Lore questions.

Ignotum

Springboarding off of what Hadrak has said, devotion to a single deity largely seems to be the purview of the upper classes in Sapience; rulers, monarchs, priests, adventurers - basically, either player characters or influential NPCs. The lower down you go on the proverbial food chain, the more and more polytheism and pantheism you find. Worth noting, that few of the lower-class inhabitants of Sapience would have personal experience with Gods.

It's easy as a player to forget that a lot of the knowledge you take for granted is not comprehensive to Sapience, or even known to your average Joe. So, for people living the simple life with not a lot to preoccupy it, the Gods explain away a lot of the gaps, and rites acknowledging them, even if certain communities might favor one or a few, are likely common practice - such that more centralized belief, like you'd find in the cities, might consider such practices heretical.

Folklore, varying by region and by continent, is a pretty universal part of Aetolian culture, and you can see outliers that predate the current Spirit/Shadow alignment of the game; one example that springs to mind is Beastlord lore, which incorporates some very Haernite elements into an otherwise very cultish, shadowy organization. There's probably lots of others, either onscreen or off, that fly beneath the current, bisected radar.

Obyn

It's also going to be a lot easier for someone who has never truly encountered one of the gods in person to revere them as a group rather than devote themselves to one god. Remember that your characters are the exception to the general rule of the game world - you've more power than the vast majority of the npc's out there, you're more likely to draw the direct attention of a god, and that direct attention can lead to a different understanding of the gods and your relationship to them than your average individual has.

I would imagine, though, that you're going to see communities revere gods in accordance to their own needs. A seaside village might see more daily worship of Slyphe, for example, than the rest of the gods, while a village in the forests might see more worship of Haern.

A real-life analog to this might be the ancient greeks, romans, egyptians, or other pantheistic societies.

Sarkis

So in essence, the Orders and Congregations fill the role of the various Roman Cults that generally pandered to the needs of the wealthy and powerful. Though in this case, it's more in terms of Adventurers being in the position to experience and learn about the Gods in ways that your average Joe farmer or teamster would not, simply because they live more mundane existences.

Err. I have a question about the economy of Sapience. It feels like there should be a mmmmuch more involved economic system of commodity trading, merchant guilds, and the like. As well as more riverine and highway traffic that would fuel the large city states and support the smaller communities. But what exactly is the closest real-world analog to the Aetolian economy? I know we had a super merchant guy who was like.. a robber baron and ran at one point, a monopoly on all the small NPC city vendors, but I'd like to know more about how things currently run. Is there an analog to the Hanseatic league? Or do we have something more like the Italian city-states, rather than say the Flemish (I'm making a lot of assumptions, I'm aware. For all I know, we're running off some sort of economic system like Warring States China).

Hadrak

Sarkis said:

So in essence, the Orders and Congregations fill the role of the various Roman Cults that generally pandered to the needs of the wealthy and powerful. Though in this case, it's more in terms of Adventurers being in the position to experience and learn about the Gods in ways that your average Joe farmer or teamster would not, simply because they live more mundane existences.

Err. I have a question about the economy of Sapience. It feels like there should be a mmmmuch more involved economic system of commodity trading, merchant guilds, and the like.

That'd be correct, Sarkis.

As for the second part, well, let's just say that our economy in the lore sense is barely present. We're hoping to change that down the road which you may be seeing rumblings from in places such as Esterport.

Reux

When vampires entomb, are they corporal, semi corporal, or very physical?

Alexina

Which is the most powerful entity in all of the Aetolian realms that the players actually know of (Varian excluded)?

Kerrithrim? The Shadow Mother? Some Dreikathi? Lanu Du? Golgotha?

Areka

My money's on Shadow Mother, hands down.

Hadrak

Reux said:

When vampires entomb, are they corporal, semi corporal, or very physical?

Incorporeal until they arrive in their coffin. They also attain an incorporeal, 'earthly' state when exiting it.

Alexina said:

Which is the most powerful entity in all of the Aetolian realms that the players actually know of (Varian excluded)?

The Shadow Mother and Lanu Du.

Canaan

Is there any more lore about the Tekal form besides what's in the "help Tekal" file?

Seir

Is there any kind of lore with Syssin Phase? I've always thought of it as some kind of connection between this world and maybe something to do with the Shadow Mother.

Hadrak

Canaan said:

Is there any more lore about the Tekal form besides what's in the "help Tekal" file?

Tekal is fairly straight forward and doesn't go much further beyond that 'hollowing of oneself to become a vessel for essence'.

Seir said:

Is there any kind of lore with Syssin Phase? I've always thought of it as some kind of connection between this world and maybe something to do with the Shadow Mother.

No, there is no connection to the Shadow Mother.

Xandren

Dristin

Xandren said:

Dendara is a separate plane, like the Prime Material Plane or Chaos Plane, that is home to ancient animal spirits/spirits of the Wild. It's the Wild at its peak, really. The Great Oak is a bridge to Dendara and is why Duiran is home to so many of its kind, including the Durdalis (there is more behind this, but best to ask in-game or find books on it in-game). Dendara itself, in majority, cannot be tread by mortals.

However, there are two places someone of Duiran or of Shaman class can tread - the Valley of the Ancients, a fragment of Dendara that holds totems to the ancient spirits the Praadi an-Kiar (Shamans) tie themselves to in blood for battle and then the Alcelian Moor (which was part of an event).

@Hadrak is your best resource for anything Dendara.

Serrice

Does soap exist in Aetolia?

Hadrak

Serrice said:

Does soap exist in Aetolia?

You'd find lye soaps, tallow soaps, some olive oil based soaps, and even fragrant oils that would be rubbed into the skin and scraped away depending on the culture. No liquid soaps, however, or anything like Irish Spring or Dove. They're all fairly basic.

Aishia

No amount of soap can wash away your shame @Serrice.

Xandren

okay, this IS a quiz question, but it's genuinely got me thinking, because I genuinely don't know this one. And I've checked all the related offered answers for any hint of finding the answer..but who IS the mother of Luzith? The giant as mothertrucking NOPE at the bottom of the hunting ground named after it, also known as Luzith's Lair?...and for that matter..who the crap SIRED that giant mothertrucking NOPE?

Xavin

I don't think an answer has been given there in game. But from a pure speculation point? I would expect it would either have been Chakrasul, since she's been associated with some pretty messed up arachnid stuff in the past (the spiders in Azdun, all the things that live in the Black Keep, etc, as well as Djeir) or, if it was a more recent birth....maybe Iosyne. But that's pure speculation from me as a player.

Toz

Xavin said:

I don't think an answer has been given there in game. But from a pure speculation point? I would expect it would either have been Chakrasul, since she's been associated with some pretty messed up arachnid stuff in the past (the spiders in Azdun, all the things that live in the Black Keep, etc, as well as Djeir) or, if it was a more recent birth....maybe Iosyne. But that's pure speculation from me as a player.

Props for not taking the obvious 'your mom' joke, like I would have!

Hadrak

Xandren said:

but who IS the mother of Luzith?

That is something that has yet to be revealed.

Antehe

It's Beehive Severn.

Xandren

@Hadrak

...if that's the case..then why is it one of Herolt's questions? I mean, I'm all for the hints at future events, sure, but I'm like..90% certain that if it's yet to be revealed, then, Herolt's either spoiling something, or you've set up an un-answerable trap in the quiz..

Hadrak

Xandren said:

@Hadrak

...if that's the case..then why is it one of Herolt's questions? I mean, I'm all for the hints at future events, sure, but I'm like..90% certain that if it's yet to be revealed, then, Herolt's either spoiling something, or you've set up an un-answerable trap in the quiz..

It looks like it was mistakenly added by one of our volunteers, so I will see about amending that. With that said, though, asking for quiz answers here really isn't kosher. And just to be clear, that isn't aimed at you directly, Xandren. I've seen several instances of people asking for answers to things that can all be found in-game for the quiz and it's a little disconcerting. If you think something in the quiz is suspect, just toss me a message in-game or PM on here.

Xandren

@Hadrak

It's no fuss, I didn't really mean it as asking for answers to the quiz in a non-kosher manner honestly.. I hadn't realized it wasn't a kosher question either, but every place I had checked, and everyone I asked IC had no idea.. I even went to one of the four potential answers and got no response.. but I suspect it had to do more with not having Celani puppeteering than anything if it's not in the code yet. Or having been revealed in an RP event yet.

Xandren

posting again 'cause questions are awesome: Does each race have its own creation stories and stuff? Like how in, for instance, the Elder Scrolls, the Khajiit have a very feline-oriented creation story about how cats are the smartest race and that they are why the moon is in the sky, and how its made of moonsugar, and other stuff? (I'm pulling that last detail out my arse, don't believe that one is actually cannon)

Xavin

There are some race-origin creation stories, and it's best to look at them as pure myth. Iirc, they're all HELP RACENAMEORIGIN.

Shachalai

In the case of the Mhun one, there was a different one once upon a time, and you can still dig it up in older IG literature - the new one in HELP MHUNORIGIN is an excerpt out of chapter one of the Mhun holy book. Here's the older one:

As told by Bhahren:

Ever have we suffered, and grown strong from our survival.

It was the time of the great unknowing. All was ignorance and instinct, and some practiced cruelty
without knowing what they did. Some of those with cruelty practiced upon them died in protest. Some
protested, with neither language nor understanding, and found freedom. Some sensed the safety in
submission, and these were our forefathers.

Imagine a young fox with a newly-caught rabbit, devouring leisurely. When the wolf comes, hungry and
lazy, it has merely to snap at the fox and soon it has a rabbit of its own. The fox leaves, half-fed
and frightened. In time, the wolf may follow the fox when it is hungry, for this is an easier way to
feed. All the while, the fox grows strong from the hunt, and labors because it sees naught else it
can do.

So it was with us, in all things. The other mortals kept us fed and safe as it pleased them, and for
them we worked and bled. For uncounted years did this continue, and we grew faster, and learned more
quickly than the others, not through Divine will but through our own toil. We labored on, later
constructing great temples and mines for the benefit of others. There was no God to speak for us, no
Goddess to rescue and soothe. We were unloved, and depended only on one another.

As we lifted the heavy stones, we grunted, "Mun." As we cried at night from our wounds, we whimpered,
"Mun." And later, as we railed against our captors, as we were different and a stronger people, we
cried "Mun!" in tortured pride. We are the Mhun, and those who would drive us as animals again will
come to learn regret.

Although it's clearly not written from the same perspective as the newer one, I still kind of like the way they dovetail with each other.

Kelliara

There are also ones about the Imps and Pixies, too, and how they're born from Khepri's laughter.

Something to do with Khepri, at least.

I also vaguely recall the Xoran one which has something to do with a woman who drank lava because she was dying of thirst.

Reux

Does anyone know what a gold sovereign actually looks like, or how large they are?

Kelliara

Reux said:

Does anyone know what a gold sovereign actually looks like, or how large they are?

I've always figured that it was the name of the currency, rather than the coin. I.e gold sovereign = dollars/euros/marks/whatever, and that different coins exist as various denominations of the currency.

As in, there is a coin representing a single sovereign. Another which is worth 5, 10, 100 etc etc.

Otherwise, geez. Quite a few people are dragging around hundreds and thousands and more coins.

Edit: Tried to make my rambling a bit clearer (hopefully).