Nations:
Name: Mia SilverBirch.
Physical Description:
6ft5 with long brown hair and shimmering purple eye's a light almost cat like slit to them overall. Rather slender overall in terms of actual body. Small burn Mark's across her torso and stomach. Several small scar's litter her shoulders from Nick's from blades during training most likely.
Genetic Traits: (Hair/eye color, physical traits, etc. These genes are dominant.)
Starting Boon: Ancestral Knowledge (See spoiler)
Magical Focuses: Animacy ((major)) Chloromancy ((minor))
Nation Name: The Faenwood Federation.
Nation Fluff: The Faenwood has always been rather..disorganized since the empire fell. Falling to their previously clan like structure upon the empire's fall they were disorganized. Weak. Pathetic. Located on a peninsula jutting out for miles into the ocean. A lush verdant forest full of marshes and open areas of Plain's it had always been rich in wildlife and rather underdeveloped.
Well compared to the rest of the empire of course. Many of the old road's are still visible if ruined and destroyed. The land is riddled with such destruction overgrown by nature. Old tower's inhabited by animal's forts lying abandoned or used as bandit's hideaways. It was a place of ruined infrastructure and fortifications.
Run by 8 clan's having been conquered by 8 different family's having taken and forced their way as clan leaders and disorganized the structure. For many years they were at each other's throat run like monarchy's or whatever government fits their fancy really.
Ultimately this ended in a peaceful unification. The creation of the federation. The 8 clan head's forming together as one nation. One clan head would be elected for life and once they died the clans would vote on who would be the next clan head whether or not the last clan's dynasty remains in power or not or a new clan rise's to leader of the clan's. Now the SilverBirch clan has been elected into power. Mia is rather excited to put her dynasty's magical knowledge to good use....and even more excited to destroy the other clan's and finally cement the SilverBirch dynasty as the eternal leader of the Federation.
The clan's social structures can be different depending upon the clan but the SilverBirch clan has an emphasis on the aristocracy at the top under the premise of a divine rule with the wealthy as their ministers and administrators. Secondly, come those who are officers. Third, come those who are soldiers. Fourth goe's indentured servants and slaves to the SilverBirch themselves. Finally, It comes to the citizens and their slaves beneath them making up the silver birch pecking order.
They are a materialist people prone to vanity one would suppose and are shown to also have an appreciation of nature commonly liking to incorporate tree's structure into their tower's house's and other building's that may be created their shade. The way some bear fruit and the height that can be obtained all give them value to the SilverBirch clans people.
Name: Drachme Rorecross
Physical Description: A surprisingly young man for one in his position, the new Lord Rorecross nonetheless possesses the air of command instantly recognisable to those who know the family. Tall, healthy, graceful, and brimming with enthusiasm, he is evidence that the old blood of the Rorecross line is not yet all spent.
Genetic Traits: Most obviously, pure white hair and violet eyes. An adventurous spirit, to varying degrees, is often noted and many black sheep have been immortalised by history for their feats of daring or exploration.
Starting Boon: Seat of the Old Empire
Magical Focuses: Aeromancy (major); pyromancy (minor)
Nation Name: Varlin
Nation Fluff: The nation of Varlin - so named by its prideful founder, Varlin Rorecross - claims, like so many others, to be the one true successor to the Old Empire. Unlike the others, they actually hold a solid basis for this claim, in the form of Ratvar - the ruined capital, claimed by Varlin as soon as he could convince his men to approach the cursed place, and passed down the line despite several hostile attempts to seize it throughout the generations. As well as the prestige granted by this prize, the exploration and looting archaelogical excavation of the ruins forms a not insignificant part of the country's economy, with a fairly large town building up on the outskirts and even encroaching into some of the outer boroughs of the old city.
The seat of power, though, is in Hulvast, once an unremarkable trading town on the river Hul, a stopping point for vessels on their way to or from Ratvar. Now it is a destination in its own right, having grown massively in population and industry since its rebirth as the new capital of the new empire. This cosmopolitan city is now renowned as a centre of trade (and, as a result, crime), visited by merchants from across the known world. It is home to the Rorecross manor and the Assembly, two magnificent buildings which together form the nucleus of the settlement and the realm.
Over time, as the magical power of the Rorecross bloodline faded, the descendents of Varlin gradually slipped away from his dictatorial style of rule - leading to a shift of power to a new body, which began life as a council of the Lord's trusted advisors and subordinates and has gradually evolved into what is now known as the Assembly. This Assembly consists of various important figures - mainly nobles, the heads of merchant houses and guilds, and representatives of each of the country's regions and towns. This body discusses and votes on many laws and issues, the most important of which is the election from among their number to various positions of power - such as treasurer, or commander of the army - who then form a smaller body, the Council, which undertakes the day-to-day running of the country.
The position of the Rorecrosses in this structure is an interesting one. Theoretically, they still hold overall power - the Assembly rules in their name - but it has never been wielded in recent times and would probably cause a civil war if it was. Instead, the family contents itself as advisors and figureheads; one seat on the Council - that of Lord Protector of Varlin - is permanently reserved for the current Lord Rorecross. This position is these days largely ceremonial, although most holders have taken their duties seriously, and several have had active political lives and wielded much influence on the Council. Drachme's father was not one of the latter, spending much of his time personally exploring the ruins of Rakdar, where a sudden, tragic accident cut his life short.
Name: Geralf Nemonole
Physical Description: While foreigners are often surprised at just how short Lorf Nemonole is, his stocky frame ensures that he is not diminutive, and possesses a strength beyond what a man his size should have, and while he often possesses a vacant, not quite there gaze most of the time, the intensity of his extraordinarily pale eyes on something that interests him can be extremely unnerving if said something is a person.
Genetic Traits: Short, yet sturdy, stature. Extraordinarily pale eyes, with excellent low light vision. A little bit Very scatterbrained. Complete inability to pronounce the letter D, instead substituting an F, there's also a comical inability to take notice of this as well, often to the immense frustration of visiting dignitaries with D's in their name or title.
Starting Boon: Ancestral Knowledge
Magical Focuses: Animancy (Major), Terramancy (Minor)
Nation Name: Gebirge Meritocracy
Nation Fluff: The Landlocked Nation of Gebirge is located in the northern mountainous regions of Grobe Bergkette, where most cities are built over the subterranean 'ruins' of their older selves. According to historical texts, the Nemonole line's darkvision was more widespread, but it has all but faded in the present population, forcing them to abandon what are now referred to as the Undercities. Said Undercities are fairly well explored, and their mines are still in use, however.
When it comes to government, the nation of Gebirge follows a codified list of procedures to ensure due process, and minimize corruption, indeed, there are even procedures to replace even the ruler with another, typically their heir or a sibling, in the event they go mad with power, or are just plain incompetent. While this bureaucracy consisting of Masters of their Craft is prevalent in the higher reaches of society, in general the society is dominated by a strange meritocracy, where privileges and 'wages' are based upon just how valuable your work is for the community, or for how valuable it will be, in the case of apprentices learning their trade. Those teaching their trade get bonuses as well, to help ensure that no techniques are lost to the passage of time. There tends to be very few beggars in the streets, as there is almost always room for more in the old mines of the Undercity, or to gain an apprenticeship into Gebirge's fairly extensive stone or metal working industries, although the few who are left are met with scorn and ridicule, as they have either squandered their wealth, or have not done anything to contribute to society.
Due to the fact that Gebirge's currency is composed of government issued stone credits, international trading is typically done through bartering, trading for things not easy to come by in the mountains, although the nation has noticed that their neighbors have a bit of an odd obsession over gold and silver. And confused and horrified over their system of 'nobility' where a few useless people reap the benefits of society and leave the rest with very little.
While knowledge of the famed Terramancy and Animancy magic of the old times has been all but lost, a few battered and very worn examples of earthen worker constructs have been found and recovered recently in the Great Undercity of the Capital of Bergstadt. While these time-worn constructs are sadly non-functional, and too far gone to enable repair or reverse engineering, what little is left should provide an excellent starting point for Lorf Nemonole's research into the magic of his ancestors.
Name: Lu Zanzer
Physical Description: Lu looks more like a tall dwarf than an a short man. The hair on top of his head is blond and fine, held away from his face in a small knot behind his head. The sides of his head are then shaven incredibly short. Then Lu has a large full beard, composed of the same fine blond hair. His beard hangs down over his chest and is nicely braided to keep it orderly. Behind the beard is a stout man, naturally muscular and beefy. He is fairly short, measuring around five and a half feet tall. His eyes are an crystalline light blue, his features are pleasing, if not somewhat angular. Despite having a natural strength of body, he finds wit, intelligence, strategy, and forethought to be the hallmarks of a good leader.
Genetic Traits: Blond hair, light blue eyes, natural beefiness.
Starting Boon: Populous
Magical Focuses: Demonomancy and Binding
Nation Name: The Nevermelt Imperium
Nation Fluff: The Nevermelt Imperium was one of the first powers to arise after the fall of the Old Kingdom. The colder lands to the north were quickly unified under the leadership of the Zanzer clan. These lands are rich in metals, their ground is extremely fertile, and they maintain a very large population. Yet it is not without danger there. The winters are harsh. The mountains, glaciers, and ancient forests which compose most of the region are equally as unforgiving. For eons, various groups tried to tame this fertile wilderness, each one falling prey to the land's various hazards. Only small encampments and roving marauders managed to eek out a living here. It wasn't until the fall of the Old Kingdom that mankind finally found purchase within these lands. The Zanzer Clan discovered Karakos, an inactive volcano, near the center of the northlands. There they founded a city that bore the same name as the volcano. The mountain gave the Zanzer clan the power they needed to dominate the lands. It gave them heat to ward off the winter winds. It gave them metal to slay the roving beasts. It gave them fertile lands to grow their food. It gave them a fortress to defend against man. The Zanzers power grew, and so did the kity of Korakos, until much of the north had been brought under the banner of The Nevermelt Imperium.
Name: Aaron Thornbrew
Physical Description:
While not a tall man, Aaron Thornbrew is large, his belt line reflecting the prosperity of the Petrisapph Isles. He speaks well, sings happily, and laughs easily, all in a deep baritone suited to his size. He is not wholly soft, having spent most of his young adult life working in the fields and vineyards in some capacity or another.
Genetic Traits: red hair; green eyes; high alcohol tolerance; perfect pitch.
Starting Boon: Wealthy
Magical Focuses: Terramancy (MAJOR), Chloromancy (minor)
Nation Name: Petrisapph Republic
Nation Fluff:
The Petrisapph Isles, once a center agricultural and horticultural advancement, have since languished and been consigned to little more than a novelty and status symbol. Located a few nautical miles off the coast, this small cluster of islands is host to a variety of of fields and vineyards, all planted in patches of the namesake of the republic, a blue loamy soil. To this day, that soil serves as the primary source of the Petrisapph Republic's wealth, though any advancement stalled long ago.
When the founding member of the republic found the islands they were a rather poor site to behold. Surrounded by rocky shoals and rough seas, and home to just a few species of plant and animal. Petyr Petrisapph saw something completely different, a laboratory. Isolated from prying eyes, creeping vines, and grazing sheep, Petyr could conduct botanical experiments under perfect control. He first sterilized a smaller member of the cluster, wiping out any living beings, and turned his eyes to the soil.
Using terramancy that has since been lost, he was able to perfect a soil that could nurse the most fragile of plants into thriving fields and orchards, and was resistant to the depletion that plagues natural soil. It was in these patches of blue soil that he cultured some of his most stunning achievements. Eventually, this enterprise turned towards the generation of wealth through trade. Descendants of Petyr perfected various industries grounded in his plants. Cotton that repelled water, medicinal preparations for the most difficult of illnesses, trees that produce lumber as strong as iron, and fruits that could sustain a sailor for a week. The Petrisapph Republic prospered, and there was peace and cooperation between the various branches of the lineage that formed the modern houses.
These things were built on magic though, and as that magic faded, so too did the peace and prosperity. The modern Petrisapph Republic does not make miracles, it makes high end wine that tastes novel with every sip, iridescent clothes, and sturdy golden hardwoods that are favored by the rich. The various houses fight for control, with the Thornbrew house being rather new in its power. Some say the soil is losing its sustaining power, and that the crops have sickened over the years. There is enough wealth yet in the coffers, and magic in the soil, to sustain the Republic for a few years, but its trajectory is not hard to chart.
Name: Fan Wen Xianghu
Physical Description: Delicate but clever, the adolescent empress Fan Wen treasures beauty as well as dominating her opponents. Though soft-spoken, Fan Wen has a commanding presence and much influence among the nobles as the imperial cult have in the past millennia venerated her dynasty as the divine children of the many-tentacled deities their people worshiped. Like most of her nobles, Fan Wen wears white face paint with henna that resemble tiny suction cup marks arranged into intricate patterns.
Genetic Traits: Green eyes, black hair, sensitive skin.
Starting Boon: Stronger Navy
Magical Focus: Aquamancy (Major) and Animancy(minor)
Nation Name:Xianghisu Theocracy
Nation Fluff:
The Xianghisu Theocracy had been one of the greatest maritime nations in the world. An island nation, the Xianghinese have always considered the seas the birthplace of their people. The seas have not only been a means of food and commerce but a sign that they were truly destined to rule. The Xianghinese worship the Oceanic Bureaucracy, a pantheon of gods and goddesses that resembled humans with a mass of tentacles in place of legs. For this reason, squids, octopi and other tentacled creatures are considered sacred and thus their slaughter and consumption are forbidden on pain of death unless it can be proven accidental or extremely necessary. From their pagodas to their ship designs to even the style of their armor and weapons, the images of their venerated sea creatures are evident.
The Xianghu Dynasty are venerated as the human descendants of the Bureaucracy and their word is treated as law. To prevent inbreeding, a distant ruler mandated that each successive ruler must choose an unrelated person to be their spouse. As a result, many nobles have vied with each other to please Fan Wen enough to get themselves or their sons married to her. Most of the nobility, men included, have taken to painting their faces white and adding designs consisting of tiny rings that are not unlike the marks left by the suction cups of tentacled creatures as a sign of reverence and fervor. According to the teachings of the imperial cult, the Sacred Temple of the Sea, it is the Theocracy's divine destiny to erect temples throughout the world and convert others to the faith, whether they are willing or not.
Having rules the waves for the past millennia, the Xianghinese Navy has a well deserved reputation for ferocity and bravery in the face of adversity, whether against pirates or even other navies. Their experienced shipwrights can build a ship at half the time it takes for other nations to build and their famed marines can conduct devastating raids on enemy coastal towns. However, because of recent rumors that the other nations were gearing up for war, Fan Wen passed an edict to double the size of her navy to defend Xianghisu and to continue to dominate the seas.
However, the Oceanic Bureaucracy seemed to be displeased or rather silent recently as the amount of fish being caught by the Theocracy's ships are dwindling rapidly each year and a devastating drought threatened to halt the planting of crops. Hoping to feed her people as well as raise their morale, Fan Wen consulted her high priestess, whose enigmatically message led her to a temple hidden inside a sea cave. Encountering inscriptions on its walls, Fan Wen begin to study them. In a few months, she realized that they were nothing less than instructions for spells that controlled water as well as gave life to inanimate objects. Realizing that they were written by none over than her ancestor who founded Xianghisa, Fan Wen quickly learned all she could understand. By the time she returned to her people, Fan Wen had the power to redirect the sea's currents to bring more fish to Xianghinese seas and to end the drought. However, she knew that she didn't have the power to continue doing it so Fan Wen turned toward other lands, a grand scheme already forming in her head...
Name: Pharaoh Nemotep the Great
Description (leader): Nemotep has a very Mediterranean complexion, with well-tanned skin, dark hair, and dark eyes. He’s very fit, and has amassed an impressive collection of scars over the years. He takes pride in his scars, and in the collection of ornamental, fake beards that serve as one of his badges of office. Though it’s in fashion at the moment, he avoids blackening his teeth because he doesn’t like how the rinses used to do it taste. A warrior and scholar as much as a king, Nemotep is rarely seen without his bronze armor, or a scroll, whether of fiction or of a report from somewhere in his kingdom. He is very active in rule, in peace and in war, and ambitious to boot. That said, he has a long way to go if he wants to see his ambitions become reality.
Genetic Traits: Tan to dark skin, black hair, tall, lithe builds, excellent endurance, sickle cell anemia, sparse to no facial hair, good teeth.
Starting Boon: Popular
Magical Focuses: Necromancy (primary), Healing (secondary)
Nation Name: The Kingdom of Hakaram
Nation Fluff: Nemotep the Great, along with most Hakaramites, grew up hearing tales of the glories of his ancestors. How they could not be felled in battle, how they were the strongest warriors in all the land. How they created a great utopia, enforced by their invincible, immortal warriors, so great that the ancient Pharaohs ascended to become gods! However, all Hakaram has now is a single, relatively fertile island, a lot of tombs full of cursed treasures they dare not mess with, and a lot of neighboring islands who aren’t exactly fond of how the Hakaramites supplement their lack of mineral resources and livestock with enthusiastic raiding by ship. Pharaoh Nemotep dreams of a day where he can recreate the utopia of his ancestors. The strong become nigh-unstoppable, regenerating warriors. The honored fallen are transformed into almighty servants of the people and state, as immortal as they are invincible. And the weak, well, somebody’s got to do the menial labor, and according to the old texts mummified servitors are so much more efficient than living slaves.
All he needs are, well, a lot of things. The Island of Hakaram has a fair bit of vegetation and produces a lot of food, but they’re always short on wood, iron, and meat. So much so that even he, the great Pharaoh, must go without iron weapons to let the front-line warriors have the best chance of success. He desperately needs more resources; conquering the other islands in the Kantamun Archepelago would help, but it would take a lot of islands to truly supply the war machine he plans to one day have.
Gaining a foothold on the mainland is also a critical step, once they have enough of a navy and army to attempt it, and this might be the hardest part yet. Pharaoh Nemotep has never actually been to the mainland except on raids, including one particularly memorable one where they stole an entire copper roof from a church, which was melted down to make the bronze for his armor among other things (somebody on the mainland is probably still pretty unhappy about that one). Still, he’s confident that at least one of the mainland powers will see the benefits inherent in allying themselves with the future rulers of the world.
But perhaps the most important step is rediscovering the old magics. Nemotep can’t make an army of regenerating super-soldiers backed up by even more super undead soldiers and legions of mummy servants if he doesn’t have the sorcery. Right now, he has some weaksauce healing spells he barely knows how to cast, and a skeleton rat familiar he’s taken to calling Anklebiter. Anklebiter was a happy accident, though he at least means something from the old family scrolls works right. It’s a start at least.
On the plus side, Nemotep’s enthusiastic endorsement of raiding, strong military leadership, enthusiastic promotion of literacy, and effective management of the kingdom’s finances means that he’s rather popular among all walks of life. That he promises eternal life and more time off (possibly for their descendants) doesn’t hurt his chances. He’s also got a very defensible island that can grow enough food to sustain a much larger population than it has, and some native spices that could be excellent cash crops if he knew who to sell them to.
The Kingdom of Hakaram will rule the world someday. Of this, Nemotep is certain. But, in the meantime, it’d be nice to be able to kit all his soldiers and workers with iron. Or maybe even this “stel” he’s heard rumors of, assuming it really exists. That stuff sounds neat.
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Topic: From the Ashes of the Old Empire [OOC] (6/6) (Read 4234 times)