I've decided there's no point posting in the Dungeonevened thread anymore, since all news relate to the sequel anyway; that's why I've made this thread - to finally close that book and start seriously preparing for the next chapter, the elven saga of
Twinklestar.
Unlike the last time, I can actually call myself a competent raw reader, even a novice raw modder. I can actually bugfix instead of just brute-forcing my way through the errorlog hoping I don't bean things up even further. More than that, I have a clear-ish vision of what I want to achieve:
-16 main civilizations divided into 4 factions + kobolds and cavern races. Playable races should be human-like. Let's take Squamous's Fantastic Races - as neat as they are, they are just not relatable to us, humans. Not to mention situations where our lads are allied with horriffic monsters exclusively.
-Consistent technology level across civilizations - no more revolvers vs. atlatls; mostly flintlock guns. Deep drows still use crossbows, wood elves use bows, T'lethians use zrbite-powered sonic-blasta rifles.
-Better interaction between mods. Direforged's light hall can produce a luminous scourge of fangs, MottledPetrel's shroomery makes Rhenaya's Drow-style lances usable by elves and dwarves, the spellcrafts' meat summoning summons abrian meat (abrians are outsiders, so that fits the theme).
-More mods, less undefined nail material.
Animal Diversification Project by yours truly - unfinished
Other minor mods by me (Barometz, yatagarasu)
Kyubee's Dwarven Wastes by Kyubee - without remnant civs, they were renamed vanilla entities anyway
ZM5's mods (What Lurks Below, Dragon's Dogma creatures, mythological creatures, OCs, Dwarfest Dungeon, Zombies Ate My Dwarves, Dr. Z's Merged Megabeasts, Lands of Duality, Goetic Demon Pack, Diablo Pack, Silly Book Titles)
Forgotten Realms Direforged by GoblinCookie (original Direforged by Knight Otu, D&D pack by Teneb, I believe) - no civs, it would be a bitch to tinker with weapon sizes, some names changed to be more descriptive.
squamous' mods - creatures and plants mostly, some minerals and secrets too
Mottled Petrel's Fungus Expanion by MottledPetrel
Mostly Mythical Monsters Modular Mod by IndigoFenix - was included in some other mod, not sure if all modules
Asin's mods (The Wee Folk Mod, Rise of the Beasts, Goblinoids, Culture Shock) - halflings, orcs and Hito; creatures
Dark Ages III: War & Mythos by GM-X - plants and pets. As much as I like this mod, I always break something while scavenging for useful raws.
scourge728's mods (extinct creatures, mundane creatures) - partially replaced by my ADP, sorry for that.
Assorted Creatures pack by Enemy Post - kong, gray equipment, rayguns turned into sonic-blasta rifles
Rhenaya's Drow Mod by Rhenaya, updated by Mediterraneo
Caverns Of Peace, Friendship, & Fun by fluffyshambler
Misc Custom Creatures by EpicJ
Morps's Assorted Creatures by Morps
More leather mod by sackhead
Creepycaverns by Godlysockpuppet
Deeper Dwarven Domestication by Wannabehero (no idea who updated it, snatched it from some other mod)
SaurFortress by Eotyrannus (again, no idea who updated it, I recovered it from the Modded Hell save file)
Expanded Good/Evil Regions by than402
Seiggrain's Farming and stuff by SeiggrainHart
Kazoo's Silk Eggs by Kazoo
Slaves to Raius: God of Nimeria by Dunmeris - a few creatures and plants
Succubus Dungeon by Boltgun - something from this mod, I don't remember
My Little Fortress by Sorcerer - two creatures and two plants
Voliol's Various Vivants by Voliol - partially replaced by my ADP
Eric Blank's mods (Spellcrafts, Eric's Regional Critters and Interactions)
Warhammer Fortress Beta by Kraloth - a few creatures
Domestically Bred Dwarven Beasts by vettlingr
Splint's Prehistoric Creature Pack by Splint
Meph's Tileset by Meph - three workshops
Primal by Enemy Post
More Stone, Metals, Gem Mod by Urist McGoombaBrother
Teneb's Miscmods by Teneb
Locust's Zoo by locustgate
More Mythical Creatures by OluapPlayer
Desperaux's Organics by Desperaux
Dwarf Fortress From Scratch II (various authors) - not much of this, really.
Some mods may be missing from the list, because I've accidentally deleted the latest changelog for a version I haven't posted.
WHERE ARE WE NOW?
Doing stuff from the lists below.
DWAR... ELFING
Not yet. I have an idea who I want to take at embark, but until I get to see genders and attributes nothing is final.
Ess (me) - 'The Metamagician' - alchemist/teacher/record keeper/manager
?? - 'The Assistant' - alchemist/animal trainer/grower
?? - 'The Cook' - cook/butcher
?? - 'The Adventurer' - spearman/fighter/dodger/liar
?? - 'The Collector' - appraiser/gem cutter/gem setter
?? - 'The Coal Miner' - miner/furnace operator
?? - 'The Stray' - biter/climber
I'll be using more 'lore friendly', elven-sounding names derived from usernames if someone doesn't suggests one on their own.
At a certain time the halls of the Academy of Magics would become deserted without fail, but the first day of spring was always different - late evening, after most students and staff have gone home already, deans of all faculties would meet to discuss the goals for the coming year, plan important events, settle differences and more. They were not, however, the only ones in the building.
Ess, a lowly metamagics professors was sitting in the staff room buried under a pile of ungraded papers on the metamagics of summoning circles. The elf prefered to spend the night reading page after page of nonsensical magical heresies in the light of a single fire snake in a jar than lugging this heap of paper home, even though both options were horrible.
"Seneri, he's been on a roll lately..." She muttered to herself, looking at another paper. "Yeah, cram more sigils into a string, maybe you'll brute-force the circle to work. Yeah, nah, failed. Litheme, my favorite. Let's see how long until everything falls apart... 'Chi'? We're elves, we say 'mana', for gods' sake! I wish I could lower your grade for this... You can easily destabilize ambient magical field with a circle complex enough, that's not up for discussion! No, I specifically told you not to use that book as a source! Failed. How about Anaye? Oh, that's not a typical schematic... Another idiot forgot the first rule of summoning circles - a circle must be drawn on a flat surface! If you did any research, Anaye, you'd definitely and without fail come upon Tirist's summoning sphere thought experiment, and you would know why it was JUST a thought experiment!"
"Someone's still here?" Another elf's voice came from beyond the wall of papers, most likely from around the door. The elf who disturbed Ess's work glanced at the desk for any clue who he was talking to, and only saw a pair of ears twitching wildly. "Oh, it's you, Ess-diri!"
"I know the drill - lock up after I'm done... Although I get a feeling I'll be sitting here until morning." The metamagician mumbled, not even raising her head from over a particularly bad work.
"No, that's not it. The rector, Thene-ithera, would like someone from metamagics faculty to be at the big meeting. You know Thadayi-ithera couldn't make it, and since you're here..."
"They should be almost done by now anyway. Unless..." Ess suddenly realized why someone of her specialization might have been needed. "They were supposed to discuss the expedition! Thanks for reminding me!" The woman grabbed the fire snake jar, and stormed past the confused news-bearer, then through the dark corridor towards the conference hall.
---
The discussion among the deans was heated to say the least. Those who wanted to lead the expedition were quickly being dismissed as unsuitable for the job, and those who would be of any use had no intention of going.
"Yes, I admit arcane ecology would be best studied in a region with strong magical ambience, but is it really what we are after?" The dean of arcane biology faculty argued. "It would be a tremendous waste of resources to send this kind of expedition to a mission that could be fulfilled by a single traveller with basic knowledge and a notebook. Maybe the nature of that region is related to a curse or a secret? What do you think, Rise-diri?"
The head of secrets and curses faculty smiled in an extremely dismissive way and said unusually calmly: "How about I clear your mind with my Phlegmatic Focus? Maybe then you'd realize how stupid what you've just said was. What if the state of that place is not in fact an effect of a curse? Wouldn't that be a waste?"
"Well, I could..." Someone else began, but was immediately silenced:
"History of magic is not magical knowledge, shut up, Nela-diri!"
Before things got out of hand, rector Thene decided to intervene by redirecting everyone's attention to a visitor who was standing in the doorway, up to that moment completely unnoticed by the quarrelling crowd of elven sages.
"Ah, here is Thadayi-diri's replacement!" Thene announced. "Ess-diri, I believe? Pease take a seat, you may be the key to solving a serious issue we have encountered."
"Uhh... Thank you, Thene-ithera?" Ess wasn't sure if she should have felt flattered that she was considered important, insulted that she was being treated like an object, or if she should have been looking for sinister undertones. Either way, she took the empty seat and listened.
"As you have probably heard, our academy is sending an expedition to a highly magical area, a so called 'good region'. The goal is to gain deeper understanding of magical processes that cause places like that to be what they are, the reason why the ambience is strong strong and unstable, how the flow of mana differs from mundane areas. As you see, most questions are of metamagical nature. So, what would you say?" The rector wasted no time; he needed that twitchy-eared woman to agree, not only because she had all prequisites to lead research on good regions, but also because it would prevent an all-for-all brawl during the deans' meeting to break loose.
Ess's ears stopped twitching for a while. It certainly was a way to take a break from reading about summoning spheres, crossing strings of sigils, negative mana and all other evidence that her students were completely hopeless. From what she's heard, the expedition was well funded, meaning that it would be well prepared and possibly quite comfortable.
"That's a great honor, Thene-ithera. I will gladly lead the expedition, but if you don't mind me asking..."
"That's great! Fantastic, even!" Thene exclaimed, barely hiding nervousness. "All forms to fill are on Thadayi-diri's desk in his office, so is the letter from centurion Fira-ithera and all the instructions. Fill the paperwork as soon as possible; you'll have the whole day tomorrow to gather people, tools and resources. The Academy will provide basics like food and... well, food. Meeting disbanded!"
The rector and the deans all stood up in an instant and practically ran out of the room before Ess could even decide which of the many questions lingering in her head to ask first. She too picked up her fire snake jar and left the room. With ears twitching and hands shaking with frustration, Ess headed to the metamagics faculty's dean's office to spend the rest of the night over a heap of paper after all.
The embark will be anything good, because plot. There should be plenty of !FUN! stuff in those places with all the mods.
It will be quite some time before we start for real. Maybe this will be enough motivation to get me back to work? I hope so, because I have this writing itch right now.
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Topic: LCM - Twinklestar - under construction (Read 8395 times)