Sidhe

[Topheh]

Oh, I wasn't thinking different types of mages, I was thinking more along the lines of... like... golems. homunculi, animated suits of armor, etc.

That said, thats based on my own perception of the Sidhe as being the remnants of an ancient but dying race such that there are not enough of us to actually form entire nations and armies of our own. I feel that this would give them a unique 'feel' compared to the already fairly magical elves. If we want to go the 'there are plenty of Sidhe now' route, which is okay... Lyssia's Sidhe Sanctuary could easily account for the sudden influx of new Sidhe, then those divisions by mage type seem lovely.

Here would be my suggestion... we might need new names.

Animated Armor - Type 1 - Countless years of conflict have made old suits of armor easy to come by. Sidhe weave Art into the metal to bring it to a semblance of life, but the magics holding together the armor can be severed easily.
Homunculi - Type 2 - Humanoid forms crafted of clay or wood, which move into battle with single-minded determination, animated by a core of Art.

Battle Orb - Type 3 - An orb roughly 10 feet in diameter which flashes with stored magics, lashing out at foes with bolts of energy and destruction.

Golem -Type 4 - Constructs of Iron, Stone and Crystal, Golems tower over the other troops of the Sidhe forces, and act to anchor the combat lines of the Sidhe.

Still at a loss for scum. I was thinking something like a will'o'wisp, but... thats already taken. Mage-Servant? Animated Rope?

Alteranately, if we want to go darker... I note we don't have 'animated skeleton' claimed yet, so that could be type 1, and we could move Homunculi to Scum, as that *might* fit.

[Aeyliea]

See, that was along the lines I was thinking of - Sidhe having mostly been killed off, especially since the Mo'Pri days. Excellent roleplay basis for troops to be mostly magically incarnated constructs etc, or hired hands/swords.

Making Sidhe truebloods rare is hawtness on an epic scale, RP wise.

[Kaz]

Honestly, I know a lot of other fantasy worlds are going down the golem/construct route, but it adds a layer of technology that changes the world dramatically. If you personally want to roleplay that your Sidhe character builds magical constructs then that's your call, but it changes the race on a pretty huge scale to make 'ALL' Sidhe into golemancers, and I'm not sure I think we ought to be going down that route.

There is nothing to stop you roleplaying that Sidhe are rare, whatever the names of the troops. It's not as if they are a hugely played race anyway. Even when available most players chose an alternative due to them being so poor at war. Since we moved here, over the ages only 4.24% of all player kingdoms have actually been Sidhe.

Other than Humans, Elves and Goblins, all of the Tonan races could be roleplayed as rare, simply because they are not available every age. But the stats show that Sidhe are the rarest anyway. Over all ages, players have created 37.97% Humans, 13.01% Elven, 11.68% Droben, 8.21% Elemental, 8% Goblin, 5.97% Centaur, 5.87% Vampire, 5.01% Dwarven and 4.27% Sidhe

Even if you take the most played game from the HoF and grab the combined population of peasants and troops for the whole world at the end of the age, you're looking at only 1.52% Sidhe. I don't think you need to worry about 'rarity'.

[Aeyliea]

Just piss in my cheerios Kaz, just piss in my cheerios lol

[Topheh]

*shrugs*

You're the boss Magelords we be!

[Kaz]

In the same way that hiring tens of thousands of Sidhe troops on a huge Massacre kingdom doesn't flow well with the idea of rarity, spending cash to hire or train magical troops doesn't fit too. Converting Sidhe hiring/training into a system that uses turns and elan is out of the question, but maybe in the future it might be possible to give every player the ability to personalise their summon spell. There are always going to be things that don't fit perfectly between game play and roleplay.

How about Sidhe inter-breeding with the Humans and Elves? Make T4 into pure-blood e.g. Ancients or Elders or something along those lines. A bit like how vampire works, T1,2,3 and 5 being 'made' vampires, T4 being pure blood.

[Topheh]

Now *that* is an interesting idea. The Sidhe RPers even had a whole thread trying to figure out what to do with 'created' Sidhe and what status they should have in their society. I like that idea plenty.

[Kaz]

I know most of you are not particuarly active at the moment, but I've just passed over instructions for drawing the Sidhe to an artist. We should have some first impressions in a few weeks. I stuck with the troop names we ended up with but made a few modifications in line with having re-read the thread.

This is what I sent, if you want me to get any additional information over now's the time to post.

These are a couple of posts discussing the Sidhe, the first one we end up - eventually - with some troop names, the second gives a bit more info about the race. When you read through, Kaz is me and I have a certain agenda (i.e. getting a final selection that works within the confines of the game). The other people involved are the people that care about the race from an RP point of view, so the descriptions from them with regards to 'looks and style' are what you should go with.

viewtopic.php?f=55&t=1306
viewtopic.php?f=55&t=1314

Spellswords - Half-Blood Sidhe who specialise in weapons and offensive magic (with these guys the magical armour and weapons ought to be better)
Enchanters - Half-Blood Sidhe who specialise in enchantments (add some enchanted weapons, or similar into the image along-side them. Please avoid adding a full-on technical golem, but enchanted items/things that are magically enchanted is cool)
Shamens - Half-Blood Sidhe who specialise in natural and healing magic
Elders - Pure-Blood Sidhe who are masters of sorcery and greater magic (these guys ought to have superior elements of the other troops combined)
Tricksters - Half-Blood Sidhe who specialise in illusionary magic and can hide themselves from the senses of other sidhe (the thievery/assassin troop type)

Make them look a bit elven, graceful, not hugely muscular. Perhaps a bit shorter than elves (although I don't see how you'd picture that). Weapons and armour made from magic are a good idea (if you can depict that). Stick with the fact that they stop ageing after a certain point, so the Elders (replacement for High Mages after I re-read the thread) will need to look more powerful rather than 'older'.

This gallery shows images for the elves, I thought I'd link you to avoid you ending up doing them too similar (or too different).

gallery/album.php?album_id=5

[Topheh]

Looks good to me

[Aeyliea]

Sounds good to me. I have a commissioned pic for Seska if you want to loom at it for a reference.

[Kaz]

Sure, you have a link to it somewhere? Or you could send me via email

[Kaz]

The artist is struggling to come up with a decent difference (in look) for the spellsword and the enchanter.

Therefore I'm suggesting a slight modification, which actually allows for more Golem-like magic if you really want it. Although we're not talking sci-fi technical Golems like you see in Guild Wars 2.

T1. Spellswords : Half Blood Sidhe - Master of Offensive Magic and Enchantments
T2. Shamens : Half Blood Sidhe - Master of Alchemic Potions and Natural Magics
T3. Conjurers : Half Blood Sidhe - Master of Summoning, Necromancy and Animation
T4. Elders : Pure Blood Sidhe - Master of all Magical disciplines
T5. Tricksters : Half Blood Sidhe - Master of Illusion and Confusion Magic

Is this selection better?

[Topheh]

*nods* I think that works fine.

A shame *certain* players are no longer with us. I think the idea that the majority of the Sidhe race are half-breeds now would drive their characters up several very tall walls.

[Seska Dragonslayer]

No idea who that would be...

[Kaz]

We have 3 of the 5 Sidhe concepts drawn up now, I'll post them once the 5th is done and they've been paid for and sent off to be coloured.

[Topheh]

*waits eagerly*