Red Storm - Thematic and Gameplay Questions.

[Cerelum]

One thing about the game always felt half baked to me and that's red storm.

So I have some questions:

1. Who is the Sand Lord? A search of the forums only showed a handful of smart ass players claiming to be him.

2. Seeing as I see no listing of a Sand Lord clan, I'm guessing he isn't a playable clan or his people aren't, which is unfortunate because think of the power an aod soldier has with crime code and all that.

3. Do giants still inhabit the red storm east area? Or did someone solve that yet?

4. Are we able to get Red Storm more fleshed out?  If you look at even GMHs, they have a rich history and Red Storm is just the spice place essentially. Wanna sell spice or clothing? Live in Red Storm!

That's all I can think of right now, but that's always bugged me, this city that has been there forever, yet has a few paragraphs of rhetoric in its helpfile and no playable clan.

[Lizzie]

Lore as I recall it (from playing there, and from IC storytelling times when other characters told of their experiences):

Red Storm has already been fleshed out, but it is a very small place. Originally soldiered by gith. Now, not. It was intended to be a working flour-mill community, and now there are windmills that turn flour mills. Where exactly does all this grain come from? No idea. But it's ground there and put in sacks for sale to the rest of the world. According to the docs, the Dust Runners are distributors of this flour, (and pearls and loose-weave sandcloth goods, etc.), and they also have their own offices. There was a fire or explosion at some point, but the village was repaired. It has warehouses and offices for Salarr and Kadius. Kurac has a significant warehouse, office, and barracks there.

Silt skimmers (the "boats" themselves) were implemented several years ago as actual purchaseable items, so you could sail from the docks south of the village to wherever the silt sea allows you to go. There would theoretically be a reasonably brisk trade, whether actually or virtually, of products and goods from the silt sea, and these silt pirates and silt captains would be the ones to ask about it ICly (or you could become an adventurer and hire a crew to explore it all yourself).

There are two apartment buildings now in Red Storm, rather than just the original one. Red Storm Village is known, obviously, as "the place people can sift for spice and sell it to the NPC." Sometimes the village as a whole (not just the one bar) can be busier than the Gaj on the Byn's day off. Sometimes you won't run into another PC for a few days, but a few might pass you on their way in/out with their hoods up, hoping to avoid you for whatever reason.

It's a lot more than that, and I'd have to suggest that the best way to learn is to play there, rather than to have someone post about it here. My personal advice if you're considering playing there: go in with an open mind. Expect to spend at least 2 RL weeks predominately based out of Red Storm. Reason: When you first show up, could be when the last batch of PCs had just been killed off or cleared out, and it takes awhile to build up new batches of PCs. So if it's dead there, be patient. Two weeks should be enough to see some start coming through. Especially if they know you're there.

[Medena]

I think  the help file on "What you know" is actually pretty detailed:

https://www.armageddon.org/help/view/Red%20Storm%20Village%20Details

The Sand Lord should be shrouded in mystery, in my opinion.  That very mystery is half their source of power.  It might be that they do not even exist except in legend.  Who knows?

Red Storm is not for everyone, that is for sure.  Over the years I have had three PC's based out of there but all were only there for maybe a month or two of real time before they moved on to another hidey hole or one got gemmed.  Two were magickers and the third was a thoroughly unsavory individual.

[Miradus]

Red Storm is also known as the place of outlaws. Raiders and escaped slaves are often tolerated. It's the Mos Eisley of Zalanthas. If you want to disappear out from underneath the thumb of the templar yet still remain in the south, Red Storm is where you go to remain relevant.

An inordinate amount of mutants are also often found operating out of the village, either due to some corrupting element in the silt and spice infused world they inhabit, or due to migration there since a known tolerance of such genetic aberrations exists.

The Sandlord plays his cards close to the vest but there's a few ways to step on his toes and get some agent of his animated to give you the what-for. Grain from the region is brought to the windmills there, the incessant storms in the area providing a constant source of energy to grind it into flour. While slave and mekillot power drives much of the rest of the Known, nobody has to feed the wind.

Red Storm is my favorite theme in the game, and one of a precious few topics which will drag me out of lurker mode.

You do have to hang out there for awhile for it to achieve critical mass. When people find that there's action there, they tend to hang out there much more. Two people talking in the bar will quickly turn into five. It takes a couple of weeks for it to start popping but when it does ... it's extremely enjoyable.

Just walking around in a Red Storm cloak or being seen sitting at the bar there gives you a certain amount of "desert cred" as everyone knows how hard the storms are to navigate, and how voracious the beetles are. Word quickly spreads that you can be taken somewhat seriously as a non-noob or a survivor should you be able to boast Red Storm as a starting point. Crafters who start in Red Storm often have the complete run of the shops as few begin their careers down there.

This post has been brought to you by the Red Storm Tourism Bureau and Chamber of Commerce.

[Eyeball]

The Red Storm webpage probably should mention the village was swamped by an enormous wave of silt a King's Age or two ago and had to be rebuilt.

[Harmless]

Lovely memories of a past character there. Also sad ones, as the lifestyle is so dangerous that good people will die now and then. Living on the edge of the world with a constant mildly looming threat of death itself, the silt, always an invitation to swallow you up as an escape or unexpected quick end. It ebbs and flows in intrigue and action. There is peace to be had there in a state of isolation from the usual hubbub. I will eventually cycle back to it.

My favorite role involved the one coded clan that had a good presence there a while. Didn't do the rogue witch thing too much. Good place to learn the "don't ask" cultural values stormers have.

[Cind]

Red Storm is my favorite place in the game, as I don't play peak and do not have the luxury of being able to run into the same person more than once or twice. You can be a self-sufficient crafter there, or a solo hunter, or someone with the pilot skill learning on their own how to pilot a skimmer, without doing it first with others and taking them down with you.