My current design name seems to be Sands of FATE but I think I might have to change that, given how close it is to Strands of Fate.
Whilst I'm working on how the powers/magic might work, I'm doing some more design work on the setting itself. I thought about using Islam itself, but realised that, given I have very little knowledge on the subject, it might be best to change it and have a pervasive religion that is very heavily based upon Islam, but is not Islam itself. Whether this is more offensive than getting important details of a real world religion wrong, I can't really say. So feedback on that appreciated, as always.
In days past, when the world was young, the peoples of the world worshiped many different gods, spirits and idols. Whether these were different understandings of the true nature of Elohim, the Hand of Fate, or whether they were the machinations of evil Daeva or misguided men, we cannot say.
What we know as truth is that the Prophetess Mursaliah, may she be praised, was visited by the Wardens of the Most Benevolent, and gifted with the words of the Qitab. Within those words were the methods by which all, both man and jinn, could live a good life, and go on to an eternity in paradise.
As one, people from the Great Garden City to the City of Waves embraced the teachings of the Qitab, knowing its words to be the true path to the Almighty Elohim.
Those that chose not to follow the true path were cast out from society, but still managed to survive in many ways. Those men that made pacts with the Daeva are believed to have been the forefathers of the Shaitan, the men with horns, arcanists, conjurers, necromancers. Those jinn who gave in to the urges of the Qareen, the voice that whispers corruption, became the Ghilan, evil shape-changing eaters of rotted flesh.
Whilst the Qitab continues to guide the Followers of the True Path, the Qareen continues to whisper to the hearts of men and jinn alike. It is only through prayer and pilgrimage that one can follow in the footsteps of the Prophetess. With the guidance of the current Calipha, all the peoples of the known world seek to better themselves and achieve an eternal paradise.
Monday, 7 November 2011
Thursday, 3 November 2011
Wednesday Dresdnesday
Yes, I mispelt the title on purpose!
This week a very interesting time was had in Nevermore. Also, mildly scary.
I'll begin with the new character, who had to leave early and didn't get to interact with the rest of the group. We shall call him Mr Demon. Guess what he does?
Mr Demon works in a library. He processes new library cards... particularly for children... by getting them to tell him their name... Yeah, dude may be entirely evil, certainly misguided.
His adventures involved bustling about the library and noticing some interesting trends in borrowing behaviour. It seemed a lot of books had been taken out (particularly in a certain restricted section) regarding faeries. And also a large number on ferrous metals. He set about researching this, and the connection between them (cold iron! Yay!)
The rest of the group began with the Lycanthrope receiving a job from the new gangleader in town, known to us only as Walter. Walter wanted to know why a house the Lycanthrope had recently robbed had fallen down, and whether or not it was connected to a certain crazy Mexican wandering around town.
The crazy Mexican awoke in his university office to an alarming crashing noise, as the large pile (weighing in tons) of cold iron piled in the middle of the floor decided to take a trip downstairs, and take a shortcut to do it. Not wanting it to seem like his fault, he used magic to blow a hole in his ceiling. Which revealed blue sky. He fired off a fireball into the blue just to make sure the edges of his new skylight looked scorched from where the 'cold iron meteorite' had crashed through.
Pure Mortal went looking for answers to his magical Indian tribe's past, calling on a local shaman to meet him in Starbucks. He didn't find out much, and when he went to leave almost got arrested due to a tip off from the Priest last session. He managed to lose the cops, book a room at a motel with his credit card (to lead the cops away out of town) and then listen to his answerphone messages. Walter wanted him to meet up with the Lycanthrope and help him investigate a knocked down house and Mexican. He went off to find him.
The Ectomancer needed a job, as paid medium work wasn't working to well. She headed over to the university campus in the hopes of some office work, especially in the history department. She instead ran into the Sorcerer, whilst a crowd of people talked about falling rocks and fireballs. Knowing his madness was catching, and unable to find any jobs at the university, she headed off, stealthily followed by the Mexican.
The Cryomancer needed some help shaping his cold iron into something. He put some feelers out, and came back with Clint, a ferromancer, and arranged to meet him later.
In the meantime, he bumped into the crazy Mexican stalking the Ectomancer down a street, noticed he had a new cold iron shovel, and asked for his help in shaping the cold iron instead. Before she ran away, the Cryomancer was able to give the Ectomancer some job contacts.
The Sorcerer managed to give himself a nasty migraine shaping cold iron into a bracer, then wandered off back to the university to recuperate in his office.
The entire building had been cordoned off whilst the metal lumps were moved with a crane. Whilst the Sorcerer argued wildly with a police officer to be let through, the Lycanthrope caught up with him. As the Lycanthrope attempted to help by moving the Mexican, he got angry and lashed out wildly with his shovel, hitting the Lycanthrope in the face.
As police rushed in, the Mortal arrived but lay low and watched the scene. Whilst the Lycanthrope (a known criminal and suspected murder) and the Sorcerer (a suspected criminal and the real murderer) were carted off, the Mortal jumped in a taxi cab to follow.
Pulling a gun on the driver and telling him not to slow down, he shot out a tire of the police van carrying them (the Sorcerer deliberately holding back his hexing until his own plan was ready). As the van stopped and police appeared, the Mortal managed to take out three and open the van. The Lycanthrope headbutted and knocked out the Sorcerer before he could do anything silly, and the two managed to drag him off to Walter's.
The Ectomancer ended up near a junk yard as the truck carrying a large amount of cold iron pulled up. She immediately bought it all, and had it hauled to her place, where she covered every window and doorway with it. Then went off and got herself a telemarketing job (which involved a lot more stress trying not to accidentally hex any of the equipment).
The Cryomancer met Clint in the local magic bar, showed him the already completed bracer but wondered aloud if it could be hardened in some way (perhaps with some kind of folding technique as used with swords). Clint agreed, and even to a rush job for cash. He offered to throw in a design for free, and the Cryomancer went for some runes he'd been working on. Then he sat in the bar, researching local leylines and their intersections using a map he had drawn.
The Mortal, Lycanthrope and Sorcerer were arrayed in Walter's office. When the Sorcerer woke up though, rather than waste any time, he opened a portal to the Nevernever and leapt through, closing it behind him. He'd accidentally taken the Lycanthrope with him however.
The Mortal was told what had just happened by Walter (who, for unknown reasons, was all too aware of what had just transpired). Since the Mortal was agitated that his friend might be lost forever, he suggested finding a wizard who could use a tracking spell, and suggested the magical bar as the place to find one (how he had known of the bar is anyone's guess at this point, since no one in the bar knows much about Walter at all).
In the Nevernever, the Sorceror and the Lycanthrope found themselves standing on the surface of a burning ball of something, which reverted to being called 'the Sun'. The Sorceror attempted to find a path back to somewhere he knew, and ended up descending and invisible staircase inside the glow. Along the way, they both walked past some kind of building in the glow, but couldn't make out a purpose for it.
The Nevernever being what it is, and the nature of time being what it is, it seemed to take them years to walk back to familiar ground. They both ran into the affectionately named Bill the Babykiller, a wildfae who may or may not be the Erlking, Lord of the Hunt.
The Sorcerer seemed very anxious to have the Lycanthrope tell Bill his name, so he instead gave him his nickname. He managed to find an open portal to the real world and go through it, only to find himself at the scene of the crime for the murder he didn't commit. The Sorcerer went off in search of more adventure in the Nevernever. Since they'd both been walking for years, they had managed to swap languages, the Sorcerer having learnt the Lycanthrope's native Russian, and vice versa.
The Lycanthrope headed back to Walter to catch up on what he'd missed over the past few years, only to find he'd been gone for about an hour.
The Ectomancer had been heading to the bar to burn off the pain of a horrible day's work, and ran into her old acquaintance the Mortal. As they both walked into the bar, the large doorman asked the Mortal to check his possessions, where he dropped three pistols on the counter.
Inside, he asked around, and the Cryomancer was instantly able to help him sort out a tracking spell with the Warden, who was sat at the end of the bar. Using skin cells and blood from the blow to the face left on the shovel, the Warden was able to pinpoint the Lycanthrope as being in the warehouse district, not the Nevernever. And on a map, he was clearly back at Walter's. The mortal set off back there, but not before the Cryomancer absconded with the cold iron shovel.
A nice long post, but a lot did happen! Looking forward to next week, although starting to worry that the Sorcerer is going to pick up Sponsored Magic from the wildfae! It's his player's plan after all.
This week a very interesting time was had in Nevermore. Also, mildly scary.
I'll begin with the new character, who had to leave early and didn't get to interact with the rest of the group. We shall call him Mr Demon. Guess what he does?
Mr Demon works in a library. He processes new library cards... particularly for children... by getting them to tell him their name... Yeah, dude may be entirely evil, certainly misguided.
His adventures involved bustling about the library and noticing some interesting trends in borrowing behaviour. It seemed a lot of books had been taken out (particularly in a certain restricted section) regarding faeries. And also a large number on ferrous metals. He set about researching this, and the connection between them (cold iron! Yay!)
The rest of the group began with the Lycanthrope receiving a job from the new gangleader in town, known to us only as Walter. Walter wanted to know why a house the Lycanthrope had recently robbed had fallen down, and whether or not it was connected to a certain crazy Mexican wandering around town.
The crazy Mexican awoke in his university office to an alarming crashing noise, as the large pile (weighing in tons) of cold iron piled in the middle of the floor decided to take a trip downstairs, and take a shortcut to do it. Not wanting it to seem like his fault, he used magic to blow a hole in his ceiling. Which revealed blue sky. He fired off a fireball into the blue just to make sure the edges of his new skylight looked scorched from where the 'cold iron meteorite' had crashed through.
Pure Mortal went looking for answers to his magical Indian tribe's past, calling on a local shaman to meet him in Starbucks. He didn't find out much, and when he went to leave almost got arrested due to a tip off from the Priest last session. He managed to lose the cops, book a room at a motel with his credit card (to lead the cops away out of town) and then listen to his answerphone messages. Walter wanted him to meet up with the Lycanthrope and help him investigate a knocked down house and Mexican. He went off to find him.
The Ectomancer needed a job, as paid medium work wasn't working to well. She headed over to the university campus in the hopes of some office work, especially in the history department. She instead ran into the Sorcerer, whilst a crowd of people talked about falling rocks and fireballs. Knowing his madness was catching, and unable to find any jobs at the university, she headed off, stealthily followed by the Mexican.
The Cryomancer needed some help shaping his cold iron into something. He put some feelers out, and came back with Clint, a ferromancer, and arranged to meet him later.
In the meantime, he bumped into the crazy Mexican stalking the Ectomancer down a street, noticed he had a new cold iron shovel, and asked for his help in shaping the cold iron instead. Before she ran away, the Cryomancer was able to give the Ectomancer some job contacts.
The Sorcerer managed to give himself a nasty migraine shaping cold iron into a bracer, then wandered off back to the university to recuperate in his office.
The entire building had been cordoned off whilst the metal lumps were moved with a crane. Whilst the Sorcerer argued wildly with a police officer to be let through, the Lycanthrope caught up with him. As the Lycanthrope attempted to help by moving the Mexican, he got angry and lashed out wildly with his shovel, hitting the Lycanthrope in the face.
As police rushed in, the Mortal arrived but lay low and watched the scene. Whilst the Lycanthrope (a known criminal and suspected murder) and the Sorcerer (a suspected criminal and the real murderer) were carted off, the Mortal jumped in a taxi cab to follow.
Pulling a gun on the driver and telling him not to slow down, he shot out a tire of the police van carrying them (the Sorcerer deliberately holding back his hexing until his own plan was ready). As the van stopped and police appeared, the Mortal managed to take out three and open the van. The Lycanthrope headbutted and knocked out the Sorcerer before he could do anything silly, and the two managed to drag him off to Walter's.
The Ectomancer ended up near a junk yard as the truck carrying a large amount of cold iron pulled up. She immediately bought it all, and had it hauled to her place, where she covered every window and doorway with it. Then went off and got herself a telemarketing job (which involved a lot more stress trying not to accidentally hex any of the equipment).
The Cryomancer met Clint in the local magic bar, showed him the already completed bracer but wondered aloud if it could be hardened in some way (perhaps with some kind of folding technique as used with swords). Clint agreed, and even to a rush job for cash. He offered to throw in a design for free, and the Cryomancer went for some runes he'd been working on. Then he sat in the bar, researching local leylines and their intersections using a map he had drawn.
The Mortal, Lycanthrope and Sorcerer were arrayed in Walter's office. When the Sorcerer woke up though, rather than waste any time, he opened a portal to the Nevernever and leapt through, closing it behind him. He'd accidentally taken the Lycanthrope with him however.
The Mortal was told what had just happened by Walter (who, for unknown reasons, was all too aware of what had just transpired). Since the Mortal was agitated that his friend might be lost forever, he suggested finding a wizard who could use a tracking spell, and suggested the magical bar as the place to find one (how he had known of the bar is anyone's guess at this point, since no one in the bar knows much about Walter at all).
In the Nevernever, the Sorceror and the Lycanthrope found themselves standing on the surface of a burning ball of something, which reverted to being called 'the Sun'. The Sorceror attempted to find a path back to somewhere he knew, and ended up descending and invisible staircase inside the glow. Along the way, they both walked past some kind of building in the glow, but couldn't make out a purpose for it.
The Nevernever being what it is, and the nature of time being what it is, it seemed to take them years to walk back to familiar ground. They both ran into the affectionately named Bill the Babykiller, a wildfae who may or may not be the Erlking, Lord of the Hunt.
The Sorcerer seemed very anxious to have the Lycanthrope tell Bill his name, so he instead gave him his nickname. He managed to find an open portal to the real world and go through it, only to find himself at the scene of the crime for the murder he didn't commit. The Sorcerer went off in search of more adventure in the Nevernever. Since they'd both been walking for years, they had managed to swap languages, the Sorcerer having learnt the Lycanthrope's native Russian, and vice versa.
The Lycanthrope headed back to Walter to catch up on what he'd missed over the past few years, only to find he'd been gone for about an hour.
The Ectomancer had been heading to the bar to burn off the pain of a horrible day's work, and ran into her old acquaintance the Mortal. As they both walked into the bar, the large doorman asked the Mortal to check his possessions, where he dropped three pistols on the counter.
Inside, he asked around, and the Cryomancer was instantly able to help him sort out a tracking spell with the Warden, who was sat at the end of the bar. Using skin cells and blood from the blow to the face left on the shovel, the Warden was able to pinpoint the Lycanthrope as being in the warehouse district, not the Nevernever. And on a map, he was clearly back at Walter's. The mortal set off back there, but not before the Cryomancer absconded with the cold iron shovel.
A nice long post, but a lot did happen! Looking forward to next week, although starting to worry that the Sorcerer is going to pick up Sponsored Magic from the wildfae! It's his player's plan after all.
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