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Story Thread 3: The Search for Plot

AuthorMessage
Pirate Overlord
Mar 10, 2009
6204
Row4n412 on Jan 30, 2014 wrote:
I believe bearkat904 referred to Wan Mo's Puppet show, where he explained that Malistaire's attack on the Emperor put him in a coma, and gave these ambitious warlords the courage to try a coup.
Oh That Yea I do remember that. Silly me. Thanks for clearing that one up

Bosun
May 06, 2009
371
Blind Mew on Jan 30, 2014 wrote:
Always happy to talk to an aspiring writer! Keep writing - and above all, keep reading: that's how you get better.

1. When formulating the Armada elites, we focused on their personalities, and mainly worked to ensure that they were each distinct. As to the similarities, I think they're all defined by their arrogance and disdain/hatred of your pirate - the similarities just emerge. We tend to focus on their dialogue more than most - they're too big a deal, and we want them to really shine.

2. Well, we were trying to build something like a family, or a superhero team. Each needed a purpose, what they do for Kane. Another prime consideration was their role in the story: what kind of plot points and exposition could believably come from them, and what story beats we need them to fulfill. Finally, in addition to being direct adversaries, they're the means by which you learn what the Armada really is. We wanted the Armada to be powerful, indomitable, smart, creepy, mysterious, and to have a Plan. They teach you this, directly or indirectly.

Bishop: The scientist, who we can pin esoteric exposition on. From a story standpoint, Bishop emphasizes that Kane has a plan, and that it's pretty intricate and weird. He's also a direct reminder that the Armada are creepy.

Rooke: The warrior, pure and simple. He's there to prove that the Armada is powerful. Nuff said.

Deacon: We wanted a preliminary adversary who could come and go in the storyline, who embodied the nefarious smart villain, always cooking up plans that come out of left field. From a story standpoint, he reinforces the idea that the Armada is hunting you (even if you don't know why at first) - the Armada is indomitable, and has a plan.

Phule: We had a lot of fun with him. His initial concept - the two-faced split personality guy who's a little crazy, emerged pretty organically. His biggest role so far has been to sell the creepy. He also emphasizes the mystery. He knows a lot about you, and is always mentioning other Elites you've never heard of. He confirms that the Armada is keeping tabs on you and tracking your movements: they know what you're up to, but you have no idea what their plan is. He's supposed to catch you off guard.

As to the other two, I'll keep from going too deep until we meet them.

3. That's a pretty good take on the fall of Deacon. I think ultimately he was feeling that this cat and mouse chase had been going on too long. So he set a trap he thought would work, and went for it. The failure of his gambit with the Duck of Death also really rankled him, I think. I must say, in original versions of the story we didn't kill of Deacon in Cool Ranch. But as the whole outline took shape, it seemed wrong to me that we'd get more than halfway throught he story without defeating your preliminary adversary - 10 books was enough. Time for you to graduate to dealing with the others.

I'm glad you like the game! Being able to inspire people is perhaps the greatest joy I get out of this job.
In response to your first answer, I wanna take a crack at Queen and Kane. So as it looks like from what you've said...

Bishop represents the smarts of the Armada and that there is always a plan and a way to execute that plan.
Rooke represents the power of the Armada and that they are powerful
Deacon represents the cunning of the Armada and that they are always hunting you (even if you don't know it)
Phule represents the creepiness of the Armada and that they know everything about you and are always watching (which is creepy when you think of it).

Based off of this, I want to make up some kind of theory on Queen and Kane.

Queen, I think, represents the control of the Armada. Of the ones you listed, and what we saw in Valencia, we know the Armada has control, but you never gave someone that role. Queen must represent the silent control of the Armada, that they are always in control, even if you don't notice it. You said that we'll see Valencian politics up close and personal (hmm, we'll need a very convincing disguise), and if the Armada is able force schools like Sivella to close and take complete ownership of places like Adelmo's Library, I would think Queen unnoticable control of what goes down in Valencia. They control all, and you can't stand against them. In terms of personality, I think Queen is the most arrogant and shows the belief that the Armada is better than anything in the Spiral.

Kane is sort of obvious. Kane represents the brains and creation of the Armada, it's core and source of power. He represents it has a goal and that, without a doubt, the Armada is sinister and evil. He most likely reveals that the Armada has a plan and will follow it to the end until success is achieved. They are unstoppable, undefeatable, and should defeat come even close (which in their minds is impossible) they have a Plan B. I would think of all the Elites, Kane is the most cool, calm, collected and resolved. He's does have his arrogance (as each of the Elites were built from him and stem their arrogance from him), but is more relaxed and not as naive or underestimative as the others. He's quick-witted and always has a plan. He truly represents the all powerfulness of the Armada.

Well, that's just my theory, but I'm sure we'll see what Book 15 has to tell.

Ensign
Dec 22, 2010
21
Maybe the April or May rumor might be from somewhere else. sry

1. Can you give me some characters in films or TV shows or books that would give us a similar concept of the Armada elites? These are mine:
Deacon: Professor James Moriarty - Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
Rooke: El Mancho - Despicable Me 2 (sort of)
Phule: Two-Face - Batman Forever
Bishop: Barty Crouch Jr. - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Kane: Ultron - The Avengers (comic)
"Queen": i'm gonna guess that she might be relevant to Bellatrix Lestrange from the Harry Potter books
or Tia Dalma (Calypso) from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.

2. Are we going to see more wizard cards throughout the game, like from those gypsy women in Cool Ranch?

3. Does El Toro have any other rivals besides Captain Blood?

4. Will we be getting some more important information from Captain Gunn if we have to in the future?

5. Have Morganthe and the Armada ever had the opportunity to team-up, or Malistaire and the Armada?

6. Have some of swordroll's or any other blog's theories ever been too close, close, or not even close?

7. Will El Dorado have one island or many islands with vast treasures upon them? It'll be interesting if Shangri-La was one big final dungeon that when you complete it, you can travel there and get as much gold as you want to buy some stuff. Now that i think about it, that might be a little too easy to advance through the game.

Fish Devesh Higgins - Level 53 Buccaneer
"Let's set the skies on fire!" - Monkey King

Pirate Overlord
Mar 10, 2009
6204
bearkat904 on Jan 30, 2014 wrote:
Maybe the April or May rumor might be from somewhere else. sry

1. Can you give me some characters in films or TV shows or books that would give us a similar concept of the Armada elites? These are mine:
Deacon: Professor James Moriarty - Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
Rooke: El Mancho - Despicable Me 2 (sort of)
Phule: Two-Face - Batman Forever
Bishop: Barty Crouch Jr. - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Kane: Ultron - The Avengers (comic)
"Queen": i'm gonna guess that she might be relevant to Bellatrix Lestrange from the Harry Potter books
or Tia Dalma (Calypso) from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.

2. Are we going to see more wizard cards throughout the game, like from those gypsy women in Cool Ranch?

3. Does El Toro have any other rivals besides Captain Blood?

4. Will we be getting some more important information from Captain Gunn if we have to in the future?

5. Have Morganthe and the Armada ever had the opportunity to team-up, or Malistaire and the Armada?

6. Have some of swordroll's or any other blog's theories ever been too close, close, or not even close?

7. Will El Dorado have one island or many islands with vast treasures upon them? It'll be interesting if Shangri-La was one big final dungeon that when you complete it, you can travel there and get as much gold as you want to buy some stuff. Now that i think about it, that might be a little too easy to advance through the game.

Fish Devesh Higgins - Level 53 Buccaneer
"Let's set the skies on fire!" - Monkey King
I can answer your #2 In the lyceum in Aquila, Nova Aquila in the left hand room you will see a Familuar Wizzy character and on the table are some treasure cards.

Ensign
Jan 12, 2013
2
This game is obviously set up in the format of chess. Kane sounds like King and you have Bishop and Rooke. And I was just wondering since there are always two pieces is there a second Rooke and Bishop. If so was the time we fought Rooke twice on the boat the two Rookes. And is there a secret elite on Kane's court the knight since that is a piece in chess.

Bosun
Nov 03, 2012
365
Blind Mew here is a question about RatBeard. So far in the game we have only seen a couple types of rats and a couple types of mice. However none of these look like ratbeard. Ratbeard seems to be his own race of rat. I am wondering if we will ever see more Ratbeard like people in the game.

Ensign
Dec 22, 2010
21
Chrissy Th'Blesser on Jan 31, 2014 wrote:
I can answer your #2 In the lyceum in Aquila, Nova Aquila in the left hand room you will see a Familuar Wizzy character and on the table are some treasure cards.
thnx for the info! i've only been up to right before marleybone so i dont know much about aquila

Fishy Devesh Higgins - Level 53 Buccaneer
"Let's set the skies on fire!" - Monkey King

Petty Officer
May 30, 2013
97
A few questions for ye, ye old Blind Cat!

1. Today in history we learned about the battle of the Spanish Armada, is there a possibility we could use England's strategy to be rid of the Valencian Armada? I'm sure there are sharp rocks somewhere in MB...
(A sum of the battle: Spain gets into an argument with England. Spain acquires a fleet of 130 ships, and calls it The Spanish Armada. Spain sends the ships to England, which have faster ships and more powerful guns then Spain. England sees Spain coming, and, ship by ship, take down several. Then, just by luck, England sees that a storm is coming. England leads Spain into this little bay that, when a storm comes, will push your ship to the very deadly, sharp rocks further in. The storm comes, and England quietly leaves the scene, leaving Spain to die. When Spain realizes that they are doomed, they try to retreat, but only leave with 60 ships, all in poor condition. THE END)

2. You don't talk schedule. What DO you talk?!

3. Whilst helping my friend travel to Valencia (I, like, live on her ship now since I have to be on it to help her with quests. But it's really pretty! You miss a lot of great views traveling on the deck of the ship then when sailing.) we had to travel through Avernus (obviously) and we noticed a Stormgate that just said that: Stormgate. What could this possibly be? The Stormgate to the next update's world? The Stormgate to El Dorado? If so, why hasn't Valencia found it yet? Odd.

4. What year would you say the Spiral is in? I'm guessing 1700s, but from what I've heard about Aquila (still in MooShu you see) it's like, waaaaaaay before that.

5. Why does everyone speak Marleybonian? I mean, it's a popular language and all, but, almost every single person in the Spiral speaks it. And don't tell me, "they do cause you won't understand what they're saying otherwise" cause I know I won't, but I want an answer that assumes the Spiral exists. Okay?

I thank ye for yer patience.

Bosun
May 06, 2009
371
bearkat904 on Jan 30, 2014 wrote:
Maybe the April or May rumor might be from somewhere else. sry

1. Can you give me some characters in films or TV shows or books that would give us a similar concept of the Armada elites? These are mine:
Deacon: Professor James Moriarty - Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
Rooke: El Mancho - Despicable Me 2 (sort of)
Phule: Two-Face - Batman Forever
Bishop: Barty Crouch Jr. - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Kane: Ultron - The Avengers (comic)
"Queen": i'm gonna guess that she might be relevant to Bellatrix Lestrange from the Harry Potter books
or Tia Dalma (Calypso) from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.

2. Are we going to see more wizard cards throughout the game, like from those gypsy women in Cool Ranch?

3. Does El Toro have any other rivals besides Captain Blood?

4. Will we be getting some more important information from Captain Gunn if we have to in the future?

5. Have Morganthe and the Armada ever had the opportunity to team-up, or Malistaire and the Armada?

6. Have some of swordroll's or any other blog's theories ever been too close, close, or not even close?

7. Will El Dorado have one island or many islands with vast treasures upon them? It'll be interesting if Shangri-La was one big final dungeon that when you complete it, you can travel there and get as much gold as you want to buy some stuff. Now that i think about it, that might be a little too easy to advance through the game.

Fish Devesh Higgins - Level 53 Buccaneer
"Let's set the skies on fire!" - Monkey King
I asked a similar question to your number 7, Bearkat904. When he answered my question, he said he couldn't gange how big El Dorado is going to at this stage. For now, the depiction of the golden island was going to be our only insight of El Dorado. I think El Dorado may be a large world. I'm thinking something similar to Westminister Skyway or Achaean Way with multiple different areas in just one big Skyway.

Ensign
Oct 11, 2009
23
Hey Blind Mew. I've got a few questions.

1.) In the "My Windstones" tab, all of the Windstones seem to be in some sort of device. Does that play a certain role in navigation, or will it ever play a certain part in the story? Or is it just for show?

2.) Will we get to find out what that lighthouse world in the Cool Ranch Stormgate is?

3.) After playing that Puerto Mico quest that involved the two different groups of monks arguing about whether the banana or the tree came first, I got really interested in Monquistan religion. It's very interesting. Are we ever going to return there based on what Gortez said right before Aquila? Monquista is such a neat world, because of how the inhabitants are so focused on their religious culture. Plus it seems like too much of an important world to spend such a small amount of time in.

4.) I just want to give major credit to whoever designed Aragon Skyway. I remember seeing you say something along the lines of "We want the Armada to be an 'it'. We want to give them a cruel and creepy feel". After spending around 20 minutes today, just riding around Aragon Skyway today, I feel it really embraces that statement. You see a small bit of sunlight, and some islands. But when you turn around, all that can be seen is a machine. A machine that has huge storm clouds hovering over it. You then see an island being devoured and destroyed by smaller machines. And the music. The music is amazingly perfect. It's the faint sound of a piano. It's beautiful, but it's also sad sounding- just like Valencia.

5.) What's your least favorite world in Pirate101 and why?

Ensign
Oct 11, 2009
23
6.) Who do you think would win in a war between the Umbra Legion and the Armada? I feel that from a soldier standpoint, the Clockworks would be able to take down the Shadow Weavers because of their strong and advanced weaponry. Although, I would bet that Morganthe would be able to take down Kane and the Elites because she has personal access to Shadow Magic.

7.) Why wasn't Westminster Skyway named Wolfminster Skyway, like how there was Wolfmister Abbey in W101?

8.) In relation to #7, in W101, Marleybone City was crammed on one circular landmass. Yet in P101, it's settled on a huge open landmass made of cliffs and hills? Is there a reason behind this, on a story standpoint?

9.) "Story Thread 4: That Would Be Telling". You know what I'm talking about.

Developer
Cunning Finnigan S... on Jan 30, 2014 wrote:
In response to your first answer, I wanna take a crack at Queen and Kane. So as it looks like from what you've said...

Bishop represents the smarts of the Armada and that there is always a plan and a way to execute that plan.
Rooke represents the power of the Armada and that they are powerful
Deacon represents the cunning of the Armada and that they are always hunting you (even if you don't know it)
Phule represents the creepiness of the Armada and that they know everything about you and are always watching (which is creepy when you think of it).

Based off of this, I want to make up some kind of theory on Queen and Kane.

Queen, I think, represents the control of the Armada. Of the ones you listed, and what we saw in Valencia, we know the Armada has control, but you never gave someone that role. Queen must represent the silent control of the Armada, that they are always in control, even if you don't notice it. You said that we'll see Valencian politics up close and personal (hmm, we'll need a very convincing disguise), and if the Armada is able force schools like Sivella to close and take complete ownership of places like Adelmo's Library, I would think Queen unnoticable control of what goes down in Valencia. They control all, and you can't stand against them. In terms of personality, I think Queen is the most arrogant and shows the belief that the Armada is better than anything in the Spiral.

Kane is sort of obvious. Kane represents the brains and creation of the Armada, it's core and source of power. He represents it has a goal and that, without a doubt, the Armada is sinister and evil. He most likely reveals that the Armada has a plan and will follow it to the end until success is achieved. They are unstoppable, undefeatable, and should defeat come even close (which in their minds is impossible) they have a Plan B. I would think of all the Elites, Kane is the most cool, calm, collected and resolved. He's does have his arrogance (as each of the Elites were built from him and stem their arrogance from him), but is more relaxed and not as naive or underestimative as the others. He's quick-witted and always has a plan. He truly represents the all powerfulness of the Armada.

Well, that's just my theory, but I'm sure we'll see what Book 15 has to tell.
Not bad - not bad at all. The thing to remember about Kane is that he's more than a huge boss fight at the end. He's a schemer. He's playing a long game here. But now, for better or worse, you've attracted his attention.

Developer
bearkat904 on Jan 30, 2014 wrote:
Maybe the April or May rumor might be from somewhere else. sry

1. Can you give me some characters in films or TV shows or books that would give us a similar concept of the Armada elites? These are mine:
Deacon: Professor James Moriarty - Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
Rooke: El Mancho - Despicable Me 2 (sort of)
Phule: Two-Face - Batman Forever
Bishop: Barty Crouch Jr. - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Kane: Ultron - The Avengers (comic)
"Queen": i'm gonna guess that she might be relevant to Bellatrix Lestrange from the Harry Potter books
or Tia Dalma (Calypso) from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.

2. Are we going to see more wizard cards throughout the game, like from those gypsy women in Cool Ranch?

3. Does El Toro have any other rivals besides Captain Blood?

4. Will we be getting some more important information from Captain Gunn if we have to in the future?

5. Have Morganthe and the Armada ever had the opportunity to team-up, or Malistaire and the Armada?

6. Have some of swordroll's or any other blog's theories ever been too close, close, or not even close?

7. Will El Dorado have one island or many islands with vast treasures upon them? It'll be interesting if Shangri-La was one big final dungeon that when you complete it, you can travel there and get as much gold as you want to buy some stuff. Now that i think about it, that might be a little too easy to advance through the game.

Fish Devesh Higgins - Level 53 Buccaneer
"Let's set the skies on fire!" - Monkey King
1. This is a tough one - the Elites have been running around in my head for so long I don't tend to think of them in terms of origin inspirations anymore, or in relation to other characters. But I'll give it a go:

Deacon: In bearing and general look he's a lot like Lucius Malfoy in the Potter films. I also think he has a pretty strong dose of the villain from Mel Gibson's The Patriot. Moriarty might be a bit too much for him - he's cool, but he's not that cool. If anybody is that version of Moriarty, it's Kane.

Rooke: This one is the easy one, and the exception. Pretty much from the get go, we described Rooke as "Kane's Darth Vader" - he's big, he's strong, he's terrifying. Kane sends him to places where he needs enemies to be scared and/or crushed. Think Vader in Episode 4, before the daddy issues or the Jedi stuff takes hold of him - he's a force of nature.

Phule: Tommy Lee Jones' Two-Face was a little too frenetic for me. Phule is tricky - he's got so much going on and is more than a little crazy, but his personalities are a bit more complex that Gollum's (for instance). I think the portrayal of Moriarty in the BBC's new Sherlock is pretty cool for him, especially the season 1 version. Odd, strangely charming, out there, and dangerous.

Bishop: His voice was inpired by Kiefer Sutherland's character in Dark City. As for the rest of him, he's a pretty straight up Mad Scientist archetype.

Kane: Though not age-appropriate for some of our players, the best analogue you're going to find for him is Watchman's Ozymandias. The comic version, not the film version.

The Female Elite: Both your examples are a little too intense and extreme. She's very sociable, and very poised. The Evil Queen from Snow White comes to mind.

2. If there's a cool reason for it, yes. They do get a shout out in Aquila. I love the notion that the rest of the Spiral sees them as tarot cards - we may be able to take that farther soon.

3. Oh yes. I'm hoping to introduce more of them in the future.

4. Unlikely. I think he's played out in terms of his role int he story.

5. I wouldn't think so, and even if an opportunity arose, I don't think they would ally - Kane distrusts magic: it's too difficult to quantify and control. Not only that, but an alliance like that is bound to end in betrayal - Kane and Morganthe have very different visions of what the Spiral will be after they win. I'm pretty sure they can't be reconciled.

6. Watching the theory-crafting out in the community is one of my favorite activities. A lot of the theories I see from any source are usually about 50/50 in terms of accuracy. Tryi9ng to figure out why something happened the way it did in game or what a character's motivations are, those do pretty well. Predicting the future, however, is dangerous. In all the time I've been watching, I think there were only 2 times I went "man, that's right on!" They were both in these forums. To be continued.

Developer
bearkat904 on Jan 30, 2014 wrote:
Maybe the April or May rumor might be from somewhere else. sry

1. Can you give me some characters in films or TV shows or books that would give us a similar concept of the Armada elites? These are mine:
Deacon: Professor James Moriarty - Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
Rooke: El Mancho - Despicable Me 2 (sort of)
Phule: Two-Face - Batman Forever
Bishop: Barty Crouch Jr. - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Kane: Ultron - The Avengers (comic)
"Queen": i'm gonna guess that she might be relevant to Bellatrix Lestrange from the Harry Potter books
or Tia Dalma (Calypso) from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.

2. Are we going to see more wizard cards throughout the game, like from those gypsy women in Cool Ranch?

3. Does El Toro have any other rivals besides Captain Blood?

4. Will we be getting some more important information from Captain Gunn if we have to in the future?

5. Have Morganthe and the Armada ever had the opportunity to team-up, or Malistaire and the Armada?

6. Have some of swordroll's or any other blog's theories ever been too close, close, or not even close?

7. Will El Dorado have one island or many islands with vast treasures upon them? It'll be interesting if Shangri-La was one big final dungeon that when you complete it, you can travel there and get as much gold as you want to buy some stuff. Now that i think about it, that might be a little too easy to advance through the game.

Fish Devesh Higgins - Level 53 Buccaneer
"Let's set the skies on fire!" - Monkey King
7. The precise layout of El Dorado has yet to be determined - we have a little while before we know what it needs to be. Given the amount of very specific things that will need to happen there, a lot of instancing will be necessary, but by the same token, I don't want another Miranda (which i completely agree is too long. Oops.). Finding a balance is the key. Same issue on the gold thing - it would be really lame to not walk out of there with lots of gold, but too much could mess things up balance-wise down the road.

Developer
Duke of Westminste... on Feb 1, 2014 wrote:
Blind Mew here is a question about RatBeard. So far in the game we have only seen a couple types of rats and a couple types of mice. However none of these look like ratbeard. Ratbeard seems to be his own race of rat. I am wondering if we will ever see more Ratbeard like people in the game.
Ratbeard turned into such a distinct character that we haven't re-used him. I doubt we will going forward. Bonnie Anne's the same way.I want more Rats, but they'll be more different still.

Developer
totallyawesomepira... on Feb 2, 2014 wrote:
A few questions for ye, ye old Blind Cat!

1. Today in history we learned about the battle of the Spanish Armada, is there a possibility we could use England's strategy to be rid of the Valencian Armada? I'm sure there are sharp rocks somewhere in MB...
(A sum of the battle: Spain gets into an argument with England. Spain acquires a fleet of 130 ships, and calls it The Spanish Armada. Spain sends the ships to England, which have faster ships and more powerful guns then Spain. England sees Spain coming, and, ship by ship, take down several. Then, just by luck, England sees that a storm is coming. England leads Spain into this little bay that, when a storm comes, will push your ship to the very deadly, sharp rocks further in. The storm comes, and England quietly leaves the scene, leaving Spain to die. When Spain realizes that they are doomed, they try to retreat, but only leave with 60 ships, all in poor condition. THE END)

2. You don't talk schedule. What DO you talk?!

3. Whilst helping my friend travel to Valencia (I, like, live on her ship now since I have to be on it to help her with quests. But it's really pretty! You miss a lot of great views traveling on the deck of the ship then when sailing.) we had to travel through Avernus (obviously) and we noticed a Stormgate that just said that: Stormgate. What could this possibly be? The Stormgate to the next update's world? The Stormgate to El Dorado? If so, why hasn't Valencia found it yet? Odd.

4. What year would you say the Spiral is in? I'm guessing 1700s, but from what I've heard about Aquila (still in MooShu you see) it's like, waaaaaaay before that.

5. Why does everyone speak Marleybonian? I mean, it's a popular language and all, but, almost every single person in the Spiral speaks it. And don't tell me, "they do cause you won't understand what they're saying otherwise" cause I know I won't, but I want an answer that assumes the Spiral exists. Okay?

I thank ye for yer patience.
1. Did they mention how the legend has always been that astrologist, alchemist, proto-spy, and magician John Dee supposedly called up the storm by magic? Something like the defeat of the Spanish Armada could indeed go down. As you can see from Book 13, we hewed more toward Trafalgar instead.

2. Dude. There's more than 400 posts on this thread, and two whole threads before this one. I talk plot, characters, liner notes about why the story is the way it is and the decisions we made, and I try to clarify story points that didn't read well in game. I also drop a lot of hints. But I don't talk schedule, or anything else that'll get me in trouble. Were I to mention a date, and then any one of the countless circumstances that are out of my control (or even my awareness) were to cause us to miss that date, the community would howl. And yes, of course, I know the community will howl anyway (I've been in the MMO business for nearly 14 years now), but that's no reason not to minimize said howling however and whenever I can.

3. It will go someplace - later. It can't be El Dorado's, right? We've established that it moves...

4. Each world of the Spiral is its own place, with its own particular development. I think the Wizard guys could give you an idea of how long it's been since Bartleby created the Spiral as we know it, but I expect they and i would both avoid a direct answer for fear of someday pinning ourselves down. All that said, our worlds tend toward later historicity than Wizard's, but that is a product of our source material.

5. They may not all speak Marleybonean, for all we know the "Common" language is Low Aquilonian. You are correct to expect me to handwave here because for gameplay we need you to hear and read English. But if you must have an in-game explanation, I'd pin it all on Bartleby and how the Spiral arose.

Lieutenant
Jul 15, 2013
121
Dear Blind Mew,
I haven't asked you a question EVER and now I have a few,
1. my sister wants to know will there be an Amelia Earheart type NPC or companion?
2. is there a "good" psycho character going to be introduced like Deadpool?
3. Is El Toro supposed to be a bull-themed Batman?
4. Will you ever add anymore fights where we have to kill just one person because there are only extremely few in Aquila and Marleybone where they are not defeat all enemies?
5. Can we please say poodle in text chat I can sometimes not remember Ambassador Downley's name and I keep trying to type that MooShu poodle?
6. will we get a button that will automatically take us to El Dorado?
7. Will we get more Aquilan companions e.g. an Eagle like Ulysses or an Ophidian warrior and archer?
8. Can we pay the orphans in Marleybone? They are sooooooo cute and they are poor I wanna take them on my crew with a salary.
9. Is it ok to make pirate101 videos on Youtube I am buying a bandicam soon and me and my bro wanna make pvp videos?
10.Is Meowiarty supposed to be like a gentleman criminal like Dr. Hannibal Lector?
11. Will Ratbeard and Catbeard get a Pirate-Lord promotion?
12. Is there another promotion for Bonnie Anne?
13. Can you level us up in the fight with Stormzilla?
14. Is there going to be an epic battle with Kane?
15 Will Buccaneers get relentless?
16. Will Old Scratch ever get a new promotion?
17. Can we get an armada mask housing item?
18. What do our companions do while were questing shop go eta have rap battles with homer?
19.What is your favorite book to reference from?
20. How old is Kane?
21. Can we ever meet in the game?
Thank You so much for all your effort being put into all the new worlds.
thank from
Ruthless Blaze Roberts level 65
Seamus Capstan level 10
Dino level 16
Eric Atworth level 2 Gangly Cyrus got deleted
Andrew Radcliffe level 6
Thank You so much (for about the billionth time)
I really also wanna make a shout out to One Eyed Jack for all your help with postin

Dread Pirate
Jun 13, 2011
2037
Hi, Blind Mew! I've more questions for you, and hope you've time to answer, if you please.

I noticed that while on The Passage's instance quest "The Twin Dilemma", there's no bit of Hawkules' dialogue about Scylla and Charybdis and how he plans to battle both of them at once after Gracie Conrad said "What is THAT?!" after getting close to Scylla. Could that missing dialogue bit be corrected, please?

Somehow, after dealing with the crooked Radicals many times in Marleybone, I've a conscious feeling that we haven't seen the last of them, as Bonnie Anne said there's a lot of Radicals in her family. She wasn't joking about that. Plenty of Radicals we did see in Book 13, and they were really tough to battle. I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot more of them later on. If we return to Marleybone someday soon, I imagine the Radicals will be more than ready for our return trip to Marleybone, would we?

That "Completely Barmy" preview picture I saw today in the recent newsletter, I'm sure the setting is in Skull Island, but that staircase, it's led me to question this matter, is it a renovated staircase to Skull Island Town or is it part of a new path to a new location in Skull Island? Could it be that part of the island itself is getting a new expansion in this? Who knows? It's, to quote, completely barmy! Can't wait to see what Book 15 has in store for us Pirates!

If the Waponi Water Moles happen to return, would they try to exact revenge against us after we disrupted their sacrificial ritual and defeated their chief at their volcano in Book 1? I'm sure that we'll be seeing more recurring foes later on, but think the Waponi Water Moles would be one of them? Who knows?

Also, about Carcarius Grimtooth, is he going to be a new main story Companion in this? If so, I would really like to recruit him!

Thanks once again for answering my questions!

Pirate Overlord
Mar 10, 2009
6204
CanaanBC on Feb 3, 2014 wrote:
Dear Blind Mew,
I haven't asked you a question EVER and now I have a few,
1. my sister wants to know will there be an Amelia Earheart type NPC or companion?
2. is there a "good" psycho character going to be introduced like Deadpool?
3. Is El Toro supposed to be a bull-themed Batman?
4. Will you ever add anymore fights where we have to kill just one person because there are only extremely few in Aquila and Marleybone where they are not defeat all enemies?
5. Can we please say poodle in text chat I can sometimes not remember Ambassador Downley's name and I keep trying to type that MooShu poodle?
6. will we get a button that will automatically take us to El Dorado?
7. Will we get more Aquilan companions e.g. an Eagle like Ulysses or an Ophidian warrior and archer?
8. Can we pay the orphans in Marleybone? They are sooooooo cute and they are poor I wanna take them on my crew with a salary.
9. Is it ok to make pirate101 videos on Youtube I am buying a bandicam soon and me and my bro wanna make pvp videos?
10.Is Meowiarty supposed to be like a gentleman criminal like Dr. Hannibal Lector?
11. Will Ratbeard and Catbeard get a Pirate-Lord promotion?
12. Is there another promotion for Bonnie Anne?
13. Can you level us up in the fight with Stormzilla?
14. Is there going to be an epic battle with Kane?
15 Will Buccaneers get relentless?
16. Will Old Scratch ever get a new promotion?
17. Can we get an armada mask housing item?
18. What do our companions do while were questing shop go eta have rap battles with homer?
19.What is your favorite book to reference from?
20. How old is Kane?
21. Can we ever meet in the game?
Thank You so much for all your effort being put into all the new worlds.
thank from
Ruthless Blaze Roberts level 65
Seamus Capstan level 10
Dino level 16
Eric Atworth level 2 Gangly Cyrus got deleted
Andrew Radcliffe level 6
Thank You so much (for about the billionth time)
I really also wanna make a shout out to One Eyed Jack for all your help with postin
I can help you with number 2: Toro is a nod to Zorro. There are many movies and TV shows (Disney is a heavy Zorro producer) about Zorro the fox who helps the Mexican peasants deal with corruption and to help California gain statehood. There was a film made quite recently in 2005 with Antonio Banderas & Catherine Zeta-Jones called The Legend of Zorro and an earlier version called The Mask of Zorro with Antonio Banderas and Anthony Hopkins was released in 1998. There was a television series starring Guy Williams that originally aired from 1957 to 1959 that has been in syndication for many years since.
Just do a search on Zorro on IMDb.com and you can learn all about them.

Developer
William DarkFlame on Feb 3, 2014 wrote:
Hey Blind Mew. I've got a few questions.

1.) In the "My Windstones" tab, all of the Windstones seem to be in some sort of device. Does that play a certain role in navigation, or will it ever play a certain part in the story? Or is it just for show?

2.) Will we get to find out what that lighthouse world in the Cool Ranch Stormgate is?

3.) After playing that Puerto Mico quest that involved the two different groups of monks arguing about whether the banana or the tree came first, I got really interested in Monquistan religion. It's very interesting. Are we ever going to return there based on what Gortez said right before Aquila? Monquista is such a neat world, because of how the inhabitants are so focused on their religious culture. Plus it seems like too much of an important world to spend such a small amount of time in.

4.) I just want to give major credit to whoever designed Aragon Skyway. I remember seeing you say something along the lines of "We want the Armada to be an 'it'. We want to give them a cruel and creepy feel". After spending around 20 minutes today, just riding around Aragon Skyway today, I feel it really embraces that statement. You see a small bit of sunlight, and some islands. But when you turn around, all that can be seen is a machine. A machine that has huge storm clouds hovering over it. You then see an island being devoured and destroyed by smaller machines. And the music. The music is amazingly perfect. It's the faint sound of a piano. It's beautiful, but it's also sad sounding- just like Valencia.

5.) What's your least favorite world in Pirate101 and why?
1. That's a nice piece of decor right now. We wanted the page to be visually interesting, and an astrolabe-type device seemed to be the way to go.

2. Maybe. And bear in mind, it might not show up in our game first...

3) I've been looking for a way to get back to Monquista and resolve that storyline for quite some time. The trick is getting it to fit neatly - don't want it to end up as a distraction.

4) Glad you liked it! We had some definite story goals there: we wanted the visuals and the design to sell themes instead of just having more NPC exposition. I'm very fond of it, personally.

5) I don't think I'll answer that one - each has their own set of headaches, but they also all have some really cool parts too.

Developer
William DarkFlame on Feb 3, 2014 wrote:
6.) Who do you think would win in a war between the Umbra Legion and the Armada? I feel that from a soldier standpoint, the Clockworks would be able to take down the Shadow Weavers because of their strong and advanced weaponry. Although, I would bet that Morganthe would be able to take down Kane and the Elites because she has personal access to Shadow Magic.

7.) Why wasn't Westminster Skyway named Wolfminster Skyway, like how there was Wolfmister Abbey in W101?

8.) In relation to #7, in W101, Marleybone City was crammed on one circular landmass. Yet in P101, it's settled on a huge open landmass made of cliffs and hills? Is there a reason behind this, on a story standpoint?

9.) "Story Thread 4: That Would Be Telling". You know what I'm talking about.
6. Tough call. And I think you're right - magic is the tricky bit.

7. I was worried the Kennel Club reference would get lost with too many alterations to the name.

8. Well, I figure in the grand scheme of things, the capital of Marleybone, what we call Marleybone City, is a lot like Puerto Mico - it's a tight city on an island. As in so many of our worlds, there's what we call a "big island" off the shore. We put it there because of a cool joke - those are the White Cliffs of Rover - and also to give us expansion room in the future. Somewhere there's an English countryside Bronte sisters region.

9. Good point. We'll continue in another thread.

Administrator
At the request of Blind Mew, We're now closing this particular post as it is becoming too big.

Blind Mew will reopen a new story thread soon! Thanks!

*One-Eyed Jack, Your Pirate101 Community Manager*