World of Aeroch RPG. (Background and World Information thread. Open to all.

[Corgatha Taldorthar]

RACES
Hill Giants

Roughly nine to ten feet tall for males, and half a foot shorter for females, generally weigh close to a thousand pounds.

Organized into a loose confederation of tribes in the southwest nook of G'Hlang, (main continent)

About thirty known tribes. Most tribes have an average population of 500. Average lifespan of a Hill giant to natural causes is 160 years.

Few Hill Giants conform to the seven "main" religious organizations (more on that later) and usually worship spirits of a place or their ancestors. Primary occupations are herding large locks of sheep or goats. Clothes are generally wool and fur, and tend not to be well crafted. Generally aloof from the affairs of "little people" Giants do raid occasionally or more rarely trade with their neighbors, although their smaller neighbors often have things that the Hill giants want, such as fine textiles and (to them) exotic foods. Diet is largely dairy, some cereals, tubers are also a reasonably common food. No fish, meat tends to be very rare, only eaten on special occasions and the like. Tend to simply sprawl out in the open, and ignore the weather. They have rough and callous skin because of this, and generally are immune to normal extremes of temperature (things like direct fire or magical cold will still easily hurt them however)

The clan exerts but a weak pull on the actions of Hill Giants, whose primary mode of "governance" is the family. Most clans are officially run by a council of the ten oldest matriarchs. Almost all clans have a single shaman, who also wields a good deal of influence. There are usually 2-3 apprentice shaman too, who are not considered as wise as the real shaman, but due to their magic, have some power in the tribe. All Shaman are males.

Generally do not get along with civilized species. Are not opposed to dealing on an individual basis, but the idea of normalized relations is not a comfortable one to them

Generally, in combat, giants will hurl boulders or close with their fists. They love weapons but have trouble finding them in their size, and generally are not good crafters, (among other things, they have no knowledge of metalworking.) Might use improvised weapons such as large tree branches if available.

Pending a very good reason, I would like to forbid the use of Giant NPCs.

ORCS
Orcs are generally from four and a half to five and a half feet tall, of equal height between males and females, although males tend to be more muscular. Average weight is about 140 pounds, and the average lifespan is some sixty years.

There are three major ethnicities of orcs, based on skin color. It is unclear whether there was some sort of progenital difference or if it was an adaptation to their various environments. All orcs generally view their own ethnicity as the prime example of Orchood, and don't get along with each other too well.  The primary orc Deity is Ethra-Naish, (Death) although forms of worship vary greatly over ethnicity and moderately over region within that ethnicity. The orcs are a unified species, but interracial births are *highly* frowned upon, and the offspring are usually killed if discovered.
The three ethnicities are
Greenskins-Forest orcs
Greyskins-Mountain orcs
Pinkskins-Sea orcs.

Greenskins
The Greenskins are the most reclusive of the orcs, dwelling in their villages in the deep woods, living mostly on hunting and gathering. They prefer fighting at a distance, and battle/war among them is essentially hunting people instead of animals. Prefer use of bows, but often only have slings. They interact little with the outside world other than elves, whom they share a primeval forest with, and the mountain orcs, whom they attack with some frequency. They do have organized trade with the elves, although groups not designated as merchants (and even a few groups if nobody is around and they think they can get away with it) run the risk of being attacked, robbed, turned over to the priests and ritually sacrificed. They tend not to wear clothing, with the chiefs and priests generally wearing some sort of jewelry or headdress.
Each tribe is lead by a war chief,  who holds near absolute power. Chosen by a ritual hunt, in which all the contestants go out into the forest alone and come back within three days with the biggest animal they can kill. No formal method for deposing a leader, but generally if hunts have been going poorly or the chief makes an absurdly stupid decision, he'll be deposed. Greenskin priests provide some magical ability to their people, generally specializing in making of potions and poison. Religion to them focuses around sacrificing of animals and sapients, who are then burned (to separate it from hunting)

Tribes generally range from 100 to 850 individuals
Total Greenskin population around 400,000

Greyskins

The orcs of the mountains, tend to be taller and leaner than other orcs. Unlike the Greenskins, they tend to interact with their local neighbors, although raids are more common than peaceful contact. While superficially resembling the greenskins in clan structure, greyskin priests wield far more power than their chiefs, whose duties are largely ceremonial. Religion for Greyskins is a priestly activity; they generally don't go around haranguing the common orcs to do stuff, other than provide food and support for the priest. Economically, they do some herding, but live mostly off of indigenous crops, various fungi for the most part. Most live in caves. They have some mining, with deposits of copper, tin, iron, and silver in their territories, along with the scattered gemstone deposit. Greyskins do not have the metallurgical knowledge to purify iron or to mold it, but can recognize the stuff and are perfectly willing to sell it to outsiders. Clothing tends towards rawhide for the poor and imported leather for the wealthy. Magic is fairly common, but low level stuff. primarily minor divinations and illusions. Greyskin orcs favor staffs and clubs as weapons, usually studded with bronze nails.

Tribal size is usually 100-850, with maybe a total population of 700,000
Pinkskins
Live on a scattering of small islands south of the main continent of G'Hlang, most of which are about 20 square miles in area. (I'll draw a map, but I'm warning you guys, I have NO graphical skills whatsoever, so be prepared for the map to be terrible.) Generally, each island is an independent political unit, with some city on the coast and the rest of the land semi-rural. Generally about 10,000 orcs to an island. Pink orcs generally get along with outsiders, and their worship of Ethra-Naish focuses more on the mystery of death and the afterlife than on ritual murder or sacrifice like their cousins.
Politically, most islands are technically ruled by some sort of hereditary king-chief, but in actuality, merchant guilds tend to wield most of the economic power and thus political influence of the islands they're on. Generally each island focuses on a trade or two, and trade to acquire what they lack.  Diet is primarily seafood, although grains and fruit are also eaten widely. Pinkskin orcs like meat, but usually only the wealthier can afford it. Due to the high amount of trade and cosmopolitan nature of Pinkskin society, all sorts of clothing styles can be evident, with what is worn largely being restricted by the budget of the purchaser. Pinkskin orc cities also tend to maintain reasonable colonies of non-orcs living there, usually for business reasons.

Strategically important industries, mostly shipbuilding, but also weaponcrafting and magic, are duplicated on every island with the wealth to procure them. Pinkskins show little natural aptitude for magic, but have formalized colleges to teach it, resulting in very dexterous, if not brutally powerful, mages. (More on the magic system later). Pinkskins are among the best shipbuilders in the world, and are competant enough sailors to tack into the wind.  Generally, pinkskins avoid fighting if they can (bad for business) but when they do fight, tend to conscript all able bodied on their islands and hurl themselves at foes. They don't really maintain professional armies, and prefer their wars short and violent.  There are rumors that the orcs have managed to tame some of the more vicious beasts that live on some of the more remote islands, but nobody has ever been able to confirm this.

Technologically, the Pinkskins are as advanced as anyone else, (roughly a 14th century Europe model) and work iron very well. Some of the more powerful cities will have alchemically enhanced weapons, at least for their elite forces. Private citizens would need a permit to carry an alchemically enchanted weapon.

Total Pinkskin population, around 6 and a half million, scattered over perhaps 100 small islands

Humans. You all know what humans are like, I hope. I'll get more into their political and religious attributes on the sections on poltics and religion respectively. Gathered together (many human states.) there are perhaps 12 million humans.

Dwarves. Dwarves tend to stand between 4-5 feet tall, with stocky, muscular frames. Both males and females possess facial hair. Average lifespan about 300 years.

Politically, each dwarf is born into one of twenty five clans. Each clan is ruled by an absolute monarch, passed down from oldest son to oldest son. The twenty five clan kings elect one of their number to be the overking, who then passes his crown to his oldest son, or his oldest surviving brother if he has no direct heir.  Clan kings have absolute authority within the realm of their own clans affairs, and the Overking has absolute authority when it comes to inter-clan dealings or with outsiders.

Dwarves tend to be stay at homes, and while they have extensive trade with outsiders, most of that trade takes place in or near dwarven territories.  Dwarven diet tends heavily towards mushrooms of various sorts, the only thing that they can grow in their subterranian habitats. They also import grain and roots, as well as all of their clothing. Dwarven dress tends towards the modest, sturdy, and practical.  Common dwarven trades are mining and smithing. While not magically apt, indeed, dwarven priests are one of the few species to show no magic whatsoever, their abilities to work metal is kind of an innate magic, and their craftsmanship can rival any magic user. Whispers abound of Dwarves hoarding special metals that only they use. The dwarves have some knowledge of shipbuilding, but their craft tend to be mostly coastal jetties and not very sturdy.

Dwarves tend to fight in heavy armor and with axes and hammers.

Total Dwarven population is slightly under 1 million.

Elves
Elves tend to be tall, dark haired and lithe, standing on average 5'9-6' and weighing about 130 for males, with females being a bit smaller and lighter. Generally live for around a thousand years, but reach physical maturity at around thirty.

Aside from the dwarves,  the elves live in the most regimented and structured society on the planet. While politically loose, with no real system of government beyond the local, either villiage or city, and a kind of loose, swiss like confederation of states for mutual support and defense. However, in personal life, elves adhere to a strict caste system, pertaining occupation, mode of speech, who one is allowed to socialize with, and how many children one may have.

Only members of a Greeter Caste are allowed to do business with non elves. (Some of the more conserative communities will not deal with elves from other birthplaces except through Greeters) Have an uneasy relationship with the Greenskin orcs, but do trade with them, often for potions and the like. Because of their caste system, the elves maintain the only professional military in the known world, and are devastatingly effective. Elves fight with bows and are very adept with magic, especially nature based magic, both due to some natural affinity and because of long years of practice. They do maintain some cavalry, although nobody seems to know where they get their horses........

Elven diet is primarily fruit, roots, and some imported grain. Elves do a lot of woodcarving, and their boatsmanship is slightly above average. The main export out of the elven forest are high quality items and artwork.

Some elves rebel against the caste system and go "rogue". An elf of any caste other than a soldier subcaste will avoid all contact possible with a rogue, (barring other rogues themselves) Soldiers will kill rogues as soon as they believe they can get away with it. Rogue elves generally flee elven communities, and avoid strangers, especially strangers who don't talk to anyone...............

Total elven population around 850,000.
Exotics.
Not really a species per se, Exotics are a general term for creatures descended from some sort of union facilitated by magic. (Nobody knows how to do such crossbreeding today. All Exotic lineages are at least a thousand years from the crossing over) They are always bipedal, and run the gamut in height, weight, body hair/fur etc. Generally, but not always, some sort of humanoid/animal crossover. Most common are lizardmen, but also common are cats, dogs, elephants, beavers, weasels, and mice. Exotics generally have few traits in common with their "animal" ancestor, other than perhaps sensory adaptations (cat people can hear well and see better in the dark) and tastes for food.

Exotics are the most magical species, surpassing even the elves, but their magical usage tends to be more along the lines of instinctive and undisciplined.  With one exception (covered in political section) Exotics are fragmented, and seminomadic. There are no homelands, unified codes of dress, diets, modes of speech, nothing. Generally travel in small bands from host community to host community, trying to stay away from waves of bigotism. (Exotics are generally not well recieved, especially in more backwater areas) They do tend to congregate around larger cities however.

Many exotics go into mercanary businesses, both because they tend to display aptitude for that sort of thing and for reasons of personal protection and not having a community.

There are maybe 650,000 Exotics, although nobody really does population counts.

***********************************************************************
Religion
Passage, "Beginnings" from the Book of Time.

And so it was, that in Aeroch, the center of worlds, that there was creation, and life. The Gods strode amongst this new wonder, and marveled at how the land spit forth greenery, and how beasts and men walked amongst it in contentment. And each God spoke unto his fellow and said, "This part of abundance I like, and this I mislike, and I shall take a sample of this world to bring to my own realm for preservation Eternal." And the Gods did take that which was pleasing to them.

And the Gods then spoke again to one another and said. "This world of Aeroch is holy, for it is the First World, the world that was not born of our Will. And the Gods placed mighty Guardians around the waist of Aeroch, to protect it from harm." For they decided that it was not good that this world, which had borne life, should fall into the shadow of the created worlds, and so it was that each God came to choose a Race of intelligence, and made them his people, and guided and taught them.

And Laurros, Lord of the Sun spoke and said "Behold, these people called humans are pleasing to me, for they are clever and adaptive, quick to grab at opportunities, and I shall protect and guide them."

And Ethra-Naish, King of the still silences said "Behold, these people called Orcs are fair to my eye, dour and stolid, serious in all things, and I shall rule over them and shelter them"

And Tzeleran, Exemplar of Passion said "Behold, there are creations not of natural law, of unions most theurgic between beasts and men, and these have my favor, for they cling to life despite their obstacles. And I shall empower them and find them favor."

And Carrunos, Upholder of Nature, said "Behold there are a people called elves, and they are long lived and do not stray from their boundaries, masters of the hunt, and they find my favor, and I shall provide for them and will multiply their numbers.

And Krannorn, the Pillar of the Earth said "Behold, there are a creation called the dwarves, sturdy and diligent, and their work endears themselves to me, and I shall guide them to my most secret places where they shall prosper.

And Camulous, Scion of Frenzy said. "Behold, there is a race most superior to my eyes, large, strong and fierce both in prowess and passion, and I shall choose them, and push their madnesses further, and they shall be called the Giants."

And so all the Gods had chosen, and they elected themselves to rule this world jointly, to promote fairness and goodness for all, that the realms of each might prosper through contact.

But it came to pass that this did not happen. Jealousies arose betwixt the Gods, and instead of working for the greater good, they quarreled. And Laurros strove with Ethra-Naish, and Tzeleran quarreled with Carrunos, and Krannorn battled with Camulos. And horrors were unleashed upon the fair First World, and lo, the Guardians broke with the Gods.

But then a Salvation arose. From across the Sea, Jerrel, the fair, the mighty, the just came. And he spoke slightingly to his fellow Gods and said "Fie you fools, your pointless strife unmakes all you hoped to achieve. Ye shalt not prosper from contact, but shall ye ever fight to impose your will upon the others, for you are all limited, but believe not in such limitations.  Ye must depart this place, and rule at a distance, so that  this world might actually be a beacon to the others of light and goodness." And the other Gods swallowed their grumbles and heeded the words of Jerrel, and departed forevermore.

But Camulos and Tzeleran were most displeased with what had transcribed, even more than their siblings, and said slightingly unto Jerrel "Behold, though we bow to your will in this case, we do not trust you. And if it shall ever come to pass that our suspicions bear fruit, and that you wish to have your children dominate this most sacred of worlds, than we shall oppose you, even unto our own destruction. You too, must come away with us, to mind your own domains without interfering in this world.

And the Gods departed, and their people wept.


Although each God has chosen a people as his favorite, it is not to say that religion is exclusively divided by species. Furthermore, belief in the existance of the Seven is almost universal. Worship tends more towards adopting a specific God as one's patron, as a beacon to how to live one's life and a spiritual guide for the soul in the afterlife. Religion is also aided by the priests generally having genuine magical powers, although the skeptics will tell you that they're using more ordinary magical techniqes and that there isn't anything special to priestly magic. However, the obvious supernatural power that the clerics control means that the general rank and file people of Aeroch are reasonably devout, and provide the churches with gifts and support, making the clergy generally a major factor in any political map.

************************************************************************

A crude map. Sorry it's not perfect, but it should serve to get a general idea of what the world looks like. 

***********************************************************************


Political units in Aeroch.

Note, there are many independent cities and townships that are not within any national units borders. The primary limiting factor for the size of these political units is the ability for thee central government to control its own borders. A feudal system is nominally in place in all the states, although only in Fyrdwell is something like this strictly adhered to. In the other countries, the central government is far more prevalent. Only the Humans and Orcs have a national system. All of the classical fantasy (think D&D) monsters exist, and while they do exist inside country borders, they are generally hunted down and killed as best as the governments are able.

Non national areas.

As you might realize, not all of the regions are in the black border lines of a nation. That is not to say these areas are unsettled. Generally, independent cities and small towns dot the map (With two exceptions I don't label individual cities on the map, although I will be talking about some of them)  generally, small towns dot the landscape, much more frequently than large cities. Urban communities larger than 4,000 individuals are reasonably rare, although generally for each individual in a city, there are about 10 in scattered rural villages/farmsteads/ etc nearby.  Economically, lumber working and shipbuilding are very important activities, as a consequence of the use of rivers and sea to get from most places to each other and unless specified elsewhere, is a major part of the economy. Generally, monster attacks and troubles are far more frequent and dangerous outside national areas than inside them.


Northeast subcontinent continent of Leyrah

UnderHome. Not really a nation per say, rather a gathering place for the Dwarven clans. Whichever clan the Overking is from maintains a small presence in the region, with other Dwarven clans in the scattering mountains.  The "city" if it can be called that, has a fixed population of 5,000, with is maintained as closely as possible (accidental births and deaths can never be completely eliminated.) for obscure religious reasons.

Tolreram: A river trading nation, largely based around the Torle river, predominantly human, although with a small population of exotics, Torleram does brisk business with the dwarves, who generally lack the harborage and sea-skill to get their goods to market. There is a "king" who is elected by a council of the wealthier nobility for a period of five years at a time, whose general job is to ensure that trade flows freely. Aside from transporting dwarves gods, principal economic activity is growing of corn, and the herding of cattle, which the low plains are conducive towards. Imports are generally metals, especially dwarven work.   

The current king is Aryelar, a fiftyish year old sea merchant prince (whispered to be a pirate, although not in his hearing), who still runs the business while attending to his duties on behalf of the nation. Widower, with two children, although they are not very prominent or well known.  He is in his second term of office (re-elections are fairly common, if the guy is doing a good job), and is known for being a sharp bargainer and for penny pinching.

Total population: Around 1.25 million.

Major Cities.

Torlefach. Situated on the western end of the country, it is the largest city in the nation, enclosing some twenty five thousand citizens. It is a major port of export, as many of the goods that come through the country leave here for the sea. The city is heavily canalized, and it is fortified along the river and to the sea, albeit not extensively.


Ghezalar.

Situated on the east end of the country, right near the source of the Torle river. It is the capital city, although that doesn't mean much, except that the trade negotiations are conducted here which is why the king sets up shop in this city. Population is only about 6,000 mostly tending to the King, his retinue, the merchant leaders dealing business with the dwarves, and the people who tend to their needs.  Prices in the city are generally higher than almost anywhere else.


Crendar
Crendar is a relatively young nation, being forged in fire about 150 years before the present, through the conquest of independent cantons/towns/villages by a consortium of mages, mostly human and Exotics. By now, things are mostly settled down, and the populace has embraced the rule of the mages, largely because of the increased stability they provide. Crendar maintains the most significant population of Exotics in the lands, and is a nexus point for magical training and thought. Commercially, they do limited business with the dwarves and with the subcontinent of Farral, mostly for  magical components. They are somewhat paranoid, and try to maintain internal sufficiency in an economic sense. Their major export are minor magical goods, and magical soldiers to serve in other armies on a mercenary basis.

There is only one major city in Crendar, Ceverath. About 17,000 humans and 3,000 Exotics of various stripes reside there. It is home to the Catacombs, a massive underground magical facility/capital building, used to house and teach the new adepts in the use of magic. It is set up something like a magical university, and the Deans there (12 of them) are the unquestioned rulers of the nation.

Total population of Crendar is around 1 million humans and maybe a hundred thousand Exotics.



In the northern forests of the country, major enclaves of elves and forest orcs reside, although they are mostly stay at homes. As stated above, numerous villages, farms, towns, monsters, etc dot the areas outside of national borders.

Northwest subcontinent of Farral

Fyrdwell
Fyrdwell is a nation under siege. Bordered by giants to the southwest, grey orcs to the west, bog monsters to the east, and forest monsters to the northeast. It's highly martial, fortified to the teeth, and possesses a national character that can best be described as "paranoid". Partly because of the proliferation of fortresses, Fyrdwell is the only nation where the feudal institutions are followed in fact as well as law. The king is really nothing more than a glorified nobleman, and in reality wields little power.  Fyrdwell maintains little trade with the outside,  somewhat due to their national paranoia, but largely because they cannot secure access to a seaport, and most of their immediate neighbors are hostile.

As stated above, the crown of Fydrwell is largely an empty title.  Currently, the king is Ad Tar Gethros, who has held the crown for close to ten years. He has no heir, and is likely to bequeath his crown to whichever nobleman shows the most skill in defending the borders.

There are no cities in Fyrdwell larger than 7,000 or so, most people live on small hamlets on the rivers.

Total population, around 2 million.

Sssthabesh

Sssthabesh is a reasonably large city state deep within the bogs in the eastern area of Farral. It is unique in Aeroch of being a political unit totally ruled by Exotics. It is dominated by lizard and amphibian based Exotics, who comprise around two thirds of the population. All other beings are welcome, although non-Exotics are generally treated as second class citizens. The city's population is about  14,000, and is one of the most magically concentrated places on the planet.  They maintain a lot of trade through the inner sea, and are generally tolerant of outsiders, albeit cold and superior. There is no real central government of the city state, and the city is almost subdivided by exotic sub-species. Generally, they get along pretty well without a strong government. For some reason, they are not bothered by the monsters that plague the bogs. Nobody seems to know why, least of all the citizens of Sssthabesh.

Subcontinent of Kywellethar.

Kherezar.
Although but a small city state, Kherezar is a powerful and influential nation. Situated on what is simply called The Basin, it commands a prominent part of where many of  Kwyellethar's rivers flow into the sea, and can earn a rich living taxing river tolls. Kherezar is easily the largest single city in Aeroch, with a population of close to 100,000. It's ruled over by a king Fendith Lora, who, though supposedly human, has been in office for nearly thee hundred years. Many rumors abound as to how the king has sustained his lifespan so far, and even some speculation that he has not, as the king is rarely seen by anyone, and never publicly leaves his palace. Despite whoever is or is not in charge, Kherezar is an advanced, cosmopolitan society, and is probably the single wealthiest state on Kwyellethar.

Population of the city (Both city and country are called Kherezar) is 100,000. The whole country is perhaps 1,000,000

Troog

Troog is the only nation of Pinkskin  Orcs on one of the subcontinents. (They mostly stick to the islands) Despite its relatively large size, it is a rather poor community, choked out of river trade by the stranglehold that Kherezar exerts. While poor, the orcs here are more vicious and militaristic than most of their kindred, and maintain if not a large or well equipped, at least a very well experienced and disciplined army; to maintain political, if not economic independence. They do some surface mining, and are advanced ironworkers. Most of the economy is fishing, and their major "export" if it can be said, are mercenary soldiers.


Total population is about 1.7 million.

Lelrath.

Lelrath isn't so much a nation as a confederation; mostly of little fishing towns and sea traders. While maintaining the largest population of any single nation in Aeroth, Lelrath has a hard time uniting on any single issue. About the only thing that differentiates Lelrath from non-national territory is the rule of law that spreads out about a hundred miles from the coastlines. Monsters are pretty generally hunted down and scattered. There is a bit of a rivalry between the towns on the sea and the towns near the rivers. Other than that, the biggest concern in the country is whether the trade winds will blow safely and insure the prosperity of the nation. Generally the coastal people are open and gregarious, more accepting of the outside, whereas the further inland you go, the more conservative, almost puritanical, the people get. Population is predominantly human, although Orcs (pinkskins that is) are fairly common sights. Despite its size, it's considered something of a weakling in the family of nations, and is generally regarded as irrelevant, to the eternal rankling of the Lelrathi.

Total population is about 3 million.

Pharnia

Pharnia is an odd nation. It's ruled from a reasonably large city on the coast named Jengli, by a court that resembles a madman's circus more than anything else. It's ruled by a ClownKing, named Perpentech at this time, who speaks in rhymes and riddles and issues obscure commands based on reasoning that nobody else seems privy to. Pharnians, excepting those within the inner circle of the court, live in a perpetual state of terror, because despite what madness the kings come out with, they have ways of enforcing their decrees, and there is never anything even resembling internal stability in the country. Most people avoid Pharnia at all costs, although there is a brisk trade in things like drugs, perfumes, medicine, etc. Furthermore, travelling caravans of Pharnian entertainers are a frequent sight in other lands, giving a taste of the exotic amusements that are a norm in that land. Their foreign policy, while seemingly nonsensical, have managed to keep the other nations from banding together and attempting to wipe them out, so maybe there is some sort of method to it.


Jengli, population around 13,000, situated on the coast. It's also the center of the exotic substances that all the members of the ruling elite of Pharnia imbibe, and frequently try to export to other nations. (Although these things are *highly* illegal.)

Total Population, about a million and a half.




As you can see, the nation information is very vague, especially when it comes to politics. Some of this will almost certainly be expanded as the Rp  extends and the nations tend to adopt a character of their own in the writing of things. A lot of it however, is simply that then ations do not cohere very well. Travel is not simple. Most people don't know how to ride horses, and boats are teh most common means of travel. While a sailing vessel can move quickly, it is dependant on the vagaries of the wind, and it is a common thing for news to arrive weeks or months old. Literacy rates are low (generally around 2%, although it varies from segment of population and location) although most people know enough letters to sign their own name or to recognize a few very common phrases.  War is very rare, with states not having enough direct influence over their own people to engage in a total struggle of any kind. Furthermore, nobody is really in a position to annex a neighbor even if they could defeat them. Armies for the most part tend to be amateur, poorly equipped bands of fighters, and raids to plunder are the norm of "warfare".

As stated above, literacy rates are low, and most education is solely in the area of whatever is needed to know for whatever craft one is entering into. History tends towards song, legend and myth, and will almost always focus far more highly on local news and politics than even things on a national level. Things longer than a hundred years old are generally forgotten by all but a handful of scholars, a profession type that is extremely rare.

Due to the general lack of political authority, proliferation of freeboters, thugs, adventerurs, mercanaries and the like is widespread, and little armed bands are hired for all sorts of muscular tasks. (Working with the general assumption that whatever party forms will likely be a group of adventurers), althuogh they are generally held in low regard. (about one step up from thieves, unles they've established some sort of positive reputation.)

************************************************************************

Ok people, it's time to come clean.

I'm copying, mostly from my own work. I used to DM a little tabletop RPG with some friends. We used a system called Dragonquest, whcih IMO was far superior to D&D 2, if probably not quite D&D 3 or 3.5

Rolling dice for combat and spellcasting (It had a system where all of your spells  had a probability of actually working) quite obviously isn't going to cut it. I don't have a RNG here, have no idea how or if it's theoretically possible to append one to this site, and wouldn't have the faintest clue how to go about doing that if it did. So really, I'm not 100% sure how to do combat and magic here. I'm open, and indeed eager for suggestions.

That being said, let me give you a rough outline on how magic is "supposed" to work, with original Dragonquest rules, combined with my own thoughts and views on How Things Should Be.

Unlike say D&D, Dragonquest is a classless system. There are no fighters, priests, mages per se. It's a system with am ultitude of skills. Weapon useage is a set of skills (each weapon had its own skill chart) So was spell useage, a number of languages and vocational skills. You could, theoretically have something like a Dwarven mentalist based magic user who spoke perfect elvish and could sail a ship. There were some restrictions of course, namely that everything you wanted to buy cost a certain number of XP, and stuff you were buying weaponcraft with wasn't going into spells or miscellaneous skills.

For a Forum based RPG though, there's way too much notekeeping, math, and micro-organising things to make stuff effective. I don't want to impose a byzantine character generation process where you roll dice to determine what hand your character favors. (I swear I am not making this up) However, it did have a lot of points that I did like. Combat was appropriately lethal, and while higher level characters get better at dodging, blocking, or otherwise avoid getting hurt than less experienced characters,  a dagger thrust to the chest would kill them just like a newbie. The combat system had a few hairballs,  but that's stuff that the RPG here can probably work out better than the original rules. (In the original rules, you had Melee, Ranged, and Close combat. With a few exceptions, you couldn't use a melee weapon in Close combat; which represented grappling, wrestling whatever. A two handed sword is not much help if a tiger pounces on you. In practice, it was far too easy to get into close combat and too hard to get out, and a man with a dagger was far more deadly than any blade or spear.) While we'd have to come up with some system to avoid the "hahaha I dodge every attack and my barely cobbled together weapons always manage to hit my opponents in their vital areas", with honest Rpers, I think we'll make it work. (But if you have a concrete system I'd really like to hear it)

Magic was another system that I liked, at least in theory over D&D. Basically, you picked a school of magic that you'd specialize in. You could only be in one school at a time. The schools usually had some sort of binding theme to their spell selection, with categories like Air, Water, Fire, Earth, Mental, Necromancy, etc. Spells cost a small amount of your fatigue to cast, and wouldn't always work. (Chance of success depended on how many levels you bought with that spell) In one nice campaign I had, we had a character who was really, really good at conjuring fire elementals, but pretty much couldn't do *anything* else, even casting other fire spells.

I like this system because
1. It tended to make mages focus on a handful of spells that were reasonably similar. Aesthetically, I always like it when magic is kind of an outgrowth of the characters personality, and this system helps that along.

2. There's an element of uncertainty, that can be nice both ways. You can't simply blow away a weaker opponent with magic without them getting near you, and sometimes when you're in that "We're dead" situation, you could try casting that low probability but real death spell you have hanging around.

3. Not really a magic issue per se, but the system, far more than D&D, allowed for multiple novice or weaker creatures and characters to menace more powerful ones, and made things like surprise and taking advantage of cover and terrain effects much more important.

Anyways, story wise, I wanted a relatively low magic world. Furthermore, magic is generally, if not weak, more subtle than you have in your typical D&D setting. Say a mage wanted to support a friendly army in a battle. It's more likely that in something like D&D, he'd toss off fireballs and stuff into the fray. Here, more appropriate would be some sort of ritual to instill a general sense of fear into the enemy.  The Exotics and elves tend naturally towards magic, but that isn't to say it's restricted to  them. However, mages tend towards specialization in a handful of spells, say 15 for a really good mage, that they tend to use a lot. Nobody can just wave their hands and change the weather or turn armies to stone. Most combat magic is about as effective as shooting someone with an arrow. Divinations tend to be cryptic, muddled, and simply wrong a lot of the time. Protections make you harder to hurt but not invulnerable, artifacts are rare, etc.  Generally though, the more time and energy spent preparing for an act of magic, the more powerful and reliable it is. RItual magic can be crushingly powerful.

However, the most important thing is to have a good time, and if you guys really want a more flash and bang experience, then I'm willing to accomodate you, but please, give me a bit of time to change things around. I like my worlds to work on logic that is at least internally self consistent, and say for example, the focus on shipbuilding doesn't make much sense if the primary means of travelling to another island is to teleport.

************************************************************************

Anyway, as things stand now, that's Aeroch. Please, stop by and regard my work, argue with it, tell me how incomplete it is. I'm hoping I'll at least coax some of you into Rping here.

[Noone]

The map isn't working.
I would try using {Img}address{/Img} for it instead of the link, it just sends me to photobucket. I assume it's trying to get into your account, but due to security, it doesn't do that. (And use []s instead of {}s)
Edit: It's fixed, thanks.

[techmaster-glitch]

Anyway, as things stand now, that's Aeroch. Please, stop by and regard my work, argue with it, tell me how incomplete it is. I'm hoping I'll at least coax some of you into Rping here.

Honestly? This is too complete. As in, way overcomplete information overload. This is more like those mass infothreads that Jairus and Ren Gaulen have been doing for their planned stories. I didn't even read the whole thing (but I'll try to eventually). As said, this seems more in line with background information for your own written story, not an RP. I'll grant you that this is a good idea. But all this is pretty much superflouous information, and is missing the one critical component; What is the RP going to be focused around? What is the campaign? What is the goal? You cannot start a forum RP without this.

Now, there is a way you could make this work, and that's by doing something similar to what Azlan did for his Line In The Stars RP, he has the OOC/character thread, the IC thread, and an EXTENSIVE tech information thread. This might not be the OOC thread, but could instead be a 'world index', as in, it contains all relevant information, game mechanics, etc, like a tabletop RPG rulebook, which is what it sounds like you are trying to do. If you can clarify some of these things and garner interest, then I might be able to help you reorganize into something a little more sane for a forum RP.

[Noone]

From my (somewhat limited) experiences as a forum RP DM,  can say that combat, unless your RPers are really into that sort of thing, can get boring somewhat quickly, spending about 5 days to fight off a small batch of goblins can get repetitive quite fast. If anything, forum RP combat is more suited for PC duels than anything else. I'm currently working on an RPG for a group of DnD players, and I know how the conversions can get messy since you're coming from dragonquest. I would probably remove most random combat, well, most combat in particular. I don't think you should include things like an encounter where thugs on the docks demand the players hand over all their money, because it surmounts to a humongous waste of time. Now of course, I do realize that due to conversion issues, some combat is unavoidable, like say, for a major boss fight, or where the PCs fight the BBEG, otherwise the plot may be missing some key elements and character combat abilities become a huge waste.

As far as in combat and character creation goes, you might as well leave the system open and try not to invoke numbers like AB, AC, HP, and damage into the equation. A big problem is that if you lay down a system it might be so complicated that your RP starts to feel more like a part time job than a game.

As far as characters go, I would just say that the DM would have to take character acceptance quite seriously, and to restrict character ability growth even more. It does make sense that characters would enhance their abilities and skills as time went on, but of course, lack of combat situations might make that difficult. I would say it's best not to start requiring characters post stat numbers, because 1: such a thing is insanely hard to moderate, and you might end up with a situation where some characters are more powerful than others, to a very large degree, and once characters are made, modifying them afterwards is a surefire way to cause loads of problems.

As far as combat itself goes, I know that this is tricky. Yes, you can have players just able to dexterously avoid every attack that comes at them, but it's not fair to assume they get hit all the time either. Obviously, with good RPers, it's not as much of an issue, though the occasional dispute is to be expected. In basic cases, I would penalize for obvious stupidity, and hope that it doesn't cause a dispute (examples include, but are not limited to: Trying to block a greataxe with a dagger, evading an attack by backflipping down a staircase, and trying to disarm your opponent by kicking his axe (at the blade) out of his hands, and no, theses all happened to me, I wish I was making this up.) Ambushes are another thing to consider, if the group is ambushed, do you automatically hit them? On one hand, if they don't know the attack is coming, how do they properly defend themselves. On the other hand, the DM would have to give at least some warning that they might be running into an ambush, or it's a good case for spiting the player. Now for direct combat, it's usually good to have players get 2 'actions' shall we say, usually one for defense and one to attack. I wouldn't penalize for legitimate defenses, like in a sword fight, 2 would probably block, swing, block, swing, repeat, until one of them gets hit. If you're making combat realistic, a solid hit with most weapons would probably knock a person over, but of course I can understand less glancing blows happening especially if both combatants are in armor. What I would do, in all honesty, if you're having an RP 'fight', I would just have it text based. Restrict characters to 2 actions, usually one for blocking, and one for attacking, and in some cases, 2 strikes. Punish obvious stupidity and stretches from realism (like in the middle of a fight, running around to the back of your opponent and striking from behind.), but otherwise let things slide unless it becomes a huge hassle. Keep track of your characters health in each 'combat phase' post, status ailments if they apply, and just try to keep hit numbers in your head. Boss fights can be annoying in this way, as with this system, a large group of weaker things can easily be more dangerous than a dragon, or something along those lines, but all in all, use your common sense and good judgement and I think you'll be alright.

Speaking of random number generators, they're quite easy to either make or find, just type in "random number generator" into google and you're bound to find at least 1 functional one. I also know some programs and games come with one, E-Tools is such a program, it has a reliably random RNG. Considering your magic system, you might need one.

[Ghostwish]

Blazidy blah blah, I like toast.

Tech about summed it up pretty well. You've got the world fleshed out, one I would love to play about in, but what is the story going to be about? What will our characters be after? What we really need right now is basis for character introduction. Did they all meet randomly in a bar? Life friends or some such?

All things considered, I'm interested.

[Corgatha Taldorthar]

what is the story going to be about?

Hmm, you ask a tricky question. I don't want to keep you in the dark, but I do want to preserve some, well all, of the mystery involved. All I'd like to say for now is that Aeroch is kind of lazy. Nobody really does too much on a national level. Part of that is due to a kind of "peace of the Gods" effect. Someone is about to break the rules, and plunge things into chaos, hopefully with the Characters playing some sort of part in it.

What will our characters be after?

As a rule of thumb, I try *never* to force characters into any particular (non-suicidal) action. There is a conflict brewing, and the characters can try to flee, pick a side, profiteer from both ends of things, really whatever they want. Just remember that I try, above all, to keep things internally self consistent. NPCs will remember if the PCs leave a trail of broken bodies and betrayals behind them, and will act accordingly. I"m guessing that you'd like to be heroes (and there is a definitely *good* side, or at least, one will develop) so you can probably join them, but I really don't want to force you to do so. (One of my best little sessions, not a campaign, but a series of adventures, involved the characters playing a band of highwaymen)

What we really need right now is basis for character introduction. Did they all meet randomly in a bar? Life friends or some such?

This is always one of the trickiest. Like I said above, I personally like to keep internal self-consistency in a world. Giving the predilections that I would assume would go with this forum, I had the guess that most of the people here would want to play some sort of Exotic, and that would probably make Crendar the starting point. However, I don't want to impose a character design, and it would probably be easier to at least come up with a background with skills and a history to say, adolescence, and try to come up with what the most logical reason for a group that you guys come up with form. If everyone who is interested in playing is ok with me imposing something, I have a few ideas, but for now, I'd rather leave that in the players hands.


EDIT: Sometimes I'm a bit thick. (Nobody say anything!) I was assuming the "classical" model, about 3-7 people in some sort of adventurer/mercanary/hero typeset, who start off doing basic muslce and magic tasks for money, build up their skills, and eventually rise to the point where it is their actions that play some sort of pivotal role in the world's outcome. I was kinda thinking as the starting point that "First level Adventurer party" Your guys are good enough that they can handle themselves in a fight if they're warriors, cast some simple spells if they're mages, pick some locks and find some hidden loot if they're roguish types, and are psychologically prepared to handle the rigors of the adventuring life. They probably banded together for simple work reasons (Although, if say, the party members all happen to come from the same area, that makes things easier for linkup purposes) and might not even know each other all that well. They've probably got some (not the best) equipment, and at least initially ,the goal is probably to make enough money to earn a decent living.

Again, if you want, I could simply place the party somewhere. Crendar and Kherezed are logical points, since they're reasonably cosmopolitan and there's always need for contracted muscle work there. If that's what people would like, it would be simple enough to arrange.

[Noone]

I just noticed the edit, do you want people to post their characters in this thread? What you have so far is a very solid foundation for an RP, but only a foundation. Usually with forum RPs, I find that the DM usually gives the players at least the first 'lick' of the ice cream when it comes to plot before they make their characters. This is usually important for what characters we play, for example, if this campaign of yours involves robbing Underhome, it wouldn't make sense for the party to have any dwarves in it, the same really goes for where the characters start too, since it would be a shame to be stuck in Torleram if all the action is going on in Pharnia(hopefully not) I know you're getting this from dragon quest, but this is one of those translation 'quirks'. Mostly because in a dragonquest or DnD system, the players should already have a sense of what is required, considering all Player classes in DnD are somewhat based around combat, but that just doesn't hold true here. At least, that is my take of it anyways.
It's a great start to build upon, but I think the players need more than a world to work with to get started.

[Azlan]

I have a large bias against games which use combat as the quintessential graphite that lubricates the gears of their stories.  It should not be the lynchpin that holds a game together, after all, hack and slash is so trite these days.  Conflict can be expressed in so many ways, that the fantasy RP trope of monster hacking should be left on the creative shelf to gather dust and cobwebs... to be brought out occassionally for nostalgia.  Especially in a forum RP, where overly cumbersome statistical models serve only to limit the creativity and dynamism that responsible freeform can offer.

Believe me when I say it is rather unwieldy, I tried to run a hybrid D&D style game, and I played in one as well.  Rounds of combat and the different posting times of players left one of my characters stranded at a gate for 3 months of complete inaction that I dropped out of the game (actually I stopped after a few weeks). 

This universe is certainly conventional... orks and humans... everything else is a minority.  It is certainly fleshed out.

[Corgatha Taldorthar]

Ok guys you won (bludgeoned perhaps) me over. I might not be too adept at creating a forum based RP system, but I'm at least honest enough to realize when I'm being an idiot.

1. I'm going to be cutting down on a lot of the  forced "frills" the kinda sidequestish things that don't really accomplish much other than to increase the party store of loot and experience, and to establish the world setting (which I might have overdone just a liiitle)

2. Combat is going to be really downscaled. I'm not getting rid of it entirely, but I want to adopt a kind of Torment/Assassin's creed model. I.e. If you get into a fight that isn't a foregone conclusion from the outset (I don't mind violence, and knifing an unaware mark in the back is encouraged, at least over stand up fighting) , you probably made a mistake somewhere. You should be able to either flee, bribe, talk hide, intimidate, etc your way out of any hostile intent. Most of the emphasis is going to be on information gathering and diplomatic work.

3.Scrap the whole thing about being beginners, and a lot of the openended bs starting quests to toughen you up.

4. I'll start you guys in a specified time, place, and with a mission in mind.

5. Numbers and stats and whatnot are out. I'm going to be laying a lot of trust on you guys not to abuse the system. I especially like the "unpredictable magic" model, so I don't want to see every single spell working. (Besides, it's easy to work this sort of stuff into easy drama) I won't be checking to see if you're carrying under some pre-specified weight limit, but on the converse, I don't want each character carrying around 4 metric tons of gear either.

6. Don't godmod. Just don't.

7. I'll be starting a more classic OOC thread to write characters in, and some guidelines for them.