What Thunder Brings

Character Creation

• Characters must have a name, description and personality sketch when they are submitted.
• Use the standard attribute array.
• PHB races.
• PHB classes, plus the Artificer UA, the Death Domain in the DMG, and Xanathar's Guide.
• Use backgrounds, feel free to make up your own ideals/flaws/bonds, etc. Custom backgrounds need approval.
• Use the class equipment packages or roll for starting gold at the player's discretion.

PbP Notes

• The DM does the rolling. I use rolz.org, and I label rolls for transparency. I will provide a link to the campaign room once the game is off the ground.
• Keep your character updated. Not just mechanically, but major events, personality changes, etc.
• This wiki is a resource for everybody. If you like an NPC, put them on the wiki. If something is relevant to your character, put it on the wiki. If you want to remember it, put it on the wiki. I would prefer the wiki getting cluttered to it staying bare bones.
• Lay out a basic strategy for your reactions on your character sheet. If you want to do something novel with your reaction, say so in the OOC thread.
• During combat, social scenes, etc, declare your intent and action, referencing mechanics as needed, in the OOC thread; this is an adjunct post to the IC posts.

Posting Guide

• Tell me your intention (what you want to accomplish), your action (what you attempt to do) and your method (how you attempt to do something).
• Post with purpose. Posts should push the action forward, uncover information or reveal something about the character. Preferably two or more of those at once!
• Banter is fine as long as things are moving.
• Avoid getting caught in the politeness spiral. Pick a direction, post it, and if other characters want to do something else, then that's rp fodder!
• I am aiming for four to five purposeful posts from each player every week. More is fine, but 4-5 is a good ballpark.
• If you are planning on an absence, please let me know.
• If for some reason you fall behind on posting, don't fret, just jump back in. Everyone goes through lulls occasionally.
• If you are no longer interested or no longer have the time to play, please let me know you are withdrawing. There will be no hard feelings, and not only is it polite, it keeps The Wyzard from blacklisting you.

Setting

Bright Council

The Bright Council is an assembly of communities and powers formed of the various cooperating peoples. The Council is several centuries old and is extremely proud of the fact that it has never waged a war of conquest, instead expanding by reasoned diplomacy (and perhaps also by econonic pressure and the occasional 'defensive war until the enemy is willing to talk'). It is one of three major nations on the continent, and the only one that allows people of any race to join.

Bright Council lands are divided into provinces, representing at first historic powers that made up the council, and later planned colonial zones on the frontier. Each province elects a Councillor to the Bright Council, who serves a five year term. The Council appoints an Administrator to each province. In the older provinces, the Administrator serves as an overlay to the local government, but in the frontier provinces they act as the head of the local government. Cities within a province elect their own Mayors, who may have a council of elected Aldermen serving under them. Rural areas within a province are divided into Districts, who elect Ministers to serve under the Administrator.

There are a number of standing bureaus serving the Council, headed up by Committees of Councillors.

Military

The Bright Council maintains an army, navy and cloud navy. Cities have independent militias, which have their arms distributed to them as needed and cannot be called as auxiliaries to the army; they serve as peace keepers and fire fighters during peace time. Districts have levies, which keep their arms individually, but may be called up by the army during local campaigns. The Bright Council focuses on magical and technological superiority, and have a fair number of mages in the military. They also have a substantial weight of cannons and muskets, provided by the dwarven members of the Council.

The Divine Convocation

• Ishanna, the Thunderbolt Goddess. She embodies inspiration, surprise, justice, war, storms, lightning and fast travel. Her clerics are Knowledge, War and Tempest, her paladins are Vengeance and Devotion. Many evokers and transmuters revere her.
• Efuna, the Green Lord. He embodies agriculture, herding, fertility, healing, both parents and students, the harvest. His clerics are Nature and Life, his paladins Devotion.
• Shaliitu, the Demon Huntress. She embodies the wilderness, self-sufficiency, the frontier and boundaries. She hates the infernal and associates with the fey. Her paladins are Ancients, and many rangers and druids follow her, as do some conjurers and abjurers.
• Milvanu, the Goddess of War and Money. She embodies war and money, but also trade, deception, politics and ambition. Her clerics are War and Trickery, and many evokers and illusionists venerate her.
• Ilatu, the Upraised Fist. He embodies theft, rebellion, freedom and community. His clerics are Trickery, his paladins Vengeance. Many rogues worship him, as do some illusionists.
• Belshah, the Singing Lady. She embodies song, dance, poetry, theater, stories and etiquette. Her clerics are Knowledge, and she is the first bard. Some enchanters worship her.
• Nindavu, the Doom God. He rules the fire at the end of the world, and embodies destruction and fate. His clerics are Light, his warlocks follow him as the Great Old One. Diviners and some necromancers revere him.
• Endafu, the Raven Queen. Child of Efuna and Nindavu, she guards the sanctity of death and the dead. Her clerics are Death and the Grave, her scions shadow sorcerers. A few necromancers worship her as well.