Okay... well, that was certainly a catch up and a half.

Okay - I was going to ask if HERBALISM is a Craft with HERBALIST as a Profession. If so - then I would ask for Craft (Herbalism) and Profession (Apothecary).

If not, chuck them both into Professions and I'll think up a craft later on. (I'm tired too.... and sick). Hmmm...

Yes, all considerations about the Horse. I will name it Horse. (NOT! LOL) I'll come up with a name later. Also - I am aware of the packsaddle. You surmised correctly. Hemp rope is fine. Also, I thought I came from Bardosylvania near the woods so I didn't think on rations or feed for the horse. Either way, please add appropriate rations and feed to my list (just leave me a few gold please.)

And I think I addressed everything. I will work on the backstory a little - you can fill in details as well. Erm...

Yeah, remind me if I forgot something

(PS: Nice going, I like this game)

Yeah, I get verbose sometimes.

Apparently herbalism is a Profession, so I guess we'll run with that. So with both Herbalism and Apothecary as skills, Sylvea can fix up some nice medicines, salves and maybe the odd botanical poison, whether she has to rip it right out of the ground or grind it up with a mortar and mix it. She's handy with veggies and minerals like that.

Sorry for not putting you inside of Bardosylvania's borders, but the whole land is mostly Wee Jas territory. Lord Heward had a mysterious life-altering experience, then he put in a lot of overtime bolstering and supporting the Scarlet Order and other Wee Jas churches and orders in Bardosylvania (making Wee Jas the matron deity of Bardosylvania and nudging out many other churches and clerics serving other deities in the process), then he mysteriously died, Lord Darrovan took the throne and started tearing down all the Wee Jas temples, kicking the Wee Jas clerics out of Bardosylvania and locking up any priests who resisted (out of spite for his father's "superstitious zeal," mostly).

Naturally, that's all a big part of why the House of Ainsley fell in the first place.

But Nellowswann's a pretty cosmopolitan kind of place with a sort of epic-story feel-good vibe to it, so I thought I'd place an Evening Glory temple in northeast Nellowswann and let the Order of the Twilight Candle set up shop there.

Surely that quarantined city doesn't have anything to do with my decision, either....

Okay, I'm going to work on those Chapter Zero posts now. I have to go to work tonight. Can't wait to see what big, sloppy messes the weekend workers left for me....

Also, Karnoz needs a pog!

Pick one, GD. Any one. Or, if you don't see anything you like, let me know and I'll make more, tailored towards any specifications you may have.

Third row from the top, second in from the right.

Can you give him a red veil?

*prods GD again*

While I'm asking about pogs and such, a few character-related questions:


Karnoz

1) What were Karnoz's origin, founding years and upbringing like? Was he an impoverished street urchin who couldn't hack making an honest living, so he tried his hand at a dishonest living instead? Or was he a spoiled brat from a well-to-do family, instilling in him the notions that greed is good and that such concerns as morality, property rights and the sanctity of life simply do not apply to him?

2) Surely there's an origin to his "street name". While it's unlikely that he earned it from killing a king or other similarly powerful and well-defended figure, whom and how many has he killed in his history? Were the killings driven by greed, by sadism, by bloodthirsty madness or by some other vice? And were they performed with all the zeal and passionate fury of a madman, with the cold, emotionless dispassion of an executioner (my guess), or with the fearful trembling and stinging remorse of a compelled sociopath who knows that what he is doing is wrong but cannot turn away from it? Or perhaps in truth he has committed no murders at all, his nickname self-fabricated and insubstantial until he can prove himself with the death of Hennbauer or someone else?

3) Where does he see himself in the future? Is there a single driving ideal spurring him onward, and what will become of Karnoz if that driving goal is ever achieved? Or are his long-term ambitions vague or nonexistent, leaving him driven only by his momentary wants and cravings?


Sylvea

1) How did Ariene die? Was Sylvea wracked with remorse or guilt at the time, and--if so--was it because Sylvea was either powerless to prevent Ariene's death or, ironically, a direct or indirect cause of her death? Was her heart wicked as Sylvea's heart is, or was her heart good before her untimely demise, and turned to the inherent evil to which undeath usually leads? Evening Glory offers redemption and escape from the wickedness which grips the undead, but opening the door to redemption is useless if Ariene has no will to walk through it.

2) With a name like Sylvea, she is likely a forest-dwelling wood elf, common among adventurers. But wood elves are usually wholesome and good of heart. Why is Sylvea evil? Was she a bad seed in the womb, or did other events conspire to lead her down that dark road and away from her kin?

3) Elves are usually friends to the living world and to the lifeforce in all of Nature's things. So long-lived are elves that they rarely think of death, yet Sylvea, as a death priestess, must consider the concept often. Is she perfectly comfortable in her role, or does she have qualms against death, qualms possibly left over from her life among the flora and fauna? What compelled her to this way of thinking? Was she born with a natural morbid curiosity for a subject which may as well be taboo among the elves? Was Ariene's death so traumatic--and Sylvea's love for her so great--that it immediately pushed Sylvea over the edge? Or was it another event entirely, however sudden or gradual that event was?

4) Like Good, Evil comes in many degrees, whether as a humble and unrepentant pickpocket who feels only joy in his petty thefts, or as a bloody savage who has slain and tortured hundreds out of twisted revenge against a world which, he believes, spurned him. The evils of people such as Corwin and Karnoz are quite evident, but how is Sylvea evil, and how subtle or blatant is this wickedness? Is it mere potential, or does her history have deeds in which many would find shame--and some others would find twisted pride--in mentioning? What are her inclinations as one of the wicked, and--besides the capacity for love--what redeeming virtues does she bear?


Corwin
(We already covered most everything...most. )

1) Corwin's hatred for his mother is obvious, but how does he view or regard his hitherto unknown father, and how will he likely react if he and his father ever meet? Will there be a waiting joy at being reunited with someone who was for so long denied him? Will there be more anger and hatred for someone who, in his eyes, betrayed him with absence or allowed his mother to become outcast and destitute? Or will there be a simple numbness, a complete absence of expectation for a concept--fatherhood--with which he was never truly familiar?

2) Does he harbor any suspicions over whom or what his father may be? Or does he prefer to avoid coming to conclusions, lest he overlook the truth in pursuing his prejudices and expectations?

3) Corwin seemed startled to learn of his bloodborne nobility, but how does he view the House of Ainsley and his membership in it? Bearing in mind that Lord Borogon rules with an iron fist, augments Bardosylvania's army and his own comforts through heavy taxation and does away with political prisoners (and, it is suspected, innocent captives) through savage blood hunts, would Corwin feel proud or ashamed to be accepted among this House? And, being a knave and a pirate, how readily does he believe the House will accept him?


All of the Above
(In extension of Sylvea's Question #4 above)

1) Your character is evil, true. But, just as every good person may possess damning vices, so may an evil person possess redeeming virtues. Everyone alive has the potential for good and evil alike; what determines morality amounts to nothing more than which of the two ideals is stronger in any given person. Pure snow-white heroes and jet-black villains are far more bland and uninteresting than those characters who must grapple with both angels and demons, so which vices and virtues best define your character? And are those subdued virtues yet strong enough to carry the hope--however great or small--of eventual redemption? Or is your character truly damned, with what dwindling goodness in his or her heart doomed to be forever imprisoned beneath the crushing weight of selfish desires and accumulating sins?


That's it for now.

Corwins thoughts on daddy. "what can i get out of this" if he can do nothing for corwin, he is of no use and would probably be told something like "i can't believe you did that with her". if he has something corwin wants or something he can do for corwin, he'd try to get it out of him, trick it out of him, or beat it out of him depending on the situation

I see, I see. Also, I tacked on two more questions while you were answering. Sorry about that.

Would you say that Corwin's selfishness and greed are born out of the idea that the world owes him plenty for subjecting him to so many years of unhappiness or outright misery? Or is it a simple, more pathological worldview spawned of a broken upbringing, perhaps a desire to attain everything that his mother told him he would never be good enough to claim on his own?

its a bit of both, but mostly the second. it's probably stemmed from mommy saying he wasn't good enough, ungrateful bastard that he is

Of course, a lot of Mommy's sentiment towards Corwin stemmed from resentment over Corwin being an unwanted baby (and shame over...something else entirely). See what people mean when they say that like begets like?

So...about Querries 2 and 3 back there...?

number 2 is that he has some suspicions of who his daddy may be. all the better to sack his keep with my dear

number 3.... borogon is thinning the herd of the weak. GO BOROGON!!!!!!!!!!

and i think that his families reaction to him will depend on how publicly he gets away with it, like if he starts attacking bardosylvanian shipping or not... at least until boughbog



edit

Number 4. corwin is... Determined. He sets his mind on a goal and heads towards it, and is not to be swayed from it. Lying, cheating Stealing, telling the truth, being generous, honesty, binding oath or pain, nothing sways his mind from it's goals. (good thing that Will saves are based off of wisdom eh?)

the big issue with the vice of corwin is that once he sets his mind, he will do ANYTHING to meet that goal.. pillage, murder, cheat, lie, steal, ransom, kidnap, piracy, hijacking, ect ect ect. The ends justifies the means

Well okay, give me some time to answer these questions. I've got to think a little about them

1) How did Ariene die? Was Sylvea wracked with remorse or guilt at the time, and--if so--was it because Sylvea was either powerless to prevent Ariene's death or, ironically, a direct or indirect cause of her death? Was her heart wicked as Sylvea's heart is, or was her heart good before her untimely demise, and turned to the inherent evil to which undeath usually leads? Evening Glory offers redemption and escape from the wickedness which grips the undead, but opening the door to redemption is useless if Ariene has no will to walk through it.

Well.... I had a thought that Sylvea used to be apprenticed to become a Healer. Someone who uses both magic and natural means to bring those on the brink of death back. Her teacher - Arinoth - was slightly mental, but usually not a bad guy. Anyway - both her sister and Sylvea soon began to out-strip him in ability - showing much more promise even then. After that he began to work on a way to do the one thing that could not be done - bring someone back from the dead. Unfortunately he needed someone actually dead for it to be tested. He had many corpses brought to him while Ariean and Sylvea continued their studies, so advanced now that they could study on their own. They had no idea what their teacher was involved in. Soon, Arinoth began to kill for his corpses - studying different ways of dying to different (possible) ways of ressurection.

Ariean stumbled upon his experiments and was disgusted in what he was doing and threatened to tell the Council of Elders what he was up to. Unfortunately she didn't have the time as he killed her to protect his secret. Not because he thought it was wrong, but because he didn't want anybody else discovering the way to true immortality before he did.

He told Sylvea that Ariean died of poisoning - that there were others that were jealous of their successes and that she was probably next. He slowly whispered into her mind, making her paranoid enough to begin killing those she believed wanted to kill her (and those she thought were responsible for her sister's death) while he continued his experiments in secret. More than thirty years passed before she learned the truth and in a fit of rage killed Arinoth. Unfortunately she did so in public view and her other crimes were soon discovered. She was outlawed and sentenced to death.

As she awaited her punishment, wracked with guilt and remorse, a Death Priest passed through her village. He learned of her plight and her unwavering devotion to the memory of her sister. He made her aware of the Order of Twilight Candle and perhaps alluded to where she could find them. But he left and her escape was left to her.

Sylvea escaped and went into a self exile, venturing forth to find the Cult that the Death Cleric had spoken about. Wandering for years, she eventually found the temple in which she currently resides, discovering and pleading her case to Evening Glory.


2) With a name like Sylvea, she is likely a forest-dwelling wood elf, common among adventurers. But wood elves are usually wholesome and good of heart. Why is Sylvea evil? Was she a bad seed in the womb, or did other events conspire to lead her down that dark road and away from her kin?

She's mainly evil because of the above: and the below (you'll see)

3) Elves are usually friends to the living world and to the lifeforce in all of Nature's things. So long-lived are elves that they rarely think of death, yet Sylvea, as a death priestess, must consider the concept often. Is she perfectly comfortable in her role, or does she have qualms against death, qualms possibly left over from her life among the flora and fauna? What compelled her to this way of thinking? Was she born with a natural morbid curiosity for a subject which may as well be taboo among the elves? Was Ariene's death so traumatic--and Sylvea's love for her so great--that it immediately pushed Sylvea over the edge? Or was it another event entirely, however sudden or gradual that event was?

I think that she was definitely born with a morbid sense of curiosity. That was what had led her to seek becoming a Healer. She likes both sides because to know how to heal, you have to know how to hurt. She found joy in her studies and her sister soon followed her, for her own reasons. She looked out for her sister, knowing that Ariean looked up to her, but was soon absorbed in her studies, often unaware of Ariean's successes or failures. It only drove her sister to work harder to match her.

She was a little more prepared when joining the cult for death, having had to deal it out for many years before. Her own mortality is also starker because she had lived with the belief that she would die any day. And faced with her own sister's mortality: she does better than most her age having to face death so often. Her abilities with healing also show her a starker side to living, as she knows about wounds and diseases and is often faced with them more than her brethren would be.


4) Like Good, Evil comes in many degrees, whether as a humble and unrepentant pickpocket who feels only joy in his petty thefts, or as a bloody savage who has slain and tortured hundreds out of twisted revenge against a world which, he believes, spurned him. The evils of people such as Corwin and Karnoz are quite evident, but how is Sylvea evil, and how subtle or blatant is this wickedness? Is it mere potential, or does her history have deeds in which many would find shame--and some others would find twisted pride--in mentioning? What are her inclinations as one of the wicked, and--besides the capacity for love--what redeeming virtues does she bear?

I think the only real evil in her is that she does anything she deems she must do. No matter the consequences. Her fierce loyalty to her sister and her (relatively new) religion are the fuels she uses to justify most of her actions. She will not see the possible consequences to her actions unless they are the consequences she wants. She is mostly selfish in that she is so loyal. It is where her loyalties lie that make her evil.

Other than that, she can be surprisingly compassionate, though this comes only every so often, to a stranger. She does not possess much patience for those she considers fools - but her emotions run much deeper than she lets other see. She may not strike someone (adventuring with her) as evil, until she decides she must do something (usually that something is nefarious in nature.)

As for redeeming virture, her compassion for others and her need to heal those she sees wounded. Her loyalty is also a redeeming virtue, I suppose. And besides, she's just neutral evil

Okay, I hope that answers your questions for now. If you have more, don't hesitate to ask!

neutral evil is fun, it's the self-serving evil

Yeah that's what I thought. Basically she's selfish.

Cool. We'll have to see where you go with that.

So, Tain...if you're still around and still interested, there are a number of slots open for player-characters who are Ainsley relatives. If that sounds good to you, do you prefer dyed-in-the-wool aristocrats, aristocrats who have walked away from the House (whether because they sympathized more with the commoners, they found their responsibilities as nobles suffocating, or they did something bad enough or embarrassing enough to get disowned by the House and didn't see any point to seeking reconciliation with them), or illegitimate descendants who didn't have a chance at being accepted into the family in the first place?

I think he was looking for the honorble warrior type (his original thought was samurai, but i didn't think that would be appropriate for the setting.. I mean, Keltic samurai? This isn't a James clavell novel)i think as far as relationship wise he was thinking of being a second or third cousin of the modern ainsleys, but i'm unsure about that.

gimme your aim/yim or hotmail thingie so we can get in touch