Insight's "Against the Witch King" - OOC

[Leif]

I have edited Kel's introductory post below, and developed him a bit more. I may continue to edit him, Insight.

 

[Insight]

Ooooh, I LIKE it!!

Count me in, Insight, to play KEL, a charismatic Warrior of passable skill at arms. I'm thinking that Str (or its equivalent) will be his highest score, and Cha (or its equivalent) will be second highest. Other physical attributes next, and other mental attributes in the basement.

Strength is an attribute and so is Charisma, but the latter is handled differently. In order to increase your Charisma, you will need to take edges. The ones that work - off the top of my head - are Charismatic (duh) and also Attractive and Very Attractive. There might be one more than I'm missing. They all stack, so you could get up to a +6 Charisma, which would add to any sort of "social" skills (except Intimidate for some reason).

Kel knows that he was born into a 'peasant' or 'regular' family by a horrible mistake of fate and that he is destined to rule a Clan. If not the one he was born into, then he is prepared (and he thinks able) to start his own. He is a warrior on the lookout for wise and learned friends because, while dense, he recognizes his own mental weakness for what it is.

If you want to take the "Clans" idea and run with it, that would be fantastic.

Possible ways to take this -
1. What are clans?
2. Where do they exist?
3. Can anyone join a clan? Are they divided by bloodline? By deed? By geographic region?
4. What is the purpose of a clan?

 

[Leif]

Clan

In the nascent human civilization of the world, the 'clan' is the basic unit of organization. A clan consists primarily of one to four extended families. Within a clan, even the different families have some relationship ties of blood or marriage. In human civilization, 'towns' are rare, and 'cities' almost unheard of. Primarily, clans are nomadic, generally following a seasonal pattern of migration, sometimes following the migration of prey animals, but other times migrating to follow the seasonal pattern of maturing wild fruits and grains. What towns do exist were started when two or three clans banded together for mutual defense and/or the exploitation of the relatively new practice of cultivation.

Intimidate

My theory of why charisma does not add to the 'intimidate' skill: Charisma is viewed as a positive aspect of personality, the opposite of which is fear or intimidation.

 

[Insight]

In the nascent human civilization of the world, the 'clan' is the basic unit of organization. A clan consists primarily of one to four extended families. Within a clan, even the different families have some relationship ties of blood or marriage. In human civilization, 'towns' are rare, and 'cities' almost unheard of. Primarily, clans are nomadic, generally following a seasonal pattern of migration, sometimes following the migration of prey animals, but other times migrating to follow the seasonal pattern of maturing wild fruits and grains. What towns do exist were started when two or three clans banded together for mutual defense and/or the exploitation of the relatively new practice of cultivation.

So, we have four human cultures (see Setting Notes #1). Which of these cultures have clans - or do multiple cultures feature clan structures?

 

[Leif]

How about all of them except for the Velurians? [The Velurians being more civilized and living in towns and cities.]

 

[Insight]

How about all of them except for the Velurians? [The Velurians being more civilized and living in towns and cities.]

Yeah, that would probably work. I had an idea in mind for the Velurians, but I don't want to prejudice anyone who might want to develop their culture.

If you're interested in my initial thoughts on the Velurians:
[sblock=Velurians]When I was writing up the cultures part of Setting Notes #1, I was thinking that the Velurians are the remnants of whatever lived in the "Lands of the Ancients". I had in mind that the Velurians became a decadent, corrupted people and were eventually conquered and enslaved by an up-and-coming culture. The modern Velurians are still slaves in places and have long since lost their high-and-mighty place in continental politics.[/sblock]

 

[Insight]

I'm going to come up with a basic geographical map of Veluria and post it in this thread when it's completed.

 

[Leif]

Yeah, that would probably work. I had an idea in mind for the Velurians, but I don't want to prejudice anyone who might want to develop their culture.

If you're interested in my initial thoughts on the Velurians:
[sblock=Velurians]When I was writing up the cultures part of Setting Notes #1, I was thinking that the Velurians are the remnants of whatever lived in the "Lands of the Ancients". I had in mind that the Velurians became a decadent, corrupted people and were eventually conquered and enslaved by an up-and-coming culture. The modern Velurians are still slaves in places and have long since lost their high-and-mighty place in continental politics.[/sblock]

I think my idea will work with what you said. Say the Velurians came out of the caves and developed towns and cities about 1,500 years ago. Then, over the past thousand years they've been getting complacent and lazy (like the Romans did) and that made them ripe to be smacked around by some more barbaric tribes (like the Romans did), and now they are a mere shadow of their former selves, much like what happened to the Sorcerers of Pan Tang in Michael Moorcock's Elric Saga. This will also provide opportrunities for adventurers to raid and loot ancient, 500-year-old Velurian castles and dungeons, and discover lots and lots, dare I hope for TONS, of ancient Velurian magic items!

Kel's tribe: The "Jicts," adjective form "Jictish" The Jicts live in the wilderness regions of the Principality of Valen (one of the 'Thousand Kingdoms'), though they primarily raid settlements in the lowland region nearest to them, which is in Velurian.

 

[Starman]

Awesome! I'm thinking about playing a roguish character of some sort. He's from a small city and would prefer to lie, steal, and cheat his way to wealth. Unfortunately he has a tendency to lose his money gambling, drinking, and wenching.

I'll start getting him more fleshed out. For the record I have the Explorer's Edition of the core rules, but the only play experience I have with SW is one session a couple of years ago so I might need a bit of hand-holding until I get into the swing of things.

 

[Electric Wizard]

Looks good! Tossing my hat in with Hrung, a half-orc harpooner.

---​

Hrung's orc parents, like an untold number of generations before them, lived isolated on an island in the middle of the Lake Oncor. Their tribe's life of hunting the great lake whales was cut short when strange boats, brimming with humans, finally visited their island. A month after the visit, more boats arrived. Their tribe knew something was amiss, and repelled the humans after a skirmish.

The tribe won the first few battles, but they underestimated the numbers and resolve of their enemy, and they were conquered. What's left of the tribe still hunts whales. They surrender the lion's share of their catch to the victorious King Duc Xo as tribute.

Hrung, born to an orc mother and an unknown human father, was never accepted by his mother's tribe and was scorned outright by his father's race. He left the island hoping to find recognition for his talents - wielding harpoons and keeping grace under pressure.

Connections:
In the course of Hrung's adventures, he and Kel may have become comrades. He might enjoy Kel's companionship. Kel might value Hrung's loyalty and occasional criticism.