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Post by Sunwolf on May 20, 2004 11:50:52 GMT
Hey everyone,
This thoughts been swiming around in my head. Does anyone know what they look like? I heard they had mirror like eyes. I had a cool idea.
It would be cool to think of them as having reflective eyes, (mirror like) but like liquid, with a light behind it so they shine. Kind of like the portal is in the movie Stargate. I picture their eyes as kind of shimmering liquid silver like pools that ripple ever so softly. And with a glowing light beneith it. As for their bodies. I picture them as elven in figure, with long silver hair that blows in a spectral like slow motion wind. When they move they don't make a sound. They tend to appear and disappear like a spirit when someone isn't noticing. Kind of like those movies where someone looks away and the other being is gone.
Just some cool musings to give them an other-worldly feel. Any comments?
I'm thinking of writing a short story surrounding the Shainti.
sunwolf
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Post by Sarra on May 20, 2004 16:15:57 GMT
I don't remember where I read it but the Shianti were described as having black, ebony colored skin.
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Post by Relenoir on May 20, 2004 17:42:55 GMT
Yeah, I agree. I figured they had eyes like that, reminding me of mercury.
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Post by The Wytch-King on May 20, 2004 21:37:34 GMT
***Spoiler alert*** Don't read this post if you haven't played The Forbidden City! ***Spoiler alert***I don't remember where I read it but the Shianti were described as having black, ebony colored skin. Nah, that's just me. ;D Seriously, I have read that somewhere, too (vaguely in the vincinity of the Legends of Lone Wolf), but it seems wrong to me. Partly because of the depiction by Paul Bonner in Grey Star the Wizard, and for the other part ... ... just have a look at a former Shianti - me! Somehow that wouldn't be as effective if the Shianti weren't rather pale-coloured beings ... The Wytch-King
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Post by The Tagazin Poodle on May 21, 2004 14:33:14 GMT
Eclipse of the Kai described the Shianti as having black skin and yellow eyes. Grey Star the Wizard had a somewhat different description.
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Hal
Kai Lord
Posts: 44
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Post by Hal on May 21, 2004 15:10:39 GMT
Isn't it in the same novels that appears our dear Qinefer ? I hardly remember but surely, Outspaced could tell us more about that.
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Post by outspaced on May 21, 2004 15:55:28 GMT
I got my eye on you, Hal. ;D
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Post by Sarra on May 21, 2004 16:18:53 GMT
I never pictured them with the dark skin either. I was just going by what I read in Legends.
*Shrugs shoulders*
Ronan
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Post by Relenoir on May 21, 2004 23:34:38 GMT
You just love to keep bringing her up, don't you? Is this how you intend to deal with your own intense hatred for her? By forcing everyone else who hates her to be constantly reminded of her? Talk about cruel and unusual punishment, serious case of sadism here.
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Hal
Kai Lord
Posts: 44
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Post by Hal on May 22, 2004 22:42:54 GMT
Qinefer is responsible of everything. Each time something goes wrong, it's the fault of Qinefer. Qinefer was responsible of the Cuba missiles crisis, Qinefer is responsible of the famines in third world, Qinefer is responsible when the Dow Jones go down and Qinefer is also responsible when your car doesn't start in the morning. It's all the fault of Qinefer. Always.
Seriously, I was pointing the fact (but other have done it elsewhere on the forum) that the Legends are not the perfect source of information : John Grant has introduced his own ideas (which are not the best ones, let's face it) and his own vision of Magnamund which, sometimes, seriously differs from the one given by the gamebooks. In such cases, I simply ignore the Legends. A good example is this question of what the shianti look like. We have a pretty good description of them in GSTW and even a picture. Why giving them a black skin and yellow cat eyes ? (with Qinefer being also black, I begin to wonder if it's not for John Grant a personal fantasy or a private joke.)
Of course, it could be argued that Alyss takes the form she wants. Hmm.
But as for the number of Lorestones, it's more annoying. It's no more a little detail, it's a big component of the mythology of Magnamund. One could believe that John Grant simply didn't care. If so, it's a bit sad.
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Post by The Wytch-King on May 22, 2004 22:50:27 GMT
Of course, it could be argued that Alyss takes the form she wants. Hmm. You're not suggesting that Alyss is supposed to be a Shianti ... are you? The Wytch-King
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Hal
Kai Lord
Posts: 44
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Post by Hal on May 23, 2004 7:48:29 GMT
Isn't it the case ?
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Post by outspaced on May 23, 2004 9:01:05 GMT
Further to this, there's actually a pic of the Shianti facing Section 15 of The Buccaneers of Shadaki. They look rather tall, thin, and gaunt, with mirrored pupils. While the illustration is obviously a line-drawing, they do not appear to have dark skin (I always thought that I'd read somewhere that their skin was a golden colour?). I think the dark skin bit was probably the same as the uber-powerful female bit--a possibly misguided attempt at *yech* political correctness. And perhaps an attempt at expanding the target audience. However, if you alter things to hit a wider target audience and in doing so alienate the fans, have you really made the right decisions? I believe Q****** is said to be from Cloeasia and have dark brown skin, and in The Lorestone of Varetta Hal Morkarn is described as coming from the same country and having skin as dark as Q******'s. I don't understand that. Vassagonians have light brown skin and they are more southerly. Additionally, in The Skull of Agarash graphic novel, Lone Wolf travels to Kadan--capital city of Cloeasia--and the people there appear to be more Mediterranean in stock--think Turks or Greeks; or even Middle-Easterners. Since Vassagonia equates with the Egyptian empire of several thousand years ago, this makes sense. On the other hand, Samu, former King of Lissan, who appears in the Grey Star series is described immediately as having dusky skin, and this is borne out by the Magnamund Companion which calls Cloeasia a Vassa nation--that is, having descended from the same ancestors as the Vassagonians. The Mythenish, however, are shown as having dark skin, and they are the inhabitants of Bhanar, Mhytan, Lissan and Vaduzhan (and possibly Chai). My point is that Joe had already decided which races had which skin tones and which regions on Magnamund they inhabit. Essentially then, ignore any comments in the Legends that disagree.
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Post by The Wytch-King on May 23, 2004 11:06:15 GMT
*Grmphlgh* ... *Ack* ... *Orgllrkz* ... Don't know the Legends of Lone Wolf enough ... heard that for the first time ... please say that's not true ... *barely under control here* ... Outspaced?! A little help here, please?! Is Alyss really supposed to be a ... *gargh* ... Shianti? The Wytch-King, afraid of the answer @ Hal: That reaction above is of course not directed at you! Don't get me wrong there ...
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Hal
Kai Lord
Posts: 44
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Post by Hal on May 23, 2004 11:38:48 GMT
I think the dark skin bit was probably the same as the uber-powerful female bit--a possibly misguided attempt at *yech* political correctness. True. That was also the impression I was under. True again. I totally agree with this. Joe obviously built the Magnamund as an "alternate earth" (very classical in med-fan.) The people of Sommerlund and and Durenor who "come from the Northern Void" are obviously some kind of "civilizated vikings" like the vikings who came from Scandinivia to England and the north of France during the middle age. They are of a northern-european type. Vassagonians are obviously medieval pre-islamic arabs. And so on. Mixing every races as Grant has done just makes me think of some kind of bad american TV series where you absolutely have to put together one or two white guys, a black and an hispano to be politically correct. The problem to my sense (but it can be just me), is that the Lone Wolf saga is NOT intended to be an american cop-movie. From the Wytch-King : I'm really sorry Wytch-King, but yes, Alyss is a shianti. And even worst, a renegade shianti who defy goddesss Ishir and ignore the promise made to her. Just like you.
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