Lusternia: Difference between revisions

One of several [[MUD|MUDs]] developed by Iron Realms Entertainment (of ''[[Achaea]]'' fame), Lusternia was released in 2004 and combines elements of [[Genre Busting|fantasy, sci-fi, planar travel, steampunk, and cosmic horror.]]

 

 

 

* [[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]];

* [[Lost Woods|Glomdoring Commune]], an insular, [[Absolute Xenophobe|xenophobic]] society who shun civilization, but also have a plan to [[Gaia's 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].

* [[Always Chaotic Evil]] - The Soulless Gods, naturally.

* [[A God Am I]] - With enough grinding, eventually you will ascend to the role of Demigod. There are also some other paths to take.

** Also, the Gaudiguch nexus world. In some locations, you can squint forwards a few rooms to see ''yourself''.

* [[An Adventurer Is You]] - Players and NPCs are distinguished by the terminology "adventurer" and "denizen", respectively.

* [[Animal Eye Spy]] - Trackers can see and hear things through their bonded canines. Illuminati can do likewise, courtesy of a visceral little creature called a ribbachi.

* [[Apathetic Citizens]] - The longer you play, and the more [[Apocalypse How]] scenarios you see, the more jaded you will become.

* [[Apocalyptic Log]] - The updates on [[Gone Horribly Wrong|Project Cosmic Hope]] devolve into this.

{{quote| The prophets who were standing around the Stone have fallen! A black smoke is pouring out of the Stone now [...] The prophets are slowly getting back up [[The Undead|but they're]] [...] (garbled) [...] Sweet Light, [[The Corruption|it's moving fast]]! We've got to get out of here! Run! RUN! [...] (garbled) <br />

* [[ASCII Art]] - Try smoking weed or drinking absynth. Smiley faces ahoy!

* [[Asskicking Equals Authority]] - In game, it's very common for players which are skilled at the incredibly complex combat system to be prime candidates for political positions. This is more marked in the more recent IRE games.

* [[Baleful Polymorph]] - Wiccans can transform players into toads, and Gods can turn players into giant maggots if sufficiently pissed off.

* [[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]].

* [[BFG]] - The members of [[Mad Scientist|The]] [[For Science!|Institute]] get one of these in the [[Power of the Void|void blaster,]] and they wield it one-handed.

* [[Bolt of Divine Retribution]] - Elder Gods can do this to impudent mortals, in two varieties. First up is a warning shot intended to [[Scare'Em Straight|terrify the target]] into compliance; if that doesn't work, [[One-Hit Kill|well]]...

* [[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.

* [[Demon Lords and Archdevils]] - Five extradimensional Demon Lords are worshipped by the Nihilists Guild: [[Horny Devils|Nifilhema]], patron of pain, [[Evil Is Sexy|lust]] and [[Cold-Blooded Torture|torture]]; [[Extreme Omnivore|Gorgulu]], [[Body Horror]]-riffic patron of greed and madness; [[Big Red Devil|Ashtorath]], patron of [[The Berserker|wrath]] and vengeance; [[Giant Spider|Baalphegar]], patron of [[Primal Fear|fear]] and [[Keeper of Forbidden Knowledge|knowledge]]; and [[Louis Cypher|Luciphage]], patron of ambition, [[The Chessmaster|patience]] and dominance.

* [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?|Did You Just Punch Out Kethuru?]] - Every so often, an admin-controlled event will cause one of the Soulless Gods to be released, forcing the (normally warring) player organizations to work together and defeat them.

** 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]].

* [[Dual-Wielding]] - The specialty of two Warrior subsets, as well as two Monk guilds.

* [[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.

* [[Emotions vs. Stoicism]] - Respectively Gaudiguch VS Hallifax.

{{quote| [[Paparazzi|The Gaudiguch Gossip]]: "With her scales glowing with the absolutely fabulous new range of emerald powder (recently imported from Newton), [[Fiery Redhead|Scuchi]] caused quite the stir when she set the robes of [[The Spock|Professor Lars]], the Hallifax Ambassador, on fire (accidentally, I'm sure!) after the stone-faced lucidian was overheard to say, "Gaudiguch is a cesspool of illogical extremism." Go Scuchi!"}}

* [[Evil Feels Good]] - The Taint, all the way.

* [[Evil Is Deathly Cold]] - The Tainted. [[Justified Trope|Justified]] by the fact that many Tainted are also [[The Undead]]; liches in particular can cloak themselves in a cold aura, which passively freezes their enemies.

* [[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.

* [[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.

* [[Improbable Weapon]] - The Ninjakari wield ''giant bladed chains''. To maximize their potential, they have to build up momentum by keeping them ''constantly in motion''. [[8-Bit Theater (Webcomic)|Chainblades, yo]].

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

* [[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.

* [[Item Crafting]] - Each player can choose from one of eight main trades, from standard MMO fare like Enchantment and Forging, to the more obscure, such as Brewmeistery and [[What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?|furniture making]]. Trademasters can submit a certain number of new designs each in-game month, meaning there's a [[Costume Porn|lot of clothes and armour floating around]].

* [[Jerkass Gods]] - Virtually all of the Gods have an agenda of some sort. Some of them, like [[For Science!|Elostian]], are relatively benign; others, like [[Knight Templar|Eventru]], are more aggressive; still others, like [[Manipulative Bastard|Fain]], veer into [[God of Evil]] territory.

* [[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:

** The First Circle, leaders and diplomats;

* [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast]] - All of the Soulless Gods have titles such as "Illith the Leviathan" and "Crazen the Greedy". In-universe there's the Glomdoring forest, which in the tongue of the [[The Fair Folk|fae]] means "the forest without mercy".

* [[Nature Spirit]] - Every nature commune has two: a patron animal and an aspect of the earth. Serenwilde has Mother Moon and White Hart, Glomdoring has Mother Night and Mighty Crow, and Ackleberry had/has Sister Lake and Brother Bear.

* [[No Fourth Wall]] - The last edition of the [[Backstory|Elder Wars]] acknowledges the existence of [[Player Characters]], referring to them as "Others".

* [[Noob Cave]] - Newton Caverns, home to the eminently disposable Gnomes and Finks. Players of level 21 or over are not allowed.

* [[Player Versus Player]] - Not just combat, but swaying NPCs to the side of one's faction involves a separate [[PvP]] system just for debating other players.

* [[Power Crystal]] - The Researchers love these and their unique skill, Harmonics, is built around utilizing them. In twelve different flavours of gemstone.

* [[Promoted Fanboy]] - Every administrator is an ex-player, save the two head developers.

* [[Psychic Powers]] - Psionics, which mages and monks can take. Kephera and Illithoid deserve a special mention for their innate psionic abilities, though.

* [[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.]]

* [[Tarot Motifs]]

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

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

* [[Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness]] - How things are named in Hallifax. The Institute's real name is the Institutional Society of Hallifax for the Improvement of Temporal Knowledge.

* [[Shout-Out]] - ''Lots''. The Soulless are an obvious Lovecraft homage; there are [[The Illuminati|Illuminati]] and [[The Knights Templar|Templars]] in Gaudiguch; the Demon Lords names are derivative of high-ranking [[The Bible|biblical devils]] and reference the [[Seven Deadly Sins]]; some [[NPC|NPCS]] shout [[Monty Python and The Holy Grail|"help, help, I'm being repressed!"]] when attacked; Fain's title and appearance are a reference to Poe's ''Masque of the Red Death''; [[Ubermensch|Roark's]] name, teachings and aesthetic directly reference [[Ayn Rand]]... On top of the multitudinous references to other media, there are many ideological similarities between the in-game organizations and real life philosophies. That's not even getting into the ''many'' tie-ins to other [[Iron Realms Entertainment]] games.

** Even "Stay awhile and listen" gets a [[Shout-Out]], in a Serenwilde novice quest.

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

* [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]] - New Celest. Sure, they have some [[Knight Templar|extreme]] [[Witch Hunt|attitudes]], but Old Celest was ''blown up'' following the [[The Corruption|Taint]], and its empty husk is now populated by the wailing, hollow-eyed ghosts of their ancestors. You can't really blame them for wanting to do likewise to Magnagora.

** 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).

* [[Wizard Needs Food Badly]] - You can starve to death... at least until you transcend such things by reaching level 80, at which point you have no need for food or sleep. Even then, classes such as [[Dishing Out Dirt|Geomancers]] can cause starvation through poisonous gases, which often catches the "I no longer need food!" crowd off-guard.

 

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