First p-p-post!

This thing's just sitting here, so maybe I'll go ahead and write something. Anything to procrastinate from doing what I'm actually supposed to be doing! Jim started this blog, of course, but I figured I may as well try to get the ball rolling by rehashing what little of this project I remember, since I've lost all my prior logs due to a hard drive crash.

I believe the basic gist is to write an elaborate Kingdom Hearts fanfic, essentially retelling the story of KHE in the format of a cohesive narrative, rather than in its original form as a series of scarcely-related RP posts. But alas! Of all the KHE knuckleheads whom I found interesting enough to write about, only we three schmucks remain capable of contributing to this daunting task. Fortunately, we three also happened to be the best writers with the best ideas, so if anyone can do it, it's the trio assembled at this blog.

I suppose my first question is, what is the scope of this project, anyway? I want it to recreate those grand feelings of the epic, interplanetary conflict that consumed the majority of my adolescence, but as we are all adults with work, or school, or any number of symptoms of adulthood, it needs to be something we can feasibly start and finish in a reasonable amount of time.

Jim and Dan, I'm sure you've got some obscure and forgotten conversations locked away in your logs (or your memories), but for the moment I'll just assume a clean slate and spew out any thoughts that come into my head over the course of the next few paragraphs. And, as always, my ideas are mostly raw, unrefined thoughts that I jot down almost as soon as I have them, so feel free to discard/expand/accept anything I write as befits your own judgments, preferences, opinions and ideas.

One way to keep the project manageable and completable is to narrow our focus to the characters we know we want to write about. If we were to do that, I think the obvious choice would be to write primarily from the perspectives of the Fallen, as they were, overall, more dynamic and well-developed than any of the other factions. Of course, I'm biased in that regard, and of course, we can't even come close to telling this story without giving the other factions' points of view, which is where Jim comes in. I'm definitely rambling at this point, so I think what I'll do is list my personal candidates for the main MAIN characters. After all, each character comes with his or her own associations and subplots, so if we can narrow down WHO the story is about, WHAT the story is about might be a little easier to decide. Even though we're going to include everyone, these are the characters I think deserve the spotlights, along with brief descriptions of their possible roles and the reasons why I'm including them.:

1. Amatsu: The Villain Protagonist, so to speak. His Machiavellian ambitions for galactic domination are the source of much of the plot's development. What more can I say?
2. Voght: The other main character on the dark side. I don't really need to explain how important he is, because we already know he's the biggest badass in the entire story. We'll need to work out a few details concerning his own relations: will we keep Kaimei or scrap her, how can we retool Drake and Tell to fit into the main plot, etc. I would, however, like to include the Tell subplot, because that fight really stands out as one of my favorite moments in all of KHE. But in the end what we do with Voght will be up to you, Dan.
3. Arus: Arus is interesting because even though he's one of the good guys, he's constantly struggling with darkness. Jim, you probably have a few ideas of what you want to do with the virus, and Arus' direction in general, so I'll leave that to you. It would be pretty cool, however, to put into action that secret plot to give Arus a keyblade, immediately followed his betrayal of Amatsu, casting the would-be god into stone.
4. Shiro: Since Arus is always skirting so close to the darkness, we'll need someone who's unequivocally good, and that can be Shiro's role. She'll be the "poster child" for the Elite, the closest thing they'll ever have to a real leader. Oh, and she won't be Sora's sister this time around, haha.
   
5. Slayn (?): The speedy samurai was the head of the mercenary Guild, so of course he'll get a nice little spotlight, mostly out of necessity. UNLESS we decide to make the "main" mercenary (story-wise) Tatum, who will give witness to Slayn's construction of the Guild.
   
6. Zephyr (?): Zephyr's just too cool to leave out, but how important she'll be will depend on how much attention Jim wants to give her in this project. So it's up to you whether she'll be a main player or just one of the more important supporting characters.

If I'm missing anyone, just let me know, but these are the characters I remember being the most important. 5-6 main characters sounds about right to me; it provides a properly broad scope to the main narrative without going too wild. As you can see, most of them are our own characters, which will make writing them easy, while I have a sufficient understanding of Slayn to write from his POV (and if we choose Tatum instead it'll be even easier, since it's Dan). And Shiro's not too complicated, plus we can consult Leanna if need be.

So how about supporting characters? Just about every character ever will be mentioned in cameos, of course, but for my own reference I'd like to list a few of the most prominent supporting characters who play crucial roles but who are subordinate in importance to the leads:

• Nohl: Nohl is just a really cool character who can be used in any number of situations.
• Kitsaku: Amatsu's most loyal and reliable underling.
• Cirdan: Can't leave out the Cirdan Man.
  
• Vexx: Voght's staunchest (non-Drake) follower.
  
• Drake: Central to the juicy Tell sideplot, as well as Voght's character development in general. Dan will need to decide how much he wants to develop their relationship this time around.
• Raven: Arus' twue wuv.
  
• Tell: The villain of villains; even though the Fallen will be displayed in a somewhat sympathetic manner, Tell is a threat to light and dark alike, a fact which could lay the groundwork for Arus' alliance with Amatsu.
• Kirei: Would've been the main light character, instead of Shiro, except her heart is pure in a way that makes her a poor warrior and too willing to care for people that should be her enemies (i.e., Amatsu). Still, she has potential, especially in revealing Amatsu's lighter side.
• Arin: Oh, how could I ever forget Arin. Arin, Arin, Arin.
  
• Croix: We need a cool merc. to flesh out the understaffed Guild.
• Fortunato: Serves the same purpose as Croix, though not quite as cool.
• Kyoji: Kind of lame, but he'll serve his purpose in fleshing out the Elite. No keyblade this time.
  
• Takato: Same deal as Kyoji.
  
• Kaimei(?): If we keep her, that is.
• Tatum (?): That is, if he doesn't take Slayn's place as the main merc. character.
• Leeken (?): What are we going to do about the source of the dark virus? Are we keeping Leeken, and if so, just who the heck is he?
• Hakujou (?): Should we keep Hakujou? I used to think her secret backstory, as a partially-Heartless clone of Riku, was absurd, but after reading about "365/2 Days," that actually seems like a more reasonable origin than some of the canonical video game characters.

Whew! That's quite a cast, and I've only scratched the tip of the iceberg. Please feel free to throw in more characters that you remember but I've forgotten. And heck, that's not even bringing into account the "NPCs" (Disney, KH, and Final Fantasy characters).

So, which characters do you want to take center stage in this story? Which ones did I forget? Which ones do you think we should discard?