IC is up!
Long ago, the mortal races lived on a single world - the shell of the great earth goddess, Teryavere. But when her heart was broken, so deep was her grief that her very body broke and scattered to the heavens. The mortal races were cast out into the void - but they persevered, building ships that sailed the Ether and colonies to rebuild what was lost.
Life is preserved by the binding of spirits and demons, who provide gravity and air, heat and fertile soil. Such binding are possible through mana, mined from the rock or through the blood rituals of the elves.
As one of several, you have banded together and have purchased a old, run down ship - for whatever reason, you plan to sail the void. Are you looking for wealth? Every man has heard the rumours of the fragments of the Goddess hidden in the void. For power? Mighty captains command fleets, and men spring to action at their word, and many had beginnings as humble as you are now.
Revenge?
Whatever the reason, you have decided that you will sail the void - for all things can be found in the Ocean of Stars...
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SPIRITS AND DEMONS
Spirits and demons are the basis of life in the Final Ocean. They both require mana, which is crystallised magic energy. Mana is associated with the sun, and can be found in greater quantities the more in-system you go. Mana is both a fuel and a currency - small disks of purified mana are often used as coins.
SPIRITS
Spirits are very simple, magic given basic life and a command by a mage. When summoned, the mage will attempt to give the spirit a focus. A fire spirit would deal with heat, typically producing; a spirit of decay could crumble rock into dust and rot food. Spirits are almost mindless, but dislike being given life - if their binding is broken they typically release all the mana they're holding as quickly as possible and cease existence. This makes them safer in many sense than demons, as they will never form grudges, but their abilities are limited in scope. A spirit that exists for a very long time can become a demon.
A skilled spiritologist can give them more advanced commands and bind stronger spirits.
An example of a command a spirit could fulfil is "Increase the power of this crossbow."
An example of a command a spirit could not fulfil is "When a enemy approaches, fire the crossbow at him."
DEMONS
Demons are intelligent, animate forces of magic. Demons have their own thoughts and opinions, even if many of them are not terribly bright. Binding them is more complicated, but done well demons can be much more useful than spirits. Demons also have focuses, but this restricts them less than a spirit. Some demons are malignant, and may try to trick or harm their binder, but some may be befriended and help beyond their duty as best they can. Demons may form grudges, particularly if they are desummoned by running out of mana. This is very unpleasant for the demon. Demons claim to reside in the Not-Here when not summoned, but that is as much as they will say about the matter.
Demons associated with plants and life are called Fey, and have a particular connection with Elves and the goddess Teryavere. All races use Fey to an extent, to assist in growing crops vital for life. Very weak demons are often called things like Gremlins, and powerful ones Devils, but in truth the categorisation is without solid boundaries.
Particular demons can be summoned by using their name and modifying the ritual to their affinity. A ritual designed to summon a demon without specifying the name of the demon gets one according to the skill of the demonologist. A cleverer, more powerful demon can fulfil commands better, but often falls into resentment quicker - or has sinister intentions from the start.
When summoned, a demon has a malignancy roll. The lower it is, the more a demon is likely to try to 'creatively interpret' your orders or outright try to work against you (as far as it can, being bound).
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MAP
SUN---Golska--- Ynidus---The Scatter---Tanglewoods---Losanii---Britagl
GOLSKA
A burning world. Far to close to the sun to support life. The surface is airless and molten, and contains great quantities of mana, but none can get to it and live.
YNIDUS
Ynidus itself is deadly hot, with the temperature in the sun too great to survive - the very stone turns to lava doing the day. The atmosphere is poisonous and more acidic the closer to the surface you go. The night is cooler, and in it lives the dwarves in their walking cities. Has thick deposits of mana, which allow the great cities to continue to function. Few outsiders come to Ynidus and stay - some dwarves leave on the trade-ships alongside shipments of mana and metals.
THE SCATTER
The world-that-was. Nothing more than a thick asteroid field, the Scatter hosts to disparate nations of humanity. Contains many relics of the old world, and perhaps even tiny fragments of the dead goddess. Medium levels of mana deposits. Thick with merchant traders, navies and raiders. A good level of resources, much of which go to repulsing the constant elf raids. Friendliness depends on wealth and location. Elves are rarely welcomed on their own, but both they and dwarves have small populations with the Scatter
TANGLEWOOD
The Tanglewood is the primary home of the elves. This is a great cluster of gnarled roots and branches holding together clusters of rocks and ice. Greatly overcrowded, it constantly grows the great hollow trees the elves use as ships before they break off and sail towards the Scatter to raid. Contains a large shard of the goddess, which is bolstered by constant sacrifice. Hostile to outsiders, but perhaps one strong enough to prove themselves. Poor in resources.
LOSANII
A gas giant. The moons within the rings are small, and not particularly rich. Has a small population of humans and non-Tanglewood elves, who live a harsh life fearing raiders.
BRITAGL
A frozen wasteland. Small, and far from the sun, it has little heat and little mana. Perhaps a few hermits live here, hwing out a basic life. If one wished to never be found, they would come here.
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RACES
HUMANS
Themes: renaissance; advancement
Bonus: +2 for crafting and rituals involving only spirits.
Humans can be found in disparate nations throughout the Scatter, clinging on to the remmants of the Old World. With access to the ruins that remain, they are perhaps the most technologically advanced, which helps them hold back the elven raiders. With decent mana supplies to power their ships and islands, they are currently expanding despite elven raids.
Humans tend to rely on simple spirits rather than demons, preferring to try to make up the gaps with technology.
DWARVES
Themes: toil; endurance
Bonus: +4 health; +2 to resist hostile conditions (the void, smoke inhalation, etc)
After the Scattering, many dwarves found themselves ill-suited for life in the void. To that end, they settled on Ynidus. Golska was too hot beyond any spirit or demons' means to fix - Losanii had no surface, and Britagl was both distant and infinitely cold, with few mana deposits at all.
Ynidus itself is deadly hot, with the temperature in the sun too great to survive - the very stone turns to lava doing the day. The atmsosphere is poisonous and more acidic the closer to the surface you go. The night is cooler, however, and the dwarves have adapted to their new world but keeping to the night - they have build cities on the backs of titanic, crab like behemoths of enchanted stone that trudge endlessly across the surface, dwarves swarming down to quickly mine mana deposits and fleeing before the sun comes up. The walking cities rarely come near each other, and when they do there is other a flurry of trade - and violence on the surface over mana deposits.
The dwarves use springjacks, giant stone devices shaped like fleas that spring into the upper atmosphere to catch or release ships to allow trade and movement between the surface and the void.
Unfortunately, they are not the only ones living on the world. Many dragons descended from the void, quickly adapting to the hostile surface. These wyrms prey on the dwarves that leave the cities to mine.
ELVES
Themes: struggle; ferocity
Bonus: +2 dodge, +2 to rituals involving Fey; -4 to rituals involving other demons.
The elves, after the Scattering, found themselves in a desperate position. Their innate connection to fey demons, opposed to any other, meant they were limited in their magics. They also had very little resources of metals or mana available. With their prodigious birthrate, it also meant that the few resources they had were stretched to their limits.
The elves responded to this by becoming raiders, reliant on blood magic, to ensure their civilisation continued. They sail the ether in great trees that detach from the jumble of rock and roots called the Tanglewood, raiding and pillaging anything they can. Fortunately for the humans, with the elves poor supplies and lack of knowledge on siegecraft they are rarely able to hold territory they take.
The Tanglewood is maintained by a shard of the Earth Goddess, who is mainly powered by the sacrifice of captives - the elves have very little mana deposits.
The Elves have developed a caste-based structure based on martial and magical ability.
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There are many dangers in the void.
The not least of those are running out of supplies or power. This is slightly abstracted.
The ship typically runs off mana - the mana used for fuel and used as money typically differs in purity, but money can be used as fuel if needed. Ship mana is less purified, sold in barrels, and takes up room in the ship hold. The more enchantments on a ship, the more fuel it uses up per day. Without power, you will no longer have things such as gravity, movement, or air. This is typically best avoided.
Supplies are simply food and water. This goes down based on the number of crew on the ship per day.
Sometimes you will be attacked by - or attack - other ships or creatures such as space dragons. If such a thing occurs, there is a chance you will be exposed to the void in the course of battle. If unprotected by a spacesuit, you will have to pass a consecutively harder roll each turn or take damage.
MONEY
Money is in the form of highly purified disks of mana, the size of coins. In an emergency, this can be used for power. Purified mana is represented with a m - so a dagger could cost 10m, for example. 1m can buy five units of fuel.
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Name: your name, son
Gender: try and guess
Race: Human, elf, or dwarf.
HP: 10 unless modified
Skills: Choose two of the following skills, or make a suggestion for me to consider.
COMBAT
Brute: +2 damage in melee
Brawler: +2 damage when unarmed
Fighter: +2 accuracy in melee
Marksman: +2 accuracy at range
Survivor: +4 HP
Sneak: you gain a +2 bonus to attempts to hide.
Double weapon: you can use a knife or shortsword sized weapon in the offhand without penalty.
SAILING:
Navigator: +2 on navigation rolls
Skilled pilot: +2 on manoeuvring small spaceships
Repairman: +2 to repairing objects and ships
Gunner: +2 to hit with ship weaponry
SUMMONING
Basic spiritologist: +2 on summoning spirits
Basic demonologist: +2 on summoning demons
Demonfriend: +2 on malignancy rolls involving demons
Demon Ally: you know the name of a particular, medium strength demon. This should be discussed with me as to the limits and benefits.
SOCIAL:
Charismatic: +2 on rolls to convince people
Ally: you have a particular ally, who you can appeal to for particular help. This should be discussed with me as to the limits and benefits.
Doctor: +2 on rolls involving medicine and healing
Starting gear: You have ten points to distribute for equipment. Things such as ordinary clothes, soap, paper, etc, you can assume to have.
Weapons:
These may be the precise items listed or an equivalent: a mace is equal to a shortsword, etc
Brass knuckles: 1d3, counts as unarmed, one hand: 1 p
Dagger: 1d4, one hand: 1p
Shortsword/shortaxe: 1d6, one hand: 2p
Longsword/ battleaxe:1d8, one hand: 3p
Greatsword: 2d5, two handed: 4p
Ranged weapons come with 10 of their relevant ammunition.
Shortbow: 1d6, two handed: 2p
Longbow: 1d8, two handed: 3p
Light crossbow: 2d4, two handed, reloads: 2p
Heavy crossbow: 2d5, two handed, reloads: 3p
Hand crossbow: 1d6, one handed, reloads: 3p (note - it takes a second hand to reload)
Musket: 2d6, two handed, reloads: 5p
10 arrows: 1p
10 bolts: 2p
10 cartridges: 3p
Armour:
Armour can have two effects: it can increase or decrease your armour class - how hard it is for you to be hit - and increase your damage resistance, which reduces the damage you take when you are.
Buckler: +1AC, one hand: 2p
Light shield: +2AC, one hand: 3p
Heavy shield: +3AC, one hand: 4p
Heavy robes: +1AC: 3p
Leathers: +2AC: 4p
Chainmail: +1AC, +1DR: 4p
Splint mail: +2 DR: 5p
Light plate: -1 AC, +3DR: 5p
Heavy plate: -2AC, +5DR: 6p
Summoning:
Book of Spiritology: +2 to spirit rituals turn after reading: 5p
Book of Demonology: +2 to demon rituals turn after reading: 6p
Medical:
Bandages: Heals 1HP. Cannot stack for the same wound. 1 use. 1p
Antidote: cures common poisons. 1 use. 2p
Basic medical kit: each use heals 1/2/3/4+ HP, depending on the roll. 5 uses. 3p
Advanced medical kit: each use heals 3/4/5/6+ HP, depending on roll. 5 uses. Cures common poisons. 5p
Your special item:
This is something important to your character, and quite possibly valuable. A spyglass? If this is a exceedingly good weapon or suit of armour, it will give extra benefits, but you would still have to purchase the item with points beforehand.
Description: looks and personality
Backstory: who are you?
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Any questions, or has everyone been scared off by that wall of text?