Deep Imaskari questions? (i would like -Offcial Ruling- on this)

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Tahira Waynolt
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Deep Imaskari questions? (i would like -Offcial Ruling- on this)

Post by Tahira Waynolt » Sun May 26, 2019 11:02 am

Are Deep Imaskari Bound to the UD or can they roam the surface in relative "safety" without being labeled monsters?
Being neutral mostly traders and scholars? (according to wiki)

are they light sensitive? as wiki doesnt seem to mention anything about that
Last edited by Tahira Waynolt on Sun May 26, 2019 3:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.

the grim yeeter
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Re: Deep Imaskari questions? (i would like -Offcial Ruling- on this)

Post by the grim yeeter » Sun May 26, 2019 2:26 pm

They are called deep imaskari.

They're probably one of the most isolated races out there. They shouldn't even be wandering through Andunor considering its large variety of races and creatures. Hell, they shouldn't even be a Greater Award. They should be a 5%, at most, or not playable at all.

Anyway, to answer your question: no, it would be absolutely ridiculous to play a Deep Imaskari willingly walking the surface and exposing itself to the outside world. Not because they look like monsters and others would immediately fly at their throats to try and kill them, but because the Deep Imaskari simply wouldn't do that themselves. And no, there are no (or should not be, at least) exceptions to that either. People want to play "exceptions" too eagerly which, by the way, seriously damages the roleplay quality of the server.

Deep Imaskari are extremely old and, at this point, unknown to just about any race and every individual that is not a Deep Imaskari. No one would even know what they are, when looking at them. They are alien. In the timeline Arelith is in, Deep Imaskari live somewhere in a very isolated and closed-off city below Mulhorand. It doesn't even make sense for them to be in the UD below Arelith. Which brings me back to the abovementioned point: they shouldn't be playable.
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Nitro
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Re: Deep Imaskari questions? (i would like -Offcial Ruling- on this)

Post by Nitro » Sun May 26, 2019 4:49 pm

Recently they have decided to break the seal on their underground city and began sending adventurous individuals to explore the outside world. The location of Deep Imaskar remains a closely held secret, however, and is magically erased from the minds of the adventurers that leave it.
From the "Deep Imaskari" dragon article, 2006.

It's not very far fetched at all that the few couple of adventurers we see on the Arelith archipelago are present. The greater reward requirement keep these adventurous Imaskari individuals appropriately rare but considering their obsession with magic and magical phenomena it absolutely makes sense that a couple would venture to Arelith to investigate all the weird shit going on there.

As for the surface, they should be sunlight sensitive (and if they are not presently, probably should be made such) but I don't think anyone is going to go rabid at the notion of a deep Imaskari going to the surface occasionally to further their research, they are a curious subspecies by nature after all.

the grim yeeter
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Re: Deep Imaskari questions? (i would like -Offcial Ruling- on this)

Post by the grim yeeter » Sun May 26, 2019 5:30 pm

It's not very far fetched at all that the few couple of adventurers we see on the Arelith archipelago are present. The greater reward requirement keep these adventurous Imaskari individuals appropriately rare but considering their obsession with magic and magical phenomena it absolutely makes sense that a couple would venture to Arelith to investigate all the weird shit going on there.
Yes, I am aware that some of them leave the city. However, I would consider these to be very exceptional cases. They wouldn't just send any curious individual out to explore. That'd be way too much of a risk, even if the city's location is wiped out of their memories. Especially because Deep Imaskar and its citizens don't benefit from sending them out at all. That said, having one Deep Imaskari underneath Arelith would perhaps be possible. But having two down there would already be an extreme coincidence.
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Opustus
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Re: Deep Imaskari questions? (i would like -Offcial Ruling- on this)

Post by Opustus » Sun May 26, 2019 5:56 pm

I just want to point out that Arelith can stray from canon lore at the DMs' discretion and it should! I love Deep Imaskari as a race and I'm very happy we're allowed to play it, their rarity in canon lore notwithstanding.
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Re: Deep Imaskari questions? (i would like -Offcial Ruling- on this)

Post by Sea Shanties » Sun May 26, 2019 6:15 pm

People barely play them so they are very exceptional and rare. If you don't like that they exist petition for their removal, special races do come and go after all. If an individual player bothers you then report them and if nothing happens, drop it. Otherwise they're an allowed race so don't go saying their players are somehow wrong or doing damage to the server. That kind of attitude is unfair to people who have every right to play one and is more damaging than anything one Deep Imaskari player might do.

I don't believe they're meant to be reclusive and timid introverts like svirfneblin, they are a knowledge seeking and holding race and it's entirely feasible that a few explorers or other individuals might end up on Arelith and even wander to the surface. This is a place with a lot of odd arcane activity and at least two major centers of magical knowledge and study, not to mention the network of leylines, the Astrolabe etc. Maybe their memory is wiped but they are being scried on by superiors, maybe they're a Sharran shadowmage who was forced to leave after one too many confrontations, maybe they're the D.I. version of Marco Polo, maybe a lot of other things. They'd certainly be seen as different and odd above and I am going to guess it is up to you how to RP it and DMs aren't going to want to give an official ruling.

Personally I think David Bowie in "Man Who Fell To Earth" is a good model for one way a D.I. on the surface could play out.

the grim yeeter
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Re: Deep Imaskari questions? (i would like -Offcial Ruling- on this)

Post by the grim yeeter » Sun May 26, 2019 6:18 pm

Opustus wrote:
Sun May 26, 2019 5:56 pm
I just want to point out that Arelith can stray from canon lore at the DMs' discretion and it should! I love Deep Imaskari as a race and I'm very happy we're allowed to play it, their rarity in canon lore notwithstanding.
I typically don't really appreciate the "Arelith is not d&d" responses, because almost always the question "Why would you want to play (something like) x if you're not going to play it like x at all?" comes up in my head. If you're going to play a Deep Imaskari, you should play what a Deep Imaskari has been described as, and not make up a different race with the same name yourself. To that, you could say: "but what if they're just minor differences?", to which I would say that their rarity/secrecy is one of the most essential aspects of the race, and changing that would be changing a very crucial part of what makes the race. It is not something to be ignored or changed, even if "Arelith is not d&d" (whew, we've heard that one about a thousand times already by now, haven't we). Because it simply wouldn't be a Deep Imaskari anymore.
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Re: Deep Imaskari questions? (i would like -Offcial Ruling- on this)

Post by Silvard » Sun May 26, 2019 6:51 pm

the grim yeeter wrote:
Sun May 26, 2019 2:26 pm
Anyway, to answer your question: no, it would be absolutely ridiculous to play a Deep Imaskari willingly walking the surface and exposing itself to the outside world. Not because they look like monsters and others would immediately fly at their throats to try and kill them, but because the Deep Imaskari simply wouldn't do that themselves. And no, there are no (or should not be, at least) exceptions to that either. People want to play "exceptions" too eagerly which, by the way, seriously damages the roleplay quality of the server.
the grim yeeter wrote:
Sun May 26, 2019 5:30 pm
Yes, I am aware that some of them leave the city. However, I would consider these to be very exceptional cases. They wouldn't just send any curious individual out to explore. That'd be way too much of a risk, even if the city's location is wiped out of their memories. Especially because Deep Imaskar and its citizens don't benefit from sending them out at all. That said, having one Deep Imaskari underneath Arelith would perhaps be possible. But having two down there would already be an extreme coincidence.
These extremes are not actually backed up by lore. While it's true that Deep Imaskar had existed in self-isolation for hundreds of years...
The Deep Imaskari are finished with isolation
and hiding.
Having decided that they know far too little about
the world from which their ancestors took refuge, they shattered the Great Seal that kept Deep Imaskar isolated for so
long, and a bold few ventured forth into the deepest layers of
the Underdark.
But those who choose the path of exploration do so at a cost:
They must turn their backs forever on their homes behind the
Great Seal. The location of Deep Imaskar is magically excised
from the brain of any deep Imaskari who chooses to leave, so
that even should she run afoul of mind-reading creatures (as
many have), the race’s final redoubt will remain safe.
Underdark, pg. 9.

This process had already started by the time Arelith diverts from the FR timeline. Though they're certainly not commonplace, and it's not just any Deep Imaskari that leaves the city, it's about the same level of exceptionalism that's expected of a normal PC; they're the adventurers among their people, and this a concerted and conscious effort to learn which most of the leadership approves, and everything indicates that it's on a voluntary basis. They even have at least one organization that operates (albeit secretively) on the surface.

And those that do choose to leave:
Deep Imaskari encountered outside Deep Imaskar are curious
and excited to meet members of other races, though they tend to
view humans from Unther or Mulhorand in a suspicious light.
They left to explore and learn, after all, while being aware of their past.
Nitro wrote:
Sun May 26, 2019 4:49 pm
As for the surface, they should be sunlight sensitive (and if they are not presently, probably should be made such) but I don't think anyone is going to go rabid at the notion of a deep Imaskari going to the surface occasionally to further their research, they are a curious subspecies by nature after all.
Deep Imaskari are not sunlight sensitive. They don't actually live in the darkness, Deep Imaskar has artificial sunlight:
Ilphemon and his retinue sought out a large cave imbued
with powerful faerzress and discovered the vault that would
become Deep Imaskar. After driving out the monsters that
lived there, Ilphemon sealed the passages behind his people.
The wizard-lord and his apprentices labored for many long
years to lay the groundwork of the Great Seal and make their
cavern home into a living garden, illuminated by brilliantly
radiant light.
In fact, in the future relative to AR's timeline they go and found High Imaskar, a surface city, in the Mulhorandi shore after years of exodus from the depths and the Spellplague.

Of course, this is when it comes to published lore (which isn't a great deal, but it is there). How it all fits on Arelith depends on the prerogative of the Admins, if it has to deviate from that.

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Re: Deep Imaskari questions? (i would like -Offcial Ruling- on this)

Post by MissEvelyn » Sun May 26, 2019 8:43 pm

I have to disagree with a one point; Player Characters are always exceptions. This is indeed a game inspired by D&D and in D&D you see exceptions time and again, both in FR lore and in the multitudes of tabletop games among players.

If we weren't meant to be playing exceptions, then we might as well all be playing Human Commoners.


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Re: Deep Imaskari questions? (i would like -Offcial Ruling- on this)

Post by JubJub » Mon May 27, 2019 1:18 am

With any race there are going to be outcasts, those curious about what's out there etc. I always rp there is some odd magical thing about the island that seems to draw people to it.

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Re: Deep Imaskari questions? (i would like -Offcial Ruling- on this)

Post by Xarge VI » Mon May 27, 2019 6:21 am

I love playing a Deep Imaskari character. But I agree it takes some effort to pull off. There is so little easily available lore on them which i both like and dislike. It allows the mystery of the race. But also creates a potentially awkward situation when two deep Imaskari characters meet.

So far we've been able to find a consensus on what deep imaskar is like so kudos to you other players of deep Imaskari.

The weirdest thing I find about playing a Deep Imaskari is that every surface ranger and every commoner Npc is able to recognise them even with 0 lore points.

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Iceborn
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Re: Deep Imaskari questions? (i would like -Offcial Ruling- on this)

Post by Iceborn » Sat Jun 01, 2019 1:16 am

Nothing wrong with taking a traditional approach; those characters are precious and can be roleplayed wonderfully to really enhance the experience of logging into the game.

But I wouldn't expect every Imaskari to be an utterly xenophobic magic-obsessed clustered sucker that only hisses about artifices and magic. Some of them may even growl too!
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