Deacon_Raptor
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Posts posted by Deacon_Raptor
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Fine by me.
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When will any of us learn anything?
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I'm a Christian, but at the same time I'm not. When I look around out in the world, out in nature - I can't help but think that Christian isn't telling the whole story. I'm not saying I believe in any other deities - I don't. I'm a firm Christian in most ways, but at the same time I am actively trying to mix in some of my beliefs about the other spirits and things out there. I've always been highly attuned to sensing such things...I guess I'm forging my own system of beliefs using Christianity as a strong base.
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Wc3 also has it where Night Elf archers can mount/dismount Hippogryphs.
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Time for me to throw my hat into the arena. Hopefully the lions won't feast of off it.
It's a fine line we walk. On one hand, we may descend into complete anarchy and chaos if everyone is allowed anything. The results of no rules - the absolute of liberalism, are well documented in this regard.
However, on the other hand, too many rules and restrictions, too conservative, ends you up with no freedoms in an empire-state akin to the British Colonies, Nazi Germany, and Communist Russia.
So, the answer? Well, even as religion, such things are a very personal matter. People will have different views. I'm adamantly anti-gay and anti-abortion. To me, such things are against the natural order. They are WRONG.
I agree with Caeser, although I don't try to say Catholicism is the cure. I don't spout propaganda. If you truly believe that, fine. But don't give the "party line" if you don't believe it, heart and soul. Today's secular society is immoral, and decadent, and corrupt. It is animalistic - it lives for food, sex, and gratification. Is religion, of any type, the cure? Who knows? But there are very few morals left. Honor is gone except for a few handfuls of people who cling to the old ideals.
The question of how involved the Church should be in politics has been present practically since earthly Christianity's conception. There are no real answers. A powerful and present Church is offensive to a lot of people. Caeser's one statement about the role as Priest King and Prophet sounds suspiciously totalitarian. Of course, then you get into a debate about good dictators vs bad dictators, which I don't think we want to stray that far. In the end, people have to make up their own minds. With the Church ruling the world in the name of God, would that happen? Thus, the Church should stay out of politics, at least, out of non-Christian political issues. Dealing with the gay movement inside the Church? Fine. Banning homosexuality across the globe? Wrong. I personally may be adamantly opposed to homosexuality, but in the end it is those peoples' choices. In the end though it is up to the people to choose - anything less than that might as well be called Nazism or (in the Lenin/Stalinistic sense) Communism. More later....
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rofl@ Age of *******.
At the end of the Third Age, they were again at war with the Forces of Darkness in the service of and allied to Sauron, but the peoples of the West know little of them largely because of the multi-front nature of the War of the Ring; like the Woodland Realm, Esgaroth, Dale, and Erebor, they fought their wars close to and on their own lands, and did little to aid the Quest of Mount Doom or the Kingdoms of Men apart from providing yet another front to keep Sauron distracted and draw off his military strength that might otherwise have been sent west of Mordor instead of east.I haven't read it all yet but I felt I just had to comment on this. It's a shame that Tolkien never explored expanding the mythos of the rest of the war. As you note, the War of the Ring was a MASSIVE war, and there were many fronts that he only hinted at. It would have been fascinating if he had gone back and done like even a short story on, say, the Erebor front. It would've been interesting to "visit" Erebor again after the Hobbit.
I'm not saying he didn't do enough as it was - and he had his hands full anyway splitting his attention between Frodo and the Ring-quest vs Aragon and the undead vs Gandalf and Gondor. It would have been crazy for him to add yet a FOURTH front to LotR - I'm just saying it's a shame nothing concrete (that I know about anyway) exists about the other fronts.
I'll read over the rest of this later and give more input.
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Dwarves are FTW.
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Good point, but I meant those that were featured. The Orcs from the Misty Mountains for example, or from Gundabad, were just forgotten about. Maybe Tolkien decided that they had played a large enough role in the Hobbit and were wiped out after the Battle of 5 Armies.
Indeed, when you think about it that way, it makes sense they weren't in LotR much if at all - I don't remember them showing up in LotR tbh...I think it was all either Isengard or Morder.
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Hmm....couldn't find anything on it tbh
I think I can grasp enough of the idea though - played some other games that have independant races.
I'm unsure how much on the site is still valid though. Also, I can't imagine it would be that much work to make the civs listed as non-player able to be controlled by players. You can't tell me you wouldn't love to steamroll someone with Hobbits
Again, assuming that the info on there is still valid, there's unit and building lists even. It wouldn't be that big of a deal to make them playable IMO. AoE2 was arguably the best RTS game of all time because it had civs and civs and civs. Anyway we're pretty far off-topic now, lol - so unless someone OTHER than you or I has something to add I'm gonna shut up now.
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True, but I'd like to see a "Wild Orcs" race - Orcs out from Sauron/Saruman's thumb. For example the Orcs in the Misty Mountains in the Hobbit, I already mentioned. I seriously doubt they were under anyone's control. It's interesting because in the Hobbit it seems almost like Tolkien is trying to establish the Orcs as a separate evil power, aside from Sauron, or "the Necromancer" as he's known in the Hobbit (which is interesting in and of itself). But by the time the LotR rolled around, he seems to have changed his mind. All the Orcs in LotR are under either Saruman or Sauron's control IIRC.
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Yeah, but the problem with just randomizing it is that assuming specific weapons have specific bonuses, then it's a mixed bag with whatever you buy. You could desperately need anti-cavalry, but just keep getting sword-mode infantry that get mowed over.
I don't know about Trolls - except for a few that had been captured and presumably "trained" by Sauron...and of course the Moria Cave Troll is also an exception...we never really hear anything about Trolls and Wild Orcs working together (Wild Orcs being those not controlled by Sauron - those in the Misty Mts. in the Hobbit come immediately to mind).
Hunter I can see, although it kind of stretches the boundaries. Still, it depends on the age-old question of how far do you push the books. If you don't push them a bit, you end up with each race having an archer, an infantry, a cavlary, and a siege, and that's it - because really that's about all that each race had according to Tolkien. Players like to have lots of options though, so it's inevitable that the limits of canon will need to be pushed a least a bit.
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Well, I wouldn't envision the Orcs having a large number of units anyway. Think about it - if we're talking the "traditional" Orcs (not Saruman-bred Uruk-Hai) - there's pretty much your Grunt, and your Warg Rider....maybe a Cheiftain type unit as well, but that's about it. There wasn't a great variety of Orcish troops, but they *were* highly adaptable.
Obviously if a civ only has three or four military units, that's a problem. I would envision the Orcs having a very unique playstyle, extremely different from the other races, and also focusing on adaptability (which they certainly did according to Tolkien).
Of course, another problem with that idea is that at what point is there even a reason to have a company, instead of individual units ala the AoE or WC series.
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Sure. I don't know exactly what this "company" idea is - so I'm going to assume it's like the basic infantry units in Rise of Legends. There are 9 individual soldiers, that you control as one group, or, one "unit." They all move the same way, etc.
Now what if the idea went a step further. What if, possibly via a hotkey, say control, you could select an individual soldier from that company. And furthermore, what if each soldier thus had, say, an Archer mode, a Pike mode, and a Sword mode (or something similar).
Obviously the idea far from perfect, since that would require godly amounts of micro to take full advantage of, but it would allow for a tremendous amount of flexibility - no matter what the enemy threw at you, your units could adapt to counter it.
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Or even perhaps have different combat modes for each squad, allowing for a very diverse army that could adapt to almost anything quickly.
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lol I got a whole army of those type of icons now my friend
Humpy is no longer alone in the world!!!!! BWAHAHAHHA!Design, actually. Already got a mess of short stories and such going occupying my writing-time, + I'm taking AP English this year, so I'll be gettnig more than my fill of essays lol.
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Okay, what resources are there in the game?
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Weren't there just some incidents in Germany with the World Cup? Something about Nazi symbols andf flags in the stands?
I dunno - I'm American and thus don't give a flying @#$% about soccer
But if it is true, I find it very concerning.
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Vietnam II, anyone?
It's turning into the same guerilla nightmare as Nam was. Apparently the US can fight traditional wars (such as WWII) just fine, but when the enemy goes guerilla we're perilously noobish.
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Vith mina jal....people are such scum sometimes.
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6.
@Thumbs, sorry I haven't been around - my Mom passed away about a month ago, been really hectic and I haven't been in the mood for much. Just recently got my motivation for designing and writing back again, and I don't care to work on WW2 stuff at the moment. Sorry, very much in a swords and sorcery mood.
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The particular group that supposedly wrote the Gospel of Judas were the Cainites- a small sect in the Eastern Roman Empire that worshipped Cain (the first murderer in the Bible) as a victim of Demiurge Jehovah- the God of the Old Testament who they believed to be evil.
You just said it yourself. Why waste time on it? I mean, that is SERIOUSLY messed up.
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Very nice post lol.
I've actually missed posting in this
I don't think anyone will disagree that the Church lost/has lost its way - especially in the Middle Ages. The Church became so involved in politics and vise versa - it was just a bad situation. There are many examples of where nobles got their children to go into the Church that they might gain power. Need I say more than Henry IV? Let alone the Protestant nightmare (from the Catholics' perspective, of course).
Even modern day, it still isn't right. Look at how the Church is influencing the illegal alien mess.
Now, a quick note - I'm not saying there aren't good people in the Church, that it's all corrupt and bad and so on and so forth. There are many good priests in the Church, that do a lot of good.
There are many problems with this discussion. In the end it goes back to who/what is God, and is he all-seeing. For if some of the original disciples tampered with God's Word, or even ANYONE did at some point, would not God have seen it coming and taken steps to prevent it? Then you get into if God even cares, which is a REAL nightmare of a discussion topic.
If something were to have happened, I would suggest it would have to be in the Middle Ages. In the early days the Apostles and so forth had far too many problems (and the memory of all itall was too fresh) for them to do anything. And all in all, the original Disciples were pretty solid people, I believe.
Now, by the Dark/Middle Ages, corruption had been introduced. The Church was decadent, and they were the greatest power on Earth, at least in Europe. The aforementioned Henry IV example servers again here. The Church could and would ruin people's lives - clear up to the King, so that their authority remained unchallenged. The Church at this point could easily have altered texts (as it was before Luther's translations or the printing press), and muscled down the protests of anyone who dared object.
Then there are the old texts that survive - but I'll talk about them more later. I'm out of time for the moment.
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This one is a little different. It isn't as intellectual and deep as the previous one, but it is still very powerful. As before, please comment if you read it.
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This story is dedicated to the brave heroes of Flight 93, which crashed in western Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001. This account is fictional, and intended to honor those who sacrificed their lives, that hundreds might be saved.
93
The plane’s engines whirred, a steady heartbeat of a transcontinental flight. Melissa Shriver glanced over at her husband, Thomas, sleeping soundly beside her, and then resumed the hypnotizing watch out the window, as hundreds of miles flew by.
The plane was sparsely populated. Only about one out of three seats was occupied, Melissa guessed. She was really looking forward to seeing her sister’s new baby, in San Francisco. Why Shannon had decided to move to San Francisco was beyond her. It had been so many years…too many, since she had seen Shannon last.
Melissa looked at her watch, which read 9:03 AM. She was getting sick of flying over the endless woods of Pennsylvania. She wanted to see some cities and towns, sparkling far below; not just trees, trees, and more trees. Oh, wait, there is a river, over there. And more trees.
Thom started snoring. Melissa poked him absently in the ribs, a routine hardened into habit by years of practice. He sputtered a bit, and settled back down.
Suddenly, a cry echoed throughout the passenger compartment. Melissa turned around; it was a woman seated three seats behind her. She was holding a cell phone at arms’ length, crying freely. Melissa shrugged, and turned back around. Didn’t matter to her.
Thom was still sleeping. It was amazing how deep a sleeper he could be. Some of the other passengers were trying to calm the woman down, but she was only getting them upset, as well. Finally, Melissa decided to find out what was the matter. It couldn’t be a personal issue – that wouldn’t’ upset other people too.
A deep, gnawing feeling of dread crept over her, slowly, as she uttered the question: “What happened?”
The woman looked up at her, and tried to explain, but before she could get more than “New York City,” out, she collapsed in tears again.
Melissa looked pointedly at another passenger, who replied, “A plane crashed in the World Trade Center, in New York City. Hit the middle of it. That woman’s husband worked on one of the uppermost floors. She’s talking to somebody who got out, but they are saying that the top floors are completely sealed off – no way to get down.”
“Oh my god, that’s horrible. How could a plane have hit the World Trade Center, though?”
The man shrugged. “Planes have hit the Empire State Building already. Maybe it was a malfunction.” He sounded dubious.
The minutes passed hollowly. The cries of the woman, and sobs of those around her, were a disturbing backdrop. Thom woke up, finally, and demanded to know what the noise was all about. Melissa explained it calmly, and quietly, and Thom was saddened.
“So much loss of life, just because of a simple accident,” he said somberly. “I should’ve stayed asleep, I think. I’d be happier.”
Then another person’s cell phone rang. By now all the passengers knew what had happened, and they assumed the second phone call was just confirmation, or a “Did you hear what happened?” bit.
But it wasn’t. “Another plane hit the other tower!” the man whose phone had rang exclaimed.
Everyone started talking at once. Melissa was bewildered. “If it wasn’t an accident, what was it?” she asked Thom worriedly.
“That’s a good question,” he replied nervously.
More and more people began receiving phone calls, and soon almost everybody was on their cells, talking rapidly about what was going on. The pilot called back over the PA, alerting everyone that they had been ordered to turn around, and land back in Philadelphia, from whence they had taken off.
Some minutes later, the news came through that another plane had hit the Pentagon – hundreds into thousands were presumed dead by now. In the commotion that ensued, nobody noticed four men slip quietly away toward the front of the plane…
Melissa eyed her husband, watching him think. He had always been helping other people – that was how she had met him, in fact. They had both volunteered some of their spare time in a shelter for the homeless, and she had been touched by how he was always concerned more about other people.
Even now, she could imagine him plotting, how much time he could afford to take off from work, that he might help in the cleanup and recovery effort. He was that kind of man. She smiled to herself – she was a lucky woman.
Two men came out from the front of the plane, two men who she knew were not the pilot and copilot. For one, they had guns. The pilot and copilot were thrown from the front of the plane, landing in the aisle down the passenger compartment. They were dead of numerous cuts, most of which were bleeding profusely – a slick red stain on the plush carpeting. The men were evidently armed with what had been their guns.
Melissa, Thom, and the other passengers all looked up, in shock. The two men continued their silent vigil, watching all the passengers for sudden moves.
“Thom…” Melissa said nervously.
“I know,” he replied. He could tell that the men were of Arab descent, and all it took was simple logic to put two and two together.
“Hon, they said that the people who were crashing the planes were all Arabs, right?”
“Yeah, but what’s that have to do with anything?” she responded, uncertainly.
“Look closely at those two men,” Thom said quietly.
Melissa did, and she saw Thom’s point. “You mean, you think that…?”
“I don’t think it, I know it. They’re planning on crashing us into another building.”
Melissa caught the tone in his voice, and tried futilely to head it off. “Thom, you can’t! They have guns!” she whispered.
“You would rather we sat here and died?” Thom glanced around furtively. The men weren’t making any moves, but their eyes were everywhere, soaking up the terror in the compartment, feeding off of it. Their eyes were smiling.
There were others in the compartment who were having other quiet conversations, he saw. One of the passengers was trying to use her cell phone to call out for help, Thom saw.
Even as she held up the phone to her ear, she was shot through the head. She slumped in her seat, while the Arab who had fired the shot returned to silently watching everyone.
Thom stood up, and announced loudly, “I have to go to the bathroom.” Several others stood up, he was pleased to see – catching the hint.
Thom walked slowly towards the back of the plane, watching the Arabs carefully. They made no move to stop him, or any of the other men, which Thom thought was interesting, seeing as any one of them might have had a cell phone.
Once the men were all in the privacy of the bathroom, discussion immediately flared.
“I say we get a cell phone back here, and call out for help!” one said, a pimply-faced young man in his early twenties.
“You think they’ll let us do that? I saw we storm ‘em. They can only shoot so many of us, before we drop ‘em,” said another, a grizzled, hoary old man in his sixties.
“Speak for yourself, pops!” the youngster exclaimed angrily. “Some of us have lives to live yet!”
“Enough!” Thom boomed. “There are, what, seven of us here?” he took a quick count. “That should be enough for us to safely storm them. One or two of us might die, but we should be able to bring them down. Do we have any pilots among us?”
“Not that I know of,” another man spoke up.
“Then we all die anyway. Let’s die a worthy death, though.”
“A worthy death? You speak like we’re all doomed!” another of the passengers exclaimed. Several others promptly agreed. “Maybe they just want transportation? You know, point A to point B!”
“And if they don’t,” Thom snapped. “What if they plan on crashing us into another building? Do you want to die, knowing that your recalcitrance cost thousands of lives, FOR NOTHING?!?!?!”
The others shrank back, cowards all. The old man, and several others, all nodded, saying “We’re with you. Let’s make our deaths worthwhile!”
“Coming?” Thom said to the young man icily.
“I have a name,” the young man said heatedly. “It’s Brad.”
“Well then Brad, do you wish to die a hero, or a coward?”
For a second Thom thought Brad was going to hit him. Then he evidently changed his mind. Brad paused, obviously struggling between his desire to live, and his desire to help save thousands of lives.
“I’ll come,” he said sullenly. “If I am to die anyway, let me at least die with honor.”
Thom looked around the room, at the six gathered before him. He knew more would join him, from the passenger compartment, once they saw what was going to happen.
He was filled with sorrow, for the life that would be lost on this plane, today. Melissa and he would never know their niece. Brad would never complete college. The old man would never make it to wherever he was going.
At the same time, however, he was filled with happiness, knowing the lives that would be saved due to their sacrifice. Hundreds, and perhaps thousands of young and old, bright and dim, men, women, and children, would be safe to live out the rest of their lives, because of the events happening on this plane.
“Let’s roll.”
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Not me - I never got into that stuff at all (yet, at least)
But I can't help myself...I've got to say it.
Mefistofele = Me fist of ele (phant)? o_O
Open Positions
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lol@ real-life TM
No problem. I'm afraid the most hands on I could get in those regards is by testing and bug-spotting with my overly-critical eye, so I shall fade back into the shadows, and await my chance