Was: "BF? But How?" Now: "BF Aspects I don't get"

[Cairn]

Duh.

I mean no one even knew about the secret deity "Kraft Macaroni & Cheese" until now....


ahh, crap. I let it slip. Goshdangit...

[Zalya]

Duh.

I mean no one even knew about the secret deity "Kraft Macaroni & Cheese" until now....


ahh, crap. I let it slip. Goshdangit...

Ha ha. No. This is not true. Do not worry about Cairn fellow human Planeshifters. He has gone away for awhile. There is no such thing as KRAFT LORD OF MAC THE NINTH LEVEL OF CHEESEDOM. Anyone who feels like discussing the fictional KRAFT LORD OF MAC THE NINTH LEVEL OF CHEESEDOM is encouraged to join us crazy people in the dark cellar beneath the abandoned church looming terribly over the crowded streets of Arkham Massachusetts. Let us go. Do not bring weapons.

I treat the Black Flame in the same way people view the idea of a vast alien conspiracy. I feel as though there are so many dead ends and crazies out there who would make the entire idea of looking to closely into the Black Flame so much of a social faux pas that it would give the investigator the nut job label. Anyone who did get to close to uncovering the truth would likely disappear under mysterious circumstances. Those who do learn too much might even be driven mad, and become Black Flame worshipers themselves.

I would compare our modern world, with its cameras and records everywhere, to a fantasy world with accessible scrying. Even with access to information, the real truth would be so mired in crack pot theories and twisted folk tales that getting anywhere near to the truth would prove to be nearly impossible. If we can assume that Black Flame worshipers are actively spreading misinformation as well, we can safely say that it would be very easy for an investigator to fall down a rabbit hole that is filled with entirely fictional information.

Even if some one where to successfully scry on the Black Flame itself, there is reason to believe that the Flame would have the ability to warp what the diviner was seeing, thus providing even more misinformation. The Black Flame would not think like any mortal. It would think in terms of centuries, and eons, not in seconds and minutes. It's plans are unfathomable, and even its worshipers do not fully understand what it wants. What makes the Black Flame so interesting is that there is so much mystery and deception going on. The gods themselves probably don't even understand it's motivations.

[Volki]

Since I hate everything about scrying, I would like to know how it works in the game. I'm not going to go questing for the knowledge (I may have already done the quest and forgotten about it). What can and cannot be scried? What information can be gathered from scrying?

The one time I've ever seen it used in roleplay was when a character was missing and someone used his magic powers of scrying to find her. Normally we'd call that cheating but people were tired of searching.

[bilbous]

How odd, I used the pseudonym Chucky Cheese in my book of BF exploits, does that mean I really work for Krappy Dinner the omnivorous?

I think, Volki, that you can assume that it works poorly and gives results that must be properly interpreted. Likely, the god's will can cause further obscurity such that so other god's help will be required to give even standard, poor results.

Of course as far as player run role plays whatever is ultimately required to further the event is what will be done.

[cdmoreland]

I,Waesed, have some knowledge of the Black Flame and their god, the Whisper. I have uncovered some of their plots but never the ones directing them.

Though the Octarch may not be aware of it, the Black Flame controls the government!

[Pierre]

I think, Volki, that you can assume that it works poorly and gives results that must be properly interpreted. Likely, the god's will can cause further obscurity such that so other god's help will be required to give even standard, poor results.

Brilliant.  And common sense.

For those of us who wield it.

Though the Octarch may not be aware of it, the Black Flame controls the government!

A good paranoia based conspiracy theory?  I'm IN.  On any side.

And everything that Zayla said.  And everything Eonwind said PLUS everything he thought.   

[Caraick]

The whole point of the Black Flame is that it's the bogeyman.  Any rational creature in Hydlaa regards them as a ficticious, entertaining bedtime story that's used to frighten children. If anyone claims to be Black Flame, they're not, see?

Though, as players, we certainly know it's out there. It could be your friendly city smith. Your tavern's barkeeper. Even your own wife. You'd never know.

And you never will.

[Cairn]

I,Waesed, have some knowledge of the Black Flame and their god, the Whisper. I have uncovered some of their plots but never the ones directing them.

Though the Octarch may not be aware of it, the Black Flame controls the government!

KRAFT MAC AND CHEESE

[Volki]

STOP SPAMMING CAIRN

[Cairn]

Black Flame's been expounded on.

Multiple times.

I am very curious about scrying, however. Can I one-up the question of how it works in today's PlaneShift?

[bilbous]

A stop spamming cairn sounds like a good idea so that everyone who passes will know that someone disliked spam so much as to erect a cairn with the message "stop spamming."

[Rigwyn]

Sorry, saw this and had to laugh:

[Kaerli_Stronwylle]

Duh.

I mean no one even knew about the secret deity "Kraft Macaroni & Cheese" until now....


ahh, crap. I let it slip. Goshdangit...

Ha ha. No. This is not true. Do not worry about Cairn fellow human Planeshifters. He has gone away for awhile. There is no such thing as KRAFT LORD OF MAC THE NINTH LEVEL OF CHEESEDOM. Anyone who feels like discussing the fictional KRAFT LORD OF MAC THE NINTH LEVEL OF CHEESEDOM is encouraged to join us crazy people in the dark cellar beneath the abandoned church looming terribly over the crowded streets of Arkham Massachusetts. Let us go. Do not bring weapons.

I treat the Black Flame in the same way people view the idea of a vast alien conspiracy. I feel as though there are so many dead ends and crazies out there who would make the entire idea of looking to closely into the Black Flame so much of a social faux pas that it would give the investigator the nut job label. Anyone who did get to close to uncovering the truth would likely disappear under mysterious circumstances. Those who do learn too much might even be driven mad, and become Black Flame worshipers themselves.

I would compare our modern world, with its cameras and records everywhere, to a fantasy world with accessible scrying. Even with access to information, the real truth would be so mired in crack pot theories and twisted folk tales that getting anywhere near to the truth would prove to be nearly impossible. If we can assume that Black Flame worshipers are actively spreading misinformation as well, we can safely say that it would be very easy for an investigator to fall down a rabbit hole that is filled with entirely fictional information.

Even if some one where to successfully scry on the Black Flame itself, there is reason to believe that the Flame would have the ability to warp what the diviner was seeing, thus providing even more misinformation. The Black Flame would not think like any mortal. It would think in terms of centuries, and eons, not in seconds and minutes. It's plans are unfathomable, and even its worshipers do not fully understand what it wants. What makes the Black Flame so interesting is that there is so much mystery and deception going on. The gods themselves probably don't even understand it's motivations.

There is a factor here you completely skip in your analogy, Zalya: namely, the accessibility and preservation of *evidence*.  In PS RP (and I presume the lore as well, although I have not seen a good source on how the Octarchy investigates crimes), investigations are focused on accounts from  witnesses, with physical evidence being a minor factor, at best (in most cases, it ranges from scant to nonexistent).  As a result of this, most of our characters give little regard to evidence preservation (Evirea's the only *serious* exception I've seen, and even then, I suspect that there's only so much she can get out of physical evidence), as even if the evidence available was painstakingly preserved and documented by the characters who first discovered the scene, the RPers involved would likely find a way to make it so that whatever physical evidence found was insufficient to solve the crime.
  IRL, though, just about any physical action leaves behind telltale clues of what happened for those who are attentive and knowledgeable enough to find them, to the point where physical evidence alone can catch a criminal or tell the story of a disaster.  This, by itself, makes vast conspiracies far harder to sustain IRL, as they would have to cover their trails to an extreme degree.  (A great example of RL evidence preservation is the reconstruction of TWA 800's forward fuselage, which stands as a permanent exhibit in the NTSB training center.)