The Web

The Web is a collection of galaxies, united under the rule of a single emperor, Emmis, the Shepherd. Its capitol is the planet Em. The Web was created as a utopia for all its citizens; it is largely free of prejudice, and its laws are designed to equally benefit all citizens.

## Culture

### Pop Culture

Movies are, of course, a big deal in the Web. But with the Council’s intervention, one art form that has stayed surprisingly large in the Web is live theater - plays, musicals. The industry for it in the Web is massive. It is the heart of entertainment, alongside movies if not surpassing them. Of course, because of this, there are quite a few troops that are bigger than any real-world sports team. The two biggest names in regards to playwrights are Aren Torble and Fredric Humble.

Aren Torble is long dead, but his plays are still of keen interest to most royalty. Torble was a Timerion, and more than just being arguably the greatest playwright ever to live, he wrote plays about things that hadn’t yet happened. Royal families took a particular intereste in his tragedies. And boy, could he write a play. He honestly deserved all the laurels ever given to him. The only problem? He was a terrible person. He wasn’t just elitist. He was a known womanizer, a drunk, and rude. But no matter what, he wouldn’t touch anything he deemed “poor.” He hated the lower class with a genuine fury. He would beat a carriage driver bloody if he wasn’t from a noble family. Moreover, he would write slanderous plays. His greatest comedy was about a ruling family’s illicit affair, the leads, horrible, bumbling incompetence, and his hilarious impotence in bed. The subject of his play hadn’t even been born yet. He was the soon to be born heir of the Dwarvish royal family. Torble was an awful man. But, he could write a play. Awful as he was, his plays were some of the greatest. HIs more notable ones include “The Lilly Wraith,” “The Sound Dragon,” and “The Boon.”

The other greatest playwright is Fredric Humble. The best anecdote to describe him is this: He had been drinking hard. He had fired all his staff. He had just divorced his wife, and no one had seen him in weeks. And one day, unshaven, furious, in a soiled bathrobe, he marched up the steps of the grand cathedral and exclaimed, “whatever god wrote this tragedy is a hack!”

Fredric, though he’d rather you called him Fritz, is an interesting man. ((I love him dearly.)) He is, notably, a valiant graduate. He is a very happy man. In the above anecdote, a week later finds him sober, smiling, and spending his free time on the local soccer team. He is a legendarily good screen writer, and in his short life so far has written more plays per year than Shakespeare. He is not only amazing, but revolutionary. He’s innovated and redefined and stretched the boundaries of what people thought was possible with the stage medium. His favorite thing to do is an impromptu play. He’ll take a troupe, walk out on stage, and ask the audience for a story for inspiration. They shout it at him, and if he hears something he likes, he will set the troupe to work. He will assign roles, give them direction, and write the play as it goes. He has a standing bet with anyone who can trip him up or find flaw with his work, and they are beyond amazing. Some of these on-the-fly plays have been immortalized, recorded, and held in Em’s library of great works. A few of these are hailed as some of the greatest works in the medium. And then there are the works he spends more than three or four hours on.

A knight of nights caused an all out brawl at a critics convention to take the spot of the greatest play ever written. The army was called in to stop it, only to join in the fighting because they also disputed the epic. In the end, the Nemantians were called in for their control over their people. And Fritz told them they were all fools. Obviously, he said, “Dragon’s Last Wish” is the greatest play ever written.

You see, Fritz is probably the single biggest theater fanboy in the Web. He once famously interrupted his own book signing because he recognized a man who worked at a car dealership from a play he had been in when he was in middle school to gush over how much he liked it. As in, a play the car dealer had been in when the car dealer was in middle school. He spends every spare moment he gets in any of his tours not writing, but going to every production in the area he can fit in his schedule, and he loves all of them. He is always the first one standing and clapping, he regularly cries, overwhelmed with emotion at the end, and he donates just about every copper he doesn’t need to local drama programs. He’s started several different charities to support the arts in general, and any conversation where someone tries to congratulate him or show him any appreciation will probably go something like this:

“I really loved that scene in act III!”

“Oh my god! I was inspired by this one-act I saw in a high school, you should have seen it! The way the main character’s internal monologue was evident in the lighting and the placement on the set was incredible! The way they…” And this will continue for some time. He’s just a good person. He loves shitty movies. In fact, those are his favorite kinds of movies. He eats pizza and wears flip-flops in the middle of the city, and he will jump at the chance to play hopscotch with kids. He plays chess in the park, and dances with the druids at the solstice.

Film is also a significant medium in the Web; there are several stars worth discussing here.

There’s Daniel Wells, he’s rather famous. Immortal, and a silver fox to the core. He’s a rather stereotypical A-list actor. He doesn’t talk much about himself in interviews, mostly keeps to himself. He’s rather like Robert Deniero. Overall, a quiet man, but kind to his fans, surprisingly good at taking criticism, and overall, not outwardly extravagant. Kind of an introvert, really, but he has played some of the most beloved and moving characters on screen. His appearances on screen have earned him the love and adoration of a good number of Web citizens.

There’s also Miles Manniagan. He’s good, handsome, a bit of a wild one, and actually began his career as a singer, and a good one. He wasn’t Even Mo or Tashi Len, but he had a couple of number one hits in his day. He still sings on occasion. He’s kind of been everywhere - he’s been on Starlane ((basically Broadway)) more than once. But when he got big on the big screen, he really blew people away. Everyone thought he was just a rich, good looking man they put on stage for his looks and popularity, but he surprised the Web. He really is incredibly talented, and a polymath - he’s a powerful wizard, a talented mageball player on a D1 team, a gold lauriet in standard ballroom, an impressive cellist, and a boxer. He is young, wild, pretty, and charming on and off screen. Miles Manniagan is a popular choice for a celebrity crush. But he is not the best actor in the Web.

The best actor in the Web is a surprisingly new addition to the craft - also notably a Valiant graduate, as is Miles. Clara Erin, though not a polymath like Miles or experienced like Daniel, is nevertheless the best. Her big break made quite a lot of waves. An ambitious and legendary writer/director pair got together after Adon’s defeat at the Days of War’s End, and put together an all-star cast, going as far as to get the greatest techno-illusionists, animators, and a larger budget than every other movie ever made, going as far as to actually build an accurate fleet of Aligned ships, train every extra on how to fly and run them, train the actors in swordplay with some of the Knights of the Dawnway, and film on Gadon itself, even including some of the rescued people appear in the movie - with all of this, they attempted to make a movie about the greatest struggle in the universe. But not as an epic, though it was massive, and the battle scenes were immense. No, the biggest part of the movie was intended to be the personal side of a very important person. They tried, for the first time ever, to portray Alara on screen. And they made a controversial choice.

With so much money and so much talent behind them, to play the part of Alara, the lead of the movie, they chose a newcomer to the screen, and a recent graduate of Valiant. A tiny woman named Clara Erin. And she blew everyone away. She encapsulated the man so incredibly well that she actually got Jade to give her a decent review. Begrudgingly, mind, but she did. The movie, “Seven Twilights,” is incredible. And that’s not the only role she was good in. A quick note - Daniel played the role of Adon, but even there he was listed in the credits as “the Adversary.” Clara is easily the Web’s greatest actor.

In her personal life, she is incredibly humble. She always seems surprised when people come up to her, congratulating her or gushing or wanting a picture or autograph. She genuinely sees herself as a B-list actor at best. She whole-heartedly chalks the success of her movies up to the crew, directors, and cast. And with her money, she travels the Web. Her goal is to one day have traveled the entire Web.

Even Mo is a famous guitarist in the Web - in fact, the best guitarist in the Web. Her album titles include “Odds,” “Break Even,” “Tires in the Rain,” “Under Written,” “Tall Glass of Weather,” “High Hats and Tight Shoes,” “Crop Circles,” “UnEven,” “Steel Diamonds” (which was a collaborative effort with a band she joins sometimes called Fool’s Gold), “Liquid and Leather,” “Bridge Across the Universe,” “The Way Home,” and “Hell in a Handbasket.” There is a great deal of contention over which is her best album ever; the primary contenders are “Hell in a Handbasket,” “UnEven,” and “Steel Diamonds;” in fact, there is a circle of Reddit that will die before they will admit that Steel Diamonds is not the best album ever made in the history of the universe.

Clara Erin will also be playing Even Mo in a movie about the singer.