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[Mlamlah]

The Kingdom has fallen.

A kingmaker in the political struggles of more powerful world powers, the Kingdom has long been sandwiched between the interests of those same powers. For centuries, it has managed to maintain its own sovereignty despite occasional world-shaking conflicts it stood in the center of.
This is no longer. The royal family has been deposed, it's holdings plundered, and treaties now divide its territories between the world powers, and whatever lords who were willing to vassalize themselves early in the conflict. Most who who might lay claim to the venerable throne now conquered lie dead in a cull intended to consolidate the seized power. Most.

There is at least one heir. A child of the deposed monarch, and that child is your charge. You are their tutor, a family member disinherited from succession for your inability to conceive, and now it is your responsibility to ensure that child might have a chance to reclaim their own inheritance.

To what lineage do you and this child belong to?

Stage one of Character and World Building.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

This decision will decide not only part of the flavor of the Kingdom, but also of the world this story will take place in. We may find ourselves in a more historical setting, a world where supernatural horrors stalk the night, high fantasy, or a swords and sandals world. The exact flavor will be influenced by these and future decisions, but political intrigue will probably be the primary focus of the story itself.

A) You descend from Iron Age Chiefs. Clan Kings with roots in the land. (I will take inspiration from Gaellic/Germanic/Norse history)
B) You descend from those who brought a republic of antiquity to heel under an autocratic leader. (I will take inspiration from Greco-Roman history.)
C) You descend from a long line of medieval lords, with blood ties across many nations. (I will take inspiration from western european history)
D) You descend from an old dynasty, in a world that has already begun to chafe under the rule of monarchs. (I will take inspiration from enlightenment europe, before and perhaps during the French Revolution.)
E) Your descendants have ruled a nation deep below the earth, in a world where the sun never shines. (I will take inspiration from works of fiction containing an Underdark-like subterranean world.)
F) Your descendants carved a fiefdom in the ruins of a civilisation now lost to history. (Post-apocalyptic fantasy, though i'm inclined to head more towards a world like Kenshi rather than Shanarra.)
G) Your descendants were of a venerable civilization that humans do not possess an easy point of reference to. (Choose this if you want something more traditionally fantasy-like, but without the trappings of those starting points i've already mentioned. A good choice if you're thinking something traditional like a Dwarven Mountain Kingdom or an Wood Elf civilisation.)

[Mlamlah]

-Might as well reserve this just in case-

[Glass]

I vote F. It’s always fun to have lots of ancient artifacts to find.

[Tyrant Leviathan]

F is a bold choice that can lead to many interesting plot twists. That’s why I vote there. Instead of being a drifter seeking survival and justice, your trying to work your hands to claim this world. Through your nephew. ( I think nephew.)

[MrThrowaway]

E. I like the idea of having to navigate around both political problems and the unseen horrors of the earth.

[crazyabe]

F.

[Mlamlah]

Like many feudal societies in history, yours was born in the centuries after the cascading collapse of another more educated and technologically sophisticated culture. So thorough was this collapse, that even the most learned scholars of many nations have little to no understanding of how those who lived before even lived their lives.
Ancient cultures themselves do not concern you however, beyond whatever tangible effect they have had on the present day. Perhaps they and their works have eroded into dust, or perhaps some remnant of them remains?

Stage Two of World Generation

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Technology
A) There is no longer any understanding of any of the sophisticated technologies which may be leftover after the fall of civilization. Anything remaining is a rare artifact, doomed to eventually wear down. Even nonfunctional objects however, may have become ceremonial icons of significant cultural significance. What ancient architecture remains is likewise treated with significant regard. Society has had to muddle its way past a new Iron Age in the meantime.
B) A smattering of old world disciplines have been preserved with limited proficiency, leading to a world filled with an anachronistic combination of crude copies of advanced technology and medieval technology.
C) An elite priesthood has dedicated itself to the preservation and hoarding of old technology. These tech-priests work diligently to piece together what was, while leveraging their seemingly magical abilities to exert influence and power over world affairs.
D) Come up with an interesting concept, and hope for some plus ones!

What Destroyed the Old World?
A)) Violent Environmental Collapse. Perhaps the old worlders settled on a world which was far more extreme than they had anticipated, or perhaps they caused natural disasters on a level which shifted continents and oceans. Things have since calmed, but are nonetheless still extreme by modern earth standards.
B)) Crossover Event. For a moment, the old world touched ... Somewhere Else. Things from that Awful Somewhere crossed over, and have remained. (Good idea to agree amongst yourselves wether we are referring to something akin to The Witcher or something more lovecraftian in its awfulness.
C)) Superweapons. The old world annihilated itself using the most direct method, mutually assured destruction. This has left scars, and depending on the weapons in question, may have changed life in the world forever.
D) Come up with an interesting concept, and hope for some plus ones!

What is the geography of your own nation's territory?
A) A relatively temperate area, with a mix of plains and forests. Weather may be effected by the above periodically in the case of more extreme circumstances.
B )A sand blasted wasteland, interspersed by lush jungle like conditions congregating around water sources.
C) A cold, arctic like environment, with long winters and short summers.
D) A coastal environment in a Mediterranean-like region.
E) Come up with an interesting concept, and hope for some plus ones!

[IronyOwl]

D. Old technology exists in abundance, but it is ruinous and foul. Scholars are uncertain whether the Old World had means of utilizing these gifts without consequence, or if they simply did not care for the state of their bodies, souls, surroundings, and minds. Regardless, in the modern age only the most reckless or well-prepared dare sample the fruits of yesteryear.

A. If the ample bones are anything to go by, each region of the world has had every climate, ecology, and disaster imaginable at some point. Hope remains in each nation that it will avoid violent reversals for the foreseeable future.

D. It may be on the warm side, but it's well connected to the rest of the world. Or at least, the parts considered worth caring about.

[Taricus]

C, C, D

[Glass]

B, A, D.

At least we all agree on part 3.

[MrThrowaway]

A, A, D

[crazyabe]

D - There is little remaining knowledge of old world technology, and those who do know are often viewed as witches do to...
D - A Crossover event- it didn't directly change anything immediately, but let... somethings into our machines, these things were not friendly by majority and don't abide by our world's rules.  a Battle of mutual destruction occurred and both us and the things within the machines were crippled, us by a lack of tech, them by a lack of 'bodys'.  However that is not the end, the crossover never truly ended and our worlds are becoming closer all the time...
D.

[RulerOfNothing]

D. Old technology exists in abundance, but it is ruinous and foul. Scholars are uncertain whether the Old World had means of utilizing these gifts without consequence, or if they simply did not care for the state of their bodies, souls, surroundings, and minds. Regardless, in the modern age only the most reckless or well-prepared dare sample the fruits of yesteryear.

A. If the ample bones are anything to go by, each region of the world has had every climate, ecology, and disaster imaginable at some point. Hope remains in each nation that it will avoid violent reversals for the foreseeable future.

D. It may be on the warm side, but it's well connected to the rest of the world. Or at least, the parts considered worth caring about.

+1

[Glass]

D. Old technology exists in abundance, but it is ruinous and foul. Scholars are uncertain whether the Old World had means of utilizing these gifts without consequence, or if they simply did not care for the state of their bodies, souls, surroundings, and minds. Regardless, in the modern age only the most reckless or well-prepared dare sample the fruits of yesteryear.

A. If the ample bones are anything to go by, each region of the world has had every climate, ecology, and disaster imaginable at some point. Hope remains in each nation that it will avoid violent reversals for the foreseeable future.

D. It may be on the warm side, but it's well connected to the rest of the world. Or at least, the parts considered worth caring about.

+1

But it's no fun if all the cool toys are evil and want to kill you and everything around you.

[King Zultan]

C, C, D

+1