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5e Homebrew Setting: Malebolge, Post-Apocalyptic Fantasy
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<blockquote data-quote="QuietBrowser" data-source="post: 6931590" data-attributes="member: 6855057"><p>So, just to prove I've been working on this project - in fact, I got the first racial guide done this morning, but I'm not sure if I should show it here, because it's the kobold and I'm still looking it over for sheer creepiness...</p><p></p><p>A thread on beastmen races in fantasy on /tg/ made me think of two seperate things.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Firstly, whilst I don't like the Always Chaotic Evil trope, I don't mind the Usually Chaotic Evil version - in a fantasy world, it makes sense that there are cultures messed up enough to usually make for antagonists. And I also rather like subverting expectations - hence the Rodushi being not the "always chaotic evils swarming filthy ratfolk" you see in every fantasy setting, but a slightly Eastern-tinted culture of noble paladin-types dedicated to restoring civilization, inspired mostly by Final Fantasy's Burmecians with a little of Legend of the Five Rings' Nezumi thrown in.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Why am I bringing this up? Essentially, there's this obscure card game called Hex: Shards of Fate, and one of the races there is the Shin'hare, an incredibly ruthless and imperialistic species of bunnyfolk who make extensive use of blood magic, necromancy and human wave tactics to compensate for their physically unimposing nature. We're talking a species that routinely butchers its children to power blood magic rites that produce enchanted arms & armor for its warrior elite, and where the primary ruling caste is an elite band of female sorcerers who use magic to produce unnaturally large and quick-growing litters.</p><p></p><p></p><p><a href="http://hextcg.gamepedia.com/Shin%E2%80%99hare" target="_blank">http://hextcg.gamepedia.com/Shin’hare</a></p><p></p><p></p><p>To finally ask my questions, do folks think that an expy of the Shin'hare could work in the Malebolge setting? I can honestly see them, with origins in a cabal of Aelfar mystics whose souls were displaced from their bodies during the Black Dawn. Rather than dissipae, they possessed the first living creatures they could - a warren of rabbits. To their horror, they found themselves stuck. Through a combination of their spiritual contamination and arcane rights, they mutated their bodies and the children of those bodies into the first of the (Bunnyfolk).</p><p></p><p></p><p>Now, they rule as an elite council of lich-wraiths; foul-hearted mystics who continually reincarnate whenever their bodies give out, for even now they can only live a fraction of their original elven lifespan. Cruel and arrogant to begin with, the generations have twisted their minds and left them quite mad, causing them to shape their offspring into a brutal, ruthless society hell-bent on subguating the rest of the world.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Emphasis here would be that it's not so much the (Bunnyfolk) are born evil as that their culture is seriously messed up, and that's due to the influence of the "Eternal Emperors". You can easily have defectors from decadence, but the bulk of the culture are your traditional badguys, with a touch of black comedy.</p><p></p><p></p><p>But, I don't know if other folks could buy this race, so that's why I would like to get opinions while I'm here.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Second question; as a result of that same thread, I've been idly contemplating how to make a race of horsemen. I'm fairly confident I've got something decent, but would they fit in Malebolge, or would I be better off saving them for some other project?</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>To touch on a topic that's been bugging me... I've never really liked druids that much. My plan for them in Malebolge is just to leave them out, because there's no divine magic in the setting, but... well, on Enworld, it was pointed out to me that class fluff can be reworked. I know this to be true, but... well, do folks really think that the Aelfar's traditions of enslaving and mutating animals & plants to serve their will really sounds like something that can be done with the Druid class? I don't know, it just doesn't seem right to use it...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I've been contemplating writing a "Scavver's Guidebook", an in-universe text detailing at least fragments of a scavver (professional scavenger) manual talking about the architecture of the Lost Empires, how to differentiate between the magical items of said cultures, traps, natural hazards, magical hazards, dangerous and useful plants/animals/minerals, stuff like that. Would folks be interested in that?</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Speaking of magic... I've always envisioned Eden during the "golden era" as being sort of like Eberron meets... whatever that Forgotten Realm sub-setting set in Faerun's past during the height of Netheril was. Age of Magic? Whatever. Still, even with this in mind... would it break folks' suspension of disbelief if I said they had firearm-equivalents, expies of Warhammer 40000's chain-weapons (which 4e already did, via the Fleshgrinder "enchantment" in Adventurer's Vault 2), artificial limbs based on replacing lost appendages with golem versions, and things like that? Keep in mind this is all Lost Technology at this point.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="QuietBrowser, post: 6931590, member: 6855057"] So, just to prove I've been working on this project - in fact, I got the first racial guide done this morning, but I'm not sure if I should show it here, because it's the kobold and I'm still looking it over for sheer creepiness... A thread on beastmen races in fantasy on /tg/ made me think of two seperate things. Firstly, whilst I don't like the Always Chaotic Evil trope, I don't mind the Usually Chaotic Evil version - in a fantasy world, it makes sense that there are cultures messed up enough to usually make for antagonists. And I also rather like subverting expectations - hence the Rodushi being not the "always chaotic evils swarming filthy ratfolk" you see in every fantasy setting, but a slightly Eastern-tinted culture of noble paladin-types dedicated to restoring civilization, inspired mostly by Final Fantasy's Burmecians with a little of Legend of the Five Rings' Nezumi thrown in. Why am I bringing this up? Essentially, there's this obscure card game called Hex: Shards of Fate, and one of the races there is the Shin'hare, an incredibly ruthless and imperialistic species of bunnyfolk who make extensive use of blood magic, necromancy and human wave tactics to compensate for their physically unimposing nature. We're talking a species that routinely butchers its children to power blood magic rites that produce enchanted arms & armor for its warrior elite, and where the primary ruling caste is an elite band of female sorcerers who use magic to produce unnaturally large and quick-growing litters. [url]http://hextcg.gamepedia.com/Shin%E2%80%99hare[/url] To finally ask my questions, do folks think that an expy of the Shin'hare could work in the Malebolge setting? I can honestly see them, with origins in a cabal of Aelfar mystics whose souls were displaced from their bodies during the Black Dawn. Rather than dissipae, they possessed the first living creatures they could - a warren of rabbits. To their horror, they found themselves stuck. Through a combination of their spiritual contamination and arcane rights, they mutated their bodies and the children of those bodies into the first of the (Bunnyfolk). Now, they rule as an elite council of lich-wraiths; foul-hearted mystics who continually reincarnate whenever their bodies give out, for even now they can only live a fraction of their original elven lifespan. Cruel and arrogant to begin with, the generations have twisted their minds and left them quite mad, causing them to shape their offspring into a brutal, ruthless society hell-bent on subguating the rest of the world. Emphasis here would be that it's not so much the (Bunnyfolk) are born evil as that their culture is seriously messed up, and that's due to the influence of the "Eternal Emperors". You can easily have defectors from decadence, but the bulk of the culture are your traditional badguys, with a touch of black comedy. But, I don't know if other folks could buy this race, so that's why I would like to get opinions while I'm here. Second question; as a result of that same thread, I've been idly contemplating how to make a race of horsemen. I'm fairly confident I've got something decent, but would they fit in Malebolge, or would I be better off saving them for some other project? To touch on a topic that's been bugging me... I've never really liked druids that much. My plan for them in Malebolge is just to leave them out, because there's no divine magic in the setting, but... well, on Enworld, it was pointed out to me that class fluff can be reworked. I know this to be true, but... well, do folks really think that the Aelfar's traditions of enslaving and mutating animals & plants to serve their will really sounds like something that can be done with the Druid class? I don't know, it just doesn't seem right to use it... I've been contemplating writing a "Scavver's Guidebook", an in-universe text detailing at least fragments of a scavver (professional scavenger) manual talking about the architecture of the Lost Empires, how to differentiate between the magical items of said cultures, traps, natural hazards, magical hazards, dangerous and useful plants/animals/minerals, stuff like that. Would folks be interested in that? Speaking of magic... I've always envisioned Eden during the "golden era" as being sort of like Eberron meets... whatever that Forgotten Realm sub-setting set in Faerun's past during the height of Netheril was. Age of Magic? Whatever. Still, even with this in mind... would it break folks' suspension of disbelief if I said they had firearm-equivalents, expies of Warhammer 40000's chain-weapons (which 4e already did, via the Fleshgrinder "enchantment" in Adventurer's Vault 2), artificial limbs based on replacing lost appendages with golem versions, and things like that? Keep in mind this is all Lost Technology at this point. [/QUOTE]
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