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Sworn to the Scythe: A Peasant Quest

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[X] Try to call the attention of the Fokoron using a wooden plank, distracting it from Yokan [Roll 4d5].
[X] Drive the Moa to run at the Fokoron and attack it while the Fokoron is trapped [Roll 4d5].

Well.

Good thing we only need one arm right?
 
We should attack again; I don't feel safe simply running and hoping the wheelbarrow holds it in place.

The attack options aren't great though. Maybe Vashti, Moa Rider for some BEAK TO BEAK COMBAT.
 
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[X] Try to call the attention of the Fokoron using a wooden plank, distracting it from Yokan [Roll 4d5].
[X] Grab the firework and shoot it against the Fokoron. [Roll 4d5, lose firework].
 
[X] Try to call the attention of the Fokoron using a wooden plank, distracting it from Yokan [Roll 4d5].
[X] Grab the firework and shoot it against the Fokoron. [Roll 4d5, lose firework].
 
[X] Try to call the attention of the Fokoron using a wooden plank, distracting it from Yokan [Roll 4d5].
[X] Grab the firework and shoot it against the Fokoron. [Roll 4d5, lose firework].

Let's hope the RNGs are kinder to us on this one...
 
[X] Try to call the attention of the Fokoron using a wooden plank, distracting it from Yokan [Roll 4d5].
[X] Grab the firework and shoot it against the Fokoron. [Roll 4d5, lose firework].
 
[X] Try to call the attention of the Fokoron using a wooden plank, distracting it from Yokan [Roll 4d5].
[X] Grab the firework and shoot it against the Fokoron. [Roll 4d5, lose firework].
 
I give up.

I can't say some lingering part at the back of my mind didn't expect this, because after all I was going to be writing a character-based, slowburn, quest in an original setting I explicitly created not to conform to a lot of fantasy genre conventions. I also should have expected that doing so on an irregular schedule would have further damaged the ability of the quest, which relies on people picking up the details that are slowly built up through more longform narrative updates, to catch people. Furthermore, I should have expected that some of the controversial early decisions, like having votes on whether you're a boy or a girl and your name, would have in fact divided people into camps. I went from 50 voters to 36 from the first to second update, and the decline continued precipitously. A great deal of this was again my fault; I did not have the time to crank this stuff out the levels questing usually requires.

In many ways Sworn to the Scythe was an experiment for me; it was an experiment in a very different setting than what I had been used to, incorporating a lot of elements of things that I had bandied about in my head for years into a coherent body. Kabbalistic mysticism, extinct animals, Mesopotamian aesthetic, Russian folklore and history, all was or would have been part of the story. It was also my first long-term foray into writing narratively; I had tried a few times, most notably an ASOIF fanfic I got about 20,000 words into before dropping, but this was the longest.

I can't say it was a failed experiment; I've learnt a great deal about a great deal of things, from how to write characters, describing better, and just generally improving my writing. A lot of the background information forced me to figure out new ways to create an imagined society and drove me to research stuff I would not have otherwise. But it was also not really that successful of an experiment; we never even got past chargen.

What was hard for me was that I had always peppered a great deal of detail, I felt, into the story, but mostly was just met with votes with no other content. This was ultimately the tension at the heart of Sworn to the Scythe; it was an original story that was forced to be a quest, really. Although players guided it, I always had an uncomfortable degree of control over things and hesitated to give over that control even when it would have been reasonable to. There were only so many instances of decisions that could still cleave to a "central theme" that could be taken, after all, as questers inevitably veer off any sort of predestined line given to them.

It also didn't help that as time went on the number of voters became a kind of obsession for me, endlessly and unfavorably comparing them to this and that update and wondering why it was this way or that way. It didn't help that my other, much more successful and long-lasting quest, Magna Graecia, was on a whole different level of engagement and interest, and was probably going to stay that way. Magna Graecia always stood in the side as something that I was thinking about, and in the end I felt guilty that I wasn't providing the attention to it that I should have, even if I loved Sworn to the Scythe as a creative work deeply.

It's funny, because I know very well that if I had posted this as a quest on Alternatehistory, there almost certainly would have been a better turnout, at least relatively. I think that this just wasn't the right platform, either mechanically (ie, as a quest) and culturally (ie, SV isn't very favorable to this sort of thing). Or maybe it would have bombed even harder.

The decline in voting after we transitioned to twelfth year and especially after I experimented with new action mechanics just signaled what I already knew; that unless I devoted an inordinate amount of energy and time to the quest, providing long-form updates on a quick and regular schedule, it would probably not succeed. Better men than I would perhaps have had the work ethic, time, and grit to make it work. I know that @Chandagnac updated his own quest every day for ages. When I was working, I updated Magna Graecia once, maybe twice a day.

I can't do that for Sworn to the Scythe, and it was never just for me. It's a bit vain to think of it that way, but I did ultimately want to use this as a showcase, and wanted a great deal of people to enjoy it. I simply could not hold out the motivation to do it once that collapsed.

It hurts to let go of it, even if not permanently, but I'd like to put my foot down and make a decisive break. Too many quests fade off into the ether because their authors lose motivation but don't want to admit it, or don't want to disappoint people, but what's more disappointing than an unfinished work that just sputters out into nothing with just a bit of you thinking "well, maybe it'll update! maybe!". It's a common experience on the internet but I'd like to just buck the trend and say loud and clear that Sworn to the Scythe will not be continuing. Maybe some time in the future the adventures of Vashti will appear again, maybe even in the same format, but I make no promises.

When something isn't enjoyable to do anymore, and you know it won't be for the foreseeable future, it's time to drop it. As it is, I just don't see things working out.

Until next time.

​
 
Well. Now i feel guilty for not voting more.

For what it's worth, i appreciate that you honestly kill the quest instead of letting it linger. Although, well, it's a shame. It was one of the best quest around.
 
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I feel guilty for not having voted more either, frankly. I found it difficult to engage in anything other than joke-votes because of information I had that other players didn't, but ultimately, I don't think that was a sufficient excuse. I hope this game's setting and characters are eventually reborn again in some form or another; I definitely grew rather fond of them.

This has given me something to reflect on regarding my own endeavours in Questing, I think. I salute @Cetashwayo for making a clean break, rather than letting things linger.
 
People shouldn't be guilty about not voting or commenting; we all have only as much time as we can muster. Forcing yourself to vote out of guilt would have made me feel worse than if people just didn't vote. I'm not a little kid; I don't need a pity party. People should vote and comment because they enjoy it.
 
That's true, but I think we can all make an effort to be better forum neighbours and community members if we choose to. We can take the path of least resistance, or we can do the slightly less effortless but ultimately more rewarding and enjoyable thing. Like sparing three minutes to give a chance to an interesting and quirky original quest that we've seen and thought was interesting, rather than letting it linger in a tab in the corner of our browsers.

If that's something that we all take from this, then I don't think this has to be a wholly sad moment. It can be a lesson going forward.
 
I salute you for your efforts o7

I know the same sort of feeling and the same realisation that it's less painful to put your creation down before you stretch it and yourself into an unhappy mess.

I look forwards to whatever you do next.

(For what it's worth, I would absolutely read a story based on this)
 
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07

FWIW, this is one of the more interesting original settings I've seen, and it's obvious how much work you've put into developing the world that you've shown us. It's a pity to see it end.
 
I just want to chime in and say - as someone who had not been voting on this quest, but intended to start doing so after catching up - that I have found this quest deeply impressive, very close to my own interests and probably the main reason why I ended up joining this site in the first place (and certainly the reason why I decided to try my hand at QMing).
 
Cetashwayo said:
What was hard for me was that I had always peppered a great deal of detail, I felt, into the story, but mostly was just met with votes with no other content. This was ultimately the tension at the heart of Sworn to the Scythe; it was an original story that was forced to be a quest, really. Although players guided it, I always had an uncomfortable degree of control over things and hesitated to give over that control even when it would have been reasonable to. There were only so many instances of decisions that could still cleave to a "central theme" that could be taken, after all, as questers inevitably veer off any sort of predestined line given to them.
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This was no problem to me. The life of a serf will always be a that of a serf. No amount of struggeling will change it and if the struggeling gets to much its better will (try to) end the serfs life.

So what if the decisions were more pretend than real. How is that different to real life? I never expected to get any (for our main character noticable) change done until Vasti had some grandchildren.
 
Portec said:
This was no problem to me. The life of a serf will always be a that of a serf. No amount of struggeling will change it and if the struggeling gets to much its better will (try to) end the serfs life.
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I don't know if this is my place to respond to that, but I just want to say - as someone who studied Polish serfhood in some detail - that this is not necessarily a fair view when it comes to serfs in general (as said, my knowledge of the realities of this quest and setting is small, I have only started reading it recently, but I can speak at least of the status of serfs in Eastern Europe, which was an obvious and pronounced inspiration here). Even in the darkest times of serfdom, there were always some ways for a serf to escape his fate, even if they often seemed like a very long, dangerous shot. Fleeing: to a city, because city's air makes one free, or to the so called wild plains of modern-day Ukraine, to join the cossaks. And although nobility was always extremely hostile towards any sort of upwards social mobility among the peasants, it did sometimes happen - if only very rarely. However, it is not something that is mentioned often, or talked about in detail when given an overview of serfdom as a phenomena, because such examples were always extreme outliers, and historians abhor outliers above all else.
 
D:

I'm sorry I made that super-critical post the other day, this was genuinely the best Quest I've been reading on SV.

I am sad.
 
So much for my forays into the questing scene as well, or at least half of it. For what it's worth, Cetashwayo, this is one of just two quests that managed to make me participate*, so I suppose that is some sort of achievement in itself ;)

Concerning your worldbuilding and the reaction to it, I think you kinda sabotaged yourself there. You had all those great ideas for a setting, but then presented them in a way that was total piecemeal, that did not allow to really form a picture of the world - because, yes, we played a child who in fact would not be able to understand all that. But the result was that the worldbuilding kinda went to waste.

I can definitely understand putting something to rest which you think is not satisfying anymore. So thank you for having tried, I think it provided a good quest!

*Magna Graecia looks interesting but... so much backlog! So much complexity! :o
 
Damn it. The hiatus did hurt, since a lot of the details from the first part had faded for me when you resumed, but I was starting to recall them, and the hints of the peasants' rebellion we just ran across and the oddity of the Deacon only made things more interesting... but now it all goes away. :(
 
Susano said:
*Magna Graecia looks interesting but... so much backlog! So much complexity! :o
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I have a lot of resources to help ease the transition on the front page, like a story thus far and a dramatis personae ;-;

Gargulec said:
Even in the darkest times of serfdom, there were always some ways for a serf to escape his fate, even if they often seemed like a very long, dangerous shot. Fleeing: to a city, because city's air makes one free, or to the so called wild plains of modern-day Ukraine, to join the cossaks. And although nobility was always extremely hostile towards any sort of upwards social mobility among the peasants, it did sometimes happen - if only very rarely. However, it is not something that is mentioned often, or talked about in detail when given an overview of serfdom as a phenomena, because such examples were always extreme outliers, and historians abhor outliers above all else.
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You have to keep in mind that you're drawing mostly from the Polish and Eastern European tradition, where there is relative periphery that the serf can flee to in order to escape. These kinds of peripheries are common throughout the history of serfdom, but the problem is that rather than drawing on the 17th-18th century serf tradition, I'm drawing more on Egyptian fellahin (who had nowhere to run because it was either nile or desert) and later Russian serfdom, combined with some uniqueness.

Plus, if you think you're on the frontier, you are horribly mistaken. This is a map of the surrounding area; you are in Arhan mass.



When I have time (so ie, not now, maybe winter break) I may consider bringing the story back after we have finished the prologue (this entire chargen was a prologue) :V

edit: Starting a new thread can also give you new voters and breathing space, to say the least. Besides, I still need to finish my elaboration of the world behind it before that...
 
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Really sad to see this go. Sworn to the Scythe was probably one of my favorite quests on here, so of course I'm kinda disappointed to see it end. Even if I can't blame you at all, if not fun for you to write anymore than you shouldn't write. It is always see a promising and interesting quest for whatever reason though.

Props for actually ending it then just going on permanent hiatus though. I do hope it manages to rise again like a phoenix at some point.
 
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