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The Graaft - Group Project
by Slayer Noir Sun Apr 15, 2012 7:01 am
First topic message reminder :
To do
To do:
Create a leader-type figure for the Mentir, to be a main villain - Handeath
Create a good Mentir to ally with the player
Create two minor characters: The Royal Leader and the Democratic Leader
Expand on how Graaft wage war: How much do they rely on their grafting ability for weaponry? Do they use other weapons too? Are there "standard issue" parts for soldiers? - Slayer Noir
Expand on succession for leaders: specifically, how would a leader get replaced? We know the democratic leader will have some sort of election, but what if someone wanted to replace Pharamedes or Kareeb? - Slayer Noir
Expand upon Amesgaizto and religious values - Duskcurse
The Graaft is a group project that me and Morbius have been working on. We're working towards creating a new race and a quest series featuring them. We've gotten to the point where we're happy with the bare bones, and now want your help fleshing it out.
The race is called the Graaft. This is what we know about them so far:
-The Graaft are a strange race that inhabit another plane. Once they reach maturity, they loose the ability to heal, and to compensate for this, they replace their own damaged body parts with others. These body parts can come from other races, and this gives the Graaft incredible diversity.
The Graaft have latent magical potential gifted to them by their God that can help them with their transplants. It allows them to use body parts of slightly less biological creatures. Things like demons, for example, which are magical rather than biological.
-Appearance:
-History:
-The Graaft's Enemies
The Mentir
The Crul
Strae
See "Lifemaker Strae" in the characters section
- Culture
-The Graaft's Homeplane
-Leadership
-Graaft Warfare
-Graaft Succession
-Characters
Xana
Aschkott
Lifemaker Strae
Kareeb The Priest
Commander Pharamedes:
-Muroidea
-A "Good" Mentir
-Deleriaus
-Plotlines
So yeah, that's the Graaft so far. Help us create something epic.
To do
To do:
Create a leader-type figure for the Mentir, to be a main villain - Handeath
Create a good Mentir to ally with the player
Create two minor characters: The Royal Leader and the Democratic Leader
Expand on how Graaft wage war: How much do they rely on their grafting ability for weaponry? Do they use other weapons too? Are there "standard issue" parts for soldiers? - Slayer Noir
Expand on succession for leaders: specifically, how would a leader get replaced? We know the democratic leader will have some sort of election, but what if someone wanted to replace Pharamedes or Kareeb? - Slayer Noir
Expand upon Amesgaizto and religious values - Duskcurse
The Graaft is a group project that me and Morbius have been working on. We're working towards creating a new race and a quest series featuring them. We've gotten to the point where we're happy with the bare bones, and now want your help fleshing it out.
The race is called the Graaft. This is what we know about them so far:
-The Graaft are a strange race that inhabit another plane. Once they reach maturity, they loose the ability to heal, and to compensate for this, they replace their own damaged body parts with others. These body parts can come from other races, and this gives the Graaft incredible diversity.
The Graaft have latent magical potential gifted to them by their God that can help them with their transplants. It allows them to use body parts of slightly less biological creatures. Things like demons, for example, which are magical rather than biological.
-Appearance:
- Spoiler:
- Graaft have brown skin and hair, with lengthy ears like a bat, where the nose partially resembles that of a goat. Mutts naturally grow facial hair and horns.
Their hands feature dextrous plating that reinforces the back of the hand that scales up the forearm to the elbow; with digitigrade feet also bearing scales across their claw-like feet and shins.
Both genders have a slight plumage at the rear, stitches have a longer one than mutts.
-History:
- Spoiler:
- They evolved into unintelligent humanoids unaided, and were discovered wallowing in the mud by the god, Amesgaizto. He saw fit to elevate their intelligence and soon the combined minds of the Graaft and their God realised they could transplant body parts from their dead to replace their damaged ones. However, this wasn't enough for the Graaft, who could theoretically live forever. They wanted a society without death, and this couldn't happen when the only way to prevent one Graaft's death was with the death of another.
They went to Amesgaizto and asked for a solution, and he blessed them with portal magic. They were instructed to go to other planes and take body parts of the dead there, but to never kill someone for their parts. Of course, greedy Graaft disobeyed and their God abandoned them as a consequence.
Still, the Graaft prospered and built a large city, which stands even now.
-The Graaft's Enemies
The Mentir
- Spoiler:
- The Mentir are a race of beings who care about nothing but money, and they're extremely amoral about doing so. They are lead by Muroidea.
The Mentir sell body parts to the Graaft, however, they've been secretly manipulating them in order to stimulate demand. Though you don't learn it until the very last quest, it was them who set the Crul upon the Graaft's homeworld, the resulting war injuring many Graaft and so sending demand for parts through the roof. Many of their other schemes have yet to be decided, but they're helping Strae because they believe his actions will make their business more profitable too.
The Mentir stronghold has a creepy comparison to a hospital, white tiled walls and floors with bright lighting. They don't allow the Graaft inside.
Graaft distrust Mentir, but have become rather reliant on them. They have no solid evidence of wrongdoing on the Mentir's part, so are simply being walked over by them.
In terms of appearance, Mentir are humanoid, with icy blue skin and slightly ratty faces. They are slender and tall. The richer ones wear opulent clothing to show off their wealth, and the majority of them wear facemasks when around Graaft, as they consider them unclean.
The Crul
- Spoiler:
- The Crul are hive-minded creatures with a limited shapeshifting capacity - they always take on a rocky appearance, their forms are limited and they can only change in the presence of their queen, but they are shapeshifters nonetheless. They tend to take on either reptilian or insect-like forms.
Save for their queen, most Crul are unintelligent. They voraciously devour and destroy anything they see based on instinct. However when separated from the hive mind, they can be trained to act independently. Crul have limited communication abilities, only the queen has enough intellect to speak and communicates through her soldiers and drones.
Strae
See "Lifemaker Strae" in the characters section
- Culture
- Spoiler:
- They are literate and highly intelligent - very well learned both of anatomy and of other cultures.
They have a rite of passage for when their young loose the ability to heal. They are expected to go forth into the other planes and find their first body part, being banned from returning to the Graaft's city until they succeed.
Because aged Graaft do not degenerate like aging humans do, they are highly respected in society, filling many of the higher roles. There is a so called Circle of Elders that aged Graaft belong to, though what this actually means is unclear
-The Graaft's Homeplane
- Spoiler:
- The plane of origin for the Graaft is called Moglask. As far as the eye can see, it is a relatively barren place, not unlike the Wilderness. Beyond the Complex, the land is harsh - land is muggy and marshlike but with scatterings of volcanoes, much like Iceland.
The Complex is the main living area for the Graaft; about the size of Kandarin everything the Graaft do goes on inside. After searching through many planes for pieces, the Graaft found habitation technology and created the complex using the terraforming equipment. A surrounding area is partially cultivated in order for agriculture to take place using specially acquired fertile soil. Within The Complex, buildings are made up of different bits and pieces acquired from other planes. These "bits" vary in size greatly, sometimes they're just a few bricks needed to fill a hole in the wall, and sometimes, entire towers have been taken and placed on top of buildings.
The recent Crul threat has lead to the hasty erection of a wall around the city. It too, is made up of various walls taken from various other civilisations. As such, it has strong points and weak points which, thankfully, the Crul cannot distinguish between. Yet...
One particular natural feature of the barren regions of Moglask are strange beehive shaped formations called Nectar Hides. These odd shapes are plants that burrow deep for their water and conceal their stocks inside their tough casings. Like you would in the desert, many creatures who live out here cut open these for water supplies. If the water has been stored for a long time, they can yield nectar, which is very sweet tasting, thirst quenching and can restore some energy. You have to be careful of which Nectar Hides you drink from, not all are helpful. Some Nectar Hides have withered away, but because of their tough skin, you usually cannot tell straight away. Those that have withered have been used by Crul as traps. Inside these hides, tiny carnivorous larvites float about in the water, awaiting the approach of an unexpecting traveller. Once inside their system, the larvites can poison the drinker or even eat them from the inside out. In order to tell which you should or shouldn't drink from, the surrounding soil is the best indication. Since nectar seeps out of the healthy hides, the surrounding soil is fertile and has plants. Those that are traps will have barren soil surrounding.
-Leadership
- Spoiler:
- Like everything else, Graaft leadership is a mix-and-match of different things. They have a council, with one member from each different type of leadership - an elected leader, a religious figure, the head of the military, a king/queen.
The council really struggles to get anything done, creating an inability for the Graaft to deal with their own problems and therefore a need for the player's involvement.
-Graaft Warfare
- Spoiler:
- The Graaft have always had an army, named the Great Defenders, however, until the recent Crul outbreak, it has been relatively small.
The army has a simple structure. Under its leader, Pharamedes, are 5 ranks. Graaft are ranked on both their combat prowess and leadership ability, and all Graaft no matter what their rank serve on the front line wherever possible.
All Graaft warriors rely purely on their grafting ability to supply weapons. They do not use swords or shields or armour of any kind.
The Great Defenders have standard issue body parts which their soldiers use for battle. Rank determines what parts you are entitled to, though any soldier is allowed to attain their own parts too.
Cutters are the lowest ranked Graaft. They're entitled to a forearm with a natural blade and another arm with heavy plating that acts as a shield.
Storm Runners are the next rank. In addition to the parts Cutters are entitled to, they get feline-like legs that allow them to run faster.
Battle Hearts are the third and middle rank. They're named so because they get more powerful, stronger hearts to increase their cardiac fitness with this rank. Along with that, they get a spikes grafted to their backs.
Unbreakables are the fourth rank. Named because of one particular new standard issue graft - a shield gland, a glowing purple bio-orb attached to the shoulder that acts as a shield. With the shield gland, they no longer need the arm that acts as a shield, and this is replaced by a poison spitter - an organ which came from the abdomen of a bug-like creature but is placed on the arm of the unbreakables.
Warmasters are the highest rank. They gain no more additional standard-issue parts, but find their own, unique parts.
The Great Defenders have a large barracks near the centre of the town, and the player can visit some areas of it. They can see Cutters (or Storm Runners, if they're lucky) training with one an other or visit the army's own Graafting centre, where they can see the various mentioned parts being put onto Graaft.
-Graaft Succession
- Spoiler:
- The currently unnamed democratic leader has the most obvious means of replacement. Every year, elections are held, and any Graaft can run for presidency. Frequently, 20 or more Graaft will put their names forward, but of course, only one can win.
Leaders of the military have to be the strongest Graaft warrior. To replace them, you must beat them in a fight - not necessarily to the death, mind. Formal challenges are usually made but not a necessity. When such a challenge is made, backing down is not an option.
The Graaft royalty have a graft called the Majestic Blue. It's grafted to the forehead, much like a crown, and appears to a magnificent crest of some animal, probably originally used in mating. When one graft royalty dies, the Majestic Blue is removed from them and grafted onto their heir, who then replaces them. In the event that a dynasty ends with no heirs, whoever claims the Majestic Blue becomes the new royalty.
And I'm waiting for Dusk to tell us more about religion before I decide how religious leaders are replaced.
-Characters
Xana
- Spoiler:
- A female Graaft and the first of her species met by the player. Xana has recently matured and when the player first meets her, she's performing her trial and finding her first body part - she settles for the arm of a mage, giving her magical abilities.
Xana is the daughter of Kareeb, with an unknown mother. The two don't really see eye-to-eye.
Xana spent her whole childhood dreaming of becoming a hero. However, she's got a ruthless and greedy streak and you soon discover that she wants to be a hero a little too much.
You see, upon meeting the player and discovering his/her skills and exploits, Xana swiftly comes to believe that the best way to become a hero is by getting the body parts of an existing hero - us.
This, of course, makes Xana somewhat of an anti-hero. When the Graaft run into trouble, she sees the opportunity to become a hero. But, because the player's helping too, this leaves her with a conflict of interests: does she try to aid the player, or try to kill them?
Aschkott
- Spoiler:
- He's had something of a bad start. When much younger, he was badly wounded and forced to be put together again, but the only parts available were from another one his age, a female.
Having grown up being half male, half female, he's got something of a gender crisis on his hands. He tends not to look at it badly, but instead just behaves erratic.
Lifemaker Strae
- Spoiler:
- Originally a high-ranking physician, Strae is now a necromancer. Graaft don't usually leave bits behind, so he's seeking a way into RuneScape to find bits he can put together that would go unnoticed by the rest of the Graaft.
Strae fills a sort of religious extremist archetype. He believes since Amesgaizto hated death that necromancy will appease him. He also refuses to take grafts, and thus visibly appears as a Graaft in base form. Rumor has it, however, that he has the heart of a Mahjarrat.
He is several hundred years old and said to be descended from the first Graaft to betray Amesgaizto
Kareeb The Priest
- Spoiler:
- Kareeb is a spiritual leader with a deep knowledge of Amesgaizto, the Graaft look to Kareeb to tell them how to please their absent God. He's highly emphatic and virtuous and so his followers revere him somewhat.
He hates killing, rigidly sticking to Amesgaizto's ancient instructions, and so argues with the military leader.
On his trial, he travelled to the deserts of Gielinor and, upon witnessing a dying Scarabite's devotion to their god, saw fitting to take part of their face. From this, he developed a habit of taking body parts from creatures that showed religious devotion, and subsequently acquired the arm of an aviantese, arm of a crystalline shapeshifer and the legs of a blood reaver.
When he began to become blind in his original eye, he sought out a new eye, that of a Soulgazing Stalker, in order to see better into the souls of other Graaft.
Kareeb has a daugher, Xana, who is also a major character. The two don't really see eye-to-eye.
Kareeb and Pharamedes start out strongly disliking one another, but as the story progresses, they realise that both of them just want what's best for the Graaft, and by the end, the two consider eachother friends, capable of ruling the Graaft without squabbling.
Commander Pharamedes:
- Spoiler:
- Pharamedes, the Military Leader
Pharamedes is one of the oldest living Graaft, but by no means past his prime. Being the commander of the Graaft military, veteran of hundreds of battles and a skilled soldier, his body is practically a walking, talking weapon.
Pharamedes has never visited Gielinor. He sources his parts from other planes, and so it's hard for the player to tell what came from where.
Through hard work, Pharamedes has taught himself to use 4 arms, something that an ordinary Graaft simply doesn't have the brain-power to do. His lower pair of arms are mottled green, and have natural, jet black blades running down the entire forearm and a few inches beyond his hands, while his other pair of arms, located above the first, are huge, brutish and muscled, beige in colour.
His chest and back are made up of a grey, scaly material that acts as a natural armour.
His legs are shiny black, lean but muscular, and he uses them to run fast - they're his newest part, replacing an old pair that got damaged by the Crul, and he's rather proud of them at the moment. All over his body are small patches of various colours, evidence of many minor cuts and scrapes getting cleared up.
In terms of personality, Pharamedes is a good person, he just believes brute force is the best way to get things done. He cares deeply about his people and leads their fight against the Crul from the front, joining in with every fight and skirmish he can - he never asks a soldier to do something he wouldn't do himself. As such, his army generally respect him. He believes hard work can get anything done, so it saddens him to see his efforts against the Crul failing, and he welcomes the player's assistance - he's not too proud to ask for help.
-Muroidea
- Spoiler:
- Muroidea is the leader of the Mentir, and is actually a very nice man at first glance. He seems to be a very caring person, similar to a doctor acting towards a child, but his true colors show when dealing directly with the Graaft or the parts which he provides them. Muroidea, even though he is talking in his cheery personality, is a cold, ruthless thinker, always putting the company's best interests above all else.
Muroidea's harsh personality is best seen in his fighting style and arsenal. Muroidea isn't a very athletic person, but he uses his knowledge in the field of medicine to his full advantage: his primary weapon is a simple rapier, which he uses at the beginning of a battle, but one he draws enough blood, he will switch to his main arsenal of surgical tools and 'healing magic,' aiming at open wounds, reducing healing, making them worse and infecting them, or purposefully healing them improperly, setting himself up to deal more damage.
-A "Good" Mentir
- Spoiler:
- This needs work
-Deleriaus
- Spoiler:
- Deleriaus has only had a few parts grafted to him over the last few years; an ink gland from a squeeslet, a pen in the place of a few of his fingers, but most notably a talisman known as the falcon's eye. It's this small lens, in place of his natural eye, that has allowed him to see far beyond the capability of normal Graaft, some believe it has the capacity of foresight.
Deleriaus has a key role in story lines as an Oracle, able to give advice into what is going to happen and who shouldn't be trusted. He has an insane fear of one of the Lifemakers originally sent to observe his case, Strae, but many feel that this is because he might just be frightened of white coats.
Deleriaus has the following lore associated with him:
On a day that seemed somewhat normal, Deleriaus had replaced his eye with the Falcon's eye glass, having lost his original one the last time he went on a hunt. He foresaw a set of events that scared him, a small troupe of Graaft being attacked by a set of unknown creatures, but dismissed the thought as a harmless nightmare brought on by a contaminated bobua. The party consisted of several Graaft and a couple of young Mentir who had supplied some of the tools.
A fair distance from the complex, the small hunting party took a rest. When trying out his falcon's eye, Deleriaus could see for miles and found the area was oddly uninhabited, even the faxgraven, a natural game residing here, were absent from their mating season.
Hours passed and nothing had been seen. Then, out of nowhere the troupe was attacked by a strange group of rocky creatures. Though noone had told him Deleriaus's somehow knew they were called the Crul. Deleriaus tried to protect his group, but failed.
Somehow, the eye became associated with the creatures who attacked him. Using the eye, he was able to foresee all the movements of the Crul before they made them.
Deleriaus then began to have strange visions of the Crul's actions and who could not be trusted. His paranoia gradually became his undoing, when he grafted and ink gland into his system and replaced one of his fingers with a drawing pen specialists were called in.
Since then Deleriaus have been transferred from institute to institute in the hopes of curing the malady bestowed upon him by the falcon's eye. All the lifemakers and sewmasters have come to the conclusion that to remove the falcon eye would damage his brain, so have left it as it is. Alternative therapies have had to be considered when his ramblings would become violent by certain trigger words, where he begins chanting the name of some unknown deity, which has resulted in some lash marks in his back.
His ramblings have proven useful as they have exposed some key Crul movements, seeing as the eye came from their temple, so the Graaft has left him live for this long; some still question whether letting him lived trapped in malady, etching onto canvas all day and near completely naked save for a soiled loincloth as any kind of life.
He believes the falcon's eye was taken from the Crul Queen herself, though nobody believes him
-Plotlines
- Spoiler:
- The rise or fall of Xana - Xana's ruthless ambitions lead her character on a difficult journey as she both helps and hinders the player
War with the Crul - the animalistic Crul repeatedly attack the Graaft city and the Graaft repeatedly attack them back. As time goes by, however, the Crul seem to become smarter
The manipulations of the Mentir - the Mentir will do anything to increase demand for their body parts. They've poisoned the ones they already sell, they'll destroy the trial totem and they'll assist Strae in his destructive plans
Lifemaker Strae's necromatic invasion of Gielinor - Strae is working hard to force necromancy upon both the Graaft and humanity in the belief that it'll appease Amesgaizto, who hated death
There are 3 themes behind the plotline: greed, afterlife and community
The Mentir are greedy, and their greed leads their attempt to destroy the Graaft.
Xana is greedy, and it's the undoing of an otherwise heroic character.
Graaft, by their biology, are materialistic. While as humans, we are who we are, the Graaft can buy their way to a better self.
Greed is what made Amesgaizto turn away from the Graaft in the first place.
Afterlife will be expressed largely through the religious aspects of the Graaft, but also through the death of major characters.
As for community, the Graaft's societal structure, particularly their leadership, is odd and should be focused. Those that stand against the Mentir and Strae are disorganised and have personal issues to overcome and the lack of union here can be played upon, too.
So yeah, that's the Graaft so far. Help us create something epic.
Last edited by Slayer Noir on Thu Jun 07, 2012 2:20 am; edited 15 times in total
Slayer Noir- Partisan
- Number of posts : 1248
Age : 30
Location : Great Britain
MorbiusMonster- Templar
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Re: The Graaft - Group Project
by MorbiusMonster Thu May 03, 2012 7:15 pm
This isn't in RuneScape, Moglask is far more advanced within the complex.
MorbiusMonster- Templar
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Age : 31
Re: The Graaft - Group Project
by Duskcurse Thu May 03, 2012 9:57 pm
Perphas that'd be a bit too advanced, how about if we kept to a mix of magic, alchemy and steampunk?
Duskcurse- Partisan
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Re: The Graaft - Group Project
by Slayer Noir Fri May 04, 2012 2:49 am
The architecture is meant to be a mix of various different styles, too. That picture, (along with being far too modern) is all one style.
Slayer Noir- Partisan
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Age : 30
Location : Great Britain
Re: The Graaft - Group Project
by MorbiusMonster Fri May 04, 2012 3:53 am
Steampunk sounds like the right sort of idea, particularly with the Graaft using artifical limbs. Let's go for that.
MorbiusMonster- Templar
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Age : 31
Re: The Graaft - Group Project
by Slayer Noir Fri May 04, 2012 4:01 am
I thought we'd given up on the idea of Synths?
Slayer Noir- Partisan
- Number of posts : 1248
Age : 30
Location : Great Britain
MorbiusMonster- Templar
- Number of posts : 2641
Age : 31
Re: The Graaft - Group Project
by Slayer Noir Fri May 04, 2012 4:13 am
Well they hadn't even been mentioned since we went public.
I assumed, given that you normally press ideas you're passionate about quite a bit, that you'd have at least mentioned them again if you wanted them in.
I apologise if that assumption was incorrect.
While it'll be harder now, it's still possible to try and incorporate them into the story, if you want to?
I assumed, given that you normally press ideas you're passionate about quite a bit, that you'd have at least mentioned them again if you wanted them in.
I apologise if that assumption was incorrect.
While it'll be harder now, it's still possible to try and incorporate them into the story, if you want to?
Slayer Noir- Partisan
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Age : 30
Location : Great Britain
Re: The Graaft - Group Project
by Handeath Sun May 06, 2012 4:17 am
I have to go prepare for the biggest piano concert of my careers shortly, so I must be brief:
- Spoiler:
- Making a quest is easy. Making a quest line is hard. Making a good quest line is another beast entirely. Since we are THE Suggestion Team, I have the feeling that we want to go for the best here. So what makes a good quest (line)? A good story. Okay...what makes a good story? Significance. I don't care how diverse the characters are, how big the fights are, how gamebreaking the rewards, there should be some deeper meaning to be gleaned from the story for it to be any good, how ever common it may be.
We already have experience with this. Zavionce tells of the strength of comradery against all odds, against evils, and even against each other. Arzonius (or what I can tell about it) is about fear, and the management and facing of it. My own Svet Trilogy, which will be up soon!, is about the interplay of fortune and decision.
So what about the Graft Questline (notice the singluar)? Two themes come to mind: the afterlife and community. The former is a topic that hasn't been addressed in RS, even though many characters have died, while we respawn. We can explore the concept of afterlife through their pact with Amesgaizto and Strae's motives, possibly tying into the ghosts of Morytania or even the nature of all gods. Community/friendship is very cliched in anime, but the graft's unique ability to bond with other biomatter could be played with. Maybe Xana views grafting as 'taking' while Kareeb sees it as 'collaborating.' Of course the shady Mentir and the hive minded Crul work nicely here, possibilty spliting over to the H.A.M. line.
Now for a single plot to tie this all together....
Handeath- Advocate
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Re: The Graaft - Group Project
by Slayer Noir Sun May 06, 2012 4:32 am
For me, the main significance behind the questline is Greed.
The Mentir are greedy, and their greed leads their attempt to destroy the Graaft.
Xana is greedy, and it's the undoing of an otherwise heroic character.
Graaft, by their biology, are materialistic. While as humans, we are who we are, the Graaft can buy their way to a better self.
Greed is what made Amesgaizto turn away from the Graaft in the first place.
I like your themes too, Han. I'll admit I wouldn't have thought of the theme of afterlife, nor can I really see how you did, but it could be worked in (we'll have to wait and see whether it's a central theme or if we just touch upon it though).
As for community, I really really like this. The Graaft's societal structure, particularly their leadership, is odd and I plan on focusing on this. Those that stand against the Mentir and Strae are disorganised and have personal issues to overcome and the lack of union here can be played upon, too.
As for a plot line that ties everything together, the current working idea is this:
The Mentir have released the Crul into the Graaft's world to start a war, in order to profit from the increased sales of parts it'll cause (though we don't find that out until very late on in the series). They recruit and aid Strae for the same purpose, though Strae attempts to manipulate them for his own needs.
The Mentir are greedy, and their greed leads their attempt to destroy the Graaft.
Xana is greedy, and it's the undoing of an otherwise heroic character.
Graaft, by their biology, are materialistic. While as humans, we are who we are, the Graaft can buy their way to a better self.
Greed is what made Amesgaizto turn away from the Graaft in the first place.
I like your themes too, Han. I'll admit I wouldn't have thought of the theme of afterlife, nor can I really see how you did, but it could be worked in (we'll have to wait and see whether it's a central theme or if we just touch upon it though).
As for community, I really really like this. The Graaft's societal structure, particularly their leadership, is odd and I plan on focusing on this. Those that stand against the Mentir and Strae are disorganised and have personal issues to overcome and the lack of union here can be played upon, too.
As for a plot line that ties everything together, the current working idea is this:
The Mentir have released the Crul into the Graaft's world to start a war, in order to profit from the increased sales of parts it'll cause (though we don't find that out until very late on in the series). They recruit and aid Strae for the same purpose, though Strae attempts to manipulate them for his own needs.
Slayer Noir- Partisan
- Number of posts : 1248
Age : 30
Location : Great Britain
Re: The Graaft - Group Project
by Slayer Noir Sun May 06, 2012 7:14 am
So I've been looking round the internet, trying to find a picture of how I imagine the Crul.
So, I imagine the Crul to be arthropod-like. Morb imagines them to be rocky. So I've tried to find some rocky looking bugs. Not too successfully, mind. Try imagining these guys with added rock:
Any of these looking like they could be the Crul?
So, I imagine the Crul to be arthropod-like. Morb imagines them to be rocky. So I've tried to find some rocky looking bugs. Not too successfully, mind. Try imagining these guys with added rock:
Any of these looking like they could be the Crul?
Slayer Noir- Partisan
- Number of posts : 1248
Age : 30
Location : Great Britain
MorbiusMonster- Templar
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Age : 31
Re: The Graaft - Group Project
by Slayer Noir Sun May 06, 2012 8:28 am
Well if you don't tell me why you don't like it then I can't (and I won't) make it better...
Slayer Noir- Partisan
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Age : 30
Location : Great Britain
Re: The Graaft - Group Project
by MorbiusMonster Sun May 06, 2012 4:11 pm
I don't think arthropods are the way to go in this matter. Considering how Graaft and Mentir are both mammalian, you want the Crul to be something that is either at equal or greater status on the food chain.
My idea is for Crul to be reptilian (which puts them at a higher place on the food chain as reptiles do eat mammal species, even if they are similar size); snake-like creatures would give the sense of impending suspicion, though to have some degree of cellular regeneration would give them an advantage over the Graaft. I wouldn't imagine the Crul to have superior intelligence, probably they're something that was once being harvested at one stage, but the Graaft made an error in their judgement when the Crul simply shed their skin and retaliated. I am aware that no species regenerates in Moglask once they reach maturity, but the Crul aren't from Moglask.
Another idea was to have them beyond the food chain as mineral creatures who build themselves out of stone to repair themselves. This meant that they were being disturbed by the Graaft using synthetic organs who mined at the Crul's bodies/corpses for ore to make the metal fixings, not realising the rock in their wilderness was actually living.
My idea is for Crul to be reptilian (which puts them at a higher place on the food chain as reptiles do eat mammal species, even if they are similar size); snake-like creatures would give the sense of impending suspicion, though to have some degree of cellular regeneration would give them an advantage over the Graaft. I wouldn't imagine the Crul to have superior intelligence, probably they're something that was once being harvested at one stage, but the Graaft made an error in their judgement when the Crul simply shed their skin and retaliated. I am aware that no species regenerates in Moglask once they reach maturity, but the Crul aren't from Moglask.
Another idea was to have them beyond the food chain as mineral creatures who build themselves out of stone to repair themselves. This meant that they were being disturbed by the Graaft using synthetic organs who mined at the Crul's bodies/corpses for ore to make the metal fixings, not realising the rock in their wilderness was actually living.
MorbiusMonster- Templar
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Re: The Graaft - Group Project
by Slayer Noir Sun May 06, 2012 8:18 pm
"I don't think arthropods are the way to go in this matter. Considering how Graaft and Mentir are both mammalian, you want the Crul to be something that is either at equal or greater status on the food chain."
What kingdom you're in does not define your place on a food chain. Arthropods generally prey on smaller creatures because they're small themselves. If Crul are big arthropods, this instantly becomes irrelevant.
The Crul are hive-minded. Reptiles are generally solitary - they all work alone. Arthropods are the only animals to demonstrate hives that I know of.
Meh. I'll go onto the Spore Creature Creator and try and knock together something with both insect and reptilian features, and see what comes out. That seems like a fair compromise.
What kingdom you're in does not define your place on a food chain. Arthropods generally prey on smaller creatures because they're small themselves. If Crul are big arthropods, this instantly becomes irrelevant.
The Crul are hive-minded. Reptiles are generally solitary - they all work alone. Arthropods are the only animals to demonstrate hives that I know of.
Meh. I'll go onto the Spore Creature Creator and try and knock together something with both insect and reptilian features, and see what comes out. That seems like a fair compromise.
Slayer Noir- Partisan
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Re: The Graaft - Group Project
by MorbiusMonster Mon May 07, 2012 3:38 am
Okay.
Synthetics are going to be featured. No massive quest prominence, but perhaps for a minigame.
I want the Crul to be reptilian. No anthropods.
Synthetics are going to be featured. No massive quest prominence, but perhaps for a minigame.
I want the Crul to be reptilian. No anthropods.
MorbiusMonster- Templar
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Re: The Graaft - Group Project
by Slayer Noir Mon May 07, 2012 3:47 am
We'll ask Dusk and Han what their opinions on the Crul are. Since I've failed to convince you, we'll be democratic.
So, Handeath, Duskcurse, Do you think the Crul should be like insects, or like reptiles?
So, Handeath, Duskcurse, Do you think the Crul should be like insects, or like reptiles?
Slayer Noir- Partisan
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Re: The Graaft - Group Project
by Duskcurse Mon May 07, 2012 3:55 am
Hmm I'll go with arhropods,, I imagine them as being like huge cocroaches that go consuming all, orwell, any of those insects that consume everithing, perphas there could be sub-races that are different insects. SOrry Morb, I don't imagine them like reptilians
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Re: The Graaft - Group Project
by Handeath Mon May 07, 2012 1:15 pm
Depends. The Crul are a species that are all-consuming (I'm working off the Greed theme Slayer suggested). I personally imagine them to be monsters similar to the Krawl (from Spectrobes), formed from shapeless bio-matter, covered with all the preditorial fixings: teeth, talons, pincors, you name it!
Also, Slayer do you want to talk about the theme of afterlife I mentioned?
Also, Slayer do you want to talk about the theme of afterlife I mentioned?
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Re: The Graaft - Group Project
by Slayer Noir Mon May 07, 2012 8:34 pm
So you'd have the Crul to be shapeshifters, effectively? Is that correct, or have I misunderstood?
As for the afterlife. Here are several discussion stimulating questions for you.
What do the Graft believe about afterlife?
Is it discriminant? Ie, is there a good place for good Graaft and a bad place for bad Graaft, like heaven and hell?
And what involvement does Amesgaizto, a god that supposedly abandoned them, have?
Is the Graaft's belief in afterlife blind faith, or do they have evidence for it? Either way, how did they come to this conclusion?
Yeah, I'm sure there'll be plenty of death in the quest series. Using Kareeb, we can have some decent, meaningful dialogues about afterlife.
As for the afterlife. Here are several discussion stimulating questions for you.
What do the Graft believe about afterlife?
Is it discriminant? Ie, is there a good place for good Graaft and a bad place for bad Graaft, like heaven and hell?
And what involvement does Amesgaizto, a god that supposedly abandoned them, have?
Is the Graaft's belief in afterlife blind faith, or do they have evidence for it? Either way, how did they come to this conclusion?
Yeah, I'm sure there'll be plenty of death in the quest series. Using Kareeb, we can have some decent, meaningful dialogues about afterlife.
Slayer Noir- Partisan
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Re: The Graaft - Group Project
by MorbiusMonster Tue May 08, 2012 12:07 am
One story that circulates around the complex is the sad tale of Deleriaus. This Graaft, of unknown age, has barely been mobile since his hunting party were ill-fated to the Crul years ago.
Deleriaus has only had a few parts grafted to him over the last few years; an ink gland from a squeeslet, a pen in the place of a few of his fingers, but most notably a talisman known as the falcon's eye. It's this small lens, in place of his natural eye, that has allowed him to see far beyond the capability of normal Graaft, some believe it has the capacity of foresight.
On a day that seemed somewhat normal, Deleriaus had replaced his eye with the Falcon's eye glass, having lost his original one the last time he went on a hunt. He foresaw a set of events that scared him, a small troupe of Graaft being attacked by a set of unknown creatures, but dismissed the thought as a harmless nightmare brought on by a contaminated bobua. The party consisted of several Graaft and a couple of young Mentir who had supplied some of the tools.
A fair distance from the complex, the small hunting party took a rest. When trying out his falcon's eye, Deleriaus could see for miles and found the area was oddly uninhabited, even the faxgraven, a natural game residing here, were absent from their mating season. Looking back to his team, Deleriaus then saw his troupe in a new light; one of the Mentir looking like an inky black mass, rather than correct colouration, before restoring to normal.
Hours passed and nothing had been seen. Setting up camp hoping things would improve the following day, one Mentir, the inked figure seen by Deleriaus, said he was going to gather some materials for a fire. Oddly enough, Deleriaus' eye began to notice the Mentir sweating moreso than normal and he couldn't help but be suspicious and proceeded to follow. His suspicion proved necessary when he found out just what the Mentir was doing.
The troupe was attacked by a band of a species identifying itself as the Crul to avenge a queen that had come to harm from Graaft many years ago, one of the parts taken was the falcon's eye, able to see things no normal eye could see. The Mentir that had appeared blotched to the eye had sold out the small hunting troupe so they would be the first target of the Crul. Deleriaus dealt with the Mentir traitor and tried to protect his group, but failed.
Using the eye, he was able to foresee all the movements of the Crul before they made them. One dying mage of the Crul struck a curse on Deleriaus' eye before sucumbing to vicious wounds, effecting what the eye would see.
Deleriaus then began to have strange visions of the Crul's actions and who could not be trusted. His paranoia gradually became his undoing, when he grafted and ink gland into his system and replaced one of his fingers with a drawing pen specialists were called in.
Since then Deleriaus have been transferred from institute to institute in the hopes of curing the malady bestowed upon him by the falcon's eye. All the lifemakers and sewmasters have come to the conclusion that to remove the falcon eye would damage his brain, so have left it as it is. Alternative therapies have had to be considered when his ramblings would become violent by certain trigger words, where he begins chanting the name of some unknown deity, which has resulted in some lash marks in his back.
His ramblings have proven useful as they have exposed some key Crul movements, seeing as the eye came from their temple, so the Graaft has left him live for this long; some still question whether letting him lived trapped in malady, etching onto canvas all day and near completely naked save for a soiled loincloth as any kind of life.
Deleriaus has a key role in story lines as an Oracle, able to give advice into what is going to happen and who shouldn't be trusted. He has an insane fear of one of the Lifemakers originally sent to observe his case, Strae, but many feel that this is because he might just be frightened of white coats.
Deleriaus has only had a few parts grafted to him over the last few years; an ink gland from a squeeslet, a pen in the place of a few of his fingers, but most notably a talisman known as the falcon's eye. It's this small lens, in place of his natural eye, that has allowed him to see far beyond the capability of normal Graaft, some believe it has the capacity of foresight.
On a day that seemed somewhat normal, Deleriaus had replaced his eye with the Falcon's eye glass, having lost his original one the last time he went on a hunt. He foresaw a set of events that scared him, a small troupe of Graaft being attacked by a set of unknown creatures, but dismissed the thought as a harmless nightmare brought on by a contaminated bobua. The party consisted of several Graaft and a couple of young Mentir who had supplied some of the tools.
A fair distance from the complex, the small hunting party took a rest. When trying out his falcon's eye, Deleriaus could see for miles and found the area was oddly uninhabited, even the faxgraven, a natural game residing here, were absent from their mating season. Looking back to his team, Deleriaus then saw his troupe in a new light; one of the Mentir looking like an inky black mass, rather than correct colouration, before restoring to normal.
Hours passed and nothing had been seen. Setting up camp hoping things would improve the following day, one Mentir, the inked figure seen by Deleriaus, said he was going to gather some materials for a fire. Oddly enough, Deleriaus' eye began to notice the Mentir sweating moreso than normal and he couldn't help but be suspicious and proceeded to follow. His suspicion proved necessary when he found out just what the Mentir was doing.
The troupe was attacked by a band of a species identifying itself as the Crul to avenge a queen that had come to harm from Graaft many years ago, one of the parts taken was the falcon's eye, able to see things no normal eye could see. The Mentir that had appeared blotched to the eye had sold out the small hunting troupe so they would be the first target of the Crul. Deleriaus dealt with the Mentir traitor and tried to protect his group, but failed.
Using the eye, he was able to foresee all the movements of the Crul before they made them. One dying mage of the Crul struck a curse on Deleriaus' eye before sucumbing to vicious wounds, effecting what the eye would see.
Deleriaus then began to have strange visions of the Crul's actions and who could not be trusted. His paranoia gradually became his undoing, when he grafted and ink gland into his system and replaced one of his fingers with a drawing pen specialists were called in.
Since then Deleriaus have been transferred from institute to institute in the hopes of curing the malady bestowed upon him by the falcon's eye. All the lifemakers and sewmasters have come to the conclusion that to remove the falcon eye would damage his brain, so have left it as it is. Alternative therapies have had to be considered when his ramblings would become violent by certain trigger words, where he begins chanting the name of some unknown deity, which has resulted in some lash marks in his back.
His ramblings have proven useful as they have exposed some key Crul movements, seeing as the eye came from their temple, so the Graaft has left him live for this long; some still question whether letting him lived trapped in malady, etching onto canvas all day and near completely naked save for a soiled loincloth as any kind of life.
Deleriaus has a key role in story lines as an Oracle, able to give advice into what is going to happen and who shouldn't be trusted. He has an insane fear of one of the Lifemakers originally sent to observe his case, Strae, but many feel that this is because he might just be frightened of white coats.
MorbiusMonster- Templar
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Re: The Graaft - Group Project
by Slayer Noir Tue May 08, 2012 12:34 am
Great. Once we've finalised aspects of the Crul and Mentir, this might require a few minor tweaks, but all in all it's a good piece of lore, and I like the idea of the character - just be careful he doesn't give away plot twists too soon.
No comment on the discussions we're having then?
No comment on the discussions we're having then?
Slayer Noir- Partisan
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Re: The Graaft - Group Project
by MorbiusMonster Tue May 08, 2012 5:53 am
Shall we specialise on a half way point. I'd like to have the reptilian species, but you can have it with an exoskeleton. The hive mind could still work as the falcon's eye has supposedly shown.
MorbiusMonster- Templar
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Re: The Graaft - Group Project
by Slayer Noir Tue May 08, 2012 6:20 am
I'd say a better compromise is to work with Handeath's idea of the Crul shape-shifting. That way, they can morph into arthropods to please me, and reptiles to please you, and Han gets his own way too. Everyone wins.
Of course, the Crul are meant to be simple animals - they act instinctively only, so they can only shape-shift in the presence of their queen, and even then, either through a lack of power or lack of imagination they can't create particularly strong or diverse forms.
Actually, that brings me on to one or two other things I wanted to talk about. Your story had a line saying "The troupe was attacked by a band of a species identifying itself as the Crul" and another "the Crul struck a curse on Deleriaus' eye". How intelligent are you imagining the Crul to be? I imagined them as not capable of speech or spells, though it's implicit from your story that you imagine them differently. They're were meant to be animals - though looking back, I think I've failed to make that clear. Apologies for that.
So what's your opinion on this matter? How exactly are you imagining the Crul and are you strongly attached to however you're imagining them?
Of course, the Crul are meant to be simple animals - they act instinctively only, so they can only shape-shift in the presence of their queen, and even then, either through a lack of power or lack of imagination they can't create particularly strong or diverse forms.
Actually, that brings me on to one or two other things I wanted to talk about. Your story had a line saying "The troupe was attacked by a band of a species identifying itself as the Crul" and another "the Crul struck a curse on Deleriaus' eye". How intelligent are you imagining the Crul to be? I imagined them as not capable of speech or spells, though it's implicit from your story that you imagine them differently. They're were meant to be animals - though looking back, I think I've failed to make that clear. Apologies for that.
So what's your opinion on this matter? How exactly are you imagining the Crul and are you strongly attached to however you're imagining them?
Slayer Noir- Partisan
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Re: The Graaft - Group Project
by MorbiusMonster Tue May 08, 2012 6:30 am
No more intelligent than hobgoblins, which can use magic. Then again, the Queen may have speciliased specific drones to carry out bigger tasks, giving some direct link to her mind, much like how the Pest Queen has.
MorbiusMonster- Templar
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Re: The Graaft - Group Project
by Slayer Noir Tue May 08, 2012 6:43 am
Do you imagine them as animals or humanoids? My inspiration for them was from studying ecology in biology, and the Metal Heads from Jak II: Renegade. They were meant to mirror how species can be introduced to an ecosystem and take it over. I think you're imagining them more like Goblins.
I'm not particularly fussed which (well, I'd rater have my way, but who wouldn't?), but it's important we're imagining them the same way. So, what do you say?
Bear in mind, by the way, that having them as humanoids would make them very similar to not only Goblins, but also near-identical to the Impurus.
I'm not particularly fussed which (well, I'd rater have my way, but who wouldn't?), but it's important we're imagining them the same way. So, what do you say?
Bear in mind, by the way, that having them as humanoids would make them very similar to not only Goblins, but also near-identical to the Impurus.
Slayer Noir- Partisan
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