The following characters are no longer available for interaction on N!Prime 2017, in fictions or via the OpNet:

Timeslip (aka Angela Waters)
Ptesan-Wi (aka Thoughtwave, Mystic, Renee Ward, Melinda Harris)
Sandcaster (aka Anne Marie Vincenne)
The Crusader (aka Sam Hill)
Blue Hawk (aka Cassandra Foster)
Brother Jacob

Jess, I love ya, but this is a gutless and fucked up response.

Then it's gutless and fucked up. That's still better than continuing to try to slug along here in Heckler High.

Since when did any sort of criticism become heckling? You don't get to write or create and assume that people are going to say only positive, supportive things. That's unrealistic and childish. And I don't believe that you are either of those.

Hugin: A mild suggestion. You are, perhaps, not helping. Greeting someone who wants to withdraw from the board because of intense percieved negativity with further negative commentary on their chosen course of action is... well, more than a little counterproductive.

PW: It's your decision, either way. The board would be poorer for your characters' absence, however.

/end commentary

Fair enough. Good point and thank you.

Okay, Jess, I think a heck of a lot more than you than these current actions make you out to be. You're imaginative and a fun role-player. But folks aren't always going to agree with you and they aren't always going to be sweet and gentle about it. Stand your ground, defend your POV and fight the good fight. Don't turn tail and run.

Craig, let me see if I can explain.

I've spent close on three months defending this damned thing from pretty much every imaginable angle. I've busted my ass on it, trying to do a character death for a literally larger-than-live character in such a way as it would have rammification and effects. I've defended the story arc from attacks based on technicalities, on tactics, on canon, and on style, both on and off of these forums. I've watched the arc get sidelined and shunned by a fair chunk of the 2017 boards as improbable or "jumping the shark" or whatever.

I've all but begged for help to get the thing done, for some direction in which it could get written that wouldn't just be a sack of shit. What I've gotten in return - with a few noted exceptions - has increasingly been a lot of nothing, until my most recent note at my discomfort regarding where it was all heading and how it would have to get there and a plea for some pointers in how to do it right was met by dead, empty static.

James' negative response to what I wrote, within hours of my decision to finally move ahead in the wake of that non-response, was just the final straw of many. It's a small example of what this place has become. Instead of being a collaborative fiction community, N!Prime 2017 has become a dead zone where, instead of collaboration, there is only critique. It's a place of one-character shows. And that's a far, far cry from where it was when I came here.

I'm sorry to see you going. I know the site has been going through some rough times, and this time seems rougher than most. I still see potential here, it just has to be stoked.

Jess, thanks for the response. I'm sorry it's come to this. But in all honesty the story didn't have to be this complicated or this big. I'm sorry that you feel let down by folks here but in the end I guess that doesn't matter.

I'm a bit torn on this whole issue. I don't believe anybody's got a right to tear apart Jess's story, when she clearly and repeatedly asked for input and assistance and got none. However polite or impolite the criticism, if you weren't willing to help out, you've (in my opinion) got no say in the final product. It's like not voting in an election and then complaining about who wins.

On the other hand, I think a total withdrawal from 2017 and labeling the story and related events NC was a bit of an over-reaction. I've always looked forward to reading Jess's posts, including those in this arc, but now all of the subsequent reactions and interactions that have taken place between other characters (regarding Wakinyan, the problems on the reservation, the orbital pea-shooter, etc.) are -also- rendered NC and I'm not sure that's fair to everyone else.

I know that Jess is an intelligent woman who's nothing if not meticulous and rational, and if this is a decision made out of frustration, I'm sure it will blow over. When anyone else has done something similar (myself included), that's usually the case. If, however, it's the result of careful consideration on her part and she genuinely sees no further benefit to involving herself in 2017, I can only say that I'm grateful that I had the chance to play with her here on these forums, even in a limited way.

Either way, and NC or not, it's a hell of a story, and an ambitious one.

After talking with a few people, I'm withdrawing my withdrawl of my characters from N!Prime 2017, and altering the latest fiction in the Dying Thunder arc somewhat.

Cool.