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Baranquesseiel Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 1:33 am
That's really up to you people. If we get enough players, I won't throw in a character. Sai, we'll be working in 3.5. An armor class of 2 would be more like 18. So that's pretty good for starting. By the way, you can find 3.5 core rules here. In case you're not familiar with them.
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Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 4:11 am
Current world building. More official things will be posted later.
The drifting islands: The races live on islands that drift through the ocean of their own accord. As such they would rarely see each other but for the magic that keeps allies in touch. This is the way things are. Their lives on the continent are almost forgotten.
Long ago the dragons fell from heaven. There were not many of them at first, but as they grew accustomed to mortal life, they began to reproduce. The dragons ate whatever they wanted and took whatever pleased them. With the increaser in their numbers this became a problem for the smaller races. The dragons dominate the known world and didn’t realize how harsh life had become for all others. The humans first suggested leaving. Elves and dwarves were reluctant to leave their ancestral homelands, but they saw little choice and followed the humans across the ocean. The humans were also the first to find the drifting islands. Their ships crashed on one. While the humans began rebuilding their society there, the other races moved on and found their own drifting islands.
The Seven Islands: The humans have a large and prosperous kingdom on The Seven Islands. Unlike other islands, which drift on their own, these islands are bound together. Legends say that the human king saved a powerful sea turtle seven times and the creature gifted him the islands. That same line of kings rules today. Alexander was a harsh king who alienated his allies with isolationist policies and his kingdom with high taxes. However, he died under mysterious circumstances and his son Adrian, the boy king, assumed the throne. Although he is young, Adrian managed to repair relationships with his allies and his people. No one looked too hard into the death of the previous king. The main resource of the humans is dinosaurs that they raise and train. They use dinosaurs for everything from labor and transportation to guarding to food sources. Several islands are devoted to prestigious dinosaur farms. The humans sometimes gift dinosaurs to their allies, but they are the only ones who make a resource out of the creatures. The nature of the islands makes navigation almost impossible, but the humans keep in contact with the elves, the dwarves, and the Halflings through magic.
Elven Kingdom: Although the elves don’t claim as much land as the humans, their island, called Marielle, provides them with more than enough to survive. It is covered in tropical plants with bountiful fruit. Their main supply of meat comes from small goats. Another prominent resource is the colorful birds that they use for communication and recreation. They live peacefully and luxuriously and are often disinclined to change. They are ruled over by a king that is old even by elven standards. The king seems disinclined to give up the throne despite his age and his dozen great grandchildren hoping to take his place.
Dwarven Kingdom: The dwarves live on a very small island, called Estreyehollow, but they make up for the lack of space by building both above and below. They have created a homeland that resembles their old mines on the continent. Even though there is relative peace on the drifting islands, the dwarves live hard lives, constantly building their territory and training as warriors. They are ruled over by a warrior queen. She is a beardless, armorless dwarf called (Estra Estre), but she is a tough fighter and well respected by most of her people.
Halflings: The Halflings don’t have a kingdom so much as a small island where they live peacefully without a real ruler. Their island is a covered in grassy hills where they raise sheep and goats and grow various crops. Although many Halflings are quite content with this life, many thirst for more. Halflings have also been known as prolific and savvy travelers among the other races. They have even earned the respect of the more monstrous races such as the orcs.
Gnomes: Gnomes set sail with the rest of the races and were not seen again. Single gnomes or groups of gnomes are not an uncommon sight among the drifting islands. So the gnomes are not gone. However, no one really knows where they are and the gnomes who appear are usually not around long enough to say anything on the subject.
Orcs and monstrous humanoids: Many of the monstrous races have their own kingdoms and alliances. They all have a mutual dislike of the humans and their allies. The humans label these races as evil. They are harsh creatures with different ideals and values than the humans, but they are not strictly evil. Most value power, strength, and prowess in battle.
The heavenly island: It is said that there is a drifting island where the angels reside. They are said to guard the door to the realm of the gods. There are thousands of gods in the pantheon, both considered good and evil, many forgotten by now. The main gods are (light) and (storm). (Sea) has also risen to some prominence. Lastly, there is a young god, Kalliy, that attempts to gain power through manipulation. The gods mostly interact with the mortal world through their clerics. It is said that if they enter the mortal world, they become mortal just as the dragons did. No one knows where this island is, but most believe it exists.
Beneath the sea: Merfolk and sahuagin both have societies beneath the surface of the sea. Merfolk are friendly with the humans and their allies while sahuagin are more reclusive. Despite this, the sahuagin are known to take lovers among the other races. Sahuagin crossbreeds, known as malenti. Tritons also live beneath the surface of the sea, but they rarely interact with the other races.
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Baranquesseiel Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 8:57 am
Ooh, I like this. Okay, what to add: -Transport. What level of ship-building technology are we talking here? How common are ships/boats - does every family have their own skiff, are there regular ferries between islands, etc? How do people get around on land?
-Land. How large an area are the drifting islands in? How large a land area does the human kingdom comprise? What is the makeup of the islands? Are they volcanic? Do they float? (Can you swim underneath them?) Do most of them contain fresh water? What's the climate like? How often do they have big storms? What sort of terrain makes up most islands, or do they vary widely? How much metal do they contain? What are dwellings made of?
- Diplomacy. What happens when surface-dwellers encroach on merfolk/etc's territory? How are fishing or nautical rights negotiated? Keep in mind that fishing can be destructive to the marine ecology, so there would almost certainly be conflict with any nearby natives. Are there any attempts to negotiate diplomatic relations between the land and sea races?
- If a gnome rogue shows up, I'm going to have to stray OOC and kill it on sight.
- Name suggestions: Light: Hikari or Hikaru of course. XD Something with luci- as the stem. Something with -phor in it. Storm: If you look at words for hurricanes and typhoons in other languages, they come from a common root. So something based on either of those. Sea: Mare, plays on ocean. If nothing strikes you, I can just pick names for you. XD
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Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 1:07 pm
Well, they have good ship building technology, but ships really aren't practical. First, it's a bit difficult to keep them in the harbor since the harbors move. Second, if you do keep a ship, and use it to sail somewhere, you'll have trouble finding anything or even your way back. As such travel between islands is rare. However, the humans, the elves, the dwarves, and even the halflings all have message systems in place so they can contact each other. These groups are the allies although the halflings are kind of allies with everyone. They're more neutral. Then the orcs and the hobgoblins and the races generally considered monstrous have their own alliances although their communication system isn't as good. However, they do have better ships and put them to use in pirate-y ways whenever the opportunity presents itself. In fact, there are some orcs that are legendary pirates that have managed to find ways to navigate the drifting islands. It is said that they practically live on their ships as humans would live on their islands. But problems with piracy are actually few and far between because of the problems with keeping ships. On land orcs rely on sturdy horses for transportation. Humans have more small, personal watercraft made for travel between islands and short fishing trips, but they can never take those very far into deep water and they can pull them up on the shore so they won't drift away. Although many families in the coast cities own their own boats, they are usually for making a living by fishing. Just as many families do not own their own boats. As such, a ferry service has been set up between the islands with a large, sturdy ferry running on a chain so that it won't drift away. On land they rely on dinosaurs for transportation, both riding and pulling carts and carriages. Elves rely less on personal water craft because they don't have islands to travel between and when they do their fishing they generally just wade in the shallows or swim. They do have large extravagant ships for the occasional diplomatic mission, but the ships mostly sit unused in inland harbors. (Human royalty have similar ships for similar purposes.) On land, elves rely on...something. I want to say some sort of elk, but their island is rather tropical so it'll be some four-legged, tropical substitute for a horse. Or maybe a flightless bird of some sort. I'll think of something. Dwarves almost completely neglect ship building. They dislike the water and they mostly keep to their own island. The dwarves are slightly more technological. If they feel the need not to walk, they take carts across levels or between levels (so horizontally or vertically). These carts are attached to pulley systems and powered by coal fires from dwarven mines. The dwarves also deal in metal as one of their main resources. Anyone who wants decent metal gets it from the dwarves. If they absolutely must use a mount of some kind, they rely one wolves. Halflings have decent ship technology as well as orcs. However, they don’t have the orc’s navigation. The Halflings that thirst for adventure simply set out on their ships blindly hoping to run across something interesting. Halflings are a lucky race and they generally find something.
As for land, you’ll have to bare with me because I’m terrible with distance. The humans have the larges territory by far because of their extra islands. Their main island is only a little more than two days journey across. (We’ll say 50 miles or so.) The smaller islands are mostly one day’s journey across. (So about 20 miles.) That gives them about 170 miles over all. Their land is varied. They do have mountains, but if the mountains were volcano formed, the volcanoes are long dead. Most of the land is covered in forest, although the humans cleared some of it to gain wood to build with and land to build on. The coast is mostly sandy beaches, but there are a few cliffs where the mountains run into the ocean. The human capital is built on these cliffs with the royal palace being built above and then carved down into the very cliff to make a very large and luxurious castle on a small amount of land. The smaller islands have don’t have forests, although they do have trees scattered about. Mostly, they’re grassy, hilly areas. The elves have a tropical island complete with tropically things. (I don’t feel descriptive today.) Their island is large than the human islands, but they have less land overall because they only have one. It’s just under four days travel across. (So we’ll say about 80 miles.) The elven capital sits on a mountain in the middle of their island next to a freshwater lake. The dwarves are less lucky. Their island is just under two days travel across. (Around 40 miles.) However, they have manufactured their own mountain so that they can tunnel far above and far below their island. As such they have many levels and plenty of space. However, the mountain gives the island a strangely desolate look against the ocean. The tunnels are dark, but dwarves, havingdark vision, almost prefer it that way. They do have disused lamps in place for the occasion that they have guests who cannot see in the dark. Halflings have, by far, the largest island at 120 miles. However, their society is small and most of their land is given to crops or goats and sheep. As such they are prosperous. Their land is mostly low, grassy hills, although there is one slightly larger, slightly rocky hill that might pass for a mountain. They also have a scattering of low shady trees including one or two very nice groves. Humans don’t know much about orc lands, although they have a fair enough share and may even be scattered across several islands. (Although these do not have the benefit of drifting together.) There will be several tribes on each island. Each tribe leader swears allegiance to a lord that oversees the island. Then each lord swears allegiance to a high king among orcs. Humans have never seen such a high king and doubt that the orcs have even seen him, although the orcs seem to be following his directions when necessary. Otherwise they are mostly left to their own devices, which are mostly violent. From what the humans know, their lands are mostly forested, much like human lands.
As for relations with the merfolk, humans and elves have good relations and they have been known to exchange gifts. The merfolk don’t mind if the humans fish as long as they don’t overfish. And since the islands drift, it’s hard for humans to fish too much in one area. The dwarves rarely bother with the sea and so do not have a relationship with the merfolk other than their having mutual allies. The dwarves imported food sources such as goats, sheep, and crops long ago and keep them around the outer edges of their mountain where light actually falls. Orcs, on the other hand, do not believe in asking. Luckily, they prefer hunting to fishing and this keeps them out of large conflicts with any merfolk. The tritons and the sahuagin are less friendly and less forgiving. They will attack without warning if humans overfish in their area. Fortunately this rarely happens and both races are fairly reclusive.
And no worries about a gnome rogue. Hopefully.
Lastly, the gods don’t matter too much. There’s two main ones. Then the sea god. Then the underhanded god. And a few other gods will be secretly important. Like whatever god claims knowledge. It only really matters if we have a cleric in the party. Otherwise, the gods probably won’t play too much of a part.
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Baranquesseiel Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 1:41 pm
jetdragon Jet wants to play! ...Are we going to end up with a party of gay pretty boys. ::Shifty eyes:: Is that bad?
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Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 1:51 pm
Sai-kun ::Shifty eyes:: Is that bad? No. You may get rewarded for it, actually. But don't exploit that info.
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Baranquesseiel Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 1:52 pm
Is it me...or did the thread just meld two posts into one. I could swear I only posted "::Shifty eyes:: Is that bad?" and nothing afterwards.
Also, as for races, you can include things like demi-humans: satyrs, centaurs, werewolves, changelings maybe a winged race? Not necessarily races with any sort of godly powers, but with their own quirks.
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Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 1:58 pm
Side note: Let's please not use the Gaia dice roller. Its kinda cracked out.
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Baranquesseiel Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 2:01 pm
Those races are all around, but most of them don't have their own kingdoms/islands. Or, if they do, the humans don't care or are unaware. Also, there are plenty of "uninhabited" islands where these races can live. And there are just plenty of unknown islands in general. You can assume that a majority of them are forested like the humans' island. The hilly ones like the halflings' are common as well. Tropical ones like the elves are rare. The dwarves' is one-of-a-kind since they kind of built the mountain in it. There are also your occasional desert islands, but few in habit those.
At any rate, most of those races have a level adjustment, so we wouldn't see player characters from them until later. Unless one of you really had your heart set on one that had a one or two level adjustment. Then I might bump it up to level 2 or 3 starting, but I'd really rather keep it level one. It's easier for me.
Also, most of those races are in the monster manual. If you want anything outside the monster manual, you'll have to talk to me about it.
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Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 2:05 pm
Sai-kun ::Shifty eyes:: Is that bad? Not by my accounting. Baran, can I play a half-human half-dragon half-sahuagin half-triton druid that rides an elasmosaur?
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Baranquesseiel Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 2:10 pm
I did it again, Sai-kun! I have trouble with the quoting. Aaand I was going to use gaia dice. But if they're not working, what do you suggest?
Jet, yes, but only because I'm fairly certain you're joking. There is a half dragon template, but it's a four level adjustment.
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jetdragon rolled 2 20-sided dice:
14, 14
Total: 28 (2-40)
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Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 2:22 pm
What's wrong with gaia dice?
Wellllll Baran I was thinking if you sort of squish the triton and malenti and bronze dragon bloodline together... >.>
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Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 2:25 pm
I was thinking a changeling of some kind would suit my character's nature and personality well. By changeling I don't mean anything ridiculously overpowered. I haven't noticed them mentioned concretely in any monster manuals I've seen, save for say...the swan people or something.
I think my concept for a changeling is okay at level 1. Basically humanoid except for certain physical characteristics and story based angst and the possibility of changing into like...one form that isn't like...a dragon. More like a squirrel or something.
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Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 2:30 pm
They have a race like that in oriental adventure. It's a +1 level adjustment. I might allow you to start without a class level and take that. Or I might nerf the abilities of it and just make it a normal race for you. At any rate, I'll type it up when I get back, later.
Jet, were you really thinking that? I will work with you on making the race you want reasonable as long as it really is what you want.
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Baranquesseiel Vice Captain
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jetdragon rolled 3 20-sided dice:
16, 12, 17
Total: 45 (3-60)
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Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 2:48 pm
It really is. I have no idea what makes something proper for level one, except that you don't get any cool abilities, but I'm sure it can be made reasonable.
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