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04:48
@Anonymous Here's my advice. Make of it what you will.
The question is probably too long by half. As I read through it, I keep seeing what feels like irrelevant information to the central question you want answered. I know that it's relevant to the story and important to the building of the world but it may not belong in this particular question.
In all that information, you state who likes who and who hates who. Fine, but you don't say why. Why do the Elementals and mages hate each other? What would force them to overcome this animosity and join any kind of unified(/unifying government)?
Attempting to address all areas that the UN covers on an individual basis is easily too broad. It can be made less broad by specifying one or two areas that are especially important to cooperate on like international security.
The UN you seem to be envisioning looks like a unified world government that exercises sovereignty over the many nation states. The Real Life UN isn't structured like that at all.
Each nation maintains control over their own borders, security, taxation, currency and laws. The UN can make suggestions and each nation can choose to agree to that suggestion, or not. The UN can't force anyone to do anything.
The real life UN works almost entirely by soft political power (not the end of a gun). Member nations lend the UN physical forces if and only if it furthers that nation's international goals.
Most of the magical races you've mentioned strike me more as large ethnic groups than as nations unto themselves. As such, they probably won't have any formal power at the UN since the real life UN uses nation-states at the basic unit of membership, not ethnic groups. This doesn't mean that they wouldn't be represented but unless something special happens, they won't have the same standing as regular countries.
It's really hard to fit that entire question in my head at one time to reason about it. There's so much extra stuff about Woven, Witches, Elementals....this is all at a layer of abstraction more detailed than it needs to be. Remove all those extra details (hold on to them of course, just exclude from the question) and focus on the political organization of this governmental organization.
Biases that you should be aware of in me. I'm older and have spent 20 years working in large governmental organizations. Committees, organizational hierarchy, budgets, control of budgets, the various information flows that make all these machinations actually work....all these things are well known and understood by me. They may not be to you.
Questions to Answer:
1) If this governmental organization does absolutely nothing else, what must it achieve?
2) Who are the minimal members required to achieve that one end?
3) How does this organization get its power? Ultimately this power will either resolve to violence or it will be non-violent and resort to using someone else's violent means. (Everything ultimately resolves to "Do this." "No." "I'll make you with my guns." "Bring it." BOOM "Okay, I'll do what you say.")
4) How does this organization get its money/funding? Can it tax members or does it rely on donations? Again the ability to collect taxes relies on the ability to visit violence on those who do not pay. Without the ability to hurt an uncooperative member, the threat of taxation is void.
If you can answer those four questions about your UN, you've got a really good start.
@Anonymous Best of luck.
 
7 hours later…
12:02
@Green: Thanks for the advice. Let me trim down the answer: it should be edited by tonight
@Green: Actually: I'm going to delete the draft from the current Sandbox and mostly rewrite it according to your recommendations in the new one (so I can get fresh feedback and more comments.)
Attention, this is WNN with a breaking news update!
(as a television anchorman) We've just received the latest reports from major cities around the world, as the Visitors continue their latest orbital strikes and attempts to establish air superiority! We now bring you to our correspondent at Nellis Air Force Base for more.
(as a news correspondent) Thank you, Mike. As you can definitely see here, our pilots are already preparing to take off to defeat the Visitors' drones in our skies. The F-35 behind me is already preparing for takeoff, though most of us are to be evacuated soon for safety reasons.
(as a television anchorman) And why is that?
(as a news correspondent) To remind our viewers, we've been ordered to evacuate the base, though none of the base commanders have comm-.
kinetic rod hits the base as the camera sees an explosion, followed by the screams of agony and death.
The news anchor and many viewers hear and see static
(as a television anchorman) Leia! LEIA!
a brief moment of silence follows
(as a television anchorman) Hold on. We're now getting unconfirmed reports of...nuclear detonations.
(as a television anchorman) (quietly) Oh no!
an explosion begins to rock the building the news anchor is in, and the television viewers hear screams of agony and horror, as the television screens go into static
@Anonymous? Too dark a news report?
12:18
Well . . .
a bit
Though it makes a nice hook
Then again....that is kind of the point.
It would work better on WritingSE if you wanted feedback
Well, actually.....
I just did it for fun.
The fire around us is unceasing. A river of molten metal gushes past us, sourced from a glowing white mountain, one of two. An everflame tree stands near us, green leaf-like tongues of fire dancing along its hot stone edges. Red crimson tongues of fire form the grass underneath us, and a small path stretches into the distance, where hot suns glare on clouds made of acrid black smoke that rain embers down on the horizon.
You'd think this was some sort of hell--some sort of inhabitable netherland--but it's not. A city--Reth--gleams nestled between the two mountains, skyscrapers straining upwards against the majesty of the landscape. To the right, where nothing but heat shimmers, a huge serpent made of multicolored flame dives and dances in the sparks, drinking the blossoming roses of heat, forked toungue dancing over its feathers. The suns practically explode with vitality, healthy and round.
(An Excerpt from my 1st draft
)
And NOTE: This is an idea I had for the introduction to the first novel of the Visitor series.
Basically, after the Visitors' PoV from the original draft, I would replace the human PoV from the original draft with a series of news broadcasts from around the world, alongside an EAS notification, followed by the narration from the protagonist, since...well, most of the first book is a giant flashback.
12:25
Huh. Not a bad idea. It's not entirely orginial, but books organized like letters/messages are certainly fun to read
Anyways
I gotta leave
Oh.
Andy and/or Green?
Any opinions on the matter?
@AndyD273? Question: is it fine if I have a third person unreliable narrator for the Visitor PoV?
12:46
So, question: in an alternate timeline where Roswell really WAS ETs, and after 1977 (when NATO and the Warsaw Pact, alongside some governments with bilateral agreements with them on the issue) reveal the existence of extraterrestrials to the world, would there be a reason to militarise space?
Especially considering that the trigger for the whole reveal thing was 400 people being vapourised from orbit in the city of Colares in 1977.
Operação Prato (Portuguese: Operation Plate) was an investigation carried out between 1977 and 1978 by the Brazilian Air Force following alleged UFO sightings in the city of Colares. The investigation was closed after finding no unusual phenomena. == History == === Precedent events === In 1977, numerous UFOs were reported in the Brazilian city of Colares, Pará. UFOlogists claimed that lights in the sky fired beams at people, supposedly causing injuries and sucking blood from 400 individuals. Local residents claimed that scars on their bodies were caused by the lights in the sky, and nam...
This incident in particular.
In our timeline, 400 people were supposedly suffering from burn injuries, but in this timeline........
They get vapourised by a laser from orbit by a probe that got nuked in 1962, which was reactivated that year after its orbit began to pass by Earth again.
So, the question is: would that be a reason to accelerate space development, increase NASA's budget and even resume the Space Race?
Albeit with the purpose of militarising space to protect Earth from ETs by both sides, though they would be separate efforts at first.
The reignited Space Race ends when the USSR either collapses or both sides realise: "Oh [censored]. We have to work together or get totally conquered by the Visitors."
@AndyD273? Is that good?
Sorry if I have to ping....
But you know: kind of quiet.
@FutureHistorian Seems like it makes sense. If you know ET is out there, and hostile, then you'd (quietly) put some defences in place, and orbit makes a lot more sense than on the ground.
13:01
Well, actually......
NATO and the Warsaw Pact revealed the truth to the world.
So........
They kind of already know about the orbital defences placed after 1977.
13:23
I also need to point out that....I am curious if this means UNERU is unnecessary.
Or if it is better off replaced by some International Defence Coalition.
13:36
I'm not sure if government agencies ever go away... I think they mostly just morph into something else and get bigger
"WHat? OSS is evolving! OSS has evolved into the CIA! CIA uses confusion on the USSR. It was very effective!"
2
13:53
I mean more like......
Since the world’s nations need to cooperate to stop the Visitors......
How would they do it, if not UNERU?
14:17
@FutureHistorian Good question? It's probably a good solution
The thing is......
Should I rename it or what?
Is their function changing?
I think as long as their mission is the same, the name would probably stay the same.
14:43
Well, their mission is still to defend Earth from the Visitors.
The issue is.....the name.
UNERU is short for United Nations Extraterrestrial Response Unit. Emphasis on UNIT.
Hosting control over orbital defences, a small force of Orion nuclear battleships, laser submarines, special forces regiments and figher squadrons sounds less like a small unit and more of a medium-sized UN military force.
So, does this mean renaming UNERU?
It could. They are going from a unit to being more of an organization, which would be something of a mission change, if only in the big picture, so a name change would probably be fitting
 
2 hours later…
16:30
@AndyD273? So, UNERO?
Instead of UNERU?
Names change all the damn time in government and military areas. People make changes and improvements (sometimes valid, sometimes superfluous) to get promoted.
What would the O stand for?
Organization?
16:46
So one of my co-workers needed a tape measure, so she came to see if we had one; "I need a ruler. A longer one, you know, one of the man ones that gets really long"...
@AndyD273 ...I can't say anything that wouldn't come off as really sexist.
Yeah. I'm not sure much needs to be said. It's just one of those strange conversations you have when you work with all sorts of people.
Yeah, I've had those kinds of conversations before. It's only really awkward when somebody (usually me) forgets the name of something the work with on a regular basis.
17:42
@James I don't mind org changes but I hate hate hate the lack of accountability that comes from these org changes. Throwing up your hands and saying "Not my job anymore" doesn't fly with me.
18:05
Someone online to render me some assistance with English?
pretty please
What specifically?
When something is advertised as a 'mat', is it common for such things to actually be foldable cardboard boards?
18:20
Not if I remember correctly.
@dot_Sp0T I'm assuming you mean like a "door mat" or "place mat" or "breakdancing mat"? If so, it depends on what kind of mat.
If it's a breakdancing mat, then it might be cardboard, as I think they use that often. But it's probably cheaper to just go to a place that sells refrigerators and as if you can take one of the boxes
18:56
@AndyD273 nah, it's actually a Battle Map for DnD
but the amazon guys weren't even interested in clarifying the issue, just asked me how I'd wanted the refund... which strikes me as mildly concerning
Also it's pretty late so I'll be off again.. Only a month until I will do my best to properly haunt this place again. Missing you folks
@dot_Sp0T Oh, a game board is the kind of thing I'd expect to be made out of cardboard. Granted, I haven't tried DnD, so maybe I'm wrong? @James would know more I think.
@dot_Sp0T Sounds about right. They probably don't sell it personally, just have it on their website. "Oh, you don't like what you ordered? No problem, we'll take it back and refund you." The person you talked to probably has no idea what the product is or anything about it, their only job is to provide customer service and the easiest way is to just give you your money back.
19:36
@dot_Sp0T Generally the ones I have seen are vinyl with a grid printed on them (either hexes or squares...squares are easier to use)
Being vinyl you can write on them with a dry erase marker to plot out a floor plan or cave or battlefield or whatever.
Afternoon
19:56
@FreezePhoenix Howdy
@FreezePhoenix hows it going?
Fine.
You?
pretty good. Only an hour to go, then the weekend
similar here
:) -> :| -> :( (Markdown has failed me)
20:04
...huh, turns out Mandalorian and early clone trooper helmets resemble Corinthian style helmets from ancient Greece...makes sense, I just hand't really thought about it...
@James Now I wish that stormtroopers had those plumes on top of their helmets
@AndyD273 ...at least the officers yeah.
Imagine Phasma with a Jet Black space plume on her helmet.
I've also heard that Darth Vader's helmet was inspired by samurai armor
in which case him not having horns is also sad
@AndyD273 One of my buddies bought a couple...what would you call them...figurines?
They're little pose able guys where you can switch out hands and weapons and stuff...
anyway
he found a Samurai Style Vader and Boba Fett. They looked freaking awesome.
Particularly the fett man.
like this
removed?
@James It used to... maybe there is something wrong with it
let me check meta.se quick
Yeah, those look pretty cool. I see a storm trooper one too, except it's japanese style instead of greek style...
Yeah it appears to be broked...
4
Q: Amazon oneboxing broken in chat

vznIt seems like Amazon oneboxing in chat is broken completely at the moment. Even tried links that previously oneboxed that don't onebox any more. Here are some test links: https://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/1?m=43501938#43501938 This is another defect on images broken in the onebox from 2...


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