Elementals 3: The White Rose (OOC, FANTASY, OPEN)

[Observation Post 13]

Happy new year!

[Constaniana]

Happy new year fellas. Here's to another year of fantasy shenanigans and jolly cooperation

And there was much rejoicing.

Happy new year!

You'll be pleased to hear I finally added a juicy 1,600 words for Omnsaatism's lore entry, including the times of day for each god.

[Observation Post 13]

You'll be pleased to hear I finally added a juicy 1,600 words for Omnsaatism's lore entry, including the times of day for each god.

Thank the 9 gods, my prayer has been answered!

And all these new Omnisaatism-related names are pretty wicked...

[Constaniana]

You'll be pleased to hear I finally added a juicy 1,600 words for Omnsaatism's lore entry, including the times of day for each god.

Thank the 9 gods, my prayer has been answered!

And all these new Omnisaatism-related names are pretty wicked...

The secret with the names was mostly alternating between misspelling Chinese or Arabic words.

[Constaniana]

I've been reading a book called "Gunpowder" by Jack Kelly, and it's given me ideas about how to explain firearms being less common/advanced in Elementals. I had already conceived of gunpowder being rarer than in our world, but now I have more specific possible explanations based around the three ingredients: saltpeter, sulphur, and charcoal. European countries struggled with finding enough saltpeter (at least early on), so that same difficulty could afflict Galllia and Elcrescia. Sahranjja could have a sulphur shortage due to a lack of active volcanoes on their continent; they used to get around this thank to colonising Yuelkelu and Beiriuk, but after losing those lands they lost access to their volcanoes. Perhaps they also struggle finding enough charcoal to supply their gunpowder needs, as their large population demands a lot of fuel to cook their food.

Climate could possibly influence firearm's slower development, too. Keeping gundpowder dry was a major struggle; if places like Galllia are more rainy and cold it could be harder keeping the gunpowder protected from that. Just something to think about.

[Constaniana]

After much pondering, deliberating, and so forth, I have established how much a Danethrum is actually worth, which will make it so I can actually specify prices the next time someone buys something, instead of glossing over it. I started off with this old post, circa 2019:

@Const: How does currency work in Gallia? I avoided specifics because, well, I have no idea.

The currency is Danethrums. I never fleshed out their specifics, so I'm just coming up with them now. Danethrums are equal in value to an estimate of how much £1 was worth in 1820 that I found online a few minutes ago. A decent wage for an eight-hour day is 55 Danethrums.

By combing through the IC threads of both Elementals 2 and 3 I found references to danethrums in gold, silver, bronze, and copper, as well as the usage of the word penny as a smaller amount. By combining this with Helreskaffen numerology and the old system of pounds sterling I have devised the value of the various danethrums. Ignore the bit about a danethrum being equal in value to what £1 was worth in 1820, since I can't find the website I used then to corroborate. Here is the new list:

Danethrum

• 1 GOLD DANETHRUM is worth 8 silver danethrums, 72 bronze, 792 copper, or 9,504 pence
• 1 SILVER DANETHRUM is worth 9 bronze, 99 copper, or 1,188 pence
• 1 BRONZE DANETHRUM is worth 11 copper or 132 pence
• 1 COPPER DANETHRUM is worth 12 pence/pennies

A decent day's wage is around 55 copper danethrums. The governments of the United Galllian Federation and Commonwealth of the North both call their currencies danethrums despite their political divide, and use the same values, weights, and measures. This is in keeping with Galllian precedent, as the danethrum is the same currency established by Adrathur the Great himself, and has been used without interruption across his continent since. The coins and banknotes bore different designs and shapes depending on where they were minted. Nevertheless, so long as the one issuing the money had credible reserves of the metal in question to back it danethrums from one post-imperial state would generally be accepted in another. From time to time various rulers in Galllia would issue other denominations of danethrums in metals like brass, tin, or electrum, or even backed by different substances entirely, but these would be harder to exchange across the continent.

Among the first laws established by the United Galllian Federation upon her formation in 1763 was the New Danethrum Control Act. Under this law the minting of danethrums was to be centralised under newly-established federal mints, and no new variants were to be made by state or local governments. Old danethrums were still permitted to be exchanged across the continent, but banks were strongly encouraged to exchange their old currency for the new. Certain officials proposed for the law to include a deadline for when all transactions would be required to be carried out with federal danethrums, but they lacked the political support to include so drastic a measure.

After the outbreak of the Wide Northern War the federal mints at Auregen and Erilhall were commandeered by the secessionists. As the conflict progressed mints were reestablished at Agladuus, Norenhall, and eventually Haventown. Northemen coinage varied during the war as their chief lords were too preoccupied with commanding their armies, leaving lower officials considerable leeway. As in other domestic concerns, the Commonwealth of the North has spent the past year trying to sort the mess all out. Compounding this difficulty is the accommodation of the Eresilnnian penceling.

One Galllian penny is worth approximately ¢25 USD. There is no denomination below a penny, but half-pennies, third-pennies, quarter-pennies, and eighth-pennies are in common circulation.

Commonly Issued Coinage:
*I will fill this in later, along with currencies from other countries*

[Ameriganastan]

Ew, math...

[Constaniana]

Ew, math...

The real reason Eric lives as a wandering vagrant is so he doesn't have to bother with adding up how many of each money he would need to pay the bills.

[Ameriganastan]

And now, a side-story from eons ago.

900 years ago.

"You fool. You thrice damned fool! What have you done!?"

A knight stormed into the throne room, his king sitting high and mighty upon his throne.

"I've won us the war! When they see me on the battlefield, wielding the very power of the heavens in my hand, they will know King Groscon is all-powerful!

The knight stormed up the steps, grabbing him by the collar.

"You have doomed us all. Look outside!"

Indeed, the very earth itself seemed enraged. What had been a clear, blue day was now a hellscape. The ground cracked and heaved everywhere, fire rained from the sky, a storm of proportions unseen before was ravaging the land. The King seemed too obsessed to care.

"I wouldn't expect an up-jumped butcher like you to understand. Ah, here is my prize now!"

A cadre of servants wheeled his prize into the throne room. A glowing blue blade.

"I trust none of you touched it? Yes, as king, it should fall on me to wield the power of the Gods first."

He rose, approaching his new sword with a look of insane hunger in his eyes.

"And so begins my entry in the annals of history."

His entry didn't last long. The knight plunged his own sword into his back, throwing him onto the ground.

"This. This is what you have damned us all for."

He grabbed the blade, pointing it at him as he bled on the floor.

"I should have listened to father. He said you were not fit to rule. But no, I followed tradition as the younger son. As your general, I served. As your friend, I counseled. As your brother, I loved you. And look at where that loyalty has gotten me."

Groscon glared up at him, the knight finishing the job and plunging the blue sword into his heart. The shocked servants quickly bowed.

"Get up you damned fools. I am not your king. And it's not as though we have time to officially coronate me anyway."

He looked out the window. The entire horizon seemed blacked out.

"So this is how it ends. Doomed to oblivion by a power-mad fool of a king. All for this."

He glared at the sword.

"I pray that when this wave destroys us, it washes you to the bottom of the ocean. Abominable relic."

Yes, the horizon was not blacked out. It was obscured by the largest tidal wave anyone had ever seen. The knight walked back up the steps, sitting on the throne.

"This chair is incredibly uncomfortable. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised."

He looked at the blade one more time and tossed it aside.

"Damn it all."

[Constaniana]

It's been a while, life happens. I have a question about how you all would like to proceed. Keeping any RP going is hard work, let alone for 10 years, so I understand everyone being creatively drained, at least with longer-running characters. Would you be interested in

1. Resume the fight with Forbildoth and go on as normal, as if everyone has just been napping
2. Finish the fight with Forbildoth, I skip us ahead to the end of the Thin Isles arc, and we call it quits for Elementals 3, possibly leading into Elementals 4 at some future date
3. Finish the fight with Forbildoth, have character epilogues, and call it quits
4. Not finishing the fight, but keeping it a cliffhanger to be resolved with a future Elementals 4 some day
5. Zany reboot (I'm not sure what this would entail, but I thought I'd throw it out there as a possibility)
6. Just letting the IC be and go our various ways

Regardless of what gets decided, I'm truly grateful for everyone who's ever posted in any Elementals. Getting to have other people play in my paracosm through the years has been enormous fun. It always made my day to see what cool new things your characters would do. If/when I write a proper Elementals book some day I can send you lot copies.

[Ameriganastan]

I vote for A. Possibly B.

[Kassaran]

Having just returned from death, I say it's safe to say that starting from A would be desired.

A lot of my life stuff has now been completed for the most part and a large amount of time has suddenly dropped into my hands.

[Constaniana]

I vote for A. Possibly B.

Noted.

Having just returned from death, I say it's safe to say that starting from A would be desired.

A lot of my life stuff has now been completed for the most part and a large amount of time has suddenly dropped into my hands.

Noice, good to have you back.

[Observation Post 13]

I vote for A as well