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===History and Mythology===
 
===History and Mythology===
  
−
'''Which of the following stories should be added to the timeline?'''
+
'''Which of the following propositions do you support or oppose?'''
  
−
* The great conqueror's empire broke up when the conqueror died; the conqueror's lovers divided it acrimoniously.
+
1: All gods have flexible genders, depending on context.<br />
−
* The great conqueror's empire broke up within a decade or so of the conqueror's death; the conqueror's generals went to war for it.
+
2: The gods have many names - several for each culture in which they're worshipped.<br />
−
* The great conqueror's empire lasted another generation; the conqueror's grandchildren partitioned it amicably.
+
3: The humans and orcs of the Old Imperial culture and its successors in the magocracies mostly depict the gods as heroic orcs and humans, except that the Trickster is usually shown as a dark elf or other non-orc, non-human.<br />
−
* The mage-guilds began to be a political force when several of them gained sanctuary in the elf-dominated north-realm during the half-orc conquest.
+
4: The steppe tribes avoid direct depictions of the gods, and instead depict their regalia or other inanimate attributes.<br />
−
* At one time, a major nation from the northeast overran the area; but the conquest was halted for reasons of internal politics, and never resumed.
+
5: Traditional dwarvish culture holds that a god may be depicted in any form, but it is the written or carved name of the deity that makes it a meaningful depiction.<br />
−
* Under the rule of the mages, the starting nation took a province from a neighbour in a war that was provoked by a forged courier message.
+
6: Traditional gnomish culture favours ostenatious and complex depictions of the gods, often using heroic statues completely covered with names, praise-names and hymns to the relevant deity.<br />
−
* The starting nation once lost a province to a neighbour in a war that started with a bandit attack for which no-one has ever taken responsibility.
+
7: The halflings use a system, developed by the steppe halflings, where each god is represented almost exclusively by a simple pictogram derived from the steppe tribes' symbolism for the gods.<br />
−
* The starting nation was one of the first to throw off the regime which succeeded the half-orc empire; the current rebels hark back to this previous success.
+
8: The predominant elven culture is iconophobic: direct depictions of the gods are forbidden - even their names are only written in specific contexts - but songs and recitations are used widely to refer to and praise the gods.<br />
−
* The half-orc conquest was brutal, but the conqueror went on to abolish most forms of slavery.
+
9: It is unknown to non-dragonborn whether the dragonborn even worship the same gods as the warm-blooded species.<br />
−
* A senior clerical position currently operates in exile due to a hostile government in its former home. (Maybe their base in exile is in the starting nation; or perhaps the holy place is here, and the rule of the mages is what drove the clerics into exile?)
+
10: The insect-people have a lifestyle that is mysterious to outsiders: it appears highly ritualised, but no conventional religious observance has ever been noted.<br />
−
* A province was once completely obliterated by a vengeful army; its former population became permanent exiles, and all its cities are ruined to this day.
 
−
* The steppe-riders were never fully part of the half-orc empire, but they served as mercenary shock troops for it.
 
−
* The development of trade with the insect-folk has led to the establishment of great earthworks; this has made siege tactics harder as time has gone on.
 
−
* There hasn't been a stable centralised currency since the days of the conqueror; hoards of old coins get bought up really quickly and melted down to make debased local currency.
 
−
* The mage guilds started as magical generalists, but as time went on, the branches in individual cities and provinces specialized into the various schools of magic, and gained some autonomy in the process.
 
−
* The starting province, in particular, was formerly ruled by a branch of the Guild that focused on Evocation and Abjuration - lots of shock and awe when they went into battle, and big impressive magical shields for defense. The rebels relied heavily on stealth, illusion, and misdirection to overthrow them. This has left a lasting distrust of big flashy magic in the starting region, while sneakier magic is considered fashionable.
 
−
* Creating enchanted items, as opposed to standard spellcasting, has developed into its own discipline within living memory. The new artificer-mages are trying to get their specialty recognized within the Guild, and many are travelling to the starting region as it represents a power vacuum for the standard Guild.
 
−
* The Dragonborn clans were swept by religious fervor in the past two or three generations. They're closemouthed about it, but part of the reason for their recent migration to the area is related to their beliefs.
 
−
* The gnomes are the longest-settled race in the starting region and the lands immediately around it. They settled on the plains early, and grew into many small farming communities. However, they've never had an empire or even a major kingdom of their own. A vocal faction within the gnomish population is agitating to change this, whether here or by founding a new gnome empire on the current dark side, after the flip.
 
−
* An orc or half-orc claiming to be the "rightful heir" of the old orc empire has recently (within the last 2 decades) emerged. This has happened before, and is usually dismissed, but this one seems to possess both impressive charisma and leadership, and some objects that sure look like the fabled lost regalia of the Empire, lending more weight to her claim.
 
−
* The great conqueror's empire dwindled within 2-3 generations. The successors were less able to hold it together, especially without constant wars of expansion to unify people, and border provinces quietly seceded, rebelled, were taken over by neighbours or other factions.
 
−
* The mage-led faction that took over 100 or so years ago was able to mop up the fragmented successor states as clients or puppets with relative ease (and an advantage in magical firepower).
 
−
* The regimes backed by the mage guilds have mostly been using an arcane form of paper money for all but the most trivial transactions. These make trade wars between guilds especially vicious, and have also left the anti-mage rebels suddenly dependent on hard coin.
 
−
* The half-orcs brought with them a tradition of oral history through songs. Even now most bards are at least half-historian. This ticked off the Magocracy, who have been pretty keen on aggressive historical revisionism. Wandering off to check out some old tombs was illegal until the revolution.
 
−
* The final straw was the Magocracy's plan to dig up everyone's dead relatives and reanimate them into a zombie workforce.
 
−
* They say the steppe-riders are a bunch of were-creatures; it doesn't help that they refuse to be paid in silver.
 
−
* When the mage guilds were first being founded, warlocks and sorcerers petitioned to join as well, but the mages rejected them. This lead to bad blood between them, and warlocks and sorcerers have, since then, often worked to discomfit the Guilds. This definitely occurred during the recent rebellion, when warlocks and sorcerers provided the bulk of the arcane might the rebels had access to.
 
−
* During the recent rebellion, the non-magical craft guilds formed a bloc and sided with the mage guild.
 
−
* During the recent rebellion, the non-magical craft guilds formed a bloc and sided against the mage guild.
 
−
* Only Wizards could be full members of the mage's guild but their laws and taxes affecter all casters, so many warlocks and sorcerers worked against them.
 
−
* Only full members of the mages guild could hold public office.
 
−
* Only full members of the mage's guild could own and operate a magical shop or other premises devoted to offering arcane services for money
 
−
* Warlocks, bards and sorcerors could work in magic shops but only under direct supervision of a wizard (and therefore they could normally only expect to be paid apprentice pay for such work)
 
−
* Practicing arcane magic while not a member of the mages guild (or under direct supervision of one) was punishable by a fine not less than thrice the guild rate for getting a wizard to cast any spell that was cast.
 
−
* Sorcerers, warlocks and bards could apply to join the mages' guild as students provided they paid the fees and passed the entrance exam. Upon graduation (and taking at least one multiclass wizard level) they would be granted full rights appropriate to their wizard level (not their caster level).
 
−
* Occasionally groups of non-wizard casters would team up and sponsor one of their number through wizard college, so that they could become titular head of a business employing the rest of the co-operative. More than once in the past a sponsored student has reneged on that deal and not offered their fellow syndicate members equal shares. When this has happened the mage's guild always backs up the registered multiclass wizard, sometimes with force.
 
−
* Sorcerers and warlocks basically knuckled under to the mage guild monopoly, or at best worked as illicit spellcasters on their own. Bards, however, organized around the preexisting college systems, and fought back. As a result, the Mage Guilds basically banned bards altogether in the regions they controlled, forcing all bards to go underground. The rebellion was heavily backed by the bardic colleges, as a way to help break the Mage Guild monopoly on at least one region.
 
−
* The bardic College of Valor descends from the Warsingers of the old Orc Empire. Though they're not orc- or half-orc-exclusive any more, people from that whole cultural group (which now includes the steppe nomads) are more prominent in the leadership of the college.
 
−
* The College of Lore is a more broad-based organization, that claims roots going back before the last flip, at least. They're more demanding on their membership than the College of Valor, however. You can claim to be an "apprentice" or a "student" of the College of Lore, but if you want to be known as a full Master of Lore, you have to go in person to one of their chapterhouses and pass a very stern test of knowledge of history, skill at playing, and mastery of the art of magic, all at once. Many students of the College of Lore are old and highly skilled in their own right, but have failed the test, or feared to try, and never claimed the title.
 
  
 
===Geography===
 
===Geography===
 +
 +
'''Which of the following propositions for filling out the map do you support or oppose?'''
 +
 +
1: The starting city is in the triangle at the southwest corner of the map, between the mountains, the hills, and the edge of the steppe.<br />
 +
2: The starting city is in the centre of the map, between the two large river forks.<br />
 +
3: The starting city is by the smaller river fork in the north of the map, close to the mountains.<br />
 +
4: The elven trade capital is at the most northerly of the river mouths in the northeast corner.<br />
 +
5: The elves have a separate administrative capital where the second river down passes from the hill country to the coastal plain.<br />
 +
6: An independent nation has its capital at the river fork at the extreme right centre of the map.<br />
 +
7: The nation of Wáyéhì speakers where (some of) the central bard colleges are is about two map-widths east of the northeast corner of the map.<br />
 +
8: The mountain orc kingdom is the triangle in the southwest corner, and has its current capital on the river, halfway from the foothills to the falls.<br />
 +
9: There are small dwarf-majority nations (with dragonborn enclaves) along almost every river as it passes through the foothills on the eastern side of the great mountains.<br />
 +
10: The cloud-ringed peak in the northwest is believed by the locals to be the world's highest mountain, and is revered as an axis mundi.<br />
 +
11: Beyond the mountains to the west is an extensive basin-and-range system with many salt lakes and pocket deserts; it's not widely known how far beyond it the next ocean is.<br />
 +
12: The steppes are about one map-height wide; in the far south they turn to tundra and taiga, beyond which is a high ice sheet.<br />
  
 
===Politics and Society===
 
===Politics and Society===
 +
 +
'''How prevalent are the various PC classes?'''
 +
 +
Players have 19 points each to assign to the 12 classes in the Player's Handbook.
  
 
===Miscellaneous===
 
===Miscellaneous===
 +
 +
'''Which of the following propositions do you agree with?'''
 +
 +
1: Barbarian totem warriors revere fey nature spirits who manifest as animals.<br />
 +
2: Barbarian totem warriors revere semi-divine ancestors who embodied specific virtues.<br />
 +
3: All monastic orders are philosophical in nature; none of them specifically reveres a spirit or deity.<br />
 +
4: The Four Elements monks were outlawed by the magocracy along with the bards.<br />
 +
5: The Four Elements monks were covertly backed by the magocracy to provide spies and street-fighters.<br />
 +
6: Druids worship nature as an abstract force.<br />
 +
7: Druids are the leading clergy of one or more minor nature deities.<br />
 +
8: A lot of Moon Druids are elves, especially wood elves trying to promote natural forest growth.<br />
 +
9: A lot of Land Druids are halflings, trying to make the land more fruitful.<br />
 +
10: The Paladin Oath of the Ancients is usually administered by the druid circles.<br />
 +
11: The Oath of Righteousness is usually made to one or several gods.<br />
 +
12: The Oath of Vengeance isn't really fully understood by anyone - it's on a par with oracles for 'mysterious spiritual stuff'.<br />
 +
13: The Bardic College of Valor stems from the Old Empire, and is heavily dominated by orcs and half-orcs.<br />
 +
14: The Bardic College of Lore is an ancient organization, claiming descent from before the last flip, and has very stringent requirements in order for a member to be declared a "master".<br />
 +
15: The Barbarian Path of the Berserker is whispered to be a curse from the Elder Dragon God on the unruly children of the younger gods, twisted into a blessing by the barbarians. If they did not go mad from time to time, it is said, all humanoids would be slightly more prone to anger and violence, which might be enough to push civilization over the edge.<br />
 +
16: Fighters with the Champion Archetype usually hark back to the great martial masters of the Old Empire, who devoted their lives to becoming superlative masters of one form of fighting.<br />
 +
17: The Mage Guilds created the Eldritch Knight Fighter Archetype, training the most intelligence of their mercenary leaders with some magic as well.<br />
 +
18: The Way of the Open Palm monk order is originally an elven tradition, teaching its adherents to achieve enlightenment by eschewing all unnecessary material possessions, which includes teaching them to use their body alone as the greatest weapon. The drow took the teachings to the steppes with them, however, and now many small monasteries on the steppes teach this art as a means of furthering self-reliance.<br />
 +
19: The Arcane Trickster rogue archetype is very new, having developed in the years leading up to the rebellion as dissidents tried to learn arcane magic to defend against the wizards.<br />
 +
20: Wild Magic origin sorcerers are extremely new and rare (as opposed to draconic bloodline sorcerers, who are common as dirt). The Wild Magic origin sorcerers just started showing up within the last year, after the rebellion. Most people think of them as just something new and weird, but some elves claim they're an omen of bad things coming, linking them to elven legends about the fall of their empire on the other side.<br />
 +
21: The Oath of Vengeance is generally understood to be a twisted blessing from the Trickster on those who swear revenge with sufficient passion.<br />
  
 
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Revision as of 07:03, 7 September 2015

Currently voting

History and Mythology

Which of the following propositions do you support or oppose?

1: All gods have flexible genders, depending on context.
2: The gods have many names - several for each culture in which they're worshipped.
3: The humans and orcs of the Old Imperial culture and its successors in the magocracies mostly depict the gods as heroic orcs and humans, except that the Trickster is usually shown as a dark elf or other non-orc, non-human.
4: The steppe tribes avoid direct depictions of the gods, and instead depict their regalia or other inanimate attributes.
5: Traditional dwarvish culture holds that a god may be depicted in any form, but it is the written or carved name of the deity that makes it a meaningful depiction.
6: Traditional gnomish culture favours ostenatious and complex depictions of the gods, often using heroic statues completely covered with names, praise-names and hymns to the relevant deity.
7: The halflings use a system, developed by the steppe halflings, where each god is represented almost exclusively by a simple pictogram derived from the steppe tribes' symbolism for the gods.
8: The predominant elven culture is iconophobic: direct depictions of the gods are forbidden - even their names are only written in specific contexts - but songs and recitations are used widely to refer to and praise the gods.
9: It is unknown to non-dragonborn whether the dragonborn even worship the same gods as the warm-blooded species.
10: The insect-people have a lifestyle that is mysterious to outsiders: it appears highly ritualised, but no conventional religious observance has ever been noted.

Geography

Which of the following propositions for filling out the map do you support or oppose?

1: The starting city is in the triangle at the southwest corner of the map, between the mountains, the hills, and the edge of the steppe.
2: The starting city is in the centre of the map, between the two large river forks.
3: The starting city is by the smaller river fork in the north of the map, close to the mountains.
4: The elven trade capital is at the most northerly of the river mouths in the northeast corner.
5: The elves have a separate administrative capital where the second river down passes from the hill country to the coastal plain.
6: An independent nation has its capital at the river fork at the extreme right centre of the map.
7: The nation of Wáyéhì speakers where (some of) the central bard colleges are is about two map-widths east of the northeast corner of the map.
8: The mountain orc kingdom is the triangle in the southwest corner, and has its current capital on the river, halfway from the foothills to the falls.
9: There are small dwarf-majority nations (with dragonborn enclaves) along almost every river as it passes through the foothills on the eastern side of the great mountains.
10: The cloud-ringed peak in the northwest is believed by the locals to be the world's highest mountain, and is revered as an axis mundi.
11: Beyond the mountains to the west is an extensive basin-and-range system with many salt lakes and pocket deserts; it's not widely known how far beyond it the next ocean is.
12: The steppes are about one map-height wide; in the far south they turn to tundra and taiga, beyond which is a high ice sheet.

Politics and Society

How prevalent are the various PC classes?

Players have 19 points each to assign to the 12 classes in the Player's Handbook.

Miscellaneous

Which of the following propositions do you agree with?

1: Barbarian totem warriors revere fey nature spirits who manifest as animals.
2: Barbarian totem warriors revere semi-divine ancestors who embodied specific virtues.
3: All monastic orders are philosophical in nature; none of them specifically reveres a spirit or deity.
4: The Four Elements monks were outlawed by the magocracy along with the bards.
5: The Four Elements monks were covertly backed by the magocracy to provide spies and street-fighters.
6: Druids worship nature as an abstract force.
7: Druids are the leading clergy of one or more minor nature deities.
8: A lot of Moon Druids are elves, especially wood elves trying to promote natural forest growth.
9: A lot of Land Druids are halflings, trying to make the land more fruitful.
10: The Paladin Oath of the Ancients is usually administered by the druid circles.
11: The Oath of Righteousness is usually made to one or several gods.
12: The Oath of Vengeance isn't really fully understood by anyone - it's on a par with oracles for 'mysterious spiritual stuff'.
13: The Bardic College of Valor stems from the Old Empire, and is heavily dominated by orcs and half-orcs.
14: The Bardic College of Lore is an ancient organization, claiming descent from before the last flip, and has very stringent requirements in order for a member to be declared a "master".
15: The Barbarian Path of the Berserker is whispered to be a curse from the Elder Dragon God on the unruly children of the younger gods, twisted into a blessing by the barbarians. If they did not go mad from time to time, it is said, all humanoids would be slightly more prone to anger and violence, which might be enough to push civilization over the edge.
16: Fighters with the Champion Archetype usually hark back to the great martial masters of the Old Empire, who devoted their lives to becoming superlative masters of one form of fighting.
17: The Mage Guilds created the Eldritch Knight Fighter Archetype, training the most intelligence of their mercenary leaders with some magic as well.
18: The Way of the Open Palm monk order is originally an elven tradition, teaching its adherents to achieve enlightenment by eschewing all unnecessary material possessions, which includes teaching them to use their body alone as the greatest weapon. The drow took the teachings to the steppes with them, however, and now many small monasteries on the steppes teach this art as a means of furthering self-reliance.
19: The Arcane Trickster rogue archetype is very new, having developed in the years leading up to the rebellion as dissidents tried to learn arcane magic to defend against the wizards.
20: Wild Magic origin sorcerers are extremely new and rare (as opposed to draconic bloodline sorcerers, who are common as dirt). The Wild Magic origin sorcerers just started showing up within the last year, after the rebellion. Most people think of them as just something new and weird, but some elves claim they're an omen of bad things coming, linking them to elven legends about the fall of their empire on the other side.
21: The Oath of Vengeance is generally understood to be a twisted blessing from the Trickster on those who swear revenge with sufficient passion.

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Open for discussion

History and Mythology

Which monsters are culturally signficant?

Geography

Are there volcanoes and earthquakes in this setting?

Politics and Society

What do people think about "adventurers"?

(Question from Kelly Pedersen and Metal Fatigue)

1: It's not only considered deeply, deeply weird to make a job out of getting in trouble, people actively dislike adventurers because they only show up when there's trouble, or else to screw up the local economy by dumping a hoard of old coins and other valuables onto the market.
2: People have adventurers, but people think it's deeply, deeply weird to make it your job. Almost no one does.
3: It's recognized that you can make something of a living as a wandering problem-solver and tomb-raider, but it's pretty uncommon. People may look at you suspiciously.
4: It's a reasonably common profession, at least in relation to its risk. No one's very surprised when you tell them you're an adventurer, though they might mention they'd never do it themselves.
5: It's such a common occupation that it's at least somewhat formalized - there are adventurers' associations who help their membership, shops that cater specifically or even exclusively to adventurers, and other elements of society designed around them.
6: It's a full-blown cultural institution. There's a Guild of Adventurers, the leaders of nation have Official Questors, and you can go to Adventurer's School to learn to be the best adventurer you can be.

Miscellaneous

What features and facilities does the starting city have?

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Coming soon

History and Mythology

Geography

How many other nations immediately border the starting nation?

Politics and Society

Miscellaneous

Back to main

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