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Community The bribing of Whalenought is now complete

aleph

Arcane
Joined
Jul 24, 2008
Messages
1,778
You're right. At least there was a chance to leave the gulag, one way or another.

Nobody leaves a Gulag, you might get released after a time, but you are never leaving it.
 

agris

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Apr 16, 2004
Messages
6,823
I posted this in the dead thread, so I'll move it here. I'm probably trying too hard, but I got carried away with the idea.


The Glowing Isle

Outward Appearance:
The profile of the isle is that of a monolithic rocky crag, being nonsymmetric, wide and relatively low, similar to the black isle logo (think Scottish isles).
black-isle-studios-2.png
The isle is oval in shape, ~3 miles in diameter with flat coastal region (~0.5 mi radial) and possessing a bay not visible from the principle direction that ships would sail from (mainland). The island always appears deserted, is sparsely vegetated, having a rocky coastal plain from the water's edge to the mountain's base. several rivulets run down the side of the mountain and are apparent upon approaching the isle.

like the following image except with a relatively flat, rocky, coastal area.
ailsa.jpg

In the daylight there is a faint red mist rising from the flat coast of the island extending up the mountainside. The peak is clear and free of any mist.

It is the view at night that caused sailors to give The Glowing Isle it's name. Once twilight has passed and darkness descends, a low red glow (not mist) emanates continuously from the base of the mountain / coastal plains. To the very observant viewer (from the perspective of sailing from mainland towards the isle) the glow would be seen to be emanating from behind the rocky crag.

There is a protected bay hidden from the line of sight that sailors would normally approach The Glowing Isle from. This crescent shaped bay is formed by two rocky arms extending tangentially from the edge of the isle, like pinchers. Their points don't meet, but the opening has been blocked from the greater ocean by a large amount of rocks, debris, and mining equipment. Amongst the debris there is evidence of ship wreckage. Very close inspection would reveal that some of the wreckage is unlike anything the player has seen before (fragments of metallic hulls, rusted with age). Visible on the isle's shore, inside the protected bay, would be the ragged remnants of a dry dock (for ship construction). The bay is saturated with bioluminescent algae / plankton, creating the red glow seen at night. The red algae slowly spills out from the bay into the ocean and creates a dead zone where various fish and birds are found floating lifeless.

Imagine the following, but red and much more intense
Bioluminescence.jpg

Background:
The glowing isles was once a mining and manufacturing outpost, specializing in prototype ships, weapons and armor. The minerals found within the central crag could be mined, purified and refined into a less-reactive (read: less explosive) equivalent of metallic magnesium that has approximately the strength of steel. To put that in perspective, that's ~5x lower density (weight per volume) than stainless steel, while having the same strength and ductility. I don't think many, if any, alloys exhibit such properties today. It's a shame that vapors given off by the refining process induce madness...

The red bioluminescent algae is fed by minerals contained in runoff from the crag's mining sites. A stream that was once harnessed by waterwheels now runs unchecked over the open strip-mined side of the crag (sailors approaching from mainland would not see this, it's all 'bay side'), and drains into the bay carrying the very minerals that were mined for. Similar to real-world fertilizer runoff containing nitrates that cause algae blooms in lakes, this mineral runoff feeds the red algae bloom. As a bonus, it also makes the water highly acidic and deadly for anything living in it or ingesting it and dangerous for anyone to touch.

The red mist is produced by some of the plant-life on The Glowing Isle. It's the result of plant-life (rock lichen, short grass, brush) adapting to the acidic and mineralized waters of the island. Any character that breathes air will find the mist harmful, and has a cumulative poisoning and madness effect ultimately resulting in death.

Manufacturing facilities were setup either inside the central crag or on the bay-side of the island, in the rocky coastal region. Being multi-layered and inside the crag is preferable, and allows construction of a dungeon reminiscent of The Glow in Fallout.

Backstory:
Assume this information is found over the course of investigation of the isle's manufacturing complex. A new mineral is discovered in the central crag of 'whatever-this-place-was-called-before-the-glow'. After initial trial and error processes, this mineral is able to be refined into a metal as strong (stronger!) as steel but at 1/5th the weight. There are problems with workers in the refining vats dying and going insane. 'Upper management' gives orders for prototype armor, weapons (swords/whatever) and even ships to be constructed with this new material. Production ramps up, more workers die and go insane. Management ignores it. Initially the weapons and armor trials are very successful, except for the unfortunate result wherein the people actually testing them are occasionally slaughtering all those around them before finally being subdued (wearing this stuff has an affect on the player?). It is the increase in production required to make a ship that finally does the island in. Production facilities are expanded, the hull sections of a ship that is barely able to fit in the bay are formed and assembled in the dry-dock. Meanwhile, the red mist continues to proliferate while the waters in the bay are slowly turning red, to the unease of workers. The ceremonial launching of the metal-hulled battleship is a much-anticipated occasion that ends in disaster. Armed with cannons that rapidly cool (faster re-load), and a near-indestructible hull, the crew of the ship is stricken with madness and attacks the coastal dry-dock and crag-side mining facilities. Much death follows. The rogue metallic battleship is finally sunk at the bay outlet, providing a grisly reminder of how unchecked ambition destroys everything. This is a Codexian reference to the console generation, and an homage to The Glow from F1.

Rumors:
Sailors will talk about their unease at witnessing the red glow around The Glowing Isle. Some say that a god died on the island, their flowing blood turning the very air red. Others say that a great many human sacrifices were performed, forever tainting the land red with blood. Whispers are spoken of an advanced technology being developed that challenged and angered the gods, driving them to destroy everyone and everything on the isle.

Information leading to the player equipping/learning the equivalent of a Zone of Sweet Air spell is required for access to the island (ala Rad-X in Fallout). A drunken, half-mad captain-turned-sailor (a demotion felt with much weight), whose ship crashed long ago, tells a tale. His ship was caught in a large storm, and became turned around. By the time the storm cleared, it was clear that they had circumnavigated The Glowing Isle and were very much off course. But by then, the ship was already lost. After many false starts and with poor luck, the ship was run aground (near the entrance to The Glowing Isle bay). He and some fellow sailors rowed to The Glowing Isle. This provides the player with some information- a bay, perhaps evidence of mining, red light coming from the front, rather than the back, of the island. The sailor and his few compatriots row to the entrance of the bay, only to find it blocked. They setup camp on one of the rocky arm's of the bay's pinchers. They are on the island for only ~18 hours, but on venturing inland the red mist infects their minds. All die except the ex-captain who speaks to the player, now more than half-mad. The then-captain spots a merchant ship off the far side of the island and frantically rows his boat out to meet it, securing his rescue.


Mechanics Involved:
To gain access to this location, the player must convince / commandeer a captain/ship to take him there. He must also have an item / spell equivalent to Zone of Sweet Air that can be cast / affect the entire party, otherwise death takes them all. This is an homage to The Glow. The island and interior levels should be relatively unpopulated, with the environment and recovered story fragments shaping the experience.

Assuming the main manufacturing complex (and records) are located inside the crag, the player must craft a ladder rope, or a rope + hook, and toss it up onto a rock promontory that contains the entrance to the facilities. Again, this is in homage to The Glow. Once inside, there should be corpses, smelting, refining, testing, etc facilities for the new metal and refining process. Notes and documents found should emphasize the lack of empathy with the the loss of life during the refining / smelting process, despite high mortality rates. Reference to the red mist, algae, and madness/death among the workers should be hinted at. The equivalent of 'managers' should, over time, insist on more and more unrealistic production goals while de-emphasizing manufacturing quality and expressing a disregard for the loss of life and human dignity. This is another reference to the madness induced by the red mist while also a Codexian hook; as it's an allegory to the consolization of game development. Expecting cut corners and lowered quality to result in a superior quality product is surely the result of madness...
 

Doctor Sbaitso

SO, TELL ME ABOUT YOUR PROBLEMS.
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Oct 22, 2013
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3,348
Codex 2013 Codex 2014 PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015 Grab the Codex by the pussy Serpent in the Staglands
I appreciate your imagination and that you have thought it through. As a past suggestor of the strong content ideal I will ask what I have been trained to ask through codexian indoctrination:

Where's the cock and ass monsters in all this?
 

agris

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Apr 16, 2004
Messages
6,823
Does the anus-gobbler have to be on the island? It could be a mutated eel crawling out of the bay I guess.
 

JudasIscariot

Arcane
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Joined
Aug 19, 2009
Messages
2,001
Location
IV Republic of Polandia
Serpent in the Staglands Codex USB, 2014
I would love to see an allusion to Cleve and Grimoire. Maybe have a mad genius who has been working on his magnum opus of a book and when you encounter him you can see 17 years of pages scattered about and maybe a comment such as "You see the mad genius <insert name that is relevant in the world>. All around him are the pages and pages of the constantly revised, yet never finished, Grimoire of Grimoires" or something to that effect. No insult meant but it is one of those subtle yet essential Codex things :)
 

Abelian

Somebody's Alt
Joined
Nov 17, 2013
Messages
2,289
I wonder how many codexers would have noticed/funded this campaign if it wasn't for the dawn_ drama_.
 

TwinkieGorilla

does a good job.
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Joined
Oct 19, 2007
Messages
5,480
Serpent in the Staglands Divinity: Original Sin Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 BattleTech Pathfinder: Wrath
Do the people running the KS understand who it is they got in bed with?

:lol:

This has been running in my head from the get go.

"both thrilled and somewhat terrified"

Sounds about right.

far-right

Ehehe. It should be obvious by now that the small handful of circle-jerking WCDS douchebags are a very vocal minority and the rest are trolls who love mashing buttons. Unfortunately for the WCDS 'bags and their backwards bulllshit the volume of their whining doesn't make them any more significant here or anywhere else in the world.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Sep 7, 2013
Messages
6,174
PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015 Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Serpent in the Staglands Bubbles In Memoria A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire
Fuck non-Codexers...where the fuck were they this last decade while we were in purgatory?

Playing games instead of complaining about them on an obscure far-right internet forum.

Far-right? After perusing that terrible left v right thread in site feedback it appears this place is a hotbed of commie activity, overdue a round of denunciations and McCarthy-style hearings.

Exactly. Far right from a European point of view.
 
In My Safe Space
Joined
Dec 11, 2009
Messages
21,899
Codex 2012
Fuck non-Codexers...where the fuck were they this last decade while we were in purgatory?

Playing games instead of complaining about them on an obscure far-right internet forum.

Far-right? After perusing that terrible left v right thread in site feedback it appears this place is a hotbed of commie activity, overdue a round of denunciations and McCarthy-style hearings.
That was in colloquial sense, not economic sense. Many people who are against immigration are still pro social solidarity state.
 

Tigranes

Arcane
Joined
Jan 8, 2009
Messages
10,350
Ze question is ze number of Codexers oo would fund a Codex designed game.

And I will be doing zees until I replace my keyboard, damnit.
 

J1M

Arcane
Joined
May 14, 2008
Messages
14,628
I didn't fund this because I don't like real-time with pause, but I'm glad to see it met its goal. I wonder how long it will be before kickstarter pitches start pandering to the Codex. :lol:
 

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