Sir Jerric

Congratulations! Have an upvote! You are at least 83% incorrect.

Ice caps in the mountains can be had anywhere on the map. So long as you don't feel the need to make those ice caps massive, there won't be any contradictions to worry about. If you do want large mountain ranges and ice caps, find a H (purple) region, preferably near the D (cold) regions. Since it doesn't seem to have been linked elsewhere (that I found on short notice, at least), here is the finalized map post that links to climate notation and explains the basic astronomy.

EF is defined as Polar Ice Cap. All of the dark grey areas and most of the ocean between and around are permanent ice unless magical exceptions are made. I probably should have colored over the oceans in the pretty colors map to represent that.

So the Image hosting service I've been using has announced the upcoming closing of its servers. I don't know if any of you wikia users want to, but here is the album link, in case someone wants to archive the maps to the wiki. The files will be available until the end of the year. After which I will still have local copies, but if you want to keep them public, the wiki seems like a good option. The trouble is that I know nothing about whether there are restrictions on sizes or whatever. I guess I can do the uploading myself, but even if I do, putting the files into use will be for someone else to do.

Here is a clean version. I assume this is what you were looking for? Click for Full Size

Removing the grid will be an easy task once I retrieve the original file from my other computer. I won't be able to get to it for a couple of days, however. By green and white, do you mean the pretty colors map or the climates map?

The new one definitely strikes me as better. I liked the air of mystery about the pictures versus the eye, Hewn trying to use a smartphone, and the first impressions of both the secondary characters. The introduction of the scene and main character confused me, but I wouldn't bother doing another rewrite until you have your ending solidified and know more of what to emphasize to tie the story together. Cool story. Keep it up.

Punching through the Realmatic boundaries of Scadrial isn't interesting? =)

Random thought: what if a lerasium spike doesn't steal anything, but instead it is the source of Feruchemy? Someone once put a lerasium spike in a pre-Terrisman victim, and they didn't die, but gained a new magical ability instead. People like to talk about how feruchemy is balanced between Ruin and Preservation, so why not originate it by using Preservation's God metal in Ruin's magic system?

Just so we understand each other, I rate gore not on quanity of casualties, but on the style of the description. When you talk about stacks and mountains of corpses, there is no gore involved. When you stumble over a head streaked with blood, having eyes that stare without seeing, that has fallen some distance from its body, that is gore. This english translation is too simple at present to elevate the gore rating to my higher tiers. Those require careful word selection and poetic apititude. If such has been achieved in the German source, I cannot read it to comment.

Probably, but I hold to the perspective that emotions are not capable of literal paralysis, or any physical controls. Any who choose to check their emotions with a logical filter are capable of pressing on despite. Might be a great distraction, however. =) Hmm. I wonder why? You can enchant a person, as long as you can touch them to place the enchantment. I plan on allowing some flexibilty in choosing the shape of the triggering area, but this is one of the powers that I have not thoroughly considered yet. I expect that the current state of the enchanted object is the non-triggered state, but that any change in what is touching the object will activate the alarm continuously until the orginal state is restored. And if the object itself is modified or damaged, then the user becomes aware of this by the alarm signal flaring and dying. So the user would experience a person stepping on a doormat differently from someone planting a knife in the doormat. But the user would not know the difference between a leaf landing on the doormat, and the doormat being thrown aside and landing upside down. Amusing, but the enchantment would not be replicated. And even if it were, how aware are you of the individual strands of DNA in a virus? The victim needs to perceive the enchanted object before they feel anything. Which makes me wonder if hearing an enchanted flute on the radio might work. . . .

A powerful choice for scenery, but this has more gore than I prefer. I see many clear parallels to a local favorite Prelude.

@Kasimir: Oh well, I figured my system was a longshot anyway. The "said to contain" part reminds me of a character I plan to write about someday. He works for the port authority checking cargos against the manifests. He gets to call people out when their goods don't match the declared weight, which is one of the potential signs of smuggling. @Talanic: I'd heard of the first part before, but the other two paragraphs are new to me. I particularly like the campfire bit, since that provides a simple justification for almost any secondary world culture to have a glass production option.

So twistlocks are very important, but I don't know what they are. My best guess is that it has something to do with straps or whatever tied to a long pole and wrapped around the bundle to be secured. By turning the pole about 210 degrees, the straps can be pulled tight, and the tension becomes self-sustaining. How did I do? So in most stories, we tend to want to know what can go wrong. Can someone sabotage a cargo ship by unsecuring the cargo, thereby causing the ship to list at an inopportune time? Since catering is the smallest staff, could someone convince the Catering crew to help them stowaway?

Seven reputation just for that? I guess I'll take that to mean that people like the thread concept (Jokes never gather rep ), even if no one else thought of anything to share or ask about. Sometimes I find that modern archeology sets me up with some serious biases. There are a number of technologies that are much older than I often assume. For example, glassblowing dates back to around 100 BC in the Roman Empire, and cast glass is quite a bit older. Most seem to believe that glass production tends to be inspired in regions where natural glasses can be found. Primarily, volcanos. The thing that is important to note is that clear glass is very rare and expensive until you get closer to the middle ages or later. And smooth window glass is more recent still. Also interesting is that an example of movable type printing was found in the Mediterranian region that pre-dates the Chinese design. people believe the object was made with hand-pressed type rather than anything involving a pre-assembled grid of type, but it is still interesting to think about the fellow who was so far ahead of his time.

If it were done with a supernatural level of precision, you may succeed in enchanting the paint itself as a matched pair, but the cubes underneath would not be part of the enchantment. As I said, they must be matched on a level deeper than the surface. Paint on natural wood is going to fill the little crevases in the grain. Since a metal cube is unlikely to share that pattern of crevases, the paint on the two would be different, even if you matched the exteriors to perfection. So most people would tell you that you would never succeed. The size scaling power could be made to fit my system, but I'd need to find a nice limitation for that talent. Changing the scale of something has several negative ramifications when used in a straightforward application. Ramifications are fun. I am still poking at the consequenses of petrification, and trying to decide whether I can explain why it is non-fatal, or if I need to handwave that, or if I want to discard the power entirely. By the way, you said you liked the alarm ward. Is there a particular application you thought of for that?

In this setting, I decided to use a systematic distribution that has no possibility of multiple powers. But if someone thinks they can make a cool effect that requires one person to have multiple powers, I don't want to tell them no. I'm already letting them modify the available power set, so why not? Wood would be about the worse choice of material for this system. You would need to match them down to the grain pattern, and not just on the surface. But yes, your first example is correct. In the second case, depending on the environment, you may see a feedback loop of illumination. And I believe wood can have some slight transulcence, which might cause a feedback loop without environmental considerations. Yes, color and angle of incidence and all other standard reflective properties are preserved. I told my brother the light transfer definition a day before making this thread. His first thought was mirror televisions. Given that I haven't changed my wording . . . Yep. That is the expensive end of the spectrum. Comitments are not necessary. I'm just offering something that people might have some fun playing with. If participating in a thread like this starts feeling like work, then take a break and come back some other time. I will check that reference as well. I checked the first, and I did achieve one workable idea from it: Petrification. Probably going to be temporary and non-fatal when used on living objects. I almost wonder why that idea hadn't already occured to me. I noticed that you liked the ramifications angle. You are going to wind up asking a great many questions, since I am still being close-mouthed about the rest of the details. But I will tell one other thing that you don't seem to have considered yet: You can use your talent on yourself. Five of the talents won't get any benefit from that, but the others get to have some fun.

Thanks for participating. Sorry for being so skimpy with the details. It does recharge over several days. Did you want to add a method of doing that? Nope. Each fuel powers that talent only. The fuel supply cap also applies to stealing, so no stealing from everyone and stockpiling. Neither. It recharges. The fuel is expended linearly with time. Partial use is a partial return. Faded away is none returned, though a small amount will have regenerated by then. Only living objects have memory, and you would experience the memories with its senses. The inspiration was to design a magical insect repellent. While I was camping. You can make creatures respond to your hat as to a dangerous predator. Most creatures respond with fear and run away. Hang the hat on a hat stand and come back after nightfall; you will have to convince yourself that there is not an angry mobster hiding in the shadows. And the city watch will have a poor reaction to you in broad daylight. And how does mother bear respond to a threat moving closer to her cubs? It can also help with animal training. You can associate a stick with an authority figure and lead herd animals. Let them see it enchanted a few times, and eventually they will react to any similar object in the same way without the enchantment in effect. You don't want the wolves to think their alpha is already down among the sheep, after all. Good thing you can undo that enchantment at will. Except once the creature has made an association, turning off the effect doesn't clear their memory. No. The objects have to be matched very thoroughly. Thanks. Have some plans for them? Thanks for the link. I'll check that out.

Everyone likes a gang of Mistings, assuming they can be on your side. Whether you want them for security or for raiding, or for some other purpose entirely, there is a great deal that can be done with the full set of sixteen powers. In one of my projects (several, actually, but I digress), I have a magic system where each practitioner has a unique talent. But despite three years of pondering, I've not built up a full set of powers. So I turn to the wonderfully diverse creative minds that wander this forum. I'm going to give you the list of talents that I'm planning to use. I am not going to give you the number of blanks to fill. All I ask of you is to create a bunch of convoluted projects (heists or vaults, for example) that involve the use of large numbers of magic talents in concert, and add (or subtract) as many powers as you need to make your design(s) work. You may also ask questions and concoct abuses of individual talents, if that suits you. With any luck, I'll get the inspiration I need to fill out my worldbuilding for this project. Thanks for participating. Commonalities of the System: > Talents can be used on what you are touching. > A user can only use so much talent before their fuel supply is exhausted. One grand use or many small uses are options. > Many applications of talents can be undone, reclaiming spent fuel. You can only undo your own deeds. Some Magic Talents: > Proxies - Enchant a matched pair of objects such that by touching one, you are "touching" objects in contact with the other. > Stealing magic - Soak up another user's fuel, and gain the ability to use their talent while it lasts. > Power battery - Your fuel is a wildcard that you can add to any other user's supply. > Cloning - Make a full size, independent simulacrum of an object. After a few hours, it fades and vanishes. If a living simulacrum is undone, the user will share its memories. > Tracking - Enchant an object and you will know which direction it is in. > Alarm ward - Enchant an object and you will know when it is touched or modified. > Emotion control - Enchant an object so any sapient beings who perceive it (by any sense) feel an emotion of your choice. > Instinct control - Enchant an object so any living creature perceiving it (by any sense) has its instincts react to a stimulus of your choice. > Heat sync - Enchant a matched pair of objects such that their temperature is linked and changes as an object of twice the mass. > Light transfer - Enchant a matched pair of objects such that light striking one is reflected from the other. (Refracted and absorbed light is not transfered.) > Surface retexturing - Change the texture of an object's surface to any state. If two surfaces are in contact and both are changed at the same time, the surfaces fuse and cannot be magically undone. > Temporal shifting - Reach back into an object's recent history and make it skip the intervening time. Any physical changes during that window have not occurred, until the enchantment is undone.

Everyone who meets this muse should listen. A metaphysical hole in your head can't be good for idea generation.

@Kobold: That was awesome. Thanks for brightening my day. This might be possible in my setting under certain assumptions.

I want to do a "ten random facts about your world" thing: 1. If you hear a disembodied voice resonding to your thoughts, you are haunted. 2. Being haunted is not condusive to longterm mental health. Many victims contract symptoms not unlike stroke. 3. Most priests, shamans, or other religious types will know how to exorcize that demon for you. 4. Few people leave their houses after dark. 5. Very few people stay up through the midnight hour. 6. Even fewer people go looking for monsterous, glowing apparitions. 7. Fewer still chase after them. 8. No one with an ounce of common sense tries to touch them. 9. Sorcerers don't have any common sense. 10. If you look at someone and they have a ghostly palor, don't say, "You look like you've seen a ghost." Yell, "Sorcerer," and run for the hills. Unless it's night. In that case, sorry, it's tough being you. -- World of The Etherling --

I have not played any of the Animal Crossing games. The new Happy Home Designer almost looks interesting, but it also looks like it was made for fans of the series. Which title are you referring to? My understanding is that there have been online features in several of the Animal Crossing games.

I picked up the new Legend of Zelda game for my 3DS, and it is a lot of fun. Even more so while playing with a team that wants to win. So I think it would be even better if I could get a few more friends with the game together. So, if anyone has a 3DS and wants to trade friend codes, feel free to post here. Mine is 0256-0319-5462. Yes, Nintendo's 3DS is still using the arcane system of trading and manual entry of numbers. The Wii U is so much nicer.

Final Empire metal icons are nice and grim, plus you can write a word across a few pumpkins. Or around a single one, and hang it from a twisted cord so it spins through the series...