Hey guys, just want to make sure everyone knows the Quarterly Zine is a public project. Some of us might be more active in pushing things along but everyone should definitely feel welcome to participate.
Ideally we'll start generating a backlog of articles that will in time shape our future themes and ideas.
Thanks!
Sci
That sounds pretty cool, now I have to find my old Dragon Archive...
thanks!
Sci
I now have the crunch for the Brown, Yellow, Gray, and Green lotuses complete, but not the crunch for the red and purple lotuses (pricing will be more difficult). I just need to reword the fluff so it's not word-for-word plagarism (even though I highly doubt Paizo gives a vapor rat's ass)
Then, I have to recreate the stuff for the planar lotuses I was working on *cries* though the Sky Lotus from Dragon Magazine will be posted as well, along with some additional rule addendums for it. The planar lotuses are tied to the genies, thus there is a planar lotus for each genie type. They include the flame lotus, pearl lotus, golden lotus, silver lotus, and shadow lotus (last one used by the Khayal genies)
The only one I have any stuff written out for thus far is the Pearl Lotus, which in addition to supernatural or extraordinary natural nectar or volatile flower oil, the plant is pollinated via a special reward system similar to that of some S. African proteas-- the flowers are vase-shaped and contain several golfball-sized fruits filled with sweetened tuna belly fat (mmmm). They can only be reached by animals with fine manipulations such as humanoids and cephalopods, and the pollen is amorphous and slimy/gelatinous instead of solid granules. (I came up with the pollen first, and then decided on the reward, which had to be pretty damn good for the trouble it causes. The pollen can be scraped off with little trouble.)
I might also submit an article on the mechanics and physiology of souls, alignments, and elements, and how they sustain or nurture the outsider and the elemental.
It would be of a somewhat similar vein to my Elemental Physiology article from the Brainstorm topic, except that it also goes in-depth about outsiders of both the Inner and Outer planes. I will probably post a rough draft on these boards before submitting it to the 'zine however, just to make sure there aren't any kinks or inconsistencies with the canon to work out. The primary subjects would be:
--Essence, birth, and death (explains the basic mechanics of an outsider's and elemental's soul, and the different methods in which they can be born)
and
--Spiritual sustenance and nourishment (including specifics about half-breeds of opposing alignments such as The Cathezar in Bastion of Broken Souls (the product of a Kyton having a non-consentual fling with a Marilith)
The second category would include things such as the different types of sustenance and nourishment (e.g. basking in one's native alignment or element vs simply spreading one's element's or alignment's influence, vs. conversion of one element/alignment to its opposite, vs. simply snuffing the opposing alignment or element out-- most outsiders and elementals can utilize all four, but may possess a preference for one over the other, or may require a specific type in order to mature/grow or gain more power. As an example, regular elementals gain nourishment by expanding their element's influence, while paraelementals gain nourishment by conversion and negative quasielementals by snuffing out. OTOH, with Tanar'ri it varies by species, subspecies, and personal preference, though the general rule is that converting Lawful celestials to chaotic evil gives them the best nourishment and power boost by far.) Tying the two together, the article would close with explaining what effect these types of feeding have on an outsider or elemental of the opposing element or alignment.
All great stuff Hyena - feel free to post up a draft in the article section as well to get feedback.
looking forward to this,
Sci
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Also, are there other beings like the Cathezar in D&D canon? Regardless would be curious to see your take on an eladrin-archon or lillend-guardinal hybrid. Seems these would happen more often given the Love aspect of Good.
I don't know-- you'd have to ask Rip about that. My personal take is that in order to bring the fetus to full gestation, the mother must remain on the plane of the father, as this would be the only way for it to receive the alignment essences it needs to develop.
The Cathezar, not surprisingly, is Neutral Evil.
Actually, come to think of it, I might also need to either make an article about the "Basics of Planar Ecology" for the same zine volume, or submit that one first and the one about nourishment and sustenance in the 'zine after that.
The reason being that planar ecology is the central theme to most of my writings- I could probably abbreviate some of the stuff that I've already posted here about it as well as stuff I've yet to post that I have written or partially written out on word docs.
The main theme of "Basics of Planar Ecology" would be in explaining why the inhabitants and hazards of the planes are the way they are and do what they do, as well as summarizing some basic elements to bear in mind for monster creation, such as camouflage and survival of the fittest.
The overlying theme of course is that outsiders, elementals, hazards, etc. fill the ecological niche of protecting their home plane from foreign influences (such as an opposing or differing alignment or element) and expanding their own plane's influence. In essence, they act as the plane's immune system. Real-life comparisons would also be given in order to further the reader's understanding, such as humans' sexual attractions to certain parts of the male and female body (e.g. abs, chest, and buttocks in guys, breasts, waist, thighs, and buttocks in gals-- these areas are the best indicators of health and fertility), the reason why our parental instincts extend to animals and plants, and examples of non-human ecological and instinctual behavior, such as that the role of termites is to break down dead wood, making it an available growing medium for vegetation. The termites will do the same to the dead wood that makes up housing, and this is where trouble arises-- the termites of course don't know any better-- to them it's just more dead wood.
Eventually I'll work on planar and mundane lotuses (updating the ones from Dragon 121); I had them almost finished when my old hard drive gave up the ghost.