Marshall, Carter and Dark Hub

Link to article: Marshall, Carter and Dark Hub.
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[[include theme:mcd]]

[[>]]
[[module Rate]]
[[/>]]

[[tabview]]

[[tab Overview]]
Why do rich people care about making money?

The poor, certainly, need to care about doing so. When one's resources are only enough to scrape by, money is all that matters. It is important for the middle class as well. Looking after their spouses, their children; there is a culture of dependence that weighs them down.

The rich want to make money because they can always become richer. There is always another echelon of wealth to rise above, some degree of opulence that is beyond their grasp. They drive to even further heights, seeking to slake their thirst for coin. They care about making money simply because they can. To do so, the rich exploit people far below them on the social ladder, the poorest of the poor. To the oil magnate, to the harsh dictator, to the kings and queens and lords and ladies, the common people are specks of dirt.

To Marshall, Carter and Dark, the rich are unto ants.

People, regardless of social standing, are all the same. The poor may spend their savings on worthless yet treasured trinkets, sold by the middle class. The salaryman may splurge on a pretty ring for his wife, the profits of which go into the pockets of a wealthy mining boss. In the same way, the gullible rich will burn millions of dollars on a single impossible object. Everyone is willing to waste their precious, precious money on something out of the ordinary.

But value is artificial. The poor spend their pennies on mass-produced china, convinced that it has some worth to it. The rich convince the middle class that diamonds are rare and valuable, despite the stones being retrieved in Africa by the billion. Marshall, Carter and Dark convince the rich that the impossible is invaluable, while any anartist on a street can twist a die into a hypercube.

The methodology of such a scheme is quite simple, but the critical step is to gain a market monopoly. If you are the only seller in town, you can set the price at any level you desire, so long as you can drum up demand. In this regard, Marshall, Carter and Dark have the advantage: for hundreds of years, they were the only peddlers of anomalous wares in the world. They had the time to gain the capital, and with that capital they can now outprice even the most competitive upstart.

While organisations such as the Foundation, the GOC, and the Horizon Initiative resent the company's existence, they are unable to deal with such an unassailable economic powerhouse. With a glance, Marshall, Carter and Dark could level a city, bankrupt a country; with a single call, they could plunge the planet into a thermonuclear war. Yet, to the eternal relief of all, they are the least volatile players in the anomalous field. After all, if the veil of secrecy were to break, their trinkets would become worthless; their business would crumple and dissolve.

While this may cause some to think of Marshall, Carter and Dark as a massive, faceless corporation, their workforce numbers at most in the order of one hundred personnel. Their operations are directed and streamlined, maximising efficiency and minimising cost. Further manpower, if necessary, is outsourced from other organisations. Those in the highest positions of power are perhaps the most mysterious. Wild stories abound on the subject: depending on the source, they may be ghosts or demons, old men sending messages from beyond the grave, faceless monsters from another world, or even shapeshifting lizardmen.

A major part of their operations is establishing supply lines between various anomalous groups. Marshall, Carter and Dark purchase directly from groups such as Doctor Wondertainment and The Factory, reselling their goods at exorbitant markups. Prometheus Labs gladly supply the group with their latest research, in exchange for samples of exotic and complex anomalies. They often host anart exhibitions, exerting notable control of the artistic marketplace.

Similarly, they host various social functions for the most rich and powerful people in the world. With hooks throughout Europe, America, Russia and China, there is never trouble finding a market for a given item. They are, of course, willing to sell to any buyer; groups such as the Chaos Insurgency are some of their most valuable clients.

Perhaps the organisations most opposed to Marshall, Carter and Dark are the Manna Charitable Foundation and the Serpent's Hand. Manna Charitable often attempts to sabotage their operations, due to their restrictions of anomalous goods to the upper class. However, their limited range and resources makes them more irritating than threatening. The Serpent's Hand, meanwhile, are directly and openly antagonistic: caring neither for the veil of secrecy or the company's continuing practice of anomalous human trafficking, and impossible to economically intimidate, they represent the only pervasive threat to the group's operations.

Without question, Marshall, Carter and Dark are one of the most important pieces on the chessboard of the anomalous world; occasionally putting other players into check, but never into mate. For Marshall, Carter and Dark, the planet is an intricate network they have secured safely beneath their thumb, where winning and losing are meaningless terms. There is no need to move pieces when you can move the board. When you can end the match at any time, there's only one reason to continue.

It's all about playing the game.

[[/tab]]

[[tab Recent Acquisitions]]
++ [[[wills-and-ways-hub| Wills and Ways]]]
[[module ListPages separate="no" limit="50" parent="wills-and-ways-hub" order="created_at"]]
# %%title_linked%%
[[/module]]

++ A Darke Tale
# [[[a-darke-tale-new-age | New Age]]]

++ Objects
[[module ListPages order="created_at" limit="100" tags="+_marshall-carter-and-dark" separate="no" perPage="100"]]
# %%title_linked%%
[[/module]]

+++ From our International Colleagues
# [http://scp-int.wikidot.com/the-lizard-adapting-endlessly-6gjqg-jt8xh-wobu2 'Endlessly Adapting Lizard' (6GJQG/JT8XH/WOBU2)]
# [http://scp-int.wikidot.com/mcd-tabula-veritatis "Tabula Veritatis" (MG5P8/RF33G/7UL45)]
[[/tab]]

[[tab Objects]]
[[module ListPages order="ratingAsc" limit="100" tags="-archived -admin -author -sandbox -tale -goi2014 +scp +marshall-carter-and-dark" separate="no" perPage="100"]]
* %%title_linked%%
[[/module]]

+++ From Our International Colleagues
* [http://scp-int.wikidot.com/scp-es-019 SCP-ES-019]
* [http://scp-int.wikidot.com/scp-032-fr SCP-032-FR]
* [http://scp-int.wikidot.com/scp-198-fr SCP-198-FR]
* [http://scp-int.wikidot.com/scp-750-ko SCP-750-KO]
* [http://scp-int.wikidot.com/scp-1873-jp SCP-1873-JP]

[[/tab]]

[[tab Stories]]
[[module ListPages order="ratingAsc" limit="100" tags="-archived -admin -author -sandbox -scp -goi2014 +tale +marshall-carter-and-dark" separate="no" perPage="100"]]
* %%title_linked%%
[[/module]]
[[/tab]]

[[tab Object Template]]

+ General Notes

When writing an item for Marshall, Carter and Dark, it is important to keep in mind the goals of doing so. For example, the goal of an SCP object is (typically) to spend the most time explaining, in precise and scientific detail, what the item appears to be, how it is anomalous, and so on. They spend the most time describing the item. To use another example, the AWCY object template is designed to explain the motivations behind the creation of a particular piece.

For a Marshall, Carter and Dark object, the purpose is to **tell a story**.

To MC&D, the most important part of an object is who has it: keeping track of every object as it changes hands. Unlike the Foundation, a lot of MC&D's files are on objects they don't currently own, and are instead keeping track of where they are and how they are being used. Perhaps most importantly, **their documentation may include other GOI's object templates**. To illustrate this, consider an anart piece from AWCY which was then bought by MC&D, sent off to Prometheus Labs for analysis, then sold to the Chaos Insurgency, and in turn lost in a skirmish to the GOC. The MC&D documentation may therefore contain all relevant information: the AWCY project proposal, a Prometheus Labs analysis report, reports of its purchase and subsequent sale, the Chaos Insurgency's plans for using the item, and then the GOC report on the conflict which resulted in its recovery, and its subsequent internal documentation from them.

In an MC&D item, the description of the item is much smaller than in other objects. It should, in total, be under four sentences long, inclusive of any containment requirements. This does not need to be the only time that you describe it, though; there may also be a longer spiel on the object as a description for sale.

MC&D humanoids are typically not kept in cells, as is often done in the Foundation, instead being kept in drug-induced comas and fed via tube. MC&D have no equivalent of the Foundation's Ethics Committee, and as a primarily results-oriented group, their handling of objects should reflect efficiency without regard for the self-determination of their sentient wares. On the other hand, they highly value both their own personnel and their customers, and take every step to ensure their safety.

MC&D objects are **always referred to as 'items'** in documentation; pronouns such as 'object' or 'subject' are not to be used.

+ Theme
To use the MC&D custom theme, put the following at the top of your page:

> @@[[include theme:mcd]]@@

A variant of the MC&D custom theme also exists, with [[[theme:mcd-gray|gray colors]]]. To use this theme, put the following at the top of your page:

> @@[[include theme:mcd-gray]]@@

A second variant of the MC&D custom theme exists, [[[theme:black-market|designed]]] to work with the Black Highlighter variant theme. To use this theme, put the following at the top of your page:

> @@[[include theme:black-highlighter-theme]]@@
> @@[[include theme:black-market]]@@

+ Header

||||~ XXXXX/XXXXX/XXXXX||
||~ Status||In Reserve/Selling/Sold/Renting/Acquirable/Unacquirable/Destroyed/Unknown||
||~ Demand||High/Medium/Low/None||
||~ Value||(Price Range in USD and GBP)/Not for Sale||
||~ Availability||None/Unique/Current Inventory (Numerical Value), Estimated (Numerical Value) Worldwide/Established Supply Chain||
||~ Identifier||An Identifying Name||
||~ Description||A brief description of the item, detailing only its physical properties. This should not be particularly long, and is more of an executive summary. A good rule of thumb is to make it four sentences long.||
||||~ Marshall, Carter and Dark, LLP||

The above header should be used at the top of all objects. The following is a description of each criteria:

**File Number:** In the above template, XXXXX/XXXXX/XXXXX is used as **an identifier for the document**. Each X should be replaced with a nonzero and non-unary digit or a capital letter; for example, a valid identifier is IWN45/N3OS8/4EGI5. The number 0 is not to be used in the identifier, as it can be easily confused with the letter O in documentation; similarly, 1 is not to be used as it can be mistaken with I. This numerical identifier is not used as an identifier for the item itself, as with SCP objects, but an identifier for the file. Items themselves are referred to by their Identifier in daily business (see below), but within the document are only to be referred to as 'item' or 'the item'.

**Status:** This refers to the **current status** of the item. The different classes mean, as follows:
In Reserve: The item is owned by MC&D, but currently not for rent or sale.
Selling: The item is owned by MC&D, and is currently for sale.
Sold: The item is no longer owned by MC&D, and has been sold. This category should also include a subcategory of Acquirable, Unacquirable, Destroyed, or Unknown, parsed as Sold (Acquirable), Sold (Unacquirable) and so on.
Renting: The item is owned by MC&D, and is currently available for rent or being rented.
Acquirable: The item is either owned by MC&D but not in its posession, as may be the case of items currently undergoing analysis by external contractors, or not owned by MC&D but trivially capable of being requisitioned from its current owner.
Unacquirable: The item is not currently owned by MC&D, and acquiring it would require sizeable effort.
Destroyed: The item has been destroyed.
Unknown: The current status of the item is unknown, and is thus either Unacquirable or Destroyed.

**Demand:** This is an **approximation of the demand for the item**. If an item can be easily sold at any time, it is rated High; if it is likely to find a buyer at auction, it is rated Medium; Low items are unlikely to sell at auction and may have a very specific market. The None category is when the item has no demand whatsoever. Demand categories can be combined as High/Medium or Medium/Low for approximations that span these ranges.

**Value:** This is not the true monetary value of the item, but **the price at which it can be sold or rented**. This is given in a range for unique or limited items, while items which are available via supply chain should have a specific stated cost per item. This should not be overly specific, with value stated to fewer than three significant figures. If the item is being rented, then this should be a fixed price to rent the item, either per hour or per day. If the item is unsuitable for sale, then this row simply reads Not for Sale.

**Availability:** This is the **availability of the item**. If it is None, then the item has been destroyed. A Unique item is one of a kind, for example, subdued reality benders should always be unique. The category 'Current Inventory (Numerical Value), Estimated (Numerical Value) Worldwide' is self explanatory, while Established Supply Chain means that MC&D can order in copies of the object on demand.

**Identifier:** The Identifier is the **common name for the item**; it is the name that it is bought or sold under, and the way that objects are commonly referred to in MC&D standard operating. This identifier must be unique, and normally descriptive, except in the cases such as anart items, where the name of the piece is used. As stated above, this Identifier is not to be used to refer to the item within the documentation.

**Description:** The Description section, quite simply, **describes the item**. This section should not describe anything to do with the current owner of the item, the creator of the item, or anything besides a pure description of the item in its current state. This includes both a physical description, as well as a description of its anomalous properties. It should be as short as possible without omitting information; a good rule of thumb is four sentences long. It is not necessary to be overly scientific with this description; plain language explanations are more useful.

**Postscript:** This is a simple postscript; it may read Marshall, Carter and Darke, Ltd. or Marshall, Carter and Dark, Ltd. for older reports, and Marshall, Carter and Dark, LLP for newer ones.

The following are two example headers:

||||~ IWN45/N3OS8/4IGI5||
||~ Status||Selling||
||~ Demand||High||
||~ Value||120USD/80GBP per Piece, 2000USD/1200GBP per Packet, 100000USD/60000GBP per Crate||
||~ Availability||Established Supply Chain||
||~ Identifier||Dr. Wondertainment's Bubblebath Bonbons!® ('Bloodbaths' internally)||
||~ Description||Items are small ingestible sweets wrapped as bags of 20, for purchase from supplier in crates of 64. On consumption, items cause blood to be released from the skin as foam. Consumption of multiple pieces over a short time can cause death via blood loss.||
||||~ Marshall, Carter and Darke, Ltd.||


||||~ TSKTG/DS6G9/9D6S9||
||~ Status||In Reserve||
||~ Demand||Medium/Low||
||~ Value||Not for Sale||
||~ Availability||Current Inventory 1, Estimated 3 Worldwide||
||~ Identifier||Farting Butt||
||~ Description||Item is a floating disembodied human bottom which constantly passes highly flammable gas. Item has been fused to a standard gas-powered engine for use as an energy source. One cheek of item has been branded with Marshall, Carter and Dark insignia.||
||||~ Marshall, Carter and Dark, LLP||

+ Compulsory Subsections
After the Header, the following subsections must be included in order. There should be only one of each of these subsections.

++ Initial Report
The subsection which should normally begin your article should be a brief summary of how the object first came to the attention of MC&D. 

IMPORTANT: Dates must always be in the format Month DD, YYYY as below, to prevent confusion with American/International dating systems.

||||||||~ Initial Report||
||~ Author || Full Name ||~ Date || Month DD, YYYY||
||~ Interest||High/Medium/Low/None||~ Identifier||An Identifying Name||
||||||||How did MC&D first find this item? This is the place where you should detail that particular event, as either a first person description from the perspective of the author, or as a third person overview of the event. _
 _
Of important note is the line break code within tables, where an underscore, _, must be used at the end of any line rather than simply pressing enter within the editor. Thus, if you're copying an MC&D document to Wikidot from an external word processor, it might need some editing. View the page source to see how this works.||
||||~ File Opened Under:|||| XXXXX/XXXXX/XXXXX ||
||||||||~ Marshall, Carter and Dark, LLP||

Most of these should be self explanatory; Interest is the **amount of interest that MC&D has in possessing the item**, rather than any potential market interest. The identifier used here should be the same as the one used above.

++ Tracking Information/Inventory Information
**Only one of either Tracking Information or Inventory Information is to be used for a given item.**

Tracking Information is used for a unique or very limited item. Any time that the object changes hands should be logged here. This should be complete and up to date. Documentation should be similar to the following example:

||||||~ Tracking Information||
||||||~ XXXXX/XXXXX/XXXXX ||
||~ Owner ||~ Date ||~ Comments||
|| Archibald Fenswick || April 07, 2005 || Initial Discovery. ||
|| Marshall, Carter and Dark LLP || April 17, 2005 || Fenswick approached with monetary offer, rejected; reposessed item after his being committed to an insane asylum (Incident Report 1)||
|| Prometheus Laboratories || June 19, 2005 || Item was provided to Prometheus Laboratories for analysis. ||
|| Marshall, Carter and Dark LLP || June 28, 2005 || Item returned from Prometheus Labs (External Document 1). ||
|| Hendrick Szilard || November 19, 2005 || Item sold at auction. (Auction Record 1)||
|| Marshall, Carter and Dark LLP || January 22, 2006 || Item reposessed from Hendrick Szilard post-mortem. (Incident Report 2)||
|| Louis Kincaid || March 07, 2006 || Item sold at auction. (Auction Record 2) ||
|| Marshall, Carter and Dark LLP || June 22, 2006 || Item reposessed from Louis Kincaid post-mortem. (Incident Report 3) ||
|| Various || August 23, 2006 || Item rented. (Rental Record 1) ||
|| Marshall, Carter and Dark LLP || June 03, 2008 || Item removed from rental, being held in stores indefinitely. (Incident Report 4) ||
|| Serpent's Hand || August 02, 2012 || Item found missing upon standard inventory checks; video recordings revealed Serpent's Hand operatives stealing the item. (Incident Report 4)||
|| Global Occult Coalition || March 07, 2014 || See External Document 2. ||
||||||||~ Marshall, Carter and Dark, LLP||

For items which there are multiple instances, or where there are established supply chains, Inventory Information is used instead. These should be formatted like the following example, the documentation for Dr. Wondertainment's Bubblebath Bonbons!®:

||||||~ Inventory Information||
||||||~ IWN45/N3OS8/4IGI5 ||
||~ Owner ||~ Quantity ||~ Comments||
|| Marshall, Carter and Dark LLP || 48640 (38 Crates) || Available from Supplier on demand. ||
|| Global Occult Coalition || 27 || Currently kept in storage as samples.||
|| The Foundation || 582 || Stored as SCP-1079; low level security. ||
|| The Chaos Insurgency || ~2000 || Items distributed amongst low-level personnel for use as assassination tools. ||
|| Doctor Wondertainment || N/A || Supplier. ||
|| Customers || ~5000 || Items commonly purchased for use as practical jokes. ||
|| Others || ~1000 || 100 crates entered into circulation prior to establishing exclusivity of supply; few untracked items believed to exist. ||
||||||||~ Marshall, Carter and Dark, LLP||

+ Additional Subsections
The following subsections can be used multiple times after the Compulsory Subsections as required.

++ Rental Records
This section should document a sample period over which the item was rented, to whom, and comments regarding what they did with it for the duration of its renting.

||||||||~ Rental Record XX||
||||||||~ XXXXX/XXXXX/XXXXX ||
||~ Name ||~ Date ||~ Period ||~ Comments||
|| Ibrahim Yates || April 03, 1992 || 8 Days || Used for topiary purposes.||
|| Billy Bobberson || June 19, 1992 || 2 Days || Used for practical jokes.||
|| Steph McGee || June 22, 1992 || 5 Days || Used in retaliation for practical jokes.||
|| Obvious Pseudonym || July 24, 1992 || 74 Days ||  ||
|| Abraham Lincoln || April 03, 1993 || 1 Day ||  ||
|| Elephant Man || April 27, 1994 || 18 Days || Used item for facial reconstruction. ||
||||||||~ Marshall, Carter and Dark, LLP||

++ Auction Records
If the item is unique and has been sold, this subsection should detail an auction for it, as well as all bidders on the object. It should also include the description provided to purchasers for the listing. This description should be different from the description in the Header: the purpose of this one is to sell it to a target market.

||||||||~ Auction Record XX||
||||||||~ XXXXX/XXXXX/XXXXX ||
||~ Date || October 22, 1918 ||~ Location || London ||
||~ Auctioneer || Selleroff Stuff ||~ Lot || 27 of 132 ||
||~ Listing |||||| An over-the-top description of the item, the aim of which is to entice people who are potential buyers into purchasing the object. This can be as long as you desire, or rather, as long as makes sense; the previous 'four sentence' rule can be safely ignored. You should describe the properties of the object, but are free to hide details which would detract from its saleability, such as potential negative side effects. It should conclude with the following sentence, or some variation on the warning. //Marshall, Carter and Dark LLP takes no responsibility for the misuse of this item.// ||
||~ Name ||~ Bid ||||~ Comments||
|| Faust Bitter || 27000USD ||||  ||
|| Whemote Byer || 32000USD |||| Proxy bidder for Esselwex Lestroud. ||
|| Faust Bitter || 33000USD ||||  ||
|| Whemote Byer || 40000USD |||| Proxy bidder for Esselwex Lestroud. ||
|| Rei Sing Pryces || 50000USD |||| MC&D bid raiser to increase cost. ||
|| Whemote Byer || 55000USD |||| Proxy bidder for Esselwex Lestroud. ||
|| Faust Bitter || **60000USD** ||||~ Winner of auction. ||
||||||||~ Marshall, Carter and Dark, LLP||

++ Sale Records
If the item is part of an established supply chain, or a large stockpile are owned, then items are sold at a fixed price on demand. Depending on the time period that the item has been being sold for, this section should track either monthly or yearly sales records for the item, along with comments on any particular abnormalities in sales numbers. While MC&D retains details of every sale, it would be boring both to write and read through; it is recommended no more than two years or two decades of records should be in one of these sections. The following is sample documentation in the format that should be used, again for the example of Dr. Wondertainment's Bubblebath Bonbons!®:

||||||~ Sale Records||
||||||~ IWN45/N3OS8/4IGI5 ||
||~ Records From:||||July, 2006 to June, 2007||
||~ Month ||~ Sold ||~ Comments||
|| July, 2006 || 879 ||  ||
|| August, 2006 || 387 ||  ||
|| September, 2006 || 852 ||  ||
|| October, 2006 || 10482 || Halloween spike. ||
|| November, 2006 || 879 ||  ||
|| December, 2006 || 5820 || Christmas spike. ||
|| January, 2007 || 1298 ||  ||
|| February, 2007 || 2034 ||  ||
|| March, 2007 || 29381 || April Fools' spike. ||
|| April, 2007 || 20482 || Tail from April Fools. ||
|| May, 2007 || 5924 || Popularity drops mid-month. ||
|| June, 2007 || 284 || Popularity dwindling; the joke's old until next year. ||
||||||||~ Marshall, Carter and Dark, LLP||

++ Incident Reports
Incident Reports are used by MC&D for any notable events surrounding the item. They are internal documents only written by MC&D personnel.

||||||||~ Incident Report XX||
||||||||~ XXXXX/XXXXX/XXXXX ||
||~ Author || Full Name ||~ Date || Month DD, YYYY||
|||||||| Within this box, you should completely detail the event from either the perspective of the Author or as a third-person recounting of events. Any and all important events before, during, and after the incident should be recorded here. _
 _
As before, use underscores for next lines.||
||||||||~ Marshall, Carter and Dark, LLP||

++ Internal Memos
Short messages between MC&D employees.

||||||||~ Memo XX||
||||||||~ XXXXX/XXXXX/XXXXX ||
||~ Sender || Amos Marshall ||~ Recipient || Ruprecht Carter||
|||||||| A short memo from one person to another should be included here. Perhaps thoughts on the marketability of the item, negotiations with the supplier, or anything else that would be relevant enough to include in the file. _
 _
As always, use underscores for line breaks.||
||||||||~ Marshall, Carter and Dark, LLP||

++ External Documents

Documents on the item which were not written by MC&D, instead having been acquired from another Group of Interest, should be included as External Documents.

||||||||~ External Report XX||
||||||||~ XXXXX/XXXXX/XXXXX ||
||~ Organisation || Group of Interest ||~ Acquired || Month DD, YYYY||
||~ Method of Acquisition |||||| Brief explanation of how MC&D acquired the document, potentially referring to an attached Incident Report in which it was recovered. ||
||||||||~ Document ||
|||||||| Within this box, reproduce the external document in full. _
 _
As always, end every line with an underscore, _, to make sure it formats correctly in the table.||
||||||||~ Marshall, Carter and Dark, LLP||



++ Chatlogs

||||||~ Transcribed messages, or similar. ||
||||||~ Who is sending the message/Who is receiving ||
||~ Records From:||||Month/Day/Year, Time started through time ended (in military time)||
||~ Time ||~ User ||~ Message||
|| THE TIME || THE USER WHO IS MESSAGING || THE MESSAGE OF THE USER ||
|| Time || User || Message ||
|| Time || User || Message ||
|| Time || User || Message (Add more as needed) ||
|| Time || User || **DISCONNECTED**/**LOST CONNECTION**/**ERROR** ||
||||||||~ Log end. ||

++ Custom Subsections

If it makes sense for a subsection not in these example subsections to be used, you are free to design your own. All subsections should have the same format as follows, with content modified to suit.

||~ Custom Subsection||
||~ XXXXX/XXXXX/XXXXX ||
||The content of your custom subsection should be included in here; feel free to subdivide the table as you see fit. Do not remove the File Number or the postscript.||
||~ Marshall, Carter and Dark, LLP||


[[/tab]]

[[tab Author Notes]]
//A letter from Cain//
My work for the team was probably the most time consuming, not because my writing posed any more challenge than the others, but because I made and make sure that A Darke Tale is as historically accurate as possible. This meant rereading an entire textbook, as well as any documents and articles that helped me shape characters and events that I focused on in the story. I was very fortunate to have a former teacher of mine assist me more than once, and send me advice and articles for my research. Heavy collaboration with Randomini was paramount, as our stories were designed to exist in the same universe.

While I don’t intend to open up writing in the Darke Tale saga to others, I would encourage you to follow my steps if you mean to write something in the same vein. After you’ve sculpted an idea, do your research. Know what you’ll need to know, and read as much as you can about it. This may continue to shape your plans, and if not, will certainly help you when you put pen to paper. Then create an outline. Randomini was better about this than I was. This outline won’t be seen by many people, and it won’t be rated by anyone, so this is the least rewarding part of the process. It’s also the most important, because it will give you a path to follow. You’re not blindly groping in the Darke for a plot. You’ve got a skeleton to work through, and that you can refer to. After that, you start knocking out your stories, which is a process as subjective and intuitive as you can imagine.

But a note on outlining a historical fiction story arc, about MC&D, Darke, Dark, the Horizon Initiative, or even those boring grey Russian groupies. As I do it, I’m working through the American history textbook __Enduring Vision__. Chapter after chapter, line by line of history and minutiae (and minutiae and minutiae -- it’s a thorough book). I read, and I think, and I consider and reconsider. How does this factor into what I need to accomplish with Percival Darke? Where do I need him to be and when, for what reason, and what can I say, what commentary can I provide from the perspective of what characters, and what’s too much? It goes on, and makes reading a very slow, if satisfying process. Each chapter I think through with consideration to what’s happened and what I know will happen in history. This I use to put down a few lines of synopsis for each tale that needs to be put down. I only break them down by what I think is an appropriate amount of content, and title them based on that. Eventually I have a series. Then I can begin to write from beginning to end (or however -- another great thing about writing with a rubric is that it also allows you to move around and put pins in the stories you’re not sure about yet) with distinct accomplishment. I know Randomini has some magic logarithm he uses to number his tales and acts per series with the intention of dethroning Roget as You-See-Where-I’m-Going-With-This-Joke, but I don’t recommend this method. It makes it necessary to fill a quota of plot for each tale and may be difficult to pull off by more novice writers. There’s also a greater chance of snagging yourself in the story. Most of you will write a story arc the same way that I do, by fitting tales in where they feel like they belong.

//A letter from Randomini//
My work for the team was probably the most time consuming, not because my writing posed any more challenge than the others, but because I had to write //twenty nine fucking tales//. This meant writing an entire book, as well as any intermissions and articles that helped me shape characters and events that I focused on in the story. Heavy collaboration with Cain was paramount, as our stories were designed to exist in the same universe and that guy basically needs his hand held every step of the way.

While I don’t intend to open up writing in the Wills and Ways saga to others, I would encourage you to follow my steps if you mean to write something in the same vein. After you’ve sculpted an idea, forget about it and just bullshit. Don't learn anything, don't plan anything, just write some bullshit and it will probably be fine. This may continue to shape your plans, and if not, will certainly help you when you put pen to paper. Then create an outline, and then throw it away, because forward planning is for chumps. It won’t be rated by anyone, so why bother? It’s the least important, as it restricts you to a thin, confined storyline with no flexibility. You’re stuck with a path that could lead you off the edge of a cliff. Be like a long reed: flexible, bending to the wind, and also photosynthesize. After that, you start knocking out your stories, which is the least rewarding part of the process.

But a note on outlining an urban fantasy story arc, about MC&D, Darke, Dark, the Horizon Initiative, or even those boring grey Russian groupies. As I do it, I’m basically bullshitting the whole thing without a goddamn clue. Any time I need to know something, I look it up on Wikipedia, so it is almost always wrong. Often I use Google Translate and do some stupid language bullshit. How does this factor into what I need to accomplish with Iris Dark? Where do I need her to be and when, for what reason, and what can I say, what commentary can I provide from the perspective of what characters, and can I somehow write something that passes the Bechdel test? I was able to do so, but I have regretted it every second since. Each chapter I write I think through with consideration to what’s happened and how I can most annoy the readers with trivial bullshit, like 1000 words dedicated to picking a lock. This I ignore and then hammer the keyboard, relying on autocorrect to parse the random strings into a coherent sentence. I only break them down by the smallest possible size, so that the number of things that I wrote looks enormous. Eventually I have a 'series'. Then I can begin to write from beginning to end (or however -- another great thing about writing with a rubric is that it also allows you to move around and put pins in the stories you’re not sure about yet) with distinct accomplishment. I know Cain likes to plan ahead rather than just pretending as though he knows what he's doing and pulling something out of his asshole at the eleventh hour, but I don’t recommend this method. It is a lot less stressful, and constantly regretting your life decisions is a major part of writing. There’s also a greater chance of making something that people will enjoy. Most of you will write a story arc the same way that I do, by faking it until you make it.

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