The Valucre Blog was so Much Better Before it Went Mainstream...

Seriously, the writer sold out. 

Like, I was into it before it was 'cool'. 

Okay, I can only keep a straight face while doing that for so long. Welcome to another weekly rendition of your Valucre blog, filled with plenty of RP goodness for all you insatiable folks out there. We got plenty of good stuff to go around this week, so I hope you find something to spark your interest, or learn something new. Because you know what? Valucre (and by extension, this blog :P) are always cool. ;)

What's Happening Valucre?

The Chosen Goes to Round Two - Hey, one match ended- mine! Yeah, person dropped. Go figure. Anyway, this is still limping along. You can encourage people to post in the lounge.

Quest in Drakis Keep- A contributor to Orisia has set up a quest in Drakis keep, and is looking for some folks looking to take him up on the Gm'd adventure. You'll be starting out in a landmark called the Museum of legends, and the idea is that the characters involved will eventually find their way over to the mercenary help postings, where a shipping company is looking for some able bodied folks to go investigate disappearing goods. It will take you over some harsh environments, leading to dangerous times ahead. Good pay offered to the 3-4 players willing to take it up. Are you up for the task?

Prime Candidates and Campaigns- There has been offers of leadership positions in Terrenus and Genesaris, and now it looks like Renovaito is going to offer the same. If you are someone who enjoys role-playing in this diversified realm and would like to take on the role of a Prime (chief magistrate), you can apply for candidacy in one of the three major cities without one-  Nu Martyr, Oo`Xora, and Avylon. The requirements of the position are much like Genesaris- a promise of attempting to generate activity, not to an extent requiring a constant work, but an honest attempt to increase activity here and there. If this interest you, you can check it out in this thread or PM the boardleader.

Depths of Unterholm- An interest check to undertake a Terrenus based quest, the author of the interest check is looking for two others to join them on this quest that involves escaping the Unterholm prisons. The characters don't know how they got there, but the one certain thing is they must escape quickly, before an awful fate befalls them. The interest check is here.

Love, the True Art of War- I've seen a lot of interest checks come up for 1:1 Role-plays involving romance, and all of these requests seemed to get filled fairly quickly, so I am guessing there is a healthy demand for romance based role-play. That said, this is a notice for multiple opportunities for romance/politics based role-plays, involving the pairing off of character nobles played by members of the Shadows of Isador group. If you are interested in these sorts of opportunities (male and female characters), go check out who's available. ;)

Just for the Explosion- This is a Genesaris based role-play, involving a stolen airship, pirates, and a big mess created by said thieves. The role-play takes place in Telerian City, and involves a request for volunteers to go and round up these thieves before they cause lasting harm. They say if you can blast the guy out of the sky in a magnificent blaze, you get a free custom airship- that's a hell of a deal, if you've seen their prices. Take to the skies!

Role-play Adaptation of a Classical Play- Another opportunity to feel guilty about putting my own stuff up, but hey, I gotta get my RPs advertised too! Anyway, I thought an interesting project could be to take a classical play and adapt it into a role-play, working from the source material and converting it to an RP, reworking dialogue and format. At this point, it's in the early development stages and what we're looking to do is decide on which would be the preferred medium- a Serious Play (Tragedy) or a Comedy? Taking voting for about another week, and those who plan to try out or those who plan to read are welcome to give input. There is a ton of details, so go read up.

Colonies of Were- The colonies of Were are giving their allegiance to the Great North, and so the group is getting ready to become more active once again. If you are someone who enjoys playing Were-creatures, this might just be the group for you. There are a wide variety of potential creatures, so don't feel limited to Werewolves ;). You can mention interest here.

Featured Read of the Week- Another selection from Alternative, but like I said before, I'm not limiting reads to just canon areas- I'm taking them from wherever, so long as they're interesting and fun to read. This one certainly fits the bill, as it takes an old theme and puts an interesting spin on it. The Role-play involves MerryGoRoundOfLife, PandaHat, Carrionjackal, & Deviant.

The Four Horsemen- I find the title a bit misleading, in that rather than four horsemen, you have three women and one (implied) homosexual horseman. The RP is a fun read, as this takes a look at the Horsemen dealing with the modern age, and how much of what they once wrought in the world is now brought about by humankind all on their own. It presents a dilemma of identity crisis, but the RP is not entirely so serious either. The characters are fleshed out, filled with depth and quite entertaining. They have quirks, humerous personality traits, and each contribute to the story in a pleasing way. Definitely an enjoyable read.

Oh, you like those threads? They are sooo in the past. Like, forever ago.
  

Lore of the Week!

This Week's Feature: Muhir, Tellus Mater

At a Glance: 

• Leader: Rosencrantz Alisdor
• Population: The native population is comprised of 750,000 people. 
• Defenses: 
• The land is highly militaristic, with the art of warfare considered a highly honerable one. One third of the population is pooled throughout military chapters, creating an impressively sized army. 
• CROSS: A faction of warriors trained in White Arts, a field centered around providing protection for the church.
• ORDER: A high echelon of Aeliyrian Arms, these warriors are gifted with great military and political prestige. Their armor stands out, marks them for their rank, an awe-inspiring thing for the common people. Their faces are concealed behind masks, and any record of their previous appearence is lost. They have a subfaction within their ranks, with less power and prestige than their higher counterparts, but still a priveleged status. 
• The Developing Daylight of Tellus Mater: These people are tasked with developing new magic and technologies, and are a newer branch formed by the government. 
• Aeliyrian Arms: The bulk military force, comprised of Imperial Knights, Imperial Shields, Imperial Mages, Elites, and a sizable Airfleet.
• Led by General Iseul
• Attractions: 
• The Mana rich soil itself is an interesting thing to observe, as it has a strange effect on people, particularly when combined with the land's close affinity to other realms. 
• Neighboring Landmarks: 
• None Listed.

Canonical Occurrences by Members:

• Invasion — the Dyvreal moved in from the underbelly of Muhir, a place that has only been described as Hell. They were fierce, numerous and their cruelty would later be told as nightmares. Yet, it was the heroes of Muhir that drove their numbers down to only a few, they would soon have their days ended.
• A Passing — A death has left the city of Elrux without a formal leader; however, the ORDER has currently slipped into the position of rule, while they continue their hold on the mines and precious ore that rest within. A rumor speaks of a child, a female, who would be the heir should she come forward to claim the city.

Available Quests:

• None Found

Brief Summary of Lore:

Taken from Lore: 

The glory of such a city as Aeliyr has been evolved from the ancient scriptures of lore. The understanding of rune casting, magical circles, and alchemy has ascended the knowledge of the world known. The wondrous advancements in healing as well as military prowess from the study of magic has made Muhir one of the most powerful continents known. Sages from all around the world come to study within the spiritual realm of Muhirian constitution.

Touching Muhirian soil, a physical body becomes more in tune with their ethereal presence; naturally amplifying their magical prowess and connection. This enables even the most unskilled denizens to understand and utilize rudimentary magic to their advantage. However, the drawbacks of such a sense of magical self would also make beings more susceptible to magical attacks. 

The amplified ethereal presence could also lead one to fits of delusion, removal of their rational faculties, lapses in common sense judgment. The presence of rich unadulterated mana flowing through the very fabric of Muhir is only kept in check by several common place magic sigils, or spell circles found throughout the city. Normally found on lamp posts, illuminated by the city lights, or magnificently crafted into the city's natural landscape-- market squares, intricate streets that weave through the city to act as large magic circles.

The Muhirian area is indeed well within the boundaries of the omniverse. It has realms extending beyond the boundaries of the physical plane, stretching into planes unknown by most of the denizens. With the lack of a specific deity for worshipping, there are little differences within the Outer or Celestial realms existing in this multiverse. The strongest presence in the coterminous material plane or the perception of the physical world of Muhir is the Ethereal Realm. Revealing a greater understanding of one's soul or 'ether'. However, there are several planes and areas of pocket space within Muhir that may be different in terms of perception due to the naturally heightened presence of several extraplanar sites and the absence of others.

But you probably never heard of it, because they're underground.

New Members and Returns!

Welcome:

Ronthedriver234:
He's new and promises to have some tricks up his sleeves. I hope they are good tricks, because boring tricks aren't very much fun. :P 

Dreamer94:
They ache for role-play (perhaps some Ibuprofen in the interim?) and hope to get some invites soon. A role-player of six years, the profess a dear love for RP.

Mer:
He comes from a land of akward weather patterns and menopausal cashiers- hell, throw in bad drivers and you have my neck of the woods. He's familiar with a few of our folks and has stopped by to say hi, with the encouragement of a couple other members. So, yeah, HIIIII. 

Hotorispirit:
They go by Whisper, Whisperer, and Hoto, and they are joining us from something called a Virtual Space App, a thing I am not familiar with! They hope to find a mature audience for RP, and used that term I hate so much- litterate. If you can read and write, you're literate sir/madam, so don't lable yourself! :P

Weltschmerzification :
He says little other than he's new here and on a dare, and other than that, all I can remark on is that he has an obnoxiously long username. 0_o

Icaro:
Icaro says, 'Sup'. Well Icaro, not much. Sup with you?

Eskk Jannik:
Well, I wasn't sure if I should include this person or not, because they admitted to feeling overwhelmed and state they likely will not stick around. Nevertheless, I figured we should still give them a shoutout and a welcome, and hope that perhaps they shall change their mind. 

Runa:
Runa is a female role-player (we have a bunch of those :P) who goes by Rune, Runa, Star, or anything else you feel like calling her, so long as it isn't rude or crude. She enjoys fantasy based RPs, states she's patient, and looking to improve her writing while hanging around. Welcome Runa, happy to have you. :)

Penny Dreadful:
They say they feel out-awesomed by the site, but I am digging their username! I love their way of putting it: It's like a sucker punch to the gut by a radioactive freight train- that's totally awesome! They enjoy supernatural and steampunk RPs, and look forward to joining our community. Be sure to tell em hi and get them shown around. ;)

Returns:

Praetorian:
He put up no thread to announce it, but I'm not letting it go unheard. He's not saying he's back for good yet, but it's damn nice to see him around the forums again. Welcome back Praetorian, even if you're just visiting! :D


Well, nine new members and one return, a total gain of ten. It's a good average I think, and I am happy to take nine new faces any week. Welcome to Valucre people!

But I knew them before you did heard of them. >_>

Other Highlights?

I already had a rant earlier, so I am spent. No rant today, just highlights. Hell with it, have three. 

Blog Forms- I mentioned it last week, and followed it up. The blog forms are updated, and you can look at it here for the changes. Everything is updated to better reflect the new format. You can submit threads for What's Happening, nominate a closed thread for feature of the week, suggest a section of lore to review, offer a closing thought, give suggestions, and volunteer to do guest blogging. Cool stuff. :)

Advanced Search: I probably ought to write a full on post about it sometime, but I figure this is a good thing to point out. There are a lot of things you can do with an advanced search, depending on what your needs are. You can use it to track down old posts, aggregate statistics, see who's posting where, etc. I encourage you to look through the array of options available to you, and experiment!

Did You Know- Reply to All? Get a PM addressed to multiple people, because you are trying to carryon a private discussion? You can use the reply to all button to respond to everyone, to keep the conversation on the same page for everyone. Quite handy when trying to sort something out between a few people. You You can look at the Did You Know here. The rest of the Did You Know Archive is over here.

Besides, cooperating is so ironic.

Closing Thoughts?

Sometime I struggle with this section, trying to come up with something to write about, and end up hitting a brick wall in the process. Luckily, during the week I had an idea come to me, that idea led into another, and now I have something to work from over the course of the next few blogs. I am going to be going over some aspects of writing, stuff applicable to both your general writing and writing of posts, in the hopes that I can pass along something you might be able to use. The influence for this actually comes from the old standardized testing grading for Oregon High school writing tests, but the areas they look at are good ones for consideration.

Each week, I am going to pick one to cover. I might break it up with something else in between, should a compelling topic arise or should someone submit a request, but assuming there is no exception made, I will cover one of the six areas. I’m not sure in what order I will cover them. Going alphabetically is too mainstream you see, so to buck societal expectations and do something ‘cool’, I am going to start this week’s at the end.

Okay, being honest, I planned to do this one first from the outset. This topic was the one that made me go back to and look up those categories and decide to do a series based on their other points, because this subject is one of those covered.

Today’s Topic: Word Choice.

 This subject is not one that is going to focus so much on right and wrong according to hard and fast rules, but instead take into account words that can be ‘technically’ correct, while still being a poor choice, and looking at ways to use words differently. Given how my time to complete this blog quickly diminishes, I hope I can adequately cover this section before having to go forth with publishing.

First, let’s talk about words that are technically correct, but perhaps are a poor choice.

The first example I am going to bring up is the one that prompted this close in the first place. It was a comment on a friend’s messenger status, and for days it bothered me, until I finally spoke to him and got him to change it. Call me anal, but this is what it said:

“Wow, 7mbs internet is much quicker than 5mps service”.

A silly think to be worked up over but believe me, it bothered me. The word quicker just sounds wrong in that context, despite being ‘technically’ correct. If you look up the word in the dictionary, you will find absolutely nothing wrong with it, based on the definition. Yet, if you really think about it, we rarely use the word ‘quicker’ in this context. When we are thinking about something’s speed, we generally say ‘faster’. Rephrased, the sentence would look like this:

“Wow, 7mps internet is much faster than 5mps service.”

I cannot speak for the readers of this blog, but in my (perhaps not so) humble opinion, using faster just sounds… cleaner. The sentence flows, it makes sense, and my brain doesn’t lurch when hearing the word quicker in this context. When we are talking about the speed in which an object moves or performs, the word faster tends to see more use.

Now, what about the word ‘Quicker’? If we are avoiding its use in this context, what context do we generally use quicker? Quicker is a word that is associated with time. When we are thinking about the amount of time something was completed, we use quick. I might describe my internet speed as faster than before, but I could point out that the improved internet speed complete my download much more quickly than before. The download time of that song was so quick! Conversely, if I refer to the download’s speed, I might say, ‘it was a fast download’ vs ‘I downloaded that song quickly’.

Use of either word, in either context, assuming you modify for proper tense, is correct. However, one word fits better than the other does in each of those examples.

This is thinking about your word choice.

The words you choose might be the difference between a sentence that flows, and a sentence that causes your reader to hit a lurch- a bad thing. We want our writers to remain immersed in our writing, to get into the story we are telling or the post we made in our role-play. Use of a word that does not fit well creates problems.

Another example that tends to bother me, one that some argue is a hard and fast rule and others have slackened with, is Ensure vs Insure. I see it all the time, particularly in my work place, when managers want us to ‘ensure our work is completed’ but instead say that they want us to ‘insure that our work is completed’. If you follow it as a hard and fast rule (or even just look at it from a context of what sounds right and what looks right), insuring something is securing your potential financial losses. I insure my car, so if I get into an accident, they I will be reimbursed for the value of my car, and be able to afford a replacement. By doing this, I ensure that I will not get into a serious situation later.

If I am using a scenario that could be interpreted either way, using the wrong word of the two could create confusion. Even if the word does not create confusion, I find that the wrong use always makes me stop. I know the word does not fit before I even think about how it is incorrect. I could go on for a long time, writing out different examples of words that might be against rules in some books and not against the rules in others, or words that might be considered ‘technically correct’ but when taken into the context of common usage, sound awful. I’ll leave it to you, the readers, to work do some critical thinking as you proofread your stuff, and decide if perhaps something’s wording sounds a little… off.

The other thing I wanted to touch on is thinking about the words we use in the context of conveying a message. When I am writing a story, writing an essay, or writing an RP post, I have a multitude of words available to me. Using these words, I certainly can paint a picture of a scene, whether I am talking about the environment/scene, or describing a character’s appearance, their emotions, or their actions. There might be certain things I see in my mind that I want my reader to experience as well, so I begin to think about how to describe it. Sometimes, this creates a tempting trap:

Using too much description, or hitting a thesaurus and using the wrong words.

I covered the latter example in a previous blog, so I really won’t go into it- let’s just say that oculars and orbs are not synonyms for eyes. With the former, you might be trying to create a picture by thoroughly describing something- by either going over every minute detail, or taking your adjective and weighing it down with half a dozen adverbs- okay, maybe I exaggerate a little here. While you might not weigh down the adjective with half a dozen adverbs, you might still use one or two, which on occasion is perfectly acceptable. Over time, with repeated use, your writing just ends up bogged down.

I’m not so extreme as to tell you to use them next to never (Stephen King approach), but I have seen some superfluous writing which would have benefitted from a bit of trimming down. Hell, I am certain I have been guilty of it myself, here and there. The way to beat this is to try to think outside the box- use descriptive words that capture what you are going for. I might use a metaphor that isn’t normally associated with that object, or a descriptive word that I wouldn’t have thought to use.

One could describe the snow as pale white and powdery, lying about in drifts, or perhaps I could say the snow-covered meadow resembled a field of cotton.

Different, but effective- and it did not involve the use of a word that sounded clunky, huge, or different (avoids getting into purple prose).

When it comes to description, some degree of word economy is desirable- you don’t have to be a miser (unless that is your style, if so, work it), but a little bit of frugality certainly wouldn’t hurt, when you are tempted to blow your budget, so to speak. Carefully choosing our words can make a profound impact on our writing.

Like the use of profound. Think about it: How did that affect you when you read that sentence, versus saying something like ‘significant’, or ‘noticeable’? I chose a word designed to evoke a specific thought or reaction- another way that word choice can shape our writing. Had I the time to explore this, I would but alas, my time runs short.

Perhaps another day.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy, and I will see you all next week. :)

Because yes, you’re still cool enough to hang out with me. :P

-          Acies

"In good writing, words become one with things"   ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson