Cool ideas! I'd still like to do the Fire vs Ice/alignments story arc, which is basically the culmination of all my Chima stories and their themes (outside of the other RP) and will also reveal the origin of this Chima. But those ideas could be the next story arc.
The Fanon RP had initially kicked off with a war between the Turtles and Piranhas (essentially the Lion and Crocodile equivalents), ending with them and their allies forming an uneasy truce against a new threat, the Dragons. Though the Turtle Tribe mirrors the Lion Tribe in its narrative role, Mount Cavora itself is neutral in this RP, not claimed as territory by any one tribe (until the Dragons recently took it over). There are also Squid and Octopus tribes heavily inspired by the Inklings and Octolings from the Splatoon games, and Pokemon tribes who'd come to Chima in a primitive state through dimensional portals, before drinking chi. (Yes, this RP is pretty much a crossover between Chima and Nintendo. ) Those sporadic dimensional portals have been investigated by the other tribes, and are/will be an important plot point.
The current war in this RP is a Fire vs Ice conflict like in the TV series, but with the twist of the fire side being the antagonists and the ice side being the defenders; the Snow Leopards can create ice chi, granting other Chimians ice armor and the ability to more effectively fight the Dragons. Dragon King Drakonus' philosophy promotes primitivism, as he wants to annihilate the chi and revert everyone back into their "natural" states; he and his followers have become dissillusioned with humanoid sapience on a fundamental level, since it leads to civilization, which in turn leads to ruin. The Dragons aren't necessarily evil, but their goal is basically an antithesis to the entire concept of Chima. SL King Leonardo stands opposed to Drakonus, promoting free will and sapience, and wanting to preserve Chima's status quo. A mysterious third faction has been hinted at, perhaps representing an opposite extreme to Drakonus' stance.
The tribes and their leaders (only those that have been active in the last year):
Ice/Freedom alignment:
Snow Leopards - Led by Leonardo/The J
Ice-Type Pokemon (more of a small group than a tribe) - Led by Kyuru/Thefirstdecade
Turtles - Led by Tyron/The J
Piranhas - Led by Ppyrr/Batonmaster500 (inactive)
Golden Eagles - Led by FelipeDutra (inactive; essentially absorbed into the Turtle Tribe until/unless someone wants to lead them)
Fire/Primitivism alignment:
Dragons - Led by Drakonus/The J
Fire-Type Pokemon (sub-faction of the Dragons) - Led by Reshizula/Thefirstdecade
Flygons - Led by Flygarra/Thefirstdecade
Desert Tribes:
Snakes - Led by Sa'Qhala/Thefirstdecade
Desert Owls - Led by Owlina/Thefirstdecade
FLA (rogue Flygon faction) - Led by Thefirstdecade
Neutral:
Aggrons - Led by Agrakai/Thefirstdecade
Squids - Led by Batonmaster500 (inactive as a tribe, but RPers have several active squid characters)
Octopuses - Led by Zaneandelsa (same case as the Squids)
Interesting.
You know, Dragon and Owl tribes might not be so far fetched as one might think...
Now, if I remember correctly I had a hare character floating about somewhere. However, having a Golden Eagle character sounds fun, (the most famous and helpful birds in all of literature )
{The Lore (1/?)} So as I've said, this would've been a culmination of all my Chima stories and their themes (outside of the other RP); this is because it would've been revealed that the dragon who created this Chima, Drakonus, had also created the "original" Chima, the one from the TV series, making him literally the same character as the Drakonus from my old LMB Chima stories. The explanation I had in mind for how these "two" Drakonus's and two Chimas were connected was honestly extremely convoluted, and took tons of mental gymnastics and retcons to make work, including the entire established timeline for Fanon Chima, and even small things like Drakonus' personality (which was much more selfish and evil in my old stories). As such, let's ignore that contrived element of the lore and just leave it at "Drakonus created Fanon Chima and the Chimeras created chi, against his wishes."
Who are these chimeras? Well, in the "original" Chima (but in this simplified timeline, I'll say this all happened in Fanon Chima) they were Dragons who turned against their creator due to the perceived unfairness of the other species not having sapience (just being regular animals), and took Drakonus' powers of creation (which is why he's a minifigure now, instead of a big dragon like the ones from Ninjago), transforming them into chimera "gods" who created "evolution chi" (which came to be known as just chi after fire chi became a thing). The reason they morphed into these weird lion/goat/snake/dragon hybrids is because they're "unnatural" gods who weren't born with these powers (I imagine them looking like they're made of marble with blue crystals as eyes, as if they're moving, talking statues, to emphasize this uncanny-ness). There were five Dragons who opposed Drakonus originally, but one of them, Draquilar, was slain during the battle. Though they weren't able to resurrect him, his fellows, after becoming Chimeras, immediately put his soul into a cycle of reincarnation with his memories intact, that he may rendezvous with them. This backfired spectacularly for the Chimeras, however, since Draquilar ended up regretting his betrayal and defecting back to Drakonus' side. His current incarnation is my octopus character in the Fanon RP, Othaurus.
So, that left four Chimeras, each governing a different core foundation of Chima: Cosmos, the chimera of space, Cryonis, the chimera of ice and water, Cirea, the female chimera of fire and land, and Crux, the chimera of time. During the ongoing battle with a still-immortal Drakonus and his Dragon Tribe, Crux was visited by his future self (through a vision), and was told that his fellow Chimeras would end up trying to strip Chimians of their free will like Drakonus, just in a different way.
{The Lore (2/2)} Changing his name to Krellix (a word meaning “freedom” or “free will” in the ancient Dragon tongue), he turned against the other Chimaeras, fighting both them and Drakonus; he was outnumbered and slain by the Dragons, but entered himself into a flow of reincarnation to eventually resume the three-way conflict, and continue fighting for the cause of free will. After reincarnating as the snow leopard Leonardo, Krellix noticed the species' unique affinity towards ice, telling them his identity and the situation. The Snow Leopards agreed to join the fight against the Dragons and Chimeras (the newly-evolved tribes were mostly staying out of the almost cosmic conflict, baffled by it and focusing on establishing their civilizations), creating ice chi to more effectively combat the former, and making Krellix/Leonardo their king. The Snow Leopards eventually won the three-way conflict, freezing the Dragons. The Three Chimeras, who'd faked their deaths during the war (which is why Drakonus didn't think of them at first in the RP), are found and frozen by the Snow Leopards not long after. Leonardo then took on the task of writing Chima's history books, keeping out any mention of the Dragons being the creators of the land, or the Chimeras' existence to begin with (this was so that no Chimians would awaken the creators of Chima or the creators chi out of loyalty).
So, to recap, Drakonus created the other Dragons, Chima itself, and all its species (except the ones from other universes), then the Chimeras created chi and this Chima's Mount Cavora, and Draquilar and Krellix (the former being loyal to Drakonus, while the latter is opposed to both him and the Chimeras) reincarnated as Othaurus and Leonardo, respectively. Also, Drakonus, Leonardo and the Chimeras are unable to permanently end one another (they all have both physical immortality against each other, and the ability to reincarnate perpetually); only a mortal can slay any one of them without them reincarnating.
{The "Fire vs Ice" and "Alignments" Arcs (1/?)} At the present time of the Fanon RP, I was going to have at least a few more "fire vs ice" battles between the Dragons, Snow Leopards and their respective allies, before introducing the Chimeras. What follows is what "would've" happened overall, though obviously not exactly like this, adjusted accordingly based on the actions of other RPers:
Having made a psychic connection with the Flygon (Pokemon species that became a tribe after coming to Chima through dimensional portals and drinking chi) named Fulcrum, who now shares their ideals of wanting to create unity and an end to conflict, the Chimeras lead him to their ice encasement, where he is instructed to carry out some sort of ritual to release them, like Othaurus had done for the Dragons. The Three Chimeras then introduce themselves to Fulcrum, and explain that they are the creators of chi who blessed Chimians with sapience.
{The "Fire vs Ice" and "Alignments" Arcs (2/?)} They admit that they now acknowledge Drakonus' arguments against civilization after observing the happenings in Chima, but refuse to undo evolution, instead believing that all life can "ascend" even further by uniting their minds under a single will. The Chimeras explain that, if a mortal whose will aligns with theirs like Fulcrum takes the DNA Dagger from Reshizula, he can use it to fuse with the weakened Chimeras, almost restoring them to their full power as gods. Fulcrum is intimidated by the loss of his individuality that will result, but comes to terms with it.
As the "final battle" of the Fire vs Ice arc occurs, with the Dragons and their allies successfully breaching Snow Leopard Castle, I imagine Drakonus and Reshizula would burst into the throne room; the former confronting Leonardo (and exposing his identity as Krellix in the process) while the latter tries to fuse with her "Deep Black Brother", the dragon-type Pokemon currently residing with the Snow Leopards. Before she can, however, Fulcrum and the Three Chimeras swoop in, shocking everyone as they take the DNA Dagger and fuse into Cavorus, the "Ultimate Chimera" and God of Chi. I'd imagine this design would be even weirder than the Chimeras' individual designs; larger than a big-fig, with a lion, goat and snake head, but with six eyes on each head (from the lion, goat and snake heads of the individual Chimeras), the insect-like flygon wings from Fulcrum, a flygon's tail, and its lidded eyes on two of his shoulders (he'd have at least four arms), as if they double as shoulder-pads.
Anyway, Cavorus, who is still "charging up" his power, takes both the DNA Dagger (which is indestructible) and Reshizula, keeping Drakonus' adopted daughter hostage so as to prevent him from coming after them. Drakonus suggests a temporary truce and alliance between the Fire and Ice sides, that they may stop Cavorus before he reaches his full power. Leonardo agrees, and after he and Drakonus (and probably other peoples' RPCs as well) infiltrate wherever Cavorus has made his base, they rescue Reshizula, only to be caught by Cavorus. In the ensuing battle, Drakonus snatches the DNA Dagger for himself while Leonardo is preoccupied fighting Cavorus, ending their short-lived "alliance".
Drakonus is left on his own after being separated from the other Dragons for whatever reason (probably the result of a different RPer's tribe attacking them or some such), Leonardo tracks him down, in time to find him with Othaurus. Leonardo thinks Drakonus' threat to use the DNA Dagger is a bluff, since he'd presumably need another dragon or dragon soul to fuse with, in order to restore himself to full power. Othaurus, however, reveals his identity as Draquilar, fusing with his king into Primordial Drakonus; now a full-on dragon set instead of a minifigure, with some octopus parts as well. I imagine tentacles hanging from above his mouth, like the Sith species in Star Wars.
{The "Fire vs Ice" and "Alignments" Arcs (3/?)} Contrasting the statue-like Cavorus who represents civilization, Primordial Drakonus is the epitome of an "organic" being, representing nature. After leaving Leonardo, helpless to stop him, Drakonus returns to leading his tribe as God-King while he regains his power (likely giving Reshizula the DNA Dagger back, so that she can restore her true form as well). Drakonus' airship, the Demiurge, is no longer located at Cavora, since the Dragons would've been driven off the floating mountain in a prior massive victory for the Ice side.
It is also around this time that the redemption arcs for two of my former villains, Piratox and Saleem, would commence, as they don ice armor and lead their respective tribes against the Dragons. The Dragons liberate and thaw out the zombie Piratox from the Turtles' HQ at some point, in the hopes that the former Piranha King will ally his tribe with the Fire faction, since the Turtle-Piranha alliance has been a thorn in their side. Piratox, however, is disgusted by Drakonus' ultimate goal of undoing evolution, leaving the Dragons and plugging ice chi. Upon realizing how petty his war for revenge on Turtle King Tyron had been in the grand scheme of things, Piratox fights alongside, and perhaps even befriends, his former nemesis. Since he's technically still a zombie who isn't "supposed" to be alive, he'd probably sacrifice himself by the end as well. Saleem, meanwhile, would ironically become one of the most sane characters, embodying the "middle path" along with Leonardo as his two former allies, Fulcrum and Othaurus, have become literal physical manifestations of opposite extremes. Saleem would have to come to terms with fighting, perhaps even destroying, his friends, while trying to be a worthy leader for the Snakes.
After Cavorus and Drakonus restore their powers as gods, two things occur: first, they both become aware, due to their omnipotence, of the battle between the two powerful Pokemon that's causing the instability and appearance of dimensional portals; second, they formulate their plans as a response to this, and both gods send a psychic image and speech directly into the minds of every living being in Chima at once, laying out their respective visions for an ideal future.
Drakonus, wanting the complete obliteration of chi and a reversion of all species in Chima into their "true, non-mutated forms", explains his Primitivism alignment, showing the Chimians a vision of nature once again free from technology, politics and the pain of sapience.
Cavorus, on the other hand, shows them a vision of a vast and ever-growing civilization that even achieves space travel and other feats, on account of all life being united as a single hive-mind, with the singular goal of advancement; no more individuality, no more tribes, no more conflict; this is Cavorus' "One Mind" alignment.
{The "Fire vs Ice" and "Alignments" Arcs (4/?)} Both gods explain that the way to achieve their respective "utopias" is to go through the frequently-appearing dimensional portal above Mount Cavora (after destroying the opposition) and confront the legendary Pokemon Palkia and Ultra Necrozma, whose nonstop fight in space-time had caused the dimensional portals that brought the Pokemon species and DNA Dagger to Chima. Cavorus and Drakonus explain that, after either of them defeats the two Pokemon and absorbs their respective powers of space and time, he can truly be restored to full godhood, and meld the world into his desired shape. It is at this point that the RPers would decide which alignment their tribes side with, One Mind, Primitivism, or Neutral (Neutral being the default), or whether their tribes even stay unified to begin with.
After mustering their armies of mortals (Drakonus would of course have the Dragons and dragon-type Pokemon, unless the latter would've left his side after realizing the full implications of his plan, and Cavorus' faction would be members of random species from across Chima, unless any RPer's tribe would've followed the God of Chi) necessary to slay one another, Drakonus and Cavorus fly to Mount Cavora, where they are opposed by Leonardo, Saleem, Tyron, their respective tribes, and any others who oppose both gods. In a last bid to convert some members of the other two factions, Leonardo/Krellix makes a speech during the ensuing standoff, apologizing for lying to the people of Chima about parts of their history, but stating that it was to prevent this exact scenario. He admits that Cavorus and Drakonus are both doing what they truly believe is best for the world, but reminds the Chimians that they're still trying to take away their free will, and that freedom is everything. Leonardo states that his middle path wouldn't just be maintaining the status quo, however, since he also wants to deal with the problem of the dimensional instability/portals.
I had the idea to write "alternate endings", maybe on a different topic, to show what would happen if either Drakonus or Cavorus won, but in the RP it would presumably have to be the Neutral faction that wins, in order for the RP to continue past this point in the first place. A combined effort of "mortals" (people's RPCs) would've triumphed over and finally destroyed both gods in succession. The souls of Drakonus and the Chimeras would admit defeat and promise to watch over Chima from the afterlife, while the voices of Othaurus and Fulcrum can be heard, stating that they do not regret their choices, since they made them of their own will.
{The "Fire vs Ice" and "Alignments" Arcs (5/5)} Temporarily absorbing both gods' powers in order to stand a chance against the legendary Pokemon, Leonardo/Krellix goes with the others through the portal when it appears soon after. Whether they'd have to fight Palkia and Ultra Necrozma, or peacefully negotiate with them to end their battle, would depend on how TheFirstDecade characterized the two Pokemon. Either way, the dimensional instability would end, with the RPCs jumping back onto Cavora just in time as the last portal closes.
The new leader of the Dragons would probably be either my dragon 2ic, Khoryu, or Reshizula, who likely would've fused with her Deep Black Brother and Kyuru to restore her true form by then. Either way, the Dragons would presumably make peace with the other factions and functionally become a normal tribe after this. Nevertheless, the conflict would have lasting ramifications for Chima, as the people of the realm would likely still be divided and distrustful of one another over their differing alignments. This instability, as well as the creator gods of Chima being out of the picture, would provide the perfect opportunity for the mysterious Paradox to put his plan into action.
And there you have it; my final story arc for the Fanon Roleplay, the culmination of plot lines I'd been planning since the start (and some I came up with along the way). I still would've roleplayed here and led the Snow Leopards and Turtles (Saleem would've probably relinquished leadership of the Snakes as part of his character arc), but after this, the main overarching story would've been driven by batonmaster500, with his character Paradox as the central antagonist. Though, since I think he left, maybe the Alignments Arc would've been a good "ending" for the Fanon RP.
) Those sporadic dimensional portals have been investigated by the other tribes, and are/will be an important plot point.
