Gloria - In the IRC Room

[LD]

Please see Nomadic's guide for how to access mIRC.

As Ishmayl announced in the site news:

"Our next Setting Q&A has been scheduled, and this time, it's with Gloria, a setting by one of our newer (and very active) members, Light Dragon. Please come join us in the IRC chatroom at 7:45 PM EST, Thursday, August 27, 2009."

See you there soon.

To get you started on Gloria: http://www.thecbg.org/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?65170.0

Below are a few excerpts.

----

What Is Gloria
Gloria is Utopia.
But even Utopia needs maintenance.
And people always find a reason to gripe.

Why Adventure?
- Help discover new sources of Shimmer (The Magic-Oil) and prevent the dire predictions of Peak Shimmer from arising.
- Keep the demons from seeping across the Glimmerwall by maintaining the power of Faith.
- ...Deal with the mentally insane, the weak, the criminal classes... in an equitable, but resource-conservatory fashion.
- Solve the problem of the Underclass.
- Help create the Ubermensch.
- Expand the reach of the Empyrean (Celestial) Exchange; open and discover new markets.
- Carry the Burden of Progress and its torch to the lesser, inferior people of the Socialist Nations.

~~~~
[ooc]Color-Work Creatures (Colour-Work Creatures)
-Shimmer-Based in creation; these living paint line creatures (see the Kandinsky painting at the beginning of the Gloria post for an artist's rendition) produce jazzlike music when they travel: "oozing" due to sympathetic vibrations. When they communicate or have orders placed for them, the orders must be punched on a music line-bar chart, then fed into the Color-Work creature.

Color-Based creatures have a good deal of autonomy in fulfilling their tasks. They are similar to an automated Roomba Vacuum cleaner in that aspect; but far more advanced.

Walking in metropolitan areas, one can sometimes see the Color-Work creatures slinking along to and fro in the financial districts, carrying out tasks.

Color-Work creatures may be stepped on or pushed aside- they are very thin and difficult to harm or destroy. Rain does not damage them due to their protective lacquer. But if exposed to flame or oppressive heat, they quickly melt- their colors running together in a dreadful bleed.

The origin of Jazz music is in the Color-Work creatures' unique sounds, as is a common expression used to demonstrate inspiration; "I'm seeing colors!". To "Think in Music" means to be inventive, but to have your creative expression controlled by another person (This is a mildly positive thing in Gloria. Entrepreneurship is best, but to "Think in Music" is not bad; there need to be some worker-bees.)[/ooc]

Festivals in Gloria

Dividend Day- The First (January 1)
The first day of the year is dividend day, when everyone's hard work pays off. Businesses give bonuses, the government returns excess taxes (as few as they may be), everyone takes off from work and the streets turn into a chaotic party. On dividend day, lovers reunite, and everything is given freely. It is the one day a year when no one cares about making money, but about sharing it-- since an ancient philosophical member of the Faith once said; "The key to making money is not what you have, but what you can share with others. Money must be spent before it can be made."

[ooc]Enjoy yourself in Gloria!

- See Shadowpuppet Illusion Shows! in one of the many viewing-homes scattered across all the cities. Hear the pianos play while the preset Shimmer-Magic images play again and again on the walls. Some of the most cutting-edge Illusion shows, mostly those in larger viewing-halls, have even begun experimenting with hiring choirs to sing the illusion-creatures' words.

- Go to Apothecary Stores! and buy protective skin-coating, then go and impress the proletariat in the dock-side by burying yourself in burning coals, then emerging with nothing seared.

- Hunt Down the Flesh-Puppet-Stores and the animators of dead people's legs and arms. A large minority of wealthy aristocrats have these dancing legs, arms, crawling hands, blinking eyeballs, and more exotic movable parts on display. Although the possession of the body parts is not illegal per se, the parts' users need to prove that the person being buried did not opt-out of the "reusable body" clause in their burial agreement. If the aristocrats cannot track title to their dancing performers, the parts must be confiscated.

- Bet At the YoYo Races! And see if your YoYo Bird is the fastest. At the races, cages are set up and the YoYo Birds emerge from the opened grates, then pounce toward their ever evasive, ever moving prey. The fastest YoYo Bird to catch its prey wins. (The YoYo Birds strike out much quicker than most other beasts because when they strike they can leave half of their mass behind, weighted to a spot while the Birds' fleshy head spools out, wings beating and launched from the base like a jack-in-the-box. When the birds reach the end of their spooling skin, they snap back together. There have been several accidents at the Races, but now all YoYo Birds' necks are measured before they may compete and a standardized size is agreed upon.)[/ooc]

[ic=Notable Banks]
Notable Banks

The Cooperative - A socialist experiment. The people who borrow from the cooperative enter into a way of life. They agree to lend all their possessions to everyone else in the cooperative. Each member gains a list of each other member's address and all their known possessions, from their home to their dining utensils. Everything is shared, from items, to marriage partners (if willing). The Cooperative is gaining in popularity, all of which is part of an expatriate Socialist-Lander's (Sevastus Stierpiek) nefarious plan to gradually subvert the city's selfish capitalist values.

Illych, Jaworski, & Krom - Founded by three ex-adventurers, this bank is a rough-and-tumble place made out of wood. It boasts a big bouncer by the door who also acts as a collection agent. Their slogan is "Few Questions Asked; Low Interest Loans... But We're Interested in Full Payment"

Shimmer - The highest end bank. Its logo is a black trigram encircled by floating crystals on a diamond band. Shimmer takes on massive amounts of risk, but has massive amounts of reserve. They are, nonetheless, picky about who they lend to. Their headquarters is one of Gloria's most strongly defended places- boasting guards, mercenaries, traps, surveillance, and more. Many a thief has been found impaled on the walls of the safe- and tens have been caught wandering the halls attempting to impersonate guards. Perhaps some day the safe will be robbed, but that day will not be any day soon- at least as long as the chief of security, Majordomo Schnell is on the job.[/ic]


[ic=The Chambers of Commerce]
The Chambers of Commerce
The Chambers of Commerce, a glorious 35-story building, and one of the taller business structures is located in the Arterial Nerve Center. On their exterior wall, they project Shimmer-fueled illusions of product advertisements, and at all hours color-work creatures can be seen ascending and descending the Chambers' exterior gear powered lifts.

Inside, the lifts are more safe- they are controlled by pulleys, levers, and color-work creatures which monitor stability and strain and pull to keep the lifts aloft. The lifts are exceptionally fast in bringing workers from the basement to the building's apex.

The building contains about 3,000 workers (and hundreds of temporary workers such as chefs, concierges, busboys, who are not counted in the total). The workers' specialties range from advertising, to networking, to expertise in beginning (incubating) small businesses. Inside, they shuffle papers, organize seminar presentations, host conferences (on floors 2-5), and assist small business people in gaining loans and determining where to locate their businesses.

On the first floor is a massive map powered with shimmer-magic that dynamically changes to demonstrate the traffic flow of pedestrians in the Arterial Nerve Center- which has been ringed with Shimmer-Sensors to determine foot-traffic. Once the information comes into the Chamber of Commerce- 5 workers analyze the pressure on the ground to determine if the pressure is from foot-traffic or from vehicles, or color-work creatures. The workers, then input the data into a "braille" machine that stamps the information into dots that are then read by the map. Eventually, the Chamber hopes to dynamically construct a traffic-flow pattern for every street in the city, but their current plan is quite expensive and so they are limited in what they can accomplish.

The map (The Commerce Map) also demonstrates the location of all businesses in the city. It displays important information such as revenue (given in a range- the exact data is proprietary information), customers/day (another range), and time of day most active. Businesses also have small flags sticking out from them to indicate if there are several businesses in the same place. All businesses are color coded. The map can become quite overwhelming to the beginning entrepreneur, and the Chamber boasts several guides who explain the functions and who can help a beginning entrepreneur make decisions about where they wish to locate their store. The guides are called the Commercialists- they know a virtual library of information about who lives where, who demands what, which areas of the city need what, and more. The Commercialists are in high demand once they leave the Chamber's employ... but the chamber pays well and requires all Commercialists to sign a 12 year minimum contract. Still, most Commercialists leave for private practice after their stint at the Chamber.

The Chamber is a semi-private organization that operates based on donations given by companies and individuals which make use of its services and expertise. Thousands of Gloria-Residents travel to its outposts which are scattered throughout the city to seek advice and help in starting their businesses and in learning the tricks of advertising and in seeing its help in gaining connections and mentors in the business community.

Although others have tried to set up their own advertising-lesson classes, the Chamber's are seen as the most prestigious and the certificate for attending a class is highly prized among small business people and their customers. A certified certificate for the area of business done by the businessman is often posted on the store or restaurant window.[/ic]

[ic=Adventures in Gloria City]
1. Defend/Rob the Shimmer Bank Seemingly impenetrable. Can you break the bank, or prevent the crime of the century.
2. Hunt Corruption You have been hired to hunt down corrupt officials. Follow their trails, expose them, and bring them to justice. (Hunt corruption at the Chamber of Commerce and follow a seedy trail into the underworld of dark alleys, shady bars, abandoned office-buildings, and construction yards.)
3. Open a Business in Gloria It is an adventure, it is a struggle. Go it alone and confront business traffic and customer interest dilemmas. Advertise, compete against copy-cat competitors, and more! Get help from the Chambers of Commerce. Attend business classes and level-up your skills. (Bribe?) (Fight?) or follow the more traditional paths of out-working and out-thinking your competitors. Open franchises and expand your empire. Invent new and amazing products!
4. Foment A Socialist Rebellion Read the writings of Tybald Glissifur at Tientan University and get inside the mind of a socialist. Then meet a real expatriate from the socialist lands! Sevastus Stierpiek of The Cooperative Bank. Work with him to overthrow the settled interests and establish a socialist paradise. (Strongly Not Recommended.)
5. Crush A Socialist Rebellion Dark forces are working in the underbelly of Gloria-- seeking to take away the wealth that has been created by the productive classes. Infiltrate their organization, discover their leaders, their governing structure, then crush them with extreme prejudicial force.[/ic]

Enjoy! And see you there today!

~LD.