Polybius

Turning Gears - Fantasy Steampunk Nationgame

Just leaving this here for now. Not 100% committed.

WorkingProg

The Kingdom of Lumitome

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Flag you fool

Introduction

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Despite the historic precedent of isolationism, the Kingdom of Lumitome, after various social advancements is on the cusp of ditching its several hundred year old monarchy in favor of a modern republican nation-state and taking a more active role in world affairs. The social advances were preceded by industrial revolution, new technologies, new construction and new bills to pay. Saddled with debt, social upheaval and struggling to reconcile the ancient theology of the Kingdoms Arcanists, Lumitome braces itself for change..

Geography

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Map Claim [+]
Not sure yet. Looking to work on a shared history with someone.

History

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Recent History

(400-500 years hence)

Modern Era

The State of the Kingdom

Young Prince Barras, exiled to a monastery high in the Capas Mountains, plots endlessly to seize control of the throne from his stroke-riddled father King Midoras III and his court of corrupted ministers. The King, invalid and nearing death has given control to his High Minister, Sir Thomas Blackwell, a cousin of the royal family. Blackwell is a man beholden to the values of Absolutism, and absolutely opposed to this whole 'workers rights' thing. He also had a hand in exiling Prince Barras for attempting to overthrow his father, (in truth Barras was merely trying to prevent Blackwell from seizing power).

Meanwhile, in a coastal province, Princess Atlantea has taken a handful of retainers, including her tutor, Master Toombs, to the port city of Traevus, where ship builders are nearing to go on a strike. Princess Atlantea hopes to calm the masses before riots erupt in the city and bloodshed ensues.
~more

Society

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The Kingdom of Lumitome is divided into several provinces, each ruled by a governor that answers directly to the Monarch and his ministers. The capital city Theedlin, in Sevaro province is where the ruling class meets. The major mining provinces straddle the mountains and the coastal ports are heavily fortified to protect ship-building.

Population:

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Lumitome is primarily human, with a small ethnic elve population in the heavily forested regions. The elves have no rights to own lands, businesses or property and are subject to the will of the crown. A migration to friendlier lands is currently under way.

Social Class:

A very rich aristocracy holds power in Lumitome, family and friends of the Monarch, Ministers and Governors. Poverty is rampant in the poorer provinces, and the destitute are flocking to cities in search of manufacturing jobs. The middle class business owners are slowly losing power and tend to squabble more with each other..

Economy/Industry

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Lumitome is a world class supplier of raw iron, gutted from the deep mines of ____ . Although airship building is relatively new to the Kingdom, refining the raw materials necessary is not.

Military

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The Armed Forces of the Kingdom have been waiting for an invasion that has never come for a hundred years. Modern gun emplacements have replaced old mountain fortresses, airfields constructed over farming land, and the bulbous foundries necessary for industrialization have blackened the rivers and coastlines of once idyllic provinces. The military is small, but undergoing extensive retro-fitting at the behest of Minister Thomas Blackwell.

The Knights Reva
Prince Barras' personal guard of 500 men. The Knights Reva are descended from temple knights that protected the treacherous mountain passes from bandits and wild beasts so that pilgrims might reach the mountain top monasteries safely.

The Aristocratic Knighthood
Aristocratic Knights number in the thousands. Royal retainers, courtiers etc. Young men (no women!) join fencing guilds, shooting clubs and more recently, 'bombadiers' that launch (relatively harmless) bombs at targets in cabbage fields.

The Royal Navy
Wip. Transitional- Conventional to Modern (Some units still have sabers and horses)

(Unsurprisingly you must also talk about your military. How militarized are you? What is your army like in general? What kind of equipment you use? Any special units or machines worth mentioning? I think you already know how this goes.)

Where No Man Treads | An Apocalyptic Dark Fantasy Western [ Accepting ]

Mostly done, none magic user, criminal turned bounty hunter. Dropped a few plot lines for ya @Blu if your interested, the mage, the demon etc..

GrimJaw

Which pierces so that it assaults
Mercy itself and frees all faults..
- The Tempest

Personal Information
Name: Bartholomew James
Alias: Grimjaw, Black Bart
Sex: Male
Age: 46
Date of Birth: ?
Race: Human (sorta)
Appearance:

appearance

Grimjaw is a rough character, six feet of grizzled bad-ass carved from a block of stout meat. Thick, muscle threaded arms carry the scars of a hundred fights with man and beast. His jaw is a tangel of flesh and iron teeth, an artificial jaw constructed of steel and grafted to his skull with arcane power. Grimjaw once searched the land looking for the rogue mage that did this too him, but over the years he has found his terrible visage, and powerful bite to be indispensable in surviving the wastelands.

Biography:

bio

Born to a simple hog slaughterer who had a farm on the border of the Helscape and the Living Lands, Bartholomew James was forced to flee his home when a demon named Hezzrou destroyed his farm and family one night. Fleeing to the nearest city, Bart faced near starvation until he fell in with a gang of outlaws named 'The Sh**-Kickers' where he earned the moniker 'Black Bart' on account of his duties as chamber-pot cleaner. In return, Bart got a 2nd class education in thieving, fighting and training in an assortment of weapons. After Bart joined, the Kickers had a series of good runs, taking in a load of cash, some weapons and even a couple of magical items. They got themselves a hideout in a canyon and named it Graves End. It would be a fitting name.

Well, one of those magical items must have belonged to somebody powerful...Black Bart returned to Graves End one day to find his fellow gang members shot to pieces, and not altogether with conventional weapons alone. The tell-tale marks of pyromancy, arcane bolts and the like had destroyed not only Graves End, but his former gang-members. Bart, reeling from the massacre, turned to flee, but was knocked unconscious and taken prisoner.

Bart was taken deep underground-he still does not know where to this day-and held prisoner for years where he was experimented and augmented...

...Bart awoke at the door of Graves End one day. The wreckage of his former hideout was still there, like the day he found it destroyed and was taken prisoner by an unknown wizard, and his jaw hurt like the Helscape...

Instead of returning to a life of crime, Black Bart, or Grimjaw as he became known in these parts turned to bounty hunting-it was more reliable and payed a hell of a lot better than thieving- besides he had seen what had happened to the Sh** Kickers, and Bart was no slow-poke cow folk. Every once in a while he would take a bounty that he thought might have something to do with the man that gave him his Grimjaw, but over the years Bart found his augmentation indispensable in a fight, or just to scare an outlaw into giving up without one. To this day, Grimjaw is still uneasy around a mage, never trusting them, not really...

Grimjaw has spent the last twenty years chasing bounties across the Living Lands and even into the Helscape. His knowledge of the terrain and how to survive in the wastelands has made him somewhat of a local legend. -add current status-

Combat Information
Mage Status: N/A
Equipment:
Prospero
Prospero is Grimjaws most prized (and valuable) possession, a lever-action repeating rifle capable of putting a man or a big beast on the ground. The 15 shot cartridges are expensive, and Grimjaw prefers to use his six shooter in a pinch, or his hunting knife in a scrap.

Revolver
Single action, quick firing trusty six-shooter. Ammunition is cheap, which is good because Grimjaw has been known to let loose a lightning fast salvo at the outset of any fight.

Hunting Knife
10 inches of fine steel, single edged, toothed groove cutting side, this all purpose knife is forever strapped to Grimjaws thigh.

Other Equipment of Note:
Leather Duster, Wide-Brimmed Hat, Pouch of Chewing Tobacco, Calf-skin water bottle, flint & steel, knife, twine, strips of leather, flask of liquor, a pound of dried jerky (meat unknown), simple map of the local area with danger zones marked, a handful of coins, small leatherbound journal for keeping track of bountys and a lead pencil

[Int Check] Where No Man Treads

3 other people is enough for me to bite on the OOC if you guys are cool with a potentially small group.

@Blu

Probably better for this sort of thing. Let's do it.

[Int Check] Where No Man Treads

Interested. Are the Fantasy elements literally magic or setting-coated pseudo science?

Poly Vault

_{Master Archive List}

All Titles Are Links

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As @Polybius

• These Dark Stars v.2
• The Minerva Archive
• These Dark Stars : A Feudal Space Roleplay
• To Teluval, Farewell
• 1888 - Single Action Cooperative Roleplay (never launched)
• 1888 - Nation Roleplay Game (never launched)
• Fantasy World Building Game short-lived
• Masters of Veranth!
• The PeaceKeepers Sci-Fi Nation RPG
• The Lux Anima Chronicles (never launched)
• Echoes of an Empire Without Name
• Land of the Silver Sun (never launched)
• Forsaken Kingdom (wtf is this?)
• Endless Halls (Underdark Fantasy-Abandoned)
• Mechs & Megacorps the hell was I thinking
• Hex Halls of the Endless Sphere Weird Underdark Thing
• Imperfect Past I did an alt-WWII Nation RP? (never launched)
• Mercenaries! Man I loved this...
• Expanding Universe Short Lived Sci-Fi Romp
• Scholars of This Algid Earth! worldbuild rp thing

as @Rhymer

• Faction:Martian Front
• Faction Front II
• ATLAS:Cooperative Worldbuilding
• Exegesis
• Commander
• V I L E
• Our Dark Star

List of Things That Were Fuckin Rad

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The Court of the Red King by @DeadbeatWalking
link
Iron Shogun by @Hellis
link
Antidiluvian Immortals by @RogerD
link
Sollus Supremus by [@MetalLover]
link
Abandon All Hope by @The Grey Dust
link
The Sins of the Gods by @End Here
link
Kingdoms of Seyan by @Thrashy
link

Pretty Much Anything by @Mokley
Most things by @DeadbeatWalking

The Broken World: Nations of Azoth

Same here. Hope its cool if I just kind of post ancillary stories to what (appears to be) a wider story arc-the transition of power in the Salished Empire. Basically, the rise of Flay as a warlord seems to be the direction I'm heading. Possibly becoming a major villain for someone to thwart later on-

The Broken World: Nations of Azoth

Flay

Flay sat coiled like a viper in the corner of the dream-den. Embers of a poorly tended fire cast a dim light on the sunken lounge and its ragged occupants. A beastkin whelp, eyes peeled open and descended into madness murmured through chills, the narcotic smoke of the black mountain orchid at work in his bloodstream. Flay stirred at the sound of an intruder.

The door was a mound of rags tacked to a wooden frame on a wall of slick, mossy stone. The low ceiling was soot-caked and sagging in the center. Sounds of slaughter and salaciousness crept through the cracks from the brothels and butchers above. The rotting cloth at the door twisted and spat out a darkly dressed man who nearly tumbled down the handful of steps into the lounge.

Of the dozen wastrels asleep on the floor, none but Flay noticed the intrusion, and the half-beastkin stood, sniffing the air instinctively. He clutched his killing knife as he stood and long, unkempt braids of mottled-black hair fell over his shoulders. Flay stuck out his lower jaw fangs obscenely at the man, who didn't move, but rather stopped in his tracks and removed his hood.

A boy, thought Flay, relaxing. Flay sauntered up to the trespasser, giving the shivering whelp a solid kick to the ribs for the hell of it. The stuporous beastkin managed a pathetic moan and rolled over. There came a scattering of whispers from around the room as others began to stir from their narcotic slumber.

"Piss off," said Flay, wagging his tongue. Up close, Flay could see he was clearly not a resident of the Slain Quarter, let alone Zuag-Si. Clean face. No dirt or scars or weariness on his face. The boys boots were practically new.

The boy shook his head and started to speak, but Flay growled in anger.

"I said-"

"I heard you," croaked the boy.

Pup has a tongue then. We'll have to remedy that-

Flay grabbed him by the scruff of his cloak, shoving him against the grimey slum wall. He raised his knife slowly, giving his victim ample time to see the blood-stained weapon, the jagged teeth of its bite.

"Wait!" he managed. "The Mm-m-membrane requests-"

Flay angled his knife slightly upwards, imagined the gore that would spill from the pups throat if he gave but a little tug here. Something primal surged in Flays chest. His beastly heart began pumping fire and eons of weird evolution clouded his higher brain with a simple directive- Kill it.

But. But-

Did he say Membrane? Flay frowned and tucked his fangs under his upper lip. The Membrane, the fanatics who kissed Lugal's Masters collective arses and effectively kept them in control of the city-or rather from anyone else taking control of it. Flay did not fear anyone in the Zuag-Si, but he was not stupid-the Membrane had power on the streets. The crucified criminals displayed all about the city was proof enough for Flay.

"Membrane is it?" said Flay, loosening his hold on the boy.

The messenger blinked and gave a slight nod. Flay dropped his knife to his side in regret. The Membrane-and by extension the Skinless Ones, those sorcerers who nightly cloaked themselves in raw ichor, high in their stone-walled keep, were nothing to be trifled with. If this boy was truly a messenger then Flay would be wise to listen.

"I'm listening, runt," said Flay.

The messenger adjusted his cloak and peeled himself off the sticky lichen-covered wall and opened his mouth.

"You are to disband your...faction for the discernible future and leave the city at once," relief flooded his face the moment his message was delivered.

Flay smiled wickedly and bared his fangs once more. "Got word of something devilish did they? Well, I'll tell you-ah what's your name runt?"

"Kwal, but I-"

"Kwal? What the hell kind of-nevermind-tell your Masters..." Flay trailed off momentarily and looked at the floor. Behind him, his faction stirred. Ragged men and women-nearly a dozen of them rising from the blood and urine soaked sunken lounge, blinking in the pale half light of mid-morning. In a distant hall, something liquid dribbled into a cavernous well.

"Yes? What?" posed Kwal, leaning in.

Flay cocked his head to the side. "Tell them-" Flay plunged his knife forward, the man shrieking in surprise more than pain as the knife touched organs, "I refuse!"

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The Broken World: Nations of Azoth

Man I'm having a horrible writers block right now- Basically want my first post to have Flay, a dabbler in dark arts hear word of a Somnambulist having visions of the old Salished Kings death, as the news spreads mercenaries (really nasty ones, beastkin, outlaws, crazies and criminals) consider flocking to the Rainlands in the event of civil war. If nobody hires them to fight, they might just turn to good old fashioned banditry.

The Game of Gods

Still keeping tentative interest but I do have some (hopefully) insights into your decisions for game design:

1. Points seem like a good idea, but if your just using them to limit post lengths and actions a player is able to take each turn why not make it simpler and just say like 'take 2 actions per turn & write a minimum of X paragraphs for each action'. It seems counter intuitive and more complicated unless this is a PvP type thing, which it does not seem to be-rather a co-op world building type thing.

2. You need to determine clearly when phases of play are over. "Whenever I feel like" is not good enough for me as a player. Maybe when X amount of actions are taken or other certain criteria is met. (X amount of races, or X amount of terrain is filled in etc. depending on the phase)

3.

As far as magic and Gods and divine intervention goes, it is very low fantasy. The central point of the world is that everything remains very much internally consistent. The best way to not screw this up is cut down on magic things.

Gaebrael

I can't reconcile these design choices for a few reasons:
A) We are literally playing gods so reducing the level of magic is inconsistent with the setting/system relationship.
B) If the reason behind A) is to reduce inconsistency in magic creation, I would just use my GM powers as the need arises. Otherwise, it just seems like 'cut(ing) down on magic things' is a cheap way out and again, not consistent with the "your playing gods and creating a world, but it's low fantasy so no god stuff".

I really do want a 'god-game' to play and this could be good, but it seems like you want a more realistic (flora & fauna, index etc) world building game with a 'fantasy' tag slapped on it rather than a 'fantasy world building game' Finally, I hope you take this as constructive criticism to improve your game, not personally. .

Rift Runners Gaming Group

@Deserted Sorry this has gotten a bit meta for my taste. Wish you luck with your group, happy gaming!