>>90255685
>zombies
>low fantasy

>>90255696
Maybe it’s an army of Lepers

They think they’re doomed and the only way to attain salvation is by surviving many battles before the disease takes you.

alright. So whats the theme?

>>90255722
An army of lepers caused by a catacyslmic outbreak of leorosy is threatening the natural order of things; an ancient system of feudal minature states that exist in a complex and ever changing web of alliances.

>>90256954
so HRE during a plague or nurgles rot?

>>90255696
>>90255722
Low fantasy is still fantasy and zombies have their place in it

>>90255685
Is that a heckin' Dark Souls reference?

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OP is a fag but the pic gave me an idea: here is the Banate of Valsya, a small region at the edge of a Kingdom. Recently Valsya was conquered by an undead army guided by Levania 'the Accursed'. Wife of the old ban she started her journey into dark magic after the death of her only son, but the last straw for her was the death of her husband. After the coronation of her brother-in-law she swore vengeance and claimed the Banate for herself.
0702 - Hightower of Valsya: here seats Levania, the tower was built on a mountain range hundreds of years ago and is always patrolled by a large number of undeads. Secrets tunnels were built under the tower and can be used in order to access the building without being seen by the restless guards

>>90257466
>'the Accursed'
I'm an idiot, it's 'the Damned'

>>90255685
Wolves hunt in packs arisen

>>90255696
>Low fantasy, or intrusion fantasy, is a subgenre of fantasy fiction in which magical events intrude on an otherwise-normal world.
Most grognards' ideas of low fantasy are not actually. If it's an alternate world it's always considered high fantasy.

>>90256954
That's surprisingly promising desu

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>>90257466
Good start.

The main entrance to the province is the free township of Kaivos. Recently they have had to increase patrols up and down the river to watch for undead.

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>>90257466
For the most part the blue line is fortified against the hostile outside world and the undead by a high heavily guarded wooden border wall.

>>90257466
0504 - the mudcore
In the center of the banate there is a basin of hot mud that regularly erupts in a scorching fountain of mud. It is said that bathing in the mud may cure skin diseases and alleviate joint pain.

Bands of fanatics and madmen roam the countryside, armed with torches and pots of hot mud that they spread everywhere in order to purify not necessarily sick persons and their homes.

Levania is interested in the effects of the mud - for herself, in order to battle the effects of age, and for her undead minions, in order to counter their rotting stench.

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>>90260171
forgot pic

>>90255696
>low fantasy is the same as mudcore
KYS

>>90258551
Goblins ill like fire!
Even in numbers, a weakling is a weakling still!

>>90260171
>>90260191
meme alert

>>90255722
So, Knights of Lazarus. They were an Order of knights during the crusades for knights who caught leprosy. They had a rep for being hard as fuck, because they were scary (rotting zombies and contagious) knew they were going to die so were pretty fearless, while the leprosy made them resistant to pain.

>>90260396
Weren't they focused on running hospitals for the lepers rather than being lepers themselves? They also took part in some battles, but are more famous for their hospitalier work, no? Like being the source of the word "lazarette".

"Are they undead, or lepers?" is going to be the major dividing issue of the time

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>>90257466
>1 mile hexes
>no hub village
>it's already owned by a local lord who has an undead army you can't possibly contend with
Man I miss when people used to know how to build worlds meant for actual play.

>>90260627
Teach us your supreme wisdom senpai!

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>>90260638
More like common sense:
- develop a rudimentary geography
- start with a central town and its inhabitants (mostly just tradesman and establishments useful to players: local sage, blacksmith, temple or medicine man, trader, local mercenaries or hirelings etc)
- establish close (one day's travel at most) point of interest for players to go to for low danger play (a dungeon, a ruin, a brigand camp, an interesting cave system or catacomb etc etc)
- map and stock the POI (flesh out purpose, history, current inhabitants or factions vying for it, treasures to uncover from it)
- devise some hooks in town for the POI (rumors of its origin or contents, inhabitants who will aid in its exploration, local authorities who are concerned about the danger it poses, etc etc)
- develop additional POI similarly, making sure their distance (and the time necessary to reach them) is commensurate with both the danger and the reward within (and hooking them back to the hub with rumors etc)
- use at least a 3 mile hex (preferably 6), as distance and time are critical to 1) developing challenges that are commensurate with the means of the players and 2) limiting the amount of stuff one must plan before any given play session

With your 1 mile hex, the classic fantasy RPG has me able to traverse two of your megahexes in one in game day on foot.

the leper army believes that the gods that are the foundation of the current feudal order that once gave their lives meaning, is dead, killed by the leprosy that rots their bodies.
This, they claim, gives them the right to usurp the feudal order, replacing it with a variety of leper ideologies (the lepers are a varied bunch, but all bear down on the remaining states that exist)

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>>90260616
>The Gray Plague
also known as Bubonic Leprosy, La Peste Gris or Lazarus Disease is a feared illness that first broke out in the moors east of the kingdom. It spreads through so-called miasma, i.e. bad smells, especially those of rot, death and decay. This created a paranoia throughout the kingdom about anything that smelled bad and led to strict regulations. Since then, bread bakers, for example, are only allowed to keep a certain number of pigs to which they feed leftover food, and driving them across the streets for acorn fattening, for example, must be registered with the city and approved by the responsible craft guild. Perfumes, the creation of large flower fields and the fumigation ("cleansing") of living spaces by setting fire to fragrant herbs, resins and woods such as olibanum, myrrh or oudh have been extremely popular throughout the kingdom since the outbreak. Beyond the eastern borders of the empire, the feared miasma occasionally manifests itself as a heavy, sulphurous black mist rising from the moors that infects anyone inhaling it, humans and animals alike. The disease is also said to spread from through rodents like rats, martens and bats, infected grain, and contaminated drinking water. Especially the trade routes between Tristfell, Fahlschütz and Graudenz are severely affected by this presumably because a lot of grain and animal fur is traded through them. Every third inhabitant of these areas already lost his life as a result of this foul sickness. The symptoms of the Lazarus Disease resemble a combination of the clinical pictures of leprosy, bubonic plague and ergotism.
[...]

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there's a faction of tough dudes who may have a rough reputation as rapists, but they also have a surprisingly chill side. They value loyalty, friendship, rape, and enjoying life's adventures together. While they may have a rapacious streak, they strive to make positive changes in their world.
These dudes go by the name of "The Chill Rapegades." They're all about embracing the wild side while staying true to their laid-back nature.

>>90255696
>NOOOOO LOW FANTASY MEANS HUMANS ONLY AND ABSOLUTELY NO MAGIC
kys

>>90260988
[...]
Affected first experience body aches, high fever and drowsiness. Then come perceptual disorders, frightening hallucinations and periods of straight up insanity called "Death's Folly" in the vernacular.
Those suffering from it then develop painful, swollen bumps especially on the neck, in the armpits and the groin. These bumps can reach the diameter of a childs fist and are brown-black in color due to internal bleeding. The tumors burst after they have melted away with pus. The resulting infection of the blood vessels causes extensive skin and organ bleeding. In addition, the flesh of most sufferers rots while they are still alive. The necrotic and partially missing flesh gives those affected a frightening and eerie appearance.
The rotting of the flesh however can be prevented by rubbing it with mandrake ointment every few hours, which has made mandrakes a resource that is both sought after and scarce all throughout the kingdom. The earlier described "Plague Sepsis" marks the lethal stage of the illness and if left untreated leads to death after three days at the most. After death, the external symptoms recede and a typical pale coloring of the skin occurs which gave the disease its name.
The real hysteria however began when some of the presumed dead left their graves to go about their usual daily work.
This unusual phenomenon sometimes occurs on the seventh day after the death of the sick person.
Only about one in ten infected dead wakes up from their doom.
It is believed that only particularly stoic and strong-willed individuals are capable of this feat. The exact reasons and prerequisites for this "second birth" are not sufficiently understood though. After the return, the core personality and intellect of the risen remains intact
However, it has to be said that many of those affected experience tormenting waves of existential dread and utmost despair, which sometimes can lead to a final self-murder.
[...]

>>90261215
[...]
Once this initial phase of mourning has been overcome, a strong apathetic nihilism and stoic psychological resilience can be observed in the "Awakened" not uncommonly paired with a morbid cynicism and in some unfavorable cases, envious hatred for all living things. The latter can be observed particularly in individuals who engaged in dishonest activities during their lifetime, such as thieves, robbers or bandits. It should be noted though that this alone is not a sufficient condition. As a general rule, this devouring hatred called "Dead Man's Fury" affects people who have overall lived sinful lives and always cared little for empathy and compassion.
In addition to the psychological side effects, the resurrected or "Restless" as the humans call them, experience total immunity against the Gray Plague, aswell as most other diseases and poisons. Over and above that a greatly reduced need for food and water accompanied by a complete loss of sense of taste. Even spoiled food can be digested by them without any problems.
They have a significantly increased pain tolerance which enables them to continue fighting even with the deepest wounds, aswell as an inhumanly high constitution and substantially reduced need for sleep which enables them to march for several days without breaks.
The most crucial change, however, is that a natural death simply does not occur in the awakened, As if they had completely escaped deaths attention by jumping off the edge of his scythe, they are theoretically able to live for thousands and thousands of years.
Less pleasant side effects include a complete failure of any natural wound healing which can in extreme cases lead to complete skeletonization, a chronic feeling of exhaustion similiar to severe depression symptoms and not to be underestimated, really bad breath.

>>90258920
>Low fantasy, or intrusion fantasy, is a subgenre of fantasy fiction in which magical events intrude on an otherwise-normal world.
Yeah I know, but most people who wank off the idea of "low fantasy" on /tg/ do not know this, so its fun to shitpost bait in "low fantasy" threads
>If it's an alternate world it's always considered high fantasy.
I agree, I'd actually say its high fantasy even if its "technically" a "secret past" when that secret past is no more connected to our world than literally any other fantasy world except as pretentios plot device
>>90260235
every alt-world "low" fantasy story or setting is or quickly becomes mudcore

Verification not required

>>90260171
>>90260191
kek

>>90257466
>Ballbag of Vagina
Nice name, shitnuts.

>>90258920
>GATE is low fantasy
What a worthless definition

>>90255696
alright bro, we’ll just rename it “low”

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Trolls lurk in the woods, the highlands, the taiga. Now there are many varieties of trolls, some are giant and mean, some lurk under bridges, some turn to stone in sunlight. Among the most famous are the Huldra. They look like beautiful northern women, only they have a cow's tail and a back of rotten bark. Beware them, good men of Adam, for they are not of God's good Earth.

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>>90263785
Aye, some speaketh of da trolls. Who be lurkin' unda thar bridge, taken ours god's given gold. But I he'ah of othah things. Things that flitter, chatterin' and gigglin', leading good men astray with their childish pranks. They be called da Fairy Folk, and they not of God's world. They seeketh to lure men into yar realm of darkness, where mountains of gnawed bone glittah in tha dark. Bewares them son, fo' they meaneth us harm.

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>>90257466
0101
This is the start of the 'Darkwood.' An ever-growing forest that expands the more man retreats behind the border wall. It's home to many things: lost villages, desperate bandits, exiled highborn, the tribe of lost boys, witches, and hermits. But it's said the deeper you go into the woods, you'll find wolfmen, giant pigs, snails, fairy folk, trolls, and even Old Scratch himself. Only the desperate come here.

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>>90263897
The tribe of lost boys are a band of orphans who came together after their villages were lost to the plague. Spending years avoiding marauding bandits and pillaging armies has turned them wild, some would say even feral, with only a glimmer of the civilized world remaining within them. They survive the fierce winters, made even colder by the ash strewn sky blotting out the sun, by huddling together in underground burrows where they feast on roots and drink the milk of poppies and from hunting lost travelers. You can find signs of their boyhood savagery in the woods: traps, deadly 'pranks,' pig heads, the hung bodies of children who betrayed their 'kin.'

It's said they no longer even worship the lord. Instead replacing him with a idol represented by the rotting head of a boar, ridden with flies. They call him the o' Lord of Flies and sacrifice the weak to serve it's dark desires. Some scholars of the cathedral schools proclaim this to be evidence of Man's true sinful nature: that without God we turn to savagery. For God gives us guidance in his teachings, for he has allowed us to rationalize and explore his great creation, and had he not... We still would be running like beasts in the woods.

>>90255722
How about rabies?

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>>90263962
A band of soldiers escaped the undead queen and fled into the darkwood where they continue a campaign of resistance. Ser Garth Godwinson and his band of loyal men-at-arms fought their way through Levania's undead monsters and swore vengeance for the death of the rightful Ban and continue the fight against the mad noblewoman. Or so they say. Their raids on neighboring villages and traveling refugees leave many to question their supposed idealism, to say nothing of the outlaws they've recruited into their ranks. And every year they get more and more desperate as the Darkwood consumes more farms, as the nights get darker, and more roars are heard echoing deep in the forest.

But Garth has never lost his desire for revenge, and the undead are the favorite targets of the partisans who suffer the worst fates at their hands. Godwin's Men... Bandits or freedom fighters, you decide. One thing is certain: they will not go easily into the night. For God and Nobility, for Chivalry and virtue!

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Does low fantasy mean poverty?

The beauty of mudcore is how much more relevant monsters become. A typical third level 5e party is massacring Orcus and Demogorgon and Tiamat. Where the fuck do you go from there? Muh bounded accuracy yeah it's really fun to run a combat against 50 enemies to provide a simulacrum of challenge.

But in mudcore the big enemy can be a minotaur and the party will need a strategy rather than a head-on attack.

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>>90264206
Not always, but that would depend on the region and leaders. Much like real life.
Low Fantasy means magic is rare and life is relatively normal.
In the case of this world I say Wizards exist, but jealously guard their hard won magical research. The average level 1 wizard is much like a squire or page. Probably treated even more terribly. There is no big fancy guild of wizards or collage of magic.
Instead wizards are more like eccentric hermets who live in towers, cottages, and caves in out of the way places. Occasionally correspond with one another via sending magic or couriers.

Basicly incels/autists but instead of studying sonic, my little pony, or getting into esoteric discussions of politics they're nose deep in cosmic mysteries, the lore of long dead empires, and other nerd shit the average person doesn't have time to deal with because the harvest just failed and the village is trying not to resort to cannibalisim come winter.

Come to think of it, we can make that why people don't trust magic in this setting. Like any online autist they occasionally engage in a little bit of trolling.
When the only exposure you have to magic is a warlock turning all the grain in the silo into insects because of an epic meme he and his fellow cave dweller shared via crystal ball. You are going to want some payback.
You can't get le'epic troll archmage without getting turned into a frog, but you can beat that apprentice of his to death with your shovel.

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>>90260519
The Lazerus Knights were a wing of the Hospitaller Knights of St John, both ran hospitals for pilgrims, as well as maintaining lands throughout europe and a massive army and navy to fight the muslims/turks from the beginning of the Crusades up until Napoleonic times. They all eventually morphed into St John's Ambulance after Napoleon captured Malta (the Hospitallers HQ fortress at the time).

>>90264068
>Ser

faggot

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>>90264986
Man I remember when my old World of Warcraft private RP server got infested with the Game of Thrones grim human 20something lords of defunct noble houses spouting that lame-ass title at each other. Thank god I was a based boneboy who fucked their shit up at every opportunity.

>>90264994
That picture is my fetish.

>>90264986
>>90264994
Ser is just an archaic form of Sir. It long predates GOT, you trannies.

>>90265244
I did a quick google and found nothing to support this. "Ser" predates AGOT, but in other fantasy literature, not as an archaic form of "sir".

>>90265371
It's Italian, ser, truncated form of sere, used since the middle ages.
https://www.treccani.it/vocabolario/sere1

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>>90266214
Ser Gio Leone

>>90266214
>>90266810
>italian
Ah, the most tranny of languages. Good thing Jamal and Abdul will make it die out.

>>90266937
Go outside

>Thread devolves into retards arguing over language and accusing each other of being trannies
Remember when these threads were actually fun?

>>90264286
True and based.

>>90266937
Go die in the desert, saracen scum.

>>90255696
>>90258920
>>90257324
How zombies are not high fantasy? How much magic is needed to reanimate a corpse?
Can't they just be infected like 20 days later?

>>90255685
>>90255696
>>90261044
Zombies should be like the ultimate army of the highest profile BBEG on the setting in a low fantasy world.

>Anons spend more time bickering over what constitutes 'low fantasy' and arguing over literal semantics and bullshit.
>Any attempts to actually add content are met with overt hostility.
>Not that anybody even bothers to try.
This setting sucks.

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The Empire of Ramos sees itself as the legitimate heir to it's predecessor, the old Theran Empire. After entering a period a decline that lasted for five hundred years, not helped by territorial encroachment by the Qualim, the Empire revitalized in 1104 under the reign of Manuel Angelid. The Angelids, with the help of the brilliant general Niketas, they reclaimed the holy land and the lost province of Osira. Turning westwards, they warred against the false Pontiff after he declared the supposed 'Black Church' a heresy and took the Holy See. Though Thera itself is long gone, they have declared the city of Ramos the new seat of the Empire, declaring the reign of the second imperium.

Ever since then, the great houses of the empire constantly scheme to 'retake' the historical domains of the western empire even as the Qualim rebound in the east. The plague itself is seen as a blessing in disguise, with Imperial Frumentarii already beginning to survey the ailing northern kingdoms. While the Imperator debates restoring the legions, rumors abound of the generals beginning to mobilize the tagmata. Some even say that the bostanci itself will take part in the invasion.

>>90266214
>sère
Not only do you have to go to medieval Italian, it's not even the same word as "Ser" you stupid fucking faggot.

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>>90272288
I offer you, my extremely retarded friend, a simple gif.

>>90272305
>Who cares

You, apparently.

>>90272320
You're the one who kept up a multipage argument over GRRM intentionally mispelling the word 'sir.' Now only is it exceptionally autistic but it ultimately derailed the thread.

>>90272333
lol, I'm only >>90272288 and >>90272320

Neck yourself GURRMnigger

>>90272376
Did your get misgendered yet again, eh tranny?

>>90263742
Low fantasy vs high fantasy being defined as our world with fantasy intruding vs alternate world with accepted fantastical elements is a much more clear definition than the subjective and unclear levels that mudcore grogs use, just call it low magic.
Also because I’d like more our world with real folklore settings because that’s a lot more interesting than another tolkien copy by someone much less talented than tolkien

>>90265244
>>90266214
I’m sure that all of these Grim pretentious WoW players were Italian medievalists and not GoT fans, the intention matters as well as a term’s original origin and an esoteric origin does not change the fact that those people and everyone else who uses “ser” when you could just use “sir” is a pretentious faggot

I feel like "tranny" used to mean something and you my friends are diluting the word

>>90272416
I'm confused, I thought we were calling the GoTfags the trannies

Can you trannies stop crying over 'Ser' and actually add to the damn setting.

>>90271825
agreed

>>90271787
You're responding to the literal definition of low fantasy and how it qualifies based on the setting rather than the actual level of magic. What more do you need to ask?

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>>90265244
That doesn't give it any more of a place in World of fucking Warcraft you estrogen elemental, and I know for a fact the people touting it weren't fucking Italian historians they literally used GoT pictures for their profiles.

>>90260792
>>90257466 is clearly a more detailed (if empty at the moment, at least I assume the poster plans to develop it more) look at the content of a 6-mile hex (the blue one)

>>90255696
Even Conan the Barbarian has undead, as does GoT and both constitute as low-fantasy. What do you think counts if these don't fit?

>>90273116
>GoT
>contains magic and events that deal with the fate of the entire realm

Sounds high fantasy as fuck.

>>90272804
Not until you learn your lesson, Sir Faggot.

>>90272466
>is a much more clear definition
it's also utterly useless definition

>>90255722
Lepers = zombie
Rabies = vampire
True?

>>90271787
>How much magic is needed to reanimate a corpse?
Little enough that simple viruses can do it in modern realistic settings

>>90273116
GoT is definitely not low fantasy. Even at the time the books take place where it's a relative lull in the presence of magic, there's magical resurrection, dragons, and sorcerers who perform real spells.

Can a “low” fantasy fan who uses the subjective definition of a world with minimal magic give some examples of “low” fantasy settings ?

>>90275693
GoT

>>90275715
>dragons
>Ice sidhe with invisibility armour and swords that cut through air
So is “low” fantasy just about most of the people in the setting being miserable and there being lots of edgy violence?

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>>90260988
>>90261215
>>90261400
The Arisen or "Restless" banished from the human kingdom have founded various communities. Their dreary villages and towns characterize the appearance of the land east of the kingdom. Despite their inability to produce offspring, these settlements experience brisk influx, especially coming from the plague-infested border areas of the human kingdom. Those communities that aren't consumed by hatred for the living (which are by far the majority) developed a great appreciaton for the arts, as it's one of the few pleasures they can still experience. Literature, music, painting, dancing, sculpture, and theater are things that are enjoyed by them on an intellectual as well as emotional level and help them cope with the mental torment of their unlife, even if the motifs and themes are often of a melancholic, pessimistic and morbid nature. For them, the arts serve as a coping strategy and escapism from their gray unlives. Given that they face eternity, their perception of art has diverged from that of humans. Death is a big topic for them, on the one hand because they can no longer experience it naturally and on the other hand because it represents a kind of second birth for them. In one of their larger metropolises, which is located in and under the ruins of a dilapidated human city, they built a large theater that serves the sole purpose of letting captured enemies kill each other in the most artistic and expressive way possible. After one or both opponents have fallen, they are sometimes revived as skeletons through necromancy, a practice that was strictly forbidden to the restless in their time as humans, they then continue the fight, resembling the sophisticated coeography of a ballet dance, remotely controlled by theater necromancers like puppets on invisible strings. If one of these “actors” performs exceptionally well, they sometimes even give him his freedom back as a sign of respect for the performance.

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>>90257466
lookin' good!

>>90276068
Whether something exists within a setting doesn't matter much by itself.
Take the setting of Titanic (the movie with Leonardo DiCaprio and the iceberg). Let's say I modify Titanic's setting this way: there is now a magical unicorn on Uranus that has lots of crazy magic powers, it can summon dragons and shoot fireballs etc. Nobody on Earth ever learns of it, in fact it never influences events on Earth in any way, but you as the audience just know it's there. This detail might cause some genre shift in one's mind, but not much, since it doesn't affect anything within society.

IMO the point is the perspective of the society, the degree of integration of magic with society.
99% of everyone in Westeros (at least south of the wall) have never run into anything magical in their lives, so the setting of Westeros at the time of GoT has low magic.
Horror movies and novels might be an even better example. Supernatural horrors in those settings often have extreme magical abilities, but they are also in those settings almost entirely unknown to society, society in general behaves almost exactly as if they didn't exist.

>>90266937
nigger

>>90276173
Surpised and relieved there are still people making some sense on /tg/. Well put.

>>90275693
Hyboria

>>90263833
they meaneth us lewd, judging by that picture.

Vampires don't exist in this setting.

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>>90260132
>high heavily guarded wooden border wall.
Imagine pic related but three times the height

>>90276946
But jews do

>>90264206
No

QUICK BUMP THE THREAD ITS GONNA ARCHIVE
HURRY!!!! JUST BECAUSE ITS FUCKING DEAD ISNT A GOOD REASON FOR IT TO NO STAY ON THE CATALOG FOR TWO WEEKS

>>90275080
an utterly useless definition is one without any clarity, meaning that the alt world definition of low fantasy is the useless one and the intrusion on the real world definition is useful and good

>>90257379
No anon, actually that's a warcraft reference.

>>90276946
Rabies exist anon
Vampire folklore is said to have been based on rabies symptoms
You become sensitive to light and smell, you have bloody foam at your mouth, strange bites on your body(animal bites), aggression, hate water, people with rabies are known to bite others, and death

>>90261026
I like this. It's in.

>>90281410
>Vampire folklore is said to have been based on rabies
You're thinking of porphyria
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porphyria

>>90279872
In low fantasy, the supernatural (including magic, fey, miracles, etc.) is very rare. The setting does not need to be on Earth, but the reactions of inhabitants of the setting need to be those that would be expected based on how people on Earth behave (or have behaved in the past). Any magic at all will be either a marvel beyond belief, or a terrible threatening thing; sometimes both at once. (The determining factor is really about how people react to things, not the positioning of continents or naming of towns.)
As you go more towards higher fantasy, magic becomes more common and (ironically) more utilitarian. If "<shrug> A wizard did it." is a common person's response to some supernatural event, it's high fantasy.

>>90281410
>Vampire folklore is said to have been based on rabies symptoms
that for zombie and demonic possession, not vampire
the folklore for vampires likely originated from the porphyria disorders. Depending on the enzyme affected, the patient experiences pallor (paleness), photosensitivity, neurological problems, horrible skin manifestations, along with fang like teeth.
http://i.imgur.com/nEnJqBM.png (nfsw)

>>90263785
>>90263833
>>90263962
Where is the art from?

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>>90282525
Trudvang. The artwork has a neat folkish element to it.

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Anyway, more spoopy forest stuff:

"Aye, ye heah 'bout da Raggedy Man? He's ah foreigner, came with ah doctor. Says he was a soldier and the like but ah never believes him. Ah knews he was trouble, he and all those foreigners with thar golden hair. Afto' the Doc treated da lady, the soldier boys went into da woods. Is dunno what happened to those lads, but da stranger came back."

"Yee, twisted and mangle', 'is evil face hideous, as if he became part o' an ol' tree with rotten bark. Da village boys call him da raggedy man, pelted da wretch with stone 'till he leave. Now he live in da wood, sometimes he come lookin' fo' food. We give him none, as one's form begets his soul. If yar ever see the Stranger, the Raggedy Man wit' his rags and cloak, show him no kindness fo' he will show you none."

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>>90283905
"It's ah said, that deep within' da old woods, where the Forrest turneth black as night, one can find Doc's Cabin. The Doctor came heah three years ago, tryin' ta cure da plague with fo'en men. The Doc tried ta cure da lady bu' fails, so we's good men chased him into da woods wheres he now lives. His solja's were taken by da woods, nows it's only him in our lady's domain. We's sometimeth find him on da road lookin' fo' the road out. Sumtimes wes given hims food and drink, provided he gev his service in turn, othas we take him at the sharp edge o' a knife."

"Doc is a clever one, but he beez a coward. He's jittery, panicky, all it takes is a bruised rib o' a blackened eye and he'll extract an arrow. If yo' eva need a mortal remidy, find him... He beez usually on da side o' the road come morn.

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>>90283953
"Theys speaks of ol' Grandma Shroom. One says long ago there was this ol' crone. The plague came and took her family, leaven just hers and hers alone. Then the forest came, growing bigger and darker and she decideth to die in the woods. Only she didn't, and started turnin' into ah shroom."

"Now she sit in her hut, rockin' her chair, eyes bitter and angry, wanteds nothin' but sufferin' fo' da world that spurned her. Some sez if you eat her yous will knows da truth of thar wood... Others, that she kidnaps children in orda to make the village folk undertake tasks fa her. Sometime she wan' a sow, othas ta kill thieves, once she even made a lad go inta da village fo' the princess's blanket. Thar princess, tha lovely lady, she wants ta eat so she will get her lost youth or so sayeth the tales my felllows tell."

"Some sez she will curse you, so beez warry if you anger her as she will seeketh her vengeance. So if ye see ol' Grandma Shroom, best be warry. She may need a favo' o' two o' three o' four. And never, EVER, mention her ol' daughta in law."

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>>90273021
>you estrogen elemental

>>90275693
The reality is that the terms low and high fantasy belong to stories, not world building. ASOIAF is a low fantasy story. GoT stopped being one but the books will never be written and so they shall remain low fantasy forever.
Most warhammer fantasy roleplay campaigns will be low fantasy, but all warhammer fantasy (the wargame) campaigns were high fantasy. Mordheim could be both depending on the bands present.
I would say lovecraftian stories are all low fantasy but the fans will probably not like that.

>>90255685
A Death March!

Death March is what occurs when a necromancer of great power loses their mind and allows his body to become a conduit to necromantic energies that make them an addict and a thrall to the need to create more undead. The Death March starts as a Death Mass, where the now enthralled necromancer using their minions or their own might kills every living being in an area and then moves on, the bodies of the slain rising to serve the necromancer.
If you slay the necromancer, the Death March marches on, heh, as the necromantic energies allow the necromancer's disfigured spirit to possess another corpse

Category- a slowly snowballing apocalypse!

My issue with threads like these is that they fail to create any kind of coherent setting. I feel like ground rules need to be defined first, and then the setting is built around that.

>>90285500
It would be great if there was completed file/map somewhere as not it looks as everyone just spitballing ideas

>>90285510
I'd guess the recipe for success for this is:
>(1) Stick with a core concept everyone understands. Something like "Wild West", "Pirates". etc. with a few additional qualifiers. Simply saying "Low magic setting", or "High fantasy" is too broad.
>(2) Have one or two people curators who compile everything into a doc or wiki, so people who join can post ideas to the thread and the best ones get added in. With a shit/no curator then it just won't get off the ground.
>(3) Regular threads that build it up, each probably having a different focus (e.g. a particular region) when the previous one dies, to make sure all important parts of the setting are covered.

The issue with doing this on /tg/ is that everything is scattered. You post and it gets drowned out by other replies. It's the sort of thing I think it'd be best to do with like-minded friends in person, though unfortunately none of my friends are autistic enough to want to spend more than 5 minutes creating a setting and would rather use prepublished stuff.

>>90285584
The distinction seems pretty great and simplistic enough for people to get, I'm partial to historic period+general location as it paints clear enough picture for most things.
I know your pain, I'm creating a dnd clone/setting for Baltic Mythology

>>90285634
Honestly I wonder if there's merit to approaching it in the same way WotC ran the Fantasy Setting Search back in 2002. In essence, there were three stages:

>1) A 1-page pitch for the setting, answering the six questions - "Core Ethos Sentence"; "Who are the heroes?"; "What do they do?"; "Threats, Conflicts, Villians"; "Nature of Magic"; "What's new? What's different?"
>2) After that's done, it's expanded out into a 10-page overview.
>3) After that, you then create a 100-page setting bible.

From participating in various "/tg/ creates a setting" threads. Look at "Crumbling World of Giantstep". It has a shitload of content, to the point where one of the stated goals a few people have mentioned is to condense it down to 1,000 pages. If you actually want to use a setting, no player will read through that much (and the sheer length may be offputting).

More than that, it's hard for people who haven't been active in the threads for the last few months to chime in, because of how much lore there is. Setting a cap of 100 pages also keeps things relatively focussed - things go in if they're important, and if someone wants to expand on it there's significantly less content to know (and they can be rapidly brought up to speed via the 1-page and 10-page overviews.

It also marks a defined "completion" point. After that if there's interest, then sure, you can add "expansions" that focus on particular aspects.

>>90285584
>It's the sort of thing I think it'd be best to do with like-minded friends in person, though unfortunately none of my friends are autistic enough to want to spend more than 5 minutes creating a setting and would rather use prepublished stuff.
Very relatable anon. Unfortuantely getting a like minded group together like this just isn't possible irl unless you're part of a company doing it for pay.

>>90283742
Thanks fren! :3

>>90273190
Conan commands an army and defeats a wizard in battle before he destroyed the entire army with magic. what is setting you think is low fantasy setting

>>90286366
Maybe high and low fantasy aren't a dichotomy but a spectrum.

>>90285500
>I feel like ground rules need to be defined first,
well let's go for it then!

>>90287327
As a random one
>Iron age was never reached because for whatever reason the air is incredibly humid and rusts quickly. Other materials are used instead (bone, obsidian, etc). Rule is basically "Nothing that rusts or would not survive a very humid environment".
What does "low fantasy" mean? Are we basically saying "alternative history real world plus a minor tweak here and there"?

>>90287397
But the OP's picture shows guys with iron arms and armor. Plus the entire thread was done assuming iron weapons were the norm. That really should've been set in stone on post 1 if we were going Stone Age.

>>90273116
Conan is NOT low fantasy

>>90287327
Well first of all:
>>90287397
The entire setting was going for a high medieval thing if OP's picture was anything to go by with Kings, Queens, and the black death pervading later additions. That's really far from the neolithic age this guy just cemented. How the hell are you supposed to do any of that if smithing itself is a big-no-no? If you want ground rules, you have to at least pretend to read the thread first.

>>90255696
Zombies? Those are Historically Accurate Peasants™

>>90287447
Seconded I don't see why that would make the setting more interesting besides being le random fact

>>90287554
Yes it is. You just like being a contrarian.

>>90287554
>>90287397
>>90273116
>>90273190
>>90255696


"High" vs "Low" Fantasy's most common definitions are so shit that one could argue the only reason Lord of the Rings is High Fantasy and not Low Fantasy is simply because it takes place in an alternate world and isn't alternative history of the real world

And that for that same reason Harry Potter is low Fantasy because England exists in it

In the ttrpg/gaming sense a better definition of the spectrum of more or less low to high fantasy should just be how fucking novel vs how fucking commonplace is the "fantasy" element in that world for the average person in that world.

Is a practitioner of magic the modern analogue of a technician or would a people be easily swept into either worship or damnation of a caster for how rare and different they are.

Would healing concoctions and treatments that could even cure cancer exist but are so rare that it would be a significant quest to find the materials for it? Or does every +1000 population village have at least one alchemist who probably has the treatments that are the magical analogue of the penicillin-age of medicine.

Are commoners dying not of old age dying from direct assault wounds, and magical curses? Or are they still dying by and large because of famine, tuberculosis, infection, and childbirth complications?

>>90260284
Their kind hates ice and fire both!

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>>90289754
>Lord of the Rings
>isn't alternative history of the real world
don't tell him

>>90289690
I just can't see any high culture developing without metal. Take that away, and humanity never moves past the stone age.

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What are the best systems for /mudcore/ games? At least during low level.

Warcraft Fantasy?
ADnD?
FATAL?

What homebrews do you use to bring out the shit browns and diarrhea greens of your worlds?

>>90290042
this thread has nothing to do with mudcore anon

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>>90290062
>ctrl+f "mud"
>14 results
Seems relevant enough to me. Would you prefer I started a brand new thread to ask this question?

>>90290181
>Would you prefer I started a brand new thread to ask this question?
honestly, yes. no need to derail this one

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>>90290202
>NOOO! You can't talk about beluga whales here. You're DEWAILING my dolphin thread!
>What do you mean you're building organically off of existing conversation by other anons?
>So what this is a perfectly natural place to ask questions about an already small shared niche?
>I've decided this thread is for discussion DOLPHINS and DOLPHINS only. Everytime I see a whale here my tummy starts to ache.

What's with this hyperfocused thread topic autism? I thought it was specific to nsfw boards.

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>>90289754
>Hurr low fantasy is when alternate history

I have seen many people say this but from my experience it's complete bullshit, most people don't define low fantasy that way

The colloquial "definition" of high and low fantasy are pretty fluid and are more about "feel" than anything actually substantial. I would hazard a guess that most people would consider stuff like GoT and The Witcher to be low fantasy and Harry Potter to be something that isn't low fantasy (what, I have no clue, but certainly not low fantasy). Why is hard to articulate

My personal definitions would essentially be a spectrum from "complete non-fantasy" like historical or alt-history stuff where there's no or almost no fantasy elements to "over-the-top" shit like He-Man or arguably Spelljammer (or even normal DnD, really) where it's almost unrecognizable when compared to our world due to the sheer amount of magic/fantasy shit going on. Consult pic.

>>90261026
based

>>90290408
it's because the faggotstep threads are not going well so this faggot is trying to get another one going so he can continue to play pretend that he's in charge of something

>>90291977
Bro chill, people enjoy different things. No need to be so bitter.

>>90292052
lol

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>>90289923
based lorefag

>>90290042
The Dark Eye

>>90279872
>and the intrusion on the real world definition is useful and good
It's an utterly meaningless, pointless distinction. It serves nothing, doesn't matter that it's clear. I could categorize fantasy settings based on which has lions or other meaningless feature like tomatoes in it and which doesn't. It would be a clear, precise categorization. And it would be utterly useless one as well, because nobody gives a fuck about shit like this. There is no point in categorizing settings like this. It's functionality pointless, just like claiming that Lotr or Hyborian Age, worlds with drastically different history, countries, landmass, races and species, magic and monsters are somehow both low fantasy, because Tolkien said in some private letter somewhere once that it's actually Earth in the past or some shit like this.

Low Fantasy means low magic and sparse magical, fantastical content. High Fantasy means high magic and fantasy shenanigans everywhere. Any other definition is wrong, incorrect and most of all useless. Those few people who read about world intrusion definition on Wikipedia once and now go everywhere and sperg out with ackshually bullshit are retarded. Commonly used Low Fantasy and High Fantasy definition is the correct one and what people understand.

Asoiaf is Low Fantasy, lotr is High Fantasy, the case is clear for anyone not retarded.

>boring semantics
how about actually creating something fun?

>>90294011
TDE magic is tad too powerful and way too common to make it a mudcore. Yes, you can die of untreated cough, and you need to bring rations or forage for food in the wilderness, but that alone does not a mudcore make.

>>90255722
Leprosy, spores, too much lye, rabies, syphilis, take your pick
Could probably make an undead out of each ailment

syphilis before antibiotics pretty much made you look like you're melting anyway

>>90255685
Change to high fantasy.

>>90256954
Wdym natural order? Leprosy is a disease. It is natural.

>>90257466
wow you're really bad at naming

>>90259566
Bad start. Stop samefagging.

>>90297084
I feel like german crunch autism and mudcore go hand in hand

>>90272103
This time, we'll get the good ending.

>>90255696
they are normal peasants and labourers, zombified by soul-crushing tax policies. especially watch out for the ones armed with hammer and sickle.

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There is an official religion, centered around protector saints, sacred spaces and animist rites, overseen by an all-benevolent mother goddess known as the white mare and her three sons. The official church is benevolent and carries a refined corpus of theological minutiae. Sadly the peasants of Valsya who constantly live in a state of near anarchy involving necromancers, mud and deathwalkers have in the past centuries devolved to a crude and sometimes demented understanding of holy doctrine. Attached is a typical artefact/lucky charm sold by the lay-preachers of Valsyan villages which needs no further commenting. The imperial capital has already been thrice recommended by the knights of St. Lazarus to declare a crusade over Valsya.

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The white mare

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The 3 sons

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In the distant northwest, beyond the ever advancing Darkwood and the closing fist of the Emperor, sits the Grand Duchy of Friesland. Where the dark brown hair and brown eyes of the south gives way to golden hair and light eyes complimented by a tall height. They descend from northern marauders who built the city of Ostlem on the coast. A bustling port, they have transformed much of the neighboring swampland into thriving farms by draining the swamps with levees and dikes. And for a long time, the Frieslanders became wealthy as their galleys sailed all through the northern seas.

But then... The plague came. Many villages were emptied, farms were abandoned, and the city itself was a nightmare filled to the brim with piles of dead. And then the environment began to return to its natural state with a massive flood brought upon by the neglection of the levee systems, a failed dike, and the Darkwood turning once lush farmland into swamp once more. The Frieslanders have launched a small expedition into the Darkwood, suspecting sorcery, with Duke Randolph Oranje trying to restore the Duchy's Infastructure.

Of all forty Knights and two hundred Men-At-Arms who entered the wood, not a single one returned alive.

>>90300775
>>90300786
>Marcell Jankovics
holy based

>>90256578
Local Lord saves everyone

>>90290042
GURPS, duh

Which of the regular human factions can use magic effectively? It seems like the only useful tool against all the bad stuff. A human faction that mastered magic could use their mastery for a competitive advantage.

>>90264994
>Exposed soles
Blizzard knew exactly what they were doing down to the most minor detail

>>90305396
>Which of the regular human factions can use magic effectively?
none of them magic is rare and mostly used by bad guys

>>90289754
>Harry Potter is low Fantasy because England exists in it
Harry Potter is low fantasy, it fits the most widespread consistent definition of low fantasy because it’s set in the real world with a secret magical society or forces

>>90284807
That’s a good definition, embracing the subjectivity like that works well

>>90295369
Its absolutely not an arbitrary definition in the history of the fantasy genre, especially in novels, the distinction in the intention of creating an entire world like LotR or playing on folklore like what came before is quite significant

>>90289923
underrated post

>>90304183
the more time I spend on /tg/ the more I get the feeling nobody ever actually played this game

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>meanwhile at the eastern border

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I think the farther you get away from the center city, the more dangerous things get. So each cardinal direction has a theme:
>North: the Darkwood, the Evil Forest, where you start stumbling across Fairy Forts, staircases, and cryptids the further you trudge through the thick foliage. Lewd Fairies are the least of your worries here, son. Beware the Wolfman. (or make a deal with him, meat)
>South: the Empire. Ramos has smashed it's way through the southern Kingdoms, taking advantage of the plague to secure a strong foothold on the southern border. With all the slavery, sodomy, and Caesarism the Empire brings with it.
Anyone want to do the east and west?

>>90314420
The west shall be a vast terrible ocean with far away lands yet to be explored

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>>90314648
With Vikings. The coasts are a favorite of theirs since the King's army died of the plague. Svorgald is the name of their distant home, a land of golden-haired men with fiery blue eyes.

>>90314420
The east is where the plague originated. Open and deserted country for leagues around with empty villages and farms, the livestock dead in the fields from starvation. Narry a soul to been seen save for circling birds overhead and perhaps the rare dark shape way way off in the distant hills.

Absolute shithole I tell ye

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>>90315139
There's also a screwed-up island Kingdom populated by men with filthy teeth and pasty skin out west. The plague has just hit it like a truck. The Empire considered conquering it alongside the other northern kingdoms but between the teeth, vikings, nobles with a tendency to behead their wives, weird stone circles, godawful food, fairy folk, giants, and the fact all their fleets get shrouded in fog... Ramos has decided to put that conquest on the backburner.

Surely this divided land of god awful men with hideous teeth will never amount to anything...

Each of the foreign powers has a reason to be involved in the Bann which is, in truth, a tiny part of a much larger kingdom.
>Merry not!England: RESIST
>Ramos: DESTROY
>Svorgald: EXPLOIT
>Friesland: COOPERATE
As the campaign goes on, their influence grows and wanes due to random events. These random events can range from small natural disasters such as floods and malaria outbreaks to even full-blown wars. The players can choice to align themselves to one of the powers if they want once they attain enough reputation.

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>>90314420
>>90314648
>>90315139
North: Darkwood Forest
East: Undead Plague Marshes
South: Slavery?
West: Vast Ocean with Vikings

Solid btut this setting is lacking a picturesque mountainrange.

>>90297055
Tthis. Stop arguing about definitions you morbidly obese autists

>>90319745
>West: Vast Ocean with Vikings
Or worse: ENGLISHMEN!
>"Oh god, here come the Vikings-"
>"Oi mate, you give meh your bloody shit or they'll be hell to pay, you gobshite!"
>"Oh no... Britbongs!"

>>90258920
>Most grognards' ideas of low fantasy are not actually. If it's an alternate world it's always considered high fantasy.
Considered by who? A few irrelevant pedants who insist on using an obsolete definition? The same kind of worthless cretin who goes "ehrm ackshyually necromancy means divination blah blah blah"?

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>>90255696
>all the seething nogames Fromtroon secondaries
FPBP

>>90261735
If you're using the term wank at all, you're actually just asshurt that the genre exists. I've noticed this on /tg/. Every argument is filtered through the lens of terminally online people whose only experience with things is what other terminally online people think about them.

You should stop doing this as EXCLUSIVELY asshurt faggots do it and it lowers the level of discourse to this thread.

>>90323582
samefag

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Far, far to the south sits the Oasis cities of al-Qarn... The land of merchant kings and veiled women. Home of the Qualim, a mysterious swarthy race of men who proclaim that there's only one God that will one day bathe the world in flame and judge his creations. Indeed, the flame and the Salamander hold symbolic importance for this race, with the belief that fire purifies all. It's said, that God gave seven commandments to the first Prophet, Ahriman, when he revealed himself in the form of a burning geyser.
>"I am God. Your lord, your maker, your judge. You shall worship no other."
>"You shall not say my name in vain."
>"You shall not kill."
>"You shall not steal.
>"You shall not commit adultery."
>"You shall not envy your neighbor's wife."
>"Remember your lord's day."
>"The Stars are not meant for man."
Other commands were later revealed by the three latter prophets: Omar, Jaleed, and Ali including very specific instructions on how to burn the magi and the Undead. For, according to Ali during the last revelation:
>"Only God has the right to take your life. And when he does, your soul has left your body to be judged before him. The Dead that still walk are soulless blights that defy his divine laws, rot creation and must be destroyed."
Ali died during the Imperium's military expedition into the dead land of Deshret but his followers persist as a confederacy of city-states. One of their number, a man named Ibrahim Battuta, was trapped in the Bann and records what he believes to be the end of days.

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alright anons lemme go pitch a world power
a little of the Byzantines and Venetians for this

There on the Lands Betwixt Mountains and the All-Sea rule the Arch-Barons, whose capital perches upon the chalk white cliffs of the Oldest Harbor, where at low tide statues of ungodly design, unknown make nor known date of making, may be seen serving as artificial reefs to harry any ship leaving or going.

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The Arch-Barons, though some claim to retain the blood palatine like those tyrants from the old days of Theran Hegemon before the equally good Imperium, rule not by right of birth but in the oration of blades and arms, or by pure skill in the matters of statecraft, the bloodshed however comes first over all to securing an office in the corporation.
For the method by which they govern, if you were to ask them is by a feudalistic bureaucracy, rule by offices given by God and the Virtues themselves.
This is the way since the Arch-Barons overthrew that heathen thane that dared to pick at the carcass of the once great Theran Hegemon that ruled the known world.
The lowest of the ruling elite are the rich business owners, from trading ships to farming land, the patricians who may spring from every race and land gain their dignitas by obliging to their duty to the state by being serving their overlords, the magnates which grant their writs of sovereignty as sponsors, making the patricians part of their troops of trade ships and farm estates.
Betwixt the patricians and magnates there are the landed gentry, the army officers which manage the Grand Army that serves and protects the interests and trade of the Arch-Barony by land or by sea, while their income may come lower than most magnates or some of the patricians their dignitas is higher then them both by the virtue of being skilled in killing people.

>>90264206
Low Fantasy means "little to no magic, but still otherwise fantasy in nature". Like for example let's say you have a setting with griffins, dragons, minotaurs, centaurs, etc; but absolutely zero magic or gods or anything like that. All those fantasy creatures are completely mundane and have abilities that are explainable through natural phenomena.

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Starting out as a mercenary company hailing from the Inner Lands, they ended up being the muscle because they defenestrated that monstrous Northman chief improperly squatting on the Old City, and even though they now wear the improved linothorax designs and bear the scutum, good old sling and modern gladius or at times the sturdy long stick called the pike to patrol the streets and ways of the Arch-Barony ridding it of thieves and making sure taxes are being paid, the specialized troops, skirmishers and ritterkinghts are still being harnessed until this day when not on patrol like the og infantry, in the Colosseum and small town blood sports where they also do their recruitments.

Often times the officers in this army come from the many orphans abandoned and then picked up by the army to be the exclusive foot soldiers of the Grand Army, the great legions of Theran preserved and improved, although sometimes they may show some talent in some form of specialization and so are transferred to the Ritterknights, the Missiles or the Blood Takers.

Ritterknights are descended from the disowned noblity that came from the Inner Lands and elsewhere else and with that mercenary company, clad most in the full plate they serve as the heavy shock calvary although some may forgo the heat trapping of full plate and swap for the regular linothorax and serve as the light scout cavalry.

The Missiles are the ranged troops of the Grand Army either being sandwiched between the infantry or in front and behind the pikemen and skirmishers in the hollow square formation, being sharpshooters without compare, the ones being sandwiched in betwixt infantry are the ones that show basic competency for sling usage, while the archers usually take the field foremost often shielded by the legionary and covered by sling shot to take out the enemy command by precise shots from their compound bows, each a master piece of the Bowyers Guild, recurved and wheeled to be as efficient as possible at shooting.

>>90324378
My original post was bait, I don’t need to samefag, I already got the you’s I wanted
And zombies aren’t low fantasy they’re dark fantasy

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The crossbows are usually brought to the front for one purpose only, to deter cavalry, of greater work than the bows requiring use of a goat foot lever and placed behind the pikes, each of the lead oblique shot also used in slings penetrate mail and lethally dent plate mail as easily as kebab skewers meat, although some will equip the steel and lead alloy arrows to join the archers in targeting enemy command.

The Blood Takers are the fellow northmen who also hate their thane and like their new neighbors so much they joined in the just rebellion and establishment of the Arch-Barony, so the skirmishers are named in their honor.
Flails, modern gladius and small shield, great blades axes and hammers compromise the specialists of the Grand Army, settling amongst the pikemen, the really good slingers and archers, their main battle role is to flank the enemy the most vital task in the good old envelopment tactic and to lower the enemy morale, as its officers are the best arena fighters in the known world and know how to sink the hearts of man as easily as they can raise them up.

Yet for all this military tradition, the Grand Army in times of peace are just the bodyguards for the magnates who bid for their services and are charged with sponsoring them, the officers of the legionaries serve as the policing force in a magnates territory as well as debt collectors and the officers in the skirmishers the prize fighters who by ritual duel decide the fate of businesses.

Not all recruits of the Grand Army come from between the legs of whores however, some come from the houses of landed gentry of patricians and magnates, as it is a great way to gain dignitas and to rid or treat cowardly or spoiled sons, as all are treated equally shit in every ludus across the Arch-Barony, as is written in the Non Aggression Pact as well as laws of the land and all of this is made sure by the true and only nobility of the land, the cutthroat Barons.

>>90326498
faggot

>>90326629
rude! >:(

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>>90326624
Roman larpers... Nice.
>"Bah, please ignore these imitating... Federati. We, the Imperial Men of Ramos, are the true heirs to Thera. Already, the Imperial Guard bests their pathetic imitation of a 'Legion' in open combat. Now, if you excuse me Barbarian, me and my catamite have to visit the baths."

>>90261026
let's expand on this

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A Baron of the Arch-Barony is to rule over the several provinces of the state, appoint magantes to each patch of land and ensure the officers entrusted by the Grand Army are well supplied

To be a Baron of the Arch-Barony is no easy task.

To even be permitted to start petitioning let alone enter at the cafe area of the Palace of Enlightened Delights a six month annual income of million solari are required to even join, save one exception.

There one sells their sales pitch of why they have the dignitas and riches as well as intellectual capacity to be part of the big boys club that passes the laws around with the Barons and Arch-Barons in attendance, failing to do so will get you laughed at and disgraced with 3 months blacklisted sanctions on all your investments due to the sheer embarrassment and shame you brought upon yourself, if you pass however.

You will be informed that in a week you and, if you have any, your fellow inductees will be performing in the Palace's theater and you have to memorize all the given plays part lines by then, which hopefully you dont, after which the day finally comes you will be formally welcomed in the big boys club with the title of Baron bestowed upon you, with the laughter of your plays performance breaking the ice.

>>90326840
>You claim to be the heirs to "Thera" yet do not hold it in your possession
>remain obsessed with eastern heathen fashion and smell the anuses of West men and the Inner Lands
>cry that the East has fallen ever time a Qualim trading fleets sails by Ramos and demand supplies and ships

Curious

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>>90326840
>>90326898
"Ah, the westerners are here with yet another spice contract. We occupy a position of great import, connecting the worlds of east and west... And controlling the flow of goods in between them. While they fight over that silly horse idol of theirs or Thera, we live in luxury. My sons Omar, Abu, Saul, and Ibrahim will one day inherit the Battuta Clan's fortune."
>"Yes, we shall continue shipping the spice lest the two-start fighting over their idols again. And no, I will never give up the search for Ibrahim. There's trouble brewing in the far north."

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To be Arch-Baron is a harder and more different story.

The Retirees, a brotherhood of old timers including the most wily patricians, respected magnates and former Barons and Arch Barons, are called upon whenever a patrician, magnate, Baron or Arch Barons dies or most commonly when he or she reaches 50 in order to test their mental fortitude.

Passing their test earns you a place in their brotherhood sipping margaritas and bedding whores in the retirement wing of the Palace, in the cases of deaths however for patricians or magnates, they oversee the rituals to turn over their powers and responsibilities to their heirs

In the cases of Barons they must determine whether the club has gotten too big and can be easily solved by reshuffling provinces, if not shamed petitioners and new money are all called to sell their pitch in the Palace, for the cases of Arch Barons however.

The Retirees call forth the club and tell them to elect the members who think should fill the vacated Office, usually from the from the former Arch-Barons staff, and if two or more are elected they are put to task at completing the most basic task one learns during apprenticeship as fast and as many as possible.

This is the regular Succession trial for they who hold the Charter for the Offices of Justice, Public Health, Logistics, Entertainment and Trade.

The Succession Trial for the Charter of the Office of War is where the fun begins.

>>90327017
One day Abdul, if you acting up like that we will be forced to sanction you all, have you not learned the lesson of empires habibbi? For such an affluent and skilled business man like yourself I was sure you learned of it.
Speaking of which what is the trouble in the north? There is a plague brewing down in Ramos so I say be wary of trading there and come to us who have always kept quarantine in the Inner Lands.

>>90326629
Sowwy, kiss and make up? X
( ʃƪ˘ﻬ˘)(˘ ε˘ʃƪ)

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>>90327056
"Some nonsense about a... Get this, a WOMAN taking power. You northerners really need to use niqabs. Keeps our women pure and docile. Nothing to worry about, northerners are northerners, we just use intermediaries in Ramos for our dealings with them and they always deliver."

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There always has been one exception to the rule of the Barony and is only applied to the Condottieri.

In the ludus certain outstanding youths were selected to be trained in the way of junior officers based on their natural tactical prowess or talent for leading men.

Once becoming a junior officer they would apprentice under the veterans and advance to being a fully fledged officer, like the centurions of old they would take to front and lead by example.

A regular Grand Army officer would follow his lords orders and train his men idling in times of peace, the calm before the storm.

An ambitious Grand Army officer would do this and more by requesting to be employed under their charges learning the finer arts of statecraft and business.

And when they are learned enough to themselves be of patrician standing they march up to the Palace and present themselves before the Warmaster, the holder of the Charter of the Office of War, and using their newly learned skills pitch their rights to the club.

Failing that if foolhardy enough they challenge the Warmaster in a duel to first blood, and if the Warmaster grows fond of him he gets a De/Di attached to his surname.

If the supplicant has not a surname it is attached to his first name which his line will hold provided they always send a son alive from the ludus to the Grand Army.

They hold no provinces save for the rare occasion and can be employed under the Office of War unless wishing to turn back on the military life.


>>90327233
For real? Eh we do have a Mistress of the Office of Intelligence here, unironically, but goddamn isnt she the most erotic woman in the world, by the Virtues Abdul if she uses a niquab like yours do the niquab would do so little against her charms. I bet the one they got up North aint even that pretty. If she is smart enough she should stabilize the market and region as soon as possible I keep seeing sub par goods being peddled to us and that's just disgraceful.

>>90283742
Reminds me of Brian Froud, where it has that very fae, primal look to it. Really cool

>>90255685
I like pirate republics, can we get a pirate republic ran on pirate's code whose main export is booze and robery?

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Pirate vessels are highly stylized to the point of impracticality!

These Condottieri are the foremost men that the Warmaster relies on, they are the majors of the Grand Army whose command is near pear to the Warmaster himself and in the case of the Warmaster dying on the field of combat these are the men the Grand Army default to for orders.

When the war is over and the Warmaster is buried or joins the Retirees a Battle Royale will commence in the Collosso, each of the claimants to the Office gather themselves and few regiments of their men to do first blood and territory control combat for the Office, to which the test of commanding the army and the claimants own personal prowess are tested to all ends until only one remains to be the next Warmaster.

While those cthonic black and daunting pillars of unworldly stone would impair any other regular vessel the swift but armored Grand Fleet could easily find its way around it and serves as its official mooring point.

The master pieces of the Ship Builders Guild, the tortoise boat and the iron hulled caravels serve as the two major vessels employed by the Grand Fleet, in times of peace the tortoise boat role is to tug along the bigger bulker ships about the statues to the Oldest Harbor and iron hulled caravels are the standard Arch-Barony's trade vessels, small enough to outpace any adversary, holding enough cargo space as well as being so numerous and easy to produce to ferry goods around the All-Sea.

In times of war the tortoise boats, oar powered and covered up top and front to back with spikes, are used to ram or tug the enemy warships into the statues, and the iron hulled caravels aside from the sturdy iron that covers the prow it also contains a nest of four compound ballistae that may fire chained lead shot or incendiary material to disable the sails of enemy warships or plain lead shot to puncture holes in the ships.

Aside from its purpose as the Arch Barony's chief defender of its shores, it is also a popular relaxation spot for both locals and some tourists alike, commonly seen with young couples a plenty during its high tides, gentle waves, forgiving sunshine and awe inspiring sunsets that inspire many a painter, the Hollow Coveway is all of this and a little more with it well situated away from the rank odors from the Oldest Harbor really is a place to be.

Yet again the real fun is when the low tides and night falls upon the Coveway, nearly every artisan and guild member in the capital gather every night under these conditions to ruminate staring at the tides under lamp and moon light for a spark of inspiration, some swearing to see visions in the foam of the water breaking on those statues which they bring to life as statues itself or paintings, some even say they hear whispers carried by the tides, which they bring back as songs and poetry.

By official decree of the Holy See and the Arch-Barons themselves, it is a holy site where the Virtues and God reveal their secrets to us mortals.

With assets such as inexhaustible manpower, having the most credible banking coinage aside from the Qualim and least Ramos(their standard is tied to us, as well as any Inner or Northern and Western kingdom worth a damn), possessing their own rare spices and produce, producing some of the most enlightened individuals the world has ever known, boasting a mercenary army and navy that has already saved kingdoms(looking at you Ramos and Friedland) the Arch-Barons of Nova Tiera situate themselves among the great sovereigns of the world left in the demise of the Great Theran Empire, they being the only true descendants of that once great Hegemon behind their money grubbing hands have a dream to see it restored once more.

bump
anyone wanna worldjerk for the west and north now?
also no mongols or nippon?

>>90329993
besides the second and maybe the last one these are too high fantasy looking

>>90331719
>also no mongols or nippon?
Nippon is gay, but we do need steppe people. Let's say the steppe people are Gnostics who ride on giant boars rather than horses.

>>90255696
fpwp

bump