No, aetherwaves are audible. This is made clear in the histories. This was discussed ad nauseum after some of the changes to deafness went in that made it useless as a defense. Of course, the code isn't entirely consistent about this.

If Aethers are audible, how come you hear them when deaf?

And you could play charades with a good excuse!

I think there was someone who did this in Imperian. He was generally looked down upon.

The primary argument was that this essentially just means you replace ' with an alias that does the emote. You lose a lot of credibility and then it really does become a "look at my uber argh-pee" instead of a real person in a real world.

If you're going to scribble on things, buy real letters and write on them. This works better in the other IRE games where you don't need to be sitting at a desk, though. If you were a mage you could always scribble on the walls to communicate.

I normally don't comment on peoples' characters and how they choose to play the game, but I would strongly encourage you to find an alternate method of communication than just replacing SAY with EMOTE scribbles on a piece of paper that says...


Edit: I'm pretty sure you don't hear them when deaf. Unless the changed it again, that was one of the main things that was altered when they decided to make blindness and deafness serious afflictions.

But you don't... (annoyingly)

Makes Astral bashing something of a pain unless you're a Healer.

And if I'm not mistaken, someone in Achaea used to play a mute. Some Shallamese monk.

You're going to have to deal with a number of handicaps if you're dedicated to your muteness.
No influencing for you.

And I'll let you guys work out whether aetherspeak is kosher or not, but if it isn't, you'll have to have someone do all your market needs for you.

All in all, it doesn't seem like this sort of character would work if you're truly committed to the muteness. Maybe if you're planning on just staying in your commune and aweing people with your muteness, but an adventurer would be a bit too handicapped in this world for it to work. But that's just my opinion.

This is what happens when I quit Psionics. No secondsight, so no excuse to be deaf 'cept wasting faeleaf, so no experimenting with what I can and can't do.

I think mute role-play is more cliche and annoying than cool, but then I think role-playing with "divine" is just annoying, too.

Basically, everyone wants to make the same sort of plot choices for a MUD that they've encountered in novels/movies/TV/tabletop RP and thought were awesome, totally oblivious to the fact that MUDs are a whole different type of storytelling.

Lusternia doesn't have one hero, or even one small group of heros, it has thousands. Lusternia doesn't have one storyteller or even one handful of storytellers, it has thousands. Most of them think the way to get noticed is to make up stuff that's more flamboyant than everyone else. And to paraphrase the Incredibles, "When everyone is ultra-cool, no one is."

I have seen SO many MUD mutes over the years it's ridiculous, especially considering how easily I should have been able to heal their every affliction.

On MUDs more than any other kind of RP, less is more. Live your fictional life, let your actions speak for you, and don't saddle yourself with a bunch of half-baked melodrama, because you'll just come off looking desperate for attention.

He also forced various overdramatic personal crises on everyone around him, and eventually suicided.

I think having a "gimmick" like muteness as a basis for RP can be interesting but can also seem like a cop-out to making a more in-depth character. The above-mentioned monk scribbled on a notepad and used tells and the various channels, but while novel (to me and many other players) and mind-numbingly cute at times it got old fast, and could have resulted in a very stagnant character if she'd kept it up. She wouldn't really have been any more interesting than a denizen with a variety of coded responses. So if asked for my opinion on whether or not to play a mute in the first place, I'd advise against it.

But if you're going to do it anyway, aethers and tells are telepathic (edit: at least in part, as in not having to do with vocalising from the throat), so I don't think being physically mute would pose a problem for using them (you will, however, have to deal with people who say "um shouldn't faeleaf or applying healing or something cure that?").

going mute could be neat if you play it just right. You would have to watch out for skills like rituals though. I do find that RP a "normal" but interesting charecter is funner. It's easy for people to just dismiss you cause you have some crazy affliction or problem.

The reason I asked is because I did ask Spindle, I believe, if speaking over aethers were more like thinking aloud or speaking. He said speaking, and I just wanted to make sure but also I wanted to know others' opinions on this.

I want to play a mute character because I've never tried it before, and I wanted to try something different. Most of my characters are quite and shy, but after a while they can get crazy and playful, depends on the situation. I don't want to be like some people and go overboard with RP, and I won't be like WHOO! Look at me, I'm mute. I find that silly. She'll probably be unknown with most people except those of her commune.

If playing a mute character is just gimmicky, than what constitutes playing a well RPed character?

Furthermore, how does one design an interesting character to RP? Does anyone have any good ideas?

I don't like mute characters. Whenever someone tries to think of an interesting way to play a character, 'mute!' is the first thing that pops into their heads. It really isn't that interesting, and if it's the only or one of the only facets of your character's 'personality' it will get boring fast. Even the most amazing character will be a bore to play if it's one-dimensional.



That's just player opinion. Never take something a guide says as being more 'official' that what any regular mortal says.