Cantr and Science

[catwill]

I can only take this as a challenge...

Flying, for example. I am dead sure I could make a whole town believe my char could fly. It can't be done on a whim, but I could see how I could do it over the course of two IG decades.

Of course, writing about it here on the forum only makes it harder... people would be on the lookout.

You need the right town. You need to understand your audience. You need to calculate the right message, delivered in the right way, over the right period of time. It's small 'a' advocacy. It's creative writing on a grand scale. Life of Pi... you have to make the reader believe that the fantastical explanation is the true one... that anything less would be a sham, a disappointment, counter to that in us which yearns toward the miracle.

Sometimes I wonder what I could do in Cantr if I didn't have a real life, preventing me from devoting the majority of my time to it. Not that I would change that... it just makes it more difficult to do the grand thing. Makes it hard even to be a town leader, which requires more alertness and organization than most of my chars can have. Let alone flying.

But sure, it could be done.

I more than believe in your ability to pull this off.

[Doug R.]

I'd bet money the character would get reported to the PD, and the player issued a desist request, regardless of how well planned and written it was.

[NancyLee]

[...]
I have influenced societies in ways they don't even know, changed the trajectory of their entire history, with a nudge here, a comment there, a well crafted story carefully told. [...]
I can only take this as a challenge... [...]

I just needed to thank you, because that post truly made my smile. And I really hope you succeed.
I agree it can be done and I have experienced it and enjoyed it a lot, as you said, when the right place and the right circumstances concur, a good plotted story and a curious nature can lead to awesome and really entertaining paths and sometimes, the most absurd explanation from an ooc point of view can be the most natural and plausible one ic.

As far as curiosity toward everyday little "miracles" or basic physic laws, bonds or wonders, I've played both the curious and questioning ones (and being looked upon with a frown for not comprehending concepts such as "daughter" or "marriage" beforehand) and the accepting ones, it depends mostly for me on the nature of my own chars and how the events mold them or spur their curiosity toward one things or anothers.

As for the most purely "scientific" or "technical" parts of everyday living, I've found pleasure and hours of fun in the past trying to put aside my real world prejudices and knowledges (and struggles with the English language) to dissect reality in a way that could be interpreted by my chars in a plausible way. And you might have just given me the germ of an idea that could be fun for me to play if I'm able to flesh it out correctly so, again, thank you!

Edit to add:

[...] If yes, would it be suitable then to suggest roleplaying items like microscopes, chemistry sets, and things of that nature so that characters can discover these properties and document them in their research

That'd be awesome. I remember rping a sort of microscope with a char (he had some steel and a glass lense in his inventory) and even if only one other char followed the "history" and the rest reacted like "what's that retard doing with some ingots of steel and glass?", which of course is totally legit, it was pretty fun for me.

[saztronic]

I'd bet money the character would get reported to the PD, and the player issued a desist request, regardless of how well planned and written it was.

This is awesome.

I'll tell you what. State an amount.

Then I'll PM you, within 3 days (I'm literally in the process of moving house, and so, swamped, otherwise I'd do it sooner) with the step by step process I'd use to do it.

You can be the sole judge and jury. If you believe what I tell you is possible, a plausible way of RP'ing one's way to a town's acceptance of and engagement with the idea that that a Cantr character could take flight, you have to post your acknowledgement here, and I'll waive payment and call off the bet.

If you don't believe it's possible, then I either have to pay you, or I have to make it happen - or something similar enough that we can agree on privately, since this converation is now too public and thus might spoil the endeavor - within 20 Cantr years. If I succeed, you pay me.

Oh... and as my part of the bet, I'll stipulate that there can be no report to the PD from any of the witnesses.

Is there money where that mouth is?

[Marian]

Cantrians can already fly, just use a boat.

Realistically though the character will probably be treated exactly the same as those other newspawns who pop up every now and then pretending to have magic powers.

[Doug R.]

Just to be clear, I'm talking about Peter Pan flight here, not somene rping out building a giant kite or a hang-glider and doing it via a device. I have a character that wanted to fly on a kite, and may still try. What kind of flight are you talking about, Saz?

[Marian]

Just to be clear, I'm talking about Peter Pan flight here, not somene rping out building a giant kite or a hang-glider and doing it via a device. I have a character that wanted to fly on a kite, and may still try. What kind of flight are you talking about, Saz?

This is the only way I could see it working and is actually a pretty cool idea as long as you don't go overboard with it...if someone was cruising around for hours doing loops and swoops or whatever'd be a silly that their amazing flying machine ONLY worked in town...

[NancyLee]

I thought magic powers were strongly discouraged? Haven't met any of those yet, but now I kind of want someone to try to convice any of my chars of their superpowers

[saztronic]

Just to be clear, I'm talking about Peter Pan flight here, not somene rping out building a giant kite or a hang-glider and doing it via a device. I have a character that wanted to fly on a kite, and may still try. What kind of flight are you talking about, Saz?

I was thinking along similar lines, though not this exactly, it would be slightly more impressive -- not Peter Pan flight, though.

Magic flying would be much more difficult, obviously, though still possible, within limits. Certainly sustained levitation would not be a problem. But if you want full on Peter Pan, second star to the left and straight on till morning, that costs extra.

This is the only way I could see it working and is actually a pretty cool idea as long as you don't go overboard with it...if someone was cruising around for hours doing loops and swoops or whatever'd be a silly that their amazing flying machine ONLY worked in town...

Mine would not be restricted to one town.

[Marian]

Mine would not be restricted to one town.

Yeah, but you'd just be mysteriously limited to flying at a very slow walking pace when outside of one? What's the point of flying then when a rickshaw is faster?

[saztronic]

Mine would not be restricted to one town.

Yeah, but you'd just be mysteriously limited to flying at a very slow walking pace when outside of one? What's the point of flying then when a rickshaw is faster?

Incorrect.

[Marian]

Will a vehicle be involved?

Bonus points if it's a very specific vehicle and your character is named Marty McFly.

[Shaderon]

But that would take time travel and that WOULD be impossible because of game mechanics.

Yes i could see how that would work.... good luck with that, I'd like to see it.

[Doug R.]

You know, time travel would be awesome, even if it was only limited to the last 7 days.

[Snickie]

All this stuff about what Cantriians can and can't do in this universe is very interesting. I would love to be able to roleplay telekinesis or levitation or whatever.

But there's one thing that I haven't seen anybody really consider thusfar:

Back in 2012, the Players Department ruled that Cantriians are, in fact, human.

They are biologically and physiologically human (so no griffins or cats or robots) and thus must have human limitations.
They are, admittedly, very very very small humans who live in very very very small worlds (around very very large animals RD), but they are humans nonetheless.
(Are they actually hobbits, and our descriptions of their heights and everything just part of a group hallucination?)
(You know, a "foot" used to be measured as the length of the king's forearm.)


Also, there has to be a sun in Cantr. How else would we have "sunny" or "very sunny" weather?
(By the way, slightly off-topic, what's the difference between "sunny" and "clear"?)