worldbuilding Fantasy World planning

[+ZincAboutIt she/her]

1 minute ago, Invocation said:

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.

The combination of Natural magic belief plus boost from Investiture crystals would be enough for me to believe and approve of the character, but I'm still unsure if the spiritual fusion is possible. @MacThorstenson your thoughts on whether this is possible?

[kenod]

Just now, Invocation said:

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.

Sounds good to me. An explanation for why this doesn't happen to other people might also be nice though. Personal idea, most spirits don't try it because of the danger of what happens if the host dies (I'm guessing this would likely kill the spirit too), and because most spirits aren't capable of this because of their stories, but as a trickster god, this spirit would be less constrained by this. So basically, the reason this happened in this case is a combination of desperation, the spirit's power being low enough not to kill the host, and the spirit's stories already having some element of possession, giving it the basic ability for forming the connection, that they then altered into a weird (and dangerous) variation of a Nahel bond. The fact that trickster spirits are often also seen as intelligent, or doing weird or taboo things might also have helped things along.

[+Invocation]

Just now, kenod said:

Sounds good to me. An explanation for why this doesn't happen to other people might also be nice though. Personal idea, most spirits don't try it because of the danger of what happens if the host dies (I'm guessing this would likely kill the spirit too), and because most spirits aren't capable of this because of their stories, but as a trickster god, this spirit would be less constrained by this. So basically, the reason this happened in this case is a combination of desperation, the spirit's power being low enough not to kill the host, and the spirit's stories already having some element of possession, giving it the basic ability for forming the connection, that they then altered into a weird (and dangerous) variation of a Nahel bond. The fact that trickster spirits are often also seen as intelligent, or doing weird or taboo things might also have helped things along.

That's a good idea, I'll be sure to incorporate it.

[+ZincAboutIt she/her]

42 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.

  Reveal hidden 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.

Thanks for submitting! It seems like your character has effectively been Fleshcrafted by a higher Natural magic deity. Does he now have his own mythos too? The poor cooper who was turned into a wolf? That's a story that would probably get quite a bit of re-telling. If that's the case, his legend could now be feeding itself, keeping the transformation going. 

Are you planning on having him in the city? It's full of lots of things that he would probably hate very much, like magic, gods, large numbers of people, etc. 

[Vargo Seldon he/him]

 

Just now, ZincAboutIt said:

Thanks for submitting! It seems like your character has effectively been Fleshcrafted by a higher Natural magic deity. Does he now have his own mythos too? The poor cooper who was turned into a wolf? That's a story that would probably get quite a bit of re-telling. If that's the case, his legend could now be feeding itself, keeping the transformation going. 

Are you planning on having him in the city? It's full of lots of things that he would probably hate very much, like magic, gods, large numbers of people, etc. 

Yeah, I feel like there's a lot of room for development here, with his identity crisis, the poor cooper, the Demgod, etc.  

I'm thinking of bringing him to the city, but he'll go to his semi-human form, and will mostly sneak around at night.  He will be in almost perpetual terror from all of the magic, but I think it'll be interesting.

[+ZincAboutIt she/her]

6 minutes ago, Vargo Seldon said:

Yeah, I feel like there's a lot of room for development here, with his identity crisis, the poor cooper, the Demgod, etc.  

I'm thinking of bringing him to the city, but he'll go to his semi-human form, and will mostly sneak around at night.  He will be in almost perpetual terror from all of the magic, but I think it'll be interesting.

I like it, sounds good to me. A large portion of the initial plot is centering around the undercity, which is half flooded and currently occupied by the poorest occupants of Roshek, along with something else that is less than savory. Your character could hang around down there, and probably have less to contend with as far as people goes. I'm actually quite pleased that some people could potentially have characters that are in the Fens watching people disappear, maybe even have someone think they are the ones behind it for a while... I love it. Keep in mind that your character could register in the census and receive a bonus of money, which may entice him for one reason or another.

[Vargo Seldon he/him]

Just now, kenod said:

Just now, Vargo Seldon said:

 

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.

They're normal wolves.  Maybe one or two are going on being beasts, but they're mostly just normal with an odd instinct to follow my character.  

Edit:  In regard to @ZincAboutIt's post, since I apparently can't quote into an edit:

Yes, I feel like he is a good candidate to notice or even discover what's going on there.

Edited March 19, 2019 by Vargo Seldon

[kenod]

1 minute ago, Vargo Seldon said:

They're normal wolves.  Maybe one or two are going on being beasts, but they're mostly just normal with an odd instinct to follow my character.  

Alright, that doesn't really sound like much of an issue. How good are they at following commands though?

[Vargo Seldon he/him]

Just now, kenod said:

Alright, that doesn't really sound like much of an issue. How good are they at following commands though?

Good question, they'd die for my character, but they're harder to control while in a frenzy or other such instances.  It's purely situational.

[kenod]

14 minutes ago, Vargo Seldon said:

Good question, they'd die for my character, but they're harder to control while in a frenzy or other such instances.  It's purely situational.

Alright, sounds good.

Edit: Input from others is (as always) appreciated.

Edited March 19, 2019 by kenod

[+ZincAboutIt she/her]

20 minutes ago, Vargo Seldon said:

Good question, they'd die for my character, but they're harder to control while in a frenzy or other such instances.  It's purely situational.

Is he planning on bringing them into the city? A Natural magic construct with heightened intelligence would be let in, a literal pack of wolves would probably.... not be.

[Vargo Seldon he/him]

 

Just now, ZincAboutIt said:

Is he planning on bringing them into the city? A Natural magic construct with heightened intelligence would be let in, a literal pack of wolves would probably.... not be.

No, he's leaving them outside the city.

[+ZincAboutIt she/her]

Just now, Vargo Seldon said:

 

No, he's leaving them outside the city.

Ah, yeah no problem on my end with the wolves then.

[+Invocation]

Are these characters counted towards the normal Alleyverse character limit?

[MacThorstenson he/him]

No they are a separate setting and thus the 5 character limit does not apply. 

[+Invocation]

Nice, thanks.

[kenod]

On the other hand, we want to keep the character count low to improve oversight, so at least at the start we'll probably just stick to one character per player.

[+Invocation]

That's fair.

[xinoehp512 he/him]

Hey, @ZincAboutIt, are you controlling the villains?

[MacThorstenson he/him]

hey can I make an NPC as the headmaster of the academy?

[kenod]

Sure, I think.

[+ZincAboutIt she/her]

24 minutes ago, xinoehp512 said:

Hey, @ZincAboutIt, are you controlling the villains?

If it’s wanted! I don’t want to stifle anyone’s plans or ideas though. What are you thinking?

[xinoehp512 he/him]

You know the elder god thing we were talking about?

[+Invocation]

Many apologies for the length of the backstory here. Feedback welcome, just let me know if I did something wrong or need to add/remove something.

Spoiler

Name: Janim Lunim

Investiture: A goddess of animals and protection melded to their soul, allowing them to shift shape into animals. I guess that makes them technically a Monster, I don't know, it's a little fuzzy (like them sometimes)

Appearance: Extremely androgynous. Brown hair, blue eyes. 

Personality: Torn between their normal self (likes to read and grow things) and the more bestial side the goddess fused to their soul has brought (hunt and kill, protect the weak).

Weaknesses: When an animal, fire and sudden extreme stimuli. When human, the screaming, entitled goddess inside their head.

Skills: Can grow things well, can read fast. Recieves a boost to strength, speed, and endurance when protecting or spreading the goddess's name.

Backstory: 
When Janim (born Jonas) was young, he spent many hours in the woods, caring for the animals and plant life, stumbling upon an old shrine in the woods, dedicated to the goddess Alim Beastborn, protector of the weak and animals. He began to leave offerings at this shrine, hoping to call forth the goddess to bless the livestock of the village during a regional famine.
But when he brought others to see the shrine, rumors spread. With the rumors came more worship for Alim, and with the worship came a minor flourish of the village animals. This attracted bandits, who razed the village. Jonas was sliced across the arm, bleeding heavily from the deep cut. By the light of his burning village, he stumbled into the woods he had spent so much time in, determined to cover up the shrine so the ones who had killed his friends and were burning his village could not find the shrine he had painstakingly restored over the years that had passed. He reached the shrine, pushing himself purely on adrenaline and determination, but stumbled at the very end, scraping his bleeding arm on the statue that topped the shrine. And heard a voice.
"Do you need protecting, forestwalker?"
"W-who are you? Alim?"
"Yes, young Jonas."
"I never thought I'd actually get to speak with you! Yes, I do need protection. Bandits burned down my village. Please help!" He pleaded, desperate to save his home.
"Very well. Place your hand on the statue," commanded the goddess.
Jonas complied, feeling something move from the statue into him and was struck by blinding pain, blacking out. When he came to, he felt...odd. He was lower than he should have been, and did he...did he have four legs?
-Yes, you silly child. You are a wolf now.
He turned circles, searching for whoever said that.
-Do you not recognize the voice of the one whose shrine you repaired and worshipped at? You asked for protection. I have granted you such. You and I have now joined. You are the output of my power, with a portion of my self residing within you. There will be rewards associated, of course. So long as you continue to worship me and attempt to spread my influence, you will be able to turn into the beasts of the world, run faster, further, longer, and hit harder than other people. My strength is boosting you, for as long as you continue to protect people and nature.
That...didn't sound like a half bad deal, so he eagerly accepted. As he changed back to human, instructed by the goddess, he realized he was different. Taller, more lithe. Everything was different, he realized. From then on, they went by Janim, a name and attitude representing the newly-born fusion of man and goddess. Janim began travelling village to village, protecting the inhabitants for a few weeks and posing as a priest, converting those who wished to join him in worshipping Alim and then leaving. He began to gain a little bit of a reputation, even, as a good luck charm. The people he visited noticed a downturn in crime while he was there, and some began to beg him to stay, to help them maintain this peace, but he always turned them down, preferring to continue on his circut, eventually ending up at the city.
 

 

[Turtle373 he/him]

hey guys I'm really busy with school and sports right now, so I will try to get on and RP about once a day, but unfortunately that might not happen.