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Ogres are the ancestors of most of modern humanity because Humans Are Bastards. Except not really.

It's just a suggestions.

Errata #2 More Name Changes

Change all instances of 'Oblivionism' and 'Nihilism' to 'Hadhism'.

Black Empire Facts #6

It should be noted that Hrod does not rule by lies. He isn't incapable of subterfuge nor does he shy from it, but his is a rule of carefully applied brutality, which include brutal honesty. He prefers to make his will known, usually by enforcing loudly and personally.

The Treaty of Desortus

During the signing of the treaty to end the First Great Conflict of Desortus, most parties sent delegations. A practice done because it was during this time of lowered guard that treachery could be most potent. However, Emperor Hrod attended the signing personally, he even made a speech.

"This war has ended and this peace has been established," He said, in his full body covering armor, putting extra emphasis on the two instances of 'this', which historians agree lends to a cynical twist to that statement. "Make no mistake, the treason, the war, it has left a scar upon your nation, a debilitating injury that will warp the workings of it for as long as it lasts. Do not despair, order will win in the end for civility and stability is ultimate expression of mortal kind."

Later, as Hrod personally signed the treaty, it was revealed that a loyalist of Machii's advisors had snuck on to the Desortus delegation and whipped out a powerful artifact weapon meant to slay a lich of Hrod's power while wearing a very potent talisman that protected him from attacks. Hrod responded by conjuring up the man's wildest dreams and tempting/tricking him to fall into a coma, never waking from a dream come true. The talisman didn't recognize it as an attack but it certainly stopped the man.

Their was a great uproar from everyone else that almost restarted the war. Hrod then cast a spell that stole all their voices, giving him enough time to restore order with a simple glare at everyone and some wordless disappointed chiding. Then he went back to signing the treaty. It took him a while, as the traditions of his homeland state that very important documents must be signed with a fully detailed name-glyph. The other delegations got their voices back when he was done.

Laughs At Happiness

400 years ago, the current Nihil, Terrestrial God and High Priest of Hadhism, was a sylvan called Laughs At Happiness. She set out to prove life was a big joke and oblivion was the punchline. She released a magic plague upon the Black Imperial city of Grimholme that caused a horrible manic and sadistic dementia in its sufferers and was spread by torture, turning the victim into another grinning psycho. Hrod personally appeared to deal with the epidemic and dueled with Laughs At Happiness.

Laughs pointed out that Hrod was constantly cracking jokes, making fun of the establishment up to even himself. She claimed Hrod tried to impose order but really knew that the world was just sad pointless chaos and that's why Hrod couldn't help but laugh, and Laughs knew how he felt but pitied how Hrod really couldn't admit it. She said her virus brought out what was truly inside people, horrible monsters.

"Don't you get it!? Don't you get the big joke!? EYAHAHAHAHA WHY AREN'T YOU LAUGHING!?"

Hrod finally ended the duel by using collected and modified form of Laugh's own virus, causing a massive overdose of adrenaline and dopamines. Laughs At Happiness laughed herself to death, ending in a massive cardiac arrest.

"It wasn't funny."

The Hall of the Fallen

After the first great conquest, when Hrod, the Black Prince, captured the city that would become his capital, he dug a hole. He dug a lot of holes, a mass grave for the dead of both sides. One hole though, no bodies went, only memories. He dug a tunnel, down to the bedrock and then kept digging with magic. Into this tunnel, he carved the names of the dead, soldiers, citizens, enemies. And for a thousand years, he has continued work on that Tunnel, personally carving the name of every one of his men he sent to their deaths, of every civilian he failed to save, of every foe who didn't need to die. It now extends miles underground.

Every year, on the first Voiday after the Day of the Dead in Fall, their is a pilgrimage of people who come to visit the Hall. They seek out the names of loved ones and ancestors, leave offerings and make prayers. This is an unofficial holiday, one Hrod has not openly acknowledged but neither denied. Some people will actually see their Emperor, as he comes to or fro from the tunnel if he's adding to it at that time. Hrod teleports most places but here he will physically makes his way down, to note each name as he passes.

edited 5th Jul '12 9:02:40 PM by God_of_Awesome

Wyrm

A creation of Noname's before their forced ascension. One of his first attempts at creating a being of magic, an amalgamation of a whale and crocodile and many flying things, ended with burying the unborn thing under a tone of ice, hoping to freeze and crush the thing both. The thing was merely slowed down by a 750 years, by which time Noname ascended. When it broke free, it was massive thing that blotted the sun when it flew and devoured everything when it landed. It did not die until one of Noname's greatest students united the nations of the world to rise up against it.

Before it broke free and they ascended, Noname created others. One was an amalgamation of a lizard and a bat and included firey alchemy. It was unintelligent though and although it innately magical nature made this species ripe for modification, Noname took no credit for their creation just as they had done for the first thing. Most came to believe those creatures arose naturally.

The only creatures Noname took credit for was the only ones they felt proud of, the Wyrm. Made from exotic snakes and fish and many birds, deer and horse and reptiles, tigers and wolves and cows. This was a vastly intelligent thing and very magical, capable of absorbing ambient magic easily enough to sustain its life completely away from leylines, flying mostly under its own magical power. It came in two breeds, the Lung and Coatl. Both were serpentine although the Coatl Wyrm was outright a serpent, albeit a feathered one from behind its head on down in many different colors over this breed, its only limbs a great pair of wings that were not actually used for flight. The Lung Wyrm is more bizarre, it has the head of a horse filled with the teethes of a wolf topped by the horns of a deer and the ears of a cow and the eyes of a reptile, it torso like a snake with scales of a fish and four bird legs that ended in tiger feet. Their is a lump on the Lung Wyrm's head where a specialized organ, the chimu, is located, a masterpiece of of bioturgy and magic overall made for efficiently manipulating and absorbing magic. The Coatl Wyrm also has it, it merely is not featured so prominently.

Noname created a breeding population of both breeds and rarely have the two meet and never have they breed, content it seems to avoid each other for reasons unknown. For 1500 years, their population has only grown by half and a handful of the original remain alive. Quatzal Coatl and Shen Lung are two originals that have remained spry in their old age, both immensely powerful mages. 50 years ago, they disappeared, although Quatzal is now being spotted in the New Lands. Shen is still nowhere to be found.

Question: Do you guys want some help compiling and editing this thing?

Define compiling and editing.

At the moment I'm (so very slowly) writing everything out and doing the first pass of edits. Once that is done, I'll link everyone to it (it will go on Gdocs) and fix anything hat needs fixed. You're certainly welcome to help with that.

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

PM me a link and I'll see what I can do to help.

Hey, Kyle, have you voted? You should vote.

Chosen The Celestial Incarnate, Avatars

What happens is that a certain number of criteria are filled. First, a mortal experiences an extreme moment, extreme adulation from others, to know or cause lust, extreme rage on their part, guilt and failure and other possible things. Second, the auspices must be right, the currents of the Aether flowing correctly and the associated Celestial god is paying attention to the moment. Third, there must be an opening as by some strange magical law each Celestial God has a strict limit to the number of Chosen they may have that barely follows a flowing logic. The Rule of Thumb is that it will go between one and five, about equal to how you would rate a Celestial God's power on a scale of 1-5.

The only exception is Elena, who follows rules unique to herself. One must be descendant of the first World Chosen and then be randomly touched by one of the Elemental Gods, becoming Chosen of that element. Spiritual resonance or physical closeness to the material manifestation of that god helps. Elemental Chosen are weaker then other Chosen, just being innately Gifted Elemental Movers, Gifts of Excellency and Paragon, and their numbers are capable of constituting a few small nations. Some can grow very powerful though, through Dedication. Sometimes a new World Chosen will arise, chosen at birth when Elena feels the world will need one, a reincarnation of the last World Chosen.

Now what generally happens for most Chosen, besides Elena's, is that the would-be Chosen garners enough of a certain emotional reaction that it creates a large and unique turbulence in the Aether from their soul. The Celestial then crafts a Fae out of that turbulence, bonded to that soul completely until death. The nature of the Chosen is something like a cross between a Nephilim, Demigod and outright Terrestrial God.

((A cross between Exalted and Avatar: TLA))

edited 25th Jun '12 5:36:02 PM by God_of_Awesome

Elena wouldn't work like that she's far to whimsical/ indecisive to have a system like that

edited 26th Jun '12 2:58:37 AM by Vyctorian

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I may be having memory lapses, but lulwut?

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

Dryad in D&D & Dryad in Mythology

edited 25th Jun '12 10:47:36 PM by Vyctorian

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So it's just assumed that these things you never mentioned before that I know of exist?

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

could you re-phrase that last post?

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I think Exelixi means that dryads were never established to exist in Domhain Sceal.

... nothing was until we submitted it, that's how this process has always worked. A good 50-75% of what I've submitted wasn't previously mentioned. :3

edited 25th Jun '12 11:12:52 PM by Vyctorian

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That's what I'm saying. Submit those first, before things that assume they exist.

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

Why? It makes more sense to work out an origin for the creature first then the creature themselves. I think a lot of our earlier issues came from creating creatures without setting origins first.

edited 25th Jun '12 11:26:05 PM by Vyctorian

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No, it makes more sense to tell us what we're working with and then give it an origin. Or do both at the same time. As is, if we approve this but not your idea for Dryads, we're up shit creek without a paddle.

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

Why it just means a new version would need to be created*

, besides I don't have a concrete enough base for Dryad on my own beside that they have an origin relating to Elena and humanoids. I'd rather establish they exist and their origin and work out what they're strengths, limitations and ectra are together.

edited 25th Jun '12 11:34:19 PM by Vyctorian

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The Werewolf and Dwarf fiasco is why we want to avoid this.

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

Fine, I'll whip something up and include it in the original ballot

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Our Lady of the wooded night - goddess of traveling at night and dryad

OLORWN - is a terrestrial nature goddess, she was once a human but that was long ago. She was said to be the first and oldest Dryad in existence. She was a very loyal cleric to Elena who even developed a close personal relationship with her. Which at the time was a rarity among the gods.

Elena began to see her as a daughter, and because of this so did her worshipers. It soon became that the only sure fire way to get Elena on your side was through her.In addition to this she began guiding travelers through the woods at night. One night a progenitor wolf jealous of the attention this unnatural was getting attacked and near fatally injured her. Elena discovered her on the brink of death, in order to save her adopted daughter she infused her with energy the same way she would a gift spirit but her body could not take the energy alone. So Elena merged her into a near by oak.

When her daughter awoke she was startled and in shock, but she was soon over come with bliss in realizing that not only was she one with nature. She was also saved by her patron goddess. She continued to guide travelers, but she forsake her human name in in favor of a term. A tradition that many dryad still use to day. Eventually tales of her as a guidance of those traveling through nature grew so famous that she ascended to godhood.

Her church is more of a cult thought, her worshipers are mostly guides and some dryads. They tend to wear black robes with flowery deigns on them, which are also in black. In her words "The dirt path is my temple" so often flowers are left on or near them as offerings.

To this day she guides travelers and is said to protect them from harm. Her symbol is a leaf over a full moon.

Her worshipers use a special weapon/tool called a "Dryad claw" which looks like three long curled claws made of wood, it's not meant to be used to kill. It gives large scraps at worst, it's also used a to funnel spells, and used in prayers.

The Dryad - Humanoid gift spirits

Dryad were originally created by Elena in desperation to save a life but now they are both created and born from magical energies. They are divided into two categories Born Dryad and Created Dryad.

Dryad are a shape-shifting cross between plants and humanoids and are the only humanoid creature that falls directly under Elena's dominion. All dryad have a tree or very*

large plant which they call home. A Host plant, which they are deeply connected to. They can use this plant to draw nourishment from, as well as execrate their healing. They can merge with and hide inside this plant. In addition to these abilities dryad have power latent abilities which allow them to call animals and plant to their aid and even charm humanoid creatures.

A dryads shape-shifting is mostly involuntary. While near it's tree it appear to be the most plant like, have thick armor-like bark for skin, no visible eyes, and large claws. They are also at their peak magical strength, the further way they get from the tree the more humanoid they appear, at their furthest away from the tree, their eyes are green to brown and there skin is simply colored and patterned like the trees bark, their hair is very vine, or ivy like and tends to support leaves.Dryad are strongest and most vulnerable near their host plant and while they may not have as much magical power or armor away from their tree, they will almost assuredly regenerate from any wound if they are anywhere near nature and almost anyone who sees a fully armored dryad knows that if they are in that form they must only be mere feet from the Dryads hosts plant, and any well placed torch or fire spell can cripple them or even kill them as they will not regenerate naturally if their host is killed.

Either way though all Dryad have Elena's image infused into them, Elena being a god has decided her image is either that of a plant or a woman and Dryad reflect this. Their are no male dryad, only females, and sexless dryads. Dryad females however can mate with almost any humanoid or plant.

Pollination with a plant creates no dryads and simply boosts the fertility of her host-plant. Though Dryad seeds are often created by the plant. While mating with a humanoid does create a dryad after a pregnancy period of about 3-5 months. During this period she needs to be within her host plant near constantly due the strain cause by creating another dryad, if she ventures more than a few hundred feet from her host plant there is a huge risk both her and the child will die. It should be noted that female dryad are only fertile so long as the land is fertile, if there is no plant big enough to host a new dryad the dryad will not become pregnant, and just produce seeds instead. As for how that plant is determined it is something that Dryad just "know".

While Dryad are by no means common, Born Dryad are the more common of the two. Born dryad take around fifteen years to reach full maturity and can live to be several hundred years old, their magical abilities grow at a slow rate and reach their peak around 200 years old. Born dryad are always female, and share none of the traits of their father's race beyond cosmetic features. If their father was of any magical patronage that magic was drained out by the host tree and placed into the Dryad seeds. Elena did this on purpose both to prevent abominations like there attempt at dragons*

and to reinvigorate the land.

Created Dryad are rarer as they require a powerful nature mystic to create, as well as an existing host plant and a humanoid. It is often done to save a life, as the host plant can easily sacrifice part of it's matter to rebuild the humanoid without the chance of it dying. Though there have been cases of people using this process as an alternative to becoming a Lich, or just to get closer to nature. None are encouraged though at least when done by humanoid hands. Powerful dryad and nature spirits however are simply asked to chose those who are turned into dryad carefully.

It should be noted that created Dryad

Sexless dryad are created by a male under going the dryad creation process, while in terms of animal anatomy they are sexless, they are still male by plant terms and can pollinate female plants as a result.

Dryad seeds -

Dryad seeds are created by a Dryad's host plant while the Dryad inside is fertilized. These seeds have latent magic inside them and are often coveted by nature mages the same way the seeds from a tree within a node would be. In addition plants which are grown from Dryad trees often grow larger and faster, and they're branches grow like Dryad claws. The seeds are also very nutritious a hand full of these seeds can replace a full meal. Though they are mostly just eaten by dryad on the go as White seeds are more practical and common in humanoid lands. Plants grow from dryad seeds produce regular seeds as the plant is not magical itself or at least not into maturity.

---

I'll scale back the mating/fertility aspect if asked but I figured other topic have gone into detail, like birthing, eggs and the recent discussion about breasts or non breasts so I figured it was alright as I was mostly talking from a soft-science position. Speaking of breasts born dryad have them and do nurse much the same way mammals do, Created dryad it depends on the race, like a Dryad orc wouldn't. Orc dryad are very likely infertile because of this.

—-

I also moved the original posting down to this one. I'll fix any mistakes, later. I'm bushed, no pun intended. Night.

edited 26th Jun '12 12:43:14 PM by Vyctorian

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Chosen The Celestial Incarnate, Avatars

What happens is that a certain number of criteria are filled. First, a mortal experiences an extreme moment, extreme adulation from others, to know or cause lust, extreme rage on their part, guilt and failure and other possible things. Second, the auspices must be right, the currents of the Aether flowing correctly and the associated Celestial god is paying attention to the moment. Third, there must be an opening as by some strange magical law each Celestial God has a strict limit to the number of Chosen they may have that barely follows a flowing logic. The Rule of Thumb is that it will go between one and five, about equal to how you would rate a Celestial God's power on a scale of 1-5.

Now what happens for Chosen is that the would-be Chosen garners enough of a certain emotional reaction that it creates a large and unique turbulence in the Aether from their soul. The Celestial then crafts a Fae out of that turbulence, bonded to that soul completely until death. The nature of the Chosen is something like a cross between a Nephilim, Demigod and outright Terrestrial God.

Elena's Chosen Elemental Born, Princes of the World

The only exception is Elena, who follows rules unique to herself. One must be descendant of the first World Chosen and then be randomly touched by one of the Elemental Gods, becoming Chosen of that element. Spiritual resonance or physical closeness to the material manifestation of that god helps. Elemental Chosen are weaker then other Chosen, just being innately Gifted Elemental Movers, Gifts of Excellency and Paragon, and their numbers are capable of constituting a few small nations. Some can grow very powerful though, through Dedication. Sometimes a new World Chosen will arise, chosen at birth when Elena feels the world will need one, a reincarnation of the last World Chosen.

(Made Elena's entry separate so it can be addressed separately)

So, another idea, making a separate thread for character creation, just pumping out characters for this setting. I was even thinking of using those rules I had laid out for my theoretical game.

Sound good?

What, for NPC options? Sure.

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

NPC options, to hammer out general concepts, that kind of thing.

It would make an open selection for G Ms to use.

Not a bad idea.

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