Best posts made by Cobalt

@ifrit Hooray! You are the best! This seems to have worked, thank you!

Okay those pieces are in. I'm not mushing right now, but if anyone has any questions, suggestions, or whatever I'd be glad to update this tutorial.

Breaking this out from the other thread, so other ideas can be talked about there as well.

What Is 'Elements: Courts of the Sacred Seed'
(One it's a working title.)

Elements would be an original fantasy game set in a kingdom that built up around a "Sacred Fruit", that is the source of elemental magic within their world. Set in the Capital of the Kingdom, the game would be a splash of political intrigue and adventure against the outside world. Five elemental courts rule together in a typically uneasy peace. This is the Council of Elements.

What Could I Play?
Seeded (magic-noble) or Seedless (non-magic commoner).

Are We Human?
We are mostly human! Humans with magic. People could probably have weird hair and eye colors, maybe even some tapered ears, or teeth, or whatever. Small hints of "fantasy" races, but mostly human.

What are the races/classes?
Society is loosely defined by two castes: Seeded and Seedless. Seeded are effectively nobility, tends to run in the families. Seedless are effectively the common folk, the occasional Seeded is produced but if your family doesn't have magic ... you probably won't have it.

Why "Sacred Seed"?
Magic is worked through mana. There is a plant that produces a rare flower which is believed to be concentrated mana. Creation myths say that a great evil once threatened <insert race name>, and in desperation they sought out these plant which before hand had been poisonous to them. And planted the seed within the hearts (literally) of fifteen or twenty of their greatest warriors. Legend says only five survived, gaining the ability to wield elemental magic... Their children inherited the ability to wield magic, but with every generation the "mana" in their bodies has lessened. So a religion and economy has built around the tending, growing, and preparation of the sacred flower, so that magic may be still be used.

Why the Five Courts?
Legends say that the Founders of the Five Courts were the great-great-great grandchildren of those Legendary Warriors -- the First Seeds. After several generations it became apparent that the families of those legendary warriors were going to be able to spread magic through the entire civilization. But it brought with it chaos and a bit of civil unrest, because not everyone in those families had magic... And common bastards were also born with magic. A hundred years after the First Seeds saved the <insert race> from <insert legendary enemy>, they started a civil war. Commoners using magic to tear down the families that refused to acknowledge them... Until the five strongest of each "element" stepped forward, and created a new system of rule.

Nobility was no longer >fully< a matter of blood and familial lineage, but granted to those who could prove that they were Seeded. Fast forward to present day: The Seeded rule over the Seedless. Each of the five courts guards a garden of the sacred fruit, so that the other courts cannot strip them of power. Being born Seeded means that even if your parents have no magic you are elevated after you prove your magic (though you are looked down upon, and have a lot to prove to the wealthy older families with generations of magic users). ...being born Seedless into a family known to have magic users is worth than death. Many parents will simply cast the child out when it becomes clear they have no magic.

What Are the Courts?
There are five courts and they are:

• The Court of Embers, ruled by the Queen of Fire.
• The Court of the Sea, ruled by the King of the Tide.
• The Court of the Groves, ruled by the Monarch of the Mountain.
• The Court of Frost, ruled by the King of Ice.
• The Court of the Winds, ruled by The Queen of the Sky.

Are All Seeded Just Those Elements?
No! In fact one of the struggles I hope to express is fitting in non-traditional elements into the court-- or attempting to start your own court! Are you someone with control over rain but not standing water? Do you join the Court of the Sea, even though you can't move the tides or even a pond? Or do you join the Court of the Winds, even though you can't cause gales? Do you go Courtless? What do you do?

What is Courtless?
Effectively rogue Seeded. There's a lot of pressure on the Seeded to join a Court at the Age of Majority, because the various rulers don't want anyone trying to take a slice of their pie. But over the ages people with non-traditional elements have tried... Some have even managed to have short lived courts.

Becoming Seeded From Seedless?
Oh, yes, it is possible. The leaders of each court and their trusted second knows ...some of the ritual to Seed someone. However, the majority of people who go through the process die... and the rules are loathe to grant the ritual to anyone. For when you become Seeded directly from the Sacred Flower, rather than being born... Your power is Greater than those born with magic. There are a few historical incidents where someone was Seeded, and then turned around and performed a coup upon the Court Leader that granted them the ritual.

Black Market & Shady Operations
While the Five guard their gardens, it is almost impossible to completely keep anything from the masses completely. There are shady gardens where people grow less pure version of the Sacred Seed and sell it to those who do not want to go through the Courts. Some of these places offer the "Seeded Operation". There is a graveyard in <part of grid city> where bodies are found almost every other month, with gaping holes within their chest and the sacred flower growing out of it...

How Do You Get Mana?
All people -- even the Seedless -- are innately born with a little bit of a Mana (there are terrible cults that will sacrifice Seedless for their untapped Mana). But you have only so much of it ... But you get it back by consuming the fruit of the Sacred Seed. It can be cooked, brewed into a tea, fermented... Eating it raw gives you a lot of mana, but tends to have uncomfortable side affects... Cooking it gives you less but makes the gaining of that mana a little bit easier.

Cults of the Dark Seed
There are two whispered of and feared cults of the Dark Seed. Those that abduct Seedless and sacrifice them for their untapped Mana. Either addicted to the slaughter and dark rituals, or because they cannot bear to eat the Sacred Seed because it is too harsh on their body and so they fall to their only other option: Sacrifice. The second cult is that which gains temporary access to elements other than their innate ones through the cultivation of Tainted Fruit produced from the failed Seeding attempts. ...in fact there are whispers that it's even darker: Some of this cult abduct Seedless and attempt to Seed them just to cultivate these tainted fruits, and gain access to whatever element that person would have had, had they lived.

Who Are The Rulers?
The Five Courts are ruled by the King/Queen/Monarch of <Element>. Their children are Prince/Princess of <Element>. They typically have a "Crown <Element>" which signifies which of their children will take over ruling the court when they retire/die/move to the country/whatever.

Royal Seedless?
Royal Seedless are Rare. Very, very rare. Because their parents tend to cast them out and immediately work on having a child to replace them, sometimes going as far to name that new child the same name. Or, in other cases when it becomes public knowledge that a Queen/King has produced a Seedless, they are usurped by their political rivals. It is used as proof that that bloodline is failing and a new one must be put in place. This is normally a cadet branch of their family, or even a first cousin-- sometimes even a sister or a brother. Very, very rarely does a King or Queen produce a Seedless child, keep them, AND manage to keep their Crown.

New Seeded?
What happens if you come from a Seedless family and are found to be Seeded? You petition to join a court-- typically one that aligns with your element. And they granted you the title of Seeded. Unless you do something very impressive all you are granted is this title, and a small sum of money to establish yourself within the Seeded District... If you do something impressive, have some political allies, or somehow manage to climb the rungs... You might be granted land, a higher title (say Baron, or Count, until I think of some other term). In other terms: Being a new Seeded from a Seedless family is like a commoner being granted the title of "lord" but not being granted land or any holdings. They're given enough money to move into the nobles area, but probably in the poor nobles quarter of it...

What is the name of the Sacred Fruit?
I don't know, maybe just something cliche like 'Manafruit'. small hand gestures I'll think of something!

What Happens When You Eat The Fruit?
Depends on if you're eating it raw or eating it cooked! If you eat it raw you get >a lot< of mana, I'm sure that'll have some mechanics by it once we start working on mechanics. But it also tends to fuck with you. Eating it raw damages your body, and probably gets you high as fuck. It is akin to eating opium raw. Doing a little bit of it is fine, doing a lot of it could lead to your body shutting down. Now, if it's cooked, however. You can take more of it. It provides you with less mana, but it's far less harsh on your body-- also it tastes better.

How Is It Prepared?
The Fruit is a bit like a Citron / Buddha's Hand. It's mostly pith. Since it's mostly pith and skin the most common practice is to candy it or infuse it into broths, alcohol, or tonics. There is, however, a very small center that is full of your more typical citrus fruit. That center is very, very aromatic and highly sought after. It is where the majority of the mana resides. However, the pith and skin can be utilized for it as well. The center of the Fruit will often be cultivated in large quantities for the most elite Seeded, and the less fortunate ones may buy the pith and skin off of those cooks for their own house holds. More economically mindful houses will utilize all of it. Using the center for the heads of the house, and then the pith and skin either candied or infused into something for their children and any Seeded associates.

Can Seedless Eat The Fruit?
Yes, too much of it gives them a mild headache. Otherwise it has not effect on them.

Chefs Are Legend
Because the world revolves around this fruit to regain mana (unless you're sacrificing people, gross)... Becoming a Chef is for the Seeded is one of the way that the Seedless gain prestige and standing within the world. It is a High High Honor to be a chef for a great house. There is a very prestigious school within the capital that teaches people who to cook, and specifically how to work the fruit into their dishes.

@Ifrit helped me figure out the issue, and got me set up with a screen up (derpderp) so I don't have to try and stay permaconnected to the droplet.

@Coin said:

@Cobaltasaurus
Why? LOL.

In part because I find it stupid. And in part because my ex-husband decided I should like it, and wouldn't accept that I didn't. Or at the very least thought it was funny to annoy me by shouting, "JUICY!" at random times.

I also cannot stand XKCD because of my ex-husband. Again, "No I don't like this" was not respected, and so I'd get GO LOOK AT XKCD RIGHT NOW! GO LOOK! GO GO GO LOOK!

>_<

So far we have talked about hybrid seeds, sondunno yet.

also I’d strongly suggest people not put too much effort into characters they wanna play yet. >_> we have a lot for the world we still need to develop and it’s changing as things fall into place.

Also, we’re trying not to be Diet Avatar.

@griatch Yeah, that's what we ended up doing doing a screen. The problem was that one of the times that I had to restart the game, for some reason loading up pyenv reinstalled it, rather than activating it. So... I had two of them, and one didn't work.

@Darinelle You are bad and you should feel bad.

While I appreciate the input, this particular thought-thread doesn't really align with my particular design and/or goals. I'm not too worried about leaving exiled nobles alive-- @Coin and I have even discussed two different types of "attainder" one being willing and the other being unwilling. We'll write into theme what happens: re-succession issues with Seedless nobles who try to reclaim the throne, or their Seeded descendants (that was actually one of the things I remarked on about it being a thing that happens, and I like the idea of it happening and don't want to write it out as a possibility).

stares blankly at code I made this?

@stabby said in Kay's Playlist: Crucible City (first one),TR & HM & Darkwater etc:

@kay said in Kay's Playlist: Crucible City (first one),TR & HM & Darkwater etc:

Another update! RIP Darkwater II, it was good to know ye, and hello brainstorming OC superhero games.

So what do I need to do to to get you, @Flitcraft, and @Cobaltasaurus into joining Aud and I over at Fate's Harvest? I'm not above bribery.

If you convince @Flitcraft and @Kay, I'll drag myself through chargen.

@rucket Chugging along, I'm working at spending 1-2hrs every day (that I'm not working), working on either theme or code stuff. I spent a good chunk of that the last time breaking a part a terrible scary giant page into smaller more manageable ones.

Currently I'm working on creating duchies for each of the courts, and then fleshing out the NPCs and rosters for those duchies, and then so on.

@Coin has been caught up with midterm stuff, but we're still plugging away at our system mechanics.

I was going to do it once-- even back before nWoD 2.0 was announced. I asked for people to help me with the data entry and got crickets. I think the only person that responded to being willing to do any data entry was @Misadventure. Since no one wanted to help me, I figured people didn't want WoD In A Box that bad, and went on my mercurial way to something else.

(@Misadventure is pretty much the only person I can think of off the top of my head who is pretty much always willing to help me with data entry. @Sanguine might be too, but that came after I'd long since given up on the idea of giving people code.)

Fun fact:

I have mortal, vampire, werewolf, and demon working (I think) on a fresh install running on Darkwater. I could share the db with people if they wanted. I've just never tested the chargen to make sure anything works.

@faraday said in Calaveras: Adult Fiction Drama MU:

So what is the actual drama? Are there any plots or just hanging out?

Most of my RP as Briony is interpersonal stuff, but I have a terrible schedule. Although, once I get used to my schedule I do want to start trying to run medical drama plots.

Age Restriction:
You are required to be at least 18-years-old to play on Sacred Seed. All characters must be emotionally and physically of 18-years or older.

Alts:
Players are allowed one Seeded and one Seedless. Your alts may not benefit each other in any way.

PvP vs Consent:
Generally speaking Character Death PvP must be justified. One must make a clear case as to why the only option is to kill another player’s character, rather than engage in another form of conflict. Players are encouraged to engage in politics, resource denial, and (ic) social campaigns against their enemies rather than to kill them. This isn’t a consent game, you do not need consent to (icly) make life hell for another character, but you do need to make certain you are exhausting all other options before taking another character out of play forever. This is not limited just to Character Death but also imprisonment, banishment, etc. That being said if all other options are exhausted the player’s consent is not required. Staff will adjudicate as needed.

Sexual RP:
Sexually explicit RP needs to be kept off of the public grid. Please do that in your private rooms where someone isn’t likely to accidentally stumble upon your RP.

Rape RP
No. Staff has a zero tolerance policy on rape RP. If two players are found to be engaging in rape RP they will be asked to leave the game. If one player is trying to pursue rape RP that player will be asked to leave. Do not tolerate anyone pushing that sort of RP at you, contact staff immediately and it will be dealt with.

Player Conduct:
Be kind to each other. Try not to be rude, hurtful, or otherwise inconsiderate of other players. Sexually explicit or heavily innuendo banter is not allowed on public channels. Nor is excessive swearing. Public channels should be kept “Safe For Work” as much as possible. (When sharing links please label them as NSFW if they are in fact not safe for work). Hate speech of any kind will not be tolerated either on channels, ooc talk, or in pages. Harassment of other players will not be tolerated. Don’t be a jerk, don’t be a creep. Staff is the judge of what has gone too far.

Staff Conduct:
Staff will be considerate and respectful to players. That is not to say that staff will tolerate abuse from players but neither will we dish it out. Staff is expected to follow the same guidelines as players for conduct. But adding onto that while staff should be active with NPCs — both protagonist and antagonists — these NPCs will not be used to benefit certain players over others unduly, nor will those who are in romantic relationships be used to engage in on-screen sexually explicit RP. (Such as Sera being married to Elijah, while Sera is an NPC and Elijah is a roster PC there will be no on screen sex between the two, even for private RP between the two). On the subject of staff’s personal characters: They are not required to tell people who their PCs are, but they are expected not to handle any staff business on those characters. They are expected to go through the same application process of as everyone else.

It's ... been a long time since I bothered locking a channel. So uh, I'm trying to remember.

I think you need to do: @cpflags channel=!join

Blrblr. I'm working full time right now and pretty tired most of the time. So I'm going to go into a kinda semi-MU retirement. I have my characters on Arx (Lys and Clover), and will be sticking with them but gonna give up the ghost on the couple of other places I peek in occasionally.

40-45hrs a week, and then the possibility of 50+hrs a week is a little more than I can handle and being super active in this hobby.

Thanks for all the fish, memories, and fun times.

@pyrephox said in Development Thread: Sacred Seed:

@cobaltasaurus ...and now I'm scared. Good job!

I do have an actual question, though: Do you plan to support 'foreign' PCs as concepts, or keep PCs to native concepts? My personal preference would be for the latter, since I think it's much harder to keep people to theme when you have half a dozen foreigners running around who don't have a very good connection to their 'home' culture, but I can definitely see an argument (especially for intrigue) in having at least ambassadors/etc. represented by PCs who can be around and active more often than an NPC would manage.

Right now, it's the latter.

The Metelians due to a history where they are believed to have poisoned the Queen of the Court of Ice (a now defunct court) are not allowed landfall on In Hortia. So they don't have any ambassadors. "But what about traders?" one might ask-- well it would be difficult to play a Metelian trader because they're restricted to their boats and as far onto the docks as is needed to unload stuff. Otherwise, they aren't allowed to come ashore.

The Akujin are even more reclusive and isolationist. There could potentially be ambassadors at some point but they would likely be NPCs. They especially wouldn't be people with their powers as PCs. I might consider refugee concepts from Akujin but they'd end up being effectively Seedless.

The Airendi are nightmarish cannibals.

Hello! Here is code for you if you want it. It's about 99% done. It'll work well as it is, there's just one command I haven't finished yet. I'll update here when I do. You can change the categories you think your game might support via changing &data.categories prco=category1.category2.category3.etc. And then the code needs no other updates.

// help files
// +prefs - show your own prefs - done
// +prefs * - show someone else's prefs - done
// +prefs/list - show what categories the game provides - done
// +prefs/set <category>=# - rank this pref
// +prefs/note <set a note of your prefs>
// +prefs/find <category> - find all people who have that category of at least 3+ stars.
// categorys: action, adventure, casual, comedy, conflict, mystery, public, romance, social
// to set up your own categories do the follow: &data.categories prco=category1.category2.category3.etc

@create +Prefs Code Object <PrCO>
@set prco=inherit
&data.categories prco=action.adventure.casual.comedy.conflict.mystery.public.romance.social
&c.+prefs prco=$+prefs:@pemit %#=[setq(p, pmatch(%#))]
	[if(hasattr(%qp, _prefs.ratings),
		[header([name(%qp)]'s +Prefs)]%r
		[u(fn.displayprefs, %qp)]%r
		[if(hasattr(%qp, _prefs.note),
			%r%r[ansi(h, Note)]: [u(%qp/_prefs.note)]%r
			)]
		[footer()],
		[alert(+Prefs, alert)] You have not set up +prefs yet! See +help +prefs for help.
	)]
&c.+prefs_other prco=$+prefs *:@pemit %#=[setq(p, pmatch(%0))]
	[if(%qp,
		[if(hasattr(%qp, _prefs.ratings),
			[header([name(%qp)]'s +Prefs)]%r
			[u(fn.displayprefs, %qp)]%r
			[if(hasattr(%qp, _prefs.note),
				%r%r[ansi(h, Note)]: [u(%qp/_prefs.note)]%r
			)]
			[footer()],
			[alert(+Prefs, alert)] [name(%qp)] has not set up +prefs.
		)],
		[alert(+Prefs, alert)] I can't find player '%0'.  Please check your spelling.
	)]

&fn.displayprefs prco=[setq(r, get(%0/_prefs.ratings))]
	[iter(sort(u(data.categories), a, .), 
		[ljust(
			ansi(
				h, [capstr(%i0)]:
			), 
		15)]
		%b
		[u(fn.dispref, %qr,%i0)],
		.
		,%r
		)]

&fn.dispref prco=[repeat(
			*, 
			after(
				graball(%0, %1*, .), 
			:)
		)]

&c.+prefs/list prco=$+prefs/list:@pemit %#=[header(Available +Pref Categories)]%r
			[itemize(
				iter(
					sort(
						u(data.categories), a, . , .
					), 
					[capstr(%i0)], 
					., .
				), .
			)].%r
			[footer()]

//this is poop!
&c.+prefs/set prco=$+prefs/set *=*:@pemit %#=[setq(p, pmatch(%#))]
			[if(u(fn.iscat?, %0),
				[if(and(lte(%1, 5), gte(%1, 0)),
					[if(u(fn.hascat?, %qp, %0),
							[alert(+Prefs)] Changing %0 to %1.[set(%qp, _prefs.ratings:[setdiff(get(%qp/_prefs.ratings), [graball(get(%qp/_prefs.ratings), %0*, .)], .)].%0:%1)],
							[alert(+Prefs)] Setting %0 to %1.[set(%qp, _prefs.ratings:[get(%qp/_prefs.ratings)].%0:%1)]
					)],
						
					[alert(+Prefs, alert)] You tried to set '%1'.  You must set a rating of 0 to 5.
				)],
				[alert(+Prefs, alert)] I'm sorry but '%0' is not a category.  Check +prefs/list for available categories.
				)]

&fn.iscat? prco=[if(graball(u(data.categories), %0*, .),
		1,
		0
		)]
&fn.hascat? prco=[if(graball(get(%0/_prefs.ratings), %1*, .),
		1,
		0
		)]
		

&c.+prefs/note prco=$+prefs/note *:@pemit %#=[setq(p, pmatch(%#))][alert(+prefs)] Setting your Prefs Note to [setr(n, secure(%0))].[set(%qp, _prefs.note:%qn)]

&C.+PREF +Prefs Code Object <PrCO>=$+pref:@force %#=+prefs
&C.+PREF_OTHER +Prefs Code Object <PrCO>=$+pref *:@force %#=+prefs %0
&C.+PREF/SET +Prefs Code Object <PrCO>=$+pref/set *=*:@force %#=+prefs/set %0=%1
&C.+PREF/NOTE +Prefs Code Object <PrCO>=$+pref/note *:@force %#=+prefs/note %0
&C.+PREF/NOTE_CLEAR +Prefs Code Object <PrCO>=$+pref/note:@force %#=+prefs/note
&C.+PREFS/NOTE_CLEAR +Prefs Code Object <PrCO>=$+prefs/note:@pemit %#=[setq(p, [pmatch(%#)])][alert(+Prefs, alert)] Clearing your note it was:%R[get(%qp/_prefs.note)][set(%qp, _prefs.note:)]

&c.+prefs/find prco=$+prefs/find *:@pemit %#=[if(u(fn.iscat?, %0), [header(+Prefs/Find: %0)]%r%b[columns(squish(iter(filter(fil.hasprefs, lwho()), if(gte([after(graball([get(%i0/_prefs.ratings)], %0*, .), :)], 3), [name(%i0)]: [u(fn.dispref, [get(%i0/_prefs.ratings)], %0)]~))), 20, ~, 0)]%rThese are all the people [ansi(h, currently connected)] with %0 at 3+.%r[footer()], [alert(+prefs, alert)] Sorry %0 is not a category.  Check +prefs/list.)]

&fil.hasprefs prco=FIL.HASPREFS: hasattr(%0, _prefs.ratings)

You can c/p this into Muxify and then be able to c/p it onto your game.

added aliases so you can do +pref/<stuff>.

Also +pref/note by itself will now clear your note.