Tylr Mobile Launches An Email Inbox For Salespeople That Connects To Salesforce.com

Tylr Mobile today announced WorkinBox, a new mobile email inbox for salespeople connected to?Salesforce.com. WorkinBox matches incoming email with CRM data to help sales people prioritize and focus on messages from customers and prospects, access relevant information and files from CRM, and update CRM systems. The technology has two parts: A native iOS application and contextual engine with connectors to IMAP and the salesforce API. A cloud-based mobile work platform that IT can use to configure the app and add additional data sources, without having to customize. Salespeople can sort their inbox by opportunity size, and access the information and files they need to resolve customer questions. They can turn messages into actionable tasks, and update salesforce.com as they work. It is designed to help bring value to sales organizations that spend $12 billion a year on CRM systems that don?t get used, especially on the go. Mobile systems are changing CRM. CiteWorld recently had a story about Bluewolf CEO?Eric Berridge who spent a day on the road with Sysco sales people to see how they work. He learned they do not use their CRM apps. The customers he visited were just as busy. “They all have five minutes, maximum, to deal with him; they’re running a business, they have to deal with cash registers and waiters and deliveries. The notion of this guy using a CRM system in front of the client in the five minutes they have for him is a complete disconnect from how his job works.” The salesman Berridge shadowed told him he was part of the pilot system. “He didn’t turn it on once.” Alan Lepofsky, VP and Principal Analyst for Collaboration Software at Constellation Research saids in a prepared statement: Sales professionals rely heavily on email to engage with prospects, yet there’s critical information about these prospects in a separate CRM system. Switching context between the two is cumbersome, especially on a mobile device. ?If a single app could bring those two worlds together, providing instant access to the information and actions needed to win a deal, companies will be lining up to use it. Co-Founder Ryan Nichols said Tylr competes with?two types of startups. Mobile sales tools like Crushpath and Doubledutch that he says would be concerning if they tackled the elephant in the room for mobile productivity: the email inbox. ?He said there are a group of startups tackling mobile email, like

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/_WcFgD8dxac/

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How communities effectively punish antisocial behavior

Apr. 7, 2013 ? New research provides an insight into how groups of people tackle social dilemmas and effectively punish those engaging in anti-social behaviour.

Neighbours playing loud music is an example of where a social dilemma can arise about who should tackle the wrong-doer if a whole group of people is affected. If everyone expects someone else to punish the wrongdoer, the loud music will persist. However, research by the University of Oxford and the ETH Zurich has revealed that when a group can identify a strong member from amongst themselves, it is more likely that this results in a tacit agreement about who should punish the wrongdoer.

By contrast, when a group finds it hard to identify which of their members is the strongest, the wrongdoer is less likely to be deterred, say the findings published online in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

In a laboratory experiment, the researchers involved 120 volunteers, divided into groups of four, to play games with money tokens. Each player was given a bank of 140 money tokens with one of the four randomly assigned as the cheat. The cheat could decide whether to refrain from cheating and gain nothing, or risk cheating to potentially gain 70 tokens from each of the three players. The three players had to decide independently whether to challenge the cheat to reclaim the money for themselves, as well as the other players -- the snag being that the challenge would entail a monetary cost to the challenger while the free-riding players would retrieve the full 70 tokens. However, if none of the players challenged the cheat, the cheat would keep their tokens and get away with it.

First, the cost for the player challenging the cheat was set at 30 tokens, meaning that player could only claim 40 tokens while a free-rider received back 70 tokens. In this set of games, about one-third (35 per cent) of the players challenged the cheat to reclaim the money, despite the cost to themselves.

A marked change in the pattern emerged, however, when the costs to the challengers were made slightly unequal. While two of three players would lose 40 tokens for challenging the cheat, the other one of the three would only lose 30 tokens. In these games, a tacit agreement set in that the strongest of them, i.e. the player with the least to lose, should challenge the cheat, even though the differences in the monetary strengths of the players were only small. The researchers also varied the size of the penalty that would be imposed on the cheat to assess what role this played to stop cheating behaviour.

They found that in groups with a strong player, money tokens were reclaimed from the cheat by the strong player in 83 per cent of cases. What is more, when the penalty for cheating was increased from 0 to 40 penalty points, this resulted in a substantial reduction of cheating in groups with a strong player; a reduction as high as in groups with all equal players where the penalty for cheating was increased from 0 to 120 penalty points.

Surprisingly perhaps, the researchers discovered that when the wrongdoer knew that there was a strong player in the group and the risk of punishment was therefore high, this proved to be as effective a deterrent as monetary penalties three times higher in groups with players of equal strength.

Co-author Dr Wojtek Przepiorka, from the Department of Sociology at the University of Oxford, said: 'Our findings help us understand how social order was possible in human prehistory, where official law enforcement bodies did not exist. It suggests that the natural order was for groups where someone was marked out as the strongest would be more likely to challenge the wrongdoer. The idea of who was strongest would have varied according to the society's norms and culture: it could be body size, wealth, valour or other endowments.

'Interestingly this certainty of being punished can be a stronger deterrent than the size of the penalty itself. This is also informative of cooperative behaviour amongst members of a community and indicates how social norms may have developed.'

Andreas Diekmann, Professor of Sociology at ETH Zurich, who also authored the study, said: 'It is important to learn more about how social order has emerged in human groups without third party intervention. In contrast to previous studies, with our experiment we were able to demonstrate that it is possible to solve cooperation problems without assuming individuals with punitive preferences. A very small degree of inequality amongst the group members is enough to make the punishment of wrongdoers more likely and this has a deterrent effect. As a result, antisocial behaviour is reduced substantially even though punishment is rarely exercised.'

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Journal Reference:

1. W. Przepiorka, A. Diekmann. Individual heterogeneity and costly punishment: a volunteer's dilemma. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 2013; 280 (1759): 20130247 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2013.0247

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Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_science/~3/HocihPqN_Ug/130407144507.htm

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Powers, Iran fail to end nuclear stalemate in Almaty talks

By Justyna Pawlak and Yeganeh Torbati

ALMATY (Reuters) - World powers and Iran failed again to end the deadlock in a decade-old dispute over Tehran's nuclear program in talks that ended in Kazakhstan on Saturday, prolonging a standoff that could yet spiral into a new Middle East war.

No new talks were scheduled but big power negotiators, who earlier this year were insisting that time was running out, were at pains to say the diplomatic process would continue.

Iran's critics accuse it of covertly seeking the means to produce nuclear bombs. Israel, widely believed to have the Middle East's only nuclear arsenal, sees Iran's nuclear program as a potential threat to its existence.

With a presidential election due in Iran in June, scope for a breakthrough at the two-day meeting in Almaty was slim.

European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, the powers' chief negotiator, said long discussions had not bridged the differences between the two sides.

"It became clear that our positions remain far apart," Ashton, who represents the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany in talks with Iran, told a news conference.

In the meeting, the powers were asking Iran to suspend its most sensitive uranium-enrichment work in return for modest relief from international sanctions, an offer Iran did not accept.

"The Iranians indicated readiness to take some steps but they were small," one Western diplomat said.

Iran says its nuclear work is entirely peaceful and that it is Israel's assumed atomic arsenal that threatens peace.

"NO BREAKDOWN"

A senior U.S. official said there had been no breakdown in the negotiations and suggested that a willingness by Iranian negotiators to engage in detailed dialogue about the six nations' proposal was the most useful sign in years.

"There may not have been a breakthrough but there also was not a breakdown," the official, who requested anonymity, said. "Our intention is to proceed," the official added, referring to the powers' commitment to further diplomatic efforts.

Iranian chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili acknowledged a gap in positions between the two sides.

"We proposed our plan of action and the other party was not ready and they asked for some time to study the idea," he told a separate news conference, referring to Tehran's own proposals.

Iran says it is only refining uranium to power a planned network of nuclear energy plants and for medical purposes.

Some diplomats and experts have said Iran's June presidential election fuels uncertainty in the West over the Islamic Republic's strategy for nuclear diplomacy.

The U.S. official did not rule out that new talks could take place before the vote. But first the six powers would have to decide what steps, if any, to take to energize diplomacy.

OPTIONS

Strengthening economic sanctions, which now target Iran's vital oil industry and its banking sector, is one likely option.

"We need to absorb and digest what we heard," the official said. "And decide what makes best sense on the way forward."

Israel's Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz warned in a statement that Iran was trying to use the negotiations to gain time to advance its uranium enrichment programme.

"The Iranians are using this round of talks to pave the way to a nuclear bomb," Steinitz said, urging a more aggressive stance to make it "unequivocally clear to the Iranians that the negotiation games are finished."

Shashank Joshi, a senior fellow and Middle East specialist at the Royal United Services Institute, said: "I do not think the risk of war has substantially increased.

"The priority for both sides is to keep the diplomatic track alive until after the Iranian presidential elections."

Ashton said that for the first time there had been a "real back and forth between us when were able to discuss details ... To that extent, that has been a very important element"

But, she added: "What matters in the end is substance."

The six powers tried to persuade Iran to abandon its higher-grade uranium enrichment, as a first step to a broader deal. Refined uranium can be used to power atomic reactors, Iran's stated aim, or provide material for weapons if processed more.

Iran, which denies seeking nuclear weapons, wants major economic sanctions - including on its oil exports and banks - lifted and its right to enrich uranium publicly recognized.

Diplomats said one area where Iranian negotiators appeared willing to cede some ground was the demand that Tehran ship out some of its stockpile of 20 percent uranium, the sensitive product that powers worry represents an important step on route to making weapons-grade material.

One way to address the stocks could be for Iran to speed up conversion of the higher-grade uranium into reactor fuel. But that alone would not allay international concerns.

Jalili said it was Iran's "inalienable" right to refine uranium but that the activity could still be a subject for confidence-building cooperation. He did not elaborate.

The talks were held against a backdrop of flaring tension between big powers and North Korea, which like Iran is defying international demands to curb its nuclear program.

(Additional reporting by Zahra Hosseinian in Zurich, Dmitry Solovyov in Almaty,; Ari Rabinovitch in Jerusalem and Fredrik Dahl in Vienna; Editing by Stephen Powell)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/no-deal-sight-final-day-iran-nuclear-talks-070017525.html

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North Korea could bolster U.S.-China bond

WASHINGTON (AP) ? North Korea's latest outburst of nuclear and military threats has given the U.S. a rare opportunity to build bridges with China ? a potential silver lining to the simmering crisis that could revitalize the Obama administration's flagging policy pivot to Asia.

The architect of the administration's Asia policy described a subtle change in Chinese thinking as a result of Pyongyang's recent nuclear tests, rocket launches and abandonment of the armistice that ended the 1950-53 war with South Korea.

Pyongyang has taken similar actions in the past, prompting Washington to step up military readiness in the region to soothe allies South Korea and Japan. But in an unusual rebuke this week, Beijing called North Korea's moves "regrettable" ? amounting to a slap from Pyongyang's strongest economic and diplomatic supporter.

"They, I think, recognize that the actions that North Korea has taken in recent months and years are in fact antithetical to their own national security interests," former Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell told a panel Thursday at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

"There is a subtle shift in Chinese foreign policy" toward North Korea, said Campbell, who retired in February as the administration's top diplomat in East Asia and the Pacific region. "I don't think that provocative path can be lost on Pyongyang. ... I think that they have succeeded in undermining trust and confidence in Beijing."

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland described "good unity" between the U.S. and China in responding to North Korea.

"The issue here is to continue to recognize that the threats we share are common, and the approaches are more likely to be more effective if we can work well together," she told reporters Thursday.

President Barack Obama recently called China's new president, Xi Jinping, as part of an effort to brief the Chinese about American plans to take steps to deter the threats coming from the North, The New York Times reported on its website Friday night.

For now, the crisis has given new rise to the White House's decision to bolster U.S. economic and security in the region that for years was sidelined as a priority by war and terrorism in the Middle East and North Africa.

Much of the policy has centered on China ? both in strengthening diplomatic ties and economic trade. But China is an unreliable American ally and has been suspicious about the U.S. entreaty, which it sees as economic competition on its own turf.

Now, North Korea's threats have focused China and the U.S. on a regional security threat instead of an economic rivalry.

"Part of the pivot is to also take a more active interest in the security issues in Asia," Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., who chairs a committee overseeing East Asia, said in an interview this week. "And clearly, North Korea is the most difficult country and one that represents security issues for the countries in Asia, as well as indirectly affects U.S. interests."

"With North Korea making these noises, it will require the U.S. to deal with security issues in Asia," Cardin said.

North Korea has ratcheted up an almost daily string of threats toward the U.S., South Korea and Japan and moved a missile with "considerable range" to its east coast, South Korea's defense minister said Thursday. But he emphasized that the missile was not capable of reaching the United States, and officials in Seoul and Washington agree there are no signs that Pyongyang is preparing for a full-scale conflict.

Last year, North Korea launched two long-range rockets ? it claims they were satellites but were widely believed to be missiles ? and in February announced it conducted an underground nuclear test. A month later, the country declared its 1953 armistice with South Korea void. And this week, Pyongyang said it would restart a shuttered nuclear reactor and ramp up production of atomic weapons material, and began turning away South Korean workers from jointly run factories in the North.

Much of the bellicosity is seen as an effort to shore up loyalty among citizens and the military for North Korea's young leader, Kim Jong Un. But U.S. and U.N. sanctions against Pyongyang after the February nuclear test fueled tensions and began the unusually high level of threats.

It's also a response to annual U.S.-South Korean military drills that ? intentional or not ? antagonize the North. The ongoing drills have shown a conspicuous display of firepower, including flying American bombers and fighter jets in recent weeks over South Korea and off the Korean peninsula's coast, where a U.S. missile-defense ship also has been deployed.

North Korea's military issued a statement saying its troops have been authorized to counter U.S. "aggression" with "powerful practical military counteractions," including nuclear weapons. Experts doubt Pyongyang is able to launch nuclear-tipped missiles, although the extent of its nuclear arsenal is unclear.

China historically has been lax on enforcing international sanctions against the North. But in what the U.S. took as a positive development, China signed on to stiffer measures in the latest round of U.N. Security Council sanctions announced after the February nuclear test, and there are initial indications that it's increasing cargo inspections. Whether this will lead to concrete steps that will crimp North Korea's weapons' programs and illicit trade in arms, however, remains to be seen.

Patrick Cronin, an Asia expert at the Center for a New American Security and a senior State Department official during the George W. Bush administration, said Beijing also is helping set up back-channel negotiations with North Korea to ease the tensions.

But ultimately, he said, the U.S. isn't likely to succeed in winning China over as a reliable partner against North Korea beyond the current flare-up.

"There is an opportunity for the U.S. and China to renew cooperation on a North Korean strategy," Cronin said. "But we can't put all of our hopes on that cooperation, because it's been less than satisfying in the past. There are limits to how far China and the U.S. have coincidental interests with regard to North Korea. But it's not enough ? because, more likely, we're likely to fail."

Asia expert and peace activist Hyun Lee agreed that Washington will be unlikely to turn Beijing against North Korea in the long run. But she said China does not want to see a stepped-up U.S. military presence in the region, and Beijing certainly doesn't want a war on its borders.

China "doesn't want to deal with headaches like the tension between the U.S. and North Korea," said Lee of the Working Group for Peace and Demilitarization in Asia and the Pacific. "I think China is trying to restrain both sides."

___

Follow Lara Jakes on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/larajakesAP

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nkorea-aggression-could-strengthen-us-china-bond-072505915--politics.html

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Cash airlift helped avert Greek bank run during debt crisis: paper

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece's central bank had billions of euros of banknotes shipped in from other central banks to avert a bank run during the country's debt crisis as depositors withdrew their money, newspaper To Vima reported on Sunday.

Fears the debt-laden country might ditch the euro and return to the drachma led Greeks to pull out billions of euros of savings in the last three years, stashing their cash under mattresses or in safe deposit boxes.

"While many talked about a lack of liquidity in the economy, the cash circulating ... had no historical precedent," the paper said, citing central bank officials it did not name.

Central bank officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

Cash in circulation jumped to 48 billion euros ($62.32 billion), about a quarter of gross domestic product (GDP), in June 2012, from 20 billion before the crisis erupted, way above normal ranges of 6 to 8 percent of GDP in developed economies, the paper said.

To meet the high demand for cash, the Bank of Greece had loads of banknotes secretly airshipped from abroad, feeding it to banks throughout the country to avoid shortages that could have intensified worries and set off a bank run.

The Bank of Greece only prints 10-euro banknotes.

Greek banks lost about a third of their deposits after the debt crisis exploded in late 2009. Without access to wholesale funding markets, they came to depend on the central bank for their liquidity needs.

However, uncertainty has decreased over the country's future in the euro zone after a second round of elections in June last year, which led to a three-party pro-bailout coalition government and a return of deposits to banks.

Official data released last month showed 10.4 billion euros had come back to the system. Business and household deposits stood at 160.9 billion euros at the end of January. ($1 = 0.7702 euros)

(Reporting by George Georgiopoulos; Editing by David Holmes)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/cash-airlift-helped-avert-greek-bank-run-during-152713020--business.html

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San Francisco's 'other' bridge prepares to shine

In this Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013, photo,lights are turned on along the western half of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge on Pier 14 in San Francisco. The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge has been turned into the latest, and by far the biggest, backdrop for New York artist Leo Villareal, who has individually programmed 25,000 white lights spaced a foot apart on 300 of the span?s vertical cables to create what is being billed as the world?s largest illuminated sculpture. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

In this Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013, photo,lights are turned on along the western half of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge on Pier 14 in San Francisco. The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge has been turned into the latest, and by far the biggest, backdrop for New York artist Leo Villareal, who has individually programmed 25,000 white lights spaced a foot apart on 300 of the span?s vertical cables to create what is being billed as the world?s largest illuminated sculpture. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

In this Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013, photo, lights are reflected on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge on Pier 14 in San Francisco. The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge has been turned into the latest, and by far the biggest, backdrop for New York artist Leo Villareal, who has individually programmed 25,000 white lights spaced a foot apart on 300 of the span?s vertical cables to create what is being billed as the world?s largest illuminated sculpture. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

In this Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013, photo, Artist Leo Villareal poses for photographs as he operates lights on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge on Pier 14 in San Francisco. The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge has been turned into the latest, and by far the biggest, backdrop for New York artist Leo Villareal, who has individually programmed 25,000 white lights spaced a foot apart on 300 of the span?s vertical cables to create what is being billed as the world?s largest illuminated sculpture. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

In this Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013, photo, Artist Leo Villareal poses for photographs as he operates lights on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge on Pier 14 in San Francisco. The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge has been turned into the latest, and by far the biggest, backdrop for New York artist Leo Villareal, who has individually programmed 25,000 white lights spaced a foot apart on 300 of the span?s vertical cables to create what is being billed as the world?s largest illuminated sculpture. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? After more than 75 years in the shadow of its glamorous cousin, San Francisco's "other" bridge is getting a chance to shine.

The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge has been turned into the latest ? and by far the biggest ? backdrop for New York artist Leo Villareal, who has individually programmed 25,000 white lights spaced a foot apart on 300 of the span's vertical cables to create what is being billed as the world's largest illuminated sculpture.

Villareal, 46, whose previous installations have included an underground walkway at the National Gallery of Art and the Bleecker Street subway station in Manhattan, is scheduled to flip the switch on "The Bay Lights" with a click of his laptop computer on Tuesday at 9 p.m. Donors attending a private waterfront reception will see it set to music, but the work, which uses sequences of shifting light to produce an almost-infinite array of abstract patterns, will be visible to anyone with a view of the western half of the bridge for at least the next two years.

"People are attracted to light and they will respond in a variety of ways, even if they don't know anything about art, programming or technology," he said one evening late last month while fine-tuning the shimmering display from a pier next to San Francisco's Ferry Building. "It's really a wonderful piece of public art."

For Ben Davis, a San Francisco public relations and communications professional who conceived of the idea of turning the busy Bay Bridge into a 1.8-mile-long canvas, the $8 million project represents a long-overdue celebration of a conduit that has been eclipsed by the Golden Gate Bridge almost from the time its concrete set. It opened to great acclaim in November 1936 ? at the time it was the world's longest and most expensive bridge ? but lost the limelight with the opening of the majestic Golden Gate five months later.

"Those bridges are sort of like twins, one very beautiful, one very hard-working," said Davis, whose interest in the Bay Bridge was sparked by his firm's work promoting the soon-to-be-completed rebuilding of the bridge's earthquake-damaged eastern span. "For 75 years, the Bay Bridge has had this pleasure of being able to see the Golden Gate Bridge. Now, we are giving its sister something really beautiful to look at for a while."

Villareal, who studied sculpture at Yale and completed a graduate program in interactive telecommunications at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, "Bay Lights" has represented a sort of homecoming. After graduate school, he spent three years at Interval Research, a Silicon Valley think tank spearheaded by Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen.

But it was at Burning Man, the annual art and music festival in Nevada's Black Rock Desert, that the artist found his medium. In 1997, he built a light sculpture as homecoming beacon for his tribe's camp site. In the years since, his creations have been featured in galleries and museums around the world, although he still sits on the festival's board and attends every summer.

"People focus a lot on the lights, but in a way the most interesting thing about his work is that it's really dealing with algorithms, it's really about emerging software, unpredictable software," said Steven Johnson, author of "Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation" and a longtime friend of Villareal's. "Because of technology and software really being so central to the Bay Area, to have its great epic urban art project be fundamentally all about code, it's just pretty a much a marriage made in heaven."

Like many artists, Villareal is hesitant to delve too deeply into his creative process, preferring to let his audiences draw their own conclusions.

He said he drew inspiration from the bridge's surroundings, such as the bay waters that flow under it and the birds that soar above it, as well as from mathematical formulas and physics principles.

The finished product, he said, is something like the song-shuffling program on a mp3 player, only the "songs" ? his light sequences ? do not begin and end at the same point every time.

"It's been very painterly, really, a process of adding light and taking it away," he said. "My goal is for people not to worry about what they missed, but to really be with it and experience it."

Spectators who have seen Villareal working on the lights with his laptop in recent months already have been inspired to set their brief previews to music and post the results on YouTube.

"Bay Lights" is scheduled to be exhibited from dusk until 2 a.m. until March 2015. Organizers say they have raised $6 million of the $8 million for the project from private funding sources.

To raise money to keep the lights on, Davis has created a program that allows people to sponsor or name a light for $50 each. One family bought a series of them in honor of a relative who had worked as an engineer on the bridge for 15 years.

___

Follow Lisa Leff at http://twitter.com/scoopscout

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-03-04-Bay%20Bridge%20Lights/id-b35691a9cedb472d93b0d8b9de9d04a6

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RolePlayGateway?

In the beginning there was a large, empty universe. It held nothing but the Lords. The Lords had no names and they were lonely. One of them said to the others, ?Let us create something to fill the emptiness.? The others agreed. The first one made great balls of burning mass and named them stars. The second created the gases that fueled the stars. The third made large hunks of stone to keep the stars company so they wouldn?t be alone. The fourth made water to cover the rocks and calm their hot, newly formed surfaces. The Lords named themselves Fire, Air, Earth, and Water, respectively.

Soon enough the newly named Lords grew tired of their lifeless worlds. There was nothing to recognize the work they did, no one to appreciate their great feats. They made animals, but they were stupid beasts who couldn?t even speak. Each decided to create life in his own image on a specially developed planet.

Fire created the Sprites. Air created the Klika. Earth created the Werlan. Water created the Dragons.

Satisfied with their creations, the Lords rested and watched their children grow. All was well in the new world. Sooner than later the Lords grew prone to jealousy, however. Fire claimed that because he created first, both with life and matter, he was the greatest Lord. Air quickly retorted that no mortal creature could live without the harsh sun shielding gasses he provided. Earth rumbled angrily that he had made a home for all of their creations, making him deserve the most respect. Water, not to be outdone, argued that he should be revered by the creations because no creature could live without water.

The Lords couldn?t come to an agreement of who was the greatest among them. Then Water said, ?Why shouldn?t we each ask our people who they think is the greatest? That way we can settle this.? The other three agreed this was a good idea.

Each of the Lords went to their respective people and asked who they thought was the greatest. The creatures each thought that their own creator was the best of the Lords. This didn?t help at all. They argued more until Earth came up with an idea. ?We should combine our efforts to make a race of people. Then this race won?t be biased to any one of us.?

This was hailed as a better idea, so the Lords set out to work. Earth gave the new creature a body of clay. Air gave it a breath of life. Fire gave it a spark of ambition. Water gave it a spring of intelligence. They named this new race the Humans and set it off into the world.

The five races grew and expanded, fighting here and allying there. The Lords were content to watch for a while, for the Humans had to get accustomed to the world in order to decide which of the Lords? gifts they valued the most. Each Lord was confident that he would be called the best.

The humans, however, realized that the Lords wanted something out of them. They said to each other, ?Each Lord wants us to name him the best. Why not ask for something from each to help us decide?? This was regarded as a good plan.

When the Lords came down to the humans they asked to know which of them the humans thought was the greatest.

One Human, a man named Nar, said, ?I cannot know who the best is. What have the Lords done for me??

Fire, eager to be named the greatest of the Lords, gave Nar a hollow log filled with fire. Nar, satisfied with the gift, said, ?I say that Fire is the greatest Lord, but I can only speak for myself.?

?I am not decided who the greatest Lord is. They have never shown me any kindness,? a woman named Kipe said.

Wanting to show his brother that he wasn?t the only one who could be called the greatest, Air gave Kipe a sling and taught her how to use it. Thanking Air gracefully, Kipe said, ?I say that Air is the greatest of the Lords, but I too can only speak for myself.?

Angry at being out done, Earth showed another man how to fashion tools from stone.

Water, desperate to be called the greatest, showed a woman how to make a water holder so the humans could carry water from place to place.

At the end this the Humans left, satisfied with the success of their plan. The Lords, however, felt cheated. All of them were called the best, which made the title lose its specialness. They couldn?t help but feel flattered that the Humans recognized their power, but their problem wasn?t solved. Each Lord lay down to rest and regain strength. When they had recovered from the exertion of creating a world and its peoples they would resume their fight and determine which of them would be the Lord of the Lords.

This story is past now. It is widely regarded as a myth among all the races. Since that time ages have passed. Few believe that the Lords exist. The world has been named Nirkem. Many parts of it are populated by the five sentient races, many are not.

The humans, although they are the youngest race, are one of the most numerous. There are two main human kingdoms, Deonel and Kipen. A war is going on between them and they are about to unwittingly trigger something far, far larger than a fight between men.

They rediscovered magic. Magic was lost to the five races since the retreat of the Lords. There was very little record of it, but there were enough hints scattered across legends and bedtime stories for the humans to piece together the old power. Four parts of magic were discovered: Fire, Air, Earth, and Water. A gifted human could choose to study one branch, learning to manipulate the element.

The secret of magic leaked to the other races and each race discovered that they could learn to control the element of the Lord they were created by. As with humans, not every member of the other races could learn magic.

As the use of magic became more popular its human users noticed a change. The more a human used magic the easier it would be to use it and the easier it would be to get lost in it. A human who used too much magic would feel a beckoning call that would grow stronger with the amount of magic they used. This is the call of the Lord of the element of magic they use.

The rediscovery of magic has reawakened the Lords. When a human uses magic they let the will of the Lord bind with theirs until they become a creature of the Lord, called a nadasami. A nadasami looks no different than a regular human, other than that their eyes change color from what they used to be. A fire nadasami?s eyes will be red, an earth nadasmi?s eyes will be brown, an air nadasami?s eyes will be green, and a water nadasami?s eyes will be blue. They have more magical power than a human, but they have lost something greater: free will. While they still can think for themselves and make decisions, they are extremely loyal to their Lord. They do not truly lose free will, but they will put their Lord?s interest before their own, for they are creatures of the Lords. Should a nadasami desert his or her Lord the Lord will hunt them down.

How quickly a human magic user becomes a nadasami depends on how much they use magic. If a human magic user goes a day without using magic then the hold a Lord has on them will decline. The less hold a Lord has on a human the faster it will disappear. Once a human becomes a nadasami, however, there is no going back.

The existence of nadasamis is not well known, for magic was only recently discovered. Mages are used in the human war and they become nadasmis without anyone knowing, although some confess of strange sensations before they become nadasamis. The growing number of nadasamis has come to the alert of the mage leaders, though, so word is slowly spreading to stop humans from using too much magic.

The other races are immune to becoming nadasamis. Magic wise the strongest mages are the sprites, who can go beyond the power of a nadasami. The nadasamis are the second strongest, the werlan are the third strongest, normal humans the fourth strongest, the dragons the fifth strongest, and the klika the weakest as far as magical terms go.

But the human leaders of the war do not care about the diminishing humanity of their troops. They care about winning at whatever the cost. But what happens when the cost is far greater than they imagined?

The Lords still fight each other for dominance, becoming even more contrary than they were before. They will not stop voluntarily until one has beaten the rest. Their battles cause earthquakes and dangerous weather patterns, threatening the life of the world they created. Will they be able to make peace?

Nirkem:
There is a main continent on the planet Nirkem where this will be taken place, called Alteri. In the north of Alteri are the Durkada Mountains. A branch of them trails down into the northern human kingdom, Kipen. Kipen is the smaller of the two human kingdoms and it has less arable land, but its people are adept woodsmen and it has more access to raw materials given its heavily wooded state and mines. There is a big lake in Kipen known as Kipe?s Crater among the humans, due to its depth and the peculiar fact it is nearly a perfect circle.

Bordering Kipen on the south is the other human kingdom, Deonel. Deonel is more agriculturally based than Kipen, as well as having more cities and being more scholarly than its counterpart. It also borders the ocean to the east, so fishing is another large industry for Deonel. Deonel is mostly farmland.

Alteri is not covered by human owned territory. The other races have their own claimed territory, too. North of Kipen, in the Durkada Mountains, live the klika. The klika also have settlements in forests across Alteri, although their main population is in the mountains.

Sprites do not have a territory of their own, but share with other races, usually humans.

The werlan are nomads, living in tribes who travel the continent.

The dragons live in the various rivers and lakes of Alteri as well as the ocean. On the west side of Alteri is more ocean. The shore on this side is not much of a shore at all; high rocky cliffs line border the ocean on the west side. The only way to get a boat in and out on the west side is the Kerrar River, which is populated by dragons as well.

There are plenty of lands not claimed by the sentient races yet, and little is known about what populates those areas. One of the most infamous of places are the Gut Caves, located deep underground, perhaps spanning the whole of Alteri. They are known as the Gut Caves because they twist and turn much like intestines.

Another place is Embri Mountain, located to the southwest. This enormous mountain is an active volcano, occasionally blowing off smoke.

There is also the Zefen Tree deep, deep into the Durkada Mountains, farther north than anyone would think a tree could survive, let alone flourish. Yet flourish it does. This tree is immensely tall and thick, indicating ancient age.

To the north of Deonel and the east of Kipen there is a large, spring fed lake full of clear, icy cold water called Clarity Spring. In the middle of the lake is an island that is large enough that trees and some animals live on it.

Each of these four places has a shrine in/on it somewhere. In the deepest part of the Gut Caves is a shrine made of green-streaked-with-cream-color stone surrounded by large multi colored crystals. At the base of Embri Mountain is a shrine made of glossy black rock with a fire continuously burning on top of it. Somewhere in the upper branches of the Zefen Tree is a shrine made of a clear, glassy material that sings when the wind passes through it. In the center of the island in Clarity Spring is a shrine made of ocean blue stone halfway submersed in clear water.

These are the shrines of the Lords. This is where they are the closest to the mortal world and can communicate with mortals far more easily in their respective areas. It is not uncommon for a nadasami to make a pilgrimage to the shrine of their Lord.

Races

Humans: Typical traditional human. Need I elaborate?

Sprites: Sprites are humanlike in shape, but there are obvious differences between the two races. Sprites, for one, are shorter than humans, averaging at five feet in height. Their hair can be a wide range of colors, from orange to red to shocking white and rich yellow. A sprite?s skin is always very pale no matter how much they are exposed to the sun. Sprites have delicate, long fingered hands that are very dexterous and nimble, making them excellent at craftsmanship that requires precision and finesse. At the tips of their fingers are not fingernails but rather soot black talons that turn ember orange when their heart rate goes up. Sprites are more resistant to heat than humans and it takes more to burn them, although they are not immune to being burnt.

Sprites are creatures of quick wit and hot tempers. They can swing between emotions quite unexpectedly, making them unpredictable. They are vain creatures and love to be petted and praised. They are clever with their deft fingers and excel at making fine objects. Fire is their friend and they are fascinated with it. A popular competition among sprites is to see who can stand in a roaring fire the longest. Sprites love beautiful things and receiving gifts. If a sprite gives you something you better reciprocate the favor for they will get angry if you don?t. A sprite?s grudge can last a long time and they will wait for the best moment to get back at the offender. Sprites are clever and like to get their point across. However, if they think there is a better idea than theirs, they will go with the other idea instead and feel no self-chastisement for thinking a ?wrong? way before.

Werlan: As do the sprites, werlan share some characteristics with humans. Normally they take the shape of tall, bulky humanoids. They are a plain looking people characterized by dark hair and pointed ears. A werlan?s eyes are not set to any one color; their eye color varies with their emotions. No two werlans have the same set of colors for their eyes. Werelan are strong people, both in body and spirit. They have a nomadic society in which they travel the continent of Alteri, their territory changing with the season. There are seven different tribes of the werlan: the Snake, the Wolf, the Squirrel, the Horse, the Deer, the Bear, and the Badger. The werlan have the ability to change into the animal of their respective tribe.

If any one thing can be said about the werlan it is that they are patient. Like the earth itself they can weather many situations and still come out strong. This patience, along with their strong willed determination, is one of the most notorious qualities about them. Werlans are social creatures and enjoy being with other werlans, although they are wary of other races. They have excellent memories and will forgive but never forget. Werlans are loyal to those they align themselves with and they would never betray another werlan. With other races they are not quite as loyal, but still follow their word. Werlans have a great sense of direction and it is hard for them to get lost.

Dragons: The dragons of Nirkem are slender, wingless creatures built for aquatic life. They average at about seven feet tall. Dragons do not have scales but instead have smooth, supple skin to reduce the drag under water. This skin can range to green to blue to purple to black in color, as well as having patterns of florescent yellow. This yellow quite literally glows in the dark. Dragons? eyes have slit pupils and can be a wide variety of colors. Dragons have wide webbed feet and finned tails, great for swimming, although they have no opposable thumbs. They have gills on the sides of their necks so they can breathe underwater and they have lungs too. Housed in the mouth of a dragon are two rows of pointed teeth sharp enough to bite through steel if enough pressure was applied. Instead of horns dragons have flexible tentacle like things sprouting from the backs of their heads that are used to grip and touch objects. These tentacles, called grippers amongst the dragons, are not particularly strong but are very precise and sensitive. Dragons actually have taste buds on the tips of their grippers. Dragons can survive just as well on land as they can in water, for their slim frames lend themselves well to speed. Dragons do need more water than other races do, however, so thus rarely live far away from a reliable water source. Dragons also have very strong bones that are extremely hard to break.

Since dragons live underwater most of the time one might expect them to be ignorant of many of the happenings on land. This is not so for dragons are curious creatures and like to stick their noses in things even if there is a possibility those things might bite back. News spreads quickly amongst the dragons because many of the waterways that are connected and they have set up a postage system, which delivers messages for other races, too. When confronted with a fight a dragon is more likely to run than do any fighting unless it takes place in the water. Dragons often feel far more comfortable in the water than on land, although they can get used to living on the ?topside? as they call it. Dragons are generally social creatures that live in pods when amongst themselves. When with other races they will often gather a group of people together that they feel protective of. While they lack the appropriate physiology to make even simple things dragons are quite creative and quick thinkers as well as fast learners.

Klika: In shape the klika are perhaps most easily likened to large cats. An emphasis on large, because klika are on average nine feet long from the tips of their noses to the tips of their tails. They have opposable thumbs and surprisingly finger like digits on all four of their paws, although they are not as well developed as a human?s. Klika have thick fur with two layers, built for trapping warmth. The fur of the klika is usually dark in color, black being the most common by far. It is uncommon for a klika to have a pattern of any sort in their fur, but sometimes designs are in individual?s fur. These designs are usually in shades of white or light grey, although rarely blues and oranges are seen. Klika have compact, muscular bodies with most of their strength in their legs, specifically their hind ones. Klika can easily jump ten feet, whether horizontally or vertically. A klika?s eyes are probably one of the strangest out there as their eyes are a solid color without pupil. This color can be any hue and can often be the distinguishing feature of a klika to other races. Klika have excellent eyesight and hearing. As well as being able to run swiftly on four legs klika can also walk on their hind legs. When they do this they tower over other races, even the dragons.

Klika are generally aloof in manner and do not display emotion readily. This isn?t to say they don?t feel emotion; it?s just that in the klika society an adult is expected to be reserved and polite. Among them only cubs and immature people are supposed to display emotion. As is such, when exposed to other races they usually find others as childish before they get to know them. Klika have a hierarchical society based around the strength of an individual. A klika will often not obey someone they think is weaker than them. Klika constantly asses the strength of the others around them and are not afraid to challenge others for favorable positions in a group. Klika, unlike some other races, have a rough form of government throughout their race. They have a leader called the Relka situated in their main city, Flisk, in the Durkada mountains. The Relka?s job is to help settle disputes amongst the klika, deal with other races, and help decide the actions of the klika. Klika are blunt creatures who do not like to backstab or deceive. If a klika has a problem with you you will know it. If a klika is tired of taking orders from someone in command it is common for them to challenge them to a duel for leadership. Klika are just creatures and do not like to see innocent harmed, especially if those innocent are children. In informal situations klika loosen up some and are friendlier, although the habit of hiding emotion doesn?t disappear completely. Because of their society klika are great at putting on masks of emotion that hide their true feelings.

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Hello all. Thanks for spending the time to check this out. This is an idea I've had for a while, so I wanted to see how much interest I could get in it first before I created it.

Right now the plot is a little loose. I had an idea that there could be a group composed of a rougue nadasami or two and some representatives from each of the races to go to the shrines and collect some of the Lords' essences and use them to influence the Lords themselves. They would try to make the Lords not fight with each other any more. They could try to change the Lords to make them more human like. What do I mean by this? Well, the Lords are obviously inhuman (even more so than the non human races of Nirkem) and have different thought processes than the mortal races. They are little more than the elements they they are named after. This group's goal could be to force them to evolve in a sense to a higher state of conciousness that can reason and set aside differences. There could also be some people from the Lords who are trying to stop this group.

I am open to suggestions for ideas and feel free to ask questions if you have any. Feedback in general is welcome. Also, if you are interested, please express it!

I'm planning for this to be somewhat literate of a role play, meaning that I expect people to be able to write at least two paragraphs with good grammar. I understand if you are not impeccable with grammar. I know I'm not. But an effort is appreciated.

I hope to hear from you guys. Thanks again for checking this out!

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/RolePlayGateway

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