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[Let's Read] Nidal, Land of Shadows
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<blockquote data-quote="Tristissima" data-source="post: 7900845" data-attributes="member: 6162"><p>I forgot to mention in my last post that the seeming structure of Nidalese government has probably created something of a blend between the ancient Roman system of patronage and some areas of Europe under the Catholic Church in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. This is significant because it can quite shift how one thinks of getting things done in this gloomy land ~ I can imagine that there is quite a vocabulary (of words, body language, and customs) associated with maintaining one’s relationship with whichever specific Umbral agent military leader or academician one usually goes to in order to get what one needs, but that the only accepted way to acquire that relationship is through showy and intense displays of Kuthite religiosity. This results in fun things such as being useful to a specific agent and gaining their patronage thereby is considered corruption by Nidalese culture, unless you arrange to get suspended by hooks in your back or partially flayed as a way of publicly giving them an excuse to make use of you. Moreover, it’s probably likely that the agent has to manipulate or backchannel you into appearing to do it for your own reasons and on your own initiative without appearing to be seeking your aid.</p><p></p><p>A sidebar addresses the rifts to the Shadow Plane that dot the Nidalese countryside, which allow travel across the veil, but more importantly allow that realm’s inhabitants to come into Nidal. A few specific ones are mentioned:</p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The Cathedral of Exquisite Agony in Pangolais has one in its dungeons that doesn’t allow mortals to cross over but only shadow-creatures to come to the Material Plane</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Ridwan has one at its center that leads to the chasm known as the Deeping Darkness</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">A storm known imaginatively as the Shadowstorm (I actually kinda like the name) roams around the Umbral Basin</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Blacksulfur Pool, south of Nisroch</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The ruins of a wizard’s lair from centuries ago has one evocatively known as Edammera’s Folly</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">There’s one caught behind crystal in something called the Moonless Mirror; like the Shadowstorm it is said to be unstable and flickering</li> </ul><p>And of course, both permanent and temporary rifts litter Nidal like mouseholes in an old barn. Interestingly, they are opaque from either side ~ inky and diffuse from the mortal side and indistinctly bright from the other, without the ability to see what awaits should you go through.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Tristissima, post: 7900845, member: 6162"] I forgot to mention in my last post that the seeming structure of Nidalese government has probably created something of a blend between the ancient Roman system of patronage and some areas of Europe under the Catholic Church in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. This is significant because it can quite shift how one thinks of getting things done in this gloomy land ~ I can imagine that there is quite a vocabulary (of words, body language, and customs) associated with maintaining one’s relationship with whichever specific Umbral agent military leader or academician one usually goes to in order to get what one needs, but that the only accepted way to acquire that relationship is through showy and intense displays of Kuthite religiosity. This results in fun things such as being useful to a specific agent and gaining their patronage thereby is considered corruption by Nidalese culture, unless you arrange to get suspended by hooks in your back or partially flayed as a way of publicly giving them an excuse to make use of you. Moreover, it’s probably likely that the agent has to manipulate or backchannel you into appearing to do it for your own reasons and on your own initiative without appearing to be seeking your aid. A sidebar addresses the rifts to the Shadow Plane that dot the Nidalese countryside, which allow travel across the veil, but more importantly allow that realm’s inhabitants to come into Nidal. A few specific ones are mentioned: [LIST] [*]The Cathedral of Exquisite Agony in Pangolais has one in its dungeons that doesn’t allow mortals to cross over but only shadow-creatures to come to the Material Plane [*]Ridwan has one at its center that leads to the chasm known as the Deeping Darkness [*]A storm known imaginatively as the Shadowstorm (I actually kinda like the name) roams around the Umbral Basin [*]Blacksulfur Pool, south of Nisroch [*]The ruins of a wizard’s lair from centuries ago has one evocatively known as Edammera’s Folly [*]There’s one caught behind crystal in something called the Moonless Mirror; like the Shadowstorm it is said to be unstable and flickering [/LIST] And of course, both permanent and temporary rifts litter Nidal like mouseholes in an old barn. Interestingly, they are opaque from either side ~ inky and diffuse from the mortal side and indistinctly bright from the other, without the ability to see what awaits should you go through. [/QUOTE]
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[Let's Read] Nidal, Land of Shadows
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