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<3 Verces so much. Favorite planet in the system, outside Golarion.
Just focusing on the Ring, but my personal take is:
It's a lot like one of the nicer and cooler planets from the Star Wars or Mass Effect universes. Technology is pretty far ahead of what we have now but in a bit of a retro sort of way. Holographic displays and hover-capable vehicles and such.
Perhaps each nation/culture has its own tech aesthetic. Like in one nation, everything looks like it's designed like an iPod. In another, "clunkier", more sharp-edged machinery built more for sheer practicality may be the norm.
The great sprawling glass-and-steel cities and the more pastoral areas are interwoven pretty carefully for the most part. A lot of care has generally been taken to ensure that the natural and rural alements of their world remain beautiful even as they stand alongside equally carefully planned cities and transit systems.
The divide between the more tech-dependent folks and the more rural Pure Ones isn't as severe as, say, the Amish and the rest of hte United States. Pure Ones out in those areas probably still have some token tech, and they certainly still have an important place in society as well as political and social weight to throw around.
Generally it's a pretty positive, hopeful place. But there are still problems. Most of our issues in the RL "First-wrold" countries can probably be reflected there. Vercites know more about their neighboring worlds than most humanoids in the solar system, and they particularly know about Eox and what happend with the Diaspora, so that probably looms over their heads as much as it drives them towards advancement.
There's also some potential social strife between castes, as seen with that one country that's tossing old traditional checks and balances aside. Generally though, I figure people get on pretty well with their current balance of castes, though their related values dealing with them might seem alien to many of us.
There's one more potentially unsettling issue. IIRC, it's not stated if slavery is a big thing on Verces, or indentured servitude or any other form it might take, but it is pointed out that some of those monks that expose their bodies to the crazy freezing temperatures of Darkside are often sold, I think as Aethership navigators or somesuch. I wonder if that's a unique example of people-as-property on Verces and if there's some more to it, like Vercites actually seeing it as an honor for these folks to be made into living Aethership parts. Maybe that's how they themselves see it.
There's no real day or night, just the eternal shades of twilight over the Ring, so that has to affect every day life somehow. Perspective on the passage of time and years and all that.
Electronic music is probably huge. I like to imagine bards putting on hybrid electronic and magical lightshows in "night"clubs while the sound system is blasting. But "traditional" music would still be going strong too, particularly among the more rural Pure Ones. And of course there would be every manner of hybrid genre formed by the two meeting.
Fashion? I like to think the Aethership Captain in Distant Worlds sets the tone for the norm. "Space clothes"-style fashions, hoods up with communication gear built in, etc. Adjust as needed between castes: Rural types use actual cloth or leather, urban types use artifiicial materials. Tattooing is definitely a big thing.
Related to fashion: Do Vercites have hair? Can't recall any mention of it, and the art doesn't really show one way or the other. If not, kind of goes with their description as being super-smooth-skinned.
Like to imagine groups of youths racing hoverbikes for kicks or pink slips.
The silvery steel streets joining the cities would be a beauty to look upon, gleaming in the twilight as they flow over green pastures, lakes, forests...
Forests. Fey exist on Verces. Imagining some of the preserves and parks having enormous wooden walkways and structures partially held aloft by hovering tech supporting their weight, with just enough of the appropriate force field tech to keep people from falling over the edge.
Religion. Brigh is probaby big amongst the Augmented. Like huge. None of the "risen" gods of Golarion likely have a following or are even really known amongst the Vercites, but that planet may very well have its own ascended gods. The Empyreals and usual archfiends are probably known. Pharasma is definitely known. Aroden probably is too. I'm not sure which, but either of those two could do well in a sort of "keeper of the balance" role between all three castes. Asmodeus has been called out as being known pretty much everywhere. I like to think Desna is known and revered by many, possibly as a patron goddess of Aethership explorers. Law enforcement probably has to deal with fiend-related cults from time to time.
Gah, gotta run. Really excited to see what people come up with for this planet.
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I really really hope, Verces doesn´t become "grim-dark" in the coming publications. (This whole grim-dark-and-gritty-Sci-Fi-Thing was a bit overdone during the last few years...)
I doubt it. Maybe it's partly Mikaze's influence, but I kind of see Verces as a bit of a bright spot in the star system, as well. And there are plenty of other planets to throw down the grimdark with, if that's desired.
Also <3 Verces. Mixing tech and magic has always been one of my soft spots.
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Agreed'd with you both, Waldi and Jonathon. Verces seeming to be a brighter place and a sci-fi/fantasy mashup that wasn't saturated with grimdark really sold me on the place. Sure it's got problems, it needs adventurers after all, but it isn't some bleak, hopeless hellhole.
On a planet-scale, it seems to fit the role of "the good kingdom" fairly well, a generally nice place that PCs would be eager to protect from...well...Eox for starters.
That isn't to say some of Verces' fauna isn't downright terrifying though. Freakin' bloodbrothers....damn.
Had another thought on religion: Erastil might be a big figure along the lines of caste divisions too. He could certainly be quite popular with more rural Pure Ones.
Half wonder if Brigh's origins could be on Verces....(if not Aballon...)
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Perhaps Brigh was the first Augmented on Verces. This could some nice transhuman spice to the augmented caste. There could be an augmented secret society trying to achieve apotheosis via technomagical augmentation. If Brigh could become a higher beeing by using transhuman modifications, others could do this also. They could be a heretical, evil cult or a group of basicly good but misunderstood, ultra-progressive scientists...
I also guess, Sarenrae would be a big thing on Verces. Most Cities seem to use solar power - so there would be a great deal of devoution to the sun-goddess. :)
I'm of two minds on the Brigh idea. On the one hand, I love the idea of her being born out of artificial life. But the Transcendant Trans"human" idea has some real fire to it too. Really gotta dwell on this one.
(and for your well-intentioned extremist idea, you've got one whole nation they could be running in what with the Augmented/God-Vessel team-up on the Pure Ones, sayin' "Get augmented now, caste balance be damned!")
Absolute solid call on Sarenrae too. Complete with a possible analogue between Golarion's mainstream Sarenraens and the harsher Dawncult reflected in the people of the Ring and those tribes that managed to live in the Fullbright.
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A thought:
Augmented animals and plants.*
Augmented summoned creatures?
Augmented angels!
Admittedly those last two probably need to function on a spiritual level. But the visual has taken root and therefore WANT
*And this could raise another issue with serious social ramifications: It could lead to a mundane alternative to awaken as an "uplift" option for non-sapient species. Man, druids(who may likely be found only in the God-Vessel and Pure One castes) probably have strong feelings about that possibility.
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Loving this thread. And agreed--Verces has good parts and bad parts, but in general the Ring is one of the nicer places in the system to live.
And while there's certainly slavery somewhere on Verces, the monks that sell themselves to the aethershipyards are doing so voluntarily, to serve their sect and potentially to continue their quest for enlightenment.
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Awesome! Was hoping that was the intention, on both counts! :D
Thinking about the lack of a day/night cycle some more. It has to have some real meaningful effects on the way folks live day to day. There may not be a generally accepted "active/rest" period of the day for folks to share. How is the passage of time percieved, as colored by the views of their ancestors that didn't have clocks? Possibly some form of satellite, be it moon or otherwise? Or some other form of natural/magical atmospheric phenomenon that happens with dependable regularity?
In some parts of the Ring, interior lighting could possibly be handled mostly with mirror arrangements in some buildings since the direction of sunlight is a near constant. Could see this working out with some types of homes and certainly for temples of Sarenrae and other structures built with an eye for grand aesthetics.
This doesn't really apply to "everyday life", but the habit of Vercites to try and assign a caste identity to offworlders has me wondering where most of our Golarion-types would fall.
Divine casters as God-Vessels seems obvious enough, but do druids that don't follow a specific deity get rolled into that as well? Possibly with them being seen as embodying a divine force, nature in this case?
Wonder what it would take to be considered Augmented with Golarion-appropriate means... I'd rather not imagine Augmented as requiring some sort of half-construct template(for a lot of reasons), but perhaps any of those sorts from Golarion could fit the bill.
Or the Stewards could be a form of Jedi Order ... :)
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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Loving this thread. And agreed--Verces has good parts and bad parts, but in general the Ring is one of the nicer places in the system to live.
And while there's certainly slavery somewhere on Verces, the monks that sell themselves to the aethershipyards are doing so voluntarily, to serve their sect and potentially to continue their quest for enlightenment.
For some reason I see them either as the spice navigators from Dune, or Pilot's people from Farscape.
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Lurkers in Light are likely a serious problem on the bright side.
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Shining Children too!
Beside this, I wonder, if the Stewards would make a great campaign-background. I could imagine them to be a mixture between the UN-forces, the X-Com, SHIELD and so on. While most nations on Verces live in peace together, a lot of otherworldly forces try to destroy the Ring-Nations and vercite civilisation in general. So the Stewards are constantly battling infiltrators from Eox, Demons or agents of the dark tapestry...
Or the Stewards could be a form of Jedi Order ... :)
It's probably just my current Mass Effect kick, but I can see a bit of the Spectre approach with them too, being authorized to bend the rules when they deemed necessary to protect Verces(and its allies and interests in space) and chosen from the best-of-the-best of their respective nation's peacekeeping forces.
Speaking of that series: Wonder if high-end Vercite armor might be a combination of mundane physical armor, the usual magical protection, and additional energy shielding like Mass Effect's...er....mass effect fields.
(and great, now I can't stop thinking about an X-Com-ish game set on this planet)
I also imagined, that Verces was not tidaly locked naturally. Before the Twins collided to form the Diaspora, Verces rotated just like the other worlds of the golarian system. Then, just after the collision of the twins, Verces was hit by several asteroids and the massive impacts stopped it´s rotation. The then primitive civilisation on Verces just survived barely. Nowadays, there are several legends and myths about the "time of the moving sun", but mostly, life on Verces got used to the eternal day (or night).
Hadn't considered that... I had a bit of a Vercite creation myth rolling around in my head, but this kind of throws it for a loop. Or makes it make much more sense. Gonna have to think it through a bit more. :)
For some reason I see them either as the spice navigators from Dune, or Pilot's people from Farscape.
Or Karan S'jet minus some extremities. :O Or Hybrids from the new Battlestar Galactica...
Either way it probably has to increase the level of anthropomorphism the aethership crews apply to their ships, what with a real live person actually being a part of the ship.
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Been thinking a lot about Verces over the past few months.
I've been playing around with some ways to structure the general religious beliefs of the vercites, but I'm not entirely happy with it:
Spinning out of the idea that Vercite culture heavily values balance, which could be influenced by the very nature of their planet and shows in the parallel caste system they have going, I kind of figured they would have a dualistic thing going with their pantheon or other divine structures.
So they see their world and their race as having been formed within a balance between two forces who simultaneously oppose and complete each other.
Zaern-Ra, Mother Light, is the goddess of Fullbright and the sun. She is the light that enables life, who warms the world, but she's unrelenting. Her gift can be dangerous without moderation.
Zoen-Kah, Father Dark, is the god of Darkside and the expanse of space. His darkness provides some relief from the burning sun, but again, too much and this leads to ruin as well.
It's where these two forces are in balance where life can truly flourish, and where their children, the Vercites, were born.
I like this spin as far as making them a culture that places a lot of value on yin-yang/dualism/etc. concepts. And I like the idea of vercites associating creatures of Fullbright, Darkside, and space with their respective deities. And when one considers what side of the planet is producing those frostbitten, amputee ascetics to navigate aetherships... But that also leads to some serious problems that really mucks up a lot of what I love about Verces.
Besides the alignment imbalance of having a dualistic religion based around NG Sarenrae and LE Zon-Kuthon, which doesn't bother me all on its own, those associations lead to some real problems. Having most things on Fullbright associated with Sarenrae, even if incorrectly, is one thing, but associating everything on Darkside and especially space with Zon-Kuthon is another entirely. Even if they had a more LN-ish view of "Zoen-Kah", that's still some harsh expectations to associate with all those worlds, stars, and alien life forms that Vercites are pushing outwards to explore and meet. That just doesn't seem to mesh very well for a people that seem to be painted as generally hopeful. The emphasis on Zon-Kuthon could also lead to some nasty associations with Augmentation, and I'd really rather avoid having one of the neatest aspects of Verces slapped with such a negative slant.*
So, if the duality thing was going to be kept, would it work better with Daez-Na? That association seems to mesh much better with a hopeful peoples' view of space, while still keeping them respectful of the dangers waiting out there. (and while it's easy to look at what happens to those ascetics on Darkside and think "Kuthonite", perhaps too easy and oversimplified, what they ultimately become and do just screams "Desnan") It does heavily skew that major religious structure towards Good though, where a balanced result leaning more towards neutral might be more fitting.
Or maybe the duality of two deities/concepts could be split up further, with a positive and negative aspect for both light/the sun and darkness/space? So everything potentially wonderful about what's out there in space and among the stars is represented by Desna, while everything about space that's horrible(oh hi Dominion of the Black![/wiseau]) is associated with Zon-Kuthon. That leaves the question of who to pair off with Sarenrae, and I don't know if Nergal is quite big enough to fill those shoes.
Gotta think about this some more...
*Building in religious taboos against augmentation is a big thing I'd want to avoid at all costs. I'd want to avoid using the half-construct rules from the ARG to represent any form of Augmentation for similar reasons. I'd hate to see Verces go down the "cybernetics harm your soul!" route.
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Also had digital fey on the mind for a while too.
While natural fey are still around in the usual places on Verces, there are younger fey races being born in virtual environments from the interaction of magic and technology. These fey range in nature just like their physical world counterparts, typically seen as mischievious and playful creatures. Some of their antics can manifest to those incapable of seeing them as "bugs" or unusual glitches, ranging from harmless to risky.
Some of the more beneficient types often manifest as playful and a-bit-too-eager-to-help combinations of highly stylized geometric shapes, fractals, and Vercite emoticons, and often latch onto specific Vercites, sometimes serving as familiars. These fey can be allowed to manifest in the physical world as beings of "hard light" if supplied with the right technology. While some vercites actively foster the birth and growth of such beings to serve as playmates/guardians for their children or aides, these are not artificial beings. They are born "naturally" within their electronic environments and are as real and sentient as their physical world fey kin. Any vercite hand in their birth is more akin to the growing of Leshies in the physical world.
As familiars and aides, they tend to be much more fickle and quite a bit less reliable than constructed AI or VI, but their nature also allows them much more ease at dealing with magic and other matters that run on "fey logic".
Just imagining hard-light "butterflies" made of glowing triangles and other shapes which rearrange themselves into alien emoticons in order to express extreme emotions. ;) :D :O D: >:| :3 ^_^ and such. I love the idea of a vercite explorer summoning one of those from a hardlight projector to help with some task or another.
Dot for later once I finish reading Distant Worlds.
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Good thoughts here.
Desna's a great choice for the patron of the dark. She's a great patron for good starfarers in general, particularly with her interest in the Dark Tapestry. If they've been worshiping her for a long time, which seems reasonable, she could have even had a hand in pushing them towards spaceflight.
I'd be tempted to make the dark-places-between-the-stars god a more recent addition to the pantheon, someone they'd encountered since they began traveling through space. My personal inclinations go towards Yog-Sothoth but Zon-Kuthon inspired space madness sounds pretty unpleasant too.
Love the digital fey too. Cute!
Cheers!
Landon
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I love the digital fey as well! Though I'v had vercites in my game before and had similar critters running around except they were Gremlins born on Verces to counter act the Augmentation of Vercites and creatures, druids may keep them in their dominion as the fear of the expansion of technology might loom heavily on the horizon. They ranged from Rustlings who rust metal with its saliva to Clanks who resemble a crude primitive Augment who is a mockery to the arcane sciences, I had stats for them some where.
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Definately on board with Brigh having a major following.
As for the dualistic aspect. It fits, but like you, Mikaze, am not quite sure which deities would fit best. Some for consideration,
Sarenrae for the NG sun. Listed as a patron of farmers and healers. She is the Everlight from which all things grow.
Charon for the NE dark. The Stillness to which all things return. He holds dominion over water and death.
As the people of Verces are quite advanced, they would know that cold is just molecules having less energy/moving slower and heat is the opposite. So, the Everlight provides energy to all things, speeding them up. creating new life. However, if you put too much energy into things, they are destroyed. Just as too much life would overwhelm the ring.
Mortals were not meant to experience eternal light.
Opposite you have the Stillness that slowly takes away from all things, slowing them down, aging them. Preventing the ring, and all creation, from being overwhelmed. As the trully habitable area of Verces is quite small, overpopulation is probably a big concern. Unchecked, all life would end and all things would cease.
Mortals were not meant to experience eternal night.
I also imagine weather dieties being quite important. With a constant wall of low cold area flowing low over the line and a equally constant wall of hot air flowing high over the line, you could have some trully spectacular storms. Imagine if the two layers inverted!
Other deities to consider, Shizuru and Tsukiyo as the balanced pair LG gods of day and night, with Nurgal and Kostchtchie as unbalanced CE duo heat and cold.
As for the Outer Gods. Those are blasphemies. Dwelling the in the blackness of space beyond all light, yet denying the Stillness which holds sway. They are beyond darkness or light. They are Evil.
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I've never even considered how crazy the weather could get between Fullbright and Darkside. Yikes. That brings new ideas for their architectural styles to mind, but also offers more potential for alternate energy sources for their technology.
Have to admit, Shizuru and Tsukiyo reenvisioned as anthropomorphized and positive personifications of light and dark for Vercites holds a lot of appeal.
And Good Lord, gremlins would be absolute horrors on that planet... Tech support and engineering might be an adventure in and of itself sometimes depending on whether or not gremlins are involved. Oh man, and then there's the space program...
Still wondering whether or not Vercites have hair, before I go too far visualizing one way or the other. I've just been imagining all of them wearing head-hugging hoods like the Aethership captain or similar headwear to dodge the issue, and now that's how a lot of their fashion looks in my head. Kind of like a modernized interpretation of the styles worn by the heroes in the Isle of Dr. Necreaux card game.
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Y'know how the Azlanti and Thassilonians crudely stitched ioun stones into their very flesh?
I'm thinking bionic ioun sockets, complete with built-in wayfinder circuitry. Totally modular, you can change your loadout at a moment's notice with no pain and no attunement period. Karzoug would plotz.
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Y'know how the Azlanti and Thassilonians crudely stitched ioun stones into their very flesh?
I'm thinking bionic ioun sockets, complete with built-in wayfinder circuitry. Totally modular, you can change your loadout at a moment's notice with no pain and no attunement period. Karzoug would plotz.
Y'know, that would be incredibly handy for ioun stone users in spacesuites/hazmat suits/envirosuits/etc.
Thinking about vercite firemen telling each other to "pop in a white one" before heading into danger got me to thinking about regeneration and augmentation. The augmentation process has got to involve steps that ptevent rejection caused by healing/regeneration magic and effects. Perhaps it's done through process that unify the Augmented individual's flesh and plastics/metals on a spiritual level, making them truly a part of their core being.
Kind of been seeing Brigh's faith going that way on Verces, preaching that true augmentation must happen on all levels, physical, mental, and spiritual.
(and now I'm thinking of Augmented angels again, who could either be angels that were augmented or are angels born from augmented souls. Same for augmented devils, demons, etc...)
If we have S and T as the good light and dark, what would we do for the evil/dangerous aspects of Fullbright and Darkside? Or would be do anything, and leave the outer gods and eox as the primary antagonists?
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Have to admit, while there are native dangers on Verces that can't be ignored, it really does seem like the biggest threats to Verces are offworld(Eox, the more malevoleent Dark Tapestry stuff, freakin' Dominion of the Black). You probably could get away with the "home team" pantheon leaning Good that way.
Ooh...wait. Have a fullblown dual pantheon maybe? Instead of focusing on two(or even four) big divine entities, they could be split into two "courts" or some other structure. Both are filled with many entities that fulfill different aspects of their court, and are on their own either benevolent or malevolent.
Like say:
Court of the Light : Sarenrae(life giving aspects, healing), Shizuru(embodies certain positive social structures, light's sword), Nurgal(the deadly aspects of the sun, blinding brilliance), and other deities that aren't specifically "sun/light/stars" related but pretty much mesh with their general theme.
Court of the Dark : Tsukiyo(moon and spirits), Pharasma(the dark of the nurturing before birth and the rest of the dead), Zon-Kuthon(the harshness of Darkside and space madness), Outer Gods(more of the same), and so on. Desna might be a big one in this grouping as well, but...
There could also be gods that are particularly revered that cross over between the courts. They are the gods that represent that critical sort of balance between the two forces. They belong to both courts. It could be argued that Desna would belong here, because while she's a creature from the darkness of space, she's also tied tightly into the stars. She's definitely of the night, but the lady sparkles. And her placement between the two pantheons makes her very important to vercite culture.
Maybe that could be something that colors the cultures by location. In those communities closer to Darkside, you find a lot more folks that revere the Court of the Dark over that of Light, and vice-versa.
If one were to go that route, I guess it becomes a matter of assigning those gods that would be known of Verces to their appropriate court. Or caste. Which is funny, because vercites are explicitly stated to try to figure out what caste offworlders belong to, in a well-meaning way. They could very well do the same thing with gods they were previously unaware of. "Iom-Daya? Oh, she must be of the Light Caste! Look at her iconography! I wonder if she serves Zaern-Ra or Shiez-Ru? Maybe Sheal-En?"
I need to double check to make sure s/he isn't Golarion-specific, but Goez-Ra would definitely be a crossover deity. Aezma-Dayah though...well, he's often called the Prince of Darkness, but damn it would be tempting to put him in the Light Court because he would totally work that angle for all it was worth.
making up alien names for familiar deities is fun
True that. However, I will be leaving the name making to you.
From the stuff on Gozreh and Rovagug, I don't think Gozreh is limited to one planet. Personal thoughts are sentient races have all kinds of divine beings that relate to them: dieties of the hunt, law, contracts, slavery, freedom, etc. Gozreh is the diety of everything else. Plants, animals, microbes, and ecosystems in general. Not sure how that would ft here though, as the main ecosystem part seem to be pretty well cultivated and managed. The storm aspect would definitely fit.
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Hey folks! Just wanted to pop in and say that I love what ya'll are coming up with in this thread. I'm always loath to present new canon on the messageboards, so I can't really give anything more than the write-up in the book, but I think the different pantheons and god interpretations that might arise on the various sides of the world have huge potential! Glad to see folks running with it. :D
(And the idea of Gozreh being associated with the major storms resulting from the pressure/temperature differentials is awesome... think of the sort of crazy wind-focused druid characters you could make...)
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It's exciting to see the creator of Verces excited about people being excited about Verces. :D ps. more Verces plz!
I was all eager to suggest "Pixels" as the name of that digital fey "helper" race, but then I just found this. Augh, beaten. Right down to the appearance!
Gozreh's storm aspect kind of leads one to think that Verces' weather forecasters might actually be forecasters. Wind farms (and maybe lightning farms?) might actually be sacred ground in some cases.
My headcanon Vercite deity naming conventions fall short with monosyllabic Brigh. And she's kind of super-important. :(
Is there published info on the planets anywhere, or is this all wishing / conjecture?
Also, why not put in some new gods for the other planets. Must we really use the same gods so many bazillions of miles away? OK, I admit it, I just dont like Desna. :)
But still.
Anyway, what info is available on the other planets? I just remember seeing the planets in the campaign book, but otherwise ... ?
Hey folks! Just wanted to pop in and say that I love what ya'll are coming up with in this thread. I'm always loath to present new canon on the messageboards, so I can't really give anything more than the write-up in the book, but I think the different pantheons and god interpretations that might arise on the various sides of the world have huge potential! Glad to see folks running with it. :D
(And the idea of Gozreh being associated with the major storms resulting from the pressure/temperature differentials is awesome... think of the sort of crazy wind-focused druid characters you could make...)
Ex meteorology major here. I did a project back in college that dealt with tidally locked weather patterns. I have some of my sources (and wikipedia) that I remember using. Here's to seeing if I can pick up more. I remember there being talk of one large Hadley cell on the heated side.
Tidal Locking Could Render Habitable Planets Inhospitable
This has some interesting stuff on tidally locked planets that seems more in line with Verces
Anyway, what info is available on the other planets? I just remember seeing the planets in the campaign book, but otherwise ... ?
And Good Lord, gremlins would be absolute horrors on that planet...
Vermin hunter archetype for Rangers or Rogues, anyone?
Looks like we're going to need some Verces material, given the support the planet is getting.
Looks like we're going to need some Verces material, given the support the planet is getting.
We don't actually know if it is Verces. According to this blog from a guy that was at the seminar, The Frozen Stars is the AP adventure that will take place on Triaxus. That's the planet that every century or so goes into a long lasting winter. So I'd assume we (the party) would be getting there in its wintertime. Of course, I could see Verces being used where you travel to its dark side.
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I'm trying to manage my expectations, but Verces is on the location+key list for Baba Yaga's Hut. :) I suspect OoW's off-world ventures are going to be on Triaxus-during-its-winter-cycle only though, but I'm still really looking forward to more on that world and its people as well.
Vermin hunter archetype for Rangers or Rogues, anyone?
Safety Inspector inquisitors and Tech Support rogues too. ;)
Seriously though, rangers and rogues like that might be critical in keeping the lines and other equipment in working order between the sun farms and the communities back on the ring. Hell of a way to make a living.
Would digital gremlins be called Glitches?
Golarion:Blast these Gremlins and their constant tampering with my devices
Verces: Theyre Glitches in a grand system, if you dont get rid of them they'll breed like rats and infest the entire system to the point of no return.
I like Gremlins being called Glitches, thats more or less what they are except they make the glitches bigger and more of a mess. Picture it! Gremilins/Glitches just gnawing away at wires and cables leading to important devices stabling and fueling the ring.
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Very nice stuff everybody. One thing I could suggest for Verces (not having read Distant Worlds - my copy hopefully has just shipped!) without getting too grimdarque on everybody's utopian vision would be some nefarious secret organizations and a nice, well-fed criminal underbelly. There can't be just love and light... All that technology has to have corollary misuse - blackmarket augmentation/chop shops, cloning, hacking/data havens out in the boondocks; illegal trade in illicit substances - empowering spices, planar-opening snuff. Nothing all encompassing, but very sophisicated under the radar organised crime.
And perhaps the odd tight knit band of revolutionaries ready to commit the odd bit of urban terrorism. All sorts of fringe groups come to mind, from the anti-augmented, the Luddite-esques, the anti-imperialists (whether there is any imperial yearning on behalf of Verces (I'm guessing not) or just perceived by these fringe radicals), the anti-spacefarers, the anti-other-antis, rural-sovereignty nuts, survivalists. Just a thought.
Seems that behind the facade of a tech-marvel society a small canker or two might lurk... Anyway, fronting a small group of fashion-spiky nut-job anarchists bristling with third-hand tinkered-with tech'n'augmentations and a planet load of angst, political dogmatism and misplaced aggression. In a mall. On Verces. :)
On Know Direction today they interview about Distant Worlds a bit. Haven't heard it myself but may have some interesting things in it.
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We got a Paizonian on the thread! Huzzah!
Thank for the links to stuff on locked planets. Very interesting. With constant moderate to strong winds, wind power becomes more viable. It would also fit with the form-fitting clothing people have proposed. I was particularly intrigued by the idea that at the equator the low level winds would be warm. This means fasting moving cold air mass over warm air mass, with the masses heading in opposite directions. Isn't this how tornadoes form? I'm suddenly seeing Verces architechture being very strong and aerodynamic, in the equatorial regions at least. Also, were would the oceans be?
I like the dual-court idea. Anyone else have thoughts on it?
In addition to the vermin hunters, something else that might come in handy- Dispel Wardens, to troubleshoot those sticky problems that might arise when technology and magic don't want to work well together.
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I like the dual-court idea. Anyone else have thoughts on it?
I like it. It's a really good fit for their world. In a lot of ways it's about unification of opposing forces (light/dark, magic/technology, progress/tradition).
I especially like having a mix of good, neutral, and evil deities within each.
There was some talk about Desna being the intermediary, but I think Gozreh is actually a better choice for that. It really cements Gozreh's place as an important figure and highlights just how desolate the light and dark sides are (because in another world, a god of life and nature could easily fall in the light court).
That dualism could cast an interesting reflection on their relationship with magic and technology as well. It could be that they don't just work with both, but instead try to always use both, as either one alone is dangerous. Nethys as god of magic makes some sense there as would an equivalently dangerous tech god.
Tapping into the gremlin conversation, their local patron (perhaps one of the fae Eldest or just a local god) would make a good deity for the dangers of technology.
Cheers!
Landon
That dualism could cast an interesting reflection on their relationship with magic and technology as well. It could be that they don't just work with both, but instead try to always use both, as either one alone is dangerous. Nethys as god of magic makes some sense there as would an equivalently dangerous tech god.
Or maybe Naeth-Ys embodies this dualism too (in addition to his normal dualism between destructive and other magic) and instead of half skeleton appears as half-terminator 1000 augmented cyborg skeleton there.
While magic and technology are different, I wouldn't say they're opposing.
Symbolic reality. In the physical universe, a rose is a red flower with a thorny stem. In the symbolic universe, a rose could represent red for the blood of the martyr and thorns for her torments, or it could represent something else entirely so long as the rose makes a plausible symbol for what it represents.
Inherent nature. Aristotle said things fall down because it's their nature to. Tying this in to symbolic reality, this can explain phenomena at odds with material physics. For example, a giant doesn't suffer from the square-cube law because it's nature to be big and strong.
Even more speculative, a space saturated with magic can apply inherent nature to mundane equipment (e.g., a rune giant's weapons and armor) to keep them from bending under their own weight. After all, the only rational purpose for a 40-foot spear is to arm a giant, so it must be a giant's weapon and therefore benefits from inherent nature the way a giant does.
Getting back on topic, what I wonder about regarding Verces is its interplanetary trade. Specifically, besides "We need some hick to mediate a dispute," what reason would they have to visit Golarion? All I can think of is bioprospecting (not to be confused with alien abduction), and that requires no cultural exchange (leading some to call it biopiracy).