Goldeagle1221

RIVER GOBLIN'S AVATARS AND CHARACTER ART SHOP

TOM SELLECK CRADLING A BABY GUY FIERRI

Phosphoros

So Aristo and I were devising the reason why you are all in the Mennonite town, and we figurd not only has the word of the Sorceror permeated all of the Cradle, but also a great hero of renown is gathering people in this town to bring challenge to the dark wizard. Why you choose to go is up to you, but this hero has explained that the sorcerer intends to awaken and wield a great power, capable of many god-like feats, such as granting immortality, turning the dark lands into a paradise, creating a utopia etc.. but the sorcerer plans on using it to make themselves into an all powerful God over the Cradle, turning the lands into their personal playground of terrible and unlimited power.

You could be seeing this hero for a few reasons, to slay the sorcerer and destroy this power none should have, to use it for good, to use it for yourself, any reason really, so long as it brings you down this path we all must go.

The American Keepers

What's the mission statement? Like, what does the organisation believe in, and what are their goals?

Phosphoros

@isotope@monkeypants

Roshad

Insulated from the armies of Koshar by the other Cradle states, Roshad boasts the most learned academics of them all. It is known for its great library of texts uncovered from pre-eruption ruins, and has sent many expeditions into these depths. Roshadite culture revolves around astronomy, and their rituals and ceremonies align with certain stars and calendar dates. Outsiders view these customs with some suspicion, quick to blame sorcery and dark rites. The Roshadite pantheon is an integral facet of their artwork, the most famous of which are the great stone heads and ziggurats that feature so prominently in their lands.

Roshad attire tends to be tight and close to the body, with various tanned skins and furs being the medium. As the winter grows and the summer shrinks, brilliant cloaks and capes come out of the wardrobe to dazzle the whitening world, with each families eldest bearing the familial cloak, an ancient tapestry depicting the families greatest moments, or most dire situations. These tapestries are threaded with the best materials the family can afford, and every new name is stitched with care. The greatest insult is to be removed from your families cloak.
Beyond the cloaks of winter, the scholars and temple priests of Roshad are known to wear totem-like hats during ceremony, so that their very gods may watch over them during the most sensitive of times.

Roshad’s mighty walled cities of Ziggurats and statues are ruled by a complicated web of individuals, where a Patron assumes responsibility for all the males of the city, where as he is supposed to present the perfect role model for the male citizens and instruct the city on male social cues. Likewise there is also a Matron to represent all the females of the city, and to serve as a role model. These elected individuals join a city wide council of further politicians, including the temple priests, who inherit their spiritual position from their parents, and the city “Thinker” a esteemed position that presides over all meeting, represents the city during intercity relations, and is to act as an unbiased voice.

The Thinker is chosen from the cities Library harems, a large pool of esteemed men and women deemed capable of producing gifted offspring. While these people live ordinary Roshad lives, their children are continuously inspected from birth to determine if they will be eligible to be the next Thinker, a life long position. Those who don’t make it tend to either become matrons, patrons, or a respected and educated member of the city, and often joining the harem themselves. Admittance to the harem is done through inspection by the priest caste on the applicants, with the priest caste unable to apply themselves.

Unlike most of the other civilizations, Roshad has a very rigorous marriage system to match their complex political make up. Families often have written ledgers depicting their family trees and all its accomplishments to go along with their cloaks. The point of this is that during proposals of marriage, the couple must present themselves to the matron and patron, while the two families debate on if the union will produce great children, or not. Because of this, people with bigger, grander family ledgers have a better time finding spouses, than those who have subpar, or a stained family.

Along with marriage and politics, religion also plays a mighty role in Roshad society. Ever since the dawn of time, the leader of the Roshadite gods, Zxorel of the Stars, has promoted research, study and knowledge. It is written on the stone figures of the land and told in the skies that people were birthed to advance, and learn, at all costs. And so the priests look to the skies to learn the will of Zxorel and the other deities, and the people look to the books and artifacts stored in the great libraries for the duty of mortals in their studies. Virtue is measured by intelligence, and any activity that showcases it is encouraged.

@Nib @Crimson Raven

Kothar

This is the most warlike of the Cradle’s civilizations, and is frequently at odds with its neighbor, Mennon. Several historical incursions have only been defeated by the combined effort of several states. Kothar has annexed smaller tribes in the past, growing fat on tribute from these peoples. Its soldiers are very disciplined and well-armed. Kothar pioneered the dreaded pike phalanx, specifically to counter the cavalry of Mennon. The martial inclination of Kothar has bred many heroic personas, and many more of its people aspire to their legendary status. The denizens of Kothar believe in a manifest destiny to conquer all of the Cradle.

Kothar was formerly a loose collection of city-states, each ruled by its own warlord. These city-states were as likely to fight each other as foreign civilizations, each vying for supremacy. It was only the conquest of Phedas the Great that brought them under a single banner. Since then, Kothar has evolved into a unitary state, dominated by a ruler called the Archon. The Archon’s position is often, but not always hereditary. Some warlords are elevated to the station by their peers on account of merit and reputation. On a local level, villages and towns are governed by elected officials, who report to the warlord who holds power in their respective province.

Kotharans worship a single deity, known as Lekos. Formerly, each city-state had its own patron god, but belief in these was abolished after Phedas’s conquest. The patron god of Phedas’s city-state, Thedus, was deemed the only deity fit to revere. Lekos is a stern and martially-inclined figure. He represents war - both physical prowess and strategy - and purity of body and spirit. His symbol is a burning torch - just as fire devours everything it touches, Kothar’s might devours lesser civilizations. “Purity through fire,” is a common Kotharan motto. Fire is so and such revered that executions are often done through drowning, deeming the criminal unworthy of a cleansing fire, which often is used on the respectfully deceased.

In Kotharan society, masculinity is aspired to by both sexes. Both males and females hold traits in high regard that other cultures might reserve for men: physical strength, mental fortitude and acuity, fighting prowess, hard work and the ability to provide for one’s family and society at large. This results in a largely egalitarian society, as both sexes have the same rights and privileges. Women are allowed to own property, fight as soldiers and participate in athletic competitions. It isn’t uncommon to see women performing “masculine” jobs, like smithing, construction and other physical labor. When it comes to family, it is the women who actually do the lion’s share of running the household. Childbearing is an important motherly duty, but raising an infant from birth to adulthood is a burden shared equally by the mother and father. Homosexuality is not strictly taboo, but same-sex relationships do not hold the same weight as heterosexual marriage. Birthing the next generation is regarded as a duty, one strained by a same-sex-couple’s inability to reproduce.

Kotharans favor simple, drapey clothing. An undergarment and cloak of linen or wool, fastened with bronze clasps or pins is common attire. Little distinction is made between male and female fashions. Kothar’s appreciation of the human body is apparent in the meticulous wrapping of clothes around the body, to accentuate the wearer’s form. Fabrics are often gossamer or transparent, plain white or accented with very basic colors. Sandals are worn on the feet in public, and Kotharans are usually barefoot at home.

Roshad, Kothar and Baccum now complete.

EDIT: Adding more to Kothar actually

Phosphoros

<Snipped quote by Goldeagle1221>

I dont.. Neeed it. But i was merely curious as to if there was an overarching reason we -all- ended up at that particular town.

Like. If you had something pre planned is all i was wondering. :p

Just good to know before making an intro post, ya dig..

Edit: never thought id see technoviking again. That whole upside down waterbottle pass is legendary.

@Monkeypants

Gey

Phosphoros

@Briza
@Dr Catfish
@Cleverbird

Here is the Baccum tab, while we work on the other civs.

Baccum

Little is known about the Baccum. They are a private civilization that little have the desire to interact with. Among the other civilizations they present themselves nearly naked, covered in tattoos and with their wiry, animalistic muscles decorated with purposeful scarring. Often rumors appear about cannibalism and other barbaric acts in their often untouched lands, their representatives are uneager to dispel the rumors. From the outside they seem an unintelligent people of hunting and infighting, but others speculate it is simply a facade, a grand illusion to keep the others at bay, and if this is true, it has worked.

Those who do know the secrets of the Baccum know that it is indeed a farce. While outwardly the people seem dangerous and unattractive to be near, in truth it is simply to be left alone. Baccum people own a very rich and diverse culture based around spiritualism, shamanism and dreams, and are willing to do anything to protect it from the tampering of the outside, a dangerous mixture they had endured too many times by the hands of the Kothar.

The Baccumese are organized into separate tribes only linked together by a common culture, and these tribes are then separated into two categories, nomadic and settled. The settled Baccumese tribes tend to live in cliffside adobe homes stacked on top of each other in the arid badlands. This type of settlement in which the homes are only accessible by ladders make them perfect protection against invaders and the violent wildlife alike.

Some examples of the terrible beasts often found in the badlands include bizarre monsters that have escaped the brimlands, as well as native beasts such as the feared gorrak, a scaly pack animal that is best described as an reptilian emu bearing three snake like heads packed with deadly venom that causes a terrible sickness and ultimately death.

The nomadic Baccumese tribes focus on moving quickly to follow the prey that they hunt while avoiding the creatures that hunt them. They use quickly disassembled yurts made of wooden beams and the hides of their kills. To transport their supplies, the Baccumese have domesticated a local beast of burden, the Quallin. A Quallin is a large four legged mammal with bristle, almost hedgehog like fur and a long slim face, equipped with a tactile trunk the length and strength of a grown man’s arm. A grown quallin is about as tall as an adult human, and about two and a half meters long, not including their spiny tail which runs about another half meter. The Baccumese sattle the animal by putting tanned hides on their back and sides, as to pat down the bristled defenses of the beast. Quallin are remarked as tough, strong animals and require very little upkeep due to their natural adaptation to the badlands and survive on grains and fruit.

All Baccumese tribes are united by their culture, which is a rich heritage of shamanism, as well as isolationism from other cultures. They regularly tattoo and scar themselves to give their warriors a grotesque appearance as to cause discomfort among outsiders, and emphasize fear of the unknown as their greatest weapon on intruders.

Their tribes are small, and tend to be governed by the elders of each family, as well as the dedicated spiritual leader, the Shaman. The shaman’s role is to ensure every member of the tribe is healthy, both physically, mentally and spiritually. To do this the Shaman utilizes herbs for both medicine and hallucinogenic drugs.

Drugs are often used by the shaman to bring patients into a dream state, or to consult the dream gods. The reasoning behind this is the fundamental belief in the significance of dreams and the subconscious. Dreams are listened to with great care by the shaman, who is often found hearing the dreams of the tribe as well as their own. Often dreams are used as means of decision among the tribal leaders or are consulted in times of trouble.

The shaman has learned through the stories of those before them the meanings of different objects in each dream, and is the sole authority on deciphering them and the words of the dream gods.

Each tribe has their own rendition of the dream gods, with some even being remarkable ancestors of the tribe long ago, but almost all of them appear as the animals or object that represents them in dreams. Some notable figures are Teccum, the desert snake, figure of misfortune and trickery, Kalpii, the secretary-bird, enemy of Teccum and figure of protection and wellbeing, Lymnu the Hippo, figure of harvest and famine, and Uiyo, the white Scorpion, the figure of death and the afterlife.

In regards to death, the Baccumese treat it with great respect and perform massive rituals and ceremonies for their deceased, in hopes that Uiyo will find the deceased suitable enough to bring the dead’s dream soul back to the dreamlands to rest and wait for rebirth.

Recently, a cult of blood magic users have attempted to infiltrate the deep set spirituality of the Baccumese, and with mixed results. While some more desperate tribes bend to the idea of the Cult of Mara, others find it grotesque and disrespectful, some even going so far to describe it as a terrible evil akin to what is birthed under the Brimlands. The emergence has caused intense conflict among the very traditional people that are the Baccumese.

Phosphoros

Sorry for any errors or weird words where they shoulsnt be. I typed it on mobile. Anywhere there it is ^-^

@Dr Catfish

Hey! I like the sheet so far, but we were planning on keeping enchantments for later and not having them as starting items, to allow for some nice equipment progress. Also we have a lot more info on Baccum coming up that I think you'll like.

Also I feel like this character would walk like this: https://youtu.be/bt3CkXQl0uw?t=1m33s

Only other criticism I have, that I'm sure he probably gets a lot: if you use one spear to retaliate and one spear to parry (one that is also intended as a kinetic blocker), wouldn't it just be easier, more effective and quicker to use shield and spear, whose function is similar to the very enchantment you wanted anyways. Another criticism is the backstory, it was fine up until pope dream eating shamans and the punishment system, it just makes no sense that the punishment for consensual sex was death but coercive sexual offenses was a slap on the wrist. I get that it's more my fault for not explaining the shamans more, but I'll have the entire Baccum info up soon, then we can rework the background a little bit to fit a bit more, but for now hold tight and mend the backstory. (The spears are fine as they are [ minus the magic] , I just wanted to point it out)

@Briza LOOKS GOOD TO ME, KEEP AT IT BRIZAAAAAAAAAAA.

Phosphoros

<Snipped quote by Goldeagle1221>

I’m sure we can all add a blurb about glory, gold, adventure, or some such.

@Rtron

Yeah, damn right you can. - Aristo

It would be very helpful.. and and 'Risto are pumping out stuff on the civs. 600% more information on the Baccumese have been written, Aristo is pumping out some Kothar.

Phosphoros

I figured you would, at the end of the backstory.. but if you need us to do it we can I suppose.

Phosphoros

@Dr Catfish

Go ahead and pump out a cs!!