Yakman's page

Golarion is old, very, very, very old.

Who knows what untold horrors and glories birthed the human race on that world?

My own guess is that humans were uplifted by the aboleths in the relatively near-past (the Azlanti were the "true humans" with all others being less perfect experiments scattered across the globe), but who is going to make them talk?

Being the freelancer with the most contributions of Azlanti-related material for Pathfinder, I've planted depictions and clues to the fashion and architecture of ancient Azlant in From Shore to Sea, Lost Cities of Golarion,, and, most recently, The Dead Heart of Xin. For the high apex Azlanti period of which Xin was outcast, I usually go for a Skesis-inspired (Dark Crystal) vibe with layers and layers of overlapping robes and strange coral-like structures, with an obvious bit of idealized lost Atlantis driving the whole strangeness. Go alien...Melinibonean, even.

Of course, I expanded on these themes for the non-IP companion volume of FStS: Open Design's "Sunken Empires."

Which is pretty sweet btw.

To reiterate a point above, Azlant was around for a long time and covered a huge area. There are going to be different styles and fashions coming from there.

That being said, Thasillon's style and fashion is clearly High Tyrannical.

Bellona wrote:

Tiny Coffee Golem wrote:

Not to burst your bubble but an immobile rod is, you know, immobile. As the planet rotates around the sun wouldn't it move away from the completely stationary space station?

By the same line of reasoning, wouldn't the planet eventually rotate away from an immobile rod on its surface?

I'd suggest that so long as the immobile rod is in a location which can reasonably be called an orbit of the planet, then one can apply the same reasoning that allows spellcasters to teleport onto moving ships.

Good point. Upon consideration it does have a weight limit. I take that to mean that it can't break orbit even when activated.

Magi-physics are hard.

Only if you violate the first law of Magi-Physics: You can make them do what you want.

The Silver Mount didn't crash. It knows what it is doing...

That's what's great about how Golarion is laid out.

Each nation is largely self-contained, so if you don't like Numeria, you don't have to go there, and the influence of the robot-spaceship-high technology doesn't pervade the setting.

On the other hand, it was written such that there aren't tons of jarring, nonsense borders. The dark would-be deiocracy of Razmiran isn't next to Viking Land, it's next to the politically divided River Kingdoms, where it makes sense. Socially advanced Galt is next to advanced Taldor, not smackdab in the center of the magical tyrannies of Garund.

Now, there are problems with this modular geographical layout, but in general, it works well for actually playing the game.

Personally, I find it incredibly disappointing how Congressional Republicans keep talking about Benghazi like it is one person's fault - either Obama or Hillary.

The reality is that decisions were made based on rather serious constraints - Libya forbade the use of private military contractors, so either Libyans or US Marines had to be used... for cost purposes and because of increased budget constraints, a minimal Libyan security presence was in place at the consulate... Ambassador Stevens wanted to be accessible and able to move around the country, and 11 years from 9/11 thought that the anniversary wouldn't be a cause for undue alarm....

They keep fishing in an empty pond... as a Republican, this just makes me sad and frustrated.

This past week, I discovered at the local Marriott, Port City Brewing Company's Monumental IPA, which is truly fantastic.

Best part: the Marriott is across the street from my apartment.

Washington DC is the best.

http://www.portcitybrewing.com/beer/monumental-ipa/

Irontruth wrote:

Do you think that if a union bargained for a higher wage that would be unfair to the company?
Do you think collective bargaining would result in lower wages and benefits?
On average, union workers receive higher pay and more benefits than their non-union equivalent (even after deducting union membership fees).

Kirth wrote:

If I understand his argument, he thinks he's way better than his co-workers, and that this will be recognized and rewarded by a benevolent management -- whereas if there were collective bargaining, all the other people who aren't as awesome as he is would just be dragging him down.

That's it in a nutshell. Actually I think I'm sort of a schmuck at work sometimes, but I'll rise and fall on my own merit. I do think it's unfair for the company, since I don't believe they can fire those who try and unionize. I think collective bargining would result in lower wages and benifits, as the profit companies are paying for higher wages and benifits are coming out of profits for the company.

Collective Bargaining usually means higher wages and benefits - or it wouldn't be as demonized by the equity holders.

As far as "unfair for the company" that's silly. They can fire you, take away all your benefits, and leave you on the street just because someone is having a bad day... if you live in a Right to Work state. Is that fair to you? "The Company" is an idea. It doesn't exist. On the other hand, you actually do...

What is becoming possible is genetically tailoring viruses to target specific groups, or even individuals. Of course, that requires massive amounts of DNA samples to work with... where would the states get that?

That's all super theoretical at this point.

More thread necromancy?

Yuppers.

Although, people still want Numeria.

Two Words: Massive Explosion

PCs running in Slow-Motion towards the camera as a fireball races after them.

Yakman wrote:

James Jacobs wrote:

Yup; Classic Monsters Revisited is the best place to go to at this point for more Golarion goodness on lizardfolk.

You need to stop posting and making me spend so much money on your products.

SHAME

It's the circle of life, man.

I post more product info. You spend more money on product. Said money fills Paizo's vaults. Money from vaults pays my salary. I'm still here to post more product info.

One of these days...

Cheliax isn't any further than osirion if the mountains are high enough and filled with enough dangerous monsters. Similarly it would depend on the politics of the various nations. After all, holland is technically further away from South Africa than Egypt, yet the Afrikaners attend Dutch orthodox churches.

I'm not trying to persuade you as such - "feel" isn't something one can really argue about. Nonetheless, if you mentally squint a bit, things like this might resolve themselves for you.

Someone has to stock those massive slave markets in Katapesh...

Plus, I love the imagery of undead Gebbite Slavers driving the living to flesh entrepots on the coast.

Yup; Classic Monsters Revisited is the best place to go to at this point for more Golarion goodness on lizardfolk.

You need to stop posting and making me spend so much money on your products.

SHAME

Yakman wrote:

John Kretzer wrote:

The comment 'All the trade is in the Inner Sea' is just false.

1) There is a ton of sea trade that never even goes near the Inner Sea.

2) The Shackles sits on the sea trade route that goes down to Southern Garund.

1) Where from? How can there be colonies on the far side of Azlant? Storms, psycho elves, ancient evil... ain't going to be me getting on that boat...

Nidal is an awful place. Nobody is going to trade there. Northern Cheliax is poor and sparsely populated compared to southern Cheliax. Varisia is... well... fun for stabbing. There ain't much trade outside of the Inner Sea.

2) The Inner Sea World Guide makes it quite clear that the Eye of Abendego is a massive navigation hazard. Ships don't go near or around it. Moreover, the paucity of information on Southern Garund (and more particularly, South Western Garund) implies that little trade from that region goes to the Inner Sea. There's a giant near-abandoned colony down there, whose entire reason for being in the game is that Cheliax forgot about it 100 years ago...

so... what trade?

I had a similar view to you at first. Based on some of the Garund based modules/APs I think the justification for a steady stream of trade is based around a whole "Northern, imperialistic countries exploiting the resources of underdeveloped Africa" thing. Whilst I find that implausible, it's nonetheless an in-game reason.

I get the exploitation of Garund, but the most logical place to do that from is... Garund. Eastern and Northern Garund, places like Nex and Osirion are probably knee deep in slaving and oppressing distant peoples in Mwangi and elsewhere.

On the other hand, Cheliax? SOOO far away. It makes no sense.

Yakman wrote:

Who is going to pay for these things?

As it stands, nobody, so the city just gets more and more isolated and more and more into decline. Even the $$$ gas companies have just set up offices outside the city -- the side where the airport and WV gas fields are -- and don't bother to acknowledge that the city exists.

As someone in the gas industry, I believe a large part of that is b/c Pittsburgh's airport is on the west side of the city and far from the downtown. I don't make those real estate decisions, but if I were Shell or Baker Hughes and needed to get people into offices from the airport or wherever, I would be taking the commute from the airport into account.

I think "the Dreaming" suggestion is a good one.

I would look for inspiration from THE MAXX comics from back in the day for Sarusan.

Some of the ideas from Eberron's Xen'drik might be helpful... a continent where time and space are fluid, particularly for outsiders.

Yakman wrote:

3- FR style Gods are not interesting or cool... again, I think Eberron's model is much better and should have been emulated.

I kind of agree with this. However, there would be those who would say just the opposite.

It seems to be a big split on the D&D community. I recall going to the FR Forums on WotC, and seeing endless pages talking about the deities and their various feuds, etc.. Some people really like that model, but it's not my thing.

The comment 'All the trade is in the Inner Sea' is just false.

1) There is a ton of sea trade that never even goes near the Inner Sea.

2) The Shackles sits on the sea trade route that goes down to Southern Garund.

1) Where from? How can there be colonies on the far side of Azlant? Storms, psycho elves, ancient evil... ain't going to be me getting on that boat...

Nidal is an awful place. Nobody is going to trade there. Northern Cheliax is poor and sparsely populated compared to southern Cheliax. Varisia is... well... fun for stabbing. There ain't much trade outside of the Inner Sea.

2) The Inner Sea World Guide makes it quite clear that the Eye of Abendego is a massive navigation hazard. Ships don't go near or around it. Moreover, the paucity of information on Southern Garund (and more particularly, South Western Garund) implies that little trade from that region goes to the Inner Sea. There's a giant near-abandoned colony down there, whose entire reason for being in the game is that Cheliax forgot about it 100 years ago...

so... what trade?

Actually I think their reaction makes complete sense considering their history...I am surprised that other fantasy setting have not explored the idea of the gods are just not worth it.

we'll have to agree to disagree, but from my perspective, the benefits of clerical magic far outweigh the dangers of meddling priests.

So you have seen the complete map of Golarion where there is a whole continent blocking that route? I think you should look at that map again. It is on Page 204 of the Inner World Guide.

Yes, there is a whole continent... which is warm and settled, and much nicer to drive a caravan across than a perilous ice road north of the arctic circle, which is also much, much longer.

the DPRK was actually a better place to live up until the early 1970s, as long as you weren't being actively murdered.

But then the ROK figured out how to make and sell things and teach people to read and own stuff and all that jazz, and their paths diverted dramatically.

Anyone think that the US intervention in korea caused and is escalating these problems? From M*A*S*H reruns i see we went to war there, and I've heard that we still have troops stationed in SK. What happened with vietnam? I get pencils from there and we left in defeat. Let 'em solve their own problems.

well, that's a marvelous analysis of the situation...

the current crisis is not about the US presence in the ROK. It is about the DPRK's internal problems - a fearful leadership, limited resources, and a need to re-build the pipeline of aid that has kept the country going for a decade and a half.

1- The Shackles being a den of Piracy makes no sense, as there is no trade for them to attack anywhere near their island fortresses. All the trade is in the Inner Sea, which they are not a part of. They have to sail hundreds of miles, around this eternal storm, and then through these teeny tiny narrow straits that Cheliax should be able to control, to get to any real trade. Same for the Linnorm Kings, although to a lesser extent.

2- Rahadoum being an atheistic nation makes little sense in a world where the Gods are very much real. I should have preferred either a) The Gods cannot be proven to be real, like in Eberron; or b) the Rahadoumis had formerly been extremely devout followers of Aroden, who had come to their lands early on and encouraged a humanistic philosophy to dominate over the petty worship of unknowable "gods". With his death, the humanists took a much harder line and modern Rahadoum emerged.

3- FR style Gods are not interesting or cool... again, I think Eberron's model is much better and should have been emulated.

4- Whatever that merchant kingdom theocracy is... that's not interesting, which is why I can't remember it's name.

5- The trade route from the Linnorm Kings/Mammoth Lords to the Dragon Empires is ludicrous. Who would walk over ice and snow when it is much easier to just go east and get on a boat over there? There's even these two giant northern lakes that a fella can use to ferry his stuff on. I know they built a pretty nifty AP out of the concept, but please... I can read a map.

animals

i'm not sure who your ire is directed at. ANONYMOUS' twitter feed?

From the article, it appears as though he drowned a month before the attacks.

Yakman wrote:

not being a civil engineer working on transit problems in Pittsburgh, but there are those rivers and those hills. it makes building train systems a challenge.

I'd think you'd do what every other civilized city does, and use elevated freeways/railways. It's amazing what they can do with concrete and bridge pilings these days. My understanding is that any number of such plans have been assessed, and the result was that they were technically feasible, but "teh moneyz!" always keeps them from being implemented.

THE MONEYZ is a big, important thing.

And Pittsburgh's best days are past it, unfortunately. Who is going to pay for these things?

Yakman wrote:

Pittsburgh does have a public rail system and a subway.

Where?! Do they actually go anywhere? A 0.25-mile stretch through the shopping district (which is pretty much what Houston had) is a tourist attraction and/or kiddie ride, not an actual means of public transportation.

EDIT: Looked it up. The subway/light rail is combined and runs basically downtown-only, and then down into Bethel Park of all places, where pretty much no one would ever need to go to/from. The eastern suburbs and townships are still totally isolated, and the airport (west of the city), likewise.

not being a civil engineer working on transit problems in Pittsburgh, but there are those rivers and those hills. it makes building train systems a challenge.

"Conscience" by Louisa Thomas. It is about Norman Thomas' three brothers and their family's reactions to WW1. Norman Thomas was one of America's leading Socialists in the first half of the 20th century, and a crusader for social justice.

Comrade Anklebiter wrote:

we come up with plans to expand public transportation, we come up with plans to replace over-the-road shipping with rail lines (what would my Teamster brethren say?!?), etc., etc. Since the profit motive of the auto barons and airline asshats has been removed, and since, say, the entire state of Michigan would be put back to work (and not doing 50-60 hours work weeks) there would be no limit to what we could accomplish. I am afraid I am rather tired and perhaps not as coherent as I could be, but how do those examples sound?

I wish I could hand over the western half of Pennsylvania to you -- along with everything in it -- for a trial run at that. Pretty much all of the roads in Western PA are windy 1-lane strips of rubble that lead nowhere in particular, and they often lack streetlights and/or even signs. There is only one way in or out of Pittsburgh at each end -- a tiny chokepoint tunnel, usually closed for road work or due to an accident -- and no way to go around the city without going 100 miles out of your way. There is no public rail system, and no subways. There are rivers everywhere, but no public water-based transport system. The bus service has been cut in half. And the city and Penn DOT and Port Authority all claim to be bankrupt and unable to do anything about any of this.

Pittsburgh does have a public rail system and a subway.

The little roads throughout most of western PA are because nobody lives out here. No reason to build nice roads when no one drives on them. The lack of road signs does stink - got me lost a few days ago near the border with WV, but there are little SR XXXX signs on many (not all) of the roads out here.

You are supposed to be paying something called a "Use Tax" whenever something is purchased online and no tax was assessed... nobody does it, but that's the rule iirc.

Considering that Merrill...

Ultimately, yes, Merrill Lynch did fail.

But they made a serious effort to right the ship before it collapsed - a large part of that effort was canning Stan O'Neal (sorry about the misspelling), and getting him out the door with what was an enormous exit package (one that shrank tremendously in value as the stock price collapsed).

But it got him out the door and allowed them to hire someone who might have been able to fix their problems, John Thain, the CEO of the NYSE-EURONEXT. Thain was unsuccessful, of course, as the company was pummeled in the sub-prime crisis and sold to BoA, but O'Neal had to go and throwing $161M at him got him out.

So they are afraid of China supporting the South?

Yes, and No.

China has 1, count'em, 1, "Treaty Ally" in all the world. That country is DPRK.

China basically owns the DPRK economy, and does not want a united American-allied peninsula on their border, or the chaos that would come from a collapsed North (although I think the fear of a refugee wave going their way is a bit overblown.)

But that's the idea of a "North Korea" not the current elites who run the show.

China MIGHT get tired of the bluster and the madness and just decide that regime change is the way to go, and turn DPRK into an overt client state.

Personally, I think the continued existence of the Westboro Baptist Church is a good thing - it's a sign that our democracy is alive and well.

Yup.

Shareholders in theory have this power, but in practice, it's often quite different.

You can buy shares in the Washington Post company publicly, but the the publicly traded shares, which represent the bulk of the equity only have 5% of the voting rights as the privately held shares, for instance.

CEOs in practice have enormous control over who is on their boards and who isn't - and they are often the Chairmen as well. Moreover, they spend all of their time working on one company, the flown in board members have careers and lives away from the business, and are part-timing it for a nice cheque.

Most boardmembers take their responsibilities quite seriously... others not so much, but regardless, they are in an inferior position to management concerning the state of the business and the industry it operates in.

Yakman wrote:

One thing to keep in mind, is that while CEO pay in the USA is very high, it is also typically laden with incentives and is stock rich. Meaning that if the company performs well, the CEO is well paid. If it doesn't, while he's not broke by any means, he may very well not make nearly as much money as he had hoped.

That stock's value is guarded against loss in ways that are difficult to grasp by people who aren't professional stock brokers and accountants. CEO's leave companies all the time that are in dire straights, yet somehow manage to drag huge earnings along with them.

Also, no one is suggesting that CEO's shouldn't be paid for their time and efforts. We're just suggesting that CEO's probably aren't actually doing 350 times as much work as their normal employees.

Here's a good video that helps describe how wealth is distributed in the US.

The Golden Parachute is there for the protection of stockholders, at least in theory.

CEOs in American companies have enormous power over their boards, which are usually exceptionally tame - the Chairman usually is the CEO after all, and he appoints all of them. This is a large part of why they make so much money - they control who is on the compensation committees. Steve Jobs was famously working for a salary of $1 a year after he returned to Apple... but he controlled the board and was loading himself up with backdated stock options.

When the time for a change is apparent to a board and the shareholders, a CEO can fight being fired. He can make that struggle ruinous to shareholders which it has happened before. On the other hand, if you give him a golden parachute, he's more likely to leave without a fight. Stan O'Neil, the disastrous second-to-last CEO of Merrill Lynch was a good example of this: they gave him an enormous amount of money to leave, and he did so without too much argument.

Decline. Roller coasters are more fun going down, right?

Dragon78 wrote:

1)How ugly do the male lashunta look like? Are we talking just harry dwarf or like a shorter version of that guy from Goonies with the misshapen head/eyes.

1) Not that ugly, really, more just short, muscular, and brutish-looking... not full-on dwarves, but more like a cross between a modern man and a Neanderthal. If you're into gorilla-shaped men (and hey, my dad falls into that category--dude's knuckles are like walnuts), then maybe Lashunta's the place for you!

So... Frazetta Man?

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FrazettaMan

No, the USAF still has and uses B52s. I think they expect to continue using the same air frames (they are all from at least the 1970s or 60s) for another 20 years.

Anyhoo, the DPRK is not going to start a war - they know they would lose. But they want to keep pushing ever closer towards one without the South Koreans deciding that enough is enough and destroying them once and for all, which they could probably do without US help at this point, although massive US air and naval power would be used in such an eventuality.

If I were Kim Jong-Un, at this point, I'd be worried about the Chinese more than the ROK. Not that China would ever invade the DPRK - expensive, pointless, international "condemnation" or whatever - but a Chinese-backed coup would keep me up at night.

China would rather have a calm border than an agitated one, and all the DPRK can do to keep the resources flowing in to maintain the elites who run the show is agitate.

One thing to keep in mind, is that while CEO pay in the USA is very high, it is also typically laden with incentives and is stock rich. Meaning that if the company performs well, the CEO is well paid. If it doesn't, while he's not broke by any means, he may very well not make nearly as much money as he had hoped.

Democracy at work.

Just when I thought I was OUT, they pull me back IN!

I was pounding Genesee Cream Ales and screaming at the top of my lungs.

Notre Dame. Notre Dame. Notre Dame. Notre Dame.

Well, that was actually insightful. A rarity on the internet. Hats off.

Hamas was, at the time, explicitly calling for the destruction of the State of Israel. It's hard to accept that, if you are Israel, for obvious reasons.

The situation is unclear who started what.

The two sides had been in a coalition gov't for several months before they started murdering each other. The coalition broke down - lots of fingers go lots of ways - and the two sides decided to fight it out in the streets.

Yes. And they shot at each other in the streets. They dispute elections - there are no concession speeches - there are armed men blasting away with AKs.

You are forgetting the most important platform of hamas:

We're not the other guy.

Sometimes that's enough to win an election.

Hamas isn't campaigning that way though, are they? This isn't Mitt Romney v. Obama with concession speeches and whatnot. These are parties who shoot each other with guns, in the streets. Remember how exactly Hamas is in charge of Gaza? They staged a coup and destroyed the PA's power there with military force.

Both sides are playing for keeps.

Hamas wants the Islamic World to recognize it was the true standard bearer of the resistance. They also want to keep the people of Gaza starving and terrified. These are two parties with diametrically opposed visions of the future and different visions about how to get there - they aren't arguing over a 1-cent titanium tax.

Anyhoo, there's a delightful map that shows the "Palestinian Archipelago" in case anyone is interested:

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mbfyk1k2DU1rcl4bvo1_500.jpg

It's in French, which makes it a place I'd love to run a Pirate-themed campaign in.

HAMAS is a political party. Its platform is Islam and War.

Unfortunately, that doesn't keep the power on or the water running.

So... they started another war.

Domestic politics.

Everything is dependent on Israel's good will. They have all the guns and all the power. The Gazans, huddling in darkness, eating food off the back of aid trucks, terrified of when militants are going to start seizing their teenage sons don't have power.

The Palestinians have no bargaining chip. They are too poor, too fragmented, too weak. Do you think that Israel is scared of the amount of violence that the Palestinians can do to them? Not really - not since they built the security walls.

Peaceful resistance is better than violent resistance. Yes, the Palestinian Authority is losing bits of territory to settlers - but they are building the capacity to become a trustworthy negotiating partner in the future. They are building infrastructure. They are doing the things necessary to make a future for their people.

Hamas is not. Hamas cannot - because it exists only to make war. It is a war they cannot win, but they cannot exist without it and so they carry on, heedless of the consequences.