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Project Myra - Creating a Virtual World With You
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| Roleplayers for Obama? Saving Throw for McCain? - And MyraWorld for Iras? |
[Aug. 22nd, 2008|03:18 am] |
This posting in German: Rollenspieler für Obama? Schutzwurf für McCain
 While many ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) dungeon_masters might be aware of it, fantasy_scifi gamers and readers might have missed the newest development:
Fantasy roleplaying gamers, a classic enemy stereotype of evangelical US-preachers, have been discovered as a voting demographic in the new presidential election. How so? I'll tell you. With the cliché imagery of the 80s for depicting the 'liberal enemy'.
Pro-democratic Blog DailyKos had cast doubt on one of John McCains overly moralistic memories which he had recounted in the evangelical Saddleback Church these days, as stolen from “The Gulag Archipelago” by the late Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn . The McCain campaign reacted fiercely, hitting on liberal bloggers in general and -to everyone's astonishment- on dndfanz as fantasy gamers specifically. (Cultural reference: Dungeons & Dragons is to fantasy gaming what kleenex is to paper handkerchiefs. It is what the kids play at the start of E.T. and it's been around as long as the greenparty in Germany. The McCain campaign attac logic seems to be: Bloggers = Nerds = D&D-Gamers? Quote from McCain's website:
It may be typical of the pro-Obama Dungeons &Dragons crowd to disparage a fellow countryman’s memory of war from thecomfort of mom’s basement, but most Americans have the humility andgratitude to respect and learn from the memories of men who suffered onbehalf of others. (Source)
The blogging world was not enthusiastic about this, even less so if you took those actively or formerly from the "Dungeons&Dragons Crowd", of which some claimed they were "undecided before these attacs". John Kovalic (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) muskrat_john of DorkTower fame (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/syndicated.gif) dorktowerfeed), LJ blogger and game designer ("Munchkin" is quite a good parody of the RPG hobby) correctly wrote: “What an…odd (yes, odd - “odd” is definitely the word) thing to bring into the national political discourse…”
It was the second time in a few weeks, that Goldfarb had, for the McCain campaign... ( Read more... )
Yours, irascignavojo, candidate for the greenparty list for the parliament of the european_union |
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| Myra School of Magic - MSM Esoteria: The academic tradition and the Rings of Power |
[Jun. 12th, 2008|03:24 pm] |
There have always been rings of power in Esoteria – with a whole fortress and school full of magicians and wizards, many of whom trying to leave a trace of permanency for posterity, how could there not be? Some of them were real Rings of Power, forged by the dwarves, giants and even volcano-dwellers of old, enchanted by the greatest of masters and charged with power by their apprentices.
The MSM Esoteria also always had had a traditon of academic exchange. When finishing your magic education you would, as a sign of respect, present a paper of your own research to your master, a different one for each master you wished to honour this way. If you did master his teaching well, he’d give you a copy of a part of his own writing. For some, though, who work in the hard work of enchanting objects, loading, yes charging them with some of your own life's energy in the process, it works the same with magic rings. Crafting a ring, they would, if it was a masterpiece, not wear it but present it to one of their masters, while those were expected -but not obliged- to wear them and offer one they wear in return, which sometimes was crafted by a previous student of this master, sometimes handed down to this master by hios own master when he still was a student. Sometimes a venerable master would be honoured by other masters, who would, one after the other, come and present a ring of their own in respect. A gesture like this, which probably could not be answered in kind, would create a great heirloom, an inheritance to be distributed after his death among those of his blood who posess the training necessary to use them.
This tradition, of course, explains why some writings and some Rings of Power can appear in places where they are not expected - and why the way of rings and writings can hardly, if ever, be traced over the centuries. |
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| Untold stories |
[Oct. 22nd, 2007|02:00 am] |
 The longer I dig into the details that together form this big shared world, Myra, the more I find the world's untold stories, waiting to be told by you, the authors, the fiction-writers.
NaNoWriMo is coming up. Need a plot? This world has a gazillion.
Please check http://community.livejournal.com/myraworld/7138.html#cutid1 |
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| Be among the first in this public Beta of a strategic fantasy game |
[Sep. 30th, 2007|04:38 am] |
Fight for Midgard, the english language version of the classic browsergame "Kampf um Mittelerde" (read: Fight for Middle-Earth) has started in public Beta, with the no-conflict brand name of "Midgard" instead of Middle-Earth. You're welcome to join, if you're not afraid to see language with a crude appeal that only automated Systran translations can provide.
MYRA (as you might know from checking out myraworld, that is also the name of our SharedWorld project) is working as an alliance I started there, called "Myra on Uthrin", as Uthrin is the name of this game shard of Midgard. Up to yesterday, that is until the attacks of the last two days on me, MYRA was the strongest alliance - it still is the strongest alliance of good, of the forces of light, on Uthrin. You are very welcome to join the Fight for Midgard and our alliance, Myra, and be among the first 10000 players on this first english shard (1381 and counting). |
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| Capravinha |
[Feb. 4th, 2007|11:05 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  exhausted | ] |
(Click for slightly larger image)
Singular: Capravinha
Plural: Capravinhi
Pronunciation: short vowels; silent "h"
Capravinhi are like a cross between a horse and a goat and, hopefully, they'll be a small contribution to Myraworld.
About the size of Percherons, Capravinhi are strong, versatile animals used for heavy farm labor, travel, pleasure riding, etc. They are intelligent, gentle animals with a lifespan of about 50 years.
Capravinhi are well suited to a wide range of climates. Coat colors vary widely. There are maned variants as well as variants with feathering on the legs. Females are slightly smaller than males but both males and females sport thick, curled horns.
The exact origins of the species are unknown.
 Eduardo Fernandez, English Chamber Orchestra & George Malcolm - Guitar Concerto No. 1 in A Major, Op. 30: III. Alla Polacca |
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| Join Me for a tribute: Finishing the book and Remembering the Man in Black |
[Dec. 22nd, 2006|04:52 pm] |
  I'll give the book a rare ten too, as it has moved me both to laughter and to self-reflection, as I've got a 'stupid boy-project' of my own which over 1000 people have joined and left and -partly- returned to over the years. http://projektmyra.de - feel free to Join Me there myraworld... I'm sure it's good for something.
While I was reading this I was ... so moved that I was ready to join about every person and organisation which asked. And I did. When asked to stand for the board of the http://www.aschenhuette.de/ organisation next year, I said yes. When asked to join the "Förderverein Geschichte an der Universität Tübingen e.V." (support group for -the faculty of- history at Tuebingen University) because the money from the state is getting less continually, so only the Förderverein allows for more books to be bought and more exceursions to be made, I joined. When asked to support the new formed German branch of http://EtudesSansFrontieres.org, "Studieren Ohne Grenzen e.V.", which enables studies in western Europe for young people from war-troubled regions like Kongo or Chechnia, I offered support for their online presence...
...and the InstantKarma also worked. Yesterday for example I had just stopped a bus because I had seen students running from afar to reach it (they panted a 'thank you' while hopping on), and went back to reading the last chapters of this book while waiting for my bus home, when someone tapped me on the shoulder, asking: "Iras?"
It was a fellow BookCrosser, with two tickets for "Remembering the Man in Black" which would start 2 minutes later - and noone to go with him, so he asked "Join Me?" - and I did. Wonderful evening, great lineup, marvellous songs...
Being the last in the ray and officially allowed to do so I'll make a BookRing and ask others to "Join Me" in reading and enjoying this book, probably time and again. In the meantime it will feature prominently on my bookshelf, both virtual and wooden. And tell me, and tell you, if interested, how to get more people to join us here at MyraWorld ...and what can happen along the way. |
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| Kaezin Traveler |
[Nov. 5th, 2006|04:54 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | hungry | ] |
 | Kaezin Traveler
I started this one AGES ago but I lost her due to a hard drive failure.
Luckily, I'd uploaded a preview image that had a small section of her face and I was able to use that to make her again albeit at a much lower resolution and smaller size.
Click the thumbnail for a larger view. |
Dead Can Dance - Niehika |
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| People of Karcanon 8 - Reijinara n'Varthar |
[Aug. 21st, 2006|02:24 pm] |
Rejinara n'Varthar, former Deye (queen) of Borgon Dyl. Reijinara n'Varthar was a fully noble Deye of Borgon Dyl on Karcanon, of the noble house of n'Varthar, who are pure-blooded Borgon Dun.
The Borgon Dun, the "Children of Borgon", are the ruling majority in Borgon Dyl, the "Land of Borgon" - they claim to be descended from the Warbringer, the Shaker of Earth, the God of Earthquakes and Earthly Strength, Borgon, himself, who as their founding legend has it, had children with the mortal girl.
Pure-blooded Borgon Dun, like Reijinara, can be recognized by not only their jet-black skin, but also by the purple colour of their iris.
Biographically Reijinara was the successor of her aunt, Deye Lyralenda IV. n'Varthar, who had made the country great and expanded it widely beyond the borders which had been home to free Borgon Dun only, with other peoples only living their as slaves in some households. Reijinara n'Varthar was the one to make the country a three-part realm, with the areas of Macheiran-Dyl on the Wide Sea coast (formerly largely belonging to Ataris and still claimed by that nation), where racially mixed brown people are the majority, Torgan-Dyl, the heart of the Borgon Dun country, and Bakan-Dyl which stretches from the Inner Sea of Karcanon along the rivers, formerly belonging to the Empire of Bakanasan.
She was captured by pirates and deemed dead, succeeded by her cousin Shayol n'Varthar as Deye, liberated herself and returned, given the throne again by Shayol, who instead went with the would-be new Emporer Bofri and her allies of the "League of Light" to free the island of Silur, closing the gate to the Underworld there and thus eliminating a threat to the whole world. When Shayol returned from Silur however, Reijinara, who's politics had angered many nobles of the country, had been declared dead again, dead from poison this time, so Shayol returned as and succeeded her as Deye again.
The two kids Reijinara had with her Bakan-Dyl white husband, Keladhan of Lydon, who were expected to follow her on the throne some time later, were adopted by Shayol n'Varthar to make sure one of the kids legally hers would follow her on the throne.
Picture by the artist Caryad (aka Michaela Sommer), made for Myra.
Previous postings on people of Karcanon:
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| An Island for the English? |
[Jul. 15th, 2006|04:47 pm] |
How about a larger island on which you could experience Myra in englishlanguage? Would you be interested to have a character acting on anisland of importance and mystery and classic elements that reflectMyra? And if there would be an interesting plot, only for you, whichcould be so important that you could shake the world (or a part of it)?
I would like to offer this : a part of the area I am responsible for,reserved for english speaking gamers. Drop a line. Here. Now. Lookingforward to reading it and to having the opportunity to have a greattime together with you on Myra..!
Greetz
Christian
See -and react- here in the forums... |
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| People of Karcanon 6 - Il Jhadir of Zertanien |
[Mar. 30th, 2006|04:08 am] |
Il Jhadir is the Padishah of Zertanien, the supreme ruler of the nomad tribes in the Desert of Swift Death, the Zun, and of the few walled cities around the desert of Kezunsea on Karcanon.
He replaced the previous Padishah, Shuad el Ahara, who barely defended the realm against a rebel nomad leader, Barak yl Yassarah, exactly 20 years ago, in the Year of Generals, 406 post Pondaron.
Previous postings on people of Karcanon:
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| Raph Koster left SOE, but not to join Myra yet |
[Mar. 25th, 2006|10:20 pm] |
Raph Koster, who put major creative input into Everquest2 and StarWars:Galaxies (and is known for giving insights to the gaming industry and MMOGs in his blog and his "A Theory of Fun in Game Design" book), is leaving Sony Online Entertainment. I only wish, Project Myra was able to make him an offer - or was currently attractive enough for him to considering offering his input. We could go way beyond where we are right now and would get a completely new perspective. Maybe things will look different a few years from now - currently we've just started to bring the idea of the world creation of Myra to the english speaking world... |
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| Happy New Year! |
[Mar. 21st, 2006|11:49 pm] |
 A little late only (03/17 is 01/01 on Myra), but right in time for the Newroz of the Kurds and the Naw-ruz of the Baha'i on our world, I shout out my
Happy New Year - 426 n.P. has begun
And we will yet see if it will be a year of the eagle, of the storms or at least of an updraft for Myra as a whole.
As I didn't quite make the story yet, you'll at least get a list of the last years and their aspects, for usage in your stories or for dating any other work of yours. Remember: 1 year here is 1 year there, as we simulate the years 1:1 (and thus have over 20 'real' simulated years in our books). All years go back to the last epic battle between the forces of light and darkness, Pondaron. To get a year post Pondaron, just substract 1580 from the current year in question, thus 2006 AD brings you to 426 n.P.
401 - Year of Liberation when the current nationbuilding began from the ashes of former empires and their provinces
402 - Year or Building
403 - Year of Searching
404 - Year of Connections - these were the four years of a new start in our century.
405 - Year of Shadows - when both moons were gone in the same night and Necromancy was done...
406 - Year of Generals - when 20 countries joined forces to bring down Bakanasan, then the largest empire on the world
407 - Year of Fire - when volcanos erupted worldwide and Arus Ur Eklas went worldwide with his Dragol-riding Wergols too.
408 - Year of Deer - when some kings searched for freedom in the wild forests
409 - Year of Wolves - when barbarian people came down from the mountains to hunt
410 - Year of Doubt - when people had doubt about the fate of the world and about each other
411 - Year of Hope - when the True Oracles of the world sent message to act now
412 - Year of the Dragon - When myriads of fighters and mages set out to fight the Black Dragon of darkness and two dragons battled in the skies
413 - Year of the Spider - When giant spiders came out of Zun, the desert of swift death, and many other hidden places
414 - Year of Wine - when the wine had a perfect year and a break from battles could be toasted to
415 - Year of the Book - when shards from the Book Of Nightmares BON were used to call demons and wreak havoc, and much was written
416 - Year of the Forest - when forests grew wild and trees grew strong and the holy tree sanctuary traveled the world
417 - Year of the Anchor - when ships were the focus of interest in many lands
418 - Year of the Crown - when kings were crowned and crowns were lost and found.
419 - Year of Ghosts - when spectres of the past haunted many places and dreams
420 - Year of the Gate - called year of the fool by some, because on Myra that's basically the same word
421 - Year of the Rings - when not only the Elrhadainn mages of Rhyandi got new rings
422 - Year of Fog - when noone could really see what's happening afar
423 - Year of Stars - when destiny was searched and paths were followed, following the stars
424 - Year of Silence - where everything seemed very quiet
425 - Year of Storms - called year of the eagle by some, when chaos started to break loose
and now we're in 426 and will see what it brings... and what tales we all will spin...
Happy New Year -
Your Iras Cignavojo |
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