[Caelum's Scrapbook] Use Your Words.

[Gossamer]

Hint: Post more hot pictures of Caelum. The ST's will come.

[Caelum]

Oh! Excellent idea, Jen. In that case, click on the spoiler for an utterly unashamed and completely sexy bribe for a thread grade. Smexy Caelum : Also… I’m dropping this here in the vague hope that an ST or two might take a peek at my scrap. Obviously, I’ll be asking a few directly later on if this doesn’t work, but I figured it was worth a shot. I have a completed solo thread in Denval, hour of the wolf, that I need someone to do me a huge favor and grade. Is there a DS who has the time and inclination? Or an AS or JrST who does and can ask their DS’s permission? I’m absolutely willing to trade favors, so if there’s anything you need drafted up for your domain, guest modded for your PC or for someone else’s to take a load off, or whatever else I can do from a player standpoint, hit me up. I’ll be your huckleberry. Here’s hoping. -k.

[Eida]

That's too sexy! You should write some warning!

[Caelum]

CAUTION! CAELUM IS TOO HOT TOO HANDLE. HE IS HOTTER THAN THE SUN. (See what I did there?)

[Caelum]

No takers? ST, cool new grader, or otherwise? Alright. Time to pull out the big guns. Not only will you earn my eternal gratitude, but I will owe you a favor. You want me to owe you a favor. You really, really do. I create locations more unique than an ugly konti with attached NPCs so multi-dimensional than they’re practically diamonds. I make good plot, and by “good plot” I mean seriously good plot. You want an adventure replete with rich backstory, dynamic NPCs, shivering intrigue, and plenty of deliciously awful opportunities for your beloved PC to gain their revenge, get their girl, earn their fame, redeem their soul, gain the notice of a god, or make their fortune? I’m your girl. Are you having trouble determining what do next or how to get back on track with a once vibrant character? My character hacking skills know no bounds. I will help you define your goals, determine your path, and ultimately rise to great heights of role playing infamy. Is there an unwritten lore article eating at your soul that you desperately want to see complete but simply don’t have the time to do yourself? Allow me to dust off my incredible lore writing talent and draft it right up for you! You think Caelum is just smoking hot and want an opportunity to envision him IC with his shirt off? Why, look at that, I happen to have at least three different plot balls in the air for him that I would just love to bring more people in on. (His wife is dead. Just sayin’.) Best of all, some of the above is a tiny bit true every now and again. Also… I’m dropping this here in the vague hope that an ST or two might take a peek at my scrap. Obviously, I’ll be asking a few directly later on if this doesn’t work, but I figured it was worth a shot. I have a completed solo thread in Denval, hour of the wolf, that I need someone to do me a huge favor and grade. Is there a DS who has the time and inclination? Or an AS or JrST who does and can ask their DS’s permission? I’m absolutely willing to trade favors, so if there’s anything you need drafted up for your domain, guest modded for your PC or for someone else’s to take a load off, or whatever else I can do from a player standpoint, hit me up. I’ll be your huckleberry. Here’s hoping. -k.

[Abstract]

Somehow I get the feeling you're exagerating... buuut... this is tempting. There's nothing I want exactly atm, but... can I keep the favor as a raincheck? Because if so... I'll happily grade your thread! I'm not sure if I'm allowed to delve so far North, however, so I'll be PMing Baldy about that... but still... XD

[Caelum]

Admittedly, I’m totally exaggerating. I’m not nearly as good as all that. Sadface. A girl can dream, right? But what I can promise is to do my best. I’ll draft up locations, NPCs, articles, plots, guest mod ‘em, whatever. I’ve done it before, and I am more than happy to do it again. You can absolutely hold the favor in reserve too. I’m down with that. And I love you. I really, really do. I love you a lot right now.

[Caelum]

A note on grading. First and foremost, Abstract is awesome and totally graded my Denval thread for me. I have declared my undying love and she’s holding my favor in reserve. Be afraid. Be very afraid. In other news, I signed up to be a grader. This was due to several reasons, but by and large my appreciation for the need driving the program. It was a brilliant idea and it allows someone like me who, due to my previous experience on staff, is already comfortable with grading to lend a hand. There is no especial time or thread requirement which is excellent considering that I’m sure there will be times when I’m unavailable. The first city I tackled was Riverfall because I am biased and unashamed of it. My PC lives there. Of course I want to help them out first. I am now working through the Eyktol region and should have it knocked out by the end of this coming weekend. It was easier than it looked, truth told, because several of the threads had already been graded by the wonderful Traverse, others were for retired PCs, and still more for PCs who don’t have their ledgers updated with the season change and I therefore refuse to grade on the basis that how am I otherwise to tell whether or not the PC is active and thus requiring of a grade at all. (Of course, I told them that if they update their ledgers they can resubmit their grade request. I’m only a little bit of an asshole.) Jen, if you’re reading this, go delete the requests in the Ahnatep request thread. It houses all grading requests for Eyktol and all but the last two posts are, as of this exact moment, handled. Don’t worry, I’ll totally nudge you again in a few days as requested if it’s still pending. This brings me to my favorite beating-a-dead-horse topic: the proper rewarding of lores. Most of ya’ll who know me from prior to my hiatus and had to put up with my snark at any length are aware that I cannot stand irrelevant and useless lores. I seriously dislike them. When I am awarded them, I flat out ignore them and refuse to add them to my CS. It was pointed out to me that this is a potential disregard of rules as a player cannot ignore any other aspects of a thread award granted them. This may be true, but no one has yelled at me about it yet and, frankly, unless Jen herself tells me I have to put stupid lores on my CS, I’m not going to do it. Why? Because it is stupid. It is useless. It means absolutely nothing. The entire point of having the lore aspect of our rules system is to properly track the accumulation of unexpandable knowledge and to provide an accurate delineation between IC and OOC knowledge when a question of potential god-modding over a sensitive/questionable aspect of lore arises. We have had blatant god modding in Mizahar in the past and, I’m sure, it is happening somewhere in the present as well. Properly awarded lores assists in controlling god-modding because (real life Exhibit A) if as an ethaefal Caelum is not supposed to have any solid recollection of his past life but, via extensive threading, he has somehow gained and been awarded those memories, how else is an ST in a thread down the line supposed to know whether or not I’m improperly representing Caelum’s race? The ST can find it in your lores, you say. Just because you have silly lores on your sheet doesn’t mean you don’t also have your important ones on there. Okay, fine. You’re right. “Lore of Past Life” can still be on my CS regardless of whether or not “Bob Likes Brie” is also on there. HOWEVER, the entire lore aspect of our rules system is diminished and degraded by the flood of irrelevancy. It causes people to forget how important awarding specific and useful lores are. People stop caring because the lore system is a joke. Sometimes it’s even a funny joke. I like to laugh at lores sometimes too. But guys. This has hurt the game. Don’t be sensitive about receiving a small grade. If you wanted more, you should have done more in your thread. Don’t expect the ST or grader to try and somehow “make up” for the lack of awardable skills by granting you a whole slew of lores that aren’t ever actually going to get you anywhere or do anything for you. And I will shut up now. Thanks for reading my rant. Write on, -k.

[Kit Rowan]

What's your opinion on lores that don't so much reflect things the character has learned and more determinations they have made about themselves? For instance, in my lore list I have "Acrobat or Motherhood: I choose Acrobat." It doesn't reflect any new knowledge, but it does shine light on a decision made in a thread. Would you consider that a valid lore?

[Caelum]

That’s an interesting question, Kit. I haven’t fully considered it before, but I am now. While I don’t find character marker lores to necessarily be irrelevant, I wonder how useful they actually are. I haven’t really taken the time to award such things in threads I’ve graded, but I do see your point. Bottom line, I find such lores acceptable. As a grader, if something significant leaps out at me, I will grant a character marker lore. As a player, if I receive them, I will most likely add them to my CS but in a specific lore section. For example, I already have my lores divided up by their relevancy to what aspect of my character: physician, Cytali, and miscellaneous. If I start to be awarded a large number of character marker lores, then I will add a new section – Character Progression or Character Development. Or something like that. Another option would be keep track of such lores in your Plotnotes as, to me, that seems to be not only a viable place to put them but the most helpful. Something else has occurred to me that might stand as a good example as to why I feel strongly about this. Caelum has the Ranuri gnosis. That gnosis puts its bearer under great risk in a multitude of ways. That risk increases exponentially when people 1) know and understand ranuri and 2) know when you have it. There are, as of this exact point in threading, exactly four people who have the IC knowledge that Caelum possesses ranuri. Three of these people are NPCs that are no longer in active use as they were attached to Denval and, regardless, would have gone to great lengths to keep his secret; and one is a PC who isn’t active at present. As a player, I would be spitting mad if someone godmodded knowledge that Caelum has ranuri whether or not they actually did anything malevolent or harmful with that knowledge. It is a secret and one he takes great pains to try and keep that way, being very aware how dangerous such knowledge is in another’s hands. Slavers would slather over him. Even an untrained child could twist him wily nily about their finger, let alone a mature and intelligent adult. Considering that he is also unattached at present, by which I mean he has no “master”, no person or tangible thing to be his “focus”, he’s at risk. He directs it as he can toward his goal to heal the heavens and the world, but that is so vast and intangible that isn’t a very good focus. He also tries to essentially direct it at the Sanctuary and Riverfall. It’s limiting and difficult. I guess what I’m saying is that not only would I be upset if someone assumed knowledge of Caelum’s ranuri, but I would also encourage the ST or grader of a thread in which a PC fairly discovers Caelum has it to grant that PC the lore. Maybe even lore of ranuri itself additionally because knowing someone has a thing is different from understanding what that means and what potential it houses.