What do you consider AO's "brand"? (storyline stuff itt)

[Ciex]

A total mishmash of cyberpunk (old rka) and fantasy (sl) where one world is mature, brutal and in war (rka with corpses lying inside missions etc.) and the other is a fairy tale made to satisfy 12y old WoW refugees.

You cant explain why the hell jobe is floating over rka, no matter how hard you try it will always be silly. Every time I was falling down from jobe I tried to see elephants that carry it on their backs and a big turtle that they stand on. Fortunately it was not there but disappointment coming from mixed styles remains.

[Kintaii]

You cant explain why the hell jobe is floating over rka, no matter how hard you try it will always be silly. Every time I was falling down from jobe I tried to see elephants that carry it on their backs and a big turtle that they stand on. Fortunately it was not there but disappointment coming from mixed styles remains.

I dunno. In a world where we have jetbikes, hoverboards, flying cars, orbital battlestations, instant teleportation, digital encoding of the physical body, life after death, the ability to completely transform into another species, cybernetic implants, specialized genetically-modified breeds, summonable manifestations of a user's sheer rage and more nanobots than you can shake a stick at, the idea of an island outfitted with anti-gravity technology never really seemed that out of place to me.

What I *can't* explain is exactly how Jobe hooks up to Nascence. That one never made much sense to me - I can totally get portals out to Ely and stuff, but actually running from Jobe into Nasc still boggles me a bit.

[omegahealer]

isn't it that you run through a portal in the jobe research building that ends up in the Nascence building of Jobe? I've seen huge concept art of that portal and isn't it shown in the SL trailer?

http://www.ao-universe.com/gallery.php?id=281

found a link

i always imagine we walk into that portal in jobe research and end up in nascence side of it

[Tanana]

You cant explain why the hell jobe is floating over rka, no matter how hard you try it will always be silly. Every time I was falling down from jobe I tried to see elephants that carry it on their backs and a big turtle that they stand on. Fortunately it was not there but disappointment coming from mixed styles remains.

38 Omni-tek NT's and MP's use their knowledge to make the Islands float. Some kind of advanced Quantum Wings I guess.

I never thought you actually physically ran from Jobe City into Nasc. From what I remember you go through a door (or portal) and end up at either the broken Port area or at Jobe Research. Jobe research is in Nasc ofc so running from here accross the bridge makes sense.

[Tryqz]

I thought Jobe was explained as being set up by a group of Metaphysicists and Nanotechnicians.
MPs can make themselves fly using their nanotech, why not apply similar principles to the city?
We have antigravity applied in so many fo the game's technologies, I'd be very surprised if they couldn't do it in Jobe.

As for the portal - I agree. The jobe outpost in Nascence was something I always assumed to be on the other side of a portal inside the building there. As the first place they broke into the shadowlands they've had time to build a small town around it, whereas the others are areas they've punched into but not established enough fo a foothold yet. (In Elysium it appears they tried is but were pushed back by the creatures of the brink)

It's specified in several places though that the city of Jobe is ON Rubi-Ka, floating above the sea south of the coast of peace/tranquility. This is further confirmed by the connection to the whompah network, and the portals into the shadowlands being INSIDE the city, rather than being used to GET TO the city from RK.

[Kintaii]

Actually, since there are peeps reading this who obviously are into the storyline of AO, this gives me a good chance to ask a few questions regarding some of the story stuff we've incorporated into the game over the last few years. Part of the problem is that with the general story-telling style of AO, we tend to rely more on hinting around and leaving clues instead of out-right telling people what the story is, and I worry sometimes that we might end up being a bit *too* obtuse - So this would be an excellent opportunity to see if some of the things we've tried to incorporate actually made sense at the end of the day. As you guys go through and debate/discuss, I may (or may not) spend some time elaborating on certain things that seem a bit obscure.

We'll start with this one: What was the storyline of Alappaa, and would you say that it ties into other areas of the AO story? And if so, in what ways? Feel free to elaborate.

[BugsCoT]

I've been thoroughly drunk each time I've had to do Alappaa in the past. (over a year ago)
There a log of the dialogue anywhere?

[Mostadio]

A lot of the creatures on RK are a bit... underdeveloped. Who are the medusas? They can speak our language, but.. what exactly are they? I remember reading about OT fighting the cyborgs in some of the fanfic that was published back during the early days of the game. Something about a war against them.

What is the connection between SL and totw/IS? Are Hezek and Aztur hissis who somehow managed to get to RK? Are they some kind of mutation of the Xan? There are clues that somehow they're connected to SL in some of the items and the portal in totw is a pretty big clue. But what's the deal?

What is the significance of the number 8? Servants of Eight, Lockpick of Eight... are they connected? Were they just some kind of weird cult?

[Technogen]

and I worry sometimes that we might end up being a bit *too* obtuse

We'll start with this one: What was the storyline of Alappaa, and would you say that it ties into other areas of the AO story? And if so, in what ways? Feel free to elaborate.

1st part, God yes you guys are a little TOO out of it. A year or so back I attemtped to put togethere a player driven project to peice togethere the story line, and even the basics of how SL and RK interact were very hard to work out. I mean there is stuff there that shows X does Y and what not but little bit more spelling out would be nice.

I've suggested for a long time that you put some scholars up on the island of jobe and RK to tell about the back-story more. So players can actually understand some of the events that took place. Also a player side database of dialog would be much helpful too as we have to remember what all we've said to NPCs right now.


2nd part, YEAH there's that a little uh... and There was the UMMM (pretty much what most players say about Alappaa) Heck even I am not sure what exactly was the point of the story, some girl was captured to be experimented on and... I dont know, but WATCH OUT FOR THE ICEEEE!!!

[Grim-One]

Here is the dialogue for the storyline of Alappaa. Luckily someones else saved theirs. I usually just delete it after I read it.
http://www.ao-universe.com/viewtopic.php?t=3113

Kintaii if I may suggest, Would it be possible to allow players to talk to quest NPCs after you have completed mission? As it is now you only get to hear the story they have for you one time unless you do it on multiple alts, and many people just outright skip the dialogue because they are in a rush to get loot or xp. They might actuality go back and read the dialogue when they have more time to take it in.

I usually just copy all the story dialogue into a word pad and not read a word of it till after I finish quest line.

[shadowgod]

isn't it that you run through a portal in the jobe research building that ends up in the Nascence building of Jobe? I've seen huge concept art of that portal and isn't it shown in the SL trailer?

http://www.ao-universe.com/gallery.php?id=281

found a link

i always imagine we walk into that portal in jobe research and end up in nascence side of it

i wish i had a screen shot of that actually in-game, but cant ever seem to find any i might of taken.

but at one point, that was in-game. once you zoned into the building, you were in that room and then had to zone through the portal to get to anywhere in SL, or out of SL.

i can only assume it was removed as a needless time-sink. and despite the fun RP aspect of it, i can totally understand this point, zoning twice just to get someplace is a bit of a waste. especially with how long zoning took back then.

[BugsCoT]

So far, I'm not getting the connection. This was written as I read it to keep it all straight in my tired mind.

Omni-tek claimed rights to Rubi-Ka. Disgruntled employees revolted, forming the clans. Pacifists made up the neutrals, who sided with neither.

vs

The Xan obtained ultimate power, got in a fight, blew the F* out of their planet, resettled and decided to make weapons and go to war with eachother. Both sides are equally insane. They just took a different stance on the Source. Ok, and they're fighting for religious reasons. And their "gods" are corrupted.

I'm assuming the Source is supposed to be a version of notum, though this doesn't really make any sense since the clanners are fighting a political/civil war, not an environmental one to save the source bunnies.

Ok I've finished the whole log. It's pretty clear to me that the stories were written long after the fact of SL's release. The lack of logical reasoning and extremely loose correlation between RK and SL is a dead giveaway. I've seen this sort of thing a lot, though it's usually really bad writing to rationalize a game mechanic. Many of these stories were plainly written to give an excuse to send the character out on another fedex run. You had developed a nasty fetish for obscenely long quest lines a bit before Alappaa was added, after all.

Anyways, these are the only conclusions I can draw from that.

[Technogen]

i can only assume it was removed as a needless time-sink. and despite the fun RP aspect of it, i can totally understand this point, zoning twice just to get someplace is a bit of a waste. especially with how long zoning took back then.

Would be nice if it was put back in and there were some story/quest NPCs in there. Maybe a lounge up top with some vendors of items. Use the ring on the portal and end up in the zone you need to be in instead of just nasc.

[Honorbound]

So far, I'm not getting the connection. This was written as I read it to keep it all straight in my tired mind.

Omni-tek claimed rights to Rubi-Ka. Disgruntled employees revolted, forming the clans. Pacifists made up the neutrals, who sided with neither.

vs

The Xan obtained ultimate power, got in a fight, blew the F* out of their planet, resettled and decided to make weapons and go to war with eachother. Both sides are equally insane. They just took a different stance on the Source. Ok, and they're fighting for religious reasons. And their "gods" are corrupted.

I'm assuming the Source is supposed to be a version of notum, though this doesn't really make any sense since the clanners are fighting a political/civil war, not an environmental one to save the source bunnies.

What you are missing is the beginning, that's where RK and SL connects.

The gods (or "Braces") of the Xan are actual beings. I'm not sure what kind, but they appear to be immortal and "inter-dimensional", and have some kind of agenda and/or conflict of their own, which is being mirrored by their creatures/followers who they manipulate to their purpose.

One of them, called Vanya (who is worshipped by the Unredeemed), came to Earth and started a chain of events that led to the development of a technology that can make people practically immortal through some periodical cellular regeneration process to fight aging and nanobot technology to repair trauma and fight diseases.
This technology was owned by a single company which Vanya manipulated from the background into creating the immortal "Omegas" who were then manipulated into exterminating the human race by a nano-virus and then coaxing the surviving nations into a nuclear war.

During the next 27000 years (including another extermination of failed results, iirc) the Omegas were using controlled evolution to create a new human race, the Homo Solitus, which is inherently fused with the nanobot technology. The Omegas were planning to achieve total control over them through a single mega-corporation which every human being is an employee of from birth to death.
Vanya still looked in on them every now and then, kept suggesting things to people receptive to it, to make sure that his creations end up where he wants them to be, on Rubi-Ka, which is the equivalent of "the planet now known as Shadowlands" in our universe/dimension/whatever; probably because the presence of notum (Source on the other side) would make it possible to link the two planets, and allow his private army, led by the Omegas, to get to the other side and help the Unredeemed. Which in fact happened.

Clans were then formed to fight the Omni-Tek oppression (resulting from them trying to make everyone an employee regardless if they want it or not), so in effect they are fighting a potential ally of the Unredeemed, which practically makes them an ally of the Redeemed. They are not fighting for the same reason, but they are fighting against the same enemy, or at least an incarnation of it.

[Whealer]

One of the things I find interesting is in how certain creatures native to the Shadowlands have survived and developed on Rubi-Ka. Its interesting to think that in some cases the creatures have evolved, as in the case of the Medusa, and others reverted back to a more tribal form, Yuttos for example. It also takes some thought but the creatures that do overlap between the two locations do make sense. There are however a few creatures native to Rubi-Ka that do not appear in the Shadowlands that have me a bit perplexed as is the case of the Baraton.

The other thing thats always bothered me is the fact that the Shadowlands is very linear. We know for lore that Rubi-Ka and the Shadowlands were once one and the same. Reason would then state that the Shadowlands should in theory be more open and less linear. I've yet to find a compelling bit of lore to explain that one for me.

And as to Kintaii's question regarding Alappaa I can't quite say I understand where the story was going with that one. Perhaps some insight into what the intended background was is in order.

[BugsCoT]

Story.

That is indeed what I was missing.

But I don't remember anywhere being urged to work for either faction, it was just sort of imposed on us for gameplay reasons. And the Unredeemed treated you pretty disrespectfully for a people who wanted you to do something. The player's dialogue implied a subservient/ingratiating nature, which always felt very out of place. Showing any form of personal pride always resulted in a terminated conversation. I wasn't ever given any particular reason to try to be subservient to these people, so I'm more likely to fill a insulting person with bullets than I am accede to their requests.

It seems strange to go from Vanya's form of manipulation to the Unredeemed brute-forcing problem solving skills. It also seems strange that gods would intentionally ignore their followers during/following the cataclysm. Wouldn't that make the Xan resentful and untrusting of their gods?

[Sama]

after reading this thread i would much appreciate a AO lore page/sight that contained all the story in game...

[crude4gone]

http://www.anarchy-online.com/wsp/an...template=drill

Got some good stuff to read.

[Technogen]

after reading this thread i would much appreciate a AO lore page/sight that contained all the story in game...

http://www.anarchy-online.com/wsp/an...template=drill

Got some good stuff to read.

Yeah, but there just simply needs to be more and it needs to be in an easier to read format. Which isnt exactly an easy thing to do.

[crude4gone]

Yeah, but there just simply needs to be more and it needs to be in an easier to read format. Which isnt exactly an easy thing to do.

Agreed