Profile for moonear
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Displayed name | moonear |
| Member number | 5410 |
| Title | Infiltrator |
| Postcount | 687 |
| Homepage | |
| Registered | Wednesday, January 19 2005 08:00 |
Recent posts
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| Author | Recent posts |
|---|---|
| Question 1: Energy in General | |
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Infiltrator
Member # 5410
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written Thursday, April 27 2006 05:02
Profile
quote: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Originally written by Strontium: With respect to electric cars/plug ins leading to higher fuel efficiency: where does the electricity come from? Solar? Nuclear? Hydro? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- quote:Whatever powers your house is primarily a fossil fuel. So, electric cars don't replace fossil fuels they are a derivative of them. Hence the problem. Plus, we have to expend massive amounts of energy to replace the fleet of vehicles. quote:Virtually all of our food is grown with petrochemicals - fertilizers, pesticides, other (necessary) chemicals And *i, with respect to the resources/reserves debate I got your original point. I think reserves is the more valuable term as its not just a question of economics its also a question of technology. Reserves are exploitable because we can access them/extract them. I would even be interested in a debate on what is the real restrictor on nuclear technology and it may be the cost of capital and time - to erect new plants to replace fossil fuels. I would also factor into the capital cost the amount of fossil fuels used to get such a system up and running. The problem with alternatives to fossil fuels is that they either aren't technologically feasible on a massive scale or the timelimes to bring them on stream push their implementation beyond the exhaustion of fossil fuels. Alex, I was exagerating (too grandiose), the estimated area is about 300 miles on a side - see the book by David Goldstein, Crude Awakening. See also this link, the point of which is the impracticality of looking to solar/wind power to replace that which we consume from fossil (currently 0.2% of US power is so derived): http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/solar.renewables/page/trends/table1.html [ Thursday, April 27, 2006 05:03: Message edited by: Strontium ] -------------------- "Dikiyoba ... is demon ... drives people mad and ... do all sorts of strange things." "You Spiderwebbians are mad, mad, mad as March hares." Posts: 687 | Registered: Wednesday, January 19 2005 08:00 |
| Question 1: Energy in General | |
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Infiltrator
Member # 5410
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written Wednesday, April 26 2006 12:35
Profile
Not my original source for 20 to 50 years so I'm not too sure of the veracity but... There are known Uranium deposits of 6 billion pounds globally, with annual consumption of 180 million pounds. At an increase in use of 3% per year this lasts to 2028. Assume that uranium deposits can be doubled up in the coming decade. this lasts till 2042. http://www.financialsense.com/fsu/editorials/petch/2005/0703.html note that this doesn't even assume that we replace oil with nuclear, which would require a much higher growth use rate (although there is a significant delay as construction is a multi year enterprise) and would require huge amounts of capital. [ Wednesday, April 26, 2006 12:38: Message edited by: Strontium ] -------------------- "Dikiyoba ... is demon ... drives people mad and ... do all sorts of strange things." "You Spiderwebbians are mad, mad, mad as March hares." Posts: 687 | Registered: Wednesday, January 19 2005 08:00 |
| Question 1: Energy in General | |
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Infiltrator
Member # 5410
|
written Wednesday, April 26 2006 10:07
Profile
With respect to electric cars/plug ins leading to higher fuel efficiency: where does the electricity come from? Solar? Nuclear? Hydro? Solar - not a dense energy source (i.e. you couldn't generate enough solar energy to replace fossil fuels if you blanketed the earth with cells) and precious metals to make panels are in scarcity already. Nuclear - uranium resources aim to be depleted in 20 to 50 years - not much better than fossil fuels. Hydro - mostly developed, future expansion limited. "New" sources of energy isn't the answer. -------------------- "Dikiyoba ... is demon ... drives people mad and ... do all sorts of strange things." "You Spiderwebbians are mad, mad, mad as March hares." Posts: 687 | Registered: Wednesday, January 19 2005 08:00 |
| Power Corrupts in General | |
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Infiltrator
Member # 5410
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written Wednesday, April 26 2006 09:15
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quote: radix malorum est cupiditas -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The lyrics. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Reply: Holiday in Cambodia (words: Biafra; music: "Dead Kennedys") So you been to schools For a year or two And you know you've seen it all In daddy's car Thinkin' you'll go far Back east your type don't crawl Play ethnicky jazz To parade your snazz On your five grand stereo Braggin that you know How the niggers feel cold And the slums got so much soul It's time to taste what you most fear Right Guard will not help you here Brace yourself, my dear... It's a holiday in Cambodia It's tough, kid, but it's life It's a holiday in Cambodia Don't forget to pack a wife You're a star-belly sneech You suck like a leach You want everyone to act like you Kiss ass while you ***** So you can get rich But your boss gets richer off you Well you'll work harder With a gun in your back For a bowl of rice a day Slave for soldiers Till you starve Then your head is skewered on a stake Now you can go where people are one Now you can go where they get things done What you need, my son...... Is a holiday in Cambodia Where people dress in black A holiday in Cambodia Where you'll kiss ass or crack Pol Pot Pol Pot Pol Pot Pol Pot etc.... Where you'll do what you're told A holiday in Cambodia Where the slums got so much soul [ Wednesday, April 26, 2006 09:16: Message edited by: Strontium ] -------------------- "Dikiyoba ... is demon ... drives people mad and ... do all sorts of strange things." "You Spiderwebbians are mad, mad, mad as March hares." Posts: 687 | Registered: Wednesday, January 19 2005 08:00 |
| Question 1: Energy in General | |
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Infiltrator
Member # 5410
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written Wednesday, April 26 2006 07:49
Profile
quote:A couple of problems with tar sands oil is that it is a huge consumer of water.. Flows from rivers such as Athabaska and Saskatchewan are glacier fed and are experiencing declines in flow (30 to 50%) that will restrict the expansion of this industry. In addition, the synthetic oil still has a high level of impurities that limit how it can be used in the industry - you can only replace a percentage of your natural oil with this synthetic oil (without much greater processing - at high levels of energy use). Electric cars aren't the answer either because we still need to replace heavy machinery (eg. ag farm equipment, mining equipment) and airplanes. In addition, batteries suffer serious deficiencies in cold weather, need to be replaced and lack energy density (its something like a gallon of gas has the equivalent available energy as a ton of lead-acid batteries) [ Wednesday, April 26, 2006 08:01: Message edited by: Strontium ] -------------------- "Dikiyoba ... is demon ... drives people mad and ... do all sorts of strange things." "You Spiderwebbians are mad, mad, mad as March hares." Posts: 687 | Registered: Wednesday, January 19 2005 08:00 |
| Question 1: Energy in General | |
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Infiltrator
Member # 5410
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written Wednesday, April 26 2006 07:43
Profile
quote:My intention is not to hijack the thread. One of the difficulties as I see it is developing economies view the current 1st world economy and want the same standard of living as we have. However, current energy resources will not allow that to occur. Thus, comes the point that a structural shift in how we use energy will occur. We need to answer that question in order to answer how the developing world will fuel their energy needs. Current energy use practices are unsustainable. The 1st world will likely have to modify how it uses energy to provide a model to developing nations to aspire to, to get them to adopt a similar model. My comment is that existing enegy use is based on transportation and transportation requires fossil fuels. Alternative energy sources (solar, nuclear, biofuels)all have serious issues that will restrict their future use - such as scarcity of precious metals for solar panels, depletion of uranium reserves, competition for food resources so we need to do more than look at how to provide energy. [ Wednesday, April 26, 2006 07:44: Message edited by: Strontium ] -------------------- "Dikiyoba ... is demon ... drives people mad and ... do all sorts of strange things." "You Spiderwebbians are mad, mad, mad as March hares." Posts: 687 | Registered: Wednesday, January 19 2005 08:00 |
| Question 1: Energy in General | |
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Infiltrator
Member # 5410
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written Wednesday, April 26 2006 07:12
Profile
One of the problems with current energy use is portability. Fossil fuels are energy dense and portable. This fuels much of our economy (for instance, it was on the news recently that the average food item travels 5000 miles from field to your mouth). This is only going to intensify as India and China industrialize and compete for energy resources (think they don't look at Western standards of living and want to gear up for that?). So, other sources of energy (hydrogen - energy costly to make, nuclear - creates electricity which isn't efficiently transportable/storable...) are really unable to replace this as a source. Biofuels simply cannot replace petrofeuls in that it competes with food resources and there isn't enough landbase to do both in the amounts required. The reality is that a structural shift in energy use is coming. -------------------- "Dikiyoba ... is demon ... drives people mad and ... do all sorts of strange things." "You Spiderwebbians are mad, mad, mad as March hares." Posts: 687 | Registered: Wednesday, January 19 2005 08:00 |
| Chasing Rentar in Avernum 4 | |
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Infiltrator
Member # 5410
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written Wednesday, April 26 2006 07:01
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GIFTs...hurl. Found them then told Sage Eichler so that that would be the end of them. Course, felt morally bad about this so I killed the Sage to preserve the spiders. Wish I hadn't found them. -------------------- "Dikiyoba ... is demon ... drives people mad and ... do all sorts of strange things." "You Spiderwebbians are mad, mad, mad as March hares." Posts: 687 | Registered: Wednesday, January 19 2005 08:00 |
| What style of graphics would you like to see in Avernum 5? in General | |
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Infiltrator
Member # 5410
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written Wednesday, April 26 2006 06:56
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modified quote: ...the Exile trilogy's graphics BETTER than a4's ? Are you people all clinically retarded? -------------------- "Dikiyoba ... is demon ... drives people mad and ... do all sorts of strange things." "You Spiderwebbians are mad, mad, mad as March hares." Posts: 687 | Registered: Wednesday, January 19 2005 08:00 |
| A Change of Structure in General | |
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Infiltrator
Member # 5410
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written Friday, April 21 2006 05:11
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Royal advisor vs. nobleman For me, when I play the game I see royal advisors being drawn from various walks: wizards, clerics, nobleones. All are people I could be drawn to (powerful mage/cleric - yippee), but the job they take on (roay advisor - toady to the king) seems to me at odds with the adventurer lifestyle I have chosen and the independence that entails. I'd rather be a powerful nobleman who can leave my estate in the hands of my (lesser) advisors and go off and adventure when the itch arises then be beholden to the king/queen and bound by duty. And yes, I know this glamorizes the role of a nobleone, as in all reality the duties of managing an estate could not be so easily abandoned by delegation. -------------------- "Dikiyoba ... is demon ... drives people mad and ... do all sorts of strange things." "You Spiderwebbians are mad, mad, mad as March hares." Posts: 687 | Registered: Wednesday, January 19 2005 08:00 |
| A Change of Structure in General | |
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Infiltrator
Member # 5410
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written Friday, April 21 2006 04:56
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quote:I would argue it is a word, simply misspelled (z for s). Additionally, it is the name of a product (video game no less - see below). quote: -------------------- "Dikiyoba ... is demon ... drives people mad and ... do all sorts of strange things." "You Spiderwebbians are mad, mad, mad as March hares." Posts: 687 | Registered: Wednesday, January 19 2005 08:00 |
| A Change of Structure in General | |
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Infiltrator
Member # 5410
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written Thursday, April 20 2006 11:14
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In terms of political influence a royal advisor is more than a nobleman but in terms of wealth/freedom this is not necessarily so. Although a royal advisor influences the king he/she has little direct influence over the public at large whereas a nobleman has direct influence over his fiefdom ad an ability to generate wealth and power independance of the king. In fact, a particularly strong nobleman might have wealth, power and influence to rival a weak king - as a king only gets its power from the nobles who support him. -------------------- "Dikiyoba ... is demon ... drives people mad and ... do all sorts of strange things." "You Spiderwebbians are mad, mad, mad as March hares." Posts: 687 | Registered: Wednesday, January 19 2005 08:00 |
| US Conflict Avatars in General | |
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Infiltrator
Member # 5410
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written Wednesday, April 19 2006 10:34
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Aran, b/c you went back to read from the first post on and in case others do to, edited my earlier post announcing 100 down to one photo. Couldnt convince myself it should all go. -------------------- "Dikiyoba ... is demon ... drives people mad and ... do all sorts of strange things." "You Spiderwebbians are mad, mad, mad as March hares." Posts: 687 | Registered: Wednesday, January 19 2005 08:00 |
| still not getting avernum... in General | |
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Infiltrator
Member # 5410
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written Wednesday, April 19 2006 09:04
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quote:Whoo. For a moment there I was confused too. Now for a moment of clarity. In an odd moment of weakness, I expressed opinion without sarcasm. It was meant to be mildly humorous by stealing someone elses post, rewriting it and claiming it as my own. The opinionexpressed within is genuine. I started with Avernum and prefer it, although A4 slid back in terms of storyline and too many mundane monster battles. I have also played Exile enough to appreciate those who would prefer it - just don't count me in. Also, Alo, I am stealing your quote and rewriting it (slightly) -------------------- "Dikiyoba ... is demon ... drives people mad and ... do all sorts of strange things." "You Spiderwebbians are mad, mad, mad as March hares." Posts: 687 | Registered: Wednesday, January 19 2005 08:00 |
| still not getting avernum... in General | |
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Infiltrator
Member # 5410
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written Tuesday, April 18 2006 06:41
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quote: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Originally written by Spontaneous Combustion: I personally enjoy the Exile series alot more, feeling a sense of loyalty towards them, being my first Spidweb games. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As I would have written the above: I personally enjoy the Avernum series alot more, feeling a sense of loyalty towards them, being my first Spidweb games. :) -------------------- "Dikiyoba ... is demon ... drives people mad and ... do all sorts of strange things." "You Spiderwebbians are mad, mad, mad as March hares." Posts: 687 | Registered: Wednesday, January 19 2005 08:00 |
| A Change of Structure in General | |
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Infiltrator
Member # 5410
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written Tuesday, April 18 2006 05:51
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Personally, I am a fan of equalization and anti-discrimination. We should get rid of titles completely, replaced with something like "sackcloth and ashes #", where the number is completely randomly generated by a program obtained from a verifiable independant source. -------------------- "Dikiyoba ... is demon ... drives people mad and ... do all sorts of strange things." "You Spiderwebbians are mad, mad, mad as March hares." Posts: 687 | Registered: Wednesday, January 19 2005 08:00 |
| still not getting avernum... in General | |
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Infiltrator
Member # 5410
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written Tuesday, April 18 2006 05:39
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I'm with Jewels. A4 has a lot of pointless bashing around that gets really tiresome (thinking about editing my characters to be a God party to get around this) but the story is compelling and keeps me playing. -------------------- "Dikiyoba ... is demon ... drives people mad and ... do all sorts of strange things." "You Spiderwebbians are mad, mad, mad as March hares." Posts: 687 | Registered: Wednesday, January 19 2005 08:00 |
| US Conflict Avatars in General | |
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Infiltrator
Member # 5410
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written Tuesday, April 18 2006 04:51
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I get the pineapple wars...yippee! For those anti-american fruit haters I say first pineapples next bananas. In the Caribbean bananas are grown on small plantations while in S.A. they are grown on huge plantations controlled by....US-owned transnational banana companies like Chiquita, Dole and Del Monte. Trade rules and quotas used to protect these small colonies (by providing guaranteed access to European markets) but no more. The US has argued that the protection extended to these ex-colonies was discriminatory. It has browbeaten the European Union since the early Nineties into progressively opening up its market to imports of intensively produced bananas from Latin and Central America, nicknamed ‘dollar’ bananas because production there is controlled by powerful US companies. See, the U.S. is a friendly superpower, not interested in starting a war to extend its dominance. IF it can, it uses tough trade policies to avoid having to take over countries it doesn't want. -------------------- "Dikiyoba ... is demon ... drives people mad and ... do all sorts of strange things." "You Spiderwebbians are mad, mad, mad as March hares." Posts: 687 | Registered: Wednesday, January 19 2005 08:00 |
| US Conflict Avatars in General | |
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Infiltrator
Member # 5410
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written Monday, April 17 2006 10:26
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I believe I issued an apology. Now that we have wasted four posts on this rather than ignoring the error and moving on, shall we move on. -------------------- "Dikiyoba ... is demon ... drives people mad and ... do all sorts of strange things." "You Spiderwebbians are mad, mad, mad as March hares." Posts: 687 | Registered: Wednesday, January 19 2005 08:00 |
| US Conflict Avatars in General | |
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Infiltrator
Member # 5410
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written Monday, April 17 2006 09:57
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I didn't realize we actually stayed on target on any one of these boards. So Sorry. In reviewing how others made their announcements I guess I didn't pick up on the fact that they all started brand new threads to do the announcing. How could I have overlooked that? -------------------- "Dikiyoba ... is demon ... drives people mad and ... do all sorts of strange things." "You Spiderwebbians are mad, mad, mad as March hares." Posts: 687 | Registered: Wednesday, January 19 2005 08:00 |
| Avernum V in Avernum 4 | |
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Infiltrator
Member # 5410
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written Monday, April 17 2006 08:53
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quote:Agreed. Igave a number of scenarios in which it ws possible for Petrie to have the spellbook but not be the author. Some weren't thought through for plausibility. However, I could also see a mage quoting an astronomical value for something that mage feels has little value to test an adveturer's stupidity/taunt them. and quickfire could be considered to have little value because it is so uncontrollable (although thats what doors are for) -------------------- "Dikiyoba ... is demon ... drives people mad and ... do all sorts of strange things." "You Spiderwebbians are mad, mad, mad as March hares." Posts: 687 | Registered: Wednesday, January 19 2005 08:00 |
| Statistically Yours, on the First Anniversary in General | |
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Infiltrator
Member # 5410
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written Monday, April 17 2006 07:55
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In honor of myself I adopt Strontium as my new PDN. :P Next month, 98 posts. ;) -------------------- "Dikiyoba ... is demon ... drives people mad and ... do all sorts of strange things." "You Spiderwebbians are mad, mad, mad as March hares." Posts: 687 | Registered: Wednesday, January 19 2005 08:00 |
| A Change of Structure in General | |
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Infiltrator
Member # 5410
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written Monday, April 17 2006 07:44
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quote:Oh, I knew that. Literally speaking, your rank is based on number of posts and is only temporarily superseded by notification of bad behaviour. IT was a rhetorical question. Once again, humor does not translate through written word without clear instruction - failure to communicate. Explicit to what MY mind was thinking - get canned (do evildoer stuff), madly post 650 times, avoid whole citizenship stuff. Or, get thrown out of exile (metaphorically) and roam the outerworld as a rogue/ creating mayhem until the arthritis kicks in and can no longer weild the sword, then settle down and open an inn. [ Monday, April 17, 2006 07:47: Message edited by: Tin ] -------------------- "Dikiyoba ... is demon ... drives people mad and ... do all sorts of strange things." "You Spiderwebbians are mad, mad, mad as March hares." Posts: 687 | Registered: Wednesday, January 19 2005 08:00 |
| Avernum V in Avernum 4 | |
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Infiltrator
Member # 5410
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written Monday, April 17 2006 07:41
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quote:Having a magical object (spellbook) doesn't make you the original author/creator. Lots of magical stuff is collected out of interest (think gun collecting as a hobby among hunters). Granting access to magical stuff which you do not know how to use (rune reading ability lacking?) for $$ can be for greed/further one's own abilities to further acquire new objects for yor collection.... (think of a price of admission). So, I am no sold that Petrie actually knew what to do. It may be that Petrie could ape/parrot the instructions but didn't create them. -------------------- "Dikiyoba ... is demon ... drives people mad and ... do all sorts of strange things." "You Spiderwebbians are mad, mad, mad as March hares." Posts: 687 | Registered: Wednesday, January 19 2005 08:00 |
| A Change of Structure in General | |
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Infiltrator
Member # 5410
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written Monday, April 17 2006 07:32
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Its a long way to get past being a citizen. That sucks. If I am canned/banned am I no longer a citizen (revert to mercenary/rogue)? -------------------- "Dikiyoba ... is demon ... drives people mad and ... do all sorts of strange things." "You Spiderwebbians are mad, mad, mad as March hares." Posts: 687 | Registered: Wednesday, January 19 2005 08:00 |