I voted for Intelligence and Survival of the Fittest. I mean, we would have no technology if we were not intelligent, eh? I mean, if we were not evolved to be intelligent and efffect our suuroundings, we would still be apes hanging from trees scratching our armpits.

However, this is not the answer. The true basis of our society is 42. It is the ultimate answer to everything. Read Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy for more info. The ultimate question, however, is a mystery.

oh, heh heh.... sorry i was gone so dang long

I didn't exactly intend to be a slacker, it just sorta... happened. Sorry I never got to those changes and fiddles Arti. I'll at least try to get to them right away.

-Mahvalan, newly returned (again) beginner developer

P.S. I've been out of it for so long, I know that last time I was on people were considering changing the mentors system. Is there any updates on that? Thanks.

EDIT.1: Oh, sorry Arti, I didn't realize that the teasers were going on the site. Oops. I'll probably be saying that alot nowadays. Heh.

EDIT.2: Not sure what else to write for the teaser for the whole story, since I'm not sure entirely where I'm going. I usually end up letting my story write itself. It just takes me along for the ride, and then lets me go thru the hell of proofreading and editing. No insults intended in the "hell of proofreading and editing" phrase.

I guess you could take what I said that way. I meant more or less that if you slice a shaving that would change the tree physically, but not much, would it change the essence enough for it to count as a bradn new baby essence? If this would be teh case, any small change to any physical thing would make two or more new essences?

I would think that if even a small change can make something be a new essence this should be counted as Black Druidic Magic. I say this because you would be changing the nature of something so that you can modify nature for your own means. If the above is not true, this statement is not accurate IMHO.

Oh, wow! Thanks Artimidor! This is going to take me some time to integrate since I am a little busy lately. Just as a side note, over the summer I will not really be around. I will try to get this done, but after my school gets out it could be up to mid-August/Maah'valannia. I'm just making sure everyone knows and doesn't flip out if I randomly disappear.

EDIT: Ugh... I am doing finals right now and will try to catch up with the work, so don't count me as gone. I figured out that I am home for a total of 10 days between the end of my school and August 5th, so yea, this will take a while to finish because of my often absences.

Hey, it's me again with my ever-so confusing questions and ideas 

The compendium has been going on in our world for numerous years, and in Caelereth (if I am correct) several years have passed as well. What do we do with recent history? Has any disasters occured? An earthquake? Has the King been assassinated? What's going on in Santhara?

I suggest that at the end of every Caelerethian year an experienced member who has been here a very long time (aka Arti, Judith, etc) should make up what happened that year to put in the history section of the Compendium.

I think rough guidelines would be:

1 really good or bad thing
2-3 good things
2-3 bad things
some generic things about the land (population, crops, etc)

Also, maybe we should do like an Archives section that would have stuff like this in it. Each entry would be 10 years in Caelereth. The Archives would begin in roughly 20-50 years after the Kingdom of Santharia was established. This would be dry and boring stuff, but I think it would leave an extra level of credibility to the Compendium. It would almost be like the Archives would be the granddaddy of the Compendium.

Kinda confusing, but interesting ideas, I think. Barely get it myself...

I have a question:

Let's go back to your "tree" example. You described a 200 year old tree, with a 2000 year old essence. Would it be possible to change the physical part, the tree, and like in your "splitting a mountain with an earthquake" description, change it so that there would be a brand new essence there. In other words, could you slice a tree in part, and thus change the corperal being, and then affect the essence as well. To me, it seems like you could make a very minor change to the corperal being and then change the essence that way to something new. The result would be a brand-new essence that you could mold like a newborn baby by merging. Any thoughts on this?

If I am blabbering like I have no idea what I am saying, ignore me completely. Or ignore me anyway. Whatever floats your boat.

Wow, thanks Marvin! I'm glad for the help with some technical stuff. I'm pretty much learning as I go, as I find that the easiest way. I have integrated Marvin's comments and am ready for more. Thanks again Marvin!

Ok, I've added all the comments from Capher, Bard Judith, Hylph, and Trel. Thanks a million! I am ready fo rmore comments. Thank you once again!

I was wondering if it was okay to start writing the draft of Chapter One: From the Fields up on the site. I would leave it under the pencil until this is done. Thanks!

Wow! One call for help on the ShoutBox! and I get all these comments! Thank you immensely for the raving reviews! This is my first semi-published writing, so thanks for the awesome comments. I will integrate the comments tomorrow, since I am 14 and it is a school night, I cannot do it now. I am honored.

Spoiler Warning!!! (Sorta)

@ Capher: Scal is not dead. I will not say what has happened, but I wrote it to have the appearence of death. Just saying. He is not the main character either, but he is important.

I've made some revisions I thought logical. These may or may not work, depending. I would gladly welcome more comments. I am waiting for comments on the story I mentioned I am working on, so I have more time to work on this. When I am done with this, I will either make a new spell or revise another. I am also going to go over the stuff on making entries so I am not completely clueless.

Okay, thats cool. From what I could tell, it almost doesn't look like there are enough mentors for the system (IMHO). just saying.

I actually have been back about a month-ish, I just haven't reposted a joining request.

Um, yea. Hi. As some people may know, I was here in the summer, and I am reposting a joining request. I found my old request blocked, and figured I should write a new one since I have been out of things for a bit while moving 900 miles away from where I used to live.

Okay, I'm interested in weird Magical and Mythical animals, Magic (yes, I know its crazily insanely complicated), and pretty much anything in the library. I am also slighly interested in the Manthria Development Masterplan, mainly because I will be adding entries to a large set of stuff.

For potential Mentors, I was thinking of Alysse the Likely, Silfer Darkflare, or maybe Artimidor if he isn't to busy. If any of the mentors aren't too busy for that matter.

Thanks, and I hope to be (and continue to be) a valuble member of the Santharian Development team.

Entries Completed:

None... yet.

Entries I am Working on:

revision of the Level 2 fire spell Light
a novel, the Tale of the Rheneu'ael'mies; Prologue: A Winter's Night

EDIT: As you (hopefully) can tell, I have changed my pic. It is the pic I use on the RPG boards and I made it myself. I took my old pic with Arti's frame, and changed the inside using Adobe Photoshop. Whadda ya think?

A video somewhere online that any Star Wars fan should watch: Ryan vs. Dorkman II

First of all, this 5 minute movie is fantastic. It is just a really long lightsaber fight, but the special effects stuff is even better than the stuff at LucasArts, and thats saying something. There is a bit of humor to it also. You won't know who wins until the last minute. Or the minute after that.

Umm... maybe that was a little big...

Star Wars. Without a doubt. No, don't argue, I'll just tell my orchestra conductor (Darth Maul indisguise, although she doesn't know I know) to slice your head off.

Trekkies, tell your Captain Kirk/Picard/Whateverhisfaceornameis to try negotiating a Sith lord out of killing him if he doesn't get what he wants.

More good stuff about Star Wars:

Big explosions (Death Star, Death Star II, Alderaan, etc)

Jedi duels (especially the really really really big volcano duel between Anakin and Ben)

Cult following

Books (Try reading The Heir to the Empire; Dark Force Rising; and The Last Command; by Timothy Zahn. Best Science Fiction I ever read, and those would be a potential VII, VIII, IX episodes if they would be made)

Video Games (Mainly the LEGO Star Wars games. For some reason, they were addictively awesome.)

Been Around 30 years

THE FORCE

And most importantly...
YODA!!!

Good stuff about Star Trek:

Phasers

Uh... can't think of anything else... my point precisely.

P.S. I wrote this post mainly because Star Trek was getting too much attention on this thread.

P.P.S. STAR WARS ROCKS!!!