One of the common misconceptions (or, indeed concepts if written into the setting) is that every holy man is a cleric or a druid. Every temple you wander into, the head priest is a cleric of some level, often with lower level cleric apprentices. I like to call this the Forgotten Realms syndrome. Deminar is simply not designed that way.
From a game perspective, I've already mentioned my belief that an adventurer should be rare, in order to maintain the uniqueness the player's feel when their characters interact with the world. How special are you when you're one adventurer among a countless horde after all?
Within the world, it wouldn't make a lot of sense either. Unlike the arcane spellcasting of a magic-user that manipulates the very building blocks of creation, divine spellcasters are fueled by the gods themselves (or from various patron spirits amongst the druids). A god has to sacrifice a bit of his own power to give a cleric the ability to cast spells or turn the undead and, despite the power of the gods, their power is finite. Every bit of power given to a patron on Deminar is power that the god no longer has at his disposal to fight off rival gods. The gods are locked in a power struggle, and a god that does not have enough worshipers or who foolishly expends his power on both planar and mortal followers risks having his domain taken over by a lesser god or having his domain absorbed by another major god. Because of this, a god can't simply gift every being that prays to him with power. On the other hand, gods receive their power from mortal worshipers as well as the souls of those faithful that pas beyond mortal life. What better way to convert followers then to show a god's power through a mortal vessel (since no god can directly influence the mortal world)? Like any power struggle, this is a delicate balancing act between attracting more followers through displays of faith and power and holding onto enough power to protect their position.
This is why clerics are more then simply undead hunters, they are also traveling emissaries of their faith. They are divinely appointed to spread the good name (or vengeful wrath) of their god, converting new followers through awe or fear. A cleric who forsakes this duty soon finds himself without his abilities, as even the smallest bit of a god's power is precious and the deity is always looking for the most effective way to use it.
Showing posts with label Musings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Musings. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Musing: Religion Part 1
There are two major forms of religion on the Bluestone Isles, druidism and deity worship. Both are intrinsically linked to one another, but the separation of ideology between them means they will forever be at odds.
Druidism is the belief that everything has a spirit, be it a living creature, inanimate matter, or a concept or idea. The spirit may be a part of something (the souls of all living things) or the spirit could be a guardian and caretaker of it (like the spirit of a river or the spirit of war), but it a force possessed by all things. The ultimate testament to the faith is the Druid, someone who can commune with spirits to obtain an array of powers and abilities.
Deity worship, on the other hand, is the belief that the powerful beings worshiped as gods created the world and everything that exists on it. They created all living things, set about the laws that make the world work, and developed every concept from love to war. When a soul dies, it travels to the plane of the god that the being worshiped and who's tenets it lived by the most, or the plane of the god that is most befitting the being's punishment, if it worshiped no god or violated his god's tenets. The ultimate expression of the power that the gods wield is that of the Cleric, someone who can focus the very power of the gods into a variety of spells and the ability to drive away the undead.
Both religions have many ties to one another, those that worship the gods very much believe in the souls that exist in them, while the druids cannot deny the power of the gods, nor their duty to claim the souls of those beings that die. However, their are core differences in their beliefs that have stopped the two from ever existing fully entwined.
While practitioners of druidism believe in the gods, they do not believe the gods created all that is. The gods are simply a group of spirits, powerful indeed, but not even the top of the spirit hierarchy. While their positions are important, their are things that have existed long before they did and play a much more important role in the world.
Those that worship the deities see the gods as the ultimate powers in existence, and that everything that is, is because of them. Also, these worshipers do not believe that everything has a spirit, certainly not non-living things and concepts. More extreme believers (but not the followers of all gods) do not even believe that unintelligent living things (such as many monsters, beasts of burdens, and wildlife) have souls and the most extreme do not even think that all intelligent species (their enemies in particular) have souls, so killing these beings is not any worse then cutting down a tree.
So who is right? Are the gods supreme beings that created all that exists and have the power to destroy it on a whim? Or are they simply just part of a larger spiritual hierarchy that has always been and always will be? These questions ensure that while the two religious ideologies may not always be at one another throats, they will never truly get along.
Druidism is the belief that everything has a spirit, be it a living creature, inanimate matter, or a concept or idea. The spirit may be a part of something (the souls of all living things) or the spirit could be a guardian and caretaker of it (like the spirit of a river or the spirit of war), but it a force possessed by all things. The ultimate testament to the faith is the Druid, someone who can commune with spirits to obtain an array of powers and abilities.
Deity worship, on the other hand, is the belief that the powerful beings worshiped as gods created the world and everything that exists on it. They created all living things, set about the laws that make the world work, and developed every concept from love to war. When a soul dies, it travels to the plane of the god that the being worshiped and who's tenets it lived by the most, or the plane of the god that is most befitting the being's punishment, if it worshiped no god or violated his god's tenets. The ultimate expression of the power that the gods wield is that of the Cleric, someone who can focus the very power of the gods into a variety of spells and the ability to drive away the undead.
Both religions have many ties to one another, those that worship the gods very much believe in the souls that exist in them, while the druids cannot deny the power of the gods, nor their duty to claim the souls of those beings that die. However, their are core differences in their beliefs that have stopped the two from ever existing fully entwined.
While practitioners of druidism believe in the gods, they do not believe the gods created all that is. The gods are simply a group of spirits, powerful indeed, but not even the top of the spirit hierarchy. While their positions are important, their are things that have existed long before they did and play a much more important role in the world.
Those that worship the deities see the gods as the ultimate powers in existence, and that everything that is, is because of them. Also, these worshipers do not believe that everything has a spirit, certainly not non-living things and concepts. More extreme believers (but not the followers of all gods) do not even believe that unintelligent living things (such as many monsters, beasts of burdens, and wildlife) have souls and the most extreme do not even think that all intelligent species (their enemies in particular) have souls, so killing these beings is not any worse then cutting down a tree.
So who is right? Are the gods supreme beings that created all that exists and have the power to destroy it on a whim? Or are they simply just part of a larger spiritual hierarchy that has always been and always will be? These questions ensure that while the two religious ideologies may not always be at one another throats, they will never truly get along.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Musing: Thieves
Like fighters, I always thought thieves got short changed when it came to their background and understanding what they were. Most think thieves are just that, those engaged in thievery, either raised on the streets or trained at a guild to be a pick pocket in a busy market.
But thieves don't strike me as that, in fact, I see them as the most appropriate class to be delving into ancient dungeons. Look at their abilities after all: Find/Remove Traps, Climb Walls, Read any Language, Read/Cast from Magic-User scrolls... these guys aren't thieves, they're tomb robbers! The thief class has much more in common with Indian Jones and Lara Croft then it does with the urchin pick pocket. These guys are build to enter old tombs, crypts, dungeons, and temples and not only survive the old traps left behind, but understand the old pictographs on the wall and know where to find the hidden treasure cache.
Guilds that train the adventuring thief class are probably full of old scholars, archeologists, and the plain old curious, people that want to know what had gone on before them (and score some loot along the way). I see these guilds as training "thieves" to delve these places for research, getting their hands on ancient artifacts, and just plain old testing of skills. These guilds also train in less savory things like Hiding in Shadows and Picking Pockets so that their employees can not only better survive, but gain valuable information. Someone knowing about secret entrances to old temples may not reveal such things in public, then there are those that hold the only remaining copy of that old key and won't give it up willingly. If some "thieves" happen to use those skills to relieve a well off noble of his coin purse, well, that's not the guild's fault is it?
In fact, most likely thieves, in terms of the adventuring class, are probably not called thieves in Bluestone. Though "tomb robber" sounds just as bad, hmm, what to name them... Any ideas?
But thieves don't strike me as that, in fact, I see them as the most appropriate class to be delving into ancient dungeons. Look at their abilities after all: Find/Remove Traps, Climb Walls, Read any Language, Read/Cast from Magic-User scrolls... these guys aren't thieves, they're tomb robbers! The thief class has much more in common with Indian Jones and Lara Croft then it does with the urchin pick pocket. These guys are build to enter old tombs, crypts, dungeons, and temples and not only survive the old traps left behind, but understand the old pictographs on the wall and know where to find the hidden treasure cache.
Guilds that train the adventuring thief class are probably full of old scholars, archeologists, and the plain old curious, people that want to know what had gone on before them (and score some loot along the way). I see these guilds as training "thieves" to delve these places for research, getting their hands on ancient artifacts, and just plain old testing of skills. These guilds also train in less savory things like Hiding in Shadows and Picking Pockets so that their employees can not only better survive, but gain valuable information. Someone knowing about secret entrances to old temples may not reveal such things in public, then there are those that hold the only remaining copy of that old key and won't give it up willingly. If some "thieves" happen to use those skills to relieve a well off noble of his coin purse, well, that's not the guild's fault is it?
In fact, most likely thieves, in terms of the adventuring class, are probably not called thieves in Bluestone. Though "tomb robber" sounds just as bad, hmm, what to name them... Any ideas?
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Musing: Fighters
Fighters get a bit of the shaft when it comes to where they learned their trade and what they're all about. Most often this class is seen as something someone can just "decide to be" at one point in their live and that's all there is to it. A farmer decides to make a difference, picks up a sword and starts adventuring, now he's a fighter. Once you break down the class mechanics, the scenario of this class being organically grow as opposed to the specific training of say, a magic-user, simply doesn't make any sense.
Looking at the class, you can see that he can effectively use ALL weapons and armor. Indeed, over time, he is much more skilled in weapon use then most other classes and certainly more so then a standard city watchman or militia member. They also develop into one of the most physically fit and hardy classes (as evident by their hit dice and saving throw progression). This means they are not simply people how decided to be a fighter, nor someone with some experience in the city watch. These are trained individuals, and those specifically trained for excellence in combat. As stated before, they can use ALL weapons and armor very effectively, no easy task. Someone who spent years training how to use a staff properly, learning the techniques to trip an opponent, strike fast at vital areas, and parry blows directly at him couldn't then pick up a flail or battleaxe and be expected to use it just as well or suddenly be a crack shot with a long bow. He also couldn't throw on a suit of full plate mail for the first time and then be expected to be just as skilled with his weapon. Yet, fighters are those people, they can pick up a sword and use it just as well as a crossbow or throwing daggers or a flail, all weapons that handle very differently. These individuals must have spent years being trained in their use as well as trained physically.
The typical caravan guard or militia are nowhere near this level, nor could they possibly hope to be. In modern comparisons, the watch, militia, guards, etc. are similar to the police and the weekend warriors of the army reserve. They have some training, mostly in specifics dealing with aspects of their job, and they may be very good at that job, but they don't have a well rounded skill set in all weapons, tactics, and other combat aspects. The closest comparison to fighters may be career military, though the military still further breaks down their members into specialties, while a fighter is much more varied in his skill. In Bluestone, the government doesn't train all fighters, they don't have the resources nor manpower to do so, so instead they employ a War College, to train a few people to be fighters in which to lead militias, protect against threats too challenging for the common man, and handle "special projects" that may need to be attended to. The vast majority of fighters are, therefore, trained via private guilds. Like PMCs of today, these guilds attract those that want to make a difference or be the tough guy without having to fall into the government's program (or couldn't pass the requirements the war college has for entry). Guilds become like brotherhoods, those graduating from them will find themselves quickly befriended by past alumni. Rivalries between guilds is also common, mostly on a friendly level (especially when competing against one another in various guild sponsored tournaments) but sometimes things get personal and on rare occasions, deadly. However, the War College has stringent requirements for potential candidates and guilds can be quite expensive (though they are willing to work out loans, repayable with all that adventuring treasure a fighter is known to get), meaning not every citizen with the desire to pick up a sword and slay dragons is going to become a full fledged fighter. A city watchmen is just that, a man with a bit of training in basic weapons, armor, and apprehensions, a fighter, however, is something much more entirely.
Looking at the class, you can see that he can effectively use ALL weapons and armor. Indeed, over time, he is much more skilled in weapon use then most other classes and certainly more so then a standard city watchman or militia member. They also develop into one of the most physically fit and hardy classes (as evident by their hit dice and saving throw progression). This means they are not simply people how decided to be a fighter, nor someone with some experience in the city watch. These are trained individuals, and those specifically trained for excellence in combat. As stated before, they can use ALL weapons and armor very effectively, no easy task. Someone who spent years training how to use a staff properly, learning the techniques to trip an opponent, strike fast at vital areas, and parry blows directly at him couldn't then pick up a flail or battleaxe and be expected to use it just as well or suddenly be a crack shot with a long bow. He also couldn't throw on a suit of full plate mail for the first time and then be expected to be just as skilled with his weapon. Yet, fighters are those people, they can pick up a sword and use it just as well as a crossbow or throwing daggers or a flail, all weapons that handle very differently. These individuals must have spent years being trained in their use as well as trained physically.
The typical caravan guard or militia are nowhere near this level, nor could they possibly hope to be. In modern comparisons, the watch, militia, guards, etc. are similar to the police and the weekend warriors of the army reserve. They have some training, mostly in specifics dealing with aspects of their job, and they may be very good at that job, but they don't have a well rounded skill set in all weapons, tactics, and other combat aspects. The closest comparison to fighters may be career military, though the military still further breaks down their members into specialties, while a fighter is much more varied in his skill. In Bluestone, the government doesn't train all fighters, they don't have the resources nor manpower to do so, so instead they employ a War College, to train a few people to be fighters in which to lead militias, protect against threats too challenging for the common man, and handle "special projects" that may need to be attended to. The vast majority of fighters are, therefore, trained via private guilds. Like PMCs of today, these guilds attract those that want to make a difference or be the tough guy without having to fall into the government's program (or couldn't pass the requirements the war college has for entry). Guilds become like brotherhoods, those graduating from them will find themselves quickly befriended by past alumni. Rivalries between guilds is also common, mostly on a friendly level (especially when competing against one another in various guild sponsored tournaments) but sometimes things get personal and on rare occasions, deadly. However, the War College has stringent requirements for potential candidates and guilds can be quite expensive (though they are willing to work out loans, repayable with all that adventuring treasure a fighter is known to get), meaning not every citizen with the desire to pick up a sword and slay dragons is going to become a full fledged fighter. A city watchmen is just that, a man with a bit of training in basic weapons, armor, and apprehensions, a fighter, however, is something much more entirely.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Musing: Paladins
I had made an offhand mention in my first D/D Dwarf entry about paladins being a human only class. As I thought about it, I actually came up with a fairly descent idea as to why that is within the context of the setting.
Paladins are part of the Militant Order of one particular god of good, law, and all that upstanding stuff (as to which god, we'll figure that out when we start hammering out the religion in the game). Paladins are a lot like special forces or the U.S. Marine Corps; highly trained, first in/last out, off doing things that regular armed forces can't handle. The paladins are trained in Ashford Bay, but maintain outposts throughout the Isles. The Order also has a strict "humans only" policy, stemming from their belief that the god they worship only grants divine protection, blessing, and ability to humans (whether or not that is true hasn't been tested, it also means clerics to this god are only human as well due to the same "ideal")
Much like the above mention Marine Corps, while many paladins are out there doing the right things for the right reasons, some think they're much better then everyone else. They have an air of haughtiness to them, they are the best of the best, and many take their oaths of routing out evil to the extreme, making them zealots along the lines of the Inquisition. This makes many paladins assholes, but assholes that fight the good fight, which can make for good characterization.
Paladins are part of the Militant Order of one particular god of good, law, and all that upstanding stuff (as to which god, we'll figure that out when we start hammering out the religion in the game). Paladins are a lot like special forces or the U.S. Marine Corps; highly trained, first in/last out, off doing things that regular armed forces can't handle. The paladins are trained in Ashford Bay, but maintain outposts throughout the Isles. The Order also has a strict "humans only" policy, stemming from their belief that the god they worship only grants divine protection, blessing, and ability to humans (whether or not that is true hasn't been tested, it also means clerics to this god are only human as well due to the same "ideal")
Much like the above mention Marine Corps, while many paladins are out there doing the right things for the right reasons, some think they're much better then everyone else. They have an air of haughtiness to them, they are the best of the best, and many take their oaths of routing out evil to the extreme, making them zealots along the lines of the Inquisition. This makes many paladins assholes, but assholes that fight the good fight, which can make for good characterization.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Musing: Plane Names
Just a quick thought for tonight:
What about using "Realms" instead of "Planes" with a more looser naming convention instead of "The Elemental Plane of..."
So:
The Water Realm
The Air Realm
?The Life Realm? (For Positive Energy)
etc.
It sounds a little less "scientific" then the default names used in later D&D editions and I think fits the theme of our setting better.
Just a thought...
What about using "Realms" instead of "Planes" with a more looser naming convention instead of "The Elemental Plane of..."
So:
The Water Realm
The Air Realm
?The Life Realm? (For Positive Energy)
etc.
It sounds a little less "scientific" then the default names used in later D&D editions and I think fits the theme of our setting better.
Just a thought...
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Musing: Going Narrative on the Timeline
Back again after another small hiatus (anytime I delve into campaign creation I lose the ability to focus on other stuff it seems...), but still thinking, even if not posting.
I think in the end, it's best to go with a more narrative form of history for the Player's Guide, rather then the strict timeline I presented earlier. The timeline works well for DM's, it makes a quick reference, especially when slotting in their own events as well as cross-checking history we reveal in various other modules and sourcebooks (and therefore will be a good reference for us too!).
A narrative style, I think, is more friendly to player's and presents itself in more of a useful fashion as something players and characters would know. That being said, I don't think it will be written "in world" by like a scholar or something. Full in character chapters seem to be more of a later RPG thing and robs some of the old school feel, I'm not ruling out using quotes here and there that are "in world" but I'll be avoiding the "in world" fiction and chapters that populate some later RPGs, gotta keep the feel right!
Now to go about finishing and rewriting the history section...
I think in the end, it's best to go with a more narrative form of history for the Player's Guide, rather then the strict timeline I presented earlier. The timeline works well for DM's, it makes a quick reference, especially when slotting in their own events as well as cross-checking history we reveal in various other modules and sourcebooks (and therefore will be a good reference for us too!).
A narrative style, I think, is more friendly to player's and presents itself in more of a useful fashion as something players and characters would know. That being said, I don't think it will be written "in world" by like a scholar or something. Full in character chapters seem to be more of a later RPG thing and robs some of the old school feel, I'm not ruling out using quotes here and there that are "in world" but I'll be avoiding the "in world" fiction and chapters that populate some later RPGs, gotta keep the feel right!
Now to go about finishing and rewriting the history section...
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Musing: Player's Guide Timeline
Quick thought, I think the Player's version of the timeline works better in paragraph format in a more story like convention (not "in character" per say, but not a roll of years either). Though the roll of years format works well for the DM side of things.
I think it would fit the Player's Guide better that way, and you can also leave out chunks that are specific events the average person wouldn't really know happened, yet keep all the "big events" in.
Hmm, need to finish that timeline
I think it would fit the Player's Guide better that way, and you can also leave out chunks that are specific events the average person wouldn't really know happened, yet keep all the "big events" in.
Hmm, need to finish that timeline
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Musing: Class/Level Limits
One of the comments from one of my loyal followers (I swear I don't know this man in real life nor is he a co-developer on Deminar) mentioned his disdain for class/level limits in the AEC (and presumably it's "inspiration" 1E AD&D). I, for one, wholly agree with him, artificially saying a certain species (or race) can't get higher then X level in a class or can't even pick a certain class does indeed seem silly and hard to justify within a "living world."
However, you have to remember to play to your audience, and if we're writing this for the AEC, potential buyers like the AEC (or its "inspiration") and are probably just peachy with Class/Level Limits. So, they're staying in our books.
They're mostly a matter of play balance, though the AEC has a looser sense of play balance then the strict mathematical consistency of the 3E and beyond editions. It's the same reason Ability Modifiers can be of the +1 or -1 variety, it's always an even number in 3E because that way you're guaranteed a bump to your modifier, where as in the AEC, the modifiers are more about fitting the strengths and weaknesses of the particular species.
Class/Level limits help iron out the massive advantages demi-humans (as they're called in the earlier editions) get over humans, they have tons of pluses just for being of that species but no real negatives (even the ability modifiers don't fix things that much). So, instead, there are just certain classes or certain levels of classes a certain species can't take. This, coupled with the variance in leveling between classes (something else 3E and beyond was scared to do so that everyone went up in level at the same time so they could all feel happy) adds some level of play balance throughout the species/classes. These certainly aren't as exacting and balanced across the board as the 3E+ crowd though, and you know that going in, some species/class combos are just better then others in certain things, some players will pick them just to have "the best" (be it in survival, combat, saving throws, etc.) and some will pick whatever species and class they feel like slipping into the role of, that's just how the game works.
For me, the challenge will be fitting these class/level limits into the actual setting itself. Why can a certain species only go to a certain level or why can't they be a particular class? Not in terms of balance and stats and numbers, but why within Deminar itself does that happen? For instance, the Lizard Folk don't have clerics and paladins, this is as much a "universe" choice as it is for balance. Lizard Folk don't worship the traditional gods of the outer planes, so they don't receive any powers because of it.
This will be a trend going forward into all class/level limits, and while it may not be mentioned in the text (certainly not in the Player's Guide, though it may show up in a "species" book), it will be thought of.
Because of that, look to see shake ups in the class/level limits of species that are already published, dwarves might not be limited the way they are in the AEC, but that's because dwarves in Deminar don't follow the same "racial presumptions" that they do in the AEC.
However, you have to remember to play to your audience, and if we're writing this for the AEC, potential buyers like the AEC (or its "inspiration") and are probably just peachy with Class/Level Limits. So, they're staying in our books.
They're mostly a matter of play balance, though the AEC has a looser sense of play balance then the strict mathematical consistency of the 3E and beyond editions. It's the same reason Ability Modifiers can be of the +1 or -1 variety, it's always an even number in 3E because that way you're guaranteed a bump to your modifier, where as in the AEC, the modifiers are more about fitting the strengths and weaknesses of the particular species.
Class/Level limits help iron out the massive advantages demi-humans (as they're called in the earlier editions) get over humans, they have tons of pluses just for being of that species but no real negatives (even the ability modifiers don't fix things that much). So, instead, there are just certain classes or certain levels of classes a certain species can't take. This, coupled with the variance in leveling between classes (something else 3E and beyond was scared to do so that everyone went up in level at the same time so they could all feel happy) adds some level of play balance throughout the species/classes. These certainly aren't as exacting and balanced across the board as the 3E+ crowd though, and you know that going in, some species/class combos are just better then others in certain things, some players will pick them just to have "the best" (be it in survival, combat, saving throws, etc.) and some will pick whatever species and class they feel like slipping into the role of, that's just how the game works.
For me, the challenge will be fitting these class/level limits into the actual setting itself. Why can a certain species only go to a certain level or why can't they be a particular class? Not in terms of balance and stats and numbers, but why within Deminar itself does that happen? For instance, the Lizard Folk don't have clerics and paladins, this is as much a "universe" choice as it is for balance. Lizard Folk don't worship the traditional gods of the outer planes, so they don't receive any powers because of it.
This will be a trend going forward into all class/level limits, and while it may not be mentioned in the text (certainly not in the Player's Guide, though it may show up in a "species" book), it will be thought of.
Because of that, look to see shake ups in the class/level limits of species that are already published, dwarves might not be limited the way they are in the AEC, but that's because dwarves in Deminar don't follow the same "racial presumptions" that they do in the AEC.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Musing: Lizard Folk Eggs
Before I present what will hopefully be my final rendition of the Lizard Folk Species (look for it on Monday!) and hammer out the last of Bluestone Isle's Past (look for it... in the future!), I just have a small thought for today.
Lizard Folk, by nature of being cold blooded, lay eggs in which their young hatch. The way I see it, hatcheries are a communal place, where those females who are about to lay fertilized eggs go to be with other expectant mothers and mid-wives, it's a place made to be humid and warm and the children are raised up together after hatching. They are not abandoned strictly to midwives or some such after birth, the mothers stay with the young for a few years as they mature and most fathers come and visit, but Lizard Folk development at a young age is communal.
Just a random thought to help separate them more so from simple be "humans skinned slightly different," like many species end up in fantasy games and makes for good visuals, I still need an artist who enjoys working for free...
Lizard Folk, by nature of being cold blooded, lay eggs in which their young hatch. The way I see it, hatcheries are a communal place, where those females who are about to lay fertilized eggs go to be with other expectant mothers and mid-wives, it's a place made to be humid and warm and the children are raised up together after hatching. They are not abandoned strictly to midwives or some such after birth, the mothers stay with the young for a few years as they mature and most fathers come and visit, but Lizard Folk development at a young age is communal.
Just a random thought to help separate them more so from simple be "humans skinned slightly different," like many species end up in fantasy games and makes for good visuals, I still need an artist who enjoys working for free...
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Musing: Lizardfolk were there first!
Okay, so that's a bit of a misnomer, a lot of the races were one the islands as they were violently turn from the ground during (We Really Need to Agree On A Name For This Event). But it seems the Lizardfolk recovered first.
There was a great length of time after Deminar ripped apart that everyone focused just on surviving. They weren't building towns, crafting airships, mapping the islands around them. They were trying not to be wiped out by rampaging monsters and horrible plagues, hoping there was enough food around, seeking each other out to increase their strength. It was only over time they started settling again, moving back into and rebuilding old towns and cities, clearing the land for farming, creating brand new towns from the ground up. It was as if someone hit the reset button and the intelligent species had to crawl through (albeit slightly accelerated) the prehistory of their kind, reliving the hunting/gathering, foraging, survival eras that came before the "civility" of establishing farms, towns, and trade set in.
I believe, on the Bluestone Isles atleast, the lizardfolk were the first to gather their wits about them, adjust to what happened, and begin to live in their new environment rather then lament about the loss of the old one. Lizardfolk are more shamanistic then religious, so while many species cried out about gods abandoning them and laying down to die, the lizardfolk simply contacted the spirits that remained after the cataclysm and continued on. Lizardfolk are naturally more hardy of a species too, they've been around a while and haven't evolved much (much like crocodiles and alligators haven't either). Therefore the lizardfolk were off naming and mapping out the islands while many other species were fearing for their lives.
Now, on the Bluestone Isles, the humans and lizardfolk live pretty integrated lives, there are no human-only nor lizardfolk-only settlements about. And while the humans, as humans do, claim to be masters of that domain, their survival, crawl from the ashes, and very much so their existence on that island cluster could very well be because the lizardfolk allowed them to survive. Something the humans take for granted.
There was a great length of time after Deminar ripped apart that everyone focused just on surviving. They weren't building towns, crafting airships, mapping the islands around them. They were trying not to be wiped out by rampaging monsters and horrible plagues, hoping there was enough food around, seeking each other out to increase their strength. It was only over time they started settling again, moving back into and rebuilding old towns and cities, clearing the land for farming, creating brand new towns from the ground up. It was as if someone hit the reset button and the intelligent species had to crawl through (albeit slightly accelerated) the prehistory of their kind, reliving the hunting/gathering, foraging, survival eras that came before the "civility" of establishing farms, towns, and trade set in.
I believe, on the Bluestone Isles atleast, the lizardfolk were the first to gather their wits about them, adjust to what happened, and begin to live in their new environment rather then lament about the loss of the old one. Lizardfolk are more shamanistic then religious, so while many species cried out about gods abandoning them and laying down to die, the lizardfolk simply contacted the spirits that remained after the cataclysm and continued on. Lizardfolk are naturally more hardy of a species too, they've been around a while and haven't evolved much (much like crocodiles and alligators haven't either). Therefore the lizardfolk were off naming and mapping out the islands while many other species were fearing for their lives.
Now, on the Bluestone Isles, the humans and lizardfolk live pretty integrated lives, there are no human-only nor lizardfolk-only settlements about. And while the humans, as humans do, claim to be masters of that domain, their survival, crawl from the ashes, and very much so their existence on that island cluster could very well be because the lizardfolk allowed them to survive. Something the humans take for granted.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Musing: Dwarves
In the LL game I'm currently running our Dwarves speak with Russian accents. This came about because I wanted to change up the "standard" accents that the races are known to have and try something a little different.
Several jokes about "In Soviet Dwarfholds, Stone mines you!" later and it sort of fell into place. The end result was a sorta offhand mention that Dwarves in our game are probably communist. This doesn't come up too often in the game itself (not as much as it should IMHO), but it got me thinking.
The ideal behind the "dwarven communism" actually works quite well in Deminar.
The dwarves in Deminar are fighting a never ending battle with the goblins across the floating isles and have been doing so since they first rose into the sky. Their underground homelands have grown sparse, as many islands don't have mountain chains on them and few have sufficient area underground to support both species.
Because of this, everything the dwarves do is for the greater dwarven community in which they live. Everything is dedicated to helping the dwarves hold and expand their territory. There is no personal honor, there is only honor for your community as a whole. A great dwarven general is held in the same regard as one who mines ore to help make weapons. Dwarves do not have an economy in any traditional sense, everything produced is given to the community as a whole and no one dwarf "owns" any one thing.
Because of this, when dwarves do interact with other species (especially humans), they have a hard time understanding how they work. The idea of a nobility and social class is alien to them, as is the need to pay for goods ("why can't the hungry beggar eat what was grown by the farmer?").
Also, because of this, most dwarven adventurers are considered traitors to their community. Leaving their station to explore the world is turning your back on the fight and many can never return to any dwarven community (especially their own!). Exceptions do exist, of course, those traveling to find ancient dwarven relics to help turn the tide in their on going battle or those out to find new lands to settle, for example, are still helping the greater good and are not considered traitorous.
Even those that choose exile to become adventurers still hold onto the mindset they were raised with. They don't see a need for someone in the party to lead them, assume that all supplies carried by everyone is to be shared with whoever in the group needs is, including any loot found in the dungeons themselves. This includes coin, even if they don't understand the need for it, they're not stupid and understand its usage.
Several jokes about "In Soviet Dwarfholds, Stone mines you!" later and it sort of fell into place. The end result was a sorta offhand mention that Dwarves in our game are probably communist. This doesn't come up too often in the game itself (not as much as it should IMHO), but it got me thinking.
The ideal behind the "dwarven communism" actually works quite well in Deminar.
The dwarves in Deminar are fighting a never ending battle with the goblins across the floating isles and have been doing so since they first rose into the sky. Their underground homelands have grown sparse, as many islands don't have mountain chains on them and few have sufficient area underground to support both species.
Because of this, everything the dwarves do is for the greater dwarven community in which they live. Everything is dedicated to helping the dwarves hold and expand their territory. There is no personal honor, there is only honor for your community as a whole. A great dwarven general is held in the same regard as one who mines ore to help make weapons. Dwarves do not have an economy in any traditional sense, everything produced is given to the community as a whole and no one dwarf "owns" any one thing.
Because of this, when dwarves do interact with other species (especially humans), they have a hard time understanding how they work. The idea of a nobility and social class is alien to them, as is the need to pay for goods ("why can't the hungry beggar eat what was grown by the farmer?").
Also, because of this, most dwarven adventurers are considered traitors to their community. Leaving their station to explore the world is turning your back on the fight and many can never return to any dwarven community (especially their own!). Exceptions do exist, of course, those traveling to find ancient dwarven relics to help turn the tide in their on going battle or those out to find new lands to settle, for example, are still helping the greater good and are not considered traitorous.
Even those that choose exile to become adventurers still hold onto the mindset they were raised with. They don't see a need for someone in the party to lead them, assume that all supplies carried by everyone is to be shared with whoever in the group needs is, including any loot found in the dungeons themselves. This includes coin, even if they don't understand the need for it, they're not stupid and understand its usage.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Musing: The Planes, Part IV: The Ethereal Plane
The Ethereal Plane is a bit of a mystery among those who study planar lore. From the most curious scholar on Deminar to the god's themselves, no one is quite sure what to make of it.
The Ethereal Plane exists in the same planar location as the Prime Material, just on a different level. It even looks much like Deminar, only everything is muted in color with more grays and browns prominent then any other. Where there is a floating island in Demiar, there's probably one on the Ethereal Plane, where there's a twisted canyon on the broken earth below, a copy exists in the same spot on the Ethereal. It's not an exact "echo," there are some places that don't exist on the Ethereal that have a place in Deminar and, more strangely, there are parts in the Ethereal that look how places in Deminar did millennium before, rather then how they do now.
However, there are "echoes" of living things in the Ethereal, every deer doesn't have a copy waiting for it, and you won't run into your twin if you pop over for a visit. Even trees and plants don't echo themselves on the plane, though they still exist there, a sickly rubbery version that barely soaks up nutrients form a muted dull sun.
There are creatures that exist, or, due to the shared location nature between it and the Prime Material, partially exist on the Ethereal Plane. Mostly these are unintelligent creatures, though the Phase Tiger exists partially on that plane. The biggest "population" that interacts with the Prime Material plane however are the incorporeal undead. Ghosts and Wraiths exist there and, on occasion and through a strong sense of will, can project themselves into Deminar.
The moniker of echo also applies to some of the structures that appear in the Ethereal. It seems anything with a strong emotional resonance with a large group of people will appear as a slightly twisted reflection in the Ethereal. Towns that were brutally razed and burned down may appear as ever burning buildings, a castle that is home to a benevolent and much loved noble may appear, taller and more opulent, upon the Plane. Even natural places, like an elven wood, may appear, though often the "trees" that show up on the Ethereal aren't real trees, just unliving reflections of them. These places can stand long after their originals are gone in Deminar, depending how strongly they meant to people and how many people were affected by them. As time wears on, however, and people forget about such places, they will simply disappear off the Ethereal.
Mortals from Deminar can enter the Ethereal if they choose to, through planar portals and gates. Also, due to the Planes sharing space, there are places where the thin gossamer veil that separates the two grows weak and one can invertible stumble into the Ethereal without meaning to. And, unfortunately, it is not always a two way street. Many have become trapped in the Ethereal, prey to the beings that inhabit it or constantly looking for a way back to Deminar. Those who visit would find the Plane slightly cold, but holding a consistent temperature no matter where they go, even in the presence of fire or lava (though those things would still burn flesh). The dull gray sky and surroundings often bring a sense of melancholy and depression to those that walk among it, but these are not supernatural factors, just a general morose that all beings get when deprived of color and sunlight.
The Plane is confounding and aggravating to the Gods for it is the one plane they cannot interact with. No God may visit the plane, not emissaries from the god of Death may retrieve the souls that exist there as ghosts, no Outsider of any kind, formed of soulstuff can enter the Ethereal and the Gods haven't a clue why and the fact that mortals can do it, angers them to no end.
The Ethereal Plane exists in the same planar location as the Prime Material, just on a different level. It even looks much like Deminar, only everything is muted in color with more grays and browns prominent then any other. Where there is a floating island in Demiar, there's probably one on the Ethereal Plane, where there's a twisted canyon on the broken earth below, a copy exists in the same spot on the Ethereal. It's not an exact "echo," there are some places that don't exist on the Ethereal that have a place in Deminar and, more strangely, there are parts in the Ethereal that look how places in Deminar did millennium before, rather then how they do now.
However, there are "echoes" of living things in the Ethereal, every deer doesn't have a copy waiting for it, and you won't run into your twin if you pop over for a visit. Even trees and plants don't echo themselves on the plane, though they still exist there, a sickly rubbery version that barely soaks up nutrients form a muted dull sun.
There are creatures that exist, or, due to the shared location nature between it and the Prime Material, partially exist on the Ethereal Plane. Mostly these are unintelligent creatures, though the Phase Tiger exists partially on that plane. The biggest "population" that interacts with the Prime Material plane however are the incorporeal undead. Ghosts and Wraiths exist there and, on occasion and through a strong sense of will, can project themselves into Deminar.
The moniker of echo also applies to some of the structures that appear in the Ethereal. It seems anything with a strong emotional resonance with a large group of people will appear as a slightly twisted reflection in the Ethereal. Towns that were brutally razed and burned down may appear as ever burning buildings, a castle that is home to a benevolent and much loved noble may appear, taller and more opulent, upon the Plane. Even natural places, like an elven wood, may appear, though often the "trees" that show up on the Ethereal aren't real trees, just unliving reflections of them. These places can stand long after their originals are gone in Deminar, depending how strongly they meant to people and how many people were affected by them. As time wears on, however, and people forget about such places, they will simply disappear off the Ethereal.
Mortals from Deminar can enter the Ethereal if they choose to, through planar portals and gates. Also, due to the Planes sharing space, there are places where the thin gossamer veil that separates the two grows weak and one can invertible stumble into the Ethereal without meaning to. And, unfortunately, it is not always a two way street. Many have become trapped in the Ethereal, prey to the beings that inhabit it or constantly looking for a way back to Deminar. Those who visit would find the Plane slightly cold, but holding a consistent temperature no matter where they go, even in the presence of fire or lava (though those things would still burn flesh). The dull gray sky and surroundings often bring a sense of melancholy and depression to those that walk among it, but these are not supernatural factors, just a general morose that all beings get when deprived of color and sunlight.
The Plane is confounding and aggravating to the Gods for it is the one plane they cannot interact with. No God may visit the plane, not emissaries from the god of Death may retrieve the souls that exist there as ghosts, no Outsider of any kind, formed of soulstuff can enter the Ethereal and the Gods haven't a clue why and the fact that mortals can do it, angers them to no end.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Musing: The Planes, Part III: Questions and Answers
My talk about the planes brought up a few questions by one of my faithful readers who wanted more information about how I perceive that the planes work, so, I figured, for a fun post, let's do a Q&A:
Q. Given the needed propulsion, would it be possible to, say, write my name on the sky?
I'm assuming he means on the planar edge of the prime material, or, for that matter, any planar border and the answer is no.
The Domains of the gods in the Astral Plane have little to no border between them and the Astral Sea they float in, as one floats through the Astral and comes up a Domain, it begins to dominant their relative horizon until eventually you fall into that Domain and are no longer in the Astral. It's a smooth transition, there is no "pop" or cue that signifies you're in a Domain, it's much like leaving Earth's atmosphere and entering space. Scientists settled on a "line" that separates the two, but it's not a physical separation you feel, it's just an imaginary line they all agreed upon. The same is true for the separation of Domains and the Astral, so there is no physical line to write on, anymore then you could do so on the Kármán line.
The Prime Material Plane is separated from the Astral by the Elemental Planes, these planes form a sort of shell around it, one part to have all the building blocks of Deminar readily available and one part to make it difficult for something from the Astral to wander into the Prime Material. Whatever constructed the Prime Materiel as a source of mortal life wanted to make sure it wasn't easily destroyed by beings from Beyond, and thus the Elemental Planes serve as a good barrier. And while you enter an Elemental Plane the same as you would a Domain from the Astral, you have to travel through a lot of Elemental to get to the Prime Material, and many planes are almost impossibly large, near infinite, so strolling across them from one "end" to the other is no simple journey.
The barrier between the Elemental and Prime is an actual barrier however, to stop all the Elemental stuff from constantly seeping in, but this is a Planar Barrier and is more metaphysical then physical. It exists, there is "something" there, but it's not like a hard shell or crystal sphere, it's just something stopping you from entering the Elemental Planes and stop them from entering the Prime Material.
There are holes in this Barrier, one into each of the six Elementals that allowed all that building material into the Prime to build Deminar in the first place. Some of these breaches are visible, the one into the Elemental Plane of Fire is the "Sun" which all of Deminar sees, the two "moons" are simply light reflected off the Elemental Planes of Earth and Water. There are breaches into Air, Positive, and Negative too, but those are not visible from Deminar's surfaces (thought there are claim that islands floating around the north pole of Deminar can see a radiant light show brilliance at night sometimes, possible a window in the the Elemental Plane of Positive Energy. These breaches are like that which separates the Astral from Domains, in that someone from Deminar could, in theory, fly into them and enter an Elemental Plane. However, much like earth's magnetic field, the Planar Barrier that separates the Prime from the Elementals gives off an energy that, even at its breaches still holds back stuff from tumbling into the Prime, though I wouldn't recommend getting close to the breach of the Elemental Plane of Fire without some sunscreen, cause the heat given off from it can still be felt (and indeed is felt all the way to the surfaces of Deminar)
The separation between the Prime and Ethereal is gossamer thin, which is why ghosts and such can still be seen if you know how to look, but, you can't simply pass through it, as the two planes exist in the exact same spot. Though, given the right circumstances, the veil could be thin enough that people from the Prime Material could suddenly find themselves in the Ethereal, it would make for a good adventure start at the very least.
As for what separates the Astral and the "Nothing" or Shadow Plane, well, no one, divine or otherwise, as been to the "edge" of the Astral Sea, so no one knows.
Q. Could I make an awesome shot and launch something into another plane through the sun, or a moon?
See the above discussion about the "length" of the Elemental Planes, something could eventually reach the edge and wind up in the Astral Plane, but that would have to be a helluva throw, and you have to hope nothing blocks it along the way (or it's not vaporized, crushed, dissipated, or any of the other dangerous things that can happen in those planes)
Q. Do jerk beings on other planes throw their trash into Deminar?
Well the Domains don't have trash, things on those planes (planar creatures included) are made from "soulstuff" and revert back to soulstuff upon being destroyed or "killed." This then gets recycled back into the Domain to be used again as needed. Though if the thing is destroyed in another Domain, say some Angels "killed" while attacking our version of Hell, the place they fall gets the "soulstuff" instead of the original owner, which is why gods are hesitant to send armies invading other Domains, it's just a good way to make a different Domain stronger. If they did have some other form of "trash" that was not soulstuff convertible, they'd have to get it through all the barriers talked about above to get to the Prime Material. One can circumvent that by opening up Planar Gates and Portals, but it's not worth the energy or effort to do so, so you probably won't find a lot of divine trash in Deminar.
Q. Given the needed propulsion, would it be possible to, say, write my name on the sky?
I'm assuming he means on the planar edge of the prime material, or, for that matter, any planar border and the answer is no.
The Domains of the gods in the Astral Plane have little to no border between them and the Astral Sea they float in, as one floats through the Astral and comes up a Domain, it begins to dominant their relative horizon until eventually you fall into that Domain and are no longer in the Astral. It's a smooth transition, there is no "pop" or cue that signifies you're in a Domain, it's much like leaving Earth's atmosphere and entering space. Scientists settled on a "line" that separates the two, but it's not a physical separation you feel, it's just an imaginary line they all agreed upon. The same is true for the separation of Domains and the Astral, so there is no physical line to write on, anymore then you could do so on the Kármán line.
The Prime Material Plane is separated from the Astral by the Elemental Planes, these planes form a sort of shell around it, one part to have all the building blocks of Deminar readily available and one part to make it difficult for something from the Astral to wander into the Prime Material. Whatever constructed the Prime Materiel as a source of mortal life wanted to make sure it wasn't easily destroyed by beings from Beyond, and thus the Elemental Planes serve as a good barrier. And while you enter an Elemental Plane the same as you would a Domain from the Astral, you have to travel through a lot of Elemental to get to the Prime Material, and many planes are almost impossibly large, near infinite, so strolling across them from one "end" to the other is no simple journey.
The barrier between the Elemental and Prime is an actual barrier however, to stop all the Elemental stuff from constantly seeping in, but this is a Planar Barrier and is more metaphysical then physical. It exists, there is "something" there, but it's not like a hard shell or crystal sphere, it's just something stopping you from entering the Elemental Planes and stop them from entering the Prime Material.
There are holes in this Barrier, one into each of the six Elementals that allowed all that building material into the Prime to build Deminar in the first place. Some of these breaches are visible, the one into the Elemental Plane of Fire is the "Sun" which all of Deminar sees, the two "moons" are simply light reflected off the Elemental Planes of Earth and Water. There are breaches into Air, Positive, and Negative too, but those are not visible from Deminar's surfaces (thought there are claim that islands floating around the north pole of Deminar can see a radiant light show brilliance at night sometimes, possible a window in the the Elemental Plane of Positive Energy. These breaches are like that which separates the Astral from Domains, in that someone from Deminar could, in theory, fly into them and enter an Elemental Plane. However, much like earth's magnetic field, the Planar Barrier that separates the Prime from the Elementals gives off an energy that, even at its breaches still holds back stuff from tumbling into the Prime, though I wouldn't recommend getting close to the breach of the Elemental Plane of Fire without some sunscreen, cause the heat given off from it can still be felt (and indeed is felt all the way to the surfaces of Deminar)
The separation between the Prime and Ethereal is gossamer thin, which is why ghosts and such can still be seen if you know how to look, but, you can't simply pass through it, as the two planes exist in the exact same spot. Though, given the right circumstances, the veil could be thin enough that people from the Prime Material could suddenly find themselves in the Ethereal, it would make for a good adventure start at the very least.
As for what separates the Astral and the "Nothing" or Shadow Plane, well, no one, divine or otherwise, as been to the "edge" of the Astral Sea, so no one knows.
Q. Could I make an awesome shot and launch something into another plane through the sun, or a moon?
See the above discussion about the "length" of the Elemental Planes, something could eventually reach the edge and wind up in the Astral Plane, but that would have to be a helluva throw, and you have to hope nothing blocks it along the way (or it's not vaporized, crushed, dissipated, or any of the other dangerous things that can happen in those planes)
Q. Do jerk beings on other planes throw their trash into Deminar?
Well the Domains don't have trash, things on those planes (planar creatures included) are made from "soulstuff" and revert back to soulstuff upon being destroyed or "killed." This then gets recycled back into the Domain to be used again as needed. Though if the thing is destroyed in another Domain, say some Angels "killed" while attacking our version of Hell, the place they fall gets the "soulstuff" instead of the original owner, which is why gods are hesitant to send armies invading other Domains, it's just a good way to make a different Domain stronger. If they did have some other form of "trash" that was not soulstuff convertible, they'd have to get it through all the barriers talked about above to get to the Prime Material. One can circumvent that by opening up Planar Gates and Portals, but it's not worth the energy or effort to do so, so you probably won't find a lot of divine trash in Deminar.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Musings: The Planes, Part II: The Other Planes
So, as I stated before, the Plane in which Deminar rests, usually called the Material or Prime Material Plane sits in the middle of an infinite Astral Sea (yes, that's physically and mathematically impossible, but the planes don't conform to Newtonian Physics now do they?), however, the Plane doesn't not sit there alone. The Prime Material was constructed out of the six Fundamental Elements, Fire, Earth, Water, Wind, Positive Energy, and Negative Energy. These six Planes surround the Plane in which Deminar sits, with the Positive and Negative Energy one being on the top and bottom of a metaphysical sphere and the other four surrounding and encasing it. The sun the people of Deminar see is nothing more then the planar tear to the Elemental Plane of Fire used to ferry material into the Material Plane, Deminar's two moons are the Elemental Plane of Fire's reflection off the planar tears into the Plane of Earth and Water, and a tear exists into the other three Elemental Planes (Air, Positive and Negative Energy) but those cannot be seen. In theory, if one could travel far enough off the surface of Deminar's islands, they could pass through these tears and into the Elemental Planes (and indeed, many elemental creatures have passed through them), though they are all pretty hostile to most life that came to be on the Material Plane, as they consist of one type of elemental instead of the mix of all that most Prime Material beings need to function. Even the Positive Energy Plane would fill a creature so full of life energy they'd explode into a ball of radiance, and the Negative Energy plane would quickly suck the life force out of anything that resided in it for too long.
The Prime Material is not alone, however, for existing in the same space, yet in another Plane is the Ethereal Plane, a sort of "planar echo" of the Prime Material. Here, the world looks much as it does on Deminar, however most things are muted and gray. Not everything that exists on Deminar exists here, there are no copies of living things, for instance, but anything that hold particularly strong emotional resonance appears in the Ethereal Plane, even after it may have disappeared on Deminar. An old building that touched a lot of lives may have a pale echo on this plane, or a nonliving semblance of a forest that was particularly important to a clan of Halflings may stand in the Ethereal whereas it was cut down long ago on Deminar. No living thing leaves a true living echo on the Ethereal however, no matter how important a King or Warrior was revered, he, nor an echo or nonliving semblance ever shows up on the Ethereal. However, some people, who felt that, even after death, still had a strong emotional attachment to something on Deminar will find their souls roaming the Ethereal as ghosts instead of passing to a Domain. These beings sometimes find a way to manifest partially back on the Material Plane, allowing for the ghosts many people see on Deminar. Rumors of other intangible creatures being from the Ethereal and manifesting on Deminar (such as the Phase Tiger), much like ghosts is also a theory some scholars have. The biggest feature about the Ethereal Plane is, however, the fact that the gods can in no way manipulate or even send envoys to it (which is why they don't simply puck up all the souls of spirits and ghosts and get them to their proper Domain.) This intrigues the gods to no end and they believe that the Ethereal Plane is a subconscious shared construct of all living things and they work tirelessly to figure out a way to turn that power to themselves and their own advantage.
The Prime Material is not alone, however, for existing in the same space, yet in another Plane is the Ethereal Plane, a sort of "planar echo" of the Prime Material. Here, the world looks much as it does on Deminar, however most things are muted and gray. Not everything that exists on Deminar exists here, there are no copies of living things, for instance, but anything that hold particularly strong emotional resonance appears in the Ethereal Plane, even after it may have disappeared on Deminar. An old building that touched a lot of lives may have a pale echo on this plane, or a nonliving semblance of a forest that was particularly important to a clan of Halflings may stand in the Ethereal whereas it was cut down long ago on Deminar. No living thing leaves a true living echo on the Ethereal however, no matter how important a King or Warrior was revered, he, nor an echo or nonliving semblance ever shows up on the Ethereal. However, some people, who felt that, even after death, still had a strong emotional attachment to something on Deminar will find their souls roaming the Ethereal as ghosts instead of passing to a Domain. These beings sometimes find a way to manifest partially back on the Material Plane, allowing for the ghosts many people see on Deminar. Rumors of other intangible creatures being from the Ethereal and manifesting on Deminar (such as the Phase Tiger), much like ghosts is also a theory some scholars have. The biggest feature about the Ethereal Plane is, however, the fact that the gods can in no way manipulate or even send envoys to it (which is why they don't simply puck up all the souls of spirits and ghosts and get them to their proper Domain.) This intrigues the gods to no end and they believe that the Ethereal Plane is a subconscious shared construct of all living things and they work tirelessly to figure out a way to turn that power to themselves and their own advantage.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Musing: The Planes, Part 1: The Outer Planes
All this talk about gods and afterlife has the planes on my mind, so I might as well put some of it down to text, it's always nice to share after all.
The entire cosmology of everything exists within a vast darkness, this place, sometimes called The Plane of Shadow, due to the rare occurrence of when this dimension connects to Deminar via shadows, is actually a vast plane beyond all planes. It has always been there, long before Deminar or the domains of gods existed. The few people on Deminar who actually know about the planes, consider this vast plane a dimension of dark emptiness, there are others that claim this plane does indeed contain something that exists. The creatures known as Shadows are believed to come from there and many of the other creatures that do not seem to belong in nature are rumored to be sent by vast intelligent beings that dwell in the Plane of Shadow. Whether this is true or not, it is indeed a fact that all the planes, including the one in which Deminar exists floats amongst this inky blackness.
Many planes exist around Deminar, and all of them are suspended in the Astral Plane. Much like the island floats among the sky in Deminar, the planes float among the Astral Sea. It is a vast silvery mist in which nothing is tied down. Everything floats free, and it is easy to get lost as there are no permanent features. The openness allows for no constrains for growth and things that dwell within the Astral Plane can get quite big indeed.
Floating in the Astral Plane are the various Domains of the gods. Each major god has his own Domain and many lesser gods dwell alongside them. The Domains wax and wane in size as they collect more souls or are the subject of attacks from rivals. They are not permanently located in any one place and the only way to find them is to want to find them, such is the way of the Planes.
And, in the center of a place that has no center sits the Plane of Deminar, but it does not exist alone. Both encasing it, and existing along side it are several more planes. But such things are to be discussed at another time.
The entire cosmology of everything exists within a vast darkness, this place, sometimes called The Plane of Shadow, due to the rare occurrence of when this dimension connects to Deminar via shadows, is actually a vast plane beyond all planes. It has always been there, long before Deminar or the domains of gods existed. The few people on Deminar who actually know about the planes, consider this vast plane a dimension of dark emptiness, there are others that claim this plane does indeed contain something that exists. The creatures known as Shadows are believed to come from there and many of the other creatures that do not seem to belong in nature are rumored to be sent by vast intelligent beings that dwell in the Plane of Shadow. Whether this is true or not, it is indeed a fact that all the planes, including the one in which Deminar exists floats amongst this inky blackness.
Many planes exist around Deminar, and all of them are suspended in the Astral Plane. Much like the island floats among the sky in Deminar, the planes float among the Astral Sea. It is a vast silvery mist in which nothing is tied down. Everything floats free, and it is easy to get lost as there are no permanent features. The openness allows for no constrains for growth and things that dwell within the Astral Plane can get quite big indeed.
Floating in the Astral Plane are the various Domains of the gods. Each major god has his own Domain and many lesser gods dwell alongside them. The Domains wax and wane in size as they collect more souls or are the subject of attacks from rivals. They are not permanently located in any one place and the only way to find them is to want to find them, such is the way of the Planes.
And, in the center of a place that has no center sits the Plane of Deminar, but it does not exist alone. Both encasing it, and existing along side it are several more planes. But such things are to be discussed at another time.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Musing: The Mortal Perception of the Afterlife
A thought spinning off the Clerical Talks:
Despite the fact that a soul doesn't get a happy afterlife (as I talked about below) and instead is converted into "soulstuff" to be used as needed by a god, the gods don't let that fact out. It could bring about a sort of backlash if intelligent life found out it's just going to potentially be a chair (or anything else, even a powerful angel) with no recollection of its living life when it dies.
Like those devout on this planet, most species believe that when you die your soul goes to the afterlife of the god your worshiped or the afterlife of the god who's aspects your most exemplified and you spend eternity in paradise or nightmare in view of your god. Now, we don't know if that's true or not in real life, but that's what people believe, the same applies to Deminar.
Only in Deminar, WE know it's not true because we made the whole thing up, but the idea is that the gods won't let on to that in fear of losing worshipers. Even if a person doesn't worship anyone, they end up going to the domain of the god who most resembles how they lived their life. So if people found out they don't get any reward for living a good life, they'd mostly act like chaotic heathens (why's it matter what you do?!) and that would beef up the more chaotic and evil gods considerably, so gods don't let that fact out too often. Some of the chaotic gods try to, through their followers (since no god can directly interact with the world, remember?) but most other faiths consider that religious propaganda and don't buy it. If only they knew....
Despite the fact that a soul doesn't get a happy afterlife (as I talked about below) and instead is converted into "soulstuff" to be used as needed by a god, the gods don't let that fact out. It could bring about a sort of backlash if intelligent life found out it's just going to potentially be a chair (or anything else, even a powerful angel) with no recollection of its living life when it dies.
Like those devout on this planet, most species believe that when you die your soul goes to the afterlife of the god your worshiped or the afterlife of the god who's aspects your most exemplified and you spend eternity in paradise or nightmare in view of your god. Now, we don't know if that's true or not in real life, but that's what people believe, the same applies to Deminar.
Only in Deminar, WE know it's not true because we made the whole thing up, but the idea is that the gods won't let on to that in fear of losing worshipers. Even if a person doesn't worship anyone, they end up going to the domain of the god who most resembles how they lived their life. So if people found out they don't get any reward for living a good life, they'd mostly act like chaotic heathens (why's it matter what you do?!) and that would beef up the more chaotic and evil gods considerably, so gods don't let that fact out too often. Some of the chaotic gods try to, through their followers (since no god can directly interact with the world, remember?) but most other faiths consider that religious propaganda and don't buy it. If only they knew....
Friday, May 14, 2010
Musing: Gods Pt. 2 - The Dark Details
I mentioned in the last post a bunch of bits I needed explain further in this post, so, here's this post... still with me? Good!
I mentioned that the gods were quite content to let people slaughter one another in their name, even if the two sides are actually worshiping the same god. That has a lot to do about what a god gains by getting a soul sent to him.
Like many fantasy worlds, when an intelligent creature dies in Deminar, its soul separates from the body. From there, a courier from the Goddess of Death (or the Goddess herself if its a particularly important chap or she's just in the mood) comes to escort the soul to the domain of whichever god the person worshiped most in life or, whichever god has a aspect most closely attached to how that person lived his life. Here's where our afterlife differs pretty majorly though, once the soul gets to the proper domain it's reverted into the stuff that makes up the domain and is added to the god's homeland. In essence, a worshiper becomes the building block of a god's domain.
The god uses the soul stuff to grow out the size of his domain, craft all the things that exist on the domain, erect any defenses along the border, create their versions of angels or demons to go spy and fight against the servants of the other gods, make some new lawn furniture. Whatever the deity wants. Death in the game is pretty permanent, you only have so much time to bring a person back to life (the time it takes to get a soul to the proper domain, though this can take a while, as the Goddess has to figure out the right domain to send each soul to and make sure it gets there, the queue can get long, especially during wars) and you certainly won't run into the afterlife version of an old friend on a god's domain years later. There are cases where perhaps a god will let a soul retain its mortal memories before forging it into a herald or something similar to help spread the word of that god, but that's the exception, not the rule.
Having lots of souls, which means lots of soul stuff, is important so that the gods can grow their domains, sabotage the other gods, and shore up their defenses against their rivals. The gods are constantly jockeying for power and a god is the only thing that can kill another god (though it's not easy even then), so they can be very wary of one another as well.
So why not go down and slaughter all the faithful to build up a huge domain and launch an unsuspecting attack on all the other gods? Well, it's complicated, but I'll try to explain.
Firstly, the gods made a pact a long time ago that no fully divine being was allowed down on Deminar personally anymore and when gods make pacts signed in divine blood and what not, they must be followed. Second, you want worshipers or else you can die.
I mentioned that anyone can become a god and that's because that is how the divine nature of Deminar works. Worship equals divinity, and, with enough followers, everyone has the potential to become a deity. It all depends on how many followers you have. Sure, many adventurers are damn near worshiped in the towns they save from an evil menace, but that does spell divinity. At best, they might have a little more luck then the average person, but they're certainly not passing on into the domains of the gods, you need scores of people for that to happen.
The major gods, the ones that have been around since before any species rose to power on Deminar snagged the major aspects that would guarantee lots of worship, major concepts like Good and Evil, the various Seasons, Weather patterns, things like Fire and Water, things lots of different folk would pray for, and while they may just worship one of the several aspects a god represents, that's still worship and that grants power. The lesser gods, ones that were either mortals on Deminar at one time, or an outsider that somehow got linked to a certain aspect and worshiped, have a ton of followers, but not nearly as many as the major gods. The lesser gods sometimes take over an aspect held by a major god, a person or being might be linked to warfare enough that he becomes the god of war, stripping that aspect from the major god that held it. These lesser gods don't usually have a domain of their own, but instead, live on a domain of the major god that the lesser god would get along with the most, acting as a general in the greater gods army and helping to increase the major god's domain by adding the soul stuff of the lesser god's followers.
That doesn't mean a lesser god can't go out and make his own domain, but that domain is generally very small compared to the major gods and easily taken out by a major god. In fact, many major gods will kill an unprotected lesser god and destroy his domain, then take on the role of that lesser god so that followers are funneled into his domain. So why keep lesser gods around at all? Why not invite them into your domain, then slaughter them to take over their followers? One, do that enough and the lesser gods may join together to take out a major god as a threat and two, having lesser gods around as high end cannon fodder in case your domain is attacked is always a good idea.
So the best way to weaken a god, so that you can take over his aspects and grow stronger, would be to lessen his worship on Deminar. The flip side is you can't do this by having your faithful go out and slaughter your rival's faithful, because doing so only makes the rival's domain stronger, and sometimes slaying faithful can actually make the faith stronger. So it's a delicate balance of keeping a rival's worship base low, while not building his domain through deaths, all the while keeping a good balance of living worshipers for power and dead one for domain building.
As you can no doubt tell, the realm of the gods is very political, with everyone thinking several steps ahead and using all manner of underhanded tricks, backstabs, alliances, betrayals, and backdoor deals to secure their own power and crush everyone elses.
I mentioned that the gods were quite content to let people slaughter one another in their name, even if the two sides are actually worshiping the same god. That has a lot to do about what a god gains by getting a soul sent to him.
Like many fantasy worlds, when an intelligent creature dies in Deminar, its soul separates from the body. From there, a courier from the Goddess of Death (or the Goddess herself if its a particularly important chap or she's just in the mood) comes to escort the soul to the domain of whichever god the person worshiped most in life or, whichever god has a aspect most closely attached to how that person lived his life. Here's where our afterlife differs pretty majorly though, once the soul gets to the proper domain it's reverted into the stuff that makes up the domain and is added to the god's homeland. In essence, a worshiper becomes the building block of a god's domain.
The god uses the soul stuff to grow out the size of his domain, craft all the things that exist on the domain, erect any defenses along the border, create their versions of angels or demons to go spy and fight against the servants of the other gods, make some new lawn furniture. Whatever the deity wants. Death in the game is pretty permanent, you only have so much time to bring a person back to life (the time it takes to get a soul to the proper domain, though this can take a while, as the Goddess has to figure out the right domain to send each soul to and make sure it gets there, the queue can get long, especially during wars) and you certainly won't run into the afterlife version of an old friend on a god's domain years later. There are cases where perhaps a god will let a soul retain its mortal memories before forging it into a herald or something similar to help spread the word of that god, but that's the exception, not the rule.
Having lots of souls, which means lots of soul stuff, is important so that the gods can grow their domains, sabotage the other gods, and shore up their defenses against their rivals. The gods are constantly jockeying for power and a god is the only thing that can kill another god (though it's not easy even then), so they can be very wary of one another as well.
So why not go down and slaughter all the faithful to build up a huge domain and launch an unsuspecting attack on all the other gods? Well, it's complicated, but I'll try to explain.
Firstly, the gods made a pact a long time ago that no fully divine being was allowed down on Deminar personally anymore and when gods make pacts signed in divine blood and what not, they must be followed. Second, you want worshipers or else you can die.
I mentioned that anyone can become a god and that's because that is how the divine nature of Deminar works. Worship equals divinity, and, with enough followers, everyone has the potential to become a deity. It all depends on how many followers you have. Sure, many adventurers are damn near worshiped in the towns they save from an evil menace, but that does spell divinity. At best, they might have a little more luck then the average person, but they're certainly not passing on into the domains of the gods, you need scores of people for that to happen.
The major gods, the ones that have been around since before any species rose to power on Deminar snagged the major aspects that would guarantee lots of worship, major concepts like Good and Evil, the various Seasons, Weather patterns, things like Fire and Water, things lots of different folk would pray for, and while they may just worship one of the several aspects a god represents, that's still worship and that grants power. The lesser gods, ones that were either mortals on Deminar at one time, or an outsider that somehow got linked to a certain aspect and worshiped, have a ton of followers, but not nearly as many as the major gods. The lesser gods sometimes take over an aspect held by a major god, a person or being might be linked to warfare enough that he becomes the god of war, stripping that aspect from the major god that held it. These lesser gods don't usually have a domain of their own, but instead, live on a domain of the major god that the lesser god would get along with the most, acting as a general in the greater gods army and helping to increase the major god's domain by adding the soul stuff of the lesser god's followers.
That doesn't mean a lesser god can't go out and make his own domain, but that domain is generally very small compared to the major gods and easily taken out by a major god. In fact, many major gods will kill an unprotected lesser god and destroy his domain, then take on the role of that lesser god so that followers are funneled into his domain. So why keep lesser gods around at all? Why not invite them into your domain, then slaughter them to take over their followers? One, do that enough and the lesser gods may join together to take out a major god as a threat and two, having lesser gods around as high end cannon fodder in case your domain is attacked is always a good idea.
So the best way to weaken a god, so that you can take over his aspects and grow stronger, would be to lessen his worship on Deminar. The flip side is you can't do this by having your faithful go out and slaughter your rival's faithful, because doing so only makes the rival's domain stronger, and sometimes slaying faithful can actually make the faith stronger. So it's a delicate balance of keeping a rival's worship base low, while not building his domain through deaths, all the while keeping a good balance of living worshipers for power and dead one for domain building.
As you can no doubt tell, the realm of the gods is very political, with everyone thinking several steps ahead and using all manner of underhanded tricks, backstabs, alliances, betrayals, and backdoor deals to secure their own power and crush everyone elses.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Musing: Gods
Since this version of Deminar is much the same version of Deminar we wrote a while ago, just advanced (both in timeline and depth), the same ideals we had for deities are going to carry forward from the previous edition.
Yes, the setting has gods, we're not trying to break the mold so much and say, "people worship stuff, but there might not actually be gods, man we're deep!" There is indeed a pantheon out there that watches over Deminar, provides clerics with spells, and sits around waiting for the souls of the faithful to come to their planes in death.
However, there isn't a lot of gods, not like Forgotten Realms where every race and culture has their own pantheon (last I checked, I believe FR has 13,571 official gods, all with stats so you can kill them to fulfill some ego filled power trip), but a more respectable number of gods watching over what goes on among the floating islands. Of course, if you went about asking the various species and cultures and islands about the gods they worship and compile a list of everyone's responses, you'd find out hundreds of gods are being worshiped on a daily basis.
How is that possible? Well, remember that many of these islands have not had contact with one another in generations and even among species that intermingle with one another (and the vast majority don't), each species has its own culture and beliefs. What this boils down to is that different groups are worshiping the same gods under different aliases. A God of War may be worshiped under one name by the goblins, but something entirely different by humans and something entirely different by another clan of goblins on another island. Some might worship the valor and chivalrous aspects of war as one deity and the vicious conquering bloodthirsty aspect as another, even though its the same being. Religious wars are fought over the exact same god, hundreds have died that way, yet, the gods don't go about correcting everyone about it.
Why? Well, a few reasons, first, they've taken a more passive approach to Deminar, they don't go traipsing about in person on the islands (FR, looking at you kid!), and they're not big into the divine intervention all the time. They made a pact with one another not to get involved personally due to events in the long past that I may get around to discussing at some point. Second, a religious war fought between two sides of the same god sends all the faithful to the same god, and for the gods, the more souls you get to go to your domain, the better, though you also need to be careful to keep worshipers alive as well, again, for reasons best left for another post.
The gods are very standoffish in a lot of things, they do provide power to their clerics in return for said clerics spreading the word about them and gaining more worshipers, advertising is important down on the islands, but the gods are actually currently more concerned with what's going on within their own domains.
Also, our gods will never have stats, you can't kill them like you can a monster, by reducing their hp to 0, but you can get rid of them. Also, everyone has the potential to become a god, everyone, and this was long before 4th Edition came up with that Epic Destiny.
There really needs to be a second post about how the gods and afterlife work, I'll have to remember that!
Yes, the setting has gods, we're not trying to break the mold so much and say, "people worship stuff, but there might not actually be gods, man we're deep!" There is indeed a pantheon out there that watches over Deminar, provides clerics with spells, and sits around waiting for the souls of the faithful to come to their planes in death.
However, there isn't a lot of gods, not like Forgotten Realms where every race and culture has their own pantheon (last I checked, I believe FR has 13,571 official gods, all with stats so you can kill them to fulfill some ego filled power trip), but a more respectable number of gods watching over what goes on among the floating islands. Of course, if you went about asking the various species and cultures and islands about the gods they worship and compile a list of everyone's responses, you'd find out hundreds of gods are being worshiped on a daily basis.
How is that possible? Well, remember that many of these islands have not had contact with one another in generations and even among species that intermingle with one another (and the vast majority don't), each species has its own culture and beliefs. What this boils down to is that different groups are worshiping the same gods under different aliases. A God of War may be worshiped under one name by the goblins, but something entirely different by humans and something entirely different by another clan of goblins on another island. Some might worship the valor and chivalrous aspects of war as one deity and the vicious conquering bloodthirsty aspect as another, even though its the same being. Religious wars are fought over the exact same god, hundreds have died that way, yet, the gods don't go about correcting everyone about it.
Why? Well, a few reasons, first, they've taken a more passive approach to Deminar, they don't go traipsing about in person on the islands (FR, looking at you kid!), and they're not big into the divine intervention all the time. They made a pact with one another not to get involved personally due to events in the long past that I may get around to discussing at some point. Second, a religious war fought between two sides of the same god sends all the faithful to the same god, and for the gods, the more souls you get to go to your domain, the better, though you also need to be careful to keep worshipers alive as well, again, for reasons best left for another post.
The gods are very standoffish in a lot of things, they do provide power to their clerics in return for said clerics spreading the word about them and gaining more worshipers, advertising is important down on the islands, but the gods are actually currently more concerned with what's going on within their own domains.
Also, our gods will never have stats, you can't kill them like you can a monster, by reducing their hp to 0, but you can get rid of them. Also, everyone has the potential to become a god, everyone, and this was long before 4th Edition came up with that Epic Destiny.
There really needs to be a second post about how the gods and afterlife work, I'll have to remember that!
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Musing: Ogres
When we initially had our discussion about many of the species that inhabit Deminar, we started playing around with some of the "monster" species, in an attempt to give them some edges besides being just a bundle of stats with a familiar look.
Some stuff came spur of the moment, other stuff we had a few previous ideas about, and, for some reason, I have the Ogres on my mind and I feel I should put down my thoughts while I have them.
As previously mentioned, Ogres in Deminar are "...The result is a degenerate group of incestuous inbreeders, spawning no shortage of physical deformities and keeping the species mentally stunted." Ogres don't live in huge tribes, you'll never stumble upon an Ogre city, instead, family groups (often quite large and quite interbred) settle an area and stay there for a while, until they are driven off or inbreed themselves into oblivion (when genetic mutations just end in all still births). Ogres don't have a concept of community, instead it's a misguided concept of family. If two Ogre family groups come into contact they'll slaughter each other until only one group remains. Ogres also have no problem taking whatever they want from other intelligent species, including moving into a small hamlet and living there after killing (and possibly eating) its former inhabitants. They also enjoy killing things, with a mix of mental instability and that of a child who feels that surge of power all humans are guilty of when knowing their superiority over something else (most adults try to hide that though).
Now, looking at your standard LL description of the Ogre, we have this bit:
"Adult ogres stand 9 to 10 feet tall, and resemble big brutish humans. Their skin color ranges from dull yellow to dull brown. Their clothing consists of poorly cured furs and hides, which add to their naturally repellent odor."
And that immediately got me thinking about where the Ogres came from. What if Ogres are nothing more then the result of humans who didn't take as well to whatever horrid cataclysm struck Deminar? Humans that were affected the same way the world itself was, changed, most died, some managed to survive and, throughout the generations, became the Ogres we know and love today. The concepts of strong family and thrill of having dominance coming to the forefront of their brains and twisted into a meaning they could understand and accomplish. Oh, and let's not have a debate on if that means they're genetically close enough to mate with humans, no half-breeds! Besides, while I'm sure many Ogres have no problems raping humans (and many other species), I don't think the poor thing being raped would survive the process (and probably dying midway through wouldn't stop the Ogre, when I say they're degenerate, I mean it).
Also, yes, I see the Hills Have Eyes connections, thank you.
Some stuff came spur of the moment, other stuff we had a few previous ideas about, and, for some reason, I have the Ogres on my mind and I feel I should put down my thoughts while I have them.
As previously mentioned, Ogres in Deminar are "...The result is a degenerate group of incestuous inbreeders, spawning no shortage of physical deformities and keeping the species mentally stunted." Ogres don't live in huge tribes, you'll never stumble upon an Ogre city, instead, family groups (often quite large and quite interbred) settle an area and stay there for a while, until they are driven off or inbreed themselves into oblivion (when genetic mutations just end in all still births). Ogres don't have a concept of community, instead it's a misguided concept of family. If two Ogre family groups come into contact they'll slaughter each other until only one group remains. Ogres also have no problem taking whatever they want from other intelligent species, including moving into a small hamlet and living there after killing (and possibly eating) its former inhabitants. They also enjoy killing things, with a mix of mental instability and that of a child who feels that surge of power all humans are guilty of when knowing their superiority over something else (most adults try to hide that though).
Now, looking at your standard LL description of the Ogre, we have this bit:
"Adult ogres stand 9 to 10 feet tall, and resemble big brutish humans. Their skin color ranges from dull yellow to dull brown. Their clothing consists of poorly cured furs and hides, which add to their naturally repellent odor."
And that immediately got me thinking about where the Ogres came from. What if Ogres are nothing more then the result of humans who didn't take as well to whatever horrid cataclysm struck Deminar? Humans that were affected the same way the world itself was, changed, most died, some managed to survive and, throughout the generations, became the Ogres we know and love today. The concepts of strong family and thrill of having dominance coming to the forefront of their brains and twisted into a meaning they could understand and accomplish. Oh, and let's not have a debate on if that means they're genetically close enough to mate with humans, no half-breeds! Besides, while I'm sure many Ogres have no problems raping humans (and many other species), I don't think the poor thing being raped would survive the process (and probably dying midway through wouldn't stop the Ogre, when I say they're degenerate, I mean it).
Also, yes, I see the Hills Have Eyes connections, thank you.
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