World Build October Part 19

Its World-Build-Tober: 

Friday the 19th - World-build-tober

"Draw (or describe) something in a common artistic style in your world"

You could say there are three forms of art, Natural, Square and Unnatural.

The Natural forms, favoured by many artists, races that live in harmony of the land, tend to follow patterns found in nature. lines matching branches of trees or lines in water and such. The meaning of such art is often obscured in prose, poetry and hidden in strange metaphors.

Sqaure forms are followed by more stone & mineral loving races, They follow more geometric patterns, often with plain meaning and logical patterns.

The Chatoic artforms tend to make the other two groups retch, as the often violent, dangerous form can lend itself to bending reality with magic, conjuring up nightmares or summoning demons.

You see, Art, can be used, very similarly to runes. The right flow, lines, paths and a touch of magic can enact spells.. 

one must be careful

World Build October Part 18

Its World-Build-Tober: 

Thursday the 18th - World-build-tober

"Draw (or describe) the uniform of the military or police"

The Uniforms of the Vespertine brigade are an interesting specimen, Beside the brocades, the fluffy quills, the shiny boots and the cloak. The more interesting aspect is the grill.

The Vespertine brigade are all equiped with a metal plate, attached to the shoulderpads, which covers the face of the guardsman from chin to nose. It has a slotted grill allowing air to flow, but not completely.

You see, centuries ago, there was a great plague, the city of Versper suffered greatly, it didn't kill, just made alot of people weak, and unable to defend themselves against anyone who was unafflicted, so for months, the entire city was at the mercy of a few rogues who were immune to the disease.

So some clever sorcerers and tinkerers invented a facegrill to be worn by some heroes, so they could arrest the rogues. Once proven to be useful, the king ordered a full regiments worth of these, with extra abilities built in for commanders and the king.

There were some improvements made, so the original grills have been de-commissioned (and might be available on the black market).

While now over a hundred years old, the grills still work perfectly (as does many magical items if cared for). Their abilities are:

* Blocks out 80% of all poisons, gases and air-borne diseases, -80% effects.
* At will allows wearer to increase volume of voice by 25% or 50%,
* Commands given have an influencing presence, causing listeners to obey.

As a result, the military guards have become a very effective police force, and crime in the city is lower than 20% of other cities of equal size.

World Build October Part 17

Its World-Build-Tober: 

Wednesday the 17th - World-build-tober

"Draw (or describe) an average low ranking individual"

There are a myriad of everyday people that have been born into the world, and a handful of those that were accidentally deposited here in times beyond comprehension. Yet those few are not so average as they bring new ideas, fresh thought and a sense of wonder into the world.

No, the average individual of this world is akin to the average joe or jane of any world. going about their business, doing what needs to be done to survive.

Lets Take a random person from a random continent of a random city, all by rolling on some charts I have.

The Continent: The Lions Head.. Ok.. lots of stuff mapped out here:
The City? Shempuir, North of the Capital of Thuispar, Home of the Hills-folk, a race of humans that prefer to build their cities into hills, using the rocky ground as protection.
A person? well, random parenting rolls from character creations gives me a charcoal burner.

So, Kaligra Shukburner, dresses in his average hession cloth clothes, covered with a smock, his pockets contain a flint or few, some frayed rope, maybe a copper coin and some dried pork fat. His day would consist of going into the woods, gathering as much wood as he can carry, bringing it back to his family to sort into grades or qualities of wood. In Summer, he'd wait til morning to build up his mud vat, surrounding the wood in mud, lighting up the fires, burning them for an hour, then sealing off so they cool to coals. During that hour, he'd load up his bags and his wheelbarrow and do his rounds, selling coal door to door in the richer regions first, so they have their coal before the masters awake, and the poorer regions with the lowest grade.

He makes a copper for a sack of high grade wood coal, and a few tin bitz for a shovel of twig & stick coal. Once his load is gone, he'd head over to the markets and buy a load of old sacks for a half-copper, take them home for his wife to resew/mend, have his meal and off out into the woods for more wood.

To survive, he'd likely set a few traps at first, collect them again that evening on the way back. maybe a small patch of plants and herbs he's planted out in the common land, or hidden in a patch of woods he know about.

His life is likely to be short, breathing in charcoal dust, he'd get a lung disease by 50, but he'd have been married at 18-21 to whoever'd have him, his kids grown by his 40th, so he'd see grandkids before his death, maybe even meet an adventurer or two during his life.. 

World Build October Part 16

Its World-Build-Tober: 

Tuesday the 16th - World-build-tober

"Draw (or describe) a powerful or high ranking individual"

My players know of some individuals, who like Voldemort, should not have their name spoken. We refer to them as Mr.D, Mr.B and "her".

There are many people who could be considered powerful, high ranking yet powerless. I do like a good trope, and having seemingly innocuous folk be ultra powerful (like yoda) is good fun, yet done too often is boring.

There is a guy though, that is powerful, yet doesn't really understand it.

See back year ago, we decided to roleplay ourselves in my game, We stat-ed our characters, argued about how it sucked that we were not herioc, and in the end the 'portal' opened in my lounge room and we all traveled to this fantasy Coyn world to play.

It lasted about 2 sessions. It became obvious, that being our real selves in a world, didn't give us the skills to survive the world, It wasn't fun playing a bunch of geeks and nerd, who had very little real combat training, no spell ability, no actual lore of gods, and the only thing going for us, was our meta knowledge.

The game stopped, but one player kept it going with a kind of offline play by email game.

The thing was, not being born in the world, of the universe everything resided in, it made no sense that the gods could be aware of him. Without that, death could not come for him. 

See gods are responsible beings, responsible for the day to day goings on, that we in our world call physics. So without the 'god of physics' around.. he became immortal.

He's still there, tending bar, he now owns the bar.. he's aware that he can't age, and suspects he's immortal, but doesn't want to test the theory, and he can't ask anyone since he's the only one this applies to, he can't find out for sure.

He knows alot about the world in general.. Imagine being cast back in time now, to 0 B.C. How much history of the world do you know, basic physics, maths, science, etc etc.. alot..

He (in real life) knew a lot about my world, so in the game, he knows ALOT about the world.. 

But while he can't make things happen to gods.. if he tells someone, and they believe it.. then that affects the gods.. which means he can influence, without repercussion..

Now that is powerful.

World Build October Part 15

Its World-Build-Tober: 

Monday the 15th - World-build-tober

"Draw (or describe) what your inhabitants wear in cold weather"

There Are Three Winters, One is due to the huge pillar of ice in the centre of the world, and the shadow that it casts across the land, Every season, there are several days when the sun doesn't peak out from behind the crystalline structure and the world as you know it becomes colder than you've ever felt before..

In the middle of Summer, the Blistering Sands of the Omfg Deserts cool enough to walk on, then the rare rock pools freeze, cracking the rocks they sit in. As the sun returns to heat everything once again, water seeps into the cracks, providing small life recluse locations to grow away from the 60c+ deserts

In the Town of Amishandor, Far enough North, that the shadow passes for a mere 3 days, people come out to celebrate in Summer, as the cool winds and chill temperatures are a respite from the hotter summer days, Yet in Winter, when its already cold enough to freeze ice left outside, those three days become dangerous.

During these few days, Amishandor crack open their winter chests and bring out the Rattain Furs.

The Rattain are a race of giant rats that live in the hills to the north, mutated by the demonic powers that reside there, to be able to live in the cold caverns and protect the treasures. While dangerous, the fur has an amazing property, that even after death, the fur creates warmth for the wearer.

When Adventurers came to Amishandor, and travelled to the Demon caves, they returned often with skins, and items raided from the tunnels. At first the townsfolk shunned the fur as it was strange, smelled and gave of an eirie warmth, yet with a good wash and skilled stitching, has become a sought after cloak by travellers.

World Build October Part 13

Its World-Build-Tober: 

Saturday the 13th - World-build-tober

"Draw (or describe) a depiction of a god or deity in your world"

This one is one of my favourites.. I hope you inlcude him in your world, because he likes to travel.

The God PHUK. (ouch)

This God, is praised and worshiped across the world for many, many reasons. People pray to him for a myriad of reasons:

* because they found something awesome, 

* or saw something amazing,

* or hurt themselves,

* or want to emphasize something in his name,

* or all of the above, at the same time!

This God, is a mighty god and with all this worship, he gives out presents. Many Eons ago, he discovered the best present is a red brick.

In the very early days, when a prayer was made, he would throw the brick from high, at his workshipper and when it struck them in the head, they would pray to him again.. WOW he thought.

So he gifted them again, yet often the second brick did not warrant a third prayer, Such kind followers, not to burn through his powers.

Some people took his bricks and made temples to worship him. When they prayed in this temples, the whole temple would collapse upon the priest and bring the priest to his heaven. An efficient way to directly bring leaders to his kingdom in the afterlife.

Since the world was so wonderful, he watched further as others would use these bricks in the building of his houses.. then later, when a worshipper would pray to him, the brick would do its job and re-gift itself to that person. Amazing thought the god.. I don't even have to create bricks, and I still receive the worship.

Everyone knows of the god, They know of the gifted bricks and the love that he brings the world. People have started to show the god a time of rest, but not praying so much.

Soon, several other gods began to follow in his ways, and a small pantheon of gods were formed. They are known as Carlins Seven.

Due to even the written prayer being enforced, I can only refer to the gifts given by the seven.

The First God, upon prayer, will ensure you slip in or on, that which you prayed for.
The Second God, upon prayer will ensure you now need to do so,
The Third God, is the god of this article,
The Forth Goddess, Will summon forth a Warrior of Social Justice to swat you,
The Fifth God, Will cause a farm animal to be angered at you,
The Sixth Goddes Will cause your female parent to curse you, as she recieves the Third gods present,
And the Seventh Goddess will ensure that the next time her namesake are visible, your vision is blocked by another.

...

This god was enforced when I was a teenager, roleplaying at the kitchen table with my friends (no basements in Australia) my mother would exclaim her ire at hearing bad words, so we introduced the first god as punishment, and the later gods when we saw George Carlins show.

This still didn't stop one of our Dwarves from his life long mission to build a tavern from said bricks.

World Build October Part 14

Its World-Build-Tober: 

Sunday the 14th - World-build-tober

"Draw (or describe) what your inhabitants wear in warm weather"

Describe Warm Weather?

In Australia, Warm is 30-39c, In Russia, Warm is above 15c to about 30c.

In the Highland Swamps of the Kukuru mountains, the reflections of the sun on the mountain ranges, means year round warm weather, muggy, humid, The soil composition has left the valley in a perpetual swamp like pond, it rarely rains, just constant moist weather.

Clothing clings to the body, restricting movement, so most clothing is made from vines, weaved together to form a mesh, its not worn for protection from weather, but from the bites of fish.

Often, mud is worn on the skin to protect from bugs, and coloured mud has been sought after by several inhabitants, creating a trade in rarer shades of red and white (from the normal range of browns)

Celebrations often bring out the women covered head to toe in a variety of patterns of mud, in varies stages of drying out. clever 'dressmakers' have layered the mid so as a layer dries and breaks away, it reveals another colour beneath.

----

Deep in the mines of Karak-Dune, The Dwarves sweat when it gets above 20c. Maybe because its due to the varied layers of leather armour and mail, maybe its the forge tunnels are full of warm foggy air, so often Dwarves sweat. When the lava pits or forge halls get roudy, the rest of the tunnels start to get really warm, up to 40c, Dwarves can put up with alot, temperature included, but their clothing can't. So, when the temperature gets high, leather can rot, so off comes the leather.

But Dwarves are very traditional when it comes to gender relations. What with the beards and all. Often Dwarves mating rituals involve years of getting to know if the person you're friends with is a male or a female. Its considered extremely rude (at point of death) to imply, let alone ask a Dwarves gender.

As a result, in the warm tunnels, revealing anything that could imply gender would be extremely upsetting. So the dwarves invented a chainmesh, smaller links with the link gaps fused closed. Its slightly heavier, more comfortable than plain mail and still conceals enough of the body to remain respectable.

p.s. With my house-move-issues, I thought I scheduled these to post on their respective days, but obviously failed to do so, hence the block of posts all in a row

World Build October Part 12

Its World-Build-Tober: 

Friday the 12th - World-build-tober

"Draw (or describe) an item on an average persons nightstand"

Some people put their necklaces out, maybe in a box, incase some thieves peek in the window, many people have a hook on the wall for their coat or scarf or hat. Space is expensive, either to buy or to build, so many bedrooms double as storage, washrooms and even workshops.

Imagine what you have on your desk at work, the last thing you use before you go to bed, you put it there, well people in medieval times did the same. empty your pockets onto the shelf and crawl into bed.

There is a little ticking man, made of brass, he sits on the nightstand of an un-average person. He watches the world go by, his little ticking brain, it looks and watches. When someone enters the room of his master, he erases them from existence, he stores their life-force, so the universe doesn't notice them missing, and doles it out for his master, day by day. They live in a tiny little brass prison, or, in some cases, where some have broken free, they roam the halls of the little brass mans inner workings. Few have ever escaped, his master, thinks the brass man just prolongs his life.. unaware of why and how it works, he just knows to always put it on the nightstand before bed.

Oh and sometimes random clothes appear in his room. 

p.s. With my house-move-issues, I thought I scheduled these to post on their respective days, but obviously failed to do so, hence the block of posts all in a row

World Build October Part 11

Its World-Build-Tober: 

Thursday the 11th - World-build-tober

"Draw (or describe) a temple or important scared space"

The Most interesting temple I remember a player inventing, was the house of secrets. The building looks like a bank, or maybe a school, no, actually I think it was a library. I'm not sure. Its non descript, people are not likely to notice it, its a boring old building that does what ever it does, Across the road is a market, Ohh boy, what a market. Something about that market, everytime I pass there I just have to go visit. 

p.s. With my house-move-issues, I thought I scheduled these to post on their respective days, but obviously failed to do so, hence the block of posts all in a row

World Build October Part 10

Its World-Build-Tober: 

Wednesday the 10th - World-build-tober

"Draw (or describe) a form of music or dance in your world"

In the mythranki Jungles, Far to the east of the lands of steel beams, there are tribes that have mastered the arts of tribal, ritual magic. It started with simple rain dances, then going in reverse for dry dances, and now their entire culture relies on each village doing a specific set of dances in a specific order each year, else their entire world will come to a grinding halt.. or so they believe.

One such dance, done by the teenagers at the pinacle of winter, ensures the blade of shadow will not harm them as it passes by the southern part of the country.

Teenagers being teenagers, some decided that it was not so vitally important, so they didn't learn the steps right that year.. the spell was not cast and the blade of shadow fell across the land.. to no effect.

As nothing untoward happened, the following year those teenagers, who went on to teach the next years students, made it clear that it was merely a ritual, and not to pay too much attention.

Years went past, and the ritual that softened the shadow of winter, was more of a dance.

Yet the reason the ritual existed in the first place, took notice that the wards against darkness were slowly weakening, year after year it watches.. 

p.s. With my house-move-issues, I thought I scheduled these to post on their respective days, but obviously failed to do so, hence the block of posts all in a row