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Flesh out my fantasy world.
Topic Started: Sep 11 2012, 02:56 PM (3,561 Views)
lamna
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After I ran way crying trying to start my own RP in the same vein as the Cultural Evolution game I decided to get back to it with a fantastic piece. I want to include a variety of species and cultures and both keep it simple and not clichéd.

Here is the map.
Spoiler: click to toggle


Currently the big Northernmost island is inhabited by Dwarves, who rule, the Finns, who enforce that rule and the Saami, who get seven shades of shit kicked out of them whenever they complain about being at the bottom of the pile.

The big green island is inhabited by Elves. I'm not sure what to do with them, arrogant racists and arrogant perfect hippies have been done. I'll probably make them live only 200 or so years, and incapable of hybridizing with humans, or at least not producing very many fertile hybrids.

The yellow islands are inhabited by Dragons, who are intelligent but rather possessive and straight forward, which can make them seem child-like. They also live with humans and act as their nobility, defending them in exchange for the humans doing all the things dragons can't. It's got a reputation as a place the oppressed can flee if they are desperate and willing to work. The dragon's don't care about your ideology or religion as long as they get their sheep tithe.

On the "mainland" are the Human kingdoms. Once most of the island was united under an empire, the empire started to crumble under barbarian attacks, poor harvests, a bad economy and religious strife. The last Emperor decided that to turn things around he would conquer the dragon kingdom, plunder their gold and then use the dragons as soldiers to help restore his empire. The expedition was destroyed and the capital was razed. With no emperor, no capital and hardly any army left the empire collapsed in less than a decade.

One province did manage to survive, mostly thanks to the corrupt governor having skimmed enough money to pay the local barbarians to fight for him rather than sack the place, and when the dust settled he found himself the most powerful and wealthy man left standing so just declared himself Emperor. That's the purple nation.
Edited by lamna, Sep 18 2012, 12:43 PM.
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Kamidio
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You know, nevermind that trolls were very, very clever in Norse myth.


You know, where they originated.
Edited by Kamidio, Oct 10 2012, 08:03 PM.
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The WoW Orcs are pretty much copied off of the Warhammer Orcs. Speaking of Warhammer races, why not have the skaven or something similar as this slave race? They may be smallish and weak, but they breed insanely fast, so you have a readily available source of cheap slave labour; this opens them up to pretty horrible treatment.
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I think this describes what dinosaurs are like now

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Ook
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considering yo mentioned elvish marches.. why not enslaved elves? you've got basicaly something as inteligent as strong as human, yet a bit different
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lamna
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Norse trolls were basically gods for poor people who were worried Great God Odin would just laugh if they asked for help. I can't have enslaved demigods. Or they were changelings or something else. Troll can refer to many very different things, it's incredibly inconsistent.

Quote:
 
The WoW Orcs are pretty much copied off of the Warhammer Orcs. Speaking of Warhammer races, why not have the skaven or something similar as this slave race? They may be smallish and weak, but they breed insanely fast, so you have a readily available source of cheap slave labour; this opens them up to pretty horrible treatment.
Not in the slightest. I don't know much about WoW, but I know there Orcs are sophisticated people who happen to be green and have tusks. Warhammer Orcs are drooling monsters who love only war.

I want my slaves to be easy to sympathise with. Giant rat men are not that easy to accept as people.
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considering yo mentioned elvish marches.. why not enslaved elves? you've got basicaly something as inteligent as strong as human, yet a bit different

Elves are going to be filling the role of Native Americans. There are too few and they are too slow breeders to be enslaved practically, so they just get screwed in a variety of different ways. They are going to act like most Native Americans did during the American Civil War, favouring who is more likely to win and give them a better deal.
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dialforthedevil
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I am definitely up for this, could we have more information about the regions? And Races?

I want to be a Feudal Lord who affirms his loyalty to the Empire. I want to unleash my true Machiavellian side.

Please come visit A Scientfic Fantasy http://s1.zetaboards.com/Conceptual_Evolution/topic/3433014/1/

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lamna
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In the South there are high mountains with warm deep valleys home to man different peoples, most notably the Elves and geographically resembles the Caucasus.

The region is a frontier, hence why all the names have Mark in then. A March or Mark was a border region, for example the Dane Mark (Denmark).

Because they are a border region home to a sometimes hostile populace the region has the densest concentration of castles and fortresses in the Empire. The lords here are closer to the Emperor traditionally. In the North most Lords got their land because their ancestors were monarchs who surrendered to the Empire, the Marcher Lords are descended from generals who were rewarded by the Emperor, generally for helping conquer the elves.

The Elves thematically are a hybrid between Native Americans and Circassians. They live to be around 200 years old, are mature in their early 20's and have normal pointy ears. They are rather romanticised, either a Noble savages or idealized women forced to become concubines for the Shashka Khanate. There are plenty of terrible novels about heroes rescuing doe-eyed elf concubines from Shashka governors and stealing them away.
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The Grenzland was recently conquered and is a sparsely inhabited land, mostly empty pine forest. The people there are Finnic, and enjoyed a brief period of independence when their former masters, the Muscov Tsardom were conquered themselves by the Lechici Commonwealth. The Finn's independence did not last long and they were rapidly conquered by the Universal Empire.

The Finns have a reputation as savage and barbaric warrior, their cavalry is noted for it's ferocity.
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In the Empire itself the people are Germanic for the most part. In the province of Blížejov Czechs form the majority and about a third of the people in neighbouring Grambow are Czechs too.
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Aside from humans and elves are are also Goblins, who closely resemble the Orcs of the Elder Scrolls. The have been enslaved for a very long time indeed and their emancipation is one of the triggers for the whole war.
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The Imperial Province is a large river valley, warm and fertile, similar to the Willamette Valley in Oregon. A large river flows through the provinces from the Inland Sea. The river is huge, comparable to the Nile and is both an important highway and major north/south barrier.
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The Universal Empire is bordered by three nations. The Shashka Khanate is descended from a nomadic empire, but has since settled down and started to be absorbed by the peoples it conquered. As they are descended from nomads with elective leaders, when the old Khan dies there usually a power struggle and sometimes a civil war between his successors. To prevent this, several centuries ago a Khan decided to build his sons and guided cage where all future princes have been imprisoned until it is their turn to rule. This has cut down on civil wars, but has lead to rather more eccentric monarchs. The current Khan likes to go boar hunting, replacing the boars with concubines. Thus he is unlikely to get involved in the Universal Empire's civil War.

The Lechici Commonwealth recently expanded massively when they conquered the Muscov Tsardom. They are constantly fighting rebellions in the old Tsardom and so are unlikely to intervene.

The Kingdom of Arles is currently ruled by a Queen who is desperately trying to hold kingdom together and avoid civil war between the Father worshippers and Mother Cultists, an so has no interest in joining the war. She must keep her religion secret and can't marry out of fear that whichever sect her husband belonged to would take that as a sign of support. She has a bastard son from a fling with a servant when she was 19, and he's currently the heir.
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dialforthedevil
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Whats the state of Gunpowder in this world? I want to create a border territory which is based largely off of Novgorod. Its inhabitants are going to be fiercely loyal to the Empire, with a proud military history. Its noble family are descended from the Generals who took the land from the Elves, the harsh winters and poor soil of the region mean that most of the populace live in small select areas and famine is prevalent. No Elves really survived the invasion of the humans, for the ruling family drove them out of the hospitable regions and left them to freeze in the Tundra like environment. They see themselves as hardy survivalists although the rest of the Empire see them as brutal and tyrannical, although some of the best troops are recruited from this province.

Orcs on the otherhand have largely equal rights due to the sheer respect of the humans living there for them. Orcs and Humans have forged a brothers in arms agreement almost as the frequent wars to fight off the last remaining elves and human horse raiders. As a result of this friendship they remain on the Empires side out of respect for both the Empire (who they depend on for food and also out of love for their orc bretheren).
Edited by dialforthedevil, Oct 11 2012, 11:05 AM.
Please come visit A Scientfic Fantasy http://s1.zetaboards.com/Conceptual_Evolution/topic/3433014/1/

ALSO!!! JOIN THE NEW RPG SITE!!! FOR ALL MEMBERS!!! IM GOING TO RUN MA GLOBAL SIMULATORS THERE!!! http://s4.zetaboards.com/jasonguppy/index/

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lamna
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1600's. Guns can now do more than just makes lots of noise and smoke, but are still fairly primitive. You've got cannons and matchlock muskets, with flintlock weapons being very expensive, most are hunting or self defence weapons for rich. The ultra-rich arm their cavalry with them, but it's not a very common weapon.


Might as well cover the basic units of your army.
First and foremost, pike men. It's simple enough really, large groups of men holding very long spears with both hands. These are not really offensive troops, they are there to form mobile fortifications. Against artillery and muskets they are very vulnerable at long range, but when they close in musketeers have to withdraw or they will be butchered. Pikes are almost invulnerable to cavalry, no sane horse is going to charge into a wall of spikes.

When pikes fight pikes it's extremely bloody, known as the Push of Pike, or Schlechten Krieg, "Bad War". The entire front rank will die.
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Secondly, musketeers. Armed with matchlock muskets they are slow to fire, with wet and windy weather can render them useless. Muskets are very inaccurate weapons and must be fired en masse, turning your army into a massive shotgun. Their slow rate of fire makes them very vulnerable to cavalry charges. As long as they have room to withdraw then they can be very effective against pikes.
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Calvary are generally used for harassment and flanking, their strength is speed. Massed cavalry charges are rare as the combination of cannons and pike make charging the enemy headlong a bad idea.
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Remember that this is an Empire, if you play nobility, you are German. I'll probably have to stick you in the far north to find something that matches fairly well.
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Ah okay cheers :)
Please come visit A Scientfic Fantasy http://s1.zetaboards.com/Conceptual_Evolution/topic/3433014/1/

ALSO!!! JOIN THE NEW RPG SITE!!! FOR ALL MEMBERS!!! IM GOING TO RUN MA GLOBAL SIMULATORS THERE!!! http://s4.zetaboards.com/jasonguppy/index/

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bloom_boi
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Im interested.
So, did we ever clarify why there is civil war? It was slaves and religion, right?
"You shall perish, whatever you do! If you are taken with arms in your hands, death! If you beg for mercy, death! Whichever way you turn, right, left, back, forward, up, down, death! You are not merely outside the law, you are outside humanity. Neither age nor sex shall save you and yours. You shall die, but first you shall taste the agony of your wife, your sister, your sons and daughters, even those in the cradle! Before your eyes the wounded man shall be taken out of the ambulance and hacked with bayonets or knocked down with the butt end of a rifle. He shall be dragged living by his broken leg or bleeding arm and flung like a suffering, groaning bundle of refuse into the gutter. Death! Death! Death!"



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zaktan
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Sounds cool... Count me in!

I'll most probably be a mercenary captain, working for the side that's trying to free the goblins. So I can have brutal bloodthirsty goblin/orc things on my side xD They'd probably be religiously aligned, with the captain and his 'followers' / 'cultists'...

Other than the races you just mentioned, are there any others?

Are the elves a peaceful race? What weapons do they use?

And are crossbows/lances still relevant here? I'm thinking a crossbow would be a lot more reliable than a musket but being a lot weaker ( repeating.crossbows dipped in poison maybe )... I'm also considering mounted musketeers i.e. the dragoon.
Edited by zaktan, Oct 11 2012, 04:40 PM.
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lamna
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Im interested.
So, did we ever clarify why there is civil war? It was slaves and religion, right?

The Emperor is trying to assert more control over the feudal lords, he recently brutally killed a Baron, executed or exiled his entire family and gave the barony to his sister. Just because the Baron killed ten thousand people!

He's also sympathetic to the new cult and many suspect he is a secret Mother worshipper.

Now he has invoked an archaic right which allows him to call all the great nobles to swear fealty to him at once. It's an obvious trap, going if you don't fully support him means you are automatically assumed to be in rebellion against him.

I'm going to put a couple signup sheets here, they are not done yet.

Feudal Lord
Name:
Title: Will be provided
Province:
Official Religion: This is your official religion, you don't have to believe in it, but you need to act like you do, at least for now.
Alignment: Will you be attending the Imperial court to swear your fealty to the Emperor? You don't have to be honest, and you can support the Emperor but not want to risk crossing the nation. He's just not going to trust you as much if you don't come.
Notes:
Troop strength: Will be provided

Rebel Leader
Name:
Name of your movement:
Cause:
Current location:
Notes:
Troop strength: Will be provided

Mercenary Captain
Name:
Name of company:
Alignment: You don't have to be aligned with any cause, but you'll be trusted more if you are.
Notes:
Troop strength: Will be provided:

Quote:
 
Other than the races you just mentioned, are there any others?
Probably not, I was considering having centaurs in Neue Land, but I decided against it.
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Are the elves a peaceful race? What weapons do they use?
They are people who live a lot longer with pointy ears. There are good ones, bad ones and ones just trying to survive. They are the only force that still bothers with longbows, which are still very effective, they just take a lot of training to use.
Quote:
 
And are crossbows/lances still relevant here? I'm thinking a crossbow would be a lot more reliable than a musket but being a lot weaker ( repeating.crossbows dipped in poison maybe )... I'm also considering mounted musketeers i.e. the dragoon.
Crossbows still have their uses, but they are harder to train men to use than muskets. The Qing Dynasty were still using repeating crossbows in the 1890's, so they are plausible.

Keep in mind that crossbow bolts are harder to make than musket balls.

Poison isn't worth the effort though. You have to keep it fresh and there is always the risk of poisoning yourself or your friends.

Most lancers these days are light lancers, like these miniatures.
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There are still a few heavily armoured knights with heavy lances, but they are very vulnerable and very specialised. The Emperor has about a hundred specialised heavy lancers who have armour made of a special alloy that is extremely light and much stronger than event he best steel, but it is phenomenal expensive. Both the men and the horses are fully armoured and they barely notice it.

They ride on huge horses and are specially selected for their near-suicidal bravery. If you see the Rosen Ritter charging at you, prayer is usually your best bet.
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1. Königslutter
2. Groß Oesingen
3. Olsberg
4. Altdorf
5. Kappl
6. Hartberg
7. Aukrug
8. Grambow
9. Blížejov
10. Essing
11. Zusamzell
12. Helseth
13. Ljusdal

14. Orodmark
15. Westenmark
16. Südmark
17. Ostmark
18. Hithmark
19. Thônmark
20. Tatharmark

21. Grenzland
22. Nord Grenzland

23. Imperial Province
24. Maring
25. Neue Land

A. Kingdom of Arles
B. Lechici Commonwealth
C. Shashka Khanate
D. Tufara Republic
E. Kingdom of Borszeg
Edited by lamna, Oct 11 2012, 05:55 PM.
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Kamidio
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Quick question.

Are we playing as our characters or as our factions? Because I would greatly enjoy being a singular entity. A sea-faring opportunist.
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lamna
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You're making decision as a single person, but trying to act like a group.

So you order things, but they don't always happen. People can misunderstand, or ignore you or betray you.

This isn't really an rpg where you interact with other character much.

I'll make a profile for the Emperor and his sister later, to give you examples.
Edited by lamna, Oct 12 2012, 04:43 AM.
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zaktan
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I'll have Thonmark ( 19 ) please...

My nation is probably going to be a safe haven for criminals. There is very little in the way of law enforcement. Murderers, assassins, scientists persecuted for alchemy ( many religious states surrounding Thonmark have burnt alchemists at the stake or something ), elves, goblin or human are all welcome.

As a result of this influx of immigrants, Thonmark is rather advanced scientifically. It is possible for them to manufacture the alloy in Lamna's post, but only the highest-ranking mercenaries wear it. Or you could just kill a few of the Emperor's troops with a longbow and loot the armor... They have a basic understanding of the germ theory, drastically reducing casualties among their troops.

There is a strict pecking order amongst the mercenary clans. Some of the clans include a Gurkha-like army specializing in guard duty ( these guys get paid a lot to guard important people, but rarely do they do battle ), a Landsknecht-like clan with flamboyantly-dressed light calvary, and a "suicide brigade" with extremely high pay.

Most mercenaries here have a twisted sense of loyalty, making sure that revolts or dissents are few and far between. It is also in their best interests to keep the ruling clan of mercenaries in power, if not other nations are going to overrun the country and slaughter the criminals. Thonmark is definitely not held in high regard among its neighbours and many dislike its "corrupting influence". It is a very dangerous neighbor and many countries would rather have it annihilated. However, the importance of the mercenaries cannot be denied.

I'm wondering what to do with the lake my country is bordering...

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I'll probably fill up the form tomorrow. Still deciding of a name for my guy... or girl :P
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