Black Dawn [OOC/Info/Interest]

by **Antemyst** » Wed Jul 13, 2011 5:19 pm

Okie, thanks. My condolences and best wishes, love.

For everyone else- my characters, as per the TG:

*@Melkor- If anything above differs from the TG, it's because I don't learn from other people's experiences and didn't save the version I sent you. Yours would be the correct one.

by **Allanea** » Wed Jul 13, 2011 8:07 pm

I've spoken to Melkor on IRC, but some clarifications before IC posts commence.

It's like this. Allanea will eventually become involved on a grander national scale, but at first our involvement will be cautious and limited effectively to the activities of one man:

Nicolae Carpathia,, the nation's top spy. This is your stereotypical spymaster, perpetually in a state of annoyance due to the fact that Allanea's espionage agencies are inadequately staffed, and lacking in proper skills and mindset. He feels he is constantly surrounded by fools and incompetents. He will have no understanding of the true scale of events until they become blatantly obvious - as I understand they will - and will be working to establish contact with other nations that have a good relationship with Allanea to try and work out a plan.

Other characters will make their appearance as the thread evolves, and will be also introduced here.

by **New Naggoroth** » Sun Jul 17, 2011 12:30 pm

Ah, been a busy couple of weeks. I had intended to post here awhile ago, but stuff happened, blah blah blah. Anyways, wanted to express interest in participating, assuming it isn't too late. Naggorothi assets are extra-solar, and it's unlikely that direct military involvement will occur, though some limited involvement would likely happen, as the interests is there because the government has been trying to make friends with the Dominion and the NDA. Unsure about characters just yet, but that will sort itself out later.

by **Melkor Unchained** » Mon Jul 18, 2011 7:29 am

Alright, alright, I guess I need to clear something up. I'm getting some players (NN, you're not the only one--I don't mean to single you out, and yes that's fine you can still join) who want to join but don't want to "get involved militarily."

While I won't prevent people from trying to avoid military intervention, that's going to be more or less impossible in the long run. Morgy won't just be fighting one or two selected powers, he'll be fighting everyone. I worry that some players don't understand this. From my earlier posts:

Melkor Unchained wrote:As far as military and economic assets are concerned, I have an 'all in' policy. By this I mean to say that all players should accept the possibility of complete military and/or economic destruction as the result of events in the story and the nations' actions relevant to them. If Arda is overwhelmed, for instance, Morgoth may move on to other targets. I won't give away much about the story in advance, but everyone (particularly the anti-Morgoth faction) should be prepared to take some serious losses/setbacks in the early parts especially. I personally will be killing off characters of my own and depending on how they react to events other players' characters should be in similar jeopardy. As a general rule, I will gauge their survival potential based mostly on combat ability and/or their political maneuvering skills, or on whatever other strengths and applications they might be using in the story.

[...]I will try my best to honor all claims however there is one consideration that I must make explicit: I will not have Morgoth's strategic reach be limited in any way by OOC constraints. I hope this principle also exists on a player-to-player level but that's probably out of my control.

[...]Part of the reason I walked away from my first attempt at RPing Morgoth in NS had to do with the fact that I felt he was being hemmed in by OOC considerations: I couldn't actually be in character because my character wanted to do things to other people/nations that the players had no interest in writing. So now I'm trying to use him more as an NPC, but I'm going to need everyone to work with me if I'm going to make him a believable and competent villain.

Melkor Unchained wrote:Players don't have to RP a war if they don't want, but some manner of conflict will be going on off-camera at pretty much all times. I won't give too much away, but I can see it being difficult for governments to justify military non-involvement once Morgoth's fleet begins to appear. As much or as little fighting can occur off-camera as you like, and some nations will be affected more than others but one of my main themes here is the sheer pervasiveness of Morgoth's evil: everyone will be affected, and in most cases, violence will be involved. His main focus will be Arda of course, but it will become pretty clear early on that Morgoth doesn't have any problems with raining death on all and sundry.

I guess what I'm saying here is that if you join the story, you've pretty much been dragged into a war whether you want one or not--although that won't be evident at first. There won't be much room on the fence for sittin' in this scenario!

(bold added)

I know a lot of you guys probably don't want a war, but that's kind of the point and one of my themes. If you super duper really really truly don't want to write military stuffs, don't join this RP. I don't necessarily mean for it to deal predominantly with armed combat, but "I don't want to be involved militarily" is an OOC limitation the likes of which I'm not interested in dealing with if only for the simple reason that it makes the story too easy and lets people mess with Morgy more or less consequence-free (see for reference, 2003-2005). If the threat of war/annihilation does not exist for the characters or the reader, the story will lose impact.

by **Spirit of Hope** » Mon Jul 18, 2011 11:15 am

I'm asking this as a hypothetical, would Morgoth be having alliances with countries? By this I mean could we form an alliance with him? I would just like to know, because this would open up now possibilities in the RP.

by **Midlonia** » Mon Jul 18, 2011 11:19 am

One would assume yes, especially as Arda used to be an alliance in and of itself.

by **Melkor Unchained** » Mon Jul 18, 2011 11:21 am

Spirit of Hope wrote:I'm asking this as a hypothetical, would Morgoth be having alliances with countries? By this I mean could we form an alliance with him? I would just like to know, because this would open up now possibilities in the RP.

Yeah, for sure. He might not be particularly scrupulous about honoring them, but it's certainly worth a shot. He's not an "equal partner" kind of guy, though.

by **Trivval** » Sun Jul 24, 2011 5:53 am

Hmm. This looks interesting. I'm tagging my intrest here to get involved later on - not as a nation, maybe a Trader from outsystem, single ship, etc? Whatever avenue opens up should be fine.

by **Melkor Unchained** » Sun Jul 24, 2011 8:38 am

Trivval wrote:Hmm. This looks interesting. I'm tagging my intrest here to get involved later on - not as a nation, maybe a Trader from outsystem, single ship, etc? Whatever avenue opens up should be fine.

Sounds good to me, but the character(s) should be at least nominally affiliated with (say, born in) an extant nation. The reason for this is because otherwise it'd be too easy for players to say "well, I'll just have them go back to my nation, which technically isn't participating in the RP" if his/her characters find themselves in a particularly tight spot. I'm not saying I think you'll do this, just that it's a door I want to make sure everyone knows is closed. No one has to RP as a nation if they don't want to, but the characters you create should have some ties to one nationality or another.

by **Kaenei** » Sun Jul 24, 2011 11:17 pm

I'm in.

by **Trivval** » Mon Jul 25, 2011 12:58 am

Melkor Unchained wrote:
Trivval wrote:Hmm. This looks interesting. I'm tagging my intrest here to get involved later on - not as a nation, maybe a Trader from outsystem, single ship, etc? Whatever avenue opens up should be fine.

Sounds good to me, but the character(s) should be at least nominally affiliated with (say, born in) an extant nation. The reason for this is because otherwise it'd be too easy for players to say "well, I'll just have them go back to my nation, which technically isn't participating in the RP" if his/her characters find themselves in a particularly tight spot. I'm not saying I think you'll do this, just that it's a door I want to make sure everyone knows is closed. No one has to RP as a nation if they don't want to, but the characters you create should have some ties to one nationality or another.

I was actually intending them to be relatively unaffiliated - perhaps I can make them voidborn to remove the 'going home' door. What is the status of AI in the time this is set? I was thinking I could RP as one for part of it until I kill all my chaps off/after I kill them off. Was also aiming for the ship itself to be somewhat a Q-Ship, perhaps - seeing as other ships are suffering FTL Drive problems (I think?) - Limping in system after being caught in a fight and unable to jump out of the area.

If anyone here is fine with me having my characters come from your nation, just let me know and give me a little information about them so I don't mess up with the culture/etc.

by **Antemyst** » Mon Jul 25, 2011 10:55 am

I'd be cool with them being from Antemyst. It's pretty basic culture-wise, but you should know that mutants do exist in Antemyst (your charries wouldn't have to be mutants, though). I'll send you more info if you like and if Melk OKs it.

by **Melkor Unchained** » Mon Jul 25, 2011 1:18 pm

Antemyst wrote:I'd be cool with them being from Antemyst. It's pretty basic culture-wise, but you should know that mutants do exist in Antemyst (your charries wouldn't have to be mutants, though). I'll send you more info if you like and if Melk OKs it.

That's fine, or I don't mind if they're voidborn and just have something to do with Antemyst background-wise; maybe the character(s) have family there, or they spent some time there themselves or the like.

As per his other questions: AI use is not rare, but anything you could have a conversation with might still be limited to military vessels and the excessively wealthy. As to your concept I have to think about it; I'll get back to you or append my thoughts in an edit after work.

UPDATE:

@Trivval: I didn't have time to articulate this on my way out the door earlier, but I'm not sure I understand the concept behind your AI and the relationship (or lack thereof?) it would have with your other characters. Another thing that worries me is that you've apparently already decided to kill some of them off on your own. That's fine if that's what you want to do, but those people wouldn't be "characters" really so much as they'd be redshirts. I obviously won't say "players can't kill their own characters," but at the same time I don't want people to go overboard with it either. I don't want people to think that if they kill an egregious amount of characters on their own, that the rest will be immune or resistant to mortal jeopardy from our neighborhood friendly Lord and God GM.

ALSO, as the ranks of this RP begin to swell I have to make a statement that I was hoping I could avoid but was always pretty realistic about. This might not be particularly popular, but I hope it doesn't cost me anyone's involvement. *takes breath*

I can't force people to play together if they don't get along OOCly, but I'm not bringing Ignores into this story. By this I mean to say that I probably won't require two players to interact ICly, but at the same time I can't have other players actively ignoring each other OOCly. I don't think it's fair to close the thread to certain folks due to (often years-old) drama between them and other people in the story, and I'll be buggered if I'm going to write this story in different realities for different people. If a player you hate/ignore does something like, say, wipe out an Ardan fleet, that action is going to affect the other players whether you interact with them directly or not. You don't get to say "well that fleet still exists as far as I'm concerned because player x is dead to me." Ignores will be serviced in this thread by not participating in it, and will not be enforced by thy Lord and God. Basically, if you don't like another player, suck it up. RL nations fail to get along with each other on occasion and I see no reason why the game world should be any different.

by **Dread Lady Nathicana** » Tue Aug 02, 2011 10:57 am

Hokay - for ref, going out of town this Friday, won't be back until probably late the Sunday after next - so bit over a week afk. Will have limited access, won't likely be on much due to family-ing it up, but there you have it. Feel free to post anything ooc'ly for me that needs clarifying, or send it on over to tg. Probably not much at this point, but tossing it out there.

Ya got me for a few more days if ya need me, and then it's 16hrs of driving for me. \o/ <--hyped. srsly.

by **Melkor Unchained** » Mon Aug 15, 2011 7:26 am

Naiya IV is up. Anyone (unfortunately that seems to be "most of you" for now) who doesn't actually have characters on the ground in Arda will still be moving pretty slowly right now, story-wise. Foreign governments are getting their systems back online and (should be) exchanging info with one another on the attack.

As the days pass, it will become clear that even the nature of the attack is difficult to deduce. Some will think it was a single, massive virus; others a swell of smaller sleepers. The perpetrator will also be a mystery, and I want different PCs to come to different conclusions when and where possible. Pending investigation, Arda will believe the attack was carried out by Devon Treznor for various reasons, and Morgoth will plant evidence under the sovereigns' noses to encourage this perception. The DLN is very likely to develop the suspicion that it was an inside job, likely on behalf of the Ardan nobility, or one (or both) sovereigns.

I'm still working on other angles, maybe to see if there's more I can come up with to enhance the drama/confusion in these early stages. Spirit of Hope, the virus section you got ahold of will do something nasty eventually, but I haven't decided yet what it is. As ideas continue to percolate, I'll describe more in TG. But for now if you want to investigate the code go for it--the string will activate but won't have any immediately discernible effect; perhaps the assumption is that it is missing a key component or somesuch.

by **Dread Lady Nathicana** » Mon Aug 15, 2011 7:49 am

Muahahahahaha ... oh, this will be fun. :twisted:

Back from vacation, ready to get my Dread Lady on. Now if we can just keep Melk on task, and remind him to save all docs *ducks and runs like hell* we may just have some action here.

by **Antemyst** » Thu Sep 01, 2011 3:18 pm

Question, because my memory fails. How long should it take Crys et al to get from Earth to Machiavelli? (And better yet, how close are they to doing so with regard to the thread's timeline?)

by **Dread Lady Nathicana** » Thu Sep 01, 2011 3:44 pm

It shouldn't take too long what with tech levels and all - I'd go with what you feel comfortable with. I've got no problem with a quick trip on my end of things. Just let me know what you need and I'll be happy to make with the postings.

Speaking of postings ... *glares at Melk and whaps with a tire iron* Make with the postings, dammit!

by **Antemyst** » Sun Sep 11, 2011 7:52 am

Thanks, Nathi! I'll get working on it soon, and will let you know if I need anything. Sorry about the late response, was in the hospital for a few days. Now I'm adjusting to new meds, so it still might be slow going. Meh.

by **Melkor Unchained** » Sun Sep 11, 2011 9:24 am

Antemyst wrote:Thanks, Nathi! I'll get working on it soon, and will let you know if I need anything. Sorry about the late response, was in the hospital for a few days. Now I'm adjusting to new meds, so it still might be slow going. Meh.

Hope you're okay! :shock:

But don't worry too much. No one's under deadline (yet)

by **Ruffnekia** » Sun Sep 11, 2011 9:32 am

i still dont understand the whole thing

by **Midlonia** » Sun Sep 11, 2011 11:11 am

Ruffnekia wrote:i still dont understand the whole thing

Best pop back and re-read it then...

by **Dread Lady Nathicana** » Sun Sep 11, 2011 11:14 am

Antemyst wrote:Thanks, Nathi! I'll get working on it soon, and will let you know if I need anything. Sorry about the late response, was in the hospital for a few days. Now I'm adjusting to new meds, so it still might be slow going. Meh.

Woah. Best wishes on a swift recovery - so sorry you've been ill! You hang in there, neh? *hugs*

Rufneckia - we've been playing for 9 years or so here, so ah ... some of the storylines are a bit complex. There's links. There's also a lot of history. As Midlonia said, feel free to give it a read. More or less, it's gearing up for a Big Confrontation. As ... the OP states.

by **Ruffnekia** » Sun Sep 11, 2011 11:16 am

Dread Lady Nathicana wrote:
Antemyst wrote:Thanks, Nathi! I'll get working on it soon, and will let you know if I need anything. Sorry about the late response, was in the hospital for a few days. Now I'm adjusting to new meds, so it still might be slow going. Meh.

Woah. Best wishes on a swift recovery - so sorry you've been ill! You hang in there, neh? *hugs*

Rufneckia - we've been playing for 9 years or so here, so ah ... some of the storylines are a bit complex. There's links. There's also a lot of history. As Midlonia said, feel free to give it a read. More or less, it's gearing up for a Big Confrontation. As ... the OP states.

ive read it twice but i dont get what the concept of the story is supposed to be and what its about

by **Melkor Unchained** » Sun Sep 11, 2011 12:05 pm

Ruffnekia wrote:
Dread Lady Nathicana wrote:Woah. Best wishes on a swift recovery - so sorry you've been ill! You hang in there, neh? *hugs*

Rufneckia - we've been playing for 9 years or so here, so ah ... some of the storylines are a bit complex. There's links. There's also a lot of history. As Midlonia said, feel free to give it a read. More or less, it's gearing up for a Big Confrontation. As ... the OP states.

ive read it twice but i dont get what the concept of the story is supposed to be and what its about

It relies pretty heavily on stuff that happened a long time ago, but in a nutshell Black Dawn represents the opening rumblings of what will ultimately be a sol-engulfing war against an exiled baddie.

Black Dawn [OOC/Info/Interest]

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