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<blockquote data-quote="darkbard" data-source="post: 8919897" data-attributes="member: 1282"><p>From [USER=6696971]@Manbearcat[/USER] (in italics):</p><p></p><p><em>* Do me a favor when you update your thread. Break down the various constituent fictional parts to date, both setting and situation.</em></p><p></p><p>*Play begins in the Imperial City, Bantouk, where a new Inquisition has been initiated.</p><p></p><p>*The Empire is embroiled in costly ventures: the border war effort to the north (a nation of yuan-ti), the trade route expeditions to the east, or the spiritual journeys to discover why creatures terrible to behold are flooding our wilderlands.</p><p></p><p>*The Empress may be possessed or fool-headed or mad.</p><p></p><p>*The Oracle has made some significant revelations, which have the military in a state of agitation.</p><p></p><p>*There is a secret sect of assassins within the priesthood of the Empire. The priests have been commissioned to wage war on any member of the merchant, artisan, peasant, or slave class that will not provide material support to the Empire’s campaigns. The Sect of Omthala, another religious organization, has a kind of supra-judicial status that places it and its formal allies outside Imperial jurisdiction. Inquisitor Eyo-urth-shala leads an investigation into Chanvati’s family.</p><p></p><p>*The conspirator behind the assassination attempt on Chanvati is his cousin Amna and her father, Chanvati’s uncle, Tarquin. Tarquin has been considering yielding to the Empire’s demands to submit the family’s economic might to the Empress, but Chanvati’s father, Quwaenthi, desires to hold fast.</p><p></p><p>*The Scrolls of Xanthar hold trade secrets that privilege those who possess its knowledge. Currently, Chanvati’s father has a copy and is putting in place actions to get the jump on competitors wishing to trade with the formerly lost city, Itirilmish. Meanwhile, the original scrolls have been planted in Amna’s study by Chanvati et al.</p><p></p><p>*Barrister Bita-Bousseh had been retained by Tarquin to intervene legal roadblocks to the Empress’s demands but revealed herself to be an agent of a group of dissidents (The 2nd Nation) resisting the influence of the Empress’s inner circle upon her and has now allied herself with Chanvati and his father. Formerly, she served the Empress but was cast out by the Empress’s inner circle.</p><p></p><p>*Senator Hurang was killed by a cousin of the owners of The Waking Dragon during the Popular Assembly at Moonfall Knoll a few years ago.</p><p></p><p>*Pa’avu’s goliath blood may possess some mythic quality that sets her apart from others of her race. Games Warden Ghae’al, overseer of the arena The Congress of Savagery, is an ancient goliath of remarkable size and holds much wisdom and lore about the race of goliaths.</p><p></p><p></p><p><em>1) I think you just named the city?</em></p><p></p><p>We did: <strong>Bantouk</strong>. And we’ve gone ahead and named the mysterious and formerly lost city to the east, <strong>Itirilmish</strong>. Let’s call the Empire <strong>Hageri</strong>.</p><p></p><p><em>2) Pin down (in broad strokes) how you're seeing this Sword and Sandals setting we've developed so far (including city, the faith, etc).</em></p><p></p><p>Starting with faith, we see this as a polytheistic society, but the state religion is more like worship of one god (among many) and its exarchs, where each exarch has its own substructure and traditions. The secret sect of assassins, for example, would be one such. The Dragonborn Inquisitors is another. The Sect of Omthala is a different god altogether, one with a strong following beyond the city and empire, accounting for its diplomatic status. Let’s call<strong> the state god Mavi-ishiq, Lord of the Heavens; the patron of assassins Ubka; and Bas-Billan the Justiciar, patron of the Inquisitors.</strong></p><p></p><p>The city is definitely a place of Might Makes Right. The wealthy, with their strength of arms to back their power and influence, indulge in a decadent, hedonistic lifestyle, while the underclasses live in comparative squalor, kept in check by the daily bread dole and other concessions.</p><p></p><p>Hageri is clearly multiracial, though there are some clear caste implications: Inquisitors are only drawn from the Dragonborn (sworn as a group to Emperor/Empress); Goliaths and Ogres are usually slaves or warriors, though the ambitious, lucky, and clever among them can transcend such rank, serving as, for example, general in an army or Games Warden (like Gae’al).</p><p></p><p><em>3) We know we've got a hierarchical structure of Emperor/Empress > Royals > Priests > Military & Aristocracy > Merchants > Peasants > Slaves.</em></p><p></p><p>I would add that this strict caste system is complicated by some checks and balances and gray areas, like the Sect of Omthala’s supra-judicial status.</p><p></p><p><em>4) Are we in a geographic locale that features massive mountains like the Himilayas and a huge grassy Steppe lands once you get out of these massive highlands...with a huge invading mobile force (fantastic 4e humanoids like Bladelings or Hengeyokai on dire scorpions or fantastic animals of some sort?...with this dangerous looming force being a threat to the trade routes to the other empires)? Completely uncharted sea to the south?</em></p><p></p><p>Bantouk must sit in a pass within a great range of mountains, precipitous and foreboding but maybe more like the rock and pine depictions of landscape in Japanese and Chinese brushstroke art than immense like the Himalayas. We know that the Monastery of the Exalted Path exists somewhere in those mountains. Bantouk’s tributary settlements are oases spread along ancient trade roads to the west. The south is an uncharted sea, but one of silt and sand only, perhaps once a great basin of water but now an ever-shifting landscape of windswept dunes. The arid steppes, infringing upon civilization, are inhabited by the scorpion-riding Bladeling Horde, which sweeps across the land in periodic waves, having driven the goliaths before them into the mountains in ancient times past. Nomadic tribes of elves draw much of the Bladeling’s ire these days, though perhaps part of what rouses the military in Bantouk is a prophecy from The Oracle about a new leader of the Horde who wishes to test their mettle in raids against the Empire?</p><p></p><p>To the north, we’ve identified an ancient nation of yuan-ti, perhaps extant to some extent (wordplay rimshot!). We see there a loose confederation of small humanoid nation-states that resist the Empire’s incursions as best they can.</p><p></p><p>[HR][/HR]</p><p></p><p>Pa’avu’s question for Gae’al: <strong>Where/how can I develop the mythical aspect of my blood inheritance?</strong></p><p></p><p>Chanvati will choose the <em>Brooch of No Regrets +1</em> as his reward for helping defeat Gae’al. New stats: <strong>Fortitude 14, Reflex 17, Will 17.</strong></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="darkbard, post: 8919897, member: 1282"] From [USER=6696971]@Manbearcat[/USER] (in italics): [I]* Do me a favor when you update your thread. Break down the various constituent fictional parts to date, both setting and situation.[/I] *Play begins in the Imperial City, Bantouk, where a new Inquisition has been initiated. *The Empire is embroiled in costly ventures: the border war effort to the north (a nation of yuan-ti), the trade route expeditions to the east, or the spiritual journeys to discover why creatures terrible to behold are flooding our wilderlands. *The Empress may be possessed or fool-headed or mad. *The Oracle has made some significant revelations, which have the military in a state of agitation. *There is a secret sect of assassins within the priesthood of the Empire. The priests have been commissioned to wage war on any member of the merchant, artisan, peasant, or slave class that will not provide material support to the Empire’s campaigns. The Sect of Omthala, another religious organization, has a kind of supra-judicial status that places it and its formal allies outside Imperial jurisdiction. Inquisitor Eyo-urth-shala leads an investigation into Chanvati’s family. *The conspirator behind the assassination attempt on Chanvati is his cousin Amna and her father, Chanvati’s uncle, Tarquin. Tarquin has been considering yielding to the Empire’s demands to submit the family’s economic might to the Empress, but Chanvati’s father, Quwaenthi, desires to hold fast. *The Scrolls of Xanthar hold trade secrets that privilege those who possess its knowledge. Currently, Chanvati’s father has a copy and is putting in place actions to get the jump on competitors wishing to trade with the formerly lost city, Itirilmish. Meanwhile, the original scrolls have been planted in Amna’s study by Chanvati et al. *Barrister Bita-Bousseh had been retained by Tarquin to intervene legal roadblocks to the Empress’s demands but revealed herself to be an agent of a group of dissidents (The 2nd Nation) resisting the influence of the Empress’s inner circle upon her and has now allied herself with Chanvati and his father. Formerly, she served the Empress but was cast out by the Empress’s inner circle. *Senator Hurang was killed by a cousin of the owners of The Waking Dragon during the Popular Assembly at Moonfall Knoll a few years ago. *Pa’avu’s goliath blood may possess some mythic quality that sets her apart from others of her race. Games Warden Ghae’al, overseer of the arena The Congress of Savagery, is an ancient goliath of remarkable size and holds much wisdom and lore about the race of goliaths. [I]1) I think you just named the city?[/I] We did: [B]Bantouk[/B]. And we’ve gone ahead and named the mysterious and formerly lost city to the east, [B]Itirilmish[/B]. Let’s call the Empire [B]Hageri[/B]. [I]2) Pin down (in broad strokes) how you're seeing this Sword and Sandals setting we've developed so far (including city, the faith, etc).[/I] Starting with faith, we see this as a polytheistic society, but the state religion is more like worship of one god (among many) and its exarchs, where each exarch has its own substructure and traditions. The secret sect of assassins, for example, would be one such. The Dragonborn Inquisitors is another. The Sect of Omthala is a different god altogether, one with a strong following beyond the city and empire, accounting for its diplomatic status. Let’s call[B] the state god Mavi-ishiq, Lord of the Heavens; the patron of assassins Ubka; and Bas-Billan the Justiciar, patron of the Inquisitors.[/B] The city is definitely a place of Might Makes Right. The wealthy, with their strength of arms to back their power and influence, indulge in a decadent, hedonistic lifestyle, while the underclasses live in comparative squalor, kept in check by the daily bread dole and other concessions. Hageri is clearly multiracial, though there are some clear caste implications: Inquisitors are only drawn from the Dragonborn (sworn as a group to Emperor/Empress); Goliaths and Ogres are usually slaves or warriors, though the ambitious, lucky, and clever among them can transcend such rank, serving as, for example, general in an army or Games Warden (like Gae’al). [I]3) We know we've got a hierarchical structure of Emperor/Empress > Royals > Priests > Military & Aristocracy > Merchants > Peasants > Slaves.[/I] I would add that this strict caste system is complicated by some checks and balances and gray areas, like the Sect of Omthala’s supra-judicial status. [I]4) Are we in a geographic locale that features massive mountains like the Himilayas and a huge grassy Steppe lands once you get out of these massive highlands...with a huge invading mobile force (fantastic 4e humanoids like Bladelings or Hengeyokai on dire scorpions or fantastic animals of some sort?...with this dangerous looming force being a threat to the trade routes to the other empires)? Completely uncharted sea to the south?[/I] Bantouk must sit in a pass within a great range of mountains, precipitous and foreboding but maybe more like the rock and pine depictions of landscape in Japanese and Chinese brushstroke art than immense like the Himalayas. We know that the Monastery of the Exalted Path exists somewhere in those mountains. Bantouk’s tributary settlements are oases spread along ancient trade roads to the west. The south is an uncharted sea, but one of silt and sand only, perhaps once a great basin of water but now an ever-shifting landscape of windswept dunes. The arid steppes, infringing upon civilization, are inhabited by the scorpion-riding Bladeling Horde, which sweeps across the land in periodic waves, having driven the goliaths before them into the mountains in ancient times past. Nomadic tribes of elves draw much of the Bladeling’s ire these days, though perhaps part of what rouses the military in Bantouk is a prophecy from The Oracle about a new leader of the Horde who wishes to test their mettle in raids against the Empire? To the north, we’ve identified an ancient nation of yuan-ti, perhaps extant to some extent (wordplay rimshot!). We see there a loose confederation of small humanoid nation-states that resist the Empire’s incursions as best they can. [HR][/HR] Pa’avu’s question for Gae’al: [B]Where/how can I develop the mythical aspect of my blood inheritance?[/B] Chanvati will choose the [I]Brooch of No Regrets +1[/I] as his reward for helping defeat Gae’al. New stats: [B]Fortitude 14, Reflex 17, Will 17.[/B] [/QUOTE]
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