A List of MK's IRC Chat Comments

10/13/2013

On Cyrus:

RottenDeadite: "Why do people have to wear breathing apparatus on Secunda in the Sword Meeting?"
Michael Kirkbride: "Because the Void is psychosomatic. Think of it as constant anxiety being out there. With a heavy dose of paranoia. "Breathing" is a... metaphor. "You can learn how." Cyrus can breathe it, because he's Cyrus. But because he's Cyrus he takes no chances with that shit. Which is why he wears a suit. He's not Superman, he's I Know My Limits Man.

Don't forget, every time he lets his feelings out, bad shit happens. Well, not always bad. But reactive. Physically and violently. The scene between him and Iszara on the boat is probably the only point that he stammers. Sometimes I think we forget that Cyrus really fucking likes to get into fights."


10/14/2013

On practicing the Tarot:

"SP - you're right about the tarot thing. I was doing that in 2006...? And stopped. For the same reasons you mentioned. Tarot is what I was... yeah, don't do that. It's too much of a gimmick, maps all wrong."

On the Eye of Magnus being KINMUNE:

NordJitsu: "Yo MK, is KIMUNE the Eye of Magnus?"
Michael Kirkbride: "Nord, I ain't gonna answer that and you know it. I will say that I like the notion. But, yes, my liking it and me confirming it aren't and should never be the same thing."

On Art, Labors of Love, and Money:

"All right, let me put relate a story. Oblige me.

I wanted art for a thing. Art for something I wrote. The person I asked was a very dear friend. The person said yes. Then the person got busy with, like, I dunno Halloween. Then Thanksgiving. Then Christmas. Then New Years. You get the idea.

So I said, hmm. Hey, friend, here's $500. I want that thing. I got it within a week.

Okay, so another story. A friend contacts me. This dude is major. Like: major. Like, my last project made a billion dollars in 15 days major.

Right. But he had a thing. A personal thing. And this personal thing was a labor of love. And we go back 12+ years. And he needed art for this personal thing.

Without even asking, he laid out the terms of payment. Not because he's fucking rich. But because that's respect of people's time and, more, a measure by which you can decide if it's worth yours. And once you say yes and take that money? You fucking do it.

Story over. You guys can wank now."

Answering Fan Questions:

Myrrlyn: "What got you into writing for bethsoft in the manner you did?"
Michael Kirkbride: "The back of a magazine, remember those?"

Myrrlyn: "is N the New Man?"
Michael Kirkbride: "N means that, yes."

SemblioSanctii: "What's the deal with Agnorith Septim?"
Michael Kirkbride: "No idea."

Myrrlyn: "When did Zurin and Wulfharth die, if you will, relative to Numidium's activation? Meaning when was the Mantella infused?"
Michael Kirkbride: "Neither of them are dead. "Dead." Asked and answered in the appropriate texts.

Myrrlyn: "What is Snow-Throat's Stone?"
Michael Kirkbride: "The cave."

Myrrlyn: "How do we reconcile the nirn-centric system with the fact that the sun moves against the stars?"
Michael Kirkbride: "Accident in code that is now canon."

Myrrlyn: "Why can't dunmer buttfuck?"
Michael Kirkbride: "Because it's a sin."
Myrrlyn: "BUT WHY?"
Michael Kirkbride: "Because of the Apertures. Stop being literal."

Dovahkiin: "What is Boma Kuro's role, if any, in the Rebel-King Enantiomorph?"
Michael Kirkbride: "The Witness."

SemblioSanctii: "Is it reasonable to suspect Alessian Order splinters and survivors in the shadows, or were they really utterly annihilated?"
Michael Kirkbride: "Reasonable."

Dovahkiin: "Is the Scarab related to the Prophet of Landfall?"
Michael Kirkbride: "Yes."

SemblioSanctii: "Are minotaurs definitely the spawn of Morihaus and Alessia?"
Michael Kirkbride: "Yes. Definitely."

SemblioSanctii:	"Does On Boethiah's Summoning Day's postulates have any validity whatsoever?"
Michael Kirkbride: "No one knows who that is that I know of."

Dovahkiin: "What the heck is the Treasure Wood Sword?"
Michael Kirkbride: "Seriously?"
Dovahkiin: "The Treasure Wood Sword one is sort of cheap. I need to read my Lessons better, obviously."
Michael Kirkbride: "My Treasure Wood Sword answer: The antique came-before lines of a martial art that showed how straight lines could bend into the ideas of sineswaves that were needed for Moon-Axle"

Dovahkiin: "Which primal or cosmic forces can tonal architecture control?"
Michael Kirkbride: "Tonal Architecture can do anything synæsthesia can do. Unless you're a dumb deaf dreamer."

10/15/2013

Answering Fan Questions:

Mojo: "Who or what is the Nu-Hatta?"
Michael Kirkbride: "A moth-priest of high station."

Neradac: "Clockwork city, what is its purpose?"
Michael Kirkbride: "Sotha Sil never figured that out. But a fellow dunmer will."

RottenDeadite: "Biting: This term seems to mean one thing in the Lessons and another elsewhere.  Are they the same thing?  What the heck is Biting, basically?"
Michael Kirkbride: "Borrowing. Well, with no intention of keeping it as it was in its original form. that's more apt."

RottenDeadite: "Can you talk about Vivec's Children for me?"
Michael Kirkbride: "Vivec's Children: they are all of the metaphors made real for hir to deal with before the Hortator."

RottenDeadite: "Who or what is the Drowned Lamp?"
Michael Kirkbride: "Knowledge that is lost."

OPG: "Why didn't the ALMSIVI acquire plane(t) forms outside Nirn upon apotheosis, as Mannimarco did?"
Michael Kirkbride: "ALMSIVI got kilt or ran or had other ideas."

Neradac: "Where is the clockwork city? And if Sotha did not know its purpose, who built it?"
Michael Kirkbride: "It's where he said it was, in that thing I did not write."

Neradac: "Are the Elder Scrolls fragments of Aka? Since Ada-Dantia is a scroll case both and Aka's capsule?"
Michael Kirkbride: "No to the former. Aka's capsule? Yes, it held one. A big one."

RottenDeadite: "Is the Triangular Gate shaped thusly because of ALMSIVI or because of a different (but likely related) triune of forces?"
Michael Kirkbride: "The later. Which begs the question, who in the Triune is Anu?"

Mojo: "Did Tosh Raka mantle Akatosh?"
Michael Kirkbride: "Yes, but not in the sense that Tamriel has."

RottenDeadite: "Okay: "Love is under My Will Only." Is Vivec saying that everyone else's will is the same as his own? Or is this more of the I AM ALL ARE WE stuff?"
Michael Kirkbride: "The clue is the word 'my'"

Neradac: "If the Dwemer had the heart, why did (iirc) Kagrenac seemed to need to make a Mantella?"
Michael Kirkbride: "Having the Heart was just circumstance. And btw they made a MERtella."

OPG: "What are the Stones of Crystal-Like-Law, Falinesti, and Orichalc?"
Michael Kirkbride: "CLL: A person. F: A fruit. O: A sword."

Hermit_Qabal: "Thalmor - Woodsy connection (Mora: forest) or somethingsomething Elhnofex Hermy tentacleshit?"
Michael Kirkbride: "Yes, a connection. Remember, Morag Tong meant "Forester's Guild" -- and FUCKING CUT THEM WEEDS."

Mojo: "What's the connection between Mankar and Vivec saying this: “Whisper to earth and earth, where the meddlers take no stones except to blood, as blood IS blood, and to the cracking of bone, as bone IS bone, and so to crack and answer and fall before the one and one, I call you Dragon as brother and king.”"
Michael Kirkbride: That's an actual Mesopotaslkjdklasjdlskjdalksj curse I "Bited"."

SemblioSanctii: "Whatever DID make the left-handed elves so sinistral?"
Michael Kirkbride: "They fought differently. That's a thing in Yoku."

Memospore471: "Who betrayed Sancre Tor to Talos?"
Michael Kirkbride: "Talos did."

RottenDeadite: "In Ehlnofex, what does AI mean?"
Michael Kirkbride: "AE or AI?"
RottenDeadite: "AI."
Michael Kirkbride: "It's 'fex, hard to say. Say it really fucking loud and figure it out. Seriously."

Mojo: "What is the Breaking mentioned in the Magne-Ge text?"
Michael Kirkbride: "Magnus left."

RottenDeadite: "Is the Hurling Disk the Amaranth?"
Michael Kirkbride: "No."

Myrrlyn: "The Dwemer Orrery lists a different set of planets than do the Dwemer in the early Lessons. What is the root of the difference, and is there any significance to it?"
Michael Kirkbride: Wow, this is a good one. It would be a cop out to say that there was just history of knowledge getting the way... but there IS something important there. Let me convene with the actual writer of the Sermons and get back to you. You get a bonus one for that."

Neradac: "Who is Alinor? Or if he wasn't someone, whats the insect god the Thalmor so lovingly worship?"
Michael Kirkbride: "It's the oldest name of the Set. It wasn't a person in the sense you mean."

Myrrlyn: "What is the Second Walking Way?"
Michael Kirkbride: "The long road that the enemy always puts before you but you walk it anyway."

SemblioSanctii: "Did any important organs/organ-analogues of Lorkh's besides the Heart (and excluding ebony godsblood) survive, and if so might they be present on the moons?"
Michael Kirkbride: "Yep, a buncha his shit is up in them motherfuckers (That's not really an answer, but you already knew his body was both of 'em)."

Stille: "Then Wulfharth said: "Don't you see where you really are? Don't you know who Shor really is? Don't you know what this war is?" And they looked from the King to the God to the Devils and Orcs, and some knew, really knew, and they are the ones that stayed."

What did they really know?"
Michael Kirkbride: "They were inside the Dragon Break of the Red Moment."

OPG: "What is Sithis?"
Michael Kirkbride: "At its basest, it would be complete and utter misanthropy. It's a hole."

Varanu: "I was going to ask you who /really/ struck the Heart, Nerevar or Kagrenac, but if it was a Dragon Break..."
Michael Kirkbride: "If it was a Dragon Break, you get to tell me."

On Tamriel and Music:

Dovahkiin: "What's with all the musical connotations behind Elder Scrolls? You said last night that tonal architecture is similar to synaesthesia, but there's obviously something greater at play here [e.g. attuning spheres, etc]."
Michael Kirkbride: "You mean like, I dunno, the name of "C0DA"?

Give me a moment. I'll answer the music question.

Tamriel. Starry Heart. That whole fucking thing is a song. It was made either out of 12 planets, or from two brothers that split in the womb. Either way, it's the primal wail and those that grew up on it - they can't help but hear it, and add to it, or try to control it, or run from it. The reason there IS music on Tamriel at ALL is because it exists. It was and is and it will not stop.

There are repeats in it; plays on a tune. Variations. And most likely Magnus? He's the one that made the fucker, and now that's why he looks back on it, every single day, that's his promise.

"When you wake up, I will still listen. I'm sorry I left, but hey, I'm still right up here. And my mnemoli? They show up every now and then, and collect all the songs you've made since the last time around. The last real moment."

The Mnemoli? They're the keepers of the Elder Scrolls. They cannot be fixed until seen. And they cannot be seen until a moment. And you, your hero, makes that moment."

10/17/2013

On Lawrence Schick:

"Let's get something straight here for the record. Mr. Schick is a great guy, with a a great pedigree. I'm an archivist of pnp games, and that dude? He's OG TSR. So never get me wrong about my attitude about him."

On Fireworks and "Translations":

"There's a line in CvV about them, actually. It gets lost. It's Cyrus talking about the fireworks they stole from Akavir.

... Well, this is gonna get all meta, but all of TES should be seen -- to me-- as a translation of the actual place. Are they REALLY fireworks? "No, asshole, they were this other thing but FIREWORKS translates exactly.". "

On Cyrus and "Translations":

Michael Kirkbride: "Back in the day when ARGs didn't have a name yet, BethSoft was going to make a website (or a subsite, whatever) with a lot of photomanips about where we "really" got the elder scrolls stories. By which I mean, we had three in the basement. Two perfectly preserved, one broken. Our asses NEVER used that broken one.

It was a way of saying that, hey, guess what, we know all future games are going to have discrepencies. But we got to "play" with the scrolls, and mull over the stories, and we "found" the Cyrus one. And his name, in those scrolls was "Sura"."

RottenDeadite: "Oh THAT's where that word came from, is that it?"
Michael Kirkbride: "Kinda, Chris. But it was more like,

"Hmm, Beings of Tamriel, this one looks pretty neat. Can we change the name?"
"NO"
"I mean, just for the modern audience. We'll figure out a way to put it in there and all."

And then lots of back and forth deliberations with these beings about how we needed to change this story to make it a playable product. Until they finally just shrugged, as long as we put these things in: X, Y, Z.

But, yeah, the whole Battle of Hunding Bay and Stros M'Kai was this "whitewashed sold-out" version of the real HoonDing story. To "them". But, hey, they got enough info out of their own to deal with it. Which is really fucking long way of saying: all the games are translations."

On the origin of the name "Sura":

Varanu: "Does Sura have any kind of meaning, in itself?"
Mojo: "Chapters in the Quran are called Suras"
Michael Kirkbride: "ding."

Answering Fan Questions:

Mojo: "What is Tsaescence?"
Michael Kirkbride: "Their version of high perception."

OPG: "Why did Vivec+Nerevar visit A(l)tmora and not Aldmeris, if they're the Mannish/Merrish perspectives of proto Tamriel?"
Michael Kirkbride: "Aldmeris is not a real thing. I thought that was obvious by now."

Myrrlyn: "Is Ceporah Tower a Mythic Tower, and if so, what is its Stone?"
Michael Kirkbride: "Never heard of that random-ass Tower."

SemblioSanctii: "Are the survivors of the Parliament of Craters still extant?"
Michael Kirkbride: "Yes."

Mojo: "What is the connection between Pelinal and Zurin?"
Michael Kirkbride: "Nothing but the Throne."

Cimbri: "How does one perceive the "untimes" of "previous" kalpas? Through an artificial meta-time or...?"
Michael Kirkbride: "Short answer: Always through the Dreamsleeve. Oh wait, here's an answer: The Dreamsleever? Unless it's obscure and on a post somewhere, should now be obvious. It's source, I mean."

Transcrybyr: "Who came first, Tamriel-Hist or Um-Hist?"
Michael Kirkbride: "I dunno no fucking um-hist. I'm not an intellective, people. Don't assume I know all the terms."
SemblioSanctii: "Um-hist meaning the Hist on Umbriel in the Keyes novels."
Michael Kirkbride: "I like Keyes for his commitment, but I've never read them because his writing is unlovely."

Cimbri: "Okay. Are Akavir and Atmora actual continents and should perceived as such, or are they rather mirror images of Nirn? (and is Nirn finite or infinite like the celestial bodies of Mundus?)"
Michael Kirkbride: "The only continents that are not real... that would be Aldmeris. The rest of them might have shared Pangaea thing, but only one is a memory. A fabricated memory. Think on Aldmeris and why so many of the Thalmor think the way they do."

OPG: "What was Molag Bal's name during the Dreugh kalpa?"
Michael Kirkbride: "Molag Bal."

Transcrybyr: "What is the Exact-Egg-Cracking?"
Michael Kirkbride: "The Hist version of the New Man. Rather, the way they would do it. They wait long. And not to be an Ent, but they are not Us and never think that way."

Myrrlyn: "How did the Mane die?"
Michael Kirkbride: "Assassin from the Thalmor."

Transcrybyr: "Is there a third gender of Dragon (besides Jill and Drake)?"
Michael Kirkbride: "Not in the way you mean? Here's something... The original Skyrim spitballs for dragons? "Organic Time Machines". That still applies to me. "Genders" is just a designation of purpose. Though I will say that ain't no one got nothing on the Jills. Trees vs. Dragons - See any dudesmen fighting there?"

Dovahkiin: "In musical terms, would you say that the Void is subgradiated noise, pure silence, or something else entirely?"
Michael Kirkbride: "I would say it's deafness. Which is why people that travel there get sensorily unraveled. Better, try not to imagine a world without music."

Transcrybyr: "Could the Towers be construed as Tuning Forks, given your music statement yesterday?"
Michael Kirkbride: "Yes, maybe, but more like maestros."

SemblioSanctii: "Are there any ancient Aleissan Rebellion-era heroes of note who didn't make it into the Song of Pelinal?"
Michael Kirkbride: "FUCK YES."

Dovahkiin: "Do you have a ballpark number for how many Towers we don't know about currently?"
Michael Kirkbride: "Not really, but only because they are not a concern of mine. I know of one that isn't listed, but it will be addressed."

Transcrybyr: "How does the Sharmat's line I AM OLDER THAN MUSIC tie in with the concept of Music as a fundamental element of the world?"
Michael Kirkbride: "Nice one. He's ego-trippin' and balls-trippin' at the same time. Remember, that quote is from the Sermons. Consider the source."

SemblioSanctii: "Does Meridia's interest in the Mundus have to do with the usual Daedric interest in the Arena, or more in being the only way a wayward solar daughter can still connect with anything that Magnus was ever associated with?"
Michael Kirkbride: "Wayward Daughter."

On the Void Ghost:

Neradac: "Who or what is the void ghost?"
Michael Kirkbride: "That's a good one. Void Ghost.

He never really makes sense, does he? I mean, he shows up and says "yo, fucker, I ain't here."

Who do you think is still filling in the margins?

He ran.

Ran from a book he hadn't finished, and he feels bad for that. Because they keep seeing him in the empty parts. THAT is when he shows up. He's not an editor, he's the writer that bounced and left notes behind. And when you can't follow the map, he has to Right Reach backwards to help you. And every time, you've either spooked him, or surprised him, or figured out a hole.

To make it short, he's the one that failed so you might not.

But his ghost? That's his doom. A ghost's work is never done. That's the definition of ghost. Until the task is accomplished. The best and worst part of him. Heart of Lorkhan? He's tied to here no matter if you banished it or not. Every night you look at him. Shattered. You make a mod on his body. Of course he's going to help you until you make the jump he can't/won't do on his own. That's the Void Ghost.

It will be addressed. There is one that will do it. WRONG - There is a We that will do it. Takes more than one."

On Meridia and Kyne:

"What no one has ever seen is the connection between Meridia and Kyne. Let that sink in. What do they-- when connected-- both govern?

Think about KotN. One made the Knight, one opposed the Knight. One rained forever because he was gone. One said, no I will wait until he comes back.

Quit mixing up gods and demons. They are just emotions. In magic, those are real feels. Meridia is the color of his return when curtained by rain. That blink in your eye when the postcard isn't answered? That weird huff in your chest when you're waiting for THAT text? That whole night you wait and force sleep so the morning comes? And you hear rain on the window pane and figure, fine, they weren't listening.

Today isn't the day? WRONG. That's the day when you never knew you were at your best. You surrendered. You walked about, called a cab, or turned on the monitor to read the net, or walked the dog because at least the dog always listens. Took a shower, got MORE shit in your eye. Walked to the corner store to get saline because you didn't last night and you really have to put your contacts in.

Worse, you're a parent now. With cataracts. And the only way your children easily talk to you is a phone screen, which you can only make out in color. A thing you can not quite perceive anymore, so your other sense compensate for it. Can't see right? Ears will for you. Can't hear right? Eyes will for you.

Can you see the admixture of color and sound yet? You sense it. If even you can only taste the one that's gone. That's your only Memory and touchstone. Otherwise, why would you wait? Hope has a color and a sound and a taste and a touch and 11 more sense you don't know you have yet. And this is why you worship them. The gods and demons beyond your control. They went through it before you. They are your ancestors, and this is in the blood. They are your Aedra/Daedra. And sometimes their names get mixed up.

 Still the same: they show you the path. Even as an orphaned star, you will get HOME again. You always have your birthsign. Rejoin with it. That's your family. The star signs of the magic that rules this world. They know the way. All you have to do is look, hear, touch, taste or feel for their presence. It's in their job description."

10/19/2013

On the identity of the Amaranth:

"Anu.

That's not a term. That's the Amaranth.

"Anew".

The 12 planets were the time before he hid in the sun after there was a Betrayal and a Witness. And started to Dream. Nu-Mantia. Liberty from Z.

Amaranth anon Anew AE I, which is said to have occupied the passageways of Heaven and Earth, because everyone above and below asks Amaranth anon Anew AE I if they cannot find the passage. Amaranth anon Anew AE I is the Godhead who caused to be visible. Amaranth anon Anew AE I stands as a post at the turning point. The others say of Amaranth anon Anew AE I: "The One and One (an inelegant number) who crosses the middle of the Z the Centerex without calm, may his name be I and no other, for he takes up the center of it in sleep. The path of the stars of the sky should be kept unchanged but will not, for he dreams in the sun and now has dreamed of orphans, anon Magne-Ge, the colors he still wishes to dream."

Love Across the Stars was most, most apt."

Toesock: "Wait. It is my birthday. I want a cleaner explanation."
Michael Kirkbride: A cleaner one? Really? We... Are talking about the Amaranth. You wanted to know who it was. I hid it a long time ago when I hid the Anew in the sun."

Thrice-Sock> "My try: Anu commands the King, the Rebel and the Witness in conjecture form (Which i guess is the Z Centerex? At least the middle of it)."
Michael Kirkbride: "Oh, there was a betrayal. Padomay. Honestly, look. Why do you think it was called "The CHILDREN'S Anuad"?"

On Sermon 19:

"Real question: "Your House is Safe now-- So why is it--"

See?

I promised I would never cheat. Not on this.

Sermon 19. What does Vivec do? makes the Provisional House. He attempts the Dream. He is answered with a song, a poem. He's not ready for his own answer, looking at every Corner, hiding in some new thing he made to survey this new House he can't make.

That's the tremble of "I"

"This house is safe now, so why is it--"

He knows right then he can't make. He can't commit to that marriage.

More: He's afraid of all the "catastrophes in between". That's the "So why is it--"."

11/09/2013

XAYAH: "So Lyg. Does it exist in the same "worldspace" or however you want to call it as Tamriel?"
Michael Kirkbride: " "Try not to imagine a Lyg." That's all I'm going to say. It's Tamriel in a parallel dimension. I never said it wasn't on Nirn. SNAP."