Silt skimmers and their crews

[Clearsighted]

What is the extent of the knowledge about silt skimmers and their crews? There is a blurb about them in the Silt Horror entry about being stoic and secretive. Yet what else is there known about them? How do the skimmers even operate on the silt seas? What are they 'fishing' for out there? Are they based out of Red Storm or somewhere else?
I've always thought they were one of the more fascinating, if generally unexplored areas of the game. I'd love to see if I missed any documentation about them.

[Pale Horse]

There used to be a time when one could actually visit a location, IG and purchase a skimmer of their own.  The cost was exorbitant, though so I never did hear of any independent owning one...Several stories of a certain (memorable) part of a well know organization, but they had a vast, rich network to draw from.

As for finding these things, nowadays, IG..I wouldn't count on it.  The location where the purchasing of said skimmers, eh.."changed management" as it were.  Find out details IG, or the history board.

[Incognito]

You may still purchase Silt Skimmers IG, if you can find the correct House or NPC to sell them to you -- Again, FOIC.

Pale Horse is dead-on with his info, about the place which "changed managements" and used to sell skimmers earlier

However, I would like to think that that place was not the only place where one could get Silt Skimmers on Zalanthas.

Without spoiling any IC info - let me just put in a small hint - if you find a "dock" somewhere on the Sea of Silt, chances are there might be skimmers moored there, or someone who pilots/sells/rents them, or someone who might know how to make one, around there.

Caveat Emptor: You may also wish to try your luck with the "new management" and see how that goes

[Clearsighted]

Really appreciate both responses. Is it too IC to wonder what actually the silt skimmers are used for ICly? Are they fishing for Silt Horrors or what...?

[Only He Stands There]

Your guess is as good as your PC's.

Maybe they're exploring. Maybe they're searching for silt-pearls. Maybe they're hunting animals native to the silt that you've never seen or heard of.

[brytta.leofa]

Mebbe they're muckin' about an' annoyin' th' Krath-burn' giants.

[FantasyWriter]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaWU1CmrJNc

[Thorg]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaWU1CmrJNc

Maybe while in port but once they get on the silty sea...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBCrsaet-2Q

[Thunkkin]

im n ur siltz, looking for sarlackz

[Dan]

They hunt grue.

[IAmJacksOpinion]

Seriously, this needs some sort of an imm answer.

I can't see "hunting horror" as a good answer because, as soon as you kill said horror, it's gonna sink into the silt. What now, cap'n?

[FantasyWriter]

05/15/2009: A new mineral deposit for the Silt Sea -- Shalooonsh

[Agent_137]

pretty sure this is a find out IC kinda thing. If your char isn't a 'leap before you look' type of guy, hire one that is to go out and see for  you. The skimmers are not prohibitively expensive for any well off character. and BOOM, instant-plot.

[Jenred]

The documentation contains what there is to know about the Silt Sea.

That is that there are rumors of islands out there, and Giants.

This gives enough to create any of a number of speculative PCs. A well-to-do individual that wants to hunt a giant (with a score of people), an explorer, a treasure-hunter, a silt-horror hunter (with enough RP and Ropes, you can have an Imm give you that corpse I'm sure before it falls).

Everything else, because its not in the documentation, is find out IC.

[Olgaris]

The documentation contains what there is to know about the Silt Sea.

That is that there are rumors of islands out there, and Giants.

This gives enough to create any of a number of speculative PCs. A well-to-do individual that wants to hunt a giant (with a score of people), an explorer, a treasure-hunter, a silt-horror hunter (with enough RP and Ropes, you can have an Imm give you that corpse I'm sure before it falls).

Everything else, because its not in the documentation, is find out IC.

[Garrett6034]

Take in mind.... What actually has to be used to pilot said skimmers.    Reason why they are rare and hardly heard or talked about. 

[Qzzrbl]

Take in mind.... What actually has to be used to pilot said skimmers.

Balls?

[ibusoe]

This is by no means a definitive answer, but I would guess that people living in regions of the world where silt-skimmers are frequently used (i.e.. ports like Red Storm) would have frequent contact with Skimmer crew who were on shore leave.  People living further inland would likely be less exposed to the knowledge and lore associated with Skimmermanship.

Take it with a grain of salt, eh?

[Garrett6034]

I didnt want to say what is used to pilot skimmers I dont know if its ic knowledge or not.


Skimmers have to have a certain Human with special powers to operate.   No not a elemental .. 

Said special humans I am talking about ( I am using the dark sun books) use their powers to move the ship and keep it working.   

Its been forever since I read the books. As I recall if that human dies the skimmer is dead too.     Without the pilot with said ability your screwed and cant go anywhere.  I think you simply sink, to tell you the truth.

I apologize if I said to much, just delete my comment.

[Pale Horse]

I didnt want to say what is used to pilot skimmers I dont know if its ic knowledge or not.


Skimmers have to have a certain Human with special powers to operate.   No not a elemental .. 

Said special humans I am talking about ( I am using the dark sun books) use their powers to move the ship and keep it working.   

Its been forever since I read the books. As I recall if that human dies the skimmer is dead too.     Without the pilot with said ability your screwed and cant go anywhere.  I think you simply sink, to tell you the truth.

I apologize if I said to much, just delete my comment.

Zalanthas isn't Athas, isn't Dark Sun.

[Shalooonsh]

I didnt want to say what is used to pilot skimmers I dont know if its ic knowledge or not.


Skimmers have to have a certain Human with special powers to operate.   No not a elemental .. 

Said special humans I am talking about ( I am using the dark sun books) use their powers to move the ship and keep it working.   

Its been forever since I read the books. As I recall if that human dies the skimmer is dead too.     Without the pilot with said ability your screwed and cant go anywhere.  I think you simply sink, to tell you the truth.

I apologize if I said to much, just delete my comment.

You haven't said too much.  The only thing a silt skimmer requires to operate is:

Balls

[Only He Stands There]

In Zalanthas, a skimmer is an actual boat-like structure.

In Athas, a skimmer is a wagon-like structure with giant wheels, used to roll through the silt shallows.

In Athas, there are also flying boat-like structures (literally flying) that levitate along by means of a psionicist pilot.

Neither of these exist in Zalanthas.

[Xagon]

I heard Tekutitlay makes all the silt skimmers in Zalanthas work.

[manipura]

I had a (very recent) past character who briefly met a silt-pirate.  He was an...independent, I guess you'd say, operating, obviously out of Storm.  Had hired a first mate on his crew as well.  Had plans of exploring the infamous islands of the silt sea.  My character did some business with the captain and then left Storm when the business had been taken care of.  I've heard nothing of these pirates since...

[janeshephard]

Go to Red Storm. Look around. Ask around.

This can be answered ICly. And yes it's in-game if you have the balls.

[Bast]

more people should move to storm and become pirates  

[musashi]

Totally.

[Ghost]

if the silt sea was in between allanak-luirs and luirs-tuluk (luirs sort of like an island) and every other transportation was too cumbersome maaaaaaaaaan

then we would see some real pirates

[perfecto]

I assure you all that being a silt-pirate is probably the most dangerous fun that can be had in this game...

I'm not telling you what I saw... I'm not telling you what I did... or how we did it...

But it was the most fun I've had in a long time...

If you ever get optioned to head out on a skimmer.. DO IT.. it's the ride of your life.

[Gunnerblaster]

If you ever get optioned to head out on a skimmer.. DO IT.. it's the ride end of your life.

[FantasyWriter]

Some of my best memories of Arm happened with Kadius at the edge of the Silt Sea. 

[Bast]

I should start spreading rumors about a mythical island made of metal and spice in the silt sea.

[janeshephard]

btw: help skimmer works and it says you need the piloting skill.

[IAmJacksOpinion]

Said special humans I am talking about ( I am using the dark sun books) use their powers to move the ship and keep it working.   

Psionics have nothing to do with it.

I traveled the Sea of Silt on two separate occasions, (once after the new skimmer code, and these new changes). I can't say much about it, obviously, except that it was as fun as you would expect, it was about as dangerous as you would expect, and there's about as much interesting, new terrain to find out there as you would expect. And, if you're clever, you can get a ship in under 5 hours played.

As for Silt Sea Pirates, FIRST we would need regular merchant commerce out there. (Seriously, why hasn't this happened yet GMH leaders??) Second, we would need to assume that Shalooonsh's mineral deposits were actually valuable, and he didn't just log into the build port hammered one Sunday morning and leave big chunks of dookey everywhere.

As the game stands, Silt Sea Vikings would be more feasible, except anyone crazy enough to wander along the shore of the Silt Sea, should be crazy enough to buy a damned skimmer!!

[janeshephard]

As the game stands, Silt Sea Vikings would be more feasible, except anyone crazy enough to wander along the shore of the Silt Sea, should be crazy enough to buy a damned skimmer!!

I personally see crazy escaped muls turn into pirates but I can't for the life of me find an IC reason for anyone outside of Red Storm to bother going there. Even those in Red Storm have much better avenues of making a living.

I think if I had a uber PC who had lived a long life, seen tons of shit, and learned a lot, I may as sort of an end-game for her have her put together a group of like minded souls to venture forth into the sea with a devil may care attitude. A kind of "fuck you Zalanthas, I actually did win" attitude that would almost certainly meet with a gruesome death.

The world itself, despite having suffered so much, is actually pretty damn safe compared to the Silt Sea.

[FantasyWriter]

But then everyone would find my secret conclave of F-me magickers on the other side and I'd have to share. 

[Synthesis]

Old-ass, maxed-out characters who do dumb things because their players are bored of playing them after 100+ days make the baby Sanvean cry.

[janeshephard]

Old-ass, maxed-out characters who do dumb things because their players are bored of playing them after 100+ days make the baby Sanvean cry.

Oh come on. If their story is over the character should ride off into some proverbial sunset.

[Synthesis]

Old-ass, maxed-out characters who do dumb things because their players are bored of playing them after 100+ days make the baby Sanvean cry.

Oh come on. If their story is over the character should ride off into some proverbial sunset.

The proper way to handle this is: Request Tool > Retire

Seriously.  I'm not being sarcastic or humorous.  Doing wild and crazy stuff so your character can "go out with a BANG!" is extremely poor form.

[Miri]

I sort of agree with Synthesis. Sort of.

Because you can't win Armageddon. Ever. 

[DustMight]

I don't recall Synth wanting to go gentle into the good night....

[Zoltan]

A story's gotta end sometime, may as well go out with a bang when you can. I can't say I've ever had a character go crazy just to have some big finale, but I've -definitely- taken advantage of supremely dangerous opportunities when they arose. If it works out, your long-lived character gets an epic death; if they don't die, you get one hell of a story. 

One time I had a very long-lived character who contracted a terminal disease because it was hard for me to play him at the time. I left him one reasonable IC way to take care of it and asked the staff if they could just kill him if I informed them that he couldn't go through with it. I ended up just throwing in the towel with a storage request, and man, that was the longest wait I've ever had for a request to be resolved! I've never really regretted storing him (as in, never playing him again), but it did leave a space that only the "*beep* mantis head" can fill. I've resolved to go out guns a-blazin' with every long-liver after that. Not flat-out, OOC-driven suicide, of course, but let's just say I play them... extra adventurous. 

[Yam]

Old-ass, maxed-out characters who do dumb things because their players are bored of playing them after 100+ days make the baby Sanvean cry.

Oh come on. If their story is over the character should ride off into some proverbial sunset.

The proper way to handle this is: Request Tool > Retire

Seriously.  I'm not being sarcastic or humorous.  Doing wild and crazy stuff so your character can "go out with a BANG!" is extremely poor form.

That's your opinion. And it's wrong.

[spawnloser]

I agree with Synthesis to a point.  You deciding to have your character go out with a bang because it would make you happy may be you doing something without considering whether it is realistic for your character.  I can be relatively certain that you could lose karma for this, unless you're communicating with staff about it.

[Bushranger]

I agree with Synthesis to a point.  You deciding to have your character go out with a bang because it would make you happy may be you doing something without considering whether it is realistic for your character.  I can be relatively certain that you could lose karma for this, unless you're communicating with staff about it.

Completely and utterly depends on what your character is and what your bang is. I can see a number of character archetypes deciding to head out into the silt-sea on a skimmer very late in their careers. Grizzled mercenary veteran looking for that next rush of adrenalin, big-game hunter looking for larger and more exotic beasts to kill, explorer who has already traveled the known world and seeks the unknown.

As long as it is IC for your character then I see no problem with deciding to take larger risks for adventure when you're at the end of your characters story.

[janeshephard]

I'm sorry I made this thread devolve into a "How to RP" lesson.

Really guys. It's not necessary to derail like this.

[Rhyden]

My take on this is do whatever you want.

Sure there's this balance of what's IC vs. what you OOCly want to do.

But in the end, this game is for everyone's individual enjoyment, however they manage to achieve it.

What will be, will be, and all that jazz.

On-topic, I love Ghosts's idea about having a stretch of sea between cities for some mandatory silt skimmer travelling and pirating. My hopes are that this will be a feature in Arm 2.

[spawnloser]

Bushranger, reread my post.  Make the assumption that I'm not an idiot and understand that in my world, when you're communicating openly with the staff, the topic of 'is this IC for the character' would come up.

[Bushranger]

Spawnloser my post pretty much completely agrees with yours and I quoted it to agree with you. If the decision fits IC then it's great, if it's you the player's decision then it isn't.

[Agent_137]

I'm sorry I made this thread devolve into a "How to RP" lesson.

Really guys. It's not necessary to derail like this.

heh, you made the classic newbie mistake of visiting the GDB. This happens to much every thread, especially when spawnloser is around. My advice is to just play.

[Reiteration]

If I can ask, based on a sort of physics perspective that would be unknown in zalanthas, how does a silt skimmer stay afloat? Apparently the silt-sea is like quick-sand, so does the skimmer always have to be moving (like in super mario where you sink if you stop moving at certain places in the desert levels). Does it use wind? or crew mates kicking their feet in the silt as they hang on to the rear for dear life?

[musashi]

The skimmers are usually very wide and flat on the bottom, with sails topside. So I would imagine that they use wind to skim over the surface, and that they use a sort even weight distribution over a large area to stay floating just on the surface of the silt ... but I'm just kinda making that up 

[Lizzie]

I think of them as sort of a big oblong trampoline with runners secured to the bottom. A quasi catamaran/snowshoe combo.

[Oleupata]

This is something that could perfectly well be found out IC.

[spawnloser]

In Dark Sun, silt skimmers had very big but very narrow wheels.  They don't float.  I am not saying that is how they work in Armageddon, but I'm sure you could find out IC as Ole said.

[IAmJacksOpinion]

This is something that could perfectly well be found out IC.

No it can't. Speaking as someone who has a nearly full map of the Sea of Silt from expeditions undertaken with a previous ranger back when Shal first made this announcement, I will tell you that it's not readily evident. My best guess would be the wide, flat, weight distribution theory.

In Dark Sun, silt skimmers had very big but very narrow wheels.  They don't float.  I am not saying that is how they work in Armageddon, but I'm sure you could find out IC as Ole said.

Everyone is treating Dark Sun skimmers like they are IC info. They're not.

IN DARK SUN, SKIMMERS ARE FLOATED BY MINDBENDERS!!!

This is NOT the case in Armageddon. I did perfectly fine as a lone mundane.


Again, I'm just gonna guess weight distribution / flat surface.

[IAmJacksOpinion]

..... Actually, now that I think about it, that halfling hoola girl bobblehead I kept on the helm might have been a mindbender...

[Yam]

My skimmer got fuzzy dice and hydraulics. Yo skimmer ain't got shit comin'.

[jhunter]

Mine's got chrome wheels biatches!

[IAmJacksOpinion]

Mine's got a bedroom with a heart shaped bed and quirri fur sheets.

Also, there's a slave in the rear cargo storage who beats drums. There's no room for anything else back there, but you can hear me coming from 5 screens off.

[Gagula]

Mine's got a bedroom with a heart shaped bed and quirri fur sheets.

Also, there's a slave in the rear cargo storage who beats drums. There's no room for anything else back there, but you can hear me coming from 5 screens off.

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You hear some ominous thumping sounds coming from the east