Dogberry

But then I won't get Starcraft: Ghost when it comes out.

There are times when anticipation alone is its own reward, and that looking forward to a thing is more rewarding than the actual payoff. I don't know when that is, but that's just some thing I've heard once by some people who took a bunch of my money and I never saw them again.

Don't think of it as hijacking. Think of it as keeping the thread warm until OP returns to clarify. OP will surely deliver.

I tried to think of something to say, but that gif just spoke for me so perfectly that my own words couldn't match it.

[align=justify]Personal Profile Character Name: Dogberry Himalspyr Gender: Male Race: Roegadyn (Sea Wolf) Domestic Profile Civil Status: Citizen Place of Residence: Costa del Sol area Occupation: "Privateer" Free Company: Art of War, non-RP Social Profile Some may recognize Dogberry from his younger days as a whaler of modest renown. His skill with a harpoon made him somewhat of a minor figure in the sailing community. When the war with the Garleans heated up, Dogberry began taking contracts from The Maelstrom. After the calamity, Dogberry stopped sailing and spent his most of his time in varying states of intoxication, living off of money made in bare knuckle boxing matches. Recently, he has cleaned up his act and taken to the sea, "acquiring" valuable goods and hunting the horrors of the sea for fun and profit. Meta Profile Dogberry's life leads him to travel quite a bit, but there's nowhere he'd rather be than surfing the shores along La Noscea. He's generally easygoing and amicable towards most people. If I'm on and not immediately doing something like running a dungeon or something I'm up for RP. [/align]

Sign me up. Dogberry Himalspyr in game.

Hemp IRL typically refers to the Cannabis variety that isn't used as a drug (because it has very low THC content). I wouldn't be so sure about using moko grass as a drug for the same reason, unless there's some kind of lore confirmation. The hemp plant contains two parts. The flower and the leaf. The leaf is what gets used to make rope and textiles, the flower is the part that people smoke. The all grow on the same plant, and all hemp plants contain some level of THC. Like any given cultivated plant, there is a wide variety of variations within the species grown for whatever use the grower desires. If the grower wants to make textiles, they're not growing sour deisel. If the grower wants to make half a million in San Antonio, they're not going to grow an industrial strain. But it is the same species of plant, and if we've used unnatural selection to make a plant that can clothe us and make us giggle at Yo Gabba Gabba, why didn't Eorzea?

Somnus is what you're referring to. It's basically considered something like heroin, but it's smoked through a pipe. It puts you to sleep, and an OD will put you in a permanent coma. That's the extent that I know of it. Pluto gets a mention once, and it's basically a combat drug that makes your skin as hard as steel. Many people mention moko grass as a recreational drug similar to cannabis, myself included, because it's comparison of hemp. Although it's described as hemp, and used to make hempen yarn, the icon for the item itself is not the "hemp" part of the plant, but very closely resembles the bud, which is the part of the plant people smoke. Non-canon, but one I've talked about in-game before is Prisoner's Delight, which is a funguar mob in Totorak. It's a poisonous mushroom that according to canon has some parts that can be harvested and used for food, while others are downright poisonous. I figure there's probably parts that are less poisonous than others, and make for a psychadelic experience, which is why a prisoner would find them so delightful.

Gridania is pretty, Ul'dah is exotic, but Limsa Lominsa is home. A dingy city by the water, with local character that ranges from charmingly quaint to alarmingly deadly, a raucous night life, crime that a well-meaning but hapless government can really do nothing about, and good, working class folk with a ridiculous accent? Ah, home, sweet home in good old Baltimore Limsa Lominsa.

Looks like I got my sparkly kittyboppers just in time!

I think aetheryte travel is granted to those specifically branded as "adventurers", and the average joe isn't able to attune to it, which makes land, sea, and air travel make much more sense. That said, I've always felt like there should be an in-character cost beyond gil price for it. In character, I like to play it as my character hating the sensation of teleportation. It's just so unpleasant. I got the idea from the way J.K. Rowling describes Harry as going through the Floo Network and portkeys in the Harry Potter books. They are horrible and disorienting experiences. To borrow the line from Douglas Adams, "it's rather unpleasantly like being drunk. What's so unpleasant about being drunk? Ask a glass of water."

[video=youtube]http://youtu.be/z0PvZGVPiJU One of the things I've been doing with Dogberry is having him styled after the more tribal aspects of early Roegadyn culture. He really does consider himself part of a dying breed among the Roegadyns, a tribal hunter, and tries to keep as much of their old practices alive. As such, I've been looking for music to capture that. When on the hunt, Dogberry has been known to sing songs from his tribe's past. Since it's pretty much implied that Sea Wolves were vikings, I looked up some viking folk and found this song, which expresses his outlook on life perfectly. Here are the translated lyrics: "Who shall sing me In(to) death-sleep sling me When I walk the way of Hel And the tracks I tread are cold, so cold I sought the songs I sent the songs When the deepest well Gave me drops so harsh From Valfaders pledge All know I Odin, where you (your) eye hid Early or in the days end, still knows the raven if I fall When you stand at the gate of Hel And when you have to tear free I will/shall follow you Across Gjallarbru with my song / Past the bridge of Gjöll with my song You become free from the bonds that binds you! You are free from the bonds that bound you!" "Cattle die, kinsmen die, you yourself soon must die; but there is one thing that never dies, the fair fame that one has earned. "Cattle die, kinsmen die, you yourself soon must die; but there is one thing that never dies, the doom on each one dead." - (Hàvamàl 76-77)

I treat time with suspicion bordering on contempt. Actually, I tend to treat eorzea time like Earth time, much like Rakka'li has stated. Makes it confusing when RPing with Europeans, but then I just pretty much follow their lead for their comfort.

I'm not a member of grindstone, but if they want to exclude mages, then that's up to them. Nobody's stopping anyone from a similar concept for DoM's based around formal magical duelling. In fact, that sounds like a damn cool idea.

Ignacius confirmed as Mr. Blonde.

Wooo, okay. This is a big topic for me. My favorite book ever has to be "Slaughterhouse Five" by Kurt Vonnegut. I love his other work as well, but Slaughterhouse Five was the book that blew my mind when I first read it. "Snow Crash" by Neal Stephenson is a close second. I'm also a big fan of H.P. Lovecraft, and have his complete works. I'm big on Edgar Allen Poe as well. Other favorites include: Moby Dick by Herman Mellville Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card The Giver by Lois Lowry Brave New World by Aldous Huxley The Sprawl Series by William Gibson (Neuromancer, Count Zero, Mona Lisa Overdrive, and various short stories) The Old Man's War series by John Scalzi A Song of Ice and Fire series by George RR Martin 1984 by George Orwell Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson American Gods by Neil Gaiman And that's just a fraction. I like books.

I'll be playing ESO with my wife. I will say that at first I found the combat clunky, but then discovered that there's a rhythm to it. The closest analogy I can think of was using the DMR in Halo Reach. You couldn't get an effective, quick kill by firing rapidly. You had to take your time, wait for the bloom to go down, and control your shots. Five slow shots would get you a quicker kill than ten rapid ones. It's the same way in ESO. The combat is set up so that one animation leads into another, and you have to time your attacks right or the animations start over again. The most obvious example of this is with archery, where each shot ends with you nocking another arrow and drawing. If you miss your timing, your avatar goes back to a resting state. Once I got the hang of this, combat became a lot more fun. Graphics wise, and lorewise, I'm not the biggest Elder Scrolls fan there ever was, but I'm looking forward to face rolling chumps in AvA.

Cowboys From Hell. Dimebag is one of the reasons I wanted to play guitar as a kid. I like Judas Priest, but Pantera was the band that made me really interested in music.

One of my all-time favorite albums by one of my all-time favorite bands. Awesome.

Stormwind and I go way back. We are nakama, forged in the shadows of 2070's Seattle and 1877 California ghost rock maze. We ruled Awesomedonia upon Sharkbag and feasted upon blue cherry cupcakes. We are part of a hallowed subcategory. An elite order. We are Help Desk. Storm, I assure you, there is awesomeness to be found, you need only seek it out and remain positive. I said positive, you hear me! POSITIVE.

STORMWIND SEMPAI UGUUUUUUUU~

The tea tasted like nothing Dogberry had ever tasted before. Medicinal. Sickening. It was all he could do to keep it all down. He had been advised to drink it on an empty stomach. That anything he ate would come back up. Now he knew why. Sitting, eyes closed, he sat on the beach of the Bloodshore meditating. Focus on breathing. Empty your mind. Ignore even the sound of the waves, and for once in your life, do not fear the silence. An hour passes, and he took another cup of the horrible tea. He could feel something now. A presence building up like water behind a dam. Another hour of meditation, another cup of tea, and the dam broke. The night itself grew darker, but the lights, the lights made themselves so much brighter. A song resonated from the stars, the bioluminescent coral, even the lighthouse in the distance sang its own morose song. The song they made played out in harmony, endless and beautiful. Tears welled up in Dogberry's eyes. Had they always done this? He felt compelled to sing as well, and light came from his mouth. His song was different from the rest, but it fit in naturally with the others. The kind of polyphony you get when several bands play different songs in the same key. The sea seemed so inviting. He stood, tucked his surf board under his shoulder, and waded into the tide. Every movement he made changed the music in some small, almost imperceptible way. He swam deeper, found a wave, and stood on his board. There was no need to keep balance. He was gliding, slowly and steadily as a galleon into Moraby Bay, to destinations unknown and wonderful. Llymlaen will guide you, trust the ocean. Let it take you where it may. Dogberry looked down, and noticed the water was full of sharks. Their fins encircled him, lurking. So many sharks, for a moment he was convinced he was, in fact riding a wave of writhing, snapping sharks. He panicked. Lost his balance. Fell in. The sharks dispersed. Dogberry laughed as his head breached the water, and the laughter, too, made a light and a song of its own.. The sharks were cowards. They had no light or song of their own. They were inconsequential. He collected his board and rode again for hours with the same gliding sensation and the same trust for the ocean. Days later it would occur to Dogberry that he had the bruises and scrapes to prove that he had in fact wiped out many times over the course of several hours, but he experienced none of that now. Only one long ride. Finally he heard a song in the sky. Dalamud. He looked up and tried to sing to it, but his voice went silent. It was being drowned out by Dalamud's song. Soon the stars, the campfire, the coral, even the lighthouse and ocean itself, had no song left. Only Dalamud, its low bass tone nothing like anyone had ever heard before. It grew. It grew more. It exploded. Dogberry felt a wave overtake him. Silence. Water. And there he saw the bodies of serpents surrounding him. Several giant monsters, or maybe one? Long bodied, blue, and scaly constricted around him, and he couldn't breath. He struggled, but the bodies thrashed him around and wouldn't let go. Then he saw the face, and was fixed on it. Leviathan. Leviathan sang a song to him, and seemed to wait for a reply. He didn't want to sing. He knew he would drown. Leviathan sang again, and waited for a response. He refused, and felt the coils around his body grow tighter. He instinctively shouted in pain, but the song came out instead of his cries. Leviathan sang in harmony, every note feeling like an age. He let go, and Dogberry found himself crawling toward the shore, the songs were there, but fading out now. His nose was running, he was coughing and heaving, and weeping openly until finally he vomited on the sands. The music stopped, but Leviathan remained, staring at Dogberry. He looked up to meet the serpent's gaze. "Why did you not want to sing?" Leviathan asked. "I thought I would drown if I did," Dogberry replied. "Stupid man," Leviathan said. "You cannot drown because you are already dead." Dogberry felt something within him open.

Awesome. I'll be playing this up big in character, and see who I can get to help out.

You know I'm game. I've been asking people around in character as well. Are you sure about those dates, though? The 7th and 14th are Fridays on my calendar, unless there's some timezone thing I'm not taking account for. If you mean Saturday the 8th or 15th, I can only do the 15th. If it's Friday, it'll be starting at 4p.m. for me and I'll be getting off work at that point. I'll hurry home ASAP, but I should be on not long after start time. If needed, you can say I'm below deck, taking care of some business aboard the ship.