Best Of
Re: Descriptions: From Divines to Mortals, and Beasts, and Items, and Mobs, and Places!
From events of "After Me, the Flood"
In Maylea's Fulcrux:
"flowers400980" a many-hued garden of faithful blossoms
Glowing like a small swaying garden amidst the meadows, these blossom appear separate from the wildflowers that surround them, having been formed from pure raw immanidivinus etheara. Their petals shift and sway in the ever-present breezes that circle the grove, adding their fragrance to the scented air, the slightest movement causing their energies to scatter and float away. The rippling power feels reminiscent, as of the Elder Divine to whom one is most familiar or faithful. It cannot be told how many such flowers bloom together here, and it is difficult to resist the urge to pluck one in reverent devotion.
The flowers growing here smell simply divine, perhaps you should PLUCK one for yourself?
Taking a knee, you reach and pluck a single flower from the garden here, the slightest touch causing raw immanidivinus energy to scatter like pollen and wreathe your hands in a gentle light. [HINT]: You may TOUCH the flower to attune it to your divine.
"flower415459" a flower blossoming with faith
This beautiful flower blossoms with faith, so imbued is it with the overflowing essence of the Elder Gods. The slightest movement of its petals causes for raw immanidivinus etherea to scatter at the touch, wreathing its stem and bloom in an aura that radiates Divine majesty and strength. Domothean energies pulse from the fragile flower to faintly ripple in the aether, humming with a thrum of latent power.
You reach out and touch a flower blossoming with faith.
A flower blossoming with faith changes under your blessed touch, imbued with Blossoming Faith for Lisaera.
"flower415459" a moonlit flower of the Silver Goddess
This beautiful flower blossoms with faith, so imbued is it with the overflowing essence of the Elder Gods. The slightest movement of its petals causes for raw immanidivinus etherea to scatter at the touch, wreathing its stem and bloom in an aura that radiates Divine majesty and strength. Domothean energies pulse from the fragile flower to faintly ripple in the aether, humming with a thrum of latent power. The petals of this moonlit flower gleam a breathtaking shade of argent, radiating the glory of the Silver Goddess.
Xiran
2
Re: Events Post #495: The Curious Case of Specimen XSPS79, Part II
Is it possible somebody from the admin team can explain how the cipher we found in the aethership was transformed into the second stage we tried to decipher with Seruldin and Ghalib?
There were a couple of cipher lovers the day between trying to figure it out and while I was not one of them, I'm still verycurious along with them what steps happened between the two.
For reference, the original cipher we found was:
There were a couple of cipher lovers the day between trying to figure it out and while I was not one of them, I'm still verycurious along with them what steps happened between the two.
For reference, the original cipher we found was:
wl rfxmgwkqg paz
snsfh izgk jdgjf
lh o lebdhtegbqjjpfv wiX
Which was transformed into:
Which was transformed into:
wlpq boki clieje
pkuqd boki veock
hkkg bko nulljelp dlaoq
Which we then found "astrl" as the codeword to break. I really appreciate that how to break the second cipher was discussed and that was quite fun (once we understood the correct way to decode it).
Which we then found "astrl" as the codeword to break. I really appreciate that how to break the second cipher was discussed and that was quite fun (once we understood the correct way to decode it).
Uzriel
2
Re: Events Post #495: The Curious Case of Specimen XSPS79, Part II
Thank you Ein!
As you can see, I was not the writer of the cipher but I was its mastermind! The Gnafia is an organisation that values clandestine ability, so of course their internal reports should be encoded not only once, but TWICE! The first encoding I was able to do with the keyword shift (which is why that one is the one we explained in-game and taught people to do for the event!), but I couldn't do the second in a way that satisfied me, so I sought out a master! Ein helped me set up my code, and then graciously helped me again when I realised I'd confused scorpio and virgo (but really, who hasn't?).
However, we made a fatal error in there, in that we only copied the change in one place! So the wrong information propagated and, unfortunately, the original cipher that you received was technically not solvable because it used 'scorpio' shifted instead of 'virgo' shifted, which threw everything off. That's why during the event, we skipped the solving of that part and had it by done by the NPCs, to let you guys have a chance to actually crack the thing in real time when given the correct information.
For those curious, the reason the transposition cipher is the key of 12 is because that's how many astral docks there are (and also the number of Traitors in a meta sense!). The reference to "Queenie's Heart", by the way, was that she is a "cold, heartless woman", so having her heart be a barren, lifeless rock seemed like a fun inside joke between agents in the field.
ETA: Goodness, I can't keep astrology signs straight even in text.
malmydia
3
Re: Events Post #495: The Curious Case of Specimen XSPS79, Part II
It's a columnar transposition cipher, key of 12, with no key-length hint in formatting. There are a lot of resources that will better explain those words with a quick google than I will ever be able to. @malmydia can explain better why it was solved for you in the event, but the X that was confusing everybody is just a padding hint.Uzriel said:Is it possible somebody from the admin team can explain how the cipher we found in the aethership was transformed into the second stage we tried to decipher with Seruldin and Ghalib?
Ein
3
Re: Lusternian Divine AMA
1. It's cheating because it's not exactly a singular moment, but I live for one on one roleplay scenes, especially those where something is revealed in the nature of both characters.Esei said:What's your favorite memory of being a god, so far? Can be crushing a particularly pesky bug, rp with your order (or org, or even a totally random person you didn't expect to show up in your fulcrux, etc), rp you got while possessing a mob, or anything you can think of. Feel free to redact if need be!Alternatively, what's your godrole's favorite beverage?
2. Anything brewed out of love and worship (of her, to be clear), especially beverages that are infused with various things she herself likes to manipulate or surround herself with. Especially when offered as a libation.
Lisaera
2
Re: Lusternian AMA
Lisaera said:
1. There's a room in the Shevat homestead that's basically a porch looking out over the underside of Hallifax. Luce uses it as his pondering spot sometimes.
2. Let's go with nutmeg. Usually just blending in and making other stuff taste better, kind of boring if left on its own.
"Entering town you find that you are witness to a very well-dressed man running from a crowd. He screams to you for help. The crowd behind him seem very angry."
- What is your favorite room in game and why?
- If your character were a spice, what spice would they be?
- What three aesthetics guide how you build and play your character?
- Please select from the following options:
- Rush to the town's aid immediately, despite your lack of knowledge of the circumstances.
- Stand aside and allow the man and the mob to pass, realizing it is probably best not to get involved.
- Rush to the man's aid immediately, despite your lack of knowledge of the circumstances.
1. There's a room in the Shevat homestead that's basically a porch looking out over the underside of Hallifax. Luce uses it as his pondering spot sometimes.
2. Let's go with nutmeg. Usually just blending in and making other stuff taste better, kind of boring if left on its own.
3. Decorum, mania, trauma
4. B
4. B
Luce
2
Re: Lusternian AMA
If I have to be honest it's gotta be a lot of comic books, nostalgia pinup, a few different spheres of french aesthetic. As far as writing styles, I don't really know. I write pretty chaotically I think.
Kalliope
2
Re: Lusternian AMA
In the vein of Lisaera's third question, what authors or works influence your writing style or aesthetic for your character/manse/designs?
Ein
2
Re: Lusternian Divine AMA
1. I intentionally didn't want a large release event where a huge deal was made of Ein or him being back. There's a lot of behind the scenes reasons for this, but ultimately it comes down to my own vision for Gaudiguch and the Ein role itself, and what is best for both. It did backfire a bit in that a lot of people didn't even realise Ein was released until months afterward, but that's a temporary problem that fixed itself with time.Ayisdra said:1. Why did you choose the release event that you did? Did you have any other ideas that you decided against for your release?2. What is your favorite way to describe a voice?3. Is there something you regret not doing as a mortal before you became an admin?4. What is something that surprised you when you first moved over to the admin side (that you can share)? What is something that still surprises you about being an admin (that you can share)?
2. Trembling. Or quivering perhaps. I don't get to use these quite as often as I'd like.
3. Nothing. I did everything I set out as a personal goal.
4. The biggest surprise I had when I first came up is how nice and helpful everybody is in the Havens; I truly expected them all to be the Baba Yaga given textual flesh, and nobody came close. There is plenty that still surprises me, but the one thing I will point to is how much that still exists that I don't know about, or knew about at one point and just forgot - there's been an insane amount of content released for Lusternia, not all of it obvious, and it is very easy to miss a lot of it. An easy example to point to is Grand Junction, a room whose description I only read for the first time last night: the verbose (long) description of the room is quite enlightening as to the original intention for the purpose of the room, and in the almost 18 years Lusternia has existed I cannot recall a time I have ever seen or heard of it being used for this purpose, and please do correct me if I am missing something.
4. It's hard to pick one, but if I had to do so, it would probably be Bandrui, Serenwilde's executioner. Mugwumps have long since been my favorite Lusternian race and Bandrui is an exquisite example of one done well and evocatively.Luce said:
4. What's your favorite room/mob/item description that you've seen?
6. If You were given a monument, idol, or gift by Your Order, what would it be?
6. Roleplay hooks. Trauma, ideally.
1. There are two answers to this: it's an outlet, and we're fairly close-knit as a group. I work a very stressful and mentally-draining job outside of Lusternia that, these days, requires less creativity and more analysis and management, so being able to write and roleplay here gives me an outlet to create. As well, and I'm sure it's no surprise to hear this, a lot of us in the Havens are friends with each other and do form the friendships in ephhood and beyond, to the point that we even share some non-Lusternia hobbies, and this is a really lovely and valuable connection to have.Uzriel said:Another couple of questions here!
1. What is it you enjoy most about being godadmin? Ie, what got you through ephhood/keeps you logging in still?
2. What's something you've found unexpectedly difficult (could be behind the scenes in general, transitioning to ephhood from mortal, or transition from eph to godmin)?
3. Maybe too close to Ayisdra's question but what's something that really caught you off guard but couldn't help but laugh about (that you're allowed to share). I'm thinking along the lines of weird bugs, events going off rails, etc.
2. The paradigm shift from mortal to ephemeral/godhood was the big one for me. As a mortal, my question was always "what sounds cool?" and "what will leave the biggest impression?". This immediately had to shift as an ephemeral to "how does this interact with the story?" and "what place does it have in the world?" Both my writing and acting backgrounds are in improvisation, so this was a difficult shift for me.
3. I will not give specifics here, but nothing ever goes right no matter how much you test it ahead of time. Sometimes this is because we know how it works and can't think to test every option, and others it is purely because you all, as Terentia, Lisaera, and Malmydia have pointed out, talk amongst yourselves and end up drawing conclusions through games of telephone that skip left field and seem to just spawn in from thin air. As frustrating as it can be, it is also very fun to watch and something I enjoy.
Ask Socucius Ergalla why he is making me fill out a Buzzfeed personality quiz on my census form when I have a dead general to mantle and a god to kill, then go steal the platter on the shelf to my right for spending money.Kalliope said:"While in town the baker gives you a sweetroll. Delighted, you take it into an alley to enjoy, only to be intercepted by a gang of three kids your age. The leader demands the sweetroll, or else he and his friends will beat you and take it."
- Act like you're going to give him the sweetroll, but at the last minute throw it in the air, hoping that they'll pay attention to it long enough for you to get a shot in on the leader?
- Give him the sweetroll now without argument, knowing that later this afternoon you will have all your friends with you and can come and take whatever he owes you?
- Drop the sweetroll and step on it, then get ready for the fight?
1. The moment when a player figured out the secret.Esei said:What's your favorite memory of being a god, so far? Can be crushing a particularly pesky bug, rp with your order (or org, or even a totally random person you didn't expect to show up in your fulcrux, etc), rp you got while possessing a mob, or anything you can think of. Feel free to redact if need be!Alternatively, what's your godrole's favorite beverage?
2. Probably water.
1. <redacted>Kalliope said:1. What's your damage?2. What's in the box?3. Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?4. Kill anyone today?5. What's the most you ever lost on a coin toss?
2. Hope.
3. No. Two left feet.
4. Who's asking?
5. Nothing. I don't lose.
Ein
7
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