Okay, here\'s my foray into creative writing.  Hope you enjoy it.
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1.

Looking up at the great iron tower, Rhyxali wondered like everyone else how it came to be.  None knew of its construction, and its height rivaled the Iron Temple of Laanx.  \"Windowless and silent, it bears witness to my passing,\" she mused.  The North Gate was only a few paces away, and the coming journey weighed heavily upon her.  She stopped short of the gate and checked herself one last time.  She\'d packed all the provisions and equipment she could carry, even extra weapons.  All seemed in order, so she approached the guards.  They were standing attentively in their chain shirts and tabards, with the city crest emblazoned prominently on their chests.  One of the guards picked up his halberd, walked forward, and addressed her.

\"Leaving the city, aye?  Well, do be careful on the road.  There\'s been talk of bandits to the west.\"

\"I\'ll be heading due north, then northeast to the Bronze Doors,\" Rhyxali replied.  \"About two days\' walk, if I set a good pace.  I intend to enter the Labyrinths.\"

The guard looked shocked.  \"Alone?  All that way, then into the Stone Labyrinths all by yourself?  Barmy you are, lass.  Have you no companions to take with you?\"

\"That\'s my reason for going,\" said Rhyxali.  \"My companions are two weeks overdue from the Labyrinths.  I have no other friends to journey with, and I do not trust the company of strangers.\"

The guard shook his head slowly and sighed, then replied, \"Then at least wear some plate armor instead of that studded leather stuff.  You\'ll be skewered in no time with such little protection.\"

Rhyxali laughed lightly.  \"I\'m no hardened warrior, and would never be able to move while wearing it.  Besides, I\'m equipped enough as it is without being overly burdened.\"

\"You know your business, I suppose.  Off with you, then.\"  Rhyxali started walking.  \"Be careful just the same,\" the guard called after her.  She half-turned and smiled back at him, then refocused on her northerly course.

\"A nice man, if a bit naive,\" she thought to herself.  \'Adventurers\' were a common sight these days.  Always coming or going to the next bit of excitement, beating up monsters, or flooding the market with treasures.  Expecting her friends\' return a fortnight ago, she had begun to worry.  They had gone to the Stone Labyrinths in search of an artifact of legend, some ancient device from a bygone civilization.  They had been camped at Jayose\'s Library for a month dredging through dusty tomes and parchments, looking for any hint of the device.  Obviously, they\'d found something.  They left abruptly, sending word through a messenger to await their return in five days\' time.  Five days went by, and no word.  Six days.  Nine days.  On the tenth day, Rhyxali began preparations to search them out.  It took the next two days to rearrange business deals and tie up loose ends.  

Her heart beat to the rhythm of her footsteps upon the dirt road, her breath coming every two or three steps.  Settling into her pace, she walked onward, her mind preoccupied with thoughts of her missing friends.

You \"kids\" tend to forget that the D&D alignments (and all its rules) were intended for players ages 10 and up, meaning that it had to be simple enough for a 10-yr-old to understand (I\'m assuming you\'re all at least 10 ).  Besides, true evil goes beyond simple definition of \"alignments\", since the truest form of evil encompasses all aspects, not just one stereotype.  True evil is more of a formless entity or an existence of some kind as opposed to a physical embodiment or tangible manifestation.

And Auran, don\'t preach to me about theology.  I went to church for more than 20 years, and managed to pay attention most of the time.  I also studied outside the church circle on other aspects of basic theology, trying to get the largest possible picture from various cultures across history.

Originally posted by Auran
God symbolises empathy while the Devil stands for apathy.

Apathy n.: Lack of interest or concern, especially regarding matters of general importance or appeal; indifference.
Also means the lack of emotion or expression.

Nothing could be farther from the truth.  The Devil does care very much about beating God at his own game.  God wants to save His precious creations (us), while the Devil wants to damn them as he was damned.  That implies purpose, and a purpose cannot be sustained for eons without drive/passion.  That is not apathy.  If the Devil was truly apathetic, he wouldn\'t care at all, and we\'d all be guaranteed a spot in Heaven without any catches or rules to live by.

Originally posted by Auran
chaotic evil is just plain chaotic, not governed by an intellect, implusive and instinctive.

Wrong again.  If that were the case, all animals would be classified as evil, since they act on instinct.  People who are called evil do evil because they choose to.  That implies intellect; the ability for a sentient being to make his/her own choices.

Auran, trying to say that others\' stated opinions are laughable only makes you appear like an insecure little boy who needs his mommy to nursemaid him some more.  I don\'t post without giving thought to what I say?  Rubbish.  A majority of your threads/responses are entirely forgettable.  My first post garnered three pages of good discussion.  When was the last time you had anything of real value to say?  Your post in this thread is the most intelligent thing I\'ve seen from you so far.  If you continue this trend, you just may end up a valued community member...  

[edit] Sorry to steal your thread, Drachion.  I knew you were Rp-ing.  We had another person on the boards who was abusive *cough*Link*cough* and he was banned.  He was just plain mean.  At least your type of badness was \"themed.\"  

Well, you can look at it this way...

The Azure Sun exists in the middle of the cavern roof and provides light that has day/night cycles.  This could mean the following:

1. The big crystal emits its own light, which could be that the crystal itself is magical/supernatural/god-created, or that since it emits its own light, it may actually be alive, and the day/night cycles are its life pulses.  It may or may not even be a crystal.

2. The big crystal does not emit its own light, but reflects it from elsewhere.  It could reflect the light that\'s inside the giant cavern, but I think this unlikely.  It would have to amplify light as well to accomplish this.  It could also be that the light that is seen in day/night cycles comes from somewhere outside the cavern, and that the cycles represent a planetary rotation.

If you log into the client and go to the library, there\'s a book on the bottom floor with an upwards-streaming particle light beneath it.  On the open page you can see a macro-view of Yliakum.  Many people miss this.

..........

Why do you people shanghai my thread?

Here is your answer to PvP in PS:
It has already been stated that there will be arenas for the sole purpose of entertaining those who enjoy one-on-one PvP, and also supporting team battles.  It has also been stated that there will be no open PvP or PK in the streets (or outside the streets, for that matter).  Wishing it were another way does not make it so.  The horse is dead; stop beating it.

Oh, please.  If you want to fight against human opponents, go play Quake3 or Tribes2, or get out your Xbox and play Halo.  Lots of PK there - in fact, that\'s the point of those games.  You could also go play Shadowbane, a griefer\'s paradise.  Lots of leet lewt to harvest from your kills.  Maybe the devs should make PS into a big, dungeon-like arena for \"ppl\" to gank each other in.  Wouldn\'t that be loads of fun?

Seriously though, RPGs assume that the players will play the role of their character: actually pretend to be someone else for a while, complete with an alternate personality.  They \"live\" their virtual life, experience high adventure, and also experience creepy depths with dangerous monsters hidden just around the corner.  Throw in some treasure to gain, along with a modicum of fame, and most RPG-ers will be very happy.  Let them adventure with friends, find new areas, and \"save the day\" through quests.  Why must everything turn into \"I love PK, I love to killz ppl?\"  If you play online games solely for the \"fun\" of killing others, there\'s something very wrong with you.

*sigh*

So tired of listening to posers/lamers acting at being evil.  Some lessons to be learned:

1. Evil does not advertise itself as such in order to gain attention.
2. Folks who are truly evil - chances are, you won\'t know it until it\'s too late.
3. Evil does not normally band together in a \"loyal\" group for achieving goals (unless it\'s lawful evil, but then, everyone\'s motives are not neccesarily the same, and \"loyal\" is entirely subjective)
4. Folks who claim to be evil for evil\'s sake just irk me.  Some hero needs to come along and remove them from our collective misery.


And, for your further edification, some excerpts from a d20 supplement aptly entitled \"Evil\":

\"Chaotic evil is lazy evil: it gets things done in the simplest possible way.  Chaotic evil can also be considered \'efficient evil.\'  Coveting your neighbor\'s house?  Conk him over the head and move in!  Don\'t like the adventurers creeping into your dungeon?  Waste \'em!  Nothing troubling you at the moment?  Take a nap!  Like every other alignment, chaotic evil types tend to hang out together because they understand one another.  These groups don\'t have a lot of rules or formal structures.  The boss is the boss because he gets things done and is strong enough to bend others to his will.  The underlings want to be in charge, and one of them will probably get ambitious enough to attack the leader eventually... assuming the leader doesn\'t crush him first.\"

\"Chaotic evil is the cycle gang who kicks down your door, steals your stuff, burns your house and deep-fries your puppy dog - then leaves.  Lawful evil is a faceless bureaucracy that seizes your house through eminent domain laws, confiscates your property with a court-ordered foreclosure, puts your puppy dog to sleep because he wasn\'t registered, and then offers to rent your old house back to you at a reasonable rate.  Lawful evil is organized.  Violence is the last resort, after it\'s tried blackmail, bribery, threats and devious backroom political maneuvering.  Chaotic evil hates to back down from an open fight.  Lawful evil hates open fights: it would much rather sneak into your bedroom, cast a sleep spell on you to make sure you\'re really out, then put a pillow over your face.  So much tidier.\"

\"In many games, the neutral evil character is rightfully described as \'Neutral Me.\'  Their number one goal is not simply to acquire power, or riches, but to grasp anything that they desire.  After they have gained it, they may as well forget about it and move on - once its usefulness is finished, or the thrill of the acquisition is gone.    Chaotic evil wants it now.  Lawful evil wants it all.  Neutral evil simply wants it, and will go to any lengths, including patience, outright bartering, or even working with a good party to get it.  The neutral evil villains do occasionally keep their word and stick to contracts - when it is in their best interest.\"

[excerpts Copyright 2001 Alderac Entertainment Group, Inc.]

Some other thoughts:
If you\'re going to RP \"evil\", take a good look into the mindset.  Go into a public place and step out of your normal societal role, and closely observe the \"sheep\" around you.  Notice how they\'re so wrapped up in their own little worlds: on their cellphones, talking with a friend, or wondering what to buy.  It takes little effort to reach out and take/disrupt a life.  More effort is required to achieve mass destruction (blowing up a mall, for instance), with the greater reward/satisfaction as a result.  The villains make the adventure.  Exploring a rich, immersive environment with no \"true bad guys\" (AI or player) will doom any game.  I go through my tedious life day by day, with no desire to repeat that in a virtual environment.  If you\'re going to portray \"evil\", at least do it right.