Cost of living

[Djakara]

It seems that on Althanas characters need to buy the things they need at the bazaar and that brought me to a question. My character has probably higher standards than most when it comes to things like showering and brushing his teeth every day, so do I have to continually make bazaar threads in order to buy soap, toothpaste, etc. after every adventure? It seems like that would be particularly tedious on both the bazaar moderators and the players, so I was wondering what kind of a system you guys had for that.

[Lucien]

Quest for them? Buy it in your quest, mention it. Or have a small travel pack with you. Plus, Taverns could stalk such things if you will them too.

[Letho]

Such minor things aren't required to be bought in the Bazaar. You can just consider having them all the time and I'm pretty sure no judge would lower your score because of it. Though, you can buy them in the Bazaar if you want complete realism. But then again, none of us would be here if we wanted complete realism, now would we?

This reminds me though, I can't remember the last time Letho had a shave. :P

[Artifex Felicis]

Letho's been in enough fights to get a couple good shaves from other people.

As for that, you could always just say how you have an industrial sized toothpaste type of thing or even just have him be constantly worried about his teeth and buy them occasionlly at the bazaar to stock up every once in a while. Though, I never really considered soap to be terribly high on most anyone's list of things. I always kinda assumed Leon's nose was used to it.

[Djakara]

I'm content with assuming that Djakara goes and buys his toiletries in generally uneventful episodes not worth recounting, so as long as it isn't a big deal, I'll just operate on the assumption that once he gets his job, he gets money to buy the stuff.

Thanks guys.

[Ther]

Hey Djakara,

This is pretty much one of those "suspension of disbelief" concerns. I think the theory behind this is the idea that you only write about your character when important events are happening in his or her life, so you really assume that your character is having all those tedious, "regular life" concerns dealt with out of your writing or that they occur between story events.

[Djakara]

Well I guess what I was concerned about was if I were to be writing about some event, and for some reason want to include some of this stuff. For example, if I wanted to start out an adventure with my character coming out of the shower, I wouldn't want to have been deducted points for using items like a towel or soap that I didn't have in my profile (I'm asuming here my character has reached a point where it is reasonable to expect that he has those things). Seeing as you guys aren't so strict about these, it isn't going to be an issue.

[Letho]

For example, if I wanted to start out an adventure with my character coming out of the shower, I wouldn't want to have been deducted points for using items like a towel or soap that I didn't have in my profile (I'm asuming here my character has reached a point where it is reasonable to expect that he has those things).No, you wouldn't be deducted points for that, but you might have a problem of explaining how a modern shower got to the world of Althanas. ;)

[Djakara]

If by "modern" you mean a contraption that involves a bucket of water raised fifteen feet and a lever that releases the water through a pipe down through a showerhead, I don't think that would be too much above Althanas' level of technology. All that would be required would be a supply of water, a simple lever system and gravity. Since Althanas has smithys, I don't think this would be hard to make.

[Letho]

But it would be a cold shower. :eek: Unless you heated the water. So you need fire as well. Also, flip-flops, so you don't slip. Seriously though, I just assumed you meant a modern shower since your character comes from a world with advanced technology. It's rather easy to make a mistake and use something that doesn't belong to the setting.

[Djakara]

Sorry if my response sounded snappy. I guess I was just confused because I had a different coneception of "shower" than you did. I appreciate your advice, and I'll make sure to make any technology my character uses "feasible"

(come to think of it, with magic, I suppose I could get an enchanted bucket that magically fills itself with hot water every night, though I suppose the price of that would be excessively high)

[Letho]

Don't worry about it, it's all good. I've had snappier. I've just been around for quite a while and I noticed that sometimes these modern tidbits make their way where they shouldn't be, even when it comes to experienced writers.

(In one of my quests, I used a shower that had a large refillable container and an enchanted stone within it that heated the water.)

[Ithermoss]

Yeah. For example, I doubt a judge would appreciate me describing, in great detail, how Rakh relieves himself in the bushes, and wipes with a leaf.

[AdventWings]

*Snickers at Ithy*

Oh, it'll be worth judging, my bet. ;)

Yeah, as long as you have accounted for the items you used during your threads, it's all good. Like what Letho said before, be on the lookout for anachronistic devices and such. Different regions of Althanas have different tech levels - Corone is generally in the late Medieval while Alerar is in early Industrial, for example. You'll find different things in these two places, like how you'll expect to find a horse-drawn wagon in Corone and a steam engine in Alerar.

[Letho]

Yeah. For example, I doubt a judge would appreciate me describing, in great detail, how Rakh relieves himself in the bushes, and wipes with a leaf.Except if he's a switch-hitter. Then he needs several leafs. :P

[Djakara]

*Snickers at Ithy*

Oh, it'll be worth judging, my bet. ;)

Yeah, as long as you have accounted for the items you used during your threads, it's all good. Like what Letho said before, be on the lookout for anachronistic devices and such. Different regions of Althanas have different tech levels - Corone is generally in the late Medieval while Alerar is in early Industrial, for example. You'll find different things in these two places, like how you'll expect to find a horse-drawn wagon in Corone and a steam engine in Alerar.

This might be a silly question, but how come there isn't really trade between the places? It would seem to me like if there was a steam engine in Alerar they would use it to either colonize Corone, or otherwise Coronians would attempt to buy/steal the technology.

[AdventWings]

Alerar and Corone are separated by the sea. :p

Here, I'll put up a link to the current Official Map of the Known Regions of Althanas (http://www.althanas.com/images/maps/northalthanaspreview.jpg).

It's not in the FAQ, to my continual surprise, but that should change soon.

Hauling a steam engine oversea in a barge is quite a feat, though I can see that many people will try that one way or another. ;)

As for trade - There is, only it's via shipping lane on the high sea. You can check the trade status in the FAQ page and go to the Almanac. I think they should be on there...

[Vorin]

That's why Alerar has an army of around 350,000, to prevent stealing.

And Alerar's not that early industrial. In the way of firearms, It's still Early Enlightenment. They just know how to work with steam.

[Letho]

Also, if all regions traded all their technology and stuff, we would kind of wind up with five Alerars, only in different parts of Althanas and regions would start to lose some of the uniqueness. Besides, though steam engines do exist in Alerar, they are still in the experimental phase, sort of the really early industry period where things often didn't work very well.

EDIT: Cory beat me to the steam engine part.

[Vorin]

Yeah, they seem to explode a lot. But think of Alerar as Vegas. What happens there, stays there, especially if it's bad news.

And Alerar is only on friendly terms with Salvar at the moment. So any real trade secrets might go to them.

[Djakara]

Well I guess I was thinking it similar to the case of North Korea and nuclear technology. No government in the world wants North Korea to go nuclear, but they still can find people like AQ Khan who want to make a quick buck. And I also do understand the significance of not having too much involvement between the countries so that they remain more heterogeneous, but I was just trying to understand the IC rationale for it.

[Zook Murnig]

If Alerar is in the Early Enlightenment stage with firearms, wouldn't that mean flintlock pistols and muskets? I've seen a pair of Beretta 950 semi-automatics toted by Max Dirks. I understand he worked hard for them, but should they even be allowed within the setting?

[Slayer of the Rot]

If Alerar is in the Early Enlightenment stage with firearms, wouldn't that mean flintlock pistols and muskets? I've seen a pair of Beretta 950 semi-automatics toted by Max Dirks. I understand he worked hard for them, but should they even be allowed within the setting?

Yes. The firearms did not originate in Althanas, but in another. I did the same thing with a .45 many years ago.

[Vorin]

Hey, I may not like them on Althanas, but as long as they came from somewhere else I'm fine with it.

[Letho]

People who wield modern guns are so lame. ;)

[Sighter Tnailog]

If Alerar is in the Early Enlightenment stage with firearms, wouldn't that mean flintlock pistols and muskets? I've seen a pair of Beretta 950 semi-automatics toted by Max Dirks. I understand he worked hard for them, but should they even be allowed within the setting?

Max Dirks did not work hard at all for his firearms. He had them approved in a profile back in the early days of Althanas when no one really thought or cared about that sort of thing, and has kept them through grandfather clauses ever since. Where he gets his ammo, I have no idea.

Also, about Alerar. The suggestion that Alerar's steam would make it want to, say, colonize Corone isn't a bad one. However, on Althanas technology isn't as tremendous a force as it would be in, say, battles between Aztecs and four or five Spaniards. Magic on Althanas pretty much keeps technology from totally dominating, although technology still packs a nice punch.

[Ashiakin]

That's why Alerar has an army of around 350,000, to prevent stealing.

Alerar has a population of 2 million so that doesn't make sense. You can't have a standing army that includes 17.5%(?) of your population. 1%, 2%... Maybe 4 or 5% in wartime makes sense. But not 350k! Unless, of course, we change the Althanas population numbers. Personally, I think we have them at unrealistically low levels. I'll bring this up on the mod forum.

As to this thread, the only things of value on Althanas are things that can be used to destroy other people (at least in the OOC perspective.) That's why no one cares about what kind of clothes you wear or what you eat or where you live. You can't use those things to defeat people in battle and gain EXP.