Ideas for Iron Lords of Jupiter

[Imhotepthewise]

Okay. I have slept on the concept and have a lot of ideas. Since no one I play with is on the boards, I feel I can share some.

I really am intrigued by the concept on page 17 where Strangers could come from Earth from a variety of eras. A League of Extraordinary Characters could really be made. Egyptian priest, Greek trireme captain, medieval monk, Boer war surgeon, Native American warrior society member, 60s folk singer, Amish housewife, E.R. doctor, etc. All these have made a home among the dwellers of Jupiter.

On the Native American, if Jupiter had no birds, what would the reaction be to a Stranger wearing a feathered war bonnet? Would the war bonnet be coveted as a sacred item?

Just because there is no magic does not mean that superstition about it does not exist. Egyptian priest and others could recite curses that would upset Natives, or gullible Strangers. Healing skills could be seen as magical.

Ancient Veth knew about the solar system and established colonies on Jupiter's moons, lost written texts confirm this. Remnants lost colonies exist, maybe some inhabited.

Ancient sunken city has a ruined temple where a floor mosaic shows the solar system.

Ancient Veth had advanced methods of navigation that allowed them to travel beyond sight of landmarks.

Atmosphere becomes quickly clouded as you fly upward. About one percent per mile upward, so at 100 miles, visibility is totally obscured.

Jovians:

Have never seen the sun
Have never seen stars
Have never seen other planets
Have never seen any of Jupiter's moons
Don’t know what a compass is for
Must follow roads, rivers, shorelines or landmarks to get anywhere
Many think the world is flat

Jupiter has many predators and herd animals to support them.

Jupiter has no birds of any kind. If any of the creatures in Dungeon 102 turn out to be birdlike, make them flying dinosaurs instead.

Maybe the slab of iron that the Iron Lords mine is large enough to attract the needle of a Terran compass, at least within a few thousand miles of it.

Egyptian crown prince and his high priest mentor are stranded. They both anguish at the prospect of dying here and their bodies never to be properly buried. Teach locals skills necessary to prepare them for the afterlife as best they can. A pyramid is built for "pharoah" and rock cut tomb for priest. Mortuary temples built and staffed with natives prepared to mummify and inter body once the two have died.

Comets are fairly common (Schumacher-Levy), making interesting visual events and land modifications.

Please feel free to yoink as you wish. Add some ideas! Nothing is sacred! Everything is permitted! Within the limits of decency, OGL, and Eric's Grandmother.

 

[Lizard]

A few comments...

a)Feel free to ignore my comments; it's your world, do what you want with it.

b)No birds? This is not something in my original draft -- I don't MENTION birds, but I never considered the world birdless...at the very least, there are almost certainly two-legged riding birds out there for the desert nomads to ride on. Required by law.

c)The use of the meteorite as a source for a short-range magnetic north is a wonderful idea, and allows the Grey Empire to venture further out on the Cuthalik than anyone else. This technique would be kept a great secret.

d)Early Veth astronauts -- certainly possible, though it would occur at first by accident, since, with no sight of the stars, there's no real incentive or desire to go 'out there' -- as far as the Jovians are concerned, there IS no 'out there', it's not even a concept to them. It's quite possible that an early attempt at a lunth-powered *submarine* (so it would retain atmosphere) went horribly wrong and propelled the explorers outwards, where they became the first to see the rest of the universe. It's quite possible this drove them mad, but others might have followed anyway...

e)There's very much something other than gravity at work in terms of the relationship between Jupiter and the rest of the solar system. Things which get too close are pulled in by a directed force, which does not drop them as fast as gravity would -- which is why the meteor which began the Grey Empire didn't trigger a Cretaceous extinction type event, and why the shuttlepods from Minerva manage to crash into the ocean without killing all aboard instantly. (OTOH, if you jump from a high tower in Kuldaar, you will plummet and die exactly as expected.)

 

[SwordInHand]

now I think this is a real creative world, I just have one thing to say(you can ignore it). Compasses work because of the Earth's magnetic field and Jupitar has a much more powerful field then earth, if you think about it, any magnetic object could be tuged in norths direction. just a thought.

 

[Imhotepthewise]

Thanks for your input, Lizard, I hope to compliment your effort, not detract from it.

Birds. I'm excluding birds because I think they are so ever present that their omission will really make a noticeable difference. The feather is such a miracle of engineering and often beautiful to boot, that it would be shocking for someone to see one for the first time.

I love birds in fantasy. One of my favorite scenes in a book is the Ubar's Race in Assassin of Gor. As a DM, flying anything has always run roughshod over a good plot when I did not anticipate it. I would like to reduce the option for now. No saying that birds do not exist on the other side of Jupiter, for that matter.

Going back to the displaced Egyptians, how upset would they be to find themselves in a place without birds? Their homeland is chock full of them. Many of their deities are birdlike. The probably would think they've been sent to some kind of Hell.

I read the interchange on the General board about gamer grrl reaction to this genre. I hope they get to read the article soon so that they will not be offended by it. The genre was important to the development of RPGs in general, and deserves this kind of review. I know you did not intend to offend anyone.