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Message: <blockquote data-quote="s/LaSH" data-source="post: 703341" data-attributes="member: 6929">Here's a couple of my more esoteric thoughts:First, the humanoid question. Why haven't we seen any fantastic races so far? Perhaps because they don't exist yet. After all, many of the creatures out there are explicitly designed to kill stuff. Perhaps the next few millenia will spawn such creatures as weapons? (We've already seen the Beastmen and the scurvy sea dogs, arr, but precious little in the way of additional creatures. I think they're not here yet. Dragons and outsiders, of course, being the exceptions.) Anyway, orcs, gnolls and elves could well appear in coming centuries.Second, the level of available magic. During the Jongan Wars, magic advanced to roughly the third level. I anticipate fourth, perhaps fifth level magics in this next scenario, but no more. The more powerful spells and abilities are likely to be divinely granted, if such a thing ever occurs. By the same regard, I'm not seeing classes getting past levels around six to eight; the training infrastructure simply hasn't been invented. Maybe ten or twelve for champions and national heroes, but these are the mavericks who nobody can really imitate. (Plus they have a nasty habit of getting eaten by dragons. Or desk jobs.)Third, the divine question. What role do the gods play in all this? This is a Big, Important Question for the future of this setting. I see four main possibilities:- One, the gods don't really exist - they're sources created by humans to justify their strange powers.- Two, the gods do exist, but they're given form and power by their worshippers, like a group-mind phenomenon.- Three, the gods do exist, as survivors of some ancient paradigm, or abstract forces given shape in recent millenia by great cosmic conjunctions; they haven't had much contact with each other, and as their pet civilisations expand into the world they discover new gods - and rivals.- Four, the gods do exist, and are all one big family pantheon-style. Not necessarily a happy family, however; factions and sibling rivalry could instigate open warfare between branches of that family (namely different civilisations). On the other hand, the gods might be playing at war for entertainment, and are all best friends in 'real life' up on Olympus.You could mix these up, of course. That's always fun. But I think I've itemised the divine possibilities.Fourth, naming issues. We need names for the Cresian capitol, and the beastmen (and by corelation the scurvy sea dogs, arr). I propose naming the capitol The Heavenbloom, because of its divine/naturalist focus. (If that's too longwinded, you could try just the Bloom or the Rose, which I imagine the roadmap would resemble anyway). The beastmen? I could imagine calling them the Wyr, although that doesn't sound quite in synch with the way Cresia sounds... You could try The Delta as a group name, because delta is the mathematical symbol for a change, and it implies their powerful role in the original delta of the Cresian realm. (The scurvy sea dogs, arr, become the Sea Delta.)Whaddaya think?Fifth, national specialities. We're going to want several archetypes, right? The technologists are a given (they're the designated opponent in the upcoming round, after all). The other two neighbours of Cresia? So far, we've had suggestions of a fire cult of refugees (although I think Cresia expanded over the Cave People's realm a while back, right?), a psionic nation, an undead-oriented nation, a biomancer nation, and a humanoid nation... I think that's the list, right? Can we combine and/or cull any of this? (For example, psi seems to be out, at least for now; but a general magocracy could be an acceptable amalgam. And one should probably have the ability to field beasts of various types.What precise aspects are we examining in this confrontation?</blockquote>

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