[Mkguild] The PAWNED master plan

[Raven Blackmane]

Michael Bard wrote:
> I didn't know -- there are a strange lack of maps between the keep, and the
> country.  I assumed that, as was typical in the medieval era, a town had
> grown up outside the walled keep for people who didn't want to pay the fee
> to go through the gate.  Nobody else has mentioned this.  It has now been
> corrected by mentioning the keep proper being up on the top of a ridge, and
> replacing all the "towards the keep" with "towards the keep road" referring
> to the winding road up the ridge to the said keep.  :)
>
> Thanks!
>
>   
<nods> My pleasure! And yes, much of the discussion of the Keep's 
topography has been either on-list or in the midst of much larger 
stories, where I can easily imagine it getting overlooked.
> I just used the idea of non-Euclidean geometry as a neat hook for the
> wierdness down beneath.  It was suggested by Cubist actually.  The fact that
> there are catacombs and tunnels and all kinds of stuff inside the ridge,
> below the keep, fits perfectly.  I can toss almost anythign I want in there!
> Including a narrow rock bridge with an insane man guarding it who asks
> travellers these questions three, ere the other side they see.
>
> Seriously, unless it's a hunk of volcanic granite (in which case I'll just
> lava tubes), it's almost certainly limestone of some kind which means I can
> toss all kinds of passages and tunnels in there.  And yes, the cultists have
> been working at modifying the tunnels as required.
>   
Well, as I said, much of the interior of the ridge is part of the Keep 
itself, so a lot of it would be finished architecture -- dressed stone 
passages, badly-oxidized remains of iron and copper equipment, etc. 
There may well be natural passageways and tunnels, but most of them will 
be deep below the base of the ridge. Note, also, that there is a major 
mana nexus somewhere in the heart of the Keep, which is likely to have 
all sorts of weird effects on anything living down there.  (Imagine an 
ecosystem where the primary producers feed on mana instead of light...)
> Nice to know that the simple act of grabbing a name "Klepnos" that suggested
> a thief conenction due to its (intentional?) connection to "Kelptomanian"
> has borne fruit.  :)
Indeed! The name was indeed intended to be evocative of thievery, 
because I figured that thieves were among the more likely followers of 
Klepnos's Chaotic Neutral ethos. Naturally, the name has an entirely 
different etymology in the story world itself. ;-)

> I know, I realized that.  But it was 3 in the morning, I needed something,
> so I tossed out the first thing that came to mind.  also, I wasn't sure how
> acceptable my nefarious scheme would be, so using an Elder Sign with some
> other name seemed to me to be a cute little inside joke, if all else failed.
> :)  But, I will change to "The Yellow Sign", but will add a crown over it.
> "King in Yellow" anybody?  :)
>
>   
That works! :)

> Some other questions about the Fall Festival: what is it?  Is it a kind of
> masquerade?  A fair on a commons outside the keep?  Quiet familiy dinners
> where the streets are empty?  Are there games and contests?  Merchants?  In
> my mind I was picturing more of a last great merchant fair of the season -- 
> so lots of caravans in a commons somewhere -- along with games and drunken
> revelry.  Kind of a ren fest with a larger dealers room set outside.  :)
>
>   
There has been a lot of discussion about that on the wiki; I haven't 
been involved in the planning of the Harvest Festival stories, but 
others on-list can probably advise you.
> *IS* there a Thieve's Guild?  I kinda need to know this to write the 2a
> section, if I do.  Or, to use the guild as a "public" front for the cult.
>   
I seem to recall that someone was putting together a series of stories a 
few years ago about a thieves' guild moving into Metamor. Julian, one of 
the rats created by Matty, has been dreaming of setting one up for 
years, but I think another writer started a storyline about someone else 
trying to come in and establish one. I don't know if anything ever came 
of that.

> So, rumours about distant fights, worries about most of the guard being off
> somewhere and fears of things sneaking in, and erronous rumours about what's
> causing the sudden spate of deaths in the town are all good.  :)
>   
Oh, yes. Lilith has all sorts of dark, creepy things in her service, and 
with some of the stories filtering back from soldiers who patrol the 
Watchwoods, it wouldn't be hard for hyperactive imaginations to envision 
something sneaking out and making its way to Metamor.

> I'm putting the Deep Ones in just for the horror factor.  The more the
> merrier!  And, insanity is kind of a given for just about everybody involved
> in this.  :)
>
>   
Heh -- yeah, pretty much!

Chris O'Kane wrote:
>>> Euper has a curtain wall of its own and not just a stockade! Check the MK wiki entry for it! I've always pictured like a typical medieval
>>> town with crowded, crooked streets.
>>>       
Huh. News to me! Was that curtain wall in place before the Winter 
Assault, or is it a recent development? I thought we had discussed 
Euper's defenses prior to WA and decided that they didn't have much 
protection down there.

Cheers,

Raven

-- 

"I love science, and it pains me to think that so many are terrified of 
the subject or feel that choosing science means that you cannot also 
choose compassion, or the arts, or be awed by nature. Science is not 
meant to cure us of mystery, but to reinvent and reinvigorate it." 
--Robert Sapolsky