The Campaign Builder's Guild

I think the natural world will supply the majority (if not all) of the magical phenomena. Imagine covering one's self with the dust of a giant moth to gain the ability of flight, eating the eggs of a fire breathing reptile to (you guessed it) shoot fireballs from one's (ass?...how silly should this get?).

For the school of thought on using substances to gain superhuman powers I'm thinking their will be external and internal uses. The difference of swallowing a concoction or applying a substance to the skin or whatever. I'm also keen on the idea of their always being a downside. In layman's these would be side-effects ranging from severe hallucinations (licking toads to gain immunity from poisons) to a horrible, crippling diarrhea (too many fireballs).

Although it is not an original idea I think it fits the setting well. More than one adventurer will meet their end at the hands of miscalculated substance use and will supply plenty of situational irony that I'm aiming for.

In writing this I'm realizing that the setting is gaining thematic polarity. Compare the jackass's planting gargoyles on a rivals tower to the creepy Molochie stealing children away to reproduce. Thoughts on this?

My thoughts for the moment are that I think you have made the start of a wonderfully humorous setting wherein the humor relies less on standard comedy fair and more on the ludicrous actions of your settings actors. I haven't really had time to look in depth at what you have written but I recall a little blurb on the tavern about gods that would be appropriate for your setting. The bit about a god of leaving kittens in front of your house was rather amusing. Have you given anymore thought to other such farcical deities? Perhaps a goddess of wearing mismatched clothing or a god of irritating music who is worshiped by bards without musical talent.

Quote from: Nomadic
My thoughts for the moment are that I think you have made the start of a wonderfully humorous setting wherein the humor relies less on standard comedy fair and more on the ludicrous actions of your settings actors...The bit about a god of leaving kittens in front of your house was rather amusing. Have you given anymore thought to other such farcical deities? Perhaps a goddess of wearing mismatched clothing or a god of irritating music who is worshiped by bards without musical talent.

I really like the idea of 'inconsequential gods'..or gods who aren't necessarily the real movers and shakers of the world. The mythology of OverUnder involves all of the major gods being seduced and eventually imprisoned by the Queen of the city. Of course with her busy schedule...she didn't have time to round up all of the odd gods. Odd Gods...I like that.

I liked your bit about the god of drunken buffoonery or some such. Annoying music would be a good one as well. I'm completely open to suggestions.
Another thing I was thinking about was all of the insane parties and festivals that the nobles throw. I was working on one called the Gala ala Glass...in which party goers carry enormous ornate glass balls filled with poisonous/narcotic gasses...something like that.

I don't think there's too much discord in themes/mood so far.  The whole thing feels like a twisted children's story, a dark, quirky, sinister, bizarre nonsense-world.  It doesn't shy away from the shadows but it retains a very real sense of humour at the same time.

EDIT: Thinking of the Molochie and the gargoyles, a real family disaster would be to wake up one morning to find the kids snatched and the balconies festooned with stone grotesques (sounds like a job for adventurers!).

Quote from: Nomadic
My thoughts for the moment are that I think you have made the start of a wonderfully humorous setting wherein the humor relies less on standard comedy fair and more on the ludicrous actions of your settings actors. I haven't really had time to look in depth at what you have written but I recall a little blurb on the tavern about gods that would be appropriate for your setting. The bit about a god of leaving kittens in front of your house was rather amusing. Have you given anymore thought to other such farcical deities? Perhaps a goddess of wearing mismatched clothing or a god of irritating music who is worshiped by bards without musical talent.

Also the God of lost things, who regularly borrows your keys and deposits them in places you've looked 3 times already and they weren't there before, and steals the socks from your dryer.

Perhaps a god of poetic justice, and a god of irony.

Flea Men
Flea men supposedly hail from the layer beneath the Fog (called the Speleothem-more about this later). Flea men are on average about 2-3 feet in height. (in OverUnder terms height is measured in time....have to figure that one out) Anyways Flea Men are small and round and usually plump. If you were to consider them in standard fantasy fair take a halfling and smash him together with a goblin. Whatever blob remains is a flea man. Obviously they get the name from their size...but also because they are generally the social leeches...stealing,pilfering,plundering,smashing and causing general disruptions in an irritating flea-like way. Also all of their names are onomatopoeia
   Onomatophoeia Reference
   All Flea Men and woman suffer from acute personality disorders. Split personality is by far the most common (it would be considered extremely rare for a Flea Man to have say...agoraphobia or something like that). And I'm talking theater quality schizophrenia. So they are thieves...possibly steal from the rich and give to the poor...except their are no 'poor' per say in OverUnder...

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Have to go...more later. Just wanted to get back into OU, as its been a while. Also writing an adventure for OU)
Also need to get a main Over Under thread set up at some point...And finish two or three drawings I started.
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[ooc=uh]Wow...have to get back to this. Crazy with the holidays and freaking skyrim eating my life. Continuing with the stream of consciousness style writing method:[/ooc]

I like the Molochie(see previous posts) a lot. I picture them as somber foreigners in a distant land-strange,beautiful (the highly ornate 4-faced masks of bronze and silver) and shrouded in mystery.  I suppose the Molochie are a priesthood of sorts...of which little is known. They do however communicate through dance which could be compared with real world whirling dervishes.
The pilgrimage they make to the city of Over Under is necessary to repopulate their dying race-they steal children and train them to become Molochie in adulthood. The black robes of the Molochie signify that they are chosen for this task in their own home city of EverFar, which nobody seems to be able to visit let alone find.

With the addition of Ever Far to the Over Under world I've added a whole new aspect to think about-what occurs outside the bizarre walls of Over Under? Do other cities pursue inane projects like pointless tower-building? I could ask myself a whole bunch of questions like what?,how?,when?, and where?, but until I have ideas for other areas I plan on keeping it pretty vague and open.

I also need to get back to Razi's, cause they are damn cool. I imagine there are cults of some sort that imbibe the venom from these creatures...maybe in a primitive-power-gaining ritual way? (think primitive peoples eating the hearts of slain foes to 'gain power') except that they actually would. Perhaps they grow spider parts (not always predictable which parts) from consuming the venom. The Venom would actually be a pretty valuable trade commodity for assassins and rituals etc.

I'm also thinking of "borrowing" Corpse Artists from the short-lived CBG community project Lexicon(see sig.) I think they fit rather well and probably originated from the anti-Monarch protests shortly before the Queen came to power in Over Under.

The history of Over Under is giving me trouble as well....I use general less fleshed out terms like THE MONARCH and THE QUEEN because I don't  really have anything too fleshed out for these aspects...I suppose it will come in time.
   

There are great firms of Architects that are tied to families for generations upon generations. Architects are constantly adventuring (or hiring adventurers) to find new source materials, ideas for new forms and structures.

"The more adventurous architects seek out other lands and cities, delve deep into the depths of the earth searching for the one pure perfect form that will outdo all other families for eternity. The search for this 'Ultimate Form' has become an obsession for the great Architect Firms and the fanatical families contributing unfathomable funding for the projects"
    -Guide to Over Under

Also, quarries that have been exhausted of materials are flooded and stocked with fish. Since most families built there towers right next to the quarries, the city has grown up around hundreds of these pools and ponds. Canals have been dug to join the larger ones. Boardwalks, ferries, floating platforms and barges cover the lakes as open ground for commerce is not easily found. All public places are built on top of these lakes.

Alliances are sometimes struck between families. Bridges are occasionally built from tower to tower...Long bridges that curve and twist around non-allied family towers. In the old days, bridges would be torn down when there was a falling out between the families. Nowadays, either side of the bridges are heavily fortified and gates installed (along with ingenious traps and defensive mechanisms)

Ah, this setting is still lovably insane. Love the bridges, although for the sake of structural integrity I hope there are supports of some kind! Maybe these far-reaching free-standing support pillars have an effect on the landscape below in and off themselves?
Stealing an idea from Paizo's Golarion's Magnimar, you could also have less valued ground estate be in the shadow of the larger bridges.

When I first read the thing with the fish, I missed flooded, so I thought they just had huge piles of fish lying around the base of the tower, thinking that maybe you were implying the mineral-rich quarry ground preserved or seasoned them or some such :P
Do go with the canals though, because canals are awesome. And I'm sure it's a good idea to have free-flowing water surrounding already precarious architectural designs. :p

Now we are at it, how common is tower collapse? I assume not too common since some of these towers sound like they'd devastate half the city if they fell. Also, with the bridges and the high tower density of the city, would a falling tower cause a domino effect?
What happens to an aristocratic family if they lose their tower? If a (maybe deliberately!) poorly-constructed tower fell into their tower, could they sue the family that started the chain reaction?

Random train of consciousness. Some of these questions have probably already been answered previously, I was just writing based on what I could remember of the setting!

Tower collapse is incredibly devastating. The last great war between the nobles was so bad that an entire quarter of the city was abandoned. At least a dozen towers were tumbled over and thousands lost their lives. Nowadays, a family can declare a sort of bankruptcy- I.E. if their families tower is in peril of collapsing due to overwhelming damage, they can declare "tower fault" in which case any families hostile to said family must cease all aggression towards them. It is incredibly embarrassing for a family to declare a tower fault-but it's a matter of losing everything versus losing prestige.

If a tower collapses due to structural problems the architects are rounded up and executed, the family is exiled and any and all assets are seized. For this reason families are very careful about their choice in materials/design. Accidents do happen and there is a sort of investigatory committee consisting of well-to-do nobles that make the final choice in judgement on tower collapse. It is a rare thing for a tower to completely tumble over...but accidents do happen.

The bridges are ingeniously designed, that's about all I can say about that at the moment.

And yes, canals are freaking awesome. 

Also. I was working on a tower sample room list: (if anyone has ideas about what sorts of rooms could be added to towers chime in!)
Sample Tower-Room List
(wip)
Conservatory
Libraries
Laboratory
Stables
Aviaries
Sun Rooms
Reading rooms
Vaults
Offices
Personal Chambers
Servants Chambers
Guest Chambers
Blacksmith
Storerooms
Family Crypts
Kitchens
Boiler Rooms
Airship supply rooms
Playrooms
Parlors
Great Hall
Dining Halls
Armories
Automaton Workshops


I was also working on a fortune teller type character that ally with families and are occasionally taken hostage...more on this later...

A Random Tower Generator would be fairly simple and practicle if you ever played a game in this setting.

Yeah, a generator would be best for any sort of random tower-crawl instance. Thx Leetz

About the fortune tellers...Nobles are highly superstitious people. A guild of fortune tellers and augurs hold sway in Over Under. Particularly accurate predictors are highly sought after by nobles. In some situations an augur or fortune teller might be held hostage for months or even years to prevent other nobles from learning about certain upcoming events. This is hardly a misfortune for the teller as they are treated like royalty while in captivity.

The depth of a reading depends on the skill of the teller. Anything from wars, plagues, deaths in the family to market prices, weather patterns or who the next heir to a family estate might be. The tellers are very powerful people and the guild is untouchable.

Maybe I missed this earlier, but what are other guilds and groups in the city like? The Hurdygurgy Guild? Canal Fishermans Club? Gargoyle-Scultpers Syndicate?

Would the univerase collapse if you were to put a Role-Playing Society within a setting?

Fine questions Leetz. Don't have anything but bare-bones ideas on guilds in the city. But they would operate out of Collegiates...buildings dedicated to teaching trades and performing clerical work. Guilds will probably be the basis for the economy...

Guilds:
Some sort of travel guild (airships, aviary associations etc.)
Canal running guild tied in with the operation of the many locks in the city(remember the city is build on a hill)
Historical societies
Military organizations of all shapes and sizes (see Flea Men in above posts)
Metal workers
Masons
Architects (possibly the same as the masons)
Poets and artists
Precious Stone Appraisers
Some sort of magic guild (once I know what the hell type of magic exists)
Alchemical guilds
Agricultural guilds
etc...

As far as a role-playing society goes the closest thing would be an actors guild. Also, nobles are known to "war-game" with one another when they don't want to commit tons of resources to a real war.

I'll spend a little more time on this now..

The Mourning Quarter

Morning, Mourning
Your all going to die!
Ask us for truth
and we'll give you a lie!

-Collected Nursery Rhymes of the Nobles Children

[ic=Did I mention?] A noble who enjoys viewing the ghastly is a rare thing...Unless it is by his or her design. The sick and poor...they are hidden from view. We wouldn't want to spoil a nobles appetite for the glorious would we? [/ic]

The Mourning Quarter was once the great housing projects for the Monarchs enormous standing army. Large villas and walls, fortifications from an older, harder age stand firmly on the rocky islands accessible only by bridge or barge outside the main city. Fading murals depicting the Monarchs conquering army wading through endless seas of bloodshed contrast sharply with the quarters inhabitants...the old, sick and infirm.

By public decree, (and ruthlessly enforced) all persons that appear sickly for more than three days (as determined by the Lord Practitioner of Well-Being) shall be banished to the Mourning Quarter. Any person once found guilty of Bodily, Mental or Otherworldly sickness shall not ever enter the dominion of the City without express permission, oral and written, by the Lord Practitioner of WB.


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gotta go while writing this more later[/ooc]