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    Default Ancient Lands - Savage Heroes and Mythical Beasts

    Some may remember the name of the world from an RPG setting I've been working on last year, and which I used for a campaign this summer. With my interest in gamemastering significantly going back, I am now shifting towards trying my hand at writing stories. My current love in fiction is Sword & Sorcery, which conveniently focuses on a format of stories of shorter lengths and serial adventures instead of a single epic story arc, which personally suits me just fine. It seems much more practical for writing as a hobby instead of a profession. The more I looked into the craft of writing, the more it became apparent to me that worldbuilding for stories (be it book or movie) is very different from worldbuilding for a campaign. You can run campaigns in settings originally made for a book or movie, but that's usually the most interesting for settings that have a lot of stories written for them. You probably wouldn't run a campaign in the setting of Princess Mononoke, but Star Wars has everything a GM might ever want. In practice, a story setting, even an extremely detailed one, requires much less information on many things than a campaign setting. Even what Tolkien did was overkill, but writing the Lord of the Rings was really just the last thing he did with the world he had originally created just for the fun of creating a world. And in the end, 90% of all that material never gets even mentioned in the novel.

    What I am planing to do here is to assemble a big toolbox of elements that I can use in stories and make references to, and also as a background that provides its own story hooks. I often find it a lot easier to come up with a story that involves the Sorcerer Kings of Dark Sun or the Priests of Set from Conans world, something that has to do with the Sith of Star Wars, or a plot dealing with the Daedra of The Elder Scrolls, than to come up with a story in a vacuum. I also find that it makes the stories feel more real. The plot does not just happen for a single reason and everything that is encountered or described in the story is in some way directly connected to the plot.
    So what I am doing here is not about making an atlas and travel guide of the world, which enables a GM to pick locations a group of player characters can visit and how long it takes to travel between two points and what areas the journey would cross through. When you write a story, those are things you can just handwave. Maybe the journey took 10 days or 20, maybe they did have to cross a major river or mountain range, maybe not. In a game, those things are important. In a story you simply don't mention what all happened between two scenes if it's not relevant for the plot. Maps don't matter. Instead, this is going to focus much more on the social and cultural side of worldbuilding. How do people from different population live and what is their relationship with each other. Where do they get there food from and what type of clothing do they wear. What technologies do they use in everyday life and what kinds of weapons and armor can they make or trade. These are all things that in most games really don't matter or ever come up at all. In a story, they can be just as important as the plot, and in many cases have direct impact on the plot. And when a reader notices that there is a connection in a story between two things that have already been mentioned earlier, it makes the story feel a lot more realistic and unique. That's why worldbuilding for books, movies, and videogames matters a lot.
    The Ancient Lands setting presented here is very heavily based on the Ancient Lands campaigns I ran in the past, but a lot of it has been shuffled around or been discarded completely, with a good deal of new elements being added to it, that make it a rather different world. Perhaps a bit like Forgotten Realms in 3rd and 4th edition.


    The name Ancient Lands has two meanings. The first one is that it is a world in the style of antiquity and prehistory and not based on the middle ages or early modernity as most fantasy settings. The second meaning is that the world is also extremely old. While the civilizations of humanoid people are very young, the world itself is ancient. The people of these young civilizations are not spreading out into an environment that is a blank slate for them to shape as they want, but they are newcomers in a world where lots of things have been going on for a very long time. The original idea for this world is probably close to 10 years old by now. Back then there was a book for the Forgotten Realms named Lost Empires of Faerūn, which was all about those early civilizations that left behind their ruins and artifacts all over the land. I liked many of the ideas so much, that it got me thinking that I would actually prefer to play games set in those ancient times when all those ruins where still being build and those great heroes of the past still were around. There are lots of fantasy settings you could call "generic", and a lot of them share not only very similar presents, but also almost identical pasts: In these settings, the elves are leaving, the dwarves are becoming irrelevant, and the mighty dragons and giants are almost all gone and humans have taken over almost the entire world. Now when Tolkien did it in Lord of the Rings, it was still original and also had a purpose. The whole story was about "the end of an age" and how magic is leaving the world. He meant it as the end point of a fantasy world, but somehow it has become the standard state. So the earliest version of my plans to create a setting was basically "The High Forest of the Forgotten Realms, at the time when the elves first taught magic to the human barbarians of Netheril". I eventually dropped the idea of fleshing out that part of the Forgotten Realms and make it a stand alone setting, but otherwise that original concept is still at the heart of the Ancient Lands. (The name Ancient Lands consists of two almost-synonyms of Forgotten Realms for that reason.)

    At first, the concept started out as pretty normal High Fantasy, but in recent years I've come to have huge appreciation for Sword & Sorcery. Even now there are many works that revive ideas and styles that where popular in the 80s, which in turn were a revival of ideas from the 30s. Now there are films like Riddick and games like Mass Effect, which emulate movies like Conan, Indiana Jones, and Star Wars, which are directly based on 30s pulp literature. It's a style that is admitedly a bit silly, but if you are willing to roll with it, also incredible cool. It's a style of fiction that is always larger than life and completely unapologetic, but also avoids being preachy or over-glamorizing things. It can at times by hyper-violent and gloss over terrible injustice, but nobody is perfect and even the greatest heroes often get to pay as much as they gain. It doesn't neatly separate the good things from the bad things and make the protagonists paragons of virtue, and I think that's where a great part of the appeal comes from. Things are never perfect in the real world, so any meaning that might be in a black and white High Fantasy story would have few if any relevance to the audience. How much can a hero be an example if he always finds himself in situations that could never happen in reality? A flawed protagonists who still manages to do some good and keep himself from turning all bad has actually a lot more to say.
    Interestingly, most of the movies and videogames that inspire me for this setting are futuristic high-tech worlds, while the Ancient Lands are very low-tech. But a story in which the characters use futuristic technology is very different from a story that is about futuristic technology. Alien, Blade Runner, The Thing, Star Wars, Mass Effect, and Metal Gear Solid really are stories about monsters and traveling warriors; all the guns and space ships are just cosmetic. How is an archeologist different from a sage, a space marine different from a mercenary with a sword, or a super-computer from a demigod?

    When it comes to specific cultural styles, I have decided not to copy over any specific cultures from human history. There are no fantasy-Vikings, no fantasy-Romans, and no fantasy-Egyptians, and so on. Instead, the setting is much more of a blend of elements from different cultures. One of the two main sources is my native region of the Baltic Sea and north-eastern Europe. The city were I grew up was right at the border between ancient germanic and slavic tribes, and there is so much more than bearded warriors on longships. The second big inspiration is halfway around the world from East Asia, including China, Japan, Vietnam, and Thailand (among others). In many ways, these two worlds are completely different, but in many other aspects there are many similarities as well. A third influence would be the huge open land between these regions, the ancient home of the Turks and the Mongols, which also includes Scythians, Huns, and Tartars. A huge horde of horse warriors shows up in many fantasy setting, but other than that, these are cultures that almost never show up at all in fantasy. The humans of the Ancient Lands are neither white Europeans, not East Asians, but a fictional race that blends elements of both. It always stikes me as ironic how we tend to picture a default human as white, even though if seen globally, we are really just the one group that looks really odd and until recently was confined to one very small area of the world. So in the Ancient Lands, most humans and elves have brown skin and dark hair. Only in the very far north exist a tiny race of humans with pale skin and brown hair, that in many places look just as exotic as lizardmen.
    As a major part of the concept for the world is it being set in ancient times, humans are not the dominant humanoid people. The vast majority are elves and lizardmen, who make up about two thirds of all humanoids. Humans are relative newcomers, having migrated from another part of the world only three centuries ago, and in numbers are comparable to the skeyn and the kaas, a race of tall beastmen from the mountains and highlands. But it's not that the elves and lizardmen have any real advantage over the other races. The only thing they have going for them is a head start and numbers, but in a fight between groups of equal size, it all comes down to individual skill and courage.

    As worlds go, the Ancient Lands are a relatively small region. It's a strip of coast comparable to the coast between Alaska and California, from Korea to Vietnam, or perhaps the coast of Argentina. Still a huge area of land, but only a rather small fraction of the whole world. The population of all humanoids is only about 20 million (roughly about the world population in 3,000 BC or a bit over that of the Netherlands today) and concentrated almost entirely along the coast and nearby islands. Just about a hundred miles from the coast, civilization is found only along the major rivers. Beyond that, the world is basically unexplored and completely uninhabited. However, humanoid civilization is still young, only 4,000 years having passed since elves and lizardmen still lived in caves. But before that, many castles and palaces had been build by several fey races native to the Spiritworld. Nobody knows why they created these fortresses in the world of mortal beings, or why they left again after countless centuries. But once they were gone, their humanoid slaves were left to their own devices and the abandoned ruins free to be explored by primitives that would dare to approach them, and through them the basic ideas of farming and working bronze came to the cave dwellers and nomadic hunters.
    For over a hundred generations the spreading of that knowledge and new developments were very slow, but over the last centuries skeyn have discovered the secrets of forging steel, while elves produced the food required to support the first cities and established trade with human peoples of the plains far to the west. With these changes came an increased interest in knowledge and magic, and more and more chiefs and kings worry about getting their hands on the ancient secret that are still burried in the giant forests and jungles that cover the world before their enemies do.
    Last edited by Yora; 2015-01-21 at 04:06 PM.
    We are not standing on the shoulders of giants, but on very tall tower of other dwarves.

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    Default Re: Ancient Lands - Savage Heroes and Mythical Beasts

    The Ancient Lands

    The Ancient Lands lie on the eastern coast of a large continent, which runs approximately from North to South for about 2,000 miles. The northernmost parts, bordering the arctic sea, have a cold climate with long winters and don't see the sun for about two weeks. The very south is covered by huge jungles experiencing heavy monsoon seasons. Most people live close to the coast and no more than a hundred miles from the sea, with civilization reaching farther inland only along the major rivers that run from the highlands and mountains in the west to the sea in the east. With wind predominantly blowing from the east, ships can relatively easily up the rivers for considerable distances. As there are very few roads in the Ancient Lands, almost all trade and long distance travel is done by ship. Only the caravans that bring goods from the human lands on the plains in the west form a major overland trade route. In addition to the major population centers on the coast, there are also thousands of islands of various sizes, of which a countless number is inhabited by elves, lizardmen, or humans, but an even larger number is completely unsettled and unexplored.

    The Far North: In the very north of the Ancient Lands, between the arctic sea and a long mountain range that forms a natural border to the lands in the south, lies the little known homeland of the Surri, a small population of tall humans with pale skin and rich brown hair. While most humans in the Ancient Lands are the descendants of nomads who have arrived from the west only in recent centuries, the Surri apparently have inhabited this land forever and neither wood elves nor kaas have any legends of their first arrival. There are few trees in the Far North and very little grows during the short farming season, so the Surri live mostly from herding reindeer, hunting elks, seals, and whales, and fishing. Few traders make the long trip over the treacherous seas, but thick animal furs and whalebone are quite valuable in many lands to the south. The Far North is home to many strange spirits unlike those found anywhere else in the Ancient Lands, whose motives are very hard to understand even for experienced shamans and witches visiting from other lands.
    The Witchfens: South of the mountains that protect the rest of the Ancient Lands from the worst of the arctic winter lies a large highland of fens and bogs known to the people of the surrounding regions as the Witchfens. Very few people ever go there as there is nothing to be found that would be valuable for trade and is home to all manners of dangerous and hostile spirits. Fog and light rain dominate the weather and during the summer it's a breeding ground for huge swarms of insects. Despite being regarded as one of the most inhospitable places in the Ancient Lands, it has been home to a secluded group of small human tribes, who have arrived there less than a thousand years ago. While they look similar in appearance to the Vandren who have settled in much larger numbers in the south, and share a somewhat similar language, their culture has become entirely different and they regard each other and strangers. These people live in small villages made from uncut stones with earthen roofs and have only very little metal, which they seem to get mostly from raids on neighboring lands. A peculiar trait of their society is that each clan is not ruled by a chief, but instead only has a first warrior who is loyal to an Elder Witch. The witches are almost all female and are the real rulers of this dreadful land. They don't leave their homeland and do not accompany the warriors on raids and it is most likely that their special relationship to the spiteful spirits of this land is the true reason why their people have settled there.
    The Western Forests: In the west of the Witchfens the swamps gradually turn into a forest of pines and firs that are part of the huge woodlands that cover most of the ancient lands. These forests, together with the northernmost parts of the great plains that lie beyond the western edges of the woodlands, are the homeland of the kaas. These beastmen are taller and stronger than either humans and elves and can wrestle easily with lizardmen - though it is rare that these two people meet - and are equally at home in the forests, the plains, and the barren hills they have inhabited for unknown ages. Sometimes they travel along the coast of the arctic sea in boats to trade with the Surri, but there are no roads that connect their distant homeland with the rest of the Ancient Lands. Mercenaries and explorers often travel south to the lands of the wood elves and Vandren along old paths, but most of them are impossible to use with carts. To the other people of the Ancient Lands the kaas are a people of strong warriors hailing from a mystical land and they generally seem not inclined to talk a lot about their culture and traditions.
    There is also a small stronghold of elves in the foothills of the northern mountain range, which overlooks the western end of the Witchfens.
    The Barrier Hills: To the south and east of the swampy highlands of the Witchfens lies a long ridge of steep and jagged hills which is one of the two centers of skeyn culture. It's from these hills where the majority of all steel in the Ancient Lands originates. The kings of the skeyn live in massive fortresses high up in the hills, which are like small cities in their own right, but the majority of skeyn lives in smaller villages in the lowlands to the south, at the edges of the Great Forest. The skeyn have very few contact to the people of the Witchfens and their raiders usually avoid the skeyn fortresses. They do however have a lot of trade with the wood elves that live to the south, as well as with the small clans of the human Vandren that inhabit the northernmost outpost of their people. The skeyn have build a great wealth on the trade with tin, which they are selling throughout all the Ancient Lands, but in the last centuries were able to much improve their situation by selling tools, weapons, and armor made from steel, which is produced barely anywhere else.
    The Northern Coast: The long stretch of coast that stretches from the mountains that border the lands of Surri in the north to the Burning Mountains in the south is only sparsely settled. It lies between the sea in the east and the Witchfens and Barrier Hills in the west, and the the steel and tin that comes down the rivers from the hills is the main draw for most merchant ships that come to the small port towns of the local wood elves. Only about a century ago, some small clans of humans left the lands settled by the main group of the Vandren migration and traveled farther north to these only thinly inhabited parts. Many of them now live along the rivers that connect the mines in the hills to the ports on the coast, selling their services as mercenaries to the river traders.
    The Burning Mountains: While this mountain range is not particularly long or high, it still reaches over two miles in height and is quite steep in many places. It separates the rest of the Ancient Lands from what is usually called the Northlands and though it is possible to go around them by passing through the Great Forest in the west, this is where all the coastal roads end. In addition to being difficult to travel, many of the mountains are also active volcanoes and smoke and other fumes rise from cracks in the ground in many places. There are countless stories of hidden passages that lead all the way down to the underworld and very few people in the Ancient Lands doubt that this is actually the case. Some of the most terrifying monsters of legend are said to have come down from these mountains and explorers and desperate travelers seeking a shortcut through the mountains have told countless stories about strange creaters beeing seen in this strange land. Despite these stories, the mountains are not particularly hostile to life and there exists dozens of small isolated villages in the more fertile valleys. Most of these mountain folk are elves or humans, but their ancestry is difficult to discern and they are known for their strange customs and the strange spirits they revere. In addition to that, stories of hidden strongholds where elven warlocks practice their dark arts in secret have been around since the earliest cities on the coast blow.
    The Northern Islands: To the east and slightly to the north of the Burning Mountains lies a group of islands consisting about a dozen major islands and thousands of small rocks. Two of the larger islands are home to elves that are closely related to the wood elves of the mainland, but are fairly isolated and tend to be regarded as somewhat odd. Despite that, their ships frequently travel between the Northern Coast and the Elven Heartlands and are sometimes even seen in the Far North or the Southern Islands. People who have been to the island describe them as rainy and outright dreadful during the winter and the local elves have all kinds of rituals to the spirits of the winds and the sea unknown in other parts of the world.
    The Elven Heartlands: The regions of the Great Forest that lie to the south of the Burning Mountains are the center of wood elf civilization. Two major elven cities have come to dominate the region, which in turn are almost entirely control by two large and powerful orders of druids and sorcerers respectively. While each city and town is ruled independently by its king or chief, the old conflict between these two magical traditions has shaped the history of the region for many centuries. Their support of many of the local chiefs has had a huge impact and shaping the current distribution of power and possession of land and may have made a greater difference than the hiring and eventually settlement of Vandren mercenaries from the human lands to the far west. In addition to the wood elves, the foothills of the Burning Mountains are also home to one of the two major kingdoms of the skeyn. While the shamans of the skeyn share the reservations of the elven druids against the sorcerers, they usually prefer to stay out of that conflict.
    The Grasslands: Between the Great Forest in the north and the Southern Jungles in the south lies a vast open plain of grass and shrubs that divides the Ancient Lands into a northern and a southern half. The plain is devided roughly along the middle by a large river that runs from a spring near the mountain pass that connects the Ancient Lands with the Great Plains in the west, all the way to the coast, which makes it the most important trade route in the known world. All the goods from the west come down this river, and its banks where the site of huge streams of Vandren that came to the Ancient Lands. First mercenaries to support the elven warlords, and later settlers to make a new home on the plain. With them they brought large herds of cattle, previously unknown in the Ancient Lands, but well suited to the Grasslands, which are even better grazing grounds than the ancestral lands of the Vandren. As the elves had never settled in the plains, the elven leaders were perfectly willing to leave them to their new mercenaries, but in recent generations the growing population of humans has started to push into the lands along the forest edge to the north, which is leading to increased numbers of clashes between the two people. On the eastern end of the plain, the land drops steeply down into the sea and in some places rises more than a quarter of a mile above the water. Many of these cliffs are full of caves and ancient sinkholes, and one of the largest of these is the site of one of the largest port cities in the Ancient Lands. The river reaches the sea in a wide depression in the cliffs that is covered by a huge swamp.
    The Southern Coast: South of the Grasslands the landscape is dominated by a single massive jungle of which even the locals can not say how far inland and south it reaches. The parts of the jungle close to the Grasslands are the homeland of the dark elves. The dark elves don't mingle nearly as openly with other people as the wood elves to the north, and there are only a few ports directly on the coast, while most of the population lives deeper inside the jungles and keep to themselves. The ports mostly deal in herbs and spices native to the region, but there is also a very active market for both slaves and exotic animals. In addition to other dark elves, the slave traders often capture lizardmen, humans from the southern islands and wild treefolk, a local race of short rat-people.
    The Southern Islands: Many miles off the coast lies a very large group of islands, the largest of which are big enough to hold all the lands of a dozen kings from the mainland. There are several small ports visited primarily by pirates from all over the Ancient Lands, but the majority of the native population are lizardmen and a human race called the Amakari. The lizardmen have been living separate from their kin on the mainland for longer than anyone can remember, and have a quite distinctive culture unique to them. The Amakari look very unlike the Vandren or the people of the Witchfens, with dark brown skin and thick brown hair, with the men growing bushy beards. Neither of the two people produces and metal or build large ships, which makes them poorly equiped to deal with raids by pirates or slavers from the mainland.
    The Lizard Jungles: All the land that lies south of the homes of the dark elves is refered to as the Lizard Jungles by people from the north. There are few maps of the coast that far south and virtually no confirmed information on any lands lying up the major rivers of this distant region. This part of the world is the home of the lizardmen, who fall into two major group. Most of the jungle is untamed wilderness inhabited by savages and barbarians, going to battle with nothing but stone spear and wooden shields, and the hides of crocodiles and other forest beasts. However best known to people from the north is the empire of the Sun Priests. Over 3,000 years ago shamans worshipping the sun started a rebellion of the lizardmen slaves against their naga overlord, which not only succeeded in driving out their serpentine masters, but also taking control of their capital city itself. For countless generations a king chosen by the priests has ruled over this first true humanoid civilization, but he himself is only a servant of the allmighty sun, that lead the people to freedom. Among the powerful of the city it is well understood that it lies entirely with the priesthood to determine the will of the sun and whether the current king is still in its favor or misusing his divinly appointed office.
    Last edited by Yora; 2015-01-21 at 04:05 PM.
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    Default Re: Ancient Lands - Savage Heroes and Mythical Beasts

    For easier reference, a simple map:
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    That's probably close to the maximum amount of detail I want to put into the geography.
    We are not standing on the shoulders of giants, but on very tall tower of other dwarves.

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    Default Re: Ancient Lands - Savage Heroes and Mythical Beasts

    Major Races

    There are six main humanoid races that inhabit the Ancient Lands:
    Lizardmen: The Lizardmen are the dominant race of the Southern Jungles and Islands, with smaller isolated groups being found on islands and in marshes as far north as the Burning Mountains. They are on average a head taller than humans or elves and often weight twice as much, but some populations are of much more slender build. While not particularly fast or agile on land, they are very good swimers and divers and most often make their homes directly at the water. As the other races are concerned, lizardmen show few emotions or individual personalty and seem generally somewhat dull, but in reality they are not any less intelligent. The cultures of the lizardmen are among the oldest in the Ancient Land, with many of their realms predating even the earliest elven kingdoms. However, the people of most major cities consider the lizardmen to be stuck in the past and having reached the limit of their abilities. While many of the outlying tribes do indeed have no writing or barely any metal, the major cities hidden deeper in the jungles are just as advanced as any elven kingdoms.
    Elves: The elves of the Ancient Lands are similiar in height to humans but tend towards more slender stature, with slightly pointed ears and large eyes. They can live well over 300 years, but a great number of them only reaches half that age due to disease, accident, or war. Elves have been living in the massive forests of the north for a very long time, but their oldest major settlements go back only 2,000 years. Most of their large cities in existance today are just over 400 years old, quite young compared to the ancient centers of lizardmen civilization. The elves of the North are often called wood elves, while a smaller group that lives in the Southern Jungles with the lizardmen is known as dark elves. Wood elves have brown skin and dark brown to black hair, while dark elf skin is ash gray and their hair ranges in shades from light gray to white and pale blond. Light hair colors in wood elves and humans almost almost indicate some dark elven ancestry. Elves are more closely related to humans than to any other humanoid people of the Ancient Lands and children of mixed heiritage are not unusual.
    Humans: Until just a few centuries ago, humans were very rare in the Ancient Lands. Only two small isolated populations exist in the Far North and the Southern Islands, and they are so different in appearance that for a long time few people were aware that they were of the same race. Humans became one of the major humanoid people in the Ancient Land when elves started to trade with the lands far to the west and hired local human mercenaries to guard their caravans from hostile elven clans on the way back home to the coast. Eventually this practice led to a mass migration of human clans from the west, which are collectively known as the Vandren. A second, much smaller group of the same human people had migrated north a few centuries earlier and settled down in the Witchfens for unknown reasons. Only in recent years, with some Vandren traveling north along the coast from their new home in the Grasslands, have members of these two groups encountered each other again, and they generally don't consider each other kin.
    Kaas: The kaas are a race of tall and powerfully humanoids from the North which in many stories have been described as humanoid bears, wolves, or lions, but their resemblance to either of those animals is not particularly close. Their bodies are covered in light brown fur and they have thick dark manes, as well as somewhat snout-like faces with short fangs. Contrary to legend they have no claws, but they do possess a pair of horns similar to those of mountain goats. Kaas have very strong arms and legs, which makes them excelent climbers and the can make jumps a lot farther than one would expect of people of their size and weight. The kaas live far inland and have no ports apart from a few fishing villages on the arctic sea, which has them left relatively isolated from the other people of the Ancient Land, who rely primarily on ships for trade and travel.
    Skeyn: Skeyn are only very distantly related to elves, but share far more similarities with thm than with any other humanoid people. Skeyn are short in stature and only reach up to chest height compared to elves and humans, but seem to have much larger ears and very large black eyes. The skin of skeyn is almost leathery and colored in shades of greenish brown, which makes them clearly stand apart from human and elven children at close distances even without looking at their faces. Like elves, skeyn can live for three centuries and are surprisingly tough and resilient. Not only are they dealing comparatively well with disease and poison, they also possess remarkable endurance that often surpasses that of other races. Skeyn are much fewer in number than either elves or lizardmen and mostly found in the lands between the Barrier Hills and the Burning Mountains and the surrounding areas. With the exception of some individual traders and adventurers, there are no skeyn south of the Grasslands. Skeyn have mastered mining, architecture, and metalworking to a degree well beyond that of other cultures, which gives them a very important role in the trade networks of the Ancient Lands.
    Treefolk: The treefolk are a race of small humanoids who stand only a little taller than skeyn but are of a much lighter build. Their heads have some resamblance to dogs, though less kind people have also called them rats. The main homelands of the treefolk are in the Southern Jungles, but smaller groups also live on the edges of the grasslands and remote parts of the Elven Heartlands. Most treefolk clans have no metal and they have no written language, and they never build any stone cities, which puts them beneath the notice of the great kingdoms of the Ancient Lands. However, individuals who have lived among the other races have been perfectly capable of learning these arts and adopting other skills of the civilized people, and they are numerous enough to be counted among the major races, though clearly the lowest one in the hierarchy.

    Other Humanoids
    Trolls: Trolls are very large and extremely powerfully build humanoids, almost as wide as they are tall. They have flat faces with big jaws, but small eyes, noses, and ears, which gives them a certain animal-like appearance. The culture of trolls is rather primitive and they lack both metal and writing and possess very little magic. While most people see them as quite dull, they are far from mindless beasts and capable of both setting and evading traps and ambushes. Trolls are not exactly evil or particularly hostile, but most people still keep their distance from them, as they can be difficult to predict and quick to attack.
    Giants: Unlike trolls, giants are much more human in general appearance, but also considerably taller, sometimes even reaching twice the height of a human man. There are two main groups of giants who have quite distinct appearances. The taller mountain giants are very similar to humans but heavily muscled to support their incedible weight. They also have rather lightly colored skin and hair, with men having thick beards as well. Mountain giants also are the only other race that skeyn that forges steel in large quantities and high quality. Hill giants stand more than a head shorter than mountain giants and to most people appear unnaturally thin and lanky. Both their skin and hair is the color of sand or clay and their big eyes sometimes make them look like oversized skeyn with tiny ears. Despite their apparently thin stature, they are still incredibly strong and able to wrestle with trolls. Compared to the mountain giants, hill giant culture seems considerably more simple and primitive.
    Harpies: Harpies are a race of humanoids with wings instead for arms and talons on their feet. When standing upright, they usually reach only to the shoulder of most humans and their heads, backs, and legs are covered in brown and orange feathers instead of hair. Female harpies are more numerous than male ones, and the males tend to stay close to the villages, so that most harpies encountered by other people are female hunters. Harpies have three finger-like claws on the joints of their wings which allow them to grasp objects and use simple tools. However their limited ability for precise manipulation has kept their technology mostly to sharp rocks, bone, and leather, even though they are quite intelligent. Harpies are relatively rare, but can be found anywhere south of the Burning Mountains.
    Rakurai: The rakurai are an ancient race of aquatic people from the sea. They have the most resamblance to large fish but also possess pairs of arms and short legs, which allow them to make tools and weapons and to walk on land. Usually they only reach up to the shoulder of a human man, but old chiefs and kings often grow to twice that height for unknown reasons. While rakurai can breath air, their bodies quickly dry out outside of the water and they rarely stay on land for more than a hour at most. Though they are native to the deeps of the sea, rakurai often build temporary camps in coastal shallows and even travel up large rivers for considerable distance. Communication with them is usually very difficult as only very few of them seem to know any languages spoken on the surface and using gestures rarely leads to any results.
    Last edited by Yora; 2015-01-21 at 04:03 PM.
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    Spirits and Realms of Existence

    There are several other world than the one which is home to the humanoid races, but compared to many other setting, the entirety of all these realms is relatively simple. There are three main realms: The Material World and the Spiritworld, which form a pair of two mirroring, but not quite identical realms, and the Void, the endless and eternal space that lies beyond them. The Material World and the Spiritworld are not eternal or unchanging, and there might be countless others like them far out in the Void. This even seems very likely, though nobody has ever been able to find anything that would prove it.

    The Material World: It's the world of physical matter and mortal creatures. By itself this matter is lifeless and inanimate, but both the forces of nature and the spirits if all living things are maintained by life energy that comes from the Spiritworld. Most of the Material World is an almost empty space in which countless numbers of stars and planets exist. Many of which are lifeless rocks, but there could still be many thousands covered in plants and wildlife. However, even the most powerful magic rituals can not allow a person to travel between them.
    Spiritworld: On a first glance, the Spiritworld seems almost identical to the Material World and might even appear indistinguishable from it until obvious signs of its magical nature are encountered. However, in reality the Spiritworld consist entirely of magical life energy that takes solid forms almost, but not completely mirroring the environments of the Material World. Every tree, mountain, and lake has a counterpart in the Spiritworld, even though they might not look the same or be in exactly the same places. Events that affect the spirits of a place might be invisible in the Material World, but can lead to severe changes in the Spiritworld. Animals and humanoids are the exception, as their spirits exist entirely in their material bodies and is separate from the Spiritworld. Furthermore, all natural forces are much more powerful, including the strength of wind, the heat of the sun, and so on. This makes travels to the Spiritworld highly dangerous to mortal beings, as their bodies are not made to deal with such forces.
    Underworld: The Underworld is not actually a separate realm of existance, but rather a different region of the Spiritworld. While what most people are calling the Spiritworld is the mirror image of the surface world, the Underworld are those regions that are mirroring the inside of the planet. Since the Spiritworld is not an exact match of the Material World, there are vast systems of interconnected tunnels and caverns that have conditions that could be survived for extensive amounts of time by mortal creatures with magical protections.
    The Void: The Void is quite unlike any of the other realms. It's the space that exist outside of the universes, and concepts of time and distance have no meaning there. While physical matter can be brought to the Spiritworld and Spirits manifest in the Material World, matter can not exist in the Void and is confined to its own universe. However, the Void does have energy and some sorcerers have managed to separate their souls from their bodies and take short peeks into the Void. At the beginning of the universe, an infinitly small fraction of the Voids energy started to form into matter, creating with it space and time, and eventually all life as it exists now in the Ancient Lands. Eventually, after billions of years, space, time, and all matter will again disintegrate into the primordial energies it was made from and return to the Void. This has happened countless times before, and will happen countless times again. Not just one universe at time, but a potentially infinite number, as the Void has no beginning and no end.

    Spirits
    Nature Spirits: Most spirits people are dealing with throughout their whole lives are native to the Spiritworld and correspond to the landscape that surrounds their homes. When the people of the Ancient Lands talk of spirits, it's usually these spirits of nature they are meaning. These spirits fall into two categories, place spirits and free roaming spirits. Place spirits all correspond to a specific feature of the landscape, from mountains and forests to lakes and rivers and down to individual plants. The greater a spirit, the more aware it is about its surroundings and the more it is able to communicate with mortal creatures. The spirits of small stones or flowers usually lack anything that mortals would recognize as consciousness, while the spirits of mountains and oceans usually don't even take notice of such insignificant things like villages and ships, let alone individual people. Free roaming spirits have a much closer resemblance to people and animals, possessing a clear form and specific body that can be both captured and even killed. However, they are not made from physical matter, but from life energy that has taken a solid form, and therefore are not affected the same way by either weapons or the elements. Only silver and magic can harm a spirit for sure. Free roaming spirits include naga, shie, oni, and mermaids. However some spirits, like nymphs and spriggans, often appear in forms that are very similar, but are in fact place spirits that can create and dismiss such bodies at will.
    Old Ones: Like nature spirits, the Old Ones are native to the Spiritworld and are almost identical to them in essence. However, while the nature spirits belong to the surface world of the Material World, the Old Ones are the spirirs of the Underworld. Life on the surface is always changing, just like the landscape, and so its spirits are also changing or disappearing and replaced by new spirits. But deep below the ground of the Earth and the surface of the oceans, the world is changing very little and only very slowly. Matching that, the spirits of the Underworld are still very similar to how they have been at the very beginning of time. While the spirits of the surface are unknowing in their thoughts and motives, people are at least familiar with them and understand how to please them and avoid their anger. The Old Ones, however, are completely alien to the minds of mortals.
    Demons: Demons are in many ways very similar to spirits, but they are beings born from the raw primordial energies of the Void. They are truly eternal, though as beings of a realm without either time and space, it is difficult to imagine what that would even mean. While their numbers are probably infinite, only a small number of them seems to be interested or even aware of the material world at any given time. As time and physical matter are completely foreign to them, they sometimes desire to experience them firsthand. However, since they lack any physical form, they can not usually do so, unless the magic of mortal sorcerers prepares them a temporary shell like those of spirits, or they use the magical energies of the void to alter a sufficiently sized heap of ordinary matter to serve as a vessel. In theory, that vessel could also be a living creature, though the changes inflicted on it are irreversible and its original soul is entirely absorbed into the demon forever. In either case, the demon requires extensive assistance from a sorcerer in the material world and thankfully such cases have been very rare. As the energies of the Void are completely foreign to the Material World and the Spiritworld, the mere presence of a demon has a highly disruptive effect on both worlds, similar to the use of extensive sorcery.
    Last edited by Yora; 2014-12-04 at 07:19 AM.
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    Going into more detail with the specific cultures of the Ancient Lands. Since there's 18 of them, I am going to split them up into several posts.

    Cultures I

    Mayaka
    Lizardmen
    The Mayaka are the oldest and one of the most powerful civilization of the Ancient Lands. Many centuries ago, the southern jungles were ruled by the naga, who commanded vast numbers of lizardmen slaves to serve them as workers and soldiers. The decline of the naga kingdoms was slow and gradual but when the thousands of slaves in their largest city started a revolt led by their own shamans, the naga were unprepared to deal with it and over several decades lost most of the western cities and castles to the lizardmen. The shamans created a powerful government and made their strongest general the new emperor for this first civilization controlled by mortals free of the rule by masters from the spiritworld.
    The capital city of the Mayaka is the largest city in the world and their civilization of the most advanced. However, the full splendor of the capital city does not reach far beyond its walls and most of the Mayaka live in small villages in the jungles just like their distant ancestors and the small tribes that had always evaded the attention of the naga. However, the villages are quite well connected to exchange goods and information, and the high priests in the city have strong control over the village shamans. Foreign traders are not usually allowed into the capital city, but are generously welcomed in the main trading port that lies a few days travel down the same river. The armies that guard the capital cities and other major strongholds are usually well equipped with heavy bronze armor and shields and often carry swords in addition to their spears. They are well organized and more than capable to face the armies of the naga in battle.
    Even after many centuries, the Mayaka still see themselves at war with the remaining naga castles to the east, and their expansion to the west is frequently getting them into conflict with the Takari and Yagashi.

    Gandju
    Lizardmen
    Unlike the Mayaka, the Gandju have never been enslaved by the naga. Most Gandju live on the hundreds of small islands out in the Inner Sea, though smaller groups have long made their homes on the wild coasts of the main continent. The Gandju consists of thousands of small clans that organize themselves into constantly changing alliances. Though the Gandju are great navigators in their native waters, their boats are too small to pose a threat to the much larger merchant ships that pass through the area and don't generally engage in any piracy. They can however be extremely dangerous to anyone who lands on their islands and ventures into the jungles beyond the beaches and most merchants try to avoid going to shore anywhere but the villages where they are personally known to the locals.
    The technology of the Gandju is quite simple, relying mostly on wood, bone, and obsidian, with all bronze they have being salvaged from wrecked ships.

    Kulaka
    Lizardmen
    The Kulaka are a small and isolated tribe of lizardmen who live in the heavily forrested hills that have served as the border between the Mayaka and the naga for the last centuries. They are generally significantly larger and stronger than any other lizardmen and known to be extremely violent and agressive. They often make raids on other tribes, and presumedly on each other as well, and always leave total destruction in their wake. They don't capture slaves, but often take slain enemies with them to be eaten, be they lizardmen, naga, elves, or humans. There are lots of stories around about Kulaka being hired as mercenaries who prove terrifyingly efficient at destroying their enemies, but tend to be almost impossible to control if they disagree with their orders.

    Suji
    Lizardmen
    The Suji resemble the Mayaka in many ways, but tend to be somewhat smaller and not as strong. Native to the eastern parts of the jungles, most Suji are still slaves to naga overlords, both as soldiers and servants. While the clans that inhabite the more remote hills are generally left to their own devices, almost all of them regard the naga as demigods and are deeply loyal to them. Though the Mayaka emperor has the goal of freeing any remaining slaves from the naga and integrating them into his empire, the Suji are fighting fiercely on the behalf of their masters and casualties are often quite high on both sides. Many Mayaka warleaders try to focus their attacks on taking out naga and forcing the remaining troops to retreat, but most Suji warriors are more than eager to give their live to protect their masters. Most Suji are quite poor and have simple equipment made from wood, bone, and stone. The best weapons and armor made from bronze are reserved for the nagas serpent warriors, who are believed to be some kind of crossbreed of naga and lizardmen. The serpent warriors are the elite troops of the naga, while the Suji are generally considered expandable and replacable.

    Falden
    Wood Elves
    The Falden are the largest tribe of the wood elves and consists of hundreds of independent clans which are only loosely aligned into several dozens confederacies. Settlements of the Falden are spread throughout the southeastern parts of the Great Forest with some smaller clans living considerable distances to the north, connected only through a common language and some cultural traditions. In addition to the chiefs and warlords who lead the clans, druids also have significant influence over the people. As servants to the spirits, they regard themselves as a community that reaches beyond clan borders, even though they not always regard themselves as friends and have no true leader. The Falden make extensive use of bronze for spears, arrows, knives, and axes, but generally rely mostly on armor made from plant fibres and animal hides, with bronze lamellar armor being used only by chiefs and heroes. Many clans also use large numbers of big dogs for hunting and patrols.

    Neshanen
    Wood Elves
    The Neshanen live on the coast and lower hills east of the Falden lands, a region that is far less suited to farming. Instead they supply their people through herding goats and sheep in the hills, as well as extensive trade. The ports of the Neshanen are among the largest elven settlements in the Ancient Lands and one of the few places where buildings are constructed with arching doorways and ceilings, which allows for much larger halls than found anywhere else. Neshanen soldiers are well known for their armors and helmets made from a reddish bronze. They can easily compare with the Mayaka and serpent warriors of the south in this regard.
    The Neshanen have a long tradition of magic and is one of the few cultures in the Ancient Lands that openly allows sorcery. The study of this type of magic is quite common among the mages of the higher classes and many of them are powerful political leaders as well. This has often led to rumors that the Neshanen are demon worshippers, but they go as forcefully against such practices as in any other places.

    Keyren
    Wood Elves
    The Keyren inhabit a group of islands off the coast of the Great Forest. They are skilled sailors and shipbuilders and regularly travel between all the major ports of the North and often trade with Takari and Mayaka as well. Not many people from the mainland visit their home islands, but most describe them as rainy and uncomfortably chilly during the fall and winter.

    Eylahen
    Wood Elves
    The Eylahen are an offshot of the Falden, making their homes in the far north near the Kaas and Katra. They have only one major settlement, a heavily fortified mountain fortress that is widely considered to be impossible to assault. Most Eylahen live within a few days travel from the fortress and while clashes are not uncommon, the kaas of the surrounding regions rarely make raids inside the elven territory. Eylahen villages tend to be quite small and there are virtually no larger towns worth raiding, and the elves make much less useful slaves than the much bigger and stronger kaas. Even for elves, the Eylahen tend to be quite elusive, but quite hospitable to anyone who stumbles close to their villages in these harsh and desolate lands.
    Last edited by Yora; 2015-01-21 at 11:01 AM.
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    Cultures II

    Takari
    Dark Elves
    The Takari live at the coast of the western jungles and are the only dark elves who have sea ports or build ships. They are comparatively few in number and concentrated mostly around a few major ports and have a culture that is quite unlike that of the other dark elven people. They use weapons and armor entirely made from bronze and quite advanced methods for building castles and fortifications which are only rivaled in the jungles by those of the naga. The ports have become quite wealthy selling goods from the jungles to merchants from the north, but otherwise keep to their homeland and are generally uninvolved with the affairs of other people. They are regarded as somewhat odd and enigmatic by everyone else, including even other dark elves.

    Yagashi
    Dark Elves
    The Yagashi conists of hundreds of clans of dark elves who inhabit the western parts of the Southern Jungles. They are a mysterious people as few outsiders ever come to their lands and their contact is mostly limited to Takari, with whom they trade, and the Mayaka, whose expansion has brought them into conflict over territory with the elves. Yagashi mostly inhabit small villages but have a few very large temple cities. The Yagashi claim that these were build by their ancestors, which most visitors find hard to believe, but the question who else might have constructed them is even more puzzling.

    Ruyaki
    Dark Elves
    The Ruyaki are the northernmost of the dark elven people, living in the drier parts of the southern forests and the hills and grasslands that lie beyond them. In recent centuries that have adapted the practice of raising and training horses from the Yreya, which has made them a serious threat to caravans carrying goods from the far west to the Ancient Lands.

    Vashka
    Kaas
    Vashka are the main group of kaas who live in the hills and mountains north of the Great Forest. Their villages and small forts are often located on top of steep hills or inside narrow mountain chasms, which offer good protection even against giants and most beasts from the wilds. While they do have bronze, the materials to make it are relatively rare in their mountains and they use it mostly for blades and tools, relying on wood, clay, and stone for most other things. Bronze and tin are usually highly sought after and the target of many of their raids.

    Dakka
    Kaas
    Unlike other kaas, the Dakka live inside the northern reaches of the Great Forest, which gives them a reputation that makes them out to be both somewhat mysterious and also dangerous. While generally not as numerous or as big as the Vashka, they have a talent to be both quick and silent and are said to have very powerful shamans and witches. Of all the kaas, they are the most hostile to sorcerers and knowledge of blood magic is quite common among them.

    Brana
    Kaas
    The Brana are a widely dispersed group of kaas who can be encountered in many parts of the northern Ancient Lands that are far from the homes of the Vashka and Dakka. They are semi-nomadic and small bands of warriors are always looking for employment by anyone who can pay them.

    Vandren
    Humans
    Some four centuries ago, Falden traders made contact with human nomads traveling the large steppes to the west of the Ancient Lands. Trading with them for goods from the far western lands became highly profitable for the Falden and they required large numbers of mercenaries to protect their caravans and they soon started to rely primarily on human warriors from the planes. Impressed by the fighting prowress of the mercenaries, the Falden brought larger numbers of them back to their homelands near the Inner Sea to increase the size of their armies in the constant wars against other clans. Eventually entire clans of humans migrated to the graslands south of the Great Forest, first as vassals to their Falden masters, laters as independent territories. These clans, mercenary bands, and individual warriors mixed together to become the Vandren. Several hostile Falden clans were destroyed or driven from their lands by the Vandren, who over the course of several generations established themselves as the sixth humanoid race of the Ancient Lands.
    With them, the Vandren brought cattle, which were previously unknown in the Ancient Lands, and also large numbers of horses bred for long endurance that are both faster and can run for longer over open ground than the sturdier horses used by the Falden, Neshanen, and Brana.

    Katra
    Humans
    The Katra are a big mystery to all the other peoples of the Ancient Land, making their home in the cold and soggy fens and marshes north of the Great Forest and avoiding almost all contact with any outsiders. Occasionally they raid outlying homesteads and villages of Eylahen and Skeyn, but nobody knows for what reasons they are always returning to their highly inhospitable homeland. Katra are quite similar in appearance to the Vandren and their languages are somewhat similar in some respects, but they have been living in the Ancient Lands for thousands of years before the Vandren came from the West and the newcomers don't know anything about these apparent relatives of theirs.

    Mari
    Humans
    The Mari are a small human people living in the very far north of the Ancient Lands. Being quite tall for humans and elves, though not exceptionally though, they also have blue eyes and vibrant brown hair, which sets them visibly apart from the other tribes who predominantly have black and dark brown hair and either brown or green eyes. The Mari live in small villages near the coast and along the freezing rivers, surviving mostly by fishing and keeping large herds of reindeer. During the summer months Keyren and Neshanen traders visit the few port towns in the Mari lands to buy furs and whalebones in exchange for metal, wine, and cloth. They have limited contact with the Vashka, but are otherwise mostly isolated and there are many stories about the mystical powers of their shamans and the strange spirits that inhabit those frozen lands.

    Skeyn
    Skeyn are a race of short humanoids, standing under a yard and a half in height. They resemble humans and elves in many ways, but have large black eyes, large ears, and somewhat leathery skin in shades of greenish brown. Skeyn live in the easternmost parts of the Great Forests where they tend to build quite large towns and cities that are almost entirely underground. They have fields and keep goats on the surface, as well as certain workshops that would be impractical underground, but most homes and storage buildings are completely hidden from sight. Skeyn towns tend to have low ceilings and winding tunnels at several different levels, which makes them extremely difficult to navigate by intruders and very easily to defend by the skeyn.
    The skeyn are known as excelent miners and control many of the greatest tin mines, which are vital to the production of bronze throughout the entire Ancient Lands. The larger cities in the mountains also have foundries and forges which can produce steel, which allows them to create mail armor which is unique to them. Mail shirts and hauberks made for larger people are extremely valuable and there are many minor kings who can not afford them even just for themselves and their personal guards. Despite their size, sleyn don't feel easily threatened and are highly confident in the quality of their fortifications and armor. When caught away from their homes, they tend to avoid open fighting at all cost, but can employ devious trickery to get back any goods that have been stolen from them.
    Last edited by Yora; 2015-01-21 at 03:56 PM.
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    Deities, Demigods, and Religion

    The Ancient Lands are an animistic world. Everything is filled with life energy and therefore has a spirit. The spirit of a stone or an apple is so minor that it doesn't have any sentience or individuality but the spirits of mountains and ancient trees can become, and often are, very powerful beings. Often these spirits can take the shape of nymphs or plant beasts to interact with the physical world and the most powerful of them are called demigods. Most religious practice and worship is focused on these spirits of the land and demigods who provide the people who live in their domains with plentiful harvest and protect them from wild beasts and disasters. In the Ancient Lands it is impossible to maintain any settlement without the protection or at least the consent of the local spirits. Services to the spirits and demigods is a very practical thing that consists of showing gratitude and consulting the spirits will before important decisions that affect the village. While the spirits are highly revered, the relationship to them is usually not very different to that of a mortal lord. There are hundreds of demigods in the Ancient Lands and the number of other powerful spirits of the land is beyond counting.
    However, there are even spirits more powerful than the demigods, which are the greater deities or true gods. They are spirits of such magnitude that their power and influence is not limited to any specific area but affects the entire world equally. While it is possible to visit the homes of the demigods and even come face to face with their physical manifestations in the spiritworld, the true gods are far above such limitations. Gods do not reside anywhere and are so high above the nature of mortal beings that they do not have any shape or it would be possible for mortals to communicate with them. Worship of the true gods is very different from services to the demigods and spirits, as they neither reply to the pleas of individual people nor grant any gifts or favors. Temples to the gods are much more rare than shrines to the spirits and they have more resemblance to spiritual and philosophical schools or monasteries. While most people visit the shrines regularly to show gratitude to the local spirits, temples are not found in most settlements and perform public services only on certain sacred days of the year. But the gods are well known to most people and it is the common believe that by concentrating ones mind and emotion on the gods allows a person to take part in their divine nature. Reciting short prayers or invoking the deities names before a challenging task or during times of danger is believed to give a boost to ones own abilities and shift the odds in ones favor. By calling on the deity of the seas, sailors hope to avoid storms, reefs, and sea monsters, or one might call on the deity of healing to aid the recovery of someone in ones care, as focusing on the nature of the seas or the nature of healing focuses ones own soul to excel in these areas.

    Major Gods
    The major gods are the most fundamental forces of nature and the world and known and revered by almost all people all over the world even beyond the borders of the Ancient Lands. The vast majority of temples are dedicated to them.

    • Deity of the Earth: The deity of the earth is widely regarded as ancient and one of the first beings that existed in the world. She is the deity if growth, mountains, and caves as well as the deity of the home and the family, which makes her one of the most important deity in almost all regions of the Ancient Lands. Many druids are both shamans for the local spirits as well as priests of the Earth Deity in a single role.
    • Deity of the Sea: The deity of the sea is also the deity of water in general, but people living next to rivers and lakes often focus much more on their individual spirits rather than the deity itself. In coastal and island villages, the deity of the sea often is the most important deity and it is very common that the local shrine to the spirits is also a temple to the deity of the sea, who is worshiped in similar ways as the spirits of the land. The deity of the sea is of major importance to everyone whose life depends on the oceans like sailors and fishermen, who call on him to prevent disasters and see them safely reach their destinations without taking them to his depths.
    • Deity of the Moon: The deity of the moon is the goddess of wisdom, dreams, emotions, and time, and also often regarded as a deity of the night. Temples of the moon are the most monastic ones with priests rarely taking major roles in public affairs, but most are open to laymen for meditation ceremonies after sunset. Priests of the moon also often guidance and tend for the needs of those in great trouble and despair. Most temples of the moon are found in the lands of wood elves, but there are also some among the dark elves and the moon is one of major deities of the Mari in the far north.
    • Deity of the Sun: The deity of fire is usually represented in the image of the sun, but its domain encompasses fire in all its forms. Fire is usually associated with vitality and determination and priests of the sun usually take great care about physical health and promote training of the body beyond the activities of ones everyday work. Temples of the Sun are relatively rare in the Ancient Lands, but it is the main deity of the Mayaka, who attribute their freedom from the slavery by the naga to the strength and determination the Sun had provided for them. A few smaller temples are found in some dark elven towns, but worship of the sun is relatively rare in the northern lands.
    • Spirits of the Sky: The deity of the sky is not a single being but rather the combined essence of all the spirits of the air, wind, and storms. As they are constantly in motion and struggling among each other, there are almost no individual spirits to make out and instead they always speak in hundreds or even thousands of voices at the same time, that combine into a single voice that is different from each individual one. The spirits of the sky are the gods of weather, change, and fate. They do not determine what any given persons fate will be, but rather personify the randomness of things. They are both the gods of luck and misfortune and prayers to the sky usually consist of both warding off bad luck and providing fortune to a person. They are also the gods of travel and of storms, as well as rain, so they are very often called upon, but have very few temples or priests dedicated to them. What small groups of priests of the skies exist are usually treated as somewhat odd people who are regarded more similar to witches living at the edge of the village instead of shamans who usually take a very central role in the community.
    • Deity of Darkness: While the deity of darkness is not evil, she rarely has any place in public life and usually is not mentioned in reputable company. She is the deity of the night, secrecy and fear, but also a deity of sleep and even protection. While all the creatures of the night fall into her domain, she is also the protector of sleeping people and a provider of rest and peace. In addition to being called upon by those who need to hide or evade notice, there are also many prayers and charms that ask for peace and safety during the night and to ward of any nightmares or evil spirits that prey on the sleeping. These prayers are often handed down within the family and far away from any other listeners, but the number of people who know them is much greater than most would expect as the deity of darkness is surrounded by a large number of social and ritual taboos that make it highly impolite and dangerous to talk about her in public.


    Minor Gods
    The minor gods are mostly identical in nature to the major gods, but they represents aspects of the world that are not as universal and they are not known and worshiped in all places. While there are probably dozens of minor gods, only a relatively small number has worshipers in the Ancient Lands.

    • The Deity of Forests: While the deity of the earth is the goddess of growth and plants in general, the deity of forests is focused more specifically on the great woodlands of the Ancient Lands and their creatures. He is worshiped mostly by those who make their living in the forests like hunters and loggers, who hope to avoid falling victim to the many dangers of the forests and increasing their chances to find the best places for hunting and cutting lumber. Temples of the forest god are rare and usually take the form of small communities of hermits living deep in the forest far removed from all civilization.
    • The Deity of the Hunt: The deity of the hunt is also the deity of tracking and travel. She is worshiped not only by hunters, but also by many scouts and traveling merchants, and many consider her to be a goddess of horse riding as well. While being a minor goddess, she is quite popular and altars dedicated to her can be found on roadsides at the edges of many villages where travelers prey for a safe journey and give thanks when they reached their destination. Temples to the deity of the hunt are very rare and are only found in a few towns that have a long history of hunting rare animals for trade. She is most commonly worshiped by the Falden and Dakka but also has strong support among many Yagashi and Ruyaki clans, and she also is one of the deities traditionally worshiped by the Vandren.
    • The Deity of Peace and Healing: While she does have few major temples, small communes of her priests that consists of only two to five people are quite common in many villages and small altars dedicated to her are found in the homes of most healers. Though some of her priests are actual druids dedicated to the healing arts, most are simple herbalists or alchemists who lack any real magic ability.
    • The Deity of Snakes: The snake god is a relatively obscure deity but has significant followers among the naga and the Suji that still live under their rule. The snake god is a deity of snakes, poison, and deception, but also of courage and pride. He is sometimes worshiped by Takari as well.
    • The Deity of Beasts: The Deity of Beasts is the god of wild animals, monsters, destruction, and carnage. Very few people see any good reasons to call upon his power, but he is popular with several clans of savage warriors, mostly primarily Kulaka and Vashka. Among the other races, he is mostly regarded as evil.
    • The Deity of Twilight: The deity of twilight is an enigmatic goddess that even her followers find hard to pin down. She is a goddess of dusk and dawn, as well as mist, illusions, deceptions, and uncertainty. There are only a few cults devoted to her and their goals are a mystery to everyone, but her name is frequently invoked by many people who find themselves in situations of doubt or high risk, hoping to gain her power to see through the mists of uncertainty and make the right decisions and judgments. She is actually one of the Ancients, the oldest of deities that are usually associated with the underworld and its horrors. But being what she is, she can not be really put in either category and as such is often included with the other deities of the spiritworld.


    The Ancients
    The Ancients are beings of the underworld, a part of the Spiritworld that seems to have been isolated from the passing of time and still resembles a world as it has been many eons ago. The most powerful of the Ancients go back to the earliest days of the world and the beginning of time. As the world above changed, so did it's spirit and the spiritworld. But deep within the earth things change much slower if they actually ever change at all, and the Underworld is still home to horrors completely alien to the world of the present and so are its gods.
    While many people naturally associate the deities of Darkness and Twilight with the Ancients, only very few are really aware that the same thing is true of the deity of the Earth. Some sages believe that the deity of the earth and the deity of darkness were the first spirits that were born when the world formed from the chaos of the eternal Void and they only changed gradually over time to conform to the world of the present, but never were replaced by new spirits and deities as the world changed from its primordial state.
    While considered horrible monsters by most people, even the Ancients do have some worshipers. These cultists are usually regarded as dangerous madmen, and many of them are; but quite often there is much more to them than that and they consider their work just as sacred and important as that of the other temples. To most people the Ancients and their gods are the subject of whispered rumors. While the existence of the Ancients deep in the Underworld is well known, very few people have any desire to learn anything more about them and it takes the aid of sages who are well learned in very unusual matters to get any accurate information on what things are actually lurking in the deeps of the Underworld.

    • The Defiler: Aside from the Deity of Twilight, which has some acceptance among most humanoid people, the best known of the Ancients is the Defiler. The defiler is usually described as the most repulsive and frightening being that ever existed and it is the manifestation of the alieness of the Underworld itself. What stories does exist of this abomination often describe it as a writhing mass of black and purple that haunts the caves and tunnels of the Underworld in countless places at once and it lacks any defined size or mass. Cultists of the defiler are usually regarded as the most deranged and abhorrent ones as few can ever get even a glimpse of what their motivations might be.
    • The Mother of Beasts: While the deities of Earth, Forests, and Healing as well as the deity of beasts are usually considered to be the gods of animals, plants, and other creatures, the Mother of Beasts represents the greatest inevitability of life, that life itself is inevitable. There is no space as barren and inhospitable that life would not eventually find its way there. There may be no life inside a rock, but eventually the rock will split and crumble and it is only a matter of time before lichen and fungi are making their approach. Life can be destroyed and it can be held back, but it can never be stopped and will find its way even in the most hostile places. Cults of the mother of beasts are the ones that are the most likely to not be hunted to extinction and in some cases are allowed to persist on the edges of larger villages. In the Underworld, the mother of beasts is often worshiped by driders.
    • The Keeper of Secrets: The keeper of secrets is said to be at home at the deepest bottoms of the sea where the world is still in its primordial state, as it is in the deepest reaches of the earth. The keeper has existed for a very long time and might have even been around in the earliest days of creations. He has stayed hidden in the deeps through all the eons. Noticing the passing of time and the events that shaped the world. It is believed that the keeper knows the answer to any question that can be answered and since the earliest days of civilizations there have been persistent rumors of almost forgotten rituals that can bring forth a manifestation of the keeper that can answer any question imaginable. However, the knowledge will always come with a price that is so terrible that no story tells of it. While there are a few mad cults in coastal villages that attempt to recover the instructions for these ancient rites, most of the keepers followers are rakurai.
    • The Lady of Madness: The Lady of Madness is the manifestation of insanity and fear. She is said to wander the Underworld in a shape resembling a humanoid form and completely destroying the minds of anyone who sees but a glimpse of the ghostly white light emanating from it, or a small part of her shadow. In many ways, she is even more unfathomable than the Defiler.
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    Magic

    In the world of the Ancient Lands, there is only a single supernatural force at work. Life force, magic, spirits, souls; it's all the same basic energy that is found inside and between everything. This energy is what gives living creatures their strength and make them grow and heal injuries and disease. It is also what creates the souls of mortal creatures and in places where the energies of the landscape are strong, they manifest in sentient spirits of great power.
    The arts of magic are the mastery of the ability to not just call on the life energy within oneself, but to extend ones mental control to the energies around one and even inside other objects and beings. When casting a spell, a mage is sending a ripple through the energies surrounding him to manipulate the energies within creatures and objects to his desire, just as normal people control the energies within their arms and legs. Magic spells can make plants grow or move, split or shove away rocks, create lightning and set things on fire, and even take some control over other creatures thoughts. To be able to manipulate the life force and magical energies at a distance, mages needs to build up a reserve of energy separate from their own life force, which they accomplish by many years of training and meditation. Once this reserve is spend, they can no longer cast any spells until the energies are restored. People who have mastered magic, and creatures that are naturally magical, require almost no effort to regain their spend magical energy. Their energy reserve has become a natural part of their own being and during rest energies from the surrounding environment automatically move in to fill the void and restore the natural balance of energies. Compared to the amounts of energy in the natural world, even the most powerful spellcasters can store only such a small amount that there is no noticable drain of life force in the creatures and plants arround them.

    Blood Magic
    In the earliest days of the mortal races, the magical abilities of spirits and other magical creatures was not yet entirely understood and the earliest mages did not yet have the ability to create reserves of magical energies to power their spells. But they realized that magical energy and life force is essentially the same and in no other part of a mortal creature is its life force as strong and concentrated as in the blood. Not only could these early mages use the energy in their own blood to cast their spells, they could also use the life force of other living creatures.
    When the more common forms of magic were discovered, this blood magic was soon abandoned. The storing of magical energies from the environment is not only much more effective, but also much less painful and gruesome. However, unlike many shamans and witches would like to believe, the traditions of blood mages never entirely disappeared and continued to exist in some small remote places for all the thousands of years. Pure, traditional blood mages are almost unheard of in the present age. The advantages of using the magical energies of the surrounding natural world are just too great for any mage to ignore. But there are still some advantages to blood magic, which allowed the ancient traditions to survive. By drawing the life force from their own blood, blood mages can significally extend their reserves of magical energy and even make their spells stronger and more powerful than they would usually be able to. And by using the life force of other living creatures, blood mages can have access to vast amounts of magical energy for prolonged rituals and large scale magical effects, that would take ordinary mages days or week. Because of the violent and gruesome nature of blood magic, most people regard it as savage and horrific, but contrary to common believes, blood magic itself does not have a corrupting effect on those who use it or are affected by it.

    Demonic Energy and Corruption
    Outside the natural world that consists of the material world and the Spiritworld exists a realm of infinite time and space that is simply called the Void. Just as there are spirits in the natural energies of the spiritworld there are also beings born from concentrations of the energies of the Void, called demons. When mages learn a way to create a connection to the Void, it allows them to draw some of its energies to their own world and use it as an additional source of magical power in addition to their own. With these energies they can create spells that can not be cast with magical energies of the natural world and it also greatly increases the number of spells they can cast before their reserves are exhausted.
    However, the natural world and the Void are realms of completely different laws that are conflicting with each other and bringing energies from the Void into the natural world causes it to become warped and twisted, an effect known as corruption. The demonic energies are toxic to any living things that are affected by it. Mages who have mastered their use can learn to resist its effects and may show only very little signs of the massive exposure they recieve from many years of casting demonic spells. However the land around their homes and lairs becomes significantly affected, making these places hostile to all living things, turning them weak and sick and eventually killing them.
    But corruption is not simply a drain of life force, but a warping and twisting of it, and corrupted life force is still able to support life, at least in a manner of speaking. When creatures becomes entirely corrupted but do not simply fall dead, they turn into the undead. Zombies and skeletons are corpses that have become powered by corrupted energy after their death, while those who have never really died become ghouls or wights. In rare cases, a person dies but the corrupted energies that have been part of him continues to exist as a faint afterimage of a creature known as a shadow. When the corruption has been so complete that the soul itself has become corrupted, it continues to exist even after the body has died as a wraith.
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    Rivers of the Ancient Lands

    Rivers are of major importance in the Ancient Lands. In a world without roads, the only way to transport large amounts of goods and people over long distances is by boat. Almost any major city or town is located on a river or on the coast and even most villages rely on smaller rivers to support their fields with water. Seven major rivers connect the coasts of the Inner Sea with the hinterlands, each with its own unique characteristics that have a great impact on the lives of the people that live along them and their tributaries.

    Kaldaven
    The northernmost of the great rivers is the Kaldaven, which exists the great northern mountains near the lands of the kaas and then flows in a large arc around the Witchfens and Barrier Hills to the sea in the east. The upper waters are difficult to navigate, even by relatively small boats, as meltwater from the glaciers make the Kaldaven grow to several times its normal volume in the spring with very rappid currents, while during the winter it runs so low that large boulders frequently block the way for all but the smallest and most agile boats. Only during the late summer is it possible to make it all the way up to the fortress city of the Eylahen and it's a frequent occurrence for merchants to get stuck there until spring when they make their trips upriver too late in the year.
    Because of the annual flooding, most towns along the Kaldaven are build on low hills and all buildings in the harbors placed on high stilts. Many smaller rivers flow into it from the Barrier Hills and are used to transport the metal goods and ingots from the Skeyn forges and foundries to the large port town at the Kaldavens mouth, to be shipped to markets all through the Ancient Lands. The upper river and its valley is the home of the Eylahen elves, while the lower river shores are inhabited by Falden, and for the past few generations some small groups of human Vandren. The region around the river mouth is very flat and covered by hundreds of small lakes, of which many are connected by small rivers that eventually join the Kaldaven before it reaches the sea. This maze of lakes and rivers is home to several bands of river pirates who often try to steal barges ladden with riches from the north before they reach the port where the goods are transfered to seagoing ships. As a result, many traders hire guards from the towns along the river before they make this final leg of the trip. The port itself has a highly dubious reputation. It's the only major centre of population for almost a thousand miles around, but its merchants are greedy and often ruthless and it's not difficult to find someone who can arrange contacts to river pirates trying to sell their loot at lower than normal price.

    Varaldan
    The Varaldan flows out of the great northern woodlands and into the sea north of the Burning Mountains and marks the final border before one enters the Northlands. Unlike the other great rivers of the Ancient Lands, there are no cities or major town along its banks and few ships ever attempt to sail up its water very far. Ships usually only take on some food and water on trips to and from the Northlands, but otherwise the Varaldan is of very little interest to anyone. What few people realize is that the river is exceptionally long and reaches very deeply into the giant primordial forest. Locals, who are mostly Falden, have stories of all manner of strange creatures that supposedly swam or floated down the river, but even they rarely attempt to find out to what places the river might lead.

    Gasraven
    The Gasraven is a rather short river and neither very wide nor very deep, and can be forded for most of the year in several places. It is however of major importance, as it has become established as the border between the lands of the Falden and the Neshanen for several centuries. Many great battles have been fought on either of its banks and fishers regularly pull out old bronze swords and helmets from its water. The area around the river usually very swampy and covered by thick woods, which makes it difficult for armies to maneuver, but also easy to set ambushes. Since it is relatively easy to keep an enemy army from crossing the river with hidden archers, the Gasraven has been a very stable border in the region.

    Elbardan
    The Elbardan is the largest river in the northern Ancient Lands and its wide valley the homeland of the Falden for thousands of years. Ruins of the ancient shie are quite common in the region, though it is said that the most magnificent ones are found far upriver, well beyond the settled regions. The spirit of the Elbardan is one of the major deities of the Falden, who usually don't pray to the god of the sea.
    A large port city lies just a mile from the coast but hidden by the massive trees of the forest, which protect the harbor from most of the coastl storms. The city is widely known to be the center of the druids, and though the shamans of the city claim to serve the city only and foremost, many people assume that the concerns of their secretive society often have a large influence on the city politics.

    Red River
    The Red River is the largest river anywhere in the Ancient Lands and universally considered the borders between their northern and southern halves. The rivers waters are carrying large amounts of reddish clay and silt most of the year, which gives it its characteristic color. The lower run of the river crosses a large open plain which has been almost uninhabited until just a few centuries ago, when the Vandren mercenaries who had been escorting elven caravans carrying goods from the far west found it to be excelent grazing grounds not only for their horses, but also the cattle they were raising in their homelands in the west. Today, a number of Vandren villages are found on the northern bank of the Red River and most goods are now transported by river barges for almost a thousand miles. As the river approaches the Inner Sea, it spreads out, turning the plains into a massive swamp of black mud and red sand. Though small ships can navigate the swamp, the river barges are usually unloaded before they reach it and transported to the next port city over land by ox carts. The swamp is a breeding ground not only for many dangerous creatures, but also viscious diseases.

    Korikan
    The Korikan is often called the Black River by bards in the north, but this name is based primarily on it being the center of dark elven civilization. The great temple city of the Yagashi is said to sit on its bank several hundreds of miles upriver, and one of the Takari ports near its mouth. There is all kind of speculation why the great ports of the Takari are located a good distance away from this very useful position, but among the Takari commoners the belief is that the river is cursed in some usually vaguely defined way.

    Katanoa
    The Katanoa river is the heart of all lizardfolk civilization and power in the Ancient Lands. Most major towns of the Mayaka empire sit on its banks, including both the capital city and the port where merchants from other lands are allowed to buy goods from the people of the jungles. Beyond this point ships from other lands are not allowed to continue upriver, but individual travelers are usually allowed to pass deeper into the empire, unless they are Suji or Yagashi, in which case they are always under suspicion to be spies for the enemies of the Sun King.

    Hebageva
    Very little is known about the Hebageva, as few people who are not Suji or naga have ever seen even its mouth. It is said to lead deep into the lands of the naga and there are countless legends about demonic water snakes who sink entire ships or kill whole crews with their poison breath, only for the dead vessels to be carried out to the sea and left to the whims of the waves.
    Last edited by Yora; 2015-02-04 at 04:52 PM.
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    Finally I got my city names nailed down. This was probably the biggest obstacle in the creation of the setting ever. I don't think they areparticularly great, but they are okay and good enough to work with.

    Kaas Cities

    Dakan
    Dakan is the largest town of the Dakka, the largest group of Kaas in the Ancient Lands with a permanent population of about 8,000. The King of Dakan is one of the most powerful leaders in the Northlands and also one of the most wealthy. The town is located in the lightly forested hills near the edge of the Great Plains to the West and close to the heart of the Dakka lands, which makes it a great center of trade. Surrounded by ramparts and a strong wooden palisade it's an impressive fortress in its own right, but also houses many merchants and craftsmen in addition to the kings great hall.

    Koshad
    Koshad is an ancient fortress in the great northern mountains that had lain empty for centuries before being settled by several Vashka clans 300 years ago. Though located in a fairly isolated place, its strong walls and the vast halls that have been carved into the mountain make an excelent defense against both enemy clans and the most terrible of winter storms for its 5,000 inhabitants. When a war turns against them, the warriors of the fortress can simply sit out any attempted siege and they havn't suffered any major defeats in generations. Though the kings of Koshad have always been known as great and fierce warriors, the elders of the clans usually choose successors who also have the cunning to manipulate and control the other clans of the region from their position of strength, which has made the fortress the third most powerful force in the Northlands.

    Mari Towns

    Esalohi
    By the standards of the lands of the South, Esalohi is the only notable town of relevant size in the lands of the Mari on the northern coast. Merchants from the South who make the long yourney to trade for pelts, animal tusks, and whalebone usually come to this place as most Mari villages don't have enough to sell to make it worth coming to shore. The chief of the town regards himself as a king, which most visitors find preposterous, but his wealth and power far outranks any of the other clan leaders in the region.

    Wood Elf Cities

    Halva
    Halva is the northernmost city of the elves and the furthest place north that most people would still consider civilized. Located high up in a group of hills at the feet of the great northern mountains that overlook the Witchfens in the East and the lands of the Kaas in the West, the city is a magnificent sight. It's walls and most of the buildings are made from white marble and are easily seen from dozens of miles away on a sunny day. Three generations ago the Eylahen of the Halva destroyed the horde of the failed second invasion of the Falden by the kaas as the survivor retreated back to their homeland and there are still some old kaas warriors around who were among the few who managed to escape. There are still many veterans from that battle serving in the city army but these usually don't hold a grudge against the kaas. While the city is not friends with the kaas clans of the region, small groups of kaas are allowed into the city for trade but usually don't stay for more than a day or two.

    Kevaik
    Kevaik is a large harbor town on the Kaldaven river with a population that consists mostly of Falden elves from the Southwest and Keyren elves from the islands of the Inner Sea to the Southeast and numbers around 6,000. The main business of the city comes from the trade with tin and steel mined and produced by the skeyn of Barregal at the headwaters of the river which gets transfered to larger ships to be transported south by sea. Another common trade good is timber for shipbuilding. While the city is relatively safe for visitors, both the local merchants and the town guard are well known to be highly corrupt and there is always a lot of bribery and extortion going on. Though the majority of the towns inhabitants are elves, there are also considerable numbers of Vandren and skeyn, and the occasional Mari or kaas.

    Navald
    Nevald is the main city and port of the Keyren. As Keyren traders visit most ports on the Inner Sea during their journeys, there are few reasons for any visitors to make the trip to this port off the main trade routes and as such not very much is known about it in the other regions of the Ancient Lands. (Means I havn't really though of much yet.)

    Ven-Marhend
    Ven-Marhend is the largest elven city and the third largest in all of the Ancient Lands with a population of 42,000. It is the centre of commerce, culture, and politics for the Neshanen and ruled by a powerful caste of nobles who openly practice sorcery. While anyone who is known to worship demons is put to death, this does very little to improve the reputations of the Neshanen nobles among the other peoples of the Ancient Lands. The city is build both on top and at the foot of a tall cliff of red stone, with the traders and craftsmen having their shops in the lower quarter and the mansions of the nobles and most wealthy merchants being in the upper quarter. Even though still part of the Northern Ancient Lands, warm currents and winds from the Inner Sea make it a fairly pleasant place for most of the year, though a few days of snow in the winter are not uncommon, especially in the smaller towns and villages further inland and higher up in the Burning Mountains.

    Resa
    Resa is a small and rather unremarkable town of only 3,000 people on the eastern bank of the Gasraven river that forms the traditional border between the Neshanen and the Falden. As much of the area is thick forest or swamp, there are only few roads that are good for carts and Resa was built at one of the easier river crossings and gets a small but steady amount of visitors every year. It's a popular place to rest and resupply, especially among Falden and Neshanen who had to flee their homes for whatever reason and are trying to figure out where to go from here.

    Angdal
    Angdal is a magnificent city of 35,000 Falden and ruled by a wealthy and powerful king. However, it is an open secret that the city is also the main center and meeting place of the druids who are fighting demons, warlocks, and the corruption of sorcery throughout all the Northern Ancient Lands. The words of some of the elder local druids carry a lot of weight in the court and they are almost always recommending decisive actions against Ven-Marhend in any conflict or dispute with the Neshanen. The city is located on a large lagoon on the coast of the Inner Sea which forms a natural harbor that is visited by hundreds of merchant ships throughout the year. While Angdal has a high and very well maintained palisade that surrounds it at all sides except the harbor it is not particularly heavily defended against attackers and sits right in the middle of a vast forrest. Outside the palisade the underbrush is regularly cleared for about 30 meters and any branches that could be used to climb over it cut down, but otherwise the massive and ancient trees of the forest are left in place both outside and inside the city and protect it from the frequent storms in the area.
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    Default Re: Ancient Lands - Savage Heroes and Mythical Beasts

    This is a very interesting world, and some of your ideas are so good I just have to steal them at some point. The idea of a fantasy world in it's prime instead of it's twilight, for example, is something I've never really thought about, and I'd love to do something cool with that concept. In many ways, for better or for worse, the mark left by The Lord of the Rings and the Tolkien mythos is obvious in most current fantasy stories, and that influence isn't always obvious.
    Kudos to smuchmuch for the awesome 11th Doctor avatar!

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    Yeah, when you start looking for it, you notice quickly that an unbelivably huge number of standard conventions really are just there because "Tolkien did it". The interesting thing about it is that Tolkien did most of those things because they were important elements of his story. Most people who just did what Tolkien didn't have these in-universe reasons and causes, which makes many of them seem arbitrary or even nonsensical.
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    A case in point would be D&D itself. I mean, why are Humans everywhere? Why do we have these Elves, Dwarves and Halflings? Why is it that most settings are set after the fall of some kind of empire? Why are these Orcs and goblinoids savage cave-dwelling monsters? And why is medieval European fantasy basically everywhere? Answer - Tolkien. It just drives me nuts sometimes how hard it is to run a D&D game without ending up in Middle-earth. Even in the crazy unique settings like Eberron and Darksun, you've still got Elves and Dwarves and Halflings running around, even if the Elves are desert-dwelling thieves and the Halflings ride freaking dinosaurs, plus Rangers are always nature-attuned Dunedain as opposed to park wardens or soldiers.
    Kudos to smuchmuch for the awesome 11th Doctor avatar!

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    Yes, but in the case of Dark Sun: Cannibal Halfling Druids? How cool is that.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Yora View Post
    Yes, but in the case of Dark Sun: Cannibal Halfling Druids? How cool is that.
    True, dat
    Kudos to smuchmuch for the awesome 11th Doctor avatar!

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    Default Re: Ancient Lands - Savage Heroes and Mythical Beasts

    I'm in the midst of developing a similar setting, though I don't have any non-humans. They're all Homo sapiens, Homo neanderthalensis, Homo heidelbergensis, H. s. floresiensis, or other hominids, with some liberties taken for their probable intelligence and length of survival. It'll be E6 and low-magic, though, instead of being the prime of a fantasy setting - it'll be well before that prime.

    This is a quite remarkable setting you have, though, and I agree - it seems to fill a little-used niche.

    Quote Originally Posted by ReturnOfTheKing View Post
    Why is it that most settings are set after the fall of some kind of empire?... And why is medieval European fantasy basically everywhere?
    They're set after the fall of an empire due to the fall of Rome precipitating the real-world Europe's dark age.

    Medieval European fantasy has antecedents other than Tolkien. In D&D's case, while he was undeniably an influence (particularly in the nonhuman races), D&D originated as a medieval wargame that got magic slapped onto it. I'd say Tolkien's stuff was added in after the decision to make a medieval fantasy setting.
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    I finally have my Barbaripedia set up, looking just the way I want it.

    Nothing really to see there yet, but I hope to be filling it soon.
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    I have the overview pages for the elves and humans done. What do you think of it?
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    Quote Originally Posted by Yora View Post
    I have the overview pages for the elves and humans done. What do you think of it?
    Nice, certainly contentwise.
    The color scheme is not really my thing though, but then I tend to dislike light font on dark background for large bodies of text. Maybe it's just me but it seems to tire out my reading capacity faster than dark font on light background.

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    Setting up the colors to match my website was acutally the most difficult and work intensive part of the whole process.
    I am not really happy with the font, though. Maybe I'll try some thing with different colors or other fonts, but mostly I think the problem is with the individual lines just being much too long on a usual broweser window. Hopefully I can find a way to set maximum line length.
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    I completed the descriptions of the seven kinds of demons that exist in the Void of the Ancient Lands. I'll also do an overview article with the general info on demons (probably tomorrow) and short description on the various kinds of bodies in which demons can manifest in the material world later. But this is what I got so far.

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    Category: Demons

    Note: Demons come from a realm outside the material universe(s) that are completely without any kind of matter and where time and distance have no meaning. As a result, demons can not actually change anything in the Void. They can fight with each other, but they can not truly harm or destroy each other, as the shredded spirit will simply reform eventually. And in a realm without time, eventually is basically the same as instantly.
    The material universe is different. When you change something in the material world, it stays that way and can not be reversed. Doing things actually matters, it has results. And to the beings that inhabit these worlds some results have different values than others. To demons every possible state of matter is just the same as any others, but since some things have different meaning to mortals and spirits, interacting with the material world means the demons can cause permanent change to the souls of other beings. This is something new and completely different from the existance demons have been known for all time, and so interacting with the material world is an endless source of fascination and excitement. Demons are not exactly evil, but unfortunately for mortals and spirits, demons have the most fun with changing the material world when they can oppose the will of other beings at the same time. Having gold or not having gold is the same to a demon. Taking away the gold from someone who wants to have it is where things get interesting for them.
    The idea for this comes from the behavior of very young children when they first begin to understand the meaning of the word "No". Often they will simply answer any question asked of them with no, simply out of amazement at the realization that they can change the world by making that sound. Saying yes means simply going along with something someone else has said, but saying no is an incredible power for someone who never had any way to affect the world around them. Even if they actually would like to have a piece of apple or would like to look at a book. Saying no means you change the world around you. Same reason why babies love to push things over and watch them fall to the floor. It's seeing that their actions have a result, and that it can affect the emotion of others. In most fantasy stories, demons don't really make sense, doing evil for the sake of Evil without gaining any benefit from it. With this approach demons have a reason to do the things they do and get a kind of reward that means something to them, even though they are beings without any needs. It also explains why they are usually mean and destructive and very dangerous, but also allows them to sometimes not be an immediate threat that needs to be destroyed as soon as possible and might even be cosidered as temperory allies by people who are not completely insane. The sloth and terror demons described below are good examples as they delight in manipulation and control. As long as they get their cravings sated, it does not really matter to them who suffers or benefits from it. Might as well be the enmies of the heroes who get to suffer under the attention of the demon and the demon might even consider the heroes useful allies to get their goal. But they might change their mind at any time so there is always some real risk in dealing with them.

    --

    Wrath demons are among the weakest kinds of demons. Their instinct is to simply attack and destroy almost anything they encounter and they have no other desires, which greatly limits their usefulness for sorcerers or warlocks who summon them. Unless controlled by a powerful sorcerer or greater demon, wrath demons will simply charge into battle, trying to cause as much death and destruction before they are slain and their spirits return to the Void.

    When summoned by magic, wrath demons often form temporary bodies resembling powerful apes or great cats or any combination of the two. When they make it into the physical world by slipping through areas of extreme corruption, they usually take the first corrupted bodies nearby. These are most often corpses of people or animals resulting in dread warriors and dread beasts.

    --

    Hunger demons are counted among the lower kinds of demons but usually display much more intelligence and planned behavior than wrath demons. The instinct and craving of hunger demons is not just to simply kill and destroy, but to consume whatever it is that attracts their appetite. When first appearing in the material world, hunger demons often try to eat almost anything within sight but usually develop a special taste for some particular kind of things. As they do not require food like living creatures, the hunger of hunger demons is often targeted at highly random objects. Many hunger demons have a craving for the flesh of living creatures, which can be sheep, dogs, cranes, elves, or skeyn, but also seemingly nonsenical things like apples, ale, or certain rare flowers. Hunger demons rarely get bored with pursuing a particular kind of food and instead become increasingly narrow in their craving. This makes it more difficult for them to find the food they desire and forces them to plan their activities more careful and perhaps even make deals with mortals who can provide them with what they are hungering for.

    When summoned by a sorcerer, the temporary bodies of hunger demon often take the shapes of large badgers and wolverines or bears and are often bound to the bodies of such animals when brought to the material world for longer durations. Hunger demons have an instinctive talent for tracking and hunting and can often be bribed to serve warlocks in that capacity in return for the food they desire.

    --

    Greed demons are demons that are similar to hunger demons in many ways but tend to be more cunning and calculating and somewhat more refined in their coices for the target of their cravings. Unlike hunger demons, greed demons do not desire to simply consume but to possess. Even though they have very little use for material possessions, greed demons are dominated by a powerful instinct to amass a certain kind of treasure and possess every item of that kind they can find. Often these are things that are valuable to mortals, as even though they have no real use or meaning to a demon, the simply fact that others desire to possess them too makes them all the more fascinating to a greed demon. In some cases the object of a greed demons craving seems to be highly arbitrary though and might as well be something others would consider completely worthless. This does not make such greed demons any less dangerous, as they will stop at nothing from reaching their target and don't care the least for any death or destruction they might do in the process.

    Greed demons who are summoned by sorcerers often appear as shadowy humanoids and are extremely stealthy and peerless when it comes to climbing and entering guarded places. When given a more permanent physical body they often appear as ice demons or shadow demons but prefer the living body of a humanoid over everything else, as these best enable them to mingle with mortals undetected. Greed demons are very eager to make deals with warlocks and perform the tasks asigned to them dutifully and without hesitation as long as they believe they will receive the rewards promised to them. The only thing that can make a greed demon to abandon his task is an opportunity to aquire the object of its obsession elsewhere and even then it will usually try to do both at the same time.

    --

    While desire demons have many similarities to greed demons, sorcerers know them to be much more cunning and also dangerous. Desire demons are noticably different from lesser kinds of demons in that their instincts do not manifest in a need to consume or possess, but instead yearn to experience physical existance at its fullest. While not as outright destructive or hostile as other demons, desire demons have just as little patience and will usually simply try to force anyone around them to comply with their wishes, tollerating no objections. The more intelligent desire demons and those who have been in the material world for a long time are often more sophisticated and take great joy of other following their orders and fulfilling their wishes willingly instead of being made compliant through use of force or magical compulsion. For that purpose desire demons often try to blend in with society and hiding their true nature and many of them feel that it makes the experience of living in the world of mortal creatures much more rewarding when going through life as they do. Desire demons crave for luxury and comfort over everything else and usually use their powers of deception and manipulation to gather great riches in a short time. Accoding to their nature, they usually live highly extravagant and lavish lives put might also delight in much more outlandish and bizare pleasures which they keep hidden even from their servants. Like all demons, they have only little regard for others but tend to be much more restrained in their use of violence as they highly enjoy genuine affection and admiration from the people around them.

    Desire demons who are summoned by magic tend to appear as tall and slender humanoids with various additional features such as claws, horns, tails, or even wings, but they all have the ability to change their appearance to that of any creature they can imagine. Desire demons never willingly take possession of corpses but are sometimes encountered as shadow or ash demons. Whenever possible desire demons attempt to gain possession of a living person to truly experience life as a physical being and will shape the body to their own preferences.

    --

    Sloth demons are widely considered by most sorcerers and warlocks to rank among the greater kinds of demons, being considerably greater threats than greed or even desire demons. The behavior of sloth demons tends to be quite different from that of the lesser types of demons and their instinctive cravings are not directed at any physical object but take the form of an unquenchable desire to deceive and corrupt. While maintaining and elegant and wealthy appearance can often be highly useful for their plans and schemes, they gain no kind of satisfaction from it like desire or greed demons would. Instead the interest of sloth demons lies entirely in the manipulation of mortals and twisting them according to their whims. They usually don't pursue any greater goals with their schemes, which sets them apart from the more powerful terror demons, and most commonly simply attempt to cause subversion, corruption, and eventually collapse while manipulating things from the background. Some sloth demons direct their manipulations to other directions, but their most common behavior of causing decay and collapse is what has gained them their most common name. But in the end it is the power that lies in manipulating people against their will and turning them into something they don't want to be that gives sloth demons their greatest delight. Those who direct their manipulation towards different ends can be very difficult to find even by experienced druids and demon hunters.

    When given a temporary magical body through summoning magic, sloth demons tend to be quite massive in size, resembling some blends of bears, bisons, or walruses. Despite the name by which they are commonly described, sloth demons tend to be incredibly strong regardless of the form they are possessing in the material world and are often unnaturally fast and agile. They are generally very hesistant to engage in physical combat but when they do they are highly formidable opponents who are often underestimated because of their sluggish speech and movement when at rest. Sloth demons most commonly take the form of tar demons or rock demons, but have occasionally been encountered as shadow demons as well. When possessing a living mortal, the body generally becomes quite fat or fragile looking, dressed either with decadent oppulence or in dirty rags, but losing nothing of its demonic strength and endurance.

    --

    Terror demons rank among the most powerful of demons, being surpassed only by the very rare pride demons. Like sloth demons they are master manipulators, but their demonic craving is not sated by merely corrupting and twisting mortals, but by utterly controlling them in every way. Terror demons demand complete and unquestioning obedience to their every command from their minnions and often rely on intimidation and magical domination to force their will on weaker creatures. That is not to say that terror demons are any less intelligent and perceptive than sloth demons, but their manipulations often take place on a larger scale and are not directed at individual people. Terror demons always attempt to gather a large number of minions the soon as they are released into the physical world and use them to project their power over larger areas over which they attempt to take complete control. While their plans for conqest and subjugation are often highly elaborate and long term, terror demons have very little patience when dealing with disobedience and can be as violently aggressive as the lesser wrath and hunger demons. A terror demon demands to be obeyed immediately at any time and don't tollerate any resistance against their control.

    Though rarely summoned by sorcerers or warlocks with a simple spell to aid them in battle, the temporary bodies created for terror demons often tend to resemble huge serpents or centipedes, often with several heads or numerous additional arms. As they rank among the most powerful of demons, more permanent bodies assumed by terror demons are usually either tar demons or rock demons. When they take possession of a living mortal, the body usually becomes tall and appears to be in excelent physical shape, but with a hardened face showing both seething anger and desdain, and their physical strength is far beyond that of any ordinary mortal.

    --

    Pride demons are the most rare and also by far the most powerful of all demons, being much more stronger and intelligent than the already formidable sloth and terror demons. While sloth demons delight in the power to corrupt and terror demons delight in the power to control, pride demons desire nothing short of being worshipped. As they see it, they are the greatest and most powerful form of beings in existance, rivaling and even surpassing the gods of the Spiritworld. Most terror demons care nothing for the feeling of their minions or slaves, as long as they are obeyed. But for pride demons only true worship and devotion can ever be enough and anything they do serves this goal in one way or another.

    Pride demons will never be summoned to aid a sorcerer or warlock in battle, but there are some stories of depraved cults who have summoned their demonic masters into the material world for a few minutes through highly elaborate and complex rituals to bring down terrible death and destruction on their enemies who threaten to slay all cultists and burn down their hidden temples. When entering a physical form, nothing but the body of a living mortal is acceptible to a pride demon and usually they demand it to be that of a highborn noble or other individual of great power and influence.
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    As I said, more demons.
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    Dread warriors are the corpses of mortals who have been warped by the corruption of sorcery and become possessed by a demon. They can be found in various states of decay and carry the remains of any weapons or armor that where on the body when it rose, but may also be equipped with better gear given to them by sorcerers who control them. When demons possess the corrupted body of an animal, they are often called dread beasts, but are otherwise identical to dread warriors.
    Dread warriors come into being when the corpses of humanoids or animals are left in areas of high corruption caused by the longtime use of sorcery or the presence of demons. Such regions have a very weak border to the Void and demons can just slip into the material world and take possession of these corrupted bodies. Dread warriors are the most common form in which demons are encountered and most of them are wrath demons or hunger demons. Sorcerers can also create dread warriors on purpose by deliberately corrupting a corpse and summoning a demon to possess it.

    A battle demon is a demonically possessed creature similar to a dread warrior but often significantly more powerful and dangerous. Unlike dread warriors, a battle demon does not possess the body of a dead mortal, but instead the armor of warriors who have died in areas that have been highly corrupted by sorcery and the presence of other demons. Often a battle demon adds pieces of armor from other dead warriors, adding to its own mass and power. While they may appear like mortal warriors in dirty and rusty armor from a distance, the bodies of battle demons are really just a collection of armor pieces and weapon blades that have been rusted and molten together.
    Like dread warriors, most battle demons are possessed by either a wrath demon or hunger demon.

    An ice demon is a hunger demon or greed demon that has manifested in the material word by possessing a body of ice that has been corrupted by the use of sorcery. Icr demons appear like large blocks of ice that have been assembled into some kind of body, sometime resembling the shape of a person or a large beast, but just as often simply a big chunk of ice floating in the air surrounded by smaller shards. At night and inside dark caves there is often a slight blue glow coming from the center of the ice.

    A shadow demon is a demon that has formed a semi-real body consisting of nothing but shadows from a dark place high in sorcerous corruption. It is barely visible in most conditions of light, resembling a blurred outline of a cloaked figure or humanoid skeleton, and is completely silent when it is not speaking. Most shadow demons are manifestations of greed, desire, or sloth demons.

    An ash demon is a demon from the Void that has taken possession of flames, ash, and burned remains from a place of high sorcerous corruption. They are usually created by warlocks who summon a desire or terror demon and bind it to a magical fire, but are also often created by accidents when the lairs of powerful sorcerers or warlocks are burned down in the mistaken belief that this would purge the corruption from the place.

    A tar demon is a very dangerous manifestation of a powerful demon in the material world. They are created in areas of extreme sorcerous corruption from a gooey liquid consisting of the decayed remains of corpses, wood, and refuse which attracts a sloth demon or terror demon from the Void. A tar demon appears like a shapeless mass of thick black or greenish ooze that nonetheless possesses incredible strength and swiftness.

    A rock demon is one of the most powerful forms of demons that can be encountered in the material world, being surpassed only be greater demons possessing the living bodies of mortals. Rock demons are much more rare than any other kind of demon in the material world and are usually found only in ancient places of high corruption deep underground. A rock demon appears like a huge creature made from massive boulders and rubble with greenish or yellow demonic fire glowing from cracks in its rocky armor. Almost all of them are possessed by either a sloth demon or terror demon.


    I still don't know how to call a demon that has taken the body of a living mortal. Dragon Age calls them abominations, but I don't want to copy that so obviously.
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    Default Re: Ancient Lands - Savage Heroes and Mythical Beasts

    Quote Originally Posted by Yora View Post
    I still don't know how to call a demon that has taken the body of a living mortal. Dragon Age calls them abominations, but I don't want to copy that so obviously.
    I'd call them Riders - but that might have to much of a Werewolf the Forsaken vibe (they call those possessed by a Spirit the Ridden). Another might be Alp (as in Alptraum) and the one possessed as Veraplter.

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    I am thinking of two degrees of possession. The first one is the demon having established some kind of link to the person, being able to get some good idea of what the person is doing, thinking, and sensing, but not having any control other then subtle telepathic manipulation. Either the demon just watches or the person seems to get somewhat crazy from the demon implanting ideas into the mind. The person does not have to obey any orders, but being unable to fully discern which thoughts and perceptions are their own and which ones are fake can get some degree of control. But the demon is just linked, not actually possessing the body. And it can be exorcised relatively easily.

    But once a demon decides to take actual control of the body and use it for itself, the original soul gets completely consumed, adding all memories and personalty traits to the demon permanently. This can not be reversed in any way. The memories of the person serve the demon as an orientation to make sense of the material world, which is completely unlike anything most demons have ever experienced before. They also gain all their knowledge about language and culture from those memories and in many ways the demon will behave very similar to how the person used to be before. Because this is what the demon now considers normal. But the demon can reexamine any believes the person may have had and come to new conclusions about what it considers good or bad. If a person didn't like certain duties but followed them anyway, the demon may decide that it no longer wants to because it now is much more powerful and doesn't have to follow the rules. Or it might still care for the people the person used to care for, but decide that it will be a much better leader for that group than the current leader. I think this seems like a wonderful setup for all kinds of very weird situations in which the demon has very harmful and damaging behaviors, but does not actually go on a blind rampage to kill and destroy everything, but actually tries to accomplish something that might even benefit some people.

    A linked person is simply possessed. But one that has been completely taken over would be a completely new creature, different from both the demon and the original person. (I also have this idea that some demon cultists want to get possessed so that their soul become part of the demon and will live on for all eternity. Selling your soul doesn't mean eternall suffering, but immortality and power. You just stop being yourself and become part of something greater, while still not exactly losing anything of yourself. In a world were mortal souls are not permanent but will cease to exist after death, and everyone shares the belief that the entire universe will eventually end without leaving any trace that it ever existed, this idea might seem quite attractive to some people. Again adressing the question: "Why would any sane person ever try to do this?") It is these mortal demons who I think need to be given a snappy name.
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    As the second type of possession is basically a new creature resulting from the union of a demon and a human, why not call them simply demon spawn or, for short, Spawn.

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    I made some rally good progress with naming all the places of the setting. Pretty much all of them are listed here: http://barbaripedia.spriggans-den.co...gory:Locations

    What are you thinking of the names? I need total and brutal honesty here. If you think a name sounds stupid, then say just that. My greater concern is that they all sound very similar, though I am currently working on perhaps changing some on that basis. I also have named mostly names in the north, while most of the dark elf and lizardmen places in the south are still unnamed, so perhaps this will solve itself when I get those done.
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    As I am turning my attention away from geography (pretty much done) to factions, I feel like criminal organizations really don't work that well in a setting like this. The city states around a central sea where meant to emulate space ports from Space Opera settings, and in Star Wars there are all those cool factions like Black Sun, and the Exchange, and in the Forgotten Realms there are the Shadow Thieves and Zhentarim and plenty more. Though I did have a list of great ideas for crime organizations, they now actually feel quite out of place. In a tribal society everything is already organized family lines and everyone knows everyone, so a criminal underworld can't really get a foothold. And even the city states are relatively small and groups with more than a few dozen people would already be a significant fraction of the whole population. And there aren't that many city states to begin with, so every organization would be pretty much limited to just one.
    There is also the problem of what kind of crime they could do. In Sword & Sorcery there aren't usually any restrictions on drugs or weapons. Smugglers could avoid paying taxes on certain goods, but that's not really sufficiently to make a cool crime syndicate.

    Instead, I think a good approach to criminal groups would be informal cartels of wealthy merchants from different cities who use their influence to get a monopoly on certain valuable goods. Not really villainously evil in itself, but they might use some very underhanded methods to keep their hold on the monopoly, bullying and extorting independent merchants who are selling stuff they are not supposed to sell. And those big merchant barons are just the kind of people who sponsor demonic cults and have ambitions to gain political power and leverage against local nobles. Also, the city guard and harbor master might not care what you bring into the city, but the cartel merchants very much do. So this makes smuggling again a highly lucrative business. And when you're discovered you're dealing with far worse than the magistrate. The cartels don't control the cities, but the trade routes.

    On a lower level, there are simple gangs. In the villages and clan towns, the gang is simply the elite warriors of the chief and they have the turf to themselves. They literally own the whole place. The sons and nephews of the chief might have their own croonies who get into fights with each other, but that's internal power struggles. They may be gangs, but they are also the official government and town watch.
    In the cities there is enough space for multiple gangs of a few dozen men. There isn't any money to be made in dealing drufgs when you can buy them in a shop, but there is still extorting small shop owners and plain old robbing and stealing. Of course not in the streets where the cartel merchants have their stores and houses.
    There are not many roads in the Ancient Lands and caravans are usually very heavily protected. Which means highwaymen either prey on the few lone travelers near the major towns or cities, or they simply need really big gangs. Highwaymen are usually clanless people who have been exiled for crimes or their descendants. Nobody is going to miss them or coming to help or avenge them. Also nobody will take responsibility for their actions and any damage they cause, so nobody trusts them. So unless they can get to a city where nobody knows who you are, you can become either a hermit or a bandit. Only the most lousy bandits live in a cave with half a dozen men. Most have their own small villages with their wives, children, and captive slaves. Not all of them are necessarily evil, but most of these bandit villages are just terrible places for everyone but the boss and his croonies. And sometimes these bands get big enough to raid entire caravans and take all their goods and animals.
    On the sea there are pirates, who are essentially the same but with ships. Since most trade is by sea, they are really the much bigger problem. Since not everything they capture is useful and not everything they need gained by raiding, the pirates also need ports to trade. So other than their home island, pirates don't have territories like highwaymen.
    Both highwaymen and pirates need to trade and they can't really march into town to sell their loot at the market. So what they need are merchants who have no problem trading with them. Who often happen to be part of the cartels or street gangs.

    So there is a lot of crime, it's just not the average mafia type.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Yora View Post
    I made some rally good progress with naming all the places of the setting. Pretty much all of them are listed here: http://barbaripedia.spriggans-den.co...gory:Locations

    What are you thinking of the names? I need total and brutal honesty here. If you think a name sounds stupid, then say just that. My greater concern is that they all sound very similar, though I am currently working on perhaps changing some on that basis. I also have named mostly names in the north, while most of the dark elf and lizardmen places in the south are still unnamed, so perhaps this will solve itself when I get those done.
    I'm a bit late with this, but this is a slow moving forum anyway.

    The names fairly OK, I think but if your still in the process of naming I might have a suggestion that might help making distinctions between cultures and similarity within a culture, while not having to go into inventing a whole series of etymological elements for each one of them. Simply decide on a number phonetic rules for each culture, and have similar cultures share more of them. Sample rules are (C=Consonant, V=vowel (or diphthong if allowed), N=nasal (m, n, ŋ), between parentheses: optional):
    - All syllables are of the -CV- variant (no consonant clusters and words always end in a vowel)
    Small twists to this rule:
    some consonant clusters might be allowed/considered a single consonant e.g. ng, mb & nd / ts & dz / kw (qu) / tl
    allowance of single vowel syllables -V- (possibly only at the start of a word)
    considering nasals and/or semivowels (w, j, r, l) in the vowel category.
    - variant syllable rules:
    all syllables -(C)V(N)(C)- but must contain at least one consonant, vowels always separated by a consonant
    all syllables -(C)V(N)
    all syllables -(C)V(C), but C can be a combination of s and any consonant
    - A more limited set of vowels (when a very limited set exists IRL it's usually [a], [u] & [i]) or by contrast a very large set (which might lead to accent inflation).
    - A more limited set of consonants (e.g. no r/l distinction, no voiced consonants <this means usually that voicing might exist but isn't a distinctive attribute>).
    - Restrictions on certain consonant clusters (or the absence of restrictions that we find normal - e.g. the above rule of considering ng, mb and nd as single consonants could lead to words that start with those sounds, something not frequent in European languages, but quite frequent in many African languages)

    E.g. by taking the following rules
    - all syllables -(C)V-
    - vowel (diphthong) set limited to a, i, o, u (au)
    - consonant set limited to h, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, w
    you could get a vaguely Polynesian sounding language.

    Another example:
    - all syllables -(C)V(N)(C)- but must contain at least one consonant, vowels (diphtongs) always separated by a consonant, r & l can be added before or after vowel in addition to consonants except for syllables of the form -NrV(N)(C)- or -NlV(N)(C)- which are not allowed.
    - vowel (diphthong) set: a, e, i, o, u, y (ai, au ei, ia, ie, io, iu, ui)
    - consonant set: b, d, dh, f, g, h, i, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, th, v, w
    - consonant clusters considered as single consonant: gw, kw
    This might be good for a somewhat elvish language.

    A good example for rules actually based in physical attributes in a fantasy environment for instance would be to have the language of lizardmen lack all bilabial (b, p, m, w) or labiodental (v, f) consonants and all rounded vowel ([o], [u], [y]) since they lack lips. For added distinction they might have a larger number of sibilants (such a larger set could possibly be represented in Latin script by s, z, th, dh, sh, zh, hs, hz, ss, zz,...)

    Here's the wiki-article on phonotactics for more inspiration.

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    Ah, someone who knows the business.

    With the lizardmen and naga I always make sure that there are no Bs or Ps. Those are just impossible without lips.

    I noticed that I really have a strong preference for some letters. A, E, K, L, R, S, T, V would be enough for me to create a whole language.
    I actually did a good deal of renaming because there were just too many Ks and Ls.
    We are not standing on the shoulders of giants, but on very tall tower of other dwarves.

    Spriggan's Den Heroic Fantasy Roleplaying

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