Celtricia, World of Factions-Setting Information V2.0

[LordVreeg]

More from the Miston group players...
 Upon leaving the complex the group discovers another group nearby, looking for the underthrone. The are henchmen and friends of Ricici and his daughter is amongst them. Orris and Drono leave the group and set some false tracks leading to the south. Upon the return of Orris and Drono a day later, the group ventures back into the complex. They investigate a very cold room with a huge fireplace. They find a glyph inside the fireplace itself, in the back wall. When Morgan tried to remove it, the group ended up wrenched in space, being transported away. They once again found themselves in an unfamiliar place.

They find themselves in some kind of huge, stone audience room. The group searches the room thoroughly. They end up finding some secret doors in the room along with some obvious doors. Once they leave the audience room they move into wide, long corridors made of ancient stone, some of whcih have a 10' wide sewage channel in the mddle of them.  They encounter ancient,red-boned undead humanoids that are activated by their presence. They are wearing scale mail and carrying crossbows and scythes, and they move more swiftly and surely than any undead the group has seen before. Their helms have an 8 pointed star on them (more signs of the Entropic Overlords). As the group investigates further they see signs of sewage all over the place. They also encounter more of the undead creatures at intersections. Orris is killed during one of these encounters. The group discovers a pit that has four skeletal bodies on the bottom, untouched for literally hundreds of years. The bodies are carrying many valuable artifacts. The group splits these amongst themselves: Grak gets a ring that holds back the blows of enemies,, Xia get a bag of reduction,  Vintas gets a potion of ultimate healing, a great boon to a healer.  Tojo and Drono get armor, Tojo's light and Drono, the former peasant, is mailed in magical chain armor.  Amber gets the Saber of Hanoose, a guard of the great noble hobbit artificer, Telchar.  Morgan gets a marble statue of Hewecar.

The group finally investigates a door in the Audience Chamber that leads to a storage cellar.  They follow a huge stair almost seventy feet upawards, and find themselves in a cellar underneath a bar in the city of Stenron!! They are in the finest magicians bar in Stenron, Cabal. The group gets something to eat and rents rooms for the night. They meet with some people, Viandi and Surge, from a guild called the adventurers guild. They want to take us to meet Kassarak.  Kassarak tells them of a large force that is heading to Miston. Surge has offered to give us horses and supplies so we can catch up to the army. On the seventh day on the road to Miston the encounter the expeditionary force being besieged by about 800 gnolls and 30-40 giants.

The group joined in the fray and the battle swayed back and forth, each gain or small victory for a side bringing a resonse from the opposing force. Amber was able to wreak major havoc with a flaming sphere running around the battlefield, while Morgan's firebolts and Kafka's puissance in arms started to turn the tide. The group ended up killing 4 hill giants, 8 gnoll chiefs, and between 80-90 gnolls. This was a huge battle that stretched the whole afternoon.  But in the end, the occupation forces of the Giantclan SIlverworth were routed.

The party joins up with a mercenary force they fought with in the battle led by Chunk and his lieutenant Crunge. The group stops at a river to wash up before heading into town where there was a celebration of the liberation of Miston.

 

   Chunks group of mercenary forces decide to stay in town. Chunk and his first lieutenant want to stay and help in the creation of a Church of Inkmisa in the town. Leaders in the town vie for positions of a newly formed town council.

 

  The group spends some time in town attending to guild duties. Tumble and Amber are chartered to build a new building for the Collegium Arcana. They envision a conical tower with large amounts of fire pits and set to work planning it. Grak is elevated to the rank of Shard Gatherer First of the martial branch of the collegium. Angus and Xia are also recruited to work with Grak. Vintas is embroiled in a power struggle to gain leadership of the Church of Darkling and needs to gather wealth quickly. He tries to recruit members of the group to go back to the underthrone.

[LordVreeg]

added/changed above...
Raelifinated post
More on Miston Group
What is money Worth?
Religion post

[LordVreeg]

Gbye./  deleted and improved

[LordVreeg]

This is posted on the Wiki and the Celtricia site, but I wanted to open it up in caser I was unintentionally not sharing.

Casting in Celtricia
How does magic feel?
In the world of Celtricia, students who wish to use the void-borne sources of power are tested to make sure they have the aptitude to do so. About one tenth of the population has some affinity for some of the Void-Borne power sources. They are also tested to see if they have the mental strength to create their own resevoir of power, their own source of Spirit. Different power sources feel very differently to casters, and need different mind sets to access. Reaching the House of Earth takes a certain inner gravity, whereas feeling the Well of Death requires a mindset of decay. Becoming a conduit for Air means feeling endless space without boundaries, whereas mastering the hman oversoul requires an inner understanding of emotion and logic. Once the ability is gained, the person can always 'feel' the currents of power from that source. During rest, they recite the mantras of meditation, to strengthen the conduits between themselves and those power sources. When casting a spell, the caster uses their own personal power to activate the spell, and then pulls power from the conduits to the sources they have been taught to find to create the spell. Lesser spells normally use only a little personal power and possibly one source, so the caster must use their own personal strength to activate the spell, then increase the proper mindset to reach a power source and open up a conduit. Even beginning magics often need to be powered from more than one void-borne source, so casting a spell that requires Earth and Fire requires an effort of will to active the spell, then the caster must be of sufficient mental strength to create a mindset that allows both the solidity of the House of Earth and the wild passion that reaches the Well of Fire as well. So this is why more powerful spells that require multiple power sources are much more prone to failure. One-tenth of the population can reach some sort of magic, but less than one tenth of those will ever have the ability to cast more than the most simple of spells. To be able to force one's own energy into a spell, then create a mindset that allows a conduit to the House of Law, hold that in a caster's mind while creating every emotion in their minds to reach the collected subconsious of mentalism...that describes the process of a spell with only a few components. This is why it takes a very special person to be able to cast more difficult spells.

[LordVreeg]

Celtricia:Vors happy welcome
From theCBGWiki

 Vor's Happy Welcome-Ocodig's Strange Common Room
 The Common Room
 Upstairs and Upper-Class
 Cameleye
 
Vor's Happy Welcome-Ocodig's Strange Common Room.  A place where the online players unwind.


On the north edge of the Ocodig town common lies a green lawn, surrounded by 3' high vneersberry shrubs. There is a black metal, ornate gate over a bricked walkway. From the circular, well worn dirt oval that circumnavigates the town Common (often called the 'Oval'), sounds of laughter and music can be heard. These sounds belie the dark and imposing structural nature of the place, as behind the shrubbery looms an ominous, 4 level stone block building that overtops the wooden, low-slung farmhouses that populate the rest of the Oval. Everyone in town knows the Happy Welcome, and any newcomers who look for a publick house will be pointed to it.




 Vor's, a strange meeting place.This is an old stone castle, square and long, sitting on a patch of tended green lawn. Discerning eyes will immediately note the signs that the current owners idea of upkeep is barely to the level of superficial. While at night this is not noticable, in the daylight cornices can be seen to be chipped, some of the black-iron railings are bent, and the somewhat rusty hinges on the door creak in protest wehn the front door is opened. The Roof is slate, and very sharply pitched, and there are three fireplaces coming out the roof. At night, on the seven days out of the eight day week that it is open, Vor's has a lantern hung from the gap in the Vneersberry by the road, and 2 more lanterns hung near the entrance. Laughter and music waft out of the old place: it may not lok like a Bardic Tavern, but it certainly sounds like one.


Obviously, this was a place of some wealth and largesse at one point, but now the clamoring din that is heard on the Oval every night betray that is is currently a publick tavern. As most towns and cities turn to their bards for there entertainment, the sounds of music and singing also can often be heard. Though there are other places to eat, or even to gather over a mug, Vor's Happy Welcome garners the lion's share of attention, and almost every Teque Guild caravan or post rider stops by before retiring, to gain news, or share stories, or to go upstairs and hear the bards perform their verbal wizardry.

There are few windows on the bottom floor, and one large wooden door on the bottom levem, very darkly stained, with iron hinges. There is a light blue sign above the door, curving in an arch, that says in Westic, "The Happy Welcome", which is the official name of the establishment. It is often just called Vor's, which is actually the name of an former owner, or 'Vor's Happy Welcome'. Also normally in front of the door is a scarred gnome/orcash cross breed in a chain maille shirt and black overalls, wielding a bhuj axe. his left hand is missing two fingers, and there is little of politeness in this doorwarden. This is the well known Hegin 'half-hand' Torberg, with a gravel voice and a hardened leather strap on his left hand to deliver stinging blows to the less sensible in town. Hegin was drummed out of the Scarlet Pilums militia 6 years before, back in 889, for cruelty and graft. He behaves well here, and still has some friends in 'the Pilums', but a lot of enemies, as well. He is at the door Dunsak through Lawsak, and the place is normally closed on Fastak (see The Calendars). Hegin is easy with a small bribe, but otherwise will keep the lower level from getting too full. Hegin is considered competent in fighting, and has very high protection, but his toughness is the main attribute he brings to the job.




The Common Room
As one passes by Hegin into the place, the floor is all polished greyish slate, originally immaculate, though the beaten up tables in 3 long rows look pretty shabby in comparison. There is a staircase up to the second (musical) level to the right as one enters, but the rest of the main tavern is layed out in front of an entrant. This ground floor area is also called the Common Room. Thick, utilitarian wooden tables, made of some indeterminate dark wood and stained by countless boozy balance-lacking patrons, line the middle of the room, while dark, four foot high bars line the left and right walls. The ancient dark, stone fireplace with a gargoyle face leers from the far wall from the entrance, a huge opening pushing out heat in the winter months. The Huge fireplace has aand it's decorations bespeak an origin of a more gentle atmosphere, but the Common Room area is somehow very welcoming in a well-used sort of way.

 Sugar near the FireplaceMost nights, 'Sugar' works the right side bar, a human dirty-blond vixen in a wide belt she calls a skirt, and the patrons call a good excuse to hang out around her side of the room. She's a human with a pug nose, in her early twenties, somewhat beautiful but a discerning eye will scout a hard edge and a dirk hidden in her high heeled boots. Cute and tough and quick, she makes a mint at the right-side bar nightly. She's a lot of fun to talk to, but really plays up the physical aspect. She has a few boyfriends, but no one she lets get too close, and often on Monak Eve (payday for most of the working folk), she'll stop by the 'Temple of the Whole' and weasel a bargain price for 'Finger of Life' to be cast on her by the First of Kiminus, or by his son Peomir. So she makes her best impressions on the nights new folk come in with goodwives to spend. Not a big surprise that mainly human men hangf out on her side, though she has the pater down pat to flirt with nearly any race, gender, or size, as long as their purse is filled.

The left bar is held down by Feng Jester, an orcash jokester that builds regulars as easily as most people breathe. He's actually an apprentice at the Collegium Arcan during most days, but works at Vor's during the evening. Feng has a wide, open face, thick arms, and is very strong, but he also is quick to jest and has a very ready wit, and is actually doing quite well in his classes, a testimony to his keen insights. His orcash fangs do give him the traditional Orcash lisp. He wears a collection of silk tunics, and ther are normally a bizarre collections of malcontents and disturbed intellectuals swarm around this side of the bar. Leather, lace, eyes touched with krff and lit with baleful magic, all of this can be found on Feng's side of the 'Happy Welcome'. Feng's magicval studies have been heavily into the mentalist schools, and he has been known to cast 'Nonce'

 Feng's side in the eveningThe candles are lit from when the light first fades on , and though 'Sugar', his friendly rival, draws in the boys and the needy men, Feng owns 'the Freaks' and most travelers. Tussles and fistfights break out on Sugar's side more often, bringing Hegin 'half-hand' running, and a few of his boys, but while more civility reigns on Feng's side, when there is an altercation, it is normally ended by steel and blood.

Both bars in the Common Room have the same beers on tap, Omwo~ Ciis, the watery light ale from Silverwood (4 silver Children), Hopitup, the light alcohol Cherry Pilsner from the Grey March (1 silver Child), White Arrow, a half mead/red ale mix from western Grey March (14 Silver Children), and House of Hostem, an orange spiced pale ale made down in Igbar (9 silver Children). All the crockery in the Common Room is ceramic, normally light colored, and large, though with cunning convex bottoms to every cup.

The main Kitchen and employees room is also downstairs, and the kitchen has another fireplace nearly the same size as the Common Room's. Obviously once used to feed the household and the guards of the original owners, this room was enlarged by knocking down a wall, and adding a door to a storeroom/larder behind it.

Upstairs and Upper-Class
The stairs to the right of the entrance lead upstairs to the 'Entertainment Floor', and the landing leading up to this area always has another guard in a chain shirt and a scimitar. He's there to keep the riffraff out of the second floor. Here, men and women of all races mix to listen to Bretton Avedard, the noted songster of the Silver'd Note that slums in Ocodig, or the droll Klaxik Bard Juren Don Faden. On this level, plush chairs and sofas swim a carpet sea with warm colors all around. The walls are a dark wood pannelling, with a few pen and ink landscapes, which are of middling quality. The stair enters an area with a fireplace, but smaller than the one downstairs. There are large, dark beams about ten feet overhead, with 2 large chandeliers in the twenty by 40 foot room, with chandeliers lit with thich white candles enhanced with Lesser Magnification. To the left is a the stage, which is raised only a coupe of steps, creates an intimate feeling. Almost every night of the hwaak, bards perform there, mixing politics, satire and song. Here, Bards weave light magic and strong song, to impress those that pay attention and to invade the minds of those who do not.

 Upstairs at The Happy Welcome.There are rarely more than three dozen folk upstairs here, and two dozen is considered a busy night. There are normally nearly as many women as men. Lawsak and Dunsak are busy evenings, and the beverages are served in glassware. They serve the suprememly average 'Benshin Brown' Vneersberry wine for 2 goodwives a glass, Hobyt Inn Chias, the round red, for 4 goodwives a glass, and Peorni Chias, the spicy fire-wine for 6 goodwives a glass, and they have a specialty cabinet as well.

Cameleye
The current mastermind behind Vor's Happy Welcome is Cameleye,(Klaxik male rank 4, +1 rank social). He's a thick, wiry-haried Klaxik who bought Vor's 10 years ago, and who is over a century old, but sill hale.

[LordVreeg]

other recent additions to the wikis
(mainly just getting older notes transposed and fit in)
Igbar stuff---
[ic]The Steel Libram
History:  Built in 488 RON, the Steel Library originally came as a branch of the Library of the Orb. The first keeper was Aslow Ostombar. The second keeper was secretly from the Collegium Arcana, Og Antit Antioper, but the son of the first Keeper and a few of the younger members found him out and imprisoned him in the lowest level. This was Alim Vic Ostombar. He and his group took the name Seeker of the Unknown, and many books of knowledge of that time period bear that name. He died in 525RON.  It should be noted that the main building has 3 large levels, and the shallow brass dome on the roof holds a fourth.  The whole place is crammed with books and scrolls, though the rare and magical stuff is on the top two floors.  There are often a dozen or more people studying here, as this is the best collection of books ion Trabler.
 

The current Keeper is Pacae Letsos, a Klaxik Sage. He feels beleagured on all sides. His school currently has 24 members, with a healthy 13 being students. His head of scrolls is Vesaart ol Emptos, a gnomic sage.

 

The teach Mentalist and Artificer well, and have some passing ability in Order magic as well as chaos magic. They teach the scholar skill set better than any in Igbar.  Their members are normallly titleds 'Lettermen', or 'Scriven Letterman'.

 
 
Current leader: Pacae Letsos[/ic]

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The Unicorn State
 

 

          Trabler Aptor, former Trader-Prime for the Winfire Trading Group, waited until the Empire of Argus was very busy dealing with their southern borders, and then executed a nearly bloodless coup to install the Unicorn State. From a less-proximate view, this was also an example of the the Merchant guilds exerting infulence over the older families and the traditional power bases. So you would be correct in saying that many older families, especially the Omwo~ Farnnessen clans (the typical Omwo~ lifespan is normally from 200-300 years) and the Sheering family. That being said, all the wealthy older families have invested heavily in the Merchant guilds, and in some case, were founding members. Celtricia, the messy place where nothing is every black and white. The Blurred lands. we could call it.


The unicorn is one of those things none of my PC's have bothered to check out, but that there is a story behind. Trabler Aptor's family crest had a unicorn added to it by his father, Desrin Aptor. Desrin was a Knight of the Order of Stenron and a Blue Turtle Samurai of the Wallington Riders. He fought for the Northern Argussian Marches, but in the Gastax camapign of 831 he and his all fell in battle. He had been left for dead, but his unconsious body had been brought back to the NAM camp on the back of a huge unicorn, and the Aptor's took the sigil of the Unicorn as their own. Desrin left the NAM army then and went into the business of protecting ships.[/ic]

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Harou Culture in Igbar
 

To the Far East of the Cradle Area lie the lands of Gwynnell, and to the east and South the lands of Om.  These lands live by variations of honor and lifestyle called the 'Harou'.  In the 500's, many southern humans (from Clan Wastri and some Clan Kalil) as well as Klaxiks and gnomics from Om to the South came to settle in Igbar, and this was buttressed by in influx from Gwynell to the east in 805 RON when the disgraced Halom clan moved in to the town.  Most of the Harou live in the south east section of Igbar

 

History
The harou culture came out of the code of honor and hospitality (this code is called 'The Harou') developed between the Omwo~ of the Aspen forest and the Wastrian humans who ended up there.  The two groups trusted little of each other, and developed a codified behavior that became the Harou way.

 

Philospophy of Harou
The harou are very devoted to the gods, but go to worship only on Fastak.  They will have many small shrines in their homes, called Hegres.  They burn a variety of insenses to the specific deities, based on what they wish to get from them or how they wish to honor them.  One from the Harou culture is is especially invested in this (A priest, a penitent, or a holy warrior) will often wear a small ceramic plaque of that diety hung on a tight chain.

The Harou way is quiet and reserved, with honor held sacred.  Hospitality and honor are tied together, and deadly enemies will sup together in private, knowing that if one were to come to harm, great shame would come to the other.   Being loud and overzealous is not done in public.

The resurgence of the God of hospitality, Woerter, has much to do with the leaking of the Harou culture into the cradle area of Celtricia.

 

The Practice of Harou
Drinking tea and tea service, the dance-stories, the zealous over-protection of the inebriated, and duels of honor are paractices seen in the Harou culture.

Daily worship of the household hegres can be seen in any Harou home,and they often travel with a portable hegre as well, often of Oblimet, the Devilkin lord of journeys.[/ic]
[note=Harou]
Clan Wastri is one of the three original clans of the Human people, in legend named by the god Amerer the Grey.  They spread west back in the Age of Heroes, and created a very unique culture.    [/note]
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Gender roles/family life in Igbar
Women take care of most of the child-rearing in Igbar (except in some cases in omwo~ families and the teenage Orcash), but many still work.  It is the custom of grandparents and churches to help watch infants, and for children or walking age and upwards to travel with their mothers everywhere, though the wealthy families have many variations on this.  Farming families in Igtiche will often have father in the field right after 'Red Dawn', but mother and the children will be out with him a few hours later, after the home is taken care of.  Similar patterns are seen in Igbar's merchant shops, where two or three generations, from young child to grandmother, may be found helping in the family business.[/ic]

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The Herb Lands
 

History
The Astrikon Traders created a collection of city states just north of the Argussian Empire, connecting that civilization to the Arcanic Table of the Orbians, the Theocracy of Nebler and the Omwo~ of the Silverwood some 800 years ago.

At the height of their powers, the EarthWardens of Astrikon, worshippers of Madrak, Ceminiar and Vernidale, created the Great Ritual, with six hundred and sixty six Druids participating in the ceremony.  They were trying to create a small area where all climes and geological temperaments could be fine.  They did this at the southern tip of the Greenwald (later, the Astrikon Forest), some two hundred years later.

However, Six of the participants of the spell were actually acting under orders of the Entropic Overlords, the Chaotic Church of Free Demonism.  And the chaos that bled into the earth magic created an instability that allowed the Dark Angels of the eighth Station, the demons, entrance...

 

the Astrikon Traders are no more.  The dark and wild Herb Lands still maintain almost every climate known in Celtricia, but it is home to creatures foul and powerful.  Only the bravest enter and come back with tales, of the BoneOrc tribe that makes the HerbLands home, of the six foot long scorpions and Diabolic Apes that prey on every wanderer.  Some also come back changed, gibbering about darker things, perversions of life that damage the minds and sould merely if eyes are set on them.
 

Information
The  old rumors of falling asleep next to the hills in the Herb Lands and waking up next to the desert area are actually true.  The Herblands are actually set up on 5 hexagonal 'plates' surrounding a lake, and they are enchanted to actually rotate every evening, though with an incredibly powerful Entropic glamour that does not allow any who are their to notice, even if they stay awake all night.  Each hexagonal plate is about one and a quarter miles across, and is built with 5 'microclimates' on it.


There is a long, flat boat, 60'x200' long in the middle of the lake, with a large white sail.  this can be seen from all the shores, and has been reported on for hunderds of years.

The lake is 1.256 miles across, and the water is actually mildly curative, healing 0-1 Hp if drunk, no more than once per day.

The ancient magic of the Astrikons has not waned one bit.  Every plant that grows here is ultra-healthy, and every rare herb or reagent from any climate can be found here, and in it's most perfect, most potent format.  Merrig, for example, heals 1-3 if found growing wild here, instead of the still-rare version found in the outside world that heals 0-1.

 

However, every baneful creature, every malignant stalker and wicked carnivore, can be found dwelling and competing here, all infected with an entropic energy.

 

Igbar's Church of the Green Mother has recently dispatched the Cobranic warriors to block any without the Green Mother's writ from entering.  Since the Herb lands are such a large economic puzzle-piece for Trabler, this is causing huge strain in the Upper and Lower house of the Unicorn in Igbar.
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Timekeeping, expanded
Igbar generally uses the Westic Common Calendar (The Calendars), though some of the Harou sections in the south east section of town use the Wastrian 12 month variation.  The Westic Common Calendar has 6 months, called the Goesi of 60 days, with a leap day in between each month.  The Goesi are Dumotux, Tokush, Tanos, Gosun, Hisio and Dumuktos.  The Hawaak (eight day week) is used here as it is everwhere.  The Waak (days) are Dunsak, Bowak, Vindak, Scaliak, Harvak, Monak, Lawsak, and Fastak.

As Celtricia has twin suns (Gerin and Tribin), the 22 hour day has three different phases.  The Night, the Day, and the Sue (Siu, White Omwo~).  The Sue is the red period in the beginning of the day when the weaker, reddish Gerin is the only light, the 'Red Dawn'.  After 58 minutes, the brighter and more yellow Tribin starts shining, giving the day a more normal cast.  As the binary suns spin around each other very quickly as Celtricia spins, the end of the day, dusk, is spent with 58 minutes without Tribin again.

The shortest day in Igbar's lattitude is 9 full hours, with 7 hours of full light, and 12 hours of darkness.  The longest day is 12 hours of light, with 10 hours of full light, and 9 hours of darkness.
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Krrf
Krrf is a powder made Primarily in Gwynell and the Oms.  It is a strong narcotic, producing a feeling of lessening the ties of the flesh, a deadening of input, and a languor.  As with most Narcotics, there is an effect of tolerances, and greater dosages needed to create the desired effect.  Stronger Krrf (the Black) is very dangerous to those not used to it's effects.  Krrf also increases the personal connection to the Well of Death, so that those affected often claim to see or hear the spirits that have resisted the flight to the Well of Death or those sent back by Retivulus or Orcus the Shepherd of the Dead.

It is normally inhaled or smoked, though it can be put into food as well (and is often in Orbi's , Gorntars, and Om's celebrations of Retivulous and Orcus).  There are as many smoking methods as one can imagine, though I will mention the 'Cathartic school of the Circle of Fire' as particularly spectacular.
 
Krrf comes in 3 varieties, Yellow, white and Black.  A normal use is an ounce at a time.
 

All of them seriously affect the behavior of the user, reducing pain, but also reducing reaction times.

White Krrf adds +1-3 Necromantic spell points to a user.

Black Krf adds +1-4 Necromantic spell points as well as giving the effect of a Corpse Candle, basically making the user an attractor of spirits.
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[ic]
The Armor of Trade, Knights of the Scales
Mission: To protect the balance of trade and justice
 
Size: 21
History: The Platform of Trade is the name for the Church of the TradeGod Ogleic, He of the fair deal and of the balance. The Platform of Trade is three quarters Church and a quarter moneylender, a strange aglomeration of worship, prayers, homliy, and sweet dealings.
The Armor of Trade began as caravan guards for the church-sponsored wain-rides that drove from Stenron down to the Argussian Empire, stopping in the Bright Lands, Orbi, aand in the Theocracy of Nebler in between. As these guards became more of a formalized part of the mercantile events, Joran Parle, human ex-knight of the Crying Sun rose to the top of the guards. That was back in 798 R.O.N., and he established the Armor of Trade as the name of the guards of the Church of Trade.

Over the next decades, the guards moved slowly to being more of a Knighthood, but in 841, Gerod Kax Colishaw, Klaxik priest of Ogleic, went from the priesthood into the guards, but with the express idea of making them more like some of more pious knighthoods, Like the Tristonian Brotherhood of the Neblerians. So it came to pass that the Armor of Trade training included philosophy and Restoration, economics and Necromancy, social grace and the nature of Order.

Today's Armor of Trade wear the grey tabard emblazoned with the gold scales proudly, embodying the values of fairness, prosperity, cooperation, and getting what you deserve.

'Chell, Amigal', is the battlecry and all around aoth-word for the knights.  It is Klaxik, meaning "The Scales, my Friends!"
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The place of religion in Igbar, expanded
This is just the tip of the religious iceberg in Igbar.  Religion permeates Celtrician life.  A common greeting is "A Dou~his Ponder Hawaaka?", which tranlates to "Which god's house do you think today?".  This phrase is the equivalent of asking how a person's life is going, or even how they are feeling.  An average Igbarian probably visits a temple (Dou~his) every other day, or two out of three days.  

Someone down on their luck might visit the Dou~his of lucky Ishma, someone depressed might visit Jubilex, the Patron of Irony, and farmers who are planig might visit the Church of the Geen Mother or the Church of the Earth. Stopping by a church or shrine is also a very social event, and carries connotations uniquely Celrician.  Almost everyone is greeted by name, or in the case of travelers with the term "Kerma, Amigal!" (Debased Klaxik for 'Most Welcome, Friend').  Churches always have hot tea in the winters or chilled 'Kerri' (chilled, sweetened, and watered down Vneersberry wine) by the front door, and after respects are made to the icons, there are always sitting areas where elders gather and mothers and youngsters stop by.  
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[ic]
Dockside Area of Igbar
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The Dockside area of Igbar contains some of the earlier buildings in the city.  This area is totally unflagged, and  during any inclement weather, becomes muddy.  The streets are an unplanned warren.  And when the suns gets hot and high, the streets get dusty.  The wagoners and teamsters are down to the docks every day, and they hate every minute of it.

The Town Dock/Seaward Road
Igbar's dockside area has a few major hubs of activity, but the Igbar Town Dock, first built By the Gerulum Family, is one of the busiest areas in the whole town.  The Gerulum's started construction on a Greystone dock back in in 491 RON.   By 494, the original Town dock was in place, and so the independent fishermen and merchants had an inexpensive portage.  In 660 RON, The Town dock was re-shored and enlarged to make it the largest cock in the city port.  Warehouses started to move closer at that point, and the Seaward Road was altered slightly to go almost directly east/west, to go right down to the town Dock.

One block from the Town Dock is the interesection of Mungery Way.  That intersection is where The Grounds of Dismissal is located, as well as the restaurant 'After Dismissal', so wealthy folk come down the Seaward road every day.
[/ic]

[ic]
Slight change in gate times
The Gates are open from Ma'Sue to Ta'Sue, or Sunup to Sundown.  This is counted from when Gerin, the first sun rises and sets, not the full daylight, which is almost two hours shorter..  The Scarlet Pilums judge this from the bronze dome of the Steel Libram, and most others people in town do as well, though there are 3 artificed public clocks in town as well.   After Dark, there are bells outside each gate, but only those with official paperwork or who are known to the Scarlet Pilums on duty will be let in.  Most knights and bards from Igbar are known and have paperwork...[/ic]

[LordVreeg]

Expansion on the Shadowy Collegium Tortoris.

[ic=Collegium Tortoris-origins]
The Collegium Tortoris


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 The Collegium Tortoris has been a hidden mystery of Celtricia, barely even known in the Libraries and sage-schools. The Guild of Torturers and Executioners started around 188 Reckoning of Nebler, in Winterloo (Later to become Stenron). The original Masters of Pain were Ger Torquas Heteritr and Celiois Hemedia.  They presented a front of diplomatic talents and as bodyguards, they they alos let it be known that they were versed in information recovery.  They were also, unknown to all, in possesion of the Magic of the Shade, a void-borne source of power undiscovered since the Age of Legends.  They stayed small at first, but were used in the North-west in many courts within a few years.

In 221 RON Winterloo had a backlash, and invaded their fortress on the Corpusmount, on the edge of the Necropolis. By 225 RON, Venolisia, the sole surviving Master of Pain gathered a few suporters, and left in secret to the eaves of the Miston wood, between the evolving State of Winter and the new coastal settlements of the expanding Venolvian empire. He imparted the ramparts with the power of Shade, so the fortress was not seen unless looked for. Being a full Hawaak's ride from the edge of the State of Winter, it was well secluded.

Over the next century, the trade road grew up to pass the Collegium, and a small community of inns and settlemets grew ther, which would become Miston. Due to the magic of Shade, only a few leaders were even aware of the Collegium existing on the edge of their growing forest settlement. At this same time, enough old patrons had been contacted so that many nobles had started to hire one of the masked, felt-cloaked Torturers for their court, as they were trained in diplomacy and strategy, as well as Poisons and the Arts of Truth and Pain.

 

However, as legends grew about the cloaked Shardreapers, as their outside agents were called, it became hard to maintain a veil of secrecy.

In 412 RON, Teffud Kartig IV, the Kartig Host Lord of the Northern Ambrell Court, whose Klaxik clan had employed Torturers for 3 court-generations, suffered a grave assassination attempt. The 3 assasins had gotten within the inner court, and thus had few and mainly ceremonial guards to deal with. They threw off their peaceful disguises, robes from Om, and with black-smeared scimitars dispatched the wide-eyed Ambrell Axemen, whirling to the Seat and Dias, and an axe flashed down onto the unarmored, upraised arm of Teffus Kartig II.    The Lord of the Northern Ambrell Court saw his life pass before his eyes as the blade descended.

Said poisoned blade stopped noisily mere inches from that Noble by a thick, three foot rune-carved sword, spinning from under a black-felt robe, mere feet away. None had even seen the Torturer, Hiram, Steward of Pain and Shardreaper, standing feet away, in his Black cloak and mask. "Now you will know Pain.", came ther muffled voice from behind the mask.

The Assassins sent to kill the Host Lord were Masters of their Guilds, and recovered from their mistake quickly. They spun away, then leapt like sinewy snakes back into battle, turning and darting, working a triangle around the long cloak and mask that almost floated in front of them. Swords and daggers flashed, blades met and clashed. The Kartig Host Lord's deep voice roared for aid over the dim, as said lord, unarmed, had to stand back as his single defender discharged well his commision.

In less than a moment, it was over. Hiram bled from both arms where he had been sliced by the envenomed blades, but two of the Master assasins had been chopped expertly by the wide-bladed executioners weapon. The last Asassin gulped in air, as he had also been slightly injured.

"Feel your blood boil, fool. Feel the heat that will burn your blood away in seconds", he hissed through clenched teeth. "Black Sugar is in your blood, we took no chances." Teffud Kartig IV gasped from behind Hiram at the name of the very rare poison made from Black Dragon Acid.

Hiram looked down and as he put weight forward, he said, "I dined on your child's toy nightly by my 10th year, amateur."

Then Hiram buried the thick blade in the Master Assassin's chest, as fast as thought.


Well, you can imagine, once that story was spread, every High Warlock, every noble, every high priest, wanted a toturerer. For the next two centuries, every Assassin guild's worst enemy became the court torturer. Advisor, bodyguard, and extractor of Truth, all in one.


Yet suddenly, in 640, jsut as they were reaching a peak of influence, almost all the court toturers were called back to the Ramparts of the Executioner. The chapter Houses shut their doors, and no messenger could even find them to deliver messages.


Now, centuries later, Venolisi, Master of Pain, has once again sent a torturer out into the world. The invasion of the Giants into Miston has convinced him to unlimber the Bridge of Shade, and quietly, to no fanfare, The Guild of Torturer and Execution has rejoined the world.  The outer branches left to their own devices have been called, and a ShardReaper has been let loose on the unsuspecting world again.
[/ic]

[LordVreeg]

[ic=The Zyjmanese]
The Zyjmanese People
 

History of this Tribe
(and of the Orcash known as Zyjman)


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


Tribes of humanoids go back to the creation of the Ogrillite peoples back in the beginning of the Age of Heroes.   Though they have always threatened the security of the acculterated areas, very few have made any serious mark.

 

However, back in 163 R.O.N., up in the north-east corner of the Grey March, an Orcash named Zyjman (rhymes with Simon) took control of the Bone-ditty humanoids, a truly barbarous crew that rarely got out of their own way, and was more a threat to themselves than any Marcher villages. Zyjman quickly found a young gartier (Bugbear) named Chiller to help him knock heads and plan.

There are some good stories that go with this, but by early 166 R.O.N., Zyjman and Chiller had grabbed a few more loser tribes and welded them into something slightly more dangerous, and certainly.

The real brilliance came when Chiller and Zyjman realized that the Red Pass, a thin strip of mountainous land that connected the North-East of the Grey March with Albinia, the Theocracy of the Gorntar and Shallball, could be controlled by a determined group of defenders.

So Zyjman took the Red Pass that year. A group of Tribal Humanoids took a well-defended pass, which normally does not happen. Better than that, they actually held it. And held it. They started to build onto the old Marcher forts, and began to develop something of a civilization there.


You can imagine that other tribal entities started connecting with the Zyjmanese and emulating them. By the third century of the Common Age (the other name of the Reckoning of Nebler), there were thousands of Orcs, Ogrillons, Ogres, Gartier, Kobolds, and a few lesser giants living in the Zyjmanese strongholds in the Red Pass.

There were 3 major 'reprisal' crusades against them, but as of 895 R.O.N., they have yet to be dislodged.

And Zyjman's children and ancestors would take his name, if they were coming into power. Zyjman VI led a migration into the Oizi vale, where the top of the Tarn Bay meets the borders of The Bright Lands and Orbi.

In 685, A small band of Orcash Warriors, led by Zyman XII, moved into the Astrikon Forest. He and Krellow Had Zyjman, a Gartier priest of The Swift Passage (Orcus) set up shop in an old Astrikon Temple of the Balance (Amerer, Madrak, Pablar, and Ceminiar). They cleaned house, made it defensible, and began the tribal job of making themselves into a bunch of Terrors for the locals.

 

Current Time


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

With the war to the south still going on (in it's sixth year), and with the eastern border of Trabler now being held by Argus as well, the Scarlet Pilums militias have been thinned dramatically, and predictably, the Zyjmanese and other humanoid tribes have had a good time of it. Igtiche's outlying farms are more heavily defended, and Igtiche's religeous knighthoods are welcome by the trading families and the farmer, no matter what stripe they are from.

Zyjman's tribe has actually are loosely allied with the Bone Tribe that actually lives in the Herb Lands, and with the Firehazer tribes of the Wibble Hills. Zyjman XIV is leading them know, but there is a crossbreed Orcash/Hobyt Alchemist renegade of the Collegium Arcana and the formidable priesthood of the Swift Passage (Orcus) at the Mother temple in the woods. SLightly to the South of the forest, and North of the Earthwood is the old plateau-town of Kerusad, a old trading fort of the Astrickon Traders, now an armed camp of the Zyjmanese. And Koplow, an Orc Chief (Zyjman XIV's third son) has taken control of Kerumbal's old hermitage, where he and his forces keep an eye on Igtiche, and raid occasional caravans.
[/ic]

[LordVreeg]

even more updates on the strange faction-filled world of Celtricia...this one for Nomadic, since his new character is primarily from this faction.
(The Uncensored Realms will have to wait).
PLease note that this etry is specific to the Ocodig Branch.

[ic=The Scarlet Pilums of Ocodig]
Guildschool Faction:
 
Area:Ocodig
Name: Scarlet Pilums, Ocodig
Affiliation with Larger: The Scarlet Pilums are an old mercanary band that now has the contract to be the militia of every town or city of Trabler.  The spear-captain of the town is a high ranking member of the Pilums.
 
Membership style: Mercenary contract-cum-military.  Most members are on full, active duty.  Members can be in inactive duty, which are still expected to come to full duty if needed, or those parolled out.
 
% of starting membership: 47% Attrib bonus: ST (12/1) HE (13/2)
Mission: Currently to fulfill their decade contract with Trabler.  Long term, to grow their mercenary brotherhood.
 
Size:  32 (~1300)
History: The Scarlet Pilums were one of the Itinerant Mercenary Brotherhoods, many of which still ply their trade in the Cradle area and the South.  Back in 880, right after the Plague Troubles of the late 70's, The town militia of of the Capital of Trabler went on strike.  Rather than giving them anything, the Horn King, Trabler Aptor, a former merchant prince used to the art of bluff and bargain, hired outright a small mercenary brotherhood from the Grey March with a good reputation, the Scarlet Pilums.  Sen Tom Klaxik, A Black Klaxik from the north was the Spear Captain of the Band.
(there are still some families with connections with the old town militia that was part of the military that bear the Pilums lingering ill-will due to this, especially the Omwo~ Yani family of Igbar and Walker's Glory)
They signed a decade long contract, one of the longest in the Pilum's 60 year history, but the recruiting clause allowed by the Horn King was especially liberal.
Horn King Aptor was especially pleased with his arrangement, and slowly placed contingents of the Pilums in all the settlements of Trabler, creating a military presence in every town loyal to his new reign.   As this went on, the 80-odd members of the small Mercenary brotherhood that had been hired transformed into over 500 by 890.
When the Argussian Blue-White alliance moved in force on the Theocracy of Nebler in 889, the Scarlet Pilums' devotion to the militia job allowed the military of Trabler to concentrate on the defence of the country.
Though there was some friction generated by some of the old families and some of the town military garrisons, the contract was renewed for another decade in 890.   The Pilums number  about 1300 now, and are under the jurisdiction of the Horn Commander of the Army of Trabler, Ven Til Allbright.  Sen Tom Klaxik Carries the title Spear-Commander now.
 
 
Current leader: Spear Captain Sen Towart
Current situation: Slightly beleagured by the outbreak of the roaming undead form the south, the recent incursions of the Blackstripes, the Pilums have becoe slightly more martial in Ocodig.
[/ic]

[LordVreeg]

from the wiki


[ic=Magic]

Behind the Curtain
Magic is a cornerstone of a fantasy world. Our nearly universal and eternal fascination with magic is part of the 'What If' that makes people play FRP games. Or, to put in other words, Magic is (for the most part) what makes it a Fantasy role playing game, and not merely an exercise in acting. The way magic works and feels and is used and has changed in Celtricia is completely idiosynchratic to the setting, as well as being completely central to it. History, real or imagined, is a series of events that are created by ealier events and which in turn influence later ones. Many intellectual, creative and philosophical movements are the reult of earlier events. Celtricia's early history was often one of survival, of very small settlements doting a huge and wild world, where magic was in the hands of a tiny percentage of the population and the rest served them. It has been the last thre thousand years where magic has become ore formalized, and has allowed the acculturated world some measure of security. As this spread, magic and the creation of spells became geared to solve the problems of the day. The progress of magic is the story of the advance of civilization in Celricia, in the place of technology. It is in the subtleties of the daily existence where it helps with survival and labor. The Marcher breed of cows produce 8 gallons of milk a day, Tempersails use the power of the the House of Air that is No Longer to attract mindless elementals to aid their ships, Evercoal is charged with the power of the House of Fire that is No Longer to burn longer and hotter to allow the Cold North of Celtricia to be populated.

How does magic feel?
In the world of Celtricia, students who wish to use the void-borne sources of power are tested to make sure they have the aptitude to do so. About one tenth of the population has some affinity for some of the Void-Borne power sources. They are also tested to see if they have the mental strength to create their own resevoir of power, their own source of Spirit. Different power sources feel very differently to casters, and need different mind sets to access. Reaching the House of Earth takes a certain inner gravity, whereas feeling the Well of Death requires a mindset of decay. Becoming a conduit for Air means feeling endless space without boundaries, whereas mastering the human oversoul requires an inner understanding of emotion and logic. Once the ability is gained, the person can always 'feel' the currents of power from that source. During rest, they recite the mantras of meditation, to strengthen the conduits between themselves and those power sources. When casting a spell, the caster uses their own personal power to activate the spell, and then pulls power from the conduits to the sources they have been taught to find to create the spell. Lesser spells normally use only a little personal power and possibly one source, so the caster must use their own personal strength to activate the spell, then increase the proper mindset to reach a power source and open up a conduit. Even beginning magics often need to be powered from more than one void-borne source, so casting a spell that requires Earth and Fire requires an effort of will to active the spell, then the caster must be of sufficient mental strength to create a mindset that allows both the solidity of the House of Earth and the wild passion that reaches the Well of Fire as well. So this is why more powerful spells that require multiple power sources are much more prone to failure. One-tenth of the population can reach some sort of magic, but less than one tenth of those will ever have the ability to cast more than the most simple of spells. To be able to force one's own energy into a spell, then create a mindset that allows a conduit to the House of Law, hold that in a caster's mind while creating every emotion in their minds to reach the collected subconsious of mentalism...that describes the process of a spell with only a few components. This is why it takes a very special person to be able to cast more difficult spells.

How Does Magic Work
The history of magic, or the Void-Borne powers, as they are often called (Wuo~ in the White Omwo~ language of the ancients, Woo to many practictioners of the current Celtrician world) is long and varied. In the depths of time, only the Omwo~, the first servants were taught any of it's secrets. They were wild practitioners, using only the internal power of their great and powerful spirits to produce effects. But some of the Planars whispered the secrets of this to the Sauroids and the orcash, so Ceminiar taught the Omwo~ how to channell the power of the House of Earth. Verkonen Vreeg was kicked out of the White City for teaching this to the humans of Clan Teleman. Over the next six centuries, the various voide-Borne power sources were given as gifts and promises to the peoples of the Waking Dream, and the magic slowly trickled inexorably into the lives of all who lived on the world, proof of their worship and worth. Today, most magic is a combination, with casters using their own inner spirit to trigger the spell and then using their developed conduits to the Void-Borne sources. The inner Spirit can be used to power any spell effect, but it is much more draining to use Spirit in the place of the proper power source.

Common Tools
Though artificers create many tools, the bulk of these are simple tools for those who cannot cast magic. Lesser potions of cantrip effect, ropes which knot until released, coals which stay hot for days, locks are almost inmpossible to unlock without the key, garments that heat the wearer, and plows that cut through the earth. Items that affect daily life, perhaps in minor ways, but still profoundly. These items will normally cost 20-50 times as much as an average quality version that is unenchanted, so they are still somewhat rare. Casting aids are also carried by many practitioners. Creating a Staff Ordinaire that will slightly reduce the amount of personal spirit needed to trigger a spell will normally cost about about a thousand Gold Horn in Igbar, plus whatever the material costs. Items that can increase the conduit to a void-borne source are many times rarer. The Arcanic Table of Orbi had legendary torques that reduced slightly the load of personal spirit and every void-borne power source.
[/ic]

[LordVreeg]

[ic=The Well of Death]
Undeath, the Binding of Spirits
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"On the blessed House of Life, the Well of Life is the fount of '˜All-that-is-to-Come', at once the one source of the spark of the health of those that live and at the same time the gateway for all that is yet to come.  The inscrutable plans of the Celestial Planars, the destiny and life-force of their servants-to-be, all are sourced through the Well of Life before they are transported to their yet unborn vessels in the '˜Waking Dream' that is the living world.

And just as needed in this grand cycle, the Grey and stately House of Death, where Orcus of the Passage helps guard the Well of Death.  All Spirits that depart the '˜Waking Dream' make their way through the Void to the Well of Death on the red and grey plain of Zevashopal.  There they wait for their makers and any others of the Planars that might lay claim to them, for them to cycle back to the unformed stuff that they were before the spirit's trip began.

And at times, the Plains of Zevashopal are ringed by combatants for the possession of a soul that more than one of the Great Planars wish to lay claim to."
-From the Well of Souls, the Book of the Church of Orcus, the Opener of the Way.[/font]

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.
 
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 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.

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.


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.  

Emotiona 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.  


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 are specially prepared 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.


Understand also that once the soul/spirit of a person has passed out of the Well of Death, nothing short of the Celestial Plnanr 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.
[/ic]

[LordVreeg]

The Reckoning of Nebler
Counting the Years.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The proper term to the most common way to count years in the cradle area of Celtricia is the Reckoning of the Founding of the Theocracy of Nebler.  This is by far the most common yearly system used.

The current year is 895 in this calendar.  The areas that use it primarily include the countries of Orbi, the Bright Lands, the Grey March, Sembina, the Oaklight and Lapern.


The year 895 RON (in the Reckoning of Nebler), is normally translated to the ninety fifth year of the Ninth century of the Common Age in Trabler, Orbi and the BrightLands.    So the terms 'Common Age' and 'Reckoning of Nebler' are used interchangeably in these areas.  The Igbarian man on the street will oftern term the year 'Ninety five', while Omwo~ that might live a few centuries scrupulously add the century in every utterance.

The Empire of Argus, The Barony of Argus, the New Argussian March, Zent, and Coom Isle use the Argussian 'Blue Axe' Calendar, which was set when The Empire of Argus formally came into existence.  It is 1269 in that Calendar.


The settlements in the Silverwood, while small and insulated, use the oldest calendar in Celtricia.  It is year 7089 since the Founding of the Silverwood, the only settlement founded back in the Age of Legends.

[LordVreeg]

Guildschool Faction:

Area:Igbar
Name:Church of the Hosting
Affiliation with Larger: This church is loosely allied with other churches of the Hosting, but is not directly under the authority of any other church.
 
Membership style: priesthood and worshippers
 
% of starting membership: 25% Attrib bonus: WI (10/2) CH 12/2)
Mission: To promote the teachings of the Lord of the Hosting, and to be part of the organic network they believe each population center to be.
 
Size: 6 priests, about 150 devoted worshippers, but maybe three times that as casual worshippers.
History: The worship of Woerter, the Lord of Gatherings, started in the southern lands of Ominol and the Good Land of Om, about 2 centuries before.  It came to Igbar about a decade before, finding a niche in the Harou section of town (which has many expatriated Omnians).  Hestimiak Kartikol, the priest who came from Om to start this church,  moved after about 5 years to the Weavers quarter in the North west section of town, into an abandoned rug shop.  Though never bombastic, as their teachings are to be the perfect host and show humility, the Church of the Party (as it is also called) became part of more and more town celebrations, and due to the increased traffic and corresponding donations, a few Goesi ago Hestimiak and his five other priests have found an old temple of the Living Flame just off the corner of the Unicorn Vex and the Godstraat.  
 
 
Current leader: Hestimiak Kartikol, male klaxik Hierophant
Current situation: The Church of the Hunt and the Tierophan family (members of the Vissippee Trading Family) both have great antipathy for the Church of the Hosting, wheras the Silvered Note Skalds and the Frigid Song Skalds both perform at this church.  They are growing slowly.
 
Notes
The Church of the Hosting was founded a few centuries before to the south, a minor religion that uses the 'Way of the Heart-Sword', an ancient text on Harou social behavior, as one of it's two major texts.  The other is the 'Book of the Hosting', the books of Woerter.  
The Church of the Hosting includes social interaction and social events in it's sphere of inluence.
Woerter is portrayed as a kindly old klaxik, meddling goodheartedly in everyone's affairs as well as taking the role of the spiritual father of a huge interconnected, extended family.  His son, Kallieak, A demi-planar, is shown as a good hearted warrior that gets into trouble, and sometimes needs his father to smooth things over.  The entire 'Book of the Hosting' is full of parables of this nature.
The Church of the Hosting teaches patience and treating everyone as part of an extended family.  Disagreements are seen as temporary, like  a family.  Prestige is gained by acting graciously in all situations.

[LordVreeg]

Opening post on this thread redone.
This reflects conversations dealing with assumptions on the CBG chat, and comments by other members.
Emphasis on racial issues and the actual socio developmental level of the world.
(kudos to Troll and Nomad for this)

[LordVreeg]

Celtrician Tale of Years  
 
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The History of Celtricia

Although Celtricia is not billions of years old, it has a rich and lengthy history of civilization.  Celtricia was brought into being by the Song Of Creation a little over fifteen thousand Celtrician years ago.  Much of that time was witnessed by written history, and in that sense it is very old, and packed with history.

In the broadest strokes, Celtrician history can be divided into three major phases, or ages, although some will say there are four.

The first phase is called the Age of Legends, and it stretches from the beginning of the Song Of Creation until it culminated with the Accords of Presence. The Accords of Presence were put together at the time when the Celestial Planars left the 'Waking Dream' itself to move into their dwelling places in the void, and -5995 Reckoning of Nebler (RON) is the accepted year that this occurred, and the Age of Legends ended. In the Age of Legends, it is said that the gods walked the earth, and the Song of Creation was still sung withing the 'Waking Dream', although subtly changed by its orginators.  Brave, wise Omwo~ served and learned from their masters, writing and recording their powerful lessons.  Mighty, gigantic Sauroids built for their creators and also carried the ancient Omwo~ on their backs.  This was the 'Waking Dream',  until the gods fought over worship.

The second epoch is called The Age of Heroes, and it refers to the time during which the Celestial Planars continued their conflict for worship, but in a proxy war.  By the Omwo~ it is also called the Human Age, as the first Humans appeared right after the Planars left.  The Sauroids first started to change color, and build their Dragon Empire during this time.  It was also during this age that the birth and the growth of the first city-states such as Ambrettus, Winter, Grenwit Hollow, Vicoria, and Seou, to name a few, occurred.  But the Age of Heroes is remembered mainly for the great fratricidal conflict of the Avatar of Amerer, Numansongs the Bard and the Arch-lich Asol Arbor, Champion of of Anthraxus of the Cycle.  This age lasted until approximately -1500 RON.

The Age of Statehood came next; a time where countries and their ideologies were venerated and sacrificed for by men, instead of countries worshipping the ideals of a few individuals.  As this age has worn on and the population of Celtricia has increased dramatically, 'God, Guild, and Country' have become the priorities.  Racial conflicts and the priorities of a select few heroes have receded into the past.  Some also call the founding of the Theocracy of Nebler (Reckoning of Nebler, R.O.N year 0) the beginning of the 'Common Age,' but this fourth division not consistently used.

The current date is 895 RON.  The Age of Statehood is almost twenty four centuries old.  To even the eldest of the Omwo~, with their three hundred or more year lifespan, this epoch stretches back into legend.

[spoiler=Link to full Take of Years]link to full Tale of Years[/spoiler]