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Post by wildmage on Sept 18, 2007 8:58:09 GMT -5
Oi, Hello all you beautiful people! xD
My name is Lorelai and I am British by birth and London was were I lived until about a month ago. Now I live in the US of A. (yes, bit of a smart arse =P ) I am twenty-four years young and am planning to study Microbiology when I can afford college. I work at IHOP (yay pancakes!) as a waitress and I am not married nor do I care to be.
I got started on the Tortall books by my cousin and have thus become addicted to them helplessly. I enjoy roleplaying very much and am not shy of playing cross gender roles, (like a Male) and have played some rather.. interesting characters in the past to say the least.
Well enough about me... hope to get to know people on here eventually.
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Post by Tobias Scylding on Sept 19, 2007 1:40:00 GMT -5
Hiya and welcome to the board. You're in the right place, no one is afraid of cross gender RPing here. Please do browse and make a character and if you need any help PM one of us. Oh and don't be put off by the lack of activity at the moment, there are a few of us milling around waiting for some new characters to appear so we can kick things off again. You will get to RP with someone, even if it's just us die hards who refuse to give up on the board.
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Post by wildmage on Sept 19, 2007 16:23:30 GMT -5
I intend to make a character but it seems that Riders and such like aren't so active anymore so I am at a loss what to make ^^;
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Post by Tobias Scylding on Sept 20, 2007 1:22:50 GMT -5
yeah, society has moved on in ths setting. There is a whole range of social classes and jobs...depends what kind of character you're after?
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Post by wildmage on Sept 25, 2007 11:33:06 GMT -5
I was thinking a Shang also but are there even any left in this era? My character I had in mind tis a half Yamani.
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Post by Duke Gideon of Genlith on Sept 25, 2007 13:30:04 GMT -5
Hey! I'm Shell and I hope you like AToTC so far, even though you haven't done much posting. I may not be perhaps the most correct on this matter, but I believe the Shang are gone, or somewhat obsolete, a side-effect of the invention of guns and gunpowder. There might be a couple, but you'd really have to ask Roy about that. As for a Yamani charrie, well....there are a few who had some bad experiences with a board basically being taken over by Yamani characters, and so perhaps one wouldn't be your best bet. If you really want to make one that's ok.
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Post by reganofwellam on Sept 25, 2007 18:34:54 GMT -5
(It's Kari who posted in the questions section) I know I haven't made a character yet but... I have to get a word in about the Shang. I definitely disagree with them being pushed aside. Especially when you look at English history. www.umich.edu/~ece/student_projects/martial_arts/intro.htmlIf you check out unarmed you'll see martial arts were alive and well in the 18th century in england.If you follow this idea into Tortall I see the Shang as still there, still respected but perhaps used for different purposes. Even in the modern world we watch wrestling and boxing, so of course back then watching boxing/fighting was entertainment (violent sports seem to be very popular in english history think bull baiting) So I can see the Shang having to adapt to this change, or still have people in the ranks fighting this change. Noblemen still took fencing lessons in the 18th century, so I guess that wrestling/boxing would be a physical activity that some would pursue too. Probably not the same as the lower classes though. So personally, I could see the Shang still alive, perhaps changed into masters of an art that they are paid to teach, mayhaps a school, or hired by a nobleman to train his sons, or train a fighter he has sponsored. Not quite the noble mentality of the Shang in Pierce's Tortall but I think it's likely that they still exist. www.umich.edu/~ece/student_projects/martial_arts/wwwh.htmlThis page shows a Who/Where/When/How page about martial arts (fencing, boxing, pole arms, projectiles) in england in the 18th century. I think if you had a Shang you could easily get tons of ideas from this page. " There was also another class that studied all methods of combat, the maisters. The maisters or, masters of arms/defence were a class that existed between the merchant class and the upper class. The masters were often able to set up schools or academies at which they would teach and hold competitions. If a master made a good name for himself he could easily maintain his school with the patronage of men from the gentry as well as some merchants. " I see that as being a Shang in the 18th Century.
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Post by Tobias Scylding on Sept 26, 2007 16:01:24 GMT -5
You have to remember that martial arts in this context basically means combative arts rather than oriental style unarmed fighting. Unarmed combat was pretty base - boxing, prize fighting and wrestling either at the upper class levels between universities or public schools and at the working class level, back street prize fights or public boxing matches. I don't feel like that's specialised enough to be a role for the Shang, anyone with military or physical training could fit that role. The other martial arts were armed and mostly upperclass, especially fencing and the right to carry a sword. Fencing schools were more likely to be run by ex military men, people with armed training rather than the shang. I can see where you're going with this idea but they would kind of be obsolete in this period. If you were to want a character who trained fighters/boxers you're probably better going with someone military trained. I always found the Shang a bit...Kung Fu myself. (the TV show I mean. )
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Post by reganofwellam on Sept 26, 2007 18:51:59 GMT -5
But that's England. England didn't have the kind of contact with Asian societies that Tortall had. So to change from England to Tortall you have to remember that they're not one and the same.
Human beings and culture do not just become obsolete and die away. Most have the tendacy to change and adapt to their new surroundings. So Tortall's boxing would have more than just English boxing at the time. (I mean you never saw Medieval England with the kind of fighting Tortall had but Tortall still had it) The Shang, if they wanted to stay alive as a culture would adapt to the new world.
Remember guns are usually too expensive for lower classes and slow to load and not that accurate at this time period in technology (in 18th century world) so unarmed combat is still important. And the Shang are not just Kong Fu fighters. The Shang master every weapon that comes their way, the fact that they taught hand-to-hand in Tortall is that Tortall already had fencing masters. I see no reason why the Shang wouldn't evolve into this kind of Master class.
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Post by Tobias Scylding on Sept 30, 2007 7:29:45 GMT -5
Actually by 18th century England DID have close contact with asian cultures much like Tortall in this period, (India, china, the south east asian nations.) It was almost the peak of the British Empire and yes parts of those cultures were brought back to England and Asian goods and traders were nicely set up in London and yet you don't get widespread asian style fighting techniques or English boxing becoming some kind of hybrid style. Also, as a side note, Medieval England did absorb fighting techniques from the nations it had contact including those cultures in the Eastern kingdoms experienced during the crusades, the crusading kingdoms were suprisingly multicultural - borrowing techniques and technology from each other. Human beings and culture do not just become obsolete and die awayThey become severely marginalised and irrelevant to society, you just have to look at the way that modern life has destroyed the lifestyles of many indigenous groups and in terms of the Shang they're not even an indigenous group, more like a secret society. I'm not trying to impose English history on Tortall but we've used England as a guide for Tortall. I'm not saying the shang would have vanished completely but much like the other remenants of 'medieval' Tortall their role would have become less important as the technology of warfare developed much like the knight masters and the other formalities of page training. Roy makes it quite clear in the board setting that this a very different Tortall and that the emphasis is on Tortall's naval might, kind of along the lines of the British Empire at the time. It just seems to me for what you're proposing shang training would be pretty unecessary. I do get your point that this is a fantasy world but following the development of this era of Tortall it's a sea bound, empire building nation and the discovery of the Western Reaches has actually strengthened the notion of Tortallan identity and religion. The Shang clearly would still exist but I guess fitting in with the established order or maybe becoming some kind of separatist group, or reduced to training rogues or pirates now THAT would be cool. (sorry for the lengthy rant, I'm a history teacher and a medieval specialist so once you get me started on the theme of history I can go on forever. Also, I have nothing resembling authority on this boad so my opinions are just conjecture, feel free to completely ignore them! )
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Post by anitalarson on Sept 30, 2007 15:21:29 GMT -5
<-- Lily, by the way
I sort of agree with Ruth... I think the Shang would have more importance in Yamani and Maren Culture, being Pierce mentioned a major school there. Though, I don't think they would have the noble status they seemed to have in medieval Tortall; flashing around a knights title, which brings me to a question in the middle of a ramble - When did the English do away with pagedom, squiredom, etc, to just become knighted by the Queen or King for a notable acheivement? I don't remember such being mentioned when we studied the Revolutionary Wars in History... I sorta assumed they died off after the Crusdades?
Anyways, I think a Shang could have the advantage in a fight against a gunman; guns aren't efficient as they are now; having to stuff the powder, add the bullets - it seemed, to me, of just taken the place of a bow and arrow or crossbow, and not yet as completely relied upon like the sword....
Debates like this are fun, always getting to learn ^^
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Post by torra on Oct 20, 2007 13:55:12 GMT -5
I am sure some or most of you already know me but I'm Torvina, but I have taken to the nickname Torra lately and thus what I like to be called.
I asked Roy if I could join this board beforehand and it was given the green light. At the time of this post, I am currently working up my first character on here and hope I can nail this profile right soon.
I've a second character in mind but I am running dry on ideas so if anyone has an idea they wanna toss my direction, feel free to PM me or im me on the contacts listed on my application.
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Post by Cuauhtemoc Scott on Jan 4, 2008 17:32:19 GMT -5
Helloo I'm molly... I just wanted to say hi, I hate being the newbie on boards! Ug. But to kind of save myself from being the awkward newbie forever I offer my msn name (morrison.molly@hotmail.com) so I can get to know some people here.
Anyways, I'm 19 and rockin it in Denmark (for now). I really like food, I'm particularly a fan baked goods... I have been on an unoffical bakery tour of Europe for awhile now, that's been pretty good but my body is currently hating me. Uhh, so yeah, that's what's up. Feel free to PM me or to talk on MSN anytime!
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Post by Duke Gideon of Genlith on Jan 4, 2008 19:34:03 GMT -5
Hey Molly! I'm Shell (Duke Gideon of Genlith/Mithros), and am a global mod. I hope you like AToTC! It's neat that you like food. Reminds me of a recent baking fiasco...*looks pointedly at siblings* Anywho, I think your bio is really good, which makes me kinda wish that I had a character in Port Caynn.
Welcome to AToTC!
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Post by Cuauhtemoc Scott on Jan 4, 2008 22:08:13 GMT -5
ha ha yeah baking... Always room for disaster, I have spent many a hour scraping burned parts off of cookies, they're usually still good underneath....?
I kind of wish that you had a character in Port Caynn too, that part of the board seems kind of dead.. Hopefully there are people still around to roleplay with?
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