The Campaign Builder's Guild

Loros, the Land of a Thousand Nations:

That's the title I'm thinking of using for this setting. There are literally thousands of political entities, but to make things easier, they tend to group themselves into several cultural spheres. While the members of each cultural sphere are not necessarily allies, they often share some values, and speak similar, if not identical, languages. Here are some of the cultures you might encounter:

Dyoneans: A deeply religious people who are quite intolerant of outsiders. While technically polytheistic, their faith has a strong monotheistic bend to it, since they elevate their native god, Val Dyon, above all others, calling him "The Great Shield." Dyonean cultures often trade with each other, but rarely with the rest of the world. Their climate is quite cold in the winters, but summers are cool and pleasant. Dyonean nations maintain strong militaries but seldom launch wars of aggression. Recently, neighboring cultures have received a massive influx of Dyonean immigrants who have departed their native land looking for higher-paying jobs, religious freedom, and warmer weather.

Kalimoans: Kalimoans originate from a rocky island chain near the tropics. Kalimoan societies are typically divided into two castes: The landfolk and the seafolk. Each caste has special laws, rights, and responsibilities that apply only to its members. The seafolk are mainly fisherman and merchants, and provide the main liaison with other nations. They frown upon private property and believe in sharing the bounty as long as everyone does their share. They consider the landfolk greedy and sullen. The landfolk, on the other hand, live under a much more capitalist system where entrepreneurs are constantly opening up new businesses trying to squeeze out a profit. While the two castes have radically different lifestyles, they are codependent and united by their belief in representative government. Each caste elects members to the Parliament, which reconciles the needs of the two groups. Inter caste-tensions are on the rise, though, with the deplorable working conditions of factory laborers and the stagnation of trade.

Tarakonethians: The descendants of the ancient kingdom of Tarakonethis claim to be "built for war," but in all honesty, they're not very good soldiers. Honor and patriotism may have been enough back in the old days, but most of their nations lack the technology and the organization to keep up in the modern arms race. A humiliating defeat in the most recent war has not tarnished the Tarakonethian spirit, but has unfortunately made them the laughing stock of the world and the victims of many racist remarks. Over the last few years, however, many Tarakonethian governments have made significant reforms toward a more democratic and streamlined economy that could be the start of a revival of global power. Historically quick to make alliances and then break them, these nations could prove to be the wild card that will determine the outcome of future wars.

Isidoreans: These cultures all claim descent from the goddess Isidora, and often argue and even go to war over who has the "purest" line of descent. Stereotypically obsessed with their heritage, the Isidoreans trace ancestry through the maternal line, viewing the mother as the head of the family and the father as a mere accessory to the home. As a result, many children are raised by single mothers, and with the large number of single men, prostitution is common. At marriage, a man's fortune officially becomes his wife's property, but while the man is free to come and go as he wishes, the woman is expected to remain in the private sphere and devote her life to her children. Women struggle to find work outside the home and usually try to gain fame by advancing their sons' careers. However, a rising womens' rights movement seeks to undermine the traditional power structure and appears to be on the verge of breaking the opposition.

Ethymeans: The Ethymean cultures pride themselves on being the "inventors of democracy." They abhor kings and nobility, and profess the need to spread free elective governments throughout the world. Ethymean societies are typically divided between an upper class of priests, professionals, and businessmen, and a lower class of factory workers, farmers, miners and sailors. Very few people fall in between or advance from the lower to the upper. Unlike most cultures on Loros, Ethymeans are not opposed to imperialism. They have frequently tried to set up colonies across the world to enrich their governments, but these colonies have almost always collapsed after a few decades for reasons yet unknown.

That's all for now, but there will be several others, like Amynteans, Paramoneans, Alakaians, Galenaians, Omerosians, and Colonomians.

You make a good point about the radio. Maybe I could make it more realistic by saying that several times Kostas's men have been caught and arrested - but he himself has always managed to get away. They still succeed quite often, though, because even with radio, the Navy doesn't get their quick enough before Kostas has taken the cargo and prisoners. Then once he escapes, he blends in with the merchant ships again. How does that sound?

Or maybe I'm trying too hard to force pirates into a setting where they don't belong. But pirates make for such interesting campaigns.

Hmm. I just thought of something. It would be difficult to be an old fashioned sea pirate when you're going up against governments with air craft. Do you think the pirates should have their own aircraft? Sky pirates?

Here are some ideas for notable character we might encounter:

Marina Castellanos: The Queen of a powerful city-state. While women are technically not allowed to serve in government, almost everyone in the city knows her name. She is deeply religious, but also quite down-to-earth. She is unmarried, and wishes to stay that way, but entertains dozens of suitors with the proposition of marriage. Many of the citizens love her, because she tries to keep the power of the corporations in check, gives a voice to women in the government, and provides a balance of modernity and tradition. Others despise her because she lives a somewhat extravagant life style and uses too little of her power to help the poor. She harbors some racist beliefs about the "barbarians" outside her city walls, and although she does not speak directly toward these prejudices, foreigners are well aware of her hostility toward them. In short, she is a polarizing figure.

Tasoula Galanis: A fighter pilot who flew hundreds of missions in the most recent war between city-states. Despite her widespread fame for her valor in combat, she leads a very reclusive private life, refusing to be interviewed by curious journalists. Her unwavering devotion to the military and its leaders set a model for every soldier, while on the other hands, the acrobatic maneuvers of her plane make her an artist as well as a warrior. Since people know so little about her private life, they have created all sorts of outrageous theories with varying degrees of plausibility. Some even say she is descended from the gods, and she flies because it makes her closer to the heavens.

Andreos Pagonis: A professional wrestler, and one of the most versatile and respected athletes of his time. In his youth, he excelled in all sports, including running, swimming, and fencing, but eventually settled on wrestling as his life's work. After winning countless championships in the middleweight division, he took some time off from his athletic career to serve in the Navy when war broke out. Already well adjusted to a life of discipline, he performed admirably in the military, gaining a few medals for his service. Afterward, he resumed his wrestling career, but his victories have been fewer and far between. Some say he is getting old and slow, loosing the edge to younger and quicker men. Others say he is still in perfect shape, but simply overconfident, and his arrogance prevents him from winning. Despite the recent downturn of his career, he remains a hero among both the upper and lower classes. Unlike Tasoula Galanis, he revels in the spotlight, and entertains the world with his wry humor as much as with his physical prowess.

Nikolas Kostas: The leader of what he calls an "international free trade union" but is really a band of pirates. People assume that he receives funding from some government or another, but every government denies association with him. His fleet patrols the seas, surrounding merchant ships, capturing their crew, and installing his own crew to redirect the ships to another location. He almost always finds away to outnumber his opponents, so they usually choose to give into his demands rather than risk a fight. Despite his infamy, he claims to have never killed a human being, and there is no evidence to the contrary. Yet he is still a menace to nearly every government and corporation in the world. The world's various Navies, if they worked together, could surely bring him down, but they are always blaming each other for working in secret with Kostas and his pirates. A small but significant minority of the population views him as a folk hero for redistributing the wealth of the big corporations. Whether he actually gives any of his money to those in need is a matter of dispute.

I agree steerpike, those are good ideas. Divine intervention will be the primary check against imperialism. The gods always seem to help the defending side so that while war is frequent, conquest is rare. Of course it's not that clear cut. Sometimes the gods will allow a conquest to go on for years before they strike it down. Regardless of what the gods say, most of the businesspeople realize that there's a fortune to be made through colonization, but they can't seem to convince the religious and political leaders that it's a good idea.

I was thinking that I should start creating some characters for this campaign and then see where I can go from there. Maybe that will make it easier to conceptualize the world. Once again, thanks for the feedback.

Thank you for the quick feedback. I will definitely take your suggestions and add some more variety to the city-states. There will be some like Sparta that are excellent on land, but the naval powers like Athens will have much more global influence. Although there won't be anyone like Alexander the Great conquering massive amounts of territory, there will be lots of international trading. Each of the city-states is always looking for new markets to get rich, so they're constantly expanding their spheres of influence. In this world, larger empires have mostly failed, and are viewed with a certain taboo. One of the few things the diverse nations have in common is their distrust of expansive empires. As soon as one nation starts to get too large, the others attack it and divide it among themselves.

In the time period of focus, one such nation has just been destroyed by an earthquake that may have had divine origins. It was never a globe-spanning empire, but it was one of the more ambitious nations, and now it has collapsed. The five or ten years since the disaster have been a time of great tension, since most religious people fear that the angry gods will strike again. Others hope that to use the gods' power to strike down their enemies, but no comparable disasters have occurred since then. Almost every nation has built up its military in case someone launches an invasion, but no one wants to disturb the peace.

In a prominent city-state where the story will be centered, poverty and sickness are on the rise while corporations get rich off of foreign trade. Pirates roam the seas, with machine gun turrets mounted on their ships. Some of these pirates are self-proclaimed Robin Hoods who try to sink the ships of wealthy capitalists, set free the low-paid crew, and sell the goods at an affordable price. Others are ruthless marauders who are no better than the businessmen they wage war with.

The heroes have become aware that their government, which once sponsored the arts, philosophy, equality, and democracy, has grown apathetic recently and seldom responds to the people's growing demands. They can set sail for another city-state, but they will be treated as barbarians and may face an even more dismal poverty. But if they can find out more about these mysterious gods and what actually happened five years ago, maybe someone will listen to them. The gods may have a plan. Or they may not exist at all.

Does that give you a better idea? Maybe it's not so much based on Ancient Greece at all. More like a hyper-capitalist/anarchist world stuck in a cold war with some 900 micronations that all hate each other.

Just some brainstorming. The earliest stages of world-building.

I had a world-building idea a little while ago, which is a modern-tech, low-magic fantasy world that is very loosely based on the ancient Greek world. While there are a few large empires like the Persians, these tend to be off across the sea and out of reach, while the main action is focused around a series of small city-states. Each city-state perceives itself as radically different from the others, but they have many elements in common, like polytheistic religion, a love of art and philosophy, and excellent naval power.

The geography of the world will probably have lots of islands and narrow peninsulas like Greece that will discourage overland travel and make the seas extremely important. It will be modern, so there will also be air travel, maybe with zeppelins or some other fantasy counterpart. Maybe trains never developed in the industrial revolution, and instead the innovation went into making really powerful ships and aircraft.

There will be no non-human races, but a wide variety of human ethnic groups that will not have direct counterparts in the real world. The overall technology will range from 1920s to 1980s. No computers in this world, but maybe something that takes their place? Also, since it is fantasy, there will be supernatural powers at work. They will vaguely resemble the Greek gods, in that they are endowed with larger-than -life human personalities, with all the human strengths and flaws exaggerated. The gods won't directly intervene - it won't be clear that they exist at all - but supernatural things will happen and will be attributed to them.

And that's about all I've got. Basically I want the main theme of this world to be that big empires are overrated, and people tend to prefer living in tight communities that serve specific interests. Whether that's true or not, I don't know, but it's an idea I'm willing to play around with.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I look forward to hearing what you think.

On a more serious note, faith can be a terrifying thing. But also rewarding.

The werecow idea is simply amazing!!!!!

So if your avatar is a Cow, you can eat pork, but not beef. And vice versa if your avatar is a Pig. This gives the Chick-fil-A cows a whole new level of awesomeness.

All the Avatar animals are roughly human-sized. A little larger, a little smaller. You'll never see a mouse or a lizard as an avatar. You might, however, see a panther, a crocodile, or an antelope avatar. Dragon avatars are large, but not enormous - around 7 to 8 feet tall on their hind legs. More like crocodiles with wings than the typical dragons of fantasy.

If you think the curse of -th is just a myth, I will argue until my dying breath. Forsooth!

(honorable mention goes to Thor, whose name starts with a TH. And don't even get me started about the Egyption god Thoth...)

Enjoy!

I'm going to use this thread to toss around all my setting ideas that I'm not quite sure about. Here's one more:

A world where everyone is a shapeshifter. From birth until adolescence, you are fully human. As you come of age, you find out what your animal avatar is. At first, the transformation from human to animal is uncontrollable. As you mature, you learn how to manage it. Women lose their ability to shapeshift during pregnancy, but regain it after childbirth. Two people with the same animal avatar cannot marry - it is considered incest. People with dragon avatars are the most highly revered, and women who give birth to dragons become honorary dragons themselves. There are a few people in the world who cannot shapeshift - they are stuck in human or animal form. People stuck in human form are discriminated against - they are considered weak, fragile, without a soul. Those trapped in their animal avatars have an even worse fate - they are usually outcast from society altogether and live in the wilderness. Some true animals exist, who have no human intelligence whatsoever. But shapeshifted animals are always larger than true animals.

Thanks. I'll take a look.

Quote from: Fortunato
I like the second setting.  It made me think of a world where writing is magic.  Those that know how and have the talent can create or alter the world just by writing on things.  What you can write on you can change.  Graffiti could be a powerful thing.  It's strength linked to it's beauty.

It also made me think of that Twilight Zone with the tape recorder which is not a bad thing.

Thanks, Fortuanto. About the second one - I did have some other setting ideas like having a band of mutant-like people who are called the Misspellings, because the names of their souls were misspelled at birth. There would be another group called the Nameless, who essentially have no souls and thus live in a zombie-like trance. People who have a strong faith in the Editor often defend the discrimination of Misspellings, while those who follow the Author adopt a more egalitarian attitude. More about the Gods: The Author is female and represents creativity, originality, but also the past. The Editor is male and represents order, justice, and the present day. The Publisher is neither male nor female, and represents the mysterious and unknown future. Many religious zealots refer to an apocalyptic event called the Publishing when everyone's fate will be sealed.

Actually, I could combine this with the fourth idea, the multiverse, by having people create entirely new worlds just by writing about them. But in order to do this, they have to be in the Library, which acts as a nexus, or metaverse, between the universes. In the library, every book not only represents a world, but actually contains a world. Books where every page has been filled represent worlds whose history has come to an end - dead worlds. Living worlds contain many blank pages - they are still being written. Needless to say, getting into the library is very difficult - simply by ripping out a page, you could erase a year of history - or even a century!