A thread to post a world building legend.
I wrote this to justify the existence of a common language in my campaigns.
Legend has it that many centuries ago a Good King united all the kingdoms of Tarnl under one banner, inspired by Koynos the God of commerce this wise King asked his most wise viziers to create a language so the different people's in his Empire could engage in commerce with one another. So the language Bonn was created, and everyone learned to speak it thanks to the arts of the Wise King's main Wizard Curunir. This is why Humans, Elves, Dwarfs and Mitjans can understand each other.
Now, except the Mitjans that go with the Human version, each race claims this Wise King as one of their own, the humans call him King Noble, while the elves call him Aran Ar and the dwarfs Thrummaz Thorok. I noble public claim not to know which one is true, maybe all maybe none but all the races agree that this is the true origin of the Bonn language we all use to understand each other.
NdA: Mitjans, in case you haven't guessed it are Halflings, Medianos in Spanish and Mitjans in Catalan.
In my world the humans never built the Tower of Babel.
Quote from: Shasarak;1133076In my world the humans never built the Tower of Babel.
So a legend about another legend never being told. Not bashing it, because it works, you can't bash what works, and this does, you could even say it's elegant in it's simplicity.
The Pirate Oath of Loyalty Once Sworn Cannot Be Rescinded
For the better part of two centuries (actually more like five, but the legend came later), those that join the Dahlian Pirates cannot ever leave. Those that have tried invariably wind up dead one way or the other. Or just disappear (and wind up undead, but I digress). Legend has it that a unknown god enforces the oath for his/her/its/whatchamacallit's own inscrutable reasons.
The underlying reality is a little more prosaic, but when in doubt, print the legend. :D
Quote from: Steven Mitchell;1133128The Pirate Oath of Loyalty Once Sworn Cannot Be Rescinded
For the better part of two centuries (actually more like five, but the legend came later), those that join the Dahlian Pirates cannot ever leave. Those that have tried invariably wind up dead one way or the other. Or just disappear (and wind up undead, but I digress). Legend has it that a unknown god enforces the oath for his/her/its/whatchamacallit's own inscrutable reasons.
The underlying reality is a little more prosaic, but when in doubt, print the legend. :D
Nice, and could be hacked into a Secret Society/Cult instead of Pirates... I like it!
There are many gods. Each god and goddess ruled over their own world, and on each world they made their own favored race, fashioned according to their whims. They argued among themselves over whose creation was best. Finally, to settle the matter, they created another world, filled it with all manner of monsters and other dangers, and each sent a number of their followers to dwell there, a great arena to see which would prosper and which would fail.
(This is why there are so many damn humanoid races and other intelligent species)
Quote from: Joey2k;1133140There are many gods. Each god and goddess ruled over their own world, and on each world they made their own favored race, fashioned according to their whims. They argued among themselves over whose creation was best. Finally, to settle the matter, they created another world, filled it with all manner of monsters and other dangers, and each sent a number of their followers to dwell there, a great arena to see which would prosper and which would fail.
(This is why there are so many damn humanoid races and other intelligent species)
So if you please your god, eventually you get to go to a better place? :D
Quote from: Joey2k;1133140There are many gods. Each god and goddess ruled over their own world, and on each world they made their own favored race, fashioned according to their whims. They argued among themselves over whose creation was best. Finally, to settle the matter, they created another world, filled it with all manner of monsters and other dangers, and each sent a number of their followers to dwell there, a great arena to see which would prosper and which would fail.
(This is why there are so many damn humanoid races and other intelligent species)
I like it, it gives a fantastical yet internally consistent explanation as to why so many different humanoids and why so many monsters and dangers.
Maybe the same gods are the ones creating the dungeons and populating them? :cool:
Quote from: Joey2k;1133140There are many gods. Each god and goddess ruled over their own world, and on each world they made their own favored race, fashioned according to their whims. They argued among themselves over whose creation was best. Finally, to settle the matter, they created another world, filled it with all manner of monsters and other dangers, and each sent a number of their followers to dwell there, a great arena to see which would prosper and which would fail.
(This is why there are so many damn humanoid races and other intelligent species)
Quote from: GeekyBugle;1133154I like it, it gives a fantastical yet internally consistent explanation as to why so many different humanoids and why so many monsters and dangers.
Maybe the same gods are the ones creating the dungeons and populating them? :cool:
I wanna steal this and make the PCs newcomers. The gods will just drop them in a dungeon with little instruction, and they'll be greeted by an emissary who tells them what's what, and they have to survive the dungeon and get out, almost like being "born" into their new world as they part the threshold to the dungeon's entrance (or exit as it might be).
Everyone in the world are adventurers or descendants of past adventurers who made it out. And there'd be multiple such dungeons across the world. Like vaults in Fallout, but in a fantasy world full of mythical monsters instead of mutated creatures. Some dungeons may have been cleared out and became settlements. Most are still teaming with monsters, and even the settled dungeons still have to contend with periodic waves of monsters invading their dungeon.
Quote from: VisionStorm;1133169I wanna steal this and make the PCs newcomers. The gods will just drop them in a dungeon with little instruction, and they'll be greeted by an emissary who tells them what's what, and they have to survive the dungeon and get out, almost like being "born" into their new world as they part the threshold to the dungeon's entrance (or exit as it might be).
Everyone in the world are adventurers or descendants of past adventurers who made it out. And there'd be multiple such dungeons across the world. Like vaults in Fallout, but in a fantasy world full of mythical monsters instead of mutated creatures. Some dungeons may have been cleared out and became settlements. Most are still teaming with monsters, and even the settled dungeons still have to contend with periodic waves of monsters invading their dungeon.
Isn't it a good idea for a setting?
This (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bhv8kul31qS8qnQU9y9ep7JwZWythPy7/view?usp=sharing) is the work I've got so far on my "player's guide" intro doc for my setting.
Quote from: GeekyBugle;1133172Isn't it a good idea for a setting?
This is what I have so far as a teaser/intro for the setting or for use as a startup adventure (using "Adventure World" as a placeholder name, since technically there's already a video game RPG using that name, so might be trademarked):
Welcome to Adventure World!The characters find themselves in a large room with stone walls lit by torches, their faces barely visible and completely alien to each other. As they try to find their bearings and begin to move around, the center of the room suddenly lights up with a bright spotlight and a well-dressed man of undetermined species--wearing finely embroidered burgundy robes--appears seemingly out of nowhere. With one swift gesture the man graciously spreads his arms, beaming at them as he speaks in a loud cheerful voice, like a game show host giving a presentation, emphasizing every other word, or stretching them dramatically.
...
"Greetings newcomers and welcome to Adventure World!
"Each and everyone of you has been carefully selected from amongst the finest specimens of a dozen different races spanning across a dozen different worlds for the honor to participate in a grand spectacle where you will get to test your mettle, prove your worth, and fight for the glory of your gods!
"The stoney walls that now surround you belong to one of numerous dungeons scattered across this world. Each layer has been carefully constructed and populated with countless adversaries, baffling puzzles and deadly traps to pose a variety of challenges that will test your skills, defy your instincts and tax your resolve.
"The chamber where you are right now lies at the deepest level of this underground edifice, were your adventure will begin. Your task is to brave this maze's challenges, venture its labyrinthian halls, and find its entrance so that you may exit out onto the surface and escape into the outside world.
"Once outside you will find a new, unfamiliar land designed specially for you!
"Your gods--in their infinite wisdom--went through fantastic lengths to pool their resources together and handcraft this magnificent world, in order to test your worthiness as their favored race. You will encounter many obstacles and face great dangers, but should you survive these trials, this world will be your new home.
"You may do with it as you will--conquer new lands, exploit its riches, build great monuments, sail out into the sunset and experience its many splendors. The choice is yours!
"But take note; you are not alone. Many brave adventurers have come before you and made these lands their home. And the wilderness teams with fearsome creatures and deadly monsters ready to test your wits and match your might every day. Like you, they have been transported here for your gods' amusement, and your own! And like them, your stay in this world will be permanent.
"Right now some of you might be thinking of the life that you left behind. You may have been separated from your families, taken from friends, never to see them again. But fret not! For your participation in this event guarantees that you will meet them again in the afterlife!
"Just think of all the exciting experiences and thrilling tales that you will get to share with your loved ones once you see them again in the great beyond!
"Soon now, the gates behind you will open up to the darkness beyond, and the creatures that populate this dungeon will be released. Your gods have provided all the equipment necessary for the tasks ahead, which is being brought to you by my assistant as we speak.
"Good luck, my friends, and may your deeds bring honor to your deity!
"My assistant will answer any questions once this presentation has been concluded. And without further ado, your adventure begins...now!"
...
And with that, the emissary vanishes with a poof and the characters are left with a grumpy looking assistant carting all their gear into the center of the room, waiting for them to come pick it up.
The assistant will answer any questions about the nature of this world, as best as he can tell them (albeit, with a less than enthusiastic demeanor). Information he can provide them includes:
- The being that spoke to them is the Emissary of the Gods. He doesn't know exactly where the emissary comes from, but he can appear wherever he wants, and speaks on the gods' behalf.
- There are many gods. Each god created a favored race and gave them a world of their own.
- The gods had a dispute about which race was better, so they created Adventure World to pit them against each other and settle the matter directly.
- Adventure World was built as a collective effort, and it has a variety of environments to reflect every god's preferences, as well as to pose a variety of challenges for the people who live in the world.
- The world is full of monsters and travel abroad is very dangerous. There are few truly settled places, with every settlement attacked regularly, and everybody travels in groups.
- *In addition to the Gods there are also the Passions. The Passions are the personification of various impulses and endeavors, like War, Love, Creativity, Knowledge, Trickery, etc. They have their own motivations, focused more on "what to do with life", or what should life be about, rather than creating it (that's the job of the Gods). They sometimes work in favor of the gods or against them, but also in favor of the people, or sometimes leading them astray.*
- *The Gods do not like the Passions to be worshiped (that honor is reserved only for the gods), but minor offerings to them are sometimes acceptable, and the Passions may sometimes try to trick or sway people into worshiping them instead.*
- *Several miles beyond this place there is a place called Dungeon City. It a cleared out dungeon and the largest settlement in the region.*
- If pressed about his origins, the assistant will tell them that "I didn't want to get killed in the gods' stupid game, so they gave me this job instead."
*These are setting-specific ideas I might use or include if I further develop this as my own setting, but that might be ignored if using this write up as a template for some other idea based on this concept.
Quote from: GeekyBugle;1133172Isn't it a good idea for a setting?
It definitely seems like a good basis for a MMORPG
From RPGPundit Presents: Miscellaneous Wonders of the Last Sun:
"In the Old Times, the sky was full of stars; points of light that covered the Shroud of Night; but the Ancients buried all the stars under the world, so that they could capture the Sun and gain its power.
This is known by all."
"The Elves were the favorite children of the Elder Ones; this is why they were given the Pleasure Domes to live under, and made to live long lives; while Humans were left to work the fields. Least favored were the Dwarves, who were made to live in the deep tunnels below, maintaining the foundations of the world.
All others: the vicious Halflings in the forests, the talking Bears and Gorillas and Sloths, the Giants in the mountains and swamps and beaches, the Goblins and other humanoids, the grotesque Mutants of all colors, and the hideous Undead who are dead and yet live; as well as all manner of monstrous beasts, these all came later in the Disaster times when the Ancients vanished. They are abominations."
"The world is so large that it cannot be numbered; even if a long-lived Elf were to try to walk it, he would die long before covering even a small part of it, and his children's children would die, and more than one thousand years would go by before he went all the way around (for it is known by all that the world is shaped like a sphere around the Sun).
Since the Ancients disappeared, all that we know of is this little part of the world: the six shires of man in the plains, the Rose Pleasure Dome, the Dark Forest, the Frozen Mountains, the Great Devastation where the Lost City is found, the Black Bog to the south and then the Shining Sea beyond.
But the Ancients in their time could cross all the world in the blink of an eye, or fly across it faster than a dragon even up to the Floating Cities. When they ruled the world, and even G.O.D. was their servant and the Daemons served G.O.D. (before they rebelled), they could command G.O.D. himself to let them see and speak with others right across the world, so far that it was night there when it was day here.
In all the world there were once shires of men and domes of Elves and cities in the skies, and it may yet be that somewhere else the human race still survives, perhaps even thrives, and we are not truly the last of them."
"Clerics are that order of men whose duty it is to serve G.O.D.
Only those who are chosen, the purest of Men, and rarely Dwarves, may make true use of the Holy Tablets which are passed down; and through these gain the miracles of G.O.D.
All Clerics may use the gifts of healing, and of repelling the vile undead so hated by G.O.D., but the most powerful of Clerics gain other gifts. In ancient times a very few were said to be able to commune with G.O.D. directly to know his will. Now, G.O.D. only ever speaks one phrase to the Clerics through his Tablets: 'There is an Emergency going on. It is still going on'.
Though we are not as mighty or long-lived as the Elves, it is clear that mankind was for some reason favored by the Ancients, since in all times since the passing of the Ancients, only human Clerics have been able to Commune with G.O.D."
"Wizards do not gain their power from G.O.D. but from knowing some of the lost secrets of the Ancients; by learning the secret and ineffable words that tap into the Interweb of Power, the invisible force that surrounds the world that they call the Nanite Cloud. But these are secrets mortals were not meant to know, and can bring grave dangers and costs.
The most powerful of wizards dare to enter into congress with Daemons, those immortal spirits of great might who were once the servants of G.O.D. but now do their own will. Consorting with Daemons can bring great power but also madness, and make one into something different."
"And the Disaster? All know this: the Ancients disappeared, at the same time that the Dark Ones entered the world from the Void Beyond. Their terrible tentacled servants first conquered the Machineholds below the world, expelling the Dwarves, who to this day still dream fruitlessly of reconquering their ancient homelands. Their destruction drove G.O.D. mad, and his Daemons rebelled, and the world was poisoned, causing mutations and abominations. The servants of the Dark Ones invaded the surface world as well, causing terrible devastation. They were fought by the Pythian Knights, the legendary warriors among the Elven overseers. The servants of the Dark Ones were driven back below the world, but the Pythian Knights were destroyed, and the glory of the Elves was lost forever.
Now there is no one to run the world, and in the ten thousands years since the Disaster, chaos has destroyed all harmony and order in the world of the Last Sun."