What Lie Below
Stories were told of a monster so great, so powerful, that it had led to downfall of the largest city of the dwarves in the Spine. Some
say that it was a lich who had been sleeping in his tomb under the Spine, waiting for the right moment to strikes. Others believe it to be an ancient red dragon who came for the gold stored inside the city. The story tellers always incite would-be-adventurers to set off on a journey to find a way into this city so that they may find the riches that lay within the gildled walls. Yet, no adventurer has ever succesfully found the ancient city nor do any dwarves survive from that time who lived there. Those who are still living have passed on the story of how to gain access to the hold of in the Spine.
In recent years, the Arcazia Empire has fallen into a depression. People are looking for ways to make a living and a flame has been lit by the story tellers, a flame so great that it might just consume the lives of those caught in it. Farmers have sold their lands and seeds so that they may go and search for the treasure in the mountains. Groups form on a dialy basis of former city guards and hunters who are looking for a way to make a name for themselves. Few of these people are likely to ever find the treasure except for a group of people who were to gather in the small village of Toruka. They had seen the message on the boards of this mystery man who claimed to know a way into the ancient dwarven city. If what the man said was true, then all involved would live their lives as kings or die in the ancient city. But that was often the possibilties of adventures.
The black dot indicates where Toruka is. Note that Toruka sits at the foot hills near the Spine and is a weeks ride from the Spine itself.
Technology:Arcazia is very much centered around the use of technology in daily life. Yet, technology is not as it is in our world. Technology in Arcazia is a mix of magic and scientific discoveries. Some creations are made purely from science while others are made from the mixing of the two. Airships are one of the mixes of magic and scientific discoveries. Runes are used to produce a magical fame which keeps the airship floating while hand cranked propellers are used to move the ship forward. Meanwhile, the creation of black powder was purely scientific finding which eventually led to the creation of bombs.
Although magic is used to create some advances in technology, there are those who don't turst the use of it. These people are members of the Mechanics guild. This guild is mostly a group of scientists and mechanics who are looking to make Arcazia a safe place by making all their creations without the use of magic. Though the guild is mostly peaceful, there are violent members who destroy items made with magic runes or burn the homes of magical inventors to the ground. Although a few of them have been arrested and put on trial, none of them have been willing to give up their leader. It is still unsure what the future holds for the Mechanics guild.
Magic:All magic comes from a singular source of magic known as Prime. Many speculations have been made as to what Prime actually is but it is generally accepted that it is not naturally found in the world at large. Researchers into Prime believe that magic users are basically tears in their world from which Prime trickles in. In recent years, mages have been sent to academies for training. At these academies, the young apprentices are taught that they are dangerous and should never be trusted. Many accounts of abuse have been heard, leaking from the academies, but it is rare for the city guard to do anything to help the apprentices.
Now to move to the kinds of Prime magic. There are three branches of Prime magic, each with a different power level and abilities from the other. The first and most powerful of the branches is Primal Magic. This magic is of a more innate nature to its users, which come from all races. Primal magic is divided into three branches; elemental, shape shifting, and conjuration. Primal magic is very powerful but it consumes a lot of the users Prime magic. The second branch of Prime magic is Rune Magic. Rune magic has the capability of being as powerful as Primal magic if the proper runes are used. Often times, rune magic is used in time consuming rituals and focus almost primarily on creation magic. Despite this, there is a less accepted form of rune magic where the mage would have the runes tattooed onto his or her body. This form of rune magic is often used in correlation with magic ranging from elemental to abjuration magic. The users of Rune magic are from any race except for elvish races.
The third and final form of magic is known as Focus magic. Focus magic doesn't have as much potential power as it brothers but requires less Prime in order to be used. Many users of focus magic use abjuration or evocation. Focus magic, despite its lack of strength, is the only magic known to produce necromancers and demonologists. Many races are capable of using focus magic except for dwarves. Focus magic and Rune magic are the two magic branches taught in academies(which discourage the use of Primal magic). I will be limiting the number of mages in the part to only three. Note that one does not have to go to an academy to learn Focus magic or Rune magic.
Races:There are many races that live in Arcazia, though not all of them are treated the same. A human would not be treated the same way as a dwarf was. Arcazia has a diverse population but the majority of its citizens are humans while the majority below them are dwarves. I am not going to give you some outline of what these races look like because, to be honest, there will always be outliers who don't abide by these outlines and I am often one of those people who create characters like that. Instead, if you are introducing a race other than the typical thing people know(Elves, dwarves, humans, halflings etc.) you will need to fill out the below sheet.
Name of Race:
Lifetime:(How long do they live? In human years)
Apperance:
Religion:(What deity or deities do they worship?)
Stats:(Less for the actual stats of a character and more for understand what they are like. Rate strength, agility, intelligence, and magical aptitude on a scale of 1-10. Remember that your average dwarf would probably have a strength of 6 or seven but would in turn have a lower agility rating.)
Magic: (Which magics can they use? Do they use all three of them? Are there any innate magical abilities? This section is for anything that relates to the magical abilities of the race. If they can't use magic just leave it blank.)
Race list
Character Sheet:NameApperanceAge:(In human years.)
Gender:Height and Weight:Eye color:(In case you don't like the color of your picture's eye. If apperance is a description, remove this from the sheet.)
Scars:(Are there any scars not shown in the picture? If description, do the same as for eye color.)
Personality:(At least a paragraph in length.)
Fears:(At least three)
Likes:(At least three)
History:(Where was the charcter born? Who raised them? Why did they want to go on an adventure for gold? If your character was born in the capital of Arcazia they would refer to the city as the Gilded City. You can go into detail here. I expect no less than two paragraphs in this section.)
Inventory:(What items did they bring with them? Remember that you can carry a whole armory on your back. This should be basic things like a canteen, tinder box or chalk if you are a rune mage.)
Purse:(How much money do you have on you? The currency is gold, silver, and copper. Remember that Arcazia is currently in a depression so having more than five silver is a good thing.)
Weapons:(Put any weapons they have on them here.)
Armor:(Put any armor they have here.)
Fighting style:(Do they fight using a spear and shield? Do they use martial arts? Give a description of your fighting style here. If it is magic you will list what kind of magic you can use here.)
Spells:(What spells do you use? If you aren't using magic as your fighting style, just remove this.)
Character list