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@ Nman: The Rhino is an exotic mount, which means you'll have to forfeit an ability to use it. Your skill, Rhino Riding, can just be something like Animal Handling, which would cover some aspects of both riding and "talking" to animals. That's also sort of a bizarre animal for elven forests. You might expect to find them in orcish lands though.

Your other skills are fine.

However, I cannot imagine a scenario in which the wood elves - who are so xenophobic they basically only interact and trade with the high elves (even then, not often) - would ever have a friendly night of drinking with the orcs (who also tend to fight anything that moves). Try to contrive a better reason why such a pairing would occur, or maybe change to a half-orc/high elf that was raised in the traditions of Wuudarg. The orcs have rangers, too.

Also, I meant for the characters to actually live (or at least be visiting) within Stygia's borders – otherwise they are pretty much out of reach for one of these letters.

I'm almost considering just drawing a map, but the Sel'esha forests are indeed on the northern border of Stygia, specifically the Pyrian territory. Basically, Pyria is a wedge between the dark elves and the two other kinds.

Fiona is an awfully human name, but I won't force you to change it.

edited 8th Jul '14 12:24:04 PM by StygianEmperor

Flesh is a design flaw.

I'm confused, aren't wood elves a playable race? They way you have them written now sounds like they couldn't meet the criterion of living or being in the empire, unless you contrive some extraordinary reason for leaving and heading there. I was originally thinking she would be out looking for her father during the course of the game, but I scrapped that when I noticed the lifespan difference. Though I suppose she could be looking for her grandnieces/nephews or clan in general and happen to get a letter there.

As for origin, I hate Child by Rape, and since both orcs and elves are nomadic, that seems like the only realistic way to have a half-orc. Two nomadic clans happen to pass each other in the night, and since you'd have to be stupid to try taking the other on, they just sort of camped out a ways from each other giving the stink eye, while a couple more enterprising individuals tried to trade.

And the name Fiona is based on Fionn, from Gaelic mythology. Wood elves, Gaels, Irish - you see.

Yeah, but the wood elves are only nomadic within the woods. It's a massive forest, and they basically just follow where the game goes. They may bump into the satyrs occasionally, but they aren't really cool with anyone else in there. A trespassing orc party would be especially suspect, given their reputation, and on their own turf a group of elves would have no problem taking them out or finding a couple of rangers to help them. Edit: It's also not too often that orcs turn down an opportunity to fight. They don't tend to think things through, and dying in battle is almost as good as winning.

And yes, most explanations for wood elven characters are going to involve them leaving their home for one reason or another. Maybe they're tracking a Parlat cult (if you're not utterly sick of Parlat by now), or trying to gauge the Stygian Empire as a threat. Maybe they just got sick of the trees.

I wasn't exactly encouraging with the way I wrote a lot of the races, and that was intentional. I'm giving you every option I can, but trying to emphasize some over others. The racial makeup of the party should make sense for the setting.

edited 8th Jul '14 1:38:31 PM by StygianEmperor

Flesh is a design flaw.

Does the mom getting knocked up on a trip to a city to buy some specialized distillery gear work?

I see. What about the like of primitive bombs and D&D staples like Alchemist's Fire and Thunderstone?

"The literal meaning of life is whatever you're doing that prevents you from killing yourself." Albert Camus

@ Nman: Elves are "adventurous," so I suppose it could happen. All things considered, she'd be a bit of an anomaly among her kind.

Edit: Just try not to be too silly. It's dark fantasy.

@ Pblades: No gunpowder/mundane explosives beyond smoke bombs, though alchemists are a thing. They're just really rare, like any mage.

edited 8th Jul '14 2:36:35 PM by StygianEmperor

Flesh is a design flaw.

Oh god, Crim just pointed out that Fiona was the name of Shrek's wife or whatever. I cannot in good conscience allow that name on a green woman.

Also, added deity symbols.

Flesh is a design flaw.

Grrr, fuckin' Shrek? Ever since Burn Notice, Fiona's been my favorite Irish name. Fine though, I'll change it. If only there were some sort of expert on Gaelic and Celtic culture and the Fae who could offer me some suggestions....

*Glances intently at Faux*

Edit: And made the changes. Though I figure since I'm losing an ability and not a skill, I'll go for an adult rhino instead of a dwarf one.

edited 8th Jul '14 7:15:34 PM by nman

Yeah, looks better.

Though I just realized you're using a long bow. You can't really fire those from a mount, if that was your aim. You may want to use a composite bow, which is made out of horn and sinew in addition to wood in order to have a lot of power in a small form.

Also, there's really no danger of a user breaking a bow by being too strong for it. If you're using it properly, the worst thing that could happen is that it would be too easy to pull back and your strength goes to waste.

Flesh is a design flaw.

I don't really know too much about archery, but in D&D you can use a composite longbow while mounted, and you get a -2 while shooting if you aren't strong enough, so I just added some fluff about the wood being tougher or whatever to require more strength. Maybe it's a composite bow that's considered 'long' for that type?

edited 8th Jul '14 8:45:13 PM by nman

Some of us are employed.

In regards to names; I recommend Líadan [Liadain] as a Gaelic name for a hybrid elf child, it means roughly "Grey lady" and isn't "too human sounding".

I do want it on the record that Gauls v. Romans is a complicated question and the primary difference is the lack of recorded history on the Gauls part due to both economic and religious factors. On the other hand, I'm always happy to work the Celts into a game and would be happy to consult about placenames [Gaelic, Brythonic and Gaulish] and some elements of both Darkage and Antiquarian culture if it assists with world building. The wood Elves for instance might gain from drawing on the legendary Fianna and Fairy Mounds.

edited 8th Jul '14 9:03:56 PM by Fauxlosophe

Mé féin ag daṁsa faoin ngealaċ seanrince gan ċeol leis ach ceol cuisle. DS FC: 4141-3472-4041, feel free to add me.

You can't use a longbow while mounted, I can tell you that for sure. Just try to imagine it, those things are as tall as you - swinging that from one side of your mount to another. There's a reason the Mongols used short bows.

Then again, a rhino isn't much of a mount - its more like a fighting animal companion. You're probably not going to want to ride it and shoot at the same time.

Flesh is a design flaw.

Oh yeah, no, I got you. I changed it to a regular recurve bow to be consistent, I was just curious what the handwave in D&D was for the disparity For some reason that was literally the first result on the Dandwiki for "mounted bow"

And dammit Faux, if I make that her middle name will you be appeased?

edited 8th Jul '14 10:49:30 PM by nman

• Name: Sadon Kree
• Age: 47
• Race: Human
• Class: Cleric
• Appearance: A tallish, fat-looking man, with wild grey hair that hangs to his chest and an a strikingly jolly countenance. It'd be a wonder to most why he chooses to wear the near-black robes that he does, or why he conceals most of his face (sans a bush beard and a smile) underneath the shadows of his hood. He carries a petrified wooden staff alongside him, the head of which appears to be like a heavily gnarled root. Eight tendrils extend outward, four on each half, each crooking inward near their tips. A scar of a similar pattern is drawn across his torso, though of course, few notice.
• Deity:Parlat.
• Abilities:
  • Plaguemaster: Using his staff as a holy symbol, Sadon can inflict disease and decay onto his enemies. When inflicted by the means of his divine magics, the worst of the effects begin immediately, but also pass away in a much shorter period of time (that is, if the target survives). During this period, the target is debilitated by varying symptoms, ranging from stinging poils, to intense fevers, to necrosis, to uncontrollable vomiting, and some best not elaborated on for decency's sake.
  • Pest-Kin: What it said on the can. He can communicate and control creatures around him to an advanced, though he's restricted to creatures like spiders, flies, worms, roaches, crows, rats, and stinging hornets.
• Skills:
  • Persuasion': Sadon generally gives of an aura of chumminess and amicability, knowing well how to convince a person to his way, or have them put their guard down at just the right moment. At the very least he can pass the blame for something he did onto someone more suspicious.
  • Sleight of Hand: With catlike grace he can move what he likes, where he'd like it to be, revealing the gesture only to who he wants. Or so he intends; a well trained eye and a skeptical mind can still catch him in the act.
  • Herbalism: He knows a few common medicinal herbs, but his real specialty is in poisons and 'biological agents'.
• Spell/Weapon Focus: Staff
• Equipment: Satchel, spending money, staff, vials of plague, water skin, salted meat, journal, quill/ink, dagger.
• Personality/Background: As many worshippers of Parlat, Sadon was born a slave. Specifically, we was born to a family of slaves in the barren lands of Tor'koril, to a lesser noble house. While that meant that more resources were afforded to him as a slave, like better lodgings and literacy, it also put him under the employ of masters even crueler and more decadent than normal. More was expected of them for their 'privaleges'; more unquestioning loyalty, more work, more of their soul, and more of their blood if they were ever caught making a mistake. The last of these was a lesson well learned when the lord of the house, Sven Arregor, had beaten Sadon's older brother into a coma. He learned to approach his situation in life with a black sort of humor that did a little to uplift the spirits of his fellow slaves. But the depth of his utter contempt for his masters only grew, while the others learned to live with broken spirits. There was no way that he could arrange an outright assault on any member of the Arregor house; he hadn't the money for mercenaries, and attacking any one of them directly would lead to the wholesale eradication of his own family. He found other ways, however, to meet his revenge. Whenever he or another slave would get become ill, Sadon would do whatever he could to slip whatever filth he could gather from the diseased into the food, and the drink, and the medicine of the royalty. In a pinch, a pest could provide the same dangers. He moved subtly, his hands quick and resolve to plague the Arregors stifling his temptation to lash out like a thug. His patience was often rewarded; members of his masters family, old and young, would find themselves victim to debilitating fevers and disabling infections. Without knowing the source, pox and boils would break out across their skin, leaving them bedridden and mortified to expose themselves to the light of day. Fungi and maggots would eat away at their food days before they should've, and weevils would tatter their fine clothing. But regardless of the severity of Sadon's attacks, none of the Arregor line would die. It infuriated him to no end, and in that fury, he got sloppy. And eventually he got caught. By a fellow slave, and destiny both. In the dead of night, he was compelled to follow his witness into the sewers under the threat of being revealed. Sadon considered killing the fellow, regardless of how horrifying the consideration was, but they arrived at their destination well before thoughts became plans. He found himself within one of the secret chapels of Parlat, with other slaves, beggars, and cripples welcoming him like an old friend. It wasn't long before Sadon was yet again, a slave. But this time, it was of his own choosing, and to the will of a god. The Arregor house didn't last a year afterwards. And even more mysteriously, all their slaves were gone. Not seven years later, Tor'koril was conquered by the Stygian Empire, and every slave in the land was free. But by then, the politics of that realm alone were of relatively little importance to Sadon. The whole world was his responsibility now, and the decay of all power.

I have something important to take care of, but I'll finish this before long.

edited 9th Jul '14 12:41:51 PM by goodisgood

To the law and for the good of man. All I need to live by.

EDIT: Updated to reflect revised detail on Sihr and removing the minors in the Skills part.

• Name: Alaeddin Bey
• Age: 138
• Race: Wererat
• Class: Vizier
• Appearance: “A crackling madman” best sums up up the essence of his person. He’s ugly, a man bearing the marks of the high laid low. The ropey muscles of his arms are entirely out of proportion with the rest of his rail-thin body, countless scrathes liberally adorning his coppery skin. His nose is too large and thick, his brow hangs primaevally over squinting sickly yellow eyes. Only a few strands of grey hair straggle down from his head, but his messy and tangled beard could probably serve as a nest for some (unfortunate) bird. He wears the tattered, faded scarlet courtly wizard robe haphazardly mended in countless spots.
• Deity: Mul. "Favored" by Parlat.
• Abilities:
  • Sihr - The animalistic curse of the wererat and senility have taken many things away from the man who was once the singular best arcanist of the Terul court. Nevertheless, he remains capable of calling upon the spirits of the land and having them act against his enemies. For the most part, illusions and misdirections are his forte. This, roughly, is would be his spell list.
  • Touched by the Plaguelord – A man of means, respected, feared, adored beyond others, wielding power beyond reproached reduced to a simpering wreck who scabbles for survival – what better could proves a living evidence to the teaching of Parlat? To aid in the “living” part, some orisions was afforded to him, each one paid manyfold by his arcane knowledge. Allies and minions of the Ratgod knows not to harm him, he gains enhanced awareness in enclosed space, and he can transform partially and quickly. The process is still excrutiating.
• Skills:
  • Concentration – Countless ordeals, pain and humiliations have taught him not to let most things disrupt his spell-casting, lest it led to his death. Bonus to shrugging off and proceeding despite severe pain.
  • Ruthlessness – A lack of hesitation, choosing limbs without a second thought in a Life-or-Limb Decision. Bonus to melee damage due to disregard for pain inflicted on oneself or others.
  • Stealth - A talent at slipping outside conventional observation, appearing beneath notice and unobstrucive.
• Weapon Focus: Spell Channel (Tome)
• Equipment: Spell Tome, Wizard Robe, Travel Cloak, Assorted Spell Components.
  • Assorted Spell Components such as snake skulls, used to summon spectral snakes.
• Personality/Backstory: The sovereign plutocratic nation of Terul, despite being known nowadays as little more than the starting place of Emperor Xerdalic’s rise to power, once held a majestic court – a place of dreams, paradise brought unto ground. Men, women, beasts, silvers and wines alike flowed in great numbers in the decadent gilded hall, where fatted merchants schemed and vied and intrigued against each other, trading allegiances and favors and riches moments after moments. In the court, only one man stood high- the most honorable and wise Alaeddin. Despite his humble status as the Vizier of the court, a mere minister, he commanded great trust and had the ears of nearly half the guildmasters. His voice, deep and rolling was so infused with ideal and conviction they could washed away all thoughts of resistance from even the most savvy, the most reclaritant of traders. Every evening, he would stand in the uppermost balcony of the Grand Palace and breaths in the salty sea breeze, and he would allow the tiniest hint of a smile to cracks his stoic façade. Patiently, he would count the days away until his complete dominance over the land of Terul were assured.
• A certain demonic invasion party put paid to that plan. Fleeing for his life as his Manscorpian Manservant turns against him, he would find refuge in the deepest sewer of the capitol, where men fear to treaded- the domains of Parlat. Alaeddin the Magi died that day, and what remains could not be counted among the living. Nevertheless, Alaeddin the Wererat survives.
• He hated the Stygian Empire with a fiery passion –one of the few feelings yet remains- but he valued his continued survival too much to act openly against it. Most of his contact with the other races had been as master and slaves, and he did not think much of them. He intended to keep surviving, regains his former luxurious lifestyle, and see the Emperor begging for his life moments before his throat is slit, in that order.

edited 18th Jul '14 4:46:00 AM by Pblades

"The literal meaning of life is whatever you're doing that prevents you from killing yourself." Albert Camus

@ Goodisgood: I like him so far.

@ Pblades: I'm fine with having a narrow array of similar, low-level spells, but I'd like to know more specifics about Sihr.

Technically, I should require that just being a werecreature would cost an ability, but Touched by the Plaguelord seems mostly aesthetic. If I understand it correctly, this is also what's responsible for his longevity?

The wording is kind of confusing throughout (maybe its just typos?), but I'm liking the parts I understand.

Flesh is a design flaw.

It could uses some trimming, yeah. I left the source of his longevity vague as to whether it comes from Parlat or whatever it was he gets up to when he was in the Terul court.

Sihr was left encompassing with Wizard spell list up to lvl. 2 as a guideline because I felt writing down all spell known for him would be cumbersome. At the same times, I didn't want to limit him to certain elements.

"The literal meaning of life is whatever you're doing that prevents you from killing yourself." Albert Camus

Even up to level 2, that list is simply too broad for one ability. You said they'd be Arabian-themed, but I'm not sure what that entails.

For example, Sadon Kree's abilities are fairly focused; a spell that inflicts debilitating, though common symptoms of diseases, and a spell that controls the minds of small pest creatures.

I want clear, narrow arrays like that if possible.

Flesh is a design flaw.

Sure. I'll get back to you on that- lemme think of an appropriate spell array.

"The literal meaning of life is whatever you're doing that prevents you from killing yourself." Albert Camus

@ Goodisgood: Looks great.

Flesh is a design flaw.

@Stygian: do the Stygian soldiers look like this,◊ perchance?

The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground

Most of the Myrmidons would look similar to that. Each Myrmidon's armor is uniquely designed for them, and therefore they all look a bit different, but they're all heavily armored like that. The base troops would be less spiky and ornamented, but they make enough to customize their equipment too. I imagine a lot of helmets that resemble the Unsullied from Game of Thrones.

edited 9th Jul '14 5:11:44 PM by StygianEmperor

Flesh is a design flaw.

Oh by the way Styg, do you have any specifics about wood elf religion and culture besides what's written? I left my signup kinda vague in that regard since I wasn't sure if you had more details or if it would be okay to make up my own stuff.

@ Nman: I should elaborate on my earlier post about the Parlat cult incursion, since there are two of his affiliates submitted now. Basically though, there's bad blood between the wood elves and that particular cult. I'll probably put it in the history section in that first Setting post.

Also, your character's age right now is what wood elves would think of as about mid-20's, though she would be "mature" at about the same age as humans are. Elves just don't usually consider other elves to be adults until about 100, when they've lived a little.

They enjoy a disproportionately long "Prime." For an elf, basically ages 20-100 are what we think of as 16-21.

Also, the Sel'esha forests are pretty massive, so there's quite a bit of ecological diversity. It's divided into several different principalities, though other than regulating defense (rangers and militia) and wildlife conservation they don't have a lot of power. In the same vein there are a few different subcultures, so you can come up with one if you want.

There's a bunch of dire wolves in there, especially the northern taiga. The elves respect them and usually just keep their distance.

Edit: As far as religion goes, wood elves are mainly into Yondhal, Daeleness, and Velathar. A few like Zalduil, for his nature aspects, but most aren't big fans of Maluvain and Illithrion. The other, non-elven gods haven't really had a chance to break in to their culture.

edited 10th Jul '14 11:44:11 PM by StygianEmperor

Flesh is a design flaw.

@Stygian: You said you could elaborate on things mentioned in passing. Could you elaborate on both golems and falconmen, and are they possibly player playable?

edited 10th Jul '14 9:56:46 PM by sharur

Nihil assumpseris, sed omnia resolvere!