11-03-2003, 06:56 PM
(This post was last modified: 11-05-2003, 08:05 PM by Rhydderch Hael.)
Well, I make the mistake of bringing focus to it here, but in the story, it isn't all that much a matter. Just one more thread into the fabric of what I attempt to make as a more plausible, more "real" world of Sanctuary within the fanfic.
The Zakarum also eschew swords and bladed weapons, deeming them to be the implements of 'barbarians' (also making note of fact that the plate armours worn by the Zakarum make such weapons more ineffective, too). The mace and the hammer are the preferred weapons of choice for the shield-bearing Paladins and the pole-hefting Sentinels, two of the three warrior classes within the empire. The third, the Rangers, are the artillerists, the least-stringent, least loyal, and the class most prone to going renegade. They also happen to choose the 'barbaric' weapons (swords) as their sidearms.
As mentioned before, the Paladins of the Zakarum in my version do not have any magical powers, either. Magic in any form is forbidden-- they use technology instead. Steel of the best craft, armour of the best strength, clockworks and torsion springs and mechanically complex repeating mechanisms for their crossbows. More demanding for attention in maintenance and care during use, yes, but needing no mana or ritual requirements as magic user do...
...not very accurate in terms of gameplay, yes. But a bit more "real world".
The armies in which the Amazons fight, for another example, are not exclusive female. In fact, most of the people who fight in the armies of the Three Islands are male. There is a class of battle sorceress within these armies, however, who ply magical and elemental attacks in support of the armies. These sorceresses are trained in the art of energizing physical avatars of wood with their magic, conveying their destructive effects through these wooden projectiles. To make best use of these magical skills, these sorceresses cast their spells through the use of arrows or javelins, and distinguish themselves by the name of Amazon. The Paladins of the Zakarum deride these women with the nickname of "Wood Witches".
It is the witches of the Zann Esau coven, of course, who are masters of elemental magic ex nihilo (as described in the manual) who need no avatar to convey their magics. They can cast their spells seemingly out of thin air. One spell, however, needs an object: you won't see the sorceress in this tale spamming Meteor strikes as fast as she can. Such a spell is a one-shot oppurtunity that can only occur if the girl can sense the close presence of a "sky rock" travelling in the heavens above. If there is none, she can do nothing. If there is one, she only has that one chance to use itâ and quickly done, lest the rock draws too far away to heed her call.
Within the altered state of my fanfic Sanctuary, the Amazon's rivals are that of the Rangers of the Zakarum, the crossbow-wielding "Paladins" who act as the frontier and border guard for the Empire. The Rangers make use of elemental effect with their crossbow bolts, too. But they do so through the use of alchemy. Now, since even the best alchemical formulae canot relpicate cold or lightning, the Rangers cannot use so elements. But they do have incediary, explosive, and poisonous formulae to work with. Hence, the Rangers shoot fire and poison-based attacks, and to keep things disparate between them and the Amzaons, I've written in the ground rule that the Amazons' only magical attacks come in the form of ice and lightning-- no Immolation Arrows or Plague Javelins for my version of the Amazons.
The Necromancers, while can revive almost any creature to their cause as the demostration of their best skill, usually are content to raise and animate the skeletons-- a skill that takes much less effort to summon and control. But in order to raise a skeleton, the necromancer can only use the physical avatars most befitting to the spirits he consorts with-- not any ol' set of bones will do. Only the skeleton of a human, or an intelligent humanoid creature such as a Saber Cat, can be used, since it is only those bones that were once wrapped and clothed in the flesh of a sentient being-- a being with a soul. Those bones, having been bathed in the aura of a sentient soul during the life of their previous owner, retain a spiritual resonance that the Necromancer can later manipulate and exploit. Hence, another ground rule: the Necros in my story can only raise skeletons from human graves, the quality of the warrior summoned directly tied to subtle factors in the skeleton's origins (he'd much prefer exploit the grave of a warrior or king rather than a beggar).
Human souls have one other use. Inspired by the storyline description of a Necro's Corpse Explosion, one must have the understanding that teh anguish of a soul's tormented death is a short, violent burst of spiritual energy. The Three, with the puppetry of the High Council in Travincal, made use of this by taking its small yet wholly corrupted Tranvincal Guard to the task of capturing large portions of Kurast's population and putting them to the knife in the Dark Tower (which, for some odd reason, goes down into the earth in the game). That is the reason for the hecatomb of Kurast. Every bone of every person executed by the corrupted portion of the Church is a soul trapped by the powers of The Three, to be burned and consumed when the time came for The Three to reunite and open the Infernal Gate. That gate doesn't exactly run on a pair of AA NiMH abtteries, you know. The combined energy of every tormented soul from Kurats killed is used to power open the gate and break through the mortal plane into Hell.
The Zakarum also eschew swords and bladed weapons, deeming them to be the implements of 'barbarians' (also making note of fact that the plate armours worn by the Zakarum make such weapons more ineffective, too). The mace and the hammer are the preferred weapons of choice for the shield-bearing Paladins and the pole-hefting Sentinels, two of the three warrior classes within the empire. The third, the Rangers, are the artillerists, the least-stringent, least loyal, and the class most prone to going renegade. They also happen to choose the 'barbaric' weapons (swords) as their sidearms.
As mentioned before, the Paladins of the Zakarum in my version do not have any magical powers, either. Magic in any form is forbidden-- they use technology instead. Steel of the best craft, armour of the best strength, clockworks and torsion springs and mechanically complex repeating mechanisms for their crossbows. More demanding for attention in maintenance and care during use, yes, but needing no mana or ritual requirements as magic user do...
...not very accurate in terms of gameplay, yes. But a bit more "real world".
The armies in which the Amazons fight, for another example, are not exclusive female. In fact, most of the people who fight in the armies of the Three Islands are male. There is a class of battle sorceress within these armies, however, who ply magical and elemental attacks in support of the armies. These sorceresses are trained in the art of energizing physical avatars of wood with their magic, conveying their destructive effects through these wooden projectiles. To make best use of these magical skills, these sorceresses cast their spells through the use of arrows or javelins, and distinguish themselves by the name of Amazon. The Paladins of the Zakarum deride these women with the nickname of "Wood Witches".
It is the witches of the Zann Esau coven, of course, who are masters of elemental magic ex nihilo (as described in the manual) who need no avatar to convey their magics. They can cast their spells seemingly out of thin air. One spell, however, needs an object: you won't see the sorceress in this tale spamming Meteor strikes as fast as she can. Such a spell is a one-shot oppurtunity that can only occur if the girl can sense the close presence of a "sky rock" travelling in the heavens above. If there is none, she can do nothing. If there is one, she only has that one chance to use itâ and quickly done, lest the rock draws too far away to heed her call.
Within the altered state of my fanfic Sanctuary, the Amazon's rivals are that of the Rangers of the Zakarum, the crossbow-wielding "Paladins" who act as the frontier and border guard for the Empire. The Rangers make use of elemental effect with their crossbow bolts, too. But they do so through the use of alchemy. Now, since even the best alchemical formulae canot relpicate cold or lightning, the Rangers cannot use so elements. But they do have incediary, explosive, and poisonous formulae to work with. Hence, the Rangers shoot fire and poison-based attacks, and to keep things disparate between them and the Amzaons, I've written in the ground rule that the Amazons' only magical attacks come in the form of ice and lightning-- no Immolation Arrows or Plague Javelins for my version of the Amazons.
The Necromancers, while can revive almost any creature to their cause as the demostration of their best skill, usually are content to raise and animate the skeletons-- a skill that takes much less effort to summon and control. But in order to raise a skeleton, the necromancer can only use the physical avatars most befitting to the spirits he consorts with-- not any ol' set of bones will do. Only the skeleton of a human, or an intelligent humanoid creature such as a Saber Cat, can be used, since it is only those bones that were once wrapped and clothed in the flesh of a sentient being-- a being with a soul. Those bones, having been bathed in the aura of a sentient soul during the life of their previous owner, retain a spiritual resonance that the Necromancer can later manipulate and exploit. Hence, another ground rule: the Necros in my story can only raise skeletons from human graves, the quality of the warrior summoned directly tied to subtle factors in the skeleton's origins (he'd much prefer exploit the grave of a warrior or king rather than a beggar).
Human souls have one other use. Inspired by the storyline description of a Necro's Corpse Explosion, one must have the understanding that teh anguish of a soul's tormented death is a short, violent burst of spiritual energy. The Three, with the puppetry of the High Council in Travincal, made use of this by taking its small yet wholly corrupted Tranvincal Guard to the task of capturing large portions of Kurast's population and putting them to the knife in the Dark Tower (which, for some odd reason, goes down into the earth in the game). That is the reason for the hecatomb of Kurast. Every bone of every person executed by the corrupted portion of the Church is a soul trapped by the powers of The Three, to be burned and consumed when the time came for The Three to reunite and open the Infernal Gate. That gate doesn't exactly run on a pair of AA NiMH abtteries, you know. The combined energy of every tormented soul from Kurats killed is used to power open the gate and break through the mortal plane into Hell.
Political Correctness is the idea that you can foster tolerance in a diverse world through the intolerance of anything that strays from a clinical standard.