Black Isle
The Black Isle (Scottish Gaelic: an t-Eilean Dubh, pronounced [ən̪ˠtʲelan d̪̊uh]) is a peninsula within Ross and Cromarty, in the Scottish Highlands.
It includes the town of Cromarty, and such villages as Conon Bridge, Muir of Ord, Munlochy, Avoch, Rosemarkie, Fortrose, Tore, North Kessock, and Culbokie.
Description
Despite its name, the Black Isle is not an island, but a peninsula, surrounded on three sides by water – the Cromarty Firth to the north, the Beauly Firth to the south, and the Moray Firth to the east. On its fourth, western side, its boundary is delineated by rivers. The River Conon divides Maryburgh, a mile outside Dingwall, from Conon Bridge which is the first village on the Black Isle from the north-western side. Its southwestern boundary is variously considered to be marked by either a minor tributary of the River Beauly separating Beauly (in Inverness-shire) and Muir of Ord (on the Black Isle in Ross and Cromarty), dividing the two counties and also delineating the start of the Black Isle; or alternatively, the River Beauly itself, thus including Beauly in the Black Isle despite its official placement in Inverness-shire.
Black Isle's Torn
Black Isle's Torn was a role-playing video game developed for Windows by Black Isle Studios, announced on March 22, 2001 and cancelled in July of that year. The game was to use a modified version of the SPECIAL role-playing system, which had been implemented in the Fallout series. Developed on various editions of the Lithtech engine, Torn possessed features unseen in previous Black Isle Studios games, such as 3D graphics and real-time camera movement.
In Torn, the player assumed the role of a wanderer, who was cursed to bring misfortune to people and places around it. Under a king's orders, the player undertook quests to clarify a series of conflicting prophecies. Unlike several other Black Isle Studios games, the game was to take place in an original world titled "Torn" instead of a traditional Dungeons & Dragons location.
Gameplay
Torn was to use a modified version of the SPECIAL system; combat occurred in quasi-real-time, rather than strictly being turn-based. To achieve this, Black Isle Studios created the "recovery system", in which action points were used to determine the amount a combatant could accomplish in a given amount of time. Action points were spent with each action, and based on what percentage of an acting character's total action points were used, that character would need to wait a varying amount of time before taking action again. For example, if two characters expend half of their action points, they will attack each other at the same speed, regardless of the point totals for each character. Exceptions to this were to include recovery being hindered by movement, using items, or switching equipment, which was always allowed, though it reset the recovery time.
Podcasts:
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by Blue Foundation
Black S
by: Blue FoundationMy Kandora, you wander solemnly.
I linger,
I owe – what?
A hundred tides!
I'll wait, I know that
I'm native here.
My Kandora, your blood runs faster.
I linger
I owe – what?
My Kandora, the finest pellicle,
My loning.
I owe what?
A hundred tides!
I'll stay, I know that I'm native here.
I linger,
I owe what?