Magicker population?

[a strange shadow]

Mages in Tuluk = demon baby eaters
Mages in Allanak = an unpredictable lunatic with a machine gun

[Pale Horse]

Just think how wonderful the world would be if everyone took the responses and attitudes in this thread and applied them IG!!!!

'Gicker getting friendly?  Ridicule the demon-spawned, breed spawn for even thinking he/she is worth talking to.  Or better yet, just ignore them or walk away, they're not worth the time replaying to.

'Gicker getting friendly?  Hot-damn, here's a chance to get him/her to shrivel the tits of that hard-assed sergeant who's been giving you shit during sparring.  See how well her lover likes her now.

Your friends are playing nice with the finger-wigglers?  Maybe they're trying to kill him..or..maybe their trying to get on their good side, so as not to end up wearing their innards in their heads and their brains in their stomachs.

Be the change you want in the game, people.

p.s. Nothing against the original poster, but my first thought when seeing this thread was "Just let the topic die already!  We don't need another one of these", knowing fully well where this was all going to lead, eventually.

[NoteworthyFellow]

There's a way to play a 'gicker hunter without it being OOCly motivated or stupid.  It's also a sponsored role specific to one city.  You'll also have other duties.  Many other duties.

[Eloran]

There's a way to play a 'gicker hunter without it being OOCly motivated or stupid.  It's also a sponsored role specific to one city.  You'll also have other duties.  Many other duties.

Just because you're a Jihaen doesn't mean it should make sense for your character to gallivant about hunting mages. Even most Jihaens fear mages, because most of them do not understand them.

I'd also refrain from calling Jihaen's magicker hunters, as there is far more depth to them than that. Unless you were referring to something else completely, in which case I'm a dummy.

[NoteworthyFellow]

There's a way to play a 'gicker hunter without it being OOCly motivated or stupid.  It's also a sponsored role specific to one city.  You'll also have other duties.  Many other duties.

Just because you're a Jihaen doesn't mean it should make sense for your character to gallivant about hunting mages. Even most Jihaens fear mages, because most of them do not understand them.

I'd also refrain from calling Jihaen's magicker hunters, as there is far more depth to them than that. Unless you were referring to something else completely, in which case I'm a dummy.

No, that's what I was referring to, but that's what I was alluding to regarding the "other duties."  Jihaens can and do hunt magickers around Tuluk, and they never, ever do so alone.  However, it isn't their main job, and they don't "gallivant about," by any means, you're right.

[jhunter]

Jihaen templars surrounded by troops is one of the very few examples of mage hunting that goes on that fits the gameworld realistically, IMO.

[Rhyden]

I could maybe see a half-crazed, spiced and souped up warrior-ranger combo going after a magicker or two, if they really needed the coin or whatever, but it would probably be rare and definitely dangerous for all those involved. This is probably why you don't see many successful mundane 'mage-hunters' around.

[Synthesis]

I imagine a good, well-informed (e.g. works for Oash or the Templarate), well-supplied assassin could keep naughty 'gickers up at night, worrying...but again, this would be a rare exception.

If anything, I'd like to see more magickers being afraid of other magickers.  I mean, just because you're a Whiran doesn't mean you know everything about what that Krathi over there can do.  Just because he hasn't fireballed you yet doesn't mean he isn't contemplating it every time you go out the gates.  Maybe you know his weaknesses, but hell...maybe he knows yours, too.  Every time he reaches into his pack, you should be worrying whether he's going to pull out the mon component that will be the end of you.  The same goes for every other type of 'gicker...when your supposed "buddy's" magick starts to flare up, you have no fucking idea whether it's going to buff your stats or check-mate your ass.  Fuck that noise.

[evil_erdlu]

If anything, I'd like to see more magickers being afraid of other magickers.  I mean, just because you're a Whiran doesn't mean you know everything about what that Krathi over there can do.

Eh.. But it's a complex situation.. Often you end up examining each and every 'weapon' of other elements and seeking defences against them. So you often cooperate even more with other elementalists.

[Agent_137]

The same goes for every other type of 'gicker...when your supposed "buddy's" magick starts to flare up, you have no fucking idea whether it's going to buff your stats or check-mate your ass.  Fuck that noise.

This is one of the things i love about this business.

[rishenko]

Why would anybody attempt to wrestle a fucking bear?

Why would anybody hunt a dragon?

Why would anybody put themselves face to face with Death, knowing that their doom is quite imminent?

Not everybody is completely sane, not everybody is rooted in the reality of their situation.  And... some people are loyal enough to a cause or have been mentally coerced/trained/braind-washed into giving up their lives for their profession.

While I agree that it's relatively far-fetched for somebody to go hunting a magicker day after day, there would be people, if ordered, trained or conditioned into accepting such a bleak and deadly way of life, that would do their duty - even if it was a duty that practically guaranteed death, dismemberment, or worse.

"Forward, the Light Brigade!"
Was there a man dismay'd?
Not tho' the soldier knew
Someone had blunder'd:
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

3.

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the six hundred.

[Malken]

This thread had the effect I thought it would, hah!

You've just increased the number of magickers by +10.

[Qzzrbl]

Magickers are not people.  They are half demon things that eat babies, lurk in shadows, and can strike you with a curse to make your genitalia swell to the size of a wagon which then starts to try to choke the life out of you. 

Maybe if magickers started acting this way.....

Instead of getting offended when you try to treat them as such....

Just a thought.

[spawnloser]

Oh, maybe because they were raised as a normal person for all of their life and they'd like nothing but to be regarded and accepted as a normal person that they should suddenly change into a fire-farting demon that hates everyone else?  Yeah, good plan.

[NoteworthyFellow]

Oh, maybe because they were raised as a normal person for all of their life and they'd like nothing but to be regarded and accepted as a normal person that they should suddenly change into a fire-farting demon that hates everyone else?  Yeah, good plan.

Something like this, yes.

[Zoltan]

Magickers are not people.  They are half demon things that eat babies, lurk in shadows, and can strike you with a curse to make your genitalia swell to the size of a wagon which then starts to try to choke the life out of you. 

Maybe if magickers started acting this way.....

Instead of getting offended when you try to treat them as such....

Just a thought.

Dude, just hate them even more. It's not rocket surgery.

I had a mundane dwarf once that found himself working with the gemmed a lot, but he -hated- those bastards; he only worked with them because it aided his focus. He wasn't so stupid as to threaten them or anything like that, but he never really hid his feelings. His hatred was only fueled when the wigglers tried coming off as normal, or if his friends treated them with respect.

What I'm trying to say... if your character's views "offend" a gemmer trying to live normally, GOOD. Keep it up. You'll probably receive a kudos from me.

[Agent_137]

magickers start as normal humans and only turn into true monsters after years of being treated like one. SO GET TO WORK HATING ON THEM.

[titansfan]

Agreed. I personally like the hatred from other PC's whenever I play a 'gicker. It creates the kind of environment I expect and plan towards. It almost throws me everytime someone acts nice to me, I actually get mad IG cause I think they just want to use me or trick me. I vote yes to the emotionally distraught and untrusting mages. IT'S ZALANTHAS, BE AN ASSHOLE!

[RogueGunslinger]

magickers start as normal humans and only turn into true monsters after years of being treated like one. SO GET TO WORK HATING ON THEM.

[LoD]

Fear and suspicion is frequently based on prejudice and ignorance.  And that ignorance and prejudice is usually developed from a lack of experience or knowledge.

It's much easier to fear something that is rarely seen, rarely observed, and rarely encountered.  However, there are several obstacles in the game working against that prescribed set of behavior, which is why I feel it's largely an OOC-driven and artificial want that magickers be universally "feared and hated".

One reason is because a high degree of magicker-mundane interaction happens within the confines of a heavily populated and fairly lawful city-state.  The people there might fear or mistrust magickers, but they also know how the law works.  It's an environment thick with social rules.  Rules of correct and incorrect behavior.  Rules that your character will have come to trust will keep them safe as long as they obey the important ones.

Despite that, there are still plenty of reasons why people would take action against what most would consider a superior and deadly adversary.  Hunger, desperation, drug addiction, madness, hatred, fear, self-defense, self-preservation, survival -- take your pick.  There are plenty of situations where people might forgo or embrace their fear of something out of necessity.

However, that biggest reason (IMHO) is that many players have simply begun to feel cornered by magick.

Not in the literal sense, where there's a magicker physically blocking their character in a corner, but in the sense that wherever you go, you can't seem to get away from magick or magickers.  Plots with magickers.  Encounters with magickers.  Taverns with magickers.  Streets with magickers.  Slums, mansions, cities, wilderness, magickers, magickers, magickerrs, magickers.

What generally happens when you chase an animal?  It runs.  Out of fear, out of instinct, out of past experience.  However, what happens when you corner that fearful animal?  Almost all of them will defend themselves by whatever means possible.

Many players, and their characters, have probably been trying to "run away" from magick and magickers for years out of fear, out of instinct, out of past experience.  Except that the consistent presence of magick and magickal characters has eventually "cornered" them with the understanding that no matter where they run, what they do, or where they go, they will likely have to deal with magickers directly.  And of that realization is borne the same "fight or flight" notion that you see with animals.

You don't need a physical situation to trigger a cornered response.  You just need the sense that you cannot get away from something perceived as a threat.  It's only natural to forgo your fear and defend yourself by whatever means possible.

We're still animals, after all.

-LoD

[titansfan]

Very nicely put LoD. I like it.

[NoteworthyFellow]

LoD, why you gotta be right all the time?

[Malken]

In before IAWLOD.. Oh, wait, I'm too late

[jhunter]

That's more of an OOC response LoD. I don't believe, in general, that it is true ICly. For the Allanaki, nothing has changed really. For the Tuluki, nothing has changed really. Players have an OOC perception that things have changed, and they do. But ICly, things aren't any different in regards to magickers. Simply because there are more pc gemmers being seen in Allanak, it does not mean IC that there are suddenly more magickers. They're there all the time.
Because some players OOCly feel this way, it does not mean that things have changed IC and that players have a free pass to act upon those OOC desires in character.
Unless I'm misunderstanding your post, and if I am, I apologize in advance, that seems to be what you're saying.
Ignorance is -usually- developed from a lack of experience or knowledge. Not -always-.Iin the case of magickers, it not only develops from ignorance but is literally bred into most Zalanthans from birth.

[Salt Merchant]

A simple solution to the whole issue:

Make the gemmed the equivalent of a desert tribe by moving them lock, stock and barrel to a remote location (one place easily comes to mind), still overseen by templars and soldiers.

Players of mundanes get to play MundaneMud as per their wishes, with ne'er a spell or mage in sight, no matter how many gemmed there are.

Players of gemmed form a cosy community just like desert elf tribes do. They'd hardly notice any different in interaction, given the social exclusion from all the city's groups. Maybe they even work toward creating a local paradise. An interesting trade dynamic develops, if gemmed are banned from Allanak itself.