Smithers

If you want to put the rubber to the road, this is how you get things done. +1

It gladdens me to watch the charter system shift, however gradually, in favor of fluidity and away from a realm of arbitrary restrictions and unclear rules. What troubles me, with the endorsement of independent plots and group ascension to nationhood, is the proclivity of players to form independent groups without a conscience of cause and effect. Nations can curtail upstart organizations through regulation, but independent plots and the ability to ascend easily to statehood often puts response mechanisms far out of an established nation's reach. A non all-inclusive example of this was the dubious plague of unaligned "tavern plots" where the wretched gathered and criminals found havens - in prior map iterations, when nations came together in a very real way to break up these plots (whose creation and subsequent longevity was allowed by similar types of staff endorsement) they found themselves stalled at every possible crossroads by unclear staff decisions, the personal stakes of individual staff members, and an overall lack of standardization in the upper administration. How, after all, do you kill a leech plot? How do you warclaim an independent tavern? What is an established nation to do if no axis of power to independent plots and new nations exists? Can national decisionmakers take action and extinguish brushfire plots and upstart nations that threaten the balance of power, using as full a range of roleplay options as those that allowed the creation of independent landed organizations and new states to begin with?

Thumbs up, the first iteration never did anything but add to the diversity of golem roleplay.

((MC name: SirSmithers)) Name: Silir'ilume Vote: Vigil Officer Finnadh

Of Vampyres and Men The taproom upstairs was cool and lively, but the cellar air was damp, stifling, and suitable more for moths than men. Normally its quietude, disturbed only by rats scratching behind stacked barrels of beer, would prove oppressive, but on this eve it was broken by speech. A man - bald, with a scar-crisscrossed scalp, and two swords on his back tilted in the manner of a Hexer - stood in conversation with three men. One - a vinter, given by the scent of his wine-mottled coat - stood to the right of a pallid, hook-nosed creature, and he to the right of a man with wiry black hair and pale skin stretched across his gaunt cheeks. Even by half a second’s scrutiny it was clear that the conversation - a private tête-à-tête taken to the bowels of a dusty tavern to run its course, out of earshot of the pub rabble and bar regulars - was a heated one. The exchange had soared in tension, reaching the boiling heights that men kill over, and their glares became much more deadly. The intensity of the debate didn’t diminish and conflict seemed inevitable. While the Marked Man remained embroiled in argument with the vintner and the black-haired man, the hook-nosed figure managed to slip away and quietly bar the cellar door and return - a worthy task, executed entirely beneath the attentions of a man as trained as the Hexer. The black-haired man snarled. “I believe I’ve given you more than enough warning!” The change was abrupt, shockingly so, and the Marked Man was caught unprepared. With a series of sickeningly dull pops and crunches the black haired and hook-nosed men, somehow, tore through their clothing. The nature of the sudden mutation was initially unclear, for the bald Hexer was still reeling with surprise, but then - in the dull light - the fiends reared. It was a fearsome sight; a pair of humanoid, vampiric creatures with hollow, sunken cheekbones, dark-rimmed eyes totally blackened like those of insects, sallow skin crisscrossed with black veins, and flattened noses and elongated ears as if those of bat or wolf. A pair of bestial growls cut through the damp quiet of the cellar. The two monsters spread their hands and revealed a terrifying attribute - where their fingers had been now existed gleaming talons, wrought in the image of foot-long knives, and dual rows of yellowed fangs filled their mouths. The hook-nosed man leapt, arms outstretched, and the Hexer cried out in dismay. He seized the closest object - the vintner, who had now torn a dirk from his mottled cloak and lunged at the Marked Man - and threw him out in front of him. The creature collided at speed with the winemaker and the two collapsed in a flurry of limbs, granting the bald man reprieve to skip back and wrench his gold sword from its sheath. The Hexer roared out for aid, the wordless bellow of a man clearly out of his depth, and swung to meet the creature as it rose. The cellar door splintered suddenly inwards, cut by first by the blade of a sword and then kicked in by a steel-toed boot. A one-eyed veteran of a Marked Man rushed down the stairs with a shout, medallion rattling against his leather baldric, and froze. He’d expected his companion to be embattled with common brigands, but was confronted instead by two creatures - lightning fast - that he’d never before seen. Movement, in the corner of his eye! He twisted by instinct and threw up his steel sword, parrying the blow with a spray of sparks, but was brought low by a rapid kick. He caught it in the belly with a wheeze and evaded another swipe by way of a backwards tuck and roll. He rolled back over his shoulder and shot up on the balls of his feet, taking the Hexer fighting position of mid-guard. The beast, which had torn from the form of the black-haired man, snarled. The bald man’s shout broke the air. “Aurum, not steel!” The one-eyed veteran wrenched himself from his daze and tossed his steel blade to the side, yanking a gold hand-and-a-half sword from his back with a rasp. The two Marked Men clashed with the vampiric fiends, side-by-side, meeting talon with sword and sending bright showers of sparks across the dark and dusty room. Even for all of their experience, the two Hexers were clearly outclassed. The creatures were strong and swift and their blows had substantial power behind them, and the Marked Men found it difficult to keep pace. Their defense became sloppy and desperate - every so often a taloned swipe would sneak around a parry and maim one of the two Hexers, casting an arc of hot blood across the ground. To the experienced eyes of the men of the Marked Men, the skirmish was clearly unsustainable and needed to be disrupted to sway advantage. The veteran shouted something in a foreign tongue - a warning - and thrust his palm forwards. The bald man yelped and threw his arm over his eyes. The shadows in the room were annihilated in an intense golden flash an instant later, searing retinas and casting the scene in a strange, two-dimensional effect, and the two vampires shrieked in agony. One, the hook-nosed-man-turned-beast, leapt away from the bald Hexer and hurtled towards a sizable hole in the cellar wall, vanishing inside. The two Marked Men took initiative - with numbers reduced they began to press advantage, battering the remaining vampire back towards the corner of the room. The battle had shifted. The one-eyed veteran cast his arm forwards again, tearing a shining hole in the void, and a golden wind rushed out in a roaring cone with the force of a gale. The vampire shrieked, struggling forwards against the spell, and the bald man raised his blade to the sky with a snarl of anticipation. Too fast! With bestial finesse, the creature broke the trappings of the spell, bounded across the floor, and sprang after its companion into the hallow. The two Marked Men grimaced and shared a dour glance. They took brief respite, checked their gear, oiled their weapons, and vanished through the hole in the wall. A short passage of time later, the combined cacophony of clashing metal, bestial roars, shouts of determination, and groans of exertion and pain echoed out of the hole in the cellar wall. After a few minutes, all fell quiet. The next day, several Marked Men met grimly in the bowels of the tavern. More creatures would come, the nature of their allegiance inevitably uncertain. No Hexer would - or could - allow the structure to become a de-facto den of monsters. A few hours later the building exploded. A fireball, edged with blue flame, rose over the city and spread shards of wood and harsher shrapnel over half a league. Any trace of the armed struggle would die, annihilated in the inferno, and the tavern - the shining product of the labors of many men - would be forever reduced to smoldering rubble.

Restoration of the Hunt The forests north of Felsen were eerily quiet despite the lively breeze brushing through the bushes and trees. Two men moved near-noiselessly along a forest path - not by intention, but by the rigorous practice of discretion - with a group of three in tow, betrayed only by the soft flutter of their mottled cloaks. One of the two men, a grizzled veteran with a scarred face and a missing eye, led the pack and the other, a hulking man with a scar-crisscrossed scalp, trailed behind. Both men bore two swords each on their backs - one of aurum and one of steel - and medallions of two different schools of the Marked Men hung around their necks. Their steps were eager - they’d gone far too long without taking a contract, having instead thrown themselves into a gauntlet of drills and rigorous training, and had developed a tangible craving for any sort of action. The group of men took pause amidst a forest clearing, and two of the following group of three were ordered ahead. They returned after a time and gave report, and both of the Marked Men advanced across the makeshift bridge of a nearby river and regrouped around an abandoned cabin. They cleared dross and debri from the threshold of its battered door and, on the call of a man from the group of three, scattered and took positions behind nearby trunks of trees. The two Marked Men hoisted heavy arbalests to the ready and nocked aurum-tipped bolts, preparing lines of fire, and trained their crossbow sights on the cabin entry. After thirty seconds so quiet that a falling leaf would wake the forest, the door of the cabin exploded. A pale blur rocketed outwards and impacted immediately with the closest subject, one of the company of three - an old, pale man, with gaunt skin stretched tightly across his cheeks. He fell with a yelp and the beast reared. It was a fearsome sight; a vampiric fiend with a belly like a barrel of beer, a rough gray trunk covered with coarse hair, and a monstrous snout filled with rows of two-inch teeth. "Fire", barked the elder Marked Man. Two goose-fletched aurum bolts whizzed through the clearing to intercept, impacting in center mass and forcing the fiend back from its impending kill. With a metallic ring, both Marked Men wrenched their golden blades from their scabbards, broke cover and sprinted across the clearing to meet the beast. The monster, its attentions now diverted, arced over its previous quarry and bolted across the clearing towards one of the Marked Men - the scarred, one-eyed veteran. The man pirouetted to the side in a tight, well-practiced spiral and his golden sword bit into the beast’s flank, casting an arc of hot blood across the grass. It spun and roared, sending birds a league around into a fearful flight. The other Marked Man joined the fray and, side-by-side, they beat it back to the nearby treeline. The tides of battle shifted, and the skirmish became more desperate. For all their struggle and exchange of blows, the two huntsmen gained no ground and the beast’s stamina seemed yet unchanged. The fatigue of battle began to show on their faces, for even a Marked Man tires in struggle with a foe so hardy. The one-eyed veteran raised his palm desperately. A hastily-wrought golden spell rocketed over the fiend’s head in a formless blur, ramming into the trunk of a tree and shattering it with eldritch force. A clear miss. The monster seized initiative and leapt for the Marked Man. The veteran sought to evade by way of a tuck and roll, but to no avail; he was pinned beneath the beast and, with an ear-wrenching shriek of victory, it tore into his arm and chest, slicing through skin and muscle. The other Marked Man howled in rage and dismay as his comrade fell to the beast. He threw his hand to his swordbelt and tore free a roughly-hewn aurum dirk. With a fevered cry of determination he launched himself at the vampiric fiend, impacting soundly with its back, and shoved his blade up through its chin and into the base of its skull. The fiend’s roar changed into a whine as it realized that it had been undone, for fear of death tempers any instinct, and it writhed on top of the pinned Marked Man. The veteran below, aflush with adrenaline, beat viciously at the beast atop him, to little effect. The bald man on the beast’s back drove his dirk into the fiend thrice more before pulling himself off of it. He retrieved his aurum blade from the ground, twisted, and, with a clean arc, lopped off the beast’s head. One of the three men in tow approached the Marked Men and presented a reward, with recompense for injury. "Job well done." The sum was a lordly one. The group, its contract complete, loaded its injured into a prepared wagon and departed. To those who would stumble across the scene at a later date, they would find the clearing drenched in bile and blood. One tree leans precariously to the side like a listing ship, its trunk charred and shattered. The air is aflush with the scent of ozone. Three sets of footprints and deep wagon-tracks lead back towards the human city of Felsen.

I was called upon to give opinion. The lore is clearly motivated by the Dryadic framework as a way of adding depth, background and organization to creatures that already 'technically' exist under Fey lore. The declaration of "there is no need for this" seems motivated more by angst over one of the lore's motivations than at the lore itself. If we sat down and identified every piece of "unneeded" lore, we'd surely end by deleting 30% of the lore on this server. Sorry bud, not all players are comfortable with playing an alternative gender and it's not a question of stubbornness. To force otherwise is fallacy. In function, I see this working differently as a playable race and adding to roleplay. No reason not to accept.

Some men are made to be moulded by the grand Disciplinarian Corps of the Imperium. For the rest, there's... PLANET VAILOR

not on my watch friend

Notes are systematically painted over with a large, red 'x' in the areas around human cities. A public notice is placed in their stead. "Thanhium shatters on contact with force and fills the air with poisonous, hazardous dust. Close contact is not advisable. Shattered shards may enter skin and cause lethal harm to the user. Usage in armor is an extreme absurdity. Wearers and sellers will be referred to the authorities for placing the public in danger."

The swamp hummed with life as two men sat in a camp amongst the trees, dim candles illuminating their gear. It had been meticulously chosen for this contract and it say within an arm’s reach - just in case the Skelt came to them instead of the other way around. They took turns keeping watch, their attention directed at the monster’s lair. They sat for hours, eyes peeled for the slightest hint of movement. Just as the moon began to rise above the treetops, a chirping noise was heard near the shore and the two men exchanged worried glances. They leaned closer and began to whisper in harsh tones. "He'll fall for the bait, don't worry. Once we've fired, we run and cross halfway. Aim for the legs." The two men began to load their weapons. One crossbow was loaded quietly, the string pulled into place with a cranequin device. The other was yanked up with a stirrup. Clicks resonated around the encampment as the Skelt began to pick the bait from trees. Rotten carrion had been hung upon protruding branches by the two men earlier in the day. The bait had been laid with great precision to lure the beast into an opportune spot for an ambush - and it was working. The two men took position on either side of a tree and, when the beast was in place, fired simultaneously. Two bolts, one tipped by aurum and the other of steel, spat from the crossbows and tore through the air towards the creature’s abdomen. They flew true - the steel bolt fractured the Skelt's hard shell and the aurum bolt buried itself in the opening, causing the insect to yield a metallic screech. The Skelt barreled forth with unnatural speed as the two men ran out of their encampment with weapons drawn to meet it. The two Marked Men split and crossed paths halfway to the beast, confusing the Skelt. The men made great use of their manufactured opening - one man cleaved into the beast’s chest with his great-ax, and the other lopped its leg clean off with a deft swing of his longsword. The first man escaped the assault unscathed, but the Skelt’s talons tore through the second man’s armor and bit deep into muscle. The beast, driven back by the men, stumbled and fell. Liquid oozed from the severed stump of its leg and it thrashed like a dying fly, sending putrid blood flying all directions. The man with the great-ax cleaved downwards and lopped another of the Skelt’s legs clean off. The swordsman stalked around it for a few brief moments before crushing the beast's skull with his sword. The Skelt’s death throes continued for a few moments before it stiffened, dead. The swordsman lifted his boot and pressed it against the monster's shell with a grimace. He tore his sword free and twirled it in palm with before gripping the hilt with both hands and swinging for its neck.

((IGN: SirSmithers)) Full name: Valahan 'deGrey Race: Human Practiced branches of the Arcane: Clerical Place of Residence: Kaer Aardwen Closest Relative: End of lineage. [X] I agree to persecution upon a violation of the Magic License Clause, within and without Orenian territory. Signed: Valahan deGrey

everybody knows mental exercise is its own reward said nobody ever

lmao GDP = C + I + G + (X - M) National government wants to run a deficit. They maintain spending but lower taxes, which means they aren’t making as much back to cover spending (which would eventually run them into a deficit). Nominal GDP increases. Money is being injected into the market due to government spending, but taxes have decreased so consumer spending goes up. If C (consumer spending) increases then GDP increases. Employment theoretically increases. Cuts in direct taxes are effective across most kinds of unemployment (because companies now have extra funds to invest in human capital). Investment increases because consumers have more disposable income to invest (less taxes). Many macroeconomists would say that you don’t have enough information to answer whether wages would increase at this point. If this is the entire question, you could say that wages increase in the long-term, even given the principle of sticky wages, because government spending is injecting more money into the market as a result of decreased taxes, thus increasing the amount of currency in circulation and raising the need for employers to eventually up worker wages according to inflation. This is a realist interpretation of wages according to macroeconomic theory. Source: Economic work

[!] Smoke rises from within the walls of Kaer Aardwen. Men surround a burning pyre, their heads hung low. A name is engraved upon the wall of the dead. "In memory of Gerald Elgan. A veteran of the School of the Ouroboros and a brother of the Marked Men. He stood steadfast and vigilant, driving the foul and the corrupted from the realms of Man." ~ [!] An aurum sword is placed in the ground atop the bastion of Kaer Aardwen, visible over the lip of a tower. Silhouetted against the castle's somber view, the sword stands as a symbol of unending vigil. On the blade is an inscription. "Steel for men, aurum for monsters. May justice be done." Carved across the crossguard is a simple message. "Gerald Elgan, fallen brother."

3 days for nation-endorsed defeat, 2 days for not. A day is a very long time in roleplay.

"Discovery Foundation tasks survey and excavation team towards Thanhium deposit extraction and pioneers research methodology pending major guild contract. Discovery Foundation branches into arcane research as a major methodology of innovation."

“Discovery Foundation conducts research and experimentation regarding Hydrofluctuation and its principles. Experimentation yields research products that possess potential for application in technological innovation. The Discovery Foundation has taken several new potential Fellows under employ and will direct them as necessary to the benefit of Discovery Foundation avenues of study.” [https://www.lordofthecraft.net/topic/129684-research-fluid-theory-2/]

[[it is important to note that all research and development is displayed for the purposes of keeping out-of-character record for those interested in development processes. Unless otherwise specified, this technology is not public knowledge.]] The Discovery Foundation henceforth affirms that scientific testing and observation have begun within the realm of Hydrofluctuation, and that significant progress has been made in determining the nature of how water reacts to various forms of stimuli. The main points of this publication can be derived as such: The experimentation upon water and its interaction with a solid object in a closed space under controlled conditions. The establishment and explanation of a theory based off of these findings. The theoretical application of this theory. Throughout the course of scientific trial, scientists affiliated with the Discovery Foundation have expanded the breadth of known reactions where the interaction of water with foreign objects is concerned. The Discovery Foundation thus brands the concept of water displacement to be of scientific interest to the Discovery Foundation, and has conducted the following experiment thusly. The following is a paraphrasing, compilation, and summation of multiple documents associated with the experiment. [[An image of a long, rectangular tube half-way filled with water is inscribed upon the parchment. Next to the tube sits a cube, as well as a sequence of notes that describe the width of the cube to be almost-exactly the width of the rectangular conduit.]] A metal instrument, when submerged and subsequently removed from a body of water, will withdraw water from the main body in the form of smaller droplets. Water can, thus, be said to have a ‘sticky’ property. The reason for this is unknown. This shall be investigated at a later date. A separate experiment was later carried out. A cube of the exact internal diameter of the rectangular vessel was machined. The quality of the machining of this cube was tested as such - the cube slid down the length of the rectangular vessel and eventually came to a stop two fingers-breadths above the surface of the water. It was thus certified that the width of the cube was exactly equal to the width of the rectangular vessel, as no water was able to escape through any gap between the vessel and the cube. It is unknown why object stopped *above* the surface of the water, as if held upwards by a phantom force, and not directly upon it. This shall be investigated at a later date. With the machining of the cube confirmed as ‘to perfection’, the object was removed. A small hole, only three times the width of a single hair, was machined within the center of the cube. It could be stated, with great reliability, that this hole would serve as the *only* route through which water might escape from the object’s path. The clear rectangular vessel was filled halfway with water, and the surface of the water was marked via a line of blue-black ink on the exterior (the ink being derived from an animal traded from the Caliphate of Khalistein). The cube was then dropped into the half-filled vessel, and the process of sinking was observed. The cube sank slowly through the vessel. Bubbles disturbed the tranquility of the water within for but a moment, and then no other disturbances occurred as the cube reached the bottom of the clear vessel. It became apparent to the observing scientists that the level of water within the container had risen and the new surface level was marked with ink. The water and cube were removed from the vessel, and a Foundation scientist noted a curious property - it seemed to the eye that the water displaced by the cube (as determined by the two markings) was almost exactly the size of the cube itself. This experiment was later tested a second time to verify its accuracy. It was later replicated with vessels of greater and lesser size, and this effect was observed to be constant. It is thus that the Discovery Foundation has officially derived the following theory: The Theory of Hydrodisplacement This theory states that water, in contact with an object, will experience a phenomenon coined by the Discovery Foundation as “hydrodisplacement”. This phenomenon is such that water, when in competition with an object for space, must have space with which to ‘move’ elsewhere, else the water will prove unyielding. As per observation in a controlled setting, the water ‘removed’ from an area is directly equal to the amount of space that the object in competition with the water takes up. This theory has a very useful potential application. If the amount of water experiencing hydrodisplacement post-introduction of a foreign object could be quantified then, in theory, the exact size of the foreign object could also be measured. It is thus that the Discovery Foundation declares it to be within its interest to develop a standardized scale of physical measurement for the purposes of scientific research and development. The Discovery Foundation henceforth commits itself to the development of this scale, to the benefit of accuracy in all degrees of physical measurement.

[!] A name is added to the wall of the dead. "In memory of Abbe Stera, who perished during his Trials. May he rest in peace."

[!] A name is added to the wall of the dead. "In memory of Alcher Colins, who perished during his Trials. May he rest in peace."

[!] A name is added to the wall of the dead. "In memory of Alexander Bedevere, who perished during training. May he rest in peace."

((MC Name)): SirSmithers Name: Silir'ilume Vote: Jupiter, the City Guard

Then common sense dictates that they shouldn't play a character that "can't count to eleven" and knows how to build masterfully. Thankfully, this isn't an issue - LotC players are smart enough to know when something shouldn't be and "OOC skills" like knowing how to buld fantastically, debating well, or being a good combatant are generally transferred to IC skillsets regardless. Again, it's not something that's ever going to be moderated and to, for some reason, argue against it won't accomplish anything. I don't mean to cause offense, but your post doesn't truly have any potential to bring about change, as what you're looking at is a non-issue.