I think that's everyone. But hey-o! The first OOC post is completed, and the character sheet template is ready for you to work with. Religion and History sections have been filled out. They're chew-able versions of stuff I originally wrote in my personal notes, and... and frankly, they're better written than the rambly mess that makes up my personal notes.
Note that I may not accept everyone that applies for this thread. I want to say that up front. I am perfectly happy running for a large group, but I will be vetting applications very carefully, as I want to make sure that we're all going in wanting the same things out of this game.
I've encouraged you in the character sheet template to NOT write too much in multiple places. This is for the above reason, but also because I want you to be able to edit your post easily if need be. Changes will be asked, most likely. Just because I suggest revisions doesn't mean you're denied.
I should note that while I study medieval arms and armor a lot and I want this world to feel very real, I DON'T expect everyone that applies to be experts on feudal society and how the medieval world operates. It's a plus if you are! But it's not a requirement, and I'll try to be as accommodating as I can so long as you put forth a good and honest effort once the game begins.
Finally, thank you all for your interest thus far, and especially for your patience. My job is one where I get unexpected overtime sometimes. It's good pay when that happens, but damn if it doesn't get in the way of writing this sort of thing. I'm glad to have so many people who were interested in this concept around.
So... without further ado, please feel free to ask questions! Send me PMs or post them here; I'll try to answer them at night.
Something I'll add to the first post of the OOC later:
POSTING FREQUENCY
We all have busy lives. I won't try to strong-arm you into posting daily or anything. I will leave a few guidelines, however.
1) Let's try to each post at least twice a week. 2) Let's also try not to drown the IC with 20 post conversations between 2-3 characters. That's not nice. If you have that urge, why not make a collaborative post via Google Documents or a similar program? 3) If you won't be able to post for a while, just please try and give me some advance notice. We'll work something out.
ABOUT DISCORD SERVERS
I don't have one made for this RP yet. Should I make one for this RP? Give me your thoughts on that. I won't invite anyone until I've picked players, however; that much I can promise you.
I like Discord, but I know some people don't. It CAN be helpful for organizing collaborative posts and the like. So... let me know if you want one or not, folks.
HOW THE RP WILL OPERATE
I, as the GM, will sometimes give you hard consequences. When I say that, what I mean is sometimes I'll say something bad happens to your character, and it simply does. It may feel god-modey at times. It may even involve your character dying. You have to be willing to accept that going in.
With that said, I'll generally try to give you a scenario or circumstance and let you RP your way out of it. And no, my goal isn't to kill players, but it IS to create a world that feels real and makes your actions matter, for better or worse.
Also keep in mind that I will be posting music samples from YouTube in my posts as mood-setting music, typically in the form of yellow hyperlinks attached to a sentence at the start of a paragraph. You are NOT required to listen to these bits as you read the post. However, you'll make me feel warm and fuzzy if you DO listen to them. (Feel free to hover your mouse over those hyperlinks before you click them to make sure the hyperlink is legit, of course. I won't take offense. Safety first.)
We'll be starting this story in a tavern, as befits any quest that leads into a dungeon. Is it cliche? Yes. Yes, it is.
On that note... It's midnight, and I need to go to bed. I'll check on this thread tomorrow morning and tomorrow night. See you folks later.
Characters in Men-at-Arms are inherently flawed. You'll notice that you cannot create a character that has mastered many skills, nor can you make a master-of-arms that has no weaknesses. Every character can only be so specialized, and the more proficient you are with a given skill or weapon, the more proficiency points it will cost you.
PLEASE post your character applications in the OOC thread, not here. This is for accepted character sheets. But please keep reading! The rules for character creation lie below.
When you design your character, go in with the following goals:
Make a person, not a cartoon character. I don't want an Edgy McBadass. I want a person that has real fears and real desires. I want a person with goals, with virtues and with failings. I want a person.
Make me want to know more about your character. Long, boring backstories that go nowhere are NOT as valuable to me as engaging backstories that leave some measure of mystique. Entice me.
Show me through your character what your vision for this game is. I want to know what sort of role you want to play and what sort of game you expect this to be. How you write your character and what you do with them will help me decide who I keep as players and who I politely refuse.
Don't try to "cheat" the system. If you try to powerplay in character creation, chances are you're going to be misbehaving in the game, too. "Cheating" the system I've presented is grounds for immediate dismissal from my roleplay.
Show me the good and the bad. Your character should have flaws, but they obviously need to have virtues, too. I don't want Sadsack McSadderson; that can be a sort of reverse Mary Sue. Refer back to my first guideline. Make a person.
Have decorum. I'm okay with tragic and dark elements in my game, but I don't want to see GRRM-style expository about fucking and undesired intercourse, okay? Writing about stuff like that won't win you any brownie points with me. Allude to such tragedies if you must, but always be tactful and respectful of the topic.
I think those are guidelines enough. On to the actual character sheet!
I don't have any preference as to how you format your sheet. Use fancy colors, realign the text to suit your preferences, etc. So long as you have all the information I requested and put your sheet in a hider and don't make the text hard to read, I'll be happy. Please note that I have bad eyesight and I will fight you if you choose to make the text some freaking dark gray bullcrap that blends in with the background of this website. I'm serious. I will fight you.
You may include an image for your character, though it is not necessary. I will say that I prefer painting-quality pictures, and I don't like anime or photos that much; however, I won't disqualify you solely on your choice of picture. Probably. Within reason.
NAME: Your character's name. SEX: Your character's biological sex. And if you say anything along the lines of "Yes please" I will slap you. AGE: Your character's age in years AND their age category in parentheses, such as 19 (Youth) or 31(Middle-Aged). Your character must be at least 16 years of age. Most people are dead by the age of 60-70 in this setting. HOMELAND: What realm does your character hail from? (You CAN be an Outlander, but I highly recommend you be from within the Aldaric region. If you have an idea for an Outlander, feel free to discuss things with me.) BACKGROUND: List the background you chose for your character from the Google Document I presented. Don't write a backstory yet. TRAITS: List your character's traits and describe them in 1 sentence each. Use 2 sentences if you absolutely must. No more than that. Remember that you can either use traits I listed in the document OR make up your own - but don't try gaming the system. Did I say that already? FLAWS: See Traits. Also, Fatal Flaws should be very clearly listed as Fatal Flaws. You can only have one Fatal Flaw. PROFICIENCIES: List your character's proficiencies and their associated ranks. You can use numbers or Roman Numerals. Just be sure you do things in the correct order given your chosen background. PERSONALITY: Write a few sentences or a few paragraphs. Use your discretion. Try to answer some of the following topics, but don't worry if you can't touch on them all:
What does your character fear?
What are their hopes and dreams?
What is their instinct in battle?
How do they cope with fear?
What is their faith? What do they worship, and how does it define them? DO they worship at all?
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 3-6 sentences. You don't need more. EQUIPMENT: Give me a few sentences about what sort of weaponry, armor, and other equipment your character has. Try to think about your character's background and what they can reasonably carry on the road. Don't worry if you make a mistake; I'll make a post about what people can reasonably carry later. And don't forget: if you have a packmule or a cart or something, you can carry more, but you can't always take that stuff indoors. Also, removing stuff from belt pouches or a backpack takes time. Your bags ain't magic. HISTORY: 5 paragraphs max. Be reasonable here. If you "technically" make only 5 paragraphs but they're each 10 sentences long, I will just refuse your character. Note that your character is a freelance mercenary with no affiliation to a major mercenary company at present.
Try to cover some or all of the following topics in your history:
Why did your character become a mercenary?
How long have they been a mercenary? Have they ever served in a mercenary company, or have they always been a solo act?
Heyo! Interested. Quick question about the setting. Is it more like the late or early medieval age? I ask for two reasons, 1. to get a better sense of technology, armors, and weapons, and 2. to understand how power is centralized in these various kingdoms.
Somewhere in between. Gunpowder doesn't exist yet. Crossbows are the newfangled knight-killing weapon, and there are rumors that the goblins have created even more devious versions of them. Plate armor exists but is very expensive, so some poorer knights still prefer to run around in things like chainmail.
Are the nobles often as powerful if not more so than the King himself? Or does the King rule above all typically and hold most of the most valuable holdings?
Depends on the realm, but by and large the King has quite a bit of power and divine right in most given realms. There are generally a small number of nobles whose power is roughly equal to that of the king's, but the king's influence is generally vaster.
As you can see with Abagon, the Black Duchy, and Lithenia, divine right ain't always respected.
I'm back from work and you folks can expect an updated post some time tonight, along with character sheets and a summary of what I'm looking for in characters.
It's not as complete as I'd like - it took longer to has out than I expected. Still, here's what I've got so far. Feel free to look it over.
History and Religion sections will be squished down from their "screw this word document" volume sizes to more biteable sizes for your perusal tonight. So will an actual character sheet be available, too.
It's not as complete as I'd like - it took longer to has out than I expected. Still, here's what I've got so far. Feel free to look it over.
History and Religion sections will be squished down from their "screw this word document" volume sizes to more biteable sizes for your perusal tonight. So will an actual character sheet be available, too.
Beware the Keep of the Blackened Mire, the old rhyme begins. Every child in the Kingdom of Beldemar knows the story. It is an ancient place, one which stood watch over the endless expanse that is the Wildwood, one which kept the beasts of that misty forest at bay. It was a marvel of man, a grand castle with magnificent turrets, a place where the governors of the past era dwelt. Few fortresses were as impregnable, and none held back the wild like this mighty keep.
None remember the true name of this once proud citadel any longer. It has long since sunk into the earth, the land around it becoming a thick and pitiless swamp. As many things built in the days of Old Aldonia, it fell when the Empire did. The Aldonians brought their destruction upon themselves, having tampered too long with magics that should have been forbidden. The Caernlings, those who called the land which is now Beldemar home, overthrew their masters and took Imperial holdings for their own... but for some reason they kept a wide berth from the Keep of the Black Mire.
Blackmire Keep remained dormant for years, though eerie lights and strange happenings surrounded it. Villages established near it never lasted; too many hauntings and disappearances dissuaded long-term settlement. It became known as a cursed place, a peaty patch of land where the grass grew tall and black, where the sun never quite shone, where the marsh ate the castle itself.
Recently, however, that dormancy has ended. People have been vanishing from their homes. Travelers claim to have seen shadowy figures and strange creatures in the surrounding lands. Dark storms have settled in the sky over the keep, and the vines grow thicker and more twisted. Something dwells within those pagan halls. Evil stirs.
Unfortunately for Beldemar, all their best knights and their armies are busy elsewhere. Abagon to the west has been thrown into a bitter civil war, and Beldemar itself has begun a naval campaign against the Holy Empire of Lithenia. The villages south of Benetia, the capital of the realm, have been left utterly defenseless from the machinations of the haunted keep.
But hopelessness leads to desperation, and desperation is good for you. You are a mercenary. You go where others will not, kill things so that others don't have to risk their own sorry hides. You and the other sellswords in Benetia are in a good position to earn a pretty purse of gold. Head to the crumbling castle; chase off ghosts for the sake of some superstitious serfs; get a sack of coins from the Lord Mayor and retire to live like a king in Carise. It should be easy, shouldn't it?
The Depths of Blackmire Keep
Welcome to Blackmire Keep, an overgrown ruin in the middle of a fetid swamp and part of my homebrew Men-at-Arms setting! This setting is one I originally intended to use for a tabletop RPG, but as time has gone by I've found myself wanting to apply it to a forum setting more and more. Freeform RP with only minor rules to guide the game may make for a better story, I reckon.
Now, thus far I've just copy-and-pasted what was in the original Interest Check, but from here below is where it changes. For those who haven't read the list of setting assumptions already, I'm slapping those in a hider below.
1) This story is grounded in realism. Yes, there are fantastic elements. Yes, there are monsters and foul beasts. However, a single person with a sword cannot be expected to hold off an army, nor can a good enough acrobat make a 100 foot drop to the ground without breaking their legs. This is a setting where what you can do is bound by the limitations of real world physics, even if your enemies can bend those laws with magic. 2) Magic is bad. Magic is real, but it's also a corrupting influence. Those who practice it are burned as witches or worse, because inevitably those that wield it become twisted. It brought low the Aldonian Empire, and it will cause another catastrophe if left unchecked. No player characters get to cast magic. Well, unless they're really, really stupid. 3) You are mere men and women facing unspeakable things. In case it wasn't clear, the world of the Aldaric Sea Region isn't fair. Do not be surprised if you go up against the beasts of high fantasy settings equipped only with mundane equipment. Do not be surprised if something terrible happens to your character. Everyone that enters Blackmire Keep is at risk of death, dismemberment, or anything else the GM chooses to inflict upon them. 4) Death is permanent. No take backsies. 5) You are not heroes. You are mercenaries. You are sellswords from a variety of backgrounds, people with very real limitations. You will create your character in an RPG-esque fashion, but thereafter will not have to worry about RPG elements. Instead, keep in mind the limitations of the character you've made, and play them in their role as best as you can. 6) Faith is a matter of faith. The God of this setting is only as real to its people as the God of the real world. It is entirely seemly to make a character that doesn't believe in a higher power, and just as seemly to make one that does. There is no certainty of God's existence as there is in most fantasy settings. 7) You can only be a human. The people of Men-at-Arms come from a variety of backgrounds, but they're all human. Elves and dwarves do exist, but they're monsters, beasts of the fey; and though there may be orcs and other such beasties, none of them are friendly. If something isn't human, it's usually safe to assume it wants you dead. (A caveat - I may allow people to play characters with mysterious heritages or some sort of taint, whether from magic or in their blood. We'll cover that via PM when the time comes.) 8) This is a feudal setting. The divide between nobility and the common folk is very real. Consider that when you RP. 9) Everyone has flaws. I mean it. Every character will have a very real flaw once we've finished making characters. Bear that in mind - nobody in Men-at-Arms is perfect.
Our story takes place in the Aldaric Sea Region, a war-torn realm of man pressed from without and within by monsters of many flavors. Its temperatures range from temperate to freezing cold, and its terrain sports such lovely locales as the Cinderbog, the steep cliffs of Beldemar, the endless Wildwood, the craggy peaks of Jotunheimr, and the overgrown remnants of the Shattered Isles. This realm surrounds the Aldaric Sea, but the sea stretches North, East, and West as well, joining the Northsea, the Sea of Storms, and the Vester Sea respectively.
However, our story does not span all those climates, vast and varied as they may be. Our story focuses on the the lands surrounding the city of Benetia, capital of the Kingdom of Beldemar, and the pile of rubble to its south they call Blackmire Keep.
Characters in Men-at-Arms
Humans are the only truly civilized folk within the Aldaric Sea Region. In a world inhabited by fierce monsters, barbaric orcs, aloof fey and the walking dead, humanity has carved out a few bastions of order from the sea of chaos. Humans are more advanced, more intelligent, and more capable than their many neighbors.
At least, this is what humans believe.
It is a harsh world humanity lives in, and humans have as much capacity for cruelty as any man-eating orc or walking pile of bones. They hail from many parts of the world, and a motley assortment of cultures and ethnicities now call this region home. Black-skinned men from the west, pale northmen from across the Aldaric Sea, Aldonians from the ruined remains of their old Empire, wild-haired Caernlings fleeing strange happenings in the southern woods... Over the years, these disparate peoples have all made this fertile territory their home.
Of course, with so many people packed into a single region, war is inevitable. Humans have been fighting each other since time immemorial, and the present day is no different. Some humans fight each other out of loyalty or duty, for some greater cause, for a better world...
You, though? You’re a mercenary. You know what you fight for.
Ethnicities
The medieval world of Men-at-Arms is one where cultural exchange is common, and where what distinguishes one group of people from another often comes down to political affiliation. Though the Aldaric Sea Region has limited contact with the world beyond its waters, the people here commonly interact with one another.
The following is a list of the common ethnicities in the Men-at-Arms setting. Note that while these are “typical” descriptions for each group, they are by no means the end-all, and due to the prolonged contact these groups have had with each other it’s not at all uncommon for people to be of mixed races. There’s no stigma against having mixed heritage, either, except among truly stubborn believers in “blood purity,” such as the inbred lords of New Aldonia.
High Aldonians are a pale, almost ghostly-looking people whose hair is typically black or white. Their eyes have eerie colors, such as icy blue or violet. Due to inbreeding to maintain “pure lineage,” Aldonians are known to suffer from respiratory problems among other things. They can mostly only be found in New Aldonia, though people all throughout the known world can claim to have some Aldonian blood in them.
Low Aldonians are people who were considered the lower class in the Aldonian Empire’s height (but still higher class than foreigners in that era). They are native to the area which is now called Lithenia, and are an olive-skinned people with large, dark, expressive eyes. Their hair is typically curly, and it ranges from black to brown to a sort of reddish-black.
Caernlings are a wild-haired bunch of woodfolk who hail originally from the Wildwood. They are the smallest of the peoples of the region, and their hair is usually brown or black, and their eyes brown, green, or black. They are known for maintaining the Old Ways.
Reavers are broad-shouldered and rough-looking men who hail from the north, from the lands that are now called Jotunheim. Their skin ranges from pale to a light brown, and their hair comes in the full range one would expect human hair to have. Their eyes are generally blue or brown. They are known to be hale and hearty folk.
Westerlings are dark-skinned people whose skin tones range from coal black to a light brown. Their eyes are usually brown, amber, or golden in color. They are most likely to be find in Abagon or Grunmark, though some can be found just about anywhere. Westerlings are generally tall, lean, and strong.
Places of Birth
The coast of the Aldaric Sea is home to several unique cultures and independent nations. While certainly there is a baseline similarity between the different realms due to the influence of the old Aldonian Empire, these territories have distinct environments from one another, both physical and political.
Player characters in the world of Men-at-Arms may be from any of the listed regions. While human cultures do exist outside the scope of this setting, player characters by and large should hail from within the Aldaric Sea Region. (PM me if you wish to be from outside the region.)
The year is 912 A.F., or “After the Fall.” This denotes the number of years that have passed since the Aldonian Empire crumbled.
There is no place which better encompasses the glory and the romance of chivalric ideals as Abagon does. Nowhere else are more noble steeds bred. Nowhere else has birthed so many glorious champions of the Celestial Church. Nowhere else have the peasantry died in so vast of droves for nothing than here in the most war-torn realm of Abagon.
The Kingdom of Abagon is a realm caught in the midst of a vicious civil war. The old royal bloodline came to an end in 903 A.F., and after some brief infighting the lords of Abagon elected Lord Markus, the Duke of Ostager, to be their new king. His rule, however, proved divisive as he favored his northern neighbors, much to the chagrin of those southern lords in the realm’s traditional heartland. When a young noble named Camren claimed to the bastard child of the last true-blooded royal king in 910 A.F., civil war began in earnest, and the realm has not known a moment of peace since.
Abagon is the most powerful of the kingdoms of man, a vast realm with plentiful resources. Its fields are fertile, its mines full of silver, and its pastures lush and perfect for grazing. It also happens to be situated perfectly to manage trade coming from the west. It would be poised to conquer its neighbors if not for the civil war which wracks it so.
The people of Abagon are an eclectic bunch. A good many of them are Westerlings, dark-skinned folk who came from the land of Vestania and conquered the region after the fall of the Aldonian Empire. However, the Westerlings were quick to intermarry with the Caernlings and Reavers of their new territories, the better to secure alliances with the local clans and to ensure peace in their realm. Thus, the nobles and peasantry alike often have mixed heritage.
Once the Aldonian Empire ruled the whole world. In the age of bronze, they conquered the Reavers, the Caernlings, and the Lithenians alike. Their fortresses stood in all corners of the known world, and their reach was without limit. Now, however, nothing remains of the old empire but ghosts and a few rats clinging to the sinking vessel that is New Aldonia.
There is no more decrepit realm than that of New Aldonia. They pray still to the pagan gods of the olden times, but have none of the knowledge to call on their power like their ancestors did. Their holdings are meager and few, a craggy lot of isles and broken sures where the grass grows thin and the flowers are all wilted. Their bounty comes largely from the sea, and even that is a pittance compared to the fishing fleets of Grunmark and Carise. Their soldiers are quite elite, but they are few in number. They are a broken people, and if they had land of value, they would have been conquered long ago.
Aldonians are a haughty folk. They believe firmly in maintaining “pure lineage,” and so put great importance on appearing to be truly Aldonian. It doesn’t help their prestige any. Most of their serfs have the blood of Caernlings in them anyway, and it is perhaps only a matter of time before the Aldonian “purity” fades from existence.
They say that for every citizen of the Kingdom of Beldemar there is an oaken spear or a stiff longbow to be found in their hands. That saying isn’t far from the truth.
Beldemar is as rustic a realm as they come. Its people are largely foresters, shepherds, and farmers, simple folk who look to their liege lords for guidance. They have only one settlement that can honestly be called a city - the capital of Benetia - but they’ve countless rural communities, not all of whom answer to a baron or knight. It is Beldemar which provides most of the grain and timber for the region, and it is from other realms they get their iron and steel.
Of course, Beldemar is not a realm at peace, not at present. Just this year, in 912 A.F., the Holy Empire of Lithenia attempted a surprise attack on Beldemar shipping in response to a diplomatic insult. Now the two nations are locked in bitter combat, leaving an opportunity for bandits and worse things to attack the border provinces of this vast realm.
Most people in Beldemar are of Caernling descent, though some Reavers and Westerlings live among them as well. Their knights are mocked by foreigners for being too simple or for being country bumpkins.
Not all lords bear their titles with divine right. Every kingdom must start somewhere, after all, and legitimacy must be built up. However, to be a warlord in the age of kings is a quick path to earning a reputation as a tyrant.
The Black Duchy is ruled by one Barthos Garcell, a skilled general that betrayed his King, destroyed what was once the Kingdom of Lithenia, and claimed the Duchy of Marsailles for himself. In doing so, he allowed the Temple of the Bleeding Lord to rise to power and create a theocracy that became the Holy Empire of Lithenia. Nevertheless, King Barthos now reigns as the supreme ruler of his realm, and so long as that continues to be the case, he could not care less what happens south of his land.
The Black Duchy is the black sheep of the nations of the world. It has not been recognized by any of the other realms except for New Aldonia, but nevertheless is an inconvenient place to invade. Its manpower is considerable, too: as the realm was conquered twenty years ago in 892 A.F., the highly experienced officers who led Barthos’ armies are still alive, and his people have had time to replenish their numbers. It helps, too, that Barthos has a good reputation among mercenaries to make up for a terrible one among nobles.
The Duchy occupies some rough territory, but its people do well enough for themselves. Their settlements are defensively placed on hills and along rivers, and the swamps form a good natural barrier (and make Lithenian cavalry charges a fool’s errand). Its trade with their neighbors to the east and the west, but to approach the Lithenian border from the north without proper credentials is certain to end badly.
Aldonians, Reavers, and Caernlings make up the majority of the Black Duchy’s populace.
Carise is uniquely situated to be the heart of the Aldaric Sea Region. All trade flows into this city at some point, and all trade flows out from it, too. It serves as a gathering place for travelers of all colors, commands a mighty fleet of all kinds of ships, and has somehow managed to maintain its independence in the face of Beldemar reconquista.
Also called “The City at the Center of the World,” Carise is a magnificent merchant city that depends on its militia, its mercenary army, and its naval superiority to keep itself protected from outsiders. Of course, the truth is it’s mostly protected by the fact that it’s such a good city-state to have as a trading partner. Their army can hold off invasion, but it’s their value to the other nations of the realm - and the risk that someone else will take the prized city from under their noises - that keeps ideas of invasion in check.
The common people of Carise live arguably better lives than most others in the known world. For one, they’re not serfs, and their allegiance is owed to the city, not some local lord. However, powerful merchant princes and underworld criminals have considerable influence in Carise, so sometimes the distinction between “liege lord” and “wealthy bastard” gets muddled. Overall, though, there are more craftsmen here than elsewhere in the world, and Carise is home to prominent universities.
People from Carise have the most varied of heritages, and even outlanders sometimes make an appearance here.
The last bastion of the Reavers of old is the Kingdom of Grunmark. Though its glory faded in the time of the Aldonian Empire, the realm of Grunmark stands poised to reclaim some of its former glory through the recolonization of their ancient homeland.
The mighty Reavers once held a vast territory and a collection of no less than four kingdoms. They were famed raiders, feared throughout the entirety of the known world, sailing to the outlands and beyond. Even the Aldonians feared them for a time. However, nobody could hvae predicted the emergence of the Jotun, called by most nowadays as the orcs. A mass of gray bodies poured out from the mountains and the northern reaches, overpowering the sea raiders and destroying their realms for good. It was only by the intervention of the old Aldonian Empire that Grunmark survived destruction. To this day, some Reaver stories suggest the Aldonians brought the gray plague upon them with their foul magics.
Whatever the cause of the invasion, Grunmark stood as the last remaining Reaver Kingdom. Some still cling to the old raiding traditions there, but others have fully embraced the word of the One True God, that which is preached by the Celestial Church. The Celestial Church deems now to be a time for good men and women to go on a crusade against the Jotun and to reclaim the land which belongs to mankind. Only God knows if they will succeed.
Grunmark is a mountainous and hilly land better suited for shepherding than farming. Fish are in abundance, and there’s no small amount of iron in those hills.
Reavers follow feudalism in the way of the Kingdom of Abagon, but its people have more independent lives than in Abagon. Nevertheless, they also have rougher lives with less wealth. Most young men take to sailing to find their fortune. Others become mercenaries.
Reavers and Westerlings alike live in large numbers in Grunmark.
A result of foolish actions on the Lithenian peninsula around twenty years ago, the Holy Empire of Lithenia is a theocratic realm ruled in accordance of the tenets of the Bleeding Lord, a reinterpretation of the God of the Celestial Church. If one does not follow that faith when traveling through this realm, they had best be good at acting.
Lithenia isn’t an empire in the same sense that Aldonia was. Indeed, the word ‘empire’ is a misnomer. However, the King-Bishop of Lithenia is nevertheless keen on redefining how the world sees his realm, on becoming the absolute power in the region, though exactly how to do so is something that will take time. It is a swampy land, a place prone to outbreaks of plague and blight.
Lithenia is largely a self-sufficient realm, and it produces more than a small quantity of bog iron to arm itself. However, it doesn’t have an easy source of timber, so it tries to trade with other realms. Unfortunately, other realms aren’t keen on equipping their crazed zealot neighbors with boats to invade them with.
History
The history of the Aldaric Sea Region is rife with violence. It can most easily be split into two eras: Before Aldonia’s fall, and after Aldonia’s fall.
There was a time in the far past when one empire reigned supreme over the many realms that make up what we call the Aldaric Sea Region. This was the Aldonian Empire, and as of yet no kingdom has ever held so much power on these shores as they did.
The Aldonian Empire was ostensibly a republic, and perhaps it was in the beginning. The history books suggest that it began as a meritocratic city-state, one whose founding principles were integrity and justice. That did not last long. Its rulers were decadent; its structure oligarchic; and it was a realm where pagan arts were freely practiced. Many of these practices involved magic.
For a long time, magic was a part of the world of man. The empire grew vast for its warmages, for its judicious use of destructive powers. They had cults for all sorts of things: to curry the favors of the Fey, of the Underworld, of the Ancestors; to call upon the dead; to command the elements. They relied on magic so much, it twisted them all. It made them mad. It sucked the life from their bodies and turned them pale and white-haired. Fools.
The empire grew too large for power to be centralized. Power-hungry governors and generals that would be kings alike caused civil war after civil war. Some say that the people of the capital ignored what happened beyond the walls to revel. Others say their reveleries were a ritual to some foul collection of false gods, a macabre scene of bloodletting and orgies. Scholars debate how true any of these stories are, but they can say for certain one thing: magic was conducted in the capital on the fifth day of the fifth month in the five hundred and fifty-fifth year of the empire’s existence. Both the good moon and the wicked moon were in the sky that night, and the total eclipse of the sun was the climax of a great arcane ritual.
Nobody is sure quite what followed. The Shattered Isles didn’t earn that name for nothing, you know. Whatever happened that day shook the whole world. The subcontinent that the capital city of Aldaris sat on was shattered into countless pieces. The city itself was buried beneath the waves. And in that time, it seemed all the calamities of the world struck at once: the Jotun poured out from the north, the goblins and their dark masters from the south, the Elves from the Goldleaf Forest, the Dwarves from their caves throughout the land… In the span of one black week, more desolation was caused than there had been in over five hundred years of imperial rule.
To this day, there are many Imperial castles and cities which remain abandoned ruins that no living soul dares to tread. Strange magics surround such places. They are haunted, so say the old wives’ tales, possessed by vengeful spirits and the pagan gods whose rites have been forgotten in more recent times. But… Well, do you believe such tall tales?
The start of the next year marks the dawn of the present era: A.F., or After the Fall. There was a brief period of time where the Reavers of Grunmark ruled over colonies over all the southern half of the region. Meanwhile, the northern territories were war-torn messes without unity. This we call the Dark Age, when raiding and pillaging was common all about the shores of the Aldaric Sea.
The arrival of the Westerlings from Vestania somewhere around 200 A.F. brought great change to the balance of power in the region. Their arrival and their war with the Reaver kingdoms allowed the Caernlings in the east to overthrow their Reaver overseers and forge their own realm: Beldemar.
The Westerlings waged terrific wars with the Kingdoms of Grunmark and Beldemar. They were a unified people at first, but quickly fell into civil war after the death of their high king. They were reunited in 355 A.F. by the warlord Cortanzo, the slayer of the nine-headed hydra and the man who built the city of Caledon. He is the one who united the Westerlings again and created the Kingdom of Abagon.
Meanwhile, the people of the Lithenian Peninsula formed a loose confederacy of duchies, fighting every now and then with one another in petty bids for power. Their power grew as that of the few remaining Aldonians dwindled; indeed, the Lithenians took back much of their ancestral lands from New Aldonia, and in the end left them with the scraps of land that realm now possesses in 353 A.F. The Lithenian nobles would wage many wars against their Caernling neighbors to the south for a very long time, and that is largely why Beldemar and Lithenia are such bitter enemies to this day.
Abagon continued to fight minor wars with its neighbors (and sometimes with itself) throughout the course of the region’s history. So did Grunmark, so did Beldemar and Lithenia… Truly, it would take too long to discuss the details of them all. Suffice it to say the land has been drenched in the blood of a lot of soldiers.
Carise declared independence from Abagon in 585 A.F. With the support of Beldemar and - surprisingly, given the isolationist policies of the realm - New Aldonia, they were able to keep Abagon’s forces at bay long enough for Carise’s control of the seas to strangle their trade routes. With their official secession from the kingdom, Abagon found itself hard-pressed to advance eastward, especially since Carise itself was fairly impregnable. Since then, however, Carise has been rather neutral in the affairs of the realms, carefully playing at politics to avoid being crushed by larger neighbors.
Strange happenings surrounded the Goldleaf Forest in 603 A.F. The cause was unknown, but the forest swallowed up several villages and castles near its borders. Locals blamed the actions of the elves. Scholars remain puzzled as to exactly what happened to this day, but shifted the balance of power in such a way that Lithenia was able to unite under a single king for a time. Of course, that only lasted until the Black Duchy formed in 892 A.F. Those actions led to the rise of the Lithenian theocracy.
Ships from the west started being sighted off the shores of the Aldaric Sea Region in roughly 689 A.F. By 700 A.F., merchant vessels from exotic lands started arriving. Some of these merchants shared some of the same words and customs of the Westerlings. Still, it is a difficult trade route to take, as there are many dangers out to the west. Vessels from the east started arriving in 750 A.F. as well, though they remain a relative rarity. The Sea of Storms has earned its name, and more than a few brave vessels lie buried beneath its churning waters.
910 A.F. marked the beginning of another great civil war for Abagon. It still rages to this day. Surely it is near its end…
And, not the least of importance to our story, Beldemar and Lithenia started warring with one another again in 912 A.F., the year our story begins. If it were not for that untimely war, there might not be an opportunity for honest mercenaries to make a killing. Literally.
The Role of the Sexes
The Aldaric Sea Region is situated in a world where monsters and magic are all very real, and where soldiers die in disgusting amounts for the needs of their nations. Perhaps it should come as no surprise that while there is certainly a stigma against men and women breaking their traditional roles, the ever-pressing need for more bodies on the field means that female soldiery are not heard of.
The traditional roles of the sexes certainly do still exist, and the majority of people adhere to them. And folk definitely scoff at the idea of knight-ladies and women generals. However, hard labor is expected of peasants regardless of what they have between their legs, and when steel starts flashing it doesn't matter whether the person holding a sharp stick beside you has flappy bits on their chest so long as they can stick the pointy end in the right direction.
Of course, different peoples have different degrees of tolerance for breaches of the gender norm. The Reavers of Grunmark are the most likely to accept women warriors, though women leaders still have some trouble. Rural Caernling communities (such as those outside of the Wildwood) frequently elect female leaders, and their women sometimes fight in war. Abagon had a severe outlook concerning adherence to traditional roles once, but cultural exposure to the Reavers and the Caernlings has made them a little more permissive of deviance. Lithenia and New Aldonia allow almost no breach of this unwritten social contract, however, especially among the nobility. Carise is a melting pot of ideas, and so people of all different opinions on the manner can be found there.
Religion
The Celestial Church, the Temple of the Bleeding Lord, and the Old Ways of the Caernlings are the three remaining major faiths in the Aldaric Sea Region. Most people follow one of the former two, including the Caernlings, but there are still some who try to appease the spirits of the Wildwood and who pray to rain spirits and the like to grow their crops.
The Westerlings brought with them many revolutionary ideas when they arrived. Their arrival changed how war was fought, brought better knowledge of the passage of the stars, the two moons, and the planets, and their language became a part of the common tongue that we speak today. Yet perhaps the most influential thing they brought with them was their faith.
Before they settled down in what is now Abagon, the Westerlings were warrior nomads, horsemen whose cultural traditions espoused the veneration of warrior saints who died for their faith. This was the faith of Almur-za, the Westerling word for the Creator, or God. They spread His word to the heathen Reavers first.
Scholars say that it’s a little more complicated than that, that the Reavers were as much an influence on Westerling faith as the Westerlings were on them. Supposedly, so say the eggheads, the Westerlings and the Reavers had similar beliefs already, both having legendary warriors and a creator deity. Perhaps it doesn’t matter. The point is, the Westerlings and the Reavers have always been the most ardent adherents of the Celestial Church.
The Church says that God’s words are not easily understood by mere mortals, and that he etches them in the stars. His will becomes manifest in the constellations and in the passage of the passage of the sun and the good moon, Lunne. These celestial markings also serve as a protection against evil influences, such as those posed by the dark and wicked moon, Baphmyr (which is also the name for a trickster villain from old Reaver mythology).
The Church has a plethora of saints. Every monastery, every roadside gazebo, every castle shrine seems to have its own patron saint. These saints are often warrior heroes or monster slayers, or great healers and bringers of peace. Not all of them are even ordained by the Church itself; some folk just claim one of their local heroes as a saint, it seems. The over three hundred official saints of the church are hard enough to count as it is.
Superfluous as they might seem, these saints fill a vital role in the cosmology of the Celestial Church, for these ascended heroes act as messengers of God’s will, acting out his heavenly commands. In the holy texts they manifest as signs in the clouds, on the horizon, or in other ways. Then again, just about every drunkard has claimed to see a saint telling him to punch someone or do some other stupid thing, so perhaps the saints aren’t all so divine. Still, people believe in them enough to leave offerings to them and to pray to them for guidance. Sometimes it even seems to work.
Local monasteries and shrines are vital to the continued presence of the Celestial Church in the realms about the Aldaric Sea. They serve both as gathering places of the faithful and as houses for monks. They serve as shelters in times of war, as festival grounds in times of peace, and as poor houses in times of strife. News also travels from church to church, and then from church to the commoners.
People of the faith often go on a pilgrimage across the Aldaric Sea Region to visit the most important shrines and temples of the Celestial Church. Such a pilgrimage is meant to be a rite of humility and spiritual cleansing, which thus leads to the traveler finding their self and becoming better fit to serve as an instrument of God.
All clergy of the Celestial Church are expected to have some basic understanding of warfare, as is tradition, and train extensively with the sword. Battle can be quite holy, after all, and what better weapon to conduct it with than a sword with the sun and the moon emblazoned on the hilt?
The symbol of the Celestial Church is two crossed swords, one with a sun on its pommel and one with a moon. More elaborate symbols have clouds about the sun blade and stars about the moon blade.
A radical off-shoot of the Celestial Church, the Temple of the Bleeding God is the state religion of Lithenia. It does away with the saints entirely, decrying them as mere idols, and its core belief is that God bleeds because the people of the world have forgotten the meaning of sacrifice and of true faith.
The chief difference in worship between the Celestial Church and the Temple of the Bleeding God is the focus on flagellation among adherents of the Bleeding God. Self-inflicted harm is seen as spiritually pure, and it is believed that torturous methods can cleanse bodies possessed by wicked spirits to make room for the God’s light. Whipping, leeching, ritual scarring, and self-immolation are all examples of ways people “worship” God in this way. The removal of eyes, of tongues, and genital mutilation are all considered punishments that can purify evil from a person’s soul in this faith, too.
Services to God in this faith are much more impassioned. Quiet contemplation may be the norm for those who adhere to the more orthodox Celestial Church, but there is a fire in the speeches given by preachers of the Bleeding God. They whip their flock into a frenzy, and are able to drive them to violence.
This faith is a small one at present, but its fire has started to spread beyond the borders of Lithenia.
The symbol of the Bleeding God is an eye dripping with blood.
A fair few Caernlings, especially those in settlements near the Wildwood, follow what they call the Old Ways. It is hard to define the Old Ways because what they are varies from village to village. Each shaman, wise woman and hermit has their own idea of what will appease the wood spirits, what will keep the monsters at bay, and what will protect their village from the evil that lurks in the shadows.
There are a few general similarities between these superstitious folk. For one, they tend to believe in the importance of signs found in nature. Dark clouds, three-horned calves, dead crows on the roadside - all of these things represent calamities to come. They also tend to have a fair grasp of herbalism, and while their knowledge of science is questionable they tend to be well versed in the cycles of nature.
There are dark sides to these otherwise benign-seeming folk, however. To appease the woodland spirits is one thing, but to worship them is quite another. The old stories tell of boons that the spirits of the wild grant to those they favor, of great strength and of powerful magics. The lure of such things can draw people away from the world of man and into the Wildwood. The most foolish join druidic cults. Nothing good can come of that.
There are some who still follow the faith of Old Aldonia, rare though that is. They still pray to the pagan gods of that era, but they can’t conjure up magic like their forefathers could. It’s for the best. Magic never does anyone good.
Others throughout the Aldaric Sea Region try to contact wicked spirits. The names of such spirits can be found in certain forbidden texts, such as those locked away in great libraries of universities. Most of these names are meaningless. Sometimes, though, someone calls upon a power beyond their ken, and cults form around them. It is a foolish thing to do.
It is rumored that there are elf-revering cults about and around the Goldleaf Forest. Nobody would be that stupid, though, would they?
Character Creation
To create a character for Men-at-Arms, use the resources on this post at your leisure and fill out the character sheet listed in the Characters tab.
Players are free to further define elements already on the map, such as the cities and castles, and to invent their own places as well. Players are encouraged to make up other details such as noble houses, guilds, mercenary companies, monasteries, etc. as befits their character's background.
You may begin creating characters. Applying doesn’t mean you’ll be accepted; but I can promise you that I will carefully consider every application, and that I will try to be accomodating. I cannot promise that everyone will get a chance to play.
I'm delaying the actual OOC post until the morning. It's 1 a.m., and I can tell you I'm MOSTLY done with my post. Really, I just need to write the actual character application sheet and it's all done. But for now, I need rest.
I'll be waking up at 6 a.m. and leaving for work at about 7:30 CST. Expect the post to be finished and up by then.
On the subject of tabletop, have you ever checked out Fate Core? The system might be a little too streamlined for your taste, but it can be hacked to make it more or less complex down to the finest detail. It was built for that. Free scenarios and rulesets can be found online, though you'd be remiss to not buy the handbook, and for the purposes of hacking, the system toolkit.
Something to consider!
I gave it some consideration in the past, but I want to wait and see if I can find better options first.
Also: I'm delaying the actual OOC post until the morning. It's 1 a.m., and I can tell you I'm MOSTLY done with my post. Really, I just need to write the actual character application sheet and it's all done. But for now, I need rest.
I'll be waking up at 6 a.m. and leaving for work at about 7:30 CST. Expect the post to be finished and up by then.
In the meanwhile, there's a few more things on my mind I'd like to task about.
First, since this is a setting of your making, do you permit some amount of world building from your players? If yes, to what degree? Can a player, for example, make up a given organization, band, noble house or other such body as part of their background lore?
I do allow world building, though it's constrained (by and large) to simply adding more details to already existing settlements (a lot of which are largely undefined) OR to adding new markers on the map. I vet anything my players wish to add, but yes, I'm very open to people making the world more of their own thing. I can post the map here for your perusal.
I understand you have typical high fantasy elements/creatures in the setting, even if players themselves cannot play as such. Still, do you have a rough estimate on how much we'll be seeing these things, i.e. how on the nose the fantasy will be? Are orcs, wizards, undead so common that our reaction would be closer to gruff annoyance, or so rare that we should be frightened and shocked to witness such a thing? Or anywhere in between?
Hmm... Let me think of the best way to explain it.
Monsters are very real, though not everyone sees them in their lives. For instance, orcs (also called Jotun) are known to foray out from the northlands, and they have destroyed kingdoms of northmen (also called Reavers) in the past. Not everyone faces them, but you never get entirely used to them so much as you dull yourself to their presence. They behave in an entirely alien fashion, and do the most despicable of things.
Goblins exist, too, and they're far more widespread than Jotun. If there is any monster people are most likely to see, it's these creatures. However, they're still less common than bandits and highwaymen, and you shouldn't underestimate them due to their size. They're surprisingly tough little creatures.
Most people consider the undead to be campfire stories. A few know better, especially scholars or those that have suffered at their hands in the past. However, for the most part, nobody has seen such things in... a very long time.
As for the Fey, they're something that exists, but people don't generally see them. Generally. Sometimes children go missing, or sometimes weird happenings hint at their presence, but by and large people are able to avoid their ire... if they do what the old stories say they should. Their goals and their thoughts and what they really are, all of that is something not even the scholars can say. They are, however, incredibly dangerous when upset, and you'd be a fool to think them benign.
Spellcasters are rare enough, and thankfully so. Magic is illegal throughout all the realms, no questions asked, because magic invariably twists and corrupts those that use it. The law doesn't stop orcs and goblins from wielding it, of course, and there is the occasional wizard that plies his trade in the company of bandits, or tries to resurrect the dead to serve his bidding. There are druids and witches, too, the sorts of backwards people that lurk in the woods and prey on passersby. Those sorts in particular are the death throes of the Old Faith. They won't linger much longer in this world, surely.
As for other monsters... There are tales of giants, though they are definitely rare, and it's known that things like dragons, manticores, and hydras exist. However, they have by-and-large been wiped out from the region in the years that man has tamed it. Nevertheless, you occasionally do hear tales of such monsters rampaging through the countryside, especially near the Wildwood. Sometimes it's actually just a band of clever brigands. It's hard to tell truth from fiction these days.
You say faith cannot be proven in the setting, and belief is a personal choice; but nonetheless, is there a central church? If yes, can you describe it more in the ooc?
I certainly can and will! For the quickest possible summary: imagine if Christianity had sprouted up among a warrior culture that was something of a mix between Berber and Steppe, and then this warrior culture came and integrated itself into medieval Europe, bringing its religion with it. That's basically what we're looking at.
The most common church is the Celestial Church. More on that in the OOC. Lithenia, similarly, has its own church. Also more on that later.
Lastly, can I ask what tabletop system you're using and if you play online or IRL? I'm rather fresh when it comes to tabletop rpg, but I do wish I had more people to play with on occasion. Being on this forum, it's clear you value storytelling, so the interests align to a reasonble extent already.
I originally was trying to hack Pathfinder into working for a magicless party while still throwing magical threats at them. That, uh, required too much tearing apart of the system to make it work. I ended up not pursuing that option.
The truth is, I haven't been able to find a tabletop system that I thought fit Men-at-Arms well enough to actually start running games for it. I had a couple campaign ideas I'd worked out; I had the plot and several important scenes, and places where players would be able to really change the face of the world. However, I just didn't have a good medium through which to play this out on. So, Men-at-Arms went on the backburner, and I started running Dungeon World in a different setting.
However, I recently came upon the idea of just running Men-at-Arms on a forum. I figured it might be worth trying out, since even though I didn't have a firm ruleset I wanted to use, the stories were still there. So, here we are. Blackmire Keep is me getting this setting's feet wet online before I dedicate myself to trying the more daunting task of an open world campaign on RPGuild.
Also, I run games online via Discord. I've also played via Roll20 in the past.
