Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Golbolco]

I was playing my fortress when one of my dwarves was struck by a mood. He claimed a craftsdwarf's workshop and created a limonite figurine known as "The Decline of Messiahs". Here's the description:

This is a limonite figurine of Inod Playedwheel. All craftsdwarfship is of the highest quality.
The item is a masterfully designed image of Inod Playedwheel the half-eaten corpse in limonite by Zanos Nikotfikod. Inod Playedwheel is striking a menacing pose. The artwork relates to the return the ghostly half-eaten corpse Inod Playedwheel from the dead in Bookfluke in the early spring of 7.

A few minutes later, I find that Inod has indeed become a ghost! Now of course, this is likely a coincidence. But, what if there was actually something in the game where dwarves can predict sieges, ghosts rising from the grave, and more?

[Deepblade]

That sounds pretty neat. It could be a valuable resource in the war arc by helping plan, or prevent, sieges/confrontations. If it's from a dwarf, a blood line of "seers" would be interesting to have.

As a side note. I've heard if you delay reading the description of your artifacts till later, they'll have a record of events to pull from that happened after its creation. Potentially making a "prophetic" artifact of sorts.

[Jheral]

I suppose the problem is that, since this is a game where the player can do whatever they want, things are inherently unpredictable. So you could really only "predict" things that have already happened. But as long as there is a delay between the event and it being known to the player, sure why not?

Btw, with that title, I am curious about what the relationship was between that dwarf and Inod Playedwheel, if "The Decline of Messiahs" was the title he chose. Makes it sound like he's trying to start a religion centered around Inod or something.

[RenoFox]

Prophecies get mentioned a lot, and I believe them to already be in the dev notes (apparently everything is). While the game is open ended, it's still a game so prophecies could be forced to come true by just forcing them to happen. Obviously overriding the causal relations shouldn't be too common, but rising of a memorialized ghost would still be acceptable if a prophecy needed it. Even more so with sieges and other things outside players control; If a prophecy tells of a war, have the enemy leader declare it for whatever reason is most plausible when the war is predicted to start.

[deepdowner]

I support this idea, it's really irritating.

[GreatWyrmGold]

The biggest problem is enforcing the prophecy. It's all well and good that the prophet says Oedipus will kill his father and marry his mother, but what to do when the player burns Thebes and slaughters its inhabitants before Oedipus can get there?

[Deepblade]

Then you reveal that his father and mother were really peasants from the next town over, or something.
Prophecies are usually pretty vague and can come true several times. In the Oedipus story king Laius in an attempt to avert the prophecy leaves his son to die and raised by different people. Without taking that action the prophecy would probably never have come true. If he had never heard of the prophecy it may never have come true either. But, it's like that movie with that guy says, "You can't fight fate.".

[My Name is Immaterial]

What if prophecies don't have to come true? They are simply indicators of a certain path that can be taken. You might be more likely to succeed in tasks that are directly related to fulfilling that prophecy.

For instance, in Oedipus, if he enters combat with his father or his father's guards, he might gain buffs or bonuses. Falling in love with his mother would be easier than falling in love with some one else. He might even be more likely to run into his father and mother, and there would be subtle bonuses to deal with them and seek them out.