Yggdrasil Burnes Posted June 25 Report Posted June 25 So in the Malefactor's Mask's description, it is said to be made out of "Whitewood" and that any discoloration would mean permanent exile. Now, I haven't touched any of the story content yet, so no spoilers if you can help it, but compared to Larch, Bald Cyprus, and Birch, none of them are the truly Chalk White color of the Mask. I was wondering if this implies that there is a "Whitewood" tree, and if such trees might, if only rarely, be available as lumber in the game down the road? "Real Whitewood" is white pine, a cheap softwood used for a bunch of stuff, and is more of the light beige color the background you are looking at is right now. The Malefactor's mask is almost true white. I think having such a pure white lumber would look pristine next to chalk stone.
LadyWYT Posted June 25 Report Posted June 25 51 minutes ago, Yggdrasil Burnes said: Now, I haven't touched any of the story content yet, so no spoilers if you can help it, but compared to Larch, Bald Cyprus, and Birch, none of them are the truly Chalk White color of the Mask. I was wondering if this implies that there is a "Whitewood" tree, and if such trees might, if only rarely, be available as lumber in the game down the road? "Real Whitewood" is white pine, a cheap softwood used for a bunch of stuff, and is more of the light beige color the background you are looking at is right now. There's no spoilers related to the mask, at least not that I'm aware of. "Whitewood" just refers to the mask's color and material, and not the specific wood it's made from. So it could easily be birch, pine, or some other light-colored wood that's both easy to acquire and light enough to be somewhat comfortable to wear as a mask.
Maelstrom Posted June 25 Report Posted June 25 1 minute ago, LadyWYT said: There's no spoilers related to the mask, at least not that I'm aware of. "Whitewood" just refers to the mask's color and material, and not the specific wood it's made from. So it could easily be birch, pine, or some other light-colored wood that's both easy to acquire and light enough to be somewhat comfortable to wear as a mask. I would add that there is probably some bleaching involved due to the discoloration leading to exile caveat to having the mask. I'm willing to bet that the discoloration mentioned would be of a red variety.
LadyWYT Posted June 25 Report Posted June 25 Just now, Maelstrom said: I would add that there is probably some bleaching involved due to the discoloration leading to exile caveat to having the mask. I'm willing to bet that the discoloration mentioned would be of a red variety. Possibly, but I hesitate to say that there would be paint or chemical processing involved due to the mask's specific purpose--an indicator of whether or not an individual has potentially contracted the Rot. Untreated, lightly-colored wood will make any sort of stain or other suspicious tampering(like trying to paint over a blemish) immediately obvious. The red tally marks are an exception, since those are clearly carved into the mask and painstakingly painted/stained in order to stand out. The Rot also leaves blackened markings as its calling card, not red.
Maelstrom Posted June 25 Report Posted June 25 Interesting. I thought the Malefactor were the ne'er do wells that decided to play nice in society due to the apocalyptically bad circumstances everyone was in. My understanding is they were sent to the surface and use their skulduggery to return with goods to help underground society, like the hunters would return with food. 1 1
LadyWYT Posted June 25 Report Posted June 25 3 minutes ago, Maelstrom said: Interesting. I thought the Malefactor were the ne'er do wells that decided to play nice in society due to the apocalyptically bad circumstances everyone was in. My understanding is they were sent to the surface and use their skulduggery to return with goods to help underground society, like the hunters would return with food. If only that were the case... Spoiler "Malefactor" means "criminal", and that's exactly what they were in the Old World. While it's left up to the player's imagination of what crimes their character committed, whatever crime(s) were committed were serious enough to warrant exile to the surface until the individual could scrounge up something useful to bring back to the stronghold...assuming they didn't get infected in the process. Upon completing such a mission, I believe they would have "atoned" for their crimes and be allowed to remain in the stronghold, hence the significance of the mask markings--some individuals chose to go on more missions rather than remain in safety. Hunters are somewhat similar, except I get the impression that hunters had the luxury of doing all their work before humanity went underground, and are otherwise allowed the freedom to choose if they want to risk a surface trip. Those that still remain active on the surface are likely active in untainted areas, and thus much safer than the malefactors, who are likely having to scavenge Rot-infested areas for their salvage. Basically, the malefactors, regardless of having had a genuine change-of-heart or just trying to ensure their own survival, can't be executed for their crimes since all remaining manpower is needed for the Grand Project, but they can't be allowed to stay in the strongholds without some sort of trial since there's always the chance they could commit more crimes and thus undermine the efforts. A malefactor who has earned a spot, however, will be much less likely to do something that would warrant them losing that spot. 2
Maelstrom Posted June 25 Report Posted June 25 47 minutes ago, LadyWYT said: Reveal hidden contents "Malefactor" means "criminal", and that's exactly what they were in the Old World. While it's left up to the player's imagination of what crimes their character committed, whatever crime(s) were committed were serious enough to warrant exile to the surface until the individual could scrounge up something useful to bring back to the stronghold...assuming they didn't get infected in the process. Upon completing such a mission, I believe they would have "atoned" for their crimes and be allowed to remain in the stronghold, hence the significance of the mask markings--some individuals chose to go on more missions rather than remain in safety. Hunters are somewhat similar, except I get the impression that hunters had the luxury of doing all their work before humanity went underground, and are otherwise allowed the freedom to choose if they want to risk a surface trip. Those that still remain active on the surface are likely active in untainted areas, and thus much safer than the malefactors, who are likely having to scavenge Rot-infested areas for their salvage. Basically, the malefactors, regardless of having had a genuine change-of-heart or just trying to ensure their own survival, can't be executed for their crimes since all remaining manpower is needed for the Grand Project, but they can't be allowed to stay in the strongholds without some sort of trial since there's always the chance they could commit more crimes and thus undermine the efforts. A malefactor who has earned a spot, however, will be much less likely to do something that would warrant them losing that spot. Yeah. Basically what I said but using more words. 1 1
ifoz Posted June 26 Report Posted June 26 (edited) If you take a look at the texture file for the whitewood mask, the answer is birch! Rotating the debarked birch wood texture by 90 degrees and then giving it a whiter hue matches the whitewood mask exactly, aside from the eye holes and tally marks. While on the topic, something interesting is that the tallies of the whitewood and sheep skull mask are very slightly different in colour. The sheep skull also has a noticeable blemish/blotch on the texture, which could either be there to make it appear more bone-like, or as an indicator that the wearer was one of those unfortunate scavengers who was infected with the Rot while on a surface mission. Another kind of interesting but mostly useless fact is that a lot of masks in the game actually use this rotated birch texture, though given different colours. My best guess is that the whitewood mask came first, and then they just reused its underlying texture since it gave a nice subtle noise effect. Even things like the festive cat mask that don't visually have this wood grain texture actually have the grain surrounding their usual texture in the files, since it would have just been edited over to draw the mask. Edited June 26 by ifoz 2 1
Slam Posted June 26 Report Posted June 26 (edited) 21 hours ago, Maelstrom said: skulduggery Unrelated but new favorite word, no idea what it means but it’s sounds funny. This is why, if LadyWYT and Maelstrom were to fight, Maelstrom would barely win as while LadyWYT is like the nicest/helpful person on the forums. Maelstrom will say the sillyist thing, and still make sense. Not to say LadyWYT doesn’t know how to make a good joke, but come on “Skulduggery” lol. Edited June 26 by Slam LadyWYT and Maelstrom legendary battle. And my spelling sucks 2
LadyWYT Posted June 26 Report Posted June 26 25 minutes ago, Slam said: LadyWYT is like the nicest/helpful person on the forums. It probably helps that I keep most of my raging off the forums. 1
Maelstrom Posted June 26 Report Posted June 26 55 minutes ago, Slam said: Maelstrom will say the sillyist thing, and still make sense. Thank you. I try to be silly coz my default setting is sardonically sarcastic. 59 minutes ago, Slam said: Unrelated but new favorite word, no idea what it means but it’s sounds funny. Skulduggery /ˌskəlˈdəɡ(ə)rē/ (noun) - Underhanded or unscrupulous behavior; trickery. Sounds like the mischievous miscreant Malefactor to me. 1
Slam Posted June 26 Report Posted June 26 33 minutes ago, Maelstrom said: Skulduggery /ˌskəlˈdəɡ(ə)rē/ (noun) - Underhanded or unscrupulous behavior; trickery. Sounds like the mischievous miscreant Malefactor to me. Man, I thought it was made up but that’s what I would’ve imaged it ment.
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