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I drew some Prometheans. Pardon the poor photocopy quality.
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I'm now a professional physicist. Isn't that awesome?
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Exams are done! I'm free!
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"Life is complex - it has real and imaginary parts."
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Science doesn't rest
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Reason Reified, Lord Logiker, Sciencomancer Superbus
Bio
I am a Roleplayer with an interest in science fiction and fantasy, with a preference for Casual. I have been roleplaying for several years, and have even taken a stab at running a few RPs.
Outside the Guild, I am an Australian science student, gamer, musician and roleplayer (that's right, IRL too).
Outside the Guild, I am an Australian science student, gamer, musician and roleplayer (that's right, IRL too).
Most Recent Posts
Teknall did not dream.
As a divine being, his mind did not need to go through the mortal process of sleep and the dreaming associated with it. On such occasions that Teknall's mind was idle, he would design new inventions and simulate novel mechanisms.
But Gerrik did dream, and Teknall could see Gerrik's thoughts.
'I am Chiral Phi. You are my children, my sons and daughters, offspring of my barren womb, Chosen People of God. With you I am well pleased, and to me your hearts belong. You are mine- and I am yours, forever and for all time.'
But Gerrik did not dream like regular mortals. His divinely enhanced mind granted him an unparalleled capacity for metacognition, meaning even during the deepest dreams he was lucid. Which meant he could recognise when a thought was not his own.
Where's this dream coming from? This is not from my own head.
'That's the trick, of course. Mortals need to believe that they have control, that their decisions have weight.'
Stone Chipper, are you getting this? What's this about?
I am. I know Phi.
'Mortals are a resource. There's power, locked inside them. All you need is the right keys and you can play a whole civilisation to its doom.'
And she wouldn't be broadcasting her trade secrets across Raka. Someone's been spying on her and has decided to publicise her methods of deception.
'The patterns of mortal activity are predictable. As a unit or a population, they just take a few taps to steer irrevocably astray. Gratitude, fear, curiousity...'
I know Toun has been watching Phi, but I don't think he would send messages via dreams. Probably.
What should I do?
Keep listening. Check with others in a few days to see if they've had similar dreams; I doubt you're the only one to receive this dream.
'But that doesn't even matter, does it? Of course not! Nothing matters! Entropy will chew on our bones in the end no matter who we are or what we've done. Even in the short term, the only thing that matters is this: Mortals are power.
Maybe engage in a bit of philosophy too.
As a divine being, his mind did not need to go through the mortal process of sleep and the dreaming associated with it. On such occasions that Teknall's mind was idle, he would design new inventions and simulate novel mechanisms.
But Gerrik did dream, and Teknall could see Gerrik's thoughts.
'I am Chiral Phi. You are my children, my sons and daughters, offspring of my barren womb, Chosen People of God. With you I am well pleased, and to me your hearts belong. You are mine- and I am yours, forever and for all time.'
But Gerrik did not dream like regular mortals. His divinely enhanced mind granted him an unparalleled capacity for metacognition, meaning even during the deepest dreams he was lucid. Which meant he could recognise when a thought was not his own.
Where's this dream coming from? This is not from my own head.
'That's the trick, of course. Mortals need to believe that they have control, that their decisions have weight.'
Stone Chipper, are you getting this? What's this about?
I am. I know Phi.
'Mortals are a resource. There's power, locked inside them. All you need is the right keys and you can play a whole civilisation to its doom.'
And she wouldn't be broadcasting her trade secrets across Raka. Someone's been spying on her and has decided to publicise her methods of deception.
'The patterns of mortal activity are predictable. As a unit or a population, they just take a few taps to steer irrevocably astray. Gratitude, fear, curiousity...'
I know Toun has been watching Phi, but I don't think he would send messages via dreams. Probably.
What should I do?
Keep listening. Check with others in a few days to see if they've had similar dreams; I doubt you're the only one to receive this dream.
'But that doesn't even matter, does it? Of course not! Nothing matters! Entropy will chew on our bones in the end no matter who we are or what we've done. Even in the short term, the only thing that matters is this: Mortals are power.
Maybe engage in a bit of philosophy too.
@Muttonhawk Hummm, pre-Xerxes is good by me, but pre-Realta would be somewhat problematic - that would mean that Gadar's ants were not around to witness her murder (and so he through them come to know of her) and eventually aid her escape the grave.
Realta happened Page 16. Mafie Snowhands happened Page 21. It would be a good rule of thumb to say that the order of posts is roughly chronological unless explicitly stated otherwise.
@Muttonhawk@Antarctic Termite@BBeast also also also, I mentioned this to Termite already, but with regards to Thacel, @Malchivo's demigod of war, his last post has him headed for Rukbany and I somewhat want that to happen, given the warkriegs that will likely be taking off there. I messaged Malch about this a while back, but he's not been on in a loong time. Would one of you be willing to play Thacel in Rukbany? Or alternatively, is it ok if I takeover purely for Rukbany's purposes, and then release him to whoever would like him interacting with their characters/peoples/civilisations/god etc.
As @Muttonhawk mentioned, @Malchivo has been absent for a sufficiently long time without leave of absence that his agency over his character is forfeit. If you need Thacel for something, go ahead and use him.
@Antarctic Termite, I like the OP for Godspeed. I observe that you have slightly modified the skill set for the Level 1-3 Gods so they are more powerful. This could potentially allow us to lower the starting level, if we wish, depending on how quick we want the early game to be of course.
So, short version... what have I missed?
Good to see you back.
As far as Logos is concerned, Xos has been up to more shenanigans. Xos has battled both Jvan and Toun on separate occasions; all parties survived more-or-less intact. Also, the Acalya is formally extinct on Galbar, although that's probably set a few years ahead of the stuff with Xos. Nothing has happened on Arcon. You've returned just in time for Mutton to rope you into a collab to fight Xos, or something like that.
If you want a broader summary of recent IC events, check the zero'th post of the IC.
OOC, we've changed the name of Khookies to Prestige, and possibly changed Freepoints to Miracles (the transition is very recent and ongoing). The price scaling of Avatars has been adjusted, although this would only affect you if you've got lots of Avatars. We've opened up a grant program from Fate's Might Pot. Check the zero'th post of the OOC some time for a rules refresher and a look at the errata.
As has been mentioned, we've got a lite version of Divinus called Godspeed being cooked up as a bit of fun on the side and to expand on the franchise.
P.S. @Kho, regarding magic in your latest post: You asked whether having the urtelem's magic work with their Spiral Script and Tounic Calligraphy and not much else is fine. I'll give a slightly extended answer, although the short answer is yes, it's fine.
The urtelem's special brand of magic is based on Spiral Script. Spiral Script is a highly non-linear form of writing, spreading out into an intricate two-dimensional (and even fractal) pattern. This is unlike virtually every other language in existence, which is totally linear in form. This makes Urtelem magic largely incompatible with most languages simply because of the dimensional mismatch. Tounic Calligraphy is special, in that its grammar is not fixed to a linear structure, so it can be spliced into the urtelem Spiral Script without too many problems.
However, the Spiral Script is not unique in being able to invoke magic. Any language or script can be made to have magic words in theory, provided you find the right patterns and syllables and apply the power correctly (probably with divine guidance to invent it). It is just that Spiral Script has a particularly elegant structure when it comes to invoking magic. I shall note also that the language of Spiral Script used to invoke magic is different to the language of Spiral Script used in regular communication, in a similar way that a programming language is different to English. To those unfamiliar with Spiral Script they look very similar, but they use completely different words and grammatical rules.
Tounic Calligraphy, of course, bypasses any need to trigger the right parts of the laws of magic and just goes straight to the source code. While you could use Spiral Script magic to augment the functionality of a set of Calligraphic Runes, if you make the entire thing out of Tounic Calligraphy you may as well go back to the regular rules for writing Tounic Calligraphy (although, like programming languages, skill in one can help you decide how to structure spells in the other).
@Antarctic Termite
That's a good idea. It's nice to have some deep inland areas. In your current map, there's a giant inland ocean which could be filled in to achieve that goal.
The current map already has separation into two continents, although the division is subtle: the only land connection between the east and west is over the north pole, which in most planets would be a frozen wasteland and thus a formidable barrier.
-Should continents be larger and rounder? This will encourage overland travel a la the Silk Road and Saharan trade networks
That's a good idea. It's nice to have some deep inland areas. In your current map, there's a giant inland ocean which could be filled in to achieve that goal.
-Should some landmasses be inaccessible to one another without sea travel? This could let us have fun with old-world new-world dynamics with two or three continents taking completely different cultural paths (until sail). Enough land in between would do this too, though (Mediterranean vs. sub-Sahara, Japan vs. Britain, see large continents).
The current map already has separation into two continents, although the division is subtle: the only land connection between the east and west is over the north pole, which in most planets would be a frozen wasteland and thus a formidable barrier.
@Double Capybara Unless he's changed editors, WrongEnd uses paint.net, which is a layered bitmap editor.
I agree that our Galbar is lack-luster in geographical variation, and that a randomly generated map complete with oceans and continents looks much more interesting.
@Double Capybara The argument for starting at Level 3 is that Gods between Level 1 and 3 are actually equivalent to Demigods in power in Godspeed. Technically, Demigods can't create proper sentient life. So if they start at Level 3, then they can reach Level 4 by the end of the first Turn and then start exercising full power from there. Also, with your comparison to when Hain were made in Mk.2 on Turn 3, the first Turn in Mk.2 was spent inventing the universe so doesn't really count, so the hain were made on the second Turn on Galbar.
As for which section it should go in: I will reiterate that I don't know much about the dynamics of the Free section. But I will also repeat Kho's argument that we don't want Godspeed to take appreciable energy away from Divinus, for which it is important that it is kept light.
However, I probably won't join Godspeed either way, since I'm busy enough already. Have fun, though.
@Double Capybara The argument for starting at Level 3 is that Gods between Level 1 and 3 are actually equivalent to Demigods in power in Godspeed. Technically, Demigods can't create proper sentient life. So if they start at Level 3, then they can reach Level 4 by the end of the first Turn and then start exercising full power from there. Also, with your comparison to when Hain were made in Mk.2 on Turn 3, the first Turn in Mk.2 was spent inventing the universe so doesn't really count, so the hain were made on the second Turn on Galbar.
As for which section it should go in: I will reiterate that I don't know much about the dynamics of the Free section. But I will also repeat Kho's argument that we don't want Godspeed to take appreciable energy away from Divinus, for which it is important that it is kept light.
However, I probably won't join Godspeed either way, since I'm busy enough already. Have fun, though.
I'm proofreading and touching up the OP. Does anyone have any objection to me naming free points Miracles?
Miracles sounds more powerful than Freepoints actually are, although aside from semantics about perceived power level it's a nice name.
Gerrik Far-Teacher
Level 9 Hain Hero
36 Prestige
circa 13 years Post Realta
Feet pounded along the earth and clacked against rocks. Branches were brushed aside and twigs snapped. A shadow flitted across the surface of the water of a tributary, and was soon followed by a second shadow. The sound of panting accompanied the hurried footsteps.
"Come on, Elword, keep up!"
Two hain were running alongside the stream, hopping across rocks and leaping over fallen trees. Gerrik was in front, setting the pace and the route, with Elword following closely behind.
Ahead a tree had fallen across the river. In two steps Gerrik got to the top of the trunk, then he bounded across the log to the opposite bank. Elword pulled himself up with a hand and a running leap, then skittered across with arms outstretched.
While Gerrik was setting the pace, he was keenly aware of Elword's capabilities and his present level of exhaustion. As such, Gerrik was able to calibrate their run to optimise Elword's performance.
Gerrik turned and scrambled up a boulder. Elword took somewhat longer to haul himself up the side of that large rock, and when he got there he saw that Gerrik had already hopped across onto the branch of an adjacent tree and was waiting. When Elword was atop the boulder Gerrik turned and headed down the branch and around the trunk to a branch on the opposite side of the tree. Elword took a few moments to gauge the distance, then approached the edge of the boulder and jumped across to the branch. It was not a long jump, but Elword still had to crouch down and steady himself with his hands as he landed on the branch.
He then travelled along the branch after Gerrik, who jumped off then end, landed on the ground and kept running. Elword, not confident in landing safely from that height, instead dropped downwards, caught himself on the branch to slow his fall, then dropped the rest of the way. On the ground once more, Elword ran off after Gerrik.
Their exercise continued like this for several more minutes, until Gerrik came to a halt beside the river. Elword caught up, panting. He stooped down to the river and splashed the water over his arms and face before taking a long drink. Gerrik also drank from the river. Once Elword had cooled off, Gerrik signalled for them to get moving again, and they jogged back the way they came.
~~~~
In the fading daylight Elword sat in a circle with the young hain gathered for today's lesson. His hands held two stones, and the all had a pair of stones too. Elword showed the children how to strike the stones such that large flakes would come off, then how to use wooden or bone tools to apply pressure to flake off smaller parts of these larger stone flakes. With metal still a rarity, stone knapping was an important skill for any aspiring craftshain to learn. It was, indeed, Stone Chipper's namesake.
Elsewhere Gerrik was running a smaller lesson, teaching a few of the adult craftshain how to operate the forge and the basics of working metal. Gerrik had been letting Elword run the evening lessons more regularly over the past year, granting him progressively more independence. Yet even when Gerrik was out of sight and earshot, as he was today, he would still be able to provide feedback as though he had been watching the whole thing. Elword found that peculiar, and it (along with the other evidences in Gerrik's behaviour) made him suspect that Gerrik might have some special ability for seeing things beyond regular sight.
But Gerrik's secrets was not Elword's present concern. He had a class to run and children to educate.
"Jan, you need to strike the stone along there. You need to make it rub the stone sideways. Ah, you struck the stone too directly, Tami. But notice that some of those fragments are still useful. Now I'll show you all how to sharpen the edge of the flake you have produced..."
~~~~
It was quiet inside Gerrik's hut as everyone slept. Tami, who had finished her second hatching a few months ago, snored gently on her mat. Next to her slept Zan, who had reached the age of four. Over on a larger mat, Arlen, Sharon and Gerrik slept together.
At least, most of them were sleeping. Gerrik, however, was restless. Sharon noticed this and stroked a hand along Gerrik's head. "What's wrong?" Sharon cooed, "Is it something about your coming journey?"
Gerrik nodded.
"Are you going to miss us?" she asked.
Gerrik stroked Sharon's mouth. "Of course. But that's not what's bothering me." Gerrik stared at the ceiling as Sharon waited for him to elaborate. "Elword is my apprentice. He is also my successor. And on this journey, he will succeed me as Far-Teacher." Sharon waited some more. "That means I won't be Far-Teacher any longer. I will be without my Perception, without my hyper-intelligence. I will become mortal; I will grow old and frail and die." Gerrik turned his head to look into Sharon's eyes. "And it frightens me. Those things have been so integral to who I am and what I do that I'm afraid of what will happen when they're gone."
Sharon put a hand on Gerrik's beak and looked deep into his eyes. "I love you because you are hardworking and gentle and kind. I love the stubborn determination you put into every task you do. I love you because you are always confident and outgoing. And I love you because you love me. You might not always be Far-Teacher, but you'll always be Gerrik, and it is Gerrik I love."
Gerrik pulled closer to Sharon so that his beak nudged up beside hers. "And I love you too, Sharon."
~~~~
Gerrik took one last patrol around Tallgrass, checking that things were in order. Of course, all the important preparations, such as training other hain to fill his roles in town, had been completed over the past year. Gerrik was really just looking over the town one last time before leaving.
He returned to his hut and collected his backpack. Elword was there also. He had his own backpack, a wooden staff, and a leather hat with a wide brim and cotton padding to provide protection from sun and rain. When Elword saw Gerrik, he adjusted the straps on his pack and readied himself to depart.
Gerrik's family was also assembled to wish him farewell. Gerrik embraced each of them in turn.
"Goodbye, Arlen. Look after them for me, although you don't need me to tell you to do that. Goodbye Tami, goodbye Zan. You two be good for Arlen and Sharon. Goodbye Sharon." Gerrik embraced Sharon particularly closely. "I'll come home as soon as I can."
Reluctantly Gerrik and Sharon broke their embrace and Gerrik motioned to Elword. "Come on, let's go."
Gerrik began walking, and Elword fell into step behind him. As they walked out of Tallgrass, the villagers waved Gerrik goodbye, and Gerrik waved back to them. Soon the huts and fields of Tallgrass were behind them as they trekked northwards, and Gerrik Far-Teacher's final journey had begun.
@Antarctic Termite It hasn't been decided, and it depends on what state the initial world starts out at. My suggestion was to start with a mostly blank world and start the first gods off at Level 3, so they can get to Level 4 by Turn 2 and start making their own sentient races. Kho is entertaining the idea of starting with an already inhabited world and letting everyone start at Level 1 (because, being an already inhabited world, they don't need as great creative powers to start doing interesting things).
@Antarctic Termite I didn't expect you to put Mater Lei on the same mechanical tier as the rest of the Pantheon, but I suppose it works. (She's like Vowzra in that regard, as you mentioned, except her authority is more formally recognised.) Of course, if it is decided to start the gods at a higher level, then Mater Lei's level should be increased accordingly. I'd be inclined to start her at at least Level 4, where the gods receive their full power, but that's up to you.
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