Creative Exercise: The Sovereign Dominion of Eyros

[Rhialto]

Personally, I would find the philosophy much more appealing if it actually did not go into religion at all and was just a way of life. That way, someone could be an upstanding Draconic Legacy member and a Hythatian at the same time, which would allow them to be more prevelant without cutting into the Draconic Legacy numbers, as well as more influential, something that I think fits better with the cult. But either way is fine, I suppose.

Well, my problems with that are:

A) It takes away a good part of what makes the Hythatians interesting--they change from a strange religious group that clashes with society in general, and is only spared because of their talents, to a bunch of idealistic mathemeticians.

B) As I noted, I based these on an actual group, and the Pythagoreans were as much a religious sect as a philosophical one. In fact, charges of impiety caused them a great deal of trouble in Classical Greece.

 

[Tonguez]

Well, my problems with that are:

A) It takes away a good part of what makes the Hythatians interesting--they change from a strange religious group that clashes with society in general, and is only spared because of their talents, to a bunch of idealistic mathemeticians.

B) As I noted, I based these on an actual group, and the Pythagoreans were as much a religious sect as a philosophical one. In fact, charges of impiety caused them a great deal of trouble in Classical Greece.

I think Rystil has a point but they are easily reconciled if you explain how Hythatians go about intergrating the current religious traditions (Crucible, ancestor worship etc) into thier unified doctrine of a single source.This shouldn't be too hard in that Eyros doesn't have gods only expressions of divine faith.
Hythatians I suspect would argue that the religious traditions are only components of the underlying 'Source' given form (and ths function) by mortal faith-desire but not the authentic reality which must be understood through reason...

 

[Rhialto]

Actually that was pretty much how I saw the Hythatian viewpoint on religions--they don't deny their magical powers work--they simply feel that everyone else is wrong about why they do so....

 

[Sarellion]

As long as you don´t say it´s the real truth, and you didn´t, it should work fine.

 

[Rhialto]

Actually, if you'll read behind the lines, you might pick up the hint that I consider the Hythatians even more out there then the other religions of Eyros...

They just are really, really good at mathematics...

 

[Rystil Arden]

Well, my problems with that are:

A) It takes away a good part of what makes the Hythatians interesting--they change from a strange religious group that clashes with society in general, and is only spared because of their talents, to a bunch of idealistic mathemeticians.

B) As I noted, I based these on an actual group, and the Pythagoreans were as much a religious sect as a philosophical one. In fact, charges of impiety caused them a great deal of trouble in Classical Greece.

I know that it is based on the Pythagoreans, but that should not be a concern, as you have aptly stated that you changed other parts as you desired.

As for (A), if that is your opinion, then keep it as is. You certainly approached the Hythatians with tact and thoughtfulness (in fact, they are a more-or-less perfect fit for what I was thinking with my summary on the GUT, apart from the impression of number I got from the descriptions of popularity with the common folk, but now that I think of it, it doesn't really take more than a vocal but even rather small minority to cause riots if they are smart about it), and I was just giving my opinion as you asked ^^. I can only say that I would be more comfortable giving the Hythatians more numbers if they weren't religious, but they're going to work great either way!


As to post #880: If you do use custom-made spells and/or magic items to do the job, then that is the trademark of a high-magic society. Now, there's nothing wrong with that, and if you are going for the feel of a high-magic but low population Xaleris in decline from their power of old, then this fits nicely. If not, just letting you know the connotation of the choice, and we could go with slave labour instead. Either way is fine with me.

Lots of great ideas, guys!

~Rystil

 

[Mouseferatu]

Hey, guys. A couple of things.

First off--and I'm not singling anyone out for this, I promise--I think I've figured out why we've gotten a lot more debates/explanations, and a lot fewer contributions, in recent pages. So let me reiterate rule number four:

4) You may not present a fact that contradicts or "undoes" a previous contribution, though your contribution might (and should) tweak or expand on previous stuff.

If you see something that blatantly contradicts a previous post, you should, of course, point it out. That way, the original poster can change it.

But...

I don't think we should have any more posts that say "Well, you could do it that way, but it would be better/fit the setting more if you do it this way instead." I know that might be hard--we've got a solid idea shaping up here--but it violates the spirit of the whole exercise.

If you someone introduces a fact that you don't think fits, contribute new details. Without altering the original, find a way to make it fit. But debates about whether or not a post should be changed, when it doesn't actually violate prior canon, are simply not productive, they make it difficult to follow what's going on, and they take up a lot of space.

Okay?

Second, I just want to give you folks advance notice. I'll probably start winding the thread down, and starting the preliminary stages of PDF creation, in the next two to three weeks. Start giving some serious thought as to how much (if any) of the project you're willing to volunteer for. (And make sure to go back and read what I wrote about how it'll be developed.)

Remember, insufficient volunteers = the project doesn't happen--I just don't have time to write it myself--so please give some serious thought to volunteering.

Thanks, all. As you were.

 

[Rystil Arden]

If you someone introduces a fact that you don't think fits, contribute new details. Without altering the original, find a way to make it fit.

Actually Mouse, I thought of this and tried it before, and I must say from experience it is not a good idea. I strongly suggest against it, as it seems more likely to make the original poster upset (because when you make it fit, you may have inadvertently changed an assumption of the creator without editing the original). My alternative suggestion is to suggest an edit but ask for comments on your edit in e-mail form. As for me, I'm sure everyone has noticed that I have already retreated to using this format on issues of the

If you see something that blatantly contradicts a previous post, you should, of course, point it out. That way, the original poster can change it.

sort, and those issues simply have not come up recently (which is really great guys!). So now, we usually only give our opinion when someone asks for thoughts on contributions. I think that this new system works best, but Mouse, if you still disagree and would like us to revert to the "edit via new contributions" route, that's fine with me.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Actually Mouse, I thought of this and tried it before, and I must say from experience it is not a good idea. I strongly suggest against it, as it seems more likely to make the original poster upset (because when you make it fit, you may have inadvertently changed an assumption of the creator without editing the original).

But that's exactly the point of the exercise. You can only assume what's written on the page, and no more.

I realize people have gotten upset over this sort of thing, but that's not good reason to change what we've started. The whole purpose of this thread is to introduce an idea, and see what happens when other people get hold of it. We--and I do mean "we," because I'm as guilty as anyone--lost track of that when we got deep enough into this. That, however, is our own fault, not the fault of the initial set-up. If we had rules to allow debate and alteration, as opposed to simply adding new material, we'd never have gotten past the second page. (Look what happened to Creative Exercise Two.)

I'm afraid I'm going to have to stand by what I said on this one. The proper solution is, and always has been, to expand on the original. Not to change anything the original poster wrote, of course, but add details and connections as one sees fit.

 

[Rystil Arden]

Sure, I personally have no problem with this strategy, I agree that it is the proper recourse, and I was the one who used it and got burned. Sounds good to me.