The Honeycomb

The Honeycomb is an online role-playing group based on Richard Adams' novel Watership Down.

The group is prose-based, with each participant writing about their own characters in an ever-continuing story. New characters generally arrive as "hlessil" (wandering rabbits) who join the warren.


 * Address: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/thehoneycomb/
 * Ran from/to: 1998 - present

Concept
The action takes place at Watership Down Warren, the setting from the original novel ("The Honeycomb" was the name given to the large, meeting-place burrow of the warren).

The group's story began about five years after the end of the original novel. Most of the novel's characters had passed away, and the warren was now led by new characters Marigold-rah (daughter of novel character Blackavar), and her mate, Captain Trefoil, who are still in charge in 2008.

The Efrafan Captain Campion and a few other characters from the original novel have been played and/or designated as parents of some of the new characters, while other characters had entirely original backgrounds.

A second warren has also been played on the club since 1999: Stonetunnel Warren, which up until recently was the long-running main rival of Watership Down. It is run by the morally complex seer ("veheer") Sundew-rah and his outright sadistic mate, Captain Orchid.

Plotlines
Plotlines generally revolve around the dangers the rabbits face, such as predators ("elil"), as well as tyrants attempting to seize control of or destroy the warren (echoing General Woundwort, the despotic villain of the original novel).

There are also generally more personal/emotional plotlines going on at the same time, involving such things as friendships or romantic relationships between the characters.

The main plotline as of October 2008 involves an especially powerful seer ("veheer") hare named Mercury-rah, who has used his ability to seize control of other rabbits' bodies to take over Watership Down. Mercury and his followers are being battled by an uneasy alliance of Watership and Stonetunnel rabbits.