Process of Elimination: Collaborative World-Building

[ReturnOfTheKing]

How about sky pirates? A gang of psionic cowboys? An ancient aerial wizard institution? I dunno, mutant dinosaur and/or bug people living in the crazy acid jungle?

[Almarck]

I can see all of those working. Psionic Cowboys though tend to weird me out, but after remembering there's some psionic classes that work well with ranged attacks (depending on edition or game module of course), so it's not an important

This... also brings up an important point. Do we need to have a unified ruleset? OR are we just content to just... create setting details and then provide information to port things over later on.

Regardless of that though, I think we need an "Empire" of some sort. Some very big, obstructive and dominating political presence either in backstory or in the current day and age (thus being, the largest "fleet" of skyships).

We need names to get behind, so for the fake Latin points and the whole aeronautics shtick, lets call them something involving the word "Aquila", assuming we adopt them that is.

[Inevitability]

I would like to see at least one society using Rust Monsters as warbeasts. Fighting is hard without weapons and armor, you know. Maybe something small, so that they can also ride the Rust Monsters.

[ReturnOfTheKing]

Regardless of that though, I think we need an "Empire" of some sort. Some very big, obstructive and dominating political presence either in backstory or in the current day and age (thus being, the largest "fleet" of skyships).

We need names to get behind, so for the fake Latin points and the whole aeronautics shtick, lets call them something involving the word "Aquila", assuming we adopt them that is.

How about we use my favourite word and call them the Aetherian Empire, Aether for short? Naming aside, this is an idea

This... also brings up an important point. Do we need to have a unified ruleset? OR are we just content to just... create setting details and then provide information to port things over later on.

You mean a ruleset as in making it a proper campaign setting, with stats and all that? I don't think that's important right now.

[Almarck]

I personally find the word Aether over used, but that might just be because I bought a book that quite literally used the word for everything, so I guess that's fine.

I am assuming a really big eagle is their national emblem.

[CinuzIta]

I once DMed a steampunk campaign. In my setting there was an Elven Empire. It was a thalassocratic republic of both drows and normal elves (even tough drows didn't had any access to the highest political charges, due to them being subjugated 2 centuries ago by the other elves and due to their evil past). Even tough elves are usually considered good etc, I decides the empire to be quite oppressive and life-controllative to all the non elves and, to a certain extent, even to drows

Also, this republic was pretty interested in the foundation of colonies in a new continent and in the naval supremacy (obviously)

[ReturnOfTheKing]

In one of my homebrews, I was creating an analogue of Victorian England with Elves. The High Elves were the upper class, Wood Elves were the middle class, Half-Elves were the lower class and the Drow were slaves. Not saying we have to use that, but I'm just putting it out there.

[Almarck]

So we got

Robots and A.Is in the arctic
A theocratic bear cult, probably a nation unto themselves.
Cowboys and Sky Pirates
An Empire Fleet
And a couple of other things I am too lazy/forgetful to list out.

What else before we start to flesh this out?

Killer Whales in the Desert? No, this is pretty serious. We've seen land sharks. I wonder what kind of world we'd live in if there was a Desert that is pretty much a replica of the ocean... except sandy.

[GorinichSerpant]

The Sand Sea, can we agree that the ocean like desert is called the Sand Sea? Because that's what I'm going to call it now, anyway the Sand Sea probably wouldn't have much of a kelp equivalent sense the sun doesn't go threw sand very well. But there could be some sort of plant life on the surface thought. Also, I call that a creature that is a cross between a seal and a mole lives in the Sand Sea.

[ReturnOfTheKing]

Mummy sand pirates, blending Egyptian culture with Oceanpunk. Is this not an absolutely amazing idea?

[Almarck]

I just realized that the "Sand Sea" was literally the polar opposite of Floating Islands that we subverted into flying battleships/cities.

[ReturnOfTheKing]

Hey, you're right!

OK, it's decided - this world has no oceans of water, only weird ocean analogies like sand seas and sky islands. What other non-aquatic oceans can we think of?

[Ozy]

If you're looking for weird ocean analogies, I'm particularly fond of the idea of non-ocean currents. Wind is generally pretty unpredictable, but in this world, winds, particularly those lying close to the ground, are very predictable. Wind runs in streams of pretty much constant speed and temperature. some moves destructively fast, tearing at the surrounding landscape and making impassible borders. some moves uselessly slow, and just provides a slight tug to one direction or another. However, here would also be currents that would make travel in one direction particularly easy/economically viable, leading to a sort of wheeled boat which uses wind power to get from one spot to another.

Windmills would also obviously be a lot more viable as a source of energy (even if it's just to grind up grain), because it would be easy to find locations for them which were fast enough to be profitable and slow enough to leave them unharmed.

Also, a map of our world's currents:

Spoiler: Big Image

Show

As you can see, currents range from mere "drifts" to being forceful "streams". If y'all liked this idea, I'd imagine a similar diversity in the wind currents.

[Inevitability]

OK, it's decided - this world has no oceans of water, only weird ocean analogies like sand seas and sky islands. What other non-aquatic oceans can we think of?

How about some sort of 'sea' consisting of thousands of small shards of pure force? Could be the effect of a magical cataclysm, could be the effect of a meteor with arcane power striking the earth...

I imagine such a sea would be very alienating, with the force being transculent but still strong enough to support a 'swimming' person. In some areas, the shards may have sharpened to the point where all entering those places risk cutting death.

Monsters living here might be force-based, as opposed to water-based. Maybe some kind of invisible presence can shift its consciousness through the shards, sharpening them with its mind and then absorbing the life force of those it kills? Also, quite a few creatures may be light enough to walk over the surface, allowing for more interesting kinds of life.

Maybe close to the bottom, where the shards are so tightly packed together getting past them would be near-impossible, several incorporeal creatures have been imprisoned?

[Almarck]

This world is so confusing and Eldritch that volcanos that spew diamonds or sea world style geysers that form into waterslides are almost boring.

We do however need places for water, so, yea, to geysers that act as natural waterslides?

[GorinichSerpant]

I imagine that a truly amphibious vehicles would look very odd in this world.

[Almarck]

Sand worms are always a thing.

So is there like a float stone analogue in this world?

[Tragak]

Maybe there USED to be water covering the planet, but then the warring nations developed sand-mogrification weapons that, through increasing use by all sides, eventually left deserts where there used to be oceans?

To this day, thousands these devices still lie buried under miles of sand. Many of them might still be active, if not necessarily at full power, and unfortunate travelers through the desert would have no warning that they are stumbling into the kill radius. Their own bio-energy would initially protect the water in their own bodies from the weapons' energy, so they would find the water in their canteens being destroyed before anything happens to themselves, but prolonged exposure - especially if they move even closer to the source - and the victims will eventually disintegrate from the skin down to the blood, muscle, and organs.

Furthermore, should some zealot bent on mass destruction ever discover a weapon that is presently deactivated, but which would be at nearly full power when reactivated…

PS. what's the three-post rule?

[ReturnOfTheKing]

A sea of mutated life, a la Nausicaa, could also provide a fun Lovecraftian adventure or two. Perhaps the sea is also a sleeping eldritch abomination?

I like this currents idea, and I can see plenty of uses for it. Perhaps factions would vie for control of currents so that they could command certain trading routes, like the Portuguese having a monopoly on trade with China and India in the 1400s?

Sorry about vanishing there, btw, I had a vacation.

[Tragak]

Sorry about vanishing there, btw, I had a vacation.

ReturnOfTheKing returns!

[Almarck]

So, it's official the environment of this world is confusing and insane, isn't it?

[DoomHat]

So, it's official the environment of this world is confusing and insane, isn't it?

-
...yes...

[ReturnOfTheKing]

So, it's official the environment of this world is confusing and insane, isn't it?

Gamma World. On steroids.

[Almarck]

So, what is the moon actually a sun?

[DoomHat]

So, what is the moon actually a sun?

I think most of the damage should be terrestrial. The sun and stars are largely unaffected by the after effects of the End War.

The moon might have any number of things other things wrong with it though.

[nrg89]

Obviously we need to have a Bear Cult. I can't think of much else.

Since extra-planar travel is very common, why not make this arcane nuclear winter the result of rift storms. Portals are very unstable and require constant upkeep (to prevent them from being absolutely everywhere given enough time, like bus stops) otherwise they will eventually turn into a rift ripping apart and sucking in stuff (a negative rift) or spewing arcane energy all over the place (a positive rift). The bears, however, aren't affected by the positive rifts apparently. They migrate right through the area, and can even scavenge meat from animals who died there. Some think the bears will help them and therefore pray to them. Some swear they've performed miracles for them by bringing them the right energy from the rifts which saved them.

[GorinichSerpant]

Since extra-planar travel is very common, why not make this arcane nuclear winter the result of rift storms. Portals are very unstable and require constant upkeep (to prevent them from being absolutely everywhere given enough time, like bus stops) otherwise they will eventually turn into a rift ripping apart and sucking in stuff (a negative rift) or spewing arcane energy all over the place (a positive rift). The bears, however, aren't affected by the positive rifts apparently. They migrate right through the area, and can even scavenge meat from animals who died there. Some think the bears will help them and therefore pray to them. Some swear they've performed miracles for them by bringing them the right energy from the rifts which saved them.

Others would hunt down bears to turn their hides into a kind of haz-mat suit that allow you to walk around safely. While a bear suit is useful, you'd have to be careful who you wear it around.

[DoomHat]

Easy planer travel is on the No list.

[nrg89]

Easy planer travel is on the No list.

Whoops! =O My bad.

[Almarck]

Not disallowed though. Just really hard.