Dungeon KeepersBanner by 0011001
GMs: BBeast, Cyclone
Thanks to everyone else for their helpLong ago, in a distant world, the godly being the Devourer created us, the Keepers. We built incredible fortresses called Dungeons to harbour our magical might, and from them we sent out great armies which slaughtered the humans of the land and razed their cities. The reign of our evil soaked the land, until we finally unleashed the Apocalypse and destroyed that world. But we did not die with that realm.
We have moved on to a whole new world. This land we have entered is called Cyprus, and despite being small it is rich with humans. But these humans are not peaceful. Four tribes, wielding rich and diverse magic, surround a grand kingdom and are often at war with each other. These humans will not be easy to conquer and enslave, for they are adept at the art of war and are as cunning and treacherous as we, the Keepers, are. But we shall seize their villages, conquer their cities and slaughter their armies. The denizens of this world will bend to our might or be crushed by it. There is power to be had, and there is nobody who shall stand in our way.
Basis:As one may have guessed, this roleplay is not focusing on being the 'good guys'. Rather, you are the evil overlord you have always been trying to beat (in more archetypal stories). You must build your army and Dungeon and set out to conquer this land. The humans of this world are not to be scoffed at, for they are experienced in warfare, especially against magical foes, and they have a firm hold of their territory. They won't be defeated too easily.
Humans aside, the greatest threat is your fellow Keepers. We are not a very organised or friendly group, and have always been known to fight each other. And in this small land with finite territory and manpower, conflict is inevitable.
Ground Rules:The standard no godmodding/metagaming/etc. applies. This means waltzing in, ignoring all resistance, and simply killing another player or a major NPC in one hit is out of the question, and so is being aware of a stealth attack on your Dungeon when you have no legitimate means of detecting it, or simply knowing the location of your enemy without having scouted or searched beforehand.To join, there is no character sheet. Instead, write a paragraph or two briefly describing your Keeper, including their appearance, abilities, personality, perhaps a bit of their history, etc. and post it to the OOC. This will go in the Compendium. When we approve it, you may post your entry into the world in the IC.With NPCs, feel free to control minor NPCs (eg. a village which you are raiding, random individuals, etc.). For larger NPCs (eg. a city, an entire army), you should probably consult us.There are probably a lot of empty spaces in the description of the world. You are free to fill in those spaces (with-in reason, of course. Any major development, such as an entire hidden nation or artefact of great power, would need to run through us first).The GMs reserve the right to throw a metaphorical monkey wrench into your operations, to keep things from getting complacent. You can't expect to attempt world domination with nothing ever going wrong, now can you?We will be keeping a Compendium, a list of your creatures, Dungeon, Avatar, etc. for quick reference, so we (and you) do not have to sift through pages of text to find information about you or anyone else later. It will be greatly appreciated if, whenever you create a new creature or Construct or change your Avatar or Dungeon, you write about a paragraph to go into that Compendium.Read on to find out how to be a Keeper.
Getting Started:You are a Keeper. Keepers are like demigods, with nigh immortal souls and the ability to create life. Your soul will have just entered this world from the Void into some random place in the world, but now you need an Avatar, a physical form to incarnate as. This body is vulnerable to destruction and manipulation by physical and magical means, but it may also be whatever form you choose, provided you have the power to do so. In creating your form you can forfeit certain things for others - you could forgo magic in order to have great physical strength, or lose all considerable physical prowess to become ultra-magical, or somewhere in between.
But you have just entered this world, and your power is no greater than that of a sorcerer. You don't yet have the power to create an Avatar capable of flight, telepathy, vast destruction and near indestructibility all at once. You must earn and develop such powers, and try to be original too.
Once materialised, your first step to world domination is to create your Dungeon Heart - your inner sanctum, the core of your Dungeon, nexus of your power, centre of your operations. Either you gather slaves to construct it, enchant some artefact, or at worst build it yourself. In the Heart you can do many things. You can modify your Avatar, command your forces directly, expand your consciousness across your entire Dungeon and, most importantly, create new Creatures and Constructs.
Before you can expand your Dungeon and construct whatever rooms you need or desire, you require a workforce. In Ages past, we would summon Imps from the Void, but alas we can no longer do that in this world, so we will have to enslave the limited human populace, or get them to work for us by other means. In order to do that, you need an army. And for that you need creatures.
To create your first creature, you simply enter your Heart and begin the creative process. You can invent just about anything, although its power is limited by that of yourself and your Dungeon, so your first creature will be fairly weak, hardly more powerful than a human if at all. While creating the blueprint for this new creature, however, you are completely incapacitated and quite vulnerable. Any significant disturbance could be catastrophic. The time it takes to create your first blueprint is 3 posts made by other people (not your own posts).
Once you've created your blueprint or original, you can easily create many more of that creature. A summoning chamber, a hatchery, transmutation of other creatures, or something along those lines will allow more of that creature to be made. Just make sure not to lose every copy of that creature, or else you will have to create it again from scratch.
So, with your meagre army you can head out, raze a village and capture some humans as slaves. Now what? You can get them to work on your Dungeon, that's what. If word gets out that you razed a village an angry army might come knocking on your doorstep, so you'd better build some defences. You'll also want a solid means of summoning more of your creatures. Additionally, you've got to house, feed and equip your army and slaves, so you'll probably need barracks, shelters, farms, mines, blacksmiths, and workshops. Facilities for training is a good idea, as are storage rooms, prisons for rowdy slaves, and whatever specialty rooms and buildings you might need. Get creative.
The greater your Dungeon, the greater your power. And the further your conquest, the greater your power. So get out there, enslave humanity, extend your Dungeon and be a blight on the world.
Creating Creatures and Constructs:As mentioned above, to design a new creature you must enter your Heart and spend a while there distraction-free. The amount of time you spend there is determined by the Fibonacci Sequence. Your first creature takes 3 posts to create, your second takes 5 posts, third 8 posts, fourth 13 posts, fifth 21 posts, and so on. These are posts of other players, so you can't simply spam posts to create your creature. Each successive new creature is typically more powerful than the last, but it will be weaker than a Keeper or Construct and its power is limited by your own. Additionally, creatures don't get more powerful as you do. You may change their equipment and make minor, largely cosmetic changes, but any major overhaul will require starting from scratch or upgrading.
While you are in your Heart creating a creature, all your attention is focussed on the creation of this new blueprint. If your concentration is broken, such as by a pesky hero kicking open the door of the Heart, then bad things happen. In short, your Heart explodes from misdirected magical energy, probably taking out your Avatar, your new blueprint and a sizeable chunk of your Dungeon (and hopefully whichever enemies were beating down your door too). Try not to let that happen.
While you personally can not attend to anything while you're busy creating new creatures, the other denizens of your Dungeon can continue working. Your armies will still defend your Dungeon and do whatever tasks you left them to do, and if you have any Constructs they can arrange raids, organise your troops and the like.
If, later, you wish to make a major modification to one of your pre-existing creatures, then you have the option of upgrading it. This process takes the same amount of other people's posts as it took to originally create that creature. Unlike the original process, upgrading does not completely incapacitate you. If things go wrong, then there won't be an explosion, although completing the upgrade may be compromised.
Constructs are like your generals, sergeants and champions. They are far more powerful than ordinary creatures, although still weaker than all but the most pitiful of Keepers. Constructs are also capable of leading and organising your forces in your absence, which makes them even more valuable. As well as greater power and (usually) intelligence than your ordinary minions, Constructs have a much closer link with Keepers, and can be empowered or even possessed if the need should arise (although you may need to be in your Heart at the time). While Constructs often take the form of a more powerful version of one of your creatures, this needn't be the case. You can make your Constructs as unique as you desire.
The creation of a single Construct requires the same process as creating a new blueprint for a creature. You must be in your Heart, undisturbed, for a period of time determined by the Fibonacci Sequence, as before. The more Constructs you already have, the longer it takes. However, the number of blueprints you have does not influence how long it takes to make a Construct, and vice versa.
Should you so want to, you can destroy all of the copies of one of your weaker creatures in order to lower the number of blueprints you have in order to speed up the creation of newer blueprints. The same effect occurs if you are unfortunate enough to have all of one type of minion wiped out. The same can be done with Constructs. Just be sure to do so before you start creating - no distractions or things go boom, remember?
Dungeon Management:You might have dreams of an impenetrable Dungeon with a colossal army to crush everyone in your path. But to have a massive Dungeon you must first build it, and to have a colossal army you must arm and feed it. To do that you need slaves, which you will need to capture or otherwise drag into your service, and they will work best when they are healthy and co-operative. Although you have great creative power, the creatures you create are never capable of replacing human slaves.
This means there will be a number of rooms and facilities your Dungeon would need. You need a source of food, water, fuel, building supplies and weapons, as well as some kind of shelter. You have to keep your Dungeon, your army and your slaves in working order.
You could produce these resources yourself. You can simply make some of your slaves work as farmers, miners, builders, blacksmiths, etc., and have farms and mines and forges to match. But you are a Keeper, and what you don't have you can take by force. When you raid a village, it might be worthwhile to steal whatever they have in their stores as well as capturing the townsfolk as slaves. Perhaps you are so fearsome that the mere threat of force can drive villagers to surrender their produce as tribute. Just be sure to have the muscle to back up that threat if a human army comes to try and liberate them.
Once you have exhausted all nearby villages, though, where else can you take things from? Your fellow Keepers, of course. The Keeper next door has done you a favour by gathering large amounts of food, weapons and slaves in one place, ripe for the picking. And you'll be rather peeved if you go to raid a village only to find it had already been stripped of everything useful by another Keeper. Of course, if you're not up to the task of battling another Keeper, you could always form some kind of alliance and do trade and the likes. Just watch out in case the other Keeper decides to stab you in the back. We're a treacherous lot, after all.
Keepers:As mentioned before, you exist through your Avatar, which is your physical body. As a Keeper, you can wield quite potent power and abilities, although greatness in one aspect generally requires trading off some other ability. While you could be an all-rounder, Keepers typically focus on a particular theme or element, which allows them to allocate more of their power to those abilities. You are free to modify your Avatar and develop new abilities in your Heart at any time, provided you have the power to do so.
Keepers gain power passively from the land and people under their control. The amount of power you have is determined by how much you have conquered, how big your Dungeon is, and how many slaves you have under you. Clearly, a Keeper who has only razed a few villages, lives in a hovel of a Dungeon and has only a meagre collection of slaves will be greatly outmatched by a Keeper who has conquered cities, lives in a fortress Dungeon, has numerous outposts and has whole townships of slaves. Now, a quick way to gain power is to conquer other Keepers, because in doing that you assimilate their Dungeon, slaves and conquered lands into your own and gain their power.
Should your Avatar be killed, that is not necessarily the end. Your creatures will likely be thrown into chaos and slaves all escape unless you have good Constructs to keep them in line, and your Dungeon operations will likely be crippled, but Keepers don't die that easily. Provided your Heart is intact, you are able to resurrect yourself and rebuild your Avatar in the Heart. This process is slow and will take a while, so in that time you just need to hope that your enemies don't come in to finish you off. However, if you die and your enemies have destroyed your Heart, then things go from bad to worse. Your armies will be dead or scattered, your Dungeon assimilated into your enemy's own domain, and resurrection will be difficult. Should you choose to stubbornly persist, you would be almost back to square one, save for any loyal underlings who had survived and escaped.
Rogue Beings:If you choose not to be a Keeper, you can instead be a Rogue Being, also known as Rogue Constructs. Rogue Beings are powerful entities. They can be things like dragons, sorcerers, elementals, demons, monsters, ex-Constructs, etc. You have a diverse range of opportunities to be a unique and creative Rogue Being. The power of Rogue Beings lies between that of a Construct and a Keeper. While you are a fearsome force in any battle, you would struggle to overpower all but the weakest Keepers, and you lack the creative powers of Keepers, such as creating creatures or changing your physical form like Keepers do.
It is recommended that you find a Keeper to submit your services to. Most Keepers are quite familiar with the usefulness of Rogue Beings. Not only does that provide protection from anyone who might otherwise want to kill you, it also grants you access to the resources and forces of that Keeper. Of course, they'll want you to work for it, fighting in their wars and defending their Dungeon and so on, but that just adds to the fun.
If you are playing as both a Rogue Being and a Keeper, your Rogue Being may not partner up with your Keeper.
The World:
This time we have emerged in a land called Cyprus. Cyprus is a small, coastal region, an oasis of lush green surrounded by inhospitable desert and vast ocean. It is very roughly 100 kilometers (60 miles) across and 70 kilometers (45 miles) long, which puts it at 2-3 day's march across, assuming human speeds, need for rest, and no resistance. For an Earthly comparison, it is about the size of a small European nation. The climate is temperate, bordering on tropical.
The land of Cyprus is bordered on the North and West by a mountain range. At the North-Eastern corner there is heavy vulcanism, with numerous active volcanos constantly spewing out ash, forming the wastes known as the Ashlands. In the middle of the Northern border is a frozen wasteland, making that stretch of the mountain range even more treacherous. Beyond the mountains is desert, which stretches many, many days into the distance and is home to little more than the wildlife and a few nomadic barbarian tribes. The South and East of Cyprus is coastline, and while that is quite hospitable there is little of interest within reach beyond that horizon. Around the South of Cyprus sprawls a thick jungle, the fauna of which makes it quite a perilous location for the unwary. Within those borders lies lush green plains, interspersed with woodlands and lined with a few pristine rivers and a small lake.
Within those borders live the inhabitants of Cyprus, which are mainly human, some of which have magical capabilities, and number approximately 120,000 in total, including those of the major kingdom as well as the lesser races. They have made their mark on this land. In the territory of the major kingdom, half the arable land has been converted to farmland, and hundreds of little villages dot the countryside, spaced only a few kilometers apart on the myriad roads. While these villages are undefended and plentiful, they are also small, averaging a population of around 200 people each. A much more tempting target would be the towns, or even the cities, each with populations numbering in the thousands or more, but those are far fewer and also much better defended. There are also a few castles, fortresses intended for border defense, which may make useful footholds within their territory. The races living in the borders are generally populated much more sparsely when compared to the central kingdom, although this varies.
NPCs:In Cyprus, there are five nations and races of especial interest, The largest of them is the kingdom of the Cypriots, with the capital city of Amplus in the centre of Cyprus. The Cypriots, named so because they lay claim to ownership of this whole land, are mostly ordinary humans (by the standards of Cyprus, anyway), ruled by a monarchy. Their kingdom covers most land which is not held fiercely by the other races, and has been maintained by a combination of technological superiority, a greater population, and a mysterious absence of any political unrest. Quite likely your first forays as a Keeper will be into the villages of the Cypriots, and while it will be a challenge to penetrate deeper into their territory, if you can successfully conquer their kingdom you will definitely be the strongest Keeper in the land.
To the West, nestled in the mountains on the border of Cyprus, is the grand city of Monolith. In the centre of Monolith stands an artefact of great power, Providence, which powers the many untiring golem Workers which are the city's inhabitants. The Workers used to be people, drawn by the prospect of immortality and transformed into these beings, at the cost of never being able to leave the city and having to toil continuously. Watching over the city, and capable of travelling elsewhere, are the Travellers, who are more powerful. Monolith is a centre of manufacturing, and is a source of many of the weapons and tools of the Cypriots. While the Workers can not simply be captured as slaves to take back to your Dungeon, to capture Monolith would be to hold the greatest hub of manufacturing on Cyprus, and to cut critical supplies from the Cypriots.
To the South in the jungle are the Dragon Riders, a nomadic race of people who live in a symbiotic relationship with giant, poison breathing, flightless lizards, often referred to as Dragons. Little is known about them, for they do not have settlements or language. Instead, they are spread across the jungle, adding to the dangers already lurking there. The intelligence and trap-making skills of the Riders, combined with the sheer strength and power of the Dragons, makes them dangerous opponents to face on their home turf. While they are dangerous, they are in no way organised or united. To conquer the jungle would be to control the greatest source of lumber in Cyprus, as well as the greatest concentration of biodiversity. Who knows, you might even be able to find a use for the Dragon Riders.
To the North in the mountains is Kythnos, a frigid icy wasteland of unnatural cold locked in eternal snowfall. It is inhabited by the ice witches, who are actually ice demons in a thin disguise, and who have gathered a significant cult following. A jagged, crystalline city of ice twists through the mountains, but the majority of the city lies underground in ice caves. Save for the storms and the magic of the ice demons, the mountains are also defended by sheer cliff faces and pits leading to crystalline spikes. While this land is unpleasant, the ice demons may be useful allies in your quest for conquest. And if not, they have been storing up power for quite some time, which lies locked within the ice.
Just East of Kythnos is its polar opposite, the Ashmarch, a land of volcanos and poisoned by ash. Few dare enter, for any water is toxic and the ground itself is treacherous. However, deep inside the Ashmarch are the towers of the Warlocks, humans who have been shunned by the rest of humanity for their practice of necromancy and other dark magics. They are highly aggressive, sending out soldiers to raze settlements and capture slaves from the borders of the Ashmarch. Above ground, their settlements are quite dreary, save for their magnificent towers. However, they have made extensive use of subterranean caves and caverns to house slaves, fungal farms and so on. While the land is dangerous to enter, it is for this reason that the towns of the Ashlanders are quite poorly defended, so if you can brave the Ashmarch with a proper army you should find easy pickings of slaves. Alternatively, you could make allies with the Warlocks, perhaps taking advantage of the unrest rising among their ranks.
There can be other lesser races inhabiting Cyrpus as well, in the corners of the land where the other races won't have wiped them out or assimilated them. However, they obviously wouldn't have the same level of influence as the aforementioned five.
For further information on each of these races, read the following entries kindly contributed by the people who shall be the primary controllers of those races.
BBeast, Cypriots:
To anyone visiting Cyprus, we, the Cypriots, are the dominant power. Our territory spans most of the arable land in Cyprus, and is rich in farming villages and fortified towns. All the settlements are well maintained, and it is rare to find a person who is hungry. Just about all of us are happy under the rule of our monarch.
History tells that hundreds of years ago a small town in the then-divided land of Cyprus gained a great and magnificent ruler, Reginaldus the First, who led a glorious revolution and expanded their town into a kingdom with the vision of a united Cyprus under one ruling power. This revolution met with surprising success, as a foothold in the land was established and the loyalty of the revolutionaries did not falter even after many years. As the kingdom expanded, its power grew, and it was able to expand further until the races who could not be assimilated into the kingdom were pushed to the boundaries of Cyprus.
Today the expansion has slowed somewhat, as the remaining races now stand strong in their respective bastions. However, the armies of the Cypriots still stand strong. They are highly organised and trained, and well equipped with weapons and armour produced both locally and in the manufacturing hub of Monolith. Foot-soldiers, archers, knights, cavalry, mages of various creeds, as well as siege engines, ships, cannons and musket-men all compose the armies of the Cypriots. Their technology, strategy and tactics, as well as their size which outstrips that of any army the lesser races could gather, makes them a force to be reckoned with. If any enemy makes too bold a stand against the Cypriots then they can be sure to face the wrath of our armies.
The capital city is called Amplus, and is the most populous city in Cyprus. It is the hub of operations for the Cypriots, with much of our army and local manufacturing centred here. The whole city is in perpetually good condition, with many people employed for the purpose of keeping the city clean and well-maintained. It has numerous tiers of wall, made to both encircle the ever-growing city and as additional lines of defence, and behind all the walls is the palace, which combines stunning architecture with effective fortification.
Very rarely leaving the palace grounds is Reginaldus the Fifth, King of the Cypriots, who resides within the palace walls and is only seen by outsiders during public addresses. Despite that, he rules over us with incredible efficiency and is at times miraculously able to respond to our needs before we have to tell him. Some nay-sayers claim that our wonderful King is not as he appears, but instead say that he is a powerful, immortal sorcerer who controls us through our dreams, but any good Cypriot knows that such claims are lies and such men are crazy. Besides, if such men ever get too rowdy one day we wake to never hear from them again, and good riddance.
In terms of our relationships with the other races in Cyprus, we have an alliance and trade agreement with Monolith, which is where we export raw materials to by river and import manufactured goods, such as our weapons as well as tools and other things. We have our borders heavily guarded against the two abominations to the North. And the Dragon Riders of the jungle do not take kindly to us chopping down their trees. But while they, the Ice Witches, the Warlocks and the Dragon Riders, all hide behind their hellish terrain, we stand strong by our own might. We are powerful. Others shall fall, but we shall endure.
DR_TRAPEZOID, Ice Demons of Kyotos:
In the far off frigid world of Kyotos, the ice demons have lived for centuries in a rather frigid peace, the word used lightly. Their rather competitive nature, always wanting and needing to be on the top of the food chain, causes wars and skirmishes to break out constantly between the cold hearted devils. There was a certain cult of demons, a weaker bunch. Possessing less affinity for the martial oriented fighting styles of their brethren, this cult tore down their enemies with magical prowess. They were less than popular among their peers for this, and it often led them to be thrown around, beaten down by the icy demons who simply waded through magical blizzards, smashed their way through enchanted shards of ice.
It was this constant bullying that brought the cult to an interesting decision. In order to evade further attacks on their already diminished numbers, but still make a name for themselves, the cult set up shop elsewhere- Namely, Cyprus In this land of extreme climates- jungles, volcanoes, and uninhabitable deserts, none were quite prepared for the year long winter that struck. Flurries of slashing snow cut open the skin of the unwary, and massive crystalline catacombs rose in the mountains, monuments to the great power of this cult.
However, magical reservoirs soon ran dry, and brave crusaders came knocking, to deliver a coup des grace to whoever wrought such a plague upon their land. Luckily for the demons; however, they were spared by quick thinking and some minor magic. Disappearing into the icy catacombs, they sacrificed one of their own to satisfy the bloodlust of the natives who sought them out.
Years later, the demons resurfaced once more, hidden under the guise of a cult of witches. Though not much of an improvement on their earlier appearance, it helped them in attaining their goals. Over the next few years, groups of people were taken into the mountains, isolated from the world. Trained by the ancient witches, this cult learned the magics of old, and soon grew to be a rather large metropolis, thousands of cultists teeming within the icy catacombs. While the weak mortals were appeased with thoughts of finding true peace in the cold depths, the demons plotted something far darker- bringing back the blizzard, this time for eternity. But such thoughts could wait- Pressing matters were at hand, such as the dark volcanic sorcerers so near. Other things could be prioritized, for the time being.
For when Winter comes, fingers of doom will clutch the land- all beasts will shiver from the lion to the crow...
Kythnos
Located just West of the volcanoes housing the dark mages of flame and smoke, this city is made of a rather impressive crystalline structure, twisting through the peaks of the mountains peaks. Though these walls catch the light in an appealing way, they are only the tip of the iceberg. Deep below, cavernous catacombs stretch down deep, webbing out through the mountainside. Magical energy flows through cracks in the walls, illuminating the tight, twisting walls. These are where the darker secrets and magics are stored, as well as where the demons dwell. Above ground, small stone huts house the many cultists, silently pumping smoke into the sky.
A light snow is constantly falling over the city, giving it a calming glow. However, in times of distress or attack, this snowstorm increases in potency, battering away any opposition. Of course, this all assumes that any opposing force actually makes it up the treacherous mountain. Around the mountain, jagged crystalline spikes rise from the ground, sitting at the base of deep deadly pits. At the moment, the Ice Demons of Kyotos do not actively attack any others, focusing instead on their plots, biding their power until they can once again wreak their frigid hate across the land.
Lugubrious, Monolith:
Since life first came into existence, so has existed its grim twin, death. For all things, returning to dust is an inexorable eventuality, but there are always legends of those who can cheat death. In a time long ago, far beyond all men imagine, there is a city upon a hill where legends are real.
At the peak of the mountain is the source of this anomaly: Providence. This arcane orb of incredible power radiates its Blessings weekly through the city built on, in, and around the mountain home. Called Monolith, this city is inhabited by tens of thousands of sentient golems called Workers, who rely on the Blessings to survive and must toil daily in the city to ensure that Providence, their deity, continues to sustain them. New Workers come to be as shells filled by the spirits of newly-dead humans, plucked one in five thousand from their flight to the afterlife and anchored to a mechanical body by a mirror called Salvation. With no memory of their previous life, they begin a new existence. Continued exposure to weekly blessings will, piece by piece, convert living things in the city into new Workers. In this way, the promise of immortality is real, but with a price, since no Worker may ever leave Monolith.
There is a ray of hope at the end of the tunnel, however. After an indeterminate but generally long length of time, a Worker can visit the temple of Providence and become a Traveler. Taller, more proficient in fighting and magic, and more diverse in capability and form, Travelers can leave the city for however long they wish. Upon ascending, they also regain the memories of their human life. It is a council of six Travelers, called the Journeymen, that act as Monolith's ruling body. They oversee its expansion, interaction with other nations, and superior manufacturing industry.
Monolith's origin is shrouded in mystery, but can, like all of its characteristics, be traced back to Providence. The records of the first Worker indicate that by the time he was created, the Light -Providence- and the Mirror -Salvation- already existed. Where the singularity of magic came from, or who crafted the artifact that brings new Workers to life, is utterly unknown.
So, if you want to live forever, seek the valley among the western range that harbors the legendary city of Monolith. There, you will find freedom in a vibrant solidarity of labor.
More explanation
This is an old civilization, one of the oldest if not the oldest. It is situated in an oasis in an arid biome, on the edge of the badlands. Monolith takes the form of a grand city built encompassing a mountain, with various tiers that rise along with its slopes. Surrounding the mountain is a great valley, about half of which is submerged beneath water. It is there that most of Monolith's 'normal' attributes end. Everything else revolves around an orb of light housed in an open-air temple at the mountain's peak. Called Providence, this orb emanates a unique magical energy -Blessing- that pulses through carved lines in the city's buildings and roads once a week, provided certain standards are met.
Most interesting about Monolith are its inhabitants. Monolith is home to tens of thousands of golems called Workers. These beings range between four and five feet in height, can be made of metal, wood, rock, clay, obsidian, or straw, and, while resembling ultra-primitive robots, each house the spirit of a person. In essence, the people of Monolith are machines with the minds of people, though only their voices and personalities remain from their past lives. The Workers come to be in two ways: either the spirits of humans heading for the next life are caught by a mirror-shaped artifact called Salvation and sealed inside an inanimate body, or visitors to the city are transformed, piece by piece, by weekly Blessings. The Workers need the Blessings to survive, and if they are deprived of it, the magic holding their spirits in their bodies runs out and they effectively die. To ensure that Providence, which is equivalent to the Workers' deity, continues to send its Blessings, at least four fifths of the population must each day toil in the city. As such, almost no-one may leave, and the culture as a whole is rather reclusive.
The society of the Workers is very much like other human society, perhaps even more so. It is vibrant and benevolent, with a few quirks. Labor and life and both celebrated, and since Workers live until either they fail to receive a Blessing within the span of a week or their bodies become so decrepit that their spirits leak out, most live indefinitely. In addition to ordinary labor, Workers often improve upon their city, pursue various forms of art, and work to expand the edges of the wall-devoid city in a slow crawl to the edges of the valley. Since Blessings are the only things Workers need to survive, they can exist comfortable underwater, and many do. Because normal humans can become Workers by spending time in Monolith, the promise of immortality is very real but very costly, since none can ever leave again and must spend most of their days working. However, there is a distant end to the monotony: after enough time spent serving Providence, a Worker can, after an indeterminate but often long length of time, go to the temple of Providence and be transformed into a Traveler. Travelers range from six to seven feet in height, more resemble humans, and are far more diverse in their capabilities, an important one of which is their ability to leave Monolith for however long they wish. Unlike Workers, Travelers can and often do use powerful magic, and they journey through the outside world to bring back knowledge and specimens to add to the archives. After becoming a Traveler, a Worker regains the memories of his or her previous life, and this is often an impetus for leaving the city to settle affairs. Humans who have immigrated to Monolith must first become Workers before becoming Travelers, a process which takes a different amount of time for everyone but generally takes more than fifty years.
Monolith is ruled by the Journeymen. This council is composed of six Travelers who have each ventured into the outside world, one representing each material the Workers are made of. The Journeymen each serve 5-year terms and appoint their own successors. The power they have over their city is limited, usually only involved in unusual concerns.
Random notes
-The only way to distinguish male and female Workers are their voices. Travelers' more distinct, unique bodies allow more expression.
-Each Worker and Traveler has colored eyes and a similarly colored core. The cores, located at the center of their chests, slowly grow brighter and then darker in a neverending cycle. The rate at which this happens is determined by how long the Worker has gone without a Blessing. Faster beats mean more peril. The color is random.
-The faces of the Workers and Travelers are immobile, fixed in a single expression. This expression best reflects the individual's personality.
-Workers are generally slow, methodical, deliberate, and considerate. Travelers tend to be more quick and bold. Both are capable of combat but Travelers are way more adept. Workers carry tools with them at all times; when turned into a Traveler, these tools become powerful weapons.
-Aside from the whole immortality gig, a major strength of Monolith is trade. It has excellent manufacturing and uses primitive engines for transport that outperform animals.
The 42nd Gecko, Dragon Riders:
Dragons. It’s what you’ve heard about the great Jungle, it’s what you want to hear about more. Let none say the Stranger in Red is short of courage or that he does not listen to the desires of the people. I have scoured the wild and treacherous jungle for a whole lifetime to bring the people my answers.
Firstly, I must bring sad, disappointing truths to you. The dragons of the Jungle do NOT breathe fire. They breathe a toxic fume that brings death to pretty much anything not-a-dragon-or-its-rider that it touches. There is a chance that this fume is flammable, thus, giving birth to the rumors, but even I am not so foolhardy as to stand in a dragon’s breath and try to light it on fire, nor attempt to give orders to a dragon to breathe on a fire. These dragons, at least all those I encountered, do NOT have wings. While they are very agile and quick for their significant bulk and can even jump from outcroppings and large rocks, they possess no aptitude for flight. That is not to say you can outrun them. Like an elephant, when on the move, they are fast and have a tendency to destroy everything in their path. Similarly, while I found no indication that dragons are as intelligent as you or me, well, certainly not as intelligent as me, and can NOT talk; they are still not dumb, more akin to say, a particularly intelligent dog.
Onto the jungle itself, which in all good sense should be first, but you people are so enamored with your two ton scaly dealers of death (and I must put a disclaimer that I merely estimate their weight as I have no way of convincing one onto a scale nor can I carry such a scale with me on my adventures) that the jungle is second. In short, the jungle is not a fun place to be. Well, in long, it’s a very fun place to be, as long as constant brushes with death are your definition of “fun”. In an ecosystem where the alpha predator has to weight as much of an elephant, be armed to the literal teeth with natural weapons such as the infamous breath, and even THEN still requires a symbiotic relationship with a human utilizing traps, poisons, tools, and tactics, one will simply have to imagine how deadly the rest of the animals there are because there are too many to list in this abbreviated article(all of which are fully explored in my latest book, DRAGONS!, pick it up now for the low price of seventy coins of the realm!). And that’s not even mentioning the plants or the usually aquatic alpha predator of the dreaded River Wurm who requires swarms of dragons to push back into the waters whence it came. In short, if you’re in the jungle and you haven’t been eaten or eaten something poisonous yet, give it five seconds and that will quickly be taken care of for you.
"How then, if the jungle is truly so fearsome, did you survive so long, oh devilishly handsome Stranger in Red?" you might ask? By making a deal with the natives, I must admit to my chagrin. As much as I might hope to weave a tale of my own daring, I am bound ever to the truth. Simply making a "deal" took me the better part of a decade. The Dragon Riders, as we call them, have no language. They communicate entirely with their body language and with inarticulate cries. While they are able to understand the intricacies of social interaction on a basic level, their lack of language or interaction for that matter makes things difficult to say the least. After many failed attempts, dodged spears, arrows, and deadly dragons, I managed to strike up a relationship with a new mother that gladly accepted my traded goods of food and clothing due to her exasperation with being burdened with a child. At the side of her and her dragon, I explored the jungle and saw many sights (all of which are fully explored in my latest book, DRAGONS!, pick it up now for the low price of seventy coins of the realm!), learning about her peoples ways and those of dragons. Her people, as far as I can tell, are completely immune to poison, whether from their diets or something of birth, I do not know. They mature startlingly fast, only 3 years from birth to adulthood, yet also die at the age of thirty. That is why I had to leave, as when the lady rider I knew grew old and died, I was no longer welcome in the jungle, by the way. This matches that of their dragons, each one being born at roughly the same time and, barring violence, dying around the same time. Any child conceived without a dragon is left to die, any egg hatched without a rider exposed to the elements. Speaking of conception, that brings me to the only time the dragons and their riders interact with each other. There is an annual "festival" of sorts where they meet, under a great towering spire of rock where a great dragon of immense size lives. I believe that dragon and its rider are immortal or something, because neither aged in all my years in the jungle. Regardless, all payed the pair deference.
Now, alas, this article must come to an end, and while you can find the full story, including that of the battles between dragons and the River Wurm (all of which are fully explored in my latest book, DRAGONS!, pick it up now for the low price of seventy coins of the realm!), for now, I must bid you all a fond farewell.
~The Stranger in Red
Cyclone, Ashlanders:
The Ashmarch is hell on earth, a black scar that cuts through the land. To so much as attempt traversing that vast wasteland is death, a grim actuality that nature herself seems to understand. A deep, incessant, and rhythmic rumbling permeates the air, staving off what would otherwise be deathly silence. This din reverberates from the some half dozen active volcanos to the north, each ceaselessly belching out smoke, ash, and the fiery blood of the earth. Leagues upon leagues of land lay trapped in the shadows of those burning mountains, the clouds of black soot rising to shroud the lands below in shadow.
Fire, brimstone, and layer upon layer of ash fall down upon the bleak and dead landscape, choking out life. Clean water is all but nonexistent; what little rain comes is made toxic by volcanic ash and gases before it can so much as touch the ground. Once it does fall, it has been known to moisten loose ash fields, creating something similar to quicksand, although more like liquid cement. What runoff water doesn't seep into the ground leeches even more poisons from the heavier ash on the ground, forming stagnant, putrid cesspools of acid. Where there are not gray plains or rolling hills of ash, there are rivers of lava, rocky crags of basalt and obsidian, and the occasional cooled lavaflow with dagger-like protrusions coming out of the ground, easily sharp and lengthy enough to perforate a careless foot.
One might be inclined to think that nothing would call this wasteland home. In a sense, that is right. No beasts that you will have heard of would dare venture there; even the flies and carrion birds avoid the Ashmarch. There are other, viler monsters that make the entire Ashmarch their lair. Warlocks. They came from across the sea in centuries past, banished from their faraway homeland for their disgusting practices of necromancy, demonology, blood sacrifice, and other forms of black magic. They were spurned by the people here just as they were in their homeland, and so with none willing to so much as tolerate their presence, they ran off into the Ashmarch and claimed that waste for their own. There they and those followers that went with them began to carve out a civilization, swearing vengeance on the rest of the world that had denied them everything and forced them to endure living in such a ghastly land. Whether it comes from the soot that stains everything in their land or as a curse from the gods that they defile, the warlocks and their serfs have skin as black as coal.
Entire settlements near the edge of the Ashmarch have been known to vanish. Armies emerge from the wastes to leave buildings burned, valuables looted, and the denizens taken back to the warlock masters for some nefarious ends. For this reason, most travelers keep a wide berth from the Ashlands in their travels, but a few have entered those wastes and returned to tell the tale. They spoke of the descendants of those that followed the warlocks into the wastes being reduced to serfs, brutally oppressed by their masters. The occasional outpost exists hugging onto a rocky bluff or some other sort of high ground, often no more than a few squat stone buildings coated in ash and soot, blending in to the stark surroundings almost perfectly. These settlements vary in size based mainly on their function, though they usually have a few hundred of serfs with perhaps a dozen warlocks serving as overseers and administrators.
Deep into the wastes and away from prying eyes, the majority of the warlocks make their home. Their towers come up from the land like plague boils, in the form of massive, black spires of rock. They are like estates, with the most powerful warlocks having palatial towers that claw at the sky, with hundreds of other warlock subordinates cohabiting the tower and entire cities of serfs clustered nearby. When their towers can no longer reach up, the warlocks go down; some have sprawling subterranean slave pits, grand chambers to cultivate fungi for food and other purposes, and elaborate underground tunnels to allow safe travel across the wastes. Great wells tap into natural springs and aquifers deep beneath the earth, providing fresh, untainted water to those within the warlocks' towers or cities. In this way, the warlock masters ensure utter loyalty from their slaves and serfs. To escape bondage would mean having no water and dying of thirst, or worse, being hunted down and captured again. Even if they did miraculously survive the Ashmarch and evade their masters' minions, no fugitives would find refuge in the lands beyond the waste, with people who despise and live in fear of the warlocks.
The Ashlanders, as the warlocks and all their subjects are called, function under a loose, almost anarchy of a feudalism. Only strength and cleverness are respected, so those that manage to become powerful leaders and successfully cling onto their power are inevitably the most treacherous, terrifying, and ruthless warlock masters or serf warlords. Each of these leaders have their own lands, laws, and followers, though they all inevitably become vassals of one overlord who seizes power. A complicated web of alliances and grudges exist between these vassals and the overlord can at times fail to suppress infighting; however, the political stability of the Ashlands is barely surpassed even by the kingdom of the Cypriots.
This strange state is owed mainly to the fact that through heinous rituals and blood sacrifices, the rulers and more elite warlocks are able to achieve eternal youth. With lives that can last for centuries, the warlocks are unfathomably patient, with their plotting long and complicated. Their lives are slow paced, and every warlock master of any importance knows the rest like the back of his hand. Succession disputes are almost nonexistent due to immortal rulers, and what inevitable betrayals and power-grabs happen are usually so deviously planned and cleverly acted out that there is simply a smooth, nearly bloodless change of leadership.
Credits:This RP series has migrated here from the Spore Forums. Credits go to Senger Drol/Tri for the original version of this over there, GrandEnder for the second version, Prospo for the next one, and Cavalier (now Lugubrious) for the following two.
