Arga Redux (see other Arga thread)

[O Senhor Leetz]

ghostman - good points.

I rethought what I wanted Old Duran tech to be and rewrote the article on the artifacts. I seem to have a habit of writing things on the forum, then rethinking them into something a lot more interesting, which I think the tech is now. I thought Old Duran stuff would be cooler being more sci-fi than steam-punk - I couldn't envision a giant, hissing, piston laden suit of armor in Arga, so I think I may go for something with a little more finesse.

Also, on the Old Duran tech, it is not so much pure technology as it is a fusing of magic and technology, hopefully the power-crystals might hint at that now.

[Steerpike]

[blockquote=Leetz]The power within Merluna is held in three hands. The first is that of the Honored Matrons, the all-female 'face' of the city. More than a thousand years ago, during an era of bloody civil strife, a group of women grew tired of seeing their sons and brothers die for senseless causes and plotted a take-over of the city that took eighty-eight years to see fruition. On the Night of the Lovely Knifes - as it has become to be known - figure heads across the city were murdered by mistresses, whores, assassins, and even wives who saw this act as a means to a greater end, leaving no warring faction standing and the city in a stagnant peace. The Honored Matrons, the secret council that plotted so meticulously for eighty-eight years soon after took power, and has ruled Merluna - at times ruthlessly and at others motherly - ever since.[/blockquote]This is a really cool idea (reminds me of a Greek play, somehow, it's a bit Lysistrata).  How are the Honored Matrons chosen?  Are they appointed by preexistng council members or elected?  If so, who gets to vote?

Has the ascension of the Honored Matrons changed a lot of other gender codes in the city, or is their rule more like Queen Victoria's/Elizabeth I's (ie still fundamentally a patriarchy)?  How's the army?  Can women fight?  Do women typically stay in the home in Merluna or pursue careers?  In essence, how successful was the femenist revolution?

Also, what are Merluna's relations like?  You mention its the most successful of the free cities; is it simply a trade partner?  Are there larger cvilizations (ie not the free cities) on Arga that interact with Merluna?

One more question: what are the demographics like in Merluna?  Almost entirely human, or a mix?  If I saw a creature whose race I didn't recognize in the street, would I call the guardor shrug my shoulders?  Are the Honored Matrons all human, or is any female humanoid (or even non-humanoid?) eligible to join?

[O Senhor Leetz]

This is all off the top my head right now.

They would be chosen to join by the Council at large, as it is loosely organized and self-governing council.

The whole city would be a completely matriarchal place, as it probably would be after a thousand years of Honored Matron rule. Women would be the house heads, business owners, etc., which men openly accept, in fact they see the Honored Matrons as the protectors of Merluna, not the usurpers.

The army would be composed mostly of men, but lead by women generals. Army may be too strong of a word though.

Trade has a large part of Merluna's supremacy, but compared to the rest of Arga, it has been a stable city ever since the Night of the Lovely Knives, leading to steady growth. Its geographically central location helps a lot too.

As for demographics, mankind composes like 90% of all mortals in Arga. While it would be a rare and rumor worthy things to see a party of Vorr or Dura. So the Honored Matrons would be ALL human, as the other races tend to keep to themselves and their own cities.

*exhale* I hope that answers some questions, which I love getting because it makes me think more about things I haven't thought about. peace out.  

[O Senhor Leetz]

added "stat" blocks to alot of the stuff already posted, changed the Alchemists to the Artificers in Merluna (it made more sense considering the proximity.)

[LordVreeg]

Leetz,
We need to understand magic more.  It is an underpinning of this world and part of what makes it a 'dying' place, but I could not find the 'source of magic' nor what shapes it takes.  Obviously, this is touched on with the Duran artifacts, but I am given the feling that this is a tech/magic fusion, and just one small facet. I think this is going to be pivotal to the feel and style.  Did I miss something?  

[O Senhor Leetz]

haha, no, you haven't missed anything at all, I'm just disorganized. But here is a basic rundown of magic before I can get it into the "official" setting threads.

"Magic", or whatever it is called depending on the culture, is tied directly to the world that Arga sits on. This should not be confused to mean that magic is druidic, or nature based - it is connected to Arga like gravity one Earth is connected to Earth. But as Arga dies, so too does the magic and mortals have to find new ways to harness what energy is left.

In the earliest history, magic was extremely easy to control and common, but as time continued, both the ease in which it was controlled and its supply fell. Old Dura existed in a time when magic was more plentiful than it is today, but by no means was it easy to control, hence the Durans developing the tech/magic combo to control and harness the magic.

Magic now is extremely rare and hard to control. The Athemancers recede to the dark corners of the universe to find their magic, Old Dura relied on technology, the Sorcerers of Illix search the world of dreams, and the (name to be thought of) actually can draw magic from the dying exhalations of Arga. There will be others as I think of cool ways to access magic through ways out of the standard "out of this air with words and waves" approach.

So in short, magic now takes some great sacrifice to find even the remotes pools of power, and even what is found is mostly subtle and specific in its uses.

Magic should be rare and aweinspiring, and despite the references of its lessening power, which are correct, it is still MAGIC, and still very very powerful.

Does that narrow down things? If not I can ponder on it more

[O Senhor Leetz]

Added the City of Ib and edited Fell under Mountains, Oceans, and Sprawls

Cheers!

[Superfluous Crow]

Hmm, idea for magic... if there are still pockets of magic in places you could have magical surveyors who track down locations where there is still a font of magic left and drain it dry. They would track down locations with a large emotional or historical imprint (like battlefields and mass graves) and drain them dry to fulfill their magical hunger. They might also be able to drain the life out of people if life has anything to do with magic in your world :)
So they would be magical archaeologists. The idea is a bit rough as posted, but I'm sure you can turn it into something truly interesting if you want to.

[Ghostman]

Where is the stuff on Ib? I can't seem to find it.

[Superfluous Crow]

just follow the link in his previous post. The front page of this thread only shows a single post within each category or so.

[Ghostman]

Thanks CC, I can see it now.

Leetz: That's some excellent writing there! Ib sure seems a thrilling and interesting city. Do the Revealers compete with each other much? Do they form factions or cliques, and if so can these last for long? Based on what you've written so far I'd expect there to be plenty of intrigue and mafia-like turf wars.

Do the Revealers not favour their children, or is everyone forced to begin as a Reveler after their coming of age? Do Revelers ever rise to Revealer status illegitimately, eg. by killing their master and seizing control of his business and property?

Is there any religion in Ib? Some kind of cult of hedonism could be fitting, though I could also see them as unreligious.

[O Senhor Leetz]

Ghostman-

The way I'm seeing the Revelers is that they are way to wild to even be able to remotely organize anything (think pirate ravers, kinda, without glow sticks.)

The Revealers, on the other hand, live such opulent and hedonistic lives that they could really care less about killing off other Revealers. And as for the children, let's just say that marriage is unheard of an Ib, and the concept of the family does not exist (everyone's a bastard and really don't know who their mother is, let alone their father)

As for Revelers either killing Revealers or removing their own wicker strands, such things are basically the only thing taboo in the city and are punishable by things FAR worse than death.

And as for religion, I'm not sure it would find a home in a city that parties when they're not killing. ;)

Oh yeah, and thanks for the compliment yo.

[O Senhor Leetz]

CC

Pockets of magic is what I'm going for, but not in the physical sense, if that makes sense.

It's more like magic resides in strange hidden places that, yes, maybe geographical, but more commonly in places that have some kinda of philosophical or emotional, in which case you hit the nail on the head.

In place of magical archeologists, I thought some kinda of "monster" that hunts out these pockets would be cool. Maybe they could be the extremely mutated, corrupted, and insane survivors of the Eldra race? (ps., I really don't like the name Eldra, any suggestions for a pre-Dura race that were magically awesome?)

[O Senhor Leetz]

added stuff on the Unknown South right beneath Ib in Mountains, Oceans, and Sprawls

[Ghostman]

As for Revelers either killing Revealers or removing their own wicker strands, such things are basically the only thing taboo in the city and are punishable by things FAR worse than death.

It is kind of strange that such wild and reckless people would be so willing to obey this taboo. If there's no religion to back up the taboo, what is there to back it up? If a Reveler had demonstrated the power (obviously, through violence and intimidation) to overcome his masters and take their fortunes and slaves for himself, how many other Revelers would dare attack him for the sake of some pious retribution? If he now lives in the palace of a Revealer, commands ships and hune-sugar supplies like a Revealer, and in all likelyhood has lackeys of well-armed Revelers to do his dirty work - then who is to say that he isn't a Revealer? The 'real' Revealers, maybe - but then it becomes a question of whether they have both the will and the power necessary to take down the upstart...

I'm not trying to shoot down your setting, but I do think that there should be reasons for why an utterly lawless cradle of madness and piracy wouldn't degenerate into a "rule of the strongest" type of situation.