More Broken Verse [sic]

[O Senhor Leetz]

Took another stab at the geistworkers (formerly Grammarians). Still not in its final form, but getting better if stranger.

[ic=Geistworker]
The wizard is a common character of bards' tales. The powerful, scheming magi of ancient kingdoms, who controlled winds and fire with incantations and words of power. Sadly, the real world is not like that; there are no spells, no ancient incantations or powerful wizards with a crisp pronounciation and flamboyant gestures. But that isn't to say there isn't a grain of truth to the old stories. The idea of words of power has some merit to it, but it has been twisted from its original meaning. It is not about pronounciation, length, ancient memorized phrases or ritualistic invocations. It's about the inherent power hidden in all words: common or arcane.

The shamans of old found it first. That hidden world behind our own, the world of meaning rather than sense. Man and Ilk see the world around them through a lens of language, making flesh and blood family and foe, turning space into rooms and forests, making otherwise meaningless actions just or unjust.

The geistworkers are the heirs of this old lore. Over the centuries it developed into a secret system, well-studied yet infinitely complex, and the geistworkers set out to master it. They know the art of Projection, how to shape wind and water into feeble thoughtforms - illusions of power. Yet the world is stubborn. It will take more than willpower to change it. Yet outwards is not the only way to go, as the masters who came before taught them.

Drinking the sour juice of the Caraccan root and the ground dust of the Melte nut and ingesting or imbing other arcane substances brings the geistworker to frontiers of the conscious mind left unexplored by the ur-shamans and when they Project into themselves they enter a dreamworld of part madness and part meaning. Here, the lens is turned, and the language of the mind is made sense of by reflecting it in the material .

It is a strange world the geistworkers then enter, where metaphors talk and memories walk and where streets are made of Nostalgia and Dream. Their own mind seen as if it were real. Whether it actually is a real place or a vivid delusion has been the subject of many esoteric theses, but is unanswered as of yet.
In this otherworldly dreamscape they visit their own thoughts and instigate a paradox.

Over a cup of Sweet Taste they make a pact passed down through the centuries and tell the thought its definition. This sets in motion a strange process by which thought-thinks-thought and the thought becomes the thinker. A paradoxical sentience is awakened in the geistworkers mind and a Geist is born. A word is made alive.

It is by these old pacts of recursion that geistworkers acquire the power to change the world.
[/ic]

The geistworker will have two sources of power I am thinking. One would be the semi-sentient bound Geists, who award him with control of their domain in return for a part of his consciousness. These are purely intangible, residing in his mind. The other source of power would be metaphors. Essentially, a geistworker would find, make or acquire objects with a peripheral semiotic meaning, like well-trodden boots, a coin-given-freely, or a blunt pair of scissors and use the Art of Projection to attribute them with supernatural-but-reified meaning. These would be easier to use in the spur of the moment.

I am thinking this will be a very free-form system, limited by a few simple rules, GM fiat, and the player's imagination. There will also be an inherent risk to offering up your conscious mind to weird spirit-abstracts, of course. And visiting the dreamscape isn't without its own dangers either.   

EDIT: most of the Geistworkers will be natives of Setch, a country fascinated by meaninglessness or the lack of the same who follow the advice of Augurs and enjoy the ramblings of nonsense-poets.

Very good, I especially like the mention of the root and nuts.

However, maybe it's just me, but I can't wrap my head around these guys. What can they actually do? Do they change things? Create things? This has nothing to do with your idea or writing - both great - I just cannot understand them in the way you've written them so far.

[Superfluous Crow]

yeah, mentioning small peripheral details really seems to add a lot to setting descriptions like this, unfortunately I am not very good at including them.   

The problem with these clarifying what these guys can do has a few facets to it. Firstly, it is pretty abstract because I am basically trying to make a magic system out of a RL philosophy. This is Plato's theory of forms meets spirit shamanism meets linguistics meets academic wizardry.
Secondly, they can do lots of stuff, but it all depends on what direction they take.

In short, Geistworkers can exercise control over material things/minds that are somehow related to an abstract concept they have bound as a geist. Binding a geist like Truth/Lies makes Truth/Lies a part of the Geistworker (literally) and allows him to sense Lies when they are spoken, see through forgeries and disguises and maybe even rip Truths from the lungs of liars. Binding Fear would enable him to instill primal fear in a person with a gaze or know a person's worst nightmare. Ingame I think it would mostly work by the player saying: "This guy is doing A and I have a B geist - can I do C?".
Metaphors would be like small itemized spells. He might have a key-to-a-forgotten-door that can open any one lock, a mirror-shattered-after-lie might allow him to change his face, a coin-given-in-good-faith-for-a-job-undone might temporarily charm a person who it is handed to and so on.
Basically, it is all just limited by imagination. Geists might be used or bound in many diffeent ways.

My sources of inspiration, aside from the things listed above, are a combination of magic/ideas from Mieville's Kraken and Embassytown, the andats from Daniel Abraham's Long Price series, the objects from the Lost Room miniseries and a touch of the city magic from a Madness of Angels. But I think it has ceased to closely resemble any one source of inspiration.   

[O Senhor Leetz]

yeah, mentioning small peripheral details really seems to add a lot to setting descriptions like this, unfortunately I am not very good at including them.   

The problem with these clarifying what these guys can do has a few facets to it. Firstly, it is pretty abstract because I am basically trying to make a magic system out of a RL philosophy. This is Plato's theory of forms meets spirit shamanism meets linguistics meets academic wizardry.
Secondly, they can do lots of stuff, but it all depends on what direction they take.

In short, Geistworkers can exercise control over material things/minds that are somehow related to an abstract concept they have bound as a geist. Binding a geist like Truth/Lies makes Truth/Lies a part of the Geistworker (literally) and allows him to sense Lies when they are spoken, see through forgeries and disguises and maybe even rip Truths from the lungs of liars. Binding Fear would enable him to instill primal fear in a person with a gaze or know a person's worst nightmare. Ingame I think it would mostly work by the player saying: "This guy is doing A and I have a B geist - can I do C?".
Metaphors would be like small itemized spells. He might have a key-to-a-forgotten-door that can open any one lock, a mirror-shattered-after-lie might allow him to change his face, a coin-given-in-good-faith-for-a-job-undone might temporarily charm a person who it is handed to and so on.
Basically, it is all just limited by imagination. Geists might be used or bound in many diffeent ways.

My sources of inspiration, aside from the things listed above, are a combination of magic/ideas from Mieville's Kraken and Embassytown, the andats from Daniel Abraham's Long Price series, the objects from the Lost Room miniseries and a touch of the city magic from a Madness of Angels. But I think it has ceased to closely resemble any one source of inspiration.   

Hmmm. Ok, I think I'm going to get it the best I can without seeing it in action.

But enough of geists, what else do you have in store? :)

[Superfluous Crow]

Oh, had hoped you could give some feedback. Of some sort. Don't really know what.

Buy yeah, I should be careful not to get stuck on this single idea, you guys just got my thoughts rolling on the subject. I am liking the direction it is taking even if I don't quite now where it will end.

I should probably get around to writing a list of countries. Check back soon.

And to everybody not-Leetz: I'd love any kind of comment on any of the things I have written about here.   

[Superfluous Crow]

Setch is not actually part of my region-of-focus, but it has had a lot of influence over it through the ages.

EDIT: added Kolyaev

[ic=Kingdom of Setch]
For a long time the greatest power in the east, Setch has entered a period of political turmoil and is slowly losing control.
A nations of lowland plains and windswept coasts, Setch grew from being the home of a few humble shepherds into a powerful kingdom with a vast fleet dominating the eastern reaches of the world and the Jorinter Sea.  

For a while, Setch was the center of academic learning and reason and somehow the study of the unknown, the meaningless and the ineffable became deeply entwined in their cultural and religious life. The Augurs became a powerful faction, partly dictating the future course of the kingdom based on signs and omens and the position of heavenly objects while the discussion and unravelling of puzzles and the prose of nonsense-poets became a favorite pastime.

Their cities are scattered along the coast and further inland and are dominated by baroque architecture formed from copper, sandstone and stained glass. Beautiful ivory mosaics and carved geometric patterns decorate walls and wooden doors and mazes remain extremely popular in the well-kept public parks. They have a well-developed industry, but continue to take pride in their shepherd heritage and their beautifully woven carpets and fabrics.

The waning of power is partly a consequence of a recent tragedy where much of the royal family died under mysterious circumstances. Now a familial struggle for the throne has begun, while the grieving king has retreated to the last of the once-empire's colonies: Kisvem-by-the-Sea.
[/ic]

[ic=Kolyaev and the League of Loyalists]
Lying at the veritable heart of Besmakia, where the seas and rivers of the region meet,  Kolyaev was for a short time the most important city in Besmakia. Under the rule of Marius Volkier, Besmakia was united under one flag and the Grand Empire of Besmakia was founded. Marius was almost singularly responsible for putting the south back on the map, but as his empire and control grew he slowly succumbed to madness. His orders grew excentric and he became convinced that he was the incarnation of the land itself.

His reign ended with his suicide and he was followed by a young man he had personally picked as his heir, who was anointed as the next Incarnate Emperor, simultaneously being and ruling the empire. This didn't last for long though, as a bloodless coup put the military elite in power while retaining the Emperor as a figurehead. Sadly, this was not enough to keep the strained empire from falling apart.

A few city-states, once-grand Kolyaev included, still cling to their not-so-distant imperial past, but even though the voice of their puppet-king still carries weight in the Marrow Sea they are far from as powerful as they used to be. They call themselves the League of Loyalists and although their empire is decimated they continue to hold sway over the strategically important Serpent's Strait.

Kolyaev bears the marks of having been an imperial capital and brass monuments and defaced scultures are found in every corner of the labyrinthine city of narrow sloping streets and grand plazas. The buildings are tall and imposing, constructed from crenelated grey stone and weathered wood with gargoyles staring at the street below from the top of tall towers ringing with the sound of bells.

The Bastion towers over the city, but the most impressive feature of the city is the primitive electrical network of heavy wires winding its way through streets and alleys, added 13 years ago for the great Centennial Kolyaev was set to host before the pestilence struck. Ill-maintained and barely understood, it continues to provide light and heat for the citizens brave enough to use it.
[/ic]

This is all still in primer format. I have yet to detail Kisvem-by-Sea (the last setchic colony with a long history of occupation and a major player in trade and the wars against the corsairs), the Borronen Empire (a country of nomadic reindeer herds who went through a hasty industrialization by a somewhat over-ambitious king. Trains and wilderness), The Somner Union (a mining city with hinterlands fighting each other for gold and iron and cannibal horseriders for land and life), Berend (a rural theo-democracy ruled by and for saints), Ludmir (a pious country of whalers known for their academic accomplishments as much as for their ritualized lifestyle), Janusport (a dual port residing on both sides of an Isthmus challenging Kisvem for trade), the Principalities of Old Lebothia (barely allied inbred families of the Old Blood fighting for control of their heriditary land), Coldriver (ex-colony fighting for survival and hoping for gold in a place so cold the rivers freeze over), and Redemption (a refugee-city of shambling tenements acting as gateway to Besmakia and a melting pot of cultures and races)            

[O Senhor Leetz]

That's what I'm talking about!

That is all really, really good stuff. Just long enough to cover the basics, but short enough to be entertaining and leave the reader wanting for more.

Setch - Very cool, very Borges. I'm guessing it's somewhat peripheral for the Besmakia-based setting? If so, it works very well, as it's mysterious and exotic.
What type of gods do they worship if they worship gods at all? Sheogorath via the Elder Scrolls came to mind for some reason.
Physically, what do they Setch look like? Should I be thinking Carthage/Phonecia to an extant?
What is their great fleet like? Are they just fantastic sailors, or are their ships extremely advanced, either through construction or weaponry like Greek-fire?

Kolyaev - Once again, well-written, but I didn't see anything new (which is no problem at all)

As for the other cities, they all sound really good, you have some nice contrasting ideas with lots of them. "Academic whalers" is my favorite. The Borronen Empire seems cool too, very Trans-Siberian Railroad, which is sweet.

Janusport, as a name, is a bit obvious though.

One last thing - it seems that many of these nations are in decline or have declined, if that is true, what, or who, is filling the power void left?

[Superfluous Crow]

Yeah, Janusport is obvious if you know the mythical origins. My alternative was Commonport, but Janus had a nicer ring to it. Or what?

I have noticed the decline tendency as well and although I like the thematics and tone of decline I don't want this setting to be a one-trick pony. But in fact, saying all of these places are in decline is misrepresenting them a bit. The tone I really want to strike is that of a setting on the verge of change. All of these places are not at the proverbial bottom of their existence, they are in the middle and from there it can go either up or down. They are in a transitional phase if you will (although yes, there has been a downwards spiralling tendency in some of these places).

Setch though was doing quite good until said mysterious accident. Actually, they were probably beginning to fall prey to decadence. Now the simmering civil-war-waiting-to-happen is mucking things up a bit. Kolyaev took a dive when the empire fell apart after the Volkier's death, but has managed to recover relatively well.   

I am still playing around with the exact nature of the accident. Originally it was supposed to be the fallout of some mystical ritual to control fate which caused all fates to shortcut and people to die in freak accidents, but having a magical wasteland seems a bit too cliché honestly. It's probably just going to be good ol' murder. Maybe by a geistworker or a happenman to mix things up :p

Kolyaev seems familiar because that blurp is pretty much just a rewrite of stuff I have posted here before. Marius is meant to be a divisive figure of power, although he is dead by a century or so. I imagine him as half Napoleon, half ceaucescu or something like that.
The place very much has a military police-state/former-capital-in-decline ambience, but is also marked by the World Fair (centennial) that never took place, nationalist undertones, native mysticism, and large minorities.

I have this image of Borronen where a few barbarian natives stand near a line of tracks passing through the empty tundra watching a rumbling locomotive rolling by. The High Chief studied abroad when he was young and came back with a head full of dreams that his country wasn't ready for. There are only a few cities (read: fortified towns) but an extensive network of trains and factories no one knows how to operate.

I'll post more later perhaps.

[O Senhor Leetz]

I have noticed the decline tendency as well and although I like the thematics and tone of decline I don't want this setting to be a one-trick pony. But in fact, saying all of these places are in decline is misrepresenting them a bit. The tone I really want to strike is that of a setting on the verge of change. All of these places are not at the proverbial bottom of their existence, they are in the middle and from there it can go either up or down. They are in a transitional phase if you will (although yes, there has been a downwards spiralling tendency in some of these places).

That makes sense, but having other agents of chance would give it more of a progressive and less cataclysmic feel. More Belle Epoque and less, well, fall of Rome-era I suppose. Who are these "agents of change"? Are they liberal or conservative movements, pro- or anti-magic, xenophobic or heterogeneous? Violent, peaceful, law-abiding, revolutionary?

[Superfluous Crow]

The primary source of conflict is ideological at its core. Most of my countries are monarchies and the world is undergoing a destabilization of the old power balance. Proverbial thrones are slowly being usurped by bankers, merchants, priests, schemers, and scholars. There will be tension between the upper and lower classes, but I'd rather not have it all turn into Communism: the RPG so I will be keeping a reasonable distance.
Faith also plays in. Atheism is reserved for extremists while cults and sects abound.
There are a few dominant religions as well, who are further supported by a plethora of superstitions and the native witchcraft-faith of the Besmakians.
Finally, there are threats from the outside. The corsairs might be preparing for another attack at this very moment, and Eber and the other Penitent Kingdoms have recovered almost completely from the pestilence 13 years earlier and might already have plans in motion to secure land and influence.   

[O Senhor Leetz]

The primary source of conflict is ideological at its core. Most of my countries are monarchies and the world is undergoing a destabilization of the old power balance. Proverbial thrones are slowly being usurped by bankers, merchants, priests, schemers, and scholars. There will be tension between the upper and lower classes, but I'd rather not have it all turn into Communism: the RPG so I will be keeping a reasonable distance.
Faith also plays in. Atheism is reserved for extremists while cults and sects abound.
There are a few dominant religions as well, who are further supported by a plethora of superstitions and the native witchcraft-faith of the Besmakians.
Finally, there are threats from the outside. The corsairs might be preparing for another attack at this very moment, and Eber and the other Penitent Kingdoms have recovered almost completely from the pestilence 13 years earlier and might already have plans in motion to secure land and influence.   

I wouldn't worry about it becoming a Communist-esque setting, there are plenty of political movements and ideologies to pull from, I don't want to assume, but I'm guessing being European, you know more than us Americans do. And without a unifying event (I'm thinking French Revolution) that set the direction towards liberalism, there is nothing to argue that a nation couldn't have gone a thousand different directions upon the fall of a monarchy.

What about reformations and conflicts within individual churches?

[Superfluous Crow]

Nah, it was mostly that last sentence I was referring to, everything else should be a-okay.

There is definitely some intra-church conflicts as well. The Therennial Cycle (the "main" religion) was originally founded in Setch, but caught on in the Penitent Kingdoms (north-west) as well. It was then brought by missionaries and colonists to Besmakia, but didn't take root before several syncretic elements had been included from Urdism, the animistic faith of the Marrowmen. Sort of like how Haitians worship a mix of traditional Voodoo and Catholicism or the Philippinos are devout Christians but still pay heed to their indigenous mythology.
So the Orthodox church in Setch aren't entirely sure whether this sect is part of their religion or not.
Somner had a similar history.
Currently there are also two major religions duking it out: a dichotomous monotheistic double-deity vs. dogmatic pagan mysticism.
There have also been several attempts at "cleansing" Besmakia from what some perceive as the Urdic stain, and there are the Inheritors who flat out declare that the gods are dead or gone and that humans are their heirs to the chagrin of many.   

[O Senhor Leetz]

I like how you're taking religions seriously and not just defining them in the classic Greco-Roman way, which, myself guilty, I think we use too much.

I'll post more later, I have a test this morning and got to jet.

[Superfluous Crow]

Good luck!

I'm not religious myself, but I do have a deep fascination with the concepts of faith and religion so they will definitely be featured extensively in BV.

Hmm, I have a few very odd things that I can't quite figure out how to get into play, namely ensouled extracts, ambrosia (semiotic super-spice), and codename Phlogiston (essentially condensed energy). The latter two names are derived from the real world, so not sure whether to stick with them or not.
These things are borderline sciency and I fear they might not fit in too well with the otherwise somewhat mystical-industrial tone of the setting. So I basically have two options:
1) increase the general "weird science" level of the setting
2) making them imports from a weird place
(The latter option is realized and exemplified in the Bas-Lag universe where the author can bring in weirder things than normal by alluding to the "Witchocracy of Tesh" or "the Ghosthead Empire" - places that remain basically undescribed throughout the novels.)  

So, possible locations if I go with 2) would be:
I could redirect those sciences to having been developed in the Penitent States, the northern rivals of Besmakia, but these cities are if anything less mystical and more enlightened which might again not fit well with the weird nature of the products listed above.

Ludmir (the pious academic whaler people) could be a good source of weird stuff, but then again they'd have little reason to make any of the above being a fairly humble and abstinent people.
Option 3 would be to have an undetailed empire across the otherwise impenetrable eastern sea who have sent a few smiling emissaries west bearing strange gifts. Option 3 could be interesting, with them seemingly benign but possibly with malevolent intent, hiding behind smiles and courtesy.
(then again, just realized that is basically what Eberron did with that wierd psionic country...)    

I am also a bit stuck on the huskmen/swarm people. I'm veering towards making them actual supernatural creatures, partly to explain how a mass of insects can carry tools. Originally worshipped by humans as nature spirits, the creatures have managed to hang on to sliver of the reverence they were once subject to and have integrated themselves into the higher levels of human society, mingling with kings and merchants and acting as advisors. That being said, only a few of them attain true sentience and the rest live strange transient lives as beggar demi-gods.  

[beejazz]

I like option 3 personally. There was a Lovecraft dreamland story with something like that. I think they also kidnapped people, but it's been a while. Waking in the hold of a ship going somewhere no one has gone (or come back from) would be an interesting session.

[O Senhor Leetz]

Hmm, I have a few very odd things that I can't quite figure out how to get into play, namely ensouled extracts, ambrosia (semiotic super-spice), and codename Phlogiston (essentially condensed energy). The latter two names are derived from the real world, so not sure whether to stick with them or not.
These things are borderline sciency and I fear they might not fit in too well with the otherwise somewhat mystical-industrial tone of the setting. So I basically have two options:
1) increase the general "weird science" level of the setting
2) making them imports from a weird place
(The latter option is realized and exemplified in the Bas-Lag universe where the author can bring in weirder things than normal by alluding to the "Witchocracy of Tesh" or "the Ghosthead Empire" - places that remain basically undescribed throughout the novels.)  

So, possible locations if I go with 2) would be:
I could redirect those sciences to having been developed in the Penitent States, the northern rivals of Besmakia, but these cities are if anything less mystical and more enlightened which might again not fit well with the weird nature of the products listed above.

Ludmir (the pious academic whaler people) could be a good source of weird stuff, but then again they'd have little reason to make any of the above being a fairly humble and abstinent people.
Option 3 would be to have an undetailed empire across the otherwise impenetrable eastern sea who have sent a few smiling emissaries west bearing strange gifts. Option 3 could be interesting, with them seemingly benign but possibly with malevolent intent, hiding behind smiles and courtesy.
(then again, just realized that is basically what Eberron did with that wierd psionic country...)    

I am also a bit stuck on the huskmen/swarm people. I'm veering towards making them actual supernatural creatures, partly to explain how a mass of insects can carry tools. Originally worshipped by humans as nature spirits, the creatures have managed to hang on to sliver of the reverence they were once subject to and have integrated themselves into the higher levels of human society, mingling with kings and merchants and acting as advisors. That being said, only a few of them attain true sentience and the rest live strange transient lives as beggar demi-gods.  

I would go "Weird Science", as magic in this setting already seems to be developing along subtle and nuanced strands, having crazy sciencey stuff would be a good counter point.

You could also do 2 and 3 and combine them to an extant, they don't have to be exclusive.

I also really like your new take on the Swarm-People as quasi-revered advisers and pseudo-prophets, feared but needed. Go that route.

I know this isn't much of a response, length-wise, but it's all pretty good, so there isn't much to criticize.

EDIT: Orrichalcum is another real-world name ( even before Skyrim ) that you could use as well in addition to Phlogiston and ambrosia