Olokun: 2014:

[Gold & Appel Inc]

What's happened in the last 950 years or so since the last Banestorm abductions on Olokun (4e Banestorm, p 22), the homeworld of Yrth's Intelligent Dolphins, Merfolk, Octopus Folk, and Shark Men? One possible version:

Olokun: 2014:

Genre: Fantasy / Horror

TL: 3-4ish

Mana: None. None at all.

Sanctity: Universally-High for the Lovecraftian gods of the setting, who tend to be rather stingy and specific with their spell offerings: Mostly the Gate, Knowledge, and Meta colleges. None for any others, except Normal for Druids (who tend to focus on Water and Weather spells).

Technology: The Shark Men have made leaps and bounds in the realms of architecture and metal-working in the last millennium, giving them a clear advantage over the other intelligent species of this world. Capable of building, maintaining, and at low tides using forges on the high ground, they are limited in their fuel supply but advanced in their ability to forge efficiently and to protect what they have wrought from salt water (mostly involving more than you probably want to know about whale oil and bladders. Whales are sapient here, too, by the way). They are currently experiencing their Age of Sail, a renaissance in shipping and exploration that has seen their leading nations make leaps and bounds in both overseas and underseas transportation, harnessing the power of the wind, underwater currents, and/or gigantic sea creatures in all cases. Primitive hydroelectric power is also becoming a thing, with waterwheels situated in rivers and tidal drainage plains being used to grind bones and grain into meal. Navigational ability both by underwater current and by the stars is at an all-time peak, and Shark Men from far-ranging cultures are mingling for the first time. Pollution is just starting to be understood as a problem, with runoff from forges poisoning nearby fisheries.

History: Olokunian history has mostly centered around Shark-Man-on-Shark-Man wars, and the rise and fall of the worship of its dark, mad gods. Every 200-300 years, a Shark Man uprising will overthrow the bloodthirsty, capricious priesthood and install some non-theocratic form of government, occasionally tearing down the ancient undersea temples when they are not declared protected for historical study, only to return to appeasing the true lords of this world in exchange for advantages against each other within a generation or three of decadence. The last time one of the Gods actually physically manifested itself on Olokun was about 700 years ago, and it was reportedly a hot mess, with boiling oceans and spontaneous cannibalism and whatnot.

Demographics: The Merfolk... didn't make it. Shark men more-or-less rule this world, with colossal ocean-floor cities housing the bulk of their population and stark edifices on dry land that their warriors can occupy and those of the other local sapients can't. The Merfolk held out for a while, but with diverse Shark cultures expanding everywhere, capable of withstanding harsher environments than the Mers, Mer-extinction was pretty much inevitable. The Sharks tried to enslave the Dolphins for a while, but it didn't work out all that well (due to frequent escapes and sabotage). The Octopus Folk are the only beings who the Shark Men mostly respect and accept or leave alone (excepting bloody large-scale conventional wars 200 and 675 years ago which the Gods obstinately refused to choose sides in), trading services that suit their abilities for currency and high-tech goods they can't produce themselves in Shark settlements, but often living apart from them.

Looking for alternate ideas in addition to comments on my version. Thanks in advance for all responses.

[Refplace]

Cool setting.
Druids could have been mer folk and dolphins (likely originally taught by the mer folk) and act as a rebel counter to shark men civilization. Rogue shark men might also be druids but it would be rare and unpopular or even illegal.

[Gold & Appel Inc]

Originally Posted by Refplace

Cool setting.

Thanks!

Originally Posted by Refplace

Druids could have been mer folk and dolphins (likely originally taught by the mer folk) and act as a rebel counter to shark men civilization. Rogue shark men might also be druids but it would be rare and unpopular or even illegal.

I see Druids in this setting as not being restricted by race, but also not suffering a social stigma: they are worshiping the Water or Storm Gods, which operate by their own rules, relating more to proximity to cities than anything else and more likely to be able to summon horrible sea creatures, but are accepted by mainstream Shark Men when they are Shark Men, and less likely to be discriminated-against by Shark Men when they are not, because, despite operating on Druid rules, their gods are part of the same pantheon.

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by Gold & Appel Inc

I see Druids in this setting as not being restricted by race, but also not suffering a social stigma: they are worshiping the Water or Storm Gods, which operate by their own rules, relating more to proximity to cities than anything else and more likely to be able to summon horrible sea creatures, but are accepted by mainstream Shark Men when they are Shark Men, and less likely to be discriminated-against by Shark Men when they are not, because, despite operating on Druid rules, their gods are part of the same pantheon.

I can see that, especially since Druidic worship does not have to be greenpeace or pacifistic. Tey do seem to be a source of conflict with pollution and some of the other things likely to develop from rampant warefare and development though.

[Not another shrubbery]

Another nice short piece that would be cool to see in a longer version. Was it ever made canon that dolphins and octopus-folk were from Olokun?

[Gold & Appel Inc]

Originally Posted by Not another shrubbery

Another nice short piece that would be cool to see in a longer version.

Thanks!

Originally Posted by Not another shrubbery

Was it ever made canon that dolphins and octopus-folk were from Olokun?

Not that I know of; the main book calls it a definite maybe. I just like it better with them included.

[Gold & Appel Inc]

Originally Posted by Refplace

I can see that, especially since Druidic worship does not have to be greenpeace or pacifistic. Tey do seem to be a source of conflict with pollution and some of the other things likely to develop from rampant warefare and development though.

That's a feature, not a bug. Without conflict, there's no story. ;] The "mainstream" Gods neither support nor oppose technological innovation so long as they receive adequate sacrifices and groveling (though if someone were to industrialize sacrifice, that might get their attention), so the Druids are free to throw a wild, hairy fit about it if the Water and Fish Gods say they should.

~~~~~~~

Olokun: 2014 v2.0:

Genre: Fantasy / Steampunk

TL: 5+1

Mana: None. None at all.

Sanctity: Universally-High for the Lovecraftian gods of the setting, who tend to be rather stingy and specific with their spell offerings: Mostly the Gate, Knowledge, and Meta colleges. None for any others, except Normal for Druids (who tend to focus on Water and Weather spells among the Shark Men, with a sizable following of the Fire God among the Merfolk).

History: Desperate times call for desperate measures. Three hundred years ago, the Merfolk were hard-pressed. Shark Men capable of withstanding the deepest ocean trenches and operating freely on dry land were forging steel weapons, breeding like minnows, and crowding them out from both sides in their sole habitat, the ocean shallows. Operating on the enemy-of-my-enemy philosophy, a new generation of young Mer Druids embraced the weak, bitter Fire God of this water world, and he whispered terrible and wonderful secrets in their ears. Not only the God of a chemical reaction, but also of the spark of imagination, the Fire God lit a fuse in the Merfolk that exploded a few generations later when they derived phosphorus from Dolphin urine, invented spearguns, steam power, flares that burn underwater, and submarines, and generally started colonizing the rest of the world without significant resistance at first.

Technology: Roughly WWI-level capabilities, using TL 5-skinned, aquatic-themed equipment, assuming inventors who live in water and have no legs. Monocle-wearing Merfolk piloting torpedo subs and amphibious steam-powered mecha with water-filled cockpits are a thing here.

Demographics: Merfolk rule the world, but didn't have the stomach for genociding the Shark Men. How practical or theoretical this rule is tends to vary by whether the space in question is capable of supporting Merfolk colonists comfortably, but overall their dominance is mostly no longer openly challenged. What Sharks still exist are mostly the rough underclass of Mer civilizations, the denizens of third world countries that get abused at the leisure of the Mer civilizations, or the majority citizens of the Northeastern hemisphere, who got their hands on the advanced Mer tech early on via clever use of God-given scrying magic and never looked back (they are, after all, IQ 10 people with no mental Disadvantages; they just got dealt a bad hand in this world).

[combatmedic]

I like both versions, G&A.

Clerical magic with sanctity instead of mana certainly creates a very different feel from default Yrth.

[Gold & Appel Inc]

Originally Posted by combatmedic

I like both versions, G&A.

Clerical magic with sanctity instead of mana certainly creates a very different feel from default Yrth.

Thanks! I'm just going by the canon - it's very brief, but specifies No Mana and Serious Business Gods. Coming to Yrth was probably a massive culture shock for the banestormed Shark Men, which toppled their existing priesthood but IMHO probably eventually saw the rise of their natural Mages in a similar role.

[combatmedic]

Originally Posted by Gold & Appel Inc

Thanks! I'm just going by the canon - it's very brief, but specifies No Mana and Serious Business Gods. Coming to Yrth was probably a massive culture shock for the banestormed Shark Men, which toppled their existing priesthood but IMHO probably eventually saw the rise of their natural Mages in a similar role.

Sure that all makes sense.

Shark-men in your version remind me of the fish-men from Fantasy Folk. This a good thing.

DAGON