Creative Exercise: The Sovereign Dominion of Eyros

Contribution

adamantineangel said:

Undead raised from these lands have interesting characteristics; skeletons are red or purple hued; zombie flesh is invigorated, not rotting; the eyes bloodshot, the hair red-brown.

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The new emperor marries four first-generation half-orc wives upon ascending the throne, one from each combination of houses he is not from. (Switch genders when appropriate.)

This is done to prevent favoritism, and to insure that the emperor's children can never follow him to the throne, even were they somehow able to subvert the other laws preventing it.

Abisashi said:

The new emperor marries four first-generation half-orc wives upon ascending the throne, one from each combination of houses he is not from. (Switch genders when appropriate.)

This is done to prevent favoritism, and to insure that the emperor's children can never follow him to the throne, even were they somehow able to subvert the other laws preventing it.

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The Eyrosian Calendar consists of 15 months which range from being 28 to 31 days long. Aru is the first month and has 29 days. The Dawning Festival is held on the first day of Aru which celebrates not only the start of a new year, but the start of spring.

No time to post my contribution right now, but remember that we should probably fix Keyzha Zhal's last name.

Phineas Crow said:

The Eyrosian Calendar consists of 15 months which range from being 28 to 31 days long. Aru is the first month and has 29 days. The Dawning Festival is held on the first day of Aru which celebrates not only the start of a new year, but the start of spring.

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It is considered a crime against the state for anyone other than a Mask, one of the Praes Thanatos, or an actual half-orc, to create a magic item without first receiving official approval from a regional governor or the Pillar who controls the city in which the prospective creator lives.

Found a little problem

Tellas identity should be known to thanatos as well as he still exists as the Cucullus Umbra. Would be strange if he didn´t know what the oath does and the identity of Tellas.

Contribution:

The solar Conquers Twice was on the prime to find his fallen brother who became a mighty demon. He found the looted remains of his brother and his open skull but the evil part of his brother was already gone taken by greedy dwarves.

He departed and came back after he heard rumors of another gem, a sapphire, taken from his brother´s body. He believes that the gem is filled with the last pure part of the fallen one´s soul and could be used to revive him or at least destroy the cerebrum ruby.

He assumed control of Saagersberg some time ago to use it as his base of operations. He isn´t sure if the amethyst crown could be the evil gem. He suspects that the term cerebrum ruby was a falsehood used deliberately by the psionic crystal to confuse possible searchers.

Phineas Crow said:

The Eyrosian Calendar consists of 15 months which range from being 28 to 31 days long. Aru is the first month and has 29 days. The Dawning Festival is held on the first day of Aru which celebrates not only the start of a new year, but the start of spring.

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After this my contributions for a while will be only a few sentences at most, I promise. :^D

Members of the Crucible elemental-fire cult are highly secretive and drawn from the upper echelons of the Pillars. An initiate is called an Ember, and after a year the Ember is considered a Flame, while the cult is lead by six Pyres, each Pyre from a different Pillar. Crucibles of mixed orc and human blood must declare themselves loyal to one and only one of their parent Houses. When a Pyre leaves the cult, through death or retirement, the other Pyres collectively choose a Flame from that ex-Pyre's Pillar to replace him or her.

Each initiate is chosen by a Pyre of the same Pillar as the initiate, and that Pyre oversees the initiation of the new Ember. Potential initiates are observed first for some years by Flames, who suggest the most promising candidates to the Pyre of their Pillar, who then observes a few to determine who is worthy or needed by the cult. Pyres and Flames are very careful in their observations and choices for new members, to ensure the continued secrecy and influence of the Crucible in maintaining the royal purity.

Crucible cultists wear drab brown robes that cover them entirely, such that any observed in public appear to be nothing more than beggars or travelers. They each wear a personalized mask underneath their hood, however, and the mask always bears a flame emblem or pattern somewhere. In meetings with other Crucible cultists, they pull back their hoods just enough to reveal their masks so they can identify eachother. Crucibles each choose an orcish word for their name in the cult, and never use their true name amongst their fellow cultists; only the Pyre who initiated them knows their true name, yet none of the Pyres know eachothers' true names since they were each initiated by previous Pyres. Flame Droth Vajar is an influential cultist of the Crucible, though a common Flame in rank, from the Pillar of Vajar, and his chosen name Droth means "stone" in the orcish tongue.

Arkhandus said:

After this my contributions for a while will be only a few sentences at most, I promise. :^D

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The Empire is currently having trouble with tribal raiders in the highlands of the Ahln-Desh region, in the eastern mountain ranges. Because of the rocky, mountainous terrain, the massive legions of the Empire are of little use, as they cannot maintain formation. Thus, hiding in the mountains are less civilized tribes, who prey upon carvans and travellers passing through their mountain homes.

Correction Possibilities

Sarellion said:

Found a little problem

Tellas identity should be known to thanatos as well as he still exists as the Cucullus Umbra. Would be strange if he didn´t know what the oath does and the identity of Tellas.

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I think there a couple of possible ways of dealing with this. Some ideas that I like:

1) Although Thanatos knows what the Imperial Oath does, he isn't aware that Tellas is still alive.

2) Thanatos also knows about Tellas - and he's the one really pulling the strings.

3) Thanatos knows about Tellas, and distrusts her greatly, but the emperors always put too much stock in Tellas for Thanatos to convince them of the danger (he believes) she poses. The emperors don't trust Thanatos in this because they believe he may be trying to control them, and Tellas has shown herself to be very trustworthy and efficient. Thanatos distrusts Tellas because (choose one)
A) Thanatos believes that the Oath is unravelling.
B) Thanatos is aware of some facet of the Oath that makes Tellas very dangerous.
C) Thanatos really is trying to take power. He's been working at it slowly but surely, and Tellas is the only major remaining obstacle.

Other ideas? This is just what jumped to mind for me.


I like having these various powers around and thinking about their interactions. I think it is also good that they are all acting in the background, and that it makes sense for them to do so.

Contradiction?

Compilation said:

It has a long tradition of senatorial governance, with occassional periods of despotic autocracy when a particular family or individual gains dominance.

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Compilation said:

The Grand Monarchs used to be pure blooded members of the 6 pillars following the ancient conquest, with each Grand Monarch choosing a succesor from another House in a Fixed sequence. 350 years ago the Kings and his chosen succesor were killed by a dwarven assasin...

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So, by senatorial governance do we mean that the senate holds a lot of power? How much power does it hold right now? Something along the lines of the senate during some period of roman history? The english parliment after the Magna Carta? Note that there has always (or at least, almost always) been a king, but his power may have waxed and waned in comparison to that of the senate.

domino said:

The Empire is currently having trouble with tribal raiders in the highlands of the Ahln-Desh region, in the eastern mountain ranges. Because of the rocky, mountainous terrain, the massive legions of the Empire are of little use, as they cannot maintain formation. Thus, hiding in the mountains are less civilized tribes, who prey upon carvans and travellers passing through their mountain homes.

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Comment on the Tellas/Thanatos conundrum: Since we learned that the gnomes were originally elvish slaves, and thus outsiders who aligned themselves with the invaders, I like Abi's option 3C. Thanatos adapted the magic to create the Masks, and I personally like how 3C keeps checks and balances against him, stemming from his own original designs. Now to my contribution:
Detractors of House Mulcibe have for some time used the distinctive red-gold hair of the Mulcibe scions to create nasty, slanderous rumours that members of House Mulcibe engage in ghastly acts of necrophilia with Eyrian zombies. House Mulcibe members can't explain their odd hair colour, and some of them are secretly afraid that the rumours might be true. In actuality, House Mulcibe descends from an eladrin who journeyed to this realm on Conquers Twice's first voyage from the celestial planes. (and some members of House Mulcibe have Eladrin bloodline traits)