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I stayed up too late, and Tiny T-Rex woke up too early.
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On Solar Dragons.
"Arrogant and proud, Solar Dragons see themselves as the originators of light and life in the vastness of space. They treat all living creatures as their own creations."
*sniff* bro! They totally get me, dude.
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Glad you like it!
Please sir, can we have some more?
Hah!
Erm... let's see what I've already covered, versus what we've already done. Sadly, we weren't able to play last night: we both fell asleep, then, in sickness* we both veggied out in front of MatPat and Steph** on their LiveStream highlights.
*
**
That said, here are a few things that might tide you over? It's the background stuff on our world.
Copy/pasted from an earlier post:
Drow have wants and needs and goals, like any sentient - in fact, they are the only sentient creature they know of that doesn't automatically descend into savagery when left to their own devices. They are generally left with the choices: "enslave, kill, or die" and they usually take the the first one, unless it's untenable - in which case, like most all living creatures, they take route number two.
They don't have to be "good" guys to be "heroes" - but most of these are at least not villainous - the only requirements.
But let's see if there are more highlights I can pull up...
The first post about our actually-running game... hm, most of it's there.
I suppose I can go into detail about each of the characters.
We're using a variant of a variant system: In my AM(tf)A thread, I introduced a D&D variant of the Cortex+ System that I'd made; we're using a "build-your-own-class" version of that system that ditches alignment (though keeps alignment traits; a character picks any two at creation), where you specify an ability-score basis (mental/physical/social), a kind*, and a class** to create your character class. This is a little bit flexible - so long as I don't deem it too overbearing, I allowed two kinds or two classes to be used instead of strictly enforcing the one kind+one class.
Anyway, we also used the races (though [almost] everyone was either drow or tiefling fiend"virtue"-blooded.
The third distinction was taken from the Firefly book - chosen from among the example distinctions listed there.
*
**
There's a lot more to that, but those are the basics.
Anyway, here's one of the characters! I might post more, shortly!
Note on the world: time is... really weird in underground societies with no conceptualization of a day/night cycle or even years. Seasons exist, but they aren't exactly like ours (though I've ruled that, time-wise, they are). The short version is that a most things are marked in these "Seasons", and sometimes in "Cycles" - the latter of which is a set of fifteen Seasons (chosen for biological, if inconsistent reasons). Any other accounting of time is strictly local, and most often in relation to various publicly-available timed events or devices in the local area; examples include the magical clock Narbonnel, found in the city of
This generally means that there is never a "night" or "sleep" time for drow, except when they're tired. This is marked as a "Rest" - which is a highly non-specific unit of temporal measurement, generally used for getting the gist of how long something is going to take or how hard something is to accomplish or how far away something is... but it's non-specific enough to mean little. In our timeframe, drow need only trance, and only require such for four hours (unlike their slave races, which require double that and must sleep). True unconsciousness is a rather terrifying event for drow, when it happens (equated with death in some ways), though drow still dream, even as they trance.
In brief, the PCs are:
- Amalica, Drow Oligarch (a Jade Empire noble who is also a queen in the Gray Wastes, managing her resources across two disparate regions in an attempt to gain great influence, power, and wealth)
- Charlindra, Outrider Ringwoman (an independent clawriding spearwoman who ranges the wilds for fun and profit)
- Elvanshalee, Petalloved Beauty (a ‘plant*-whisperer’ blessed by Beauty herself with the ability to grow, shape, and manipulate plants* and control others through the power of cruel beauty and warm arrogance)
*
- Jezzara, Royalblooded Suli (a shamed slave who was unable to become male, but retained her mystical arts; she became a royal suli; an elemental knight who serves the will of her current masters)
- Maya (inhabiting Mizzrym), Spiderkissed Fetchwraith (blessed/mad spirit that possesses bodies and replicates peoples’ lives; a benevolent spirit that inhabits malevolent folk to alter the course of their lives; Mizzrym is a young assassin/socialite who killed Maya's former host, so has been chosen as the new one)
- Sassandra, Threnosidh (powerful priestess of the Rings whose specialties are assassination, battle prowess, vengeance, chaos, songs, lights, slaves, and undeath; a terrifying, if benevolent, force)
- Viconia, Virtueblooded Traitor (a virtueblooded drow trained in the arts of the Great Ice who fled from the Great Ice for the Jade Empire)
- Zebayana, Wielder of the Ruby Rod (a drow who found an ancient, unfathomable artifact that is said to be able to grant wishes, although always, always at a strange and awful cost, often unseen at the first; she keeps it to prevent great catastrophe from befalling from those who would abuse its power)
Hope this helps!
For a more in-depth write up of one, I point to...
- She is a Jade Empire noble from wealthy hinterlands of the Jade Empire, and former major young opera star, who has also become a Queen of the Gray Wastes by her own will (to the eye-rolls of many). She heavily invested her own wealth and politically maneuvered through her family into a position of absolute authority during her operatic days.
She spent eighty cycles (more or less) birthing ten children - five females and five males - from her carefully-selected harem of five (one daughter/son to each male) before establishing her queendom.
She has since raised her children in that queendom to become absolutely devoted to her, with her children in charge of "the five aspects of rule" - the daughters are in ultimate authority, but the sons in charge of the menial (but excessively important) paper-work; this forces sister and brother to work together, gives the males an air of importance, but forces them into proper subservience to their sisters. She has succeeded and prospered despite vocal and fierce opposition, and was even (in an unprecedented display of political blessing) made a Jade Ambassador (presumably to her own queendom - the paperwork didn't say).
She has made a habit of doing extremely expensive things people often (and repeatedly) question the utility of, and doing them well - she has three Muls more or less allowed to free-roam her castle working on their obsessions, which has led to the creation of the largest, most beautiful, and sturdy waterclock in the Gray Wastes... a clock that was, at great expense and effort, timed to be identical to that of the ancient Narbonnel (the most famous clock in the Jade Empire, at the far end of said place). She has subsequently encouraged neighboring queendoms to adopt similar time schemes in their own regencies in an attempt to create a universal time standard (variously called "Empire Time" or "Jade Time" or "Narbonal Time" or "Amalica Time").
Though she is a strict authoritarian, she loves her people dearly; and they love, fear, and respect her, being fully and thoroughly devoted to her cause and will.
Though recently shamed by being forced to attend the court of such a lesser noble as Boulya (one of the most adamant and vocal opponents to her Queendom early-on, and a vocal detractor to this day), she has maintained a mostly-calm and regal demeanor throughout the proceedings, even despite her later heartbreak at the loss of one of her beloved ones, and her personal guard.
Though surprised by the sudden assassination of Boulya, she was quick to support the ascension of Zebayana at the death of Boulya, bringing order and calm to a scene that could have quickly devolved into chaos. She has since insinuated herself as Zebayana's steady hand, and has worked at becoming a major power behind the woman.
She has also recently inherited/stole the mind-controlled authority over eight thousand goblins (effectively doubling the size of her queendom, if she can ever get them there) upon the defeat of a highly mysterious woman known only as the Goblin Queen. She's... not entirely sure what to do with them (given that they are monstrous savages), but she's mostly leaving them to their past times (the strictly non-violent ones, at least; this is confusing for the goblins) for now, as she attends to more important matters, such as getting back home and finishing the quests the Pale Monarch assigned them.
EDIT: Added bold coding for ease of reading
Tacs your drow don't seem evil enough, why don't you have them rip the tags off of mattresses while laughing maniacally.
Hah!
Well, they're not my drow...
Mizzrym and Sassandra are... hm, let's say "hard" compared to the rest.
But yeah, Elvanshalee, Maya (technically neither drow nor fiendblooded) and Zebayana are rather on the "nice people" end of the spectrum, for sure.
The short write-ups were sample concepts that were liked, though they've shifted a bit during the actual character creation. Sassandra is substantially less benevolent, for example, while Elvanshalee has become less prominent than originally expected.
So, starting to work on character two...
... but first some explanation.
The world has (effectively) three "layers" (though this is very loosely defined) - the "roof", the main regions, and the Underworld. Few citizens actually know much about this - most just live in their own region quite happily.
The Underworld is basically the wildlands - the places where savages and maddening/corrupting forces reside and a source of problems.
Each land has their local name for their Underworld, and it often seems disconnected from the other Underworlds. Generally, people only know of their own. The Underworld for the Jade Empire is called the Jadefall. In key locations under certain towns or areas, there are drow called Jadefall Nobles who, with their clan, effectively have a primitive small town who's purpose is to prevent major raids from the Jadefall into the Empire above. They are not often well-respected by most citizens (who consider them kind of savage, despite the close proximity), but to those who understand their importance, they are appreciated.
The "Roof" is... well, it's also wildlands, but few things actually live or travel there. There is no point as many of those caverns are short and dead-ends; there is little in the way of valuable materials or living things; and it's dangerous and difficult, besides due to natural traps and issues.
Creatures like dinosaurs, called "Clawbeasts" exist in Jadefall and are useful as mounts, guardian beasts, and beasts of labor from around the world. They are by no means the only creatures used for such, nor are they the only (or most dangerous) creatures that live in Jadefall.
... and here she goes!
Charlindra, Outrider Ringwoman (physical-based skilled warrior)
Daughter of two guards within the Clan (Family) of Jadefall Nobles, she was orphaned at a relatively young age by raiding savages. She was raised as an outside member of the Clan, but quickly hewed to her own personal sense of independence, and exploration.
A master of Jadefall exploration and travel, and careful traps, she is a clawdriver (dinosaur tamer and driver) who ranges the Jadefall, hunting, collecting, and trapping creatures to sell off through the various Jadefall noble clans.
Her closest and only true companion is her Charizard, her clawbeast, with whom she's spent the majority of her adulthood riding and trapping with. Charizard is a bit uppity, with a snarky sense of humor (for a non-sentient) but very devoted to his mistress and extremely loyal. Though she avoids direct fights, she wields spears to drive clawbeasts (or other creatures) into traps and either kill them for parts, or chain them for use by others.
She was recently coerced into service by a note informing her of a rare disease that was afflicting clawbeasts like Charizard. There, she suffered the frustration of this "Boulya the Fair" having already fed the antidote to her own clawbeasts by incompetence and mismanagement, and cruelly dismissed her concerns (though she was legally obliged to acquire more for Charizard).
She wasn't really certain what happened when Boulya was suddenly assassinated, but she certainly has no complaints, as Zebayana is, by far, a more competent and pleasant person to work with; she seems trustworthy besides.
Though her expertise on Jadefall ensured that her team made it to the target town before their rivals, she was feeling uneasy at the complete lack of savages in the Jadefall. She was, however, utterly unprepared for the sudden goblin raid on Haundauth. She had little understanding of the carriage that goblins were streaming from, and even less of the monster that spawned out of the Goblin Queen.
Her world nearly ended when Charizard was slain by the beast. In a bizarre, seemingly-miraculous occurrence, one of those random ones who returned from the dead was Charizard, who was larger, stronger, and tougher than previously. She is overjoyed... but also now fully devoted to ending the "problems" that conspired to nearly steal her Charizard from her.
This sounds a lot like drowtales.
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This sounds a lot like drowtales.
What is that?
You mean some collected site of drow stories or something? (I'm guessing.)
EDIT: Sigh. I skipped a word. >.>
EDIT 2: Do you have a link? EDIT 3: Nevermind, got it!
EDIT 4: Oh! Hey! I remember some of this from ages ago! Something about a girl kid mage, yeah?
EDIT 5: Hm... the world is smaller, history shorter, and the backstory exceptionally different, at least as of the Prologue. Sharess is a funny reference - I wonder if it's to Forgotten Realms? HOLY CRAP, PURPLE-HAIRED ROYALTY! O.O
Hold on, there was no link to royalty and purple hair. I mean, I read this, like, more than a decade ago, yeah, but... hm...
EDIT 6: Nope. Definitely not the same at all... no demons here (until literally just now).
EDIT 7: Aaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnd gore. Welp. That escalated quickly.
EDIT 8: This is definitely different. This presents drow almost as a passing element - as a transitional phase between elf, drow, and something else on the way to demonic possession. Interesting.
Quick question - are you just referring to the ecosystem*? Outside of "there are drow; they do stuff" I'm not seeing the parallels?
EDIT 9: Oh! Oh! Maybe I see! Are you referring to the whole fiendblooded thing? I mostly came up with that on a whim. But fiendblooded in this setting have no definitive visual correlation to drow - some might look almost exactly like drow, while others definitely do not. Plus, the "fiend" in "fiendblooded" is not literal. Instead, it means the grandchild (or more) of a drow who bred with a non-drow. Not... whatever the heck these things are.
* (I haven't seen that; mine is pretty solidly based on internet picture searches, previous variants of in-game lore, and my own thought process on the matter.)
EDIT 10: Hm. I see that there's a whole "possession" thing going on, too, but... nope. Definitely not like ours, though I could guess at the apparent similarities.
Also... this doesn't look much like the Drowtales I half-remember. Am I really remembering that incorrectly? Or is the result of the re-draw?
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I'd love to get into catch and release tagging of sharks. There's a local guy here who caught a hammerhead tagged it and exactly a year later caught the same one again.
Anyway, enough web comic binging: to child soccer!
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This sounds a lot like drowtales.What is that?
You mean some collected site of drow stories or something? (I'm guessing.)
EDIT: Sigh. I skipped a word. >.>
EDIT 2:
Do you have a link?EDIT 3: Nevermind, got it!EDIT 4: Oh! Hey! I remember some of this from ages ago! Something about a girl kid mage, yeah?
EDIT 5: Hm... the world is smaller, history shorter, and the backstory exceptionally different, at least as of the Prologue. Sharess is a funny reference - I wonder if it's to Forgotten Realms? HOLY CRAP, PURPLE-HAIRED ROYALTY! O.O
Hold on, there was no link to royalty and purple hair. I mean, I read this, like, more than a decade ago, yeah, but... hm...
EDIT 6: Nope. Definitely not the same at all... no demons here (until literally just now).
EDIT 7: Aaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnd gore. Welp. That escalated quickly.
EDIT 8: This is definitely different. This presents drow almost as a passing element - as a transitional phase between elf, drow, and something else on the way to demonic possession. Interesting.
Quick question - are you just referring to the ecosystem*? Outside of "there are drow; they do stuff" I'm not seeing the parallels?
EDIT 9: Oh! Oh! Maybe I see! Are you referring to the whole fiendblooded thing? I mostly came up with that on a whim. But fiendblooded in this setting have no definitive visual correlation to drow - some might look almost exactly like drow, while others definitely do not. Plus, the "fiend" in "fiendblooded" is not literal. Instead, it means the grandchild (or more) of a drow who bred with a non-drow. Not... whatever the heck these things are.
* (I haven't seen that; mine is pretty solidly based on internet picture searches, previous variants of in-game lore, and my own thought process on the matter.)
EDIT 10: Hm. I see that there's a whole "possession" thing going on, too, but... nope. Definitely not like ours, though I could guess at...
chummer, drowtales has been going on for a loooooooooooooooong time. You can't just jump in and get it you're going to have to start from where you left off. There have been no small amount of changes in staffing and direction of the comic, possibly due to the very active community (pay to play) around it.
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I always loved The Boondocks.
Never saw the cartoon.
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Yay! I got called off from work :-)
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Geez... it's 78 outside, with singing birds, the smell of freshly-blooming flowers, and white puffy clouds billowing through an otherwise-perfect sky...
...Though I can barely see the thermometer through Captain Yesterday's tears...
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No, that must be the freezing rain that's coming down here, so much freezing rain. I don't cry, I get even....
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In about two weeks, we might see 70 degrees again. Might.
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Oh, wonderful. The tap water's brown again. You'd think one of the richest cities in the country wouldn't have this happen on a weekly basis.
chummer, drowtales has been going on for a loooooooooooooooong time. You can't just jump in and get it you're going to have to start from where you left off. There have been no small amount of changes in staffing and direction of the comic, possibly due to the very active community (pay to play) around it.
Actually, I started with the prologue, which definatly didn't exist last time. It was just a haunting tale of a child wrapped up in politics she could t understand and learning to be a Mage, I think. This is... not that!
Anyway, any similarities are pretty coincidental, I think. There are some passing similarities, but I see less similarity (so far) to this than to the various general sources of drow lore... which are also pretty different!
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Anyway, I'd imagine that it's kind of like jumping into Sluggy Freelance or Schlock Mercenary or even Captain SNES: you can't just start in the middle or else nothing really makes sense.
Maybe more like Goblins - I realize now that it talks about revising the older comics to fit in with the more current ones.
It looks interesting, but I'm unlikely to catch up any time soon, despite my interests in stealing, er, ripping off, uh, "being inspired by" most anything I can from anywhere I can... ;D
(Also, not sure where I left off last time, or if it even exists in the form it did back then...)
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Where's everybody gone.
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I'b sickg.
Ouagadougou.
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I'm starting a new job and moving across the country soon, so pretty busy. :)
AWRIGHT
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Also, fever is officially broken
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~sends Freehold DM dreams of homemade chicken soup~
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~sends Freehold DM dreams of homemade chicken soup~
it's funny, I had homemade chicken soup for lunch yesterday.
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We had that over the weekend, as we've also struggled with early spring colds.
Get weller!
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Only a week until opening night!
Pea Bear is in every show, and has two parts, as well as being an understudy for the evil step mother. School is usually a struggle for her, so it's nice to see her have a positive experience with something she's passionate about. :-)
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chummer, drowtales has been going on for a loooooooooooooooong time. You can't just jump in and get it you're going to have to start from where you left off. There have been no small amount of changes in staffing and direction of the comic, possibly due to the very active community (pay to play) around it.Actually, I started with the prologue, which definatly didn't exist last time. It was just a haunting tale of a child wrapped up in politics she could t understand and learning to be a Mage, I think. This is... not that!
Anyway, any similarities are pretty coincidental, I think. There are some passing similarities, but I see less similarity (so far) to this than to the various general sources of drow lore... which are also pretty different!
Ah! Maybe you meant this!
Unlike what is indicated in the comic, there is no "above ground" - the "Roof" is merely a level of dead and dangerous caverns above the most inhabited ones. It mentions goblin hordes, but ours are actually in the Underworld, below the inhabited/civilized regions.
While there are a few who travel the caverns above, in general they are seen as the "environmental weirdos" kind of characters who believe in "taking care of the world" and all that kind of thing.
The only other remotely similar thing is the Hellgate, which isn't so much "above" as "angled moderately upward, from that direction" that eventually leads to the Hellscape; to get there, one must first pass through Nirvana (Nirvana is, depending on who you talk with, also called the "Huntlands" due to the monsters there, the "Deadlands" due to the spirits and restless corpses that haunt the place, or the "Litlands" due to the hellish light that plagues some of its environs).
But it's just taken as more proof for the general saying, "Nothing good comes from above." ()
Is that what you meant?
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[Weeps at the futility of keeping up.]
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And you wandered where everyone was this morning...
So... hey, I'm going to post this in both my thread and this one in the hopes of getting some ideas (minor copy/paste to switch between "my" and "FaWtL" likely, but not guaranteed).
So... we have mythic in our game! It does stuff! You... don't really need to know about it, unless you care to.
HOWEVER!
There are two parts to a mythic path: the essence, and the path itself.
The essence is the gist or power source or broader theme of the powers.
A list of essences we've come up with are:
- chronal: of or relating to time
- eldritch: weird, creepy, unknown, occult
- holy: revered, honored, sacred, worship
- invincible: impervious, hard, tough, unbreaking
- savage: brutal, destructive, fierce
- suzerain: rule, mastery, sovereignity, authority
- transcendent: unrestrained or above, having lost limits or failures
We also want something nature-focused, but other than "nature" we're uncertain what to do with it. We're also thinking "primal" but... we don't know if we want to blend those two or not.
On the other hand, the path is (generally speaking) the method by which the character achieves their essence.
A list of paths we've come up with (taken pretty directly from the mythic paths):
- archmage
- champion
- guardian
- hierophant
- marshal
- trickster
We're also looking for things to replicate the concept of a grand psion (other than "arch psion" which just sounds... I dunno... copy-ish), and empath.
Unfortunately, we've already got a number of terms in use, at present, that can't be borrowed for either essence or path.
These are used as the "kind" and "class" elements to create a class in this system.
Kind includes:
- Contemplative/Enlightened ()
- Empath/Performance ()
- Natural ()
- Rage ()
- Sacred ()
- Skilled ()
Class includes:
- Arcanist ()
- Erudite ()
- Priest ()
- Psychic ()
- Trickster ()
- Warrior ()
- Wild Talent ()
The things in -text in (parenthesis) above are possible bonus-assets for choosing that Kind and Class, though you only get a combination of three, total, from the selection process. You also gain a selection of skills, but those aren't listed, as it's a bit too much info. This may be, but... eh, it's to help get the point across.
We're thinking of changing the Trickster class to the good ol' standby of "rogue" or something else, to permit the Trickster mythic path to continue. (Things like "thief" or "ninja" seem a little too specific... but "rogue" also seems a little specific; so, we're a little torn.) We're also thinking of changing the Skilled kind to Expert, as that seems to line up a bit more with what you get out of the class itself. "Rage" might become "Frenzied" but... I'm not sure; that could end up a bonus asset. That said, "Rage" may well end up folded into "Wild Talent" class, so... who knows?
Anyway, the point is, we're trying to avoid those as words to use for our mythic stuff.
Any thoughts?
Oh, and "godhunter" - while an interesting mythic path - doesn't fit in to our world.
EDIT: fixing tags, noting editing, you know.
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It does make one wonder how Mythic Adventures and Occult Adventures would interact with each other.
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I wish I could play with Occult... but the group is in a Palladium Fantasy mood, so Pathfinder is off the table for a while.
Wolfen! Or is that pronounced right... anyway, gotta love the dog people with the Roman empire complex. :-)
I love Occult Adventures so far, Medium is a fun class to play.
The kids love their Kineticists. :-)
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Got smacked in head with pommel
Got hurled to ground and given bloody nose.
Nearly pulled off the 'Irish Whip'
Nice evening's sparring :D
Re: Drowtales. The world somewhat resembles our country of Hellgate, with its focus on militarism, conquest, and personal glory.
One of the (many) differences between the world of Drowtales and the world of our game, however, is that drowtales is at internal war and strife - large armies lay siege to each other in a search for resources and honor.
Comparatively, our world is tame - military forces are personal guardss or law enforcment under powerful rulers. Actual warfare as depicted in drowtales is unheard of, though there are plenty of local and personal skirmishes.
One reason is history: the few who've attempted such feats have had a host of others band together to destroy them. Or, if not politics, simple logistics and practicality (see below). Though the Jade Empire was successful in uniting their people under a single ruler, the few who've tried to forcably take over since then have... floundered, badly. As they are very good at pattern recognition and tracing cause and effect (as opposed to just correlation), so... it's proven not a good idea.
Another is, actually, a kind of quasi-justified racism-cum-jingoism: one thing that separates the the "civilized" drow from the "barbaric" other is that they have citizens able to devote themselves to non-violent pursuits and recognize that, while violence is necessary at times (and, in fact, often for those who live in the regions of Hellgate nearest the eponymous Hellgate), it is not "the" way of life, and certainly isn't to be used en masse against your fellows. Whereas the barbarians down below have languages separated by tribes, murder and kill each other mostly by emotional whim, and wage as much war as they can against all of their neighbors (or themselves) as long as they can, and turn inwardly against themselves when they can't (unless the drow force them into servitude - this has proven to dull their violent tendencies). Drow find that kind of behavior repulsive and barbaric and refuse to engage in such.
A third is just practicality: all four of the nations (except, perhaps, the Great Ice) are necessary for the others to live, to some extent; but it'd be really inconvenient, expensive, and difficult. More, despite being very traditional in many ways, and very cohesive in some, drow prove to be exceptionally independent in many other ways: having a singular ruler be seen and accepted as the absolute power is an excessively difficult thing to accomplish, and the fact that the Jade Empire managed to do this was the seat and source of all current drow culture and historical records - and the Jade Empire has been exceptionally honest and open about its histories and failures (as well as those of others), meaning that everyone has solid understanding of what's happened and why. The main reason the Jade Empire is as successful as it is, seems predominantly due to the fact that they have such abundant food and other supplies, and their caverns tend to be larger and more airy, yet more solidly supported, and with less negative seismic activity. As this is nowhere else in the world, and the seat of the Jade Empress has proven entirely impervious to all attempts by outsiders to subvert, plus has managed to only increase their power and security for many generations, no one but the stupid or insane ever try: it's not worth it, and no one would thank them.
The final reason is religion: the strength of Beauty herself literally runs through the blood of the Jade Royals, and they are an object of near-devotion by those outside, as a result; combined with the religious support of most all of the churches of The Lady of Rings and Masks and Yoth within the empire, the only possible supporters who might not submit are the believers in the Great Ice who demonstrably lack any religious-granted power beyond the Gray Waste. Followers of the Mystery, wherever they are, are simply too wrapped up in arcana to care about external politics (though they are masters of internal politics, as there is a lot of division and argumentation in that "church"). They also seem to lack religious power beyond Hellgate and the Gray Wastes, so that limits them, too. The priestesses of the Great Ice are practically unassailable within the Great Ice by divine-seeming power; it is ludicrous to oppose them there. Worthlessness only grants divine power to males in order to make their subservience easier, so... no rebellion there. All told, even lacking the religious fervor, religion acts as yet another stabilizing factor over-all, though specific religions may well conflict.
All of this leads to a lack of warfare - it's historically failed, it's not practical or viable, and it's culturally and religiously looked down upon.
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This sounds a lot like drowtales.
Drow Tales, Wooo hoo!
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Drow tales?
It's a calm 78° afternoon right now in San Francisco. Just finished a big exam and opened up a Kronenbourg. Beer imported from France. A lot better than I expected from a country not particularly known for beer. It's a basic pale lager with a mild flavor up front (I consider mild flavor a good attribute in a beer you drink on a hot day or after work), but it has an aftertaste of semisweet apple which does the beer a fair amount of justice (I can certainly imagine much worse aftertastes). Not a particularly great beer or anything, but rather satisfying if you just want to relax in warm weather. I'd give it a 7.5/10.
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Iron Kingdoms turned out kinda meh in gameplay. Great concept, but when max level is barely more powerful than a new character that's...Not fun.
This weekend we try out AMP: Year One, a super hero system.
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Drow tales?
awesome/weird/gory webcomic about drow. I highly recommend it. You may want to avoid another age, though, as that is naught but the purest, sweetest h, but as that is behind a paywall you should be good.
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okay, I'll send you more cold weather....