Slann
Scalenex
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Scarterra's World Anvil Wiki
Page 1
Basic Intro, Cliff Notes of the Nine, Overview of the nation of Fumaya's basic concept, the three dwarf nations, Major noble houses of Kantoc, loose discussion of heraldry
Page 2
Hypothetical Exotic Magical Locations, Kobold culture in great detail
Page 3
Hypothetical Exotic Magical Locations. Discussion on Crime Syndicate in Fumaya, The sorcerous nation of Swynfaredia, early world map of Scarterra
Page 4
Discussion on Crime Syndicate.
Page 5
Animal minions of the Nine, more on the Crime Syndicate,
Page 6
Priestly titles, Void demons, initial discussions on Potionomics and alchemy, disease in Scarterra
Page 7
Godly Zodiacs and the calendar. Assorted myths of how things came to be, climate, weather, disease, minerals, the tides
Page 8
Dragons in great detail. Awesome diagram of minerals entering Scarterra. Unnecessary tangent to undead diseases in Shadowrun, Discussion on the shape of the world, sphere versus cylinder, initial speculation on how cosmetic race should look in Scarterra.
Page 9
RPGs in video games versus tabletop. Elemental forces as catalyst for race. Fatigue and armor rules, Dark Elf nation of Kahdisteria
Page 10
Colassian Confederacy Nations, Implications of a world with monsters, more on elemental forces as a catylist for race, Gnolls in depth
Page 11
The real world science of weather and how it would logically apply to the illogical cylinder shaped world of Scarterra.
Page 12
Adding details to kenku, more plane stuff, crime syndicate discussion, overview of spirits
Page 13
Crime syndicate discussion (plans), The City of King's Lake, discussion of castles/medieval society and magic, spell list
Page 14
More on magic in castles and medieval society being changed by magic. Combat skills and how common it is
Page 15
More discussion on weapons and skills at arms. Initial concept of the Border Baronies. 6 or 7 Border Baronies in detail
Page 16
More Border Baronies, more Mycanid discussion, discussion on magical orders, initial discussion of my gnomish cobbler hero hypothetical novel, brief covering of fantasy hybrids.
Page 17
Magical Mcguffin brainstorming for my hypothetical novel.
Page 18
Ghosts and ghost powers, fantasy horses, cyclopes, Spirit Loas, Silverwood trees
Page 19
Initial brainstorming about the Sea, aka Scaraqua. Scaraquan Myth for Creation of Life
Page 20
Plate tectonics, more Scaraquan discussion, Summary of the Void Demon Lords, discussion of how well informed about history Scarterrans and Scaraquans are, the Karakhai (sharkmen)
Page 21
More Scaraquan discussion, assorted map scribbling and discussion
Page 22
Map scribbling and discussion, afterlife discussion, Parts of the Soul cosmology, update on my active game, tangent on skeleton and zombie's damage resistance
Page 23
More on damage absorption capabilities of various creatures, Tangents on Mesopotamian Gods and D&D 5th edition, Updated World Map of Scarterra, PCs close a story chapter in my campaign
Page 24
Discussion of Magical laws, followup map discussion, lots of brainstorming on dungeon design.
Page 25
Discussion of Scarterra's "Prime Meridian," PCs complete the dungeon. Musings on adding new fictional nations to my fictional world.
Page 26
Hypothetical Sea Elf Nation, Hypothetical Kenku Nation, Magical and exotic means of improving communication and travel.
Page 27
Musing and discussion on elementals, the Elemental Plane, hypothetical elemental god(s), initial discussion of developing underground biomes and adventure setting. Bat People (Camazotz and Kalazotz)
Page 28
Follow up on Bat People, Update of my RPG in process, Trolling the Thread (pun), The Astral Plane,
Page 29
Astral Plane followup, Discussing a new name for "Kenku", Details on Khemra and her followers, tangent on me complaining about an overly woke RPG forum, informal brainstorm of including sphinxes
Page 30
Details on Mera and her followers, Details on Nami and her followers, discussion on magically binding curses, blessings, and oaths from non-spell-casters, Details on Phidas and his followers, Details on Zarthus and his followers, Update on my last RPG session, Details on Maylar and his followers
Page 31
Details on Hallisan and his followers, Details on Korus and his followers. Musing on metaphysics of arcane magic. Initial brainstorming on Swynfaredian noble houses. Revisiting Bat people, Establishing the Founding Dragons of Swynfaredia. I experiment with World Anvil
Page 32
Scarterran Elves in broad strokes, Developing a few Swynfaredian Houses. Loose discussion of the underground portion of my setting, Camazotz in detail, Kalazotz in detail,
Page 33
More discussion of bat people (zotz), profiles on historical Swynfaredians of House Fremiss, discussion on iconography for Scarterra, hypothetical tree people, language musing, sorcery musing, Establishing a set Calendar for Scarterra, Plantinum Peaks Border Barony, Art Musing, tentative plot outline for my novel
Page 34
Novel discussion, Ocean Currents as a means of travel in Scaraqua, Virdilut, aka Scaraquan Green Stuff, Heraldry and naming discussion, setting a fictional calendar year
Page 35
Food crops in Scarterra, Nilen's character and family, hard world building versus soft world building, expanding the names of the Nine, adding details to the Barony of the Dead, more calendar musing.
Page 36
Psionics Brainstorming, Scarterran Holidays dedicated to the Nine, I get a subscriber, briefly talk about vampires, briefly talk about Fair Folk. Psychic Haunted locations
Page 37
Tangent on naval warfare. Military analysis of Meckelorn, Stahlheim, Mondert, Fumaya, and Swynfaredia. I gush over my expanding World Anvil profile, Several Swynfaredian Houses, Two more Border Baronies, I finalize the Scarterran Calendar
Page 38
I set the current year and create a timeline of major West Colassian events, discuss World Ember contest, post some new Heraldry. Mention the lost Fakhari ethnicity of humans, I ponder having villains create reagents by murdering people.
Page 39
More heraldry and artwork, More World Ember updates Codenya kalazotz in detail, tangent on guano, assorted attempts at art, Dwarf influenced kalazotz.
Page 40
Assorted Scaraquan articles (tides, deities, metaphysics of how the land and sea interact), follow-up on kalazotz stuff, assorted World Anvil musings.
Page 41
More Scaraquan articles, bat people related articles, and World Anvil musings.
Page 42
Comparing Scaraquan to the Ancient Roman era, Lost Tribe of Grey Forest Kalazotz, were-ravens, Elemental Fever, the Swynfaredian royal court, Swynfaredian swear words
Page 43
Chwinga tangent, musing on the Scarterran Underdark, I really went nuts posting new articles on World Anvil over these past few days, I develop the Nation of Kantoc with a bunch of articles, I detail a bunch of heretic groups, I create a circus and a kalazotz acrobat troop, and profile domesticated dogs and bats, I split the Scaraquan ocean into smaller seas, I create a famous hippocampus, I try to write a tragic love story,
Page 44
Aquatic Cyclopes, The Boiling Sea, More icons, Crystal Fields Border Barony, I start Nilen's family tree program function, Scaraquans approximating alcoholic beverages, classifying Scaraquan habitable zones, Scaraquan Cult of the Storm, assorted musing on Scaraquan religious groups. Cult of the Shark, Karakhai subspecies/cultures. Cancer Province of Oshamni Empire, Potential friendly Skaven race.
Page 45
I make a picture of Nilen the cobbler, Subspecies of Frog Goblins, musing on other goblin subspecies, musing on the Petalars from Thundercats (2011), I run a solo RPG adventure for my friend. Mini Index of Major Swynfaredian Houses, I muse on revising tengku based on finding related material on kenku and tengu in other mythology
Page 46
More tengku/kenku comparisons, I run another solo RPG session, Haloclines are the new word of the day, I informally muse on the Swynfaredian black market for magical goods, I informally muse on Swynfaredians legalizing or banning goblin slavery, I attempt a prototype for a Scarterra glossary, I post a video about how real historical medieval European people handled waste management, formal artical on slavery in Swynfaredia, generic article covering peasants, serfs, and slaves in Scarterra as a whole, thurakel (the dragon equivalent of peasants), musing on human ethnicities in East Colassia
Page 47
Musing on fantasy setting green humans, Article on the Great Colassian Tundra, Article on taiga elves (sub ethncity of wood elves), I run another solo RPG session and then take a mulligan, musing on taverns and inns in Scarterra, Scarterran Hospitals, musing on Scarterran martial arts
Page 48
More martial arts discussion, musing on Scarterran monks, musing on Fumayan noble family trees, Scolenex proposes an alternate subsetting of Scarterra, musing on Scrterran/Scaraquan oracles, musing on Scarterran holy scriptures, discussion on magic and dragons' impact on medieval war tactics, musing on how big and strong to make dragons, musing on the mechanics of dragon's breath, musing on Scarterran wedding practices, musing on Scaraquan monsters,
Page 49
Scarterran wedding punchings, Lucky marriage coins, I post some RPG videos from Youtube that have been rattling around my head, Deep dive into Merfolk ethnicity and physical traits, kobold birthing treks in detail, midday pies, I finally run another solo RPG session, I talk about how dragons blur the line between Scarterra and Scaraqua. Speculation about dinosaurs and giant egg laying domesticated animals.
Page 50
I write a bunch of articles for a World Anvil Summer Camp contest including bright squid ink, bone crackers, prophecy of Vralic's destruction, Temple of the Dragon Waters, Desert of Tears, trench fever, volcanic wood elves, alchemical poison detection, moonrise tidal rites, the tengku's lost language, unrelated post 9 finger rude gesture, I muse on my need to read more
Page 51
More talk of fantasy fiction. More Summer Camp entries including: Order of the Lantern, red grass, the bow of Zimoz, Screaming Fields, East Colassian mountain goblins, Vladimir's kingdom (with a tangent on Vladimir's heraldry), Swynfaredian Otectum parties, The Platinum Consortium, Free Port of Amstrea, haber crystals, Ketaresh mining complex, the storm thief pirate, Ralthor the rebellious favored soul, the Great Sanctuary of Mercy, karakhai grand khans,
Page 52
My friend sets up his own fantasy world Therrmodia, I round out the Summer Camp Contest with Poop Porters, the Swynfaredian Queen's Guard, the Kraken's Siren, and the Apseldian revolution, I create a bunch of Scarterran Idioms, tangent on another World Anvil writer's tank humanologist, pondering dragon taboos as relate to their cuss words, Scarterra's two oceans, What the Colassian Confederacy Nations think of each other,
Page 53
Musing on hybrid elemental ethnicities, musing on East Colassian heraldry, follow up on Colassian Confederacy stereotypes, discussion on monsters of African folklore particularly the grootslang, guidelines for creating dwarf clans, What the Meckelorn dwarf clans think of each other
Page 54
More on the dwarf clans and guilds. More musing on the Fair Folk. Haber Crystals, basics of the Fair Folk Courts, Dwarf Maiden Guard, musing on real world monster tales as an inspiration for Fair Folk kiths.
Page 55
Rough draft of Deep Wardens Legion, musing on Teddy Bears, potion musings, I debut a map of West Colassia, articles I start Worldember 2021 with many articles: basics of Scarterran alchemy, Terrawan Tenders, Eclipse-Touched, Near and Far Wedding Tokens, Something Blue at weddings, Nami Civil War, Oracles, Stewards of the Gift, Stewards of the Dominion, Vampiris, Legend of the Silver Dragons, Walchese Tenders, Meckelorn Council of Elders, Stahlheim Council of Elders, First draft of ethnic variation in Merfolk, Geu-puppies, Red Shaft Clan, profile of a kalazotz crimelord
Page 56
kalazotz memorial stellae, alchemical food preparation, dwarf salt masters, pigs in Scarterra, Samhain Day of the Dead tween holiday, Beltaine fertility ritual tween holiday, brodsopp foodstuff, Scaraquan recreational substances, I start adding quotes to articles, musing on creating a rat-like humanoid race, magical food evolution, assorted Worldember musings, Imbolc spring tween holiday, Midsummer's Night revelatory tween holiday, How Maylar's Testers feel about the other groups, Scarterran New Years
Page 58
Satyrs and a lot of details about different satyr groups tangent on coal and dragon poop, I try to sketch a symbol for Greymoria.
Page 59
Musing on Ogres, Cannibal Sickness, Vulture Sickness, musing on cats and dogs and the craft of writing, Druss elves, musing on the craft of writing and my kitchen sink approach to fantasy, sea giants
Page 60
I discuss different intreptations of krankens, I come up with an entirely new creature called Ocumati. I cover how common Scarterrans feed themselves in great detail, I cover how Codenya grows its food, I revisit the Drunken Bat Inn and Brewery, I cover psychological differences between short lived and long lived races, Penarchian Dwarves, Gnomes Eye View of West Colassian History
Page 61
Mera combs, revisiting Drunken Bat Inn, informal discussion on warlocks and types of warlocks, tangent on Dark Sun D&D setting, Legendary Divine Talismans (with two examples), musing on a potential online video conference RPG campaign, musing on literary villain types.
Page 62
Scarterran Wendigo, Scarterran Rusalka, Ogres vs. Vampires, Smearing Scroll Cases, informal musing on the writing process and new cannibal mutants, Skinchanger witches, Skopen, Smearing Scroll Cases, RPG musings, Jormangers, Morlocks, I write a (dark) short story.
Page 63
short story critiques, RPG session planning, Barony of Bees, discussion on historical "mad honey", Wooly Slopes Barony, Ollums, Artificial lighting in Scarterra, informal musing on Mimics, informal discussion on 5th editon D&D Scarterra adaptations
Page 64
RPG session planning and comparing and contrasting D&D10 with D&D, Customizeable Zombies and Skeletons, I go to a small Renaissance Fair, Bugbears, Mimics, informal musing on kappa, Lifesight (metaphyiscal concept), Different motivations of knights, Formalize article on kappas, I try running an RPG via web camera and it works.
Page 65
I am inspired by a video on real world mountain culture, Borderlander National Industry, Dragon Springs Border Barony, general Borderland musing, I talk about my Summer Camp entries, especially Scaraquan items, Death Goats
Page 66
Lots of heraldry and some discussion of heraldry, brief tangent on the works of Robert E. Howard's fiction. dragon spiders, I show off Scarterra's first professional art, I talk about future visual art, I talk about Appearance rules apply to tengku, I briefly update what my RPG campaign is doing,
Page 67
I talk about Worldember 2022, salamanders, I become obsessed with reindeer, little "goats", regular goats, Scarterran pirates, I debut my first Scarterra novellete Unstable Ground, I do some general world building musing, I talk about Hasbro is being a jerk with their new "open" gaming agreement.
Page 68
I talk about what to name my hyena people, I talk about potential improvements of my wiki and goals for the next year, I briefly dip my toe in the water of AI art, Scarterran Theatre,
Page 69
I vow to add some more pizzazz to my Scarterra wiki. I try out an AI art program called Nightcafe with mixed results, Jelly Spear Plays, Zotz art comes along, I revisit Greymoria's Children, I debut Deep Goblins
Page 70
I talk about art additions to my wiki articles, Three Guys Walk into a Bar Scarterran Edition, RPG campaign update, I debut my professionally commissioned camazotz and kalazotz art, I edit and expand on some older zotz articles, I start the ball rolling on more commissioned art (satyrs this time), RPG session planning toppling a coup in the Borderlands, I cover the six northern satyr ethnicities, I show some portraits a player of mine made via HeroForge
Page 71
My friend makes more Hero Forge portraits, I debut a piece of professional commissioned art, I reveal many of my own Hero Forge portraits, Kormatin's RPG campaign enters a camazotz phase.
Page 72
I debut some watery satyr art, I publish a new short story, Scarterra's wiki crosses the million word threshold, Kormatin's RPG campaign ends the camazotz phase. I muse on chimeras, I debut a picture of some satyr kids, I enter several articles in World Anvil Summer Camp 2023, I debut a bit of tengku art, I muse on hypothetical undead plants, Mace of the Wyrmslayer
Page 73
I show off some commissioned art, some AI art, and some mixed attempts at making heraldry. Spooktober 2023 entries, Assorted Worldember prep, D-Names, Poison detection jewelry, more art, Crown Time Drain. Tapukeah and duchy building
Page 74
I deflate Scarterra's economy, I revisit Bonecrackers with AI Art, I create trees with beautiful amethyst leaves, I talk about rabbits, I wrap up Worldember 2023, I round out the dragon imagery of the four founding Swynfaredian houses, I debut commissioned art of a tengku vulture, I showcase my improvements in getting Midjourney to create pictures I can actually use. I polish some articles to to compete against other top tier world builders.
Page 75
Ducks of Scarterra, I expanded Scarterra's list of slang/idioms. I give an update on the artwork for the Nine in the pipeline, I muse about the possibility of publishing Scarterra stuff, Sheep and Wool in Scarterra, I enter "Adventure April 2024", I talk about my new RPG campaign, I prep for Summer Camp 2024, I ponder giving my site a visual makeover, I establish scarterra.com as a thing, Summer Camp 2024 begins
Page 76
I experiment with Midjourney AI and get lucky with a perfect picture of Turoch, the All-Consumer. I muse about long-term goals, I debut Scarterra's first meme, I introduce a new blood sucking monster, I hire a professional artist to make portraits for the Nine and a badass logo for Scarterra, I revamp my website elevator pitch, I reveal the epic origin of Scarterra's first sandwich, I try a new artist out for a commission of a Indian inspired chimera. I sum up my entries for the Spooktober 2024 writing event.
Page 77
I claw at the leaderboard for Worldember 2024. I write about pointy gnome hats, I expand my articles comparing and contrasting Scarterra with real world medieval history, I debut a professional commission of the grootslang monster, I debut a bunch of professional commissions of character portraits, I come up with RPG mechanics for feeding potions to horses, I get a professional commission of an illustration of gossip mongering, I attend the Origins convention,
Page 78
I talk about the Origins Convention. I write 40 pieces for Summer Camp 2025. I debut some excellent gnome art.
Introduction to local setting and deities. (below)
The D&D forum I was using doesn't like reading my giant blocks of text so I thought I'd turn to my L-O friends for advice.
I have working on a project off and on for years now. Originally the setting was intended to be a setting for playing 3.5 D&D, maybe 2nd edition. Then I eventually opted to try to make own game system. A hybrid of D&D and White Wolf's d10 system I call D&D10.
After a year of tinkering with my system I actually started running a game. Basically I'm testing the mechanics. The player characters are wandering the frontier of a small nation, responding to villages in distress. Very Monster of the Week, but it's a good way to test my combat system. X needs to be stronger, Y needs to be nerfed, that kind of thing.
The goal is to make a medium magic setting. Magic is fairly common and well known but it's not as crazy powerful as it is in traditional D&D game. No massive storms of fire, no bringing back the dead,
But I want to branch into an actual long term story fairly soon and it's based on what a player said.
One of my stories involved two villages that were paying yearly tribute to a local tribe of orcs in order to be left alone. An agent provocateur stole the tribute and tried to frame the villagers as having stolen the other village's tribute in order to watch the bloodbath. The PCs thwarted the villain and got the tribute back. One of the players said "Isn't this village part of a nation, the army should protect them from orcs."
So I can have the PCs wander the wilderness fighting Monsters of the Week for a while but eventually I want them them to go to the capital and try to shore up the struggling nation of Fumaya.
I have literally over a 100 pages of material on the creation of the world, the gods, the priesthoods, and metaphysics, but I have very little concrete information on the actual people of the world.
My basic concept is that Fumaya is possibly the unluckiest human nation in my world. They are a small nation of hardy simple folk that happen to be the buffer zone between far stronger nations.
To the west is Meckelorn, a traditional Dwarf nation (I have two non-traditional Dwarf nations but this one is pretty recognizable, axes, hammers, beer, inexplicable Scottish accents, dislike of arcane magic, etc).
To the was they border the Wood Elf nation. I tried not to steal too much from WHF but my elves are split into three fairly similar elf nations. They are not as extreme as the Wood Elves of WHF. They like their privacy, but they don't view every single outsider entering their territory as an act of war. They exchange ambassadors with nearby nations and they have have a right of passage loosely based on the Amish Rumspringa. When an elf becomes and adult, he or she typically takes a short rumpspringa (20-40 years) where they leave their home forests and explore the outside world, then they come back home and probably never leave the forests again. Unless they were outcasts or outsiders in their own land, then the elves never come from their rumspringas.
To south is the powerful human nation of Swynfaredia. Swynfaredia is noteworthy in that all their nobility have herditary magical abilities which they use to cement their power. They have gone through periods of strife and civil war and periods of expansion. Right now the queen (or king, I haven't decided yet) is eying Fumaya as a potential conquest. Her vassals are getting uppity and an external foe would redirect their energy to something productive. Swynfaredia hasn't done anything overtly hostile yet but their soldiers have been making lots of minor violations of territory near the border just to be petty and to test Fumaya's reaction.
To the north is wilderness. Orc and human barbarian tribes dwell plus assorted monsters. The raiders to the north have been largely given a free rein because most of the army is making preparations for a Swynfaredian invasion of the south.
The king, King Henryk who is in early twenties, inherited the throne very recently from his father the previous king. The previous king was wasteful and now Fumaya's coffers are empty. King Henryk is a good man but he is not especially cunning or ruthless. He's not stupid and realizes that both his northern and southern borders are under threat, but he is very reluctant to raise taxes believing the people are already shouldering the biggest burden they can handle. He is reluctant to take a loan because the only institution capable of loaning large sums of money to a king is the Church of Phidas which has a well-deserved reputation for insinuating advisors into the courts of their debtors and turning kings into toothless paper tigers run in proxy by their debt holders.
To free up funds, King Henryk cut back on royal frivolities. Troubadours, tournaments, hunting trips, and the like. He also laid off his royal staff. Problem is many of these laid off staffers are bitter about losing their job and many of them intimately know the inner workings of the court. Which courtiers are vulnerable to bribes and blackmail, which guards are prone to falling asleep on the job, all sorts of stuff.
I figure most of these malcontents ended up selling what they know to the fantasy medieval equivalent of the Mafia (though I probably need to come up with a better name than Fantasy Mafia). I am leaning towards to giving the Mafia don supernatural powers, thinking of making him/her a doppleganger.
This is where I'm not kind of stuck. I need to create some interesting characters, and I need to come up with some interesting dirt for these malcontents to have. What schemes would the mafia use to fleece Fumaya?
King Henryk has a very small parcel of land that he can tax and raise soldiers from. Mostly he has to rely on scuttage and levies from his vassals. I also want to channel the spirit of Game of Thrones seasons 1-6 to create some interesting noble characters.
The goal is to create a sandbox where the players characters can bust heads, play politics, or play detective. I think my playing group will lean towards political solutions. One of the two active players created a very socially oriented character that holds a high ranking in the Priesthood of Khemra. Another player is a jack of all trades elf on Rumspringa of noble birth. Between the two of them, they can probably get an audience with almost any noble or priest they want.
Scarterra's World Anvil Wiki
Page 1
Basic Intro, Cliff Notes of the Nine, Overview of the nation of Fumaya's basic concept, the three dwarf nations, Major noble houses of Kantoc, loose discussion of heraldry
Page 2
Hypothetical Exotic Magical Locations, Kobold culture in great detail
Page 3
Hypothetical Exotic Magical Locations. Discussion on Crime Syndicate in Fumaya, The sorcerous nation of Swynfaredia, early world map of Scarterra
Page 4
Discussion on Crime Syndicate.
Page 5
Animal minions of the Nine, more on the Crime Syndicate,
Page 6
Priestly titles, Void demons, initial discussions on Potionomics and alchemy, disease in Scarterra
Page 7
Godly Zodiacs and the calendar. Assorted myths of how things came to be, climate, weather, disease, minerals, the tides
Page 8
Dragons in great detail. Awesome diagram of minerals entering Scarterra. Unnecessary tangent to undead diseases in Shadowrun, Discussion on the shape of the world, sphere versus cylinder, initial speculation on how cosmetic race should look in Scarterra.
Page 9
RPGs in video games versus tabletop. Elemental forces as catalyst for race. Fatigue and armor rules, Dark Elf nation of Kahdisteria
Page 10
Colassian Confederacy Nations, Implications of a world with monsters, more on elemental forces as a catylist for race, Gnolls in depth
Page 11
The real world science of weather and how it would logically apply to the illogical cylinder shaped world of Scarterra.
Page 12
Adding details to kenku, more plane stuff, crime syndicate discussion, overview of spirits
Page 13
Crime syndicate discussion (plans), The City of King's Lake, discussion of castles/medieval society and magic, spell list
Page 14
More on magic in castles and medieval society being changed by magic. Combat skills and how common it is
Page 15
More discussion on weapons and skills at arms. Initial concept of the Border Baronies. 6 or 7 Border Baronies in detail
Page 16
More Border Baronies, more Mycanid discussion, discussion on magical orders, initial discussion of my gnomish cobbler hero hypothetical novel, brief covering of fantasy hybrids.
Page 17
Magical Mcguffin brainstorming for my hypothetical novel.
Page 18
Ghosts and ghost powers, fantasy horses, cyclopes, Spirit Loas, Silverwood trees
Page 19
Initial brainstorming about the Sea, aka Scaraqua. Scaraquan Myth for Creation of Life
Page 20
Plate tectonics, more Scaraquan discussion, Summary of the Void Demon Lords, discussion of how well informed about history Scarterrans and Scaraquans are, the Karakhai (sharkmen)
Page 21
More Scaraquan discussion, assorted map scribbling and discussion
Page 22
Map scribbling and discussion, afterlife discussion, Parts of the Soul cosmology, update on my active game, tangent on skeleton and zombie's damage resistance
Page 23
More on damage absorption capabilities of various creatures, Tangents on Mesopotamian Gods and D&D 5th edition, Updated World Map of Scarterra, PCs close a story chapter in my campaign
Page 24
Discussion of Magical laws, followup map discussion, lots of brainstorming on dungeon design.
Page 25
Discussion of Scarterra's "Prime Meridian," PCs complete the dungeon. Musings on adding new fictional nations to my fictional world.
Page 26
Hypothetical Sea Elf Nation, Hypothetical Kenku Nation, Magical and exotic means of improving communication and travel.
Page 27
Musing and discussion on elementals, the Elemental Plane, hypothetical elemental god(s), initial discussion of developing underground biomes and adventure setting. Bat People (Camazotz and Kalazotz)
Page 28
Follow up on Bat People, Update of my RPG in process, Trolling the Thread (pun), The Astral Plane,
Page 29
Astral Plane followup, Discussing a new name for "Kenku", Details on Khemra and her followers, tangent on me complaining about an overly woke RPG forum, informal brainstorm of including sphinxes
Page 30
Details on Mera and her followers, Details on Nami and her followers, discussion on magically binding curses, blessings, and oaths from non-spell-casters, Details on Phidas and his followers, Details on Zarthus and his followers, Update on my last RPG session, Details on Maylar and his followers
Page 31
Details on Hallisan and his followers, Details on Korus and his followers. Musing on metaphysics of arcane magic. Initial brainstorming on Swynfaredian noble houses. Revisiting Bat people, Establishing the Founding Dragons of Swynfaredia. I experiment with World Anvil
Page 32
Scarterran Elves in broad strokes, Developing a few Swynfaredian Houses. Loose discussion of the underground portion of my setting, Camazotz in detail, Kalazotz in detail,
Page 33
More discussion of bat people (zotz), profiles on historical Swynfaredians of House Fremiss, discussion on iconography for Scarterra, hypothetical tree people, language musing, sorcery musing, Establishing a set Calendar for Scarterra, Plantinum Peaks Border Barony, Art Musing, tentative plot outline for my novel
Page 34
Novel discussion, Ocean Currents as a means of travel in Scaraqua, Virdilut, aka Scaraquan Green Stuff, Heraldry and naming discussion, setting a fictional calendar year
Page 35
Food crops in Scarterra, Nilen's character and family, hard world building versus soft world building, expanding the names of the Nine, adding details to the Barony of the Dead, more calendar musing.
Page 36
Psionics Brainstorming, Scarterran Holidays dedicated to the Nine, I get a subscriber, briefly talk about vampires, briefly talk about Fair Folk. Psychic Haunted locations
Page 37
Tangent on naval warfare. Military analysis of Meckelorn, Stahlheim, Mondert, Fumaya, and Swynfaredia. I gush over my expanding World Anvil profile, Several Swynfaredian Houses, Two more Border Baronies, I finalize the Scarterran Calendar
Page 38
I set the current year and create a timeline of major West Colassian events, discuss World Ember contest, post some new Heraldry. Mention the lost Fakhari ethnicity of humans, I ponder having villains create reagents by murdering people.
Page 39
More heraldry and artwork, More World Ember updates Codenya kalazotz in detail, tangent on guano, assorted attempts at art, Dwarf influenced kalazotz.
Page 40
Assorted Scaraquan articles (tides, deities, metaphysics of how the land and sea interact), follow-up on kalazotz stuff, assorted World Anvil musings.
Page 41
More Scaraquan articles, bat people related articles, and World Anvil musings.
Page 42
Comparing Scaraquan to the Ancient Roman era, Lost Tribe of Grey Forest Kalazotz, were-ravens, Elemental Fever, the Swynfaredian royal court, Swynfaredian swear words
Page 43
Chwinga tangent, musing on the Scarterran Underdark, I really went nuts posting new articles on World Anvil over these past few days, I develop the Nation of Kantoc with a bunch of articles, I detail a bunch of heretic groups, I create a circus and a kalazotz acrobat troop, and profile domesticated dogs and bats, I split the Scaraquan ocean into smaller seas, I create a famous hippocampus, I try to write a tragic love story,
Page 44
Aquatic Cyclopes, The Boiling Sea, More icons, Crystal Fields Border Barony, I start Nilen's family tree program function, Scaraquans approximating alcoholic beverages, classifying Scaraquan habitable zones, Scaraquan Cult of the Storm, assorted musing on Scaraquan religious groups. Cult of the Shark, Karakhai subspecies/cultures. Cancer Province of Oshamni Empire, Potential friendly Skaven race.
Page 45
I make a picture of Nilen the cobbler, Subspecies of Frog Goblins, musing on other goblin subspecies, musing on the Petalars from Thundercats (2011), I run a solo RPG adventure for my friend. Mini Index of Major Swynfaredian Houses, I muse on revising tengku based on finding related material on kenku and tengu in other mythology
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More tengku/kenku comparisons, I run another solo RPG session, Haloclines are the new word of the day, I informally muse on the Swynfaredian black market for magical goods, I informally muse on Swynfaredians legalizing or banning goblin slavery, I attempt a prototype for a Scarterra glossary, I post a video about how real historical medieval European people handled waste management, formal artical on slavery in Swynfaredia, generic article covering peasants, serfs, and slaves in Scarterra as a whole, thurakel (the dragon equivalent of peasants), musing on human ethnicities in East Colassia
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Musing on fantasy setting green humans, Article on the Great Colassian Tundra, Article on taiga elves (sub ethncity of wood elves), I run another solo RPG session and then take a mulligan, musing on taverns and inns in Scarterra, Scarterran Hospitals, musing on Scarterran martial arts
Page 48
More martial arts discussion, musing on Scarterran monks, musing on Fumayan noble family trees, Scolenex proposes an alternate subsetting of Scarterra, musing on Scrterran/Scaraquan oracles, musing on Scarterran holy scriptures, discussion on magic and dragons' impact on medieval war tactics, musing on how big and strong to make dragons, musing on the mechanics of dragon's breath, musing on Scarterran wedding practices, musing on Scaraquan monsters,
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Scarterran wedding punchings, Lucky marriage coins, I post some RPG videos from Youtube that have been rattling around my head, Deep dive into Merfolk ethnicity and physical traits, kobold birthing treks in detail, midday pies, I finally run another solo RPG session, I talk about how dragons blur the line between Scarterra and Scaraqua. Speculation about dinosaurs and giant egg laying domesticated animals.
Page 50
I write a bunch of articles for a World Anvil Summer Camp contest including bright squid ink, bone crackers, prophecy of Vralic's destruction, Temple of the Dragon Waters, Desert of Tears, trench fever, volcanic wood elves, alchemical poison detection, moonrise tidal rites, the tengku's lost language, unrelated post 9 finger rude gesture, I muse on my need to read more
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More talk of fantasy fiction. More Summer Camp entries including: Order of the Lantern, red grass, the bow of Zimoz, Screaming Fields, East Colassian mountain goblins, Vladimir's kingdom (with a tangent on Vladimir's heraldry), Swynfaredian Otectum parties, The Platinum Consortium, Free Port of Amstrea, haber crystals, Ketaresh mining complex, the storm thief pirate, Ralthor the rebellious favored soul, the Great Sanctuary of Mercy, karakhai grand khans,
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My friend sets up his own fantasy world Therrmodia, I round out the Summer Camp Contest with Poop Porters, the Swynfaredian Queen's Guard, the Kraken's Siren, and the Apseldian revolution, I create a bunch of Scarterran Idioms, tangent on another World Anvil writer's tank humanologist, pondering dragon taboos as relate to their cuss words, Scarterra's two oceans, What the Colassian Confederacy Nations think of each other,
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Musing on hybrid elemental ethnicities, musing on East Colassian heraldry, follow up on Colassian Confederacy stereotypes, discussion on monsters of African folklore particularly the grootslang, guidelines for creating dwarf clans, What the Meckelorn dwarf clans think of each other
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More on the dwarf clans and guilds. More musing on the Fair Folk. Haber Crystals, basics of the Fair Folk Courts, Dwarf Maiden Guard, musing on real world monster tales as an inspiration for Fair Folk kiths.
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Rough draft of Deep Wardens Legion, musing on Teddy Bears, potion musings, I debut a map of West Colassia, articles I start Worldember 2021 with many articles: basics of Scarterran alchemy, Terrawan Tenders, Eclipse-Touched, Near and Far Wedding Tokens, Something Blue at weddings, Nami Civil War, Oracles, Stewards of the Gift, Stewards of the Dominion, Vampiris, Legend of the Silver Dragons, Walchese Tenders, Meckelorn Council of Elders, Stahlheim Council of Elders, First draft of ethnic variation in Merfolk, Geu-puppies, Red Shaft Clan, profile of a kalazotz crimelord
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kalazotz memorial stellae, alchemical food preparation, dwarf salt masters, pigs in Scarterra, Samhain Day of the Dead tween holiday, Beltaine fertility ritual tween holiday, brodsopp foodstuff, Scaraquan recreational substances, I start adding quotes to articles, musing on creating a rat-like humanoid race, magical food evolution, assorted Worldember musings, Imbolc spring tween holiday, Midsummer's Night revelatory tween holiday, How Maylar's Testers feel about the other groups, Scarterran New Years
Page 58
Satyrs and a lot of details about different satyr groups tangent on coal and dragon poop, I try to sketch a symbol for Greymoria.
Page 59
Musing on Ogres, Cannibal Sickness, Vulture Sickness, musing on cats and dogs and the craft of writing, Druss elves, musing on the craft of writing and my kitchen sink approach to fantasy, sea giants
Page 60
I discuss different intreptations of krankens, I come up with an entirely new creature called Ocumati. I cover how common Scarterrans feed themselves in great detail, I cover how Codenya grows its food, I revisit the Drunken Bat Inn and Brewery, I cover psychological differences between short lived and long lived races, Penarchian Dwarves, Gnomes Eye View of West Colassian History
Page 61
Mera combs, revisiting Drunken Bat Inn, informal discussion on warlocks and types of warlocks, tangent on Dark Sun D&D setting, Legendary Divine Talismans (with two examples), musing on a potential online video conference RPG campaign, musing on literary villain types.
Page 62
Scarterran Wendigo, Scarterran Rusalka, Ogres vs. Vampires, Smearing Scroll Cases, informal musing on the writing process and new cannibal mutants, Skinchanger witches, Skopen, Smearing Scroll Cases, RPG musings, Jormangers, Morlocks, I write a (dark) short story.
Page 63
short story critiques, RPG session planning, Barony of Bees, discussion on historical "mad honey", Wooly Slopes Barony, Ollums, Artificial lighting in Scarterra, informal musing on Mimics, informal discussion on 5th editon D&D Scarterra adaptations
Page 64
RPG session planning and comparing and contrasting D&D10 with D&D, Customizeable Zombies and Skeletons, I go to a small Renaissance Fair, Bugbears, Mimics, informal musing on kappa, Lifesight (metaphyiscal concept), Different motivations of knights, Formalize article on kappas, I try running an RPG via web camera and it works.
Page 65
I am inspired by a video on real world mountain culture, Borderlander National Industry, Dragon Springs Border Barony, general Borderland musing, I talk about my Summer Camp entries, especially Scaraquan items, Death Goats
Page 66
Lots of heraldry and some discussion of heraldry, brief tangent on the works of Robert E. Howard's fiction. dragon spiders, I show off Scarterra's first professional art, I talk about future visual art, I talk about Appearance rules apply to tengku, I briefly update what my RPG campaign is doing,
Page 67
I talk about Worldember 2022, salamanders, I become obsessed with reindeer, little "goats", regular goats, Scarterran pirates, I debut my first Scarterra novellete Unstable Ground, I do some general world building musing, I talk about Hasbro is being a jerk with their new "open" gaming agreement.
Page 68
I talk about what to name my hyena people, I talk about potential improvements of my wiki and goals for the next year, I briefly dip my toe in the water of AI art, Scarterran Theatre,
Page 69
I vow to add some more pizzazz to my Scarterra wiki. I try out an AI art program called Nightcafe with mixed results, Jelly Spear Plays, Zotz art comes along, I revisit Greymoria's Children, I debut Deep Goblins
Page 70
I talk about art additions to my wiki articles, Three Guys Walk into a Bar Scarterran Edition, RPG campaign update, I debut my professionally commissioned camazotz and kalazotz art, I edit and expand on some older zotz articles, I start the ball rolling on more commissioned art (satyrs this time), RPG session planning toppling a coup in the Borderlands, I cover the six northern satyr ethnicities, I show some portraits a player of mine made via HeroForge
Page 71
My friend makes more Hero Forge portraits, I debut a piece of professional commissioned art, I reveal many of my own Hero Forge portraits, Kormatin's RPG campaign enters a camazotz phase.
Page 72
I debut some watery satyr art, I publish a new short story, Scarterra's wiki crosses the million word threshold, Kormatin's RPG campaign ends the camazotz phase. I muse on chimeras, I debut a picture of some satyr kids, I enter several articles in World Anvil Summer Camp 2023, I debut a bit of tengku art, I muse on hypothetical undead plants, Mace of the Wyrmslayer
Page 73
I show off some commissioned art, some AI art, and some mixed attempts at making heraldry. Spooktober 2023 entries, Assorted Worldember prep, D-Names, Poison detection jewelry, more art, Crown Time Drain. Tapukeah and duchy building
Page 74
I deflate Scarterra's economy, I revisit Bonecrackers with AI Art, I create trees with beautiful amethyst leaves, I talk about rabbits, I wrap up Worldember 2023, I round out the dragon imagery of the four founding Swynfaredian houses, I debut commissioned art of a tengku vulture, I showcase my improvements in getting Midjourney to create pictures I can actually use. I polish some articles to to compete against other top tier world builders.
Page 75
Ducks of Scarterra, I expanded Scarterra's list of slang/idioms. I give an update on the artwork for the Nine in the pipeline, I muse about the possibility of publishing Scarterra stuff, Sheep and Wool in Scarterra, I enter "Adventure April 2024", I talk about my new RPG campaign, I prep for Summer Camp 2024, I ponder giving my site a visual makeover, I establish scarterra.com as a thing, Summer Camp 2024 begins
Page 76
I experiment with Midjourney AI and get lucky with a perfect picture of Turoch, the All-Consumer. I muse about long-term goals, I debut Scarterra's first meme, I introduce a new blood sucking monster, I hire a professional artist to make portraits for the Nine and a badass logo for Scarterra, I revamp my website elevator pitch, I reveal the epic origin of Scarterra's first sandwich, I try a new artist out for a commission of a Indian inspired chimera. I sum up my entries for the Spooktober 2024 writing event.
Page 77
I claw at the leaderboard for Worldember 2024. I write about pointy gnome hats, I expand my articles comparing and contrasting Scarterra with real world medieval history, I debut a professional commission of the grootslang monster, I debut a bunch of professional commissions of character portraits, I come up with RPG mechanics for feeding potions to horses, I get a professional commission of an illustration of gossip mongering, I attend the Origins convention,
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I talk about the Origins Convention. I write 40 pieces for Summer Camp 2025. I debut some excellent gnome art.
Introduction to local setting and deities. (below)
The D&D forum I was using doesn't like reading my giant blocks of text so I thought I'd turn to my L-O friends for advice.
I have working on a project off and on for years now. Originally the setting was intended to be a setting for playing 3.5 D&D, maybe 2nd edition. Then I eventually opted to try to make own game system. A hybrid of D&D and White Wolf's d10 system I call D&D10.
After a year of tinkering with my system I actually started running a game. Basically I'm testing the mechanics. The player characters are wandering the frontier of a small nation, responding to villages in distress. Very Monster of the Week, but it's a good way to test my combat system. X needs to be stronger, Y needs to be nerfed, that kind of thing.
The goal is to make a medium magic setting. Magic is fairly common and well known but it's not as crazy powerful as it is in traditional D&D game. No massive storms of fire, no bringing back the dead,
But I want to branch into an actual long term story fairly soon and it's based on what a player said.
One of my stories involved two villages that were paying yearly tribute to a local tribe of orcs in order to be left alone. An agent provocateur stole the tribute and tried to frame the villagers as having stolen the other village's tribute in order to watch the bloodbath. The PCs thwarted the villain and got the tribute back. One of the players said "Isn't this village part of a nation, the army should protect them from orcs."
So I can have the PCs wander the wilderness fighting Monsters of the Week for a while but eventually I want them them to go to the capital and try to shore up the struggling nation of Fumaya.
I have literally over a 100 pages of material on the creation of the world, the gods, the priesthoods, and metaphysics, but I have very little concrete information on the actual people of the world.
The nine deities are collectively called "the Nine." Each of the Nine embodies one of the nine alignments from D&D 2nd and 3rd ed. They briefly united to overthrow their tyrannical progenitor god, Turoch, who was trying to eat them and the whole universe. The progenitor god died and his spiritual corpse because a nightmare realm called the Void that spawns Lovecraftian monsters that assail the world from the north and south pole. They don't have agendas like the four Chaos gods of WHF, they just want to eradicate all living things and consume all souls. Collectively they are scary enough that the Good and Evil gods will put aside their differences to contain them.
Hallisan is Lawful Good. He is male. He is the god of metal working and mining, just war, chivalry, honor, the Father of Dwarfs, the patron of hard work, defender of the weak. His official Dominion over nature is the minerals of the earth. His Gift to mortals is metalworking. His priests and priestesses are nicknamed Guardians or Valor, or simply the Guardians.
Mera is Neutral Good. She is female. She is the god of the hearth, the sea, drinking water, family, peace, the Mother of Gnomes, the patron of medicine, and a lover of mercy. Her official Dominion over nature is water. Her Gift to mortals is control over fire. Her priests and priestesses are nicknamed Tenders of the Sacred Hearth, or simply the Tenders.
Zarthus is Chaotic Good. He is male. He is the god of the moon, revenge, art, music, celebration, finding hidden things, freedom, the adopted father of bastards and half-breeds, and self reliance. His official Dominion over nature is the moon. His Gift to mortals is music. His priests and priestesses are nicknamed the Lanterns.
Khemra is Lawful Neutral. She is female. She is the goddess of history, law, writing, knowledge, tradition, the sun, she is the writer of the Compact, the agreement that got the Nine to work together in the first place. Her official Dominion over nature is the sun. Her Gift to mortals is writing. Her priests and priestesses are nicknamed the Keepers of the Way, or just the Keepers.
Korus is True Neutral. He is male. He is god of ecosystem, animals, plants, agriculture, prophecy, mediation. His official domino over nature is the balance of plants and animals. His Gift to mortals is agriculture. His priests and priestesses are called Stewards. The Stewards are split between two factions that rarely work together. The Stewards of the Dominion are nature loving druids and the Stewards of the Gift are civilization loving friends of the farmer.
Nami is Chaotic Neutral. She is female. She is the goddess of weather, madness, prophecy, alcohol, arson, inspiration, and freedom. Her official dominion is over nature is the weather. Her Gift to mortals is free will. She was the first deity that gave a Gift to mortals. After she gave free will to mortals and they could choose who to worship, the other deities gave their own Gifts as a form of bribery to win worshipers. Her priests and priestesses are nicknamed Rovers on the Wind, or just Rovers. Even the rare cleric that doesn't like traveling is still called a Rover.
Phidas is Lawful Evil. He is male. He is the god of commerce, the protector against the Void, the father of goblins, master of contracts, and the one who lets food grow underground without the sun. His dominion over nature is the mystic Barrier that keeps the Void at bay. His Gift to mortals is the concept of currency. His priests and priestess are nicknamed the Masks of Phidas or simply Masks because their vestments always involve masks in honor of the god himself who hides his ruined face with a silver mask.
Greymoria is Neutral Evil. She is female. She is the goddess of arcane magic, the mother of monsters, the mistress of poisons, the patroness of the undead. She is the most feared deity because she curses or sends monsters at mortals who don't love her enough. This causes her to be loved less, prompting more retaliation. Her Dominion over nature is the regulation of wild magic. Her Gift to mortals is wizardry. Her priests and priestesses are nicknamed the Children of the Dark Mother, or simply the Children.
Maylar is Chaotic Evil. He is male. He is the god of Darwinism, hunting, animal husbandry, disease, decay, low warfare, the Father of Orcs (though Nami helped). His Dominion over nature is disease and decay. His Gift to mortals is hunting and animal husbandry (he wanted mortals to associate killing with survival). His priests and priestesses are nicknamed the Testers of Strength or simply the Testers.
Most mortals in my world are polytheistic and worship all nine of the Nine, though they usually have a favorite deity.
Hallisan is Lawful Good. He is male. He is the god of metal working and mining, just war, chivalry, honor, the Father of Dwarfs, the patron of hard work, defender of the weak. His official Dominion over nature is the minerals of the earth. His Gift to mortals is metalworking. His priests and priestesses are nicknamed Guardians or Valor, or simply the Guardians.
Mera is Neutral Good. She is female. She is the god of the hearth, the sea, drinking water, family, peace, the Mother of Gnomes, the patron of medicine, and a lover of mercy. Her official Dominion over nature is water. Her Gift to mortals is control over fire. Her priests and priestesses are nicknamed Tenders of the Sacred Hearth, or simply the Tenders.
Zarthus is Chaotic Good. He is male. He is the god of the moon, revenge, art, music, celebration, finding hidden things, freedom, the adopted father of bastards and half-breeds, and self reliance. His official Dominion over nature is the moon. His Gift to mortals is music. His priests and priestesses are nicknamed the Lanterns.
Khemra is Lawful Neutral. She is female. She is the goddess of history, law, writing, knowledge, tradition, the sun, she is the writer of the Compact, the agreement that got the Nine to work together in the first place. Her official Dominion over nature is the sun. Her Gift to mortals is writing. Her priests and priestesses are nicknamed the Keepers of the Way, or just the Keepers.
Korus is True Neutral. He is male. He is god of ecosystem, animals, plants, agriculture, prophecy, mediation. His official domino over nature is the balance of plants and animals. His Gift to mortals is agriculture. His priests and priestesses are called Stewards. The Stewards are split between two factions that rarely work together. The Stewards of the Dominion are nature loving druids and the Stewards of the Gift are civilization loving friends of the farmer.
Nami is Chaotic Neutral. She is female. She is the goddess of weather, madness, prophecy, alcohol, arson, inspiration, and freedom. Her official dominion is over nature is the weather. Her Gift to mortals is free will. She was the first deity that gave a Gift to mortals. After she gave free will to mortals and they could choose who to worship, the other deities gave their own Gifts as a form of bribery to win worshipers. Her priests and priestesses are nicknamed Rovers on the Wind, or just Rovers. Even the rare cleric that doesn't like traveling is still called a Rover.
Phidas is Lawful Evil. He is male. He is the god of commerce, the protector against the Void, the father of goblins, master of contracts, and the one who lets food grow underground without the sun. His dominion over nature is the mystic Barrier that keeps the Void at bay. His Gift to mortals is the concept of currency. His priests and priestess are nicknamed the Masks of Phidas or simply Masks because their vestments always involve masks in honor of the god himself who hides his ruined face with a silver mask.
Greymoria is Neutral Evil. She is female. She is the goddess of arcane magic, the mother of monsters, the mistress of poisons, the patroness of the undead. She is the most feared deity because she curses or sends monsters at mortals who don't love her enough. This causes her to be loved less, prompting more retaliation. Her Dominion over nature is the regulation of wild magic. Her Gift to mortals is wizardry. Her priests and priestesses are nicknamed the Children of the Dark Mother, or simply the Children.
Maylar is Chaotic Evil. He is male. He is the god of Darwinism, hunting, animal husbandry, disease, decay, low warfare, the Father of Orcs (though Nami helped). His Dominion over nature is disease and decay. His Gift to mortals is hunting and animal husbandry (he wanted mortals to associate killing with survival). His priests and priestesses are nicknamed the Testers of Strength or simply the Testers.
Most mortals in my world are polytheistic and worship all nine of the Nine, though they usually have a favorite deity.
My basic concept is that Fumaya is possibly the unluckiest human nation in my world. They are a small nation of hardy simple folk that happen to be the buffer zone between far stronger nations.
To the west is Meckelorn, a traditional Dwarf nation (I have two non-traditional Dwarf nations but this one is pretty recognizable, axes, hammers, beer, inexplicable Scottish accents, dislike of arcane magic, etc).
To the was they border the Wood Elf nation. I tried not to steal too much from WHF but my elves are split into three fairly similar elf nations. They are not as extreme as the Wood Elves of WHF. They like their privacy, but they don't view every single outsider entering their territory as an act of war. They exchange ambassadors with nearby nations and they have have a right of passage loosely based on the Amish Rumspringa. When an elf becomes and adult, he or she typically takes a short rumpspringa (20-40 years) where they leave their home forests and explore the outside world, then they come back home and probably never leave the forests again. Unless they were outcasts or outsiders in their own land, then the elves never come from their rumspringas.
To south is the powerful human nation of Swynfaredia. Swynfaredia is noteworthy in that all their nobility have herditary magical abilities which they use to cement their power. They have gone through periods of strife and civil war and periods of expansion. Right now the queen (or king, I haven't decided yet) is eying Fumaya as a potential conquest. Her vassals are getting uppity and an external foe would redirect their energy to something productive. Swynfaredia hasn't done anything overtly hostile yet but their soldiers have been making lots of minor violations of territory near the border just to be petty and to test Fumaya's reaction.
To the north is wilderness. Orc and human barbarian tribes dwell plus assorted monsters. The raiders to the north have been largely given a free rein because most of the army is making preparations for a Swynfaredian invasion of the south.
The king, King Henryk who is in early twenties, inherited the throne very recently from his father the previous king. The previous king was wasteful and now Fumaya's coffers are empty. King Henryk is a good man but he is not especially cunning or ruthless. He's not stupid and realizes that both his northern and southern borders are under threat, but he is very reluctant to raise taxes believing the people are already shouldering the biggest burden they can handle. He is reluctant to take a loan because the only institution capable of loaning large sums of money to a king is the Church of Phidas which has a well-deserved reputation for insinuating advisors into the courts of their debtors and turning kings into toothless paper tigers run in proxy by their debt holders.
To free up funds, King Henryk cut back on royal frivolities. Troubadours, tournaments, hunting trips, and the like. He also laid off his royal staff. Problem is many of these laid off staffers are bitter about losing their job and many of them intimately know the inner workings of the court. Which courtiers are vulnerable to bribes and blackmail, which guards are prone to falling asleep on the job, all sorts of stuff.
I figure most of these malcontents ended up selling what they know to the fantasy medieval equivalent of the Mafia (though I probably need to come up with a better name than Fantasy Mafia). I am leaning towards to giving the Mafia don supernatural powers, thinking of making him/her a doppleganger.
This is where I'm not kind of stuck. I need to create some interesting characters, and I need to come up with some interesting dirt for these malcontents to have. What schemes would the mafia use to fleece Fumaya?
King Henryk has a very small parcel of land that he can tax and raise soldiers from. Mostly he has to rely on scuttage and levies from his vassals. I also want to channel the spirit of Game of Thrones seasons 1-6 to create some interesting noble characters.
The goal is to create a sandbox where the players characters can bust heads, play politics, or play detective. I think my playing group will lean towards political solutions. One of the two active players created a very socially oriented character that holds a high ranking in the Priesthood of Khemra. Another player is a jack of all trades elf on Rumspringa of noble birth. Between the two of them, they can probably get an audience with almost any noble or priest they want.
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Awesome. I like it. So much room for conspiracies to be unraveled.
