Hey GM, can you tell us anything more about The Realms of Malta or the free cities? I was working on my background and wanted to write in about a backstory of my character being part of the noble class in one of the independent city/states, but I'm not sure which one is which. Thanks!
Malta, the continent, is divided between a northern and southern continent, as well as, and upper and lower section. The continent rests on the seam of the ring world encircling a sun. Unfortunately, when it was first constructed the math was slightly off and they missed connecting by a mile. Hence, the one-mile drop between Uper Malta and Lower Malta.
Northern upper Malta is very similar to Medeival Europe. It is divided in half by the iron mountains. Most of the free cities are in Northern upper Malta with the noted exception of icon, the floating city.
I am working on updating, or at least giving some notes to all the free cities and kingdoms on the obsidian portal website. I should have that completed by Monday afternoon. I should also be able to get a link to the map of Malta for everybody to see. My wife has me doing a massive landscaping project this weekend so I can work on it until late tomorrow night.
This is Stratos again under the prospective alias. Please let me know if anything seems amiss in the profile. The background will be receiving more localized geography and proper names once I have a moment to generate them, but the majority of it and the mechanics are completed for your review.
This is a quick photo of the map of Malta. Let me know if you can't access this. I'm a novice with google docs.
Need Permission to access the map.
Need Permission to access the map.
To grant permission right mouse click on the folder it is in and select 'Share...', then select the 'Advanced' button in the lower right, then select 'Change...' next to the permissions. Pick the permissions you want. I typically select public/anyone may view. You can also select more limiting options but I'm guessing you want this open to the public.
Ok, I think I changed the 'share' to public. Let me know if you still can't access.
That did it.
Is Combat Stamina allowed to be taken as a feat?
And do you want to use fractional base bonuses from Unchained or any of the other alternate rules?
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We won't be using any unchained rules including combat stamina or fractional base bonuses.
What region do you think would best contain a quarry with Aegeans taken as slaves? Landscape-wise, I'm imagining somewhere South of the Iron Mountains by looking at the map.
What region do you think would best contain a quarry with Aegeans taken as slaves? Landscape-wise, I'm imagining somewhere South of the Iron Mountains by looking at the map.
Eastport may be a good option. It is a an epicenter of the slave trade. It has a strict system of laws that even the least of violations could result in permanent incarceration or even death. But that is to keep the peace and allow for free trae. Everything in Eastport is for sale. There is nothing that is illegal to trade. Breach of Contract is considered the most dishonest crime. Punishable by death at the time of the breach carried out by the party whose rights have been violated.
Another possibility is Ixth. Ixth is the capital of the Ixthian Empire which stretches across all of Lower Malta and as of 1070 EC extends across the southern shore of Northern Upper Malta making it the largetst kingdom of any culture upon the Nexus in the early 1,000's. A sultan known as Baccht centrally rules the Empire. Currently, Baccht the 9th is in power. The official diety of the empire is Archeabus. They are not the most kind and compassionate of people.
Below is a link to a rough drawing of the world post-terraform. It isn't to scale but gives you a glimpse at the concept. The lake and tower are much too large in comparison to the continent. But, I wanted to give some detail to the tower and the lake and town that surround it.
It is spinning counter-clockwise. with chunks of the continent following each 'arm' of the spiral. Remember there is no oceans just empty space between the land masses and that light shines up from the sun as the world is tilted away from the sun. It is permanently night.
I intend on redoing the map in illustrator or CC4 but that will take some time.
Hmmm. I foresee flight being a necessity in fairly short order. In regards to tech, via science or magic, how far along were things? Was there even the concept of air-travel by vehicle?
And something for other players to consider when picking supplies, if they haven't already done so, is food. There are no more farms, no more shops, no more hunting. Food is gonna be more valuable than platinum. There'll probably be some Fallout-level grimdark about raggedy-arsed survivors doing things for just one more meal. And the party, with its supplies, will be a prime target.
Getting the ability to cast create food and drink is going to be vital. Or, the ability to make an item with that effect.
And the world is spinning edge on to the sun? So it used to form a ring around the sun and now it is in orbit or something spinning edge on? I assume there is an opposite side to this pinwheel Wonder how they are doing :)
Where does the sea go? Is it falling off the edges and siphoning off into space? Where is the edge if the sea keeps going? If that is not sea, how are the islands attached?
I wonder if it will get colder and colder as time goes on. That was NOT a nice thing to do to a world.
And the world is spinning edge on to the sun? So it used to form a ring around the sun and now it is in orbit or something spinning edge on? I assume there is an opposite side to this pinwheel Wonder how they are doing :)
Where does the sea go? Is it falling off the edges and siphoning off into space? Where is the edge if the sea keeps going? If that is not sea, how are the islands attached?
I wonder if it will get colder and colder as time goes on. That was NOT a nice thing to do to a world.
World was a ring, with the inner face toward the sun, ala Halo (or the eponymous Ringworld from Larry Niven, which I'm betting was a big source of inspiration for this).
Now the shattered chunks of what is left are more like a coin or other two-sided object. The side the Bright Tower is on is the side away from the sun, while the opposite is constantly lit. Sunlight shines up from the gaps and splits in the land.
The water was sucked into the rift itself. I imagine gravity keeps the loose chunks in proximity to the rest.
No water, effectively no food, extreme temperatures... And the loss of plants means no air either, eventually, not counting what the rift probably drained off on its own. Unless the Hazard's emergency hold on the rift is maintaining air and temp, things are gonna get ugly. At least the characters won't have to contend with Vault-Tec shenanigans on top of all that :P.
Yes, the original idea back in the 80's when we first envisioned it, was inspired by Larry Niven's novel. Sam's assessment is pretty spot on.
I have to hand-wave some physics to make this world exist... let's call it magic. Gravity or maybe the attraction to the rift keeps the floating islands following each arm. The world is spinning like a top and orbiting the sun. The underneath side, I imagine, would be the outer hull of the ringworld. The tech behind the ringworld controlled weather and atmosphere. Between the tech and the Hazard's magic the atmosphere is breathable but the climates will be harsh.
To answer Sam's question from earlier: No, technology isn't advanced enough to have flying transportation. In fact, it is a fairly low-tech world.
More lore for the curious:
It was originally built by several species coming together in cooperation, but eventually this led to conflicts. One particularly powerful and semi-immortal species (the Ealintaine) developed quantum physics to the point that they were able to control matter with their minds. We took a very simplistic view of quantum physics as it existed in the mid-80's. Matter can become energy and energy can become matter (general relativity). Thought can affect energy, therefore thought can affect matter. Hm... sounds like magic. After 2 intergalactic wars, four scientists from four different species, created portals into two different planes. Don't ask which ones... we never thought that part through. They bound the Ealintaine into these planes; separating those they thought were good and nice, and those they considered bad or evil... Hence heaven and hell or in our world Talmor and Midian. The Ealintaine are now considered the gods by the citizens.
The scientists then used this 'magic' to put everyone on the ringworld to sleep and did a memory wipe. They cleared the world of all technology and let the world start anew. The original species (core races) then awoke and populated a new world. Alaquendai is the original human scientist. Few people have heard the truth about the world's origins... most of which disbelieve it. This campaign is set in 1081 EC, one thousand eighty one years since the Great Awakening.
Sorry for the information overload.
@Chejop 2) Reverie is mainly worshipped in human and elven communities but can be found anywhere. He is a minor power within Talmor. He is CG and his domains are Chaos, Good, Knowledge, Magic, Travel and all subdomains of those. His favored weapon is a shortsword.
I made an error. Reverie is CN. He does not have Good, bu rather has Luck as a domain. Sorry, transferring this from AD&D 2nd to Pathfinder has been a challenge. :)
Oh, thx, but being LG myself won't allow me to worship him anyway. Instead, I didn't mention any worshipping since I then thought Chejop was going to be rather agnostic.
Btw, I think Chejop is finished, other than spending the 40gp I have left on something useful.
I have mirrored over the obsidian portal website to another website for this campaign. I'm still updating but this one has descriptions of all the good or neutral deities, their domains, alignments and favored weapons.
Also, I've had a few PM's about whether it is an official recruitment or just an interest check. I'm going to post a new thread announcing a recruitment that will point back to this thread for information and submissions. You do not need to post in that thread. This thread will be the recruitment for the campaign.
Thanks.
Super interested. Sight unseen, I'm thinking of an Avenean Hobgoblin Fighter. The concept of someone having to deal with this absolutely bonkers situation who's whole thing was "I'm good at stabbing" is pretty great.
Also when you listed Background Traits, did you mean Background Skills?
Bound Soul Roll 1- Class.
Huh. Paladin. That could pair up pretty nicely.
What are some options for Paladins as far as deities go?
Bound Soul Roll 2- Race
Aaaand Human! Not bad at all! I think I could definitely make a pretty decent Fighter 1/Paladin 1 Avenean Hobgoblin with a Human bound soul.
Yes, background skills.
Niomachus is a good pally deity. The link above is to the website with all the deities. Look under Immortal--> The Ealintaine.
Well at least the characters won't be doing a passable imitation of a dying fish while freezing or boiling, according to which side of this mess they're on.
No magic airships means lots of walking. Not a good prospect when supply replenishment is virtually nil. Not to mention the issues in reaching the loose chunks if needed. But that's part of the challenge.
Midian? Do I detect a Clive Barker reference there?
Huh. I...huh. Dotting.
Presenting Tobias Grimlock. An Avenean Hobgoblin raised by the Order of the Knights of Niomachus, with aspirations of joining that Order. He's determined, as one of those spared, to undo the damage done and restore The Nexus.
Let's see here: I've got an idea brewing in my head for a Noble Elven Arcanist, but somehow I think the Bound Soul is going to make a big ol' difference in how that character gets played, so let's see how that comes up.
Half-Orc Unchained Rogue. Fascinating. Oooookay...I have no idea how that's gonna line up mechanically, but I think I can make it work eventually. I may find my way into Arcane Trickster, instead of my original plan - but that's neither here nor there. Let me get to work on figuring out how the character's story in my head changes when bound to the new guy.
Alrighty then. Starting to get a feel for how I want this to go, so let's set up the basic premise before I flesh it out too much. It's a little rough so far, but I like where it's headed. Bear in mind, I'm working on only the barest understanding of the homebrew setting at this point, so it'll definitely need some updating to make it fit more fully into the world, in addition to a more complete general workup. Still, here's the bones - we'll massage them later.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Presenting the first draft of:
Aligai Kahnerel, Mage of the Unstoppable Force
He began his studies as all true scholars must, by broadening his understanding. If he was to find the logic behind the universe, he would need to understand all things within it, and so he set himself to learning as much about the world as he could, studying facets of every discipline known to mortals, including even the meagerest crafts and professions in his studies. Fortunately, the long lifespan of the elves granted him the time necesary for such an endeavor (Breadth of Experience).
Once he felt his base of understanding complete, Aligai began his work in earnest. Blessed with a small amount of natural sorcerous talent, he learned the precarious art of tempering that raw power with true understanding, and in so doing, found himself in a position to tinker with magic's inner workings in a way few ever could (Arcanist).
As his studies finally began in truth, however, the unthinkable happened when the Hazard opened the disastrous rift into the Ethereal Plane. Not only did the world suffer immensely, but for Aligai personally, he found himself with a passenger in his mind. An insufferable, arrogant, bastard son of a once-noble house, the half-orc:
Argus Barrick, whose story is a tale for another time.
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I'll be getting to Argus's story (and then their brief adventures once combined) in a bit, but I thought I'd get Aligai's basics up first. Mechanically speaking, we're talking an Arcanist with a high Intelligence and an unfortunate obsession with force spells - specifically, Magic Missile. If it's alright with you, I thought that Argus would end up as a Phantom Thief: whether or not I would actually take further levels in rogue is up for debate, but I really liked the idea of them both being super educated in entirely different ways. They would get into endless arguments about theory and application, which would be wildly entertaining for me personally - not to mention, their interaction would end up making the both of them even smarter, which is just great. Plus, if I ever did take more rogue levels, I'd end up with skill unlocks like mad, so yay for that.
While I'm brewing up further adventures, a question (apologies if it's been asked before): how long has it been since the Ethereal Rift broke the Nexus and we were all bound to our passenger souls? Has that just happened, or has there been a little while?
Just happened. The intro paragraph of the opening post is what greets the characters after getting themselves sucked into the rift, and then pulled back out with their new ride-alongs.
Yes, background skills.
Wait. I missed that. Does that mean we get an extra 2 ranks of skills per level spendable on background skills only, PLUS one additional rank in a knowledge skill?
Yes.
OK, spirit race roll dwarf
spirit class Paladin
That pretty much means I have to be lawful good and the dwarf stat numbers rather conflict with paladin (chr penalty).
Hmm, will try stonelord archetype on the paladin, that could fix it.
Earlier in the thread, I made a ruling that allows you to be another alignment from any alignment requirements for the bound soul's class. However, if you use that classes abilities in conflict with the alignment requirements, you will lose the abilities of that class.
So, say you're a sorcerer with a paladin bound soul. the party has captured a bad guy. He is bound and helpless. You walk over, pull out your long sword and gut him. In that case, you'll lose your paladin status.
I'm not going to make a hard and fast rule about appropriate actions. I don't think I can cover every contingency. As long as the player considers the desires of the paladin and appropriately roleplays it, I willing to let him have a different alignment.
As an aside, my second PFS character was a dwarven stonelord paladin. He was a challenge to build, but a lot of fun to play. Unfortunately, he recently died... but it was a valiant death!
♫ Hail, hail, hail the dead dwarf paladin... ♪
OK, spirit race roll 1d8 dwarf
spirit class 1d11 PaladinThat pretty much means I have to be lawful good and the dwarf stat numbers rather conflict with paladin (chr penalty).
Hmm, will try stonelord archetype on the paladin, that could fix it.
If you want to make a ranged character, you can take the Divine Hunter archetype for the free Precise Shot.
I think I've refined my idea finally. I'm interested in building a Noble Elf diplomat (Arbiter Bard) from Detroyet whose ethos is peace, non-violence, and pacifism. (If I understand right, Detroyet was itself a kingdom ruled by a governing council, which seems more collaborative.) Enter bound soul of human fighter, who basically lives for war, violence and conflict. Between them, they need to figure out how to navigate this new world, where with the destruction of kingdoms, the diplomat may have lost her purpose.
I have returned with my character complete and ready to be reviewed!
I humbly present Malthazir Aleamitore, noble elf wizard with a bound soul of a half-orc bard.
I always appreciate feedback and questions!
I've updated the site with a little more descriptions of the various cultures. Let me know if you have questions.
Sweet. I'll check it out now.
You still planning on making decisions on the 1st?
Recruitment will close on Sunday midnight CST. I'll get a decision done asap. I've read through most of the submissions to date, so I'm ahead of the game. There have been a lot of creative ideas, so narrowing this down will be challenging.
Using your previous post I put together a list of completed applications.
CampinCarl9127 -> Malthazir; Noble Elf Conjurer (Half-orc Bard)
Feral -> Truk'tosh; Half-orc Druid (Dwarf Cleric)
Ixos -> Niyut; Half-orc Oracle (Bright Elf Sorcerer)
Jereru -> Chejop; Half-Orc Monk (Dwarf Sorcerer)
Miteke -> Calmness; Human Druid (Hobgoblin Cleric)
Sam C. -> Garidan Vissir Human Swashbuckler (Half-orc Fighter)
Sir Longears -> Elannaris Darantholar; Bright Elf Rogue (Gnome Bard)
Stratos -> Gruskorb; Aegean Rogue (Half-elf Druid)
ElegantlyWasted -> Tobias Grimlock; Avenean Fighter (Human Paladin)
Mine is also completed. Tobias Grimlock- Avenean Hobgoblin Fighter Mutation Warrior (Human Paladin)
Can barely wait :D.
Judgement day is upon us! =P
Good luck to all!
Unless I'm missing some applications, it seems that there are only nine characters ready to go for this (which is a shame in its own right). It might be a stretch, but maybe we could all get in as a slightly larger-than-average party.