Talk:Cursed Cove

a Transcript for the History of Cursed Cove

Despite being unofficial, the background history of this map, which is displayed on the workshop page and in our gallery section, is interesting to read and capable of creating a richer player experience.

I mean, somehow, the history of Caribbean pirates, business of Mann family, adventure of Saxton Hale, misery of Merasmus and another ex-roommate of him... are connected. And our feelings will be different when we understand that what we are doing is more than merely killing others and collecting souls, isn't it?

Thus, I am willing to contribute a transcript (with Wiki links) to the page, and moreover, a translation for it, which will be helpful for more visitors to read.

The transcript is already here (without links at the moment), the question is, where should we put it, or we would rather not have it on the page?

Transcript

History of Cursed Cove Centuries ago, deep within the tropical hell-scape that is the Caribbean, a town emerged from the dense underbrush. Originally a salty fishing village on the Iguana Islands, the town quickly grew as a popular place for rum runners, pirates, and other sailors in the West Indies. During the early 1700s, during the golden age of piracy, the cove flourished with taverns, distilleries, and debauchery. As the century passed and life returned to normal with the decline of piracy, a fort was built by the Royal Navy to keep pirates at bay. Further expanding the British Empire. In the later half of the 1800s, in addition to purchasing land in New Mexico, Zemphinia Mann(sic) acquired the fort in 1896 as a critical supply line for a trade route from the Gulf of Mexico. Through the modern age, the town remained a popular travel destination in the Caribbean for its tropical climate, beautiful vistas, and charming pathways. That is, until Mann Co. came. The Saxtagon In 1969 Mann Co. CEO and jean short investor, Saxton Hale was itching for a new adventure. As the Mann Co. cargo ships were making sufficient funds for the company, exporting arms to militias, Hale decided to charter his own ship. Full of new weapons he set out for the port of Miami to trade with a local mafia. As he came close to the Florida Keys, he was thrown off course and put into a deadly hurricane. Hale, no stranger to danger, steered the ship right into the middle of the beast. Unfortunately, the ship with its cargo sank, and disappeared beneath the waves along with its deckhands. As the ship sank, Hale spotted a pack of several bottlenose dolphins beneath the waves. Thinking quickly, he ripped off his chest hair to make a leash on two of the dolphins, successfully pulling him ashore to the Cursed Cove. "Kangaroo's Mullet! That hurricane sunk my guns!" Naked and battered, with his chest hair seemingly immediately replaced, Hale wandered into a tavern, explaining his tale to the local townspeople. Many blamed the Bermuda Triangle as the source of the Hurricane. Confused and bewildered, Hale inquired about the Triangle. They proceeded to tell him of the Triangles's great strength and mysterious nature. "This Triangle is looking to tango with Hale? Not on my watch." Hale returned to Mann Co. still very much naked, but with a plan. Not to put clothes on, but to make an even bigger, more deadly shape in the Caribbean, one to rival the Triangle. After tracking down the great wizard Merasmus, and beating him to an inch of his life, he told Hole that he would need a great amount of spiritual energy to make the paranormal vortex work. Merasmus suggested his old university roommate can help him, Davy Jones. After also nearly beating Davy Jones to an inch, possible centimeter, of his already dead spirit, Hale told him he needs souls to show that Triangle who's boss. Jones agreed and gave him his collection of souls. After storing the souls in spiritually bound barrels he sent them to six locations in shipping containers. Detonators inside all six ships, with a button press, Hale sunk all six in the ports of Miami, Havana, Cursed Cove, and off the southern coast of Cuba, Parrot Cay, and south west of the Bahamas. "This will show that Triangle not to mess with Saxton Hale." Hale's was entirely encompassing the Caribbean. The energy and paranormal activity generated by this stunt was three times that of the Triangle. Not only was it now Hale's own playground, but he demanded more. Every Halloween he demanded Davy Jones to play his share of souls to him, if he wanted to still have working limbs. Davy Jones, a scheming man was able to cut a deal with some Mercenaries that knew Hale... Davy Jones Once a proud sea captain, Davy Jones is now very much dead, and very much will be even more dead if he is in debt to a man such as Saxton Hale. Davy Jones, originally from the town of Bristol, became a naval officer after years of service to the Royal Navy. Eventually Jones grew tired of his life and turned to Privateering. Captaining his own vessel, he was recorded to have engaged at least 89 vessels over the course of his career, creating an infamous name of himself in the Caribbean. Wealthy and content, he settled down in the town of Cursed Cove to begin a more peaceful life. That is, until a well positioned cannon ball from the 100 gunned HMS Prince bombarded the town in a brutal slaughter that killed many of the town's pirates. Jone's leg caught a cannon ball in his home and it was a mortal wound. As the infection spread, he cursed the town and the Navy, swearing they will both suffer as he haunts the afterlife.

07:32, 9 July 2022 (UTC)

While interesting, this is all community-made lore, and, therefore, not official. - BrazilianNut (talk) 09:42, 9 July 2022 (UTC)

 Support addition of transcript  Inconclusive 17:32, 10 July 2022 (UTC)

BrazilianNut is correct as far as that Community lore existing only in the Community is not fodder for the wiki, however, that statement is not comprehensive. Consider that some Community lore is included in the game by Valve, some even being incorporated in the game's Canon and covered appropriately in the wiki (cf, Pyro's gender and the Administrator, et al (yes, the seed for the Administrator character came from the Community)).

That said, Community map-Storyline openly published within the map (esp. signs, posters, props, etc) as well as any statements made by Valve (eg., Update pages) are "fair game" and even useful for the map's page: It is Official the moment Valve Patches it even if it is not Canon; Valve has published and the wiki has covered much that is non-Canon, but Official.

One could ask if it is useful to add a map's Storyline image to the map's page, since players can simply read the image in the game. I hold that relying on reading the images in-game is not always so useful; the in-game image text is often hard to read, if not unreadable, due to loss of resolution or other reasons. Moreover, and correct me if I am wrong, textures are not localized (eg., Suijin's textures are not rendered into English). So, it is useful to include both the image and the transcription on the map's page, because the transcript can then be translated in due course.

To summarize, IMO, the transcript may and should be added because

1. It is content that Valve Officially published (non-Canon not withstanding).
2. In the collapsed form, it does no harm to the page or to the wiki.
3. It is useful in that it is more easily read as a transcript.
4. It is further useful in that it facilitates translation of un-localizable Valve content.

Where to put it? Description of the content of the texture is a description of the map. I observe that a common place for descriptions of maps and items is the page's lead. Topics needing little description get little text in the lead, while topics needing much description might even get a subsection in the lead, which I suggest in this case and have added such above.

M I K A D O 282 ⊙⊙⊙⊙⊙⊙ ⊙⊙ ⊙⊙ (Talk with Mikado282 (SM)) | (contribs) (Help Wanted!) 18:14, 9 July 2022 (UTC)

Question: I just checked the map. I did not find the History of Cursed Cove pages. Are they actually visible to players in the map, or are these pages only unused content in the game files?

Yes, if they are only in the Workshop pages, then yes, they are unofficial, maybe not even appropriate for the gallery, and I would need to revise my support.

But, if they are in the game files, then they are Patched, technically, and we have written on the wiki about content that is discoverable only by examining the game files, we even have categories for that.

M I K A D O 282 ⊙⊙⊙⊙⊙⊙ ⊙⊙ ⊙⊙ (Talk with Mikado282 (SM)) | (contribs) (Help Wanted!) 16:28, 10 July 2022 (UTC)

The original uploader directed me to the image on the Workshop page, which a developer had shown to them. We upload plenty of images from the Workshop, but I do not recall where we have transcripted or translated any of them.

(which is not proof of it not being in the game files, but I am curious what all is in there.)

Given that there is precedent for limited uploading of images from the Workshop, is there any value to facilitating their translation where they carry text?

M I K A D O 282 ⊙⊙⊙⊙⊙⊙ ⊙⊙ ⊙⊙ (Talk with Mikado282 (SM)) | (contribs) (Help Wanted!) 17:32, 10 July 2022 (UTC)