All right. The title is a definite misnomer. None of these questions are 'frequently asked;' there aren't enough people who know about this website for any questions to be frequent. Nonetheless, I've had some people ask about some particulars with regards to the sdhlain. I'll try to answer those below. If you have any other questions, or want to join in, please contact me.

• What is a 'sdhlai?' A 'sdhlain?' Who are the Feresen?
  
  As stated elsewhere on the site, a sdhlain is something similar, but not quite equivalent, to a bardic story cycle. Some number of people, more than one but not so many as to be unmanageable, get together and tell a story. Each kher, or storyteller, adds to the story in turn. Unlike many bardic competitions in our world, the Feresen act of weaving a sdhlain is not competitive in any direct sense. While interesting and unique situations are considered good, forcing the others into a narrow lane of storytelling or killing off characters in the sdhlain indiscriminately is seriously frowned upon. It is meant to be a creative process, not a destructive one, and can serve as a sort of morale-boosting activity, a group therapy. [Not that the Feresen know the particulars of psychology.] A sdhlai is one 'round' of a sdhlain, in which each participant has one part of the story. A sdhlain is composed of some number of sdhlai.
  
  The Feresen are a race in a fictional world of mine. The only pertinent information for this particular project is that they are a compassionate race, and they enjoy stories very much.
  
  
• Wait. How can you write stories about a race with no information to go on?
  
  We're not. I used the word 'sdhlain' to describe what's going on here because no word or grouping of words in English quite conveyed what I wanted to do. So, in proper authorial tradition, I added a word to the Feresen tongue that meant what I wanted it to mean. [Technically, I added three--'sdhlai' and 'kher' are new as well.] The stories themselves do not need to be fantasy or science fiction. The only strictures on them are those of sense and continuity.
  
  
• How do you pronounce 'sdhlai?'
  
  The sdh is pronounced with a slur between and including the 'd.' The closest English approximation that I can type for the starting sound is something like 'shldh,' which isn't particularly helpful at all, so I won't bother. It's not that hard to pronounce once you've heard it, though.
  
  You didn't ask, but 'Feresen' is prounounced with the 'r' sounding more like a traditional 'dh'. Aren't constructed languages exciting?
  
  
• What's up with the different colours?
  
  Ah, an easy one. Each colour is a different author.
  
  
• All right. You've got me interested. Now, what are the rules?
  
  There aren't many. As stated above, this isn't a competition or an attempt to frustrate people with unsatisfying endings and non sequiturs. Common sense and propriety are all that you generally need to go by when you work on a sdhlai.
  
  As for specifics, there are a few things that will be enforced, and others that are highly suggested if you don't want me to kill you. [Kidding. Mostly.] The main thing that will be enforced is that no back-editing is allowed. If something is mistakenly italicized (or mistakenly not italicized), or if there are any grammar or spelling errors that need to be fixed, I'll be more than happy to edit those out. But actual content changes, such as rearranging sentences or adding or deleting portions of the story simply aren't allowed.
  
  Why?
  
  You didn't let me finish, Nonexistent Person Asking Me These Questions. I'll answer you nonetheless.
  
  The tradition of sdhlain is an oral tradition. Feresen sitting around campfires, telling their stories and enjoying the company. When telling a story with other people involved in such a manner, you're not allowed to go back and add or remove content. The idea is to work with what's given--if something is incongruous, part of the challenge of a sdhlain is working it on, or at least explaining it away. Not only that, but part of the experience of writing sdhlain is not going on future knowledge; the fact that other people after you are going to inevitably change your meaning is part of the excitement. Altering the past to match the future deemphasizes the . . . cycleness, if you will . . . of the stories.
  
  All right. Continue.
  
  The only other real important thing--at least to me--is that you preformat your entries. Take a look at the source of the sdhlai already posted. The framing stuff--the headers and so on--are irrelevant. What's important is the way the stories themselves are marked up. Use of bold, italics, and two breaks per paragraph are the norm. If you need to be fancier with the HTML, that's quite all right, as long as it's not changing colour or making it unreadably huge or tiny or anything annoying of that sort. The markup needs to be very human-readable, even by someone who doesn't necessarily understand this new-fangled Internet thing. As you can probably tell by the minimalist design of these pages, I'm not one for fancy-schmancy effects.
  
  Oh. And absolutely no graphics. The Feresen don't have Photoshop, so you don't need it either.
  
  

Back to the Sdhlain.