GURPS Fantasy , shared world, recruiting

[Jürgen Hubert]

Originally Posted by Ze'Manel Cunha

I've heard good things about Google Wave, this might be a good opportunity to try it out, I'd vote for that...

Google Wave works fine for working out shorter documents collaboratively, but I wouldn't recommend it for an entire setting - only for brainstorming specific aspects of it.

[tantric]

Big yes to the multiple choice planets - Hitchhiker's mice should have had it so good!. Personally, I'd like to see a world with lots of Australia sized continents and no real oceans. Like Earthsea writ large.

[Kuroshima]

Originally Posted by Jürgen Hubert

Google Wave works fine for working out shorter documents collaboratively, but I wouldn't recommend it for an entire setting - only for brainstorming specific aspects of it.

that's why I recommended for this stage of the worldbuilding, and suggested that once things stabilize a bit more, you could move it to a wiki or similar.

[Agramer]

Originally Posted by tantric

So, for Georgia, I'm seeing a dualistic Ubergod, something like the Sun (Deela-Malkh) and the Shadow (Ishtar-Deela), lord of Heaven and keeper of Hell, meaning that that part of the religion is morally neutral. Possible ascetics who pray to this god(s).

Ahriman is a personification of chaos, a void that is the source of all evil. In Deela's role as king of the underworld, he is still beneficent. Ahriman, which is an 'it', just destroys, though he grants power to his disciples. [iffy on this, but i like the three way interaction]

Im little confused here.Could you explain a bit more.

Earth is in the care of seven archangels. This Heptad is somewhat nebulous - there are only seven at a time, but which seven may change. Members of the Heptad are periodically born in human form, becoming heroes, those their angelic nature is never certain during their lives. Individual archangels are worshiped, but they have no temples or priests of their own. The Heptad serves a roll similar to the greek and roman gods in modern society - they are just symbols.

I really love this.Would be great "cover" for that Dragon rider initiation story and explain why do they let commoners into it.
Also in cinematic variant would provide for Great Heroes.

Also it gives "magical number" = 7 ... I could use that number in Society.

Totaly love this idea :D

Adam, Eve and Lilith figures to explain the Giants and the modern race? Where did cyclops come from?

What does it have to do with "God"(Deela) from start?

The actual church will center around the prometheus figure (yes, jesus was a blacksmith - or at least a bronzesmith) with fire worship. His son is the actual blacksmith, first to forge iron with fire and has the largest hero cult. Plenty of room here for Knightly orders and such, there are lots other heroes in those legends.

I like this a lot also.
Hmm maybe Churches have blacksmithy incorporated and monestaries are smelters/blacksmith manufactures for those fine/very fine weapons.

While each village has Blacksmith that doubles for priest,if village is to small for actual church.

Between abundant ore deposits and religion influence wed have nifty explanation for their fascination with Blacksmiths/Weaponsmiths.

Plenty of room here for Knightly orders and such, there are lots other heroes in those legends.

What legends.Can you make some...

Is this working for you? Change anything you want, do as thou see fit, I just enjoy tinkering with religions.

1st part is little confusing.2nd part I totally love.

Though ,can we connect it somehow to Hellas religion,Spirits of ancestors and stuff? To avid having completely different religions with no interaction every 100 km.

From your previous post:

He forged a coat, a sword and a shield out of Bronze.

Something like this would be great.Would give religious/magical Artefacts that are/were "lost in time/history" in normal setting but could be searched for in cinemathic/mythic one.

Maybe add Lance to list.

Why did he forged them,for what purpose?

If Uastyrdhzhi(an adaptation of Georgian Giorgi or Givargi) is the patron hero of cavalry, his legendary daughter, Satanaya, a wise woman, would also get a cult.

Use Original Georgian names ,where you can.Since Ill go to some effort to make a list of Georgian names/surnames for use in kingdom.

Was he a knight(greatest warrior of age),who charged off to fight insurmountable odds before God/Jesus/son(who actually?) made those artefacts and died covered in glory.His sacrifice slowed down enemy enough for Artefacts to be finished.
When "Jesus" brought Artefacts to his Castle,he was already gone and only his brave(More tight-up Nobles look at her as off adventurously non-womanly behaviour) daughter was in castle.Her brother(also warrior of some renown) was about to return home.Satanaya(daughter) took artefacts(coat of arms,lance,sword,shield) and rode of to confront "something".

She was victorious,but instead basking in glory her brother(upon receiving fathers land/title) threw sister out because of jealousy he felt for her "stealing" what was rightfully his(artefacts and duty to avenge his father).

She rode off and was never heard off,nor was heard of the artefacts wereabouts that she carried.

-here Id get rightful womans Knightly order,but on other hand reason for dislike,mistrust,bigotry of more Conservative nobles toward that order.

Can you "wrap it up" all somehow? Im very bad at writing stories and such :((

[Agramer]

Originally Posted by DouglasCole

Is anyone interested in my generating a bunch of earth-sized worlds using Fractal Terrains Pro? I can generate some worlds with the proper blend of mountains, plains, oceans, and forests. The new FTPro even puts in rivers and lakes.

I'm no expert with the program yet, but I can certainly generate some maps and we can vote on things. We can then talk political boundaries, start plopping down empires, etc.

Sure ...though you dont need to make whole world.Just setting part of it is enough for now.

World centred on/around Mediterranean sea (as Rome) is standard...though maybe you could make one Big continent(need one Big due "georgias" north border of extremely high mountain range(15km tallest peeks).
But if you put Original province of Shattered Empire somevhere on south side of it..and than instead MEditerranean sea make :

Big continent(North America sized) in north with south border curved inward (like Mexican bay)....and than surround it with other island chains/smaller land masses to get "Mediterranean sea" inside.
-we need "closed" sea since our ships are Triremes and such that cant withstand Oceans.

Big Continent:
Have that Wast mtn range going from Mexico City to Santa fe.Put some valley between Mexico City and Monterey(I used this map) that is to Northeast and South closed with mtn range and to West and Northwest with Impassable mtn range.
That would put "Georgia" on map.
Also we would have enough landmass for Nomad tribes in north(maybe another Empires were unaware off) and plenty around Mexico bay.
Maybe cut off Florida and turn it into Island.

Things around:
Archipelago (Caribians/Phillipines ,with few really big islands) -need to be slightly in some corner due different setup:Tantrics Ticopia

---dunno what else

Also toy a bit more with shape of "Mexican bay" ,since it is big and if nothing is there is rather boring.(Draw inspiration from Mediterranean sea,Aegan Sea(on bit bigger scale),Sea between Indonesia and New Guinea ,Area around Singapore with two "parallel" land masses(big islands)...

this are just suggestions....

Edit:Also wed need some Pirates and stuff later on,Sea battles...and if distances are to big that wont happen.TL2/3 navigation was mostly coast hugging(specially with Oared propulsion).
Liburnia type vessels could be used for Pirating/patrols ...Ancient ships


@Combatmedic..
-Maybe set Ships at TL2+1 ??
-ZeManules idea of using Bones instead Powerstones is nice also.If we say that powerstones dont exist...magic will have even less impact...and if Bones of dead can be used as powerstones than Ancestor worshipping nations would be strongly opposed to such sacrilege(it destroys soul...or something) and would leave it only in hands of "bad guys".Maybe you need Demonic pact to use em so?!

[tantric]

Deela is a two faced god, like Janus. He is both the sun god, on one side, and the lord of the underworld on the other. In all likelihood, they started out as separate gods and then the Georgians when through a monotheisitic phase. The statue of Deela would have two faces and two fronts, one obsidian and the other white marble. Death is not destruction - after dying, you are dead for a while, then you are born again.

Deela is the supreme god of the universe, and far beyond mortal understanding. Only monks and mystic even attempt to know him (roleplaying possibilities!)

Deela has a nemesis - the embodiment of destruction and chaos. Ahriman is a force of nature, which all true and pure things strive against (also mostly likely a separate god in times past, became a force of nature during monotheistic swing). Ahriman is one of the alternate names for the god of Darkness in Zoroastrian belief.

The Heptad is from Yazidi beliefs.

The giants and all:

The Narts of Georgia where Giants, but, obviously, people are not giants now. We could either just leave that out, of find some way of explaining it. One explanation is that humans are sons of Adam and Eve, Narts of Adam and Lilith - with this you can create all kinds of Lilith spawn monsters. Or it doesn't have to be clear. Or in some legends, the Giants are just important men, from the 100 children of Satanaya, Daughter of Pkharmat/Prometheus. I like the last option, but I might keep the Adam/Eve vs Lilith as the first humans, because it mirrors Deela-Malkh and Ishtar-Deela vs Ahriman and lets you explain a lot of monsters (ie, Adam cheated on Eve with Lilith, she bore monsters).

The Prometheus figure cold hammered bronze mail, shield, etc in preparation of stealing fire from Hell. The dragon carried him over Hell and he scooped up some lava - the mail would be Immunity to Heat or something. His daughter, Satanaya is protrayed as a scientist type, actually - she does experiments to figure things out. I can work out some bits of their family history later.

The neighboring kingdom might have Maloch, sun god and Isht, death god and have gods that share names with some of the Heptarchs. They have hero cults with similar legends but the Prometheus bit is not important to them - more of Heracles and Theseus, etc.

I'm going for a blend of Caucasus mythology, Christianity and some bits for minor monotheistic religions. It's still pretty lumpy at this point, but you should be able to start working it into a culture, which will give me more to work with, too.

[Agramer]

Originally Posted by tantric

Deela is a two faced god, like Janus. He is both the sun god, on one side, and the lord of the underworld on the other. In all likelihood, they started out as separate gods and then the Georgians when through a monotheisitic phase. The statue of Deela would have two faces and two fronts, one obsidian and the other white marble. Death is not destruction - after dying, you are dead for a while, then you are born again.

Nice...

Deela is the supreme god of the universe, and far beyond mortal understanding. Only monks and mystic even attempt to know him (roleplaying possibilities!)

Youre Genius :d

Deela has a nemesis - the embodiment of destruction and chaos. Ahriman is a force of nature, which all true and pure things strive against (also mostly likely a separate god in times past, became a force of nature during monotheistic swing). Ahriman is one of the alternate names for the god of Darkness in Zoroastrian belief.

The Heptad is from Yazidi beliefs.

Sounds ok,though maybe we could incorporate it with neighbouring religions somehow?
To have better intra-connections of world on several levels(mundane,religion,geography...) to make whole mess more "believable" and with more "soul"

The giants and all:

The Narts of Georgia where Giants, but, obviously, people are not giants now. We could either just leave that out, of find some way of explaining it.

We can have legends that true Giants still live high in That Georgian 15km high mtn range,where no man can go/survive...
-that would also be "opener" for Giants in cinematic setting

One explanation is that humans are sons of Adam and Eve, Narts of Adam and Lilith - with this you can create all kinds of Lilith spawn monsters.

That actually sounds great...though maybe Adam/Eve/Lillith evoke to much stuff from other rpgs? Hmm thats weakness on one side but strength of concept on another.

Or it doesn't have to be clear. Or in some legends, the Giants are just important men, from the 100 children of Satanaya, Daughter of Pkharmat/Prometheus.

Sounds tad bland.

I like the last option, but I might keep the Adam/Eve vs Lilith as the first humans, because it mirrors Deela-Malkh and Ishtar-Deela vs Ahriman and lets you explain a lot of monsters (ie, Adam cheated on Eve with Lilith, she bore monsters).

Ohhh,I love part with Adam cheating eve with lillith.
Maybe Big sea monsters(crackens,serpents...) are zealously frowned upon as "Lillith spawns".(Maybe we can add some land ones also...Legendary and "real").
Could be great addition to culture:
-Man being monogamous and puritanical to avoid to repeat Adams sin (goes well with tightass,honor bound aryan nobles),could also open room for severe laws against adultery,no prostitution...etc (Ohh youre such inspiration :D)

The Prometheus figure cold hammered bronze mail, shield, etc in preparation of stealing fire from Hell. The dragon carried him over Hell and he scooped up some lava -

Sounds good,I could add few active/dormant volcanos somewhere in those Big mts....and have Dragons nest up there(would provide heat in such desolate hights)

the mail would be Immunity to Heat or something.

No need to explain what exactly Artefacts are or what powers do they have....
-today we have legends of Excalibur,Jesus spear,Pandoras box...but exact power of those artefacts is in realm of gueswork...so no need for stating such powerful things up(If some GM wants them in his game he can modify them as he likes)

His daughter, Satanaya is protrayed as a scientist type, actually - she does experiments to figure things out. I can work out some bits of their family history later.

Id really like her more as Heroine ,to have basis for Woman Knightly order.
If there is tragedy or some misunderstanding involved,even better.

The neighboring kingdom might have Maloch, sun god and Isht, death god and have gods that share names with some of the Heptarchs. They have hero cults with similar legends but the Prometheus bit is not important to them - more of Heracles and Theseus, etc.

Well have to wait for Combatmedic to setup basic Geography(or Cole who started tinkering with map program) and see who will make that area and than intertwine that part with that person.

I'm going for a blend of Caucasus mythology, Christianity and some bits for minor monotheistic religions. It's still pretty lumpy at this point, but you should be able to start working it into a culture, which will give me more to work with, too.

Youre doing GREAT job.Just keep it up :d
Thanks again

[tantric]

Wow, thanks. I wonder if they have any opening in divinities?

;-) It's fun!

Yeah, I like real giants better, too. I'll work on some different names/settings for Adam and Eve.

Now I'm getting into Manichaeism

That page is just brimming with RPG goodness.

Themes with Georgian myths: Powerful horses with names - some are made from the elements. Sea trolls are the best horse breeders. There is a race of Dwarves, who have special superfast horses. There's a good persecuted heroine on page 230 of this reference who either marries a horse or builds a temple for one. There are several tales in that source that would make good heroes.

[DouglasCole]

Originally Posted by Agramer

Sure ...though you dont need to make whole world.Just setting part of it is enough for now.

World centred on/around Mediterranean sea (as Rome) is standard...though maybe you could make one Big continent(need one Big due "georgias" north border of extremely high mountain range(15km tallest peeks).
But if you put Original province of Shattered Empire somevhere on south side of it..and than instead MEditerranean sea make :

Things aren't quite so made-to-order. I will try and play around with the world factors and random seeds until I can get several large continental land masses that are blocky in shape. Many of my initial tries with FTPro generate long, thin continents, which naturally have a very high mountain range as their spine.

Inland seas, however, are pretty common, some of them quite large.

I disagree about only making one part of the world, though. I think we need to describe the globe, and then we can detail the parts of it each designer wants to "claim." It also means that terrain and rain fall and climate are consistent at least within the bounds of the model, and that provides some of the geophysical basis of different cultures.

[Agramer]

Originally Posted by DouglasCole

I disagree about only making one part of the world, though.

Sure,but we do have a "problem" with nobody volunteering to do central provinces/Empire now.

All of us with suggestions are currently making some Fringe Nations.

If we "open" whole globe well get even more fringes/exotic lands but will still lack Central Area.