The Zuma

[Phellan]

There are a few Nobles in Madina who've dealt closely with the Zuma - the current RP still has an entire wing of the palace sealed shut as their ambassadors chambers and living area.   

From an OOC comment my RP's with the Zuma indicate that there are a few Zuma who rule over the humans - they are basically the nobles, looking after the peasant tribes.   Each region is named after the tribe that lived in that area, and the Zuma are worshipped as god like figures.    The Zuma rule over the peasants and if I remember right the Ambassador got very upset with Vallyn for suggesting they were similar to the Beleuterra Daemons - enough so that they might actually be enemies.    The Zuma are extremely honourable and forthright really - I think they are one of the most interesting RP elements in Dwilight.  People need to stop thinking of them as Daimons - because they certainly are not being RP'd like that, it's a very structured and ordered society from what I've learned and the RP potential is great.

Other things to note - during an RP where Vallyn and the Ambassador walked through the gardens in Madina, the RP was very specific about the plant life becoming more lush and vibrant as the Ambassador passed through the paths, granting him shade and the like.    Also, the Zuma's food source. . .well.   Lets just say I suspect their peasants provided more than just personal wealth and religious power.  Though, it was implied they don't have to kill their food source to get nourishment.


However, that was a long time ago, and I'm not sure the current RP's align with what I've stated.

[Chenier]

....... Does no one really remember? Nightling Balewind, the Madinan Duchess of Paisly, convinced them to raise Paisly in retribution for D'Hara taking the city.

I never knew this. The daimons never justified why they ruined our perfectly cordial relation.

Nor do I understand what Nightling could possibly have said to make them act as such. As I said, D'Hara had had excellent relations and interactions with the Zuma before that date. I followed them back when it happened, and I never got any explanation. It just seemed as if a new GM was in charge and decided to have a bit of wrecking ball fun (oblivious to past interactions between the entity of which he inherited and the realm he whacked). Until that point, we had had no negative interaction, no looting of their lands, preaching in their lands, expanding into their lands, or anything of the sort, just a bunch of positive discussions and feasts.

[Chenier]

I'll also admit that I may know less about the Zuma and the daimons than some of you. However, I'm not sure how many know just how scary the daimons are. Vates appears to have been a rare exceptionally nice daimon who was tolerant of humans.

So I'll just repeat again: Daimons are really scary.

From what I gather, they are a different scary from what they used to be. They used to be more scary in the fact that they were bizarre, unnatural, alien, and rather freakish.

The new scary seems to have more to do with their power than anything else. It's pretty much when I stopped bothering with them, it's completely unaligned with what us first pioneers discovered. What's the point in establishing relations if they are just gonna forget about them in a year? There are enough human realms around to keep one busy, and at least they can collectively remember things even after key individuals leave.

[songqu88@gmail.com]

From what I gather, they are a different scary from what they used to be. They used to be more scary in the fact that they were bizarre, unnatural, alien, and rather freakish.

The new scary seems to have more to do with their power than anything else. It's pretty much when I stopped bothering with them, it's completely unaligned with what us first pioneers discovered. What's the point in establishing relations if they are just gonna forget about them in a year? There are enough human realms around to keep one busy, and at least they can collectively remember things even after key individuals leave.

Oh they collectively remember things alright. Maybe it's certain humans who have trouble figuring out what's going on. 

[Chenier]

Oh they collectively remember things alright. Maybe it's certain humans who have trouble figuring out what's going on. 

Unless you can straight-up affirm that it is the same GM now as it was when they were first created, with nobody else replacing in-between, please stop spewing such idiotic non-sense.

Fictionnal factions don't have autonomous memory, they rely on the players who lead them.

[songqu88@gmail.com]

Ahaha~ You're a funny man.

If you don't want to believe me, believe Anaris:

Note: this is just general information off the top of my head.

While there are, indeed, two Zuma GMs, to the best of my knowledge, they have been the same two from the beginning.  In fact, I'm pretty sure the one who eventually went inactive is the one who attacked D'Hara.

Don't taunt the Zuma unless you're on the other side of the continent.  You won't like what happens afterward.

Oh, and FYI for IC interactions: Maybe, just maybe...The Zuma don't give a hoot about your past dealings.

[Chenier]

Note: this is just general information off the top of my head.

While there are, indeed, two Zuma GMs, to the best of my knowledge, they have been the same two from the beginning.  In fact, I'm pretty sure the one who eventually went inactive is the one who attacked D'Hara.

Don't taunt the Zuma unless you're on the other side of the continent.  You won't like what happens afterward.

This is not 100% certainty. And if it is the case, there's still incoherence.

But what annoys me the most is that you act as if you are an authoritative figure on the subject, as if being the Zuma's abassador made you all-knowing. Either you are a Zuma GM, and you should stop being such a dick about it on the forums, or you aren't, and you should stop acting as if you are.

I haven't had anybody in a very long time annoy the hell out of me as you do. You are so god damn pretentious. You act and talk as if you own the game, with all the arrogance of the world. How can you even have it in you to argue with someone over something you weren't even a party to? (unless you were, in which case you are a douchebag as previously stated)

[De-Legro]

This is not 100% certainty. And if it is the case, there's still incoherence.

But what annoys me the most is that you act as if you are an authoritative figure on the subject, as if being the Zuma's abassador made you all-knowing. Either you are a Zuma GM, and you should stop being such a dick about it on the forums, or you aren't, and you should stop acting as if you are.

I haven't had anybody in a very long time annoy the hell out of me as you do. You are so god damn pretentious. You act and talk as if you own the game, with all the arrogance of the world. How can you even have it in you to argue with someone over something you weren't even a party to? (unless you were, in which case you are a douchebag as previously stated)

One would assume that as the Ambassador his Character would have some insights into the Zuma and their previous dealings, GM or Not.

[Gustav Kuriga]

*cough* Hypocrisy *cough*

Seriously, don't call someone pretentious while being so yourself. He at least supported his argument with a statement from one of the devs, more than you have done. Now please, stop acting like a child who attacks someones character, and please focus your entire faculties to a civilized argument where you touch at something at fault with his argument.

He has been completely civil, and you should do the same. I don't see him calling you a douchebag.

[Glaumring the Fox]

I have been behind every major Zuma decision since the beginning of Dwilight...

[songqu88@gmail.com]

As any other player, I only do my best with the information I have. Even without knowing anything about the Zuma internally, I don't think it should be any surprise if they are unpredictable or suddenly change their stance. Humans even do it, certainly beings that most likely see humans as inferior beings would care less about what they would think about such behavior.

To illustrate this point in a more relatable real-world analogue, let's take the Greek gods as an example. They were notorious for being whimsical and generally indifferent to the suffering of mortals. If Zeus wanted to impregnate some mortal woman, he did it. If you pissed off Athena in any way, she'd mess you up. Heck, she turned Arachne into a spider because Arachne claimed she could weave better than Athena, and backed it up. She turned Medusa into a Gorgon because she got raped by Poseidon. I think we can fill a big list of the unpredictable and seemingly unreasonable behavior of the gods.

Basically, if you were a mortal human living in Mythological Greece, your best bet to staying alive and human was not to piss off any gods, give them your sacrifices, praise, and worship, and hope for the best. I'm not saying that daimons are "gods", but they are powerful magical otherworldly beings that have claimed to be able to see the entire breadth of a human's life at a glance. It's also generally a good idea not to piss them off.

Now, for characters, I can understand how they might feel that the daimons are unreasonable. They might feel angry, betrayed, whatever, and that's natural. As well, characters can try to trick such beings, they can try to use them to their own ends, but that will probably not end well. The characters can feel whatever is normal for humans to feel. But, as players, we should keep in mind two things.

First, that this is still a game, and people can make mistakes. However, in this case, it probably wasn't one.

Second, that no matter what your character might feel, players should be aware that trying to apply human reasoning to clearly inhuman beings is incorrect. Maybe humans expect reasons for their actions, and would be up in arms if another human suddenly did something unexpected for seemingly no reason. The character can feel the same way in the case of inhumans doing things they can't understand, but please don't be angry OOCly for them. Complaining on the forum about it doesn't really help. If you, or anyone else, really feels so annoyed ICly, then try to do something in-game about it.

[Indirik]

But what annoys me the most is that you act as if you are an authoritative figure on the subject, as if being the Zuma's abassador made you all-knowing.

Being as he's the Zuma ambassador, and the human character that has the closest association with them of any other non-GM player, I would think that gives his opinions a bit of authority. (Once you get past his jokes and wild ramblings, of course.)

Either you are a Zuma GM

You owe me a new keyboard!

[Anaris]

Since the beginning of Dwilight, there have been 2 Zuma GMs, active concurrently.  Once has since gone inactive.  That means that people may, at some point in the past, have interacted with one who is no longer active; however, both were active from the start, so there has been consistency.

[Shizzle]

If we understood the Zuma, the mystery would fade, and there would be no point whatsoever in having them on the Island. So we should all be happy that they are unpredictable, at least they create some buzz!

[songqu88@gmail.com]

How would one actually understand them anyway? Even now I still find the term "Zuma" vague.