*sigh* Slith Powwow
| Author | Topic: *sigh* Slith Powwow |
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Warrior
Member # 1250
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written Friday, August 6 2004 18:40
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I really hate doing this... as a prospective scenario designer, I feel like I've already given too much of my inner thinking away for my scenario to be fresh and surprising... And secondly, I'm aware that my posts are *slightly* er... unfit for this category. But I figure that most of the people who have gotten to the point where they're itching to design their own scenarios probably knows something about the Avernum games in general. So, on to my all-important question... What do we know about the sliths, so far? If you can direct me to information about them, or tell me in this thread, that's what I'm looking for, please. I know a lot of this stuff. I've researched, and played all three Avernum games. But I want all my ducks in a row, here, so if you'd all be so kind... Posts: 93 | Registered: Saturday, June 1 2002 07:00 |
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Off With Their Heads
Member # 4045
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written Friday, August 6 2004 21:43
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Homepage
Talk to the sliths of Gnass in A1 and A2, and the sliths of Lost Bahssikava in A1. Fort Avernum, Silvar, and Fort Duvno in A1 are your best sources for an outsider's perspective, because they're explaining the basic details to a group of adventurers who have never seen sliths before. That pretty much tells you everything you need to know. A quick summary: sliths are reptilian men, lizard men of some kind. They are exiles, just like everyone else in Avernum, but they are NOT exiles from the surface like the nephils and humans. They came from the slith homeland, which is somewhere in a deeper cave of Avernum. They came through Lost Bahssikava, whose location was not known to the sliths of Gnass -- hence "Lost." Sliths made their way to the surface by the time of A3 (see mining tunnels in, er, southeast Valorim), although they were still very uncommon. Sliths come in two varieties: Darklings and friendly ones. Darklings are barbarians, often at war with humans, devastated in Avernum by the death of Sss-Thsss in A1 and the arrival of the Empire in their lands shortly before the beginning of A2, but according to ZKR, they retreated into the deeper caves and spent time training and becoming stronger before they came out and fought a new war. Friendly sliths, on the other hand, can be found in two places: Gnass and Lost Bahssikava. Lost Bahssikava has ceased to exist by A2, for whatever reason; I suspect the Empire or the nearby giants came through and killed them in the intervening time, personally. In Gnass, many sliths are born "without intelligence": for whatever reason, they don't speak very well and they are not fit for much more than farming (check out the northeast corner). Sliths need water to breed and to survive, and their towns often either are surrounded by water or have a river running through the middle of them. Sliths are very religious, and they build big temples to their various slithy gods. No gods are named in the Avernum Trilogy. Sliths in Avernum learned architecture from humans, but ancient Bahssikavans knew architecture already (see Bahssikava Deeps as evidence of this). I have more info; my notes that I posted on my web site have a lot of information on sliths. I figure that's enough to start off with, though. -------------------- Arancaytar: Every time you ask people to compare TM and Kel, you endanger the poor, fluffy kittens. Smoo: Get ready to face the walls! Ephesos: In conclusion, yarr. Kelandon's Pink and Pretty Page!!: the authorized location for all things by me The Archive of all released BoE scenarios ever Posts: 7968 | Registered: Saturday, February 28 2004 08:00 |
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Warrior
Member # 1250
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written Saturday, August 7 2004 14:37
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Hmm... I knew most of that stuff, but I appreciate you saying so. I did ask for all of it. Plus I need to start small. I've got a lot of sliths in my in-progress scenario... surface sliths. I'm working on backstory and things. Posts: 93 | Registered: Saturday, June 1 2002 07:00 |
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Agent
Member # 2820
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written Saturday, August 7 2004 18:50
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Be sure to include all the mumbo-jumbo about the big door that separates the Slith homeland (which is presumably even further down in the ground than Avernum) and how the Darklings were forced up never to return. Sliths participated in the reconstruction of New Formello and are only friendly to Avernites. They are extremely rare on the surface and the only reason why they aren't as openly persecuted as Nephils is because not that many centralized Imperials know about them. Sliths are religious, love statues, cave homes, need constant heat, and give birth to little lizards, not lizard man children. Do not forget about their tails. -------------------- Thuryl: I mean, most of us don't go around consuming our own bodily fluids, no matter how delicious they are. ==== Alorael: War and violence would end if we all had each other's babies! ==== Drakefyre: Those are hideous mangos. Posts: 1415 | Registered: Thursday, March 27 2003 08:00 |
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Apprentice
Member # 3361
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written Saturday, August 7 2004 20:36
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Let's not forget that, according to the massage from the gates to the Slith homeland in A1, Sss-Thsss was responsible for the rebellion that caused the Sliths to be exiled. It is implied that their civilization was peaceful, and Sss-Thsss brought violence to it, for which he and his follwers were punished. Hence, every Slith that humans have ever met was either a follower of Sss-Thsss or descended from one. Posts: 21 | Registered: Sunday, August 17 2003 07:00 |
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Agent
Member # 2820
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written Saturday, August 7 2004 21:30
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Don't forget that Sss-Thsss in A1 was not the original. There were many, many Sss-Thss's throughout Avernum history, but only 1 was slain by the ones who killed Grah-Hoth and made it to the surface through the Final Gauntlet. -------------------- Thuryl: I mean, most of us don't go around consuming our own bodily fluids, no matter how delicious they are. ==== Alorael: War and violence would end if we all had each other's babies! ==== Drakefyre: Those are hideous mangos. Posts: 1415 | Registered: Thursday, March 27 2003 08:00 |
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Off With Their Heads
Member # 4045
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written Saturday, August 7 2004 23:34
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Indeed, and especially since in A1 the sliths of Gnass say that they've been exiled for 100 years and the sliths of Lost Bahssikava say they've been exiled for 200 years, it seems rather unlikely that the same Sss-Thsss could've been responsible for their exile and still alive to be killed by the heroes of A1. And peculiarly, the message right before the steel doors in Bahssikava Deeps refers to him just as Thsss -- perhaps Sss is a prefix added on as a title or something? The rumor is that the sliths were exiled for worshipping Grah-Hoth, but that seems to be unsubstantiated. It does seem rather clear that Sss-Thsss had connections to the demon lord, though. -------------------- Arancaytar: Every time you ask people to compare TM and Kel, you endanger the poor, fluffy kittens. Smoo: Get ready to face the walls! Ephesos: In conclusion, yarr. Kelandon's Pink and Pretty Page!!: the authorized location for all things by me The Archive of all released BoE scenarios ever Posts: 7968 | Registered: Saturday, February 28 2004 08:00 |
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Warrior
Member # 1250
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written Sunday, August 8 2004 14:12
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Not to stop anyone from debating, here, but I think I've got my plot troubles hammered out. Surface sliths it is. Probably descendants of a *part* of the group exiled to Avernum. Their ancestors just... took a wrong turn, or something. Or were exiled to the harsh, unforgiving desert of my scenario. Which brings me to what I've figured out to make it plausible that the Empire hasn't cleansed them. The desert sliths are the only ones who know how to survive in the desert, to get to valuable resources without dying of dehydration, or monsters, or what have you. Anyhow, thanks for the information, and I'll probably use a lot of this stuff, to weave into my plot. Posts: 93 | Registered: Saturday, June 1 2002 07:00 |