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| -rw-r--r-- | src/apocrypha/region_thenorth.md (renamed from src/apocrypha/region_thenorth.org) | 28 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | src/apocrypha/thegournalgeographicaffairs.md (renamed from src/apocrypha/thegournalgeographicaffairs.org) | 12 |
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diff --git a/src/apocrypha/anintroductiontoapocrypha.md b/src/apocrypha/anintroductiontoapocrypha.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a850552 --- /dev/null +++ b/src/apocrypha/anintroductiontoapocrypha.md @@ -0,0 +1,86 @@ +--- +title: "An Introduction to Apocrypha" +updated: "2017-12-25 Mon 14:22" +categories: AP +--- + +Apocrypha is a world of mystery and forgotten history, built from +first principles and the realization that even simple truths have +consequences. + +My goal with building the world of Apocrypha is to create a generic +fantasy world which is both suitable for books and for use with TRPGs, +and is designed somewhere on the coherency spectrum between the +Forgotten Realms and Discworld. + +Though it is being designed to function with the 5th edition of <a +href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_%26_Dragons">Dungeons & +Dragons</a> in mind, I am also haphazardly designing a TRPG of my own +which may be abandoned along the way, but draws inspiration from +Apocrypha as well as breathing life back into it. Over the last 2 +months, I've found that working on one usually generates ideas that +are applicable to the other, and overall energy for both projects +benefits from this dynamic. + +Occasionally Asked Questions + +1. From a Forgotten Realms standpoint, "does the Weave still matter?" + +There is no Weave, nor are gods' domains delineated in the same way as FR. + +3. "Why in a D&D 5e-esque world have the elves and spellcasters not + taken over despite the advanced age of the former and the quadratic + power curve of the latter?" + +My previous answer to this was chopped up and dumped in several +dumpsters in several different states, so I'll expand below. + +Creatures don't have DNA. Alchemy is not chemistry because there are +no chemicals. Plutonium isn't an element: fire is. + +All creatures share a common ancestry. From the primal elementals, to +the mischievous fey, to the inscrutable nim, all are born by the +spontaneous generation of the physical from an immortal and unchanging +essence. I'm working on how they are all related, but their forms are +determined by their essential natures. + +The "planes" are just reality through a broken prism (in that they +started out with a common starting place for the condition of the +world, but since each has slightly different properties, due to the +absence of certain things (like say, gravity) or their distortion +(like the duration of magical effects lingering twice as long), they +each have developed differently (and different kinds of creatures have +been born there). + +Magic comes in as many forms as creatures do. + +Since creatures and magic and the elements and planes all have the +same ancestry in the grand scheme of things. + +Wizardry, specifically, is the capturing of a specific magical essence in the form of a spell. + +This 'bottling' allows you to take magic with you from place to +place. and release it. But the power of most non-wizardry magic ebbs +and flows based on large geographical region (which I'm still working +out, since I don't have most of the other magic systems worked out +yet). For example, druids can produce effects much more powerful than +those of a wizard if they are within their grove. So high level +wizards trying to take over an area and being repulsed by the locals +is a fairly common trope. + +As is practitioners of various regional magics attempting t extend +their influence by changing the lands around them. The Song of +Conquest is a kind of regional magic (or more like ancestral magic, +because it comes from the people, not the land), that has spread quite +far and is the power behind the empire (in addition to them +discovering wizardry and having a big army and the largest navy). + +So, the reason that elves/wizards haven't taken over the Empire is +because of the Song of Conquest (which only +humans/halflings/faunus/orcs have access to) and the nation state +(because it's a #human empire which isn't racist towards elves per se, +but you know). + +Also, "there's always a bigger fish." There are dragons and nim and +patrons and icons that are more powerful than wizards, and gods above +those. diff --git a/src/apocrypha/anintroductiontoapocrypha.org b/src/apocrypha/anintroductiontoapocrypha.org deleted file mode 100644 index d37a45a..0000000 --- a/src/apocrypha/anintroductiontoapocrypha.org +++ /dev/null @@ -1,29 +0,0 @@ -An Introduction to Apocrypha - ---- - -title: "An Introduction to Apocrypha" - -updated: "2017-12-23 Sat 14:21" - -categories: AP - ---- - -Apocrypha is a world of mystery and forgotten history, built from -first principles and the realization that even simple truths have -consequences. - -My goal with building the world of Apocrypha is to create a generic -fantasy world which is both suitable for books and for use with TRPGs, -and is designed somewhere on the coherency spectrum between the -Forgotten Realms and Discworld. - -Though it is being designed to function with the 5th edition of <a -href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_%26_Dragons">Dungeons & -Dragons</a> in mind, I am also haphazardly designing a TRPG of my own -which may be abandoned along the way, but draws inspiration from -Apocrypha as well as breathing life back into it. Over the last 2 -months, I've found that working on one usually generates ideas that -are applicable to the other, and overall energy for both projects -benefits from this dynamic. diff --git a/src/apocrypha/region_thecentersea.md b/src/apocrypha/region_thecentersea.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..be49016 --- /dev/null +++ b/src/apocrypha/region_thecentersea.md @@ -0,0 +1,13 @@ +--- +title: "Regions of the Center Sea" +updated: "2017-12-25 Mon 00:13" +categories: AP LD +--- + +# The Center Sea +The Center Sea is the beating heart of the civilized world. +Tributaries from all directions meet and mix here, bringing ships +together from all the nations of the world, laden with goods and with +ideas. + + diff --git a/src/apocrypha/region_theempire.md b/src/apocrypha/region_theempire.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bc269f3 --- /dev/null +++ b/src/apocrypha/region_theempire.md @@ -0,0 +1,153 @@ +--- +title: "Regions of the Empire" +updated: "2017-12-24 Mon 00:14" +categories: AP LD +--- + +# A Brief Overview of the Empire +The Etracian Empire is the largest empire in the world, and the second +largest in history (only falling behind that of the dominion of the +giants during the Days of Thunder). + +Though in past ages, the empire grew through conquest, in the modern +days, the holdings and influence of the empire expand primarily +through colonization and diplomacy. + +#### Q & A +>How long has the Empire been around? + +The current count places the empire's history into 111 ages, but how +many is that? The current age has lasted 62 years, but some have been +less than a year, and some longer than a century. + +The best tax records in the oldest provinces say the empire is about +30 generations of elves (or 3000 years) old. The average length of an +'age' is therefore, about 100 years. + +>What is the General Edict? + +The General Edict is a system of laws and codes given by Josef IV. It +has been in place for a little over 60 years. + +As a legal system, the GE has done a better job of keeping the nation +running than the previous code did (the previous Emperor's reign was +rife with civil war, do in large part to the Emperor's power to easily +disenfranchise noble families that "showed disloyalty"). + +>Who is the current Emperor? + +Emperor Josef IV is the official name for Lady Lizbeth Yates, the +eldest daughter and only remaining survivor of the Yates line. Though +technically, only a man may claim the title of Emperor [what kind of +primogeniture is this?], few complain that the Lady Lizbeth legally +declared herself a man (or rather, few who complained about the matter +remain among the living). + +## Regions of the Empire +The Empire is a massive, powerful, and infinitely subdivided nation +with an exceptional record for stability matched only by its +inimitable bureaucracy. + +It contains three major geographic and political classifications for +its lands: states, provinces, and colonies. + +### The Continental States + +[I don't the upper bound on states, but there are at least three, +known collectively as the Midlands] + +#### The Midlands +North of the Marble Isle + +[I need to figure out the bodies of water to get more details.] + +Etra, Vala, Isla [transcribe from notebooks] + +### The Provinces + +There are several provinces which are much less wealthy than the +central states, but contain the majority of the empire's population. + +#### The North +There is a great difference between the area of the north claimed by +the Empire, and that controlled by the Empire. The only area of the +North from which the Empire has ever successfully collected taxes is +the southernmost border settlements in the Chill-Lands (of which there +are 12) and the narrow strip of land directly surrounding Fort North. + +It is often said that a single southern town could more than match the +value of the entire Northern province of the Empire, and that may be +true in terms of wealth or resources, but in reality few forts +anywhere in the Empire can brag the same quality of recruits brought +into the Imperial Legion as from the tiny northern province and +outlying regions. + +The occasional goliath barbarian or glacier dwarf fighter making their +way south and wanting to try their hands (and axes) at Legion life is +more than enough incentive to keep the Empire's northern holdings +fully staffed, supplied, and cared for. + +#### The Midwood +The Northwestern-most stretch of the Deepwood, this is the most +'civilized' area of that great forest, or at least that most citizens +of the Empire could ever hope to reach. + +Full of elves, gnomes, florans, faunus, halflings, and their kin, the +Midwood is one of the most ethically non-human locations in the +empire. Regiments of the Empire's military raised from the Midwood +are often called 'menageries' and use strange, but undoubtedly +effective, tactics in combat. + +[The ghostwise halflings come from an ancient ruin just outside the +midwood.] + +### The Colonies +Colonization is the empire's newest tool for expansion. + +#### Cover Islands +Oft beset by pirates and even more often by deadly storms, the Covers +are an expensive and dangerous colony to keep. That said, the islands +remain one of the few places for the empire to acquire rare volcanic +minerals and alchemical agents useful in the development of magical +weapons. + +After the Black Tongues were disbanded in the Empire, many fled to the +islands, where they find, fewer and more lax regulations on their +activities. + +### The Golden Road + +Running from the Citadel of Ice in the North to the Feet of the Last +King in the South and twisting, diverging, merging, and turning around +all sorts of places in between, the Gold Road is revered as sacred, +and it's tireless, invisible creator worshiped by those who would +seek safety traveling along its many gleaming golden cobblestones. + +The Golden Road belongs to the Golden God, though it is claimed by the +Empire where it overlaps land claimed by the Empire. That said, the +Golden Guides maintain control of the road regardless of the claims. + +You need a Golden Guide for the golden road, or you'll travel 100 +miles and never lose sight of where you started, or worse, you'll go +90 miles to see your destination right ahead of you, then 90 more +without it seeming to get any closer. + +The Golden Guides are either Travel Domain Clerics or (Fiend or +Celestial) Warlocks. Despite the ambiguity, the Golden God himself is +actually an Icon and a Fiend, a powerful one at that, and was involved +in the discovery of the spell which created the tiefling pact. Once a +gnome, the Golden God can be built as a [Gnome (Fine) Wizard 15 +(Transmutation)/Patron 5/Icon 5]. + +The Golden God always needs more gold for the road, and the standing +orders of the Golden Guides are to find and aid parties that can +supply large quantities of gold. The Golden God builds the road +daily, moving it slowly towards an unknown end. + +#### Lair + +The whole of the Golden Road is the Golden God's Lair. The gnome +himself is cloaked in a Perpetual Greater Invisibility spell (via +level 5 Icon power) and can cast *fabricate* at will. + + diff --git a/src/apocrypha/region_thenorth.org b/src/apocrypha/region_thenorth.md index 15fb961..d9423a5 100644 --- a/src/apocrypha/region_thenorth.org +++ b/src/apocrypha/region_thenorth.md @@ -1,9 +1,15 @@ -** Regions of the North +--- +title: "Regions of the North" +updated: "2017-12-23 Sat 14:21" +categories: AP LD +--- + +## Regions of the North The North is comprised of seven major areas, the White, the Wall, the Wastes (or Spiritlands), the Chill-Lands, Fort North, the Vast, and the Sunpeaks. -*** The White +### The White The White is a region of bitter cold at the northern edge of the world. It is constantly snowing from an eternal blizzard that swirls around the edge of the world. It's chilling winds and subzero @@ -26,10 +32,10 @@ draw energy to heal herself and power her Icy Breath, which magnified by the power of the Shadefall, has the ability to turn creatures fully caught in it to ice. -*** The Wall +### The Wall TODO - Goblins, Giants, and the Throne on the Golden Road -*** The Wastes (the Spiritlands) +### The Wastes (the Spiritlands) Roving tribes of frost goliath and half-frost goliath barbarians roam the area known as the Wastes. Drawn to the area by the presence of the Giants to the north, the barbarians are always alert to the @@ -47,16 +53,16 @@ goliath. TODO - Gianthome Circle, non-goliath inhabitants, faunus, spirits -*** The Chill-Lands +### The Chill-Lands TODO - Twelve-Towns -*** Fort North +### Fort North The only part of the north which can accurately be described as being controlled by the Empire. TODO - Fort North -*** The Vast +### The Vast The mountain plateau of swirling frozen wind and thousands of natural shifting gateways into the Icebright. The entire area is suffused with magic, which causes creatures that spend too long inside the area @@ -69,13 +75,13 @@ gain the benefits to size given by the Vast without becoming shaded. TODO - magic of the vast, geography, peoples -**** Cities in the Vast: -***** Monastery of the North Wind +#### Cities in the Vast: +##### Monastery of the North Wind TODO -***** City of Glass +##### City of Glass Home to a powerful sorcerer [Air Genasai Frozen Heart Sorcerer 18/Patron 5] who TODO -*** The Sunpeaks +### The Sunpeaks Huge mountains. Connected to the Upperlight. Sun-soul monks and clerics of Tabor. Conflict with the Coastal Colonies (and Black Tongues, who have tried to take it over) . Not officially part of the diff --git a/src/apocrypha/thegournalgeographicaffairs.org b/src/apocrypha/thegournalgeographicaffairs.md index 3d28b90..17387a6 100644 --- a/src/apocrypha/thegournalgeographicaffairs.org +++ b/src/apocrypha/thegournalgeographicaffairs.md @@ -1,15 +1,11 @@ -The Gournal of Geographic Affairs: The Sun-Touched Mountain - --- - title: "The Gournal of Geographic Affairs: The Sun-Touched Mountain" - -updated: "2017-12-23 Sat 14:21" - -categories: AP, WP - +updated: "2017-12-23 Sat 14:20" +categories: AP WB --- +# The Gournal of Geographic Affairs: The Sun-Touched Mountain + Welcome Readers, to the second Special Edition of our illustrious catalog of facts and figures. |