Just talking - archived

Spoiler:

I want to be on Mordred's KingsGuard, oh wait... I am?

than I will kill Darlion, Kamos and Azrael and be the Lord Commander of said Kingsguard

Very plausible theory alert!

Spoiler:

TYRION WILL BE KING!

Tubby McChubbles wrote:

Very plausible theory alert!

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

non-hidden note: Initially A Dream of Spring was given the provisional title A Time For Wolves.
That would suggests the Starks coming back?

I was going to give Wheel of Time a try, but I'm not sure I will be able to handle an unfinished series. I'm terrified enough about GRRM dying before the conclusion of ASOIF anyway.

Wheel of Time is not unfinished.

When James Olives(Robert Jordan) died on 2007, he had prepared extensive notes for a fellow fantasy writer, Brandon Sanderson, to finish the series for him. The volume was too big to be released as a single book, however, so it was split in three.

The first two parts are called "The Gathering Storm", and "The Towers of Midnight", which are already released, while the final part, "A Memory of Light" will be released on Jan 8, 2013.

Alright then, might look into it. I have far too many other books to get through at the moment.

Talking about books: is any of you familiar with Norwegian literature? I would very much like add to my read-before-2050 list something based on Norse mythology, either a rework of old tales, or a good story based on them. My attempts to find something in this sense have often resulted either in xenophobic, badly written, or in hippie-pink unhistorical fairy tales.
So, any hints from natives would be cool. And for the sake of the argument let's assume Sweden and Denmark are part of Norway.

Actually by Norwegians, or about Norway? I can suggest a good series about the Vikings; The Oathsworn series was very good.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Whale-Road-Oathsworn-1/dp/0007215304

If its about Norway, then I can look into it.

EDIT : I'd also be willing to release parts of my own book if you wanted to read that, it features Norse mythology, though is not set entirely on it. Having some more opinions on it would be welcome, and feedback would certainly bolster my motivation for actually finishing it!

Actually in Norwegian, about or loosely based upon Norse culture. Think a Norwegian Tolkien.
But this series seems good, I’ll add them too.

If you do release it, I could definitely take a look. Unless it's urgent, because I'd give you feedback only in December.

You know what motivates you to finish books? Money and contracts. I'm only motivated to finish my diss right now because the fellowship is about to end, and the contract says "do it now or die".

EDIT: this website has a lot of books. But I need insider information to know which ones are actually worth the time.

Money certainly helps, but actually just being able to talk about a project with others is what gets me going the most. I find my motivation is at its highest when others are also excited by a project, this was certainly the case while working on Pendor, that PoP4 thread was inspiring.

I'm happy to give it out, im not expecting anything in big detail, just on whether the characters work, and there are no major plot holes, heh. Offer is open to anyone here, not just Saeros.

**

I can also suggest The Fellowship of Ghosts by Paul Watkins, its more of a travel book (but a good one) about Norway. I'm part way through that one myself.

Slightly different but excellent nevertheless is The Brendan Voyage by Tim Severin, its essentially an experiment to see if it was viable to sail an Irish boat (built of leather) across the Atlantic. I found it of particular interest due to the parallels with Leif Eriksons voyage.
Along similar lines but not as good (the author is a jerk) is A Viking Voyage by W. Hodding Carter, in which they try to recreate Leif's expedition to Vinland.

Mordred wrote:

Ana Sulran wrote:

It worked well enough for dear Richelieu!

No it didn't. About the only successful equal King / Queen combination (or even joint kings) I can think of are Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. In the other instances like Charles (later Charlemagne) and Carloman of the Franks, one invariable ends up dead or in a monastery. Same with Carloman and Pepin.

Actually I guess the moral of that particular story, is don't be called Carloman!

It did work so well for Richelieu! Beyond the occasional weekly depressive state where he wondered if the King was finally going to kill him, it worked out very well! Mazarin... a bit less so. Besides, Richelieu gets credit for the Sea Wall, which is all he needs. So what if he spent a bit too much on palaces that were too close to the King's, Louis was cool with it most of the time! Mordred could learn to be too. >.>

This makes me wonder, who is the First Courtier of Pendor?

To double post, just because I can...


It might add an interesting aspect to the metagame if certain offices were added to the Kingdom, to be redistributed either every turn or every few turns based upon the RP. Perhaps bonuses that only loosely make sense, like the King's Master of Horse gets access to a Noldor horse or some such. The real prize would of course have to be some form of First Minister.


Since we can always use another reminder of the awesomeness that is Richelieu, in fact and in fiction.

Spoiler:

Richelieu? I always loved him for making catholic France side with the protestant Union in the thirty years war while still murdering the Huguenots. (Not that I would ever support the bloody Union as a catholic, but the audacity of the very political move is astonishing.) We should try something similar in Pendor. Like allying with the Eventide while holding a nice little autodafe each week.

A few months ago I read Richelieu: Cardinal Richelieu and the Rise of France. It was incredibly good: short yet relatively deep, solid original sources, and the perfect scope. His political decisions were impressive, and yet he was still a personally religious man. I feel in love not from the Three Musketeers, but from the supposed quote of a pope saying 'If there is a God, Cardinal Richelieu has much to answer for. If there is not, then he lived a good life.' The Siege of La Rochelle was particularly interesting, he was willing to try -anything-. I can only imagine twenty-forty thousand soldiers throwing stones into the sea to try to build the foundations for a wall. Even the fictional versions of him are awesome. Tim Curry played probably the most cliche villain of them all, and he was still epic!


Wouldn't the similiar thing for the Silvermist be aligning with the Gauntlet, though?


Edit: If you really want to know about Richelieu's guts and brilliance, read about the Day of Dupes. That was brilliance that risked his neck quite literally, and without an army/state inbetween himself and the axe.

JUST SAW BATMAN, HOLY FUCK IS IT AMAZING, THE TRILOGY ENDS PERFECTLY.

DrSane wrote:

JUST SAW BATMAN, HOLY FUCK IS IT AMAZING, THE TRILOGY ENDS PERFECTLY.

don't go spoiling anything!.. well or use the

Spoiler:

Everyone's going to click the spoiler anyway. I know human nature.

Marcus the Shadow Fighter wrote:

Everyone's going to click the spoiler anyway. I know human nature.

It's not even out here until the 24th, so I have another few days to succumb to temptation.

Ana Sulran[b][/b] wrote:

Wouldn't the similiar thing for the Silvermist be aligning with the Gauntlet, though?

Dawn/eventide is religious, silvermist/gauntlet is a different thing entirely.

Also, it has nothing to do with Richelieu, it's just Tim Curry.

Tubby McChubbles wrote:

Marcus the Shadow Fighter wrote:

Everyone's going to click the spoiler anyway. I know human nature.

It's not even out here until the 24th, so I have another few days to succumb to temptation.

Ana Sulran[b][/b] wrote:

Wouldn't the similiar thing for the Silvermist be aligning with the Gauntlet, though?

Dawn/eventide is religious, silvermist/gauntlet is a different thing entirely.

Also, it has nothing to do with Richelieu, it's just Tim Curry.

While I agree that Tim Curry contributed a lot... Richelieu still helped. There are similarities between the two though, for the sake of the idea of reasons of state. The Dawn and Eventide might ignore their religious conflict for a time and draw a more exact parallel for France and the Protestants, but the Silvermist and the Gauntlet are rather firm in their ideologies as well. Aligning with one's ideological, theological or TV-dictated enemy for the sake of advancing more temporal goals would be more or less the same as what Richelieu did. At least assuming there are Habsburgs present. >.> Habsburgs justify everything, apparently.

may I add the fact that the Noldor are secretly raising an army of 10,000 Twilight knights?

If not, then just ignore this post.

My view of the silvermist/gauntlet, is that they are both entirely focussed on benefiting the common people. Both orders are anti-snake cult, anti oppression etc, but differ solely on their view of how the Noldor affect or intend to affect the populace. I believe that we could very easily be seen (and are being seen) working together for any cause that benefits commoners.

Tubby McChubbles wrote:

My view of the silvermist/gauntlet, is that they are both entirely focussed on benefiting the common people. Both orders are anti-snake cult, anti oppression etc, but differ solely on their view of how the Noldor affect or intend to affect the populace. I believe that we could very easily be seen (and are being seen) working together for any cause that benefits commoners.

Why don't you sort of merge then? The Silvermists controlling the lands adjacent to the Laria woods, and the Gauntlet the rest?

Aelos wrote:

Tubby McChubbles wrote:

My view of the silvermist/gauntlet, is that they are both entirely focussed on benefiting the common people. Both orders are anti-snake cult, anti oppression etc, but differ solely on their view of how the Noldor affect or intend to affect the populace. I believe that we could very easily be seen (and are being seen) working together for any cause that benefits commoners.

Why don't you sort of merge then? The Silvermists controlling the lands adjacent to the Laria woods, and the Gauntlet the rest?

Gauntlets and Rangers merge?

Surely you jest.

Bah, everyone is guilty of something! Burn them all, the Goddess will sort them out!

Sir Aranor wrote:

Aelos wrote:

Tubby McChubbles wrote:

My view of the silvermist/gauntlet, is that they are both entirely focussed on benefiting the common people. Both orders are anti-snake cult, anti oppression etc, but differ solely on their view of how the Noldor affect or intend to affect the populace. I believe that we could very easily be seen (and are being seen) working together for any cause that benefits commoners.

Why don't you sort of merge then? The Silvermists controlling the lands adjacent to the Laria woods, and the Gauntlet the rest?

Gauntlets and Rangers merge?

Surely you jest.

Bah, everyone is guilty of something! Burn them all, the Goddess will sort them out!

everyone? well you first then.. I'll be right behind ya

The Noldor don't need 10,000 Twilight Knights.

With an army of 10 mounted companions, 34 rangers, 12 Maiden rangers and 14 Twilight Knights I crushed a Ravenstern army of over a thousand. The hardest part was just staying alive myself! (Paying the upkeep was a bit harder, actually.)


If the Noldor get 200 Twilight Knights, they could defeat all the armies of Pendor, as long as the battle isn't auto-calc'ed.