User:Shai Halud/Sylvari: Seeds of the Dream

My brilliant plan is finally coming to fruition. Alright, as you all know from the thing on “The Movement of the World”, the Sylvari share a dream which encompasses all their minds and links them back to the Tree of Ventari. In a way, this was inspired by that, but it is also a heavy refinement on my idea for armor grafting. Now just hear me out.--Shai Halud 21:26, 6 August 2008 (UTC)

I've also added in The Sylvari mount advantage from my article on combining companions and mounts. This would replace the archetype summons, but all seeds would still belong to an archetype.--Shai Halud 19:20, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

System Basics

Now, what this does is allow you to add both passive benefits and/or race-specific skills of various kinds to your Sylvari character, much the same way my idea “Power of the Beast” did for the Charr (I’ll be rethinking that idea for this new system, too) only with a distinct plant-like flavor.

This allows you to plant up to six seeds (each seed is for a specific part of the body) onto six different parts of your character. Each seed which is planted in or on your body both slightly changes your appearance and provides you with one or two new skills and one semi-permanent buff.

The power of these skills and buffs, of course, is influenced by the Sylvari race-specific attribute which I’ve christened (for obvious reasons) the “Dream of Dreams” stat. Rather than using points to regulate power, here, I intend for all of the seeds to be more or less equally useful, but in different ways.

The Seeds

Alright, now there are five types of seeds in this system. Listed below are five articles describing each of the seed types and some of their possible uses as well as some of the physical changes they might cause. Only one of each type of seed can be planted at any given time, except for arm seeds of which you can have two.

Please bear with me. The suggested skills and passives are only suggestions. It was difficult to come up with examples for every situation and some of these ideas are, admittedly, better than others. If this part confuses you, please tough it out. The later part on the Archetypes should clear some things up for you. I Feel that this is still the weakest part of the article and the one that needs the most work. If you have ideas, please post them in the discission box.

If the physical changes bother you, just know that most of them are just examples and they might not even be included at all because of the difficulty in programming them. The names are likewise superfluous and based on the Hindu chakra model, though I have taken some liberties with the details. Also, it would probably be nessissary to design Sylvari armors to acomadate possible changes in the player-characher's physiology.

1) Sahasara Seeds (Head) – These seeds would likely be planted in the Sylvari’s hair and cause small changes here. Things such as flowers sprouting or vines growing or hardened scales like tree bark or a glyph appearing on your scalp might be appropriate depending on what seed you plant. These seeds might offer skills which would manipulate animals in the environment, cast various enchantments and protection spells, remove conditions from yourself or party members, and/or cast wards. Semi-permanent buffs might have to do with extending the effective period of enchantments and stances or offer energy restoration based on how much you heal others for.

2) Bindu Seeds (Arms) – These are the most militant variety as they can influence how you interact with your weapons. You can plant two of these: one in each arm. These could cause melee weapons be absorbed into your character, becoming like extensions of your arm. One seed may cause one of your arms to grow longer than the other, giving you a greater draw distance when you hold a bow offering you greater power and range with each shot (as is known to have happened historically with asymmetrical archers). More often, though, it will simply cause different sorts of vines, ivy, tattoos, and/or moss to coil around your arms. These seeds would provide two or three offensive attacks, but the rest of their skills would be for healing, restoration, hexing, and buffing. Semi-permanents could increase melee and/or bow damage as well as offer more power and range to healing spells, hexes, and buffs.

3) Manipura Seeds (Belly) – These seeds are swallowed and might cause different glyphs to appear on your belly (as seen in the Sylvari concept art). This would allow you one of three special seed skills which suspend the Manipura Seed's buff temporarily and allow your character to cough up a seed which, when planted on an ally, might allow you to give them an energy or health regenerative bonus for a few minutes or it provide some defensive benefit. Its possible you could instead cough up a spore pod and throw it at a group of enemies to inflict plague on them, but this might be too war-like. These would offer regenerative or defensive bonuses as passives, depending on the seed. (Alternatively, these may also determine your mount)

4) Swadhisthana Seeds (Tailbone or Back) – These are particularly powerful and might cause bark, glyphs, or vines of some kind to grow on your back. These would offer one of three powerful summons which would bring an archetype out of the Dream of Dreams to aide you and your party. These summons would take on large ghostly forms which would be fixed around your character and mimic your movements. They would provide different types of support and disappear after about a minute or so, taking a while to recharge. Either way, these summons are extremely powerful and active while they are uin use, but act independent of your character. Passive advantages might offer defense against the elements, an increase in health/energy, or a physical defensive bonus. (Alternatively, these may not offer summons)

5) Maludhara Seeds (Legs) – These might cause bark to grow over your legs, or moss, fungus or ivy to sprout from them. Skills offered by these might increase your speed over land, allow you to summon protective spirits, or allow you to cast speed buffs, or wards. Passive abilities might increase speed in water or through swamp or prevent earth-shaking techniques from knocking you down or interrupting your spells.

Original Advantage: The Archetypes

There will be at least three seeds available for each body part, one for each of the archetypes. These archetypes represent three facets of the Sylvari race and arise from the Dream of Dreams. They are also taken from Jung’s psychodynamic theory and are loosely fitted to the purposes described below.

1) The Anima – The Anima is the female helper who aids men in their perception of and dealings with the opposite sex. Here, she represents the healing powers of the Sylvari race. Her seeds provide skills and passives geared directly toward healing. These include healing and regenerative spells as well as spirit summons. Her awakened form provides health regeneration to the whole party and casts powerful healing spells and restorative enchantments.

2) The Child – This archetype is a small child who has wisdom and abilities far beyond his years. He represents the innate knowledge and wisdom that come only from within. The Child’s seeds provide enchantments, weapons spells and other buffs as well as energy restoration. His passives increase energy and buff times and decrease recharge times. In his awakened form, the Child bestows energy restoration on the whole party and casts weapons spells and several other enchantments while making your party immune to all hexes to increase the party’s combat effectiveness.

3) The Shadow – The Shadow represents everything we hate and fear about ourselves. He is a dark figure who is the most combative of the Sylvari archetypes, but he also inspires their protective instincts. His seeds grant skills that turn beasts rabid as well as several protection spells and wards. What few offensive skills are included in the Sylvari list belong to the Shadow. His passives distort the Sylvari shape and offer defensive and offensive advantages and shorten the effective periods of curses on the Sylvari. In his awakened form, the Shadow is a demon who steals the heath and energy of the party’s enemies. Casting hexes, protection spells, wards, and plagues, the dark shepherd acts to defend his flock.

In the end, the 5/6 are maintained thusly: the Anima is entirely for healing; the Child only affords buffs and supporive abilities; the Shadow's abilities are split right down the middle between attacks skills and protective magic.

Advantage Alternative: Jagganathen

The Sylvari mounts are animated plant constructs called Jagganathen. The singular form of the word is "Jagganath" which, if you couldn't guess, is the Sanskrit word of which "Juggernaut" is a mispronunciation due to a certain nation's accent. "Jagganathen" is the plural form that I've made up. I, of course, call them this because of their similarity to the Kurzick juggernauts featured in the Factions campaign and because of my use of Hindi words in this article. Since some people seem to think there is a connection between the wardens of Echovald Forest and the new race of the Sylvari I am beginning to think the name is especially appropriate.

Anyway, in Ventari's Garden (see below), the inner sanctum of the Sylvari capital where the seeds of the dream are harvested, there are several trees which have grown up in the Great tree's shade. These trees, so close to the central cortex of the Sylvari collective consciousness, are influenced by the Dream of Dreams. Deep beneath the earth, their roots tangle together and join to give form to those dreams. But these constructs lay dormant and mindless in the soil until a Sylvari comes to claim them. All Sylvari can feel these creatures when they are nearby, but by only eating the pit of a fruit which grows from the trees in the garden can they bond their minds to one and dredge it from the depths.

To put it simply, once you reach about level 10, you'll be sent on a mission to prove yourself worth of a Jagganath. When you complete this quest, you will be given a fruit from the garden and by eating it, you will create for yourself a Jagganath mount. Like with the Asura, there are three types of Jagganath. The type you receive is determined by the type of Manipura Seed you have equipped yourself with as Sylvari communicate with their Jagganathen through their bellies (a little more on that later). The benefit of that Manipura Seed will then be shared with all allies adjacent to the Jagganath while you are riding it. Jagganathen also borrow the benefits, but not the skills, of two of your other seeds while they are active. Each type of Jagganath has its own skill bar, which can be customized somewhat with other Sylvari skills, but each Jagganath can only use skills from seeds of the same archetype as itself. The Sylvari can choose which other two seeds they sacrifice on their Race Advantages window.

The three basic types, based on the Archetypes from my Seeds of the Dream article, are listed with a few details below:

1) The Anima – Anima Jagganathen are the most humanoid. They resemble a tall slender woman with purple, glowing eyes. They are adorned with flowers and made from green vines. They are powerful healers with strong vampiric attacks, and can even take the place of a human monk. They are very beneficial to Sylvari warriors and offensive sorcerers as well as healers and buffers who need a helping hand.

2) The Child – These Jagganathen are more diminutive than the rest. Their legs are always shorter than their arms and their torsos are short and plump. Their heads are slouched into their torsos and feature large, glowing blue eyes. They are adorned with glowing fungal growths and made from tangled golden brown roots. Their skills are powerful enchantments and summons. Their physical attack drains energy and is quite powerful. They are pretty useful all around as enchantments are always beneficial and its physical attack comes in handy..

3) The Shadow – The Shadow Jagganathen resemble several demons from the Desolation and Realm of Torment in GW Nightfall (especially this one and this one) as well as Urgoz himself. They are black all over with glowing red eyes. They are made from gnarled bark and thorny vines. The Shadow is the only type that has purely offensive attacks. His attacks are very powerful and cause bleeding.

When riding a Jagganath, Sylvari lay with their bellies flat against its back. This connects their minds directly and allows the Sylvari complete control of their Jagganathen. They can run at high speeds and do not exhaust readily. However, though their skills and attacks do not exhaust them, fighting on a Jagganath does tax the Sylvari heavily. In the heat of battle, Sylvari lose their concentration and begin having difficulty distinguishing between themselves and their Jagganathen. This causes an effect similar to severe drunkenness in GW1. Eventually, (and this is after you've already lost all real ability to see) your Sylvari will simply fall off his mount and the Jagganath will attempt to protect you until you recover.

The real reason for this is that the Jagganath really can be a little too useful in battle. Stealing energy and health and inflicting automatic bleeding as well as a healing aura and the fact that most skills are still accessible while riding it? It is a little too much, but it was important for the Jagganathen to be of real value in battle as the Sylvari so often need a partner with abilities unlike their own. Jagganathen are all also capable of charging an enemy and knocking them down and its skills are upgraded while you're inside it. It takes some time in battle before you begin to lose consciousness and that amount of time increases with your Dream of Dreams attribute.

Ventari's Garden

Acquiring race advantages, for the Sylvari is an easy and simple process. They would enter an instanced area around the Tree of Ventari called Ventari's Garden, where new Sylvari are born and the Seeds of the Dream are harvested from small plants that have grown on and around the tree. The high priest or gardener then would act as sort of a seed merchant, selling the seeds to whoever has enough money. The prices should be fixed and low enough to allow people to change out their abilities fairly easily.

It would be interesting if, instead of just normally equipping the seeds in a special window, the gardener had to plant the seeds in you and each seed was accompanied by a short cut scene. Also, just to be clear, it would probably be necessary for the gardener to offer new Sylvari two or three seeds free just to start them off.

Some special seeds might also be hidden in remote locations and dungeons just to spice things up and offer skilled players some new experiences.

Seeds could probably be removed in tact through some special process, but it might be more practical to just use a potion to kill off one of the current ones and then just plant a new one in its place.

It won’t be so different from the runes of GW1, really. You’re only limited by the umber of body parts you have and how much money you’ve got, as well as your attribute points since the Dream of Dreams attribute is what really controls the strength of these benefits. They are also like different armor styles in that none of them should really be any more useful than the others, only different in its use.