[center][b]Empires of Sand[/b]

[i]First, the desert is the country of madness. Second, it is the refuge of the devil, thrown out... to "wander in dry places." Thirst drives man mad, and the devil himself is mad with a kind of thirst for his own lost excellence--lost because he has immured himself in it and closed out everything else. So the man who wanders into the desert... must take care that he does not go mad and become the servant of the one who dwells there in a sterile paradise of emptiness and rage.[/i]

THOMAS MERTON, Thoughts in Solitude

[img]https://i2.wp.com/www.markmallett.com/blog/wp-images/Desertalone2.jpg[/img]

[i]They make a desert and call it peace.[/i]

TACITUS, Agricola

[img]http://pre00.deviantart.net/3a9a/th/pre/f/2013/086/2/c/desert_village_by_crs1009-d5zij53.jpg[/img][/center]

[url=http://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/90357-empires-of-sand/ic][u][b]OOC[/b][/u][/url]

Hello!

So I finally have time to GM a proper NRP, my earlier attempts at doing so in recent months being somewhat overly-ambitious. Here's the big idea: a low-to-mid fantasy NRP set on a desert world, one recovering from an ancient cataclysm brought on by a now-lost advanced magi-tech civilization. The emphasis would be on scarce resources and impassible landscapes and Lovecraftian secrets hidden beneath the sands. While there will be different 'biomes' and areas to the world (fertile river valleys, oases, dune-seas, mountainous areas and plateaus, ruins of ancient civs, etc), the basic idea here is that our nations will inhabit a harsh, demanding world. As always with my NRPs, I'm placing a premium on collaborative worldbuilding- each nation and faction ought to feel at home with each other, possessing shared histories and entanglements. Likewise, the geography, fauna, flora and history of the world itself will be something all of us will jointly design.

The setting would take what I call the Tolkien/Martin approach to magic. Magic is real, mysterious, and powerful, but for the most part takes place 'off-screen', and is for aesthetic purposes somewhat subdued or indirect (eg- no undead armies or mages throwing fireballs around). Likewise, while multiple sentient species will inhabit this world, I would like to stay away from the elf/dwarf/gnome/orc/goblin mainstays of D+D. Players would be encouraged to give the traditional fantasy races a unique twist, or better yet invent their own! Our tech level would be around that of late antiquity, but of course factoring in the existence of magic and fantasy beasts.

Hope this whets your interest! I look forward to RPing with you!