aye, says I!
Most people, to be fair, would wait until after the funeral. Just saying - might be diferent in the Marches.
A significant portion of the loot was priced based on prices we expect to get from specialists in Sharn. I don't expect to do anything with the loot until we get there.
Most people, to be fair, would wait until after the funeral. Just saying - might be diferent in the Marches.
We’re going to need some moolah for Jalana’s funeral unless we plan to do all the labor and bury her in some field outside the city.
I was thinking of a funeral procession through town, maybe a marble statue for a headstone, hiring some heralds to announce “Jalana, heroine of the Grey Cairns, is dead and none of you are worthy to have licked the jam off her toes,” and ending with a huge feast. ;-)
On another topic, what the hell is our experience total? We all seem to have different numbers. I believe Gil’s has the best list of events even though her math leaves something to be desired.
I checked Mothy's xp for LB and it seemed you are a few thousand off 9th. He is normally pretty accurate.
Except LB never made the change to his XP when we changed to Pathfinder’s fast track progression. We discussed this on page 61 where Heathy figured the conversion from D&D’s XP progression to Pathfinder’s XP progression would start us all off at 36,880 xp (this includes the total from fighting the dracolich which is where we made the change).
The only mistake on Gil’s XP track progression is she missed one. It should be something like this:
36,880 xp (new start from Pathfinder conversion)
+1,600 xp (Seren tribesmen ambush)
+1,130 xp (Scorpions)
+2,300 xp (Bridge ambush)
+5,640 xp (Galadaes)
-------------------------------------
47,550 xp Total
I checked Mothy's xp for LB and it seemed you are a few thousand off 9th. He is normally pretty accurate.Except LB never made the change to his XP when we changed to Pathfinder’s fast track progression. We discussed this on page 61 where Heathy figured the conversion from D&D’s XP progression to Pathfinder’s XP progression would start us all off at 36,880 xp (this includes the total from fighting the dracolich which is where we made the change).
The only mistake on Gil’s XP track progression is she missed one. It should be something like this:
36,880 xp (new start from Pathfinder conversion)
+1,600 xp (Seren tribesmen ambush)
+1,130 xp (Scorpions)
+2,300 xp (Bridge ambush)
+5,640 xp (Galadaes)
-------------------------------------
47,550 xp Total
So are you disparaging my arithmetic or my inability to update in a timely basis? ;-) I know I have a problem with the latter, that's why I list the components of the total, so smart folk like yourself can tell me why my total's not high enough.
|
Anyone have any objections to GG's xp calc?
More generally, anyone got any ideas for what could be appropriate funeral rites for a Valenar?
It's a couple hundered more xp than I have, so I'm fine with it. ;D
As for Valenar funerals - if they are semi-nomadic horsefolk, they probably don't go for tombs or other permanent structures. I'd say a big funeral pyre containing her favourite possessions, small representations of friends and family and, depending on how martial she was, tokens of notable victories. I.e. an old-school viking funeral, but with less booze and no boats.
As for Valenar funerals - if they are semi-nomadic horsefolk, they probably don't go for tombs or other permanent structures. I'd say a big funeral pyre containing her favourite possessions, small representations of friends and family and, depending on how martial she was, tokens of notable victories. I.e. an old-school viking funeral, but with less booze and no boats.
This is much what I was thinking, but stated much better. ;)
BTW, I applied the corrections per GG's comments to the rewards in Gil's character sheet.
|
Just been catching up with Jenny Poussin-gate. Didn't even know about Tiny Tina-gate. This place can get strange on occasions.Tiny Tina-gate?
Apparently it was a sock of someone quite well-known on the boards (not sure who - not even sure I have this right at all) who pretty much managed to convince everyone of their separate existence. Not sure what the big deal is, but then again I didn't even know about the "sock crisis" on the Off-Topic board anyway. Heathy knows about it, but may be too traumatised to speak on the subject.
|
|
Anyone have any objections to GG's xp calc?
More generally, anyone got any ideas for what could be appropriate funeral rites for a Valenar?
It's a couple hundered more xp than I have, so I'm fine with it. ;D
As for Valenar funerals - if they are semi-nomadic horsefolk, they probably don't go for tombs or other permanent structures. I'd say a big funeral pyre containing her favourite possessions, small representations of friends and family and, depending on how martial she was, tokens of notable victories. I.e. an old-school viking funeral, but with less booze and no boats.
Sounds good to me - one barbequed Valenar bard coming right up.
Dunno if speechifying sounds right for Runzyl. I'm thinking more ritual combat.
Just kidding. I think.
I have a hard time seeing elves burning their dead especially in the location they live with its desertlike conditions. It would be hard to come by the necessary fuel to burn. Perhaps their great heroes would justify such a rite but not somebody like Jalana.
We should be taking a look at nomadic arab tribes such as the Bedouin, which the Valenar seem to be based after, to get a better idea on how they handle death and the disposition of the body.
I’m away from my books at the moment but its possible Races of Eberron might say what the funerary customs of the Valenar are.
|
|
Races doesn't say anything about funeral rites. A quick look a bedouin rites (which vary completely by tribe) mentions travel to a place where they would bury a body with personal effects in a common unmarked mass grave. Of course sometimes they couldn't really practically make the journey with the corpse in the heat, so they might bury somewhere along the way.
|
|
Aubrey:
Maybe something else for you to play with.
|
|
I was all set for a burning, but now I'm not so sure. One of the American Indian tribes (Sioux?) sort of put you on a platform and just, sort of let you rot away there. And the Parsees in India have these big open communal tombs where they put the dead and let the vultures get them.
Valenar culture is all around worshipping the ancestor spirits, and worship is through emulation in deed. On that basis you have to wonder to what extent they really care about dead bodies - you live on through your legendary deeds, and the physical shell after death is rather beside the point. On that basis they might just dispose of the body, after a suitable rite of remebrance and celebraation of the deceased's life and deeds, in the most convenient way possible. In the desert, they might bury you under a pile of rocks or dump you in a cave. Here in Valenar (where they do have some wood) they might burn you or even (gasp) bury you. But I would imagine that the actual disposal/ interment/ whathaveyou is probably a bit of an afterthought - certainly not the central aspect. All very different, of course, the Aerenal way.
Thoughts?
|
|
Heathy knows more than I do for sure, but...Oh. I stopped paying attention to him after his enthusiastic endorsement of Epic Movie and Jonah Goldberg's Liberal Fascism. Apparently I'm not missing out.
He's OK, he's just got some rather odd political views stemming from being a member of the US religious right (a phenomenon anyone not from the US has problems understanding). But I get the impression he's fundamentally a decent guy. That said, I still really don't know what the whole episode was about and why he was doing it, and I largely don't care to.
Anyway, at least he isn't trying to get free publicity for his porn site.
|
|
Valenar culture is all around worshipping the ancestor spirits, and worship is through emulation in deed. On that basis you have to wonder to what extent they really care about dead bodies - you live on through your legendary deeds, and the physical shell after death is rather beside the point. On that basis they might just dispose of the body, after a suitable rite of remebrance and celebraation of the deceased's life and deeds, in the most convenient way possible. In the desert, they might bury you under a pile of rocks or dump you in a cave. Here in Valenar (where they do have some wood) they might burn you or even (gasp) bury you. But I would imagine that the actual disposal/ interment/ whathaveyou is probably a bit of an afterthought - certainly not the central aspect. All very different, of course, the Aerenal way.
Thoughts?
I didn't know about Valenar's geography and ecology. Saving precious flammables makes some sense. I'd agree that the remembance part would be the most important - i.e. everybody stands up and recounts some deed Jalana performed. I disagree about just dumping the body, though, mostly because the deeds were performed in that body. It probably deserves a modicum of respect, even though the actual disposal of the corpse is not the focal point of the ceremony.
How about this: The ceremony takes pace in a large, open area. The body lies on a low platform in the middle. The guests rise one by one and tells a tale of Jalana's valour and steadfastness, ending each tale by depositing a small memento of the tale on the platform. What happens with the platform's contents once everybody's done probably depends on the location - fire, burial, lauching it into the ocean or letting the birds have a go at it and carry proofs of her exploits with them when they are done.
Fire appeals to me, but I might be biased. However, it seems more heroic, and thus corresponds to what I think a Valenar elf would be doing. And it would confirm her status as a hardcase who was badass enough to merit a proper pyre. ;P
|
|
Yeah, I agree, though maybe its The Vikings ("Da-daaaaah-dah, da-daaaaah-dah, da-dah da-dah da-dah da-dah da-daaaaah") that is influencing me, but cremation feels right. Anyway, where the Vaelas Tairn come from isn't strictly desert, more sort of open plains (and bodering a jungle) and Valenar is likewise not a desert - it is south of a desert. OK, I've got some ideas, I'll post something up tonight or tomorrow, but keep them coming in the meantime.
However, it would help a bit (especially from Runzyl) if you post up a bit of stuff about kicking off the arrangements.
|
|
Not sure, it's a weird one. She trucked fairly recently and posted she wanted new ideas for a replacement character. However, about two posts in she then said something like, "Hey, can I post up my gaming pictures giggle?" and then proceeded to do so. Funnily enough, these picures seem to involve her wearing very little and are on a website where you can see pictures of her wearing nothing at all. Even more funnily, you have to pay for the privilege of seeing most of those pictures. And, as the icing on the cake, she also posted up a picture of herself here in the nude (which has since been removed).
Now, a few of the people here (not me - I only picked up on this after the fact) suggested that this could actually be a sock-puppet attack. The management here have reacted by saying "leave Jenny alone" since they seem convinced she is on the level (though I think their general attitude of being "right-on" is probably being exploited in this occasion) and most people have welcomed her. Personally, I see it as a fairly blatant attempt, sock or no sock, to drum up business for her site. (When challenged about her stockinged status, she posted up a picture of herself with the Paizo website address scribbled on a slate - oddly, she wasn't wearing anything much on that picture either.) And she claims to play Rolemaster, which as was pointed out is surely an indicator that she (or whoever is writing her stuff, if they are not one and the same) hasn't actually played any RPGs for the last 20 years.
Now, I'm as happy as the next guy to look at naked chicks, but there is a time and a place. That place isn't, in my view, the Paizo board, so I resent slightly being treated like a slobbering adolescent idiot. I have a wife for that, I don't need Jenny. Plus, the sock-puppetry of past months (of which I was oblivious until last night) seems to have soured a lot of people's views on this, including Heathy's. And Sebastian doesn't like her air-headed prose style (giggle). And her implants are pretty awful. I think that sums up the situation.
Glad you summarized it for me, Aubrey -- now I have even less reason to wander into other non-game threads. And I had no idea what a sock puppet was, either. I'm so naive, I guess.
|
|
You summed it up pretty nicely ;)
She is on the end one way or another as the pics prove. I hold out the possibility that a lowly PR assistant could be writing the posts, but it could just as well be her writing them herself. Either way it is absolutely calculated to drum up business. I don't guess I really care about that. The fans she will recruit are people who would have been interested anyways so that's fine. I just find the *giggle* *tee hee*, *big kiss* routine so absurdly fake that it is annoying. Almost as fake as those water balloons she had implanted ;)
I /am/ mildly amused that she joined a pbp run by Calix(somethingsomething) after talking about how she expected hardcore sex scenes to be a part of her rpg experience. Good luck keeping that out of the creepy zone Mr Calix.
Checking the Elves of Athas sourcebook whose culture is similar to the Valenar’s (nomadic warriors in a semi-arid land) reveals that when elves die, the practice is to leave them where they fall. They don’t bury or burn their dead; ensuring that their bodies will be scavenged by the beasts and elements as a way to give back from what they took.
I’m partial toward constructing a stone bier in the wilderness or maybe there is one already built close by (probably more than one) where we can lay out Jalana and say our goodbyes before leaving her to the scavengers and elements.
Glad you summarized it for me, Aubrey -- now I have even less reason to wander into other non-game threads. And I had no idea what a sock puppet was, either. I'm so naive, I guess.
Don't worry, you have ample company since I didn't know either. But then again I just tend to ignore most threads.
|
Yeah, I agree, though maybe its The Vikings ("Da-daaaaah-dah, da-daaaaah-dah, da-dah da-dah da-dah da-dah da-daaaaah") that is influencing me, but cremation feels right. Anyway, where the Vaelas Tairn come from isn't strictly desert, more sort of open plains (and bodering a jungle) and Valenar is likewise not a desert - it is south of a desert. OK, I've got some ideas, I'll post something up tonight or tomorrow, but keep them coming in the meantime.
However, it would help a bit (especially from Runzyl) if you post up a bit of stuff about kicking off the arrangements.
How. The f@~!.
Could Tony Curtis.Kill Kirk Douglas.
Me think you game crap. Me go join Jenny game, get jiggy with girl with big tits.
|
|
Drumming up business for her porn site or not (and plenty of people here try to drum up business for some venture or another, not all of which are gaming related), personally I think its pretty f@$~ing rude to ask anyone to post a picture proving who they are before you’ll count them as a member of our community here. Not the Paizo community I know and love of old. But then maybe its easy for me to take the high road as I wasn’t caught up in (or aware of) the great lesbian pole-dancer sock puppet debacle of 09.
And its really very easy to find photos of her that you don’t need to pay for, were one so inclined – not I of course. I think she’s incredibly attractive, but I prefer brunettes with slightly more real breasts (usually). Still, assuming she’s on the level (and it doesn’t affect me one whit if she’s not, except for a brief passing moment of embarrassment that I believed her), I’m all for more gamers who are also hot bikini models / soft-porn stars (so long as they're also serious gamers!).