One thing I really loved about the original Uru Live beta was the -other- storyline which was created and carried by the live adventurers (you and me) while in the cavern exploring. There were all sorts of whispers/gossip and debates about the intent of the DRC and other interested parties in D'ni's welfare and restoration. Some explorers agreed entirely with the 'safety measures' of the DRC and even went so far as to set up grassroots volunteer safety monitor organizations to ensure visitors were not getting into unauthorized or unsafe areas. Then there were those who were trying very hard to get into those same areas and had a small underground following of people who questioned the restrictions, some loudly, others overtly or silently. It was great fun!

There were also conspiracy theories surrounding the death, or reported death of one of the DRC, as well as some actions of other DRC members. All of this ran the usual gauntlet of speculation and misinformation which often surrounds mysteries and intrigue of this sort. It definitely added some flavor to the cavern's activities. I really feel this was player motivated roleplaying that cannot be experienced or enjoyed outside of a true multiplayer or massive online environment.

When Uru Live returns to Life once again, do you think these sideline stories and plots will also return with some of the past's rumors and stories and incidences?

I for one do hope so. I hope a history or storyline of the previous events has been archived and those past events will become a part of what shapes the new stories and plots to come!

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~Envie
KI: 02127837

Course it will! As Rand said when Live v.1 died, 'nothing can kill the community - it has a mind of it's own.' This involvement with the players in the story was what made the events of Live so involving and real, and if anything this will increase as Live v.2 gets more and more involved with the new content and running story arcs.

This time, though, we'll hopefully get more of the effect of 'our' stories having a bearing on the plot of Live. There were actual IC events that depended on player participation to happen - Sharper and the Egg Room, for example. It's things like this that make our actions in game feel so valuable, and even if the new Live will be more NPC orientated, I'm positive this is something that will feature somehow.

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The Deviant Gentleman | Reality on the Norm

I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I really can't resist...

Quote:

gauntlet of speculation

I think you mean "gamut", but now I want these "Gauntlets of Speculation" - as they sound like a devilish prize for some wicked quest in another kind of role-playing game...

Player: "OOOOOhhh! Gauntlets of Speculation! I wonder what they do....."




nerf.

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Language is that highly evolved, complex and sophisticated system whereby one human being blorfloogs with another.

NOTE:


gaunt·let2 also gant·let ( P ) Pronunciation Key (gôntlt, gänt-)
n.

1. A form of punishment or torture in which people armed with sticks or other weapons arrange themselves in two lines facing each other and beat the person forced to run between them.
The lines of people so arranged.
2. An onslaught or attack from all sides: “The hostages... ran the gauntlet of insult on their way to the airport” (Harper's).
3. A severe trial; an ordeal.

Ergo, although gauntlet does have a rather negative connotation, I'll accept "gauntlet of spectulation," per definition 2, since that's how I feel in a rumor mill, or gossip frenzy, or blabfest.

"Gamut" is appropriate, but not nearly as much fun.

I am aware of the many meanings of the word gauntlet, thanks Tim, as well as what "to run the gauntlet" means. We don't want to start parsing, I mean sparring, do we?

I don't, but I will point out that while I understand that you may run the gauntlet any time you can find one to run (meaning 1), and you may feel as though you have run one (meaning 3) as well as I understand how hostages might run the gauntlet of insult on the way to the airport (meaning one referenced as metaphor in meaning 2), I still fail to see how "conspiracy theories surrounding the death, or reported death of one of the DRC, as well as some actions of other DRC members" can do the same thing. Nope. Just can't get a clear picture there.

Still - lets leave all this for the linguistics thread. I agree that running the gauntlet sounds a lot more fun, and possibly less gassy, than running the gamut, and I still want a pair of Gauntlets of Speculation, 'cause, from most of the posts here anyway, it seems like everyone else has a pair

Back on Topic - Yes, Envie, I think we are all expecting to learn more about what happened to Phil Henderson, Zandi, Yeesha and possibly expecting that sides will be taken and difficult decisions will have to be made - but that is just pure speculation on my part!

ner.

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Language is that highly evolved, complex and sophisticated system whereby one human being blorfloogs with another.

Wow, way to derail my thread! At least you had the courtesy to throw in a rejoinder to the topic at the end:

Nyrphame wrote:

Back on Topic - Yes, Envie, I think we are all expecting to learn more about what happened to Phil Henderson, Zandi, Yeesha and possibly expecting that sides will be taken and difficult decisions will have to be made - but that is just pure speculation on my part!

ner.

You see, you already own a spectacular pair of these mythical gauntlets -and- you're running the speculation gauntlet too!

And I know full well what the 'gamut' is and preferred gauntlet, because it does indeed get torturous to endure months upon months of said 'speculation' regarding hidden storylines, clues and rumors. But then again, as I mentioned - that's all part of the fun! Running gauntlets doesn't have to be an entirely negative experience - sometimes you have to run it to become enlightened to truth or your own belief instead of following the popular opinion of the social group (in this case the D'ni explorer community).

_________________
~Envie
KI: 02127837

Actually, I do apologize for diverting your thread, I really do. As I said, I couldn't resist.

As to my saying, "that's pure speculation on my part" that was a joke - actually my understanding of what will happen to the previous story line comes from a recent interview with Rand Miller in which the very thing of which you speak is discussed. Well worth a listen if you have some time...

http://www.thecaverntoday.com/?go=randmiller2



nerf.

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Language is that highly evolved, complex and sophisticated system whereby one human being blorfloogs with another.

It's all good, I was joking around too.

Thanks for the interview link, I had a bit of a hard time understanding Rand in that audio clip but I think I got the jist of it. I'm very happy to hear the focus of Uru Live's multiple faceted storyline will still be as intriguing and mysterious as before! I honestly didn't really know much about the history of D'ni before playing Uru and in the years since, have read the books and learned a lot more. Now I will have a much better understanding and command of my opinions and thoughts this next go 'round!

_________________
~Envie
KI: 02127837

TeBO could feel The Lavender One's pain.
It throbbed along the edges of his connection to her like the thorns coating a wild rose's stem.
It sapped strength from her end of the link, threatened to twist it away into incoherent patterns.

He had felt this before in others newly added to the multidimensional realms he knew as his natural landscapes.
Many had been altered in unexpected directions after initially fitting easily into the stream.
He hoped The Lavender One would not fall away behind too-often-disastrous human genetic barriers.

Would she, too, eventually slide into an energy pattern ruled by subatomic patterns . . .
which would not efficiently absorb and then shed constant slides in and out of her original universe?

Would she join the majority of other humans who had tried to use the time bubbles?
Would she, too, finally live within a mental shell not quite tied to her original state?
Not quite attached to any of the others she had visited either?
Unable to maintain stable connections?

He had thought she would be one of the individuals who would fall into the twists of subatomic physics . . .
with little to no permanent change to her own basic structures.
Her mind naturally walked the edges of it.
Her physical structures were naturally resilient, able to regain equilibrium fairly quickly.

But here it was.
It clung to her patterns . . .
the same pain that had heralded the disappearance of the others before her.
It lingered past the transient grip of her structure's reaction to certain combinations of ambient pressure and airborne molecules.

He edged further into her mind's territory.
Would she allow it?
Would she let him analyze more than just her memory and basic emotion?

He gently brushed the circuits for her main sensory input, hoping to encounter the flux that sapped her connection.
She did not push him away.
She readily allowed him to see through her eyes.

She was receiving images in a very narrow band of wavelengths -- what she called "visual".
He had seen this place often, but seldom constricted by such narrow boundaries.
She was in the Place of Golden Waters.
It was dark and desolate through her eyes . . .
mostly shadows and barren of energy planes.

He could not detect the faint swirling nodes of energy surrounding other humans . . .
the ones she had told him were returning to the long-abandoned undergound city.
There were none of the twisted knots of tiny dimensional portals surrounding the reclusive beings . . .
whom the city's original inhabitants had used as slaves.
There was no trace of the energy web frozen into place by crystalline pathways high above the waters.
There were only various small points of infrared energies from lamps which formed chained paths through the dark spaces above the water.

Is this how it had appeared to The Daughter?
To The Daughter's followers?
To all the new explorers in the cavern?
To the city's original inhabitants?

TeBO had never tried to contact The Daughter's mind.
Her pattern was too focused on her own ambition, her own version of the way others minds should work.
The Daughter was not driven by curiosity and a desire to see what might lay just beyond the next curve of landscape.
The Daughter was a creature of politics, driven to make others see only the path she marked.

The physical view through The Lavender One's eyes was given definition by reflections of a wavelength . . .
which she had called "golden".
It splashed across the jumble of surfaces forming the cavern she had decided to re-visit.

She sat . . .
unmoving . . .
at the top edge of a long set of dual stairs leading downward toward the Golden Waters . . .
whose reflections painted her view of an arch which sprouted from the water's glowing surface.

Sections of the vista were slightly fuzzed by a few waves of her long cranial fur . . .
which had escaped from the small ring of gathered cloth holding most of it behind her head . . .
and which now dangled into her field of vision.
They gleamed with the colors of this world's low temp carbon-based flame.

She was silently watching as others moved through the dim spaces of the abandoned city.
Why?
Was she focused only on the pain?
Not really "seeing" the others?

TeBo could feel nothing of the usual wash of emotion and memory which clarified her choices.
She was strangely quiet behind the pain.

_________________

DaDungeon -- where The Mental
Mob can be found blurring
the edges of real/surreal.
Tink KI#674545

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