(IR) The 5th IR - 3rd OOC Thread (OPEN)

[Edena_of_Neith]

Concerning sblocks:

I will post all the actions of my power, including the secret actions of my power, using sblocks, and not going by e-mail.
The exception involves material not suitable for ENWorld: that will be sent by e-mail.
I will just trust everyone to the Honor System, to not read my secret sblocks.

Where I am denoting a public action, I'll state that (as I already have) the sblock information is public, and anyone can read it.

Why am I doing this?

That way, ALL the actions of my power - that is, all my actions in this game - will be recorded here, on the IR threads, for posterity.
It won't be lost in the oblivion of e-mails.
And, remembering the 1st and 2nd IRs, I would daresay that what we do - in public and in secret - is worthy of remembrance, and of recording.

Sblocks do, at least, make scrolling easier, too.


- - -

It goes without saying that I will not read any secret sblocks posted by others.
What's the point?
I'm here to enjoy the game, not win the game.
For me, the joy is in the journey, not in the ending.
I know my power has little chance of surviving the IR. But that's ok. As long as it was fun while it lasted, and we had a good time together, and we created something memorable, that's good enough for me.

Yours Sincerely
Edena_of_Neith

 

[William Ronald]

It is a beautiful map, James.

To everyone: but how do we color it? I know the claims and geography well enough to color it, if I only had the tools to do so.

Is there anyone who can save that map to their computer? Who could convert it into something that could be colored in?
Guilt Puppy did this with the small map. Is there anyone who can do it with James' large map?

- - -

William, that's a nice little prison you devised for my drow. Complete with watchtowers! (A nice plush courtyard and amenities ... surrounded on all sides by high walls and watchtowers manned by Ekbir ... that's a prison.)
The drow know it, too.
The drow, aren't real happy about it, either. They don't say a word, but Eclavdra knows what has been done.

Edena, considering that Eclavdra has revealed some details of negotiations that I and Al'Akbar assumed were private, most nations would have broken off diplomatic relations. Indeed, this has happened in real life. Also, to be blunt, some of the concern is that someone may try to attack the drow embassy. (The drow are perhaps only less hated by most surface dwellers than the illithid. Also, consider the precautions that are taken for real world embassies -- particularly in countries where there might be some public dislike of the country in question.) In time, walls can be lowered or embassies moved to a place more welcome to the visiting power. However, the relations between Evlavdor and the Baklunish Empire are at a very early stage. Although respect is given, trust needs to be earned. Also, I didn't want to give the public a free peepshow of the drow in scanty attire. (I assume the drow would want some privacy.) (You might want to indicate what is a secret and what is open.)

The drow are of course, free to travel in Ekbir. There are several nice cafes just past the plaza on the way to the other embassies. The plaza is also large enough for trade or for public festivities. (Edena, if our roles were reversed, I think you would want the drow to be in a place where they are secure but can be watched.) Also, the drow will be invited to the same public events as other ambassadors. Public matters of state, as opposed to private negotiations.

I do agree with the problem of the Apocalypse from the Sky spell. It is a rather horrific spell, and I was surprised that WotC made it anything less than an epic spell. Maybe I should check on the errata, but it seems to be MUCH more powerful than the 8th level Incendiary Cloud. My vote is for the spell to be banned. I don't think it is appropriate to start out with something this powerful. The toughest sanctified spell in the Book of Exalted Deeds is nowhere as powerful. Also, if you have the Eschew Materials feat, you won't need an artifact to cast this spell.

Also, don't sell either Eclavdra or the drow short. You should realize that they have resources and that not everyone will be going after the drow in Turn 1. Perhaps some public diplomacy is needed.

 

[Edena_of_Neith]

(grins)

I'm not upset, William. Not at all. I can see why you did that, and in your place I most certainly would be careful of the drow.

(Heh, I might just snatch em up one by one, and Helm of Opposition them, for that matter. Lolth? LOLTH?
Spiders. Spiders in my beautiful kingdom. To the east, Nyrond. To the west, the Celestial Imperium. Everywhere these accursed spiders! Only you have stood up to their Gods, and what are you? THIEVES!)

No, I'm not upset. Not at all.

It is my drow who are upset.
My evil, scheming, nefarious, no-good drow, who plot nasty things for all the Surface Dwellers, and who indeed go around scantily clad (if they are clad at all. ) who are upset.

They are the ones who are unhappy. But so? Heh. The drow are ALWAYS unhappy! If you take an unhappy drow too seriously, she will drive you insane (I doubt the best psychiatrist around could handle your typical drow with her personal problems.)

-

Indeed, everyone please take all my posts with a grain of salt. I'm not angry or upset or remonstrating against anyone.
I am pointing out a few concerns, but hey - this is Serpenteye's game, and what he wants goes, not what I want! I just help out (call me Santa's helper. )

-

I really WOULD like to color that big map of James in.
It would really add perspective and depth to this IR.
Problem is, it can't be colored in. Not yet, at least. Not by me. It's a thumbnails, and I don't even know how to copy it to my computer!

-

Here's the lowdown on me, Edena_of_Neith, folks:

I don't know how to play 3rd edition D&D ...
I don't have any of the books in front of me (they're all in storage where I can't get to them, and I don't have the kind of money it takes to buy copies) ...
I don't know the rules of the 5th IR well enough to shake a stick at them ...
I DO KNOW I'm going to get clobbered in this IR, maybe on Turn 1 and maybe not, but eventually the drow will get theirs.

So what's left?

Well now, a lot of enthusiasm and spirit and support of the game.
I may be a total incompetent, but I can be an enthusiastic incompetent!
And enjoy the journey, for I believe the joy is in the journey.

Now, if someone could just give me a nice 96 Crayola Crayon pack (or the cyberspace equivalent) to color in that big, beautiful map of James', I would be content to my heart's delight!

Edena_of_Neith

 

[William Ronald]

Edena, I can assure that the drow delegation will be invited to parties and other events. Mind you, the invitations will say clothing at least equal to a bikini is required for females and swim trunks for males. Besides, I doubt Eclavdra would want someone using a magical camera to snap pictures of her sunbathing and sell them to the tabloids.

I can let you know the basics of the game later in the week. I think your humor is infectious, and I think the drow will be around in one form or another. Also, I think Eclavdra unlike some of the other evil powers wants to see the Flanaess and Oerth kept physically intact. Indeed, that may well be part of the will of Lolth. (If the world was ruined, what would the drow rule over? The surface world, to a drow raised underground, would seem insanely rich in such resources as food, water, and fresh air. Heck, from what I have read, the air in drow cities is stagnant and foul smelling. I may have a solution, though. I can suggest it in a future post.)

Also, from what you have told me about the initiation of drow priestesses in R.A. Salvatore's books, Al'Akbar might need to resurrect Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung to help out a depressed drow priestess. (Hmm, maybe the biggest drow amusement park is named "The Tragic Kingdom." Fans of the band No Doubt might get the reference.)

 

[Kalanyr]

I think Freud and Jung would go crazy, the average drow suffers from a list of severe mental problems that includes mania, megalomania and psycopathy.

 

[William Ronald]

Kalanyr and Festy Dog: Check your e-mails. I do agree that Freud and Jung would have their work cut out for them. Al'Akbar might have to help out with that mess.

Azmodean: If you want, the Barbarian Seameast (Where did the TSR people get these bad names) could be like sub-Saharan Africa. I do have Nyambe. Also you, or Thomas Hobbes, who likes interesting cultures, might claim the Touv and Olman humans of Hepmonaland. The Olman resemble Central American cultures like the Aztec and the Maya, while the Touv are a dark-skinned race whose culture has parallels to several in sub-Saharan Africa. Also, I can't recall if Album Cover X claimed the Barbarian Seameast. Check the list. (If the sub-Saharan African concept sounds interesting, I do have the Nyambe book.)

 

[Kalanyr]

Got the email, thanks William, bits of that will be very useful I'll revise my preliminary sblock tonight and resubmit it to Edena and Serpenteye.

Edit - Useful != Useless oh and William I'm in #IR if you want to chat. (Also all my instant messenger links are available in my profile and in the block to the side if anyone wants to contact me by any of them).

 

[Edena_of_Neith]

Is Sollir joining us? (Tell him I hope he does. )

-

Here is the link to James' very neat map: http://www.enworld.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=17956

Does anyone know how to make it so it can be colored in, like Guilt Puppys' map?
I mean, it'd be great if we could do that.
It would really put the IR into perspective, since we have so many powers off of Guilt Puppys' map of the Flanaess.

Before Guilt Puppy was nice enough to create his map of the Flanaess, I was there saying it'd be a much better IR if we had a map. And Guilt Puppy gave us a very nice map.
Now, James has given us a map of the whole of Oerik, and if we color that, I think the IR would be even better.

A map really is worth a thousand descriptions, in this case.

 

[James Heard]

Any paint program with fills will most likely do the trick, but don't quote me on that because I didn't do the thing with an eye for fills like I probably should have. There are hundreds of connectors where I mostly likely had an opportunity to miss putting one line across another that would screw up a fill...but who knows? Sometimes dumb luck suffices when scrutiny and dilligence does not.

Beyond that, a graphics program that could select only the whites of the image could be used to paint by hand rather handily because you wouldn't overlap the black outlines of things. Anyone interested in the core (and rather messy several meg) Photoshop original image to work on the thing in layers could certainly have that as well - I'll have to check on if the image could be streamlined a bit so as to fit into a rather cramped zip or rar for posting, otherwise it's off to email or some bit of ftp space for it.

 

[Edena_of_Neith]

Thank you, James. The effort is appreciated very much.

I hope there is a way.
I fear I'm not much at computer programs. If I could figure out how to download that map to my Appleworks 6 program, I could color it there ... but then I couldn't put it back up on the board.
I'm just not Guilt Puppy. Or you.

Edena_of_Neith