Collapse Boxes with all of the information you need on how to act in the world are here. I've made them collapsible so that it isn't a wall of text.
Game Play Rules
The Official Mantra of the game is If it's stupid, don't do it. I encourage you to be in character, even if it's eccentric how your character acts. However, straight out unintelligent, unprovoked or otherwise conceived (by me) as trolling moves will be thrown out immediately.
Excessive editing of posts, especially after the thread has moved on, is not allowed. Editing a post once or twice are acceptable in moderation, but make sure you include why. It is okay (in moderation) to edit a post to add an action you forgot. It is not okay to edit a post to add several actions several times or to change the nature of your post altogether.
You must read everything before posting. You will find that many things you are wondering are already answered in the conversations between characters or NPCs. If you continuously ask for things that are stated clearly here or otherwise as not being acceptable, your requests will be ignored.
If a player in your party has an attribute, skill, or item that you also want, it will not always be granted. A good example of this is beast empathy. You have a ranger in your party, use him. He will more than likely trump any skill you have right off the bat. Another example would be a particularly difficult item to acquire, such as unique weapons with unique enchantments, or a particularly difficult skill to learn, like mind reading.
Players are allowed to work with each other or other NPCs as they wish. If Player A wants to plan with Player B, they can without telling me or the other players. It is suggested you do so over private message, because otherwise they'll see what you're planning. Players are encouraged to come up with party wide schemes where everyone is involved in decision making. Please interact with each other, plan together, etc. It will make the game much more interesting for all of us. You may "know" some things that the DM does not - you may have special knowledge of places or legends, etc, due to your aspirations or profession.
Stats, attributes, and abilities are more or less 'discreet.' You may have super human strength, but it is never quantified. Again, see the first rule. just because you're a fallen god does not mean you can carry an elephant. At least, not right away. I don't want to quantify what "usually" means with attacks - but seriously, it means you'll usually succeed.
Necessary information will be on the front page of the topic, but that does not mean all information is on the front page. See again, you need to read all of the posts clearly.
I "know" how it ends, you choose how to get there. I know where the King is, whether he's alive and if he's actually important to the story. The path you take to get to the ending is up to you. I've left the prompts open, with few decisions actually being forced upon you.
For continuity's sake, the DM has the final say on problems. If discrepancies arise, it is up the DM - me - to make the call on what is applicable. This means that if issues arise between players, or in circumstances, my final say is the final rule.
Failure to follow these rules may cause you to be removed from the game or any games that follow.
The World You are In
The Kingdom of Kriste is a largely landlocked country except for the Sea of Leaves - where the kingdom derives its ring of leaves crest from. It is a powerful trade partner to kingdoms across the ocean, and receives a large amount of resources from Brayyn, who through a recent trade agreement has started to use Kriste's trade channels for their goods by selling certain crops and products at a reduced price. Brayyn and Kriste are very similar - they are in a peace agreement that accompanies their trade agreements, and trade, economy, and technology training is traded freely across the borders. It is not uncommon for guilds from Brayyn to send members of their guild to Kriste and vice versa. Tryvali and Kriste have been at a tentative peace for several generations.
Tryvali feels their culture is higher than Kriste's, and has a more centeralized education system. Whereas in Kriste most learning is done hands on or through the guilds, Tryvali has a sprawling education system that starts their children very young and finishes their education by the time they're eighteen or so. Women in Tryvali receive some education, but not the same amount of attention as men do after they hit the age of eleven or twelve, when they are betrothed or married off. Tryvali wishes to dominate the land that belongs to Kriste - and the trade routes accompanying it - but remains silent. It is assumed that there are many Tryvali agents in Kriste, and that Kriste agents exist in Tryvali, but exact numbers or purposes remain unknown.
With the King of Kriste 'missing' the country is in a state of panic. It did not take much time for Tryvali to hear about this, and the country immediately started to apply border pressure and political pressure to Kriste. Kriste has remained strong against Tryvali's advances, but it is unknown how long they can hold off war. It is suggested that the recent trade agreement with Brayyn was also to strengthen Kriste's guard against Tryvali. Tryvali's weaponry is a little more advanced than Kriste's, but not so much that it is insurmountable. The real advantage Tryvali has is in numbers, with a population of 3:1 against Kriste. Travel into Tryvali is strictly monitored, The Protectorate of Draste and Gate's Edge are charged with protecting the kingdom against Tryvali's movements. They hold more royal soldiers than the castle and a number of trained militias.
Life in Kriste is rather easy going. Children are expected by the time they are eight or nine to know what they want out of life - although this step is usually chosen by their parents or being born into a trade. While apprenticing, children are taught basic arithmetic and reading, along with whatever other skills applicable to their trade. While some guilds boast large guild halls scattered throughout the country, some trades, such as ranger, assassin, traveling merchant or agriculture, are hands on and passed down through different communities. By the time a child turns fifteen, they know enough to function in their trade and begin climbing the rungs of power of their guild - if they so choose. People live and die doing their guild trade.
The forests and countryside of Kriste are home to many people that choose to keep away from common life: hermits, hags, and the like. The main roads are usually well patrolled by guardsmen representing the local protectorate, but the occasional bandit may show up. Once you stray from the roads you may encounter bandits, cults, beasts, or worse. Forests, especially Darkfall, are not heavily explored and many dark stories surround places like this. Woodsmen, hermits or rangers may have some information on the area, but it is not well documented except for the occasional urban legend. The desert to the north of Darkfall forest is a miserable place and uninhabited. Tryvali is much more mild than Kriste and receives more rainfall, Brayyn is a little warmer and humid, but the layout and geography is incredibly similar. The two rivers along Astron are quick moving and too wide to cross without a bridge or an incredibly well built boat. The rivers provide fresh water for irrigation and the occasional creek. Creeks can lead off into small pools of water.
The "Rules" Of Magic
In the 'normal' sense of the word, Magic does not exist in this world. What does exist is enchanting: the process of taking a mundane object and imbue it with special powers. These powers are still mundane though. Manmade artifacts will not shoot fire balls, cannot control the whether and cannot change the matter of something - make it disappear, turn to gas, etc. The process takes between fifteen minutes and several days, depending on the enchantment, but to learn how to enchant it can take masters several decades. These items are incredibly expensive - if they can even be found. The Castle at Astron has a large cache of such items, but outside the walls you will be hard pressed to find an enchantment that serves as much more than a tiny bauble. Masters learn the art through books, practice, and group meditation.
There are some extrasensory powers in the world, but the people with them are born with them. An example of this is mind reading, or empathy towards beasts, etc. Some enchantments can emulate these things, but may also cause some hilarious or hindering side effects.
There are hints that other magic did exist at one time, a form of 'high magic,' the type that shoots fire balls from your hand. However, the art has been lost for several thousand years if it did indeed ever exist. At the start of the game, no known person has any knowledge of this magic, or any ability to use it. It is speculated that while humans were capable of the ability before, they have lost whatever allowed them to do it.
There are rumors that a rogue cult in Tryvali are trying to create high magic again, with deadly results. The occasional story will pop up about how they succeeded, and then died or took out a small town with them, but these claims are unsubstantiated. It is hard to tell what is true and not about Tryvali, due to the presences of agents in Kriste.
Potions do not exist. You could create a tonic, but it would have the same fun side effects real tonics from ye olde days have, or worse ones, and will be just about as effective, which is to say not at all.
The Story So FarChapter 1, Preparation:Scrolls have been passed out to every man and woman capable of fighting, summoning them to the castle. Many have answered the call, but a select group of seven have been placed together to find the king. They are told that the whereabouts or state of the king are unknown, and the do not know what happened. Their only clue is a chewed up hilt of a sword, found along the road elsewhere. Although several strange incidents of beasts attacking - or killing -adventurers have been reported, beyond the man that brought back the hilt no one has seen - and lived to tell about it - the beast itself. Several rumors or claims have been brought to the attention of the court, but as of yet none are substantiated.
After gearing up, Iam goes to a tavern, where he runs into a shady character with a plot to disrupt the dinner at the castle, with Tryvali agents attending, to 'eliminate an objective.' Iam runs back to the aid, and he, Athenos and Rozen interrupt the Tryvali from doing something to Dan. They are discussing what they know - that is, two of the court are not present, nor is a representative of Tryvali (although Rozen has said that the representative is somewhere upstairs) - when a fire breaks out in the kitchen, causing panic to ensue.
Chapter 2, Diversion:The team scrambles around, protecting the royal family first and foremost. Iam runs back into the flames, only to meet his timely demise. Dan comes out slightly better, only being unconscious and sustaining painful but temporary physical damage. After realizing that the royal family is not all accounted for, Athenos returns to the blaze to search out Princess Aleiya, and upon finding her hurries her back to her family. The Tryvali Envoy, there for the party, are missing, and it widely assumed that they were the cause of the fire. However, during questioning, after the fire mysteriously puts itself out, the source of the flames cannot be found, and the reports from servants and guards on scene only agree on one thing - the source of the fire is unknown, and the cause uncertain. Edwin sneaks away to steal the riches of his fallen comrades, finding that Iam's heart has been ripped out before falling into sleep caused by wearing a ring that was too powerful for him.
The breakfast the following morning was sullen. What little information they could gather, they already knew. Estaphon dropped to Athenos that Pryti, the oracle of Psamathe, lived far south of civilized society, and that he would only be able to find her by using a ranger, or, dumb luck. Dan goes out to find an assistant, and wanders across the path of Martin, a young mousy looking man that had recently been kicked out of the bards guild for unknown reasons. Martin and Dan get a guard to agree that they will meet at dusk at a pub called the Three of Hearts, a seedy place full of villainy. Not eager to go alone, Martin and Dan acquire the aid of Athenos and Aleiya, who has a plan to run away that night.
Chapter 3, Three of Hearts:On the night of the meeting, a drunk man bumps into Dan, handing a note to him telling Athenos to meet the man at the pub the following night. Guard Parker, Martin and Dan hatch a plan to steel the incriminating items out of Parker's basement, disguise it as a monster attack, and then hide the evidence. The plan works, but to great agony of Martin's. He insists that he and Dan go south to find more pieces. Meanwhile, while trying to talk to the princess about what is going on and why she wants to run away, he temporarily disarms an eavesdropper, who later gets away when Athenos is pulled into the world of spirits, where he fights and wins an arm against a demon. Armed with his new strength the princess and him set out the following morning, where they run into Dan. After Dan shows Athenos the message, Athenos tells Dan to wait for the man to come, presenting his sword as proof he is with Athenos, and to follow him wherever he leads. The party split once again, Athenos confiding in Aleiya his suspicions that the kingdom wants her dead, with plans to move to a monk commune east of Kriste where she will be safe. The eavesdropper, now known to be Shaidar, is presented with startling information: she has a brother she did not readily know about, who is poised to strike on Kriste and help secure her to be Empress of the kingdom.
Chapter 4, Flight:Athenos and Dan have parted ways, Dan following Fridolf in a misdirect tactic, and Athenos cutting behind the forests behind Astron. They come across two guards, one of which Athenos kills, the other of which, Erik, is nursed back to health, carrying misinformation about the whereabouts of the princess. Meanwhile, the royal guard is doing the minimum to find the princess, sending out only a lone blind empath. The rest of the royal family has fled into exile, and the crown is secretly controlled by the Captain of the Guard, a man named Tiev. Athenos consents to taking the princess to Pryti, and they are reunited with Dan, Martin and Fridolf before entering the Bittergreen Forest. Unfortunately, an ambush waits for them as soon as they enter the forest, the misinformation not tricking the Captain of the Guard about the princess' desire....
Chapter 5, Of the Gods' DesiresHaving passed Tiev, the Captain of the Guard, the party escorting the princess continue to Pryti's humble home. The princess is quickly escorted away, Dan goes to meditate, and Athenos goes to visit Psamathe. Psamathe offers him a partnership which he declines, sending her into a rage that ends up poisoning him, weakening him and allowed him to be captured by the gods. When he goes to attend trial he is absolved of guilt, and transforms into Serena, a faerie. Meanwhile, the collision alerts Darte, who was tending to the princess, that her sanctuary had been disturbed, and tries to kill Dan and Marty. They barely escape, are reunited with Marty's "grandfather" and set off on a quest to find the missing pieces to his contraption. Elsewhere, Isador has figured out how to commune with the elements, and has gained traits from their shrines.
Chapter 6, Chaos and TerrorAfter the Tryvali accidentally woke up a deity known as "Father Chaos," the players find themselves in seemingly unbreakable bonds placed on them for refusing allegiance to this deity. Isador is rescued by a family with strange ties to the element of water, and Athenos and Serena rescued by a deity much like Chaos. While the players are recovering from their wounds and trying to come up with a plan of attack, Chaos succeeds in waking up Terror, which causes a multidimensional rift. It would appear that this causes the elements to flee the mortal realm, leaving a barren wasteland in it's path, which gets steadily worse as time goes on.
Post has been edited 10 time(s), last time on Aug 1 2012, 4:14 pm by Fire_Kame.
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