It's a brain storm!

[kitini]

Get your umbrellas!

This post isn't as long as it looks - it's just lots of lists

I think I can move topics so I'll throw this in the board for the RP when it's made

Maps
I intend to do lots of more detailed ones. Note, the "intend to" meaning probably won't.
World Map
Main Map - Coloured
Deep green = grass, yellow-green = forest, other green = marsh.
Deep blue = ocean, light blue = rivers/shallow water/lakes
Orange = desert, yellow = beach
World Map - plus towns
World Map - governments

Governments

Government 1 (Update: Lezoli):
Highly militaristic.
Heavily leaning toward dictatorship.
Favourite target of most/all rebel groups
Police trained to be very brutal
Puts on manners when in company, regardless of if visitors know of nature
Despite harsh nature, population is quite high
Major export is iron
Major inport is weaponry

Government 2 (Update: Ozehe):
Pacifist country
Monarchy
Capital city is major tourist attraction
All residents expected to be polite and kind toward visitors, as country has fallen on hard times and needs all the money possible from tourists
Royal family rarely seen in person - unless visitors are highly trusted, representatives are used.
Major export is fine silk
Major inport is wheat

Government 3 (Ade):
Monarchy
Has no cities - only small hamlets
Capital "city" consists of one small castle and a few, in comparison, luxurious homes, and regularily has a farmers market
Members of the royal family are seen on a regular basis walking around the capital, except for the king.
Major export is wheat
Major inport is bricks

Government 4 (Fyvi):
Somewhat militaristic
Democracy
Occasionally fights with gov 1 due to a conflict of moral
All cities are at least partially underground
Sponsers various rebel groups which attack gov 1
Major export is steel
Major inport is armour

Government 5 (Eolnia):
Very secretive
Slightly competitive
Allied with gov 1
Scientific
Well known as morally bankrupt
Major export is SCIENCE! As in high tech gadgets that are now very outdated within their own country
Major input is all types of ore

Rebel Groups

Rebel group 1:
Thieves
Despise gov 1, and attack on such a regular basis, you could set your watch by them
Happy to distribute stolen goods to anyone who pays even the smallest amount
Has no set uniform
Missions would mostly revolve around hassling gov 1

Rebel group 2:
Assassins
Also hate gov 1, but demonstrates their hatred into not accepting missions from them or charging almost 5 times the normal rate, but any mission that directly harms them is accepted for a quarter the normal rate
Proud of their "no-one caught in over 50 years" record
Only uniform requirement is that their faces is obscured, so most wear hoods or masks
Missions would mostly revolve around assassinations (and hassling gov 1)

Rebel group 3:
Bandits
Prey on gov 2, and are a major factor behind its current financial ruin
Also attack other rebel groups
Usually wear trenchcoats and warm shirts, but some wear nothing outside of jeans (they're the cocky ones)
On the rare occassion they offer missions, they'd mostly be about theft and general bandit-ing

Rebel group 4:
Consists mainly of refugees from govs 1, 4 and 5
Will protect anyone on the run
Wear robes - often white
Missions would mostly revolve around assisting people

Rebel group 5:
Cult
Hated by all other rebel groups
Rarely appear in person - usually summon spirits to speak on their behalf
If they DO appear in person, they wear hooded cloaks and masks to protect their identities.
Protected by gov 5
Missions would mostly revolve around all sorts of icky cultist stuff


I thought up the rebel groups while writing out the governments, so sorry if they seem a bit rushed. I thought I'd detail their mission types, but not sure whether or not to do it with the governments too. :] I've got no network at work today so I'll probably keep adding to this throughout today XP

[alienfetucine]

Hm.
Is the Balamb Garden-style area part of one of the governments?
Is there any specific event that triggered the found of it? A war between the governments, perhaps?
Are there monsters? Do they have a government or organized culture?

[kitini]

Feb 12, 2009 16:25:57 GMT -5 alienfetucine said:

Hm.
Is the Balamb Garden-style area part of one of the governments?
Is there any specific event that triggered the found of it? A war between the governments, perhaps?
Are there monsters? Do they have a government or organized culture?

I forgot about the academy itself XD I think it should be detached from the governments, considering they wouldn't actually need funding from anyone once the cash started rolling in - just maybe a few investors from neutral parties. Also, maybe the investors would ask for a favour or two? A few examples of them would be:
- Smiths Armoury (in addition to the initial investment, they'd also provide services at a cost to the academy, like armour repair and also supplying armour (first set of armour is free! ))
- Smiths Weaponry (owned by different people. They're in an intense rivalry, maybe? Would also repair things, with the bill going straight to the school)
- Abracadabra Inc. (manufacturer of magic scrolls and charms. For any enchantments that need doing and curses that need lifting)
- Ma's Homebaked Cookies (Catering - or at least the desserts)

-------

I think the atmosphere that would exist with these 5 in place would suggest a war of some sort, so let's go with that in addition to what I had in mind: the current headperson (man or woman? Both? *shrug*) had a lifelong dream of owning an academy for training people to be the best they could be. After the war she felt it'd be the best way to promote unity amongst the countries. (ignoring the point that it'd also provide each country with stronger people to send to war, but never mind)

-----

Monsters! Wheee! I love my monsters. I can't believe I hadn't thought about them yet! I think a large variety should be in place, coz the world itself is pretty big. I can think of about 6 I'd like to include, off the top of my head.

Ogres
- Stick to single families, only coming into contact with other families for socialising.
- Generally unintelligent
- Any lone ogres are likely to get themselves killed fairly quickly as they'll fight with anyone and anything regardless of if they think they can win.

Goblins
- Incredibly thick
- Hang out in mobs of 40 or more
- Tend to need someone/thing to do all the thinking for them
- Have no concept of subtlety and tactic - they'll just swarm their targets, unless instructed otherwise

Trolls
- Only ever found in singles
- Have a distinct love for bridges and shinies
- Quite friendly with ogres and goblins (they like to feel smart)

Vampires
- Not immortal - just eternal life and youth, but can be killed. Unfortunately, all their years of being alive has led to them being experts at avoiding death
- Can transform into animals, preferring wolves and bats
- Tend to be very dramatic
- Known for being very civilized and happily taking part in politics

Succubus (is the "more than one" version succubi or succubuses?)
- Tend to stick in packs of 10 or so
- Have been known to make themselves at home in villages around the world
- Prefer to hunt solo if not living with a normal person
- Tend to pose as attractive people and get themselves moved in with well off lords and ladies.

Sirens
- Very similar to succubusi/es except for smaller packs and a distinct preference for areas with lots of water (swamps, oceans, lakes, sometimes rivers)
- Are infamously beautiful singers

------

I've had a few more thoughts too, some relating to the world, and two for the mechanics.

For the first mechnic thing, NPCs. I'm happy controlling the NPCs rather than having a character in with the inevitable group. And obviously, NPCs can be controlled and created by anyone anyway. But I suck at knowing how to handle NPCs, so thoughts?

For the second, stats or no? I find stats are a very good way of giving a feeling of development, but leaves it dangerously close to video game territory, and I know a lot of people hate them.

World-wise, how about some different species to human? All human worlds are kinda boring We could have the commonly used elves, dwarves, drows, and maybe a few not often used like fairies, wereanimals, and pixies? Or, just a case of "do what you want I dunno" I don't mind, to be honest

Next up is technology. I think this would be fairly close to medievil, but we do have a government that loves science, so perhaps there is a few more advanced bits and bobs around - transport, for example, perhaps could have a few weird and wonderful fantasy modes, like a machine that can generate portals with ease, instead of relying on mages or whatever.

And that brings me nicely to magic! I personally prefer elemental magic to any other sort, though I'm not so keen on fire vs ice vs earth vs air, that's just nuts. (says the girl discussing magic) I do like those four, plus white and black magic, though, mainly because I was brought up on the concept (yay for Final Fantasy?) Perhaps with the advance of science, a new "element" of magic - technology? Using invented items that still have a magical twist to them? (Like a crossbow that can create its own bolts from magic energy?)

Thoughts, opinions, suggestions?

Also *pushes Alien* X3

[Jiin6]

...Succubi would be the correct term

i don't mind having a few different speices around. (going around the "do what you want" thing)

for magic, why don't you use Symbology? (used in the Star ocean series)

[alienfetucine]

Succubi would, indeed, be the correct pluralization of Succubus. >.>

I don't really care what kinds of races there are, but I'd prefer not to have the generic "human/elf/dwarf" population.
Maybe we could do something like George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire books have; humans are the dominant species, in various different cultures, religions, races, etc., but there are also more supernatural entities, such as bad badass dragons, giants, and sort-of-werewolves (Wargs, as they are called, have a mental connection with their wolf, and can see through their eyes and hear through their ears while asleep. Bran, who is crippled in the first book, hugely abuses this ability so he can have normal experiences, for example.), and so on.

I don't really care what people do with their NPCs. >.> Their issues, really.

Stats = major no. It just messes with normal RPing. :/

The technology level of the world... You could just go the Magitek route. <.< That way, technology is basically fueled by magic, which could lead to an interesting story arc... Iunno, maybe the science-fueled nation starts becoming so advanced it actually drains magic from the rest of the world to power it's machines or something?
You could also do the normal white/black magic with traditional elements along side that, too.
...Plus dragons.
...The dragons have to be in it somewhere.
...And ninjas.
...Possibly riding dragons.
...Riding ninja dragons.
...Who use katanas.
...Yeah.

Anyway... I'll work on some more monster species, I guess. That's one thing I'm good at.


Ghost
-Formed from a spirit, which are created whenever somebody dies, when found and captured by one of Rebel Group #5.
-Can travel solitarily or in large groups.
-Has hugely varying levels of power.
-Almost all employ tactics and intelligence, however.

And you had to expect it...

Dragons
-Huge scaly beasties who breath fire and can fly. What do you expect? Has both front legs and wings.
-Lives almost completely solitarily, in high mountains. Only come together for mating, or when raising young.
-Immensely strong, in both physical power and magic.
-Have intelligence equal to or surpassing humans.

Wyvern
-Like a Dragon, but has only wings and back legs, and no front legs.
-Live in packs of 3-7, though larger groups and solitary Wyverns are known to exist.
-Live in the mountains, though Dragons will not allow them to exist on the same one. Several packs can be driven away by a single Dragon, and will thus infest nearby hills, forests, etc.
-Far less powerful than Dragons, but many people still confuse the two.
-Lower intelligence than Dragons, but greater intelligence than Trolls. Roughly equal to Vampires, Succubi, etc.

DEMONIC COW
-Second greatest servants of Rebel Group 5.
-The second greatest threat a adventurer could ever face.
-Wields poleaxes, spears, etc. Long-handled things.
-IMMENSELY POWERFUL. If you encounter one, run, run away!
-Has high levels of intelligence, but is eclipsed by...

KILLER RABBIT
-Greatest servants of Rebel Group 5.
-Most powerful monster. Ever.
-Does not need weapons...
-Is only capable of being slain using the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch.
-May or may not guard the passge to the Holy Grail.
-No more is known, because none who have faced it have survived...

...Anyway, now that my crazy references are over...

Great Wolf
-Leader of a pack of Direwolves (see below)
-Greater speed and physical power than a normal Direwolf.
-Is not intelligent, but rather "cunning". Employs basic tactics.
-One exists per pack. If more appear, they will fight to the death.

Direwolf
-Pack is led by a Great Wolf.
-High speed and agility, with a strong bite, but has low physical endurance. Unlike normal wolves, it cannot chase down it's prey, rather preferring to ambush. It can only run at full speed for ~10 seconds, rather like an alligator.
-Lives in packs of 15-40, though they can have much larger or lower numbers.
-If the Great Wolf is killed, Direwolves under its control will cease fighting, and find a new Great Wolf to follow.

Roc
-Lives on islands in the ocean
-Unreasonably large birds, but not preposterously large.
-Usually present in flocks of 5-8.
-Lives off of fish... or humans.

Shadow
-Minor servants of Rebel group 5, escaped
-Insubstantial spirits, largely incapable of inflicting harm on people, but an entire colony of them can cause a ton of trouble for a town
-Largely immune to physical attacks, leaving magic as the only viable way to get rid of large numbers.
-Normally, they live solitarily or in pairs, but large colonies of them can form in a specific place, especially if some tragedy has occured there. Colonies range from 50-150 individual shadows, always headed by one or more...

Greater Shadow
-Leader of a colony of Shadows.
-Unlike Great Wolves, multiple Greater Shadows can exist within a colony.
-A Shadow that is powerful enough to actually cause physical harm to humans, not just freak them out.
-Like Shadows, they can usually avoid physical attacks, but each one has a weak spot of some kind that can be hit even when the rest of it cannot be.

Gnoll
-Similar to Goblins in appearance, except having gray skin rather than whatever Goblins do
-Some are civilized and others are less intelligent, acting like monsters
-Civilized Gnolls are more or less enslaved by the Fyvi gov.
-Uncivilized Gnolls wield small weapons; daggers and short swords primarily, stolen off of slain travelers. Some are known to use small bows.
-They are more intelligent than Goblins, not needing Trolls to give them orders
-Have an immense love of anything shiny

I'm just going to use this to add in monsters, okay?

[kitini]

I don't get the cow reference, but I get the rabbit (I watched that for the first time last week. It's my new favourite movie :3)

I'm gonna start with names and filling the details in on the map, if there's anything you need adding to it (eg extra islands), I'll add it while I'm working (need to get names first, then I'll check back)

Additionally, should I do a couple of maps - one showing each governments area of influence, one showing where each kind of monster is especially high, one showing where each rebel group is especially active, etc? I don't mind, it's all just a case of abusing the layers and making use of pretty colours

Species-wise, I like the sound of Wargs, but overall it'll be a case of "do what you want" as far as this goes (mostly because those ones I named are about the only ones I can think of off the top of my head without extra research and this is taking long enough as it is XD)

Oh, and I did a Wikipedia look up on symbology, from what I can gather of the brief mention of how the game did it, they're basically enchanted runes and charms, which would be pretty good.

I guess I phrased it poorly, but using magic as fuel was what I meant, though I didn't even think about the world running out of magic. You're right, that's one interesting plot just waiting to happen.

And also, you're officially in charge of monster design. I really suck at thinking them up so XP

Sorry if this post doesn't seem exactly organized, that happens when I've had a bit too little sleep - I was up all night brainstorming. (btw, soft surface + paper = not suitable writing arrangement. I can't read a word I wrote D: )

[alienfetucine]

The DEMONIC COWS were a reference to Diablo 2's Cow Level. >.>

Can I do missions write-ups, too?

[kitini]

Feb 14, 2009 15:01:39 GMT -5 alienfetucine said:

The DEMONIC COWS were a reference to Diablo 2's Cow Level. >.>

Can I do missions write-ups, too?

It's really been that long since I last played...? Then again, I didn't get very far before my brother managed to sit on the disc and break it -_-;

And i think missions should be a group effort with everyone coming up with them

Some more maps:
i10.photobucket.com/albums/a113/Kitini/PROPOSALacademy-coloured.png - just coloured in with each country labelled. We'll be lazy and call each government the "[country] Government" because this is taking a worryingly long time

Green = normal land
Blueish white = snow
Orange = desert
Yellow = beach
Light blue = shallow water / coral reef
Deep blue = deep water (ie, ocean)
Dodgy triangle things = mountains

I still need to add things like forests and rivers, though. Anything else, like more islands/continents/whatever, I can still add, so feel free to suggest more

i10.photobucket.com/albums/a113/Kitini/PROPOSALacademy-governments.png - this one shows each government. I was gonna do the ocean too but then I realised I have no idea how that even works in real life so...

Red = Government 1 (Lezoli)
Green = Government 2 (Ozehe)
Blue = Government 3 (Ade)
Purple = Government 4 (Fyvi)
Yellow = Government 5 (Eolnia)

((Hooray name generators ))

I'll work on towns and cities next

[alienfetucine]

Fair enough.
I'll use that big post with all the monsters as a place to make all of them.
Okay?

[Blobfish]

Sorry, I wasn't able to get online for a while.

Hmm...
1) Officially they have to be called' thought showers' apprently so we don't upset people with epilepsy. But I won't enforce that =p
2) This looks cool. I like all the ideas so far
3) Darn, I thought the cow thing was a reference to the Mad Brahmin from Fallout ;_;
4) Hehe, killer rabbit
5) Sorry, I don't have anything useful to add
6) I just like putting numbered list into posts
7) ^_^

[emiko11]

jeez thats alot but i like the killer rabbit idea hehe.
oh yeah what demons, devils and angels
and the half breeds or thats just to confusing or i'm justs off the point ?

[Kit work]

Feb 16, 2009 3:44:37 GMT -5 emiko11 said:

jeez thats alot but i like the killer rabbit idea hehe.
oh yeah what demons, devils and angels
and the half breeds or thats just to confusing or i'm justs off the point ?

I don't think we'll bother with ones like that, angels and demons and whatever are all immortal with the power of the universe at their disposal, so it's either too open to godmodding if they're something you can be, or pointless trying to fight if they're monsters. We could get away with making demons/devils mortal, but not so sure how well that'd apply to angels unless we made several tiers of angel and made the lowest ones mortal.

Yes, I thought about this already

And variety is awesome.

If there are any particular towns or geographical features anyone would like to be added, speak up before I start up again. (I spent most of last night gathering names together, and plotting out the rivers and started to add marshes before I had to go be social :[ )

[alienfetucine]

Civilized race idea get!
>.>

Gnolls. They're like goblins, but slightly smarter, prefer to live underground, are good at manual labor, and have a love of shiny things. These things add to mean that they're virtually enslaved by the Fyvi gov., since they need cheap labor to work in the underground cities and Gnolls will work for pretty much anything shiny.
I suppose they could work as a monster, too, but...
:/

Also, Kitini, is there a specific currency for the world?
...Shinies, maybe?
>.>

[kitini]

Gnolls? I've heard that name somewhere. I'm probably thinking the wrong thing. I like the sound of them. And hey, who said it had to be either or? Some parts of the world could have civilized Gnolls, some where they're still "wild" and deemed a threat.

I was thinking copper, silver and gold, as it's pretty much the familiar. 100c to 1s, 100s to 1g or something. It works. But we can easily change it to shinies (mmm, shimmers and shinies? 100 shimmers to a shiny and shiny is the highest denomination?)

Throwing together maps of a few areas. Again, I throw this out: if there's anything in particular anyone wants me to add, please say something. Gonna do the Academy island first, move onto our neighbours, and take it from there.

I forgot to say before but I also added some more maps to the first post :]

[alienfetucine]

I like the Shinies/Shimmers currency.
Added Gnolls to the monster list.
Are you going to open sign-ups while you work on the maps? It's going to take a few days for everyone to be on and sign up, so... You'll probably have time to do maps of the most important areas, at least, before the RP itself starts, and work on the less important ones on the side. Couldn't you?
Or would you prefer to wait until you finish the maps before doing the sign-ups?