You are evil. At least its what priests of The God of The Sun say. This means you will be hunted. This means they will come to your home. The home you have found recently. Safe place that will allow you to hide from Inquisition and others who want you dead. Character generation, part 1 You are A1. Member of a "noble" race. This means you are either a human, elf or dwarf A2. Member of another humanoid race. A3. Monster. You are sapient and sentient but your body is very different to what humans have A4. Undead. You got another chance to live A5. Demon. You are magical being born from emotions of other beings. Your new home is B1. Basement of a ruined castle B2. Abandoned mines B3. Abandoned lair of an ancient beast B4. Natural cave Your followers are C1. What followers? I am alone. C2. My friends. They follow me because they trust my leadership. C3. My family. They never abandoned me. C4. Minions. Weak and pathetic beings who stick to me to survive. C5. Unwilling slaves. They obey me because I know how to force them. C6. Willing slaves. They obey me without questioning.
Character generation part two (A1) Yes, you come from a civilized and respected society. But who are you exactly? A1 Human A2 Forest Elf A3 Sea Elf A4 Dwarf What is your gender? B1 Male B2 Female And age? C1 Very young C2 Young C3 Mid Aged C4 Mature C5 Old (B1) You found a nice ruined castle Who owned it before you? D1 Human Tyrant D2 Knightly order D3 Orcish warlord D4 Necromancer How close is it too civilized land? E1. Right near a settlement E2. Close E3. Far away E4. Middle of nowhere (mix of C1, C3, C6) You have only one follower and it is a family member enslaved by you. Who is this family member? F1 my father F2 my mother F3 my sister F4 my brother F5 my daughter F6 my son Why he\she obey you without questioning? G1. It took some time and effort to train a proper slave G2. Magic can achieve many things G3. Tradition. It is natural for culture I come from G4. He\she loves me in a way that is not approved by Sun Paladins
I am taking command of the story for the time being, and though I know it is somewhat below board I am casting a couple of votes to either break or make ties... F3 G4. With that we have the following results! Now to explain all that! You and your sister once shared a VERY cramped little efficiency at #1 Womb Lane. You have been the dominant member of the pair since before you were born. As you grew you became ever more dominant, till when you both were in your 20s and discovering sexuality your sister came to you one day and asked you to put a dog collar on her and make her your bedslave. Time to back up a bit. Your mother was a human tavern wench in the seaside town of Volksport. The night you were conceived a Sea Elf delegation was staying at the inn. One of their guards was a big tipper, and kept making ever more suggestive comments between downing ale like it was water and taking turns on the stage reciting extemporaneous elven poetry in praise of your mother's beauty. (Your mother spoke elvish, though most of the patrons didn't...) Well, after three days of this it finally went to her head (her 'other' head) and she bedded the randy Sea Elf. Eleven months later, in a different tavern, (one your mother owned, thanks to the Sea Elf ambassador,) in a different town a hundred miles down the coast, you and your twin sister were born. Your mom didn't see your father again till you were 14, and when he came back she damned near murdered him: made the attempt right enough! She was approaching middle age though, where he was still a strapping lad in his prime. He twisted her wrist till she dropped the cleaver then literally swept her off her feet. It took most of a year but Martharahtail swivened your mom all over again, and by the time you were 22 you had seven new brothers and sisters with another on the way... Now we get back to how things went all wrong. You didn't ask for it, you don't know why it happened, but the moment you put that collar on your sister and she called you "Mistress" for the first time SOMETHING spoke to the two of you. You knew that the feelings you had for each other were forbidden by Ignatius Divine, but you couldn't make them go away, any more than you could deny your sisters rare but heartfelt requests. The voice warned you that you had crossed a boundary that couldn't be uncrossed, if you didn't pack your most prized possessions and flee: THAT NIGHT, you would be hunted down and killed. The priests knew, if they didn't kill you, QUICKLY, you might become something that could never be stopped, a power that would bring the church of the Sun crashing down and usher in the Goterdamerung: the twilight of the gods: for a love like yours would shake the world to it's core. Well did you heed the voices warning, your sister hid her collar under a high necked blouse and that afternoon you went out into the hills above the town to pick berries: you just neglected to come back. Hyeing away over hill and dale as fast as your legs would carry you, you sleept under bushes with nothing but each other's bodies to warm you. You traveled this way for months. Spring passed, Summer too, and fall was well under way before you reached this place of refugee to which you have been guideded by prophetic dreams. You've lived the better part of a year by your wits, trickery, and slowly growing wood's lore, but here at last you are safe. This ruined castle lies in the middle of a valley which once was under cultivation, but has been deserted for no reason you can identify. Here, far out in the midst of the hinterlands beyond the Hundred Kingdoms, some powerful warlord tried to found a new realm, and made good progress too, before something went wrong and the attempt was abandoned. You know your predecessor's face, it's stamped on hundreds of copper pieces in the treasury, and his name, "Sampson of the Silver Blade" but that is all you've been able to discover... Now for the questions: The last of character creation: While you were on the run you and your sister gained new abilities which helped you survive, and will continue to do so. For you it has been a gift of magical power, for her physical skills. (As befits a slave...) What is the nature of the powers you have gained? A1: Sorcerress A2: Witch A3: Druid A4: Summoner A5: Ur-Priestess What is the nature of the Skills your sister has mastered? B1: Warrior B2: Thief B3: Duelist B4: Barbarian B5: Martial Artist What are your names? C1: Pride & Joy (Formerly: Shame & Disgrace) C2: Wendy Angela West & Verginia Bethany West C3: Tanya the Innkeepers-Daughter & Jade the Innkeepers-Daughter C4: Almaranthe Ne-Martharahtail & Sylvanathasidhie Ne-Martharahtail C5: Gloriana of Magecraft & Caethes of the Silver Blade (If voting for option C5 you may, at your discretion, choose another option for what thier names were before. If so put it in parentheses after this vote.) Onward with the story! The days till the snows of Winter imprison us in the castle are finite and growing ever fewer: what should we do first to ensure our survival? D1: Find some help! (Many hands make light work, but also mean more mouths to feed) D2: Gather wood. (Without an adequate wood store for a fire we freeze to death the first night the temperature drops bellow freezing...) D3: Gather Food. (Forget freezing to death, starvation could kill us long before THAT became an issue!) D4: Fully explore the castle. (Who knows, maybe the castle HAS wood and food? Won't know till we've checked the whole thing...) D5: Survey our domain. (And speaking of exploring, there's a bunch of abandoned farmsteads around here. Maybe some of them have something of use?) D6: Repair the Castle. (And this is last because its probably more long term, but if we can't defend ourselves everything we've built and collected could be snatched away from us...) Time to vote!
A4 B1 C5 (formerly C3) D4 Normally I would vote for Sorceress, but Summoner is not something I see very often and I'm cuurious how it will work in the story.
lets see..... A4 B5 C4 D5(D4 would work too) D2 and D3 seem a bit pointless if food and wood can also be found with the other options. It's not the time for D6 and we don't need D1 if we can't even feed for two.
Some things that I forgot to mention: You currently have enough food for the two of you for 13 days, though if you starve yourselves a little you could make it stretch to 15. Increaseing your numbers cuts down that time proportionally, but conversely increases your hauls and progress on other activities. You have scavenged enough wood from the ruins to keep a modest fire going in the one intact oven in the kitchen for 18 days, or shorter if you have to do more with it than just sleep next to it for warmth and cook your food. (Like burn charcoal or brew a potion for example.) The other options, while they could yield both food and wood, are not a sure thing. If you go with D4 for example there is a chance that a structurally unsound area gives way leaving one of you injured and gaining nothing... (Changeing your votes in light of this information is perfectly reasonable.) Lastly I am going to keep the voting open until Friday or until there is a set of clear winners before that. If there is not a clear winner in any catagory by Friday I will serve as the tiebreaker.
It's nice to see this section coming alive again. So I will be your third. A2 B1 C1 D5 As I understand, the professions can be translated as: Sorceress (Offensive magic); Witch (curses); Druid (Nature magic); Summoner (summoning); Ur-Priestess (??) and Warrior (one-hand weapon+shield speciality); Thief (shadow backstabber); Duelist (dual weapon handling); Barbarian (big weapons with minimal armour handling); Martial Artist (no armour with minimal weapons – concentrating on her own body as a weapon) So what is an Ur-Priestess?
An " Ur-Priestess" is like a cleric, healing, buffing, wards: except instead of worshipping the gods and being granted power in exchange for her services, she is STEALING power from the gods. (And, eventually, with enough time, training, experience, and worshipers of her own, she has the potential to BECOME a goddess.) Note that not all Ur-Priest/esses are evil, you can steal power from the gods of darkness as surely as those of light, but right now that's probably not a good idea as the gods of light already want you dead, where the rest are indifferent. (or in a few cases on your side...) Also, still no clear winners on the matter of the sisters names, so the voting stays open...
Oh, also your slightly off on Witch. While yes witch does go in for the hexes and curses it's more like the 'Hedge Mage' option, jack of all trades, mistress of none.
Thank you for explanation – my votes stands as they are. It looks like you will be the one to make the final choice. For names that is.
It's Friday and we have no clear victor on the name front, so I form the tie breaker. I'm afraid no one will have all of their choices win, but so it goes. Here are the results this time! Now To Explain All That! You are 'Gloriana of Magecraft', formerly "Tanya the Innkeepers-Daughter". You have picked this name because you are going to be Glorious, and you have, during your journey thus far, awakened to a mage gift. You are a summoner, you can conjure creatures from other planes of existence to do your bidding. Elementals, Nature Spirits, Demons, and Celestials fight, kill, and 'die' in your cause. You can also cast a small range of other magics: a few Cantrips, Wards, Buffs, and Hexes are within your power, though nothing like a mage who focuses on those areas. Lastly you have the ability to bolster or weaken summoned creatures, your own or another's. Your Sister is called 'Caethes of the Silver Blade', formerly "Jade the Innkeepers-Daughter". Her new first name literally means "Slave" in elfin, and you are either amused or chagrined every time you say it. On your journey Caethes has become a proficient Warrior, fighting with sword, shield, and armor. She is by no means an expert at this role, but is growing better all the time. When out in the world your sister wears piecemeal armor taken from brigands you've encountered on your journey. An open faced helm with a horse tail plume, a chain shirt, spiked gauntlets, leg armor made of leather, a quilted cloth arming tunic, sturdy leather boots with a steel plate in the sole, and a neck piece of tough steel that fits over her collar. She takes no pride in her haphazard armor, but maintain's it like a professional. The second half of her name stems from something you discovered when you first found the castle. On the floor above the basement where you and your sister have been sleeping is the ruins of a grand audience hall, and at the back of that hall in a large granite throne was the skeleton of what you believe to be the former king of this land. He had been stabbed through the heart with what you think was his own sword, a rune inscribed silver blade known as "+ULFBURHT+". You checked everything for traps with your summoned creatures and scanned it with the First Sight of course. There was no evidence of any spells or traps other than the enchantment of the blade. Braving the danger your sister drew the blade out of the skeleton's chest, (who you can only guess to have been "Sampson of the Silver Blade",) and declared it to be her own. You took "Sampson" and 'buried' him in the river that hard-by stands near the castle, using the commoner's prayer for unknown gods. "+ULFBURHT+" bears potent enchantment, and you still have not plumbed all it's functions. It can cut steel with ease, never needs sharpening, magically increases the sword's skill of it's user far beyond what they have already grasped, and glows like the moon in the presence of enemies. You have also learned that it can fire Mage Bolts, protect it's bearer with a sheathing of magical force, let it's bearer instinctively know the direction and distance to the nearest body of clean water, and purify fouled food or drink once each day, but these powers require you to speak a word of command: words you have not been able to learn. You suspect it has other powers, but have not discovered them yet. You have, at times, considered asking your sister for the sword, but always discard the notion. Swords are warriors weapons, not the stuff of mage's learning, and you know that she has grown quite attached to the thing. She is your slave, and so, indirectly, the sword already belongs to you. Best to let her have her prize. This brings us back to the present. It is the second day since you found the castle. The Day you found the castle you explored it a bit and found the sword, collected firewood, and cleared some of the debris. The first day after you simply slept, too bone weary to go on. Now you can no longer sleep, though you still feel very worn down and lethargic. You note that the state of your food and wood stores is pitiful, especially with the three long months of ice and snow fast approaching, so you formulate a plan to improve on it. "Caethes, we need to lay in more food and wood for the coming winter. We should go out and check some of the abandoned farms, see if anything is left that we can use." You state, and your sister smiles. "As you wish Gloriana." She says, hefting her now empty pack. There are about 12 old farmsteads around the castle, and you go to the furthest one, looking for anything of use. At first you find little, just some rusty old tools and a huge jar of salt, but then you realize you are looking at this all wrong. It is not premade supplies that are worth taking here, but the ruins of the farmhouse itself and the feral livestock! Over half of the day you tear apart the collapsed thatched roof of the building and hunt down one of the no-longer-quite-tame hogs that roam the property. With your expertise in woods-lore you skin and butcher the thing, then take some of the salt and preserve the carcass. You rig up a sledge from the remains of the roof, then, working till well after dark, haul your prizes back to the castle. You and your sister will grow quite sick of salt pork before the meat is finished, but it will keep you both alive, and that's important. There also is the fact that you were able to salvage one of the tools: a battered and rusty, but serviceable, ax. It was what you used to cut up and shape the beams of the collapsed roof for firewood. As you bed down for the night you realize something kind of peculiar, you never have bothered to pick a name for the castle and the valley it's in... Current State of Your Domain: Resources, Goods, Tools, Weapons, and Armor: Axes (Tool/Weapon): 0+1 = 1 Brigantine Jack [Women's, Low Quality, Damaged] (Armor): 1 Clothing [Women's, Low Quality, Damaged] (Goods/Armor): 4 Clothing [Men's, Low Quality, Damaged] (Goods/Armor): 2 Food: (30 + 18) / 2 people = 24 days. (Ration Level: Starvation [1/3]. Full Rations: 8 / 2 = 4 Days [5+3]. Food Balance: 4 Grain, 4 Vegetable, 6 Meat, 2 Dairy.) Water: 4,000 units per day. [(Unnamed) River: Not Polluted, Not Frozen.] Firewood: (18 + 18) / ([2 People / 5] Round Up.) = 36 Days. Timber: 0+6 = 6. Items: Personal Sledge [Low Quality] (Transport): 0+1 = 1 Special Items: "+ULFBURHT+": (Magical Silver Sword with several abilities, not all of which are known and most of which can't be used.) Buildings: (Unnamed) Castle [Keep, Ruined, Partially Unexplored]: Space: 50K sq ft. (6K Used - 44K 'Ruined' = 0 Available.) Occupancy: 2/20. Protection Bonus: +1. Administration: 3/20 (3/100) Facilities: Cistern, Grand Kitchen (Partially Ruined), Treasury (Housing: 2 gp, 1153 sp, 19470 cp.) Main Servant's Quarters (Ruined), Laundry (Ruined), Great Hall (Ruined). (Unnamed) Castle [Tower 1, Ruined, Unexplored]: ??? (Unnamed) Castle [Tower 2, Ruined, Unexplored]: ??? (Unnamed) Castle [Tower 3, Ruined, Unexplored]: ??? (Unnamed) Castle [Tower 4, Ruined, Unexplored]: ??? (Unnamed) Castle [Tower 5, Ruined, Unexplored]: ??? (Unnamed) Castle [Gatehouse, Ruined, Unexplored]: ??? (Unnamed) Castle [Wall 1, Ruined]: Defense Bonus: +1 (Unnamed) Castle [Wall 2, Destroyed]: Defense Bonus: -1 (Unnamed) Castle [Wall 3, Partially Ruined]: Defense Bonus: +3 (Unnamed) Castle [Wall 4, Destroyed]: Defense Bonus: -1 (Unnamed) Castle [Wall 5]: Defense Bonus: +10 (Unnamed) Castle [Wall 6, Badly Damaged]: Defense Bonus: +5 (Unnamed) Small Farmstead [Ruined, Looted.]: Space: 0/0 (0/10). Productivity: 0/0 (0/5) Dreams You: You have had a dream in the night, in one part of it you saw you and your sister stand alone against a group of Solar Crusaders and die, in the other you had a small band of minions and though some of the minions died you and your sister lived... Your Sister: Caethes reports the same general dream you did, except the positions were different and instead of human minions you had goblin servants... The New Questions: What Do You Wish To Name The Castle? A1: Kaster Partox (Dwarven for "Castle Refuge".) A2: Seafoam Castle (In honor of your father, whom you will probably never see again.) A3: Sister-Hold Castle (In honor of yourselves, and your intention to hold the castle against all outsiders.) A4: Wait And See. (Don't pick a name yet, wait to see if you can somehow discover what the name of the place was before it was abandoned. Then you can decide if you like that name or want to change it.) What Do You Wish To Name The Valley? B1: Vitamin Valley (A good name for an isolated farming area.) B2: Heartland (A nice name for a small realm, which can morph into a local name for the core of a bigger land...) B3: Gloria's Holding (A little harmless self-aggrandizement would make you feel better about your situation.) B4: Swordhold (A name of authority for a realm on the rise.) B5: Wait And See. (Don't pick a name yet, wait to see if you can somehow discover what the name of the place was before it was abandoned. Then you can decide if you like that name or want to change it.) And while we're on the subject of names, there are two more questions... What Do You Wish To Name The Farmstead You Looted? C1: Matchstick Steading (In recognition of what you did to the roof.) C2: Hog-Get Farm (Because you killed and butchered a feral Hog there.) C3: The "Salvation-in-Death" Ruin (Because you "killed" the farmstead and pig to provide wood and food to keep yourselves alive, and without a roof the farmstead is effectively a ruin now.) C4: Wait And See. (Don't pick a name yet, wait to see if you can somehow discover what the name of the place was before it was abandoned. Then you can decide if you like that name or want to change it.) What Do You Wish To Name The River That Runs Past The Castle? D1: The Damel (Means 'River' in Dwarven. [Not the most inspired name ever...]) D2: The Sea-Father (In honor of your father.) D3: The River Innsbruck (In honor of your mother: 'Innsbruck' is an archaic word in Trade-Speak [of uncertain origin] for a female innkeeper that owns her own establishment.) D4: Wait And See. (Don't pick a name yet, wait to see if you can somehow discover what the name of the River was before the area was abandoned. Then you can decide if you like that name or want to change it.) What should we do tomorrow? E1: Find some help! (Many hands make light work, but also mean more mouths to feed. [Conversely however, there is safety in numbers...]) [Low Risk] E2: Gather wood. (We need enough stockpiled for all your people, [you and your sister for the moment], to survive AT LEAST 3 months of ice and snow, typically more like 4 but sometimes as much as 6 at this elevation... Right now we have less than 2 months worth.) [No Risk] E3: Gather Food. (Forget freezing to death, starvation could kill us long before THAT becomes an issue!) [No Risk] E4: Explore the Castle. (Who knows, maybe the castle HAS wood and food? Won't know till we've checked the whole thing...) [Moderate Risk] E5: Survey our domain. (We got some good supplies from the farmstead we explored today: perhaps we should look at another tomorrow?) [Low Risk] E6: Repair the Keep. (And this is next to last because its probably more long term, but if we can't defend ourselves everything we've built and collected could be snatched away from us...) [Low Risk] E7: Do Something Else? (We COULD spend the day doing just about anything, but it's probably not a good idea.) "Explore the Castle" and "Survey Our Domain": Each day of exploration 'clears' one building in the castle, of which there are seven, or checks out one farmstead, of which eleven remain. (As far as you know, on both counts...) Both types of exploring carry some degree of risk, exploring the castle especially, (Highest Risk Action you can take right now...) but the rewards of success will be greater than 'No Risk' actions, as we have seen already today. "Repair the Keep" Uses 1 'Timber' or 'Stone' per day. Full Repair requires 40 Timber and 20 Stone, plus at least 1 follower with each of the "Wood-Wright" and "Stonemason" specialties to use more than half Timber requirement or any Stone, respectively. For each 5 Timber or Stone expended Keep's "Defense" bonus increases by 1. At certain levels of repair it's Space and Administration capacities also increase. "Do Something Else?": If you have another suggestion for what you and your sister do, leave it in a parenthetical comment. Some possibilities: Go Hunting (You Don't have bows, spears, javelins, or bolas.), Go Fishing (You don't have nets, lines, or fishhooks), Explore Up or Down The River (You could run into just about anything...), Fix up the Kitchens or Servant's Quarters (You don't have brick, mortar, tables, jars, pots, knives, cooking utensils, or cutting boards: nor hammers, nails, varnish, paint, wallpaper, cotton, wool, hemp, thread, cloth, straw, or down...), Take A Day To 'Rest' (You can 'rest' all winter...), Practice Magic (On What?), or Practice Sword-Fighting (Again, on what?). Time to vote!
