KhorasForum

Yeah, that's sort of where my mind was as well.

Yeah, I pronounce that one uh-SEE-TEE-uh.

I'd say leave it the way it is. It's not that big a deal, and that way people won't feel pressured to pronounce it "right" if they're used to pronouncing it some other way.

Happy New Year to all of you, as well!

For Auld Lang Syne, and all that.

Sid, you beat me to it.

Merry Christmas everyone! Happy holidays, and a happy new year to you all!

Or is he?

PLOT TWIST! 

I could have misunderstood somewhat, but I think the idea is that Kael is a war god that is neutral, but aligned generally with the civilized "good" gods of the Eastern cultures, while Belhelizar is the chief god of "evil", and stands opposed to order and civilization as the god of chaos.

It's not so much that Belhelizar is a war god, as it is that he's a god of destruction, and war is simply one means to destroy the order of civilization and return the world to chaos.

I'm sure Dave will chime in and add anything that I missed or correct any mistaken assumptions I've made, but until then, hopefully this will give you a sense of where I think he was going.

Yeah, I mean, it's technically a representation and ordering of a physical process, but it's definitely a cultural abstraction, so Civilization would work better.

That's great news, Dave.

First of all, I just wanted to say that despite my earlier reservations, I'm extremely happy with everything you've done so far with the religions, Dave! Thanks for being awesome, as usual.

As to Barrinor, one way you could do it would be to either have the Stirling Rangers be a splinter group of the faith, a different denomination in utero, as it were, as you've already sort of mentioned.

But you could also have there be some internal issue within the Barrinor faith, where the Rangers worship Barrinor, but suffer some form of discrimination for it. Perhaps a caste-like distinction between the Rangers and the Knights, with only the Knights being able to move up within the rank structure, or something along those lines.

Otherwise, I'm not sure you could reconcile the Rangers with the current version of the faith.

And regarding the Yntharians, I think they are, in some ways, far cooler than Jedi are, but they're certainly similar, being monks devoted to balance and whatnot. Personally, I think that you're right, as far as people of diverse morals and temperaments being able to be Ynthari, but I think that they would be more neutral than "good AND evil", and I suspect than any truly evil individuals would probably be less tolerant of the sort of balance and discipline that is their focus. Not to mention that most Ynthari monks would likely be more focused on developing themselves than practicing said development.

Frankly, I've always gotten a strong Shaolin sort of vibe from them, with a touch of the Tao, where a holistic approach to monastic life serves to make all the aspects better, but the goal is still to remain focused on the practice of one's faith, rather than sojourning far and wide in search of disciples or adventure. Of course, they wouldn't be adverse to adventure, but I suspect it would be more a matter of individual temperament and interest than organizational influence.

As to their dealings with the Dark Lords, frankly, the Dark Lords are all specifically evil, and share common elements of destructiveness, violence, and the favoring of chaos to the exclusion of order. I find it hard to believe that many groups could survive being neutral to these faiths, except those which could be, at least temporarily and for mutual benefit, aligned somehow. The Ynthari would be unlikely to actively wage war on anyone, really, but I suspect that their tenets would preclude being on particularly good terms with most, if not all, of the Dark Lords.

I've always sort of considered things of philosophical interest to be more academic, and, therefore, more in line with the intellect, than the spirit, including issues of morality. When I think of "spiritual" excellence, I think more along the lines of being well-adjusted and in tune with oneself, nature, society, and whatever else, and being able to make one's way, and pursue the things that one feels need pursuing, with a sort of easy passion, something halfway between complete non-action and aloofness on the one hand, and fire and zealotry on the other. Something like nirvana, I suppose.

But nirvana really has very little to do with arguments regarding morality. It's something else, I feel, from what I understand of the concept. Something far more sublime.

As to any argument about good/evil/neutral dispositions, I will say only this: I have known many people, with widely varying moral beliefs, and the vast majority, even those who were decidedly amoral, and vocally so, have been, in my opinion, either good/seeking the good or relatively neutral. It is rare, in my experience, for anyone, regardless of their moral position, to be truly evil, but those who are generally are either mentally ill, or they so revel in their own hatefulness that they are wholly averse to doing anything so edifying as practicing a highly disciplined monastic life.

I suspect they would be more like Jedis. Sure, some of them go dark and do evil things, but they generally have become corrupted, or had the "evil" aspects of their nature come out of balance with the "good" aspects, rather than having been wholly evil from the outset. I guess I just feel that if you're talking in terms of good or evil dispositions, you have to talk about the morality, and if you wish to avoid it, it would be easier to drop those sorts of terms and considerations entirely.

Nice, David, you don't get enough of that, do you?

And glad to hear that you're having a good time, Roman. Glad that you're enjoying the updates to the website. Once you get that narrative together, I'd be interested in reading it in the Campaigns section.

As for me, I'm busy with school at the moment, and in addition I'm working (slowly, slowly) on some personal projects. My focus right now is a trading card game and a t-shirt line.

And I'm the secretary of my University's Philosophy Club, so that keeps me busy.

As for books or movies, I watched Guardians of the Galaxy a while back, which was fun, and I'm watching the new season of Doctor Who. In the meantime, I've read some really interesting books on linguistics, and I'm trying to work my way through Glen Cook's A Cruel Wind/Chronicles of the Dread Empire trilogy and 1984 (I know, I know, I should have already read that, but I've only read Brave New World, so sue me XD ).

I intend to do that, but it's currently somewhat on the back burner, as I'm still looking for people to make it.

In the meantime, I'm prototyping a 2D Puzzle/Action Platformer in Stencyl where Friedrich Nietzsche is the main character, and my friend and I just designed all of a Western philosophers trading card game except for the cards and the final balancing last night in about three hours over text. XD

Once we have the game more or less developed, we'll probably do a Kickstarter campaign for it, so we can afford to produce the cards. I know you guys might not be into TCGs, but if we do a Kickstarter, any help (even just spreading the word) would be much appreciated.

The funds from that will also probably help fund the video games.

Sounds good to me.

Oh, and Delbareth, I think that idiom doesn't really translate into English precisely, but I'd probably translate it as something like, "It's to your credit."

Well, if it ever gets made, I'll let you know when it's out. XD

It's a 3D exploration/survival RPG with action/adventure and stealth elements. Think Assassin's Creed plus Minecraft plus Fallout/Fallout 2 plus S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

Hey everybody.

I am currently preparing to develop a video game, and I'm trying to find programmers capable of building it. I figured I'd just see if anyone here knows anybody who might be willing and able to fill the roles, as I'll probably be looking for three or four guys of high caliber.

If you do, let me know soon, as this is not the only place I'll be searching, and in order to get the funding I'll need I will have to have everything set before I make a business plan.