I'm new here, but I've noticed something is missing: Fossils

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I'm new here, but I've noticed something is missing: Fossils

Postby Zephari on May 8th, 2015, 10:38 pm

I am new to mizahar and I am really loving it, however I have run into a bit of a gap in mizahar lore. My character is a geologist and loves everything having to do with the earth, and digging in it. So we do have our lists of minerals, metals, ores, and gems. But I can find no evidence of any type of fossil anywhere. I don't know if this has been overlooked, or had been ignored on purpose, but I think it is something that could add significant value to the game, mainly in finding pre-valterrian remains, which could be of use and high value to the right people. Its just something I wanted to put out as an idea, and if anyone thinks this could work, please respond!
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I'm new here, but I've noticed something is missing: Fossils

Postby Sedge on May 9th, 2015, 12:10 am

You're right in that, so far as I know, nothing's really been developed for fossils. That said, Pre-Valterrian remains in the usual sense, creatures from the time of the Alahean and Suvan Empires, would not have fossilized -- not over a timescale of centuries. Not without some kind of magical or divine cause, and if that happened, they wouldn't be fossils the way we usually apply that word. So fossils don't really work there.

You'd have to go to really deep history, back to protohumans or even earlier for fossilization to apply. So far as I have seen, those timescales aren't exactly firm -- did Protohumans live thousands, tens of thousands, millions of years ago? -- and I don't believe much is known about the time before them IC or OOC. Not beyond the broad strokes already covered in the lore.

Finally, the peoples of Mizahar have a level of understanding that likely doesn't include the fossilization process. (With perhaps the exception of the Isur, who were largely sheltered from the Valterrian and are more intimately concerned with the depths of the earth.) So bear in mind that while stone bones might be an interesting curiosity, they aren't necessarily well-understood by Mizaharan geologists, much less well-catalogued -- never mind the fossil record as the timeline that modern RL science has established.

It could be feasible to do something like build some local myths/legends around fossil remains, similar to how it's thought the Cyclops myth may have originated with skulls of ancient elephants. These fables are likely to be specific to a domain, so you might work with your local storyteller to put some together.
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I'm new here, but I've noticed something is missing: Fossils

Postby Nightmare on May 20th, 2015, 10:32 pm

Part of the issue is that the Valeterrain also destroyed much of Mizahar's fossil record as well. There might be surviving fossils in the earth, but it wouldn't be traceable back to certain time periods. There is simply no reference point to build a geo-archaeological timeline. Pre-valeterrain they likely had a usable fossil record, but not in modern Mizahar.
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