Voicechat Notes - 22 October

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Zombilicious
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Voicechat Notes - 22 October

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Q: What the reason is behind higher medical skill not reducing the roundtime suturing, as well as if higher medical skill just discounts time-cost and increases the length of therapy?
A: He thinks it has bandaging roundtime as well and thinks it should do suturing; he'll have to add that. Suturing is pretty old and big-chunk round-time thingies. He hates to think of partial suturing, so it will have to stay a big chunk.

Q: What is the % bonus for chinking with tactics Duelist?
A: He'll have to look at the code to find this answer.

Q: Are Blood Transfusions a thing in the Cogg world? Would any of the cultures possibly be experienced with that sort of thing? I've read IRL the Inca did Blood Transfusions, because they all usually had similar blood types, so it usually worked for them.
A: He wants to say maybe. He doesn't know enough about that process, so it's a maybe. He apologizes.

Q: So maybe it is more addressed to question-askers, readers, and note-takers? Would it be a good idea to maybe organize these better somehow? It would be nice if we could separate or distinguish questions from other messages without having to move away from the channel. Threads vanish after some time of inactivity, but this is not necessarily a bad thing: we could gather all of the questions into the thread before the voice chat and make them, by definition, only the questions for that week. Is this too complicated or not worth the effort? Do you think it is a good idea in principle but have a better suggestion for its execution? Awful? Something else?
A: He does like the idea of having a centralized place for them, so it can be more easily read either by him or the MC. If it's going to be a huge pain, though, then no. We want your questions. All of them. ALL THE KNOWLEDGE.

Q: There is a god of knowledge and truth--Vandin, and another of secrets and forbidden knowledge--Malfant. Is there any kind of association, conflict, rivalry, or the like between these? What would sway someone to look to Malfant over Vandin when it comes to knowledge? Are there any interesting details about either of these immortals you would be open to sharing?
A: They do seem somewhat similar, right? Malfant is definitely the guy you're going to go to for discovering stuff you aren't supposed to, Vandin is more a scribe/record keeper than specifically a Knowledge Dispenser, though he does occasionally get associated with that also. As far as rivalry, sometimes; Vandin's trying to record all the information, and some aren't meant to be shared, and Malfant has no qualms doing this. He doesn't know that they have a whole lot of relationships with each other, despite sharing a similar sphere/role. They don't have any specific rivalry overall, though their followers might.

Q: Follow-up kinda? Iarel also gives knowledge in exchange for tasks and favors. Does she relate to the other two in any way? Overlap?
A: Not really. All of the Immortals have their own specialties and knowledge sets that they can hand out, it doesn't mean that they're associated with being sought out for general knowledge; they all have plenty of good knowledge. Iarel has a close relationship with humankind (at least, in the past; it's complicated right now).

Q: Besides Naia-Nereia-Vodr-Iarel?, what are some other prominent relationship ties between immortals?
A: Not exactly families, but the Faewyr have Vodr and Undm and Bogvasker and Aphraen being very close in their culture. They view them as the First Human-Adjacent/Appreciating Humanity Immortals. Vodr and Undm especially, and then the other two. They might be family, they might not be; could be homebros, we don't really know. Other than that, not particularly.

Q: If Vodr was the father, is it known who is the mother of Nereia?
A: There aren't really any mentions of Nereia's mother, so a lot of people assume it's either lost information or it's a case of the Immortals not working that way (not needing both a mother and a father). That's all speculation, of course.

Q: For the evil-immortals association, which immortals would you consider properly “evil?” Aranas, the Blood God, and Malfant seem easy choices, but what of Reykvargr, or Verungnr, who is sometimes invoked as punishment against evil despite being terrifying in and of itself?
A: Verungnr is an interesting case; they are definitely a spooky, scary entity but also definitely enjoy eating "evil" things. As far as the Harbingers go: Verungnr could be up there. Reykvargr is in an exclusive club with the Dunwyr, so not for the Harbingers.

Q: Are the Druidic Entities able to be Dark Immortals, or are they just there?
A: They're there. A lot of people may interpret Reykvargr as "evil" because of her mission and how the Dunwyr operate, but the Druidic Entities are sort of not aligned to that sort of morality spectrum. Think more Blue-Orange morality than Black-White, though the Smoke-Wolf is talked about in Druidic Circles as having gone off the path to do their own thing, and is Different than spirits such as the Great Bear Spirit.

Q: Are you still planning your new "evil" immortal? Or has that been axed?
A: Yes, he's planning it still! One of them has been very slightly, subtly semi-introduced into the game, and he has a couple more in the wheelworks!

Q: The beldi glyph activates when a soul passes the boundaries of an occult diagram. What would happen if some of the items from Flannigan's store described as having a spirit trapped inside of them were put through the edge of the circle?
A: He doesn't think anything would happen. Very anticlimactic; talk to Flannigan and Miguel!

Q: In Nuum, the scarab means new life and rebirth. It is said to have meaning to the people of Tol Rhun, but not what that meaning is. Would you be willing to elaborate on this?
A: Similar to how it's a symbol of rebirth, the Rhuidim use it as a symbol of rebirth as a people outside of Nuum. They try to be their thing, they did their rebellion even if they were thwarted, so now they're trying to rise again. The scarab is a symbol of this.

Q: I tried very hard to limit othergameisms from this list, but this one is sadly an exception. Will fingerless gloves be their own fancy thing as they were elsewhere, or, for the purposes of customization and such, can they be the same as regular gloves?
A: Nah, they can just be something that people can make and get. They will eventually be a recipe.

Q: CAER IOAN OFFICIAL PRONUNCIATION!
A: Cair (rollish R) Ee-wen. It's Welsh. Have fun perfecting that.

Q: Given we cannot read the scholar shelving task books, what is "The Monsters Beyond the Diagrams" about? Is it literal? Will we be able to do anything with or suffer the consequences of these monsters? What are some examples of these monsters?
A: The Monsters Beyond the Diagrams... That one's a book on theories that the diagrams are a gateway to somewhere/something else, and there are things there and that's what powers the glyphs. It talks about the dangers of using the glyphs and therefore getting the attention of the beings; overusing them could cause them to look this way. They are Eldritch Horror-style monsters.

Q: How old is that book? Pre- or post-Aetgard?
A: During Aetgard. Not after the plague; post-founding but still an Aetgardian book.

Q: It is okay if you have no specific numbers, but what are the physical characteristics of the quarantine wall? How tall or thick is it, what is it made of, or is it uniformly the same all across?
A: The wall is fairly uniform, and it's mostly built out of stone. He's not sure about what kind of stone yet, but he'll think about it; it's definitely tall enough that you can't just pole-vault over it. Similar to the Great Wall of China, but he honestly doesn't know the specifics of the Great Wall. He'll look into specifics! It's not the full length of Arad; it connects to the Spine Mountains.

Q: Dunwyrs hate construction things; would they hate the wall? Have there ever been Dunwyr attacks on it?
A: He doesn't see the Dunwyr having activity out in that region, so probably not. They're less worried about walls and more worried about cities; they may not love it, but they have more important shiz to do.

Q: Was there violence and retaliatory uprisings during its construction like there was with the great wall?
A: Yes; the Hillfolk weren't thrilled about it, and there was resistance and in-fighting over there during its construction. After a while, they realized the scattered, rustic, leave-us-alone Hillfolk can't stand up against the Khaldeans, Viali and Nuum combined, so they peacefully ceased and went back home. Some of them probably stayed around and messed with them. They just wanted to make a point. Now, they've embraced it, because who wants idiots in their forest!

Q: Sorry if this is a misconception, but my understanding is Giganti runes work best on hard rigid surfaces like bone, stone, metal, and so forth, where material warping will not deform the rune. It seems there are possibly some similarities to this with permanent arcana glyphs being etched onto iron plates. Are runskjaeres sometimes seen as masters of a culturally flavored brand of arcana, or are the two generally differentiated between somehow?
A: They often get offended when people look at it as Arcana, but they definitely have similarities. There are theories it's another form of Arcana that the runskjaeres will vehemently deny because they are the WORD OF THE MOUNTAIN FATHER, AND HOW DARE YOU SULLY HIS VOICE THAT FLOWS THROUGH THEM! Diagrams and glyphs are ~something else~, and are a weird trigger and don't have the same purity of purpose.

Q: I know we have Baktu In Lore, but are there any other examples of Trickster Spirits or Trickster Gods in the Coggverse you could share with us?
A: Not that he can share with us at this time. But that means yes. He has some plans. Keep your eyes peeled like grapes.

Q: In Huecatn lore, is there any immortal like being believed to oppose Toteoh?
A: There's a whole thing that they got kicked out of their previous world and Toteoh brought them over here, so you have those opposing forces. Some of them are described as individual beings, but it's also a concept that they come from this primordial stew of deep, consuming darkness that consumes things; destructive, not creative. There's this idea that there's darkness out somewhere that's a problem, and Toteoh is the opposite of that, creating things and making life.

Q: How involved is the mining company in politics in Shadgard?
A: That depends on who you ask! There are some people that would love to conspiracy theorize with you all night about how the mining company is puppet mastering everything in Shadgard. The mining company itself says "We're a mining company, and sure we'd love influence so we can make Shadgard a better place and stuff, but right now we're wealthy and we run the bank and the vault storage but aren't in politics." There are clear oppositions to block them from getting into government; there are people on the Council that are for the mining company, and those that are against it.

Q: What are the policies and beliefs of the government of Shadgard? In particular, as regards sorcery and druidry.
A: A lot of the fear of these things is more on the citizenry; there are those on the Council who definitely fan those flames and use them to their advantage, obviously, but there are also those on the Council who want to treat these individuals as human beings. Most acknowledge that Nether (and thus, Sorcery) is a scary power that seeps into creatures, people, plants, rocks, and changes them. They simply do not want it happening inside of town.

A2: Druidry is similar but on a lesser level. The more people come back and sell Wechuge pelts and talk about how Wechuge are made, it builds fear up in the citizenry. They aren't yet at the point of kicking people out for tattoos. It is, however, safe to RP about getting looks or citizens feeling uncomfortable around you for having Druid tattoos or using your abilities in-town.

A3: Arcanists haven't gone under the microscope as much, and people don't consider it as much, though they might not appreciate someone drawing glyphs on the ground or something. They don't know how glyph-working works, after all. It's still in the realm of 'We Don't Get It' and 'It hasn't had any visible (that we see) adverse effects on things.'

Q: Would people see distyr on white/yellow auras and whisper about templar? Black/red auras whisper about sorcerers?
A: He could see that happening as a general thing based on rumors/stereotypes, sure.

Q: Will players be able to influence (not join/lead) the government of Shadgard? e.g. vote in an election between two or more NPCs?
A: Yeah, he thinks that would be fun! He's been working on the code side of things for so long that he misses being able to have NPCs show up for exactly those sorts of things, learning about them and going to Town Hall meetings and stuff. He wants players to be able to influence things one way or another.

Q: How do the Tse Gaiyan in the Lost Lands feel about nether corruption? Would it be a compromise/pragmatic action on their part if they were to align themselves with Caer Ioan?
A: He thinks that Tse Gaiyan see it as a useful countermeasure/tool. They aren't fanatics about it, but he could see some wanting to seek out being nethertouched so they can go into infested areas without concern. Some might even encourage their peers to seek out useful levels of it, but the Tse Gaiyan aren't specifically pro-Sorcery/Nether or fanatics for it as a tool.

Q: What occult does Destiny Owleyes use? It just says 'enchantress' on the wiki.
A: That's a good question. She has the reputation for cold and ice, so cryomancy (as it was referenced in the other game). Enchantress is used because she's bafflingly manipulative and appears to have become an Immortal. Some people might think she has access to Bard Words, if they know about those. She's ultimately an unknown.

Q: What does Iarel worship look like, and does it vary much by culture?
A: It varies vastly by culture. He hates to put it off, but he wants to write about it, but then he doesn't write more in a timely fashion.

A1: In Ivial, they share the general theory that she created Mankind (or at least the Constantians, who migrated to become the Viali), so she's a Creator Figure to them though they don't want a theocracy, so they intentionally distance themselves from her. Hence Serafina.

A2: The Nuum have that very complicated relationship with her; it started out with her giving them knowledge and teaching people how to use a lot of Arcane techniques/training/teachings, but now she's taught them everything she can so they're in charge. They don't really worship.

A3: The Faewyr have a complicated relationship with Iarel as well. She's definitely very powerful in their view, but also a wild card. They're not sure what she's going to do, or whether they can depend on her to do anything for them. Some definitely try to beseech her/get her attention to get knowledge, particularly about occult stuff and medical/biology (human), but she's also dangerous. She doesn't always pay attention to Mortalkind and sometimes may forget about them, or mess with them accidentally.

A4: The Rhuidim believe the Immortals' time is over now because Rhun had that book and the Immortals are fairly faded out. Individuals might look at her, but they overall have a weird view. Definitely not a prominent thing in Tol Rhun.

Q: Is Iarel a Prime Immortal?
A: Yes. She's definitely at the top of the Cosmic Power Level Scale, hanging out with Vodr. The general consensus outside of Bias Zones like Constantia is that Vodr is more powerful, but Iarel is definitely up there.

Q: Will three markets bog down the server? I think you mentioned that it deletes the item and archives it in the data banks and when a player buys said item it recreates it but I just wanted to make sure.
A: It shouldn't! It's going to be purely based on population. It's only causing bog when people actually interact with the market specifically. He doesn't think it will cause additional strain. It's the accessing, not the number of markets; the same amount of transactions means the same amount of hassle.

Q: Does that mean the black market cross is not going to be a thing? Or at least not initially.
A: He says it will be a thing, like smuggling between towns. He doesn't expect it to cause issues, but maybe. Still, it's the same people/amount of accessing the markets. He's overhauling right now, too.

Q: How common is the common language across cultures? What's the most common profession in which it is applied?
A: Common is quite common. If there were people who weren't going to have as much knowledge, it would probably be Native Faewyr from Tyr Gwyrd and Huecatn people, the Nuum because they're proud of their own language. Khaldea is where it started! It went over to Aetgard, and caught on very strongly there; it started out largely as a trade language, though this all might change at some point.

Q: Did the Hillfolk originally have a language that they lost due to lack of use?
A: That is a good question. We should ask around in character. They won't directly say it, but you could get an inkling about it and maybe Rias will add more stuff now that he knows people are interested in it.

Q: Do Immortals have blood? More specifically - in some real-world mythology, gods/deities/immortals (I think specifically Greek) have a blood-like substance. Is that the case here? Is that something that gets talked about in any of the folktales and myths of the peoples of Arad?
A: That's definitely going to depend on the Immortal and the culture asked about it! With the Faewyr, a lot of the Immortals are very human-like; some speculate that they are ancient human ancestors, and there is an NPC who will discuss this sort of thing with you if you are willing to ask questions. Others see them more as nebulous beings of spiritual energy and stuff. He doesn't have specifics he can give out, but he can see there being legends involving the Blood of a God, or empowering an artifact or something. It would exist primarily in Faewyr culture, and Ivial (blood of aengels and stuff).

Q: Could we have the spoiled items be deleted once they go bad? Its hard to find cooked meat sometimes.
A: He got rid of a ton of spoiled stuff just the other day; he needs to do a sweep of the market, and find why they're spoiling when you buy them. It's very weird.

Q: Is making shirts out of leather possible or is it just vests, cloaks and coats?
A: It probably should be, Rias guesses. He can make it happen.

Q: Why can't leatherworkers make ponchos?
A: Because that would be an abomination? He's not sure yet. He will be looking into it.

Q: I noticed some of the Hecatn's Immortals have animalistic shapes, like Doves or Jaguars, while others do not. Does Aphraen have a regular humanoid shape, or an animalistic one? If so, how do they view Aphraen's form?
A: Aphraen is weird. He definitely has a humanish form, hanging out up there on the entry to Temicotl, fighting off the baddies. He'll have to ponder that more and put it on the Aphraen document. Aphraen is huge in Huecatn lore, so he definitely has a presence.

Q: When Huecatn pray, or do religious rituals, do they pray and make sacrifices to the specific immortal they are honoring, or do they just pray to Toteoh, since they believe most of the others are just shards of him anyway?
A: Most turn to the entity that's most appropriate for what they're trying to accomplish/do. Some might turn more vaguely to Toteo and say 'Make this happen or pass this on to whichever of you is the best to handle it.' but there's also a feeling that Toteo IS the different pieces so addressing one is still addressing Toteo.

Q: Is the opening of the Way of Dreams accessible by air balloon?
A: Go get one and find out.

Q: So, when are we going to get to craft bone/wood/metal splint? And repair them? Is there any specific reason some of the other armors lack certain "slots", or the ability to craft them? For example, brigandine gloves and boots are available from stores, but not via crafting.
A: The unavailability of some of them is because they look funny in Rias' mind, but he's been convinced to add some of them. Crafting the splint stuff is going to take a bit longer; repairs will require replacement pieces, so it needs added coding for replacing broken pieces.

Q: Is it still leatherworking? It shows as splint leather cuirass.
A: It's going to be similar to brigandine; you'll make the cuirass and add the splinting to it. Rias will also be adding padded versions as well, so you can turn padded armor into padded splint armor.

Q: When is Caer Ioan opening up?
A: Soon[tm]. Not too soon, though. Soonish.

Q: Are the provinces of Ivial like Corodeangelo, the capital Luccere, etc. still accurate as listed on the Ivial page of the Clok wiki?
A: Yes.

Q: How would you feel about adding the basic base-color dyes as unlimited purchase from the dye shop, such as red dye and blue dye, brown, etc. Not black, though. That would be absurd.
A: He doesn't know about basic everything, but he could definitely put some colors that are found easily in the Dye Cottage as off-the-shelves.

Q: Tactics: Nightblade. Bug or feature? If you fend somebody off, you don't get raised risk, same with flipping and tumble, whereas getting past that fend/flip/tumble to a dodge/block does raise risk.
A: That's a bug. They should get risk for those things.

Q: Are there any rites/rituals/festivals honoring the Pumpkin King, both for guarding lost souls and fending off the Wraith.
A: Yes, but Rias doesn't have specifics! He has to add them before Octum is over, definitely. He will commit to putting them in a wiki page and announcing it. Expecting it in a few days.

Q: Are we going to be able to dye splints from the festival, or only player-crafted splints?
A: Since their base is leather, which is dyeable, they should be dyeable. It might be a little weird, depending on how they're coded, but they will be eventually dyeable. He'll look into it.

Q: Once the two towns happen, will there be the equivalent of Snail Mail? Not something instant, but that gets delivered every however long.
A: Yes.

Q: Occasionally, Teri will post a bug and Rias is busy, but she wanted to know when it's OK to poke at Rias if it hasn't been changed.
A: If it's impacting mechanical ability to do something, item loss, mechanics that are broken, commands that are broken, etc. Poke often. He doesn't like to leave game-breaking stuff in there.

Q: Can we ask questions about Caer Ioan? How do they feel about the Pumpkin King, pumpkin lanterns, or Octum in general?
A: They will have similar stuff going on; he won't go into details because it's fairly unknown still.

Q: Is it going to be more obvious that The Other Town will be Bad People (also), because we have the delightful zealot who's preaching that Caer Ioan, right now, is idyllyic happy-go-lucky tolerance land.
A: Rias thinks most people are picking up on that now, that this is the spin she's putting on it. They do have this kind of approach: come to Caer Ioan, we'll love you and appreciate you, and treat you well! But they may or may not be doing questionable shiz also.

Q: Are we allowed to put multiple-paragraph Commons Board postings on the BBS instead, if they have many paragraphs and things?
A: Yes.

Q: How does basic, no-frills channeling work? Is basic, no-frills channeling even a thing, or is it only applied along with a form of magic? I understand there is no such thing code-wise, but I'm talking lore-wise.
A: Rias' idea is that channeling is a catch-all term for channeling your will (channel footpad, channel strength, etc). Putting your will into a channel would be focusing on something mentally, like Sorcery channels or Druidry channels. Without having something to point it at/focus on, nothing would happen. You can't channel nothingness.

Q: If there is basic, no-frills channeling, is the method taught/used differently by the different guilds? Or even the different specializations within the different guilds?
A: This sort of thing would apply if you look at channeling as meditation; you're focusing will and preventing something else from breaking in. So channel footpad/strength/adrenaline would be like channeling, but they don't use the same technique, it's just different forms of channeling your will to make something happen. So a generic version would be meditation.

Q: Once you have the basic channel technique, how does a given occultist actually bring up their specific magic of choice? How does channeling druidry differ from channeling sorcery from the user? Do Arcanists channel? What do they channel?
A: He may have to get back to us on specifics regarding druidry/sorcery, but arcanists do channel. They channel as they're drawing the diagrams/glyphs, so they channel the form of those to get them just right. When we start getting affinities, it will be more evident; the more skilled people will be better able to understand these things. Bardic words, also a form of channeling.

Q: How does each magic feel to use and manipulate? Do druids feel one or more primal beings on the other end of the 'connection' whenever they channel? Do sorcerers hear the nether whispering to them or feel its will tugging at them? Does this change when actively casting or raw-casting?
A: For druids, it can depend on where they are/what situations they've gotten themselves into, their affinities to certain entities, etc. It gets complicated for primal stuff, but it's safe to say that they would start feeling a Presence with their connections. The whole power of druidry is Connection, after all. He would love to have Druidry give flavor messages at some point depending on where you are, etc. Lots of competing, tugging feelings.

A2: A lot of sorcerors will tell you that sorcery/the Nether feels like it has a will of its own in some capacity. Sorcerors will often say they weren't planning to do XYZ, but did it with Sorcery and they attribute it to the Nether influencing them in some way. "I conjured the Nether to do THIS, but it did THIS instead, and that was the Nether doing its own thing." It's also cold; sorcerors would feel a drop in temperature as they're channeling it. He may add that in as a flavor thing (kinda cool, he says, because he is a dad).

Q: How are actual spells brought into being? Words, rituals, memorized symbols or patterns? Petitioning to some external force to provide the 'data' to be translated by the caster? How does an occultist bring their spell into reality? How does this differ from raw casts, for those who can?
A: This is a deep one, man. He may have to raincheck this one.

Q: How does the nether react to its user? I've seen one ability where it actively enters the user's body; can it choose to not burn on contact, now? Or is there some other explanation for the nether not burning the host? 'help nether' says it's destructive to nearly all types of matter. Is it well-known, or at least known to occultists, what sorts of matter are not destroyed by nether?
A: Nether, in that statement, is nether in its natural state where it is always damages stuff. There are instances where Nether will not damage something; there are various states nether can take, such as things from the Festival. Raw nether ("Haha, I conjured raw nether!") is problematic. It's not well-documented what causes states of nether to shift; a warlock could conjure nether and want it to not hurt and wear it as a toupee, but it wouldn't work, they can't will it into nonhazardous circumstances. It's Flubber. Baffling, confusing, damaging Flubber. There are specific reasons; we just don't know it.

Q: Are there any plans for more Arcana based glyphs that might cause mild sanity or other mental side effects?
A: Yeeeees? Yes there are. Rias is excited for them. SOME COULD GET COMPLICATED. WE WILL SEE.

Q: With Sanity, are you still planning on flavor text when your sanity drops to a certain point? We do the gibberish and possibly twitching, but say we're Paranoid or below, maybe you get flavor text that pops up to only them.
A: Yes, Rias would love to do that. Sanity stuff is very make-it-up-yourself right now, but he absolutely wants to do that and will take suggestions on the BBS. Talyn will be writing a post about it that everyone can add to.

Q: We know Societies are not meant to be fallbacks for guilds, but is there any little information that you could give us about the Anti-Netherim/Harbingers other than what we know on the posts?
A: He hasn't been working on anything directly for them, but he has extensive idea files.
:verungnr_tentacles: :vodr_trident:
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