[✗] The Degradation of Aurum

[Swgrclan 2638]

The Genesis

All across the isles of Vailor, men toil in the mines of kingdoms; servants scavenge for ores, explorers conquer caverns of massive proportions, all for the intent to steal the resources that lie within. Deeper and deeper, mortalkind dig into the antediluvian earth; revealing lost lost ruins and treasures alike, and displays of nature oh-so-wondrous and fiery. They burrow deeper and deeper into the earth in search of what keeps their economies alive; what drives their war machines, and what they use to progress the status of mortal technologies. But the deeper they go, the darker it becomes, and as they unearth the gems of the subterranean world with rock-piercing tools, all that is found is the degradation of these very same treasures-- an unforeseen corruption. An alteration of the system. A deviation from the norm.

What was once beheld as brilliant, speckled chunks of gold, bright even amidst the darkest shadows;

… has now dimmed, diluted by the enigma of the world’s depths. The unknown properties of such malignant dark had clung to the ore, distorting the magical properties it once had, and undoing some where many others remain.

Those that cart this lessened gold back to their homes would find it without glamour raw, and as it was forged into blade or jewelry, to shine as all other old gold relics have. Yet, the ghost hunter’s banesword would fall short in it’s ability to purg; the ghoulslayer’s axe would rend as it would any other flesh; and the paladin’s unblessed aurum blade would be all but useless against that of the undead races, spectral and necrotic all. Miners, scavengers and warriors are left with their useless gold-- left to think on the deep earth they stole it from. Was this the work of some entity of ill-intent, or merely the way of the world - to curse the ores found deepest with a lack of evil-purging ability? No one comes to know yet, leaving them with the ultimatum to seek other means to combat the encroaching tide of darkness.

The Way of Things

Under the context of this lore, aurum (otherwise known as gold) would become defunct against all undead races of both spectral and necrotic origin. Distorted by the deeper depths of the earth, and entirely departed from the touch of the sun, this new darkened gold would no longer have sway over the forces of the dead; the property to steal lifeforce and disrupt spectral life nullified by it’s depth-defined properties. In summary, the following things would happen to all gold in the LoTC universe:

- Golden ore would become darkened when raw; the effect of some magical-geological distortion that would be present in all “new” aurum ore in Vailor and the lands beyond it.

- The impurities would distort the element’s ability to combat the undead-- ie, it’s natural ability would be lessened to a degree where lifeforce must be forced into gold instead lifeforce able to be automatically torn away and stolen by gold.

- All other magical effects would remain.

This proposal is based on the prospect of malignant races played by and written for in the LoTC not being so easily expelled with the assistance all-too-common golden weaponry. Instead, with the removal of this property IRP (and from the Necrolyte and Spectre races, though this is low-priority), characters will be forced to seek other means to combat invasive darklings; making more roleplay-whole alternatives relevant and necessary, such as requesting the assistance of holy orders or embarking on a quest to get a weapon enchanted by a Fi’ mage, a ward-summoning alterationist, or blessed by a Paladin, Cleric or Ascended. It is in this prospect that more organic roleplay may develop between the forces of light and dark, and that golden weaponry is not the convenient, go-to spook-removal utility that is used so often today.

 

[Dragonslayerelf 653]

+1

Seems like cool, well written, good, not too long lore

[drfate786 1639]

No, we need gold to fight off ghosts and necros otherwise they would be too OP. Unless you are willing to create lore to counter this corruption we can't have this. 

 

-1

[ThumperJack 923]

+1's all around.

 

No, we need gold to fight off ghosts and necros otherwise they would be too OP. Unless you are willing to create lore to counter this corruption we can't have this. 

 

-1

tbh An iron sword will still hurt a necrolyte just as a gold sword would. This only makes it so that people can't run off to find gold weapons, then insta-kill the necrolytes.

[WuHanXianShi14 0]

No thank you. I think dark beings have enough immense power without taking away the only thing normal people have a hope of killing them with.

I highly dissaprove of needing to have a cleric, paladin or ascended around to even have a chance against a wraith/lich/w.e.

Its reasonable to expect these beings to be powerful, yes. But invincible against everyone except a minority of people with a few special magic types? Definitely not.

Making your wraith unkillable in RP without a fi' mage or holy magic user will only prompt you to get PVP defaulted more.

All in all, a strong -1. Sorry.

[Your Favorite Impure 734]

Eh, I do enjoy the lore and how it's written, but from personal experience of playing a guard since I started playing on this server, I'm not too keen with this idea. Half of the time good RP is brought forth by encounters with the spooks on both sides. The other half of the time the spooks make it damn near impossible to land a hit on them, and even then they don't always correctly RP the effects of it. I personally see no problem with aurum and how it currently is. That being said, it's well written lore, but I will sadly have to -1 it. 

[Tentoa 2003]

I'm going to go against Leo on this one, with the note that Wraiths arent' invincible nor powerful at the moment. THe problem is the fact that everyone and their mother has a golden sword or dagger. IT has rendered these 'powerful' creatures totally worthless and hardly a problem really. Why would my peasant fear a wraith if a torch and a golden sword will annihilate them. Especially if gold is as cheap as a back alley boosterjuice.

[ThumperJack 923]

I'm going to go against Leo on this one, with the note that Wraiths arent' invincible nor powerful at the moment. THe problem is the fact that everyone and their mother has a golden sword or dagger. IT has rendered these 'powerful' creatures totally worthless and hardly a problem really. Why would my peasant fear a wraith if a torch and a golden sword will annihilate them. Especially if gold is as cheap as a back alley boosterjuice.

Exactly what I'm saying. Necrolytes and Undead are supposed to be feared, and a force to be reckoned with. Not 'Oh look, a wraith. brb, lemme go grab one of my many gold swords'.

[_Jandy_ 3282]

It's well written but is not needed and would potentially make necros more powerful than they already are. Maybe find a different use for this, like alchemy?

((Also, it would confuse new players))

[WuHanXianShi14 0]

I'm going to go against Leo on this one, with the note that Wraiths arent' invincible nor powerful at the moment. THe problem is the fact that everyone and their mother has a golden sword or dagger. IT has rendered these 'powerful' creatures totally worthless and hardly a problem really. Why would my peasant fear a wraith if a torch and a golden sword will annihilate them. Especially if gold is as cheap as a back alley boosterjuice.

Because Wraiths are host to a bevy of spells, draining techniques and other powerful things that make it immensely more powerful than a mortal, even if said mortal has a golden sword. In a 1v1 of a wraith V random peasant with gold, chances are, the wraith wins.

You should stop thinking of gold as the kryptonite that once pulled out marks an automatic loss for all things dark and evil. Instead, most of us who have to regularly fight dark beings see it as something that somewhat levels the playing field and makes Wraiths a challenge to kill instead of being downright impossible to kill if we dont have Holy buddies in the area.

[Tentoa 2003]

I'm going to go against Leo on this one, with the note that Wraiths arent' invincible nor powerful at the moment. THe problem is the fact that everyone and their mother has a golden sword or dagger. IT has rendered these 'powerful' creatures totally worthless and hardly a problem really. Why would my peasant fear a wraith if a torch and a golden sword will annihilate them. Especially if gold is as cheap as a back alley boosterjuice.

Because Wraiths are host to a bevy of spells, draining techniques and other powerful things that make it immensely more powerful than a mortal, even if said mortal has a golden sword. In a 1v1 of a wraith V random peasant with gold, chances are, the wraith wins.

You should stop thinking of gold as the kryptonite that once pulled out marks an automatic loss for all things dark and evil. Instead, most of us who have to regularly fight dark beings see it as something that somewhat levels the playing field and makes Wraiths a challenge to kill instead of being downright impossible to kill if we dont have Holy buddies in the area.

Leo that is what it is. You hit a wraith with a good swing with a golden sword and it dissipates. You hit a lich it falls to pieces. You hit a ghoul they get reckly-deckled The wraith cannot get off a spell if it cannot concentrate, so peasant number 1 swinging around a torch and and a golden sword which demolishes them prevents spell casting. It is actually kryptonite at the moment, it is actually challenge-less. My Knight Destroyed Geo's wraith in one good hit because I had an aurum dagger in my boot. One good stab and it had to fly away. 

[Your Favorite Impure 734]

I'm going to go against Leo on this one, with the note that Wraiths arent' invincible nor powerful at the moment. THe problem is the fact that everyone and their mother has a golden sword or dagger. IT has rendered these 'powerful' creatures totally worthless and hardly a problem really. Why would my peasant fear a wraith if a torch and a golden sword will annihilate them. Especially if gold is as cheap as a back alley boosterjuice.

Because Wraiths are host to a bevy of spells, draining techniques and other powerful things that make it immensely more powerful than a mortal, even if said mortal has a golden sword. In a 1v1 of a wraith V random peasant with gold, chances are, the wraith wins.

You should stop thinking of gold as the kryptonite that once pulled out marks an automatic loss for all things dark and evil. Instead, most of us who have to regularly fight dark beings see it as something that somewhat levels the playing field and makes Wraiths a challenge to kill instead of being downright impossible to kill if we dont have Holy buddies in the area.

I have to agree with Leo here. I remember back in Cerulin we'd constantly get "visits" from Wraiths and the likes. I remember, in the span of about 24 hours mind you, that we had A Dread Lord and regular DK, a Wraith, a Lich, and some Ghouls (all on separate occasions within that span). With some of these fights becoming rather lengthy, it became monotonous constantly being bombarded with the same RP. I mean, I don't want to be that person that PVPs the spooks just because. It's poor RP and kind of a **** move. I feel if aurum is degraded in regards to its capabilities, this will unfortunately become a more common occurrence. 

[Tentoa 2003]

@Filavandrel 

Fi now counters wraiths and necromancy. It can disrupt life-force. I think that won't be much of a problem anymore.

[WuHanXianShi14 0]

Leo that is what it is. You hit a wraith with a good swing with a golden sword and it dissipates. You hit a lich it falls to pieces. You hit a ghoul they get reckly-deckled The wraith cannot get off a spell if it cannot concentrate, so peasant number 1 swinging around a torch and and a golden sword which demolishes them prevents spell casting. It is actually kryptonite at the moment, it is actually challenge-less. My Knight Destroyed Geo's wraith in one good hit because I had an aurum dagger in my boot. One good stab and it had to fly away. 

If that's the case, then instead of making gold useless on wraiths, simply make it less effective on them than it currently is. A good scale to go by would be that gold weapons are as effective on dark beings as steel is on humans (i.e Witcher logic).

That way, to mortals with gold weapons, fighting a wraith is the equivalent of fighting a very powerful mage, as opposed to fighting something that literally cannot be killed.

Expecting to be more powerful than that is a little unsportsmanlike IMO. Every other school of magic allows you to become immensely powerful, but still killable by conventional means, or if ganged up on with superior numbers. Wraiths should be no different.

[Tentoa 2003]

Leo that is what it is. You hit a wraith with a good swing with a golden sword and it dissipates. You hit a lich it falls to pieces. You hit a ghoul they get reckly-deckled The wraith cannot get off a spell if it cannot concentrate, so peasant number 1 swinging around a torch and and a golden sword which demolishes them prevents spell casting. It is actually kryptonite at the moment, it is actually challenge-less. My Knight Destroyed Geo's wraith in one good hit because I had an aurum dagger in my boot. One good stab and it had to fly away. 

If that's the case, then instead of making gold useless on wraiths, simply make it less effective on them than it currently is. A good scale to go by would be that gold weapons are as effective on dark beings as steel is on humans (i.e Witcher logic).

That way, to mortals with gold weapons, fighting a wraith is the equivalent of fighting a very powerful mage, as opposed to fighting something that literally cannot be killed.

Expecting to be more powerful than that is a little unsportsmanlike IMO. Every other school of magic allows you to become immensely powerful, but still killable by conventional means, or if ganged up on with superior numbers. Wraiths should be no different.

Recall though Leo. There can only be four wraiths at any given time. No more. You aren't fighting a mage, you're fighting something that has transcended mortality. The effectiveness of gold is neat, but I like the opportunity to reach out to your fellow mages, the clerics and paladins and make them actually relevant again. Those are magic types which at the moment are losing traction due to lack of threats. Giving them something they can hard-counter and have to be sought out for generates roleplay. You can still get a weapon that can be used to bastry a wraith you just have to seek a fi, cleric or paladin magic user out. I like that, it makes special weapons special again.