Creative Exercise--Aleasana

Given that I just started contributing to Eyros, and things are rather cramped over there, I decided to start up a new thread, and see what people could do with a new blank canvas.

Same rules as Eyros--after making a contribution, you have to wait for two new contributions to make your next one. And that's contributions, not posts. Rules go in the rules thread, miscellaneous discussion goes in the meta-thread.

I'll start. 'Aleasana is a land presently torn by a brutal civil war...'

Wow, the field's starting to get pretty crowded... maybe I should think about moving mine to rpg.net and seeing if folks there are interested.

Anyway, here's a substantive contribution:

"There are few nations per se; rather a collection of city-states and feuding warlords who can usually only hold on to rather small tracts of territory at a time. However, the "King" of Cassant has managed to get many of these warlords and city states to recognize his authority, and they operate as a somewhat unruly, yet relatively stable confederacy of mini-nations."

Aleasana is a frozen, inhospitable world.

No, just kidding!!

Aleasana is embroiled in a civil war where the king of Cassant battles for the true crown of the throne against numerous other city states. These city-states are comprised mostly of humans. The dwarves, gnomes, elves, and halflings of the land have more or less absolved themselves from the conflict, though there are the occasional mercenaries...

die_kluge said:

Aleasana is a frozen, inhospitable world.

No, just kidding!!

Aleasana is embroiled in a civil war where the king of Cassant battles for the true crown of the throne against numerous other city states. These city-states are comprised mostly of humans. The dwarves, gnomes, elves, and halflings of the land have more or less absolved themselves from the conflict, though there are the occasional mercenaries...

Click to expand...

And among those mercenaries are the feared and reviled Storm Crows. The Crows are a Dwarvish mercenary company led by Kulrick Ironclaw, whose might in battle is matched only by his arcane prowess.

Hmm...Rhialto was trying to get the attention of later posters to Joshua's thread, and I'm the only one who posted there and not here, so in my crazy world, that means Rhialto was trying to get my attention. In which, case, here goes:

The city-state of Altania is ruled by Larisa, the High Enchantress of Altania. She and her arcanists represent a magocratic faction that hopes to use their arcane prowess to gain control of the crown. The reason that Altania has so many arcane casters in one place is that the vast majority of arcane casters from the old kingdom, being comparitively friendly and amicable with each other over the other factions (including most of the brawny, physically-focused warlords who started the civil-war), chose to side together in the conflict, creating a territory with vastly more wizards than are usual

Another prominent mercenary group in Aleasana is the Black Fist Brotherhood, an exclusive organization of half-orc monks and rogues who serve as shock troops, assassins, and blockade runners for anyone who will pay their price. The Black Fist Brotherhood believes in an almost religious philosophy called the Way of the Black Road, a quasi-mystical regimen of physical and mental training based on the Five Pillars of Truth, which shall guide the faithful and determined to the Ultimate Truth. By their attitudes and activities, though, something about the Universal Truths they follow seems to make battle and warfare important to them.

Black Brothers will not say anything more than this regarding their philosophy, as they are oath-sworn to protect the secrets of the Universal Truths and pass them on only to the initiated. They consequently take only very young half-orcs into their order (age 3 and younger), so Black Brothers are tightly adherant to their oaths. Black Fist Brothers normally wear loose-fitting, cowled black robes that cover all but their hands, feet, and (sometimes) face. They wrap gray strips of cloth around their hands and feet for padding of sorts. Some wear tight, camouflaged nightsuits when out on a mission, to better hide their silhouette when sneaking about.

The present conflict has its roots in an earlier war. A war fought with sound.

Iron is rare in Aleasana, and has anti-magical properties. [Assume all weapon and armor stats are for bronze items. Iron items are treated as Cold Iron, and grant a +1 bonus to damage inflicted on spellcasters and any non-Human or non-Urukh intelligent races. Any spellcaster, non-Human or non-Urukh wielding an iron item is Sickened (-2 on attack, saves, damage, skills and ability checks).]

Ownership of iron items requires a permit in Altania, whereas the king of Cassant has just discovered the existance of a rich lode of iron ore from a dwarven tribe he conquered, and is planning to enslave the tribe to mine it for him.

Lord Nithus, ruler of the City-State of Cazar, is playing the various sides against each other while proffessing neutrality. While many of his intimates think he aspires to the throne himself, in truth, he is hoping to awaken an ancient being of destruction by magically chanelling the deaths the war is causing.

A major hot spot of the war are the iron mines of Amerah. Ownership changes often and violently between the neighbouring city states.