First we have to create a character, choosing from three available classes.
Shapers are skilled at magic and unmatched in their ability to create powerful creatures. However, they are physically frail. A shaper will have to rely on its creations for protection.
Guardians are the defenders of the Shapers. They are highly skilled in melee combat and can create creatures to aid them in the assault. However, their magical skills are otherwise weak.
Agents travel around on the command of the Shapers and solve problems, usually violently. Their magic and weapon skills are strong, but they are not good at creating creatures. Agents tend to be harder to play.
No, you don't get to pick. In this LP I'll be playing a Shaper, partly because it's fun to create a personal army to dispatch your enemies, and partly because the ability to create and destroy life at a whim is an important part of the plot, making this class the most relevant one. Don't worry though, I'll ask you to make a lot of decisions during the game.
I raise Intelligence, Fire & Magic Shaping and Leadership. Non-combat skills are pretty useful - leadership improves dialogue options and mechanics make it easier to open locks and disable traps.
The Shapers are the oldest, most respected, most secretive, and most powerful of the magical sects. The Shapers have the power to magically create life. The Shapers can make new life forms from nothing but raw materials and pure magic. They can mold this life to serve their purpose, be it light housework or major warfare. The Shapers guard the secrets of their powers very closely. To learn their techniques without permission is to court a speedy death, at the hands of a Guardian in the day or an Agent in the night.After years of work, study, and testing, you have finally been accepted into the Shapers. You will spend your life advancing their will and delving into their secrets and powers. However, none of those secrets have been shared with you yet. First, you must complete your apprenticeship. You must spend five years out in a Shaper colony on a remote island, watching their work and aiding their research.
After a brief welcoming ceremony and a last night's celebration, you don your traditional garments and board your craft to the remote islands. The journey is two weeks long. You travel on a living craft, a specially modified drayk which will carry you through rough seas to your destination. After a week's journey, you pass close to a small chain of islands. You consult your chart and find that one of them is named Sucia Island. It is marked on your chart as Barred.Shapers declare places Barred for a variety of reasons. Experiments gone wrong. Dangerous accidents. Valuable secrets. Whatever the reason, any outsider in a Barred place is punished with instant death. Curious, you stand at the edge of your craft, carefully watching Sucia Island, wondering what secrets lie there. As you watch, you fail to notice the sailing ship dead ahead of you, off to the southeast coast of the island.
Your craft cries out an alarm, alerting you to the danger. It is a strange ship, of a style you have never seen before. That is why you don't recognize the weapon on the prow. It fires a long spear at your craft. The razor-sharp bolt strikes your drayk in the neck. It roars in anger and breathes a bolt of fire at your attacker. It strikes the sails, which sets them alight. The battle takes only seconds. Your living craft founders, mortally wounded, dropping you into the water. Your goods and tools sink into the sepths. You attempt to swim to the surface.You barely notice that the ship which attacked you is aflame and having extreme difficulty. Your whole being is consumed with the struggle to reach the shore. Your strenth is not enough. You start to sink. But, with one last effort, your living craft assists you. Bleeding from its neck, rapidly dying, it manages to lift you with its head and carry you to a crumbling dock. Then it dies. It sinks away. You are left alone, abandoned, on this forbidden shore. You are alone on Sucia Island.
The game starts with a tutorial, which is exactly as exciting as it sounds.
*groan*
We have no equipment, no special abilities and no creatures to back us up. Immediately upon arrival, we are attacked by a wall of text.
Such things will often come up when exploring new areas - some provide important information, others are just fluff. I'm not going to transcribe every single one, but I'll try to cover the important and interesting ones. Let's have a round of applause for our guest narrator, Jeff Vogel.
You stagger off of the dock, weakened to the point of collapse by your desperate swim here. After a few minutes, you manage to regain enough of your senses to look around. You are on the south coast of the island you saw before your craft was slain. However, apart from the fact that this isle was declared Barred by your people, you know nothing about it. The structures around you are ruined and crumbling. You would guess that they have been abandoned for at least a century, probably two.
Islands are generally barred because of a failed experiment and the presence of horrible, rogue creatures. Fortunately, except for the lapping of the waves on the base of the dock, all is quiet. If you are going to be devoured, it won' be soon. However, you are still stranded here, and desperately weak as well. Fortunately, the beach stretches off to the east. Maybe there is something useful here
We follow the words of wisdom, arrive at a tunnel...
...and scavenge some clothes.
Hey, I found a bunch of papers. Surely they'll tell me what's going on here!
It's no use. The papers crumble at your touch.
...bastard.
Beneath the papers, though, you find something interesting. It's a brass key, none the worse for wear for its long concealment. You take it.
I guess it's good for what it is. Let's try that room over there...
Next room contains something considerably more interesting.
Inside this small chamber, you find several cylindrical containers. They look like canisters, each a little over a foot high. The sides are made of thick, carefully blown glass. Most of them have been broken, and the contents are long lost. One of them, however, is still intact. Inside, you see a glowing fluid. It swirls and move about, seemingly under its own power. It looks like it is, in its own way, alive.
It probably is. You have never seen anything eactly like this before, but you have seen similar objects. The Shapers can contain fluids, filled with life energy, which heal or energize those in need. This must be something like that. There is a small section of fragile glass at the top. If you break it with the palm of your hand, the substance will come forth and energize you. In your weakened state, it seems hard to resist.
I don't like this shit, it's glowing and probably radioactive. I'll just leave it alone and...
IN YOUR WEAKENED STATE IT SEEMS HARD TO RESIST
*sigh*
Thus KC acquires his first special ability, the lvl 1 firebolt. You can increase stats and skills when you level up, but abilities can only be increased with these canisters. In later games, using too many canisters can seriously fuck you up. Not in this one, though, so there's no reason to hold back.
I feel different.
You stumble a bit. You still feel a bit woozy. It's not caused by hunger, though, but by the effects of the strange substance in that canister. The stuff didn't heal or revive you like you expected. It changed you. It's like it soaked into your skin and rewrote some of your very being, making you stronger. You take a minute to experiment. You extend your fingers and focus. Tiny trails of flame come out of them. You can work magic! You weren't able to before. Your training would not have reached that point for years. It is exhilarating and, at the same time, terrifying. This is completely unknown magic, alien to you. It seems like it was made by your people, but you had no idea that they could do something so wonderful. You feel, deep within yourself, an eagerness to find more of the canisters and see what they can do.
I feel... powerful. More canisters! More power! BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! SKULLS FOR THE THRONE OF KHORNE!
A trashcan outside contains a healing pod. Pods are the Shaper answer to magic potions, coming with a variety of effects. We pocket it and move on...
...and find a sword by the entrance to the barracks
Hell yeah! Gimme something to kill!
Sadly, the barracks themselves are pretty unremarkable. Even Vogel seems less talkative than usual.
There isn't much left and the beds are ruined. It's starting to look like whoever was here left pretty quickly. A bunch of stuff was left behind
.
He's quickly back to normal though, as we move on to an abandoned inn and salvage a belt and a robe
You are getting confused. Why is there so much here? Most islands are barred because o the experiments gone awry, and most such experiments are peformed by very small groups, in crude quarters, far from society. Yet you've seen warehouses, guardposts, and now an inn. At one point a lot of Shapers lived here. Now they're all gone. Why? What cound have driven so many people off? And what took their place?
Ominous.
To the north, we find a pack of ornks.
The ornk is a Shaper creation. It's a slow, clumsy livestock animal, hardy and laden with meat. Shapers created them to stock areas unfriendly to non-created animal, such as, apparently, this one. You notice that these ornks have large tusks, probably added by the Shapers to protect them from predators. Fortunately, they are likely to leave you alone, if you leave them alone.
The ornks are not interested in joining our party, so we move on.
Here KC is stopped by locked door. Every lock has a set difficulty and requires a set number of living tools to open, the amount of which can be lowered by mechanics skill. Since we don't have any living tools at the moment and KC's mechanics skill is rubbish, we'll just have to come back here later.
Whatever, there's probably just some tutorial shit inside.
And that's the end of the area
Kinda creepy. What's wrong with the colours?
The main map. Right now we can only move north to Abandoned Vale... and the second part of the tutorial.
Goddamnit
Notice the green and blue pool? They regenerate health and mana. Useful!
You immediately recognize this large building for what it is. This was a shaping hall. You knew that there must be one of them on this island somewhere. Here, the Shapers on this island did their work, using magic and force of will to make creations - both established and experimental designs. If there was a cataclysm, though, it didn't take place here. This building is undamaged.
To the side, you can see energizing pools. Holes in the ceiling allow light to shine on them. Remarkably, despite their years of neglect, they have survived. The goo inside a pool is a semi-living, plant-like form, capable of drawing energy from the air and the sun. If you stand near a pool, you will be able to replenish your health or essence, depending on which pool you use.
Yawn.
In the corners of the hall, you can see two glowing glass canisters. They wait there, ready to give you power.
MINE! GIMME!
The canisters contain the Heal spell and, more importantly, the first shaping ability. KC goes outside to try it out
Here's the creation screen. Each creature costs some essence (mana), which is removed from your pool for as long as the creature is alive. The Fyora has a base cost of 8, so KC has enough mana for two. However, a creature without at least two points of intelligence cannot be controlled in battle.
I decided to spend extra essence and create a single, pimped out Fyora with a bonus to intelligence and dexterity. Once KC levels up, he'll get more essence to spend on creatures. For now, this will suffice.
For some reason, kingcomrade decides to summon the Fyora through the shaping powers of his behind.
I used all my essence and the damned thing is not even here. Useless fu...
Oh, here you are. Let's go.
With his new
slave companion at his back and tutorial messages still floating around, Kincomrade fearlessly enters the forest. Suddenly...
There is a fyora standing on the path ahead. It's a very familiar sort of creation. Shapers have made them for centuries to serve as bodyguards, watchdogs, and even pets. You've been around hundreds of them. This one, however, is different from any fyora you have seen. It doesn't look at you as a master but... but... as food. You have heard tales of creations which have turned on their creators and gone rogue, but it almost never actually happens. If it ever did, the rogue creation would be instantly destroyed. This fyora has definitely shed any Shaper control. It bares its teeth at you, seemingly daring you to step forward.
It is impossible to totally avoid combat in Geneforge.
Our fyora belches out a fireball, which stuns the enemy. Kingcomrade moves in for the kill...
And misses.
Stand still, will you!
Second fireball finishes the job, but another rogue fyora is attracted by KC's sexy pink robe.
Taking hits!
Victory! Please note that rushing head-first at everything that moves is not the tactic we'll be using for the rest of the game - kc's combat skills are pretty rubbish, so most of the time he'll just be watching the battles from a safe distance. Still, it's only the tutorial.
I'm not dying in the tutorial. I have my dignity.
This time KC actually managed to land a hit. We kill another fyora and steal its sandals.
In a warehose to the west KC finds and equips a thorn baton.
Thorn batons are one of the Shapers' most ingenious creations. They are a mix of living and inert matter, plants with a touch of animal around a frame of metal, capable of firing a small sharp projectile at high velocity. When unused, they go into hibernation and can live for a long time. Most of the batons abandoned in this room have died, but one managed to survive.
The obelisk marks the entrance to the local customs office. Note the fyora lurking in the shadows at the top of the screen.
We find a pair of boots and a useless old logbook which crumbles at first touch.
...again
Suddenly, our progress is stopped by closed door.
...again
Open up, dammit! Guess I'll just have to look for a lever.
Nearby, we run into Saint_Proverbius
This was the quarantine waiting hall. People wishing to enter or leave Sucia Island through this port waited here to be questioned and inspected by the servant mind. And, sure enough, the mind is still here, resting to the north. You marvel at the skill of the Shapers who made these remarkable creatures. Their careful construction and ability to hibernate gave them remarkable lifespans. It is still alive. A servant mind is a very specialized and useful sort of creature. Once grown, it never moves again. It spends its entire life thinking, remembering, analyzing, and advising the Shapers. As you approach, you can see the creature struggle to rouse itself from its slumber. It seems likely that it is eager for company after its years here.
You carefully approach the servant mind, unsure of how its time alone in these ruins has affected its faculties. Fortunately, its eyes are clear and bright, and its body appears whole. It has the massive skull characteristic of these stange creations
Welcome, Shaper. I am mind Tavit. Do you wish to pass through quarantine?
What happened to this island? Why was it Barred?
I am sorry, Shaper. I am limited in the scope of my knowledge. When I was left here, I was given no further instructions.
How long ago were you abandoned?
I do not know. I have spent all of that time in hibernation. The decay in my internal organs indicates that the time was well over a century. I am sorry that I cannot be more precise.
How long has it been since someone came trhough here?
You are the first since I was abandoned.
Why was Sucia Island abandoned?
I do not know. I know a little of its purpose, but nothing of why I was left here for so long.
What was the purpose of this island?
Research.
Not the most useful answer you could have hoped for.
We learn little, but the servant mind unlocks the northern door. Outside, we are approached by another strange creature...
On this side of the quarantine hall, you can see another flock of ornks. This group, however, is not alone. It is watched over by a servile. Serviles are one of the greatest Shaper creations. They are the most common and valued servants of your people, intelligent, hardy, obedient, and featuring hands with opposable thumbs. They are also easily controlled. If there are serviles here, this isle must be nowhere as savage and uncontrolled as you had feared. Serviles are weak and easily cowed creatures. If there were any real threat here, they would have been quickly wiped out. Your emergence from this hall is clearly the last thing this servile expected. he looks terrified at first, then curious. He leaves his flock behind to come and speak with you. He probably wants fresh orders.
The servile moves very close to you and inspects you carefully. It seems to be the same design of creation with which you're completely familiar. Same hunched posture, number of limbs, and so on.
And a Jewish nose.
It looks very surprised to see you. However, it doesn't have the attitude of immediate obedience you have come to expect. It seems more curious than anything. After a few awkward seconds of staring, it speaks
I don't think I'm mad. It's a Shaper! A Shaper has come at last! Oh, it has been years, years since anyone has come through that door. A Shaper has come! This is so wonderful!
Oh, but where are my manners. I am Timo. I am a shepherd. I graze my ornks here because nobody comes here. Oh. I must go to Vakkiri. I must tell the people there that a Shaper has come at last!
Tell me about Vakkiri
It is our humble village.
He points east. It is that way, not far, not far; I should tell them a Shaper has come at last. It is humble and small, but with no Shapers around we did what we could.
There are no other Shapers here?
Timo looks even more nervous now. I... I do not... No. You are the only one. You are the Shaper. You have returned, and we... we can serve.
He seemed somewhat reticent about saying that last word
At this point we're given a choice.
1. That's right. You had better serve me, or you will be disciplined harshly.
2. I do not require your total obedience. I only need to leave this island.
Naturally, we'll go with the first option.
Before, Timo looked nervous. Now he looks openly terrified. Of course.
He says, meekly. Of course we will serve. The might of the Shapers must always be obeyed.
I have been stranded on this island. How can I get off of it?
He looks worried. He clearly has no idea. Oh. I... I... I am a humble villager. I do not know how to leave. But in Vakkiri, there are old and wise people. They can help you.
This is odd. Timo is referring to his fellow serviles as "people". Creations are called creations, not people.
END OF PART 1
And at this point it is up to the Codex to determine the course of action. How should KC approach the serviles? Should he ask for assistance or demand servitude? Treat them like people they believe to be, or like creations they are? Think of possible consequences and...
DISCUSS!!
Also, I just found out that you can name your creations so I'm now accepting volunteers to die a quick and pointless death in the service of the Shapers.
