Lots of diffrent questions....

[Someone new]

I was just curious about a few things i have been reading over all the posts, and have to ask/comment on a number of things.

with a Dwarf, would they be more inclined to have a homosexual relationship? Please do not get me wrong, on this but i can only
assume the number of male dwarves are tripple the number of
female, would they look to male dwarves for the release of sexual
tention, or is there foci the only thing that goes on in there mind?
- It was bound to be asked... unless AC has not already adressed it,
she has a morbid fasanation on these type of subjects  

On the topic of Subdue, it was talked about before in the code
room, have you ever considered the fact that someone could
place you on your back, put a foot on your chest/neck/groin
and then drawn a weapon not sure about many, but the second
i had a weapon drawn on me, and i was already in a prone state
i would not move, its been said and i have not even scratched
the top of the game, but people die all the time for a drop of
water, get a mul angry at you and your going to die 50 day
warrior or not. And half-giants? Always wanted to test my arm
pit theory, maybe i will if i ever get the karma *splat*....Mmmm

What is the standing with the north and south?
What is the  population of the known world?
Who makes what as in food? The south sits in
the middle of a desert, with next to no water
do they look to the north to feed there people?...
or is it dog eat dog world...Your better dead to the
kings then alive?

What is relgion? is there any? If you take the elemental planes
as gods, would you be burnt/hung/used as halfling fodder for
worshipping the void element?

Thats about all i can think of, i would love comments and answers

- Someone new

[deviant storm]

Hi Someone New. Welcome to Armageddon.

About the dwarves. Some could, I suppose. Though most are so hooked into their focus even their needs can come second. Others use human women, once they get over the fact the woman has hair.

The part about subdue I won't address. Sounds more like a comment than a question.

North and south: Active dislike, in many instances. While southerners are allowed north, and vice versa, if any official type person from one were to visit the other, he'd find outright hostility. To say the least. Like if an Oash went to Tuluk, he'd probably be killed or detained. (Then face the ramifications at Allanak, if he ever made it home alive).

What people eat: There's small farming villages outside Allanak. They grow wheat and other foodstuffs, and raise chaltons and the like for meat.
In the north, there's quite a few resources for foods to draw from, as you might find out in game.

But yes, Zalanthas is very dog eat dog, in many instances. Or at least, dog work for dog, while secretly plotting against cat. Something along those lines. You'll get the hang of it.

On the Armageddon website, you'll find a page of helpers. I hope you make use of that as well, since those people are very able to help answer your questions well. Feel free to hookup there.

That's the best I can do first thing in the morning, I hope it was helpful. Enjoy the game, and don't get discouraged if you die lots and lots at first.

[Ender]

Phew, you weren't kidding that was a lot of questions.  I will try to answer them all to the best of my ability.

I'm not too certain about dwarven sexual orientation, but I can tell you that the ratio of female dwarves to male dwarves is skewed greatly by the PC population and is not representative of the entire race.  I'd imagine it's really closer to a reasonable ratio otherwise I imagine the race would have died out a long time ago.

Races have to be hearty in Zalanthas and having a poor ratio of female to male I would look at as a defect in the race.  The only reason you don't see that many buxom female dwarves running around is because they not very popular among the players as a whole.  Every so often you'll see people advertise here in the GDB that more people need to play female dwarves, and I guess I'm doing the same thing right now.  HEY YOU(disclaimer: not necessarily you)! Play a female dwarf!

Subdue is already a REALLY powerful skill.  I'd say you should do all those things you mentioned, but through RP.  RP taking out your sword and placing at the subdee's neck while stomping on his groin or strapping him across your back.  All these things I think are perfectly valid to RP out while using subdue as it is.

north and south?  They don't like each other.  I kinda imagine what's going on now to be like the cold war.

As for population:

I think people tend to over/underestimate populations, and so these figures might be helpful to people trying to envision the world. The staff sat down and worked out a list a few years ago, but somehow, it's vanished. Here's a few guesses, off the top of my head, and other staff can jump in and correct me if I'm wrong.

Allanak: 350-400k, including villages
Northlands: same number, more dispersed
Luirs: 3-5k
Tyn Dashra: 2k
Tablelands: 20k in nomadic tribes (elves/dwarves)
Red Storm: 2-3k
Anyali: 2k (counting all 3 tribes)

Food:  Allanak has a large amount of farming villages south of the city (which is not a desert at all).  And ranches, and a chalton slaughterhouse, and other things.  Though know that the food situation is precarious at best.  Awhile ago what seemed like a minor farming disaster turned Allanak into a festering pit of starvation.

Dead to the Kings?  Specifically if you are refering to Tek and Muk, no one ever sees them.  If you're talking about templars, then it depends on what kind of character you are.  I'd imagine a thief or someone in no way involved in templars or politics would do his or her best to avoid templars and their respective wraths, and pretty much cower in their presense.

Religion is all but devoid and illegal in the main centers of population in Zalanthas.  The elements are just that, elements.  I doubt they are ever truly looked at as sentient gods.  They are personified a lot in speech, but barely anyone if any actually thinks whira or drov are actual people let alone gods.

I need to get more sleep.

Alot of this stuff can be found in various posts and parts of the website, but for the sake of help Ill try to put as much as I can here for you to eat and digest. Lets start from the top...

*Dwarves
Its been said... but sexual urges take a back seat to their Focii. And just because dwarven woman are hairless doesnt mean they are devoid of things like breasts   . So I dont think that they are necessarily attracted to other male dwarves... they probably turn to human women because of the few common similarities. I guess the same way humans/elves joined in some context to produce this race of half-elves.

* Subdue
The main thing with subdue that goes against your theory is people doing emotes like 'jumps behind you and grabs you!' subdue person, draw weapon, kill person. They hardly put the effort into putting them on the ground, placing a boot on their chest and going through with the deed. But properly emoted anything can be done almost... not sure if its a skill yet, but emoting the binding of rope would be a good way to explain your suddenly free hand.

*Dying
You said getting a Mul angry, 50 day warrior or not... thats not true really at all. Ive killed a few muls in my day with good old human warriors. They are just like stronger, slightly bigger dwarves. Nothing like half-giants, which are also beatable.

*North and the South
The South recently lost control of... pretty much the known world: Luirs and Tuluk, in a war going on 20 years ago. The north is now ruled by the Sun King Muk-Utep, the south by the Highlord Tektolnes, and the north by a strange band of spice heads called Kurac. The north HATES the south, but you could get along quite well moving to the south from the north, as many of the predominant people do.

* Population of the known world
Probably 1,000,000+. In the prior glory of Tuluk the city was said to have maybe 100,000? (check the history page). But has now since recovered. Id imagine Allanak with 500,000 or more... hmm... Dont know for sure, its in a post somewhere.

*Food/Allanak
Allanak isnt in the middle of a Desert. There are dunes on its north and western sides, partially east which gives way to the unfathomable salt wastes. To the south are miles and miles of 'ARID FIELDS' and rocky patches. The arid fields are plentiful with Allanak farms that produce small amounts of wheat. Also chalton, scrab, lizard meat and eggs round out the diet. --OTHER food is imported from the Sandlord's holding of Red Storm East, and the farms around his city of Red Storm.

*Religion
the two defiler kings- Muk and Tek are to be worshipped in their respective circles like Gods. Their templar's enforce their will. "Praise be to the Highlord!" "Thank the Highlord!" etc would suffice for "Praise Jesus!" "Thank god!". They have acquired fanatical followings over the years for their miracles done through their great magickal powers. Obviously being a 'god' is better then magicker which are universally hated. The history page can accomadate you with most of Tektolnes's miracles- burying the lower portions of the mines, turning into a dragon, burying the city-state of Steinal, etc.

*Elements
Some people worship the Elements, but I think if anyone called them a God, they'd probably be struck down by Tektolnes, in the north they'd just be struck down for being a magicker. Its commonly assumed that there are other worldly planes... from which most of the world is created. Fire, Earth, Water, Wind which are then worshipped as beings. Whira is considered a female usually... and her wrath are the storms. Suk-Krath is a male usually, and of course considered the Sun. Ruk is considered male or female... I dont know. And then Vivadu I believe is another I dont know.
-So then to offer thanks to Whira for a clear trip might seem better then to thank the Highlord. But then those utterly fearful of magick might say 'Highlord'... its kinda confusing.

Hope that helps.
Jenred, Helper Extraordinaire.

[gfair]

Couple bits of advice to someone new - there's a Search command at the top of most pages on this message board, so be sure to use it when you have questions.  There are people joining Arm regularly, many have the same questions, so chances are what you are trying to ask has been asked, and answered before.

Second - read through all the documents on the main site.  When I first joined over a year ago, I did up an initial character without having read more than about 5-10% of the literature on the main site.  However, while playing that char, I spent my IC downtime reading up on the documents.

There is extesive documentation on the main site and in this GDB, so searching is highly adviseable.