Earthdawn: Down the River

[Cynical Cat]

Did you write a 1000 word essay about it after spending days agonizing over the subject?

No, I was direct and to the point. I like playing Decepticons and drow necromancers because that way I skip the angsty bullshit and just shank a motherfucker. For varying values of "shank" that include ripping out someone's soul or shooting them in the face with a fusion cannon.

[Lys]

I like characters who are up to their eyeballs in angsty bullshit but lay it all aside the instant it's time for ruthless machinations and murder. Stormbreaker's mixture of short attention span and jolly devil-may-care demeanour is a refreshing departure from the usual fare. She's pretty much my only character who I'm inordinately fond of but whose life I don't want to make as miserable as possible. That's why her backstory is mostly full of wacky hijinks instead of varying degrees of traumatizing. Like the time she caused an international incident by corrupting the daughter of a visiting monarch.

[Cynical Cat]

Oh I'm down with the backstory of complete and utter misery. It makes my characters stoic, ruthless motherfuckers because they learned the hard way that no one gives a damn. Thus there is a tiny, guttering spark of decency (to distinguish my evil motherfuckers from the evil villains) and a blazing furnace of rage and hatred.

This is also why I roll Sith.

[Lys]

I think my Abyssal Exalt space pirate is the only character I've made who was a blazing furnace of rage and hatred. A bitter middle aged woman who had been a Duchess in a kingdom torn apart by civil war that took everything she held dear. Her stealth cruiser had mostly been used in the role of commerce raiding, so when it became clear the royalists were losing, it wasn't difficult to desert and move on to full time piracy. By game time, a decade after the war, she's been forced back into the service of the crown by the surviving young prince, a strategic and tactical genius who'd been but a boy during the war. He managed to board her ship with his royal guard and take her crew hostage, the only thing remaining in the entire universe she cared about. Every second of her existence burned with desire to find a way to murder that loathsome brat without also losing the one thing she valued. I found something invigorating about writing someone so utterly consumed by fury and malice. Pity that game died quickly, I was looking forward to watching that fire burn her alive until she had nothing left.

[frigidmagi]

Now I feel like I don't spend enough time on my characters. Although I can give you chapter and verse on most of the NPCs who are named.

[Lys]

Eh, there's nothing wrong with having other things occupy your mind and your time. Marshall is an effective character in what he does and who he is. There is something to be said for effectively communicating a coherent character with back story, plot hooks, and everything without needing to write a 3200 word saga about it. Not that I can't do that myself, it's just that sometimes I don't want to. ^_^;

[frigidmagi]

Marshal has a backstory and plot hooks (I took the enemy flaw for example). I just didn't write it out to staggering amounts like you did. Which reminds me I should post the short story I wrote for him and his allies.

[Lys]

Yes, that's... exactly what I said. I was also further suggesting that there is virtue in brevity.

[General Havoc]

Then there's Havoc who obsesses over which type of gladius his character should have, based on his background and what extinct regional languages he should be fluent in.

Well, you see, the Hispaniensis pattern is the obvious choice, given the area, but I did consider going for either a Mainz or a Pompeii style, given the character's origins as a hybrid of native Spanish and import Roman blood. But ultimately, given the timeframe, the active war surrounding his childhood, and the fact that the sword belonged to his father, who was a major figure in his own right and would have had no need to resort to the cheaper, more easily-constructed Pompeii style, nor the plebeian standardized version that would become Mainz style, I finally decided on a slightly wasp-waisted, leaf-pattern, Iberian-style Gladius, likely inscribed, with a varnished hardwood hilt (wrapped in leather of course, to prevent rot), and an embossed pommel into which has been inserted a sliver of granite from the Tarpaean Rock.

[Lys]

I'm not particularly fond of the gladius. It's not that I have anything against it in particular, it's just that I'm don't generally like straight short swords. I prefer that weapons in that size category be single-edged chopping or slicing weapons, like the kopis, falcata, and machete. Drop down a size category to daggers, and straight daggers are my favourite by far. Go up and I'm rather fond of the rapier, though I prefer the military ones often called sideswords or cut-and-thrust swords (in Spanish they're all roperas). So clearly I like straight thrusting blades, but for some reason they just don't sit right with me when they're too long to be a dagger but too short to be a full sword.

That said if you're going for a gladius, the leaf-bladed hispanienses is a solid choice, I might even say the best choice. The pompeii is frankly not a good sword, and the main thing to recommend it is that it's cheap, which is good when you're trying to equip an army, but otherwise I find the design deficient. For starters the straight, parallel edges make it a poor cutter relative most other swords. Sure the gladius is primarily a thrusting weapon, but the mainz and hispanienses will lop off the limbs and head of anyone who foolishly think their cuts are not a threat, which gives you more options in a combat situation. Additionally the pompeii isn't even that good of a stabber given the fairly shallow angle of its point, which can be an issue against armoured opponents. The fulham has the same parallel edges of the pompeii, but at least it has a nice needle-like point for effective stabbing. Between the mainz and hispanienses, the differences aren't much, the former is a bit smaller with more angular features and sharper point, whereas the latter is larger with more sinuous features and a broader tip. Aestetically the hispanienses is my favourite, though I expect I would prefer the balance and handling on the mainz.

[General Havoc]

I doubt that anyone will seriously argue that the Hispaniensis design of Gladius is the most effective. The waisting provides a more efficient cutting surface against anything rounded (like a limb), while the blade-shape helps prevent suction seals from forming inside the wound that might make it harder to withdraw the sword post-kill. It's meanwhile true that the Pompeii style is a much less effective tool, but one must understand its purpose. The Pompeii style was not only designed as a cheap, mass-producible sword, but also designed with civilian or gladiatorial use in mind, as opposed to military. The efficiency with which it killed was not even close to the primary concern.

I however have a completely different viewpoint on straight-edged swords than you Lys. One of my favorite swords in history is actually the humble Medieval Arming Sword, descended from the Viking straight sword of the Dark Ages period. Though my tastes do vary in terms of blades, and this rule isn't always true, I tend to prefer double-bladed swords to single, straight swords (or at least straight-spined swords) to curved, and smaller swords (relatively speaking) to large ones. I'm also fond of the Cut-and-thrust swords, military rapiers, and side-swords, but I don't much care for flat meat-choppers like the machete or falcata, nor for overly curved slashers like the scimitar. Call it strong personal preference.

[Lys]

The medieval arming sword was like an unassuming friend who would be at your side no matter what. I find it a pity that it's principal ancestor, the Roman spatha borrowed from the Celts, doesn't get enough love. It's gladius this, gladius that, then then norse sword, as if there was no in-between. But then, the late Roman army in general doesn't get much love, period. The popular mind fixated on the look of the Romans during the first and second centuries, with everything later sort of glossed over. It's too bad, I much prefer the look of the late Roman army with their rounded shields, chain mail, heavy javelin or spear, and spathae. I suppose it's easier to cheer for a force that for the most part stood victorious, over one that had to flit from one disaster to another, but I find beauty in adversity. At least the spatha's legacy lives on in the word for sword in all the Romance languages (also Albanian).

Also, I wouldn't call the scimitar overly curved. Some of them do have deep curves, but for the most part they're not very much so. No, for swords with consistently deep curves we have the closely related family of the kilij, shamshir, and tulwar. Shamshir in particular was somewhat notorious for it, as it is traditionally worn across the small of the back, with the sword's tip and handle both pointing upward. These swords give you some damn nasty cutting power at the expense of range, and in fact the tulwar's distinctive handle with a flat disk pommel is pretty much designed to ensure the user plays to the sword's strengths and keeps the sword perpendicular to the wrist. I would actually say that wootz steel tulwars may be the best cutters out there, a claim that the 19th century British would enthusiastically support, but these days doesn't seem to get much track.

[Lys]

So /tg/ asks me, "What if your character got turned into an adorable anime girl?" Hmm, well let's see: She's an impulsively hyperactive, violence-loving glory-hound of a teenager, with a sharp tongue, sharper swords, and an ego to match. Yeah, I don't think anyone would notice the difference.





Though if you ever see her wearing that expression, I suggest backing away slowly and taking note of all the exits. ^_^;

[frigidmagi]

I've always seen her as browner.

[Lys]

Her ethnicity is Assyro-Median, her clothes protect her from tanning, and I did describe her as pale. That said, I may have made her slightly too pale, more Nordic than Iranian, but it's only a subtle difference. Here's another version with her skin a couple of tones darker, and a more open cloak so you can more clearly see she wears red. Same worrying expression though! ^_^

[Lys]

And since Elassar's that girly, I made an anime version of him too:




They'd be so cute together.

[Hotfoot]

This only ends with everyone's character as kawaii-desu-desu anime form, mark my words.

[Lys]

I'm not sure that cute anime is well suited for the permanent scowl on Nethan and Di'oq's faces. Though I can totally see Seraph as all tall, aloof, and mysterious in the finest bishonen tradition.

[Hotfoot]

Nethan doesn't have a scowl on his face. He'd just have smaller eyes to represent his lack of innocence.

And every so often that sweatdrop/pulsing vein thing.

[Lys]

Let the record show that Hotfoot was a willing accomplice in the conversion of Frigid's tale of high adventure into a harem anime.

[Hotfoot]

Let the record show that I am simply an argumentative asshole know-it-all.

[frigidmagi]

... This is really not what I had in mind when I made this campaign you know that right? I mean I'm not opposed to an anime of it, but I was thinking more Record of Lodoss Wars then say Ranma 1/2.

[LadyTevar]

I want to see more anime of the various Characters. Purely for my own amusement.

[Comrade Tortoise]

I am so happy Varan as a lizard.

[Hotfoot]

Somehow I doubt that matters.