Group World Creation: Short and Sweet

[Eldan]

Hey Eldan, would you mind if I start a mythology based world creation thread using your "one global fact, one group fact, one relationship between groups" format? I will give you credit for having come up with it. Also, I haven't posted much before, so sorry if using someone else's format is considered rude or something and I didn't know. Thanks!

Absolutely, I don't own the idea of statements

Good luck.

[Lleban]

1. Medusae leather is in high demand among the elites of Thervada and Ion for its insulating properties, abnormally high stain resistance, and elasticity.

2. Some scholars tend to paint IO as a gigantic Dragon, while others consider him synonymous with the Arch-Fiend Baphomet. This is in part, due to the plethora of inscriptions dating back nearly 2 millennia on the ruins and obelisks that dot the countryside.

3. Harvested from the many monsters of Quezo, layered chitin is an excellent armor material, especially for places poor in Iron. Finely crafted layered chitin is capable of surpassing even Adhurthun mail.

[Eldan]

Conceptual question.

What do people think a goblin-succubus hybrid would actually be like? I was thinking of doing some homebrew.

Now, we don't have to talk specific rules, I like that this setting , so far, is not too system specific. But what would such a creature be like? Any magical powers? What kind? I mean, a goblin with just more charisma/attractiveness/personality, whatever your preferred stat for that is is just a bit dull.

[Lleban]

I was thinking that hybrids would be almost hyper-specialized to seduce/drain goblinoids. As goblins are sneaky and crafty, it'd be neat if succubi blood gave them the ability to shape shift into any goblinoid along with invisibility at the cost of requiring goblin flesh. Perhaps they could on average be more intelligent than goblins, or have the ability to communicated with beings otherwise irreversibly contaminated by hell zones.

[Eldan]

Interesting. A kind of telepathy limited to fiendish and goblinoid creatures, maybe. Invisibility could work, though together with flesh-craving, that goes very close to mythological vampires. Though it's not unheard of for succubi. Since they are explicitly tied to beauty in their background, too, I want to keep some of that as well, though not quite sure how to do it. Maybe just charm, like a succubus.

Ooh. I just had an idea.

1. While there are many specific domains in the underworld that have their own geography and climates at the whim of their ruler, it is still a world of imprisonment. The domains are held together by chains miles long and dozens of feet wide, that stretch over an infinite abyss. Attached to these chains are many smaller chains and cages, in which prisoners, both mortal and fiendish, are kept.

2. A fiend's hold on the mortal plane is tenuous and they can be injured by iron, which forms a metaphysical link to their prison. Cold iron chains are used in many banishment or binding rituals as well.

More NPCs.
3. Akrattakhin, the high priestess of Cabiri is one of the greatest powers in Adhurthu. She has been crippled and malformed from birth, which is said to show both a blessing from Cabiri and a curse from Akhurthekhaan for devoting herself to the goddess' rival. Though she rarely shows herself in to anyone except her personal slaves, she is said to be monstrously ugly, born with tiny stunted limbs and unable to walk, but also born with a third eye on her forehead, which gives her great powers of foresight.

[Lleban]

Yeah on a surface level succubi and vampires have a lot in common. Having a charm might be the most simple solution. Or perhaps make the charm ineffective versus humanoids, but more effective against goblinoids and a creatures not normally vulnerable to charming.


also some ideas. For reference an Orrery is a mechanical model of the solar system, so I thought linking magic to our rather active solar system was a good idea.


1. The Orrery is a facility that trains mages and quarantines those afflicted by the magi's curse. Many of the people afflicted by the magi's curse are used as test subjects for various magical experiments. Currently most Orreries are in the Diell Dominion, Adhurthu, and Ion.

2. The wars among the polities of the Southern Plateau produce an excess of slaves that are frequently sent to Rekkantha. Many of these slaves work in salt mines and to produce luxury crops to be exported on the continental trade network.

3. A mages familial relation is determined not by their biological family, but by who teaches them magic. For example Heirophants El and Khoreshu are siblings because they both share the same mentor.

[VoodooPaladin]

I don't have a whole lot to add to the Rhaakhec talk, but I like where it's going. If you want them to be explicitly skilled at seduction, a flat bonus to all social skill checks involving it would be effective but very inelegant. Instead, perhaps some Cantrip-equivalent SLA that invisibly penalizes social checks made by the target that involve you (save negates)? Call it inner warmth or something similarly coy.

(I) Behind their pleasant facade, the Black Reef Society is host to a vast array of mad arcanists who use kidnapped sub-merfolk as lab rats.

(II) The Magna Approxokos has no shipwrights. All their raiding vessels are stolen, and then cold-treated with salt magic.

(III) There are many methods for training mages to resist the Magi's Curse. The hygeiomancers of Wyrmbrook use an old process called the Twelve-and-Five trials, while a handful of Quezo cultures still practice the use of Medusae venom for inoculation against the Curse. Zanassu's legendary ritual of Arachnification is also known to prevent the Curse within its direct recipients.

[Lleban]

1. Born to a wealthy Thervadan family, but later exiled Xhyporeus is the high priest of the temple of Ahrimanes. Located in the dense forests east of Crov'nov the temple provides sanctuary for travelers and supplies for hunters. Its surrounded by a sizable camp of dwarven exiles who receive shelter in exchange for worship and scarifies.

2. Many commoners are often blissfully unaware of the difference between gods and Arch-fiends. This has often lead to small towns throughout the continent devoted to a variety of Archfiends. This behavior is most prevalent in the southern plateau where Zuggtmoy holds great influence, to the point where some have become infected with the demons fungal spores.

3.Throughout the continent storytellers and bards are a protected class. As a class frequently used for both, passing vital information to the next generation and shaping the minds of the masses, it's taboo to harm a bard within any settlement.

[Eldan]

1. The dwarves of Crov'nov do not, as folk tales would say, live underground as such. However, traditional homes in the Crov'nov forests often have a floor sunk a few feet into the ground and thick sod roofs, giving them the appearance of low hills.

2. One of the recognizable differences between archfiends and gods, though perhaps only to the academically inclined, is in the way they bestow power upon their subjects: those who gain their magic powers from the gods can lose these powers again if they displease the gods or misuse their power, while fiendish magic, once given, can not be taken other than by death.

3. A powerful religious sect in Ion emphasizes that its subjects must remain pure in many ways, putting taboos on, amongst other things, the handling of corpses and sewage, the tanning industry and any contact with fiends or fey. They hold their ceremonies in a great public square, which is ringed three times by a massive iron chain that is said to hold out all impure influences.

[VoodooPaladin]

(I) Legends across the world tell of spectrophobia as a sign of Styx-birth. Demons are noticeably less violent when dealing with spectrophobes.

(II) Orreries are rare in Rekkantha. One is hidden within the School of Silk and Foam, a military academy that doubles as a seaside fortification.

(III) The hygeiomancers of Wyrmbrook are more commonly known as Poxnauts, for their famed immunity to disease.

[Eldan]

Is hygeiomancy a thing? I can't seem to find it online.

[VoodooPaladin]

Nope! I was just riffing on how Rekkantha has silk benders. I like the gimmick mage idea, so I was running with it.

...and it turns out I've been misspelling hygiene. Well. That makes my fake wordplay a bit harder to read into, doesn't it?

[Eldan]

Apparently, Hygeia is a valid Greek spelling of Hygieia, so you'd actually be fine.

[Lleban]

1. The roads of Rekkantha are unique as they are made from concrete. Using ash from the Punic Mountains and the blood of slaves Rekkanthan concrete is a highly resilient material used to make forts, pave roads, and build lavish palaces.

2.Cults blessed by Zuggtmoy often are covered with boils and molds, but are endowed with the ability manipulate plant life.

3. The port of Sanctum in Ion used to be headquarters of The Sea Barons, until the port was assaulted by a series of massive icebergs during a long winter.

[Eldan]

I love the idea of angry icebergs assaulting things.

I think I'll have to go and write up iceberg elementals. Swim speed and a brutal ramming attack.

[Lleban]

Haha I figured since they were fighting an archfiend sealed in ice, he'd have a way of striking back.

[Eldan]

That might actually fit better, and open up some design space. Spirit of a fiend bound to an iceberg as a living siege weapon. Not sure if that should be statted up as an animating spell or as a golem, though. Probably a kind of golem.

[Devcon1]

1. Whenever a new high priest of Acererak's church is chosen, they must prove themselves worthy to the demilich-turned-god if they are to be accepted as high priest. To do so they must journey to the fabled Tomb of Horrors, a dungeon created by Acererak that is said to be one of the deadliest dungeons ever devised. They must trek through to the end of the Tomb of Horrors, where their final trial will be to kill an aspect of Acererak. If they manage all this, they will then finally be accepted as high priest.

2. Very rarely, a Kuo-toa, called a "Leviathan", is born with the ability to grow to a size that rivals ancient dragons.

3. Lyzelda's Wrath is a dangerous storm of epic proportions that rages over the sea, named after lyzelda, princess of elemental evil lightning. Rumors have it that it is not just a storm, but a storm elemental; either way sailors avoid it like the plague if they can.

[Lleban]

The open ocean in this world seems pretty perilous. Also do we wanna name the continent?

[Devcon1]

(( That would be nice to do. We should also probably get around to naming the world and setting ))

[Lleban]

I'm having trouble thinking of something thematically appropriate.

1. Mammon jars are a type of jar common in the eastern half of the continent. They frequently depict an obese figure and holds precious items ranging from family heirlooms to arcane materials.

2. Underneath Ion lies an Illthid community surrounding a Syth’gon zone that converts the nearby stone into an oily Crimson crystal.

3. Vermathax, the golden dragon of pride, is a dragon whose egg was contaminated by an Volispula. Long ago Vermathax destroyed many of the cities of old Karamanos, though sightings of him have been limited for the last 2 centuries.

[Eldan]

Okay, I think we've run out of steam entirely. Perhaps this style only takes you so far. How about we try something entirely different.

Suggestion: from now on, post a short piece of fiction in your post. A few paragraphs on some part of the world, written from the perspective of a normal inhabitant.

If you need inspiration: you get bonus points (tm) for rolling 1d170, going to the post with that number in this thread and write about something mentioned in that post.

[Devcon1]

(Would we still write the three things, plus the short piece of fiction? Or just the fiction piece?)