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Oh so many excellent questions…
I need to think about them.
Originally, it was, in my mind, simply that demons could speak every language and they did not translate it for everyone, but then in Mount Doom and….
I would assume that most demons, or at least higher up ones could turn it on and off.
That cluing in about a demon nearby is a big thing. Did not even think of that! Ack. Well it could be rather humerous. I really don’t think it would ever happen enough for most people to notice because very few people have regular conversations with demons. However, if there were wizards in a summoning together that had different native tongues…it would come up.
To be honest, I hate such gimicks, from the TARDIS to Star Treks always there translators that magically function even when Kirk is stripped down bare and brawling with an alien.
However, it is useful…
Yes, that all makes a lot of sense.
However, the first time he starts trying it, the musical number, he’s stoned out of his gourd. So logic had very little to do with it.
But I think for his subsequent I will take your advice and get Antefalken involved. And I suspect Antefalken will give him the same advice you mentioned.
Great idea!
Ok,
So this weekend has been a huge bust for writing.
I have/had this big website/production server migration thing and while we had new servers “ready to go” and old servers “ready to wind down”
The final data transfers, upgrades, fixes and testing ate up most of my time these last 3 days….like 6+ hours per day. It was a migration of 5 old servers to 4 new servers with about 70 websites/databases and 50 ftp sites, plus several dozen other data pipes to third parties. Tomorrow I’m going to be in “emergency crash mode” as business users start trying to use the new system and things, of course, will not work perfectly.
I’m chugging forward this evening with the book, but the next alpha probably won’t be until at least Thursday, maybe Friday. Hoping to get the last 20% in and done so I can go back and make the changes you guys are suggesting.
T-A-G
Hmm…thinking on this.
The reason it is the most mana intensive so to speak is two fold
1) It uses up a TON of protective magic to keep the huge island safe
2) Regular attacks and battles with Unlife ensure there are lots of emotions/life/unlife and death. To be honest slaughtering unlife releases a lot of mana that can be collected. Battles particularly when there are wizards (liches) involve both create and release a ton of mana. This is, for example, while sites of great battles are often haunted.In short, it’s about the most active battlefield around. It’s great for generating mana. Tons of animus interacting with lightning bolts, fireballs, acid rain, a few earthquake spells, etc.
So it is both the most needy and the most productive.
So, yes, in many ways you have a good point, but on the other hand, there are lots of orcs, and almost everyone feels they are a combatant, so trying to protect them, is going to really tick them off.
But, I do think this is something that Tom would have thought about doing and someone would have asked if he really thought putting people, most of whom are orcs, who had lived in a warzone their entire life, battling for their lives into “protective custody at Mount Doom” was going to be an easy task.
Hmm
Interesting points, let’s discuss to make it better.
My original thoughts in this.
1) He is grasping at straws.
2) He’s read a lot of mind invasion/possession science fiction
3) He’s looking for an explanation as to where these memories are coming from.
4) He “knows” he is not Orcus. He “knows” he’s a normal kid from New Jersey.
5) Orcus was slain permanently, his animus completely eaten by the blackness in the dagger. Everyone assures him nothing was left.
6) So even if he was wrong about being Orcus reborn, what was left to be reborn? Why did it take 4000 years?
7) Everyone has gotten crazy ideas about what he’s up to, he feels like he is faking it, “knows” he is, so the D’Orcs must also be wrong.
8) So where are these memories coming from? Why does he look like Orcus?
9) Finally, the thought of he, himself being an “actual” historical mythological being, a demon from the Monster Manual is just too freaky/scary to contemplate, there has to be some other explanation and mental invasion/possession seems to be the easiest answer. “Someone/Thing” is trying to “make him Orcus” etc.Now, thinking on this/writing it out. It’s not clear that he is fully expressing all of this in the alpha version. Would more illumination on this chain help?
Or is there some other thoughts/logic you have? Are there some better/more logical possibilities that you think he could come up with?
Also: “How much do people enjoy following Tom’s thought processes/mental gymnastics?” Are these (when done correctly) helpful/enjoyable?
No, my custom web version is more collaborative.
Multiple users, multiple comments, and I can see/apply changes by users or sets of users to see how they compare/contrast.
I haven’t used google docs in some time….how are they for collaborative editing? Version Control?
Also, the other part is my story editor will actually treat scenes as independent mini-documents that can be grouped into chapters/rearranged.
So I can create different versions including/excluding sections or rearranged. When I compile a version, my “web editor” will be able to read a version dynamically and let people comment/edit/work on each section.
I.e. total crazy control of features on my part. Of course, it’s exactly those crazy features that ensure I never actually finish any of my “dream programs”
I’m good at controlling scope creep in other developers working for me, or scope creep in users trying to tell me what to write. But if I am the “End User” and “Developer” I am an absolute nightmare of scope creep. I can tell others no, but I don’t listen to myself, I don’t take no for an answer.
I’m starting to sound like Eliot from Mr Robot…or maybe Tizzy….
I think the answer is found in the fact that you are overestimating how many D’Orcs got made.
Only the best of the best made it. So not every orc that died in battle got D’Orc’d. Generally only the greatest most legendary/fiercest ones made the cut.
As Talarius ponders. D’Orcs are like orc Saints. So on any given world there are not that many. It’s not valhalla, although they probably got the idea from there.
We don’t know (yet) how many D’Orcs there were. You really do not need that many to kick mortal butts, they are almost all higher level demon types. They did not bother with lower level (demon level) D’Orcs. of course, born D’Orcs would be lower level to begin with.
So, yes, they did lose a lot of potential D’Orcs, but given that you generally never need to replace them, you can afford to be choosy as to who you let into the club.
Mount Doom was fully operational for about 50,000 year. At just 2 D’Orcs per year, that’s 100,000 D’Orcs. And the oldest ones? Very old by current demon standards (lots of reasons why/interesting esoterical discussion at some point)
Ramses and Exador are only around 3 to 4 thousand years old (Ramses II the Great, aka Ozymandias, aka “Red Sea ate my army” is about 3,300+ years dead) . Darg Krallnom is over 60,000 years old. He is far more powerful than we are led to believe, so far. Same with Arg-nargoloth.
Other than Shamans, most orcs aren’t interesting in magic, so same for D’Orcs. So a lot of them aren’t spell users/mana users. But after 30,000 to 50,000 you’ve picked up a trick or two and are probably very innately magical (beyond normal demon)
That being said, Orcus needed an army to fight gods and Lilith and Sammael (if need be).
:-”
From what he said, I have the impression they exist in the Abyss and he’s just using them.
The “D” things aren’t unique to Orcus, he’s just the first to really start creating demons out of orcs (that we know of)
For one big thing, very few non-demons have any idea where demons come from. And the exact details of making them may not be well known even to demons.
You mean in the sense that they said no one was coming back?
Gotta be honest, I know longer remember all the exact wording I used there.
Is it still 4? I thought i changed it to 1 kilo.
Kegs is a term that is used in some of the space faring worlds, it’s a shorthand for kilograms in military vernacular. I believe, the difference is the person speaking, the person saying keg is a tech worlder.
BTW Unit translation in “universal” is obviously an iffy thing, what if people have different measurement systems?
That’s one reason I focus on leagues. A league, imprecise as it is, is, for humans of average height, world independent.
It is defined as how far a human can walk at a healthy pace in 1 hour.
Sure, the length of an hour may be different on Astlan and Earth, but then the physical distance will also change accordingly.
This is something of a problem with kilos. Less a problem than pounds. A kilo is a kilo, unlike a pound that varies by gravity, but what’s the likelihood that different worlds define them exactly the same definition of a kilo?
First thing is a randomly weird catalog system that indexes with version control across alternate universes or something. Semi-runic.
Yeah, sounds correct on antipodal etc. Need to think on getting it right, my mind is starting to go numb at this point.
As for Adam and Eve. Remember most of these documents come from a particular interpretation of history/myth and so should not be taken as absolute truth. Or, call them metaphors that simplistically describe very complex things.
But in this theory there was one, which became two which became four, and then more: Adam and Lilith, Sammael and Eve were the first four. Eve convinced Adam to eat from the tree of knowledge, and they were expelled from the garden of Eden and into the Prime Material Plane. They became the first mortal creatures, while Lilith and Sammael stayed in the Garden of Eden as immortals.
The theory, therefor being is that Adam and Eve chose life and death and “reincarnation” whereas Lilith and Sammael chose Immortality (but reality sets in and the Phoenix Cycle still has to kick in, at least for lesser mortals)
As indicated by Tizzy in book 2, the real story of those four people? Not clear to anyone. Other than Adam and Lilith were once together, even as Sammael and Eve. Now some would argue that it was Sammael who tricked Eve (and thus Adam) into choosing to become mortal and experience life and death. But at this point only Sammael knows for certain.
As to how we get to other genders…not quite ready to figure that one out. One myth at a time.
There is a power up sequence, although it can be overridden.
The “Doom System” uses excess mana; if Doom needs mana for other things, it halts the charging.
In principle, it’s completely configurable by the D’Orcs; it’s just that there was a default setting in place.
It’s implied, but not stated that the rest of the localverse Doomalogues will power first, or similar. Not clear from what is written if this was the sequence or if they’ve altered it to take those first because they have people who can investigate before opening.
In point of fact this is what they did and I will probably spell that out better.
Yeah, I thought about this and then sort of said “does not count” The explanation is non-existent. So it should be explained.
D’Wargs don’t speak a language that is translatable. D’Orcs don’t really understand D’Wargs any better than orcs understand wargs (in some universes).
One explanation for wargs, that I’ve seen is that they are either empathetic or telepathic and at least with non-wargs they don’t do two way communication. However, they always seem to know what orcs/humans/others are saying/thinking.
Of course, knowing Schwarzenfurze, she may just not want to be of assistance.
In any event, it needs to be commented on/discussed in the book.
