Quick Questions

[Detahn]

When was that added? Where was I? I'm sad now for not knowing this...

[Kaal]

I like that after you kill the hydra you can enter a hidden cave to face even more difficult monsters in hopes of finding more treasures!

I believe this is sarcasm...

[Detahn]

Oh, thought there was something else added while I was away and didn't know about.... If it is sarcasm then... I think that it should be added. Sounds like a great idea.

[Kaal]

Oh, thought there was something else added while I was away and didn't know about.... If it is sarcasm then... I think that it should be added. Sounds like a great idea.

*******
Agreed.

[roeshak]

Its been boosted to 750 coin, also there is a time when the hydra shows up on bounties so there is your extra coin.

[Kaal]

The sea hag clutches at a broken string of pearls that dangles from her bloated neck. Her mouth is moving but no sound comes out.

I am wondering if there is... a further quest to the hag aside from the axe? Something to do with those pearls or her not being able to talk. Is there some sort of history to her that I don't know about?

[Jaethor]

Just FYI, please don't ask for answers to quests or give answers to quests on the forums. Do so ICly

[Kaal]

From: Zycandos, God of Creation.
To: Everybody.
Subj: Ascension Quests

We will very soon be launching a new round of Ascension Quests.

The shrines of Battle, Knowledge, Dreams, Cunning and Leadership will all
once more be restored to their original states in anticipation of the
forthcoming quests.

For those of you who do not know what this means or what the shrines are,
I suggest you use the next few months in Akanbar learning.

Good luck to all those wishing to participate


How odd... I hate to be the... superstitious one nor the paranoid one. However, I do find it incredibly ironic that this post is made not less than a week after Zinerva is given a personal orientation on the Ascension Quests. What is even more odd is that from my personal knowledge, Zinerva had only just shortly returned from a lengthy slumber (At least the character of Zinerva). I am grateful for the heads up in regards to the Ascension quests, but I can't help but think to myself that a certain party, or maybe multiple parties, have already been given a leg up over the competition. If this is the case, rather than masking the Divine appointment as a matter of 3 (4?) unique tests, why not just make a new God. Such has occurred multiple times in the past. Also, Akanbar could do with at least 1, if not 2, more Divinities.

The Ascension process is also made a mockery when certain players are made in to Gods without the Ascension process. Lord Jaethor for example; there is no mention of an Ascension. If the Divine see fit to appoint random mortals, why pretend that these 'quests' have any real effect on the outcome. What might be extremely creative to the creator, "Lord Zycandos" might be comparably dull to Lord Jaethor. My point of all this is that the winner of each contest is subject to personal perspective. From what I have seen, and heard, David is the best fighter within the lands (assuming he competes). From what I have also heard, Chyren and Dimetrius are responsible for a much larger portion of created areas/items in comparison to the rest of the players. My point is, there are already clear and distinct winners based on opportunity. I doubt that I could create the perfect room description when I have yet to be given an opportunity. Not that I haven't tried. Even if my '1' submission was below par, I felt that rather than encouraged to produce something more Akanbar specific, I was pushed aside because there are/were enough writers.

Regardless, I will do my best to take part in this assuming time allows for me to do so. If not, good luck to those whom are able to take part.

"May the odds ever be in your favor."

[Malic]

A "rigged" series of fun and entertaining events is still a series of fun and entertaining events.

But I would suggest you'd be better off ending your post with "May the Gods ever be in your favour." It would probably help more

[Jaethor]

How odd... I hate to be the... superstitious one nor the paranoid one. However, I do find it incredibly ironic that this post is made not less than a week after Zinerva is given a personal orientation on the Ascension Quests. What is even more odd is that from my personal knowledge, Zinerva had only just shortly returned from a lengthy slumber (At least the character of Zinerva). I am grateful for the heads up in regards to the Ascension quests, but I can't help but think to myself that a certain party, or maybe multiple parties, have already been given a leg up over the competition. If this is the case, rather than masking the Divine appointment as a matter of 3 (4?) unique tests, why not just make a new God. Such has occurred multiple times in the past. Also, Akanbar could do with at least 1, if not 2, more Divinities.

It's true. Zinerva was on the tour of the ascension quests, but it wasn't her that was the subject of such. There was great discussion among the gods about ascension vs appointing. I for one favoured appointing rather than ascension, but my knowledge of ascension was foggy at best. Due to such, I asked for a tour.

Now, I'm certain most of you mortals know that if I like you, I'll chat with you. Sometimes, this has its perks. People who design things for me get a glimpse into upcoming events, features or areas. Merchant-types can certainly vouch for this. They knew of a feature (added last night) easily a month ago. I enjoy player input, but also idle chit-chat.

Unfortunately, when I was speaking to her, Lord Zycandos began his tour and I fell silent. She got saddened by my silence and so I dragged her with me to appease her curiosity. Lord Zycandos explained what each shrine was and gave previous examples of ascension quests for that shrine. I hardly see how this gives anyone a leg up besides raising the suspicion that there would be an ascension quest. We have yet to teach her the way to beat anyone in battle without fail, know everything there is to know about akanbar or so forth. Knowing that there is an ascension quest gives no advantage, so do try not to complain too loudly about that. If we wanted to appoint someone, we would do so. We don't, so we aren't.

The Ascension process is also made a mockery when certain players are made in to Gods without the Ascension process. Lord Jaethor for example; there is no mention of an Ascension. If the Divine see fit to appoint random mortals, why pretend that these 'quests' have any real effect on the outcome. What might be extremely creative to the creator, "Lord Zycandos" might be comparably dull to Lord Jaethor. My point of all this is that the winner of each contest is subject to personal perspective. From what I have seen, and heard, David is the best fighter within the lands (assuming he competes). From what I have also heard, Chyren and Dimetrius are responsible for a much larger portion of created areas/items in comparison to the rest of the players. My point is, there are already clear and distinct winners based on opportunity. I doubt that I could create the perfect room description when I have yet to be given an opportunity. Not that I haven't tried. Even if my '1' submission was below par, I felt that rather than encouraged to produce something more Akanbar specific, I was pushed aside because there are/were enough writers.

I'm in a bit of a miffed mood after having to explain why I dragged Zinerva around, but here goes. Zycandos appointed me while I was a guide. Secret here- breaking rules- but I'm Rhyndar. Ladies, control yourselves. I was a programmer as a guide and it was easier to be a programmer as a god. So I got made a god. Thrilling tale, I know. As much as I'm certain "Lord Zycandos" (the need for quotes eludes me) would love to pick his programmers from a hat, I think he wants a bit more control than an ascension quest for that.

Now, I think it's safe to remove me from the "Why is everyone appointed" rant that your attempting to construct. I am going to interpret your paragraph's main questions as such then

• Gods have bias- What's to stop the Gods shaping the ascension to make person A win over person B
• Why ascension quests when you can just appoint?
• Everyone clearly has their own strengths and weaknesses. Isn't the result already determined?

Gods have bias- What's to stop the Gods shaping the ascension to make person A win over person B
- Because Lord Zycandos expects more than that from us. It's honestly as simple as that. Most ascension competitions are also rather objective, so no hope for favourites to win there.

Why ascension quests when you can just appoint?
- Because ascension quests are cool, they allow people to surprise us by being better or worse than we thought they would be and we get a variety of opinions.

Everyone clearly has their own strengths and weaknesses. Isn't the result already determined?
- "they allow people to surprise us by being better or worse than we thought they would be". I should also add that I don't solely demand my description writers to be good at english. Some that have written for me had to get yelled at a few times before they spell-checked. I am looking for description writer that is prompt and won't throw a fit when (not if) I dislike their idea. I have made my description writers rewrite things multiple times. I'll point out mistakes, tell them to change something to fit with the theme, etc. They improve their stuff and what started out as a pile of rubbish turns into a new NPC or a new area. If they cannot seem to grasp the idea I am attempting to portray or if they are three weeks late in a submission, I'm not going to keep them around.

"May the odds ever be in your favor."

I am not touching that.

For the lazy, tl;dr: If we're hosting an ascension quest, we're going out of our way to not hand pick a specific someone. Sure, we may make the ascension quests geared toward a certain type of person- wit over brawn, brawn over imagination, but that's it. Stop claiming bias every time you're angry at the world.
Let's hope this makes sense as I typed it while half asleep.

[Zycandos]

I was exceedingly tempted by the "I'll show you bias!" reply, but I will attempt to restrain myself and ignore the provocation.

Lord Jaethor's response was very accurate and covered all the important points, I post this mostly as a confirmation of what has already been said.

I'm not going to post everything about the Ascension Quests here, because I'd much rather you spend some time finding out in game if you want to know more. I've never refused to tell people about them and often, as happened with Zinerva, go into far more detail than I initially imagined. None of it however, is remotely secret. Had you asked, I would have told you. Had you been both polite and inquisitive, you may well of been shown the shrine locations too. Zinerva is most certainly not the first to have been curious.

There are, as has been rightly pointed out, two methods of becoming a god in Akanbar. Ascension and appointment. This has been the case since the beginning of the lands. We have never made any secret of it, and have told any who ask exactly that. It is likely to always remain this way as well.

One fact that you perhaps didn't know, appointed gods begin as Demi-Gods, with less powers than full gods. Ascended gods come in at God rank. Again, it has for as long as ranks existed been this way. Again, it has not been secret, and those who have enquired have likely been told.

The reason we have two methods is quite simple. Sometimes we have specific requirements, such as needing a coder (which some of you may remember I opened to everyone to submit a cv at one point) or perhaps we need a god for a specific city. Ascension isn't always the best way to get a god for a specific job. Why? Well surprisingly enough, it's because we can't know before hand who will win.

So if we sometimes pick a god for a role, why bother with Ascension? Many reasons, two of which are that we do like to give people a chance in a competition, and also sometimes we have more than one potential role available. Having more than one role available makes it much easier to run an Ascension, because as I am sure you can imagine, not everyone is capable of filling every possible god role. I'm sure many of you can think of people that'd not be suitable as an Elysian god, or those who would not be suitable as a Golgonian god.

The last thing I am going to say on topic here, is that the results are by no means pre-determined. If they were, every appointment would be an ascension. Usually, running individual shrines is handed to the Gods, so for example, Jaethor may be given Knowledge, Erebus may take Cunning. Each god is allowed sensible flexibility in how the quest is designed and run. The vast majority of quests, of which there are always 5 as a minimum, are not subjective. In every Ascension that I can remember so far, only one of the shrines (dreams) has been a subjective choice, and winning one quest and not placing in any of the others will not win you the ascension First second and third place all count for something - again, it is not a secret system, we have used the same one in every Ascension thus far. Everything other than the dreams quest has been some kind of challenge or quest that is measurable either by who is left or who has the most points. Every quest bar the final one (leadership) is also open to every person who wants to enter. Be it who scores the most quest points in 24 hours, or who wins a battle, or even who wins a little game or which team collects the most items. Anything can happen, and quite frequently does.

If anyone wishes to know more. The simple answer is - Ask.

[Chyren]

Having more than one role available makes it much easier to run an Ascension, because as I am sure you can imagine, not everyone is capable of filling every possible god role. I'm sure many of you can think of people that'd not be suitable as an Elysian god, or those who would not be suitable as a Golgonian god.

Isn't that the point of being a 'God' character? You are not yourself, or the past characters you have played. It's actually kind of a silly notion to say that in a roleplaying game, someone playing a role wouldn't be good at opposite side because of character actions. :/

On the subject of appointment vs ascension: Ascension has had no success in giving a long-term god/goddess. Apointment is a step or two above, though if memory serves, there have been just as many ones that left as stuck around.

[Jaethor]

Isn't that the point of being a 'God' character? You are not yourself, or the past characters you have played. It's actually kind of a silly notion to say that in a roleplaying game, someone playing a role wouldn't be good at opposite side because of character actions. :/

On the subject of appointment vs ascension: Ascension has had no success in giving a long-term god/goddess. Apointment is a step or two above, though if memory serves, there have been just as many ones that left as stuck around.

In an ideal situation, certainly, people would be able to flawlessly roleplay any situation, but if you're someone who loves fighting, bashing and swearing, you're not going to be made God of Hugs and Cuddles unless you say you want to and we genuinely think that you would fit the role. We're not saying that a Golgonian cannot be the patron of Elysium purely because they're Golgonian or they've played the role, just that some people OOCly prefer certain roles and we would be conducive to such a thing.

As for success rate, there's not much we can do here except maybe "To future gods: Stick around. Thanks."

[Kaal]

Stop claiming bias every time you're angry at the world. Let's hope this makes sense as I typed it while half asleep.

I think that this in itself is a perfect example of bias....? Anyways... I too was very tired at the time of my post and probably even more tired now. With that said, I am not sure why i put the quotations around Lord Zycandos. Seeing as you saw fit to point it out, I feel obligated to apologize as nothing was meant or implied by doing it.

Also, I should state that my entire message was... received exactly to the "T" (Does quotations work here? lol). However, I did not mean for it to come off as... accusatory as I now re-read it to be. You must try to understand where I was/am coming from. I sat within Golgonath and located Zinerva as she visited at least 2 different shrines. I thought to myself, how odd, why would an aged player who is just returning be exploring the Shrines of Ascension. So, I wander along and find her being escorted by two gods. Surely one can imagine how amazed I was to see two gods, the first time I have seen A god aside from OOC conversations (at least to the best of my memory). Then, surely as soon as I arrive, a brief greeting and then poof, all three vanish with no explanation.

Had you been both polite and inquisitive, you may well of been shown the shrine locations too.

How odd is it that you either imply that I was rude or not polite? If i recall correctly, I did bow to all parties. How can I be inquisitive when seemingly 5 seconds after appearing the three parties of interest vanish. Surely, a mere mortal as I can take a hint. Maybe the wrong hint was taken (IE- the underlying thought behind the original message).

"May the odds ever be in your favor." (This is reference to a book/movie called the Hunger Games. A book and movie that I read/watched and absolutely loved. I fear that you may have taken something more into this comment, but I assure you nothing more was meant by it. I just thought the comment was appropriate and concerning the Ascension quests could be compared to the Hunger Games... obviously without the death of young children.

[Dimetrius]

I see this going nowhere fast. At least, nowhere good.

HOWEVER, I have a question of my own. It may fall into the category of Things Dimetrius Really Shouldn't Be Asking, or Information Deemed Unsuitable For This Forum, but I ask regardless: When a mortal Ascends, are they able to negotiate when it comes to the name and realm of the new Divine, or is this all predetermined?