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Races and such
Topic Started: Jul 31 2008, 03:33 PM (811 Views)
Wingless
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Slave
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Are there a list of canon races of this world?

And, specifically, is this world called Abydos? Or is that just the name of the board itself?
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forget me not
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Slave
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I have a character I would like to play every now and again who is a demon of the underworld. For the most part he will be an NPC, but occasionally I'll have him in his own topic. Is this all right?
Fear
And the panic in the air
I want to be free
From desolation and despair
And I feel
Like everything I sow
Is being swept away
Well I refuse to let you go

~Muse

dramatis personć <<forget-me-not>>
at your service

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Ričle
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Demons are fine... basically any fantasy race is fine. There isn't a list of canon races. No robots or aliens, I guess? If you have questions about something specific you can ask :)

The board name wasn't meant to be the name of the world. Originally the board had a science fiction section in addition to the fantasy section, and I thought that an Egyptian theme was nice and neutral... so I wound up naming the board Abydos (there are a few other lingering Egypt things, like the Shrine of Thoth.. but I kinda like that ^_^). I considered re-naming the board, but that might not be a good idea since the board URL would have to change completely.

Shae and I bounced around some ideas for the world name and the best we came up with was Elumintir (I forget what that means, but it's Sindarin for somethingorother). I dunno if I like it much, but if you guys do like it and want to call the world that, go ahead :) Whatever catches on is ok with me.
>> Ričle's Characters | Imlandris | Topic History

Active topics:
Into the Frying Pan (Nemaisare, honu'wahine)
The Windblown Seed (Kedros)
Murmurs in the Crystal Rain (AOC)
Weary Feet Find No Rest (Eruraina, Nemaisare)

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Wingless
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Slave
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Alrightie. Thanks Rie. For now I'll probably just called it Elumintir, but if you decided to change that let us know.
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Tchar'zanek
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Well, this is just opinion, but I really think there should be some sort of standardized list of races. Something that gives us some boundaries to work within but still gives a variety. I've always found existential races like demons and angels rather annoying to roleplay with, because they're used quite frequently and always tend to have the same backgrounds. Something that makes the world a little more mundane would be great.

If the world is meant to be Tolkien-esque, as I've heard it called before, then I think there should be a small amount of playable races with the other, more rare races, remaining as NPC's. By small amount, I mean more common races like Elves, Dwarves and Halflings. It gives a sense of standardization to the world and would make it easier for character interaction. Races like Demons or anything from other planes should be encountered once in a blue moon, at the very most.
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Ričle
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The idea is that people can do what they want (within the Fantasy setting). You aren't obligated to role play with characters or races that you don't want to.
>> Ričle's Characters | Imlandris | Topic History

Active topics:
Into the Frying Pan (Nemaisare, honu'wahine)
The Windblown Seed (Kedros)
Murmurs in the Crystal Rain (AOC)
Weary Feet Find No Rest (Eruraina, Nemaisare)

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Tchar'zanek
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Ričle,Jul 31 2008
08:13 PM
The idea is that people can do what they want (within the Fantasy setting). You aren't obligated to role play with characters or races that you don't want to.

Oh I get that. I was just saying that, I personally, feel like boundaries on races could only be a good thing. It doesn't necessarily stem creativity as it makes people have to adapt their characters more to be different from the pack. Actually, I'd say it increases creativity, which would be something good to add to a writing board such as this.

In terms of not roleplaying with characters I don't like, that's what I'm currently doing.
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Cathartic
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Quote:
 
It doesn't necessarily stem creativity as it makes people have to adapt their characters more to be different from the pack


Any lore constraints limit creativity, as I see it. Though I do agree that without a list to think about, some players will turn to the all too popular celestial-hybrid heritages for their characters. Still, with the standard of writing Abydos seeks to maintain, that hardly seems a problem.

On a more practical note, I think I read somewhere that Ričle is here to write, not to play admin. Considering how much disagreement and heated discussion the mere proposal of having a set race list would cause, I doubt she'd be willing to implement it.

On a personal side, I don't like the idea, if only because it would block any future attempts to come up with a refreshing, original race.

Also, I wonder why you think Demons should be encountered only once in a blue moon, and Elves/Dwarves in far lesser numbers than humans? Because as far as I know, there is no canon demography for this world (yet). :)
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forget me not
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Slave
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Well, would more than one infernal realm be okay? For instance, my particular character Hell Knight Sarimur owes allegiance to it's higher up, Lord Arioch, who in turn owes allegiance to Lucifer. At the moment, I plan to include a civil war going on in this particular Hell realm, with nods to Michael Moorcock and Neil Gaiman.

I don't need to have all of this stuff, but it would be incredibly useful to Sarimur's character. In short, it's whole idea (and that of Arioch / Lucifer's faction] is strength though obedience. Arioch may make a brief cameo once in a while, but Sarimur needs to have access to this kind of information for it's internal monologue and decision making process.
Fear
And the panic in the air
I want to be free
From desolation and despair
And I feel
Like everything I sow
Is being swept away
Well I refuse to let you go

~Muse

dramatis personć <<forget-me-not>>
at your service

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Kaeldurn
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Cathartic,Jul 31 2008
09:13 PM
Quote:
 
It doesn't necessarily stem creativity as it makes people have to adapt their characters more to be different from the pack


Any lore constraints limit creativity, as I see it. Though I do agree that without a list to think about, some players will turn to the all too popular celestial-hybrid heritages for their characters. Still, with the standard of writing Abydos seeks to maintain, that hardly seems a problem.
------

Limitations to lore forces a player to come up with better ways to create characters, rather than merely splashing the same tired bull on, over, and over, and over. I can think over about 2 dozen demons, half-demons and angels off the bat, I can only list 3 Dwarves who were impressive.

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On a more practical note, I think I read somewhere that Ričle is here to write, not to play admin. Considering how much disagreement and heated discussion the mere proposal of having a set race list would cause, I doubt she'd be willing to implement it.
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If you think that this is a major issue, you've obviously never seen one. Also, whether or not Riele wants to *be* an admin or not isn't in question. She is one, and the responsibility falls to her, since she doesn't have moderators.

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On a personal side, I don't like the idea, if only because it would block any future attempts to come up with a refreshing, original race.
-----

Alright, well, personally, I think that all of the "Original and Refreshing" races I have seen unveiled so far are the same trite crap you can find canned up in your average writer.

Also, just because the list doesn't include the race doesn't mean it can't be potentially added.

----
Also, I wonder why you think Demons should be encountered only once in a blue moon, and Elves/Dwarves in far lesser numbers than humans? Because as far as I know, there is no canon demography for this world (yet). :)
----

Why? Because they're *demons*, denizens of a hellish plane that is nowhere near the same as ours. To have them be normal to our plane would cheapen their meaning and abilities. Elves and Dwarves are also commonly less numerous than humans, as they're considered "Older" races (normally).
And the beast was given a mouth, from which is spoke great lies and blasphemies, and forth from it's mouth death itself shall spill. --- And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that cometh forth from the abyss shall make war with them, and their God, and all shall fall to silence, and ash.
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Tchar'zanek
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Cathartic,Jul 31 2008
09:13 PM
Also, I wonder why you think Demons should be encountered only once in a blue moon, and Elves/Dwarves in far lesser numbers than humans? Because as far as I know, there is no canon demography for this world (yet). :)

That's just it though, there is no demographic. What we need is some sort of official ruling on a general number of races or the common amounts of different races present in this world. A list like this would allow people to see the more common races and make races inside that boundary, forcing people to play their characters differently from others, instead of making the actual character unique (I hope you get what I mean by this). It also doesn't mean you necessarily HAVE to make a character from the lsit of races, you could be able to PM Riele or somebody else who she appoints to "Racial Moderator" (Potential development which probably won't happen) to see if a character race would be ok, maybe even have it added to the list if you plan on making a kingdom or city or something.

As said before, somebody could be appointed to the compilation of the list. If Riele wants to write over administrate, then delegate it somebody else. The beauty of being a leader is that you can get others to do your work for you.

I'm going to have to disagree with you about constraints limiting creativity. They do, but it's the kind of creativity that leads to cliche'd characters and Mary Sues. Personally, I'd rather have something that keeps characters mundane to make people differentiate themselves through actual characters rather than through races and crazy appearances.
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Aloric
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As long as someone makes a character they want to make and plays it well, I don't care what they are. Race is just another layer of characterization that we can pile on. I may or may not interact with certain races or characters, but this is only because they may not mesh with my character or the story I'm trying to tell. But I can enjoy reading about them, and I wouldn't want to stop people from doing something they're good at. I don't think we should let something like race limit us.
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Tírthand
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I agree wholeheartedly with Aloric. I play who I want, that's the point of this board, and you should, too. You guys are almost treating it as if it was a game, but it isn't, it's role-playing. There's no G in RP with Abydos. XD

And with terms of people not being original enough, that gives me an excuse to use that certain characteristic, whether it'd be half-breed angel/demon or some other "cliché" race, and make him/her as unique and enjoyable as possible.
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Dark Wraith
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I have to agree with Al on this one. The idea of "forcing" people to play races deemed as "normal" or "mundane" in the hopes of spurring creativity is based on the assumption that the person playing the outlandish race is uncreative. Besides, in a fantasy realm, is anything really mundane or normal? That's the beauty of writing fantasy, and why I enjoy it so much. "Normal" is whatever you chose to make it. If I say that my little world is filled with blue-skinned, three-eyed giants, then a "normal, mundane" human becomes incredibly outlandish. Normality is subjective.

On the subject of demons, how are we to know how inter-planar travel works? There aren't any rules set about it. The dimensions can be as close together or far apart as we chose to make them, because it's our world to craft, collectively. Demons and angels, and other beings from other planes, can be as prevalent or rare as we make them. That's one of the things that intrigued me about this forum in the first place; the idea that the RPers would be crafting the world as they went along.

Any fuss over the demography of the forum really won't affect how people play their characters or what types of races they chose to play. Trust me. On Arda, the place was over-run with demons, angels, half-demons, half-angels, half-dragons, and some especially strange mixes that brought up logistical questions that no one cared to delve into. Yet, according to the big, official race list, these were not supposed to be prevalent races; the "normal" race was humans. People will usually play characters that are part of a minority because rarity is an attractive quality in a character.
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Wingless
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Damn. I didn't mean to start a huge debate about race. XD
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