Ajur: A World of Politics, Open Warfare and Mystic Powers

[LordVreeg]

So I've decided to tone back the technology and culture somewhat to approximatly 500 BC to 500 AD our time, so I'm thinking late greek civilisation to the end of the roman empire kind of technology etc.

there will be the great empires with babylonian ziggurats, canals etc, and in the more temperate to northern climates ill go into some gaul and visigoth style peoples, however i may splash into ancient china for some of these as well as a difference of flavour.
Due to the intermix of species of the most part I will be using culture as defined by geography moreso than race. We will see how it works out.

One of the coolest things about this time period was the actual presence of science and technology, but the lack of common knowledge about it.    I mean...Antikythera mechanism...just gasp...
So your ability to meld science and wizardry is immense.  Were I ever to create another setting, it would involve a massive scaling back of magic, but a similar time period when much that is science (greek fire, levers, crossbows, etc) is viewed as magic, and lesser magic seems more powerful when melded with science.  A spell that increases the power of a fire is a lot more powerful when added to greek fire.

[Kindling]

That's big... really really big, especially with iron age travel technologies...

[cabbagesquirrel]

yeah i want civilisations to be points of star light in a dark blanket of night, leaving civilisation is a big step, even for adventurers who will soon discover themselves to be on their own in the middle of the wilderness. granted there will be tamed magical beasts and so on to aide travel but magic assisted travel is extremley rare, as is divination communication, i mean there was only a single decent oracle in the whole of greece way back when.

so magic will be associated with the learned elite, something that mystic men and women, cloistered off dabble with, nothing that need concern the little folk.

[LordVreeg]

yeah i want civilisations to be points of star light in a dark blanket of night, leaving civilisation is a big step, even for adventurers who will soon discover themselves to be on their own in the middle of the wilderness. granted there will be tamed magical beasts and so on to aide travel but magic assisted travel is extremley rare, as is divination communication, i mean there was only a single decent oracle in the whole of greece way back when.

so magic will be associated with the learned elite, something that mystic men and women, cloistered off dabble with, nothing that need concern the little folk.

I think this will make for an interesting setting.
I'd take special care in setting up those few schools and orders devoted to such learnings.  Make sure thier relationship to one another is crystal clear to the players.  
Also, how are these casters/savant's going to be seen by the populace?  Make sure the other races are in the same boat, or it won't ring very true.


I also like the potential for mythical beasts, and how they will be seen by the common folk.  

Orcs and such I would turn into tribal units, slightly behind the technology of the civilized world, brave warriors and fierce, but who exist on the fringes of settled lands.  Have some of them migrate every year, and trade with other races during migration.  Sounds believale.

Justa few ideas.  Keep plugging.

[cabbagesquirrel]

With arcane orders there will be the more accepted that are like universities or collages for the rich to send their second sons or daughters to for formal education etc, their first born having to take over the family business kind of deal, however i presume some will run off and shirk their responsibilities.

Others, especially the northern realms dealing with the encroachment of the Jadari, will have war wizard units dedicated to defending their king and country, so there will be formalised magic users within the military, often acting in the role of long range bombardment and being learned people often used as a tactical hard hitting unit.

There will also be of course out of the way organisations of wizards, cloistered off sects of individuals within a city state that steer governments towards their own power driven aims, some of the more acceptable universities members will be among these orders, so lots of inter order intrigue.

Outside of large civilisations hermit wizards use a master and apprentice relationship to teach talented individuals the ways of the arcane, mainly to stop these new kids on the block from causing uncontrolled magical chaos.


Mystical beasts such as a griffon etc are bred to suit roles in society such as transport etc. but i will be limiting magical beasts somewhat, they are uncommon compared to normal animals.

migrating savage orc tribes would be cool, perhaps an offshoot of humans who fled their dragon overseers and delved underground etc, so they wont be super ugly pig head guys more so like the half orcs from paizo's pathfinder.

also, shrinking Ajur a bit, bit to big to travel by cart hehe.

[cabbagesquirrel]

does anyone know of a book of fluff for iron age fantasy kind of deal, less conan the barbarian though please, theres a time and a place for scantily clad muscle bound guys, and that is tonight in my bedroom  :)

[Kindling]

David Gemmell's Rigante series is fairly iron age, although it does also include some pretty blatant rip-offs of real world cultures, especially the Romans. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing, just that it may not be "fantasy-ish" enough for you, due to that.

EDIT: Having said that, I've only actually read the first book. It may all change completely after that, I have no idea :P

[LordVreeg]

This was like dredging my mind, trying to pull this one out of the mental vault.
http://www.geocities.com/mithgarpedia/

I seem to remember these being nearly pre-medieval.  I am drawing on old memories, but the internal database rarely fails me.

[cabbagesquirrel]

cool, a mate of mine is a super gemmel fan, ill beat him up for his books.

Splitting my lands into cultures, the southern states have a distinctive greek/republican rome feel, warring states, with independant trade cities etc, mixed with a heavy dash of earth sea type feel.

the north with the tiefling empire will be a mix of ancient china and russia, very old school and arrogant somewhat but full of flavour.

the east island of breggani will be japanese in nature, with a more liberal mix of ancient subcontinant pantheistic mandala and sacred river type stuff.

the west is destinctly middle eastern with a touch of byzantine and african more so nearer to the desert countries of nethis etc.

main ajur proper, will be egyption meets north african morocco islam style stuff.

north will also have barbarian tribes etc, offshoots and outcasts etc. in the south there will also be barbarians as its not the tropical south its more temperate.

so im trying to keep with a mix of cultures but centreing on european and chinese as these are the two i understand the most about, granted due to cross polonisation of people and cultures there will invariably be a generic style mix, which im kind of ripping off the studio ghibli earth sea movie but cutting down the technology a tad.

[cabbagesquirrel]

cleaned up my map a tad with a sharpen feature. here it is.

[cabbagesquirrel]

so im rewriting AGAIN my history, after talking with my players, many will not be venturing far from human territory, ie none want to be dwarves etc, not that that doesnt mean theres no place for them in my campaign realm but that it makes things easier culture and ethnicity wise.