The Great Day of the Swimmers

[jansenov]

By the way, I wouldn't mind playing Spike too, if nobody else wants to.

[LoyfeCycleProtector]

What type of flyer his friend. One of Ducky's friends is a flyer named Rhyn, who's the same type of flyer the Rhynchus is.

Good question. I'd like it not to be the same person or a direct relative as that wouldn't explain how Tooele picked up an accent while no one else who's friends with Rhyn has. Maybe they can be cousins, and Tooele's friend only relatively recently came to the great valley. Is that alright?

[Ducky123]

Do you plan to give his Flyer friend a role to play, Loyfe?

Alright, he's your character, jansenov

I think I might play as Mama Swimmer... if nobody else wants to.

[LoyfeCycleProtector]

Sure, I wouldn't mind making his friend a character. Did somebody else want to play him, or should I?

[Ducky123]

Well... actually, I planned this RP to be a "swimmers only" RP, Spike being an exception for obvious reasons. If we take him along, wouldn't it be odd that Petrie is staying behind with the rest of the Gang? If Petrie joins the journey as well, half of the Gang would be part of the RP which is something I'm actually against... So how about this: Tooele meets him during the journey (maybe one of the swimmers saves him from getting caught by some sort of beast...) and befriends with Tooele...

[LoyfeCycleProtector]

To be completely honest, I only ever even mentioned a friend because I saw Silence of the Lambs just before I made the character and thought 'That's a very mild, pleasant sounding southern dialect. I'd love to have a character who talks like that!' For one of Ducky's siblings have an accent completely different from everyone else in the valley would mean he'd have to have been raised somewhere other than the great valley (not doable) developed it completely spontaneously (too unbelievable), or he picked it up from someone else, which I figured would be the most logical explanations. I figured an older, wiser, immigrant character would be the most likely kind of person would probably 'pick up' an accent from, and as to why I why I picked a flier, I just figured it's make sense that a flyer would be more likely to have a dialect simply because it's easier for them to migrate farther distances.

I never intended the flier to be a character So what would be best?

[Ducky123]

Ah, I get'cha. You just mentioned the Flyer for the sake of explaining the accent... Maybe Tooele (what's the name's origin btw? Sounds interesting) could just mention his Flyer friend when one of the Swimmers Ducky's family will meet at the competition asks why his accent is different...

[LoyfeCycleProtector]

That sounds great.

And I'm actually really glad you asked about the name came from. I think I mentioned before that I was writing a baseball fanfic, and that meant dishing out a minimum of nine names over 26 or so different teams, and unfortunately, easy stock names like 'John' or 'Adam' don't seem to come up in Land Before Time stories. So, I've been trying to take inspiration from a lot of sources: the names of Jazz musicians, plants, a lot of one syllable words, and the like, but what I've found most effective so far are place names. A lot of US towns and areas have the kind of phonetic flavor that seems to fit well in Land Before Time names, and this is especially true with where I live.

The Salt Lake City mega region (or as we call it locally, the Wasatch Front) is quietly becoming one of the most rapidly expanding urban areas in the United States, but many of the place names go back to older terms that appealed to Mormon pioneers. Cities like Ogden, Lehi, Jordan, Magna, Kearns, Draper, Logan, Sandy (where I live), Layton, and Orem could all pass for quirky names. Tooele is a town that's on the fringe of what would be considered the Wasatch region, located behind the western side of the Salt Lake Valley, behind the gargantuan Bingham canyon copper mine (which is the largest open pit mine on the planet and easily visible from space). It's anode rate sized town, most notable for having a chemical weapon disposal plant, but it's growing. It's a name that sticks out even to Utahns, and that's where I picked up the name. I was going to use it as a character name in my baseball fic, but I thought it's be better to use it here. Sorry if that's more of an explanation than you wanted.  

[Ducky123]

Totally fine! I personally am pretty bad at picking names... I'm glad that you have a strategy that works

And 2500th post...

[Kor]

What type of flyer his friend. One of Ducky's friends is a flyer named Rhyn, who's the same type of flyer the Rhynchus is.

Good question. I'd like it not to be the same person or a direct relative as that wouldn't explain how Tooele picked up an accent while no one else who's friends with Rhyn has. Maybe they can be cousins, and Tooele's friend only relatively recently came to the great valley. Is that alright?

Sure, that can fit.  They can be cousins if you want. Up to you how long he's been in the Great Valley.

[Pterano]

After reviewing Edmont again, I actually share a lot of his characteristics. This'll help me a great deal in playing him I think.

[jansenov]

Ruddy, Edmont and Tooele share a number of characteristics, but I'm not worried that they'll turn out to be alike during the play. The player's have quirks of their own that will translate into the characters.

[Rocky]

Name: Sonar

Gender: Male

Physical appearance: Sonar has a dark green, almost black color to him. His beak is fairly pointed, and Ducky's Normal size as he is the runt.

Personality: Sonar hatched blind and developed a tough Personality. Sonar is smart mouthed, sarcastic and fearless. Despite both his small size for his age, and that he's blind, Sonar doesn't let it stop him from having fun. With Chomper's help, he learned to rely on his 'sniffer'. In addition, his sense of hearing is better, to the point he can use it to 'see' by making clicking sounds to get an Idea on his surroundings.

Sonar is known to be blunt, telling it how it is, even to his Mom and siblings. Despite this, he takes offense to anyone being mean to them and treatens graphic bodily harm to said dinosaur.

[Ducky123]

Sorry for not posting this earlier...

It seems as if everybody has picked their characters

Narrator: Ducky123
Ducky: Rocky
Spike: jansenov
Mama Swimmer: Ducky123
Lilly: Ducky123
Diver: Kor
Ruddy: jansenov
Lamby: Ducky123
Edmont: Pterano
Tooele: LoyfeCycleProtector
Sonar: Rocky
Mara: Cancerian Tiger

Anybody wants to take Lamby? If not, I will take her I will NOT play Ducky though Anybody else may.
If there are people who still think about joining this RP, they should announce it within the next few days as it will be very difficult to add a sibling in the mid of the RP

*

Now here's the (very rough) synopsis of the plot.

Evening in the Great Valley, Mama Swimmer tells her sons and daughters that they will have to go on a journey to the "Swimmer Swamps", a region far south-east of the Great Valley. The reason behind this is some sort of "Day of the Swimmers". At the Swamps, they will have to pass several competitions that will test abilities a grown-up Swimmer has to have. Examples may be swimming competitions (both single and team competitions), competitions that'll test their strength (in case they have to defend themselves) and competitions that'll test their social skills needed in adulthood.
The RP will start during the Cold Time (I think that's a good idea since it'd be pretty hot at the Swimmer Swamps during summertime. Besides, I think, if we imagine this place to have a somewhat subtropic climate, it'd be the dry season over there. During the rain season, I imagine such a place to be very muddy and flooded...).

How does this sound? suggesions are welcomed
There will be many dangers of course. Redclaw (or just any random Sharptooth) might be stalking and attacking them, they might get into a severe snowstorm or other severe weather, they might have to cross fast waters, high mountains, violent volcanos - you get the point...

[Pterano]

I approve of the plot idea! It sounds good to me. One thing I was envisioning would be that if we're heading into a subtropic climate, we get attacked by sharpteeth on something akin to the North Yungas Road in Bolivia. It's a very narrow road with a sheer drop on one side that travels from the Bolivian highlands down to the the rainforest areas. That would certainly make for a bit of a thrilling and dangerous chase, wouldn't it?  

[Ducky123]

Certainly, it would!

I hope I'll still remember that in a few months. If not, I hope you remember to remember me

[Pterano]

I'll remember, for sure. Glad you like it!

[jansenov]

I would like the Swimmer Swamps to be more like the Okavango delta. During the summer this region is basically a desert, but during the winter when the Okavango river floods the area it creates a lush landscape teeming with life, with herds of herbivores reaching spectacular numbers.

This seasonal contrast would provide the rationale behind huge seasonal gatherings, and would also ensure that the area has no indigenous populations of swimmers that might resist incursions of other herds.



Unless one might specifically want to have well-established herds in a climatically more stable area, that won't look kindly on the "silly" maturation rituals of their migrating neighbors (who by the way eat their food!) and would present a whole host of problems to the wannabe adults.

[jansenov]

Also, what about Ducky? Draw straws so we see who gets her?

[Ducky123]

Fair enough I was sitting there earlier and thought about which way around will be the better choice... I guess you have convinced me. If everybody else doesn't mind your idea, we'll go with your version.

As for Ducky... anybody may take her (preferably somebody who has only one character yet)