Looking for Historical Stories of Arelith

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blksabbath74
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Looking for Historical Stories of Arelith

Post by blksabbath74 » Mon May 27, 2019 10:25 pm

I am looking for stories of notable characters or significant events in the history of Arelith to turn into IC books.

I thought about posting this in IC stories, but it isn't itself IC, so...

I will be posting ads on the message boards IC as soon as I get the chance, probably after I finish my first book.

My first project will be the story of Weston Cain and Neli Ore. Any help would be appreciated. Feel free to contact me privately.

Afterwards, I'll be looking for similarly memorable and compelling stories from the history of Arelith to commemorate in book form.

Thanks in advance for any help.

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The GrumpyCat
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Re: Looking for Historical Stories of Arelith

Post by The GrumpyCat » Mon May 27, 2019 11:32 pm

I'd really suggest dealing with this entirely In Character.

Why?

So as to allow for things like historical bias, and to avoid metagaming, and to generally just keep as much of the process In Character as possible.
This too shall pass.

(I now have a DM Discord (I hope) It's DM GrumpyCat#7185 but please keep in mind I'm very busy IRL so I can't promise how quick I'll get back to you.)

ChevroletElvis
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Re: Looking for Historical Stories of Arelith

Post by ChevroletElvis » Tue May 28, 2019 11:08 am

Since I made the choice to create a human character not from Arelith, I have been having a lot of fun trying to figure out what has actually happened on the isles over the past 150 years game time.

On the other hand, 150 years is enough time to feasibly create an elven adult that grew up during that history (I used elf as an example, since they take the longest to reach adult-hood/adventuring age). It would be fantastic to understand what is being taught in history classes to the children as they grow up, so that we could make decisions on what our character rejected or accepted as fact as they grew up.

It is not feasible as a new player to role-play a child that grows up during that time, mostly because of a lack of a time machine. Any character I create that grew up on the isles would need to obtain that knowledge before I started playing that character. I plan to use the knowledge I gain from role-playing my human in order to create an interesting back-story for a new character I plan to create that grew up on the isles. Is that meta-gaming?

If so... aren't we all metagaming when we create new characters?

If not... wouldn't it be okay to have some historical references, so we can create relevant back-stories for our new characters?

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Mr_Rieper
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Re: Looking for Historical Stories of Arelith

Post by Mr_Rieper » Tue May 28, 2019 4:29 pm

ChevroletElvis wrote:
Tue May 28, 2019 11:08 am
It would be fantastic to understand what is being taught in history classes to the children as they grow up, so that we could make decisions on what our character rejected or accepted as fact as they grew up.
History classes? I think few characters, if any, would have had access to a formal education if they grew up on Arelith. They would have been taught by family and friends. "Home-schooled", if you prefer that term.

It would be nice to have more storytellers and historically-minded bards and scholars running around. But this is an IC thing. The Encyclopedia Arelithica exists for bits and pieces of lore. It's okay for your character not to know everything, even as a native to the Isle. I don't think it'd adversely affect your RP.

Though if you are playing an elf native to Arelith, and they are old enough to leave home and get married themselves, they would have been born before 41 AR - and good luck getting information or lore on those times. Everything before 70 AR feels like a blur. The server was a very different place then, OOC. Sometimes obscure history is better left obscure, never let the facts get in the way of telling a good story. Speaking of, if the history is so blurry, you can make up your own little stories and chances are, they won't be contested unless they directly conflict with another well known story.
CosmicOrderV wrote:
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Be the change you want to see, and shape the server because of it. Players can absolutely help keep their fellow players accountable.

ChevroletElvis
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Re: Looking for Historical Stories of Arelith

Post by ChevroletElvis » Tue May 28, 2019 6:40 pm

Mr_Rieper wrote:
Tue May 28, 2019 4:29 pm
Sometimes obscure history is better left obscure, never let the facts get in the way of telling a good story. Speaking of, if the history is so blurry, you can make up your own little stories and chances are, they won't be contested unless they directly conflict with another well known story.
I definitely understand what you are saying there. An experienced player would very much enjoy the fact that they can warp the past the better fit the story.... but what is the story?

New players like me don't know this. We don't know what's well known. We don't know what the boundaries are. I'm certainly not planning on creating a new character that's King of Arelith, just to troll, but I feel that it's very possible to accidentally troll under these conditions. There are well-established, yet unknown to me, factions that have built a structure and a history on the islands I know nothing about. I am sure a child that grew up on the islands would know about it, history classes or not. In fact, there should be children's games named after some old characters that did great and/or terrible things in the past. I don't know, but the children of Arelith do... and they grow up to be our future characters.

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Mr_Rieper
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Re: Looking for Historical Stories of Arelith

Post by Mr_Rieper » Tue May 28, 2019 6:51 pm

viewtopic.php?f=25&t=492

Have a look here. This is a good place to start with in-character investigations, along with the ingame books.

Encylopedia Arelithica

By it's very nature, Arelith has no grand overarching plot, just brief periods in history where some guy did a thing. You need to be more specific when you're trying to create a character that knows the history of the server. They may know things related to Myon, but not much else.

Myon/Minmir Timeline. Then look here. Once again, these are just historical markers. As GrumpyCat said previously, proper research needs to be done in-character. Finding an accurate, unbiased opinion should be difficult and isn't going to truly help you RP.
CosmicOrderV wrote:
Sat May 11, 2019 4:55 pm
Be the change you want to see, and shape the server because of it. Players can absolutely help keep their fellow players accountable.

Seven Sons of Sin
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Re: Looking for Historical Stories of Arelith

Post by Seven Sons of Sin » Wed May 29, 2019 12:41 pm

Arelith has had a hode-podge of historians over the years, that try to catalogue the events that surround them.

I've always found people in-game love love love to talk about this kind of stuff. I think the best approach in your investigations is to find out about specific characters or events which will lead you to fleshing out more.

But also prepare for the fact that a lot of things are disputed and unknown.
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blksabbath74
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Re: Looking for Historical Stories of Arelith

Post by blksabbath74 » Wed May 29, 2019 7:45 pm

DM GrumpyCat wrote:
Mon May 27, 2019 11:32 pm
I'd really suggest dealing with this entirely In Character.

Why?

So as to allow for things like historical bias, and to avoid metagaming, and to generally just keep as much of the process In Character as possible.
Yes, definitely want to keep it IC as much as possible. I had an excellent interview last night. Some of my best RP experiences have been interviews.

blksabbath74
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Re: Looking for Historical Stories of Arelith

Post by blksabbath74 » Thu May 30, 2019 3:03 am

Mr_Rieper wrote:
Tue May 28, 2019 4:29 pm
ChevroletElvis wrote:
Tue May 28, 2019 11:08 am
It would be fantastic to understand what is being taught in history classes to the children as they grow up, so that we could make decisions on what our character rejected or accepted as fact as they grew up.
History classes? I think few characters, if any, would have had access to a formal education if they grew up on Arelith. They would have been taught by family and friends. "Home-schooled", if you prefer that term.
You have the University of Cordor, the Grotto, the Library/Archives, Thoramind, the Libraries at Myon, and of course, the Arcane Tower. There are plenty of opportunities for a character to have a formal or informal education.

The history books I'm working on are actually for the University. We want to preserve interesting moments in Arelith's history.

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Gideon DeVay
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Re: Looking for Historical Stories of Arelith

Post by Gideon DeVay » Sat Jun 01, 2019 1:00 am

I agree that this is a great opportunity to explore some in-game role play. I've been drafting a lore bard for this very purpose.
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ChevroletElvis
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Re: Looking for Historical Stories of Arelith

Post by ChevroletElvis » Wed Jun 19, 2019 6:40 pm

Mr_Rieper wrote:
Tue May 28, 2019 6:51 pm
viewtopic.php?f=25&t=492

Have a look here. This is a good place to start with in-character investigations, along with the ingame books.

Encylopedia Arelithica

By it's very nature, Arelith has no grand overarching plot, just brief periods in history where some guy did a thing. You need to be more specific when you're trying to create a character that knows the history of the server. They may know things related to Myon, but not much else.

Myon/Minmir Timeline. Then look here. Once again, these are just historical markers. As GrumpyCat said previously, proper research needs to be done in-character. Finding an accurate, unbiased opinion should be difficult and isn't going to truly help you RP.
Been reading and digesting this stuff for a while. Thanks for the links!

Ecthelion
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Re: Looking for Historical Stories of Arelith

Post by Ecthelion » Thu Jun 20, 2019 11:39 am

blksabbath74 wrote:
Thu May 30, 2019 3:03 am
Mr_Rieper wrote:
Tue May 28, 2019 4:29 pm
ChevroletElvis wrote:
Tue May 28, 2019 11:08 am
It would be fantastic to understand what is being taught in history classes to the children as they grow up, so that we could make decisions on what our character rejected or accepted as fact as they grew up.
History classes? I think few characters, if any, would have had access to a formal education if they grew up on Arelith. They would have been taught by family and friends. "Home-schooled", if you prefer that term.
You have the University of Cordor, the Grotto, the Library/Archives, Thoramind, the Libraries at Myon, and of course, the Arcane Tower. There are plenty of opportunities for a character to have a formal or informal education.

The history books I'm working on are actually for the University. We want to preserve interesting moments in Arelith's history.
There are definately a few characters that do know a lot. Just have to find them.

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Re: Looking for Historical Stories of Arelith

Post by CragOrion » Thu Jun 20, 2019 2:37 pm

I've been wanting to get involved in the university myself, cause I love talking about old Cordor history, just have problems finding members online

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