Howdy, Stranger!
Categories
- 3.7K All Categories
- 3K The Midnight Age
- 757 Announce posts
- 125 Newbies
- 6 Class Guides
- 804 Harpy's Head Tavern
- 57 Echo Canyon
- 310 Self-Affirmations
- 163 Town Crier
- 135 The Exchange
- 167 Sparring Grounds
- Combat Guides
- 30 Combat Logs
- 188 Idea Box
- 9 Classleads
- 578 Roleplay Logs
- 107 Aetolia Development
- 5 The Void
- 744 Miscellaneous
- 9 Announcements
- 417 OOC Chat
- 217 Tech Talk
- 47 Scripts
Looking for more active discussion? Join our Discord at https://discord.gg/x2s7fY6
A Roleplay Guide to Sapience
Have an idea for a new character's history, or trying to find out if an aesthetic exists in the game? This is the place for you! Discuss and ask questions about the landscape and cultures, find that information you need, and so on.
Common Questions and Scenarios
Can my character be from an unknown, unexplorable village?
Within reason. We learn more and find new areas about Sapience even now, so there are still unexplored pockets and possibilities. NPCs and production of goods need to come from somewhere, so there is room for additions. It just needs to be reasonable. It is more likely that there are unmapped goat-herding villages or farms, or living quarters past hunting areas, than there are likely to be major palaces and monarchies that no one has heard about.
Can my character be from Albedos?
At this point in time, no. Albedos is not allowing immigrants, and keeps a close watch on people from Sapience coming through the Portal, so it is not possible to 'sneak' in.
Can my character be of mixed race?
As you can only be one race mechanically, the general answer is 'no' - you should conform primarily to the race you selected. However, there is some blurring genetics so that some traits can be shifted - no humans with furred Rajamala ears, but you can have have half-pointed ears for Tsol'aan lineage, or stronger facial features or a larger nose for human-dwarf breeds, etc. The larger mixes come with the Ascended (endgame) races of Tekal/Azudim/Yeleni/Idreth.
What bodily functions do undead/vampires retain? Do they breathe in order to speak? Can they blush? Why do they need to eat (if lower than level 80)?
Due to mechanics (since Undead take asphyxiation and bleeding damage), circulation and respiration still function to some degree. Breathing, while not necessary to survive, is needed to speak, shout, or mimic the actions of the living. Similar to circulation - it is needed for bodily functions in the mimicking of living actions - blushing, to maintain muscles for movement, etc. The degree that this is taken is up to the individual, though there are still some definite rules - other functions and systems do not work. Undead cannot reproduce. As for eating - they are expending energy to work their skill sets, hunt, fight, and so on, so must intake things to replenish it. This is further built upon curatives being consumed.
Do undead bodies react in the same way to stimuli as mortal bodies (ranging in anything from being touched, heat/warmth, high altitudes, taking a blow to the head, imbibing alcohol/poisons, etcetera). Why? Why not?
There are a lot of variations for how this is handled. There is interesting roleplay both in having Undead still susceptible to the things as the living (which is easier), while having them removed and out of touch from those things also provides some unique avenues. It is up to the player, though a general caution - undeath doesn't give an excuse to godmode being utterly impervious to surroundings or elements. Not feeling the blow to the head or a touch to the skin as much does not mean there is not still some impact.
What does it feel like being bitten and fed on by a vampire? How does it feel for a vampire to feed on another person?
"The IG messages imply that it's supposed to feel euphoric and sexy for both parties. I imagine the actual throat-chomping would still sting, though."
"The IG messages imply that it's supposed to feel euphoric and sexy for both parties. I imagine the actual throat-chomping would still sting, though."
Questions about the different races: Do any of them lay eggs (atavians, horkvali, grook, and xoran, specifically)?
There are egg references for Horkval and Grecht (what - please retcon, bats don't create eggs), but there has not been evidence beyond this. Most RP live birth, though some vary the gestation period depending upon the mother's race, or that of the planned race of the child. Most of the creation myths have the races drawing from some proto-human, which suggests related ancestors and things in common.
There are egg references for Horkval and Grecht (what - please retcon, bats don't create eggs), but there has not been evidence beyond this. Most RP live birth, though some vary the gestation period depending upon the mother's race, or that of the planned race of the child. Most of the creation myths have the races drawing from some proto-human, which suggests related ancestors and things in common.
How does becoming Tekal/Azudim/Yeleni/Idreth change you? Do you retain features from your original race? How far can you stray from the norm when ascending your mortal race?
Tekal tends to be something of a purgatory - painful, hollow, grey fleshed and disproportionate to original forms, and so on. Azudim/Yeleni/Idreth is much more colourful, so to speak, as it's completing the form (even for Idreth). It is commonly accepted that endgame affords a chance to be whatever you want, by golly you earned it with that grind. Sprout horns, tails, wings, an impressive shnoz, scales, what-have-you. Part of this explanation is that Ascendence is something of a projection or manifestation of your character's mind/nature, bound in flesh and bone. It can shift as your character shifts, though note that this generally should not be an overnight 'tada I'm the opposite' change.
Tekal tends to be something of a purgatory - painful, hollow, grey fleshed and disproportionate to original forms, and so on. Azudim/Yeleni/Idreth is much more colourful, so to speak, as it's completing the form (even for Idreth). It is commonly accepted that endgame affords a chance to be whatever you want, by golly you earned it with that grind. Sprout horns, tails, wings, an impressive shnoz, scales, what-have-you. Part of this explanation is that Ascendence is something of a projection or manifestation of your character's mind/nature, bound in flesh and bone. It can shift as your character shifts, though note that this generally should not be an overnight 'tada I'm the opposite' change.
Do undead/vampires experience the same emotions as living? Why don't they dream?
According to Omei, no. She has said that life essence is what allows mortal beings to experience emotion; I specifically remember Her once making an analogy between vampires/undead and a severed limb: a person who has lost an arm may so strongly remember what sensation in it felt like that they still perceive sensation, but of course, it isn't the real thing. They don't dream because dreams are Omei's gift, and She sees vampires/undead as an abomination of life. Note that this is also Divine Politics.
6
Comments
The physical location of Duiran is very large. It's a giant valley, mostly forested. Four large, canyonlike mountains box it in. These mountains are all partially hollowed out (hence the term 'Hollow' i.e. 'East Hollow, South Hollow, ect'). The Great Oak kinda sits on top of all of this. I haven't quite figured out what exactly that looks like, but it's implied that the Oak's giant roots hold it up and it kinda sits on the surrounding mountains? That part is really confusing. In the center of the valley, there's a forested island surrounded by a lake. The lake is called Onimah(sp). This has something to do with Lleis. The island hosts the Heartwood, which is somehow connected to every forest in Sapience. Someone else should explain this, as I've been unable to find out much information about all that. In the center of the Heartwood, the 'core' of the Great Oak can be found. The Core is a semi-physical manifestation of Dendara (the plane of primal/animal souls) or something. IDK. Forestal stuff is really vague.
That made my day in regards to the accent.
Bloodloch
Geography: Underground, with Volcanic caverns running through various layers of the Mountain from subterranean with lava, gases, and poisonous air into the upper regions with huge open amphitheatres and stone passages.
Undeath and vampirism (referring solely to player characters):
Questions about the different races:
Race geography
Atavian:
The home town of the Atavians is Aerie, a village hidden inside a mountain in the Vashnars.
Dwarf:
Dwarves has two major settlements. The village of Tainhelm in the Sirrocian mountains and the Khauskin mines in the Dakhota hills.
Grecht:
Though they don't technically have a village yet, the first Grecht appeared on top of a mountain in the Sirrocian mountains. One could assume that a settlement is hidden away somewhere around there.
Grook:
Grooks have their own village on the island of Ulangi, but can also be found in the swampy village of Torstone, close to the Shamtota hills and the Pash valley.
Human:
Humans basically come from all over the place and there are lots of options. If you want the more tribal kind, Sinnetok or Nuunva in the Tundras. Do you want a calm upbringing fishing by the lake, Attica. The options here are endless.
Horkval:
Just like the Grook, the Horkval has a hive on Ulangi but can also be found in Torston.
Imp:
Imps come from the village of New Sehal, a newbie-only area. If it wasn't for the enslaved pixies, it's quite a pleasant place.
Kelki:
The poor Kelki lost their underwater home Kelsys, but instead chased away the infestation of the thrim from the old fishing town of Shastaan, renaming it Mournhold. It is located to the east of the Raphaelan highway.
Mhun:
The mhun has their home in the deep caves and mines of Moghedu. It's big, they don't need any other place.
Rajamala:
The jungle village of Saluria is the home of the Rajamalas. Even though some priests are still found in the ruins of Farsai, it's not a place to raise a child.
Troll:
Trolls has quite a few home towns by now. There are still trolls in the ruins of Hashan, the first troll home in the Northern Ithmias. Then there is the Craneskull settlement in the Mannaseh swamp, clammy and damp. Finally, there is the new settlement northeastish of the Western tundra, and I just can't remember the name right now.
Tsol'aa:
From what I know, the Tsol'aa are homeless now. They used to come from the forest village in Aalen, but after the outburst of the Aalen bloom, the village has been deserted.
Xoran:
I am sure I have missed some things, so fill in what you can.The village of Xoral in the Mhojave desert is the first home of the Xorani. The second one is Xaanhal, an underground settlement in the northern parts of the Shamtota hills.
As far as RL analogues go-
Attica, Jaru and Arbothia tend to be kind of England/Old Country-ish.
Djeir tends to be a combo of French and Italian.
El'Jazira is all arabian nights, but some of the food and whatnot there is a bit Mediterranean as well.
Saluria has a lot of aztec influence going on.
My two bob on mixed races: Seeing as mechanically you can only be one race, I tend to play it that a child is always entirely one race, but has the chance of being either the race of the mother or the father. Call it Aetolian genetics- dominance/recessiveness is a package deal, all or nothing. That also can be applied to a child who's neither of the parents' races- it might be that one of them was carrying recessive (and entirely unexpressed) genes for another race and the kid picked up on those instead.
Some responses to Alexuu- (Disclaimer: It's just my opinion, man. Also omitted the ones I don't have a clue about.)
[spoiler]
What bodily functions do undead/vampires retain? Do they breathe in order to speak? Can they blush? Why do they need to eat (if lower than level 80)?
The way mechanics work in aet, you pretty much have to assume that respiration and circulation work a lot like the living- or else there'd be no bleeding or asphyxiation on that side of combat. On the realistic-science side of things, they'd need to breathe to speak, because that's part of making sound. Blushing is probably down to the individual on how heavily they want to RP being undead- the really corpsey people probably won't, but the folk who choose to RP it as 'alive with a different method of staying so' would likely want to rp blushing and whatnot. The only thing that there's real hard and fast rules on is that systems other than circulatory and respiratory are nonfunctional (especially reproductive).
The eating thing can actually be explained by the take on Necromancy that the cabal uses- basically, essence is energy, and you get your essence from your food. So even though they're not the same as the living, the undead still need to take in stuff containing essence to fuel their movement and healing and stuff. So that's why they still need to eat!
Do undead/vampires experience the same emotions as living? Why don't they dream?
I believe there's actual IG lore about this- something about Omei disliking undeath and not giving dreams to the undead because of that.
Do undead bodies react in the same way to stimuli as mortal bodies (ranging in anything from being touched, heat/warmth, high altitudes, taking a blow to the head, imbibing alcohol/poisons, etcetera). Why? Why not?
Again, probably down to the individual roleplayer. It's easier (and often more interesting) to roleplay an undead character being susceptible to the same things as the living- on the other hand, if you want to get into the living-corpse bracket of RP there's probably some fun writing in underscoring that stuff doesn't work quite right anymore.
What does it feel like being bitten and fed on by a vampire? How does it feel for a vampire to feed on another person?
The IG messages imply that it's supposed to feel euphoric and sexy for both parties. I imagine the actual throat-chomping would still sting, though.
Questions about the different races:
Do any of them lay eggs (atavians, horkvali, grook, and xoran, specifically)?
I believe there's mention of eggs in the Horkval hive, but aside from that there's no evidence of eggs being a thing. Assuming that most races give birth to live young makes the idea of interspecies children more plausible. Also, most of the creation myths talk about the races being formed from the undescribed but presumably human-ish proto-aetolians, so that's a little bit of support for them all having some bits in common.
Tsol'aa are supposed to be Aetolia's version of elves, right? Are there any significant differences?
Not really, as far as I know! They're kind of generic and sadly under-represented in the lore. I know I always try and give them a more alien look than the standard tolkien elf when I'm drawing them, but that's the extent of it.
The helpfile states that Atavian view humans with some measure of disdain. Why? And why not the other races? How does this show in game?
It doesn't show, because nobody's ever really gone into it. That's just one of those little bits of lore that's technically there but nobody really knows or cares about. It'd probably need some admin work to actually become a thing, and there probably isn't anyone upstairs who remembers why it was written that way in the first place. That's the problem with a lot of the lore in Aet, really, because there's a high turnover upstairs and a lot of stuff doesn't have notes as to why-and-how attached. Someone from upstairs might have some insight on this question, though.
How does becoming Tekal/Azudim/Yeleni/Idreth change you? Do you retain features from your original race? How far can you stray from the norm when ascending your mortal race?
It's pretty commonly accepted that endgame is your chance to be whatever the heck you want to be, because you earnt it with all that bashing. A lot of people keep their old features because they're important to who their character is. Some people choose to completely shake it up, though (Pilar comes to mind- grecht girl to deer-satyr, ok).
It's common to have the Tekal stage be a kind of... purgatory, though. One last test before ascension, as it were. There's no hard and fast rules on Azudim/Yeleni/Idreth appearances, but it is in the lore that Tekal are grey-skinned and washed out, and tend to be stretched and huge.
[/spoiler]
"The smell of dusty fur, sweet smoke, waiting and patience, a thing that time cannot kill. The moth that candles won't burn."
It's usually a pretty personal thing for each person, often guided by the house they're in. D'baen are sticklers about tradition, and since that's one of the first, it makes sense that they require it. Others literally view it as a status symbol - the higher, the better. Then you have people who don't like it, sometimes specifically for one or both of those reasons. They might see it as holding the society back because they're clinging to old ideas, or making people with higher bloodranks seem better than those with lower ones, even if the latter are just as good or even better in other ways. There are still others who go one way or the other specifically because their sire asked them to without having any strong feelings themselves, or chooses one or the other based on whatever other people around them do because they don't have any strong feelings about it.
"The smell of dusty fur, sweet smoke, waiting and patience, a thing that time cannot kill. The moth that candles won't burn."
Before Omei held her end of the bargain up, though, she disappeared. Then when she showed up several real-life months later and was approached again she tried to play it off like the deal never happened.
From what I understand, it was due to the new player not knowing about the deal in the first place.
Some people rp having been close to the guild/living in the city as children, giving them a better understanding of how it works, making it part of their history. Others join up as a means to stay safe from the Slavers (after leaving the introduction), and learn how to fend for themselves. It all depends on how you want to play your character and implement their history.
Also RE your post about races, Areka- Xoral is where the Xorali live, and Scidve has the Drakt- they're subsets, supposed to be more like cousins of the Xorani. They're actually called Xorani in Xanhaal though.
"The smell of dusty fur, sweet smoke, waiting and patience, a thing that time cannot kill. The moth that candles won't burn."
As far as forgetting general skills, that's a bit more tricky. I'd be inclined to say that you haven't really forgotten them entirely since you can study them again if you want to use them. You would just need a refresher to use them properly or be able to teach them to other people.
Basically what @Emelle said. I don't know anything about a person upon meeting them until they or someone else says their name. At that point, I figure that their honours information is more or less available to me and that my character can go forth and access the public records about people. If they're already very well-known for whatever reason - either globally or in Ciarelle's little world - however, then I'll assume my character can gather who they are.
To me, it seems like ascension etc. can play a huge role in this. Our characters aren't entirely normal people. When they reach level 80, they can control their bodies enough that they no longer need to sleep or eat and they can transform into something else completely at level 100. It seems like it would be simple enough for them to have some control over their physical aging.