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I don't think Ogres got their own time on the votes except when I suggested they be the name of Orcs but not as their own thing.

OK, EVERYTHING made it in this week Except the Kaijujujin and the Oni, but even those will pass once resubmitted. Will update the main page soon.

Once again, an original and well thought-out idea. I can already see the possibilities for games and stories. I like it.

edited 2nd Mar '12 5:52:19 PM by Sijo

I'm wondering if Ogres were rejected. I don;t think they ever came to vote. Shall I resubmit them?

No, 'cause they were rejected. They're unnecessary (we have trolls) and I get the unspoken vibe that we want to avoid black and white "these are evil mooks. Kill them with no moral repercussions" things

Mura: -flips the bird to veterinary science with one hand and Euclidean geometry with the other-

I never had the Ogres as evil mooks. Maybe the Oni, though I didn't quite intend that.

You mentioned that ogres were all autistic and became more incapable of communication as they aged.

Also, Anima Elves I think were shot down, since they are not on the page, though a quick and easy retcon to Beastfolk would work.

This is all around page thirty-nine, if you want to look back over the exchange.

Oh, and Sylvan apparently were not quite killed off. Their non-existence was only voted for by myself and Sijo. Though, see below.

Tomorrow or perhaps later today: Robots that make other robots, calling races that have gone unused into question, and possibly some gods.

edited 2nd Mar '12 8:00:35 PM by Exelixi

Mura: -flips the bird to veterinary science with one hand and Euclidean geometry with the other-

The Progenitor Orremna will probably be submitted tomorrow. For now, something that doesn't go on the lists, but, rather, should be worked out by group discussion and a satisfying decision for everyone.

NAMELY!

There are three races that have scarcely been mentioned at all after their original submission. Namely, Trolls, Brownies, and the Mabin. (Orremna too, but I'm getting to that.)

What do we do, here? One one hand, all three are pretty important ideas (frickin' trolls, a small, 'cute' species that is still capable of being extremely cool, and fishpeople, respectively). On the other, no-one seems to want to touch them with a ten-foot pole. Just. . . Sort of remember these exist, people. They're things. I think if they fail to get a decent bit of spotlight, they should be nixed, without any complaints from their respective makers, since their being ignored is ultimately the fault of their creator.

That said, I highly encourage more material for these guys, as, like I mentioned, they fill very important roles. I'm about half-tempted myself to just say "fuck it" and shamelessly pilfer the Brownies. I like the little guys. (No, that wasn't a sex joke. It should have been, though.)

The Sylvan are also an issue. Should we nix them once and for all, or keep them around? Opinions seem to be rather divided on this one. Personally, I think a resounding "maybe." I think if anyone has a more satisfying idea or ideas for elves, to toss them out (ASAP, please) so that we may deliberate, make choices, and all that jazz.

Mura: -flips the bird to veterinary science with one hand and Euclidean geometry with the other-

I checked and Ogre and Anima Elfs never got a time on the ballot for voting.

Also, a quote from you, "Eh, I think one beastfolk race is enough, honestly." Actually, I made three before the Anima Elfs. The Beast-Folk themselves, the Lycanthrope and the Taurs. Beast-Folk represent the trope of anthromorphic animals while the Anima Elfs (Or they can be called something else) represent 'Miscellaneous', I suppose. All the strange exotic races with no equivalent, make it so a number of aesthetics could be achieved without actually having to make a new race.

Ogre could probably stand to be 'Giant' instead although with Ogre it was easier to make the Oni connection, especially with the 'wierd skin colors' thing while also invoking the trope of the big strong brute resistant to magic and does things unmagically, while justifying the 'dumb' brute to 'emotionally withdrawn' as I speculated on the effects of being anti-magic when magic is also linked to emotion and mind.

The Nobles of Conflict

(Celestial gods)

Conflict, in the sense of physical engagement in which one or more parties or armies are injured or killed, is something which flows in the veins of every living creature, sentient or no. As such, its concept is too complicated and intricate to be hosted and defined in one god. Rather, there are several, referred to by most nations that predominantly speak the common language (more on that later) as simply the Nobility of their aspect. They work together, occasionally with proverbial teeth tightly clenched, but are effectively their own individuals, as the methods and philosophies of each varies wildly.

War

War is relatively young compared to its counterparts, but no less powerful. It exists for large-scale battles between nations, and does not concern itself with small battles. It is very tactically-minded, its mind a map of all the intricacies of the dance of armies. Its followers are knights and generals, and those who draw upon its power find themselves able to read their enemies' movements and tactics as though they were examples from a textbook. War is naturally opposed to Hunger and Rage, the primal, thoughtless fights.

Hunger

The clash of tooth and claw is the oldest and most primal of conflicts. Hunger concerns itself with survival above all else, and cares not for conflicts born of complex schemes or waged for the gain of wealth or status. Its mind is instinct, predator and prey, and its followers are keen of sense and strong of arm, a savage force beholden to no master but simple need. Hunger is naturally opposed to War and Conquest, which are done for material or political gain.

Rage

In many ways the brother of Hunger, Rage is the soul of battles fought out of raw emotion, when people lash out at one another in hatred and scorn. Its mind is filled with malice and fury, and its followers are little more than petty degenerates with frightening efficiency. It is naturally opposed to Championship and Conquest.

Conquest

The twin brother to War, Conquest is the essence of battles fought for gain- gain of land, gain of money, gain of status, even gain of overall peace. Its mind is an ever-shifting calculation of costs to payoffs, and its followers find themselves detached from battles waged, focused (willingly or not) on the "big picture." Conquest is opposed to Rage and Championship, the battles fought to obtain nothing.

Championship

Fighting for the sake of another. For queen and country, for family, for the home town, for loved ones- Championship is the patron of those who do battle on behalf of another. Its mind is flawless loyalty, and its followers are quite literally empowered by their dedication. It is naturally opposed to Conquest and Rage, the most selfish of conflicts.

Notice that only one of those three beast-races was actually implemented. I stand by my statement that one is enough.

Still not liking the concept of Ogres. Making a race of autistics really kinda strikes a chord, and not in a good way.

Also, my problem with anti-magic: It makes fights too one-sided. I'd much prefer a fight where the sword-swinging fechtmeister is evenly matched with the spell-throwing wizard, putting up a struggle and frequently even overcoming his magical opponent through sheer skill to one where the guy with the club walks up, ignores all the magic, and smacks the wizard repeatedly in the face.

edited 23rd Jul '12 11:13:29 AM by Exelixi

Mura: -flips the bird to veterinary science with one hand and Euclidean geometry with the other-

Regarding the unused races, it was the result of a)their creators leaving the group and/or b)everyone being too busy creating new stuff. But I agree with Exel that its time we started looking at the campaign *as a whole* and start making adjustments.

I do not feel its necessary to wholly eliminate anything, though. Just look at the real world; we've thousands of species, most are well-known to the public, but some are so seldom seen they sound like the stuff of legends (sea snakes for example.) I think we have room in Sceal for almost anything, as long as it doesn't violate the basic rules. Its just that there's some that are important enough to take into consideration (eg. the PC races) while the rest can be rarities that can be ignored until someone comes up with a good idea for them.

So now we must decide which races are the most "active". In fact we should check that everything (lands, history, artifacts magic etc.) fit together.

Regarding the Elves, I feel we MUST either have them, or a race that fits their role. We just need a definitive take that does not ape another race's.

For the animal people, there's simply too many possibilities to exclude, so as I said above, let's focus on one or two types but not disregard that more might exist, just in the background.

Oh! Another thing. Let's not forget that many monsters were equated by cultures upon coming in contact with others, but that doesn't mean they were supposed to be the same. Chinese "dragons", for example, are dragons only in the superficial similarity, but otherwise were MUCH different from the Western type (eg. they were intelligent,did not breath fire, grew from carps, flew without wings etc.) I never felt the Oni and the Ogres were actually the same type of creature, either.

edited 3rd Mar '12 5:09:52 AM by Sijo

I think the Sylvan fit the role of elf just fine. I dunno why we got rid of them.

Elena and the Gods of the hunt-

Few gods can claim to have a relationship like the one between Elena and the gods of the hunt. They can go from enemies to reluctant allies at the drop of a hat. Elena's main conflict is with the celestial Goddess of hunting, though she doesn't have good relationships with any of the terrestrial gods of hunting either, the only two she doesn't have out right bad relationships with are the Goddess of bounties, and the god of treasure hunts and searching for items, she's merely neutral towards their existence.

Uwindo, celestial Goddess of the hunt-

She is basically the other side of Elena's coin, some call her the other goddess of nature, or the goddess of natural survival. She most often appears as a Progenitor lioness, or Progenitor wolf, though like Elena she does have a humanoid form. She deals with all kinds of hunts, and loves the thrill of the hunt she is load and boisterous, she loves the kill just as much as she loves the ones that get away.

She is often in conflict with Elena due to her hunting down the biggest and most magnificent creatures, most of which are under Elena's protection. Where they get along is the respect for over all nature. Uwindo realizes full well that over hunting is bad, not only for nature but for hunting itself, and she likewise does not like technology or cities, though she does see how they effect hunting and does not penalize hunters who use new-er weapons or who hunt in cities.

Her symbol is a Progenitor lionesses head, carrying a spear in it's mouth.

Artorius, God of the glory of the hunt-

Artorius was a legendary human hunter who only went after magical creatures, this lead him to hunt down and kill several gift animals, and while theses kills did obtain him godhood, and title of the best hunter in the land. They also made him a enemy of Elena, and until recently*

he hunted down gift animals without fearing her wraith.

He is the closest to Uwindo in terms of worshipers, though his worshipers tend to be sport hunters while her worshipers come from all kinds of hunting backgrounds.

His symbol is a golden bow, which is his favored weapon.

Hawk, God of treasure hunts and searching for items-

Hawk was a famous half-orc explorer, and had a gift for finding stuff. A literal gifted, he was one of the few to have The eye of true sight. He used his ability to find objects, and even acted as a detective for a while. A recent addition the gods of the hunt, he became famous as one of the first people to explorer the new lands. He was also a brilliant map maker, most maps used today have his signature on them and are known for being very detailed yet easy to read.

His name becoming known in both the old lands and the spine of the world, ascended him to godhood. He is also the first non-living being hunting god of the hunt, and first of The god of sight of perspectives worshipers to ascend to godhood.

Unlike many other gods he still lives on the mortal plain, in the same house he used to though he is rarely their as he is often leading quests to find treasure. His symbol is a hawk with the god of sight and perspectives symbol for an eye.

Natalia, Goddess of bounties and bounty hunters-

Natalia, ascended to godhood in the early days of the black empire. A Worshiper of Uwindo and a supporter of Hrod. She worked a vigilante in the empire, hunting down criminals and enemies of the empire, often finding out where the black empire was trying to expand it's reach and setting up there ahead of time, taking the bounties in an area and rounding up all the seedy elements.

And she was good at what she did, she used magic in conjunction with acrobatics and stealth to take out criminals of all types, she also helped train other bounty hunters in her ways. She was not above theatrics either, often using her spells to cast illusions on herself or boost her abilities so that she seemed more than human. Once Hrod's forces moved into an area, She would then move on to the next area leaving the legend of a super human bounty hunter behind. Also leaving those she knew partial to the idea of the Black empire.

This legend of hers grew, tales of a supernatural monster which preceeded the coming of Hrod's black empire. A creature that criminals feared, and bounties hunters admired, people would tell tales of the shadowy protector of their city, bards sang songs, even Hrod himself knew of the legends though being who he was he knew the truth behind them as well. But this infamy granted her godhood, as a goddess of the hunt, the hunt of criminals, the goddess of bounty hunters.

To this day she supports Hrod, something many gods find off putting as she has more respect for him than she has most other gods, with the exception of Uwindo.

Her symbol is a black tower with a figure standing atop it looking down though this is often simplified to just a black tower.

Other gods and goddesses exist*

and some other gods may overlap into being gods of the hunt but these are the core gods of the hunt.

edited 10th Mar '12 10:57:10 AM by Vyctorian

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Define "Dire."

Mura: -flips the bird to veterinary science with one hand and Euclidean geometry with the other-

Typical RPG dire: bigger, badder, tougher. More Apex.

The creature every Min Max-er wants for their mount.

edited 3rd Mar '12 7:31:23 PM by Vyctorian

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Mmmkay. . . Why? What makes something Dire? Why is it called that? What does Dire-ness do to an animal?

That's an issue that goes in another entry, before they're incorporated into other things.

Can't take anything for granted, here.

edited 3rd Mar '12 7:32:58 PM by Exelixi

Mura: -flips the bird to veterinary science with one hand and Euclidean geometry with the other-

Progenitor animals-

These animals pre-date other animals and are tougher and stronger than their counter parts. They are often larger than the animals are traditionally, being usually two to three sizes larger.

They are the best at survival often having thicker hide and stronger bones than most animals as well. Progenitor predators often have sharper teeth and claws, some even have fangs. Progenitor prey are often faster than their smaller counter parts and if they have horns they are thicker and sometimes sharper.

Theses Progenitors are less and less common these days, and are mostly found in areas with a lot of space and plenty of prey.

edited 10th Mar '12 10:56:22 AM by Vyctorian

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Why?

Come on, don't half-ass this. This could be important.

Mura: -flips the bird to veterinary science with one hand and Euclidean geometry with the other-

I'm not half-assing anything. It is what it is, this is something so basic to RP Gs. The fact that this is even an issue is something absurd.

edited 3rd Mar '12 7:49:24 PM by Vyctorian

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Dude, you're the one who wanted us to consider flora and fauna. Wanting there to be justification for why this is in the setting isn't absurd, it's sort of been the norm.

Mura: -flips the bird to veterinary science with one hand and Euclidean geometry with the other-

Figured it be the same justification for real world dire animals: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dire_Wolf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saber-toothed_cat

edited 3rd Mar '12 7:53:58 PM by Vyctorian

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Those died because of climate change. Why are they still around in Sceal?

Mura: -flips the bird to veterinary science with one hand and Euclidean geometry with the other-

Dire Beasts

Experimentation with animals is fairly common theme in magic. It comes when a wizard looks upon a habitat full of wildlife and sees potential servants and soldiers, hard muscle whose shoulder will carry the wizard's arcane might, preferably in a comfy little palanquin. Most did this though only seeing them as easy to collect bodies but needing the humanoid form to actually get a job done. However, the dragons changed that.

Those ancient terrestrial gods demonstrated how useful a wild animal could be if you just made it bigger, meaner, tougher and smarter. After the first one did it, the others stole his design but they did so through mortal servant and spies, some of whom sold the design to a more general public. Drakes were already big, mean, tough and smart but impractical to a mortal mage compared to other animals. Wolves were popular, their pack mentality making them easy to control and their ability to take down larger prey already admirable, and other predators and dangerous animals saw frequent, but nearly every animal has received the dire treatment at some point. One mad man made an ill-fated attempt at a dire petting zoo.

edited 3rd Mar '12 8:57:56 PM by God_of_Awesome

Because our world doesn't have a goddess of nature that rewards evolution with protections.

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Cont.

Dire animals, being inherently superior and perfectly capable of breeding with the normal members of their species, breed and thrive in areas where they are introduced to the wild. Continuous efforts are made to wipe out populations of wild Dire animals wherever they are found.

Mura: -flips the bird to veterinary science with one hand and Euclidean geometry with the other-

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=13207120910A52800100&page=28#690

Covered without the phrase dire, pretty well. They were called progenitors then.

edited 3rd Mar '12 8:07:47 PM by Vyctorian

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