Update to the Ulven FAQ

[Jopper13]

There has been a lot of discussion recently on the Ulven FAQ and how to give it polish and make it more complete.

The Ulven FAQ is plagued with some errors and inconsistencies that can make it difficult to follow.

This discussion will cover ideas on how to expand the culture and the FAQ of the Ulven race in Last Hope.

Please post your ideas for updates, changes, clarifications or things you would like to see added or changed and we will take them into consideration for the change to the Ulven FAQ.

Thanks!

[stanrick]

I my self would like to see
-the "Ulven Good Neighbor Law" that we talked about.
-the religion baseline ( what they belive, some gereal practices, Taboos, and what if anything that may happen to a ulven that dont fallow?)
-maybe something about how they handle things that affect more then just a clan or a pack. (For example: In events of importaints the clans involved may hold a Moot so the clanleaders can come to a agreement on the issuse. if the matter affects all the Ulven a Grand Moot is called and all clanleaders will discues and vote on the issue. ect.) <-((just a example of a Idea that might work not saying it has to be this way))

I know we have some of this already but I think we should make suer we don't lose any of it when we redo it (as in opps I forgot to put that back in, not lose a rule because it was changed)
thats all I can think of off the top of my head.

[stanrick]

- ulven rules of war, (added to the how they handle combat we should put something like "In the cases of Ulven vs. Ulven fighting warriors still respect lifes of others and try not to kill the enemy if it can be helped. Daugaters of Gaia a respected on the field of battle and will be given respect even if they are fighting. killing a daughter is not viwed as an honerable act" or something like that. I bring this up because the dec combat event I heard about how Watch wolfs outright slauterd grimward and that was viwed as dishonorable. I think this would help the PCs remind the NPCs not to do that in future so we don't have that problem again)

- maybe a brife exsplanation about diffrent offices that are respected therw out our cuture such as Daughter of Gaia, Truthseeker, Lorespeeker (theas are titles that are respected no mater what clan they visit, so they should get a small bluerb about who they are and what they do so ulven players dont disrespect on by mistake)

[Kitsu]

I've talked about at least a few of the points I'm going to make with Ryan already.

I think one of the points of confusion is the "incorrect"/D&D-styled use of the word "Race". Ulven is a species, and I think part of the confusion is coming from the fact that there are many races of Ulven. Because they're referred to as "the Ulven" instead of "The Stormjarl" or "The Spiritclaw" it gives a false impression to new people that there is a single culture at work. This doesn't seem to exist in any of the other species within the game (Humans are generally referred to as things like the "Consortium" or the "New Aldorians". Syndar also typically seem to get a group or type added to them. IE: Mountain Syndar, Pheonix Syndar).

Thus, I think that the "Ulven FAQ" document needs to be strictly limited to items shared by all Ulven groups.
This might mean that a lot of the cultural items currently in it will be removed. But, since grand expanses of an individual Ulven's cultural Point of View would come from the group of origin, it would mean that each group would need to put together a FAQ covering the basic points of the shared culture of those raised within that group. There might even be certain elements in which you have a standard list that is required to be included because we know IC already that they're something not all groups see eye-to-eye on (IE: Ulven Male Casting: Accepted, Tolerated, Taboo, or Other).

I like Jake's suggestion of clarifying the rank/title tasks and purposes. It should also highlight hierarchy or ranks/titles should be addressed (though that might be better addressed in individual group FAQ, if the story team doesn't feel like there would be an overriding sense of on rank/title meaning more than certain other ones as a cultural touchstone).

Personally, I'd love to see more detail on the religion, even if it's just documentation of the ceremonies that have been seen IC. The Daughters might, conceivably, need a FAQ of their own clarifying how they function and how they work on a species-wide level. Even if it needs sections to address ceremony practices specific to certain groups vs other groups. We don't necessarily need to codify the religion, just give everyone a chalk-line that's shared to follow when building their own individual approach, and deciding on their own embellishments.

If moots are considered to have already happened IC, some sort of agreed on protocols of those might be in order. I'm sure it's most "No fighting", but still... Expressly stating the "Agreeing to a moot means agreeing to X" should be helpful in giving everyone expectations if/when one was ever to happen IC, and would create the base framework around which one might be offered with less confusion.

I'm going to have more thoughts later, I'm sure. But I've got some work to do and wanted to toss out the things in my head (which are a bit disorganized at this point, sorry about that...) while they're still in there and let things go forward.

[mcerysjenks]

I think pretty much all of the information we need is there, just needs to be polished up a little. Kelly's idea (from the FB discussion) of an ultra-concise N00b Handbook in addition to the more elaborate FAQ and blurb is a good one... We need the long, nuanced explanations of the FAQ to really *get* the whole picture of Ulven, but it appears that it's a little much for a new player to absorb, so let's create a simplified starting point.

Personally, I think things like "Ulven Rules of War" should be specifically left out of the FAQ... it's sort of a major theme that this is the first true war the Ulven have EVER fought. Posting some rules of engagement for small-skirmish territorial dispute battles makes sense, but they may not be at all relevant to full scale war. As a culture, the Ulven are making this stuff up as they go along - not knowing whether or not what may be necessary for war could be considered dishonorable is part of that... it's what I like to call an Active Story Element, and I sort of want to keep it active.

[shanaaber]

-Basic Laws. Stuff that every Ulven Know and follow and know is wrong. it doesnt have to be a long list. Each clan can have there own ordinances and these can be written up in the clan descriptions. Example: Law: Fight Corruption where it breeds and dwells Ordinance: First of the kills goes to highest in station. Killing Mordok has always been there primary goal That is something that should be universal to all Ulven. The first of a kill some clans it does to who ever in highest rank others it goes to the children first.

-The Religion and Lore FAQ should probably be a separate document. This should detail common stories like how they came to be, The first pack, How they expect the world to end sort of thing. There is still enough wiggle room in the stories that each clan can have different variants on the stories but we as players should have an idea how they beleive there culture came to be. Maybe something on universal holidays, like Midwinter, Summer Solstice, Harvest festivals.

-Politics: I like the idea of having a brake down of rank, and maybe a blurb about some of the universal jobs. (ie Lore speaker and truthseeker) I would also like an explanation on how things get called and what it takes to make things happen. We been talking about doing a Grand Moot at some point, but no one know how to get one to start one.

I think thats it for now.
Shana

[ungrim123]

As simple as possible.

Fix the inconsistencies, flesh out the religion a bit with core beliefs, and lay down some core beliefs and practices, preferably with examples.

There should also be a section covering anything that would be different from standard human thinking.

[shanaaber]

So read the new FAQ. I like it. Most of it makes sense. There is only one thing I have a question on. Magic is still something that is natural for Ulvens, its not something that is initially trained for like in human culture. You either have it or you dont sort of thing sorta like syndars. I am assuming we dont look down on daughters that have magic but dont want to be Formal Daughters, since we apparently are taking a more formal approach to those terms and stuff. Gaia didnt want that to be there path sort of thing. I assume they get some sort of training to wield what magic they have but dont go above and beyond to learn more. But they still have magic and terms like Cleric and Mage arent in the Ulven vocab so what do we call them?


Shana

[tcochrane]

Aug 29, 2014 11:19:36 GMT -5 shanaaber said:

So read the new FAQ. I like it. Most of it makes sense. There is only one thing I have a question on. Magic is still something that is natural for Ulvens, its not something that is initially trained for like in human culture. You either have it or you dont sort of thing sorta like syndars. I am assuming we dont look down on daughters that have magic but dont want to be Formal Daughters, since we apparently are taking a more formal approach to those terms and stuff. Gaia didnt want that to be there path sort of thing. I assume they get some sort of training to wield what magic they have but dont go above and beyond to learn more. But they still have magic and terms like Cleric and Mage arent in the Ulven vocab so what do we call them?


Shana

As in the FAQ, non-Daughters who use magic are referred to as Witches. All Daughters are Witches, but not all Witches are Daughters. As for Cleric and Mage, those are both loanwords used primarily by the Colonists.

[stanrick]

So even if a ulven can only use divine they would be a witch.
the witches in the pack that are part of the "Religious order" are Daughters of Gaia.
the leader of the Daughters of Gaia in a pack is the Priestess.
and the clans lead Priestess in the High Priestess.
Correct?

[Jopper13]

I have to verify with Tim, but I believe we played with the terminology more on this due to the culture of the ulven. Since casting both forms of magic is common to the ulven, the "impact" of them having both forms of magic is lessened and the differentiation of two schools unnecessary. What is seen as an impossible thing to syndar is the norm for the ulven, so distinguishing that is not needed. So to the ulven, a female caster could be labeled as a witch for their aptitude to cast magic. A defined importance is placed on the skill "witch magic" since it is referring to what the Ulven females have access to naturally; the ability to cast both forms of magic. I wouldn't assume that in ulven culture the ability to access "witch magic" is just simply the natural progression to them. Like Tim said, the use of the words Mage and Cleric are probably byproducts of the culture expansion due to the arrival of the colonists... much like how the introduction of silver now heavily influences the economy.

This means that ulven females don't necessarily have "access to witch magic" which is how it is viewed on a character sheet and a game mechanic, but instead their affinity to use both magics has been labeled as "witch magic".

In D&D terms, it would be like saying you have "a Dwarven constitution" or a "giant's strength". These are norms for that race or culture that have been codified in some way.

Or I could be completely wrong, which in that case Tim will probably be able to correct it and explain it better.