Celtricia, World of Factions-Setting Information V2.0

[LordVreeg]

Ohy.  I almost forgot.  Index is a WIP, but coming along.
Getting help from my people, as well.
http://celtricia.pbwiki.com/Index

[LordVreeg]

Elder Families of Igbar


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The Old Families of Igbar, also called the Elders of Igbar or 'Istars of Igbar', are families of wealth and influence in this city.   All of this group of Trabler's first citizens are generations old, most claiming cultural and hereditary descent from the Empire of Argus.  Argus controlled Trabler for 473 years from 397 RON, when Argus captured the capital city of Igbar, until  870 RON, when Trabler Aptor took it from them.  Many of them are members of the Church of Vernidale the Green Mother, which has a strong influence in Argus. Many also have cousins and relatives still in Orbi.

 
"Istar" was a harou term coined for the wealthy Igbarian clans in the early 700's RON.   The literal translation means 'gracious father,'  and it was certainly meant as sarcastic, though its common use in all circles now shows an acceptance in the lexicon of the town.  Heral (Breeder) Menken is credited with first using the term in one of his spoken word performances back in the early 700's.
 

All of these family units take their name and honor very seriously, even if they pretend not to: it is how they are brought up.  They all own various properties and businesses, and every one of them, while decrying to each other that the ascendency of the Trading Guilds will be the end of them, is making money in partnership with these same syndicates.  It is a common slur that all the Istar are Argussian sympathizers. But as some of these clans have sprawled into twenty or thirty members over the decades, there are any number of beliefs and political positions.
 

Many of these stalwarts have had much to do in the past with the ordering of the city, and despite the change in the regime, many still do.  Most of them have vast fortunes whose growth are dependent on the city, and they know enough to want to keep a hand on the tiller if possible.  The older families have many members in the Lower House of The Unicorn, so they are, by and Large, very politically active.  Many Igbarian Istar frequent the Bardic Taverns, especially the 'Silvered Note', or often Hostem's House of Hospitality, due to the excellence of the food.

[Ishmayl-Retired]

Interesting - they seem to almost be a bit like the Bildeburgers.  Do they play an active hand in moving politics in their favor, and do they even ally themselves with each other, or are they constantly scheming against each other for personal gain, or a bit of both?

[LordVreeg]

Interesting - they seem to almost be a bit like the Bildeburgers.  Do they play an active hand in moving politics in their favor, and do they even ally themselves with each other, or are they constantly scheming against each other for personal gain, or a bit of both?

Though there is a lot of rivalry, they are more like a social caste that works together without any real organization.  They intermarry heavily within the other families of the class.  If you really want to know where they are patterned, look here.  
Even in terms of accent and schooling, the Istar do it the 'right' way.  Even their rebellions are somewhat predictable.  Howeverm many of them are also brought up 'to serve', looking at their social position as a responsibility.  It was actually a member of this social class who drafted the current hot-button proposal to eliminate the 16 hereditary positions in the Lower Hosue of the Unicorn in Trabler.

And thank you for the question.  Hadn't though of them in those terms, though some of them are members of groups more of that bent.

[LordVreeg]

Area:Igbar
Name:The Alternative School of Magic
Affiliation with Larger: none
 
Membership style: Very Open Membership
 
% of starting membership: 50% Attrib bonus: IN (12/1) WI(10/1.5)
Mission: To create a cooperative magic school that is not under the heel of the huge Collegium Arcana.
 
Size: 90 active, 9 instructors, 29 students
History: In Igbar, the Alternative School of Magic was begun in 2-31-889, where Palimar, Air mage of Devens and Priest of Madrak and his wife, Samria, sage of the Steel Libram, decided to rebel against the Collegium Arcana in this small, border city.
During the troubles, when the Unicorn King, Trabler Aptor dissapeared, Palimar was already on the Lower House of the Unicorn, Palimar and his friends were instrumental in guiding the city during that dark time, and Palimar was one of the group that discovered HighHand Coomi, ranking member of the Upper House of the Unicorn and Venerate of Nebler, was actually a spy for the Argussian Confederation.


Note :
Palimar is actually a PC still remotely playing his old character. The original sessions were played 1986-1990.[spoiler=Palimar DevensHeld]  One of the original Players of Celtricia, PB played Palimar and Erwin Zingo, actually starting in 1985.  Palimar is actually a member of the Old aristocracy of Devens On Coom Isle, which was overthrown a in 976 RON. Irnwin Zingo was a Mysteriarch bodyguard, a companion since childbirth sworn to serve the Devenshold family.  Palimar was a voice of reason among the PC group that started in Onocon of the old Theocracy of Nebler (now taken by Argus), and quickly were outlawed there, and ran through Igbar on their way to take ship to Deven;s on Coom Isle, where they fell afoul of Heliopolis Von Arbor, the Assassin lord of the Blackstripes, and the real power behind the throne in Coom Isle.  PB still controls much of Palimar's actions and large scale plans (along with Palimar's wife, Samria, and their scarred Daughter, Salimar (Earthward)SamriaDaughter) today in 2008.[/spoiler]
Palimar was voted by the lower House of the Unicorn into the Upper House, and since that time, to spite the Collegium Arcan that had always impeded his work, has used his popularity to create the Alternative school of Magic. Currently, 9 instructors and 29 students study in their halls, and an astonishing 52 other people have memberships and do their spell learning there.
The Collegium Arcana makes no bones about their hatred of this upstart guild.  Palimar's Priesthood in the Church of the Living Earth (Madrak) aslo gives him a lot of pull on the Godstraat.
Samria, Palimar's wife (they have an open realtionship) is the other primary figure in the school.  She is a fellow in the Steel Libram, and the Altrnative School and the Steel Libram have a partnership.

 
Current leader: Palimar (And Samria)
Current situation: Very low on cash, and very polarizing.  

[LordVreeg]

New Projects in Celtricia/Updates
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Index page is coming along.  Obviously a long way to go, but I have 2 players helping with project.
Celtrician Index

Spells page for Guildschool's particular weird spell set is still growing.  The different 'personality' of the spells powered by the different Void-Borne sources of power is showing more and more.  Both the Igbarian and Mistonian groups are beginning to dread running into intelligent undead who have Necromantic and Death magic at their fingertips.
Guildschool spells
One that I have sprung on them recently that they particulary hated...
Rotting Spray

The Notes and Recent Gossip section at the bottom of the Igbar page has expanded, along with more infromation about weather, the Law, the Brewer's Quarter and the Godstraat.The massive mess of Igbar

And the Nebler's Shield Mountain/Ruins of abuto adventure
(Nomadic, keep out, and Higgs as well, if we are going to have you back)

hitorical overview
main overview of adventure
Abandoned town of Abuto

[LordVreeg]

Artifice and Magic Items in Celtricia
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Items Wondrous and Enchanted
 
As has been mentioned before, Celtricia has a very different distribution of magic than most other settings.  The world and setting is such that low power magic is somewhat common (1/10 people can learn to touch the Void-Borne power sources, and 1/25 is taught, normally), but due to the way expereince is gained, the amounts of differerent power sources, and the way higher level spells are structured, even medium level magic is rare.

Tied to the way magic affects the world, and the reasons magic-users have not taken over the world, is the presence of artificed items.  Magic items, to use the vulgar term, come in many diffefrent types.  And each affects the world differently, but profoundly.

It should first be noted that in an area of any population, magic is no big surprise.  It is considered part of the world, the same as a house or a weapon, a very important part of the world.  And even non-casters have a pretty basic idea of the way simple spells and cantrips work, as well as having a certain amount of envy for those who can cast.  The concepts of magic are taught in private schools and to all the nobility as well, as it affects them dramatically.   So the more common spells are pretty well known.  Cures, good fortune, crop enhancement, basic combat enhancement, and the daily mundane spells are well known.

There are two basic broad catagories in artificed items.  One is Scrolls and Potions, the other is Enhanced items.
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Scrolls and Potions
For millenia, magic was cast only by the very few.  The Age of Legends and the Age of Heroes were days of magic being a class delineation.  The Stunatu races  were originally created to work, and to serve the spellcasting folk of the world.  So in the Ages past, magic and it's use was a jealously guarded secret.  Less than two in a thousand were taught the Wou, as it is called in the Harou Lands, in the earliest of days.


Potions
In the Age of Heroes, mages began creating charged liquids that could be drunk and have a spell affect, for their minions.  These are potions, created to allow non-casters the use of spells.  By the use of sympathetic ingredients, small amounts of liquid could be charged to create a spell-affect when the liquid is drunk or used.  Through the use of the binding spell, Create a Potion, and casting the spell intended to be charged into the proper ingredients, an artificer can create a liquid that will hold a single spell use.  Please note that with the proper ingredients, almost any spell can be charged this way.

At the most basic level, potions should be seen as equalizers that allow anyone to cast a spell, talented or not.






Scrolls
Scrolls and their use has been the subject of many pages, as their use in the Celtrician mileau is profound.  There is no need to do the whole rehash here.  But it is an important way to understand the way magic functions in Celtricia.  Whereas Potions exist as tools to allow anyone, particularly non-casters to use magic, Scrolls are tools to aid casters in using less resources to cast spells and to allow them to cast spells that are beyond their ability.  Scrolls can also be used to learn spells, so they are very valuable as teaching tools.  Scrolls come in three types, Teaching, Casting and the combination of both.

Scrolls cost 1/20 the casting amount, but a caster has to have every type of power source the spell on the scroll requires.  Also, a caster can cast a scroll that is more powerful than they can cast, but a caster can never cast a spell from a scroll that costs more than twice their maximum ability.

Broadly put, Potions allow anyone to 'cast', while a scroll aids a caster in their casting.
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Enhanced Items
Enhanced items come in Three major formats, and one minor one.  Skill enhancers,  Casting enhancers, items charged with spells, and magic weapons make up these classificatins.

Skill Enhancers
The very most common are items that enhance a skill, normally a few times a day, but sometimes every time they are used.  Broaches that increase the socail skills of a wearer, shoes that increase the dancing skills, lockpicks that increase the appropriate skill...this type of item enhancement is the most common.  Since most skill uses are % based with the level of success or failure ties to the amount under or under one rolls, these are crucial, day-to-day items.  Guilds will almost always have items like this being used, dependent on the wealth of the guild in question.


Magic Enhancers
The second most common type of ensorcelled item is the 'Magic Staff' and it's variations.   These are items that help focus the casters person Spirit and the Void-Borne energies that are woven together to cast spells.  The most common type reduces the amount of personal energy, or Spirit.  This makes all casting easier, and obviously is a huge help to all casters.

More powerful versions are often also linked to other Void-Borne power sources, so the more rare versions reduce the amount of Spirit and other power sources needed to cast a spell.  The Torcs of the old Arcanic Table (the old Orbian government) reduced all types of spell points by one of a spell cast.

Staffs are, however, the most common variation.  Whether it be for a good reason or merely following the old prototype, staffs are the most common variation of this type of artificed item.  The Collegium Arcana's internal name for a member is 'Tamp doen', which is arcanic for 'Staff-bearer', and most of their ceremonial offices include an actual staff.

Whether it is a Torc, a ring, a staff, or a nose piercing, this type of item is almost assumed with any wealthy caster.  Spell-weavers are always scared of running dry their resources, so a tool they delays this and allows them to cast more is worth a hefty price.

Magic Staffs are very, very difficult to make, and luckily, very hard to destroy.  The most simple versions will cost over a thousand electrum goodwives, and better versions can costs tens of thousands.




Casting Items
The third most common enscorcellment is casting a spell into an item and binding the spell into the item, either with a set number of charges or a set amount of uses a day.   Weapons charged with combat spells like Source Charge, BloodGush or Crystal Edge, goggles with Lesser Eye, armbands with Bull's Strength, these are just a few examples of the spells that are cast into and item ans secured into the item with the Spell Enchant-Artifice an Item.   Most typically, these work once or twice a day, though sometimes there are a set amount of charges, normally between five and ten.

This type of artificed item is very, very uncommon.  The creation of such an item is described fully under the spell, but it needs a very powerful caster to cast the spells 'into' the item after it is prepared.  Due to the near-indestructablity of these items, older ones often last for generations.  And they can be the strangest things, as well.  Jewelry and other worn items are very common, but almost any item imagined can be ensorcelled.

 

Magiced Weapons/armor
These are actually a sub-classification of Skill Enhancers, as they increase a users skill.  Most commonly, they give a bonus on the basci weapon skill of that type (Such as a War Hamme giving a bonus to the 'Basic Blunt Weapon' skill), but often they also add onto the skills of 'Damage Bonus' or 'Initiative Bonus' for that type of weapon.  These are most easily cast on weapons made of materials that take better to magic, like BlackSteel or Ambretton Brass.  These better materials often perform slightly better than common counterparts to begin with.
The same is true with Armors that add onto the Avoidance or Protection skills.

Again, understand that the longevity of such items and their value makes the finding of such an item an event, and no one every questions the fashi9on taste of a warrior dressed in an ancient style, since it normally signifies the armor is better than normal.

Other Created Items
Powerful mages of taoday and days past have often commisioned items than mix the above catagories. The mutability and creativity of the artificers of the past and of the current time has allowed for thousands of clever permutations
[ic=A powerful spear]
Here is an example from an opponent of the Miston group, an Ograk Dragonrider.  He wielded an ancient venolvian Demi-lune.

Demi-lune of Control +19% basic Spear/+2 damagebonus skill, -2 spirit, -2 animist  Lizard Tongue 2/day, Blessings of Snake and Spider 2/day

Note that it has weapon skill enhancement, Magic enhancers, and some charged spells also.[/ic]

[Nomadic]

I like it, makes sense just fine. The 1/10 being able to touch the void is curious though. What then decides who can and cannot touch the void and use it to cast magic? Also what do you mean by 1/25 being taught normally?

[LordVreeg]

I like it, makes sense just fine. The 1/10 being able to touch the void is curious though. What then decides who can and cannot touch the void and use it to cast magic? Also what do you mean by 1/25 being taught normally?

Compared to earlier times in the Celtrician history, the various guilds that can teach 'the Wou' search out those who can cast, almost as a resource.  A tenth of those born in the 'Waking Dream' can touch the power sources, but not all of them are taught.  As I mentioined in other posts, though many use magic, very few can use past the very basic spells.

Thank you for the feedback, as always!

[LordVreeg]

Scrolls in Celtricia

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Scrolls are one of the most useful tools in a spellcasters arsenal.   They can be used to add a spell into a spell book, or to cast the spell itself with dramatically lower cost.
There are three types of scrolls, Casting Scrolls, Learning Scrolls, and combination scrolls, which do both.


When casting a spell from a scroll, much of the conduit to the power sources of the spell comes from the scroll itself.  So there is normally an extra 3 segment delay.  However, the cost is only 1/10 the cost of casting the spell regularly, rounding up.  And yes, that means if the spell requires less than 6 points in an area, it has no cost using it from a scroll.  However, you cannot use spirit to make up for spell point types you do not have.  You have to understand how the spell is working to cast it out of a scroll.

Most spells also cannot be cast out of a scroll if the cost of the spell is over double what the caster can actually do at maximum.  So you can't grab a scroll of firestorm and cast it as a novice.  This is due to the lack of experience with opening up this big a conduit to a power source.

Scrolls are made with one of the artificer spell versions of '˜Write Scroll', and the spell must be cast onto the scroll BY THE CASTER (or with the ridiculously costly '˜Artificer Interface' spell) right after the scroll is prepared.  Not a huge surprise that 30% of scrolls are for artificer spells, or that almost every Church has members that have some Artificer abilities.

Casting Scrolls are the most common type, and use the least expensive of the Scroll Creation spell.  Learning Scrolls another version that cannot be used for casting.  Only the most expensive, most versatile type can be used for both.  Spells are taught and sold almost exclusivley by scrolls, as copying a scroll from a spellbook ruins the spellbook.

Scrolls are used very extensively by casters, and are big business in Celtricia, as they are so versatile and helpful.  Most casters with the money use scrolls as much as they can, despite the price.


Cost of Spells and Scrolls
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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.

The cost of spells is based on the amount of total spell points a spell takes to cast. Also, since teaching scrolls are used most of the time, the cost of a teaching scroll is assumed to be the same as a spell costs.

 

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.

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

Own school, same location. *.75.

Own School *.85

Affiliated or allied school, *.9

Potions, since they can be used by anyone, cost between four to five times the same cost of the same spell.

[Nomadic]

I recall you saying this somewhere... but does Celtricia have wands or staves that can hold magical energy?

[LordVreeg]

I recall you saying this somewhere... but does Celtricia have wands or staves that can hold magical energy?

There are actually quite a few different wands and staves in Celtricia, but yes, there is also a type of staff, called a Staff Incantus, that is normally sentient, and is a conduit for a creature living in a House or a Station.  AS such, the staff recharges up to 10 spell points from that location every 30 hours or so.  But it is sentient, and not always a happy, helpful sentient...

[LordVreeg]

Redone and spindled.

[LordVreeg]

Knighthoods, Brotherhoods, Fighting Cabals, Warriors of Faith...

Celtricia is called the World of Factions for the dizzying array of organizations and interwoven groups that vie and inveigle on a daily schedule. But few slices of this are as misunderstood as the many different warrior groups.  Probably because the differentiation is not made implicit, outsiders and new players often make the assumption that they can all be lumped in together.  And nothing could be further than the truth.
Making this more difficult is that there really are no absolute, clear-cut boundaries, no governing body of armor-wearers, so almost none of them operate on the same wavelength.

This particular entry is going to describe them as they are seen by the populace of Igbar, capital of of Trabler.  Guilds and organizations are considered next to sacred in almost all cities, so almost all the legitimate ones are respected. Totally complicating this is the membership structures that allow for multiple allegiances.

The Scarlet Pilums are the militia of Trabler.  They began as one of the mercenary companies that ply the length of Celtricia (but not the width), groups of fifteen to five hundered that gather and exist under a captain and fight for pay.  The Scarlet Pilums had worked off and on for the Northern Argussian Marches (the former name of Trabler, when it was under the Empire of Argus), but in 880 RON it was hired again to replace the striking militia, and ove rthe last fifteen years, has grown to become the permanent militia for the whole country, and while there are a few miliatry ranks outside of the Scarlet Pilums, thare are for all intents and pruporses, the military of Trabler and the town guards as well.

Much like the Scarlet Pilums were, their are warrior guilds that exist to sell their swords, such as the Kulranik Swords, a guild of mercenary guards, and the Hadjel Bonded Mercenaries, who are the guards of the up-and-coming Teque Guild of Travelers.  These groups are more plebian, and of more varied backgrounds, but their value to the growiong mercahnt powers is unquestionable.
Corobar's Iron Way is like this, but their credo is bonding themselves to the Housholds of the nobility.  Their skill-set encompasses social skills such as Major Domo and Etiquette, bodyguard skills such as the detection skills, as well as combat and martial skills.

There are many international brotherhoods, groups organized for a cause and building chapter houses in many cities.  The largest is the Order of Stenron (OOS, a huge, three-century old knighthood headquartered in Castle Ellis in the Northern Grey March.  The Blue Turtle Samurai, the Knights of the Red Circle. The Order of the White Paladin, these are all orders that control chapter houses, and have internal ranks, but whose bond is one of vows to a lifestyle.  These groups expect members to follow a certain code, but can go out into the world and maintain other memberships.

Church sponsored groups are a huge can of worms, as they can me very different/  Some operate like the multinational groups mentioned above, like the Trsistonian Knights of the Church of the Theocracy of Nebler (also of the Lawful Triumverate), the Defenders of the Land or the Bowyers of Ceminiar.  
The Cobranic School of the Church of the Green Mother, the Bone Knights of Orcus and the Armor of Trade are different, as these groups require more total commitment.  These groups take most of their members in from the youth of their faith, and groom them.
The Defnders of the Land are interesting in that they allow members of a number of faiths into their fold, but they gather as defenders of the Wilderness.

[LordVreeg]

This latest entry is about a guild the PC's seem to be dealing with more and more.  As a sub-dynamic of the Igbarian guilds, I created a guild that was not specializing in an actual material item, but in the act of transport itself.  
Since travel outside of Igbar has always been dangerous, and is worse now with the hordes of Undead, the Teque guild inns are being heavily used by the PC's.
As an aside, the PC's were battered and bruised (and out of spellpoints and almost dead, and all the major fighters had been healed too much and could not be healed without very powerful magics), so they cut across the souther foothills of the Wibble hills to the Recum Road Teque Guild inn, a 3 hour trip instead of the 6-7 hours back to Igbar.  
After hiding from a small horse of skeletal creatures led by an armored wight, they were outside the stockade at 2:40 am.  There, they managed to blow two social CC rolls and argued with the guards who almost did not let them in (can I tell you how much I enjoyed cupping my hands and screeching in a quavering voice, "Go Away!  You're Ghoukin, I know it!").  They were about to threaten buring the stockade down when they finally threw some money over the gate...


[blockquote=Teque Guild of Travelers]

Guildschool Faction:

Area:Igbar
Name:The Teque Guild of Travelers
Affiliation with Larger: This is a Trablerian guild, and centered in Wallingford.  The Igbarian branch is very powerful, however, being the largest population center.
 
Membership style: Dedicated members, who have no other major guild affiliations, dominate the Teque workforce.  'Honor' rmemberships  do exist in more powerful members.
 
% of starting membership: 30% Attrib bonus:WI (10/2) CH (9/1.5)
Mission: To gain wealth and power by controlling the means of travel
 
Size:301 dedicated, 31 honor
History: An outgrowth of Geman's Wagon shop back in 881 RON in Wallingford, to the South of Igbar, Hakan as Attabar (clan Kalil human) took his 2 teams and started his own company, The Trio Team, after meeting Teque Guile, a hobyt with is own team.  Teque helped Hakan build strong relationships with the Scarlet Pilums and in 884 they took a day out of their busy scedule to incorporate their new guild at the Grounds of Dismissal, Banneti's kaffee shop. Hakan insisted they name it after Teque, as it was clear that he was the real builder of the guild.
Hakan died in 889 RON, and in 890, Teque created satallite guilds inIgbar and ocodig, and in Igtiche and Walker's Glory in 892, and Recum in 893.  
Jortick Baen Hotak  was actually captured from the Zyjmanese tribe in a raid against the Teque guild back in 889, but since Teque spared his life, he has been devoting all his energy towards build the guild.  He started as a porter, then an assistant driver, then a driver, then a lead teamsman, then a lead caravan master.  It was during his teamman days that he met Scalesman Corvin Gullpepper,  a priest of the Platform of trade.   Once Jortick became a member of this, he moved to to Igbar full time, allying the Church or Trade with his guild.
 
Current leader: Jortick Baen Hotak, Orcash male
Current situation: Since allying with Vinivixias and the Sceding Tree, the Teque guild began a very high-visibility existence.  They have been opening fortified inns about 10-12 miles outside of the three major roads of Igbar.  These are already proving very popular, and since the Teque's are scrupulous in their fairness in their treatment of other guildmembers.  
Their Sigil ia a horseshoe and Wagonwheel[/blockquote]