The Campaign Builder's Guild

I'm starting wiki work.  I really don't like the way things show up in the forum postings, so please forgive.  Discussion, when it comes around, will go here.

As of right now, all I have is an intro page and a very very sparse introduction to the atlas page.  I've got tons of material, but it's going to take a long while to put it all up and get it formatted properly.  (For instance, most of my map files are 10MB+ in size, so I'm having to shrink them all down and figure out how to relabel them.)

But for what it's worth, what I have done is here (http://www.thecbg.org/wiki/index.php/Calisenthe).

I'll bump this as I add appreciative amounts of new material.  Comments and criticism welcome and solicited.

Hey, interesting. I've been reading the stuff you've been posting today, and I was preparing a big comment for the main discussion page. Am I right in inferring, based on

QuoteDiscussion, when it comes around, will go here.

,  that you'd rather see comments in this thread than in discussion pages?

One place or another, I'm planning to to give you a shout about Calisenthe.

I don't know how the discussion pages work... I'd love to use them though!

Please feel free to post whatever you'd like to the discussion pages.  Just, um... post a link here showing me how to get to them.  Do I just hit the "discussion" tab at the top of each page?

Quote from: AcrimoneDo I just hit the "discussion" tab at the top of each page?

That's correct. Every wiki page has its own discussion page, and you get to it from that "discussion" tab and then edit it like any other wiki page. Lots of wiki users (myself included) have been using discussion tabs to annotate their own work, or to comment on the work of others.

Sweet.  I look forward to discussions, then.

Just a note on progress:

History is done.  There's a minor discrepancy in something I wrote regarding the Great Korom Wars of 1300-1307, but I'll get around to fixing that and we're not really at the point where anyone's going to notice anyway.

Atlas is in progress.  I'm subdividing the Atlas into regions and detail maps.  The first region and its first two subdivisions are done.  Everything else still needs to be put together.

But we're making progress.  I just wanted to give people a heads up so that they didn't have to do all their criticizing at once.

Link is at the top of the page.  It's not in the settings list on the wiki front page yet.

I have continued to update the wiki entries.  The Atlas still needs work, but I did put up a page on Magic.  I was working on technology but (apropos, I suppose) I had a network crash and lost what I was writing.  Should be up in a couple of hours.

UPDATE: Inhabitants front page is up, so everyone who is into what races a world has can now go see.

UPDATE: The front page for the Sethreki Empire is up.

I would really love feedback from all and sundry.  Comments, critiques, suggestions... and it's a wiki.  So edit away!

I'm bumping this thread ONCE AGAIN for two reasons:

1) A shameless plug for attention.

2) The page for the Wizard's College is done at last and I'm very happy with my efforts.  Now I want people to tell me how it sucks, so I can make it better.

A bit review of the Wizard's College.
(Full Disclosure-- There might be some automatic, unconsious comparison to my Collegium Arcana, since there are unavoidable similarities...but I'll try to avoid them)
(BTW--INtersting choice, using Rolemaster.  Good for you.  Stick out fom the pack.)

The Overview is very rough reading.  Instead of going into what this organization means in the world, its position or relevance, or what it will mean to GM's or PCs, you start with who founded it.  Then you go into what it is interested in and what it does not control.  This is not a good start to an overview.  What is this organization and what does it mean for a GM?  I'm not saying not to include these things, but start the overview literally from a perspective of letting the reader 'see over everything at once'.

Like the titles and divisions.  They make sense and are nicely setting specific.  Also obvious enough for folk outside the organization to understand.

Relationships between masters and apprentices are normally permanent?  I now rate Calisenthe as more fantasy based than almost any I have read about.  This breaks every rule of organizational behavior in the book.  I can see a special fondness and perhaps a long relaionship, but purely due to the hierarchal nature of a pyramidally structured organization, with less room for growth at the top, etc, I doubt any organization without the capacity for ability overtaking experience to survive.  Talk about this, maybe I'm missing something.

Love the Edict.  Just love it.  The power of magic in a fantasy world needs to be policed by it's own (or mitigated in some way), and I think you have come up with a nice mechanism for this.  Rogues and renegades, anyone?

Love the oath, but there needs to be a paragraph on basic history before this, maybe after the overviwe, as you are name dropping like crazy here without a safety net.

The 2 last sections are among the best.  The crimes and punishments are nice and make some sense, though the rule of Neutrality might get sticky.  It's just a rule, however...
But the last bit on how to make a living is plain great.  The dynamic at the end of it, about who they can bitch to, also told me volumes in a few words.

Quote from: LordVreegThe Overview is very rough reading.  Instead of going into what this organization means in the world, its position or relevance, or what it will mean to GM's or PCs, you start with who founded it.  Then you go into what it is interested in and what it does not control.  This is not a good start to an overview.  What is this organization and what does it mean for a GM?  I'm not saying not to include these things, but start the overview literally from a perspective of letting the reader 'see over everything at once'.

These are valid criticisms and I shall see what I can do to address this.

Quote from: LordVreegRelationships between masters and apprentices are normally permanent?  I now rate Calisenthe as more fantasy based than almost any I have read about.  This breaks every rule of organizational behavior in the book.  I can see a special fondness and perhaps a long relaionship, but purely due to the hierarchal nature of a pyramidally structured organization, with less room for growth at the top, etc, I doubt any organization without the capacity for ability overtaking experience to survive.  Talk about this, maybe I'm missing something.

The original idea I had for this was that everyone except a privileged few had to answer to someone.  I've always imagined the College as inherently fascist: they really want to know what you are doing, where you are doing it, and they want to have a say in it.  The mechanism I designed for this (as you can see) is that everyone answers to someone, all the way up the pipe.

Part of the motivation for this setup is the fact that level progression in Rolemaster is linear.  If I'm 10 levels ahead of you, and we keep earning the same amount of XP, I'm going to be 10 levels ahead of you forever.  Now, that doesn't actually mean that much for most skills, but for spell list acquisition and the development of magical skills it really can be important: you can learn at absolute most 2 spell lists per level.  Magic-using classes' strength and flexibility depend on level far more than non-magic using classes.    Most Apprentices are around 5th level when they choose a master, and most masters are Masters (which I'm going to go ahead and lie and say is the reason for the similarity in title there).  Most Masters are at least 20th level.  That means most Masters have a 15-level overhead on their pupils.  That's an awful lot of ground for an Apprentice to make up, even if they are a prodigy.

Now the way Rolemaster works, great stats (i.e., natural talent) and very lucky background rolls (i.e., more natural talent) can go a long way to making a low level character the functional equivalent of a high level character.  A totally tricked-out ghetto-Honda of a 3rd level fighter is probably going to have better offensive bonuses than a run-of-the-mill 8th level fighter.  But it's not going to get you more spell lists, and I actually like that for the following reason: I wanted magic to be something that takes a lot of work.  I didn't want it to be the sort of thing where raw power and talent is important, which is why I changed the effect of high stats on power point generation.  I wanted magic to be all about discipline and practice.  Sure, maybe the brilliant young 3rd level Runemaster (I have one in my campaign right now) has ztats to die for, and an uncanny ability to tap into life energies for raw magic power.  But he doesn't have the experience and discipline to turn that power into all the types of effects that even an 8th level Runemaster could.

Finally, if you're an apprentice, even if level progression slows as you get older, you're probably going to see your Master dead of old age before you reach his level, assuming you ever reach it at all.  THe ranks of Scholars are filled with people who will never advance to Master.

Anyway, this is all by way of saying that you may be (and probably are) right, but I did have some reasons for what I did.  I think I'll probably take a stab at revising this aspect, too.

Quote from: LordVreegLove the oath, but there needs to be a paragraph on basic history before this, maybe after the overviwe, as you are name dropping like crazy here without a safety net.

I worry about redundancy and repetition... all that historical goodness is in the history section.  But I'll see what I can do.


THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!  I love criticism.  It makes everything better, except the weak who can't handle it.  Give me more!   :yumm:


PS - Regarding my choice for Rolemaster... I guess my question is, after reading through some of your Guildschool rules and the rationales behind them, why aren't you using Rolemaster for your world?
 :?:

[blockquote=Acrimone]PS - Regarding my choice for Rolemaster... I guess my question is, after reading through some of your Guildschool rules and the rationales behind them, why aren't you using Rolemaster for your world?[/blockquote]

Vreegs rule of Settings #1--The setting determines the system, the system should never determine the setting.

My highest PC hit point total is 44, and that is a character that has played consistently for 13 years now.  Rolemaster is, as many other games are, a little free with the amount of damage taken.
I have 11 sources of void-borne power to fuel spells that need to be accounted for.
Their skill system, while tremendously useful and extensive, does not allow for the sub skills and dropdoowns I use.
 
And I have tried very hard to create progression where chaarcters lean subskills and try to diversify, since I believe that the better one gets at something, the harder it gets to continue that growth so I have to avoid this...

[blockquote=Acrimone] Part of the motivation for this setup is the fact that level progression in Rolemaster is linear. If I'm 10 levels ahead of you, and we keep earning the same amount of XP, I'm going to be 10 levels ahead of you forever.[/blockquote]

...at all costs.  This is one of the reasons I don;t have 50 or 100 HP charactes (let alone higher numbers).

but I think the system is one of the better ones available.

Acrimone, the intro is much improved!  Very clear and inviting, as well as great hook for DM and Players alike.  Kudos!

Quote from: LordVreegAnd I have tried very hard to create progression where chaarcters lean subskills and try to diversify, since I believe that the better one gets at something, the harder it gets to continue that growth so I have to avoid this...

[blockquote=Acrimone] Part of the motivation for this setup is the fact that level progression in Rolemaster is linear. If I'm 10 levels ahead of you, and we keep earning the same amount of XP, I'm going to be 10 levels ahead of you forever.[/blockquote]

...at all costs.  

Not that I'm trying to convert you or anything, but your concern is built into the skill bonus progression.  The first ten ranks of a skill each give +5, then the next ten give +2, then all subsequent give +1.  So you can catch up to someone fairly easy in a particular skill.  The advantage of my being 10 levels ahead of you is that I'm going to have more skills across the board, not that my bonuses are going to be so insanely larger than yours.

The hit point thing... well, no one dies from hit point damage in Rolemaster anyway.  It's always that arrow through the eye or the severed artery or the crushed skull.  Crits, crits, crits... but I can understand how you might not want that.

Thanks for engaging in the discussion though!

AND FOR ALL OF YOU WHO AREN'T LORD VREEG... IT'S SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION TIME!  

I now have a bunch of pages in semi-final form up on the wiki:

Warfare: (http://www.thecbg.org/wiki/index.php/Warfare_%28Calisenthe%29) Learn about how the various cultures of the world approach battle and awar.
Magic: (http://www.thecbg.org/wiki/index.php/Magic_%28Calisenthe%29) Learn about the difference between Essence Magic, Channeling Magic, and Mentalism
The Wizard's College: (http://www.thecbg.org/wiki/index.php/The_Wizard%27s_College_%28Calisenthe%29) See how awesome the introduction is after Vreeg's assistance!
Gods: (http://www.thecbg.org/wiki/index.php/Gods_%28Calisenthe%29)  Learn about the Gods, and why bad things happen to good people.
Inhabitants: (http://www.thecbg.org/wiki/index.php/Inhabitants_%28Calisenthe%29) Learn about the races of humanity, and some inhuman races as well.
Technology: (http://www.thecbg.org/wiki/index.php/Technology_%28Calisenthe%29) Learn about how the various cultures engage in engineering, architecture, and metallurgy.
Languages: (http://www.thecbg.org/wiki/index.php/Languages_%28Calisenthe%29) Not as interesting as some of the others, this nevertheless has to be covered.  After all, it's boring if everyone just speaks Common.
The Sethreki Empire: (http://www.thecbg.org/wiki/index.php/The_Sethreki_Empire_%28Calisenthe%29) Learn about the most powerful political force on the face of the world today!

History is complete as well, though it takes some time to get through it all.  I really should do a summary page with the highlights.  And the Atlas is under construction.

Go visit... read up... and then really let me have it!

I just added a page that I wrote this morning setting out a very rough skeleton of politics in the Imperial Court.  It is accessible from the Sethreki Empire page.  All and sundry are encouraged to comment... but no hard feelings if you don't. :)

so I always love looking at your factions page (not a surpise, right?)  

What type of humans exist in the Underground?  What do they eat, and how do they interact with the outside world?  What is life far below like?


I need more info on the Chivalric orders, and if there is a relationship/prohibition with the Mercenary companies.   And can the merc groups pay a member of the Wizard's guild to fight?

Quote from: LordVreegWhat type of humans exist in the Underground?  

I'm not sure there are any, actually.  Humans aren't really equipped, biologically speaking, for life down there.  Vitamin D deficiency and all that. plus there are rumors that the Ankora find humans to be a nice complement to certain types of fungus wine.

Quote from: LordVreegWhat do they eat, and how do they interact with the outside world?  

As I said, I'm not sure they eat anything, because I'm not sure they exist.  But it would be interesting to create a civilization down there.  It is a wiki... you're free to add things. :)

If there were people, I can't imagine they'd be really organized or anything.  I'd picture something more along the lines of a small religious colony or some sort of political refugee group that had to flee.  Maybe they just spend winters underground (the mountains can be a bit inhospitable in winter) and go down for a few months to trade with the denizens down there.  Or maybe they just hide and hope no one finds them.

Quote from: LordVreegWhat is life far below like?

Nasty, brutish, and short?

Truthfully, I've not thought a lot about this area and in that regard, your questions are well-placed.  Life among the Korom has to be unpleasant, at least from a human perspective.  But maybe not.  I've got a picture in my head of something decidedly un-Orcish -- something more along the lines of decadent-and-evil rather than violent-and-evil.  Large ceremonial feasts to celebrate justice (the convicted get served as dinner?), vicious games, including gladiatorial-type conflicts involving subterranean beasts, orgies, and ritual torture all come to mind.  The Korom and the Ankora are, after all, actually evil and nasty by nature.

Quote from: LordVreegI need more info on the Chivalric orders, and if there is a relationship/prohibition with the Mercenary companies.  

Well let me think here... the mercenary companies are chartered by the relevant authorities (the Duke, the Prince, the King, whatever...).  Those charters give them the right to gather together, bear weapons, and do soldierly sorts of things -- the very sorts of things that would get other people arrested as a threat to the throne or whatnot.  

The Chivalric Orders, on the other hand, don't really need to be chartered.  They are composed of the Sethreki nobility, and represent the voluntary association of warriors under the aegis of the sponsor -- usually but not always one of the Great Houses.

Most members of a chivalric order would rather die than be accused of selling their sword arm for money.  And most mercenaries would never be invited to join a chivalric order.

So how would they interact?  Well, let's take a case study.

Bob the Baron has a problem: he's got a band of Korom who have taken over his favourite woods, and who are killing travelers and merchants.  Bob got his feudal levy together (all 12 of them) and they went out to fight and promptly had their asses handed to them.  Bob has a couple of options:

1) He could call up to his Count for some help.  That's what Counts are there for, after all.

2) He could decide that he'd rather handle this problem himself, and he could send a messenger to the Cloudfall Marauders, who would charge him an arm and a leg, but who would come remove the problem.

3) If Baron Bob has a friend who is an officer in the Order of the Conch, or whatever, he could send word to his friend that a great evil has settled on his lands, and that there is a chance for glory and honor if they want to come check it out.  The next thing he knows (if he's lucky) all he has to do is put up the 10 or 20 members who responded for a few weeks, give them a few good feasts and some gifts to reflect their great victory, and he's in the clear.  This will also give him the opportunity to do some networking, right?

So Option #2 may actually be cheaper than #3, in the end, because all Baron Bob has to do is fork over some cash.  But maybe he's having a liquidity problem, and maybe it would be easier to "pay" in terms of hospitality and gifts.  Option #1 is the cheapest, but Bob loses a little bit of face.  Whereas if he handles the problem on his own, he gets mad phaqt propz.  Or at least doesn't look like a whining little bitch.

Option #3 has some social advantages, as well, as he would get to talk to people, and if he went out with them to do battle, he might impress some of them with his valor.  The mercenaries would begrudgingly accept his presence at the actual battle, but would see him as a nuisance who is paying the bills.

So, I guess the answer to your question is that the mercenary companies and the chivalric orders are two very different types of creatures, and they pursue different types of goals, too.  Chivalric orders simply aren't going to just join up to take out a rival lord.  There has to be something in it for the Order that appeals to their reason for being (usually honor and glory).

Quote from: LordVreegAnd can the merc groups pay a member of the Wizard's guild to fight?

Hell yes!  Anyone can hire a wizard to do battle.  Combat assignments from the College are very, very, very expensive, though: wizards are phenomenally skittish about risking their hides as a general rule and it's unlikely that anyone less than a Count could even conceive of paying for that kind of firepower.  It's unlikely that anyone less wealthy than a Duke could actually do it, but if a Duke was paying the bills...  there's no reason a Mercenary Company couldn't hire an outside contractor.  Sometimes it's worth the investment, depending on who you hire.

The College isn't about to let their members join a mercenary company, though.  A job or two, maybe.  But loyalties must stay with the College.

EXCELLENT QUESTIONS!  I hope that my answers are at least entertaining, if not enlightening.

I should note, however, that wizards will only be allowed by the College to contract for combat assignments where said assignment does not violate the Rule of Neutrality (http://www.thecbg.org/wiki/index.php?title=The_Wizard%27s_College_(Calisenthe)#Discipline_and_Punishment_in_the_Wizard.E2.80.99s_College).  There is thus a very small field of intersection between the domain of situations where someone can afford to hire a wizard for combat roles, and the domain of situations where they aren't important enough that hiring on is in and of itself a violation of the Rule.  

In other news... I don't know if people are really still doing Badges, but I decided what the hell... Calisenthe needs a badge.  So a badge we shall have.  Here's the graphic:


(//../../e107_files/public/1227460631_794_FT53566_calisenthe_badge.jpg)

The Calisenthe Badge can only be earned three ways:

1) Explaining why and how Calisenthe sucks in some way
2) Asking embarassing questions about Calisenthe that require me to slap myself
3) Contributing ideas and thoughts to make Calisenthe better

When some nebulous but sufficient amount of any combination of the three has accrued in someone's cosmic karma account, the badge shall be issued.  While we dearly love to hear how great our world is, we shall not reward those who are content simply to bask in our glory and sing our praises.

I have to say that Calisenthe gives me a very strong WoT "vibe", they seem very similar. This is probably due to the mainly human-centric nature of the setting and the use of a powerful magic-user guild that manipulate events and the enemies from across the sea.

The first thing that struck me as odd was that in the negotiations with the druids, Aranis and Imrign is that Aranis is penalized for invading, it only did because of its treaty with the druids. The main reason this is odd is because it seems a druid was the main force behind the negotiations of the agreement, why would a druid make their allies, the only people who helped, suffer for aiding them?

Another thing that struck me as somewhat odd is the master shipbuilder who was captured, I'm guessing there were no successful attempts at freeing him? Also why did he give up the secrets of the Tariad ships? He single handily caused the first loss for the Tariad? Why didn't he just keep quiet/commit suicide instead of betraying his people? Why did the Tariad accept him back after he betrayed them? Then when the Empire sues for peace, the Tariad just decide to help them rebuild, when they know how treacherous the Empire is, they recently re-armed ships that were sworn not to be re-armed.

I just wanted to ask if you could clarify something for me please, the Wizards College has the four Tarjan Furnaces, and the enormous Ashbringer furnace, what exactly are they used for?

The rest seems very well thought out and quite interesting. Although the Wizards College, while obsessed with the Dark Children, having captured two, seem to have nothing to do with the third, they leave it alone while it orders a huge invasion into the realm in which they live, leaving it to a single man to slay it. This brings the other question, why don't the wizards just kill the Children? Or do they want to harness their powers, such as the plague and the furnace?

Finally the Wizards only seem to be used once in all of history (recent history anyway) when they use their magical plague to kill off the royal family for some documents, aside from that there's not a single other mention of the wizards having any significant impact in all of modern history (aside from making a furnace to get stolen, a super secret giant block of a furnace to boot). It just seems strange, they basically bring the empire to its knees, changing the fate of the whole world then don't touch it ever again, even though they're mercenaries.

Lots of good questions here.... WOW.  Thank you so much.  I feel like a bit of a doofus because of some of them, but let's see where I can be helpful.

Quote from: LlumI have to say that Calisenthe gives me a very strong WoT "vibe", they seem very similar. This is probably due to the mainly human-centric nature of the setting and the use of a powerful magic-user guild that manipulate events and the enemies from across the sea.

I'm going to assume that "WoT" means Wheel of Time, yes?  I can't speak to any similarities because I've never read them (although your comparison makes me question that decision...).  I'll take you at your word though, and chalk it up to the fact that councils of wizards are a staple of fantasy.

Quote from: LlumThe first thing that struck me as odd was that in the negotiations with the druids, Aranis and Imrign is that Aranis is penalized for invading, it only did because of its treaty with the druids. The main reason this is odd is because it seems a druid was the main force behind the negotiations of the agreement, why would a druid make their allies, the only people who helped, suffer for aiding them?

Hmmm, this is almost certainly the result of my not being clear about something.  Let me see here... I'm going to assume we're talking about the Stormstrike affair in "Unrest in the Halglade" in the Age of Empire.  What on earth did I write there?

Quote from: #cc3300Many small communities throughout the forest are torn by strife as war begins to fill the Halglade.[/color] Later that summer, Marc Stormstrike meets and defeats Dragonsbane at the Battle of Firewell fields. The city of Firewell is captured, and many slaves are taken. Stormstrike declares the druids enemies of the people, and stirs up popular opinion against them as arrogant meddlers.

Another thing that struck me as somewhat odd is the master shipbuilder who was captured, I'm guessing there were no successful attempts at freeing him? Also why did he give up the secrets of the Tariad ships? He single handily caused the first loss for the Tariad? Why didn't he just keep quiet/commit suicide instead of betraying his people? Why did the Tariad accept him back after he betrayed them? Then when the Empire sues for peace, the Tariad just decide to help them rebuild, when they know how treacherous the Empire is, they recently re-armed ships that were sworn not to be re-armed.
[/quote]

You guess correctly: there were no successful attempts.  And he gave up the secrets of the ship designs because he wasn't an "I'LL NEVER TALK" bad ass.  He was a shipbuilder.  People don't die scratching the balls of a shipbuilder.

As for the two more "moral" questions you helpfully pose: why did the Tariad accept the shipbuilder back, and why did they agree to help them rebuild, the answer to both of them lies in the Tariad psychology.  

They are traders, first and foremost.  They aren't really warriors, in the sense of seeking conquest.  They are pragmatists, and the shipbuilder was a highly skilled ship-building bad ass even if he wasn't a bad ass in other ways.  They like having highly skilled people making money for them.  Lots of money.  His not standing up to torture wasn't unreasonable, and he can make his employers thousands of guilders a year building ships.  Of course they'd take him back.  Betrayal?  Bah, bygones are bygones.  Or so the thinking might run.

Which also explains why they agreed to help rebuild the Imperial fleet.  First, they could get information on the precise capacities of the Imperial ships.  Always useful.  Second, they get to make a lot of money doing it.  I didn't specify (and I shall make it clearer in revision) that they didn't agree to do it for free as a term of the treaty.  They agreed to sell their services, which is something they didn't have to do.  Indeed, the Empire wasn't really in much of a position to refuse at that point.  This wasn't a concession by the Tariad; they considered it a benefit to them!  

"So, Mister High-and-Mighty Emperor of the sunken ships, since we're finished beating your ass, here's what's going to happen.  You're going to give us a lot of money in reparations, and you're going to return that guy you took, the one who is only one of like ten people we have that skilled.  Then, (chuckle), just so you feel that you're being treated fairly, we'll accept half the contracts for rebuilding your fleet."

Quote from: LlumI just wanted to ask if you could clarify something for me please, the Wizards College has the four Tarjan Furnaces, and the enormous Ashbringer furnace, what exactly are they used for?

The sorts of things that you would use an essentially limitless, clean-burning heat source for: melting things, mostly.  They are used on things that are hard to melt: gems, metals, meteors, etc.  It's a great boon for the College Alchemists.  The furnaces also are used to keep the College warm and toasty during cold spells (of the non-magical kind).  Plus you get a chance to study the types of magical energy coming out of those furnaces, which is of particular interest to the Warlocks.

One way of looking at it is this: making the Ashbringer Furnace (and the Tarjan Furnaces) would have been a LOT cheaper and easier if they had had the Ashbringer Furnace to work with in the first place.

That's why when the Ashani stole one of the furnaces, and it eventually was restolen and taken to Kisoro, Kisoro was able to become so famous for its steel: they were able to reach Bessemer-like temperatures.

Quote from: LlumThe rest seems very well thought out and quite interesting. Although the Wizards College, while obsessed with the Dark Children, having captured two, seem to have nothing to do with the third, they leave it alone while it orders a huge invasion into the realm in which they live, leaving it to a single man to slay it. This brings the other question, why don't the wizards just kill the Children? Or do they want to harness their powers, such as the plague and the furnace?

Well, it's not clear that the College was aware that Therex of the Inky Dark was behind the Korom invasions.  He is, after all, of the Inky Dark and notoriously hard to scry.  (That's my story and I'm sticking to it!)  The Druids were able to figure out that something was down there, but they didn't know what.  Vladimir Lightfoot, being of House Dragonsbane, was a very righteous dude who said, "Oh, of course I'll go into the Underground Kingdoms and see if I can't figure out what the heck is going on down there."  And, being a Dragonsbane, he handled the situation well.

The reason that the wizards don't just kill the Dark Children of Arlavel is actually something more like four or five reasons.  A few come to mind:

First, there are more than just three.  There are hundreds.  Maybe thousands.  No one has really gone on to count them.

Second, as you correctly note, there is power to be harnessed there.  Is it dangerous to be fooling around with things like that?  Yes.  But it's also dangerous to build nuclear power plants and nuclear weapons, and we do that all the time. :)

Third, it's not clear that the Wizards necessarily could kill them.  Maybe, maybe not.  Historically, though, strong people with good swords have had a much better track record against the Dark Children than people wielding magic.  It's possible that Gods have some sort of magic resistance...

Fourth, it would be a lot of work to kill them and there are more important things to do like determine whether the fourth inclination of mnemonic power can be usefully applied to the problem of translocation inside a classical "morning dew" paradigm.  (I've heard that Adept Rudyom has some interesting thoughts on this.)

Quote from: LlumFinally the Wizards only seem to be used once in all of history (recent history anyway) when they use their magical plague to kill off the royal family for some documents, aside from that there's not a single other mention of the wizards having any significant impact in all of modern history (aside from making a furnace to get stolen, a super secret giant block of a furnace to boot). It just seems strange, they basically bring the empire to its knees, changing the fate of the whole world then don't touch it ever again, even though they're mercenaries.

The college goes out of its way (http://www.thecbg.org/wiki/index.php?title=The_Wizard%27s_College_(Calisenthe)#The_Edict_Of_Withdrawal:) not to make an impact on history.  They have what they take to be very strong reasons for doing this that relate to the world almost ending and such. :)

They made an exception in the case of the Ensorcelled Legion because that Legion represented a very particular threat to their monopoly on magic.

So while it's probably correct to categorize them as "mercenaries" it's also important to remember what it is they are after in being mercenaries.  The money is nice, but above all they don't want to break any of their own rules.

AND FINALLY:  Something disastrous happened to "Age of Empire II" in my wiki.  I'm working on the problem right now.

You're doing a great job of presenting a very detailed and realistic weft of political structures (which I'm still unraveling).  I like the attention paid to specifics of hierarchy and power, and the reference to the Emeperor's feudal obligations as opposed to his normally absolute power felt very real to me, like how the Holy Roman Emperors and the like were almost different people according to which country/province they were dealing with...

What I don't see but that I think would strengthen Calisenthe a lot is imagery.  I feel that after reading a section on say the Imperial Court or the Wizards that I understand how they work, but I'm not getting a clear picture fo what everything looks and feels like, visually and atmospherically.  You do go into some detail in the "Works" sections of your technology post, and I enjoyed those sections a lot (essentially more detail in this vein would help me to better transport myself to Calisenthe).  Another way of putting this is that while I feel the political dimensions of the world are well established, the cultural ones could still be better developed.  I'm aware of course that this is a setting in progress and by no means "complete," of course.

Quote from: AcrimoneAs of right now, all I have is an intro page and a very very sparse introduction to the atlas page.  I've got tons of material, but it's going to take a long while to put it all up and get it formatted properly.  (For instance, most of my map files are 10MB+ in size, so I'm having to shrink them all down and figure out how to relabel them.)

Have you tried  Devient Art?  (http://www.deviantart.com/) I'm not sure of their maximum upload size but all of my detailed maps have been uploaded and they average 3-6 MB.

Quote from: SteerpikeYou're doing a great job of presenting a very detailed and realistic weft of political structures (which I'm still unraveling).  I like the attention paid to specifics of hierarchy and power, and the reference to the Emeperor's feudal obligations as opposed to his normally absolute power felt very real to me, like how the Holy Roman Emperors and the like were almost different people according to which country/province they were dealing with...

What I don't see but that I think would strengthen Calisenthe a lot is imagery.  I feel that after reading a section on say the Imperial Court or the Wizards that I understand how they work, but I'm not getting a clear picture fo what everything looks and feels like, visually and atmospherically.  You do go into some detail in the "Works" sections of your technology post, and I enjoyed those sections a lot (essentially more detail in this vein would help me to better transport myself to Calisenthe).  Another way of putting this is that while I feel the political dimensions of the world are well established, the cultural ones could still be better developed.  I'm aware of course that this is a setting in progress and by no means "complete," of course.

Of course.   Is it ever complete?  (sigh)

I'll see what I can do about Imagery... that's a long term project, really.  I have very vivid images in my head about a lot of this stuff, but that's not quite as fun for me to write about as all the politicky crap.

As for "culture" -- I've started building the individual race pages.  I've got two down so far: Ashani and the Empyric Bloodkin.  I've been working on the Cellefari off and on all afternoon, and should have them up soon.  So far these are just rough drafts, covering a couple of major things: slavery, women, sex, religion, education, and broad politics.  But these pages will be ideal places to talk about fashion and such, too, once I get around to putting that up.

Thanks for the comments -- for the record, I'm reading my way through the rather extensive material you've put up on C.E. and am enjoying it quite a bit.  Comments will follow.  The thing about CBG is that it's a bitch to balance your own work with reading other people's...

Well, that's a good solid morning's work.  I present the Great Houses of the Sethreki Empire, here: http://www.thecbg.org/wiki/index.php?title=Noble_Houses_of_the_Empire_(Calisenthe)

Also note that the currency section of the Economics page is essentially done.

I'm afraid your link only links back to your post.

I think it's fixed now.  Weird.  Maybe it has something to do with its being a wiki link... I dunno.

I read the warfare page, it was quite interesting.

I was however curious about the Korom and Ankora warfare, if they have a unique form of warfare. Due to living underground I would imagine smaller weapons being prominent (because its hard to swing a two handed axe in a tunnel). Spears could potentially be popular as well, narrow tunnels make a spear wall very effective.

Quote from: LlumI read the warfare page, it was quite interesting.

I was however curious about the Korom and Ankora warfare, if they have a unique form of warfare. Due to living underground I would imagine smaller weapons being prominent (because its hard to swing a two handed axe in a tunnel). Spears could potentially be popular as well, narrow tunnels make a spear wall very effective.

You're quite right.  To the extent that weapons are popular underground, spears have the best of it.  Punch daggers are also popular.  The Korom don't really need weapons, although they aren't adverse to using them.  The Korom (and the Ankora) treat "war" as the natural state of things.  Culturally speaking, if you aren't at war with someone, you're being lazy.

There is plentiful space in certain parts of the Underground Kingdoms, however, and gladitorial sport is popular among the Ankora.  So is ritualized combat for settling certain social and power disputes.  Two-handed hammers (not axes) and large barbed spears, and great chains with fierce hooks are the most popular Ankora weapons.

Hmmm.  I'm inspired.  Perhaps I shall write about the Korom/Ankora way of war.

"'¦'¦the infinite variety of humankind is more than enough to allow players to find a race and culture that fits what they want to play."

You do realize not everyone is going to agree with that statement?

Ooh, yet another setting that, right off, has some features that I will naturally have some bias toward liking because they are things that I myself have featured: active gods, a mostly-human racial composition, and such things. On the other hand, the world construction seems rather "standard D&D-ish"-- somewhat ironic since you're not using D&D as a system, I know-- which causes me to barely be able to stifle my yawning. Still, the promise of many nations and factions all in play just might almost make up for it, so let's dive in...

And therein lies the first problem. Like I observed in my review of the Jade Stage, the information for Calisenthe also seems to be rather voluminous, to the point that it's hard to get a handle on what it feels like to actually be walking around in the world. I tried to start clicking the links in order, but "History" is probably not the place to start, as it starts at the absolute beginning and immediately starts dropping names I've never heard of-- and just keeps dropping them. The "Inhabitants" page fares little better, hitting me with a long list of races/ethnic groups/whatevers with deluge of proper names that I am not familiar with. After clicking "Atlas" and getting the same feeling, I think I can cite two major flaws in the organization of all this material that cause all the problem: lack of summarization, and lack of wikification.

By lack of summarization, I simply mean that there is no "overview" of the material presented. You simply dive right into the meat. This is fine for the experienced Calisenthe player or DM who wants reference on a concept, or for the person who is already deeply involved in the setting, but for someone like me, I'd like a few broad concepts of what the setting is about to pique my curiosity and let me determine what I want to read more about. Your "Gods" page actually does this well. The "ages of history" as well is actually not bad in this regard, though entire paragraphs are still a bit long, and some sort of timeline or reference to just when these eras took place might be nice. However, where the confusion really starts is the "Inhabitants" page. The table of contents is no use whatsoever because I don't know what all those proper names mean. Instead, I'm forced to dive straight in, trying to read your dense (albeit well-written and descriptive) prose in order to answer my very basic questions: what Earth race (approximately) do the humans look like? What sort of nonhumans are there, and how 'nonhumanoid' are they? A bit of a simple summary before you plunge into all of the gory details would help the newbie to this setting a great deal, and would help to pique interest rather than causing eyes to glaze over.

The second problem is the lack of wikification. By this, I mean, there are large blocks of text without a single wiki link. The problem is that you drop a lot of proper names, and these proper names are not likely to be familiar. If they were wiki links, I could simply click the name and find out about it. Since they by and large aren't, I can't, and I'm left scratching my head. In sections like the History or the Atlas, there are an awful lot of proper names, leading to an awful lot of head-scratching. It greatly adds to the general difficulty in getting a handle on the setting.

I realize that part of the "problem" is just the sheer level of detail you've put into the setting. You have such a vast number of "races" because you have assigned the peoples of the setting actual ethnic groups, and then gone on to treat the various states as purely political entities. In the past, I have been critical of settings for not assigning a culture and whatnot to a country, but that's because they abstracted culture at too high of a level: "Elves are this way." You've actually taken a more realistic approach, and created ethnicities and then populated the (sometimes arbitrary) political entities with those ethnicities. I like this very much! It acknowledges that the "nation-state" concept is not something that always exists, and a wide variety of peoples can live within one territory. I do also like your map, and your diversity of geographic areas. I think the map could do with being a bit higher up on the page, but maybe I'm just a visual learner.

I'll admit a bias against "traditional fantasy," and that's pretty much all I can say about the Technology page. I suppose I'm too spoiled by strange relic tech, steampunk goodness, and the kinds of things that show up in less traditional settings. It might spice things up to have a "wonders of the world" or the like section, discussing what the latest and greatest discoveries are for this world, and perhaps what some of their greatest architectural achievements are. Doing this would also help immensely in putting the browsing reader "into the world," so to speak.

On the other hand, I like your approach to magic. Different "schools of magic" is something that I've somewhat experimented with in the past as well, and I like how you've done it. It makes sense to me that not everyone would perform magic in the same way-- why would they? It seems to me that this is something that "standard fantasy world" always seems to assume-- everyone uses magic the same way. (Or it makes only superficial and odd distinctions between the type of magics practiced by different magic-using classes, pretty much shoehorning the fluff into the crunch) However, I think that the Wizard's College is a bit monolithic. You allow this much diversity, yet, a single institution controls it all anyway?

On the Economics page, I noticed that you value platinum higher than gold. Vanilla D&D does this too. I will say only that platnium wasn't even known to Europeans during the time that inspires the "typical medieval fantasy world" and the concept of platinum having a higher value than gold is even newer than that. I realize that fantasy doesn't have to align with real history, but this is just something that always struck me as strange and out of place.

I've probably missed a lot, as the problems that I noted in my opening paragraphs prevented me from wading through some of the more dense and complex material. There's a lot here! I can't say this is my favorite setting ever, but that's mostly my bias against traditional fantasy-looking things-- call it personal taste. It is, however, very well-written and has a good presentation, though some "visual aids" as it were could be nice. The little samples of script on the Languages page were a nice touch and I was disappointed to not see more like that.

Quote from: SilvercatMoonpaw"'¦'¦the infinite variety of humankind is more than enough to allow players to find a race and culture that fits what they want to play."

You do realize not everyone is going to agree with that statement?

Oh yes.

There is a difference, of course, between being what they want to play and fitting what they want to play.  If you want to play a kender and that's all you want to play, then I suppose you're out of luck.  But if you are interested in playing something like a kender, then we can probably cobble something together out of the Oelstarian, or perhaps Callem mindset that will satisfy certain salient "kenderish" characteristics.

Perhaps we could change the "is" to "should be" -- then I suppose we'd better capture the highly normative sense that the sentence was supposed to have, but which may be too subtly encoded as it stands.

Sparkletwist,

First, thank you!  You're clearly well on your way to a Calisenthe Review badge, for what that's worth.  (I hear that one of those and a dime will get you a phone call circa 1950.)

I'm just going to address the easy stuff right now, because, frankly, most of the stuff you say is dead-on-balls-accurate (it's an industry term) and is best responded to by changing things in the wiki.

Summarization: This is interesting, because I more or less figured that the information on, say, the Inhabitants page, was a brief summary.  Clearly I'm missing something important here, and need to think about ways to make things more accessible, so you are of course right about this.  I'll start by implementing your suggestions, and seeing where that takes me.

Wikification: I plan to do this... but it's a work in progress.  Right now if I did that, all you'd get are dozens upon dozens of empty links pointing to empty pages.  You are right, here, though, as well.   Also in the queue.

Quote from: sparkletwistOoh, yet another setting that, right off, has some features that I will naturally have some bias toward liking because they are things that I myself have featured: active gods, a mostly-human racial composition, and such things. On the other hand, the world construction seems rather "standard D&D-ish"-- somewhat ironic since you're not using D&D as a system, I know-- which causes me to barely be able to stifle my yawning. Still, the promise of many nations and factions all in play just might almost make up for it, so let's dive in...

You are clearly paying attention: It really *is* a standard D&D world when you get right down to it, but built to my specifications.  I didn't want anything new, really, just better-prepared and more tailored to my gaming interests.  I use Rolemaster not to escape the traditional fantasy RPG experience, but simply to make it better (from my point of view, of course).

Quote from: sparkletwistHowever, I think that the Wizard's College is a bit monolithic. You allow this much diversity, yet, a single institution controls it all anyway?

Well, they certainly try, anyway.  Sometimes things get away from them.  And there's plenty of room in the campaign world for small cabals of secret magic users, hiding their talents and working on things outside of the College's watchful gaze.  (See, e.g., The Scholastic Society of Kapalturin)

The rarity and salience of magic makes their job a little easier, although the Valadim have been telling the College where to stick it off and on, and the Valdetha have a pretty free reign.

The college's job is made much, much easier by the fact that it's really, really hard to just have a "wild" or "natural" magical talent.

But, yes, you're point is taken.  It is monolithic.  They don't surpress diversity, though, they simply expand the scope of their monopoly to encompass any new things that come along.

Quote from: sparkletwistOn the Economics page, I noticed that you value platinum higher than gold. Vanilla D&D does this too. I will say only that platnium wasn't even known to Europeans during the time that inspires the "typical medieval fantasy world" and the concept of platinum having a higher value than gold is even newer than that. I realize that fantasy doesn't have to align with real history, but this is just something that always struck me as strange and out of place.

Guilty as charged.  See earlier comments re: "is supposed to be a standard D&D world."

Thank you so much for your comments... I hope that the experience wasn't too terribly painful or tedious, and look forward to further thoughts! :)

I ws reading through your Warfare section and noticed in the Ashani subsection that you make a prominent distinction between "combat" and "war."  Is this distinction essentially one between personal (i.e one-on-one) combat or dueling and pitched battle/formation-fighting?

Pretty much, yes.

Quick update:  I've been working on the wiki today (after a long absence).  I posted the race pages for the Valdetha and the Cellefari, and added a small section on Cellefari to the "Technology" page.

More Update: I added a small blurb on magical theory to the "Magic" page.  It's in the Essence Section, in the subsection on "Essence Professions and the Schools of Magic".  Lots of technical stuff about passive and active application of energies and the history of the schools of magic.

Retro-Update: A day or two ago I added the full text of Xavallin's Abbreviated ''Irnaciln'' to the wiki, along with some notes about the history of the holy text.  It's on the page titled "Irnaciln", though there is a link to it from the Religion page.

Final update for today: added the DivSet badge to the main Calisenthe page.  After reading about Theme Wars, I think it probably is the best fit.

Divset rocks...Of course, so does Conset...but us Divsets are few and far...

Quote from: Lord VreegDivset rocks...Of course, so does Conset...but us Divsets are few and far...

I think there are lot of DivSet campaigns out there--almost every game I've ever played in. It's just when posting on these forums, we're more likely to post ConSet for various reasons (among them it's easier to express the setting coherently).

Sparkletwist's recent comments on the wiki, combined with his earlier comments, qualify him for a Calisenthe badge!  Hail the conquering heroes and all that, and please accept my thanks for your wading through my walls-o-text.

Just a quick update on tonight's wiki work: I've written out some custom rules for Spirit Magic that one of my players had been asking for.  The main page is here: http://www.thecbg.org/wiki/index.php?title=Spirit_Magic_(Calisenthe)

Two secondary pages are also up, linked from the main page, dealing with Animal Spirits - http://www.thecbg.org/wiki/index.php?title=Animal_Spirits_(Calisenthe) - and Material Corruption - http://www.thecbg.org/wiki/index.php?title=Material_Corruption_(Calisenthe) .

These pages are a little "crunchier" than most of my Calisenthe stuff to date, and if you have no experience with Rolemaster, some of the terminology might be a bit meaningless.  Nevertheless, I don't think it's a great obstacle to enjoying the pages and I submit them for your enjoyment and criticism.

ALSO: A page on Dragons is done - http://www.thecbg.org/wiki/index.php?title=Dragon_(Calisenthe) .

The Calendar page is up ( http://www.thecbg.org/wiki/index.php?title=Calendar_(Calisenthe) ), although there are still a few sections that aren't quite finished dealing with the non-Imperial holidays. Just too much typing for now.

For those of you interested in the Spirit Magic pages that I put up earlier, I thought I'd include the Spell Lists I created for the Shochan and Balkii Shaman that deal with Spirits... I didn't feel like putting them in wiki code and couldn't really figure out where they'd go anyway.  Maybe at some point I'll make more crunch-oriented wiki pages that detail all the classes and so forth with pages for the spell lists, etc.  But not today.  Anyway, here they are:


[spoiler=Spirit Summoning][/color]

'¢ This spell list replaces Spirit Summoning from RMC2, page 67.

'¢ All summoning spells on this list summon a spirit into the normal world (and in the vicinity of the Shaman).  The summoned spirit will be unable to act against the Shaman directly for 3 rounds, but is free to do as it will after that time.

'¢ Summoning spells do not require the spirit to do anything at all except refrain from attacking the caster.  No communication or service is required of the spirit.

'¢ Most spirits who are not controlled or otherwise affected in some way will simply return to the spirit world, finding the normal world incredibly uncomfortable.

'¢ The summoning spells on this list have no duration: they are effective when cast and have no lasting effects beyond the 3-round enforced docility.
 
1 '" Totemic Familiar: The casting of this spell is the initiation rite of Shochan Shamans.  The casting time on this spell is 12 hours, during which the caster must chant continuously, neither eating nor drinking.  It is traditional for the caster to have drunk poppy syrup and to inhale smoke from burning hallucinogens when casting this spell.  The first time this spell is cast, the caster will receive a totemic familiar, almost always an animal familiar.  (Rare Shamans of Elemental or Natural spirits have been heard of in stories.)  The spirit chooses the Shaman, not the other way around, and that species of animal becomes that Shaman's totem permanently.  This spell has the following effects:
'¢ The caster gains a familiar, as the various Collegiate Familiar spells.  The caster can communicate with the familiar, perceive through its senses, and the familiar will obey all of the Shaman's commands without question.
'¢ The caster gains Totemic Affinity with that species of animal for all the Affinity-based spells on this list.
'¢ The caster gains a permanent +25 on any rolls involving the totemic species, including spell rolls, animal skills, etc.
This spell cannot be cast again (i.e., it will have no effect) unless the caster's familiar has died.  The familiar animal will be weak at first (0 level) and will grow in strength with the Shaman, always trailing 1 level behind the Shaman.  This advancement will not affect its physical statistics, however.

2 '" Summon Animal Spirit I:  This spell allows the caster to summon a first level animal spirit of the caster's choice.

3 '"Summon Human Spirit I:  This spell allows the caster to summon a first level human spirit.  A particular spirit can be selected.  If the spirit is unwilling, it receives a RR against the Shaman's level.  The following cumulative modifiers apply:
'¢ The Shaman possesses at least a piece of the spirit's mortal remains: -30
'¢ The Shaman possesses a piece of property that belonged/belongs to the spirit: -10
'¢ The Shaman possesses the spirit's true name: -20
'¢ The Spirit is the spirit of someone still living: +40
'¢ The Shaman is at the location of the spirit's death (if any): -10
'¢ The Shaman is at the location of the spirit's birth: -5

4 '" Minor Affinity: This spell lasts 1 round per level of the caster.  The caster gains some minor power associated with his or her totemic animal.  This will typically give a modifier of +10 to certain types of rolls, at the GM's discretion.

5 '" Summon Animal Spirit III:  As Summon Animal Spirit I, above, but up to three levels of animal spirits can be summoned (i.e., 3 1st  level spirits, 1 3rd level spirit, or a 1st and a 2nd).

6 '" Summon Human Spirit III:  As Summon Human Spirit I, above, but up to three levels of human spirits can be summoned (i.e., 3 1st  level spirits, 1 3rd level spirit, or a 1st and a 2nd).

7 '" Fleeting Affinity Bond:  This spell takes 1 hour to cast.   The caster must sacrifice an animal of the desired species.  The caster gains Affinity for the desired species for 24 hours.

8 '" Summon Lesser Spirit V:  As Summon Animal Spirit III, above, but up to five levels of either Human or Animal spirits can be summoned.  The spirits must all be of the same type (i.e., human or animal).

9 '" Summon Greater Spirit V: As Summon Animal Spirit V, above, but the Shaman may summon Elemental and/or non-animal Natural spirits.  Note that most coherent Elemental, Tree, and Geographic spirits will be at least fifth level, so this is usually going to be a single-spirit spell.  Tree and Geographic spirits will only respond in the vicinity of their grounding (i.e., to summon the spirit of a pine tree, you have to be at the pine tree, and to summon a Valley spirit, you have to be in or at the lip of the valley).  Elemental Spirits will only respond if their element is nearby.  (Wind spirits will only show up where there is wind; Rain spirits where there is fog or precipitation; etc.)

10 '" Lesser Affinity:  As Minor Affinity, above, but the caster gains a lesser power associated with his or her totemic animal.  Bonuses will typically be +15.  This spell lasts for 1 hour per level of the caster.

11 '" Summon Lesser Spirit VIII:  As Summon Lesser Spirit V, above, but up to eight levels of either Human or Animal spirits can be summoned.

12 '" Summon Greater Spirit VIII:  As Summon Greater Spirit V, above, but up to eight levels of spirits can be summoned.

13 '" Summon Archetypical Spirit VIII:  As Summon Greater Spirit V, above, but up to eight levels of Archetypical Spirits can be summoned.  Note that most coherent Archetypical spirits will be at least 6th level.

14 '" Greater Affinity Bond:  As Fleeting Affinity Bond, above, but the caster may bond with potentially any type of spirit.  Animals must still be sacrificed, but for other spirits, an appropriate substitute can be made.  (E.g., for tree spirits the caster may burn logs from a tree, inhaling the smoke; for a wind spirit, the caster may stand naked against the wind.)  Not all types of spirits will be available for every casting: one cannot gain a wind affinity if there is no wind around.  The bond will last for 1 week.

15 '" Greater Affinity: As Lesser Affinity, above, but the caster gains a greater power associated with his or her totemic animal.   Bonuses will typically be +25 or higher.

16 '" Spirit Summoning X:  The Shaman may summon any spirit, up to 10 levels worth.

17 '" Spirit Portal:  The Spirit opens a safe portal to the Spirit World.  The duration of this spell is 1 round per level of the Shaman.  If this spell is active, the Shaman receives the following bonuses:
'¢ Spirits are at -10 to resist summoning
'¢ Spirits do not suffer Material Corruption simply from being summoned.

18 '" Spirit Summoning XV:  As Spirit Summoning X, above, but fifteen levels may be summoned.

19 '" Prime Affinity:  This spell needs only be cast once, and takes a week to cast.  Its casting is traditionally the mark of a master Shaman among the Shochan people, one worthy of leading large tribes, or whole clans.  Once completed, this spell allows the caster to cast multiple Totemic Familiar spells.  A caster can never have more familiars or permanent affinities than their level divided by 6 (rounded up).

20 '" Spirit Summoning XX:  As Spirit Summoning X, above, but twenty levels of spirit may be summoned.

25 '" Blessing of the Totem:  This spell combines Greater Affinity Bond and Greater Affinity, and allows the caster to bestow the blessings of the appropriate spirit onto another, although the caster can choose himself as the target, if he wishes.  (Note that it is cheaper to cast the two lower level spells: 87 pts vs. 125 pts.)  All of the requirements of Greater Affinity Bond are still in effect for this spell.

25 '" Spirit Summoning XXV:  As Spirit Summoning X, above, but twenty-five levels of spirits may be summoned.

30 '" Spirit Warrior:  This spell takes 12 hours to cast.  It functions similarly to Blessing of the Totem, above, but the effect is permanent.  A given individual can never have more than one Spirit Warrior spell active at any one time.

30 '" Summon World Spirit:  The caster may summon the World Spirit, a 100th level spirit.  It is unlikely that the world spirit can be bound or controlled, but neither is the World Spirit a particularly hostile spirit.  The World Spirit is not required to do anything for 3 rounds if it doesn't feel like it.  This spell takes 1 week to cast, during which time the caster may not sleep, eat, or drink anything except water from a natural location (spring, river, lake, puddle, etc.).
[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Totemic Bindings][/color]

1 '" Prime Object: This spell prepares an object to receive a bound spirit.  The casting time is variable: for every 30 minutes spent in preparation, the item may hold 1 level worth of spirit.  It thus takes 3 and a half hours to prepare an item to hold a seventh level spirit.  The caster may not be interrupted while he is casting this spell, or the effect is lost.  The total number of levels prepared needs to be announced prior to the beginning of casting.  Priming will last for 1 day per level of the caster before fading.  Priming does not fade if a spirit is bound into the object.

2 '" Totemic Binding I:  This spell binds a single summoned spirit to an object, permanently.  Note that 'permanently' in this case means that the spell has no duration.  The spirit may still have its own duration, and may need periodic healing and restoration.  One level of spirit may be bound with this spell.  This does not count against the Shaman's normal limit of bound spirits.

3 '" Minor Oracle:  This spell can be cast on dice, cards, bones, a series of pebbles, or even a cup of water.  The spell forces a minor spirit of knowledge into the item, rendering the item sublimely fit for reading auguries and portents.  This spell lasts 10 minutes per level of the caster, and using the items gives a +50 to any divination rolls, and allows access to much more particularized information.

4 '" Totemic Binding III: As Totemic Binding I, but up to a third level spirit can be bound.

5 '" Exigent Binding III:  This instant-cast spell allows the caster to place any one of his or her normally bound spirits, up to level 3, into an item he or she is touching immediately.  The spirit will imbue the item for 1 round per 3 levels of the caster (round down), at which point the spirit will leave the object.  This spell forces a spirit to make an immediate RR vs. material corruption.

6 '" Minor Spirit Cleanse:  This spell will (after affording a RR) remove any spirits levels I-V from an object.  The caster must touch the object for the duration of casting.  Spirits get a RR.

7 '" Mood Stone:  This spell allows the caster to force an emotive spirit into a stone (marble-size or larger, no larger than a hockey puck).  The stone will affect the emotional temperament of whomever carries it, affecting judgment and reactions.  While certain emotive spirits may grant minor bonuses to RRs and other checks (i.e., a spirit of courage in the face of supernatural fear) no bonus with this spell may exceed +5.  This spell lasts for 1 day per level of the caster, at which time the spirit fades.

8 '" Totemic Binding V:  As Totemic Binding I, but up to a fifth level spirit.

9 '"Exigent Binding V:  As Totemic Binding, but may exigently bind a spirit of up to 5th level.

10 '" Soulstone: This spell is cast on a perfectly smooth stone that has been prepared with Prime Object to receive a spirit of level equal to the caster.  If the stone is on the caster's person when he or she is killed, his or her spirit will enter the stone (this works even in the face of Soul Destruction-type spells).   Once in the stone, the caster will be aware of all spirits within a 25-foot radius of the stone.  The caster will have access to all of his or her spells up to10th level.  The caster will remain in the stone for 1 day per level, at which point the caster's soul will perish.

11 '" Major Spirit Cleansing:  As Minor Spirit Cleansing, but it may remove any spirits up to level X.  (Spirits get a RR)

12 '" Totemic Maintenance:  When cast on an item-bound spirit, this spell completely heals and purifies (restores levels to) the spirit from effects caused by totemic binding.  This spell is typically required once every week or month for item-bound spirits.  (See Spirit Addendum)

13 '" Lesser Elemental Weapon: This instant-cast spell temporarily binds spirits of all the elements '" wind, rain, earth, and fire '" into a weapon.  The weapon gains the following properties while the spell is active: +2 initiative, x1.5 concussion hits, +5 DB for bearer, and the ability to hit any creature only affected by magical weapons.  This spell lasts for 1 round per level of the caster.

14 '" Totemic Binding X:  As Totemic Binding I, but up to 10th level.

15 '" Exigent Binding True:  The caster may Exigently bind any of his bound spirits.

16 '" Major Oracle:  As Minor Oracle, but no divination roll is needed.  The caster will simply receive fortunes from the objects in question.  The messages may be metaphorical or obscure, but their accuracy will be beyond question.

17 '" Greater Totem Priming:  As Prime Object, but the spell takes an hour to cast, prepares an object to hold any spirit or spirits, and the effect is permanent.

18 '" Totemic Binding XV:  As Totemic Binding I, but a spirit of up to 15th level may be bound.

19 '" Greater Elemental Weapon:  As Lesser Elemental Weapon, but the weapon gains +4 initiative, does double concussion hits, grants the bearer +20DB, and increases critical severity by one level.

20 '" Greater Soulstone: As Soulstone, above, but caster's awareness is 100'; caster has access to all of his spells.  The caster will remain in the stone for one year per level.

25 '" Totemic Binding XX:  As Totemic Binding I, but up to a 20th level spirit may be bound.

25 '" Spirit Cleansing True:  As Minor Spirit Cleansing, but this spell removes all spirits from an object (subject to RR).

25 '" Elemental Armor: This spell imbues the caster's leather armor (and only leather armor) with Elemental Power.  The caster becomes Armor Type 4, gains a +40 DB, a +20 RR versus all magic, and may ignore up to a total of 10 levels of stun.  This spell lasts 1 round per level of the caster.

30 '" Totemic Binding True:  As Totemic Binding I, but any spirit may be bound.

30 '" Pure Infusion:  If cast at the same time as an appropriate 'Prime Object' spell, this spell will sanctify an object such that the Totemically Bound spirit does not suffer ill-effects from being bound to the object.  In effect, this makes the spirit's residence in the object permanent and abrogates the need for regular maintenance.
[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Spirit Mastery][/color]

'¢ This spell list replaces Spirit Mastery from RMC2, page 68.

'¢ Communication with spirits via the Converse spells on this list do not guarantee verbal communication.  Many if not most spirits communicate through projected images and emotions.

'¢ Spirits bound to the caster through the various Binding spells will serve the caster to the best of their abilities.  They will not attack the caster, but may indirectly work against his interests if they are ill-treated or if the caster is substantially at odds with their prevailing ethos (if any).

'¢ If a bound spirit is released, it remains in the normal world for 5 rounds.  During these five rounds, the spirit is free to do whatever it will.

'¢ Bound spirits are invisible, incorporeal, do not take up 'space', are unaffected by most mundane obstacles, and will travel 'with' the caster so long as they are bound.  Bound spirits do not sleep.  They only fade away.

'¢ All Converse spells on this list have a duration of 1 minute per level unless specified.

'¢ All Binding spells on this list have a range of 10 feet per level unless specified.

1 '" Spirit Sight: This instant-cast spell allows the Shaman to see spirits that are in the normal world.  It does not confer any special vision with respect to material objects: walls and cover will still block sight.  However, spirits glow slightly when viewed through spirit sight, so normal darkness is not usually an impairment.  This spell lasts 30 minutes per level of the caster.

2 '" Identify Spirit:  This spell allows the caster to identify any spirit he or she can perceive.  This identification will give the type (Elemental, Natural, Human, Archetypical), specific subtype (species of animal, dead vs. Shamanic Human, particular element, etc.), as well as Level of the spirit.  The caster will also be able to determine if the spirit is bound to anyone or anything, although he will not be able to tell to whom or to what.  The caster is also able to detect Material Corruption precisely.  There is no RR for this spell.

3 '"Converse I:  The caster may communicate with a 1st level spirit.

4 '" Spirit Binding I: The caster may bind a 1st level spirit to his service.  The spell is automatically successful if the spirit is willing (provided there is no spell failure).  Otherwise, the spirit receives a RR.  This spell is permanent, and will last until the caster releases the spirit, or the spirit fades away.  The spirit is also freed if the caster's spirit leaves the normal world.  A Shaman may never have more spirits bound to him than his level.  The total levels of bound spirits may never exceed the caster's IN + PR bonuses.

5 '" Compulsion of Truth:  This spell may be used to compel a spirit (bound or not) to answer questions truthfully, even if the spirit does not wish to do so.  The spirit receives a RR against this spell (vs. Caster's level).  The caster may ask 1 question for every 10 points of failure on the RR.  This spell forces the spirit to make a Material Corruption check at -10 against Level 5.

6 '" Converse III:  As Converse I, but any spirit up to 3rd level may be contacted.  

7 '" Spirit Binding III:  As Spirit Binding I, but any spirit up to 3rd level may be bound.

8 '"Converse V:  As Converse I, but any spirit up to 5th level may be contacted.  

9 '" Spirit Binding V: As Spirit Binding I, but any spirit up to 5th level may be bound.

10 '" Lesser Corruption Anchor:  When cast on a spirit in the normal world, this spell strips away much of the spirit's natural defense against the normal world, causing them to make a Material Corruption check immediately, and every ten minutes thereafter simply for being in the normal world.  The check is against level 8.  There is no Resistance Roll to this spell.  This is a fine way to get spirits to banish themselves in a hurry.

11 '" Spirit Banishing:  This spell forces a spirit to make a RR against the caster's level, or be banished back to the spirit world.  This spell is not effective against Undead.  (Undead are the actual souls of dead people and are in a great deal of pain, tending to be quite nasty as a result; dead spirits are more like 'echoes'.)

12 '" Converse VIII:  As Converse I, but any spirit up to 8th level may be contacted.  

13 '" Spirit Binding VIII:  As Spirit Binding I, but any spirit up to 8th level may be bound.

14 '" Shared Sight:  As Spirit Sight, above, but the caster may cast it on any creature.  Unwilling creatures receive a RR vs. the caster's level.

15 '"Spirit Sense:  This spell has a radius of 10 feet per level of the caster.  The caster immediately gains all the information provided by Identify Spirit, above, except that the knowledge is gained as to every spirit within the casting radius.  As with Identify Spirit, there is no Resistance Roll.

16 '" Converse XV:  As Converse I, but any spirit up to 15th level may be contacted.  

17 '" Spirit Binding XV:  As Spirit Binding I, but any spirit up to 15th level may be bound.

18 '" Greater Banishment:  As Spirit Banishing, above, but the caster may attempt to banish 1 spirit for every 4 levels he or she has attained.  (i.e., a 17th level Shaman can banish 4 spirits at once).  The spirits receive a -5 on their Resistance Roll.

19 '" Converse XX:  As Converse I, but any spirit up to 20th level may be contacted.  

20 '" Spirit Binding XX:  As Spirit Binding I, but any spirit up to 20th level may be bound.

25 '" Spirit Banishing True:  As Spirit Banishing, above, but the spell affects every spirit in a radius of 10 feet per level of the caster.

25 '" SpiritTongue:  This spell lasts 5 minutes per level of the caster.  The caster may converse with any spirits he or she can find.

25 '" Greater Corruption Anchor: As Lesser Corruption Anchor, above, but the check is against level 20, and must be made every minute.

25 '" Spirit Binding XXV: As Spirit Binding I, but any spirit up to 25th level may be bound.

30 '" Spirit Doom:  Target spirit must make a RR versus the Shaman's level, or be destroyed.

30 '" Spiritmaster:  As Spirit Binding XX, above, but any number of spirits of any level may be bound all at once, up to the Caster's maximum.
[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Spirit Healing][/color]
 
'¢ All spells on this list have a range of 10 feet unless listed otherwise.

'¢ All Purgation spells require that the caster engage in a 15 minute ritual in which the spirit is placed within an elaborate circle (or other geometric power structure) surrounded with small sources of flame.  If the target spirit is bound to the caster, the caster must be within the shape.

'¢ Unwilling targets (there should be very few) receive a RR against spells on this list unless they are bound to the caster through Spirit Binding, in which case no RR is possible.

1 '" Minor Stasis: This spell grants a spirit temporary immunity from the effects of Material Corruption, so that the next sunrise does not cause any loss or chance of loss of levels.  Additionally, until the next sunrise, the spirit will take no damage from its corruption.  This spell is cancelled if the spirit receives any additional corruption levels.

2 '" Lesser Restoration: Target spirit is healed of 3d10 hit points worth of damage.

3 '" Sanctification:  This spell is cast on the caster himself, and affects an area roughly twenty feet in radius, though the effect does not pass through walls or magical barriers.  Spirits forced to make RR's versus Material Corruption within this area receive a +15 on their roll.  In addition, spirits may make two RR's versus the Shaman's own spells.  This spell lasts ten minutes per level of the caster.

4 '" Lesser Spirit Strengthening:  Target spirit is restored of up to 2 levels lost to material corruption.

5 '" Purgation II:  Target spirit is purged of two levels of corruption.

6 '" Chamber of Safety:  This spell is cast on a room, or on a demarcated space such as a circle or clearing in which the caster is located.  Spirits may manifest themselves and communicate in this area without making any rolls for Material Corruption, though other sources will still cause Corruption.  This spell lasts until either the Shaman leaves the area or whenever a spirit receives a level of Material Corruption, whichever comes first.  This spell takes an hour to cast and requires an elaborate ritual.

7 '" Restoration:  Target spirit is healed of 8d10 hit points worth of damage.

8 '" Major Stasis:  As Minor Stasis, but the effect lasts for 1 sunrise per level of the caster.

9 '" Purgation III:  As Purgation I, but the target spirit is purged of up to three levels of corruption.

10 '" Greater Sanctification: As Sanctification, above, but the spell lasts thirty minutes per level of the caster, confers a +30 to all RR's, and spirits are immune to corruption effects from the Shaman's own spells.  (Note that this spell does not require a ritual, which is why it may be preferred in some situations to Chamber of Safety.)

11 '" Item Ward:  This spell is cast upon an item containing (or which will receive) a spirit.  This spell is permanent.  The spirit does not suffer Material Corruption effects through the item (i.e., from crits, spells, etc. directed at or caused by the item).

12 '" Spirit Strengthening:  Target Spirit is restored to its original level, up to the level of the Shaman.

13 '" Chamber of Serenity:  As Chamber of Safety, but Spirits suffer no Material Corruption effects within the area of effect unless they are attempting possession or emotion control.

14 '" Purgation VI:  As Purgation II, but up to six levels may be purged, from any combination of spirits (3 from one and 3 from another, 1 level each from 6 spirits, etc.).

15 '" Shaman's Thanks:  All Spirits bound to the Shaman, or bound to items owned by the Shaman, are purged of all levels of corruption and restored to full hit points.

16 '"Immunity:  Target spirit need make no RR's for Material Corruption effects while this spell is in place.  This spell requires a ritual and two hours to cast, and lasts for 1 day per level of the caster.  This spell may be revoked at any time.

17 '" Greater Restoration:  Caster may select any number of spirits within 100 feet.  All target spirits are healed of all damage up to their full hit points.  

18 '" Spiritual Unworking:  One target spirit is healed of all damage, purged of all Material Corruption levels, and restored to its original level up to the level of the caster.  This spell requires an elaborate ritual and takes 4 hours to cast.  The spell fails if the Spirit either suffers the effects of Material Corruption or gains additional levels of Corruption while the spell is being cast.  (This can be prevented with Stasis spells.)  

19 '" Purgation XX:  As Purgation V , above, but up to twenty levels can be purged from any number of targets.

20 '" Chamber of Healing:  As Chamber of Serenity, but spirits within the area of effect are, for each full hour spent in the area of effect, restored of one level lost to corruption, healed of 1d10 points of damage, and purged of 1 level of Material Corruption.

25 '" Greater Immunity:  As Immunity, above, but the effect lasts for one year.  

25 '" Aura of Purity:  As Greater Sanctification, above, but spirits receive a +50 on their RR's and the spell lasts for one full day.

30 '" Recall the Spirit:  The Caster may bring a spirit that has been destroyed by Material Corruption back into existence as a 1st level spirit.  This spell must be cast at the location where the spirit was destroyed, and must be begun within one minute per original level of the spirit.  This spell requires an elaborate ritual and takes 4 hours to cast.

30 '" Mass Unworking:  Caster may cast Spiritual Unworking on any target spirits within 300 yards, up to one spirit per level of the caster.
[/spoiler]

Just an update: the atlas (http://www.thecbg.org/wiki/index.php?title=Atlas_(Calisenthe)) has a few more maps up, though not as much text as I'd hoped to go with them.  

The magic (http://www.thecbg.org/wiki/index.php?title=Magic_(Calisenthe)) page has been shortened, and three new pages created to hold its information on Essence (http://www.thecbg.org/wiki/index.php?title=Essence_Magic_(Calisenthe)), Channeling (http://www.thecbg.org/wiki/index.php?title=Channeling_Magic_(Calisenthe)), and Mentalism (http://www.thecbg.org/wiki/index.php?title=Mentalism_(Calisenthe)).  At the risk of being redundant, I've also tweaked how those pages read just a little.

Also, just a reminder for you crunch fans out there who might have missed it, some of the Spirit Magic spell lists I use for Calisenthe are in the previous post.

Thanks again to those of you who have provided feedback!

I'm beginning my Odyssey through the wiki.

Well good luck!  Please don't hesitate to ask questions if something seems off, odd, or just incomprehensible!

Wiki update: Read all about the Halgladir (http://www.thecbg.org/wiki/index.php?title=Race:_Halgladir_(Calisenthe))...

And feel free to stay a while, wander around, and make all sorts of snarky criticism!  It's a wiki, after all.

Looks to be good work.  It's pretty standard stuff, but the details make up for it.

M.