Notices and Summary:
Kind of a lack of turns recently... Maybe this game is in its last days. But as long as there is even one turn made, I'll be here too.
but I do wonder how did i offend people to make them leave like that?
TURNS:
(Kakaluncha, Year 339)
Ndara orders the creation of philosophical schools on Hope's Claw. They see some success.
Ndara orders the creation of art schools on Hope's Claw. They see little success or attendance.
Some Griffons go to the Great Scar University to learn about magic. They learn about all the elements and ways of casting magic.
(Unraveller, Year 339.2)
Gratz'nuut and his exiled band of orcs go to the Chaos domain and carve a path through the mutated wildlife all the way to the Eye of Chaos. The Aetherials were impressed and offered them the power of true Chaos.
Jarl Wülfhærd and his men somehow travel to Elysium, spend time with Elysians, run out of food, eat bugs and realize that they are stuck on Elysium. At least the hot springs are good.
(Strik3r, Year 339.3)
Elysians of the University and the Elysian Gardens suddenly take off to the south, becoming a roving band of Elysians known as "Elysian Nomads"
WORLD STATE:
The Construction of the Zchuldae Khanate's Capital, Chaos Coalition's Rift, the White Tower and the Moon Tower has progressed. The Moon Tower is close to completion.
RollsNdara orders the creation of philosophical schools on Hope's Claw1d20=11
Several such schools were opened and although their attendance is greater than that of the Art Schools, its still limited. But that isn't the main problem with them. With new ideas come new theories, theories that may be unfavorable to Ndara. Although little more than idle philosophical theories, there is a trend of laying a critical eye on all aspects of the Griffons' society, its traditions and its rulers, past and present.
Ndara orders the creation of art schools on Hope's Claw1d20=8
Although art schools were opened, attendance has remained incredibly low, its unknown whether Griffons just aren't interested in art as a whole or they lack the time to practice...
Griffons go to the Great Scar University1d20=19
When the Griffons arrived at the Great Scar University, they were surprised at being greeted in their OWN language. It turns out that after the scouts initial visit to the University, the Magi succeeded in translating the Griffons' own language, thanks in part to the overly talkative scouts and the Magi filled the blanks in their understanding of the language via magical trickery, a Spirit based translation spell, apparently developed in a hurry to better understand Elysians after they begun to get anxious and restless. Sadly the spell proved to be useless for that.
Speaking of Elysians, the Griffons' presence seemed to have a bit of a calming effect on them.
The University welcomed the Griffons to study magic within its walls. And study they did.
They learned of all of 9 magical elements:
Arcane: The most rigid and limited of the magics, but also the most powerful in terms of raw power.
Chaos: The least predictable, but also the most versatile. There are few things that can not be done with Chaos magic. Most of the world's greatest magical achievements were done with Chaos magic.
Spirit: Equally as versatile as Chaos, but in a different way. Summoning spirits, animating objects, psychic spells and Necromancy are all Spirit magic.
Earth: Another extremely versatile element, just on the account of how much it encompasses.
Air: A rare element, but one likely sympathetic to Griffons. Wind, rain and lightning can all be called and manipulated with Air magic. The first spell that Griffons at the University made was an Air spell, known as "Slipstream", that allows Griffons to increase their flight speed.
Water: Mostly popular among explorers, as it can condense air into water and also freeze it into ice. Sharp spikes of ice hurt.
Fire: Obvious and simple, very limited in scope but powerful as fire is. Dwarven magi are capable of heating stubborn metals beyond the melting point using Fire magic alone.
Light: Anything to do with light, from magical light to beams of light. Favorite of the Golden Kingdom. Best mixed with Spirit magic.
Darkness: Despite its name, mostly deals with perception. Void spells also fall into this category. Best mixed with Chaos magic.
There are murmurs of a tenth element, but the magi have limited information on it.
They also learned of the different types of magical casting:
"Instinct": Requires nothing but one's mind, but spells are limited in scope and power. "Telekinesis", "Dark Vision", "Arcane Blast" and "Slipstream" are all Instinct spells. So far Elysians exclusively use Instinct based techniques and many are amplified by emotion. The most difficult spells to teach and copy.
Incantation: Requires one to speak out loud an incantation to cast a spell. "Fireball", "Light Ray" and "Entropy Beam" all fall into this category. Easy to learn, but one must know what the words actually mean to cast the spells, and each magical Element and combination of Elements has its own "Language" that it shares with
Runic: Any magic that works by inscribing the spell onto a surface, whether it be stone or paper. Most Incantation spells have a Runic counterpart. Enchantments also fall into the category of Runic Magic.
Ritual: The most difficult spells, some require multiple powerful magi to cooperate on a spell to cast it. "Remote Portal" is an example of one such spell. The Batpeoples' magic largely consists of ritual magic.
What is interesting about the different types casting, is that they build on each other, for example, Rituals often involve elements of Runic and Incantation magic, and one needs to have a feel for an element through Instinct to be able to correctly learn Incantation and runic magic needs understanding of the "Language" of an element that is learned along with Incantation.
Exiled Orcs attempt a treaty with the Aetherials1d20=19
The biggest part of any diplomacy with the Aetherials involves getting through the choking Chaos of their domain and holding off the various mutated wildlife and the Agglomates, which the Exiled had no trouble with, in no small part due to Gratz'nuut, his strength and cunning. They waded all the way down to the Eye of Chaos. The Aetherials were thoroughly impressed with the Exiles' performance, had this been an attack on the Chaos Coalition, the Aetherials would have been legitimately concerned.
Not wanting to actually face the powerful Gratz'nuut and his Exiles in combat, and the loss of such a potentially powerful ally, the Aetherials offered to infuse them with Chaos energy, the Power of Chaos and thus complete the transformation that had been left halfway when the elves first came in contact with Chaos. These new Chaos Orcs were completely corrupted by Chaos, with blackened skin, glowing red eyes and bearing glowing red scars upon their bodies, but still largely of free will, just deeply inclined to Chaos, like most corrupted beings in their Coalition: The Chaos Giants, once Firbolgs. Chaos Dragons, infamous for their devastating power. Corrupted Slugmen and Humans, Dark Elves of Dark Ukalia and now the latest addition, the Orc Exiles.
But the Exiles were different, the Chaos was stronger within them and in many ways, Gratz'nuut was much like Hagatai, the slugman granted the same power many many years ago.
Unlike Hagatai, the Orcs were given no conditions in exchange for this power, only told to "Do what comes natural".
Løkhunds explore Elysium1d20=14
History is unclear on how it is that Løkhunds actually reached Elysium, as Elysium was not an official destination one could travel to by the way of portalstones. Perhaps it was the Will of the White Tree that saw Løkhunds reach Elysium.
((Perhaps i should make the map more accurate. Also, the Portal network on the map is just a visualization, in reality, one could travel from any portal to any other portal. i.e. Its not a network of portals, rather portals networked together.))
However, what they found on the floating island, was a gentle, tranquil paradise... With no civilization of any kind in sight, even the portal was just in the middle of the wilderness with only trees and plants around and the White Tree of Elysium visible far off in the distance. Soon enough they came face to face with the island's inhabitants, the Elysians, the short white beings approached the Løkhunds cautiously at first but soon enough were coming right up to them to playfully inspect the Løkhunds, sniffing them, poking them and playing with their fur, the Løkhunds's beaming smiles only matched by the Elysians' own.
The two races shared many similarities, both were friendly, covered in fur, had a tail and walked on paws. Of course the Løkhunds lack the distinctive skin that is stretched between the Elysians' limbs, and the patterns on the Elysians' back. Like the explorers from the University many years ago, the Løkhunds were brought before the White Tree, and the Arbormaid; The Tree Keeper. She wasn't much different from the other Elysians, aside from having a massive crystalline crest bearing signs of having been trimmed and holding a white branch as tall as she was. She looked at Jarl Wülfhærd with the most bored face the Løkhunds had seen on an Elysian yet, before touching the end of her stick to the confused Jarl's forehead, apparently it was some kind of ritual.
The Løkhunds soon became quite familiar with the culture of Elysians, which was by far the most primitive of any of them on this world, as the Løkhunds had eaten through what remained of their supplies, and had to follow the Elysians' lead, that being: Eating fruits, berries and insects and drinking water from streams. Suddenly they realized that if they had kept their weapons, they could at least hunt. There was plenty of wildlife on Elysium, most of it admittedly strange, such as blue foxes with bird tails. The Løkhunds attempted to travel northward, because that's where they know the Brüdines and Red Elves to be, but as soon as they reached the edge of Elysium, they realized that they're utterly stuck! Even if they could find the portal again, they had no idea how to operate them without portal stones, and the island floated above a gargantuan inland sea, even if one could find a way down, they'd have to swim for many miles to reach the shore.
But at least the natural hot springs in that part of Elysium were pleasant, even better than those in
The Grand Puffin and the Elysians seem to enjoy them too...
Year 339.3
After spending many years in the University, and the University's magi controlling the aspects of their lives and more obsessively watching them with every year. While the lives of the Elysians that lived in the University and the Elysian Gardens were good, pampered even, at this point almost every aspect of their lives was being lived for them and observed. But despite the obsessive observation, the magi never learned the most important thing about them: They wanted to be free and they wanted to be themselves. The Elysians who were at the University who had come through the portal, from the first ones to all those after them, had done so to explore the world beyond Elysium. Instead, they ended up in a gilded cage, so to speak, little more than pets.
They couldn't take it anymore. So over the last few months, with the Griffons arriving in the University, the Elysians started stashing food from the kitchens in secret hiding places throughout the University and getting every Elysian on board with the plan to leave the University and live life on their own terms and explore the world together. So in one night, all their supplies were taken from their hiding spots and they met up at the Elysian Gardens, which were on the southern side of the University, closer to the Great Scar and ran off, as fast as their legs could carry. Very fast that is. Small Elysians were carried by the larger adult ones. The University grounds were emptied of Elysians overnight, the Magi only noticed in the morning, and spent weeks running around searching for them.
The Elysian Nomads have reached quite far south, and will keep heading that way. Aside from the food they took, curiously the only other things they kept from the University were the collars around their necks that bore the name given to them by the University, even though they could have easily taken them off, they decided not to. Perhaps thats an example of culture...
Map and Legend