Friday, 30 September 2011
Tuesday, 27 September 2011
Day of the Dead, George A. Romero
Romero finest.
Examination of contemporary culture. Strained interpersonal relations. And more zombies than any of his previous films with gore in splendid technicolour.
The setting of a three way conflict between research scientists trying to combat the zombie problem, self interested civilians and an army squad under the leadership of the clearly unstable Captain Rhodes in an abandoned nuclear missile base is a microcosm for America at that time in history.
The thing about this film is that the real enemies are the opposing groups of people rather than the zombies. Although they're a constant menace, the real danger comes from the military.
Out of the two major scientists, Sarah is more reasonable, although ambitious one trying to completely eradicate the zombie problem altogether. Logan through, is trying a quick solution to 'make them behave' conducting bloody and increasingly disturbing research as the film goes on, much to the viewer's delight.
Captain Rhodes is a complete lunatic. Sick of being stuck underground surrounded by zombies with 'Dr. Frankenstein' his behavior becomes more and more pathological until it reaches breaking point.
You do feel like you've been thrown into a story part way through having missed important developments (none of which are part of Dawn of the Dead if you haven't seen that one) but it's still easy enough to get a handle on events.
The only thing I felt let the film down was the appalling soundtrack which as well as being gross jarrs terribly with the tone of the film.
The ending however is one of the best moments in zombie cinema. Enjoy!
Examination of contemporary culture. Strained interpersonal relations. And more zombies than any of his previous films with gore in splendid technicolour.
The setting of a three way conflict between research scientists trying to combat the zombie problem, self interested civilians and an army squad under the leadership of the clearly unstable Captain Rhodes in an abandoned nuclear missile base is a microcosm for America at that time in history.
The thing about this film is that the real enemies are the opposing groups of people rather than the zombies. Although they're a constant menace, the real danger comes from the military.
Out of the two major scientists, Sarah is more reasonable, although ambitious one trying to completely eradicate the zombie problem altogether. Logan through, is trying a quick solution to 'make them behave' conducting bloody and increasingly disturbing research as the film goes on, much to the viewer's delight.
Captain Rhodes is a complete lunatic. Sick of being stuck underground surrounded by zombies with 'Dr. Frankenstein' his behavior becomes more and more pathological until it reaches breaking point.
You do feel like you've been thrown into a story part way through having missed important developments (none of which are part of Dawn of the Dead if you haven't seen that one) but it's still easy enough to get a handle on events.
The only thing I felt let the film down was the appalling soundtrack which as well as being gross jarrs terribly with the tone of the film.
The ending however is one of the best moments in zombie cinema. Enjoy!
Dawn of the Dead 2004, Sarah Polley, Ving Rhames, Mekhi Phifer
"You fuckers get up and get on down with the sickness."
It may not try to be profound the way the original does but it pushes my buttons a hell of a lot more. Especially the middle scene where everybody's running freely round the mall to a reworked version of the ending music. People might dump on it and laud the original to high Heaven but in my opinion the original desperately needed a remake and they did a good job.
Incidentally my aunt worked on this film.
It may not try to be profound the way the original does but it pushes my buttons a hell of a lot more. Especially the middle scene where everybody's running freely round the mall to a reworked version of the ending music. People might dump on it and laud the original to high Heaven but in my opinion the original desperately needed a remake and they did a good job.
Incidentally my aunt worked on this film.
Near Dark, Catharine Bigelow, Lance Henriksen, Bill Paxton
Definitely the vampire film of the eighties. In the bar scene Bill Paxton is absolutely flying. He's like a Sabbat poster boy. There's not too much eighties-ness about this film so it's still fun to watch.
Ichi the Killer Anime
Although it delves into Ichi life before he became recruited it has a very low standard of quality and is good for little except porn, and isn't even very good for that.
Urotsukidoji: Legend of the Overfiend
A favourite of moronic pundits. This film is absolute garbage. People who recommended it also like Ninja Scroll which I haven't seen myself but I'm sceptical of by association. The version I saw was dubbed only and the performances made it even worse. People are probably just attracted to this film by the explicit content without any regard for quality.
Akira (the anime), Otomo Katsuhiro
The biggest classic in all of anime. Not my all-time favourite. It's quite a quiet film considering it's content (I suspect Oshii Mamoru might have got a few ideas from watching this.) Pundits have repeatedly cited how they like the 'violence.' There isn't actually that much. I wouldn't pay much attention to such people, they watch Legend of the Overfiend. Apparently there's a lot of subtext that I haven't been initiated into to appreciate, but the film quickly takes a turn for the more bizzare. The presence of biker gangs is hardly the focus of the film. Instead it takes place in a future, post-world war society and is much more to do with social turmoil (mirroring that of the sixties), local hosting of the Olympic Games and fanatical religious groups combined with a secret government project (concerning Akira) and an underground 'terrorist' organisation determined to get to the bottom of it that the hapless members of Kaneda's biker gang literally run into.
Jin-Roh The Wolf Brigade, Oshii Mamoru, Okiura Hiroyuki, Kamiyama Kenji
The most understated film I've seen. Although it's directed by Okiura Hiroyuki it follows the format of Oshii Mamoru's films. More of a spy thriller than an action film. Although there are dramatic moments they're never sensationalised. It's more about turns of the plot and appreciating the characters' motives.
The Lovely Bones, Peter Jackson, Mark Wahlberg
A bit like Donnie Darko for the i-generation. I didn't really get into this film at the beginning. It's kind of insubstantial at the start. That improves but I never connected with it that much.
Monday, 26 September 2011
Black Magitech
Black Magitech is a product of imprisoning tormented ghosts in a new body made from their warped and violated remains. Black magitech possessed of an Awakened Animating Intelligence is a truly horrible thing to behold. The spirits trapped within it are fully aware of their own torment. The victims of black magitech are not truly dead, instead they go on living within their bodies and their suffering goes on as well long after they should have died.
Trappings of Death
Abyssals can only wear clothes that 'belong to the dead.' Some take this more literally than others, from wearing the clothes they wore when they were killed, with gory wound marks, to clothes taken from corpses- both buried and unburied- to garments actually made from corpses. The same goes for other items they wear, making them cursed as defilers and graverobbers. Abyssals who spend long sojourns in the Underworld also take clothes from other ghosts.
Magitech
Genesis is the art of manipulating living things' Essence patterns to control and create life. It's used in advanced forms of medicine.
Magitech is about manipulating magical life.
Two types of magitech creatures were common in the West. The first were obviously sea creatures. The second were flying creatures. Both worked on similar principles of motion through a fluid element and flying creatures could quickly span the gaps between isolated settlements on the ocean.
A Warstrider makes a wearer perfectly adapted to the environment the substance suits. Wood Jade is formed into creatures that live in the forest. Adapting to using a Warstrider is handled by it's animating intelligence. The essence of magitech is making an object of one of the magical materials with a spirit, either a little god or a elemental, making it alive and intelligent in a limited fashion. Royal Warstriders carry an Awakened Animating Intelligence. Such a being is able to make command decisions on it's own not just carry them out like the intelligences of lesser magitech.
Magitech is about manipulating magical life.
Two types of magitech creatures were common in the West. The first were obviously sea creatures. The second were flying creatures. Both worked on similar principles of motion through a fluid element and flying creatures could quickly span the gaps between isolated settlements on the ocean.
A Warstrider makes a wearer perfectly adapted to the environment the substance suits. Wood Jade is formed into creatures that live in the forest. Adapting to using a Warstrider is handled by it's animating intelligence. The essence of magitech is making an object of one of the magical materials with a spirit, either a little god or a elemental, making it alive and intelligent in a limited fashion. Royal Warstriders carry an Awakened Animating Intelligence. Such a being is able to make command decisions on it's own not just carry them out like the intelligences of lesser magitech.
Nexus
Vice itself has become big business in Nexus. Business which has it's own set of companies. People with a lot of money turned up at Nexus looking to impress their competitors and live large. People realised there was money to be made in offering clients staying in the market rich service, richer than their competitors. Lower classes of less prosperous merchants started imitating them, establishing their own services around residential districts.
"It's immoral to let a sucker keep his money."
Eventually Nexus grew into a fully fledged city with a complete array of trades and professions to support the populace. In Nexus anyone with a big enough purse can be treated like a king. And there are plenty of ways to get that much money and even more ways to lose it.
Nexus position at the confluence of three rivers gives it another role: it acts as a bottleneck for the drugs trade. All the drugs grown in plantations up country are funnelled down the rivers and delivered to the Guild in Nexus. From there they sell to suppliers representing countries from all over Creation. They grow opium, cocaine and marijuana like corn. Skullweed for brewing Bright Morning is collected by agents who are willing to dare entering the Black Chase. Word has it that the Guild sponsors graverobbers who loot tombs in Sijanfor artefacts and bodies to sell to the Deathlords and soulthieves who abduct powerful ghosts for use in making soulsteel.
The point the market became a city came when people started basing their enterprises in the market instead of their home towns. The sprawling 'market' began to attract it's own resident population. The first merchants to set up Nexus as their base of operations started their own 'enterprise' now known as the Guild.
"It's immoral to let a sucker keep his money."
Eventually Nexus grew into a fully fledged city with a complete array of trades and professions to support the populace. In Nexus anyone with a big enough purse can be treated like a king. And there are plenty of ways to get that much money and even more ways to lose it.
Nexus position at the confluence of three rivers gives it another role: it acts as a bottleneck for the drugs trade. All the drugs grown in plantations up country are funnelled down the rivers and delivered to the Guild in Nexus. From there they sell to suppliers representing countries from all over Creation. They grow opium, cocaine and marijuana like corn. Skullweed for brewing Bright Morning is collected by agents who are willing to dare entering the Black Chase. Word has it that the Guild sponsors graverobbers who loot tombs in Sijanfor artefacts and bodies to sell to the Deathlords and soulthieves who abduct powerful ghosts for use in making soulsteel.
The point the market became a city came when people started basing their enterprises in the market instead of their home towns. The sprawling 'market' began to attract it's own resident population. The first merchants to set up Nexus as their base of operations started their own 'enterprise' now known as the Guild.
Saturday, 24 September 2011
The Recruit Film Review, Al Pacino, Colin Farrell
I only gave this AB+ because of how it compares with Spy Game.
Friday, 23 September 2011
Wednesday, 21 September 2011
Fair Folk, World Walking, Shinmas, Nirguna, Assumptions
The Fair Folk are Essences that have passed through shinmaic principles that the five Graces embody.
By passing through Nirguna makes passing through the other four shinmas and possessing all four Virtues possible. It is Nirguna that makes realising the other four shinmas possible.
Pure dream stuff cannot exist in Creation so the Fair Folk must look like something from one of those dreams. The Fair Folk body is just an appearance and it has to expend Essence just to make it's appearance be believed by those in Creation since dreams only exist in people's minds. If no one continues to believe it, it would cease to exist.
Lunars can also manipulate dreams like the Fair Folk do.
Rakshas don't have 'bodies.' They just create the illusion of having one.
Assumption Charms are how the Fair Folk enter Creation. A Creation-born would need some sort of apposite in order to enter the Wyld.
Since their appearance is an illusion they have to spend Essence in order to maintain the lie of interacting with the physical world which as sentient dreams, emotions and desires they are not actually capable of doing. The more like their real selves they are in Creation the more difficult it is.
The more real their appearance is the less like their real selves they are, the easier it is for them to exist in Creation. Their appearances are not real things but only appearances conjured through glamour. The more powerful this work of deceptive glamour is, deceptive to the Fair Folk as well as to onlookers for to appear to have a form when you are a dream is self-deception, the less at odds they are with Creation.
By passing through Nirguna makes passing through the other four shinmas and possessing all four Virtues possible. It is Nirguna that makes realising the other four shinmas possible.
Pure dream stuff cannot exist in Creation so the Fair Folk must look like something from one of those dreams. The Fair Folk body is just an appearance and it has to expend Essence just to make it's appearance be believed by those in Creation since dreams only exist in people's minds. If no one continues to believe it, it would cease to exist.
Lunars can also manipulate dreams like the Fair Folk do.
Rakshas don't have 'bodies.' They just create the illusion of having one.
Assumption Charms are how the Fair Folk enter Creation. A Creation-born would need some sort of apposite in order to enter the Wyld.
Since their appearance is an illusion they have to spend Essence in order to maintain the lie of interacting with the physical world which as sentient dreams, emotions and desires they are not actually capable of doing. The more like their real selves they are in Creation the more difficult it is.
The more real their appearance is the less like their real selves they are, the easier it is for them to exist in Creation. Their appearances are not real things but only appearances conjured through glamour. The more powerful this work of deceptive glamour is, deceptive to the Fair Folk as well as to onlookers for to appear to have a form when you are a dream is self-deception, the less at odds they are with Creation.
Sunday, 18 September 2011
Wyld, Waypoints, Fair Folk, Lunars, Luna, Shaping Attacks, Moonsilver Artefacts, Creation of Moonsilver, Wonders
A waypoint marks the extent a Fair Folk affects an area. That's what defines it's boundaries
When a Lunar receives Exaltation they become something very strange, a coherent form of Wyld energy (to be able to live in their environment and combat the Fair Folk Luna was the same.) Unlike shaped Fair Folk they are self sustaining and do not need to feed on dreams or Virtues in order to maintain their presence in Creation, needing only the sustenance an ordinary mortal does. Likewise they enter the deep Wyld freely existing as a self conscious idea the way other Fair Folk do. Because they are effectively in the depths of the Wyld even when in Creation they can change their form at will.
Lunars make moonsilver artefacts out of Fair Folk Graces (as a questor would make a Wyld artefact) or the Essences of lesser Fair Folk. They can create a moonsilver Wonder out of the Essence of a powerful unshaped Fair Folk. The Fair Folk or it's Grace as an entity is destroyed but it is still dream and is gossamer (such is the fate of the Fair Folk that are vanquished by the Lunars) which is then transformed into moonsilver and formed into the artefact the Lunar wishes to create. Only the most _____ gods of dreams whose power is as terrible as it is legendary, can be formed into the greatest of moonsilver Wonders such as Royal Warstriders.
When vanquished by a Lunar their identity is destroyed and they become nothing but gossamer. The Lunar may then convert this into moonsilver to make their desired artefact. The Fair Folk fear this fate above all others and hate the Lunars for trying to inflict it on them and will fight the Lunars bitterly because they know their very survival is at stake, and consequently they will show no mercy if they win.
By destroying all five of a Fair Folk's Graces they render them, their Essence into gossamer.
One obvious roleplaying idea that comes to mind is playing emanations of an unshaped played by the storyteller.
The Fair Folk take assaults by the Lunars very personally. Since their identity is what they are, it's the difference between them and an inchoate quantity of gossamer, they take any attempt to destroy it very seriously. Other Fair Folk challenge it and try to control it through never ending shaping combat, predators exist who try to consume other Fair Folk and make them their own, but actually trying to undo a Fair Folk so it won't exist even as part of another being is a horror more sinister to them than anything they could otherwise imagine. Luna used to hunt Fair Folk having to overcome raksha who's Essence was as great as her's through guile and trickery and was infamous among the raksha for it. Having ascended to Yu-Shan after the Primordial War, this task she handed down to her champions.
As a person travels further into the Wyld it's power becomes more and more real. In Creation the power of the Fair Folk that does not affect matter is mere illusion, no more real than the onlooker's dreams. In the Wyld however, people are whittled down to their core Essence. Since all is Essence in the Wyld shaping attacks are real and people's Essences are completely exposed to the Fair Folk's magic.
When a Lunar receives Exaltation they become something very strange, a coherent form of Wyld energy (to be able to live in their environment and combat the Fair Folk Luna was the same.) Unlike shaped Fair Folk they are self sustaining and do not need to feed on dreams or Virtues in order to maintain their presence in Creation, needing only the sustenance an ordinary mortal does. Likewise they enter the deep Wyld freely existing as a self conscious idea the way other Fair Folk do. Because they are effectively in the depths of the Wyld even when in Creation they can change their form at will.
Lunars make moonsilver artefacts out of Fair Folk Graces (as a questor would make a Wyld artefact) or the Essences of lesser Fair Folk. They can create a moonsilver Wonder out of the Essence of a powerful unshaped Fair Folk. The Fair Folk or it's Grace as an entity is destroyed but it is still dream and is gossamer (such is the fate of the Fair Folk that are vanquished by the Lunars) which is then transformed into moonsilver and formed into the artefact the Lunar wishes to create. Only the most _____ gods of dreams whose power is as terrible as it is legendary, can be formed into the greatest of moonsilver Wonders such as Royal Warstriders.
When vanquished by a Lunar their identity is destroyed and they become nothing but gossamer. The Lunar may then convert this into moonsilver to make their desired artefact. The Fair Folk fear this fate above all others and hate the Lunars for trying to inflict it on them and will fight the Lunars bitterly because they know their very survival is at stake, and consequently they will show no mercy if they win.
By destroying all five of a Fair Folk's Graces they render them, their Essence into gossamer.
One obvious roleplaying idea that comes to mind is playing emanations of an unshaped played by the storyteller.
The Fair Folk take assaults by the Lunars very personally. Since their identity is what they are, it's the difference between them and an inchoate quantity of gossamer, they take any attempt to destroy it very seriously. Other Fair Folk challenge it and try to control it through never ending shaping combat, predators exist who try to consume other Fair Folk and make them their own, but actually trying to undo a Fair Folk so it won't exist even as part of another being is a horror more sinister to them than anything they could otherwise imagine. Luna used to hunt Fair Folk having to overcome raksha who's Essence was as great as her's through guile and trickery and was infamous among the raksha for it. Having ascended to Yu-Shan after the Primordial War, this task she handed down to her champions.
As a person travels further into the Wyld it's power becomes more and more real. In Creation the power of the Fair Folk that does not affect matter is mere illusion, no more real than the onlooker's dreams. In the Wyld however, people are whittled down to their core Essence. Since all is Essence in the Wyld shaping attacks are real and people's Essences are completely exposed to the Fair Folk's magic.
Friday, 16 September 2011
Coach Carter, Samuel L. Jackson
Michelle Pfeiffer, Hilary Swank, Antonio Banderas, even Tom Berenger. They've all been in films that follow the carbon copy stereotype of a teacher who meets a class of young delinquents and tries to ingratiate themselves to them to make them appreciate the value of education and turns their lives around.
Why am I writing a review of this film? Firstly this is based on an actual story. Secondly the character in question doesn't try to appeal to the students he's charged with by making himself look cool. Quite the opposite. Instead he tries to inculcate them with his values, not only approaching the game he was hired to teach with an intensity that makes a mark on the viewer but insists on them measuring up to academic standards. The result stands out among films of it's type (appropriate for a film about a coach rather than a teacher.)
At times the acting is a little off, even from Samuel L. Jackson, but this has little effect on that this is a film about a person rescuing students from a system 'designed for them to fail' done properly. The fact that it's a true story adds gravity to the considerable weight that the director and cast already imbued the film with.
Why am I writing a review of this film? Firstly this is based on an actual story. Secondly the character in question doesn't try to appeal to the students he's charged with by making himself look cool. Quite the opposite. Instead he tries to inculcate them with his values, not only approaching the game he was hired to teach with an intensity that makes a mark on the viewer but insists on them measuring up to academic standards. The result stands out among films of it's type (appropriate for a film about a coach rather than a teacher.)
At times the acting is a little off, even from Samuel L. Jackson, but this has little effect on that this is a film about a person rescuing students from a system 'designed for them to fail' done properly. The fact that it's a true story adds gravity to the considerable weight that the director and cast already imbued the film with.
Wednesday, 14 September 2011
Nexus
In many other cities there are areas where criminal enterprises operate. But no where do they operate blatantly like they do in Nexus. Unlike in other countries, there are no laws against such businesses so all manner of immoral enterprises can operate free of interference from the law. Gambling houses, whore houses and drug dens all exist in the open and advertise themselves freely.
Whole streets are devoted to exploiting the vices of the city's inhabitants.
The city was founded at the centre of a network of burgeoning trade routes making it the place for merchants to buy and sell their wares. Rather than travel all the way to their destination they could simply sell in the new market town and trade for whatever commodity people back home desired. As a result of the shorter trade routes, trade in the area boomed. Soon people started turning up and setting up markets for any new and exotic commodity they could think of, looking for a buyer. It had grown from being a place where people could drop off their goods to where they went looking to start a new market.
In many other parts of the world (or rather all of them) many of the business in Nexus would be considered criminal enterprises and outlawed. In Nexus however anybody can set up a business to supply anything.
Far from being disreputable, 'hostile takeovers' are the usual method of getting ahead and most of the city's leading merchants acquired their power (and maintain it) by eliminating their rivals. Not only re businesses illicit but so are the ways they are run. Management is what would be described elsewhere as gang warfare. Violence in the street is just as much a part of life in the city as the vices it caters to.
Nexus isn't a city in the formal sense, the product of a state with it's own laws and culture.
It's a city that grew from a huge market site where people lived. The docks are the most historic feature of Nexus, the first part of the city to be established by traders who met from three different directions of the River Province. Behind the docks is the vast market that is the beating heart of the city.
Whole streets are devoted to exploiting the vices of the city's inhabitants.
The city was founded at the centre of a network of burgeoning trade routes making it the place for merchants to buy and sell their wares. Rather than travel all the way to their destination they could simply sell in the new market town and trade for whatever commodity people back home desired. As a result of the shorter trade routes, trade in the area boomed. Soon people started turning up and setting up markets for any new and exotic commodity they could think of, looking for a buyer. It had grown from being a place where people could drop off their goods to where they went looking to start a new market.
In many other parts of the world (or rather all of them) many of the business in Nexus would be considered criminal enterprises and outlawed. In Nexus however anybody can set up a business to supply anything.
Far from being disreputable, 'hostile takeovers' are the usual method of getting ahead and most of the city's leading merchants acquired their power (and maintain it) by eliminating their rivals. Not only re businesses illicit but so are the ways they are run. Management is what would be described elsewhere as gang warfare. Violence in the street is just as much a part of life in the city as the vices it caters to.
Nexus isn't a city in the formal sense, the product of a state with it's own laws and culture.
It's a city that grew from a huge market site where people lived. The docks are the most historic feature of Nexus, the first part of the city to be established by traders who met from three different directions of the River Province. Behind the docks is the vast market that is the beating heart of the city.
Tuesday, 13 September 2011
Fair Folk, Lunars, Shapeshifting, World Walking
Lunar Exalted do not appear to exist definitively on either side fo the gate of Sundraprisha. They exist as physical beings but can change shape at will. A feat not even the Fair Folk can perform in Creation.
In the Wyld things do not exist in physical locations but rather in existential states.
"Reality is a dream. We are real."
Sensory cognizance in the Wyld is a mere effect of the Fair Folk's ability to manipulate it. The phantasms they create in reality and the bordermarches are mer illusions. No one can actually perceive the Wyld. Sensory cognizance is a result of the Fair Folk or the character using Charms that affect the Wyld. Thoughts can be communicated directly through the use of Charms creating mental impressions that are completely 'real.'
It is in this arena that Lunar Charms are designed to work, giving them a way to combat the Fair Folk. In the Wyld a behemoth is just an idea in the mind of a formless entity. Lesser beings than Chaos Lords exist within the greater ones that constitute waypoints. In a sense they live within their mind. As such they are to a great degree subject to it, or if they are stronger, can subject it.
One doesn't exist anywhere in the Wyld in the sense that one does in Creation. A Freehold is a mind of an unshaped Fair Folk that lesser components of such beings can enter and leave.
A Fair Folk can force an idea through the Gate of Sundraprisha to make it take on a physical form. Lunars have the blasphemous ability to walk through the Wyld in their physical form, for they are a physical entity and a self-aware concept (like the Fair Folk) at the same time. Solars can 'world walk' through their overpowering connection to Creation. By using Charms they are simply too strongly tied to Creation for the Wyld to confirm or deny.
Shaping attacks and direct feeding on Virtues represent actions taking place between Fair Folk although such interactions are impossible to perceive directly and are visible only through mindscapes.
Rather than with one another through the process of physical interaction they do so directly. Although what one perceives as being indirect interaction is in fact one mind communicating directly with another.
Conflicts between Emanations and minions in a Freehold do not truly represent conflicts between entities but trains of thought through the unshaped's mind. An Exalted champion can enter an Unshaped's mind by entering a Freehold (since that's what an unshaped is) and combat with it by assaulting it's Emanations.
The Lunars have a fundamental connection with the raksha in that they hold the possibility for infinite potential. And yet because their nature is similar to the raksha yet different, their Exaltation makes them hostile to the raksha,
The movements, rearrangements of an unshaped raksha's waypoints are not physical movements, since physical has no meaning in the Wyld, but simply means the order in which a character has to pass through them.
The Wyld turns normal notions of existence on their head. Physical existence is merely an illusion within the Wyld while thoughts are reality. One raksha can consume another by imagining itself doing so as often happens when two raksha meet in order for one of them to grow greater and protect itself from consumption by another. This form of interaction is characteristic of use of the Sword. However two raksha can avoid deadly conflict through interaction through the Staff. One may supplicate itself to another through the Cup or join and work together through the Ring. Telling the strength of another raksha is inherently difficult since they often attempt to disguise it in one way or another. Either boasting false strength to scare away potential predators, or hiding their strength to conceal weakness, allow them to assess a foe or lure them to a point where they can be attacked. It's into this hellish realm of predatory horror that Lunars venture.
"We remain convinced that this is the best defensive posture to adopt in order to minimise casualties when the Great Old Ones return from beyond the stars to eat our brains."
In the Wyld things do not exist in physical locations but rather in existential states.
"Reality is a dream. We are real."
Sensory cognizance in the Wyld is a mere effect of the Fair Folk's ability to manipulate it. The phantasms they create in reality and the bordermarches are mer illusions. No one can actually perceive the Wyld. Sensory cognizance is a result of the Fair Folk or the character using Charms that affect the Wyld. Thoughts can be communicated directly through the use of Charms creating mental impressions that are completely 'real.'
It is in this arena that Lunar Charms are designed to work, giving them a way to combat the Fair Folk. In the Wyld a behemoth is just an idea in the mind of a formless entity. Lesser beings than Chaos Lords exist within the greater ones that constitute waypoints. In a sense they live within their mind. As such they are to a great degree subject to it, or if they are stronger, can subject it.
One doesn't exist anywhere in the Wyld in the sense that one does in Creation. A Freehold is a mind of an unshaped Fair Folk that lesser components of such beings can enter and leave.
A Fair Folk can force an idea through the Gate of Sundraprisha to make it take on a physical form. Lunars have the blasphemous ability to walk through the Wyld in their physical form, for they are a physical entity and a self-aware concept (like the Fair Folk) at the same time. Solars can 'world walk' through their overpowering connection to Creation. By using Charms they are simply too strongly tied to Creation for the Wyld to confirm or deny.
Shaping attacks and direct feeding on Virtues represent actions taking place between Fair Folk although such interactions are impossible to perceive directly and are visible only through mindscapes.
Rather than with one another through the process of physical interaction they do so directly. Although what one perceives as being indirect interaction is in fact one mind communicating directly with another.
Conflicts between Emanations and minions in a Freehold do not truly represent conflicts between entities but trains of thought through the unshaped's mind. An Exalted champion can enter an Unshaped's mind by entering a Freehold (since that's what an unshaped is) and combat with it by assaulting it's Emanations.
The Lunars have a fundamental connection with the raksha in that they hold the possibility for infinite potential. And yet because their nature is similar to the raksha yet different, their Exaltation makes them hostile to the raksha,
The movements, rearrangements of an unshaped raksha's waypoints are not physical movements, since physical has no meaning in the Wyld, but simply means the order in which a character has to pass through them.
The Wyld turns normal notions of existence on their head. Physical existence is merely an illusion within the Wyld while thoughts are reality. One raksha can consume another by imagining itself doing so as often happens when two raksha meet in order for one of them to grow greater and protect itself from consumption by another. This form of interaction is characteristic of use of the Sword. However two raksha can avoid deadly conflict through interaction through the Staff. One may supplicate itself to another through the Cup or join and work together through the Ring. Telling the strength of another raksha is inherently difficult since they often attempt to disguise it in one way or another. Either boasting false strength to scare away potential predators, or hiding their strength to conceal weakness, allow them to assess a foe or lure them to a point where they can be attacked. It's into this hellish realm of predatory horror that Lunars venture.
"We remain convinced that this is the best defensive posture to adopt in order to minimise casualties when the Great Old Ones return from beyond the stars to eat our brains."
The Wyld, Shapeshifting, Elemental Poles, Beastmen
Any who passed from Creation through the Gate of Sundraprisha would find their Essence exposed to the raw energy of the Wyld and ravaged beyond endurance. Mortals experience a similar state to this when they venture into the Wyld and fell it's mutating influence. Exalted can throw up defences to protect themselves as they have learned to master their own Essence; only the Lunar Exalted are naturally immune to it as they were made to live in this environment. In them in an inherent understanding of Shinmaic principles that allows them to exist unchanged in the Wyld. It's through understanding of these principles they practise their powers of shapeshifting for in a sense they are always in the Wyld and can alter their forms as easily as if they were within it's formless depths.
By changing their Essence through the warping power of Lunar Exaltation they could change their form. They discovered that by consuming the Essence of other creatures they could understand them as easily as their own and learn to assume their forms as well.
A mortal could not enter Pure Chaos were it even conceivable their purpose would survive that long. Pure Chaos is not a physical location, it is a metaphysical state. To enter it you must pass through the Gate of Sundraprisha and that means comprehending the meaning of Nirakara and either undoing or superceding it's relevance to the mortal in question. Lunars are capable of doing so by manifesting themselves as ideas, a feat they are capable of even in Creation. Solars can do the opposite and maintain their forms even in the depths of the Wyld.
The Wyld is defined as a realm of pure Essence. Creation also holds such places called demesnes, but their aspect is fundamentally different and baneful to the Fair Folk. Demesnes are a product of Heaven, if they are Elementally aspected belonging to one of the quadrants, their Essence is derived from the element of Earth. In Creation raksha might tell stories as a way of luring mortals but in a realm of matter any 'reality' they may seem to possess is an illusion as the Fair Folk deal only in Essence and matter is a trivial, distasteful thing to them. In the Wyld however, everything is Essence and they are real, they can make a 'story' by manipulating the four artefacts of raksha magic and their Charms. Of course only a powerful Fair Folk noble would be able to make sweeping changes to the environment.
The five Elemental Poles change life around them to fit their aspect. Humans who live near one of the Elemental Poles in the Threshold for too long or in a demesne thus affected are know as beastmen. The Pole of Earth is a natural environment to humans and has no such corrupting effects. Terrestrial Exalted, like the dragons they were spawned from, suffer no ill effects from being in close proximity to the Essence of which they are aspected.
Beastmen often adapt to their adopted environment, acquiring mutations that make life easier, but living outside it difficult or impossible. A water aspected beastman might grow small gills allowing them to stay underwater longer. If they spent long enough near a source of Essence these might completely replace their lungs, allowing them unlimited ability to lve underwater but making it impossible to live above it.
It's within the power of the Fair Folk when within the Wyld to makes experiences tangible things. Thus they could form an artefact out of 'the feeling I get when I breathe the summer air.'
The Wyld is an environment so alien, an environment beyond the concept of shape, that how to roleplay within it is very difficult to conceptualise and even impossible. The roleplaying concept of Exalted is based on the fact that things exist, whereas in the Wyld they do not.
By changing their Essence through the warping power of Lunar Exaltation they could change their form. They discovered that by consuming the Essence of other creatures they could understand them as easily as their own and learn to assume their forms as well.
A mortal could not enter Pure Chaos were it even conceivable their purpose would survive that long. Pure Chaos is not a physical location, it is a metaphysical state. To enter it you must pass through the Gate of Sundraprisha and that means comprehending the meaning of Nirakara and either undoing or superceding it's relevance to the mortal in question. Lunars are capable of doing so by manifesting themselves as ideas, a feat they are capable of even in Creation. Solars can do the opposite and maintain their forms even in the depths of the Wyld.
The Wyld is defined as a realm of pure Essence. Creation also holds such places called demesnes, but their aspect is fundamentally different and baneful to the Fair Folk. Demesnes are a product of Heaven, if they are Elementally aspected belonging to one of the quadrants, their Essence is derived from the element of Earth. In Creation raksha might tell stories as a way of luring mortals but in a realm of matter any 'reality' they may seem to possess is an illusion as the Fair Folk deal only in Essence and matter is a trivial, distasteful thing to them. In the Wyld however, everything is Essence and they are real, they can make a 'story' by manipulating the four artefacts of raksha magic and their Charms. Of course only a powerful Fair Folk noble would be able to make sweeping changes to the environment.
The five Elemental Poles change life around them to fit their aspect. Humans who live near one of the Elemental Poles in the Threshold for too long or in a demesne thus affected are know as beastmen. The Pole of Earth is a natural environment to humans and has no such corrupting effects. Terrestrial Exalted, like the dragons they were spawned from, suffer no ill effects from being in close proximity to the Essence of which they are aspected.
Beastmen often adapt to their adopted environment, acquiring mutations that make life easier, but living outside it difficult or impossible. A water aspected beastman might grow small gills allowing them to stay underwater longer. If they spent long enough near a source of Essence these might completely replace their lungs, allowing them unlimited ability to lve underwater but making it impossible to live above it.
It's within the power of the Fair Folk when within the Wyld to makes experiences tangible things. Thus they could form an artefact out of 'the feeling I get when I breathe the summer air.'
The Wyld is an environment so alien, an environment beyond the concept of shape, that how to roleplay within it is very difficult to conceptualise and even impossible. The roleplaying concept of Exalted is based on the fact that things exist, whereas in the Wyld they do not.
Sorcery Artefacts, Hearthstone Powers, Charms, Solar Essence Raising
Item powers Essence for a spell. Roll 1 die against the Essence needed to use the spell. If they succeed they can shape the spell without spending Essence. Subtract one from the die every time the item is used.
Solar Training Item
All the time the item is in the Solar's possession counts as time spent training to increase their Essence.
Spell Supplementing Item
Provides Willpower cost for shaping spells. After it is used roll the character's Essence against the number of Willpower points used to power spells. If they fail they lose all temporary Willpower and gain a negative psychological mutation with a value of twice the number of Willpower points needed for the spell they tried to use. The full amount of Willpower must be spent when the item is used.
Solar Training Item
All the time the item is in the Solar's possession counts as time spent training to increase their Essence.
Spell Supplementing Item
Provides Willpower cost for shaping spells. After it is used roll the character's Essence against the number of Willpower points used to power spells. If they fail they lose all temporary Willpower and gain a negative psychological mutation with a value of twice the number of Willpower points needed for the spell they tried to use. The full amount of Willpower must be spent when the item is used.
Saturday, 10 September 2011
Sidereal Conspiracy
One of the most damning facts about the Sidereals' involvement in the Usurpation was their lack of it: they did nothing. They did nothing to prevent the attempt at wholesale murder of the Solar ruling caste by their footmen despite the fact that they saw it looming and were well aware of the consequences. They did nothing to inform the Solars of the earth-shattering treason that was about to be attempted or protect their Solar masters. As a result the Sidereals complicity in the Usurpation is a perfectly preserved secret. No one suspects the Sidereals' foreknowledge of the incident and their lac of effort to prevent it: all blame being aimed a the Dragon Blooded who single handedly perpetrated the outrage. In true Sidereal style they played their hand without anyone realising they were doing anything.
Some Sidereals had misgivings, another reason the Five Maidens didn't entrust them with active involvement. The Dragon Blooded were far lower in the chain of power and made better conspirators. A handful of Viziers made active attempts to prevent the Usurpation but they were heavily outnumbered.
Only once the full weight of the Usurpation made itself felt the reality of what they had let happen sank in and a major 'schism' of Sidereals broke off and declared themselves beyond the Five Maidens' authority. Naturally this is a heinous crime and conflict between the two sides has never ended.
The initial ambush and subsequent campaign to eradicate the Solars was only the first but most important step of the Dragon Blooded's purge of the Solar's rule. Everyone who had alliegance to the Solars had to be deposed. The other Celestial Exalted would have soon followed. The Sidereals themselves, long-standing advisors to the despised and now defeated Solars would have found themselves the target of a plan of extermination just as ruthless and thorough. Instead they hid their very existence from Creation to avoid the Dragon Blooded's revenge. Using false identities crafted with their mastery of Astrology they infiltrated Dragon Blooded society and slowly removed all evidence that there were such things as Sidereals in order to remove suspicion.
Some Sidereals had misgivings, another reason the Five Maidens didn't entrust them with active involvement. The Dragon Blooded were far lower in the chain of power and made better conspirators. A handful of Viziers made active attempts to prevent the Usurpation but they were heavily outnumbered.
Only once the full weight of the Usurpation made itself felt the reality of what they had let happen sank in and a major 'schism' of Sidereals broke off and declared themselves beyond the Five Maidens' authority. Naturally this is a heinous crime and conflict between the two sides has never ended.
The initial ambush and subsequent campaign to eradicate the Solars was only the first but most important step of the Dragon Blooded's purge of the Solar's rule. Everyone who had alliegance to the Solars had to be deposed. The other Celestial Exalted would have soon followed. The Sidereals themselves, long-standing advisors to the despised and now defeated Solars would have found themselves the target of a plan of extermination just as ruthless and thorough. Instead they hid their very existence from Creation to avoid the Dragon Blooded's revenge. Using false identities crafted with their mastery of Astrology they infiltrated Dragon Blooded society and slowly removed all evidence that there were such things as Sidereals in order to remove suspicion.
Thursday, 8 September 2011
The Editorial: Maths, Square Root Method
Normally calculating a square root without a calculator is a bitch.
This morning I looked up what an acre was and found it was an unwieldy figure of 4840 square yards and wondered what that actually meant. I created a method for calculating the approximate value of a square root. The method is easier to show than if I just explain it.
4840 1
484 10
121 40
This number is easy to work with 40 is a third of 120
120 / 3/2= 80 40 x 3/2 = 60
80+60= 140. 140 / 2 = 70 correct
I tested this with 6750
Here the last digit is helpful for dividing the number
665 / 5 = 135 (6 x 20 (hundred / five) = 120 + 15)
135 50
Seven divides almost exactly into 50 and exactly into 135 to create a ratio of 19:7
19 - 7 = 12
135 / 19/12 50 x 19/12
=85 5/19 =76 1/6
Totals added divided by two = over 80. Actual figure about 82.
This morning I looked up what an acre was and found it was an unwieldy figure of 4840 square yards and wondered what that actually meant. I created a method for calculating the approximate value of a square root. The method is easier to show than if I just explain it.
4840 1
484 10
121 40
This number is easy to work with 40 is a third of 120
120 / 3/2= 80 40 x 3/2 = 60
80+60= 140. 140 / 2 = 70 correct
I tested this with 6750
Here the last digit is helpful for dividing the number
665 / 5 = 135 (6 x 20 (hundred / five) = 120 + 15)
135 50
Seven divides almost exactly into 50 and exactly into 135 to create a ratio of 19:7
19 - 7 = 12
135 / 19/12 50 x 19/12
=85 5/19 =76 1/6
Totals added divided by two = over 80. Actual figure about 82.
Wednesday, 7 September 2011
The Editorial: Learning
Everyone says that learning Japanese is hard. Even the people in my class go on (to my annoyance) about how hard it is. Well the truth is: it isn't. It's as easy as you make it to be. For a log time I tried to learn from A Guide To Reading And Writing Japanese. I tried to learn straight out of the book and learning faceless strings of definitions.
Despite my obsession over them my Kanji was still pretty poor, I spend more time working over them than learning them in an effort to make a large, comprehensive alphabetical Japanese English dictionary, everybody seems to arrange them according to stroke order. This went on during my Japanese course. It wasn't until recently that I started looking and the Japanese Language Proficiency Test. They don't have any information regarding their syllabus on their website so my teacher directed me to another website that has their former vocabulary lists. My first step towards understanding how to learn Japanese came from transcribing the dialogues in Take Off In Japanese. This was a very useful exercise but gave me unaccountable head pains.
When it really took off was when I started to learn the now out dated, but probably still accurate, vocab lists from JLPTstudy.com. Every day I write out cards with the Japanese word and it's meaning on one side and the Japanese writing of the word on the other. Then I make sentences using the words. Since I know quite a few of them already once I've used a word I put it into one pile, if I didn't know it I put it into another pile. Then I come back to the ones I didn't know until I've remembered them. The key to doing this is to make it fun. That's right learning can actually be fun (unlike writing on a damned computer) When I write sentences I don't write ones that make sense or even pay proper attention to grammar. I even write sentences so they're surreal and absurd. If you make something interesting you'll learn it much better. I don't particularly think much of the classroom environment or conventional ideas of education. One of the major problems is the idea of notes. Notes are the bane of a serious student. The whole purpose of taking lessons is to remember things. Notes are only a secondary educational tool to use as back up to cover what you don't remember. The idea of revision is overrated too. It seems people spend time sitting through boring, pedestrian, often pedantic lessons and them worry over the last few months of the year when revising for their exams. A lot of emphasis is placed on working hard. In my experience learning would be better facilitated by making it easy.
The lack of a pressurised environment where exams are the ultimate goal is far better at letting people learn. I learn from home, casually and do about forty minutes work a day on vocab, including cutting bits of paper for my cue cards. This seems rather childish doing hand crafts but actually helps. Contrary to my earlier methods, an essential part of studying a subject is to work in a learning environment not a testing environment. As soon as you start to think about anything other that the actual subject you start to lose it. When learning a language don't wrack your brain trying to remember a word, just turn over the cue card and look at it. Never try to push yourself when learning. As soon as you do you make it a mental strain and that impedes your ability to learn. I find that by doing less than an hour off casual work I can keep it fresh and happily work on it every day (rather than approaching it in big chunks) and absorb information far better than I would if I was stressing myself.
In context I'm covering twenty-five Kanji a day. I may not learn them all perfectly, but at the end of the week I do a recap. It actually helps to have something going on in my life other than just learning from a 'book.' The fact that teachinng is far more effective when students are enjoying themselves led to a perverse notion that children should work and earn the right to an education. Education would be a privilege, and an enjoyable one, rather than a tedious chore forced on them. The fact is that I have to pay to take Japanese classes and my exams from my own pocket and appreciate the value of work and education a lot more as a result. Crucially I actually want to be in the class room. This is someone talking from a great amount of life experience but nevertheless working this way suits me far better than formal education did.
Here's my bitch. I hate maths. Most of all I hate the way it's taught. It's exemplary of the pedantic approach the academic establishment has. When I was at school doing a design and technology project the teacher seemed to be more concerned with the presentation of our work than with the work itself. This is one of the major issues I have with education. Once I was repremanded by a teacher for not taking notes. Issues at the time aside, the important thing is to let the information sink in. People approach lessons as time to take notes they can come back to later. Even in the library during revision time I see pupils writing out sets of notes from text books. Our history teacher during GCSE's gave us directions on how to write titles in correspondence to their importance. I may have taken such things a bit too seriously being rather literal minded at the time, but making notes is what the writers of text books should be doing. The pupil's job is to learn it and get all the information into their head. Learning should take place during term time, not a few months or weeks before final exams. By the time you get to the exams you should know everything. Having information on paper, no matter how well presented won't do you any good. In an exam all you're going to have is what you already know. Term time should be an intensive learning experience so that exams are easy, they are only a measure of your ability not the ultimate goal of learning. The ultimate goal of learning is to do just that not to get high grades in exams. Of course results are important, and the reason I'm learning the JLPT syllabus is because I want to take exams and get good results, but the real aim of the whole thing is to be proficient at writing and speaking Japanese.
Going back to why I hate maths apart from my personal grudge against the subject, two things stand out. Firstly is the ridiculous way of marking exams that puts method before results. It was the same in my electronics course work. Mark are given primarily for working not for getting the right answer. You could probably get every question wrong and still pass. How ludicrous is that! If someone handling the Apollo 13 mission (or any other space flight for that matter) made a mathematical error that caused the astronauts to be killed no one would give a fuck if they showed their working. Similarly in electronics coursework you're not marked on the basis of whether you managed to get your circuit to work (which is the point of the whole exercise- who's going to hire an electrician who can't construct a circuit properly) but how well you kept notes (there they are again) of what you did during the course of your work. They expect you to make a circuit, things to go wrong and you write about how you corrected them. You could be a prodigy who can make a complex circuit, working out the design completely in your head without making a single mistake and you would probably fail miserably.
Secondly is the way they teach people to solve maths problems. They always seem to work on the basis of a plodding, 'trench warfare' approach of working out the smallest units, then the next smallest ones until they finally get to the end. When doing maths away from the stultifying atmosphere of the classroom I tend to start with the largest part of the number and work towards the smallest. This way I know immediately roughly what the answer will be. Another key thing in maths is to take short cuts. I have to work out prices of numbers with awkward combinations. Say if you want to add £2.75 to a price, the conventional method is to add 5 p, then 70, then two pounds in a way that's very likely to cause numbers to overflow and add to the next figure in the calculation. The obvious way of doing this problem is to add £3, then take away 20 p, then 5p, or just take away 25 at once if it helps. Don't limit yourself by following a boring procedure when you know you can do better. Multiplication works the same way, look for short cuts. If multiplying a figure by 14, normally an awkward calculation, multiply the figure by ten to give you a rough idea of the outcome, add half that number again to effectively multiply by 15 and then take away the original figure to multiply by 14. Once I was thinking about how to work out the volume of a one foot cube of steel in metric measurements. A 1 foot cube is 12 x 12 x 12 inches. 12 x 12 is 144. So multiply that by 10 (to make 1440) then double the original figure and add that to the result. 1440 + 288, add three hundred (1744) subtract 12 (1732)
Then to work out how to convert that size into metric measurements the number of millimetres in an inch is 25.4. This plays into the hands of a clever mathematician. 25 x 25 is 225. To multiply that again by 25, divide it by four and multiply by a hundred. 200 divided by 4 is 50 (25 4's in a hundred, or just halve it and then half it again), 20 divided by 4 is 5, and 5 divided by four is 1 and a quarter. Use the way numbers relate to eachother to do sums faster. Think big and start with the whole of the result them whittle it down till have the right number. Doing maths isn't about being a human calculator, it's about using your imagination to make it easy and also more enjoyable. You can make pupils actually like a subject and they'll be better at it as a result.
Despite my obsession over them my Kanji was still pretty poor, I spend more time working over them than learning them in an effort to make a large, comprehensive alphabetical Japanese English dictionary, everybody seems to arrange them according to stroke order. This went on during my Japanese course. It wasn't until recently that I started looking and the Japanese Language Proficiency Test. They don't have any information regarding their syllabus on their website so my teacher directed me to another website that has their former vocabulary lists. My first step towards understanding how to learn Japanese came from transcribing the dialogues in Take Off In Japanese. This was a very useful exercise but gave me unaccountable head pains.
When it really took off was when I started to learn the now out dated, but probably still accurate, vocab lists from JLPTstudy.com. Every day I write out cards with the Japanese word and it's meaning on one side and the Japanese writing of the word on the other. Then I make sentences using the words. Since I know quite a few of them already once I've used a word I put it into one pile, if I didn't know it I put it into another pile. Then I come back to the ones I didn't know until I've remembered them. The key to doing this is to make it fun. That's right learning can actually be fun (unlike writing on a damned computer) When I write sentences I don't write ones that make sense or even pay proper attention to grammar. I even write sentences so they're surreal and absurd. If you make something interesting you'll learn it much better. I don't particularly think much of the classroom environment or conventional ideas of education. One of the major problems is the idea of notes. Notes are the bane of a serious student. The whole purpose of taking lessons is to remember things. Notes are only a secondary educational tool to use as back up to cover what you don't remember. The idea of revision is overrated too. It seems people spend time sitting through boring, pedestrian, often pedantic lessons and them worry over the last few months of the year when revising for their exams. A lot of emphasis is placed on working hard. In my experience learning would be better facilitated by making it easy.
The lack of a pressurised environment where exams are the ultimate goal is far better at letting people learn. I learn from home, casually and do about forty minutes work a day on vocab, including cutting bits of paper for my cue cards. This seems rather childish doing hand crafts but actually helps. Contrary to my earlier methods, an essential part of studying a subject is to work in a learning environment not a testing environment. As soon as you start to think about anything other that the actual subject you start to lose it. When learning a language don't wrack your brain trying to remember a word, just turn over the cue card and look at it. Never try to push yourself when learning. As soon as you do you make it a mental strain and that impedes your ability to learn. I find that by doing less than an hour off casual work I can keep it fresh and happily work on it every day (rather than approaching it in big chunks) and absorb information far better than I would if I was stressing myself.
In context I'm covering twenty-five Kanji a day. I may not learn them all perfectly, but at the end of the week I do a recap. It actually helps to have something going on in my life other than just learning from a 'book.' The fact that teachinng is far more effective when students are enjoying themselves led to a perverse notion that children should work and earn the right to an education. Education would be a privilege, and an enjoyable one, rather than a tedious chore forced on them. The fact is that I have to pay to take Japanese classes and my exams from my own pocket and appreciate the value of work and education a lot more as a result. Crucially I actually want to be in the class room. This is someone talking from a great amount of life experience but nevertheless working this way suits me far better than formal education did.
Here's my bitch. I hate maths. Most of all I hate the way it's taught. It's exemplary of the pedantic approach the academic establishment has. When I was at school doing a design and technology project the teacher seemed to be more concerned with the presentation of our work than with the work itself. This is one of the major issues I have with education. Once I was repremanded by a teacher for not taking notes. Issues at the time aside, the important thing is to let the information sink in. People approach lessons as time to take notes they can come back to later. Even in the library during revision time I see pupils writing out sets of notes from text books. Our history teacher during GCSE's gave us directions on how to write titles in correspondence to their importance. I may have taken such things a bit too seriously being rather literal minded at the time, but making notes is what the writers of text books should be doing. The pupil's job is to learn it and get all the information into their head. Learning should take place during term time, not a few months or weeks before final exams. By the time you get to the exams you should know everything. Having information on paper, no matter how well presented won't do you any good. In an exam all you're going to have is what you already know. Term time should be an intensive learning experience so that exams are easy, they are only a measure of your ability not the ultimate goal of learning. The ultimate goal of learning is to do just that not to get high grades in exams. Of course results are important, and the reason I'm learning the JLPT syllabus is because I want to take exams and get good results, but the real aim of the whole thing is to be proficient at writing and speaking Japanese.
Going back to why I hate maths apart from my personal grudge against the subject, two things stand out. Firstly is the ridiculous way of marking exams that puts method before results. It was the same in my electronics course work. Mark are given primarily for working not for getting the right answer. You could probably get every question wrong and still pass. How ludicrous is that! If someone handling the Apollo 13 mission (or any other space flight for that matter) made a mathematical error that caused the astronauts to be killed no one would give a fuck if they showed their working. Similarly in electronics coursework you're not marked on the basis of whether you managed to get your circuit to work (which is the point of the whole exercise- who's going to hire an electrician who can't construct a circuit properly) but how well you kept notes (there they are again) of what you did during the course of your work. They expect you to make a circuit, things to go wrong and you write about how you corrected them. You could be a prodigy who can make a complex circuit, working out the design completely in your head without making a single mistake and you would probably fail miserably.
Secondly is the way they teach people to solve maths problems. They always seem to work on the basis of a plodding, 'trench warfare' approach of working out the smallest units, then the next smallest ones until they finally get to the end. When doing maths away from the stultifying atmosphere of the classroom I tend to start with the largest part of the number and work towards the smallest. This way I know immediately roughly what the answer will be. Another key thing in maths is to take short cuts. I have to work out prices of numbers with awkward combinations. Say if you want to add £2.75 to a price, the conventional method is to add 5 p, then 70, then two pounds in a way that's very likely to cause numbers to overflow and add to the next figure in the calculation. The obvious way of doing this problem is to add £3, then take away 20 p, then 5p, or just take away 25 at once if it helps. Don't limit yourself by following a boring procedure when you know you can do better. Multiplication works the same way, look for short cuts. If multiplying a figure by 14, normally an awkward calculation, multiply the figure by ten to give you a rough idea of the outcome, add half that number again to effectively multiply by 15 and then take away the original figure to multiply by 14. Once I was thinking about how to work out the volume of a one foot cube of steel in metric measurements. A 1 foot cube is 12 x 12 x 12 inches. 12 x 12 is 144. So multiply that by 10 (to make 1440) then double the original figure and add that to the result. 1440 + 288, add three hundred (1744) subtract 12 (1732)
Then to work out how to convert that size into metric measurements the number of millimetres in an inch is 25.4. This plays into the hands of a clever mathematician. 25 x 25 is 225. To multiply that again by 25, divide it by four and multiply by a hundred. 200 divided by 4 is 50 (25 4's in a hundred, or just halve it and then half it again), 20 divided by 4 is 5, and 5 divided by four is 1 and a quarter. Use the way numbers relate to eachother to do sums faster. Think big and start with the whole of the result them whittle it down till have the right number. Doing maths isn't about being a human calculator, it's about using your imagination to make it easy and also more enjoyable. You can make pupils actually like a subject and they'll be better at it as a result.
Tuesday, 6 September 2011
Lookshy: Shinobi, Gunzosha Commandos
I got the impression from a mention in Scroll of Kings that the Rangers were a highly elite fighting force and started getting some preconceived ideas about what they would be like. It wasn't for a long time that I got my hands on the Scavenger Lands and had a look at them properly.
Lookshy stands out in Exalted for having a fairly solid cultural identity (namely Japan.) Although I didn't think they played on this to it's fullest extent. My vision of Lookshy is centred on medieval Japan and I decided to do something about the Rangers. Obviously the thing to do would be to base them on ninjas so I did. But I couldn't use a name as obvious as ninja, so they're called Shinobi instead.
The Shinobi come from Dragon-Blooded clans and are taught hereditary skills in the villages they live in away from the city. The closeness to nature and isolation from civilisation gives them excellent opportunity to learn and practise their skills. The fact that Forest-Blooded Terrestrials have the skills best suited to become Shinobi is an excellent advantage and most Shinobi come from this bloodline.
Shinobi are exclusively Dragon Blooded. Enlightened mortals may practise the martials arts that Shinobi are known for but they lack the ability to learn other Charms that are essential for their use on the battlefield.
The three ranks of Shinobi are as follows:
Genin: regular, rank and file (although highly trained) soldier Shinobi.
Chunin: leaders of small units of Shinobi, often 'fang' sized.
Shonin: leader of an entire clan of Shinobi. A veteran Dragon Blooded of fearsome skill who commands dozens of warriors.
Gunzosha Commandos are another group worth mentioning here. One thing that struck me is their numerical allocation. The Scavenger Lands has 125 Gunzosha Commandos to a unit of about 1300 Seventh Legion warriors. 1 out of 10 is a far too high ratio for such an elite unit. 125 per field force is more realistic and conveys the rarity of such dedicated individuals. Also the effectiveness of Gunzosha Commando Armour should be reviewed. Rather than just being armed with unnamed Essence weapons and great swords and great axes, Gunzosha Commando Armour could make Essence weapons attunable through the suit allowing them to wield devices like Concussive Essence Cannon in a way that normally only Exalted can. Essence weapons are regarded as standard issue among their ranks. Enlightened mortals are welcomed among Gunzosha Commandos as they have a potential longer life expectancy.
Lookshy stands out in Exalted for having a fairly solid cultural identity (namely Japan.) Although I didn't think they played on this to it's fullest extent. My vision of Lookshy is centred on medieval Japan and I decided to do something about the Rangers. Obviously the thing to do would be to base them on ninjas so I did. But I couldn't use a name as obvious as ninja, so they're called Shinobi instead.
The Shinobi come from Dragon-Blooded clans and are taught hereditary skills in the villages they live in away from the city. The closeness to nature and isolation from civilisation gives them excellent opportunity to learn and practise their skills. The fact that Forest-Blooded Terrestrials have the skills best suited to become Shinobi is an excellent advantage and most Shinobi come from this bloodline.
Shinobi are exclusively Dragon Blooded. Enlightened mortals may practise the martials arts that Shinobi are known for but they lack the ability to learn other Charms that are essential for their use on the battlefield.
The three ranks of Shinobi are as follows:
Genin: regular, rank and file (although highly trained) soldier Shinobi.
Chunin: leaders of small units of Shinobi, often 'fang' sized.
Shonin: leader of an entire clan of Shinobi. A veteran Dragon Blooded of fearsome skill who commands dozens of warriors.
Gunzosha Commandos are another group worth mentioning here. One thing that struck me is their numerical allocation. The Scavenger Lands has 125 Gunzosha Commandos to a unit of about 1300 Seventh Legion warriors. 1 out of 10 is a far too high ratio for such an elite unit. 125 per field force is more realistic and conveys the rarity of such dedicated individuals. Also the effectiveness of Gunzosha Commando Armour should be reviewed. Rather than just being armed with unnamed Essence weapons and great swords and great axes, Gunzosha Commando Armour could make Essence weapons attunable through the suit allowing them to wield devices like Concussive Essence Cannon in a way that normally only Exalted can. Essence weapons are regarded as standard issue among their ranks. Enlightened mortals are welcomed among Gunzosha Commandos as they have a potential longer life expectancy.
Exploding Shurikens
Exploding Shurikens (low level artefacts) have several blades (often a large number) of varying designs attached to an artefact core. The blades themselves are disposable. A variant houses dart-like projectiles. When the weapon is thrown it travels to the target and then explodes, sending the blades flying in all directions, in an arc or against a single target as the thrower intends. Some exploding shurikens have dozens of blades and are highly lethal. This weapon makes up for the lack of lethality of the individual projectiles by their sheer number. In addition to being able to launch many blades at once a thrower can hurl three shurikens simultaneously, making them highly dangerous.
After throwing the core is still intact and can be retrieved and reloaded. Some assassins and other unconventional troops mount them on long ropes made of magical materials so they can be recovered quickly without having to change position. A few enterprising fighters have even turned them into unwieldy but surprisingly effective close combat weapons by using them like flails while the blades remain attached.
After throwing the core is still intact and can be retrieved and reloaded. Some assassins and other unconventional troops mount them on long ropes made of magical materials so they can be recovered quickly without having to change position. A few enterprising fighters have even turned them into unwieldy but surprisingly effective close combat weapons by using them like flails while the blades remain attached.
Friday, 2 September 2011
Artefact clothing, armour, power armour and Warstriders
Terrestrials of the Threshold learned that they could take on the characteristics of an animal by wearing a jade hide in the shape of it's skin. In ordinary artefact armour this direct physical effect is limited, pelts of northern animals protected against the cold. This evolved into the magitech artefacts known as Dragon Armour where they became half like the animals they represented and finally the ultimate expression in the Warstriders. Magitech armour is inseparable from the wearer, it's truly a part of their body and they experience everything through it at first hand. With a Warhawk it's possible to experience unrestrained flight. In a Warkraken they can swim through the darkest depths. Attuning to a Warstrider doesn't just connect them to a suit of armour- they actually become a creature and live as it does. This is why Magitech is so advanced and valuable.
The Warstriders were created by the Celestial Incarnae and the Elemental Dragons for the Exalted to fight against the Primordials.
Because Warstriders become part of the wearer's body it is not armour and does not prevent them from using martial arts.
The original Warstriders dating from the First Age were great heroes given form. At the pinnacle of this art where the Royal Warstriders, reserved for the Celestial Exalted, not least because of the massive difficulty in making them. All Warstriders made for the Celestial Exalted were they forms of heroes the Exalted could become by attuning to them. The Royal Warstriders even had their own spirits the Exalted who piloted them became.
The Warstriders were created by the Celestial Incarnae and the Elemental Dragons for the Exalted to fight against the Primordials.
Because Warstriders become part of the wearer's body it is not armour and does not prevent them from using martial arts.
The original Warstriders dating from the First Age were great heroes given form. At the pinnacle of this art where the Royal Warstriders, reserved for the Celestial Exalted, not least because of the massive difficulty in making them. All Warstriders made for the Celestial Exalted were they forms of heroes the Exalted could become by attuning to them. The Royal Warstriders even had their own spirits the Exalted who piloted them became.
Thursday, 1 September 2011
Call of Exalted: Character Creation and Development
Although I like the organic way of creating a character by making them immediately from the standard traits in ordinary character creation where they already have a background and are some time after being Exalted, a while ago I experimented with another method of character creation which suits Call of Exalted and develops the character in a different way.
I started off by writing the character as a heroic mortal, one with quite low trait levels- using the Attribute points for heroic mortals in the Exalted rulebook (or scroll of heroes) and only eighteen ability points attributing merits and flaws as well. Making a character in this way really brings out what the character was like before their Exaltation (and requires attention to the period of their life.) Then I bumped them up to full Exalted level with the proper number of points in Abilities, Attributes and Backgrounds. Working out the character's Charms was much easier than totally spontaneous character creation since I already had an idea of what they were doing, what Charms they would need for it and what their Ability levels were.
It's a significantly more gritty approach to character creation but it brings out aspects of a character to a degree they wouldn't be otherwise. For example this character had Legendary Intelligence which I wouldn't have given them if I created an Exalt straight away. I also came up with a new permutation of Esoteric Knowledge. This method plays out the character's Exaltation as part of the creation process and makes a character immediately after they ave been Exalted rather than some time after and have had time to have adventures and start to shape their powers more. It also makes the game more Occult, for instance with the character I was creating the Sidereals became much more unearthly and mysterious beings (fitting for a horror game.)
I started off by writing the character as a heroic mortal, one with quite low trait levels- using the Attribute points for heroic mortals in the Exalted rulebook (or scroll of heroes) and only eighteen ability points attributing merits and flaws as well. Making a character in this way really brings out what the character was like before their Exaltation (and requires attention to the period of their life.) Then I bumped them up to full Exalted level with the proper number of points in Abilities, Attributes and Backgrounds. Working out the character's Charms was much easier than totally spontaneous character creation since I already had an idea of what they were doing, what Charms they would need for it and what their Ability levels were.
It's a significantly more gritty approach to character creation but it brings out aspects of a character to a degree they wouldn't be otherwise. For example this character had Legendary Intelligence which I wouldn't have given them if I created an Exalt straight away. I also came up with a new permutation of Esoteric Knowledge. This method plays out the character's Exaltation as part of the creation process and makes a character immediately after they ave been Exalted rather than some time after and have had time to have adventures and start to shape their powers more. It also makes the game more Occult, for instance with the character I was creating the Sidereals became much more unearthly and mysterious beings (fitting for a horror game.)
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