The Earthheart - OOC

Am digging the Huginnese / Larocian backstory.

Szemetlada wrote:

To whomever organized the google drive: That's amazing, I love you.

*basks*

Ømnivalence wrote:

What does "Dual Counterparts" mean.

My bad for not explaining. I figured that each region of the Beyond would be dual to a (large) region in realspace, and will leverage that to generate more regions on both sides. Better do that before Mata gets too far with his map, welp.

re: too many races, which ones are looking dry? Besides the goblins, orcs, and gnomes. As for streamlining-away, I suppose the fair folk (except they're in the intro), fey, giants (especially), and bugs are our candidates.

(Also the rest of Grand's races, but it seems rude to point that out. At a stretch, though, Fishfolk could be merged with Naiads, and Skald Skrae with Constructs. Plus, then I wouldn't have to stop contemplating Naga as a type of Reptilian.)

Patches wrote:

Sweet glyphs. Hmm... we could definitely convert arbitrary text into these glyphs, with judicious find-and-replace. But it's too bad the process isn't completely automated, unless we were to steal the TennoTyper code. And/or make a font. But that'd have to be scalable.

Will send sketch progress once it is digitized.

Am contemplating Mazdai / Chorus relations. If they're not trash to start with (but do in some form exist), they're probably being sabotaged by Seraph eager to play two problems off against each other.

To generalize: the Mazdai are an Outside Context Problem. Nobody can put anything outside the solar system without getting lost in the Beyond, except for their reports (if any) back to home.

But since we can't very well let them destroy native civilization, as colonialists tend to, said natives must have improbably powerful protectors - i.e. all the Beyond-linked races. Whom I interpret as very isolationist in attitude, because otherwise the Mazdai cease to be outside of context.

Why? Unless their continued existence strictly depends upon the Ancient-derived races.

Spirits cling to old relationships (one assumes), Seraph and Shades meddle (when they bother) to inspire harmony and dissent (one assumes), and the Chorus farms biomass. If they weren't stunted by conflict, then they'd be making better time towards the planet's core.

Admiral Ji wrote:

I don't see anything specifically wrong with them, at least as a concept. Though now I think with them the setting/intent of the story/scope of the story is getting rather blended into an alphabet soup of concepts. Not that there's anything technically bad about that, just, we want to be careful the story doesn't lose any narrative cohesion.

I am starting to see your point.

Problems beyond the scope of the PCs' influence are unlikely to affect the narrative simply because there's nothing to be done about 'em. Still safer to take a look at them than to risk a plot hole in the backstory, though. I may be completely wrong about this.

JazzTap wrote:

(Also the rest of Grand's races, but it seems rude to point that out. At a stretch, though, Fishfolk could be merged with Naiads, and Skald with Constructs. Plus, then I wouldn't have to stop contemplating Naga as a type of Reptilian.)

I take great offense to this. You even misspelled Skrae! In retribution for this insult, I am releasing JazzTap's personal information (namely, her image) to the internet. You may find it below.

JazzTap:

Thanks. If you'll pardon the bird-pun, I have been mostly winging it. :p

Admittedly, anything in the story we don't get to didn't even matter. I just tend to assume that anything mentioned in a planning stage like this is at least hoped to be relevant, by at least one person. Just want to make sure the story makes it out as intended, and isn't buried under side-stories with vastly different themes.

Though, Jazz, do the natives need protection? This is a planet that has the thermonuclear warhead, let the technologically inept invaders come, and the people of the world will show them the might of science.

"You know these magical crystals you've got there? Let me show you the science version: Uranium."

Most likely the problem is that almost everything we have to go on is side stories and pet projects, due to main-plot being under wraps.

Biology and modelling (via magical instrumentation as it may so happen) don't count as technological advancement? We had better not lose the element of surprise. At least our mages might learn to counter-spell, and then to clean up the fallout.

Localized ecological consequences really shouldn't be my biggest concern. Wait. By how much does magic improve public health? It could even be a detriment, if infections/cancers are magic-resistant and some curses are contagious.

I suppose mechanically might have been the better term? The last one I'd looked at was Patches', who were specifically implied to be unable to do most acts of regular technology.

I mean, those are the sciences. I'm not arguing it doesn't require thought to do.

I maintain the present technological level attainable by people who aren't very magically inclined can probably handle any outside threat that didn't arrive at a cruising speed of warp 7, armed with phasers and absolutely no understanding of the prime directive.

I hesitate to start striking off races because I'm hoping that we'll get new charries as the RP goes on :P And we never know where our adventures will take us. A location that seems an afterthought now, for instance, might be central in a subplot to come! Which when that happens, of course we'll need to flesh that place out in preparation. xP This is why the map is gonna be helpful, I think, so we can really put into geographical perspective where the adventure fits in with the world!

Speaking of maps I wanna have a basic-concept map up by the end of today. Any place mentioned that doesn't have a continent/location listed I'll just stick where it feels right, and after I post the map y'all can move them around if you like :D

Then I'll make a final version, with fancy text and scenery and all. There'll be blank areas to add in more stuff, too!

Yeah I apologize for keeping the main plot so secret xP But all will be reveeeealled~

JazzTap wrote:

Patches wrote:

Sweet glyphs. Hmm... we could definitely convert arbitrary text into these glyphs, with judicious find-and-replace. But it's too bad the process isn't completely automated, unless we were to steal the TennoTyper code. And/or make a font. But that'd have to be scalable.

Will send sketch progress once it is digitized.

Am contemplating Mazdai / Chorus relations. If they're not trash to start with (but do in some form exist), they're probably being sabotaged by Seraph eager to play two problems off against each other.

To generalize: the Mazdai are an Outside Context Problem. Nobody can put anything outside the solar system without getting lost in the Beyond, except for their reports (if any) back to home.

But since we can't very well let them destroy native civilization, as colonialists tend to, said natives must have improbably powerful protectors - i.e. all the Beyond-linked races. Whom I interpret as very isolationist in attitude, because otherwise the Mazdai cease to be outside of context.

Why? Unless their continued existence strictly depends upon the Ancient-derived races.

Spirits cling to old relationships (one assumes), Seraph and Shades meddle (when they bother) to inspire harmony and dissent (one assumes), and the Chorus farms biomass. If they weren't stunted by conflict, then they'd be making better time towards the planet's core.

Thank you Jazz! I don't really intend on using that alphabet too often, if anything, because it'd be so troublesome to do so. Just on special occasions. It really is a shame I can't just so something like... CTRL+SHIFT+ALT, and then the letter I want to replace, and replace the letter with one of the glyphs.

As for the Mazdai's protection, I was thinking of a couple o' things. One of them is, since there are only so few Mazdai on the planet, they can't really afford to turn everyone against them. So instead they act friendly with the natives and play in accordance with them until a main invading force comes along. As for how they'll be able to do what they do without pissing everyone off, that's still something to be considered.

Another idea is that, one of the primary dominant races see the Mazdai as holy figures, or as gods or prophets. A group/kingdom important enough that, if angered and forced to secede from whatever peace-time there is, it would mean a lot of trouble. I was also thinking: what is the Beyond, necessarily? Space is often considered the "beyond". Perhaps a group thinks that and considers the Mazdai to be one of the ancient/beyond races, while in truth, seraphs and shades are disdainful because aliens really aren't. Perhaps then we can coin "pseudo-beyond".

JazzTap wrote:

Admiral Ji wrote:

I don't see anything specifically wrong with them, at least as a concept. Though now I think with them the setting/intent of the story/scope of the story is getting rather blended into an alphabet soup of concepts. Not that there's anything technically bad about that, just, we want to be careful the story doesn't lose any narrative cohesion.

I am starting to see your point.

Problems beyond the scope of the PCs' influence are unlikely to affect the narrative simply because there's nothing to be done about 'em. Still safer to take a look at them than to risk a plot hole in the backstory, though. I may be completely wrong about this.

Fortunately, the Mazdai won't be much of a setting concept and only a quirky little detail about the world - "oh, by the way, we made contact with extra-terrestrial life" - since the Mazdai likely wouldn't as play any significant plot device until several sequels are made (or if we make one giant time skip). Though I definitely see that there is a lot of stuffing going on at the moment. Like it's been said, a couple of things are going to need shaving.

Snowy wrote:

"You know these magical crystals you've got there? Let me show you the science version: Uranium."

It's funny you mention that, because when I was thinking about their planet, if their core was made largely of uranium. Thought of it when I was reading about that black fungus over in Chernobyl that was thriving in the area. Granted, it contained a lot of melanin, which is the supposed reason it was able to capture the radiation. It'd be hard to justify melanin in a creature that is kinda pink. Maybe the inside of the creature has it? Black/dark-colored organs? That'd kind amp up the alien factor quite a bit. Then there'd also be a viable danger to their terraforming. With very slight levels of radioactivity, something you'd have to actively scan for to notice.

Szemetlada wrote:

I hesitate to start striking off races because I'm hoping that we'll get new charries as the RP goes on :P And we never know where our adventures will take us. A location that seems an afterthought now, for instance, might be central in a subplot to come! Which when that happens, of course we'll need to flesh that place out in preparation. xP This is why the map is gonna be helpful, I think, so we can really put into geographical perspective where the adventure fits in with the world!

Speaking of maps I wanna have a basic-concept map up by the end of today. Any place mentioned that doesn't have a continent/location listed I'll just stick where it feels right, and after I post the map y'all can move them around if you like :D

Then I'll make a final version, with fancy text and scenery and all. There'll be blank areas to add in more stuff, too!

Yeah I apologize for keeping the main plot so secret xP But all will be reveeeealled.

That kinda plays a part in the clutter and downfall of RPs though. At this point we have plenty of members, some of which are making/have-made two characters. We've also got a pretty small pool of members on the forum to choose from, so it's not like there are so many people we have to consider. And striking off races might leave more room for us to do more things.

I like the go with the wind and let the story take us wherever we've got going on, but we also can't lose sight of where we're going. A solid foundation and goal is still pretty important. We also need solid answers on whether or not something is going to exist so we can write that into the world. If we continue with the idea of "well, x race may or may not be removed, we'll see", we're then travelling in an incomplete world. Where x race would normally be on the map, there's a giant black void.

At some point we're gonna have to balance "we want to please everybody" and "alright everyone, put on your big kid underwear or the train trucks on without you".

I'm against striking off some of the lesser built custom races, but I feel like staple fantasy races like dreads and merfolk and such should stay.

Additionally certain races like spirits can exist without much depth to them. If that makes sense.

I think The Cyclops and the Chorus could go.

I'd totally develop the Dryads and the Naiads more if it meant they got to stay.

Hey Patches download this font! It's not perfect but maybe you can put it on to RPP somehow... but if not, then it would at least make it easier to post in Mazdai; you'd just type it out in Word and screencap I guess xP Just put the .ttf file in your c:/windows/fonts. Unless you on mac or somethin, then I don't even know.


Well, I guess you're right :P How shall we decide which races will go?

I really don't want to base any of them. :c it's a little cluttered but it think part of a fantasy and part of the real world is that it is a little cluttered yknow. I'd rather just spend more time developing all of them.

Wait is Kyra the Bloodthirstiest Bachelorette

If there core was largely made up of uranium... What? I dunno, feels like you left a half formed thought there.

But, the radiation wouldn't penetrate through the mantle and the crust, unless it was so much of the inside of the planet, at which point that's a great big ball of one of the heaviest, rarest metals, and if it wasn't going to take infinity years to get there, we'd be better suited counter invading,

I think we're all a little bit unhinged, Omni.

Before you start killing stuff, I'm working on a dwarf and a demon (so don't get rid of them or I'll cry). Also, sorry I haven't been around a whole lot. School's been really hard on me and I'm sick right now. I'll get my sheets in soon.

I vote we don't kill anything. I'm gonna start working on some of the lesserdone species.

Szemetlada wrote:

Hey Patches download this font! It's not perfect but maybe you can put it on to RPP somehow... but if not, then it would at least make it easier to post in Mazdai; you'd just type it out in Word and screencap I guess xP Just put the .ttf file in your c:/windows/fonts. Unless you on mac or somethin, then I don't even know.


Well, I guess you're right :P How shall we decide which races will go?

Hey, this is really super cool and I am thrilled that you did this. But there's that problem with users only being able to see the font if they have it downloaded in their computer in C:\Windows\Fonts. I might have to do that screen capping thing.

Ømnivalence wrote:

I vote we don't kill anything. I'm gonna start working on some of the lesserdone species.

If we cannot slash any of the races off, then we should at least make them non-playble and insert them into lore. Regardless of what is done, there's still a majority consensus that there is too much going on in the RP at the moment. Ultimately it is Szemetlada's decision, but given how we are still world-building, everyone is pitching their opinions in. The fact remains that we have a crap-ton of material in the setting that might not end up using. There's a lot on our plate and we can't finish it without something going to waste - and if we try a bit of everything, we won't finish any of it, and something of everything goes to waste. A juggler can only throw so many clubs before he drops one and everything falls. Whatever analogy or euphemism you like, something has to be done about it.

Why would someone who isn't a little unhinged go on a quest to save the world?

Mightn't there be more efficient ways to allocate our race-development time? Patches has made this case more eloquently. I think we can do better than backgrounding without integrating, though. Sprawl isn't the biggest problem - disconnection is.

I suggest we make the various giants literal cases of pituitary gigantism (possibly co-located with cases of acromegaly), which lets us steal their lore for their parent race.

We could spread them around a bit. For instance: trolls -> orcs, biclops -> humans, cyclops -> dwarves, triclops -> elves. (Pfft, genetics. How unlikely is it that gigantism should be chromosomally linked to genes determining the layout of one's oculars?)

Gnomes should probably not literally be little people, because then why aren't dwarves literally dwarves? But I was wondering why they have more magical aptitude than humans, anyways. And musing that a pair of 'gnomes' with multiple biological children of average human height is not actually implausible, according to human biology.

(In any case, we'd just be reorganizing certain phenotype-linked cultures into being subcultures. Thereby reducing the nation count.)

Bugs could just be a kind of shade (that cut themselves off from magic for defense), possibly with home colonies in the Beyond and a link to the Living Isle. I'd encourage Grand to do something with the Skrae.

Let's call it streamlining, not killing. And I'll argue it would have the benefit of integrating more flavor into our stock fantasy races.

Well I've never been a huge fan of different magical creature hybrids, but that just might work. I mean, there's different kind of humans and different body shapes, skull shapes, etc. Still though, might want to be sure not to go too crazy. Just by physical isolation, races like humans and gnomes would never be able to breed just in the same way as a chihuahua and a St.Bernard would have trouble breeding.

Who all still has characters to make?

I've drafted an alpha version of our map! I put all the locations on it that I could find in the Drive. Lemme know if I need to change anything, like if I put a nation in the wrong place or something xP

Click

This isn't a finished work, just something to get input on. After we make sure everything's in the right place, I'll go ahead and fill in the map with locations and then make it look old-timey and cool.

That looks really good Mata! I guess the only thing for me is that I'd have put Larocia and Huginn closer together due to their cultural ties

Okay, I can switch Larocia and Jehd-Az-Akhr!

Wait, shoot, Larocia's yours right? I forgot it was supposed to be small xD

Sound like a plan to me!

Do you want it smaller or is that fine? :P

That's fine. :P Though you could wait for the input of other people before you finalize your edits.

I was looking for a sea like the Baltic or the Mediterranean, with an outlet to the ocean, my bad for not clarifying. Huginn might be a bit big to have neighbors around said sea, I suppose, (these countries are all really big. :p I suppose we've gotta roll with what we've got, but without a size scale they all look "world superpower" sized)

But yeah, otherwise it looks good to me, though I can't answer for what other people wanted.

I just now noticed what you did, that's sort of what I was going for, but I meant only one way for water to escape. It's much less trade/region dominating to own a sea that empties in several places. :p