Lusternia: Difference between revisions

* [[Vestigial Empire|New Celest]], former seat of the [[The Federation|Holy Celestine Empire]], containing both [[Knight in Shining Armor|noble knights]] and [[Knight Templar|nutty zealots]];

* [[The Undead|Magnagora]], seat of the [[The Corruption|Tainted]], with shades of [[The Social Darwinist|social Darwinism]], [[Aristocrats Are Evil|a thriving aristocracy]] and [[Steampunk]] technology;

* [[Build Like an Egyptian|Gaudiguch]], a [[The Hedonist|hedonistic]] society with shades of eastern philosophy and an emphasis on [[Voluntary Shapeshifting|transformation]];

* [[Arcadia|Serenwilde Commune]], the [[Last Fertile Region]], populated by [[Noble Savage|people]] who shun civilization as responsible for the Taint; and

* [[Lost Woods|Glomdoring Commune]], an insular, [[Absolute Xenophobe|xenophobic]] society who shun civilization, but also have a plan to [[Gaias Vengeance|get rid of it]].

Notable for a rich, intricate [[Backstory|history]] and dynamic player-run politics, it can be played via browser at [http://www.lusternia.com Lusternia.com].

* [[Beneath the Earth]] - The Undervault, a subterranean continent featuring two warring races: the insectile, matriarchal Kephera and the soulless, ego-vampiric Illithoid.

* [[Beware My Stinger Tail]] - A special ability of [[Church of Evil|Nihilists]].

* [[Big Bad]] - Kethuru the Almighty, [[HP Lovecraft|dead but dreaming]]. The other Soulless (Illith the Leviathan, Crazen the Greedy, Great Muud and [[My Friends and Zoidberg|Zenos the Insubstantial]]) count, too.

* [[Booze Based Buff]] - Drinking can dull damage. Certain races (particularly dwarves - natch) can handle their beer way better than others. And Brewmeisters can handle it better still, in addition to brewing their own magical draughts. Consequently, a drunken dwarf Brewmeister is a force to be feared.

* [[Bribing Your Way to Victory]] - Par for the course in all IRE games.

* [[Call to Adventure]] - An interesting take: adventurers must venture through the Portal of Fate to be marked by destiny. It's implied that people who ''don't'' do this squander their potential and remain as [[Muggles|NPCs]].

* [[Came Back Wrong]] - Orlachmar's the poster boy for this trope. A case could be made that ''every'' undead created by [[The Corruption|The Taint]] [[Came Back Wrong]], considering how megalomaniacal and cruel the scientists of Project Cosmic Hope became following their exposure to it.

* [[Chain Pain]] - The Ninjakari guild: stealthy, potentially psionic assassins... whose weapon of choice is ''enormous bladed chains''.

* [[Character Level]] - With the reward of Titanhood at level 99, and Demigodhood at 100. Endgame content for Demigods is sparkly indeed.

* [[Death Is Cheap]] - You only die permanently by killing off your own character. You can't even do that if you've purchased [[Bribing Your Way to Victory|credits]].

* [[Death World]] - The Astral Plane, the outermost layer of existence (that mortals can reach), and the one closest to Kethuru and [[Space Is Cold|The Void]]. It's populated by grotesquely mutated animals and much of the plant-life is sentient and malevolent. Just spending time there gradually erodes the players [[Sanity Meter]].

* [[Divide By Zero]] - During the Taint Wars, a skirmish between Hallifax and Gaudiguch resulted in this. They each employed their resident [[Doomsday Device]] on the other: the resultant cataclysm sealed both cities in time for ''five hundred years'' and [[Brown Note|psychically assaulted]] every living entity on the planet - even ''Kethuru''.

** Also counts as a [[Noodle Incident]], as the only thing we hear from Gaudiguch before is 'There is something coming at us... it's a cloud of... butterflies?' -End transmission-

* [[Dream Weaver]] - Dreamweaving is a skillset available to mages. In the [[Backstory|histories]], [[The Emperor|Emperor Ladantine]] was an accomplished [[Dream Weaver]], and used the skill for purposes of espionage and reconnaissance following his [[Face Heel Turn]].

* [[Dumb Is Good]] - [[Playing With a Trope|Played with]]. [[Actual Pacifist|Raziela]], the Supernal of Love and Peace, is not outright stupid, but she has the mind of a twelve year old, making her incredibly naive and trusting. She's also one of the most powerful mobs in the game (even stronger than her fellow [[Physical God|Supernals]]), and her counterpart in the Demon Lords is a [[Body Horror|horribly mutated blob]] with little reasoning left.

* [[Emotion Eater]] - The Illithoid, [[Our Vampires Are Different|kind of]]. Their target has to be dead to be fed from, and the corpse is destroyed by their feeding, but it ''does'' boost their psychic potential exponentially as a result. Also played straight with a number of player abilities that allow you to drain mana/ego from other players.

* [[Fantastic Racism]] - Several races are discriminated against in all the major organisations. Merian and Viscanti (the native races of Celest and Magnagora, respectively) deserve special mention for looking down on ''everyone'' - especially [[Arch Enemy|each other]].

* [[Fantasy Counterpart Culture]] - The chief organizations have a lot of basis in real life countries. Magnagora is much like [[WW 2]] era Germany, with their emphasis on [[Master Race|racial purity]] and extreme nationalism; Hallifax, meanwhile, is a clear take-off of [[Glorious Mother Russia|Communist Russia]], right down to their aims being laid down in "The Collectivist Manifesto". Celest represents a declining British Empire, with their emphasis on nobility coupled with their [[Vestigial Empire|increasingly vestigial nature]]. You could also make a case for [[Ethical Hedonist|Gaudiguch]] being America: freedom-loving party animals engaged in a [[Forever War]] with the communist Hallifax.

* [[Foil]] - All of the major organizations have a foil: [[Good Republic Evil Empire|Celest V Magnagora]], [[Emotions vs. Stoicism|Gaudiguch V Hallifax]], and [[Gaias Lament|Serenwilde]] V [[Gaias Vengeance|Glomdoring]].

* [[Fridge Brilliance]] - Why are the lucidian and trill races so close to each other? Because Xyl and Trillilial were lovers. Why are the tae'dae and furrikin so close? Because Tae and Bollikin were best friends. Why were Urlach and Klangratch so effective at working together, comparative to the other Vernals? Because Orlachmar and Clangorum were good friends. [[Pieces of God]] explain an awful lot in this game.

* [[Fuel Meter of Power]] - The most powerful abilities available to players are cast using this. You can only carry a limited amount, and running out necessitates a return to your hometown to recharge. Even if you're ''inundated'' with the stuff, it takes time for your powerful abilities to [[Cooldown|recharge]], adding a strategic element to combat.

* [[Fusion Dance]] - Performed by the the Council of the Nine, the last Vernal Gods, during the [[Hopeless War|Vernal War]] versus the Soulless. The result was [[Physical God|Avechna the Avenger]], the only entity in existence consistently able to [[Sealed Evil in A Can|re-seal the Soulless]].

* [[Gender Bender]] - Players can do this with the help of an [[Bribing Your Way to Victory|artifact]].

* [[Global Currency]] - [[Justified Trope|Justified:]] it's probably a holdover from the [[Vestigial Empire|Holy Celestine Empire]] days.

* [[Godzilla Threshold]] - When a Soulless appears (Usually Kethuru).

* [[Gray and Gray Morality]] - All the player-run organizations, despite their underlying themes, are only as good or evil as the individual characters that dwell there.

* [[Guide Dang It]] - Most quests can be figured out with a little common sense and [[Genre Savvy]], but some of the longer, more involved quests may take repeated trial and error. Fortunately, these quests typically provide players with [[Cosmetic Award|honor lines]] in their profile.

* [[Healing Factor]] - Many, courtesy of magical abilities, but the [[Petting Zoo People|Loboshigaru]] deserve a special mention for their innate [[Healing Factor]].

* [[Healing Hands]] - Healers get these, allowing them to heal others by drawing their wounds and afflictions into them, or purge themselves of wounds at the cost of ego.

* [[Humans Are Special]] - Humans start out as one of the weaker races, with [[The Mario|no strengths and no weaknesses]] to speak of. However, they earn experience significantly faster than everyone else, and at level 50 they begin [[Evolutionary Levels|evolving]], their eventual statistics dependant on their class. A high-level human, therefore, is good for ''anything''. Also, they are the only race that can [[Anything That Moves|mate with every other race]].

* [[Humanoid Abomination]] - The Illithoid, the only known race to have descended from a Soulless.

* [[I'm a Humanitarian]] - A special ability of Necromancers permits this. A particularly Squick-laden version is found in Glomdoring, where druids of [[Nature Spirit|Crow]] devour flesh then [[Squick|regurgitate it]] to construct their nests.

* [[Inhumanly Beautiful Race]] - Faeling tend towards this. Even - ''[[Evil Is Sexy|especially]]'' - the Drow-esque shadow faeling, despite their ashy complexion and crimson eyes.

* [[Intangible Man]] - [[Exactly What It Says On the Tin|Zenos the Insubstantial]]. Also the Vernal [[Ambiguous Gender|God/dess]] Vestera, who became [[Blessed With Suck|particularly vulnerable]] to Zenos as a consequence.

* [[Involuntary Transformation]] - One of the ''[[Psycho Serum|many]]'' side-effects of the Taint.

* [[In Universe Game Clock]] - An hour in the real world is a day in Lusternia. Each Lusternian month is twenty five days long, and there are twelve of them, so a year is around twelve and a half days real time.

* [[Kill It With Fire]] - Pyromancers can throw fireballs, make it rain fire and can surround themselves by a ring of fire. And then Astrologers manage to top it all by summoning huge, burning [[No Kill Like Overkill|meteors]] on their enemies.

* [[King of All Cosmos]] - The Elder Gods are not omniscient or all-powerful, and each have different spheres of influence. It's made clear, however, that these spheres are ''not'' [[Anthropomorphic Personification|all-encompassing]]; more like innate desires. (For example, Meridian of the First often fought alongside the Second Circle, and {{spoiler|[[Our Dwarves Are All the Same|Clangorum]] of the Fourth claimed to be a Second so he could use his own weapons in battle.}}) The spheres are as follows:

* [[Psycho Serum]] - {{spoiler|The Soulless Elixir pioneered by Fain and company during the Elder Wars. It made them exponentially more powerful, but more aggressive and megalomaniacal. Ultimately, they began devouring other Elder Gods and were banished to the Void.}} A certain quest within the game also drastically increases your power reserves, at the cost of driving the player temporarily insane due to parasitic infestation.

* [[Ridiculously Cute Critter]] - Furrikin. Bipedal little fuzzballs, they can look like anything from a panda bear to a raccoon to a sheep, but don't let their appearance fool you - they're smarter than humans and very fast. [[Killer Rabbit|And not all of them are peaceful, either.]]

* [[Talking the Monster To Death]] - Influencing.

* [[Tarot Motifs]]

* [[The Tetris Effect]] - More than a few long-time players have reported dreaming in ''text''.

* [[Training From Hell]] - The [[Evil Army|ur'Guard]] have refined this to an artform.

* [[Secret Police]] - Part and parcel of the communist motif in Hallifax, especially the [[State Sec|Sentinels]].

* [[Warp Whistle]] - A number of skillsets allow for quick travel across the world, and the most expensive artifact in the game provides access to a literal [[Hub Level|Warp Zone]], with exits to locations ranging across the entire multiverse. Newbies also get such a zone for a limited period, with exits much more [[Noob Cave|relevant to them]].

* [[Welcome to Corneria]] - Though occasionally subverted if a game administrator takes control of an NPC to have conversations with players.

* [[Whatevermancy]] - [[Dishing Out Dirt|Geomancers]], [[Making a Splash|Aquamancers]], [[Blow You Away|Aeromancers]] and [[Playing With Fire|Pyromancers]].

** Unusually for the trope, the diametrically-opposed organizations are ''not'' based on elemental ties. Aquamancers (of Celest) are against Geomancers (of Magnagora), while Aeromancers (of Hallifax) are against Pyromancers (of Gaudiguch).

[[Category:Multi User Dungeon]]

[[Category:Lusternia]]