From the post made today in Warriors of Hauden (IC):
Quote:
Originally Posted by ericthered
A short while later, ShadowMask arrives. ShadowMask isn't his real name, its what you call the Scorceror who lives in Holidor. This is the monster who killed half your tribe, the most prominent Venasir in all the tales of the war. He can fling fire, visit dreams, strengthen warriors, craft monsters, lay cursed traps, stun you with a glance, and is supernaturally tough.
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I realize Anoras isn't there, but I'm confused here. And apparently I was confused before I even designed Anoras.
It's been over a year and a half since the below, the Warriors of Haunden introduction, was posted here on 10-18-2022. And I admit my brain may have been making assumptions. But I'm not understanding how this fits:
Quote:
Originally Posted by ericthered
Haunden is a small but proud community set deep in an iron age forest. Life in Haunden is dangerous: Two generations ago the Venasir and their hated sorcerers swept through the land, driving your people off the best land into the forests and hills that once belonged to the Yorikup, sending vicious monsters into the woods after you, and then falling into vicious and destructive infighting, leaving the dangerous results of their conflicts everywhere.
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I was thinking this was all in the past. Depending upon the admittedly real-life source, people in an iron age community who were in battle two generations ago would likely be dead by now. We don't know for certain, but in real life I've seen the estimated lifespan range at about 20 - 35 years. And presumably warriors in battle would have been "adults" by the standards of that time, i.e., have both learned and have developed muscles for battle. That could be about age 13 or older depending upon the culture.
And presumably the leaders would be significantly older. For example, by the Bible, both Jesus of Nazareth and John the Baptist started their ministries/leadership positions at about age 30 during the mid Iron Age. There's some belief that was because one wasn't considered to be old enough to be such a leader until age 30.
I admit my mind was putting those Biblical, historical, ages to Haunden which is of course a fantasy world. So in my mind, the Venasir leaders who attacked Holidor two generations ago were dead. But after seeing the post above about the sorceror ShadowMask, I realized I might have missed a reference that ShadowMask was still alive.
So I just did a search for ShadowMask in both the Warriors of Haunden and the Warriors of Haunden (IC) thread. I thought maybe I had missed it, or forgotten it after about a year and a half. But I didn't find a single mention of ShadowMask until today.
Had I understood that ShadowMask, "the monster who killed half your tribe," was still alive and living in Holidor, I very likely would have had Anoras do something very different. And even designed the character differently.
My thinking since before the adventure even started was that the Venasir-Haunden battle was in the dead past. That's why I gave Anoras the Quirk "Longs for the Old Days (pre-Venasir attack)." Had I known that the sorceror who killed half our tribe was still alive, I never would have given Anoras that Quirk. Based on ShadowMask still being alive, that Quirk would effectively mean Anoras wanted the attack to happen all over again. Which is not what I intended.
So at this point, I'm not sure how to play Anoras.