Cyclone
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Back when dinosaurs ruled the Earth, I got started with writing online on the Spore forums. Man, those were the days. We're talking like 12 years ago 2010-ish!
I've been here on and off for almost as long, and have GM'd a bunch of different things to varying success.
I've been here on and off for almost as long, and have GM'd a bunch of different things to varying success.
Word of my splendor:
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I'm not sure either. It is reminiscent of Gorsik's domain that turned flesh into stone and that city of golem-like humans, but I doubt that's your inspiration.
Sure, we'll probably need you to control one. But so far we have four that I made plus Gecko's, so we'll probably have to get rid of one of mine in order to keep the number low. If this is the case then I vote dropping that first nomadic shaman tribe. It's the most boring of the four.
Alternatively you could elect to just use any of my four ideas except for the fire one. I call that one.
Alternatively you could elect to just use any of my four ideas except for the fire one. I call that one.
I'm not sure that putting opposing terrain on opposite sides of the map is necessarily ideal. I personally would prefer to make it look natural, slightly more organically placed while still being shaped by factors like elevation, rain shadow, proximity to coast, and so on. However, a clean map might be a better idea than a realistic one. What do the rest of you think?
I love the idea of your nation. Truly unique. The only things that strike me as an issue is their lack of language (which would make them worthless slaves for any would-be conqueror, since they couldn't take orders or easily be told how to perform tasks they are unfamiliar with). Since they lack any real organization but have the terrain and dragons on their side, they would pose an interesting challenge to fight. When I first read about them I thought that a few scattered dragons and human riders would be easy prey for a well-organized army of a Keeper led by constructs and powerful creatures. But when you think about it and realize that this invading army would be hacking through a dense jungle presumably full of dangerous predators and poisonous plants and all sorts of other things to ruin your day. And while they wander around this unfamiliar and hostile terrain, they would no doubt be constantly ambushed and harassed by the natives.
These dragon riders of yours tread a thin line between between laughably weak and impossibly strong, but I think that they would work. You know, the idea is so intriguing that I might plop my Keeper down by their jungle. Hmm, speaking of Keepers, I still have yet to conceive a good idea for a new one.
I love the idea of your nation. Truly unique. The only things that strike me as an issue is their lack of language (which would make them worthless slaves for any would-be conqueror, since they couldn't take orders or easily be told how to perform tasks they are unfamiliar with). Since they lack any real organization but have the terrain and dragons on their side, they would pose an interesting challenge to fight. When I first read about them I thought that a few scattered dragons and human riders would be easy prey for a well-organized army of a Keeper led by constructs and powerful creatures. But when you think about it and realize that this invading army would be hacking through a dense jungle presumably full of dangerous predators and poisonous plants and all sorts of other things to ruin your day. And while they wander around this unfamiliar and hostile terrain, they would no doubt be constantly ambushed and harassed by the natives.
These dragon riders of yours tread a thin line between between laughably weak and impossibly strong, but I think that they would work. You know, the idea is so intriguing that I might plop my Keeper down by their jungle. Hmm, speaking of Keepers, I still have yet to conceive a good idea for a new one.
Ah, I presume you're speaking of the book 1984 by George Orwell? I've never read the book, but I've heard that it's similar to Brave New World, one of my favorite works. I read and liked George Orwell's Animal Farm enough for me to want to read his other novels and essays, but I haven't as that is part of my school system's curriculum and I would have to reread a lot of it in a year or two.
And yes, I like to think I'm good at creating fictional nations, but they often tend to be a bit...gritty. More compelling and far more interesting to write as.
And yes, I like to think I'm good at creating fictional nations, but they often tend to be a bit...gritty. More compelling and far more interesting to write as.
Personally I feel that the oneiromancy idea is the most suitable of all the ones I've tossed about so far for such a giant and poweful realm. Imagine a great sorceror king that has held power for literally centuries, using illusion magic to mask himself as various different people over this span. Under his wise and long-sighted rule, he transformed the tiny hamlet in which he was born into a sprawling city that is the envy pf the world.
Through the use of his dream magic, he has been able to prevent any sort of rebellion. He can peer into the minds of those who sleep, allowing him to easily spot his enemies and ensure that they never wake again. However, the vast majority of the city supports him, their dreams bliss as their king secretly controls their every thought while they sleep, ensuring they never awake unhappy.
So overall this human king has managed to achieve a Keeper-like level of power of the centuries, empowered by his massive domain and the reverance of his subjects. The kingdom without his gentle and unseen manipulation might very well break apart or crumble before the envious barbarians tribes that surround it like carrioon birds, ever waiting for an opportunity to plunder the kingdom. However, the king still reigns strong and is an incredibly dangerous adversary to have what with his hundreda of years of experience ruling and his near omniscience. The equally dangerous part is that to the world, he is just yet another inadept and fat king in a long line of decadent rulers that have over clung to their holdings by shear luck. Ths Keepers would be completely oblivious to the danger that he poses, though some of the smaller tribes no doubt have their suspicions.
Excellent. Did you want to take one of the one we already wrote out, or do you have your own idea?
Through the use of his dream magic, he has been able to prevent any sort of rebellion. He can peer into the minds of those who sleep, allowing him to easily spot his enemies and ensure that they never wake again. However, the vast majority of the city supports him, their dreams bliss as their king secretly controls their every thought while they sleep, ensuring they never awake unhappy.
So overall this human king has managed to achieve a Keeper-like level of power of the centuries, empowered by his massive domain and the reverance of his subjects. The kingdom without his gentle and unseen manipulation might very well break apart or crumble before the envious barbarians tribes that surround it like carrioon birds, ever waiting for an opportunity to plunder the kingdom. However, the king still reigns strong and is an incredibly dangerous adversary to have what with his hundreda of years of experience ruling and his near omniscience. The equally dangerous part is that to the world, he is just yet another inadept and fat king in a long line of decadent rulers that have over clung to their holdings by shear luck. Ths Keepers would be completely oblivious to the danger that he poses, though some of the smaller tribes no doubt have their suspicions.
Gecko said I'd be willing to control one tribe like I did the Klug, though, hopefully I'd already have my civ a ways along so I wouldn't need to post for my civ every 3rd or 5th post in between.
Excellent. Did you want to take one of the one we already wrote out, or do you have your own idea?
Kangutso said
I am interested to see the rest of you plan. Gets me thinking about whether or not I should tell my plan in up to where he actually starts building up his forces and doing the keeper thing.
Went back and edited that post; the rest is now up.
Trapezoid said As far as GMs go, I would have to vote for any combination of BBeast, Lugu, and Cyclone. You all seem to know what you're doing.
I volunteer to control 1 or 2 NPC nations, possibly even 3 if necessary. I actually get equal or greater enjoyment writing form their perspective rather than that of my Keeper. BBeast and Lugubrious, if either of you two want to talk about the plot with me I can do that too.
Skyrim makes me extremely reluctant to have a bunch of dragon worshippers. That's probably now more cliche than the stereotypical fire, water, earth, and air nations.
I also thought of a nation of cave dwellers (in my case, one that might use shadow magic) but I didn't add it to the list. The issue with it and the sky-city nation is just the difficulty a Keeper would have in counquering them. Also, how would we fill their portion of the map? Would we just have half the map a featureless plain with all the interesting stuff above or below?
I do like your idea of the desert nation, and we could possibly work with the Titans as the main plot.
While we're on the topic of plots that we had planned out, I guess I'll share where Shaige and the Paterdomus plot was headed. The Keeper was going to do the impossible and assemble a horde of unrivaled size, consisting of demon, monster, undead, and man alike. With hundreds of thousands of followers he would cleave a bloody wound through the realm of Paterdomus as he marched to their capital, easily winnig every battle on the way and sacking everything he encoutered.
He would use a tactic invented by the Mongols; having a massive vanguard driving forward thousands of terrified peasants from the countryside and razed cities, killing those that fell too far behind. In this way any army that tried to stop him would eiter be trampled beneath a horde of peasants, or at best would kill thousands of their innocent countrymen before the real battle even began. He would continue in this fashion until his army an the peasants were a few days' march from Paterdomus, then he would order all the peasants marched to the banks of the Suricrove and massacred.
The giant river would literally be stained red from all the blood, and this would serve two purposes. Firstly, the water priests' failing enchantment would be undone, allowing the ice witches and their northern armies to join Shaige's ranks. Secondly, it would spell utter doom for the entire city of Paterdomus.
Shaige's army would march within sight of Paterdomus' walls. The grim defenders would prepare to fight to the death, only to be confused as the vast army stopped just out of range of any mages or trebuchets on the wall. One cloaked and hunched over man would advance, the defenders understandably mistaking him for some sort of emissary rather than the scourge that was their ruination. So he would have approached the walls unchallenged, and in the blink of an eye performed a god-like feat of black magic.
Empowered by the tens of thousands of souls that he reaped as the peasants were massacred, the Keeper used blood magic to lift the entire bloodied Suri river into the air, leaving only a parched riverbed. The water would hang suspended over the city for a split second before crashing down in a mighty deluge, the equivalent of several feet of rain in seconds. With half the defenders swept off the walls and the people cowering inside the city literally drowning in blood, there would be no resistance for the massive horde that stormed the cit and began pillaging it.
The Keeper would take some time to bask in his triumph. Then, in his arrogance, Shaige would walk unchallenged through the city, reveling in the utter mayhem. Intending to personally sieze the citadel for himself and depose of the pathetic Prophet of Caldor that had seemingly abandoned his people to cower beneath the temple, Shaige's plan would utterly fall apart. Out of nowhere the ground would tremble and plumes of fire would tear the citadel asunder. Its impregnable walls would buckle, collapse, and melt as Caldor himself clambered up from below, summoned by the Prophet. Caldor's heat and radiance alone would incinerate half the city. The combination of thousands of the marauders suddenly dying with the sudden arrival of a colossal, magmatic humanoid that is considered a god would be more than enough to send Shaige's army into a frenzied retreat.
Feeling victory slip from between his fingers, Shaige would become emboldened and reckless. Greater fires only cast greater shadows, so Shaige would take the form of an equally colossal wraith and have a dramatic battle with the fire god, before eventually being impaled upon Caldor's infernal sword. The writhing, living flames that constituted the blade would tear at and devour the layer of shadows that cloaked the wraith, revealing an unholy skeleton with hellish smoke, blood, and wailing souls magically trapped with the ribcage. And then Shaige would be engulfed by fire and be promptly burned to death, not even his supposedly immortal soul being spared by the divine fire. With his dying breath, the great spirit would utter a curse so vile and filled with hate that to hear it would be death, though fortunately the sound of the raging inferno would overpower his curse, no doubt sparing thousands of fleeing demons and monsters. Caldor would be wracked in pain as he fell to the ground, consumed from the inside out by horrible magic. The blazing leviathan would smolder on the ground for only a few moments as every shadow in the city moved to choke out the flames' dying gasps for air. In the end, Caldor would be reduced to one miniscule ember, cursed to never go cold so as to suffer for eternity knowing that it had once been the god of fire.
From there, the massive army that Shaige had miraculously brought together would of course splinter into a hundred factions. Dozens of the most powerful minions would claim their fallen master's throne and amass followings in an attempt to kill the other contenders and rule the ruins of Paterdomus and the lands beyond. However a large fraction of the horde would simply flee, left confused and terrified by the death of their overlord, the only entity that would ever be able to maintain order with such a diverse and large group of followers. In the end, many of the remnants of Shaige's army would find their way to join forces with either the Carver or the Ripper, whichever side I thought to be less likely to win.
I also thought of a nation of cave dwellers (in my case, one that might use shadow magic) but I didn't add it to the list. The issue with it and the sky-city nation is just the difficulty a Keeper would have in counquering them. Also, how would we fill their portion of the map? Would we just have half the map a featureless plain with all the interesting stuff above or below?
I do like your idea of the desert nation, and we could possibly work with the Titans as the main plot.
While we're on the topic of plots that we had planned out, I guess I'll share where Shaige and the Paterdomus plot was headed. The Keeper was going to do the impossible and assemble a horde of unrivaled size, consisting of demon, monster, undead, and man alike. With hundreds of thousands of followers he would cleave a bloody wound through the realm of Paterdomus as he marched to their capital, easily winnig every battle on the way and sacking everything he encoutered.
He would use a tactic invented by the Mongols; having a massive vanguard driving forward thousands of terrified peasants from the countryside and razed cities, killing those that fell too far behind. In this way any army that tried to stop him would eiter be trampled beneath a horde of peasants, or at best would kill thousands of their innocent countrymen before the real battle even began. He would continue in this fashion until his army an the peasants were a few days' march from Paterdomus, then he would order all the peasants marched to the banks of the Suricrove and massacred.
The giant river would literally be stained red from all the blood, and this would serve two purposes. Firstly, the water priests' failing enchantment would be undone, allowing the ice witches and their northern armies to join Shaige's ranks. Secondly, it would spell utter doom for the entire city of Paterdomus.
Shaige's army would march within sight of Paterdomus' walls. The grim defenders would prepare to fight to the death, only to be confused as the vast army stopped just out of range of any mages or trebuchets on the wall. One cloaked and hunched over man would advance, the defenders understandably mistaking him for some sort of emissary rather than the scourge that was their ruination. So he would have approached the walls unchallenged, and in the blink of an eye performed a god-like feat of black magic.
Empowered by the tens of thousands of souls that he reaped as the peasants were massacred, the Keeper used blood magic to lift the entire bloodied Suri river into the air, leaving only a parched riverbed. The water would hang suspended over the city for a split second before crashing down in a mighty deluge, the equivalent of several feet of rain in seconds. With half the defenders swept off the walls and the people cowering inside the city literally drowning in blood, there would be no resistance for the massive horde that stormed the cit and began pillaging it.
The Keeper would take some time to bask in his triumph. Then, in his arrogance, Shaige would walk unchallenged through the city, reveling in the utter mayhem. Intending to personally sieze the citadel for himself and depose of the pathetic Prophet of Caldor that had seemingly abandoned his people to cower beneath the temple, Shaige's plan would utterly fall apart. Out of nowhere the ground would tremble and plumes of fire would tear the citadel asunder. Its impregnable walls would buckle, collapse, and melt as Caldor himself clambered up from below, summoned by the Prophet. Caldor's heat and radiance alone would incinerate half the city. The combination of thousands of the marauders suddenly dying with the sudden arrival of a colossal, magmatic humanoid that is considered a god would be more than enough to send Shaige's army into a frenzied retreat.
Feeling victory slip from between his fingers, Shaige would become emboldened and reckless. Greater fires only cast greater shadows, so Shaige would take the form of an equally colossal wraith and have a dramatic battle with the fire god, before eventually being impaled upon Caldor's infernal sword. The writhing, living flames that constituted the blade would tear at and devour the layer of shadows that cloaked the wraith, revealing an unholy skeleton with hellish smoke, blood, and wailing souls magically trapped with the ribcage. And then Shaige would be engulfed by fire and be promptly burned to death, not even his supposedly immortal soul being spared by the divine fire. With his dying breath, the great spirit would utter a curse so vile and filled with hate that to hear it would be death, though fortunately the sound of the raging inferno would overpower his curse, no doubt sparing thousands of fleeing demons and monsters. Caldor would be wracked in pain as he fell to the ground, consumed from the inside out by horrible magic. The blazing leviathan would smolder on the ground for only a few moments as every shadow in the city moved to choke out the flames' dying gasps for air. In the end, Caldor would be reduced to one miniscule ember, cursed to never go cold so as to suffer for eternity knowing that it had once been the god of fire.
From there, the massive army that Shaige had miraculously brought together would of course splinter into a hundred factions. Dozens of the most powerful minions would claim their fallen master's throne and amass followings in an attempt to kill the other contenders and rule the ruins of Paterdomus and the lands beyond. However a large fraction of the horde would simply flee, left confused and terrified by the death of their overlord, the only entity that would ever be able to maintain order with such a diverse and large group of followers. In the end, many of the remnants of Shaige's army would find their way to join forces with either the Carver or the Ripper, whichever side I thought to be less likely to win.
Well one is ice instead of water with some death and demon stuff thrown in, while the other is just the cliche fire but with the addition of some warloks using black magic. The key, in my eyes, is to take a unique twist on something common or to just do a sort of mix.
Unless requested I won't create all the nations, because i certainly can't RP as all of them. But just incase BBeast or someone is inneed of inspiration, I'll throw a few ideas out there.
Astrology with constellations and star worship, maybe priest with power to transform into their Zodiacs
Oneiromancy (dream magic) perhaps with ancestor worship or something. This is strange and might sound weak, but think of powerful a caste of sorcerers could be if they could speak to ther ancestors for advice, and manipulate the dreams of those around them to subconsciously manipulate them, pose as gods, etc.
Golemancy, with a nation that creates magic creatures to fight or perform menial labor.
Dust/sand, with a desert-dwelling tribe able to summon sandstorms to wear down and split up invaders. They could also utilize ambush tactics, appearig out of the dunes themselves to attack an amy's flanks, only to dissipate into clouds of dust the instant the battle begins to turn its favor.
Bestialism. The ability to control/speak with animals, an possibly transform into them.
Plague/Disease. Like the magic of Balon or Lugubrious' Blighted Men.
Anybody can feel free to expand on any or none of these ideas, and take or reject any of the three previous and more refined nations.
Unless requested I won't create all the nations, because i certainly can't RP as all of them. But just incase BBeast or someone is inneed of inspiration, I'll throw a few ideas out there.
Astrology with constellations and star worship, maybe priest with power to transform into their Zodiacs
Oneiromancy (dream magic) perhaps with ancestor worship or something. This is strange and might sound weak, but think of powerful a caste of sorcerers could be if they could speak to ther ancestors for advice, and manipulate the dreams of those around them to subconsciously manipulate them, pose as gods, etc.
Golemancy, with a nation that creates magic creatures to fight or perform menial labor.
Dust/sand, with a desert-dwelling tribe able to summon sandstorms to wear down and split up invaders. They could also utilize ambush tactics, appearig out of the dunes themselves to attack an amy's flanks, only to dissipate into clouds of dust the instant the battle begins to turn its favor.
Bestialism. The ability to control/speak with animals, an possibly transform into them.
Plague/Disease. Like the magic of Balon or Lugubrious' Blighted Men.
Anybody can feel free to expand on any or none of these ideas, and take or reject any of the three previous and more refined nations.
I repeat the question: what should the total population be? I genuinely don't know, but I have a feeling that the presence of more than one or two big cities (we're talking 100,000 population) might be bad. Too hard to realistically conquer. On a side note, with a fairly fleshed out nomadic shaman tribe, and a vague storm-worship group we still need to come up with a few more nations.
I for one like the idea of a nation ruled by tyrannical warlocks that make Shaige's magic look benevolent. Spurned and cast out by all the other tribes for their horrendous practices, the warlocks and their followers were forced to live in the shadow of a range of volcanic mountains, surviving in a volcanic wasteland. Some places are fertile from the volcanic ash and home to real settlements, but vast swathes of their hellish land are srained black from soot and ash and are house nothing save lawless men and death. However, this group has recently had a schism; the warlocks' absolute authority has been challenged by a new fervent cult that seemed to spring out of nowhere, claiming to have reached contact with a divine spirit named Caldor.
Naturally, if I end up as one of those that control an NPC group, the one abve is what I'd like to do. A different mix, with both the cliche fire magic as well as evil warlock stuff, along with the opportunity for a clever Keeper to weaken the entire realm by manipulating the warlocks and cultists into fighting.
For other nations, we could have something similar to the ice witches north of Paterdomus that I only mentioned in passing. The idea was basically a kingdom of ice and death, with the ice witches actually being immortal demons from Kokytos in disguise. To reap souls as well as harden their mortal followers, the sadistic ice witches allow their magically-elongate winters to wreak havoc upon the human population. Disease and starvation lead to the weak dying and in some cases, the strog resorting to cannibalism. Hard places breed hard people though, and whenever given the opportunity the witches' followers will pillage enemy lands with a ruthlessnes and desperate fighting that can't be described, as their survival often depends on stealing from other lands.
Like these two nations?
I for one like the idea of a nation ruled by tyrannical warlocks that make Shaige's magic look benevolent. Spurned and cast out by all the other tribes for their horrendous practices, the warlocks and their followers were forced to live in the shadow of a range of volcanic mountains, surviving in a volcanic wasteland. Some places are fertile from the volcanic ash and home to real settlements, but vast swathes of their hellish land are srained black from soot and ash and are house nothing save lawless men and death. However, this group has recently had a schism; the warlocks' absolute authority has been challenged by a new fervent cult that seemed to spring out of nowhere, claiming to have reached contact with a divine spirit named Caldor.
Naturally, if I end up as one of those that control an NPC group, the one abve is what I'd like to do. A different mix, with both the cliche fire magic as well as evil warlock stuff, along with the opportunity for a clever Keeper to weaken the entire realm by manipulating the warlocks and cultists into fighting.
For other nations, we could have something similar to the ice witches north of Paterdomus that I only mentioned in passing. The idea was basically a kingdom of ice and death, with the ice witches actually being immortal demons from Kokytos in disguise. To reap souls as well as harden their mortal followers, the sadistic ice witches allow their magically-elongate winters to wreak havoc upon the human population. Disease and starvation lead to the weak dying and in some cases, the strog resorting to cannibalism. Hard places breed hard people though, and whenever given the opportunity the witches' followers will pillage enemy lands with a ruthlessnes and desperate fighting that can't be described, as their survival often depends on stealing from other lands.
Like these two nations?
I'm not sure I entirely agree with you there Gecko. It doesn't necessarily limit Keeper types; a necromancer could keep human slaves around because they're bound to be smarter and in some ways more useful than mindless undead automatons. Even Sauron had human slaves.
Sure, a fake benevolent Keeper would have the advantage of happy slaves, though this comes at the disadvantage of having to maintain the facade of being good. That means no terrifying monsters running around, and no alliances with the other Keepers that are a bit more open about their intentions. You would have to be very careful so as to not do anything even remotely evil or suspicious, so as to maintain your guise.
Sure, a fake benevolent Keeper would have the advantage of happy slaves, though this comes at the disadvantage of having to maintain the facade of being good. That means no terrifying monsters running around, and no alliances with the other Keepers that are a bit more open about their intentions. You would have to be very careful so as to not do anything even remotely evil or suspicious, so as to maintain your guise.
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