Recruiting thread! For a 2nd ed game!(Recruiting and stuff!)

[Encard]

I'd love to join - let me see how hectic things look this semester, though. I dropped you an e-mail about it... I'm hoping for the best, this looks fun. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[ 01-10-2007, 09:33 AM: Message edited by: Encard ]

[PurpleXVI]

Hey, Ency, no worries in any way. If you can join, you can join, if you can't right now, well, I'll find some way to parachute you in should things change.

I'm also willing to make allowances if your semester suddenly gets busy-like, I'm sure that we can find some wacky excuse for your character to catch the Baatorian Flu and spend a few weeks real-time recovering in Sigil while he vomits blood and has boils shaped like pit fiends.

Either way, it's just good to hear from you again, I'm sure everyone's missed you.

[Man Who Fights Like Woman]

Cool, Encard might be coming back! That is significant and awesome, especially if we can get the band back together.

But not Ringo.

[PurpleXVI]

Ah, and I think it might be the nice DM thing to do to notify people that I am upgrading my computer to Vista tonight so, eh, there's the faint chance I may be AWOL for a day or two in case it all goes to hell.

Still, it seems unlikely to happen, I just thought I didn't want to disappear on everyone without an explanation. If I manage to make a post here within the next 10 hours or so, fate has not freed you from me.

EDIT: I realized I had completely forgotten to add equipment info to the main post, consider that to be edited into it within the next five minutes or so. You may feel free to upgrade your equipment to meet these levels if I dictated anything less to you.

[ 01-10-2007, 09:55 AM: Message edited by: PurpleXVI ]

[PurpleXVI]

Origins

To truly understand where you are going, and why, you must understand where you have come from.


The Where: Names, Races and Places.

Like every prime, your homeworld has a plethora of names. Some with meaning, some without. Generally the humans call it Achen[Ah-chen], a corruption of an ancient, considerably more long-winded name, supposedly meaning "Garden of the Lords."

For the known part of the world, it is a fitting name, as every part of Known Achen tends to be lush with vegetation except where it has been cleared or where some disaster has destroyed it. Known Achen is a faintly crescent-shaped continent, extending south-west to north-east, populated mostly by humans and the short races. It's a land of rolling hills, temperate climate and dark forests. For the better part of human memory, it has been at peace, with the various nations finding more to lose from war than trade, and with the monstrous races either being destroyed or with the only remaining members being the ones who understood what the human kings did(Like the Orc lord Mulgam who is as respected as any human ruler by most.).

South of Known Achen there supposedly lies another continent, or an archipelago of islands, from whence the elves come. The few humans who have seen it, either from a ship or through scrying magics, say it is covered in snow and ice, with barely any sign of civilization. This would explain why so many elves leave it for Known Achen. They call their home corner of the world Pryssenda. Sages say that in the old languages, it would translate to something along the lines of "The Land of Trials." The elves are notoriously private about their homeland, but what diplomats and interrogators have weaseled out of them over the ages would suggest that it is a fitting name. While it is a harsh land, it breeds a strong people, and it's citizens take pride in surviving there, looking down on the ones who settle in Known Achen.

Dwarves and the other short races are said to come from another land, like the elves do, but the ones living in the human lands in present times have no memory of it. If they truly did, it was something far back in the mists of time. They use the human name for their world.

The elves are all members of one great nation, and none of the short or demi-human races have their own nations, all being citizens of primarily human nations, though they will often gather in their own enclaves within those borders to practice their own traditions, religions and, occasionally, laws.

Though the humans are tolerant of these subjects, it is rarely out of any higher ideal, they merely recognize that orcs and half-orcs make better soldiers, halflings make better scouts and dwarves forge better steel. While Known Achen might seem like a peaceful paradise, it has it's share of crime and villainy, it is just not of the overtly destructive kind that other primes have to contend with. Mostly it takes the form of beaurocracy, corruption and crime. Adventurers still have the occasional wyvern or band of ogres to fight, but for the most part they are pawns of local lords, or stuck hunting down bandits who are merely farmers that cannot pay the rent. It leaves few with a truly heroic disposition, and many end up becoming mercenaries, numb to great causes and ideals.

While there are many minor baronies and coastal countries scattered about, the major, and generally the most influential, realms are Rhost, the Shivercoast, Pur-Bien, Elesia, Kasdek and Angor's Haven.


Next: More names and places, after that, some people.


(I will, of course, add some more information on these lands, this is just a first post. Feel free to throw in requests for certain things, maybe more information about the elves or dwarves, or a specific part of Known Achen, maybe what monsters lives where, etc. Additionally, you may choose to let us know what nation or even(When I get that much written.) what city your character is from. You should also feel free to invent something, if you want your character to come from a crime-ridden, filthy, overpopulated city in Rhost and I have not specifically state that Rhost is almost purely small villages, then go for it, go ahead and invent it. As long as it does not contradict something I have written or is patently insane, go ahead and invent something about Achen.)

[PurpleXVI]

Origins

Places: The Shivercoast

The Shivercoast is the southernmost nation on the continent of Known Achen, the closest to Pryssenda and consequently the one where most elven ships seek a harbor after their month-long trip through storms, freezing weather and sea-monsters. No other Achenian nation has more half-elves, but it has surprisingly few elven citizens, since they tend to seek north, away from it's cold climate. For the most part, if an elf has left Pryssenda, he never wants to see another snowflake again.

Fishing, trading with elves and producing very prized mercenaries seems to make up the majority of the tiny nation's remarkable traits. It's mercenaries tend to be known as Shiverblades, and they have their own guild. Two Shiverblades will never fight each other on a field of battle, and any leader who tries to command them to do so will soon find himself lacking some of his best soldiers.

What formal government exists along the Shivercoast tends to vary from city to city, rather than having any sort of central location, though the various lords will confer on matters of great import and stand together if a threat warrants it. Since this nation has little that the others seek, it has neither any particularly great enemies or allies, with the possible exception of Pur-Bien and Angor's Haven. The last great war before the current period of peace involved Pur-Bien attempting to march through Angor's Haven to reach Rhost, but Angorian spies had advance warning of this and they hired a vast army of Shiverblades to defend their realm.

While it is several decades ago, Angorians still remember that the brave men of the Shivercoast saved them, even if not for free, and the lords of Pur-Bien have yet to forget who stopped their last bid for power.

The terrain of this small, frosty nation, which often lies covered in snow over half the year, tends towards the rocky, with the vegetation mostly consisting of pine trees and thorny things. Without importing food from Rhost, the Shivercoast would starve, since they have no reliable farmland.

Notable people in the area include the pirates of Nathanial "Icebeard" Eiriksson, who, despite raiding up and down the Shivercoast, as well as several neighbouring nations for over five years, have yet to be caught. Supposedly they have some frozen crag where they make port well off the coast, but neither scriers or sea captains have been able to find it.

Edited content added beyond this point by request

Jan Volfsfang is another noteworthy person, the currently leader of the Shiverblades and an extremely capable warrior. Supposedly he single-handedly slew the last Remorhaz ice beast that dwelled along the Shivercoast. Rumour has it that he has sent a band of Shiverblades to investigate the portal, but not as paid mercenaries of any other faction, simply for the sake of the Shiverblades themselves.

All of the Shivercoast's borders are to the north and west. South and east there is only icy sea. Immediately to the west lies the bleak nation of Kasdek, directly to the north lies the orc-filled kingdom of Southmarch and northeast lies the dangerous no man's land called the Shadowfel Forest, the last truly wild region of Known Achen.

The portal appeared west and centrally in the continent, within the borders of Angor's Haven. The fastest route there from the Shivercoast would be through Southmarch or Kasdek, then further north through the massive nation of Rhost. By foot it would probably be several weeks of hard marching assuming that the weather was good, on a fast horse, half that. Of course, the cold weather along the Shivercoast and the neighbouring lands can easily bog down any expedition or traveller before they get far.

[ 01-11-2007, 07:28 AM: Message edited by: PurpleXVI ]

[Man Who Fights Like Woman]

Kind of curious, which nation or nations does the Shivercoast border, and how far is it from the kingdom where they found the portal? Also, are there any great people besides the pirate, or are the other citizens unremarkable?

[PurpleXVI]

I'll edit that into the post.

[Man Who Fights Like Woman]

Awesome, thanks for adding the extra info, it really helps me get a better picture of how the continent is laid out.

[PurpleXVI]

Origins

Places: Kasdek

Kasdek is a nation of only moderately warmer clime than the Shivercoast, and probably the least naturally forested nation of Known Achen. It's a rough land for a rough people, little bit cliffs and home of the largest mountains in Known Achen(Though even those are relatively small compared to mountains on, say, Earth.).

Highly militaristic, it is one of the few nations that still permit slavery. Slaves are considered to have about as many rights as furniture, and anyone who kills or harms a slave merely has to recompense the owner in money or goods to get away without any punishment. Many of Kasdek's slaves are of the short races, used to work in the country's mines.

The nation is ruled by the iron-fisted Lord Kolmod who allows no one to even speak ill of him. He enforces his will with some of the most elite troops in all of Achen, but his people at least live in the knowledge that when they are innocent, they are safe. Still, it speaks volumes for the safety of the guilty when even theft carries a penalty of mutilation.

Lord Kolmod crushed the last rebellion against his power six years ago, and no one has attempted to remove him from his throne since. It might have helped that he had every single rebel(And there were hundreds.) nailed, still-breathing, to the walls of his castle.

Kasdek has extensive quarries of marble, flint and gemstones, and this forms the basis of it's economy. The only farms are a few grape farms in the north, and without food imports from Rhost, Kasdek would collapse in a matter of weeks.

Notable people are the aforementioned Lord Kolmod, the dwarven rebel leader Thorst and Kolmod's court mage Elben, an Elesian who got run out of his country for being spectacularly immoral in his magical experiments.

Lord Kolmod

An easily described man, Lord Kolmod is iron-fisted law incarnate. He lawful to the core and would never even think of breaking his own rules. He has little respect for those who twist or exploit the wording of the law to their own ends, and his single chaotic trait is that he tends to have these put to death in public under a charge of "perverting the law."

He is rarely seen without an armed escort and for good reason. While their ruler is lawful, there are many people in Kasdek with less respect for the laws and many of them have friends or relatives who've been the victims of Kolmod's ruthless "justice."


Thorst

Born into slavery, Thorst never had a family name. From the moment he was old enough to be put to work, he hated seeing his fellow dwarves in shackles, and soon grew to hate his owners. It was only a few years in the mines before he one day whipped up a frenzy among the dwarves, halflings and gnomes, they overran their captors, took their weapons and for several years lead a succesful guerilla war against Kolmod's forces.

Of course, it was not to last. Kolmod recruited Elben and with the assistance of the powerful mage, the secret base of the rebels was found and every last rebel except for Thorst was captured, though no one knows how he escaped. Supposedly he is still on the run, pursued night and day by Kolmod's men, but many say this is merely a legend for the sake of justifying ever more ruthless laws and random searches.


Elben Redmantle

A member of the powerful Elesian Redmantle family, Elben was rich and pampered from birth, with the best teachers, nearly unlimited resources and a natural urge to learn, he soon shot up through the ranks of the Elesian Magocracy. However, soon people were noticing how the people just above him in the ranks had a habit of getting into bad accidents, or just outright dying for no apparent cause, and their friends decided to investigate Elben's activities.

What they uncovered was more than they ever expected, the young mage had been summoning demons, one of the few practices forbidden in Elesia, and sabotaging the experiments of rivals to remove them. Before they could bring the mage to justice, though, his infernal contacts alerted him to the fact that his cover was blown and he skipped the country just inches ahead of a mob wielding not torches and pitchforks, but fireballs and magical swords.

He first sought refuge in Pur-Bien, but agents of Elesia were hot on his trail and he had to move fast. Heading south, he eventually arrived in Kasdek where Lord Kolmod was in need of an unscrupulous, ambitious and above all powerful mage to assist him in destroying Thorst's rebellion. Elben was more than happy to do this in exchange for a safe haven, and ever since, the two have had a very succesful partnership.


(I'm working on a rough map of Known Achen, so I won't be bothering to put in the geographic location of Kasdek.)