Ashes Of Aethion Worldbuilding and Brainstorming

[Holy Empire of Avalon]

Beastmen
Were (Pronounced with a V)
Typically bipedal with a human like frame but bearing heavy characteristics to the animal they are
Lycans - Wolf
Wendigos - Bear
Arachne - Spider
Aethon - Eagle
Keresh - Deer
Cetan - Hawk
Kitsune - Fox

Going to post more as I find ideas, apparently the Oceanic to Pacific nations have legends of Weresharks and Werealligators, so I going to try and dig those up - I got a book I am looking through in my lap to find them so that may take a bit of time. For now feel free to chew these over. If they suck please do tell me, cause I can try to make them unsuck

[Shadowwell]

Beastmen
Were (Pronounced with a V)
Typically bipedal with a human like frame but bearing heavy characteristics to the animal they are
Lycans - Wolf
Wendigos - Bear
Arachne - Spider
Aethon - Eagle
Keresh - Deer
Cetan - Hawk
Kitsune - Fox

Going to post more as I find ideas, apparently the Oceanic to Pacific nations have legends of Weresharks and Werealligators, so I going to try and dig those up - I got a book I am looking through in my lap to find them so that may take a bit of time. For now feel free to chew these over. If they suck please do tell me, cause I can try to make them unsuck

Beastmeb and Weres are different as weres were either once human or have human lineage. (Exceptions do exist due to magical experimenration)
I luke that the terms are from all over, greek, atabascan i think for windego( though am probably butchering the tribe name.), japanese and possibly some indian, though doubtful.

[Holy Empire of Avalon]

change that to a beastman nation, my fault, sorry.

btw, is the difference between different beastmen types large enough to warrant any thought(like, is a rabbit type just a bit faster than a dog type, or is it ludicrously, rocket on feet fast)

also, is crossbreeding a thing?

Rabit is much faster,
( between beastmen types?)
It can be though extremely rare, and mostly one or the other of the parents type are born, hybrids shoyld they survive birth are shunned mostly and treated bad. Though beastmen types with similar traits may give birth to a beastman that is stronger than normal and is more balanced as compared to normal hybriids.

Avalon both but to the less furry side mostly human regardless only weres will get close to furry territory looks wise. That reminds me of an incident at a renaisance fair i went to as a sxhool trip. A long time ago.

I like this idea, and if I may share why, this would actually be a very real thing to put into the story of our heroes; I remember all the times my uncle was assaulted simply for being a different color than those around him to the point that one of my most vivid memories as a kid was my aunt and uncle staying over at our house during the week long period of some punks spray painting KKK shit on their trailer. So in my own opinion, as little weight as there is behind it, it gives our heroes something to legitimately fight against as this is something that foolish people fight over for foolish reasons. I love a good moral in a story and I can see no better one than a small rag tag group of misfit individuals ignoring the fact that some of them have pointy ears, some of them have tails, they are bound to be allllll sorts of different colors, speak all different languages likely, fight different ways, and possibly worship different religions - yet fight the same enemy or enemies.
*shrug* I get over sentimental a lot of times and tend to think so much I lose all sense of reality, but I just think a mechanic like that could add an extra dynamic to it all in a character development sense, it could make Lord McFluffyButt a pretty bitter guy against both fox and rabbit kind if they treat him like garbage for not being "normal" (Zootopia reference by the way)

[Holy Empire of Avalon]

Beastmen
Were (Pronounced with a V)
Typically bipedal with a human like frame but bearing heavy characteristics to the animal they are
Lycans - Wolf
Wendigos - Bear
Arachne - Spider
Aethon - Eagle
Keresh - Deer
Cetan - Hawk
Kitsune - Fox

Going to post more as I find ideas, apparently the Oceanic to Pacific nations have legends of Weresharks and Werealligators, so I going to try and dig those up - I got a book I am looking through in my lap to find them so that may take a bit of time. For now feel free to chew these over. If they suck please do tell me, cause I can try to make them unsuck

Beastmeb and Weres are different as weres were either once human or have human lineage. (Exceptions do exist due to magical experimenration)
I luke that the terms are from all over, greek, atabascan i think for windego( though am probably butchering the tribe name.), japanese and possibly some indian, though doubtful.

*nods head with admiration*
I did not expect anyone to get the name origins, you sir are my favorite human being

The names are pretty straightforward, Wendigo (win-di-go), Cetan (Se-t-on), Kitsune (Kit-soon-A), Keresh (Cur-esh), and being as English is based off Latin and Greek the others are self explanatory First two Native American, third is Japanese, fourth is Hebrew. Probably gonna have to branch it out to "families" as it would be hard to make a unique name for every animal

[Shadowwell]

These hybrids may get better treatment than most demihumans rhough it will depend.

As for name origins i know Lycoan was the name of a werewolf typee guy from greek myths, or possibly roman, idk.
Though it will depend we could have beastpeople tribes or similar things, demihumans have such things kind of.

[Holy Empire of Avalon]

These hybrids may get better treatment than most demihumans rhough it will depend.

As for name origins i know Lycoan was the name of a werewolf typee guy from greek myths, or possibly roman, idk.
Though it will depend we could have beastpeople tribes or similar things, demihumans have such things kind of.

Yep, Lycaon was turned into a werewolf by Zeus after he tried to feed Zeus his own son (the exact reason I forget why, something about proving the gods were not all pure and junk)

The tribes sounds like it could create interesting tension. That area I outlined earlier as "the powder keg" that was basically a wasteland of destruction, I can see the various beastman tribes fighting it out for supremacy there and thus that being was de-stabilizes the region so heavily. It could be a conflict much akin to the situations we see in the middle east and eastern europe as far as ethnic conflicts go in models of how we could build the story. Given how individuals like to group themselves up based on a variety of factors it is highly likely these beastmen would group themselves up based on their races and thus racial conflict could be a main driving force behind the area being so chaotic. That or we could have a mainly beastman nation as one of the superpowers where they all came together from tribes to form one single nation - though i kinda like the tribal warfare idea as we could sooooo be cowboys. *plays I wanna be a cowboy by kid rock*

[Shadowwell]

Avalon you can link the maps here for now but i will add them to the front layer in image form.

[Holy Empire of Avalon]

For a character application would something like this work?

Name:
Race:
Gender:
Class:
Height:
Weight:
Hair Color:
Eye Color:
Appearance:
Strength:
Perception:
Endurance:
Charisma:
Intelligence:
Agility:
Luck:
Perks:
Quirks:
Skills:
Equipment:

Explanation of all that - It gives us a basis of how they look in redundant fashion (meaning that at a glance you can find all information you need if you forget how a character looks but need to make a post), while stats, perks, and quirks (pros and cons) may not come in handy it can provide some more human aspects to a character as we all have things we are good at and things we totally suck at along with skills we have learned over our time on the planet also give us a way to plan characters out, I may forget I wanted to play a scholar, but if I look to his chart and see he has a ten in intel and a one in strength something would remind me that he is sooooo totally not capable of lifting that stone and probably should think of a solution aside form force. it is a stat system most gamers know an can help character development, any thoughts?

[Holy Empire of Avalon]

Avalon you can link the maps here for now but i will add them to the front layer in image form.

Can do
Natural Map

Political Map

[Nea Videssos]

change that to a beastman nation, my fault, sorry.

btw, is the difference between different beastmen types large enough to warrant any thought(like, is a rabbit type just a bit faster than a dog type, or is it ludicrously, rocket on feet fast)

also, is crossbreeding a thing?

Rabit is much faster,
( between beastmen types?)
It can be though extremely rare, and mostly one or the other of the parents type are born, hybrids shoyld they survive birth are shunned mostly and treated bad. Though beastmen types with similar traits may give birth to a beastman that is stronger than normal and is more balanced as compared to normal hybriids.

Avalon both but to the less furry side mostly human regardless only weres will get close to furry territory looks wise. That reminds me of an incident at a renaisance fair i went to as a sxhool trip. A long time ago.

Have you got any ideas regarding cat beastmen yet, then? I suppose you could say the base traits would fit with this.

[Shadowwell]

Avalon, we will have stats but numbers wont be assigned, most likely though i may add them just to the char creation bits. We were just going to have it be generalized as stats can make people hesitant to join.

Vid basically though the beastmen wont have every trait, and some may be recessive.

[Holy Empire of Avalon]

Avalon, we will have stats but numbers wont be assigned, most likely though i may add them just to the char creation bits. We were just going to have it be generalized as stats can make people hesitant to join.

Vid basically though the beastmen wont have every trait, and some may be recessive.

True, ignore the stats then. Was just figuring to keep with the RPG nature of it.

[Shadowwell]

Well, as i aaid i may include numbers and rangesvduring CC, but generalise beyond that. Also a backstory bit is needed though depending upon whether we make this just an D&D ish rp or have dnd type players become their characters.

[Nea Videssos]

Also, you might want to go into a bit more detail about beastmen using spirits, like you mentioned in their race info.

[Holy Empire of Avalon]

Well, as i aaid i may include numbers and rangesvduring CC, but generalise beyond that. Also a backstory bit is needed though depending upon whether we make this just an D&D ish rp or have dnd type players become their characters.

I'd go for the prior but that is quite a plot changer, should it be a poll?

[Shadowwell]

I will Vid i have just been doing the magic portion so far, i may cover it there.

Well we, meaning myself and a few others, talked about the memory thing. The players would only wake up so to speaking during a point in thevfirst IC mission thing. I may put a poll up later.

[Sindrya]

Taggin.

Will post what I have in mind later.

[Kaledoria]

...Magic and The Things about it

What kind of magic would a simple illusion be?
And what about that mage that goes to his scyring bowl and as he chants the formula, the water in the (otherwise non-magical) bowl shows him the image of a distant place?
What about the druid, that plants a small seed into the city wall between the stones and as he incarnates the chant, the seed grows into a monsterous plant, cracking open the walls?

Those thinks seam neither light nor dark and certainly not elemental.

So, I see we have black powder, but no guns. Does that mean we're talking bombards and rockets then?

Well, primitive black powder does not expand that rapidly, so it won't propel the bullet very fast our of the gun but if you put the black powder into a casing with some spare room, then it can ignite and burn up and build up a huge preasure inside and then explode almost as good as a grenade from better gun powder.

Can do
Natural Map

Political Map

Political Map:

Some of those borders look really weird. Like: There must be some really specific history and present politics, involving those two-four nations, that this is their border...
(And for interesting places, I would not make a "Inner sea" Empire. - This water allows easy fast travel from one side to the other or out into the ocean - This would allow many nations to interact with one another that could not otherwise interact without the permission of realms they would travel through.



And finally one important question about the map: What is the scale? (You can name distances of earth cities as comparison point for distances between Aethian landmarks)

[Shadowwell]

@Kaledoria

As it says the listed things arent all the types of magic. Illusions could be light or dark depending (as if it is a possitive illusion light, negative nightmarish Dark). Scrying wouldnt be a type of magic exactly but something achieved through enchanted items, though some minor Scrying could be achieved through water spells of those with high affinity probably. That would be a combination of elements or just Nature magic.


The political. Map was mostly a wip anways and was going to be changed as need be. But Avalon did provide country ideas to me via TG, it is just they havent been fully fleshed out.

There is no scale to the map yet, though expect it to be largish. Also the Continent (the landmasses in the Map) is called Estau, the world isnamed Aethion

[Shadowwell]

Attention

So there are two possible general ideas they will affect the characters made and the plot and rp itself.

1.The Rp Should be just a Fantasy adventure rp with elements similar to D&D. No elements of the Players being in their characters bodies. It will be less confusing this way and wil be easier and more classic.

2. It should be a Fantasy D&D-Esque rp, but should also include elements of the characters and their IC Player being in the characters body. This while possibly complicated could provide a nice semi-original take on an rp like this, and could provide quite humorous opportunities.

You can just voice opinions about this if you want, i realiz i may not have explained it that well.

[Rygondria]

is my Hre nation on that map ?

[Shadowwell]

No, Avalon cropped and did the maps of their own voliytiob, which i am thankfil for, but no nations/kingdoms are set exactly, yrt.

[Nea Videssos]

WIP country idea, with quite a bit taken from an old fantasy empire idea of mine (plus some Hittite influence, since that might be interesting).

The High Empire of Šhal-Morzīnn.

Ruled by Empress Tarhestriya Theispas Karvaelos, Grand Archon of the Thousand Domains, and Ura-Tarwani of the Hašaranté states, this empire stems back millennia. Like the Byzantine Empire merged with Hittites, infantry and light cavalry conscription was practiced, with every citizen eligible to serve, with training very much like that of the legionaries, with the soldiers taught close quarters melee techniques with their swords, whilst archery was also extensively practised. Formidable heavy infantry (including an elite Imperial Guard unit composed of foreign axe/spearmen, expanded over the centuries, and known for their ferocity, and their lack of ties with the empire's internal politics, which most of the other myriad array of old guard units, some merely ceremonial by this stage, are influenced by), and heavy cavalry. Potent navy, and an long existent and organised system of mage cadres. Nonetheless, corruption, an overgrown, institutionalised bureaucracy, and scheming vassals is an ever present issue that only grows still. One example being a mage cadre with its headquarters at the Black Tower of Tēkanyrion, named the Keepers of the Divine Sphere. They have acquired much influence over the past millennia, and in the places where it is strongest, the more corrupt and ill-intentioned of their kind have free reign to do as they desire.

Essentially a fantasy version of the Byzantine Empire/Eastern Roman Empire at its height (and best/organised and advanced). Language is a mix of Latin, Armenian, Hittite and medieval Greek, sometimes separate, but another variant is essentially a combination of them (there are also regional variations). Religion and magic also play an important role. Quite wealthy, as well as advanced. There seven major gods in the pantheon. A rival religion is present in the east, where another old state long rival to the empire, dwells.

The geography is varied, alike Byzantium in many ways. Has a heartland resembling a mix of Anatolia and northern Italy, and a massive, thriving capital resembling Constantinople, named Korakaesion-Šarhulis (or just Šarhulis). The remnant of a vast and powerful empire. The great river Marassantiya runs from the Mountains to the south east of the Empire. The majority of the empire in its current state is delegated to vassals, with the more distant lands being essentially governed by themselves. Some parts are essentially independent, and potentially count as separate. Same applies with certain facets of the population within the empire proper, including particular organisations, ethnic groups, military, political, trade and sorcerous factions.

Korakaesion-Šarhulis is a large city on a colossal hill upon which there are seven smaller hills, surrounded by an artificial lake that is connected to a large body of water (inland sea, ocean?). It has a citadel like system of three massive Cyclopean walls (like a bigger version of Constantinople's), that are connected mostly by bridges at each tower, that can be drawn back should the enemies get onto the walls, and in between each wall there is a large ditch, filled with spikes, and napatha, Greek fire and other things can be poured on any enemies that fall down there and still live. The walls are made out of massive marble blocks, and there are ballistas and catapults on the enormous towers. There is a massive underground tunnel system that goes just outside the lake, underneath it, and leads all the way to a large military fortress called Tantalus. A system of underground springs exist, to supply the city. There is a massive adamantium gate, and a bridge that spans across the lake, reaching a number of gates and small forts outside, across the lake.

The towers also have Archimedes style mirror towers that can burn wooden things using the sun's light and energy, and can also burn/blind and kill enemies. There are tiger's eye crystal spheres set in the walls, surrounded by runes that are said to be of some symbolic religious significance, though the specifics long forgotten. There is an underground system of pulleys and so on that can resupply the city with food and other things. There is an also an underground harbour that the formidable navy maintains a presence in.

A large black marble pyramid upon a great fortified estate at the centre of the city serves as the imperial palace, and a ritual centre. The place has some of the defensive innovations of places like Baalbek, Beumaris castle, Fort George, Hattusha (Hittite capital), etc.

[Forest State]

I might make a healer for this. Tag.

[Shadowwell]

Vid what races are in that empire?
Also what major cities are there?

I will try to get an empire app up today.