|
|
Post by boomfrog on Dec 26, 2008 2:41:46 GMT -5
[Originally this thread was out of character but I realized it could be so much more fun in character, so I redid the origonal post. the first four replies were to the out of character thread.]
An ogre enters the meeting hall with a grunt. Boomfrog, riding on its shoulders, gestures towards the center stage. The brute carries him there and sets him down in front of the assembled warlocks. While BoomFrog begins speaking he proffers his palm dismissing it into a puff of dust.
Thank you for coming.
As you all know I am relatively new to the hellplane, or so it seems, but I'll get to that later. I have read many journels of other warlocks experiences here and I have noticed something quite interesting. Although we all agree on the basics different warlocks have reported very different and sometimes contradictory reports of their surrounding. It seems to me that the hellplane distorts reality and we each see events here slightly differently. About the only thing that everyone can agree upon is what happens inside a dueling circle.
I have not seen any food or drink since I arrived here. And yet, I once witnessed Toyotomi drinking sake and vomiting up his last meal. It is impossible for these to both be the case, and yet the evidence is clear.
Furthermore, I just arrived here, and many of you have been battling for eons. But the prophesy clearly details that all warlocks will be drawn here at the same time.
There is only one conclusion. Perceptions affect time and space in this realm. Each person sees a different reality. It is my theory that if we can focus everyone's perceptions to the same reality then we can exert greater control over the environment. If we all believe something exists here it will. You are no doubt already familiar with such concepts being skilled practitioners of the mystical arts. So tell me, what do you see when you look around the hell plane?
Obviously we are all on the "hell-plane" and we are all evil warlocks. New warlocks arrive from time to time, and we all do battle until one top warlock is chosen somehow. However, no one has any idea when one will be chosen and many assume it has either already happened or will never happen.
How long have we been battling? Years? Eons?
What's the hell plane look like? Apparently there is a body of liquid for there to be an isle, is it water? And there are building materials, unless the G.B.A. is built out of goblin bodies.
Are we alone on the hell plane? It mostly seems that, yes we are. No one talks about anything else but us. Are there daemons? Do they try to torture warlocks? Are there other hell-bound souls here?
Is eating and drinking necessary? Are warlocks able to cast other spells then the ones usable inside the ring, like "conjure stone wall"?
Gods I've heard mentioned are Eris, and Citanest. Any others?
Answer these questions, and if we can come to a consensus we will have that much more power over our fates.
|
|
|
|
Post by ExDeath on Dec 26, 2008 5:37:43 GMT -5
Just a thought, do we all have to be evil? I know the term "warlock" implies such, but it doesn't have to be that way. Someone like Dubber, for example, I can't ever really imagine as an evil tormenter of souls. And it's hard to have bad guys if there are no good guys. Wait...Citanest is a god?  |
|
|
|
Post by xade on Dec 26, 2008 6:29:40 GMT -5
The books do say- and I quote
"The good mages, the Wizards, will be drawn into an empty universe, and given free reign to create whatever they wish"
I don't see dubber being in that empty universe. I see dubber as a fraud. Poseing as a good guy until it's time for him to shed his benevolent skin.
After all, the universe casted him into this hell plane with the rest of us.
And of course Citanest is/was a god... haven't you read his profile?
|
|
|
|
Post by xade on Dec 26, 2008 6:39:41 GMT -5
For the record, I generally don't think of the isle as adrift on water persay... Whether the hell plane is flat, and the isle drifts around the edges, or the hellplane is round, and the isle more of a satalite... I'm not too sure...  Anyways, in answer to the rest of the questions (at least my opinions anyways), here they come, in no particular order. - No, we're immortal, we don't have to- but we can; yes- but when we battle, we are restricted to the official spellbook. *casts Erasmases razzle dazzle* - If someone were to worship Talesin, I wouldn't be suprised, apart from that, we're just making it up I think... - Nah, there's an infinte source of Goblins/Ogre/Trolls/Giants out there... I once felt bad when I thought to myself that summoning one might be putting out a daddy ogre while he was reading a bed-time story to his baby ogre, but that thought quickly passed with co-coa; There's probably other stuff, and they're probably evil too- But I try to steer clear from outside the circle, or the Isle. - Eons. I've been playing for 5 eons. (since 2003) - soon to be 6 eons... - Have you ever played Game of god? I always imagine it to look like the wasteland from there... all teeth and dark twisty trees.; answered above; yes, sure is. Rocks and wood and paperweights and co-coa... all sorts of stuff! |
|
|
|
Post by BioLogIn on Dec 26, 2008 6:55:59 GMT -5
The name is "Erasmus", my ignorant Isle friend. And the spell is "Erasmus' razzle dazzle" ))
|
|
|
|
Post by wastelin on Dec 26, 2008 10:43:01 GMT -5
"I am not caught on this 'plane', as you state, boomfrog."
Robed, hooded, the only thing that can really be soon of wastelin is that he's bald and wearing some construct before his eyes. Has anyone ever seen his face?
"This plane is void, an abstraction that I cast my mind into when I need a diversion from my other tasks. To me, you may indeed be sentenced here, but I have a wife, a son, and a life outside - and whether you do or not is no concern to me. Any effort I put into this place is at my discretion."
His voice sounds so sure... perhaps a little too sure. Is he deluding himself? Is the delusion strong enough to be real for him?
|
|
|
|
Post by emrys on Dec 26, 2008 10:44:12 GMT -5
- If someone were to worship Talesin, I wouldn't be suprised, apart from that, we're just making it up I think... I wouldn't worship him, but I was very nearly his apprentice at one point... and then he got better and I got inactive  Eons... I can't remember when I joined anymore, though it was before the Great Database Reset, and I know people older than me here.  As for "evil"... I don't think it's so much evil as destructive, which is easy to mistake for evil. Some of us have some kind of conscience, though. (e.g. Dubber) |
|
|
|
Post by xade on Dec 27, 2008 5:25:37 GMT -5
The name is "Erasmus", my ignorant Isle friend. And the spell is "Erasmus' razzle dazzle" )) Either way, the old man is still a fool. |
|
|
|
Post by ExDeath on Dec 27, 2008 6:18:41 GMT -5
Just because something was written by RavenBlack years ago as an introduction to the game does not mean we are bound to its RP today. The best RP environments leave you a lot of slack in how good or evil you want to make your character, and I think it should be no different here. You want to be a "good" warlock who's trying to save us all from this eternal torment? That should be A-Ok.
But on point, there certainly should be a hard backstory and environment in place for any real RP to flourish. It's a good idea to get a lot of this info out of the way, I just don't know who here has any kind of authority to fabricate it (besides RB).
|
|
|
|
Post by Slartucker on Dec 27, 2008 8:44:48 GMT -5
It seems to me that it is up to the community as a whole. One nice thing that RB has left us (by omission) is that the hell-plane has no specified boundaries. So as a starting point here we have a limitless hell-plane and a magical artifact that alters reality -- and which can probably be presumed to be having some effect on the hell-plane just by being here, even without being actively directed as it will be the league. So long as nobody attempts to make sweeping generalizations about the entire plane and/or warlocks population, I think there's plenty of room for everything.
On the "evil warlocks" point, I think we can take that as a jumping off point without becoming inflexible on alignment. Fantasy and legend have plenty of examples of "evil" creatures that aren't very evil at all. There are even a handful of fantasy worlds where there is a good order or wizards and an evil order of wizards, and the "good" or "evil" classification comes simply from which brand of magic you use and not from the morality of your actions or intentions.
|
|
|
|
Post by xade on Dec 27, 2008 21:24:14 GMT -5
now now, quit making excuses for the fraud Dubber! You'll see through his deception one of these days Ex.
By the time you realise it, it might be too late for you...
|
|
|
|
Post by boomfrog on Dec 28, 2008 3:36:48 GMT -5
"Hammering out the sweeping generalization is exactly what I want to do. Aside from Wastelin's mad ravings it seems we can generally agree:
There was a prophecy that all the evil warlocks are stuck on this hell plane, but many people contest that the prophecy is not a guarantee that everyone here is evil. People change, definitions of evil are different, nothing can be proven so people argue.
Some have been battling for eons. Some newcomers have just arrived.
The hell plane is wide and varied, every type of hell you can imagine is represented here somewhere. At the edge of the known hell plane is a vast void, but some say there may be more hellplane on the other side. The Isle floats in this void. The void has not been fully explored and seems infinite. The hell plane is shaped like a flat disk and at the edge is a cliff. If you fly to the underside it's just jagged rocks.
There is a wide variety of magic besides what can be preformed inside the circle. Eating and drinking are not necessary, we are immortal whither we like it or not.
Does anyone object?"
BoomFrog looks at Wastelin and rolls his eyes while adding, "I mean while your here, of course."
"Perhaps the Elders of each clan would like to describe the environment around their citadel in a little more detail?"
|
|
|
|
Post by wastelin on Dec 28, 2008 7:49:56 GMT -5
"Boomfrog, I do not object to you..... r statements. They fit my experiences well."
"The void, the emptiness - it is empty exactly because it must be empty to be fit punishment. If there were something rigid, solid, something meaningful other than what we create ourselves, there would be an absolute measure of good or evil: and our actions could be measured by them, and, more importantly, we could take action against that measure: overthrow it, even."
"But there is not. There is nothing here but what we make of it. I doubt even the salvation for the 'winner' is real."
"For me, that is no matter: I have found my value in the companionship of the Guild and the meeting and measuring of wills in duels. It suffices, boredom has not set in yet: I do not flicker in and out of 'retirement', as some call it, yet."
Then he doubles up and cries out with pain, and as if touched by hot pokers, red streaks flare up on his arms, for the short period you can see them as his writhing thrusts them out of his robes.
|
|
|
|
Post by maven on Dec 29, 2008 19:40:03 GMT -5
An elder warlock makes his entrance into the meeting hall, though with much less aplomb than our friend boomfrog. Maven strides in quickly, his robes sweeping at the ground as he passes.
"It's good to see friend and foe alike here, as we begin to puzzle through our shared existence on this plane. Past, present, and future: all are seen darkly, as through a mist. And much seems to be personal reality, as asserted by boomfrog.
We at the Guild of black Arts have been researching the old books to discover what can be discovered of our past. While there is still much to learn, I can tell you (as a warlock who has apparently been on this plane for nearly 8 eons now) that in the early days, it was just endless rounds of battle in the circles. What conversation there was between warlocks tended to be minor, and mostly related to the battle itself. There were no communications beyond the battle, except for a rudimentary system to deliver short messages to potential opponents. That has certainly changed as we have moved into the modern era. For the better? While many of us would agree, there are others who still prefer to slog it out, battle after battle, never looking up and never thinking past the current match.
The present seems to be much more enlightened... but is it really? Despite all the talk I see from you all, it seems there is still a veil upon our eyes which prevents us from answering the deep and important questions: who are we? Where did we *really* come from? What is our purpose here on this hell-plane, and can we be redeemed?
No, the future is dark. There are no Arithmancers nor diviners here. I myself see no hope.
Perhaps the fog surrounding this hell-plane is apropos, considering the large portion of these battles which are seeped in invisibility, blindness and shadowcasting."
Maven, having finished his speech, pulls a flask of cocoa from beneath his robes, and drinks as one parched. Then he steps back to listen to others pontificate.
|
|
|
|
Post by freesoul on Dec 30, 2008 0:26:18 GMT -5
"Guildsman Maven, thank you for reminding us as to where we've came from. Indeed, we have much to learn.
A question has been nagging at me: Who resides in the planes of brimstone? Well.. of course we do. And... those who tried their hand at the craft, but could not muster the strength to even make a gesture. We've all faced these weaklings, and have had to force their hands to surrender for them. With all the threats we've faced over time, we've learned to ignore weaker beings to conserve energy for more worthy matters. Therefore, I ask everyone to take a moment to open your senses up and watch for those banished beings hiding behind the rubble, lost to ignorance. These beings are harmless.... but I think... they could be useful... ;D
Also, my studies in the great Guild Library, have led me to believe that demonic creatures once strolled the endless fiery plains (and possibly still do). I have not found mention of any demons of significant power (though I have noticed missing pages), but I have seen numerous references of lessor demons or Imps."
After his ranting, Freesoul abruptly walks away whistling a flat tune, slowly snapping his fingers... and suddenly he notices a shadowy figure in the distance and points! And mistakingly shoots a magic missile into the distance, slaying the being. "Wastelin, please have an apprentice retrieve my mess, and take it back to the Guild for study."
After a short pause, Freesoul looks at BoomFrog and a half smile curls on his face "And send a sample to BoomFrog as well."
|
|
