Corco's Villa (IC)

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by TGLS

1) Let's check out what the mages of Tuguk have been working on. Maybe something they've been doing gets out of hand.

Magic in Tuquk is very limited compared to what Ogol has seen in the past. Lizardman shaman-knights bask in the sun to absorb magical energy that they use to produce energy. This is usually light, heat, and kinetic energy focused through metal.

The Orc shaman-knights meditate in glaciers, soaking up the cold as magical energy. They can shape ice, direct cold, and rapidly freeze-shape liquid water.

2) What are the main dissident groups in Tuguk?

The Blue Tusks are a group of Orcs who want the Lizardfolk expelled from Tuguk. They seem to mostly be wasteland orcs rather than the farming population that form the bulk of Tuguk. They're quite violent, conducting regular raids on Tuguk.
The Order of the Stone is a group of mining and irrigation experts that hold their expertise and benefit to the city is equal to the knightly orders that actually use magic, and push to have a seat on the council as an order.

Those are the two organized groups you can find about in the books. You get hints of other friction points. Farmer Orcs being denied apprentice positions in the grand order of knights. budget squabbles about infrastructure vs. military expenses. Arguments over whether Farmer orcs and wasteland orcs are part of the same people or not.

3) Which are likely to be playing with dangerous magic?

The order of the stone pointedly doesn't have magic.

The Blue Tusks have a good number of Orc shaman-knights, but seem to be working through traditional force.

Originally Posted by the_matrix_walker

Vassarious socializes and enjoys the parties and feasts. When in private, they reach out to the underworld contact and if they are willing to pay the funds from the first job, arrange for them to go to a war orphan's charity or the like.

That's a nice thought. There will be fatherless coming out of this war...

Vassarious will study the materials as time allows, with a focus on the political situation and players.

So the City council consists of 17 people:

• The grand masters of the five orders of knight-shamans.
• The heads of 10 clans: 3 of these are lizardfolk, 2 are wasteland orcs, and 5 are farming and mining orcs
• The master of irrigation
• The master of tunnels

Each seat has a vote. The five knightly orders are:

• The order of the Sand
• The order of the Glacier
• The order of the Sun
• The order of the Hammer
• The Grand order.

Sand, Sun, and Hammer are all lizardfolk orders, taking only shaman-knights working with heat and metal. The Glacier takes only ice shamans, while the Grand order takes both.

Vassarious notes that they have no currency, but that the number of iron forges in Tuguk has been increasing dramatically over the last two decades.

[TGLS]

Originally Posted by ericthered

The Orc shaman-knights meditate in glaciers, soaking up the cold as magical energy. They can shape ice, direct cold, and rapidly freeze-shape liquid water.

Sand, Sun, and Hammer are all lizardfolk orders, taking only shaman-knights working with heat and metal. The Glacier takes only ice shamans, while the Grand order takes both.

The Blue Tusks are a group of Orcs who want the Lizardfolk expelled from Tuguk. They seem to mostly be wasteland orcs rather than the farming population that form the bulk of Tuguk. They're quite violent, conducting regular raids on Tuguk.

The Blue Tusks have a good number of Orc shaman-knights, but seem to be working through traditional force.

OK, so:
-> Orc Shaman-Knights (i.e. ice shamans) hang out in the ice.
-> Ice shamans only have a third to three-sevenths of the political power that the Sun shamans have.
-> Ice shamans are a large part of a terrorist group.
-> The Stone Melders are frozen in ice.
-> Current magic is far more limited in scope than earlier magic

So how likely is it that an ice shaman found a stone melder in the ice, and made a deal or thought it could be used as a weapon or maybe to inspire fear or something? Twenty-five years would be rather quick to forget how bad something is...

[424] 22-05-11 18:04:40 BST
Intelligence Analysis
3d6 <= 14
4 + 3 + 2 = 9 ... success

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by TGLS

So how likely is it that an ice shaman found a stone melder in the ice, and made a deal or thought it could be used as a weapon or maybe to inspire fear or something? Twenty-five years would be rather quick to forget how bad something is...

Its a strong possibility, though not the only one.



The location of most stone melders is well known, but that's only a minor hiccup with that theory.

[TGLS]

1) Is it possible someone discovered or reinvented a form of magic that was used in the past or from outside of Tuguk?
2) Could the Order of the Stone be using what they do not recognize by magic, perhaps accidentally?
3) Would the Order of the Stone not have their own magic, but instead just use the Stone Melders (i.e. by carving a statue)
4) Is it plausible a lone wolf could set something like this up?
5) Is it possible to permanently destroy the Stone Melders? Would it be a good idea to do so?

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by TGLS

1) Is it possible someone discovered or reinvented a form of magic that was used in the past or from outside of Tuguk?

Yes, its possible.

2) Could the Order of the Stone be using what they do not recognize by magic, perhaps accidentally?

Its possible, but not on a large scale.

3) Would the Order of the Stone not have their own magic, but instead just use the Stone Melders (i.e. by carving a statue)

They would know if they were using that. They are also very familiar with how stone melder's magic works. Records indicate they don't have any practical way to harness that magic.

4) Is it plausible a lone wolf could set something like this up?

A lone wolf could kick off a disaster, yes, but not without leveraging existing magic and infrastructure. They might provide an inciting incident, but not the mechanism.

5) Is it possible to permanently destroy the Stone Melders? Would it be a good idea to do so?

It is theoretically possible to destroy a stone melder... but it would require more general magic knowledge, which Tuguk doesn't have. Breaking a statue in half generally just leaves the stone melder in one of the halves, and someone impaired in their movements in that statue.

[TGLS]

Originally Posted by ericthered

Yes, its possible.

Well if it is true, where would we find the sorts of people who would be doing this research?

Originally Posted by ericthered

They would know if they were using that. They are also very familiar with how stone melder's magic works. Records indicate they don't have any practical way to harness that magic.

Could the records be wrong?

Are the Order of the Stone enough of a mundane sense that someone could take drastic action in response to them?

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by TGLS

Well if it is true, where would we find the sorts of people who would be doing this research?

Almost in one of the five orders (grand, glacier, or hammer are more likely) or the orcs excavating dwarven ruins.

Could the records be wrong?

The records reflect the public knowledge of Tuguk, plus general physicial and metaphysical knowledge. If they have a way to harness the stone melder's knowledge, its very secret and hasn't been used beyond the experimental stage.

Are the Order of the Stone enough of a mundane sensethreat that someone could take drastic action in response to them?

Yes. The groups that feel the most threatened are the wild orcs who want to move the entire orc population out into the plain, and some of the mystics in the Order of the Sun and the Order of the Sand, who feel insulted by the claims that engineering is as noble as magic.



Any other questions or preparations before you leave to the wastes of Ogol?


Do you want to appear outside the City, within it, or inside the mines? What Identities will you be assuming to start with?

[TGLS]

Originally Posted by ericthered

Any other questions or preparations before you leave to the wastes of Ogol?

Well, I have one...

Originally Posted by ericthered

Do you want to appear outside the City, within it, or inside the mines? What Identities will you be assuming to start with?

Wouldn't it be a bit odd to appear inside the mines?

Anyway, I'd like to appear outside the city, with an identity matching a wasteland orc so I can start off investigating these Blue Tusks. Maybe a second identity to take on if I rule them out. Probably want to find a spot to hide gear at so I'm not always hauling around an assault rifle and everything. Might want to come up with something that's not a pen for a communicator.

[the_matrix_walker]

How is one of their standard well-eqipt travelers outfitted?

How well do the remaining races get along? Are there many highly mixed communities? Families?

((Sorry if my posting is light, I've had crazy life stuff and my mental bandwidth is a bit limited currently... But it does seem that TGLS is hitting all the good questions! )

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by TGLS

Wouldn't it be a bit odd to appear inside the mines?

The "Mines" are extensive excavations of an old dwarven underground kingdom that spanned for miles under the ground, and are much older than the city of Tuguk. Sorry if that wasn't clear.

Anyway, I'd like to appear outside the city, with an identity matching a wasteland orc so I can start off investigating these Blue Tusks. Maybe a second identity to take on if I rule them out. Probably want to find a spot to hide gear at so I'm not always hauling around an assault rifle and everything. Might want to come up with something that's not a pen for a communicator.

You want to take the identity of a specific orc? that will have to be done on the ground.

They can stick you near a landmark so that you have a place to hide high-tech stuff.

A different sort of communicator is a good idea, yeah.

Originally Posted by the_matrix_walker

How is one of their standard well-eqipt travelers outfitted?

Well, it depends if they are an orc or a lizardfolk. Most people are nomads, so a "Well equipped traveler" is going to be someone carrying everything they own. This will include some food, cooking supplies, sewing supplies, waterskins, a weapon, a supply of utility blades, and a pack to carry it all. Well equipped lizardfolk are probably also shaman-knights, and will be wearing a full suit of armor.

Tents are rare. These orcs are basically immune to cold, and lizardfolk generally tough out sandstorms. Tents are only required if one is on the wrong terrain.

How well do the remaining races get along? Are there many highly mixed communities? Families?

The Orc and Lizard-folk Nomads get into tussels about half the time they run into each other out in the wastes. This is not often, because Orcs do really well on icefields and lizardfolk do really well in the sands and they struggle with the other's environments.

Tuguk, is as mixed as it gets, though its primarily orcs. It has 20% lizard folk, and they are disproportionately represented in power structures. They happily work and live in close quarters. There may be one or two mixed families, though these are viewed as infertile aberrations.

((Sorry if my posting is light, I've had crazy life stuff and my mental bandwidth is a bit limited currently... But it does seem that TGLS is hitting all the good questions! )

I was worried I was ignoring you... thanks for letting us know, and good luck!