There is a Volcano, an island in the Dark. Mighty Volcano, god and landscape to the ifrit, is all that protects the land from the Dark that surrounds on all sides.
Truly, the natives have no reason to even name this sprawling continent where there is no Sky and no horizon - only darkness. It is simply the land, or perhaps Volcano's Land, depending on who is speaking.
Volcano's will is never directly given to mortals. In any of the three great cities, the rumbling prayers of oracles and priests can be heard at any time of day.
The worshipers of the 'lesser' gods can be found close to their masters. The undine travel endlessly up and down the thousands of meandering miles of River. The oread live off the bounty of herds of small earth elementals that roam through Great Forest. But even the bounty of River and Great Forest cannot hold sway over Volcano - many of their followers feel the call of the great cities and their splendor.
The war against the Dark and its spawn is unending. The innumerable armies of the ifrit defend the east and west, the undine hold the south, and the oread protect the northern Forest.
Volcano holds back the Dark.
--------
Greetings, potential players! I'm looking to run a fun, character-driven story set in my homebrew world. One of my tables is on hiatus right now for RL stuff, and I find I really enjoy having two active tables at a time, so here we are!
Recruitment will be open about a week, but possibly less depending on how many responses I get. Give me character concepts sooner than later to prevent getting shut out.
Questions are welcome. I'm looking forward to this!
20 point buy
Alignment: no evil
2 traits, no flaws
HP: Max at 1st level, average (round up) after that
Starting wealth: 150 gp
Leveling: No XP, you will level as appropriate to the story and the challenges you face,
Source material: Core is fine, 3rd party is not, check with me about other PF material (not just the book, but specifically what you want from it)
Background: 10 minute background, be sure to include appearance and personality. Note that you will all be starting in the ifrit capital of Hearth, so make sure you either live there, or have a reason to be visiting at the open of the campaign.
Once the characters are chosen, I'd also like some (not necessarily all) of you to form previous relationships with each other.
Races: Big change here. ifrit, oread, undine, and sylph only. See RACES for more info. Also, I am intentionally not capitalizing these – we don't capitalize the word Humans, right?
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/races/other-races/featured-races/arg-oread
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/races/other-races/featured-races/arg-ifrit
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/races/other-races/featured-races/arg-undine
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/races/other-races/featured-races/arg-sylph
Classes: Big change here: No full casters (wizards, sorcerors, clerics, etc, etc) In addition, no gunslingers (or guns at all), no summoners, no vigilante, no ninja, no samurai, no occult classes. Hybrid classes and base classes are fine. Archetypes on a case-by-case basis.
Divine Classes: Divine casters are different. Talk to me about alignment, spell selection, and channeling, as well as archetypes.
Skills: Every character gets one extra skill point per level in a Craft, Profession, or Perform skill of their choice. I want you to have some kind of flavorful/cool background skill, but I don't want it to come at the cost of a better skill.
Railroading vs Sandbox: This is not a purely sandbox game. I like giving characters a good deal of choice, but there are other forces in the world besides the players. Ultimately, where the story will go is up to us, not just me.
Tone: I'm not going for “grimdark” here, but things are not happy-go-lucky, either. I like characters that act like real people, instead of using stilted “thees” and “thous”.
Frequency: I will post every day, even just to acknowledge that IC RPing is still going on. This will almost always be around 9 or 10 PM Eastern time. I will always let you know if there will be a temporary hiatus. I expect players to post as often as they need to in order to keep the story moving. A pattern of unexplained absences or long periods between posts will be grounds for ejection, but I will always talk to a player first.
Moving forward: typically, if an action is suggested by one character and seconded by another, then I will move forward as if the entire party had agreed. If one character has a strong and rational reason to move backward, that may be allowed on a case-by-case basis.
Other minor tweaks:
--Oreads are not Slow.
--Undines get a swim speed, so to make all the races roughly equal RP:
-Ifrits get Sprinter (Members of this race gain a +10 foot racial bonus to their speed when using the charge, run, or withdraw actions.)
-Oreads get burrow speed of 10 ft (dirt only!)
-Sylphs get Climb (Members of this race have a climb speed of 20 feet, and gain the +8 racial bonus on Climb checks that a climb speed normally grants.)
--Elens do interbreed, but the offspring will be one or the other, with subtle hints of the other parent's heritage
LANGUAGES (11 total)
All of the "elemental" tongues (Ignan, etc) are simply called Ifrit, Oread, etc.
In addition, there is a more esoteric dialect of each language that must be learned separately:
-High Ifrit (mostly used by the Church)
-Benthic (used by the Swem)
-Maker Script (used by the Mithral Makers)
-Sedime (pidgin used by various minor oread tribes)
There are two 'outsider' tongues: Geni (roughly equivalent to Abyssal) and Eleme (roughly equivalent to Celestial). However, neither of these languages is available to starting characters.
All races start with Common and (native language) for free, then bonus languages for high Int. Low int loses race language (common is much easier to learn, and universal)
If any race is dominant or considered the norm, it is ifrits. Correspondingly, ifrits show different cultural characteristics, depending on many factors (city vs town, which city-state you are from, North (cooler) vs South (hot)), whereas sylphs, undines and oreads are slightly more uniform in manner (like we imagine dwarves, orcs, gnomes, etc)
The following spells affect native outsiders (since there are no humanoids) in this setting:
daze
enlarge person
reduce person
charm person
hold person
ghoul touch
I refuse to awkwardly dance around the words "human" and "humanoid", so a generic term: elen.
"I am an elen being, not an animal!"
"His strength was inelen"
"The treatment of the prisoners was inelane"
"The figure was vaguely elenoid in shape"
"Though certainly elen, the bandages and robes made it impossible to determine the man's race"
Singular is eleni. Plural is elen. Male singular is el. Female singular is ele.
(a conflagration of ifrits)
(fritan)
Rough societal analog and naming conventions: Medieval Italy
Males tend towards dark red and charcoal black, sometimes ash gray. Females are lighter red, orange, sometimes ash gray. Eyes follow a roughly similar pattern, with yellow and the rare blue. Average in height and weight, and their skin is lightly scaled (such as a lizard of one kind or another might have)
Ifrit society, especially the town of Forge, revolves around the war against the Dark. They have the largest population in the land, and they proudly send their holy warriors to the battleground. Many do not return, but it is not uncommon for a soldier to complete their two years and come home. No draft; voluntary with good compensation. Alignment tends toward LG (military discipline, no tolerance for state corruption).
City-bred Ifrits have permanent buildings, feather beds, and other comforts that oreads and undines from the country aren’t used to.
Anatomy: Tough, light bones, similar to raw lumber that has been charred to a dry toughness. Blood is flammable in air, but burns too briefly to cause damage to anything (burning lint)
Common Classes: Skald, Paladin, Barbarian (marching to war)
(an avalanche of oreads)
(orean)
Rough societal analog and naming conventions: nomadic Native Americans
Males are various shades of brown, with pine needles of either green or brown/orange for hair and beards. Females are light brown and off-white (birch) and have moss-like hair with colorful flowers. Both can have skin ranging from smooth but tough (birch) to thick and heavy (oak). Oreads are solidly-built.
All Oreads are lithovores - that is, they eat rocks and similar non-organic material (and water, of course). They are nomads, following herds of earth elementals (that have the shape of what we would call deer, elk, moose, etc)
Oreads move in large nomadic tribes across Great Forest. All the tribes meet twice a year - at the height of summer, and the depth of winter. Within their tribes, oreads are boisterous and can usually be found playing music on their wooden panpipes or watching an orean wrestling match (think Greco-Roman wrestling). If outsiders are currently visiting however, they are mostly withdrawn and quiet. Tends toward CG (belief in family and tribe over outsiders, or even other tribes)
They use stone shape to make temporary shelter while they roam through Great Forest.
Anatomy: Bones are dense and resemble granite. Blood is thick, like tree sap.
Common Classes: Ranger, to hunt the herds or dangerous predators in Forest. Hunter, with special earth elemental animal companion. Monk, for the three major monasteries.
(a flood of undines)
(undan)
Rough societal analog and naming conventions: Vietnamese (tone language)
Males are lighter blue and white tones mostly. Their skin is slightly reflective and faceted, giving the appearance of ice. The females are darker blues and sea greens, and have a more uniform sheen, like a fish or a lake. Hair and eye color for both tend towards blue, pastel green, purple, and the occasional white/off-white. Silver hair for elders. Undines are built for swimming - lithe, skinny, and streamlined.
The slow, patient ways of River have been ingrained into undine society - even undine children are thoughtful and slow to anger. That is not to say they are slow in all they do - there are countless water-based sports and games the undine play that require speed and quick thinking.
Undines swim similarly to dolphins, using their sleek, lithe bodies to their advantage. Bulky or muscular undines are rare. The devout spend their lives traversing River's twists and turns, never coming out of the water voluntarily. Many of the devout go all the way to the end of River, to fight the never-ending battle to keep the Dark at bay. Undines sleep half-submerged in water, on the shore.
However, many have abandoned River's ways to move to one of the great cities, though undines are the smallest percentage of Volcano's followers. Oddly enough, Volcano's undine worshipers are often his most fanatical, and many end up working for the Inquisitors. Tendency toward NG (strong belief in doing what is right; undines can be found working together at IceFall or alone all along River)
Anatomy: bones are bluish, light and rubbery, and blood is significantly more watery than other races
Common Classes: Inquisitor, Bard (Watersinger), Bard (Dervish Dancer)
(a scattering of sylphs)
(sylphan)
Rough societal analog and naming convention: Industrial Revolution Britain, typically have vocational-based last names (like Chemic or Cheme for alchemists)
Male and females both pale (pearl, tan, gold) with the large, dark, unblinking eyes of a predatory bird. Thin-boned Sylphs are tall but strangely light. Curiosity is said to be the curse of extremely intelligent sylphs, but with a dead god all sylphs seem a little cursed at times.
With no patron god to give them guidance (Fallen Sky has been gone for at least 5,000 years), sylphs tend to be dispersed almost everywhere, especially in the great cities. They create medicines and help support the industry of the war, but few sylphs see the front lines of battle. Tendency towards neutrality (lack of unifying god and guidance; objectivity of science)
Sylphs are city-dwellers, unless circumstances find them traveling or in the army.
Anatomy: Brittle-looking, hollow bones, like a bird. They disintegrate into powder within 48 hours. Thin, clear blood evaporates immediately, leaving a chill behind.
Common classes: Magus, Alchemist, and Fighter (specifically Mutation Warrior)
Big Ideas to end with:
1) Check out Character Creation
2) I know this is a crazy amount of information - just stick with the stuff that interests you for now, and ask questions!
3) Big change #1 = restricted races
4) Big change #2 = restricted classes
5) See next post for where the story is taking place.
6) There is also a ton of information in the Campaign Info tab, if you are looking for more inspiration.
The specifics will come soon, but most of you should be applying as undines - this is taking place in an undine fishing village to the south. (located on River, of course).
That being said, I'm very open to trading around with all the undine special traits, as well as considering a variant score (like +2 to str instead of dex because swimming all the time would give them powerful limbs)
Feelings on a shifter? I had an idea for an oread shifter with the wild effigy archetype.
So just a curious question, as you're doing all the genie/elemental blooded races, is there a reason Suli was left out or was it just an oversight?
I am open to the shifter! I'll read the archetype tonight.
Re: Suli
From a mechanical perspective, I don't really like one race getting resistance to all energy types when the current four get exactly one type.
From a worldbuilding standpoint, there is no multi-element god, thus no suli were created.
Re: Wild Effigy, etc.
That's a very short archetype, since I just went ahead and read it, and it's fine. As long as you have an RP reason to be part of an undine village as an oread rock-shifter, it looks fine mechanically.
I get that!
For the Oread hunters, what are the companions? It just says special earth elemental animal companion, are those stats you'll give us? Or is it like the plant companions from the druid archtype treesinger?
I will put together an Undine Bard Watersinger.
Re: oread hunters
In essence, pick whatever normal animal companion you want, and
1) there is the flavor/description which is different
2) I usually give a small bonus (like +strength or very small DR)
@SmooshieBanana sounds good!
@All: as my second post mentioned, the specific setting is an undine village in the south (Forest is far to the north), so make sure to account for what race/class you are thinking of (or ask me and we can discuss it)
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Hello all!
I'm playing in another campaign in the same setting and it has proven a superb experience.
@SmooshieBanana: one improvement I've made for Watersingers - starting at 3rd level, the basic Watersong ability only costs 1 round of performance to begin, but after that it lasts as long as you concentrate without costing further performance rounds. Undines use watersinging extensively in this world, so this for for worldbuilding, but also watersong is more flavorful than powerful so I'm happy to give it a little boost.
Well, I'm thinking of applying as an Ifrit Paladin, but are we starting in Hearth or the undine fishing town? I do like the idea of playing the Ifrit child of an Undine/Ifrit pairing either way.
Starting in an undine village far south of Hearth. Having an ifrit paladin as the child of undine/ifrit is certainly interesting! Let me know if you have any questions on the different gods/aspects that you could serve.
Ok backstory-wise, thinking of having her visit her mother's family. She's making a tour of the land before going the service like her parents.
The father came back home from his tour of service and met the mother who was serving as an inquisitor of Volcano in his hometown. I'd probably also follow Volcano, but willing to dig into other possible faiths for Ifrit culture.
Ah, thanks for the clarification! I knew I had old info lurking in there somewhere. Everything else in the intro should be accurate, save we are starting in this village.
I am thinking of an undine sacred fist war priest - I find it hard to see an undine in water using heavy armor.
I like the lines "Many of the devout go all the way to the end of River, to fight the never-ending battle to keep the Dark at bay" and "Oddly enough, Volcano's undine worshipers are often his most fanatical"
I see her as being raised in the village and prepared for being a warrior priestess who is dedicated to fighting The Dark (if that's appropriate for this specific campaign). At first a bit reluctantly but she's had visions that have guided her onto this path and towards a life of fighting her deity's enemies.
A bit Joan of Arc like in that's she's a bit young and innocent of the ways of the world and that other's may have motives that aren't aligned with doing good and doing what is right for everyone not just themselves. She has faith and conviction her god will guide and protect her.
I see her being more attracted to The Warrior aspect of Volcano rather than the protection/healing aspect of River. Her character growth will progress from her intense conviction around the honor, bravery, and heroics aspects of The Warrior and need learn the mercy portion (probably the hard way), empathy not being her strong suit at first. I see her sooner or later having to confront loss or defeat which leads to the tears part of his aspect. Finally, she will begin to learn the redemption and self-healing aspect of the quiet acts aspect, humility and self-control not being her most prominent characteristics.
Gung-ho and idealistic are probably the best two words to describe her.
@Tiessa - very interesting concept! You will definitely have some conflict if you are (for instance) coming home to this village after you have trained in the art of the Warrior at the city of Hearth. Definitely a viable concept.
So the only way to train for The Warrior is to leave to Hearth and the local undines would not be very happy about that? Following the Volcano is controversial for an undine?
I'm thinking the story changes to her being groomed to fight for River, but she has visions from Volcano and due to it being frowned upon she steals away in the night and runs away to Hearth to train.
Is there a reason we are in the village? Some celebration or event?
Ok, I think I've got something pretty cohesive here, let me know what you think. This is Freya Argento-Mau, an ifrit paladin.
LG Medium Ifrit Paladin
HP: 16/16
AC: 20 (FF: 17, Touch: 13)
CMD: 15
Fortitude: +2
Reflex: +3
Will: +1
BAB: +1
CMB: +2
STR: 12 (+1)
DEX: 16 (+3)
CON: 14 (+2)
INT: 12 (+1)
WIS: 9 (-1)
CHA: 16 (+3)
Traits
Languages: Common, Ifrit, High Ifrit
Speed: 30ft
Darkvision: 60ft
Energy Resistance: Fire 5
Fire in the Blood
Efreeti Magic
Iron Liver
Snap Ignition
Aura of Good 1
Detect Evil
Smite Evil (1/1)
Sprinter: Members of this race gain a +10 foot racial bonus to their speed when using the charge, run, or withdraw actions.
Feats
Toughness
Skills
Diplomacy+7, Kn:Religion +5, Perform(Dance) +4 Acrobatics +4,
Equipment
Explorer’s outfit (free)
Entertainer’s outfit
Soldier’s uniform
Backpack
Longsword
Heavy Steel Shield
Scale Mail
Canteen
Bedroll
Crowbar
Holy Symbol (silver)
Holy Text
Sealing Wax
Silk Rope
Stationary (4)
Ink
Inkpen
Whetstone
Candles (12)
Trail Rations (3 days)
Whiskey (1 cup)
4g 6cp
Freya and her siblings (one ifrit brother, one undine sister with Freya as the eldest) were raised early to follow in their father’s footsteps. However, only their eldest truly aspired to be a soldier. The younger undine was troubled by life in Hearth whilst the ifrit had a more creative, artistic temperament. Freya tried to support her siblings in following her path, but eventually chose to let them find their own calling.
Freya herself was a talented Brutbreve player and picked up the High Ifrit scripture with relative ease. Though decent academically, the young ifrit showed the most proficiency on the battlefield, revealing a remarkable constitution in most of her trials. By the time she was awarded the rank of Valiant, several recruiters had already knocked on her door. As she signed off for her first tour of duty, Freya chose to leave nothing unresolved should she fall in battle. Starting with visiting her undine relatives.
While serious about her duty to serve her city and god, Freya is relaxed and seemingly care-free. She's aware that these next few months might be her last and wishes to experience the wonders of the world she may die protecting. Not one to turn down a challenge, the ifrit is willing to accept all comers, especially if the competition is drinking. Her family is important to her and Freya tries to write them often.
I was reading yours and thinking the same :D
Relatives? Neighbors?
And my character, Novalie, also trained in Hearth - returning together would make a lot of sense if we finished training together. Yours going back to a warm reception and mine going back full of anxiety over her family's reactions.
Perhaps Freya and Novalie played together as children but only saw each other occasionally and when Novalie reached around 12 or so and she could stand the training for River no longer, she followed her visions and ran away to Hearth, knowing that your family was there and doing exactly what she wanted to do.
So, before I get too much into Character building, my idea is as following:
Undine Wild Child Brawler 1 / Aquatic Beastmaster Hunter 19 with a Giant Frog animal companion.
He's the odd one in the village. Instead of growing up and playing with the other children, he prefered to wander around alone into the nearby swamp. Day and night he spent with the swamp animals, hunting insects or larger prey. He was fascinated by the mystical environment that the swamp was and claimed he could even talk to its inhabitants. Nobody at home believed him, though.
Can I do a variant of the Mistsoul variant undine with +2 str, -2 int, +2 wis?
A lot to answer, please let me know if I miss anyone's questions :)
@Tiessa - since you are an undine, you are absolutely right that any calling you felt to Volcano or those aspects would be seen as a betrayal by your family, as none of them are Volcano worshippers.
I also like what you and Origami Dog are putting together!
@ Origami Dog - great backstory! So your younger sister had a tougher time at Hearth. I think it would make sense that she went back to the same village you were raised - maybe your aunt is still living there. That way, as you are returning to the village, you will have family here.
On another note, while your family supports you, other members of the village will be a bit colder. Fighting the Dark is seen as an honorable profession, but your ties to Hearth make will make you a bit of an outsider now (even though you were raised as a child here)
@all - I am blown away so far by everyone's attention to the details of the setting so far! Wow!
@Ellioti - absolutely, that works as a concept. You can also call the mistsoul Swamp Soul instead :)
A few general notes:
1) We are indeed starting at a celebration-- the beginning of the Undine celebration of the Southern Pilgrimage. This will fit nicely with the idea of those who are in Hearth making their way south for the Pilgrimage and to meet with their families. The "month" we are starting in is Giantrites, the first rite of the year.
2) I know not being able to make new avatars is annoying, but if you wish to do so, just post a link to an alias that matches yours so I have an idea of what everyone is using. (you don't have to do this, but feel free to as a temporary measure until they restore functionality)
Here is my submission: Nempura Babblebrook
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I've actually looked at your games quite a bit and am very impressed with your worldbuilding. I think I might submit a strength based umchained rogue.
Otherwise, i might do an intimidation based slayer or inquisitor, or fold that idea into the strength rogue build.
Are there any roles for a bounty hunter mandalorian kind of character in the village?
Edit: Looking at the fluff, i would be interested in making a trader. He would use Intimidate abilities in negotiations. Do you have more fluff on this part of Undine society?
Edit: also looking at investigator or alchemist. Can we use the frost variant ln undine too?
Hmm, if you are looking at a rogue, I'm wondering...since this is a mid-sized village, there is a criminal element, similar to my limited knowledge of yakuza (so more of a territory/neighborhood-based protection racket). You could potentially be involved in one of those gangs (I'd like the alignment pool to be non-evil, so it would have to be one of the more benign ones)
Frost variant is fine.
Planning on posting more on Undine society, as well as this particular village, tonight.
Hmm, if you are looking at a rogue, I'm wondering...since this is a mid-sized village, there is a criminal element, similar to my limited knowledge of yakuza (so more of a territory/neighborhood-based protection racket). You could potentially be involved in one of those gangs (I'd like the alignment pool to be non-evil, so it would have to be one of the more benign ones)
That sounds cool. Would like some more info on the yakuza type group.
Just to clarify, are you going to allow unchained rogue. If not, I will go with a different class selection.
Planning on posting more on Undine society, as well as this particular village, tonight.
Sounds great. Any additional information can be useful!
Unchained rogue is fine.
Okay, ill wait for some more fluff before settling in on an unchained rogue build.
Can we also come up with favored class bonuses for classes that aren't covered RAW for undine?
Sure, as long as they are inline with what already exists and is somewhat tied to undines/culture, I have no problem with that.
So far in terms of concepts I have
Origami Dog --- ifrit paladin (Warrior) --- coming from Hearth
Tiessa ---- undine sacred fist (Warrior) --- coming from Hearth
SmooshieBanana --- undine watersinger ---- coming from ?
Eillioti ---- undine brawler --- lives in local swamp
Sebecloki ---- undine Unrogue --- not sure on fluff yet?
Accurate?
I've been quite inspired by the idea of floating villages, so here is a breakdown of some of the sights our village of Vị Thanh has to offer:
wiki image of floating village
--Population ~2500, consisting of about 200 families/pods
--About one-quarter of the village is "floating", that is small houses that are strung together and tied to rafters directly in River. This is where the Swem reside, as well as those who serve them.
--Half the village is directly on the shores, working rice paddies, cleaning laundry, or tending to their animals and gardens
--Away from river, there are more extensive farms (rice, hemp, coconuts) accounting for the remaining quarter of the population.
--Many small, colorful shrines to minor water elementals (religion is much more fragmented among the undine than other races), as well as a temple to the Whirl Mother.
--One long communal house for dances, weaving, council meetings, and a hundred other events.
--Family stilt-houses typically shared by multiple generations of family.
--Unlike individualistic ifrits and clan-oriented oreads, the emphasis in undine society if the family (or pod), and this can be seen in the extensive decorations, charms, and calligraphy found in and about family houses that celebrate the ancestry and accomplishments of that family.
That's a start! I'll have a more formal write-up that will eventually get linked in Campaign Info in the next few days.
And regarding the yakuza, or what might be referred to as the "boss families", would fall into one of three territories:
1) Control of the farms, taking tribute while protecting the outskirts from predators.
2) Control of the trade, essentially these are members of the Central Traders that seek to fix prices, manipulate inventory, or sabotage rivals.
3) Control of the production, that is owning the workers in charge of the most essential items aside from food (nets, boats, the mill)
(note that all of these families work from the shadows, and their presence is not well known, nor a dominating force within the town)
K, that's it for me for tonight :)
By all means, ask more questions about the village, your characters, and undine society in general - always happy to answer!
Ha Long Bay! Very beautiful and a very interesting way of life. I love that place.
I found out today (around noon) that I need to give a presentation to our CTO Thursday morning so we can get approval to do a project that will make us $30 million a year. No pressure - and those darn jerks for not giving me more heads up :D
I'm part way through Novalie's backstory (and I like to write a small actual story with dialog, etc.). I apologize, I will probably not be able to submit it until Thursday evening. Sorry for the delay.
And regarding the yakuza, or what might be referred to as the "boss families", would fall into one of three territories:
1) Control of the farms, taking tribute while protecting the outskirts from predators.
2) Control of the trade, essentially these are members of the Central Traders that seek to fix prices, manipulate inventory, or sabotage rivals.
3) Control of the production, that is owning the workers in charge of the most essential items aside from food (nets, boats, the mill)
(note that all of these families work from the shadows, and their presence is not well known, nor a dominating force within the town)
How would you feel about a LN boss family character - the alignment interpretation would be that the boss family code is the highest law.
Yes, that sounds like a very interesting concept to me!
Added more to the Holidays page regarding the Southern Pilgrimage:
The Southern Pilgrimage
During Giantrites, the faithful travel downRiver as far as they can, no matter what business or personal obligations they may have. A lantern festival takes place at the beginning of the rite to celebrate the many departures from Hearth. IceFall holds a huge festival during the last three days of Giantrites, to celebrate those who do make it all the way to the undine capital.
Most undine along River that live in fishing and farming villages stay put for the holiday, but make special preparations for any visitors/travelers that happen to come by throughout the week. This is an especially happy occasion for a family visit.
Festivities vary locally, but throughout the last two weeks of the rite often include: bamboo-walking; sacred singing; long dances into the night; a family exchange of small gifts; and painting/decorating a large ice statue of the Lonely Frost Giant.
@Tiessa - no worries! Go make millions of dollars real quick :)
Everyone who has submitted a concept and some basic character ideas is fine for now. I may be closing soon-ish to completely new submissions, but no rush for Novalie (and others).
Do you have any information on what the Undine culture was like prior to the war with the Dark that destroyed Sky? I was thinking at least one boss family could be a remnant of a previous urban culture -- the aristocracy of a ruined Undine city. That would explain the LN part -- from their perspective, they represent the 'real law' and the current state of the Undine village is a reversal of the 'correct' order, even though it's 5,000 years past and ill-remembered. It could even be the case that they just have a myth about the Undine having a coastal city on the order of Hearth, but it's all a myth.
Excellent question! I will be able to devote more time to that later tonight or tomorrow, but for now:
Cá của Biển Lớn (Fish of the Big Sea) is the name of the faction that unshakably believes that Ocean (the ancient incarnation of River) used to rule the world with Sky, with Volcano and Forest only occupying a tiny island among the stretching horizons of water and air.
In the Age of Kings (as you say, ~5,000 years ago) there were monarchs across the land: kings in the mountains, kings of forest and Fey, efreeti kings, even kings in the clouds. And, of course, a king of the ocean. This mythical figure remains an object of veneration for many families across the undine nation.
The local Con Gái của Biển Lớn would be group #2 that I mentioned - the philosophy of such a group would be uninterested in the farms and productions of the land ; instead they would concentrate on the trade that flows up and down River. The local Boss also claims that her bloodline can be traced back to the honored ocean king.
Okay, so I am imagining some kind of unrogue who is part of this (fish of the big seas) group. I imagine him as also having pretensions to some kind of significant bloodline.
I was already thinking about #2 -- if I go with the intimidate build, then the idea is they use their august personality, clearly derived from a mythic heritage, to cow others into accepting the reality of their high bloodline and rightful oversight of these operations.