The dust particles drifted aimlessly, a small sliver of light snuck in through a gap in the window, illuminating the small room.  The other windows had no such faults, each covered with a blanket, sheets of paper, anything that would throw up a guard against unwelcome eyes.

A small woman bent over a desk, her long blond hair covered either side of her face, creating a tunnel through which she studied the papers that were scattered infront of her.  Her clothes might have been beautiful at one time, colors and patterns combined to create a reflection of the artist's nature.  Now, however, they were stained and torn, an expression destroyed by life.

"Where was he?" Asheyna asked the empty room.  "He should be here by now."  They all should be, she thought.

Reaching in her pocket for a cell phone she cursed quietly under her breath.  It was gone, just like the computers, just like everything.  She'd always known it was easy to trace someone through their techology, but she'd never dreamed it would affect her. Cell phones had been the last to go, once their chain of text message stories had been discovered. 

Once there had been a vibrant community.  The most creative minds from all over the world had gathered together to practice and perfect their craft.  Ideas and wit passed like lightening in messages that only fueled the fire of their artistic souls.  They laughingly called themselves The Protagonists. The name a bittersweet reminder of the artistic mecca Nick had so painstakingly created for them.

It had happened slowly, at first it seemed only the natural progression.  The fire of one mind would die, slowly or at once; their contribution disappeared forever from the community.  Some were noticed, others faded to oblivion without a second thought.  As the frequency increased questions were raised... this was not natural.

Asheyna jumped as the single door to the room flew open, the sunlight turning the lone figure into a sillouette.

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Author guidance for This story

This Author's Guidance is updated continuously... please take the time to read it as there is VITAL information there. Who is who, who is where, that sort of thing.

********BEFORE POSTING*********
**READ THE PREVIOUS CHAPTERS**

This helps you get a feel for the story. I know there's a lot, but if you don't you're going to miss stuff and we will loose the flow of the story. Until now we've done a good job and there haven't been too many glaring errors and they've generally been fixed quickly.

The basic premise is similar, creative/artistic minds are the outcasts of society. They're shunned, even hunted by the rest. And we, a literary society known as the Protagonizers, have formed a resistance movement.

Come as you, come as your protag-self, and let's stick it to the man!

********SOME SUGGESTIONS********
---> Mark all the posts relevant to your particular storyline as you go along.
IE: Asheyna and Afroferret are travelling together, I've (Asheyna) marked all posts written by us so I can find them easily and refer to them when writing.
---> If you're going to write and include other characters in your chapter there's two great options:
* Leave the ending open, allow them to respond to what you've introduced
* Confer with them before committing them to a course of action
* Neither of these are necessary, just something to consider when writing as you may be unaware of an ongoing plot-line that is developing behind the scenes between other authors
---> Last but not least, aim for continuity, whether it's character personality or events in the story.

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The Story So Far (July 2)

Sly - on the move with Pvt Addams

*Unknown Hideout - New Safe?*
Darkliquid, Robyn, Kai, Gwen, Archi, Druidx
-Dru appears unable to speak... is she having a change of heart?

Raven - formerly Bluejay, met up with her father, heading to Eastern Canada to get new ID?

Asheyna and Afro - trapped by LitPol on a train
-Afro just revealed to be former agent, has be betrayed them?

*Bard's Hidout*
Brenden, Spockeh and crew
-the Bard has been helping Spockeh et al? can he be trusted? is he really the Bard?

*In a hospital*
Faltarego - unclear as to what's going on around him... no ID to tell the hospital staff who he is.

*RIP*
Bluejay's guard
Eloosive
"Bluejay"
Jack

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Further Guidance:
The Protagonists are a non-violent group. They stand for creativity and free expression. While they have no clear set "mission" they are attempting to remind people what it used to be like. Showing people beauty in art, literature and music.

After their main meeting place, The Safe, was compromised by Spockeh he was instructed to blow it up (taking a few LitPol with it). A new building is now needed for the Safe, as well as a method to alert other Protagonists as to it's location.

updated Jul 2 '09 by Anonymous