Subject: Re: Starting locations
From: McDuff (mcduff@iname.com)
Date: Wed Nov 24 1999 - 15:03:12 EET
>We are just assuming that elves like to "stick with" elves/humans/smurfs >It's up to Mandor decide how elves will react. Your assumptions(sp) are >based on general fantasy setting which says elves are pointed-eared(sp)? >immortal orc haters who look down every other race except their own. Orcs don't get along with anyone. It's in the descs. Elves get along with humans, reasonably well, but we don't know how well they get along with trolls/dwarves/necrolytes/catpeople yet. >Considering we just had cataclysm it's unlikely that humans know how >orcs/elves/smurfs behave and thus won't react their presence badly >before orcs/elves/smurfs start killing them. The people in the cataclysm are, as far as I'm aware, survivors. This means that 1) they wake up nearish where they were BEFORE the cataclysm, so they would be in the same approximate social group, and 2) that they would still remember the situation as it was. As for the cataclysm itself, no-one appears to have had any ideas on the situation yet. I've been studying the map, and have an approximate idea of where the people will be when they start (although I can't find Thome in Voran). I also recall that when Beregar and I were working through all the regions and weather we used "background magic" in the same way you would use "background radiation," normally to make stuff easier for us. There was also something along the lines of magic being the initial "building material" from which all other stuff was created. I don't know how this has been affected by the "pattern changing" I read about. My view was always that magic was a kind of raw energy, almost beyond energy, behind everything else, keeping the world together, and that the skill of using magic was the skill of being able to focus this energy into something coherent. If this works, then my idea for the cataclysm fits into this, and is as follows: A Magical Meltdown. In the same way that Chernobyl caused havoc around the world, a gigantic explosion caused by a breakdown in the structures that held it together, in a certain part of the world, would cause havoc around the world of Majik. This would have several points in its favour: 1) it would have an Epicentre where there would be a "no-mans land," like the area after a meltdown where you can't go because of radiation, this place would have a very high cost to go there. All the animals and trees would be altered, like genetic mutation, and we could have great fun with various "tears in the fabric of reality" created here. 2) we could preserve materials and resources by using a decrease in effects from the epicentre, and also by using line of sight. ie, a certain area on the other side of the Chain of the Sledgehammer would be relatively untouched, but one side of the mountains would be melted and twisted, because it took the brunt of the blast. Similarly, the dwarves living underground would feel the shockwave, but because of the thickness of the rock wouldn't suffer many ill effects. This provides a realistic trade-off between destroying enough things and leaving enough materials to make rebuilding realistic. 3) it would give the sages another reason to exist. If they were here as "maintenence engineers," appointed by the Gods so they could get on with the smiting, and wherever they were was a key point, like a joint or something, that was needed so that the magic could flow to where it was needed and keep the world together. If one Sage went away and did the equivalent of let the pilot light go out, the explosion would naturally occur. This could also allow natural pressure leaks, like magical geysers, at other points in the system. 4) this would also give a reason for the sages to have set up "havens" around where they were. They would have noticed that the "flow" had stopped, their automatic warning systems would have tripped, and their magical protection would have come on automatically. If we position sages strategically, then we can preserve quite a few things. I've included a map with the approximate positions of where I think the explosion could have occurred, where the most beneficial havens would be, the starting positions of races, where the most/least damaged areas could be etc etc. I think that if the primary explosion was at the top of the mountain on Estrean this would get the two agreed upon starting points. We could have secondary blasts of lower magnitude at Nemen (on island to west of circle sea) and at the southern tip of the mountains of malediction, so this would get the elves in Sol'daran, and the starting position at Silvercreek (supposing it's there). On the map, the bit with the blue border that's whited out is the bit that will be blasted, with decreasing effects as it gets further away from the sources, which are the yellow/black bits. The red marked areas are where players will start, and the purple circles mark "havens" Comments please? McDuff
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b25 : Tue Feb 12 2002 - 00:03:26 EET
