Come at Me Brah!

Valucre always has Five Preps. 

Damn straight, Valucre will take on any challenger and put them back into their place. When it comes to Role-play, there is no one else I'd rather have in my corner, because Valucre lifts. Think your site is the master of melee? Valucre taught your master everything he knew, while simultaneously showing your mamma some new moves as well. Think your PC-fu is better than ours? Hardly- psuedoscience and pure BS won't get past Valcure.

Now that you know that you have a real champion in your corner, you can take your measure of added safety and security to go pursue some higher needs, such as making some friends and then doing what makes you happy- and by that, I assume writing out some high quality, badass RP is what gets you going wild. If that's the case, then we got you covered.

And so sit back, relax, and enjoy yourself this little preview of all the awesome stuff that Valucre has to offer. Because this week, we're not serving a bunch of leftovers- oh no, we got fresh stuff right here. 

What's Happening Valucre?

The Chosen: Round Three Continues- We have one fight that has moving along nicely, and the other had to take a breather to settle a bit of a dispute, but word is that the fighters have resolved their disagreement and will return to the fighting shortly. With all that in mind, you can get back to some quality reading, and perhaps a bit of betting while you're at it it too. The lounge is the place to chat it up, while oyu can go gamble in this thread.

Had it With Home- This interest check is seeking to setup an RP inside Genesaris, involving two to three other players using non-vampire and non-werewolf characters. The premise of the RP is that your character has come from some sort of crappy home life (parents, situation, lack of parents, etc) and now they have struck it out on their own. They leave everything they knew to go out in pursuit of adventure and a new way of living. The person posting the interest check has left the majority the plot open to discussion, so players are welcome to give their input. Find your new home.

Deals With the Deceiver- This has a nice setup, I really like the way this interest check was put together. A mysterious figure known as 'The Deceiver' has reached out to the characters involved, looking for a team of 5 individuals who will infiltrate the Slaver's Alcove and liberate fifty to one hundred slaves, as well as obtain a handful of slave handlers. The reasons behind this are left unsaid, the motives of this 'Deceiver' unknown. What is abundantly clear is that this individual is offering prime loot for getting this job done. Are you willing to take the risks?

Quest for the Heartbane- This interest check is to gather 2 to 5 additional folks to join this thread author in pursuit of the infamous artifact 'The Heartbane'. It comes with the promise of gold (IC of course) and the glory that shall come of owning such a weapon. Stop by the Weary Orc to join ;)

Mercenaries, Smiths, and Adventurers- Adaviel's The Grounded Sword Company is looking for some help. After a quick interview, you shall be on your way to making money either through providing goods, getting important tasks completed, or going out on some serious adventurers to recover artifacts and complete important research. This is also the place for adventurers to gather help from these mercenaries for their own trips. If this appeals to you, go where the flyer directs you.

Come Have Fun With Legion- Well, I very nearly had myself a fit when I saw that dratted word 'literate' crop up in this interest check (we all write, so therefore we are all literate, see this blog post for my take on it :P), but I am going to feature them anyway. This interest check seeks some decent writers (with an added request to at least get some versed in T1) to join up as a Demon, and then advance based on abilities. Apparently this was a success elsewhere, but elsewhere eventually became nowhere, so this member is booting it up here. Become one with Legion ;)

Tea Party of Orisia (Still Needs Doormouse)- Orisia's special birthday party event for Raspberry Du'grace (Princess of Orisia) is going on now, and they have need for one additional character- that of Doormouse, the perpetually sleepy mouse. It's an easy role, as he is only know to speak up from time to time- so a role you can take even if you are a bit busier. The RP is open as well, so you can join as a normal guest if you do not wish to join as a character from Through the Looking Glass. Be the Mouse!

Featured Read of the Week- What do you get when you cross a dandyish pirate in search of a moral path, a silver dragon masquerading as a fop, the unpredictable chaotic neutral heroic-sociopath, and a Djinn turned construct? This week's featured thread of course. Zhou (played by Zhou) is rallying a force together as swiftly as he can, intent upon putting together a rescue force that will help people of the villages near the Cold Mountains, where a dragon has begun wreaking havoc. It leads into a coming together of the odd mashup mentioned above, and features Nami as the villainous dragon.

Congratulations to Zhou, Susitsu, Nami, Draugr, and Deviant on being the participating members of this week's featured read. ;)

Spawn of Apophis, Installment one: Kha'- Zhou sails the skies of Genesaris, looking down at the world below, dismayed by what he sees. The ruins of villages, people fleeing, discord sown throughout the surrounding lands of the Cold Mountains. He touches down in a nearby (still intact) village and rallies the folks, seeking help from those brave enough to go back and mount a rescue effort. Lucas (Susitsu) heeds the call, troubled by this lack of balance between the forces of good and evil, seeking to restore balance to the situation. Mēt, a former Djinn and now construct, sees this display of two humans willing to stand against this great force of evil, and too comes to their aid. Theoren, a Silver Dragon under guise, has heard rumor of one of his cousin-ilk, an evil dragon, causing harm to the nearby villages, and cannot stand by as that which gives the rest a bad name tears apart the populaces. Rounding it out, the villain Isfet is played by Nami, who prepares to face the next set of would-be heroes, sure that his next meal shall soon be delivered.

The gathering has not yet met with the dragon, but already the tensions are clear. 

Seriously, some fully prepped stuff there- if you don't watch out, quality like that is apt to sucker punch you and carry you off to dark places unknown. 0_o

Lore of the Week!

This Week's Feature: Antigone Isles, Genesaris

At a Glance: 

• Leader:  The Queen (No Name Found)
• Population: Racially diverse, but the free people are not magically inclined (or have not yet been found out). There are 2.5 million people.
• Defenses: 
• 8,000 City guard- The primary police force for ensuring law and order inside the city.
• 400 Mage Hunters- Their primary purpose is to track down, test, and haul away any who show any sort of magical inclination.
• 500 jail workers, 400 guards at the castle, 50 high ranking officers and 27 special investigators
• 25,000 actual military that protect the borders 
• Hot Spots: 
• Laboratory Arcanist: A prison for un-collared magic users or for those who are particularly problematic criminals- rumor is that they are experimented on like animals, their only release being death.
• The Wall: A great wall of mixed metals and steels surrounds the entire island, the only entrance a back gate used for the extremely limited trade with the mainland. Said to be impenetrable. 
• The Castle: The governing center of the island.

Canonical Occurrences by Members:

• Nothing accomplished as of yet

Available Quests:

• No One Escapes From Antigone: Tough shot, aren't you? Look, I've entered into an... agreement with some questionable people, and it's time to pay up. Help me out here. There's an island off the Northwest called Antigone Isle, and it specializes in... exotic items, particularly magic locks. Now, as you can guess, magic is illegal and highly restricted there. It's surrounded by a wall with only one opening; the sewers. Though there's also the back gate. Someone like you can find a way in, right? Get me a crate of one of their Magi Locks and not only will I let you keep one, you'll get a delicious ride. Again, if you fail, I don't know you.

Reward: 300VB 
1 Magi Lock (Value of 360vb)
1 Exalta Crystal+1 Spellcycle (Exalta-powered ground magitech motorcycle) (Value of 1900vb)

Brief Summary of Lore:

Taken from Lore: 

Once known as Magickera, Antigone was once a utopia for those skilled in the use of magick. All types of mages, psions, and even healers lived in harmony with those whose only magic lay in the gift of technology.

Even now, Antigone is renowned for its quick and steady advancement in technology, harnessing the powers of electricity, static, and light, turning these into sources of energy. Mages worked to combine these resources with magic, and soon the magitech of Antigone resembled not the fantastical and mystic scenes of mainland Genesaris, but a futuristic island of iron, steal, and adamantium. Still, it was a paradise, a dream of growth and power.

No one expected the change that would turn Antigone into a horror.

The leader of Antigone was a queen whose family had been killed by a mage gone mad, intoxicated with his own power. She distrusted all magickers (magic-users) and sought to bring them under a control that would never again see the murders she beheld. Her charisma and oral skills saw her in not only place of power, but a constant place in people's minds and hearts. She was trusted, and no one stood against her as she increased economy, jobs, and technological advancement.
~
Over time the queen created a caste system for all magickers. At the first display of an affinity for magic of any kind, they were to be hooked to a machine created to judge the subjects degree of power. Lowest to highest, these four classes were dubbed Grey, Amber, Crimson, and Indigo. Those of Crimson and Indigo were made to wear collars that would restrict their powers, at the same time announcing to the entire nation that they were a danger to themselves, and most importantly, to others.

This gave the effect the queen desired when one of Indigo power broke free of his collar and decimated a building filled with people of no magic. 

The incident inspired fear and distrust of magickers among the regular folk. Soon it was demanded of the queen that all magickers were to be collared, a request to which she gladly complied. These collars, magi-locks, were produced in frighteningly large numbers, and with their growth grew the segregation and prejudice against magick users. Some magickers fought back, but this only increased the steadily rising hatred toward magickers. The hate grew and grew, and has never ceased since.
~
Today Antigone Isles is a nightmare world for anyone associated with magick, to the degree that anyone born or caught inside of Antigone is never allowed to leave. A great wall of mixed metals and steels surrounds the entire island, the only entrance a back gate used for the extremely limited trade with the mainland and a sewer system that runs throughout the city, providing running water and a place to flush out waste products. The interior of the city is of great buildings, fortresses, skyscrapers and hospitals, with every street patrolled by security whose job is to make sure all magickers wear their collars. Those caught without it are arrested and taken to what is known as the Laboratory Arcanist, a massive prison at the head of the city where they are imprisoned and never seen again. Although nothing is conclusive, it is said that captured magickers are experimented on like animals until death. 

It is also said that some magickers have gone into hiding in the woods hiding on the outskirts of Antigone, preparing a revolt. 
~
Technology on Antigone includes systems rarely seen on Genesaris. This includes sensors, security systems with laser, steel electronic doors with identification requests (fingerprints, eye scans, even blood scans). Motorbikes, known as spellcycles, are a common sight for local police. The most common technology exists around magi-locks, the collars worn by magickers. Some magi-locks are not worn but are increased in size and set up around popular local areas to ensure no potentially harmful magic of any type can be used. It is however important to note that almost all technology is made possible with magic, essentially making almost all technology magitech. The only magickers allowed to use their magic on a somewhat daily basis are specially privileged inventors and scientists to create these magitech systems.

Well now, that's kinda depressing. Well Valucre, are you up for the challenge of Antigone?

New Awards (And the Awarded)!

So, Carlos has whipped up two new awards to hand out to people, in recognition of their commitments to the site.

The first of which is "The Endurance Writer"- this is a shoutout to our most consistant writers, the people who put up lots of RP regularly. This looks at a writer's last year of conent, awarding those who have had at least 200 Rp posts in that one year span. There are some other specifics (to prevent someone artificially boosting their numbers), but that is the main basis- you are a reliable RPer over time.

Congratulations to: Acies ab Vensaina, Aleksei, Alexei, Carrionjackle, Hopelessly Hopeful, King, Noko, Praetorian, Supernal, Thaiis, and The Hummingbird for all having over 200 posts in a one year time.

The second award goes out to that really classy RPer- that person who writes well, develops characters, builds stories and plots, role-plays reliably and consistantly and is basically someone the majority would point to when thinking of a member whose RP posts you should take some lessons from. This prestigious award went to:


Acies ab Vesania, Aleksi, Hopelessly Hopeful, King, Noko, Praetorian, Supernal, Suta, Thaiss, and The Hummingbird. Congratulations you awesome Role-players!

New Members and Returns!

Welcome:

Kaza Mizune:
This newby decided just to post up their character sheet as a means of introduction. It's an odd way of saying hello, but what the hell, it shows us what you are bringing to the table right from the start. Hope you enjoy the site!

Swifty:
He says that 'Ello ello' is the best introduction that he could muster, but then goes on to tell us plenty more, so I think that clearly there is more to this introduction! Experienced role-player with some dust still clinging to him, he's been out of the game for a while (due to school and such) but is back into the RP scene and looking forward to joining our 'venue'. So, welcome Swifty, I hope you find some RP... Swiftly... :P 

Atahsaia:
Hailing from another site, this is someone with a few years of RP under their belt and still craves the opportunity to improve. Given that Valucre is all about improving, I'd say that they have come to the right place! They play about anything, but if you got fantasy or a spar in mind, you should definitely go out of your way to hit them up. 

Sakyo:
Well, Sakyo did not have much to say, but prefaced his stay here with the warning that he's new, so forgive him for being a little slow. I suppose that applies to his introductions too, so I'll lend him a bit forgiveness for this one- but just this one time, because seriously- how can I write these greetings without fodder... I mean material. Material, yes!

Arcturus:
Speaking of those short intros, here is another one that has left me hanging. ;-; I appreciate their hello, and their enthusiasm about generating stories, but telling a story... it needs a little more. Well, I guess not always, there are some great stories out there that consist of like three lines- but hello let's tell stories is an invite, not a story about yourself! Anyway, welcome to Valucre Arcturus ;)

Breadbasketbomb:
I like this name, it sounds so unusual. This member has already found their way over into the Tavern of Legend, I'm happy that they have found their way around and made their way into some RP. This new member has a preference for alien type of characters, and definitely has some unusual ones in their arsenal. Looks like they also have a preference for those who don't use magic as well, so we'll likely be seeing some melee oriented characters here, that or advanced weapon warfare :)

Cataclysm:
Ha, this one got with the program- pointing out the general trend in these introduction threads. Hailing from the early chatrooms of Ayenee and Eden (Yahoo!) and some time in IRC, they made their way around some RP forums through the 2000's, but ominously puts it off as 'times best forgotten' and 'never to be spoken of again' (Hmm... challenge accepted?). As it turns out, he joined Valucre years ago, but chose this week to come out of hiding and actually join us on the forum. For that reason, I'm still calling them new- so welcome!

Singitwithme:
Watch out, she's a stalker. She plans to lurk in the shadows, following you around, watching... waiting... so hide your kids, hide your wives, she's gonna be spying on you! No, seriously, she's a new member to Valucre who hasn't been in RP for a while and because of switching to a science major, fears that her writing will take a serious blow. She's going to get a feel for how busy she can be and then perhaps join some of the stalked people. So welcome to Valucre- please refrain from doing anything that ends a restraining order ;P

Artemis Wasabi:
I like the last name, it's kinda peculiar for a last name. He's new, and he points it out by noting the incredibly low post count- well, that doesn't necessarily mean anything. You might join, post once, and then not post again for four years- then you wouldn't be so new with your tiny post count, now would you? :P Well, seriously though, this a new member who admits to being raised by a pack of geeks and genuinely enjoys some good RP. Welcome to Val!


Lex:
Lex is a bit rusty with a few years gone without RP, and as such isn't so sure what they want to play. That's alright though, all good things in good time. When you're ready, grab your character and come join us 'cool kids' down in the RP arena. :)

Returns:

Casanova:

Back for a short stay, mostly to say hi and all that, Casanova is visiting and shared the news of his daughter's arrival- Congrats Casanova, you family man you ;) 

10 new members and 1 returns, a pretty good jump. I like seeing ten new faces, its a solid number and it shows that we are really growing. Someday, all shall know of Valucre's pure badassary!

Other Highlights?

Just because Valucre is such a badass, it's gonna let you have this one. Yep, take your extra highlights, while it stands by looking like a bouncer who's contemplating beating your face. Feel good about these extras yet?

Photo Album- Each member has their own album area they can put together, and I don't think I have seen this utilized all that much. You can get to it from your profile, or you can (from the Forum page) click the small community button and pick 'Albums'. You can look at others public albums from their profiles. Good way to keep your pics together. ;)

Did You Know- About the Storytellers? Well I sure hope you do, because I am the guy who leads them! The Storytellers are here to help facilitate your stories, be it through some strong assistance or just playing an NPC for you. We are also protectors of the canonocity, making sure things don't get out of hand. Check out the Did You Know here for plenty more details. To see all the Did You knows, go here.

Closing Thoughts?

We’ll see how these turn out tonight- I got a distraction going on right now, and here I thought the blog night was going well. Oh well, it happens.

I started a series for these closing thoughts, which would include five (or six, I cannot remember at the moment, gah) subjects that are looked at during state tests here where I live. As I prefaced on the first week, I reserve the right to interrupt myself and go onto a side subject, and well- SQUIRREL! Well, not really squirrel, it has nothing to do with squirrels. What I mean to say is that I have indeed found a distracting subject to write about and plan to take a break from the themed series this week. This week’s subject is actually one that came up in conversation with someone over chat, and she suggested I do a ‘closing thoughts’ on it.

Today, we discuss the differences between Antiheroes, Antivillains, and Villain-protagonists.

This means I totally get to trope out this morning- hellyeah!

I know people outside the internet (I hate saying IRL, because I don’t think of my interactions on the internet as not being ‘real life’- the people I talk to are real, I have real interactions with them- hell, I have met several of you fine folks- so it is real life) who get this concept confused, and I have certainly seen it come up on Valucre a time or two, or more. Sometimes, the line between one and the other can be quite blurred, where we have an individual who seems to fit more than one category- well , in the case of Antivillain and villain-protagonist, they very well could be the same- so people just assume that they are playing one or other.

Well, they are all individual concepts! The man who goes around murdering puppies, kittens, and babies is not an antihero just because he is the guy central to your storyline. Antiheroes are still heroes, or at least in some fashion heroic, but they are not outright evil (except maybe a type five Antihero, commonly a heroic-sociopath, but there are rules to this). You might base your story around this character, your intent might be to have us root for him in all of his evil exploits, but that does not make him an anti-hero! This makes him a Villain-protagonist.

To better explain this, let’s actually look at what the antihero is.

The original antihero was supposed to be someone who was lacking in the idealized heroic traits- things like strong (and good) morals, idealism, courage, nobility, fortitude, or just plain being a total badass. If a hero lacked these sorts of traits, we tended to refer to them as an antihero. Perhaps your hero never wanted to be hero; hell, when faced with danger, he proceeds to wet himself. He spends half the story trying to get out of having to do this heroic deed and only finally relents in the end, for whatever reason finally drives him forward.

This is an example of an antihero.

Your antihero just might not be interested in doing heroic things, acting only because of profit involved- he’s promised money. He can be brave, but his morals are questionable, he has no ideals, nobility, and he outright expects things to turn south. Think Han Solo of Star Wars- in the first movie, he certainly had no real interest in the rebel cause. He wanted to make some money and pay down some debts, so he could save his own skin. It isn’t until that he came too appreciate his friendship with Luke, have feelings for leigha (beyond trying to get in her pants) and seeing the good they could do that he makes a full heel-face turn and becomes an actual hero (though his attitude probably still makes him an antihero, just a more heroic one).

The idea behind antiheroes taking a dark turn, where they tend to be brooding, questionably sane, or even borderline evil actually became more of a thing much later in writing, though it was done before (The Byronic hero). It gained a lot of traction with the 90’s comic book era, where heroes started taking some consistently dark turns (Dark Knight [Batman], The Punisher, Spawn]- this is where we saw Antiheroes start to get ‘dark’. This concept is fine- hell, I love me some dark antiheroes. It’s just that people sometimes forget that playing someone who is villainous does not make them a ‘hero’.

I love what TV tropes have done with breaking down antihero types. I am not going to paste what they wrote word for word, but I am citing them as my source. This just seems like a great way to think about where your character falls:

Type 1- Classical Antihero: This is the type of antihero I was talking about above- someone who just does not appear to fit the bill of hero at all and not usually for reasons that suggest they have moral flaws. These people suck at fighting, or lack confidence, or are totally wrapped up in fear. If you were to make a list of the traits you think of when you think of a hero, these guys either lack all of them, or something in a huge way.

Type 2- Disney Antihero: They use the name Disney because Disney uses this trope with this type of Antihero quite often- these antiheroes might be known as ‘Knights in Sour Armor’, or have some kind of major vice, or even just a bad case of being rude, sometimes to the extent of being an asshole. However, they have a heroic spirit, they’re great at battling the bad guys, and given the right motivation, will turn over into a full-blown hero- think Aladdin from the Disney movie.

Type 3- Pragmatic Antihero: These antiheros are willing to do what has to get done in order to see through their heroic efforts, though some will toe the line at using lethal force, while others will do it if it is absolutely required. As the Tropers put it, they are willing to shoot the dog  in order to make sure the day is saved. These antiheros sometimes do questionably moral things, certainly things that might be illegal, but they are doing it for the betterment of others. This might even include having to torture and enemy in order to make sure they gain the information required to save the Farmer’s daughter. While willing to do things that sometimes can be quite atrocious, they do feel about it, and a central theme to your story (or RP) could surround this person coming to terms with what they did. I should note, that killing in self-defense would not make your character an Type Three antihero, or even an antihero for that matter.

Type 4- Unscrupulous Hero: This is very often where your chaotic neutral character with mostly good intentions comes in- the hero who aims to be a hero, but seriously has some issues going on. This might be the pragmatic hero who I starting to lose it, someone who lives in an awful, terrible environment, or is driven by vengeance to a scary degree. It could also be that they just simply have lost the ability to care. They cross the line often, perhaps beating the tar out of a low ranking member in a crime gang who has never done anything too bad, and then justify it by saying, “They will eventually, or it’s their fault because they chose to hang with those people anyway”. This is where that 90’s profile Antihero or the Byronic antihero comes in- these people are often lacking empathy and might be outright sociopathic, but they are still heroes. They don’t kill innocents and they make ‘some’ effort to avoid screwing others over (like blowing up your house, oops).

Type 5- Hero in Name Only: This one gets a little sticky, because this category almost justifies calling your evil character an ‘anti-hero’. This is more of a situational piece, where maybe your chaotic-evil or totally insane in a not nice way character joins forces with good characters, and is out doing good deeds. The other heroes are all sticking to their moral codes and doing the best they can, while your character just plows through the adventure doing whatever he feels like, the risk of others be damned. Saving the farmer’s daughter? Well, that’s what you’re getting paid for, so like you care about accidently killing the couple down the street while chasing after the bad guys- they got in your way! Basically, the phrases, “We’re glad he is on our side” or “A bad guy pointed at other bad guys” is what defines this one. I would not say 100% of the time, but definitely most of the time, this is a single character in a group of otherwise good people.

So that is your antiheroes. These people are in fact heroes, though the last two types can certainly start to look evil (the last especially). Sometimes people get mixed up and think that their bad guy is an antihero because he is acting in the role of being a protagonist. A protagonist is not necessarily a ‘good guy’, but rather the guy (or gal) that we want to come out on top- the story focuses on them. Perhaps we enjoy rooting for that bad guy, so who cares if they are out robbing banks, murdering people, and stealing candy from babies.

Think Grand Theft Auto- that character is NOT an antihero.

Sometime the story is meant to go with the villain-protagonist coming out on top. A lot of times, we might be reading the story hoping for their demise and then get rewarded with just that at the end. Sometimes, a story takes a comical approach and that asshole gets what he deserves in the most humorous way at a later time. Either way, these guys are clearly bad guys, but they are the point of view we get. This sets up the interesting dynamic that we now get a Heroic-Antagonist.

This means, if you are playing a character who is central to your story and the one designed to come out on top, but he is out and about being a villain and doing bad things- he is a villain-protagonist and NOT an antihero. If your RP is about your sociopathic character robbing banks and stealing from everyone- that is a villain protagonist. There is a difference, and I hope you think deeply on it before you decide how to label your guy.

With that, I must be off- out of time. I wanted to have the chance to talk about Anti-villains (I find them truly interesting) but that looks like it might be another Closing-Thoughts for itself.

Alright, until next time.

-          Acies

"I'm drawn particularly to stories that evolve out of the character of the protagonist." ~ David McCullough