Creative Exercise - Veragea

[rbingham2000]

Since we have some very cool Creative Exercises going on here, I thought I'd throw my hat into the ring.

My guidelines and constraints for this particular thread are very much like the ones Joshua Dyal proposed for his Razina setting, but with a few changes of my own:

1. Choose setting elements that would work in any FRPG ruleset and do not assume the D&D ruleset.
2. I'm looking for a high fantasy feel, with a bit of swashbuckling thrown in for good measure. There is some nastiness, but not enough to overpower the setting. I'm shooting for something on the order of a PG-13 adventure flick.
3. Magicians and spellcasting are to be avoided in this setting, though things like magical places and creatures are acceptable.
4. The tech level is set in the Late Renaissance/Colonial period. Blackpowder rifles and pistols exist, as do cannons, though cartridge guns and revolvers won't be around for at least a century. Swords are still used in duels, but their role in war is over.
5. I want a humanocentric campaign, with human nations and peoples. If you're going to introduce non-human races, try not to fall back on the cliche fantasy races, please.
6. And I have to echo Joshua's sentiment about nice and fantastic cultures -- we don't need more knockoffs of existing Earth cultures.
7. Let's focus on the nation of Veragea for now.
8. Other than these general guidelines and constraints, Mouseferatu's general rules for making contributions apply.

And with all that out of the way, I'm going to kick things off with my first contribution:

The abandoned castle in the Wildwood Forest is alive.

 

[Arrgh! Mark!]

High fantasy?

Battles are fought underground - the surface is riddled with dangerous magical/poisonous fields from previous battles.

 

[Tonguez]

High fantasy?

Battles are fought underground - the surface is riddled with dangerous magical/poisonous fields from previous battles.

At least thats what the Bandabur people beleive. They claim that their ancestors fled a great calamity and came to the world via the crater of an icebound volcano.

Now to the far north there is a region of eternal storms which some claim emerge from a hole in the sky, however none have been there to investigate and survival in the area is probably impossible

 

[John Cooper]

Out of curiosity, are we to draw any conclusions from the fact that "Veragea" is "average" with the "a" moved from the front of the word to the back?

 

[Arkhandus]

LOL. Could be. Maybe meant as a joke for us poor sods actually enjoying the Eyros Creative Exercise or something? :^D

In any case, the restriction on magic makes me disinterested, since it seems that even if he's serious, he's going for something that hardly qualifies as fantasy whatsoever, with the implication that the only things fantastical should be wierd or cutesy magical places and critters in an otherwise bland Renaissance setting. I.E. the Three Musketeers gunned down a fire-breathing drake in a forest of bleeding trees with talking ravens, hoody-hoo.

Edit: Oh, and then got on a ship and traded cannonades with troll pirates and human privateers. And probably some ninja dino-pirates too. Really, the premises set forth at the start are vague as to what the hell is supposed to be 'high fantasy' if everything else puts forth the assumption that it's basically Renaissance/Colonial Earth with some pitiful bits of fantasy thrown in. The Razina exercise at least put forth that magic was simply rare, and the world should be mostly humanocentric, and folks contributed some interesting creepy/wierd stuff after that. This one sounds more difficult to comprehend as anything but bland. Sell us on it, or something, if my first impression is the same kind that most folks will have upon seeing this.

 

[Sarellion]

Slowly getting crowded with exercises.
This high fantasy premise without magicians and humanocentric reduces the options a lot. Could you please explain what is your understandng of the term "High Fatasy"?

I lost track of the razina exercise. Does someone have a link to the thread on rpg.net?

 

[Arkhandus]

Razina
http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=180143

 

[Kuld]

Originally Posted by Tonguez

At least thats what the Bandabur people beleive. They claim that their ancestors fled a great calamity and came to the world via the crater of an icebound volcano.

Now to the far north there is a region of eternal storms which some claim emerge from a hole in the sky, however none have been there to investigate and survival in the area is probably impossible

Every so often, strong currents blow from the northern storms carrying the whispers of the dead. Prolonged exposure to these winds will cause insanity and even death.

 

[Conaill]

Two great nations on either side of the continent are at the brink of war. The smaller nations in between are hotbed of political maneuvering, intrigue and espionage.

 

[Sarellion]

The wildwood forest is a sentient being.