Posted by Proud Blade(VIP) on June 22, 2000 at 01:40:38:
In Reply to: Thanks - and re: that storm posted by Khiravn on June 21, 2000 at 10:47:50:
Note: As a player, I thought Khiravn handled this pretty well. Part of my concept for Ingvar was to have him unaware of the Cult at first, due to his early isolation. (He credited a young drow transmuter named Mazzim for his introduction.... what ever happened to Mazzim?) In his more naive days, Ingvar saw what Khiravn described above, and it led to a long conversation. Ingvar was a bigot- he felt wood-elf culture to be among Thera's least Profane (though it still contained things he hated, like royalty), for a number of reasons, and thought less of the non-elven races. His recollection:
"I wish to record an event I witnessed just the other day, which deepened
my understanding of the city-bound, and the way they would see those such
such as I. While I practiced training my voice the other day, I heard a
new voice in our halls. I went to see, and it was a storm giant shaman
named ********. I approached him, intending to find out what brought him
to our sanctuary.
Soon enough, I saw that he was summoning beasts inside, and slaying them
so that he may take material things from them. Politely, I asked him not
to use my home as some arena, and to my shock, he became extremely angry!
He told me that he would do what he wished, for he served "the Light".
I asked him if he would then respect the sanctity of this peaceful place,
and only enraged him further. He became unraveled, and started cursing.
Such pride he had that he could not consider my request. Instead, he
flew into a rage, and attacked any wood-elf nearby! He threatened to keep
killing until I left him be! Well, I will not be extorted in such a way,
so I contacted some others who I have heard help the oppressed- the
Maran, who claim to fight evil wherever it may lurk. I told Khiravn that
there was a madman murdering elves in Eryn Galen, and that I could do
nothing to stop his madness. He was concerned, but did an about face when
I told him who the murderer was! Suddenly, I was being told that he was
cleansing impure souls, and obviously the wood-elves who live here had
wronged him. Such treachery! Clearly, all he saw was that ********* was
a storm giant, and judged him better tham me based on that alone. I asked
him how he could condone the murder of innocents, and he spouted nonsense
how his job was only to stop Shadow, and that this matter did not concern
him! Hypocrite! I know what would happen if the roles were reversed....
Maran shall not be trusted. And if I see one in Eryn Galen...."
> Thanks, and I think I remember that situation. That was a complicated issue for both of our roles - I'll post it below if anyone is interested in how it went down. The sad part with Khiravn and the intelligent Skarabs (this includes Shinkoujinei, as well) is that I never got a chance to seriously interact with you, when the character's philosophies were so polar, and yet, both hinged on relating their philosophies to others. I know I'd take special note whenever I recognized a known Skarab around and try to display the triumph of Shokai's plan.
>
> Anyway, that situation:
>
> There was a brutish storm giant shaman (probably empowered by Shok, but not tattoo'd by him) running amok through the peaceful wood elf city, slaughtering innocent civilians left and right. You were there in the midst of it, wide-eyed and fearful of this madman's wrath and asked me to come save your people. I ask the giant to stop slaughtering them, and he sends me a tell saying something like:
>
> "I am practicing on them. They are neutral."
>
> Me: "But they're innocent civilians, they are not shadowrunners. Perhaps you should use the Great Lord's powers on.. blah, blah."
>
> Him: "They are not of the Light. I am practicing."
>
> Me: "I insist you leave them to peace"
>
> Him: "No. I'm not killing Lightwalkers"
>
> Anyway, I really would have liked to have been able to challenge him and strike him down, but, as was with the case of Etherian, he was still technically a member of the Light (even if he did not act like one in actuality), and as much as I felt it would be appropriate to challenge him and Redeem him, I couldn't. Near the end of Khiravn's life (I thought it was the middle at the time) I was a bit more fearless of it and pressed Khiravn's role more towards a Whitecloak-type, looking at actions to determine whether someone was "good" and not the aura, but ...
>
> Well, as much latitude as players try to give the moral conceptions in CF of "good" and "evil," and "lawfulness" and "chaos," we're dealing with a game that is still somewhat black and white. Part of that is players that don't care much about role depth, and part immortals dealing with players that don't care much about role depth. Personally, I feel the Scarabs do a great deal to inject some thought into that polarity, crossing the line and somewhat shading it, and I feel the Maran could, as well.
>
> Anyway, well done