[FL] Fantasy Lynching Out of Character: Blood alone turns the Wheels of History

[Cracklord]

Yeah. Soth was given a chance to reveal Sauron for what he was, and make Emperor Elric see sense. Instead, Sauron talked him around, and said he'd give him immortality with the women he loves.
And well...

[Colesign]

Ah. My objections are withdrawn, Cracklord.

[InyutheBeatIs]

As to the Dormin, I was thinking of making it a great Fury like in Codex Alera, more inteligent and sentient then most, attempting to spread it's influence by killing it's rivals. But if that doesn't really work for you, I'll think of something more dramatic.

I actually really like this idea. Sounds neat.

So basically, Wander's getting possessed by the other Furies every time he kills them?

[Colesign]

This idea actually fits together nicely to a certain extent.

In the Codex Alera, the Great Furies Do Tend to Be...Colossal.*

*By which I mean that in Alera, if you hang out on certain mountains for too long, they might suddenly unfold themselves into giant creatures with firey eyes and mouth, trying to crush you with their thumbs.

Tavi, quite inevitably, has experienced this first hand.

[industrious]

I'll make a reply post later tonight if possible. Busy now. See you!

[Cracklord]

Alright. See you then.

Yeah, Furies tend to be big. And have vaguely normal forms when they are tamed, like dogs or horses or birds or whatever. And no, that does not mean that Gaborn can turn the planet into a mech. Alright?

[doliest]

I know this is probably a stupid question, Cracklord, but how many Blue Dragons (and riders) are there in the Blue Dragon Higharmy, for the purpose of this game?

[Draxx]

Detlef is as much fun as I hoped. Now all I need is someone for Detlef to humble.

[Cracklord]

As many as you think is fair. Skie's her only fully grown male dragon, but she could have as many as twenty young females, and who knows how many eggs.

Anyway, I'm trying to figure out the gods (Valar). How many of them are there, how many are good, how many evil, and so on. I was thinking I might include Takhisis, but that could be difficult.

[doliest]

I'm actually having a bit of trouble characterizing Soth because, honestly, he interacts very rarely with anyone in Canon. With the exception of Kitaria and a few characters in 'Knight of the Black Rose' his interactions are short and rare. Really, I'm thankful for Rose or else he'd be impossible to play.

On another note, I think I've figured out the reason I like Soth-because he's, essentially, the only time I took the idea of someone being made a Death Knight as punishment seriously. Any other time we meet one, they relish in their nature. Soth doesn't treat it as a punishment, but his nature makes the fact that it is clear. He's rather....Alucardian in his lack of caring about his own existence mixed with his scorn for most life. The fact he never met another Death Knight is the greatest failure in the Dragonlance books.

[Cracklord]

Yeah. Though unfortunately in this, Lord Angmar has a simmilar sort of role, in that he's simply accepting of reality being the way it is, and past the point of caring. Perhaps I'll find one elsewhere.

[doliest]

True, the only real difference is in what keeps them involved in the world.

Also, out of curosity, have you read the third book in the 'Inheritence Saga'

[Cracklord]

To my everlasting regret, yes I have.

[Corvond]

Gaborn will take out Soth even handier then Rand would. Just a warning.

[doliest]

Ah-I was wondering, as I stopped at book 2(when I was young, stupid, and easily amused. Luckily, the time between books 2 and 3 where long enough for me to grow some godd*** taste. Though the Bartimeus Trilogy is still awesome, I'm happy to note after having gone through it when I was trying to decide what I read when I was younger was good and what wasn't).

[Cracklord]

It's the worst of the bunch by a long, long shot. Because he's decided he's not going to be dependent on stealing other people's good ideas anymore, and write his own stuff. The result?

Cannot be competently described.

[Prime32]

Brisingr has a lot of awkward retcons and other scenes.

• The depiction of the Helgrind cult is just plain offensive. And I'm an atheist.
• All soldiers are warded against magic.
• Eragon opening his mind to the universe is too dangerous to use.
• It is trivially easy to hide from Eragon opening his mind to the universe.
• The forging process for a katana is used to create a broadsword, despite starting with metal of exceptional quality and including the part which makes the blade curve.
• Eragon guesses Sloan's true name, then tortures him for no clear reason other than wanting to do something in an epic manner.
• Dragons have a never-before-mentioned crystalline organ containing their soul which they can vomit up.
• Eragon gets a bunch of elf bodyguards... who are furries. And secrete pheremones which make women attracted to them.
• Durza was a weak Shade.
• Roran can defeat 100 men by himself.
• Morzan isn't Eragon's father, Brom is. He magicked everyone into not telling Eragon until... actually, I can't remember what the trigger was.
• No, actually eating meat is okay if you really like the taste. And gods are real, probably.

Good points:

• Eragon's fighting style is deeply flawed due to learning with an unbreakable sword. He blocks with the edge of the blade instead of the flat, causing him to repeatedly destroy his own weapon. In the end he has to enchant it to stop that happening. Partially moot since he gets a new unbreakable sword.
• Eragon's allies consider he's getting harder to deal with over time (as is Roran, to a lesser extent, simply due to charisma), to the point of sending assassins after him. When he mentions it they obviously know more than they're telling, but Eragon doesn't notice.
• The Empire has magicked some of their men to feel no pain and remove their inhibitions, making them enormously effective "zombie" troops who laugh as they fight and won't stop until they're hacked to pieces. The Varden only desist from recreating the process for morale purposes (Galby can keep that from getting out, they can't).

More evidence that Eragon is just trying to play the part of a hero by doing "heroic" things without understanding his actions. At one point he sets his sword on fire just because it's cool (and gets called out on it).

[Cracklord]

My problem is more that he spent so much time saying absolutely nothing, going on about stupid, inconsequential details. It was so very, very boring.
But I'd add a few problems there.

Oh, and tomorrow I'll write up the history of D'Hara.

[doliest]

Yeah, I stopped at Eldest, where Roran was my favorite part of the book, by FAR. Also? What happened to Sloan annoys me, for being the most awesome part of that book.

[Cracklord]

The problem being, the writer realizes people like Roran, and so starts writing a whole lot more scenes based on him, trying to set him up as Conan. It's less then satisfying.
In the same way, Murtagh grows a tremendous mustache that he waxes regularly and twirls with an operatic flair, all because he was more popular (as in, interesting) then the protagonist.
Which is not to say other stuff doesn't happen to. Thousands of characters are introduced who do nothing but praise Eragon, of all the stuff (which must have happened off-screen) that he achieved, of his wisdom (...) and compassion (...!) and all this other stuff that gets positively painful.
And we finally meet Galbatorix. And I lost any hope for a satisfying conclusion there.

Anyway, I've about figured out the history of D'Hara.

[Cracklord]

Industrious? I'm going to need a hand linking the ten that were taken to the Forsaken. Don't have to be perfect matches, but it would help a lot. Up for it?

[industrious]

Which ten?

[Prime32]

Yeah, I stopped at Eldest, where Roran was my favorite part of the book, by FAR.

Eh, I still find Nasuada relatively interesting. Oh lace.

[Cracklord]

From Glen Cook's Black Company series. There is twelve, as the top two aren't part of the group.
Presented here without canon-welding.
Als, keep in mind that physical appearence isn't important, these can just be said to be their origonal bodies, which have since been replaced.
Also keep in mind as while they are qute a bit more powerful then the Forsaken, they are also (strange as it may seem) quite a bit more insane. However, their insanity is a strictly regulated, well applied and forceful insanity, that actually makes them stronger as it keeps them single minded. They are also much harder to kill. I mean really, they all put Rasputin to shame. Soulcatcher walks around without her head at one point, and Limper is just a head in his final appearence (and still dangerous)

We have:
The Dominator: Ishmael (Which is actually a very good match. He most powerful and evil sorcerer in the world, very nearly a god. A very large, powerfully built, handsome man with burning eyes. Some records indicate he may have used the name Erin Nofather. He married Lady to run his kingdom (he was more interested in being evil then running things (and yes, it makes sense in context)), and has become obsessed with the idea he was a cyclic, reincarnating force of evil.)

The Lady: Lanfear (another good match. Beautiful, black haired, fine-boned and all the rest, even wears white (name of Dorotea Senjack). Not evil so much as without empathy, and loves power. Married Dominator not totaly under duress, but hated him too. Managed to escape the entombment, and didn't set him free, instead taking over and running his kingdom in his place, where she did a very good job actually, precisely because of her evilness. Ultimately is stilled (though a bit still trickles through) and, no longer able to run her kingdom, leaves with the Black Company. Eventually marries Croaker, it's annalist, after what is actually a very well done romance.)

Soulcatcher: No match. (Lady's insane, younger sister, who looks almost exactly like her. The word capracious doesn't do her justice, she's utterly off the deep end. Has about a hundred voices off both genders, one for every mood. Previously Dominator's mistress. And works best as a wildcard, i.e, no affiliation to the shadow beyond the fact that she acts like a textbook case of mad with power Forsaken)

Shapeshifter: Unknown (An enormous shambling man in crumbling scarlet robes with an incredibly long, matted beard. He carries an unusual staff resembling a completely perfect, incredibly elongated nude woman. he specializes in transformation magic, himself or others. Fairly decent by the standards of his companions.)

Bonegnasher: Aginor (He's eight feet tall and six hundred pounds of muscle, with a mouth like a crocodile. Allegedly, he ate his enemies. He also breeds people for traits, creates monsters, and all the rest. And he's smart.)

The Howler: Unknown (A small figure completely swathed in cloth and rags. His trademark is an earsplitting howl which he apparently cannot control and which he is compelled to do frequently, due to some physical ailment that he has never been able to control. Is easily one of the most powerful, and one of the most dangerous. He mannaged to keep Soulcatcher blocked for four hours, and was (medically speaking) dead for two of them (he got better).)

Stormbringer: Unknown (She has a diminutive physical appearance, and she wears a mask of some kind. Her specialty is weather magic; and she is prone to solving her problems with violence.)

The Faceless Man: Moghedien (Never seen, works in the shadows, spies everywhere)

The Limper: Unknown (physically unimpressive, a relatively small man dressed in brown with a limp. Despite Limper's evident magical prowess, he is not that clever and is frequently outmaneuvered. He is, however, incredibly driven, and in the end he is utterly consumed by a burning desire for revenge on all those who did him wrong. Words fail how single minded he is. He's like a force of nature powered by spite.)

Moonbiter: Graendal (Good match, except Moonbiter is a little less overt and discrete about it, and a lot more prone to violence.)

Nightcrawler: Unknown (Their best general, and obsessed with war and military action. Has very well trained, well drilled soldiers.)

The Hanged Man: Semirhage (Specializes in healing magic. Female. Says all it needs to.)

Eh, I still find Nasuada relatively interesting. Oh lace.

That was book two. By book three, abandon hope. She becomes an obstructive beurocrat so Roran can be a misunderstood matyr.

[doliest]

Small question-is Smaug heading towards Eragon or Kitaria? Both are on blue dragons, both are in the lead, and 'him' could mean 'him' Eragon, the rider, or 'him' Skie, the dragon.

[InyutheBeatIs]

Sorry about that. I actually meant Eragon. And by "him" I actually meant Saphira, as I figured that Smaug wouldn't exactly be aware as to her gender just yet.

[doliest]

Ah, my fault entirely sir. If I have inconvenienced you, I offer you my tongue as payment.

If you get that reference, I owe you a cookie.

[industrious]

Well, Rand's taken out a number of the Forsaken already. So we'll need to discuss this further.

[Cracklord]

I know this. Only Ishamael, Demandred, Moghedien and Lanfear are definately still alive.
Arguably, Aginor, Mesaana, Sammael and Asmodean could come back, but I don't particularly want them to, so they won't.

I just want to do this out of principle, you know?

[industrious]

I hear you.

I should be able to fit them by tomorrow; currently working on an assignment.