Q: I believe, before, it was mentioned that the mail alert is IC and related to the ESP network, yes? If so, should you receive the mail notification when not wearing a pendant? Presently you do, but I'm not sure if it is a different sort of magic.
A: At the moment it's just a convenience thing. In the other game, it was based on having a pendant. He still likes that idea and can't remember why he moved away from it. Perhaps it was because some don't have pendants? At the moment there's no lore behind it. There's probably a BBS thread as to why he moved away from it, probably for a goofy reason. The alert is a 'kind-of-gamey thing', in sum.
Q: Is there any kind of interaction between different sorts of magical effects with different sources? This is probably vague, so a specific example: what happens ICly when you use distyr with shadow cloak active? I know code-wise they both just work, but like... does the glow appear outside the nether? Do they interfere with each other at all?
A: Technically, if you really thought about it, it would probably interfere with it, but at the moment it ... doesn't. Maybe a bit of dimming. Shadow cloak relates to ambient light levels independently of stealth skill; the darker it is, the more bonus you get from your shadow cloak.
Q: Does shadow cloak apply to any darkness-based roll, or only stealth?
A: it's just stealth stuff. If you have artifice stuff it considers room light, room noise, room crowd, and fog.
Q: You mentioned before, but could you re-outline your plans for banks in Stormholdt And Emberlight?
A: They technically have "banks", just for tasks (when you don't have room for payment, it goes to your treasury account there). They don't actually have one, the treasury works for dealing with outlying issues like that, it's not an actual bank. Occasionally funds will go in there, but you couldn't deposit or exchange riln for notes &c. Rias didn't love the idea of people living in outposts in CLOK (people had nothing happening out there, and it was tough to keep up with events with players in so many places at once. He wants there to be reasons for people to stick together as much as possible.
C: Some players are feeling the pain of the weight of riln as an outcast.
A: Fair. There's that line where we want to find a balance. If people get kicked out of towns, we don't want it to be easy for them to just relocate, but we don't necessarily want to make it too obnoxious.
Q: What sorts of recreational activities do you envision folks in the Lost Lands mostly pursuing? What about Arad, as a larger whole? Do they place chess, checkers? Any particular kinds of card games that are preferred? etc.
A: Rias is not really much of a cards player in real life. We have the decks of cards in-game, he imagines they do a lot of that, and dice, and the kind of traditional board games like chess, checkers, backgammon.
Rias is wondering about what sportsy stuff people might do, lately, but confesses he doesn't want to think about it too hard right now. He imagines there are shooting/marksmanship competitions. Shadgard has a rodeo! (Still need to make a rodeo ground). Horseshoes would be good! We could do corn hole (throw the beanbag in the hole) [T: I have literally never heard of this] or maybe arm wrestling would be fun.
Q: What about Fasa horse games/annual games? A thing?
A: Would need to check that out from previous lore and see what that might look like, and if he wants to keep it.
Q: What do you think about message boards in outposts?
A: That could work. It's on the wary list, but just having a postboard would be fine. There is a postboard in the warriors guild in shadgard now! Just so people know.
Q: Re: Viali-Nuumic conflict on their shared border. You gave some details about the conflict itself, but mentioned it was recent. How recent specifically? Is a gentle escalation over the last five or six years an acceptable estimate?
A: It's not like it's been raging for a long time. Probably started not long before it was actually mentioned (5-6 years at this point maybe). It's kind of a slow burn thing, both nations have their reasons. Some of the residents, at least, have reasons to be happy about the fact they can feel better about having an open conflict with eachother. Others don't. It's not like this big raging war that's affecting the entirety of both nations. The Fasa are probably rolling their eyes about it. The Khaldeans are giggling about it, Nuum have someone else they're fighting now --- privately thinking 'Ah, this is great.' Maybe the Khaldeans will push a little bit or might even have already taken advantage of the situation, but there've been no major changes so far. (No border changes or things like that).
Q: Re: Corodeangelo. What’s so distinct about their local culture that makes the rest of Ivial think they’re “barbaric”? Is there anything specific about their personalities that evokes this impression? Or is it more a result of their attempt at a rebellion from the crown in their history that people don’t like? I’ve always pictured them as equally dramatic and stuffed up in their own way, but in a more direct way than there fellow Viali. Is this an accurate interpretation?
A: They've got the same tendency to be dramatic. They do try to deliberately differentiate themselves from the typical viali culture. Part of the problem, they feel, is the Viali do a lot of emulating Constantia, which they were fleeing from. The peopel of Corodeangelo, they're like, "We all fled from these problems and you guys just started it back up again yourselves." They tend to be more rustic (he apologises for overusing the word). Not as much into all the fantsy pantsy artsy stuff, they definitely shy away from it more, but that's not to say they don't do it at all. They deliberately do not want to be a part of this rehash of the problems that they ran away from, hence more rustic and woodsy. It's not a huge place, but they have at least one huge castle, they like that. But even then ... you see the Viali ones and they're all nice and fancy-looking, resplendent and colourful, with heraldry etc. But in Corodeangelo, it's all kind of dark and dour and grim ... that's how he's always seen it. They're more of a dour people. Not dark dark, but there's kind of a weary attitute toward the situation. Tired of it all. One of the reasons that they're, in addition to everything else, viewed as barbaric, is that they're up in the mountains, so they also dress practically because of that. That's just another visual thing where the other VIali are like, "look at these savages". That's not to say the Corodeangelo people wouldn't wear other things in different circumstances, but it contributes towards their image as rustic/primitive.
Q: Was there a particular [sartorial] style of the Khaldeans?
A: Rias will research that before giving an answer. He was thinking about it, he loves suggestions about fashions/style because he doesn't necessarily think about every angle. At the very least, the Khaldeans *like colours*. It's probably going to be a class thing: the higher class, the more colour you want to show off.
C: The Khaldeans have three kind-of-related but distinct sub-cultures: cityfolk, border dwellers and wanderers in between those two. A lot of the cities are crowded along the eastern border (along Tol Rhun and Ivial), people are crowded into the less crusty land/nicer terrain. Khaldeans have the power of science on their side, not just technology. They're willing and dedicated to investigating the natural sciences, whereas the Nuum are more focussed on the occult.
Q: Can you draw circles in flooded rooms?
A: If you can you shouldn't be able to.
Q: There are several immortals who have some kind of servant: naeads, sincubi, aengels, etc. Forgive my spelling. Are these beings mythical or something encountered or (I suspect) something people claim to have encountered but without any real solid evidence, much like most Immortals themselves? Are they physical or incorporeal? If they are actually encountered, have they confirmed their relation to the Immortals (perhaps lying for their own benefit) or is this just assumptions made by humans? Like is there some nest of fish-people somewhere just chillin' like wyrms or bears do and people were like 'Yeah, those clearly work for Nereia'?
A: It's more folklore. There are going to be plenty of people saying I saw an aengel or whatever, but they're definitely more the realm of folklore. People might see a sea creature and think "Is that..." but it's not going to be a hundred percent a Naiad. There's no certain way to identify them exactly.
Q: Re: Viali spirituality. Do they have any of their own specific interpretations of Vodr, Verungr, or the sea/river sister goddesses? Just curious, considering they have so many unique interpretations on other powers. Have they or the Fasa adopted any spiritual beliefs from one another since the welcomer’s treaty?
A: Yes, regarding the Viali having their own take on the Immortals, they do. He thinks those pages were written a long time ago before the cultural perspectives were written. It's afe to assume that most of the cultures have their own various interpretations of the immortals. Rias needs to write about the reasons why all these cultures still acknowledge *all* these Immortals, even though they have their own favourites. He imagines the Viali and Fasa have adopted some spiritual links/influences. It's safe to say that yes, they are buddies, have definitely overlapped. Sure they're going to bicker, but also share a lot with eachother, or at least try to. He also imagine they have things some they wish the other culture could understand (differences that are difficult to communicate). Rias needs to look into Fasa spirituality more.
Q: Re: Ivial’s ecology. Any kind of super awesome spooky mythical creatures that specifically live within Ivial’s borders?
A: Sure there are, but he doesn't want to commit to any at the moment.
Q: RE: Landmarks of the world. Feel free to pass on this one, but I’ve always thought about it. Where is the worlds tallest mountain? What’s its name? The largest river? Are there any large man-made structures similar to the quarantine wall (in notoriety) that might be considered a, “wonder of the world” for lack of a better term?
A: The main cities in Nuum, there are built structures that are awe-inspiring there. Also the main tower in Tol Rhun: it's a big circular city built around a large central tower. Another example of impressive human architecture is Deepholm, which would probably be considered one of the wonders of the world. Subterranean architecture that doesn't cave in? A wonder to many foreign architects, but the Giganti attribute it to the Mountain Father (though they do have their own techniques). Tallest mountain? Don't know that! But sure, Fae Forest. The Ice Mountain is "moderately chunky", apparently. It's on a range that meets the quarantine wall, though the spine of it carries on and even expands out underwater [T: out of the Main, I think was said]. Serpent River is probably the biggest river in Nuum, that's pretty big, though it may not be the biggest in the world.
Q: Has Owleyes or her Sisterhood invented ice cream, yet? If not, what is even the point of ice magic and immortality? (Does she still have ice magic?)
A: Maybe they invented it and they're just keeping it to themselves because it's their divine right. (Yes she still has ice magic.)
Q: Do people eat horses?
A: In the end, probably, if they're hungry enough. But as a common source of meat? Most would shy away from it, as horses are useful for so much else.
Q: Do we have kangaroos?
A: Probably not.
Q: I was contemplating Lapis: The Last Vestige of Aetgard while shelving, and wanted to ask: what are the arcana practices currently like in Lapis?
A: Not sure. He will have to look at that. [T: I think it was said that characters can't really know, since Lapis are isolationists, but that's likely understood already]
Q: Most immortals have symbols attached to them, such as Iarel's serpant wrapped staff. Does Nereia have one or more of these? Any particular things that could easily identify you as a Nereia worshipper?
A: Not sure yet really.
Q: Nereia is the patron goddess of sailors. As such, one can imagine sailors pray to her on the sea. However, the worship or service section of her helpful mentions seashells and throwing fish back, but these acts can't be done on a ship. What are some other well known practices for the goddess other than what is mentioned?
A: A lot of association with singing, or prayers done through song, a lot of the time. In terms of other rites, there's nothing super specific that's not just commonly understood (dedicating part of your catch, throwing it back if a fisherman, etc.)
Q: What's the limit [to] just mak[ing] these things up.
A: It's probably one of these things you have a lot more freedom with, to a degree. With all the immortals, people can come up with their own ways of worship and that's fine. He would love to come up with more common things, but go ahead if you don't know what's generally done. You don't have to feel bad coming up with your own stuff. The only thing to avoid there is that, don't turn around and claim that this was a thing that everyone did, or in the area I came from everyone did this thing. If you are doing something with intent, and it has an obvious link to an immortal and their sphere/domain, then you're on the right track. But if you're trying to sacrifice a goat to Nereia, she probably doesn't care, why would you do that? You could try and start your own trends, e.g. "I'm doing this special dedicatory thing to Nereia, come on down", that kind of thing.
Q: Are sea shanties a religious action in that case?
A: If done for the purposes of worship.
Q: Release fish when?
A: You can do it if they're alive. Obviously not when spearfishing.
C: When you drop stuff in deep water, it does go somewhere GMs can keep track of, just in case it's something crucial that's been lost by a player accidentally. The items don't just disappear.
C: Shallow water containers: items will remain and not get janitored.
Q: Do Nereia worshippers have any particular views of the other gods, there followers? Similarly, are Nereia worshippers seen any particular way by worshippers of other gods?
A: Obviously they have a relationship with Vodr. According to lore he's her father, and her sister is Naia. There's likely an amount of low-key rivalry between a lot of Naia and Nereia adherents because Naia doesn't love that Nereia was the favourite. The sea is Nereia's domain, and there is this monstrosity (Verungnr) in there that she's trying to keep from causing death and destruction all over the place. That could be a potential point of contention between adherents of the two.
Q: Are there any particular traits Nereia worshippers are expected to uphold, as known by the commonfolk?
A: Just kind of the stuff people can infer on their own; being just generally comfortable in and around the sea and stuff like that. He doesn't think there's any particular virtue that people go for other than that Nereia is seen as one of the more ... she seems to have more concern with mortals and individual mortals' safety. Saving them from shipwrecks, calming seas. She's not too obsessed with immortal affairs to forget the everyday problems of mortals. An awareness of mortal affairs and general kindness is perhaps something to aim for, for her followers.
Q: if worshippers worship multiple ones will there be conflict between all of them?
A: He doesn't think so. A tendency that Rias has seen with players is that they tend to focus on one, and at least give acknowledgement to the others. There's no problem with someone wanting to respect all four of those under discussion.
Q: Does Nereia get mad if you eat fish? Or is it good to eat them? Would people hold feasts for Nereia in particular and if so what kind of food might they serve?
A: No, seafood is fine. It's gonna be one of those things, just be respectful of the domain of the sea. Don't try to go out and overfish one area, but just because Nereia's domain is the sea doesn't mean you can't eat fish. Be mindful, and probably give some kind of acknowledgement or thanks, if you wanted to go out of your way to make it a nereia character. The intent is important. Involve the domain of the Immortal in question, and it will probably make an impact. No need to worry about drinking alcohol at feasts or whatever, Nereia's adherents are sailors!
Q: What does mermaid's tears taste like?
A: Rias doesn't know a lot about alchol in general really! it's definitely alcoholic. He would love to get suggestions for what it actually is, perhaps some strings for drinks.
C: Sings/recites/prays are logged.
Q: As the moon is connected to the tides, would Nereia have any connection to the moon, or is that too abstract a connection?
A: The moon's not necessarily acknowledged as part of Nereia's domain. It's Aphraen's domain really, associated with dreams and the night.
C: Even Primalists can flirt with Immortals. These immortals presumably have some kind of primal affinity sometimes, e.g. Bogvaskr with beasts. It's generally assumed Bogvaskr is not a primal entity, but assumed he has affinity for that stuff. similar with mortals; you have to learn druidry, seek out and make that bond. maybe the immortals are doing that too in some cases, and have that affinity. It's not what they are essentially, but that doesn't mean they cannot have that connection. With the Fasa they have a bit more [flexibility], they blend things a little! But they still have that basic distinction. For Fasa Immortals are not just primal entitites, but still have varying connections with those forces, and have helped mortals learn about those connections.
C: Vandin is complicated, hard to write! He's having a hard time trying to figure out how to present him to players.
C: What's the deal with prime immortals? Should probably get that out there. Vodr, Iarel, Undm, Vandin. Hoping to write up that document soon!
C: It's good to have VC discussion. That's the reason for VC, else you could just post stuff on the BBS! We do the muting thing because we don't want it to be chaos. Not to say we don't want other people talking, just want it to be a controlled flow.
Q: What are cultures as a whole's interpretations of Nereia? Do methods of worship vary between culture?
A: Yeah, Rias just needs to update some of the articles. Will get Vodr and Vandin their pages first. Then there's a whole slew of new immortals to introduce.
Q: Is there any particular kind of singing/music Nereia/Nereia worshippers are known for?
A: Shanties come up a lot. Sea shanties are good, says Rias [T: *grumbles*]. The worship stuff is less about the style and more about the intent and the passion. In a few bits of NPC dialogue, when people talk about hearing singing of Nereia, it tends to be described as more ethereal or haunting. The adherents of Nereia might be mesmerising not because they're supposed to be specifically mesmerising but because they're conveying these things that mortals might not be familiar with that. Because of that they're being mesmerised, it's something beyond their ken; a natural side effect of being in range of that effect.
Q: Until the bandage weaving bug can be taken care of, how many bandages should we be able to make out of one skein, so I don't end up abusing it?
A: It's not a big deal, it's just bandages. He'll fix it, but not something to be very worried about.
Q: Is Verungnr considered a dark god? From the way it's described on the help file, Verungnr looks like some sort of god of justice, albeit with a darker bend. However, I did read somewhere on this discord that Verungnr might be one of the gods featured on the harbinger pantheon. If so, how do they fit into that system? Iirc they only really punished the most evil of people, and that seems like something that would come into conflict with a god like Aranas. I guess most of my confusion comes from the fact most fantasy works portray justice gods or those who punish sinners as on the good side.
A: Verungnr is an interesting case. it's less a god of justice and more kind of ... he's the monster that you feed other monsters to. it's not like he's out there trying to fight for the cause of justice in the world. He just seems to have a particular taste for the nastier folks, there's something about them or their souls that just tastes delicious. *chef's kiss*
Regarding harbingers, he doesn't know that it's going to work having Verungnr as part of their line-up. A lot of these folks are going to be the people that Verungnr is going to want to eat. It probably wouldn't work for a character to be a Harbinger solely on the merits of being a Verungnr adherent, it would have to be something beyond that. Otherwise, they're just waiting for the other harbingers to step over the line so they can destroy them.
C: There's definitely a will behind Verungnr's actions, though it is going to depend on who you ask. Verungnr seeks out particular types of people and is singling them out, he's not necessarily just a mindless hungry beast. Some people think it is just some means for the world to keep evil under control, with adherents saying that is what we see as Verungnr. It's definitely going to be considered the most alien of these types of Immortals, in that you can try and guess as to what its motives might be or what it's trying to do, but it really seems to be this alien entity that we can't really understand. We can make guesses and inferences, but can't really explain why. It's not something that you want to anthropomorphise. Though it's alien, you've still got the people who choose to honour it and serve it nonetheless; there's some force that's urging adherents to do things. It's definitely not considered a force specifically or deliberately for good. Because of its behaviour, people see it as some manifestation of justice against people doing horrible deeds, A cosmic manifestation. Maybe it's a creature that's controlled/created by the Immortals for this purpose? People don't know. There's been a recognisable behavioral pattern for aeons, nevertheless.
Q: What cog does praying and worshipping turn in terms of the machinery of the game world as a whole?
A: The biggest part of that is getting involved in the world, and exploring aspects of that character. Also, it allows interaction with events that are being driven by immortals and the mouthpieces of those immortals. It's not necessarily going to fit into the economy as such, but it's still moving things along.
Q: Do Immortals recognise blood lines, descendants (when it comes to worshippers)?
A: It depends on the immortal. The immortal might keep an eye on someone, wondering if they are going to follow in their ancestors' footsteps if those ancestors were particularly devoted adherents. It's complicated with the Constantians. The Viali, as a race, have a specific relationship with Iarel, for the Faewyr, the big four. Vandin is more popular with the Arad based folks. Khaldeans like vandin a lot. Fasa have a good relationship with Vandin as someone who tries to share knowledge and teach, as well as organises, according to some of their lore, those teachings. He's not necessarily a specialist, but good at delegating things.
Q: Are Immortals in a position to reject worship?
A: it could happen, yeah, think so.
Maybe one like Kebyet, an ascendant, would be more prone to spite, fickleness and human-like emotion. Might be more likely to do something like that perhaps.
Q: Is Vandin's thing assisting immortals?
A: Part of his thing is organisation, he helps other immortals play well together. With the Fasa and Viali lore, they wouldn't use the term 'leader', or 'king' of the Immortals, but he's the one that gets people together if there's something that needs to be done. Less control freak (though your character can interpret it as that!) more... he's the one that helps mobilise. He's the coordinator/project manager/producer.
Q: Do we have moral authorities for any of the cultures?
A: People are probably most familiar with the Viali positions. Rias doesn't want to use word cleric, but they've got people in specific positions speaking on behalf of the Immortals maybe. Ideas of priests/clerics can lead to certain misinterpretations; he wants it to be clear that none of this is Christianity. The Huecans have people who speak for Toteo, or aspects of Toteo.
Q: Do Immortals have places in their domains where they hang out? like Nereia in the middle of the sea somewhere? or Vandin high in the sky somewhere?
A: It's generally assumed that they all have at least one place that they consider their home. As well as meeting places, places they would all gather.... those are not necessarily accessible to mortals. They're going to be places that mortals might claim to be places like that, weird sites --- "this looks like a place where the Immortals got together!" --- but we don't have details on where these places are exactly. There's a natural tendency for us mere mortals to say that when god-like beings get together, it's somewhere up in the sky. So you might see people saying that too.
Q: In Viali culture is there a high aengel/cerubim from their pantheon?
A: They've got a whole hierarchy of beings, some of the words are scattered around the Immortals pages. It's one of the things he'd love to make a little document around sometime. It's believed that these Immortals have various agents and servants. He doesn't want Viali culture to be the dominant thing, or OOC christian elements dominating how we think about immortals, eg. having tiers of angels, arch-angels. He wouldn't want to lean too heavily on real-world religion. Rias loves real-world religious lore stuff, but wants to keep it separate and to make sure COGG stuff is COGG specific. He also doesn't want to provoke IRL.
Q: This is kind of a weird question that's hard to phrase exactly how I want to: In what ways were early Druidic rituals/powers/etc. different from "modern" (by IC standards) Druidry? Did Druids always use tattoos, or were there ways of interacting and channeling primal forces that predate the tattoo focuses (like a kind of proto-Druidry)?
A: Druidry as we see it in COGG, "Modern Druidry" if you like, was discovered as a common way to establish the Bond. There were Druids at some point who didn't use the tattoos method. There's talk about ancient druidry, talk about people that were able to commune in some way with primal spirits without going through this thing that we see in the game. They tend to involve particular places or sites, that are connected to a primal spirit, and then there are all sorts of rituals they would go through to establish those communications. He's not going into detail because he doesn't necessarily have those details. After ages and ages, we found that this method, the tattooing thing is the best way to take someone and open up that conduit.
Q: Do any of the other cultures on Arad aside from the Huecatn have an analogue to Temicotli, the Way of Dreams or is that unique to them? Or tales of other worlds, astral passageways, etc., that you could share with us?
A: I think there are some similar concepts around that, but nothing that's directly analogous to it.
Q: Has Reykvargr/The Smoke Wolf always been called such, or is that an epithet that was applied to them after "The great spirit was overcome with anger and madness"? Is there a different/other Great Wolf Spirit?
A: That's something that seems to be more attributed (the title, epithet) to that event, that is, whatever event that caused the Smoke Wolf to adopt that outlet ('humanity's gotten out of hand' kind of thing). There are other smoke wolves, e.g. with one of the Giganti clans. That isn't the same as the Faewyr Smoke Wolf.
Q: What's the name of the world, like the planet, I know the continent is Arad or one of them is at least. Is it simply just Gaea or do none druids have a name for it also?
A: Rias has a name for it, but he's not ready to reveal it.
Q: What are your thoughts on people saying aura colors out loud? Particularly things you wouldn't ordinarily know the name to in real life, I.E. Spidersilk-white, Nacreus, etc? Is that just one of those things yuo hand wave for convenience or is there a way in which you wish people referred to such things?
A: The colour's conveyed as part of the aura effect. ESP conveys more information than the voice, something in your head clicks that that colour is **this**. Even if we didn't have an in-game lore reason for it, he'd handwave it. This sort of thing is one of the many reasons Rias doesn't make any attempt to label the game as RPI. He has no problem with people who want to avoid mob names, or colour names directly. Do that if you want, but it's also no problem if you want to use the names you see on the screen.
Q: Does armor enc effect check effect swimming through openings, or is it the type of armor specifically? Example: I'm able to swm at enc 3 weight in one location with scale, but with bone splint at enc 2 was unable.
A: It just means you've got too high of an armor level or you're carrying too much. The skill isn't even being considered, you just can't do it because of that armor, or because of that weight.
Q: A while ago, I was told that armor does impact stealth rolls. Is it a flat penalty, or is there an armor use roll associated with it. Is it possible to be as sneaky with armor as without armor given passing rolls on relevant checks?
A: No, it's just a flat penalty.
Q: Do you have an update on information for Armor chink and armor use?
A: It is planned to have armor skill to reduce chances of armor chink happening to you, not coded in yet.
Q: This is a silly question, but I was curious as to the history behind the glance social emote. When used with no arguments, it shows what our PCs are holding in their hands.
A: It's just what Rias was used to from the MUD he used to play. You can also use the hands command.
Q: Is it still more difficult to Dodge while mounted, or was that removed?
A: Rias doesn't know, it was something carried over from CLOK. It makes a lot of sense... but on the other hand it would suck, because no one would use horses then, perhaps.
C: The trouble with ranged combat in general, is you want it to be balanced. If you stay far away and hit, and never get hit... well, everyone would do it. It's a tough one and kind of goofy. Once someone gets up in your face, at that point realistically you'd be tossing your bow and getting something else. But we're making it a game, so not going to do that. It is a funny misconception, though, that a quick little person should have a bow... archers were strong. Rias likes slings. They hit hard, but they were hard to use.
Q: In The Other Game, I believe it was made explicit that you are gathering ambient nether when channeling. Here, the help files refer to 'channeling and manipulating.' Are sorcerers creating Nether when they channel, and it vanishes when they are no longer channeling? Or is it exclusively gathering ambient nether? Both?
A: I'd say it's conjuring. It's not creating; not it didn't exist and now it exists. It's gathering it up from somewhere, and bringing it into a cohesive form. Conjuring has a little more wiggle room. Kinda both.
Q: There is at least one IC theory that Nether is created by negative emotions (and it seems to be the case with the apparent stories behind the various Nethrim combat zones): do sorcerers require a certain mental or emotional state to channel nether? That is, is a sorcerer who is channeling focusing on the feelings of hate or anger or fear or whatever in order to do so? What role does the focus play in this?
A: It's not required. You can be a happy sorcerer. There are theories that there can be plenty of effects that involve mental focusing, stuff like that. That's more in the theoretical or lesser known/experienced stuff. The focus is frankly mechanics before lore: essentially to have a) a way to fasttrack people to learning sorcery, to make it easier for people and b) also deliberately provide a way to disarm a sorcerer in situations that might demand it. The lore behind the focii is not super hashed out at the moment.
Q: In The Other Game, Nether actively wanted to be used, making it the easiest magic to learn and use (represented mechanically by getting new channels earlier than any others). Related to the above, the need for a Focus seems to have made it less the 'easy magic that wants to be used' as it cannot simply be used by anyone at any time. Is the 'Nether wants to be used' still a thing? How does it manifest, if so? There have been previous posts confirming Nether still seems to have a 'will of its own' and sometimes does its own thing; is using the Nether like trying to ride and steer a wild stallion that needs forced to go where it wants? Is it mostly tame and just sometimes bucks?
A: That's still a concept... it's wanting to be used. There's talk about how it sometimes seems to be doing things on its own. Some people say their technique of using sorcery is working with sorcery, others say they command/tell it to do something. Lore-wise, conceptually, that's all still a thing.
Q: Obligatory "Are there any plans for a cooking module rework coming up?"
A: There are plans but he doesn't know when. Sorry, he knows a lot of people want that.
Q: In the past, you hinted that Arcanists in other places can use other things to draw and the magic chalk just makes it easier. What other things do people use for glyph-writing in lore? Should regular chalk work?
A: There are other sorts of chalk people use for glyphs, but it wouldn't just be regular chalk.
Q: Are there are differences in how one would worship Bogvaskr vs Rahmi?
A: Yes. The Nuum have a lot more focus on the skill of archery and less so on the affinity for wild beasts. Once the Nuum were the Nuum, they didn't really do much in the way of hunting, because of the sites they were able to settle. it was mainly through farming and crops and such; not a whole lot to hunt for out where they are. At the point they became the Nuum, rather than the tribes they came from, hunting wasn't really a thing that happened very often.
Q: Is Muhsin of Tarsu still alive, or is he a historical figure?
A: [T: I think he's dead, right? I can't actually remember the answer. Something like: go look at his statue. I should do that again.]