osumanduas

The Haeseni then find himself put upon by a Rhoswenii, who shot the man full of rounds with his 44. before taking off his aviators.

“The game was rigged from the start.”

Uttered the man, shaking his head before shuffling back off into the Canyon.

Lots of people always have a lot of petty shite to chat, bitter things to say. It was really a privilege having you around though in my own opinion and I wouldn’t have been able to hold the ship together for as long as I did during those long ass final exam days without your dedication. You’ll go far comrade outside this mineman microcosm and it’s really an incredibly wise decision to leave it behind. Sooner or later we all need to take the same look at our lives and make that call. Looking forward to many ck, hoi4, and eu4 games after this mate. From me and everyone back in the ol’ Commonwealth, bon voyage brother. And good luck.

Aneirin Ithelanen looks back; catching news of his Vanethelan kinsman’s return from the hunter’s path, he turns, shakes his head, and returns upon his religious excursion ever in search of his ancestors, seeking eternally achieve their warrior ideals.

”What is gone is gone, kill it if you can. Move ever on the path forward.”

2 minutes ago, Urara said:

@methuselahs

 

 

thoughts?

looking Gucci

4 hours ago, Zarsies said:

 

 

Howdy! First and foremost as I can’t tell if you’re of genuine ill mood or it’s just my interpretation given your response and jabs, please don’t be riled up by this. The blood mage community I assume you refer to doesn’t exist, blood mag

ic was wiped out by the Lore Games and the only genuine remnants are Mordu and myself given we wrote the lore to replace it (pale blood magic, a sad and weak feat variation with no supermage blood fetish to the dismay of dark Gary Stus everywhere); the people who may have offended you probably aren’t us. With that, we aren’t apprehending or abusing striga lore as striga aren’t losing anything and the closest thing to be abuse would be misunderstandings on our part which, as per the point of me making this response and doing edits, we are willing to address because we know we aren’t perfect, don’t know everything, and have no ill will towards you, the striga group, or striga lore. I am fond of you and aren’t looking to rile or distress anyone. Additionally, the ST as a group weren’t involved in this, just Mordu and I, and they weren’t consulted as per their irrelevance to writing this and even if they were I doubt any of them could pinpoint your same issues.

 

Regarding Aeldin lore, all we had to go off of outside of what is discussed IRP was the wiki page and this thread accepting it into the canon. Because the wiki doesn’t give any reference to a timeline not self-contained to Aeldin (e.g. “the Imperial Age started in 1355”) it was hard to narrow down when things occurred so by saying Hazm was a product of Alnorid and thereafter immortal gave us leeway to fit him into the timeline assuming all that was prior to 1461, ideally even earlier though. The original striga lore didn’t provide more clarity, nor did the new striga lore. 

 

Because of  this time inconsistency and the notion that Helgraen wouldn’t turn a wizard could be amended by distancing Hazm from Helgraen to fit him into the proper timeframe for when the Alnorid Sultanate existed and closer to 1400 or so, that way Carical’s familial relation isn’t too far fetched (and she’d probably be moved from being born on Aeldin to born in Anthos but of the Alhazred line) and another striga would have turned him, likely without Helgraen’s influence whatsoever and more care for his sahir position in a court rather than his magic abilities (which he lost because of being turned). And while sailing is never referenced, only “led him far from”, “led to western Aeldin”, and “spending some years together both in Alnorid and on the perilous journey home”, we can in turn edit it to be more clear that Hazm was fetched by Numir and Carical via rift and their time spent together would be while on Anthos.

 

Regarding Hazm relearning magic, I think you misread. Hazm’s immortality made his life dull and his interests flat because he had lost his magic (which, of note, would likely make him anathema which, were the story to come to light to the striga IRP could help stir conflict where they see siliti as derivative rats) and yearned for it again. This want is what Malghourn exploited him with and enabled Malghourn to easily kill him via the ritual. Hazm is the only striga in the whole story and he never regains his magic, he only was promised it and by buying into it he was betrayed.

 

While the distance of Aeldin isn’t relevant I think your point on that isn’t all too concrete given how Velia came to be last map (Niccum’s Roman colonists) and how nobles roleplay going back to visit Aeldin although the roleplay of such people doesn’t invalidate lore if it is indeed lore. Regardless though, the distance doesn’t matter due to teleportation and Hazm left with Numir and Carical, not by himself sailing.

 

Regarding the viability of the ritual, I don’t know what you’re referencing with the dissection of a druid for their Aspect connection. Could you elaborate? In that vein however, because of the distinction between mortal blood magic (second generation BM, third generation BM, awakened BM; essentially BM accessible to Descendants and therein players) and ‘event’ / higher being blood magic (2.0 BM antag, Voidal horror events i.e. Achan-Chatla, Setherien’s bloodshards with the Black Scourge, Malghourn events post-Vailor, most recently pale blood magic / Malghourn lore albeit not yet canon) it is reasonable to say Malghourn had powers even at that stage that the ancient blood mages (the Archons group but also the other unnamed groups out in the world) did not (which, of note, goes both ways since no entity knows or has ALL of BM, not even the Malghourn I wrote). The ritual was powered by the extinction of a race’s remnants and assisted by nine blood mages besides Malghourn himself w/ Setherien’s lexicon (technically the Red Nexus wasn’t the Red Nexus until after the ritual); not to participate in the lore tradition of writers having a big d*ck swinging contest as this isn’t about absolute power, but that situation definitely had the power to deconstruct Hazm, split and imbue his soul, and create a marrow-curse upon all ten parties. He was used as a blueprint and none of the Unseen’s curse was actually transferred over, only mimicked and then reshaped / ‘bastardized’. It should be clarified here also as it seems this has been misinterpreted: siliti are a product of blood magic (just like dreadknights and other ritually created beings and enchantments from old blood magic) and its runes, and in no way ‘draw’ or ‘steal’ power from the Unseen. Malghourn used Hazm as a template to draw inspiration from in conducting his ritual, as well as for his own personal uses, and little else.

 

Regarding the consistency of time with each Archon’s introduction into the group it is indeed spread out and not dated (maybe we should change that?) but I can assure you they do line up. The humans had to be born close to the year of the ritual (1416 at the earliest, 1441 at the latest) to line up with Anthos’ and Setherien’s timeline so they (Numir, Carical, Hallin Kord, Cadmium) are situated as such, Numir and Cadmium being the ones with the most detail. Numir being proto-Waldenian (describing characters of a germanic culture in the years shortly prior to Aesterwald’s inception) lines up with their roots in Anthos. Cadmium was born on Rivel after Aegis was already destroyed which wiped out the Athera dwarves and shattered Rivel’s floating island and Solomon and her going to Asulon lines up with the Mori being involved with Nirta’s father (who is referenced as Mictlanti’s master among the Mori, assumed to be disguised amongst them as a blood mage agent within the Asulon blood mage court which they all later join and his fate is unknown) with Cadmium’s long life explained as a product of a marrow she gains.

 

On account of Dreori, Archi worked off of the initial Drakul draft Mordu and I posted and after we reviewed it and pinpointed all its issues he opted to join us when we at the same time finished writing siliti. Dreori had their own problems, the largest of which was their lack of a backstory. We are keen on thorough, consistent lore tie-ins for the interconnecting of the LotC canon so having the backstory this expansive was important to us in order to incorporate numerous other subjects and not be a self-contained, isolated lore piece. On that note, I’ll elaborate on the topic (which, again, your wording worries me that you’re genuinely upset by innocent mistakes or perceived injustices and that isn’t the relationship either of us want to have with you or the striga crowd, let alone anyone):

 

Striga absolutely HAD to be involved and it would be unreasonable and itself a cop out / poor storytelling to NOT incorporate them at all. Yes, we should have consulted someone other than who we did (Josh and Joel, albeit not to extreme depth) and on that front I apologize, the points that are relevant and fair we will address where appropriate. However, it would be lazy and subpar to write lore for vampires without at least referencing the already canon vampires and create the lore in a vacuum of purely self-contained, unconnected, and in a way random fashion. LotC’s canon is what it is, everything that is a part of it has to coincide and work together, so by using striga as a part of the foundation to reason another breed of vampire we validate striga and build on them without taking away anything (albeit in that process there can be mistakes as the things you’ve pointed out which, again and obviously, we’re committed to fixing). Yes, it would be easy to write another breed of vampire without striga, in fact involving striga made this much more difficult as we did our best to not step on their toes with themes, abilities, or backstory and tried very hard to make them vampires on the opposite side of the spectrum as we didn’t want to overshadow or invalidate them - we want them to coexist. Building off striga is the opposite of poor storytelling and a bad plot device, it’s inclusive, harmonious, and blatantly the best place to start for writing new vampires, something Dreori ought to have done. Not the original strigae writers, yourself, nor anyone else has a monopoly on vampires as a concept, which seems to be the source of much of this. No one owns striga, vampires, or lore in general, so there’s no territory to be crossed - no lane to break in or out of: this isn’t a judgement about you but rather the statement, that idea is highly toxic and otiose which is the opposite of productive for the betterment and further development of the LotC canon and roleplay. The implication that lore which builds off others and is interconnected ruins another is a very unhealthy mindset - and we worked off what is canon by what we could find in lore implemented lore (which, to be fair, Aeldin has no implemented lore which is very bad and whoever is the most familiar - you, Esterlen, Cracker? I genuinely don’t know - should make a full world lore submission for it. Aeldin and similar off-screen worlds are super cool and deserve to be seen in full breadth). Case in point, our originally draft, Drakul, was tweaked greatly because in someone’s headcanon Helgraen was an extremely powerful Dracula-esque character, something not elaborated on whatsoever in the lore, and because it wasn’t written or made known we intended on using him as the catalyst that Hazm became to serve the purpose of a blueprint. We didn’t want to deprive the striga of anything as we thought it was purely historical and we still don’t want to deprive them of anything. We ditched him and came up with a previously nonexistent striga as to not ‘take away’ anything. In the same vein we’ll make changes to the new lore to accommodate more.

 

Last but not least, and for a third time I reiterate that none of this is an attack at or subversion of striga, their community, you in particular, etc, this isn’t derivative. We aren’t piggybacking. The only reason striga were incorporated were because they came first, that’s it, and it’s a requirement for lore to be cohesive to best fit into the existing canon. We aren’t stealing, cheapening, or perverting striga. If anything, the three pieces add more story hooks, event and roleplay potential, and depth to LotC than striga ever did and I don’t mean that as a jab.
 

There are a couple things that I’ve taken as simple standards that I think have come across fairly well. The first being that if the date isn’t specified new lore should not be based in that period. So I’m glad that gotten through. The second is that I perceive ill intent. 

4 hours ago, Zarsies said:

I can’t tell if you’re of genuine ill mood

Now because this a lore post intent is irrelevant to the question. The lore itself already suggests that the point of this piece is that it be an ‘evolution’ of current Striga. The idea that I’m personally VERY OFFENDED isn’t something you have to worry about; this is a game after all and nothing about writing is personal outside of the road to get to a finished product. What I am is passionate about the subject itself, and continuity in particular. The concern in my view is really the nature of the theme as I explained previous and how this piece utilizes one set of prior structures to create a new (and frankly lesser continuity). If that wasn’t the case then yes, Striga lore would not have to be involved at all in the slightest it’s perfectly feasible using preexisting blood magic structures to create vampires. (Which would be fine btw).

Expanding on that the problem and I’ll again iterate, is in how the prior lore is being used. If what your referencing in your own work can’t reflect the spirit of the first it shouldn’t be mentioned at all. What needs to be done is to prioritize the use of existing structures something the lore piece definitely doesn’t do. If the goal is to create a different variant of vampire it should logically also reflect how that would be feasible within the sphere of associated lore. The primary material should be referenced and built upon. What I’m getting at here is that vampires aren’t at center stage here. What is glorified seemingly is Malgourn and blood magic instead, not how both this dragon and his field of study can add to and change the vampire niche as a whole. What is instead the case is that Hazm is the deus ex machina. The only tentative connection this piece has to actual vampires on lotc. If this indeed to be looked at in any other light than catching a ride then that probably needs to change.

As for the Dreori I had an epiphany after having a talk with Joel in the Lore discord which really changed my mind on the subject. The lack of a background actually proved to be a boon in my opinion, because the variety of stories which could be conjured to explain them was so vast, and thus also the possibilities of how they could be accept in role-play. There was a lot more opportunity for growth, for example then there is here. They could have been of a weaker generation, they could have evolved down a history completely different and that was frankly really cool to consider after the fact.

Instead the only actual vampire in the story is used as a crutch to explain how Malgourn created his own Striga 2.0 without the aid of the Unseen. Which conveniently segways into my clarification of the third minor point I made quite nicely. That is that there are no other acceptable examples of lore being used this way. It is unacceptable for example, that someone be able to manipulate nature without a connection to the Aspects. It is also therefore similarly concerning for Paladin-ism to be used by someone without a connection to Xan. Equal to those, as it stand to reason: it is a concerning thing that creatures born of the Unseen (by blueprint, or blood-magic whatever term of the month is being used), can have vampiric boons without being beholden to the implemented standard (I.E. the curse itself.) Even Thuleanism (which is a turbulent example I know) required someone to be connected beforehand.

All these points are ultimately spurred on with one focus in mind. New lore in this segment should compliment the continuity we have, new mechanics can fit into the existing vampiric pre-conditions. There doesn’t need to be an evolution of one into the next.

The second topic I’ll contest, but I do think it’s funny since distance has taken sort of a back seat. Distance and interaction over time is very important in my view, and needs to be purposefully addressed. If something is ambiguous it should be meant to be that way, at least where story telling is concerned. Mechanics have a generally increasing need to be specifically fleshed out, and that’s something that is very hard to get right. Ultimately something I enjoy a lot, as it’s something that’s been accomplished very well.

If the story itself breaks the suspension of disbelief it’s no longer a feasibly enjoyable story for a wide margin of folks. This is mainly the problem I have with this, because we’re talking about a span of time essentially now in (like 1070s) to essentially when Helgraen would have begun taking disciples, which if not practically date-able, would have been during Aeldin’s antiquity in the Second Era (which is there for you to find in the wiki). I had to do a lot of condensing for the accepted rewrite, the old one which described humans in the era of Helgraen’s ascension as being little more than heavily tribal. They were essentially then, from that measurably Neolithic. Like just barely agricultural. That means a few certain things, because these variations of growth have certain attributes: no nation-states, no really unique cultures, and really just living day to day to grab what you can nab.

It was a little ambiguous to me whether Hazm was an Elf or Human. But my point was really that in either case the likelihood that he would have been experienced and yearned again for magic would be low given those circumstances. It’s confusing to jump multiple places and times. It’s far more sensical to have one place be primary and branch out from there. It’s one of the key themes that are evident in the beginning of a creature in a far off place. In vampiric society our own setting is the frontier which people travel to, and this one of the more critical things to understand when trying to conceptualize the grand narrative. The linchpin of command and reverence isn’t with us ourselves, unique specimen make their way here from other places for their own goals and ambitions and build from there. That’s the heart of lotc if ever there was one. There is the potential for all manner of bloodsuckers spread out from Aeldin, or from migrants to another land.

Maybe Hazm searched the world, started his own lineage and then some of them made their way here to begin a new life. Instead the vein of the story reflects what will be considered widely too: That one vampire followed a red-herring, got butchered by a dragon, who then used his blood crystal pop out his own variant that was kind of the same thing but not really. 

Maybe it’s a difference of direction, or a miscommunication of how things should be handled, but /expansion/ rings far more with me personally than anything else. An expansion that builds on the lore that came before and encompass far more in the future, not to create some weird adjacency.

Idk, in the end I’m just here to make a few good points and a few decent quips.

14 hours ago, The King Of The Moon said:

Such things led him far from Aeldin into the company of the dragon Setherien and his band of sorcerers

By the by; just noticed the lack of sailing my b. The autistic classicist in me took a leap and bound there. Whats tickling me now is the use of the lore. I’m thinking now just as an example:

14 hours ago, The King Of The Moon said:

The last thought to pass through Hazm Alhazred’s mind was those of betrayal, as he had been made into nought more than a blueprint. 

Taking the Strigae out of this. If it was a Druid, Paladin, ext. In most scenarios it wouldn’t fly in their place to take a specimen from one piece of lore and reverse engineer them into another existing pillar of server lore. Food for thought. I’ve never seen it legitimized in regards to any other community, Thuleanism being probably the accepted equivalent example of this. So I suppose a more reasonable question is why is this piece is acceptable by comparison to other projects which at a minimum had to achieve a synergy with existing standards.

5 minutes ago, Zarsies said:

 

Magic. Rifts can be used like Verge portals to go to/from Aos/Eos and land just about anywhere.

Continuity. Striga have no place using magically induced portals to go just about anywhere. I’ve wrote it all up in another response on the bit of lore I have the most of my problems with. You would have had me there if your own lore didn’t state that the character y’all conjured up SAILED to meet this Setherian toe-licker.

That said I did have the courtesy to compliment what additions you’ve made. I know you couldn’t have personally written an origin story that riddled with plot-holes and creative cop outs.

The changes that Zaries has made to the mechanics of the lore are pretty solid, the origin behind Siliti/Drakul is still as terrible as before however. A continent hopping mess quite ironically without any continuity. Dreori were leagues better in this regard, because they had the courtesy to try and be a separate thing despite being mechanically similar.

11 hours ago, Zarsies said:

Hazm Alhazred

Excellent lore all in all, save the needless inclusion of this guy above who is newly fashioned. I’ve given my two cents on the Archon post here: 

Despite that though, and I’ll just say this. The only thing you could probably do obtain his soul would be to have your dragon eat him (putting aside the incredible dubious circumstances under which how he’d actually manage to get all the way from his homeland to get there.) I do love the lore, but for the love of GOD please keep my cute boys with fangs out of your dragon fantasies. @Zarsies

If I’ve said it once I’ve said it a thousand times already in response to this attempt by the blood-magic community to apprehend and abuse Striga lore assets. So because nobody on the ST thought to point it out to you before you posted this I’ll just spell it out.

• Read Aeldinic lore, ‘Helgraen’s first court’ would have occurred during the time of Elven Empire on the continent and would have been a neolithic and hunter-gathering stage for humanity. He picked Humans exclusively because they were a stupid species he could control, not other elves, and not for any actual skill.
  • I.E TWO SIMPLE THINGS
    • 1 – THERE WOULD BE NO ALNORID SULTANATE TO HAVE A DELEGATE IN.
    • 2 – (edited here, looks like it was fixed or I just read it wrong. I have both the old and new posts in mind so that might have been muddled from two into one here, my b.)
• STRIGAE CANNOT RE-LEARN MAGIC; very basic principle here. It’s a direct subversion of pre-established lore and exposing of the agenda here to try and create something oppositional to the very core of the lore your using to try and justify this blood magic equivalent.
  • MORE SPECIFICALLY: THERE ISN’T AN EASY REASON TO BE HAD FOR WHY HE WOULD SEEK IT OUT. The culture is of obedience, Helgraen wouldn’t have turned someone who used to have magic powers to begin with, there are a multitude of reasons for why this is unfeasible but those are just a few of the larger plot holes here.
    • To drive that home even further, there would be simply no reason to cross the sea in this instance, Aeldin is a massive continent (hence why isolationism was the policy until it’s discovery by outside forces). It existed in a vacuum save for the Drakkem who migrated MUCH later, like millennia after just before the Imperial Age.
• Lastly, but much less critically, even if one Striga could somehow manage to get far enough to be incorporated in some capacity by this giant blood-dragon. It doesn’t seem likely that he could just be ripped apart and sacrificed. Much to everyone’s surprise I know Striga are enabled by Deific Magic, and IF YOU CAN’T DISSECT A DRUID OF IT’S CONNECTION TO THE ASPECTS then you can’t rape a Striga for it’s curse from the Unseen.
  • also just as a side note, the time-frame for all of these archon characters seems in question, for instance Waldenians didn’t have a proto-archetype. They’re an offshoot of northern Rhoswenii (I.E they were just Highlander White Rose OGs. Not a people with an ancient history.

I just want to point out here at the end of this comment that I’m not unopposed to blood-mages having their own set of vampiric vibes. In fact, while I was opposed to Dreori before I’ll actually come out now and say that they weren’t that bad and could have been easily integrated (because they didn’t bother adding a ridiculous backstory). All I ask, like I did with the last iteration of this crap with Drakul is that you KEEP STRIGA LORE OUT, and if you want to include it actually consult someone from the community who knows the lore well (an Esterlen, a Bagley, a Malaise, me).

What I don’t understand is why this is so hard to get through, it’s very easy to do without Striga, they aren’t necessary, you don’t even need a bloody blueprint (forgive the pun) that bit is really just poor story telling; bad plot device in my opinion.) Blood Mages already absorb and work with genus; they already have the compatibility to do their own thing. So work with the potential of your own lane, instead of ruining someone else’s. I would have said this was inadvertent too, but this lore makes the same damn mistake that everyone had a problem with the first time. A strung together narrative with a very clear preconception: ‘how can we piggyback of of the Strigae creature to create our own blood magic equivalent.’ 

Some people can’t handle the basics of a normal conversation, others can’t conceive having a chat without trying to find some kind of provocation to kick and scream about. Wide majority of players are irrational to a fault, and just come back because they want to roleplaying with their mates. Server would be a better place if these people stayed in their lanes, but we’re on internet. Thats never going to happen.

Best thing to do is ignore the shitty players. If they’re bad enough they’ll hand you the gun themselves. It’s a whole lot easier that way.

si madam

@Urara

I’ll hand you a tenner (CAD)  if you’re down to whip up Beckett from VTMB for me. DISCORD: kaedreniwroth#4183

The Count of Rochefort issues his compliments to the gloriously written roll, and it’s creator Albert de Falstaff.

“You aren’t a man, you have no rights.” points out the sexist Count of Rochefort

The Rt Hon. The Count of Rochefort casts his ballot

“Very nice indeed, it seems as if your brood have inherited their father’s gloriously competent persona.”

“Always ever the ingenious author of such truly grand governmental documentation. I salute the Premier on his good taste in adjective.” The Count pours out his praises utterly, quite proud of the strength of his efficient provincial cabinet.

“A very gruelling bout of elections. By the Lord we have weathered the storm and ensured the functioning of this local Commons. I congratulate the newly incumbent and thank our gracious Government for attending to the debates of early yesterday.” states the Count, affirmative in his belief.

The Count of Rochefort sits inquisitively upon the chest of his sleeping companion, staring the painter dead in the face with demonic gaze. Looking back to the fallen figure the blonde imp then reached out a satanic finger to flick them on the forehead. “Hey kid, the paintings finished, you can wake up now. . . hey kid, hey kid.”

“The Lord P. P. must be truly devastated, to have been relieved of so present and persistent a woman. Like a great wave she washed across all she touched in this great nation; it was truly a blessing to have her here in the small time that we were privileged to have been given.”

The Count Rochefort then takes a moment pausing in his official address, taking note of his potted decor which sat near the window before finally finishing his letter.

“A good friend of my dear wife and I, a wonderful Majordomo too. I pray we will not miss the mark in her hallowed absence. She shall not be forgotten.”

Thus did the Count then sign and stamp the parchment with efficient intent, his final condolences flown by carrier pigeon to the Pruvia of Provins.

”A bastion of faith, and and truly a bulwark of nobility.” The Count of Rochefort, therein lights up a branded cigar well rested as he reads over the wonderful penmanship of his contemporary.

This is just too good

Within the Myre tower of old the Count Rochefort casually smokes a cigar, christened with the same name as he. With his feet kicked upon the windowsill and his newly born heir resting in his lap he would therein pen in his absentee vote from the comfort and security of his own home. It reads as such:

”I, The Right Honourable Richard Victor Helvets, The Count of Rochefort, Lieutenant-Governor of Kaedrin, Helmsman of Varoche, Loyal Brother to Henry and Robert Helvets, Lord-Magnate of the Kaedreni House of Electors, do vote for the motion I have priorly put to the House of Lords. I vote aye in all cases, that the Lady Merentel be investigated further, and that the dear Archbishop be raised to a station in the peerage as an equal among the rest of our goodly council. That he be styled as Prince-Archbishop of Albarosa, and that he and all those appointed to succeed him hence be given custodianship of the holy mountain of St. Catherine in perpetuity.”

an old and wizen Yagak’Azog howls with appreciation, his own nostalgia stoked by his chieftain’s tale of the glory days.

“We rend the Pinkies asunder in those days, broke thousands upon the road to Vekaro. Endlessly blooded from our camps in old Salvus did we pour across the world and give credence to our warrior reputation. Never must we forget it, the ferocity of Snoop, the ingenuity of the Zul, or the power of our great Chieftain.” he complements, therein bowing his massive head before his great leader.