Spike, I've got all 78+ pages in a word document.

This include the original racial studies - Elves: the Culture of Immortality.

I put the word "BREAK" in between each post so I could see how it flowed out originally (always with the eye towards editing it in the future).

You're welcome to it.

If you haven't yet James, I would add the "using studies" thread too, I think they work as an appendix to the original studies posts.

I tried to do what you have done, and it sounds like you've done a better job at it. Kudos, James.

We James'  have to stick together

Where's the using studies thread?  Did I miss that somewhere along the line?

Actually, i would love that... I've put so much up that I've started to lose track of it all

When I was going backwards I missed out on the fact that I had already named some kingdoms and regions and completely forgot about them! Gah!

that's why there was a sort of mini-followup post after today's initial volley.

My heart is set on going back to Tenebria, the Imperial Palace and more... but I have so much work to do still on the northern continent.  My work proceeds apace..

Quote from: James J SkachWe James'  have to stick together

Where's the using studies thread?  Did I miss that somewhere along the line?

http://www.therpgsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2883

It was a very small thread, but it was a neat little piece of insight, IMO.

Quote from: SpikeAnyone want to link to the Paravail wiki here?  I lost track myself and I'm still very shaky on how linking works.

That'd be right here.

!i!

Wow... this thread is hopping today!

This is going to be another split post. I've focused pretty heavily lately on geography and politcal landscapes (cultural stuff, etc) but I've neglected to cover a wide aspect of the setting. Religions and anything more detailed than general depictions of 'styles'. Part of this is to keep the corners unpainted so others can use this as springboard for their own games without feeling like I'm telling them that the males of Wei MUST HAVE peirced Scrotums, or it just ain't REAL.   Not going there, that's all on you either way.  

However, I have absolutley no real idea how to name my own NPC's or tell my players how to name their characters other than some generic ideas.  This might seem a minor beef (especially since I know what the Elf is going to be named no matter what I say on the topic, and knew ever before I knew anything else about the character....)... but of course properly established naming conventions can really cement a world for players. If the bartender is named Jim, it shatters suspension of disblief unless you are playing a world where Jim is a valid name.  Obviously a few naming conventions suggest themselves here and there. Renbluve does not sit well contrasted to Espadrille, but if you consider Nornsa and Renbluve are 'imported' names, linguistically, and espadrille is a native term we can sort of gather that southern Nornsa might use 'psuedo-spanish' as their former native tongue, replaced by the bizzare psuedo-germanic english of Nornsa imported from the north.  Elves use a LOT of Y and I and OI sounds in their language, thought the southern Tuatha decendents prefer UA and A sounds, and generally harder consenents.  The Savannah Kingdoms share a local lingo and tribal variations, but generally use very hard C/K sounds and X's, with lots of vowels for a choppy chattery language.  The Tenebrian language could be confusingly described as sibilant without the S... all soft sounds and muted consonants flowing together.

The other major concern that has come to mind is Cults/Faith. I've mentioned Gods and other major powers, named a few cults (the Kerkeshi mercenary cults spring to mind) but otherwise haven't said too much on the topic.  Yet, as a GM using this, I offered my players access to Cults to start with and then had to look stupid when I couldn't name local cultic factions or Gods.  Gah.  Obviously I've looked a bit harder at it, for example the opposed factions of Kerkesh kingdoms mention veneration of dragons and hatred of Dragons, along with the Mercenaries who either worship Death or Coin, and the Living Flame spreading in the Melitior plains (or the Totemic Animal worshippers of the Tundrid Plateau...)... all of which sounds pretty comprehensive, but none of it was useful to me for my campaign starting point.  How do the Elves worship? What about the citizens of Renbluve or the Avante?  Gah.  So, This post is really going to be an attempt to draw some lines, both mechanically and setting wise.  I hope to keep my overall tone the same in the actual 'setting post'.


On Gods and Temples and Cults in the World:

It could be said that the Gods are undeniably real.   This raises many questions, perhaps more disturbing than the one that has been just laid to rest, but it remains a fact.  The Gods are real because the power their worshippers gain is real and is, according to the archmagus academy savants, measurably different than the powers they command, and similarly different from the powers granted to the aesthetic mystic or the bone rattler shaman of more primative cultures.

But the Gods are remarkably silent on the topic of worship. They tolerate religious wars between cults, sometimes of the very same God, both sides drawing upon the might of their deity to destroy their enemies.  While there is only one Death, a terrible figure who many have seen, even to this very day, there are a hundred ways to worship Him, and a hundred different factions for each way.  At least there the path is clear, one Death with many valid ways to pay homage, and gain power.

Less clear are the dozens, or hundreds of gods who's domains overlap horribly.  How can Tenebria have fifeteen different primary gods of War, each covering an incredibly specific facet of warfare, while the clansmen of Northron Nornsa have one God, Harm, who governs both War and Family? What is one to make of such a confusion in the heavens?  the Gods have proven unwilling to appear on the face of the world to address this to their followers directly, though legends speak of earlier times where they dwelt openly with their followers.

And what can one make of the cultural drift? Harm was once, and still is a Dwarven God of Shelter. While it is possible to show how Harm's worship was transferred to the Clansmen, it is less possible to grasp how these radically different visions of the gods could co-exist and be metaphysically valid.

It has been suggested by some that perhaps the Gods themselves are not real, but that worship is merely another means of tapping the powers of Magic, a less well understood 'sorcery'. There are numerous problems with this, not the least of which is the very real presence of Death in the world.  What this suggests of the Shaman and his Spirits, or why Divine magic appears so refined and powerful compared to the sorceries of the Archmagii or the Shaman, who have a clearer grasp of how and why their techniques work... No, that way lies a morass of doubt and confusion. The Gods are demonstrably real.  It is their natures we do not understand.  Rather than dwell fruitlessly on such things, let us instead turn to the actual forms of worship.

There are strong similarities between the practices of the Bearmen and the Tuathan Elves of the Sea of Grass, in fact between all Shamanistic cultures.  The entire Tribe counts as a Cult, though they would not use such a term for themselves, with the Shaman functioning as the High preist and the Cheiftan most often forming the 'Cult champion' role. The shaman must both master the Spirits he commands, and learn to entreat the 'higher spirits' for aide.  These higher spirits are synonimous with Gods, and are often credited with creation of the world and the tribe. It is with the High Spirits that similarities cease.  The Tribes of the Tundrid plateau worship totemic animals, and their High Spirit (only one for any given tribe) is the penultimate expression of that Animal.

The Tuathan Tribes worship abstract concept gods. Hunter, First Elf, Moon, and so forth. The Cults of these gods are pan tribal, the Shaman of a given tribe will typically be the high preist of only one faith, but the tribe members may individually be 'favored' of another.  A hunter would worship Hunter... though this is not set in stone, and for guidance would turn to older, wiser hunters, rarely seeking a Shaman of Hunter from another tribe for particularly difficult spiritual matters.

The Shaman of the Savannahs have named Gods, who are much like other Gods, with domains and legends of their own.  Anzaxi the Spider is the wise man, the builder, who is said to have taught men the arts of weaving and crafting, for example.   While tribal legends and stories may vary, there is little actual variance in 'who' the Gods are.  The three kingdoms each favor certain subgroups of the local Gods, with some cross over, and at times this serves to fuel unrest in the region as the Gods are occasionally viewed as being in opposition to one another.

Among the Nornsa, Versilimatu is venerated as a God, and his worship is as fruitful as the worship of any other God.   His worship is particularly common among the nobility as the epitiomy of a powerful, ambitious ruler.  In the Northron kingdoms he is worshipped openly by the nobility, rites are dedicated to him and the King is expected to be the leader of the faithful, though often not the actual master of ceremonies.  The High King Vergmont, of Nornska, regularly sacrifices a goat to Versilimatu, and is viewed by some of the nobility as the very essence of Versilimatu reborn.  A seperate cult of worship is found among the lower classes, where he is viewed as a liberator from oppression, and yet a third is found among soldiers and warriors where his skill in battle makes him the penulitmate warrior.

In Southron Nornsa, his worship is much different and much more unified.  His worship is open to all, but is kept in secret, rites are not spoken of to non-members, or in public at all.   As membership in the Cult is typically by invite only, the cult remains small.  Casual members are called 'Infante', those who have participated in the Ritual of the Bull are called 'Fateris' with the high preist called  the 'Patari', or alternatively the 'Espadrille', after the sword. members frequently call upon other members for aid in politics or business, and it forms a powerful network for the faithful.  Supposedly, Versilimatu is venerated as the 'First among Men', and the purposes of the rituals is to make the worshipper a better man,a perfected Man.  While the primary purpose of the Cult appears to be the political betterment of the faithful, the cult is extremely prominanent in the army, and the might the faithful weild is impressive in it's own right.

Cults of the Warlord are equally, if not more, secretive, and generally despised, at least in Nornsa and Kerkesh, though they persist in the northern Continent.  Other gods have temples where the faithful may worship openly, and most gods are well named and have a variety of domains. Particularly beloved of the Nornsa is Lellanome, the Lady of the Horse, whose milk is the nectar of the Gods. She is worshipped in many aspects. Farmers worship her as a fertility and harvest goddess, burning the chaff from their fields in her name, while Hussars and knights may venerate her martial aspect, or the speed her worship gives.  While in other lands these might be viewed as seperate cults, the temples and rituals to her are shared by all faithful, uniting them under one worship. This is very prevalent in the former Ysithyderi region, as the enlightened rulers of that realm brought universal worship as a means of keeping the peace.  

The Avante have a much less organized worship, though they often venerate the same gods, they have no temples or 'holy men', each faithful is expected to seek his wisdom directly from the Gods, and seek vision quests and other esoteric methods of communing to determine his path.  This sits well with the mystic brotherhoods who are cultic in behavior without actually venerating any single god.  The mystics seek power by mastering themselves and purifying their spirtuality, and to the Nornsa are viewed as dangerous maniacs willing to kill and die for reasons that are unfathomable, though to the common Avante there is no mystery at all.

The Tenebrians, of course, have thousands of gods, and organized temples to powerful individual gods, or collections of lesser gods.   Cultic behavior tends to follow more pantheonic worship, though individual 'personal god' worship is prevalent as well.  The organized temples follow strict heirarchies, while the individual Cults are more nebulous, with two followers working seperate paths unless they meet and speak... the most respected members are the most 'advanced' on their path, their enlightenment is expected to be self evident.

One of the more interesting... indeed UNIQUE aspects of Nornsa religious life is the  particular way the Sun is venerated.  

While sun worship is found among all races, even the savage Goblins attempt to placate the Sun with primative rituals, the Nornsa are positively fanatical about it.  Almost every cult includes aspect of sun worship, the Versilimatu Secrets cults have Him ritually killing the sun and taking it's place as one of their 'secrets', something even the most casual member will know, if not understand, the worship of Lellanome is always conducted during the day under an open sky, and some venerate her role in pulling the chariot of the sun across the sky...

But it is the Lightbringers who are most unusual of all.  While the vast majority of the populace worships the Lightbringer to some extent, few will make the leap to full fledged initiates of the Cult, and with very good reason.

When a postulant desires to rise in the ranks of the cult as special ceremony is held, and atop the highest temple roof during the noonday sun, the postulant is ritually killed, his heart burned in a brazier.  If he is worthy, the high preist (who, it must be understood has been killed some three or four times himself in this ritual...) will raise him from the dead at the next dawn, he spends the night a corpse lashed to the bloody alter.  While many cults have access to such powerful magics to return the dead to life, only the Southern Nornsa Lightbringers USE it as a prerequisite to become a full fledged member.

There are rumors that some Death Cults are formed from those who have been returned from the dead, but never by those who were killed and ressurected solely to join.  It is said that some of those death cults recruit from fallen Lightbringers, and many lightbringers worship at two alters after their annointment.

Shall we speak of distant Hesh and her strange inhabitants?

Many in the southern lands consider Hesh to be the most distant and exotic of human kingdoms. From the perspectives of the Nornsa, this is hardly an unfair assumption, as Hesh is distant in ways best measured not in leagues but difficulty of travel.   The desert they call home is bordered to the north by the Harmzgelter mountains, to the West by the far edge of the plains of Melitior and to the south by the lands of the Savannah kingdoms.  To the East lies a no man's land of untamed wilderness and savage city-kingdoms, including Spada.   The people of Hesh make their homes in a land few would want, and there they thrive.

The desert is a harsh place of golden sands and red boulders upthrust from it, like ancient ships in the sea without water.  The Wadi's of the desert are natural highways, and incredibly dangerous due to flash floods when the Sun passes too close to the mountains to the north and melt the snowy caps. The water washes down through the desert, sweeping everything clean, and only high ground provides any safety.

The Hesh themselves are dark of skin, though not so dark as the Avante. Their hair tends towards deep rich browns, with waves and tight curls, though they shave their heads. An unshaven head is the sign of a slave or untouchable laborer.  They love their harsh and unforgiving land, and view other lands as uncomfortably chilly and damp.

The River Erd is the life blood of this land, it flows wide and shallow, sluggish with silt from upriver, and great crocadiles wallow in it. It floods regularly, less violently than the flash floods of the desert Wadis, and the Hesh make great use of the rich aluvial soil deposited seasonally, without the floods of the Erd no one could survive long in this burning land.

There are portions of the river that are shallow enough to be very nearly a swamp.  The Hesh harvest marsh reeds and plants, making a fine linen cloth from the fibers of various reeds, and a form of parchment from the leaves of others.  

The region is mineral poor, there is very little iron to be found, even in the Harmzgelter's along the northern border of the desert, what little there is has been reserved for religious artifacts. Bronze is the preferred metal, something that has made the Hesh a target for other, more advanced cultures. Yet, the Heshites have managed to win over other agressors.

To understand why one must look to the huge pyramids the Heshites build in and around their communities. These pyramids are temples, monuments to the Gods of their people, but more importantly, they Heshites have mastered the arts of geomancy, of arranging the flow of magics in the Aether around them to most easily maximize it. Every Heshite warrior is equipped with weapons of enchanted Bronze stronger than steel, their very skin hardened to turn aside the weapons of their enemies. While lesser men cook to death inside shells of steel, the bare skin of the Heshite armies proves nearly as effective, and much easier to wear. The sheer amount of raw power the Hesh Preist-King can draw upon to fuel these enchants accounts for much of their power.

Religion and politics are one and the same to the Hesh. The change of dynasties is the change of primary deities, and in this the Sun tends to reign supreme... not out of love but out of fear. The Erd is worshipped as the mother of the Earth and the Crocodiles are viewed as children of the Goddess, and minor deities in their own right.  Much has been said of their seasonal sacrifice of a child to the river to ensure the floods occur, no more need be said.


To be cont....

(sorry about the poor post, doing it around distractions over three days...)

For the most part Heshite culture revolves around the temples and the Gods. Most heshites are worshippers at a variety of temples, even lay members of a dozen cults. To advance in their culture requires chosing a single cult and advancing in it, the social status tied to position in the temple heirarchy and relative power of the temple itself. The lowest caste of laborers, the untouchables, are forbidden from worship at any of the temples or joining any of the cults, yet they have their own Gods and worship practices. It is not understood if such practices arose from their denial of mainstream worship or are the cause of their castes.

One of the more interesting facets of desert life is the presence of reptilian tribes in the desert. These appear similar to the jungle lizardfolk of the south, but their language and culture is completly different, and it is suspected that they are a seperate race entirely.  These desert tribes wage an eteral war against the Heshites, but the nomadic desert tribes of humans and orcs get along with the lizard tribes more or less peaceably.  The 'Dry Ones' as they are called seem far more savage, yet have a complex social structure nonetheless, than their human neighbors. They use mostly stone, wood and bone, never metal for their construction and worship a deity best described as the 'Lizard of the Sands', or 'The Old One', something that leads some scholars to believe that such a diety may actually be a great old dragon living somewhere out in the burning sea.  

The human tribes to the west are very humanocentric, less likely to treat with the Dry Ones peacably, and have all but chased the orcish nomads away. This is a recent development with the rise of Fire Cults among the western nomads, imported from Eastern Melitior but adapted to the harsh landscape.  The other tribes venerate ancestor spirits and have a more animistic faith structure and very primal 'god-spirits' that recieve only minimal worship.  Most of the human and orc tribes are very similar, though the hardy nature of the Orc tribes means they are slightly less survival oriented, less paranoid about resources than their human neighbors.  Unlike the Heshites the nomads wear great robes and full body coverings to keep the sun and sand off of them, most rarely bother to shave, and bathing is a luxury.  The nomads would appear to outsiders to be a dour and loveless people, but it is more that they have no time or energy for frivolity in their harsh land. In quiet moments, in private, they can be tender and kind, and some of their simple pleasures have spread far beyond their desert origins, so much so that people fail to realize whence they came. Varients of the desert game of S'yang stones can be found as far away as Tenebria, and is a popular form of gambling in Paravail (whence the common name comes). Ironically, among the nomads the game is used to teach conservation of resources and long term planning to children.  No, the real artistry of the nomad tribes is their poetry, for they believe that words have great power. All their magics and worship activities involve spoken, written and chanted words, and among those who have taken the time to learn their language, their poetry is considered among the best in the world, evocative and haunting.  This veneration of words reflects in their culture: most nomads speak as little as necessary, and many will think hard before saying anything, so they may phrase it as beautifully as possible... though of course not all have the talent to truely excell, and their efforts are often lost on outsiders anyway.

The legal system of Nornsa is very simple. Most crimes that appear before a Magistrate (in the Halls of Justice, across from the Palace) are punishable by Drowning, or alternatively enslavement.  There are no lawyers, no jury and no presumption of innocence (or guilt necessarily).

Essentially, one arranges for a Magistrate to hear a chase against someone, if necessary the city watch will roust the accused and bring them to the Halls.  Without the accused present there can be no trial.  The Magistrate sits on a low stone dias in a hard chair holding iron rod capped with an iron ball, dressed in robes and a mitre, the sun must be shining for there to be a trial, and the opening above the magistrate allows the Sun to witness the proceedings.

The Accuser stands at a small podium to one side, the accused are typically manacled to a ring in the floor to the other side. The Magistrate controls the proceedings by banging his rod on the floor, or rather smacking the ball end upon the floor.  The magistrate may punish transgressors in the Hall by striking them with his rod as well.  

The Accuser speaks first, labeling the crime, then the Accused may speak, generally protesting their innocence. Oratory skills are prized at this point. Then teh Accuser presents his evidence, then teh accused as well.  Both sides may then debate (orderly) the merits of their evidence, though this requires both sides to HAVE evidence.   Once both sides have presented each peice of evidence and arguments for and against it, teh Magistrate makes his decision, and the sentence is carried out immeadeatly. Death by Drowning is the official means of execution, but the method generally includes a blow to the head then being tossed off the walls of the Upper city into the harbor.   Variations are held around the kingdom, but the format remains largely unchanged.

It is possible for interested citizens who wish to partake in their civic duties, or hope to refine their oratorical techniques to chose to defend the accused in any given case.  

Likewise, as often the accused have no time to aquire a case, it is not uncommon for the Magistrate to provide a grace period for the accused to provide for their defence, though if the case against them is really bad, they may be held in chains until the trial is properly finished. There is no garauntee the same magistrate will hear both halves of such a split case.

The Accused are not held to be either guilty or innocent by the Magistrate.  He is expected to judge the merits of the evidence and arguements alone. The Sun is unconcerned with actual guilt or innocence, but how the case is presented.   The nobilty are expempt from being accused, their disposition falls under the auspices of the King.

Typical crimes are theft, murder, banditry, wanton destruction, rape and smuggling. Treason is rarely heard in the Halls, and a more recent, and somewhat problematic one, is 'supporting the unlawful release of a slave'... that is helping a slave run away. As there is no real legal tradition regarding the status of slavery, despite a few hundred years of the practice, this sort of trial often has... murky... outcomes.  If the slave in question was part of a city workgang, then the offender is punished severly, if 'privately held', against tradition, then the offender is at most fined, as the law does not recognize privately owned slaves... properly. The King has remained silent on the matter.

In case it comes up later in my Game I'm going to detail the Marches, as well as describe a few facets of Upper Renbluve that have either already been used in game, or might be at some later point.

The Marches is a region of Southron Nornsa, bordering Avante to the north and the Hydimenoi to the NorthEast. The region gained it's name for the march of armies across it's moors and plains throughout the ages. It is said Versilimatu camped his army here to treat with the Siti, the Warlord's Horde swept through unopposed, and the Avante launch their invasions from this portion of the borderland, which is not exactly coincidence. To the West, the nation of Avante is nearly unpassable swamplands, naturally everyone wishing to push south must thread their army between the swamp and the forboding great forest to access the southlands.

While most of Southron Nornsa is pleasant and pastoral, the Marches is harsh and hard, her people militant and distrustful.  Like all Nornsans, the Marchers love their horses, though the moors and rocky valleys are hard on them, and the beasts are generally only found in noble stables.  Farming is hard, and often done by hand in tiny, one man, plots dotting the landscape. Pigs are the most common livestock, and geese, rather than chickens are the common poultry, favored for their hardiness in the cold weather and their aggressive behavior towards strangers.

The Marchers are considered by many to be a uncouth and uncivilized people by their countrymen. No major Nornsan cities or towns can be found here, only minor trade posts and small fortresses overlooking the main routes through the region. Banditry is common, and it is believed by some that every Marcher is a bandit in his spare time, there are no end to secret nooks and crannies in the region.

If the Marchers are uncouth and uncivilized to the rest of the Nornsans, those who live near the Great Forest are viewed as uncouth to even the Marchers. They are a dour and secretive lot, making their living off the forest to their north, trading only with a few trusted merchants brave or foolish enough to travel so far.  This far south the Siti elves are uncommon and distrusted by the locals.  Goblins and Orcs make their homes in the woods, and all three races have been known to prey on the trappers and woodsmen, or on occasion sweep out of the forest to burn whole villages to the ground.  THis view of elves as kin to orcs and goblins is unique to the region and inexplicable to others.  

The March Lords are a loose collection of nobles, the only one who has a title is the Duke of the House Assar. Most of the March Lords are of the Assar as well, with a few exceptions. Each noble is expected to maintain a keep and men, this is his duty as a Noble. Loss of both keep and men equals loss of title. The House Assar also maintains a House Hearth, which is technically the Ducal seat, though the duties of the Duke often take him to distant Renbluve, so the Hearth is maintained by the rest of the family.

The old duke was a true March Lord, led his men on hunts, raids and in war. After the last war against the Avante he spent his time mostly in Renbluve, arguing that Dragoons should be stationed in the Marches as well.  He died a lingering death of a bleeding ulcer, and his two sons remained in Renbluve. His older son is a poor example of a Marcher, or a Duke, preferring to drink himself into oblivion, hates horses and has no intention of returning to the Hearth... ever. His duties consist solely of using his signet ring to sign announcements and proclamations for the Marches from the King and ship them out.  While he is unenthusiastic about this, he does actually read what he signs.  His younger brother is still to young to make a measure of, but is a very earnest boy who idolizes his older brother to some extent.

Grand Dame Gizeli is the old dukes mother and the current mistress of the hearth.  Her opinion of her grandson is a simple one. He needs to be brought out to the Marches, put on a horse and ridden until the booze sweats out of him.  She just might have the power to do so, if she can get him out of Upper Renbluve.

Can someone who has collected all this send me the  word document/pdf? I'm getting ready to go back and clean up the mass and re-present it, along with expanding it a bit more.

Thanks.

All 85 pages - and the "appendix" someone suggested?

ummm..sure....sorry I missed the request as I was out of town...

Now let me see...where did I put that document....