Why I like Yrth/Banestorm

[combatmedic]

1 historical origins for human cultures
2 multiple sapient species
3 crossworld stuff/The Banestorm


Those stand as my top three.

I also like:

Dark elves are a sect/faction

orcs got Smasha! (martial arts)

Megalos has secret pagan cults

Caithness civil war

Abydos

Tredroy

etc.

...

[Pragmatic]

The split of secular vs church wizards (i.e., some priests are also wizards, rather than being divine-magic casters) reminds me a lot of the Videssos series. Though the Videssos series is based on a fantasy Byzantine-centered world.

[Blue Ghost]

It's an extremely well researched book.

[ericthered]

I love yrth for being a setting where kitchen sink fantasy makes sense. Those weird races that wouldn't survive to form species elsewhere? there were lots of them in the other world.

I like the approach to magic, particularly the way its handled religiously: the church uses magic, but its not all the church does nor is it limited to the church.

The dark elves as a faction rather than a race is a good touch.

I like the mix of cosmopolitanism and xeno-centricism. It works in a way that feels real and organic.

I can't say I like the added cities. They just don't feel right to me. But I don't use them, so who am I to complain.

[jason taylor]

Tredroy. It would be even more interesting if the three empires were more likely to be enemies then allies in the next war. And if one of the rivers didn't flow the wrong way. But maybe they corrected that when Banestorm came out; I only have Fantasy and Tredroy.

Caithness: Tough barons who when they want a moat dug aren't ashamed to get a shovel themselves and dig beside their peasants. Pretty female knights who manage NOT to look like a concession to political correctness or a lever for the author's propaganda points, but are well built and justified in-verse and while eccentric not unimaginable in a Medieval culture. An ethos that is a nice combination of nepotism and meritocracy. And lack of exagerrated Megalosian pompousity.

A complex and well worked setting with elaborate politics, plenty of eldritch places to avoid and so on(I can think of a few more races that can be put in though, like some of the ones from Faerie).

[David Johansen]

Yrth is fun. I like the nomad lands though I suspect the Megalan scribes have dramatically understated the size of them.

[jason taylor]

Originally Posted by David Johansen

Yrth is fun. I like the nomad lands though I suspect the Megalan scribes have dramatically understated the size of them.

Probably. Nomads(though many of these aren't real nomads), need a lot of room.

[Verjigorm]

Since there isn't any canon about Shia slave orcs, I am free to make them up all that I want. It gives a nice "safe" encounter in the east, where you run into a slave caravan, or a group of slavers about to attack an orc settlement and enslave the children(adult or adolescent Orcs are generally too far gone to be used).

I like the way it works, because you get a caste of frighteningly good soldiers who can never be rules or part of the ruling caste. You indoctrinate them from a young age, and you have a scary doomsday scenario when the souther state moves on the infidel.

Also, an Orc who has escaped slavery and come west to learn how to destroy this thing that controlled him, but did not kill him. It's very existence was an affront to everything he knew, and he swore that he would commit his life to its destruction. But he was captured and eventually found hismelf in a quarry in megalos, until his chain of slaves went in the quarry and never came out. Gazor had throttled them all, and when soldiers went in to catch him, he killed several before they thought they killed him.

After regaining consciousness and braining another soldier, Gazor was subdued and thrown into the great gladiatorial pits. Gazor was a crowd favorite, but a manager's worst nightmare because he would fight until overwhelmed, but not before disembowling beasts and men on the floors of the arena. When the legion approached his owner about using Gazor for live training, the fat man breathed a sigh of relief.

The legion felt he was dangerous because of his massive, sinewy frame, which could absorb a seemingly unexhaustable amount of punishment but rapidly and reliably heal, or perhaps his quick hands and keen eye. But Gazor was dangerous because he was smart, for an orc. Eventually, he learned that if he didn't kill trainees, he spent more time free than lashed to a bed healing from his injuries. For it's part, the legion welcomed an auxiliary of Gazor's ability, and he rapidly transitioned from superhumanly durable target dummy, to a member of the auxilaries of the megalen legion.

But one day, while on patrol along the border near caithness, Gazor broke formation and began running. His comrades were shocked, then the order "kil the deserter" went out, and they did their best to to follow it. But Gazor wasn't to be stopped by a few petty crossbow bolts, and his was renowned for being inexhaustible, even in full armor.

While crashing through the forest, Gazor was set upon by a band of bandits and outlaws, who thought the lone Orc in mail was too good of an opportunity to pass up. They learned nothing, because their headers were carried by Gazor, along with what bits of value they had, to the nearest village. But Gazor had learned a great deal by this time, and he knew to lay down his weapons on the crossroad. When eventually the Sheriff came, Gazor laid down the necklace of heads he carried out of the wilderness.

"These men tried to kill me, and I killed them in return. I am a warrior, Gazor, and I seek one who needs a warrior"

The sherrif nearly died of shock that day, to hear a savage orc speak in the language of man, and to ignore the shafts his posse put into him when , and then when he realized William cutnose among the heads, a longstanding murder and bandit, he offered the orc any house in the village, and that he would arrange a meeting with the local landlord. The Knight was equally surprised, especially the orc not only defended against his attacks, but did not kill him after wresting his sword away.

Gazor became a notable figure during the Civil war, a mercenary who was distinguished by his ferocity on the battlefield, but complete adherence to order and loyalty to his contract. Literate too, a fact that absolutely astounded many. Gazor gathered a body of men to him, hard, dangerous men who respected the iron word of their leader. Disciplined heavy infantry, well armored in the mail of slain knights and men at arms, with heavy swords strong in the cut. They carried heavy, lethal spears equally usable for thrusting into the heart of the enemy or casting from a distance.

Gazors band of swordsmen, ersatz legionaires, became a nearly deciding factor in the civil war, until one day Gazor collected payment, and then led an expedition east. He faded from memory.

But his expedition didn't die in the great desert, and it wasn't overwhelmed by the savage Orcs. No, that haggard band drifted from the sands. The first orcs encountered were brutally eliminated. Soon, several warbands had formed an uneasy alliance against this new menace. But Gazor was no savage orc, he wouldn't die in a circle surrounded by thralls. He ran. His men ran as well, and the orcs pursued theme eagerly. Down the narrow river bad they crowded, and the men ran further into a desolate canyon from where there could be no escape, only death. But the mass or orcs, crowded into the canyon baying for blood were astonished by the sound of horns, then great rumbling avalanches rolling down upon them.

From the camp, only women and children were taken. The greatest of the orc warriors were hobbled, and construction began on a citidal. A simple one, to be sure, rough log and stone cribbed together, each wall heaped in mounds and surrounded with a deep ditch. And so it began.

Now Gazor has an army, and the lesson of submission is going out through the hordelands. And he looks back to those who enslaved him so long ago. Vengeance, sayeth the lord, is mine.

[Michael Cule]

I like the agnosticism of the setting, combined with the immense social importance of religion.

I like the ability to introduce just about anything via the Banestorm.

I like the deep secrets implied by the setting and the fact that I can resolve them in a way that I find acceptable and interesting.

I like the fact that there are huge changes just waiting to happen.

I'd probably like it more if the various regions were worked out in more detail. A book on Megalos The Empire and a map of Megalos the City would go a long way to satisfying my curiosity. And one on Sahud. And one on Arraterre...

[Gold & Appel Inc]

Originally Posted by Verjigorm

Now Gazor has an army, and the lesson of submission is going out through the hordelands. And he looks back to those who enslaved him so long ago. Vengeance, sayeth the lord, is mine.

Yrth fanfic, ha! :]

It's late, around midnight, and we're staking out a joint called the Jolly Djinni; an Arab-themed Christian bar on the North Side. Word on the street is that a big shipment of black market mind-control potions came through here recently, and we're here to find out where it came from before we take 'em down.

Sister Alice is in the coach with her ears on, as usual. The Thomasites trained her well in the healing magics, but it's her expertise in clairvoyance that we most often need to gather evidence. When things go right, we don't get injured.

Adnan, our "Mullah," whose underworld contacts got us this address in the first place, slipped one of the sous chefs something and took his place at the last minute after demonstrating his mastery of his grandma's shwarma. He's got the back exit.

Grim's got the front, by the coach in case we need him to get us out of here fast. The big man is never easy on the North Side; he has a history here that he doesn't share.

Yivirryelil, or "Middle Finger" as we call him, is on the roof with his crossbow ready. Green runt may have an itchy trigger finger, but he can hit a rat at a hundred paces on a moonless night like this one.

And me? I'm calling the shots on this stake-out. I've been working the mean streets of Tredroy for a long time now, and I've seen a lot of things that make me appreciate a good bottle of Sterling Silver at night, but I still hold a tiny seed of hope in...

The Hand...