Messages

Because it's apparently okay to randomly retire your PC for no reason, I'll be leaving now. I won't be coming back.

Welcome.

Yes, we of the Old World are getting brain damage over here.

Having overcome all of my foes, I return triumphant.

Furthermore, I will be much more available now, at more flexible hours. Feel free to PM me if you want to schedule any particular RP.

Ruthless Paladins are the best kind. I salute Sir James.

... The DM Q&A forum actually doesn't always work so efficiently.

I wholeheartedly agree with Wrex's idea.

I'm going on a journey INTO SPACE for a week.

When I get back I will be much more available.

This poll is creepy and I wish I'd never seen it.

Hi.

[Join the Society of the Shining Hammer - the PC faction singled out by Howland for praise!]

Join the Society of the Shining Hammer - the PC faction singled out by Howland for praise!

[INDENT]"I'd like to promote The [Society] of the Shining Hammer as an example of a  good pc-initiative that successfully incorporates fresh, non-bland  points of conflict." - Howland

[/INDENT]

The SSH is not ephemeral or ad-hoc - it is here on EfU to stay, and to play a major role in the server story, and in the lives of the PCs who join it.

In the vein of historical equivalents, the Society is esoteric, and cannot be immediately understood from the outside. For true comphrension, it is necessary to delve deeper into its secrets. The Society has a very extensive cosmology and worldview, but one that is also subject to change and development by its members.

However, it is entirely up to PCs how far they want to go - and the faction is also designed to be accessible and enjoyable on the surface, as soon as is joined.

This faction is RP heavy, conflict heavy and intrigue heavy. One of its primary foci is to gather lore and unravel the central mysteries of Ymph.

All manner of PCs and alignments are welcome. The most probable IC way to become aware of the SSH is to encounter one of its public members in Mistlocke, or by coming across their writings in the library.

The publications of the Society are important to understanding the faction, so here is a brief selection of samples:

Introduction  
The Confession

Beliefs  
The Gignesthai

Esoterica  
The Chymical Wedding

Ethics  
On Violence

H'Bala
Eopitlyic Salvation

Druidism  
Adversus Druidae

And so on.

In conclusion: GIANT ROBOTS.

He will be avenged.

The Butcher, the Baker,
the Candle-Stick Maker




R. T. R. D.

Let us possess one world, each hath one, and is one.

[FONT="]Eleven  years after the disappearance of the Princess, the three masters,  having stayed within the walls of the temple and listened to the divine  music of the spheres, at last grew restless.

[/SIZE] [/FONT] [FONT="]Though  they had studied, written, listened, seen, thought and felt, they were  tired of being in the same place; and so they decided to go outside.

[/SIZE] [/FONT] [FONT="]Little had changed in the world, but a small and humble settlement had sprung up around the temple.

[/SIZE] [/FONT] [FONT="]At  first the masters tried share all their wisdom with the inhabitants of  the settlement; but the latter had no time to listen, being too busy  with their everyday lives.

[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT="]Seeing  this, the masters were distraught; but as they watched the villagers go  about their business, they became nostalgic for the simple and carefree  lives they had led before the destruction of Jhaamdath.

Seeing no recourse, they decided to revert to the  old professions they had carried before they became students of  Pansophia; Sanitas, a butcher, Nix, a baker, and Hasta, a candle-stick  maker.

[/SIZE] [/FONT] [FONT="]Thus  taking up their tradesmen's tools once more, they joined the  settlement, becoming in all respects like those who had lived their for  their entire lives.


[/SIZE][/FONT]

Α ∴ Ω

The BUTCHER recieved what the hunters had retrieved from the bountiful  forests, taking the matter of chthonic, xenian life and reforming it  into sustenance for the denizens. Thus the mindless was minded. And the  villagers hailed the Butcher, who transmutes the xenian.

The BAKER recieved what the farmers had retrieved from the bountiful  earth, taking the matter of chthonic, inanimate substance and reforming  it into nourishment for the denizens. Thus the mindless was minded. And  the villagers hailed the Baker, who transmutes the world.

The CANDLE-STICK MAKER recieved what the other two could not use, and  these products of reason he refined and made into illumination for the  denizens. Thus the mindless was minded. And the villagers hailed the  Candle-Stick Maker, who transmutes the darkness.

۝

For nine years, the three masters laboured in the village. With their  assistance, and with sustenance, nourishment and illumination, the  denizens prospered, and little by little, the settlement grew; each year  it became bigger and more advanced.

Because  some of their burden had been relieved, more of the denizens were now  able to devote their time to study; some of them became learned men and  scholars, and some even Men of God, so that great edifices and powerful  engines arose; finally, the settlement had become a mighty Mechanical  City.

The sight of giant man-like machines walking the streets became  commonplace. The meaning of crime and strife were forgotten. Peoples of  all kinds and all races flocked to the City and were welcomed, all  finding a place within its walls to serve its developing civilization  best.

The Mechanical City had itself become like a perfect and regular  machine, and in this regard, it could almost compare itself to the  cities of Jhaam's Paradise of yore, a distant reflection of the Wondrous  Machine itself.

And one day, when the three masters were engaged in discourse in the  central square, they suddenly became aware of a wondrous melody. They  recognized it immediately as the music of Heaven. And the masters looked  around, and when they saw all that the citizens' labour and industry  had wrought, they knew their work was done; and, though it was  difficult, they said farewell to their friends and fellow citizens, and  left the Mechanical City, to go in search of other lands, where God was  still unknown.

For the Society,

Master Rufus T. R. Descreza, Engineer
Artificer of the Shining Hammer Society

[SONGS OF THE HAMMER UPON THE FORGE]

SONGS OF THE HAMMER UPON THE FORGE
___________________________________________

Fire - fire - fire - dust:
Ash and sand and blood and lust;
God will smile, and Mankind learn -
Stars shall fall, and Faerûn burn.

Wherefore criest thou, Patron Saint?
Know ye not of Red Eleint?
Hast thou not thy sword in hand?
Seest thou not the levin-brand?

Furrows from the trusty plough,
Morrow yields for ageless Now,
Craters mark the sacred earth;
Holy flames in Godsteel hearth.

On the final day, reveal,
Whilst the Wondrous Clock doth peal,
Sun-Souled Mistress, thy true face -
Cosmos, Logos, Fiat, Grace.

[SONGS OF THE HAMMER UPON THE FORGE]

SONGS OF THE HAMMER UPON THE FORGE
___________________________________________

Transmute, transmute! Embrace the lyghtning bolt!
And writhe and twist, ye Flames of Red Creation!
Against the King of Fear bring thy Revolt;
Transcendent, everlasting Revolution!

Sprout now thy Wings and leave the Maze,
Into the Sun now turn thy Gaze,
And Blindness, Madness, Death defy,
And claw thy Way through veilèd Sky,

And strike
one-two, one-two upon the Gate
That serv'd
To Jail us all in Cells of Hate
Till burst
The mighty Walls, and Joy shall flow
Into
Both Realms, for as Above, Below.

[good]

I don't think every character, or even a majority of characters, should  necessarily have strong opinions about people from Chult, or Calimshan,  or Thay, or Cormyr, or whatever. But it's fine and even good if they do.
 
 But I do think it is important that a majority of characters have some kind of strong feelings and assumptions about other races (i.e. elves, dwarves, etc.).
 
 Maybe elves are wondrous creatures to be revered and admired, or maybe they're a dangerous threat.
 
 Maybe you respect halflings for their orderly and good-natured  societies, or maybe you've met too many pesky lightfoot  adventurer-thieves and distrust all of them.
 
 And so on.
 
 Maybe even you're playing a high-wisdom PC with a lot of experience  meeting different races and inclined to judge individuals as  individuals, but if so this should be a part of your concept and be  somewhat rare.