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Sunday, October 26, 2008 - 12:00 am  one of the great things about SC is that we can put our own twist on themes for our empires. i would suggest that we lift up those different empires that suggest a theme and carry those out in our roles as players. for me, Knights of the Round Table is about loyalty, peace with strength, compassion for the poor and strength in numbers. how about you. what's your theme or what theme in other players do you see and consider interesting, inspiring, frightening, etc.
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| Sunday, October 26, 2008 - 12:56 am I miss the "Furry Federation"
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| Thursday, October 30, 2008 - 05:06 pm I am not quite sure what you are asking for, Parsifal. I will just bend the topic a bit then... This is my empire:
My empire has no sound, coherent theme. It is the erratic composition of bits and pieces of several themes. One of those themes is music. My countries Dies Irae, The Unsung War, and formerly Liberi Fatali along with One Winged Angel, are a theme within my empire which reports us back to music, to classical music. Dies Irae is an important liturgical text which sings Judgment Day. Given the importance of the apocalypse to religion, it is a usual piece in a Requiem Mass. You can find several compositions of the same text throughout history with ease. Many of them brilliant. When I changed my country's name from Kingdom Hearts to Dies Irae, the composition I had in mind was of Verdi's, I have since then changed it to Mozart's. Verdi's is much of a descent into madness and I'm in full possession of my faculties when declaring on people... well, most of the times. ;0 Mozart's has a strong presence of inevitable judgement, one which pleases me and reflects my original thoughts. Verdi's: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-0CjwiWr_c Mozart's: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxws3ia2w3Q The Unsung War is a latin work composed for a PS2 game - Ace Combat 5, a flight simulator. I've never played it. I only heard about it in a forum I used to frequent. I believe it is used in the game's ending while they are fighting in the air. The lyrics speak of a demon that awakens, when history changes its course, to bring death to the earth and then vanishes. Or alternately, of a hero who rises... to, I suppose, set history back on course. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGX6vGL0GBI Liberi Fatali is another latin choral composed for another game - Final Fantasy VIII, an RPG. I haven't played this one as well. This work is used in the game's introduction and again when one of the cities of the game is attacked. The lyrics are the arousing command of a mother to her children, to march them to war. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evS1w7PmpJU One Winged Angel, another latin choral work composed for Final Fantasy VII, an RPG. This game I did happen to play, from beginning to end. This song appears near the end of the game when you fight the final boss, shaped as a corrupted seraph with only one wing. We can find in the lyrics a character, similar to the Angel of Death, asking for his fate to be accomplished. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yn71hIsm0U8 If you listen to those videos, you can sense the adjective that is adequate to these four countries and the one I had in mind was belligerent. Not that I am a belligerent person, or even a player, but I am a very conflictuous one. Not in a physically aggressive sense, but in a more passionate, rhetorical and abstract way - similar to lawyers. In game, I'm a very precautious player, so I'm always ready for war as I am ready to debate. Another theme you may find within my empire relates with political and economical ideology. My countries Liberal Kingdom, Liberal Republic and Libertaria are the echoes of my libertarianism. Curiously, two of those countries I did not name. One I conquered, the other bought and one is an homage to another. You can infer what you wish from the references to the forms of government. To point out remains to be said I'm not a practical libertarian, I dwell in the huge centrist limbo. Spira and Abaddon... Spira, Kingdom Hearts and Suteki Da Ne were part of my Square Enix trio. I named them after a world in Final Fantasy X - Spira -, a game by Square Enix - Kingdom Hearts -, and a love song wrote and performed in Final Fantasy X - Suteki Da Ne. Abaddon is a country I added much later to my empire and I named him so, when I looked for a name to name my country... The bible dubs him Angel of the Abyss, but it is also a recurring monster in the final fantasy series. I googled before taking my decision. Angel of the Abyss made my decision. Shu Empire, Subjetive Reality, Batesville Ozarka No Ceos, Hardy Ozarka no Ceos and Ozarka NO CEOs are countries I either bought or conquered and did not rename to preserve the memory of their former owners. With all of this in mind, and in particular this notion of "it is the erratic composition of bits and pieces", if I had to pick an anthem for my empire, it would most likely be Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique.
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| Thursday, October 30, 2008 - 10:11 pm you've got it. i've often wondered about your empire particularly Dies Irae. i remember when you were about to attack the Nazi's and posted Dies Irae (Judgment day). At the time I didn't know the connection, so thanks. My musical taste tends toward Bartok and the likes of Shostokovich (sp?). for my Knights is pretty obvious. i suppose i have a fantacy about be compassionate but strong and loyal to ones friends. so, now i have some new things to focus on. thanks for the references.
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| Friday, October 31, 2008 - 06:25 pm Laguna, i listened to some of your pieces. VERY POWERFUL! i like the Verdi version best though. i know it's not pc to say anything bad about Mozart, since he's probably the most notable western composer of all time, but i just can't get off to most of his music. kick me, if you want. even though Dies Irae by him is very good.
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| Sunday, November 2, 2008 - 08:56 pm My main country is named Freedom Guard. Though perhaps somewhat pretentious by current KB standards, when the country was actually founded there was no secured mode, and the ruling nations of Kebir Blue were not quite so reticent as they are today. The role of my country, initially, was to help protect and preserve the freedom of it's almost five million citizens, and the combined fifteen million citizens of what was then The Protectorate Federation. Indeed, within years of the nation's and the federation's founding, we were put to the test, amassing damage somewhere in the region of $2T, which was a large chunk of our combined wealth at that point in the game. As things often do, our empires and federation grew, and the game changed around us. No longer is the existance of most nations threatened on Kebir Blue. Many are happy to remain in secured mode, isolated and cut off from the world, safe in their own quiet little corner. The freedoms of our citizens are ensured not by the skill of our military commanders, nor the determination of our peoples to endure, but rather by game-god intervention. Freedom Guard, some 287 years after it's founding, no longer stands guard by the precipice, standing watch on the brink between civilisation and enslavement. The guns are silent now.
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| Tuesday, November 4, 2008 - 11:43 am My main country is Tahree, the country I started with and did not change its name. My slaves are named after big cats, cute sweet purring quiet but not to be messed.
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| Tuesday, November 4, 2008 - 12:26 pm Just Spock, great imagery. those of us who have been in the game for a while tend to have these themes. for me, it makes the game a little more interesting.
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| Tuesday, November 4, 2008 - 11:23 pm Hector Berlioz and Johannes Brahms make my delights. Curious you mention that episode, Parsifal... I wrote some of that post with the aim to clear some of my more subtle actions of that period. Do not trouble yourself with myself. It is complicated to know another. Rewarding or not... I do not know, I cannot judge. Mozart is a genius... But so is Verdi. So are many other musicians and personalities. And so is all of humanity. What we do is to value some qualities over others. But of all the different arrangements of Dies Irae, I would have to say the one I enjoy the most is Luigi's Cherubini in his Requiem in D minor for male chorus and orchestra. ;0 I once poked one of Spock's cats with a stick and couldn't sit for a week. They have some deep, surgical claws...
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| Thursday, November 6, 2008 - 02:30 pm what did i do? None of my cats admit they did anything. Hmm, Maybe it is time to get the cats out for a walk again.
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| Monday, November 17, 2008 - 05:35 pm Well, I didn't go nearly as far as some of you, but I've used themes in the two countries I have. Galliana is based on the Templars. The cities are named after Templar outposts and the few units I have are named after the grand masters. Achaea is based on the Iliad with greek and trojan cities/units. I saw John had Shu Empire as one of his countries. I might go with a Three Kingdoms era theme next. BC
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| Tuesday, November 18, 2008 - 12:46 am BorderC, cool. Another interesting theme is the one Amarith has of Lord of the Rings. Also, Yorkshire has a theme of British military involvement.
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| Tuesday, November 18, 2008 - 01:10 am Hear Shu's Empire national anthem, BorderC. ;0
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| Tuesday, November 18, 2008 - 03:28 pm That's cool ebby. What exactly is Amarith a reference to in LOTR? Interestingly enough, my house is in a Lord of the Rings themed neighborhood - The Shire. I live on Michel Delving, and there are other roads like Hobbiton and others I cant remember. They're all towns in the Shire, basically. John - KOEI always has some great compositions in their ROTK games. I have to admit, I'm one of those geeks that goes out and buys most of the ROTK/NA/DW games they put out even though they're basically the same thing.... I keep them in business. Don't know if you're into it or not, but the actual book is really good as well.
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| Tuesday, November 18, 2008 - 05:18 pm Ebby , Yorkshire has an Army ?  Owen/Pluto
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| Tuesday, November 18, 2008 - 06:40 pm I'm an extremely cheap one, BorderC. The only game collection I have been following is Final Fantasy. Even so, I've only bought the games of the main series. I wanted to read the ROTK - and I actually did read a bit on Wikisource - but I got flooded with work and other books to read. Still can't read now, for I have much to read... Perhaps, some day, I will resume.
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| Tuesday, November 18, 2008 - 08:37 pm Well, if you are as cheap as you say, when you do eventually find time there is a website that has the book online - http://www.threekingdoms.com/ (just ignore all of the political junk on the top.. not sure where that fits in.) I also follow the Final Fantasy games. That is by far and away my favorite video game music. If you haven't heard of it already, Final Fantasy Symphonic Suite is pretty amazing.
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| Tuesday, November 18, 2008 - 08:41 pm Final Fantasy ftw ;P
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| Tuesday, November 18, 2008 - 09:33 pm i have been in love with the three kingdoms before I was a teenager. It is a truly remarkable book. There are many translations versions in English but I still love the old Chinese version most. For the Chinese version, even though it was written in "spoken Chinese" of the day, the writing contains fair amount of ancient Chinese. It is like Shakespeare, can be difficult to read in the beginning. for beginners, i would recommend to read on line so you can Google relevant historical background while reading.
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| Saturday, November 22, 2008 - 06:05 pm Final Fantasy Symphonic Suite is an album?
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| Sunday, November 23, 2008 - 02:09 am Yes. I believe it was only released in Japan and came out before Final Fantasy IV (1989-1990 or so...). It is a compilation of the themes and music of the first three games and played by the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra. I first saw it on Napster back in the day. You may want to visit a similar site to sample the music (Scenes III, V, & VII are my favorite) and then purchase it on amazon if you want. That's what I had to do.
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| Monday, November 24, 2008 - 07:22 pm /me slaps BorderC Never discard Youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3axvtMS9FlU See if you can do me a favour and identify the song on this site: http://na.square-enix.com/ffanniversary/ It has that familiar sound do it, but I can't identify it.
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| Monday, November 24, 2008 - 08:32 pm That is actually Scene 1 from the FF Symphonic Suite. It's one of themes from FF2 that has been re-arranged from its original composition and performed by the orchestra. For some reason the titles of the songs are Scene 1, 2, 3....7. Here's Wikipedias entry, copied from the site: Symphonic Suite Final Fantasy is an arranged soundtrack album of music from Final Fantasy I and Final Fantasy II, composed by Nobuo Uematsu, arranged by Katsuhisa Hattori and his son Takayuki Hattori, and performed by the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra.[5] It spans 7 tracks and covers a duration of 39:49. It was first released on July 25, 1989, by DataM, and subsequently re-released on March 25, 1994, by NTT Publishing/Polystar. The original release bears the catalog number H28X-10007, and the re-release bears the catalog number PSCR-5253.[6] The music itself is a recording of a concert given by the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra in the Gohanda temporary hall in Tokyo.[7] # Track Name Original Track(s) (Game) Length 1. SCENE I "Main Theme" (Final Fantasy II) 4:19 2. SCENE II "Battle Scene 2" (Final Fantasy II) 5:04 3. SCENE III "Opening Theme", "Town", "Matoya's Cave" (Final Fantasy I) 6:08 4. SCENE IV "Finale" (Final Fantasy II) 5:24 5. SCENE V - Prelude "Main Theme", "Temple of Chaos" (Final Fantasy I) 8:14 6. SCENE VI "Gurgu Volcano" (Final Fantasy I), "Dungeon", "Imperial Army Theme" (Final Fantasy II) 5:05 7. SCENE VII "Rebel Army Theme" (Final Fantasy II) 5:31
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| Sunday, November 30, 2008 - 07:09 pm BorderC While the theme of my empire is Lord of the Rings, Amarith has no connection to LotR. It is just a name that I came up with before I decided on the LotR theme. But I liked it so much that I kept it. It just seemed to be a name you might find in a fantasy novel.
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| Monday, December 1, 2008 - 04:53 pm Well, it definitely does sound Tolkien-esqe.
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| Thursday, January 15, 2009 - 02:53 am I've got to say I have a football theme... I have my capitol as the name of the city my favorite team's stadium is in.(Foxburo, Go pats!!!) Half of my cities so far are named after other cities with stadiums. I will not say anything about the NYG but that they are the only team I will not put in my country... 
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