PtahWithin

7 minutes ago, Cloakedsphere said:

(( Is this just a reboot of the old Alras or will there be something "new" about it in terms of culture? ))

((We will be as we were, but better, and with a few new elements as well such as the Three Pillars))

3 minutes ago, MediocreGamer said:

     "To the unwritten wisdoms of the design: I offer you inscription and a place within my libraries."

The Ministry of Contemplation, the official academic institution of Alras, aims to devote itself to accomplishing this. We are actively seeking out those academics who would join us in our cause.

-William Gage, Headminister of Contemplation

34 minutes ago, EmbryoGod said:

Minecraft Name: EmbryoGod

 

Skype Name (This may alternatively be PMed to me for privacy purposes): gruntbirthday

 

Applicant Name: Rusty Shackleford
 

Race and Age: Human, Over One Hundred 
 

What title are you applying for? (A lower-tiered one: Librarian, Maven, Inventor, Analyst, Phrenal): Theurgist

 

List any experience you have had with matters regarding that Department: A wizard of the highest caliber, once holding a position as an esteemed court mage.

 

Describe the reason for your interest in that position (>5 sentences): Every since the age of twenty, I have dedicated myself to the arts of the arcane. I as a practitioner of Electrical Evocation, Transfiguration, and Telekinesis, I feel drawn to a position that would allow for me to deepen knowledge of the Arcane. Not only would my research benefit the mages around me, but also the world as a whole. I wish to incorporate magic into the facets of everyday life for those who seek it, and believe that such a position in a Ministry will allow me to advance myself as such. I feel as though my experience in research would also help the others around me in the Ministry. And last but not least, as a man who needs to invent artifacts to quell his urge, I believe my skillset would be most useful.

 

By applying, should you be accepted you are expected to utterly adhere to the Common Clauses. Do you understand this?: Aye.

To the Human Rusty Shackleford,

Your application has been reviewed and you may find a time to meet in private with Headminister William Gage to solidify your admittance ((PMs or Skype)).

1 hour ago, HurferDurfer1 said:

Minecraft Name:IDontCare_Bear

 

Skype Name (This may alternatively be PMed to me for privacy purposes): thatonehurf

 

Applicant Name: Ilkazar
 

Race and Age: Human. Over a Hundred.
 

What title are you applying for? (A lower-tiered one: Librarian, Maven, Inventor, Analyst, Phrenal): Theurgist

List any experience you have had with matters regarding that Department: A most experienced wizard.

 

Describe the reason for your interest in that position (>5 sentences): I have spent my whole life in the learning and practicing of magical arts. And do so strive to better myself any chance I can. I see this as an opportunity to further my learning on various magics. Whilst also providing my own magical knowledge for the betterment of others. With my advanced age comes years, decades even, of experiance.

 

By applying, should you be accepted you are expected to utterly adhere to the Common Clauses. Do you understand this?: Most assuredly.

To the Human Ilkazar,

Your application has been reviewed and you may find a time to meet in private with Headminister William Gage to solidify your admittance ((PMs or Skype)).

5 minutes ago, Destroyer_Bravo said:

"I think you're about four continents behind with this." remarks some old dwarf

"I would agree - had the Ministry not been disbanded in Anthos, I could only imagine the great state the Ministry would be in. Alas, let us do our best to make up for lost time." a human would reply.

10 minutes ago, Hanrahan said:

Minecraft Name: Radahan

 

Skype Name (This may alternatively be PMed to be for privacy purposes): Hanrahan

 

Applicant Name: Arnorian Elendil
 

Race and Age: Adunian, 345
 

What title are you applying for? (A lower-tiered one: Librarian, Maven, Inventor, Analyst, Phrenal): Professor ;)

 

List any experience you have had with matters regarding that Department:

- Previously was the Head of the Department of Naturalism in Anthos

 

Describe the reason for your interest in that position (>5 sentences):

- See above

 

By applying, should you be accepted you are expected to utterly adhere to the Common Clauses. Do you understand this?:

- See above x2

To the Adunian Arnorian Elendil,

Your application has been reviewed and you are gladly accepted back as a member of the Ministry of Contemplation.

Originally founded in Anthos by the Alrasian scholar Ptah Remneal, the Ministry of Contemplation sought to do what no other group had successfully done before: to create a lasting group of scholars, academics and researchers who would collect, create and discover knowledge for the intellectual progression of all peoples. After the reemergence of Alras in the Fringe, Ptah Remneal disbanded the organization to assume his duties as the Royal Scholar of Alras. After Ptah's accidental death, the founding charter came into the hands of High King Syrio Forel.

By the order of High King Syrio of the City-State of Alras, the Ministry of Contemplation has been reestablished under the leadership of Headminister William Gage just as Alras prepares to unveil itself to the people of Axios. The Ministry was a politically neutral entity in its first incarnation, but now serves as the official academic institution of the City-State of Alras. In this way Alrasian Citizenship is bestowed upon its members, and the Ministry will receive supplies for the construction of the Hedion Institute of Alras, and will receive appropriate funding for projects to come. Backed by the strength and resources of Alras, the Ministry of Contemplation is poised to push the border between our knowledge and our ignorance out to unreachable infinity. All shall be studied. All shall be written. All shall be known.

The Hedion Institute of Alras will house the largest concentration of academic and research facilities that has ever been assembled across all ages. Some planned facilities include a library with the capacity to house thousands of books, a greenhouse, an herbarium, an observatory, an arcanum, a museum and more to be determined by the interests and requirements of its members. Indeed, the Ministry accepts those from all walks of academia, and its members shall be loosely assembled into five departments:

Departments

The Department of Narratives represents what is most familiar to the common people when they think of scholars. Narrativists are responsible for caretaking the library of the Ministry, as well as collecting not only literary but also artistic works from the peoples of Axios to include in the library and the Ministry museum.

Cataloger: Upper-tier title

Librarian: Lower-tier title

The Department of Thaumaturgy focuses on the study and development of arcane magic, as the vast array of magical disciplines makes the arcane an obvious thing worthy of study for the Ministry of Contemplation.  This includes documenting the other areas of magic and the study of magical entities and occurances. Thaumaturgists aim to push their study of magic to the cutting edge: to meta-magics, the study of magic itself.

Theurgist: Upper-tier title

Maven: Lower-tier title

The Department of Ingenuity encompasses the members of the Ministry who have devoted themselves to the study of structures and machines. Knowledge of technical works is also greatly of value to the Ministry: engineering, blacksmithing, redstone circuitry, architecture and so forth. Ingenuists spend their time drawing blueprints for ever more grand designs than the last.

Artisan: Upper-tier title

Inventor: Lower-tier title

The Department of Naturalism studies not the magical world, nor the creations of mortals, but the physical world itself. The relevant areas of research include the study of plants and animals, medicine, geology and geography. They oversee the Ministry greenhouse and herbarium, and collaborate with the Narrativists to provide specimens for the Museum. Naturalists often explore the world to collect specimens, organizing expeditions to do so, often in the more exotic places of Axios.

Professor: Upper-tier title

Analyst: Lower-tier title

The Department of Erudition claims domain over a crucial part of academia: the study of knowledge itself, and the transference of it to the next generation. The realm of the Erudists is that of logic, mathematics, philosophy and teaching. Often those who teach in other Departments would begin training as a Rhetor within the Department of Erudition.

Rhetor: Upper-tier title

Phrenal: Lower-tier title

Staff

Ministers: The leaders of each department and chief organizers of the guild.

-{HM}- William Gage ((PtahWithin)): Headminister of Contemplation

-{M}- [X]: Minister of Narratives

-{M}- [X]: Minister of Thaumaturgy

-{M}- [X]: Minister of Ingenuity

-{M}- [X]: Minister of Naturalism

-{M}- [X]: Minister of Erudition

General Staff: Other titled staff of the Ministry, listed alongside with their subject of interest.

- To be fully filled out at a later date 

Mentors: Ministry Staff who are currently offering themselves as mentors, listed alongside with their subject of interest.

- [X]

Pupils:

- [X]

The Common Clauses

The Ministry of Contemplation is a guild officially endorsed by the crown of Alras and so must follow all of its laws and accept all of its judgements. Members of the Ministry are also expected to adhere to an additional set of rules, the Common Clauses. The Headminister of Contemplation reserves the right to expand and diminish these rules as he wills.

• The Ministry of Contemplation and its members shall not engage in entangling alliances with extramural forces, people and nations that are not approved by the High King of Alras and his High Council.
• The Ministry of Contemplation and its members shall not engage in activities that would provoke a violent response from extramural forces, people and nations, and shall not direct acts of aggression against the aforementioned, unless instructed to by the High King of Alras and his High Council.
• Members of the Ministry must maintain a collaborative work ethic with other members: expressed hatred, vendettas, and sabotage  shall not be tolerated.
• Members of the Ministry must not steal or attempt to steal the academic works or writings of others, whether the victim is a member of the Ministry or not. There will be no tolerance for plagiarism, and those found guilty will have their names forever stained in the records of the Ministry.
• Failure to abide to the Common Clauses shall lead the member in question to be Thrown Back and removed of their status.

Bulletin

With the recent refounding of the Ministry of Contemplation, Headminister William Gage is seeking those qualified to be Librarians, Mavens, Inventors, Analysts and Phrenals (the standard scholarly positions of each department). Noteworthy individuals will be selected to ascend to the second tier titles of their departments, and among those the leading Ministers of each department will be appointed.

At this moment the Ministry is not prepared to take on Pupils. At a later date, those who wish to may apply to be the Pupil of a titled member of the Ministry, and they would function to mentor their Pupil, and the Pupil respectively would become an assistant to their Mentor. Pupils who have been given sufficient instruction and approved by the relevant scholarly members may graduate to the standard scholarly position of their department.

Application

The application is as follows ((all must be in-character except the MCname)):

I have known Gorum since Aegis and I can attest to his worthiness for this role. During Asulon we both were high ranking members of the Alrasian Order, and High King Aislin would create temporary villain characters to harass Alrasian citizens and give us both work to do in aprehending him, so I believe that Gorum is intimately familiar with the notion of spontaneous events, and meshes with his comments regarding Kingdom Guards in his application. Should the staff accept this application, I am absolutely certain that Gorum will become an invaluable member of the event team.

1 minute ago, mitto said:

in the original lore it was spelt like this, as vehemently defended by ski

As the original author of the lore this is not the case. But I am just wondering if the spelling has been changed.

It's spelled Cognatism now?

Klompistotle reads a book, and dissatisfied he resolves to eat it.

William Gage has reserved a copy of each.

After reading the Histories, William Gage wishes the Wardens were still around.

William Gage smirks and signs in impressive cursive.

((PtahWithin))

Any relation to Muyakelgs?

Leowarrior does speak extensively from experience when he talks about what happened to the elves when they were on the wrong end of the stick with regards with Oren, so to speak. I don't know how the elves are doing now, but at the time Malinor (not Haelun'or, they were doing well) was in one of the lowest periods of its existence. This had begun before their conflict with Oren, and so it is disheartening to see that the Orcs appear to be in a similar situation now. In addition it does look like the Orcs have fewer options, since capitulation was always available to the elves, but as some have explained in the thread this isn't really an option for the Orcs. There was a lot of talk at the time for what to do about the elves, and many people tried to assist, including myself (I failed (several times)), but many had widely different ideas for what should be done. I don't know enough about the exact characteristics of the Orcish situation, but I would focus on yourselves first and Oren second, and to establish a consensus as soon as possible about what to do.

If Alras were still around we'd hire you all to work in our diamond polishing factory, pay you fair wages, and paint you up as oompa-loompas.

Asthil eagerly awaits a speech from Kalenz "Remember The Silmarillion" Uradir.

Which is exactly why we can't reduce our behaviour to a number of studies that have no specification on extraneous variables such as, uh, the internet, age and actual population cliches. Our 'society', or community as a better word would serve (if you're talking about the server as a whole that is), is not easily reduced to simplistic terms such as 'behavioural declination', as we are too individual and we all define 'decline' differently.

 

I'm never too fond of these kinds of threads, so if it is apparent that it's simply here to provide false truth to whatever you're trying to imply, then I'll be happy to ignore it like the majority who click on it.

 

because i totally like taking things out of context ayyy lmao

http://www.sascv.org/ijcjs/harries.html

By and large, the available evidence increasingly tends to suggest that most types of crime tend to increase in levels of occurrence with increasing population density. This relationship, however, is moderated by SES. A cluster of affluent high-rise apartments in Mumbai or New York may have high density, but will also have a high level of guardianship, thus inhibiting crime. On the other hand, a high density poverty area will incorporate in its lifestyle incentives for predatory behaviours and disincentives for guardianship, given the hazards associated with confronting criminals (on their turf) or witnessing criminal acts.

http://jasss.soc.surrey.ac.uk/15/1/2.html

An examination of Table 2 shows that density, after adjusting for crowding, economic status and population heterogeneity has a significant independent effect upon age adjusted death rate and the age adjusted male heart disease deaths... The other indices of pathology which also show strong independent effects of density are admissions to general hospitals, admissions to mental hospitals, delinquency (all components), illegitimate births and divorce....

 

On the basis of a multivariative analysis of 125 geographic areas of the Netherlands, it is suggested that population density has an independent effect on a variety of pathological indicators. As with any non-experimental multivariative regression study, two cautions must be observed in interpretation. First, to the extent that the model is misspecified, in that some relevant variables correlated with included variables are omitted, the estimates are likely to be biased. Second, generalizations beyond the context of relatively affluent societies with limited extremes of wealth and poverty, and crowding, such as the Netherlands is, should be avoided.

http://psychological-musings.blogspot.com/2011/07/effects-of-population-density-and-noise.html

Territoriality, privacy and personal space involve personal choice and individual perceptions of the use of space for normal functioning. Psychological effects of these perceptions vary between individuals, but limited space has an eventual profound effect on humans. In urban environments, when space is limited, aggressive and violent behavior, poor academic performance, and more negative social interaction between community members is observed (Clayton & Myers, 2008). Intrusive noise causes limited to severe annoyance, depending on how individuals interpret and perceive the intrusion (Straub, 2007). Noise reduction strategies can range from simple to complex, but are worthwhile especially in cases in which individuals have little control over anxiety- and stress-provoking noise.

But I thought I was a human, not a mouse

You are a social animal that responds to your environment. In fact, humans are the absolute extreme of social animals.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Z760XNy4VM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_B._Calhoun#Mouse_experiments

In the early 1960s, the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) acquired property in a rural area outside Poolesville, Maryland. The facility that was built on this property housed several research projects, including those headed by Calhoun. It was here that his most famous experiment, the mouse universe, was created.^[1] In July 1968 four pairs of mice were introduced into the Utopian universe. The universe was a 9-foot (2.7 m) square metal pen with 54-inch-high (1.4 m) sides. Each side had four groups of four vertical, wire mesh “tunnels.” The “tunnels” gave access to nesting boxes, food hoppers, and water dispensers. There was no shortage of food or water or nesting material. There were no predators. The only adversity was the limit on space.

 

Initially the population grew rapidly, doubling every 55 days. The population reached 620 by day 315, after which the population growth dropped markedly. The last surviving birth was on day 600. This period between day 315 and day 600 saw a breakdown in social structure and in normal social behavior. Among the aberrations in behavior were the following: expulsion of young before weaning was complete, wounding of young, inability of dominant males to maintain the defense of their territory and females, aggressive behavior of females, passivity of non-dominant males with increased attacks on each other which were not defended against. After day 600, the social breakdown continued and the population declined toward extinction. During this period females ceased to reproduce. Their male counterparts withdrew completely, never engaging in courtship or fighting. They ate, drank, slept, and groomed themselves – all solitary pursuits. Sleek, healthy coats and an absence of scars characterized these males. They were dubbed “the beautiful ones.”

 

The conclusions drawn from this experiment were that when all available space is taken and all social roles filled, competition and the stresses experienced by the individuals will result in a total breakdown in complex social behaviors, ultimately resulting in the demise of the population.

 

Calhoun saw the fate of the population of mice as a metaphor for the potential fate of man. He characterized the social breakdown as a “second death,” with reference to the “second death” mentioned in the Biblical book of Revelation 2:11 ^[1] His study has been cited by writers such as Bill Perkins as a warning of the dangers of the living in an "increasingly crowded and impersonal world."^[2]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavioral_sink

The ethologist John B. Calhoun coined the term "behavioral sink" to describe the collapse in behavior which resulted from overcrowding. Over a number of years, Calhoun conducted over-population experiments on rats^[1] which culminated in 1962 with the publication of an article in the Scientific American of a study of behavior under conditions of overcrowding.^[2] In it, Calhoun coined the term "behavioral sink". Calhoun's work became used as an animal model of societal collapse, and his study has become a touchstone of urban sociology and psychology in general.^[3]

 

In it, Calhoun described the behavior as follows:

 

"Many [female rats] were unable to carry pregnancy to full term or to survive delivery of their litters if they did. An even greater number, after successfully giving birth, fell short in their maternal functions. Among the males the behavior disturbances ranged from sexual deviation to cannibalism and from frenetic overactivity to a pathological withdrawal from which individuals would emerge to eat, drink and move about only when other members of the community were asleep. The social organization of the animals showed equal disruption. [...]

 

The common source of these disturbances became most dramatically apparent in the populations of our first series of three experiments, in which we observed the development of what we called a behavioral sink. The animals would crowd together in greatest number in one of the four interconnecting pens in which the colony was maintained. As many as 60 of the 80 rats in each experimental population would assemble in one pen during periods of feeding. Individual rats would rarely eat except in the company of other rats. As a result extreme population densities developed in the pen adopted for eating, leaving the others with sparse populations.

 

[...] In the experiments in which the behavioral sink developed, infant mortality ran as high as 96 percent among the most disoriented groups in the population.^{[4] "}

Asthil Haumel strides along, looking upon what has been wrought. Order. Sanity. Pride.

Bronze.

Forgive me father for I have sinned, I was an elf.

Israel did 9/11