The Audience (Visitor's Comments)

[Cadrius]

We're always interested in seeing applications - Cadrius needs some way to vent his anger :).


God, I'm so angry.

[Gralhruk]

Goddam your silly sub-chapters. Makes it hard to read in order.
Yeah, it's not great but I couldn't think of any other way to do it really. Sub-chapters are generally things that are happening concurrently with the main chapter. Pretty much, they tend to be story lines that are large enough in scale (or remote enough from the main action) that they really need to be split out or they'll confuse (or get lost in) what's going in the main story.

[Explosive Cheese]

While I'm mulling over creating a character, eventually, how do you guys feel about races in your party? I might just go with a standard lawful good human cleric of some kind, but I wanted to know if other races (and alignments, which seem to be glossed over mechanically - although there's always drama about it) might be reasonable.

[Gralhruk]

Here (http://online-roleplaying.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3586) are the character creation rules. Available races are Human, Dwarf, Elf, Gnome, Half-elf, Half-orc, Halfling.

Alignment is indeed glossed over, with the general guideline of "don't be a tool" instead.

[BigRedRod]

Play a ghost! Or a character with lots of ghost / super-exotic allies!

[Gralhruk]

Only if it's a peg legged ghost pirate wench with a jolly roger ass tattoo:
http://img199.imageshack.us/img199/6164/rst138.gif

[Explosive Cheese]

This is hardly a formal application, but a concept I am pondering is a tolerant human/dwarf (is there such a thing as a half dwarf? :D) missionary, who seeks to convert by words and example, not through a show of arms, or through coercion. Not sure on gender or deity yet, though the deity will definitely be one of the "good" ones. I briefly toyed with taking a more evilish cleric, but decided against it.

[Gralhruk]

Evil cleric would be a bad choice :). And no, there are no half dwarves.

[Explosive Cheese]

Shame. Would've been awesome. What about half-gnomes? or better yet: half-halfings=quarterlings!
...
Wait, don't banish me because of one lame pun. Nooo!

[BigRedRod]

Quarterlings and half-dwarves have both been introduced in various official settings over the years. The latter are called Mul, and are only in Dark Sun.

[Gralhruk]

Wait, don't banish me because of one lame pun.
No, for puns you get punishment.

[Kelemyn]

A cleric, eh? We had a cleric, but he burned himself up in a bonfire to save Shade's soul. You never know what may be required of you in this game.

[Gralhruk]

The latter are called Mul, and are only in Dark Sun.
Some day I will run a Dark Sun game using FATE.

[Explosive Cheese]

No, for puns you get punishment.

Nooo Gralhruk! Spare me these punitative measures! Anything but the torture of puns and needles.

[BigRedRod]

Some day I will run a Dark Sun game using FATE.

Some day I'll run iPhone OS on an Android phone.

[Cadrius]

Some day I will run a Dark Sun game using FATE.

This would be pretty awesome, actually. I've always loved worlds where survival was a constant menace, but...

No, for puns you get punishment.

You are fueling my rage. This is not a fire to be stoked.

[itches]

Only if it's a peg legged ghost pirate wench with a jolly roger ass tattoo:

That picture is in appropriate, I am offended by your posting of it!

[Gralhruk]

I *love* her, man.

[Gralhruk]

You are fueling my rage. This is not a fire to be stoked.
"You won't like me when I'm angry"

[Cadrius]

You know, I considered doing a Pirate's Booty joke above, but I held back.

You're welcome.

[Gralhruk]

We can't allow good taste to get in our way now!

[Explosive Cheese]

Okay, so I'm finally caught up on Eidolon (except for Stringbean's chapter - since it's fairly long, and not directly relevant, I haven't read it).

But I don't think I'll be joining in, simply because I don't believe my writing skills are up to the task. Since chapter 2 at least, the posts have been great, and the latest posts are truly awesome. I feel that I lack the wit, depth, and creativity to meaningfully contribute to this. I can write well enough, but I'm not very good at moving a plot forward. Also, I don't have the patience to deal with long-term drama, so I'm likely to ruin such things should I try and contribute.

So I'll just continue to lurk. Keep up the good work!

[itches]

Just to note, not everyone needs to drive the plot. In fact, it's better when not everyone is trying to. Right now Nicos and I are both just along for the ride.

[Explosive Cheese]

But at least you're capable of driving the plot. My greatest failing when writing stories, is that they're not stories. There's no conflict, no problems. (Well, I did write two that had okay conflict, but they're the exception to the rule. And one of them wasn't so much a story as a biography, despite the main character's inner conflict.)

Maybe I'll join when I get some more experience. For now I'm content to watch.

I actually do have two possible character concepts, but I'll tuck them away for now.

[Explosive Cheese]

Remember how I said I wouldn't be participating? Since then I've had a lot of support, and I've decided to at least make a character and see how they might fit in with the story. I'm not saying I'll participate, and obviously you all have to okay the character first, but I did come up with a concept.

I was going to start out with a paladin that doesn't preach, likes debating philosophy with people, and tries to avoid violence. I also wanted it to be a her though, and then I had to think how a woman in that age who knows how to fight but doesn't like to, becomes a paladin. As I worked through the backstory, the mother got much more detailed, so I ran with her. These are the results:


Farrah Asai had been a mercenary for about 15 years. In those days, her highest values were survival and money. She had no time to care about the laws or morals of anybody. Over the course of her career, she had earned a reputation as one of the best fighters in the duchy, and even some foreigners had heard of her. She quickly rose above the stigmata usually associated with female fighters, and anybody who mistook her for helpless because of her gender soon learned the folly of their ways.

Eventually, she met in one of the towns of the Duchy of (to be determined) a middle-aged clockmaker of good humour, and fell in love. They had five good years together, during which he taught her to love the good in the world, and to want to protect it. In order to protect him, and to validate her new ideals, she joined her duchy's army. Between her reputation and her skill, she quickly rose through the ranks and made officer, commanding a small unit.

After five years of living with the clockmaker though, their love grew stale. Deciding to end things before they went too far, they split up on an amicable basis. Unbeknownst to the clockmaker though, Farrah was pregnant. Farrah used her leverage in the army to arrange a post away from the village of the clockmaker, so that he would not discover the pregnancy, and grow guilty over leaving her.

Eventually, she gave birth to her daughter, Sheina, and took one year's leave off from the military. She did return to serving in the army, though only in an instructional role, so she would have time to raise her daughter. Raising Sheina was an enlightening experience for Farrah. She strove to teach her all the values she had learned from her new life, but every now and then, an internalized bit of wisdom from her life as a mercenary would crop up. In striving to give her daughter the best upbringing possible, Farrah searched herself for knew philosophies, looking for the perfect combination so that she might hand it on to Sheina. She did not teach her daughter swordplay; she would wait until Sheina was of age, and apprentice her to a merchant. She did, however, ensure that her daughter could defend herself if necessary.

When Sheina was seven years old, Farrah came home one day to discover that she had been kidnapped (her nursemaid had been slain protecting the girl). On the table was a note. Apparently Farrah had killed the son of a sorceress during her days as a mercenary, and after much tracking and planning, the sorceress sought revenge on Farrah. The message said that Farrah had two years to track down the sorceress, else she would kill Sheina. According to the message, the two years of searching were payment for the two years during which the sorceress had no knowledge of what happened to her son.

Now, Farrah sets out to seek her daughter.


She'd be about 40 years old, and I guess her class would be Fighter (though she'd have reason to multiclass soon to Paladin). I don't have a name for a Duchy though.

[Kelemyn]

I enjoyed reading your story. And I think it's an interesting character concept. :) But won't it be hard for Farrah to want to stick with a group that isn't solely focused on finding her daughter? I know that it would be for me if I was searching for my missing child. The first time the party wants to go in a direction other than the direction Farrah needs to go, what will happen?

But maybe I'm thinking about this all wrong and it won't be a problem at all. It has just been my experience that a character with her own obsessive goal often has a hard time fitting in with the party.

[itches]

But it does provide us with an excellent out for the character after the player loses interest and stops posting.

[Explosive Cheese]

I'm with itches.
Also, keep in mind that fact that Farrah has absolutely no idea where the sorceress is, and so has probably a large amount of time where adventuring randomly with the group could help her find her daughter. Once she gets a clue though...
Well we're back to having an easy way to removing Farrah from the story if I stop posting.
Besides, Farrah might be smart enough to think of long-term planning here. Not sure, I'd have to see how she grows as a character.

[Gralhruk]

Well, I kind of agree with Kel that having your character's child on the line is a huge plot point for Farrah. It isn't the kind of thing you can shuffle into the background - it's the kind of thing that's going to be extremely important to her, and probably occupy much of her waking time (and keeping her up at night).

So, I'm leery of it because we're already in the midst of a plot and adding that in is going to require something to happen - either we abandon our current quest for this one, or Farrah goes after her alone. LonePaladin did something similar with his original character, and we started moving in the direction of his quest but then he disappeared and we more or less just abandoned it.

Which is less than ideal, story-wise. So, I definitely like Farrah's character (ex-mercenary with morals!). Perhaps some other motivation for her wandering than a kidnapped daughter?

[Explosive Cheese]

Okay, here's a possible replacement hook:
She never got pregnant, and no sorceress vows vengeance. She has decided to leave her home with the clockmaker because she's grown restless, and itches to explore. Her main goal is to take her newfound morals and learn from all the philosophies in the world, trying to come to a better understanding of its nature.


...Bleh, vague and cliche. Still, it provides a potential hook to taking a level of cleric or paladin at some point, which I had been hoping to have.

[Gralhruk]

Well I like the child angle - having a kid really does change your perspective quite a bit. Maybe there is a way to reconcile the two - for example, if she was forced to leave Sheina for some other reason. I don't have any good suggestions yet, but I'm thinking along the lines of Farrah having to leave her daughter for her own good or something.

[Explosive Cheese]

Hmm... Give me a while and I'll get back to you. If I could get Sheina in there, it would be for the best, cause she's (sort of) where this whole thing started from anyway.

[Black Plauge]

Hmm... Idea:

First, no falling out with the husband. Farrah was happily married and raising her daughter with the clockmaker.

Now instead of the sorceress kidnapping the child, she threatened it. Farrah is approached by the sorceress while out running some sort of errand and given an ultimatum. Farrah has to abandon her daughter and husband to do something for the sorceress. Failure to do so would result in their death and she isn't allowed to contact them and explain. Farrah has thus been torn from both her daughter and husband.

[Explosive Cheese]

Actually, I have the germs of an idea that could solve the Sheina problem, and place Farrah on a path that would tie her into the group (although not perfectly):
This plague thing is spreading right? Is it possible that one of the villages in the Duchies has been affected? Because then maybe Farrah, as part of the army, would be sent to investigate, being pulled back to active duty. She would then have to leave Sheina behind, probably leave him with the clockmaker (who she would have to look up again).

It's better than my last idea, definitely.

[Explosive Cheese]

Ack, crosspost.

I'm okay with BP's idea. If you guys prefer that, that's cool with me.

[Cadrius]

Maybe I'll join when I get some more experience. For now I'm content to watch.

As an aside, yes I have read all the subsequent posts, but I wanted to comment on this one specifically.

When it comes to writing you can either sit on the sidelines and hope to accrue enough "experience" (which, really, means confidence) or you can dive in head-first and sink or swim. Neither is better than the other, but the latter will get you up to speed much more quickly than the former.

[Explosive Cheese]

Heh, I meant getting experience in other games, where I wouldn't feel like I ran the risk of mucking up a good story. But at this point, I'm feeling confident enough, that if you guys like my character, and allow me to join, I will. Obviously in a subthread at first so that I don't mess things up.

[itches]

I don't understand, Cadrius posted but he didn't tear your character concept to shreds. Is the whole system falling apart?

[Cadrius]

I'm currently traveling so it's going to take me a little longer than usual to respond.

[red_dr4g0n94]

You know, I've been itching (pardon the pun) to get back into this lately. If you lot have the room/inclination to let me back in I've got a basic character idea in my head for a philandering half-elf Rogue/actor type. Similar to Nicos but so much more refined....

[itches]

I disapprove. Not only the pun, but especially the Diet Nicos, and especially the pun.

[red_dr4g0n94]

All the more reason to let me in, to voice your disapproval at every aspect of my character at every chance to show just how much of an inferior, pun-slinging copycat he is.....not. :cool:

[Cadrius]

My thoughts and questions, more or less, while reading about Farrah.

Mercenary With Morals – It is a catchy, but wildly inaccurate, title. Farrah, if anything, was completely amoral for most of her life. She only decided to be good because of her family. When you kill for money, you put your conscience aside. My questions are: how vicious was this duchy that required her to kill for a living when most women would get married and become seamstresses or maids? Would 15 years of that profession gift her with a heart of stone? And how much has she really changed? Is she still ruthless but with a soft spot for her family? Or has she completely changed her ways?

A large part of the overall theme of Eidolon is characters dealing with their pasts. We joke about the angst, but if you look at what everyone is doing it’s a whole lot of searching for purpose while dealing with the specters of their past. I think it’d be fascinating to see someone who has found some reason and purpose in life, but is still challenged by who she used to be.

Two Years To Go – I’m with BP on this one. The abandonment of the husband, raising the child in secret, and then having her kidnapped for two years is both hard to deal with and challenging to believe. The alternative that this sorceress needs something works a little better, but what is it that Farrah can do that a sorceress can’t? Finding the right bargaining chip is critical to creating a compelling subplot.

Plague-Ridden – Your alternative has some merit for having her be in a similar place at a similar time as the party. My question though is this: if she was called to active duty, how on earth would she ever desert to travel onward with the rest? Dereliction of duty doesn’t end well for those that are caught. Additionally, what cause would there be for this duchy to call her out of an instruction role to lead a detachment of soldiers? Is she being sent with a young captain/lieutenant in an advisory capacity?

Female Empowerment – If you were to play in Eidolon something I’d be interested in seeing is how you portray a woman from a field that would traditionally be completely male-oriented. We don’t go for hyper-realism in the game, relegating medieval women as second class citizens, but joining the military would be a serious deal. I don’t need to tell you the sort of challenges, discrimination, and grief she would need to overcome to succeed. My questions here surround how this molded her personality and how can she balance that with being a mother and a wife. Clearly, modern female soldiers do that today, but I’m curious about how it will be spun in a decidedly much less egalitarian society.

[Cadrius]

All the more reason to let me in, to voice your disapproval at every aspect of my character at every chance to show just how much of an inferior, pun-slinging copycat he is.....not. :cool:

Red, you’re not giving us a whole lot to go on here. You more or less described Nicos with the assurance that this persona is not, in fact, the same. That’s great. Would you please elaborate?

[Explosive Cheese]

Sorry it took me over a week to respond (I'm guessing that's not too slow for Eidolon?). Had some stuff come up.

Anyway, my responses:
Mercenary With Morals - I think the duchy itself was not all that vicious (I don't have a definite place in mind yet). I'm thinking of a background sort of like Ben, i.e. an orphan raised by a mercenary camp. In her case though, the mercenary's would have been much less friendly, and only took her on because she showed some definite potential. Or something, still have to work on this.

I think Farrah had no morals up until meeting her husband, Garick. She did whatever needed to be done to survive, and to move up in the world (i.e. earn more money), because that's the only life and type of person she'd ever known. But 5 years of family life have opened her up to a a new set of values. She was still a bit ruthless while with them, but wasn't soft just to her family. She was slowly viewing the world in a more positive light. But being forced to leave them is causing her to slide back into a bleak look at the world.

I think I'm going to go with BP's idea for Farrah's motivation, as it's the easiest to deal with (while still maintaining a good deal of importance in Farrah's eyes), but I'm still not sure what a sorceress would need from Farrah. Maybe she needs an independent agent to perform action for her (while her hands remain clean), and Farrah is both experienced/powerful enough to be of use, and also someone the sorceress has leverage over. I'm still mulling this over, so I don't have any specifics yet, but I think this might be plausible.

Regarding the "Woman in the army" issue: I think Farrah made a point of joining the army because her newfound ideals. She only had one real skillset, and she didn't want to continue being a mercenary, nor did she want to be a simple housewife. She'd had too much adventure in her life to just remain idle. So she turned to the army. Naturally, everyone made a big stink over a woman wanting to join the army, but Farrah was too skilled and smart a soldier to pass up. So she joined the army, and rose to the rank of sergeant. While almost all of the men in the army were angry at having a woman as a soldier (and a sergeant no less), Farrah ignored them most of the time. She knew she was better than them, and her new morals allowed her to simply allow them to remain ignorant. When the taunting and jeering threatened her authority though, she made sure to put the offender in his place. She would never strike a superior officer, but would brook no disrespect from those under her command. She also earned the loyalty and trust of many soldiers when she personally saved their lives in the one campaign she served in while in the army.

Balancing her home-life with her soldiering duties wasn't paricularly hard when it was just her and Garick. He was pretty enlightened for his time, caring about her interests and needs, and not giving a damn about the fact that she wasn't a housewife. She didn't have any hangups either, because she didn't see it as her duty to take care of him. When Farrah became noticeably pregnant, she was discharged from the army (nobody, not even Farrah, believed that she would return to active duty after giving birth). When Sheina was born, Farrah spent the first year, and most of the second, taking care of her, and learning how to be a housewife/mother. After Sheina's second birthday however, Farrah grew restless at home. After enough drunken barfights, Garick suggested that she rejoined the army in an instructional capacity, allowing her to stay at home and help raise Sheina, but also let her energy out in a productive way. This proved to be a good solution, although now there was even more oposition to her being in the army, as most everyone believed it was wrong for her to leave her husband in charge of their young daughter for much of the day. Her place was at home. Given her role as a drill-seargent though, it was not particularly hard to justify beating up on the idiots who thought she should be at home with her daughter instead of teaching them how to survive.


Does that answer most of your concerns?

[Black Plauge]

If you can clear up the sorceress issue I think you've got something very workable there.

Of course, that won't stop Cadrius from tearing it to pieces. It's sort of a tradition.

[Cadrius]

"Tear it to pieces" is such strong language. I'm not destructive. I'm inquisitive.

[BigRedRod]

Like The Inquisition. He just wants answers, you can make this stop at any time.

[Gralhruk]

You can't hide from the Cadrius inquisition.

[Cadrius]

I love it when a joke set-up blooms.

[Explosive Cheese]

Haven't forgotten about this, but I've had other games to get to (and my graduation).

Still working on the sorceress angle... I think I might have the beginnings of an idea. We'll see.

[itches]

Yes, we didn't forget either. :paranoid:

[Cadrius]

I didn't forget, actually.

[Explosive Cheese]

Okay, I won't be able to go any further with this for the next few months. I'm travelling in a few days, then I have summer camp with no internet for 10 days. Then I have one month of hanging with old friends, then one month of getting settled into Canada. Then, I have the beginning of University. :KO:

I mean, it's not like I'll need a huge amount of time or effort for this game, but my brain is just to scattered to finish up this character properly.

If my load clears up by October, I might revisit this idea.

In the meantime, I'll be lurking. :)

[Gralhruk]

Maybe we'll have posted something by October ;).

[Cadrius]

Ah! That's too bad. I was just thinking about this story the other day and I had some ideas. Well, if you ever decide to put some more effort in, let us know.

[dabocim]

hmm... It would appear that when I went on vacation my brain never came back I was going to post my character concept but I forgot I even looked at this... I forgot all about that. As to a character concept I'd like to play a psion. If the Psionic races are allowed I'd play a half giant but since I don't think they are I would play a halfling psychic warrior.
As for a background my character first discovered her Psionc abilities when, she was younger, she was on her way to the local pub when a goblin raid took place the goblins surrounded her and in a final act of desperation used form of doom and managed to escape the goblins. The encounter left her badly weakened and she collapsed. She awoke to find the city in flames.
Now on to why she became an adventurer: after honing her Psionic abilities(by finding and killing as many monsters as she could) she began to search for a greater purpose

[Tashalar]

Hopefully my last minute post doesn't hose you up but I figure hey, posting is better than not posting http://www.online-roleplaying.com/forums/images/smilies/smiley%20-%20happy.gif.
Did you talk with itches about this?

[Gralhruk]

Daily, it seems ;).

[itches]

Hey, I've had a genuine excuse for the past week. For a change.