CLOK BBS

1. What historical era from real life most closely compares to Clok's setting? My assumption has been probably late-ish Victorian, but I'm unsure I'm perceiving things correctly.

2. What kinds of things are general knowledge most if not all characters should know about the world they live in?

3. When did the resen issue begin and how long has it been since the quarantine began?

4. Is resen what causes things to become infected? Is this general knowledge?

5. Is it a fair assumption that just about everyone in the Lost Lands was born there (due to the quarantine)?

6. If yes to 5, are the places we have lore for part of the Lost Lands, e.g. Ivial?

7. When you die as an Undying person, do you have recollections of where you were (things like the bell) in the interim?

8. Do most people find magic users untrustworthy? If yes, what is the IC motivation and history behind that?

9. What is the current significance of Aetgard and Kharad? How do these things pair up to the Lost Lands' physical setting? Same location, gone now but historically significant?

10. Is the resen generally believed to be something magical or something mundane, like a contagion?

1. There are clocks and firearms, but the construction of these is limited to largely one nation that occasionally smuggles or ships these goods to the Lost Lands. It would be hard to nail down a specific time frame as different nations have different levels of social/technological development, due in large part to magic. Grum does clockwork, Rhuidim technology is heavily nether-based, Fasa li Nuam are basically step nomads, Huac are basically Aztecs/Mayans, etc.

2. Most of the wiki is written from a "general knowledge" perspective rather than True Facts, unless otherwise marked.

3. Again, as per the wiki, it seems the Quarantine has been in effect about a century.

4. When you look at the infested, you can see the resen growths. While presently restricted to the Lost Lands, it used to exist even outside them. There is an entire organization primarily dedicated to its destruction. I would say it's pretty well known, but a lot of the specific details aren't (as the average person isn't going to run out studying them with the risk of infestation), but that's mostly my understanding.

5. The majority, probably. But the Lost Lands are often used as a place to exile Undying since you can't execute them or keep them imprisoned reliably. It's generally not that hard to get in, especially considering sea trade still exists (though restricted to the docks, no further). A lot harder to get back out again.

6. Again, I suggest the wiki. There are maps and the like, and the wiki pages generally explain where these places exist on the continent for the visually impaired. Grum, Nuum, Ivial, Tol Rhum, the Fasa il Num, and the Ancient Lands are outside the Quarantine, though.

7. When the death changes went in, I recall Jirato saying he'd considered making it explicit that you don't remember death. He decided against it, I believe to allow more player freedom. The RP culture I have from elsewhere has me abide by that, and most of my characters don't remember the bell, but it's ultimately up to how you want to play it.

8. Depends on the magic user. And the culture. Grummers have an explanation on their wiki page as to why they might distrust all magic-users. Most people don't mind Elemancers. Most people do mind Sorcerers, for probably obvious reasons. There is a city that outright bans sorcery that has a resident Elemancer living there (and likely more than a few elemancer PCs) to support this. Thaumaturgists are pretty well-loved everywhere except maybe(?) Corvus. Druids aren't really common enough to have a standard opinion among NPCs or PCs, but the Coalition (HQ'd in Haiban) have had a number of issues with Dunwyr, who are thought to be druids of a sort.

9. Aetgard and Karnath are both within the Quarantine. The Lost Lands are a subset of this, consisting of what was once Aetgard (the lands that were lost), excepting the Duchy of Lapis, which still exists. Karnath is further south than both of these, but still within the Quarantine. The Lost Lands/former Kingdom of Aetgard consist of the majority of the Quarantine.

10. I've always heard of it treated as a plague or infestation, not magical, but I don't really know enough here to make any definitive statements.

I'm not the most experienced player, though I've been off-and-on since 2018, so I might be wrong on some of this, but this is all to the best of my knowledge.

Did you mean Karnath perhaps? I'm not familiar with Kharad. No mention of it anywhere on the wiki either.

Frog wrote: ↑Sun Apr 05, 2020 6:21 pm Did you mean Karnath perhaps? I'm not familiar with Kharad. No mention of it anywhere on the wiki either.

Yes! Sorry, I think my mind translated it into some weird combination of what it was and Harad from LOTR.

"Arad" sounds similar, and is the name of the entire continent the game takes place on. Roughly half of it is under Quarantine.

Briar has had a glimpse of the future, when the Hillfolk of Karnath have risen up to take over all of Arad and renamed it Kharad.

Rias wrote: ↑Sun Apr 05, 2020 6:29 pm Briar has had a glimpse of the future, when the Hillfolk of Karnath have risen up to take over all of Arad and renamed it Kharad.

Bwuahaha. Gear up, lads, we're doing this!

Yay, lore questions!

Maina was super thorough and descriptive, but I believe the very loose rule of thumb, if all else fails, is 14th century, for the feel and function of technology? And it is worth remembering the plague and the resen infestation are not the same: the plague resulted in the fall of Aetgard and is more or less died away, the resen are the scary mushroom zombie creatures that still wander around being scary and infesting.

Karnath is the home of the Hillfolk, in the quarantine, but separated from the Lost Lands by a super mysterious forest. The only time it was ever traversed is legendary, and resulted in the founding of, well, Karnath.

The jungle valley is also in the quarantine, and the Huec have an interesting relationship with the resen. In fact, a tiny portion of the outskirts can be visited in-game.

The whole of the quarantine is within Arad, which is the continent where most of these civilizations coexist, but there are a handful of other places outside of Arad known to us: There are the nearby Parr Isles, Viali are descended from immigrants from Constantia to the southeast, and the Faewyr are from Tyr-Gwyrd to the northwest. There is another super mysterious one we know almost nothing about called Nilbindu to the southwest which is often raided by Faewyr pirates and have a cultural fear of the sea.

Hopefully you find some of this useful, or at least interesting!

-Alila

Okay so! Now that I'm done being silly and getting names wrong... thank you so much for the thoughtful responses.

On the death bit specifically, I love the idea of not recalling things like the bell with perfect clarity, but perhaps having some sort of vague fixation on items, images, or places that niggle at a character's subconscious memory. Being drawn to a bell pendant on a necklace, for example, if not really understanding why on any conscious level. As long as it's not strictly considered something we're not allowed to do, I'm gonna revel in the wiggle room.

May I ask what the clear and ICly identifiable difference between an elemancer, thaumaturge, and sorcerer would be to someone who isn't one? I think I understand the mechanical difference, but for those cultures or people who aren't a fan of sorcery, how do they tell the difference between a sorcerer, a thaumaturge, or an elemancer? Is it something visibly obvious to your average person?

Got it on the resen and plague. Plague came first and decimated things, resen came after. To that end... what is the general consensus on where the resen came from? The resen bit on the wiki mentions the quarantine was effective in stopping the spores from being a thing on the other side of the wall, but were the wall and quarantine put into place for that purpose, or to contain the earlier plague?

Sorry if these are ludicrous questions, but I love the lore so far. Hoping to get a more thorough understanding of it!

I remember when I first started, I didn't understand that the plague and the resen were different. When you see an infested plague carrier, you're seeing people who have the plague who have also been infected by the resen. However, you may also see an infested logger. I like to think of these ones as having slowly been taken over without their families or friends noticing. Then one day they just went out into the forest to help their new friends. So general rule of thumb, plague bad, infestation also bad, but ultimately different. Most individuals in current times are immune to the plague as it once was. There's also the threat of the canim, and a genocide somewhere in there. The wiki is a great place to learn about this all though. Love the questions and enthusiasm.

Elemancy works the classical elements of fire, earth, air, and water.
Sorcery has to do with cold goopy inky-black stuff.
Thaumaturgy is warm glowy golden light that gives you warm fuzzies (unless you're tainted, in which case it burns like the dickens).
Druidry primarily has to do with plants and animals, and is probably the least visually obvious in some cases where it's just influencing some other creature.

So with all of them being quite distinct, I think with the general level of common knowledge out there, most people are able to differentiate between which types of magical mumbo-jumbo they're observing. There are folk out there less educated in such things who I'm sure mix things up sometimes, but I'd say that's not a huge thing.

Regarding the origins of the resen: it goes way, way back. Tse Gaiyan was essentially founded to deal with the resen situation way over in the Ancient Lands of the Fasa people, and that organization was founded a very long time ago. Not to say the resen necessarily originated there - it may be that it was just the Fasa who first seriously identified and acknowledged it as a threat. Whatever the case, Tse Gaiyan efforts quickly spread far and wide, and overall they did a pretty great job, considering most of the world outside the Quarantine thinks that surely this whole resen thing is being exaggerated, with all those ridiculous stories of "mushroom zombies" and whatnot. Absurd!

There are places outside the Quarantine where the resen has a greater hold and influence, but nothing near what you see in the Lost Lands, and it's generally out in the middle of nowhere so nobody's seen it to report to Tse Gaiyan or others that would be quick to destroy it.

Thank you everyone! This has helped immensely.