Did You Know?

Haern

Rivas said:

...I think we all just basically want to know if the Kerrithrim is still hanging out up there somewhere. >.>

Sort of. Did you know if I reset every prog in the game, the Kerrithrim event would PROBABLY start back up? Ha ha HA.

Rivas

Oh god prove it. Prove it prove it prove it.

Daingean

Damariel said:

Did you know...

• The Kerrithrim mob still exists in its own separate room. We haven't touched it for fear of crashing the game if anything happens to it. That thing is tied into some serious game code.

TRAPPED IN A GORRAM BOX.

ANYWAY - @Rivas - the answer was in this thread, as you can see by the quote above my prison here. Quoteprison. Endquote!

Irruel

Omei said:

You'd have to ask the original admin who played Abhorash.

The original players are legit, though, not really administrative plants or anything. Even if it's common knowledge that one of them eventually acquired a ah, somewhat prestigious role.

His answer would not be particularly surprising, I'm sure. At least three of the original childer were prominent and old Achaean players at the time (I never did figure out who the 4th was). One of the houses was practically made up of a particular Achaean god's order.

I think it is safe to say that a mix of knowing who the players were, and those players having the game-presence of experienced players, led to them being picked.

I'm not saying metagaming/clique or whatever you want to call it. It's just the way of things, particularly back then when Aetolia was so similar to Achaea that if you were an experienced player in one then you had an advantage in the other as well. People started playing Aetolia (also Imperian later on) as groups of friends, with plans to work together to succeed at things they struggled at in Achaea.

Aarbrok

As most my Achaean bloodline was in that particular Gods order, I can attest that to be fact what @Irruel says.

(or so were the rumors... *insert dramatic music here*)

Veovis

Omei said:

Since Abhorash is the talk of the town right now, I wanted to clear up some common misconceptions about him.

• Abhorash was never a regular player character. He was a tool of the admin of the time, designed to get the ball rolling, roleplay-wise, with Aetolia's vampiric culture. We did not "hijack" or "steal" the role.
• The fact that he's just a regular character is a byproduct of how things were done back then. He ran a city, he had clans, even family to an extent, and generally schmoozed with the playerbase as would a normal player. These days, if we made an Abhorash-type figure, we would use what we call a shell, (terminology varies) like Yorvhaset, the Grecht who visited the four city-states. All of the mechanical function of a player character, but with no real honors file and a lot of restrictions against player skills that clearly set him apart as someone else. His name, and the manner in which he was played are both regretful, but it's just the way things are.
• In terms of sheer power, Abhorash is something approaching a demigod (not a Celani, those aren't really IC roles). He could probably slug it with a God and last at least a few minutes, even if he would have no hope of winning the fight.

@Omei

I don't want to seem too confrontational, but out of the five original vampires, I've known three of them for close to fifteen years and would call one a good friend. Abhorash, and at least two of the princes were Gods or very-well known players from Achaea. Rumor has it a third had at one time played a God.

The admin who played Abhorash wanted people whose ability he trusted to help him launch the class, so while I can't say they were plants I can say that it wasn't really a truly open selection with every Aetolian having an equal chance at starting a house. 

What made Abhorash awesome was that he was just a regular character. He had the same limitations as the rest of us. He didn't get multiple Sanguis minions. He couldn't instantly kill you with a single command. If he wanted to fight you he had to do it himself. His original player earned the fear and respect given to Abhorash by actually playing the game more or less like one of us.

 The mystique that was built around him was a cult of personality created by his original player and reinforced by the original four princes. I wouldn't remember Abhorash making my character a thrall himself quite so fondly if he had been played the way he is now. I mean Hades on a stick, there are plenty of us older vampire players who interacted with him and whose characters have opinions about him because of the things he said and did. Abhorash wouldn't have the credibility you lot are now using if he had been created any other way.

Abhorash's original player didn't need special mechanics to make him a demigod. We all thought he was, at least until he Embraced KaulIer. I have absolutely no idea how long you've played Aetolia or been involved with IRE, so I don't know if you can understand why what you folks are doing to Abhorash now, especially in terms of putting him on the literal level of a demigod, might make some of us a bit sad.

That said. I understand that you all feel that Abhorash is necessary to make the vampires into what they should be as Aetolia's selling point, even if I don't precisely agree with the way it's being done. This administration has certainly earned some latitude by its actions, so at least I certainly have no intention of disparaging your intentions.

Ezalor

The IC reason Abhorash ascended from normal character to Demigod status is because Belladona cured, elevating Abhorash from a simple Emperor to the Primus and the main Source of all vampires.

OOCly it's not really feasible nor fair for an admin to go around PKing and stuff. As far as fear and respect, one of the monikers I've seen attributed to him was "frenzy-spamming Rajamalan noob" which doesn't exactly speak volumes to his PK prowess at that time .

Xavin

Rivas said:

...I think we all just basically want to know if the Kerrithrim is still hanging out up there somewhere. >.>

Pretty sure they said he's still around!

Veovis

Ezalor said:

The IC reason Abhorash ascended from normal character to Demigod status is because Belladona cured, elevating Abhorash from a simple Emperor to the Primus and the main Source of all vampires.

OOCly it's not really feasible nor fair for an admin to go around PKing and stuff. As far as fear and respect, one of the monikers I've seen attributed to him was "frenzy-spamming Rajamalan noob" which doesn't exactly speak volumes to his PK prowess at that time .

That was the beauty of Abhorash as he was originally. He could go around PKing because he didn't have any overt special status as an admin character.Yeah, pretty much all of us who had been long-time Achaeans knew who his player was, but he never had access to an instakill or got a special red name on QW or got multiple Sanguis minions. Sure, Varian used the god commands to trans his skillsets for him instead of making him buy credits like the rest of us had to, but he had to try and bash and PK with the same skills we did.

He had a pretty solid cult of personality. Sure, top-tier combatants who were using their favorite Achaean class could get away with calling him a "frenzy-spamming Rajamalan noob," but that didn't really mean much for the image of Abhorash that had been created around him.

Also, he wasn't really supposed to have a long-term presence among vampires. I don't gather that's a big secret now, but a part of vampires in Aetolia was to see what would happen if class and guild were divorced and players could easily give anyone class using whatever reasons or requirements they felt like. That most of the original vampire princes went back to their Achaeans shortly after Embracing some actual regular players only helped in that regard.Vampires were really supposed to be player led, not admin led like they are now. What they're doing with Abhorash is similar to making Geryon the Sanguine Caliph and only allowing players to become Consuls. I can see the value in it, but it rankles.

I know what the IC reason the admin are using is. I get it. I just don't like it. Veovis was there when he became Primus. There was a lot of cool Bloodborn RP, at least for the handful of us who RP'd without Galleus or Severn mob possessing Geryon, where we tried to figure out what sort of changes Abhorash's ascension meant for the Blood and for Reborn vampires, but Abhorash still wasn't a demigod at that point . 

Out of character, I'm excited to see where they're going with Abhorash and the Dominion even if I think some of what they're doing flies in the face of what Abhorash was as a character. I think they've earned some creative license here, but I'm Vampire Grandpa Simpson. My perspective definitely seems to be a minority one among Aetolia's players, and I have no issue with that. My perspective is that of a vampire player-character who already has all the cool vampire T-shirts he cares  to collect and is probably relegated to vampire has-been at this point. That's definitely different from the perspective of someone who doesn't have that kind of history as a character. 

Xavin

@Veovis I really like seeing the perspective of someone who was around at the beginning of the game in terms of what was vampire culture like. I have to say, though, that it feels like what the Admin are doing now is way better than things have been in the last several years. The Imperium, in particular was a joke. The only times I recall seeing people talk over the Imperium channel when my main was a vampire was when there was some drama between the houses and Bloodborn, and that usually petered out quickly. No one commented when the head of the Imperium got shuffled around (and some of those times was a couple of us doing things just to see what would happen). I just feel like it's better for the game for the admin to be taking a direct hand in shaping vampire culture because for a long time the houses just sort of sat and festered and did, well, nothing.

Areka

What Xavin means to say is that in the last few years Vampire Culture (the VC) has been the 12 year old offspring of Duiran Snuggly In Its Prime and Pseudo-Goth-High-School-HotTopic. 

Clean up clean up errybody errywheere. 

Aarbrok

As someone who was vampire at the "Return of the Primus" in likely one of the more controversial now non-existent Houses.

IT WAS NEEDED!

The direction they have went with Abhorash was abrupt, dominant and overall disgusted with what the Houses had become due to reasons listed above by others.  He basically made his demands and then the Houses sorted out some long needed dirty laundry.

What I respect most is he listed his complaints, and then let the Houses sort it out themselves, it was not like an administrative bandage, it was like the supreme father of all the blooded had returned.  Daddy was angry and the kids better have this fixed before I come back or im going to rip you all a new one, sort of thing.

Lo', the vampires fixed it, and fast.

Then he disappeared.

Now he is back, and from the logs, the interactions and the overall new life (Bad word to choose) in Bloodloch and what I hear is a now blooming RP culture.  This is absolutely fantastic and something Praenomen, Bloodborn and Bloodloch alike SORELY needed.

Veovis

Xavin said:

@Veovis I really like seeing the perspective of someone who was around at the beginning of the game in terms of what was vampire culture like. I have to say, though, that it feels like what the Admin are doing now is way better than things have been in the last several years. The Imperium, in particular was a joke. The only times I recall seeing people talk over the Imperium channel when my main was a vampire was when there was some drama between the houses and Bloodborn, and that usually petered out quickly. No one commented when the head of the Imperium got shuffled around (and some of those times was a couple of us doing things just to see what would happen). I just feel like it's better for the game for the admin to be taking a direct hand in shaping vampire culture because for a long time the houses just sort of sat and festered and did, well, nothing.

@Xavin

Oh, sweet ever-loving unicorns. I have been trying to do this since Veovis became GM of the Bloodborn. I would be ecstatic to see some tension between the Dominion and the Bloodborn. It's a perfect source of inter-factional conflict in a game that's presently sorely lacking in conflict of any sort.

The Imperium has always been useless. That's why Zhukov dissolved it. It got recreated once by players, and then the admin re-created it with the re-designed house system but failed to give the Imperium any sway over houses at all. I'm reserving my opinion on The Dominion until I see more. I've heard from some players that the Dominion is 99% the same. Same titles, same White Wolf rip-off legacies, few mechanisms for conflict or influence. I've also heard from people, like @Ezalor, that The Dominion is actually different, so I have some hope. I probably won't find out IC as Veovis, because my character has too many reasons not to go near The Dominion with a ten foot long stick, but OOC I really hope it is different. 

So here's my "did you know" contribution: 

We had some awesome RP hints that there was supposed to be some tension between Reborn vampires and Praenomen, at least historically. I pretty much wrote the Hemic Canon to give the Bloodborn a superiority complex versus both mortals and normal vampires for that reason. I wanted the tension that the admin had hinted at through Geryon to return, because I thought it would be an absolutely fantastic thing for vampire roleplay.

Veovis

Aarbrok said:

As someone who was vampire at the "Return of the Primus" in likely one of the more controversial now non-existent Houses.

IT WAS NEEDED!

.... ....

Lo', the vampires fixed it, and fast.

Then he disappeared.

Now he is back, and from the logs, the interactions and the overall new life (Bad word to choose) in Bloodloch and what I hear is a now blooming RP culture.  This is absolutely fantastic and something Praenomen, Bloodborn and Bloodloch alike SORELY needed.

Oh, I don't disagree that Abhorash's return was a good and necessary thing for vampire houses. The Imperium was old and toothless and largely led by people who wanted to avoid conflict at any cost.Vampires needed a good shakeup to get the players back on task as far as the atmosphere is concerned (e.g. you eat people for breakfast, stop being so snuggly). 

The problem with Abhorash is that he'll come back once or twice, say ominous things, and then disappear. That was largely how Abhorash was when he was played by his original player too. The inconsistent and neglectful father image is one that has been created around Abhorash pretty much since Abhorash was kicked out of Bloodloch.

We all know that Grandpa Veovis is terrisad to see the Bloodborn jumping into bed with vampire houses and the Dominion and down-playing the "Reborn" part of being Bloodborn, so I won't go into any details about how I feel that the Bloodborn haven't been given any real distinction from other vampires. We forsake Sanguis (e.g. the Primus's gift) and treat his Blood Bond like a toy, at least when we don't lock the shard away to make friends with the Imperium. Ok. Deep breath. Coffee. Otherwise I'll get off on another tangent, and we all pretty much know it's going to boil down to "BAWW, teh Bloodborns arpee potential has been squandered." 

Jensen

I wish my old prae alt had been more successful, woulda enjoyed seeing the abhorash event and experiencing the shift to dominion. Didn't make sense to bring back a retired character without a single possession to crash the party

Veovis

Jensen said:

I wish my old prae alt had been more successful, woulda enjoyed seeing the abhorash event and experiencing the shift to dominion. Didn't make sense to bring back a retired character without a single possession to crash the party

It's never too late to bring back an alt (says the guy that can't alt to save his life). 

Rivas

Might be time to move on from the Abhorash-talk, guys. Start a separate thread if you wanna keep going on it.

Irruel

Did you know...

Bloodbath arena events were created because someone once opened a freeforall and forgot to start it. The people that entered got bored and started killing each other. When they died, they were sent out of the arena, just like a normal freeforall, but because it was never started, they were free to rejoin the event.

After a while, some admin noticed what had happened, and started the freeforall. This format was really popular for a while, and only became disliked after it was made into a formal arena event, at which point the scoring system rewarded opportunistic ganking.

Afaik, freeforalls still work like this. They're not a bad way to run training/practice time in your city, as unlike just making a bloodbath, people can join in at any time.

Jensen

The mithril door in fengard leads to an incomplete treasure room in the creation plane, guarded by a wyvern (might be a dragon it's been a few years since I got in there) whos too big for 1 room so he's split into a few different ones for the tail body claws and head. Thank you sentinel catapult trap bug for letting me check that out.

Iosyne

Did you know that we added a function in the game to force players to hold still during NPC dialogue? 

Do you know how many players try to run away from NPCs before they finish talking or handing out important quest items, so that this had to be added for things not to break horribly? 

Aarbrok

Speaking of, I think I broke the Spinesreach Academy.  Grash does not move forward in his quest anymore.

Oops.

Toz

I feel like that's going to be abused by someone with force at some point. Get ganked during some NPC reeling off a list of important quest info and die because you can't run away or something...

Ingram

So? They'll illegally use a game mechanic to their advantage and get appropriately issued and punished for it, problem solved.

Daskalos

They'll get issued for it, but unless someone says don't do it... I dunno, I could just see people forcing raiders to GREET GUARD so they can't move.

Haven

Ingram said:

So? They'll illegally use a game mechanic to their advantage and get appropriately issued and punished for it, problem solved.

Alternatively, give players divine grace during that. A very, very short one.

Edit: Although I think I might change the messages so it's not so much IC cannon as "omg, gods are protecting me" and more "This is cutscene mode."

Arbre

Then it'd be used in the opposite manner.

Saybre

Haven said:

Ingram said:

So? They'll illegally use a game mechanic to their advantage and get appropriately issued and punished for it, problem solved.

Alternatively, give players divine grace during that. A very, very short one.

Edit: Although I think I might change the messages so it's not so much IC cannon as "omg, gods are protecting me" and more "This is cutscene mode."

MC Hammer mode engaged.

Did you know that UPTURN is one of the single greatest additions to the game? Chests, letters, huzzah! (Plus it doesn't reveal to the room what you're getting out of it)

Did you know that Daskalos' Artifact List net worth is more than the per capita GDP of the country of Nauru?
Did you know that Oleis is a guy? *MIND BLOWN*
Did you know that there is a book in-game about very..naughty Horkvali antics in the bedroom?
Did you know that the carving fork from Delve can be envenomed and thrown? I used to use it as a goofy combat opener.

I actually had some in mind that were more..useful, but my brain cannot function at the moment.

Okay mostly I wanted to say MC Hammer mode.

Daskalos

Liar.

According to the U.S. State Department, Nauru's GDP volume was US$1 million in 2004

My artifact list isn't worth a million. Just sayin'

Teani

Aishia

Daskalos said:

Liar.

According to the U.S. State Department, Nauru's GDP volume was US$1 million in 2004

My artifact list isn't worth a million. Just sayin'

Yet.