Treshure

“I’m not sure what’s happening, but I’m always open to duel my former apprentice,” proclaims Valkorion Ithelanen.

public posts = you’re coming back

Balthazar peers over the missive with an air of skepticism. “The Helane Dynasty have asserted their indomitable grasp over Humanity, but this is a lineage as old as they. To bend to another Imperial monarch is doom in their eyes. The Savoyards will never forget.” His eyes wet. “I fear only war and death can come from this.”

((Excellent formatting that you’ve made. My only suggestion is to somehow make it larger and more readable. Otherwise, I really enjoy this post.))

@Riftblade

2^nd one is actually fire, good job

A corpse lays bare to the wind and soot covering the remains of the Fringe. It is a body among thousands; bodies littered beneath a towering mountain and the web of mechanical horrors sewn into its stony crags. Whatever story it had to tell died on that gruesome day.

In 2013, Runesmithing was a rallying cry for dwarven freedom in terms of a niche, relatively balanced magic. Having seen the magic in action, it only now seems like a clique’s tool of control. Don’t want to see it on the server.

Meraxis shakes his head. “They cannot invoke the name of Elvenesse – it is a title of the Dominion alone. Our people are fractured, and these words hold little merit.”

Meraxis takes a hard look at the recruit rank before tearing the scroll apart in a furious tantrum.

11 minutes ago, BonesOfTheEarth said:

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I can recognize and respect the dedication people hold to their work. I want to make clear the fact that I do want to see this group flourish. I hope any RP group flourishes. But as a normal player watching this lore go through, I’d want to see the foundations made of stone and not sand. Players like WhiteKnight who are deeply involved with the lore don’t need magic to satiate them because they are committed to the vision. But other players often don’t share in that immediately. What I hope to see is a player’s attraction to the quality of the story and lore around your diety: their purpose, their way of life, et cetera. The magic would then only compliment the lore and not as a primary attraction.

I think the merit of clerics have a shot in this server. I hope it works out in the proper way.

7 hours ago, WhiteKnight_19 said:

@Treshure

 

Hi there and good morning. To note when I was writing this originally I had wanted to include the the entire history and everything of the Clerics starting from their origins. However, as I worked on it, it became slowly more and more apparent that I was missing a very large chunk of their history. I do have every intention of creating a cultural post in the future. Containing all the history and everything that comes with a religion. I do thank you for looking over the lore and I’m going to look over the lore itself with the question you asked in mind as well. That way I can make this lore something that the server enjoys and try to remove the bad taste that Clerics left when they were around before. 

Thank you for sharing my perspective, but this lore needs to come before, not after. I think that you are perfectly capable of roleplaying followers of Tahariae without using magic, at least for a time being to prove that you don’t need fancy spells to survive as a roleplay group. If you do, then that speaks lengths about the value of this.

I think this community needs to pull the collective wool from their eyes and take a good look at why this magic needs to exist. Now I’m not saying that it doesn’t need to – but your backstory and origin is a tiny fraction of your post. This magic is essentially a religion – you worship a god, you gain their power, you do their bidding. But there is very little of that here. Most of it are spells and abilities.

The backstory and purpose of the magic are just as important as the balance of the powers thereafter. I know Tahariae and I know that they can give power canonically through the lore. But why does this magic need to be apart of the server? What impact does it have on the narrative? If you can build a compelling narrative lore-wise rather than a quick explanation before rushing off to the spells, you’ll prove to me and a lot of other skeptics that it’s anything more than a foil to necromancers or w/e.

Heat and rain washed across the Warden of the Pale. He had bore through the jungle for days, slashing through vines and venturing deeper into ruinous wilds. There Lathadlen discovered the ruin - and within, the tome.

♬♪♬♪

THE CREATION MYTH

In the beginning,

The darkness and the void were the boundless powers of The Blind God, whom the world would come to know simply as ‘The Creator’. When The Blind God and his Servants first assumed their place in the endless dreamscape of starlit skies, so too emerged the Mortal Plane from amidst the remnants of bickering nameless gods; whose bones formed the hardy surfaces of the world, whose tears created the endless seas, and whose molten blood shaped the Mortal Plane we know today. 

In the elder days, the song of life was as much spoken as it was beheld. The words sung were tayna; lifeforce incarnate. Malin and his children marveled in the wonders of creation; the Elves drank in their promised inheritance of the earth. As the eldest of the Descendants, Malin bore the sword and seal as the guardian of this new and boundless earth. He mastered the tongue of tayna, and held dominion in paradise. With the knowledge of creation itself, Malin bound his will to the Word Altars and taught his progeny of san’taliyna - the path of the living word. San’taliyna’s namesake was born out of reverence of Malin’s song of life. That so which any elf would walk in the purest way, they too would inherit a nirvana promised to them by Malin. 

But evil had touched the world. The plans Malin held for his race were laid to waste by the Deceiver Iblees, and great dissent was sewn into the fabric of Elvenesse long after aengulic chains banished the Archdaemon to oblivion. Eldritch spirits of the world whispered into the ears of Malin’s descendents with visions of power and grandeur. These now wayward daughters of Malin conspired against their eternal Father to create kingdoms of their own likeness. The wars of the elves washed over the world, and san’taliyna was lost to time.

But what is lost will be found.

Those that practice the lost art of San’taliyna maintain an old elven tradition born from the glades of Malin’s first kingdom. It is a philosophy deeper than faith about the natural order of the elves that practice it, who believe they shall inherit the earth as the eldest of the Descendents and must spend their immortal lives performing acts of virtue and service awaiting the day they can claim that inheritance.

The Temple of Malin

All understanding of San’taliyna revolves around the elven concept of tayna - what most could label ‘lifeforce’. The path of San’taliyna strives to dismantle that world of selfishness and avarice that has bound the elves into obscurity for so long. It rejects the mainstream worldly political systems that elves often inflict themselves in mimicry of their Descendent brethren - who lack the wisdom and longevity and require such institutions, while elves often pervert and spoil their natural order in bondage to them. Instead, they understand their role is to preserve the throne of Malin, who they regard as the last living racial progenitor. Through good deeds, valor, and proof of their mastery of tayna, they await his return, by which he can institute eternal nirvana on earth through the use of perfect tayna.

In this way, elves of the temple of Malin do not believe in an afterlife that is beyond this world nor do they care for the heavens or planes of other races or heavenly beings. They are firm in their conviction that their destiny is intertwined with the planet that was bound to them by the first coupling. As a result, San’taliyna thought dictates an elf that has perished will mingle with the soil beneath them and awaken as a natural being, most often plants or fauna. However, in truth, they are only rest in a form known as soulsleep, an inert dreamscape. It is said that when Malin returns, he shall with the use of perfect tayna awaken all resting elves from their soulsleep and establish them an eternal nirvana on earth.

This is seen as a beautiful thing as to elves, as their immortal life is suffering, and to rest in soulsleep until Malin comes ensures elves avoid the toil of survival and the harsh realities of the world. It is also thus a great crime to destroy a San’taliyna grave, as if an elf in soulsleep is broken from it by the destruction of the plant they rest in, they are reincarnated and brought back into the world of suffering. Elves that accumulate great tayna in life are reborn as great bodies of nature or natural beauties that can survive the greatest of tempests or fires, while elves that lived immoral, wicked, or sinful lives are reborn as little shrubs and saplings that are easily downtrodden - forcing them to relive life quite quickly and avoid the bliss of soulsleep.

“How could the Gods compare to us? They were born from astral privilege, and we the sacred heat of ambition and will.”

Musings of the Priesthood

The Temple of Malin espouses a path forged by elves alone. Wary of the idolatry placed in great elves and gods alike, San’taliyna glorifies the individual elf’s struggle; against pride, against slavery, and against the infinite temptations of the world. The greatest elves of San’taliyna bargained against the powers of the world for the betterment of their own race; whilst they held power of the gods, they were never beheld to the gods’ path. They walked the light of Malin alone. These elves would become known as the Oracles, and the gods they wrest power from: the Pantheon.

An eldritch symbol sprawls against the end of the tome, with thick text leading off to another page. It seems there is yet more to discover.

Meraxis looks upon his own small shelf of literary work, pondering the expansive nature of the Compendium. O’, what hidden depths of knowledge now lay bare!

The Pale Elves begin looking into the literary framework of a “No-Fly Zone”.

(this is just for fun no hard feelings ?)

After some dialogue with Dibley, I’ve changed my mind. I still personally do not agree with flintlock weapons – I think that while clever implementation is possible, human flaws will inevitably tarnish this precarious idea. However, I think that the communities pushing for techlock relaxation need to be given a fair shot. Allow flintlock weapons with tight reigns and see how the community responds a month or two later. We need to put this to the test.

I think there are two main issues that I see with new player guidance on the server. And correct me if I’m wrong, I can’t observe the entire process myself.

1. Too few CT members for each player and a lack of personal resources/time.
2. Too much reliance on staff members to curate experience.

A:  This isn’t a criticism of the CT as it is a fact of life. There are a lot of new players that join the server. CT’s have their own lives, and even their own characters (*shocker*) to play when they log on. The amount of immediate support to guide/assist new players personally ingame (which will always be the best method) may never match the demand. I think that in addition to CT members assisting new players individually, we ought to network with the existing infrastructure of recruiters in different nations. They have the time and want to give new players the best possible experience (for retention purposes), and will do so far longer than any individual CT. If we have a blend of CT support and verified recruiters from different nations, it is the best possible combination for a new player.

B: Same issue as above. It’s a manpower problem. I’ve been really gunning for a tutorial island build. When I was GM way back in the day, we were actually planning it for the 4.0 release, but it got sidelined for whatever reason. Have a mandatory cute floating island that runs through all the basic pointers. This gives both the new player & CT more to work with and eases the manpower problem. If you can automate a portion of it, I say fly with that.

Credits to Junar for this build.
 

MysticWaters’ Art Shop

Howdy y’all. My girlfriend from outside the server was interested in starting an art shop for practice, so here we are! Prices are below.

Line Art – $18

Half-Body – $28

Full-Body – $38

If you’re interested, drop your Discord below here or message my Discord (Treshure#1981). If you want multiple characters, sigils, or any other alternative art, she is open to that as well.

Finished Commissions:

References (Line Art, Half-Body, & Full-Body):

Howdy folks. My girlfriend is an artist and has been interested in doing commissions for LoTC. Before opening up an art shop, we’ve been focused on getting references to show for the various services she’s offering.

We still need one line art reference. So if you’re looking to have line art done for your character for free, please shoot me a PM via Discord (Treshure#1981) or drop a reply below with your Discord. Please have a description of what you’d like with reference pictures. Then we can talk further in PM’s. 

Examples of her work (in LotC likeness):

The lore is fine, but the idea is fundamentally flawed. I’ll leave the same feedback that I left on a previous thread inquiring about the resurrection of Archons.

Quote

Endgames are a fundamentally flawed idea, the preexistence of any current ones should not justify the creation of new endgame magic. You cite why endgames aren’t vital in the first paragraph, and that’s where it frankly should have ended.

 

Magic, like all other devices of RP, are a means to an end to the character’s journey. Full stop. Making magic itself some endgame tiered Mario Kart race bullshit is the brainchild of bored teenagers who want to flex over other magic RPers in their echo chamber.

 

It won’t benefit anyone and it never has. Let it die.