worldbuilding Fantasy World planning

[+Sorana]

8 hours ago, Chasmfiend#1 said:

We find Fritz wrapped up in it's tendrils, slowly draining his life, that would leave anyone wanting payback on the thing.

@ZincAboutIt

And Amara could try to save him.

[+ZincAboutIt]

1 minute ago, Sorana said:

And Amara could try to save him.

Yes! Okay, also, someone should go get Thorstein and Lilia. I can have Aldred run back, or have Leizl tell them, but I imagine they'll both want to be there for the monster-hunting? @MacThorstenson @kenod I'm pretty sure everyone else is out there in the streets together.

[Chasmfiend#1]

54 minutes ago, ZincAboutIt said:

Yes! Okay, also, someone should go get Thorstein and Lilia. I can have Aldred run back, or have Leizl tell them, but I imagine they'll both want to be there for the monster-hunting? @MacThorstenson @kenod I'm pretty sure everyone else is out there in the streets together.

Mutig was heading for the tavern, we could have them meet me, then go with me after y'all. Though we might need Chadwick, just to be sure we find you guys again. @ZincAboutIt @Sorana @Steel Inquisitive @Vargo Seldon @kenod @MacThorstenson @everyone else.

[kenod]

8 hours ago, ZincAboutIt said:

Yes! Okay, also, someone should go get Thorstein and Lilia. I can have Aldred run back, or have Leizl tell them, but I imagine they'll both want to be there for the monster-hunting? @MacThorstenson @kenod I'm pretty sure everyone else is out there in the streets together.

Sounds good.

[Turtle373]

9 hours ago, Chasmfiend#1 said:

Mutig was heading for the tavern, we could have them meet me, then go with me after y'all. Though we might need Chadwick, just to be sure we find you guys again. @ZincAboutIt @Sorana @Steel Inquisitive @Vargo Seldon @kenod @MacThorstenson @everyone else.

Chadwick is with the rest of the group at this point

[xinoehp512]

16 hours ago, kenod said:

Sorry for the late response, I had forgotten about this question.

• It would, and it is an noticeable effect, but only applies at ley nodes, not ley lines. I guess larger ley lines would still manifest a slightly increased belief power, but not that much, since the energy actually needs to stay at a location in order to do anything. See it as a river of discrete packages. Each package carries energy and will affect the region it is in. However, since it is constantly moving it never stays in a location for long enough to seriously affect it. At ley nodes these packages stay longer, and would cause more intense effects.
• They're important because they are what fuels the ley nodes. Without ley lines, ley nodes wouldn't exist. The two biggest impacts are that ley nodes are where Investure Cystals are found, which means that ley lines are indirectly necessary for Ritual Magic to work. The second effect is that a lot of the 'Wild' Natural Magic wouldn't really manifest anymore. Natural magic would still manifest, but be a lot more dependent on actual belief, and the level of belief necessary for Natural magic to take effect would be bigger.
  If someone disrupted them, it would affect the ley nodes connected to it, reducing the power of the nodes, and probably having a bad effect on the node's local manifestations of Natural Magic. In addition the energy would need to go somewhere, which means either flowing towards a different node (I think this would be difficult for larger ley lines, since the more powerful flow would make changing course difficult) or coiling in on itself and collecting in the location of the disruption. This would cause a lot of Natural Magic to start manifesting inside of the area, and can have a number of end results (ordered in level of danger)
  (Note that all these effects and classifications are my own take on things, and are not canon, also, I think that interference with ley lines at this scale would be extremely difficult and would likely border on impossible):
  • Class I Ley Line Disruption Resolution: The energy will keep building up until the pressure allows some of it to slip past the blockade and continue its old route (though with less energy). Eventually this would stabilize and form a new ley node at the location of the disruption.
  • Class II Ley Line Disruption Resolution: The energy keeps building up until the pressure causes the energy to forcefully explode outwards. The disruption will vanish, or at least diminish to a weak enough version that option 1 takes effect. The issue with this is that the energy that has been building up will need to go somewhere, and will spread into the area surrounding the disruption, as well as flowing downstream into nearby nodes, meaning that all Natural Magic in a wide area around the disruption will suddenly get a large, temporary boost. The duration, range and strength of the boost will depend on the disruption, as well as how much energy has been building up and how easily it can disperse into the surrounding area (check final point, ley line formation for more info on this).
    (For these sub-classes, note that for most of them the effect will lessen the further away from the epicenter you are, segueing into the preceding sub-classes)
    • Class II-A Resolution, Natural magic boost: All Natural Magic in the area is boosted to some degree, with people being more likely to develop abilities, and entities and objects that already have abilities will seem them strengthened.
    • Class II-B Resolution, Long-term Natural Magic manifestation: Reality will become weaker in the areas close to the epicenter, with Natural Magic-based phenomena materializing without the requirement for belief. Some of the manifestations can stay afterwards, and Natural magic will be stronger in this area for a long time.
    • Class II-C Resolution, Reality weakening: Reality as commonly known will stop functioning correctly close to the epicenter, with certain people being capable of consciously bending reality in this area.
    • Class II-D Resolution, Reality breakdown: The concept of reality as we know it will stop functioning in this area. Stray thoughts can drastically change the nature of reality around people and the laws of physics and common sense stop applying. In more extreme cases this will basically turn the area into a modern arts display.
    • Class II-E Resolution, Reality restructuring: This is an alternative to Class II-C and class II-D Resolutions, where the nature of reality undergoes a (possibly pernement) fundamental change instead of just weakening. The positive side of this is that the resultant reality is stable, unlike with other reality altering Resolutions. On the negative side, there is no guarantee that humans as we know them can actually exist under the new laws of reality.
    • Class II-*-C Resolution, Cascade reaction modifier: A modifier to other Class II resolutions, the energy released by the resolution has a significant impact on nearby ley lines, altering their paths and disrupting them. This can result in additional Disruptions forming, with the Resolutions from those Disruptions possibly kicking off Cascade Reactions as well, setting in motion a large scale chain reaction that can result in country or even continent wide Class II resolutions. Do note that these Resolutions would probably fade quickly and wouldn't happen at the same time, because the amount of Investure that can be trapped in Disruptions is finite, but large scale cascades can still ruin existing Natural magic ecosystems and cause widespread damage to civilization.
• What do you mean with this? Do you mean the relative difference of Investure or the relative difference in how easily Natural Magic can occur? For the first one, I'd say fairly large, but dependent on the size of the ley line. For the second one, I'd say there isn't that big of a difference (refer back to point 1).
• As for the locations and paths of the ley lines, I'd say it's probably influenced by both the physical and cognitive realm. The main principles would probably Path of Least Resistance, Investure Momentum, Investure Attraction and Investure Pressure.
  • Path of Least Resistance means that the stream would travel in paths similar to actual rivers, following the lay of the land and the cognitive realm, though it probably wouldn't fully correspond to the path of actual rivers, since there isn't a high an low point the Investure comes from and flows towards.
  • Investure Momentum means that any Investure is forced to stay in motion, and the more Investure there is the harder it is for it's path to change. This means that the larger the stream the straighter its path will be.
  • Investure Attraction means that ley lines will pull towards other places with Investure. This causes ley lines to cross with others to form ley nodes, and will also cause them to pull towards areas with lots of living beings. Taking Investure Momentum into account, this means small ley lines will often go through cities, but the larger ones probably won't since the cities wouldn't have been around for long enough to cause large effects on those ley lines. On the other hand, this means that it wouldn't be weird for ley lines to flow through large forests or islands.
  • Investure Pressure means that the more Investure is concentrated somewhere the harder it is to force more Investure into it, and makes it more likely for Investure to split off again. This balances against Investure Attraction, and is the reason that there are a large number of smaller ley lines, instead of all of them simply coalescing into a single large ley line.

Note: All of these are my own personal takes on them, and you shouldn't take them as canon, especially the ley line disruption resolution types (on the other hand, this could allow for some ancient precursor civilization that got wiped out because they interfered with ley lines and messed up, causing a weak Type-II-E-C Resolution that destroyed their civilization, possibly also affecting how magic works in the world (might also be an explanation for why other continents might have different forms of magic).

...so moving investiture is influenced less by thoughts?

 

So they are essential for crystal formation; that makes sense. But why would they interfere in Natural Magic for places not on the ley nodes?

 

I agree with a good bit of this, but I don't think we really need a classification system. A backed up ley line causes a rapid increase in the amount of free Natural magic in the area, which then spills out and forms a ley node; that's probably as far as we need to go. It wouldn't really explode outwards; that would probably make it less effective, in fact, as it would be moving and therefore less influenced by thoughts. The thoughts and beliefs of people in the area will be much more powerful than usual, but probably not so powerful as to mess up reality too far, even if a major ley line was the one being disrupted. It would likely take two fairly large ley lines crashing into each other to cause even close to that effect. They could probably exert significant conscious control over the landscape, however, so destruction of a civilization would be perfectly feasible.

 

So Natural magic should not be different on a ley line vs off a ley line.

 

So is it flowing "downhill", so to speak? Path of Least Resistance implies there's some force keeping it moving.

[kenod]

1 minute ago, xinoehp512 said:

...so moving investiture is influenced less by thoughts?

 

So they are essential for crystal formation; that makes sense. But why would they interfere in Natural Magic for places not on the ley nodes?

 

I agree with a good bit of this, but I don't think we really need a classification system. A backed up ley line causes a rapid increase in the amount of free Natural magic in the area, which then spills out and forms a ley node; that's probably as far as we need to go. It wouldn't really explode outwards; that would probably make it less effective, in fact, as it would be moving and therefore less influenced by thoughts. The thoughts and beliefs of people in the area will be much more powerful than usual, but probably not so powerful as to mess up reality too far, even if a major ley line was the one being disrupted. It would likely take two fairly large ley lines crashing into each other to cause even close to that effect. They could probably exert significant conscious control over the landscape, however, so destruction of a civilization would be perfectly feasible.

 

So Natural magic should not be different on a ley line vs off a ley line.

 

So is it flowing "downhill", so to speak? Path of Least Resistance implies there's some force keeping it moving.

• I guess? More that it doesn't stay long enough for the thoughts to start influencing it.
• What exactly do you mean with this? They shouldn't interfere with Natural Magic except for places on ley nodes.
• Alright. It makes more sense too, since actually having reality break down would A: Require more Investure than the entire world has (I guess) and B: Would create really weird paradoxes.
• Yup.
• It is, kind of, but the concepts of downhill and uphill are kind of weird, since the ley lines don't have a specific origin or endpoint. So it would be possible for a ley line to circle around and feed into itself, or for a ley line to feed into another ley line that keeps going around until it fills back into itself again (this last one is what normally happens). I'd say it's mostly that Investure cannot stay in a single place, and will always be moving.

[Chasmfiend#1]

6 hours ago, Turtle373 said:

Chadwick is with the rest of the group at this point

What I mean is you and I go get kenod and Mac's characters together. This way they have someone they already know, and presumably can trust. After that, we'd head after Steel, Sorana, Vargo, and Zinc as a small gang.

@Turtle373

[+Sorana]

Sounds like a good plan. Let's do this?

[+ZincAboutIt]

4 minutes ago, Sorana said:

Sounds like a good plan. Let's do this?

Yes! I’m heading to sleep but Liezl is an NPC so feel free to write any interactions with her you might need at the tavern while I’m gone. Just make sure to throw the “Fritz is missing” line in there somewhere. Excited to write some creepy darkness weirdness once everyone assembles at the mouth of the Fens!

[+Sorana]

6 minutes ago, ZincAboutIt said:

Yes! I’m heading to sleep but Liezl is an NPC so feel free to write any interactions with her you might need at the tavern while I’m gone. Just make sure to throw the “Fritz is missing” line in there somewhere. Excited to write some creepy darkness weirdness once everyone assembles at the mouth of the Fens!

As almost everybody is asleep right now, I don't think we need to hurry

[Turtle373]

17 hours ago, Chasmfiend#1 said:

What I mean is you and I go get kenod and Mac's characters together. This way they have someone they already know, and presumably can trust. After that, we'd head after Steel, Sorana, Vargo, and Zinc as a small gang.

@Turtle373

Ok I see what you mean now, I think I have the last post so do you want to start that?

@Chasmfiend#1

[Chasmfiend#1]

3 hours ago, Turtle373 said:

Ok I see what you mean now, I think I have the last post so do you want to start that?

@Chasmfiend#1

Sure thing, let's get this party started

[Chasmfiend#1]

@Turtle373 @kenod @MacThorstenson,

Do you guys want to stop at the tavern, to make ourselves known to each other, or would you guys like to jump back to the others heading for the Fens?

[kenod]

No opinion personally, whatever works the best for the others.

[Chasmfiend#1]

6 hours ago, kenod said:

No opinion personally, whatever works the best for the others.

Alright, we could have you ( @kenod ) and @MacThorstenson riding on mutigs back, to make it to even faster.

[MacThorstenson]

Thorstein will probably join up at a later date, following you guys around for a little.

[kenod]

4 hours ago, Chasmfiend#1 said:

Alright, we could have you ( @kenod ) and @MacThorstenson riding on mutigs back, to make it to even faster.

Lilia will probably just run along beside him. She shouldn't have too much trouble keeping up, since her body is somewhat enhanced because of different Fleshcraftings, and she has a spell for increasing physical abilities.

[Chasmfiend#1]

9 hours ago, kenod said:

Lilia will probably just run along beside him. She shouldn't have too much trouble keeping up, since her body is somewhat enhanced because of different Fleshcraftings, and she has a spell for increasing physical abilities.

Okay, want me to introduce us back to the rest?

@Turtle373 @kenod 

[kenod]

3 hours ago, Chasmfiend#1 said:

Okay, want me to introduce us back to the rest?

@Turtle373 @kenod 

Sure.

[Steel Inquisitive]

I feel like that jump was very abrupt..... Could we RP them actually going to the tunnels instead of jumping to the fight scene? Plus we haven't resolved the captive thugs yet.

@Vargo Seldon @Chasmfiend#1

[+ZincAboutIt]

Also relevant while I'm thinking about it:

This thing that we will be fighting is amorphous in shape but is not incorporeal. It appears sort of that way but it isn't, you can get a good hold into it if you lodge deep enough into a tendril or appendage. Also, it can form its appendages into sharp stabby shapes but nothing advanced like a sword. I'm imagining it as a kind of mistrwraith-kraken type thing, but it functions kind of like a fungus. It can send tendrils out but they are all connected to the host, which is kind of this black blot of darkness. It also has a few weaknesses:

• light (obviously)
• forged steel
• other Natural magic (edited now that I realize this would make sense, it is weaker against other Natural constructs)
• mirrors (also can apply to very highly polished metal, but is less effective)

Showing the host form its own reflection will effectively kill it, or deliver a mortal wound which will allow it to be finished off. Showing it its reflection is, however, very hard as it creates darkness/ is darkness. Feel free to ask any more questions about it as well, or submit suggestions or changes. This is just what I imagined it as.

Edited April 12, 2019 by ZincAboutIt

[Vargo Seldon]

Oh.  In my head canon we were already in the tunnels, which is where we found the thugs.  I like the idea of the thing attacking us mid thug scene so we have to either let the thugs go to fight it or have them help us.

[Chasmfiend#1]

50 minutes ago, Steel Inquisitive said:

I feel like that jump was very abrupt..... Could we RP them actually going to the tunnels instead of jumping to the fight scene? Plus we haven't resolved the captive thugs yet.

@Vargo Seldon @Chasmfiend#1

Yeah I'm kinda getting that vibe too, if you guys like, I can remove my part and act like it didn't happen.

That, or this could be a brief show down, where it has originally planned for the thugs, but ran into us, making it right briefly, than retreat into its liar. But it's up to you guys, I'm could with whatever.

@Steel Inquisitive @ZincAboutIt @Vargo Seldon 

[Vargo Seldon]

1 minute ago, Chasmfiend#1 said:

Yeah I'm kinda getting that vibe too, if you guys like, I can remove my part and act like it didn't happen.

That, or this could be a brief show down, where it has originally planned for the thugs, but ran into us, making it right briefly, than retreat into its liar. But it's up to you guys, I'm could with whatever.

@Steel Inquisitive @ZincAboutIt @Vargo Seldon 

Sure I'm fine with this.  I was just trying to speed things up a little.