Pledge of the Lizard King

[Ibsen's Ghost]

The Pledge of the Lizard King

The Story

Reading this part isn’t really necessary but it’s written so that my point is made clear. Scroll down if you want to get to 'the important bit' first. If you’re a careful reader, you may be able to see what I’m getting at by some of the characters, places and events mentioned:



The Lizard King stepped up to the edge of the jungle cliffs and set his feet into the worn stone, revelling in the steady drizzle that lay a steam upon the hot land. Smashed against the sturdy trunk of a Baobab tree lay a barbed, offensive-looking piece of rock torn from a loam not of the land’s own. Elder formlings of the Hist lay prostate at its base, unknowing of the plans that the Hist had now made and how little they truly featured in its designs.
The Hist had known that the Daedra would come and it had been as prophesied by the shaman. In truth, even within his own days, the lizard King had seen worse times. His hide still bore witness to the ravages of flame and steel and its undersea eyes coalesced with barely perceivable intent as its mind cast back to the shaman’s words, “it shall come in the days when burning eyes doth open and threaten the branches of the Hist with their brazen glare. Then shall you know your place and you must seek to reaffirm the rights of your kinsmen in the precious black soil that gave you birth.”
And on this rare rock sunken like forgotten treasure in the ever-churning morass of mud, the lizard King experienced an epiphany. It was the sort of moment of clarity that came only through the summoning of the rootworms and that curious connection with the land that was borne out by their deep, resonant song and the vibrations underfoot.
Within this moment, a procession of blights that had afflicted the land came to him in a perfect sequence of visions that would determine his actions. First, there had been the wasters, curious elves that shackled not the soul of this land nor glimpsed its true essence. Then, little known to outlanders, had come the spirit-plague that threatened to drain the marshes and leave it featureless. Dunmer had ravished, menfolk had pillaged and the people were held by a thread, so divided and befuddled by silvery tongues and electric powers that only the sap could heal them again and bring them back to the hearth of their belonging.
Once before, the lizard King had seen this happen and it would happen again. The earthquake had devastated a large stretch of the landscape from the foot of the mountains to the tip of the everglades. Whole swathes of the populace had left in confusion, surrendering themselves to a sorry apathy unworthy of the Hist.
As tradition foretold, a King must move on, seeking another zone of marshland worthy of carrying his title and perpetuating the line of Argonians that were duly chosen by the Hist. What he had built would soon sink but what he saw before him through the mists that stretched into Darkmoor was a light livid with the opalescent fervour of the land. The glo-shrooms and oilplants danced like wisps in the distance as the drums began to strike up their rhythm.
He stood like this awhile and waited for the sounds to abate, not knowing how long he stood there, his huge, scaled chest heaving beneath the crocodile armour. He sucked the mists in through his nostrils, eyes closed, listening, and in his mind, resolved.
After the echoes settled and the last of the beats fled out into the land like signal fires from flaming arrows, the Lizard King’s blood cooled to an icy temperature and he said unto himself in a fetid drawl, “I shalt not have this land raped before my eyes.”
Behind him, the congregated kinsmen of his close family flinched in concern.
“All they who shalt not give unto me their consent and bow their heads to me in agreement with the law that comes through me from the Hist shalt have no place in any Kingdom of mine. The Dunmer may wither us and the outlanders may despoil us but there are some rocks in this land that the Hist keep still, some pledges to which they hold and some edicts that shall be obeyed.”
With this, he hefted the sleeping weight of the barbed leaf that lay in his calloused claw like a serpent sleeping with its eyes open. He murmured to it as if to waken it, called upon the ancestors of those who had pledged themselves to him to offer the strength he required, and lofted the weapon up high over his head. The moon flashed on its blade like a scowling face before the lizard King thrust his scaly arm downwards, driving the blade into the living rock which screeched and howled like a dozen giant imps deprived of their bloody meal.
The barbed leaf wavered for a moment, shaking with a fervent vigour that characterised the stalwart plants that graced this land…and the King felt the roots move deep below in assent, approving his plan.
“This blade shall not move until the legend that is written from tip to hilt is acknowledged by offerings to the Hist. The Hist shall consider the offerings and adjudge them to be worthy. They shall lay their tributes upon the rock and speak my name but I shall not answer lest the Hist call for me once more. From henceforth, this land shall be without a King.”
He snorted once more in derision and, turning to his precious ones, led them down the crevasse where the mists gradually appeared to suck all colour from their forms until they disappeared into the watery mire and vanished from sight…

The Pledge

Much as I still love working on this project, it has become clear to me that I am likely to continue working on this more or less on my own with the help of just some notable individuals for a long time. And, unfortunately, I cannot afford to devote that amount of time and effort. In RL, I am in my mid-thirties, been teaching for about ten years and, believe it or not, am a fully trained reserve soldier. However, I do this too and, more than anything else, I love to be creative.

If I can do what I have done in the space of less than six months then I’m sure that plenty of other people can contribute (in a real sense) as well. Moreover, I am prepared to do some grunt work and admin, the sort of things that are a real grind, but I see no reason why I should continue if it’s just me doing any modding on a regular basis.

I’m not angry, just a little sad but it looks like I’m going to have to leave if I don’t feel absolutely reassured that I’m not the only one working and showing genuine commitment (although I know that there are some at least I can rely upon) but I have a life too.

Therefore, I will be sending out a PM to every single member requesting that they read the ‘commandments’ below and submit some modding work within three weeks of the posting date. If the response is poor then I’m out and I will regretfully urge that others who have devoted their time and effort to do the same. I spend a lot of time thinking about how great this or that will look, how incredible this or that would be and I genuinely believe that this could be not only the first (and perhaps only) released work on a WS mod but could also be the best WS mod. But enough is enough.

...the important bit...

The question that everyone must ask themselves is: do you want to see Black Marsh for Oblivion or not? Bear in mind that saying ‘yes’ carries with it certain responsibilities in terms of agreeing to what’s written below and submitting work consistently. Not much, just some. Team work is the key so, for the sake of fairness, the deal means that it’s the same rules for everyone…without exception. I won’t judge you when you make your decision but I need to know that there are enough people behind me to make this work.

The Commandments

And written on the blade were these cryptic inscriptions:

1. Give unto the great cause lest thy offerings wither. Many members join a WS project in the laughably mistaken hope that it will be their own ideas, their own stories and their own creations that will be put forward as a kind of interactive portfolio that everyone else will help to create. Although some talent is rare and some contributions are excellent in these fields (and are also used), it should nonetheless be known that writers, voice artists and concept artists are as common as muck in a pig sty. The difference is between whether you are a committed craftsperson or someone 'taken' by a creative impulse that you feel the need to forcefeed to others and get celebrated for it. Plus, it’s only fair that if you don’t contribute properly, you don’t get considered! The same will happen on any project of this type so it’s best that you know this now and stop wasting everyone’s time. No authors ever respond to the question, “I have a great idea. Will you write it for me?” Some modding tasks take a couple of hours at most to complete and if you cannot be bothered to learn the basics and do a little then your material and ideas will sink into the marshes, never to be remembered (and the Lizard King may see fit to mock your fortunes).
   
2. Honour thy King and country. The same as with the above, but to a lesser extent, the same goes for those with ‘pet projects’. In other words, ideas that people want to work on alone, and that do help to enrich the BM experience, but don’t in any way help with the overall progress of the mod. We may agree that it’s nice but what are you going to do to help get the mod completed? Earn the right……because you’d have to do much more if you were on your own trying to create it and unless you help then it’s not going to see the light of day. I noticed this when I first joined and Tlo1048 (the leader at the time) was interested in my voiced companion character. My voice work tends to be highly regarded but I felt like I would be making Tlo1048 do all the hard work for my benefit. Now I’ve worked on the project and only now is he working on getting the character I introduced: a perfect illustration of my point. This is a team.
   
3. The Hist doth accept no casual ally. When you join, you should browse, make yourself at home and look at how you can get your creative ideas out there. Newbies are great and we’re willing to help you but noobs who go AWOL immediately after signing up are going to be given a choice of either: a) doing some ‘grunt work’ before they contribute what they want or, b) doing nothing at all but leaving by the nearest exit. Even if you’re waiting a good while for a claim to become available so that you can do a particular task, appearing on the forums once every fortnight is not going to be good enough. From now on, noobs who haven’t contributed something within a month, nor reported their absence (especially those), are banned.
   
4. Thou shalt not have too many pies and not enough fingers. Some modders are talented and experienced…but, in practical terms, idiotic. If you were so bored as to spend time browsing redundant threads in the ‘Beyond Cyrodiil’ forums for posts made by people with 3-4 titles in their signature, you would know that those people are normally next-to-useless. This is often not because they don’t work or lack expertise or experience but because they have no commitment to see anything through and are like mayflies jumping from one thing to the next and with a very short lifespan. The same goes for those people who move on to the ‘next big thing’ in moments, like a new game. This project is here because we love Oblivion and have a genuine interest in creating the Black Marsh. If you don’t have that creative zeal, move on and stop distracting us. Some new games may start to do things a lot better than Bethesda’s efforts here but never underestimate the creative power of community-created content. If you ask me, the main quest-line for Oblivion was crap (the actual storyline, that is) and I know for a fact it can be better. So commit to a project you believe in.
   
5. Thou shalt stick to thy cause. People who turn up to make a comment such as, “this would be cool” are not real members and should not be classed as such. For example, if you are lucky enough to have one of our modellers respond to one of your ideas then you should see to it that you pay them back by modding something, even if it’s not related to the idea in question. Only then can you be classified as a ‘proper’ member of the team and will be credited in a final release.
   
6. Set thyself afloat on the river. If willing and able to contribute, you must try to keep up-to-date. I try to read every post made here so do me a favour and try to keep in touch with what’s happening on the ‘to do’ thread, the esm and the archive updates. I always appreciate those people who are willing to undertake anything that is classified as a priority and will take us to the next level and you should want us to be making good progress too. If you think it’s likely that something has been mentioned then go searching in the relevant section. I didn’t spend my first month as leader totally revamping the forums for nothing. Even if I ended up tacking messages on to the original post of a thread (watch out for that), the information is still there. If it’s not, send me a PM pronto.
   
7. Thou shalt present thyself to the Lizard King. No, this is not me wanting to be worshipped. Instead, you need to say what you are going to do and do it. Some members have done everything except submitted their CV to me and I know for a fact that those guys are going to come through and do well even if it’s just for a small set task like revamping. Preferably, take a claim, make gradual progress and send updates to the esp thread every time you finish doing a bit of work on it. If you start getting de-motivated, the very least you could do is to send what you’ve done so we don’t lose your work. Show some commitment and get claims done and you’ll find that your modding skills increase, your ideas start flowing and you start to get recognised for your efforts.
   
8. Thou shalt not preen thy feathers. Don’t join up and give yourself a trumped-up title. Some members, even those with long histories in the project (many of whom have fortunately left), still carry titles that belie their contributions. You might well be a modding genius but what have you actually done? In the end, only your work will be credited and fly-by-nights will be erased from the team list. Everything that is contributed in modding terms goes on the esp thread and is sent to sandor to be merged every two weeks or so. Barring PC issues, I have submitted at least one esp with every single update, some of which involve many different adjustments and additions besides finished claims. How many have you submitted?
   [/list=1]
   
   In many ways, it will be an absolutely crushing blow if I realise I have to leave and am forced to tear myself away from this. In others, it will be a blessed release. Make your decision over the next three weeks. In the meantime, I’ll carry on as normal and if the worst comes to the worst then perhaps Tlo1048 can take over again.
   
   Edit: Here's a classic example of what happens if such agreements as the aforementioned are not adhered to: current factions & discussion (Dead) . Don't waste your time. You only get one life and there are few greater pleasures than simple creativity and a sense of achievement...

[PhiniusMaster]

*Sigh*

Don't feel this way.

I of course accept those ideals, as I am making real progress, and love doing it. If you could ask anyone I know, they would tell you I love modding Oblivion. That and Little Big Planet, my instruments, and my friends & family are my real joys in life. I've put a fair bit of time into Gideon, and as a new part of this project would hate to see you leave, as you seem very talented in creating your own stuff and are very helpful to new members (like myself).

[Tlo1048]

I agree with you on this Ibsen. :goodjob:

This is entirely necessary for this mod to be released at any time. I agree with your commandments, and I will enforce them along with you.

Although there should be an amendment to the first. Though the mod shouldn't be subject to modders personal ideas, it should be recognized that others before us had made lots of finalized decisions, and I believe it would be unfair of us to not to, at least, consider using these as final pieces. Take the Gideon ideas for example, we (TGW and I) had made substantial progress on deciding these things for Gideon. Gideon itself was going to be my primary goal, because to me it could make-or-break the mod. Though in my absence it was remade(is being remade) due to corruption, I don't want the quests and city planning to be taken over by some "new" modders. This is not meant to offend anyone, it's just how I feel. All of our veteran members have worked harder than you (Not Ibsen. He understands) can ever imagine.

That being said, I have not yet made a decision on if we should continue the mod or not. I must ponder these things further.

Thank you for all your work Ibsen.

EDIT: PhiniusMaster has worked exponentially hard on Gideon, and I'm not refering to him on the "new modder" issue. I'm referring to other events.

[llamaranger]

I enjoy working on it, and that has kept me coming back for... almost 2 years now. I know I can be sporadic, but when i was just a modeller, that was not really a problem, stuff I made was re-usable.

I pretty much agree with what you're saying though, and I'll betcha that I'll still be here, doing what I can when I can in a years time.

On an off-topic note, I have pretty muched finished the layout of lower Soulrest, want me to send you the .esp?

That being said, I have not yet made a decision on if we should continue the mod or not. I must ponder these things further.

Black Marsh is like a zombie dog with rabies, it keeps getting back up ready for a fight, and it has done for a pretty damned long time.

x

edd

[Ibsen's Ghost]

I appreciate all your points guys, and I agree with you. This is something I just have to do. For me, this isn't going quick enough. I know that PH will come through and I know that others will too. Oh, and I certainly agree about making maximum use of the ideas offered by the old team, as long as those that end up finishing it get to have their own say (no disrespect to KuKulza and co.)

Needless to say, the deal still stands. This was the best way I could think of resolving myself.

@ LR - Yes, please. =) Post it up in the esm thread.

[Tlo1048]

Originally posted by llamaranger
On an off-topic note, I have pretty muched finished the layout of lower Soulrest, want me to send you the .esp?

Black Marsh is like a zombie dog with rabies, it keeps getting back up ready for a fight, and it has done for a pretty damned long time.

hahaha, it truly is.

And I would like a copy of the .esp. If Ibsen wouldn't mind. =)

EDIT: And I agree again Ibsen. Your mind is made, and it's been made quite fairly. When I left, I just left. You're giving us a choice.

[Koniption]

Yep, yep, you can count me in. Your decision is an understandable one, Ibsen.

I'm still working on Blackwoods:North, and will work more on it tonight. Problem is, I keep visualizing the next thing I might want to model, and that distracts me, lol. But the "grunt work" continues, although it seems to go slowly.

I'll post up the esp tomorrow evening, but the Blackwoods will still not be done, and I'll need to work more on it. I've still yet to place custom flora and distribute the majority of the baobobs and such....but you can bet that most clouded funnel caps, rocks, and cypress tree knees are where they're supposed to be. My OCD makes me focus on the darn-est things sometimes...

Koniption

[sHAdowgAme]

Im still in. I hope I wasn't one of those new modders your were talking about. I've haven't been working on the hist temple lately because of my computer troubles. Leading a mod isnt easy, though. You should totally excercise your authority and bann peopole who dont contribute anything. The fact also remains, that this game is pretty old. Even so, I beleive that there is still a rich fan community for this game and they would be willing to play this mod if its ever done.

[Ibsen's Ghost]

(...The ghost of the Lizard King stirs but does not appear...)

All references to specific members shall remain anonymous. I'm hoping that the writing is sufficient to waken the sleepers and stir them to respond in an appropriate fashion but I'd like to hear the thoughts of other casual browsers on these forums. They're welcome enough as fans but they'd be much more so if they were to help out.....I see the names Galeex and Gargamel69 a few times.....

[DoZeNt]

Ok, I guess who are you talking about , IG...

I will work a lot more from now on... I really want to see the BM in-game, and I'll do my best to make that one come true.