OOC: World Building

[The Evil Biscuit]

Currently I've documented a main flow of water (magic infused and otherwise) as coming down the mountain on the south side, splitting at the lower peak, and diverting east and west - east, into the Verdant (my tentative name for the heavily colonized jungles, noted in orange) and west to the fishing industries of the western coast.

Water on the north side feeds the northern territories as well, but I'm letting whoever writes those up deal with that.

[Ninety]

Ok, so choobles and I were talking on AIM for a while tossing ideas around. Here's a couple we really dig. First, some names.

jgélðhrn = heldyn (mainland pronunciation/spelling) = space monsters
Vígríðr = viggrid (mainland pronunciation/spelling) = island

Basically that island in the northwest is the site of one of those asteroids hitting Aleta a long time ago. It was a biggun and dug out that lake you see there. There was a metric fuckton of the jgélðhrn/heldyn/spacemonsters on it that started running rampant so the Shields set the place up as a trial by fire for new recruits/potential recruits. The fancy names are what the Shields and so forth call the island/critters and the plain names are what the general populace goes by.

Anyways, we also thought that, instead of a ring of asteroids around the perimeter of the world, it would be a ring above Aleta. Like, think ice cubes swirling in a big glass. Because of this, only Aleta is hit by them when they fall and the bottomworld is unaffected. We figure that this could be the reason the first bottoms went down there; they wanted a civilization where they didn't have to worry about the jgélðhrn.

[The Evil Biscuit]

omgyes

ninety i'm so happy you're back

[Ninety]

I don't know how well this attachment thing is going to work but it's too large to embed in the post.

Rocks up top is the asteroid ring full of jgélðhrn. Pouring down in the middle is the godwater and aquasphere. The little shading on the sides of the big mountain (no hard edges) is a river. The hanging stuff on the rims is the water falling into the abyss. Rocks underneath is bottomworld. Just a quick mock-up of what I'm thinking this place looks like at the moment.

It's not accurate in its depiction of the landmass; it's just a general idea of what the world itself looks like.

Attachments:

[ch00beh]

omgyes

ninety i'm so happy you can draw

[Ninety]

Thank you, basic illustration class I'm taking this summer and I should probably go to right now to avoid traffic!

[The Evil Biscuit]

so wait, where does that stuff going up from the waterball go?

[Ninety]

Jun 10, 2010 18:45:56 GMT -5 ch00beh said:

...I'm imagining a large ball of endless water floating above a mountain range in the center of the world that runs off into just about every body of water. Maybe there are smaller aquaspheres elsewhere.

Jun 11, 2010 15:21:11 GMT -5 Hamuu said:

And playing off of Choobs idea. I like the constant floating ball of water, but I think we could go farther with it. I say, the water is constantly draining from the "heavens" like there is a cloud bank that this long waterfall like stream is coming from. I think it should only be a floating ball of water because there are a large number of these monks constantly exerting force on it and that keeps it collected up in the air and they let it out in controlled amounts because if they didn't there's enough water there to cause a large inland flood if it all came down at once.

[ch00beh]

Ok this is hella annoying. Whenever I hit alt+numpad4, Firefox AND Chrome decide to interpret it as the hotkey to go back. Meaning I've lost this post twice now while trying to type Jgélðhrn.

Anyway, so this has to do with Vígríðr and the shit ton of Jgélðhrn that are on it. Initially I thought of making it Australia in that particularly egregious criminals are sent there to get abducted by Jgélðhrn but that would be redundant with the Shields.

Soooo 90 and I figured that Shields just conscript them particularly egregious criminals and commandeer their stuff. For example, Telaen poachers. Those guys have to be badasses to take down a full grown Telaen. Shields come in as a sort of asshole global police force, beat the shit out of the poachers, and take all the harvested Telaen shell since "it would be wasted to just throw away". Any of the poachers that survive are given the option to either get conscripted or get killed right there.

If they choose to get conscripted, they get sent straight to Vígríðr. Maybe they're given the option to say good bye to loved ones (if they have any) and buy supplies. But supplies would be moot since they're getting dropped on the island for an entire year. Anyway, the criminals are rounded up (not limited to poachers. All criminals are welcome. And I guess people who volunteered) get their names taken away, their heads shaved, and their asses dropped onto Vígríðr. Maybe a handful of official Shields are dropped, too, to monitor or thin the crowd or something. Idk.

A year goes by, the Shields pick up the survivors, and then give them training from hell and make them memorize all the stars in the sky. There's probably some test to check whether the experience has harrowed the recruit enough to make them willingly take up the Shield name, and that they aren't just joining so they can stay alive, or at least that's not the main reason.

Pass the training, and you finally get a name back, but it's not your old name. Some test or ritual or whatever is done and the recruit gets a name along the lines of "Silent Bear", possibly lowercase because "a man is not defined by his name, but by his deeds" and is now a full fledged badass anti-hero. Old crimes are officially forgiven, and they now enjoy a small amount of diplomatic immunity and grudging respect from the populace.

So revisiting the dead soul thing again, their life force is used primarily to power massive golems. It takes several souls to get the constructs to move. These guys follow orders perfectly and don't have any remnants of their previous lives. Each golem is given the title "Jotunn" and the golem army's motto is "In death, service."

I'm still considering giving each golem a pilot just so I can have super mecha.

[Ninety]

goddammit choobs, go to niji's forum if you want to talk about robots.

Actually, go there if you want to talk about starcraft and pokemon. No one there cares about robots except for pendragon and he's a gayboy.

[ch00beh]

maybe i will agree to lay off GOLEM MECHA if I get a group of people that ride bears and/or giant ravens. Or bearavens.

[Hamuu]

Expect me to devote some time to read what I've missed and start contributing again next week.

[Ninety]

I don't think these people should have pubic hair. I want this to be a pube-less utopia.

[ch00beh]

new rule acquired: pubes don't grow on people.

Anyway. Possible sports for the wonderful world of Aleta. No plans for actual RPs of these, as they'd need to get translated to tabletop rules to be fair at all, but they are here for atmosphere.

Tower

Tower is a sport played by two 6-man teams with a spherical ball. It is one of Aleta's most popular sports.

The game is played on a 50 meter long rectangular field, which can consist of a variety of materials. Aleta's most famous arena has a clay floor. At either end of the field are two goals; a large 7x1.5m one is positioned on the ground while a smaller 1x1m goal sit atop. Officially, there is no designated keeper, though some teams have opted to train them.

Players are allowed to control the ball with any part of their body, as long as they do not hold the ball with their hands for more than 3 seconds. The ball must not be under “explicit hand control” for another 10 seconds before it can be held again. Additionally, one may not hold the ball at all within 10 meters of the opposing goal. Players may dribble with both their hands and their feet. Magic is expressly forbidden.

Tower is a full contact sport. Penalties are only called if a player is completely incapacitated for over one minute. A player may receive up to three penalties before being ejected for the rest of the game. Additionally, players may not tackle one another or attack from behind. A tackle is defined as grappling another player and pinning them to the ground. Typically the only protection worn are leather shin and forearm guards, used both to fend off attacking players and to strike the ball with increased force.

Traditionally, the ball is made with regular leather panels stitched around a magically inflated cow bladder.

Tower is professionally played in a league in the northern country of _________, where teams come from the individual fiefdoms. It is also a popular pick up sport, though amateurs tend to use smaller, more makeshift courts.

Skull

Another one of the northern country's more popular entertainment sports is Skull. Essentially, Skull is non-lethal gladiatorial combat waged with wooden weapons and leather armor. Games are played between two equally sized teams on an open area. Obstructions may or may not be present. The goal of the game is to cross into the other team's territory, take their designated bear skull, and bring it back to your designated home area, all while simultaneously guarding your own team's skull.

An alternative version of skull has no teams, and instead, players individually try to keep the skull for as long as possible. Sometimes, small squads are used.

Fighting is only to incapacitate the other person. Broken bones and knocking out are allowed so long as the intent is not to kill. Deaths are punishable by death penalty.

[The Evil Biscuit]

I submit my chair-actor for the Shield.

_____

Name: Jafa-in-Zakili-in-Binet-on-Hakal (note: Shield Conscript deemed this name too difficult to pronounce in conversation and appointed the honorific 'Jeff' to make things easy)
Age: 26
Race: Imikijini
Class: Marksman

[ch00beh]

Ok so some PMs were sent, and I have an idea of the island and the western forests. Borders are going to be slightly adjusted to make the western territory end at that river just north of the forest. Anyway, so because those are now filled, expect this place to get set up before the end of the month! The green area can be made on the fly, or if anyone wants it, they can call it.

Quick summary of the northern territory:
__No name as of yet, obviously___ was up until recently a loose confederation of smaller fiefdoms that usually traded and occasionally waged unofficial civil wars on trivial matters. However, in recent decades, many of the outlying patriarchs and matriarchs declared their states independent of the central monarchy. As the country broke apart, the current monarch refused to start a civil war over the matter, so one of his senators, Matriarch Irino, killed the queen, exiled all other unsupportive senators, had their respective fiefs burned, and made it her goal to take control back for the throne.

With this news, Patriarch Solus, lord of Solum-Se, began to unite the independent border states in order to fight off the central armies. After a decade of defense and calling the independent states to action, the rebel army marched on the capital and put it under siege for a year. In the ensuing battles, both Solus and Irino died, though by that time, Solus had united the majority of the country. The remaining states loyal to Irino surrendered to the deceased Solus and Solum-Se was declared the new capital. As of the current day, soldiers are still on their way to their respective homes.

Of note is that the Shields refused to intervene, and some of the universities refused to send aid to either side as well. Interestingly, Nadia Ferumdoit of the Pelantesque Court, ______'s biggest and most prestigious university, did fight, and against the rebellion at that. Despite her actions, Pelantesque was officially neutral in the war, and so funding was not withdrawn, though the Magister's tenure is currently in question.

lolStealthCharIntro.

The main religion revolves around two deities: the Giver and the Taker. The Giver is responsible for creation and especially the aquasphere atop Mount Fauxlympus. The Taker is responsible for death and taking the water as it falls off Aleta. Water is an especially strong symbol of the faith. After death, they believe that the body must be given to a body of water so that the spirit can travel through it and find its final resting place in the Taker's arms. The relationship between the two deities is not antagonistic; it is an accepted fact that destruction must occur in order for new life to be born.

----

ANYWAY. IMPORTANT STUFF THAT YOU SHOULD NOW DEF READ IF YOU ARE PLANNING ON PARTICIPATING IN ANY KIND OF WAY.

This is regarding the format. I said in the OP that each area would have its own topic, and so plots could come and go and change area and generally be really confusing. But I dunno if I still want to do that, or if anyone else would like to conform to that format.

A pro that having each area be its own topic is that it would allow places to be all described really nice in the OP and then get continually fleshed out as things happen in them. The first potential problem I see with this, though, is that the size of an area need to be agreed upon first. Like I could make a topic called "Solusland" and that would just be the entire northern country, but that wolud be kind of silly because it would be so general. Alternatively, I could make "Solum-Se Marketplace" which would allow for sweet detailing, but then the board would be littered with these topics, and it would eventually hard to find the ones you want. My last idea for this is to have separate subboards for each country (ie Solusland, Vigrid) and then have more specific topics within each, but that seems slightly clutterful.

The for-real last option is to just make it a normal RP style, make wiki pages for each place, and just put a link to the list in a sticky with other important info. This is the most boring but probably the easiest.

[Ninety]

I think sub-boards for each country/region/whatever would be best. It gives some cohesiveness to the RPs in each sub-board. I don't think it would get cluttered until a lot later. I don't see a lot of concurrent RPs happening within one region though the number of sub-boards could be an issue.

[Tout-Perd]

Would it be possible to make some kind of labeled maps with clickable links to Wiki pages, maybe? Or is that too hard?

I think that we should just go with topics, ORP style. Locale based RPing is sometimes functional, but as LTR proves, it's hard to get a good plot thrust going, and shoots any chances at having things occur at different times in the same place. And as Ishkabibble can tell you, that'd just be depressing.

Not to mention more mobile RPs that go from one setting to another. If people crossed over their threads in the wrong way, well, it'd lead to some serious pime taradoxes goin' down.

[ch00beh]

I could probably do a map like that, but not with the wiki. I'd need to be able to edit HTML, CSS, and Javascript for an entire page.

Anyway, yeah, time paradoxes. Man, Lee is smart. I knew we tried to keep him around for a reason. I guess this will be boring and practically formatted because it makes the most sense.

[Ninety]

Jul 20, 2010 15:33:11 GMT -5 Tout-Perd said:

Not to mention more mobile RPs that go from one setting to another.

Excellent point.

Do you mean like, an image where clicking on a region within the image takes you to the wiki page? I have no idea how to make that work.

EDIT: coobles ninja'd in a more complete answer than mine.

[ch00beh]

Jul 20, 2010 16:20:18 GMT -5 Ninety said:

I have no idea how to make that work.

It's actually not that bad. The HTML just doesn't work properly in IE6 (surprise!) but it's a graphical glitch, not a functionality glitch. If I make it, I could host it on my site and see if there's a way to embed it.

[Ninety]

No, I meant no idea how to make it work here or on the wiki.

[ch00beh]

Oh, btw, to address the "mobile RPs," I kind of wanted that to happen in some epic quests or whatever. But I didn't take into account how things happen at different times.

PS. I think I can actually make a script that allows html to be embedded in a post, but that's like hella insecure and hackerish. The other route is to put the html in the header itself and read it into a post, but that could get cluttered.

[ch00beh]

Aleta's Wiki Entry

Completely incomplete. I plan on making the pages eventually, but I just wanted to catalog everything I could think of first. If something is missing, add it. If you want to start a page, go.

[ch00beh]

Goog gog how do I even write this much when I have a paper to write?

^That's the Northern Country all nice and summarized and organized and shit in case anyone is even interested in reading

[Hamuu]

Ok, just read everything I have missed.

Here are my ideas –

Regarding the Shields.

So, hopefully we are still merging ideas and such but a lot of things I read gave me these ideas. Alright, so I like how they recruit the criminals/poachers (death or death in service) but how do they get normal people. Well I will get to that after I explain this next part. I see the Shields as a “large” organization but with constantly dwindling numbers. Sure they have boosts in membership here in there but for the most part they face things that would cause most people to shit themselves. So, because of the horrible odds they face, their numbers stay about the same. Because of this they don’t have the show of force they’d like.

Also since they are like a civilian police force (I think the most badass neighborhood watch ever) Each town has one for the most part. I see it as when the Shields were first forming up they went around and offered protection to all the towns they could. A lot rejected them but some were like sure ok. Once people saw what they could do more towns changed their tunes. I figure, the Shields being what they are will accept any town. Based on a few criteria they decide how many Shields will be stationed in such town. Size of town, population, and history of attacks from Fringe Beasts all factor. If a town is large but has little to no history of attacks, they will station 2-3 Shields and maybe one Golem Shield. If it’s large town and lots of attacks, the number will be larger. They will always assign at least one person to a town they extend protection to. I figure they always have a few living at an out post those turtles pass by. That way of a new turtle civilization is starting up he can join them and be their Shield.

I also think there are a few nomadic Shields called Riders. They are a subset that ride large bears. When Shields are fully inducted into the order, they are given orders, and assignments, stuff like that, they may be chosen to become a Rider, (also Roaming Shield would be a good title) when they become a rider they are given a young bear. They go through a whole new level of training, learning to live off the land, fight with and care for the bear, and so on. Their purpose is to relay info between the Shields in dif towns, gather information, search for unprotected towns, retrieve the Shield Crystals when they die, and so on. Anything that would fit in with a traveling member of this group.

Alright, the way a normal person joins the Shields is they have to find a Shield (usually their resident shield if they have one) and become an Apprentice. There is an age minimum, and the person must be healthy and good physically condition. If the Shield accepts them they live with the shield for a year, the sleep when the Shield does, eat when he/she does, and bathe, train, and go wherever the shield does. If the Shield tells them to do something they must do it. The only thing they do not do is fight, mainly because they don’t have the training yet. At anytime a person can quit but that bars them from joining and if they wish to try again at any point it must be with a different member, and they have to start their year over from the beginning. If however they stick with it and make the full year, the Shield will then give them a choice – back out now with no shame or begin real training to become a Shield. If they accept, then they wait till the next Shield Rider comes to town and head out with him/her. When they arrive where all the other new recruits are waiting they are given lodgings and such until they are bunched up with all the criminals and sent for their one year survival training and so on.

Also I like the Golem idea, but I see these people as warriors. Also, I’ve been playing a lot of SCII lately so I came up with this. When the Shield dies and becomes the crystal, they can use it in one of two way, imbue it into a Shield Weapon or make a golem. Weapons using the crystal are stronger and have “attributes” if a normal person tries to use it the crystal goes dormant until another Shield uses it. If they make a golem they can either make a stone golem, usually 7 feet tall and mainly a frontline fighter, or they can make a crystal golem, usually 4-5 feet tall and a caster. What determines this is whether the crystal yielded a large amount of magic power or was mostly void of power. Crystals with low magic quality are made into stone golems and high magic yielding crystals are fused with naturally occurring magic crystal. Stone golems are larger because they need to be and stone and rock is abundant. Crystal golems are smaller because they need to be able to move around faster and crystal is expensive so they want to use as little as possible. Stone Golems tend to be bulky and Crystal Golems tend to be lanky and thin.

K this is where the SCII idea comes up, rarely a crystal is recovered that yields a massive amount of magic potential. When this happens they make a special kind of golem called a Tower Shield Golem, these are usually made of a combination of armor and naturally occurring magic crystal (I forgot the term for it so that’s why I keep calling it magic crystal lol) these Tower Shield Golems use only one Shield death crystal and when they “wake up” they retain the thoughts, feelings, emotions, memories, and personality of the Shield who yielded the crystal (think like Alphonse from FMA but with the dragoon concept in the original SC). Their height is usually determined by the size of armor they are fitted with; typically they are pretty basic looking sets of armor. The Tower Golem has the ability to “refit” new armor on but it takes them out of commission for a few days. Once a Tower Shield Golem has served as such for 50 years they usually get to commission custom armor made to their specifications. They typically serve in the larger towns or helping train new recruits. They are crazy strong, while a normal golem is equivalent to 5 or so men, a Tower Shield Golem is worth about 10 or so men. They have an active duty life of about 150 years, at which point the naturally occurring magic crystals that make them begin to grow. They can usually buy about 10-20 years more but filling down the portions of the crystal that begin growing but after about that long all the crystals in their body begin to grow. Usually, before they lose their mobility, they make the journey to the Shield Barracks, or whatever the Shield Headquarters is called, and take up residence somewhere on the grounds. As long lived as they are, they have a certain humor in their death. They know that when the crystallizing process if finished they will finally die for good, they also know that the crystallized golems are left wherever they completely crystallize at (kinda like a monument). Sometimes they pose sometimes they go to their favorite spot. There are currently 6 fully crystallized Tower Shield Golems on the grounds – Two in the courtyard (one sitting on a bench looking upward and another standing in a corner), one lying in a bed where all the new recruits are housed (mainly to creep out the newbie’s as he put it), one standing watch on a parapet over looking the training grounds, and two in the main hall (the thing is here that there were two Tower Shield Golems alive at the same time (usually doesn’t happen) and they had a friendly rivalry. When the first began to crystallize he wanted to look dramatic and powerful, so he posed himself in the main hall near the entrance pointing his sword upwards. When his friend began to crystallize as well (a few years after his friend had died from complete crystallization) he climbed the wall of the great hall, found the strongest beam he could and strong himself up with a noose right above his friend. Until he died of complete crystallization he’d heckle the other Shields in the main hall (though he knew when to behave) when they asked him why he did it he said when the rope gives out he’ll crash into his friend and they’ll both shatter, ending their rivalry in a draw.) There is a 7th Tower Shield Golem on the grounds currently in the crystallizing process. He sits on a balcony overlooking the fields and farms near the barracks. He’s about half way through the process and still has about another twenty years left until he fully crystallizes. Until they fully crystallize, Tower Shield Golems can still talk; give advice, joke, and have a good time. Even once their armor is fully encased they usually live on another 6-10 years.

The crystal “prison” that grows around them is completely clear (though it dose add a blue glowey twinge) the armor spreads out slightly, but still maintains the pose they were in. There have been 16 recorded Tower Shield Golems since the creation of the Shields, 7 of them have either crystallized or are crystallizing in the Shield Headquarters while 5 have fallen in battle. When that happens their armor is put on display in the shield headquarters in what has come to be called the ‘Trophy Room’. 1 Tower Shield Golem returned to his home town and Crystallized there looking over the grave of his wife (who was killed by Fringe Beasts). The final two both disappeared toward the ends of their lives. It is unknown what happened to them, whether they fell in battle or crystallized in some far away place. It has been a long time since there was a Tower Shield Golem.

Damn, I wanted to get to some stuff about the Endless and the Tribe and the Company. Stupid work, why is the library busy on a Friday, wtf. Shouldn’t these kids be outside, on a computer? Anyways, what do you guys think? do we like?