Legends of Alourria (OOC)

[ImportantNobody]

Introduction
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This OOC is a work in progress, and anyone can join in to help create this fantasy world known as Alourria that will be the setting for, if all goes according to plan, many wonderful roleplay experiences to come. While inspiration can be drawn from other works of fantasy, this should have it's own unique feel with stuff that has never been seen before. This is in advanced, but don't be scared off. There will be lots of help here. If an idea is not quite up to standards that will be fine, and it's better that you at least tried then if you had an idea but were too nervous to post it when it could have been great.
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Helpful Links
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Here's a wiki page to better organize all of the information. If someone creates a race (just as the example I'll say humans), then on this opening post all I'd have to do is post the link to all the information about humans rather then have all that information for everything typed out on this first post, which would be a major eyesore. Anyone involved in this roleplay can post in the wiki.
http://legends-of-alourria.wikia.com..._Alourria_Wiki
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Here's sync.in, where we can use to chat and type in a word document that can be edited by multiple people at real time. For example, before posting on the wiki for humans, you might post all the information you thought of for humans here and then everyone involved can edit the document. If that sync.in is too crowded with other ideas then you can always feel free to create a new one for the discussion of only about humans, for example.
http://sync.in/3xOAZL87mW
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Here's a deviantART page for this just in case you like that website. Any images that you draw for this can be posted here as well as in the wiki, or if it simply wouldn't fit into the wiki as well. For example, I might post a drawing that isn't up to wiki standards as a reference for what a certain race looks like, but I still think it's cool so I post it here. Keep in mind that this is more of a fun, on the side thing and not mandatory to visit in order to understand what's going on. Unlike the wiki, I think you have to be a member to post images here. P.S. This was called "Kingdoms of Alourria" and was created for a similar idea previously, but was never put into action.
http://kingdoms-of-alourria.deviantart.com/
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The IC is not out yet, but the link will be posted here when it is.
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If you have any other website to have tools that could help us along, feel free to post the link for us.
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Plot
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The plot will come in after all of the basics are taken care of such as the setting.
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Setting
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The world of Alourria will be our setting. Alourria is technically the name of the continent that this takes place on due to them making no distinction between that and the world at large. The waters around them seemed endless so this place that they inhabited was indeed the whole world to them at the time of them naming it. The exact makeup of Alourria is in development. What's currently planned out is that it's more massive then what a single continent on Earth is and that it's comprised of diverse geology, zoology, etc. A couple major super powers have developed after some wars, one of which will be an empire that won't be stereotypically good or evil.
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The following will be links and brief summaries for easy reference, but the bulk of the detail will be in the wiki.
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(No maps have been approved yet)

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(No locations have been approved yet)

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(No nations have been approved yet)

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Races, Animals, and Monsters
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There will be many different races, animals, and monsters that inhabit this world. Some races will be humanoid, while others may be something else entirely. I'm extremely hesitant of using already created races/beings such as elves and vampires. It would be best to come in thinking of fresh new ideas and build a race from the ground up, taking inspiration when needed but no blatant copying allowed. If you create a well thought out race fitting of this world and they just so happen turn out similar to something already created then that will be okay. I'd just prefer not to take an elf and then just simply transfer them to this world without any changes or thought. The same general ideas can be said for animals but with some more leniency. We can have the basic and beloved ones such as cats, horses, and dogs, but be sure that many unique animals and monsters will also exist.
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The following is the list of races, animals, and monsters that have been accepted so far. If a race has been accepted but you have additional ideas or changes that could be made, it's not too late to inform me unless it's already been established in the IC of being a certain way.
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Humans- A largely populated race that can be found all over Alourria.

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(To make this short, no animals that exist on earth shall be bothered to be included)
(No animals have been approved yet)

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(No monsters have been approved yet)

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Magic and Mythos
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The inhabitants of Alourria have developed a variety of different mythologies coming about from many different cultures and races. The validity of the different mythologies can be questionable, although some of them can appear to check out well enough. However, no mythology is allowed to have conclusive proof that it's the correct one (at least not now). There's also the possibility that they're all wrong or all have grains of truth in them. For magic, some believe it's related to Gods while others think it's no more magical then gravity. Magic can break through normal physics but it still has it's own set of physics that it must never break. Some people suspect that there's something that can break above magic physics much like magic breaks through normal physics, but this hypothesis is either unsubstantiated or mainly said to be what Gods and Goddesses have.
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So what is magic and the physics that it goes by? We can develop this together, but it should have a unique feel to it so no simply copying and pasting from other magic systems.
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Roles
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The following is a list of different roles that you can partake in, created by ArchangelUriel and with some edits by me. Nobody is getting paid, obviously, so only join in on stuff that you'll have fun doing. You don't have to be stuck doing one job, so if you like thinking of races and landscape, for example, then feel free to take on both roles. There can be multiple people working on the same role besides the directors. Don't think that if you're a landscape concepter then you seclude yourself from all other things. If animals inhabit your landscape, then obviously you'd need to share ideas with them so they better know how their animals will look and behave. The same principle can be said for any of these roles that have overlap. If you feel like a certain role should be on here but is missing, or some role is not needed or should be changed, feel free to say so. I'll put brackets around people who are in a certain role.
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***Creative Director: Overseer and documenter of everything. If other directors green-light something I can still un-green light it should I desire, but you don't have to wait for me to say anything in order to act like it's approved. Only if I do say that it isn't would it not be. [Important Nobody]
***Assistant Creative Director: The same powers of the creative director, but once again the creative director has the final say. [ArchangelUriel]
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***Settings Director: Oversees and green-lights the concepts for landscapes, towns/cities, nations, and maps. Any ideas submitted in the color red would deal with settings so the director can more easily identify the ideas being sumbitted for their approval.
Landscape Concepter: Comes up with ideas for landscapes. It may be best for each person to only focus on a single region (such as snowy or desert) at a time, but this is a personal preference and by no means a rule.
Town Concepter: Ideas for town aesthetics and anything else related to the town. This is heavily reliant on landscape, so if someone else creates a landscape with a giant waterfall then you might think of how to put a town there.
Nation Concepter: Ideas for different nations or empires that formed around the towns, landscape, and races. If, for example, you create a nation in the far north, make sure you know what everything's like up there before coming up with the ideas.
Mapper: Maps the relative location of all settings
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***Mobile-Lifeforms(Mob) Director: Oversees and green-lights the concepts for Races, Deities/Magic, and wildlife. Any ideas submitted in the color green would deal with Mob so the director can more easily identify the ideas being sumbitted for their approval.
Race Concepter: Ideas for races, including humans because humans in different areas might have different cultures and stuff that could be explored.
Wildlife Concepter: Ideas for wildlife including animals and monsters. [Shin Majin]
Deity/Magic Concepter: Ideas for various worshiped god/dess, supernatural forces, including ideas for the magic system.
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***Plot Director: Oversees and green-lights the concepts for plot. Any ideas submitted in the color blue would deal with plot so the director can more easily identify the ideas being sumbitted for their approval.
Plot Concepter: Ideas for any plots that could come about upon viewing all of the different races, landscapes, lore, etc. and how they might come together.
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***Art Director: Oversees and green-lights all art concepts. Any ideas submitted in the color orange would deal with art so the director can more easily identify the ideas being sumbitted for their approval.
Mob Artist: Concepts for Races, deities, and special wildlife.
Settings Artist: Concepts towns/cities, and special landscapes.
Special Artist: Concepts any art outside simple mobs and settings.

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Rules
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1. Any ideas you post will still be yours, but within this roleplay I and others can use them unless otherwise stated. This doesn't apply to characters, which nobody else should be controlling unless under extreme circumstances (explained in another rule).
2. Standard forum rules apply such as no god modding or killing other people's characters without permission. This should all be obvious, but I can always come out with a rule written in stone if need be.
3. Only one person per director job as previously stated. You can ask to be one but aren't guaranteed. If enough people vote on you to be a director then I'll most likely listen.
4. You can try out any other role at will or even suggest a new one not listed, but it would be helpful if you tell people what you're working on.
5. If you're gone for the week or more, let me know. If we're in the IC and your character is holding us up, I can at that point do whatever I have to with them to move things along, which includes, but not limited to, killing them depending on what would need to be done to resolve the situation.
6. Don't edit or delete information posted on the wiki, sync.in, etc. without permission from whoever worked on it. Even if you hate their idea for some race, just post your own ideas and we can discuss which one is better before deleting or editing anything. If you edit/delete on accident then you won't be in trouble, but obviously try not to do so and help fix it if you do.
7. You can have multiple characters in the IC.
8. Always feel free to give ideas and have fun!

[ArchangelUriel]

Beautiful, I can't wait to see this machine start cranking out ideas. It's a wonderful thing to see minds work together like this.

[The Whacko]

So...how's this work, if we have an idea, do we just throw it out there?

[ImportantNobody]

So...how's this work, if we have an idea, do we just throw it out there?

Yep. You can specialize in a certain role if you'd like or just throw in ideas wherever.

[ArchangelUriel]

Make sure you title the idea, and color code it to the specific director. Colors are on the "roles" chart.

[The Whacko]

Right then...gonna try submiting the Katakor idea, then. Ditching the Orcs, though.

Katakor - Often simply refered to as "The Frozen North", Katakor is a land of harsh, barren mountains ranges, plains and snowfields with small deltas strew across its Western borders, where it meets the Sea of Ghosts. Its harsh landscape has made travel there unpopular, and its inhabitants are some of the strongest, in some cases, most vicsious beings in the world. Its wildlife hearkens back to an era when man was first leaving the caves he called home: Mammoths, giant deer, flightless predatory birds and sabretooth cats are common, in addition to wolves and bears growing to gigantic sizes compared to their Southern kin.

Three races inhabit this land: The Berskan, Karands and Morrindum. The Berskan were once a savage, war-like people with little patience for cultural niceties, but in the last millenium have had several radical social and cultural reforms. They are best described as sentient, bipeadal bears. Most assume that their existence is not the work of natural evoltution, but arcane interference with the local wildlife, though none can absolutely confirm this theory. They typicaly stand at six feet in height, though there are invididuals that grow much lager. Their fur ranges in color from black, gray, to brown, though there are rumors of Berskan in the far North that resmble the wild polar bears inhabiting the region. In the days of old, they freely worshiped what they call "The Old Gods", now known today to be Demon Lords, but now they have abandoned the Old Ways in favor of the new, far more trustworthy Human gods of the South. For the most part they have assimilated well into Human societies, doing their best to eliminate the shame of the Old Ways from their people's past.

The Karands are a Human race from the middle regions of Katakor. Much like the Berskan of old, they worship Demons as gods, but have not abanonded these ways. Even today roving bands of Karandese brigands are a serious problem for the Berskan and kingdoms of the South, pillaging and claiming new stock for slavery and sacrifice to their dark lords. Of the Humans, they are amoung the most hardy and strong, towering over most of their Southern neighbors, and see this as proof of their superiority over them. Light-skinned and darked haired, Karandese warriors often tattoo their faces with black ink to emulate the Demons they worship, and they bear these marks with pride. They have warred with the Berskan since their races first came into contact, and now it is customary for their shamans to wear a cloak and headdress made from Berskan hide. They shun the use of horses for cavalry, instead prefering ride atop the much fiercer, if more difficult to control, predatory birds inhabiting the region.

The Morrindum are the last of the races in Katator, inhabiting the Eastern lands of the region. They are geneticly related to the Karands, and are generaly even larger than their savage kin, but they are victims. They are generaly considered to be the least intelligent of the Humans, and even the word Morrind is sometimes used in place of "Simpleton". Long ago the Morrindum were enslaved by the Karands, kept as slave stock and for sacrifice to the Demon Lords. The generations of oppresion has eliminated most emotion from the Morrindum's make-up, save for fear. When they are selected for sacrifice, they typicaly try to run to little success, though there are stories of a few escaping to the Berskan strongholds, where they recieve sanctuary and transport to the South. Usualy, however, they are doomed to the life of slaves until called apon by the Karands to die on their blood-soaked altars, leaving little hope for these people.

Yes...I suggested bear-people. Why? Because it hasn't been done to my knowledge, and come on...bear-people!

[ImportantNobody]

A discussion about magic is going on in the sync.in link. We're getting some good ideas going.

Edit: For the color thing, it should only be once the idea is finalized then you can type it all out in color in one place rather then a bunch of scattered posts dicussing it.

[makiaka]

intrested

[ImportantNobody]

Katakor - Often simply refered to as "The Frozen North", Katakor is a land of harsh, barren mountains ranges, plains and snowfields with small deltas strew across its Western borders, where it meets the Sea of Ghosts.

The Berskan were once a savage, war-like people with little patience for cultural niceties, but in the last millenium have had several radical social and cultural reforms. For the most part they have assimilated well into Human societies, doing their best to eliminate the shame of the Old Ways from their people's past.

The Karands are a Human race from the middle regions of Katakor. Much like the Orcs of old, they worship Demons as gods, but have not abanonded these ways. Even today roving bands of Karandese brigands are a serious problem for the Orcs and kingdoms of the South, pillaging and claiming new stock for slavery and sacrifice to their dark lords.

Yes...I suggested bear-people. Why? Because it hasn't been done to my knowledge, and come on...bear-people!

For the sea of ghosts, I'm wondering if ghosts exist. It seems debatable at this point.

For the Berskan, what event caused them to abandon their old ways?

For the Karands, by demons do you mean contractors, as discussed in the sync.in?

For bear people, there were talking bears in the Golden Compass and pandas from World of Warcraft if that counts. Still, bear people could be cool.

[The Whacko]

For the sea of ghosts, I'm wondering if ghosts exist. It seems debatable at this point.

For the Berskan, what event caused them to abandon their old ways?

For the Karands, by demons do you mean contractors, as discussed in the sync.in?

For bear people, there were talking bears in the Golden Compass and pandas from World of Warcraft if that counts. Still, bear people could be cool.

Ah, that's right. Forgot about the Pandaren. They abandoned the Old Ways after they met the Humans of the South, and they relized their gods were a whole lot nice than the Old Gods. As for the Karands, they do indeed use contractors, but in a more shamanistic way. They form pacts with evil spirits to guide their clans, and they pay them with sacrifice and so forth. Of course the contractors don't really care about the sacrifices themselves, they just get a laugh out it. Again, evil.

And the Sea of Ghosts is just a name. There aren't really any ghosts. Remember that sailors are superstisious folk.