General Q and A

ehm...I've heard it all depended of the sun...

question: is it possible to have shapechange magic in felarya? as in, can a mage specialize in being able to change their appearence and powers, and so appear as a pred to other preds, and yet be a non-pred? like, a mage literally turns into a felaryan fairy, 100 feet tall, and has all their abilities.

rcs619 wrote:

Silent_eric wrote:

Question: How many hours are in a day in Felarya?



Answer: 42 hours. Time is unevenly distributed between day and night, with day having 28 hours, and night having 14 hours, This changes depending on the season.




Feel free to refute that if I'm wrong.

Im pretty sure Karbo said it was nearly Earth-like in regards to the length of day and night.

Had the math wrong. Put ten more hours than I meant to. 32 seems Close enough to Earth not to matter, but different enough to be different.

TryMeIke wrote:

question: is it possible to have shapechange magic in felarya? as in, can a mage specialize in being able to change their appearence and powers, and so appear as a pred to other preds, and yet be a non-pred? like, a mage literally turns into a felaryan fairy, 100 feet tall, and has all their abilities.

No.

It is impossible to change your species through magical means.

Someone could create the illusion of shapeshifting through illusion magic (its how Dryads look like normal trees most of the time), but its still just an illusion.

Anna is probably the best example of a human turning into a pred. This happened due to a time-space anomaly. No mage possess the power to manipulate time, or the fabric in reality in those ways. The only known Felaryan who can is Notys, arguably the most powerful of the guardians.

There have been a small handful of other incidents, but they are always the result of a very rare, very unlikely accident. The effect is also irreversible for the same reason. No one can intentionally create the effect.

rcs619 wrote:

TryMeIke wrote:

question: is it possible to have shapechange magic in felarya? as in, can a mage specialize in being able to change their appearence and powers, and so appear as a pred to other preds, and yet be a non-pred? like, a mage literally turns into a felaryan fairy, 100 feet tall, and has all their abilities.

No.

It is impossible to change your species through magical means.

Someone could create the illusion of shapeshifting through illusion magic (its how Dryads look like normal trees most of the time), but its still just an illusion.

Anna is probably the best example of a human turning into a pred. This happened due to a time-space anomaly. No mage possess the power to manipulate time, or the fabric in reality in those ways. The only known Felaryan who can is Notys, arguably the most powerful of the guardians.

There have been a small handful of other incidents, but they are always the result of a very rare, very unlikely accident. The effect is also irreversible for the same reason. No one can intentionally create the effect.

is that your OPINION, or is it said by karbo himself? I never saw that in the rules of the wiki.

TryMeIke wrote:

rcs619 wrote:

TryMeIke wrote:

question: is it possible to have shapechange magic in felarya? as in, can a mage specialize in being able to change their appearence and powers, and so appear as a pred to other preds, and yet be a non-pred? like, a mage literally turns into a felaryan fairy, 100 feet tall, and has all their abilities.

No.

It is impossible to change your species through magical means.

Someone could create the illusion of shapeshifting through illusion magic (its how Dryads look like normal trees most of the time), but its still just an illusion.

Anna is probably the best example of a human turning into a pred. This happened due to a time-space anomaly. No mage possess the power to manipulate time, or the fabric in reality in those ways. The only known Felaryan who can is Notys, arguably the most powerful of the guardians.

There have been a small handful of other incidents, but they are always the result of a very rare, very unlikely accident. The effect is also irreversible for the same reason. No one can intentionally create the effect.

is that your OPINION, or is it said by karbo himself? I never saw that in the rules of the wiki.

This is the official Q and A thread.

People aren't supposed to state opinions, just facts.

Whether its in the wiki or not, it has long been established within the community that shapeshifting is impossible outside of extreme, ultra-rare (and irreversible) accidents.

If you aren't going to accept the answers given, don't ask a question in the Q and A thread.

why are you so hostile RCS? what is your problem? and if it's not in the wiki, how is someone SUPPOSED to know it's a rule? hm?

TryMeIke wrote:

why are you so hostile cliff? what is your problem? and if it's not in the wiki, how is someone SUPPOSED to know it's a rule? hm?

By using common sense? By listening to people who have been in the community much longer?

Karbo doesn't like to write down hard rules about anything. Hell, he even refuses to put twinkie theory in the wiki eventhough he supports it.

Quite a few official rules aren't in the wiki yet. Karbo is the only person who can add to it, and he has a life.

Also, stop trying to play the victim whenever someone doesn't give you the answer you like. It gets old.

why don't YOU stop being an asshole, I haven't been around this community as much as you, and cannot be expected to know everything. so I made a mistake, big deal, DO NOT BE A BITCH TO ME ABOUT IT.

TryMeIke wrote:

why are you so hostile RCS? what is your problem? and if it's not in the wiki, how is someone SUPPOSED to know it's a rule? hm?

Cliff was not being hostile. He was simply stating something.

When someone disagrees with you it's not being hostile. If you can't understand that, then you're not going to do well on a forum where there are tons of disagreements. These disagreements are rarely hostile, but are part of the discussion process of making a world.

Older members of the community have been around enough that they've picked up at least a few important pieces of information and discussion. Being disrespectful them for dispensing these facts is also fairly non-constructive.

Jætte_Troll wrote:

TryMeIke wrote:

why are you so hostile RCS? what is your problem? and if it's not in the wiki, how is someone SUPPOSED to know it's a rule? hm?

Cliff was not being hostile. He was simply stating something.

When someone disagrees with you it's not being hostile. If you can't understand that, then you're not going to do well on a forum where there are tons of disagreements. These disagreements are rarely hostile, but are part of the discussion process of making a world.

Older members of the community have been around enough that they've picked up at least a few important pieces of information and discussion. Being disrespectful them for dispensing these facts is also fairly non-constructive.

the TONE was hostile, like it or not. this is the kind of reason I am not interested in continuing here. people can't ask a simple question without being looked down on. enough is enough, ban me if you want, I'm through.

Question I've never really understood:

Why aren't there robots and unmanned drones doing the adventuring so edible humans don't have to? Isn't that, like, a really smart idea? Obviously there are no robots, and there likely shouldn't be. So what would be the reason why fleshies do it?

TryMeIke wrote:

Jætte_Troll wrote:

TryMeIke wrote:

why are you so hostile RCS? what is your problem? and if it's not in the wiki, how is someone SUPPOSED to know it's a rule? hm?

Cliff was not being hostile. He was simply stating something.

When someone disagrees with you it's not being hostile. If you can't understand that, then you're not going to do well on a forum where there are tons of disagreements. These disagreements are rarely hostile, but are part of the discussion process of making a world.

Older members of the community have been around enough that they've picked up at least a few important pieces of information and discussion. Being disrespectful them for dispensing these facts is also fairly non-constructive.

the TONE was hostile, like it or not. this is the kind of reason I am not interested in continuing here. people can't ask a simple question without being looked down on. enough is enough, ban me if you want, I'm through.

The only one who has been hostile is you with your swearing and random accusations. You are consistently confusing disagreements with being hostile. Most people on the forum are able to develop ideas without flipping out at everyone who disagrees with them. If you can't be mature enough to handle this, it might be best if you do leave.


@Eric -Not sure. Cost?

For shapeshifting, turning into something gigantic would be incredibly difficult. There could exist polymorph spells, but it's easier to simply transform into something of relatively similar mass and size, and most of the time, such spells would be used for infiltration more than anything if maintaining an illusionary disguise spell is too difficult. Shapeshifting at will is easily exploitable for inexperienced writers, which is why it is usually discouraged. While it would be awesome for an A-class mage to shapeshift into something 10 ft tall to repel a big threat, shapeshifting into a fairy would be impossible due to their weird physics, and shapeshifting into a giant would be beyond normal human capabilities.

TryMeIke wrote:

why don't YOU stop being an asshole, I haven't been around this community as much as you, and cannot be expected to know everything. so I made a mistake, big deal, DO NOT BE A BITCH TO ME ABOUT IT.

That's why we have a Q and A thread. So newer guys can come in and ask questions.

You asked a question. I answered you. You accused me of trying to push my own opinion and of being hostile.

You're the only one I see being hostile here Mr. Caps-lock. You're the one who resorted to calling someone else an "asshole"

No one expects newer people to know everything. I do expect newer people to try and pay attention, and not throw a fit whenever they get an answer that they don't like. Felarya has rules. Learn to work with them like everyone else has.

Quote :

the TONE was hostile, like it or not. this is the kind of reason I am not interested in continuing here. people can't ask a simple question without being looked down on. enough is enough, ban me if you want, I'm through.

How have I "looked down on you"? I took the time to come in here and answer your question. I don't do this for my health. I do this to try and help newer guys get up to speed, and learn how Felarya actually works. I was civil. You're the one who started calling me an asshole and yelling in all caps when you got an answer you didn't like.

Stop throwing a fit whenever someone disagrees with you. You make it out like anyone who isn't 100% on your side and buddy-buddy with you is some horrible person out to oppress Ike.

Jætte_Troll wrote:

@Eric -Not sure. Cost?

Cost of robots versus Ascarlin gains would imply SEND THEM BROBOTS.

So Cost can't be it I think. The potential gains would outweigh the cost. Besides, that would imply all groups in Felarya already would value monetary cost of robots over loss of human life from sending actual people.

Silent_eric wrote:

Jætte_Troll wrote:

@Eric -Not sure. Cost?

Cost of robots versus Ascarlin gains would imply SEND THEM BROBOTS.

So Cost can't be it I think. The potential gains would outweigh the cost. Besides, that would imply all groups in Felarya already would value monetary cost of robots over loss of human life from sending actual people.

I think, in another thread, we agreed that we could see Negav having UAV's to help with aerial photos, map-making and such.

Actual robots though, they wouldn't be good. You need the human element to explore, especially over massive distances. You need the knowledge, experience and instincts. The only robots that would even be remotely useful would be sentient AI's, and its probably best if we don't start trying to bring in sentient robots to Felarya.

rcs619 wrote:

Silent_eric wrote:

Jætte_Troll wrote:

@Eric -Not sure. Cost?

Cost of robots versus Ascarlin gains would imply SEND THEM BROBOTS.

So Cost can't be it I think. The potential gains would outweigh the cost. Besides, that would imply all groups in Felarya already would value monetary cost of robots over loss of human life from sending actual people.

I think, in another thread, we agreed that we could see Negav having UAV's to help with aerial photos, map-making and such.

Actual robots though, they wouldn't be good. You need the human element to explore, especially over massive distances. You need the knowledge, experience and instincts. The only robots that would even be remotely useful would be sentient AI's, and its probably best if we don't start trying to bring in sentient robots to Felarya.

That's what I'm SAYING man! It's a bad idea. I want to know the in setting reason why they aren't there.

Well they could have been sent originally, however reported back false data on how dangerous Felarya is. I mean while predators are territorial is a giant naga going to go after a tin-pot machine on tracks? If the predators were not attracted to and thus didn't attack or show themselves to the robot how whould the robot report their existance?

Not to mention that you may not run into a predator on one trip. So it's possible that the droid reported no threat when the predator wasn't present, but by the time the humans went there, it came back.

So wait. You guys are saying there would be robots scouting things out. Or there were anyway. People used them, got mistaken information, then stopped using them and relied on humans instead?

Yes. There is only so much a machine can do, as Cliff said they are limited in function and operation. So they only realised Felarya was dangerous after the humans arrived.

CauldronBorn24 wrote:

Yes. There is only so much a machine can do, as Cliff said they are limited in function and operation. So they only realised Felarya was dangerous after the humans arrived.

Soooooo... Robots are around. I guess I should start coming up with some common robots you may see around Felarya. They probably count as Magical relics and treasure, ha ha ha. Technical wonders that they are.

Wall E comes to mind.

AIs are something 'prevalent' in my story, but the only one currently in existence in my writings is one of my main characters, Nyselyn. She was 'rescued' if you will from the AI wars of the multiverse realm that the Authority came from.

I think you probably wouldn't see too many advanced 'robots' in the generic sense of the design just because of the resources necessary to maintain them and the functionality they would require in operation in some of the more hostile environments of Felarya. Something more advanced like Nyselyn can easily accomplish it, but there are few societies that even have the potential to build something like her and on top of that Nyselyn is an anomaly anyway due to how her 'core' is 'contained'.

Not to mention most humans get the heeby-jeebies when you talk about creating a machine that is capable of self-awareness and handing your asses to you without strict controls - and the latter will almost certainly be circumvented eventually if the former is true.

A lot of my theory and design behind them comes from Asimov's papers and the book series everyone knows of - Robots > Robots and Empire > Foundation > Foundation & Chaos; and what doesn't come from that is filled in by the novel-esque stories of the Dinochrome Brigade which examine the features of the Bolo's AI, Anne McCaffery's Brain & Brawn series, or other past writers/researchers such as Ben Bova and his book Challenges.

Off topic and on a tangent, Felarya's dimensional design often reminds me a lot of the Key to Perihelion that Asimov wrote into that line of his story, and timing2's watch stories definitely remind me of it.

I think you are probably more likely to seem golems doing such tasks. Sure, they may not be as intelligent, but they are far more rugged for their like-styled environments (ie rock golems for exploring mountains, etc) and less likely to attract attention to themselves or the master.

Wall-E does come to mind though, for handling menial tasks that one doesn't really feel like dealing with or expending energy upon. Negav certainly has the economy and reason for bringing in such trade through the portals. You can probably find a lot of disinherited robotic relics just in the underground of Negav, where their parts of those that fail/cease to function are sold off as trinkets and the like.