|
   The world has broken apart. Made Gods and ancient theurges, wrathful angels and Uncreated Night, all have struggled over the wreck of Heaven, leaving behind lesser inheritor nations and broken Realms. But there is something new in the world. People, great or small, enlightened or mundane, have occasionally woken to divine might. Four years ago, the man now called Butcher of Soldiers was the sole survivor of a great battle... where his force was outnumbered six-to-one. Three years ago, in deepest winter, Saint Clarice walked through a blizzard and healed a doomed, plague-wracked village. Two years ago, the infamously corrupt Carroway merchant family turned out into the street, weeping, confessing their misdeeds, inspired by an unknown vigilante. In the last year, reports have multiplied manyfold. The ancient ways of magic and tame supernatural aid have butted heads with these new heroes (or villains), with mixed reults, overturning ages of assumptions about what was safely unassailable. Their puissance is unquestionable. Their wisdom is in doubt. Their struggles for dominance... well, one hopes those are overblown. And, now, this destiny has come for you. This is a discussion thread for a closed-recruitment Godbound game. We'll be creating PCs as normal for first level, but also the world as a part of it. Instead of Arcem, we'll make our own Realm, with its own nations and situations. I'm happy to keep the supernatural side of the setting (Heaven, Hell, Uncreated Night, theurgy, Made Gods, etc) unless people want a change, but a homebrew Realm more closely related to our PCs appeals to me. The first round of discussion can be concepts for PCs, the world at large, and how the pantheon came together after their recent ascension, then move into initial scenario and situation. Things to discuss: What's the general technological/magical development of the world like? What are the major nations of the Realm, and what are they like? Who lives there? What interesting social structures do they exist in? What sort of failures of celestial engines and natural problems exist in our world? What sort of political and human-derived problems are foremost in people's minds? How do the PCs connect to all the above? What was the feeling and sight of becoming Godbound? Was it gradual or swift? Visually dramatic or wholly internal? Mechanically, there's a few things I'd like to suggest and see what people think about it. First of all, experience: doesn't exist. You level solely by the gathering and spending of Dominion, and the party levels together. Deluxe Edition add-ons... nothing here really appeals to me except possibly Strifes, which I'm ready to be swayed on one direction or the other. Maybe also Divine Supremacy/Paradise rules, if it becomes relevant.
|
#
¿
Nov 24, 2016 05:43
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 26, 2024 02:20 |
|
|
Not so much a bunch of deities. More the fantasy Beatles.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 25, 2016 06:37
|
|
|
So, a few other things I'd point out: we need some proper nouns. We need to figure out the name of the PC's immediate nation/location, as well as those surrounding them, and maybe the world at large could use a name. Although backgrounds and stories may have hinted at some stuff, we may also want to be a little clearer on the local climate/terrain/weather patterns. On the Discord chat, we also floated the idea of technology being slightly Legend of Korra/Nausicaä in its feel. To my mind, that suggests that in the more advanced cities things have a Korra-style shininess to cool toys, but things look more weathered and a bit more organic a little further away. We also should probably more explicitly define how the PCs know each other and what they're doing together to start. But that's probably enough to get rolling after that! e: Trix has suggested this as a starting map, with probable renaming of points of interest: https://twitter.com/unchartedatlas/status/808956484205867009 ZeeToo fucked around with this message at 06:55 on Dec 15, 2016 |
|
#
¿
Dec 15, 2016 06:41
|
|
|
So, here's my current take on our setting, as I try to accrete what people have pitched. Feel free to suggest changes, in whole or part. The realm of Maercia is a slightly unusual one: at the Shattering, when the Former Empires fell, farsighted groups took to the background. They knew that their ancient arts were likely to twist or break, but they may still hold some of their former potential. So, as inheritor nations rose up from the ashes of the Last War, there were already organizations to support them, seemingly without any agenda of their own. The centuries since have seen the population settle into this as an expected way of life. The Sodality of Annals, the Roadsmen, and more are known, and largely accepted... because they so rarely interfere with the plans of their political overlords, and some, like the Roadsmen, perform valuable services. The broad, flat, extensive roads and complicated canal locks of Maercia are the work of the Roadsmen, and much trade and travel is because of their work. Beyond the reach of the Roadsmen are the far places of the world, and it's here where stories occasionally bubble up of some great hero with secret knowledge and powers. Many a noble's tame wizard or wandering hero have come from the badlands surrounding the volcanic chain known as the Red Queen's Forge. Maercia is split into many city-states. Each city-state has its own web of connections over weaker, handy city-states and owes something to larger, more distant ones, with small farming villages and fishing thorps on one end of that scale and the Six Great Cities at the other, owing little to each other save webs of influence and occasional wars. Jibu is a caste-stratified, slave-holding state. It's the oldest of the inheritor city-states; the ruling Basileus or Basileia can claim an uninterrupted line of succession to Ancient Jibu, one of the Former Empires who were lost in the Shattering. Right to rule and many of the powers of office is invested in a mighty artifact known as the Orb of State. It's said that this is the still-beating heart of a Made God Jibu created for the Last War, but whether that is true or not, it rejects usurpers and grants its chosen rulers a variety of powers to call on. Jibu's various nobles own most of the rest of the populace, who are required to stay with their lands and work, barring special dispensation. Only a small middle class persists outside of this. Large standing armies and an upper class that's good at keeping their oppression just barely this side of inciting rebellion have kept Jibu's system running, so far. Kelos is a city founded by the one semi-successful slave rebellion out of Jibu, who fled and made peace with the nomads who had previously followed a seasonal path along the banks of their major rivers. Kelos became their permanent settlement, but the ability for the common man to move freely along their lands is still an important one to their culture. Their weight of arms is a counter-balance to Jibu, but few of their client nation-states are much more enamored of them. A Kelosian community is willing to accept travelers, but only if they integrate immediately. Still, though, Kelos is known as a somewhat mystical place; low magic traditions are stronger here than anywhere else, as is a variety of religions. For as much as a community doesn't want to accept outsiders who believe something else, Kelosians are still willing to feel kinship with those from another town over who believe something very different. Seafaring Nara is the merchant prince of the world, with their "coaler" ships moving from port to port with a speed overland travel just can't match. Although these wooden-hulled vessels are still mostly driven by sail, the fact that they can apply a coal-driven engine when needed is a large advantage. Nara has little central government; its trading clans operate on their own, in a winner-take-all fashion, meeting in council only to determine areas of responsibility, usually in the form of who gets trading rights in what area, or for what good, or both, in exchange for doing other duties like neutralizing pirates. A Nara trading vessel is its own world; it carries craftsmen, accountants, armed men (for defense, only... of course), and as often as not the fully families of at least some of its crew. Nara are officially stringently adherent to their trade, and by and large this is true. All too many pirates or conmen use this reputation to trick prey into lowering their guard... and some Nara return the favor by sometimes pretending to be such impersonators. The Forest of Silence contains the Tree of Life (Place 2 on the map, for both) in its north-western reaches. A place of truly towering great trees and improbably balanced outcrops of land, most of the Forest is home to rare few humans who've lived here for generations and... no other animal life. Spirits of animal dance phantasmal dances in the quietness, but rarely is anything but the natural noise of flowing water heard here. Or, at least, that's the official story. The Tree of Life is much more positively regarded; here is . Maercia is lucky, all things considered. Its natural laws are more intact than some, though often in somewhat twisted form. The centuries since the Shattering have given the chance to redevelop some things, and adapt others to the modern theurgic and technical environment. In the more advanced cities, a gilded age is taking hold, as the ultra-rich install and take advantage of more advanced communications and even self-propelled "auto-wagons" that tend to be lavishly decorated. Outside of this, in the wilder areas where things are more run down or where ancient wonders might just be dug up and restored for the first time, things look far less pleasant, and take on more of a wretched pallor. Ancient Jibu and Old Yamatai did not go in for aesthetics. In war, these nations field mostly infantry, some armed with melee weaponry such as pikes or axes and shields, some armed with their favorite missile weapons such as crossbows or slings. Cavalry, siege engines, and war mages of various calibers are far from unheard of, but rarely are seen as the backbone to a force. The most prized weapons are the "longarm sparks" of Ancient Jibu and Old Yamatai. Stocks of old longarm sparks still exist, as do a trickle of new creations, since the necessary low magic was rediscovered in the last few decades, but the slow-firing, muzzle-loading weapons seem oddly resistant to general use in the modern world. Making each function is a charm that seems to be completely unique to the individual weapon, with little overlap. In use, they emit a characteristic cloud of brilliant sparks as they throw their payload, which is usually cold iron inscribed with whatever curses the creator can manage. Very few of these are actually any more efficacious than mere words. Of course, Maercia is unlucky in other ways. A Realm-wide curse, courtesy of a haywire celestial engine, cracks open reality when song or music is employed without care, and Uncreated Night can slip through these cracks. The Church of Chorus is the biggest and most pervasive religion across all the land, due to its consecrations providing the opportunity to enjoy these without fear. Naturally, the Chorus' doctrines revolve around community and togetherness, but on the downside they demand sacrifice and suborning the individual for something greater. The exact form of this can vary, but their command of such a broad range of human enjoyment means that the Chorus is often intimately intertwined with political rule. The upper boxes at a concert-mass hold the elite, who then meet with each other and a few of the Chorus for private devotions and less formal avenues for the elite to rub elbows and make arrangements. Mitama, I went ahead and fleshed out "the Forest of Silence" based on... nothing but that name, the pic you linked me, and combining it with ProfessorCirno's Tree of Life. Comrade Gorbash, it looks to me like you took Effort of the Word? I don't see it listed, though. Pick a Word you took it under! Also, with the release of the Ancalia book, we have knightly orders. Did you want to make your second fact give you access to one of the knightly orders' effects? Staticpulse, wanted to check and make sure you're good with where the Iron Mountain Hermitage is implied to fit into the setting, given your goal. ProfessorCirno, same thing I threw at Mitama. Combined two foresty bits. They can easily be perceived as "the same place" even if some distance of wilderness separates them, if the Forest of Silence is sufficiently menacing to enter. Or, if the Tree of Life is supposed to be ancient instead of Raoh's immediate backstory (I wasn't sure, and thought it was probably very recent), it could be the section of the Forest that's much more positively regarded and safe to enter, but is otherwise still just part of the Forest. The Tree of Life was the starting place, but the wild trees now have spread beyond it to the south-east and are less accepting.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 3, 2017 07:06
|
|
|
We should probably also figure out how the PCs know each other. That would probably be enough to get us off the ground.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 4, 2017 04:52
|
|
|
Okay, the Tree of Life can just be to the north-west of the Forest of Silence and the terrain between them is arbitrarily sized and definitely unfriendly. As far as going too far... I don't think so, no, as long as you're willing to have the Tree of Life be something that's currently still a bit uncertain. Without Influence/Dominion spent on it, the Tree is a potential source of drama, just like any other project a Godbound gets up to and then abandons. How long has it existed in its current state, though? Just a few years, or is this something that's been going on long enough that The Girl is more a figure out of legend than a currently active figure?
|
|
#
¿
Jan 6, 2017 17:46
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 26, 2024 02:20 |
|
|
Game thread!
|
|
#
¿
Jan 16, 2017 08:37
|
|