Hidden 1 yr ago 1 yr ago Post by Excession
Raw
GM
Avatar of Excession

Excession Friend of the Night

Member Seen 4 mos ago

OOC goes here; brainstorm characters, connections, ask questions, talk about motivations and cool stuff you'd like to do in this world.

This is the latest revision of the setting lore, and anything contradicting this should be considered inaccurate.

Setting & Rules, incomplete

Detailed Magic

Quick rules reference

If I've forgotten something or you want more info on anything let me know. I thought I had a new write-up for the Stormcircle but I cannot seem to find it.
2x Like Like 1x Thank Thank
Hidden 1 yr ago 1 yr ago Post by Abstract Proxy
Raw
Avatar of Abstract Proxy

Abstract Proxy

Member Seen 3 days ago

Awesome, big fan of the lore you've shared so far as well, so I am excited to see where this goes.




At the moment I am pretty set on writing up a wandering Wavekin Elemental monk.

I wanted to try my hand at the fun character sample sheets linked in the interest check, so here's my attempt:

Hidden 1 yr ago Post by rush99999
Raw
Avatar of rush99999

rush99999 Professional Oddball

Member Seen 39 min ago

@Excession

Which language is the most widely used language?
Hidden 1 yr ago Post by Excession
Raw
GM
Avatar of Excession

Excession Friend of the Night

Member Seen 4 mos ago

@Excession

Which language is the most widely used language?


Tradestongue and Pirates' Cant
Hidden 1 yr ago Post by rush99999
Raw
Avatar of rush99999

rush99999 Professional Oddball

Member Seen 39 min ago

@Excession

Who are the typical speakers of the other languages?

(Other than Urd and Trollish, you've already established who speaks Urd and I think I can hazard a guess as to who speaks Trollish.)
Hidden 1 yr ago 1 yr ago Post by Excession
Raw
GM
Avatar of Excession

Excession Friend of the Night

Member Seen 4 mos ago

@Excession

Who are the typical speakers of the other languages?

(Other than Urd and Trollish, you've already established who speaks Urd and I think I can hazard a guess as to who speaks Trollish.)


Stormtongue is used in the Stormcircle, with a variant dialect called Basechatter used by lower classes and among the various anarchies of the 'Circle.
Eld is spoken by the Kromsian vampire cult but they're a very cosmopolitan people and often speak several languages.
Kaeri is spoken in the People's Necrocommunist Union of Kaer.
Tock is used by the Machinist's Guild in the City-Engine, and they also use a dialect mingled with Tradestongue.
Creak is Crantiré language.
Twitch is a sign language originally developed by rats.
Pirates' Cant is a melange of other languages used by pirates, criminals, and outcasts. Lots of rhyming slang.
Tradestongue is a creole of Stormtongue and some dead languages with a few Urd loanwords which spread along trade routes and stuck. Great for bartering, negotiating, and so on but it's also a language where 'this is my spouse whom I love very much' is literally 'this is my favoured business partner who much enriches my purse'.

The more languages the party speaks the more I will amuse myself with literal translations. A diplomatic translator will say the Lezekim delegate used the term 'respected Inquisitor' but the literal translation is 'interloper to be tolerated until offence inevitably is given',
Very semantically dense language, Urd.
1x Like Like 1x Laugh Laugh
Hidden 1 yr ago Post by XxFellsingxX
Raw
Avatar of XxFellsingxX

XxFellsingxX Your Own Portable Ninja Friend

Member Seen 0-24 hrs ago

Do you have any example of what typical troll names sound like?
Also, I think you mentioned that trollkin don't have genders in the way other races do, did I get that right?
Hidden 1 yr ago Post by Excession
Raw
GM
Avatar of Excession

Excession Friend of the Night

Member Seen 4 mos ago

Do you have any example of what typical troll names sound like?
Also, I think you mentioned that trollkin don't have genders in the way other races do, did I get that right?


Trollish language is based on Welsh, so named Trollkin I've used in things so far include Daffyd, Bryn, Angharad...

And yes, that's right. Orcs and Goblins can't reproduce, they're birthed by Trolls, so for all intents and purposes they're agender or you might think of Orc or Goblin as being gender roles in their society; Orcs are strong, Orcs build, Orcs are stoic and rational whereas Goblins tinker, Goblins explore, Goblins are impulsive and emotional. Sometimes Trollkin will refer to members of other species as Orcs or Goblins based on these stereotypes where we might say woman or man.
Trolls, as the reproductive members of the species who don't require fertilization to conceive the other two, and as a society who worship a mother deity, tend to default to feminine pronouns and signifiers among outsiders. Think of it as a kind of parthenogenesis.
Trolls do need sexual intercourse to conceive more Trolls, so among themselves the gender divide is more 'one who has birthed a Troll', 'one who has not yet birthed a Troll', and 'one who conceived a Troll'. There is a powerful stigma around infertility among Trolls, so pernicious that a Troll who can't reproduce is declared Untroll.
Biologically, you might say Trolls are male until around their thirties and then they transition to female for the remainder of their lives.
As you might imagine, they have largely given up trying to explain any of this to foreigners.

I will also not blame you for not wanting to engage with all of that and going with something more familiar, since any Troll pirate is likely an exile and has probably adopted the norms of their new home.
1x Thank Thank
Hidden 1 yr ago Post by XxFellsingxX
Raw
Avatar of XxFellsingxX

XxFellsingxX Your Own Portable Ninja Friend

Member Seen 0-24 hrs ago

Thank you. Also, I plan to have this troll be a magus. Anything I should know about magic going forward?
Hidden 1 yr ago Post by Excession
Raw
GM
Avatar of Excession

Excession Friend of the Night

Member Seen 4 mos ago

Yes

It's also a one-way ticket to exile, for a Troll.
1x Like Like
Hidden 1 yr ago Post by XxFellsingxX
Raw
Avatar of XxFellsingxX

XxFellsingxX Your Own Portable Ninja Friend

Member Seen 0-24 hrs ago

Hmm, I'm definitely torn between Stormlord and Seer right now. On one hand, having air-based abilities in a campaign about sky pirates seems like it would be useful. On the other hand, Seer sounds really fun and interesting, and the description fits somewhat with the personality of the character I'm building.
Hidden 1 yr ago Post by Excession
Raw
GM
Avatar of Excession

Excession Friend of the Night

Member Seen 4 mos ago

Totally your call. For what it's worth, Seer is always convenient for feeding plot threads but Stormlord has big flashy firepower.
1x Like Like
Hidden 1 yr ago Post by rush99999
Raw
Avatar of rush99999

rush99999 Professional Oddball

Member Seen 39 min ago

@Excession

How do we determine what our starting gear is?
Hidden 1 yr ago Post by Excession
Raw
GM
Avatar of Excession

Excession Friend of the Night

Member Seen 4 mos ago

@Excession

How do we determine what our starting gear is?


You tell me what you'd like, we work together to determine what you get. You can safely assume any mundane item you reason your character can buy, find, make, or steal is fine and doesn't even need to be tracked - you say your character pulls out a telescope a dozen posts in, well, that just makes sense.
Anything more exotic might need a bit of background justification, and the more exotic items the more likely they come with catches.
I am far too lazy to write up a table of example items so I'll also need to come up with stats for things you want.
Also lest there's a miscommunication, no one has to write their sheet in the 2nd person.
Hidden 1 yr ago Post by rush99999
Raw
Avatar of rush99999

rush99999 Professional Oddball

Member Seen 39 min ago

<Snipped quote by rush99999>

You tell me what you'd like, we work together to determine what you get.


I would like one airship, six of whatever the equivalent of the Tommy Gun is in this setting, and six pieces of protective gear to offset the goblin's abysmal defensive capabilities.
Hidden 1 yr ago Post by Excession
Raw
GM
Avatar of Excession

Excession Friend of the Night

Member Seen 4 mos ago

<Snipped quote by Excession>

I would like one airship, six of whatever the equivalent of the Tommy Gun is in this setting, and six pieces of protective gear to offset the goblin's abysmal defensive capabilities.


You have a choice of several airships, some with catches.

Windriders were the first generation of airships and remain in use today, made mainly from wood and canvas with some metal reinforcement, they're powered by chained winds bound to sapphire nodes by the fins and sails. Can't hover, reasonably fast, quite manoueverable.

Cloudbanks are the workhorses of the Stormcirlce merchant navy, base on similar technology to Windriders, but larger and slow to carry cargo, troops, and even interceptors. Sturdy, reliable, and equipped with plenty of weapon hardpoints but not very agile and they benefit from a large crew.

Stormhawks are the latest generation of Stormcircle airship and getting one will raise questions. Based on electromagnetic repulsion spells they can be incredibly quick and agile but require a specialized manatechnician for upkeep.

Endjinn ships have a flame animus caged in their belly, providing power to thrusters. They operate at extremes; they can cruise at a fair speed for weeks before brief sprints of high speed. You do need to let the animus rest, keep a Conflagrant on hand to quell it, or otherwise manage its mood.

Necroships look like classic sea-going galleons, their sails driven by the strange winds of the World Without Sun. Need a Necromancer in the crew for best results, and they can jaunt through the World Without Sun to effectively warp travel - if you can keep the hungry ghosts from boarding and your crew from losing their minds.

Bioships are custom-grown, living vessels with gasbags and wings. You have to feed them, treat wounds, and ideally have a Communer in the crew to care for them. Or a Vampire.

You can also have a mundane airship which tends to have more fuel costs and lacks special features of other types, but you don't need a pet wizard to keep it airworthy.

Do you mind being a debtor to Leadbelly Kira for the tommy guns? I can just let you have them, sure, but paying them off could be a good hook for a first job.

You can have some armour; reinforced jackets, essentially. We can make getting better stuff an in-game task.

I should note I treat violence as a failure state - not yours, necessarily, the fault can equally lie with NPCs. If you can't avoid a fight, I strongly urge you to avoid a fair fight. Don't need protective gear if you can ventilate the opposition from ambush.
The combat engine in this game is high lethality so everyone, except Olimakin, prefers to avoid fighting and very rarely will a fight be to the death. Not many characters are zealous or well paid enough to die for whatever they're doing when a fight breaks out and you can expect a lot of combat encounters to end in surrender after a few severe injuries.

I seem to recall we're due a Lybarim ship's doctor which will be a literal lifesaver.
Hidden 1 yr ago Post by rush99999
Raw
Avatar of rush99999

rush99999 Professional Oddball

Member Seen 39 min ago

I'll wait until other characters are made before I decide on a ship. Having a ship that I don't have the right wizard for sounds like a suboptimal play.

As for the debt to Leadbelly Kira, would I get higher quality guns if I accept the debt? If so, I'll take it. If not, would you mind if I just have the guns and the debt is for a 'never have to worry about ammo again' sort of arrangement instead?
Hidden 1 yr ago Post by Excession
Raw
GM
Avatar of Excession

Excession Friend of the Night

Member Seen 4 mos ago

You would get significantly better guns for accepting the debt - Kira is one of the only gunsmiths in the setting who can make something like a tommy gun.

And in a worst case scenario I can add an NPC to help maintain the ship.
Hidden 1 yr ago Post by rush99999
Raw
Avatar of rush99999

rush99999 Professional Oddball

Member Seen 39 min ago

I'll take the debt for better guns then.

Also, what sort of questions does getting a Stormhawk raise?
Hidden 1 yr ago Post by Excession
Raw
GM
Avatar of Excession

Excession Friend of the Night

Member Seen 4 mos ago

I'll take the debt for better guns then.

Also, what sort of questions does getting a Stormhawk raise?


"Where did you steal an experimental battleship being made by the Spire Cartel? How did you steal it? Who wants it back?"
↑ Top
© 2007-2024
BBCode Cheatsheet