The Influence of Tuluk on New Players

[Gentleboy]

Hi all, a lot of you know me on discord cause I'm more active there.

I'm a new player here and I'm slowly understanding the general lore, but one thing that feels taboo/a black hole is the city of Tuluk.

My characters would have been alive during whatever happened in game, but I still have no clue what that was. When walking/riding around the city with others, they're really casual about the fact that a whole city is closed off. To me it feels haunted or cursed or something.

Something else that confuses me about the closing of Tuluk is that it seems all traditions, cultural aspects, cultural taboos, etc are also null. The help files have a whole different caste system than the other cities.

One of the most confusing helpfiles is that on bards. Based on the help files it seems like Tuluk was a huge part of their culture. But now that Tuluk is not playable and the House of Fale is closed, that leaves just Kurac. But Kurac's bards are apparently more about entertainment. Which makes me wonder, do bards still long to be in the courts of Tuluk (as the file says) or are all bard traditions kinda... gone? Or at least the traditions made prelavant by Tuluk culture.

So I guess this is a post questioning how Tuluk should effect new players.

[Jihelu]

Staff hates us and won't really tell us about what happened.

The first part is probably a joke, the second half not really.

I think they said we would be getting an explanation post in 6 months but that was like 8 months ago (Or some time like that) and it's real awkward because:

Virtually you can bribe your way in to visit family and what not (Or a post somewhere said this)

You can create characters that were born in Tuluk and have escaped/left, fit with tattoo and everything.

You can't know about anything going on in the walls. So you have to lie/bullshit what is going on.

This is one of those scenarios that seriously has me confused on what staff is thinking. It reminds me of when I played a Garrysmod game and I wanted to go rogue. If you went rogue without asking a certain person OOC, you lost your character whitelist. So I asked him. He said 'sure, if you want to use your whitelist'. To which I replied 'That's why I'm asking you'. And then it circled back and forth.

So as to what your characters would know: I don't know, you could have been a noble that lived through the entire thing and staff still wouldn't tell you.

[Veselka]

It's a complex question.

Is the city completely closed off, or still virtually accessible? Staff has made a few vacillating points in this regard. After Tuluk closed, 'some' people were allowed to go in and out. Then we were told it was closed off completely. Then, that they are 'virtually' trading/existing, just not accessible by PCs. It's a white elephant that most of the player base has had to pretend isn't in the game world, which has more or less worked so far, but it isn't the best solution IMHO.

Are the bardic traditions 'null'? No, I don't think they are null or taboo, it's simply that the culture that practiced those beliefs in the Bardic Circle are either dead, imprisoned, or otherwise 'null'. If it were null or redacted in any sense, then any PC mentioning knowledge of Irofel, or the Poet's Circle, would be acting against documentation of the game. That documentation however doesn't exist, so knowledge of the existence of the traditions is not null. A new PC from Tuluk who is inherently a refugee, for instance, would have more than cursory knowledge of Tuluk and its culture. At this point in the game, new PCs made from Tuluk may or may not know what happened inside Tuluk ICly that forced its closure. The PCs I've played from Tuluk took that tack -- They were early refugees, fled the city, and don't know what has happened since.

Are the only bards Tuluki? No, and that was never the case. Most of the tribes have a strong tradition with music, either played or sung. House Kurac has always attempted to have some sort of Bardic Troupe, typically it would travel even to Tuluk to perform, much to the chagrin of the Poet's Circle at the time. Allanak doesn't emphasize entertainment and song and 'Bards' in nearly the same way as Tuluk did, but they definitely do exist, and people do have a penchant for playing music in Allanak. House Fale capitalizes on this frivolity and has invariably had one or more bards or entertainers in their service, often serving double roles as aides and so on.

Consider it like this: Tuluk and the Bards of the Poet's Circle were a very academic approach to music. You took classes, you took tests, you had to apply for membership and work your way up in the ranks. Denial from the ranks was tantamount to permanent judgement -- You were not deemed worthy to perform in Tuluk. Music and entertainment and particularly performance were sort of in a 'mini-monopoly' under the Poet's Circle, similar to the monopolies of the Greater Merchant Houses -- If you were a fledgling performer gaining attention, you either payed tithes to avoid notice from the Poet's Circle, you were forced to join the Poet's Circle, or you quietly disappeared.

Music elsewhere in the world is considered a frivolous past-time, an enjoyment, a way to pass the time. It isn't considered with nearly the same gravity or seriousness as it was in the Poet's Circle, just as assassination isn't considered a high art form except in Tuluk. These cultural quirks lived and breathed, and died, with Tuluk. I don't think they would be encouraged or found outside of Tuluk. People would probably think you were crazy if you tried to institute anywhere near the same rigidity and academic approach that the Poet's Circle did.

How should Tuluk affect new players? I honestly can't say. Staff likely has a better answer to that. It's the bogeyman right now. I usually tell newer PCs that ask IG that it is a cursed city, that it fell due to its own hubris and overreaching. I will also tell them it is completely closed, to avoid the 'huh' moment of 'Some people can go in, others can't, no I can't tell you who the special people are, yada yada'. It tends to be overly confusing, so even if that is the case, my PCs tell people it is walled off, closed, kaput.

[Bebop]

House Fale isn't closed.

[Bebop]

Also let me work on Tuluk, let me do iiiit!

[number13]

Staff hates us and won't really tell us about what happened.

It's probably not malice, but more like, staff doesn't want to pin down exactly what happened so they have the option to change their minds. Ie, they aint saying because they don't know themselves.

[Malken]

This is what happened to Tuluk, but beware, it's super secret IC information that Staff probably doesn't want you to know!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenu