Talk:Odessa

Kib Absold uses a polearm, and an attachment is growing around that style of soldierly combat. Perhaps this could become canon for the Odessan armed forces in general (the Swedes of this Realm)?

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Afraid the pole arm is spoken for: you're looking for the Sentinel of Alexia. Odessan armies are longbow-fueled. (The kingdom, in the far past, had an alliance with the elves). Though, as it turns out, it's widely known the Doge of Alexia, and pretty much Alexia itself, is actually an Odessan puppet.

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ODESSA RULES.

I can dig that. I'll just presume that I led pole-armed infantry divisions that supported the longbowmen.

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Currently, Kib's origin is "somewhere in Odessa". Can we nail that down any? I'd picture him as probably being from the capital, or from the metropolitan area of the capital, given his father's past and current achievements and predicaments, but what would that place be like? Is it an inland city with a large river access, or is it a port town? Has it been the capital for quite a long time, or is the seat of the Monarchy relatively new to the area? What's the racial make-up of the area? Is everyone Alexandrian, or are there significantly large groups of people who worship something else? - Slitherrr 23:26, 18 September 2009 (EDT)

- I think I accidentally deleted Matt's text? Eh, who cares. He's been getting a little bit cheeky lately.

Man, way to keep me honest! I warn you, as Matt can attest, questions like these have a 60 percent chance of summoning a Wall of Text that lasts for one turn per level. As it turns out, some of these actually have canonical answers.

Capital of Odessa is Cebridon. I have included a map that should answer most of your questions. [1] It has been the capital for quite a long time. Generally speaking, the world is conceived, essentially, as static one, where institutions cling together in a moribund stasis until the center cannot hold and a general realignment occurs. Like shipwrecked sailors clinging desperately to ever shrinking amounts of usable flotsam. War here is a Game of Kings more often than Total War, which means political borders do not change frequently and strong, stable cultures have developed in most non-borderlands.

All of the nation states are more or less continuous from their origins in the far past, although that does not necessarily imply an unbroken rulership, and there were certainly Kingdoms of Antiquity that were broken by the Ubrekt. (Some modern states, mytically or in actuality, claim origins from these barbarian kingdoms) Odessa, Flannary, and Gildenhome have straight lines of succession for a fuck-long time, thousands of years before Alexandria, only one (flannary) is more or less an absolute monarchy. The Fresian culture goes back to Alexandrian time, but their level of decentralization means that there's not really an unbroken line of anything for any amount of time. Celestia was founded a few generations before Alexandria's birth. Ubrekt, despite being the oldest human nation, is actually not descended from the Ubrekt at all, but rather from the Human refugrees from Human Hakan displaced after Alexandria ceeded the Gnomes back their homeland. Prior to that, it was run by the priests of Maya, the demigoddess of peace, who was ceeded the territory after the last Ubrekt was killed. Which means that the Gnomish homeland, along with Alexia, are products of the Prophet's War and Alexandria's direct intervention.

In this current alignment, the ties that bind are the Alexandrian Church, which was cobbled together by a coalition of the disparate (and now godless) clerics of the world, the original sidekicks (AKA High Level PCs) of Alexandria), and the Dwarven Clans that abandoned Arek during the Prophet's War**. (Who were given free reign to do their own internal Tokugawa-style realignment.) In its most early stages, it essentially parlayed dwarven gold and monopoly on divine spellcasting into a strange sort of temporal control. Since direct contact with Alexandria is utterly non-existence, the church is left to be a pretty much self regulating and self policing group. 1400 since the inception of the church, there is essentially no other game in town. Alexandria's Crusade was such a vast affair, it left no society untouched, and it plays a role even to the non-Alexandrian peoples of Petara and the Ulan.

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• • Dear Matt - Remember all those times I have alluded to some Serious Compromises required by the Stand in order to close the deal? The Dwarves as a whole were essentially double down on Arek by this point, so some distasteful alliances needed to be made, even with the assistance of The Lost. (Whose assistance, Dwarven scholars insist, is greatly overstated by the writers of the Testimonals.) -gm

• • Sayid approves of serious moral compromises when the goal is to cement absolute power. -Msallen 00:17, 20 September 2009 (EDT)

• • • It might also be helpful to throw in mose's face that his people were mostly bad guys in the A Fight That Mattered. ;)

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Awesome, I love it. I also had a question about King Aden, but evidently I edited it out for some reason. How do Odessans feel about the King? Does he delegate a lot of his authority, or is he very hands-on? Would Kib know what the guy looks like (possibly, seeing him at from the ranks at a military ceremony, or from nearby as his dad is awarded the title he used to hold)? Is he about as militant as everyone else in the incessant struggles you mentioned above, or is he more or less aggressive?

Also, I'm going to make up a borough that is kind of an extension of Cebridon, like Westminster is an extension of London, or Brooklyn of New York, unless you already have that planned out. -Slitherrr 01:12, 20 September 2009 (EDT)

Glad you enjoy it. I think you'll come to find that the world as currently devised is a curious mix of insanely detailed (history, geneology, theology, cultures, mechanics) and almost totally ignored (anywhere the PCs are not likely to go, or have never gone.) The wiki has been a great outlet to collaborate and fill in gaps. Good question. Generally speaking, The Crown is respected and admired, even if the individual wearing it is seen as a general nincompoop. Which, just for the record, king Aden is not. Alright, you know what, you made me do this with all your nagging : King Aden. Wot Will Not Be Covered There : I'd say Aden, especially as a resident of the city, certainly know what the man looks like. He is not a recluse or anything, and royals are not shy about putting their likeness up on things. And maybe even on money. Most gold and silver coinage is actually created by the church through mandatory tithes for the purpose. (Another means of control, actually. The church founders were cagey, and built their institution around what would today be called "soft power.") Lesser coinage (copper) is minted at the national level, and the Wydmoor Mint actually produces Electrum Pieces which, I thought, was a clever little abuse of a loophole. Even if the purchase of title is not enough to warrant the kings attention, regular attendance at could would catch one sight of him.

Funny thing about the title purchase. Your father would have been one of the first to be allowed such an honor in several centuries, if not longer, and even then it was very rare. It actually now becomes somewhat important to pin down exactly WHEN the rank was acquired, as there are very valid narrative reasons that the king would be trying to raise lots of money. I just can't tell them to you here. Or possibly at all, actually, since it's very probably tied into your own backstory. Were you thinking closer to the 5, 10, or 20 year mark? -gm

No plans at this time, so go wild. The only city I've put any real time into, obviously, is Wydmoor. I like what you've done with the city so far. As matt suggested, I'm a big believer in colaboration, so feel free to go wild. It might sometimes feel that canon is something of a Gnonstic Mystery since so much of it is basically in my head and hidden from view. I know that all of Matt's articles have had small deviations from canon, which are easy enough for me to tweak. -gm

Aaugh, please sign, especially since you're both named Matt! But anyways, Kib was probably the first of the children to actually spend a significant amount of his life being groomed into the nobility, and would have represented a very proud achievement for his father as the first of his line to become an officer in the military. I'm leaning towards 15-20 years (Kib's age on my local sheet is 24). I suppose that Kib's family would have a bit of celebrity status, then, if it's been so long since a title was sold. Kib, then, both as kind of the family's first footing into the nobility (being the first to grow up as a noble), in a family that is under a lot of scrutiny, would have ample pressure to want to restore his family's honor.-Slitherrr 12:23, 20 September 2009 (EDT)

Sorry, heh. ;) Celebrity, and probably some bit of noterity among the nobles, who probably don't look with a great deal of respect on the elevated nobility. I'd imagine the bought titles were the brainchild of Hedrafax Kaine, who would have been Finance Minster at the time, and is pretty well known for interesting and creative schemes to raise coin. -gm

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So, since traditionalism is a big part of Odessan culture, I'm assuming that extends to the roles members of society play, both on the spectrum of commoner to noblema, as well as between men and women. I also suppose this would make Kib's father a bit of an iconoclast, since he sought to break himself and his family out of the traditional craftsman role.

What are some of the traditions Odessans hold? If the people are generally stoic, then there must be families who have been farming the same plot for the same aristocrats for generations. Is there much of a middle class, or does a relative lack of desire for upward mobility help keep it small (in addition to whatever other factors keep people from being able to improve their own lots)? Are women confined more-or-less to the home (and possibly the Alexandrian clergy), or do they occupy many of the same positions as men? Are most marriages arranged between families, or is it common for men and women to court the others' affections?

On a different tack, is the phenomenon of keeping Servitor races as slaves also common in Odessa, or is that limited to Gildenhome? Also, is it common for Odessans to keep non-Servitor races as slaves?-Slitherrr 13:32, 23 September 2009 (EDT)

Yeah, I'd say that you're largely correct, which is a pretty common archtype in British culture, I think. I think, however, there is probably less friction between classes than in, say, Flannary. I'd go as far as to say that individual title holders generally have smaller claims, leading to a more close interaction between peasant and lord. I'd say the middle class is almost exclusive to the cities, since most artisan work done in the countryside is probably done through the lord's manor faclities rather than a widespread middle class. I'd say, however, that the middle class plays a VERY prominent role in the cities, probably even to the degree that there is even more distinction between city and country folk socially/culturally. There's not a lot of mobility, but the culture is not ossified. Generally speaking, if your father's elevation was controversial, it's probably because it came through pure coin as opposed to military valor, the more common rational behind grants of noblity.

Patriarchy. Existant, surely, but much reduced, as might be expected when one's culture worships a singular female godhead and savior, though its degree is variable from culture to culture. Odessa is generally fairly progressive in such matters. I can't think of any places that take the Own-Em-And-Lock-Em-Away model of courtship, not even The Ulan. Personally, I think the existance of magic in a world acts as a social equalizer and technology stunter. I think, really, to the marriage question, it's the typical mixture of being allowed discretion on choice, but expecting a high degree of family input.

For once, I actually had an answer done before you asked! Which you had no way of knowing, since I forgot to put the article about Slavery on the front page. ;) -gm

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Does Germain know (or at least suspect) that Eddie is an Odessan (it is the sort of thing he would have tried to figure out, in general)? Given recent events, it would certainly make Germ suspicious, although he would probably err on the side believing the Edster. The Germ will probably try to use it to suss out some info from Eddie about his background, however. --Msallen

Hmm. It's never come up, but I'd say he seems more odessan than anything. -gm

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Elves: almond eyes, preternatural grace, allied with Odessans. Germain "read about that shit" in a book once. --Msallen

Did that book show elves that have beards? -gm

It didn't say either way! --Msallen

Only Alexandria knows, I guess. The guy in black armor, who you must be talking about cos it's the only non-hob that Al saw up close, had a beard. Dunno where all this elf talk is coming from. -gm

I'm just saying that dude looked to Germ like he might be an elf! --Msallen

I'm so confused. -gm

Hmm. We saw a dude in black armor with almond eyes and peternatural grace--qualities that suggest an elf. He was working with dudes carrying Odessan standards--a nation with a history of elven "relations". There is some evidence that there might be some form of elf in the mix is all. --Msallen

If I met a green person, my first thought would be "sick guy," not "martian." -gm

So it stands to reason that you forgot the part of the game where I asked "can germain tell where hes from?" and you said "he looks like an elf." --Msallen

That sounds entirely made up, especially since Germain would not have standing to ask such a question: Al was doing the recon. Also: he has a beard. -gm

You must be drinking and gaming again ;) Your memory is shot! --Msallen

Either that, or it was a throwaway line to shut you up so one of the other 6 players could get a word in edgewise and perhaps derive some enjoyment from the endeavor. I hope, for your wife's sake, you are not equally selfish in the sack. Also: Did I mention the beard? -gm

Tsk. Check your FG whisper logs, meng. Why you so hung up on his facial hair? Does the Germ know that elves or their descendants will never know the joy of a sweet pencil-thin mustache? --Msallen

What? I dunno, because you're hung up on this elf thing when you should be making productive entries. -gm

Arguing with you is easy and enjoyable! Producing good content is hard work and earns negligible rewards ;) --Msallen