[Fantasy] Celestial Ocean Chronicles. Striving for a deliberately exotic fantasy

[vicky_molokh]

Greetings, all!

So, you see lots of threads by me that are tagged [fantasy]. Many of them are related to a project of mine, a game setting that's intentionally made very unlike the mainstream type of fantasy settings. I'm writing this here with mixed feelings - part willing to get constructive critique in order to improve it along the lines of its concept, part fearful that the project will fail because there will be no way to make sure it makes sense and that it encourages a sufficient amount of suspension of disbelief.

So, here's the intro:

Originally Posted by Legends of the Islanders

Before the Great Changes, the People lived carelessly: the world to them was a simple collection of islands, the ocean below, and the sky they never cared to even look at. All too careless they were, for the sky held the great fire - the sun.

Night after night the Sun spent in the ocean, diving each evening and surfacing each morning. But one day, the Sun fell down, swifter than ever, and it was seen that it would not come back. The People did not care much at first, living by the light of the moon and the cold stars. But the Sun did not disappear. While drowned in the great ocean, it nonetheless kept burning. Soon, the waters started to heat up.

Then the wise men warned of the upcoming threat. They explained that in less than one moon, the waters will boil, and no fish will stay alive in them. But they knew one way to salvation, and they went to the chieftains of the People’s tribes to explain what needs to be done.

The wise men’s advice was to hunt down as many of those birds that never touched the ground and never slept, and to gather as many of their feathers as possible. Then, the craftsmen were to adorn the sails of the People’s ships - as many as possible - with those feathers. After that, the People had to wait.

Half of a month has passed, and the wise men ordered the People to board the feather-adorned ships, and to sail towards the east, where the full moon was about to rise. And so they did.

Once the moon showed up from the water, it made a path of light - from ships to where it joined the ocean and the sky. The ships went along the path. The wise men ordered that all ships follow the path no matter what.

Soon the moon went higher, so high that it no longer touched the almost-boiling waters of the ocean. But the ships kept going along the path, higher and higher, as they followed the path to the moon.

Only one ship’s crew dared disobey, and it swiftly fell to the ocean below as it went off the moon’s path.

After a day of such travel, the People found a new archipelago, not in the boiling ocean, but in the sky itself. Only then did the wise men allow to divert from the moon’s path, and to steer towards the coast. This became the new home of the People, a new beginning for the youngest race of the ocean in the sky.

Of course, the truth was more banal: the 'Sun' was actually just a big hot star, the 'endless' ocean was but a lake hanging in a pit in the really endless sky. The wise men were just a bunch of crazy mages with a silly paradigm - they knew not the truth, but merely were gifted in enchanting the world around them. In truth, the primitive moonships were only able to fly out of the pit thanks to a verse of a poet singing of the upcoming exodus. 'Banal' is relative.

Okay, that's the intro. Will add races etc. - sooner or later depending on my time. For those who haven't heard before: TL(1+3), about 7-8 races, about 15 cultures, and very weird natural laws. Magic is twofold: the everyday magic as part of all craft-related skills (actually uses those Mechanic/Smith/etc. skills; no FP etc.) and MtA-ish Realm magic consisting of four realms ('Trivium'/Matter, 'Vessel'/Life, Forces/Energy, Fate/Destiny).

Thanks in advance to all those willing to discuss it!

[talonthehand]

All in all, I'm quite interested in it. I'm looking forward to any additions you throw in.

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by talonthehand

All in all, I'm quite interested in it. I'm looking forward to any additions you throw in.

I recently killed my HDD, so any additions will come as soon as (i) I have the time to ponder them or recall the details AND (ii) time to type them out.

[vicky_molokh]

What the world looks like:

First of all, the inhabited part of the world is 'flat'. It is a layer ranges from 10 to several tens of meters (probably more where the islands have mountains and 'deep rocks'). Gravity exists, and pulls down, but it's as if space itself has a density. Thus, denser objects tend to stabilize lower than less dense ones, but any entity experiences a clear 'down' direction. This 'density of space' does not necessarily change uniformly. In fact, there are naturally more or less dense 'spaces', and they drift through the sky.

Second, there are locations which have different complexity for different substances. For instance, there are natural 'lakes' where water holds at a certain level, or 'cloudwalks', where clouds are pushed to a certain level with such a force that a human can walk on them, yet they are prevented from turning into water. And then of course there are islands and even microcontinents kept afloat by the same mechanism. And stars, but there's more than that to stars.

[talonthehand]

Originally Posted by Molokh

I recently killed my HDD, so any additions will come as soon as (i) I have the time to ponder them or recall the details AND (ii) time to type them out.

Have you tried Obsidian Portal? It's a free (well, for two campaigns) site that lets you make a wiki for a pen and paper thing. I've been trying it with a space setting that I work on during bouts of insomnia, but I haven't really had a chance to do much with it. It might be useful for this setting though.

[Vaevictis Asmadi]

Sounds interesting!
I hope this "silly paradigm" continues to be the basis of your setting's Realm Magic, because it looks fun. Also, I love the idea that everyday craft skills are inherently magical. It's a concept that gets too little attention in most fantasy, IMHO.


I was having a similar idea last Friday (inspired by randomly watching Last Exile) about a fantasy setting involving big islands and rivers in the sky. Though, in my idea, there was no gravity once you stepped off the islands, so it was sort of outer space, with air. (I say this now so that, if I ever decide to do anything with it and post about it here, I'll be less likely to be accused of copying Molokh!)

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Vaevictis Asmadi

Sounds interesting!
I hope this "silly paradigm" continues to be the basis of your setting's Realm Magic, because it looks fun. Also, I love the idea that everyday craft skills are inherently magical. It's a concept that gets too little attention in most fantasy, IMHO.

No, the silly paradigm was the assumption that the right feathers are the only defining feature of a sky-sailing ship. In truth it's more complicated, but I haven't finished coming up with all the ideas. I want the 'moonships' to require several mystical components (mostly for control, as almost anything not too dense will 'float' under normal circumstances). The sails (+feathers), the proper rudder, and probably something in the 'core' of the ship should be required for full functionality. The improvised moonships of the Islanders were only good enough to get out of the 'pit' to the nearest bunch of islands.

[vicky_molokh]

How chemistry works in COC:

There are six Elements: Balance, Island, Ocean, Sky, Star and Vessel. Island is earthlike, hard and usually dense. Ocean is mostly liquid and somewhat transparent. Sky is diffuse and light, gaslike. Star is, well, energy, in the form of heat, light and so on (combined with Sky, Star can form sound - you get the idea). Vessel is best described as (1) organic and (2) conductor: it gives life, and it allows good storage or transfer of energy; it is usually flexible and somewhat soft.

Balance is a very tricky element. If a substance has low Balance, it will react with other substances faster and more aggressively. Also, a low Balance will mean that even the slightest differences between the amounts of other Elements will be very noticeable. OTOH, with high Balance, one can get away with mixing wrong proportions of elements with little effect on the end product.

An important aspect of methaphysics is the Balance with No Balance. This is when (very hypothetically) two or more Elements are present in exactly the same amount, but the amount of the Balance element is considered zero. In this case, truly random effects can occur, as if some element is present in greater amount than the others.

A specific case of Balance with No Balance is Chaos. Chaos is defined as a case of Balance with No Balance where all elements are absent (and thus 'present in equal proportions'). Under these circumstances, the only possible effect is creation of something (there's nothing to destroy or transmute or whatever). Since BwNB results in random effects, such creation is random. OTOH, as with true randomness, it can spontaneously not occur. There's no way to tell what will happen. The concept of creation from Chaos is fundamental to the current theory of creation of the universe.

[vicky_molokh]

Here's what I'm imagining for the craft/enchantment system:

Producing second-stage goods requires raw materials (ores, mana organs, raw wood etc.). The materials usually cost 20% of the second-stage good's cost. Third-stage goods are made of second-stage goods, and, again, are a 5-fold increase of value.

However if the previous-stage good (or the raw materials) were produced by the same person who is currently making this-stage goods (e.g. a hunter who hunts manta birds for their zap-mana-organs, then makes lightningcasters out of them), then the raw materials/previous-stage goods are counted as if being more valuable.

I'm currently pondering them being twice as valuable, thus:
$20 of market-bought zap organs will produce $100 worth of lightningcasters;
$20 of 'self-made' zap organs will produce $200 worth of lightningcasters.

I'm not sure how to adjust the values to make sure that generalists are encouraged, but there is no quick cheat to make lots of money.

[vicky_molokh]

The setting is planned to include 8 races (7 playable) and a concept of 'Callings' (something between a Zodiac sigh and a Talent). I'll post the exact stats of both when I restore and rebalance them (all races are 40-pt templates; all Callings are 10-pt talents). Each (N)PC has to pick a race and one calling - for this I reserve 50pts; those who want to can buy up to 3 extra Calling levels.

The Races Are:

• Oceanspawn. Dwellers of the lakes and the sky. Invisible in water. Hunters.
• Lith'ra'e - Those Whose Eyes Are Indistinguishable From The Eyes Of The Night. Ancient race that is a transcendent form of their ancestors. Don't eat, drink, sleep or fear anything.
• Hashrul. Strange but beautiful creatures.
• Islanders. The People from the legend in the OP. Lucky, tolerant and adaptive.
• Jiera. A race very similar to Islanders, but one that lives in the Celestial Ocean from the days before history.
• the Kamsurath - Exodus. Fallen once-were-gods that wanted to live at any cost, and this is what they've got. They have wretched, ugly bodies, but very hardy ones.
• Homunculi. Once they were artificial slaves of a godlike race (from which they escaped, sorta - just wait for the story), but now they maintain a modest civilization of their own.
• [Sorry, no spoilers yet] . . . riiiight.

For reference, the Callings are:

• Stargazers. Lovers of the sky - astronomers and sailors.
• Dragonslayers. Warriors, soldiers, assassins and hunters.
• Sleepwalkers. Artists and people not of this world.
• Carpenters. Craftsmen of various kinds.
• Storytellers. Bards of the talkative sort.
• Wishmasters. Lawyers, fences, gamblers and other 'masters of wishes'.
• Moondancers. Dancers, singers, prostitutes and other entertainers.
• Heartlanders. Includes doctors/healers, farmers, geologists, prospectors.
• Wayfarers. Rangers, pathfinders, survivalists etc.
• Riddlers. Gatherers of knowledge and wisdom.