Creative Exercise: The Sovereign Dominion of Eyros

[domino]

Contribution time again. Nice and Short.

A gang of Halfling raiders are working on taming and training sea creatures and raiders to ride those creatures, to make them more manuverable and deadly. If only they could find a way to solve that pesky "need to breathe while underwater" problem.

 

[Khorod]

Thanks for the Pillar summary, Rystil.

Oh, and I finally read the Dogmas post. Good stuff. That clarifies it immensely.

A gang of Halfling raiders are working on taming and training sea creatures and raiders to ride those creatures, to make them more manuverable and deadly. If only they could find a way to solve that pesky "need to breathe while underwater" problem.

Over the centuries, the Orcs traditions in Eyros have been distinctly watered down, and rebuilt to suite the sensibilities of all the races. While Orc dominance maintains Orc values as important, many cultural traditions have been lost. The ancient shamanic traditions of the Orc people have largely been lost.

Some of this, most notably the Blood-Oath Magic, survives today in the Society of the Iron Arm, an association of Orc and Half-Orc metal-workers. The Iron Arm idolizes the primal Orc lifestyle, but are simultaneously amongst the most educated of common Orcish folk. While they are present in Mhur, they don't share the values of that city. Most members of the Society are scattered individuals across the countryside.

Blood-Oath Magic involves personal blood sacrifice as a trade to the spirits that help in battle or for more general survival of self and tribe. In the Iron Arm, it manifests in the creation of some exceptional weapons and armor. This equipment is never made by commission, but always for a specific purpose of the smith or his brothers in the society. It is made in an all night ritual involving rhythmic drums and the spilling of the veings into the liquid metal.

The Blood-Smiths would have everyone believe that this ritual allows them to make anything in a single night, but it is actually just the opening day's activity of normal item crafting. On the last day is a more meditative night ritual, in which more blood is painted on the equipment in swirling patterns of war.

Somehow, as part of this ritual the equipment is tainted ever so slightly with red. Something about this coloration, or maybe something less definable, unnerves those who face against such weapons and armor in battle.

 

[Rystil Arden]

Thanks for the Pillar summary, Rystil.

Oh, and I finally read the Dogmas post. Good stuff. That clarifies it immensely.

No problem. I'm glad you read the Dogma post, since it was basically a compilation in response to your indication that we should have a storyteller version of it.

Hmm...if Garren originally controlled Malarn-ka, then that means now Malarn has two important cities (Malarn-ka and wherever the library is). Given their wealth, I can believe it.

Contribution:

Zhalgar the Merciless was a great war hero of the Eyrian invasion of 41 BE. Known for his psychological warfare, he put to the torch entire cities of non-combatants when their local garrisons refused to surrender, thus encouraging fear and acceptance among the resisting elves. With his elite all-orcish army, (there were several large armies working in tandem to conquer Valjaria, it was with numbers that the orcs and humans defeated the mighty elven empire) Zhalgar swept a 360-degree-arc around the periphery of Valjaria, farthest from the capital, where the Imperial army would have the hardest time defending, subjecting the local garrisons to surrender and forcing all the elves to choose between becoming slaves or being destroyed.

Zhalgar was the ancestor of House Zhal, and even now they hold their lands from those which Zhalgar conquered.

 

[Abisashi]

Contribution

Contribution:

Zhalgar the Merciless was a great war hero of the Eyrian invasion of 41 BE...

Zhalgar was the ancestor of House Zhal, and even now they hold their lands from those which Zhalgar conquered.

Magic on Eyros is a relatively vibrant art, with theoretical journals and practical advancement. Some recent examples:

For thousands of years, it was believed that only spells of the sixth veil or higher could produce a geas effect (Valjin's Exaction being the spell). Recently, Herewald developed a lesser but simpler form, Herewald's Requirement, of the fourth veil.

In his waking hours, the somewhat-unstable Mask Kaillo developed Kaillo's Transformation, which could make the elven mage a dangerous melee combatant, a strange mirror to his subconscious transformation into a dangerous opponent of the state.

Kalis Ny'Dal-Malarn (while still a historian of house Malarn) created Kalis's Mnemonic Enhancer. Always inquisitive, Kalis is well read in contemporary magical theory and was able to create this spell which requires a large amount of theory to understand, and thus was not even possible until recently.

 

[Khorod]

Kaillo was never unstable when conscious. For this to get out with his name on it would require research in his dreams that he jotted down in the morning (in his child-like state) or communication to someone in his noncorporeal state.

Kaillo, and the reverie thing in general, was a sort of strange schizophrenia/split personality thing. Kaillo is a particularly extreme case where his alternate, adult personality was particularly wrathful. My personal interpretation was that he was beginning to lose it in frustration at his own impotence, managed to sleep walk Kaillo into a skull-cracking, and has settled down into a much calmer, more determined ghostly vengeance effort.

BTW: I suggest that with the advent of the Wiki, it can be updated with new contributions instead of posting to this thread. It would ease up on loading time.

 

[Rystil Arden]

Kaillo was never unstable when conscious. For this to get out with his name on it would require research in his dreams that he jotted down in the morning (in his child-like state) or communication to someone in his noncorporeal state.

Kaillo, and the reverie thing in general, was a sort of strange schizophrenia/split personality thing. Kaillo is a particularly extreme case where his alternate, adult personality was particularly wrathful. My personal interpretation was that he was beginning to lose it in frustration at his own impotence, managed to sleep walk Kaillo into a skull-cracking, and has settled down into a much calmer, more determined ghostly vengeance effort.

BTW: I suggest that with the advent of the Wiki, it can be updated with new contributions instead of posting to this thread. It would ease up on loading time.

Actually, I agree on Kaillo but I think it could be fixed if the wording was changed slightly, since it is basically something I said in the other thread in a new context. I suggest changing the wording to "In his waking hours, the somewhat-unstable Mask Kaillo developed Kaillo's Transformation, which could make the elven mage a dangerous melee combatant, a strange mirror to his subconscious transformation into a dangerous opponent of the state."

 

[Arkhandus]

Sarellion: The mountain/volcano at Eyrdeyn is Mt. Xark. As Tonguez said, he accidentally called it Mt. Xarx in one post, and then a few people copied that mistake after missing the original mention that it was Mt. Xark. The Crumbled Pillar was orc-blooded House Garren, you accidentally called it Garran once or twice in your post. And the leader who united Eyros was Agathon, you misspelled it once. Just pointing out spelling errors, they always nag at the back of my mind.

As for House Mulcibe's reddish hair, they probably don't know that Mulcibia had a celestial as a husband, but they probably don't provide any explanation for their hair color other than perhaps "a bit of foreign blood from before the Sovereignty".

Contribution time again:

Zhal is the most fierce and oppressive Pillar, ruling their lands with an iron fist and causing much dissent amongst the dwarves and other peasants, thus why the Jagged Eye is largely based in Zhalccu province. House Zhal produces many of the finest soldiers in the Legions, proud and skilled, tightly adherant to the military line of command, but also ruthless and fond of old orcish ways. Warriors of Pillar Zhal tattoo themselves with an orcish symbol after each successful battle, somewhere open like the arm or forehead, where other warriors can see how successful the warrior has been. Zhal warriors drink a few drops of their foes' blood after each victory, an old orcish tradition that no one really understands the reason behind anymore.

 

[Rystil Arden]

As for House Mulcibe's reddish hair, they probably don't know that Mulcibia had a celestial as a husband, but they probably don't provide any explanation for their hair color other than perhaps "a bit of foreign blood from before the Sovereignty

According to the Compilation, they consider Mulcibia's husband to be otherworldly and special, but they don't know exactly what he was.

Edit: So while they brag that he was "divine" they might be secretly afraid that he was some kind of undead

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

Contribution time again:

Zhal is the most fierce and oppressive Pillar, ruling their lands with an iron fist and causing much dissent amongst the dwarves and other peasants, thus why the Jagged Eye is largely based in Zhalccu province. House Zhal produces many of the finest soldiers in the Legions, proud and skilled, tightly adherant to the military line of command, but also ruthless and fond of old orcish ways. Warriors of Pillar Zhal tattoo themselves with an orcish symbol after each successful battle, somewhere open like the arm or forehead, where other warriors can see how successful the warrior has been. Zhal warriors drink a few drops of their foes' blood after each victory, an old orcish tradition that no one really understands the reason behind anymore.

Other than the Grand Monarch, the greatest political power in all of Eyros is the Imperial Senate. The modern structure of the Imperial Senate was established by Agathon of the Crimson Robe after the War of the Crumbled Pillar. Only pure blood Humans and Orcs, first generation Half-Orcs, and Gnomes may be Senators. Inspired by the degrees of a circle, the Imperial Senate has 360 members. The seats are divided in this manner:

23 dal-Vajar Orcs
12 dal-Vajar ty-Malarn Half-Orcs
12 dal-Vajar ty-Kiron Half-Orcs
12 dal-Vajar ty-Mulcibe Half-Orcs

23 dal-Zhal Orcs
12 dal-Zhal ty-Malarn Half-Orcs
12 dal-Zhal ty-Kiron Half-Orcs
12 dal-Zhal ty-Mulcibe Half-Orcs

23 dal-Taljik Orcs
12 dal-Taljik ty-Malarn Half-Orcs
12 dal-Taljik ty-Kiron Half-Orcs
12 dal-Taljik ty-Mulcibe Half-Orcs

23 dal-Malarn Humans
12 dal-Malarn ty-Vajar Half-Orcs
12 dal-Malarn ty-Zhal Half-Orcs
12 dal-Malarn ty-Taljik Half-Orcs

23 dal-Kiron Humans
12 dal-Kiron ty-Vajar Half-Orcs
12 dal-Kiron ty-Zhal Half-Orcs
12 dal-Kiron ty-Taljik Half-Orcs

23 dal-Mulcibe Humans
12 dal-Mulcibe ty-Vajar Half-Orcs
12 dal-Mulcibe ty-Zhal Half-Orcs
12 dal-Mulcibe ty-Taljik Half-Orcs

6 Praes Thanatos Gnomes

 

[Abisashi]

As with the office of Grand Monarch, only first generation Half-Orcs may be Senators.

23 X Orcs

...

23 X Humans

...

6 Praes Thanatos Gnomes

Isn't that contradictory?