Calling All Lore Junkies!

Kiara- · 03-14-2008, 01:30 PM

At the recent Community Summit with SOE, I got to steal a couple of minutes to pester everyone's favourite Lore God, Tony "Vhalen" Garcia. Not only was he super nice, he was also, like, a real person and not some dusty old gnome covered in ink and toting books around and stuff. He answered some questions for us, which of course only inspired yet more questions! Hopefully he'll be willing to sit down with us again sometime. Until then, thank you Vhalen!

Kiara- · 03-14-2008, 08:19 PM

Extra special bonus question added, cause Vhalen is the man!!

Harvash · 03-14-2008, 08:49 PM

Excellent interview on a very interesting subject, I can only say one thing:

More Nek Castle!

This is by far one of my very favorite zones...along with Stormhold. Any chance of getting another high level SH instance in Nek fashion. Maybe having to kill each, static spawn, Scion to progress to more areas to unfold the fact that the long dead residents have once again come under attack from within - maybe from newely discovered races of RoK?

Good work,

G

Spyderbite · 03-15-2008, 10:49 AM

Great interview, Kiara. SMILEY

Cusashorn · 03-15-2008, 02:33 PM

Once again I'd like to thank Vhalen for choosing me to start that first Forum Quest involving Nektulos Castle. He gave me a hint over a private tell back in 2006. After I figured out the quest and recieved my Idol of Everling, he asked me to give a hint to the lore board. I wrote up a piece of fanfiction that detailed just enough hints to get the ball rolling, but nobody picked up on it at first.

Vhalen commented that my little piece of fanfiction was surprisingly similar to what he had originally envisioned. :p

Domino · 03-15-2008, 03:51 PM

When I started planning out the storyline for the tradeskill epic quest series I had a number of discussions with Vhalen about what crafting-related lore was out there and how to fit in some cool zones into the quest line that lower adventure-level crafters might not have seen. Of course, Nektropos Castle is one of the coolest and most interesting zones in Norrath, IMO. Vhalen suggested the use of the cauldron Orin in the quest (craftsman version), who's an existing character from the original version of the castle, and he was kind enough to give me a copy of his Nektropos Castle lore lores and original design documents for reference -- pages of them! It was a fascinating read! SMILEY

Shemyaza · 03-15-2008, 04:32 PM

Vhalen: We decided to split the EQ timeline so that we could create a parallel universe that is not affected by the events in any ongoing EQ projects. It actually fell in nicely with events that took place in the Planes of Power. This allowed us to create untold history and map out the future of EQII.

does this mean that druzzils shenanigans at the end of PoP weren't specifically aimed at giving eq2 a starting off point? talk about serendipity if it wasn't.

someone should make vhalen write a book on the history of norrath. one of those oversized and overpriced coffee table books sounds about right. i wouldn't even mind being ripped-off if it gave a detailed history on both norrath and the creation of the lore behind the world. SMILEY

Marillion · 03-15-2008, 07:53 PM

DominoDev wrote:

When I started planning out the storyline for the tradeskill epic quest series I had a number of discussions with Vhalen about what crafting-related lore was out there and how to fit in some cool zones into the quest line that lower adventure-level crafters might not have seen. Of course, Nektropos Castle is one of the coolest and most interesting zones in Norrath, IMO. Vhalen suggested the use of the cauldron Orin in the quest (craftsman version), who's an existing character from the original version of the castle, and he was kind enough to give me a copy of his Nektropos Castle lore lores and original design documents for reference -- pages of them! It was a fascinating read! " />

All yellow and coffee stained? with 3 inch glass plate covers? SMILEY

AllaK_Bludwyng · 03-16-2008, 12:12 AM

Cusashorn wrote:

Once again I'd like to thank Vhalen for choosing me to start that first Forum Quest involving Nektulos Castle. He gave me a hint over a private tell back in 2006. After I figured out the quest and recieved my Idol of Everling, he asked me to give a hint to the lore board. I wrote up a piece of fanfiction that detailed just enough hints to get the ball rolling, but nobody picked up on it at first.
Vhalen commented that my little piece of fanfiction was surprisingly similar to what he had originally envisioned. :p

The link did not work for me. Drew a blank page.Anyway, I just wanted confirmation that the Forum Lore Quest Vhalen referred to in the interview is "A Portrait of Destiny"?

Cusashorn · 03-16-2008, 01:44 PM

AllaK_Bludwyng wrote:

Cusashorn wrote:
Once again I'd like to thank Vhalen for choosing me to start that first Forum Quest involving Nektulos Castle. He gave me a hint over a private tell back in 2006. After I figured out the quest and recieved my Idol of Everling, he asked me to give a hint to the lore board. I wrote up a piece of fanfiction that detailed just enough hints to get the ball rolling, but nobody picked up on it at first.
Vhalen commented that my little piece of fanfiction was surprisingly similar to what he had originally envisioned. :p
The link did not work for me. Drew a blank page.Anyway, I just wanted confirmation that the Forum Lore Quest Vhalen referred to in the interview is "A Portrait of Destiny"?

Link works fine for me, and yes, it is called that.

03-14-2008, 01:30 PM	#1
Kiara- Loremaster Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Neriak, baby! Posts: 595	At the recent Community Summit with SOE, I got to steal a couple of minutes to pester everyone's favourite Lore God, Tony "Vhalen" Garcia. Not only was he super nice, he was also, like, a real person and not some dusty old gnome covered in ink and toting books around and stuff. He answered some questions for us, which of course only inspired yet more questions! Hopefully he'll be willing to sit down with us again sometime. Until then, thank you Vhalen! __________________

03-14-2008, 08:19 PM	#2
Kiara- Loremaster Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Neriak, baby! Posts: 595	Extra special bonus question added, cause Vhalen is the man!! __________________

03-15-2008, 07:53 PM	#8
Marillion Loremaster Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 189	DominoDev wrote: When I started planning out the storyline for the tradeskill epic quest series I had a number of discussions with Vhalen about what crafting-related lore was out there and how to fit in some cool zones into the quest line that lower adventure-level crafters might not have seen. Of course, Nektropos Castle is one of the coolest and most interesting zones in Norrath, IMO. Vhalen suggested the use of the cauldron Orin in the quest (craftsman version), who's an existing character from the original version of the castle, and he was kind enough to give me a copy of his Nektropos Castle lore lores and original design documents for reference -- pages of them! It was a fascinating read! " /> All yellow and coffee stained? with 3 inch glass plate covers? __________________ ......, oh i'm just a regular dirge ..... nothing to see here.

03-16-2008, 12:12 AM	#9
AllaK_Bludwyng Sr. Wiki Admin Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Cypress, TX Posts: 59	Cusashorn wrote: Once again I'd like to thank Vhalen for choosing me to start that first Forum Quest involving Nektulos Castle. He gave me a hint over a private tell back in 2006. After I figured out the quest and recieved my Idol of Everling, he asked me to give a hint to the lore board. I wrote up a piece of fanfiction that detailed just enough hints to get the ball rolling, but nobody picked up on it at first. Vhalen commented that my little piece of fanfiction was surprisingly similar to what he had originally envisioned. :p The link did not work for me. Drew a blank page.Anyway, I just wanted confirmation that the Forum Lore Quest Vhalen referred to in the interview is "A Portrait of Destiny"? __________________ Bludwyng, ZAM Network Sr. Wikibase Admin at Allakhazam's Magical Realm "Fear my evil cuteness!"

03-16-2008, 01:44 PM	#10
Cusashorn Loremaster Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Cheeseland, USA Posts: 14,919	AllaK_Bludwyng wrote: Cusashorn wrote: Once again I'd like to thank Vhalen for choosing me to start that first Forum Quest involving Nektulos Castle. He gave me a hint over a private tell back in 2006. After I figured out the quest and recieved my Idol of Everling, he asked me to give a hint to the lore board. I wrote up a piece of fanfiction that detailed just enough hints to get the ball rolling, but nobody picked up on it at first. Vhalen commented that my little piece of fanfiction was surprisingly similar to what he had originally envisioned. :p The link did not work for me. Drew a blank page.Anyway, I just wanted confirmation that the Forum Lore Quest Vhalen referred to in the interview is "A Portrait of Destiny"? Link works fine for me, and yes, it is called that.

03-14-2008, 08:49 PM	#3
Harvash Loremaster Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 247	Excellent interview on a very interesting subject, I can only say one thing: More Nek Castle! This is by far one of my very favorite zones...along with Stormhold. Any chance of getting another high level SH instance in Nek fashion. Maybe having to kill each, static spawn, Scion to progress to more areas to unfold the fact that the long dead residents have once again come under attack from within - maybe from newely discovered races of RoK? Good work, G

03-15-2008, 10:49 AM	#4
Spyderbite Server: Venekor Guild: Dark Vengeance Rank: Member Loremaster Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Connecticut Posts: 4,262	Great interview, Kiara.

03-15-2008, 02:33 PM	#5
Cusashorn Loremaster Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Cheeseland, USA Posts: 14,919	Once again I'd like to thank Vhalen for choosing me to start that first Forum Quest involving Nektulos Castle. He gave me a hint over a private tell back in 2006. After I figured out the quest and recieved my Idol of Everling, he asked me to give a hint to the lore board. I wrote up a piece of fanfiction that detailed just enough hints to get the ball rolling, but nobody picked up on it at first. Vhalen commented that my little piece of fanfiction was surprisingly similar to what he had originally envisioned. :p

03-15-2008, 03:51 PM	#6
Domino Loremaster Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 2,046	When I started planning out the storyline for the tradeskill epic quest series I had a number of discussions with Vhalen about what crafting-related lore was out there and how to fit in some cool zones into the quest line that lower adventure-level crafters might not have seen. Of course, Nektropos Castle is one of the coolest and most interesting zones in Norrath, IMO. Vhalen suggested the use of the cauldron Orin in the quest (craftsman version), who's an existing character from the original version of the castle, and he was kind enough to give me a copy of his Nektropos Castle lore lores and original design documents for reference -- pages of them! It was a fascinating read!

03-15-2008, 04:32 PM	#7
Shemyaza Loremaster Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 140	Vhalen: We decided to split the EQ timeline so that we could create a parallel universe that is not affected by the events in any ongoing EQ projects. It actually fell in nicely with events that took place in the Planes of Power. This allowed us to create untold history and map out the future of EQII. does this mean that druzzils shenanigans at the end of PoP weren't specifically aimed at giving eq2 a starting off point? talk about serendipity if it wasn't. someone should make vhalen write a book on the history of norrath. one of those oversized and overpriced coffee table books sounds about right. i wouldn't even mind being ripped-off if it gave a detailed history on both norrath and the creation of the lore behind the world.