Goldengirl

The governments of the Earth were thrown into a state of disarray. The Russians thought it was some sort of weird show of force by the United States, the United States was suspicious of the European Space Agency, France claimed international prestige while the rest of the European Union wished they had brushed up on their French, and China thought it was a joke since the Moon wasn't visible in the eastern hemisphere at the time of the message.

 

In space, the three aliens awaited a reply. Finally, through a great act of international cooperation, a message was sent to their shuttle from the International Space Station. Edo looked confused as an audio file played, with different languages recorded by different governments all saying the same thing - We welcome you and wish to talk in peace.

 

"What is this?" Edo asked, the pigments flashing on his hands. Both Damascus and Sydney replied with gestures of confusion. Finally, Sydney remembered a bit of arcane information from a corner of the Internet, something about a physical ailment afflicting the strange patches of flesh on the sides of human heads. Struggling, Sydney programmed a new message, far less refined. With holograms once again being shown to the Earth through the use of the moon, the aliens wrote, "We are deaf." Unfortunately, they wrote this in German, having learned it in relation to Beethoven. Even more unfortunately, Germany had by this time lost view of the Moon from its ground-based telescopes. Instead, this message was relayed to the world by China, whose governmental officials had come around to realize this was a very sour joke indeed.

Fascinating. The Nephilim clearly are an advanced species, with red flintlock pistols, oversized potato peelers that function as guillotines and can cut peoples' arms off, and leaves in their hair. What an amazing time to be alive.

Just throwing this topic out to see how much interest in fiction writing and free-form RPs is left at SW. If there's enough interest, I'll probably make this a series.* Since most people are very busy and time constraints are what bring most RPs down on SW nowadays, this thread is completely commitment free. You can post once, many times, or just ignore this thread all together. You can produce a complete short story, a beginning or excerpt from something longer, or just a few paragraphs.

 

The death of free-form RPs here at SW makes me sad. I've long come to accept that the AIMhacks are the new status quo, but I simply can't participate in them due to an incredibly inconsistent schedule. I end up with free time where I could be RP'ing, but I never know when that free time is going to be. So, hopefully this goes somewhere.

 

---

 

What the humans called anthropology had never been studied in any applicable form. Society was and had been for thousands of years. Its history had been recorded, but it had always been the history of technology and industry, not of wars, religion, or politics. The universally accepted narrative had been a gradual ascent to what the humans may have called 'godhood' as technological mastery over nature grew more and more absolute.

 

"We are anarchists," was the message that flashed across Sydney's large hands in a series of hieroglyphs displayed by the mutable pigments present.

 

"What does that mean?" was the response that colored Damascus' hands in turn.

 

"It means that our society is not governed by political forces or enforced cultural beliefs. Rather, we let everyone live as they wish to live without any coercion."

 

"But of course... What other means could there be?" asked Edo, joining the conversation. However, before Damascus could respond, Edo continued, "It is time. We are approaching the satellite they call the Moon."

 

The three of them turned their faces to the observation pod in between them, gazing intently. The message had been prepared before the three explorers had set off, translated carefully by scholars after prowling through the words that had been intercepted. The body of knowledge humanity referred to as the Internet, which mirrored the Forum used by their own species. With a flip of a switch, Damascus activated the holographic beaming technology that projected a message, a long message communication.

 

Aloha. We are (here the Japanese symbol for friends), et nous voulons communiquer for mutual learning. Here, an image of a lolcat was presented, as it was deemed that this was one of the most commonly understood forms of communication on the planet. The caption read, I can haz peace? A series of the aliens' own hieroglyphic language of representation here were then used, looking like a hyperrealistic portrait of the three aliens themselves, looking like hairy birds with four arms instead of wings. Finally, a line of musical notation, the opening riff to the Beatles' "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" dominated the top half of the Moon while below in binary was written a code for a program that turned out to be a standard text box with a 150 character limit.

Magical speciesism is a serious issue, guys. Of course Slithzerikai can grow hair under their chins, be artists, and wander with peaceful intentions through dark alleys. Not all Slithzerikai are Sss-Thsss, and some of the greatest heroes of Avernum have been Slithzerikai*!

 

*in my playthroughs, at least

I'd argue that Avadon's world is actually the most creative of Jeff's, so far. Geneforge got by on how cool Shaping is; everything you explore is tied to Shaping intricately, from the servile villages, farmlands, and metropolises to the abandoned laboratories, dusty warrens, and battlegrounds. Avernum had the interesting duality between Surface and Exile culture, but within those two areas the cultures are largely homogeneous. Even given that the various tribes of giants, nephil, etc. all have distinct cultural patterns, the culture in the Empire and Avernum is actually pretty similar (not surprising, given the latter was created by people from the former). Nethergate, clearly, has two very distinct cultures.

 

Avadon, on the other hand, has a diversity of cultural backgrounds. Just present in the game, there's the stratified (meritocratic?) society of Holklanda, the aristocratic (feudal?) society of Kellemderiel, the more rigidly feudal Khemeria, the egalitarianism enshrined in law in the Kva, and the military finesse of Avadon itself. I'm not sure how to describe society in the Wretch Lands, but it too is different, a more tribal and less formalized version of Khemeria. These are just the lands we get to visit; the Codex describes further the societies of other lands - most intriguing to me being the democratic society of Dharam. Democracy has been notably limited in Jeff's previous games; the Shapers have (what seems to be) non-democratic means of electing a Council that then has equal voting rights among the Councillors. Avernum experimented with democracy in the Council and also the Triad, but both of those bodies didn't seem to be democratically elected. They also, of course, were later abolished by the king. Nethergate, appropriately enough for the historical setting, didn't feature democracy either. Therefore, I'm excited by the mere existence of Dharam. I hope we get to visit in Avadon 2.

 

Due to the radical diversity of very distinct cultures present in Avadon, I feel comfortable in saying that it's Jeff's most maturely crafted world yet. Avernum started out as a pretty generic fantasy culture that was morphed by its unique geographical condition. Geneforge was not generic at all, but it was also largely homogenized around the centrality of Shaping to the culture; the hints of previous cultures and other ways of doing things are never explored thoroughly. With Avadon, one can explore a multitude of cultures, moreover seeing their minute evolution due to the revisiting process.

Avernum is a remake of the Exile series; Avernum basically did a find-replace on the scripts to change "Exile" to "Avernum" as well as give the series a face-lift, change some spells around, etc. So, Fort Avernum from the first game is called Fort Exile, among many other changes.

 

There's also an unofficial reconciliation between the two names, since they share the same universe. "Exile" is the name of the geographical location, whereas "Avernum" is the name of the political society. So, the Kingdom of Avernum controls the caves of Exile.

Here is the link for anyone who wants to see Jeff's (and Mariann's) responses to some interesting questions, ranging from gaming as art to the possibility of another Blades game, and so much more.

I believe that the Geneforge's status a MacGuffin varies from game-to-game. In the first two games (and I believe the third as well, though I haven't finished G3) the case is a lot stronger. It's theoretically possible to use the Geneforge, but most of the conflict concerning the game isn't about it being used, but rather about its construction and capture.

 

By G4 the Geneforge is less a MacGuffin; it's a boost to stats that's used almost immediately. On the contrary, the Geneforge in Northforge Citadel can more realistically be classified as a MacGuffin. The majority of the game is spent trying to get to the Geneforge without any intention to use it or do anything with it but protect it.

 

By G5 the argument that the Geneforge is a MacGuffin is basically lost. It makes only one appearance, without any real foreshadowing, and then is completely forgotten afterward. Indeed, the existence of that Geneforge is so hidden that only a handful of people know anything about it. If no one knows about it, it can't really be a MacGuffin.

There are very real reasons why Avernum couldn't overcome its difficulties, besides just Jeff wanting to end it all. It's hinted at since X2 that the type of expansive civilization in Avernum isn't feasible; the caves can't support that much life indefinitely. However, the imperial (I would argue) Avernite kingdom continued to gobble up, develop, and expand throughout Exile and the Northern Frontier without much thought to long term stability. I mean, even the Vahnatai go into their long rests to allow for the caves to regenerate, and it always seemed to me given what we see of the Olgai tribe during X2 that even still the Vahnatai had far less grandiose development and extraction of resources.

Is Godot, then, a MacGuffin?

Aside from Spiderweb Software games, I really like the Myst series of games. So, I'm going to pick a MacGuffin from Myst III: Exile - the Releeshahn book. Saavedro takes it at the beginning of the game, and the PC spends the entirety of the game trying to get it back. Once that happens at the end, it's handed to Atrus and that's the end of the game. It's supposed to hold an entire utopian world for a civilization, yet there's never any real satisfying exploration. In Myst V: End of Ages the PC finally gets to visit in one possible ending, getting a brief look at a garden in a cutscene.

Ohsky, that's not true. There's certainly room for a gamer like GoodOld Jack here.

 

Have you tried adjusting the difficulty? What you're talking about sounds like it could be easily fixed by lowering the setting, say, to casual. Additionally, though I can't say for certain, your strategy may be skewed. Going to one of the strategy central stickies in the game forums may help you optimize your team to more quickly beat opponents.

I had a pretty traditional Fourth, and that was alright by me. Good holiday.

It's mentioned several times that between the lack of light, poor food and weird fungi, most people get sick when they're first sent into Avernum, and they don't always get better. I mean, finding Graymold Salve to cure someone who's contracted a weird cave disease is part of a major quest.

 

Thank you for correcting me. However, this is probably more due to a combination of shock due to being held prisoner and then Exiled after a trial, insufficient vitamin D (no sunlight), and low-nutrient food, wouldn't you say? What I'm trying to say is that it's not due to an abundance of diseases in Exile that sickness is common among Avernites, but rather due to the environment itself.

 

Plus, there's that trait you can pick at the beginning where you're prone to sickness.

I don't think it's cheating to say there isn't a language barrier. After all, that's how the games are presented to us. Some of the specific terms might throw us off, of course, specifically those relating to magic. In addition, there are a few languages that actually are foreign. None of us can communicate natively with the Vahnatai or the Sholai, for instance. However, if you take G1 literally, it's apparently quite easy to learn a language.

 

As for foreign organisms, I'd wager a guess and say that they wouldn't pose too much of an issue. Disease rarely actually shows up in any of the games. I'm sure there are others, but G3 being the only example I can think of off the top of my head; there's a side quest to cure a villager of a Shaper-made fungi. Even if they were an issue, healers and magical infirmaries are relatively abundant and seem to be very good at their job.

 

The real issue, as you've identified, is that we'd be showing up as nobodies. Of course, we always start the games as nobodies cleaning up basements full of rats. The critical difference is that most of us aren't actually combat-trained in any suitable way to become adventures. Then again, given how easy it is to gain those skills, as shown in the games, maybe that wouldn't be too difficult. Personally, I'm going to say that's just mechanics and that it would actually be a lot harder in any of the worlds. However, we do have knowledge of skills and technology at our hands.

 

I remember there was an RP a while back where a handful of modern people got stuck in a medieval town. They decided to build a windmill - basic technology to understand and develop, but something that the society hadn't yet done. I think the RP fell apart as they were gathering materials to actually construct the thing, but it is possible to advance in such a manner. Moreover, there's always a place for unskilled labor in technologically-lacking societies.

 

It's problematic to say that any of the three game worlds are particularly technologically lacking. The Shapers are technocrats that have highly specialized knowledge in genetic magic, and colleges devoted specifically to that as well as general magic; in Ermarian, they are better at general magic and have a lot of mages running around doing whatever they please, such that there are specialized careers available as portal technicians, for instance; in Avadon, each nation has their own specialty, either in a way of combat or else magic, and they have some impressive magical feats such as the scarabs and the portal network in the Black Fortress.

 

Realistically, though it sounds odd, the best place for any of us to get dropped off at would probably be Exile, around the time of the first game (if not a little earlier). Just walking through the portal, everyone is presumed a nobody until otherwise proven, and are given an equal allotment of supplies to start their new subterranean life. That starting supply, as well as all available background knowledge, would be our best bet at actually making a decent life for ourselves, even as Avernum is going through some of its most dangerous times (the first Slith War, a nephil castle, demons at the tower and Grah-Hoth, and the inevitable war with the Empire coming soon; I'd say only A6 has Avernum in a comparably bad spot). It can't be too hard getting an apprenticeship studying magic, given how lax Avernum was about it at the time; the Avernite military would be begging to pick people up and train them to fight the manifold problems, especially the war; and there must be all sorts of other positions desperately needing work, too, since the country is still trying to build itself out of nothing.

 

As for the toilet, I'd assume that the sewer systems work like they did in ancient Rome. That is to say, there's a current of sewage flowing underneath, and one does one's business over a latrine. The current flushes it away. It's not the modern toilet, no, but it's workable and relatively sanitary.

I'm glad that you've been able to find a community here among us, with all the attendant benefits that that holds. I know it can't be easy, but I'm glad we could help make it a little easier.

I beg to differ. The people of Exile have mushrooms to feed, and 'hole in the ground' doesn't do much in the way of moving fertilizer. In any case, iirc there was a city in Valorim that had a comprehensive underground sewer?

 

You're thinking of the city of Shayder, capital of the Isle of Bigail and home to the Church of the Anama. Their sewage system is falling apart, though, not the least bit due to the roach plague.

The world of Avadon (Linnaeus, right?) is falling apart at the moment, and according to the codex has been for a while. Political instability and war between the Pact and the outer nations has been a mainstay of life there for a while. I don't think anywhere, therefore, is really all that safe there.

 

Ermarian would be nice. If I get sent down the portal and end up in Exile, I can deal with that. Like others, I'd go to Formello and study. I might sojourn for a while at the Tower of Magi (or Tower Colony) to study there, but given its propensity for disaster I could probably wait. If possible, though, I'd head up the portal right away to live in Upper Avernum, or Dawn on the Surface. The town of Redmark is supposed to have a college there, so I've heard, so that would certainly be an option. Plus, aside from X3, the Surface is by far the safest of the places to live.

 

Terrestia would be enjoyable too. In the glory days of the Shapers, there wouldn't be an issue at all to deal with concerning actually staying comfortable, presuming one isn't in a backwater like Drypeak. However, there's a heavy deal of ethical guilt I'd deal with living in a slave society. However, the lands of the Rebellion would be extremely dangerous to live in due to the constant warfare. In addition, they tend to be pretty miserable lands overall - the freezing Grayghost Mountains, the blasted desert of the Forsaken Lands (lovely name), the disease-infested Fens of Aziraph... Illya and Burwood Province are pretty firmly in Rebel hands by G5, and there are some decent landscapes in the Ashen Islands, though, so I could make do there.

 

Ultimately, I'd have to say that the world of Exile/Avernum would be the best choice. I don't want to get transformed by the Geneforge or using canisters, I don't want to fight in any wars or support slavery, and I don't want to deal with the world war that seems like it could break out in Avadon.

is there a creation that whines about this geneforge rubbish being in general? If so, that one

 

but if that doesn't work out then any passive-aggressive asshat creation will do fine

 

Not a creation, per se, but you'd clearly be a Trakovite if you think it's rubbish in general.

 

As for myself, I reckon I'd be a golem, because I'm slow-moving, can't speak, take forever to kill, and my only way to attack people is by punching them.

 

Wait... We'll say it's because I'm resilient, instead.

Well, from the viewpoint of the living, it's not nice to die before you get to do other things you'd rather do. From the viewpoint of those close to the deceased, it's not nice losing a loved one. Not to mention that, most of the time, death is painful.

 

You don't even have to be religious for that to be clear, and oftentimes religion doesn't necessarily change that. Some people believe so fervently that they welcome, or even induce, death. That's a rare level of faith. Death prevents people from doing good works on Earth, which is surely an inconvenience. In some religious traditions, if you think someone you loved lived an immoral life, there's reason to be sad - they could have be reincarnated as a microbe, or suffering in Dante's Inferno; likewise, if you think you aren't getting into Heaven but they are, well, that's clearly a problem too.

In my opinion, the best theodicy is the one concisely summarized by Voltaire in Candide, 'all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds.' I support this particular theodicy (loosely; I'm an atheist and thus don't actually support any theodicies) as it is flatly revealing that human reason can't fathom divine motive and condition. It incorporates, I believe, Jesus' theodicy from the Gospel of John, as relayed here by SoT, but is not dependent on it. Suffering is necessary to reveal the goodness of God, but there may also be further reasons we cannot fathom; we don't always know in what ways the goodness of God is being revealed.

 

I actually believe it was SoT who originally introduced me to Candide after I initially expressed such a viewpoint.

I haven't read "East of Eden," though.

 

Thou mayest, if you so choose.

 

I just finished a short period piece, And the hippos were boiled in their tanks co-authored by Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs, about the murder of David Kammerer by Lucien Carr. The novel is pretty forgettable, although not unenjoyable. If it weren't written by two of the greats of the Beat Generation, I wouldn't give it a second thought. As it is, it tells a fairly interesting story and simultaneously serves as a reference for the development of both authors' writing styles.

For the Avernum/Exile series, there is the convenient community-run compendium of knowledge known as the Encyclopedia Ermariana.

 

For Avadon, the full texts of the Codex can be found here.

 

For Geneforge, unfortunately, there's no really good central place. There have been a few attempts to create a wiki, such as here and here, but none of them really got too far off the ground.

 

For any of the games, though, the fora are always a good place to ask and learn more. We don't bite; that's the job of the fluffy turtles.

I'll preface this by saying that I haven't seen the latest Star Trek movie yet. However, I have to say that I was really quite impressed with the last one and how it was able to bring a new feel to such an old and entrenched story. After Star Trek: Enterprise went under, I thought that the series was belly up forever. With these new movies, though, you have new fans of an old show coming in. I still hold out hope that they're enough to kickstart a new series eventually, as well.

 

Even my older brother, the biggest Trekkie I know, supports the new movies. The alternate reality, parallel universe due to the time traveling was a really great touch, in his opinion, to allow revitalization of the older material.

Huh. 2004 for me, so about a year short of ten... Wow. It's weird to think that my presence here has outlasted all but some of my oldest friendships, and that I've partially grown up here. Well, let's hope Jeff is still cranking out good games for another ten years so the community lasts as well!