Song Druid

That's on the table for future renditions =)

Updated.

58 minutes ago, Whimsylicious said:

Can I draw stuff?

At the moment the Creative Cafe does not have a visual artist aspect.  I will be happy to show it off in chat, but there's not much we can do to incorporate it into the existing system at the last minute.  However I have a few ideas for the next one which can allow for some visual artists such as yourself to take part :)

In the meantime, check out this thread!

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And now, a few words from Arik

What is the Creative Cafe?

The Creative Cafe was a channel I started on the LotC TS about 4 years ago to bring the community together and just chill, hang out, have a good time and drop the RP pretense, OOC anger, etc.  Soon we started holding semi-regular contests.

Essentially what we want is the playerbase to express themselves however they can in a way everyone can witness through teamspeak.  I personally love to sing, so you can be sure I’ll be singing like crazy!  Some like to read literature they wrote.  Others rap, others tell stories, and still others just chat and have a good time.

How do I sign up?
 

This thread is the official signup thread.  As people sign up the thread will be edited and updated, and we will create a setlist based off of this.  Please, post here about it!

Prizes

Of course the Creative Cafe wouldn’t be the Creative Cafe without some neat prizes.  We’ll be giving out neat items in game, minas, and of course the Creative Wizard forum rank reserved only for those most special players ;)

We will hold a vote a day or so after the event to see who the playerbase thinks deserves the top spot.  Keep an eye out for more info on the prizes and the vote!

INTERMISSION

We will have a brief intermission, but people can choose to perform during this as well.  But nothing in the intermission counts towards the competition!  We’ll also hold a side encore vote while the competition goes on, and if you loved a performance that person can come up again during the intermission for an encore!

Rules

There aren’t many rules, so the rules we do have need to be taken seriously.

• The performance must be done by you, or a group, live. No recordings are permitted. Music to sing along with is permitted however, although we suggest you use the instrumental.karaoke version.

• Any literature must either be either written by you, or have something special in the way you perform it.

• The Channel is not for trolling of any kind. Save for joking around in performances chat should be kept from trolling performers or other members in chat. Know your limits and when enough is enough.

• Do not disrespect those who are performing in any way. If somebody is taking the courage to express themselves in front of dozens and dozens of people, bear in mind that it might not be easy.

• One of my most important rules. Do not go AFK or mute your sound in the Creative Cafe Channel. Users who do so will be kicked. The channel’s purpose is to enjoy the company of others and listen to the performances. If you aren’t going to listen, get out.

• Try and have fun, and entertain yourself and others!

When is it?

January 30th, 2016 at 2pm EST - 11 am PST - 9pm GMT !!!

All you have to do is join the lord of the craft teamspeak to take part!  That’s it!

CURRENT SETLIST

1. Freema - (Unknown)

2. Telanir - Poem as Farmer Billy Bob

3. Arik - (Unknown)

4. Sythan - (Piano)

5. THE DWARVEN QUOIR

6. Destinator - (Bluegrass)

7. Mrlollytime - (Unknown)

8. Damai - (Rap)

9. Farryn - (Story)

10. Charlie the Guy and Ouity (Uknknown)

11. Vrarr - (Singing with guitar)

Gonna bump this here as I've been seeing too many people RPing thoughts recently >:c

1.  I'll do some thinking on the specifics and get back to you on that.

2. Draoi Lore is made up but you could say we are introducing the lore in pieces or steps ;)  This is the first piece.  Suffice it to say that corrupted Druids (event lore btw) could become Draoi and retain their power through corrupted Nature Spirits.

3. I'm not sure if I understand the question :x

This is not a competition.  I'm afraid that is where many players fail to understand, what with the huge amount of PVP and wars we have.  Not my or anyone else's responsibility to be "fair" to other people.  It's RP, and life isn't fair.  That's just the way I see it, though.

3 hours ago, Fordo said:

So, basically, paladins are gaining a huge ass buff and get a SICK ass limb of light if they lose it. There is absolutely no downside to this, honestly. I don't like this all that much, given that they're already powerful enough, and I have to agree with Swgr above. There has to be some other weakness, other than 'they can't summon anything else while currently having a limb of light.' 

 

Essentially, I think there needs to be a more dire consequence to the usage of this skill. Perhaps, since the limb can't replace any of the five necessary senses of a player's body, it's incredibly difficult to use and, even if some adeptness was gained in using it, the paladin would still have difficulty manipulating it. It could be used for menial tasks, like picking up a cup or opening a door -- perhaps, loading a crossbow or pulling a bow back with some intensive practice. I don't believe a paladin should be able to use the limb to fight just as normally as they would with a sword, spear, et cetera. 

Why does there have to be a weakness?  Why does any addition that is beneficial to something in lore have to be counteracted by a weakness?  What purpose does it serve other than to balance it out?  

@Fordo As someone who has no interest in most any lore outside of Druidism I will say I hate crafting lore to MMO balance it.  I don't care about OPness, that's why we regulate responsible players.  We shouldn't create lore to balance out perfectly with other things.  It doesn't make sense and it doesn't enrich if it all comes down to that.

Can we please do something about the captcha?  It triggers me each time I make a new thread or edit a thread.  Surely there's something we can do for members who have been here a certain amount of time vs post count.

Leo's such an ass.  But yeah basically what he said but nicer

O.o  i didn't explicitly say they are only made to troll, I said they were whimsical and mischievous.  Dagnabit.

I didn't do a detailed one, haha.  It's pretty vague.  Humanoid, it's really up to the player otherwise.  As far as altering that's an interesting question I'll have to think it over.  If a fairy ring found its way into Orc lands perhaps.

2: I'll make the change to the lore.

3: Like I said in my conclusion this has been something that I've had since Asulon (along with the bone chimes).  I never filed the lore and so here it is.  I can't for the life of me think of a reason why they are compelled to do so, it's just their nature.  Cliche or no.

4-6: After being approved to practice the magic a new spirit would start off as tier 1 and progress over time.  A Nature Spirit that exists for an entire IRL year for instance could be tier 3, an ET one can be at tier 4-5 in their magic.  There isn't much other than OOC guidance they naturally have the ability to practice the magic and do not need to get "lessons".  They will follow the timeline and red lines for magic.

7-8:  The lore piece is intentionally wrong.  They cannot tell the difference in character.  It is very likely we'll get a shaman to come purge a spirit who will then say "I can't do anything here".  

^ ^ As you said they overcome it through RP, implying they have a lore friendly reason to be far past the age they are supposed to?

If they didn't they should klll off their characters.  Or we as a server need to do a serious look at the Iblees curse because we can't have curses we don't enforce.

1: Not really, it's just a ward.  I don't think it needs much more explaining than that.  I don't like exhausting myself with explaining every nook and cranny of the lore :<  I think it's sufficient as is.

2: They can look like animals or people, the souls don't matter because they have been transformed by Druidic energy.

3: They don't exist to bring people closer to nature.  They're mischievous, and like to play jokes.  It amuses them.

4: They have power over Control of Nature and Communion.

5: I like the suggestion that Boom made, any regular player creature would have a certain amount of power and ET could play stronger ones. Otherwise I'd consider regular magic rules to apply.

6: Common sense magic rules apply to any creature with magic.  If it has an ability to do something it's ability gets stronger depending on its tier.  I don't understand the purpose of asking what determines that if that's already an established rule?  Evil spirits can depending on their strength do what you asked.  Druidism red lines apply to any creature with Druidism.

7: It is a creature of the Aspects.  They aren't actually spirits.  This should answer your 8th question as well.  I didn't want to actually contradict existing spirit lore and the lore for this is quite different, so these are not spirits and thus can't be purged or manipulated by Shamans, Paladins, etc.  They can be killed with magic or forced into a fairy ring as stated in the lore.

5 minutes ago, Boom_an_Bewm said:

I really like this idea, i actully wanted to play something like what you stated. the part at the very end about the nature spirits being event ceartures or someone dedicated to playing playing one, i had a idea. event nature spirits could be considered one of the more powerful spirits while some people such as me would play a considerable weaker version.

I don't have a problem with this.  Sounds like a good idea.  I'll work something out as far as regulation or keeping track of players playing it after the lore team looks over it.

~

*~Nature Spirits~*

~

The spirits of nature were stirred into existence by the imbalance of the world.  As time grew they became natural in themselves, a victim of an unnatural time.  These spirits had great strength, such whimsical and mischievous creatures.  The Druii of old crafted Bone Chimes to stave away the troublemakers, for they meant no real harm.  Still occasionally in their antics a child would die, or a house burn down, but more common would be missing valuables never to be seen again, or food found rotted in the pantry.  These spirits were abundant in the forest of Elandriel in the lands of Asulon, it is said that the forest once hosted a massive battle so fierce there cannot be a claimed victor.  The spirits rose from this, for the trees wept so bitterly at the blood that sustained their roots.  Some say that was why the forest grew to its massive size...

There have been angry nature spirits, whose home has been trespassed upon too often so they lash out at passersby, sometimes pushing them about or perhaps sending a tree root someone’s way, for these of course were beings, however the circumstances they were born, of the Aspects.  But then there were the nature spirits that had grown bitter, or tainted with vile magicks, and would cause great dismay to those who would violate their homes.  

The Bone Chimes, were baked, dried and hollowed bones that were carved and strung together.  Hanging them over a threshold would ensure most any nature spirit would be unable to enter the home.  If it were a powerful spirit, able to approach the ward, the clanking sound of the chimes would force it to reveal itself, even if cloaked, and would weaken it considerably.  The Bone Chime is a staple of Druidic craft, a teaching that was passed down for centuries.  Still, a nature spirit can only meet its end by entering into a fairy ring, where it returns abundantly to nature.  The rarity of fairy rings being what they are, and the inability to grow them at will for a Druid, makes it difficult, but an evil spirit of old would be provoked, and lured to the sacred grove, where the spirit would reveal itself from the bone chimes.  From there they would force it into the circle by means of the chimes, using its warding energies.

Some Druids would use ivy instead of string for the chimes, and imbue the ivy with their own energies to create stronger chimes.  A combined circle of chimes is enough to push back almost any evil nature spirit.

~The Drui’ithirn, Arcanum of Ancient Secrets

Nature Spirits are incorporeal beings formed when several inferior souls of nature are drawn into a fairy ring.  It results in a creature capable of intelligent thought, and in many ways blessed by the Aspects.  Nature spirits are most common where there is a fairy ring, but they do not have to stay there.

Personality:

A Nature Spirit by its nature is a mischievous, whimsical being, and while they keep to their territory they will occasionally play pranks on people, but really they don’t mean harm.  Occasionally someone will accidentally die from a Nature Spirit but they don’t inherently have ill intent.

When a Nature Spirit feels threatened, or their territory is trespassed upon, they can be quite irritating, pushing and whacking the person across the head with tree branches and so on.  Usually they can be appeased by making offerings in their territories, typical Aspect offerings suffice (see https://www.lordofthecraft.net/forums/topic/136202-aspectism-a-guide-to-offerings/)

Appearance:  Nature Spirits vary in appearance, but are always humanoid in design.  They sometimes have animal features, even plantlike, varying upon the spirit itself.

Powers: Nature Spirits are beings of Druidic power.  Therefore they contain some abilities that the Druids possess, and a few they do not.  They can move the forest about them freely depending on the age and strength of the spirit in question, and disappear and reappear at will.  They can pass through most surfaces and do things like rot the food in a home or take physical items with them when they leave.  This is the extent of their physical pull on the world.

Weakness: A Nature Spirit can be easily weakened by creating a set of bone chimes.  These are Druidic decorations that are typically hung above a doorway or on a house.  They effectively ward off any Nature Spirit, and depending on the Druid who crafted it, they can be even stronger when imbued with Druidic energies.  However, even without using Druid powers a bone chime can be very effective.  Common folk can make them as well, but in days of old the Druids made them and taught their Dedicants to do so as well.

If invisible the sound of bone chimes will force the spirit to reveal itself.  And, if the spirit is strong enough to approach or pass the chime, they are still weakened considerably.  But, at this point the spirit could simply destroy the chimes.

In order to kill a Nature Spirit one would have to lure them back into a fairy ring, where they will return to nature.  Many people do this differently, by making offerings in the ring for them to accept, or chasing them there with bone chimes, et cetera.  Any destructive magic will also quickly dispatch a Nature Spirit.  A Nature Spirit has no concept of its mortality on its own.

Evil Nature Spirits: Occasionally if an area is blighted or tainted, or if dark magic has been applied to its mind a Dark or Evil Nature Spirit will arise.  It is malicious in nature and seeks to destroy.  Due to their corrupted nature their own natural connection is also corrupted, but they do not lose Druidic power.  Some known as Draoi use the Evil Nature Spirits as a catalyst to continue their own connections even after they have stopped serving the Aspects.  An Evil Nature Spirit can wither crops, cause infestation, call feral and rabid animals to its aid.  It has the same weaknesses as its tame brother.

Territory:  A Nature Spirit will claim an area, usually in a forest but it could be most anywhere, and take residence there.  They usually do not claim territory inside a city or village, but they will make them nearby from time to time, so they can play pranks on villagers.  Nature Spirits tend to never find another territory after choosing one.

Distinction:  Nature Spirits are not actual spirits.  They gained the name due to their appearance and actions, for commonfolk knew not the difference.

I’ve had this lore for several years now, but I hammered it out at last to post on the forums.  I’d primarily like to see these as an event style creature, though if somebody was dedicated to playing one in a certain territory I wouldn’t be upset about it.  We’ll work out whether they will be strictly ET or regulated.   For now we’ll say just ET.  We have some good events planned, revolving around nature spirits and dark spirits/draoi.

I look forward to hearing feedback.

Cheers can occasionally be heard from the tree as the Elf receives his letter and praises the new steward for his 67% cut in taxes.

A letter finds its way onto Silus' desk; the script is eloquent but easy to read.  It reads:

"Greetings, Silus.

I see that you are the new head steward, I am sad to see Josef go, he became a dear friend to me.  I am hoping to continue to foster that friendship.  As your papers may indicate I am a property owner in your city, I own the Nature's Bounty shop, and I own the tree  next to it which I live in.  I of course have official papers validating my purchase of my home and my citizenship, though in this letter I also want to request new shop documents as I don't believe I ever received any.  Still, I am happy to call your beautiful city my home.  Please, don't hesitate to come to my tree if you have any questions, my door is always open (literally, I don't even have a door!).

Signed,

Druid of Song"

I didn't see that post.  Still, can't blame anybody for rustled jimmies