We already have a few
players and are just looking for some more to fill out the ranks. If you
can make it consistently feel free to post below and we can set up a
time to meet in a google+ hangout or Skype to make your character. It's
not a problem if you've never played Next before. A mic is also (pretty much) a must.
PREPARE YOUR RECTUM FOR HOMEBREW SETTING INFODUMP:
In broad strokes, the setting is fairly large continent split nearly
in two by a massive chasm. The Kingdom of Angalor is on the east side of
the chasm, and the Highblood Territories lie to the west. Angalor is
pretty much a standard fantasy setting kingdom. Ever since the Highblood
Territories seceded from the kingdom several hundred years ago the two
have been intermittently at war. Towards the end of his life, the
previous king negotiated a peace treaty with them and shortly after
issued a new law requiring any Angalor citizen possessing the ability to
wield magic (it's inherited in this setting but still requires years of
study to master) to register their identity with the state or face
severe penalties if they are ever discovered. Essentially wizards and
the like are free to go about their business aside from having to carry
around proof of their registration.
The Highblood Territories are noteworthy for the severe inequity and
lack of social mobility of its citizens. Society there is divided into a
rigidly defined hierarchy. At the top, the seven members of the
Highblood Council. At the bottom, the massive workforce of slaves. Every
citizen is born into their caste but not necessarily their job. For
instance, someone might be born into a caste with the right to choose
whether they are a butcher or a cobbler, etc., but that person could
never be a politician or enter law enforcement. There are two exceptions
to this: a person can be granted honorary status in a higher caste if
someone high enough in society decides they want to grant said status.
That person's offspring may or may not become an official part of that
caste, depending on the circumstances and the whims of higher-ups. The
other exception is that someone convicted of a serious criminal offense
may receive demotions in the same fashion as the honorary status
explained above.
Additional information about the Highbloods:
"highblood" is the collective term outsiders use to refer to them,
despite the fact that, internally, it's only used to refer to the upper
crust of society.
It is considered a crime for a slave to practice magic and they are usually executed for it.
The culture there is very showy and concerned with appearances. To
that end, in public most highbloods wear a custom-made mask that, in its
design, contains some information about their position in society.
There's no law regarding it, it's just sort of a cultural thing. Like
men wearing shirts in public.
The Council uses massive, stone golems to enforce their will. The
military also utilizes them extensively. The secrets of their
construction are heavily guarded. Angalor has not been able to replicate
them, yet. The golems are powered by magestone, which I will outline
below.
Magestone is a relatively rare, extremely powerful mineral that
amplifies magical effects and can act as a font of magical power. The
largest known source of the substance is an enormous complex of mines
located south of the chasm that divides the two countries. The complex
and surrounding environs are officially neutral territory. Both
countries mine and utilize the resource, though the highbloods use it on
a much, much more massive scale and are far more proficient with it.
Let's see, what else. On the southeast portion of Angalor, there is a
large peninsula separated from the main portion of land by a dense
forest called the Withering. Nobody knows what lies beyond because
nobody ever makes it through alive and ships that try to approach from
the sea invariably strike reefs or underwater rocks and sink. The only
reason anyone knows the shape of the land at all is because of the
people that occasionally come from the region looking to trade goods and
services. They are slightly shorter than average humans and wrapped
from head to toe in scraps of cloth.
The land north of both countries is known as the Lifeless North. This
name is appropriate. As explorers have headed further and further
north, they've noted that the grass and trees grow more scarce until
there simply aren't any at all. Those same explorers also usually die
shortly after returning from an unexplained, non-contagious illness.
---Information on the local religion---
Well, essentially the most popular version of the creation story in
the setting is that Vant, either the sun god or literally the sun
depending on who you ask, created/had four children. Arda, Torg, Mallin,
and Urr.* Arda was given a piece of Vant's mind, Torg a piece of his
body, Mallin was given his speech. After giving away so much, however,
he had nothing left to give Urr.
Anyway, they decided to show their appreciation. With the molten
piece of Vant's body, Torg shaped the world. Urr's tears cooled it and
formed the oceans. With Vant's thoughts, Arda made life. Urr's sighed
and created the air for everything to breathe. Mallin, feeling that his
sibling had been done an injustice, decided to spite the others by using
his gift to speak into existence the dark places in the world; deep
caves and the lightless depths of the oceans. Where the words touched
the life Arda had made, it became corrupt and slunk away into the deep
places Mallin had made for it. (monsters, basically.)
In the fallout of Mallin's actions, Arda tried to stem the tide of
corruption with cool, healing waters. Torg tried to freeze the world in
place so they would have time to undo what had been done. Mallin, in his
fury, further smote the land with lightning and harsh winds. By this
point, Urr had decided he wanted nothing to do with this world any
longer and simply left. Essentially this is the origin of "seasons" in
the setting, which are really just large storms that circle the world in
a regular pattern. The first storm (in the order they would pass over a
stationary point) is called Mallin's Wrath. It brings hurricane-force
winds, lightning storms, but usually very little to no rain. Then,
months later, things would begin to cool off as the second storm, known
as Torg's Rest, passes over. It brings snow, hail, blizzards and colder
air that lasts for months. (Basically, winter and fall.) Finally, Arda's
Promise would come, bringing warm, gentle rain to refresh the land.
(Spring, obviously.) The storms move in a regular pattern, and haven't
ever abated or dissipated in all of recorded history. Additionally,
looking at the pattern of time they pass overhead, there should be a
fourth one, but instead the air is simply still, and temperatures
increase as rainfall becomes limited. Some people choose to call this
Urr's Neglect, others don't since it's technically not a storm. Those
aren't the only weather patterns, obviously. There can still be random
rainstorms and the wind and the like.
Anyway, that should give you a general idea of what the pantheon
looks like. Generally, people pray to Vant. For more specific needs,
someone might pray to one of his children. For instance, a miner would
probably pray to/pay tribute to Torg or Mallin. A healer might pray to
Arda, that sort of thing.
However, each of Vant's children has many children of their own
(Divine incest or reproduction by budding? Let's not think too hard
about that.) These others are regarded as minor gods and there are a
shitload of them. So, basically as long as you are specifying who's
child a god is, if it helps your backstory you can make up your own. A
good example of one would be Evaedra: Daughter of Arda. Goddess of
Trade, Change, and Opportunity. Mostly worshiped by merchants, sometimes
by thieves and beggars.
As for how present the gods are in the lives of mortals; they are
mostly non-involved. Priests and clerics and such can channel their
power and on rare occasions they answer prayers, but for most people
they are more a source of comfort or direction for their lives than
anything else.
*Urr is not the god's real name. Nobody knows what it is. Urr is just
an old word in a mostly dead language that means "Unknown" or
"Distant."
Story hook and some information about a relevant town:
Alright; over the past few days rumors have been spreading about a
nearby town called New Evaedria. Apparently, starting about a week ago,
sometimes when people fall asleep there, they simply don't wake up. They
are still breathing, but nobody has been able to rouse them. From what
you hear it is becoming more and more frequent. Those with the means to
evacuate already have, but the majority of the people are still in town,
either caring for a loved one that has already been affected by the
mysterious ailment, lacking the means to leave, or stubbornly refusing
to abandon their home.
Due to the relatively short timescale (a few days to a week) your
characters would have to have been in the town itself or in nearby
towns. The town is named after the lesser Goddess Evaedra, who (some
believe) oversees matters of trade, change, and opportunity (whatever
that means.) Accordingly, despite its relatively small size, New Evaedra
is known as a place where, if you are looking for a rare or specific
item, they either have it or know where to get it. Additionally, the
largest inn in town - known as Goldbiter's after a frequent habit of the
suspicious original owner- is a popular location for traveling
merchants to rest for the night.
