Adventures in Edassa Information Thread (RP Ongoing!)

[Seonid he/him]

Thanks. In the interest of full disclosure, the prison didn't have paragraphs of backstory until Unodus asked about it. That's actually what I enjoy most about doing this. Each question someone asks is a piece of the Edassan puzzle that I get to think about, rotate and prune until the answer I've come up with fits, and make it part of the larger picture. We moved past the stuff in my notes a long time ago. 

 

Familiars can shapeshift under almost any circumstances, except for when they are using magic. However, they must be able to conctentrate, so any distractions make it more difficult to alter the physical form. In addition, to shapeshift, they have to go incorporeal. The process isn't instant, it takes about 2-5 minutes (longer if the old physical form was injured - this is the same process as the one they use to repair damage). 

[Kobold King he/him]

Thanks. In the interest of full disclosure, the prison didn't have paragraphs of backstory until Unodus asked about it. That's actually what I enjoy most about doing this. Each question someone asks is a piece of the Edassan puzzle that I get to think about, rotate and prune until the answer I've come up with fits, and make it part of the larger picture. We moved past the stuff in my notes a long time ago. 

 

Familiars can shapeshift under almost any circumstances, except for when they are using magic. However, they must be able to conctentrate, so any distractions make it more difficult to alter the physical form. In addition, to shapeshift, they have to go incorporeal. The process isn't instant, it takes about 2-5 minutes (longer if the old physical form was injured - this is the same process as the one they use to repair damage). 

 

Nice to know this is helping you as much as it's entertaining us.

 

Excellent! Voidus, should Murk begin the process to shrink herself, or is Samuel fine with a twenty-foot crocodile trailing behind him through the city?

[Voidus]

Samuel would probably prefer she remain her present size, he's really not fond of Menkor right now.

[Kobold King he/him]

Samuel would probably prefer she remain her present size, he's really not fond of Menkor right now.

 

Samuel: I hate this city! And I hate these people! 

 

Murk: Oh I love them all. Especially the juicy ones. 

 

 

Should I give a short post describing Murk crawling out of the mud and following Samuel?

[Voidus]

Sounds good to me.

[Unodus he/him]

Btw, does/will Edassa have its own swears/curses? :3

Or are we going to stick with the classic "storm" vocabulary?

[Kobold King he/him]

Sounds good to me.

I'll get to work on that, then.

 

 

Btw, does/will Edassa have its own swears/curses? :3

Or are we going to stick with the classic "storm" vocabulary?

 

Frankly, I'll be disappointed if Samuel doesn't go around proclaiming statements he disagrees with to be "a load of croc."

[Jo and the Bush all/any]

Breathtaker, what exactly should I be doing right now?

[Seonid he/him]

Btw, does/will Edassa have its own swears/curses? :3

Or are we going to stick with the classic "storm" vocabulary?

 

Ooh! More culture questions!! 

 

"Swearing," then and now, can be divided into two, perhaps three categories, profane language, vulgar language, and oaths (which may sometimes be lumped under profane language. I have no idea if these are official designations, I have produced them from my own observations.) Profane language consists of the culturally inappropriate use of sacred epithets, names, concepts, religious figures, or doctrines. Vulgarity is the set of words and expressions considered to be low, filthy, and otherwise socially and culturally inappropriate in some way. Oaths can be seen as a subset of profane language, but can also be considered their own category. They generally consist of a sacred epithet called as a witness to an action (often to the truth of a statement) or an invocation of fortune (either good or bad) upon the subject. The more seriously these oaths are taken, the more they should probably be treated as a separate category. In some cultures, the oaths themselves have become normative to the point where the invocation is not even remembered anymore, and the oath is simply used as another form of profane language.

 

All swearing is highly culturally and linguistically dependent. All Edassan cultures have some form or another (although some may be highly lacking in one or another of the categories), and where language is held in common, many forms of swearing are also found in common.

 

I should probably mention language distributions here, but that would be a lot more writing than I ought to be doing at 1 in the morning. Maybe that will be the next wall of text I post.

 

It would take a lot of work to post (read: make up) the swearing of all of the different cultures in Edassa, so I'll start with some of the profane language/oaths for some of the religions.

 

Church of the Martyr - 

"By the Martyr" (Probably the most obvious one   )

"Martyr's fires!"

Use of the words char, flame, smoke, ash, and their variants and synonyms, as in: "You smoking coward, you!" or "I'm going to flaming kick in your ash-washed face!" or "Char it/me/you!" Obviously, these words have a dual meaning (focusing on the manner of the Martyr's death), so context is sometimes required to make sense of it. Ex: "Burn it to ashes!" can be an order, an expletive, or both.

 

The members of the Church tend to not take oaths seriously, so they are seldom meant with full feeling; instead they are used as expletives/profane language.

 

In contrast, the Nessei culture takes oaths very seriously. If a Nessei says something like: "By my ancestor's bones, I will..." You had better expect him to deliver. And soon. There is a strong cultural taboo against using oaths without fulfilling them. Death is seen as preferable to breaking an oath, and oathbreakers are regarded with severe suspicion. Repeat offenses can get you exiled.

 

All Nessei oaths invoke the ancestors, and most do so by either mentioning their bones or their ashes, the two remains that are kept as part of the shrines that make up the majority of Nessei religious practice. But while their stock of profanity is low, the Nessei are quite creative with their vulgarity. Adukhair is a popular insult - it means someone who has intimate relations with a horse. It is considered offensive enough to justify a duel, although not every instance results in one. Ereg is the word for mare's milk, and it is used as a mild swear word in many situations. Argol, meaning dung, is used in various creative ways as well.

 

Court of the Gods:

Use of profanity is strongly discouraged among the worshipers of the Tribunal (but it happens anyways). It is, however, strictly prohibited among the Order of the Paladins. However, only references to the attributes, character, or person of the seven major Tribunal gods is considered profanity, so Paladins who come from backgrounds where the Tribunal was not the primary focus of worship often find themselves swearing using the profanities of their home culture. Those from Tribunal-heavy areas will swear by the lesser gods of the pantheon to avoid the cultural taboo associated with the major powers. I'll list some examples of both kinds:

 

Oaths/Profanities about the major gods:

Taris' Justice!

Lady of Death!

Blessed Virgin! (Nalathea in particular is also the subject of more vulgar expressions. "Virgin's lips!" is the least objectionable of them. I won't reproduce any of the others here. "virgin-kisser" is also an insult /expletive among the Atani and other Tribunal worshippers. "virgin-kissing" - sometimes shortened to "kissing" - or as an adjective is also in evidence.)

Stormcaller!

 

Minor Gods:

Yann's harvest! (sometimes shortened to "harvests," never used as an adjective or adverb)

Hearth and Fire! (referring to Kira, goddess of the hearth)

Hawk's lightning! (Referring to Arrion, the messenger of the gods and the god of revelation and seeing - called Lin Hei in an earlier post, before I cannibalized the name for another religion without realizing it)

 

 

Hope that gives you a start, Unodus.

[Unodus he/him]

A wall of text just for swearing? Heh, these will be useful... >:3

As a character who isn't tied to a particular religion- is crossing cultures allowed? ("You flaming virgin-kisser! By Arrions bones, I will burn you to ashes! Char it, you stormcallers are all the same- your ancestors were all Adukhair!", etc)

 

 

 

Insulting people has never been more fun... o.o

[Seonid he/him]

It's *always* permissible to cross cultures. And your character is well-traveled enough that he would likely know them all too, from what you've told me.

 

Now, of course, calling a Nessei a virgin-kisser would just make him laugh, and most Tribunal worshippers wouldn't know an adukhair from an ereg. (The Nessei language is rather esoteric.) But if you're fine with some of the people you swear at not knowing what the char you're saying, then I think it would be certainly fitting for cross-cultural swearing to happen.

[Kobold King he/him]

Martyr's flames. Now I wish I'd created a human character just so I could use these in my posts.

 

 

More seriously, I just want to say that you've really inspired me, Seonid. Your complex worldbuilding and cosmology has motivated me to create more in-depth rules and details for my own setting. My own worldbuilding is taking off like never before thanks to the positive example set by your spirits and magic.

 

So I just wanted to say, thanks.

[Unodus he/him]

(Merry Christmas, everyone! ^-^)

[BreathTaker he/him]

Hey Joe, you're running with me. We will be heading to the King's palace probably today. I'm not going to post quite yet because I was up till 1 in the morning playing poker at the casino so I'm pretty beat. Merry Christmas everyone.

[Seonid he/him]

Merry Christmas everyone!

 

Unodus, is it alright if my next Lord Earney post takes the whole group through to the end of the tunnel? He'll order two of his men of arms to accompany you, and he'll prepare to take the rest to the gatehouse.

 

Martyr's flames. Now I wish I'd created a human character just so I could use these in my posts.

 

 

More seriously, I just want to say that you've really inspired me, Seonid. Your complex worldbuilding and cosmology has motivated me to create more in-depth rules and details for my own setting. My own worldbuilding is taking off like never before thanks to the positive example set by your spirits and magic.

 

So I just wanted to say, thanks.

 

Thanks, Kobold. That's really touching. I'm glad that my worldbuilding can be an inspiration to you too.

 

Also, nothing is stopping anyone from creating a second character...

 

Oh, and I put together a new expletive for the Church of the Martyr. "By the Martyr's burned bones," sometimes shortened to "Burned bones" or even "bones!"

[BreathTaker he/him]

I've always wanted to make a ship captain only so a crew member could come up and say "Cap'n, we're hump'd."

 

I posted, now it's in your hands Creator. I figured the king could recognize my emblem on the hilt of the dagger and agree to see me or something like that. And if you want to cause a ruckus for your boys and me outside go ahead, it'll give me a chance to work on my fight scenes. 

[Unodus he/him]

 

 

Unodus, is it alright if my next Lord Earney post takes the whole group through to the end of the tunnel? He'll order two of his men of arms to accompany you, and he'll prepare to take the rest to the gatehouse.

 

That's fine by me ^-^

I didn't want to go any further in case the tunnel was guarded :V

[Seonid he/him]

Alright. Excellent. I'll have a compilation post taking Earney and the group through the tunnel, and also the guards at the palace reacting to Bran the Blessed.

 

And, btw, sorry I've taken so long. This Christmas was busier than I expected, so I didn't get all of the writing done that I hoped to. I'll just have to catch up this coming week.

[Voidus]

What's the command structure within the Inquisition like?

[Seonid he/him]

What's the command structure within the Inquisition like?

 

So, the soldiers of the Inquisition have a more modern command structure than most of the other soldiers of their time period, with various levels of officer ranks over the standard soldier instead of the poorly organized noble ranking system of command.

 

In particular, Inquisition soldiery is organized into groups of about sixty soldiers, called files. These are under the command of a File Captain. Between two and five or six files can be grouped together into a field company, led by a Field Captain. In pitched battles, all of the field companies in a segment of the army are put under the command of a First Captain, whose responsibility is to order that part of the army. (Typical arrangements include three First Captains, who command the left flank, right flank, and center of the army, respectively. Some commanders opt for four or more, however, depending on the circumstances of the battle). First Captain is almost always a temporary rank, generally filled by one of the Field Captains who is considered particularly competent. However, some officers have been promoted to First Captain permanently, as a recognition of their skill/years of service/important connections/etc. To avoid confusion, these are referred to as Captain-Writ - a reference to the writ of promotion that they are given. An army as a whole is commanded by a Commissioner, which is also generally an ad hoc rank, granted only for the duration of a battle.

 

A File Captain often chooses soldiers under him to hold authority in his file. These are generally called komrizhr (or komrizh, singular) - the word is a native S'voran one, meaning an overseer. (The rest of the ranks are Imperial Kaloneri words.) They have authority over the soldiers of their file, but have no recognized rank outside of that.

 

The Inquisitors themselves have a different system of rank. Candidates for the Inquisition apply in Corento (the city where the public headquarters is located). Those who are provisionally accepted become Initiates during the period of their training. If they successfully pass the test at the end of the training, they are advanced to the rank of Seeker. Rejected candidates are generally picked up as office workers or administrative assistants, or else sent home. They do not remain Initiates.

 

Seekers act as agents of the Inquisition in any area they are sent to. They gather intelligence, perform various espionage tasks (including sabotage and some assassinations, where it is deemed necessary), and generally function as covert operatives. While they take notes on heretical and heterodox developments, they do not intervene except in emergency cases. Rather, they report back and advise whether the situation requires the presence of an Inquisitor, or if local leadership can discipline the heresies sufficiently without intervention.

 

After some time, a Seeker may be promoted to a full Inquisitor. This comes with the right to wear the full uniform and armor of the Inquisition, and to have full control of any Church military, political, or clerical unit at any time (although not necessarily an Inquisition unit). While Seekers uncover heresy and threats to the Church, Iniquisitors are tasked with stamping them out. When the Inquisitors arrive, heretics are going to find themselves executed unless sincere and speedy repentance is offered, and maybe not even then. The basic weapon of the Inquisitor is fear. So they tend to execute a few heretics upon arrival, both prominent and obscure, to sow fear among the populace. They continue until they are satisfied that the leadership of the heresies is dead and all those influenced are too afraid to have anything to do with it anymore.

 

An Inquisitor with stellar performance and good political connections can expect to find themselves promoted to a High Inquisitor eventually. This comes with the responsibility to sit on the Inquisitorial Diet, which governs the Inquisition under the leadership of the Grand Prelate of the Inquisition (often just referred to as the Holy Father). High Inquisitors also command expeditions that require the presence of large numbers of Inquisitors, such as the one to Menkor.

 

Sorcerers can generally expect to be Seekers or Inquisitors, as their skills make them too useful to waste in administrative roles. Some few do ascend to the rank of High Inquisitor, however, if their connections are good enough.

 

 

 

 

Also, a note on languages in Menkor. The most universal language on the continent is Imperial Kaloneri, as the eponymous empire controlled large swathes of the continent in the recent past. The new superpower, Alcorazim, uses this as its official language as well. The Atani kingdoms have their own dialect, which is stronger in the south, where it is fashionable among the nobility. In the north (which is where Menkor is located), the native Atani dialect is currently in disfavor, although you can still find it among some of the peasantry, and some of the nobility who still hold ties to southern relatives.

 

The Menkoran commoners call these languages Commonspeak and Highspeak. There is a third native language in Menkor, Godspeak, but that is only used by priests of the Tribunal - it is a religiously exclusive language, and most public rituals were performed in it. Nobody speaks Godspeak openly these days, for fear of the Inquisition.

 

Mercenaries and traders have, of course, brought other languages into Menkor, including languages from the Nessei, the Svalding, the Senlii and Sencaloners, the Finodhi and the Navarans, but most speakers also speak at least an accented version of Commonspeak.

[Lightsworn Panda he/him]

Sorry for the recent inactivity. As I said in my post in the Question Thread, I'm currently working with limited Wi-Fi. I probably won't be able to make a RP post until late January, 2015.

 

Holy Harmony! That's a lot of world-building you've done, Seonid! Take my upvotes!

[Voidus]

Thanks Seonid, awesome information as usual. It occurs to me that you've really struck on gold in the idea of using a freeform RPG like this to help with worldbuilding, I might have to give it a try too at some point.

[Seonid he/him]

This has certainly taken off beyond my wildest imagination! I am rather excited about it.

 

When you do try it, Voidus, I hope it works just as well for you.

 

 

 

 

Also, here are my thoughts on a way to keep track of magic. I have tried to keep it simple, because this is a free-form roleplay, but I wanted some way to keep track of how much magic a mortal can use before they are too exhausted to keep it up.

 

Basically, the idea is that each spellcaster has a certain number of Spell Points available per day, that represents either A - the amount of spells that they can hold in their mind per day (for a sorcerer) or B - the amount of energy that they can channel per day (for a mage). Simple spells will cost 1 spell point, more complex ones will cost more.

 

I've been writing up the spell books for the magic users. I've sent 1 out in a PM, and the others should be finished tonight or tomorrow morning. Spell point costs will be given there.

 

In terms of how many points each person had, I was thinking that Samuel (Voidus) and Bran (BreathTaker) would have similar amounts. Who had more or if they had equal amounts would depend on whether Voidus' character was primarily a magic user who used physical combat on the side or a warrior who used magic on the side.

 

From BreathTaker's character bio and posts, it seems to me like Bran's character is more of the warrior with a side of magic (that is, he leans more toward physical fighting and uses magic to supplement that rather than the other way round). If I got that wrong, let me know, and I'll adjust for it.

 

Khuvlai (Mailliw's character), being almost wholly a magic user, would probably have the most spell points.

 

Got to go to work now, I'll answer any more questions when I get back.

[Jo and the Bush all/any]

Who's posting next?

[Seonid he/him]

I was kind of hoping BreathTaker would make a post. I could further the battle at the gatehouse, but I'm going to turn over the squires (Ned and Joran) to Unodus. I'll take the Inquisition sorcerers, though...