Poor_Fellow

This is a step in a good direction, but I have my doubts that y'all at the Administration Team really consider that it is your duty to protect the younger people on the server, as you say. You don't protect your players or take any steps to prevent this type of behavior unless there's drama on the forums and you are forced to act.

It's sad that you haven't had the guts to cut the problem at the root. If sexual roleplay has no place on the server, why do you continue to allow sexual fade-to-black scenes, and any roleplay that precedes them? It's completely unnecessary and puts younger players at risk, but you decide to ignore it.

Start taking real steps toward ensuring the safety of the community and spare us these awful, quarterly PR stunts.

why is this indefinitely banned person trying to implement lore is the better question

Great dude and a great roleplayer. He'd be an excellent addition to the team. +1

10 minutes ago, Xarkly said:

The suggestion that a good narrative is dependent on preparation or thought though is silly

I didn't suggest this, but sure. I said players often die in events because they go into them without any preparation. The ST are in their right to enforce PK clauses to combat this, although there are ST who kill players in events for no reason (See Aesopian and the September Prince, or whatever it was called). That said, I do agree that the ST in charge of this event should have made sure the players knew the edge of the crater wasn't stable before the players stepped on it.

Playing any collaborative roleplaying game without being willing to risk death is lame. I understand there's a reason why death is taken so lightly on the server and why PKs aren't obligatory for the most part (goons and murderhobos with no regard for anyone's life IC), but being so distraught by your character's death that you leave the server is not healthy. Stop enabling this self-insert behavior.

You shouldn't enjoy the rewards of an event if you aren't willing to sacrifice something for a good narrative. I'm not saying there aren't ST members who enjoy killing for killing's sake, because they do exist, but there are way too many players who blindly go into events and stumble through them without any preparation or thought because they know that if they mess up IC, they can just SS to the CT and pretend nothing ever happened.

I think it's better to stop fooling around and stop posting rep farms. It won't get you points with the mods for your staff application.

3 minutes ago, satinkira said:

there is virtually zero chance of any of the above being banned nor policed because they are key themes of fantasy narratives; homophobia definitively is not

You clearly haven't ready many fantasy books, then.

2 hours ago, satinkira said:

My position is clear: we should flat-out ban all forms of real-world prejudice from the server.

Then be ready to say goodbye to conflict and turn the server into a huge hugbox.

You want to play a peasant who hates nobles and wants to lead a revolution, or a pompous noblewoman who's afraid of the masses because she's never left her castle? Nope, that's classist. Let's ban feudalism while we're at it—it's basically slavery!

You want to play a 100 or 6-year-old soldier? Sure, no one will stop you or show concern for your character's health. That would be ageist.

Has your nation been butting heads with that neighboring nation for decades? Sorry, can't be mean to them anymore. That would be nationalist of you.

I could go on and on, but you get my point. Let's stop being afraid of conflict. There's hundreds of ways people can deal with this stuff IC. Stop trying to police people's roleplay.

MC Name:

         Poor_Fellow

Character's Name:

         Eckard

Character's Age:

         Old

What feat(s) will you be learning?

         Tawkin

Teacher's MC Name:

         Chimping

Teacher's RP Name:

         Jeffrey de Wees

Do you agree to keep Story updated on the status of your feat app?:

         Yes

Have you applied for this feat on this character before, and had it denied? If so, link the app:

         No

Are you aware that if this feat is shelved, it will be unavailable to use?

         Yes

MC Name:

         Poor_Fellow

Character's Name:

         Eckard

Character's Age:

         Centenarian

Character's Race:

         Human

Link to your accepted MA:

         https://www.lordofthecraft.net/forums/topic/203630-necromancy-ma-poor_fellow/

What magic(s) will you be teaching?

         Necromancy

Describe this magic or a creature as a whole:

Rh’thoraen necromancy is the magic involving the manipulation of lifeforce—the quintessence that gives all beings life—through the necromancer’s connection to the Heith-Hedran.

Necromancers may steal or replenish a living creature's lifeforce, reanimate a corpse, shape live organic tissue as if it were clay, cause a corpse to bloat and burst, brew potions with necromantic reagents if they are versed in alchemy, and even inflict diseases and cast curses on living people. Some may also achieve undeath as draugars, darkstalkers and archliches.

Are there different sections or subsections of magic? Can those be elaborated upon?

Maledictions

The necromancer’s core combat spells. Maledictions allow necromancers to steal a living being’s lifeforce through Darkening, temporarily reanimate a corpse to act as the necromancer’s servant through Branding, shape flesh and bones through Cauterization, and use corpses as explosive biological weapons through Bursting.

Corpsecrafting

Corpsecrafting involves the reanimation of corpses, skeletons, flesh golems and gargantuan amalgamations. Various corporal modifications such as mummification are also included here. Before raising any corpse from death, the necromancer must create an oculus—a crystal trinket that acts as a leash between him and the undead—in order to bind the animation to it and control it. If the oculus is broken, the necromancer’s bound minions are sent into a mindless frenzy.

Pestilence

Another offensive spell in the necromancer’s arsenal, although slow and insidious. Pestilence allows necromancers to inflict different necromantic diseases on his foes by imbuing his lifeforce in any organic material. These plagues have an incubation period of three OOC days, and can last up to two OOC weeks.

Thaumaturgy

Thaumaturgy refers to the rituals and sacraments performed by necromancers. Communicating with the dead, resurrecting dead necromancers, extracting liquid lifeforce from a living individual and conjuring plague into a swathe of land are among some rituals necromancers can perform by themselves, or with another necromancer’s help. Sacraments may only be performed by archliches and elder necromancers of the 4th and 5th tiers. Archliches and darkstalkers are created through the Sacrament of the Vicar and the Sacrament of the Usurer respectively.

Black Alchemy

Potions that use liquid lifeforce as a reagent fall under this subsection. The Ichor of Life extends drinker’s lifespan; the Draught of Incite temporarily rejuvenates them; the Philter of Heith-Hedran suspends them into a death-like state; the Deadman’s Cure rids them of all magical and natural diseases; and Abyssal Blight may be used as a weapon to afflict land and living creatures with necromantic plagues.

In order to practice Black Alchemy, the player must have an approved Alchemy FA and learn the recipes through in-character means, as they are considered rare knowledge. Two or more necromancers must obtain liquid lifeforce—the base reagent of Black Alchemy potions—through the Rite of Draining.

Pale Curses

Pale curses corrupt the victim’s lifeforce and afflict them with different mental and physical disorders of various degrees of severity. These curses are categorized into three sections: lesser and major curses, and black trinkets.

Can you give an example of a casting emote, of a spell of your choice?

Darkening

Eckard’s gagged captive lay upon a stone slab, sobbing. His wrists and knees were bound by iron shackles.

“Silence,” he commanded, inching closer, conjuring a black, swirling haze around his hands.

The captive’s eyes widened. He tried to speak, but only a string of incomprehensible mutters came from his mouth.

The swirl around Eckard’s hands darkened and contorted into black tendrils, not unlike shadows, and he grinned a devilish smile. Suddenly, he grasped the crown of the man’s skull and enveloped his face in a veil of dark dancing shadows.

As the man’s lifeforce was bled, cries of agony and pleas for mercy rang throughout the chamber, but Eckard paid him no mind; he savored every moment, almost inebriated from stealing the man’s very quintessence, who writhed like a warm until unconsciousness took him.

Can you give an example of a teaching-emote (interacting with another) of a spell of your choice?

Rite of the Oculus

“Show me the trinket.”

“Yes, master,” said his apprentice, who did as he was told, producing a silver amulet with a night-black crystal orb.

Eckard took the trinket and looked at it for a moment. “Good. This shall do. Now, take it, and listen well: you must look into the depths of your soul, search for the raw lifeforce that flows within you, and imbue this amulet with your essence.”

The apprentice silently did as instructed. He laid his hands on the amulet and conjured wisps of a silky, milk-white mist that ebbed in soft patterns over the crystal orb.

“Once you have channeled your lifeforce into it, this trinket shall become your oculus—the whip that shall grant you power over your servants. Without it, they transform into mindless brutes and will doubtlessly forsake you, tearing you limb from limb.”

The apprentice’s lifeforce transmuted from a thin mist into a thick white fog that was slowly absorbed by the orb. Finally, his oculus was truly forged.

Say your student powergames during or after teaching, how do you reprimand that?

The first two times I would stop them, show them the lore, explain what they did wrong, and tell them how to fix the issue and avoid doing it in the future. If it persists, I would contact the ST and drop the player as a student.

Do you have a magic(s) you are dropping due to this app? If so, link it:

         No

Do you agree to keep the ST updated on the status of your magic app?:

         Yes

Have you applied to teach this magic on this character before, and had it denied? If so, link the app.

         No

What is your favorite LotC moment?

What is your favorite map?

What is your favorite lore piece?

What is the Lector community up to now?

10 hours ago, Islamadon said:

I think that, given the effect is practically just an expedited extraction, that this could be a common recipe. I actually like and encourage people to develop alchemical lore based upon the alchemical legends. I think it could actually help players to engage in a mentality shift with alchemy, to stop simplistic bomb creation and instead attempt to innovate again and/or actually provide some explanation for symbol production. I would like to see vats of Leo Viridis in laboratories.

3 hours ago, Mordhaund said:

as Zhulik said this potion's status doesn't warrant it being a rare recipe, and wouldn't you like your lore submission to be experienced by more than just a few people anyway?

Thanks for the feedback. I agree wholeheartedly. I've changed Leo Viridis from rare to common knowledge.

15 minutes ago, tasty_cheesecake said:

im gonna level with u isnt that just a mundane extraction? i dont get what this does differently besides burn u if u touch it.

No. Mundane extraction can only extract symbols with no sign, or Aether symbols. This piece is meant to provide a means to extract any symbol of any sign and "skip" the tedious parts of the extracting process (i.e., emoting extracting symbols of different signs separately), for those who bother to actually roleplay this process at all.

It also provides alchemist roleplayers a way to create a lesser version of the alkahest, one of the Great Works, which is important for those who are into the philosophical side of alchemy.

Long has it been said by my contemporaries that artifice cannot compare to nature. I am to prove that artifice can equal, if not surpass nature and its processes.

—Pseudo-Geber, Summa perfectionis magisterii

Leo Viridis | Common | T3

Description

3rd day of the Grand Harvest, 134th year of the Second Age

Before matter took physical form as we now know it, primal elements aided in the Creation of the Cosmos and all therein. After millennia of communal work by philosophers, scholars, and other seekers of a glimpse beyond the veil, we now represent these elements as the signs and symbols of the Material Alphabet. These primal elements, shaped by the Grand Architect of the Cosmos, are called exhalations.

Upon the coagulation of exhalations into the matter we know of today, they left different structures through every single thing that exists. Some materials have more porous structures than others. For instance, noble metals like gold, platinum, and silver have very dense structures. Coal and wood, on the other hand, have more porous structures. One, too, can discern that the more potent a reagent is, the denser its internal structure becomes, and that more primal exhalation was used in its formation.

Matter can therefore be separated into its fundamental components through various methods of extraction. As these processes penetrate the porous structures, they break the remnants of the exhalations and the alchemical reagents in question. The results are symbols, the fundamental ingredients of Creation.

After much experimentation, Master Albertus Signus and I have discovered a solvent not dissimilar to Hamotori’s alkahest that quickens the processes of extraction. We have named this lesser solvent Leo Viridis.

Leo Viridis is capable of dissolving reagents without altering or destroying their fundamental components. By submerging reagents in this liquid, non-fundamental materials are dissolved and the reagent’s symbols are left behind intact, sitting at the bottom of the vessel.

Master Eckard de Amell

Recipe

Base: Aqua regia

Symbols:

Water | x6 Separation

Water | x3 Swiftness

Earth | x2 Order

Earth | x6 Purity

Fire | x6 Burning

Fire | x6 Heat

Aether | x2 Rage

Creation

1. In a bowl, place the Order and Purity symbols. Slowly add aqua regia while stirring.
2. Repeat this process separately with the Swiftness and Separation symbols, adding them in that order.
3. A separate mixture consisting of the Burning, Heat, and Rage symbols will be stirred to uniformity with an aurum spoon and distilled.
4. The mixtures from steps one and two will then be incorporated into the distilled mixture from the previous step, stirring slowly.
5. Finally, pour into a large aurum vessel. This should be sealed with an aurum lid so as to not let any of the seeping fumes escape.

Effects

Naturally, Leo Viridis has a pale blue-green color—similar to corroded copper—and an acrid odor; however, once reagents come in contact with it, the liquid sizzles, foams, and takes several different colors and smells. As reagents are dissolved, Leo Viridis and its container reach boiling-hot temperatures. This container, if touched without heat-resistant gloves, produces first-degree burns.

Over the course of three emotes, reagents submerged in Leo Viridis will dissolve and yield their symbols. During the first emote, the solvent will turn completely black in color and exude a pungent smell, not unlike the stench of death. By the second emote, it will take a milk-white shade and lose its rank aroma. Finally, by the third emote, it will take a blood-red color and begin to cool. Symbols may be extracted using aurum tweezers. After one narrative hour, once it cools to room temperature, Leo Viridis will regain its blue-green color and acrid odor.

Leo Viridis must be stored inside an aurum vessel; otherwise, it will corrode the material in which it is contained before consuming it.

Redlines

• Only works on noded herbs and other lore-approved reagents. One cannot, for example, extract any symbols from items such as a Dandelion, Raw Gold, Raw Iron, etc. It also cannot “eat” through earth or living flesh or bones.
• As Leo Viridis itself is not consumed while dissolving reagents, once brewed, it can be used an indefinite amount of times.
• Direct contact with Leo Viridis causes second-degree burns and blue-green stains in the affected areas. These chemical burns may be healed by mundane, magical, or alchemical means. Additionally, direct contact with the vessel while the concoction is dissolving reagents produces first-degree burns.
• Must be signed by a Story Team member.

Credits

@Poor_Fellow (Coauthor)

@Chthonian_ (Coauthor)

Alchemical Legends

Changelog

6/25/2023

—Changed Leo Viridis from rare to common knowledge.

21 minutes ago, Benleft said:

Do not try to turn this server into some paradox-style state management sim. Nations don’t make LOTC tick, players do. Maximize player agency, not that of the OOCly enforced state. 

My thoughts exactly. The less hoops you make players go through in order to actually roleplay, the better. Adding abstract currencies like faith points that influence roleplay is not conductive to healthy roleplay at all. We have had this problem since warclaims and nations became more OOC-focused, and it completely killed the fun conflict between nations the server enjoyed before Axios/Atlas. Doing more polls of this type is a great idea, though.

MC Name:

         Poor_Fellow

Character's Name:

         Eckard

Character's Age:

         Old

What feat(s) will you be learning?

         Alchemy

Teacher's MC Name:

         Chthonian_

Teacher's RP Name:

         Albertus Signus

Do you agree to keep Story updated on the status of your feat app?:

         Yes

Have you applied for this feat on this character before, and had it denied? If so, link the app:

         No

Are you aware that if this feat is shelved, it will be unavailable to use?

         Yes

8 minutes ago, itdontmatta said:

Both. We need to distinguish a line for when it needs to stop.

The first step toward creating a safer environment is making FTB against the rules, and even a bannable offense. Full stop. People will message "Switch over to Discord?" moments after fading a scene and create a perfect festering ground for all kinds of degeneracy to occur.

The truth of the matter is FTB is not needed to create a rich story. If a pregnancy must happen IC, players can easily arrange that OOC. If there is a romantic relationship between two characters, it is already implied that they are intimate with each other in some way or another.

It might sound like a drastic measure but I assure you it will greatly reduce the chances for predators to prey on people. Anyway, I appreciate your and everyone's efforts to make this community a safer place, and those are my two cents.

7 minutes ago, Kvasir said:

Yeah it's not a huge deal but it's interesting how little effort needs to be put into playing an elf. You can simply never change your skin, never change anything about your character, and never develop very easily because of immortality. It's the most casual of the races. 

The same thing can be said about dwarves and orcs who have lifespans of around 800 and 400 years respectively. "Immortality" doesn't really mean much when you would have to play your dwarven character for 15 IRL years to see him grow from infancy to his death, if he were to die of old age.

The elf community does attract players who RP self-inserts, but that's a whole other topic...

1 hour ago, Laeonathan said:

You got that part, but forgot about the part where they have gotten a super long life to compesate for it.

This just shows your little knowledge of the lore.

 

Elves only can have a child every 15-20 years. 

1 hour ago, Laeonathan said:

Elves have severe issues having children - humans can have 20 times more children (in theory, that is) than Elves.

But, due to their longlivity and the reality that they engage in far less conflict is the reason they are numerous regardless.

You act like people can't just pop an elf into existence at any time. But this is such a huge non-issue. This whole post and poll are just a huge rep/bait farm

Cool concept but AI scribing your magic's explanation isn't cool
 

Aegis, Athera, Axios, Atlas, Arcas, Almaris... Did we really need another "A" map? Aevos, of all names?

i miss greywater and the brotherhood of horen. good times