worldbuilding Fantasy World planning

[Chasmfiend#1]

1 minute ago, ZincAboutIt said:

I agree with you re: your first plan. It is worth noting that the Fens, Roshek's labyrinthine slum district, covers basically the whole city just at a lower level, is partially flooded, and much if it sees little use. He could possibly find a way in there, and it might be interesting to get his impression on the strange things going on and manifesting in the under-city. Would you be using the travelers sniffing out news as NPCs? 

That was the idea for the travelers, unless someone wanted to be a normal person being stood up by a 12' grizzly.

If things don't start moving and nothing happens (regarding the message) I can try finding my way into the slums and lower levels of the city. After all, if their flooded, that means there's a water entrance I could enlarge and get in by.

[kenod]

33 minutes ago, Chasmfiend#1 said:

I was told to post my character here. If there is somewhere else then let me know.

Mutig Bärin the grizzly.

Name: Mutig Bärin

Species: grizzly bear

Physical Characteristics: 12 feet tall (on his hind legs), weighs about 900 pounds, grayish/brown fur, thick skin, strong and healthy. Deep blue eyes, sharp teeth.

Investure: Natural magic, Apex bear, powerful roar that can be heard for miles enhanced sniffing capability.

Personality:  See's himself as a symbol of justice. Tends to study those around himself. Likes being with children, as they don't fear him as much as adults do. Will wait until a fight is at its height, then goes directly for the enemy leader, caring little for who he tramples in his wake. Is fascinated by ritual magic.

Skills: learning the language of Kuria. Has a powerful bite that will break bones and ruin armor. His muscles are strong enough to send grown men flying for a few yards. His roar has the commanding authority to strike fear in the hearts of men.

Weakness: suffers from a mangled back paw since he was young. Can't see well, his lack of human ways of thinking can lead to him irritated and sometimes even angry. Although he is most times calm, he will lose his calm at the mere mention of a cult following (due to his past encounters with cults). Considers most other animals and monsters as weak, making him vulnerable to traps.

Backstory: Mutig was found by a village in a trap, his hind leg had been broken and he was in agony. the locals guardian, who could speak with animals and understand them, decided to take him in and nurture him to health, seeing it as the right thing to do. After Mutig had healed, she (the guardian) tried releasing him back into the wild, but he wouldn't leave the village, staying close to the first person who found him( the town's guardian). Soon the village began praising him as a guardian, and when monsters attacked the village, he and the guardian fought with all they had.  The locals called them hero's, they said Mutig was unbreakable, crafting him slowly into the protector they hoped for. They (the guardian and Mutig) were inseparable, that is until the day she(the guardian) was killed by a group of people who called themselves profits for the God of Kuria. Mutig responded by killing the profits, sparing not one of them. This began his new legend as a vengeful guardian. He was sent by the village of brat (the small marker in northern Kuria, I couldn't read the name, sorry) to inform the capital of bandits growing bolder and raiding the country, slowly establishing forts along the river.

 

let me know if this is balanced ( I was really trying) and if he is okay to use. If not, I can think of something else to use.

Sounds great. Do you want to add him to the character list or do you want to do it yourself?

[+ZincAboutIt she/her]

1 minute ago, Chasmfiend#1 said:

That was the idea for the travelers, unless someone wanted to be a normal person being stood up by a 12' grizzly.

If things don't start moving and nothing happens (regarding the message) I can try finding my way into the slums and lower levels of the city. After all, if their flooded, that means there's a water entrance I could enlarge and get in by.

Sounds good to me. The city is right alongside the massive Kur River, and the feeling is sort of Venice-meets-Amsterdam, so there is lots of water around. 

[Chasmfiend#1]

Just now, kenod said:

Sounds great. Do you want to add him to the character list or do you want to do it yourself?

I don't know how, so I trust you ( also, I might mess something up, and set things back time wise).

[Chasmfiend#1]

Just now, ZincAboutIt said:

Sounds good to me. The city is right alongside the massive Kur River, and the feeling is sort of Venice-meets-Amsterdam, so there is lots of water around. 

Perfect! I now have two ways into this city with my message, travelers, or poor people in the slums.

[kenod]

3 minutes ago, Chasmfiend#1 said:

I don't know how, so I trust you ( also, I might mess something up, and set things back time wise).

Done. I also corrected what I thought were a few spelling mistakes (profits instead of prophets, hero's instead of heroes).

[Chasmfiend#1]

Yeah I spotted the profits mistake after zinc said the right word

[+ZincAboutIt she/her]

@MacThorstenson @kenod @Sorana @xinoehp512 @Steel Inquisitive @Turtle373 @Chasmfiend#1 @ShadowLord_Lith

The RP thread is live! Go forth and RP! Hooray!

 

[+Invocation]

Hey @ZincAboutIt can I just make a skinwalker as my character? I feel like that would be a fun thing to do.

[+ZincAboutIt she/her]

Just now, Invocation said:

Hey @ZincAboutIt can I just make a skinwalker as my character? I feel like that would be a fun thing to do.

Hmm, I'd have to know the mechanism by which they can continuously change bodies. Are they a creation of purely Natural magic? Are they a Descendant? I also think @kenod might have a better idea on how this could work, or if it could work. The idea sounds cool though, I love characters like that.

[+Invocation]

8 minutes ago, ZincAboutIt said:

Hmm, I'd have to know the mechanism by which they can continuously change bodies. Are they a creation of purely Natural magic? Are they a Descendant? I also think @kenod might have a better idea on how this could work, or if it could work. The idea sounds cool though, I love characters like that.

I was thinking they'd be able to change via a gift/curse from a more powerful being. I hadn't worked it out that far yet.

Though, yes, @kenod is free to weigh in. I don't want to step over my bounds and stuff.

Edited March 19, 2019 by Invocation

[+Sorana she/her]

If it's alright for you I'll go with  @kenod  suggestion regarding her magic. Innate earth (some hint what a plant might do, some hints regarding the well-being of living things). She'll use the female part, which I'd like to interpret that she has a good way to understand her patients.

[+ZincAboutIt she/her]

Just now, Sorana said:

If it's alright for you I'll go with  @kenod  suggestion regarding her magic. Innate earth (some hint what a plant might do, some hints regarding the well-being of living things). She'll use the female part, which I'd like to interpret that she has a good way to understand her patients.

Wonderful! Feel free to edit your character sheet via the google doc, or I can do it.

[+Sorana she/her]

Just now, ZincAboutIt said:

Wonderful! Feel free to edit your character sheet via the google doc, or I can do it.

I'll do it, but thanks for the offer.

[Vargo Seldon he/him]

HCan I submit a character here?  I'm very interested in this whole thing.  

He's a more powerful character, but is also kind of non-combative.

Spoiler

Name:  Algorath

Investiture:  An Apex.  On his way to becoming a monster, takes the form of a human form wolf.  Sort of a mix between an ape and wolf.  Can speak a guttural form of language.

Appearance:  Takes the form of a tall, muscular, and slightly hunched man, but with a wolfs claws and head.  About 7 feet tall, and can make his wolf features disappear to some extent.  Covered completely with black fur, wears a black tunic.

Personality:  Actually quiet eloquent.  Stole books and read them, and realizes the value of knowledge.  He's a little less intelligent than you average human, but can speak with an advanced vocabulary and hold conversations.  He's not friendly, but his pack is loyal.  

Advantages of Apex status:

• Extreme physical strength.  Has a strength many times that of a man.
• "Built in" weapons.  Can use claws and teeth to fight well.
• Pach Loyalty.  Has a pack of about 20 that will fight for him to the death.
• Man-like intelligence.  Has basic knowledge of strategy and tactics.

Disadvantages of Apex status:

• Unfit for human settlements.  His appearence and reputation make society spur him.
• Has trouble empathising with man.  Can't understand most things men do.
• Extremely afraid of any sort of magic.  His nature makes him fear even the most harmless and rudimentary of any sort of magic, wether it be ritual, nature or human deification.

Skills:  Can hunt well, and is able to gather food easily.  Can run faster than most men, and is more physically adept.  

Weaknesses:  Can't stand moving water.  His biggest downfall is rivers.  Stuff like streams, he's fine with.  Is slightly afraid of man, and will stay away if he can.  Is less intellengent than the average human, and doesn't like being out of place with man.  Also, has a sort of identity crisis.  Is he a man?  Wolf?  Ape?  Can't figure it out, and feels out of place wherever he is.

Background:  Happened when a Demi-god thought it would be funny to fuse a man and a wolf.  He was a normal cooper, apprenticed to his father.  A woodland Demi-god fused him to a wolf when he was gathering wood.  He became an alpha when the wolf's soul took over, but has slowly progressed to Apex, and on the verge of Monster.

Affiliation:  Is more of a neutral character.  Will sometimes raid human settlements, but would rather side with man than any sort of nature or spirit magic.

[kenod]

35 minutes ago, Invocation said:

I was thinking they'd be able to change via a gift/curse from a more powerful being. I hadn't worked it out that far yet.

Though, yes, @kenod is free to weigh in. I don't want to step over my bounds and stuff.

Sounds interesting, and I personally enjoy shapeshifters, so there's that too.

My take on it: You have two options, they'll either have this ability through natural magic changing them directly, or getting the ability from something else.

1. Getting the ability directly would require certain stories about them. Not perhaps about them in particular, but stories about people like them in general. This would be the easiest to use, since the energy necessary for this would come directly from the Natural magic/ley lines. The downside, however, is that for this level of power the natural magic would have a decent influence on them, the stories limiting their actions and personality to the one the stories line out. For example, in Najavo myth skin walkers are basically the most evil type of witch, so if the story your character's powers came from was like this, they'd be forced to be evil.
   This particular method would probably also give a number of weird effects to their powers, such as special weaknesses, or things required for them to use this power, like wearing the skin of the animal they want to turn into.
2. The ability could have an outside source, like, as you said, being a gift from a higher being, either in a way similar to how gods creating miracles would work or by the entity modifying your character's spiritweb and giving it as a type of Innate magic. This would have fewer limitations with regards to how they can act, but have different issues.
   Specifically, your character would need a source of Investure for the ability to work.
   If directly connected to this being it would be fairly simple, they could just channel its power. This would have the issue that their power functioning is basically down to the being's whims though, with said being capable of cutting of the flow, temporarily or permanently disabling their ability. Depending on the nature of the being there might also be a distance limitation for where the power will work.
   If they got the ability by having their spiritweb modified it would have the least amount of issues, basically functioning using the rules for Descendant Innate magic, but as such, would require them to use Investure crystals to use this ability. The actual energy cost would probably be lower than what a Fleshcrafting of the same level would cost though (assuming that it works through the same principles Natural magic uses, instead of just manipulating the physical form like Fleshcrafting does), and if they manage to get some stories about them started the energy cost would start decreasing as they would be able to tap into the energy given by their Natural magic instead, though this would come with the same issues as the first method, though possibly at a less significant level, at least at first (basically, for as long as they still need to use Investure crystals).

Edit:

8 minutes ago, Vargo Seldon said:

HCan I submit a character here?  I'm very interested in this whole thing.  

He's a more powerful character, but is also kind of non-combative.

  Hide contents

Name:  Algorath

Investiture:  An Apex.  On his way to becoming a monster, takes the form of a human form wolf.  Sort of a mix between an ape and wolf.  Can speak a guttural form of language.

Appearance:  Takes the form of a tall, muscular, and slightly hunched man, but with a wolfs claws and head.  About 7 feet tall, and can make his wolf features disappear to some extent.  Covered completely with black fur, wears a black tunic.

Personality:  Actually quiet eloquent.  Stole books and read them, and realizes the value of knowledge.  He's a little less intelligent than you average human, but can speak with an advanced vocabulary and hold conversations.  He's not friendly, but his pack is loyal.  

Advantages of Apex status:

• Extreme physical strength.  Has a strength many times that of a man.
• "Built in" weapons.  Can use claws and teeth to fight well.
• Pach Loyalty.  Has a pack of about 20 that will fight for him to the death.
• Man-like intelligence.  Has basic knowledge of strategy and tactics.

Disadvantages of Apex status:

• Unfit for human settlements.  His appearence and reputation make society spur him.
• Has trouble empathising with man.  Can't understand most things men do.
• Extremely afraid of any sort of magic.  His nature makes him fear even the most harmless and rudimentary of any sort of magic, wether it be ritual, nature or human deification.

Skills:  Can hunt well, and is able to gather food easily.  Can run faster than most men, and is more physically adept.  

Weaknesses:  Can't stand moving water.  His biggest downfall is rivers.  Stuff like streams, he's fine with.  Is slightly afraid of man, and will stay away if he can.  Is less intellengent than the average human, and doesn't like being out of place with man.  Also, has a sort of identity crisis.  Is he a man?  Wolf?  Ape?  Can't figure it out, and feels out of place wherever he is.

Background:  Happened when a Demi-god thought it would be funny to fuse a man and a wolf.  He was a normal cooper, apprenticed to his father.  A woodland Demi-god fused him to a wolf when he was gathering wood.  He became an alpha when the wolf's soul took over, but has slowly progressed to Apex, and on the verge of Monster.

Affiliation:  Is more of a neutral character.  Will sometimes raid human settlements, but would rather side with man than any sort of nature or spirit magic.

Sounds good, but I kind of want to know how powerful his pack is. Are they normal wolves or are they affected by Natural magic as well? Also, how intelligent are they?

Other than that it seems good, but do keep in mind that the current plot-line takes place inside a large city, so it might be good to work out how they'd fit in there, given that he likes to stay away from people.

Edited March 19, 2019 by kenod

[+Invocation]

1 minute ago, kenod said:

Sounds interesting, and I personally enjoy shapeshifters, so there's that too.

My take on it: You have two options, they'll either have this ability through natural magic changing them directly, or getting the ability from something else.

1. Getting the ability directly would require certain stories about them. Not perhaps about them in particular, but stories about people like them in general. This would be the easiest to use, since the energy necessary for this would come directly from the Natural magic/ley lines. The downside, however, is that for this level of power the natural magic would have a decent influence on them, the stories limiting their actions and personality to the one the stories line out. For example, in Najavo myth skin walkers are basically the most evil type of witch, so if the story your character's powers came from was like this, they'd be forced to be evil.
   This particular method would probably also give a number of weird effects to their powers, such as special weaknesses, or things required for them to use this power, like wearing the skin of the animal they want to turn into.
2. The ability could have an outside source, like, as you said, being a gift from a higher being, either in a way similar to how gods creating miracles would work or by the entity modifying your character's spiritweb and giving it as a type of Innate magic. This would have fewer limitations with regards to how they can act, but have different issues.
   Specifically, your character would need a source of Investure for the ability to work.
   If directly connected to this being it would be fairly simple, they could just channel its power. This would have the issue that their power functioning is basically down to the being's whims though, with said being capable of cutting of the flow, temporarily or permanently disabling their ability. Depending on the nature of the being there might also be a distance limitation for where the power will work.
   If they got the ability by having their spiritweb modified it would have the least amount of issues, basically functioning using the rules for Descendant Innate magic, but as such, would require them to use Investure crystals to use this ability. The actual energy cost would probably be lower than what a Fleshcrafting of the same level would cost though (assuming that it works through the same principles Natural magic uses, instead of just manipulating the physical form like Fleshcrafting does), and if they manage to get some stories about them started the energy cost would start decreasing as they would be able to tap into the energy given by their Natural magic instead, though this would come with the same issues as the first method, though possibly at a less significant level, at least at first (basically, for as long as they still need to use Investure crystals).

I'm gonna pitch an idea that might work based on the second category there: a dying demi-god/ascendant god/other higher being that would be capable of that fused itself to the character. The being was known for animal-based magic, and so via the fusion, the character gained the ability to turn into animals with the power of the higher being that has been fused to their spiritweb. What do you think?

[kenod]

1 minute ago, Invocation said:

I'm gonna pitch an idea that might work based on the second category there: a dying demi-god/ascendant god/other higher being that would be capable of that fused itself to the character. The being was known for animal-based magic, and so via the fusion, the character gained the ability to turn into animals with the power of the higher being that has been fused to their spiritweb. What do you think?

The issue is that the main reason they'd die would be a lack of worship, which would mean that they wouldn't get a lot of Investure through Natural magic. Still, if you're alright with using Investure crystals instead it might work, but I'd like some more input on this from other people.

[+Invocation]

1 minute ago, kenod said:

The issue is that the main reason they'd die would be a lack of worship, which would mean that they wouldn't get a lot of Investure through Natural magic.

So what if this happened and the character understands this through the bond, so he begins to defend his home/village and the surrounding area, gaining renown and a boost in Natural Magic to power him somewhat/increase the efficiency of the Investiture consumption?

 

[kenod]

Just now, Invocation said:

So what if this happened and the character understands this through the bond, so he begins to defend his home/village and the surrounding area, gaining renown and a boost in Natural Magic to power him somewhat/increase the efficiency of the Investiture consumption?

 

That would work, though the main thing I'm not entirely sure about is the fusion thing, mostly because I'm not really sure how it'd work, so I'd like some additional input on that from the others regarding ideas for how it could work. Though if you have any good ideas yourself I'd like to hear them too.

[+Invocation]

Just now, kenod said:

That would work, though the main thing I'm not entirely sure about is the fusion thing, mostly because I'm not really sure how it'd work, so I'd like some additional input on that from the others regarding ideas for how it could work. Though if you have any good ideas yourself I'd like to hear them too.

I was going to treat it sort of like a spren bond, only without the Oaths. I have no idea beyond that. 

[+ZincAboutIt she/her]

Just now, Invocation said:

So what if this happened and the character understands this through the bond, so he begins to defend his home/village and the surrounding area, gaining renown and a boost in Natural Magic to power him somewhat/increase the efficiency of the Investiture consumption?

Mostly I'm concerned that fusing a god into your mortal spirit web would fry your brain, or at the very least make you kind of crazy, if not outright kill you. I could see the bond as a kind of negative, parasitic relationship, where a dying god latched onto a person and forces them to mainline Investiture crystals to keep it alive because its belief dried up, but having it be symbiotic is hard for me to rationalize... 

[+Invocation]

Just now, ZincAboutIt said:

Mostly I'm concerned that fusing a god into your mortal spirit web would fry your brain, or at the very least make you kind of crazy, if not outright kill you. I could see the bond as a kind of negative, parasitic relationship, where a dying god latched onto a person and forces them to mainline Investiture crystals to keep it alive because its belief dried up, but having it be symbiotic is hard for me to rationalize... 

Oh, I wasn't planning for it to be all positive. Symbiotic is even stretching it. Definitely some personality alterations, probably including the trickster-ish attitude of the higher being, not to mention the things that come with having an entitled ex-god in your head, screaming at you.

[+ZincAboutIt she/her]

Just now, Invocation said:

Oh, I wasn't planning for it to be all positive. Symbiotic is even stretching it. Definitely some personality alterations, probably including the trickster-ish attitude of the higher being, not to mention the things that come with having an entitled ex-god in your head, screaming at you.

So he's effectively possessed with benefits?

[+Invocation]

Just now, ZincAboutIt said:

So he's effectively possessed with benefits?

I mean the god isn't powerful enough to hijack his entire being, but it can (and does) interfere with him when it's not getting its way, so pretty much.