The 8 Nations (Yep, Avatar: Last Airbender Parody)

[Dr.Epic]

So I only recently watched Avatar the Last Airbender for the first time. That's sort of where this idea came from. The original idea was to create a nation where everyone wielded an axe and they were all power hungry and took over most of the world (I think this idea was based on Kung Fu Hustle). From there I just decided "Hey, each nation in the world should be like this."

Yeah, I know this idea sounds stupid, but I'm not going to take it completely seriously so at the very least it should be entertaining. I gave it some thought and was able to classify most (or at least the more commonly seen weapons in media) into 8 categories. You guys can tell me if some can be combined or if I need more. The 8 Nations are:

-Axe Clan
-Bow Tribe
-Club Nation
-Flail Islands
-Hammer Empire
-Sling States
-Spear Domain
-Sword Kingdom

I don't have much info about what each culture is like right now. I post what I do know:

-The Flail Islands are a chain of islands shaped like a chaotic line (guess how they got their name).
-The Bow Tribe is probably going to be a nomadic hunter-like society.
-The Sword Kingdom might be based around high fantasy, Medieval European kingdoms.
-The Spear Domain is going to be oppressive, restrictive, and very controlling with maybe some elements of Ancient Sparta thrown in there.
-No, there will not be a chosen one born every generation that is a bridge between worlds and that is reincarnated in a cycle who is the only one that can master all 8 weapons.

[NineThePuma]

-No, there will not be a chosen one born every generation that is a bridge between worlds and that is reincarnated in a cycle who is the only one that can master all 8 weapons.

So no one can play a Fighter? D=

Jokes aside, I vaguely like the concept and think it's hilarious.

[Dr.Epic]

Jokes aside, I vaguely like the concept and think it's hilarious.

Thanks. Good to hear positive feedback. I'm working on a map now too.

So no one can play a Fighter? D=

You know what, I might actually do this. Say only one person can master all 8 elements weapons. That'll anger A LOT of PCs when I tell them they have to choose one weapon. Maybe I do some more homebrewed stuff and say feats like weapon focus covers an entire group of weapons.

I should also come up with unique abilities and properties of each weapon to give each nation a distinct culture and again to add more flavor when my PCs choose what nation they want to be from.

[Mayhem]

This looks interesting. How about a variant on weapon group feats, where each nation has a weapon group. Maybe you could have a small list of simple weapons everyone gets, then simple nation weapons and martial nation weapons, with exotic weapons obviously being anything outside of the nation specialty. So for example, a flail cleric would get basic weapons and flail, but not spiked chain, heavy flail, or dire flail, but a flail fighter would.
Do you have oriental adventures? IIRC there is a fighter variant(called samurai, naturally) where you choose a clan which determines your bonus feat list and skill list.

Have you considered bringing tome of battle into this? That would be interesting.

There's also a sublime way ranger here. It's well done and comes complete with a ranged discipline, would fit archer people nicely. Actually, falling star discipline fits sling/throwing better, maybe archer could favour more typical mystic rangers.

Maybe club could involve ogre mythos? Refluffed halforc works well here, could also have some kind of halfgiant/goliath flavour LA0 race. Tentative ToB link: Stone dragon, Setting sun, Shadow hand.

Axe guys, maybe berzerker/mafia hybrid type deal?

Hammer could have a more western slant on it, maybe a variant on sword. Crusaders and paladins seem to fit the western hammer concept nicely.

Sword could have a bit of swashbuckler flair along with knights. Tentative ToB link: Ironheart, Diamond mind, White raven.

Anyway, hope some of this is useful.

The Flail Islands are a chain of islands

[Sarco_Phage]

Don't you just hate it when someone has a similar idea, but makes it into a flash RTS instead?

[Morph Bark]

These guys would definitely fit in here.

Also, the Hammer Empire should have its national anthem be some kind of rap.

[Mayhem]

^ +1 Trollface.jpg .

I appear to be taking this far too seriously, I've made seemingly a hundred edits to my first post here already.

Iron Heroes has regional feats to replace racial traits, so maybe you could give each region a list of traits from there for players to choose from.

[Lesingnon]

For my random suggestion; I could see the Hammer Empire being an innovative and technologically advanced society. At least by the standards of the world. It'd let you explore the duality of the hammer a bit, how it's both a tool and a weapon. If you go with that the Hammer Empire might also be the Axe Clan's primary target, secure their technology and resources before moving on to the rest of the world.

[Mayhem]

That's a cool idea, it could be where fullplate, halfplate, and breastplate are produced.

[John Cribati]

Bow and Sling should either be unwilling allies or Friendly Enemies. As in "Hey, only we're allowed to invade them! GTFO!"

[Dr.Epic]

More notes:

The Flail Islands are going to be connected by a giant gondola that spreads thousands of miles.

The Axe Clans (I'm changing it to clans as it's not just one) will be several clans of Anglo-Saxon-like vikings who love to feast, drink, and partake in games and contests. Their country is a large forest, and each clan's land has a large great hall for it's king (I'm going to be basing their land off of what I remember from Beowulf).

The Hammer Empire will be very technologically advanced with great cities and clockwork devices. In the north, are mountain chains filled with precious ores.

The Sword Kingdom will be divided into two parts each separated by the Bow Tribes. The west will be like Feudal Europe, and the East will be like Feudal Japan. Each king of their territory claim them to be the real king of the Sword Kingdom and the other just an imposter.

Each state in the Sling State is dedicated to a different throwing weapon. Each state is relatively small and are like feudal states.

[Prophet_of_Io]

I think it's a kind of Silly idea, but that's what your going for so thats fun. Plus I like the idea of imagining that all these citizens are just really stubborn and don't wanna learn a new weapon.

On a different note I wholly support the name "Flail Islands". It has such a nice ring to it. I'd live there.