How can I make YOU write in Dheathain?

[Witchblade]

Now that I'm back on the force, I'm going to be digging right in and getting to work on Dheathain. I hate seeing my region collecting dust in the forgotten corner of Althanas.

So, as Dheathain's creator, I want to know, how I can entice you to write there?

Are there aspects of Dheathain you don't like? Things you do like?

Are there areas that need to be fleshed out more? Or perhaps some areas with too much information?

Would you like to see The Synthesis shop come back?

What keeps you away from the region?

Be critical, but constructively so please. Telling me 'it sucks' isn't going to give me any ideas for improvement. If there's something you don't like, tell me why, heck, give me suggestions on fixing it. We're all creative writers here and you guys will be the one writing in it in the end. So be honest, even painfully so. I want Dheathain to flourish, and if I have to rip her apart and basically start from the ground up, I'll do so in order for that to happen.

[Aurelianus Drak'shal]

Main thing that entices me to the region is the blood mages. I would like to hear more of them; practices, acceptance by the rest of the natives, powers, numbers, how likely they are to teach outsiders.. stuff like that.

In fact, I even have it down that the bleeding enchantment on my rippy knives was placed on it by a Dheathain blood mage.

[Witchblade]

I'm actually working on expanding the school of magic in Dheathain--Eolas Braolin--so I could easily give more detailed information on the different magics in the region. I left it open purposefully, so that writers could play around with it to suite their overall characters. But, that is definitely something I could do.

[Aurelianus Drak'shal]

Well, I know that would certainly appeal to me, so that's my two cents. ;)

I can't speak for everyone else, of course.

[Roht Mirage]

I might get Astarelle there someday, throw the desert girl into the jungle, because I love torturing her.

But, seriously, the drakeling race does look interesting to me. She would certainly get involved in some of the caste divisions there. I'm already coming up with some ideas... Though, they'll have to wait until it's reasonable for her to get there.

In general, I think it could use a bestiary. It never feel right describing creatures without some hints on what would be appropriate.

[Atzar]

I like the Drakeling race as well. In general, I think the Drakelings and Fae have an interesting Hindu/Buddhist contrast (on a superficial level; admittedly I don't have an in-depth knowledge of either religion). I'll be interested to see what the Fae look like when they've been fleshed out some. Interested to hear more about the Fiorair forest, specifically the magic that supposedly helps it grow. That's stuff that Atzar could potentially get involved with. Ditto the Fae crystals for the same reason.

The thing that keeps me from writing there is just that - nobody writes there. There are many nice pieces, but there are no established storylines yet. A couple of Guided Quests would help here and usually draw a decent showing, but retaining their interest after the thread ends is another matter entirely. You'd need a few people to start up some alts in Dheathain with the intent to create long-term plot arcs and relationships with some of the people who do the GQ with you. Perhaps that would get you started. Really, though, what Dheathain needs more than anything else is the same thing the whole site needs - a larger active memberbase. Most of us are no longer at the point in our lives where we can just write infinitely, so that means adding activity to one region most likely removes it from another.

I know this probably isn't what you want to hear, but perhaps it's better to stick with the four established major regions for now, focus on finding ways to bring in new blood, and worry about Dheathain when the site is healthy enough to spread out a little. Same goes for Fallien, really. I like both regions - arguably more than Corone and the other active areas - but people make good stories, and Corone is where the people are.

[Breaker]

I will have to peruse the wiki before giving a more complete answer, but my short answer is...

Draconians.



(that was something we had there right?) ...

[Witchblade]

They were called DRaconians, now the confusing part is all of my info has them listed as Draconian, but they were changed while I was gone to Drakelings. I don't really like the name, when you name something you kind of expect it to stay the same, but I had no say in the matter. At this point it depends on the member base. I can keep them Drakelings or revert them back to Draconians. Either way it's going to involve a lot of editing on my part. XD

And Atzar, you may be right about the active member base thing, but I still want to try. I may make Dheathain more of a pet side project and focus on Salvar if you guys would rather just stick with the four main regions. The GQ's are a good idea. You guys started doing those while I was on my hiatus, so I'll have to look into it and Dheathain SHOULD have a Beastiary, unless it was deleted while I was gone. I wrote one and posted it.

[Roht Mirage]

Couldn't find it in the archives. I did see the bit on tattoo magic, which makes me squee.

I vote a return to Draconian.

I'm out of suggestions, but I can offer some time. I need to close a storyline before I can really get Astarelle there in person. An NPC/GQ thing though, I could do any time (except for Cell season, or course). Just let me know when.

[Aurelianus Drak'shal]

Tattoo magic.. actually works for me too, next time I level up.

And works out for some plans I had involving the blood magicks as well.

[Zook Murnig]

If I remember correctly, the lore describes draconians as basically looking like humans with some reptilian features and scattered scales on their upper torsos and heads, but I have to say, I always preferred to imagine them looking rather more like this: http://shadowd20.pbworks.com/f/1211130484/Race-Dragonborn.jpg

As for what really turns me away from Dheathain is the fairies. Not the fact that they are there, but how they are presented. They're presented as the major form of sentient life in the region, and as having little to do with magic, but instead with science, in a very mysterious and ancient area of the world. I've toyed around occasionally with treating them as a mortal version of the fey, and eventually questing in Dheathain with regards to finding and interacting with the actual Fair Folk hidden away in the jungles.

[Dionaea]

Matt... never mind. :rolleyes:

Anywho, once I get up and running again I had intended on dragging Dio to Dheathain, I've got plans for my girl and a magic school works perfectly. Also the fact that she finds Fae tasty doesn't hurt at all. Also, I would love to see The Synthesis shop back up.

[Breaker]

What I'd really like to see is an event or side-event or whatever that takes place primarily in the less used regions: Fallien, Scara Brae, and Dheathain. I think it would be really cool if we had a set amount of time for RP and then whichever of those three regions has the most completed threads, bring it out on the main page awhile.

I kind of feel like Raiaera is coasting on expired popularity - despite appearing on the main page and having been the focus of our last FQ, it's still barely beating the outlands in threads, and I think it's behind some of them in posts. So I think it'd be fair to put the spotlight on the outlands for our next FQ/event/whatever, and then bring whichever regions become the most popular out front, and let the less active ones recede to the outlands.

I'm not trying to hate on Raiaera or anything, I just think some of the outlands are more popular, and given an equal chance they may rise above.

[Christoph]

Just to touch on a couple things mentioned...

The Draconian vs Drakeling name issue is actually pretty superficial on the whole, in that it doesn't really matter that much compared to the other revisions that were made. The decision was made to switch over to "Drakeling" because the word 'draconian' doesn't actually have anything to do with dragons. From Wikipedia: "Draconian is an adjective meaning great severity, that derives from Draco, an Athenian law scribe under whom small offences had heavy punishments (Draconian laws)." On the other hand, it's also the name of a race in the Dragonlance series, which in my opinion is another strike against it. :P All that said, if despite those facts, enough people -really- want a return to the name 'Draconians', it wouldn't be that hard to adjust. A simple find-and-replace function would do the job in a minute. As I said, the name is just a minor superficial change compared to other revisions.

Bestiary: for some reason, it just never got transferred to the Wiki, and I wasn't aware that one existed somewhere already. It's handy that it does, haha.

[Breaker]

Draconian is OBVIOUSLY a cooler name :P but I agree it's superficial, and calling them drakelings won't stop Josh suplexing them through the walls of their hives.

[Aurelianus Drak'shal]

Or Aurelius bedding their women.

But no, I think hosting a few GQ's, and expanding some of the info might definitely increase the activity in Dheathain. The Outlands are indeed a popular setting, and I have threads planned for all of them eventually, but they need more publicity, in my opinion.

[Breaker]

Or Aurelius bedding their women.

Haha, I've considered too. Maybe Aure and Josh should have a pickup contest... in a drakeling bar. Sounds like a new form of battle on Althanas ;)

[Aurelianus Drak'shal]

lol I have snake-eyes, and tongue, already cutter.

Think that puts me higher up in their ratings than a soft, pink, fleshy man-thing. ;)

[Mordelain]

But he has ​

pretty boots!

[Silence Sei]

Probably made of Drakelings.

Anyways, I've roleplayed there before, and intend to continue to do so if I can ever will myself to make my quest there a solo. I'd prefer the name Drakelings as it sounds more unique than Draconian. Anywho, I don't really have any suggestions right now, but I might whip some up later though.

[Breaker]

lol I have snake-eyes, and tongue, already cutter.

Think that puts me higher up in their ratings than a soft, pink, fleshy man-thing. ;)

In that case, it might even be a fair contest ;)

[Zook Murnig]

Honestly, it could go to draconians as the proper term, like the drow, with drakelings as a slang or derogatory term, like dark elves.

[Aurelianus Drak'shal]

So called drakelings by everyone else, but their own name for themselves is Draconian?

[Christoph]

I'm general, I'd prefer to distance our naming conventions as much from D&D as possible. While yes, we're a traditional fantasy setting with a lot of the 'usual suspects', IE: elves, orcs, dwarves, etc. However, we have enough of a life of our own that we'd do well to avoid obvious D&D/Forgotten Realms/Dragonlance/Etc names.

That said, the term "Drow" is far more obvious and worth avoiding than 'Draconian'.

[Witchblade]

Huh, I actually like the idea of using it as a derogatory term. What I may do is have the higher castes called DRaconians, due to their more inherited dragon blood, and the lower caste's called Drakelings. I'll definitely think on that. And yes, my original description of them had them more human-esque in appearance and the new version of them has them somewhat closer to Zook pictures, but not quite. I actually like about 80% of the caste system, what I need to do is go over it with a fine tooth comb and make sure it fits with some of the featured events I have planned for Dheathain, and if it doesn't fit what can be changed in order for that to happen.

Now, the Fae. Yeah, they're like cute little human beings with wings. I'm working on changing around their appearance, perhaps their social structure and how closely related they are to the magic tap source. I'd definitely like them to be more magic related than science related, I have no idea how that ended up coming across in my description of them and it shall be remedied.

I found my beastiary, it was shoved in the archives. I'll write up another one because that one is very sparse and I don't particularly like it.

So, so far on my list of stuff I have:

- Expanding more information on the Fae including social structure, appearance, magic types...etc
- Working on a Beastiary
- Working on the GQ's (I honestly know nothing about GQ's, so I definitely need to look this stuff up)
- Updating The Bounty Board to try and get some immediate activity
- Changing up some of the geographical layout of the region
- Expanding Eolas Braolin and adding more detailed descriptions to the magic taught there


All right, did I miss anything?

[Aurelianus Drak'shal]

If you want a decent example of GQ'ing, check here (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?25630-The-Puppeteer-s-Praxes-(open)) and here (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?25739-A-Hello-To-Arms-(Guided-Quest)).

[Witchblade]

So, the mod comes up with some kind of storyline and then plays NPC's to guide the players through said storyline? I could just use Lasair as my GQ account, I suppose...

Are there like a list of GQ's you can choose from?

I shall have to consult with Duffy on these GQ things...

[Zook Murnig]

Originally, they were designed to be storyline quests that helped newer players (or low-level alts) get used to the regions. That was when Manda was doing them monthly. You could do once-a-month GQs to showcase events and areas in Dheathain, or introduce aspects of draconian or fae culture, or the history of the region.

[Witchblade]

That sounds like a good idea. I highly doubt I'd be able to keep up with it monthly though, but Tour Guide Lasair certainly makes for an interesting title! lol