The Gungan Council

The Gungan Council (frequently abreviated as TGC) is a Star Wars-based role playing and discussion board established in 1999 by General Ceel in the wake of The Phantom Menace craze. It began on SWFans.com before moving to ezBoard and has since been one of the most active boards on the system. Since then, it has had its ups and downs, several restructuring of the rules, and the common events shared by all ezBoard forums (a massive ezBoard-wide hack, a migration to Yuku, and a second migration to TapaTalk). Yet, it has managed to stay incredibly active and open to anyone that wants to roleplay or just talk about Star Wars and other topics.

The premise of The Gungan Council is simple: it is an entirely character driven roleplay. Characters of any type can be freely made and introduced. After that, the characters join one of the many factions of The Gungan Council for both out-of-character and in-character training. The OOC training comes from being introduced to the setting and style of The Gungan Council as a writer, while the IC training comes from skills one's character learns. This makes TGC easily accessible to writers of any skill.

Rather than taking place during a set time in the Star Wars universe, The Gungan Council is almost like its own separate universe where all the events of Star Wars canon happened yet elements from the earlier chronological dates of Star Wars canon can be used. Also, the continuity for characters is defined on an individual basis. Many times, characters can easily retcon details of their past without any worry. General Ceel wrote an essay that goes into detail about the timline.

TGC can be found here. It also has its own wiki!

In 2011, a podcast for TGC began. It frequently features active TGC members for interviews and segments. Recently, it managed to interview James Arnold Taylor, which can be listened to here.

Tropes used in The Gungan Council include:
  • Aborted Arc - Frequently happens for one reason or another, due to being a roleplaying board.
  • Above Good and Evil - Karma, Peiori
  • Acceptable Breaks From Canon - Alderaan still exists. Many of the Vongformed planets show little to no signs of such a thing. Star Forges can still be found lurking in space.
  • Ace Pilot - A frequently used archetype
  • Achilles' Heel -
    • With a splash of lightning or EMP explosion, Darth Apparatus is severely crippled
  • Action Girl - Saede Taggart
  • A House Divided - The Jedi, especially recently
  • The Alliance
    • The Alliance, which is actually two factions against every known evil in the universe: The Jedi Council and the Rebellion
    • United Triumvirate, a faction that's has an aliance among the Hapans, Mandalorians, and Chiss to end the oppression of their people
    • The Rebel Alliance, a defunct faction that held Jedi, Rebel fighters, or really just anyone that wanted to fight against the dark side
    • The Jedi Brotherhood, an old Jedi faction that actively fought against all Sith factions until it merged with the Jedi Council
  • All Your Base Are Belong to Us - Any attack on Naboo
  • Altum Videtur - Regnum In Potestas, the name of a defunct faction
  • Amusing Alien - Utkon Mai
  • Anachronism Stew - An in-universe example, where technology from any era of Star Wars can be used. For example, an Imperial I Star Destroyer can be in the same fleet as a Sith battlecruiser and no one would mind.
  • Anti-Hero - Too many to count, but notable examples include Saede Taggart, Chaos Maxtor, and Je'gan (Darth Shule).
  • Anti-Magical Faction - The Crimson Order made its ultimate goal to be the eradication of all Force users. The Galactic Empire also once had a campaign that got the common people in its domain to believe the Force did not exist.
  • Anti-Villain - Many Sith have attempted this. Enton, who showed up in late 2010, did so to great failure by practically being a Jedi in everything but name. Imperials frequently come off as this in their attempts to great a Pellaeon-esque Empire.
  • Apocalypse How - It happens, and whether or not it sticks depends on how long people remember it and whether or not they want to deal with it.
    • Taris experienced a Class 6 after Rogue Moon crashed into it in the Galactic Crusade
    • Coruscant had a Class 1 after the Death Star exploded just a few thousand kilometers from the planet. It's sometimes described to have damaged at least half the planet
  • Art Evolution - Both writers and the community as a whole have seen this. Writers usually improve in their writing capabilities through time, usually getting to the point where their very first posts seem so immature and alien to them. Through time, the community's ability to write as well as roleplay has increased dramatically as a whole through the years. Many writers have developed the ability to discern whether or not to write novels or short, to the point posts based on the roleplay's needs.
  • Artifact of Doom - The Heart of Darkness from "Quest - Part 5" and "Tainted Heart"
  • Ascended Extra - LiSah Mao and Deagan Hunt began as NPC's but are now their own player characters
  • Authority Equals Asskicking - Played straight or inverted with Masters and Elites are regarded as the strongest characters and usually have or are granted high ranks in-character. Can be subverted or even averted for Padawans, Apprentices, and Trainees that roleplay high ranks in-character.
  • Author Existence Failure - Unfortunately, TGC has had members die. Regardless of their previous reputation on the board, they're always remember fondly in death. RIP:
    • Revan Kornan/ravendarknes88/Dark Umbra
    • Skelosh Delaroche/Jaeger Delaroche
  • Bachelor Auction - The 2010 Yule Ball featured one
  • Back from the Dead - Due to the fluid timeline and several elements of Star Wars, a very frequent occurrence for nearly all characters that have died.
  • Backstory - Everyone has one, whether or not it's well known or relevant to roleplaying depends on the writer.
  • Badass Mustache - Captain Marcus Gray
  • Badass Pacifist - Bethany in "Beloved of the Gods" and "Beneath the Feet of Angels."
  • Bad Dreams - Ti'Cira Hawk
  • Baddie Flattery - Kaz Valnor
  • Bald of Evil - Darth Apparatus
  • Ballroom Blitz - The 2010 Homecoming Ball turned out to be this. Not surprising considering that it was hosted by the Sith
  • Ban on Politics - Hilariously averted, much to the dismay of several Gungans
  • The Baroness - Xochitl
  • Be All My Sins Remembered - Xyra, Patches, Ayden, Delek
  • The Beast Master - Kaz Valnor
  • Becoming the Mask - Kassey Daklin, Patches
  • Beige Prose - In fast paced threads, this is actually perfectly acceptable. However, there are still some complaints about those that only use Beige Prose for roleplaying.
  • Beneath the Mask - Chaos Maxtor, Jonathan Patches, Xyra Sizhran, Ayreon Faraway
  • The Berserker - Darth Apparatus
  • Betty and Veronica - Anara and Kith are this to Tantor
  • Beware the Nice Ones - Adira, please don't smash Io's datapad again!
  • Birds of a Feather - Tris/Chaos, Beth/Corri, Moira/Apparatus
  • Blood Bath - As their namesake would suggest, this is a habit enjoyed by The Bathorys.
  • Blood Brothers - Ryori/Ti'Cira, Chaos/Mason
  • Blood Lust - All the Bathorys, naturally, Anubis Starkiller
  • Bounty Hunter - Kane E. Smart
  • Break the Cutie/Haughty - Very frequent, and it sometimes gets very graphic for a Star Wars roleplay.
    • Notable examples include what Steph and Ti'Cira have done to their characters.
    • Morgan and Lana haven't gotten much love either.
    • Kassey Daklin, due to torture to herself, her father, and her fiance has essentially become a schizophrenic.
  • Broken Bird - Too many to count.
  • Brotherhood of Evil - The Sith Brotherhood and Brotherhood of the Sith
  • Brother-Sister Team - Rian and Corrine Kismet
  • Calvin Ball - Takeovers on the current "rule-less" form can be this way, with many people taking up unwritten rule to make the experience as conflict free as possible.
  • Came Back Wrong - Phylis Alince, though in a more benign fashion as she has no memory after being 18
  • The Captain - Saede, Marcus
  • Cast Herd - Formally, the factions act like this by grouping like minded characters (Lightside characters joining Jedi, darkside character joining Sith) together and instill a sense of galactic conflict. Informally, cliques have formed, both just to get a reliable group to roleplay with and to further out-of-character interests.
  • Catfolk - Kuraii
  • Character Filibuster - Ryori Holloway takes the cake
  • Characterization Marches On - Commonly happens due to changing tastes and styles of writers, especially if a character has been written for a long time.
  • Charity Ball - Nearly every ball hosted by a Jedi, Rebel, or non-evil Imperial is this
  • The Charmer - Deagan Hunt
  • Chronic Backstabbing Disorder - Darth Apparatus
  • Chronic Hero Syndrome - Bethany, Corrie, Ayden Cater
  • Claustrophobia - Ti'Cira Hawk deveoped claustrophobia by being locked in a cage by her former master
  • Cloudcuckoolander - Spencer Jacobs, Io Akima
  • Colony Drop - In the Galactic Crusade roleplay, a moon was dropped on the planet Taris, killing all life on the planet.
  • Combat Pragmatist - Darth Apparatus
  • The Corrupter - Many Sith are this
  • Creepy Twins - Setesh and Sokara Vu Noi
  • Cross Player - Many writers, notably those of Phylis, Relen, and Jessan, frequently write the opposite sex. It's more common for women on the site to write males, as well.
  • Cute Bookworm - Spencer Jacobs
  • Cute Bruiser - Xyra, Serrena
  • Cut Short - For roleplays that died before their fortieth post, they were usually deleted. Now, they have a chance to live again with the Thread Necromancer.
  • Cyberspace - Holo Fun World
  • Daddy's Girl - Dominique England, at first.
  • Dances and Balls - At least three are hosted each year, and they're usually non-violent.
  • Dancin' in the Ruins - Peiori loves doing this.
  • Dark Action Girl - Xyra Sizhran
  • Darker and Edgier - When compared to the movies, TGC is definitely more mature across the board. However, whether or not it beats out Star Wars Legacy depends on the writer and character.
  • Dark and Troubled Past - Most characters have a tragic past
  • Death Is Cheap - Again, due to the fluid timeline and technology in Star Wars, death is not much of a concern when it actually happens.
  • Deceptive Disciple - Moira Vu Noi
  • Despair Event Horizon - Xyra in "The Galactic Crusade" after the moon crashed into Taris.
  • Did Not Do the Research - Happens from time to time due to the massiveness of Star Wars canon.
  • Disguised in Drag - C'orringath Ven'Traas and Ayin Kaes looked great as handmaidens for the queen of Naboo.
  • The Drifter - Trent Wayne
  • Early Installment Weirdness - As time goes on, many small inconsistencies and changes in writing style frequently leads to this for many characters.
  • The Empire
    • The Sith Council, a faction that compose of all Sith in TGC and has the second largest collection of planets
    • The Galactic Empire, has the largest amount of planets under its control yet models itself after the Pellaeon empire
    • Dark Sith Order, a Sith faction that lasted for roughly eight years before merging with Sine Ocassu
    • Regnum In Potestas, a Sith faction that quickly grew to be one of the largest factions at the time with a huge member base
  • Escapist Character - Subverted with Kirk, who was presented just like Star Trek's Kirk until "The Show Must Go On"
  • Everyone Is Related - Also known on the board as the Family Wreath
  • Evil Albino - Peiori, Skelosh
  • Evil Matriarch - Santeria Decuir
  • The Exile -
    • Abigail Taylor from the Chiss Ascendancy
    • Ti'Cira, Je'gan, and Caleb were exiled by the Jedi Council
    • All Nightsisters from Dathomir
  • Expy - Several characters use avatars from the Star Wars films, including C'oringath and Ceel. Others use avatars from the Expanded Universe. Sometimes, these characters even match their avatar's in personality.
  • The Faceless - Reyven Samoth
  • The Federation - The Galactic Republic
  • Fish Out of Temporal Water - Lord Valentai, Dominique England, Bianca Holloway
  • Flashbacks - Frequently invoked in order to explain why a character has or does something.
  • Fleeting Demographic Rule - An unintentional example. Due to TGC being a Long Runner and the member base is constantly replaced, many roleplaying ideas are redone every few years, and the majority of the present members do not know or remember roleplays from two or more years ago.
  • Foreign Language Tirade - Kuraii, Serrena and Nate, Ti Cira frequently dip into this
  • Friend to All Living Things - Bethany
  • From Nobody to Nightmare - A frequently used backstory for new Sith and villains, such as Xyra, Skelosh, Maleficus, and Ayreon.
  • Funetik Aksent - A natural part of attempting to write an accent, such as Mao, Trent Wayne, and Steph.
  • Fun with Acronyms - From TGC, factions, Star Wars titles, to PLOTS, many members frequently shorten phrases into acronyms out-of-character
  • Game Master - Mostly averted. The only time there would be a game master in a roleplay would be if all parties involved agreed invest such power in someone and closed the thread off from the general public.
  • Gender Blender Name - Spencer Jacobs
  • Going Down with the Ship - Saede when the Revenant was nearly destroyed over Naboo
  • Government in Exile - The Witches of Dathomir faction claims to be one of these. Yet, being composed of only Nightsisters and their allies, such a claim is contested by the rest of the witches.
  • Hates Being Touched - Ryori Holloway and Ti'Cira Hawk in the beginning
  • The Hedonist - Deagan Hunt, Kirk, Xo Chitl Salvaje, Lana, Avicus Dusang, Quinn Raxel
  • Heel Face Turn and Face Heel Turn - Many Jedi and Sith have crossed over to the other side of the Force over 12 years of TGC roleplaying.
  • Heroic Sacrifice - Phylis Alince destroys the Heart of Darkness to keep it out of the Sith's hands. Some spectacular fireworks ensue as everything near her, including herself, disintigrates!
  • Heroic Spirit - Bethany, Spark Vallen, Corrie
  • Hidden Agenda Villain - Some Sith and villains, such as Xyra, Ayreon, Darth Apparatus, attempt to go around with a "super secret" ambition, which usually involves just taking over the galaxy.
  • Hope Bringer - Bethany, Eden Kisori
  • Horsemen of the Apocalypse - Regnum In Potestas, a Sith faction, ran off of this idea by having the horsemen leading the faction
    • Conquest - Dark Sky Kerberos
    • War - Darth Roul, later replaced by Darth Phantom
    • Famine - Malice Draclau
    • Death - Anubis Starkiller
  • Hot-Blooded - Saede, Ti Cira, Satkia
  • Hot Witch - In spite of Star Wars canon, most Nightsisters are hot.
  • How We Got Here - "It's Not That I Keep Hanging On, I'm Never Letting Go" slips into three different flashbacks to explain how Bianca and Darth Apparatus found each other and were separated.
  • Human Popsicle - Bianca Holloway
  • Humans Are Morons - Kuraii claims this.
  • I Do Not Own - The podcast for TGC features one of these at the end of each episode.
  • I Just Want to Be Normal - Lana does not want psychometry.
  • Image Song- For nearly every character
  • Immortality Seeker - Darth Apparatus does!
  • In Harmony with Nature - Kuraii
  • In Your Nature to Destroy Yourselves - Peiori, Skelosh, Maleficus claim this
  • Jerkass Has a Point - Ayreon Faraway
  • Knowledge Broker - Jonathan Patches
  • A Lady on Each Arm - Chaos Maxtor, Ayden Catar
  • Lampshade Hanging - Commonplace, but Steph Zenima brings it in style
  • La Résistance - The Rebellion, which has appeared in many different forms throughout TGC's history
  • Law of Inverse Fertility - A frequent occurrence in roleplays, such as with Beth, who got pregnant on her first time. Most of the time, sex is only written out (in vague metaphors) for the purpose of conception.
  • Legal Jailbait - Toph Graystone (is 18 but uses Toph)
  • Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards - While not true, several writers claim that from how some people write Force-users, even the strongest non-Force-users cannot handle similarly ranked Force-users. They obviously forgot the Jango Fett and Obi-Wan fight.
  • Like You Were Dying - Kirk
  • Literary Allusion Title - A common way to title a roleplaying thread is to allude to another work. Many of them are from Star Wars, natch. Notable examples include:
  • Little Miss Snarker - Lana, Mao
  • Living Legend - General Ceel both in and out of character due to not being the founder yet not in many recent roleplays.
  • Loads and Loads of Characters - There are over 8000 recorded members, with many forever lost due to the site's transfer to Yuku and the ezHack, and nearly all members roleplaying a character. Even then, the current number of characters per faction averages at at least 25 active at the time, not including lurkers.
  • Long Runner
  • Loves the Sound of Screaming - Kaelin and Karma
  • Love Triangle - Anara/Tantor/Kith, Morgan/Ayden/Ti'Cira, Moira/Apparatus/Bianca, Trobe/Io/Utkon, Trobe/anywoman/Kirk
  • Luke, I Am Your Father - Darth Apparatus did this to Ryori Holloway and Delilah Nepenthe
  • Luke Nounverber - This appears just as often as the roleplay's source material with: Skywalker, Starkiller, Darkhold, Sunfell, Ravenclaw, Holdfast, Shadowdragon, Hawkmoon, Skylark, Darksun, Eventide, and more.
  • Mad Dreamer - Peiori
  • Mad Oracle - Moira Vu Noi
  • The Magocracy - Nearly all Sith factions have been this.
  • Manipulative Bastard - Many characters attempt to be this, but few succeed.
  • Martial Pacifist - Corri, Cambria, Phylis, Spark
  • Masquerade Ball - It's an annual occassion during Halloween.
  • Master Swordsman - Caleb Torran the Blademaster
  • The Messiah - Beth Kismet
  • Meta Fic - In some of the narrative of a select few characters' posts, it's pointed out how they're just in a roleplay as well as tons of cliches surrounding the given situation.
  • Metaplot - Some roleplays defied the Negative Continuity of TGC and are considered to be running congruently to each other. Such use of the Metaplot is a frequent indicator of a major roleplay about to happen.
  • A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Read - Ti'Cira with Xyra
  • Misery Builds Character - The current fad
  • My Instincts Are Showing - Kuraii
  • Narcissist - Santeria Decuir
  • Nerf - Many writers depower the Force and Star Wars technology in order to not make their characters seem to be ridiculously overpowered when they believe their character can act like a physical god.
  • Nerves of Steel - Bethany, Kamon
  • The Nicknamer - Kirk
  • Nightmare Fetishist - Karma, Kaelin
  • No Place for Me There - Xyra
  • Non-Player Character - Mostly, though, they're no more than mooks in fast-paced threads
  • No Saving Throw - Averted, to the dismay of some writers. Nearly any attack or action that's not godmodded into happening can be avoided.
  • No Sense of Direction - Lana
  • Off the Rails - Often in open threads, a roleplay can end up in a completely different scenario than the roleplay created expected. For many writers, such results are extremely entertaining. For the few, these results are a pet peeve.
  • Of the People - Kuraii, Most Dathomiri
  • Omnicidal Maniac - Darth Apparatus
  • One Degree of Separation - With thousands of characters constantly finding each other again and again in a huge galaxy, it frequently feels this way.
  • One of Us - Many Gungans frequent TV Tropes, and several even contribute.
  • The Ophelia - Karma
  • Opposites Attract - Kith/Tantor
  • Original Characters only
  • Painting the Fourth Wall - Chaos Maxtor and Steph Zenima frequently slather the wall with paint
  • Patricide - Xyra, many Sith
  • Pirate - Captain Marcus Gray, Saede Taggart, Rok, Serrena, and Nate
  • A Pirate 400 Years Too Late - Bianca Holloway, yet she manages to adopt the modern tactics of pirates
  • Play By Post Game
  • Plot-Relevant Age-Up - With the fluid timeline of TGC, characters can become older (or younger) at will of the writer. This usually happens when attempting to begin a romantic angle or make the character seem stronger
  • Podcast - Can be found here.
  • Prolonged Prologue- Introductory posts are supposed to be simple roleplays that get a new character instantly acquainted to two or more estalished characters. Roughly 200 words is enough. Some have over 1,000.
  • Proud Warrior Race Guy - Any Mandalorian
  • Psychopathic Manchild - Peiori
  • Really Seven Hundred Years Old - Lord Valentai, Bianca Holloway
  • Rainbow Speak - A common trend is to have dialogue colored. Artemis Obauldi consistently plays this straight, though.
  • Red Eyes, Take Warning - Darth Apparatus
  • The Remnant - The Imperial Remnant
  • Retcon - TGC wouldn't be a Star Wars roleplay without some retconing. Not only are tiny details frequently retconned, but some people have completely redone their characters.
  • Ridiculously-Fast Construction - Oh, another Death Star in a two month span?
  • Romance on the Set - Several writers have formed romantic relationships in real life. The writers of Fiera and Baska are notable in having married after first writing together on TGC.
  • Rotating Protagonist
  • Round Robin - The roleplay Foxtrot Unicorn Charlie Kilo featured writers writing posts for nearly every character in the thread except for their own.
  • Rule of Two - Some Sith do this, such as Darth Apparatus/Moira
  • Rule Playing - An interesting observation is that when more rules are enacted to stop people abusing an open system, there are more people that abuse the rules in order to win, leading to a general aversion toward more rules by the writers. The takeover system if the easiest way to cite such behavior.
  • Rules Lawyer - Another unfortunate behavior, yet not as frequent as the above to happen due to the few obscure rules TGC does have.
  • Scarily Competent Tracker - Kuraii
  • Secretly Dying - Kirk, as only other three player characters know the truth and one of those three even doubting it.
  • Self-Made Orphan - Yet another common backstory for villains
  • Serious Business - Being serious on TGC has had its positive moments, with writers in this state of mind greatly improving the community, as well as occasionally negative moments, with members creating splinter boards that gut the memberbase over differences in opinion.
  • Seven Deadly Sins - Frequently appears again and again, but most notably used in Regnum In Potestas
  • Show of Theseus - The only consistent character for 12 years is having a fat Gungan spamming the forums
  • The Siege - Theed Under Siege lasted for nearly a year with Naboo under constant attack, and the Jedi and * their allies attempting to push the attackers off.
  • Sinister Shades - Daeron before being retooled.
  • Small Name, Big Ego - It has happened many times before. Usually when someone gets in this type of mindset, it results in their banning or lose of respect on the site.
  • The Social Darwinist - Most Sith
  • The Sociopath - Again, Sith, such as Kaelin, Karma, and Peiori, get to this point
  • Space Navy - Combat in space involving navies is called "fleeting" on the board. Interestingly, rules for takeovers before 2005 required factions to build their own fleets.
  • Space Pirates - The Crimson Ferret is the most famous example in the later years. Saede Taggart or Captain Marcus Gray are usually seen as the pirate queen and king whenever they're active.
  • Spanner in the Works - Lana, Chaos
  • The Starscream - Stop trusting Darth Apparatus, even when he kneels to you!
  • Statuesque Stunner - Saede
  • The Stoic - Ayreon Faraway, Kith
  • Storming the Castle - Any attack on Korriban by Jedi or Republic supporters, the latest being The Cleansing of Korriban.
  • Student and Master Team - Most Master-Apprentice/Padawan relationships are like this
  • Super Senses - Kuraii with hearing and scent
  • The Svengali - Most Sith only take up apprentices for their own gain
  • The Syndicate - Several criminals have attempted to creat a crime ring to various degrees of success.
  • Switching POV
  • Sword and Gun - Saede
  • Talking to Himself - Several writers have, for many different reasons, done this with several of their characters. Bane Nathos frequently does this in attempts to move roleplays along.
  • Tangled Family Tree - The Family Wreath
  • Teacher-Student Romance - Frequently called Paddy Poking on the board because of Hawk Hinata, a Jedi Master that married two of his former Padawans.
  • The Unfettered - Many Sith, including Darth Apparatus
  • Unholy Matrimony - Maize/Kassandra, Vega/Raz, Malice/Akima, Rach/Anubis, Avicus/Sophie, Apparatus/Bianca. Arguably, Apparatus/Isolda manage to deconstruct such a relationship with their constant conflict.
  • The Vamp - XoChitl Salvaje
  • Vestigial Empire - The Imperial Remnant
  • Villains Act, Heroes React - Commonly on a grand scale, it's the Sith that attack and the Jedi that defend. Deconstructed to the point that Jedi that attack get exiled and viewed to be too similar to the Sith than comfortable by their former peers.
  • Villain with Good Publicity - Jessan Solo usually did this on Coruscant.
  • The Voiceless - Lady Silencia and her descendants, Morgan Kade, Sokara Vu Noi
  • Webcomic Time
  • Web Original - While based on the Star Wars universe, every character is original.
  • The Wiki Rule - The Gungan Council Wiki
  • Wicked Cultured - Delilah Nepenthe
  • Write Who You Know - A common tactic for new Gungans is to create a self-insert, yet after becoming comfortable with roleplaying, frequently evolve into unique characters.
  • Written Roar -

Darth Apparatus: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA . . . AAAAH!

Kirk: I'm dying.

"I͡ a̵m th́e D̛ar̵kside̸!"

  • Zombie Apocalypse - A recuring subject every few months, especially around Halloween. With the Blackwing Virus, zombie apocalypse's have become very easy to justify.
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