Yo guys, I'm here from Sunrise.  The affiliates image over in photobucket is broken.  Do you mind providing me with the image so I can just upload it into our forum to keep the broken image thing from happening again?

So one of the projects I have is to modernize the GS mechanics to a degree.  But just talking about that is one thing - actually doing something with it is another.  So I set out to create a character creator.

The creator itself has undergone several versions.  v1 was a purely RP thing, designed for the GSAR's RP before they burned some bridges.  v2 was essentially a version of V1 that added statistical support.  v3 was a bit of an overhaul from the previous one - it introduced djinn, combat roles, and refined the character balance.

This release is my v4 release.  The template was given a bit of an overhaul and is now optimized for 720p monitors.  Weapon types were defined and added, basic statistical support for weapons was added, the lexicon was properly fleshed out, spell types were defined and new spell types added, a basic spell creator was added (currently only supports base damage spells like gaia and ice), and a stat calculator was added.

You can find the current release here:  GS Mk2 System Character Creation v4.0

This is the first iteration of this version.  If you find any errors or want something in the lexicon added or clarified that I may have missed, please let me know so I can go in and edit the template and upload the new version for you.~

I’ll be updating this thread with character examples and a remix of The Heroes of Vale exercise from when I released v3, so keep an eye on it!



The next version will hopefully be released sooner.  That one will be the “Party Update”, and will add party support, alt-class support, and will have a much more in-depth spell creation system in place than the rudimentary one in v4.

I thought you guys got absorbed by the GSAR.  It's nice to see the place still kicking.  I might hang out here a bit more.

Now then, when you read this, understand that this is a theory of what could be, not me saying that this is what is.  Do not come in here and demand that things happen the way you say they do and that they're totally, like prox centric or something.  Keep an open mind, or die in a fire.  Dead people don't post, so if your mind isn't open, do not post here.  This is for the theory and discussion of the theory, not dismissal of it.

Now then, with that being said...

Flip Side Theory is a theory I've come up with when just... general brainstorming.  But it solves two big questions, and presents a huge amount of possibility.

Question 1:  Why do the oceans not empty with Gaia Falls constantly dumping that much water?  We can't say that Aqua Rock just produces that much, because it simply can't - one point cannot produce enough water by volume that the falls dump off of weyard.

Question 2:  What the hell are psynergy vortexes and the Mourning Moon?  Why do they exist?  Now, there are a few theories to this one, such as machines used by the Tuaparang, and the imbalance caused by part of mars resting within Isaac... but neither really make me feel satisfied.  The machines is really far fetched, because we only ever see that once, and all the other times we see vortexes, there are no machines.  This leads me to believe that they were studying the vortex, not causing it.  And while Isaac being the cause of an imbalance is plausible... why then are they not focused upon martian energies?  They're indiscriminate with what they absorb, so that wouldn't make sense for them to absorb everything, rather than simply what's absent.

So here's the proposed solution:

What if Weyard has a Flip Side?  If you were to look at what is below Weyard, you'd see a whole different world.  Still flat, still with their versions of the elemental lighthouses.  All of that there.  This solves the gaia falls problem - if they have their own gaia falls, and they meet in the center, then let's assume the water is recycled - it'd be drawn back into the core of weyard and sent up through places like Aqua Rock, not just on the surface, but all throughout the oceans.  With the two falls meeting in the middle, and the pulling power of the recycling going on, this preserves the water, and gives a proper reason for the oceans not draining.

But then what about the vortexes?  How would it even affect them?

Well... what if Weyard Side A has alchemy restored, but Weyard Side B still has it turned off?  Side A builds up with alchemical power - while side B has little of it.  Remember basic physics?  When one side has a higher pressure than another, nature tires to equalize the pressure.  Pressure from a high pressure zone tries to go to where there is low pressure.  This is the psynergy vortex.  A literal draining of energy from the high pressure zone to the low pressure zone.  These are usually small, as the pressure builds up - much like tiny quakes.  But then, once enough pressure is built up, you get a big one - the Mourning Moon, "the big one".

If Side A's Alchemy is turned on, and Side B's Alchemy is turned off... this would go a long way to explaining why Psynergy Vortexes exist.  But if they exist in our side, something likely far worse exists on theirs.  Psynergy Storms, perhaps.  If a vortex drains power, where does that end up?  If we can assume it really is a vortex... then where does the real damage take place?  At the top, in Side A?  Or at the bottom of the funnel in side B?  Side B likely has some seriously HUGE problems - psynergy has very likely become a powerful destructive force there, and may even be causing any efforts to restore alchemy there to be negatively affected, either via public opinion (alchemy IS causing a lot of violent damage there, after all), or via being a literal obstacle to any quest going on.

So what do you think?  Perhaps a future GS game could have this be discovered to bet he cause?  Perhaps the Tuaparang are actually FROM the flip side, and the device really was to study the vortexes to try and find out why they're happening.  There's a ton of potential that could come from having a flip side, after all - such as parallel stories.

Hey guys, just a heads up - I'm sure some of you may have noticed that I'm not as active as I'd like to or really should be.  I'm not leaving, though - there's a very good reason for the spotty activity.  I just started a new job, and I'm still working on getting accustomed to the new hours of work and travel.  So until I hit a point of equilibrium in that regard, I may not be as active as I'd really like to be.

Thank you for being patient, and I know I'm supposed to be working in a few RPs and even GMing one, it's just... kinda tough getting situated to the new schedule.

Something I like to take advantage of is the ability to post pictures in line with text.  This allows me to post pics relevant to my discussion in line with the part of the post it pertains to (ex:  Character art to the right of the character profile, or a GS screenshot to the left of an area I'm talking about).  It'd really be nice if this could be integrated into the forums.

Hey there.  Anyone else use Tumblr?  A couple of my friends manage to get me into it, and I've been doing a series for Golden Sun.  The first one I did dealt with a Statistical Analysis for the Dynamic (Level Up) stats.  I just started a new one analyzing classes, though, and this time I'm also making suggested modifications.  Note, however, that these modifications won't follow my fundamental guidelines, they're designed to work within what the games allow in their current form.

Anywho, if you guys do tumblr, what do you usually put on it?  I'm kinda curious to know. :3