Kobold King

I put Thoughttown's formation down as 2016, putting it after Annexation Day and the Capitulation Act. I'd support giving Desolation fire powers. Over-poweredness is what the Astoria thread is all about, after all.

I don't know the name of the university. I don't really know a lot about major colleges, and I thought it'd be better to leave it open. If you're referencing it though, feel free to give it a name. Lightwards was definitely at large, but the media may have reported him killed in the attack, depending on whether or not Jake Subly or other witnesses of his death were interviewed. I imagine the news agencies would have reported that the Epic was killed, but that a body had not yet been recovered.

I'd support that! Probably about eight to ten months before Annexation Day. He was pretty early on the timeline, early enough so that a lot of his students had never seen an Epic in person before. His Epic awakening took place during the period of confusion and chaos that predated the Capitulation Act. I also have a question for whoever can answer it. Was Big Al already working for Thoughttown six years before the current date?

Sounds like those two are meant for each other, then.

I'm a huge fan of science fiction! Where do I begin? I've devoured quite a few sf novels in my day. I'll start with the old classics and work my way into the modern world. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea was a masterpiece of early science fiction, and had me bubbling with excitement and wonder from cover to cover. While some of the science has since become outdated, particularly the sequence centering around the South Pole, Jules Verne could rightly be considered one of the fathers of science fiction. Similarly, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wove contemporary paleontology and evolutionary theory into a brilliantly compelling narrative in The Lost World. Professor Challenger was an awesome character, and certain scenes with ape-men and the Allosaurus had me on the edge of my seat like few modern novels have. But how could any discussion of sf not include that ingenious writer, H. G. Wells? This is a man who wrote an alien invasion novel so convincing, they couldn't adapt it as a radio program because it made too many people think it was real. The War of the Worlds is one of my all-time favorite sf novels, crafting both a terrifying vision of a Martian invasion and a scathing critique of Western imperialism. Only slightly lesser is The Time Machine, the earliest work of time travel I know of. The surreal and frightening future filled with Morlocks and Eloi quite struck a chord with me. Robert Heinlein was one of the greatest sf writers who ever lived, in my opinion. His work was based off of fascinating scientific concepts, coupled with a dynamic and immersive writing style. My favorites of his are probably The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, The Door Into Summer, and Starship Troopers, but I've loved everything I've read by him; for a while my forum signature was "Watch out for stobor," from his Tunnel in the Sky. Of the two other widely hailed greats of science fiction, I've read comparatively little. I loved I, Robot by Isaac Asimov but couldn't get into the Foundation novels last time I tried them; I do intend to try them again soon, though. I read Childhood's End and the novelization of 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke. They were both immensely fantastic novels, though I preferred Heinlein's writing style over either Asimov's or Clarke's. The High Crusade by Poul Anderson is another great work of classic sci-fi, which can best be described as "medieval knights hijack a starship and wage war against an alien empire." Yes, it is every bit as awesome as it sounds. One spectacular sf series that doesn't get mentioned often enough is the Sector General series by James White. White wrote for an sf magazine during the 60s, and as he was distressed by the number of military sci-fi stories the magazine published, he channeled his pacifist leanings along with a lifelong love of medicine to write myriad stories about an intergalactic hospital space station. The main character is human, but the alien lifeforms that work at the station are among the most endearingly and convincingly non-humans I've ever seen in fiction. Despite occasional tidbits of the sexism that ran rampant during the 60s, it's one of my favorite sf series and serves as the primary inspiration for my own worldbuilding. Of more modern science fiction I confess to having read comparatively little. But no discussion of sci-fi is complete without the stupendous work of Michael Crichton. This man defined the techno-thriller genre, creating action-packed and deeply thought-provoking novels out of any scientific concept you could name. Primate anthropology? Congo is the novel for you, packed with intriguing thoughts on gorilla mentality coupled with endearing characters and an action-packed storyline. Underwater research/search for extraterrestrial intelligence? Read Sphere, and prepare to have your mind utterly blown. Paleontology/genetic engineering? Jurassic Park and The Lost World, which leave the Hollywood adaptations in the dust in both philosophy and action. I'd encourage eager speculative fiction readers to pick up any of his novels. My only complaint with Crichton's books are that they tend to be more violent than the older books on this list, and his later works often included more sexual content than I'm comfortable with. (I'm a prude, though, so other people's tolerances may vary.) I've read the first three Orson Scott Card novels, plus Ender in Exile. I feel that the novels somewhat decreased in quality as they went on; Ender's Game was a masterpiece of literature like few works I've seen, Speaker for the Dead is filled with wonderful characters and fascinating alien psychologies, but Xenocide struck me as overly dull and convoluted, leaving me to never finish the series with Children of the Mind. The less said about Ender in Exile the better, in my opinion. I have little experience with novels set in established universes: I've read two, Outbound Flight by Timothy Zahn and Prisoner of the Daleks by Trevor Baxendale. Outbound Flight was a story light years ahead of the Star Wars movies it was based upon, with a far more compelling plot and exponentially more interesting characters. Commander Thrawn was an utterly fascinating individual, and the character of Joruus C'baoth brilliantly illustrated the dark side of the Jedi Order. Prisoner of the Daleks suffered from the poor and often predictable writing of Doctor Who novels, but it has the benefit of including Dalek X, the most terrifying individual Dalek yet seen in fiction. Referred to as "The Devil in Dalek form," Dalek X is a character I'd love to see revisited on the show itself. That's all I can think of for now.

Yes, I think they definitely have unintelligent relatives. There are probably Microraptor populations like those of earth somewhere on Paidiá, and since the chiskreven didn't evolve intelligence naturally but rather were granted higher brain capacity by a magical entity, there are probably other Arboraptor populations that remained more beast-like while their cousins went on to form tribes. I'm not yet sure how the chiskreven will view these relatives, but it'll probably be with a sort of reverence--a sort of remnant memory of the days when they themselves were incapable of speech or higher thought. They'd dislike the Zercians for sure, but would be more likely to avoid them like they avoid larger predators than to take direct action against them. They could definitely strike up some sort of kinship, though, especially if chiskreven were captured by the Zercians. You'll get no objections from me. Saril sounds like just the sort of nurturing individual an orphaned chiskreven would need. I'm doing a little bit more work on chiskreven religion, but soon I'll post a character bio for a Firsttree shaman I'll be playing.

There are so many potential morals to this story. Don't trust Vikings; Converting old enemies is fine, but do so outside of your city walls; Vikings are capable of smuggling up to fifty armed men into a funeral; Stretchers are more effective than the Trojan Horse; Pay attention to geography, or you'll end up sacking the wrong city. And last but not least: there was a Roman city named Luna, which is the most awesome city name I've heard all week. Thanks a lot for wrecking it, Hastein.

Awesome! I'm really glad you like them. Wind manipulation it is; Niimanjula Evertree is hereby the officially sponsored deity of the chiskreven people How long ago would it be reasonable for the Wind God to have diverged from the Air God, and for the modern chiskreven to have formed? With my current conception of their having multiple clans and an oral tradition, it would need to have happened at least four or five hundred years before the RP's start date. I like the idea of having a tribe of chiskreven living over a valley of humans like that. That's a beautiful landscape, and the forests there seem sufficient for their nesting sites. Close proximity to human neighbors could also help ensure that the chiskreven characters get into the action of the plot, as left to their own devices they'd probably just sit around and eat bugs all day. A wonderful existence for a treeraptor I suppose, but kind of boring to read about. I think it'd be really cool to see what other writers would do with chiskreven characters. So if you wanted to create a character belonging to their species, I'd be the first to encourage it. Don't feel obligated to do so, though. I'd be fine with controlling them all as a group should I need too.

This post is a shining lantern over the dark and shadowy sea that is the modern perception of metaphors.

Hmm. Yeah, it suddenly occurs to me that this is a very vague question. I guess I'm referring to animals that usually don't talk, capable of speech in a particular work of fiction. Like Reepicheep the mouse from The Chronicles of Narnia, or the talking cat from Coraline. If need be, I can either change the question or someone else can supply one.

I will! And likewise, if anyone has any questions on the chiskreven, don't hesitate to ask. Questions really help to flesh out a concept.

Harry Potter Lord of the Rings Ender's Game Starship Troopers The Spiderwick Chronicles Meet the Robinsons Twilight The Gruffalo Conan the Barbarian Beowulf Name eight talking animals in fiction.

"A bit weird" was what I was going for, so I'll count that as a victory. And nice, thanks for the information! That covers all the queries I have for now, but I'll probably be bugging you again soon next time I have a question. They're sounding really awesome so far though, and I look forward to seeing them in action. I think a pet chiskreven would slowly want more and more respect as it grew up around humans. They're a very intelligent and curious species, so a chiskreven would feel resentment if he was treated as a pet rather than as an equal. He'd be very upset, for instance, if he were not allowed to eat at the table where humans ate; he'd be intelligent and vocally versatile enough to learn to speak, but he'd grow lonely and unhappy if no one talked to him, or spoke to him only in the dismissive, patronizing way people speak to parrots or dogs. Essentially, unless he was raised by very understanding and compassionate caretakers, he'd suffer psychologically just like a human would, if subjected to constant neglect and disrespect. There's an almost limitless number of ways such a character could be portrayed and for his story to progress. (You have no idea how tempting it is for me to make "Chia Reverb" the name of a Satanic entity in chiskreven mythology. )

Thanks! I think seeing the chiskreven interacting with the human tribes of Paidiá could be really fascinating. I don't know how they'd interact, but I'm sure it'll be fascinating. Zulu/Egyptian definitely makes sense--and if memory serves, the sun god Ra was a particularly important god in Egyptian theology. How sophisticated are they in a cultural/technological sense? Do the Imfu grow crops, or are they hunter-gatherers? Very minor Firefight spoilers:

Granted. Vultures spontaneously appear and tear out your kidneys every time you turn it on. Your kidneys will regenerate, only to be continuously plucked out again with jagged vulture beaks for as long as you have the television on. I wish for a phoenix as a pet.

I'm leaning towards Niimanjula Evertree as their deity. I'll have to chart out the full extent of the wind manipulation powers. (Assuming, of course, that Mrs. Voidus doesn't come online later and obliterate the chiskreven from canon. ) It would actually be kind of neat if a young chiskreven had somehow gotten separated from its people at an early age and was raised as a pet by a human tribe. It could be a good way of bringing the mostly-isolationist chiskreven race into the human story arcs. For my part, I like them. I'm not sure whether the names are more African or Australian Aboriginal linguistically, but I definitely get a tribal-desert feel from them. Heat control is definitely a cool power with many potential applications.

Aaaaand that's how they'll wind up going extinct. All the humans will see them, think they're adorable, and start capturing them for the pet trade. If I go for the wind manipulation, their chief deity will be Niimanjula Evertree, Lord of the Forest Breeze. If I go for the time dilation, their deity will be Niimanjula the Outsider. And if I go for precognition, their deity will be Niimanjula the Dawnwatcher, Lord of Things to Come. I like the name Niimanjula, obviously, but the different titles refer to different personalties and traits to each potential version of the deity. And not too much time, honestly. I've had details about them stewing around in my head for the past couple of days, and some of the details in the description (like the ceremonial fishing rods) are things I made up while writing it up now. My main concern is that as a race they're interesting to me but no one else. Did I go overboard with them, do you think? Do they fit with the setting? Would anyone else be interested in playing a chiskreven character, or will I be RPing as their entire species?

OK everyone, I've returned with a working concept for the intelligent microraptor tribe. I submit them here for review, both for players at large and for the GM. So without further ado, I'd like to present "On the Chiskreven, Being an Account of the Paidián Treeraptor, Its Anatomy, and Its Culture."

Step Four: Kobold King upvotes the spectacular Mizzy pony, which really deserves at least three dozen upvotes, but dumb forum rules limit him to one at a time. Step Five: Kobold King adds said pony to his Pony Vault.

If Backtrack's responsible for the Reckoners hitting Fortuity, then that makes him responsible for Fortuity's death. And if he's responsible for the hit on Fortuity, then he's responsible for David joining the Reckoners. And that means... The rest of the Reckoners, perhaps? We don't have Cody, Abraham, Tia, Exel, Val, or Mizzy ponies yet. Or a Curveball pony. We desperately need a Curveball pony.

Hmm. That's no good. Here's the direct Dumpyourphoto link; does that work for you? I hope to reach one hundred valid pony codes by the end of the year.

By the way, I released the full content of my Pony Vault onto my Epics of Oregon post. It's got all the pony codes I currently possess now, in alphabetical order.

I will have had. But before I start: did I? ... I get the feeling that if a Backtrack/Tennessee Sibyl meeting actually became canon, it would be the strangest conversation in the RP.