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  #46  
Old Oct 4th, 2020, 07:43 PM
GabeTheKid GabeTheKid is offline
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Well, though I am on the side of sticking to rules as much as possible, old rules that turn out to be game-breaking as the world grows need to be dealt with, or the game ends.

In this particular case though, I don't even think any handwaving is necessary. The first part of that sentence gives us the ticket to escape it. They originated from the north, but then it says "In the far south most bird-folk still live in nomadic tribes in the Desert of Seven Eyes", meaning that the rest of the post only speaks of the bird folk of the desert.

Edit: I think we need an OOC thread to keep the game from gumming up

Last edited by GabeTheKid; Oct 4th, 2020 at 07:48 PM.
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  #47  
Old Oct 4th, 2020, 08:10 PM
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Yeah, I hadn't re-read that post for a while until just now. Your interpretation works. But I agree with you in that it's best to stick to established rules/precedents (not that there are too many here to begin with) but workarounds are a better option than treating them as obstacles.

I honestly wasn't sure how active this thread would be when I made it, so I hadn't considered management or the need for discussion threads. I'd say we're not quite there yet, but ...

(That said, I'm way behind on taking stock of many details that haven't led directly to map updates. Gonna have to make time for that soon.)
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  #48  
Old Oct 5th, 2020, 09:28 PM
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The Southern PikeThe guard tower, nicknamed The Southern Pike, was built a little over a decade ago out of safety concerns by the dominion of Boros Major. The tower itself is situated in the southern foothills of Venus Sanctum, and its main purpose is to house guardsmen to observe the acropolis and to patrol its surrounding area. The curious structure got its name from its silhouette, as it has been built tall enough to tower over the acropolis walls. Placed on the safer side of the acropolis and it's surrounding ghost villages, it's location has been carefully picked to grant direct line of sight to all the acropolis gates at once to aid the chances of spotting a breach quickly.

 

In the event of a breach, the tower would be locked down, the connections to the sister tower would be severed, while smoke signals would be lit and high powered flares would be launched to the sky as signal to Carapace Minor at Orphan Point, to inform the capital. Observations would continue only from the tower, while the residents awaited the Windbreaker's arrival to rescue them. Thankfully, the Husks of the acropolis don't seem to be trying to get out, and the gates are holding strong. Concerningly though, the guardsmen started seeing people in dark robes sneaking around the ruins. Their motives are still a mistery, as the guards haven't yet managed to catch any of them. They seem to disappear into thin air every time.

Last edited by GabeTheKid; Oct 6th, 2020 at 08:47 AM.
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  #49  
Old Oct 5th, 2020, 09:59 PM
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Veilo RaccelleNo man has served longer at the Southern Pike, than Veilo [ra - shel]Raccelle. He has commanded the twin towers for multiple years, a feat that is unparalleled by anyother, whereas normal soldiers quickly succumb to the pressure of guarding the dreaded acropolis Venus Sanctum. The elven soldier is astute, but stern and his service has taken visible traces on his face, despite his heritage of the eternally youthful folk. His eyes are sunken hollows, his lips a thin line and he rarely ever blinks. Among his men there flucatuate rumors, that in his years at the tower he has become something of a husk himself, but the Rot incredibly has never touched him and aside from rumors, he compels absolut disciplin and respect. His stare goes out ever sharp and unbroken.

Among the guardsmen, even with Veilo's long attachment to the command of the Pike, nobody knows what motivates the man to fullfill his duty without asking for relocation. Everbody he comes into contact with in his daily life would no longer wonder and expect him to keep up his unending vigil. Despite his unwavering will to continue his duty, Veilo has one biggest fear, that he will never disclose to his men. He has nightmares about the day, that the Rot would spread further south. The elf fears the day, that harpies, which had been banned in Venus Sanctum before its fall, would also turn to husk and then migrate back north. The day that husks learn to fly, will be the day that the Pike will fall. Veilo does not share this concern and silently continues his watch while trusting in the philosophers tribes. But beyond his own doubts, he does not plan, to ever abandon his post, come what will...

Last edited by Mindsiege; Oct 10th, 2020 at 07:40 PM.
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  #50  
Old Oct 24th, 2020, 05:21 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GabeTheKid View Post
Though it's an odd restriction to have, I think you bound yourself a bit too much there. It's actually quite easy to snake out of that rule. The world is bigger than the map we made together and not all humanoids live on it. Though they have originated from far north and made contact with the people of the land on our map, there's no telling just how far spread they are or how sophisticated they are on the whole. There could be an unexplored continent where feral harpies live short and dangerous lives, being the main prey item to some truly horrific monsters. We just don't know yet.
I think that's a great idea, haha.
I did sort of imagine the desert being massive, but to be fair I did pull those figures out my ass figuring it would be a decent place to start, so definately wiggle as needed!
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Last edited by Wishkamon; Oct 24th, 2020 at 05:22 PM.
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  #51  
Old Oct 28th, 2020, 01:38 PM
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Ok, thought I would throw together a quick table to share a little of the organisation responsibility. Its a WIP i'll come back later. I'll likely edit it down into separate tables for separate categories later- settlements, landmarks etc, wiht hyperlinks for related topics
 


Some things that looked like they needed some expanding at a glance-
The Ogliarchi of Boros Major
Humanoid populations- basic data bloc of political powers,
races: (humans, harpies, half-lings, gnomes, Triton, dwarves, elves)
significant sites,
religions,
Weyerdvuud forest (https://www.rpgcrossing.com/showthre...95#post8912895)
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Last edited by Wishkamon; Oct 28th, 2020 at 01:39 PM.
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  #52  
Old Oct 28th, 2020, 08:05 PM
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Ha, this looks fun!

The Frayed Ones - A group of people who travel the world individually, but always recognise each other on sight. Not that they have any organisation to speak of, or some insignia, they just seem to know when they see another of their ilk. They all are called the frayed ones because they all speak of The Frayers, some encroaching menace that left their minds and souls torn. None of them can be called sane, at least not very much, but several warden organisations started to take interes in them, as their stories seem consistent enough to be worrying, to indicate there's a sinister threat looming on the horizon.
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Old Oct 28th, 2020, 08:45 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Wishkamon View Post
Ok, thought I would throw together a quick table to share a little of the organisation responsibility. Its a WIP i'll come back later. I'll likely edit it down into separate tables for separate categories later- settlements, landmarks etc, wiht hyperlinks for related topics

Some things that looked like they needed some expanding at a glance-
The Ogliarchi of Boros Major
Humanoid populations- basic data bloc of political powers,
races: (humans, harpies, half-lings, gnomes, Triton, dwarves, elves)
significant sites,
religions,
Weyerdvuud forest (https://www.rpgcrossing.com/showthre...95#post8912895)
Ooh wow, that's a lotta worldbuilding. Thanks for doing this. I do agree that categorisation is probably going to be needed down the track or later, lucky most posts are pretty easy to sort.

I am still around, just working through a to-do list. At the moment my priority (aside from GM posts) needs to be working on Explosive Runes. I'm nearly done with most of that content, and tending to this thread is next.

Quote:
Originally Posted by positron View Post
Ha, this looks fun!

The Frayed Ones - A group of people who travel the world individually, but always recognise each other on sight. Not that they have any organisation to speak of, or some insignia, they just seem to know when they see another of their ilk. They all are called the frayed ones because they all speak of The Frayers, some encroaching menace that left their minds and souls torn. None of them can be called sane, at least not very much, but several warden organisations started to take interes in them, as their stories seem consistent enough to be worrying, to indicate there's a sinister threat looming on the horizon.
Welcome to the party!
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  #54  
Old Oct 29th, 2020, 11:07 PM
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The Vled'javikDeep inside the Wyerdvuud, far from its northern edge, where the arctic colds keeps the trees at bay, and even further from its southern edge, where the Hyperion tree's smaller cousins keep watch over Lake Bredden, only at the core of the mythical woods there lives a unique race in all of the Ethereal Lands. The Vled'javik.

Hailed as the 'Dread from above' or simply 'Forest Trolls' by the citizens of the great orcish mercantile republic, the vled'javi are also called the 'Kings of the Trees' and make up a reclusive folk that reign supreme, making up the pyramids top of intelligent life in the heart of the Wyerdvuud. Some of the orcish scholars have likened the vled'javi as the blood of the Wyerdvuud, seeing as their culture of a tribal society is deeply rooted around inhabiting the gargantuan Hyperions. Even if they do not usually feel threatened by the smaller races with an average vled'javi ranging around 10 feet tall, they are still deeply distrustful of strangers that come into their domain and they have little appreciation for ways of life that are different from their own. The forest is holy to them and anything paramount to this sentiment would be ludicrous to them. Excelling as predators even among the mega fauna inside Wyerdvuud's heartlands, the vled'javi rarely accept visitors into their villages, which are entirely built inside the highest reaches of the Hyperions. Although these giant trees are barely climbable by lack of branches in their lower regions, the forest troll's sturdy claws can hold multitudes of their own, considerable bodyweight, allowing the vled'javi to be able to scale the reaches in which they then settle their homes. Unbeknownst to many, the vled'javi are considerable craftsmen when it comes to wood and where the Hyperions spread into the forest's roof, their villages also bloom into an assembly of artistical platforms of architectual finesse, considering that flimsy constructions could never carry these people's mass.

It is exactly because of their reclusive nature, that barely any records about the true extent of their culture exist. For most orcs it is simply enough to know them as their betters and stay away from the heartlands. Although numbers and technological ingenuity would be certainly able to make up the difference in physical prowess.


I have quite a few strings that I'd like to continue weaving in this world, but I agree that the north was very intriguing to say the least. Also we got a new political region established as well. These are not your typical tribal orcs.
But what this republic is called, someone else can decide!

Last edited by Mindsiege; Nov 3rd, 2020 at 08:24 PM.
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  #55  
Old Nov 4th, 2020, 12:57 AM
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@Wishkamon:
I hope it was all right, that I took it upon myself to expand on your table. I enjoy that stuff and I think it will be very practical moving forward. I suggest maybe we add a new rule that new entries come with complementary expansion of the table, but if that's something HotsuSama would rather do himself, that would be fine too. Or just let me do it, so long as I am active in RPGX I'll be sticking around I think.

 


There are a lot more loose ends than I had anticipated. Also, after I did, I think it was stupid to reference Boros Major quite as much. The next person after me may feel free to clean that up, I just wanted consistancy in the moment of compilation.
Also I have gone very light on cross references. If nobody else does it, I will have to update the reference column of the older tables with references to relevant newer ones.

Last edited by Mindsiege; Nov 10th, 2020 at 08:30 PM.
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  #56  
Old Nov 4th, 2020, 09:34 AM
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That's bloomin' awesome, huge improvement, thank you!!
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  #57  
Old Nov 4th, 2020, 10:48 AM
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As added information, I was trying to compile the reference columns with all important world building hooks that a game master would not want to forget to look up, for when they are trying to conceptualize a game inside the setting.

@PS to my previous post:
Aside from incomplete cross-referencing inside the older posts, I am still unhappy with two of the entries I made in the table. For one The Pompatus of Love and the other The Silver City of Brightenai.
The first one left me a little stumped about the usage of the terminology of the Ethereal Lands or the Ethereal Plane. If this was the Forgotten Realms I would have understood it, I think. Also it's the only post which has mechanical restrictions towards a particular game system, but I guess that is allowed by the rules and unimportant for the overview compilation.
The second one, I just wasn't sure how to do references for. If I were to do it how I did it for all the other posts, then it would have ended in a huge pile of information in the overview table, if I wanted to address all the possible world building hooks among the amounts of detail inside that post. I was thinking about treating it as multiple posts, possibly separating it in each of the different districts, but then I would have moved away from the standard I am trying to establish, so for now I left it with very few references, which don't do the post justice. Anyways, I'm not happy with that, but for now I don't know any better solution.

Last edited by Mindsiege; Nov 4th, 2020 at 10:49 AM.
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Old Nov 4th, 2020, 11:17 AM
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Another thing I just thought about, now with this overview table we wouldn't have to worry anymore about cluttering the thread with OOC talk. If we keep it updated, it would be possible to navigate to all the relevant posts from the first page.

Added to that, I was thinking that the table ended up being too huge for everybody to drag around. I would suggest to leave it on the main entry and to formalize a shared format on how to request changes to the table with every new worldbuilding post; similar to how it's done in the solo bazaar, regarding which I know that at least a few of you will get that reference.

Deciding how to request a new entry should be fairly simple, the only real work for HotsuSama could result if he had to figure out which of the new world facts he should cross reference into the older posts. I'd like to offload that work on the poster as well, somehow, but for now I haven't come up with a good format. Also making everybody follow such a format would probably only work partially as well, so I don't know where we would end up following that idea. Thoughts?

@edit:
Should we maybe add an author column in the overview table? It could be used for credit, but also to remember who the last person was if we decide to write a lot of OOC. In that vene, please inform me if I'm doing too many of these at the moment.

Last edited by Mindsiege; Nov 4th, 2020 at 11:20 AM.
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Old Nov 4th, 2020, 10:25 PM
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Ostelia, of the Oceans and Night Sky.The legend of Ostelia is an old tale, and one that most have already forgotten. When Ostelia was young, she lived in what would now be called Carapace Minor and when she was alive, there was no ocean. The entire expanse was an empty desert. A strange child, she was devoid of any sort of desires. Everything that she did, she did for another - not because she was inherently altruistic or philanthropic, but because she knew not what else to do.

The people around her inadvertently influenced Ostelia greatly. An uncle who asked her to help fish often would make her think perhaps fishing is what I desire, her mother who always praised her for her weaving would make her think perhaps weaving is what I desire, and even a friend who confessed his love would make her think perhaps a life of love is what I desire.

One day, she was part of an expedition into the wastes for resources. From storyteller to storyteller, this segment changes but what happens after is consistent. Ostelia found herself lying on the hard dirt, staring up at the sky. How she came to be alone, and whether she was wounded or starving, the stories diverge, but they converge at the point where Ostelia fell in love with the stars.

She knew not why the night sky looked so enrapturing that night. Perhaps out there, in the wastes, they could be seen under a different guise. She felt a sorrow that none had felt before for she desired to be part of the stars in the sky, but she knew not how, or even what the stars were. For the first time in her life, she had naturally desired something for herself and it was out of her reach.

So great was her sorrow that she wept for days. Perhaps a god took pity on her, or perhaps it was the whims of some unknown fate, but Ostelia cried for a hundred days and a hundred nights without expiring. She grew neither hungry, tired, nor felt any emotion besides the sorrow of existing. It is said that her tears formed our oceans, filling up the lifeless basin that existed before it.

People speculate that the same being that sustained her those hundred days and hundred nights finally took pity on her, and immortalized her in the night sky, and others speculate that she still lives within the depths of the ocean, weeping until the end of time.


(Just came across this website and saw this thread! Looks really interesting. I'll need to bring myself up to date on all the lore that has happened before, but do let me know if there are any problems with what i've written, for it's my first time posting on these kind of forums!)
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  #60  
Old Nov 6th, 2020, 03:29 PM
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Firstly, welcome Mugyuu!

Secondly, and mostly to @Wishkamon and @Mindsiege: I've been reviewing the WIP tables and chat on updating the way this thread is organised. I've been sitting on half-typed responses here and generally overthinking things way too much, so a quicker response is currently better than an potentially overdone/convoluted one.

That big table with the references is great, and nominally I agree that a summary/link system will be useful. Although I share Mindsiege's concern that it's going to grow with every post and become harder to swim through.

My original plan was loose geographical and political grouping (so all the info for Boros Major itself in one table, everything for Shellengeist in another table or array, etc.) with links, very quick 10-word summaries for context, and anything else that seemed important. It'll require occasional reshuffling but it seems a decent solution for quickly showing broad relationships between posts of various content. Some region blocs may be tricky to define but the majority should be fairly straightforward. I hadn't been considering reference tags as I thought they'd get ungainly and difficult to keep consistent as the world becomes more detailed, but I'm not against them so we can see how it goes to start off with.

As far as addressing possible inconsistencies or posts that struggle to gel with the rest of the array, I've kept my approach laissez faire for the most part but there's perhaps room for a little more persistent organisation. Above all else, I want this to be an open and inviting activity; the deeper the world's lore and detail gets, the harder it's going to be for newcomers to convince themselves to add something to the mix, and I don't want to risk turning away potential content by being too fixated on policing post consistency and 'fact-checking'. My angle is that I'll accept some superficial inconsistencies if it means getting a healthy mix of people happy to participate. But yes, there's going to be points where the provided information is optional or taken as 'advisory' rather than ironclad. That Pompatus of Love post is a good example, as it obviously has information that won't be relevant if I ran Ethereal Lands as a setting in a system not compatible with its mechanical notes.
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