Harbertia wrote:Islamic Republic e Jariri wrote:
I'm glad you're receptive to the idea - although it is still easier to play the past as if it were the present - but if the challenge is pulled off it could be quite interesting - for e.g. seeing two versions of Elenor or how Zid as a city has changed. Tried something similar in OM&T Dead Kings that initially had two storylines separated by around a decade but sharing the same setting - fun but the past events stagnated while the present moved at a better pace. Needed more pre-planning and initiative on my part but I was more invested in the present at that point.
So what you say should be the time gap between the present and Kalcifer's reign?
I'm pretty sure I had stated the time which had passed some time before on one of the RP threads.... let me see if I can find that.
oh my golly....
So I found - the first timeline I published (during the 2nd RP in the series)- which had Kalcipher's death being 959 years ago. With the additional years of other RPs in the series it's been over 1000 years (about 1079 years ago).
But- for the moment let's put that aside and instead focus on something that may be of more relevancy as that timeline was published before a general revision of the setting.
That being that the timeline also included Kalcipher's heritage.
Ethanial Zid married Elona
They had son named Stephan.
Stephan married Margretta.
They had Cord and Kalcipher (another example of pre-revision as the brother wasn't mentioned after that revision)
Stephan [as King] increases the wealth, and grandeur of Zid and rules in peace with Elenor who he calls Sister. However his rule only lasts 11 years. While much good happened the royal family it's self suffered great loses; Deen, Stephan's eldest, fell from his horse during a hunting trip, and tumbled to his death upon a stone. His second son, Cord, left to fight as a Mercenary for he did not agree with his father's strict pacifism, in battle, Cord was felled by an Archer's arrow. Stephan himself died from an illness at the age of 64, leaving his youngest, Kalcipher (28 years of age) to rule Zid.
We can consider this- something loose to build on but it shows that Kalcipher was Ethanials grandson- and likely knew Ethanial before the elder's passing. We can keep this as it still puts the nation as rather young.
I had envisioned Kalcifer as somewhat of a Ramses like figure, an aged ruler of unprecedented power.
But I also wanted him to be the culmination of generational breeding program that was at least one hundred years in the making, his ancestral lineage being deliberately engineered to produce a scion had the greatest potential to channel magic ever seen. Either he was extremely capable on all fields of magecraft or terrifyingly overpowered with a simple fire spell for its sheer raw potency or perhaps he took magic to levels never before established by human wielders.
As such he believed himself to be the Chosen One and this permeated into his cult of personality - amassing a legion of fanatical warriors and mages who saw him as a deity or saviour. Previously humanity had been ruled over by dragons, now there was someone who seemed to command one, which must have awed and terrified those who knew of the old Dragon Age.
Kalcifer did believe humanity needed to unite under a powerful leader under a militant state - he probably also considered the position his birthright. He believed everyone must be assigned a definitive purpose in life that supported a pyramid hierarchy with him at the top and as such generally disdained concepts like personal freedom for those he saw as beneath him. Although tyrannical in that regard he was also a lawmaker that afforded some protections to slaves and commoners that prevented them from being needlessly abused (more to the point of preventing them from becoming useless, aligning him with pragmatic evil).
Part of me is still thinking over whether he was genuinely trying to conquer the world or if the formation of Alterra was as he intended, uniting the world against himself in a gambit to ensure that mankind would be forced to develop measures to ensure they couldn't be subjugated again. He likely saw the Dragon of Colm as a serious threat and would have either desired to harness its power for his own or use him as a living reminder to his subjects that they must never let their guard down, keeping them motivated to stay strong. Perhaps it was both, in either scenario he was victorious in some way.
His relationship with Elenor was probably friendly as he did rely on her as a majestic symbol of his power. He may have been the first Zid to actually ride a dragon, something that had probably not been seen in centuries.
As for how long between him and Ethaniel - I'd like to go far enough - implication being that although dragons are powerful raising one requires several lifetimes worth of dedication before the creature has matured enough to be ridden. As such I am inclined to prefer that Kalcifer was the Great Great Great Grandson of Ethaniel.
But in end Kalcifer and the rest of his bloodline died, it will be interesting to get to that point eventually.