u/UristAlebeard

Perhaps this is already a theory in the community, so sorry if this is something everyone already thinks that I'm treating like a new theory.

I don't think Hoxxes is a planet. The nature of it is inherently logic defying. I don't mean because it's a death world. I mean that eyeballs come out of the rocks and some biomes defy all known laws of science to the point that scientists in R&D have gone insane and/or quit when researching the planet. I think morkite is a major clue to the potential nature of the Hoxxes. Management keeps it mostly classified beyond its existence. We know they want it, but that's it. We don't know of any of its applications or who they sell it to or even if they sell it at all. We just know it's apparently extremely valuable to them considering it's the only mineral aside from Ommoran stones that is a mission objective. Sure, we come across many other space minerals like enor pearls, but there's no indication that those are anything but space minerals. Morkite however is... uniquely weird. It's not just the blue mineral we dump the load of into Molly. It's also apparently able to be refined like oil. More oddly, it apparently grows almost organically from seeds within geodes. There are no words for how strange that is. And of course, when management began more aggressive mining deeper into Hoxxes, the core spawn showed up and only intensified the deeper we went. Those things are just plain cosmic horrors, there's no question to that, but something with Rogue Core brings further potential evidence to my theory. There's an even higher core spawn presence with many different types, but no glyphids. The core spawn are interplanetary, but the glyphids are local wildlife. That's not too significant of a revelation as we already know they're interdimensional, but it does bring something to mind - they're either not native to Hoxxes, or the glyphids are far newer of a species. And, as I didn't really know where to mention this, Ommoran stones are debatably sentient. They at least have self preservation instincts. Lastly, the Rivals seem to have some greater interest in Hoxxes than simply mining. They don't just collect resources. They primarily collect intel. It's never clarified what for.

So, where does this leave us? To reiterate, I don't think Hoxxes is a planet.

I think it's an eldritch monstrosity in the shape of a planet. Morkite grows naturally somehow, and it has some sort of tie to the core spawn. We have no clue where the core spawn come from, but we do know they're interdimensional cosmic horrors that can be found across the galaxy. The Rivals seem to be searching for intel, intel that management very likely already has, likely the same intel they've kept classified. The Rivals themselves aren't classified. Hell, we raid them regularly. But the minerals on the planet we mine on are, and they undoubtedly have some sort of supernatural properties. The planet itself has driven R&D insane with trying to understand it and many quit because of how it can't be explained. Sound familiar to cosmic horror stories? It's clear that management knows a lot they won't tell us, and while it's impossible to know for sure what that is, putting everything together has led me to believe that Hoxxes itself is a living thing that hates us. Not in the, "it's a very hostile environment" sense, no, the planet itself has a mind that hates us personally. That would explain the eyes. It also lends some degree of explanation to why morkite grows from seeds. If it truly is eldritch in nature, that provides a concrete link to the core spawn, and it would also explain why the planet seems to defy physics. It would be an entity beyond physics.

Did I miss something? Maybe. Does this change anything? No. I'll keep mining Hoxxes for all it's worth. Still, it's a theory I've come to that I felt like sharing, assuming it's not an already existing theory.

Rock and stone.

I'm not criticizing the game. I've played it, and I loved it. It has a good story, great music, fun gameplay that manages ludonarrative harmony - but I wouldn't really say it's as impactful of an experience as people say. It's a Heart of Darkness story that manages to be Silent Hill baiting you in with a Call of Duty aesthetic. Again, this is good, but it didn't feel like it made an impact on me. Granted, I never was really a CoD fan and played this game years ago precisely because I heard it was a good game with a great story that subverted usual CoD tropes, so maybe it didn't impact me because I was never really the target audience to begin with.

Heya. For roughly a year now, I've been writing sci-fi fantasy setting in my free time with the general premise being that it's a rather generic fantasy world that kind of... just kept going? Anyway, while I wrote way more history and lore than I know what to do with, what's most relevant is the basis of how the setting was written in the first place - dwarves of the 22nd century.

I'll put some minor notes here for context to some things I won't go super in depth to in the post.

1. Stone dwarves were the first dwarven sub-race. I'm not going super in depth with them here, because I've driven myself insane trying to properly write inorganic "biology", but for visual reference, just think of the Earthen from WoW.
2. The Ether is the setting's "afterlife," in quotation marks because it very much differs in its effect on individuals. Some souls remain mostly intact and are pretty much the same person. Others fracture apart into various spirits with much more simple and predictable yet extreme personalities. This is a spectrum, not an either-or situation.
3. Soul infusion is a practice conducted by warlocks and necromancers, and rarely at that, but it's normal among the stone dwarves. To be perfectly honest, one of the largest difficulties I've faced is writing the reproduction of stone dwarves. If they just build their children, that seems more like golems and also begs the question of why families and relationships would be a thing (despite what I've written and will elaborate on in this post). It however just seems stupid for them to breed like mammals. As far as I've settled on this aspect of their "biology," they utilize soul infusion to grant sentience to their offspring, which essentially start as little statues like this. 🗿 Basically, this is a magic that pulls metaphysical energy from themselves or the Ether to create a new soul and shove it into something.

Bio Dwarves: The second oldest of the dwarven sub-races, the bio dwarves are, as their name entails, biological dwarves. As genetic and cybernetic augmentation arose in the 21st century, the dwarves, ever focused on their engineering and craftsmanship, began to engineer their children rather than birth them naturally. It became common practice for the bio dwarves to genetically tailor their offspring. These aren't clones in the sense of being one to one recreations of their parents, but instead are embryos surgically removed from their mothers and artificially fertilized with genetic material of their fathers, then modified to their parents' perameters. Typically, this modification starts and ends with amplification of positive physical and mental traits as well as the elimination of potential defects that could lead to illness, injury, or deformation. It however isn't unheard of for these children to be engineered almost as tools or superior versions of their parents as true clones, but this is culturally frowned upon - yet this hasn't deterred the elite from doing so anyway. Most voluntarily sterilized themselves through genetic modification, although artificial impregnation was common for sentimental reasons and to have as natural of a birth as possible despite the artificial mechanisms at play with their child.

As a species suited for cave dwelling, the bio dwarves possess tapetum lucidum, a trait similar to that of the phosphorescent eyes of the stone dwarves, allowing for night vision without a sensitivity to daylight, and the side effect of a noticeable glow to their eyes in the dark.

Cyber Dwarves: The newest of the dwarven sub races, the cyber dwarves only came to be in the 2080s. They, like the modern bio dwarves, are engineered by their parents, but in a much more literal manner. Cyber dwarves tend to have the most diverse of appearances due to their synthetic nature. Many can be mistaken as bio dwarves as it's common for familial resemblance to be taken into account during their creation, but due to their modular bodies in addition to dwarves having a much stronger transhumanist perspective than most races, the cyber dwarves almost universally modify themselves for aesthetic purposes. Despite the uncommon belief that the cyber dwarves are simply advanced AI or golems that only simulate consciousness, this isn't entirely true. The same soul infusion techniques utilized by the stone dwarves in their reproduction is fully at play with the cyber dwarves, and warlocks have found the souls of deceased cyber dwarves in the Ether.

Kin, I ask for your sincere understanding of my stance.

As a wee lad, I was a devout follower of Moradin, our god and father. He's a paragon of valor and craftsmanship we can all adore, and all who wouldn't must have something wrong with them.

... At least, that's what I thought. Truthfully, as I've grown older, my beard has grown longer, and my hair has grown grayer, I've come to an uncomfortable conclusion. Is Moradin... a despot? Our holds burn. The goblins raid regularly. Our grudges are unending. Yet, despite all of our challenges, Moradin stays silent. He remains far from our people, bestowing blessings only to the select few clerics who've earned his favor. Is that the man we worship? One who stands by while his people suffer, only providing aid to the most devout of those who bow to him?

I got into Madness in middle school, maybe late elementary, and I've always loved it. It's so great to see the fan base being so passionate and making so many artworks and animations. Even the "canon," as far as Madness can have canon, has really gone a long way as well. It started as a silly sandbag dude animation beating up other sandbag dudes. Now we have Project Nexus, which is a full story with defined characters. Even in the web series, it's apparent that there's something more to it than just sandbag dude violence, with the Other Place, the Auditor, and so on. Not much else to say. I just find it very fascinating and it's enjoyable to see that Madness has gone such a long way.

OUR BROTHERS, OUT OF THE KINDNESS OF THEIR HEARTS, SHARED HEARTH AND HOME WITH HER DESPITE THE RISK OF ASSASSINS OR THE BURDEN OF ANOTHER MOUTH TO FEED, AND WHAT'S THE THANKS THEY GET?! BEING ORDERED AROUND BY THEIR GUEST, WHO - THROUGH HER OWN STUPIDITY - FALLS UNDER A CURSE AND IS PRESUMED DEAD. OUR KIN HONORABLY AVENGED HER AND LAID HER TO REST IN A MASTERFULLY CRAFTED DAWI GLASS COFFIN, AND WHAT DOES SHE DO?! RIDE OFF WITH THE PRINCE, A POTENTIAL N*CROPHILE, AND LEAVES WITHOUT SO MUCH AS THANKS! THIS WILL NOT BE TOLERATED! INFORM THE HIGH KING, WE HAVE A NEW UMGI KINGDOM TO RAZE!

I get that she's a Githyanki and grew up in an abhorrent society and was indoctrinated and so on. I don't see why that matters. That's a reason for someone being evil, but it doesn't change that she is indeed evil. A guy who burns down an orphanage for fun and another guy who does the same because his parents ingrained into him in his childhood that it's actually "fun" and "pretty tight" doesn't make the latter any better of a person. And as much as I hear that she's just ruthlessly pragmatic and doesn't want distractions, it's really hard to buy that when she's actively going on about how she wants to just rampantly murder others. "She doesn't want to save the Druid's Grove because it's just a distraction," I've heard. If that were the case, cool, that's a very ruthlessly pragmatic character. Then I hear her say "Don't let the goblins kill everyone - BECAUSE I WANT TO DO IT MYSELF!" Also, on my pure evil Durge run, she approved of nearly every heinous act I committed even if it was needless and actively a hindrance. +1 approval for eating Gale's hand. So, yep, I don't see how she's not evil.

I'm not arguing against nature-over-nurture. It definitely is a case of nurture because of the shit hole that is Githyanki society. It was a shock on my first go through Act 1 when arriving to the Githyanki creche and seeing that she's the nice one. I'm just saying I don't see how she's not a villain.

Heya. I've been playing around with the Dark Urge both in builds and narratives - probably to an unhealthy extent, considering just how many hours I sunk into playthroughs that never progressed past Act 1. That aside, I've been trying to make a super soldier build based on Subject 106 from Trepang2. For those not familiar, here are 106's abilities.

1. Focus: By focus, I mean in the video game sense where you get slow motion, not IRL focus that I wish I had to overcome my ADHD. In Trepang2, focus is a finite resource that recharges by killing enemies outside of slow-mo. It also relativistically speeds 106 up, as without it he's simply very fast, but with it, is able to dodge bullets or deflect them like a Jedi if he has a sword.
2. Cloak: Invisibility is not a finite resource, but the caveat is that it resets to 0 every use. Say you have 100% cloak, use 10%, then de-cloak. It still goes down to 0% as if you used it all. As video game conventions and balance demands, attacking uncloaks you.
3. Super Strength: 106 is comically strong. One of the main gameplay mechanics is grabbing enemies, using them as a shield and/or hostage, then pulling a pin on their grenades and chucking them across the room like a baseball. Canonically, 106 broke out of handcuffs rated for half a ton with minimal effort, and it took cuffs rated for 25k lbs. to restrain him effectively.
4. Coordination: The absurd degree of coordination 106 has is also comical. Just look at the cover art of Trepang2 and you'll see what I mean. Most importantly to a Baldur's Gate 3 build is dual wielding. The only thing 106 can't dual wield is a minigun. That's it. Pump action shotguns, sniper rifles, everything else he dual wields rather easily (although, my recommendation for Trepang2 is to not dual wield DMRs due to accuracy drop off, but that's aside the point).
5. Dopamine and Adrenaline: This kind of retreads focus, but 106 is frankly a psychopath. He's either genetically engineered to enjoy hurting people, or indoctrinated and conditioned to enjoy hurting people, or, most likely, both. That translates to gameplay with focus recharging through kills, but also whenever he gets a kill, his stamina is infinite for a limited time.

Now, yes, I know that this is not entirely doable in Baldur's Gate 3 as it would require well over 22 in all physical stats. Even so, the Dark Urge - whose story I unfortunately and accidentally spoiled 80% of for myself - has a surprisingly similar parallel to 106's narrative arc, at least if you play Resist, especially if you play a narrative arc of growth rather than a good person with dark impulses out of their control. Embrace is just maximum murder-hobo in a campaign the DM allows weird kinks in. And I really wanted to run a dual crossbow build that isn't just the usual meta College of Swords 6/Thief 4/Fighter 2 build, although honestly that may be the best choice, but if anyone can help me come up with a build, I'd appreciate it.

Title.

Doing a Baldur's Gate 3 run, and the sole reason I picked Duergar is because I thought they look cool. Then I met the others and they're agonizingly un-dwarfy, not to mention evil and even just straight up rude. It definitely put context into why my Duergar running amok doing heroic deeds and yelling "ROCK AND STONE" at every chance was viewed as weird by everyone, especially the deep gnomes.