The World Is Wonderful After All

[Hat-Trick]

Long ago, a war was fought over the fate of the world. Involved were three factions, the Dragons, the Phoenix, and the Ether. The Dragons were powerful in military might and maneuverability, able to overcome any obstacle with sheer brutality and expediency. The Phoenix were strong in mind and spirit, capable of feats of majesty with an undying will. The Ether were cunning in strategy and subterfuge, able to find the weakness in any defense and attack without notice. The three factions were equally matched and threatened to annihilate themselves in their vain grabs for superiority. The three leaders, Darastrix, Dragon Lord, Blisenger, Phoenix King, and Zigor, Great Ether, met to discuss a truce with two unrelated factions as mediators, the Fiends, known for their thorough and cruel contracts, and the Seraphs, known for their honesty and unbending sense of justice. The meeting forged the Great Treaty, binding the three factions to roles in the edges of civilized society only able to interact as guides, instructors, and protectors of the weaker factions, namely the faction of Man, the largest, yet most pitiful of beings to walk the earth. To break the Great Treaty was to suffer the wrath of all four of the other factions who participated in its writing, not to mention that of their own ranks.

As the world progressed, the Treaty held steady with only independent violations, all quickly thwarted and punished. The faction of Man grew in power and developed their own power in the form of science and technology, making leaps and bounds in strength and taking control of the entire planet. The other factions, including the Treaty factions, hid, the Dragons deep into the inhospitable mountains, the Phoenix under the sands of the Arabian deserts, and the Ether into the skies to hide between the stars. The Fiends and Seraphs, who did not truly belong in this reality limited their visits from their own worlds. The weaker factions, that of the Fey, Undead, Horrors, Giants, and many others, hid as best they could, many in plain few using their powers to integrate themselves with human society, others lived a life of seclusion just on the borders of Man's perception.

Time nears the present and many of the other factions have found ways of living in the middle of society. The Treaty factions have worked their way back into society in the guise of humans and many blur the line of their agreement, becoming successful business owners both praised and scorned, but always in the eye of the human populous. Others are more humble and live as average humans, assisting the development with small nudges here and there. Others still resent the human's rise to power and vie for control, treaty or no. Life goes on for the humans, none the wiser, as forces they now claim as idle superstition plan their fall or salvation.

[Hat-Trick]

Now, what I need from the great minds of the playground are more factions, characters, and somewhere to go with this. The following list is of the factions and characters I've thought up myself with a very brief description of them.

• Dragons
  Darastrix- Dragon Lord, he lives as a monk in Nepal
  Jimbonal- Great Wyrm, he runs a profitable software company in New York, hates the nickname Jimbo
• Phoenix
  Blisenger- Phoenix King, he still sleeps under the sand in his true form
  Vahn- Phoenix/Human hybrid, he spends his time vigilante in the streets
  Black- “Dark” Phoenix, he operates a supernatural police force in New York
• Ether
  Zigor- Great Ether, he lives in Florida as a subsistence fisher, sometimes visits Darastrix
  Umbral- High One, He's a self proclaimed super hero in New York, hates lemon
• Fey
  Red- Kitsune, he's a self-employed detective who spends more time playing practical jokes on his ex-girlfriend than actually working
  Suu- Dryad, she lives in an apartment building and is bound to a bonzai tree, can move about New York without withering, but not much farther without her tree
  Parish Lantern- Werewolf, he leads a lycanthropic gang in the streets of New York, almost robin hood-like in activities
  Tsvetan- Pixie, he is an elite hitman for the Fey Faction, taking care of enemies of the supernatural
  Melantha- Pixie, she is a mage of exeptional talent that works for the Fey Faction, her responsibilities are usually non-combatant
• Undead
  Anxo- Vampire, he's assassin for the Undead Faction, not usually sent on missions though
  Dores- Vampire, she's assassin for the Undead Faction, not usually sent on missions though
  Rakesh- Draco-Lich, he's a draconic human who embraced undeath freely, helps with any problems he can however he can
  Anne- Necropolitan Being, she is a former human turned by magic into one of the Undead faction without giving up much of her humanity, wonders why regular humans now reject her
• Horror
  Rune- Abberant Conduit, he's a scholar specialized in the Far Realms, labeled a crack-pot by the human populous for believing in “Science-fiction/Horror”
  Colby- Thulloid, he spends most of his time studying for his college classes, is known to attack humans he finds annoying, non-lethally, of course
  Anderson- Abberant Conduit, he despises average humans as closed minded and cruel and is quite brutal if given the chance, nice guy to the other factions though
  Ashley- Chahatina, she is an entertainer who enjoys being a jester, she's an accomplished swordswoman as well
• Giants
  Grant- Half-giant, he has trained with Darastrix in Napal for some time, lives in New York, where he disregards his monastic training to enjoy his life
  Wallace- Hecatonchires, he is a carpenter and craftsmen of the finest caliber, is commissioned by many powerful factions to create art for them
• Many
  
• Man
  Randal- He works as Jimbonal's personal assistant, knows of the factions
  Talia- She used to date Red, knows of the factions
  Jayne- He works at the New York Public Library, father of two daughters, knows of the Horror faction and figures more exist, but hasn't been proven to him yet
  Natalie and Nina- Jayne's ten year old twin daughters, love spending time with Uncle Rune, don't know of the factions
  Case- He can't stand reality and finds it boring, this is due to the fact that he doesn't know of the factions

The plan for the moment is for Case to be the main character, and for him to learn about the setting, but what that entails is beyond my imagination at the moment.

Moved Ashley and Wallace into different factions, keeping the Many faction on the list just in case we come up with something for it.

[wnana]

{Scrubbed}

[Raging Gene Ray]

What are a "Thulloid" and "Chahatina?"

[Hat-Trick]

Completely made up terms, first of all. Thulloid (or Thulloids, its like fish and fishes, both at correct) is a term I'm using because Illithid is copyrighted, but the creatures differ from mindflayers and their ilk in certain ways. Colby, for example appears almost completely human except he has four powerful if small tentacles attached to the back of his head and hides them within his ponytail. Chahatina is created by bastardizing the Hindu language (I believe, I forgot since I didn't keep accurate notes on the language). It breaks down into the words Three and Six. They have three faces on one head and six arms. Luckily, every faction but Man has the ability to disguise themselves in some way or another.

I'm on a fence about all of the Many faction, really, as the only defining feature they have going for them is multiple limbs, which is weaksauce. I'll probably transfer Hecatonchires into giant and move Chahtina into something else, maybe Horror for lack of better categories. I still need more factions as well...

[Raging Gene Ray]

I'm on a fence about all of the Many faction, really, as the only defining feature they have going for them is multiple limbs, which is weaksauce. I'll probably transfer Hecatonchires into giant and move Chahtina into something else, maybe Horror for lack of better categories. I still need more factions as well...

When I first saw the word "Many," I immediately assumed that it was more metaphysical than that. For example, I envision them channeling multiple consciousnesses into a single individual, or spreading a single consciousness throughout multiple bodies.

Perhaps Chahatina have the ability to channel others...acquiring their thoughts but also becoming a little like the souls (living or dead) that they channel. Each face might tend to channel different personality types...

For example, if they want to channel someone to steal their secrets, they can't help but also experience the same obligation to guard those secrets as the target they try to spy on. They could be spies or watchers of humanity who put a strong emphasis on guarding their own sense of self while still doing everything to understand how other people work.

All I'm really saying is that the Many faction has some potential, just take it in a bit of a different direction.

[Hat-Trick]

If I go that route, I'd want to change the name to Legion, it sounds cooler.

But as it's described, those abilities sound like they fit more towards a general spirit channeller, which I'd classify as an Undead. Hmm...

I'm going to do some shuffling.