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Originally written by Sir David:

I said Independant, because I really don't want to be associated with a political party unless it is in the center. Democrat = Left, Republican = Right, Sir David = Center, therefore Democrat * Sir David and Republican * Sir David.
You're centrist like Fox is fair and unbalanced.

I'm sure some of you will call that B.S. because anyone who believes in God and thinks that the war in Iraq is necessary is a radical conservative ( ) but really, I am a moderate/centrist/whatever you want to call it.
Give a dog a bad name and hang it, please? You have more conservative viewpoints than you seem to think.

I'm not old enough to vote, and unless something changes between now and then I will probably end up registering as a Republican, because I do lean to the right; I'm not perfectly centered, obviously.
Again, you aren't doing anyone any favors by denying what you are. You're a rightist. Maybe today you're something LIKE centrist in America, but by any reasonable standards, the Dems are barely center-left.

I am unsurprised to find that most of you are not vote-inside-the-lines type people... or at least according to the poll, you're not. That's good, because I despise vote-inside-the-lines people, Democrat or Republican.
Intellectuals typically fail to be such.

As for Bush, Blair, Iraq, the economy... *sigh* all I can say is How the hell did the media find so many idiots with decent writing/reporting skills? OK, I lied, that's not all I can say. But seriously, from the newspapers you'd think that the world is about to explode and Bush is sitting on the TNT lever. Really, people, it's not as bad as you think.
160 Americans will never come home from Iraq. 10 of those were inflicted before Bush declared the war over. Afghanistan is like it was before, only now with several Talibans which kill people to gain power, the draft offices are quietly gearing up on a scale unheard of since Vietnam, and the US has pissed off the world so badly that diplomatic recovery will be impossible for decades. The economy? The jobless rate is stable at 9%. It is ideally supposed to be no higher than 6. That is about 25 million breadwinners whose families will starve. You, on the other hand, could eat McDonalds nightly and chase it down with Code Red. Optimism is the luxury of those who have never seen hardship.

Can you say "yellow journalism"?
What, like the "yellow cake" issue with Nigeria? The "incompetence" of Hans Blix? The "hidden WMDs"? Yeah, I can say "yellow journalism" just fine.

The fact is that newspapers sell more, and news channels get more viewers, when the news is bad.
The fact that bad news sells better doesn't necessarily make it untrue.

Therefore, our economy which "hasn't been this bad since the Depression" is actually on the rise;
In money terms, yes. In human terms, those millions of people's families are going to choose between Alpo and Iams for dinner tonight. I suppose that, to the right, money is all that matters.

the "angry mobs of Iraqi citizens" are actually a small minority,
Which is why 150 American soldiers have been killed in peacetime, the rest stationed there aren't coming home for a long time, and the guardsmen and reserves are being called up to serve in a PEACEFUL country.

and Bush, though he may not be the smartest man in the world, is not a complete idiot.
I agree. "Bush as an idiot" is a common and horrific myth; he is rather intelligent. He is merely a complete and utter sociopath when it comes to people's lives. 500,000 people dying as a result of "shock and awe" didn't matter to him. 25 million people going hungry as a result of his "soak the rich" tax programs didn't matter to him. All he cares about is the power and glory of America and his rich buddies. You ever hear him make one of those "endearing gaffes" about war, destruction, killing, and so on? What ARE they about? Education? Feeding one's family? Think on it.

But why am I saying this? Please, people, if Spiderweb has become more open-minded since I left, let me know. If not, if they are still listening only to liberal views and calling the rest B.S. before it shows up on the screen, then I think I'll stay away from debates.
I'm intelligent enough to know what's propaganda and what isn't, David, right or left, and I find you assuming I'm not to be rather insulting.
Please do respond to this as if it were an intelligent rebuttal from an intellectual source, not in the usual "I'm right, you're wrong, here's some more grievances I have with the state of the world" nonsense you seem to be fond of.

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Originally written by Drakefyre:

Alec was never a Triad Mage, but he wanted to be one. Now that everyone knows he's Custer, I should probably re-add his title.

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Originally written by Haamana:

Alec is what we like to call "one who works way too much and would be better off slacking in every class".

I am what we like to call "^_^".

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Originally written by Zxquez Zahndii:

Oh, Motrax, who are some good classical composers? I'm starting to, uh, like classical music...

--Zxquez

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Originally written by Faustus K. Shame, M.D.:

Um, going without Windows Explorer is a tiny bit impractical.

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Originally written by Captain Uglyhead:

How large is it?
Not explicated, assumed to be about 9.8m/s²ish.

Has it already been thoroughly explored?
If you listen to one of the intros, yes, yes it has.

Did The Empire rule the entirety of the surface world, or just a continent or two?
As of the Av/Ex series, the Empire rules the planet utterly, except for Exile.

Is there a possibility of discovering new lands and new peoples over the horizon?
Not realistically.
If you go deep enough down in Avernum, past the Vanhatai lands, will you eventually pop out on the opposite side of the world?
No. Avernum stops long short of the upper mantle. The physics on it are awful, BTW: the cooling effect of getting under the earth stabilizes at 60 feet, and it starts getting hotter not long after :P

Also: Can you create brand new abilities and stick them in objects other than your standard mind crystal, like an ancient scroll or pendant? (I'm aiming for super-psionic mind control, here.)
No. Jeff Vogel spent a long time balancing those abilities, and would consider it an insult if you thought you needed any more for a scenario.

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