Lums discussion.

[RetroVideoGameNerd]

I dunno. I just seem to like the ones we already have. Rainbow Lums would be awesome! Like the Starman in Mario, where it flashes colors.
Sorta colored like Rainbow Mario in SMG2, in the below image!!!

[Serza5]

I don't know I just thought of the random idea that when picked up, it would have a different effect every time (like healing or power up or something like that).

[PrincessAmber]

I don't know I just thought of the random idea that when picked up, it would have a different effect every time (like healing or power up or something like that).

Like a random lum generator or something?

[Serza5]

Yes, like the ? boxes you get in Mario.

[PluMGMK]

The French RayWiki claims that black lums aren't made of energy. I don't believe this for one second, but now I'm wondering if there was an official source stating this?

Boomboleros7 has now confirmed that this is unfounded.

Basically the final phase of the Reflux fight demonstrates that the Principle of Conservation of Mass-Energy applies in the Glade. Energy from the Leptys is channeled via the Sceptre and turned into black lums, which are ejected quickly. Their kinetic energy is converted into Hoodblaster costumes when they land (okay that's taking it a bit far, but seriously the costumes appear out of nowhere!). Then they are all converted into life-force upon touching Reflux.

[PrincessAmber]

Hm, what about a type of lum that created lava, fire, any type of dangerous liquid? Sounds a bit dumb and farfetched but what do you guys think?

[Master]

If we're going by the elemental theory, it could be that these elements are subsets of the main lum elements (Yeah, I'm pretty much going all Avatar on this, aren't I?)

[PrincessAmber]

Possibly I guess, I just don't peronally think lums are really connected to elements, it sounds odd when you look at Rayman's world.

[Bradandez]

I wouldn't say so. I have to agree with Master here.

[Master]

The elemental idea is Plum's, given that they've never been defined, we all can make our own ideas, personally the way I see them is:

Yellow = Knowledge/Power
Red = Vitality
Blue = Life
Purple = Space
Green = Time
Silver = Synthetic
Origins/Legends = Base type, which when fused, make the other types.

That being said, I certainly enjoy comparing and understanding the reasoning behind the ideas of others, and while it might not be my perspective, I do like Plum's idea.

[PrincessAmber]

The elemental idea is Plum's, given that they've never been defined, we all can make our own ideas, personally the way I see them is:

Yellow = Knowledge/Power
Red = Vitality
Blue = Life
Purple = Space
Green = Time
Silver = Synthetic
Origins/Legends = Base type, which when fused, make the other types.

That being said, I certainly enjoy comparing and understanding the reasoning behind the ideas of others, and while it might not be my perspective, I do like Plum's idea.

That sounds pretty good actually, similair to mine in a way, although most of them I got from our wiki. Synthetic eh? I always wondered what Silver Lums even do in Rayman's world except from giving him powers. Do the fairies just make them out of thin air or do they need a lot of energy or other lums to even make them.

[PluMGMK]

Possibly I guess, I just don't peronally think lums are really connected to elements, it sounds odd when you look at Rayman's world.

Well, the elements are by no means alien to the Rayverse. The four masks correspond to the four elements. It seems a bit muddled in the game, but looking at some of the texture names, it was clearly the intention of the developers.

Anyway, how about "base lums"=Tings? They've retconned quite a lot already, and it makes more sense than these "base lums" appearing out of nowhere.

[PrincessAmber]

I can see tings being little shards of energy, so yeah I'm gonna go with that actually, tings being just energy, atleast on my list. But what explains the blue colour though.

[Master]

Hmm, so we're theorising that the Tings are interchangeable and are the same as the RO/RL lums?

[PrincessAmber]

Yes. I think tings are possibly only available in The Valley, and that there's some kind of force or magical power there that makes them tings. Outside of it would just be regular lums for as far as we know, I like to speculate about The Valley in general. Hell maybe tings are an even earlier version of the RO/RL lums.

[PluMGMK]

Spiraldoor has previously explained that the Valley is not a real place… It's just stylistic differences between the games.

[PrincessAmber]

Well that's true I guess but it does kill our fun little theories.

[PluMGMK]

I don't know, I prefer not having the Valley as a separate place. Otherwise I wouldn't have been able to make the theory that the Blue Mountains and the Land of the Livid Dead (R3 version) might be in similar geographic locations.
It can be a lot more fun when we don't segment the world.

[Shrooblord]

I like the idea of Tings being little fairies trapped inside magic spheres, detailed as such in the Rayman GBC game.

Now, as far as regular Lums go, I'm pretty sure nobody's waiting for me to explain myself again in a long-winded matter like I did before, but I'll indulge in thinking of new Lums instead.

And while we do so, why not include what I will be putting in my game, whenever that comes out. Perhaps that interests you. Perhaps you're sick and tired of me talking about it. Either way:
Yelllow Lums form into Super Yellow Lums when they cluster together - big, energised beings of light that appear to become recognisably alive; they get faces and they turn to face Rayman smiling when they see him close by.
Considering that, actually (yes I'm going off on yet another tangent again), think of how the Yellow Lums sing when Rayman is near, or how some Red Lums start enthousiastically dance around their spot. Are Lums not already alive, then, maybe? Perhaps their focussed Energy alone is enough to create life in themselves. I don't know why I never even considered this before, considering they do have wings already.

Anyway, back to Super Lums:
Similar to how many Yellow Lums form one Super Yellow Lum, many Red Lums may gather to form a Super Red Lum and similarly, many Blue ones will form a Super Blue Lum, etc.. Now I'm not comfortable disclosing what these curious beings would be doing yet, except that they will be performing an 'enhanced behaviour' of their smaller selves; so Red Lums will be chock-full of vital Energy and Super Blue Lums will give breath to more things than only life...

As another type of Lum, there is the Pink Lum. To quote myself here - 't is really the best way to describe them:

Pink Lums show what is unseen. They reveal secrets and expose hideouts.

Fairly simply said, they are basically there as a mechanic to have the player wander over somewhere and start investigating. A clue, if you will, to the fact that there may be more to the area than meets the eye.
Lore-wise, it gets more interesting when you find a Super Pink Lum:

Super Pink Lums are mysteries. They can create, remove or reshape things and alter events yet to come. Once encountered, they can change the world around you.

The Energy coagulated into Pink Lums can probably most accurately be compared to the force of entropy in the real world; they are random, chaotic, unpredictable, and have the ability to change everything simply by being there.

And then there's Spirit Lums:

Spirit Lums are the accumulation of dozens of Lums of the same kind. Together, they are the simplest form of conscience.

Basically, sentience is achieved into a pure body of Lums if they focus themselves together into groups of their own, rather than as groups of all other kinds as well to form a 'normal' lifeform.

===

All this makes me wonder what makes up a body of something living in Rayman's universe - if it's purely Lums, which Lums and how many are needed where to form what parts of a body? How do creatures have such a wide variety of shapes and forms if the same amount of the same Lums make up all living things, if there is only one needed of each kind? If there are multiple Lums involved, how come then, you can have a species? Are bodies more than 'just Lums'? Is the physical world really a flow of Energy, trapped in solid form - do we walk on the bodies of trapped Lums when we traverse the plains beneath our feet? Or is there something... else?

PS
Obviously I'm basing my 'are Lums alive?' realisation on Rayman 2 experiences - I never even considered Origins basically turned Lums into creatures as opposed to mystical lights. But then again, I don't hold Origins very accurate for many things in Ray's universe, but that's just because I don't agree with most of its views.

[PluMGMK]

Well, even Rayman 3 shows that Lums (Lumz?) are alive.

As for "trapped lums", I like to think of it as daisy-chains of miniature purple lums (or perhaps not even miniature), perhaps with other kinds filling in the empty space to give it a characteristic appearance. I don't know if that qualifies as "trapped" or not. But then again, that's probably me talking with the bias of my element idea. Ah well.