The Aniga Project

[Hibou]

A few questions to establish you in teh thread, fw190a8:

fw190a8, what if any homebrew race do you plan to use as your initial one?

If you don't have a personal creation, what core race will you be using? Will they be modified?

What are your specialties in world building?

Do you have any questions that we can possibly answer? I'm assuming that you know pretty well what the project entails :).

This thread is going to be a monster by the time we get everyone into it and start a history.

[fw190a8]

Since we're going back quite a long way with this and the continent I have in mind is mainly sand and extreme heat (during the daylight hours), I was going to base a humanoid race on the desert-dwelling tribes of Earth, using what information I can find out about the way they lived their lives to shape this race. That doesn't mean to say this race has to be human or human-like, of course.

In terms of world-building, I'm not really that great with stats and balancing but I'm hoping to improve. I have a fair few of the 3/3.5 WotC books but I tend to read the fluff more than the crunch, because I haven't played in such a long time. I'm quite good with words so I feel like I can write things up well. I'm pretty techy and quite arty, although only really with digital art.

I do have a few questions! ;) Is this aiming to be a campaign book in PDF form when finished? How much attention will each aspect get? Will the settlements get more attention than the ecology but less than the deities, for example? Are you intending for each project member to develop all aspects of one continent, or assign project members to more global ideas like major events? Because there's an added dimension of time in this campaign setting (not that the conventional ones don't have history, but not a history you can just delve in and play I suppose), are we to develop several distinct periods of history separated by a few hundred years each so that the player can pick one in which to base their campaign, or just write up the histories in such a way as to make a campaign in any period a breeze?

[Hibou]

We'll see as things go, really. I think it's too early in the development to start deciding particular roles. When I had originally thought of this idea I had thought of us going down through a timeline and stating important events which affect or create the areas of the setting, and expand on that later. It's more of just a construction project for the sake of creation instead of one for running a campaign, at least at the moment. No doubt as things go further campaigns will be run.

At this point I can imagine specific continents being developed by specific people, with interactions and changes involving the outside world occuring with the consent of other developers. I don't know about other people, but I'm sure going to try to make my timeline as detailed as possible (though not all in one installment; it'll come in several). The first thing we should try and cover together, though, is the very beginnings of civilization. Severely low-tech clay pot makers who've just discovered irrigation, people that build their homes out of mud and stone, etc., that sort of thing. Build right from there, with a semi-brief backstory on what happened prior.

[Captain Obvious]

So, i have my zoomed out pic of the continent up already, and i am in the process of making zoomed in versions for key points (namely the start points for my races).

As it sits now i am creating 3 distinct sentient races.

The first will be the Vaeryn. They are a races of spider-like beings that live in the trees of the southern jungles.
Appearance: They appear roughly ar tall gangly humanoids with long spindly, segmented legs. There are 3 sets of legs (located at the legs, shoulders and a third set emerging from the back aroung the waist area), as well a set of arms with semi-opposable thumbs that emerge from the chest area slightly below the main shoulders. They are capable of walking on 6 legs with the torso and arms hanging under the legs, on 4 legs, with the torso, arms and front legs held up, and some can, with great dificulty, walk on just their hind set of legs, although this position is primarily used for reaching high objects or getting attention, as opposed to walking. An adult male would be approx. 7 feet tall if they stood up fully, but in their normal position on 4 legs, they only rise about 5 feet off the ground. Females are significantly larger, and also rarer, and stand 6 feet tall normally and 8 to 9 feet when fully upright. The skin of the vaeryn is predominantly covered in coarse black hair, although on the females, this hair is much sleeker and occasianally will have patterns of contrasing colours in it.

 Year 0
Starting Society : To begin with, the vaeryn live mostly in the treetops where they build treehouses (almost nest-like) to avoid the predations of the large beasts that roam the jungle floor. They are onmivores and live off diets of fruits cultivated form the trees, assorted grubs and beetles from the bases of these trees, and beasts from the rest of the jungle that their hunters manage to bring down. These animals are cleaned, but eaten raw as fire has not yet been discovered. The groups are divided into tribes with rough family ties and are throroughly dominated by the matriarchs of the tribes. The men greatly outnumber the females, but they are much weaker physically. There are no significant partner bonds, as each female mates with a large portion of the tribe, but males will frequently mate with the same female though. The tribe families mostly stay together and as a result do inbreed, but there are frequent cases of wanderlust or banishment that causes a young vaeryn to travel to another one of the nearby tribes.

Technology: At year 0, the vaeryn have fairly low technology, but new things are being frequently developed. Throwing and thrusting spears have been developed for hunting, as well as the simple process of dropping rocks on the lower animals. Though they are excelent climbers, the vaeryn have taken to making ropes and harnesses to aid in dificult climbs and to allow tools and weapons to be carried. The raw material for these ropes is either made from stringy bark, of harvested from the packs of Daemyr (large tree-spiders. a non-sentient off-shoot of the vaeryn's ancestors) that some tribes have taken to domesticating.

That's it for now. I have som more ideas for these guys later, but was thinking we may want to work out some sort of template for writting this stuff down before i do. The other two races will get a similar short write up soon, along will hopefully some close-up maps.

Any comments or thoughts guys?

[Hibou]

I like what you've put :). We should definitely get to that template. Here are my ideas for it so far:

Land and Terrain
-Roughly how large is your continent in comparison to the real-world continents?
-What type of terrains can be found on your continent (desert, jungle, swamp, mountains, highlands, wetlands, savannah, plains, forests, etc.)
-What kinds of each terrain do you present (Dome, Fold, or Block Mountains; American, African, Arabian, Australia, or Far Eastern desert [don't know if those are really all that different], etc.)

Resources(Any DMG, alternate source, or homebrew fantasy materials are plausible as well, just don't let your list become unreasonable)

-What types of forests are most prominent on your continent, and what types of wood can't be found (if any) there?
-Does your continent have a large variety of different types of rock and stone?
-What ores are present on your continent (keep in mind that it is very likely that they're not usable at year 0)
-What kinds of plants grow on your continent? Which are edible, poisonous, or have other uses? Do some have both depending on how they are prepared or used? Which is the most plentiful and easiest to cultivate?
-If you have any large bodies of water on your continent, are they freshwater or saltwater? Where do inhabitants that drink freshwater get their sustenance?

The Food Chain

-At year 0, where is your primary race on the continent's food chain? If they aren't already at the top (pretty good chance, I think), what animals are above them?
-Which animals are preferred prey for your race at this point in time? (try to take into account ease of hunting, physical ability and toughness, intelligence, cooking difficulty [if applicable], living habits, yield of edible meats, and uses of the animal's body parts [such as bones, furs, etc.])
-An extensive list of the carnivores and herbivores on your continent is helpful with deciding how the inhabitants live. This list should include creatures of the Animal, Magical Beast, and Vermin types for sure, with some from types like Aberration, Dragon, and Shapechanger if it fits. Try to keep in mind the food chain of the continent and which animals are on top. There shouldn't really be any restrictions on what native creatures you want on it, just keep it reasonable and use common sense :).

Technology and Advancement
-What do your intelligent beings use for homes? Do they build them? What do they use?
-Have your people learned to use fire? Is its primary use to cook or as a weapon?
-What weapons (and their types) have your people developed? (I'm assuming simple ones made of equally simple materials)
-Do people hunt in groups? Have they developed any special techniques for hunting and fighting?
-Have your humanoids learned of irrigation? Do they grow crops? Have they domesticated any animals? Which, if any, do they herd, farm, or treat as companions?
-Which materials available to them are most important to them at this point in time? Which are they capable of using? Have they just discovered a use of one? Have they grown out of using any hazardous to them?
-Have they discovered the wheel? Developed sea travel? What is the farthest they have travelled if they have?
-Have they developed any crafting skills (ex. weaving, basketmaking, herbalism)
-What are most of their weapons made of?
-Have they discovered mathematics? Language?
-Have they developed any magic? If so, what kinds? What do they use it for?

Dangers and Natural Disasters
-What must your people worry about and try to avoid/prevent?
-What kinds of natural disasters occur most often on or around your continent (tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, volcanic activity, flash floods, forest fires, landslides, deadly snowstorms, etc.)


That's what I have so far. It's long and covers some decent ground. What do you think? Did I miss anything? Have any points to add?

Some of these will obviously take a lot of thinking and working at, including some research. We should try to keep in mind that things need not be limited to how real-world history progressed or how those ancient people worked. :)

[Captain Obvious]

Nice list of questions. This should make a pretty good template. I'll start working on these lists for my stuff when i have some time, but i'm being fairly busy now and in the coming few days.

[Hibou]

Sounds good to me. I'll be working on it soon as well, though there may be a week of near-downtime coming up as exams are so close.

[Senkennomei]

Same here. I have been unable to progress much because I am too busy with projects. Give me a week or two, then I'll be able to fully concentrate...

[Hibou]

Alrighty, I'm good to go! Anyone still not able to participate yet, or recently become unavailable? Or even anyone who would like to join up?

[Hibou]

A few thoughts:

-Though all those who take part in the Aniga Project will have a continent of their own and a race of their own, we should definitely have at least a few uninhabited (at least by humanoids) continents spread out across the world.
-We'll need to put together a map of the entire world showing the continents in relation to each other, though we can certainly leave much of it uncharted.
-If anyone wants to share a massive continent between two races that are on opposite ends of it, go for it. While our individual islands thing is cool and I think most people will be doing it, there's no saying that there wouldn't be two races on the same body of land from very early on. Their interactions may be delayed for hundreds or even thousands of years however, depending on how troublesome the terrain is between them, how much they explore, and what their modes of transportation allow them to do.
-Before the template is worked on by each contributor, some information about the race(s) you develop should be given. I'm going to be doing Humans (I'm lazy), but I'll still be doing up a few pharagraphs of info for them.
-What will be the first basic technology that everyone develops? I'm thinking the humans I do will develop water travel before they get the wheel, but the wheel won't be too far off.
-How big is everyone's first 'nation' going to be? Will it just be a city in a wilderness of unallied tribes, a few small nations that trade with each other and sometimes go to war, one large nation that works together and focuses on exploration and improving tech, or something else?

[Captain Obvious]

alright, my uber busy period should be ending on around sunday after the coming one. After that i will just be busy (instead of rediculously busy). I will start working more on my races then.

[Hibou]

Bump.

[Hibou]

Been a while since anyone replied here. I have a new idea.

How about, for determining each civilization's advancement, we use a system like that of the game Civilization. We could build a little system where each race picks two expertises such as Alphabet and Cartography (or any other from several) and have one that is being developed. As the ages pass they could be obtained every 50-100 years or so, quickening in pace as the race itself develops and grows in number. We could include progressing trees of discoveries that require previous knowledges to develop. Hell, we could even take from Civilization directly and use the list with a couple of add-ons for magic and planar involvement (it'd probably be a good idea to detail what each advancement gives to a civilization, since in the Civ game it's pretty limited) if we wanted to.

What does everyone else think?

[CYMRO]

Been a while since anyone replied here. I have a new idea.

How about, for determining each civilization's advancement, we use a system like that of the game Civilization. We could build a little system where each race picks two expertises such as Alphabet and Cartography (or any other from several) and have one that is being developed. As the ages pass they could be obtained every 50-100 years or so, quickening in pace as the race itself develops and grows in number. We could include progressing trees of discoveries that require previous knowledges to develop. Hell, we could even take from Civilization directly and use the list with a couple of add-ons for magic and planar involvement (it'd probably be a good idea to detail what each advancement gives to a civilization, since in the Civ game it's pretty limited) if we wanted to.

What does everyone else think?

Doesn't Civ have a fantasy development tree that can be meshed with the other?

[Hibou]

I'm playing the first one on a SNES emulator. I don't think it does :O