Strigae - Children of the Unseen

[DrakeHaze. 2483]

I think this is pretty neat and unique because there can be both male and female versions that don't necessarily have to be feminist and hate men in some shape or form. Honestly don't see the similarity between this and Frost Witches, one seems closer to that of a vampire-esque lore creature and the other a female ice witch cannibal that feed on men. 

 

[TeaLulu 1783]

1) "Its too much like ____". Null and void argument. A ton of already accepted lore has been derived or inspired by popular media such as games, etc. Ergo this point is null and void and no reason for lore denial, unless the lore is entirely copy pasted from said media, which this lore very much wasn't.

2) "Its too OP!" Nah brah Homunculi, but I'll get into this in detail further later, probably. Not that everyone hasn't already handled it. Basically, from what I can see, these things don't have anything Homunculi don't have; Heightened skills (strength, etc), regeneration, tough to kill (can't even really kill a Homunculi without a special potion, otherwise they will ALWAYS REGENERATE, also i guess they can get neck-deep in thanhium and be totally okay and not dead.), immortality, etc, etc... TBH, they probably have more weaknesses than homunculi since they seem more injured by gold and holy powers (Not being able to regenerate as easily, etc). So since homunculi got accepted with their current power level and lack of weaknesses, there is no way the LMs can deny this based off "OP" as a legit reason.

3) "Its too much like Frostwitches!"

 

Hold

 

Up

 

No it isn't and I'm going to tell you why.

 

First of all, those of you crying "You can just play a Frost witch!!" (and occasionally I have seen: "WHAT? YOU CAN'T PLAY A FROST WITCH BECAUSE IT MEANS PLAYING A WOMAN!!!? (rage)") For one, yes. People want to RP what gender they want to RP as. People have this right. Frost Witches being female-only is a huge aspect of their roleplay, as well as the fact they all seek to devour men,and any competent frost witch roleplayer will roleplay their frost witch as having a disdain for men (As opposed to, yknow, sleeping with them).

 

These creatures are so insanely different from Frost Witches I have no idea where these comparisons are coming from. For one, these creatures are totally and completely infertile . Plenty of Frost Witches have had babies. And I do view infertility as a weakness and one that needs to be legitimately pointed out as part of the lore (Before people start trying to re-enact Twilight). 

Origins: The origins aren't at all similar so there's no confusion there. The origins of these creatures is fleshed out and very different. 

Ritual of Transformation: Very in depth, requires a lot of roleplay it seems.

Cannibalism/whatever: If this is the source of the confusion, it's worth noting the reasons and forms of the cannibalism of frost witches VS Strigae are extremely different. They feed for different reasons. (Ex. Frost Witches only eat men for some reason) and these only drink blood. 

Forms: These things take multiple forms depending on the situation (from my understanding) and are much more bestial than FWs are; Far more frightening, far more beast like, far more interesting, when they are actually acting in the function of what they do; Feeding, smelling too much blood, losing control/willpower, etc? Query: Can that change be accidental by loss of willpower when in bloodlust?

Feeling cold to the touch: This makes sense for these things when they haven't fed as they have nothing to 'warm' them, i presume either due to the lack of blood or the lack of digestion/food. Similar to like, low blood sugar IRL but they don't have blood.

Behaviors/motivations: Different different, no motivation to kill men or any specific people; Just to feed, but the Greater ones will likely have far more in-depth motivations to their characters than that.

I'm not being salty towards Frost Witches, just saying: Stop trying to forcefully draw a comparison when there isn't one. These things would add an ENTIRELY different sort of roleplay to the server than what the Frost Witches do, and since that roleplay they would provide is so achingly different, there is no comparison.

Anyways tl;dr: more spooks but like, human-style urban-center fashioned spooks. +1 seems like the humans would benefit from a type of "evil creature" roleplay that they, in general, seem to be interested in.

[trol 272]

If Esterlen took the time out of his day to write lore for vampires it was probably for a good reason 

[meg 1993]

I will be making 1 comment on this thread. This is that 1 comment. Feel free to respond to it or not because I am currently avoiding the forums like the plague, and a few comments on this thread only reinforce that.

 

This lore is very well written. It has interesting concepts, lots of backstory and is very fleshed out. It's alright. It also bleeds into a lot of things that other creatures and beings do in lotc, as others have pointed out. Carving out a unique identity is important. I would also take into account how your lore will interact with lotc. This is a problem with frost witches, currently. The way their lore is set up is functionally dissonant with how lotc works. I won't go too far into it here, maybe at a later date if people are actually interested. (Which I doubt they will be.)

 

Balance is an important aspect of magic and creatures, Aerial. That is why it is brought up in most threads. Because the power balance on lotc is delicate, if not already imbalanced. Like Jistuma said, any big strength should be counteracted with a large weakness or drawback. This is critical for player characters. Event creatures, Antags, etc, get a pass because they exist to push the story forward or in another direction. Player characters exist to add to the story, or participate in it. Something very powerful can affect that. And as it is in this current state, it is unbalanced. 

 

I'll probably end on the note that any comment about "lipstick critics" "feminists" and anything otherwise related to the gender of the creatures or people you are speaking to, written in a derrogative manner, is a shitty thing to say. I would hope that lotc is better than devolving to insults based on such. I suppose not, then, based on the tone of some comments here.

[Malaise 1569]

4 minutes ago, zaezae said:

I dunno, seems like everything I had to say is ignored by these people wanting to stroke their hate-boner for frosties. Like literally, I laid out my case and the only person to actually read and understand it was the OP. 

 

Still haven't received a message yet. 

 

 

My apologies. I don't mean to say "**** frosties". I honestly have no opinion on them, besides that we have clashed on this thread. I did amend your worries, with my elaboration on shapeshifting. I want it clear that neither Maly nor I wrote this to "battle" frosties, but that seems to have become the communities intent. I merely appreciated Lulu's lengthy post to refute some of the arguments I disagree with.

[zaezae 1097]

7 minutes ago, Matt_dew said:

My apologies. I don't mean to say "**** frosties". I honestly have no opinion on them, besides that we have clashed on this thread. I did amend your worries, with my elaboration on shapeshifting. I want it clear that neither Maly nor I wrote this to "battle" frosties, but that seems to have become the communities intent.

 

 

 

I understand that. Listen, I. Do. Not. Play. Groups. I do not agree with every frostie in this thread, but they are individuals and they are allowed to disagree with me. This isn't about 'us' vs. 'them'. To me, it's "Me" and "This lore". Which I like. I have always liked it. I just didn't want two niches combined and overlapping, kinda like I don't want to groups of creatures that are hippies and can talk to trees and command animals. I'm happy with the edits and I do hope you guys succeed. 

 

Also, TBH I hope the community can treat you better, roleplay with you better, and not whine as much with you as they did with me. I don't do hunting RP anymore because of how unfun the l33t gotta win bros have made this server.

 

Still haven't received a message from anyone explaining their hate-boner. 

 

 

[Malaise 1569]

Please remain civil. We don't want harassment on our lore thread. It derails the intent of the post.

[Dohvi 622]

I've hidden the arguing and off-topic nonsense. The lore-writers and myself have both asked everyone to stop derailing the thread and shitting on each other. Anyone who continues will be punished. Seriously guys, this nonsense isn't making anyone look good, and it isn't fair on the people who put time into writing this lore. 

[Birdnerdy 1538]

Thank you Esterlen for making vampire lore that's not total ****, +1 from me.

[zaezae 1097]

2 minutes ago, Birdnerdy said:

Thank you Esterlen for making vampire lore that's not total ****, +1 from me.

Pretty much this. This is exactly why vampires were put on an auto-deny list. I would like to see this changed. 

[Dohvi 622]

Now. My thoughts on the lore? I like it quite a bit. Though there's a few suggestions I'd make. 

 

No Magic:

- At the moment, this aspect feels forced. A weakness for the sake of weaknesses. When reading the post I don't recall seeing any explanation as to what prevents them using magic. (Apologies if I simply missed it.) I'd suggest you either remove this all-together (I see it detracting from RP, not adding to it) or alternatively, that you elaborate on what physically makes them incapable of using magic.

- This is especially so for Blood Magic and Necromancy. As you stated, the creatures are required to feed on Genus and Lifeforce to supplement their own reduced ability to make them. Why are Strigae incapable of using those fuels for other purposes, at great risk to themselves? It would of course require more regular feeding and put them at risk of doing damage to themselves if they don't feed, or put them at elevated risk of devolving if they do.

 

Talons: 

- To me, this strength doesn't fit well with the others. Most of the enhancements are focused on self-preservation. Ie. Minor improvements to strength and speed, regenerating wounds and difficult to fully destroy. These are all relatively defensive. Whereas Talons are offensive. I'd suggest you remove the Talons part entirely, either as a balance to removing the seemingly forced magic restriction I mentioned above, or as a way to further balance the strengths and weaknesses. The removal of these Talons would serve to remove a strength and add a weakness. (No real non-human offensive measures.)

- Alternatively, instead of removing them you could also downgrade them a lot. Instead of being able to grow long blade-like fingernails that can sometimes parry swords, perhaps they could just be permanently pointed fingernails. These would keep a very minor amount of the offence behind talons, without potentially problematic things like parrying swords. It'd also add an extra weakness, in that the these pointed fingernails would be another way of detecting them. 

 

That's it for now. I'll re-read in a bit and see if I notice anything else. 

[Malaise 1569]

1 minute ago, Dohvi said:

Now. My thoughts on the lore? I like it quite a bit. Though there's a few suggestions I'd make. 

 

No Magic:

- At the moment, this aspect feels forced. A weakness for the sake of weaknesses. When reading the post I don't recall seeing any explanation as to what prevents them using magic. (Apologies if I simply missed it.) I'd suggest you either remove this all-together (I see it detracting from RP, not adding to it) or alternatively, that you elaborate on what physically makes them incapable of using magic.

- This is especially so for Blood Magic and Necromancy. As you stated, the creatures are required to feed on Genus and Lifeforce to supplement their own reduced ability to make them. Why are Strigae incapable of using those fuels for other purposes, at great risk to themselves? It would of course require more regular feeding and put them at risk of doing damage to themselves if they don't feed, or put them at elevated risk of devolving if they do.

 

Talons: 

- To me, this strength doesn't fit well with the others. Most of the enhancements are focused on self-preservation. Ie. Minor improvements to strength and speed, regenerating wounds and difficult to fully destroy. These are all relatively defensive. Whereas Talons are offensive. I'd suggest you remove the Talons part entirely, either as a balance to removing the seemingly forced magic restriction I mentioned above, or as a way to further balance the strengths and weaknesses. The removal of these Talons would serve to remove a strength and add a weakness. (No real non-human offensive measures.)

- Alternatively, instead of removing them you could also downgrade them a lot. Instead of being able to grow long blade-like fingernails that can sometimes parry swords, perhaps they could just be permanently pointed fingernails. These would keep a very minor amount of the offence behind talons, without potentially problematic things like parrying swords. It'd also add an extra weakness, in that the these pointed fingernails would be another way of detecting them. 

 

That's it for now. I'll re-read in a bit and see if I notice anything else. 

We have excluded magic because, as you can already see, they are regarded as powerful creatures. We did not want to see T5 mage Striga, which would be godly. Nor do we wish to see dark magic, as it would only further empower them to means of unfair and unfun proportions. It may seem to be a weakness for the sake of a weakness, as it sort of is.

 

As for the talons, it is unlikely a Striga will ever truly parry a sword. That served more as an example of the talons durability, so that they are not simply flimsy fingernails. In a combat situation, it requires close quarters use. In said situations, a group of knights will no-doubt prevail. 

 

I appreciate the constructive comment. I'll discuss the talons with Maly, but we are quite settled on a lack of magic.

[Dohvi 622]

Just now, Matt_dew said:

We have excluded magic because, as you can already see, they are regarded as powerful creatures. We did not want to see T5 mage Striga, which would be godly. Nor do we wish to see dark magic, as it would only further empower them to means of unfair and unfun proportions. It may seem to be a weakness for the sake of a weakness, as it sort of is.

 

As for the talons, it is unlikely a Striga will ever truly parry a sword. That served more as an example of the talons durability, so that they are not simply flimsy fingernails. In a combat situation, it requires close quarters use. In said situations, a group of knights will no-doubt prevail. 

 

I appreciate the constructive comment. I'll discuss the talons with Maly, but we are quite settled on a lack of magic.

I get that, certainly. I'm just trying to look at it from a few perspectives. A weakness for the sake of weaknesses isn't a problem in itself, but a lore reason for that weakness is something that should probably be included. 

 

And likewise with the talons, my understanding of the Lore fellows is that they like it when lore has one real purpose. And in this case, most of the abilities look closer to self-preservation than hunting or fighting. Hence my belief the Talons don't fit in so well. 

 

Regardless, good luck! 

[E__V__O 1984]

I feel like you are not reading my comments to help give more depth and details to help further the lore and construct a better structure on weaknesses/strengths.

 

Quote

I will first say that this is an interesting change to the typical "vampire" niche i've seen and read before with promising aspects towards it. Though i'll give a few points which I believe you need to address.

 

In the lore you state that the "Strigae" (Am I spelling it right?) is irriversable. Which is correct! If it wasn't for the monks. You have 1 week to decide to change back to mortal or not. Reguardless of any curse.

 

Second. How will other dark magics effect this? 

Such as necromancy, you say they're immune to diseases but what about ones magically created?

Also Soul Puppetry, are they non-effected by it? (SP works if they get any type of SUBSTITUTION of blood).

Also would blood magic have an effect on the Strigae?

 

Also Shamanism, elementalism/witch doctor. Will the curses they inflict hurt those cursed with Strigae?

 

I understand holy magic will have to have an effect as they're essentially cursed beings and golden weaponry but I wonder of what other dark magics.

 

Here it is again.

[Malaise 1569]

2 minutes ago, Evocress said:

I feel like you are not reading my comments to help give more depth and details to help further the lore and construct a better structure on weaknesses/strengths.

 

 

Here it is again.

I missed this. Apologies.

 

We do not care for the Cloud Temple Monk lore. Both esterlen and I are very opposed to and ignore it regardless. Strigae are cursed, and will remain cursed, no matter the remedy. It is a consensual process, and so I doubt the player will be seeking monks to aid them.

 

Dark magic will affect them like it does every other being. Their blood is cursed, but still blood. Soul Puppetry will experience no change.

 

Shamanism will still affect them.

 

Sorry for missing your question. I appreciate the post.