A simple question which may lead to many questions

Embrawk

Embrawk

Newbie
San Francisco Staff
* A voice who is trying his best to speak in a Dwarven accent and failing speaks aloud .*

Hello friends and comrades of the Maelstrome,

I have a few questions. I certainly don't want to reveal any thing to our enemies, but I also want to make sure we are all well informed as we march ever closer to victory. I find at times it's really difficult to tell what's being withheld for security and what is simply unknown or more importantly unasked. I also what to root out any generally erroneous information. So my first and possibly last questions on the matter depends on the answer to this question.

Can our enemies in the maelstrome enter the dreamscape?

If yes then this is an unsafe place for my further inquiries and I will seek a way to present information and questions more securely.

Thank you for any information,
Embrawk Hematite
 
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The short answer is we do not know if they can. Mortals can dream. Elemental beings, traditionally have not been able to. But even Undead from time to time have entered the dreaming.

Assume the worst case scenario; this would be the case. Security would decimate we keep vital information from this area and we use physical medium only to convey information. Ensuring that we do not disperse it carelessly or leave it to be found by others.

I will speak with you further, privately.

In Service,
By My Hand
- Dragoon-Squire Shin Shanshi
House of the Zodiac
 
The nature of what makes an enemy is a better question to address, in my mind. While a known-foe to one party may be a cherished ally to another, the divide deepens as you look at interpersonal interactions. A turn-coat may be believed to be an ally, only to deliver hard-found data to a more malevolent threat hours after it is uncovered. An altruistic healer may believe they are doing the right thing in attempts to safeguard others from harm, only to uncover another's weakness to their foe.

An available medium such as the Dreamscape is best utilized with caution, knowing that all could receive the information provided through it -- either first hand or through an intermediary. But keep in mind, all the while, that the more hands some mote of information goes through, the less control you have over where it goes or its accuracy.

Truly, the nature of what makes one a foe to one or many is an ever changing field.

-Eli
 
Hello Eli,

Not sure if we have meet it can be so confusing matching voice to a face in dream but thank you for your insight. I think honestly you would be correct in most lands but the lands of the maelstrome are very diffrent. There are no turncoats no spies, no traders, and this is because it's simply elementals trying to destroy any who could be those things. It's a very straight forward scenario it's Us vs Them. Us being all mortals, magical creature and some undead. Against them, the Elementals.

But you do bring up a good point the nature of an enemy. For me this has been any who stand in the way of those hindering me from doing what I feel is the right thing. However I understand for others this may mean a moral code and those with opposing view are the enemy.

For me this is not an issue as my moral code is simple I must do the right thing. I do not hate my enemy however I simply understand we are on differt sides.

However if a once thought ally turns out to betray me then they are my enemy. This is only after clear actions or evedence is presented. This being said I always consider all allies my comrade.

If we disagree and fight for opposite sides, so be it. If they betray my information to the enemy that's them being a bad comrade and I will avenge my self and any hurt by there betrayl. I rufuse however to live in a paranoid state where everyone could be an enemy. I'd rather leave myself open to a dagger in the back, than put up a sheld between the embrace of myself and my comrades.

If this makes me foolish so be it then I am a fool. But it's the path that Ior my mentor taught me. If I am being completely honest however, it's the path that lead to his murder.

This is my path and I'll walk it too Glory or Ruin till the black stone chooses me.

-Embrawk
 
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Good evening Embrawk, I hope you and yours are well.

From a practical standpoint, c-c-common knowledge would lead me to believe that elementals cannot enter dream. However, not everything here has been fully elemental. My policy has been to dream vaguely and avoid details, but misinterpretation of information is often far worse than no information at all. I have not personally heard dreaming from anything that is not mortal and alive though sadly that certainly doesn't mean that dream is secure.

From a more metaphorical standpoint, the only way to t-truly prevent the spread of information is for all to be ignorant.

Obviously, universal ignorance is not an option and neither is overzealous paranoia. The circumstances require us as a group to take calculated risks in order to benefit everyone, and (in my opinion) making sure information gets disseminated is something worthy of more than a little risk-taking.

Beyond k-keeping cautious, perhaps interested parties should gather together at some point when we are all assembled and share what we have found? I am sure many of Goodman Hematite's questions match with my own and there is no sense in repeating one answer to many people when it could all be answered at one time, in person- with the benefit of other people's input and knowledge added.

-Terren
 
Greeting Terren, I hope you and your brother are well

You seem to have a very fair and balanced point. Perhaps when next we all gather, during our first supper we can all meet. Then all seeking information can gain insight and we should have a brief discussion of the basics of maelstrome. I shall begin forging a new dream to rally those willing to teach and maybe together we can even educate those newly and just arriving into the mealstrome.

-Embrawk
 
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Embrawk,

Rarely are battle lines as clear as you speak to believe. The elementals that find themselves in the Maelstrom -- primarily on the surface -- are a different breed than you believe. The longer that they stay in the prime plane, as opposed to their respective elemental planes, the more characteristics they take with those native to this plane. This includes vulnerabilities to magics not standard to their natural state, be it chaotic or earth in nature.

That said, my first incursion to the Maelstrom saw friend murder friend, and not of their own volition. So long as there is alchemical and sorcery-derived domination of the mind, both long and short term, you cannot rely on a battlefield with two sides across from one another, a line laid between them. Moreover, there is an increasing number of incursions to these prime planes by entities that belong neither here nor on any Elemental plane, which further defy the battle-lines you seek to define.

That said... I envy your view of warfare. Were that it was as clearly defined as your belief, there would be many more living now, and each with a mind not blighted by the tragedies that true and complete wars endure.

-Eli
 
Eli,

I'm sorry about your friends. I am relatively new to the Maelstrome and have not had to witness the full scope and depth of all it's horrors.

These shifts in tainted elementals are something new to me and I may have spoken in ignorance, my apologies.

I am no stranger to war, my values have been tested time and time again. I know how messy it can get. I have taken actions in the past that has lead to catistrophic loss of innocent lives and genocide,.by war mongers whom I called allies. I have had to slay my Kin of the Stonefist clan those who basically instilled these values in me and because of my beliefs I presssed Ior Stonefist the closest thing I ever had for a Father to take actions which lead to his Doom. I know the lines are not always clear and that is why I must stick to what I believe is right. Otherwise I'd go daft, Which some say I already am.

My point being don't envy me. I have these views I have, not because I don't know complete war. I have them because for as far back as my memory stretches in my shattered mind, all I've mainly known was war.

All I've seen is the lines change over and over. My views are simply a way for my to make sure I'm on the side that my gut tells me is the right one.

Ior gave me that gift, that almost unnatural sense of right and wrong, that intuition or gut feeling. I owe it to him to use that gift to strike down the wicked and protect the goodly folks of Fortannis. Even in times of action that have lead to terrible consequences my views are all that has ever driven me. That is until recently.

-Embrawk
 
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