Writers: What lore do you need to know?

Karrie Reed thinks Captain Jack is sounding a bit miffed and could use a hug...

*offers hug*

 

This statement is inconsistent with existing SotA lore! You must change it immediately.

 

So long as Kerrie Reed is aware that Captain Jack reserves the right to check your pockets for anything he wishes during said hug!

^ that can be added to the player lore database, scribes, snap snap.


Captain Jack will adjust this to better reflect where the writers positions are at this current point in time.

 

No comment.

 

Tall Tale Knife
by Fletch Wormwood

Carving chessmen, mumbleypeg and darts for drinks within the safety of the tavern, raced through my thoughts, as we traveled down cul de sac de Urk in the darkness. After sundown we had become lost. There was a fine mist in the air, blue gray fog clung the ground, as the creature appeared and was upon us. One sweep of it's axe was all that was heard, as we fell into a ditch paralleling the road. Light from the moon and it's rusty belt scattered from splashing puddles, as the Beast stomped toward us for the kill. One good stab was at hand! With a wild haymaker, my blade went deep to the tang and hilted hinge pin. The vile thing staggered briefly, then dropped dead near the old man.

Amid the muddy canal with my companion, remaining there until his hand had let go. Crawling my way up the steep embankment, to the burm of the road. Digging both my blades into the dirt, my climb seemed endless. Help was needed fast, someone to give a glint, maybe a royal guard patrol. Cold, wet and silted. Making my way to the roads crest, next to our lantern where it lay smashed glass and broken, oil from the lamp pooled on the surface. Scrubbing with dried grass until clean, becoming flashy, a lure beaming semaphore shinning my steel down the road and between the trees. Soon distant lights began to report, men on horseback arrived and saved my friend, while one of them gave me a hand. We were reunited in the Vale a few days later. Back in the tavern now, he's at the bar, drinking and backslapping.

The Hat, nailed to the thick wood tavern table, stayed thin lipped and quiet while half it's plumage wondered the floor, the heavy Spittoon couldn't stop rolling and laughing, demanding another shot. The large Needle winked and gleamed with honor, while the Pin Cusion just scoffed with disbelief. All the little Pins continued to tremble. "Oi Knife, release us" whispering the Plume, "Urk was hailed and well met I'll bet, the Blacksmith had you splayed, hammered and his fire hitting your iron, all week, Ill tell them" With that the Knife retracted from the brim of the Hat, nodding with the Cards, It's half feather wasn't bluffing, retiring under the Hat and sleeping fish oil dreams. {Wishing jack would go third person} or what the flak.

Did I miss any Lore?

 

I like what you're trying to do but I haven't posted any due to the way the story and lore situation has been handled so far. First, every time the lack of lore has been raised (all the way back at the first story contest - which you won, tip of the hat ) the response was not at all encouraging. Second, the whole situation with the Scholars created the confusion that some have special access to lore which has added a sour note.

I think those who really enjoy the craft of writing and exploring the lore of SotA should just work together and do it. Right now, it's still too much of an opportunity for some to try to cozy up to the devs and get special recognition and access. It gets tainted by this. There is not a good community-oriented process for being part of the development of the ongoing story and lore, even at the bare minimum of asking for more answers, so I think the best solution is to just work with what we've got. Write and if it crosses lore boundaries, oh well. The real writers will have enjoyed the craft anyway.

 

• How famous is Lord British? The Shogun knows of him, as does the Oracle.
• What NPCs are well known enough to have global recognition, besides the Oracle and the Titans?
• How ubiquitous is magic in New Britannia? i.e., is it common enough not to be noted upon, or would the commonfolk see any spellcaster as fantastic, powerful, or possibly evil? Do farmers raise reagents just to sell to spellcasters (mystical cash crops)?
• What is the unit of travel in New Britannia? i.e., how many miles/kilometers/feet is a "hex", and how do locals refer to a distance (leagues, miles, etc)?
• Daedalus is currently unchanging, always showing a single face. However, there are a number of places where moon phases are mentioned, in various hangouts, in Q&A, and even on the Kickstarter. Will it be getting phases, or will these be changed to some other astronomical event?
• How many hours are there in a day, how many days are there in a month, and how many months in a year?
• We have a basic breakdown of regions in Novia from the map, but how are they governed? What is the capital of each area? Is each region self-governed, or is their an overarching leadership?
• What holidays are there in New Britannia?

I'm sure I could come up with a dozen more, but those would give me a good start.

 

Lord British's fame has come up before. Richard has stated that he is not well known anymore but that he is known in Britanny. Granted the Oracle is also in Britanny.

Units of travel is tricky. Unless Portalarium comes right out and gives us hard numbers then there will never be anything official. That said though you can figure something out if you make a few assumptions. If we assume for example that New Britannia is the same size as Earth.. and that lat/lon is also the same.. then you could, in theory put together a very rough guestimate based on the map. Of course, we do not yet know if the coordinate lines on the maps will be final or accurate.

Holidays.. yet to be determined. Richard has seen the results of player discussions though.

Hours in the day etc.. I think the only difference from Earth standard may be days in the month/year. Just speculation.

My impression on region capitols is if it's in Novia and has a tower.. it's a capitol. BotA gives a little information on them as well.

 

I heard something about 1 day = 1 hour and 1 month = 24 hours, but I can't recall where that is from. Hard to make that work with seasons and such if you go through an entire year in two weeks; I'm hoping at least twice that. EQ is short with its 72 minute days. Plus, how it works in prealpha really doesnt tell us what the lore side says.

Thats my assumption, but nothing concrete. BotA is unreliable as it is several hundreds of years out of date.

 

While I agree that a lot can happen in 200 years.. it seems evident from the releases so far and from the story sneak peak chat that the old city states are still in place. In the very least from what we've been told so far.. Ardoris and Resolute are still governing themselves and Britanny is likely although with the Oracle there and no specifics from BotA its anyone's guess what kind of government is there.

The problem with game time is that it's never going to be realistic. I personally would prefer a 90-120 minute "hour". Beyond that it'll all be a blur. The 24 hour month would make sense design wise as it would be easier for players to track seasons and for growing plants.. but if that's the case I'd prefer longer month.. like 48 or 72 hours. A 24 month would mean a 12 day year essentially.. that's just way too fast imo. Different discussion for a different thread though. I suppose the main point here is that as a balance issue we won't likely know the final numbers until well into beta.

 

Last I remember seeing, BOTA occurred 100 years in the past, and the cataclysm 400 years from current era. Can't find the reference on the first one, but the lore collection thread specifically mentions the latter, if I remember rightly.

 

What they've said is that BotA happens some time in the "middle".. which I've always assumed is roughly 200 years. To the best of my knowledge they've never actually said.

 

Yeah... it was the whole discussion about the novel itself where I find the most references to BOTA being roughly 100 years before CE, but even in the deep dive with Tracey and Richard they don't get that specific.

 

I suppose there might be a reveal about just how long ago it was somewhere in the storyline. Otherwise I can't think of a reason to not settle on a number. I mean what difference would it make otherwise? Then again the only reason we'd NEED to know is if we wanted to write some kind of historical book where it was relevant.

 

The irony here, is that in this deep dive they specifically state they wanted to reveal background such as what is being asked for... and yet, a year and a half later (almost), there has been very little on the subject aside from the completion of the book, which does nothing but raise more questions lol

 

At some point I think the best we can do is try to understand that this is the first time they've developed anything the way they have. Actual development takes priority and it's easy to caught up and forget anything that isn't staring you in the face. So naturally there are things they could do, could've done and should be doing better.

It's not an excuse but it is understandable.

 

Oh, of course! It's right up there with needing to remember that this actually IS a PRE alpha... they don't even have a game loop going yet.

 

It would seem that a lot of lore (much of it from BotA) is available on the SotA Wiki.. it's just not easy to find.

Here's a more direct link but those interested may still have to poke around a bit. Not everything is listed in the directory. We'll have to see if we can't make it more obvious.

http://sotawiki.net/sota/SotAWiki:Directory

That being said it doesn't cover most of the questions in the thread but let it not be said that those working on the wiki have been idle.

 

absolutely unofficial, non-spoiler anser:

B.C. : Before Cataclysm
A.D. : After Daedalus

Yes, I know, that doesn't actually answer the question, but it's something kind that just crossed my wandering mind

 

Clever! You could go one step further toward our system and say A.D. was Anno Daedulus.