Official Writing Mechanics Questions

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The Colonel
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Re: Official Writing Mechanics Questions

Post by The Colonel » Fri Apr 04, 2008 2:32 pm

Ooch, I know random plagues! The prominent ones would depend on the medicinal prowess of the civilizations.
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vesuvan
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Re: Official Writing Mechanics Questions

Post by vesuvan » Sat Apr 05, 2008 9:25 pm

This part really bugs me. It's physically impossible for them to run off of nothing indefinitely, as you describe. >:(
Not eating != running on nothing. The synthetics run on a precharged core which can extend it's life slightly by absorbing sunlight. Like I said before, they can reproduce by assimilating humans, who metabolically charge the newborn humunculi until the organic material burns out. All this said, they are very efficient, and could move for months before running out of power. They are not biological, and could lie dormant while burning nothing, and even one running on "fumes" could lie in wait.
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The Colonel
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Re: Official Writing Mechanics Questions

Post by The Colonel » Sun Apr 06, 2008 3:57 am

Oh, ok, that makes sense then. :P
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Deschain
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Re: Official Writing Mechanics Questions

Post by Deschain » Wed Apr 16, 2008 8:56 am

TheIrishPatriot wrote: Edit: Is anybody here knowledgable about plagues/epidemics? I have one...sort of two...in my story, and I want to know how fast it would spread (+details).
Depends on medical development, virulence. Questions like is it airborn, is it spread through touch, exchange of liquids(like sex)?
How long does it stay dormant (the longer it stays the more people will be infected)? Dormant means they don't show symptoms but spread disease. For example AIDS stays dormant for quite sometime which explains why it can spread so massively.
Any animal/creature/extra vector that can spread this plague (vector is a medical term for way of spreading/infiltration)?
Does it have racial bias (some plagues could attack demons and not humans or vice versa, or have less chance to spread to those with tanned skin)?
Just keep in mind there is always like 1-0.1% that is immune to physical plagues.

Magical plagues would be rather interesting. They can move and spread anyway they wish and only they can have 100% mortality rate. But they need some sort of supernatural cause...
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Re: Official Writing Mechanics Questions

Post by ShoopLor » Thu Apr 17, 2008 2:01 am

I'm making a Hero and the model is Ancient of Wonders (uprooted). And I wanna make a stone form spell, so his alternate form will be Ancient of Wonders (rooted). But I don't know how to fix the morphing issue and the game crashes.
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Re: Official Writing Mechanics Questions

Post by TheIrishPatriot » Thu Apr 17, 2008 6:38 am

ShoopLor wrote:I'm making a Hero and the model is Ancient of Wonders (uprooted). And I wanna make a stone form spell, so his alternate form will be Ancient of Wonders (rooted). But I don't know how to fix the morphing issue and the game crashes.
Just remember to slow down the pacing. Or move to the generic war3 questions :P.

I'll type up the plague info after school. In a way, magical, yes, but not nearly that efficient :P.
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Re: Official Writing Mechanics Questions

Post by Daryll-The-Damned » Thu Apr 17, 2008 7:49 am

ShoopLor wrote:I'm making a Hero and the model is Ancient of Wonders (uprooted). And I wanna make a stone form spell, so his alternate form will be Ancient of Wonders (rooted). But I don't know how to fix the morphing issue and the game crashes.
Uh yeah...this is the writing section mate, not the Wc3 section...
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Re: Official Writing Mechanics Questions

Post by Loki » Thu Apr 17, 2008 8:11 pm

Go to the Custom Map Creation. Make a new thread and Dusk or someone with JASS/GUI knowledge will gladly help you.
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Re: Official Writing Mechanics Questions

Post by TheIrishPatriot » Fri Apr 18, 2008 3:16 pm

RAWR! Remembered that I asked about plagues! Ok. Firstly, I want to know what the infection rate would be with the data I have, and what I should change to get it to what it should be. And help on popping any fallacies would be GREAT.

History:

Ok. It's not so much a disease, as an infectious parasite. Carrying on:

During a war millienia ago, humans were fighting the demons and the Fel. This was when Asarlai became very powerful weapons (magic dudes). They began to wreck the Fel. The Fel, containing very, very few humans (This was their first invasion of earth), had almost no magic and wanted a way to fight back. Thus, they decided to work with biological warfare, a virus that would ruin the Asarlai. (Aside: Why not a simple plague? Because these people are far better with genetic work then pulling epidemics out of their asses. Is that a stretch?).

The Void-Parasites were produced. Parasites that have not hit the Adult stage can be injected (Is that too RE4? It simply makes sense to me.). The parasites...I haven't decided where they would reside in the body. Whatever makes sense for what comes next. As I mentioned a while back, people have a connection to the Void. A tether. Through training, the tether grows thicker, allowing more magical power. The Void-Parasite joins it's own tether (It's an odd experiment...) to the human's, and sucks off the human's tether until it breaks, and yes, the person is Disabled (This was before people discovered the benefits), then the Parasite would move on. In addition, it would affect the brain, producing times of madness in the victim, increasing as it reached adulthood (1-3 hours, the victim going into a magical rage. Very destructive, as I'm sure you can imagine >.>). Physical seizures also common. That was the idea.

The Parasite was expected to duplicate itself asexually once it reached Adulthood, anywhere from 5-10 new Parasites created, depending on how long the victim survived. Microscopic. They would reside inside, and could be spread by body fluids and forcible expulsion :lol: . Thus, a sneeze or a good cough could throw a parasite somewhere, and the usual works for STD's. >.> Able to survive outside of the body for 72 hours. Once dislodged, can enter through pores and the usual openings.

Aside: I'd say impossible to destroy without destroying the human. Child Parasites start microscopic, and by the time they're adult, they've latched onto a vital organ. Fel reserved a method. Not tested on animals.

Three things didn't go as the Fel expected. 1) The Parasites were simply attracted more to people more magically powerful. They never touched those who didn't use magic, and leaned heavily towards the stronger users. 2) The Parasite did not break the tether. It sucked off of it, yes, but never truly broke it. (The Parasite would eventually kill the subject by growing to dangerous proportions that simply clogged up the victim). 3) The Parasite offered benefits. The person became more powerful, because the Parasite's power (ever growing) was added to his own. The victim might also discover strange new abilities because of the infection, odd magic that didn't seem previously possible.

The Fel were, to put it lightly, annoyed. Instead of a Disabling, highly infectious plague that stopped magical development and created havoc, they had a long-term killing, slightly infectious plague that aided magical development that created havoc. They were alright though. They had messed around enough with the DNA that they expected wild mutations, and greedy people might possibly even want a Parasite for the magical benefits.

Etc etc etc, wars, a mutation that made it more infectious and more deadly, that mutation died away, original was preserved, etc, etc, PRESNET TIEM!

Parasites have been purged away for centuries. Forgotten. Three of the Fallen infected, two removed it after skills were divulged, one kept it. One of their enemies has one as well. Thus, four. One of these Fallen was spending a lot of time experimenting with Asarlai subjects, after infecting them, hoping to recreate the first mutation. After two years, releases the Asarlai (memories purged!) back to their island. This is about 14 years before the main story. 1218.

1220: Spreads slowly through the island, infecting a few.

1222: Parasites discovered, much quarantining. Old old papers researched. Most knowledge of the Parasites recovered. The quarantined are still attended to by ordinary men and women.

1225: Mutation. Parasites will now infect anybody, even the non-magical (Thus, yes, making them slightly magical). Not as easy as magical infection, but still, possible. Death rate also hikes with the mutation. Nobody realizes.

1226: Fast new quarantine. Ports closed (The Asarlai were only afraid of a huge epidemic because then it would be revealed that others could be magical :P). Believe that they can cure it. Most Asarlai (On the island, about half still away, unaware of the crisis) diverted to experiments. Messages carefully sent to outside Asarlai to start getting lots of people to come to the island to replace the swiftly falling population. The nations know nothing.

1227: They begin to realize that it may be impossible to exorcise. Plan: 1) Get it under control. 2) Unleash very small bursts of the Parasites into nations. 3) Threaten them with worse. Optimistic, eh? They believed that they could then become the superpower and recieve....well, all the benefits of superpowerness. Does this seem too evil schemeish?

1228: Fallen love it.

1231 (Main story has started): Asarlai have some control, although the streets are still wild and dangerous. Send the first plagues into 3 nations. Spreads into neighbouring nations. Asarlai are a bit afraid, everybody is very confused.

And there you are for it's infection, and 80% of the subplot. So: Does that make sense, is it at all cheesy, failish, dumb, or silly? Should I change the way it infects to make it more efficient? Is the idea of them using parasites as threats to be thrown out? Should I make it less efficient? I want it to be lightly infectious, just small explosions on the map, but the island should be a deadly playground. Thoughts?
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vesuvan
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Re: Official Writing Mechanics Questions

Post by vesuvan » Fri Apr 18, 2008 8:35 pm

During a war millienia ago, humans were fighting the demons and the Fel. This was when Asarlai became very powerful weapons (magic dudes). They began to wreck the Fel. The Fel, containing very, very few humans (This was their first invasion of earth), had almost no magic and wanted a way to fight back.
I presume the fel are some sort of inter-dimensional beings? It seems very odd that these fel, with what could only be described as either having amazing magical or technological advancement(depending on how you look at it) required to cross planets or dimensions, would not have an equivalent, if not outright superior to whatever magic the humans had. This is akin to movies set in the 70s where humanity fights off flying saucers from galaxies away.
Thus, they decided to work with biological warfare, a virus that would ruin the Asarlai. (Aside: Why not a simple plague? Because these people are far better with genetic work then pulling epidemics out of their asses. Is that a stretch?).
Ahh, here we have a faction with an entirely different means to manipulate their surroundings, Very nice.

Here is what I don't understand, these aliens are inter-dimensional entities with advanced biology. Why don't they simply wipe out the humans with an epidemic? Questionably inconvenient symbionts aren't exactly weapons.

These two issues seem to have the same root cause, you explicitly describe the fel as having much more power than accounted for in their behavior.
Three things didn't go as the Fel expected. 1) The Parasites were simply attracted more to people more magically powerful. They never touched those who didn't use magic, and leaned heavily towards the stronger users.
I really like this part, just because it is perfectly justified by how the parasite works without seeming predictable.
Etc etc etc, wars, a mutation that made it more infectious and more deadly, that mutation died away, original was preserved, etc, etc, PRESNET TIEM!
The more infectious species will survive, there is absolutely no question, though Viruses that kill their host quicker without a significant rise in infectiousness will not survive.
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Re: Official Writing Mechanics Questions

Post by TheIrishPatriot » Sat Apr 19, 2008 9:33 am

The Fel are the armies of the Demons. Made up of...Fellbeasts, which are a huge variety of freaky, slightly intelligent creatures, orcs (stereotypical? I've been working on it, and still am. I may just ditch the race and create a new one.), Ravagers (our huge deathly elite. The best comparison would be dragons in DoE >.> "Ravager at top, go go go"), Guardians (which are, basically, golems/robots), and later, humans, most of whom are genetically altered. Fellbeasts, orcs and Ravagers are all genetic experiments. The Fallen were not around during this first invasion, they had a few more millenia to be born.

Magic, well, magic requires the connection the Void (Only Higher Beings and human have this), and intelligence. Fellbeasts simply don't have the intelligence. They have several passively magical abilities, but nothing active. Orcs, as an experiment on human stock, do have it, but the Demons judged that teaching the rage-filled orcs would be a very bad idea. Ravagers have several deadly passive abilities as well.

Note: As you can see, not a lot for a good structure of command. Thus, the first Fel armies were basically hordes. Only when more humans joined, the Fallen joined up, and orcs were educated more did it become more like an actual army. Getting human subjects brought back to camp to be injected was a major hassle.

Does that work?


You're right, why don't they? Either I should weaken the Fel to patch up the hole, or give them epidemics :D. I'll work on that tonight, thank you.


I should have explained that better. The Demons and Guardians always had the original Parasites magically stored. They never managed to get a copy of the first mutation, as it had sprung up in the main human capital (far far behind human defenses) , and good luck to the orc column that has to go in, find some raging Asarlai, knock him out, escape the city, and run back to camp. There was an event centuries later that...Purged...the world. The mutations only survived in the deep places, too far from most humans to infect them. This event is one of the original concepts and came about 15 months before I thought of the Parasites.


Thank you Vesu :D.
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etymology concerns

Post by vesuvan » Tue Jul 22, 2008 3:51 am

My setting has beings called (for now) seraphs. These semi-immortal beings are incredibly powerful, and are agents of space and time, yet they are not omnipotent. Theoretically they could live forever, that is, if they aren't destroyed, or if they don't degenerate.

Seraphs are born in a special kind of nebulae. As very long lived intelligent beings, they inevitably psychologically decay to the point where they wish to consume or destroy other seraphs, or even to destroy universes. It has become a practice learned by all seraphs to find the ones who will become what I am now calling "fallen" seraphs, and dispose of them.

Destroying a seraph is very difficult, so what they usually do is bind the entity to some dimension of space. Usually, when a seraph is isolated, it slowly decays into an entropic state until it's components become more nebulae. Other times, seraphs become unstable, and their powers leak through their prison. This causes strange things to happen to the affected worlds. This can be used as a source of "magic" by very skilled beings, or they could even be directly summoned temporarily. A seraph summoned this way may survive inside their prison without decaying.

My question is, what should I call these things? a prefix like "evil seraph" is just clunky and has plot issues. The seraphs themselves never involve themselves with lesser beings, but fallen ones may have distinct impacts. This means that people would need to have a word for fallen seraphs, but not healthy ones.

My vocabulary is drawing a blank, I need an expansion. I chose the word seraph because it implies being a higher level being, while not being omnipotent, not necessarily divine, but still saying the being transcends reality in some way.

I'm debating with myself whether I should choose the tongue-in-cheek route by just calling them gods. I figure this both be ironic considering they have almost none of their former power, and at the same time would aptly cover the image of their impact a lowly human would have that cannot comprehend the real seraphs to compare.

Another option I am considering is the opposite, a name that demeans them as a simple source of power, like a slave. Humans have a great tendency to disrespect things greater than themselves, such as the forces of nature, so there is precedent in this decision.

Any ideas?
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Re: Official Writing Mechanics Questions

Post by Hydrolisk » Tue Jul 22, 2008 9:34 am

My only current suggestion is "Sphincter." (ssf-ink-ter)

I've been dying to have a chance to see that word/name used.

I have a few others, but I cannot disclose them yet. In a few hours.
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Re: Official Writing Mechanics Questions

Post by Loki » Tue Jul 22, 2008 11:17 am

Do you know where that word is used most of the time? /giggle
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Re: Official Writing Mechanics Questions

Post by Vigor » Tue Sep 02, 2008 1:05 pm

How do you feel about using foreign langauges as inspiration?

Your description immediatly reminds me of three langauges. The first two are Dutch and German: two very aggresive and powerfull sounding langauges with a lot of harsh tones. The third is Latin, just because it can give everything a mysterious edge.
Being dutch, I can give you a few words that might inspire one or two names.


Kracht/Macht Simply means "power" in Dutch. The german word for power can be Kraft or Stärke.
Various ways to warp these words to make them sound english, and finally suitable for a race:
Graggor, Sterrar, Starfer, Gorapht.

Cervix Is a Latin word you can use for "power". It has a very nice and spacey sound to it, don't you think?
Cervis, Cervor, Crevixen, Crevixor.

I could go on like this for a while, but I don't want to directly force something on to you. I only want to inspire. Just consider drawing your inspiration from other langauges, there are literally infinite possibilties for fresh new words out there.
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