Hello! There has been some confusion lately on what I'm going for with my new feature series on Rift's races and lore and souls :) It's understandable.
The concept is that while every character can play every calling and every soul, some are more appropriate than others. While I don't want to spoil many future callouts, one example is the Eth Saboteur. The Eth are a notoriously techie race and the saboteur is a natural choice for their experimental, dangerous inventions.
The challenge comes in finding a soul from each calling that fits well - are Dwarves REALLY suited to be mages? Answering this sort of question is really the whole reason behind this feature series.
So far I've featured Dwarves, and Bahmi is next. I'll pick either High Elf or Mathosian after that, and go from there :)
Thanks for reading!
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Best lore characters, Part I: Dwarves!
I'm not afraid to admit I'm excited about this series! Lets dive right in on the Guardian side.
Dwarves
"Dwarves were said to have invented the concept of society, and taught it to the other races. Industrious, political, and communal the dwarves seek to master their craft of city building. Dwarves are also known for the dark side of society, with their inquisitions, spymasters and assassinations."
Best Warrior soul:
My vote goes to Void Knight. Dwarves share many properties with the stone from which they came. They are solid as granite, as immovable as a mountain. And as a voidknight, they shrug off the most powerful magic as if it were rain. The dwarven Void Knight can stride forward through a hail of magic and deal death with his battleaxe. The fun in roleplaying this character would come through the implied contempt he has for all things magic.
Sample phrases:
"Come foul mage - give me your power..."
"Is that all there is to you? Fancy lights and parlor tricks will not stop me, witch!"
I love this image and would totally play this character!
Best Cleric Soul:
Considering the dwarven societies love for inquisitions, this one is a no brainer:
"Combining the powers of life and death with an unshakable obsession for natural order, Inquisitors have become powerful weapons against planar corruption. Inquisitors perform a wide range of tasks, from simple exorcisms and banishments to the extraordinary purging of greater planar powers from the world. But while the role of Inquisitors in protecting Telarans from the rifts is immensely beneficial, even essential, they are widely feared for their tendency towards extremism."
A dwarven inquisitor would be a blast to roleplay - the soul comes stock with a worldview and a quest - to end corruption and retain balance. The fun would be in the implied extremism. Many quests already ask you to do extreme things, an inquisitor would embrace this, with fury and passion.
Sample phrases (in which I shamelessly steal from Warhammer 40,000's spectacular Inquisitor lore):
"Burn the heretic! Purge the unclean!"
"You threaten the balance of all things, demon. I cannot abide your continued existence!"
"I have entered the realms between worlds where there is not time or place. I have clashed with creatures the sight of which would sear your soul to the core."
"There is no such thing as a plea of innocence. A plea of innocence is guilty of wasting my time. Guilty."
Best Rogue Soul:
Once again, fairly obvious from a lore perspective!
"The dwarf Veseslav grew up in the shadows of Hammerknell knowing one truth: the queen of the dwarves had killed his mother, and one day she would die for it. Veseslav’s father was King of Hammerknell, his mother one of the queen’s comely handmaidens. The jealous queen had the young woman murdered, but not before the child could be spirited away.
Veseslav was taken in by his mother’s brother, Bogdan, who made his living cutting short the lives of others. As Bogdan’s apprentice, Veseslav’s daggers became faster, his stealthy movements less detectable, his poisons more vitriolic than his uncle’s. The young dwarf developed a particularly nasty poison all his own, and named it Ursula, after the queen."
Dwarves
Dwarven society is the oldest on Telara, and it functions like the most ruthless of medieval or Renaissance courts. There is no shortage of work for an assassin in the dwarven under cities. A dwarven assassin at the battle of Theodor fields would not have been a strange sight. Perhaps the character has an epiphany and decides that they are honor bound to help save Telara.
Example phrases:
"My daggers have laid low kings and trader-barons, Troll! Your death will be nothing to them."
"I see your sword arm shaking Defiant - how are you feeling? I barely knicked you, you know. Ah, there's the look - nothing like the look in the eyes of a man who's just realized he's going to die an agonizing death by nerve toxin."
Best Mage class:
This is the hard part! I love the mages in Rift, but they are split along functional lines rather than story or lore ones. Except in a few special cases, there ISN'T a best mage soul for each race. Don't be disappointed! Instead...
Best Mage soul build:
We're mixing it up and presenting an entire build. This is for lore ONLY, I have honestly have no idea how well it would work functionally :) Let me know in the comments!
A dwarven mage is as much a politician as he is a mystical force. The first soul I see this mage using is the Archon. A support mage, this 'court wizard' would primarily focus on support abilities, aiding the royal court in all things military and otherwise.
But like all things in dwarven court life, all is not as it seems! The second soul at play would be Necromancy. With all the power and influence that that his/her position provides, excess is always a danger, and this wizard has started to dabble in forbidden and taboo magics. It started with the discovery of a very old book in the Royal library. Soon he was reanimating rats, and eventually, even people.
To protect his dark secret, he taught himself another discipline of magic from the book. The third soul would be dominator. This dwarf would do anything to protect his secret and in that interest he learned to magically manipulate. He started small, convincing royal guards to look the other way at a crucial moment as a corpse shambled by. The power was too much to ignore and soon he was controlling visiting dignitaries and trader-barons - in the king's interest, of course! Soon he found himself directly influencing world events.
Perhaps one day the king felt the sorcerer’s presence in his mind, and banished him, the exiled wizard eventually finding his way to Theodor field.
The hook would be that this character would only use necromancy when alone, still trying to hide his dabbling in the dark arts.
So:
Archon primary
necromancer
dominator
Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go immediately make this character. Like right now.
So, tell me what you think! Do you think other souls would be better suited? Do you play a race/soul combo for lore tastiness? Let me know in the comments.
Next week: Bahmi!
Dwarves
"Dwarves were said to have invented the concept of society, and taught it to the other races. Industrious, political, and communal the dwarves seek to master their craft of city building. Dwarves are also known for the dark side of society, with their inquisitions, spymasters and assassinations."
Best Warrior soul:
My vote goes to Void Knight. Dwarves share many properties with the stone from which they came. They are solid as granite, as immovable as a mountain. And as a voidknight, they shrug off the most powerful magic as if it were rain. The dwarven Void Knight can stride forward through a hail of magic and deal death with his battleaxe. The fun in roleplaying this character would come through the implied contempt he has for all things magic.
Sample phrases:
"Come foul mage - give me your power..."
"Is that all there is to you? Fancy lights and parlor tricks will not stop me, witch!"
I love this image and would totally play this character!
Best Cleric Soul:
Considering the dwarven societies love for inquisitions, this one is a no brainer:
"Combining the powers of life and death with an unshakable obsession for natural order, Inquisitors have become powerful weapons against planar corruption. Inquisitors perform a wide range of tasks, from simple exorcisms and banishments to the extraordinary purging of greater planar powers from the world. But while the role of Inquisitors in protecting Telarans from the rifts is immensely beneficial, even essential, they are widely feared for their tendency towards extremism."
A dwarven inquisitor would be a blast to roleplay - the soul comes stock with a worldview and a quest - to end corruption and retain balance. The fun would be in the implied extremism. Many quests already ask you to do extreme things, an inquisitor would embrace this, with fury and passion.
Sample phrases (in which I shamelessly steal from Warhammer 40,000's spectacular Inquisitor lore):
"Burn the heretic! Purge the unclean!"
"You threaten the balance of all things, demon. I cannot abide your continued existence!"
"I have entered the realms between worlds where there is not time or place. I have clashed with creatures the sight of which would sear your soul to the core."
"There is no such thing as a plea of innocence. A plea of innocence is guilty of wasting my time. Guilty."
Best Rogue Soul:
Once again, fairly obvious from a lore perspective!
"The dwarf Veseslav grew up in the shadows of Hammerknell knowing one truth: the queen of the dwarves had killed his mother, and one day she would die for it. Veseslav’s father was King of Hammerknell, his mother one of the queen’s comely handmaidens. The jealous queen had the young woman murdered, but not before the child could be spirited away.
Veseslav was taken in by his mother’s brother, Bogdan, who made his living cutting short the lives of others. As Bogdan’s apprentice, Veseslav’s daggers became faster, his stealthy movements less detectable, his poisons more vitriolic than his uncle’s. The young dwarf developed a particularly nasty poison all his own, and named it Ursula, after the queen."
Dwarves
Dwarven society is the oldest on Telara, and it functions like the most ruthless of medieval or Renaissance courts. There is no shortage of work for an assassin in the dwarven under cities. A dwarven assassin at the battle of Theodor fields would not have been a strange sight. Perhaps the character has an epiphany and decides that they are honor bound to help save Telara.
Example phrases:
"My daggers have laid low kings and trader-barons, Troll! Your death will be nothing to them."
"I see your sword arm shaking Defiant - how are you feeling? I barely knicked you, you know. Ah, there's the look - nothing like the look in the eyes of a man who's just realized he's going to die an agonizing death by nerve toxin."
Best Mage class:
This is the hard part! I love the mages in Rift, but they are split along functional lines rather than story or lore ones. Except in a few special cases, there ISN'T a best mage soul for each race. Don't be disappointed! Instead...
Best Mage soul build:
We're mixing it up and presenting an entire build. This is for lore ONLY, I have honestly have no idea how well it would work functionally :) Let me know in the comments!
A dwarven mage is as much a politician as he is a mystical force. The first soul I see this mage using is the Archon. A support mage, this 'court wizard' would primarily focus on support abilities, aiding the royal court in all things military and otherwise.
But like all things in dwarven court life, all is not as it seems! The second soul at play would be Necromancy. With all the power and influence that that his/her position provides, excess is always a danger, and this wizard has started to dabble in forbidden and taboo magics. It started with the discovery of a very old book in the Royal library. Soon he was reanimating rats, and eventually, even people.
To protect his dark secret, he taught himself another discipline of magic from the book. The third soul would be dominator. This dwarf would do anything to protect his secret and in that interest he learned to magically manipulate. He started small, convincing royal guards to look the other way at a crucial moment as a corpse shambled by. The power was too much to ignore and soon he was controlling visiting dignitaries and trader-barons - in the king's interest, of course! Soon he found himself directly influencing world events.
Perhaps one day the king felt the sorcerer’s presence in his mind, and banished him, the exiled wizard eventually finding his way to Theodor field.
The hook would be that this character would only use necromancy when alone, still trying to hide his dabbling in the dark arts.
So:
Archon primary
necromancer
dominator
Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go immediately make this character. Like right now.
So, tell me what you think! Do you think other souls would be better suited? Do you play a race/soul combo for lore tastiness? Let me know in the comments.
Next week: Bahmi!
Developer Lore Q & A
There is very much Win and Awesome in the new developer lore Q & A. No real news here, per say, other than to confirm that the high elves are kind of douchebags.
"This would be where the
elven group would save the villagers from the hungry wolves, or the wolves from the hungry villagers."
Nice one elves - protect that wolf pack from the mean ol starving humans!
Full post here:
"This would be where the
elven group would save the villagers from the hungry wolves, or the wolves from the hungry villagers."
Nice one elves - protect that wolf pack from the mean ol starving humans!
Full post here:
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Faeblights Guardian invasion
(Welcome Hammerfist clan!)
Faeblight has been getting some media attenion lately (Read Here) because our server's Guardians have organized into an eight month campaign to eventually topple Meridian itself! This is exciting for everyone involved - but, as usual, I want to talk about the lore!
An organized and militarized Guardian force relayed against a disorganized, tenacious Defiant presence actually makes a lot of sense. The Guardians are united by religion, united in purpose. They have a strong, inspiring leader - The living legend Cyril.
Cyril commands the Guardians from Sanctum, refusing a crown because this is a time for champions and not kings. A towering figure, he moves in inch-thick ornate plate as easily as a peasant in his tunic. His eyes flash like thunderclouds and his forces strike like lightning, yet Cyril only wishes to end Telara’s enemies with great swings of his ancient blade, as he did in a time when living legends were rare.
They see the Defiant as heretic usurpers who have stolen land in carving out their territory. The Defiants are not an organized militarized force, many Defiant settlements are scientific expeditions - quests send you out with all manner of scanners and experimental devices. The Defiants are a more peaceful people, exemplified by their true leader Orphiel Farwind.
“So you say the ancient Eth built war machines?” asked Aedraxis, sipping his velvet-purple wine.
“At first, yes. Sourcestone-fueled wonders that were especially effective against the dragons. This pales in comparison to the engines of prosperity they developed based on these early inventions.”
“War so often is the father of progress,” said the king.
“A shame for progress, then, that Mathosia has known such a long peace,” Orphiel said with an ironic smile.
Aedraxis sighed, his broad shoulders sloping. “It will not last, my teacher. I fear certain citizens who’ve grown too rich in ambition. Like the noble Eth of old, I would have machines to bring a merciful end to my enemies.”
Orphiel leaned forward intently. “I could build you such devices, Highness, given the promise that once war is over, we explore the technology’s peacetime applications.”
Aedraxis nodded sagely, and said, “Only under those conditions would I agree.”
Raj Tahleed, Dean of Planar Studies in Meridian, giving a lecture on the renaissance of Eth technology
Of course one cannot blame Orphiel for Aedraxis’s crimes. Yes, he used Orphiel’s machines to break the Ward, but there is no way Orphiel could have known. Yes, perhaps Aedraxis did turn progressively more obviously sinister as the war ground on, but Farwind had been his teacher when the king was just a lad. It is hard to see wickedness in those you love. Besides, the great mind was never present for Aedraxis’s deadlier tantrums, isolating himself with his work. And it was Orphiel, after all, who rallied the Eth and the Bahmi to march to Port Scion and support Prince Zareph against the rifts. He was the first Defiant, and let no man forget!
There is a lot of historical context here. There were numerous Scholar-Emperors of the Roman Empire who lost large amounts of the northern and western empire to determined enemies by not bothering to focus on defense. World War 2 Western Europe and China are alternate examples - without highly regimented military defense the militarized German and Japanese countries quickly overwhelmed them.
"Orphiel is a scientist first, leaving military matters to Asha Catari. Asha cannot defend Meridian alone. The Defiants are looking for a long term solution to the Rifts and Regulos - we know what will happen if we fail. The Guardian's come for the Defiants land, and lives. Will we let them do it? Organize, Hammerfist Clan, and push them back from the very first day, give them no ground!" - Hasan, Hammerfist Clan new recruit.
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