Celtricia

[LordVreeg]

So, this is kind of a pre post. 
Since I am not sure of what direction it should go in.

The irc game of the steel isle folk has been a fun experiment in a lot of ways.  And both it and the igbarians have been dealing with the same GM effect, that of letting the players discover, in game, some of the idiosyncratic facets of the game world of Celtricia.

The setting detail is that of the way spirits need to move to the well of death to escape the waking dream.  Undeath is a real fear among the people, and the abuses of necromancers and need for shriving makes them important in the world.  Spirits, especially in areas with violent death, are very active.
also, is is interesting when party members perish, as both groups find that those spirits, when nOt shrived, the tortured spirits hang around.

And understand this was intentional.  Undead are fun and cool elements, I like to have them feel like they belong and are an integral part of the cosmology.  I like it when the players feel that this is not something tossed in by a rulebook they are supposed to have; instead they see the underpinnings of the cosmology in play.

Crunch wise, spells that effect undead and necromantic spells have a lot of in game reason and context.  Necromancers have spells like 'Shrive the Spirit', ' Corpse Candle', etc that deal heavily with unready.

So I am working on the GM techniques and explaining them that make this happen.  But it has been really cool as the players really grapple with shriving and necromancery and unready and spirits....all from a very intimate level.

[Xathan]

One thing I noticed watching the IRC last session and talking to you last night is how organic the setting is, and I think a lot of that is letting the players interact with the setting and then incorporating it. It's a great way of handling it. You mentioned you weren't sure where to go with it - based on what I've seen, I'd play it and then develop it based off that. Sort of the reverse for typically handling setting development, but it's seemed to work for you for 27 years, so I'd handle it that way.

BTW, from what I've seen of your undead, they're an awesome take on the classics. I'm really interested in seeing you develop them further, because it's such an unique way of handling it that still feels like "undead."

[LordVreeg]

One thing I noticed watching the IRC last session and talking to you last night is how organic the setting is, and I think a lot of that is letting the players interact with the setting and then incorporating it. It's a great way of handling it. You mentioned you weren't sure where to go with it - based on what I've seen, I'd play it and then develop it based off that. Sort of the reverse for typically handling setting development, but it's seemed to work for you for 27 years, so I'd handle it that way.

BTW, from what I've seen of your undead, they're an awesome take on the classics. I'm really interested in seeing you develop them further, because it's such an unique way of handling it that still feels like "undead."

Actually, undeath is quite developed in the setting, though always a work in progress.

From the Wiki...

"When death comes to end the time spent in the "Waking Dream", the soul flies through the void to rest in the Well of Death, before it is claimed by the proper patron for 'Recycling'.  Souls can spend millennia there, or mere minutes.  This depends on the strength of the soul and it's passions at the moment of demise...Also, understand that Necomancy and the undead are not always evil, though undeath is a perversion of the natural order.  Many who use this magic now use it to fight undead.


Now, there are three main classifications of undead in Cetricia.  The Mindless, the Cunning,  and the Aware.  There are also different classifications of how the spirit is taken or kept away from the Well of Death.


Mindless Undead
Mindless Undead are creatures that a necromancer ties a bit of a soul/spirit to.  The necromancer reaches into the Well of Death, reaches a spirit that is not too powerful, and drags some of it back and ties it to a vessel he or she has waiting for that purpose.  It is not the same body that the spirit came from, nor is a whole spirit ever pulled back, so while the automatic familiarity with a body keeps the soul tied to it,. there is no intelligence or motivation.  This makes them perfect puppets, but mitigates the amount of information they can take in (See Raise Skeletal Servant).  Mindless undead are also created when a bit of spirit from the Well of Death leaks through and attaches itself to a waiting vessell, some corpse.  These types must adhere themselves to the same type of corpse as they were when they were alive.  This is most common in areas with many dead or undead where the Well of Death is closer, like boneyards or crypts.  This becomes even more likely when a caster uses a spell like Corpse Candle.


Mindless undead include animated skeletons such as skeletal legionaires, skeletal animals, skeletal warriors, crypt warriors, crypt captains, and others of the like.  Mindless undead also include creatures with more fleshy content, like Zombies, Red Zombies, Rain zombies, and Zombic Slaves of Terror.  They are by far the most common undead.


Cunning Undead
The Cunning Undead are creatures whose original soul either was tied to their own body for some reason or their soul was dragged back and imprisoned back in their own body.  Due to the preparation and incompleteness of the soul's rest, these creatures have a modicum of reasoning and passion, but often have incomplete or completely missing memories.  These creatures also have a great hatred for those fully alive, as there is a dim awareness of what they have lost.  Also, some of these are created and some happen without plan, and some can be both. Ghouls and Ghasts (and their greater counterparts), for example, are normally the unshriven or poorly blessed bodies of creatures whose souls are not sped properly on their way, yet a necromancer can warp an area so that the dead around it are more likely to rise.  These creatures normally have little memory or true intelligence, but are clever, quick, and hate the living.  

Emotional and angst has a place here.  A powerful person who meets their end with a large burden on thier soul can be tied to their body and rise as a wight or wraith, still with the urge to fulfill the conditions that were laid on their soul during their life.

Wights, wraiths, Spectres, Ghosts, and such are examples of greater, more powerful souls that stay with their corporeal forms, though the more powerful they are, the less of their bodies they actually need and keep.  Understand that these, too, can be 'accidental' or planned.  Though a powerful necromancer can draw back such a creature unwilling, sometimes a living creature with a great burden left undone can be tied by that urgency to the Waking Dream, and not all of these are malific.

Powerful necromancers and 'aware undead' can actually call back a soul that is still in the Well of Death. So while the Cunning Undead can occur naturally, they can be created as greater servants as well.  Greater Servants such as this can also override older orders of mindless undead, and will often be found with a group of mindless undead as their minions.  Often Cunning Undead that have been specifically created have some measure of their motivations and memories, and more wicked power to go along with this.



Aware Undead
Aware Undead are specially prepared before their death, specifically to lengthen and continue their time in the 'Waking Dream' past normal boundaries.  They keep their memories and power and in some cases their power is enhanced by their new conditions.  Mummies, Vampyres, and Liches are included here: creatures whose spirits are in their own keeping.  Due to this, they cannot ever cast more than 2/4 of their own spirit in magic, as this will weaken their hold on the Waking Dream and start their delayed trek to the Well of Death. However, many Vampyres and Liches continue gaining power after their death.  Four of the six most powerful casters in the 'Waking Dream' are undead, though two of those are imprisoned (the Dreadwing and the Brother).

Understand also that once the soul/spirit of a person has passed out of the Well of Death, nothing short of the Celestial Planar that is in possession of it can return it to the mortal sphere.  Raise Dead style spells can reach a soul before it finds the Well of Death, and Ressurection can reach the soul and pull it back from the Well, but nothing short of the grudging will of the Celestial Planar that owns that soul can bring it back once it has left the Well of Death."

Also, unlike some games, you can play a necromancer in GS pretty well.  we have a few of them running aound in different games   Llum played one for a bit.  Many of the spells are there to support a necromancer.

[LordVreeg]

One of the interesting things about how I like to work is that I do enoguh work to make a game or system or setting playable...then spend years and decades adding to it. I think I had about 20 spells when I first started with Guildschool, and maybe 30 skills. 
Skill list
here is the current version, 387 skills long. 
As with many things, this is partially the result of playing the setting and system for decades, and making both match each other and support each other logically.

[LordVreeg]

From Here


The cost of Magic...

The Celtrician world of magic has elements of common magic, at the lower levels, and rare, wondrous magic, at the higher ones. Due to the difficulty in getting to higher levels, and as most higher level spells need a caster to be fluent in more than one area, higher level spells are rare.

Magic being as versatile as it is in Celtricia, it is still difficult and VERY, VERY expensive to have spells put into a spell book.  This is one of the major barriers to Magic really spreading into the general populace, that the ability to put spells in a spellbook is a midlevel spell in itself, which means that only a small portion of spell casters (maybe.  Spell casters need to be bonded to a spellbook and spells need to be written into the bonded spellbook.  It is only through guild or church relationships that any of the working class are ever able to explore their possible attachment to the Void.  And these guilds and churches (the Collegium Arcana is the best example) use this as another means of keeping power.


The cost of spells is based on the amount of total spell points a spell takes to cast. The more spell points, the more complicated the spell, and the harder it is to cast or find. Also, teaching scrolls are used most of the time when a person 'purchases' a spell.  If the person needs to have the spell put into their book, the cost of a write magic spell is added on (normally an extra 450 Horn for someone unconnected, often discounted though).  This creates a sizable barrier to entry for gaining new spells, so casters in a group should learn the relatively inexpensive spell, Write Magic, Book.


Costing of Spells


Spells and the commerce of magic is a huge part of the economy of Celtricia.  Like any service or talent, people and organizations try to control it and make money on it.  And since the ability to scribe scolls or put them in spell books is held by 5% of the 10% of the population that can sense the voide...people make a lot of money on it.


•A Casting and Learning scroll costs 50 GP, plus 50 GP per spell point.•A Learning scroll costs 50 GP, plus 40 GP per spell point.
•A Casting Only scroll cost 25 GP, plus 20 GP per spell point.
•Having a caster writing the spell into a book...450GP


Note that these are mitigated by the following, on average.

Own school, in the same branch. *.75.

Own School *.85

Affiliated or allied school, *.9



Potions, since they can be used by anyone, cost between 90-150 GP per sp. Potions obviously cannot be be learned or anything, but they are created similarly by artificers, and have spell effects.  Some spell cultures, such as ancient Venolvia or current Argus, were very predisposed towards making potions.  Potions also often have very quick effects, and since the reagents are often added into the potion, most have minimal material components.


Selling any of these will be 25-40% of the total amount to purchase them.  So a spell that mjight cost 1000 horn to buy may sell for 250-400 horn.

[LordVreeg]

The Hill neighborhood is just east of the Collar, a long area built on a rise where many service business' are set up to take service the wealthier areas of Igbar (The Collar, the Uncicorn Vex, and the Greensward, most notably). Many Gnomes and Hobyts have low houses here, but the middle of the hill is built around the Potentiate of Iron, the Monastary of the Church of the Earth. North of the Iron Hill is the Open Markets, a semi-permanent meats and produce market with two dozen or more stalls. On Monak, there may be twice this many, and more on Lithe Days. Keen-eyed individuals will often see the buyers for the restaurants of Igbar here.



LandStreet, also known as the Street of Brokers, winds in a north-south path on the west edge of the Hill.  It is a wide way, paved in a light-grey unlike the darker paving of the rest of it.  This street is long, going north through the Brewers quarter, through the Lyambic park (the old Lyambic fairground with the old iron zoocages all empty) up to Bravotown.  On the Hill part of the street, it is made up of real estate brokerages (Suitors of Three, Potious Grey and Hallencoons are local companies of note, Hosecal is a Recum based company also well know). 



The North edge of the Hill looks down over the large Tentmeet district.  NorthHill, as it is called, is filled with three-story, abutting wooden boxhouses, apartment houses of various levels.  Towards the top of the hill it is a family area, the lower middle class, but the further down the hill one goes, the more tenement-like this area gets.  There is a small branch of Hostem's Cooking school that opened up on Grand Way, an east-west(ish) street near the edge of Tentmeet.  They do cooking school special nights every other hawaak, where the Tentmeeters clean out the gutters and rubbish bins well at night. 



The Stunabit is the name of the south and west part of the Hill, where many low houses are built into the edge of the rise.  'Vnreeriary', the Hobyt-Omish restaurant owned by the Vestra (a small trading guild specializing in food-Chernow's Libation is an investor).  Many Stunatu families make their home here (and where many malcontents of Pig the Red's pilferers also hide out) in this warren of low wooden houses, tunnels, and stone homes.     

[LordVreeg]

Guildschool Damage


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Part of the thrill of role-playing is the mortality of creatures.  To make a pen and ink game thrilling, the threat of losing a character is helpful.  Guildschool rules on combat and the Hitpoint levels are such that players often take a lot of damage.  So we don't want to place too many rule-impediments to gameplay here.  But there are a few.


Stunned
A creature is stunned when it takes more than 1/2 of it's maximum HP total in a single blow.  This always slows down whatever the creature was doing, normally tacking 2 onto any initiatives that are acitve.

In the advanced rules, this also requires a fortitude roll to avoid an extraordinary damage result.



Walking Wounded
Any creature, regardless of starting Hit Points, that is reduced to 2 HP, is considered walking wounded.  They suffer a -10% spell success, +10% to avoidance, and a -10% to any feats.

The alternate rule here is that any creature reduced to 15% of their total HP is 'walking wounded', with the same penalties as above.  This is a little more realistic, but takes a little more book keeping.

In the advanced rules, this also requires a roll on their Fort CC at -10% to avoid an extraordinary damage result.



Going Negative
When a player or character goes to zero, they are considered unconsious.  It is normally assumed that they will remain at 0 for 1 minute per Health point subtracted from 25., whereupon they awake with 1 HP, and possible suffer the "walking wounded' penalty.

When a player or character takes enough damage that they are below zero, they are considered unconsious and dying.   However, they can possible stabilize.  This is played as follows:  A charcter who is in the negatives must make a fortitude CC to regain 1 HP, and if they fail they go further into negatives by 1.  Once they rise to 0, they are unconsious, and the above rules begin.  A player makes one roll per 10 segments.  However, the further the character is below zero HP, the harder it is to recover.

There is a penalty on each roll, however.  The fortitude CC is reduced by 10% for every 10% the character is below 0.  So -20% for -2, -40% for -4, etc.

Obviously, there is a point where the negative penealty is higher than the CC%...this is where we consider an entity 'Dead', when this roll cannot be made.  So in Guildschool, a hardier character is actually harder to kill, not just in terms of more Hit points, but actually more able to recover from debilitating damage.

In the advanced ruleset[1], and time a creature goes to 0, they have to make a CC on Fort -20 to avoid an extraordinary damage result roll, amnd this amount is reduced by 10% for every point of negative HP a person is at after being hit.  In addition, in the advanced ruleset, when a character goes below zero, they must roll on the extraordinary effects table, and with a 10% penalty per negative hp amount.



• Example one--
•Penichuck the Omwo~ librarian has a ST of 8 and an HE of 8, and 4 HP.  His Fortitude CC is 28% (St+(HE*2)+ HP), so going below 0 for this guy is dangerous.  At -3, he's dead.


•Example two--
•Harman the Klaxik Knight of the White paladin has a ST of 15 and a HE of 17, and 25 HP.  His fortitude CC is 74%.  He can probably go below 0 and recover, and he is not considered dead until -8.


Nota bene that healing magics count for half if the recipient is in the negatives.   



Critical hits and extraordinary effects.
As per the combat page, any attack has a chance to not only hit, but to cause extraordinary damage.  The minimum chance to critical is 7% or half your actual chance to hit, which ever is lower.   This amount in increased with the critical hit skill,. as well.

A critical hit increases the amount of possible damage by reducing the dividing die.  After a roll that indicates a critical hit, the attacker rolls again.  If the second roll misses, there is no critical hit, and the attacker rolls damage normally.

If the second roll is another succesful hit, this reduces the dividing die by 1.  In addition, for every 25% under the needed amount to hit reduces the dividing die by another point.  So if Karl the Klaxik needs a 30% to hit, and he rolls an 06%, he has rolled a possible crit.  If he rolls 30%, or under, he criticals.  If he rolls a 5% or lower, (as it is 25% under the amount needed to hit), he has a -2 on the divider die.

Now, what happens if he rolled a 1 divider die?

In the case of a critical hit, a divider value of '0' equates to double damage instread of a divider, a -1 divider is triple damage, a -2 divider is x4 damage, and so on.

Obviously, in a high damage system such as this, giving a relatively high chance to critical as normal equates to a few critical hits per combat.  This reflects the lethality of combat in Celtricia, and is the way we want it.  Combat is bloody, messy, and dangerous.  the GuildSchool combat system tries to reflect this.



Extraordinary Effects Rolls
•Extraordinary effects are part of the advanced ruleset.  When a character takes a massive amount of damage or is reduced to a very low HP amount, they might have to make a cc to avoid this table, or in the case of going negative, they will end up here.  Note that the effects are only applied to the strike that brought on the roll or condition.


roll  Effect
01-10  25% of damage from strike needs to use healer with better than 1 per hawaak use
11-50 25% of strike needs time or advanced magic
51-80 50% of strike needs time or advanced magic
81-00 75%  strike needs time or advanced magic
100-up 100% of strike needs time or advanced magic

[LordVreeg]

SO, I am tackling the skill list, in that I have been adding in individual entries for each skill.
this is the basic skill page.
http://celtricia.pbworks.com/w/page/14956117/Skill%20Master%20spreadsheet

I think we have over 400 skills.  SO I'll be at this for a while.  But everyone has mentioned it.

Here was today's entry.
http://celtricia.pbworks.com/w/page/50988574/Acid%20ID%20skill
Any opinions of the template?

[Ghostman]

The multitude of skills in your system is enough to boggle the mind. All the more impressive that you're planning on writing entries for them all.

Anyway,there's an interesting choise of words here:

When a player or character takes enough damage that they are below zero,

I guess being a player in a Guildschool game could be quite scary  :wink:

[LordVreeg]

The multitude of skills in your system is enough to boggle the mind. All the more impressive that you're planning on writing entries for them all.

Anyway,there's an interesting choise of words here:

When a player or character takes enough damage that they are below zero,

I guess being a player in a Guildschool game could be quite scary  :wink:

LOL.
Yeah.  Subconsious slip.  I can only think of a few players that should apply to.

The funny thing is, I like this all or nothing.  IN my simpler games, I like that the lack of skills kind of allows people to say, 'Can I do this?'...while in Guildschool, skills are personality building blocks.  I encourage them to find the skill equiv of a watergun filled with lube when the square peg meets a round hole.

[LordVreeg]

ran Igbar last night....'
group started tying stuff together about the anginarian necromancy and the sheering family clan that I have been prepping for 5+ years....nice they finally got it...very satisfying

[LordVreeg]

The Neighborhoods and Wards keep growing, as does the underworld, of Igbar....

Excerpt heard late at night in Igbar...

The room is large and box shaped, and far too large to be lit only by a few thick white candles and a banked fireplace across the room.  The sparse light sources send crazy shadows racing across the thick, dark beams, some fifteen feet overhead.  'Upstairs at Bannetti's,' the room is called, and during the days it's fifty-one tables and all the places between them filled with people, talking over each other, sending messengers off with notes, and noisily making deals.


At 3rd hour of the new day, however, hours before the red dawn known as the Sui, the room is cold and the four seated inhabitants are masked by the lack of illumination, though they all know each other well.  None of them sit at a table with another, though they are close enough to hear the soft voices each employs. 

"My sources inform me that 'the Knife' has actually been operating here in Igbar for years, just under the window sill," says a small figure at a central table.  He's the only one at a table between the others, without his back to a wall, and his voice carries a clipped precision.  The flickering, insufficient light reveals a dark green, long satin robe, and greying hair.  The robe has muted piping and a black lining, bespeaking a level of quality beyond the reach of many in Igbar.


"They've probably been here for decades, Prime," intones the long, lean figure seated at the table behind the hobyt.  The golden-red light of the fireplace comes from behind him, outlining and disguising at once.  The silver and ivory lute that stands upright on the table in front of him speaks more to his identity than any visual representation, and his voice is perfectly modulated, every word hinting at a mastery of tone and timbre.


At a table farthest from the fireplace, a very tall figure stands up, his darker-than-dark cloak hiding the chain mail the others know lies beneath.  His Omwo~ face is artistically thin, with large, metallic violet eyes and upward swept eyebows; however, it is now warped in a snarl.  "Years!?," he says, spitting the words at the floor. "Decades!?"  His hand goes to his forehead and balls to a fist.  "How could none of us have seen this?  Have I been so busy focusing on the Blackstripes that it never occurred to me that there might be another major player hiding out?"


"Varkonovich, since they work under the auspices of a Vernidalian Sect," says the small first speaker to the angry Omwo~, "I think they might have been working more in the fashion of the Holders of the Straight Way...and for far longer than your more recent feud."


"I...Don't...Care..." intones the Omwo~ called Varkonovich, harshly biting off each word.  He looks over at the human in the grey hooded cassock who has not spoken.  "Palimar and I have interests that involve knowing everything that takes place in Igbar."  He shakes his head at the others, his gold and jet black straight hair reflecting the fire.  "Kasarack will have my head, thanks to these butcher-boys of the Green Mother, gentlemen."   








--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Underworld
A sad thing, it is, that there are those who consider it their trade and occupation to avoid the Laws of the UnicornState in their pursuit of Horn and Goodwife.  But it is a truism, and always has been.  Pirates infested the oldest incarnations of this settlement, rogue traders, Kidnappers and cuththroats.  Today's Igbar is much more formalized, with the various groupings of underworld figures holding turf, extorting, picking pockets, pimping and whoring, gambling and mugging.  While in the nicer neighborhoods, the Scarlet Pilums keep crime to a controlled minimum, in the Dockside or the Leper's Bastion, keep one hand on your purse at all times.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Fair Gertie took smile and mesh stockings,

To the Collar effusive and lush.

While inland, her port made a fair many dockings,

But the last captain, his boat was too much


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


The Eye of Igbar is the biggest underworld guild in town, and the closest thing to a universal presence.  The Assassin's guild of Heliopolis, the Blackstripes, are still in town, despite the drubbing they took during the failed coup of 3 years before. The aformentioned Eye, a rival guild from the north, was instrumental in the coup that brought Steward Julian to power.  The Bully boys have been around for decades near the docks, and Hornug's Game runs many of the gambling dens in the Leper's Bastion. 

Small, precise cults and guilds of death, such as the Holders of the Straight Way and the Karin Machination can be hired for exorbitant sums, and even the decrepit Collegium Tortoris has recently showed signs of life. These smaller groups work within and with the larger underworld operations.

All those and more being noted, the Eye and the Blackstripes are the largest, and are locked in a death-struggle.  And anyone who gets in the middle of this clash between these two guilds will end up the worse for it. 

Violence from the shadows is a feature of all cities, but is more apparent in this somewhat isolated city than in more civilized climes.  It worth noting again that violence is a daily feature in Igbar, that the wealthy employ bodyguards (often off-duty Scarlet Pilums), that murder and death are a very common event.  Whereas in Stenron or Hobyt Inn, violence is relegated to the night, in the corners, One never knows when blood might flow in Igbar.

And not just blood.  There are beggars, pickpockets, whores, smugglers, and a dozen other ways the followers of the grey path intrude daily.  Every house in Igbar is locked, every business, and most windows.  It is said that the safest job to have in Igbar is that of a locksmith.

Though many drugs flow into Igbar, some illicit, some barely tolerated, Krrf and Shrum are the most popular by far.  Shrum is the catch-all terminology for the different types of hallucinagenic muchrooms found and cultivated near the city of Shrum, in Hobyt Inn.  Brown ones are the least expensive, followed by red, green, blue, and the sought after white Shrum.  While they are frowned down upon and illegal in Igbar, a large percentage of the Hobyt and Omwo~ populations actually are users of these expensive mushrooms.  The Eye of Igbar has begun to monopolize the Shrum trade in Igbar over the last few years.  Krff is a narcotic powder that is normally ingested orally or smoked.  It makes the user feel as if they are 'stepping back and seeing through other eyes', but it also enhances necrtomatic sight.  The Padisha of Pilfering and the Blackstripes both peddle this rare and expensive drug.

The experience one might have with the underworld elements of Igbar really depends on which neighborhood one is in.  The Dockside, The Leper's Bastion, Tentmeet, and Southtown are areas where the underworld and the Scarlet Pilums and other governmental agencies clash nearly openly, and where one expects an accomodation is often made with the latter. Whereas in the Greensward or Collar, the criminal element is hidden, controlled, more spohisticated and hidden.   

[LordVreeg]

New elevator pitch for Celtricia, the one page teaser.

The Feel of living in Celtricia

Imagine living on a continent that was so big no one you had ever met knew the size of it, with huge open spaces between settements. Imagine struggling in an existence where civilized folks crowd together for safety, where tribes of humanoids range around the wildlands between cities, where ferocious predators stalk herds of giant herbivores, and where the night is often terrorized by walking dead searching out the unprotected living.  The space between settlements is huge, and except in the most civilized of climes, dangerous. 



At the same time, this is no feudal world. Temples heal the sick as often as not, and magic replaces the need for some technology, and this magic, while not overly powerful, is present enough to allow time for the philosophies and political awakenings of an advanced society.  And since only one in twenty can 'touch the void', as magic is called, this is a component in social class, though wealth as well as political and guild rank, create a web of social interaction. 

The religions of the world compete daily; and the sacredness and protection of a soul after death is of great importance.  Unshriven souls have trouble breaking the bonds of earth without help from the priests of the world, so undead and necromancy are all around the people of Celtricia...and everyone feels this, especially at night.

The last impression that Celtricia should give is the weight of ancient civilizations over everyone. The most indifferent farmer has heard legends from the past referenced while at temple, and has passed ruins or seen ancient buildings in a town, while scholars pour over the incomplete and patchwork written works of over eight thousand years of recorded history.



From a player's standpoint, the things that differentiate this game in terms of the setting is a system that focusses on skills, allowing for as much social gaming as combat.  Character's grow in many skills, and mainly in just the ones they use, so the creation and development of each character is different.

Players all belong to various guilds, churches, organizations, or all of the above, with the social web thus woven being a tremendous starting point, and the player is expected to move from there, building relationships and alliances.  Players who adventure do so as a means, not as an end.

Racial issues are real in Celtricia, as the tribal Ogrillite races such as the orcash have started to acculturate in some areas, yet not others.  The ancient races such as the fey Omwo~ have shrunk and also have faced acculturation, and the prominence of the state over the race has become reality.

[LordVreeg]

The Index has grown.

it does a good job of giving depth to the game and to give a central location where many terms can be found all together.  Want to find some fo the foodstuffas and materials specific to the setting?  This is where to look.

[LordVreeg]

The Dire Tones Bardic Consortium of Igbar...

See here .
this is how each guild/school looks.