Dranem I think it is fairrly safe to Say that you don't know many Canadians

The Majority of Canada wouldn't take america if it Offered an Unconditional Surrender.

Now as to the PR bit. They created the worst form of negative PRin the world when they said that Democratic laws should not apply to them

That was completely BatShit Crazy.

In comparison to that CORE CONCEPT, Emo is an island of sanity

I take it you don't read the Character profiles or the left side either...

I AM Canadian
And yes, I agree that I wouldn't willingly join the US even at gunpoint... part of me freaked out when Quebec's last seperation vote went through and the worry as to what would happen to the Maritimes should we be cut off from the rest of Canada.

Politicians on the other hand have been known to suck up to the US whenever possible - look at the Free Trade agreement and the ongoing soft lumber disputes. We usually end up with the short end of the stick cause the idiot policos don't have the balls to put their foot down on our southern neighbours demands.

and if said southern naighbours came sucking up to you asking you to save them economically with a merger?

I'd actually find that pretty funny...

The biggest issue for Canada to want to change is Quebec. As much as people try to pass it off, Quebec is a large economic force. With the West going to the Natives, (I still think that the map is wrong.. to me Vancouver would have become a stand-alone metroplex like Seattle, and Regina would have stayed in the UCAS) and Quebec seperating to form it's own country, Canada would be devided in half.

It would make sense for the two countries, both weakend by loosing over half of their territory to join together in self-preservation. It wouldn't happen overnight, it would be something that would take both Canadians and Americans possibly a good generation before they would truely accept the UCAS as one country - maybe more. Though proud of our culture, Canadians are much more understanding of individual beliefs. I think it would takes the Americans a lot of effort to get out of their 'melting pot' mentality though...

Jesus Christ... maybe I really did kill your dog, Dranem. I'm sorry; I never really thought that threadmongering could do that. I didn't do enough research, and I went ahead with something foolhardy and dangerous without a thought to how it would affect others. I'm so sorry.

Back to the issue of my dude breaking a block of ice over his head. It's meant to be shocking and make the other person concerned or at least shaken enough to stop whining and probably look deeper. Like I said, random incidental brushes with death in other people break people out of shallow self-pity spells. Take the "chicken bone at the wedding dinner" example. It was a RL example of this helping, and I really don't see how shattering a block of illusory ice over his head would really be that much different. He'll even calmly go back to giving therapy like before, except the patient will be temporarily distracted.

Maybe I'll have my dude just tell him that he didn't actually smash any ice over his head; he'll dispel the illusion after the patient is suitably shocked and explain why he does it. Then he'll have the dude talk about his feelings just then. I think that would be quite useful.

Kremlin, thanks again. And Dranem, stop spamming/trolling my thread. If you want to debate Canadian-American relations, do it on PM. If you want to troll, then get the fuck out and start your own thread about what your undoubtably mundane and boring characters would do.

My issue isn't with emo's insanity, it's with his ideas of what constitutes good therapeutic skills. Traumatizing the patient is never a good idea.

emo, can you really complain when someone takes your thread off topic? At least he's discussing something real and not just joking about killing puppies for fun, food, and profit.

More than half a dozen people have side-railed your thread, I do it once and I get a hole ripped into... and you say I have issues? I think someone missed his medication this morning...

Back to your 'therapeutic' technique... provided that you haven't traumatized your patient to the point they haven't run away screaming yet or have fainted in fright, I don't think you're going to get much communication out of them till you dispell the bleeding head wound.

Choking on a chicken bone is accidental, and people sympathize with one who's suffered. Purposefully injuring yourself as 'shock therapy' leads one to think you're little more than a sado-masochist poser.

I am definitely going to dispel the illusion and ask people what they felt right then. That would be productive.

And Dranem, the problem is that this isn't your first time trolling. You've done this, like, 10 times, and you've never really had anything to contribute.

I'll grant that; I won't, however, grant that "Duh that is weird let's not do it because there are so many things that a world in which dragons run corporations wouldn't accommodate" is a contribution. Which is everything else he has said on my threads.

But yes, my character will self-injure in moderation and make it clear that it is an illusion after the patient has been thoroughly traumatized. The patient will probably laugh afterwards, and laughing's therapeutic. So's being unflappable, which is another thing my dude will cultivate.

And is Dranem an alias for you, James? I just have this feeling that he's kind of a Jekyll to your Hyde, that he's the veneer that you don whenever you need to bitch somebody out without destroying the "happy fun James" image you've cultivated. But that's just me being paranoid.

The world is not filled mostly by people with your, um, mental outlook on life. I can practically gaurantee that the vast majority of people, especially those stressed out enough to see a therapist, will not laugh after that. They'll freak out, leave, both, or worse.

Nope, Dranem's not an alias for me. Dig around and you'll find tones of instances of people successfully taunting Happy Fun James.

I expect them to laugh after the illusion's exposed, not before.

Yes, that's what you expect.

they would be shocked, horrified... then collapse into weak alughter

it would be interesting to see if it worked overall

That's what happened in boarding school for me. The first month there were all kinds of weird pranks that my roommate did on me. On the first day of school, he woke me up at 4'o'clock in the morning and told me I was late to class. He even changed the clocks; the only thing he forgot was my watch. And he once told me that I'd probably fail out if I were to be suspended for forgetting to sign out over the weekend; then he just told me straight out he was shitting me. Both times I laughed my ass off and called him a twisted bastard.

All you need to understand my character is to be a weird bastard.

Would a mana lodge in the middle of his house encourage people to raid it? Especially if it's really, really powerful? If so, I should have it built underground. It'd be really hard for people to detect it underground, I'm thinking.

I don't think a magic lodge would stand out that much in a magic-saturated city like Seattle, unless it was someplace like the Barrens - and even then, people would merely wonder why a powerful mage would be stuck in such a cruddy neighborhood. Plus, if it's in the middle of his house, then casual passers-by wouldn't see it; only people astrally projecting and floating through his house would notice it. And if he wanted to discourage that, he could put up some (relatively weak) wards on his house, to keep out the idly curious.

An underground lodge would be less likely to attract attention, due to moving through the earth in astral form being so difficult, although it also has its own problems. But I don't think he needs one by any means.

If he has earth spirits and the Shape Earth spell, an underground lodge shouldn't be a problem.

I have a way for my character to make money at the rate that my other players do. He'll ship off maybe 2 units of orihalcum a month to a random magical startup in the PCC. It's supported by laundered Triad money, but the owner and CEO doesn't know that. He doesn't look into where he gets his orihalcum, and my character's listed as a subcontractor who's vastly overpaid with his own money. In return he gets tons of money and alchemical radicals.

Can shape earth solidify dirt into brick?

No, it only works on earth or rock, not processed materials such as concrete, and logically that would include making stuff like ceramics or bricks. However, you could always dig your basement in an area of solid bedrock.

He'll be an orichalcum factory!!!

I was just wondering; would it do bad, bad things to his state of mind if he would stay in an underground laboratory making orichalcum 4 months out of the year?

Depends on the guy. Some people are solitary by nature, and spending time alone won't bother them much at all. Some folks are socially oriented and would start to go stir crazy.

But making orichalcum isn't a 24 hour/day task, probably more like a standard 40 hour work week. There should be plenty of time for socialization, especially if you own a commlink and have dumpshock in your favorites list.

I see. I do. I should start making orichalcum!

James it is 56 hours a week (8x7, you don't get sat or sun off)

Oh yeah... Do you get more dice if you have an ally spirit work on it?

Cool. I wasn't sure if it mentioned weekends or not, or whether it had to be a constant continuous time period. If it says you can't take breaks or specifies exact hourly requirements then ignore my 40 hour assertion. Of course, even at 56 hours a week you still have plenty of time for socialization.

emo: If the spirit ally has the appropriate skills then you can make a teamwork test with him. Otherwise he's pretty useless apart from being a possible source of socialization to stave off the raving hermit periods.

So he's pretty much set.

And can spirits aid with this in the same way they aid in sorcery?

I've set up my character's bl0g. It might scare some people, but Shen's a nice guy, seriously.

Something about GMing your own player just sounds a little too one-sided if you ask me... but seeing as you seem to be playing with yourself....

I won't be GMing when Shen is in play for more than 5 minutes and combat rolls are used. I think that I've said that more than a million times on this thread alone. And by the way, why the hell didn't you say this before if you're worried about it? Is it the bl0g? I don't think it's that big of a deal; he astrally projects, or he clairvoyances, or he uses Physical Mask or Improved Invisibility. Nothing impossible; just strange, and if that's your problem, you shouldn't play Shadowrun.

As for masturbation jokes, go back to fucking middle school.

And BTW, you can post on my character's bl0g if you want.

He seems to be a master of self delusion. "I hide and watch you, but you don't interest me." Heh heh

And you know it has to be funny for me to type "heh heh." I have a pet peeve about that sort of thing.

He's not interested in a "I wanna use you" kinda way; it's his roundabout, "I'll pretend to hate you" way of saying "I just want to know you better."

Doesn't make him any more honest towards himself if he's trying to say that he's interested but not interested.

What's the IC point of the blog?

He says he doesn't want to use people, he just wants to see between the fine cracks in their carefully maintained facades that can only be seen when no one's looking. Post-edit, he never says he's disinterested in people. God, don't you read anything?

And I guess he wants people to know about him; he wants to get the word out about what he sees and does and the random insights he has.

Oh... it's a fine distinction that isn't clarified very well. I guess it's his fancy way of saying "I don't watch you shower."

His intrusions are much more personal and violating than that.

You mean his watching your face while you're unwatched in the middle of a crowd? You're right.

I know I am, or I wouldn't have posted it.

It's a very refined form of morbid curiosity he's going through, and it's not meant to be a healthy stage for him. Hopefully he grows out of it. And post on his bl0g, goddammit!

Commence the character development!

Ok. Fine! I posted there!

OOC, I know you're right; my character does, too. It just takes more than a pithy line about projection to make him Happy Fun Shen.

What? Psychological issues can't be solved with a few short paragraphs over the internet?

Edit: true counseling doesn't involve saying things designed to "fix the problem." It involves saying things designed to get the counselee to both want to change and figure out how. Sometimes you have to give flat out advice and instructions just to stabilize a situation, but long term changes can only come from within.

But that's no fun! This is a game, remember? He has to get better by killing an ultramagezord or something!!! His heart must thaw in the midst of combat with the 10th level initiate who ruined the lives of the people he helped for there to be drama of any kind!

You don't need violence for drama. Some of the most dramatic in game moments I've had involved no violence at all. But then again, violence is dramatic.

He'll have a lot of character development, it'll just take a lot more than his first post on Shadowlands.

I bet you all hate him, which you probably should at this point. He hasn't worked himself up to likeability yet; he's still really depressed.