Lore questions.

Omei

Moirean said:

Well I know that mechanically, I just was curious if there was more from a lore perspective. At one point there didn't used to be a split between shrine energy and god energy and I remember the changed being announced as an OOC thing for mechanics purposes, I thought?

For a long time, Omei had an empty order with no active representatives. Maybe one person who would log on from time to time. During this time, Omei was very weak, even sickly, with a weird spacey-looking form that was nearly invisible. This reflected not only Her lack of worshippers, but Her lack of essence, too.

This is not even necessarily how it would work for any other god. I would say that your offerings do influence our strength, but maybe not in ways that are easily mechanically represented.

Edit: Divorcing shrine energy from the god's actual essence (which is an actual value we have, that we can see in our SCORE and everything) was necessary for how our current Holy Orders work. It was necessary to make it a player-centric and player-powered resource. Trust me, some of the Gods have been stockpiling essence like pros since day one, and it would make things really imbalanced, really fast.

Evilo

Who is Qisythan Saifyr/ Sarefailen?

Toz

Squee, I was right about Carnifex soul stuff. Attacks the link between mind and body, which is why it causes dizziness/stupidity, and eventually blackouts.

Time to put Toz in a labcoat and move the Cabalists over.

Also, I have to know - what is in the 4th vial of venom in the antidote learning messages?

Omei

Evilo said:

Who is Qisythan Saifyr/ Sarefailen?

Gesundheit.

Toz said:

Squee, I was right about Carnifex soul stuff. Attacks the link between mind and body, which is why it causes dizziness/stupidity, and eventually blackouts.

Time to put Toz in a labcoat and move the Cabalists over.

Also, I have to know - what is in the 4th vial of venom in the antidote learning messages?

The gel that keeps Galleus's fauxhawk in place.

Aarbrok

So the purple sludge, is inherently poisonous or was at one time.  

Personally I am uncertain why it is not any longer poisonous, or harmful.  And if it is, shouldn't venturing into places where it is located be not good.  (Festering Wastes, Haern's temple, Etcetera)\

Everytime I go to Haern's temple I have tried to find a way to get rid of it, but I really do not know much about it in game, and anytime I have asked I get told OOCly there is nothing we can do about it. (Gone so far as to emote scrubbing it, and trying to wipe it up)

It was before Aarbrok's time but he knows as much as it was bad.

Maghak

Aarbrok said:

So the purple sludge, is inherently poisonous or was at one time.  

Personally I am uncertain why it is not any longer poisonous, or harmful.  And if it is, shouldn't venturing into places where it is located be not good.  (Festering Wastes, Haern's temple, Etcetera)\

Everytime I go to Haern's temple I have tried to find a way to get rid of it, but I really do not know much about it in game, and anytime I have asked I get told OOCly there is nothing we can do about it. (Gone so far as to emote scrubbing it, and trying to wipe it up)

It was before Aarbrok's time but he knows as much as it was bad.

The purple sludge is the result of the Aalen Bloom, a disastrous infection deployed from Dreikathi airships during the final stages of the invasion. Haern rendered it inert at the cost of His own health and power. Due to the nature of the material it's very difficult and hazardous to clean up - injecting it or smoking it will cause explosively terminal Aalen Bloom infection.

Toz said:

Also, I have to know - what is in the 4th vial of venom in the antidote learning messages?

It's people! The fourth vial of venom is people!

Evilo said:

Who is Qisythan Saifyr/ Sarefailen?

I haven't been able to find any information on this on either the Godwiki or ingame after a cursory search. I'll keep an eye out.

Daskalos

I want to smoke some just to see if that really happens....

Aarbrok

^ Aye, I knew it was leftover from the Dreikathi and that Haern sacrificed part of himself to cease the spreading of the Bloom etc.  Just was unsure on the why it was still around,  Thank You!

Maghak

According to a few poorly documented progs, Sarefaisir (informal form of 'Qisythan saifyr') appears to be an aspect of either Chakrasul or Galleus. They may also be a regional demigod rather than an entity associated with one of the Divine, it's very difficult to tell.

Xavin

Xavin actually has a vial of the sludge and a special syringe Niuri made for injecting it when we were trying to experiment with the stuff back when it first showed up.

Mariena

I have a lot of questions in regards to the Guardians/Kindred/Dendara. 

1. The Guardians have been described as nearly equal in power to the Gods, is this true?

2. If this is true, is it mechanically possible to sacrifice to them?

3. The Kindred. I still have no effing clue if they are people, other animal spirits, or what?

4. If The Centaurs can come to us, can we go visit Centaur land?

Haern

Mariena said:

I have a lot of questions in regards to the Guardians/Kindred/Dendara. 

1. The Guardians have been described as nearly equal in power to the Gods, is this true?

2. If this is true, is it mechanically possible to sacrifice to them?

3. The Kindred. I still have no effing clue if they are people, other animal spirits, or what?

4. If The Centaurs can come to us, can we go visit Centaur land?

1. Yep!

2. Nope, not yet.

3. People! A cult of sorts, in fact. A very angry cult.

4. No. Four legs good, two legs bad.

Iosyne

Mariena said:

I have a lot of questions in regards to the Guardians/Kindred/Dendara. 

4. If The Centaurs can come to us, can we go visit Centaur land?

The centaur are said to be from some of the most ancients valleys and forests of Dendara, or basically the innermost circle from its source if you want to think about it like concentric rings on a tree. Generally speaking, the oldest parts of the plane are the hardest to reach, both for its and your protection. With the problems Dendara has had regarding corrupting agents, it isn't likely this is going to change anytime soon.

Xavin

Iosyne said:

Mariena said:

I have a lot of questions in regards to the Guardians/Kindred/Dendara. 

4. If The Centaurs can come to us, can we go visit Centaur land?

The centaur are said to be from some of the most ancients valleys and forests of Dendara, or basically the innermost circle from its source if you want to think about it like concentric rings on a tree. Generally speaking, the oldest parts of the plane are the hardest to reach, both for its and your protection. With the problems Dendara has had regarding corrupting agents, it isn't likely this is going to change anytime soon.

I think the real reason is because of the giant spirit spiders. They're everywhere.

Daskalos

Speaking of regional demigods, there's a lot in Aetolia. Will we ever see them? I'm thinking it would be cool to have a super strong being in one area who once he leaves his region of influence grows weaker. Imagine a demi-god fighting in the Itzatl, then travelling to Duiran for help, but being away from his followers is weak. I dunno, it just seems like the alternative pantheons has so much room for expansion.

Aarbrok

My god, I will offer to Srahda so hard....

(Sorry Haern, I wont forget you either )

Xavin

New question!

To what extent are we as players allowed to take liberties with what our characters are capable doing in roleplay with the various skillsets at our disposal? Are we expected to stick to the cut and dry 'this is what you can do based on your abilities' with very little room to go beyond that? Or are larger strokes permissible?

Moirean

Xavin wants to know if we can make ice chairs.

Omei

Ice chairs are one of those things that I would sigh heavily at, but say isn't really out of the reach for a practiced Ascendril.

Moirean

I think being able to do fun stuff like that isn't really that horrible and it's fun. We play a game like this to imagine up creative things. I know I personally get giddy over my captured-soul-forcefield more than I should.

Xavin

Grumpgrumpbutelemancyispracticallynothingbutflashbangskillsgrump

But really, where is the line drawn with particular skillsets in terms of what a practiced character can accomplish with them?

Also, new question! What does channeling each particular element actually entail? Is it a conduit to that particular elemental plane or is it harnessing the ambient amounts of each element on the plane that character is on or just in their local area?

Maghak

Daskalos said:

Speaking of regional demigods, there's a lot in Aetolia. Will we ever see them? 

Xavin said:

But really, where is the line drawn with particular skillsets in terms of what a practiced character can accomplish with them?

Unfortunately neither of these are lore questions so much as a request for future information and an administration issue respectively.

Xavin said:

Also, new question! What does channeling each particular element actually entail? Is it a conduit to that particular elemental plane or is it harnessing the ambient amounts of each element on the plane that character is on or just in their local area?

I think the fact that you have to forge elemental channels speaks for itself! Ascendril and Sciomancers make use of elemental power taken directly from the planes, while groups like the Pact make use of ambient channeling in their combat. Keep an eye on Mournhold, because I will be putting quite a bit of IC writing on the topic into the Pact library.

Veovis

Who built the Sanctum Sanguinis? Years ago we had some hints, along with some stuff about Geryon's origin, but I'm hazy on the details.

Daskalos

Whatever happened to the original crescent the Daru had? Backstory: Arion stole it when Searoth made Haern patron against his will. (Searoth was in Haern's Order at the time). Searoth then took a branch from Yggdrasil and made the current crescent with some ritual (thus starting the 'we can make our OWN master sparks?! and leading to the first hints about the Illuminai). But no one ever knows what happened to the first crescent. Did Arion eat it? Or was it settled while I wasn't playing for about a year there? I can't find ANYTHING in game about it.

Aishia

Whatever happened with that golem thing Niuri was making when she took Aishia's heart, Xavin's eyes. (Other peoples other things?) I think she still HAD* all the parts! I'm scared.

Neoma

Rivas said:

WHAT IN THE EVERLOVING UNICORNS IS THE HOWLING???

The very first question on this lore thread and still no one answered. Osifer wrote a book way back at the dawn of Aetolia which to me is a great story and gives a lore back ground to the howling. The book is called Sheine the Wolf, it is Sheine who howls. I think the book is still available in various libraries and if you want to approach me IC i will give you a copy from my personal library.

Back then I remember Niuri encouraging such endeavors as creating a feasible back ground to explain the world of sapience. My own endeavor was the explanation of the monastery in Putoran hills and the Order of Chroniclers.

So yeah some of the lore of aetolia was created by many anecdotes from various players...  me thinks.  8->

Angwe

Someone explain Mhun naming conventions to me? I've noticed some consistency between suffixes with the named NPCs in Moghedu, but I can't figure the rhyme or reason to them, nor any real world counterpart.

Veovis

Omei said:

 It was necessary to make it a player-centric and player-powered resource. Trust me, some of the Gods have been stockpiling essence like pros since day one, and it would make things really imbalanced, really fast.

So what role does essence currently play? I know a very long time ago in Achaea it was rather difficult to do certain things if you didn't have essence, because a lot of the god commands relied on essence.

Omei

Neoma said:

Rivas said:

WHAT IN THE EVERLOVING UNICORNS IS THE HOWLING???

The very first question on this lore thread and still no one answered. Osifer wrote a book way back at the dawn of Aetolia which to me is a great story and gives a lore back ground to the howling. The book is called Sheine the Wolf, it is Sheine who howls. I think the book is still available in various libraries and if you want to approach me IC i will give you a copy from my personal library.

Maghak said:

To quote from the only source we have on hand: 

"Sheine was the daughter of a Druid and an Occultist but cursed: he was born in wolf form. Having a rational, sentient brain but no way to communicate, Sheine was plagued by torment. When her forestal home was burned by wildfire, she had no way to express her pain other than to howl. Her howl still rings across the land, echoing in each mortal's ears once a month."

Omei

Veovis said:

Omei said:

 It was necessary to make it a player-centric and player-powered resource. Trust me, some of the Gods have been stockpiling essence like pros since day one, and it would make things really imbalanced, really fast.

So what role does essence currently play? I know a very long time ago in Achaea it was rather difficult to do certain things if you didn't have essence, because a lot of the god commands relied on essence.

I was going to type out a big technical answer on this, but you know? I'd rather not specify. There are a large number of ways we interface with players that costs essence, ranging from "not a big deal" to "so expensive you probably don't want to do it more than one RL month".

But I think that takes away from one of the few things in this game that still has magic to it. I'd rather not players treat even the providing of our essence as just another currency, just another system to min/max. Characters provide the gods with essence because they love them, and because they know the gods use it as power.