[Lucian]

So, some how managed to miss this o.O Anyway, My name Three, my character atm is Lucian. He is a Dracovarian/Zanaryan who is going to eventually become a real pain in everyone's neck. Yea, I enjoy playing villains. I also enjoy necromancey, and If I can fins a way to do such a thing here I will. I already have tons of ideas stewing for another character, but for now I'm trying to find the time to start with Lucian. Sadly real life has taken up a LOT of my time the past couple of days, and since I start work tuesday its only gonna get worse =.= joy....

ANYWAY! Its nice to meet you, I hope one day to conquer your world. May Xanth have mercy on your soul. =P in the mean time lets be friends!

EDIT: Well, no one else is online, I don't have the muse to work on my quest(plus Emma said she might join so I'ma wait for that lol) so since I have nothing better I'm gonna ramble on about my character ideas lol.

Lucian has been a lot of fun to plot for in my head. Once he gains some telepathy levels and I can make him a summoner expect some dragon related chaos =P I already have several villainous plans for him. Originally I was going to have his end game be a case of A God am I but I think i'll save that for my second character. Lucian doesn't seem to be that sort of person. He's not the big man in charge, he's a fun loving agent of chaos =P

My second character is gonna serve a dual purpose. First he's gonna be my Karma collector (villains need magic weapons and items!) so I was thinking Xanthian priest, haven't decided what race/class yet. (I've imagined Nymph, Anyeli, and Dracovari. Nymph for the power of Nature, Anyeli for light and healing, Vari for healing and regeneration. I just don't know yet... part of me wants to avoid Dracovari because I may turn him into a vampire later. I have an idea for immortality that involves psychic powers and crystals.) But I also don't know how to go about his vile transformation so that it doesn't feel like I'm trying to steal the idea of Dimitri's war. But I got tons of ideas, including a ritual that "steals Xanth's power to use against her faithful" that would be created using information from ancient religious texts. IDK i have a long way to go before I'm ready to be a super villain. Knowing me I'll mix in some undead somewhere, maybe I'll submit some undead creatures to the bestiary. AND GOLEMS! artificial life forms are always fun lol.

But I have so many fascinating ideas, I just have no clue where to start. And if you read any of that I apologize I just wasted your time. Sorry. Its late and I'm bored lol. And not at all tired. Kinda hungry though.... *submits edits and goes to get food*

[Xanth]

Hiya, Three! I already welcomed you to EF so I'll just jump right into introducing myself, in case I didn't do it properly already. (I'm bad at that. ) My name is Emma and I'm 30 years old (it's recent; feel bad for me ). I'm still getting used to the idea but I don't feel any different, and I can't decide if that's a good thing or not. (It certainly hasn't made me grow up any...) I live in the UK so I'm usually on at different times to most EFers, which sucks, 'cause I love to chat in the cbox and have random post-a-thons. I like crocheting (one of these days I might set up a shop for EF and sell crocheted dragons and stuff. Like, you know. When I learn how to make them and all ), web/graphic design (specifically skinning, and mostly for EF), pixel art, digital art (though I suck at it), fantasy cartography (ditto), worldbuilding and talking to my teddy bears.

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I have a ton of active characters and a few more that have been retired but still pop out once in a while to cause trouble, so you'll never be short on RP partners. My favourite is Kiel, just because he's incorrigibly cheerful and a social butterfly, which makes it so much easier to throw him into threads my other characters would grump about. (Dazadi, my churlish assassin/walking cliche, was notoriously difficult to put in to any kind of social situation — which is largely why she's retired now, so it serves her right. )

My most recent characters are Zozeko (a Zanaryan sailor/pirate) and Jericho (a Peteulani merchant/loan shark). They've both been really tough to get started, the kind of characters that won't shut up until you make them, but then won't talk to you about what they actually want to do once they're made. Zeko actually just made a terrible impression on my Vampire, Piper (another retiree because she's a whiny hydra's head), because his crew practically threw her overboard when they discovered what she was. Now she has to find her way back to "civilisation" the hard way and he's lost a friend/contact/business partner (the merchant who arranged Piper's passage on a ship full of Therians and 'Vari). Neither of them are particularly interested in exploring the potential fall-out from that, though — even though I am! (Do you want to put Lucian on the road from Despina to Nubia and have him attack Piper on her way home? )

I don't really have any long-term plans for any of them, actually, although Maaike (my Therian bounty/head hunter) does have a sort of story arc in that she's out to "cleanse" Elysia of corruption. She's kind of another cliche, an abused housewife-turned-murderer and crusader, but I have fun with her. (Thinking about it, she's kind of a mini-Dazadi, but not as grumpy or temperamental... and she's actually a mother (if only part-time) to her son, rather than just ditching him on the nearest nanny-lookalike. )

I'd definitely be interested in plotting something long-term with you! Lucian, or your next character(s), I'm easy. It'd be interesting to do something with Zozeko's piracy, maybe get him turfed off the ship so he's more available on land for a while, or something to do with his being Zanaryan. If his family lived in Espur, or more characters could get to Marport more easily, we could totally have a mini plot there where they're threatened by local pirates or bandits or something...

And I really want to give Kiel a new purpose now that he has his dragon, but he's just the type to float through life and let the wind buffet him wherever it may. Makes it difficult to put him in a proper storyline, I'll tell you!

Oh, but I'm forgetting the really important one: Faroah. He's a kleptomaniacal mini dragon. I'd be interested in seeing if he could become friends with Lucian, because I could totally see the pair of them getting up to alllllllll sorts of trouble (though we'd have to be careful, because Xanth is Faroah's pet Faroah is Xanth's pet and she keeps an eye on him (for fear of him breaking her world, I think. Totally by accident, of course!).

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Your plans all sound so interesting, I can't wait! Some of them may not work in this setting, though, like the undead: The Shades and the Wraith (ex-Shades) were set up as Xanth's creations, and the background is basically that the dead are dead until she actively interferes. That information's not yet on the wiki, but I explained it recently in a private message as:

Quote

...the wraith were the result of one of Xanth's creations, the Shades (who were, effectively, ghosts), and the "gods" are the only ones with the power to bring things back from the dead. Doing so takes great effort for them since it means messing with the natural order of things, which is why Xanth only ever offered the Shade option to people, and not animals...

... but there'll be ways around it. For instance, Xanth isn't the only "god" in the universe, although she is currently the only one allowed near Elysia. There's also the vlareon, which could be considered a ghost-type... [and] it's naturally-occurring — which means there's room for more such creatures if you are interested in submitting one.

Which is to say that the vlareon isn't actually a ghost, spirit or undead, but it is an ethereal creature with that "ghostly" feel. Technically, Undead aren't possible without Xanth's help, but creatures of that ilk can be added with a bit of wiggling.

PRIEST!!! Xanth say: WOO! Or she would if she weren't, you know, Xanth. (It's funny, 'cause Jericho started out as a priest and then backed out. Xanth was sad to lose a potential minion. ) We'd have to be careful because she can read people, but if he starts out as a good guy and gets twisted, there can be a whole drama!llama period and then an "omg you traitor!" period, followed by a "I'll smite you with a wet fish!" period.

As for not stealing Dimitri's War, well... It happened a while back but Elysians do have long memories, so... yeah. But, he could read about the war and that could plant the seed of his transformation. Maybe he even has delusions of being Dimitri! (Like, the Sect of the Dragon believes he's still alive and will return one day. He's not, but the delusion could be totally fun, and you'd have the whole Sect to play with as his loyal minions. Or he could pretend to be Dimitri returning, and use them like a thing that uses things!)

Also, I'm not sure how the golems and psychically-powered crystals will work in EF, but I'm darned excited to find out!

[Aria]

Hello Three, it’s good to have you here. Villainous characters are always fun, and it sure sounds like you have a lot of cool ideas. Hopefully you can find a way to make them work within the setting; it sounds as though you’ve done a lot of wiki reading already (commendations) so you’ve probably already found the bestiary, herbarium and other wiki areas where player input is allowed (encouraged, even). You can earn trophies for contributing to the wiki, so not only is it fun, and useful to your character plans, but there are shinies involved, too. You can probably tell I like it quite a bit.

My name is Hollie, and Aria is my only character so far. I joined EF back in May but I still haven’t really gotten Aria started properly. I need to throw her into a few more threads, but time is a fickle mistress, and Aria even more so. I don’t have a plan for her, really, she’s just trying to avoid her past. Which I haven’t even written up yet. Oy.

Anyway, as for your ideas. Emma, wasn’t the winning entry for the design a race competition some time ago a kind of zombie race? They were going to be introduced during a plot, I think; perhaps they’ll be around when you develop your second character, Three, to the point where they need the undead. Undead hordes would be darn scary, but interesting writing material. Good thing the EF maturity rating just went up.

Oh, and Golems sound really cool, especially if they were made using psychic crystals, because the destruction of one could provide crystals with interesting new powers, like the power of animation. Maybe a bestiary entry would be best? The Golems could be rare creatures, created using instructions in old (religious?) scriptures and the combined efforts of a wielder of the earth element, and a psychic class? Maybe to notch up the evil rating, the creation of a golem could require a human sacrifice... Hm. Anyway, the best way to start with creature creation is to read what kind of creatures already exist in the bestiary, and look at the map to think about where such a creature could live. Have fun plotting, give me a pm if you need an unsepted ‘Vari (Aria) to be reckless in your thread.

[Xanth]

Oh, yeah, you're right! Liv's Zonbi... I think they were more crack than scary, but I want to brainstorm ways to introduce them when Liv gets back (I'm uncomfortable adding them while she's gone, partly because they need a bit of work to fit the setting with the way the dead/undead are currently reliant on Xanth. But that's something else we could brainstorm ).

For the psychic golem theory, you could use the Peteulani. With high levels of Mind Control they can "possess" people, so the golems could work in a similar fashion? ie, needing someone "behind the wheel"?

[Lucian]

lol long responses are long =P Anyway, so undead are out, but undead like are allowed? I can work with that > As for golems and psychic crystals, I'm gonna try my best to make em fit. If i can I'm gonna avoid "a wizard did it" and just say Xanth was bored and experimenting. PEOPLE EXPERIMENT TO! MWAHAHAHAHAHA! And i'll save that human sacrifice idea for the undead-like creature i have in mind heehee. Also, are there any canon holy texts of Xanth? and if they're aren't, is Xanth the kind of goddess who would have something like that anyway? If i'ma play a religious person turned cult leader(i really like the idea of using the Sect of the Dragon) I'ma need to know how Xanthianity works =P

EDIT: Emma! u ninjad me! lol, I was actually thinkiong of golems being a mortal attempt at making artificial elementals. The crystals would be programed with a sort of AI that would try and stabilize the elements that were being combined by Zanaryans/Nyads but instead of a powerful manipulator of the elements, they got a stone pack mule. or something like that, I'll iron it out when I write the wiki page

[Xanth]

lol *karate chop*

Well, we don't have wizards. And at present, only the deities have the power to manipulate life/death to the extent you'd need for someone to artificially (intentionally or not) create the undead. But, it could be naturally occurring. A mutation of the Bloodlust Virus, perhaps (that could be deliberately manipulated/developed/spread), or just an evolution of the wraith or vlareon or some other creature. I would like to avoid the "Xanth did it" excuse, if only because up to now I've kind of overused it a bit (), so if we can come up with something naturally occurring or that's been "helped along"... Even if it's a creature from Xanth's menagerie that was released into the wild (she does experiment pretty often, but usually her creations are kept in her Temple realm for their own protection. Her experiments wouldn't be with something like life and death, though, just because tearing through that "veil" (for want of a better word) is so draining and potentially disastrous) and discovered by someone who uses it to further their own ends (breeding it with normal creatures for their own experiments, that sort of thing), I now think that's more fun than just saying "Xanth created this. Deal with it".

"Xanthianity", lol. I love it. Well, but I have to admit, the religion side of EF is a bit lacking. I'm pretty sure there'll be a whole bunch of cults and religions diverging from the belief/non-belief that Xanth created the world/universe, and while books are rare I expect the more successful ones (with leaders who could read and write) would have some sort of manifesto or tome. Xanth tries to allow free will, so unless it gets dangerous on a global scale — or for her, personally — she's not likely to interfere. It annoys her to think there are people who are spouting lies and nonsense about her, but she has "more important" things to do and won't actually tell people the truth anyway. To that end, you could add artifacts like The Heretic's Truth (that auction book that I need to check is up on the wiki...) to the glossary, which I could then use in auctions or you could buy from the Prize Shop for your character to find in-game.

Er, so basically... the only aspect of religion I've really put any thought into is the Sect and the Priesthood of Xanth, which are kind of polar opposites, but there are bound to be all kinds of in-betweeners, and that's the beauty of an open setting like this — you can add your own.

For Xanth's personal acolytes (the ones who work for her directly and earn karma for it through the Employment Agency), things are slightly different. She hand picks them, but she can be kind of whimsical about it. If your character has a background as a loyalist, then it'd be fairly easy to throw them in a thread together. If she liked him/her enough, she'd assign him the chore of maintaining her last shrine, and they'd go from there.