“An enemy will trap your head in an iron mask, with no holes for seeing or breathing” warned the first oracle.
“A bloody child, born not from woman’s womb, will claim your throne for her own,” advised the second oracle.
“The trees will grow legs and march on the High City,” prophesied the third and final oracle. “Beware the metal faces, and the unborn children, and the shaking branches of the forest. For they hate you, my King, and they will see you fall.”
King Masbeth thought on their words for some time, then ordered the three oracles executed. This would normally be the duty of the royal executioner, but three hundred years ago King Masbeth banished his entire procession from the fortress. It has been a very lonely three hundred years since then.
In the fortress courtyard there is a garden where criminals are meant to be executed, peacefully and with dignity, but it was so very far from the throne room, and King Masbeth was a tired and weary man, and so he decided it would be easiest to kill the oracles then and there. Three swings of his sword; three dead oracles. Afterwards, when he made to tidy up, the King found their bodies were too heavy to move, and their blood would not wash from the white marble floor.
This is what the rumors say, at least—the Dark King of Quishan murdered three innocent oracles who dared to prophesize his downfall. Bullshit, others say. It was his daughters, and he didn’t murder them. How could a man murder his daughters? The shock of the prophecies killed them, right on the spot, and the King just couldn’t bear to move their bodies from where they fell.
That’s when your cousin, the one who always starts fights during New Year’s dinner, interrupts: Your head is so far up your ass I can see it in your mouth. Here’s what really happened...
And so on. There are many rumors surrounding this particular tale (the murderous king story is particularly popular), but to tell you the truth, no one knows why there are three dead woman seated around the throne of the King.
Hey all, thanks for coming by! Welcome to the End of Sleep, a high fantasy adventure RPG set in the cursed land of Invernier. Think of it as a dark setting and a dark story, as written by an optimist. Happy ending possibly included.
Players will start off in the hamlet of Alonso, and by random circumstance find themselves forced together on a journey to discover whether or not their sick and weakened world can be saved. I know there’s a lot of world-building info involved here, so if you have any questions at all, no matter how small, feel free to post them in the OOC thread, or, if you prefer, shoot me a PM.
The actual RPG itself will start as rumors begin circulating that magicians in our region of the world are being conscripted into the newly ascendant People’s Legion, which has taken over management of the lands of the Tempesta. From there, thing start to go off the rails.
R U L E S
❖ Have fun. First and most important thing. Above all else, we’re here because we love storytelling. As Ogobrogo put it, “There is no winning. There is no losing. There's not going to be some phat piece of loot waiting at the end, and you're not going to see some game over screen. So just enjoy the journey.” As Surtr put it, “Don’t be a dick.”
❖ Standard role-playing guidelines apply. No godmodding, no controlling other people’s characters without their permission, the usual good stuff that comes with respecting your fellow players’ writing and characters.
❖ Don’t post character sheets in the character thread unless I’ve approved them. If you have a draft you’d like to post for review, put it up in OOC or message it to me privately.
❖ I can be a bit anal while critiquing sheets. Don’t worry about it, it’s nothing personal and it’s not at all your character in particular, I just like to give detailed thoughts on these kinds of things.
❖ That said… I’m always open to discussion on posts and characters, but if I put my foot down on something, I ask you respect that, and make any necessary changes that are required of whatever post or character is being discussed.
❖ Posting I am expecting players to post at least once a week, but I know life happens, and when it does it’s usually more important than an online play-by-post RPG. If something’s come up, let me know over PM or in the OOC thread.
❖ Absences/Dropping. Likewise, I totally understand if you’ve lost interest, need a break, or just can’t keep up with the RP anymore. Completely fine, no hard feelings, I just ask you let me know so I know whether to drop or wait for you. If you go two or more weeks without a word, you will be treated as dropped.
❖ Posting. I’ve never been very strict with post length. I’d prefer a single good paragraph to a page of filler. That said, please avoid one-liners or low effort posts. Make sure you respond fairly to what’s happened with other characters, and give other people something to bounce off of.
❖ The OOC thread. Post here literally whenever you want, about even the most tangentially related stuff. It really helps to keep this section active, so don’t sweat about anything from questions to even mildly fantasy-related chit-chat.
The End of Sleep takes place in year 372 of the Age of the Widow. While only a pessimist would say that hope is lost, it isn’t exactly in high supply.
First it was the efertide. An old magic that has surfaced through the Ages to plague the land of Invernier—“the wrong mist” they call it, the night whispers, the dark sheet. Every night, when the sun goes down, the black mist of the efertide rises up from the earth, and anyone caught outside without a light is dragged into the darkness.
None of the four previous efernights had lasted longer than a decade. This one has endured for over three centuries. Travel at night has become nearly impossible, and interstate trade and cooperation has stagnated. People are reclusive these days, outsiders are never trusted—and that’s without considering the ghosts, the huntsmen, the wights, the werewolves—all the many ills that have descended with the Age of the Widow. Most of the old political powers have collapsed. Eight of the nine great royal bloodlines have died out. All across the continent, unstable factionalism bubbles and bursts.
The Tempesta, long considered the great gateway between the south and the west, has always been a land of travelers and strangers—people looking for a place to hide, or people on their way to somewhere better. For most of recent history, it was controlled by the Army of Heroes. They proved to be competent, corrupt, and idealistic, all traits that can incur significant anger, and an eventual uprising led the region into civil war. On one side, the Army—on the other, the People’s Legion, led by the vindictive General Nostro. After three bloody years, the Legion successfully took control of Castle Miranda, and installed itself as the Tempesta’s new champions.
Meanwhile, the remains of the Army of Heroes have scattered across the moors, some still fervently opposed to the Legion, most others tired, jaded, and hoping for nothing more than surviving as long as they can. Nostro sends out his soldiers in search of the survivors, and works to consolidate power over the Tempesta. Five years have passed since the fall of the Army. Not much has changed for the average Tempestan or traveler. However, Nostro has continued his hunt for the old Heroes, and the green cloaks of the People’s Legionnaires have grown much more common as of late—rumor says the General is up to something, and gossip on the subject is colorful, to say the least.
We will start here, at the northern end of the Tempesta, strangers whose paths have all crossed in this little hamlet on the Great Southern Road.
Your characters are all people who have, either as residents or travelers, ended up in the town of Alonso, an out-of-the-way hamlet at the edge of the Tempesta (info on the region can be found in the World of Invernier section).
❖ While I have no objection to powerful, unusual, or extraordinary characters (if you have a particularly interesting concept and personality for them, go for it!), this RPG is geared a bit more towards low-key characters, like Army of Heroes survivors, or agents of the People’s Legion.
❖ Building off that, don’t worry about having low-power characters alongside the more powerful knights or magicians—while there will be a decent amount of combat, this is primarily a character and character interaction focused story. Do whatever you think will make an interesting character for you to write and for others to bounce off of.
❖ Don’t be too shy about getting inventive with your character’s background. I know there’s a lot hammered down there on the map, and in the location listing, but feel free to invent towns, churches, cults, knights, battles, whatever.
❖ If you have a sheet, please don’t post it in the character tab until I give it the okay. Whenever you want a draft reviewed, either post it her, or, if you prefer, shoot it to me over PM.
❖ If your character knows magic, don’t post the spells in the sheet: send them to me over PM, and I’ll give you the critique over there. I think it’s a bit more fun if people aren’t totally in the know of each other’s abilities (though I’ve still gotta give them the lookover to make sure no one’s gotten a bit too powerplay-ish).
❖ If you're using reference art for your character, please make sure to have the artist's name below and a link to their online account, either on artstation, tumblr, deviantart, or wherever (like what I have for the banner on the 0 post of the OOC). If you can't find the artist's name and page, please don't use that image.
❖ Please use the below skeleton for your sheets. Remove the asterisks from the [*hr]s before posting it. I’ll be considering sheets in the order I receive them (but to be perfectly honest I’m a huge softy who is just absolutely over the moon anyone is paying attention to my work, and will likely let in significantly more people than I should).
[hider][center][h2][u] Character Name Goes Here [/u][/h2][/center] [b][center] A character quote, or short pithy description [/center][/b] [*hr][*hr] [center][h3][b] Age | Race | Mage-Eyes/No Mage-Eyes (Just a yes or no on whether your character has the noticeable monster-eyes that true magicians have)[/b] [/h3][/center]
[h3][u]P E R S O N A L I T Y [/u][/h3] [indent]❖ [ ] ❖ [ ] ❖ [ ] ❖ [ ] ❖ [ ][/indent] For personality, I’m know things can change a little as your write a character and get a feel for them, so what I’d prefer here are five (minimum) simple personality traits, then a short paragraph of just below the bullet pointed traits to tie it all together
[h3][u]A P P E A R A N C E [/u][/h3] You know how this one goes. For reference, common clothes for travelers on Invernier are large cloaks with hoods to cover up the face.
[h3][u]H I S T O R Y [/u][/h3] The backstory. What led your character here? What made them who they are today?
[h3][u]I N V E N T O R Y [/u][/h3] What sort of tools, if any, does this person carry with them? May be updated as the RPG goes on.
[h3][u]O T H E R [/u][/h3] Anything that doesn’t fit in the other sections? Throw it here![/hider]
Humans are by far the dominant race on Invernier. Try not to think of this as a Dungeons and Dragons type situation with mass intermingling of many fabulous races—for many Invernish, the fae are just as much the weird and untrustworthy stuff of fairy tales they are for us. While it’s not totally uncommon to see elves or carnelians travelling the old human roads and bunking at human inns for the night, the fae generally keep to themselves, and tend to be rather aloof towards humankind. Likewise, fae are largely treated with distrust by most humans. Goblins are an exception, and interact and integrate with humans quite regularly.
The fae are not immortal. Though perhaps more resilient to physical injuries than other living things, they have roughly the same lifespan as a human. However, a fae does not age while sleeping, and it is can be common for them to sleep for long stretches of time, dreaming their time away in this ghostly, ageless state. Elves are particularly prone to this, while goblins, a hard and practical people, greatly frown upon sleeping more than necessary.
❖ Playable Races ❖ These are the available races to be used for characters.
H U M A N S
Humankind is superstitious and hardy, found on every corner of the continent and braving many kinds of terrain. They are an incredibly divided, varied, and rather bizarre people, and sometimes catch the interest of the fae themselves. Much of Invernier’s trade and politics, among all races, has traditionally revolved around the ancient human capitals founded by the Nine Sisters, though in the modern era only four of the nine remain standing.
The varied and eccentric human cultures of the world tend to revolve around agriculture, farming, and livestock, especially in rural areas, while the urban regions place emphasis on bartering and government. Humans have a long and rich history of expression through art and writing, something largely unique to their species, and place an unusual emphasis on complex and varied social structures and relationships, a trait that has rubbed off on the fae after the last few thousand years of sharing a continent.
In terms of appearance, humans generally fall between five to six-and-a-half feet in height, with an enormous variety of builds, skin colors, hair colors, and eye colors. Generally, humans of the Isle of Fire have darker skin tones, while those of Redemption and the various mountains surrounding the Horns of the World are lighter. In the rest of Invernier, due to the consolidation of the continent under the Nine Sisters, different skin tones and racial features tend to be intermixed.
E L V E S
The elves are an eerie people native to the dark and wild parts of the world. No fans of direct sunlight, they generally build their settlements underground, where the sun can’t intrude, or occasionally within thick and shadowy forests. Their subterranean kingdoms are centers for mining, smithing, and jewelry, and elfkind has a reputation for being rather greedy and material.
Elven settlements fall under the absolute rule of an alfking, though the alfking generally avoids interfering with day-to-day matters, leaving most of the actual management of the settlement to the thanes. Elf cultures tend to revolve around mining, blacksmithing, and the hunting of wild animals around their settlement. Most elves, even within the elf-kingdoms, prefer to keep to themselves.
There are four major elf-kingdoms—Gestalt in the southwest, Magdalene, in the southeast, Morfin in the northeast, and Sin Sinder in the northwest. Gestalt and Magdalene are most similar to human societies (despite Magdalene’s reputation as an archetypal alien faerie kingdom in the woods) while Sin Sinder and Morfin are the most isolationist. Gestalt interacts with humans in the most up front way, and despite its bloody history with and lingering distrust of goblinkind, they have much better relations with goblins compared to other elven kingdoms.
Elves are gaunt, greyish-skinned, spindly beings, with long limbs, long fingers, pointed ears, and entirely black eyes with maybe only the tiniest corners of white visible. They can see keenly in the dark, and their hair lacks pigmentation, appearing almost exclusively in black, gray, or white. They generally fall between four-and-a-half to a little under six feet in height.
G O B L I N S
Goblins have long been the subjects of slavery, cruelty, and oppression. During the first thousand or so years of recorded history on Invernier, goblins fell under mass enslavement by elves and nephilim, who used them as labor in their mines and cities. During the unrest caused by the Nine Sisters’ ascendance, however, the goblins enslaved in the Fosterling Mountains staged a mass revolt, slaughtering and driving off their elf subjugators and establishing the free country of Patriness.
In a cunning and highly political ploy, the first king of Patriness established strong diplomatic and financial ties with humans shortly after the country was founded, which allowed the goblins to remain independent and avoid vengeance from the western elves. Though it never occurred in the lifetime of the Sisters who had cooperated with goblin empowerment movements, in the last two thousand years the enslavement of goblinkind has largely died out, though prejudices remain—in some places stronger than in others—all across Invernier.
Their culture tends to emphasize solidarity within the immediate community, goblin or otherwise. Many goblins, especially those from Patriness and its surrounding areas, seek employment as merchants, diplomats, negotiators, and other professions requiring the use of charisma and fast thinking. Goblins in general have a reputation for cunning and silver tongues, though are also known for being highly distrusting towars magic.
Goblins tend to have gold, tawny, or brass-colored skin, with pointed ears and thick, dark-colored hair. Goblin eyes are usually some shade of yellow, gold, orange, or amber, and occasionally dark and muddy brown. Their teeth tend to be rather sharp, with large, pronounced canines, with a variety of builds and body types. Their height ranges from four-and-a-half to a little over five-and-a-half feet tall.
Most goblins live in the southwest, in Patriness, Andrea’s Fault, the Tempesta, and Quishan. There are also many goblins in Primaveira and Milos, though humans of the southeast tend to have a less benevolent disposition towards goblinkind.
C A R N E L I A N S
Where the isolated elves are solitary and alien, the isolated carnelians are quiet and peaceful, and prefer privacy over all else. The spiderfolk of Invernier have never engaged in nation-building the way other races have; instead, their people are scattered all across the continent in small, hidden villages. They feel an immense affinity for water, and are found most commonly by lakes, rivers, and the coast. Many are sailors, fishers, and shipwrights.
Carnelians were especially affected by the early years of the efernight, losing hundreds of colonies across the continent. King Masbeth gave considerable aid to them during this period. However, Masbeth has a tendency to reach out to the Quishani colonies quite often for shipwrights and sailors, and as a result many carnelians who prefer their privacy have moved further west, while the ones who remain in public colonies have a reputation for being distinctly un-carnelian due to their cooperation with humans. Redemption, on the other hand, offered assistance without the kind of interference that Masbeth became known for, and as a result there are many carnelian colonies in the distant north.
Carnelians are tall and lithe beings. Carnelian men tend to fall between 5'6" to 6', and are usually more spindly built, while carnelian women fall between 6' and 6'6". They are distinctly spider-like in appearance and movement, earning the nickname of ‘spiderfolk,’ and are covered almost entirely by smooth black armor of segmented chitin that grows from their flesh. Only their lower jaw is totally exposed, revealing dark, colorless lips whose corners split into two, like forks in a road, giving their mouth a sort of stretched-out X shape.
The exposed skin of their lower face and around their joints is not dissimilar from humans, and can come in several tones. Carnelian arms ad legs have three joints rather than the two of humans, goblins, and elves, and their fingers are long and end in sharp talons.
Carnelian’s have long, pronounced fangs that slide out more visibly the wider their mouth is opened. Though untrue, most rural humans hold that carnelians are people-eaters. This rumor is probably due to the fact carnelians are exclusively meat eaters.
❖ Non-Playable Races ❖ Parts of Invernier history and society, but very rare and not available for playable races. Often considered fairy tales, moreso than even the fae.
N E P H I L I M
One of the most reclusive fae races, the nephilim are tall and mighty masters or architecture and engineering. Their cultures have produced strange and ingenious technology coveted by all other races, though they themselves are extremely dismissive, if not hostile, to all magic beyond their own unique style. Generally, architecture and engineering are held in high regard by nephilim, who appreciate the hard and practical arts. They do, however, often have soft spots for the recreational art other races sometimes take part in, especially the human painters and elven jewelers. Their magic and technology involves a kind of living cement, some halfway point between plant and stone, which they freely sculpt into fabulous shapes and structures. The nine great human cities were actually made from a kind of magic uniquely invented by the Sisters based on the nephilim Genosia, and the Sisters are largely disliked by nephilims for corrupting their sacred art (though, of course, during the time of the Sisters, the nephilim people payed great tributes and honors to the nine queens).
The supposed birthplace of the nephilim is on the Isle of Three, where their most ancient city, the fortress of Asir, is also located. Most nephilim have retreated to their homeland since the fall of Oolasheene one hundred years ago, and their people have become increasingly rare on Invernier. No outsiders are allowed within the walls of the nephilim cities, so it's unknown how they have handled the recent disasters of the Age of the Widow.
T H E U N D E A D
The woken bodies of the departed. Most see them as monsters, or made-up children’s stories, though they are just as sentient and emotional as any human or fae.
Undead are born in countless ways, but they all share certain traits. Brought back, their skin becomes ashy and cold, but loses any traces of serious rotting, while their faces gain a rather starved, skeletal look. Their eyes burn up into white mist, and the empty black sockets gain pale dots of light, presumably for seeing, though the science and magic of undeath is poorly researched.
Each individual undead is said to have the potential for greatness inside them. This is often dismissed as rumor, however, and in many places the undead are treated as criminals, or animals. Julieta, youngest of the Nine Sisters, grew sympathetic to the plight of the undead, and championed their rights as individuals worthy of kindness and respect. This led her into conflict with one of her own siblings, Desdemona, and sparked a military and political conflict that eventually ended in Julieta’s death at her sister’s hands.
There are some who hold fast to Julieta’s belief, later shared by her sisters Miranda, Cordelise, and Viola, that the undead must be treated as equals. Others think she as delusional, and even more feel that, while her heart was in the right place, her involvement with the undead led to many calamities among the Sisters, and that these schisms, and Julieta’s death, were entirely the fault of the undead.
It is unknown if there are any undead colonies or significant undead populations anywhere in the world, and they are generally known to be wandering pilgrims.
D R A G O N S
An ancient, powerful race, born from the very bones of Invernier itself. Dragons are covered in scaled, metallic armor, with wings that stir up tempests and breath that scalds like fire. They grow incredibly large, though the fables are not very exact—the size of a dragon is expressed less through numbers and more through metaphors. They are not a fae race, and have enormous lifespans, though are, presumably, mortal.
Deep magic surrounds any sort of interaction with a dragon, from combat challenges to simple bartering. The clash between a brave knight and a cunning dragon, a cunning dragon facilitating the ascension of a mighty lord—these are images and tropes woven into the public consciousness of Invernier.
Dragons, however, are a rare sight these days. Most would say they’ve died out, though the few remaining members of the Wise would tell you the dragons have gone far north to the mountains beyond Aránmore and the furthest reaches of Sinderband. It is unknown if they will ever return.
Invernier is an old, tired land. It is sparsely populated, weary of kings, magic, and curses. Hope still exists, of course, as it always does, a very difficult and troublesome thing to get rid of, but the overall mood of the land can often feel like the entire world is resigned to its apparent decline.
This section will go into detail on the different regions of Invernier and its surrounding lands. The Tempesta section will probably be most relevant, as the RPG begins there, and characters’ backstories will probably be heavily influenced by it. For characters that are travelers, or refugees, the other location descriptions should help give you an idea of the different places that could be a part of their backstory, however you want to write it.
This is just to give you ideas and some framing devices for characters, and in many cases is just me self-indulgently throwing a bunch of my ideas on the wall so I have a place to put them. Don’t feel you need to read all—or even most—of this. Since most characters will be Tempestans, literally the only section you actually need to skim is the Tempesta
Seriously, once you get past the Tempesta, the Far West, and Quishan, basically everything else is completely extraneous fluff that’s only here because I’m a completionist with no sense of restraint. If you have any questions and just don't feel like reading through all this nonsense, that is literally the most natural thing in the world, feel free to just directly ask me here in the OOC, or shoot me a PM.
(I know the Tempesta section is fucking ginormous—don’t worry, none of the other sections are anywhere near as in-depth, I just wanted the Tempesta one to be fleshed out enough to give you lots of building blocks to play with for character building.)
B A S I C I N F O R M A T I O N
❖ The Efertide ❖
The curse that began the Age of the Widow. The efertide is an inky mist that rises up from the soil during the night, black and indigo and full of distant, twinkling stars. Anyone caught in its drift is swallowed alive, never to be seen again. Rumor says it’s painless—like falling asleep.
The light of day can keep the efertide at bay, as well as heat and fire. The light inside a person can also prove resistant when in large enough numbers, and large cities tend to be safer than most, as well as any kind of dwelling space with a strong sense of home.
❖ Technology ❖
Invernier is a more or less traditional high fantasy setting, though it’s no stranger to technology. Gas lamps, firearms, and even lightbulbs and electricity were used sporadically in the most developed urban areas, though since the Age of the Widow the spread and use of such things has regressed. Nowadays, most people would treat such things just as they would magic—strange, unpredictable, and untrustworthy.
❖ Bonfires ❖
Enchanted fires to ward off the efertide and keep towns from being washed away during the night. Most Bonfires are quite ancient, and the magic that went into making them may be lost to the town where the Bonfire sits.
Some Bonfires are naturally occurring, and settlements usually form around them. The four great Cities of the Sisters that have not yet fallen into ruin still have powerful electric lanterns as Bonfires scattered throughout the streets, and are some of the only places on the continent where it’s safe to walk outside at night.
❖ The Curses of the Age of the Widow ❖
The efertide is not the only evil to plague Invernier since the beginning of the Age of the Widow. Many monsters, from werewolves to ghosts, can be found roaming the wilds. Mysterious curses follow random townsfolk and villages.
Since the beginning of the Age of the Widow, wild animals have grown distinctly more wild, distinctly more animal, and the rural parts of the word have grown significantly more dangerous than they used to be.
❖ What’s Still Standing? ❖
The Fib, Oolasheen, Eastern Majulin, and the Brown Lands have seen a near total collapse of society, and are currently considered ‘fallen lands.’ Dark and uncharted, you would only visit these lands if you’re a suicidal adventurer, or if you have something to hide.
The Nine Sisters, legendary figures who defined much of Invernier’s past and present, built nine great cities across the continent. Of the nine cities, Castle’s Juliet and Desdemona have degraded into formless ruins, while Castle Cleopatra and Castle Ophelia, while more or less intact, have been abandoned, and taken over by dark forces. Castle Titania was devastated during events several hundred years ago, well before the Age of the Widow, but is still often frequented by travelers. Castle Miranda, Castle Viola, and Castle Cordelia are still in use as major cities, while Castle Inger Biot remains the high seat of King Masbeth, the sole remaining monarch on Invernier.
Quishan, Primaveira, and Redemption are still standing as fully unified nations, with Quishan the only land to still hold a monarch in power with direct authority descended from the time of the Sisters. All other governments and societies are confined to tiny nations, villages, or city-states.
T H E T E M P E S T A
Rocky, grassy, and gloomy, the Tempesta is a land where the sun filters down yellow and full of twilight, and a gentle, perpetual drizzle is steered across the moors by an endless wind. Old stone shacks and hovels dot the countryside, and it seems every third hill has a tomb from a long forgotten war plugged into its side. The Tempesta is a place of travelers: people looking for a place to hide, or people on their way to something better—if they play their cards right.
The Tempesta was once the great gateway between the south and the far west, though in recent years the old routes have fallen into disrepair, and the September Revolt has scattered warriors, insurgents, heroes, and murderers all across the hidden crevices of the land. The Tempesta is one of the few places were magic is largely tolerated, and charms and superstition have long been a part of the folk-culture of the Tempesta moors.
As our starting location, and as the home of likely most of the cast, this will probably be the most relevant section within the location listing.
❖ The September Revolt ❖
The Revolt was a bloody and drawn out civil war that occurred roughly five years before the RPG, fought between the Army of Heroes that had long controlled the Tempesta, and the People’s Legion, who ultimately proved victorious over the old regime. Most Tempestans see the Revolt as first and foremost a power struggle, despite the picture painted by the Legion as a noble battle of ideals.
The war finally ended when General Nostro, commander of the Legion, seized the ancient city of Castle Miranda, which until that point had stayed outside the conflict. Endangering one of the only remaining Cities of the Sisters was a highly controversial and unexpected move, though it was an act that essentially won the war.
During the final few months of the September Revolt, after Castle Miranda was taken, a vicious battle of attrition raged across the Tempesta, with both the Army and the Legion resorting to brutal strategies to gain ground. The Army forced themselves on towns and delivered brutal punishment to any Tempestan who refused to help, desperate to retain power even after losing their stronghold. The Legion engaged in indiscriminate massacres to combat the Army’s guerilla tactics, and consolidate its rule as quickly as possible. These last months were known as the Unforgivens.
As the losing side, the Army is most often blamed for prolonging the war, and is usually seen in a worse light than the Legion, though this can vary from town to town and person to person.
The Legion likes to label the war as a clash of ideals, but, ultimately, most people couldn’t care less about ‘ideals,’ and are just glad the fighting is finally over.
❖ The Army of Heroes ❖
The Army of Heroes had been the near undisputed masters of the Tempesta for over fifty years, founded by the legendary Mauslin Lombardo, a knight who saved the town of Islington after recruiting a small band of normal Tempestans and leading them against a werewolf pack. The Army had long considered itself a protector and preserver of Tempestan culture, and was strongly opposed to changes in technology, economy, or societal structure. They eventually gained a reputation for luxurious living, corruption, and extortion, though were always quite effective at killing monsters and protecting the populace. Generally, they were more professional in the north, and less so in the south, nearest to Quishan, where the region was safer thanks to Quishani soldiers from Everparch Fortress.
The Army of Heroes was well trained, and the members who have survived this long are either particularly skilled, particularly lucky, or particularly ruthless. Though the Army celebrated Tempesta’s rather magical-leaning culture, like the rest of the Tempesta it approved only of small and basic magic for day to day use, and was generally unkind to true magicians.
Some survivors still fervently oppose the Legion, though most others are tired, jaded, and hope for nothing more than surviving as long as they can. Many have tried fleeing to the south, in Quishan, which the Army had always been on amicable terms with, though Quishan has been careful to avoid conflict with General Nostro, and has turned back many refugees straight into the arms of the Legion.
❖ The People’s Legion ❖
Led by General Nostro, the People’s Legion was originally a small town militia operating out of the Prospero Lowlands. Where the nationalistic Army of Heroes wished to preserve the Tempesta’s culture and see nothing change, ever, the nationalistic Legion wishes to see the Tempesta consolidate and unify as a world power. Technically speaking, the Tempesta is a protectorate of the Queendom of Quishan, though King Masbeth is so hands off the region basically runs itself. However, the Legion believes it is imperative the Tempesta make a public break from Quishan and establish itself as a new empire, harkening back to the days of Miranda Newcastle herself.
Their uniform consists of a mud-green cloak and a forest-green uniform with shiny gold buttons. Each Legionairre is usually equipped with an iron shortsword, though equipment varies from position to position and duty to duty.
Despite many misgivings towards the Legion, they are generally seen positively due to being the winning side, as well as avoiding the extortion and extravagant living the Army became known for.
The People’s Legion is significantly more pro-magic than practically any other group on Invernier, save maybe one or two very obscure cults and hunter societies. The Legion believes in restoring the legacy of the old queendom and Miranda Newcastle, who, though not as great and influential as Cleopatra Kingslayer herself, was considered the mightiest magician of the Sisters, and made notable advances to the art. Many magicians, fearing persecution in their own lands, have travelled to the Tempesta to seek employ with General Nostro, or simple shelter in one of the more tolerant hamlets. Most Tempestans see these folk as intruders and moochers, and visibly foreign magicians are generally shunned (though it’s better treatment than they’d find in other parts of the world).
❖ Castle Miranda ❖
The great city founded by Queen Miranda Newcastle, third eldest of the Nine Sisters. Her rain magic still haunts the surrounding land, casting the area into an eternal heavy rain. Miranda’s old gardens still bloom thick and well-watered all across the city, curtains of ivy, flowers in every color, proud old trees sporadically casting shade on the streets below. The air here is fresh and clear, and smells of growing things. You can’t help but feel a little less heavy walking through the city streets, like some invisible weight is being washed away by the rain.
The city has a tangled, asymmetrical feel to its streets, and it can be difficult to find your way at times. Most buildings in the city are around two stories, and the stonework is covered over by white, waterproof plaster. Windows tend to be large and great in number, while streets are wide, and never terribly claustrophobic. The city slopes upward, with the castle proper constructed high on the slope of Mt. Insuretta.
❖ The Causeway ❖
The Causeway is the northern region of the Tempesta, marking the border between the gloomy moors and the bright, grassy scrubland of Andrea’s Fault. The towns of the Causeway tend to be the poorest in the Tempesta—this is a transition-place, and in-between, a region only visited by travelers on their way to brighter pastures and new starts. People here are less distrustful of strangers than elsewhere in the Tempesta, but are much more private, and communities are less tight-knit.
❖ The Prospero Lowlands ❖
The border between the Tempesta and the Queendom of Quishan. This region is sunnier, warmer, and has more agriculture compared to the livestock emphasis in the north. Prospero was originally a rather multicultural region, distinct from the rest of the Tempesta due to its interactions with Quishan and the Wainwaters, though this has changed in the decade or so that the People’s Legion has been active. Tempestan qualities have been emphasized, strangers more ostracized, and Quishani citizens have become increasingly unwelcome. Generally, these changes have become supported by the Prosperans, though there are, of course, some exceptions.
❖ The Wainwaters ❖
Though technically a province of the Tempesta, the Wainwaters are a distant and curious place, and most Tempestans avoid it if possible. A marshy wetland, where villages stand on stilts above the ground, the Wainwaters is known to be a rather dangerous place. Sandwiched between the fallen lands of Oolasheene and the witch forests of Brujeria, the Wainwaters tend to see many monsters and dangerous strangers, and its people mostly decide that hiding and obfuscating is a better solution than outright combat.
The cultures of the Wainwaters have a long-standing history of magical practice, earning them no small amount of dislike and distrust from many other regions.
❖ Calibad Forest ❖
The Calibad Forest, stretching across much of the Quarttomarch Mountains, was once a massive woodland created by Miranda Newcastle herself. Centuries ago, the Calibad was nearly three times its current size, augmented by Miranda’s magic. However, in the years after the Age of the Queens, woodsmen and foresters chipped away at the old woodlands heavily, especially during the third efernight that followed the passing of the Sisters. By modern day, it was devastated to a shadow of what it was during Miranda’s time; however, the Army of Heroes, passionate about the culture and history of the moors, placed the woods under heavy protection, a policy that has been continued by the Peoples Legion.
However, years of abuse have not been forgotten by the trees, and many strange, dark powers still lurk in the woods, especially as you move closer to the mountains. Rumor says that, the deeper you go in the forest, the more vengeful it becomes.
T H E F A R W E S T
The far west is a widely varied land, and generally more prosperous than other regions of the world. Andrea’s Fault, in particular, has seen the rise of several successful townships—such as Nicodeme and Prisk—that have thrived even in this age of darkness. The presence of strong rock and metal deposits has allowed towns in these regions to become heavily fortified.
❖ Patriness ❖
The goblin kingdom of Patriness was established roughly 2000 years ago, during the Age of the Queens, founded after a slave revolt drove off the elves of the Fosterling Mountains and liberated the goblins who had long worked there in chains. In modern times, much of south Patriness has fallen, and the Fosterling Woods have become an uninhabitable, haunted place. However, north and east Patriness has weathered the storm well enough, and remains, as it always has, a hotbed for merchants and aspiring diplomats. Faline, the City of the Tower, is the current capital of Patriness, and is famous for hosting the Tower of the Seers, an enormous tower of over 2500 feet, host to numerous government facilities, several mercantile guildhalls, the largest bank in the entire west, and a number of academies. It was constructed, they say, by nephilim architecture and magic (and payed for, of course, by wealthy goblin coffers).
❖ Andrea’s Fault ❖
A dry, rocky, and sunny land, Andrea’s Fault is green with hardy plants and stalwart moss, and has a sort of brightness to it missing from most other parts of Invernier. The air is crisp, and somewhat chillier than in the Tempesta, or in Patriness. The fortified city of Mediolann can be found here, seated at the crossroad of two ancient roads—the Great Southern Road, going from the far south up to the ruins of old Castle Titania, and the now defunct Western Road, leading from the lost city of Adelaide to the fallen ruins of Castle Ophelia.
As a result of its history, Andrea’s Fault is decidedly anti-magic, and one of the worst genocides in the last 1000 years took place after the fall of the western Mage-Kingdom. When magicians were set adrift by the collapse of their home, Mediolann forces took the opportunity to round up as many as they could, slaughtering the magicians en masse and almost entirely wiping out the culture of Titania in the process.
It was common among old Invernish epic adventure stories for youthful protagonists to begin their quests in Andrea’s Fault, the Land Between Lands, the Land That Points in All Directions.
The name ‘Andrea’s Fault’ originated from the golden age of magic, roughly 1000 years ago, when a woman known as Andrea Rubicundio was sentenced to death by the Mage-King of Castle Titania. Andrea escaped her execution, the first person to ever openly defy a Mage-Kingdom and live, and, half-dead, with nowhere to go, she made her way south. The stories say she first travelled to the elves of Gestalt and obtained from them three great Gifts, though the details vary between versions, and others have her traveling to Castle Ophelia instead. Whatever the case, she eventually made her way to a no-man’s land between Patriness, the Tempesta, Oolasheene, and the Desert, and settled in the ruins of the then dilapidated Mediolann.
When the King of Titania, Medraut Harvestar, discovered her location, he decided a message needed to be sent. Invoking his authority as a Mage-King, he Named the entire region “Andrea’s Fault,” a powerful piece of magic that burned this new name onto almost every map on the continent and erased its previous name from all memory. In addition, he cast a terrible curse, setting loose monsters and misfortune on the Fault. However, despite all odds, Andrea rallied the few people still living in this no-man’s land and fought off the dark forces of King Medraut, eventually restoring the city of Mediolann and creating a safe haven for enemies of the western Mage-Kingdom.
❖ The Late-Night Desert ❖
A mysterious place in the far west of Invernier, the Late-Night Desert has been an elven domain for as long as anyone can remember. The Elf-Desert, many call it, a strange and tricky place where the sands cast illusions, and dark creatures hide in the shadows of the dunes.
The Late-Night Desert is cold and rocky, and riddled with old elvish tunnels. From the Gestalted Mountains, the elves maintain control of the region, often trading with humans in the south, and occasionally with goblins in the southwest. Though it isn’t exactly a high bar to clear, the Gestalt elves are generally more human-acting than their counterparts in the north and east, and they are unusually open to allowing human, goblin, and carnelian traveler’s to trade and bunk in their domains.
The Late-Night Desert is considered a holy place, and the efernight is unusually weak here. It is common for humans from all across the continent to make religious pilgrimages to the Desert, a practice that somewhat confuses the elves, but is written off as just another human eccentricity.
❖ The Vanities ❖
The islands that make up the Vanities are misty and forested, and covered in ancient stone ruins that seem to grow form the thick vegetation. The old Empire of Vence had long ago reigned from these islands, and established a mighty dominion that came to overshadow Quishan itself during the Age of the Vanities. Eventually, it collapsed—no magical catastrophe, no heart-wrenching conflict between friends, or family—it was nothing more than poor leaders making poor decisions, and people allowing it to happen. Eventually, the wealthy and powerful Vence of old imploded, and the islands dissolved into infighting.
In the current era, there are a handful of small encampments surrounding the islands, living around old, powerful electric bonfires built during the golden age of the Empire. As the electric lanterns scattered throughout the ruins were constructed during a historic high-point for technology and industry, the islands are relatively safe from the efertide. However, many dark and powerful creatures have taken up residence in the old ruins as a result, and only the local clans known how to safely navigate the region—a secret they have no interest in sharing with outsiders. The Vanities also have strong negative connotations to the rest of Invernier, and, even disregarding the rumors of dark powers, the islands are considered places of bad fortune.
The port-town of Prisk, technically a settlement of Andrea’s Fault, was build over the ruins of an old Vencish city.
❖ Castle Titania ❖
The Crown of the West, Castle Titania was founded by Titania Dreamwalker, fourth eldest of the Nine Sisters. It was a city arranged in a series of seven concentric circles with towering fences of iron railing dividing each of the individual sections, the buildings and streets arranged in a complex symmetrical pattern leading in to the center. Titania was well known for her strange indulgences in fae-magic, and there are times when the city’s geometries seem physically impossible, streets containing more houses than they should, doorways opening to places they shouldn’t open to, places where time moves faster or slower than it ought, and other such twists and turns of reality.
At the center of the city are the ruins of the failed Tower of Want that King Medraut Harvestar attempted to construct. A Tower of Want is a potent magical instrument, though no such thing has been successfully completed on Invernier since the Nameless Years. Medraut’s Tower was ultimately a disaster, its failure ravaging Castle Titania and triggering the collapse of the Mage-Kingdoms and the end of an era. The old Tower ruins are an unpredictable place, and are generally avoided by those who visit the city.
Nomads, rogues, and travelers still frequent the remains of Castle Titania, for trade, refuge, or deals that can’t take place in the polite company of proper cities. It is not uncommon for the townsfolk of nearby Idle-Want to make small pilgrimages to the Crown of the North. Some strange folk have even made permanent residence behind Titania’s iron walls, finding safe refuge in the skeleton left behind by the most irresponsible of the Sisters.
O O L A S H E E N E
A misty and chilly land stretching out from the edges of the Late-Night Desert all the way to the Great Divide. This was once the land of Ophelia Petra, second youngest of the Nine Sisters, a firm and diligent woman who gave counsel, support, and friendship to her siblings and her country through many troubles. Now, however, the land has fallen.
Even while still a Queendom, there was always a kind of haunted, aging atmosphere to the land of Oolasheene, and traveler’s moved quickly while passing through to better, brighter places. In modern times, the Hangwood Forest has overcome much of the region, and strange shapes can be seen stirring in the fog. The ground gives way to marshland suddenly and unexpectedly. Voices can be heard, echoing in the distance, even when you’re sure you’re alone. Castle Ophelia, while still mostly intact, is abandoned, and no one quite knows what the state is of the old fortress, a tall and somber city of high towers and crawling black ivy.
Though there are other fallen lands on Invernier, old countries that have collapsed into abandoned and dangerous wastes, Oolasheene is the region that we all know to be cursed land, through and through.
Q U I S H A N
The realm of King Masbeth is a warm land of rolling hills, strange boulder-formations, and scattered wildflowers. Trees grow thick and green. The coast rises high on great rocky cliffs. Streams and ponds full of clear bright water constantly interrupt the landscape, as though the land is riddled with cracks into another world. There are thousands of ancient roads meandering through the land of Quishan, remnants of a lost, magical time, and they can lead a person further than they ever expected to travel.
Though there are three other great cities from the time of the Sisters that remain in use, the land of Quishan is the only one to have remained a single, powerful queendom since the time of its founding Sister. King Masbeth rules from the capital city of Inger Biot, maintaining a complex system of farms, villages, and ports, and order upon order of knights to keep this sliver of civilization intact against the eroding forces of the Age of the Widow.
Quishan’s culture and economy focuses largely on farming and trade. As the undisputed master of Full Moon Bay, the country is an important business center, even during the stagnation of the current Age. Fat, arrogant, and spoiled, some might say of Quishan, though never within earshot of its cold and fearsome knights.
All Quishani magicians are required to register with the House of Wisdom in Inger Biot, and can be called on at any time in the service of the country. They must also check in with the House once every two years, unless given special leave to go travelling.
❖ The Haguewatch ❖
An elite order of knights that protects Quishan and represents its interests in foreign lands. Unlike the rest of the country’s government forces, the Haguewatch is personally overseen by King Masbeth himself. These soldiers are generally taught rudimentary spells to supplement their power, and have a reputation for being cold, stoic, and ruthless. Their helmets, never removed in public, are always made to fully cover up their face. No knight wears the same armor as another.
Haguewatch knights generally fall under two different divisions, the Witnesses and the Heralds. Witnesses patrol Quishan, while Heralds represent Quishan in distant lands, and are occasionally dispatched to kill monsters on behalf of foreign nations, or to act as bullies or reminders of Quishan’s overwhelming diplomatic and military power.
❖ King Masbeth MacDowenmarch ❖
The King Eternal, Masbeth has ruled Quishan for nearly 2000 years, having ascended shortly after the death of his daughter. He is the original husband of Queen Inger, the Sister who created of Castle Inger Biot and the eldest sibling of the Nine.
Masbeth’s will is generally executed by his Thanes, and he himself is rather hands-off when it comes to the management of the country. He is a distant, mythic figure to Quishanis, and the source of much dark and amusing gossip. Because Masbeth is so reclusive, it is exceptionally fun and easy to create a wide variety of rumors about the King and his secret plans. Most, despite common sense, are believed with great fervency. Some of them might even be true.
❖ Castle Inger Biot ❖
The capital city of Quishan, a city with high walls and strong red tiles along the roofs and streets. Inger Biot is known for its many cramped streets, making the city feel much, much larger than it is. Many walls and buildings feature beautiful and arcane geometries carved into the walls, most of them following a rather unsettling eye motif.
The city’s walls are nigh impenetrable, and the central citadel rises far, far higher than any other building in the city. Inger Biote is built on top of the mouth of the Red River, with a great arching tunnel beneath the Citadel to allow boats to pass beneath it. It is a bustling port city that sees many strange faces in its vast marketplaces, a strange mixing pot unlike anywhere else of Invernier.
❖ Gran Sléinn ❖
A port city on the outer coast of Quishan. Gran Sléinn is infamous for its blackmarkets and criminal trade—however, its continued existence is essentially sanctioned by Inger Biot, to allow for all deals and trades that otherwise can’t happen in the light of good and respectable company, and to give the King an easy way to keep an eye on the coming and going of criminal elements.
❖ The House of Wisdom ❖
A research institute and academy located in the inner walls of Castle Inger Biot. The House studies and regulates magic, and is where all Quishani magicians are required to register. It is known for its beautiful vaulted ceilings and patterned mosaics. Though few outside Quishan’s magical community are aware of this, the House was designed and built by Inger herself, who, among other things, had been a skilled architect and artist.
❖ The Dolwarden ❖
The Dolwarden was once its own independent state, although Masbeth conquered and subjugated the ancient forest over a five hundred years ago. However, about 200 years into the Age of the Widow, as things went from bad to worse across the continent, the Dolwarden successfully revolted and split off from Quishan, only to be brutally reconquered about fifty years later by an elite legion of Haguewatch knights. There is still strong resentment towards Quishan among the populace of the Dolwarden, and the capital at Bancrow is known to have made several diplomatic outreaches to Viola and to the elf-kingdom Magdalene. People from the Dolwarden tend to be highly skilled hunters and woodsmen.
P R I M A V E I R A
Forests and fields, and great stretches of green. Primaveira is a lush, dark, and cloudy land, where the sky hangs close to the ground and dusk-colored flowers bloom from the bushes. A wind blows in uninterrupted from the flat coastal plains in the south, full of the smell of the sea. Primaveira has long been a contested land, and not even the Sisters themselves could claim the country for long. It has seen countless kings and queens come and go, and will likely see countless more.
Primaveira, currently under the control of the Levantine Republic, has long felt a rivalry towards Quishan, which has, at various points over the centuries, attempted to conquer the region, occasionally gaining significant ground. No armed clashes have occurred for over a hundred years, but tensions with Quishan have not lightened up. Like most other regions of the world, Primaveira is quite unfavorable towards magic, and while things are somewhat more liberal in the prosperous, well-traveled Verdura, the south has explicitly outlawed all magical practice, and will arrest magicians on sight.
Primaveirans are a people comfortable with darkness, perhaps due to the near constant cloud-cover, or maybe the sporadic trees and canyons that cut through the land. Perhaps because of this they have somewhat less prejudice towards the local elves and carnelians that one might find elsewhere on Invernier.
❖ Levant ❖
The port of Levant is the oldest city in Primaveira, constantly assailed by thick mist. It is sprawling and white, and buildings rarely rise above two stories here. Levant is famous for its four great lighthouses, rising high and proud along the solid stone docks.
Levant is the seat of Primaveira’s government, a council consisting of ten Senators.
❖ The Pravarad ❖
A small island chain currently under the control of the Levantine Republic, though they have, at various times, been their own separate nation. The Pravarad is an important trade center for the Republic, though native Pravarada tend to be somewhat poorer than the merchants who base their operations out of the isle.
M I L O S
A hilly and sunny land that stretches out in every direction, Milos is a bare place of sparse forests and golden fields. The west is summery and pleasant, while on the other side of the Milosa Hills is a hard and craggy badland. Old magic sits deep in the ground, a kind of shivery wind you can feel while standing still, far from civilization. Ancient ruins are a common sight in Milos, broken castles and standings stones and strange metal contraptions that no longer work—this was where the early work of the Sisters took place, stone and metal and magic, their first steps towards a great and terrible destiny that would shape all of Invernier for thousands of years to come.
Milos is home to the great city Viola, the first home of the Nine Sisters, and the place that sparked their rise to power. Caravans carrying powerful electric bonfires are common in these lands, and many people here are nomadic, eking out a hard and impermanent existence across the land. Outside the capital city of Viola, which itself has seen better times, most people in this region of the world are quite poor, especially in the western lands of the Mavwander.
Milos, despite the presence of strange and advanced technology, is a highly spiritual region. The mystic practices of Seathe are common in this land, though Seathe here is considered distinct from most magical practices, and other forms of magic are highly frowned upon.
❖ Castle Viola ❖
A strange old city, where most other buildings on Invernier are made from wood or rock, Castle Viola features numerous bronze support beams, walls, and roofing—the work of a genius far ahead of her time. The unique stone-and-metal architecture and engineering involved in Castle Viola would one day inspire the industrialized technology of the Age of Iron some 800 years later. Indeed, the now disgraced Messenger’s Institute, once a major school of math, science, and architecture.
In recent years, Castle Viola has fallen on hard times. Metal is often stripped from ancient buildings to be sold as scrap, or repurposed for weapons. The Messenger’s Institute works hard maintaining the complex lighting system that keeps the city glowing at night, but every year their funding and manpower dwindles.
❖ The Baptistry ❖
Once an ancient fortress that rivaled the Cities of the Sisters themselves, the Baptistry was constructed by Viola, Inger, and Cleopatra together, combining their impressive knowledge of architecture and engineering to create a mighty citadel rising up on an artificial hill. The Baptistry has been periodically sacked, reconquered, then sacked again over the Ages, and has developed something of an ill reputation, though in the current years it is rumored to have fallen under the control of the House of Clouds, a rather curious church with controversial opinions regarding the legacy of the Sisters.
❖ The Mavwander ❖
A craggy and inhospitable land and exiles and rogues found to the west of the Milosa Hills. When Milos was still a unified queendom, criminals were often exiled to the Mavwander, and the region retains a certain negative reputation as a land of ne’er-do-wells. These days, it isn’t much worse off from the more fertile lands of Oliviandy in the east, though the climate certainly takes its toll on the region’s inhabitants.
T H E F A R E A S T
A land sweeping winds and devastated lands, the East is a great swathe of fallen queendoms. People eke out a hard existence in this melancholy place, far from the safety of the last great queendoms.
❖ The Brown Lands ❖
Wasted brown valleys where few things still grow. This was once the living domain of the kind and gentle Julieta Sinqueleur, youngest of the Nine Sisters. Her realm was known for its meadows and gardens, and for the merciful rule of her bloodline. However, her family was one of the first to die out, over 700 years ago, and in the years since the land has grown dark and burnt, as though mourning for its lost queen.
❖ The High Tombs and Castle Julieta ❖
High hills and scraggly cliffs pull themselves from the earth at the far ends of the Brown Lands. Here, cold and austere ruins of stone stand as the final resting place of Queens Julieta and Desdemona, and many of their descendants. It is here that the ghostly, cathedral-like ruins of Castle Julieta stand, nestled at the bottom of a depression between four hills. Castle Julieta is barely standing in the modern era, a collapsed shadow of a city with great stained glass windows occasionally rising above the rubble. The High Tombs are revered, in a way, by most of Invernier, and in the time before the efernight there were occasional pilgrimages to the sight of Julieta’s fall. However, by modern times, it is largely considered taboo to visit the dead lands of the High Tombs.
❖ East Majulin and Castle Desdemona ❖
An open prairie with old, scattered trees that have weathered more than any living person could fathom. Eastern Majulin was once the seat of a great country, though, like that of Julieta, the old realm of Queen Desdemona ibn Firnas was one of the first to fall after the time of the Sisters had passed. Strong nomadic traditions endured here in the years after the Queendom’s end, though by the Age of the Widow most had fled west, leaving only a handful of tiny settlements scattered across the land. They say the Undead live in this region of the world, as few people wish to venture into the Fallen Land of Lost Majulin..
Castle Desdemona, in its heyday, was a sprawled-out city of looping, ribbon-like roads and tall, flowering arches. It’s time has come and gone, however, and the city now lies in ruin. It spreads out much wider than many other of the Cities of the Sisters, even in its current, devastated state, and rumors say that strange cults and hermits have made a living somewhere in the old fortress.
❖ The Tyrant’s Desert ❖
Like the Late-Night Desert, the Tyrant is a cold desert, though it is much sandier and more desolate than its western cousin. To the north are the Canticle Mts, where elves are rumored to live, and at the very center are the ruins of the Catechism, a long dormant volcano and mountain range that had, throughout the centuries, been used as a prison, though has now, supposedly, been abandoned. There are few willing to travel the fallen land to check on its state, and if any elves live in the nearby Canticles, then they are certainly of the reclusive and inhospitable kind.
T H E F I B
Great expansive plains buckled by boulders, valleys, and canyons. This is a place of hidden caves and secret grottos, the skin of the land shivering with a light cover of frost. Though it seems barren of trees, little unexpected woodlands hide in difficult to notice corners of the land, revealing themselves sporadically. Of course, the Fib is a fallen land, and fallen lands don’t see travelers these days. The people of the north and the south spread a million and one rumors about ghosts and monsters prowling the abandoned Thronelands, and the shadowy valleys of the north.
The Fib was once the domain of Cleopatra Drohaven Kingslayer, mightiest of the Nine Sisters. She established a sprawling and heavily urbanized queendom to rival even the metal citadel of Castle Viola. Though Castle Cleopatra, which sits perched on cliffs of the Great Divide, is a magnificent fortress in its own right, even while abandoned, Cleopatra was not idle during her rule of over 200 years, and she built up a vast urban cityscape that sprawled out larger than most small nations. These old, seemingly endless ruins are now referred to as the Thronelands.
To the south of the Fib is the city of Asylum. Not much rumor escapes the Fallen Country of the Fib, but traveler's in northern Milos say that strangers, alive and well, occasionally come out from the Long March, and later return to some hidden refuge that has endured the fall of the once great Queendom.
R E D E M P T I O N
The snow is a silent, unforgiving hand, interrupted only during rare, sunny weeks that split the wind and the cold like water through fire. Redemption is an inhospitable land, home to only the hardiest and the strongest of people. They value community here, and they take great pride in their north-hardened country. Many aging stone forts sit perched in the mountains like birds above the passages through the mountains, quietly observing the lonely roads that lead up to Redemption’s capital among the Horns of the World.
Redemption has, in the last two hundred years, restored itself after a devastating collapse at the start of the Age of the Widow. Much of the country falls under the shadow of the Horns of the World, and the brutality of the mountains can make for difficult living. The fall of the efernight took the country by surprise, and the fracturing was quick. However, though the royal line of Queen Cordelise died out during the fall, the survivors regrouped to the town of Berenice on the banks of the Sea of Breath. Eventually, the village of Skinfault was reclaimed roughly 150 years after the initial loss of Redemption, while Castle Cordelia was restored only 80 years later.
Though open to travelers, the people of Redemption tend to look down on what they see as the soft folk of south Invernier, and enjoy a very blunt, to-the-point culture.
Redemption is currently led by Lady Quinn Bostardi, who successfully campaigned for nimination by the council of Thanes to serve as Regent of the lost royal line, and command authority over the north.
During the golden age of magic, Invernier was a place of magnificent sorcery, ruled by unstoppable Mage-Kingdoms. But those days are long gone. Now, only echoes remain.
Modern knowledge of magic on Invernier is riddled with holes and clouded by superstition. Some scholars (those that remain, at least) suggest this is for the best: magic was always meant to be something undefined and illicit, a thing of shadows, a thing for the shunned. Today, it primarily exists in the form of minor spells, learned and traded like black-market goods. Many places have outlawed the old powers, while others will go so far as to arrest magicians on the spot.
While it is possible to learn one or two minor spells without suffering from this, true magicians will invariable experience extreme warping of the eyes. Common warpings include:
❖ The fraying and distortion of the iris over the pupil, like a torn spiderweb. ❖ The splitting of the iris into multiples (usually two per eye, but as many as four have been recorded in the past). ❖ The blackening or whiting of the entire eye. ❖ Multiple pupils. ❖ Bizarrely colored animal-eyes, such as those of snakes, cows, or crocodiles.
Making a character a true magician means giving yourself a noticeable marker that will probably incur discrimination in many parts of Invernier, so don’t make that decision lightly.
Feel free to make up your own spells. Below are a list of magical styles, and each style has a handful of example spells you can either use for yourself, or use for ideas for your own magic. Spells fall in three categories—simple (1 point) advanced (2) and mighty (4). True magicians are allowed 8 points to spend on magic, while characters who only know a handful of tangential spells are allowed 3. It costs 1 point for each magical style other than the first that your character knows spells from.
Keep in mind magic is rare, and widely untrusted. It’s not the most common thing to know spells, even if only a handful of simple ones. If a character does know magic, try to give them a certain amount of consistency among what kinds of magic they’ve learned and why.
Another note: some spells may not be ‘magic’ to certain groups of people. For example, some healing spells and many of the arts of Old Soot are considered more in line with blessings and prayers, or old tricks, while others are considered holy gifts for priests, such as a handful Seathe spells. Oh, that’s not magic, that’s just an old prayer that’s been in my family for generations, or No, see, that’s the good magic, the kind that’s normal and helpful. This only really applies though if eye warping hasn’t occurred yet, at which point most (depending on region, again) would assume the magician to be one of the ‘bad ones.’
T H E L A G R I M A
The Lagrima is an ancient and powerful tradition of magic that conjures and subjugates wild animals. It requires an animalistic forcefulness of character, and was traditionally used by hermits and sages in the Far Wilds.
Sample Spells:
❖ Servant in the Gloom ❖
Simple A spell that conjures a moth from the palm of one’s hand. As long as the moth exists, the magician will share the moth’s senses, and the creature can be controlled like an extra limb. If the moth is hurt, the magician feels its pain.
❖ Bitter Kiss ❖
Simple A spell that births a small black snake from one’s mouth. It’s bite paralyzing, and can stun even a large beast. As long as the moth exists, the magician will share the snake’s senses, and the creature can be controlled like an extra limb. If the snake is hurt, the magician feels its pain.
❖ Wicked Feathers ❖
Advanced A spell to conjure a medium-sized bird of prey from out of the soil. As long as the bird exists, the magician will share its senses, and the creature can be controlled like an extra limb.
❖ Loving the Monster ❖
Advanced A spell to A spell to summon one’s inner animal. Momentarily invoke greater endurance and strength, harder skin, and vicious claws. A dangerous spell, as it can quickly earn you the label of a wild monster, and bring down soldiers or mobs.
❖ Will of the Wild ❖
Advanced A minor spell to enforce one’s will on a wild animal. While larger animals will simply be stunned or momentarily weakened, medium and smaller sized animals—like snakes or wolves—can be commanded and their senses momentarily shared, like an extra limb. Unlike spells that conjure animals, spells to subjugate them do not force a magician to share the animal’s pain.
❖ Carnal Medicine ❖
Advanced A killing spell for slaying small animals like sparrows or squirrels and turning their bodies into ash. The ash is a potent sort of enhancer, and though it has no curative properties on its own, can flood someone with a sort of animalistic energy and restore stamina and strength, making for a useful addition to other medicines.
❖ Plea of Scales ❖
Mighty A spell to pull an enormous snake from out of wood. The snake is thicker as a man’s arm, and over twenty feet long. It is viciously quick, and its bite causes severe pain. As long as the snake exists, the magician will share its senses, and the creature can be controlled like an extra limb. If the snake is hurt, the magician feels its pain. This spell requires some form of wood to be present.
❖ Primal Geas ❖
Mighty A powerful enchantment to be placed on a wild animal. The animal that has been obligated under a geas is placed under the absolute control of the magician. The animal’s size does not matter, though this will not work on sentient species. Over time, the geas can be modified to enhance the animal’s strength, size, or stamina, or imbue it with certain minor but significant abilities. A magician may only hold once subject in a geas at any given time—one geas for one master. This extends for all geases across all magical styles.
C O N C O R D A N C E
Concordance is one of the few magical styles with a distinct and well-recorded history, invented early in the Age of the Queens by Julieta Sinqueleur, youngest of the legendary Nine Sisters. Julieta based the art of Concordance entirely on song and melody, and certain members of her procession learned to imitate the Queen’s enchanted voice. They say that over the course of her short life, Julieta wrote hundreds of tunes, each with a unique power.
The magic of Concordance is highly varied, but includes no cruel or unkind magic, as fitting for a person of Julieta’s nature. She saw laughter, happiness, and sad, subtle love as the greatest powers humankind would ever know, and her songs all reflect this.
Sample Spells:
❖ Ballad in the Mist ❖
Simple A low and long ballad whose lyrics can be indistinguishable from the wind. This song raises a spectral mist to cover the magician and their allies, while mysteriously leaving their vision intact. A more powerful variant (Advanced) exists that is more magically imbued, and can even shield the magician and their allies from magical detection as well, and dampen enemy spells.
❖ Masmala ❖
Simple A whispery and happy tune to be hummed under one’s breath. The song Masmala, based by Julieta on Majulin children’s lullabies, can carry hypnotizing effects capable of lulling enemies and wild animals into a sleepy stupor. This song was written while Julieta and Desdemona were still dear friends, when neither could imagine the bloodshed that would eventually erupt between them. There is a melancholy note to Masmala's upbeat melody, perhaps a development that arose after Julieta's death, something that lingers like an aging grandmother on happier, better times.
❖ Mending Melody ❖
Advanced A quiet and hopeful tune that can heal minor flesh injuries and restore stamina.
❖ Hymn for the Lost ❖
Advanced A gentle song of remembrance. As it is sung, the magician will glimpse flashes of the history of their current location, and the longer they sing, the further back they see and hear. Vision becomes blurry if you try to look back farther than a week.
❖ Shoshanna ❖
Mighty A whispered song audible only to the singer. It casts the singer and those the singer wishes to include into shadow, hiding their body and muffling their footsteps. Of course, the invisibility only lasts to the end of the song, so once about three minutes have passed, one will pass back into visibility, even if only for a moment, unless the magician is particularly fast about restarting the song.
❖ Symbelmine ❖
Mighty A high and powerful song of desire and sadness. Its power destroys rock and mortar and metal, and promises to the listener an end to all tyranny and injustice. Though few know how to pull magic from this powerful song, the lyrics of Symbelmine are well known in the east, as they chronicle Julieta leading the Undead from their prison in the Catechism to safety in the mysterious southeast.
O L D S O O T
The practices of Old Soot came about during the fourth Efernight, when the Mage-Kingdoms had long since dwindled and magical study had all but ceased. Unlike ancient and powerful disciplines such as the Lagrima, Old Soot was developed by village elders and common farmers, a series of practical and simple rituals steeped in folk culture. Its magic focuses on warding off darkness and preserving homes.
Sample Spells:
❖ Warm Bones ❖
Simple A traveler’s spell that fills one with warmth during the cold nights. This magic is also capable of lighting kindling with tiny fires.
❖ Sheepcatcher ❖
Simple A useful spell invented by farmers for tracking down lost livestock. When invoked, this magic can reveal to the magician the location of nearby living creatures, and give a rough estimation of what kind of creatures they are.
❖ Homespinning ❖
Advanced A spell for those seeking to protect their home. If inside a room, the doors and windows will be reinforced, and if broken, will burn the skin and smudge the eyes of intruders.
❖ Woodsman’s Torch ❖
Advanced A hardy spell for finding your way in the dark. You will immediately become aware of the four cardinal directions, and a faint light visible only to you will point in the direction of any location you visualize with your mind.
❖ Back to the Hearth ❖
Mighty A spell that invokes the homely comfort of a roaring fire to heal injuries and restore stamina. Blessing of the Hearth requires a blazing fire to already be present, and its healing abilities are proportional to the flames, but once placed on the fire the effect is long enduring, and can heal many people at once. It will even sustain the fire for longer than would be normal.
❖ Bane of the Nightprowlers ❖
Mighty With three short words of power, a magician conjures a ball of bright hot fire in the palm of their hand. Bigger than a human head and full of energy, this powerful spell can injure enemies and provide light in the dark.
S O L V I T A
Solvita was a magic popularized by Miranda Newcastle, who used it extensively throughout the Tempesta. It’s power still lingers in the land in the form of light drizzles and eternal twilight, and a heavy rainstorm surrounding Castle Miranda itself. This is a cool and mighty for of spellcasting that requires a certain peace of mind. Generally, Solvita comes in two forms—magic to summon weather, and magic to enchant existing weather.
Sample Spells:
❖ Shivering Fog ❖
Simple A spell to raise spectral mist to cover the magician and their allies. This mist is heavy and all-encompassing, thick enough to dampen even weak-level spells, though it affects all parties equally.
❖ Gaze of the Rain-Sprites ❖
Simple A blessing that gives the magician and up to two allies the power to see clearly through inclement weather and darkness. The heavier the inclement weather, the more powerful the vision-enhancement.
❖ Scattering Showers ❖
Advanced A spell to call down a scattering rainstorm. If focused, a magician can concentrate the downpour into a single point, though this requires no small force of will. Mightier forms of this spell can call down stronger rainstorms.
❖ Gifts in the Rain ❖
Advanced A variant of the magic still lingering around Castle Miranda. This spell allows someone to wash away their injuries, minor sicknesses, and weariness, though it requires running water to be constantly flowing over the target. They say that whenever a life is saved via the Gift of Solvita, the ghost of Miranda sleeps a little better in her grave.
❖ Eyes in the Droplets ❖
Mighty A spell that scatters a magician’s senses across an entire rainstorm. Wherever the rain goes, the magician’s five senses linger in every raindrop, allowing them to cast their eyes over vast swathes of land.
❖ Heaven in Mourning ❖
Mighty A spell to call down a single lightning bolt from the heavens. They say that on the day Miranda found out about Julieta’s death, her grief called down a terrible thunderstorm that ravaged the Tempesta for a week, before hurtling across the continent and pounding down on East Majulin for over a year. There is an unhappy history to this magic, and using it usually implies a certain amount of disrespect (if used flippantly) or desperation (if necessary).
W I T C H I N G
This is the kind of magic that gives all other magic a bad name—though, in and of itself, Witching is not inherently bad. Witching involves magically enchanting contracts, and is tangentially related to the powerful magic that suffuses the dragons and the ways they interact with other species. It involves the sacrificing of body parts for knowledge or power, lasting bonds between two or more individuals, and/or ensuring sharp vengeance should a deal be broken. Though most people do not know its proper name, Witching magic is what one would associate with the forests of Brujeria, and the stereotypical ‘bad’ magician.
Sample Spells:
❖ Oblige ❖
Simple A spell that twists up the targets tongue as they speak, and compels them to tell the truth. If they are aware they are being enchanted, of course, a person can simply stop talking, so this spell has to be placed subtly and at just the right moment.
❖ Bartered Strength ❖
Simple A small animal is killed—as its life exits the world, something else is allowed to enter. This spell imbues a target with supernatural strength, speed, and full and healthy stamina for a short period of time. Advanced variants of this spell can be used for healing—though they require larger animals for stronger effects.
❖ The Vow ❖
Advanced A spell that, when placed over a promise as its being made, gives the promiser a certain compellation to fulfill it, and strikes them with death should they refuse to fulfill it. Weaker versions of this spell can be made which bestow only weakness and sickness instead, which lift immediately if the promiser puts active effort into fulfilling their promise (though this requires their promise to be physically possible).
❖ Blood Combat ❖
Advanced If a stranger attacks you, this spell forces the fight to be played out to the end, with one person killing the other, and prevents anyone else from interfering.
❖ Tipping the Scales ❖
Advanced If a magician has successfully a brokered a deal for magical strength, this spell allows them to tip the bargain in their favor, and greatly augment the benefit they reaped. This works best when only one bargain of a single type is active at a time..
❖ Grisly Trophy ❖
Mighty A spell that involves someone, not necessarily the magician, sacrificing a body part as part of a magical deal. This spell allows the sacrificed body part to be preserved, and its powers borrowed. For example, an arm could be taken, and the magician could mark it so it suffers all damage that would be dealt to their own arms, or enchanted so the arm will bolster the magician’s own arms in strength and endurance, permanently. The magic fades if the original arm is directly burned. This morbid magic can be difficult to maintain for practical reasons, as it requires the body parts remain intact, and as such needs a good hiding place to place them.
❖ My Last Words ❖
Mighty A spell of kindness and mercy. The magician promises to protect someone, to love them and the things they had loved, and to fight for the things they had fought for. When this bargain is made, the opposite party is hidden away in pure light and shielded from all harm within the heart and soul of the magician, until they are ready to come out. This spell is almost never used, as it requires the magician to enter a state of absolute vulnerability and surrender to the person they have allowed into their heart.
S U N D E R I N G
Sundering is a violent, war-like magic that revolves around weapons, and the willingness to bring harm to others. It deals with augmenting damage, armor, and weapons. In another time, this magic was seen as brutal and unkind, though nowadays it might be seen in a brighter light, as hard, practical, and useful. This magic is useless without a weapon on hand to enchant.
Sample Spells:
❖ Shattering Stroke ❖
Simple A simple spell to empower a single weapon strike with unusual force, allowing it to break stone and armor, and crack barriers that it would otherwise bounce off of. This only works for nonmagical targets, and magical barriers will resist a low-level spell such as this.
❖ The Giant’s Might ❖
Simple A spell to empower armor, and allow it resist otherwise crippling blows. Of course, it only empowers, and the spell will eventually break after enough strikes.
❖ Cannibal Blade ❖
Advanced A malicious spell to make one’s weapon significantly more injuring to any kind of sentient being, from humans to even nephilim. A nick from a dagger, for example, can become a vicious gouge, while a cut from a sword can cleave a body clean in two.
❖ Speed Phantom ❖
Advanced A spell to imbue a weapon with relentless manic energy, urging it to shoot forwards towards a target with incredible speed, carrying the wielder behind it like a robe dragging behind a speeding caravan.
❖ Palanquin of Breath ❖
Advanced A spell to momentarily wrap your weapon in buffeting winds, allow it to knock aside other weapons that come close to it without affecting the weapon’s momentum.
❖ Charm-Cleaver ❖
Mighty Imbue a single strike of a weapon with the power to shatter and blast aside magic. As with similar powerful magics, a single use of this spell can vastly wear out a magician, and the aftershock can vary depending on what sort of spell was just broken.
❖ Unforgiving Sacrament ❖
Mighty A spell to imbue a weapon with crackling, heavenly force. Things that make impact with the weapon for the duration of the spell will be blown back with explosive force. However, eventually, the sacrament’s power is enormous, and it will eventually blast apart the weapon itself.
❖ Crusader’s Geas ❖
Mighty A geas a magician may place on their weapon, obliging it to their will. It becomes significantly lighter and easier to wield in battle, unnaturally so, and over time the geas can be modified to impress certain small but significant attributes into the weapon. A magician may only hold once subject in a geas at any given time—one geas for one master. This extends for all geases across all magical styles.
S E A T H E
A magic that deals with vision, truth, and prophecy. This magic is most common in very secluded, rural areas, such as the Brujeria, or in nomadic regions, like Milos. There is a certain reverence associated with Seathe, and in many cultures these powers aren’t exactly considered ‘magic,’ though once eye mutations have set in it is assumed the magician has done something wrong, or delved deeper than was appropriate into the powers of the seer. The magic of Seathe requires a person have taken deep introspection, and seen themself in a light unclouded by lie or illusion. Momentary crises of the self can cut off a magician from their Seathe-related abilities.
Sample Spells:
❖ Seer’s Indulgence ❖
Simple Temporarily augment all five senses with extreme acuity. This spell and similar ones will last for about thirty minutes. Used too often, or too carelessly, and the magician becomes dizzy and struck by terrible headaches
❖ Piercing Iris ❖
Simple Allows a magician to see around corners, and, with some time to prepare and focus, through solid walls.
❖ Sensitive Soul ❖
Simple A spell to detect nearby magic, and gain a rough understanding of its effects. More powerful variants of this spell give keener insight into the detected magic.
❖ Ordinary Peace ❖
Simple A spell to overpower the cruelty and darkness of a violent act. This magic allows a magician to dispel an incoming attack, and if not totally absorb it, then shunt it off to the side. As with many similar spells, this kind of magic can be overwhelmed by enough brute force.
❖ Compellingly Clear ❖
Advanced Force a person to tell the truth, and compel them to speak when asked a question. This spell is considered rather violating, and is rarely ever taught.
❖ Eyes Unclouded ❖
Mighty An inherent magic a magician imbues themself with. This power vastly increases one’s ability to react, giving them sort of ringing visions of incoming events seconds before they happen, and gently guiding the magician in the appropriate direction to respond.
❖ The Invited Prophecy ❖
Mighty A ritual involving three bowls of burning kindling and three clouds of thick, curling smoke. This spell allows a magician to glimpse otherworldly knowledge. If you mean to use this spell in a post, PM me, and I’ll fill you in on some useful information relevant to whatever direction your character is looking. This spell, and other Seathe spells of similar capabilities, can only be used once per page of the RPG. If you’re PMing me for information, please make sure you’re actually going to be using this spell.
❖ Omen ❖
Mighty A spell to create an overwhelming, terrifying vision. The faint of heart will likely be scared off, and even the steeliest person might momentarily flinch at the sight of this powerful prophetic force. This spell can’t differentiate between friends of enemies, though the caster can limit it to only appear to those in front of them, rather than everyone within a certain radius. Using this spell wears on the magician’s psyche quite greatly.
❖ Vindicating Truth ❖
Mighty A spell of ringing power to cut through the lies and darkness of the world, and cancel out a single opposing piece of magic. As with similar powerful magics, a single use of this spell can vastly wear out a magician, and the aftershock can vary depending on what sort of spell was just broken.
T H E P R O M I S E D W O R D S
The Promised Words have existed, in various forms, since the Nameless Years. They are gospels, and hymns, and prayers, and memories. They recount great heroes and tiny kindnesses from even before the Age of the Queens and the rise of the Nine Sisters (though, of course, it is hard to talk of kindness and heroes on Invernier without at mentioning the Sisters as well). To know the magic of the Promised Words requires the magician to cling to at least one thing of importance to them with powerful tenacity—either outright ardor or cool, quiet perseverance. It’s magic deals with endurance and perseverance above all else, as well as restoration and power.
Sample Spells:
❖ Evening Gospel ❖
Simple Most likely based on Julieta’s concordance magic, this spell takes the form of a soft and simple song, and can momentarily bring back lost and treasured memories. Those that hear it feel old, happy memories as brightly and clearly as though they just happened.
❖ Conqueror’s Oath ❖
Simple A spell based on the legends of the King of Beggars, who rose up in a long lost kingdom during the first efernight while only a child, and eventually took power as a kind and just lord of men. This magic will weaken and momentarily frazzle enemy spells, and dampen the power of curses. This works best on spells that deal with harm and injury.
❖ Vacation Day ❖
Advanced A spell from one of the Nine Sisters, though it is unclear which one, remembering one day immediately after Viola successfully ascended as Queen of what was then called Candlemass, despite the mass opposition to her claim to power. It recalls a single sunny day, when the Nine were together, happy, basking in the glow of their victory. There were no great cities yet, no great conquests, or tragedies. Their future was full of possibility. This spell can temporarily postpone a person’s injuries for about an hour, and will even erase crippling blows, though in the end, all injuries must eventually return.
❖ The Stalwart Soldier ❖
Advanced A memory of a small child who saw her village burn to the ground. This spell invokes te memory of the knight who picked her up when she sprained her ankle and carried her to safety, shielding her with his body. The spell calls up a powerful magical armor to protect the magician, though it is more powerful if used to protect another person.
❖ Child’s Hymn ❖
Advanced A prayer of fairy tales and children’s stories, and faith in the impossible. This uncommon, extremely unusual spell can be used in conjunction with another piece of magic to enhance the power of the second spell, and is taught almost exclusively in Nomadic circles in the land of Milos.
❖ Inger’s Kindness ❖
Mighty A spell that came from a single beggar, who one day bumped into Queen Inger MacDowenmarch herself. Though he expected some kind of punishment for inconveniencing and touching the infamously cold Queen of Quishan, Inger treated him with rather surprising kindness and respect, gifted him a substantial donation, before wordlessly going on her way. Inger’s Kindness is a spell that can only be used when a magician is backed into a corner and barely standing. It’s power acts as a sort of second wind, imbuing the magician with titanic strength, stamina, and a momentary burst of magical power, and will restore minor flesh wounds, though once it’s been used it can’t be used again for the same situation.
❖ Naveen’s Sacrifice ❖
Mighty An extraordinarily powerful spell based on the story of Naveen Sunwalker’s Last Stand. This spell remembers selflessness and courage, and allows the magician to drain away their strength and power to shield their companions with a ghostly protective force, and greatly enhance any magic they may attempt.
❖ Disdain ❖
Mighty A spell to dismiss the evil of others, and cling to hope against all odds. This spell can shatter any weapon, and cannot be countered by opposing magic. If a weapon is too heavily enchanted to be broken on the initial casting, then this spell will fracture, or even completely melt away the opposing spell. This magic can only be used to break items explicitly meant to be used as weapons, and, like many other powerful spells based on shows of willpower, is enormously taxing to cast.
T H E D O L D R U M S
A soft and cool magic that deals heavily with earth and darkness. The Doldrums can be learned by practitioners of any temperament, as though a piece of it had been sitting dormant inside you all along, and, much like Old Soot, bits and pieces of its magic are known all across Invernier. The Doldrums were one of the magical styles developed heavily by Miranda Newcastle, along with early spells that would later be incorporated into the later style of Old Soot. Many spells were developed for the purpose of protecting and shielding, though this style more than any other has seen many interfering hands and experimentations over the years.
Sample Spells:
❖ Clay of the Giants ❖
Simple A spell that draws soft and cool clay from out of the earth. When laid on someone, the Clay can suck away sickness and exhaustion. More advanced versions of this spell can deal with more serious illnesses and weakness. Though this magic can’t actually heal injuries, it is one of the few kind of magic that heals sickness and impurity.
❖ Earthly Kiss ❖
Simple A spell to protect one’s body with the toughness of earth. Roughly equivalent to a piece of chainmail armor, though significantly less heavy. Advanced versions of this spell are more powerful, and can be extended to other people.
❖ The Forgiving Earth ❖
Simple A minor spell to clear, harden, reshape and make manageable difficult terrain, such as steep inclines and marshland. Eminently useful for travelers, though it takes a good deal of time to Forgive especially difficult terrain.
❖ The Unforgiving Mother ❖
Advanced A spell to collapse and make inhospitable the ground beneath ones feet. This can be useful for covering one’s tracks, or for disrupting an incoming enemy with soggy, collapsing marshland, or even breaking off a chunk of earth below a foes feet.
❖ Bathed in Night ❖
Mighty A useful spell that allows a person to walk freely through solid stone and earth, and to guide others through alongside them. Nastier variants of this spell can be used to give another person the overwhelming feeling that they are being buried alive, and give them a terrible shortness of breath. If uninterrupted, this inversion of the spell can outright suffocate someone.
❖ Dark of the Moon ❖
Mighty A shadowy veil that can be draped over a group of people. While not true invisibility, it does make someone hard to see, as well las muffling their footsteps, and dampening magical attempts at detection and magical attacks.
❖ Beggar’s Shelter ❖
Mighty Sculpt a warm and comfortable hole out of the earth. It takes some time to implement a spell of this power. This power can also be used to augment the defenses and efertide resistance of a small shelter.
Thanks so much for your patience everyone. Well, it's finally here, OOC thread up! I'll get to responding to PMs and putting up the Sample Character Sheets in a sec, but right now I need a short break from all things End + Sleep related before getting back into things.
Do we need to pick a magic "school" and stick with it? Or can I possess low-level "convenience" spells from several sections?
You answered this, nvm. Still, I don't think my idea fits squarely into any of these categories.
I'd been meaning for the Grisly Trophy spell to set a sort of soft example of how your character's abilities could work, but we can talk about it more in the PM. I do really like your character concept, and'm willing to bend over as much as possible to get her to work in a way that fits your original vision.
So what's the difference between "advanced" and "mighty" magics, particularly when it comes to non-combative abilities?
Mighty is basically magic that only a dedicated magician would know. I'm leaving this mostly up to guys and your judgment as writers, but imagine advanced spells as things someone could pick up and learn with a good amount of effort, but without needing strong magical experience of power, while mighty spells explicitly require a good understanding of the magical style its coming from. Should probs have this in the OP, I'll edit it in later.
@Oddsbod I really appreciate it. Let's talk in Discord when you have the time.
Edit: Dang, seven points is not a lot under this system. This is hard. 😭
I'd intended 7 to just sorta make you really pick your spells carefully and keep things a bit limited, f enough people feel it's seriously too little for a devoted magician character, I could see it booted up to 8.
Honestly having some Mighty spells be 3 or 4 points (depending on potency) would be a saving grace for my planning abilities right now. That Grisly Trophy is a real resource hog, and I dunno that my idea is all too powerful compared to your example.
I asked this in our Discord chat but it may be worth repeating here, just in case it'll help someone else: "do I understand correctly that once we've selected a category of magic to 'belong' to, any spells which we know outside of this category cost one point extra to know?"
Honestly having some Mighty spells be 3 or 4 points (depending on potency) would be a saving grace for my planning abilities right now. That Grisly Trophy is a real resource hog.
I asked this in our Discord chat but it may be worth repeating here, just in case it'll help someone else: "do I understand correctly that once we've selected a category of magic to 'belong' to, any spells which we know outside of this category cost one point extra to know?"
Oh, no, sorry, my mistake, it's one point for every extra style, not every spell outside your primary style. Basically, every extra style of magic you're capable of beyond the first costs an extra one point.
(sorry, I haven't checked your discord messages yet, I'm gonna take a break for a bit from all this End of Sleep work and rejuvinate my soul a little before I get back into things and take care of all the responding stuff)
I’ll be considering sheets in the order I receive them (but to be perfectly honest I’m a huge softy who is just absolutely over the moon anyone is paying attention to my work, and will likely let in significantly more people than I should).
@Oddsbod I see this RP is full. In any case, lemme know if you somehow find you have an available space that needs filling.
I think what I'm going to do is give everyone who showed interest in the interest check until Sunday to check in with me, then if there's anyone who hasn't posted anything here I'll open things up for a handful more signups. But yeah, I'll let you know if anything comes up, no prob.
1x Thank