Re: Sephiris: The Price of Peace - OOC

[Guest]

I will be returning to this. There is really no excuse...it isn't like I need a new post up every week or anything. We go months at a time without anything new. So I will be working on the next post for Barthon and Co. and for Ragner the junior fuck-up.

[Digital Muse]

Silvone! I can't tell you how delighted I am that your characters will continue on in this saga! Welcome back!!

[Guest]

Thanks! I'm pretty excited about writing for this again. It was the one thing I regretted dropping the most.

[Blackrock]

SILVONEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

[Kalon Ordona II]

WOOOOOOOT!!!!

[Guest]

I feel loved!

[Kalon Ordona II]

I have to get with Digital Muse again. We have more posts to post.

[Digital Muse]

Yes. You do. Get on it!

[Kalon Ordona II]

I thought I was waiting for you to post what we already did...?

[Digital Muse]

We haven't finished the new round of dialog. Our old stuff was posted.

[Guest]

Kalon, I have a couple of questions regarding the long-term affect of the shadows.

1. If you can answer this without ruining anything, how long-term exactly are these shadow appearances? Blackrock's mercenary band is already into DAY 25 or so. While, I hate to admit, I haven't read his massive 25,000 word post, are the shadows going to be around at that point and longer? If they are, it brings me to my other questions.

2. How are major cities and small towns going to react to their presence and be affected by it.
a. Will the shadows get stronger over time?
b. Can shadows spawn within cities, or only in the wilderness (I'm assuming from what has been established so far that it is the latter and not the former).
c. Is it possible for any city to fall to these monsters, or are they just too weak?
d. If a populace is forced to fight every night, and still take care of day business, it will severely strain them mentally and physically. We will have to take this into account in the later weeks when describing the cities. Sorry...that is a suggestion rather than a question.

Sorry for asking all of these questions, but I hate just making some of this stuff up when the shadows are your creation and you already know what you want from them. I feel like I'm throwing a wrench into your plans whenever I add anything behaviorally. And I don't want you to have to lay everything out on the table before hand because that ruins surprises. Trust me, I know how that feels. But as writers, there are some things we need to have established to make it cohecive and as awesome

Oh, and sorry if any of these have already been answered in previous posts. I fell behind in reading everyone's posts a long time ago and I never caught up. I am working on that.

[Kalon Ordona II]

No, no, by all means, feel free to input ideas all the time. ^^ Questions are good, because they get you thinking and they get me thinking. xD The more questions are asked, the deeper the world gets, which is what I like, so you're good.

1. The shadows will last until a certain condition is met. This will be a major story event--or more likely a gradual series of events--and it has not yet happened. They might even last until close to the end of the role-play. I haven't figured that out yet.
2. The shadows inspire fear. I imagine people would be pretty afraid. Even if they do adjust, there'll still be that constant danger.
a. The shadows' strength is determined by their opposition, but not on an immediate basis. Today's opposition determines tomorrow's strength (or if not tomorrow, than whenever the next attack occurs). The target ratio of opposition to strength is 6:4, but sometimes this might be upset if, say, a strong company comes to a city one day, but then leaves. Note: though the actual strength might actually be 4 to the opposition's 6, the point is to make it seem otherwise, i.e. hopelessly outmatched. Fear tactics.
b. No, the shadows never spawn at the target location. They always appear some distance away, coordinate, and attack.
c. It is highly unlikely that a city will fall, but it is possible. If, for example, the entire city turned and tried to flee during an attack, the shadows would probably overtake them. If a city stands and fights courageously, they will never be defeated, since the shadows are weaker. If a city doesn't have a way to take out fliers, for example, then if a shadow flier is present, it would take up a large portion of the allotted attack strength. There's also a difference between opposition strength born of physical ability and strength born of courage. So even if a defensive force is tired, they could summon up strength from courage without risking a stronger attack tomorrow (or the next time).
d. The shadows don't appear every night. The 60/40 percentage or ratio applies pretty much across the board. I'm betting that they cover 60% of locations every night, which means every location has a 60% chance of being hit on subsequent nights. The populace will probably adjust. Bodyguards will probably become quite common. Until tales of the shadows' relativity get out, though, people will probably only travel in large, protected caravans.

If a single armored warrior is out in the woods, he might face a huge monster that goes down a lot easier than it might seem.
If a small child is out all alone, he or she might face a lizard or something they might think to step on or hit with a stick. The encounter would probably only be fatal if the child ran blindly and tripped and fell on something hard or sharp. Not that anyone would let a child be out on their own anyway, especially in times like these.

If a company travels for ten days, they might face shadows on 6 out of those 10.
Despair and die, or persevere and live.

[Guest]

Thanks for clearing that up for me. It is a little different than what I thought originally. It will definitely help me in writing my next posts for Barthon and Ragner, and particularly with the Iyel'Del post when I get to it.

[Blackrock]

I'll also chip in regarding my massive post. Sad truth is that you don't really need to read it, Silvone, just check the first part and the last one (Day 23 and Day 25 respectively). The rest is mostly filler that explains Barin a bit, but doesn't really move the plot along.

As for the shadows, I acted on the assumption (didn't ask Kalon at that time, shame on me) that they would still be around. I also decided to keep their power-rating reasonable and described the people of Ashwood being afraid and uncertain of what is to come. The roads are not travelled, save for heavily-armed caravans and professional smugglers; people stick to their homes for the most part, when not working; spirits are down and so forth. The attacks on the town are frequent, but the defenders have so far managed to hold them off.

The vibe I get for the shadow beings is that they feed on people's fear, the more scared and unorganised the people are, the stronger chance of success the shadows have. That's why there is a sort of crisis in Ashwood, people are still too startled to actually go out and travel the roads. Trade has slowed to trickle for the time being, but that's not because the shadows are THAT great a problem, but because folks aren't certain what to make of them yet.

[Guest]

Someday I am going to read EVERY post in Sephiris. But I think I will wait until the conclusion of Chapter 1, put everything together, and then read it like the best book of the century

[Kalon Ordona II]

That's my plan, to organize it all into chronological order as well as by character. ^^ I've got most of it in chronological order already.

Digi, I guess I'd better make chatting with you a priority.
We should schedule some times.
I'll be free all today and probably most of tomorrow. I kinda wish we could just post, though. Even if we have to do only minimum length posts, it'd probably still get done faster that way. That's the whole point of forums; you don't have to wait for the other people to be on at the same time. xD

Still, I'll check back here periodically in case you're online. ^^

Edit:
Oh look! You are! xD

[Kalon Ordona II]

HOORAY FOR PROGRESS!!

Also, I did a word count. We have almost 150,000!! xD
For comparison, Tolkien's Fellowship of the Ring is about 175,000.
Go us!

[Guest]

That is awesome! This role-play is awesome

I started my post for Ragner, but I have not had the time for writing lately. I have been working long hours at work, and I'm tired when I get home. Once things calm down, I will get back to writing. Sorry for the delay, even though we are in no real hurry

[Kalon Ordona II]

Yeah, it's nice that we can take our time with this one, since it's designed for the long term, even if people come and go.

Hopefully me and Digi will have caught up soon, asn we can start the next chapter. ^^ We're getting closer.

[Guest]

What DAY do you plan on starting the next chapter? I think you said already, but I can't remember. Or if it wasn't a DAY, was it some other requirement? I'm just not sure where Barthon and Co. will be at that point, or Ragner and Rurik, to be honest.

[Kalon Ordona II]

Loose plan is DAY 30.
I could make it start earlier, since the time system is there, but there are reasons for having it be that long, too, like people in the land could be a little bit more used to things by then.

I came up with that day basically by adding a few days from Blackrock's timeframe to make a nice, round number, but it also does seem to be a good place anyway.
I figure we should try to at least be close to the same day, just so we're all not worrying too much about catch-up or something. Not that I'm blaming Blackrock or anything; it was epic. Also, even if people do get ahead (or people--coughlikemecough--get behind), others can still RP or fill in gaps by either playing random characters or NPC's, or second characters, or coming up with stuff to fill in the world.

Speaking of which, did I ever update the map? I thought I did, but I might have forgotten again...

[Guest]

Now that my post in The Battle of Celebrant is done, Ragner's post will be my next project. I've already started it, a few weeks ago, but I need to sit down and do some brainstorming on what to do next. Or rewrite the beginning of the post.... anyway, I will be working on it.

[Kalon Ordona II]

I thought Digi was going to post, too.
Maybe I should send a PM?

If anyone has any questions they need answered before posting, you can always always PM me or post here in the OOC. That's what these things are here for. ^_^

[Digital Muse]

I am working on a post, yes.

[Stion Gyas]

As will I be, if you'll have me.

I'd like to apologize to everyone for my disappearance. I'd like to say I have a real excuse, but I don't. I kinda sorta just faded away.

I'll be reading up from where I disappeared, but I have read the Barthon-Z'ang duel, very nice writing Silvone.

[Digital Muse]

OHMIGOD!!! Welcome back! So great to see you are back and OK.

*Ahem. Carry on then.

[Kalon Ordona II]

STION! I had all but given up on ever seeing your return! WELCOME BACK!

[Guest]

No f-ing way.... you're back! I can't believe it! You just made my night I am, however, disappointed that I had to write that duel without you. I hope I did Z'ang justice. We will have to get back into chat sometime tomorrow and catch up!

[Blackrock]

STION!!!!

AKJDF;KLAJF;KLDAJFKLDASJFDASJFKZJDASFJAJFDASJF;DASJF;KASDAS;ZJFKAJF;KD;AJFKDASJF;KDAS

[Stion Gyas]

Thanks for welcoming me back, everyone.

I've read up, but only on the posts that directly affected my characters. Thank you, Silvone and Digi, for keeping Brenard, Z'ang, and Tuula alive. You did a fantastic job filling in, and writing their actions. They acted as I would have written it.

I can't wait to get back to posting again.

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