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Nonek

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  1. Nonek
    I commute into London and walk the last few miles, a bit of extra cardio to offset the chair bound nature of work. There are ethnic ghettoes all across England however where Englishmen are rather rare, and certainly not welcome, in the north where my wife comes from there have been large influxes of foreign nationals for the last half century or so*. There are also native villages whose make-up has not really changed since the recording of the Domesday book however, and personally I wouldn't be deterred from walking through any, my ancestors have shed blood and liberty to assure my rights and safety. The finest insult i've personally heard was "Blue eyed devil," I felt remarkably empowered. *As opposed to London which is historically an international hub and a multicultural city whom no one race can claim, not even the English due to the union.
  2. Nonek
    That's both an interesting and concerning story Nonek. Are you prepared to share more details like where did this happen and under what circumstances, what ethnic group attacked you and what do you mean by "few individuals comments".. is this something the BNP said? It was SusurrusParadox on the SJW thread (wonder what happened to that?) Bruce, but as I said I found the gentleman laughable and nothing to be concerned about. I've been called a white (excuse my language) bastard before on the street, and still felt nothing but mild amusement, if I felt anything more i'd be allowing the abusers undue importance. Or i'm just an emotionless shell of a man?
  3. Nonek
    Personally I can't tell, I was recently insulted for being an Englishman and accused of being thus a fascist, despite the large amount of my family whom died in the second World War. However I just laughed it off as the ranting of a bigot, as the gentleman had allready proven himself to be by introducing himself with insults and condemning a whole group based on a few individuals comments. I may not have the correct victim mindset to be able to judge, then again this runs in the family, while my great uncle was being tortured after capture in Burma he always said he would never give his tormentors the satisfaction of seeing himself as a victim. Strange and complex business.
  4. Nonek
    Then again I think that if there were political dissent or a revolutionary movement, a few key agitators might find themsleves in the dungeons of the Dunryd Row, contemplating the loss of their testes, eyes or fingers. A rulers primary aim is after all to ensure the continuation of their rule, at the expense of those they rule usually. One thing that occurs to me is Necromancy, the art of raising the dead to talk with, as was so prominently featured in Arcanum, to great effect in my opinion. Can an Animancer do such a thing, wrench a recently deceased Soul back from the wheel for a time and question them? It raises interesting questions of morality and obviously highlights a use for Animancers in such organisations as Dunryd Row.
  5. Nonek
    It would seem a little early for a Poe equivalent of Robert Peel's famous organisation to be appearing, in which case Dunryd Row's police would be tools of state rather than public servants, and follow the lead of those in power rather than neccessarily enforcing law and order. Of course this doesn't mean that they will not do this as well, as an orderly and wealthy city is preferable to the alternative, merely that their first loyalty will be to whatever organisation is in power. However given the Dyrwood's unique position perhaps the Dunryd Row are or will become public servants, it's entirely possible. Until that happens however one suspects the crimes they investigate will involve maintaining the status quo, ensuring taxes are paid, murders of the important are avenged and that the rulers of the city are in effect the biggest and nastiest gang to sit atop the whole pile.
  6. Nonek
    Personally I preferred Rebecca Romijn in the role of Mystique, can't see why they've replaced her with the young and less delightfully spiteful wide faced girl that is in X Men: Moody Blues Cover. Romijn had a great ability to say a lot without words that the young lady does not, plus she was obviously far easier on the eye.
  7. Nonek
    Can Animancers torture people? The inquisitorial role discussed above raises that obvious question, we know that Ciphers are Spellswords now with only a few psychic powers, so would gleaning the truth from a suspect be something an Animancer could be employed to do? Remember those great old spells from AD&D that one could torment a Demon or Devil with, thus bending it to ones will, perhaps there are powers in an Animancer's repertoire that can wrack and ruin a soul, pain on an unimaginable level Soul deep. Would such experiments mark or weaken the Soul, or maybe the reverse, perhaps strengthen it as it is tested and found to be not wanting? Is Animancy advanced enough to let the torturer be efficient in his use of such cruelty, or is it a blunt and clumsy tool?
  8. Nonek
    Yes those are among my favourites as well, but most crpg's and AD&D don't venture anywhere near the territory they explore to their detriment, I would especially like the manic inventiveness of Moorc*ck to influence more developers. When comparing most crpgs to any author the massive lack of ambition is very telling, they are (and I hate to say this) far too gamey at the expense of creating a consistent and relatable world. Personally I would like the depth and detail of Tolkien, the inventiveness of Moorc*ck or Howard, the horror of Lovecraft, the exploration of a theme that LeGuin pursues throughout Ged's journeys to best himself, wrapped up in a world like Ultima 7 with the combat system of Severance. Simple tastes what? I always thought that Tolkien's dislike of the German iteration of the Sigurdsaga was (like many Norse scholars) because of its castration and alteration by Saxo Grammaticus, changing it from the original lone myth to encompass Ragnarok and other unrelated matters, and demean the Aesir? Edit: Must dash, fascinating and enlightening discussion Sir.
  9. Nonek
    Nice post Sir, I agree that the world had not moved on, though I do think that it was at the end of his books on the cusp of doing so and was a reaction to his disgust with the modern worlds technological obsession. I'll have to read a few more of his tomes as currently i've only perused the three common books (Hobbit, LotR and Silmarillion) and obviously his translation of Beowulf, which is still the best. However i'd say my point still stands, most high fantasy worlds have no grounding elements within them, magic has no real effect on anything nor do magical items, and characters show no signs of humanity or frailty. In the Lord of the Rings that is not so, it is far more grounded than the usual high fantasy worlds where people do not eat, drink, tire, sicken or do much of anything other than summon fireballs and fight hordes of opponents. I'd say the ring cycle has more to do with the epic saga it is inspired by than the high fantasy most people claim it is. I agree though with being bored of traditional fantasy and its usual iterations, and am looking forward to Poe for the same reasons you list above.
  10. Nonek
    I'm not sure that's true, to me the world was merely going through its Dark Ages, their Rome had fallen in the west with the Dunedain, while the great city bridging east and west still stood as a counterpart to Byzantium. Yes that culture was failing and departing along with the more fantastical elements, but clear acknowledgement was given to the barbarian peoples arising, with the Rohirrim probably portraying Alan's in this scenario. Whose horse mastery might well have inspired chivalry, and thus symbolised what is to come. Elves = Greeks?
  11. Nonek
    One thing that keeps occurring to me about experiments in Animancy is this, what if the recipient changes their mind, like the chap near the Mortuary in Torment. Those great trees with Souls bound into them that Mr Sawyer mentions, what if they want to end their long lives as trees? Is the Soul bound to the tree, will it be bound even when the tree rots and returns to the earth, is it eternally cast out of the cycle, what happens to the Soul then, does it haunt the forest it "lived" in? A situation birthing a hundred questions, very pleasing. Edit: The ignorance and experimentation of the Animancer may be catastrophic, does any harm he commits count against him then, innocent and trying to merely be helpful as he is? Horrible examples such as Thalidomyde and DDT spring to mind.
  12. Nonek
    One of my players was against this because he said that playing a mortal (companion?) was merely a "resource" for the Magi, whom possessed the real agency and interesting role in the game world, and he was rather an anti-magic chap. In the end we never bought the rulebooks because of this, i'm not sure if he was correct or not, or whether he really couldn't play a Dwarf as was his wont. Personally I would have been thrilled to create unusual encounters and situations, something other than dungeons and combat, where the player partially makes the story as happens in most good campaigns.
  13. Nonek
    Yes i'm eager to see Twin Elms myself and beard the Poe equivalent of an Ent.
  14. Nonek
    I suggested a campaign of Ars Magica to my Friday nighters after completing Darklands, as I was a little enraptured with that game and the similarities were obvious, interesting plots just sprang into being for any student of history, politics and mythology. However my group were not prepared to start up a new campaign, and preferred the more and less fantastical setting which we were using at that time, a real wasted opportunity I think.
  15. Nonek
    Yes i'd generally agree, too often we get a modern world with a weak renaissance fayre flavour, and of course the traditional nonsensical plot about a demon led army or corrupting McGuffin. When a world is researched that has depth and internal consistency, then crises naturally arise that are human, relatable and interesting rather than adolescent power fantasies. Of course that's just my opinion and preference. Edit: What is strange is that i've always held that Tolkien created quite a detailed and internally consistent world, where different cultures clashed, languages were spoken, characters knew hunger and thirst, wanderers grew exhausted and a magical item was indeed rare and potent rather than yet another in a long list of items to sell. In a way though many people state that Tolkien's Middle Earth was the most fantastical of settings, it wasn't, even it's magic system seems to be equal parts technological trickery and psychic battles not the fireball frenzy we see in AD&D.
  16. Nonek
    Well Mr Sawyer stated that some Dyrwoodan's wished for Animancy to be more heavily monitored or outlawed, so certainly there seems to be a certain antipathy towards the profession. But as I said earlier i'm unwilling personally to assign blame for that feeling until we know whether there is any reason for it, other than religions and conservatives disliking this new area of research, that impinges on previously held and probably cherished world views. Indeed we do not even know if the Undead creation of Update #73 is a known variable to anybody, or whether it has yet to be performed successfully, thus my hesitancy. That and Mr Sawyer states that the powermongers are still backing the research, suggesting to me that they have not yet suffered any particular harm from it. One can see an Animancer who has suffered at the hands of backwards conservatives embracing a victim mentality, and thus imparting a sense of self righteous justice to his actions, it would be a very human reaction to moral castigation from ones peers. I do believe Mr Mor and Gromnir touch on a salient point with their examples of the early uses of electricity to revivify corpses however, the fuel that probably fed Mrs Shelley's own creation in part at least, which was very much a passtime of the aristocratic and learned of society. There's such obvious potential implicit in that idea.
  17. Nonek
    One would have thought that a pioneer city at the heart of a bustling and independent rather young nation would not have an abundance of law and order on its streets, whether through crime, press gangs, plague, work opportunities or simple relocation etcetera, would the disappearance of citizens not be a rather common occurence. I'm not familiar with cities of the period, but the mining towns of the American gold rush were if I remember correctly hotbeds of crime and such, they seem rather analogous.
  18. Nonek
    It raises interesting possibilities, but also similar moral quandries, if human Souls are being used at least. Condemned criminals? A form of execution?
  19. Nonek
    One has to ask what is the day to day research and practice of an Animancer, we have the obviously rather unusual (so one assumes) case outlined in Update #73, but what of his more mundane role? Obviously the name hints at this, the Anima refers to life force, personality and the Soul, as was used in Aristotle's famous work, so what does he do outside of the morally dubious known example? Is the Animancer a Physician's counterpart, it may seem ridiculous to us but in the world of Poe mayhap such things are needed, with steampunk gadgets, strange Frankenstein-like apparatus, smoke and mirrors maybe an Animancer can cure what ails the Soul, or recommend some course of action that would be beneficial. Past lives still haunting the Psyche that require some form of resolution, cracks and weaknesses in the architecture of the metaphysical, the removal of curses and hauntings that a Soul has accrued through fair deeds or foul, can he cure or mitigate these and others? It would be nice to see another side to the practice rather than just that outlined in the Undeath example, to gain a more rounded view of the profession, then again there is the thrill of discovery upon release to argue for, and the reveal of one of the games more interesting aspects.
  20. Nonek
    Though I did like the typical party hiking across the Swordcoast in BG I think you're right that this may clash with the scripted interactions, thus i'd prefer to see concept art of the pertinent area from a different angle, it might make a nice change from the isometric perspective it's usually presented in. Edit: That said i'm fine with fairly much anything, unlike the majority I do not have a pathological hatred of loading screens, in fact I quite like the respite. Perhaps impressionistic watercolours of the areas we are seeing might be nice, they were quite evocative in the first Witcher.
  21. Nonek
    1. Tut and carry on. 2. Tut and carry on. 3. Tut and carry on.
  22. Nonek
    If you drank tea then you would conquer that island.
  23. Nonek
    The Dyrford theme really grows on you, excellent update thank you ladies and gentlemen.
  24. Nonek
    If the prize is so great and so beneficial to all humanity as godhood and all that entails, then what morality will stay your hand while pursuing it? The Animancer looking down on all humanity watches wars and plagues sweep over them, and the endless cycle of birth, death and rebirth grind even the strongest personalities into dust, what matters a few more Souls? Not even ripples in the ocean, ants scurrying all unknowing about their lives as Orson Welles would point out from his Ferris wheel in the Third Man, would a single ant being removed from the schedule really affect anything. You can see where such dark thoughts might lead an intelligent Animancer, and why he might think that he is the good man in the long run. Edit: with the gods silent on the matter perhaps they do not even know the answers, about themselves or anything else, perhaps they simply exist and have influence and that along with continued worship is all they desire. To survive like the rest of us.
  25. Nonek
    The Grandam swore by Nettle tea, developed a taste for it during the wars when rationing was in effect, tastes foul to me personally.
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