The Campaign Builder's Guild

[ooc=Update (Addition)]Added a new Conflicts & Lore entry: The Cataclysm - The Story of Wisparia and the Whisperers
On the 1st page in the 4th or 5th post.[/ooc]

[ooc=Update (Addition)]Added a new Bestiary entry: Archnokos
On the 1st page in the 3rd post.[/ooc]

First of all, let me just say that I really do like this setting. Which makes it hard for me when I reached the section of Jamibia, read the line "raped continuously throughout their lives", and felt the all-to-familiar sensation of the bile rising in my throat. I get it, rape happens. Hell, the concept of rape being a major taboo didn't exist until very recently and certainly wasn't a part of any culture that had slaves. I could get into the whole argument that gets brought up all the time about George R. R. Martin's work, but I don't want you to feel that I'm skewering you too viciously.

But anyways, I feel like we all know that it's going to be a thing. So why do you need to not only state it out explicitly, but give them a special little title to go along with it? If there's slaves, it's implied that they're going to be making more slaves and any consent is probably going to be dubious at best, but isn't all that nastiness just implicit in the institution? I absolutely hate hate hate it when rape gets brought up a cheap plot point or a way of characterizing a villain, and while they may not be on here, I know plenty of other gamers who hate hate hate it as well. It instantly, invariably sours my opinion of any setting, and I don't want to hate this setting: apart from that, I really don't, but this is absolutely a make-or-break issue for me. I'm certain there are other settings that are just as guilty of this, but yours was just the unlucky one I happened to spot. For the last time, I'm not judging you the writer, I don't think you're some horrible misogynist or anything; I just want to point out that there was one detail I consider largely superficial to the entire setting nevertheless snuffed out my enjoyment of it instantaneously.

[ooc=Answer to Superbright]I really perceived your comment well, I think it's good constructive criticism. I won't change it now, but I'll definitely be working on that next.
(It's just a minor modification, really, but I thought the scene was good to be made explicit for the sole reason that it underscored one of the big points of why Jamibia was so angry about the Logosu. But you made me think about it, and I think it can easily be made to feel the same (the text), while also keeping that small part out.)

(And I know you're probably aware, but I did specify that this biography was intended for mature audiences. Anyways, thanks :P)[/ooc]

Quote from: SuperbrightIf there's slaves, it's implied that they're going to be making more slaves and any consent is probably going to be dubious at best, but isn't all that nastiness just implicit in the institution?

I don't think these implications are quite as clear as you think they are. For example, the Greeks housed their male and female slaves separately and weren't particularly fond of them breeding, and other slave-owning cultures allowed slaves to have families with (ostensibly) consensual pairings. The term "slave" has had a lot of differing connotations over the course of history, and being too locked into any particular one can lead to confusion and assumptions that turn out to be false.

That is true sparkletwist. The Romans, too, had interesting traditions as to the use of slaves. They even had a holiday in the times of the old Republic where the slave would take the place of the master. Most of them were treated quite fairly, for slaves (except those that worked the camps), and could even reproduce, but their children would be slaves too. Anyways, you're right.

Quote from: sparkletwist
I don't think these implications are quite as clear as you think they are. For example, the Greeks housed their male and female slaves separately and weren't particularly fond of them breeding, and other slave-owning cultures allowed slaves to have families with (ostensibly) consensual pairings. The term "slave" has had a lot of differing connotations over the course of history, and being too locked into any particular one can lead to confusion and assumptions that turn out to be false.

I was thinking more along the lines of Biblical slavery, actually. Greece and Rome had much more developed ideas of rights and liberties than I imagine even the most liberal of this setting's civilizations.

Glad to see you are still working on this!  I'm going to give it a proper retread tomorrow after work.  Until then, keep up the awesomeness, man!

It has been thousands of years since the first man set foot on this vast territory. In general, most people agree that their ancestors are likely to have landed on the islands that make up the archipelago on the northwestern part of the main landmass, and many a story recount that it is from these heavenly beaches that their first heroes battled the dangers of the sea to finally land on the continent, to face even greater danger. Such stories are often a source of pride and even though these ancient and mysterious days are long gone, many elders tell the tale with a nostalgic tear in their eye.

It should be obvious that the various clans that flourished during this early period were not always on peaceful terms with each other. But there seems to be a constancy in the tales of then; they were highly cooperative, and all-out war was rare, if even existent at all. However the constancy is lost when we arrive at the scorched desert.  And there many names are summoned, and many personalities are evoked, but it would seem that the importance of the fraternal relationship between the tribes had greatly diminished, and some set for the coast north of the desert, while others, in probably greater numbers, went south.

From then on, it would seem that the Bas (the people that went southward) and the Hot (the people that went eastward) gradually peopled the whole continent. The Bas reached the wet jungles of the deep south, only to meet the infinite sea that laid on the horizon. They also met strange peoples to the east, below the titanic volcano that served as a landmark. These peoples were surely Hots, although no one was sure, and, in any case, Hots weren't really known as Hots.

The Hots were, although seemingly lesser in number than their south-going cousins, quicker settlers, and went across the desert and the Manugayatru to finally reach the Jijibaeh, an imposing mountain range south of the Jungle Verde.

The tall mountains of the northeast were long peopled by the Hots, but advances unto the peninsula's southern tip were slow, and even slower was the peopling of the islands, one of them huge, south of it.

This is a general history of demographics, and in no way does it take into account the devastating loss of people after the fall of the Baturapi that left an important crater and decimated entire tribes beside the Lever Noir; the Banghambu wave that sunk the southern jungles; the constant eruptions of the Lever Noir; the Cataclysm of the southern island; and the droughts that occur repetitively along the edges of the Jamibian desert. Among other catastrophes.


*** I will also post this on the main page, under the map.

Many hundreds of years ago, it was usual to see red sparks from the Lever Noir light the skies from time to time, but one night an unusual crimson dot lit up in the sky, and it only seemed to get bigger...

Hours passed and some realized doom was nigh. They held hands, danced and chanted, prayed and even sacrificed while the strange celestial body raced towards them at amazing speed. The impact would have been brief for them, for the comet had dug deep and wide into the very crust of the earth. The hole that it had created spanned for miles and miles and described a near perfect circle.

Today, the alien structure that came crashing is called the Baturapi, and its hole -which holds the same name- is entirely hidden by canopy. It is said that weird beasts wander inside, but also that the glowing flora is a sight that takes the breath away.

*** I will post this on the main page, also.

[ooc=Addition/Modifications]Changed the name of the island of Wisparia to Padassos. Changed its description a little bit. Wrote a story, which this is the first part of, about the cataclysm that would see Padassos become a wasteland and the birth of the Whisperers. This will also be posted on the first page.[/ooc]

[ic=The Padassian War – Part One]The Padassians were never a united people, except for the Padassos -supposedly, they were the first to set foot on this soil-. They were an amalgam of tribes, with slightly differing views but mostly the same dialect. Families of renown ruled over neighbouring tribes and often assembled all men of fighting age to conquer those whom they held in low esteem, or those who had done them wrong.
Among these tribal lords were four who would go down in history as the most powerful that land had ever seen. They were Alibarsanes, Perses, Matidus and Tripaes.

Alibarsanes ruled the vast plains of central Padassos up until the Purple River, a river that ends into the Bay of Heats, and down until the thick jungles of southern Padassos. Alibarsanes, as well as his predecessors, claimed that their family were the direct descendants of the Padassos. His kingdom was great; he had powerful horses and fearless warriors used to decades of battling in the plains.

However great his army, though, it could never successfully eradicate the tribes of the Lympian mountains, led by the charismatic and ferocious Tripaes. These people would go south and make raids on Alibarnases' possessions, mainly pastures but also small tribes. Tripaes' tribe and his allies lived off their plunder from the rich grasslands where Alibarsanes ruled and from the abundance of game in the mountains. While guerrilla warfare has proven successful, Tripaes could never succeed in holding back the might of the plain's warriors alone for too long. Apparently, he had friendly links with Matidus, another mountain warlord that would ascend to greatness.

Matidus ruled over few tribes, but he made good of his low numbers by forging alliances with other tribal lords that always seemed to end up to his advantage. One such example would be his alliance with Tripaes, mentioned above, where he would use them as decoys to raid the western plains of Padassos, enriching himself, reducing the great numbers of Alibarsanes and even capturing the plains' warlord's men to ransom or use as slaves. Matidus had in his entourage quite a few wise men, and it is so that he was able to exploit the abundant mineral resources in the Asinas mountains where his tribe had established firm control long ago. He was a cruel leader, and above that was afflicted by the vilest form of greed.

South, in the jungles, a mysterious man -most thought he was a madman- conducted strange, yet magnificent rituals where carefully chosen humans, as well as animals, were sacrificed accompanied by dances, chants, prayers and meditations. Embassies to this man always came back with tales of grandeur and awe. The man was Perses, and he and his allies had mystical powers only heard of in the stories of the Padassos. It is safe to assume that Perses' faction was denied access to the plains' by Alibarsanes as a precaution. If his entourage actually saw that Perses held similar powers than the Padassos, there might be defects and the lord of the central plains would lose power. However, it is unlikely so. It seems that Perses might have been content with his jungle and had no ambitious plan for an empire that stretched beyond his jungle home, therefore staying there willingly.

Thus, the stage was set. There were four rulers, each of them with a vision, and there was no doubt that there would be clashes in the future. The conqueror Alibarsanes wanted the pests from the Lympian mountains removed, Matidus' punished and Perses silenced. He knew he had to take the bloody path. Tripaes wanted honour, and this could be achieved only by slaying the great ruler of the central plains. Matidus could have cared less for power, what he wanted was riches. However, he lacked the manpower required to see his goals to their ends. And Perses, none knew his motives, but as the battlefields would come to be painted red with the blood of the Padassians, he would rise to become very powerful.

    [/ic]

[ooc=Update]Added a map with points of interest in the story of the God-King Jamibia, on the first page. I'll try to do that with my next stories as well.[/ooc]

[ic=The Padassian War – Part Two]It all started on the Purple River. Alibarsanes, titled the conqueror, had sent a considerable army to quell the increasing raids from Tripaes' band to the north. The latter had indeed increased the number, as well as the scale of his incursions down south in the plains and it seemed to coincide with an increase in attacks from some unimportant, yet renowned warlord of the west, a man named Matidus, on his western territories, just south of the Bay of Heats. Alibarsanes' hold on territories that had long been his was starting to loosen and he finally decided it was time to take care of this unpleasant business.

Many months before, it is true that Tripaes met with Matidus. They forged a secret alliance to overtake Alibarnases' rich empire. It was agreed that the plains would be separated in two, one part for each warlord to take over. Both of them knew that the only way to win over Alibarsanes was to ally with each other and force the man to wage war on two fronts, thus spreading his force.

At the beginning Alibarsanes was surprised, he didn't expect the proud Tripaes to ally himself with Matidus, whose cognomen the Cruel was well established and known even to Perses in the south. Tripaes was already a foe to be reckoned with, now he had to deal with invaders who might scare his subjects deeper into the east, giving away fertile lands freely, a prospect he did not relish.

Though, nothing was really lost. The northern warlords had made no consequent advance, thanks to his experienced soldiers. Alibarsanes decided he would defeat Tripaes in a  glorious battle, pushing him back into the mountains with the majority of his troops, while he halted Matidus' men in the west. His strategy worked well, Tripaes also wanted a glorious battle, but his strategies were no better than Alibarsanes, and the latter had the advantage in numbers. Thus, the proud warlord was pushed back beyond the Purple River and forced to retreat into the mountains to regroup with additional forces, tail between legs. In the meantime, Matidus was making headway into Alibarsanes' western territories. He was fighting wisely, with guerrilla tactics, avoiding the plains and instead forcing the fight into the forests and mostly attacking villages at night. However, a contingent from the conqueror's troops in the north came to assist the western front, and eventually Matidus was driven out of the central plains.[/ic]

[ic=The Padassian War – Part Three]Tripaes was on the defensive now. His army had marched into the plains to the south, but were defeated at the Battle of Parmae and driven back into their mountainous home in the Lympian heights. It was essential, he thought, that the fight remains on the plains of central Padassos. Therefore, he sent an embassy to Perses deep in the south to convince him to join the fight and create a third front. This would place Alibarsanes in an impossible situation and would give Tripaes the time he needed to assemble an army capable of vanquishing a reduced force on the northern front.

It would take quite some time for the messenger to reach Perses though, so in the meantime Tripaes fought a guerrilla war against Alibarsanes, whose men were not used to fighting in mountainous terrain. The Lympian tribes had a huge advantage, and they made good use of it. If Alibarsanes laughed at Tripaes' questionable strategy earlier in the war, he was now at a loss for word. The man was giving him hell. Everyday, the conqueror's troops were dwindling, while also making no advance.

While Alibarsanes was being kept busy north of the Purple River, Matidus' troops secretly passed south of it and started raiding his western territories again. It was a disastrous situation for Alibarsanes. He had let his guard down and now the ever opportunist Matidus had not let this one slip; burning fields, capturing thousands of men, women and children and plundering many villages.

But the most catastrophic for Alibarsanes was yet to come. As he sent a respectable force west to repel the invaders, a messenger from the south came with dire news; Perses was finally making a move, marching northward with his army towards the capital, Harnaxes. Perses' military abilities were unknown to Alibarsanes, but he deemed it necessary to recall his entire army from the corners of his empire and confront the mysterious warlord with all his might. Perhaps it was that he thought that a decisive victory against one that called himself a descendant of Padassos would strengthen his own claim and send a message to his northern enemies; that whatever territory they took, they could never conquer the heartland of his empire, but even that is questionable.

It took a while, but Alibarsanes' men gathered at Harnaxes. Both commanders had their men stand in formation. It was a magnificent sight. The battle that ensued would surely determine the fate of Alibarsanes' empire.[/ic]

[ooc=Update]I changed the Spirits, Ghosts and Whisperers entry into this.[/ooc]

Ghosts exist in this world. Some appear in the material world under gaseous form, while others look like their original self from the mortal world. Each ghost has a different purpose. Some of them have vile intents while others merely wish to guide and advise.
It is not every deceased man -or creature- that can come back into the mortal world to haunt or help, and it's still unclear what the conditions are for the deceased to be able to come back into the world as ghosts.

Lately there has been increased sightings of these spirits, and many among them talk -or, rather, whisper in their deep and echoing voices- about a great land far away called Padassos. These spirits are tough to discern from the usual ghosts, but one can identify one of these by asking it to touch sea water, for upon coming in contact with it they will experience tremendous pain.