New Edition: Wiki

[Bigode]

Fvck, I type "3 step snake" in Wikipedia and get Metal Gear Solid ... not that I haven't been addicted to MGS 3 ... but I suppose your idea works great.

[JonSetanta]

It's not as addictable as MGS2, but at least it doesn't have Raiden doing tumbles naked (or any Raiden at all).

[Bigode]

I could talk about the Metal Gear series endlessly, but if anything, that'd be for MPSIMS ... (before other people jump in and we have 2 pages of Naked/Solid/Liquid/Solidus Snake here)

[JonSetanta]

Heh OK then.. that's all from me on the subject. -__-

[Orion]

So, I take it the Garuda and Bugrom write-ups all to me? I'll post them here for vetting.

My current thoughts:

Bugrom need to be sexy. That way it's tragic that they're all dead. I mean, if they were scary, ugly mofos to begin with, being undead wouldn't matter. A Bugrom character has got to be someone you'd sex up if she were breathing.

So, pretty butterfly wings, fleshy faces.

Garudas: If we want Bugrom to have wings, this raises a question. Generally, I would think we would thus want Garudas to NOT have wings -- I'm leaning towards horus-style birdmen with beaks and talons, feathery arms, but no wings. They should be scary, scary guys.

Alternately, we could give them wings and make wings a theme of white. Two winged races, angels as their high-end monster, we could play up associations with grace and with the sky for all its worth. Put wings in the name of a lot of white spells and maneuvers.

[Bigode]

I vote for Pin Angel's weird garuda: bird head, wings, and a human torso atop human arms - I suppose that'd make them scary enough. Also, glad about the gnomes' crime.

[Username17]

Alternately, we could give them wings and make wings a theme of white. Two winged races, angels as their high-end monster, we could play up associations with grace and with the sky for all its worth. Put wings in the name of a lot of white spells and maneuvers.

With the Yâmans throwing up manticores and spenta as their basic supernaturals, wings could easily be a standard offering of the world. Probably if we were going that way, we'd push the Yak Folk into Naraka or Pretaloka (pushing Trolls into Naraka I guess) and bringing in a winged group of magical peoples for the Yâma slot. Of course, winged things are easy to find in fantasy, and we could slot in Succubi, Fairies, Harpies, Cherubim, or Draconians with little effort.

As a thematic convergence it's catchy and easy to explain. I'm leaning towards Harpies actually, but I'm really open.

-Username17

[angelfromanotherpin]

I like the wings as a theme, but I'm not sure you want two flavors of bird people. I'd lean towards butterfly-winged fairies myself.

[Orion]

Bugrom have bug wings, garudas have bird wings, so the next step is bat wings, which means demons or dragons.

A race of redeemed demons would have a fairly obvious curse -- major dharma violation -- but we already have the garuda for our angsty "fallen" types and tiefligns for our badass demonspawn.

Draconians would be sweet, especially if we play up dragons == majesty == rulership, but aren't dragons a different color?

[angelfromanotherpin]

There could be bat-winged harpies, which I guess would look either like Tyldak or like Dracula's brides from Van Helsing. You'd have to be careful to emphasize the 'majestic' aesthetic and de-emphasize the creepy associations.

Traditional harpies don't belong in Yama, because of their schtick of shitting in people's food, but maybe that could tie into their Dharmic curse. Maybe they're redeemed figures (as opposed to the fallen Garuda), who used to torment the wicked in Naraka, but did it so hardcore they were promoted to Yama. Of course, they weren't being conscientious, they just really loved being jerks, and now they're stuck having not to be mean to people.

[Orion]

So, they're really really conscientious types who do whatever they're assigned scrupulously. They ALSO enjoyed tormenting the damned. Now they've ben promoted to social workers, and while they take to it naturally, they conscientiously go through the motions, like eternally frustrated bureaucrats.

Unlike the garudas, who have good intentions but questionable methods, they would have faultless actions but questionable intentions...

[Crissa]

Frank, whatever character you're using after the Y isn't UTF-8. You can use the &; notation here to make sure that your character is translated correctly.

HTML Character entity references

[JonSetanta]

Aw, cmon. Garuda at least need ample feathers, or they'll look like the retarded owl-head guy that Binders can summon.
Even if it's useless long feathers hanging from the upper arms and jutting out the back like a hyena mane, the description is better than just "a bird head".
Also, bird feet rock.

[CatharzGodfoot]

So garuda are bird-shaped men and harpies are man-shaped birds? I suppose you could go for serious sexual dimorphism & . matte garuda and harpies one species.

[Username17]

An alternate, and possibly more apropos name for Harpies would be Sirens. But remember that they fit the Monstrous Humanoid slot like the talking bears or the trolls, so they can be seriously out there and have that be fine.

In any case: if Garudas are going winged (while everything goes winged), and they are keeping the "Fallen Spenta" thing going, there comes the dreaded "non functional wing problem" do we want:

• Burnt Wings
  
• One Wing, one Scar.
  
• Clipped Wings
  
• Normal Looking Wings
  
• Something else.

I'm leaning towards full bird heads for the Garuda. Crow heads (hearkening to Tengu) or Vulture heads would seem most appropriate.

-Username17

[Draco_Argentum]

Mutilated wings is sounding pretty high on the emo meter.

[Bigode]

Are we OK with wings being an atttack form? I'm thinking about wings with reinforced bones instead of holllow, with a feather pattern of chains binding the muscles.

[CatharzGodfoot]

[JonSetanta]

Well if Garuda have solid bones like us then it wouldn't even matter if they had full sized supposedly-functioning wings, they would only be able to glide down and never take off... unless their chest muscles were as large as a bull's.

[Cielingcat]

What was it the Vanara did to get cursed? I'm thinking it was some sort of "played a trick on a god" thing.

[Username17]

1202672171[/unixtime]]What was it the Vanara did to get cursed? I'm thinking it was some sort of "played a trick on a god" thing.

That would work.

In a similar vein, I think it time that we hash out a basic run down of the Hobgoblin Malefactor and the Tiefling Warlock. That is, ten levels long set of abilities gained which would allow them to fight and do interesting stuff at each level.

-Username17

[Cielingcat]

Remind me what the Malefactor does?

[Username17]

1202684888[/unixtime]]Remind me what the Malefactor does?

The Malefactor costs BB and is a 2/2 with First Strike and Protection from White.


It's a Wisdom/Strength Kshatriya caste. Similar to the D&D Blackguard or the Warhammer Chaos Warrior.

At some point they will be pulling down abilities with names like:

• Youth Siphon
  Bone Crusher
  Unravelment of Skin
  Radiance of Despair

The majority of their abilities will be drawn from the Path of the Dead and the Path of Doom. They get huge shoulder pads, which are GRIM AND DARK!

-Username17

[Cynic]

1202552440[/unixtime]]An alternate, and possibly more apropos name for Harpies would be Sirens. But remember that they fit the Monstrous Humanoid slot like the talking bears or the trolls, so they can be seriously out there and have that be fine.

In any case: if Garudas are going winged (while everything goes winged), and they are keeping the "Fallen Spenta" thing going, there comes the dreaded "non functional wing problem" do we want:

• Burnt Wings
  
• One Wing, one Scar.
  
• Clipped Wings
  
• Normal Looking Wings
  
• Something else.

I'm leaning towards full bird heads for the Garuda. Crow heads (hearkening to Tengu) or Vulture heads would seem most appropriate.

-Username17

I'd go with normal/clipped wings.
Don't have any of my hindu mythos books on me but this picture form wiki seems pretty close to what I've always pictured/seen(in various works) the Garuda as.

[Cielingcat]

So Frank, do you want 10 levels with numbers, or just abilities and descriptions?