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File: Yonas Clan Infantry.jpg (88 KB, 800x724)
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>What is Fading Embers?
A /tg/ homebrew wargame setting that started out as another "Let's make a collaborative setting," but quickly became awesome once a surprising amount of lore was generated. Oh, and you can also field an army of MOTHERFUCKING BEARS.

We currently use the Advanced Songs of Blades and Heroes system, and have a WIP roster.

>Previous threads:
1st: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/50647430/

2nd: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/50669075/

>Community editable Lore Doc(will be transposed to the wiki... eventually)

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qgRwxxpLkYQRlL9XEkam1Oi5YRuweY8Gtg7V4uOTZsE/edit?usp=sharing


We're also planning on gathering a collection of 3d models so the game can actually be played in Tabletop Simulator and it's more free counterpart, BattleBox3d. We've got a quick and easy method for creating 2D models for BB3D Here:

>To make a new token copy both the .dae and the .png. Rename them identically to what you want them called. Using some kind of image editor place the front and back images in their respective locations. color the token base/edge regin if desired.
>Place the dae and png in the models folder and start bb3d. It should import cleanly.

Model Files are here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0FNPX-6FdaOX2JSVjRYTU45QU0/view

Meanwhile we're still solidifying the lore and aesthetic of the factions as a whole. We also need a few of the supplements for the system to really flesh out the remaining factions.
>>
Someone mentioned this in a previous thread, but once we finish with the war gaming rules, shall we make rules for role playing in this setting, I believe runequest 6 /mythras was suggested.
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>>50693092
Right, but there's the matter that after we finish working this system as a Skirmish game, we may decide to work it into a full-on Wargame.

That said, I could easily stat up the individual factions in either 5e or Savage Worlds, or, given time, I could do it in a Song of swords like system.
>>
Just looked through the google doc and it's looking solid. There was a lot of information in the first thread especially about the preservers and Visamt which seems to have been overlooked so I'll try and get that in there when I have a moment.

Only other thing is that I thought we were gonna give Berustia a Medieval Russia/Venice/Japan aesthetic with a focus on whaling
>>
Stat block anon here. Current set of statblocks for review.

Kights of Zelthan

Order of the Aegis. Mutated into massive guardians.

Lord Marshal 110 huge heavy armored leader q2 c4

Sentinel 73 huge heavily armored q2 c4

Knight 58 huge heavily armored q3 c4

Knight aspirant 30 huge q4 c3

Order of the Golden Path (pathfinders). Mutated to run faster than humanly possible and go days without rest.

Lord Conductor 113 long move leader q2 c4

Trailblazers 75 long move q2 c4

Knight 60 long move q3 c4

Knight aspirant 35 fragile long move q4 c3

Order of the Heavenly Gavel (Justicars) Mutated for superhuman reflexes.

Lord Magistrate 108 agile evade and counter leader q2 c4

Trueblade 70 agile evade and counter q2 c4

Knight 56 agile evade and counter q3 c4

Knight aspirant 27 agile q4 c3

Order of the Unerring Cross Mutated for superhuman eyesight.

Lord Executioner 113 longbow unerring aim leader q2 c4

Sharpshooter 75 longbow unerring aim q2 c4

Knight longbow unerring aim q3 c4

Knight aspirant longbow q4 c3


Lizard men hordes
Primordial 90 savage mount composite bow good shot inspiring presence q3 c2

Keshik 64 savage mount composite bow good shot q3 c2

Pioneer elite 52 mounted composite good shot q3 c2

Wayfinder 39 mounted composite good shot q4 c2

Guide 35 mounted composite q4c2

Celestial 86 savage mount free disengage inspiring presence q3 c3

Khan 60 savage mount free disengage q3 c3

Horselord 48 mounted free disengage q3 c3

Lancers 36 mounted free disengage q4 c3

Riders 29 mounted free disengage q4 c2

Master of the monastery 94 Arrowcatcher ,Flurry of Blows, Way of intercepting fist . Inspiring presence q3 c2

Enlightened one 68 Arrowcatcher ,Flurry of Blows ,Way of intercepting fist q3 c2

Master monk 54 Arrowcatcher ,Way of intercepting fist q3 c2

Monk 41 Arrowcatcher , Way of the intercepting fist q4 c2

novice monk 26 way of the intercepting fist q4 c2
>>
>>50693969

Dragon Armies

Elder wyrm 253 Dragon armor, Dragon fire, Undead, gargantuan, flying, terror, incorporeal q2 c5

Dragon 193 Dragon Armor (MI,P), Dragon Fire (P), Flying, Huge, Incorporeal (P), Undead q2 c4

Fledgling 150 Big, Dragon Armor (MI,P), Dragon Fire (P), Flying, Incorporeal (P), Undead q3 c4

Baseline Centaur 56 Big, Mounted, Trample (P), Undead q4 c3

Scale hide centaur 65 Big, Hard Hide, Mounted, Trample (P), Undead q4 c3

Four armed centaur 71 Big, Double Strike (P,W), Mounted, Trample (P), Undead q4 c3

Eldritch centaur 78 Big, Mounted, Trample (P), Undead , Terror (P) q4 c3

Initiate centaur 72 Big, Mounted, Spell-caster (P), Trample (P), Undead
Spell: Slowdown

Battle-mage centaur 82 Big, Mounted, Spell-caster (P), Trample (P), Undead
Spell: Fireball

Warlock Centaur 98 Big, Mounted, Spell-caster (P), Trample (P), Undead
Spell: Fireball Spell: Wall of Worms q3 c1

Necromancer Centaur 104 Big, Mounted, Spell-caster (P), Trample (P), Undead
Spell: Summon Warrior(P) q3 c1

Basic undead 12 Rabble, Undead q4 c2

Better undead 20 q4 c3 Rabble Undead

Ghouls 24 Greedy, Undead q4 c3

Wights 29 Greedy, Rotting Touch, Undead q4 c3

Bear Clans

Basic bear 50 Big Tough q4 c3

Iron paw 60 Big Tough Hammering Blow q4 c3

Veteran 66 Big Tough (P) q3 c3

Vanguard 65 Big Long Move Tough (P) q4 c3

Skirmisher 53 Big Tough Javelin q4 c3

Elite Skirmisher 60 Big Tough Dead Shot Javelin q4 c3

Tree whisperer 68 Big Tough Spell-caster Spell: Wall of wood q3 c2

Earth Shaper 80 Big Tough Spell-caster Spell: Alter Terrain q3 c2

Earth Shaker 86 Big Tough Spell-caster Spell: Tremor q3 c2

Shaman 92 Big Tough Healer Spell-caster Spell: Courage q3 c2

Cloud gatherer 92 Big Tough Spell-caster Spell: Mist Noxious cloud q3 c2

Storm caller 104 Big Tough Spell-caster Spell: Hailstorm Lightning q3 c2

Wandering Male 62 Big Tough Savage q4 c4

Experienced Wanderer 82 Big Tough Savage q3 q4

Lord of the Wilds 110 Big Tough Savage Lead from the Front q3 c4
>>
>>50693983

The Empire

The infantry

Legionare 18 Group Fighter (P) Shieldwall, Tower Shield q5 c2

Auxilia 15 Javelin Quick q5 c2

Preatorians 24 Drilled Group fighter Javelin Shieldwall Tower Shield q5 c2

Centurions 27 Drilled Group fighter Shieldwall Subcommander Tower Shield q5 c2

The calvary

Basic noble 50 Mounted Heavily Armored q3 c3

veteran noble 63 Mounted Heavily Armored q2 c3

Leader noble 75 Heavily armored Mounted Subcommander q2 c3

The casters

Front line mage 26 Spell-caster Spell: Flame Jet (P) Protection from Arrows (P) q4 c1

Quieter of the dead Spell-caster Spell: Destroy Undead 30 q3 c1

Dispeller 36 Spell Caster Spell Break Enchantment (P) Counter-Spell (P) q4 c1

Demon summoner 60 Spell-Caster Spell: Summon Warrior (P) (demon) q3 c1

Fist of the Archon 105 Spell-caster (P) Spell: Flame Jet (P) Protection From Arrows (P) Summon Warrior (P) q2 c1


Demons

Lesser Demon 62 Berserk, Greedy, Terror (P), Unruly q3 c3

Demon 72 Berserk, Greedy, Terror (P), Unruly q3 c4

Greater Demon 115 Berserk, Greedy, Terror (P), Unruly q2 c4
>>
If anyone has any problems with the stat blocks feel free to raise your concern. Now that we have major factions stats i'll start looking into doing some of the minor factions. Suggestions for how you think they should work are needed.
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This picture is very telling of how I imagine the Visamt aesthetic by the way. I saw someone asking about it in the last thread.
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>>50694009
This one too
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>>50694025
This but with a darker color scheme and more D E M O N S
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I also really liked this as one of the early inspo images for the Preservers of Zelthen's Light. Really evokes that cold, distant mutant killing machine who at the end of the day IS fighting for a just cause, even if they have left behind everything that makes them human in the process.
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>>50694054
Maybe the Arch-Magus of Visamt could be based on this
>>
What kind of culture are the bears
>>
Ok, so here's our main goal for this thread: Define what the units in each faction look like, in order to better find 3d models and make 2d tokens. Here's what we've got so far:

Yonas Clan: Actual Bears with an opposable claw that allows them to hold spears and other simple weapons. Wears druidic armor made from wood, animal sinew, carved bone. May have Cherokee warpaint.

Inverse: As close to Eldritch Horrors as you can get while still maintaining the dragon feel. Mostly snakelike eastern dragon bodies with wings, and extra sets of mouths, teeth wings, heads, claws, spines, etc. Basically go nuts.

Visamti and Zelthen: see above, have yet to get a consensus.

Lizardmen: Desert lizards and more built for speed and lithe than anything else.
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>>50694326
Well, Yonas is the Cherokee word for Bear, so we were going off of that for aesthetic, mostly warpaint and feather/Natural decorations. Besides that, there was a huge rant about the matrilineal oligarchy and whatnot.
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>>50694359

Don't forget, the lizards ride giant gazelles.
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>>50694400
We decided that the lizards ride whatever the fuck they want, can tame, and maintain food sources for. Personally, gazelles, while cool, are somewhat impractical for the barren lands being large herbivores. More likely the Utahraptor or giant komodo dragons would be easier to keep, feeding them the victims of their raids, which is what they themselves eat.
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>>50694429

oh alright, guess i missed that bit of fluffing. I thought we were all still onboard for the gazelle and the consensus was that rapters was a little to close to WFB. That makes finding art for them SOOOO much easier.
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>>50694397
Just gonna say. Not picking Saxons for bears is a little disappointing. I could have contributed much more. Native Americans are bland as hell
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>>50694450
Feathered raptor-birds are more different, and I think we were leaning Komodo Dragons anyway.
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>>50694461
They're based on "industries druidism" which basically means they rape nature until it does what they want. Most if their society revolves around avoiding and covering up up the cineastes if thier actions.

I'd be cool with a classic western druid motif instead of a native American one.

Not that I think native American motifs are bland.
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>>50694461


Bearloreman here. The bears aren't native Americans, I used the name because I liked the way it sounded and southeastern US bee, berry and briar young growth forest was what I imagined as thier default terrain, to avoid the old growth England/european trope mostly associated with elves. If you have alternate ideas for clothing or cultural elements, contribute away.
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>>50694757
I'm currently working but I do have some big ideas for bear people I'll post a little later
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>>50694429
>>50694450
>>50694494

Not to be contrarion or accused of something and making things different for the sake of it, but I really feel like lizardmen riding dinosaurs or other large reptiles is way too cliche. I'm also not a huge fan of this notion that lizardmen eat the dead after thier battles, which is totally new to my knowledge.

Obviously "what do they eat," is always a question one needs to ask in world building, but that level of subhuman savagery does not really feel appropriate for the culture we've crafted for them. Surely we can find a better answer than that.

Perhaps there are certain distant parts of the waste where only lizardmen are hardy enough to reach, and there they find some highly unusual food source for their mounts. Maybe massive briars that feed off an underground river so deep they're the only plant that was tough enough to survive the climate of the surface and reach their roots down to it. Maybe some weird for of cave moss that they found deep inside a nation-sized cavern system. I dunno, anything but eating corpses, that's grimdark city.
>>
Just a thought, but I see no reason to be purest here.

>>50694461
We could have Cherokee near druids with touches of Saxon influence

>>50694494
And while I am 100% in favor of the lizards riding whatever they can that's available in the environment, I see no reason that they can't ride komodo gazelles, as long as we keep the right tone.
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>>50694888

Given their Mongolian influence, it would be nice for them to have a particular animal they hold a special cultural relationship with or hold in particular esteem, although I was also originally in favor of them just riding whatever they can find in the wastes.
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>>50693929

There isn't a ton of consensus on Berustia yet other than people seem to really like the Martine power with a focus on whaling as the base. I agree, I think there's a lot of good eligiac feels to be mined from whaling and the sea in a dying world.

Suggestions for cultural touchstones have included Norway, Denmark, England, New England, Japan, Renaissance Italy, and Venice. Of the major Whaling nations, the only ones we were missing were Iceland and Denmark. You also added Russia on there, which based on my research has its own interesting whaling anecdotes, especially from the Soviet period so that's worth considering.

If I were picking from that grabbag, I think I would Japan, Iceland and Denmark with just the slightest frosting of New England. But that's just based on some preliminary reading and rough ideas I've been doing on my own.
>>
So just to clarify, which minor factions still need stats and what kinda armies are we looking for with them. I know there are the Dwarves (although that may be difficult) and Berustia. I was also thinking about doing some priests for Zelthan. I know i'm missing a few, help an anon out?
>>
Saxon-Bear-Man here. Home from work and ready to drop my two cents.

Saxons as the major Cultural focus of bears is a good fit because Saxons themselves are majorly culturally impacted by bears and I think they hit right home because of:

>Saxon Pagan worship focused on Storms, Earth and forest, with many Mehirs, Cairns and Standing Columns, with Saxon Paganism focused very much on Animism.

>Might makes right mentality, with Strength a great symbol of power within Saxon culture, but cruelty frowned upon.

>Hunting cultures don't actually suit bears, as bears are not Hunter Predators.

And to add things when it comes to fluffing up a culture.

>Saxons loved Mead , Mead is brewed from Honey, Bears as a stereotype love honey

>Saxons had an extreme goldlust, you can tie that to Honey too

>Housekeeping was a strictly Matriarchal role Where the Women owned the property, Female bears are seen as very Matriarchal

You could tie this all together to make the Bear-folk even into the Not!Dwarves of the setting.

>Cave-city dwelling Bearfolk who mine for Gold and Drink Mead, Valuing Strength and Honour with Rigid house-Matrons.

I truth be told did this in a PnP session, so I can give examples of cultural rites and things I did there if you are interested more in Saxon-Bears.

/Two cents given.
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File: BearModel.png (279 KB, 525x611)
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Alright, I think I've finally found our first good 3d model. Fully poseable in Blender, fits our aesthetic for the bears, etc. Only thing it's missing is weapons and gear.
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>>50696095
Oh, and I found a really nice free tool to animate poses made by adobe:
https://www.mixamo.com/

Here's how I've managed:

1. Export model in Blender as .fbx.

2. Upload to Mixamo and choose a good animation with a pose you like.

3. Re-download the model with the animation attached and import into blender.

4. Pause the animation mid-pose and export the model to .dae.

There you have it. A free easy model poser without the hassle of extraneous modeling.
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>>50695707
Sounds pretty good except for the gold mining thing. They don't seem to have a use for gold.
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>>50696214
Nobody had a use for gold for centuries except to look good.

Gold = wealth.
Gold looks like Honey
Bears fucking love Honey.
Bears fucking love Gold.
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>>50696243
I think I'll outline some customs my OC Saxon-Bear people had because fuck it it was fun

>Length of fur was a symbol of wisdom, Male bears braided and straightened their fur on their chins in the style of beards and cut their fur on the head and nape of neck, Females did the reverse
>However, if a Female is pregnant, she doesn't cut her chin fur, and instead letting it grow long
>When the cub is born, the female cuts it down to normal and braids it into a belt for the child.
>Belts are a big status symbol, the bigger belt, the bigger bear, the Bigger belt buckle and ornaments, the more wealthy
>They always kept the original weave of their mothers braid
>When their mothers die, it's often customary to cut the braid in two, keeping half tied to their belt, and for Sons and Daughters to weave the braids into one long burial belt that is adorned with given wealth.

>Fantastic Miners, Bearfolk claim they can sniff out the metal within the rock
>Though adept smiths, Bearfolk shun Most armour and weapons like spears and swords, calling them coward weapons that weaken those who carry them, however, they do use Caestus and armoured claws, reasoning the bear does most the work
>Iron and Steel goes towards more mundane things, though Bear-folk Armour is made of rounded plates tied to belts and chain loincloths.
>Gold however is prized and often used for Ornamentation of everything from Fur combs to drinking horns.
>>
>>50695707
I like most of this.

>>50696214
But I agree that they don't really have a traditional mining feel.
Although using druidic magic to force nature to produce or reveal the minerals the want jives with the earlier writing.
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>>50696095
>>50696206
Awesome possum.
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>>50696095

Oh hell yes.
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>>50696399
The Idea from mining is that they like the Gold and Jewels, everything else is a Byproduct really.

Also it ties with Bears living in Caves.
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>>50695707

All interesting stuff. I mentioned this toward the end of the last thread, but one of my tonal inspirations for the race was Princess Mononoke. Not in that there is anything japanese about thier culture, but in that I wanted a vision of Nature as something that has great strength, nobility and granite, but also a fundamental element of greed, pettiness and rot. I don't think anything you're talking about is incompatible with that.

That said, I don't want them to be not dwarves. Especially since we have dwarves that are sort of not dwarves. So don't move too far in that direction.
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>>50696551

sorry, grandeur. Dumb phone spellcheck.
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>>50696551
>>50696573

The biggest problem with the Princess Mononoke feeling is that you'll never get that with the Bears themselves Worshipping and controling elements.

Unless you mean an army of LITERAL Bears and not Bear-folk it's hard to make the Faction feel less like the Humans than the animals.
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>>50696608

Well, the bears don't worship the elements, they use them, consume them, aggressively seek them out to maintain thier way of life without much regard for anyone but themselves. That kind of self-centered nature is pretty animal by my reckoning, especially in contrast to the Zelthan knights.
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>>50697106
Well, what I feel here is that the Bears don't have a culture so much as an instinctual design, making much of what I said kind of useless to the subject.
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For you Visamti fans out there, I found these.
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>>50697785
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>>50697386

Thinking on this, I think you have a good point. I wrote on a lot on what the bears are but not much on why they are. I'll ruminate on that and put up some ideas when I don't have to type on a.phone
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>>50697808
Zelthen as well
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>>50697785
>>50697808
Main Visamt lore guy here
I really like these for the Visamti sorcerers. Fits my idea of them perfectly. For their main armies I have no doubt that there's plenty of Roman models out there too.
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>>50697933
Where are you finding these?
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>>50697933
Found a decent Lizard man, but he's going to need a head replacer, and possibly feet.
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>>50697963
Turbosquid and Yobi3d. Mostly Yobi3d.

>>50697964
And because it's in such popular demand, here's a mount.

All of these are rigged and fully poseable.
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>>50697964

He's pretty swole. Did we ever decide if these are lithe lanky lizardmen or not? I would think they would be if they ride gazelle
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>>50697942

Hey, did you my post at the end of the last thread mildly objecting to the Demons And God Power Are Manifested Emotional Energy lore? Nobody from the Visa lore discussion responded to it
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>>50698139
The problem is that there is a total of 3 free Lizard men models on the internet:

-The one that looks like the Worst version of the spiderman villain
-The one that's evern more swole than this guy
-This one.

I do have a suggestion though: We make these guys all manlets, under 5ft in height. Scaling is the easiest thing in 3d modeling.
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>>50698169
I didn't see it, I wasn't really active from this time yesterday until a couple hours ago. I'll try to find it.
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>>50698249

Reposting for ease:

You CAN take blood without causing pain or suffering. That doesn't mean you HAVE to. Pain, Fear, Rage, all might make blood more potent or have different properties for instance. Lifeblood is the most potent of all.

If I have to be totally honest I'm not the biggest fan of "Demons and angelic mutations are emotional energy manifested on the corporeal plane," thing. It feels like magi-science, which isn't something you should really have in a setting like this. Magic, even divine magic, should really maintain that mysticism in a setting where the best days of the world are behind it and all the great kingdoms of old are long dead. Even the Wizard Kingdom is run by malfunctioning holograms instead of real wizards, the only people who actually understand magic are ghosts that can't be relied upon to teach anyone anything. Demons just coming from a Demon Realm because they have a pact with this Evil Kingdom and the Knights just having the mutations and protections without they (or us) knowing for sure if the God is real or how they do these miracles feels more right for the setting.

Also, I think it much better if the Visamti civilization doesn't HAVE to kill their slaves. If their way of life obligates it, especially in an apocalyptic setting, there's a certain moral buffer about being casual and callous about human life. It represents a greater degree of corruption and lack of concern for anything but one's own interests at the individual AND societal level if you don't HAVE to let slaves die, but will anyway if it helps you in the smallest way.

This is all just my opinion though
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>>50698391
Yeah, I just read everything I missed from the previous thread and there was some highly interesting stuff in there about Visamt, Restavia and the Knights.

As for your thing, I really like it. It makes the setting feel much more grim if all concept of magic, the one thing that can save them, is lost and the only people who use it are doing so by accident. I don't think the Visamt should have to sacrifice slaves for their magic most of the time. They live in their own little world and they aren't really keeping slaves to survive, they're doing so out of gluttony.

One thing though is that I think perhaps the Archon should need some sort of human sacrifice to keep him alive. Maybe every couple months he needs to drink the blood of a virgin slave, or maybe bathe in their blood. Something greedy and sinister. The Archon should also be one of the last people on earth who really understands the magic that his people use, but keeps these secrets to himself out of personal interest.

Speaking of the Archon, I kind of want to build the fluff around the struggle for power that we've set up in the Imperial Court.
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>>50693092
/tg/ finishing one set of rules is a lofty enough goal to begin with.
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>>50698618
Not with that attitude!
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>>50698239
There's also no shortage of dragons that suit our purposes, nor Monstrous heads and features for our theme, especially on yobi3d. The only issue is that none of them are rigged, which I have no experience in. We need someone who can do that.
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>>50698692
Visamti soldiers, on the other hand, I'm not going to put so much effort into prepping. There is already a wide variety of free Roman Soldier miniatures that simply need to be converted to .dae and painted that you'll hardly need a fully posable and equippable model to get the same kind of variety the other armies need.
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>>50698906
Alright, I'm going to get a Mega started to hold all of our stuff. Besides what I've got, if you guys want to do some searching and link me to new models we can use, that'd be great.
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>>50700207

I had been messing around with makehuman earlier. If someone knows their way around blender and can talk the models from makehuman and put armor and stuff on them it could increase our options for knight models and our ability to manipulate them for that "Mutated super human" Type feel. For instance the one i was messing with i jacked the proportions so the legs were unnaturally long, which i thought might work as a base for pathfinders.
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>>50696608

So, Bear Culture. I guess I'll start by talking through my thought processes.

When I first saw the prompt in the first thread for BEARS, I thought of a matriarchal society because of a documentary I saw on Polar Bears, which mentioned that males will kill and eat their own young if the mother allows them to get close. I also mentioned in my original post that other races think of the bears as gluttons, because they eat a huge tons of food at any given meal. This is because when I was thinking of animal traits one might associate with bears, one that I latched onto was the idea that they'll eat anything and lots of it to store fat for hibernation. I figured that was a lot more interesting than "likes honey," or other more cartoony associations. In another post I mentioned how hibernation is a thing that is only recently being reintroduced to their society. I didn't include it initially because I figured it didn't make a ton of sense for them to be sleeping when they're desperate to stay alive and threats approach their forests from all sides, but hitting on it as a form of subtle resource control made it click for me with the other traits I'd articulated for them. If you're sleeping, you're not eating after all (of course you're also not working, which then is another problem).

Other thoughts I had while I was writing up Bear stuff: I didn't want the bears to be Elves reskinned, which is why I came up with the idea of "Industrial," Druidism. They're not about protecting the forests or natural balance or anything like that. They're greedy animals that want what they want when they want it, and have the ability to get as much of it as they want with a cost that isn't immediately apparent or troubling for them, so they do so. This is where the Mononoke reference ties in, as the Boar Tribe is that movie is very much about recklessness and indulgence. They're strong and grand and proud, but also foolish and doomed and out for themselves rather than "nature."
>>
Fellow Lorefags, we should flesh out the finer details of the setting. I'll start us off with a prompt:

> Write the daily schedule for an average member of each faction.
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>>50702576

So, looking at all that, and some of these Saxon cultural influence suggestions in

>>50695707
>>50696370

I like this cultural tie to women owning property and having exclusive control over housekeeping. When I was thinking on the Males Eat Young thing, I didn't want that to lead to the bears being Male-less amazons, which is why I went with the idea that males are either Wanderers or under total control of the female leaders and bred for specific purposes. The idea that only females can own land and have total dominion over the home (and thus can totally dictate the lives of males who live there down to breeding them for desirable traits, and later can enact a police state on the lesser females) really clicks with the existing Matriarchy lore.

I never said this expressly, but I felt in the back of my head that this race shouldn't have a religion per se. No gods, no worshiping of anything. I felt like their greedy nature and exploitative lifestyle necessitated a sort of narcissism that precluded a higher power. I mentioned this at least once in passing by noting the Bears think the Lizards desire to become Gods is silly because their understanding of the universe is that gods are incompatible with the cosmic order. That said, I think they absolutely could have a Mytho-History.

So what if we say the origins of their cultural order came down to two great beings from their distant savage past, a male and a female. The males in those days devoured the young as a matter of course, and the females fought to save them. This went on until one female with two mates issued an ultimatum: no male would ever taste the flesh of a fellow bear again, or no female would bring another cub into the world again, and their race would die. All the other females joined her in a pact, and the males began to fight among themselves over what to do. Her two mates each chose a different answer: one into exile, while the other bowed to her. Half of the males followed each one.
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>>50702789

cont.

The males who went into exile tried to settle, but without the wisdom of the females fell upon each other any time they stopped their journey. The weight of the crime of killing children stained them, and so for refusing to give up their right to eat cubs they would never know peace, and were doomed only to wander for all time. Meanwhile, because the males could not be trusted even after bowing, the concept of absolute authority within settled lands arose, and thus the one who'd stood up to her mates became the First Matriarch. Over time, other females would grow wise and strong and challenge her, but because females are not so savage as the men, they went off peacefully with their followers to create their own homes instead of making war and shedding blood. The males over time saw how much better life was under their Matriarchs, and the stain of their crime and their lust for the flesh of children was lost in noble service.

Naturally, the Wandering Males tell a very different version of this legend, but this tale is nonetheless the foundation of Bear society
>>
Welp. I've been working way to hard at this. We've got all the minis we could ever want, fully textured, and ready to go at no extra cost. Tabletop Simulator's Workshop is chock full of models for every motif possible, from Dark Souls to Generic Knights, to the entire 40k set. Better yet, it's all in .obj, which is just a blender import/export away from being perfectly compatible with BB3D.
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>>50704228

Sweet.

Statsfag here. So do ya'll want the minor factions or not?
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>>50704296
Sure, why not. Though we should get the supplements uploaded sometime. I was about to buy them myself but I realized tuition has me out for about a week
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If we're going to stat the minor factions as units, we need more fluff for them.

Lets start with Berustia. And while we're here: am I the only one bugged by that name when our other kingdom is Restavia? They hit the ear pretty similarly, and not just because of the -ia. Since they're inevitably going to have such a radically different culture than the ones we've established with the north europe/japan schtick, the name really ought to be something more different.
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>>50704228
>>50704296
There is one drawback to this though: We need someone who owns TTS to be able to download the models for us. I'm totally willing to convert them though if someone can provide me with them.
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>>50704438
Random kingdom names dump:

Shathizdin,
Imralis
Bregonde
Ossin
Karnimress
Zundushar
Sirisea
Eriallon
Ondenon
Esseargoth
Honingul
Iriargest
Mithleras
Bressirion
Norestir
Nandone
Amadhor
Lorione
Formithladh
Larastir
Eledhel
Essealand
Sirothel
Faline
Belumar
Sirasea
Helonde
Ilieriand

Take what you will.
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>>50704753
>>50704438
That actually reminds me of a piece of software I downloaded, but never got to use. The Everchanging Book of Names. Quick, someone give me a culture, and someone else give me a letter.
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>>50702789
>>50702924
The story of the Wandering Males are thus:
Long time ago, long before the world started to decay, and long before the world is lush, there was the beginning-time. At this time, the Yona did not have the druidic magics needed to survive in the wilds of the beginning, and thus food were hard to get. At that time there were three Bears, a matriarch and her two consorts. The harshness of life was briefly subdued when the matriarch birthed a cub, which brought joy to the trio. The four of them journeyed from place to place, and soon enough the cub shows that it had a power. Every land they traveled past grew fertile, prey plentiful. But one of the consorts grew jealous of this, and tried to kill the magic cub - only to be met with the other consort's fury. A fight ensued, but it matters not who won at the end of it, for the magic cub was slain in the fight. The matriarch grieves, and a consort was exiled, to forever wander the wastes. The magic in the cub was then passed to the matriarch, and with it she made the world lush and fertile. Now, you ask, 'are we the descendants of the exiled ones?' yes. But our ancestor is not the jealous one. Though the jealous one's blood might be in some of us, know that we are sworn to be the protector of the Yona. Suppress your greed, and protect your kin; it's the least we can do for the Cub.
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>>50705645
I like the tone of this. It explains a lot about why their society is so sheltered. They've got something like the loss of a cub ingrained into their origin story, it makes sense that they would want to protect the youth, protect the innocent, and help them flourish, even at the cost of the truth, and the lives they risk in order to maintain it.
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>>50700638
I think I may have found a tool that works even better than Makehuman. Fuse. It's free and available on steam, works with Mixamo, and seems to have a lot more free clothing sets, including Armor, and it seems to do everything Makehuman does.
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>>50705968

oh? Well now, that may be worth a look.
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>>50705968
How's this guy? I believe you can modify body shape as you please, so we can have our mutants in armor as well. I'll let you know.
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>>50706150

Das perfect, so very perfect.
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>>50706162
Yeah, you do have to sign up for an Adobe account in order to download him, but hey, it's free, and it's better quality than most else of what we'll find.
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>>50706242

well i mean once one anon has it after we modify it to our tastes can't it just be passed around? Or is there something to prevent that?
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>>50706256
I'm actually headed of to bed now, so I thought you, who took an interest in this sort of thing, would sign up.
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>>50705645

This is also neat because the male's version of the story omits any reference to males devouring cubs. You're left with the question of whether that element of the mythology was some kind of female propaganda since they are so controlling, or if it was the Wanderers whitewashing history to make themselves seem less monsterous. It is awfully charitable that it was the males who chose submission and service to the females who ALSO happened to be the criminal who wanted to jealously slay its own child... and yet it could also ring true if the shame of being the one to start the conflict was so great that they allowed themselves to lose all power and freedom as penance while those who tried to save the cub walk with pride as the defenders of their race, blameless for what happened yet nobly suffering a self-imposed penance for failing to protect.

Its also very fitting that the manta of the Wanderers is "Supress your greed." Even before the End Times began, the wanderers would never had had the kind of resources that the Clans throw away on a whim. Every day would have been a fight for them to survive while the rest of their race feasted in safety. And you can interpret the mantra with both versions of the story. If the Exiles were horrible child-eating barbarians who wouldn't give up their bloodlust to stay with their people, then you're lying to yourself and those who follow as a necessity, to teach them how to survive outside of plenty through false traditions and happy lies... only for the lies to become true when the world starts to die and the clans start relying on you to find them resources.
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>>50705645
>>50705857

Oh, also, its neat how the Female's version of the myth is group oriented, it talks about a pact between all females and the response of all males, while the Exiles version of the story is all about a single noble male from a single family as a root ancestor for all who came after. There's so many subtle things going on with this, its a great addition.
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>>50705122
I will give you Scandanavian and H
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Saxonman here. This is a pretty good and in depth thing and I like alot of it. The only problem I have with it is it really relies on the species being exclusively polar bears and polar bears are sort on an outlier when it comes to bears
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>>50708001
Sorry for short posts. Posting from the phone.

Basically. Most bear species are nowhere near as aggressive as polar bears and often not active hunters. On the inverse Polar bears are not as intelligent as grizzly or brown bears.

You could incorporate that into the mythos really. But just a thought.
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>>50692803
I was only around for the first thread, but I couldn't help but notice that there is very little written for the dragons. Has anyone considered taking inspiration from Guild Wars on it? To summarize them in Guild Wars, there are only 6 Elder Dragons, each of them with their own domain and strength to rival the gods. They are each of them from a time before time and their very wingbeats destroy and corrupt the world around them. For example, Zhaitan (the Dragon of Undeath)'s awakening brought an ancient continent up from the sea floor, destroying everything on the coastline, causing tidal waves on lands half the world away and raising all those who drowned with to undeath. The spine-spikes of Kralkattorik, the Desert Dragon, were believed to be a great mountain range before he awoke in anger and drew a blighted scar through the lands of Ascslon many miles wide.

Any consensus on taking inspiration from Guild Wars?
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>>50708237
This would conflict with Dragons being actual game units.
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>>50708244
Well, the Elder Dragons DO have minions, among the most powerful of which are Dragon Champions. While corrupted crestures can become one, the majority of champions are lesser dragons that they spawn - one of the main characters of the first game is one such Dragon Champion, Glint.
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>>50708237
>>50708297
Well, they are called the Antithesis for a reason. So let's determine how many of them are, and what element(s) are they the antithesis of? Once we find the element, we lovecraft it up to 11, and dragonify it a bit.
40k took their Chaos Gods after the four horseman of the apocalypse(-ish), so maybe instead of elements we could find something else to find the anathema of. Or we could look at how Lovecraft did it with his Elder Gods. What do they embody?
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>>50708964
Nope nope nope. The Dragons are supposed to be incomprehensible. They do not correspond to anything. They are called the Antithesis for a lack of a better word.

I also think that not really having any named Dragons would add to the atmosphere. Cataloguing and identifying things goes a long way towards understanding.
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>>50709049
There could always be conflicting details
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>>50709189
>>50709049
Nah, I agree, keeping the dragons unnamed is better, especially since the focus is one Your Guys, it's not really about their identity, it's more about just how fucking scary you can make your dragon. If they did have names, they would be ones assigned by the other factions, Tyranid style, with names like Terror of the North.
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>>50709618
I'm even thinking that Dragon observations could be non-repeating.

E.g., a particular Dragon showed up to terrorize the North for 10 years and was accordingly nicknamed the Terror of the North. Then no one has ever seen it, or any Dragon similar to it, again. Did it die? Did it just leave for somewhere not of this world? Maybe Dragons can change forms? Is it at will or a life stage transformation? No one knows. Fucking Dragons, how do they work?
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>>50709049
>>50709189
>>50709618
>>50709668
This development I wholeheartedly agree. Pure chaos! Which means they can be whatever you want them to look like, as long as it's terrifying/weird, and could fall within the stretched definition of 'Dragon'.

Now, any other faction(s) needing fleshing out? Or perhaps you've spotted a gaping plothole? Maybe it's the other way around, you found a link between two setting pieces? Do tell!
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It makes sense that people would try to name them. They'd need something to call whatever dragon happened to be screwing with them at the time. And for historic documents they would want more than just "a dragon" because then things would get confusing. Was the dragon lord magistrate Eliajas slew the one that was burning the westfold? Or the one that kept attacking caravans? Don't know. It was a dragon through. Makes for bad history.
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>>50709735
The thing that picked my attention was that the Lizardmen are supposed to be mercenaries, and at the same time they are fanatically trying to save the world by killing all humans. These two pieces of fluff don't combine well. You could say that Lizardmen work as mercenaries to kill more humans without attracting undue attention to themselves, but this sort of conspiratorial plan implies a central authority.
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>>50709821
Maybe not all lizardmen merc it up. Only the smart, shifty, conspiratorial-type do it.
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I kind of want to see a statblock of a knight order dedicated to killing dragons now.
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>>50710105

Are you asking for a knight as ridiculous as the dragons are?
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>>50709821
>>50709922
This is my response to this line of thought, in mediocre comic form.

Side note: inventing stick figure lizardmen was fun.
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>>50710182
Nah, more like a team of knights centered around the Dragonslayer traits that have maybe one or two kills under their belt,
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>>50710582

That's doable, and reasonable. eh why not.
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>>50710594
>>50710582

My reasoning behind this is that these guys are probably the most notable force that actively fights against the dragons, usually surviving by being stupidly lucky until they've developed the peculiar habit of not dying, and becoming veterans of sorts, then formed a new knight order around that.

Most, if not all of them have some holy training in order to smite undead, for obvious reasons, and the order is likely full of Personalities.
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>>50710699

Well i didn't make a new order, though i can go back and do that, i just kinda made a bunch of special characters. Names can of course be changed.

Zelthan's Dragonslayers (The Orders undivided ;) )

Sentinal Vahagn 98 Huge Heavily Armored Hunter Dragonslayer Will of Iron q2 c4

Trailblazer Balder 103 Long Move Hunter Dragonslayer Free disengage q2 c4

Trueblade Bowen 98 Agile Evade and Counter Hunter Dragonslayer Difficult target q2 c4

Sharpshooter Bard 100 Longbow Dead Shot Hunter Dragonslayer q2 c4

We can go in and flesh it out and do it differently if this doesn't satisfy, it was just my first go. All 4 add up to 399 points.
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>>50710825

I should probably swap out for some smite undead yeah.
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Having finally read through most of the previous threads, I gotta say /tg/ is getting shit done and it is awesome.

If no one minds, I'd like to flesh out the Restavian Remnant. I've always loved the whole roaring 20's spirit of progress techno-optimism aesthetic, which I think makes sense for the Remnant. "Who needs magic, we'll beat those scaly cretins with ingenuity and grit!" Of course our world at the time wasn't literally dying, but the bleakness of the wastes contrasts the fires of progress pretty well.

As I was thinking about this whole schtick, I realized that history provides the perfect embodiment of that contrast; the returning soldiers of WWI. So enough over-intellectual jerking off, here's my ideas. The main city of the Remnant (New Restavia maybe?) is a place of progress and wonder. New forms of steam and cog driven technology are unveiled almost daily to the awe of the citizens. Some of these new marvels are useful, but most are just distractions, meant to keep the refugee swollen populace hopeful. Outside the immediate surroundings, the Fatigued scour the encroaching wastes, seeking the resources needed to fuel the workshops and laboratories.

The main army consists of whatever technological arms the city can produce, mainly steam tanks, cog golems and crude flying machines, supplemented by volunteer citizen gunners. The Fatigued are the elite scouts of the army, bound together by the horrors of the wastes. They take their name from the official diagnosis of the crazed survivors of the first group of scouts to come across The Antithesis: "Battle Fatigue."

So the idea is a WWI/early post war style army, with more techno-marvels than soldiers, supplemented by bitter, hardened special forces scouts who took their name from the euphemism given to the soul-crushing horror of the dying world.
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>>50710926
And because I'm retarded, I forgot the theme song for the "Yay woo progress" side of the Remnant.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3spACC0wqgc

P.S. I don't know nothing about no system, so if someone could help with actually fleshing out the units I'd be grateful.
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>>50710949
Ah, I should have brought this up earlier before we solidified Restavia's identity as magic-less. Here's the creator's statement on the to-be released supplements:

"We have lots of different magic abilities planned. For example, Hammer and Forge adds a few more spells and a complete system for rune magic, runestones, runes etched into weapons or used as traps, runic blessings, and druidic, animalistic Feral Powers; the Elf supplement Leaf and Arrow will add more spells, enchanted arrows, magic birthmarks and more druid powers; Steam and Cogs will add spells that interact with steam-powered and clockwork-powered automata, and so on."

Restavia Might not work as an entirely mage-free society, unless we spin fluff for mech spells as "I cast Engineering."

Though so far he's only released Hammer and Forge, and a campaign supplement for it that adds Demon Magic, as well as the Fightin' Fungi supplement, which has traits for Mushroom Men and Martial Artists.
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>>50710949
Here, Have my Steampunk "The Future is Bright" theme song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wfboKtXdUo
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>>50711040
I wasn't even thinking about magic or the lack thereof honestly. Everything I wrote still works perfectly well with magitech or even some full blown magic. I definitely think Restavia should be mostly tech, but aside from that it's whatever works. Refluffing to I cast cogs is fine too, shouldn't be too much of a stretch.
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Hello fellows.
I was planning on working up some 2d art for y'all tonight.
I was going to make art for stands for the models.
With these new 3d models (that I can't work on when I have the time to work)
I lost track of what we have.

Is that something we still need?
If so, where should I start?
I'm asking now so that I can wotk out what I'm doing by tonight.

If we don't need the stands I could always make less-productive concept art.
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>>50711154

Couldn't hurt, i mean the 3d models are nice but 2d used to make tokens works good too, and it would let us get images closer to what we are going for rather than settling with what we can get off the internet for 3d. i don't know. Concept art is also cool.
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>>50711154
Well, it's probably going to take a while to get the 3d models done, a week or two, and I need to find someone who owns Tabletop Simulator in order to download most of the models we'll use. Seeing some Tokens and being able to dive right into the game would be awesome!
>>
Is anyone planning on making a list of IRL miniatures that work for the various units in the game?
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>>50711154
I have a suggestion: Draw the core units of each faction paper doll style, than draw a bunch of cut and paste weapons and armor we can customize them with, Towergirls style. That way we can still keep the whole "Your Guys" thing and those of us who want to

Though it might be a hassle to draw the backside of every model. Sketchfab and Yobi3D have an in-browser 3d viewer you can view for reference. Mixamo has a bunch of cool poses you can use as well, including mid-spell casting, sword-swinging, etc.
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>>50711293

Well i mean when i was looking at finding 3d minis for this i found a bunch of people who had bootlegged virtual miniatures of warhammer stuf for 3d printing that you can download, and i considered maybe sharing those with the thread but decided against it, but theoretically there are a lot of things from wfb or Aos that could be compatible.
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>>50711423
Like this.
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>>50711474
>>50711293
Good luck to anyone trying to find the Ral Partha Ghost Dragon mini we said would look great for the dragons, it doesn't seem to be in production anymore
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>>50711293
Heroforge lets you do custom minis. It'd probably be great for all of this.
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so >>50710699 this >>50710825 tickle your fancy or would you rather have a separate order with it's own mutations and stuff.
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>>50711481
>>50711423
This is a good suggestion.
I will try to work out what core unit of each faction is.

>Though it might be a hassle to draw the backside of every model.
Eh, I knew what I was getting into.

>>50711181
>>50711198
Thanks for the support.

Btw, for the bases, I was gonna use muted tones but a thought just hit me:
Do we have any sort of unofficial colors for each faction?
(Cue debate)
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>>50708001
>>50708019

Original Bearloreman replying. Not to be snarky, but does it particularly matter if we're transposing some traits exclusive to Polar bears onto a general Bearfolk race? So long as its tonally consistent with the world anyway.

Moreover, I didn't see too much in there that was about hunting other than one mention of prey. Just a mytho-historical reference to Males being savage child-eaters, stubborn and innately violent, which is contradicted by an alternate telling of the legend where they are peaceful but vigilant family guardians who in one instance allowed innate greed to warp into jealousy with tragic results.

Side note: I had always kind of imagined that the only Wandering Males who could survive out in the frozen wastes were Polars or big Kodiak Grizzles and the like, bears we associate with living in snow. If only from the perspective of it would make their model stand out on the battlefield. One post at least mentioned that smaller less-well-adapted subspecies among the Exiles all ended up dead at this point and only the hardiest types remained.

Anyway, I have some more thoughts on how to integrate Saxon cultural stuff you already mentioned into existing bear race, so feel free to suggest more. And keep up the critiques and responses or tell me why I'm wrong. Its helpful.
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>>50708964
>>50709049
>>50709189
>>50709618
>>50709668
>>50709735
>>50709797

This is an interesting line of thought.

First off, the original name I suggested for the dragons, The Inverse, and the later suggestion of Antithesis, was indeed to give them an alien, unknowable, uncomfortable quality. If there is any meaning to ascribe to them, its that they're the inverse/antithesis of the world, or life itself. I and others have used them term "Anti-life," to describe them several times.

Also note one of my favorite little lore tidbits from before: the term "dragon," as a descriptor for these things came from a term found on ancient maps, and the terms meaning was basically "danger that exists but is from outside the totality of our knowledge."

All this being said, I do like this idea that the outside factions have tried to name and identify individuals they have encountered or managed to slay (assuming they can die, I don't think we've nailed that down, which might be for the better). It makes sense, much like that tidbit on the "Where vs Why," Lizardman/Centaur conversation, that the races that oppose the Antithesis are desperate to comprehend them, even in the smallest possible way. I also REALLY like the idea that these efforts are for naught, because there is no recorded instance of a Dragon that has been ID'd and named being seen again. There's a dozen or more reasons that could be, not the least of which that so many civilizations and records are gone, but its UNKNOWN, which is the key to these guys I think. Even TRYING to learn about them is mostly futile, and the Centaurs will tell you so any time you ask.
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>>50694461
>Native Americans are bland as hell
This translates to "I don't know much about native Americans". The only thing that makes Saxons look non-bland is King of Dragon Pass. Problem is we're not getting Cherokee stuff of similar depth is because their oppression is too recent. It's too overrun with "muh trail of tears" just as a thousand years ago, Saxon stuff was presumably overrun with "muh Verden".

Also comparing native Americans to Saxons is like comparing native Eurasians to, say, the Toltecs.
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>>50695707
>Saxons as the major Cultural focus of bears is a good fit because Saxons themselves are majorly culturally impacted by bears and I think they hit right home because of:
Wow it's like the beginning of an essay from that idiot freshman that can't write for shit but still checks the boxes well enough that the worst you can give him is a C.
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>>50712027
The Restavian Remnant should be pale dull gold, like the kind you see art deco scupltures made out of, mixed with a grey of some kind. Slate grey maybe?
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>>50712993
>assuming they can die, I don't think we've nailed that down
Well if they are to be actual units, they have to be capable of something that could be interpreted as being slain.
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>>50710267
>>50709922
>>50709821
It doesn't have to be covert. It can be common knowledge that the lizardmen want to kill all humans, but there's nothing that says what order they have to do it in, or that they can't get paid for it. Killing all humans is a big job, so it's in a lizard's best interests to prioritize based on pragmatic concerns. And from a human's perspective, it's just a quaint religious belief. "Yeah, the lizards want to kill humans. So do we, we're an army."
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>>50712027

I feel like the knights should have a very utilitarian feel, reel low key. Steel grey, black, white, that sort of thing.
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>>50709821
>>50709922
>>50710267

Worthwhile side note: the only race that has been canonically mentioned to hire the lizards for Mercenary purposes is the Bears. Logically they would be mostly using them to help them fight Antithesis forces when they're outmatched or to help them raid Visamti lands for resources when they need help to get it done.

That being said, even though the Lizards are culturally fixed on killing humanity to bring about their divinity and golden age, I don't know if its totally out of line for them to take money from one human faction to do an objective against another human faction. Their interests are advanced because they're off to kill humans, and they siphon off some wealth and thus power from humans and put it in their own pockets in the process. Win/Win. I mean, Rome wasn't built in a day, they can't just spend every minute of every day plotting their next plan to kill all humans, they got kids to feed and temples and renovate.

The only faction that logically wouldn't deal with the Lizards ever is the Knights, since they are the Prime Evil and all. And the Dwarves, since they're too destitute to be able to pay them. And perhaps the Lizards would ONLY take jobs to fight the humans or Anti-thesis, not Bears or any other non-human race.

I guess one big question is why are they mercing. Does their culture place some special value on treasure for the coming golden age? Is it more practical, to get building materials to keep their monasteries in repair, or supplies to keep their mounts in good health, or just food for their stockpiles? Or is it like that Divinely Mandated Sexual Dominance thing in that all that matters is taking from the lesser races in any way you can?
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>>50713152
Being nomads, the only ways they can obtain many things sedentary people take for granted, like metal, are trading or raiding. And being mercs is like both of these things at the same time.
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>>50713152

just a thought. It seems to me the Bears would use the lizards as a cats-paw any time they wanted to act against the knights. I mean you can't tell me the Knights and the Bears never have conflicting interests. But the Bears wouldm't want to openly fight with their erstwhile ally, so they hire some lizards to do it.
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>>50713152
This Divinely Mandated Sexual Dominance thing strikes me as poorly thought out. Human women impregnated by lizardmen are supposed to give birth to more lizardmen. But the fact is that human reproductive system is completely unsuitable for laying eggs. And lizard biology is completely unsuitable for being born live.
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>>50710926

I like this notion of World War 1 vets. The melancholy of those scenes at the end of Lord Of The Rings where all the Hobbits come back to their home from their various adventures and know they will never be the same is supposed to evoke that, and its a perfect emotion for this setting.

I'm a little more iffy on this technological wonderland, even if its intended to be a facade. Remember, the Remnant aren't really supposed to understand the tech at their disposal, they just kind of maintain it through guesswork and trial and error that is then use it. A society of mechanics trying to replicate the great works, not really engineers, scientists or tinkerers trying to push forward. At least, that was my understanding. Feel free to disagree
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>>50713232
We need to put into the fluff a plausible reason for Knight and Bear warbands to fight each other. It's a wargame, any faction should be able to fight any other.
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>>50713291

>We require the resources of this grove for the crusade

>Piss off that grove is necessary for our plan ditch this planet.
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>>50713018

if you have ideas for the culture, free to throw them into the ring. I'm not above taking ideas from anything as long as we can make it tonally consistent with the setting and we can make some fun lore for the race with it
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>>50713256

well it was just a Mongolian thing, oh I did like the idea of the partial demonic castration as to why only one of the races could bear the others young.
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>>50713256
>>50713442
I think we should drop the concept of anytging sexual as a whole. If this thing is going to be an RPG setting as well as a Wargame, we want to drop anything resembling Magical Realm.
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>>50713545

if you exclude anything sexual from your world building because you fear accusations of magical Realm, the terrorists win.
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>>50713256
It doesn't have to be based on biology, if we can find a suitably resilient magical explanation.
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>>50713712

Or we could leave it unexplained because the how isn't important, its about culture and history, who cares how it's possible?

We don't even need to get into the grit of whether the human mother's lay eggs or give love birth to lizards or what the fuck ever. That level of detail is where the Magical Realm actually starts. "Humans and lizards can interbreed, therefore because mongols the lizards steal human women" is as far as it needs to go.
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>>50713286
Glad you like the stranger in a familiar land idea, I agree it's a great fit.

I was rushing when I wrote that fluff so I mostly used the little paragraph in the google doc for reference. Now that you mention it I remember the idea of the Remnant being all about lost tech from the last thread. Still, I think advancement works better.

First, the whole recovered ancient technology that no one really understands thing is a bit overdone, 40k being the most obvious example along with a lot of other post-apocish settings. Second, as I mentioned I like contrasting a time of hope and progress with a literally decaying world. Third, if I'm remembering right one of the quotes we have for the remnant is about how magic is the past and steam and cogs are the future, which I like as a foil to the other Restavian faction, the Sorcerous Conclave.
>>
Where the hell is the Restavian Remnant getting enough water to use Steam as fuel on an Industrial scale in a desert wasteland!?!
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>>50714534

Purified ocean water?
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>>50713106
I'm not quite sure, I like the idea of the knights as a gaudy bunch of drugged out psychos who evolved from a group of doomsayers. It can still be dark and apocalyptic, flashy doesn't necessarily have to mean clean. Maybe gold or rust?
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>>50713697
Yes, but on the other hand we've already got bipedal Bears, Centaurs, and Lizardmen that make up half the factions. We're dangerously furry as it is.

>>50714545
>>50714534
This should be their thing. They're got massive desalination factories, so clean water isn't a problem for them.
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>>50713968

I like the idea of Restavia's advancement. It's a nice contrast to the doom and gloom of the setting as a whole, and the fact that the world is declining even as their society is elevated to new heights really speaks to me. I still think that crude Steampunk cybernetics would be neat, a soldier that lost a hand but has a new mechanical one, a laborer with a second set of mechanical arms, and so on. It speaks to me.

Also, if they're going to be musket-wielding in an otherwise WW1 Technological Era, flamethrowers would be badass.
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>>50714545
>>50714653

Purified ocean water and desalination facilities? That's awesome, I'm sorry for doubting you, /tg/.
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>>50712993
I concur.

>We call them Antithesis.
>The antithesis of what?
>That which is known.
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>>50713256
>>50713545
I could take or leave the sexual dominance thing, personally.

>>50713860
But if we do it, deliberately vague like this is the way to go.
That's how I play it when running a game.
If the PCs won't know the fiddly bits, I'm content to leave it a mystery.
And the oddness of it matches the tone of murder bears and lizards riding gazelles.
It would seem silly if it were not the grim business of war.
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>>50714657
>>50713968
I too like the polished brass of cogworls as a gleaming distraction from the decay of the world.
The populous may have no idea how their resources dwindle or how the greater mysteries of technology elude their tinkering "engineers".
They don't care, they have clockwork rabbits, steam powered washer machines, and moving staircases!
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>>50715196
I think it would need a much more sinister edge.

Maybe the populace are randomly given "Tickets too the moon" or something where they're promised paradise away from the dying world. Instead they're sent to a discreet meat packaging center, and fed to a hungry populace.
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>>50714534

Their civilization has clung on because it's on the shores of a river Delta if I remember correctly. Possibly the last river on the continent if we want to get dramatic about it.

That said, I actually had the idea of desalinaization being a keystone thing for that whaling city-state. I have a lot of ideas for religious and.economic uses for huge piles of salt that get left over as they make thier drinking water
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>>50715296
I feel like it can be sinister enough without the government being downright edgy. War is not pleasant and the world is dying around them, and technological advancements are only so effective at combating existential dread. They've got their toys, but their powerlessness in the cosmic scheme could be enough to but them into the setting imo.
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>>50715296

I really wish people would stop trying to put the cannibalistic eating of sentient beings into this setting (other than that bear mythology thing because it's mythology). This setting is not grimdark, its eligiac. That means sad, fatalistic pining for a lost golden age with an undercurrent of hope that another golden age will come. Not compatible with Soylent Green.
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>>50715403
>>50715434
I'm definitely against any group, even a minor faction making significant progress in a dying world.

It's sort of like hammering Tau into the 40k setting.

We've already go two civilizations who are distracting their populace from how bad things really are with bread and circuses.

If there's an industrial faction it ought not be "polished brass and cogworls" but dank, smoke clogged Dickensian awfulness.

I think the knights should stand out as being the only "noble" faction.
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>>50714706
>Purified ocean water and desalination facilities?
Seems a bit high teck/magic for people who are still hitting each other with swords.

>>50714534
Could be a fozen wasteland. Then you just need a shovel.
If it's in a mountainous area, they might get the ice from the mountain tops.
If they have more then a handful of things running on steam, they're going to need access to coal, so maybe they hold up in some mountainous region.
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>>50715777

All they'd need is boilers actually, as far as i know ships from the ww1 ww2 era got their fresh water that way. Or at least i think that's what i read in a book once, but don't quote me on it.
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>>50715844
Boilers isn't the problem. It's having an advanced enough infrastructure to keep the boilers firing constantly to provide fresh water to a population center.

Maybe stick them in a swamp, where you only have to boil water to make it drinkable as opposed to having to convert it to steam.
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>>50704228
Also, the upcoming version of bb3d will accept objs. -the dev
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>>50705122

Greek/Hellenistic and Y.
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>>50715976

Keep in mind that in a setting like this, or at least the type of setting it initially was and we are hopefully not drifting it away from, realism can take a backseat as long as you have an idea with enough symbolic and emotional weight behind it

For example, that whaling city, I had the idea that they could be desalinating ocean water to survive. How? Maybe they have enormous boilers with blazing braizers of whale oil cooking away underneath them, casting the streets in an eerie glow and filling the air with thick, oily foulsmelling mist. The salt they extract coats the street to keep ice at bay, constantly rusting metal parts and eating away at wood, the soil long since polluted beyomd any hope of growing plants leaving them to rely ever more on the sea. Great pillars of that salt are kept by priestesses, who purify the meat of whale and fish as well as the people of the town, trying to keep up spirits as the icy winds crash another wave against the docks and eat away a bit more of their walls.

Its all about tone.
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>>50715563
>If there's an industrial faction it ought not be "polished brass and cogworls" but dank, smoke clogged Dickensian awfulness.
Even in Dickensian awfulness they tried to distract themselves with clockwork marvels.
Although, I did not mean a city of polished brass, more of a center or square that is held up as their spinning achievement when a few buildings down in any direction is industrialized misery.
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>>50716867
This.
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>>50716867
I like it.
If anyone questions it:
>They're magic whales, obviously.

I could see a sort of religious aspect too.
>We only had oil to run the boilers for a day. But by the grace of Maren it burned for 8!
>Long enough for the whaling fleets to return and the boilers to stay lit.
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>>50716336
That's awesome! Makes our lives just that much easier. Still, we need someone who has access to it first.
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>>50717181
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>>50702613

Did someone say lorefag?!

>Daily Schedule of a Preserver of Zelthen's Light

-Wake up at first light at settlement/fort

-Assemble Preservers, stand at attention. The day and night watches swap after the morning speech.

-Villagers/workers, if any, also assemble

-Preserver gives speech to those who are present, then the duties: What villagers/workers are to make today or continue making from yesterday; Preservers are given patrols or guard duty, one each day.
>Commander: "The embers fade, but the fires remain, my comrades! Zelthen and His Light will guide us."

-Preserver goes out on patrol, securing supply routes, making sure their position is supplied, policing the region. Any undead or unknown forces are investigated and quashed. Any humans in need of help are assisted and pointed/escorted to the Preserver position.

-Patrols make sure roads are passable. Other settlements outside "main" base are checked on, made sure they provide necessary supplies. Any lazy workers are punished on the spot--the highest ranking Preserver is judge, jury, executioner.

-Patrol/guard duty ends at sundown.

-Outside of normal schedule, Preservers go into wild territories to hunt down enemies and find new locations to bunker down in. Always keep enemies near territory on their toes.

Yay religious military factions!

All right, someone do the next faction. I declare bonus points for anyone who can do the centaurs under the Antithesis. Ones that aren't undead.
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>Centaurs under the Antithesis

Those most corrupted by their Antithesis overlords got that way by spending the most time with the Antithesis, and so these centaurs are their right hands. This is translating the Antithesis desires into actual actions. (And here I think of this as, in many cases, actual translation of however a particular Antithesis communicates into something vaguely comprehensible to the centaurs, which I imagine in many cases being backbreaking intellectual labor) Once Antithesis strategy is in place, then there is the work of planning raids and war. But there is also some high-level support for this task in magical research and managing/negotiating the perverse trade with the Visamti. There is something of a bureaucracy here, with less corrupted centaurs assisting at lower levels. Also, more mundane management (who is gathering the food, repairing towns, keeping the undead hordes at a useful level etc.) is purely the domain of the less corrupted.
There are many centaur spies (i think of these as normal outrider scouts, spymaster types working from the shadows with webs of informants, and necromancer types gathering information from the dead) out in the world, searching for bear Primal Fulcrums to raid, Zelthen magical citadels to defile, Lizard hordes to stamp out, and potentially-successful Archon-descendant world-escape plans to forestall.
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>>50715296
>>50715563
As the anon who did the recent Remnant fluff, let me try to explain how I think it can fit in. Besides the Fatigued (who could use a better name, I took that one from a George Carlin bit), the other two things that keep Restavia from being out of place are their past, and the futility of it all. They used to be a great kingdom, and are constantly reminded of that. The main thing though is that no matter how much they innovate, no matter what wonders they produce, it will never be enough. The slow realization that they can't stop the world from dying haunts every display of technological prowess and every dead eyed scout returning from the wastes. But they'll be damned if they don't go down with some razzle dazzle.

If that's still too out of place, we could throw in the traditional oppressed underclass. Except instead of peasants or workers, it's refugees. (No /pol/ shit please). People from all over the world fleeing to this one apparent bastion of safety, only to find that the inhabitants just don't quite understand what horrors lurk out in the plains. They do need workers and soldiers though, and you fit the bill perfectly. But hey, at least there's cool lights.

Also, if I may, I declare canonical the idea of New Restavia being built on a delta with damns to power the industry.
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>>50718903
It occurs to me suddenly that it'd be simple to add gangsters and crime families to Restavia, add a touch of 20's grime. I don't think it'd fit but if anyone disagrees, the option's there.
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>>50719056
Alright, all in favor of the Remnant being a 20's industrial hell post your favorite faction and why you want to play. All against, do the same.
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>>50719495
I say aye.

dragons seem pretty good. I like the idea of a huge fatty directing a bunch of minions in order to tear apart the enemy. The monstrouse/Eldritch customization seems pretty good if the 3d guy delivers.

I also play a lot of Black-Green Decks, so...

How soon are we on a wiki page?
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>>50718903

Well keep in mind the "goal," of the setting is to either escape or renew the world. With the exception of the Dwarves, who have been to culturally obliterated to be able to devise a plan, and the Antithesis/Inverse, who are out to Consume. The Remnant are an Escape faction, like the bears, and since they are a tech faction, their plan is to GO TO SPACE (this is clearly going to need some more lore so its less goofy and more setting appropriate, but I don't think its a deal breaker to have the descendants of a fallen Utopian civilization to have some kind of record about other worlds existing and want to try to get there by building some kind of Spelljammer Space Castle. If people disagree and think this concept is totally unsalvagable for this setting, please feel free to say something).

I just don't feel like a totally bleak outlook on their tech and their future works with that.

I've been scratching my head at this idea because I do like the feeling of the World War 1 Vet concept. We don't want to go all the way into that notion of the war being totally fruitless and a nihilistic exercise, but that sentiment I first mentioned about the feeling of the Hobbits in LOTR, that the horrors and trials of the experience changed them forever, and the deeds they did, while world-shapingly important, could seem like they never even happened when you come home, that dissonance that forged the Lost Generation... that's right at home in this setting. So I'll see if I can write some fluff up to help this concept along.
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>>50720506
Ok, so what if they want to go to space, but opposite?

What if they want to rediscover the lost cit of not!Atlantis/Mu/Lemuria hidden in the depths of the sea, which had legends of things like Hydroponics, Chemical Food Synthesis, and other future-tech stuff that would normally seem too Sci-Fi for the setting. We spin it off as "Ancient Powerful Science" lost to time, in the same way that fantasy settings do the ancient powerful magicks. Not to mention the ocean lifr at lower depths seem relatively untouched.

The only issue is the same thing that stops us from exploring the entirety of the ocean: Water Pressure.

They could compete on some naval front with Berustia,
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>>50718903
I personally like the refugee idea. It feels like it feeds into a 'life is cheap, who needs safely mechanisms?" sort of industrialization.

With armies that are mostly poor conscripted refugees with muskets. Backed up be a backbone of hardened Fatigued (Shocked? Dead Eyes?).

The handful of steamtanks and mechanical marvel's are mostly for show.

To me honest just having them have gunpowder at all is probably enough to make them look advanced next to the rest if the setting.
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>>50720506
>I just don't feel like a totally bleak outlook on their tech and their future works with that.
There can be a marriage of bleakness and hope for the future.
There was an episode of the new Doctor Who where it was literally the end of time.
The last scraps of humanity were on a dying planet struggling to scrape together a rocket to get to another planet slightly closer to the last burning embers of heat remaining in the universe.
They couldn't even get the rocket working because the laws of physics were fading.
They still had hope.
They still believed things could be better.
But it was a bleak tarnished hope.
Like the hope of terminal cancer in remission.
Like the hope of being able to watching your children grow up while knowing they probably won't get the same chance.

When the world is dying, you marry your sweetheart sooner, rather than later.
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>>50720662
I like this idea to. Mostly because the early fuck ups with pressurized diving were pretty horrific and constantly feeding volunteers into the project in an attempt to rediscover "Atlantis" is grim but still heroic.

Maybe hint that the fabled city they're hunting for may not exist. But real or not it's a goal they can use to distract their populace and give them hope.
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>>50720662

Hmm...Somebody said that Restavia from before the fall should be based on Victorian-Era France, aka the Belle Epoque. When doing research on that trying to figure out what the Remnant ought to have been prior to its fall so we would have more idea of how they changed after it, I came across the mention of Bohemianism being on the rise during this period, a cultural movement idealizing a mythical view of Romani culture, focusing on being apart from society's rules and untroubled by its judgments, having a sort of dreamy enlightenment, embracing free love and unconventional thinking.

Now, clearly this society had changed a lot from what it was before the fall, but what if a kernel of that remains at the core of their belief system? They could be willing to embrace this borderline nonsensical notion of living under the ocean, using it to escape the desolation that surrounds them on land using the wonders of technology.

Maybe, just maybe, they really do all want to live on a Yellow Submarine.
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>>50720801
There should be just enough ancient relics to suggest that the city might exist, or it might not, making it GM'S decision from an RPG perspective.
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>>50720662
>>50720739
I like the hunt for notAtlantis idea too. All the new"advancements" the remember messages cult just be bits and bobs the search effort has turned up.

The powers that be astound the populace with displays of technology way beyond thier ken.

If course the maritime shift puts them at odds with Berustia. Maybe they're both hunting for not Atlantis?

Or Berustia has some other goal. I am struggling to think of one atm.
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>>50720944

I had a vague idea that the Berustians would be searching the seas for a long-lost Island that has their answer. Either a mythical paradise Island where they will find refuge and new properity, like an Avalon, or the pieces of some kind of method to leave behind this world and bountiful new seas, like a Stargate kind of artifact, or perhaps some kind of ancient pirate superstition magic vis a vis Pirates of the Carribean that will allow them to travel to a different plane of existence, like the Edge Of The World or a Maelstrom to the realm of the Sea Gods or something.

That said, the Berustians might have a compulsive and aggressive response to ANY ship on the seas. The dwindling fish and whales and seaweed and other useful resources of the ocean are the only things keeping them alive, so every time anyone else takes of the sea they're shortening the life of their entire civilization.
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>>50720944
We actually can combine space with Atlantis.

What if Restavian mythology tells about their ancestors arriving to this land from somewhere. And in the light of modern knowledge, these myths can be interpreted as ancient Restavians arriving in an enormous technological vessel which now lies sunk under the ocean.

So Restavian thinking is that if they find this vessel, they could repair it or reverse-engineer it to escape this world. And they are finding enough bits and pieces to keep thinking something like this might exist.
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>>50721043
Sounds like they're after the same thing, maybe a different idea inspired by the same legends. To them, it's a continent that hasn't been touched by the waste, which seems more realistic to them than some fanciful underwater city.

Also Restavia should have parts of their cities submerged, with underwater districts, since they're located at a coastal area, and going along with the 20's crime deal, it's pretty much the shadiest part of town, since there's not much law enforcement.

Because why wouldn't you take the opportunity to have a piece of Rapture in your setting?
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>>50721537
I like the idea that crime lords are based there to escape the notice of law enforcement. maybe it's become so deep and complex that the city extends about five miles out from the actual coast, and goes down several thousand feet.

>>50721467
so... like >>50721043 said, Stargate Atlantis?
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>>50721537

I love this. A shared creation myth of humanity coming from the ocean interpreted by two different civilizations as two different means to find salvation from the end of the world. That's awesome.

It also goes perfectly with something I've been working on for the Lizards. As we know, their creation myth is that the world was once all Water and Humanity, a flawed and corrupt divinity, fouled perfection by muddling those waters into the current ephemeral, dying world. I had an idea to expand on this, based on the suggestion last thread that their apotheosis will be accompanied by a cleansing flood, a return to that primordial perfection of a world made of water: what if the Lizards see the Ocean as evil?

We know they build their monasteries over sources of freshwater that come from the ground. If their religion is so intimately tied to freshwater, then salt water could easily be seen as something inherently corrupt. And if the sea is where humanity comes from? I mean, shit, it practically writes itself!

Maybe take it further, like salt itself it this inherently corrupt thing because it kills soil so plants can grow and fouls water so you cant drink it. They don't know you need salt to live, they're a barbaric warrior nomad tribe and surely eat a ton of meat and thus get all they need without knowing it. During their time as slaves they heard humans refer to each other as "The Salt Of The Earth," and they took that to heart: a disgusting blight that makes everything it touches worse.
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>>50722031
This is really great. I mean, we started with a few random factions and we had to come up with ideas on why these groups are in conflict with each other, and from that we've spawned entire ideologies, cultures, tactics...

What made that first thread so great relative to other collaborative creation threads? simply the right idea at the right time? The fact that nobody had said Wargame factions before? the right pacing of ideas? Or did we get lucky and get the right people interested in the right idea?
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>>50722182

Personally I only got involved cause the virtual gaming thread anon pointed me here. I had been ignoring the thread before that.
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>>50722182

I'm taking all the credit because I posted 6 paragraphs about bear people in response to that first goof post when everyone else was still in single sentence mode. ITS ALL ME! ALL THE CREDIT IT MINE!

No, wait, Supress Your Greed for the lost Cub...

We did it together /tg/ :)
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last bump
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bump.
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>>50722182
I always love lore and setting builder threads like these :B
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>>50721991
More like in Nadia: The Secret of the Blue Water.
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I think something to remember when coming up with fluff for the Restavian Remnant if it is based off of post WW1 1920's is the questioning of the entirety of western civilisation after the war. Perhaps there could be various factions pushing different ideologies in the Remnant like anarchism or communism. Also, remember that it was originally a minor faction and so it should only have a few steam tanks or other technological wonders, with the majority of its forces being poorly trained refugees or older veterans, maybe that is why they use easy to train weapons like muskets and flamethrowers.
Another question that is raised is how did Restavia fall and how did the Visamti empire stand up to it and survive when Restavia had so much advanced tech, used by the Remnant, and powerful magic(sorcerers of olde Restavia).
I suggest that Old Restavia was a coalition of states united by a high king but otherwise self governing, thus explaining the vastly different cultures and why the more unified empire was able to rival it.
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>>50723468

Demonic pacts probably helped. It seems to be implied in this setting that divine magic is a lot stronger than arcane and nature magic, since spells are portrayed in several factions as not being sufficient to hold back the world's decaying state, and druidism comes with costly side effects when used to do so. On the flip side, the faith of the Templars can just project fields of safety which allow for food to be grown and the shitty environmental conditions to be calmed around their fortresses no problem.

I bet those demonic pacts are the real reason why the Visamti lands are still somewhat fertile, even though its implied that fertility if failing more and more. As it should be. Evil's power is quicker and easier, but more limited and with far greater cost.
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2d art anon here.
I did some planning, but not much drawing last night.
I think I'm going to stop worrying about the quality and just crank out some tokens tonight.
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>>50724605
Sweet, looking forward to it.
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So... anyone want to create a playlist of music for each faction, wait three days, then come back to it and cringe at how much Two Steps from Hell we put into it?
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>>50725082
Oh, we also need to decide on Banner colors and symbols. Here's my input:

Yonas: Dark forest green and brown

Visamti: Black and Deep, dried blood red. (Sounds more edgy than I mean it to be)

Velthen: Midnight blue and Gold

Lizardmen: Red and White

Inverse: Purple and Black.
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>>50725082
>cringe at Two Steps from Hell
We cannot be friends.
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>>50725300
I envisioned more like gray and white for the Velthen, to evoke the image of the cold and barren land they live in, and theur asceticism. Gold imho is better suited to Visamti, being the not!Byzantines.
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>>50725363
Nah, they're great, it's just... any time I assemble some epic playlist I always feel like they make up too much of the list.
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>>50722031
>They don't know you need salt to live,
Maybe they don't. A lot of lizards are capable of reading carrion.

Maybe they even hate the idea of salted meat. I mean humans eat it, it's no wonder they're so evil.
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>>50723468
I'd go with something simple like Restiva was father north, and add the days grew colder it hit them harder.

Vestami didn't have to win, just hold there ground for a century, and watch their biggest rival wither and die. Then swoop in and grab a fresh crop of slaves.

If Vesanti was more prosperous, people might have even sold themselves into slavery willingly, if the alternative is starving.
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>>50725300
Zelthen should be black and white. Spending money on dyes is frivolous.

Vesanti should be Red and yellow. For the two currencies of the empire blood and gold.
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>>50720753
I think this is pretty close to my vision of Restavia, but I think I went a little too far with the bleakness in my last post.

Restavia is full of hope and optimism, even for the beleaguered refugees. They might be toiling away or a conscript soldier, but at least they're relatively safe and warm, and the shining lights of technology make the darkness seem a little less threatening.

However, a key part of Restavia's place in the setting is the slowly dawning realization of the fact that the tech they have won't be enough to save them. This is reflected in the Fatigued (I like Dead Eyes too), and the increasingly desperate hunt for some marvel or ancient relic of engineering fits perfectly into this.

>>50721467
>>50721537
>>50722031
You guys are fucking fantastic. The hunt for atlantis should be the main story of their search for salvation, but it shouldn't be the only one. Having a bunch of different expeditions to faraway lands in search of ancient treasures captures the pulp adventure feel pretty nicely.

Also, the one thing I do want to keep is the fact that Restavia is making most of their tech advancements on their own. They may have been inspired by stories of ancient tech, and a very few scattered pieces here or there, but it should be mainly inventors and scientists, not archaeologists, driving the advancements.

>>50723468
Restavia wasn't that advanced when they fell, the switch to technology came afterwards.


With the weekend coming up, I'll try and actually learn the damn rules so I can put together a statline and get the feel of the army more set in stone.
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>>50725300
Muted gold and slate grey for Restavia.

Sorry if I'm distracting from the major factions too much.
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I like the Restiva versus Berustians thing. Could almost use it as a sub game.
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>>50725082
So, I went and made a faction theme list composed entirely of Touhou arranges, because I can.

Velthien: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1dk_-gIqpQ
Visamti: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PyfklMQmzY
Yonas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKEt7lZJfyA
Lizardmen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_9NZCd45eg
The Antithesis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRxVKzhP0oI
Restavian Remnant: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRS7KZ1fL_s
Berustia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67gXJuGp1z4
Giants&Dwarves: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9RIXGFqD6s
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>>50727506
I'll look into Steampunk fantasy Warship vs. Submarine wargames.
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>>50726655
>>50726655

I'm starting to feel like what you want is not compatible with this setting. The whole point of a world like this is drawing hope and inspiration from the glories of the past in order to return to them by getting through a dark a troubled present. Eligiac stories like Beowulf or Gotterdammerung are stories which reflect upon the inevitability of the heroes death even as they retell of their glories because they know the age of heroism that those heroes lived in it long past and the world the reader lives in is not so great as what came before, even if it could be again.

I understand that you want to have a faction with contrasts the others, but you can't have it by them being better, more advanced or more clever than the great old kingdom that was their progenitor, its counter to everything that the mood of the setting is based on. The Old Civilizations who have survived the fall are still grand, but they're corrupt and slowly fading because what the represent can't be maintained. The young civilizations which survived the fall are noble but deeply flawed and what they represent can't hope to be made manifest. All fight to return to the glory days of yore in their own ways, even if that "return," is taking the form of something totally new, as it would be if the Knights won because their religion was a derided fringe before, it still has its roots in what came before because what came before was a wondrous dream and what is now will be death if that dream isn't found again.

This is why I thought the WWI Lost Generation was a good starting point, because it carries an inherent connotation of pining for lost innocence and one's own feeling that they don't belong in the world they find themselves in because of what their experiences have molded them into. But you seem to want to not focus on that and instead focus on the Roaring 20's stuff that took place around the Lost Generation, which they condemned.
>>
>>50728234

Just to be clear, I'm not trying to shit on you here, I just want to help you understand that even if your ideas are good and interesting, we can't just jam them into this world building if they're tonally dissonant. A dark underbelly to the glittering gold of Gatsby's Manor isn't enough to create the Elegiac mood, nor is simple Dickensian Grimdark Consequences to Industry.
>>
This is awesome. /tg/, you've renewed my faith in hate Internet.

>>50727506
>>50727669

Wait, how would the Berustians compete with the Restavian Remnant? The Berustians have makeshift whaling boats and jury-rigged galleons, how can they hope to go up against Steam-powerwd warships and early Submarines?
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>>50728294

Numbers and unique spellcraft? I had a vague idea that their priestesses are Saltmancers or whatever, that they can use Salt as a powerful magical weapon. Those ironclads aren't as dangerous when you can rust a hole below its waterline with simple ritual.
>>
>>50728294
Restavian steam-powered fleet is lacking enough coal, which goes primarily to the ground military. Berustian ships use sails and are more numerous.
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>>50728294
>>50728635

I had an idea in the shower after reading these: I bet in a fantasy sense you could use the same tactics you use to hunt whales to hunt Submarines.

Just imagine, you surface to cycle your air only for a duo of bow-mounted harpoon cannons to strike out from that bank of fog. You try to dive, but your engine just can't overcome the bouyancy of your captors, so you start to drag them in a surface escape. They drop their anchors and deploy longboats, full of angry harpoon wielding men, and you send out marines to try to cut you free leading to a pitched battle on the hull. Some of their men dive into the water and use their enchanted spears to start poking holes in your outer shell, looking to pierce fuel lines or get deep enough to puncture the inner hull and scuttle the ship. You blindfire an unguided torpedo aft, and it hits home, but you're still dragging her tonnage along until one of your lads heroically cuts the harpoon cable and you accelrate right through one of the wee boats, putting a half dozen men in the drink and pulling away from the divers.

Will you escape? Was the damage already done? Tune in next week to another exciting episode of Whale Wars.
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>>50722182
It was the way that OP presented it and the immediate responses. Something like first 5 posts make a faction, dubs/trips can override it, quads do something else
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>>50728294
They tame the giant sea monsters that inhabit the oceans.

>>50729040
OP here. Yeah, I said "Quads and we treat that faction like GW treats Chaos/the Imperium, by which I meant "we treat it like it's the most important faction above all others."
>>
I really feel that a lot of the stuff to do with Berustia and the Restavian Remnant is drifting too far from each the tone of the setting and too close to high fantasy. Roaring 20's city state with mecha and whaling submarines looking for Atlantis are jarring comparaed to the tone of the setting. Don't get me wrong, they're cool ideas, but they don't fit with the setting and tone we've created. We should go back to the original ideas, a grim city turning to technology in a vain hope for salvation mourning the past, armed with the rusting war machines of a bygone age and a city that has barely survived due to its whaling industry, covered in smoke and fog, it's people taciturn and unwelcoming, despite the colourful architecture around them.
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>>50729259
Hey OP. Got an idea for the Antithesis I was shooting around in my head.

First is on dragons. Because they are multidimensional beings, it is entirely possible that a dragon's actual "form" would not be seen in battle. A dragon might make itself manifest through, say, manipulation of the environment - perhaps broken or discarded equipment might amalgamate into a monstrosity, or clouds would gather and shift as though they are one being. In other words, you might be fighting the shadow of the dragon cast into this dimension from another.
On centaurs, it is hotly debated as to whether there it was the dragons' "will" or plain chance that they fell victim to the will of the Antithesis. What is known, however, is that they were once a philosopher people - a culture focused on intellectuals, academics, and metaphysical debate. Perhaps they were corrupted because their culture produced great thinkers - ones who would stand the most chance of being able to "interpret" their will?
The influential elite of the Antithesis' centaurs are without fail impressively intelligent and wise creatures. They require this wit to be able to understand their masters' desires. They devote all of their time out of combat - and a great deal of time in combat - to this task, a perverse, twisted mirror to that which they devoted themselves before their corruption. It is true that, even the wisest of centaur leaders often fail to understand the horrors the dragons project into their minds, mistranslating them to their underlings.
Indeed, there may not even be a message present in these hauntings. It is entirely possible that these "visions" are unconscious projections, or even hallucinations of their tortured minds - though that will not stop these dark philosophers in their task.
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>>50728234
>>50728288
What he said. He just said it more either-or then I could.
>>50728294
Early steam ships weren't as got as you think. They still realtors heavily on sail power, and early steam engines could be as much of a liability as an advantage.

Add in more numerous and experienced opposition, and it'd be anyone's game.
>>
Since Berustia is heavily inclined by whaling what about a Moby Dick sort of mythos.

Like a great white dragon, who if slain will return the sea to its previous bounty. Or maybe even a more vague Arthurian legend about a chosen one slaying the dragon and leading them to a golden age.

Everytime a ship sails and doesn't return it gets blamed on the "white dragon".

>>50729368
>submarines
Agreed. Maybe a handful of tethered submersibles with tender ships for exploration. More diving bell then scuba.

Anything advanced beyond early steam power should be a relics from old Restiva or recently plundered from notAtlantis.
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>>50730399

That sounds pretty good for Berustia, but what about the parallel between the Restavian Remnant's goal to find !NotAtlantis, and Berustia's goal to find some kind of refuge? The White Dragon sounds pretty dope, I will admit.

As for the Restavian Remnant's tech level, I agree completely. I have an idea.

Their futuristic steampunk tech is made up of the revered artifacts of a bygone age and they struggle to regain what they've lost. The Restavians are advancing rapidly, but they are still a mere shadow of their former glory. If the ancients couldn't save themselves at the height of their power, what hope do they have now?
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>>50730942
>mere shadow of their former glory. If the ancients couldn't save themselves at the height of their power, what hope do they have now?
This seems much more in line with the setting.
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>>50731007

That's I thought as well. The Restavian Remnant should be advancing rapidly and their people are full of hope, but as the sun fades, that hope is slowly turning to existential dread, as they realize that they cannot replicate the power of the ancients, and that even their full might wasn't enough to stave off armageddon.
>>
>>50730942
>>50731285

I like this. Hey, did we ever come to a consensus on whether or not the Dwarves have slug-like features or if they raise slugs?
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>>50731782
I don't know that there was ever a consensus other then not being actual slugs.

I think a bit of slugginess is alright. You could blame it on exposure to foul energies in the wastelands.

Although honestly, I think raising slugs might be better. They've sunk so low they'll eat anything as a food source.

Speaking about sinking low:
What about ritualistic canibalism?
Ancestor worship had always been a pretty dwarven thing. And as nomads, they can't keep thier ancestors remains on hand. Maybe they've begun to eat the dead as a way to keep thier ancestors with them. And rationalize to themselves that they're not monsters when having to resort to canibalism in order to survive the wastes.

Doubly so with giants. That's a lot of potential food in a life or death situation.

Maybe even rename the faction to something like Eaters of the Dead, instead of Dwarves and Giants.
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>>50732004

While I admit "eat the dead to keep their ancestors spirits with them since they have no homes/burial sights" is the best take thus far, I remain committed in sentiment that there should be no cannibalism in this universe. Its a level of edge that pushes into grimdark, and we don't want it here
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>>50732052
What is our genre identity exactly? I say Nobledark Fantasy more than anything else.
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>>50732052
Not to sound super critical, but if that is what you were not going for, you passed that line ages ago.

The setting sounds depressing and not a single good person or thing exists within it.
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>>50732526
While I would debate the >not a single good person or thing exists within it, I will agree that funerary cannibalism is hardly the line at which grimdark starts.
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>>50732578
Well, let's sort of list off the factions

>Evil Wizard Empire
>Depressed Whaling analogies
>Corrupted by Dragons dudes
>Selfish child murdering bears
>Wandering slug eating outcasts

This is MORE depressing than Warhammer Fantasy battles.
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>>50732626
There's also the Knights, who might be combat-stimmed crusading superhumans but are also genuinely concerned for the people they're protecting, and the Sorcerors, whose knowledge is still granted freely to all who require aid even after their deaths.

Now, of course, good does not mean they will be successful. You mentioned it was depressing and it is, intentionally so. But that fatalism doesn't mean that good people don't exist there.
>>
>>50732725
That Still sounds fucking horrible and depressing. When everyone is either a huge cunt or just a depressing wreck, it hardly writes good stories.
>>
The line between grimdark and not grimdark is pretty obvious. One revels in or is numb to the horrible shit happening in it, and ruthlessly crushes all indications of hope. The other feels for the horrible shit happening, encourages feeling sadness and sympathy for what the world portrays, and encourages hope to continue to spring eternal. This setting has consistently been the later. I just feel like cannibalisms and/or eating sentient beings, even highly ritualized, is crossing a line on that. Its a moral event horizon even in a bleak universe.

That said, if anyone could get away with it, its the dwarves. So if you want to fiddle with the concept, go for it.
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>>50732765
We're in the same genre as Berserk. Nobledark, where good men can fight for what's right, but it's all an uphill battle, and one wrong step can turn it into one big fuckfest.
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>>50732794
You're really not. Berserk didn't start off with everyone in a horrifically depressed state with very little in a way of being able to unfuck it. Just Guts.

You're writing a setting where EVERYONE is Guts.
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>>50732765

The lizards have shown sympathy and empathy for the life eating nihilist centaurs and the bears have the wanderers embracing an identity of protector and a society rooted in trying to protect and preserve children, even if it warps into bad forms. Theres plenty of positive in this setting, its just beneath the surface, which it should be. Calling it grimdark and a world of all cunt civilizations is nonsense.
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>>50732820
Why are you assuming everyone is depressed? The only faction as a whole who are happens to have joined the Eldritch Abominations who may or may not have caused the entire thing.

Every major faction but the Antithesis has a plan for how to win. The fact that it's such a desperate gamble should tell you how much people are still hoping against hope that they can pull through, not that everyone has given up.
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>>50732859
>>50732866


Well, excuse me for barely seeing that when people are trying to artifically see how depressing and disenfranchised their ideas can be made and are worried about straying from this idea of a crushing Magical dystopia and trying to cover every trope of depressing fantasy.
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>>50732894

I think you need a cookie or something dude.
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>>50732894
OP here. He's right you know. We have been setting the background for this entire setting a tad too dark. What we need are a few tales of overcoming the odds to show that Victory is actually possible.
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>>50732952

Great idea, I would do some Zelthenian write-faggotry, but I've been having computer problems, and can't contribute.
>>
>>50728234
>>50728288
No worries, it's good feedback. I think I just suck at explaining things, because this >>50731285
is exactly what I was going for. Well, except for the source of the tech advancements, but that was my personal preference, so let's ignore it and go with rediscovered ancient tech.
>>
>>50732794
>Nobledark
Exactly.

The setting is called Fading Embers. You're supposed to play the guys trying to breathe those embers back into a fire.

>>50733512
>>50732952
I've got an idea for a couple bright stories. I might write them up later.
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>>50732894
>>50732952
This is one of the reasons I'm pushing for Restavia to have a more hopeful vibe, it provides a foil to the rest of the factions, a bit of light to make the darkness all the more sinister by contrast.

Totally nothing to do with my love of art deco and NYC. Nope. Not at all.
>>
>It's a fool's errand.
The monster said.

>Careful brother. Some would say to doubt the Grand Master is to doubt the word of Zelthen himself.
Replied his equally monstrous companion.

> We both know better than that. You fought at Faded Pass, you know the Grand Master for all his glory, is still a man. And look at them. These wee folk. There's no place for them in this darkened world. And stretched as we are, we've got no resources for this.

>They're Zelthen's children same as you or I brother. Even small hands can tend a field, or mend armor, or care for the sick.

>Has The Church no serfs already? There are already more refugees then we can take already. Able bodied men to, not some half-man. The Church doesn't need more field hands. It needs more sword arms.
>>
>>50733753
>What would you have us do, bother? Leave them to the wolves?

>We've done it before. Don't give me that look. For every village we choose to protect, one is left defenseless. We're no stranger to hard choices. They'll never be knights and we can ill afford dead weight.

> That's cold brother. Even for you.
>>
Statfag here. If no one else has done it by sunday i'll draft us up something for Restavia. Muskets right?
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>>50733865
Tom shook with fear, to hear these steal clad titans debate his fate.

The fate of his family. His home. His kin.

But what could he do? They were the only thing standing between everything he knew and the twisted things pouring out on the darkened vale like rancid milk from a broken crock.

He has to show them his people's worth. But how?

The cacophonous metal giants seem to only respect strength. And the quite folk have scant little of that.
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>>50733989
It started small.

A few watch fires doused that should have burned all night. A few waterskins filled magically filled with wine.

Soon the knights were on double watches. Waking with packs ransacked and ribbons in thier hair.

Knight Commander Shepard ordered the watches double again. But to no avail.

Soon convinced of some sort of creeping madness, he ordered his men not to drink from the town's well.

On the fifth morning, a group of small folk marched into camp, interrupting morning prayers.
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>>50733948

I prefer flamethrowers myself. Thought that sounded cool.for a basic troop unit.
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>>50734117
>What's the meaning of this?
"Sorry to intrude. But we would very much like to join the knighthood."

The knight commander's men were too well discipled to laugh, but not so drilled as to be able to keep the skills from thier faces.

>I'm afraid that's not possible.
"And why is that?"
>An aspirant most prove themselves able-bodied.
"My men are able. Sir."
>Can you wield a sword?
"A small one, sir."
>Can you march twenty miles a day? Wake up and do it again the next day?
"I couldn't say sir."
>I see. Do you think you could do it in full armor with a forty pound pack?
"No sir."
>Well...
"But I could kill you sir." Pointing a small finger at each of the officers in turn. "And you, and you, and you. I dare say it but my men could kill the whole lot of you."

A few of the newer aspirants let out muffled laughs, before being sciences by the knight commander's gaze.

"How many of you woke with wine in your skin's? Or ribbons in your hair?"

"I dare say wine could just as easily been poison. Or hands tying ribbons could have as easily put a knife to a throat."

"We may never be soldiers. But we're not called quiet folk for nothing."
>>
>>50733948
I'd go with muskets for the standard troops.

Maybe pepperbox/revolving rifles for Dead Eye veterans.

>>50734311
Might be a bit much for standard troops. Especially logistically.
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>>50733753
>>50733865
>>50733989
>>50734117
>>50734387
Sorry if I sort of rammed halflings into the setting. I know most of the fantasy races are either dead or never existed in setting.

But some of the ww1 stuff made me think of the Shire, and I thought it'd be neat if a handful of halflings were under the protection of the knights. Trying to contribute while walking the edge of extinction.
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>>50734485

I guess it depends on what the fuel is
That being said, I wasn't thinking about how to justify it likewise, just that it would be pretty unique and interesting, and without knowing the flamethrower rules for this game but making and educated guess, would set the faction quite apart from our existing set of baseline units in terms of attack range.
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>>50734595
Maybe blunderbusses, of you want low range firepower.

Or grenadiers.
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>>50733753
>>50733865
>>50733989
>>50734117
>>50734387
>>50734564


Nice Writefaggotry. As for the !Nothalfling Quiet Folk themselves, there's nothing to say that they aren't just Humans mutated over the centuries by intense natural selection and ambient magical energy.
>>
>>50734595
>>50734665
How about muskets and some grenades for the conscripts, rifles for the Deadeyes (they're supposed to be elite scouts, not sure if a revolving rifle fits), and put flamethrowers on the vehicles, especially the cogwork golems. Oooh, or maybe steamthrowers? Would solve the logistical issues.
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>>50732626
The whalers and wanderers (along with the sorcerers and tech-dudes) are all MINOR factions. The major factions are the inhuman stalwart knights of Zelthen, the lizardman hordes, the demon-consorting Visamti Empire, the Yonas (bears), and the Antithesis (dragons).
>>
>>50735676
OP here. This is correct, but i believe that our intention for the minor factions was that we would eventually add as additional options for combination armies:

Zelthen + Restavian Musketeer Knights and Militia
>>
More on the dwarf thing. Is the endocanibalism that grimdark? I could see if it's exocanabalism.

Seems like a pretty noble sacrifice for a dwarf, or giant, to give up thier life for thier clan.

If it's too grim, maybe they keep relics. Obviously nothing too big, bit maybe instead of gold or jewels the wear bits of bone in thier beards, so they can carry thier ancestors with them.
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>>50736405
What if they cremate their ancestors bodies, then compress and infuse their ashes with magic in order to create Rune-marked Gems, which they embed into weapons and armor, represented in the game by the runic weaponry and gear in Hammer and Forge.
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>>50733614
Just a bit of 2 cents: You know the game, Transistor? Set it halfway in the Renaissance while still keeping a bit of that art deco feel, and that's how old Restavia is in my mind.
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>>50736609
I like this imagery. Sort of a pseudo-rennaissance clock-tech type. Stuff like Leonardo's robot is more common.
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>>50736581
>then compress and infuse their ashes with magic in order to create Rune-marked Gems, which they embed into weapons and armor
Might be hard for them to manage given a nomadic lifestyle.

Maybe something with just cremation. Like a single cart in the caravan in always a travelling reliquary, filed with bones and ashes of thousands of Dwarves. A mobile temple to the ancestors.

It might have magical qualities, or just it's presence inspires near by dwarves to feats of heroism.

I could also see devote priests calling spirits of the ancestors to help in battle.
>>
Alright, OP here, here's my projected timeline for the next little while:

1. This thread will likely die in the middle of the night as relatively new threads are wont to do.

2. I'll create a new thread tomorrow morning. During that time I'll be consolidating Everything we've written up to this point in a single reference document, and reformatting that into a wiki page for 1d4chan.

3. Over the course of the fourth thread I'm mandating that we reach a resolution on the details we're still under debate for, which will then be used to update the doc and the wiki.

4. I publish the page and attached SRD, making the system somewhat official as a project. From there it'll be updating the details and adding new lore/writefaggotry, as well as focusing on the 3d models, statblocks, and getting the actual game up and running.

Issues:

-Are Dwarves Slug-blooded or do they merely breed slugs? If no consensus is reached I'm going to go with the latter, as it makes more sense. Slugs would be bred to feed off of dead skin from the giants, and also act as a sort of Sun protectant for Giants and Dwarves.

-Main colors of each faction.

-Exact nature and details of the Restavia Remnant. We may be focusing on this a tad more than we should, but that's alright, it's still extremely interesting. If no consensus is reached, I'm going to go with the WWI inspired themes, mixed with the Renaissance motif, and the !Atlantis lore along with the side-rivalry with Berustia.

-Possible NameChange for Berustia, as it's similar to Restavia. I'm saying Berustia gets the change because Restavia Remnant rolls off the tongue quite nicely.

-Any others I've missed.
>>
>>50737177
Oh, and one more:

-Is it spelled Zelthan, or Zelthen?
>>
I like the idea of dwarves thinking the world is in decline because they are in decline, instead of it being the other way around. The world is dying because they aren't ruling thier mountain fortresses. The gods are punishing the world for not helping to restore dwarves to thier birthright.

The world is doomed to decay until the gods can't stand to see their chosen people suffer any longer. Then all will be restored, and the wicked (IE anyone who didn't help them enough) are punished.

At the moment giants are the only race not on thier imagined divine list of grudges.


>>50736581
>runic weaponry and gear in Hammer and Forge
I'm thinking the majority of them should be lightly armored, if at all. The runic weapons and armor of old is something irreplaceable, a tether to a bygone age, valued more than the lives of those wielding them.

IE a one off unit.
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>>50737177
I like the second option for dwarves.
"Bearded slug" seems like an appropriate racial slur.

>>50737197
>-Is it spelled Zelthan, or Zelthen?
Depends on if you're an Orthodox Zelthen worshipper or a Reformationist Zelthan worshipper.
>>
>>50737268
>>50737156
I was actually thinking that we go the Stone-born Giants and Dwarves. Giants might be very rocky or craggy, and so dwarves might carve furnaces into the backs of their giant friends, or they use their masonry/metalworking to carve interlocking stones and materials that fit together to form a perfect forge, then when they move, they simply have their giant friends carry around the pieces like a cart full of Legos.
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>>50737333
Portable forges were a thing. You could probably do an even better job in a giant pulled wagon.

But forgotten lore and fading glories are a staple of the setting. I think all the great feats of dwarven smithing and engineering should be in the past.

It's meant to reinforce just how far the dwarves have fallen.
>>
>>50737460
Yes, but if Dwarves use Runic magic, then we can compare that to the burning of the library of Alexandria. They've lost all their knowledge of Runes, and are down to the basics of the craft. Forging on the other hand is in their very nature, and isn't something they would just give up on. They've lost all but the most basic traits of what made dwarven craft so great, but they still hage some modicum of skill left.
>>
>>50737460

This. Also I think "grudges," as a major feature of the Dorfs is dipping into WHFB territory.

That being said, I think there's a compelling kernal in the idea that the dwarves thinking the world is failing because they failed rather than the vice versa. That, alongside their total lack of a sedentary society and number of any given group being limited to what a giant can carry, is an interesting basis for why they have no plan for dealing with the end and are simply wasting away day by day. They're guilty. They think all this is their fault, and its right that they're in the twilight of their race with all they've built already gone as a result of that fault.

Also, 100% agree with the idea that the Dorfs should not have any access to smithing, engineering or stonework as an indicator of their fallen society. I wrote a post about how their rune magic has utterly failed and doesn't work anymore since its power was linked to their homes and ancestors at one point to indicate that should be gone. For lack of a better term, these Dwarves are Elves. Their era is over and there is no bringing it back so they're not even trying.

That being said, they needn't go quietly into that good night. I think we can come up with a few unique things to show that they're still writing pages in their story all the way through the epilogue. We've already got the slug-raising thing.

In another post I suggested that their primary magical form should be Bardic. They raise their voices in powerful dirges and mournful hymns that can shatter enchantments, manipulate emotions, and even strike with physical force.
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>>50736405
I think we've missed a trick with the dwavern cannibalism thing.

If the Dwarves raise slugs then they likely have slugs bred for different purposes, some for their slime, some for their thicker than normal hides and some simply for food. but, if the dwarves feed on the slugs what do the slugs feed on. the answer is dwarves. the dead whose bodies can be recovered have their remains fed to the slugs whose remains will one day feed the dwarves whose remains will one day feed the slugs etcetera. where once the dwarves lived within their ancestors greatest works, the ancestors now live on within them, every dwarf (technically) made from the flesh of their ancestors (though it had to go through a slug first)
>>
>>50738437
just going to expand on my inane ramblings here

The dwarves believe that, when a slug eats a corpse, part of the corpses soul is trapped within the slug. They also believe that when a dwarf eats the slug, the souls that the slug contains are invited to live within the dwarf, and considering the alternative is nothingness, the souls of the ancestors (for every dwarf has a few ancestor souls knocking about inside them) regularly accept. Every dwarf also keeps meticulous records about the souls contained within them, for the intent behind these acts is so that, when the hold of the dwarfs are rebuilt and stand tall once again, the ancestors souls may be laid to rest within a tomb, along with the dwarf who has carried them all that way. The dwarves believe that if the ancestors are laid to rest anywhere else they shall fade into nothingness, but if they are buried within stone, they may live on, building a sort of dwarvern heaven within the spirits of the cities stones. This kinda makes the loss of the holds a bigger deal, because it means that they didn't just lose their home, but all the souls held within that home
>>
Things I Have Learned While Drawing For /tg/:
1. There is no such thing as reference for a Dragonborn's back (unrelated)
2. Bears have exactly two flavors of eyes:
a.) Adorable
b.) Angry Squinting
pic related.

This took me longer than anticipated and the color in the program was acting funky.
But this is the core idea of the basic Yonas Unit.
I plan on adding paper doll style variations and then move on to other factions.

It's far from my best work, but they're only intended as simple tokens.
Any notes?
>>
>>50725300
>Inputs required

Yonas: Fine with forest green and brown.

Visamti: Bright reds/greens and gold, and bronze. Since blood is brighter when more oxygenated, brighter reds should be more valuable than darker. Gold ties into the not!Bysantine feel, and perhaps grass/leaf greens to show off the fertility of the region?

Velthen: Sober and sombre whites, grays, and blacks are more suited to the feel from the writing to me.

Lizardmen: Considered a poor raider's colour who can't win since it's close to their scale tones, white probably should be down-played. Rich, shining blues, reds and purples would likely be highly valued due to rarity of dyes, and the difficulty of creating them in this order.

Inverse: Drab purples and grays. Brings more to mind of long-dead beings, and ashes of the wastes.
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>>50738759
Nice. That definitely isn't a teddy bear out for some honey.

>>50737177
Regarding possible re-names for Berustia, I noticed a lot of coastal cities and towns tend to reference the ocean/water in various ways in most cultures. Maybe something-by-the-sea or ____mouth for English inspired, or _____gatan for Nordic. Svernsgatan? Ivorytower ironically?
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>>50702613
>The tenets of being a Guide, as told by Wayfinder Sarnai, lead path-finder of the Flowing River tribe

The first thing that is done is to tend to Your horse. Pour sweetwater from the casks into it's trough, and leave it a bundle of tall-grass to fill it's belly before the Ride. Clean the dirt from it's scales, and pick stones from the soft spots between it's talons. After all, what is a Rider without His horse?

The second is to take care of One's Self. Praise the Diluvial's for the sweetwater, the Primordials for the game and horses, and the Celestials for the warmth of the sun. Eat lightly, as there may be raiding on the horizon, or You will likely draw the short straw and be stuck on patrols for the remainder of the week. One who is too fat and full is One who makes a poor raider.

The third is to report to the Pioneer's tent. Receive Your orders for the week, and do not raise a fuss if You draw herding. Herding is valuable, and without the meat and milk of the gazelle, the hatchlings are born frail and weak-boned like the man gorging on wheat and grain.

The fourth is to do Your task, Whether it is herding, raiding, scouting, patrols or hunting, do it well for Our memories are long, and slacking will not be accepted. Sloth is the slow poison the spreads, striking like a coward when Your guard is down.

The fifth is the Early Break. Rest Your horse, and relieve it's burden. Remove the packs, fill the trough, and provide feather-grass to restore their vigor. Look them over twice for potential problems, then twice again because You lazy devils always miss the lower jaw and underside of the rear talons.

The sixth is to relax while Your horse recovers. Take this time to contemplate, or fill Your stomach if You missed meals or water recently. Gambling on patrol is frowned upon, and sleeping while herding WILL lead to punishment, as is fit.

>Cont.
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>>50739424
The seventh is to do Your task until the Evening Rest comes. Take heart and pride, for what You are doing brings Life back to the lands, no matter how small the task. Those who ignore the movements of the birds are those who turn to bones in the sandstorms.

The eighth is the Evening Break. Find suitable ground for camp, and relieve Your horse. Feed it two bundles, one of clover in thanks for carrying You, and one of bearded grass to fill it's stomach. Tap more sweetwater from the casks unless You have the fortune to find a pool. Don't laugh worms! How else are You likely to become Keshik given the way You commit Your raids?

The ninth is the time to spend freely around the camp. Those who have other duties must attend to them, as is right. Beyond that, I could care less than the dung on the ground so long as You are fit for duties in the morning. Dismissed.
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>>50737575
>>50738437
>>50737648
I like a of these ideas. To be honest there's no reason for Dwarves to be a monoculture, especially given thier fractured nature.

>Some clans consist of a hand full of dwarves and a giant who have to get creative to maintain thier ancestors. Others are a small army of dwarves and a dozen or more giants.

>Luckier clans may have reliquaries stuffed with the remains of ancestors evacuated from thier mountain homes.

>Wealthy clans might have portable forges, with aging smiths struggling to pass on the secrets of old, without access to the halls of runes and using only the poor tools that are light enough to travel. The rythmic sounds of hammer and bellows mingling with the songs of the Dirgesingers.

>Poor clans make do with slugs. Using ink from specially bred slugs they tatoo the carrier slugs with a registry of the souls within. The tatoos are recorded again in runes on the flesh of The Burdened, those chosen by the tribe to carry the dead. Priests will sometimes drain blood from the Burdened and burn it with incense in order to commune with the revered ancestors.

I've got some ideas for dwarf units I'll post them when I get a chance.
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>>50740040

That's a neat idea, and it ties in with the Your Guys feel we're trying to capture.
>>
Dwarf unit ideas:

>Nomads
>Most common dwarf unit. Light or unable dwarves fighting with whatever weapons are at hand.

>Shieldbearers
>Cheap wooden shields are strapped to all available surfaces on the caravan's wagons. In tones of need the dwarves of the camp circle the wagons and form sheild walls in the gaps. Disciplined and determined shieldbearers never sound retreat, there is nowhere left to retreat to.

>Giant
>These towering humanoids have asked themselves to the dwarves. Both dying races they stand together resulting their shared fate as comrades in arms.

>Quarellers
>Dwarves armed with crossbows or other ranged weapons. They are often those to old or young to fight in the line, but the world is to hard a place for non combatants.

>Ashen Whisperers
These dwarves are dedicated sharpshooters. Thier bolts are ritually covered in the ash from funerary Pete's. The priests have taught then special prayers, whispered to thier bolts before firing, begging the ancestors to guide their aim and protect thier kin.

>The Burdened
>Only the clans strongest and most skilled are given the sacred task of being living reliquaries. They carry the souls of the clans ancestors, the names of each tatoos in runes across their body. They believe the runes of thier ancestors empower them giving them supernatural skill and might. Despite their prowess, they are often the first to retreat. The clan can suffer the loss of any dwarf, but to lose the souls of thier ancestors is to lose themselves.

>Dirgesinger
>The bards of the clan. They sing of the glories of old and the the tragedies of their people. With powerful voices they sing lamentations that can be heard over the noise of battle, reminding their clansmen what they fight for.

>>50738759
That looks really great anon.
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>>50740645

This is great, keep it up!

Why do the Dwarves and Giants fight, apart from defending themselves? Do some clans hire themselves out as mercenaries? And do others resort to banditry in these harsh times?
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>>50737177
Restaviafag here. I can do a writeup of what's been hashed out so far and send it to you. I assume you're the on in charge of the google doc?

Keep up the great work OP.
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>>50740755
If they're operating as trade cravans crossing the wastes, I imagine they fight mostly defensively. Just having a giant around is probably enough to dissuade anything but the undead and the very desperate.

They probably aren't advice mercenary with if it means keeping the clan fed. They probably get used a lot in Vestami for plausible deniability.

Banditry is an option too. You need a reason for all the factions to have conflict.

I could defintely see a dwarf setting himself up as a bandit Lord and ruling from a "Hold" and"taxing" passersby until a bigger force chases him off.

A small clan with an injured/pregnant/sick giant might also fall to banditry in short order.
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>>50740878
Real quick, anyone got a name for the not!Atlantis the Remnant and Berustia are looking for?
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>>50740878
I'm actually not the one who created the Google doc, but I am the original OP of the first thread, the one that started this whole thing.

I'm going to give us a deadline, because projects like these tend to break down if there's no continuous goal: the core mechanics, and at least the 2d models will be completed before the New Year, possibly by Christmas. Sound good?

>>50741183
Vestrallis.
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>>50741252
Actually, Vestral.
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>>50741183
Emberhold.
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>>50741603
>Emberhold
Sounds a bit dwarfy.
Emberhall maybe?
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>>50741840
Still too dwarfy
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>>50741882
Emberhill?
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>>50742223
Even dwarfier.

Emberg
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>>50742223
>>50742431

Sounds like Halflingsburg.

I'm not liking the whole Ember- naming convention. It's the name of the setting, we don't need to make it the same name as the goal of two minor factions. That makes it seem way more important than it is.

How about we steal straight from an existing city: Lyonesse, from the Arthurian legends. Maybe call it Lyonessen.

Or we take from one of the other Lost Lands found here:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_lands
>>
Hey all, I've Decided to splurge and spend the $10 on Hammer an Forge. Guns, Rune-Magic, and Dwarves ahoy. I'll upload it to the PDF Share thread, and post some screencaps of the Dwarf stats here.
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>>50744789
Thanks anon. Someone feel like making a new thread? I'm phone posting.
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>>50744892
We wait until the thread hits bump limit, then wait until it reaches Page 10 before new thread. The Generals do it for etiquette, so do we.
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>>50741183

There is one thing which unites humans: the certainty our origin is the sea.

Even those in Visamti share this heritage, though their tale is as shredded as their souls. They speak of an eternal hurricane which churned the seas until savage creatures, more beast than man, came to shore. They were comforted by demons who helped them take on the form of humanity by teaching "civilized," arts like shedding blood, contracts and the rightful order between Slave and Master, which allowed the first Archon to silence the storm.

The Kingdom of the North, who's name is lost but who's people survive, told of a great ship, an ark, crewed by the fathers and mothers of all humanity, which sailed a world-sized ocean for an Age until this land rose from the depths and they chose home over the horizon. This story is no longer spoken of, for fear it might offend their new god in his "heavens."

On the far shore in their walled city they tell of a second continent, evergreen and overgrown by orange trees and barley, protected by mists or whirlpools or the world's edge. Even the degenerate phantoms of the Conclave agree men came from the sea, though they speak of random chance and an offshore leyline. Who but mages would think men an accident of magic?

However, it was Restavia which knew the true story. The story of our progenitors, perfect and immortal and all-knowing. The story of a fall born from arrogance and infighting, the loss of their wonders and wisdom. The story of their hope, the last of their race and first High King, who united three lands and stood against the Archons, who began to reclaim what had been lost for humans, those who would inherit their will. The story of their great city, hidden at the bottom of the sea, where their gifts await.

The storm, the ark, the continent, the leyline, they are all called variations on the city's name: Veronadas. All translated differently, we know the true meaning is 'The Hidden Flame.'

We are, all of us, her embers.
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>>50745199

(the joke is that in Gaulic, Verondas means "enclosed space." Appropriate for an underwater city. Unfortunately the Remnant are two fallen France-based civilizations (and languages) removed from the word's original meaning, and the definition has been long since warped into unrecognizablity.)
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>>50744789

Most righteous, based Anon, may Zelthen Light your path. If you mind my asking, can you provide a link to the PDF share thread?

>>50745199
>>50745229

OK, I applaud you, this is amazing lore. If we do go with !NotAtlantis, we should definitely use this.
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>>50745383
No problem. Link is here: >>50746291

And I've really just gotta say, this is probably the best supplement ever for our purposes.

Dragon stats, bear stats, dwarf stats, firearms rules, dragon slayer stats, undead stats, and deliciously enough: Shieldwall and Spearwall maneuvers. The Archon is pleased.
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>>50746308

Oh, Oh yeeessss... This is absolutely delicious....

In all seriousness though, we're pushing 310 posts. We should archive this thread and start a new one, I would do it myself, but my PC hasn't been functioning properly, and I've been using a smartphone to post.
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>>50747185
Gotta wait until this thread hits Page 10. I'll post in a bit.
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>>50746308

i can't seem to access it.
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>>50747499
Sorry, here's the updated link:

>>50747544
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>>50747562

Thank you. I can do the stats up properly tomorrow now.
>>
Thread is archived. will post a new thread tomorrow because I don't want to deal with keeping a thread alive in the middle of the night.



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