Seonid

Is anyone interested in Miner? I'm writing up the aftermath of the battle in Madras now, and counting the corpses. If somebody is interested in using him, let me know, because I'm not planning on it. There's a reasonable chance he survived the explosion. Otherwise, Ranger can find one more corpse on the battlefield.

I understand the feeling. If you find yourself in a position to have more time on your hands, jump on in! And of course, don't let the fact that you're not actively playing stop you from giving suggestions or feedback or worldbuilding advice or whatever. My posts are getting rather long, so I'll put the long detailed answers (and any tangents) in spoilers to keep the length manageable. No modern tech on this planet right now. Depending on the time period I end up choosing, this continent could range from a mix of late dark ages/early medieval tech and military usage all the way up to late medieval mixing with early to middle Renaissance (although some areas, particularly the north-northwest areas will remain early medieval all the way through the end of the period we're considering - they still retain a tribal way of life). I really need to get a map up.* At about the same time I get the culture posts up. As far as your character, he would certainly work. Magic during this period is dominated by religion, but is not exclusively religious. So your character could be a bounty hunter in the service of, say, the Court of the Gods, or an Inquisitor of the Church of the Martyr (or one of the other religions, though those two would be the most likely to actively train that skillset). Or you could have left a religious order or gotten powers outside of one and work in the service of a government or as a mercenary. Any of these would be consistent with the world. One word of caution - the general populace does not especially like magic. They don't understand it. They don't realize that it's the same things that the priests do, and so they are very suspicious. In all fairness, they don't much like priestly magic either. They accept what little of it shows up in their regular ritual practices, and are content to let the priests do their thing up in the temple as long as it doesn't come out of there. This suspicion just grows the later into the period we get. *Tangential map information Actually, this brings up a good question. Since it seems like all y'all are brainstorming characters fast and furious, we need to nail down the time period in question rather quickly. Physical area is less important, as there is enough travel to get pretty much anybody from any of the cultures to wherever we choose to set it. But the time period will be a significant factor. It determines cultural relationships and extents, determines which political regimes are in power, and is relevant to the development of the specific religions, as well. There are even one or two that disappear during this time period. So, for this continent, there is about a 400 year span that I'm particularly interested in, ranging from about 1000-1400 in the Second Era.** Hmm...now to figure out how to assess this... Gaah! It's all interrelated. The differences in historical data won't make any sense until I get the cultural/political stuff up, and so on. I'll throw in some historical information in those posts, too. Better way of addressing the question. I'll post six years (in the next post) as potential settings, complete with in-world references to cultural, political, religious, and technological happenings. You guys give me feedback on which ones sound most awesome. **Tangential calendrical information:

After further thought, I think that my preferred course is the best way to go. So: We will be playing as mortals on a planet called Nycten IV (the fourth planet around the star Nycten). The locals don't call it that, of course. Most of them aren't aware of star systems or much of modern astronomy. (Or ancient astronomy, for that matter). In fact, they aren't even aware of the existence of other continents. Their own continent is all that they know, and they call it Edassa. At some future time, if there is interest, we can do a spin-off as a mix of mortal worldhoppers and level III-V immortals, but let's get this setting down first. As the OP says, I'll get the geography, culture, and politics updated this weekend, and then we can get some characters started!

Age of Empires II is my poison of choice. But then again, I'm a modder for that game. I've been working on a total conversion for the Wheel of Time. So fun! When I have a little more time on my hands, I play Sword of the Stars, a 4X space strategy game, or The Pit, a rogue-like set in the same universe. The games are both pretty good, but the backstory is incredible.

Sounds great! Happy to have you! I would expect nothing less.

Thanks! Yes. There is definitely a solid afterlife. The souls of a mortal being are intelligent entities of the same kind as even the most powerful Class VII potentate. When a mortal dies, its soul is liberated from the body at the place of death. After a period of disorientation, which varies from person to person, the soul becomes again fully aware. They are an incorporeal being in the Material Realm, but can easily pass into the Spiritual Realm and thence into the Outer Realms due to this nature [embodied (and therefore presumably still living - although I haven't ruled out the undead) mortals require rather special conditions to be able to transition; it happens, but it is rare]. In the vast majority of cases, the recently departed soul is met by a representative of one of the Outer Realms and guided there to reside. I have not fully worked out the criteria that determines which of the Outer Realms sends a representative, but a hefty consideration involves the character, personality, and life choices. An analogy might be drawn with Radiantspren - the character of the potential Knight Radiant draws a particular type of spren to them; in the same manner, the Outer Realm most like the deceased is drawn to their passing. A deceased soul can undergo a sort of resurrection - more akin to the Christian version than the traditional fantasy trope of simply being recalled back to life in a mortal body - and become again bound with a corporeal form, but this time as an immortal being. This process generally occurs simultaneously with their being invested with a higher being's power. Rarely, a high-level entity may transport a mortal directly to their Realm, bypassing the whole death thing, and alter their makeup so that they can endure and even thrive in the Outer Realms. Even more rarely, a mortal arrives upon the knowledge and has the power to ascend to such a level on their own. Tangential point - intelligent entities can go up and down in power levels as they increase their capacity/have power invested in them or have it stripped from them. A mortal ascending to the point where they can survive in the Outer Planes must rise to a Class III being as well as go through a process that renders them fit for the Outer Realms. Hence why it is so rare. Those few that do tend to carve out their own planes, accepting the overlordship of no one. Yes. The word copies might be a little bit misplaced, as the rulers of the other mind-worlds are not really attempting to duplicate any specific portion of the Material Realm. Actually, most of them are striving for some sort of originality or at least their own individual mark. However, while they are not attempting to mimic the content of the Material Realm (in fact, in the most beautiful of the Outer Realms, the content compares quite favorably), they are consciously attempting to duplicate its structure, and this they do imperfectly. See my answer to Kobold King's question above. I just switched his name to the participating list rather than the maybe list. I'll swap yours right after this post. I'm open to votes on both counts. Both areas need fleshing out. But, I have the most material already prepared for the lesser mortals. My actual preferred course would be to start with an RP about lesser mortals, some of whom were magic users, and maybe do a spin-off later with a mixed cast of mortal Realm Travelers and higher powered entities. Kind of like what has happened with the Portland RP spinning off into The Dalles. Of course, like I said, I'm open to suggestions about which sounds more fun to you guys. There's enough room for fleshing out that it would all be a valuable exercise to me.

Sweet! I have updated the OP

At 5351, Kobold King is a Nightwatcher. I didn't catch the exact transition.

That's a good question. All of the Outer Realms are Material places, they aren't solely spiritual. But there are important distinctions between them and the Material Realm. For one thing, almost none of the Outer Realms actually has stars or suns or planets. Oh, most of them, if you go there, will have a night sky that you can look up at, and it won't be empty, but if you built a rocket and tried to get to a star, you'd leave the bounds of the Realm very quickly. A telescope wouldn't be able to magnify the stars or moon, either, because they are projections, not solid things. This brings up another point of difference. The Material Realm is far more elegantly and efficiently designed. Although some of the Outer Realms are fantastically beautiful, especially to mortal eyes, on closer examination they seem to be more brute-force things. This has much to do with the differences between creators. The All-Father waved his hand and - POOF - a singularity that rapidly expanded to become a universe, matter condensing into galaxies and stars and planets. Another intervention, and life is evolving anywhere it can get a foot in the door. Lesser beings can't manage the level of fine-tuned control over astrophysics or evolution, so they settle for mockups and special creation. In addition, the Material Realm has much more...permanence...to it. A mind-world will fade away, back into the spiritual realm if it is not maintained by its creator. The more powerful the creator, the longer it takes to fade, but leave it long enough and it will be gone. In contrast, the Material Realm was created in such a manner that it sticks around. The matter inside may one day die an entropy death, but the space and time are permanent, and show no signs of reverting back to the spiritual realm. Another way of looking at these points: The Material Realm can accurately be thought of as the All-Creator's mind-world. The last major difference is that mortals can only live in the Material Realm. Mortal travelers can visit the Outer Realms, sometimes for extended periods of time, but their bodies start to feel the strain of living in a world that they weren't made for. Some of them are explicitly life-threatening, either too glorious or too inimical for mortal life to withstand, but even the congenial ones eventually put a strain on organs and muscles, and even more on the impermanent bonds between body and spirit that typify mortal beings. I'm wavering back and forth on that one. Well, the strict answer is yes. Definitely. A powerful entity can create a biological (or non-biological!) body and bond a disembodied spirit to it, and that spirit/entity will be a sapient being. These are definitely non-human sapients. But are there other non-human but mortal sapient races, capable of independent reproduction? That's what I'm still trying to decide. If there were, they would all be humanoid. I think, at this point, that the safest answer is "If there are, they have not yet featured into any of the stories I have tried to tell."

And it's up!

And, as promised, here is my new thread! Background: Recently, I decided that I need to move forward with developing my fantasy world. It has been a fun diversion, but little more, for the past decade or so, but I want to buckle down and get serious with all sorts of detail-oriented fleshing out of political structures and relationships, economic trends, and culture-stuff. And working on fleshing out the (currently rather sparse) magic system. So I decided to start a forum roleplay set in the world to help flesh out those things. This thread will be a place to post worldbuilding information, character info, roleplay questions, and basically general discussions. When we are ready to get started, I'll post a new thread for the roleplay itself. Currently, I have posted brief overviews of the cosmology and magic systems. This is strictly background information for now, but creates the framework necessary to understand magic as it will play out in the roleplay itself. Feel free to ask any questions you like about it. This weekend, I will begin posting the brief overviews of the cultural, geographical, and religious systems that populate this world. For now, the sections will remain in this post, but labeled as under construction. Cosmology Magic: Geography - Landscape and Culture Updated with Map! Geography - Politics and Religion Under construction! Summer, 1375 S. E., City of Menkor RP Thread

Not at all. He has a rather large cruel streak, if you hadn't noticed, and he would have appreciated Koschei as a work of art. Wouldn't have bought into the whole godhood thing, but would definitely have been willing to make a show of it to get close to a master artist like him.

You could use Quicksand and Safari as Koschei followers, if you wanted. Quicksand might be able to do something if there was any water in the gas tank, turning it into quicksand. That would stop the engine pretty quick. Or, Will O'The Wisp can use his fairy lights to deliver a small electric shock, enough to short out the electrical connections in a pickup, especially the battery terminals.

Good enough for me. I'll check the backstories of any future Epics in this forum first, though. Anybody have Epics from Homedale, ID?

Ahh...darnit. I should have been reading backstories from earlier Portland characters. My bad. If you're Ok with that retcon, we'll leave it there. Just to put it in perspective, Firelord was a High Epic with flame manifestation abilities, flight, and prime invincibility. If that's within Sightline's capabilities, I could just find another large-ish city though.

Pretty much everything east of Bend on highway 26 has a power vacuum. Team Paladin passed through there. Some of the smaller villages close to Bend itself are gone completely, due to the fighting, as Paladin began to care less and less about collateral damage. Bend itself was where they caught up to Firelord, and that city is pretty much gone. What didn't burn down was abandoned pretty much completely. There are a large number of refugees from Bend huddling out in the Oregonian countryside, afraid to enter the domain of another Epic, but certain that they're going to starve if they don't. Eventually, they are going to move in. Apart from that, I have no idea what the rest of Oregon looks like. In other news, though, a new Team Paladin post is up in The Dalles! Tune in to see Ranger calculate quadratic equations in his head, Guardian act like a puppet, and Torch become a rather...Epic...fireworks show!

Paladin pulled the sword out of the platform, giving a satisfied grunt. Ghostknife's body dissolved away as ethereally as she had first appeared. Good. The threat was eliminated. A piece of him was screaming in horror over the execution. That was wrong! But he was resolved, and it was done. But she was crying. He brutally crushed the train of thought. He was Paladin. He did what he had to, no matter how horrific. He wasn't some sort of sparking priest. He was an avenging angel, tasked with cleansing the world of Epics and their corrupted ilk. And all those who sympathized with them. But the traitorous sickness in the pit of his stomach remained. Well then. He would simply have to harden himself further. He could not afford a moment of weakness. He turned to walk back to where Guardian was standing sentry. Two Epics left, maybe a third if Torch had survived the crash. And Ringmaster was the most dangerous of them all. As he turned, he caught a glimpse of a purple figure in a tall top hat, looking directly at him. Guardian was frozen in an unnatural pose, as if she were halfway through an attempted blow with her two-handed sword. He had just enough time to half-shout out a quick warning to Ranger before the flamboyant Epic's overmastering will slammed into his, stripping away his functions. * * * * * * * * Torch was spiraling higher, searching for the origin of the sniper shot. Ranger smiled, knowing that it was almost impossible for him to be seen from this distance. As he raised his rifle to get off another shot, his receiver crackled to life again. "Ranger, be aware! The prime target is - " The transmission cut off. Alarmed, Ranger peeked back over the edge of the building to see the platform and the detritus of the crowd. Paladin and Guardian stood near each other, facing Ringmaster. Hypnosis! Calamity, this is not ok. Not ok at all! He hurriedly brought his rifle around. Ringmaster's head sat directly in his sights. He pulled the trigger, but at the last second, his hand involuntarily twitched, throwing the rifle off-target. He raised it again for a second shot, at the chest this time, but to no avail. Ringmaster had some sort of defensive power to avert otherwise deadly attacks. How had he managed to keep this power a secret? Looking over his shoulder, he saw that Torch had turned to glide in his direction, drawn by the rifle-fire. Sparks! His more...choice...vocabulary was much limited now, since Calamity rose. Using the same words felt...wrong, as if they somehow belonged to a forgotten era. And it had nothing to do with the way Ariel frowned disapprovingly at him when he used them. Nothing at all. So he would make do with what he had. Sparking sparkity Sparks! It had a nice ring to it. He was half-sure that that one come out under his breath. Concentrating, he began a Oneness exercise. His awareness of his body began to fade into just another awareness, like the awareness of the cold tin of the rooftop, or the acrid burnt smell of the plaster. Torch had evidently been here before. As he did so, he felt, in some strange way he couldn't fully describe, his body melt into the surroundings. All Torch would see now, if he looked, was a flimsy old rooftop, half-burned and abandoned. Nothing to see here, he thought. Move along. It worked. Torch flew by him, circling round for another pass. But this time, he would be within bowshot. Ranger smiled cruelly as he pulled the arrow from its special place in his quiver. Three feet long, the shaft terminated in a ceramic tip. The artisan who had crafted it had told him that the ceramic was the same type that was once used to shield orbital spacecraft so that they didn't burn up upon re-entry. It was probably an exaggeration, but even so, the arrowhead had held up without damage against the highest temperatures that they could put it against. And, more importantly, it had survived the aura of flame that Firelord had projected in his wrath. Ranger checked the payload again, out of habit. Nothing had changed since this morning of course. The spring-loaded hypdermic needle still lay nestled in a protected cavity inside the head. The sedative inside was strong enough to stop a bull elephant in its tracks, rendering it unconscious in milliseconds. They had quadrupled the dosage, just to be safe. The second needle, smaller but no less potent, gave off a deadly sort of gleam in the afterburn of Torch's passing. That one held the most potent neurotoxin that money could buy. Or at least, that Knighthawk laboratories was willing to sell, which was close enough. He drew back, waiting. Torch was taking his time, but he did eventually circle back. About to fire, Ranger held back. If he continued at the speed he was going, then he would impact roughly...there. Ranger located a spot on the ground where the crowd had been, not far from his original crash. The equations were beautiful in his mind, like glowing messengers from a heavenly realm. That would make for a spectacular landing. But if he waited just a moment... Yes, that would be fitting. Fitting indeed. * * * * * * * * Miner came to himself slowly. The ground around him was soaked with blood. His blood. His arm was stuck halfway into the dirt, which had become an uncomfortably tight ring of stone. What? He thought to himself, groggily. He made to move the arm, but stopped as the pain flooded him. With the pain came back his memories. Sparking son of a Daschund! He had lost his arm. He had lost his arm! He heard thumps on the platform above as the newly come Epic moved around, probably fighting one of the Ringmaster's other minions. At least that was a good side effect to this whole thing. Ringmaster's touch on his mind was mercifully gone. That had been horrifying. He tensed a little bit when he heard the smooth, unsettling voice drifting down from the platform, gloating. So he wasn't successful, he thought. Served the motherless fool right. An idea began to grow in his mind. Both of his enemies, on the platform above him, unsuspecting. Sometimes Calamity was merciful, after all. His eyes began to glow with maniacal glee as he shoved his good hand into the earth, destabilizing the whole area underneath the platform. They would pay. They would all pay. * * * * * * * * Ranger released the bowstring, idly running the ballistic calculations in his head. If he had timed this right, Ringmaster should be getting a rather...Epic...fireworks show any moment now. The ceramic arrow took the flying Epic in the left leg. With his augmented sight, Ranger could see the man jerk as the powerful sedative flooded the femoral artery. Torch's flight became ballistic. * * * * * * * * Ringmaster laughed as the second Epic, the one who had so brutally dispatched Ghostknife, froze in horror, and then froze in paralysis. The specimen had a strong mind, he thought, impressed. His first assault was normally enough to subsume both mental and physical functions alike. But, he ruminated, it must be fitting that the creature who had so beautifully put an end to a crying girl would have no ordinary mental fortitude. It was almost enough to applaud, really. "Well. Look what we have here." His tones barely concealed his delight. These were certainly much more powerful servants than the ones that they had killed. And so efficient! He would have to have Torch take the sniper alive. So useful. "Turn around so I can get a good look at you." Obediently, the bodies responded to his mental touch. Ah, such bliss, to watch such perfect precision, such precise perfection! Ordinary servants never could do things exactly the way you wanted them to, even if they had served your family for years, like Alfred. His lip twisted in distaste as he thought of the old man. Forty years of service, and he still couldn't get the tea just right. Always a tenth of a degree off! Slontze. He had deserved what had happened to him. "But wait, what is this?" The male's right arm dangled uselessly below the elbow. Ghostknife must have hit him. "No no. This will never do. An imperfect specimen is certainly unworthy to be a member of my collection. Why, he's practically useless! He must be disposed of." With a twitch of his mind, he sent the female toward him, swinging brutally with her two-handed sword. It ricocheted off of the armor, leaving nary a scratch. He almost jumped up and down in frustration. Why wouldn't it work! Abandoning a pretense of finesse, he rummaged through the male's mind. Oh, he could have browbeaten the specimen's mental defenses given enough time, but he was the Ringmaster, and he deserved to have what he wanted now! Besides, if you looked hard enough, there was always a biological trigger for any mental command. Fumbling, he pushed, and was rewarded to see the armor puff away, as if it had never existed. Wonderful. The female, under his prompting, drew back for another powerful swing... The platform lurched. He fell, watching as the wooden construct began to tilt into the air like the Titanic going down. He lost sight of the two specimens, and their presence in his mind vanished. Sparking ungrateful lesser beings! He screamed to himself in rage as everything vanished in a white-hot flash.

Oh beautiful!

So...is Lightwards going to survive Portland, then? If so, then I'm totally in.

The voice of the people have spoken! Well, really just three of you, but that's enough for me. Emperor!Paladin is now canon. And I like the idea of Paladin growing into a grudging respect for Remington...hmm...how much does Remington know about how Calamity affects Epics? If he got the picture that every time Paladin dies, he comes back as Nice!Paladin...maybe Remington is the assassin that took Paladin out? The big question is...how would Remington react to Paladin? But we'll really want to wait to get some Nice!Paladin posts up before you can accurately gauge that interaction there. Tentative idea - Remington and Paladin meet and develop a grudging (on both sides!) respect for each other. Remington learns about Paladin coming back as Nice!Paladin. Emperor!Paladin happens somewhere (The Dalles? Some other city?). Remington assassinates him, then teams up with the newly resurrected Nice!Paladin in order to overthow the new Empire. Like I said, just tentative, especially because it involves other folks' characters, but I like the direction this is going.

Now you have me thinking about Paladin glory mode. Swathes of blood. Swathes and swathes of blood. Or burned, exploded, and severed limbs. Whichever you prefer. Which would lead rather quickly to FullyCorrupted!Paladin. Just imagine if Paladin went full-on with Imperial ambitions. No more pretense at helping the world out, just domination. "BOW, YE SERVANTS OF THE DARK GODS. QUAIL BEFORE THE MAJESTY OF THE ANNOINTED ONE! YOU WILL SERVE ME, OR YOUR VERY SOULS ARE FORFEIT!!" He'd have his own Inquisition, with Inquisitors powered by Guardian's gifted abilities. Healing, force field, and enhanced combat abilities. Pity they don't have any truth-sense. Not that they or Paladin would care. Yeah, never mind. Let's not go down that road. Luckily it would only last until he died once. Oh! Oh! Just imagine Paladin waking up from dying to realize that his past self had built the exact kind of empire that the current self would be committed to tearing down. Now that would be a fun story...

Great! By my count that's 4 people interested. That's enough to get this started. I'll start a new thread so we don't keep clogging up Lurthemir's, just in case he decides to come back and do something with it. I have an exam tomorrow, so I won't get to that until sometime tomorrow evening, but the new thread should have world info, the magic system, and my basic idea for the RP. See you guys then.

Ooh...I might have to go with ze Mad Ballooner.

You did well. Very well. Just like Nighthound succeeded far beyond Edgedancer's wildest dreams. Here's to writing monsters that get away from our control. [insert smiley with a wineglass, toasting]* *We definitely need one of these things...