nickdelight
Experienced
- Joined
- Jul 10, 2008
- Posts
- 87
Here's a little rp that has been riding on the back of my mind waiting to get out.
Plot Storyline
From the Great Sea of Tae came a comforting spring breeze, but following on its tail came hundreds of ships, bearing on their sails in red and white the device of a gnarled horned deer standing in front of a sickle moon. In the bellies of these winged ships sailed hundreds of metal shelled men, the steel foundation of their homeland and the favoured children of the Shasar Empire. With these soldiers of an empire rode others, whose skills lay in other areas. There were engineers who could topple mountainous walls, sailors who rode the waves as well as others walked, cooks, slaves, and others whose services are called on when the Empire needs more subtle ways.
It was evident from the first that the fleet carried ill intentions, for its first act on reaching the waters of the Natelese was to destroy without mercy those ships that stood in its path. No survivours lived to warn the city of Natel of the coming storm. It seemed fate had a macabre sense of humour, for not only was one of the most prosperous and well placed city state of the Kengsted League captured, but the ships of the first fleet of the League were anchored in the harbour. So when the ships of the Shasar sailed into Natel unopposed they easily set to flame the finest of League’s ships and in the process dealt a heavy blow to one of the only power which could prove a serious threat.
The ripples from this invasion set the members of the Kengsted League into a panic. Those members who tried diplomatic overtures never heard from their envoys again. The many emergency meetings would see bickering and heated debate on what course of action should be taken. Yet a positive effect of this invasion was that all members of the Kengsted League were now united. A foray by a scouting unit of the Shasar Empire met a bloody end when they tried to cross from the lowlands of Natel into the hills of Ostan. No neighbour tried to take advantage of the sudden shift in the forces of their Ostan neighbour. Other members of the League lessened the troops patrolling their borders to help bolster the number of those members who were unfortunate enough to neighbour the Natelese lands, while others invoked old treaties with organizations outside the influence of the League.
The lands of the Kengsted League are in turmoil, and every person plays a part.
Setting Details
Currency
Though each city has its own currency, the standard currency is the shell. It is a small piece of metal with rippled edges and tapers to a point, making it look like a clam shell.
The shell comes in three types of metal copper, silver, and gold.
The rate for each piece is:
1 gold shell = 10 silver shells
1 silver shells = 8 copper shells
Rates of exchange for other currencies is dependent on area of origin and ease of counterfeit. Consult your local money changer for details.
Politics
The land is mostly split up into different city states, whose only tie to one another is through the Kengsted League. Most areas are ruled by a variation of the oligarchy, whose members elect two leaders for life, or however long they keep the other members happy.
Only Inorn to the north and Winsel to the north east are ruled by a monarchy. These two kingdoms are not members of the Kengsted League, though the League does do business with them.
Geography
The west is mostly desert with only a handful of settlements dotting its yellow sand. There are patches along the coast with habitable lands for farming and oases are found at intermittent locations throughout the sandlands
The east and north are the most fertile areas, the north being the most fertile. The east is made up of plains and forest with the river Keng winding back and forth through it. The river Keng is the major artery for those members of the League located inland and it flows from Cador Lake, located in the south central area, to the Tae Delta just a day south from Natel.
The south is a large bay effectively cut off from the rest of the continent by the Katrac Mountains, a long range of mountains that forms a slight arc from east to west. It is in these mountains that the Weapon-dancer Academy is located. A few farming communities are located near the mountains since the lands before the foothills are good for farming. However, most communities in the south are mining communities due to the rich deposits of minerals within the mountains.
The northwest region is a frigid tundra barely inhabitable. Those people who do live in that region are nomadic.
Temperatures vary from tropical in the south to tundra in the far north, especially in the west. Most of the lands enjoys good weather all year round, though those in the east and north are not strangers to snow and ice, while those south experience severe storms and monsoon rains.
Like earth there is a spring, summer, autumn, and winter, with the added season of Varuna. The season of Varuna takes place between winter and spring, and it is the wettest time of the year with near constant downpour and flooding.
Kengsted League
The Kengsted League is an alliance of merchants and guilds who have banded together to coordinate and control the flow of trade and commerce. They can afford to outfit and run a major military to protect their caravans and ships from bandits and pirates. The different states do have their own guardsmen to protect their immediate holdings within the proximity of their cities.
The main League city of Jackaran is located midway through the continent at the top of Cador Lake. Its central locations and accessibility via the Keng makes it ideal for an annual council. Jackaran is also one of the founding cities of the League the others being Tergo to the east and Neit to the west.
The League has over 4000 members and 23 member cities. It has 8 hold homes which serve as treasuries for the League and holds special contracts with all major ports of trade and commerce. In each member city there are chapter houses which deal with problems and trade in their set region and it is through these that the League most often acts. The headquarters in Jackaran is where the League meets to discuss policy for all its members, and if need be inter-regional conflicts. The League has no set leadership, the ones in charge of each hold home act, when it is required, as arbiters in cases of dispute.
The Weapon-Dancers
The Weapon-Dancers are an ancient order dedicated to the perfection of the art of combat. Their reputation as warriors are second-to-none and have honed their skill to such a degree that their moves are instinctual. The reflexes of a full fledge weapon-dancer are preternatural with speeds and agility that are far beyond the ordinary person. To watch a weapon-dancer of any skill is a lesson in grace and harmony, their feet swiftly stepping across the floor, their weapon a visible extension of their arm and soul. To see every step, every move of their hand, is charged with the electricity of encountering something majestic and sublime for the first time. Though it may seem the weapon-dancers are demi-gods, they are only human, those who have fought in battle bear the scars from their encounters, many have died when faced with overwhelming odds or misjudged an opponent. However, it can be said with pride that weapon-dancers proudly bears scars on their arms, even torsos, but never has one been hit on the back.
The weapon-dancers accept both men and women in their academy compound located in a basin within the northern edge of the Katrac Mountains. The students to the academy start from the age of nine, but must pass a test before being accepted. Those applicants who make it through the initial test then have to face a gruelling twelve years of practical and theoretical training, living in dorms with those around their level, and doing their part in maintaining the academy. The life of a student is Spartan and monastic at best, yet it is this time old method that has produced weapon-dancers of high calibre. Once the Masters-at-arms deem a student is sufficiently versed in weapons training, they are given a series of final tests to see how well they can apply their knowledge. The tests are not easy and many who have undertaken them have died.
Once a student has passed their final test, they are known as a first level weapon-dancer and are free to leave the academy to dedicate the rest of their lives to honing their skills in battle or as advisors. Those who remain at the academy to continue their education eventually become masters, and a select few become the lead weapon-dancers, the Master-at-arms.
The Masters are the most deadly of the weapon-dancers for they have spent a lifetime at their craft. Yet to be a master isn’t just a matter of time, but also being able to defeat two other masters without the slightest doubt.
The Master-at-arms are the pinnacle of weapon-dancers they are the most versed in the lore and technique, and they bear the most scars. To reach the height of Master-at-arms a candidate must be able to defeat the master-at-arms in a one on one duel.
Lastly a weapon-dancer fights with the weapon of their choosing. Those students who take the test are shown into an armoury at the top of the Master’s hall, where there are weapons of every type ever fought with and learned. A student can spend hours or a few minutes in this armoury, as they carefully select a weapon on which their life will rely on. As time goes by a weapon breaks and a weapon-dancer will have to select a new weapon. This time they will not be allowed in the armoury in the Master’s hall but instead will have to go on a quest to find their new weapon. Most weapon-dancers will buy one from a smith of renown, a few who have the skill, will make it themselves.
Any questions?
Plot Storyline
From the Great Sea of Tae came a comforting spring breeze, but following on its tail came hundreds of ships, bearing on their sails in red and white the device of a gnarled horned deer standing in front of a sickle moon. In the bellies of these winged ships sailed hundreds of metal shelled men, the steel foundation of their homeland and the favoured children of the Shasar Empire. With these soldiers of an empire rode others, whose skills lay in other areas. There were engineers who could topple mountainous walls, sailors who rode the waves as well as others walked, cooks, slaves, and others whose services are called on when the Empire needs more subtle ways.
It was evident from the first that the fleet carried ill intentions, for its first act on reaching the waters of the Natelese was to destroy without mercy those ships that stood in its path. No survivours lived to warn the city of Natel of the coming storm. It seemed fate had a macabre sense of humour, for not only was one of the most prosperous and well placed city state of the Kengsted League captured, but the ships of the first fleet of the League were anchored in the harbour. So when the ships of the Shasar sailed into Natel unopposed they easily set to flame the finest of League’s ships and in the process dealt a heavy blow to one of the only power which could prove a serious threat.
The ripples from this invasion set the members of the Kengsted League into a panic. Those members who tried diplomatic overtures never heard from their envoys again. The many emergency meetings would see bickering and heated debate on what course of action should be taken. Yet a positive effect of this invasion was that all members of the Kengsted League were now united. A foray by a scouting unit of the Shasar Empire met a bloody end when they tried to cross from the lowlands of Natel into the hills of Ostan. No neighbour tried to take advantage of the sudden shift in the forces of their Ostan neighbour. Other members of the League lessened the troops patrolling their borders to help bolster the number of those members who were unfortunate enough to neighbour the Natelese lands, while others invoked old treaties with organizations outside the influence of the League.
The lands of the Kengsted League are in turmoil, and every person plays a part.
Setting Details
Currency
Though each city has its own currency, the standard currency is the shell. It is a small piece of metal with rippled edges and tapers to a point, making it look like a clam shell.
The shell comes in three types of metal copper, silver, and gold.
The rate for each piece is:
1 gold shell = 10 silver shells
1 silver shells = 8 copper shells
Rates of exchange for other currencies is dependent on area of origin and ease of counterfeit. Consult your local money changer for details.
Politics
The land is mostly split up into different city states, whose only tie to one another is through the Kengsted League. Most areas are ruled by a variation of the oligarchy, whose members elect two leaders for life, or however long they keep the other members happy.
Only Inorn to the north and Winsel to the north east are ruled by a monarchy. These two kingdoms are not members of the Kengsted League, though the League does do business with them.
Geography
The west is mostly desert with only a handful of settlements dotting its yellow sand. There are patches along the coast with habitable lands for farming and oases are found at intermittent locations throughout the sandlands
The east and north are the most fertile areas, the north being the most fertile. The east is made up of plains and forest with the river Keng winding back and forth through it. The river Keng is the major artery for those members of the League located inland and it flows from Cador Lake, located in the south central area, to the Tae Delta just a day south from Natel.
The south is a large bay effectively cut off from the rest of the continent by the Katrac Mountains, a long range of mountains that forms a slight arc from east to west. It is in these mountains that the Weapon-dancer Academy is located. A few farming communities are located near the mountains since the lands before the foothills are good for farming. However, most communities in the south are mining communities due to the rich deposits of minerals within the mountains.
The northwest region is a frigid tundra barely inhabitable. Those people who do live in that region are nomadic.
Temperatures vary from tropical in the south to tundra in the far north, especially in the west. Most of the lands enjoys good weather all year round, though those in the east and north are not strangers to snow and ice, while those south experience severe storms and monsoon rains.
Like earth there is a spring, summer, autumn, and winter, with the added season of Varuna. The season of Varuna takes place between winter and spring, and it is the wettest time of the year with near constant downpour and flooding.
Kengsted League
The Kengsted League is an alliance of merchants and guilds who have banded together to coordinate and control the flow of trade and commerce. They can afford to outfit and run a major military to protect their caravans and ships from bandits and pirates. The different states do have their own guardsmen to protect their immediate holdings within the proximity of their cities.
The main League city of Jackaran is located midway through the continent at the top of Cador Lake. Its central locations and accessibility via the Keng makes it ideal for an annual council. Jackaran is also one of the founding cities of the League the others being Tergo to the east and Neit to the west.
The League has over 4000 members and 23 member cities. It has 8 hold homes which serve as treasuries for the League and holds special contracts with all major ports of trade and commerce. In each member city there are chapter houses which deal with problems and trade in their set region and it is through these that the League most often acts. The headquarters in Jackaran is where the League meets to discuss policy for all its members, and if need be inter-regional conflicts. The League has no set leadership, the ones in charge of each hold home act, when it is required, as arbiters in cases of dispute.
The Weapon-Dancers
The Weapon-Dancers are an ancient order dedicated to the perfection of the art of combat. Their reputation as warriors are second-to-none and have honed their skill to such a degree that their moves are instinctual. The reflexes of a full fledge weapon-dancer are preternatural with speeds and agility that are far beyond the ordinary person. To watch a weapon-dancer of any skill is a lesson in grace and harmony, their feet swiftly stepping across the floor, their weapon a visible extension of their arm and soul. To see every step, every move of their hand, is charged with the electricity of encountering something majestic and sublime for the first time. Though it may seem the weapon-dancers are demi-gods, they are only human, those who have fought in battle bear the scars from their encounters, many have died when faced with overwhelming odds or misjudged an opponent. However, it can be said with pride that weapon-dancers proudly bears scars on their arms, even torsos, but never has one been hit on the back.
The weapon-dancers accept both men and women in their academy compound located in a basin within the northern edge of the Katrac Mountains. The students to the academy start from the age of nine, but must pass a test before being accepted. Those applicants who make it through the initial test then have to face a gruelling twelve years of practical and theoretical training, living in dorms with those around their level, and doing their part in maintaining the academy. The life of a student is Spartan and monastic at best, yet it is this time old method that has produced weapon-dancers of high calibre. Once the Masters-at-arms deem a student is sufficiently versed in weapons training, they are given a series of final tests to see how well they can apply their knowledge. The tests are not easy and many who have undertaken them have died.
Once a student has passed their final test, they are known as a first level weapon-dancer and are free to leave the academy to dedicate the rest of their lives to honing their skills in battle or as advisors. Those who remain at the academy to continue their education eventually become masters, and a select few become the lead weapon-dancers, the Master-at-arms.
The Masters are the most deadly of the weapon-dancers for they have spent a lifetime at their craft. Yet to be a master isn’t just a matter of time, but also being able to defeat two other masters without the slightest doubt.
The Master-at-arms are the pinnacle of weapon-dancers they are the most versed in the lore and technique, and they bear the most scars. To reach the height of Master-at-arms a candidate must be able to defeat the master-at-arms in a one on one duel.
Lastly a weapon-dancer fights with the weapon of their choosing. Those students who take the test are shown into an armoury at the top of the Master’s hall, where there are weapons of every type ever fought with and learned. A student can spend hours or a few minutes in this armoury, as they carefully select a weapon on which their life will rely on. As time goes by a weapon breaks and a weapon-dancer will have to select a new weapon. This time they will not be allowed in the armoury in the Master’s hall but instead will have to go on a quest to find their new weapon. Most weapon-dancers will buy one from a smith of renown, a few who have the skill, will make it themselves.
Any questions?
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