C'kayah Polaali

I'm in. Especially if I get to write for Roen...

Old beach party photo of C and Aya, from back when he'd burned his hand really badly and never wanted anyone to see it...

I'm over 6 feet tall, with big gorilla arms. I used to do classical fencing, and one of my favorite opponents was a young woman who was well under five feet tall. My foil easily had a good foot on the length of hers. By all "size matters" criteria, I should be able to easily spank her without fear of reprisal. However, real life doesn't necessarily respect those criteria. While my reach with the foil was greater than hers (and the length of my lunge, length of my step, etc), my "minimum distance" was also greater. If I could keep her at foil length, I was okay. But if she could close on me when I lunged, I wouldn't be able to retreat fast enough. We ended up pretty evenly matched, and had a blast. I think you're looking at the same thing with the Lalafell. Especially if they're armed. If they can close on a bigger opponent, then they're at an advantage. We might want to split this off into a different thread about racial differences in combat. This is veering pretty far off from gender roles.

I would really l like a citation on this, because I have literally never heard this before. Here is the article Zyrusticae is likely referring to. While it's a suggestive study, it doesn't really examine causality, and I would hesitate to claim its hypothesis as fact. I would want to see similar studies across a greater range of species (and not just primates - dolphins are arguably more intelligent than humans, but they have not sacrificed much in the way of physical strength, though they do have the benefit of being aquatic) before considering a causal link. And the only thing I was really trying to do with the point, anyways, is just suggest that Lalafell aren't necessarily weak as toddlers just because they're toddler sized. Fear them.

I would really l like a citation on this, because I have literally never heard this before. I've seen this theory before, but it's never made a lot of sense to me. There are theories that chalk up the difference to differences in fine motor control, or to evolutionary differences designed to allow more metabolic activity for our brains without increasing the amount of food we have to eat, but there are other theories pointing to differences in the length of muscle fibers, muscle proteins, or leverage. There's an interesting study on bonobos, though, that looks at their jumping performance and determines that bonobos generate about as much force while jumping as an adult human, despite their smaller size. This is interesting because, while (as Nat says) chimps and bonobos do have these big ol' arms, bonobos have pretty stubby legs compared to humans.

If you want to look at game mechanics in relation to this question, I think aether is a good answer to this. If you look at the starter stats, they're minuscule compared to the stats of an endgame character. Where do all the extra stats come from? Is someone *really* that much stronger at level 50, in terms of muscle, than they are at level 1? Probably not. Instead, they're better able to tap into the aether that flows all around our characters (with crystals and peace and love and the will of Landru and all that). For differences between the sexes, there's clearly no in-game stat difference because because it's what we as players expect. For the races, there are differences in stats, but they're relatively small. That said, it's probably a bad idea to start looking at things like physical size as an indicator of strength. Take a look at Chimpanzees in the real world, for instance. Pound for pound, they're about four times as strong as a person. A 50 pound Chimp can easily take a fully grown man in a fight, and a large Chimp (males of some types can grow to about the size of a male Miqo'te) maintains that huge margin of strength. Makes you look at Lalafells just a little bit differently...

With the addition of Kia and Zyia Tyanu, we are now officially the most child-friendly criminal organization in all Eorzea!

I'll be there as well, though I've got to bug out for the day on Saturday to attend a wedding. Come drink with the C!

After spending waaaaaay to much on a pair of headphones paired with an amp/dac stack, I'm currently listening to this: dJe1iUuAW4M Thanks, Obama.

Ah, MUSHes. I remember (not exactly fondly ) being a wizard on a WoD MUSH and adjudicating multi-hour and sometimes multi-day timestops That sort of thing is exactly why we stuck to freeform combat on AmberMUSH. The philosophy was "we're writing collaborative fiction, so if we can't agree on an outcome, write something else".

When I started roleplaying online, I played in MUSHes that only used freeform combat, and I tend to prefer that. That said, I've had enough problems with freeform combat that I tend to not play combat heavy characters. The main problem, in my experience, is that many people simply do not want to lose. This is completely understandable, of course, but in freeform combat someone is going to have to decide to lose, and that usually ends up being me. These days, I've taken to doing a very technical Fritz Leiber-style description of combat, with very specific moves called out in a very technical style: "C'kayah faced his opponent with his sword in prime, point slightly ascending. He stepped forward, weight balanced between his feet, and swung a vertical moulinet towards his opponent's neck..." I still get faced with plenty of opponents who simply "easily parry, kicking a nearby sofa through the air at C'kayah's head while swinging their two-handed axe in a body-splitting blow", but I've had better luck with it. I don't care for RNG based combat because the combat systems tend to be pretty simplistic and don't cover the sorts of things C'kayah does - he uses poisons, he fights dirty, etc.

"Love and death together", the Miqo'te purred, looking up from his reverie and sipping his drink. "Two questions that I fully support. "Let's start with love, shall we? There is no limit to the distance I would go for love", he said, looking towards Kage for a brief moment. "There are some who've said they would go so far as to face death for it, but I think that's too simplistic. I've faced worse. To save those I love, I've allowed them to believe that I betrayed them - I've willingly given up their love for me. If that does not make me Menphina's beloved, I don't know what does." He smirked, gazing around the room, his green eyes flashing. "Now death. Death is a more interesting question. I've been in the presence of Thal before, yet here I am. Is there a reason for that? Whatever task he set for me, I'd like to complete it before I go, and then", his smile widened, "I'd like to die in the arms of a woman I loved. Thal and Menphina have ever warred for me, so why not let the end of my life reflect that?"

When I first started out, I tended to avoid RPing teleportation, and instead focused on overland and airship travel. However, as C'kayah became more and more of a smuggler and fixer, his need to travel around meant that I had to adopt IC teleportation simply in order to meet the people he needed to meet, many of whom rely on IC teleportation to get around. I figure the big aetheryte crystals are thoroughly baked into lore, so there simply isn't any question about those. C'kayah does carry an aetheryte shard, too. I see this as a way to explain adventurer's ability to teleport to an aetheryte from anywhere. At the same time, I completely respect Aya's position, so I view the portable crystals as being expensive - not everyone can afford them, and I imagine they probably wear out over time, too. Requiring a portable crystal to be able to port out of a situation, too, means that it can be taken away, trapping C'kayah. I typically RP teleportation as taking some small-but-not-insignificant amount of time. This means it's not really feasible to teleport out of combat, or any sort of immediate conflict. It otherwise feels just a little too Deus Ex...

I know how it goes, Siha! Hurry back when you can! We still need to have that angry and uncomfortable RP :blush:

It's by far the best RP community of any game I've played, and that's saying a lot! I can't speak to the lesbian catpeople ERP community, of course. Though C'kayah would certainly be into that, were he not male...

Heh! I'm addicted to trashy urban crime/romance novels. Stephanie Plum for the win

You can't pull that crap! If you're going to be specific, then you need to ask for specifically what you want! Setoh could probably eat 4 of them, if they magically weren't McDonald's hamburgers and instead were something he'd enjoy. There. You happy?

C'kayah's Burgosity score is probably 5 Setoh's is 0. He is an extremely finicky eater.

I am a Sub Pop recording artist.

You know, that's a fantastic idea, Roen! My creepy renegade Moonkeeper, Setoh, hasn't had an official RP "coming out" yet. If I can attend this, maybe I'll make it his debutante party!

Yesssss! I'm in, but only if Merc and Kage are an item

Amen. Count me in.

So pretty! More from the C files: Kenthy and Ari'za play dress up Ari'za: "You want me to question them?" C'kayah and Aya Foxheart share a quiet moment by the sea The Scarlet Pimpernel and his sidekick, Weaver Girl! Summoning romance...

This sounds awesome, and I can definitely see all sorts of interesting possibilities! Random anal point: If I search for your character, is "Gardener" the last name and "The" the first name?

Welcome, Yune! I'm glad to see you here!