Post by Frederic Bourgault-Christie on Mar 3, 2009 5:44:57 GMT -5
The world of Scorched Sky is a dark, gritty fantasy world. A tiny bastion of civilization is set against a backdrop of a massive, unknown, uncharted planet. And the domains of civilization are small even by what they have charted, with hundreds of miles of wilderness...
Players should think of three "layers" of the game, as far as their characters know.
New World:
The outermost layer of the onion is the "New World". Any body of water larger than Lake Tahoe and anywhere past a few hundred miles falls into this category. The amount of adventurers, traders, hunters and other ne'er-do-wells who are willing to go out that far, beyond the cradle of civilization as we know it, is infinitesimal. The amount who come back is almost unheard of. Those few are legends, and on the rare occasions that they do not come back plagued with prematurely graying hair, they remain mute about what they encountered.
Suffice it to say that after a few hundred miles, the world becomes an open expanse of ocean, lakes, jungle, mountains, dragons, demons, ancient temples, and foul gods. There may indeed be great empires (or their ruins) and immense wealth in the New World, but so far, no one has seemed to have found them.
Near Wild (Charted Wilderness):
Starting from around 100-500 miles away from civilization, the maps actually start to identify locations rather than simply "Here Be Dragons". The area is largely European in clime:
Note that the starting area is completely landlocked. It is presumed that rivers and lakes lead to the ocean, and there is supposedly a port city seven hundred miles to the east, but the lack of trade roads, frequent scouts, and so forth makes such a city academic. One might as well assume jeweled cities lie eight hundred miles to the north! The people of the Domain of Civilization are thus relatively isolated. They live out lives, whether happy or tragic (more often than not closer to the latter), largely unfettered by the world more than a few hundred miles away.
A large river, the Potsflat, runs through the center of the Domain of Civilization and the Charted Wilderness. It runs north-east to south-west, indicating a far away sea down below to the southwest (assuming the river does not make a turn, as it does in the midst of the Domain, turning sharply at one point then lazily continuing down as if nothing had happened). It runs from a mountain to the north, the Springshead [misnamed - it is NOT the source of the river but merely the source of a massive tributary], through many of the kingdoms and areas. Larger than the Mississippi, there are only a few bridges and ferries across it. This further helps to reduce communication and non-hostile activity between kingdoms. Traders do often lazily go down the river then make the trek back up on alternating sides, but they face many dangers, such as grotesque beasts with great eyes and fantastic spherical mouths that can break even medium-sized rafts and canoes in two! The Potsflat has many offshoots that supply water. Aside from lakes, springs, smaller streams, and other sources of water, the Potsflat provides the primary source of arable water.
Further, the areas where the Potsflat forms flood plains are heavily contested for farming area.
The northwest has wind-swept plains that quickly become arid desert. Nomads live there [as indeed almost everywhere else in the Domain of Civilization].
The Domain of Civilization:
Spanning around the Near Wild, but mostly near the center of the Potsflat, is the civilization that anyone is willing to call by that name.
Most of the towns, villages and hamlets are independent, small confederations or nominally call some noble or king their ruler but in function are fairly independent. These towns generally have some trade and inter-communication but are mostly isolated communities of 20-500.
Then there are large kingdoms,
Valderchia:
Valderchia is a duchy that in the past claimed only nominal control over much of Springshead. They allowed reasonable excursions to Springshead for water, mining, and so forth. Now, however, a former Baron Lion Hepest took over for his father, Duke von Untermann, under... "mysterious" conditions. Under the new Baron Lion Hepest von Untermann, Valderchia is building an army, making aggressive moves to its neighbors, and threatening annexation.
Zembwo:
Zembwo is the domain of the jungle people of Nasarma to the southwest. The Potsflat feeds into a great jungle there, and high heat and humidity produce a rainforest.
Zembwo has among the largest population densities, and has a maze of interconnected tree, swamp, hut and fort villages. Its politics are Byzantine and complex, and almost no one outside of Zembwo and the gentry and nobility bother to follow it since it seems to change every six months. At the moment, a coalition behind 'Papa' Kogas has taken over. Zembwo is riddled with crime, smuggling and iniquity.
As the jungles continue, one goes into the New World. The people of Zembwo claim that there is purity and redemption past the trials of the jungle. Of course, no one can evaluate their claim.
Farknell
Farknell is one of the center-most kingdoms of the Domain of Civilization. On the west side of the Potsdam, it has had a long list of kings in an uninterrupted Imperial Dynasty. The present Emperor of Farknell is His Imperial Majesty Dynos Hawkheart the Great.
Farknell has a large contingent of Senior Deus worshippers, but this has conflicted with the official state religion that puts the Emperor of Farknell as imbued with the folios of many gods. It is only a matter of time until the Emperor is forced to repress the Senior Deus.
Magic:
Magic in this cosmology is NOT a known system. It is wondrous, fantastical and more than a little horrific. Those who play with magic frequently find themselves tormented by demons, burnt alive by the very energies they foolishly tried to conjure, or simply make no progress and move onto something more useful.
Theories as to how magic operates vary. Some say magic is only the work of demons. Others say that it is the lifeblood of the gods. Yet others think that the sun's rays heat the air and that magic actually makes the air colder and darker! No one has a good theory, and very few are interested in exploring further.
Bear in mind that clerics, shamans, priests and other religious and intuitive spiritualists do NOT get superior access to magic! Insofar as they have "powers", these powers are just as limited as the wanna-be sorcerers and wizards. Most act as repositories of wisdom, doctors, entertainers, spiritual and psychological consultants and therapists, storytellers, childcare, etc. Their effects are often idle prayers against inevitable calamity or the simple, non-magical effect of inspiration, group cohesion and dances. Indeed, most of these holy men rarely ask for anything more than such [1 "spell" if any!] and indeed say that to demand more from the spirits or gods is to forget one's place.
Religion:
The religion of the New World is, of course, impossible to tell. Stories of great, ancient temples to gods with names that twist the tongue and blind the eyes co-exist with tales of barbarous societies practicing black magic with human sacrifices! Not all the tales from the New World are bad, but even good tales are filled with mystery, terror and wonder.
Among the tribes, nomads and independent villages of the Near Wild, an array of religions is dominant. Most are polytheistic, with a pantheon of shared gods combined with local hearth deities. Almost all share belief in nature spirits, "Fair Folk", helpful brownies and Domevoi, etc. Like most primitive peasant societies, there is a hodge-podge of superstition, ritual and belief.
However, among the greater cities and larger towns, a new church has acquired some popularity. Although not aggressive, its tenets are radical. It has a unified ethical system, a monotheistic god, mandated places of shared worship... It calls itself the "Senior Deus Church", and worships a great, unnamed god that they must only call "Neo".
Language:
Dialects of the Domain of Civilization and Near Wild vary tremendously. However, a language has taken over in the last few centuries called "Tradish". True to its name, it is a universal language that is spoken with an immense array of accents, dialects and slangs but is generally true across the area.
Once one gets into the New World, however, "babble" begins to start. Thousands of languages, some that can only be spoken by the lips of the mad, are rumored to exist.
Worlds to Think Of:
Diablo I / II / III
Berserk
Flame of Recca
Fire Emblem
Army of Darkness [minus the improvised technology]
Yu Yu Hakusho [not the modern element but the idea of an embattled human world]
Terranigma [medieval period, mysterious evil]
Earthbound [emergence of mysterious evil]
Legacy of Kain
Demon's Crest
Slayers [only not the insane power of the continuity]
Inuyasha
Lord of the Rings
Conan
Shining Force
Players should think of three "layers" of the game, as far as their characters know.
New World:
The outermost layer of the onion is the "New World". Any body of water larger than Lake Tahoe and anywhere past a few hundred miles falls into this category. The amount of adventurers, traders, hunters and other ne'er-do-wells who are willing to go out that far, beyond the cradle of civilization as we know it, is infinitesimal. The amount who come back is almost unheard of. Those few are legends, and on the rare occasions that they do not come back plagued with prematurely graying hair, they remain mute about what they encountered.
Suffice it to say that after a few hundred miles, the world becomes an open expanse of ocean, lakes, jungle, mountains, dragons, demons, ancient temples, and foul gods. There may indeed be great empires (or their ruins) and immense wealth in the New World, but so far, no one has seemed to have found them.
Near Wild (Charted Wilderness):
Starting from around 100-500 miles away from civilization, the maps actually start to identify locations rather than simply "Here Be Dragons". The area is largely European in clime:
Note that the starting area is completely landlocked. It is presumed that rivers and lakes lead to the ocean, and there is supposedly a port city seven hundred miles to the east, but the lack of trade roads, frequent scouts, and so forth makes such a city academic. One might as well assume jeweled cities lie eight hundred miles to the north! The people of the Domain of Civilization are thus relatively isolated. They live out lives, whether happy or tragic (more often than not closer to the latter), largely unfettered by the world more than a few hundred miles away.
A large river, the Potsflat, runs through the center of the Domain of Civilization and the Charted Wilderness. It runs north-east to south-west, indicating a far away sea down below to the southwest (assuming the river does not make a turn, as it does in the midst of the Domain, turning sharply at one point then lazily continuing down as if nothing had happened). It runs from a mountain to the north, the Springshead [misnamed - it is NOT the source of the river but merely the source of a massive tributary], through many of the kingdoms and areas. Larger than the Mississippi, there are only a few bridges and ferries across it. This further helps to reduce communication and non-hostile activity between kingdoms. Traders do often lazily go down the river then make the trek back up on alternating sides, but they face many dangers, such as grotesque beasts with great eyes and fantastic spherical mouths that can break even medium-sized rafts and canoes in two! The Potsflat has many offshoots that supply water. Aside from lakes, springs, smaller streams, and other sources of water, the Potsflat provides the primary source of arable water.
Further, the areas where the Potsflat forms flood plains are heavily contested for farming area.
The northwest has wind-swept plains that quickly become arid desert. Nomads live there [as indeed almost everywhere else in the Domain of Civilization].
The Domain of Civilization:
Spanning around the Near Wild, but mostly near the center of the Potsflat, is the civilization that anyone is willing to call by that name.
Most of the towns, villages and hamlets are independent, small confederations or nominally call some noble or king their ruler but in function are fairly independent. These towns generally have some trade and inter-communication but are mostly isolated communities of 20-500.
Then there are large kingdoms,
Valderchia:
Valderchia is a duchy that in the past claimed only nominal control over much of Springshead. They allowed reasonable excursions to Springshead for water, mining, and so forth. Now, however, a former Baron Lion Hepest took over for his father, Duke von Untermann, under... "mysterious" conditions. Under the new Baron Lion Hepest von Untermann, Valderchia is building an army, making aggressive moves to its neighbors, and threatening annexation.
Zembwo:
Zembwo is the domain of the jungle people of Nasarma to the southwest. The Potsflat feeds into a great jungle there, and high heat and humidity produce a rainforest.
Zembwo has among the largest population densities, and has a maze of interconnected tree, swamp, hut and fort villages. Its politics are Byzantine and complex, and almost no one outside of Zembwo and the gentry and nobility bother to follow it since it seems to change every six months. At the moment, a coalition behind 'Papa' Kogas has taken over. Zembwo is riddled with crime, smuggling and iniquity.
As the jungles continue, one goes into the New World. The people of Zembwo claim that there is purity and redemption past the trials of the jungle. Of course, no one can evaluate their claim.
Farknell
Farknell is one of the center-most kingdoms of the Domain of Civilization. On the west side of the Potsdam, it has had a long list of kings in an uninterrupted Imperial Dynasty. The present Emperor of Farknell is His Imperial Majesty Dynos Hawkheart the Great.
Farknell has a large contingent of Senior Deus worshippers, but this has conflicted with the official state religion that puts the Emperor of Farknell as imbued with the folios of many gods. It is only a matter of time until the Emperor is forced to repress the Senior Deus.
Magic:
Magic in this cosmology is NOT a known system. It is wondrous, fantastical and more than a little horrific. Those who play with magic frequently find themselves tormented by demons, burnt alive by the very energies they foolishly tried to conjure, or simply make no progress and move onto something more useful.
Theories as to how magic operates vary. Some say magic is only the work of demons. Others say that it is the lifeblood of the gods. Yet others think that the sun's rays heat the air and that magic actually makes the air colder and darker! No one has a good theory, and very few are interested in exploring further.
Bear in mind that clerics, shamans, priests and other religious and intuitive spiritualists do NOT get superior access to magic! Insofar as they have "powers", these powers are just as limited as the wanna-be sorcerers and wizards. Most act as repositories of wisdom, doctors, entertainers, spiritual and psychological consultants and therapists, storytellers, childcare, etc. Their effects are often idle prayers against inevitable calamity or the simple, non-magical effect of inspiration, group cohesion and dances. Indeed, most of these holy men rarely ask for anything more than such [1 "spell" if any!] and indeed say that to demand more from the spirits or gods is to forget one's place.
Religion:
The religion of the New World is, of course, impossible to tell. Stories of great, ancient temples to gods with names that twist the tongue and blind the eyes co-exist with tales of barbarous societies practicing black magic with human sacrifices! Not all the tales from the New World are bad, but even good tales are filled with mystery, terror and wonder.
Among the tribes, nomads and independent villages of the Near Wild, an array of religions is dominant. Most are polytheistic, with a pantheon of shared gods combined with local hearth deities. Almost all share belief in nature spirits, "Fair Folk", helpful brownies and Domevoi, etc. Like most primitive peasant societies, there is a hodge-podge of superstition, ritual and belief.
However, among the greater cities and larger towns, a new church has acquired some popularity. Although not aggressive, its tenets are radical. It has a unified ethical system, a monotheistic god, mandated places of shared worship... It calls itself the "Senior Deus Church", and worships a great, unnamed god that they must only call "Neo".
Language:
Dialects of the Domain of Civilization and Near Wild vary tremendously. However, a language has taken over in the last few centuries called "Tradish". True to its name, it is a universal language that is spoken with an immense array of accents, dialects and slangs but is generally true across the area.
Once one gets into the New World, however, "babble" begins to start. Thousands of languages, some that can only be spoken by the lips of the mad, are rumored to exist.
Worlds to Think Of:
Diablo I / II / III
Berserk
Flame of Recca
Fire Emblem
Army of Darkness [minus the improvised technology]
Yu Yu Hakusho [not the modern element but the idea of an embattled human world]
Terranigma [medieval period, mysterious evil]
Earthbound [emergence of mysterious evil]
Legacy of Kain
Demon's Crest
Slayers [only not the insane power of the continuity]
Inuyasha
Lord of the Rings
Conan
Shining Force