Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Liebster Award (Thanks, Beth and Gayl!)

"The Liebster Award is given by bloggers to bloggers, to promote the blogging sites we love and support."

Accepting the nomination comes with these conditions:
1. Post the award on your blog.
2. Thank the blogger who presented the award and link back to their blog.
3. Nominate 5-11 bloggers whom you feel deserve this award and have fewer than or equal to 3,000 followers.
4. Answer 11 questions posted by the nominator, and ask your nominees 11 questions.


Now that Step 1 is done, onto the much more important Step 2. Thank you, Beth and Gayl, for the nomination. For anyone reading this who hasn't checked out their amazing saga, you are missing out and need to start reading it pronto. Not only are both writers exceptionally talented with both the words and visuals, but their collaborative effort is a winning combination. They're also kind, supportive, and brilliant individuals who have been major sources of support for me in the years I've been posting stories. So, for both the nod and everything you do, thank you both. Keep being awesome. :)

And now for Step 3... hmm. Many of the stories and authors I've been following have been quiet lately. Real life happens, other interests happen, and there's nothing wrong with moving on. Many other authors I follow have already been nominated for this award. So, I'm going to go for a few that are not officially cancelled as far as I'm aware. Some have been updated recently, some haven't, but all of them deserve it:

Katdelval for Witch
MedleyMisty for Surreal Darkness
Morgaine2005 for The Chronicles of Albion
Penelope for Dragging Blue Lake
Winter for In Verona


Aaaaand Step 4. First off, the answers to Beth and Gayl's questions:

1. Do you have characters you really dislike?  Did you start out disliking them?

Heheh... yeah, I do. Some of them were by design completely unlikeable, like Norwan or Domingo. That was the role they were supposed to fill, so yeah, I always disliked them. Others kind of grew into their repulsiveness. Ietrin comes to mind there; he was only a baby when the story started, so who knew he'd grow up to be such a piece of shit.

Conversely, there have also been characters that I figured I'd hate, but who ended up growing on me: Roderick, Laralita, Elarys, Deian.

2. Do you plot your stories or just let them happen?

Umm... I guess the best answer to that is... yes? With a theoretically endless story like Naroni, it's impossible to plan out the whole thing, nor do I think I'd want to plan what will probably end up being a sixty-some-year saga (I still think the "right" way--or at least the most full-circle way--to end Naroni would be with Severin's death). For individual storylines, I plan the general idea, but sometimes other things sneak their way in there and I go with it--most recently, Yvanette and Sevvie's spying game, which had never occurred to me before I got was about halfway done writing the post.

So, I guess I sort of plot, but not to the point that I would plot a self-contained novel.

3. How do you deal with writer's block if you experience it?

Depends on what I'm working on. With Naroni... it's my "keep writing" project. Sort of a productivity grindstone. I don't always feel it, and a lot of times I'll be thinking "this post is crap" and hit the publish button anyway. Just kind of "soldier on".

With my novel... well, I probably treat it as more delicate than it actually is. When I'm not feeling it, I usually just take a step back. If it goes on too long, I'll go back and read earlier passages and see if I can find the logical next step.

4. If you've ever tried writing with someone, how did it work out?

Not too well. I'm a bit of a control freak.

5. Do you use fantasy objects like the weather controller in your Sims stories and if so, how?

The weather controller is a must! Ever since I installed Seasons, it seems the game always wants to rain except when I need it to. So, it's good to have that bit of control. I also use InSim for general keeping Sims in line purposes, as well as InTeen in the event that I need it (though I haven't used it in the story since the university started up... but that will change soon, actually).

6. Has a character changed on you? If so, how do you handle it?

Ye-ep. Probably the one that comes to mind is Rona. She started out as this girl who was desperate to get married and almost didn't care who it was, but... thing is, she was already in love and didn't know it, which was why she started singing such a different tune when Aspen got sent away. But I didn't realize just how firmly she'd change after that. She does tend to be kind of a volatile character overall. She's the sort who has to get her way, but isn't always sure what her way is.

Laralita's another one. I thought she'd go to her grave being her old vapid self, but when Roderick died, it just didn't feel natural for her to continue on like that.

7. Do you tend to get lost in building the world and let the story lapse?  If so, how do you deal with it, or is that a feature and not a bug?

On paper, maybe. I have a lot of spreadsheets despite the fact that I really only need the master one. I have a lot of stats that will never hit the internet. But so far, I haven't found this has distracted from the actual writing.

As for the neighborhood in the game... eh, honestly, it's gotten to the point where I have so many lots that I have to put new ones where they fit rather than where they would be if I were to make an actual map. I also have next to no neighborhood deco, since we'd never see it anyway and I need the space for lots. But I love seeing pictures of other people's neighborhoods, and I can understand how getting the neighborhood right would help creatively.

8. How do you deal with posing?

I used to be more into posing, but I got kind of lazy, plus I ran into some game issues on my old computer. So, these days, I mainly just use in-game interactions. Usually chatting. But... eh, I'm okay with that for now.

9. Do you process your shots in Photoshop or a similar graphics program?

Not usually. I just crop them to the size I like in Paint.Net. I'll occasionally color in some glaring mesh gap, but usually I just shrug off any clipping, knowing that most of my readers are also Simmers who get that that happens with the game sometimes.

10. How long does it take to write and post a chapter?

Well, usually the longest part is debating whether or not to sit down and do it. But once I get going, it usually won't take more than an hour, hour and a half for writing, less than that for shooting depending on how many pictures I need. It helps that most of my posts are pretty short.

11. If you had to spend an afternoon doing the most boring thing you can imagine, which of your characters would you force to spend it with you?

That's a tough one! On one hand, I wouldn't want to subject a character I liked to unnecessary boredom. On the other hand, I wouldn't want to spend a whole afternoon with a character I didn't like.

I guess I'd have to go with Lonriad (the younger). I think he'd find a way to make just about anything fun, or at least make me laugh trying.


Now, to question my nominees! Should they choose to answer, of course. Hmm...

1. What is your opinion on conventional writing "rules" (e.g. minimal adverb use)?

2. How do you choose clothing and hairstyles for your Sims? Is it more important that they reflect their environment or situation, or their personalities and ambitions?

3. Do you refer to your Sims' in-game aspirations and personalities when developing their characters, especially when it comes to born-in-game Sims whose personalities you didn't get to customize?

4. Similar to the above, when it comes to love interests, do you allow in-game chemistry to influence which Sims get together? Or do they get with whoever you want them with, whether the game likes it or not?

5. If you were to start your story again, are there any major changes you'd make right off the bat? If so, what are they?

6. Are there any books, films, shows, games, or even other Sims stories that you think have influenced your work?

7. What are your favorite character names? Do any of your characters have names you dislike?

8. Do you listen to music while writing or creating visuals? If so, what kind of music, and why do you feel it helps you personally?

9. Are any of your characters based, however loosely, on people you know in real life?

10. If you can answer without venturing into spoiler territory, which of your characters do you think have the best chance of overcoming their personal hurdles? Are there any that you fear may be doomed?

11. Does anyone you know in real life read your story? If so, how do you feel about that?

Sunday, April 27, 2014

The Masque Cast

As promised, here are some pictures (click to embiggen). Everyone will be listed left to right, starting with the back row. First of all, the Orkney family:


Vera as Garnet Orkney, Morgause's daughter. Garnet was the last Orkney to be cast; Vera mainly got the role on the basis of being Raia and Lonriad's sister, for the family resemblance. Plus she's pretty tight with Morgan, so that probably had something to do with it.

Raia as Morgause Orkney. Mainly for lack of anyone sufficiently evil to play Morgause--but I did like the idea of the Chancellor playing the villain.

Lonriad as Mordred Orkney, Morgause's son (and defense lawyer). I figured he'd be a good balance of talent and hamminess (and as everyone who reads the comments on Albion knows, I am far from Mordred's Number One Fan, so whoever played him had to be able to do so in a somewhat cartoony way). Plus poor Lonriad does need to keep his mind off things, so a sufficiently large part was in order.


Next up, the prosecutors and law enforcement:


Isidro as Will du Lac, the prosecutor. As Morgaine pointed out in the comments, this trial was Will's first, so Izzy's anxiety about the part actually served him well in playing it.

Octavius as Pellinore Gwynedd, the judge. Honestly, this casting call was mainly based on "They're both lords who wear green, why not?"

Ellona as Morgan le Fay, Morgause's half-sister who brings her in. With the Chancellor playing Morgause, I thought it might be fun for the students to see the Assistant Chancellor playing Morgan--a little fictionalized internal strife.

Riona as Jessica du Lac (nee Pendragon), Morgause and Morgan's niece, who helps her one aunt capture the other aunt. After casting Izzy as Will, this seemed the natural decision. Riona's being a freckly redhead also helped.

Lucien as Christopher Tower, the prison warden. Originally, he and Searle's roles were reversed, but I switched them at the last minute figuring that Searle would appreciate the added lines more.


Now for the jury:


Renata as Claire de Ganis. Florian as Bors was one of the earliest casting decisions, and I got a kick out of the idea of Florian being married to Renata.

Severin as Richard Ferreira. Mainly because I imagine they'd get along fairly well if they existed in the same universe.

Falidor as Lancelot du Lac. They sort of remind me of each other sometimes, so I figured why not.

Ovrean as Edmond Chevaux. Poor Ovrean hasn't done much lately, so I decided I'd give him a good part, and Edmond is awesome.

Nora as Naomi Emrys. One of the later casting calls, just a matter of who was left to cast and who was left who may have merited a part. A lot of the rest of these fall into that category, so I'll omit the explanation from this point forth.

Searle as Aglovale Gwynedd. Again, he and Lucien originally had each other's parts.


Witnesses for the prosecution:


Bernardo as Ash Thatcher.

Celina as Betsy Pelles.

Xeta as Dindrane Gwynedd (yeah, technically Orkney, but if the Pascalians won't grant her a real divorce, I'll grant her one in my head).

Severin Shadeling as Thorn Michaelson. He probably got the part because his mom is such good friends with the playwright.


Witnesses for the defense:


Lorn as Brother Lodwicke.

Jadin as Talin of Depiesse.

Garrett as Michael Rawe. Naroni needs more Sims of color.


And now, for the people watching the trial in three parts...

The Royal Family:


Searle Mokonri as Ambrosius Emrys. Ambrosius is actually a Servo, but I didn't know how easily that would translate into a Naronian play about a trial that has nothing to do with Servos, so I just dressed him in grey. He's not a major role in this arc anyway.

Aldhein as Arthur Pendragon, King of Albion. See Alsina's entry.

Alsina as Alison Pendragon, Queen of Albion. I figure she got the part through Nora, who thought she needed something to do, and then she asked if Aldhein could have a part too.

Rona as Lynn Pendragon (nee de Ganis), Crown Princess of Albion. Luckily for her, Rona gave birth just in time for the masque.

Ashe as Tommy Pendragon, Crown Prince of Albion.


Higher-ranking trial observers:


Florian as Bors de Ganis. Because... Florian. As. BORS.

Jeda as Eilwen Gwynedd.

Leara as Guinevere du Lac.

Sparron as Lamorak Gwynedd. The one thing I will say is that it's strange that Sparron and Searle are playing brothers.

Arydath as Bianca Ferreira.

Old Hilla as Maude Parkinson.


Observers of the common variety (plus some from the Initial Incident):


Lettie as Cerise Chevaux.

Riala Denvus as Ginny Thatcher. Aunt Nora probably got her the part.

Tarien as Merlin Emrys.

Nanalie as Kata Thatcher. Just pretend she's visibly pregnant (er, Nanalie, not Kata).

Hilla as Lyndsay Thatcher. Ditto for visibly pregnant (again, actress, not character--though Lyndsay does seem to be pregnant a lot).

Friday, March 14, 2014

Outline: 1185

(Cross-posted: Tumblr, PBK)

There are five posts left in 1184, so I'm hoping start outlining 1185 this weekend. It will start off with coverage of a certain demographic event in January, and there will be a more light-hearted storyline that will span from late January/early February to some point in the summer (with other stuff going on in between these posts, of course). There will also be a dark storyline going on after that; this storyline will probably conclude before the year is up.

That said, I do have quite a few on-going storylines at the moment, some of which will still require semi-immediate attention, and some of which can be put on the back-burner for a few months or even years (a few of them have natural "lull" periods and will require significant time jumps). I don't want to jump ship on any particular storyline, but there is enough going on that sometimes I forget things (I'm only human, after all), and sometimes I realize "Aww, shit, I should have covered that ages ago!".

So, before I start, I thought I'd ask readers which storylines they're most invested in at present, just so I can add another element to my prioritizing of plots. It may not affect things too much--if a storyline has to go on-hold for a couple in-story years and a lot of people ask about it, it's still going on hold--but sometimes readers catch things that need attention before I do.

If you want to go to bat for any particular storyline, feel free to contact me pretty much anywhere, publicly or privately.

Thanks in advance!

Saturday, February 22, 2014

Soul Cycles and the Naronian Afterlife

Sorry for the continued lack of updates. For those of you who aren't active on either Tumblr or PBK, my computer has been returned with replaced hardware parts, but the OS was evidently reinstalled improperly, and it will have to be done again (a USB with the OS and drivers will be sent to me some time next week, hopefully no later than Tuesday). After it comes, please allow me a few days to get my programs and files in order.

In the mean time, since I'm feeling kind of bad about the lack of updates and I don't want to get completely out of it, here's a mess of crap about the afterlife in the Naroniverse.


The Afterlife
Well... in Naroni, there is no one afterlife, as was mentioned during the Fun Times in Hell arc. To an extent, the individual chooses their own afterlife, sort of. To oversimplify somewhat, you go to the afterlife you believed in during your mortal life. Believe you're going to Heaven? You go to Heaven! Believe you're going to become one with the earth? You become one with the earth! Believe in an unconscious cessation of existence? You get an unconscious cessation of existence! Believe you'll be fabulously wealthy and good-looking and spend all your time getting laid at Disneyland? You get the idea.

Er... for a while, that is.

The Soul Cycle
The first thing to know about the Soul Cycle is that each cycle (for the Human Class, anyway--see next) is two hundred years long (for simplicity's sake, let's just assume that metaphysical years are more or less equal to conventional calendar years). Suppose Random Naroniverse Citizen lives to be fifty years old. This means that they've spent fifty years of their present Soul Cycle in the life stage, and that the remaining hundred and fifty will be spent in their afterlife. But once two hundred years have passed since the individual's birth, their afterlife ends and they are reborn to the physical world in a new body.

A reincarnated soul will have no conscious memory of its previous lives or afterlives (at least, as far as I've planned so far; I reserve the right to slightly retcon and have someone remember a previous life if it ever becomes convenient to the story), though some subconscious emotions and desires may linger from past forms. More on this in later sections.

The Soul Cycle is sort of a means of slowing the use of the mysterious forces of which souls are made--spiritual recycling, if you will. That's not to say that there are never new souls being made, because there have to be. Reproduction occurs exponentially, after all. So while the old souls are constantly being fitted to new bodies, new souls do have to spawn at a certain rate to keep up with the production of physical bodies, and for the most part, they do.

Though, emphasis, for the most part. More on this in a bit.

Soul Classes
Generally speaking, souls can be grouped into classes: Human, Mammalian, Avian/Reptilian, Amphibian/Ichthion, Fungal, Bacterial, Plant, Miscellaneous Tiny Organisms, etc. It is possible for a soul to shift classes, but it's a pretty rare occurrence, and a very gradual process. The classes all have a varying closeness to one another than makes some direct shifts impossible. For example, you're not going to go from being an amoeba soul to being a human soul without passing through a bunch of other classes first.

Within classes, however, species isn't an issue. If you're a Mammalian soul, you might start out as a horse, then become a cat, then a bear, etc. No biggie.

Soul Clusters
As a new cycle starts, souls tend to reincarnate in proximity to the souls they were close to during their previous life. These clusters of souls are not fixed for eternity--people come together and drift apart, after all--but there could very well be souls that have been clustered together since the beginning of time. These ties often carry over subconsciously from life to life. Take Sparron and Searle, for example. For all Sparron consciously does not think that continued association with Searle is a good idea, there is a part of him that just cannot help it, because unbeknownst to him, they've been dancing that dance for centuries. Teenage Rona's attachment to Aspen could also be rooted in this phenomenon.

Not to say that you're always going to fall in love with the same soul over and over again, but who knows? Maybe your spouse will be your platonic best friend in the next life, or vice versa. Or maybe you will get involved with the same soul time and time again, but I don't want to border too much on the cheesy here.

Also, some souls go through loner periods and therefore get placed in random clusters, where they might not fit in. Isidro and his mother were both chronic loners before being reborn in their current/most recent forms, though I doubt Isidro will be alone in his next life; Domingo is a new soul who would have lacked an established cluster.

Soul Crises
Every once in a while, reproduction gets ahead of itself and a body is born when there's no available soul to fill it. Let's call this a Soul Crisis.
Basically, the body and mind develop, but the individual will have an inherent lack of everything a soul provides--empathy, true emotion, a moral compass. Many of these individuals are outright evil--Remiel, for example, was the result of a Soul Crisis--but just because an organism is soulless does not necessarily make it malevolent.

As these individuals do not have souls, they are not reincarnated, or at least not in the way those with souls are. No one really knows what happens to them (read: I'm too lazy to decide that right now, nor do I want to box myself into any corners should it ever come up).

Soul Fragments
So, this will be coming up before the end of the '80s, sort of. There are certain roles on the earth that must constantly be filled, usually guardian-type roles in regards to magical and spiritual centers. If a person is chosen for one of these roles, then, at the end of their life, a part of their soul will remain tied to that role forever. The soul fragment will join the previous fulfillers of that role in the formation of a permanent, immortal--but not unchanging--consciousness.

As for the now incomplete soul, it will undergo the cycle as per usual, but souls take time to heal from such wounds. As such, expect the next several lifetimes to be tough on this particular soul. Searle Andronei might have donated a soul fragment at one point. Same with Sparron.

Limitations within the Human Class?
Absolutely none. Any soul can be reincarnated with any physical sex, any gender, any sexual orientation, any ethnicity, any class, any genetic phenotypes, any genetic mutations, any physical or mental conditions, in any geographical area. So bad news, Roderick--you were probably a peasant at some point.

Saturday, January 11, 2014

Family crests!

Exactly what it says on the label. I've been meaning to give my families crests for some time, if only on paper (I'm no good at drawing). So, last night, Ann was kind enough to help me come up with ideas for all of the families, including the gentlefolk in case they rise (and eh, who's to say a gentleman can't make himself a family crest, just for the hell of it?). Here's a crude chart of the current leading ideas, with rather hastily approximated family colors:


They're not set in stone yet, so if anyone has any thoughts, or is curious about the justification of any idea, I'd be happy to hear from you. :)


(As for why "de Cervantes" has two... I figure Casimiro and Bernardo can use the traditional sword, but Isidro wouldn't want to use Domingo's crest. Ann suggested a stag for Isidro's branch.)

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Aspiration Sub-Types, Part IV: The Kemorins of Veldora

WHAAAAT? WASN'T THE LAST ONE LIKE A BAZILLION YEARS AGO?!!?!

...But for serious. Here be the Kemorins. The Shadelings are included because Lucien is the only adult Shadeling, but the Wythleit, de Cervantes, and Andronei families will get their own posts.

Descriptions of the types are here, or you can click on them.



Lord Severin of Veldora (Knowledge/Romance): THE THOUGHT PIONEER

...with the caveat that, you know, The Times. I don't think anything Severin comes up with would be considered particularly radical today (though some of it could stand to be more commonplace), but we've seen a few instances of his coming to verbal blows with his contemporaries when he's voiced a few of his more modern ideas, and we do know that a lot of the Dovians think he's a bit batty. It might also be worth noting that Severin spent a good chunk of his youth rather firmly in Shock-Value Seeker territory.


Lady Alina of Veldora (Family/Romance): THE MINIVAN MOGUL

Things didn't end happily for Alina, and she did deal with some serious post-partum depression that would have crawled into her family life to at least some extent. That said, she always did the best she could with the energy she had, for Severin and for the kids, and none of them can accuse her of otherwise. If she'd lived, I imagine she would have healed eventually, to the point where she might have even accepted menopause with near-relief. She would have made an excellent grandmother.


Lady Leonora of Veldora (Family/Knowledge): THE SOULMATE

Nora does love her kids... but I don't think she ever intended to have as many as she did. Unlike many Soulmates, I don't think her feelings for her children are strongly rooted in her feelings for their fathers; she does see each of them for their own merits and loves them as individuals. That said, at the end of the day... well, most of her children are adults and teenagers now, and she's more in the grandmother mindset than the mother mindset in regards to her descendants. She might have been more of a Minivan Mogul in her younger days, but now, she's happy to hand her grandkids back to their parents so she can go wear out another mattress with their stepfather.


Jadin of Veldora (Romance/Pleasure): THE FRIEND WITH BENEFITS

Jadin may be a cad, but he's not a jerk. He's upfront about his sex life, but he's also got his own code of honor in regards to his conquests, and that includes honesty and respect. Even with prostitutes at the brothel, I tend to picture Jadin as a pillow-talker--where did you grow up, what's your favorite color, what's your opinion about x current event--and if a woman ever tells him "No", Jadin is a good enough person not to force her. He's also madly in love with Xeta and goes out of his way to make sure she knows it, even if they're both well aware that he'll never be fully faithful to her.


Xetrica of Armion (Family/Knowledge): THE MINIVAN MOGUL

Xeta probably leans slighty toward the Caregiver side of this category. That said, she's never shafted Jadin in favor of their kids, unless it was maybe for the sake of creating more kids (and it's Jadin--he enjoyed it). She is a mom before she is a wife, but it's not so distant a gap that I think she'd be categorized otherwise.


Eilyssa of Veldora (Family/Fortune): THE SOULMATE

Mainly because she's too young to be thinking of kids yet, especially since she'll be attending university before she gets married. But this may change, since we haven't seen much of Lyssa yet. The one thing we do know is that she has a crush on Landus.


Searle of Veldora (Family/Romance): THE SOULMATE

This should surprise no one. Even when they're not together--even when they arguably hate each other--everything and everyone in Searle's world takes orbit around the sun that is Sparron. He does love his kids, and maybe even Lettie in a friend/cousin/brother-sister way, but obviously he's not incapable of throwing them under the emotional bus if he's preoccupied enough with Sparron, which is unfortunately often.


Arletta of Beretrin (Knowledge/Pleasure): THE SHOCK-VALUE SEEKER

Not to say that Lettie isn't curious, but a lot of her intellectual pursuits seem to be rooted in making other people uncomfortable--this is a woman who has no qualms about talking to her grandparents about gay sex between biblical figures, after all. She also knowingly and willingly married a man who was madly in love with another man, and approached the orgy that resulted in Prior and Alina's conception with a somewhat education-based approach. She may not have been itching to have Sparron's babies, but extra-marital sex with her husband's boyfriend and his also-gay wife? Sure, why not?


Lonriad of Veldora (Romance/Family): THE SEXUAL ROMANTIC

Lonriad is a Kemorin and he has the libido to show for it. That said--unlike his big brother, he's very good about focusing all of his sexual energy on one person (er, for the most part; he did visit some brothels while he was in Spain with Izzy and Co., but I struggle to see him doing so when he's home, when Asalaye is right there). Asalaye was not his first, and if she dies before he does, she won't be his last, but he's much happier wearing out mattress with her than he is making new notches in his bedpost with anyone else.


Asalaye of Veldora (Romance/Pleasure): THE SEXUAL ROMANTIC

A perfect match! Asalaye has more than enough libido to keep up with Lonriad, and is also perfectly happy to keep it to a single person, at least while they're both still alive. They're also both rather creative people, so between the two of them, I'm sure there are enough twists to keep the sex fresh and interesting.


Laveria of Veldora (Family/Knowledge): THE MINIVAN MOGUL

Ever since she was young, Vera has always been fiercely loyal to her family, blood or marriage or otherwise. She is not without some hint of an impish side--she is a Kemorin, after all--but she was probably the child who gave her parents the least trouble (Viridis was less impish, but her health presented its own kind of trouble). She's also been steadfastly supportive of Lucien, is a loving mother to her son, and is currently fretting over the state of her unborn child (though now that she's showing, she's relaxed a bit).


Lucien Shadeling (Family/Knowledge): THE SOULMATE

I think Lucien falls into the "probably wouldn't have had kids if their partner didn't want them" sub-class of The Soulmate, as he does seem to be a little afraid of screwing them up (though now that his son is older, he's probably gotten over at least some of that). He loves his son, he'll love the baby Vera's carrying, and he'll love any other child they happen to have... but I think that if Vera had said she didn't want kids, or if she hadn't been able to have kids, he would have been one hundred percent okay with that. It's all about Vera for Lucien.


Roderick of Veldora (Romance/Knowledge): THE SEXUAL ROMANTIC

Roddie is a gem! He definitely did not dodge the Kemorin libido--we'll see that for sure when he's older--but he has a wonderful heart and is something of a romantic (for all he may go to his grave denying it). Whenever he falls in love, I think that will be it for him.


Falidor of Veldora (Family/Romance): THE SOULMATE

I only recently came up with my plans for Falidor's love life, and I think it will prove to be a very sweet storyline. They'll be one of those couples who cause raised brows wherever they go, and probably more than one person will be telling Falidor that he can do better... but methinks he'll stick by his lady no matter what.


Celina of Veldora (Knowledge/Pleasure): THE THOUGHT PIONEER

She just hit the teen transition in my game and was into advanced mathematics well before that? To the point of babbling on to an older guy about all her theories? Yep, I think we have a Thought Pioneer in the making here. CeeCee is going to be both very fun and very difficult to write.



I'm not sure which family I'll do next. I kind of want to cover Naroni before branching into Dovia, so I suppose I'll go through the knight/gentlefolk families first.

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Populating the University

Next post is the last of November, then December has a handful posts, and then... tada, 1184! And you know what that means, right?

Yep! University opening!

So, with that in mind, here's a nice post about some university population stuff. In the quite-likely event of interest being lost, I'll start with the part I need help with...


Residence Population

So, in preparation for the term, I just whipped up a bunch of new boards on the character profiles, including the twelve houses of Residence, Phase One. There are six houses per sex, and each house will be home for eight students, which--in terms of students who actually have Sims (I think it goes without saying that the university population on paper is much greater than it will be in my game)--should last me for a while. However, there are two ways I can populate these houses, and I'd like your help to decide which is better.

(There's also the option of compromise between the two, but I don't want that. Mainly for silly compulsive reasons.)

I'll also mention (because it plays into the pros and cons) that when I actually build these houses, the residences will be the second and third floors, and the first floor will be the classrooms for a particular faculty--though in terms of story canon, there are separate academic buildings. It's just much easier to shoot on residential lots, and the numbers worked, so I figured... eh, why not combine them?

Residence Population Scenario A

The university's first six students are all of the same sex. The university puts them all in the same house.

Pros: Roommates are close in age, maintenance and janitorial staff have less work, encourages socializing, should be at least one out-of-shot Sim with an empty action cue
Cons: Placeholder Sims required on empty houses for longer (in case of classroom shoots), decreased student privacy, increased potential for high-running tensions and mischief, wasted space

Residence Population Scenario B

The opposite. The university's first six students are all of the same sex. The university puts one in each of the houses for that sex.

Pros and cons are pretty much the reverse of the above.


Each student will have their own bedroom with a double bed (because, let's face it, this is Naroni), and there will be one bathroom per two bedrooms. Knowing this, plus all the information above, which scenario sounds better to you? Luckily, I only have Sev to deal with for the winter term, but I've got three more young men (the Wythleit "twins" and Landus del Marinos) joining him in the spring, so any feedback that can help me choose will be much appreciated.


Now that that's done, on for a second, mainly FYI-type bit...

In order to amp up the population of students who might actually appear in posts, I've randomized a complete set of Carvallon nobles, some of whom are of an age to be starting university soon, and many of whom will be reproducing in the background at the whims of my dice. If I need them to appear in the background--or, though I have no current plans, in a more prominent role--I'll repurpose some dead characters or townies as opposed to creating new character files.

Since I did this around the time that Morgaine released her Albion Heraldry MegaPack (and since the Carvalli noble families I do have were already pretty much wearing Albion colors... and since I have a bunch of clothing sets in the Albion colors... and because Albion is awesome...), the Carvalli noble colors are based on the Albion ones (er, including GoS and Emrys, because they were in the heraldry pack).

Anyway, here are the families, as well as their ranks and the shires they hail from, plus their Albion-equivalent colors:

The Mardalieths of Ebbenswake and Carvallon, Royal (Gwynedd... though I do also have the "Carvallon" colors from my own set, but it makes sense that the royals would have more clothes to choose from)
The Falenbraes of Rostenfeld, Duke (Emrys)
The Ardenflors of Jaderidge, Marquis (GoS)
The Cavahals of Braiswyck, Earl (Pendragon)
The Alderfells of Hargrath, Earl (du Lac)
The Maudrels of Meralis, Baron (le Fay)
The Tirsleys of Idengrave, Baron (de Ganis)
The Brycells of Aythwing, Lord (Carpenter)
The Rygards of Cadderfray, Lord (Ferreira)
The Ordians of Nightvale, Lord (Orkney)

Devidra is an Alderfell by birth, but she wears Mardalieth colors (she and her father weren't on the best of terms). The only non-royal Carvalli nobles we've seen so far are Anna's friend Adinaye and her daughter Emeline; Adinaye is the Countess of Braiswyck, making her a Cavahal by marriage and a Maudrel by birth (Adinaye is the self-sim of adienaynay, who writes The Cavalho Legacy; "Cavahal" is a rather obvious bastardization of "Cavalho", and Maudrel is derived from the name of the main character, Maudrun). Honora Carpion and her children are descendants of House Brycell due to affairs with the help.

Aaaand the only other family I have a comment for is House Rygard... or, more their colors. Since Cadderfray is where Fred and Dania are from, and since Fred and Dania are both Albion imports from House Ferreira, the Rygards of course had to have the Ferreira colors.