Foundations Redux (Rebirth of Brilliance)

WlfSamurai

WlfSamurai

Maelstrom Engineer
I'm lifting this from the previous Foundation thread.


I'd like to come in here and discuss our game. I'm looking to establish some of the game's broad strokes and tie in your characters. I want to get a sense of where you guys want this game to go. To do this, I'm going to ask a bunch of questions which are meant to be discussion points. We'll discuss together and decide what you want. If we can't decide, we may table it to find our answer in play.
 
We'll see.



Anyway, let's start.



A reminder: you're all together and work together. You're allies.
 
First discussion topics:

  1. Where, geographically, do you want to focus this game?
  2. You are a group. You know each other and are working together. Are you wanderers or have you settled somewhere for now?
  3. There is a lot of shit going in Creation. Seems like every time you turn around, something or someone else wants to destroy it/enslave it/consume it. What threat(s) interest you most?
 
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1) I want to explore an area that is new on the map. it doesn't have to be at the remote edges of the map.


I did once had an idea to convert the old Al-Qadim D&D setting to the Dreaming Sea area, but that was an idea, and I haven't had time to properly write it down.


2) Personally, I would like to move around, but in a small area, say a specific kingdom, or three.


3) At the edges of the world, Fairfolk should be an issue. But I do like the conflicts (not necessarily physical) with other Exalts, and with the Spirits.
 
WlfSamurai said:
First discussion topics:

  1. Where, geographically, do you want to focus this game?
  2. You are a group. You know each other and are working together. Are you wanderers or have you settled somewhere for now?
  3. There is a lot of shit going in Creation. Seems like every time you turn around, something or someone else wants to destroy it/enslave it/consume it. What threat(s) interest you most?
Click to expand...

I would like to do something long term like try to reclaim the city of Rathess from the wilderness, or discover the secret under the flying mountain of Mt. Metagalapa. 
 
I agree with RSC that the new places on the map would be a fun place to start. I like the city of Palanquin, which we might try and liberate from the tyranny of Ysyr. 


Suhiko would not want to settle unless it was a place she could build her power. She has her eyes set on the Realm, and lesser thrones are not going to cut it. 


The Reclamation, assuming that's still what's going on with the Empress. 
 
I would like to see conflicts in personalities, philosophies and ideologies.
What really motivates heroes and commoners? What calls do they heed?

I like the idea of keeping our game around two, three kingdoms.

Re character:
Yssun was part of a guerrilla art collective, their satirical work was responsible for undermining the authority of a local satrap.
The strap got pissed, found them and burned their lair with them inside.
Only Yssun survived by grace of the Unconquered Sun, but she is left scarred in body (her face is disfigured) and mind (she feels guilty and unworthy of having survived).
She's a Twilight, and important abilities will be Craft (she's mostly into figurative arts) Presence and Lore (she's charismatic and see people as her source of inspiration) and Investigation (she will have a network of informants).

Question for the ST: I want Yssun to be able to use Linguistics charms on her drawings or sculptures.
Is there a way that this can be arranged?
(I assume 3e Linguistics Charms do more or less the same as 2e.)
 
Absolutely. As long as you're not creating the works with Linguistics. I other words, you'll need Craft (which you have) to sculpt a sculpture, but you can use your linguistics in that sculpture. Does that make sense?
 
This will make for an interesting team, to say the least.
 
I'm actually really excited about it. I think there will be some very interesting solutions to problems.
 
All the solution we need is me casting Commanding Presence of Fire, and using Performance Charms through it, to affect an entire region. 
 
My character is mostly done. Once we know where we are, and where we come from, I can see about adding a background, and intimacies.

 
Okay, so let's try something new. I prefer, when I run at the real table, to brainstorm and flesh out the world together. Bounce ideas off each other and build the world and situation together. I think this time around, to simulate that, I'll start with a really basic thought and then ask for your ideas. At that point, blurt them out and I'll grab the one that I find interesting. If I grab onto something that you really don't like or don't want to play, just say so. I'll grab something else or we can throw out new thoughts.

Good?

Good.

Okay.

So, let's do it. I want to start us off small. Along the same vein that xarvh xarvh touched on when he mention two to three kingdoms. We can always scale up (and we all know in Exalted it ends up scaling up no matter what). I think we start with one city or kingdom and build from there.

To start our brainstorming I'm going to toss out some words that give me a feeling for tone and theme.

Craggy cliffs.
Smoldering jungle.
Fractured kingdom.
Whispers of war.
Gulleys with ancient bones.
Evidence of ancient battle.​

Let's pull some ideas together. Name things. Solidify a location for our starting Kingdom. Answer open questions about it. Examples: Who's in power? Who wants to unseat that power? What happened here recently and/or in the past? What do the people here want? Etc.

Feel free to ask any questions if you need.
 
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A society rigidly divided in hereditary castes, to the point where instead of family names, caste names are used. 
Different laws apply to different castes.
The higher castes are the leaders (military, religious, economical), the mid castes are the free people (artisans, soldiers, scholars), the low castes are the slaves, peasants and indentured servants.
With the disappearance of the Empress and the reduced support from the Scarlet Empire, the local religious authorities (overwhelmingly Immaculate) have lost much of their power and their following among the general populace has dwindled dramatically.


A frail oligarchy of merchants and military leaders wields the rein of power.
Internal conflict is rife, but the oligarchy has demonstrated both unity and swift brutality when any individual attempted to seize power.



The populace is kept in check by the usual pitting the free castes against the lower castes, to the point where a majority of the free people will be distrusting of any low caste, and a majority of the low caste will be resentful towards the free people.
Sprinkle and abundant dose of panem et circensem and the society is somewhat stable, albeit in the same way that a bomb is stable.
 
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To borrow a page from what i suggested:


The 'kingdom' is a collection of city states that are, supposedly, under the command of the Caliph. In fact, the Caliph's power doesn't really extend much beyond the boundaries of his city, partly due to being not the most effective, and partly because of the distances, most of which require crossing a desert to move from city to city. The nomads are a constant threat as well, even though they also facilitate trade between the different cities.


The current Caliph is childless, which seems to present an opportunity for a change of government. Or a change in Caliphs. the kingdom used to be more unified, and more vibrant, but has been in a slow decline. What the older days might have been like and what the tales about them are like, can be two different things.


It might be that the "good old days" and the return of the faith in the Children of the Sun, is much venerated, but in ancient tombs and ruins, there are still secrets of mad sorcerer kings who did unspeakable things to the populace, all the while being cheered off as great heroes.


Another idea:


A peaceful meeting place for wandering artisans. a place where they can all meet from time to time, deep in a jungle, or up on a cliff, with just the raw beauty of nature around them. But the old days of traveling artisans are dwindling. people prefer to settle down, and there is less song, dance, and other arts around the glade.


At first people thought it was just imagination, or maybe a sour mood due to others leaving, but lately they noticed that the Glade of Song is less vibrant, and the land is harsher to travel.


In a distant past, a God-King has captured a creature deep in the earth, and erected this place to keep it hidden. But to sustain the magic, enough Art has to be produced. If the quota falls, then the creature stirs, and his powers awaken, and start corrupting the land again.


 (This could be a setting that will require us to stay longer at the same place, or return to it periodically, or at least rouse artisans to once again travel there to keep the horror bound).
 
'Caliph' is a rather specific kind of leader, closer to a pope rather than a king. Sultan would probably be more appropriate (unless Muslims have somehow made their way into Exalted), and sultans tend to rule sultanates rather than kingdoms, though that distinction is largely linguistical.


Between the city-states, a great pride of rare fierce lions has been spotted, splitting up into smaller packs and reforming when the sultan sends men to chase them away. The Sultan's brother was killed recently during an attack by the Pride on a full moon night.


There is a place in the deepest desert which no man finds twice, and only the most virtuous finds even once, where the sun burns so fiercely that the sand flows like liquid diamonds and any man who finds this place can bring home a fortune in rare stones. Though, it is said that if his new wealth causes him to become unvirtuous, his riches will turn to dust in his hands and ashes in his mouth.


The palace of the Sultan was not the first palace of the first ruler of these lands. That one was lost to the Sands during the Fair Folk Invasion, but there is a rumour that his great vizier had tunnels made from the palace to every city in the desert realm. No one in living memory has seen one of these tunnels, but maps showing their locations keep popping up every few years, and once in a while some foolhardy or merely foolish adventurer purchases one and usually ends up dead in the desert.
 
I just want to do something worthy of the Solar Exalted.
 
I've collected the ideas above:
  • Caste-divided society with laws that apply to each caste separately
    • Oligarchy of merchants and military leaders that only reaches unity when repelling threats to their power
    • Conflict between castes maintained for control
  • Loose country of city-states lead by a weak Sultan
    • A pride of lions out for blood
    • A desert cache of riches that only the virtuous can find and keep something from
  • A hidden jungle retreat for artisans that is slowly being corrupted
I think we'll add as we go, as well. This is great rough sketch of the area.

Now, in this mix, why are you all here? Together?
 
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