Goal Change Episode Template

Episode Role:
A character changes its mind.

Elements:
C = Character
G1 = Original goal
G2 = New goal
P1 = Path that leads to G1
P2 = Path that leads to G2
S2 = Struggle on P2

Template Outline:
0.1 - C sets up to accomplish G1
0.3 - G1 discovers that P1 is gone, C is lost.
0.5 - C is forced to go on P2 and resists P2
0.7 - S2 occurs and C solves S2
0.9 - C appreciates P2, and is willing to adopt G2
1.0 - Metamorphosis Ending ( C finds itself in G2 )

How come you are pasting all this stuff here? why dont you get a wiki or something for your project? :P

Re:

The original reason was that I didn't want to start a thread on every topic. Some of these posts are replies to other threads and I didn't want to apply a formating to those threads. So I kept the replies here.

There was a time when the section was talking about characters. So I started posting about characters. Then there were times on other topics so I kept posting. I thought the most recent topics were game plots so I started posting about plots.

The project page is:

[ Albatross (PHP) ]

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Abbreviated posts
2009-11-18 to 2009-11-24

Following this post were three more posts on the episode templates on Joining, Communication, and Reminiscence.

[Edited by - Wai on January 7, 2010 1:32:00 AM]

The shape of the Albatross in your pic reminds me of Andromeda. But your idea is good tho.

It is like the white base too:
[ White base (Gundam) ]

Yeah true.

Albatross as a Story




The Message of the Story

Albatross the Flying Caesar tells the necessity of resolving personal conflicts in order to solve a global conflict. As the first group of people returned to Earth, the Albatross crew is observed by the others. Any problem among its crew that the Albatross could not solve would only amplify as people return to Earth. While it was not a stated mission objective, the Albatross crew would find that resolving their own problems is the only way to succeed, eventhough the mission often draws the attention.


The plot where Captain Crouton learns the lesson

The mission to restore Earth was Captain Crouton's biggest assignment. Expectation was high. The margin for errors was small. Much was at stake. Crouton held his post at the highest standard and expected no less from his crew. He might be hard on the crew, but he was even harder on himself. There was always something that should be changed to complete the mission.

Captain Crouton was perceived as overly critical. The crew was stressed. The distance between Crouton and the crew grew. The crew was afraid to do anything unspecified by the protocol. Since no one told Crouton their true thoughts about him, Crouton was not conscious of any problem on his part. In his view, the flight crew had the discipline, but they require constant management to perform their job. The ground crew often changes the plan without proper notification, especially when Ballena was in charge.

There was many things he wanted to change. It would be overwhelming if he demanded all the changes at once. He prioritized the changes and issued them one by one so that the crew could adapt. But the crew only saw that he was never satisfied. The morale was low. Stress was high. Progress was lagging behind. The tension between Crouton and Ballena grew.

Crouton decided that Ballena needed to change. They met to talk. Crouton tried to let Ballena see the problems, but she suggested Crouton to change instead. Crouton dismissed her view by citing the difference in their statuses. The meeting ended poorly. Ballena considered resigning.

Crouton was angry at a comment that Ballena made. She said she did more to keep the crew going then he would understand. That was the worst excuse he had ever heard. During a time where the Blaahval and the Albatross went on different paths, Crouton started to notice that what Ballena said was true.

Crouton wanted to know more about what Ballena did but he could not learn much from the other crew members. While the investigation was going nowhere, Olivia met Crouton. Because Crouton was always so busy, Olivia seldom had a chance to talk with Crouton. Crouton invited questions, but since he had been busy, Olivia had already asked others about the questions she wanted to ask Crouton.

It was a rare occassion where Olivia had no prepared questions. She asked what was in her mind, "Why do you hate everyone but me?" Crouton and Olivia had a talk. Because Olivia had previously learned to honor the secrets of people, she couldn't talk about what others thought about Crouton, only what she thought about him and Ballena.

Their conversation was interrupted by an alarm. The Blaahval was stuck under ice and needed help. When Crouton returned to the command post, the news had spread and the flight crew had already scrambled for launch. There was not enough information to devise an exact plan, and the communication was breaking up. But everyone understood that it was an emergency.

A squadron went to the rescue while the Albatross changed course. Poor propagation made it impossible to manage the rescue. The rescue group was on their own and succeeded. Crouton saw that the crew was more capable and motivated than what he had credited. When Crouton met Ballena again he admitted his fault of over-managing the crew.

At the reception of reporters that followed, Crouton praised the rescue effort and took the blame for the incident. The public approval rating for Crouton went down. Inside the Albatross, Crouton took steps to change himself, starting with inviting ideas from the crew.

The crew was skeptical about Crouton's change. Sapphirina had some ideas but she was afraid to suggest them. She wanted to have Romaina be the correspondent because Romaina was among the best, thus least risky of getting re-assigned. But Romaina had a conflict because she intended to return to Border Patrol.

Crouton met Romaina. Crouton had reviewed her profile. He told her that she was the best but he respected her decision to be transfered. When Romaina saw Crouton's humble side and his sincere attempt to change, her angst of returning to the Border Patrol dissolved. Romaina asked to stay to experiment new ways her squadron learned.


List of Plot Points

The plot above ends at one-third of the first of three arcs. It is the point where every character started to focus on resolving their problems. The extracted plot points related to this part of the story makes it easier to mesh other plotlines.

o High expectation, small error margin, stakes
o Crouton keeps highest standard
o Crouton ordering changes one after another
o Crouton perceived as overly critical
o Bad progress, high stress, low morale
o Crouton associates bad progress with Ballena
o Crouton talked to Ballena
o Ballena considered resignation
o Crouton still angry after meeting Ballena
o Crouton asks crew about Ballena
o Olivia asks Crouton why he hates everyone
o Blaahval in distress
o Rescuing Blaahval
o Crouton apologizes to Ballena
o Crouton praises rescue crew at reporter meeting
o Public approval for Crouton drops
o Crouton invites feedback
o Sapphirina asks Romaina to relay suggestions
o Crouton meets Romaina to discuss her transfer
o Romaina decides to stay

Albatross as a story about life

Message on life

The only noble purpose in life is to realize one's identity and to help others do the same. Harmony is achieved when people sincerely care about the growth of one another. Noble people finds happiness in seeking truth, service and growth. It takes wisdom, moral and courage to do all three.

The plot where Olivia learns the lesson

Olivia never got along with the other kids at school. She did not understand what the other kids were attracted to and had trouble keeping up with the structured curriculum. Olivia asked her mom whether there was something wrong with herself. Olivia's mom, Brassica, concluded that Olivia needed a different environment. She knew that Olivia needed a place where she would not need to learn to make the grades, but a place where she would learn in order to help people. The Labor Unions prohibited children from performing any job function on the Moon. Therefore Brassica sent Olivia to the Albatross.

Among the Albatross crew, Parmesa understood Brassica's intention the most. Next was Pippali, then Worcester, although Worcester had never appreciated that he was part of a service until the mission started. Everytime a member questioned her staying on the Albatross, her confidence swayed a little. But she always resolved the perspectives and convinced the others that her staying was correct by applying what she learned. She also learned to get support from those that understood her.

One of the first crew members that affected her will was Romaina. Olivia looked up to Romaina but she always seemed to reject her. After talking to Allisa, Olivia discovered that she hated Romaina. Romaina was the first person that Olivia remembered of hating. Her emotion toward Romaina was only resolved gradually as she learned more about her indirectly from the others, and as Romaina became more open by resolving her conflicting desires to have child and to serve without worrying leaving anyone behind.

Olivia joined the Albatross unconscious of her noble perspectives. During her time on the Albatross her perspectives were tested, but she overcome them by understanding more everytime. She deviated at times and acted in ways opposite to what she believed, but she always corrected herself and returned a stronger person.

Albatross as a story on Insight


Message on Insight

Intuition is a perspective that helps one process reality. Insight is articulated perspective that helps one understand reality. Innovation is the use of new perspective to work with reality. Perseverance leads to intuition. Articulation leads to insight. Classification leads to innovation. Noble people employ themselves to tackle the hardest problems in life, gaining intuition, insight and innovations.


The plot where Worcester learned the lesson

Worcester had a hard time adapting on the Albatross. He did not know why he was there at first. But since he could not change his circumstance, he grew to accept it and got into studying and repairing old hardware. The Albatross itself and its EGGs were also old hardware. They were the kind that got no spotlight on the news because they were applied in such a unique circumstance that carry no general applicability. His former classmates refered to those as deadend technologies. He was apparently banished to the technolgy underworld.

While he knew that it was true, he could not resolve his attachment to them. His attention to them was what kept him going. Everytime he saw them, he was the struggle and effort of their designers in solving a problem in their time. The problem they solved might not occur again, but each of them was once a hero. While he had this feeling, he did not know what he could do about it. What does a hero become when it is no longer useful?

The intuition he developed from studying old technologies was recognized one time when Vermillia commented that he had a talent fixing things. Worcester replied that it was because the shell was mostly an old technology. Vermillia said, "Well, what isn't?"

That, along with the need to teach Olivia got Worcester rethinking what it was that he learned from old technologies. There were lessons that they possessed that transcended the circumstances of their time. The question was not whether the lessons were useful, but how they could be used.

The heros were honored not by acknowledging their past, but by shaping their spirits in the present.

Between any person and any problem, there was a perspective that helped the person overcome. Olivia wanted to understand everything for a good reason. Therefore Worcester would find and give her the insight he knew. If he didn't know any, he would help her find it. If she could find it, it would help those that face the same problem in her circumstance.

But more importantly, Olivia learned that circumstances could differ, but regardless of the difference, there was a perspective that could lead to understanding. Olivia applied it to teach other children that arrived through the Bogota Gate.

Albatross as a Facility

Facility [ Compartments, Paths ]