Aengoth

Was Toov a Big Guy?

-1 An interesting lore concept that was created by the dwarven community for the dwarven community to give a unique magical flair to the race that has been turned into a star wars (ex: immortality, ruhn blades, ogradhad tokens, velkan gauntlets) knock off that is heavily controlled by an incredibly small amount of people. Runesmithing is in dire need of a complete rewrite due to the unwieldy and vague nature it currently has that leads to absurd situations in which players can gerrymander it into pulling off feats that were never intended to be possible. After reading this whole lore piece I get the impression that it is ripping off and adding multiple various jokes and adding it to the lore on the assumption that nobody will bother to fully read the entire piece. I think this piece has been written with the assumption that it will pass and continue to be unmoderated so that this lore can further devolve .Below I will list each section of the lore that seems to be problematic to me and give a short reason as to why. Tenets of Ogradhad – An OOC means of maintaining power within the central group. The reason I list this is OOC is due to it not being a created player group but rather a group that is included in the lore piece itself to give it more legitimacy and authority then any opposing sects that may arise. This addition to the lore seems to be in direct response to the elves gaining access to golemancy in years past which caused an excessive inflation in the amount of golem smiths on the server. Tools – Minor annoyance here. The importance of tools has always seemed to either be far too much to the extent that people would jokingly claim they would steal other runesmith tools to pseudo disconnect them or the opposite where they would hardly be mentioned and would be downplayed. It just seems like a piece of the lore that has always been problematic to effectively adhere to in a literal sense even though it thematically works. Binding Connection – The rolling is stupid and easily circumvented by players just mass attempting. It’s a gamey mechanic that shouldn’t be part of the lore. Ritual of Shattered Stones – Falls into the same trap that all “Must be taught by someone who knows” lore piece. Who will initially know (Just the Lore Writer or All current Teachers)? Doesn’t this just put more power into the hands of senior Runesmiths to maintain a stranglehold over those under them. Further the line “may only be successfully spiked after having broken one of the Tenets of Ogradhad“ easy to see how this is going to result in bending the definitions of the rules to protect those who are liked by the central controlling group and those who are on the fringe. This gives further power to a group OOCly vetted and enforced by those in charge of the lore. Ritual Altar – Only able to be created by those that know, basically even if you put in the work for a TA you still need someone to walk up to you and say ooga booga now you can actually teach others with my schematic. Runes – Man runes either are ******* amazing to the point of being powergaming (lava) or suck. There are very few examples of well balanced runes and this section needs a large rewrite. I will say though that the better clarification of tiers is a great addition so kudos for that. Khorvad Rune – What does this actually do, its always been listed as event rune but where is the documentation of what it can do. Is it just a mcguffin for ET or is it that Time Travel Rune used to regain lost artifacts (Also what the **** was that time travel event). Thanhic Alloys – more thanhium make bigger boom Dwedohin Stailininn – Ruhn Alloy + Soul Anvil = none of the reprecussions thanhic alloy was supposed to have Bolstering a Rune - No longer all that relevant due to the powercreep from all the implemented alloys created Recarving Runes – Couldn’t seem to find a section dedicated to this topic but I still wanted to touch on it. Recarving runes seems like a shoehorned implemented redline to satisfy individuals outside of the dwarven community critical of dwarven lore but in practice is a nonexistent repercussion. It doesn’t fit thematically with the idea of a dwarven craftsman who has reached the peak of his craft that is able to create heirloom artifacts. Rather these craftsmen have to essentially recharged a rune every “x” (these times are often inconsequential and picked out of a hat) for the purpose of getting lore approved. Dharok Gems – The amount of messages I got as soon as these were added to the lore is absurd. Originally it was just the infinity stones that were controlled through events. A good example of why staff making additions to magic lore via events should be heavily discouraged to avoid blatant favoritism (notice how the only players to get floating castles are always close to staff) Ruhn Blades – It’s lightsabers. It’s a hot blade that grows/shrinks from the handle. This really highlights how out of control the lore has gotten from what it was originally meant to be. Initially dwarves only really wanted to have a culture specific type of enchanting lore which was heavily stomped on at the time. Now left with minimal supervision we see that instead of just trying to fill that niche of neat enchantments its gone to the point of having lightsabers. I understand this server does take inspiration from multiple sources but atleast those inspirations atleast adhered to the idea of a fantasy server. Forgedwed mask – Is this a scuba mask or just an air ventilator. Ogradhad Token – Star wars hologram. It allows for absurd meta-gaming by having it replace bird written messages in which you can send something that a character cannot disprove and just serves as a OOC way to stomp down on illicit behavior. This artifact does have the potential to be very interesting in a similar vein to the opportunities Ogradhad runes can have, but it seems that it is far more open to being abused then its predecessors. Velkan Gauntlets – Google unlimited power. Isle of Ruhn – Please stop with the floating castles that cannot be destroyed. Instead of having that massive Admin/Lore Team approved Thanhium pit you’ve just shoe horned in Dharok Gems (Lore Team / ET approval required) to once again get back floating citadels. What proof are you sending out that you are recarving. Further why is it that they slowly descend, shouldn’t there be severe repercussions for this type of absurd feat. This just seems so blatantly overpowered and no other magic would ever get away with it (unless they had a pocket admin). Flesh Runes – While I do agree that Flesh Runes should be part of Runesmithing some of the redlines seem off. the whole implanting process without a Rune Smith seems odd, does this mean you can stockpile these flesh runes and sell them to surgeons. Seems like a kinda joke idea of having a organ harvest kinda vibe with the whole surgeon and blood flow mentions in it. Rune of Fire – Torture rune, just kinda seems like an odd thing to include. Doesn’t really thematically fit with all the previous bits of the lore. Not to mention torture roleplay is almost always bad. It often devolves into “give me the info” and the person screaming “never” while they outwait the antagonist who will then eventually just kill the person to be done with it. Also why would the person with the rune imbedded in them activate it? Or does this mean that Runesmiths can choose to activate Flesh Runes on other individuals and force Runes upon them. Rune of Strength – Midget hulk runes. It seems like the repercussion is purposefully written so that you can say its not OP while also being easily sidestepped by having your friend hit you in the back of the head and you going “oh no I’ve been incapacitated”. Rune of Life – Immortality Rune, really doesn’t fit thematically at all with the original intentions of Runesmithing. You see this in combination with all the previously mentioned artifacts to culminate in a Sith Lord knock off. Rune of Enhanced ____ + Rune of Well Being – Ancient Chinese Dwarven Runic Medicine to keep you nice and strong. Honestly these are just filler pieces that will be barely used. Rune of Pestilence – Another torture rune? Just seems like a filler piece to be the opposite of the previous Rune of Well Being. Same concerns as Rune of Fire. Rune of Voidal Severance – I do wish Runesmithing Dungrimm runes were not so ****. Although this seems like a weird solution and is even more egregious when you consider that Runesmiths can be handing out these runes to dwarven medics to then go and capture a elven mage and force this rune upon them without a runesmith present. At least that is the concern I have with the outcome of how these are being introduced. Rune of Hearth/Wyvurn Grasp – Seems like filler content that will just up being used to either ignore consequences or torture individuals. Runic of Vigour – Runic Viagra. I think this confirms my earlier suspicion of some ancient chinese dwarven medicine meme being added into the Runesmithing lore. I’m all for these sorts of in jokes within the community (dwarf cops) but having it part of a Lore piece meant to better the dwarven culture just seems poorly thought out. Tl;dr – Runesmithing has seem to devolved from what it was originally intended to be (speaking in the context of the discussion that were started in 2.5). Instead of being a thematically fulfilling piece of lore that is meant to create heirloom artifacts that will have a storied history and are passed on from dwarf to dwarf as a means of community recognition it has become into an Outcome focused lore piece that is used to create joke/OP items stolen/inspired from other works of fiction (Star Wars/Avengers) or Culture (Ancient Chinese Medicine). Many of the redlines introduced are purposefully done to avoid real repercussions which seems to have been done in response to the initial struggles Runesmithing had (which are legitimate and were bullshit). Rather then trying to fulfill the niche of an accomplished dwarven craftsman creating a specialized item for figure of importance (ex – sword with fire enchantment for aesthetic purposes) the lore has turned into Runesmiths being able to become Sith Lords that can wield lightsabers, blast lightning, and hulk out. I would heavily encourage those who have given this lore a +1 to give it another read over and truly scrutinize it rather then think about what niche interesting thing a Runesmith has promised you. -1

what if I just really dig the aesthetic and want to see progression beyond game of thrones

using rare scenarios to justify not having something at all. by this logic catapults and trebs should be banned because MrGreene abused one to dig into a dwarven fort

At what point was decided that the server was solely Medieval Fantasy? My memory has always seemed to serve that the server was High Fantasy in the same vein as Lord of the Rings. -Wikipedia, literally the first line The server has been through multiple different variations on the concept of High Fantasy with most of the races not being medieval. Humans have been the main medieval society on the server for nearly 8 years. Every other race has been able to tease with different variations on this in high fantasy fashion such as the elves and dwarves practicing electorial societies for an incredibly long time (dwarves since atleast 2012 when the noble clans merged, possibly before this which I’m sure older players could contribute one way or another to this). You can count on your hand how many elven kingdoms have followed through with “medieval” settings, the only elven playerbase that has consistently held to the notion of royalty is the Snelves to the best of my knowledge. Dwarves have been teetering on the edge of a steam age for years and have on multiple occassions fought for the being able to have cannons after it was taken away from them in the Teuton v. Dwarf war 2012 (due to a non-dwarven GM heavily abusing it to single-handedly win the Warclaim for the Teutons). Orcs have almost consistently been in a tribal state instead of medieval. Every new groups ends up taking on its own unique flavor, why restrict others just because that flavor isn’t for you. The notion that this opens up the server to more powergaming is absurd. Powergaming will happen regardless of the technology available. It’s not unique to weaponry, its an issue of individuals knowing what they are doing is powergaming and choosing to do it anyway. We’ve seen this with preloaded crossbows and mages who try to melt armor in single emotes. Powergaming is a player choice, not a consequence of the tools they used when doing it. If you can still accept roleplaying on the server even though some people play bipedal cats, frogs, and apes then you can accept humans walking around with wigs and muskets. This sort of OOC restricting how others stylize there roleplay is why you see the community so heavily segregated and against one another.

I really wanted to like this going into reading it, not wild about the theme but the server needs more genuine antagonistic threats. Unfortunately I think this quote from Joel taken out of context sums up the Dreori as a whole. This lore post has a whole ton of meat to it yet at the same time lacks real substance. It felt like all the effort went into the fulfilling that thematic niche but none into the overall competency of the creature. When it comes to conflict the Dreori are incredibly dull and pose minimal threat, they’re so incredibly outclassed by other creatures in every aspect of combat that the only people who should be concerned about them are fat merchants and noble women. Your claws are pathetically weak and short. Are you really going to be able to take on someone with a sword or mace when all you have are a few dainty little sharp fingernails? You have no reach and because of how fragile the claws are you are limited in where you can strike a person cause you sure as **** won’t be able to punch through someones armor. The only way you’re going to kill someone with a bite is if you’re emoting Harold sneaks up behind and chomps down on the throat of the unsuspecting (half afk) fool. Otherwise you’re just going to get a knuckle sandwich from someone in full armor and end up with your teeth in the back of your throat. Rapid scarring is ineffective in combat, your simply not going to get the chance to pull off 5 uninterrupted emotes unless you have them copy pasted in a google doc. Compared to other creatures that fills similar niches how is there any competition when comparing combat capabilities, Dreori seemed doomed to be the bottom of the food chain unless it was specifically written to be used in combination with another piece of magic. Surely then if the Dreori are written to be bottom feeders compared to the bigger scarier things that go bump in the dark then they must have some interesting non combative abilities. This is not the case as ultimately the Dreori are only really good at disguising themselves and even then they’re outclassed by other creatures when it comes to disguising. The False Face seems to be purposed towards killing and them imitating someone which I think is wishful thinking that you’re going to pull off. Just ends up meaning you can have [Masked] in your character name really. Dilation is arguably the most competent ability and at the end of the day it just means you can take on a new identity and change your mcskin so that people don’t notice the same fellow hasn’t aged for 40 years. It’s underwhelming and all that will come from it is a paranoia about metagaming. Ultimately it just means you can have [Disguised] in your character name and disguised roleplay is actually so dull whats even the point Searing is just another bland way for internally maintaining the ranks of a specific magic group that every lore piece seems to have nowadays. It’s just a thematic golem spike to take out a Dreori who isn’t listening to the group. Nothing new or particularly interesting about it with multiple limitations added to it that are only going to amount to some quotations in a ban report. Beguiling could’ve been interesting but ultimately just looks like an uninteresting version of contract magic (which was also bad) that's only real purpose is to justify why someone might cooperate with a Dreori. This creature is plagued with so many disadvantages that there isn’t really an incentive to be one unless you really want a side character in this niche without any of the real bite. The only way I could see this lore being redeemed is if its written to be complementary to another form of magic but even then it just doesn’t have the legs to stand up on its own. I feel like you were so concerned with people crying “OP” that you killed it in the crib so no one would complain. I mean what are the incentives to interact with them or become one. There’s no temptation to be a Dreori and in the grand scheme of things to groups designed to kill spooks Dreori are such a non factor. The only way they’d ever be a threat is if you had 20 of the damn things and could use more then 3 in a fight without it being considered a raid. tl;dr A creature so underwhelming and neutered that the only interesting byproduct it can generate is cyber logs of them banging a beguiled thrall but even then they’re so ******* weak they have to use a strapon cause they can’t get it up themselves. Jokes aside I welcome the idea of wanting more spook type antagonistic roleplay but it needs to be an actual threat.

“Probably a crime” Aengoth reckons

-1 At face value a good idea but in practice has almost always gone south. As is CT is already used as a “safe zone” for diplomatic roleplay which really limits the story that can arise on the server which honestly should be banned as its an OOC means of forcing trust. While I do look back to my time as a monk in 3.0 fondly it has to be admitted that it causes more issues then it is worth. Taverns protected OOCly often prosper not based on merit but entirely on location. CT hubs degrade into becoming a place for spooks and criminals to be OOCly safe from any consequences or ramifications and no amount of red lines or additional exceptions written into the rules have ever put a stop to that. It is an area that causes a great amount of frustration for groups for are attacked but then are not able to respond in kind when the assailants hide in these protected zones. A better solution would be for nations who are more inclined towards Tavern esq roleplay to put more work into maintaining and promoting the taverns they control. Outside of that you could also gathered those here and work towards building an independent tavern potentially if you want to avoid nations, just requires a level of collaboration and cooperations that will honestly bring about a much better result then anything a CT tavern has ever done.

Signing Up (Comment): Name: Aengoth Discord (Optional) Aeng#6018 Race: Dwarf Timezone: MST Why you are willing to fight an olog one on one: Money What time Sunday, April 4th works best for you?: Late afternoon, between 2pm to 4pm ideally