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Yes

4 (14.3%)

No

1 (3.6%)

It was fun for a long time but towards the end it just started to drag

6 (21.4%)

I wish I could have joined in.

17 (60.7%)

Total Members Voted: 28

[Eric Blank]

[Now, you must understand that you could neither say "no" nor otherwise refuse or fail to do as requested or ordered (short of being completely incapable of completing the action.) Mental Thralldom is just that; regardless of how you'd feel before and after doing something, you have become a slave to the will of the caster, without conscious knowledge. Like necromancy it perverts the laws of nature to come to an ends. All living organisms are afterall free-willed by nature and could not be directly influenced, but here we are stealing away one's freedoms, whether the caster does so on the basis of personal gain or as a means justified by an end. The biggest catch is that the caster himself is no more omniscient or wise than they would naturally be, and is thus every bit as capable of getting themselves into trouble. If I am to be an idiot and unwittingly sign a contract with whatever powers may be without any forethought or previous knowledge of the subject, then I get my way regardless of future consequences. If I didn't request you provide any further insight or forwarning, you can willfully neglect to do so, but your mind becomes incapable of comprehending failure to complete what was requested of you. Truthfully saying "I am unable to do so" is possible, but must be equally sincere. If you're at all capable of getting me into the circle of necromancy, you must do so.
You could respond to "fly across this chasm like superman" with "but I can't fly!" but could not respond to "Jump off a bridge" with "fuck off" or otherwise walk away to do anything BUT jump off the first bridge you come across or know about. Regardless of what occurs between then and now, you're going to jump off a bridge as soon as you get the chance, or likewise run to the first necromantic tome you can find or know about and instruct the caster in it's use at once. There is some imposing of willpower and telepathic introduction of exactly what the caster desires, as well, and telepathy or other unspoken command is possible.
Of course the powers that be, all of them, are thoroughly pissed at any mortal capable of bending the will of others to their own agenda. If I told some god's highest priests to burn all of their deity's books and forsake his name or insulted them by asking worshippers to sin against them I'd be smited right quick. To enslave others is a travesty enough as it is, and the only way to make a good impression in the afterlife is to use it wisely.]

[Reudh]

Reudh, convinced that the danger of the Coraitis was passed, thanks to Gizogin's mechanical robot things attempted to find the elf with the stone eyes.

Was he still with the other elves?

[wierd]

[Weird really cannot 'get you in' by himself, because he doesn't have the tablet needed to "magically convey" all the knowledge needed, nor for you to be suitably contracted. The bay12 area map shows a nearby necro tower though. While probably the crazed, power mad and doomed to circle the void like the tidybowl man kind, they should have a suitable tablet... ]

[Of course, he doesn't know they are there yet, so his answer will still be "I can't".]

[Eric Blank]

[Well at least that's a better answe-hey wait a minute this is a necromancer's tower, even if the bloke is dead and we took half her stuff! I should search around in here...]

[wierd]

[Better hope weird doesn't find it first.  Its too precious to destroy, but he would be tempted to drop it down a well.]

[Eric Blank]

[Well you'd still be under the compulsion to bring it to me as soon as you found one.]

[wierd]

[See, I have a problem with this. He is already under a sort of divine compulsion already. Also, he is accutely aware of his own mind at all times, and would double-take if compelled, such ss through hypnosis, to do something he considers batshit stupid. Mentally, he's me, and my childhood was not exactly normal. I was quite literally raised to survive a post apocolyptic future, by a well meaning but batshit parent who was a korean war vet. I am "frightfully knowledgable" in interrogation and mind manipulation/breaking practices, and have even been subjected to same as a lesson in being hardened against them. As such, I feel my character would be particularly obstinant against ordinary mind control, and would recognize quickly if he was under a geas.]

[Zanzetkuken The Great]

You people seem to really like your debates, don't you?

It would be interesting to note that I am also under a similar contract.  I had to accept it in order to become a local administrator.  In fact, so few wanted to accept it, so I automatically became one.  That contract was made just after the dragonic civil war after the assassinations that lead to the formation of the exiles.  Simply put, the contract said that I must give two-hundred years of servitude to the betterment of the civilization, even if it took my life.  That was extended to one thousand years when I joined the ranks of the masters as the master of air.  Once I became the master of earth, it extended to 1250 years.  Water-1500.  Fire-1750.  Once I reached the status of Grand Emperor, it became 2000 years of servitude before I could move on to the afterlife, and my actual lifespan did not increase.  That is only in this, however.

Interesting last remembrance on the old thread, Hugo.

[Oliolli]

a well meaning but batshit parent who was a korean war vet.

I think I know the type.

[Splint]

[My dad will only teach my how to shoot and poison people when we have the money to afford a smaller caliber rifle and the stuff to maintain it... Although I do know that having bones broken on e at a time, starting with extremities, can make someone who is adverse to extreme pain talk quickly. As does shooting people in a village in the face till everyone else tells you who the sniper was.

Those vietnam era South Korean ROK Spec Ops were a little... unhinged...]

[WillowLuman]

@ ZTG What, the dwarven trader, or remembering that we're an ocean away?

[No brackets for me, thanks]
I think we're forgetting that elves usually worship a natural force, something like rivers or forests, and cut out middle-men such as deities from their spirituality.
I have a few working theories about cosmology within DF worlds. Right now, I'm going with this one:
In the age of Myth, when sentient life first appears in a world, the fabric of the young world is still so soft and malleable that it can be shaped by the perceptions of its people just as much as it in turn shapes those perceptions. So, deities form from early attempts to rationalized the workings of the world, and in turn shape the cultural differences. Because of their nature, gods remain malleable even after the world solidifies to more concrete laws, and can be subject to cultural changes, such as slow generational shifts in ideas or conquest from other cultures. Still, they exist and have real power according to their currently defined boundaries as set by the beliefs of the worshipers. They have much less influence on outsiders to the culture, especially if an outsider does not believe, but they can still affect those outsiders by proxy through the worshipers.

[Eric Blank]

[See, I have a problem with this. He is already under a sort of divine compulsion already. Also, he is accutely aware of his own mind at all times, and would double-take if compelled, such ss through hypnosis, to do something he considers batshit stupid. Mentally, he's me, and my childhood was not exactly normal. I was quite literally raised to survive a post apocolyptic future, by a well meaning but batshit parent who was a korean war vet. I am "frightfully knowledgable" in interrogation and mind manipulation/breaking practices, and have even been subjected to same as a lesson in being hardened against them. As such, I feel my character would be particularly obstinant against ordinary mind control, and would recognize quickly if he was under a geas.]

[It's not ordinary mind control, unfortunately. It's divine magic, and even when consciously aware of one's enthrallment (which isn't immediately apparent by any drastic change in emotions or thoughts unless that is a part of the requirements of the command, but you could consciously think "wtf am I doing?") one cannot consciously control their actions through any means besides equivalent mind control magic or an ability to dispel powerful magics whilst unable to cast a spell with anything but their conscious thought. It's not a form of hypnosis, but a magical control of the mind and/or body. Hypnosis is easy enough, but doesn't really constitute "divinely gifted magic." It may lie dormant for a period of time until conditions the caster calls for are met or the action requested otherwise becomes a possibility, during which time there would be no way to know that one had been affected, or whether a spell was cast at all. If the divinity responsible for your own divine magics were to specifically deny other forms of magic to interfere with your self-control, attempt to dispel the magic, or put your sanity in a "locked" state that prevents drastic personality changes or inexcusable actions, which Thari was clearly not protected by or she would have remained sane and broken no taboo regardless of how weak or strong her mind really was, then it may fail to take effect. Given that Thari DID perform actions which she wasn't meant to and that she went completely bonkers, the divinity responsible for necromantic magics does not offer divine protection from magical assault, and personal willpower isn't a factor in the success of divinely appointed mind control magic. If your deity, in all it's divine power, wasn't willing to stop Kodkod from successfully teaching Thari in her own perverted form or Luc from teaching you on a whim, or any necromancer who became so out of lust for power or knowledge (also power!) or just for the sake of obtaining immortality, why would they be concerned by my desire to do so or through what manner it occurs? They don't appear to give a damn.]

[wierd]

Its not quite like that.

The goddess of death finds the "free will" of her thralls amusing. As such, they are able to dothings to violate the contract, because that makes her laugh, and makes it harder for other contrators to satisfy their obligations. (Think a little sadistically there.)

However, she treats necromancers as *her* property, as governed by the contract they willingly bound themselves to. She has a decidedly hands off methodology, so as to give them all the rope they need to hang themselves. This creates the illusion to the necromancer that he/she is in full control of themselves, but this is not true, and is done by design. 

Thari broke the taboo because she wanted to, and was not prevented from doing so.  See, the death goddess *wants* necromancers to break the taboo. She doesn't compell them to, she simply lets them do it themselves, confident that they will do so.  She's a goddess, afterall. She wants her playthings to come to her themselves.

Somebody other than her messing with her little game, however.....

[Zanzetkuken The Great]

Meanwhile, at the dragon outpost...

"You just HAD to launch that fireball at the kobold!  What were you thinking!"

At least it only burned the ground cover and not the trees.

@ ZTG What, the dwarven trader, or remembering that we're an ocean away?

Which part of my post were you refering to and what do you mean by 'we're an ocean away'?

[Gizogin]

Hmm, this hospital is still missing something...
Victims!  Patients!  Wait, no, having no patients is a good thing.  Yeah.

The Mk. X is coming along nicely.  So far, I've only run into one minor snag: I'm out of materials.  I have absolutely nothing left to work with, unless I cannibalize the Mks. VI-VIII, which I don't want to do.  Miners, metalworkers, and furnace operators: get me more materials!  The future of medicine depends on it!