TVTropes builds a campaign setting!

Fixed I think.

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I agree with Exelixi and Sijo both. I think I'll need to come up with a limiting factor for Public Domain Spells.

Black Empire Facts #4

Calendar and Holidays

The Korknomortese-Miajalzian Calendar is the adopted calendar of the state and because that is a mouth full it's often just called the Black Imperial Calendar. The Calendar recognizes 5 seasons, which roughly translate to Spring (The Season of Life and Magic), Summer (The Season of Fire and Hate), Autumn (The Season of Earth and Harvest), Fall (The Season of Water and Dying) and Winter (The Season of Wind and Rest). Each season is made of three months, the first and third month are each made of 35 days, while the second month, not really much of a month at all, more of a demi-month, is made of 3 days.

Each month is named for its season and its position in it. IE, the first three months are named Springstart, Midspring and Springsend. The second day of Midspring is known as the Flower Festival, the Apex of Spring, and is a holiday. The first and third day of Midspring are set aside for preparation and clean-up respectively. The Flower Festival is a fertility festival, and traditionally celebrated by an egg hunt, symbols of fertility.

The second day of Midsummer is War Day, the Apex of Summer. It celebrates patriotism, soldiers, war, conquest and sacrifice. The sound and clamor of battle is duplicated by setting off fireworks. The second day of Midautumn is the Feast Festival, the Apex of Autumn. It celebrates the harvest that comes in autumn and done by eating the hell out of that harvest. The second day of Midfall is the Day of the Dead, the Apex of Fall. Supposedly on this day the dead may return to the world of the living but so to do many frightening things, which may include the dead. Tradition has everyone dress as monsters as disguises and the children given sweets to make them feel better about the whole thing. The second day of Midwinter is Gift Celebration, the Apex of Winter. Many cultures hold to stories of people sharing good scarce to their neighbors while in the dead of the Winter and so gift giving is the tradition of this day.

Their are two different weeks used, the State's Week and the People's Week. This gets messy. The State's Week is 5 days long and ignores the Midmonths. The days are themselves name for the elements of the seasons, Lifeday, Fireday, Earthday, Waterday and Airday. State workers use it and their days off are on whichever day matches with the season. IE, in Spring state workers get every Lifeday off. The People's Week is adopted from the weeks used by the Foriar, Boulsadar and Entreni and known to be used by other Duergar cultures as well. It is 8 days long; Flameday, Steelday, Stoneday, Wooday, Seaday, Frostday, Winday and Voiday. By tradition, Voiday is a day of rest and this expanded to include Winday.

Those who use the People's Week, even though they traditionally only have the Apex Days rather then the whole Midmonth as a holiday, get more days off then those who use the State's Week, although a weekend day may fall on a holiday while the State's Week specifically prevents that.

Every four years the Day Outside Of Time happens, considered bad luck by many Iropian cultures. It is made to happen after the last day of Winter in the Black Imperial Calendar. Some traditions demand that babies born on this day be killed. The Black Emperor adopted this tradition, writing off all children born on the Timeless Day to be dead, only to be replaced by their mysteriously late born twin the next day.

edited 31st Mar '12 10:21:40 PM by God_of_Awesome

Vyc: That take on Elena is probably the most interesting I've ever seen on a Nature deity. You're completely correct that Nature is different things to different peoples, from those who worship it to those who think it's there to be used, and in our setting that should be reflected in some way.

Exel: I just realised this setting works with Scion and Nobilis.

What and what?

I don't like it, and now here's why: The Nobles of Conflict; For different people, war is different things.

Now this is something I mentioned much, much earlier: That related celestial gods are on some level different aspects of the same deity.

Aaaah, but it still works, despite what I just with me not liking it. Yes! The Nobles of Conflict are aspects so well-defined they are nearly their own being while the God of Conflict, the god the Nobles are aspects off, is less defined and more of a background entity.

Elena may also have different aspects too, with enough definition to be palpable but not enough to be distinct, while Elena herself is who she is. Thus she's suffering from these children gods that are refusing to go apart from her.

eh. 0-o

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Nature is an overarching concept: it includes the ground, the things that grow on it, animals, the weather, the seas, etc. So nature is "The All" (in effect, Elena IS Sceal!) So there definitely should be sub-deities dealing with those more specific concepts.

In fiction, nature deities tend to fall into two stereotypes, either a loving "Mother Goddess" or "How dare you mess with the Balance of Nature!!" Rarely you see anything more nuanced. Which is why I like Vyc's proposal.

There is an aspect however that is unique to our setting (well, I haven't seen it considered before anyway) that Vyc pointed out: on Sceal, entire races and species were created artificially. Their very existence as part of nature is an issue that must have people divided, kind of like what is happening with genetic engineering today. So yes, that HAS to have an effect on the Aether, and Elena must be involved in it one way or the other.

edited 1st Apr '12 6:30:11 AM by Sijo

Scion's system is, at its core, about children of gods (heroes) with powers inherited from their parents growing in power until they become demigods and, eventually, gods themselves.

Nobilis is about gods (Nobles) fighting a battle for creation. Since gods are immortal, and the Player Characters start out with enough power to wipe out civilizations, the game requires creative solutions to universe-sized problems.

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

Votes.

•Proto Beast-Folk- Yes. I think God hit the nail on the head with this one. Repeatedly. With fervor.

•Iropa- Yes. Yay for connections.

•The Blessed- Yes. Sounds less silly than the Lucky.

•The Traveler- Yes.

•Power Crystals- Sure.

•Trolls (Geothropes)- Yes.

•Black Empire Facts #3 Measurement System- Interesting. Yes.

•Necromancy- Yes.

•Gift of the Shaman- Very cool. Yes.

•Enchanters dust- Yes.

•Elemental branding- No. I can't quite put my finger on why, but it just rings odd with me.

•The Duergar and the Elemental Brands- No, by extension.

•Hrod's Elemental Brigade -No, by extension.

•Fairy Dust- Yes.

•Surgeon- I laughed. Yes.

•Black Empire Facts #3 Cont Measurement System Cont-Yes.

•Black Empire Facts #3.2 Family Names, Marriage and Children- Yes.

•Gargoyles- Yes.

•Torq, The God of Stone and Masonry- Absolutely.

edited 1st Apr '12 9:16:19 AM by Exelixi

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

Race:Troll MKII Type II:Trollectric Boogaloo Botananthropes/ Spore Trolls

Most species in the Domhain, like all species of Earth, fall clearly into one kingdom- either plant, or animal, or fungus, or what have you.

Spore trolls are not so clear-cut.

These beings incorporate elements of animals and fungi, resembling both in some ways but not truly an example of either. They have some internal organs (brain, heart, stomach, and all associated systems), but are missing others. Their bodies are composed not of muscle and blood and bone, but instead resemble an intricate system of plant and fungus matter.

A spore troll never stops growing; since their hard, dense support structure (which acts analogous to a skeleton) grows first, they always seem to have protrusions of “spines” or “thorns.” In addition, they seem to be pitted or cratered, as their growth is somewhat uneven.

Since a troll will not die from "blood"*

loss, and their thick “skeletons” are both tough and springy, they are more difficult to kill than other species through martial means; however, they are in no way invincible, being susceptible to extreme environmental conditions (or magical simulacrums thereof), fire, acid, and of course a thorough pulverising with a mace.

Spore trolls get their name from their reproductive method. Like fungi and some species of plants, they develop and scatter large spores, which develop into infants roughly the size of a newborn kitten.

Trolls actually grow at roughly the same rate throughout their lives, but they appear to grow extremely fast at first and slow down as they age (since it takes much more matter to make something six feet tall grow an inch all around than it does something two feet tall). Trolls are perfect omnivores, able to consume plants and animals at any state of decay, though they do prefer fresh food.

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

Proto Beast-Folk- Yes.

•Iropa- Yes.

•The Blessed- Yes.

•The Traveler- No. If it wasn't a powerful spellcaster I'd approve this in a second because then it's Sceal's doctor.

•Power Crystals- Yes

•Trolls (Geothropes)- Yes.

•Black Empire Facts #3 Measurement System- Yes.

•Necromancy- Yes.

•Gift of the Shaman- Yes.

•Enchanters dust- Yes.

•Elemental branding- Yes

•The Duergar and the Elemental Brands- Yes

•Hrod's Elemental Brigade - Yes

•Fairy Dust- Yes.

•Surgeon- Yes.

•Black Empire Facts #3 Cont Measurement System Cont-Yes.

•Black Empire Facts #3.2 Family Names, Marriage and Children- Yes.

•Gargoyles- Yes.

•Torq, The God of Stone and Masonry- yes.

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Vyc: I convinced myself while writing that post that I liked it. Because I'm funny that way.

Gentlemen, I'm afraid I will be taking off for a while.

I'll still check this thread a couple of times a week, and will still submit votes, but don't expect to see me around much for a couple months.

Any occurrence where it's necessary to say "what the fuck? No. Just no." is delegated to Sijo in my absence.

edited 1st Apr '12 12:54:47 PM by Exelixi

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

Sorry to hear that.

---

Atemet and Trickster day-

Trickster day is a holiday celebrated all across the Sceal whether everyone pulls pranks and tricks on each other for fun, and to Atemet's worshipers it's doubles holy day, thought he activities are much the same, just usually with a prayer said before hand.

There is a rumor though that if Atemet's prayer is said before committing the prank he will review it and if he feels it worthy, the prankster will receive a gift from him whether they are his worshiper or not.

Like all things involved with Atemet his gifts are what most consider curses. The result is almost always random and too his whim. In one case he wiped all records of the person from existence and made them invisibleNote

, another he turned into a statue, and of course for those who truly amaze him, he turns into Riddle-cats.

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Vyc: The Traveler is a knowledge-seeker who has visited Sceal for thousands of years. I just don't see him NOT learning magic of some sort. Even The Doctor himself would do so, I'm sure.

Exel: Can you tell us why you're limiting your involvement? Is it because of work, Net access etc? I will in any case continue to support this project as long as it lasts.

I'll post my votes tomorrow.

edited 1st Apr '12 5:51:46 PM by Sijo

My involvement is decreasing because my free time in general is decreasing.

This isn't a permanent change, I assure you.

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

I still don't want to approve a walking Cop Out, DM/GM's already use those enough we don't need to hand them a canon excuse too.

edited 2nd Apr '12 12:51:42 PM by Vyctorian

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Huh?

You mean all the gods we already have aren't enough of a GM tool already?

Folks, I was going cast my votes and work on the update tonight but I'm feeling a little ill. So I'll leave it for tomorrow, OK?

They can be, can is the key word there. You literally admit he's made to be used that way.

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I'm back, motherfuckers.

I like the Traveler as a concept, personally.

edited 2nd Apr '12 5:22:37 PM by Exelixi

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

I didn't create The Traveler expressly for that purpose; I just thought it would be neat to have an alien in the setting, but not one so detailed that it might disrupt our plans (or those of prospective G Ms.) So I went for the "mysterious traveler" trope.

A note about my health. I'm epileptic, and I had a seizure on Saturday. I'm OK, really, but I seem to be suffering from anxiety as a result, I have trouble relaxing and such. This is what has delayed me this time. I may spend the rest of the week over at my sister's (she's a doctor) while I recover, so I may be gone for a week. This is still only being considered, though. In any case I expect to be back soon, maybe even pretty soon if I convince my niece to let me log on via her laptop. ;) Just thought you guys had a right to know.

Good luck, a chara.

edited 3rd Apr '12 4:51:07 PM by Exelixi

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

You know, I'm thinking I might end up No voting my Public Domain Spell idea, at least until I can figure out a way to make it less overpowered.

Although, if anyone, seriously now, if anyone can throw me some idea, I'd love that.

Hope you feel better Sijo

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Yeah, I tend to be bad at saying that kind of thing but yes, my hope is for you to feel better too, Sijo.