The Tol Haggerun Prophecy 3.5 D&D - [Ended]

[James Heard]

If it's at all appropriate, could Chue'l Sae's heirloom item be a catamaran perhaps? Maybe I owe money on it? I really just can't think of anything he'd need other than that. I'm picturing him as a little half-naked dude more than anything else. I mean, if I can just see him tempted to give away some "useless" masterwork weapon to the next young fool that wanted to become a hero and cooked a good meal for him otherwise.

Anyone have any other thoughts? Also, I might scrub his name a little so it doesn't require me to backspace from misspelling it quite so much. Same name, different spelling - if I can figure out a way that doesn't come out Choolsay Dang. I think that looks dumb, but I can't figure out why.

 

[Insight]

Maybe she can be from Mitra too?

Mitra is the capital of Mitea. Lurien is a neighboring kingdom. If she is a Luri, she is probably not from Mitea, although I suppose it's possible. I would like to know specifically which cities in which you plan to start, and you do not need to be in the same cities. I have a plan to get you all together. Please refer to the map files I posted if you're not sure where you want to start off.

 

[Insight]

If it's at all appropriate, could Chue'l Sae's heirloom item be a catamaran perhaps? Maybe I owe money on it? I really just can't think of anything he'd need other than that. I'm picturing him as a little half-naked dude more than anything else. I mean, if I can just see him tempted to give away some "useless" masterwork weapon to the next young fool that wanted to become a hero and cooked a good meal for him otherwise.

Or a fishing boat. I was thinking something larger that more people could use for transport. Catamaran may be too modern a name/type for such a boat. Yeah, you could definitely have a boat of some kind. In fact, I don't think I can get the group together without you having a boat

Anyone have any other thoughts? Also, I might scrub his name a little so it doesn't require me to backspace from misspelling it quite so much. Same name, different spelling - if I can figure out a way that doesn't come out Choolsay Dang. I think that looks dumb, but I can't figure out why.

Hmm... there are a lot of variations for that name that might be easier. How about Chulsay?

 

[Ambrus]

That will work. The area you chose is in eastern Mitea, not far from the border with Lurien. Hrux is in Mitea, while Marisant is in Lurien. You could choose just about any of the Luri or Mitean languages, though I would stick with the 'lower' versions of these based on the background you have worked up so far.

Well, Jacoby doesn't have a high intelligence so he'll only get his race's standard starting languages. Since you know the setting, my character's background and his home area, it makes more sense if you just tell me which languages I start with.

As for your assortment of hard an pointy things that go through soft things that scream and bleed they are, uh, very colourful.

 

[James Heard]

Or a fishing boat. I was thinking something larger that more people could use for transport. Catamaran may be too modern a name/type for such a boat. Yeah, you could definitely have a boat of some kind. In fact, I don't think I can get the group together without you having a boat

Well, I was thinking of a polynesian "colonized the Pacific" sort of catamaran - the one in the Arms & Equipment Guide. Basically boats are expensive and I wanted to make sure I wasn't copping for something incredibly valuable. Of course it's his fishing boat, but the other thing is that it needs to be something that one little guy wearing a loin cloth could manage himself I guess. Maybe a big outrigger canoe with a sail

Hmm... there are a lot of variations for that name that might be easier. How about Chulsay?

Chul'sai maybe? I'm pushing to remind people that he's from the middle of nowhere, far away.
Chul'Sae. Sheul Say. Something like that.

 

[Insight]

Well, I was thinking of a polynesian "colonized the Pacific" sort of catamaran - the one in the Arms & Equipment Guide. Basically boats are expensive and I wanted to make sure I wasn't copping for something incredibly valuable. Of course it's his fishing boat, but the other thing is that it needs to be something that one little guy wearing a loin cloth could manage himself I guess. Maybe a big outrigger canoe with a sail

Well from the GM's perspective, I'm thinking of the long-term, and the party may need your boat to get around. It's OK by me if you have a larger boat that can accomodate, say, six or seven passengers in addition to yourself. I imagine a small sailboat with a modest galley could have a minimum crew of 1 and 6 passengers who could also serve as crew in a pinch.

For now, we'll just say you have a 'boat' and we'll work out the details later.

Chul'sai maybe? I'm pushing to remind people that he's from the middle of nowhere, far away. Chul'Sae. Sheul Say. Something like that.

I like the last one. It's definitely different looking, as it were. And somewhat easy to spell.

 

[Insight]

Well, Jacoby doesn't have a high intelligence so he'll only get his race's standard starting languages. Since you know the setting, my character's background and his home area, it makes more sense if you just tell me which languages I start with.

As for your assortment of hard an pointy things that go through soft things that scream and bleed they are, uh, very colourful.

Jacoby is pretty close to the border between Mitea and Lurien, so you could either go with Mitean or Lur as your language. Or Trade, which is more universal. From the party point of view, a lot of people already have Lur, so you may want to go with that, just to make things easy.

 

[James Heard]

Well from the GM's perspective, I'm thinking of the long-term, and the party may need your boat to get around. It's OK by me if you have a larger boat that can accomodate, say, six or seven passengers in addition to yourself. I imagine a small sailboat with a modest galley could have a minimum crew of 1 and 6 passengers who could also serve as crew in a pinch.

For now, we'll just say you have a 'boat' and we'll work out the details later.

Ok. Done.

I like the last one. It's definitely different looking, as it were. And somewhat easy to spell.

That whole Chue'l thing looked ok when I was scribbing him out longhand, but once I got to having to parse out the keystrokes it got a bit inconvenient. Sheolsai probably works too? I'm thinking even simpler than the last before, one word and more "naturally" D&D-looking.

Does everyone know Trade at least?

 

[Insight]

Here are the languages listed for everyone who has posted their character (still waiting on one, BTW):

Jacoby: Trade, Mitean
Clare: Trade, Lur, Celestial
Misha: Lur
Ralan: Trade and Lur
Sheolsay: Kurst, Druidic, Sylvan, Trade

Looks like Lur and Trade are the most common. Actually, everyone has Trade except Misha.

 

[Ambrus]

Jacoby is pretty close to the border between Mitea and Lurien, so you could either go with Mitean or Lur as your language.

Well, the spot I have marked on the map for my home region is on the Mitea side of the mountains so it would seem a little odd. On the other hand, if you think my character history would fit somewhere in Luiren as well as it would in Mitea, perhaps I could just slide Amberlea to the other side of the mountains somewhere. What do you think? Where exactly on the continent would an isolated halfling farming village with a visiting feudal human knight best fit?

Looks like Lur and Trade are the most common.

I was wondering about the Trade language. Where did this language come from exactly? Is it like some kind of medieval Esperanto; a fully developed language created and sanctioned by the various nations of world and used almost exlusively by diplomats or is it instead a sort of pidgin that evolved naturally between traveling merchants?

In many of the groups I usually play in (in which we'd prefer not to have one monolithic language that every creature everywhere seems to automatically know) we assume that "common" is the latter. In that sense, the common tongue is known mostly by travelers and merchants and it's a very simple and limited language, only useful for conveying things of general interest to merchants; monetary amounts, exchange rates, taxes, trade commodities, laws, customs, geography, weather, travel hazzards, monsters, wars, ect. The idea is, that while many people can understand and speak common, it's too simple and limited a language to use regularly if you want to speak about anything more complicated than the weather or the quality of livestock. PCs are encouraged to learn and use 'real' languages rather than relying exclusively on a this kind of baby-talk.

What's your take on it?