"Interview with Cadaya"

by Sharyn

There are times when you get lucky enough to delve into the minds of people who impress the heck out of you and who know things that you just can't wait to learn. So far in this column, I have been lucky enough to interview two such people. Last issue I got to speak to GM Khatentar, the Mentor GM, and this time I was pleased as punch to get to pick the brains of GM Cadaya.

There are so many devices available in DragonRealms that can give players ideas and foundations for their role-playing. Two wonderful examples include the race you choose to play and the great library system that Elanthia is fortunate to have. Each race has many characteristics that set it apart from the rest, and each has a history that should factor into how each character is role-played. One place to begin to research not only your race's history, but also the history of the lands about you, is in one of the many libraries located around the lands. Each major city has at least one large library, and many of the guilds sport smaller private ones. If you have never set foot in one, my advice is to take the time away from hunting and go take a stroll through the stacks.

For those of you who don't know, GameMaster Cadaya is the GM in charge of Races and of the Library system. And if you couldn't tell, libraries of all sorts have always been a passion of mine, so when given this opportunity, I camped on his doorstep. Late one night I got to speak with him in the Floating Gardens by the Oracle Well. We sat down in a small clearing near some willow trees and began to chat. Without further ado, let me give you GM Cadaya!

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Sharyn: First of all, I want to thank you for giving Waerd Aev and me the opportunity to chat with you.
Cadaya smiles at you.
GM Cadaya: My pleasure.
Sharyn: If there is anything that I don't cover that you want to add, please feel free to do so.
Cadaya nods to you.
Cadaya: I will be sure to do that.

Sharyn: First can you tell me a little about what your GM positions of Race Guru and Library Guru entail? I know there are issues you can't discuss, but anything that you can and that you wish to discuss...

Cadaya: Let's see... Well, for Library Guru, I mainly review books written by GMs and players alike, and try to increase the number (and quality) of books we have in the game. As Race Guru, my job is primarily to oversee the work done by the Race Champions, who are the teams of GMs that volunteer their spare time to work on the game's races, doing a variety of things. I try to make sure that all the races are getting some work done, and I try to make sure we have the teams staffed as best possible.

Sharyn: In your estimation, what makes a book a "quality" one?

Cadaya: That's a difficult question... there are many factors that determine the quality in a book. The first thing I try to determine is what the purpose of the book is, and is it fulfilling it. Is the book trying to be entertaining, like a play or a ballad or poems? Is it trying to educate players about how to do a particular thing? Is it trying to impart some information about history or culture in Elanthia? Then I look at the writing itself, and try to ensure that it's living up to the highest quality by going over the spelling, the mechanics of the prose, etc.

Sharyn: I have to say, I love the libraries.

Cadaya: Thank you. That's always nice to hear.

Sharyn: And actually one of the activities The Ranger and Paladin Mentors have is a Trivia Contest based on library books, to help encourage reading.

Cadaya: Yes, we do try to put lots of obscure little details into our books.

Sharyn: Now, this about this next question. I polled a few folks to see what they wanted to know about races, and you would not believe the number of times this question came up... Why can't elves wiggle their ears?

Cadaya: For some reason, Elven ear wiggling is the focus of a massive debate. You'd think it was something of the magnitude of Empaths getting a teleportation spell. There are players strongly for it, and players strongly against it. Elves can't wiggle their ears primarily because... they're not really Dumbo-sized ears. They're basically the same as normal, human ears. Just pointed instead of rounded. Now, I personally can wiggle my ears somewhat, and I'm Human. By wiggling, I mean moving them up and down. It's really pretty strange. I'm certain some Elves can in Elanthia, and I'm sure some Humans can. But it's a rarity, so it wouldn't really be the right route to introduce something like that as a simple verb accessible to all players, simply because a few "freaks of nature" can do it.

Sharyn: It has been noticed that some Races have gotten Race specific abilities; will all of the races be gaining fun race specific abilities?

Cadaya: Define "abilities."

Sharyn: Like the human snapping.

Cadaya: Some of them have gotten some simple verbs, but I don't know of actual abilities they've gotten. Yes, other races will get verbs. When and what types, I don't know. The thing is, just like Guilds, the priorities for each race are different. In some cases, we're going to want to say, "This race doesn't have any unique verbs... but we think they need a more fleshed out history, first." Or a more fleshed-out language, or culture, or some race oriented areas... any of a dozen things.

Sharyn: I would never ask when. I get a penalty for having to type "soon" too often. Those are wonderful plans.

Cadaya: Take a look at the fairly-recently released Dwarven Language, for example. I'd like to see stuff like that out there for all the races. We just have to choose, for each race, what we're going to focus on right now, and what we're going to set aside for a later time as something we'd like to say... but just isn't as high a priority.

Sharyn: Was that released into the Library system?

Cadaya: Yep... maybe a month ago? Something like that. It's an incredible language. Makes people wish they paid attention in High School English class.

Sharyn: Something you touched on a little bit up there... Are there plans to have racial histories for all the races?

Cadaya: Yes, definitely. As detailed as humanly possible.

Sharyn: Here is another question of interest to lots of folks... Other than size what are the differences between Kaldars and Humans?

Cadaya: Well, their cultures are very different. But do you mean physically? Size is the major difference there... height, bulk, etc.

Sharyn: Any cultural things you can or want to go into?

Cadaya: They're more likely to be bearded. Very Nordic in appearance, they are.

Sharyn: I think folks want to be able to define "Kaldar" better for role playing purposes.

Cadaya: Sure. Humans and the Gorbesh both have a tendency to build cities, to gather in large groups, to cultivate and develop the land. The Kaldar sort of rebelled against that sort of lifestyle. They wanted to return to nature, which they did. So you'll see in the Kaldar a sort of reverence for nature, almost like what the Elves have. The Kaldar tend to be nomadic, rather than settled, also.

Sharyn: Wow never knew that, Ranger sort of Mentality then? Or more Tribe-like?

Cadaya: A fair mix of both, I'd say.

Sharyn: Love learning new things..

Cadaya: I don't know how ideal they are attribute-wise, but culturally, Kaldars would make good Rangers.

Sharyn: That is something I never knew!

Sharyn: How about an easy one for you? How does someone submit a book for publication in game?

Cadaya: That one is pretty easy. They just email it to my play.net address.

Sharyn: And that is... dr-cadaya@play.net right?

Cadaya: Correct. Though I advise reading the topic "Publishing Your Book in Elanthia" in the General Discussions category of the boards. They can get additional information there, like on formatting guidelines, and types of book topics we like.

Sharyn: Are there any special subjects for books that you are looking for at the moment?

Cadaya: One thing I *always* like to see more of is books describing current events, rather than history... For example, the Mirror Wraith Prophecy... Twando, Darius and Beren, the recent political upheaval in Zoluren... stuff like that. Those sorts of things are ideal for players to be writing about. I get relatively few of them, but they're what I like to receive. And probably the most likely to be published.

Sharyn: What do you see as special about each race?

Cadaya: Hmm, Well, every race is special in some way... they're all pretty unique, they all have a lot to offer players, and they can afford a wide range of role-playing opportunities based on the type of character you'd like to develop. As a player, I was always very strongly drawn to the Elothean race. It fit almost perfectly the style of play I was looking for.

Sharyn: Why was that?

Cadaya: I thought the peaceful and pacifistic nature of the Elotheans was appealing. Their scholarly devotion... the all-consuming drive to know and understand everything. Each race has so many special things, the things that make them unique and fun for different players... the physical beauty and grace of the Elves, and their love of song and nature. Or the stubbornness of the Dwarves, the way they see everything through to the end. That's also similar to Gor'Togs slightly, but the idea of playing mentally "not-on-par" characters can be very fun for some players.

And the whole slavery angle can offer some neat personal storylines. I see S'Kra players saying they took creatures that were of beast-level intellect, and brought them up from the mud to be counted as a sentient and intelligent race... and I've seen Gor'Tog players claiming the S'Kra enslavement set them back hundreds or thousands of years. How does a S'Kra player interact with the Gor'Togs? Hate them? Look down on them? Feel sorry for what their ancestors did? Many role-playing choices there.

Sharyn: I love that aspect of the S'Kra/Tog interaction and the Tog/Halfling interaction with Tog Ball.

Cadaya: Yes, unfortunately we can't take credit for that. I believe the player Smahsh came up with Tog Ball.

Sharyn: Do you have a favorite Race?

Cadaya: Well, my personal favorite race was the Elothean race. As Race Guru, though, I try to be unbiased and push for the development of all the races. My playing style wouldn't have appealed to too many players, and I want them to have as much fun as I did.

Sharyn: Do you have a favorite In Game Library? If so, why?

Cadaya: I don't think that I do. I'd like to see them all offer something unique... one a library on Elves, their history, language, and culture... one a library on linguistics research... one a library on magical theory... one a library focusing on Moon Mage topics... Every library should have its own place in the Big Picture.

Sharyn: Is that why they were all revamped recently?

Cadaya: Yes. If you went into the Asemath Academy, you'd see basically every book we had, almost. What's the point of really having other libraries if we have one (and one right in the middle of everything) as the be-all-end-all?

Sharyn: True.

Cadaya: I wanted to make it so that a book wouldn't be in a library unless it belonged there. A Gamgweth Dictionary in Leth Deriel's library? Why?

Sharyn: So you could study while you were climbing the trees?

Cadaya: I'd much rather see Elven Dictionaries there. Let's leave the Gamgweth Dictionary to the Human libraries.

Sharyn: I have to say my two favorite libraries are worlds apart. The Crossing Premium Club one and the one on Aesry."

Sharyn: Crossing club one is great for rainy days, and I could get lost in the Aesry one.

Cadaya: Yes, that library has a lot of variety.

Sharyn: And... style. Architect was a genius.

Cadaya: Very true.

Sharyn: Do you have a favorite memory dealing with any Race based event?

Cadaya: I rather enjoyed the opening of Ilithi, though I'm not sure if that qualifies as a race based event. Sidhlot and Morganae were there, though, so I'll count it as one anyway.

Sharyn: I'm not sure either but it scared the trees outa me...

Cadaya: I was in Refractive Field the whole time.
Cadaya chuckles.
Cadaya: That was way too dangerous.

Sharyn: Wow, I had forgotten Sidhlot was there back then...

Sharyn: Those are all the questions I had prepared... Feel free to add anything you wish...

Cadaya: I can't think of anything else, myself. It was a fairly comprehensive interview.

Sharyn: I tried to cover a wide range of topics and to keep you on your toes. Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity.

Cadaya: Oh, it was really my pleasure. I enjoyed it.
Cadaya grins at you.

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Hunting is not the only way a person can have fun in Elanthia. There are as many options in this land as there are beyond the computer screen. Spending time with friends and keeping your eyes out for the various role-playing opportunities that come your way are just two of the myriad ways to enhance your fun. Reading the books available in game only increases your ability to contribute to the colorful patchwork that is our lands. There are many wonderful books offered that can aid you in understanding the history of the lands and of your race, and that are just plain fun to read. Take the time to investigate places around you; you never know what you might stumble across.

PS: For those of you interested in languages, do not miss the New Dwarven Books, currently found in Aesry's library, titled Speaking Haakish (Volumes I & II) and Dwarven Lexicon (Volumes I - IV).

Staff Picks

GM Mroce "The Immortals"
"Kerrenhappuch's Skirt"

(She's the boss; she gets as many picks as she wants..<winks>)

Espritia "The Restoration of the Bard's Guild!"

Anvil "Lasadel ia Ulf"

Sharyn "Human Histories: Lanival's Tale"

Nymme "The Legend of Aesthene's Close"

Tyvaar "A History of TogBall"

Calmyron "History of the Wolf Clan"

Maedae "The Silver Key of Artifacts"