What Larian did with this game in respect to Minthara and Halsin is the equivalent of an artist who smeared brown muck over their own painting because the viewers would not see the painting in the way that they intended them to.

Our artist, Larian, had announced the showcasing of their much-hyped painting and was worried that it was missing a sun and some clouds in this otherwise beautiful landscape. On the day of the exhibition, Larian nervously decided they would stick to the deadline and rely on the public's goodwill for a pass on the missing features.

Larian were pleasantly surprised at how few people had actually got round to noticing the missing features of their masterpiece, so decided to have a few drinks and whatever else, to celebrate having got away with it.

Then out of the corner of their eye they spot a group of viewers huddled around the picture, admiring two mis-shapen trees (Let's call them Halsin and Minthara) that seemed to capture the natural beauty of this work in an uncanny manner. Realising the geometric imperfection of the trees, and, by now, high on copium, Larian barged into the middle of the crowd, stuck their hand in a pot of brown paint, and smeared it all over the two trees, declaring that noone would see the painting in a way that they were not intended to.

Reeling in indignation, the viewers started to exit the gallery. Many remained to marvel at the wonderful blue sky before realising that the missing sun and clouds were actually quite jarring too.

As Larian pleaded for the viewers to give them another chance, the rest of these viewers slowly flocked out of the gallery.

They had heard of another artist down the road who was promising a sky with stars and fields with trees, and this artist was even promising that their viewers would be able to fly in those trees too! (If they really wanted to). Truth be told, there was no such field of beauty in those stars either.

Larian spent the next few years trying to paint a sun and some clouds over their blue sky. Over time, many would come to appreciate the 'original vision' of the artist. Many would even pay for subsequent expansions to this landscape.

But for some, the stench of that brown muck would prove too hard to forget.

Last edited by Shifter; 31/08/23 07:34 AM.