Going to preface this with two things:
A) It's LONG
B) It's VERY GEMSTONE CENTRIC, since it was written BY a GemStone GM about GemStone characters, for a GemStone seminar at SimuCon. So you may not recognize the names.
Please pardon any formatting errors...
Here you go:
Pure Evil Seminar
?The point is, ladies and gentleman, that evil? is good. Evil is right. Evil works. Evil clarifies, cuts through and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Evil in all of its forms, evil sorcery, evil to gain silvers, or fame or knowledge has marked the upward surge of all professions ? and evil, you mark my words ? will not only save the deserving and powerful in Wehnimer?s Landing, but those of any race or profession in Elanthia.?
This is a discussion of evil in Elanthia. We will talk about the most infamous of our notorious NPCs as well as famous player characters. The second half of this seminar, we?ll talk about invasions, those that most embodied that tingle of dread and fear.
Overall, the seminar will focus on role-playing the dark side, what works and what makes for gaining fame in the present day as well as what worked in the old times. What made those bad-guys tick, what traits make them still memorable today. I will talk about the famous player characters first, then will discuss the NPCs, Thurfel, Baron Hochstib, and Terate.
We will follow each half of the seminar with a discussion. I?ll ask a few notable `villains? to speak up, and will welcome your input as to what makes a memorable evil character. I am taping the session and plan to document the discussion as a file that new players can access and use to the betterment of RP in the game.
Long ago, in an outpost far, far away, there existed a famous conflict. It was an established conflict, one that was waged with energy, imagination and most certainly, cold-blooded viciousness. The antagonists were Valeria and her nemesis, Mikhail.
To understand why the two were fated to be enemies, you need to know a little about the type of characters they were. Mikhail was playing back in ?93 or so. He did an extremely good job playing a badass. Anyone in the Lands during that time knew that you just didn?t mess with him.
As an example, I?ll relate a story told to me by a dwarf called Oghier. In those days, the prevailing `events/quests? tended to be invasions, in which the villain carried nice loot. The twenty or so players would band together in the effort to finally kill said villain. Then they would, as they called it then, ?roll? for the treasure.
This meant they would go into defensive and swing at each other barehanded. After one such invasion, a level 12-or-so Oghier went up against Mikhail to roll for a quite desirable set of armor.
They swung at each other; Oghier rolled an eleven, Mikhail a four. Oghier said there was a, to him, long pregnant pause. Mikhail narrowed his eyes at Oghier. Mikhail looked at the armor. He looked at his dagger meaningfully, and said something to the effect, ?wouldn?t you say my four beats your eleven??
At this point, I asked Oghier?s player if Mikhail got the armor. He answered, ?Oh Mikhail certainly would have if Strom or Dagmar hadn?t stepped in.? He also said he still has that armor today. To quote Oghier?s player, ?Mikhail was genuinely fearsome. When he indicated he?d do unhealthy things to you, you believed him.?
Now as for Valeria, someone once told me she had the personality of a thorn. She was one of those people who establish conflict around them and use that as the basis of their role-play. It didn?t matter what the conflict was about, it could be based on anything. So it was inevitable that once she ran up against the wall of Mikhail?s unshakable egotism, the fireworks would be memorable. I?m not sure how it was ever resolved.
Perhaps it never was. However, it still stands as the GemStonian equivalent to Hatfield & McCoy.
Thalior was a relatively late-arrival, when you talk about these old-days villains. He established his ascendancy during the time that you could not play GemStone until after 6:00 p.m. at the normal $3 per hour rate. If you logged on earlier, you got charged something like $16 per hour.
Thus, the rate of character advancement was intimately linked to the fact that you not only were restricted by budgetary concerns, but the fact that few in their right mind chose to pay the high day rates. Unless, of course, you have more money than good sense. So while other characters like Strom, Gilliaume, Dartaghan and Kodos were slowly working their way up the ranks, Thalior shot up remarkably fast because he routinely played during prime rate hours of the day. And as we all know, unless you have some measure of power, your `hoped for? evil character simply comes across as simply a snit.
Thalior was the first character to begin the running joke of talking about eating or making stew of halflings, often claiming he?d kill and eat hobbits. However, his real moment of fame occurred during a famous duel he had with a character named Logun. It was the Glad Games. Logun was a popular bard and was certainly of a level with Thalior, if not older. However, just prior to that session of the Games, the sorc spell list had been vastly enhanced, and Thalior dramatically demonstrated how catastrophic sorc spells could be.
The duel is said to have been unforgettable. Thalior used every spell on him he could. Arms and legs were falling off, his skin was being flayed off, you name it. Logun was nothing but an oil slick afterward. And from that day, Thalior?s reputation as an evil character was assured.
However, I will say that his fame since he quit playing is much more enhanced than it was when he was actually around.
For Bleeds, I will read a short piece his player wrote up for this seminar. He writes of his character:
?When you think of Bleeds, think self-important, grandiose, and insane.
Bleeds was good-looking, of average to slightly short height (slight Napoleon complex), with dark skin and bright, green eyes that were set in a perpetual Clint Eastwood squint, to go with the scowl he usually had on his face that made it look like he was smelling something foul. He looked perpetually annoyed, which he pretty much was.
His paramour, Tanna, described him as a panther.
He wore a long, black cloak clasped at the neck with a silver eight-pointed star, and a black widow charm he was constantly fingering (it was an invisibility charm, and he used it a LOT to get away from people he did not want to talk to). He also carried his infamous black ora scythe, which had a wicked blade and a twisted handle that was etched with lots of spiders. He leaned on it constantly.
Bleeds' craziness was based on the idea that he thought the world was made for, and belonged to him. It had a set of RULES YOU FOLLOWED, and anyone who did not follow the rules - as defined by Bleeds - was breaking the NATURAL ORDER of things and MUST BE PUNISHED. Bleeds was always sure that the person in front of him was either breaking the rules, or about to.?
TRUE EVIL
by the Lord High Priest Bleeds
"This is Bleeds. This is also Bleeds' piece of paper your cow eyes are staring at, so treat it with the all the respect you would give Lord Bleeds.
Nevermind. You are touching the paper. Do NOT treat it as you would Lord Bleeds. It is just paper. In fact, Bleeds should charge you for using it.
Bleeds was recently asked, 'Lord High Priest Bleeds, what is the nature of True Evil?' This is a most interesting question indeed, mostly because Bleeds already knows the answer. Bleeds will even share this answer with you, for it is an important piece of information you can carry in the tiny space between your ears.
Before Bleeds gives you the answer, however, you should know that Bleeds has been called 'True Evil' many times in his illustrious life. Usually this accusation has been leveled at Bleeds after the foolish person has given silent communication to Bleeds without realizing it. For example, when someone (other than the Lady Tanna, of course) touches Bleeds, this means, 'Lord Bleeds, my arms are an abomination unto my sight and must be blown from their sockets.' If someone leans on Bleeds, it means, 'Lord Bleeds, I wish to spend my life leaning on things. Please cut my legs off with your scythe, that I may lean on rocks, and bushes, and other small things the rest of my pathetic days.' And if someone licks Lord Bleeds, it means 'My brain is trying to escape through my mouth, and the only way to stop it is to cut off my head.'
It annoys Bleeds that people forget this language of touch, and complain when Bleeds answers their requests. People who do not understand the gods should not pray to them.
"So what is True Evil, you ask?
Bleeds first realized the nature of True Evil when he was a young ? but still perfect - Bleeds. Bleeds had just returned from a battle in which he allowed the monster to slash Bleeds open a few times to tease it into thinking it was winning. Bleeds had not yet bothered to bandage his wounds, because Bleeds was curious to see if his blood would change colors like one of those hard candies that change if you suck on one long enough. It had been running for a good ten minutes and was still annoyingly crimson when a scab-covered, stringy-haired crone who looked older than a ten-foot tortoise approached Bleeds with a wild look in her eye. Without a word, she walked up to Bleeds, licked the blood off his body, said 'You're welcome', and then hobbled away. Bleeds even heard her belch.
Bleeds must have been knocked unconscious after the witch did this, because when he looked down at his chest, he was no longer wounded. It was the most disgusting experience Bleeds had ever known! If it could be compared to anything, Bleeds would think it was similar to being mistaken for a pair of Dwarven underpants and being worn to the mines all day. Or perhaps it was more like being sent to the underworld, and then sentenced to spend eternity as a dried gibbet of mucous inside a donkey's nostril. Or maybe it was like being a happy hole in the ground, and then having someone build an outhouse on top of you. Bleeds is unsure, however, because thinking of this experience makes Bleeds feel unBleeds-like, and he would prefer not to remember it any longer. But Bleeds is certain of one thing:
Whatever that woman was, she was Pure Evil."
I don?t think I need to go into much more detail about Bleeds. Most people know that he deserves his fame. Suffice it to say that he is the only player to have single-handedly established a whole religion.
To discuss Sagan, I?d like to preface by talking a bit about what makes a good villain. To role-play evil well, a person first has to have fairly good role-playing skills. And we must agree that portraying evil is based on threats, whether real or implied. Given the PVP restrictions, threats have always been somewhat toothless. Therefore, the playing of an evil character is a consensual exchange. The other players have to agree with the evil character?s threats and accede to his threat. You?ve heard the phrase, ?the willing suspension of disbelief? referring to movies, and this is a similar thing. While other characters know there are limits to the threat of a villain, some are just so good at portraying them that we willingly give them the respect ? or fear ? necessary for their character to have the notoriety.
Sagan was extremely effective at this. You also have to realize the player base was very different back in those days. The median age was much older, and because of a more restrained populace, the GMs could be much less aggressive in policing confrontations. Back then, players often baited Sagan to get him to kill them. It was a badge of honor. And the GMs could sit back and let him kill them, since the person he killed had almost always initiated the conflict. Thus Sagan grew a reputation of being just as interested in killing another person as looking at them.
I should mention however, that in most cases, the players managed to handle these confrontations in a controlled environment. For instance, Harcourt would whisper to people, ?Hey, this is role-play?? while he was threatening to disembowel them outright. Most of the old villains would always whisper in advance ? establishing that the PVP was consensual.
An effective evil character always has an agenda ? a mix of virtues and vices that give them depth and complexity. If all you?re doing is role-playing a pea-shooting killer, that?s not role-playing, that?s just acting out an RP version of Doom. A good villain usually has a measure of humor to boot.
Getting back to Sagan, in the old days there was a character named Ralf. He was conceded as being the biggest idiot newbie who ever plagued the Lands. If you found a gold ring in a box, he?d walk right up to you and whine, ?hey can I have that? Can I?? He made a habit out of following people around being annoying. You?d hear him babbling on the net, `Hey, I?m killing a rolton. I?m so bad! I?ve killed it! Hahahahahahaha!?
Then, in the next minute, you?d hear ?What?s a wolverine?? followed an instant later by `Boom!
** Ralf just bit the dust!
One night ole Ralf was in Town Square ? this was pre-AOL so people actually sat and talked in Town Square back then. Ralf walks up to Sagan and asks him, ?Hey wouldja show me how to assassinate someone? Huh, wouldja wouldja?? Sagan smiles, and answers, ?Sure? join up.? He walks Ralf out of the North Gate, and a moment later, BOOM!
*Ralf just bit the dust!
As I was saying, playing evil is a cooperative venture. It?s often difficult for players pursuing a `good? path with their characters to give up enough turf for an evil-played one to be successful. So the evil characters have to be damned good at what they do. It?s also a fact that they can?t be selfish in their role-playing. They have to give enough `hooks? in their role-playing for others to be able to role-play with them.
Since evil role-playing absolutely requires the active participation of the rest of the audience, it?s a given that it takes some real skills, i.e. it isn?t something you can do right out of the box. Additionally, you can?t act like a `good guy? for the first 30 levels, then suddenly turn into a card-carrying Luukos adherent and have much credibility. You have to walk a fine line until you can start to set up active opposition to the established `good guys?. The well-played ones generally start to do hints of `badness? but they have to be subtle with it. They generally have to go through a lot of the lower levels on their own.
It?s my opinion that the game changes we?ve seen since the move to the web makes it much more difficult to `grow up? an evil character. Back when at the most, 40 people were online, you could have a very different GM response to PVP situations. It was then practical for GMs to actually sort it out, and an insult was generally considered to be a consent to PVP.
The changing landscape of the game has resulted in a need to move to a ?bright line of rule?, i.e. allowing room for discretionary judgement just isn?t practical with the numbers of players we?ve had for the last few years. This makes the situation of allowing someone like Bleeds to be Bleeds pretty impossible. So while we do have individuals playing evil characters today, I have to believe that it?s a much more difficult venture than it used to be. As well, I believe playing a villain in present Elanthia requires much more subtlety and inventiveness than the old days, and has less of an emphasis on sheer cold bloodedness and power. I would cite players such as:
Kree ? who is something of a transition character between the old times and present day
Silvean ? who, in my opinion, subdues his opposition more with intellect than with power
Setzier ? one of the best character actors I?ve watched role-play
Armaxis ? again, an aptly played character actor with both depth and style
Armaxis has written to me, saying Kree and Silvean have evolved their characters in order to survive in a place that no longer can really accommodate their old personalities. While I knew Kree in the old days, I?ve not played down in the trenches enough in the past couple of years to be able to describe this `evolution?. Perhaps Armaxis?s player could speak to that for us?
Thurfel
Many years ago, the council of Ten (ten evil halfling wizards), attacked and burned the town of Icemule to the ground. There was an amazing battle, and the council was imprisoned within a seal, presumably deep underground.
Now, rumor has it, that the council used their full power to allow Thurfel to escape. He did free himself from the entrapment, and there is no factual evidence of how it was done. He built his own island and fortress, and has equipped it with an amazing assortment of odd beasts.
One of his hobbies is mutating and crossbreeding animals to see what he can create. Sometimes he succeeds, sometimes he fails.
He regards Icemule as 'his' town, although he goes to great lengths to try to win the townsfolk over with his silver tongue. Most folks believe he is allied with Amasalen, although, Thurfel will only say if Amasalen's purposes are similar to his own, he's willing to travel the same path. At no time, has he ever flat out mentioned he served any god.
Part of what truly makes Thurfel evil, is his ability to turn on a dime, and be completely unpredictable. He has moments of extreme clarity and focus, making plans that would clearly benefit the entire town of Icemule. But nobody really knows if its true, or merely another wedge into the delicate balance of the town.
He has divided the town of Icemule, and many believe he may be the only salvation from the remaining nine. The remaining nine, are slowly possessing townsfolk, and terrorizing them.
Is Thurfel going to rally against the nine and help to save the town from them? Or is he simply putting up a good front until the time is ripe to overtake the town once again.
What elements make Thurfel evil?
Clearly burning down the town of Icemule when the council was first revealed was the act of a man with evil intent. However, currently, in his dealings with the townsfolk of Icemule, he speaks of industry and commerce. He is telling the citizens he wishes for Icemule to be more than a second rate village, rather he would see the city blossom to be even more than the landing.
What are his goals and purposes in attempting to move the city forward? Are they just idle talk, or does he truly wish to build Icemule to rival the Landing.
He has forged a relationship with Iscikella, but is it obsession, loneliness, or is he simply attempting to use her to further his own goals?
Further, he is well aware she is married to Blizzerd, yet continues to pull on her heartstrings and tweak his.
Thurfel has many assistants, none more so loved by the folks of Icemule than Halfberry. In a fit of rage, he slew his own assistant, something hehas done on many a whim, certainly not the act of a man with a concious.
In spite of no evidence other than rumor, he burned down the dwarven dye tent in the landing, a few dwarven bones proof only that he had once again murdered innocent folks.
The Northern Fury, Icemule's stalwart defenders, have attacked Thurfel's keep, yet Thurfel has managed to actually open talk and discussion with them, and is on the verge of making them allies, rather than foes. At least in his mind. Neither side truly can trust the others motives.
The council of nine, presumably under the control of Amasalen, is currently slowly and methodically possessing the townsfolk of Icemule. 4 have been possessed, perhaps a 5th if the rumors are true. A woman named Yfa has recently surfaced, sworn enemy of Thurfel. She has tried to kill Thurfel, but to date has failed, although she is thought to be responsible for banishing him behind a barrier within his own keep.
Thurfel has rallied a good portion of the town, telling them he is their only hope of salvation from the remaining council of nine. But is it that Thurfel can help them, or the town can help Thurfel? The nine are surely furious that Thurfel did not hold up his end of the bargain and attempt to free them from imprisonment. Perhaps they merely wish to slay him, then move on.
Or, perhaps Thurfel is playing coy, and will ally himself with the nine and free them with the time is ripe? Or perhaps he is genuine and does wish to save the town, although for what purpose would still be unanswered.
What is evil? Evil is that road that rarely has an end. It is a road filled with illusions and mirages, some real, some merely dreams.
Terate
There is an old tale of an ancient castle and the royal family that dwelt therein. For years the family ruled over the surrounding lands with a just hand, until one day a stranger arrived at their door, weak from travel and asking to spend the night. He was admitted, and given a room in the guest quarters of the castle. However, during that night the stranger died in his sleep, leaving the family with a confusing set of belongings, including a satchel full of scrolls, some recently penned, along with others obviously far more ancient in nature. The Prince, knowing more about the mystical arts than the rest of his family, set to deciphering the scrolls. Most were of mundane use, containing cantrips already known to the young man. One, however, was different. Unlike the others, it seemed almost alive; the words changing each time he read them. It held far more than a single spell, it held mysteries that he desired to unlock, one after another, until the last of the scroll's secrets lay open to him. But the scroll was not satisfied with being discovered and understood, it wanted more. It wanted to be used; it wanted the fell power that had created it to again be unleashed upon the world. And thus was Terate, the young prince, drawn into using the scroll to breach the Veil, and unleash the Vvrael on the world.
Terate was born in, I believe, November of ?97. Initially, he was the brainchild of GM Aephir. Let me back up a bit and fill in some backstory.
Aephir, the creator of the story line, began the drama and ran it for a year, but found he couldn't manage to find the time to move it forward.
So, one evening, he asked me to build him a little shrine. This resulted in me diving headlong into the project. When I showed Aephir Koar?s Shrine a week or so later, he was? rather surprised. He had expected -- maybe --10 rooms, hopefully with a few mood effects. From then on, I was conscripted on his Vvrael team? a team of, basically, him and me. Shortly thereafter, one other GM was brought on-board, a brand-spanking new AGM Thaen.
Not too long after I had written the Shrine, and was busy working on Pinefar Trading Post, Ian decided that the time in the role-play had come for the ultimate bad guy to make an appearance. If any of you have seen any of Ian?s writing? nothing he does is ever in normal proportions. His towers tower higher than any every have, his cliffs loom more perilously over precipices? and his villain was to be the most evil, fearful being to have every walked the game. This was Aephir?s vision for the character, and it was aptly portrayed in the wicked player script that gave Terate all his powers.
To oppose the despicable Terate, Ian chose the goddess Lorminstra. She was never an actual character, but an NPC called ?a pure young girl? or something to that effect. We are, as a rule, not encouraged to actually have the Arkati walking around much (if at all), on the assumption that the Arkati have better places to walk than an outpost settlement like the Landing. At any rate, I supplied a list of names for Aephir?s evil character, and from that list he chose Terate. (If Ian had come up with the name, it would probably have been Aerate.)
As things turned out, the role-play portion of the creative initiative lasted quite a while. Well, it quickly becomes boring if all a villain does for months is drop down in a cloud of black smoke and annihilate everyone. So, Terate began to develop more depth, and some of his history emerged through almost daily (or should I say nightly) interactions with the players. He was very much a progressive character, sometimes showing a very benign side of himself and at other times, lapsing into complete insanity.
He fell in love? not, I can assure you, remotely in the initial plans for him. He developed a known taste for champagne (completely due to the fact that he didn?t notice he was walking around with a flute of the stuff for a few days, which prompted a plethora of supposition on the boards as to the deeper meaning of this factor.) The players and the boards had an immense effect on the final character and even the final events.
Terate?s powers included the ability to fog to someone in black anti-matter, to ewave everyone in the room with him, to drain mana from a player
by pointing at them, and? to burst a player into tiny fragments and rain the pieces down into the nearest town square. He dressed completely in black and if a player looked at him, they could see one of three manifestations. He could look like the handsome young elf he once had been, or he could appear very old, showing the deprecations the vvrael had visited on him. Lastly, one might see the horrible visage of the monster the
vvrael had made of him, and if one saw this, the horror of it dropped them to their knees and stunned them? in some cases, for a very long time.
"...THE RIFT...OPEN IT NOW...BE DONE WITH THE HUMAN...JOIN US..."
Rayyne's body convulses as black anti-matter leaps from Terate's hand and crawls over her. She begins to scream in pain.
"...KILL THEM ALL..."
Terate continues to drain the sorceress, over and over, while her screams fill the cavern.
Terate moans in anguish and drops his arm. The anti-matter blinks out of sight as Terate's cry echoes from the walls, a low harmony to Rayyne's screams of agony.
You hear the ghostly voice of Merry exclaim, "fight it Terate!"
Terate doubles over in pain, growling out garbled words that are incomprehensible. A hum of whispers emerges from the sphere and careens off the
cave walls, circling like a whirlwind of chaos.
Rayyne asks, "Terate, do you hear me?"
Terate's cry echoes against the stone of the cavern. His body goes rigidly still. Slowly he raises his arm again and points at Rayyne.
Black anti-matter jumps from his fingers and overwhelms Rayyne's body, sending the sorceress into violent convulsions.
"...KILL THEM ALL...NOW...WE MUST CONSUME..."
"...OPEN THE RIFT..."
Suddenly, Terate whirls, the anti-matter ricocheting around the cavern in a furious blast. He faces the pulsating orb, his body a thin silhouette against the malignant sphere.
Terate yells, "I DEFY thee! I WILL SEE YE IN HELL BEFORE I DO THIS!"
Terate swiftly raises his arms, throwing black anti-mana streaming into the nebulous sphere!
The anti-mana strikes the sphere with a flash, sending a deafening blast of sound through the cavern! With a rending shriek of alien fury, the
sphere suddenly billows, contorting as it seems to turn in upon itself. The hideous forms visible within it writhe in response to the distortions.
Suddenly, the sphere pulses violently, reflecting the bolt of anti-mana from it like a flash of lightening! The energy strikes Terate full in his
chest, throwing him against the wall of the cavern like a rag doll! He falls to the sand without a sound.
The anti-mana crackles and then disappears. Although the orb still pulses with an unearthly light, it has shrunk considerably in size. The dreadful forms are no longer visible within its iridescent circumference.
There is general rejoicing, then?
You hear the ghostly voice of Berr say, "Damn"
You hear the ghostly voice of Berr say, "He ain't gonna make it"
Terate coughs.
You see Lord Terate Niebelun the Fallen One. Terate lies in a pool of dark blood, his body broken and a grievous wound cleaving through his side.
His features are pale from his injuries, and the elf's luminous eyes glow with a fierce light, as if defying death to approach any closer. His long silver hair is stained crimson red where it falls across his back and chest.
Terate's last breath escapes his lips as a peaceful smile crosses over his face.
And across the lands?
* The distant cry of Terate's death echoes in your mind, slowly receding to a quiet whisper carried off on a cool breeze.
For you see, once he had defied the Vvrael and sealed the Rift, what future was there for the World?s Worst Villain? He was basically out of
work.
Does anyone have any recollections of Terate from the game? Or any questions?
Solomon
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