The Making of the Monarch Papers

We're taking a short break to take care of some pressing business but will be back for the final four fragments very soon!

In this episode, CJ and Simon discussed Fragment 12: Aorthora, the last fragment of Phase Three. Simon recalled how this was a big fragment for the story, and he created an audio component to help enrich that. At one point, they wanted to do something with fake security footage, instead, but this proved to be too difficult.

At the end of the previous fragment, Aether’s body was disconnected from his mind, and he informed the Mountaineers that Kemetic Solutions had sent out a virus to try to destroy his mind, because they were worried about The Mountaineers trying to break into their offices. The Mountaineers had to find a way to reunite his mind with his body, or he would die. This was a big ticking clock for them, which created quite a bit of drama. Whistler wanted to tear apart KS, and Martin Rank explained that all The Mountaineers wanted to do was rescue Aether, and that they were mainly a humanitarian organization (he of course didn’t want to reveal the truth about magiq). Whistler thought she knew where Aether was, and then Teddy Fallon had her monitor the security system, letting her figure out the circumstances surrounding Portencia’s imprisonment. The Mountaineers were stressed out, because they didn’t know if they could trust Whistler, or get Aether back to his body in time. CJ explained that as a writer, he’s super-proud of this section, because readers cared so intensely for so many different characters, simultaneously. CJ and Simon then discussed how even if this drama was composed of tropes, that is nothing to be ashamed of, because that was the way to give readers what they wanted. Tropes are tropes for a reason!

CJ continued to say that a number of subtle lore dumps appeared in this fragment, which readers didn’t even notice (and CJ still isn’t going to say what they are), because of the sheer amount of stuff that was going on. Most distracting was the fact that the readers knew that previous generations of Mountaineers had never gotten further than this, before they were wiped by the storm.

Back to the story, Mountaineers became aware of the fact, via Whistler, that Portencia was being tortured by KS for 14 hours at a time, to try to open a door to a place where there is more magiq. Marty then took from this that the level of urgency had risen, and that it was time to reveal the truth about magiq to Whistler. A lot of Mountaineers were reticent to do this, but CJ had to force their narrative hand, because there was no other way to get Marty into KS without the story devolving into nonsense.

Augustus_Octavian then asked what would have happened if Mountaineers hadn’t wanted to break into KS. CJ answered that they didn’t, because it was so narratively necessary that no other solution would have worked. Despite this, the actions of The Mountaineers still significantly affected how it happened.

Whistler, with the vision implanted in her mind by Portencia, then realized there was a way to drop internal security inside KS for ten minutes, so Marty could sneak in with Aether’s mind on his phone, and reunite him with his body, before anyone could realize what had happened. To do that, the Mounties had to create a spell (for the first time), so that the security officers at KS wouldn’t see Marty&Co. on the screen. He was also otherwise magically shrouded from sight.

The Mountaineers still didn’t know who Climber was, and they were in for a big surprise, when they found out that it was AlisonB, the Mountaineer who had been so helpful in earlier phases, and who up until then, they had assumed was a real Mountaineer.

As a side note, back in Phase One, Reader pickpocketed someone’s phone, so they could communicate with us. In this fragment, Whistler says she was able to get a phone, but it was disconnected, and she switched to email. This was a subtle hint that the methodology of...

In this episode, CJ and Simon discuss Fragment 11: Durkonos. They discussed The Last Oracular Eye, Consolatory Teatime for Misplaced Memory, and The Low Report, and Deirdre among other things.

In this phase, the Mountaineers continued to face off against Teddy Fallon, the head of Kemetic Solutions, and assembled a drawing from a little girl named Portencia. At the end of Fragment 10, Aether escaped his body, and was now inside the internet, trying to communicate with The Mountaineers. Mountaineers also discovered the website of a real mental health institution, called Go-Getters, where they found Augernon.

CJ then stopped and told a strange side story, involving his assistant Devin and Go-Getters. When Devin caught up on the TMP story, and discovered that Go-Getters was involved, he was confused, and asked CJ if they had discussed it before. As it turned out, Devin’s Mom had worked at Go-Getters before he was born, and CJ had just happened to pick it out of thousands of similar institutions, just because he had previously said that Augernon was from Maryland.

In any case, Aether was trying to lead the Mountaineers there, and Martin Rank discovered that it was because of Augernon. At the same time, Aether unlocked a website called The Lost Aetheneum, which was connected to The Low. Readers received a username and password that gave them access to parts of the site. It was impossible to give them access to the whole site, because then virtually endless webpages would have to be written. They were then given a spell called Consolatory Teatime for Misplaced Memory, which they would have to use on Augernon. Marty went to meet Augernon and, using the spell, got lots of new information. Readers learned that The Silver had been wiping out The Mountaineers and Monarch’s Mountain every time the Book of Briars attempted to return to the world. The Mountaineers have been trapped in this cycle for many years.

This fragment brought over 1500 posts on the forum, and so it was important to be more careful than ever with the establishment of the lore. The Low Report podcast was released in the midst of this, as a means of giving the last clue to readers. CJ and Simon created a number of different characters, with different accents, for the podcast. CJ noted that it was a low-stakes way of enriching the world. As Simon said, the description of a world should start with the writer and end with the reader. It’s a two-way relationship, and this was another step in that. The listener had to build the visual side of the podcast in their own minds. Simon talked about how sound is a fantastic medium for this. CJ talked about how he had a record of the sounds of Disney’s Haunted Mansion when he was a kid, and how this created a similar effect.

In this fragment, the readers learned more about the internal workings of Kemetic Solutions, both from Fallon’s journals, and from Whistler (Sacha). Whistler would always come across as a puppet of Fallon’s, brining sympathy. Also, logistically, the readers had to be given an inside source, so they would have all the relevant blueprints, etc. necessary to carry out a heist, if they decided to (which they did, thankfully).

Readers also learned about Sweeper and Wanderer. Wanderer was Fallon’s son, who had the power to trade items with other time periods. This was necessary to set up the fact that Deirdre’s father had been sent to the 1800s, and was still alive. Kendrick was also introduced. Kendrick was an employee of Kemetic Solutions, who was in the room when experiments were carried out in ‘the chair.’ If Teddy Fallon had killed Aether’s body, which was one possible scenario, Aether would have inhabited Kendrick’s body. It was important, in the end, to give readers the victory of saving Aether, since they were about to lose the Book of Briars.

This was also the fragment in which the Council of the 1...

In this episode, CJ and Simon discuss Fragment 10, Gladitor. This was, according to CJ, by far the longest of the fragments. It was the culmination of a lot of things they had been trying to do. This was the first time a puzzle was completely related to a character. Everything puzzle-wise that happened in this fragment happened because Aether was trying to reach out from Kemetic Solutions. Nobody was creating a puzzle for you to solve. The “puzzle was people,” as CJ said. In other words, the story was taking increasing precedent over the puzzle mechanics which had dominated earlier fragments.

Martin Rank played a big role in this fragment. Though CJ and Simon knew that Kemetic Solutions would be featured in Fragment 10, Martin’s role in the infiltration was expanded, once he became a fan favorite. CJ also noted that he and Simon had always been big fans of the ‘evil organization infiltration’ scenario from movies and TV shows, and were happy to be able to include it in The Monarch Papers.

Martin went to Kemetic Solutions to take photos of the outside of the KS building, and the readers pulled apart the images for clues. There were a lot of clues hidden in the images themselves. This was so complicated that even CJ hardly remembers how to solve it, now. One image was a gif, and hidden in the photo was the word ‘zip.’ When they converted the file to a zip and put in a password, it turned into a rich text file called “patience.rtf.” The text inside only said “63 minutes.” Also, if you went to the Kemetic Solutions website and watched their animated logo for 63 minutes, it would redirect you to their creepy promo video.

Simon’s big project for this fragment was the promo video. He said he just found a lot of stock videos of sciency things and wheat fields, and overlaid some vaguely 70s-ish music over it. Then, CJ’s voice was overdubbed with some creepy effects. CJ and Simon agreed that it was very important to make the video eerie, yet believable. Maybe if you were an innocent person stumbling across the promo, you would genuinely believe that they were trying help people. The video was also very influenced by films such as Scanners.

Meanwhile, Deirdre was in Istanbul, trying to figure out clues from her father’s journal, to follow the Path of Wool. Deirdre told the readers that she needed help with various art-related clues. Simon was influenced by the BBC 4 show, Only Connect, which is about trying to find obscure connections between seemingly unrelated clues.

After this, CJ explained that the two of them were having trouble remembering a lot of this fragment, because they were simultaneously working on three others. Simon said he looks forward to reading the book, so he can appreciate it in a new way.

Going back to Deirdre, these artistic clues were triggering emotions in her, which unlock different parts of this volume of the Monarch Papers. Meanwhile, back on Basecamp, a user named Aether was editing some of the Mountaineers’ posts. From these edits, the Mountaineers were able to find another clue in the Kemetic Solutions promo video, which temporarily changed. It was arranged so that he could only communicate while being experimented upon by Teddy Fallon (the most hated TMP character). Teddy kidnapped Aether and has been experimenting on them ever since. The Mountaineers by this point understood that Kemetic Solutions was experimenting upon magically inclined individuals for some malevolent corporate purposes.  

Eventually, the Mountaineers discovered Constance, a friend of Aether’s. They found her Tumblr account, and made contact with her. Constance told them she would only talk to them if they safeguarded their forum. Constance then told them about the Joradian Non-Material Safeguard, which became a very popular spell for the remainder of The Monarch Papers. In the spell,

In this episode, CJ and Simon discuss Fragment 9, Galifanx. CJ started by explaining that while this fragment was short, it was an important time for the company. After Phase Two, CJ and Simon took a one month break, during which it was decided that a less puzzle-based approach would be used, going forward. Also, the work life of everybody involved in the company was, in a sense, suffering. Simon and Jonny realized that, thenceforth, they would have to reduce their participation in Ackerly Green, so that they would have time to properly run their other business. Simon, in particular, was suddenly required to go out and meet with a lot of clients. Logistically, it was impossible for them to continue working in the same capacity, on both fronts.

Returning to the puzzles, CJ explained that they were too creatively taxing, given the size of Ackerly Green. Additionally, due to a successful ad campaign, there were many new readers, and it would be impossible for them to collectively solve the puzzles in the same way that they could when there were fewer readers. At the same time, CJ started writing more of the original content. There were still going to be puzzles, but they would be more connected to the narrative. Around this time, CJ reached out to Fleb, a puzzle designer. CJ told him about some of the more complex ideas for this fragment, and offered to design the puzzle for Ackerly Green. Jonny came up with the constellation names, and the mechanics were assigned to Fleb.

Deirdre was also put on a journey around the world, during which time she would post on Instagram, but not post on her blog. Cole also took a break from the forum. This was all so that CJ could free up a few weeks, to adjust to the new structure of the company. He was hoping this new, professionally designed puzzle, would last for three weeks. As it turned out, though, the newly enlarged group of Mountaineers was able to solve it in two and a half days. There were over four hundred messages, in this time. This meant that it was hard for CJ even to keep up with what was happening in the puzzle. Looking back on it, CJ regretted that more artificial barriers weren’t inserted to keep the puzzle going for longer. Because Fleb wanted to design the puzzle so that all readers would see all relevant materials immediately, there was no chance of it lasting for three weeks (some barriers were eventually inserted, but this still wasn’t enough).

Narratively, this was after the Cagliostro era, and so Lauren had the book from The Morgan Library. It had to be figured out why Lauren would share the book with The Mountaineers. CJ and Simon had fun inserting the speculations of the Mountaineers into the actual lore of the Magiqverse.

After this fragment, the story became even more important. The idea of Kemetic Solutions came out of CJ’s love for magiq heists (his office is covered with posters of old magicians). This would provide an important narrative contrast with the tragic figure of The Cagliostro. Eventually, Deirdre also wrote a blog post apologizing for her absence. She was now, with full access to magiq, able to read her father’s journey, putting her on the path to discover Neithernor.

Questions and Answers:

Oracle

Q: How did Lauren know about The Mountaineers?

A: She had Telemancy, so she could read minds. Also, once she took on The Cagliostro, she gained the knowledge possessed by the previous generations of Cagliostros.

Five

Q:Was it difficult to combine astronomy into the puzzle?

A: As difficult as it was to combine flora or fauna. Google provided most of the basic information, and the puzzle elements were all delegated to Paul (Fleb), who is a very smart guy, and had a lot of knowledge about celestial phenomena.

Viviane

In this episode, CJ and Simon discussed Fragment Eight: Tigrantula. This included the Cagliostro’s final performance, as well as the end of Phase Two. CJ started by discussing the many branching options present in this fragment. For example, Lauren might not have died, the Cagliostro could have failed at his plan, or Deirdre might have gone to the Morgan Library. This was the shortest fragment, because Calling the Corners was completed in two and a half hours. Originally, CJ planned to have Cole lay low for a day or two after he made it out of the library, but because the readers were clamoring for more (and because CJ and Simon really wanted to take a break), the events that followed were rolled into the same narrative event, to make for a big finale. After this, CJ and Simon took a one month break.

Cole found the letter, and immediately afterwards, the readers gathered to cast the Calling the Corners spell, using six Mountaineers for grounding, each of whom used an object which had great significance in their lives, and in the process, they lifted the spell which had been placed on Deirdre to hide her from magiq. Cole was planning to go to Deirdre and tell her everything, once this was done, which he did successfully. After this, the Cagliostro’s final performance was all that remained.

CJ talked about how he’s long had a fascination with old magicians, and how this contributed to the creation of the Cagliostro. Simon talked about how during the creation process, he watched an old movie about the actual Cagliostro, and his role in the court of Marie-Antoinette. This was also a major source of inspiration. CJ and Simon had also wanted, for a long time, to create an Ackerly Green radio show, and to paint images in peoples’ minds, using audio. The final performance audio was the first concerted attempt to do this. A woman was fired on Fiverr to play Lauren, and CJ talked about how somewhere, there’s a recording of him playing Lauren, to try to convey to the actress how she should sound. Simon also enjoyed recording a new song (done in one take!) for this recording. An attempt was made to make the contents of the recording specific enough so that readers understood the ground rules of what was going on, and yet mysterious enough so as to leave behind a residue of mystery. For example, we still don’t know the details of exactly what the Cagliostro summoned. Simon mentioned that both he and CJ admire authors who leave out just enough detail so that the readers can build their own world on top of what is provided, and that this was their aim with this recording, as well as in the rest of The Monarch Papers.

Also, the second assessment happened during this period, and because Patreon was exploding by then, CJ was able to hire someone to create a 3D tetrahedron. CJ, Simon, and Jonny were also all together in New York for the beginning of this fragment, and so it was a productive and nostalgic period for everyone involved.

CJ then talked about how after the Mountaineers had successfully performed Calling the Corners, they were supposed to receive a word from the Book of Briars. However, at this point, it still hadn’t been established that The Book of Briars website would always release the next word. Therefore, it had to be arranged for the word (Caprathorn) to be revealed during the Cagliostro’s performance. In the end, it was subtly snuck into the dialogue near the beginning of the video. (As an interesting side-note, the decision was made at the last moment to add Simon’s voice as an undercurrent to Lauren’s, when she says “I am the Cagliostro,” to enrich the transformation.) Also, new viral ads centered around The Cagliostro were released around this time, and this brought in tons of new readers (by the end of the fragment, the readership had tripled!).

Deirdre then wrote a poem on her blog, to finish the spell,

In this week’s episode, CJ and Simon discussed Fragment Seven: Furomaris. Behind the scenes, this fragment was called the ‘triptych fragment’. This was because there were clues embedded in Sullivan’s journal, in triptych format, explaining the complex means through which he protected Deirdre. Soon afterwards, The Mountaineers were led, via hints from Sullivan and Lauren, to solve a geographic puzzle, involving UTM location codes and classic works of literature, such as A Study in Scarlet and The Red Badge of Courage, and eventually leading them to The Morgan Library in New York, where a previously lost Ackerly Green book (Seven Cradle Songs) was said to be.

 

CJ recalled how this was one of the more difficult puzzles for The Mountaineers to complete. Though attempts were made to make the puzzles as logical as possible, certain roadblocks had to be inserted. Otherwise, readers would be able to solve the puzzle too quickly, once the system of logic was unraveled. CJ originally planned the part of the puzzle involving Cole going to The Morgan Library to be a live video event, though he realized a week beforehand that no video or photography was allowed in the library. But, as CJ said, “necessity is the mother of invention,” and by doing the puzzle live through the forum, it was carried out very successfully. As Simon put it, this made the live events more successful—it now depended more on imagination than on trivial circumstances of the real world. Henceforth, this is how all live events in The Monarch Papers were carried out.

 

CJ noted that there was a piece of the puzzle that The Mountaineers never found, but the ending of the puzzle had to go forward regardless, because a hard date for The Cagliostro’s performance had already been set. This ended up being for the best, though, because CJ, Simon, and Jonny were all severely exhausted and overworked, by this point in The Monarch Papers. This also resulted in Cole having a direct confrontation with Lauren, and Lauren setting the library on fire. This wouldn’t have happened, if the Mountaineers had solved the puzzle. This is an excellent of example of how The Monarch Papers responded to the readers' actions on the fly. The readers seemed generally concerned for the safety of the characters, during this time, and this was another major victory for the realism of the Magiqverse.

 

The relationship between Deirdre and Cole also became more involved in the interactive part of the story, and strengthened interest in their respective characters. Before this, there were no concrete plans for their romantic relationship to flourish. Also revealed at this time was the fact that Cole was trans, though this had been planned in advance, so that it would feel more realistic, a genuine part of his character, and not simply an artificially-inserted plot twist. CJ and Simon were strongly moved by the reader reaction to this revelation. Many trans and non-binary readers strongly identified with and looked up to Cole, in the fragments that followed.

 

CJ and Simon reflected on the welcome surprise of Lauren’s growth of a character, and how this was largely based on a last-minute decision. Originally, it was planned that Lauren would die, and while she did in one sense, she did not with the originally intended sense of finality. One other possibility was that Cole would be kidnapped by The Silver, and disappear afterwards, for an extended period of time.

 

Links:

The Monarch Papers (in-game): http://magiq.wikia.com/wiki/The_Monarch_Papers

Fragment Seven (wiki): http://magiq.wikia.com/wiki/Fragment_Seven

Fragment Seven (forum): http://forum.basecamp33.com/c/tmp-fragments/fragment-seven

Furomaris: http://magiq.wikia.com/wiki/Furomaris

Cags: http://magiq.wikia.com/wiki/The_Cagliostro

We're back after a short break and we'll running right through to fragment sixteen. Hold onto your hats.

This week's show notes are brought to you by Ackerly Green's own Devin!

 

In this week’s episode, CJ, Simon, and Jonny discussed Fragment Six: Galluskulk. Jonny joined in Fragment Six, to create the Map of Fairyland puzzle. Fragment Six was a pivotal part of The Monarch Papers, in terms of character development. In the span of three or four weeks, Deirdre found Cole’s blog, they began a mutual flirtation and planned to meet in person, Lauren’s involvement in The Monarch Papers caused The Cagliostro to fly her (not in in airplane, of course) to Turin, and Martin Rank reached out to The Mountaineers directly, for the first time. Many of these characters are still major fan favorites. This heightened activity occurred partially because the fragment took place at the end of 2016, right before TMP took a break, and it was agreed by everybody at Ackerly Green that it would be good to end on several cliffhangers.

 

CJ talked about the creative utility of saving good ideas, whether or not you know how you’re going to use them. This was the case with Bernard Sleigh’s 1918 map of Fairyland, as well as Anne of Brittany’s unicorn tapestries. Later, when certain works of art were needed to tie the story together, it made perfect sense to involve these historical characters in the Magiqverse. CJ noted that, in the creation of the clues, he enjoyed learning more about children’s stories which were well known at the time of the creation of the map, but have since faded into obscurity.

 

Jonny and CJ talked about how clues, including poems written by Jonny (such as The Chicken and the Fox, and a poem about Ulysses), were planted in Sullivan Green’s journal. Sometimes she would be able to find them, and sometimes she wouldn’t. Gradually, readers determined that the clues were tied to certain locations on the Fairyland map.

 

This fragment was planned out in greater detail, compared to the earlier phases. Because of this, CJ, Jonny, and Simon agreed that this was one of the more successful fragments. Unlike in the planning of some earlier fragments, in Fragment Six, much planning took place which was never used in the puzzle. For example, at one point, the guilds were assigned to different parts of the Fairyland map, though readers were never told about this. On the other hand, there was less puzzle solving in subsequent fragments, and so this sort of intensive planning wasn’t never necessary again, afterwards. The decision to focus more on character development and less on puzzles was in large part determined by the strong reader response to the aforementioned character development, during this fragment. Also, as CJ pointed out, neither he, Simon, or Jonny are puzzle-makers by profession, outside of Ackerly Green. Therefore, it was agreed all around that, while the puzzles had been successful, it was more creatively invigorating for them to focus on characters, henceforth. CJ felt that after this fragment, readers began more deeply to understand that the wonder and fantasy of the Magiqverse is grounded in our actual world, unlike other universes which are in totally fictional worlds. This is because Bernard Sleigh, among other characters, are real historical figures.

This week's show notes are brought to you by dear reader, Tinker!

In this week’s episode, CJ and Simon discuss Fragment Five. Despite being a shorter fragment, it was still quite busy because it marked the start of a new phase. This fragment was comprised of three interconnected plotlines: introducing the Cagliostro and Lauren, bringing Deirdre into the puzzles, and developing the story of Anne of Brittany. The fragment name – Brachursis – came from a chimeric animal name, and linked to plans for a storyline with the Cagliostro and Lauren.

By solving this puzzle (not entirely as intended), the Mountaineers were able to access documents and emails between the Cagliostro and Lauren. Lauren was introduced as the new assistant to the Cagliostro, attempting to scan the third volume of The Monarch Papers. CJ and Simon also discuss logistics (and Buffy the Vampire Slayer) – how they worked to balance out the excitement of the Mountaineers’ snooping with keeping the Cagliostro an intelligent and engaging antagonist, as well as the timed unlocking of the journals. Simon also discusses his research on Anne of Brittany, starting with the unicorn tapestries. From this point, Anne was woven into the plot, with the revelation of a secret eighth tapestry and the introduction of the Paths of Wool and Silver.

Phase 2 also saw Deirdre drawn into the puzzles with the arrival of her father’s journal. Deirdre hears from her Aunt Monica and receives the journal, the pendant, and the wool scarf, which all reappear at the end of this phase and again in phase 3. Fragment Five ended up being important for other major character introductions and growth as well. The Cagliostro, Lauren, and Martin are still loved, all these months on. The unified plotline of this fragment helped keep the readers engaged and motivated, leading into Fragment Six.

Here's the second half of an epic two-parter all about Brandon Lachmann, Shard City, our first Live Events, and the first Assessment!

 

 

In this episode, CJ, Simon, and Jonny recap the end of Fragment Four and look back on Phase 1. After meeting Reader to acquire a second Traveller’s Disk, recruits worked frantically to solve the third and fourth trials, while hiding their progress on the Basecamp Forum from the antagonist group The Devoted. Readers used clues in a poem about clocks to reverse engineer a phone number which, when called from a particular set of payphones in New York City, produced a message from Brandon Lachmann. The fourth and final portion of the fragment took place at the 42nd Street Public Library, where Brandon had hidden the pages of The Glass Report he had told recruits to find, as well as a letter that revealed some surprising information about Sacha, the leader of the Devoted.

 

The group discusses the many difficulties of live events, including uncontrollable issues with pre-recorded phone messages, locating working payphones, live streaming from public buildings that prohibit video, and a distinct lack of cell phone service in library buildings. CJ describes the added difficulty of observing issues from a distance but being unable to intervene.

 

The end of the Fragment also introduced the first Magimystical Assessment, a test given to recruits after every four fragments to produce a key for the Book of Briars. The group describes the original interactive choice-based setup, and the modal multiple-choice replacement that became “the bane of the Mountaineers’ existence." Plus, CJ reveals how the titular Monarch Papers developed after Phase 1.