My Fantasy RPG World, Feedback and Ideas appreciated

[Scalenex]

My friend made a portrait for Lady Anja Deorac III. The sort of Professor McGonagal of House Deorac. If McGonagal was a lot more prone to setting enemies on fire. She helped Kormatin and company fry some ogres. She's a very potent invoker and a competent abjurer and diviner but due to her age cannot exactly handle the hardships of long travel easily. Her picture is now on the article for earth ethnicity article on the section where I discuss aging.

I'm not sure Hero Forge can capture exactly I how I picture morlocks. But as my buddy reminded me, Scarterran morlocks are great crafters and usually wear armor. A helmet covers up a lot of their monstrousness. They aren't likely to fight half-naked like the morlocks of H.G. Well's original work.

Here are furry armed and armored arm variants my friend made me.

Here is an old school skopen from Scarterra's Red Era. Hypothetically if I every ran a Red Era RPG or wrote a Red Era narrative piece, rampaging savage tribes of skopen are likely to be a hazard heroes have to deal with.

I imagine in the Feudal Era, most of Scarterra's skopen are hiding their condition. Skopen, unlike Scarterra's other cannibal mutants rarely manifest obvious physical mutations, but they are all insane. I imagine most of them appear as ordinary elves that seem just a little off.

I asked the artist for permission to use this picture. EDIT: And I was given to permission to use it on my wiki, huzzah.

Apparently she is a video game character but I saw this and thought "That's a skopen!"

Anyway a Red Era skopen story is going to be about fighting off frenzied barbarians while a Feudal Era skopen story is more along the lines of outwitting the charming serial killer.

Anyway, my friend making umpteen Hero Forge portraits convinced me to reactivate my account. Here is my portrait of Vusnitt. A minor character all things considered but I wanted to created A) a watery gnome and B) an evil gnome. Both situations let me round out gnome articles with a visual aid.

Here's my new cover image for Meckelorn gnomes. He kind of looks like a runty dwarf, but that is kind of the point. He's a very earthy gnome but you can barely see it under all that armor.

 

[Scalenex]

New piece of commissioned art is done. Aleesia the satyr. A relatively watery example of a Mediterranean satyr contrasting with Lanlar who is on the more earthy end of the spectrum. I still have four more satyrs coming. This artist is awesome, I'm planning to hire him again later.

My friend and I are continuing making a slew of portraits on Hero Forge. Are they as good as a professional artist? No, but they are practically free to make and they look better than no portrait at all.

My buddy Eron12 is making portraits for allies and enemies of Kormatin. Me, I'm currently fleshing out a wide assortment of gnomes.

If you are going to fit in with dwarves, you better have weapons or beer.

I put a lot of depth into the article on Meckelorn gnomes. It has first hand explanations of things from both Fielwa and Drudlunk in addition to the third person omniscient of me the narrator.

At this point, the articles on the other gnome variants are not nearly this detailed yet, but I'm working on it.

Stereotypes have generally been popular on this thread, so here's Fielwa and Drudlunk talking about other gnomes.

Borderlander gnomes
"Better than the Borderlander humans for sure, but not by much. The Borderlander gnomes are a hodgepodge of cast-off gnomes from all the West Colassian groups so they while they keep their families close, they don't really have a true community beyond this and their selfishness shows."
-Fielwa

"They might be a hodgepodge of different groups, but the Borderlander gnomes have more Meckelorner blood than they do any other group, so they are still our kin. If the these gnomes are harsh it's because they live in a harsh land which makes them kindred spirits given what Meckelorn endured."
-Drudlunk

forest gnomes
"I never met a forest gnome, but I consider them kindred spirits. We are very similar to forest gnomes in many respects. Most gnomes are assimilated with humans, and they like us have adapted to the customs of non-humans. Relatively insular non-humans at that. But because of this, they created strong mutual ties with the wood elves much as we have created strong ties with the Meckelorner dwarves."
-Drudlunk

"I met a forest gnome once, on one of hose Rumspringas or whatever you call them. He was friendly enough, but he seemed jumpy and paranoid underground, as if he expected a monster to leap out of every dark corner. Meckelorn may be isolationist, but it is down right welcoming and open compared to Codenya. Maybe if Codenya wasn't so closed, the locals wouldn't be so scared by the unknown.
-Fielwa

Fumayan gnomes

"I am proud to call these gnomes kin. A lot of Fumayan lords and ladies have trusted gnome advisors and this has led to the human's credit. At the same time, this influence has not corrupted the Fumayan gnomes.

I look forward to any excuse to visit Fumaya. The Fumayan gnomes are gracious hosts and make some of the best food I've ever tasted.-Fielwa

"I don't disagree with anything you said. In fact, I will add another compliment upon them. They are hardworking and strong. Outside of Meckelorn, this is one of the few places you regularly see gnomes serving in the army."
-Drudlunk

Stahlheimer gnomes

"The Stahlheimer gnomes share much blood with us but little else. Living in Stahlheim has made them soft, gnomes rarely if ever support Stahlheim's military. Stahlheim gnomes are friendly and charming but more than a little greedy, like feather-less tengku."
-Drudlunk

"My grandmother is from Stahlheim. In her defense and the defense of the Stahlheim gnomes in general, they don't have much martial edge because they don't need a martial edge. It's not the Stahlheimer's fault that their nation is not attacked by orcs and monsters nearly as often. The Stahlheim gnomes are trying to look after their loved ones like everyone else. It just is the lot they were dealt with that this often revolves around diplomacy and mercantile endeavors as opposed to acts of valor and working with their hands."
-Fielwa

Kantoc gnomes

"I met a few Kantoca humans passing through, but I've never met a Kantoca gnome. We are gnomes of the mountains, they are gnomes of the open plains. I'm sure they are nice people, but we really don't have anything in common with them, and we rarely cross paths."
-Fielwa

"It may not seem like it, but the pony riders are pretty similar to us in many ways. They are tough and hardy and venerate Hallisan. That is good enough for me."
-Drudlunk

Swynfaredian gnomes
"In many human lands, gnomes are trusted advisors to kings and queens. In Swynfaredian, the dragon bloods don't often take on gnome advisors because they nepotistically want to give all the managerial appointments to their squib relatives.

The Swynfaredian gnomes are largely shut out of Swynfaredian society on every social level. Swynfaredia has far fewer gnomes in the skilled trades than most other lands because these jobs are all snatched up by humans. It is a wonder why the Swynfaredian gnomes have emigrated out en masse."
-Fielwa

"I've only been to Swynfaredia once. I found the Swynfaredian gnomes to be very welcoming and friendly folk. It is true that the dragon bloods shut out gnomes from high society here, but neither are they cruel. The gnomes here are usually left to their own devices and the gnome villages in Swynfaredia are like islands of peace and comraderie in a hostile sea of petty human politics."-DrudlunkUskalan gnomes"I never traveled to Uskala and I never want to. Gnomes shape themselves to fit into the lands they inhabit and Uskala is a poisoned land."
-Drudlunk

"In the defense of the Uskalan gnomes, it is not their fault they live in a pit of vipers. Even then, I'd just assume never interact with any of them. In their arrogance, they don't view Meckelorn as being worth their time, and I don't feel the need to correct them.-Fielwa

Zegdelian gnomes"I never met one of these reindeer riders but I would very much like to. Anyone who can survive the Great Colassian Tundra is quite resilient and thus worthy of respect. They must be able to tell amazing stories."
-Drudlunk

"My cousin is friends with a kalazotz who is friends with a dwarf ranger who once met a few Zegdelian gnomes and bartered with them. That is the closest thing I have to a first-hand account of what the Zegdelians are like. I'll reserve judgement until I can get more information, but the reindeer riders don't seem to have much interest in socializing with outsiders much and that seems...ungnome-like."

-Fielwa


My stereotypes are usually one person's opinion. I might continue this format of contrasting more often, I might not. I do like the idea that gnomes are fond of friendly arguments and playing devil's advocate as a matter of course.

 

[Scalenex]

Since Wizards of the Coast is now planning to quietly remove half-elves and half-orcs from Dungeons and Dragons, because apparently half-elves and half-orcs are inherently racist, this has prompted me to flesh out and expand Scarterra's half-breed population.

Here is me creating a half-elf/half-gnome character, both in Hero Forge and with a World Anvil article.

Go to Scarterra Homepage
Dreiters

"Tea, your highness?"-Dreiters

Dreiters may be the most powerful elf-gnome hybrid in all of Scarterra though he works very hard to remain figuratively as invisible as possible.

Dreiters is the primary man servant of none other than the empress of the Elven Empire herself. Ostensibly his job is to serve food and beverages to Her Majesty, fetch things and act as butler to the other servants, but Dreiters' true job is far more important.

Dreiters is a keen observer of mortals' motivations and emotions. While the queen is busy addressing the various dignitaries of the court, Dreiters' job is to keep an eye on everyone else. Who isn't surprised when a shocking scandal is announced? Who is merely pretending to laugh at the jester's last joke but is in reality offended? Is the prince showing disrespect deliberately or was he simply up too late drinking last night?

He has followed up on suspicious hunches many time, usually it points to some relatively harmless scandal, such as a chambermaid hiding the prince's empty wine bottles from an unauthorized party, but sometimes Dreiters sniffs out a more serious conspiracy.

He has followed up on suspicious hunches many time, usually it points to some relatively harmless scandal, such as a chambermaid hiding the prince's empty wine bottles from an unauthorized party, but sometimes Dreiters sniffs out a more serious conspiracy. Dreiters once helped catch an assassin targeting one of the queen's daughters though they never figured out who hired the assassin. A gambling man would put their money on royal fratricide.

(sidebar)
Current Location
Island of Lunatus
Species
Elf-gnome hybrids
Ethnicity
grey gnomes
Other Ethnicities/Cultures

• grey elves

Year of Birth
1689 CE 148 Years Old
Circumstances of Birth
Khemra's Zodiac Year, Zarthus' Zodiac Month
Sex
male
Eyes
light blue
Hair
dull purple
Skin Tone/Pigmentation
fiery ethnic orange
Height
3'6"
Aligned Organization
Elven Empire, government


Edit: I just updated and fleshed out the main article on Elf-gnome hybrids

Dreiters is the cover image, I added ancillary images for an example of a Codenya gnelf and a historical gnelf slave from centuries prior.

 

[Scalenex]

I have two professionally made satyr portraits, and four more on the way. A male and female representative for Mediteranean, Kionus, and Poisedonous Satyrs.

Satyr Fauns are less important story wise, but Hero Forge is addictive so I took it upon myself to make my own.

Sir Pie Eater is my attempt to come up with the most doofy satyr I could imagine.

Illmadia is vaguely inspired by Disney princess, though a little curvier and more muscled than the usually Disney stick figure princess since Satyr Fauns are fairly earthy sorts.

I'm taking a break for now, but later I'm going to see if I can use Hero Forge to go the opposite direction and make sleezy looking disreputable satyrs to represent Borderland satyrs.

 

[Scalenex]

"Man Dwarfs" is the term I use for Scarterran Human/Dwarf hybrids. EDIT: I just fleshed out and re-edited the Man-Dwarf article. They are pretty much almost all well over six feet tall and heavily muscled. Here is a West Colassian (Wo)Man Dwarf raised by a Zarthus temple and grew up to be a terrifying warrior.

In no place on Scarterra do humans and dwarves get along more than the nation of Mondert. That makes unsurprising that most of Scarterra's man-dwarves are Mondarian.

Mondert is has a tropical climate. While they are certainly capable of making traditional dwarf style arm, that would cook a warrior alive in the tropical sun. Here is a Mondarian Man Dwarf I made using Hero Forge's generic aquatic settings with dwarf style gear with a blue dominant color gear.



Here is with a Turban. I guess that would clash with the Polynesian theme I'm running with for Mondert, I think turbans might be practical and in character for dwarves living in warm climates.

I imagine Man-dwarves would tend to have a lot of body hair, but that is a detail that Hero Forge is not capable of conveying.

 

[Scalenex]

I'm slowly working my way through the ethnicities on my page with Hero Forge portraits. My goal is to produce a male and female for each one and also showcase different social classes and elemental ethnic make ups.

Here are two half-elves of the Elven Empire. Allen is mixed fiery/watery and Shelara is mixed earthy/watery. Pretty much everyone in the Elven Empire is watery.

Most half-dark elves are slaves or former slaves. Sontar was re-skinned before and after his escape.

Apseldia is the half-elf republic loosely inspired on historical Athens, so I decided to go with a Graeco Roman feel. Zalaria is water dominant and General Haldir is fire dominant. The plurality of Apseldians are made up of mixed fiery/watery heritage, but Apseldia is a nation of immigrants so they have the full mix of elements.

I don't have a good reason, other than aesthetics, but traditionally Apseldians wear retro robes when attending the Senate, but they don't normally wear these clothes elsewhere.

Here are two Apseldian gnomes representing an earthy male gnome with strong secondary fire and teritary water, and a female gnome with co-dominant fiery/watery traits.

My friend made this next one, Vessta was an NPC in the main RPG I'm running. He is the chief scholar of Silfurheim and the head master of Silfurheim's school. He is also a wizard but he is basically a lifelong dabbler that just picked up a couple of utilitarian spells.

A typical wood elf would probably not be caught dead in spectacles, but the Silfurheim elves have picked up the pragmatism of the Borderlands Region.

 

[Scalenex]

Two half wood elves, Umara is a warrior priestess of Zarthus I created a long time ago that fought along side the PCs. Umara was raised by wood elves. She has mostly earthy traits with strong secondary airy traits which I guess makes her look like a relatively tan real world Caucasion.

Ginter is a character I made up just now, a priest of Mera. Now I can add a name and face to one of the local Tender's horde of compassionate healers. Ginter was raised by humans. He has mixed earthy/watery traits. Since I went with grey earthy skin and gave it a blue tint, it really made the blue stronger than I anticipated but it works. And it fits for a Mera priest.

Now I have at least two portraits for every major half-elf ethnicity.

 

[Scalenex]

I am still progressing at my snail's pace at writing about Nilen the Cobbler going on an exciting journey.

My goals (not necessarily in order of importance)

-Tell a classic Hero's Journey story
-Pay an homage to Bilbo in the Hobbit, an everyman hero who never expected to be in a sword fight.
-Utilize a joke one of my friend's made a long time ago "What do you want from me, I just make shoes!"
-Make a fantasy hero that is a metaphorical or literal orphan.

I had the thought of pulling inspiration from a Slumdog Millioniare, a movie I have admittedly not seen the whole thing. In that movie, due to dumb luck the protagonist street urchin learned a lot of obscure knowledge to help him win a game show.

My plan to have a family-centric character invoke his family while they are not around, is to have Nilen remember something one of his family members taught him when running into various challenges.

I mentioned all this before, but now a large portion of Nilen's family tree has portraits from Hero Forge. Unfortunately, HF does not have as many different clothing sets for country bumpkins as I could but they do have lots of accessory and color options.

I used a variety of dice randomizers I set up for loose guidelines on how to create noble family trees, but it works just fine for peasant family trees.

Anyway, here is my slightly updated Nilen portrait.

Here's his father who taught Nilen his trade.

Here is Nilen's grandfather, a font of earthy wisdom. Grandpa Valdix rolled a great marriage with his wife Minoa, but she rolled poorly for health, so I decided that she died when Ronyer was a child (that's why her portrait is much younger than Valdix's), and Valdix chose not to remarry. Ronyer is an only child, though he married a woman from a large family

Here is Nilen's mother, Galpine who is the village expert on herbs and natural medicines, lore she passed on to Nilen.

Here is Nilen's maternal grandmother, Sonova, also a skilled herbalist though her focus is more on growing bigger turnips and whatnot than herbs and medicines. Also, she is big on Mera worship and pushed that on her kids and grandkids. She is indirectly responsible for Nilen developing theurgy. The blue necklace she has is the best approximation I could find for a Mera holy symbol on Hero Forge. Next her is an airy/earthy hybrid cat that at some point I need to name.

Nilen's maternal grandfather, Gahim, he passed away recently from natural causes. He is a nice person, but it is unlikely Nilen will directly call on Gahim's wisdom on his quest. Nilen is a lot closer to his paternal grandfather who is also a wise farmer but is also still alive and Valdix has five grand children while Gahim has like twelve, so Valdix can lavish more attention on his grand kids.

 

[Scalenex]

Now for aunts and uncles, all on Nilen's mom's side of the family. I tried to make them look alike. I randomized sex and it turns out this generation had lots of girls.

Nilen's only uncle. Uncle Lanpos, farmer of crops, teller of saucy jokes. I still remember an old joke from a historical play, a character that liked to talk about how proud he was of his first son and how much he liked having sex with his wife. "I plan to bring a lot of Catholics into this world...it's my contribution to the Church!" I just need to figure out a way to organically phrase this for for Mera worshipers. Lanpos does have a lot of kids and his wife is pregnant again. At some point, Nilen will defuse a tense situation with some of Uncle Lanpos' jokes.

Aunt Ragani is a goat herder and generally gifted with animals. At some point Nilen will remember a way to handle a dangerous beast by remembering something Ragani told him. The picture has an example of a earthy/watery hybrid dog.

So with my randomizer, Aunt Ariyas rolled great health but no children. I opted to make her unmarried and a lesbian (I understand there are other reasons to not have children). She also rolled well for picking up the herbalism skills that are common in her family. So she is a member of the Korus' Stewards, Scarterra's most LGBT friendly religious institution and big on plants. She is inspecting an onion. JR Tolkien gave hobbits a lot of values he shared. I guess I'm kind of doing that with Scarterran gnomes. Gnomish cooking uses a lot of onions. I'm not sure if Nilen will call on Aunt Ariyas' lore on his quest or not. If anything, since Ariyas is more mobile than the rest of Nilen's relatives, she is the most likely family member he might physically bump into on his quest.

I wanted to make one of Nilen's aunts or uncles be a lover of fantastic and historical stories which can help explain how Nilen knows the obscure weakness of a fantastical monster or two. I opted to make the storyteller Aunt Lilyas. Here is she is pontificating on the Spoon of Destiny and/or using the spoon as a play acting prop.

I am not sure if Aunt Wolnove taught Nilen any wisdom to aid him on his quest. But like Uncle Lanpos, she had a lot of children. The oldest one taught Nilen how to shoot a crossbow. Nilen has lots of cousins, but the rest of them are unlikely to matter for immediate story purposes. I haven't made portraits for any of them and most of them are unnamed.

Nilen has a bunch of brothers and sisters. It's unlikely he will call upon their wisdom on his quest though Nilen is the baby of the family. It does explain the fact that with his father, brother, sister, and great uncle all being cobblers, Nilen opted to move away from home to seek a location that had a shortage of cobblers. Nilen's siblings have names but not much in terms of backstory yet and no portraits.

Nilen has two great uncles and a great aunt still alive. One great uncle mentored Nilen's father in shoe making. Another one is a fisherman that Nilen has barely met. His great aunt Jomilla is the reason why Nilen's mother's side of the family has a green thumb.

 

[Scalenex]

I haven't used metamorphs in a long time but a friend obliged me on some Hero Forge enabled Metamorph art.

 

[Scalenex]

You probably don't need or want a blow by blow account of the solo campaign I'm running for Kormatin (I do have logs though, mainly so me and Kormatin's player don't let too many details slip our grasp). Since Kormatin has House Gorisonad against him, he hatched a plan to assassinate Gorisonad's top four spy masters. The first two assassinations went smooth but he messed up and tipped his hand to the third who escaped. Then the fourth was able to deduce he was about to be attacked and built up defenses. Kormatin managed to loot his evacuated home, but essentially left with his tail between his legs. Kormatin's player has been having a rough time with dice rolls the last couple sessions.

The campaign is entering an exciting new phase...a batty phase. Activate the @Warden signal.

Anyway, Kormatin is trying to help his scrappy nation of Fumaya get ready for an impending invasion from a stronger nation, Swynfaredia. A long while back, Kormatin did some major favors to the dwarf nation of Meckelorn and they sent Fumaya some weapon smiths and some kalazotz messengers.

It is not particularly difficult for an army or reasonably organized nation to use human messengers benefiting from a Fly spell and an Invisibility spell. The problem is a Detect Magic spell can at least alert the enemy that unknown active spells are in the area and probably point in the vague direction of the sky, allowing them to engage in magical counter measure.

A kalazotz is not invisible but they are really hard for humans to spot from the ground at night and their flight is non-magic, so kalazotz are virtually undetectable as flying messengers at night (in the day they aren't that hard to spot). The King of Fumaya was thrilled to have an unhackable communication system until a Swynfaredian spy shared what the Fumayans were trying to do and the Queen of Sywnfaredia came up with a counter and a spy Kormatin set up informed of this.

The Queen of Swynfaredian just brought in a great many camazotz mercenaries from Uskala, presumably as a counter to the Fumayan kalazotz messenger system, since with a camazotz's sonar, they can find and then kill kalazotz messengers pretty easily. Also given the enmity between camazotz and kalazotz, they will work for pretty cheap.

Kormatin was now charged by his king to eliminate the threat of the camazotz by any means necessary. His simple plan is to either kill them all or kill enough of them that the other camazotz decide discretion is the better part of valour.

Kormatin's player and I bounce a lot of ideas off each other between sessions. Kormatin has carefully been cultivating quite a few allies and the king is giving him resources.

Kormatin's plan is talk to his shadier allies for some anti-camazotz poison, or barring that the most powerful anti-everyone poison they can make.

We figured if there is a camazotz-specific poison, that lore is probably unknown in Fumaya. Maybe some obscure corner of Scarnoctis. But I did figure that they could be able to manufacture a poison that induces dizziness. Dizziness would be a much bigger problem for flyers than walkers, so he is going to load up on dizzy poison arrows and borrow some elite archers from the king. Also one of Kormatin's long-term adventuring companions is Ser Bendek a fighter/mage who has a spell to let humans see in the dark, required for shooting camazotz out of the sky at night. He can also cast Fly, but that is a last resort as the camazotz would have a edge in close combat in the air due to their great strength and superior experience with 3D combat.

Kormatin is also good buddies with a tengku ranger who is great at stealth and traversing the wilderness.

Most of the kalazotz are staying grounded until the camazotz are removed as a threat. I figured one of these kalazotz is insanely brave, so he is coming with Kormatin as a guide and lore expert.

Given that the camazotz are likely to be scattered in separate squads, Kormatin is likely to take on the groups in different ways.

Some he will try to find where they are sleeping in the day, some he will try to shoot down while flying at night and some he might bait into an ambush with a "helpless" kalazotz. Also, if Kormatin can find and kill the Camazotz's human handlers who are fluent in the Zocatec language, it will be harder for the camazotz to coordinate with the main army.

I haven't play tested camazotz as bad guys yet. I may end up adjusting their stats and powers after this. But it will be on the bun. After running four or five straight sessions of espionage, a straight up bug hunt story is a nice change of pace.

 

[Warden]

I got a bit confused with the swap between camazotz and kalazotz but this is fascinating. Never thought about the application of a silent messenger that can see (and fly) in the dark, completely undetected by normal means.

 

[Scalenex]

Here is the latest work I got from the new artist I commissioned. Kionus satyrs, in other words the satyrs that dwell from cold northern lands.

The male is pretty much all airy traits and the female is mostly airy with a pinch of earth.

 

[Scalenex]

So I believe I mentioned a couple times that the goddess Greymoria is in a self destructive spiral.

She feels she is not loved and worshipped enough by mortals so she lashes out to punish them which causes fewer people to love her. Rinse and repeat.

Her number one tactic throughout history has been to create a belligerent race of monsters or humanoids and instructs them to cause misery and death to her enemies. In a lot of cases these Children of Greymoria either die out or they desert Greymoria.
In the First Age, Greymoria created kobolds, chimera, dragon spiders, and maybe ocumati (who vigorously deny being created by Greymoria) were created to kill and harass dragons plus a bunch of races that are now extinct and forgotten.

In the Second Age, arachpliza, goblins, camazotz, maybe cyclopes, and maybe tengku to cause problems for elves.

I don't have any new races created to cause misery for humans. Orcs were created after humans, but they were not created with any involvement from Greymoria.

I'm pondering some kind of non-undead vampire derivative. I'm thinking a predatory humanoid that can subsist on any animal blood and may even be omnivorous capable of eating plant matter, but when they drink human blood or the blood of human-like creatures they are temporarily much stronger leading to addiction.

I'm just not sure what to make them look like. I'm not a big fan of humanoid insects so I would only want to have some form of giant mosquitos as a plan of resort.

I don't want to do something based on vampire bats because camazotz are essentially that.

I am currently leaning towards a 1920s Nosferatu style, but I'm not 100% sold on this.

They would be pretty similar to traditional vampires. The difference these would be living organisms. They would age and develop like other humanoids. They would sexually reproduce like other humanoids. They would probably not be harmed by sunlight (though they would probably prefer darkness to hide and hunt in).

Though I am thinking if I go with some sort of animal men feature I can avoid vampire cliches.

 

[Scalenex]

World Anvil has a mini-contest with an Under the Sea theme. I thought of polishing one of my older Scaraquan articles but that would be violating the spirit of the rules if not the letter. I have been pondering karakhai abberations for quite some time and I finally put pen to paper, (or fingers to keyboard). I am not in love with "karakhai abberations" as a name but I can always rename them later.

I am pretty pleased with the art work I was able to coax out of Nightcafe on this one. Please check out the link below.

Karakhai Aberrations

 

[Scalenex]

Those who have kept up with this thread a long time know I kind of have a weakness for wanting to include EVERYTHING in Scarterra.

One of my favorite fantasy Youtubers, Runesmith recently put out this video prompting me to cut myself some slack.

I've been waffling on what I should or should not include for the Fair Folk in Scarterra for a long time wanting to be authentic, but really this video reminds me that nothing really is authentic with such a vague idea.

I'm going to focus on the stuff on the 3 minute mark of this video based on the relatively modern idea that Faeries are fallen angels too good for Hell and too evil for Heaven. "They're half demons and half angels with no divine purpose".

The ancestors of the Fair Folk were powerful spirits that helped shaped the universe but by not siding with Turoch or the Nine, they are not tied to the Nine's realm or to the Void, so they are X-factors left to fend for themselves with Scarterra's metaphysical leftovers.

With my goldfish like attention span, I am still juggling lots of plates in the air but I'm not going to worry about deep dives into Faerie metaphysics for the time being.

They have more than enough depth. They have the four elemental influences each with an ancient court associated with them which both creates allegories for political conflict and fantasy racism.

They also have a schism between those who support the four original courts and those who think the courts are obsolete relics.

 

[Scalenex]

Given that restoring temples is a focus of one of my players and the PCs are about to investigate an ancient ruined city, I am planning to set up their next dungeon with encounters based around each of the Nine's temples.

One thing I believe Scarterra is generally lacking is large monsters.

One of the reasons I don't have a lot of large magical beasts is because of my love of realism and verisimilitude. If I create a new creature, it needs to be strong enough that it won't be wiped out by the creatures that are already existing, but not so strong that it eradicates all other life near it like a hostile alien species.

This becomes even harder when you consider that creatures need not just food, shelter and water but a viable breeding population. But if I make what I call "true monsters" the creatures are unique and don't need a viable breeding population.

Odin had a mystical eight-legged horse named Sleipnir.

I am using this as the baseline for a new and calling it Dark Sleipnir until I come up with a better.

Dark Sleipnir was a spirit of Maylar that he created to test people he thought needed testing or to smite people he thought needed smiting. Really, smiting and testing aren't that different to Maylar.

I'm thinking Dark Sleipnir is the size of an elephant and can exhale a debilitating poisonous gas. Dark Sleipnir could move very fast and use it's many legs to both kick the crap out of multiple opponents and to block incoming attacks. It also moves super fast making it a surprisingly difficult target to hit given its size. I might add some additional attacks or powers later.

Horses don't have fangs but most of Maylar's pets do, so Dark Sleipnir can have a really nasty bite.

I figure during the Second Unmaking even Maylar tried to help out and rather than keep "testing" Scarterra's mortal population during the Unmaking, he directed many of his minions to attack Void Demons. I mentioned the Moriaclar elves a while back and my main campaign has some PCs about to explore some Moriaclar ruins.

The Moriaclar were a moderately pro-Maylar people and they liked horses, so I figure Dark Sleipnir could have tried to provide some cover to Moriaclar survivors early in the Second Unmaking.

Pretty soon with all the Moriaclar or dead or fled, few Void Demons and even fewer surviving Moriaclar chose to stick around the Moriaclar homelands, but there were a few stragglers.

The Dark Sleipnir tried to circle back to defend the main Maylar temple there and engaged with the Void Demon stragglers, fairly successfully at that.

Rather than keep fighting Dark Sleipnir and losing more minions, a more forward thinking Void Demon came up with the idea of imprisoning Dark Sleipnir. Most spirits of the Nine cannot cross a line of salt and Void Demons turn into salt when they die. The Void Demons used their dead fellows to ring in Dark Sleipnir and trap him in the very Maylar temple he was trying to protect (so he technically succeeded in protecting the temple).

Dark Sleipnir, like most creatures of of Maylar, lives for action and being trapped for 2000+ years inevitably drove the creature mad.

Maybe if the PCs are very diplomatic, they could free Dark Sleipnir by removing the salt and win the creature's gratitude. Even then, Dark Sleipnir will probably attack just because it yearns to fight worthy opponents.

Even the PCs just kill Dark Sleipnir, that is still a win for both DS and Maylar. If a spirit is "killed" by conventional attacks, it will reform in the Aetherial Realm. This will have enough of a rejuvenating process that it will at least begin the healing process.

In the end, this might just give Maylar back a weapon with which to cause misery with, but it might end up creating a kinder, gentler Dark Sleipnir.

I just need to toy with Dark Sleipnir's stats so he is a challenging encounter but not too challenging.

A couple weeks ago, they beat a pair of werewolves much easier than I thought they would. I didn't think the werewolves had a snowball's chance in Hell of winning but they didn't even inflict a single health level of damage.

 

[Scalenex]

View attachment 134723

I have long been waffling on whether to include Cynocephaly (dog headed men) in Scarterra and how to do it. They are ancient legend but there were a lot of conflicting reports in ancient and medieval folklore. Scholars couldn't agree if these dog men were vicious savages or good boys. Also there wasn't a consensus on what their abilities were. Cynocephaly have not often been used in modern movies, video games, or RPGs to my knowledge so I have a blank canvass to paint on.

On whether to make them vicious savages or good boys, my knee jerk response is usually.

My initial thought was that Greymoria created them as a cannon warrior race and also to kick sand in Mera's face because Mera elevates dogs as a symbol of family and unconditional love. Greymoria would love to taint this symbol. Much how Mera embodies the life giving aspects of water and Greymoria embodies drowning and poisons.

Maybe Greymoria could have created Cynocephaly as mean dogs, and Mera managed to rehabilitate some into being good boys.

On the other hand, I sort of already did that with camazotz and kalazotz.

It is noteworthy that they were usually said by the Ancient Greeks and Romans and medieval scholars who based their knowledge on Ancient Greeks and Romans to medieval scholars who relied on ancient Greek and Roman texts, Cynocephaly were from Africa and India, but Indians and Africans have nothing like Cynocephaly in their own folklore.

Early descriptions of unicorns seemed pretty similar to rhinos but they gradually evolved via retellings to be more horse-like and them more ponylike. Likewise, early Cynocephaly descriptions sound a lot like baboons, which sort of sound like barking and panting dogs. Presumably those people who actually lived near barking primates understand them more fully and were not likely to confuse them with dog headed humanoids.

I'm just spit balling. Cynocephaly are a Western myth associated with India and Africa. In Scarterra, Penarchia is loosely based on India and East Colassia is loosely based on Africa. I could run with the Western myth by not having the Cynocephaly there native to those continents.

It just so happens that Penarchia is barely developed at all so I can use Cynocephaly almost any way I want.

East Colassia is a lot more defined, so if I put Cynocephaly in there, they have to compete for space with the groups I already put in.

Just a recap. Originally the human tribes/nations were scattered and separate and the dark elves took advantage of this robbing and enslaving them with impunity until the humans formed an alliance against them called the Colassian Confederacy.

I would prefer Cynocephaly to not be a pure good guy or pure bad guy race. I'm not sure how Scarterran Cynocephaly but if I run with them have the loyalty of a dog, the dark elves could have an elite cadre of Cynocephaly slave soldiers. The dark elves treat the Cynocephaly like crap, but the Cynocephaly don't know any better and are fiercely loyal despite all this. Making fights between the Cynocephaly and the Confederacy tragic because these are slaves that they cannot liberate and that they must fight.

Cynocephaly being loyal to a fault is something that can be used in almost any setting though I'm not sure how this fits with Free Will being a big thing in Scarterra's setting. They need to have some kind of ability to be free thinking doggies.

Dog fights are rough. I can imagine the Scarterran Cynocephaly could have a lot of tribes with differing practicing and beliefs that fight fiercely.

I'm open to suggestions or ideas though this thread has gotten quiet lately.

 

[Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl]

I have long been waffling on whether to include Cynocephaly (dog headed men) in Scarterra and how to do it. They are ancient legend but there were a lot of conflicting reports in ancient and medieval folklore. Scholars couldn't agree if these dog men were vicious savages or good boys. Also there wasn't a consensus on what their abilities were. Cynocephaly have not often been used in modern movies, video games, or RPGs to my knowledge so I have a blank canvass to paint on.

On whether to make them vicious savages or good boys, my knee jerk response is usually.

My initial thought was that Greymoria created them as a cannon warrior race and also to kick sand in Mera's face because Mera elevates dogs as a symbol of family and unconditional love. Greymoria would love to taint this symbol. Much how Mera embodies the life giving aspects of water and Greymoria embodies drowning and poisons.

Maybe Greymoria could have created Cynocephaly as mean dogs, and Mera managed to rehabilitate some into being good boys.

On the other hand, I sort of already did that with camazotz and kalazotz.

It is noteworthy that they were usually said by the Ancient Greeks and Romans and medieval scholars who based their knowledge on Ancient Greeks and Romans to medieval scholars who relied on ancient Greek and Roman texts, Cynocephaly were from Africa and India, but Indians and Africans have nothing like Cynocephaly in their own folklore.

Early descriptions of unicorns seemed pretty similar to rhinos but they gradually evolved via retellings to be more horse-like and them more ponylike. Likewise, early Cynocephaly descriptions sound a lot like baboons, which sort of sound like barking and panting dogs. Presumably those people who actually lived near barking primates understand them more fully and were not likely to confuse them with dog headed humanoids.

I'm just spit balling. Cynocephaly are a Western myth associated with India and Africa. In Scarterra, Penarchia is loosely based on India and East Colassia is loosely based on Africa. I could run with the Western myth by not having the Cynocephaly there native to those continents.

It just so happens that Penarchia is barely developed at all so I can use Cynocephaly almost any way I want.

East Colassia is a lot more defined, so if I put Cynocephaly in there, they have to compete for space with the groups I already put in.

Just a recap. Originally the human tribes/nations were scattered and separate and the dark elves took advantage of this robbing and enslaving them with impunity until the humans formed an alliance against them called the Colassian Confederacy.

I would prefer Cynocephaly to not be a pure good guy or pure bad guy race. I'm not sure how Scarterran Cynocephaly but if I run with them have the loyalty of a dog, the dark elves could have an elite cadre of Cynocephaly slave soldiers. The dark elves treat the Cynocephaly like crap, but the Cynocephaly don't know any better and are fiercely loyal despite all this. Making fights between the Cynocephaly and the Confederacy tragic because these are slaves that they cannot liberate and that they must fight.

Cynocephaly being loyal to a fault is something that can be used in almost any setting though I'm not sure how this fits with Free Will being a big thing in Scarterra's setting. They need to have some kind of ability to be free thinking doggies.

Dog fights are rough. I can imagine the Scarterran Cynocephaly could have a lot of tribes with differing practicing and beliefs that fight fiercely.

I'm open to suggestions or ideas though this thread has gotten quiet lately.

One of my planned races for Escalonia was a race of cynocephalians called the Telekhines (based off of another similar creature of Greek legend that Rick Riordan briefly shoehorned into Percy Jackson). For some reason I didn't include them in my initial description of the Southeast Quadrant with their allies, the Swamp Elves of Dhaverroth, as the original inhabitants of those swamps and the Elves' servants and shock troops, and generally tough but dim and savage (which is a sign that I'm probably reaching the limit of the number of races that should be in Escalonia, time to stop adding new ones in and time to start developing those I have). To be fair I already have the Greenhide Orcs to play that latter part, but those Orcs are a wandering menace to everyone and everything, whereas at least the Telekhines swear loyalty to one faction.

Of course you're free to design yours any way you like, as long as you don't pinch anything from Escalonia (I mean you haven't so far, but there's always a first time for anything).

Anyway, shouldn't you be spending more time trying to write a convincing story for Nilen and less on adding ever more races into Scarterra when you already have pretty much every fantasy race known to mankind in there (I suppose I'm a fine one to talk given I haven't finished my Thrax novel yet, but it's over 75% done)? I seem to recall that dealing with your World Builders' Disease is one of your big life missions currently.

 

[Scalenex]

One of my planned races for Escalonia was a race of cynocephalians called the Telekhines (based off of another similar creature of Greek legend that Rick Riordan briefly shoehorned into Percy Jackson).

By an astonishing coincidence, Rick Riordan is the one who planted the idea of using Cynocephaly into my head.

I hadn't thought about using Telekhines, they are a cool monster, but I already have two industrious building races in Scaraqua, Astalakians and Seaclopes, I don't really need a third, especially since merfolk and ojiongo do have crafters among them too even if they are not famous for it.

Of course you're free to design yours any way you like, as long as you don't pinch anything from Escalonia (I mean you haven't so far, but there's always a first time for anything).

I wasn't planning on taking your stuff. Our focuses are sufficiently different that I haven't been tempted. I will ask permission if I am ever tempted.

Anyway, shouldn't you be spending more time trying to write a convincing story for Nilen and less on adding ever more races into Scarterra when you already have pretty much every fantasy race known to mankind in there (I suppose I'm a fine one to talk given I haven't finished my Thrax novel yet, but it's over 75% done)? I seem to recall that dealing with your World Builders' Disease is one of your big life missions currently.

I don't always follow my life missions closely since my spirit animal is a gold fish.

We are both Civilization Fans. Civilization 4, most of the narration was done by Leonard Nemoy. I still remember a lot of the quotes. I especially remember the proverb, "If you chase two rabbits, you will lose them both." I am chasing a whole warren worth of bunnies.

Besides the real life things that every one pretending to be a responsible adult needs to do, Scarterra is pulling me in several directions at once.

I created Scarterra's RPG session for me and my friends and marketing the RPG to others seemed like a pipe dream. But Hasbro/Wizards of the Coast keeps alienating their customer base and the sales of indy RPGs are growing rapidly.

My introductory one-shot did not win the March contest but it got an honorable mention and a shout out from the Owner of World Anvil and this has pulled some new eyes on Scarterra.

More importantly, I was contacted by someone who wants to give my RPG system a try AND he wants to run a game in Scarterra with his friends, so now I can get some feedback on the RPG system and the setting from a theoretically non-biased source.

This, and me reorganizing my massive collection of White Wolf RPG books has made me mentally drift to how I would compile my RPG rules and basic setting into an RPG book.
I fleshed out my outline and character notes for Nilen's a bit but it's hard to actually write prose on it, so I'm working my up to a novel with shorter pieces.

I am very near the one million word mark on Scarterra. My plan was and is to cross the one million word line with a story rather than a setting article or RPG rule article. I sort of have the artificial deadline of July 1st because I want to participate in World Anvil's Summer Camp event. I also need to set artificial deadlines to motivate myself.

I started working on a story for the Trials of Mogak the Orc Heroine, but the scope kept getting bigger, I'm not going to be get it done by July 1st. I'll have to cover Mogak later.

I have a fairly simple short story I plan to complete this week.

Once again, I want to plug Unstable Ground, my first real Scarterran story if you haven't read it yet.