Re: The Colormen Thread

[Frankthetriviaman]

Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot to ask.

Does this mean we will finally have some "research" on the colorwomen?

In that case...

    One day in the Colorman Archives, the Man In Gold was performing his usual duties.  As he carefully handled ancient manuscripts and fragile texts, he came across one that stood out.  It was in relatively good shape, and the text was still clear enough to make out the words.  Reading the old language, he was shocked at what he was reading.  He quickly ran to find his friend.  Luckily, Man In Blue was coming into the archives anyway.

"Danny!  Danny!  I think we finally have something that can shed some light on the Colorwomen."

Do we now?"  Man In Blue glanced over the first page or two, then smiled

"Jackpot.  Now we can finally shed some light on some lingering questions."

Man In Gold smiled, proud of his finding.

"By the way Steven... it's Daniel."

[Toz76]

Sadly, it's very worn, so the translation will take a few days ( I'll need a few days to flesh it out), but we now know that the theories about the first colorwomen being the siblings of the first colormen is somewhat true. It also answers a couple of other questions...

[Frankthetriviaman]

I believe the theories like that we have so far are that The original Man In Blue's three sisters became the first Woman In Yellow, Woman in Gray and Woman in Lavender, and the eldest of the original Man In Red's two sisters became the first Woman In Red; unless I am forgetting something

Though this is not the case for all things, i.e. the first Men in blue and yellow were not related to the first women in blue and yellow.

Regardless, looking forward to seeing what this manuscript reveals

[CGT]

5 more

Man In Uranium Green, Man In Lava Orange, Man In Charcoal Black, Man in Platinum White, Man in Copper Orange

[The Number of the Diesel]

Very nice~

[Frankthetriviaman]

I need to turn off my computer early tonight because it has updates to install; so I will be adding Wave two tomorrow.

This does however, give me a chance to think about a few of the things I have been "researching."

[Frankthetriviaman]

Wave two has been added; I will add wave three very soon

[Frankthetriviaman]

I've decided that I will add Wave 4 tonight; bringing us up to 100 Colormen added.

[Toz76]

Friendly reminder: pages are linked like [[this]]

Eg: [[Man In Black]]

[Frankthetriviaman]

Darn it!  I knew I was forgetting something.  I will remember that for the future waves though.

[Frankthetriviaman]

Oh, I almost forgot; here's the story I wrote a while back on the Origin of the Colormen.

The Origin of the Colormen

One evening after a long day of hard work, the engines of Sir Topham Hatt’s Railway had come home to Tidmouth Sheds. Thomas, Edward, Henry, Gordon, James, Percy and Emily all settled into their berths for the night. Emily had fallen asleep, but the others were talking about their latest encounter with a most unusual group… the colormen, with whom they have had various adventures… or misadventures, if you will.

“I tell you, those guys are weird… they go prancing around all day in multi-colored jumpsuits, and have magic powers? What kind of group is that!?” James exclaimed. Thomas, Edward and Percy looked somewhat offended; they had become good friends with the Man In Blue, the de facto “leader” of the colormen.

“James, after everything we have been through, you look down upon them? The colormen have recently saved Sodor from its biggest menace yet! Sure, they were bad at first, but now they are on our side.” Edward explained.

“Yea; the Man In Blue is a good friend of ours.” Thomas added on. But Percy was confused “you know, I wonder what the deal is with those guys; I mean, what exactly are they?”

“Careful Percy, curiosity killed the cat after all.” James said in a teasing manner.

“Yes, but satisfaction brought it back” a strange voice said… to the engine’s surprise, it was the Man In Blue! But now he was wearing a three-piece suit, fedora and overcoat in the same shade of blue as his jumpsuit. Emily was still sleeping, but the others looked on in amazement. “Wait, where’s your jumpsuit?” James asked, confused

“What, you don’t think we wear those all the time, do you? That’s just when we are working; we also have regular clothes you know… I just look really good in blue.” He said with a smile on his face.

“What brings you here at this hour?” Gordon said, as he was just starting to feel sleepy before Man In Blue showed up.

“Oh, I was passing by and thought I would say hello.” Man In Blue said as he hung up his fedora and overcoat on a nearby hook, and took a seat on a chair usually only used by the train crews as they waited for the engines to “warm up” in the morning. “But it sounds to me like some of you are interested in the history of the colormen” he further stated. All the engines except for the still sleeping Emily began throwing questions at him… even James, who suddenly found himself interested.

“Who exactly are the colormen?”

“Why are you all different colors?”

“What’s with those strange artifacts?”

“Do you have real names?”

Man In Blue calmly quieted them down, and came to a decision. “All of your questions can be answered by the story of our origin.” He began thinking back to the tales long preserved in the Archives of the Great Hall of the Colormen.
The story starts long, long ago, during the reign of King Godred.

“King Godred!?” The engines exclaimed simultaneously. “You mean the king whose crown Stephen found a while back?” Thomas asked. “The very same” Man in blue said as he continued.
You see, during the reign of King Godred, there was a Viking Invasion, and he is famous for his feat of luring them into a narrow pass, while another group destroyed their ships. It was a great victory, but King Godred was now concerned. And now, our story shifts to the 11th century, and the reign of King Godred.
………
King Godred was concerned about recent events that had unfolded. Despite his great victory over the Vikings, he had a strong feeling that they would be back. He knew that all over the known world, these “sea barbarians” were infamous for pillaging and destroying any village they landed upon. He was lucky that the terrain worked to his advantage this time, but what if in the future, they landed somewhere where he could not lure them into a pass? Then an even darker thought crossed his mind, what if they landed in larger numbers… or what if they were the dreaded “berserkers” that all Englishmen feared… they were the toughest and deadliest of all Vikings, and for all Godred knew he could be next!

“Your majesty? Your majesty!” King Godred was shaken out of his trance by an adviser.

“Oh, yes, sorry. I was just thinking about our recent success with the Vikings… but they could come again.”

“Aye sir, but I am afraid we haven’t time for that now, something most interesting has been found on the castle grounds… we need you to see it firsthand!” Curiosity peaked, he ordered his men to bring him to the find. 10 minutes later he found himself staring at the most unusual crystal… it was four feet tall, two feet wide and two feet long. It looked like a square pyramid sitting upon a cube. At first glance, it looked like a glass prism, but closer investigation revealed a most unusual trait: within this prism, a multitude of colors swirled, like many spilled paints upon a surface… yet the colors did not mix. Godred was intrigued, and ordered his men to bring it to the only man he believed could figure out this curiosity.
…
“My distant grandfather by many generations… Matthew Erdagovern. You see, in those times classes were set, and usually it was the peasants on the bottom, then those of higher standing, such as priests and knights, then those of royal standing, then at the top was the King himself. But Godred was different… occasionally he found peasants of exceptional skill, and gave them jobs normally only available to the privileged. In this case, my ancestor was exceptionally smart for the time, and able to figure out almost any problem. It’s because of him Sodor very early on embraced ideas that would have been considered radical at the time, such as the concept of zero, mercury should not be used as a medicine, and scientific advances shouldn’t be hindered by church beliefs.” Man In Blue stated to the engines.

Thomas spoke first “So the fact that his name is Erdagovern… is that why your blade is called…”

“Exactly Thomas, but we will get to that in a bit.” Man In Blue assured.

Percy followed up “this crystal found… was it the Prism?”

But James still looked condescending “so you found a giant rock, big deal. Where did it even come from anyway?”
“No one knows James… but we believe that because it is so unique, it could have very well come from another dimension, placed here by someone who saw the threat to Sodor, and gave it to us as a gift.” Man In Blue said rather seriously.

“amazing” Henry replied.

“Absurd if you ask me” Gordon followed up with.

Man in blue ignored him and continued with the story
……
Godred had taken the crystal to Matthew Erdagovern, hoping that he could figure it out. Upon inspecting the rock the crystal was embedded in, he noticed something

“Seated upon this stone from the realm of the stars, is a relic that shall be forever known as The Prism. For those most worthy, power shall be granted, and so long as the prism remains whole, may its strength protect the land it is upon.” He finished.

Godred looked upon it with confusion. “Both me, some of my bravest knights and even a member of the clergy have touched it and nothing has happened… aren’t we worthy of such a power.” he said to Erdagovern.

“I don’t think the inscription refers to that kind of worthiness” Erdagovern explained. With consent from the king, he mentally prepared himself, not knowing what would happen.
……

“Well, what happened!?” James suddenly cut the story off.

“Be quiet and let him tell us!” Edward said, his scolding surprising everybody in the shed, even James.

Man In Blue tried to suppress a laugh, then went back to the story.
……
Before touching the prism, Erdagovern noticed something amazing… within the prism, a blue dot began to form, becoming larger and larger. Then text began to appear on the space rock the prism was embedded in “to claim the power presented, he must be noble in mind, but not in standing. He must be gifted in mind, but gifted in body is not required.” Erdagovern touched the prism, and suddenly the room froze around him. A mysterious cloaked figure approached him.

“Matthew Erdagovern, you are a man of humble origin, and though you may not be as strong as a knight, your mental strength is enough to convince the creators of The Prism that you are worthy of its power. From here on out, you shall be blessed with knowledge unknown to your land, and shall be known as the Man In Blue. A sacred artifact shall also be given to you, in your case, a blade shall be gifted to you. You may have no formal training, but your knowledge will let you wield it in ways never thought possible where you come from. The power of the Man In Blue will be passed down along your male bloodline, with the eldest son inheriting it upon your death or decision to retire and pass down the power. However, he must prove himself worthy of the artifact before he can inherit it. Otherwise, the artifact will phase out of existence, and only return when another of the bloodline proves himself worthy.”

The first man in blue was shocked at what had just happened. “But such power, and for only one man?” The mysterious cloaked man shook his head “no, and there will be others to emerge… all in due time.” Suddenly Erdagovern found himself back in the room.

King Godred was shocked “My God, what has happened!? One second you are touching this crystal, and the next you are… well, that.” Matthew Erdagovern looked at himself… to his amazement, he was wearing the same clothes he had on before, but now all were solid blue. He was also wielding the very blade he was given during his trance. “Your majesty… I think we have something that can hold back any future Viking invasion.” One conversation with King Godred later, he went on to decree that he was holding a competition… any peasant who could prove himself “mentally gifted” would be given a great reward at the castle of King Godred.
……

“But such a powerful artifact, it was too much of a risk to leave it at the castle; so it was decided to construct a great hall to house the artifact, and act as a base for all these new colormen.”

“The Great Hall of the Colormen?” Henry asked?

“Exactly.” Man In Blue stated.
……
Soon, another man stood before he prism… his name is lost from our history, but we know that he was chosen, for his skill as an early chemist, to become the man in red. His six brothers all were worthy of the power also, but no one color could be repeated.

The mysterious cloaked figure that appeared from touching the crystal explained “This world is full of diversity, and that is the symbolism of the different colors. Although many colors are similar, many more are different.” But the brothers were determined to at least look similar, so they settled on being various shades of red.
……

“So that is why there is a man in red, crimson, scarlet, brick, cardinal, ruby and rose.” Edward said, realizing the connection

“Indeed, but believe it or not, the shades did not come until later on. At first it was just my ancestor, joined by the first man in red and man in yellow.

“Then what?” Gordon asked.
……
The three of them were in the newly constructed Great Hall… the building was big, but also humble to reflect the nature of the colormen’s background. One day, orange, purple and green dots appeared in the prism… but this time, names of worthy men were shown within the colors. It seemed now that the prism would decide who was worthy of its power. We retrieved them, and now there were six of us… but the first man in green was unusually short. Over time, more and more men were chosen. They were of various faiths, races and occupations… but not one woman. We did not understand why, and we still do not until this day.
……

“Their legacy goes to this day… the eldest son continues to carry on the color, and claims his artifact when he is worthy. All current colormen are descendants of the original colormen, and our diversity is what makes us strong… in a time of ignorance, this small regime on Sodor showed equality of all, because even though this world is of many colors… they are still one.” Man in blue said, then shined a light through his little prism to demonstrate… white light went in, and a rainbow came out.

“But if you were meant for good, what was that whole evil thing about?” Gordon asked, confused.

Man In Blue sighed “by the 1600s, despite our advanced ideas, other still saw us as strange. Eventually someone accused the colormen of witchcraft. Some of the colormen went mad, others tried to show that was not the case. Some proposed going to “war with ignorance.” But a core group of colormen realized that they could not let this happen. So with one powerful spell, the prism was broken into 25 pieces and scattered, as were all the artifacts. Over time some artifacts were recovered, others remain lost. As you know, only recently the prism was reassembled, but even in the preceding years the colormen tried to reform, and reassemble the prism for their own selfish purposes.”

The engines were surprised… a group so respected, suddenly shunned. “But, you still had powers at the time” Percy asked innocently.

“Our power was weakened when the prism was broken, but it was never completely destroyed.” Man In Blue explained.
Many questions were answered, but many more remained.

“But that still doesn’t explain the colorwomen, and how you became rival factions yet both derive from the prism.” Edward said.

Man In Blue sighed “I’m afraid I don’t know how the colorwomen came to be… none of the colormen do. They are technically their own faction, with their own history and traditions. Now, I must go now… but I’ll be back to share more tales with you in the future.” Man In Blue said, hoping to set up a sequel if this story does well.
He reclaimed his fedora and overcoat, said good night to the engines, and left.

Emily suddenly awoke “Huh? Did I miss something?” The other engines just stared at one another, unsure how to answer her question.

[Toz76]

Colorwomen scroll is up on the 3wsr forum!

[Frankthetriviaman]

Just wanted to let you guys know, something is currently wrong with the in-page linking on the wiki. It'll have to be done later

[Frankthetriviaman]

Hi everybody;

We've come quite far in nearly a week; 145 pages, 100 colormen, and we're starting to get some information about the Colorwomen.

Besides adding the additional colormen, anyone have any ideas for other future topics and additions?

[Toz76]

Past colorfolk, artifacts, and a better-developed mythos.

[Frankthetriviaman]

A better developed mythos? I'm not sure what you mean by that; what kind of thing did you have in mind?

[Toz76]

Well the colorfolk history is told in "chunks", if you will. We know when the colorfolk came to be, and when the prism, broke, but nothing in between.

[Frankthetriviaman]

Well Man In Gold has not catalogued everything in the archives yet, lol.

A fair point though; we should start getting something concise going on.  I'll be out most of tomorrow, but I will see what I can do.

[Toz76]

So, we've got 105 colormen, with 30 more not yet wikified (waves 6-10, and TGC's five, wave 11). So here are some more:

Wave 12: Man In Seafoam, Man In Dark Blue, Man In Sky Blue, Man In Wood Grain, Man In Plaid (Okay, the last two aren't exactly colors, but I recall them being referenced at some point)

That brings it to 140, what's next?

[Frankthetriviaman]

To avoid confusion, I was going to add more colors to the list after I added the existing waves, so the colors could be added in alphabetical order.

I'm away from my computer at the moment, but I'll do what I can when I get back to it.

[Toz76]

On that note, could someone start alphabetizing what we have so far?

[Frankthetriviaman]

I've added the sixth, seventh and eighth Colormen waves today, bringing the total to 120.

The next two waves will be:

NINTH WAVE:

Cadmium Green, Cadmium Orange, Cadmium Yellow, Cadmium Red, Cafe Noir

TENTH WAVE:

Camel, Canary Yellow, Capri, Carmine, Carmine Red

[The Number of the Diesel]

I suggest that we move this thread over to 3WSR Forum, as that's what the forum really is about.

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