After an extended hiatus, Sûl is coming back.
Right before I took a break on it, I was considering a name change. I plan to impliment this. Everything will now be expanded upon. As an additional change, the entire system of religion will be altered. It is for the better.
Here is the original Sûl thread (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=552200) from the WotC boards.
*aghast* Removal of elves? Why?
Sorry about the rant but elves are my fav. I can't wait for the mythology/history that is my favorite part of settings, and it helps clear things up like your anti-elfness. I actually went anti-halfling in astraea but i guess i didn't like that so the Chronicles are decidedly different.
Wooo! Down with elves! Cast off yon plagiaristic coils and embrace the strength of a wholly unique world! Hallelujah!
Okay, enough of that.
I take it that you're dropping the racial list to just humans? That'll be fun.
Are there any maps of Sul? I can't find any.
I can't wait for a nice refined version (I'm having a hard time with the WotC one...) of your vision to start populating the thread.
Make sure to include a pronunciation guide! ^_^
Elves seem to generally be a dividing point in a lot of world-creators... I don't particularly like them, but then again, my race, the Sydhi, have a very fey-like, slightly elven influence to them. It's odd how some people stand so strongly against elves, and some love them and can't live without. I wonder if this would make a good discussion thread...
Rae:
Here is Estiril. (http://www.geocities.com/limetom/files/estiril.jpg) And here is Indûl. (http://www.geocities.com/limetom/files/indul.jpg)
I'm going to re-do the maps at some point.
Ishmayl:
I have nothing against elves, mind you.
When I first created Sûl, I thought (wrongly) that I couldn't do a setting with just humans. Now, however...
So I'm done renaming the countries themselves. Here's the table:
[table=Name Changes][tr][th]Old Name:[/th][/th][th]New Name:[/th][th]Language:[/th][/tr]
[tr][td]Sûl[/td][td]Ari[/td][td]Proto-Indo-European[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Estiril[/td][td]Ausu[/td][td]Proto-Indo-European[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Indûl[/td][td]Wesoi[/td][td]Proto-Indo-European[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Arakhâl[/td][td]Dzimtene[/td][td]Latvian[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Ardûn[/td][td]Heimat[/td][td]German[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Úndil[/td][td]Dhúchais[/td][td]Irish[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Southern Alliance[/td][td]Altricis[/td][td]Latin[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Abradî[/td][td]Am'yazar[/td][td]Farsi[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Inûnærubôz[/td][td]Qar'ra[/td][td]Farsi[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Abrinâth[/td][td]Straná[/td][td]Russian[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Pharun[/td][td]Yer[/td][td]Turkish[/td][/tr]
[/table]
All the names are either "place" or "homeland" in their respective languages, with the exception of Am'yazar, which is Fasri for "wasteland," Ausu, which is PIE for "East" (plural), and Wesoi, which is PIE for "West" (plural).
So, just for curiosity's sake, what's the purpose in the name change? Is it to help give you a fresh start, or is there some other reason?
Firstly, they're easier to spell. Secondly, a fresh start.
Good deal, both are excellent reasons :)
I am glad to see the end of the ûÚâîô madness. It seemed too Tolkienoid to me, whether you wanted it to be that or not.
Yeah, I've actually recently changed a lot of names in Shadowfell to get rid of that nonsense; it look pretty on paper (sometimes), but it's a hassle to type, especially with html.
I confine myself to á (alt+0225) and é (alt+0223), so that I don't have to remember very many Alt codes. It's where I betray my terrible secret: all I learned about language-building, I learned from high school Spanish classes.
I'm glad to see some of those changes, though. I can't even begin to imagine how one would pronounce "Inûnærubôz".
Yeah, that one gave me a headache just looking at it :)
Hmm... Though I don't know what it's called and I don't know the Alt code for it, I've always been partial to the "u" with the "^" on top. It's a much cooler way to spell something with an /oon/ sound than with "oon" or "une."
That being said, I agree with previous posts that the name change is a good thing. Besides, Qar'ra is definately a much prettier name than Inûnær-fragalistic-expialadocious or what-not.
P.S. Shameless self promotion: check out the link in my sig to the magazine I published. It's got 36 full-color pages of RPG goodness, plus three ads for the CBG.
Quote from: Epic MeepoP.S. Shameless self promotion: check out the link in my sig to the magazine I published. It's got 36 full-color pages of RPG goodness, plus three ads for the CBG.
:offtopic:
The link it ain't aworkin'!
Quote from: Luminous CrayonI'm glad to see some of those changes, though. I can't even begin to imagine how one would pronounce "Inûnærubôz".
Circumflexes indicate a long vowel.
In-uun-iiru-booz. (Doubled vowels are long.)
My sincere apologies for posting in the wrong thread. Perhaps a mod could delete that for me. And my question had already been asked by Ishmayl.
Don't worry about it.
The Temple of Reflection - Where are the hooks? If my PCs were wandering the desert, they'd get out of there asap when the found out the place was haunted.
I mean... I'm on vacation... yeah.
I'll fix that...
I say hooray for Farsi!
I say ??? for the elimination of non-humans.
I say yay to crazy desert temple!
Farsi is an interesting language. It is (geographically, at least) the closest thing we have to the Proto-Indo-European language today. Plus it sounds cool.
Non-humans were never in my plan to begin with. I added elves beacause I thought, for some reason, no one would like my setting if it didn't have any non-human races. Now they're all gone.
Crazy desert temples are sort of like crudely disguised punjii pits. You want to step on in (or in this case go in), but you know its a bad idea. And then sometimes, you do it anyway.
And stuff...
From what I've seen so far, the setting looks excellent. However, there isn't all that much of it ;)
I'd like to see more about the languages, especially.
Sure. I'd like to finish updating all of the nations before I start getting into the stuff which is going to be completely new (i.e. religion and languages).
Quote from: Northern AusuYou say that the Dzimtene peninsula is covered by nothing but forest, cliff and mountains. If this is the case, how do the people there make a living? Surely you need some farmland for "subsistence agriculture."
So wait... here we have a nation that depends on various imports and yet has no allies? Who do they trade with? I understand that a nation can trade without a political alliance, but having a dependent trade relationship with another political entity means that there's got to be some minor relationship.
Northern Ausu seems a bit dull. Are there any dangers in the mountains and forests? Any political tensions? What about interesting characters, cities, magic items? Anything?
Hmm... sounds like you've got a little more tension in this area. I imagine with the minor genocide and whatnot that there is an elitist attitude held by the Haimatians(?). Is this simply a feudal battle of long-held grudges or is there some sort of underlying religious/racial/philosophical conflict at work?
The terrain seems boring and flat. Perhaps a paragraph or in-character text would help supplement the cold readout of the region.
Why is there a King and a High Priestess as the head of state?[/quote]
Quote from: RaelifinWhat is the general tone of the world? What major ideas do you want to incorporate? The world as of now seems flat and lifeless, as though it has no tone.
What power level would you say Ari is?[/quote]It seems like Ari is technologically on par with Greyhawk. Is this true?[/quote]Northern Ausu:
You say that the Dzimtene peninsula is covered by nothing but forest, cliff and mountains. If this is the case, how do the people there make a living? Surely you need some farmland for "subsistence agriculture."[/quote]Northern Ausu seems a bit dull. Are there any dangers in the mountains and forests? Any political tensions? What about interesting characters, cities, magic items? Anything?[/quote]The terrain seems boring and flat. Perhaps a paragraph or in-character text would help supplement the cold readout of the region.[/quote]Why is there a King and a High Priestess as the head of state?[/quote]
It is an extreme combination of a Monarchy and a Theocracy. The King and High Priestess are married (always an arranged marriage), and they rule jointly.
Don't know if I explained that one well enough.
That's all for now.
Okay... Every time I went to think up a question, it was already asked by someon else on this board. What I will, do, however, is I will pose a few techniques you might try for getting rid of that nasty writer's block:
1- Try writing some fiction set in Ari, maybe set in the Wesoi or Ausu. When you write fiction as a companion to worldbuilding, it brings up the sorts of questions and day-to-day workings of the world that you may not normally think of.
2- Try focusing your attention on a smaller aspect of the world and build up from there, rather than from the top-down. Maybe all you need is a kickstart from a far-off land.
3- Map! Your maps could use a bit of work (which many of the board members are more than able and willing to aid with), and for me, staring at a map actually helps me come up with worldbuilding ideas.
4- Adventure! Another great way to kickstart worldbuilding work is to act as if you were writing an adventure (or, better yet, actually write one). Coming up with important villainous NPCs and more detailed locales for adventures can be another way to spark a writer's blocked setting.
Hope I was some help. :)
Quote from: GolemWell, this is very interesting and all that, but could you translate the french/latin/swahili bit? :P
Firstly, could a mod kindly delete Golem's post on the setting thread? Thanks.
Secondly, its Latin, Irish, German, Latvian, Turkish, Farsi, and Proto-Indo-European. And it would be silly if I translated it (see above).
Oh, sorry. *slaps face*
Thankyou.
Ah yes. I KNEW there were lots of languages in there - I recognised the latin, german and... some irish, but that was about that.
I'm particularly interested in the tribal areas.
Quote from: GolemOh, sorry. *slaps face*
Thankyou.
Ah yes. I KNEW there were lots of languages in there - I recognised the latin, german and... some irish, but that was about that.
I'm particularly interested in the tribal areas.
You do realize that there is a table near the beginning of the thread that contianed all that information, right?
Most of the tribal areas have disappeared, especially on Ausu. Really the only one left is in the Am'yazarian Desert.
That's the one I meant. ;)
Ah well...
Setting Review:
I remember looking at Sul at bit on the WotC boards, so this should be interesting.
Rules
When I first got Iron Heroes, I was very impressed. Eventually, I decided it was not quite what I wanted (partly because my players were not really happy with it, and partly because it was closer in flavor, but not quite there). If you and your players find the rules work well for the setting, that is great. I do believe the rules used can impact how a setting is viewed - a set of rules like D&D funnels people into a certain mind-set.
Geography
This would be a great place for a map, even if only a rough hand-drawn sketch.
Regions
Hmm, I think a pronunciation key after each term might be helpful. How does one say "Dzimtene?"
Lots of detail on climate and geography, so that's good.
Is the population left blank because you haven't figured it out yet, or because the people of the country don't know?
You have the layout for lots of detail, and your categories for summaries clearly show that you have or will consider the important aspects of a society (like imports/exports). I find it interesting you divide by geographical region rather than country.
Admittedly, with a lot of names, it can be hard to visualize everything. A map would really help.
The sample adventure site is fantastic, both in idea and layout. It's not something we see often in setting design (except professional published settings); it's a good reminder of why we build settings, anyway - if for gaming, we should make that easier.
Overall
Religion, mythology, and especially history are always my main areas of interest, so I look forward to seeing something in those areas. I believe that these things influence everything about the world in so dramatic a way they cannot be overstated. Perhaps you can overcome writer's block by writing about some historical events in the past of the world. A creation myth might also be good.
If you need further inspiration, you could glance over Near Eastern creation myths (because of the tone of your setting, the Order/Chaos motif sounds like it would work well), such as the Enuma Elish.
Good luck.