pugbutter

I'm testing the waters for an Antiquity-inspired (early Iron Age, mostly pre-Roman) Fantasy RP.

The results are in. Without further ado, here's the true Intchk, the one with a decisive plot, tone, and setting. I tried to combine as many of the top poll results as possible while still keeping the scale and scope of the story more personable. So even if the story seems small or limiting at a glance, know that it will accommodate a lot of experimentation and expansion, should you seek them out IC.

Also if anyone has insight into whether this game will receive better attention from the Casual section or Advanced then I'm all ears. It won't necessarily be in Casual despite my having placed the next phase there.

"DEVOURER": Bronze, Blood, Betrayal

(NOTE: The OOC can now be found here!)

_{From the fore-tablets to}

𐏃𒍪𒌅𐏃𒁺𒀝𒆠𒋗

On Thraxia,

^{a Modern Historie,
as written by Nimak-šurrupāl, royal chronicler}

The historian is the most ironic of scholars; for in wishing that his works be enriched with the best elements of theatre, that is to say the gripping story helmed by compassionable heroes, ripe with strife and drama, necessarily he first wishes death and misery upon others, no matter the measure of his own soul's gentleness. For historie is foremost the chronicling of war. Indeed, many men of my breed must study philosophy, philanthropy, and religion the whole world over, ultimately so that we may understand the intricacies of weapons: who swings them against whom, and wherefore they swing; in what direction flies the blade and to what end. These higher elements supercede the crude irons and bronzes and stones wherefrom these tools of ambition are fashioned.

My histories are no exception. Only whereas I was once commissioned by the fifth Mneššebnar (peace unto His rest) to document the Thraxian tribes, that he may understand them——ultimately, of course, in the aims of conquering them——these "barbarians" have proved themselves a race of cunning warriors and an eerie instrument in the unknowable engine of fate. My Nhirian readers will think it odd to hear one of their own extolling the virtues of a people living in houses of sticks and mud, but I tell you that only a great and terrible people could have effected that which was effected scarcely a decade ago, in the lifetime of a humble and immeasurably privileged scholar——privileged, I say, because I watched this historie blossom before me, vibrant and alive; not exhumed it from words on a page!

Yes, I have met many rare fortunes in the aweful Thraxian mountains: I have met Hridvir, daughter of Wulmod now avenged, wolf-mother to the wailing Gisilbards; Swutgerþ, who was sitting atop his golden mare of legend when he made contact with the "Great Invader" (as they know Him) on a western cape, and sponsored His journey through the passes; Hlundul, bold and terrible, tales of whose coppered axe still terrorize our heartlands today. All of these figures and others of the Thraxian people's vibrant histories were present at the great-council at Skeldefjarn, at which I too was able to sit. Lest I succumb into bragging I will cease here, although the sight of that naked and howling horde will never leave me, I am assured; and I must pen this chronicle to keep my own memory well-kindled in as much as to share it with posterity.

One honor I was not afforded is to have met our Emperor in person during these years, while he was still cloaked with the fires of youth, still navigating the valleys and causeways of His greatness. I should have liked, liked very much indeed, to have looked into the eyes of the Blood of Ārtammat and witnessed therein the same glint of glorious madness which inspired the very machination of which we prosper today; which ended a generations-long enmity between two venerable and bittered kingdoms. Alas, none the sources informing these early chapters are my own, rather collections I have accrued while visiting the Eshkhep races, and while retreading the routes of the mythic march.

None but among the Thraxians themselves claim to have known our good and righteous Dāmaxāriš before His rise to power; they know him as Torukulô, just as he is Amtir-aqqabeth in certain far-cities and Tsemekon in the Eshkhep provinces, where His person goes unremembered except as their wise and awesome liege. And these Thraxian accounts differ too wildly to be of use. Some claim they knew His Highest Divinity as a boy, reedy and cunning; others that He was already a man when He lived among their people. More insist He received the grievous wound of His hand while fighting in their ranks against Mneššebnar V's forces, and more still that he is an aspect of Frifn, or Voliþuz, a one-handed god. Dāmaxāriš's father, the previous ruler of a petty Eshkhep empire, is most certainly deposed, exiled across the Mesphoth; but no mothers have come forward, no brothers, no distant kin, despite all the nations' knowing that the son treats mercily and kindly with the families of sinners. The supreme of these truths, of course, is that we will never know, without that He deign to tell us; and until the day of that telling I would that the reader decide which truth he best favors.

What we do know is that His life began in a time of strife, a time when the land was broken and burning and many empires-minor squabbled over the cinders. Chief among them were we, the sons of Hezeret, embroiled with the tribes, meeting them on half a hundred battlefields; ...

Welcome to the Interest Check for DEVOURER, a game of strife: between armies, their generals, the passions and ambitions which spurn them.

You have been born into an infant world, a world still soft and ripe and tantalizing; a world where a dozen kingdoms have crowned a hundred kings, promising each of them a dynasty to reign ten thousand years, a country as big as the land itself, immortality, greatness ... if he can build them, or win them for himself.

Many have tried before you. The Sarsinids to the south, fielding massive hosts of yowling horse-archers, have slaughtered son and brother in the name of becoming Chief of Chiefs. Warlords of the Atalmo terrorize trade-routes, loosing poisoned arrows from rainbow ships. Chariots and spearmen stain red the Screaming Sands, until the eternal winds have blown over them again, burying what remains so that even the jackals cannot eat.

You are not one of these legendary men—not yet—not while pretenders plague your country, and your most terrible foe stirs to the south ... that foe who calls you mudman, savage, brute. You call yourself Angaturiz, "son of the clay," and thee alone the clay has chosen.

The Thraxian Mountains have preserved your way of life for as long as you can remember. Their maws of ice and rock have chewed up and spat out many foreign armies come to make slaves of your people, as if the land itself knows that only you are its heirs, that you alone continue its will. But something has changed. The tyrant of the Ûzurenids conquers your valley brothers; he puts them to work spying on your families, relaying your activities and whereabouts to lords with bruised knees, burning your roundhalls, softening you for an inevitable, hideous war.

You are a clan chieftain, or retainer to one. (More on this in a bit.) You have followed the call to attend a great council deep in the mountains you call home, with the aims of staying the doom of your people at the hands of an overwhelming external threat. But only ruin will reward you if you cannot bring yourself to forgive the right allies ... or if you pardon an enemy in disguise. See, you haven't always had the best relationship with your fellow clans, either. You have stolen from each other in times of hunger; you have killed their brothers in blood-feuds. Then again, you have also married into good families and forged unbreakable blood-bonds on the battlefield. In a word, your characters have history. Everyone knows everyone else other at this council, where grudges and favors will be remembered, allegiances will be tested, and where mercy may prove just as much a savior as strength and courage will. You will choose at least two players with whom to collaborate on your characters' relationships after the base applications have been accepted: are you avenging a loved one who they murdered? Is it time to repay a life-debt you have owed them? Or something in between?

If you are not playing a chieftain then you shall play the sort of person who a chieftain would bring along as a favored companion. This could be a sibling, spouse, or offspring; an important member of the clan, like its seer or its finest warrior; a childhood friend; a foreign mercenary; someone who the chieftain knows (or thinks he knows) and who he trusts with his life. Under perfect conditions there will be 3-4 factions of players; but you can join a player clan, join an NPC clan, or create your own new faction, at your leisure, with as many characters as you can handle. I will adjust accordingly the NPC chieftains' importance to the war effort if creating their own factions does not interest the sufficient number of players.

Either way, be ready for shit to get uncomfortable. Besides the obvious ugliness arising from early Iron-Age hygiene and medicine, the entirety of war, paranoia, and the brutality of ancient life will be on full display in this game—excepting, of course, that the things which will get people banned from this website will be mentioned as happening off-screen rather than depicted in gruesome detail. Mostly sexual stuff. Human nature and the consequent acts of horrible violence are fair game.

Knowing these two things, you should have discerned by now that other characters within the game—that includes both PC's and NPC's—will be able to betray you from the moment it seems auspicious. They won't necessarily (that's the fun of the game), but if that sort of thing makes you ragequit then you won't have fun here.

Conversely, you might like this game if:

• You love history
• You love ancient history in particular
• You're kinda sick of all the ancient history RPs being Greco-Roman-centric (or some silly anime shit)
• You've ever griefed people in some multiplayer game or other
• You watch TV shows and movies where more talking happens than shooting/stabbing/exploding (but the violence which does happen is fuckin' righteous 🤘)
• You remember characters easier than plot points
• You like Low and/or Dark Fantasy; you like when magic is expensive, rare, and deadly, practiced only by small sects of cultists and madmen
• You like worldbuilding and will take any opportunity to fill in blank parts of a map or timeline with your own whimsical bullshit
• Drama and gossip are your bread and butter

I'm actually not sure yet whether I will put this game in Casual or Advanced, but know that it will be held mostly to an Advanced standard, pertaining to grammar and style.

I think that's about all anyone needs to know this far into the project, so I'm now taking comments, questions, and suggestions.

I'm testing the waters for an Antiquity-inspired (early Iron Age, mostly pre-Roman) Fantasy RP.

Wow, I didn't realize people were still invested in this ...

However! It just so happens that I finished up the proper IntChk yesterday, and that the map and lore for the OOC are filling out nicely. So if you've been following this project, rejoice in that it is coming along smoothly! I did not forget about it, despite the OP being *cough cough* _{two months old}

Topic of the Day/Week/Whatever

At that point it's the GM's responsibility to not only keep it fresh, but also not axe their RP as soon as they're demoralized from seeing three people out of eight leave without notice. You don't have to be nice to ghosters, you have to be nice to players.

@Ammokkx

This hurt to read but I needed to hear it. Thanks.

I'm testing the waters for an Antiquity-inspired (early Iron Age, mostly pre-Roman) Fantasy RP.

Appreciate the honesty, Bee!

I'm testing the waters for an Antiquity-inspired (early Iron Age, mostly pre-Roman) Fantasy RP.

Whoever voted for Sea Peoples is my spirit animal.

I'm testing the waters for an Antiquity-inspired (early Iron Age, mostly pre-Roman) Fantasy RP.

Please respond to the following two polls if the concept interests you:

Which historical Iron Age people(s) do you think are the coolest or the most interesting?
Which of the following plots would you like the most?

Mind you I already have a map and a lot of plot-mapping/worldbuilding done. So this is to decide where and when we are on the map when I set out to write the thread; not to help me get started from scratch!

Thank you for any insight you can provide. When a clear trend emerges I'll begin writing the actual Interest Check.

Edit: Here it is

I'm testing the waters for an Antiquity-inspired (early Iron Age, mostly pre-Roman) Fantasy RP.

Please respond to the following two polls if the concept interests you:

Which historical Iron Age people(s) do you think are the coolest or the most interesting?
Which of the following plots would you like the most?

Mind you I already have a map and a lot of plot-mapping/worldbuilding done. So this is to decide where and when we are on the map when I set out to write the thread; not to help me get started from scratch!

Thank you for any insight you can provide. When a clear trend emerges I'll begin writing the actual Interest Check.

Character Sheets: Where do you stand?

<Snipped quote>

I just sort of like having the character come together on the sheet. Sometimes it happens in the personality section, other times it's the power section. It can even happen in the Bio section. But there just comes a point I'm like "Oh yea, I know what the character is now."

Least favorite is selecting artwork. When I describe an outfit, others seldom remember. Using pictures removes this problem, but I feel like the picture then dictates how I have to make the character. It's even more infuriating when I make the character before looking for art. It's almost impossible to find something that works.

@BrokenPromise

Worst is when the character fits your vision physically but his clothes very obviously don't fit the personality you had in mind for him. Like they're way too flamboyant, or too clean, or they look impractical for his profession. ("Assassins" and rogues are the hallmark here.)

Attack of the Gif

Speaking of the old multiverse, the PW mods should really look at it and figure out what when wrong. Why did it lose interest so quickly? What should we do to ensure it doesn't immediately die? Those kinds of questions should be asked and answered to make sure this PW lives for a long time.

@Star Lord

There's such a thing as too much freedom. It resulted in a few death-spelling discrepancies for that RP, where the cast was irreconcilably divided on key details such as:

• Characters' powers and abilities
• The tone of the game (some people taking it seriously, others creating "joke characters")
• Intentions (e.g. genre)
• Writing level

The game didn't have a vision, and by playing too loosely with player freedom it made sure that no one could ever really lock down a certain tone or direction. For example the people who wanted a lot of character development among the crew on a spaceship were distracted by dogfights and shootouts, whereas the action people were bored by development of characters they hadn't yet come to care about. Or, the Star Wars, "Fantasy with a coat of space-paint" people were at odds with the hard-science Star Trek crowd, etc.

Instead of being another Science Fiction universe where "© ANYTHING Can Happen™!" the next one, at least if it wants to survive, needs to understand that too much player freedom is just as bad as too little; that when players are pulling the story in opposing directions, a sandbox is just as suffocating as a railroad. It needs strong leadership and at least a loose idea of the direction in which it wants to corral players so that they're always acting within the story as a cohesive cast, a unit, rather than like hounds chasing squirrels. They can't be competing with each other for head space and contradicting each other's ideas at every turn.