Seventh Sanctum
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Seventh Sanctum (sometimes just The Sanctum) is a website run by Steven Savage (also known as XWayfarer, or simply X). It is a collection of random generators or randomizers and name generators that create random names, items, and even full descriptions of characters. There are generators for everything from spells and pirate ship names, to entire story plots and characters. Many of the generators are oriented towards science fiction, fantasy and anime, and are directed towards artists, writers, and role-playing gamers. It is arguably one the largest collection of random generators on the internet focused on (mostly) serious creativity-enhancement.
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[edit] References and Awards
Writer's Digest named Seventh Sanctum one of the 101 Best Websites for Writers for 2006. [1].
The site is referenced in the book 'Multi-Media Magic' (ISBN-10: 1905713142 ISBN-13: 978-1905713141) by occult writer Taylor Ellwood, as an example of a William Burroughs style cut-up tool for inspiration or even occult concepts.
[edit] History of the Website
1999 - Site created as subsite of domain. Incorporated past JavaScript generator for Superhero Names, and one for anime attacks. Initially spawned after commentary that attacks in anime often sounded randomly generated. Site expanded continuously.
2000-2001: The site moved from JavaScript to PHP.
2004 - Site moved to top-level of domain.
2005 - First random contest started.
[edit] Generators
There are over a hundred and forty generators which fall into the following seventeen categories. There are also examples from each category.
- Anime/Manga - including "Catgirl Generator" and "Battle Aura Generator"
- Art - including "Sword Generator" and "Dragon Description Generator"
- Beings - including "Alien Race Generator" and "Legendary Creature Generator"
- Characters - including "Deity Generator" and "Super Ninja Generator"
- Combat - including "Fantasy Military Unit Generator" and "Wrestling Move Generator"
- Darkness/Evil - including "Vampire Namer" and "Dark Ritual Generator"
- Equipment - including "Quest Item Generator" and "Currency Generator"
- Humour - including "Wacky Class Generator" and "Evil Animal Minion Generator"
- Magic - including "Magic Item Generator" and "Outer Plane Generator"
- Media/Fandom - including "Crossover Generator" and "Digimon Generator"
- Names - including "Weird Name Generator" and "Greek Namer"
- Organizations - including "Government Title Generator" and "Sentai Team Name Generator"
- Setting - including "Landscape Generator" and "Tavern Generator"
- Superheroes/Sentai - including "Silly Superhero Name Generator" and "Sentai Story Generator"
- Skills/Abilities/Traits - including "Mood Generator" and "Anime Power Generator"
- Technology - including "IT Department Generator" and "Space Phenomena Generator"
- Writing - including "Quick Story Idea Generator" and "What-if-inator"
[edit] Technology
Originally the Sanctum was written in JavaScript, but moved to PHP in 2001 as more complex generators were introduced. Examples of current and former code are available at the site. The site author encourages other generator developers to use the code available.
It is almost entirely graphics-free, using only regular web pages and CSS for presentation.
[edit] Community
Part of the Sanctum, as it is known to users (or "sanctumites"), centres on the forum, where users of the generators gather to talk. Most of the users are of a creative bent, be they poets, writers or artists. A great deal of users are also players of role-playing games. The forum even has a running joke, and refers on a semi-regular basis to demonic stuffed felines or DSFs. These are small, cute but evil cats with brilliant green eyes and black or navy blue fur. They supposedly constrict one's writing ability with the aid of a Writer's Block.[citation needed]
The forum members are also now engaged in a communal world building project and are creating a planet (named Xothu) from scratch with some standard fantasy races (such as dwarves) but also new races as well, such as lilithians (a highly intelligent and dominating race) and jellicles (a race of cat-like humanoids possessing magical power).[1]
The community also invented a fictional history of the Sanctum, explaining what happened to the previous six. Supposedly, the First Sanctum was created four thousand years before present day somewhere in the Mediterranean. It was destroyed after a scholar stepped into the garden and "gave the gods the big finger". The Second Sanctum was built in Northern Greece and was later torn down, the blocks being used to build a new stadium for the Romans to watch fights. The Third Sanctum was constructed by the Romans, but was short-lived.
The Fourth Sanctum was built c.1066 in southern England by a French noble. No explanation is given for its destruction, but only rubble remains. The Fifth Sanctum was more of an organisation than a location, founded in Antwerp in 1242. They planned to destroy the Fourth Wall, but their plans were cut short and their complexes burnt while the members scattered. The Sixth Sanctum was founded in 1875 and was a beautiful building. It was stripped and demolished after no bills were paid for quite some time.
There is also a suggestion that the Eighth Sanctum members went back in time to set up the First Sanctum, thus causing a paradox.
