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kid-az · 16 days

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Skyrim/Nords Headcanons (Very long)

Skyrim Headcanon 1: The coasts of the northern holds (Particularly Winterhold and Hjaalmarch) have a unique tradition in that clam and shellfish gatherers will strip most or all of their clothes and then smear themselves with the grease and oils of horkers and chub loons. By smearing themselves with horker grease, this not only traps heat within the gatherers bodies but also helps attract the small shellfish they harvest to feed their families or sell at the market.

Skyrim Headcanon 2: Those few farmers that live in Skyrim (Along with several Orsimer strongholds and Reachfolk tribes) have a complex trade system with the Giants, (Likewise for the Giants) with an equivalent exchange for whatever spiral-painted cows are sacrificed/gifted to the Giants. It is customary in Giant culture that the individual must grant the farmer that Cows weight in mammoth cheese or furs, that or they may stand guard and protect the farm during the night from wild animals.

Of course, this is just one example of the Giant and Nord trading system, and it is undeniably far more complex than that. For example, the Stormcloaks trade exchange with the Giants involves defending their mammoths from poachers. In exchange, several of the Giants are expected to help fight for the Stormcloak’s cause of an independent Skyrim. This exchange is kept so long as either party does what is expected of their duties.

Most small peoples/Giant relations often involve this trade and the duty of repaying that generosity, in whatever way they may be able to. Also, Giants do eat the Cows they are given.

Skyrim Headcanon 3: The Bards College within the Haafingar Hold actually had an extensive knowledge, history, and grasp in magic. Students learning from the college would learn spells that would allow them to pacify wildlife, boost the physical, mental, and spiritual abilities of friends & allies, and even counteract the effects of other spells and magic through their music. Indeed, even in the 4th Era where many Nords grew somewhat disgruntled by magic, the Bards College still continued on with its magical traditions, reasoning that the ability to counteract other magic with music would allow them to better fight the Thalmor.

As for instruments, members of the Bards College would use a large variety of them, whether it be the talharpa, the lyre, drums, the jaw’s harp, flutes, and musical horns. They’ve picked up a variety of other instruments and musical styles from around Tamriel as well, but they still mostly teach the traditional instruments used by the Nords. Folks from the Bards College also tattoo themselves with musical-themed tattoos, along with birds.

Skyrim Headcanon 4: Being a major hub for trade between Morrowind and Skyrim alike, the Rift has seen a small influx of creatures native to the former, in particular the Guar, (Due to their intellect, omnivorous diet, and the appeal of a giant lizard as a mount) a semi-giany (4 inch long) species of bee known as the Lightning Bees, (Make good honey for mead, but are aggressive and emit electric shocks through magic. Bards are needed to keep them docile) and the Kwama.

The Kwama in particular is a noted point of interest in the 4th era, as a third of all Kwama mining takes place within the Rift since the Red Mountain’s eruption, many members of House Hlaalu remaining in Skyrim after they lost their seat as a Great House. A breeding population of Silt Striders has also become established within the hold, snacking on the sweet leaves of the autumnal forests. They are a protected species within the Rift.

Although the members of House Hlaalu would become a house associated with the underworld and illegal dealings back in the home province, most of the members of the House in the Rift would be more honest Kwama miners and traders. Disturbed by their former compatriots openly and publicly turning to crime, these former House Hlaalu members would renounce their title, wishing to not be associated with the criminal underworld by proxy.

Skyrim Headcanon 5: Nords fucking love bees!!!

Okay, to be more specific they love bees due to their immense enjoyment of mead, so many of the southern holds would have many large bee farms. The northern holds (Or the rich) meanwhile create greenhouses to contain the bees and lots of flowers for them to pollinate and create honey out of. Riften is the unofficial capital of bee farming, as its pleasant environment compared to the rest of Skyrim allows for the largest and highest quality bee farms.

Of course, farming bees for honey isn’t their only use. For example, the Nords have quite a knack for snacking on the bees themselves, (Roasted) as they make a quick and energizing snack for both adults and children. The beeswax can be used to make candles and skin cream, the latter being of particular importance as Skyrim’s cold environment leads to dry skin.

They’ll also use every part of a bee hive, such as bee pollen, propolis, and on occasion even royal jelly. The royal jelly is used to make particularly potent medications and can be distilled as a drink for the jarls and other high-status folk, even if it’s less sweet than honey.

Skyrim Headcanon 6: The Ice Tribes were strange, sapient constructs made of ice that suddenly appeared during the late 3rd Era, the only possible evidence to their appearance being several icebergs that drifted towards northern High Rock and Skyrim. Little is known about them other than the fact they wielded enchanted ice and snow in their battles against the peoples of Tamriel, and were also known to raise the dead as their personal servants in several different eyewitness reports.

They were invincible to all except for particularly strong soul-trapping spells, Daedric and Dwemer weapons, and certain glasses such as ebony, elven glass, and obsidian. Their undead servants meanwhile were extremely sensitive to heat, even among the fellow undead. Eventually, these strange beings would go extinct, unable to compete against the peoples of Tamriel and their superior magical knowledge.

In Skyrim, these beings were compared to the ancient ice demons that the Nord’s Atmoran ancestors historically fought against. Although notable for being called the Atmoran’s greatest opponents in the old tales, they were given no true name, only being nicknamed “The Others.”

Skyrim Headcanon 7: Eastmarch is a Hold famous for its extensive amounts of hot springs and geothermal activity, which the residents have made extensive use out of. Villagers would not take long, warm baths within the more modestly-heated springs, but they will also use these springs as a natural hotpot to steam/boil food, which saves on firewood and gives the food a rich taste. Minerals can also be harvested from the springs, though these are historically controlled harvests instituted by the Jarls in fear of the springs becoming destroyed or dried up.

Windhelm can credit its continued existence as one of Skyrim’s largest and oldest cities from these springs, as an extensive pipe system created during the 3rd Era allowed for the spring water to flow through, keeping the city warm and providing a constant and nearby supply of mineral-rich water for the inhabitants to use. Not all was well unfortunately, as the springs were historically used as a form of execution on criminals and Falmer slaves, their bodies boiled and then dissolved within the boiling pools of water. This practice has thankfully stopped.

Skyrim Headcanon 8: Historically, Nord culture emphasized the rite of adulthood through hunting. This came in the form of small groups of young Nordic men and women having to travel to the wilderness and work together to slaughter a large animal to bring back to their village/clan, either a bear or troll in most Holds. Usually, this small group of adolescent hunters is watched over by an adult warden, ready to jump in should the hunt end in disaster for them.

This practice waned during the 3rd Era, practiced only by Jarl successors or the High King’s inheritor. However, it would regrow in popularity due to the aftermath of the Great War and the nationalism of an Independent Skyrim, as well as the interest of the younger generation “going back to their roots” culturally. Ulfric’s commanders were chosen based on how well they led their comrades against bandits or Falmer.

Some of the Hold's adult rites involved hunting different animals, such as Hjaalmarch having the youth hunt a chaurus reaper or Winterhold’s rite of citizenship being given once a group managed to kill an ice wraith together. The Reach Once had its youth hunt Dwemer Anuminculi as an adult rite, which led to predictably disastrous results.

Skyrim Headcanon 9: Examples of Snow Elf architecture outside of the Chantry of Auri-El actually exist, but they are all underground! The Snow Elves alongside the Dwemer teleported most of their important buildings so that they wouldn’t get destroyed and repurposed by the Nords. As of today, these buildings are still utilized as places of worship or habitation by the modern Falmer, albeit the religion they worship is a little different, as they have included several Daedra (Most prominently Malacath) into their faith and sun worship has been abandoned entirely in favor of worshipping heat in general.

Skyrim Headcanon 10: Final and brief headcanon for Skyrim that being that Whiterun has a high werewolf population (Due to the Companions and the “lucky” few that got their specific strain of lycanthropy) but surprisingly few werewolf-related deaths. Because of this fact, Werewolves are given just a bit more respect and are given far less fear than in other regions, as many travelers and locals find themselves getting rescued from a wild animal or bandits by those blessed by Hircine.

#I think the Nords deserve to be interesting #and not just be viking expies #similar to how dunmer have many cultural influences but aren’t an irl culture copypasted into a fantasy world #tes #the elder scrolls #elder scrolls headcanon #skyrim #nords #headcanons #worldbuilding

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betweenlands · 1 year

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🎨 👬 ?

🎨 How do you feel about fanart?

cait: the fanart of source me was really fucking cool! though it didn't really look like Me bc of me having a particular design quirk that wasn't really common, but like i adopted that into my Current look so all's good! probably don't make fanart of source me in the current day tho (and then kintype me, FUCK YES god theres not a single viking art i don't like)

expy: fuck yes. so many fish xbs....... effervescent

samuel: PLEASE for the love of god hi hello SOMEONE ELSE IN THE FANDOM. i dont care if your takes are abysmal just draw a guy

redd: :D it's really cool to see!

👬 How do you feel about doubles?

cait: back when my source was a thing i wanted to make an army of me fictives because like boy howdy am i NOT the only fictive of... me... out there! nowadays it's a bit weirder though. i don't know how i feel about like. looking for doubles? i don't know if there ARE any, anymore (kintype wise: viking doubles fucking rule hell yes)

expy: uhhh... fine, i guess? i haven't met any doubles that have been, like. We Instantly Click (other than wraith AYOOOO HI WRAITH) bc my canons are all kinda different from. usual canon.

samuel: i love doubles! wish i had some! would be nice to have any canonmates!

redd: hell yeah :D

#ask game #ask #anonymous #orig #misc #not mc

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memecucker · 3 years

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thinking of how the Thirty Years War would be adapted if Koei made a Warriors style game based on it

* Cardinal Richelieu would absolutely be a sorcerer that throws orbs around

* Scottish mercenaries such as Alexander Leslie or Robert Munroe would be depicted as a massive shirtless highland warriors wielding massive claymore or some other large weapon

* I think Albrecht von Wallenstein would be the closest equivalent to a Cao Cao/Nobunaga expy bc I feel like thats obligatory? Emperor Ferdinand II is the “ambition ambition ambition” guy but Wallenstein has more of the “meteoric rise to power” stuff and some ambition as well when he started to have a falling out with the Empire and like Cao Cao and Nobunaga there would be a stage where he has to try and escape from an assassination attempt in a town

* Father Joseph aka the original “Grey Eminence” would be depicted with heavy historical liberties as a of rogue or stealthy ninja type and would represent French funds and arms being sent to anti-Hapsburg states before the full entrance of the French army

*Bernard of Saxe-Weimar would be the handsome poster-boy on the cover of the game

*Gustavus Adolphus would wear a lion pelt, maybe have a very subtle viking motif to his design just being a great military leader from Sweden and all

*Female characters would include Amalie Elisabeth who ruled Hesse-Kessel which was one of the more prominent Protestant/anti-Hapsburg German states in the latter part of the war. Also Elizabeth Stuart the wife of Frederick the Winter King who’s acceptation of the Bohemian Crown lit the powder keg on the conflict and is sometimes described as having been the ‘superior’ partner in the marriage

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ramonahblog · 2 years

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Realised I had to cook my lunch (it is cooking). So onto episode three of CBS Ghosts. Most likely spoilers.

Hahah, Thor died by lightning strike. 10/10. Love it. Also still want to know if it’s plausible for a Viking to have died in America.

Show seems to be going its own way now. So good to know that the first two episode’s close similarity must have just been the set-up.

Also Jazz Singer is mood. Doesn’t want the job of being the 1 ghost that goes to Alison-Expy but Captain-Expy wanted to do a big speech so she was like ‘nope, don’t want him to have it so I’m running against him. Don’t want the job but I don’t want him to have the job”.

Jazz Singer's name is Alberta.

Hahah one of Cholera-Ghosts smirking as they voted for another Cholera-Ghost making him the winner.

#cbs ghosts #cbs ghosts spoilers #cbs ghosts episode 3 #cbs ghosts viking funeral #cbs ghosts review rambles

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gritsandbrits · 3 years

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What do you think about Merida and Rapunzel (not as a ship just as a characters)? As their own characters and as members of the rotbtd.

Merida deserves a lot more credit i don't why people get mad at her for being a rude teenager who LEARNS to communicate with her mother and not the angsty Katniss expy the trailers marketed her as. I especially love her dynamic with Jack like even if it's not too popular a ship I can see it be a really cool platonic ship!! Merricup is a weird one because the scots and the vikings were ENEMIES irl unless merida and hiccup has a forbidden relationship like 👀 👀 and both kinda awkward around marriage XD

Rapunzel is a great character too! Ymmv I wish people didn't give her so much crap for her flaws in Tangled the Series like I get criticizing the way she handled Varian and all that but some of them go way off the mark and outright call her a bad friend. Her and Flynn are COUPLE goals every scene with them is always a blessing to see. I'm not too big on Jackunzel but I definitely can see the chemistry.

Them together they would make lovely friends being adventurous young ladies who actually learn to become better rulers and honestly they're really cool. I would love to see more of Merida's diplomatic side and Rapunzel's fighting style in fanfic.

#rotbtd #rise of the brave tangled dragons #rapunzel #merida #disney princesses #gb asks

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foulserpent · 4 years

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If not early medieval northern europe, what would you base skyrim on?

its not the fact that europe expies exist in TES (tho it should have been limited to high rock and skyrim frankly), its that they retcon shit to make the setting that, and are going for those settings as an excuse to be as uncreative and bland and marketable as possible

skyrims actually better than oblivion on that front since it didnt involve retconning ‘romans in the tropics’ to ‘medieval england’, but i think it could have been improved by: 1) allowing the setting to be more fantastical (like morrowind but tailored to the climate) and 2) yeah pulling in distinct other inspo from a wider variety of northern/cold climes

it doesnt have to be “based” on that, but tamriel is not europe and they dont HAVE to restrict nord inspo to just real world nordic countries. show how cultures have interacted at different borders. draw from other cultures besides “vikings” (and hire staff from those cultures when applicable). people live in cold climates/high altitudes in a really wide variety of ways and it would be interesting to synthesize a lot more concepts

i think bottom line is like the inspo can be obvious, nords are literally called ‘nords’ but theres actually nothing that requires them or their landscape being 1:1 copies of just one real world source

#anon

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fangirlinglikeabus · 4 years

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i read some non vna dw books a while ago but because i am a Clown i’ve only just finished typing up notes on them...i think my next dw book i’ll make notes as i go rather than just marking the pages and Hoping I Remember. anyway! here’s my thoughts on thirteen doctors 13 stories. i have more opinions on some than others.

A BIG HAND FOR THE DOCTOR

"...Susan, who was possibly the only person in the universe who could make the Doctor smile at the mere thought of her."

awwwwww

didn't really like this one that much - i wasn't too impressed with eoin colfer's characterisation of the first doctor (esp since pre-ian and barbara i don’t think he’d willingly attempt to stop some villains until susan was in danger)

THE NAMELESS CITY

Polly...once described him as looking like an unmade bed.

lmao

...he didn't know exactly what he was, though when he was growing up, he had heard tales of the legendary fairy creatures of the Unseelie Court who haunted Scotland's deepest valleys. He suspected the Doctor might be one of the dark Sith.

HEAVILY vibe with this concept the world is saved by bagpipes.......peak dw THE SPEAR OF DESTINY

"You know what I love about London?" he said, turning to her briefly. She sighed. "I'm sure I can't guess." "It's the only city in the universe where you can drive around in a car that's seventy years old and get away with it." "Who says you're getting away with it?" Jo muttered.

nkdfsjksn

"Fire away!"

"Oh, Doctor, please. Not after that business at the museum."

no doctor is immune to the temptation of a good pun. no matter how inappropriate. actually i really like how jo and three are written in this generally. there's so many good scenes. also, when the doctor asks her why she doesn't know anything about the vikings: "Doctor, we did the Romans. Every year." rip jo

From a distance the Doctor watched as a group of about twenty men loaded the TARDIS on to the back of a large low wagon pulled by four sturdy oxen.

jo: the doctor told me about the perception filter on the tardis so it'll be fine! they won't even spot it. literally the next scene, immediately:

She longed to stand and give this old goat a piece of her mind, but she knew she'd most likely fall over if she tried, which wasn't the effect she was after.

aw jo :(

"Do you know they wash once a week?" "Could have fooled me," muttered Jo.

*desperately resists the urge to write down every jo line in this story*

"I have the ship. And I have the spear. What need have I of you any more?"

the master is betrayed. to the surprise of no-one but himself.

The Doctor held her by the shoulders. "My dear girl," he said. "That is very noble of you. You were right. Your aspirations /are/ the very noblest. But you're wrong about something. Nothing is more important than you."

me, sobbing:

ROOTS OF EVIL

realised as i was reading this that i don't own any books featuring leela.....a crime

"Surprise!" the Doctor said. "You know you were complaining that you missed trees?"

this is actually the cutest thing no-one look at me

She could never understand why the Doctor was so careless of danger. It was a good thing he had her to look after him, she thought, as he opened the TARDIS door and they stepped out together into dim, green light and the earthy, warm-compost smell inside the great tree.

phillip reeve gets the four+leela dynamic. like. he Gets it.

"It will not hurt you," she promised. "It is called a 'scarf'. It is like a cloak, only pointless."

ousdofnsoksfd

"Did it look a bit like a gravel pit? You'd be amazed how many alien worlds look just like gravel pits..."

what is doctor who. without quarry jokes.

"I mean, he's wearing a bow tie!" the Doctor explained patiently. "Ridiculous objects! I wouldn't be seen dead in a bow tie!"

1) says the guy who wears an obnoxiously long scarf everywhere 2) honey, you've got a big storm coming

TIP OF THE TONGUE

there's a scene in this where nyssa and the doctor chill at a diner and they drink chocolate milkshakes together. this is all i care about.

Good Lord, was that celery he was wearing on his lapel?

Yeah We Know

"Are you British?" Nettie said, as if this was the most surprising part of the whole thing.

i mean, fair

He paused. "I don't suppose either of you would be interested in travelling?"

the fifth doctor: hey one of my friends died recently and i abandoned the other one but i really miss having a large crew so i was wondering if you two literal children would like to risk your life travelling with me :)

SOMETHING BORROWED

you'd think given this one is from peri's pov she'd be slightly more central to the plot. ah well.

"That's two storeys up!" I exclaimed. "And I'm in heels." "Well then, you should have worn more sensible shoes, shouldn't you?"

maybe she lives in hope that she won't have to do any running/scale buildings every time she steps out of the tardis. i get that.

"Well, you are the expert when it comes to gaudy," I said, giving a meaningful look to his red-and-yellow plaid coat and green tie.

every six story is legally obligated to drag his coat

The Doctor shook the man's hand vigorously. "Yes, yes. A little different round the edges since our last meeting on Kiri 4, but all the charm and intellect are still here."

i love this bastard.......

"Love? That contrived, chemically driven state of idiocy?"

mood

A clatter of metal was the sole warning I had before a hole in the ceiling suddenly opened, and the Doctor came tumbling down to the floor, landing in an ungraceful heap of rainbow plaid. Nonetheless, he rose to his feet with all the dignity of an Olympic gymnast who'd just landed a perfect somersault.

not to sound like a broken record but i would Die for this idiot

withholding myself from using more quotes to illustrate my unbridled love for the sixth doctor whom..........

"You might regret not helping me with this one day," she [the Rani] called over to us. "Your next regeneration may be sooner than you think."

Huh. I Wonder What That's Referring To

RIPPLE EFFECT

From the look on his face, Ace reckoned that a visit to the Time Lords was something similar to her having to visit the dentist back on Earth.

i mean to be fair.....the time lords are a whole lot worse although in this case the doctor's reasons for not wanting to visit are: (i) they're 'old, boring and judgemental' (ii) they have stupid clothes and a stupid non-intervention policy (iii) they treat him 'like a naughty schoolboy' (can't have that in front of your companion!)

i apparently didn't have many comments to make on this one. um...it was good. i liked the idea of an alternate universe with nice daleks. MOVING ON

SPORE

"They're all dead....everyone's dead, flesh turned to liquid. It moves...There are things! Moving things! They're alive..." Major Platt looked up at the Doctor. "The caller became incoherent after that and disconnected shortly after." The Doctor drummed his fingers thoughtfully against the top of the aluminium folding-table between them. "Hmm...That really doesn't sound very good."

YEAH YA THINK?

"I was at the opera," the Doctor explained, "when my phone went off."

this is his excuse for That outfit. really just copying everything from grace here huh

THE BEAST OF BABYLON

She also didn't yet know that he wasn't a man at all.

yeah cos he's non-binary duh

"So now we're landing on Earth," he shouted, "two thousand years before the birth of Christ..." "Who?" "He was a bit like Sherlock Holmes. Knew the answers to everything. Very good at solving mysteries. Some humans use him to measure time."

obsessed with the implications of this dialogue...

THE MYSTERY OF THE HAUNTED COTTAGE

absolutely love the concept of this one...a world created from martha's memories of reading a famous five expy as a child

"What?" Martha said defensively, keeping her voice down. "That's how he was described in the books. Don't blame me. This was 1951. Everything back then was blinkered, sexist, and ever-so-slightly racist. It was a backward time." "Ah, yes," said the Doctor, "because 2007 has none of those things."

vibe with this convo

"Am I lonely?" Martha asked. "You're a particle of dust," the Doctor said. "Of course you're not lonely." "I sound lonely." "Well you're not; you're having a great time."

this conversation where the doctor tells martha to imagine herself as a particle of dust has exactly the same kind of energy as discussions you have at 3am at a sleepover

NOTHING O'CLOCK

Amy looked irritated. She wasn't irritated, but she liked to give him the impression she was, just to show him who was boss.

yeah...

ok the villains in this one are actually really fucked up like. it's been a While since i read it now because i procrastinated on making these notes but they were Good creepy. thank you mr gaiman.

LIGHTS OUT

now THIS is one where the pov heavily contributes to the story...

He turns to look at me with piercing, hollow-set grey eyes, then furrows his impressive silvery brows. "I'm buying a coffee," he says. "For a girl."

so THAT'S why twelve took so long to find coffee for clara......he wasn't buying it on earth. good vibes

TIME LAPSE

i absolutely LOVE the concept for this one, which is that the year 2004 completely disappears from records

A typed envelope reading The Doctor, The TARDIS, Ex-Gallifrey followed by a long string of numbers, letters, and things that probably were letters but looked like they came from about eight different languages.

obsessed with the fact that (i) you can apparently send letters to the tardis, like it has an actual address (mel throwing a message in a bottle into space doesn't seem so unreasonable now huh...) (ii) part of this address is 'ex-gallifrey'

this dude gets rejected. and is so badly embarrassed that he erases 2004 from existence. i promise i'm not making this up.

#laura reads dw books #long post #oof i promise the other one i've got notes for isn't this long.....i just had a lot of Thoughts #aside from eoin colfer's i actually really enjoyed all the stories! would highly recommend this collection

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secretgamergirl · 5 years

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RPG Campaign Setting Thoughts - The Actual, You Know, Setting

Continuing along from here and here, I suppose I should take a moment and get my head out of the clouds with all this structure of the planes and metaphysics malarkey and put down a few words about, you know, the actual world people are going to be going on adventures in... but I don’t wanna!

I’m actually kinda serious with that. I’m still not sure to what degree this whole thing is something I’m really going to sit down and do something with vs. a total pipe dream vs. just some general thoughts on what changes I’d push towards if in a relevant position at a big company and all, but one really big issue I’d want to seriously address if I end up actually publishing anything here is the fact that everything about fantasy RPGs is entirely too white, and unfortunately, I myself am also entirely too white.

As previously mentioned, I 100% want to have orcs coded really heavily as colonialist European types as a major setting antagonist, to push back against decades of appallingly racist coding, and by extension I’d like to have humans who are visually and culturally representative of, you know, the rest of humanity. Some having to deal with orcs raiding and planting their flags everywhere, others totally not dealing with that and having their own much more interesting things going on. Get away from the stock imagery of castles and knights in a barely repainted England, get some cool stuff inspired the rest of the world in there as some basic imagery and all.

And... yeah I’m just not really qualified to do that. More importantly though, I know a ton of people who ARE, and they’re all super cool, and don’t get enough chances to do this sort of world-building. I don’t want to make my ignorant stab at a setting heavily informed by Indian history and folklore when I know someone who’s both an experienced game developer and a Hindu Pandit. I don’t want to play around with fantasy-Jerusalem when thinking about that is basically the life’s work of one of my favorite people in the world. I could keep going with this. I have a lot of really amazing contacts I would absolutely love to just give blank checks to to collaborate on a campaign setting full of all their personal passions and drawing on their heavy historical and cultural knowledge bases.

But... I’m also unemployed, barely able to keep a roof over my head, and fully aware how generally doomed any sort of project like this is and I doubt most of the people I’d be inclined to tap would want to commit to something like this even if I could pay them what they’re worth. Really, I’m the worst person to try to put together some sort of cool overqualified world-building all-stars team and make a setting together, and if someone else wants to take the initiative on that I am all for it, but, if they are nobody’s telling me. So... for now I’d just kinda like to keep the details really sketchy about specific nations and all that and stay focused on my weird non-culturally specific fantasy weirdness. Keep the real meat and potatos stuff in the dark until I get committed enough to kickstart a book and try to sign on cool writer friends as stretch goals or something.

Races for instance! I think I’ve mentioned before how much I just don’t like them, and I’m used to not really caing about them having done a lot of Pathfinder writing, but like Pathfinder, I kinda want to keep all this as backwards compatible with Pathfinder and 3.X as I can, which means I don’t want to drop them entirely, and I already have orcs. So... OK.What can I do with everything else that’s not just borrowing some real-world culture?

First off, we have dwarves. I.... really don’t particularly have any strong feelings about dwarves. The one big problem coming in the unfortunateness of “dwarf” referring to, among other things, the fantasy race, something a bit different in Norse mythology, and actual human beings with a rare condition that leads to a lot of discrimination. I’ve yet to meet anyone who actually has a vocal problem with that, so, please give me feedback there if you have any. Otherwise... I think dwarves kinda fall under “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it?” Dwarves are exactly the same in every game that has dwarves. Nobody’s had cause to put a new spin on them, which over the years has made them into this really big fantasy touchstone. Something to be said for that stability.

Next up we have elves... and OK, here’s my spin. Elves actually mature and age at the same rate as humans, BUT, every 30-70 years or so, they... basically have a Doctor Who regeneration. Big metamorphising event, they end up with a radically altered appearance, possibly some significant changes to their personality, possibly some memory loss. We keep the staple of elves being functionally immortal, and the sort of physical mutability present through the whole history of fantasy RPGs to one degree or another, but we get a nice out for the whole Immortal Blues issue you usually get with elves, where they outlive everyone they meet. If you’re a teenage elf, you can go hang out with a bunch of teenage humans, grow up together, have a lot of adventures, and then when everyone else is getting old and dying and it’s just depressing, you do your whole elven ritual of renewal thing, and tada. You’re young again, maybe a redhead this time out, maybe a different gender even. All that kinda fades from immediacy, like your old life is just a story you’ve heard a lot, and you’re free to go make new connections with new peers. I think there’s a lot to that as a foundation for cultural stuff, and an interesting setup for telling stories. Needs to be a proper racial power of course, with some restriction on how often it can be done, but hey. This also keeps them from becoming stuffy traditionalists with ancient cities. On a long enough timescale they’re kind of all nomadic drifters.

Half-Elves, which again, are their own race here, probably get a weakened version of that. Maybe they change a little less when they try that renewal ritual. Maybe it doesn’t always work, or it’s really unpredictable. Definitely they have a cap on how often they can do it, so you still have the long-lived but mortal thing going.

Half-Orcs... I need to think about some. The whole “they’re their own race” thing gets all the gross rape crap sweeped nicely away, but they still have to resemble orcs enough to face discrimination to a degree, since, that’s what you have half-orcs for. I might break my rule about no real world cultural models and have them largely stand in for vikings? There’s enough similarity to how I’m doing orcs for confusion’s sake (nautical raiders and explorers and all), an association with violence and generally being all big and tough, but pretty clear We’re Not With Them vibes?

Halflings, I am sticking with my earlier pitch about essentially being humans just created at a different scale. Honestly I’ve always kinda resented D&D even having them, because I mean, everything else has some basis in someone’s folklore, but halflings are just a race swiped directly out of a book series that was super popular at the time, then forced to change the name for copyright reasons. And they clearly just exist to make Bilbo expies, with the stealth bonuses and all. I would totally give them the boot if I could get away with it, but, yeah, tiny humans essentially.

That still leaves gnomes, where I’m still stymied. Again, I really love Pathfinder’s take on them to death, and kinda just want to keep that.

I think that’s a decent spread of new ideas and old ideas that won’t clash with properly varied human culture, right? Next update I’m probably going back to gods and magic. Have some very very nerdy thoughts about the spread of religion based on bored wizards working out astral projection to flesh out.

As always, feedback on any of this is appreciated.

#game design #worldbuilding #RPG campaign setting #D&D

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radiantseraphina · 5 years

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So, what language does Floralia use? I originally thought Italian potentially for a variety of reasons, but I vaguely recall reading something that had Floralia being cold/snowy, so now I’m not sure.

Huh. To be honest, I’d always thought of Floralia as being kind of like Iceland? Very cold winters but still very green. Because I wanted to subvert the whole ‘pale, fair-haired fantasy pseudo-Viking people that live in the North’ trope. Instead, they’re dark-skinned people who really love biology and horticulture and really wish their neighbors to the south would stop with all these dubiously legal land-grabs and focus on education and promoting multiculturalism?

So I guess I’d sort of imagined them speaking Icelandic or Danish. That being said, I think the Floralians speaking Italian would make a lot of sense. They are, after all, close to where Halcandra used to be accessed from and considering the Duchy of the Stars, the most Halcandran-friendly part of pre-Bikaian Dreamland, is right there at the border, it would make sense that the Floralians would come into contact with Spanish quite a bit. So at some point, it just sort of fazed in and developed.into Italian. Is that how linguistics works? I’m not a linguist.

But I’ll also freely admit that I’ve thrown a few countries together with bits and pieces, kind of like Frankenstein’s monster. Traumwald is a good example. Yes, they’re expy Germany, but their backstory is basically lifted from the story of how Hawaii became a state, so...

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keptin-indy · 7 years

Text

7th Sea: The New World 1

The new game begins! This is very much a provisional title and it may change as we find out more of what this campaign is about. I’m also probably not going to have many informational links unless requested, since most of the places and people in 7th Sea are loose expies of real-life history, and frankly, you don’t need a lot of background info to understand swashbuckling.

The World

7th Sea is set in a fantasy world that is most certainly not Europe at various time periods plus magic and no sexism (except in Italy). There’s a lot of political intrigue and swashbuckling adventure and much less crack now that 2nd edition has removed the metaplot. Here’s a rundown of the main nations and their specific sorceries to give you a broad idea of the world:

Avalon - Arthurian AND Elizabethan England at the same time (imagine if Queen Elizabeth had King Arthur’s mythology) and also there are terrifying faeries kickin’ around. Glamour Knights get magical power by taking on the legacies of past heroes to live up to their examples of derring do.

The Highland Marches and Inismore - Scotland and Ireland, respectively. Both their kings (the hot young Highlander and the insane Inish immortal) are loyal to the Avalonian queen, but not all their people are.

Castille - Spain during the Inquisition except that it’s also the seat of the Vaticine (Catholic) Church and there’s a power struggle between the Inquisition, the regular Church, and the 16 year-old king. Alquimistas use scientific principles to make magic potions.

Eisen - Germany after the 30 Years War if that war had left Germany a blasted post-apocalyptic wasteland full of monsters. Hexenwerk is the local flavour of magic and it tastes like dead people.

Montaigne - France immediately before the revolution: L’Empereur is a huge jerk who got the entire country excommunicated and probably had the pope killed, so trouble’s a’brewin’. Porte sorciers rip holes in either the universe or themselves to teleport people and objects through the bloody wounds.

The Sarmatian Commonwealth - Medieval Poland and Lithuania where every single person was suddenly given the power to vote and is trying to figure out what to do with it. Sanderis is the practice of making deals with demons for power, but it keeps the demons from doing worse things on their own, so it’s heroic, they promise.

Ussura - If the Russian court were circa Peter the Great while the peasantry were pre-medieval and also Mother Russia was a literal being who was also Baba Yaga. Mother’s Touch is the kind of “gift” you get in a fairytale that’s meant to teach you an important life lesson and it often lets you turn into an animal.

Vestenmennavenjar (bless you) - Imagine the early modern Dutch and pre-Christian vikings decided that the real way to take over the world was to be extremely aggressive car salesmen at the rest of Europe. Galdr is the art of casting runes to invoke the power of the old gods for a wide variety of effects.

Vodacce - The TV show “The Borgias” only there are 7 princes like that. Sorte is their magic, but it can only be inherited by women and it’s utterly terrifying, which has led to the only seriously sexist society in the setting because the men are constantly worried that the women will control fate.

Theah - the continent all these countries exist in. It’s Europe.

Ifri - Africa without the colonialism! It’s not likely to show up in this game for a long while, but I’m including it because it gets referenced sometimes.

This specific campaign is going to take place mostly in the Atabean, which is the Caribbean, and also probably the New World, which none of us know anything about because it’s new to 2nd ed. Since we’re all a bunch of old 1st ed players, there will be a lot of holdovers from the old edition, though the entire game is now much more diverse (Africa exists! It didn’t used to, which was ridiculous!) and has a bigger world beyond just Theah/Europe.

The Characters

Ansgar Halke - a young Vesten mapmaker and engineer hiding a hydraulic winch attached to a heavy steel lantern under a coat (not very well, mind you). Very tall, barely an adult, and always working. (Unquenched Ardor in Exalted, Ath in Dresden Files)

Etienne du Verger - a sickly-looking Montaigne noble with a mysterious and apparently miserable past. He has uncomfortably red eyes and there’s something strange about his reflection…(me!)

Misha - an enormous and cheerful Ussuran mercenary with an equally enormous sword and one metal gauntlet. Covered in scars and constantly eating. (Naran Bataar in Exalted)

Mariandl Rafrano-Velez - an Eisen doctor raised in Castille, her passions are healing, the Vaticine faith, and ~science~.

Tamara Zelenzka - the absurdly dashing democratically-elected captain of the Golden Dream. Sarmatian originally but now part of one of the “Pirate Nations”, she’s easily distracted but intelligent and charming. She also has an invisible demon following her who tells her to burn things, basically. (the GM of both Exalted and Dresden)

Lady Gwendolyn Darcy - Avalonian noble, Glamour Knight, and financier of the Atabean expedition (technically an NPC, but played by Shashaka from Exalted)

[Bonus character has not yet been unlocked]

The Game

At the Boring Monkey Alehouse’s private room, a strange meeting was taking place: Lady Gwendolyn Darcy had invited a motley gathering of people from many nations and walks of life, all of whom had come recommended to her, either through reputation or mutual acquaintances. Lady Gwendolyn wished to hire a boat and escort to take her to the Atabean Sea but had no intention of paying more than she thought their assistance was worth, and it was up to the potential hirelings to convince her of their value. The enormous Ussuran mercenary moved the room’s solid oak table to a more convenient position to show off his strength; the Castillian doctor brought out her university diploma and professional references (including one from a patient who claimed she had sewed their arm back on); the Sarmatian captain was almost theatrically piratical, full of salt and swagger to prove her sailing prowess; the Vesten engineer displayed his sailing guild membership and his professional references; but the miserable-looking Montaigne courtier dressed all in black made no attempt to haggle for his wages, instead observing the others in silence. Lady Gwendolyn had her work cut out keeping the peace amongst all the jockeying and Captain Zelenzka was especially insistent that she and her crew be well-compensated. Ansgar asked Lady Gwendolyn to sign a contract granting him exclusive rights and ownership of anything he made on the journey, excepting repairs and improvements to the ship, as well as referrals to other Avalonian nobles upon their return, which she agreed to pending the quality of his work on her voyage. Dr Rafano-Velez wanted similar assurances for any medical or scientific discoveries she made during the journey, as well as the promise of extra time in especially interesting ports, but Lady Gwendolyn pointed out the latter was more the captain’s decision than hers. She did, however, point out that the Atabean was well known for its wide variety of exotic monsters, many of whom were quite valuable when sold in parts, though major profits would of course have to be split equally among the crew. Misha, already three beers into her tab, only wanted the Lady to keep him well-fed and pay for his drinks on land, but judging by his size, that may have turned out to be the most costly promise of all. Etienne merely signed on without question. Accompanying Lady Gwendolyn was a dark-skinned man dressed in the Vendel fashion who introduced himself as Khofi the Diplomat, a native Rahuri from the Atabean, though his father had been Ifri. Captain Zelenzka asked for details of the venture and Lady Gwendolyn said she wished to go to Soryana, the Rahuri Isle of the Dead. Etienne blanched, but Tamara looked thrilled for the adventure and Mariandl pressed for more details, but the Lady would only say that she was looking for information from someone there (prompting a brief guilty look from Khofi, unnoticed by all but Etienne). Gwendolyn finally settled with Tamara, agreeing to pay the amount the captain wanted, but only in goods - specifically wool cloth - which Tamara was happy to take provided she got even more cloth for the trouble of selling it off somewhere. Mariandl asked if she could have a dedicated workshop/sickbay, but Tamara said that her ship was a democracy and she couldn’t force one of her officers out of their cabin just to give her more space, but the doctor was welcome to take it up with them herself.

In the pub’s common room, a wall away from all this negotiation, it seemed the punters had taken offense to each other, and the private party was interrupted by a man being bodily thrown through the doors into the side room, followed by a spill of angry drunks, all looking to pick fights with everyone around them. Misha happily joined in, picking up the halves of a broken table and bashing drunks right and left, while Ansgar used the now-unhinged door as a shield to protect Lady Gwendolyn and Mariandl. Tamara was obviously in her element, dancing between combatants and pommel striking them into unconsciousness. As soon as the ruckus had started, Etienne produced a pair of knives from somewhere, but struggled to use them non-lethally, managing to get away with only minor cuts to his opponents. Gwendolyn was Very Disappointed that her countrymen were behaving so badly, but the drunks were handily knocked out by the improbable number of trained Duelists she was hiring. Tamara deftly grabbed the mugs of the last two Etienne pommel-struck, his knives disappearing as quickly as they had come out. Lady Gwendolyn offered to pay the barkeep for the damages (including the beloved taxidermied monkey - the pub’s namesake - which had somehow been set on fire) even though she wasn’t responsible for causing the ruckus. Tamara told her they could leave with the morning tide and the group dispersed to take care of any lingering business before leaving Theah for an extended period. Etienne and Mariandl exchanged some strained smalltalk, as they had met before, but his life had evidently taken an unspecified turn for the worse since then.

The next morning, the escort met up at the Golden Dream to get settled into their new quarters. Misha and Ansgar, being both so large, barely fit into their cabins and elected to sleep on deck most of the time, leaving Mariandl to take over one of their cabins as her personal workshop after all. Tamara suggested they head first to the pirate port of La Bucca, on an island well to the west of Theah, and use that as their last port before crossing the ocean, which seemed reasonable, though disreputable. The crew of the Dream were as piratical as their captain and made no efforts to hide it, so Mariandl announced she would be holding a Vaticine prayer and study group every Sunday for anyone interested in their souls. The crew was indulgent about this, but several of them mentioned that their captain had a pet demon and that had turned out alright, so she was unlikely to make much headway there. Tamara herself proved to be less of a sailor and more of a figurehead, though a beloved one, and her lack of skill in the rigging never stopped her from capering up there like a clumsy monkey, though somehow she never fell. Khofi curiously cast some guilders onto a map in what he said was divination and announced that the captain had either fantastic or terrible luck and nothing in between. Misha attempted to shorten both Mariandl and Gwendolyn’s names and was immediately corrected by both of them. Mariandl asked Gwendolyn what she was looking for on the Isle of the Dead, but Gwendolyn said that she didn’t know yet, only that she was on a quest for someone there. Marindl kept pressing for more, but Etienne, seeing Gwendolyn’s discomfort and recognizing her mourning wear, pulled the doctor aside and told her she was being indelicate. He changed the subject to how her time in Avalon had been since he had last seen her, but she turned it around to ask if there was anything she could do to heal whatever illness he was apparently suffering from. He told her that there were some wounds one couldn’t recover from and excused himself from the conversation. Seeking another interesting medical condition, Mariandl moved on to asking about Ansgar’s hump, but he drew a long chain out of his sleeve, showing that it was attached to his strange lantern, then reached back to crank something that made the chain retract. The hump was actually a winch that a friend had made him, and he was very proud of its workmanship. With Mariandl’s medical curiosity again thwarted, Ansgar went back to fixing or making small things around the ship, as he didn’t seem to be the kind of person to waste time in idleness.

Two days out from La Bucca, a larger pirate ship caught sight of the Dream and the escort group steeled themselves for a battle, but the other ship merely came within signal range to exchange friendly greetings and went on their way. Tamara explained that it was a fellow Buccaneer and that the denizens of La Bucca never attacked one another, much to the non-pirates’ amazement. They finally reached the famous pirate port, and Tamara paid the customary dock bribe and set about selling the cloth she’d been paid in. She warned the newcomers not to eat any pork while on the island, as the suppliers drugged it to keep crews coming back for more. Misha was leery of the rickety-looking rope bridges that connected some of the buildings, but was more than willing to follow Tamara to her favourite bar. Etienne seemed ill at ease, tense as though expecting an attack at any moment and Misha threw his enormous arm over his shoulders and advised him to get into a bar fight to relax. Along the way, Tamara enthusiastically greeted a group of street urchins, launching herself in for a group hug. The children told her that “Mother” was busy or she would have said hello, and Tamara explained to the group that the island had a communal mother who adopted young strays and stowaways. Etienne delicately removed an urchin’s hand from Lady Gwendolyn’s coinpurse and Misha moved his money to around his neck, well out of reach of even some adults, though this didn’t stop the children from dangling off of overhanging bridges to try to get at it. Their ingenuity pleased him and he rewarded them with a coin. Ansgar sketched the interesting mishmash of architecture as they walked. In the tavern itself, people were laughing about an upcoming election where there was apparently only one candidate for the main race, someone who had dared to run against “the Baron” in another had been found in a ditch, and someone else had almost run against Mother but all she had to do what look at him and he dropped out. None of the positions anyone was running for were mentioned, all the locals evidently knowing exactly who was who already, leaving the escorts bewildered. Etienne disingenuously accepted a conman’s shell game pitch and won it just to prove that he could, which provoked a predictable bar brawl Misha was thrilled to be in. He ended up punching another Ussuran and they became immediate friends. Ansgar heard the local tale of a haunted lake on the southern part of the island and took Mariandl out there to explore by lantern-light that night, finding a small island with ruins in the middle of the lake, but no ghost. Upon their return, Tamara explained that the island had been where they put the horrible monster out there to sleep some years ago - which she had helped with - incidentally mentioning that she could breathe underwater. When questioned, she attributed this to magic, making Mariandl very unhappy as she suspected that meant the pet demon. She was soon proved right, as Tamara had half a conversation with something the escorts could neither see nor hear, and she explained that she had made a bargain with a “dieva”, which wasn’t exactly a demon as the Vaticines thought of them. She sometimes worked with this creature and sometimes had to restrain it, but it was always with her and granted her a variety of powers.

Their resupplying done, the Dream left port and sailed West toward the Atabean. Four days out from La Bucca, the lookout spotted a small island not on any of their charts, with a wrecked ship offshore and “help” spelled out in three languages on the beach.

#7th sea #7th Sea: The New World #actual play #livejournal replacement #game

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