Let's build another setting! (Flare Tower)

[Cluedrew]

In the style of the Toxic Seas thread, I decided to create another thread about community/improvisation setting creation. By the way, as of this posting, that thread is exactly ten pages and still going so feel free to contribute there as well.

Each time you post you may include one or two (or three) items of new information about the setting. Each item gets a number that run in increasing order. I have assembled a set of guidelines for creating new additions from my experience in the last thread. These are not hard rules, but at the same time make sure you have a reason before breaking any of them. You might be asked to explain why, especially on 1 & 2.

Guidelines:

1. No refusals. Don't go undo, render obsolete or otherwise disregard the items already made. This applies to the factual information already made, but where possible also honour the broader concept itself.
2. Leave things open. Avoid 'negative design', things that cut off new possibilities more than necessary. Avoid 'the only', 'impossible' and for that matter 'all'.
3. Build off earlier items. Work things from earlier posts into your additions. Create things that fit into the existing world over creating something in isolation. For bonus points, (not that we are keeping track), see if you can build off something that no one else has built off of yet or connect two separate ideas.
4. Keep ideas short. If you need an even a significant paragraph to explain it, you might be going into too much detail. Add an idea and a detail or two, but then let others use it.
5. Post slowly. Give an hour/post or two per idea you post before posting more. Even if no one does give some time for others to add in their ideas.

Revisions: Everyone is free to revise their own items if they feel it is necessary. At least until too many other items reference it, but there is no cut off point, use your judgement, but it is referenced at all and you revise your idea, make it clear that you have so updates can be made. This does not apply if it is grammar fix or similar.

Also feel free to say other things in addition to making contributions. Like this huge blub.

Now, to begin:

0) Context: This is a setting for a role-playing game. There are a lot of little things going on with room for people to leave their mark on the world. There is no single issue in the world, it can handle a variety of campaigns.

1) Tower: The world is a tower. For most people the world is just the sides of the tower, where they and the plants and animals live.

2) Flare: At the top of the tower is a great light. It grows brighter and dimmer on a daily cycle. Although it projects upwards that is still enough for the bright times to be day and the dim times to be night.

[IndominusCruor]

Is the Flare Tower its own dimension amid the cosmos, sort of like an independent plane of existence? Or is it an artificial construct adrift through the stars? Maybe some kind of ark like structure? Is it cylindrical and if so, do both ends possess a flare? Is the Tower large enough for numerous different continents or does it even have oceans?

[JoshuaZ]

3) Many different cultures on the tower share legends that once the world was far more than the tower and that some great disaster shattered it leaving just the tower. One notable example are Artelianists so called because they follow the teaching of the legendary sage Arterlian, a figure who is revered in some form or another in many religions. The Artelianists believe that in ancient times some great act of hubris by a human empire caused the world that was to be split asunder. Curiously, most of the Artelianists are themselves humans. The most notable religious group that does not believe that in any such catastrophe and believe that the world always was as it is and was created this way are the Disciples of the Flare. The Disciples worship the Flare itself; they are sometimes known as Flarists which is considered sometimes but not always as slightly pejorative.

[Cluedrew]

To IndominusCruor: Because I did 1&2 I'm going to hold off on giving more information for a bit (or try to) so other people can mix some things in. I will however clarify a bit. First of the tower itself is quite large, it is supposed to be the setting itself, so even at its smallest the surface area of the sides is probably worth a continent in and of itself.

Second I left everything else vague on purpose. What is at the bottom of the tower? I don't even know if the tower has a bottom, or how far one would have to travel to reach there, let alone what you would find there. I hope some thought goes into that before it gets formalized, but at the same time I don't intend to be the one to do it.

I'm big on the community aspect. As much as I am over analysing JoshuaZ's addition for possible future problems (I found very little by the way).

[Lleban]

Does the tower have multiple floors or is there just a single floor with occasional outcroppings with in the walls?

4.) Stairway to Heaven- Their are few ways to climb the tower, among them the Stairway to Heaven is the most well known. Rumor has it that the stairway to heaven spirals along the walls of the tower and reaches the flare itself. Though the evidence of the stairway going that high is sketchy at best, however many cultures claim mythological figures such as Meniliek and the Towerkeeper have seen the flare up close.

[IndominusCruor]

Amended, I kind of like the verticality.

[Recherché]

5: As you descend the tower eventually you reach a layer of corrosive toxic gas. The atmosphere down there can turn plate mail to rust in minutes and will strip a living creature to bones even faster. If anyone has made it past the gas it's not widespread knowledge.

Most people have no clues what lies beneath but many religious groups believe that it's hell itself. A few scholars think that if you got past the gas you would find another tower with another flare on the other side. The Artelianists claim that it's the origin of all living creatures, a paradise that we destroyed and that the tower was created as a refuge after the disaster.

[Cluedrew]

To Recherché: Why? There doesn't seem to be interesting you can do with it other than it being a point at which the setting just ends. I do enjoy it as shout out to Toxic Seas.

6) Leftrote and Rightrote: Used in place of the compass directions in many contexts. If you face towards the center of the tower leftrote is to your left and rightrote is to your right. This is a tool so we can talk about location around the tower better.

7) The Traveler Legends: Refer to a group of stories about the moral races arriving at the tower from "the darkness" as a place of sanctuary. The stories very in where they travelled from and how they made the journey. One variant is that Arterlian (#3) lead them from the shattered old world through the darkness to the tower. For guideline 3, and to mess up origin stories a bit because hey, why wouldn't they be?

OK, so I didn't manage to not post ideas...

[Recherché]

It wasn’t a reference to Toxic Seas since I haven’t actually read through that thread. That being said I’m out of here. I can delete the post if you want me to or I can leave it up as an example of what not to do. Sorry to have bothered you.

[Cluedrew]

I meant no offence, I don't plan on just rejecting entries, that goes against the improvisation nature of the thread. I asked why because I want to know what you had in mind. Is not wrong in any way, maybe a barrier at the bottom is exactly what we need to define the edges of the setting, and even if it is not it is something we can work with.

"Why?" is not an attack, I am asking because I want to know. The only reason I didn't ask is I felt like I had a rough idea there. (This setting would not have humans in it by original design, they can't climb very well, and similarly having some vertical movement abilities are kind of important.) I am feeling a bit protective of the setting yes (I can't help that) but I posted it so other people could put their spin on it.

[JoshuaZ]

This setting would not have humans in it by original design, they can't climb very well, and similarly having some vertical movement abilities are kind of important.

Huh; I hadn't gotten that feeling at all. My immediate thought when I saw it was that the sides of the tower were going to end up having all sorts of stairs and maybe some just on the inside in the easily accessible parts.

Edit: Keeping with your idea though:

8) The most common sentient species are the Asperansi and the Lenalas. The Asperansi are cat-like beings with a prehensile tail that can actually hold their entire weight. Combined with powerful claws they make excellent climbers. The Lenalas are gremlin-like generally with small but powerful wings. However, their wings grow over time even after they have reached maturity; this growth rate is slow and it slows down over time but never fully stops. An elder Lenala can have a wingspan as much as 10 feet. While the young Lenalas can only use their wings to glide and control their fall downwards, the more mature ones can actually fly.

[Cluedrew]

To JoshuaZ: Actually in my original conception it was very much "always was and always will be" but I thought that was the logic you were operating under when you created #3. ... Maybe instead of persting everyone I should go away for a bit and let things unfold. I'm not going to go away but maybe I will see if I can refrain from posting for a bit.

[Lleban]

8) Up to 150 miles from the tower wall, 1000 miles in length, and 100 miles deep the Rastaban plateau is the largest of the a series of outcroppings that make up the Republic of Fracia. The Climate of the plateau is mostly temperate with increasing winds toward the outcroppings edge.

[Sybracus]

9.) The Nisshtari Regions

A geologically unstable area that is incapable of safely supporting permanent settlements, this lush, sprawling labyrinth is inhabited by seven nomadic tribes, collectively known as the Nisshtari. They traverse the rough, often vertical terrain on the backs of giant reptilians, hunting monsters of all shapes and sizes, and functioning as guides and guards for caravans passing through the region.

Spoiler: Nisshtari Tribes

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The tribes themselves are fairly similar culturally, but they do have a stronger bend towards specific areas, with the focus of each tribe below. Each tribe is ruled by a chieftain of the same name, but they will take orders from an Igrunl, otherwise known as a chosen one of their god.

• Karchesk - Warriors
• Imsjet - Shamans and Mystics
• Tren'gu - Thieves, Spies, and Assassins
• Chrgen - Merchants and Craftsmen
• Nimikit - Storytellers, Musicians, and Orators
• Zekretu - Hunters and Beast Tamers
• Otnam - Alchemists and Artificers

10.) Mualth

According to Nisshtari mythology, there is a great serpent that lies beneath the land, stirring in its restless sleep. It is known to them as Mualth, and they believe that its motions affect every aspect of their lives, so sacrificial offerings and prayers are sent to it, with many different variations. Some perform rites of appeasement, soothing Mualth and bringing it closer to comfortable stillness. Others perform rites of assignment, receiving tasks from the serpent. There are also the rites of assessment that grant insight into many things, particularly that which is already known. Then, they have the rites of atonement that cleanse the body, mind, and spirit of hostile influences and can improve their existence. There are also forbidden rituals known as the rites of aggravation, rousing Mualth so that it may awaken, ravage the tower, and consume the flare.

[JBPuffin]

11). What Lies Inside: After a person digs a certain depth into the Tower, one reaches the Shaft - a hollow realm even more dangerous than the surface as it is slicked with fungus and the secretions of creatures known only as the Abjul. Many have fallen prey to the shift in gravity, but some believe it's the only way to bypass the toxic mists below and prove once and for all what lies beneath them...

[Benthesquid]

For the record, are we assuming that people live on the inside or outside of the tower. Some posts lead me to believe one, some the other.

12 The Singers (so named by those races with more conventional mouths, with their difficult to pronounce name for themselves translating, as so many do, roughly as 'The People,') are a race of winged arthropods that dwell on/in the tower. They are named for the eerie music they create by vibrating their wings when clinging to the walls of the tower. Though capable of an amazing variety of pitches and tones, this is not their primary method of communication, which instead consists of a combination of hisses and clicks, the meaning of which is heavily modified by the gesticulations of their many legs.

Choralism, is a belief and magic system common among the Singers holding that the spirits of the dead can be communed with by singing their wing-songs. Fierce debate exists among Choralists as to whether or not other races have song-essences.

[JoshuaZ]

13) The Great Statues

Scattered across the tower are statues. No one knows for sure when they were placed or who made them. They are made from a variety of different types of stone but each shares the same basic artistic style. The statues depict adult members of sentient species scaled up so that the statues are about four to five times as large as an adult of that species would be. Each statue is hyper-realistic with a level of detail that might cause one to almost think they were once alive and have been petrified; but all tests for such indicate that they really are just statues. Legends suggest that some of the statues have in the past come alive or talked to great heroes to bestow them gifts or special knowledge, but none of these stories have been substantiated. There are a handful of statues which depict species which are unknown as a whole, and some have suggested that those statues depict races long gone, or possibly races that have yet to be.

Some of the Singers venerate the statues that depict Singers, believing that the statues are somehow connected to the song-essence of Singers from long ago. At least one statue is claimed by some to depict Artelian and it has become pilgrimage location as well as source of conflict for a variety of groups.

[Cluedrew]

To Benthesquid: Currently it is just "the sides", what exactly that means has not been pinned down.

Current best: 5 posts without me posting.

[IndominusCruor]

14) Civilization is largely relegated to palteaus (shelf-like outcrops), crevasses, caverns, and scaffolds with the plateau civilizations usually growing larger due to the more fertile agricultural lands.

15) In addittion to leftrote and rightrote, the other four cardinal directions are inward and outward (denoting proximity to the tower wall), upward and downward (denoting altitude).

[DuctTapeKatar]

16) The Jutts and the Jurogumo

There is a location on the tower known as the Jutts-- incredibly long spikes of rock which stick outward into the open air, with plenty of space on them to house small villages and areas for livestock and large plantations and forests and are thick enough for wells and small mines to be built. The closer one is to the point of their respective spike, the less dense the forests, but the closer to the wall they jut out from the less farmable the soil. The Jutt villages live relatively peaceful lives in the middle of the Jutt-spikes, farming making up much of their lives and trade a slow tread between towns.

The Jutts are primarily populated by Jurogumo, a people with humanoid torsos while having a spiderlike rear end with the eight legs and abdomen. A jurogumo's diet consists of a variety vegetables and grain, with an equal amount of meats. They live in small villages, scattered about here and there, with some finding homes in the plateaus.

17) Abjul

The Abjul are bony, tumorous monsters which cling to the walls of the Shaft like leeches. Their suction-cup feet leave behind a disgusting slightly-acidic mucus. Their eyes, peeking out from their spiky exoskeletons, glow a hypnotic yellow which draw in the Shaft's giant insects. The Abjul's maws, those terrible, gaping jaws with their serrated teeth and the foul stench of rotting flesh, open for the prehensile tongues (yes, multiple tongues) dart out lizardlike to catch anyone or anything which catches its fancy.

Luckily, they tend to hang out in the Shaft only. So there's no way they'd be found on the outside of the tower! Hopefully.

[Catullus]

18) Precipitation is somewhat normal in this world, with (at least) one notable exception: Occasionally, during a rainstorm after a drought, the rain will glow from within with the same color as the flare above.

I tried to keep this open-ended, for other people to add more precipitation-based oddities.

[Lleban]

19) The tower can be divided into 3 known sections. Each section is a concentric circle within the tower.

• The Center is the the widest section of the tower and receives the most flare light. Outcroppings can vary wildly size and have climates based on elevation within the shaft.
• The inner ring lies adjacent to the center, although it it much thinner. The inner ring contains not only outcroppings on both sides of the ring, but also thousands of connecting bridges between outcroppings on opposite sides of the ring. The inner ring gets less flare light leading to longer nights and colder days. Somewhere between the outer and inner ring lies the "The Shaft."
• The outer ring The last known ring is roughly as thin as the inner ring but with significantly less flare light leaving the ring dark for all but 3 hours of the day. The outer ring has far more connections between ring walls and more outcroppings than any other layer.

[IndominusCruor]

To Lleban, I'm confused. Are you saying there is more than one hollow area throughout the tower or are you saying that altitude separates them? Maybe I'm just not reading it right.

[Lleban]

The former statement is most accurately what Im trying to portray. I thought of it as 3 concentric circles

[Sybracus]

20.) The Caretakers

Strange beings of indeterminate form that roam along the surface of the tower. They do not interact with the lesser races often, only doing so in times of emergency. So far, every interaction with them has been benevolent, and they are believed to repair and maintain the tower.

Spoiler: The harmless truth

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The "Caretakers" actually have no connection to the tower. They are hostile entities from the void beyond that are actively studying it in preparation for an invasion. They intentionally play up their image as helpful beings so that when the invasion comes, they will be welcomed with open arms.

[Xuc Xac]

3) Many different cultures on the tower share legends that once the world was far more than the tower and that some great disaster shattered it leaving just the tower.

7) The Traveler Legends: Refer to a group of stories about the moral races arriving at the tower from "the darkness" as a place of sanctuary.

Just once, I'd like to see one of these threads about a new and unique setting that doesn't immediately feature entries that say "but the world used to be a normal fantasy world" and/or "the people came from a normal world, because obviously they couldn't just be from here".

Humans might not be perfectly adapted to live on the side of a tower, but that doesn't mean they couldn't be from there anyway. We aren't perfectly adapted for living on ocean worlds either, but we don't waste time describing Earth-like fantasy worlds (like Toril/Oerth/Krynn/etc) by going on about what terrible disaster caused most of the surface to be covered with water.

[JoshuaZ]

Just once, I'd like to see one of these threads about a new and unique setting that doesn't immediately feature entries that say "but the world used to be a normal fantasy world" and/or "the people came from a normal world, because obviously they couldn't just be from here".

Humans might not be perfectly adapted to live on the side of a tower, but that doesn't mean they couldn't be from there anyway. We aren't perfectly adapted for living on ocean worlds either, but we don't waste time describing Earth-like fantasy worlds (like Toril/Oerth/Krynn/etc) by going on about what terrible disaster caused most of the surface to be covered with water.

I deliberately kept my entry ambiguous over whether these legends were at all justified. Note by the way that in general, a lot of different cultures have mythologies where there was a fall from a golden age. So having such a thing be common isn't unreasonable whether or not it is true. I actually put in the bit about the Flarists not believing this to also balance this out.

(There's a curious thing it seems in many fantasy settings where people take for granted that any legend in a fantasy setting must be true. I'm not completely sure why.)

[Cluedrew]

I deliberately kept my entry ambiguous over whether these legends were at all justified.

I went with that, I tried to make semi-contradictory legends to imply that they weren't. Or at least not all of them. I very much had "the tower always was and always will be" in my mind when I created the setting, but I didn't write it down and I understand why people would think otherwise.

(There's a curious thing it seems in many fantasy settings where people take for granted that any legend in a fantasy setting must be true. I'm not completely sure why.)

I think because the basic premise for a lot of fantasy settings is "what if our legends where true" which then gets applied to their legends as well.

... I was trying to hold out until page 2. Well.

To Lleban: How does the ring structure interact with the basic "people live on the sides of the tower" idea? Also why does the outside have less light? How is the central section the widest? Wouldn't it be by definition have the smallest diameter? ... Or have you not decided some of those details yet? I'm having some trouble visualizing how it all fits together but it sounds interesting so I would like to figure it out.

[JoshuaZ]

21) Beliefs about Mualth in other religion.

Artelianist beliefs about Mualth disagree. Many claim that Mualth does not exist, but some believe that it is real and is some form of demon. A common folk belief, not supported in any dogma, is that Mualth is a demonic entity which somehow contributed to the world being split asunder.

The Flarists officially believe that Mualth exists but is an avatar of the Flare itself.

22) The Great Waterfalls

The Great Waterfalls are a steady stream of water that cascades down one section of the tower before splitting up into many smaller streams. While many expeditions have tried to find the source of the water, all attempts so far have not gone up high enough to locate it.

[ShiningStarling]

23) The Thyl
The Thyl are a race of sentient humanoids that have the senses and burrowing tendencies of moles, along with the Echolocation and flight capabilities of bats. They are a blind race that burrow within the tower, flying on the occasions they breach the surface. The Thyl mainly survive off the Shaft's food supply, especially as one of the only races capable of digesting the flesh of the Abjul. They make most of their tools and weapons out of the stronger than steel bones of the Abjul as well.

Those who hold the Tower in veneration have mixed views about them. Some believe them to be a blight on the structure, while others view them similarly to the Caretakers.

They are some of the few who do not believe the Caretaker's lies, but they have no real reason to go into open conflict.