Mare Eternus Discussion

[Nomadic]

One thing I have trouble with in reading Mare Eternus (as a relative newcomer) is that I fairly often find myself struggling to find where the new information is - would you be able to include the new information in a spoiler in the post where you announce that you've updated for ease of review? :)

I can do that.

[Xathan]

Awesome - I'll look forward to seeing what else you come up with, because the more I see the more I fall in love with this setting. :D

[Nomadic]

Well since I've made some promises to do a game at some point soon I figured I might as well take the knowledge of the setting I have so far and utilize it to craft an area for a game session. Since this isn't anything I'm sure on and I may be changing and editing it alot I'm going to keep it in the discussion thread, also feedback is appreciated if you have it. This should be a good chance for me to craft the feel of the game so we'll see how it goes.

[ic=Burke]
"Burke isn't exactly mainstream society, in fact if anything it's about as far from mainstream society as you can get without going to one of the thousands of lawless bolt holes to be found out here in this nasty patch of sea called Zendakol. We aren't upper crust by any stretch of the imagination, but we have rules and standards. We're what you might call a safe haven. We see to the mines and Mr Burke in turn sees to our pay and protection. He may be a miser in most regards, but at least when it comes to safety, pirates and bandits know to steer well clear of our little world. Out here that counts for alot."

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

Burke is a name, a name with meaning. It is the name of a miner's village, a successful boom town in an area where such things can't normally survive. It is the name of the world that town can be found in. To most though the name Burke means a man, one particular man in general. A wealthy Tilei businessman with some shady connections and a vice-like grip on his profit margin, Mr Burke has made it big in an area where others have failed. Where other merchants hired guards to drive off thieves and pirates, Mr Burke hired himself a private army and took the fight to the thieves and pirates. Where the constant attrition of being preyed on drove others off, Mr Burke got hit once and responded by going to war with every Pirate faction within a day's journey of his operation. His brutal viciousness and unwavering tenacity has cemented for him a form of respect within the local criminal community. They leave Burke alone, and in return he doesn't drop a fleet of subs on their doorsteps. "Mad Dog" Burke has become a fixture of the local area, and a very wealthy one.

His operation is a lucrative one, stripping tons of valuable ores and processing them before shipping them out in armed convoys to be sold in Hub Markets. Burke is a world like few others, thick with valuable ore veins wherein can be found all manner of minerals from lowly but sturdy iron to rare and valuable Zendakite Gold. To remove this ore Burke employs an army of workers, drawn from poor families, orphanages, and anywhere else he can find people down on their luck and willing to do back breaking labor in exchange for little more than room, board, and very modest pay. They mine ore, break it down, purify and smelt it, and ship it off for sale in constant shifts. The town of Burke doesn't sleep.

Fort Burke
The Burke Estate sits atop a hill overlooking the rest of the town. It is nothing more than a walled in mansion, the only such one to be found in the town. However the solidly built walls, multiple towers, and patrolling guardsmen give it more the appearance of a manned fortress, from which it gets its local nickname.

The Foundry

Barter Row

The Warrens

Burke Mines

[/ic]

[LordVreeg]

Truly up my alley, seeming to be an interconnected area full of disparate interwoven parts...

[Skyfire]

After reading through most of it, I quite like Mare Eternus so far. There is enough diversity of species and tech levels to open up many opportunities for adventure. Your description of Moyrasmere is neat as well - I always like to read about how the common people get by in any setting.

However, I have a few lingering concerns about the general physics of your universe. I understand that this is a fantastical one, but there should be at least a few things that players can understand coming into their first session here without heavy reading.

-Is there a surface? You mention zeppelins, but without flying in the air, I would think they'd just be larger submarines.

-I think a map or diagram of at least one of the Worlds would help to imagine what they are like. You mention that they are small, yet describe many different types of terrain within them. Maybe they are stacked, or contain many different layers, like an onion.

-Lastly, is the ocean safe to drink, or do people have to rely on freshwater lakes/streams within the Worlds to find non-salty water?

[Nomadic]

After reading through most of it, I quite like Mare Eternus so far. There is enough diversity of species and tech levels to open up many opportunities for adventure. Your description of Moyrasmere is neat as well - I always like to read about how the common people get by in any setting.

However, I have a few lingering concerns about the general physics of your universe. I understand that this is a fantastical one, but there should be at least a few things that players can understand coming into their first session here without heavy reading.

-Is there a surface? You mention zeppelins, but without flying in the air, I would think they'd just be larger submarines.

-I think a map or diagram of at least one of the Worlds would help to imagine what they are like. You mention that they are small, yet describe many different types of terrain within them. Maybe they are stacked, or contain many different layers, like an onion.

-Lastly, is the ocean safe to drink, or do people have to rely on freshwater lakes/streams within the Worlds to find non-salty water?

Heh glad you liked it. To answer your questions there is no surface to the greater ocean. However the worlds are semi-hollow (crisscrossed with caves and caverns) and generally air filled. The interiors of these worlds are where air breathers live (and where you see stuff like zeppelins and normal cities and such). They also aren't completely closed. So you'll have sections in a world where there's a hole in the "wall" and water comes through and you end up with a sort of moon pool effect. So you'll get seas and lakes and such inside of worlds where the ocean water and the internal air find stability.

Regarding world size they're small in comparison to the Earth. Some of them would be quite massive to a person (100-300 miles across). These largest worlds are big enough to host multiple biomes and even weather systems inside them. I have tried to map one before but it's very difficult, they are 3-dimensional in layout with as you said many different layers.

The ocean being fresh or salt isn't something I've really delved into too much. I suspect that it could go either way. I might rule that it's salty just so that it would be easier to have a salt trade. Finding fresh water would either involve finding internal rivers and river fed lakes or in making it yourself (just boil and condense the ocean water).

Thanks for the feedback. :)

[LordVreeg]

The water goes both ways.   Thank gods.

[Skyfire]

Do you have any ideas on measuring larger intervals of time in Mare Eternus? I know you have the cogs, providing second/day measurements.

I guess without a star there's be a much different definition of a 'year'. Maybe there is some large clockwork chronometer/calendar that the civilizations base their time off of, or possibly the time since an important event in the past (like the arrival of their home in the Expanse, for the Gerrag).

[Nomadic]

Do you have any ideas on measuring larger intervals of time in Mare Eternus? I know you have the cogs, providing second/day measurements.

I guess without a star there's be a much different definition of a 'year'. Maybe there is some large clockwork chronometer/calendar that the civilizations base their time off of, or possibly the time since an important event in the past (like the arrival of their home in the Expanse, for the Gerrag).

Yea something I realized was that without a conventional solar system there wouldn't be a conventional day, month, or year. I've been considering the impact of this (it's quite profound to be honest). I agree with you though that one thing that is needed is a standardized timekeeping system. I was thinking of going a bit metric on it with ticks of clockwork being the base of the system (and akin to a second in our world) and building off of that in multiples of 10. I don't want to confuse people though so I'd want to keep it as simple as possible I'm sure. I like your idea of having the current age pull its calendar from an ancient event. I think the event that would make the most sense would be the foundation of the Pearl Way Alliance.