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5 years ago ::
Jun 25, 2008 - 12:54PM
#21
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Date Joined:
Apr 25, 2008
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Could also further this to say that people staying to close to the lodestones without the proper protection become 'addicted' to the effects of the Lodestone further exposure causes the people to physically change. Its has lead to the saying 'Careful what you wear boyo, you could be wearing it a loooong time.' Also noticing the physical changes that the magic of the stone can do the Houses, Church and Arcane Colleges all are testing this effect to determine how it can/will be used.
Further an underground 'evil' (or not) Cult could spring up that wishes to explore the changes caused but the effects. They themselves have become mentally warped and seem to believe the future of the Empire is to have all beings of the Empire 'improved' by the effects. They seek to wash the Empire in the effect and change everyone, believing that once done everyone will see the truth and of course they will be promoted to their rightful places as the rulers of the 'New Empire.'
This addiction idea could also add to the perceived value of residuum, giving it more of a dune-ish feel and a darker side to the story (Those points of light are sometimes a magic missile headed your way)
The observance of the effects over time would become integrated into society some seek to become more powerful and so battle for control over a lodestone location, while another force (perhaps the Fey Eldarin) are looking to prevent the abuse of a natural resource perhaps guarding the larger unknown sites with powerfully protected outposts, destroying those that may come close to protect the real secrets of the lodestones.
(geez I think I could go on all day with this idea and with the open unknown there could be a cranial explosion here)
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5 years ago ::
Jun 25, 2008 - 6:01PM
#22
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Date Joined:
Jul 20, 2006
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(Those points of light are sometimes a magic missile headed your way)
I am so tempted to sig this.
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5 years ago ::
Jun 25, 2008 - 11:08PM
#23
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Date Joined:
Jun 21, 2004
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Perhaps make it illegal for all but a few to possess residuum as well.
I have had a lot of stuff lately with the kids, work, and what not, but I do plan on posting my version of this soon.
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5 years ago ::
Jun 26, 2008 - 6:30AM
#24
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Date Joined:
Apr 25, 2008
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I am so tempted to sig this.
Feel free to use my quote it's feels pretty good for someone to say that.
I am wondering if there is some way for us to get all these details down into a rough document and start to work this into something a bit more full blown.
We have a basic premise and an outline of some of the races and the major hook for the setting, now we could do with a rough sketch of the major places of influence. Are all the lodestones beneath the ground or are there some rare outcroppings in desolate, hazardous regions. Is the world a well mixed climate or is the world a place of struggle and destruction caused by the effects of the lodestones?
This is just getting me all exicted and worked up with ideas :P
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5 years ago ::
Jun 26, 2008 - 8:05AM
#25
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Date Joined:
Jun 19, 2008
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Feel free to use my quote it's feels pretty good for someone to say that.
I am wondering if there is some way for us to get all these details down into a rough document and start to work this into something a bit more full blown.
We have a basic premise and an outline of some of the races and the major hook for the setting, now we could do with a rough sketch of the major places of influence. Are all the lodestones beneath the ground or are there some rare outcroppings in desolate, hazardous regions. Is the world a well mixed climate or is the world a place of struggle and destruction caused by the effects of the lodestones?
This is just getting me all exicted and worked up with ideas :P
Right now I certainly would welcome development of:
the line of Solanthis' Kings and Emperors
the Great Houses and lesser houses,
something pertaining to Halflings and Tieflings,
details on the Wizard Colleges and Orders,
more powerful Kingdoms between the holdings,
The ultimate line that development has to balance is an overt effort to align with the patterns of Dune's setting and an overt effort to avoid the specific narrative devices of Dune's plot (a hero/messiah prophesy for example). That was the original philosophy of the design.
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5 years ago ::
Jun 26, 2008 - 9:55AM
#26
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Date Joined:
Apr 25, 2008
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I totally agree you can avoid many Dune patterns and devices, however a good feel can still be maintained with politics in the great cities, colleges and houses to suit those interested in this, and great exploration adventure, or full blown wars.
Making Residuum a Spice Analogue, by converting it to a more used substance than consumed also the affects of change or mutation / power adds a level of danger for those that hunt for it at lodestone locations.
Forget Messiahs and Chosen Ones as that has been done to death and leaves nothing for the players to achieve on their own, gaining power, prestige and many epic paths in their careers.
As to Teiflings how about something like this:
Teiflings Once the rulers of the ancient empire and once controllers of the lodestones. They carry a verbal history only of these times and never speak of the reasons to their fall from power.
Through their ancestors constant close proximity to the lodestones they were physically changed, over the many years since their downfall some wish to just be a part of society and others feel the need to retake their rightful place as rulers of the land.
"Teifling stories could contain clues to locations of lost lodestones and the secrets behind them, if you can get them to share their knowledge but over the years this could be highly inaccurate"
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This leaves some room for fleshing out and an openess to choose where in society they may fit, they could also have some past history with the dragonborn again as two old empires would have.
It leaves some mystery to maybe finding ancient Teifling ruins, political intrigue.
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5 years ago ::
Jun 26, 2008 - 10:09AM
#27
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Date Joined:
Dec 13, 2006
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I've been tooling around with ideas on various details and personalization.
For the Arcane Colleges, I think it's important for each college to have a very different train of thought on how to research magic, and what magic should be used for. A different *focus*, really.
One college might be the one that developed the ties to the Eladrin - they were the college that develped the ritual that contacted them. To this day, the college is obsessed with ley lines and their uses. They might frequently make expeditions into the wild, in order to get closer to certain ley lines, or other types of magical areas.
One college might have a close tie-in with Barony or the forging guild. Studies would be pragmatic, ways to use magic to improve life or invent machines. Perhaps this college is actually located in Barony or in a Forging Guild stronghold, but it would also be a great way to tie in the "Artificer" class when we get it in a few months.
Yet another college might focus on general magic studies. Wizards would be popular, with this college in a vein very similar to stero-typical type arcane instututes.
I'd like to see another college focused on planar travel/mysteries/knowledge. The inner and outer planes haven't really been mapped or focused on much in either 4th or this setting in general, but this would be a good way of introducing them.
How many houses would there be? I imagine each house being 3-5 noble families, with their retainers and collective resources. Some houses might be entirely human, with other houses being human, half-elf, elf, maybe even dwarven families. Perhaps, 8 major houses, and a handful of lesser houses?
I've worked out two different kingdoms, both much lesser in power than Solanthis, but neither willing to work out anything more than a truce at the moment. One, in my eyes, might have a stronger connection to the demi-human races, and be a good way to introduce monsterous races as a possibility. The other I haven't worked on much. Either kingdom is entirely a monarchy, with a king/nobles/free man/serf mentality. Perhaps one kingdom is very much into slavery, and would prove to be a good adversary to Solanthis, even if it was out of reach of traditional military power? (even with airships, supply lines can only stretch so far for a massive army)
Want the tl;dr of my posts? Read the bold text; I put it there to highlight the main points for ease of skimming.
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5 years ago ::
Jun 26, 2008 - 10:30AM
#28
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Date Joined:
Feb 19, 2004
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Prolonged exposure to "raw" residuum could produce mutations of a sort, and it would also result in a dependancy on the raw residuum itself. This would duplicate the idea of addiction to spice and would provide an explanation for the origins of tieflings. Of course, the idea that mutations could become so prominent and be passed on would not be common knowledge at all, perhaps a dark secret only a few in the modern empire even suspect. There's no reason for the modern tieflings to even know this either, they may very well believe the commonly accepted belief that they are descended from humans who made pacts with devils.
Lodestones as I'd envision them don't actually create the residuum, they simply collect it. The presence of intense magnetic fields in an area rich in mana causes a small portion of the excess mana to "crystalize" into raw residuum. The crystalization happens more often near the stone, giving rise to the belief that the stones are a source, but can happen fairly far afield of the stone. This gives rise to the need for "residuum harvesters", workers who use arcane collectors to gather the raw residuum for later processing.
The workers would primarily be prisoners, the truly desperate, and some warforged. The reason would be that the knowledge that residuum can cause disfigurements over a long enough time would be fairly common (just not the persistent and inherited mutations), so only those compelled by external forces or severe need would take such work.
The residuum fields also happen to attract tarrasques. Perhaps the interaction of mana and magnetic fields draws the fearsome monsters there, or maybe there's some relationship between them and the lodestones or the raw residuum crystals.
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5 years ago ::
Jun 26, 2008 - 10:39AM
#29
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Date Joined:
Jul 20, 2006
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something pertaining to Halflings and Tieflings,
You could make a connection between halflings and Fremen; the Fremen had special ways of getting around in the desert to avoid attracting sandworms, so you could take the whole "halfling river gypsy" thing and give them sandboats instead. They could boat around between lodestone deposits and help transport them. The whole idea of a Dune Sea (hmm...Dune Sea...memo to self: Jawas) is reminiscent of Dark Sun, another desert-based Points of Light concept that was very popular.
I'll flesh that out a little more for you if I have some time later.
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5 years ago ::
Jun 26, 2008 - 6:06PM
#30
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Date Joined:
Apr 25, 2008
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Another thought (I seem to have these when I cannot sleep)
Arcane College Warlock:
Warlocks have made pacts with entities long forgotten, they maintain their connections via the power of the ley lines, these schools were founded by the teiflings who learned the methods long ago and used thes powers to rule their empire.
Residuum and lodestones are paramount to warlocks as a key to their learnings they believe ultimate power can be achieved through them.
Warlocks will try to ensure a supply of residuum for their powers and rituals, making it a valuable resource for them.
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