Okay, so no one's actually ever asked me any of these questions. But here are the answers, just in case anyone ever wants to know. If anyone out there has a question or correction, feel free to send it in to the list.

The basics

What is Fushigi Soudan 2?

What the heck is Fushigi Yuugi?

Why is this story called "Fushigi Soudan 2"?

What's the "2" for?

Subscribing

How to subscribe

How to unsubscribe

I think I've been unsubscribed by mistake. What should I do?

Resources

The eGroups archive

The official FS2 homepage

The current list moderator

Creating a character

Character guidelines

Seishi names and symbols

Character statistics

The number of characters allowed per person

Hey! Why does that person have two seishi, while I'm only allowed to have one?

Posting

If I'm a part of the list, do I have to post?

Where should I send my story posts?

How should I format my posts?

Labelling posts

Things you should never post to the list

Story posts we don't want to see

Things to keep in mind

The role of the Gods

Travelling through the book world

Seishi, in your place!

Long absences

The importance of continuity

The Basics

What is Fushigi Soudan 2?
FS2 is a mailing list whose members are collaborating in a group fanfic project based on the world of Fushigi Yuugi. List members play the parts of seishi and mikos, or of other characters in either the book's world or the mikos' world. The basic premise is that new seishi have been born, and new mikos have been called into the world of the book.

What the heck is Fushigi Yuugi?
Boy, you're in the wrong place. Go here.

Why is this story called "Fushigi Soudan 2?"
The story is based on Fushigi Yuugi, a manga/anime created by Watase Yuu. "Fushigi Yuugi" means, roughly, "Mysterious Play." So, appropriately enough, "Fushigi Soudan" means "Mysterious Stories." And now you know ^_^

What's the "2" for?
This group fanfic is not the first of its kind. During Winter 1997/98, Maxi Rose created the original Fushigi Soudan. It lasted for almost a year before falling apart. But now its loyal members have revived the story and are trying again, for the second time.

Subscribing

How to subscribe
Simply send a blank email to fs2-subscribe@egroups.com. eGroups will then send you an email asking you if you're really sure you want to be a part of this madness. Just reply to it, and I'll get you added to the list within a couple of days.

Also, there is an easy sign-up form located at http://www.oocities.org/fushigisoudan2/join.html, where you simply type your email address into the little box and press a button. If you use this method, you'll have to reply to several confirmation emails from eGroups before I can get you added to the list.

How to unsubscribe
Send a blank message to fs2-unsubscribe@egroups.com and you will automatically be unsubscribed from the list.

I think I've been unsubscribed by mistake. What should I do?
Please wait for at least a day before taking action. It might simply be a slow day where no one is posting much of anything. You might want to send in a story segment and see if it shows up over the next day or so. If you are certain that you have been unsubscribed, then just re-subscribe again.

Resources

The eGroups archive
eGroups automatically maintains an archive of all our posts, as well as other goodies like chat, a calendar, a member list, automatic polls, and a vault for storing stuff like pictures and files. Isn't that nice of them? It can all be accessed at: http://www.egroups.com/group/fs2/ And you don't even have to be a list member to read the posts. You might have to sign up for an eGroups account to get at them, however, but that's quick and relatively painless.

The official FS2 homepage
This is where you'll find an archive of story posts, as well as a listing of all the FS2 characters, information about joining the list, links to other useful or related pages, this FAQ, and hopefully even FS2-related artwork one of these days. The URL is: http://www.oocities.org/fushigisoudan2/ Why Geocities? Because it's free, I'm used to it, and all list members can access it. If you have a better option, don't hesitate to inform me....

The current list moderators
Right now, the list is being managed by Amber, Matt, and Tomite no Miko.

Creating a character

Character guidelines
It's awfully tempting, when given an opportunity to create a new character, to go all-out and pack every neat thing you've ever read about into them. Please try to restrain yourself, though ^_^;;

For this story, characters should be normal humans. Or, possibly, characters related in some way to Chinese mythology (since Fushigi Yuugi is set in a world reminiscent of ancient China). Or purely animal characters with normal animal intelligence and abilities (think Tama-Neko). This is not Dungeons and Dragons, so we shouldn't have trolls and elves and suchlike roaming through the fields and forests. And try to keep non-human characters relegated to the sidelines. Take the original series as a guide; of all the seishi, only one, Ashitare, ever had a partially non-human form (and my word, was it ever ugly).

Your character also shouldn't be a copy of another character from anywhere else. Your character can certainly be influenced by those from the original FY, or from other anime series like Rurouni Kenshin or Magic Knights Rayearth or Slayers or whatever, or even from other books/movies/TV shows. Just as long as they are essentially your own creation.

Your character does not have to be a seishi or a miko. There are many different kinds of people in each of the worlds; in the book world, there are Emperors and Generals and ninjas and palace guards and bandits and dumpling-sellers and merchants and peasants and magicians and monks. In the mikos' world, there are teachers and friends and siblings and parents and shopkeepers and librarians and millionaires and loyal pets and detectives. Use your imagination!

Also keep in mind that the book world and the mikos' world are generally separate. Seishi shouldn't come from the mikos' world; mikos shouldn't come from the book world. And until the mikos start appearing in the Universe of the Four Gods, there should be no contact between the worlds.

Seishi names and symbols
Obviously, if your character is a seishi of one of the four gods, they'll need to have a seishi name, as well as a seishi symbol located somewhere on their body. What you have to decide is: will you use a name+symbol from one of the previous set of seishi (for example, Tamahome or Tatara or Suboshi) or make up one of your own (some examples from the original FS being Ashita and Fukanzu). If you choose one of the already-established names (based in Chinese astronomy) then you'll have to make sure that no one else's character has already claimed that name. If you make up one of your own, you'll have to make sure that the symbol you choose can be written with only one Chinese character. Another thing you will want to do is make sure that where you place the character on the seishi's body is unique to the other seishi under the same god. For example, you wouldn't want both Nuriko and Chiriko to have their character the the tip of their nose.

Character statistics
You might want to create a set of stats for your character -- especially if they don't have a picture, or if you haven't written a lot of posts about them, to give other people an idea of what they are like. Here are the kinds of things you can include:

Name:
Seishi name: (only if your character is a seishi)
Location of seishi symbol: (only if your character is a seishi)
Age:
Birthdate:
Physical description: hair colour/style, eye colour, height, build
Blood type: (if you're thinking "What the heck?!" then go here)
Occupation:
Family and friends:
Personality:
Skills and abilities:
Seishi powers: (only if your character is a seishi)

The number of characters allowed per person
You are allowed to play as many characters as you want, within reasonable limits. HOWEVER. You may only play one seishi, or one miko.

I would recommend, though, that you only play one or two characters, period. I very well know how confusing it can get when you have to keep track of too many characters. Also, if you have to leave the list for a while, if you're playing lots of characters this can create problems for everyone.

But you can safely create as many NPC (non player characters) as you feel like ^_^

Hey! Why does that person have two seishi, while I'm only allowed to have one?
In the original Fushigi Soudan, way back in 1998, people were allowed to have two seishi. Many people took advantage of this, and created two seishi characters, who they ended up playing on a regular basis. And some of these people have stuck with FS all this time. They don't want to have to give up one of their seishi who they worked so hard to create and play, and I'm not going to make them.

The moral of the story? Seniority has its advantages. If you'd stuck with FS for two whole years, you'd get to play two seishi as well.

Posting

If I'm a part of the list, do I have to post?
No, you can simply read the stories as they're sent to the list. You don't have to make up a character or play them if you don't want to.

Even if you're not playing a character, you can be active in the list if you want. You can send useful links to the list, or ask questions, or discuss other peoples' posts; stuff like that.

Where should I send my story posts?
You should send your stories to fs2@egroups.com That way they'll get sent to everyone who's a part of the list, and they'll get put up in the archives.

How should I format my posts?
eGroups will automatically put the header [FS2] in the subject line of every email sent to the list. You should add the name of your character to the subject line. You should also put in where the character is and a short blurb about what happens in your story.

For example:
[FS2] Hotohori: Travelling towards Mt Leikaku
[FS2] Sakura/Byakko no Miko / where am I? looks like ancient china
[FS2] Tomite - time to rescue the miko!

Also, in the body of the post, you should put when the story takes place. If the date has been determined already for your character, put the date and relative time of day. If the date has not been set for your character (for example, if you are just starting out, you'll probably not start with a date just yet) put the day relative to your other posts (eg: "This takes place eight days after my last post") until the date is determined (either by running into another character who is on a certain day, after which all preceding posts for your character will slide into place around it, or by having the day be decided by an admin).

If you're really unsure how to format your posts, just lurk on the list for a few days and watch how other people post their stories.

Labelling posts
If you ever want to post something to the list that isn't a story, please put [ooc], meaning "out of character", in the subject line. For example, if you want to tell the list of some pictures you've drawn of the FS2 characters, your subject line should be something like:
[FS2] [OOC] Seiryuu seishi pics!
Please try to keep OOC posts to a minimum. That said, there are many valid reasons to post ooc messages to the list: questions, pictures, polls, links that people might find interesting, information about FY or ancient China, comments on someone's story....

Be careful when replying to someone else's post. If your post actually contains a story, but there is an [OOC] in the subject line, it might not get added to the archive.

Also, from time to time there might be a post with [admin] in the subject line. That means it's a message from the list moderator, and everyone should read it. Only list admin are allowed to use that tag, by the way.

Things you should never post to the list
Never attach binaries to posts you send to the list: that means don't send pictures, or anything like that. If you have created pictures, or heck, even music or movies inspired by FS2, then put them up on a website (or get someone else to do that) then send a message with the URL to the list because we'd love to see them. We just don't want to find them in our inboxes.

Also, don't attach your stories to your emails. Some email programs cannot accept attachments of any kind. Simply copy/paste your story directly into the body of your email -- and be sure to word wrap!

You should never send spam to the list, such as advertisements, or completely off-topic posts, or chain letters.

You might even want to take some discussions, of story points or plot or certain characters, to private mail instead of posting to the list. Use your discretion here ^_^

Story posts we don't want to see
It's inevitable, in a story based on FY, that there will be conflict between characters at some point. But the rules of etiquette apply here as well: don't just kill off other peoples' characters. If your character attacks someone else, please contact the person playing that character, and work out a believable fight scene based on both your characters' abilities. Severe injury or unconsciousness should be just as effective for your purposes, plus the other character can eventually recover from it. If a death has to be involved for some reason, make absolutely sure that the other person is okay with it before proceeding.

Also, it's perfectly okay for your character to fall in love with another character. But if that other character's author doesn't approve, then please don't have your character force the issue. Or anything else, for that matter. In other words, treat it almost as you would a real romance

Things to keep in mind

The role of the Gods
Leave the Gods alone. In the original series, they didn't show up unless they were summoned, and that took quite a lot of effort on the parts of all the seishi and mikos. It just isn't their style to show up in peoples' dreams, intervene in fights, or give inspirational speeches to reluctant seishi.

Travelling through the book world
Travelling takes time. Lots of time. The Book world is very large, and I don't care how fast your character can walk, they can't get from Konan's capital city to Hokkan's capital in one day. Or even two days. Remember the original series: when Miaka ran off to Kutou, she had to have been travelling for at least a week, and she got plenty of rides on carts. When the entire gang went by ship to Hokkan, they had to pack plenty of food and supplies for many days of travel -- and travel by boat is relatively swift. The trip through the desert took many days as well, and everyone was on horseback. If your character is going someplace that's significantly far away from where they started, expect their journey to take days if not weeks, and plan accordingly. (Unless of course they have a seishi ability like teleporting or abnormal speed, in which case all bets are off, but use your common sense.)

Seishi, in your place!
Remember, the entire focus of the original series was that the MIKOS had to gather the seishi. The seishi were perfectly content to live their own lives and be their own people, until they were persuaded by their miko that they were needed elsewhere. If you're playing a seishi character, keep this in mind, and don't have your character suddenly decide to go off and gather all the other seishi together, unless they have a VERY good reason.

Long absences
Anyone who knows they won't be able to post to the list for a very long time -- two weeks or more -- should hand over temporary control of their seishi/miko to someone else. Seishi and mikos are important characters; they can't afford to miss out on the action. Also, if you're playing a non-seishi-or-miko character who is important to the story, like a main bad guy, or an Emperor, or a love interest who's significantly caught up in the storyline, similar guidelines should apply.

The importance of continuity
Always try to keep track of where and when your character is. We don't want to create any temporal paradoxes. Above all other things, the basic story of FS2 has to make logical sense, and if one character skips three days and another character falls asleep in Eiyou and wakes up in Hokkan, readers are going to be significantly confused. And that's not a good thing. There is currently an October calendar under Files in the egroups fs2 homepage, so if you would like to print it out and use it to write on, you may. Hopefully, we will have an easy way soon to keep track of what happened when. Until then, please do your part to keep track