Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Forked Thread: What "classic" races -- fitting current 4E races to type
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="DreadPirateMurphy" data-source="post: 4769917" data-attributes="member: 20715"><p>First, we have a little back story to set the context for the racial concepts. The term "Ka" is directly stolen from Stephen King's Dark Tower, but you could use any short word with a big meaning -- Chi, Po, etc.</p><p></p><p><strong>The World of Ka</strong></p><p></p><p>A long time ago, on a planet circling a yellow star, there was a race of bipedal mammals making progress on becoming the dominant life form. While they still had not completely eliminated the idea that they were occasionally food for other predators, they were making significant improvements on this status through teamwork and fitfully advancing technology. They called themselves and anybody closely related or outwardly friendly, “humans.” Everybody else they called terms like “infidel,” “slave,” or “target.”</p><p></p><p>Of course, not everybody shared this bleak view of the universe. There was a spiritual order in a remote area of the planet that was working on becoming “one with the universe” in the metaphysical sense. One of the initiates of this order went by the name of “Ka.” The word meant “truth” in a slightly archaic dialect, and so Ka felt it was an appropriate name under which one could seek enlightenment. If his superiors in the order felt this was pretentious, they never said anything. Ka was not the star of the order. In fact, he was never on his way to being either a prophet or a hierophant, and would have labored on in obscurity without the intervention of fate.</p><p></p><p>One day while meditating, Ka encountered something extraordinary – or rather, it discovered him. The place he chose to sit and meditate turned into the outlet for a massive power sink. This sink probably came from a parallel universe, but whether it was scientific or supernatural is hard to say. Luckily for us, thanks to Clarke’s Law we don’t have to specify. For Ka, the experience resulted in his becoming one with the universe in a more physical and less meta- sense than he ever expected.</p><p></p><p>In a sense, Ka’s mind came to encompass the entire universe. In the process, his mind fragmented and lost any sense of individuality or personality. The Elemental Chaos was born out of Ka’s basic drives and subconscious insecurities. The Astral Plane formed out of his rational mind and drive for self-perfection. The most dramatic and evident change, however, was made to the world itself.</p><p></p><p>First, there came into existence various reflections of the world, the most familiar of which are reflections of shadow and fey. Second, people began to discover that they could make the seemingly supernatural occur with their minds. These effects came to be called magic, and its ubiquity and relative ease of use quickly eliminated any stigma associated with “witches.” Those properties also served to discourage purely technological progress – the best and brightest discovered became users of magic instead of just philosophers and scientists. Third, the physical universe outside of that known by Ka (i.e., the world and what was visible of the heavens) seemed to…go away. Whether or not the rest of the physical universe still exists in some form is unknown.</p><p></p><p>The vast majority of people and other beings have no idea how the universe changed that day. There are many, many legends of a massive catastrophe that wrought havoc across the lands of men, but there is little detail remaining from so far in the past. The word “Ka” now has multiple meanings, including truth, destiny, the universe, and life. The one being who could say that it used to represent a single individual is no longer capable of telling anybody.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="DreadPirateMurphy, post: 4769917, member: 20715"] First, we have a little back story to set the context for the racial concepts. The term "Ka" is directly stolen from Stephen King's Dark Tower, but you could use any short word with a big meaning -- Chi, Po, etc. [B]The World of Ka[/B] A long time ago, on a planet circling a yellow star, there was a race of bipedal mammals making progress on becoming the dominant life form. While they still had not completely eliminated the idea that they were occasionally food for other predators, they were making significant improvements on this status through teamwork and fitfully advancing technology. They called themselves and anybody closely related or outwardly friendly, “humans.” Everybody else they called terms like “infidel,” “slave,” or “target.” Of course, not everybody shared this bleak view of the universe. There was a spiritual order in a remote area of the planet that was working on becoming “one with the universe” in the metaphysical sense. One of the initiates of this order went by the name of “Ka.” The word meant “truth” in a slightly archaic dialect, and so Ka felt it was an appropriate name under which one could seek enlightenment. If his superiors in the order felt this was pretentious, they never said anything. Ka was not the star of the order. In fact, he was never on his way to being either a prophet or a hierophant, and would have labored on in obscurity without the intervention of fate. One day while meditating, Ka encountered something extraordinary – or rather, it discovered him. The place he chose to sit and meditate turned into the outlet for a massive power sink. This sink probably came from a parallel universe, but whether it was scientific or supernatural is hard to say. Luckily for us, thanks to Clarke’s Law we don’t have to specify. For Ka, the experience resulted in his becoming one with the universe in a more physical and less meta- sense than he ever expected. In a sense, Ka’s mind came to encompass the entire universe. In the process, his mind fragmented and lost any sense of individuality or personality. The Elemental Chaos was born out of Ka’s basic drives and subconscious insecurities. The Astral Plane formed out of his rational mind and drive for self-perfection. The most dramatic and evident change, however, was made to the world itself. First, there came into existence various reflections of the world, the most familiar of which are reflections of shadow and fey. Second, people began to discover that they could make the seemingly supernatural occur with their minds. These effects came to be called magic, and its ubiquity and relative ease of use quickly eliminated any stigma associated with “witches.” Those properties also served to discourage purely technological progress – the best and brightest discovered became users of magic instead of just philosophers and scientists. Third, the physical universe outside of that known by Ka (i.e., the world and what was visible of the heavens) seemed to…go away. Whether or not the rest of the physical universe still exists in some form is unknown. The vast majority of people and other beings have no idea how the universe changed that day. There are many, many legends of a massive catastrophe that wrought havoc across the lands of men, but there is little detail remaining from so far in the past. The word “Ka” now has multiple meanings, including truth, destiny, the universe, and life. The one being who could say that it used to represent a single individual is no longer capable of telling anybody. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Forked Thread: What "classic" races -- fitting current 4E races to type
Top