View source for User:Berry

Hi, I'm '''Berry'''.  Welcome to my page.

=Contact=
Please feel free to leave a message on [[User_talk:Berry|my talk page]] if you'd like to contact me.  This is my preferred method of contact and the fastest way to get in touch with me.
If you feel you must contact me privately for some reason, you're welcome to try the [[Special:Emailuser/Berry|e-mail form]]. :)

=About me=
I've played Urban Dead since 2005-07-12 (under a completely different name; "Berry" of Malton isn't me) and am still very active there.  When I first heard about Shartak and started to look into it, I recognized Simon's name from his positive influence in the Yahoo! "NecroTech" Group, so I had a good feeling about it.  I'm glad that Shartak uses a familiar interface, while adding improvements, changing the scale, and bringing a fresh and exciting approach to gameplay.  Also, I happen to have been born on an island, myself (Oahu, Hawaii), so that's one more reason why I have an appreciation for this game.

=My Shartak characters=
'''[http://www.shartak.com/profile.cgi?id=913 Mamoru]''' - A Shaman from [[Raktam]].  My first character.  Left his home village on the first day and promptly got entirely lost.  Has been wandering ever since.  I believe he's seen a bunch of the island, but I've no way of knowing how much of it, as Mamoru possesses no map skill yet.  Well, at least the experience has gotten me interested in mapping the island.
*'''Update:''' Mamoru died, contacted his home shaman, and has returned to Raktam. --[[User:Berry|Berry]] 09:37, 7 March 2006 (GMT)

'''[http://www.shartak.com/profile.cgi?id=1013 Berry]''' - A Villager from [[Wiksik]].  My second, and presently, my "main" character.  Also known as my "Let's try this again, from the top, only let's be a little smarter about it this time" character.  Berry didn't leave the village at all during the first several days.  Mapped Wiksik's perimeter and hut locations, then spent a few days searching.  Got a knife and a machete and some other provisions before striking out to the north.
*Description: ''A barefoot villager, wearing a beaded skirt of woven grasses and a feathered headdress, and decorated in swirls of body paint.''

'''[http://www.shartak.com/profile.cgi?id=1123 Devon Maru]''' - An Explorer from [[Derby]].  My third character.  Created because I'm very interested in finding out how the GPS works -- and because I wanted to transplant one of my dormant Urban Dead characters over to this part of the world. ;)

=Projects=
==Current projects==
===Language===
I'm curious about whether communications between natives and outsiders without any language [[skills]] turn into purely random gibberish or if there's a discernible, repeatable transformation taking place which can be figured out, like the Al-Bhed "language" in the Final Fantasy game series.

To this end, I have attempted to establish a "language hut" in [[Raktam]], where I hope outsiders and natives will visit peacefully and practice speaking a lot just for the sake of getting large samples of both languages out in the open.

There are possible pitfalls and setbacks, of course - the place might attract hostile/combative visitors, for example - but I have fun figuring out stuff like this, so it's worth the risk to me.

I'd like to have my character try reciting the alphabet to someone of the other team, and waiting to have it recited back, a few times.

--[[User:Berry|Berry]] 13:45, 12 March 2006 (GMT)

<strike>The "language hut" has been marked outside.  It's located at (10,13) on the territory map on the wiki page for [[Raktam]].  I don't know the GPS coordinates for that location yet.</strike>

I'm encouraged by what seems to be a bit of possible interest:

 You say "Hello. You don't seem to be from around here. Nice to meet you, how do you do? I'm Mamoru, what's your name?"
 You say "I've taken the liberty of marking this hut as a place for us to talk to you, if that's all right with you."

 Since your last move:
 (a native) says "hello"
 (an outsider) says "yun yun!"

--[[User:Berry|Berry]] 05:21, 13 March 2006 (GMT)


Well, some higher-level fellow native attacked me and the outsider, leaving me wounded and the outsider nowhere to be found.  Darn.  So much for that idea, I guess.

--[[User:Berry|Berry]] 11:20, 13 March 2006 (GMT)

'''Update!'''

An outsider spoke to my native Mamoru today.  Neither of us possess any language skills from the skill tree, but I could make out some of what they said:

They said, "Hum, cu yun uheththidu mun? Ing'mun arar Ing du'thi shurar nuhing.  Ing ar Thimunnuh. Ar orrshureth."

My thoughts:
*My initial interpretation was: "Hmm, can you understand me?" (something something) "I'm a Scientist. An outsider."
*"Hum, cu yun uheththidu mun?" -- In retrospect, now that I see the "th" pair in "uheththidu", maybe it was "Hey, can you assist me?"
*"Ing" seems to be the pronoun "I"; "Ing'mun" is possibly "I'm".
*If "mun" is "me" and "Ing'mun" is "I'm", then we can speculate that when an outsider says a word that has "m" at the end of a word by itself or followed by a vowel, natives hear "mun" at the end of the word instead.
*"ar" might be "a/an" -- but also might be "am"; see next item.
*"Thimunnuh" seems to be a proper name. An introduction? "I am Thimunnuh".
**Wait, wait, waaaait a minute. ''What?'' *brainstorm* I was reading that name with a short "i", like the word "liminal". But with a long "i" -- "thigh-mun-nuh"... ''[[User:Simon|Simon]]''?? :-O
--[[User:Berry|Berry]] 10:31, 15 March 2006 (GMT)

==Past projects==
===Mapping===
Mapping out the perimeter of [[Wiksik]], the "long way" (that is, without possessing the in-game skill). -- [[User:Berry|Berry]] 09:41, 5 March 2006 (GMT)
:Interesting idea. Email me and I'll share some thoughts I had on that. --[[User:Dr. J|Dr. J]] 13:39, 5 March 2006 (GMT)
:The map obtained from cartography/exploration skills is only a rough approximation so if you want to map out Shartak to block level, go ahead! --[[User:Simon|Simon]] 15:33, 5 March 2006 (GMT)
::Hey guys! Feel free to check out my first block level map on the [[Wiksik]] page. :D --[[User:Berry|Berry]] 09:44, 6 March 2006 (GMT)

Mapping out the perimeter of [[Raktam]], the "long way". --[[User:Berry|Berry]] 09:37, 7 March 2006 (GMT)
:Completed --[[User:Berry|Berry]] 10:56, 7 March 2006 (GMT)