MacThorstenson

Hey y'all, its me again. Mac. I'm back. Thats me.

The mod team has been working hard behind the scenes to come up with some ideas to improve the RP, and so we have a lot of announcements to make today, so I'm probably gonna keep about one announcement per post so that it will be easier to reference each individual announcement. 

The first and most important is that @ZincAboutIt is now a subforum mod. It's taken me longer to draft this announcement then it has any of the others, because Zinc is so fricking awesome and I'm trying to portray that in some capacity without being snarky. Genuinely she's one of the best writers I know, she's been a longstanding member of the community and has honestly carried things during this last bout of inactivity. Seriously happy to be working with her.

On 9/23/2022 at 1:07 AM, Chaoslink said:

What in Damnation is this guy?, Amethyst thought. But then, who am I to judge over mental illnesses.  The man asked him: “So what makes you think you're qualified for this position? Also how did you hear about us I thought we were covert?" 
“So, for the first question, I am an assassin. That is something you can always use. But I am not only an assassin, but also a melee weapon expert. And also, I have some strengths that I will tell you, when you take me into the Guild. As to the second one, seems like it’s useful to kill some citizens.”

@MacThorstenson

As the sounds of the city disappeared, the walls of the alleys stretched up toward the ever present void. Ives turned his attention away from the sweet smells of bakeries and blood, refocusing on his new friend. 

“So, for the first question, I am an assassin. That is something you can always use. But I am not only an assassin, but also a melee weapon expert. And also, I have some strengths that I will tell you, when you take me into the Guild. As to the second one, seems like it’s useful to kill some citizens.” The self proclaimed assassin said.

"An assassin? Why would we need to kill people and let their beautiful spirits fade off into the beyond? No no no NO NO," he cried "we need their souls in spikes you two eyed imbecile!"  He paused briefly, then spun around with narrow eyes, "But you can use a sword right?" Continuing slowly, he reasoned "A sword is like a spike, and spiking is good. Seems good to me." With that he resumed his fast pace, sparing only the barest of glances to ensure that his new friend knew which way to follow him.

"As for being inside the guild, well, where do you think we are?"  He glanced over his shoulder, gesturing down the infinite expanse of cinderblocks and downspouts that made up this particular alley. Their endless repetition broken up only by the occasional door or T-junction.

He led the way to one of the few doors that lined the empty alley, and opened it, revealing a bloodied room with an operating table in the center. Stepping over a corpse, Ives grabbed an instructional book off of the wall. It seemed to be missing several pages, but there were enough of them that he was reasonably sure he could place the loyalty spikes in. 

"When you're ready, step inside and I'll give you the loyalty spikes, then I'll run you over to acquisitions where they can give you paperwork and alley travel trainings, unless you have more questions that is."

On 9/18/2022 at 11:02 AM, Chaoslink said:

Someone opened the door. The… man? thing? Amethyst didn’t know. He (or maybe it?) asked him:  "Are you uh, the one who knocked on the door thingy there?" Amethyst answered: „Yes, that was me. I want to join the Dark Alley. We will both benefit from it.“

@MacThorstenson

„Yes, that was me. I want to join the Dark Alley. We will both benefit from it.“

"Heh"  Ives muttered, the Dark Alleys would benefit from him joining? That was, in fact, a bold claim. "Well then, I suppose they would want me to do some form of job interview." Thinking back to his own hiring he remembered something about it not being outside and something or other with spikes? Ehh the specifics probably weren't important. "Come inside I suppose," He said over his shoulder as he made his way to the shadowy alley next to the bakery, as opposed to the front door. "Don't lag too far behind. Don't worry about where we are going. Don't make eye contact with things in here, and don't eat the cookies until we get you all spiked up. "And as an afterthought, he added "Also probably don't look up. Like eyes level with the horizon or down toward the ground."

With that, he disappeared into the darkness, while shouting "So what makes you think you're qualified for this position? Also how did you hear about us I thought we were covert?" over his shoulder.

Ives was resting in a building deep in the alleys, paused from his daily hunt, when suddenly a door that wasn't quite there before rattled with several knocks. Mysteries, bysteries, lysteries, lysterine. Listerine, that would be nice. I could use some Listerine, he half mumbled half thought to himself. Carefully he moved to the new door, grabbing his serrated cleaver he had been using earlier, the only sound he made was a brief grunt as the spikes that lined the inside of his grinning metal mask slid into his face, securing it. Yeah, I could use some Listerine. Wait, no I couldn't. Listerine blistering. I'm allergic to it. No Listerine for me unless I stop listening to me.

There were no windows or glass on his side of the building, and he had no way to know where this door went to. Eyes, no matter how many of them you had, routinely had difficulty seeing through doors. He stood behind the door and after a deep breath, he opened it a crack. On the other side there simply was a person, and the sun. Now that, that was odd. The sun wasn't usually in the alleys. They kept it in the physical realm for most things after all. Almost unaware of the person, he stepped out of the door, staring at the sky. Yeah, this definitely seems to be the Alleycity. But why would the door, ooh- knocks.

He started half muttering half thinking a rhyming verse as he tried to process the fact that he wasn't in the alleys, and quite suddenly too, Knocks and blocks and blocks and knocks, with no more knocks we see the blocks, with all the blocks we need more knocks so when the knocking starts, the blocking stops. 

Ives turned back toward the person, and with the spoken words feeling almost foreign in his mouth he asked "Are you uh, the one who knocked on the door thingy there?" 

@Chaoslink

7 minutes ago, ZincAboutIt said:

End of Era discussion

Hello again. Double posting because why not, this topic is important and deserves a new post. 

So, it’s been a very sleepy Era and slow going which is just fine, but we should really wrap it up so we can deal with all the wonderful horrible consequences of this plot in a new Era. Woo! Misery, baked goods, lots of tension - I’m excited already.

Large plot elements will need to be wrapped up by myself, the illustrious @Voidus and the formidable @Fatebreaker as far as I can tell. I propose we end this Era and start a new on on or around All Hallows’ Eve aka October 31. That gives us all a month and a half or so to plot, type, and weep collective cathartic tears. However, I’m open to suggestions for other dates. This one just seemed appropriate because I’m a self indulgent dark academia fan.  

Also a plug for our Discord server where you can RP short-form dialogue/interactions as a continuation of a larger long form scene here! And if you want to revel in some language, violence, or other fun activities that aren’t permitted on this forum, feel free! Channels are sorted as such and if you want a role, just ask. We exist to enable you, whatever that looks like: heroism, villainy, or [redacted].  

 

I think this is a great idea, I think putting a hard date on things will probably help things move quicker. That said, its an easy thing for me to say that things should wrap up quick because I don't have any scenes on going. Personally, I don't want to be insensitive toward those who both have busier lives then me and have been carrying the era on their backs, that said, an ending date would likely help I think?

On 9/6/2022 at 3:41 PM, Quantus said:

One thing that I suspect would be a lot harder or even impossible is to replace hemalurgy with it entirely, since hemalurgy is also providing a realmic bridge to access the spiritweb that metalminds may not always be able to replicate. 

I would lean toward the flat out impossible side of this one, physically being in contact with blood is important in general for hemalurgy, and then iirc theres a wob about how moving blood is important for hemalurgy.

On 1/30/2019 at 1:06 AM, Ed Venture said:

What is your opinion on the longest thread now that it is the longest thread?

Very happy  and proud that it reached that point and continued to grow.

On 1/30/2019 at 1:06 AM, Ed Venture said:

Which Cosmere character would hate Infinity War the most; who would love it the most?

Silence would probably not like it very much, she strikes me as the kind of person that wouldn't be able to enjoy watching all the films needed to appreciate it.

I think Hoid would appreciate it a lot, he seems to be the kind of person that would appreciate stories of any kind, and he definitely has the time to watch the whole MCU.

On 1/30/2019 at 1:06 AM, Ed Venture said:

Immolate you enemies or freeze them in a time loop?

Freezing in a time loop is less permanent, I don't trust my judgement in deciding who should die and who should live and so giving them a way out when I change my mind in a week and don't hate them anymore is probably a good thing.

On 2/5/2020 at 3:23 PM, AonEne said:

Are you Icelandic? 

If I answered this two and a bit year's a go, I would have said yes. Now I understand how people find that kind of behavior from americans weird, so I will say that my grandfather is icelandic, and leave it at that.

On 2/5/2020 at 3:23 PM, AonEne said:

Why didn't you answer the rest of the questions? 

I needed to think about them for a bit. 

On 2/5/2020 at 3:23 PM, AonEne said:

Where did your username come from? 

Portmanteau of a nickname and a family name.

Ives Melancthon.

6 minutes ago, EmulatonStromenkiin said:

this makes sense, I understand the problems. I would probably tie it to the Forge, If I can get permission. Lots of scrap to eat there. It would not appear anywhere else in the alleyverse unless invited, and only for limited amounts of time. Perhaps is visible to all characters in said area, but will not interact with them without permission? Just mentioned so that they know it is there and can choose beyond that.

That would be great, and you don't need to keep it visible at all times. Just let people rping in the thread know that its a possibility, and to let you know if it would be chill if it showed up. 

Also you could have it move around in the Alley city thread so long as the people are chill with it.

@EmulatonStromenkiin

Sorry for the delay with the response, I just wanted to touch up on what our approval process was for OP characters with the other mods. 

For reference, the AV subforum mods are Sorana, who is occupied with irl stuff right now so don't tag her, I think I am here, who is pretty active, Voidus, who is a general mod as well, Aon Ene, who is also a sight wide mod, and me. Generally me and Voidus are the ones you should tag for character approvals, with Voidus being much better about epic powers. 

First off, I want to say that I love this character idea, it fits really well with the roots of the AV and can act as some good humor in a truely depressing city, that said, there are a couple issues with this specific pitch, mainly related to the idea of consent. 

OP characters are a bit different then normal characters, and we really want them to be tied to and have a role in the plot. Because they are the persons character, they have as much agency and choice as a normal character, and so don't necessarily need permission to show up in a space. Any PC can just go places, they don't need to ask if they want to show up in the hospital and be an antagonist for example. With OP characters this is difficult because they can access many more places, and they don't need to ask permission. Thats why we ask them to be tied to a location and give them an in character reason not to go sweeping across the city changing things. Their characters motivations and actions need to be really well defined so that other people can plan around them.

With the Quark this is a bit problematic, as it can get anywhere and appear/escape without consequence, which could wreck havoc on the story telling in a scene without any say from the people in the scene. I would be worried about a touching scene between laurelai and lita being disrupted by the quark showing up in the background. In the past we have had issues of people showing up and doing things with their OP characters that wrecked settings and stories people wanted to tell.

With that in mind, I would encourage you to change this to an NPC, with the general idea that you use it in scenes with people who are generally accepting that it can show up, either through pming or other consent. I understand that the spontaneity is part of the humor with this, but its very important to make sure that people who find this funny are the ones who it happens to. 

Another option is specifically binding this to a location, and not giving it free reign. People then can choose to enter that location where it acts as a set piece, and can interact with them. Then it would still be an OP character, and you could still preserve the spontaneity of Quark as it wouldn't be a guaranteed interaction, and could happen randomly. If you end up going with this option, you would need to figure out a thread or group of threads where it can appear, and detail when and where that would happen. Also the second step for an OP character approval is it goes for a community vote, so it would also need to pass that.

For reference, the DA does a combination of these things with our absurdist worldbuilding. We keep it contained to the DA thread, and only have people who we know are chill with it interact with it in certain scenes. That way it doesn't impact larger story telling arcs and emotional moments. If you wanted to do this, and combine the two options with the Quarkbeast staying in a specific thread and only appearing to people who are generally ok with it, it wouldn't need to go to community approval. 

4 hours ago, mathiau said:

Really? I had understood you could not burn a metalmind for the normal effect because the reason Compounding works is that you're asking Preservation to send power to fuel Allomancy but the power find an abnormal key so you get an abnormal power, and you can't stop the metalmind from being an abnormal key (unless it's your metalmind)

In era one mistborn vin tried to burn sazed's metalmind and iirc she gets the normal effect, because she mentions another well of power that was inaccessible besides the normal one for the metal. 

On 3/27/2022 at 5:13 PM, HippoPhileus said:

Sitting, Ari began, "My name is Ari Peras and I'm from Threnody. I've been traveling the Alleyverse for some time now, about 17 years. I study investiture, but I'm here for work, a change of scenery, and to consult other researchers. Sao is my... Sao? Where is he? If he gets into any more trouble I'll-"

Ari was cut off by a seon whizzing into the room.

"Ari! Ari! You'll never guess what I've found! You know the other day when we were discussing static and kinetic investiture? Well I've just found a man who has this very interesting theory. He says that-" the seon paused, taking notice of Daelith for the first time, "Hello! My name is Sao! What's yours?"

Daelith studied the seon. At it's center he could see the aon, a complex design of crisscrossing arcs.

@MacThorstenson

Daelith glanced the seon, at the center there was glowing version of the Aon Sao. 

"Well met Sao," He said with a little bow, "My name is Mr. Daelith, proprietor of this fine establishment," 

Turning back to Ari with a stack of papers in hand, "Well, being an investiture researcher I might suggest you check out the Scholars guild, they are the most reputable collection of scholars currently active. They can always use some help, but you showed up at a good time. The alleyverse has been going through an unprecedented era of peace these last several years, and so scholarship is progressing at a fascinating rate. 

With regards to our business, here is the lease. Its fairly standard, it offers a delayed payment for the first month, as well as a reduced rate until you can get on your feet, as well as information about renters insurance that you may need to know. If you would like I can wait here while you take a look at it and get it all filed right now, or you can take a while to read it. If/when you decide to sign, just leave it on this desk and your room will be ready by tonight."

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My gosh I am so sorry about forgetting this, this ones completely on my dude.

6 minutes ago, Ashbringer said:

So one got labeled "that other one" and one just got left out completely? 

perhaps

13 minutes ago, Fatebreaker said:

Hurtful, but accurate.

Ok not trying to be rude but I thought he was referring to sudiov, not the stranger. 

3 minutes ago, Voidus said:

Character arcs like that are much more interesting to read and much more likely to invite other characters to interact with you than just running through the city stabbing things with Shardblades or hurling coins. The AV does have its roots in a very absurdist power-fantasy space but that was with vastly different structure and pacing, the only way we managed to transition into a full collaborative RP like this was that we by and large left those elements behind. And I think the RP is much better off for it, because as entertaining as penguin's building a death star is, if it happens every 5 minutes it loses its charm and it also makes telling any kind of serious story very difficult.

I echo this, as someone who genuinely loved the absurdist power fantasy that started this thing, I'm really happy to see the direction its taken in the last couple of years. In the same way that eating a carton of icecream is delicious, writing the absurd power fantasy was fun, but both left me feeling kinda dull afterwards. Taking the time to try and write a character that goes through progression is much more rewarding, interesting, and engaging. It makes you feel like you accomplished something, and told a story worth telling. It's more difficult then simply saying your character gained another worldbreaking power, but when I was able to briefly pull it off I could look back and be proud of my work.

Occasionally I'll be up late and wonder if things should have stayed absurdly weird, but when it comes down to it the only reason I would check the shard in the early days was because of the friends I made, not because of any compelling RP. Now I check the shard because my friends are still here, but also because the RP is actually good. It tells stories with stakes and tension, and it pushes me to be a better writer and storyeteller.

On 11/25/2018 at 6:55 PM, Voidus said:

Jeffrey marched along the halls, a pile of Koloss head in one hand, some silvery tinsel in the other, and a ladder in the other other. He hung the tinsel up, using a touch of Adhesion to ensure it stayed there if any of the experiments escaped and tried to tear it off, then balanced a Koloss head in the middle where the tinsel bowed, adhering it in the same way.

He'd never been entirely sure why festive decorations fell upon the decontamination department and not the department of festivity, but the organization of departments in the DA had never made a whole lot of sense.

Johnson stood with a look of defeat on his face, as he stared down the seemingly endless hallway covered with tinsel and decaying Koloss head. He had been in charge of cleaning out Jeffery's desk after the poor man had lost it and tried to decontaminate a black hole. In the midst of cleaning out the various papers and calendars, he found an old to do list. On top of which lay the task of pulling down the holiday decorations from years gone by.

He grimaced. It was forgotten hallways like this that made decontamination in charge of decorations. He carried is bucket of bleach, aluminum powder, and garbage bags to the left side and started the cleaning.

2 minutes ago, HippoPhileus said:

"Thank you for the suggestions, I'll look into them," Ari said as he followed Daelith through the doors.

After winding his way through a dining area, he entered an a non-descript office. There were filing cabinets on either side and a large wooden desk in the middle. He motioned for his guest to take a seat, "While I gather all the paperwork, why don't you tell me about yourself. Whats your name, where are you from, why you made your way over to the Alleycity, that sort of stuff."

3 hours ago, HippoPhileus said:

Ari stepped through the door. "Thank, Mr. Daelith." he said, "I'm looking for room and board, but I'm short on currency. You seem like a well-informed fellow, how could I earn my keep or do you know of any jobs in the area that pay well?"

@MacThorstenson 

Quote

Currency is called crysts. They are just inexpensive Crystal coins.

"Hmm," He started, eyeing up his visitor, "A lack of funds shouldn't be an issue, we offer discounted rates until people are able to find employment or get on their feet again. But in terms of what you could do to get there, I might not be as much help. We can always use help around here, our cleaning staff in particular is one man down. Besides that, I know the major guilds are always hiring. TUBA, the Ghostbloods, the Liebrary, the scholars guild, and the Canton of Combat come to mind. Those are probably the best options. Besides that, I suppose working the streets and following after help wanted signs is probably your next best bet."

He paused, then gestured through a set of double doors at the back of the room, "If you'll follow me back to my office, we can sort out room and board." He started making his way toward the back of the room.

16 minutes ago, EmulatonStromenkiin said:

that makes sense, sorry. I just like the nonsense, though it sounds like a smedry talent. keep coming into mental blocks for weaknesses, though. can't think of ones, so any ideas welcome.

Hmmm. Personally what helps me develop weaknesses is fleshing out my characters backstory. Just like you as a normal person aren't willing to do everything and anything, you character will have similar kinds of reservations. What stuff are they unwilling to do, why? One weakness I liked on your previous list was the one about truthfulness. It reminded me of fey, where they can't tell falsehoods, but try to dance around the truth anyway they can. I would explore that and try to figure out why the character would be like that, and how that mindset would spread out to other things.

Basically, what kind of fears and weaknesses/character flaws would result from a person who went through your characters life. For example, my character Ronald is an accountant/white collar worker. Yet he has very little respect for the law and the powers that be. These two things lead him to be a very conniving person, yet still a coward. He doesn't like to get his hands dirty, and doesn't like confrontation. In addition to being a coward, he tends to think others are beneath him, and is generally a  pretty snooty, abrasive person. 

For Balance, it seems that they blame themselves for their family's death, and so they stay distant, and try to forget them. You could play around with a lot of them needing to distance yourselves from people. One note I have is that epic weaknesses are tied to fear, so perhaps their epic weakness could be tied to a fear of losing what they have, and how this fear leads them to push people and other things away. This one base fear could lead out to a number of different behaviors that act as weaknesses/character flaws.

EDIT:

One note is that the more you describe the affects certain weaknesses have on characters, the easier they are to grade. So keep that in mind as you come up with weaknesses.

A well appointed man answered the door of the towering brownstone. "Please come in," he started, "My name is Mr. Daelith, current Manager of the boarding house, how can I help you today?" He stepped aside revealing a spacious sitting area with a hearth and bar. No one else was present in the front room, save a barkeep polishing glasses.

@HippoPhileus

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Will do, but nothing to worry about you are doing fine. 

5 minutes ago, HippoPhileus said:

Thanks!

What would the points be for a seon? That is the main thing I need to figure out.

Not much, maybe 5 or 10 points at max. All they can do is be used for communication and knowledge right? 

When you make your character sheet, indicate what you plan on having the seon do. If its just a side character to provide some conversation, probably won't be anything. If you plan on it being a vast source of otherwise difficult to obtain knowledge, maybe a little bit. If you want it acting as a spy, maybe a bit more. Likely however, it won't break the character.

1 hour ago, HippoPhileus said:

I'm interested in trying out the Alleyverse, but I have a question: could I have a seon bond as part of my character? I didn't see it listed in the magical abilities section of the Alleyverse Characters topic.

Yeah thats totally chill

Just putting this here so that more people see it, the thread was lost somewhere in the backlog of the forum. 

Just to reiterate: This still applies. Please avoid giving out cookies.

Just now, Ashbringer said:

So TL;DR, The 17th Shard is full of more than just a vaguely bloodthirsty baking association, and should thus not come across as such to newcomers?

Looks at very Sanderson Elimination focused Sig

Yes. The DA did it for years, but then it became an issue as the AV picked up speed with intro threads becoming about cookies and not new members. 

We were firmly told to stop by the admins in no uncertain terms.

13 minutes ago, Thaidakar the Ghostblood said:

would that alley be able to make a bond/contract with someone per se? what if there was a certain character who had a certain new guild. what if that made that guild significantly powerful and be able to get stuff from the DA and stuff.

The alleys aren't something that you can bond with.

On an out of character note, I would really prefer it if we didn't have yet another plot where challenging the DA is the expected outcome. Last time we did that it was Era 3 and that era nearly drove me insane.

7 minutes ago, 18th Shard said:

That kind of influence comes from a lot of people in the RP agreeing and making characters who join the guild.

This. Guild power doesn't come from simply saying you have it, it comes from being an active member of the community, RPing for a fair bit, building relationships with members, and sticking around for a while.