Archipelago is a world where there are multiple island chains both on the sea and in the sky. There are seven larger islands/continents (no smaller than Greenland and no larger than Australia) called the Seven Sisters which are the starting places for the PCs and other races. The whole world would be tropical in nature with some subtropic regions near the poles. I'm not sure if any of the Seven Sisters is one of the skylands, since they seem a might too large for that. I was thinking there could be floating islands as well (sea islands that can change positions over time).
The ideas I have for Archipelago in terms of adventures are:
1) Exploring: The world of Archipelago is largely uncharted much beyond the Seven Sisters and the isles between them.
2) Kingdom Building: The option would be for the PCs to set out on their own and create their own kingdoms and/or work with an established empire on one of the Seven Sisters to do so.
3) Survival: The PCs find themselves shipwrecked on one of the many islands. They and the remaining crew and passengers must survive until they can either be rescued or until they can find some other way off the island. There would be an option to stay there permanently, particularly if it was a colony ship anyway, but at least some of the NPCs are going to want to leave.
I had thought that Archipelago is a world that was discovered by the various races not too long ago (between 25 and 100 years). There are naturally occurring gates between the Prime and Seven Sisters (and only the Seven Sisters), but they were fairly erratic until recently when mages on the Prime stabilized them.
I was thinking that some places on Archipelago are much larger on the inside than they seem on the outside. The world also has a much more elemental/primordial nature to it than the Prime which could cause its own issues (such as the slow transformation of races).
Deities are real here and they are responsible for the creation of both the Prime and Archipelago. In the back of my head there is the thought that the world itself was actually created not too long ago and is, in reality, a testing ground for the Prime races. The deities are deeply invested in the races, but I was thinking that lately the races might not be so deeply invested in the deities and the deities are less concerned about lack of worship than they are worried the races are heading along a path of self-destruction. While the deities could intervene if such were to happen, they are also of the opinion that it's also risky since the races might not take things seriously if there are no permanent consequences.
I haven't decided yet whether or not there will be native races. I was initially not going to have any and simply have most of the drama be due to the various nations and their intrigues or the simple matter of surviving and establishing new settlements on a new world that has a lot of nasty native species (yes, there will be dinosaurs). On the other hand, native species also present a unique challenge as well - not just because they are intelligent but also because of how they may be treated (historically, in real life, things tended not to end so well for natives in an area controlled by a colonial power). Naturally, native species could also fit into the test aspect for the deities, since their treatment by Primes would indicate morality (whether they are treated fairly, enslaved, or victims of genocide).
I've also not yet decided on the level of tech and magic that the Prime races will have (I was thinking that it could be anywhere between 1600's and 1800's with the latter end having more steampunk elements). I don't plan on the Prime itself featuring much here, though I could develop it if need be.
Finally, I'm not sure on the races. Standard races are okay, I suppose, but I'm a bit more interested in something beyond Humans, Elves, Dwarves, and so on. I might just roll for races using the 5 random races twice for ten races.
Thoughts and suggestions would be appreciated.
I feel like the smaller islands should hold smaller races. Kobolds sound like a good one for this world, you could alter their fluff to make them more crocodilian than draconic. Buff their stats a bit, maybe give them bonuses to swimming and fishing related activities instead of trapping and mining.
I feel like the smaller islands should hold smaller races. Kobolds sound like a good one for this world, you could alter their fluff to make them more crocodilian than draconic. Buff their stats a bit, maybe give them bonuses to swimming and fishing related activities instead of trapping and mining.
That makes sense. I figured that Kobolds, Lizardfolk, Vanara, Grippli, some form of the Aarakocra (or, possibly, tropical bird Tengu), all would work well in this setting. The invaders from the main world could all be the more usual standard races (Elves, Gnomes, Dwarves, etc), though I could see Orcs and/or Goblinoids among them.
Their is something like this called Azlant in Golarion. Its basically Atlantis but the gods got mad and smashed it into tiny islands. http://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Azlant
Their is something like this called Azlant in Golarion. Its basically Atlantis but the gods got mad and smashed it into tiny islands. http://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Azlant
Huh. I wasn't aware of this. Still, I think the basic concept is a bit different since the would would have always been like this.
How high above sea level are the floating islands? Taller than any mountains found on the Seven Sisters?
Do the floating islands move around, or are they stationary?
How high above sea level are the floating islands? Taller than any mountains found on the Seven Sisters?
Do the floating islands move around, or are they stationary?
I wasn't sure how high I wanted the mountains on the Seven Sisters, but I was thinking that they could be at variable heights. Most are between 304.8 to 1,828.8 meters (1000 to 6000 feet) above sea level. So, the flying islands could also be at these heights as well. A lot of flying islands at different heights would look like stepping stones into the sky, and there could even be a feature called Heaven's Stepping Stones involving several stationary flying islands seeming to rise right off a mountain.
I have the following images in mind:
1, 2, 3, 4
I do not see them frequently crashing into one another or other aspects of the landscape but instead either being relatively stationary or developing stable orbits around one another and/or other objects. Naturally, these can be upset by outside forces, though it would take extremely strong winds to move all but the smallest of them (and the largest would be completely immovable if they don't move on their own). A few would fly freely along the sky much like clouds, but (again) would have some orbit that kept it clear of other flying islands (this orbit being either higher than other islands or simply avoiding them).
I'm not sure if they can sink or rise on their own. The magical phenomena that keeps them aloft is pretty stable. Still, humanoid races certainly could figure out ways to steer them, which would inevitably lead to problems sooner or later.
This picture shows a city on some floating islands. I also can't help but think of the plane in Magic: the Gathering called Zendikar for some reason. I'm pretty sure it had floating land too.
Monkey Goblins would be a good fit in this setting. Who needs monkeys when you've got something vastly superior?
Their is something like this called Azlant in Golarion. Its basically Atlantis but the gods got mad and smashed it into tiny islands. http://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Azlant
Azlant was destroyed when the aboleths got mad and decided to smash the planet. A couple of Azlanti gods actually died slowing the incoming space rock down to a mere knock-everything-back-to-the-stone-age-and-cover-the-world-in-a-thousand-ye ars-of-darkness level of destruction.
edit: I have no idea why that space keeps popping up in the middle of 'years'.
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Their is something like this called Azlant in Golarion. Its basically Atlantis but the gods got mad and smashed it into tiny islands. http://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/AzlantAzlant was destroyed when the aboleths got mad and decided to smash the planet. A couple of Azlanti gods actually died slowing the incoming space rock down to a mere knock-everything-back-to-the-stone-age-and-cover-the-world-in-a-thousand-ye ars-of-darkness level of destruction.
edit: I have no idea why that space keeps popping up in the middle of 'years'.
It's because the board breaks any string of characters longer than a certain length.
This picture shows a city on some floating islands. I also can't help but think of the plane in Magic: the Gathering called Zendikar for some reason. I'm pretty sure it had floating land too.
Monkey Goblins would be a good fit in this setting. Who needs monkeys when you've got something vastly superior?
I agree Monkey Goblins would be a good fit! I've seen that picture and some similar. There are almost certainly some cities, towns, villages and so on on the flying islands - particularly those near the Seven Sisters where the various gates are.
Of course, you can also have giant smurfs on the floating islands.
I think that I could just as easily use Night Elves from WoW and simply give them tails. Or maybe some Elven version of Tieflings.