At'aine, the Well of the World

[Varromere]

At'aine | The Well of the World

Following a disastrous world war, the Well of the World was destroyed. Its custodians, the House of Marathor, are also entirely eradicated. Consequently, all magic in the world fades into nothingness, and everything touched by magic loses its arcane lustre. This includes the maegi, who have not only lost their powers and connection to both the well and the world, but their sight as well. Those poor souls fated to be born as maegi enter the world dead or deformed.

The Well of the World takes place twenty years after the great war and the calamity of At'aine. You have been summoned to a lonely hut on the banks of the Arthuinn by a letter containing an arrowhead made from some strange green metal. The letter is signed off by someone identifying with one word, 'The Claimant'.

Not only will we be roleplaying in Arileth, but creating it. It is a new creation of mine and is not entirely fleshed out. The major stuff (in contemporary times) is established to an extent, but historical events, materials, beasts, legends, cities, towns, etc. remain unfulfilled.

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Of course, some history and context.

At’aine, the Well of the World, was the source of all magic in Arileth.

The origins of At’aine are not known, however its power was unquestionable. At’aine, hidden upon the summit of Tuin Athainon, somehow called to members of the other races thousands of years ago. These individuals came to At’aine and consumed its waters, becoming the first of the maegi. These maegi received power akin to gods, giving them the power they needed to lead their people into greatness, build monumental cities, establish kingdoms and empires, and wage horrific wars that reduced civilisations to ash and cinder. Over thousands of years, the blood of these maegi was passed down, gradually watering down their powers.

The first maegi who climbed Tuin Athainon became the wardens of At’aine and formed The Conclave. Originally five, the Conclave soon numbered a dozen, each of them immortal. 600 years before the events of WHISPERS OF THE WELL, the Conclave determined the greatest custodians of At’aine would be humanity and thus formed the Council of Seven Kings. The Council of Seven Kings consisted of the Emperor of Merthys and the Kings of Lorinth, Paerius, Eredin, Maltheria, Olgoroth and Dumat. The Council and Conclave decided that the House of Marathor, Heirs to the Halls of Revandon, would safeguard At’aine. The Conclave finally departed the world.

Questions? Interest? I can get an OOC up within two days as I have a lot of the major stuff written out already.

[AkaylaTheWriter]

This sounds really cool and well thought out.
I'd role play this.

[agentmanatee]

Sounds awesome

[Gamerdude369]

I like this idea, I also like building worlds, give everyone a better handle on telling a good story. If I could, I'd like to brainstorm some ideas.

How important was magic to the world? Obviously it played a huge roll but aside from throwing the world into chaos how wide were the effects? An event like this would strike me to be akin to the effects of the black plague, killing large portions of the population. If magic was a pillar of civilization, was it more of a luxury or a necessity, such as cities that existed in places man could not build, such as floating cities in the sky or on a lake, or magic to fight back natural elements, such as intolerable cold of the north. Heck, if magic was important in ocean trading can the ships sail properly now through routes that needed the aid of magic. Twenty years later this might be dealt with by then, but just a little bit to think about for back story, lore, and how the world works.

Aside from the environmental effects, the social and political effects would also be nothing to blink at if long distance communication leaned on magic even a little, then even after twenty years there may be cities or kingdoms that no one has heard from since the Well fell. There are also the ramifications of if a Maegi were in any sort of seat of power, that civil wars could break out for thrones, titles and land.

This is all a lot to talk and thing about so I just wanted to throw it out there.

On the note of the plague, this concept reminds me of the Spellplague from the Forgotten Realms D&D setting. Might be something to look up, as well as the Spellscarred.

[LokiLeo789]

You have my interest!

[ravenDivinity]

I want in.

[Heat]

Also interested. I can help with worldbuilding if you want me to.

[Draconfound]

Hm, this might be interesting

[Varromere]

Thank you all for your interest! Also, thank you Gamerdude369 for initiating the process. If you have any ideas, throw them out there and we can discuss.

Magic was a massive part of the world, but more so At’aine. The Well of the World was almost like the heart of Arileth, and its radiant waters the blood of the world itself. With its corruption, naturally, the world is also suffering. How do we portray this? A part of the more immediate symptoms of the Calamity are the Mountains of Maltheria falling to the earth and the resulting valley being flooded by the sea. Over time, the waters of At’aine emerged and tainted the inland sea, turning it black and killing anything in it. Naturally, these dark waters are seeping into the ocean.

I was also thinking of some more, subtler changes to the natural world. In the southernmost tips of the world, where the roleplay begins, are the Free Cities of the Druid Clans. Perhaps the humans of these cities are more attuned to the less-obvious changes in the world?

Another idea, which actually inspired this world, is the collapse of a massive floating structure. I call it (placeholder name), the Spire of the Stars, and I was thinking that perhaps it crashed into the capital city of Eredin (called Aldaran, or Aldaran-under-Shadow). This could play into political change – the fall of Aldaran leading to the fall of Eredin.

Regarding politics (my favourite topic), the Great Empire of Merthys falls and the Paerium Empire replaces it. The Merthyne Emperor is a direct descendent of one of the first maegi. The blood of this family has always been strong, and the Emperor of Merthys is likened to a modern-day god. However, the Calamity eliminated his power, made him blind and weak. His cousin assassinates him and ascends to the throne. The War of Merthys begins, concluding with the separation of the old empire into Ifsherys, Soharys and Jhesarys. Meanwhile, Paerius conquers what is left of Eredin, Olgoroth and takes a hefty slice of Merthys.

To redirect to Gamer’s post, the importance of magic varied across the world. The essence of At’aine is a major part of Arileth, making it quite important to the very planet itself. However, how dependent should the world’s peoples have been on magic? Keeping in mind that maegi were supposed to be the world’s guardians (of course, this was not always the case).

Thoughts? Ideas? If you’re all very interested in worldbuilding, I can give what I have, and perhaps we can discuss it over Skype chat or something?

[ravenDivinity]

@Varromere: I like the sound of that. I don't want to build too much of the world pregame (it'd be a little overwhelming to keep up with and a lot to expose very early), but I would love to talk about it some and lay down some huge main points without spoiling anything in the plot. What role will the players be taking, as per the introduction you typed? Also, I'll take up your offer for what you have and a Skype discussion.

[MonkeyBusiness]

I like the idea and you can count me in. I do have some questions like what races are we looking at in this roleplay and how do each species interact with each other? Like are some races more prone to fight with each other more than others or do all get along with each other besides massive genocidal wars.

[Varromere]

Monkey,

There are three races in the world (there were four, but the last departed with The Conclave).

They are the humans, the vrakis and the maruger. The humans will be the only playable race.

The vrakis and the humans are almost entirely hostile towards each other as a result of the events of the war. The vrakis have greater numbers, greater physical power and greater landmass than any of the other races.

The maruger are centaurs. They remained neutral in the conflict and have been unscathed by the Calamity (the last maruger mage died two centuries beforehand). They are a nomadic race who interact with both humans and vrakis for trading purposes and maintain a prosperous relationship with the humans of Zhevarra.

Raven,

It's difficult to explain the role of the players without spoiling a part of the story. I will say that each player has something to offer The Claimant and that the roleplay begins with a journey.

[The Harbinger of Ferocity]

Consider my interest invested and that I have further great interest in, given that magic sounds all but destroyed from the initial post alone, as to who and what the characters would be capable of (or expected to be).

[Twisted Fate]

Definitely interested in this!

[Gamerdude369]

How important magic is would depend on three factors I would think.

How does magic work?
Magic by its very nature falls under the rule of deus ex machina, so it needs to have rules lest anything goes. Personally I am a fan of settings where magic is an art rather than a talent. What I mean by this is that it involves an amount of time, energy and foresight, so simple magic could take minutes, and complex magic could take days, but the result would be god like. I also like when it is fast paced, think Last Avatar style.

What does magic do?
Since the bloodline has been watered down so to speak, it would be safe to say that magic becomes a specialty or better yet hereditary. So each magi has power over a specific aspect of magic. I'm thinking elemental, spiritual, divination, druidic (need to define what it means to be druid), healing, etc. Each one can be broken down further and further still. If this is not the case and magic lets you control the very fabric of the world, then I suppose power levels just dropped and where they were once able to move mountains, they can now only move stones, if magic was still a thing of course.

How many Maegi were there?
This is where importance is really determined. If the Maegi were less than 1% of the world, then the effects they had would not be too grand, but if all they created something that made life easier for everyone else, then the disruption would be much grander scale when what they created crumbled.

What I think is that after twenty years, the world would have adjusted well enough if magic wasn't the end all be all. Call it that the Conclave believed that man still needed to do for themselves and not rely on the power of the well. There would be those that abused their power, but the "good" Maegi would likely rise and route out the corruption if that happened. Maegi were likely sought out or made nobles so the capitals would feel it the most but the free cities may have only had one or two, so they would be relatively unaffected save for the world around them going to hell in a hand basket.

I would love to see what you already have for the setting, but getting on Skype can be problematic for me. The only thing I think needs to be flushed out are the cities, or at lease enough info for us to build them ourselves. So where they are in relation to one another, what their geography is like, what relations are like with each other, the type of government or number of people in power. The state of the country and its cities would be important to.

[Pandadise RS]

I'm also in, it seems very promising and I like the initial idea, as well as the input from the others. It will be very interesting. :DD

[Varromere]

Hands up if you'd like a lore document!

[Draconfound]

Hands up if you'd like a lore document!

@Varromere

How is that lore coming along?

[Varromere]

It's getting there! I apologise but I have an essay due for uni on Friday and I'm a tad (underexaggeration) behind so if I go MIA, don't lose hope! If you guys want to ask anything just PM me and I'll reply as soon as I can. :)

[Paradox Witch]

Take your time, real life takes priority after all!

I'm definitely interested in this, by the way. Delicious, delicious worldbuilding.