[Mkguild] Distant Voices

[Alex Green]

It's funny, but as I was skimming through Study of Women, (I still haven't
had time to read it in it's entirety. But Alex, you had time to dredge the
archive and read a story of approximately the same length. I know; I suck
at prioritizing.) I thought that Malisa seemed a little out of character,
but after reading Distant Voices, it seems to me that Hawl's interpretation
of Malisa is the closest I've read to her creators vision.

Anyway, just wanted to say that before I head off on a five hour drive to
the middle of nowhere. I probably won't have internet again 'til Saturday,
so until then, bye.

-AlexSurikat

On Wed, Nov 26, 2014 at 4:02 PM, <kyle.vernon at gmail.com> wrote:

> Interesting, I actually didn't know about this ability.... I'll take much
> note both on that and on Jenn (born Genn)'s character description. I'll
> incorporate elements of it in future uses of the character. I was actually
> looking around hard for descriptions of Jenn and when I couldn't, I will
> play it by ear.
>
> If nothing contradicts the Metamor setting as a whole, than Jenn's
> backstory should be added as a wiki. If the contradictions are only minor
> let it be used be put up to use as a guideline. Jenn's been basically
> invisible outside of being mentioned to exist once or twice, her only real
> major role that I know of being in my own story, so contradictions to the
> character herself aren't really a problem. Just so long as nothing in this
> origin contradicts Metamor Keep itself.
>
> I apologize for trying to make my stories more canon than Malisa's, I
> wasn't trying to come off like "I AM HAWLSERA, GODDESS OF WRITING! MALISA'S
> BREASTS SHALL BECOME GINORMOUS AND WE SHALL HAVE NOT A PRINCE! BUT A
> PRINCESS! AS DARK AND TERRIBLE AND BEAUTIFUL AS THE NIGHT!"
>
> I just thought since my stories are already in the canon, it would cause
> minor problems if we had contradicting stories. I can see where people
> would get the wrong impression from that comment and get a little cross
> with me.
>
>
> Now I do have a prior engagement I must meet, so I'll just say one more
> thing.
>
> By an interesting coincidence, not only is Malisa called Matt in these
> earlier stories, but in the one I just wrote "The Study of Women", Jenn
> calls Malisa "Matt" exclusively.
>
> I just felt no one with a closeness like Jenn's would ever call Malisa by
> the name that marks her 8-9 years of sheer torment. I got the feeling Duke
> Thomas did only because of upholding an unspoken rule or for the sake of
> appearances. Like how in Study Of Women Malisa has to undergo a vow of
> abstinence to be allowed to see Jenn again.
>
> ....Who am I to even talk about canon after all the asspulls and
> retconning required to make Study Of Women work?
>
> On Wed, Nov 26, 2014 at 2:54 PM, Ryx <sundansyr at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>> Much as I'd like to snip out the full length story my mail proggy won't
>> let me - so forgiveness for the bulk of this post.
>>
>> Concerning the ability to shift between genders for those cursed with
>> that aspect -
>> It CAN be done.  Not easily, not not for protracted periods, but it can
>> be done.  As well, those who have put effort into learning this can alter
>> their physical appearance rather dramatically.  Normal is knockout
>> gorgeous, but it can be toned down to 'normal', and with some considerable
>> effort even 'ugly'.  It could be hypothesized that some - particularly
>> those who have become spies - that they can even change certain aspects of
>> their appearance such as eye color, hair color and length, or even overall
>> skin tone (within the range of their race).  Body mass can be more
>> problematic, but I could see that more would practice this form of
>> alteration so they're not overweight.  Assumed muscle is not 'strength'
>> muscle, however.  That still takes work and exercise.
>>
>> As with those who have learned the 'taur shifting ability in previous -
>> canon - stories, it should be expected that those with the gender and age
>> versions can assume a degree of control over their curse given a lot of
>> time and considerable practice, and by exerting a large measure of self
>> will.  Becoming 'taur is not easy, and few truly master it, while pretty
>> much all animorphs can assume various forms of their new species, though
>> size can be an issue they have to work on (becoming a true, normal 1lb rat
>> takes some effort, but being one closer to the general mass of the
>> character does not.  Larger species, such as horses, have a much easier
>> time of these alterations).
>>
>> I would like to state - though some may disagree - that transgenders
>> cannot reproduce beyond the limits of their new gender.  If they have
>> become female, no amount of masculine shifting will allow them to father
>> children.  Likewise for those who have been made male.
>>
>> Similarly, those with the pedomorph curse can make themselves look adult,
>> again with considerable effort and not for protracted periods of time.
>> Altering themselves within the range of the curse - toddler to young
>> adolescence - is much easier since that is already the established normal
>> range.
>>
>> We have already established these rare abilities throughout the setting
>> and should not put a boot down on further exploration of such.
>>
>>
>>   On Wednesday, November 26, 2014 12:54 PM, Alex Green <
>> alexsurikat at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>> Just a few points I'd like to add;
>>
>> You should be able to access the link if you're a member of the *TSA-Talk
>> mailing list*. It's the *TSA-Talk mailing list* archive. The sign-in
>> page requires the email address and password that you used to sign-up for
>> the *TSA-Talk mailing list*.
>>
>> I posted this link because although the story has many non-cannon
>> elements, I thought it would be a good idea to see how Malisa's creator
>> intended her to be.
>>
>> The biggest issue with the story is it basically outright states that
>> anyone with the TG curse can switch between genders while explaining the
>> reason Malisa can't. It also talks about portals to other universes. There
>> were a few other little details of questionable canonicity as well.
>>
>> Calling herself Matt isn't just a throwback to her male name; it's an
>> important part of her character. She despises her sex change so much that
>> she tries to do everything she possibly can to remain masculine; she uses
>> what little control over the curse she has to force her breasts as small as
>> possible; she cuts her hair short; she wears men's clothes; she exercises
>> for hours at a time to maintain a more masculine figure; and she has
>> everyone refer to her as Matt or Matthew. She is referred to as Matt 112
>> times and Matthew 31 times in the story. She's only referred to as Malisa
>> once.
>>
>> That particular story was posted November 27th only five days after the
>> original Metamor Keep story was posted. (looks like Metamor Keep just
>> celebrated it's 17th birthday last Saturday. We should really make some
>> sort of effort to point out the anniversary every year. (Metamor Keep was
>> posted to the TSA-Talk list on Saturday, November 22nd 1997.)) A lot of
>> stories from the first two weeks had issues especially because it took a
>> while for Copernicus to lay down the rules for the setting. Even
>> Copernicus's second story (an attempt to fix a continuity error) was later
>> declared non-canon when the original reason for the continuity error was
>> retconned.
>>
>> I found the rest of Winc's (Mal's, Matt's, Matthew's, Malisa's (wow,
>> that's almost as many names as Hawl has)) stories in the Distant Voices arc
>> and Metamor Keep universe. I can't comment on them as I haven't read them
>> yet.
>>
>> The Team
>> Part 1
>> http://lists.integral.org/private/tsa-talk/1997-November/019217.html
>> Part 2
>> http://lists.integral.org/private/tsa-talk/1997-November/019282.html
>>
>> Midtown
>> Part 1
>> http://lists.integral.org/private/tsa-talk/1997-December/019474.html
>> Part 2
>> http://lists.integral.org/private/tsa-talk/1997-December/019475.html
>>
>> Three days after Midtown was posted, Winc left the TSA-Talk mailing list
>> <http://lists.integral.org/private/tsa-talk/1997-December/019740.html>,
>> and asked for someone to take over Malisa and her story line. I don't know
>> if anyone ever did, but there's nothing in the official archive about this
>> story line so for all practical purposes the answer is no.
>>
>> Scratch that, Winc came back a month later, re-posted an edited version
>> of Distant Voices
>> <http://lists.integral.org/private/tsa-talk/1998-January/020564.html>,
>> posted some notes on the storyline
>> <http://lists.integral.org/private/tsa-talk/1998-April/023181.html>,
>> posted three
>> <http://lists.integral.org/private/tsa-talk/1998-April/023180.html> more
>> <http://lists.integral.org/private/tsa-talk/1998-April/023182.html> parts
>> <http://lists.integral.org/private/tsa-talk/1998-April/023183.html>, changed
>> names again, and promised to post more MK
>> <http://lists.integral.org/private/tsa-talk/1999-February/032546.html>,
>> and that's as much as I've found so far.
>>
>> Also, I found a bit more on Jenn:
>>
>> Character info:
>> http://lists.integral.org/private/tsa-talk/1997-December/019324.html
>> Story: The Alchemy of Love (Part 1)
>> http://lists.integral.org/private/tsa-talk/1997-December/019323.html
>>
>> I didn't find a second part to Alchemy of love.
>>
>> I hope this was helpful, or informative, or at least not too confusing,
>> -AlexSurikat
>>
>> On Wed, Nov 26, 2014 at 9:09 AM, Azariah Wolf <azariahwolf at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>  I strongly object to you using your own stories as grounds for
>> determining the canonicity of a story.  If you had left it at "people can
>> change between genders", which I can neither confirm nor deny because I
>> can't access the story in question, maybe I'd go easier on you, but your
>> second paragraph goes on to basically proclaim your stories as gospel canon
>> by stating that the character has long black hair and large breasts.  Alex
>> already stated that yours are the only stories where these details are
>> mentioned outside of Distant Voices, and I'm more inclined to go with what
>> appears to have been an origin story than with what you added seven years
>> later from personal preference.
>>
>> Also, having the character called Matt is likely as much a callback to
>> her male name, and thus has no bearing on whether or not this story is
>> canon.
>>
>> Considering that the archive dates this story at some time in 1997, I
>> would say that the oddity of letting people change genders is most likely a
>> misunderstanding of what was at that time a new story universe.  I move to
>> consider the description of the character in the story as canon, while
>> leaving the story itself outside of canon due to this misunderstanding.
>>
>> -LurkingWolf
>>
>>
>> On 11/26/2014 4:24 AM, kyle.vernon at gmail.com wrote:
>>
>>  http://lists.integral.org/private/tsa-talk/1997-November/019174.html
>>
>>  Alex brought this story to our attention, I previously didn't know the
>> tale existed and I don't think many of us did. I vote that it's added to
>> the non-canon section. I haven't finished reading it, but in it some people
>> afflicted with the curse can change to and from the two sexes, which is not
>> the case in the series proper.
>>
>> Additionally, Malisa's physical appearance is different than what it's
>> been listed in the canon events (Small breasts, short brown hair Vs. Large
>> Breasts, long black hair) and finally she goes by Matt instead of Malisa.
>>
>> Incidentally, I do find it interesting that a few elements of Malisa's
>> character that I thought I had made up are in this story. Eh, not quite
>> sure what to make of it.
>>
>> All in favor?
>>
>>
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