Creative Exercise: The Sovereign Dominion of Eyros

[domino]

p.s. Malarn is a Human house. Makes it even more suspicious, considering the general Orcish dominance, and all.

 

[Mouseferatu]

p.s. Malarn is a Human house. Makes it even more suspicious, considering the general Orcish dominance, and all.

Fixed.

 

[domino]

Thanks.

 

[Rystil Arden]

The House of Malarn, is considered to be the most progressive of the Pillars. The leaders of the house occasionally go as far as to "adopt" notable or particularily worthy members of other races into the house, on an honorary basis. Obviously, they are kept out of positions in line for ascendancy to the throne. They are however, allowed to add the dal-Malarn suffix to their name.

Because of this, they are looked upon with suspicion by the more pure Pillars. Even more so, since their house produces a higher percentage of officers in the Army and other military services (what military services are there, anyways?). Are they positioning themselves for a move against the other pillars?

Thanks for all the love guys, it makes me feel less incompetent at this than the general age-stereotypes would have me believe ^^. Now on to my contribution (sorry for the length, but I think its interesting enough to warrant it):

There is a dark secret behind the short lifespans of the Eyrian monarchs: Long ago when the cruel elven warlords ruled the land that is now called Eyros, their Valjin (necromancer-enchanters) created a powerful and insidious magic in their volcanic magic laboratory that allowed them to extend their already-lengthy lifespans at the expense of their orcish thralls, who were kept docile and servile while living shorter lives at the same time. After the orc/human conquest, the ancient gnomish necromancer Thanatos and his apprentices struggled mightily to reverse-engineer the magic against the elves, but the best they could do was reverse the enchantment magic, as the lifespan portion seems to be based purely on an idiosyncracy of elven physiology. Thanatos created an amythest crown that would need to be worn by one of orc blood that would allow control of the elves by the invaders at the expense of the wearer's lifeforce. As a result, the invaders were able to create the Masks, a group of elves who are servile and childlike in their outlook, but able to live a very long time. Because of this, there exist Masks like the famously powerful Alivia, a youthful and childlike elf who enjoys sweets but has actually been alive for the entire 3000 year history of humans and orcs in Eyrdeyn. Only a few members of each house know this secret, and they must sometimes retreat to the volcano with the Patriae Sicarii to revitalise the crown, which has led to the rumours of a cushy hot-spring retreat. The assassination leading to the civil war of 350 years ago (Known as the War of the Crumbled Pillar due to the annihilation of one of the pillars) was instigated by an orc Pillar that was upset by the fact that only orcs were victimised by this process. Agathon's genius lay in choosing half-orcs to wear the crown, as well as initiating a tradition of abdication that allowed these half-orcs to remove the crown when they became enfeebled.

 

[Rystil Arden]

I also had another metathread idea: a parallel thread "Playing in Eyros" that would contain material useful for playing in this setting forbidden (with good reason) in this thread. This could range, based on contributor whims, from simple facts like "Eyrian gnomes get +1 to DCs of Necromancy rather than Illusion spells" to full stat-blocks for important NPCs like Captain Darrenback (or typical NPCs like "typical Praes Thanatos enforcer" or "typical Jagged Eye infiltrator"). If this new thread was created, the rules there would be a completely optional piecemeal supplement for a DM hoping to use the setting from this thread (so they could ignore them if what they see violates the spirit of their vision of Eyros, and use them if they want some interesting ideas for where to start on statting this up), and of course, I'm not going to start such a thread without hearing the OK here first.

 

[Mouseferatu]

I also had another metathread idea: a parallel thread "Playing in Eyros" that would contain material useful for playing in this setting forbidden (with good reason) in this thread. This could range, based on contributor whims, from simple facts like "Eyrian gnomes get +1 to DCs of Necromancy rather than Illusion spells" to full stat-blocks for important NPCs like Captain Darrenback (or typical NPCs like "typical Praes Thanatos enforcer" or "typical Jagged Eye infiltrator"). If this new thread was created, the rules there would be a completely optional piecemeal supplement for a DM hoping to use the setting from this thread (so they could ignore them if what they see violates the spirit of their vision of Eyros, and use them if they want some interesting ideas for where to start on statting this up), and of course, I'm not going to start such a thread without hearing the OK here first.

I would have no problem with you starting a thread like that.

However, I think it needs to have one important caveat. The mechanics cannot change any of the base core assumptions, since we need a common ground for building this thread.

Let me give an example of what I mean. Changing the gnomes to have +1 DC to Necromancy rather than Illusion isn't a major change. If someone wanted to completely rewrite the gnomes, however--altering their stat modifiers, swapping out all their racial abilities, etc.--that would throw off the base assumptions on which this thread is built.

Make sense?

 

[Rystil Arden]

I would have no problem with you starting a thread like that.

However, I think it needs to have one important caveat. The mechanics cannot change any of the base core assumptions, since we need a common ground for building this thread.

Let me give an example of what I mean. Changing the gnomes to have +1 DC to Necromancy rather than Illusion isn't a major change. If someone wanted to completely rewrite the gnomes, however--altering their stat modifiers, swapping out all their racial abilities, etc.--that would throw off the base assumptions on which this thread is built.

Make sense?

Absoutely, that goes without saying: the new thread reflects what we have seen in this thread rather than creating anything new. I will be putting it in House Rules, so everyone feel free to come over and contribute. As a side note: We are now a hot thread! Yay!

 

[Andor]

Ok, this can be dropped if it falls under the 'makes people uncomfortable' category, but it deserves some attention.

Due to the need for the noble families to both maintain pure human or orc lines and to produce half-blooded children they commonly practice polygamy. Most commonly this is in the form of a noble married to another noble of an off-race house, and to another spouse of the same race, this second spouse is almost always (very strong custom) drawn from outside the noble families. (The practice of in race exogamy help avoid the dangers of inbreeding.) It is from these non-noble spouses that the pure familly lines continue. (Note that only noble to noble offspring use hyphenated names.

There are also (rarer) quartet marriges composed of two noble spouses and two nonnoble spouses (Two orcs, two humans.) Such a quartet can obviously produce halforc children by the nonnoble parents, such children are considered noble but form the very lowest rank of nobility, equivilent to a squire or landless knight.

These marrige customs are one of the causes of the rumours amoung non Eyrosians of Eyrosian debauchery.

 

[Phineas Crow]

Besides the capital, Eyros has six major cities/towns. Each of these six cities is controlled by one of the 6 houses and are run much like independent city-states. One way to measure a house’s wealth and power is by how prosperous their city is, having a weak, faltering city is a severe humiliation for a house.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Ok, this can be dropped if it falls under the 'makes people uncomfortable' category, but it deserves some attention.

Doesn't bother me, at least. And makes perfect sense.