GM Text Vomit
Yeah, good job all around. I like having a lot of stuff left as unknowns. I'm impressed, with Steros as well. I'll put some WoT up on the blank sections later. Maybe try to have it filled out by the end of break, if I decide to drink a lot of coffee and not get school work done. Good chance of that much, at least, wiki or no wiki. I'm looking forward to diving into Mikos and Mythrian, who are sort of my favorite characters out of the mythology. Probably because, influence and creation wise, they're a 90/10 split in my direction instead of yours and bobs. (Oh, and C's, as well. Didn't she have a half elven kid she trained as a bodyguard or something? Maybe twins?) More Mythrian, actually, since I find his ultimate tragedy the most compelling. Namely, he never liked Alexandria growing up. She was sort of an outsider and aloof and quiet, and the just never kenned. It makes sense that he'd never really grew to like her. He was two years older, and male, and sort of the all-around athletic, personable, and martial one but ended up having her call the shots. She gets just sort of touch of fated into this huge destiny, and wanders off to mysterious places while Mythrian and Steros spend 10 years doing the grunt work of winning a religious civil war and forging a nation out of city states. To say nothing that, after ten years of working closely with Steros, the old man jumps right back behind Alexandria once she comes back. She gets to be queen of everything and, compared to becoming a literal godhead, his own destiny comes along (recovering the Hammer of the Eight and his dragon mount) as a small thing - a footnote in someone else's grand adventure. Not to mention that, while Steros and Mythrian were both Lawful Good, Alexandria was not - she was Lawful Neutral. I imagine Steros always erred on the side of lawful (in that he enjoyed enforcing laws) while Mythrian trended toward the good. I can imagine him as being uncomfortable being called on to build a religion around someone who he was always somewhat skeptical of morally. (And never being able to show that feeling, for fear of damaging legitimacy)
Not to say that he always felt that way at the time, necessarily, or felt it in a bitter way, but thinking again about the longest time of their lives being the poltiical and administraive part: all of these complicated feelings, then he gets to watch his adopted dad build a literal religion around this girl, then has to continue it himself!
Ha, that's true. I remember them being sort of warderish rip off bodyguard types, I like the idea that she really didn't have an attachment to them other than material. It'll be interesting to explore that characters personality, since I don't remember there being a strong one at the time. I like the snobby idea, actually, although I'd think of it more as a critical lack of empathy. I mean, just comparing lifespans, an elf's relationship with a human would be like a humans relationship to a dog or cat. It is literally incapable of thinking on the same frame of reference as you. It's also interesting to me in that all of the orphans grew up knowing each other, so from a point of view of these "lesser" characters, how do they feel about being press ganged into being a lifetime bodyguard for someone they are maybe ambivilant about? I'm thinking that, regardless of their feelings, both of them probably ended up going overseas with Alexandria on the pilgrimage. (If they were both there? I think that Marwynn came back by then.)
Dadtim. Ha. As I remember, Curtis' dwarf wasn't brought in with a prophecy hook. He came a session late or something, so his hook was independent but related: his nephew, who he was a frequent correspondent with after the death of the young lad's father, went missing. Dadtim showed up to investigate. I know curtis quit because he didn't like the setting (he was all about 7th sea which had direct historical connections he could make), but I imagine Dadtim just being sort of increasingly exasperated with all the religious nuttery and hairbrained adventures his nephew insists in taking part in, despite all good sense. I tihnk he probably just eventually decided the kid was old enough to make his own choices, and was clearly capable of taking care of himself, and just went home. So, yeah, kind of a prick, but also in the way that he's sort of an interested bystander who gets swept up in someone else's prophecy epic. He's not terribly vested in the whole campaign.
Also: finished Steros and Antioch. It's long and ugly, enjoy and feel free to polish.
Yeah, that is a pretty interesting take. Considering her returm to basically rule over the beginning of long elven withdrawl and decline makes an interesting contrast and even possible tragedy. (Is she ruling out of a sense of responsibility or retreating because ennui caught up with her after a life of grief and loss and violence?) Elven involvement would be a lot more difficult to have come by without her, that's for sure. I've tried to occasionally drop secondary characters in wiki entries and throwing brackets around them, to try and build up a stable of secondary people that can be flushed out or expanded on later as needed. Feel free to do the same, especially since there are plenty of orphans to have killed off or switch sides as a matter of pathos and conflict. Having them get killed off is a not bad outcome, especially considering they all go through a 10 year civil war. It's morally interesting to me, as well: you rescue these kids, then agree to raise them after their lives are wiped out, and you do some - only to raise them to be something that will almost certainly get them killed. How did everyone feel about that, or how did it make those kids feel as their childhood friends started getting wiped out because of this whole religious crusade thing. thoughts to ponder.
Eh, you might be right about distant, dispassionate authority figures, especially in regards to Antioch (old world). I don't really view the stable as being all of them distant and dispassionate. I've tried to mostly make them have some sort of growth and develoment, but sort of operated under the theory that all of these people who spent their lives dedicated to Some Greater Cause did so at the expense of "normal" socialization and interaction. Compassionate? Hmm. . . Well, let's see . Antioch: Started out, actually, as a rogue who UMDed his way after a lifetime of study into unlocking an Oblisk, which then bestowed on him huge arcane power, but only within a certain distance from the tower. That was, in fact, why he made his sword have a Sorcerer personality: so he could cast spells "on the road". His primary motivation was always intellectual - to study his nature and abilities, as well as the prophecies. In that sense, he would have given two shits about the actual administration of state, as state only existed as an entity to further his research. It makes sense he'd be a disengaged ruler, leaving things to ministers and burrowcrats. If we're going to try to classify people by theme, his biggest, I think, is a sort of humanist arrogance.
Mythrian: Is hardly distant, but I think his theme is that of responsibility. He toils to build a church dedicated to someone he never really personally got along with, yet for whom he continually sacrificed a great deal (including the last good dragon), both in combat and in peace, for his whole life, because it was the legacy of his adopted father and because he's essentially a good person who realizes it's the best way to promote common welfare and rebuild. He's set up the rules for arch-wardens and established a lot of the *long term* structures of the church. There's a good chance he was involved in an affair with Marwynn, which also doesn't strike me as dispassionate?
Steros: I think is a little more chase and aloof, but he's a much more intense guy all around. I see him as being sort of an Architect: He started out dealing in small time vengence, but grew to realize threats to civil society were far greater than exacting retribution for petty crimes, and ultimately the power of organizations best promoted law, order, and stability. He's always been about "justice", in one form or another, developing from the local to the global level. He's a powerful, forceful, ambitious figure from an early age, and his actual accomplishments outrun even his ambition early on. (It's one thing to want to be President, it's another to grow up to be literally God's Right Hand.) IF you think about it, he's the story of the Establishment Man. He grows up in the church, gets in good with the Powers the Be, learns adminstration from the ground level, and is assigned ever growing areas of responsibility until finally he's on the right side of a World War and, essentially, in Churchill's seat drawing up the new order. Except there's no Stalin, even.
The elves are dying off. They cannot help but be aloof, it is a lesson hard learned for them, and the only way to grow - intermarrying with humans - would destroy them in a more profound way, not to mention the demographics of that relationship have never been peaceful.
Well, I guess... where is the ambivilence in those you mentioned, and better yet - what form would a contrasting character to that take? There are still significant names left to be imprinted with personality. Kivan, for example, is probably sort of misanthropic outright, but I think for sure Dadtim Jr. is a very, for lack of a better word, "human" character. I think his feelings for her were the truest, all things considered, as he was really her only friend before Tragidore, and never abandoned her, right down to the explosion.
Yeah, add whatever flavor you want. A tarrot would be an interesting idea. Unsolicited input: If you plan on having suits, I'd consider that the church organzation has a martial origin and ultimately a martial organization and also that suit symbology should be something that is easy to write: one or two strokes maximum. One question to consider is who developed the tarot arcana, and when? If it came from a church background, then it would make sense than more arcane symbols (wands) might be replaced with something else (horses, say). If it came from an arcane tradition, well, I guess the suit would have different symbols.
Also: Would the images come just from the Alexandria story? From the beginning through the alexandria story? Or even up to the recent past? The answer will determine what images are available. Anyway, don't forget that the Quicksilver Dragon was a female. One of the two bodyguard twins was a girl. If you go back into pre-Alexandrian times, there will be more wimmins, and we can always make more as prominent anniciliary characters, especially in the murkier Prophet's War years.
You've also got a chubby for Gnosticism. In fact, it's wrong to call it a heresy, because heresy implies it grew out of a heterodoxy, when in fact gnosticism existed in a tme when there was no strict orthodoxy, and so was really just one rival claimant, essentially, for the title. You should read some of Ehrman's books on the topic: I recommend Lost Christianities. But, as far as applying the ideals of gnositicism to develop some heretical traditions, go ahead. There's already one out there - the Kelvinite Heresy - that lasted for about 5 years and got pretty big. It lines up pretty closely in the "secret knowledge" aspect, in that it began because Redzand the Clean (Mattie) met up with a time traveleing Bartley (Kivan) around the 10th century after Alexandria and Kivan pointed out all the inaccuracies (as he saw them) in the offical history. Redzand was also crazy about clean, and so there's plenty of room for weirdo rituals. Feel free to invent your own, as well, however, there's plenty of years to fill.
Also, if you want to think about it in historical terms, "control of divine spellcasting ability" would be the good kept scarce by the church in the same way "access to chuch canon" was used in the middle ages. The funny thing is that divine power doesn't just pop into people because they believe, but it is bestowed on a priest of paladin (meta?)physically. Likewise, it doesnt' fall off just because you do something "out of alignment", it has to be (meta)physically stripped, so once a heresy generates a critical mass of believers, it can start creating its own priests. A city made up of 25% lvl 1 shaman would be difficult to take in a siege. But, even if heretic leaders are taken out quickly, many low level priests could still operate, long after the main contingent of a heresy is wiped out.
Ah, yes. If you want me to do some more thinking about Riqtello, but I'm pretty sure she was assassinated by a disgruntled gnomes. (Political assassination is a gnomish trademark) Possibily for doctrinal reasons, possibly (at least in part) at fears that the chruch would become a dynastic rather than dynamic organization. Just as likely, or moreso, there was some sociopolitical dispute the church got on the wrong side of. Steros is looking good, which i think will be good for the party as well. The entries on the church and alexandria are stubs in the extreme, so when the Steros article is done, it will allow - for one example - the party's cleric to have some basic understanding what her church is about.
Also, you might want to also consider having aspects of pre-alexandrian mythology and important pre-alexandrian figures show up on the pip cards. The One of Swords, for example, could be Tedril Eladrith (the first murderer) or Eladrith's Blade if you wanted them to all be items and not people. Hadrian Ubrekt, the builder of the first empire, might be another option, or someone like Grannet Adlethor (founder of the Travelers) if you are doing early church history, too. If so, events like Exile of the Sidhe might have a place in there,
As for your face cards, I don't think Kivan would make a bad Jack of Hearts. He hasn't been mentioned much, but he was with Alexandria right up to the end. Teldar Stoneweld was the third arch-warden, before even Marwynn, which means he was a critical part of at least the crusades and was a church father, for your Jack of Obelisks.
re: Elves: In Marywnn's day, the elves were an active and involved people. They'd developed into the preeminent naval power on the mainland by Alexandria's day, and were in a solid, centuries long defensive alliance with Odessa. It was only after the Crusade that the elves started to withdraw, over the course of a couple of centuries, because they'd lost like 80+% of their (already small) population. That's not even enough people to maintain pre-Alexandrian elven civilization. Not to mention, considering how slowly elves must reproduce - especially compared to humans - engagement is a loser's game.
It's alright, though I hate having encylopedic detail on everything. I honestly always assumed long term motivations to be beyond the scope of a chaotic evil will. Of course, the inclusion of Shahugan kind of makes me care less about all that. After thinking about it, I realized the beauty of history is we can both be right. Changed and colored accordingly. Overall, though, I think that "less is more" really goes a long way, especially in something that was 1,400 years ago. Muddy the waters: obfuscate as you inform. I know you're a lovecraft and tolkien fan, but I'm ok with it having gone of out contact once the Shahugan got it - and possibly even caused them to be less of a presence due to internicene conflcit. (which is also a net good, since I'm overall anti-water races is a concept). Besides, if the item is intellegent (though I always presumed the bracers to be sort of the brains of the BlackSuit operation), the last thing it would want is to be constant tracked and traced. (Unlike, say, the Bracers, which are actively more, not less, poweful when exposed, at least to the right sort) So, I think you're right about it being a shadow force in operation somewhere, either as an intellegent actor or a joker-like force of general destruction, but I don't think a 1,400 year bullet point history of the thing is terribly fruitful. What is best is that that is left to the imagination, ya?
I like the general idea about Hadrian and his assassination though. Importantly since he was their SON, he was really the first or one of the first leaders who didn't actively engage in the battle. In fact, most or all such vets might actually be dead. Sort of the first generation of running things on what you were taught instead of what you experienced: not building a church, but inheriting an institution. As long as there's a church father or mother around, there's someone to look to for a solid answer. After that, it's all a little muddier. Reasonable some sort of heresy might spring out of that as the faith goes from dication to intepretation. You see the same thing in Islam even quicker, like 5 leaders and one generation in, which is actually a better example in this case as Islam, like Alexandrianism, is a top down constructed religion from the outset.
I'l leave most of the cards to you. I don't see why it needs to be done on the urgent priority list, and might actively improve on the backburner, as an expanding mythology will provide more options for cards.
After the war between the Eight and the Dark Lord, the eight sacrificed themselves to imprison the dark lord, vesting a portion of their divinity into their generals and high level followers so that humanity could have divine spellcasting (and also to act as divine mana batteries for the coming Omnity, but the demi-pantheon did not realize that part). So, for a time the demi-pantheon rule as actual people on earth, which turns out to be a complete disaster, as you could imagine. (Take the kings AND sages of the earth, give them divine powers and immortality, and imagine what kind of havoc goes down). To say nothing of the fucking, greek mythology style, with predictable results insofar as having half-divine bastard children running amok. Finally, when a couple of dwarves actually ASSASSINATED one of the Demi-Pantheon and grabbed his powers, they realized being directly involved in the world was a huge hassle. A large majority decided to vacate the realm of earth and go occupy the now vacant heavens. (Forcing the minority to go along with them. Including the two usurpers) As a note, the heavens were a bit of a fixer-upper, as it was heavily damaged in the war. In fact, most contemporary paintings of Alexandria place her among sort of gigantic ruins rather than an oppulent city, usually in dwarven or ancient Ubrekti style.
From that point on, the gods made it impossible for them to interact with the material world except through the their child prophets. This, obviously, helped Alexandria enormously since they could only sit by and watch as she took their powers and caused their ends. So, a major enough event I think, and with enough possible imagery and symbology that you can apply some meanings to it in that context.
In order to address concerns that the leadership of the church might become unhealthily dynastic (though dynastic itself was not seen as a problem), Mythrian created the Stone Warden, a magical statue that took the form of whoever the previous Arch-Warden was. It is loaded with divination/obscurement magic. The Arch-Warden tells the statue in confidence who the successor to the church will be. When he dies, the Warden reveals the successor. All of the Church Wardens (who are in one way or another hand picked by an Arch-Warden) may tell the statue Yay or Nay. If too large a percentage nays, the Statue asks for a roll call opinion, taking the person with plurality. It also means that the "heir apparent" can be left secret and changed at any time.
This worked well enough until a quirk of fate. The Arch-Warden's choice died several days earlier during the same event as the Arch-Warden. Since the trigger for the roll call vote happened after the reveal of the heir, which was an null string. It took a LOT of magical research and hacking to work that bug out. Paggnellot Hargadramd, the gnome woman in charge of the project was eventually elected by a strong plurality after it was fixed.
The first time the Nay vote actually went off triggered the second interregnum, which was a much longer and bloody affair. Thardar Speaker died and his choice was revealed to be Handen Hand, a not particularly beloved Halfling. Chicanary was suspected, or at least accused, and the vote went off. The pluralities were all so marginal the Stone Warden would not accept them, and soon the divisions became violent. An eleven year civil war ensued, beginning as thirteen factions that eventually whittled itself down to three: those that supported Hand (Hakan and the Gnomes and Gildenhome), those that supported Marrwyn Sablehand (a half-elf supported by Odessa and Alexia), and those that supported Landrik Thale (A human supported by Flannary and Celestia. Fresia during this time was plagued with internal war, as each prince favored different factions.). Since the Stone Warden required the living wardens all to be present for the vote, they had to be subdued or killed. Finally, the Cadrick faction allied with the Sablehand faction to beat out the Hands. Sablehand was annoitned, which ended the interregnum but not quite the war. The Thale faction was heavily favored in the new appointments (since many wardenships had been vacated by death), though when she finally bore a son later in life she granted him the arch-wardenship.
(which he only held for a couple of weeks, due to a plot by the grandson of Handen, Ratnot Hand that led to another church crisis, but that's a different story. Marwynn herself was Arch-Warden for over 100 years.)
Since the Second Interregnum, also, the statue no longer morphs to represent whoever last held the post. Instead, it seems to be an amalgamation of all the people that have ever held the post. (When one dies, the statue changes subtily yet perceptiably) This has led to it appearing to be a rather disconcerting figure.
I think it works best if Flannary took the territories that are now Fresia and Hakan with it, then Fresia broke from Flannary, it would also further cement the emnity between the two, which is supposed to be the most venomous on the mainland. I would say that Hakan remained a Ubrekti holding until the end, however, which would explain why Hakan was also it's own human kingdom, and why that nationality was descended from Ubrekti. (based on the langauge tree) I expect the initial break was something along the lines of the East/West split in the Roman Empire - initially for management purposes that quickly grew to conflict. (After all, flannari is a branch of ubrekti - so the split was between close, not diverse, groups. It also explains why the Flannari got so much land, as well as why they consider themselves an ancient culture (like the Greek/Byzantine/Classical connection)
- Ubrekti Empire unifies all of the mainland except for Gildenhome, Petara,
and the Elven Lands (Alexia).
- Is divided into two administrative halves.
- Civil War! Ubrekti Empire, Flanari Empire. (Hakan is kept by Ubrekti as
colony to trade with dwarves.
- Fresian states break from Flannary.
- Odessa Break from Ubrekti
- Ubrekt finally lose hold of Hakan (the two connected, perhaps, by some
ancient and powerful waygate?), the final dynasty colapses, and the government is restructured by the prophetess of the Goddess of Peace, the followers of whom inherrit the remaining territories (what is now Ubrekt)
This was all before reading the thing you wrote, so we can synthethise as needed, though mine is at least BACKED IN RESEARCH!
ALSO: Slavery in the Mainland: Petarans and Dwarves (who force kobold and goblin slaves harvested from the Scar to do their agriculture for them)
Hakan was originally a Gnomish state, conquered by Ubrekt. They paid off the dwarves to assimilate the gnomish refugees, and colononized the shit out of it. (The origins of the Hakni humans) Perhaps Hakan is the only source of some ore, so Ubrekt kept some of it after the split and civil war. The Western Ubrekti probably helped the Fresian uprising, so if anything their control of Hakni territories became firmer after that split, not le so.
Dwarves use kobolds and goblins coerrced by force.
Petarans use a weird sort of religious servitude where they capture people in the Ulan then basically say Convert and you don't have to be a slave! OH, and to prove you mean it, you have to work faitfully for 10 years after declaring your conversion. (Course, then your master has to buy you some expensive crap and set you free.)
Well, good point. I teach the kids that Feudalism is the political system, It deals with the relations of power between the king and the aristocracy. It is highly decentralized : it is based on direct loyalty to whoever pays your tab, rather than to "the crown" or "the nation". Manorialism is the economic system - the production and distribution of good. It deals with the relationship between landed nobility and the peasantry. Though, since land is the real currency of feudalism, the two are highly related.
Fresia is good for a few things besides beer. Fresian craftswork, like shoes and tools and chairs and stuff, is all really top notch because the guild system in Fresia is quite strong, even though the political ties are weak. Also, they have a lot of raw materials from mines in the mountains, as well as timber from their lots and lots of forests. So, yeah, right along the line of what you were thinking. I like the idea of odessan tropical wood bows being the key to their longbow dominance, and if anything I think Fresians are going to be more about axes. (They probably make great Tools That Are Also Weapons - knives, hammers, axes)
The short of the whole Divine Blooded thing:
After the First War (between the Eight Makers and the Dark Lord), several (a few dozen) of the major generals and aides-de-camp of the Eight were elevated to demigodhood to manage divine power. This was the original game world from college that ended up being wrecked as the climax of the Alexandria campaign with a standard decentralized pantheon of multiple gods dedicated to specific spheres of influence.
For a time, they resided on the material plane and managed things directly. They also did normal stuff like sleep around and cause drama, as one can only imagine when a few dozen people are elevated to ultimate power that all know each other but may or may nor get along. Reality TV stuff. So, they eventually withdrew from the world and put back up the barrier established by the Eight. (But, of course, being made by something greater than them, they couldn't pull it back down again, and so could only watch helplessly as Alexandria stole their power and live) So, during that time, there were several half-human/half-divine babies, many of whom ended up founding cities - ancient greek myth style. Lots of them were extingished, but several are still active and demonstrable - the Flannary is one, the Odessan is another. (The Odessan throne ALSO has ties to Elven nobility through the same line - the goddess of Love, who was of Elven derivation as a mortal)
Hadrian was one of those, tied to the god of War. (Go Figure.) He and his descendents forged all of the Human nations (plus Gnomish and Halfling territory) into the Ubrekti Empire. His line was extinguished during the last War of Fracture.
The house of Veromii was probably a cousin line to the Ubrekt - which became a title passed between the titualar family heads of oligarch families descended from Hadrian - more than a family name proper. I'd say that the Ubrekt was a dynastic line for only a few generations before it became more of a military head, while the military proper would be dominated by Hadrian's extended family, including those who were "adopted in" during the early campaigns. Veromii probably was one such adopted line.
Hahaha, nice! It's funny, forgot Germaine was Fresian. I wonder if on the very borderest areas of the two (which you may or may not be from), if the people aren't sort of ambivilent about both sides, if they're basically getting the honor of hosting a battleground between two perpetually waring states, for their own ostensible benefit.
http://wiki.memphisgamers.com/index.php?title=Marrwyn_Collar
There is actually a list of universities with origin dates :
http://wiki.memphisgamers.com/index.php?title=List_of_Universities
Most are quite old by this time, yes, at least 1000 years. When founded, the earliest at least, all tended to have very focused specialties, that eventually grew into the more full blown campuses that we have in the present. Even the youngest (Dwarven) was founded ~500, which would have been 900 years before present campaign time. The first of the modern string of Universities was Antioch's University of Hakan, which he founded after unlocking the Obelisk, in order to study it's properties and magic in general. (His greatest secret : he was a ROGUE who used UMD to "hack into" an obelisk*, then needed to learn arcane magic PDQ after the fact to maintain his position as "Sorcerer King." He eventually did, of course, become a legitimate Arch-Mage in his own right)
It showed a lot of success over the first half century, and inspired by their example, the High Preistess of Ubrekt established the University of Ubkret, which was initially oriented more historical and sagecraft, particularly into Ubrekti Empire and associated things (The pre-Demipantheon world). Flannary started one about 50 years after that, which from its origins was far more expansive in scope and focus.
The Petrans, perhaps independently, though probably not, set up a school in 75 BI for the purposes of warcraft (naval and land based), and 50 years later, followed up by establishing one dedicated to Art (Arcane and Mundane) and Philosophy (which would later grow into a school of divinitry, as well, once Divine magic was practiced there).
So, I guess universities can be divided into "Pre-Alexandrian" (Those listed above - the oldest, most storied, and most prestigious. Except for Petra, maybe, because they're all morons and we all hate them.) and "Alexandrian", which were formed as part of the religious unification plan drawn up by the Second Stand - so all the Alexandrian school started out at first as religious schools that later developed into other areas, whereas the PA one started out with some other focus and later had a religious aspect grafted onto it. (In the Case of the University of Hakan, the "graft" did not take well at all. They are a pretty secular society.)
- This is why his own powers with the Obelisk were so miniscule compared to
Marrwyn, who opened hers the "correct" way (by being the correct race and class, plus knowhow). Antioch could level armies 50 miles from an obelisk, Marwynn could wipe out regions 200 miles away.
