well as other such other Ultima games as bear the fingerprints of Lord British, or Richard Garriott. To this end, in checking for lore consistency, we, the Scholars of Novia, while not expecting or suggesting that any player-created lore specifically allude to characters, events or situations from UO, will do our best to make sure that Scholars-recommended fan fiction does not specifically seek to contradict official canon regarding characters, events or situations from UO or any other Ultima game.

We feel that any player-author earnestly seeking to write fan fiction within the framework of the SotA world or storyline would likely have little chance of accidentally running afoul of pre-SotA canon. In short, write on, and don't worry about your familiarity (or lack thereof) with UO.

 

Wonderful Malchor, tyvm

 

A nice alternative to those who want to be part of it. Congratulations!.

Maybe if someone wants to be evaluated/suggested by the scholars should specifically mention it on the text posted.

 

Captain Jack would like to know who the members of this group are and what part they play in the organization. Grandmasters, Masters, Scholars. Is this information already out there and Captain Jack didn't see?