The Legacy: Comments?

[The Great Nevareh]

All right, I'm calling my theoretical game "The Legacy."
It's a massive thing I'm planning, and highly detailed, so I'll be collecting my thoughts here.

Since no one has the vaguest idea what this is, I'll start transcribing my notes as to world-setting here.

"I just wanted to build a better world... Is that so wrong?"
- The Hero Silas Vashti, Morrannon Prison Transcripts.

The game itself takes place in the Country of Chorale- A country that, four years ago, was known as the Choorish Empire. The Choorish Empire had initially been formed 500 years ago in the small area now known as the Chorale region and expanded to encompass numerous other areas around it until it became the body that holds its modern political borders. The people of Chorale expanded to take over the Tersl to the east, the Zerinv to the southeast, the Lasenki of the Morrannon mountains, the Cloahan to the northwest, and the Phaenlands to the northeast. Technically also a holding of the Choorish empire up to that point was the Nekthar Prarie, which lay to the southwest of Chorale, but it was never truly subjugated, being a region that is made up of roving nomadic tribes as opposed to the centralized peoples of the other regions that the Choorish Empire managed to conquer. 100 years ago, a succession of wars was fought against Chorale's two southern neighbors, Shema and Vortan, and two pieces of land were won and became known as the Shemana and Vortana regions of the choorish Empire, shemana being south of Nekthor and Vortana being south of Zerinv.
This country had reached the breaking point six years ago, when religious tensions with the Church of Randa (centered in the Phaenlands) came to a head and the followers of Randa revolted, took over the Phaenlands and the Tersl region, and re-named these two areas The Fist of Randa and Randa's Forearm. From that point onward, the various regions began to experience unrest until a concentrated rebellion had formed in the Nekthor colony town of Shoshanna, lead by a prarie tribesman by the name of Silas Vashti. This man became known as the Hero Vashti.
The Hero Vashti led his soldiers with the ideal of a government that did not opporess the people, and brought the thoughts of freedom that had been brewing in the Nekthor region for centuries to the forefront, winning allies in Schemana and Vortana, as well as all across the Zerinv and Cloahan regions. This rebellion, allied with the Lands of Randa, drove the Choorish Empire out of its capitol city of Chorale, and all the way out to the Shermat Penninsula, and a stalemate was reached. The royals had enough money to perpetually ship themselves the supplies they needed from the cities of Shermat, and the ground is amazingly easy to defend since the Choorish Empire is mostly land-locked, and thus lacks the means to build a navy without outside help.
Then the Cataclysm of Shermat occured- A large earthquake followed by a tsunami and a flood that sunk the entire Shermat Penninsula, leaving only a few places that were built high enough- Like the cities of Nietzkreg and Shermat- standing, and thus creating the Shermat Archipeligo.
This was considered a great victory for the people of the new Nation of Chorale, who adopted the name of the old ruling region and the old capitol city for their new country. The Territories of Randa, as well as the myriad regions and provinces, joined together to form this country.
The worst elements of the Choorish remains were put into the fastness of the remote Morranon Prison, which is in turn hidden in the Morranon mountains to the point that no one is quite sure where it is. And most people are glad to have those elements drop off from the political spectrum.
Everything was fine after the shift in government was declared.
Then Silas Vashti died.
The government had been set up democratically, therefore no great turmoil ensued- a new leader was swiftly elected to take Vashti's place. Investigations were eventually carried out that pointed to conspiracies by Shema and Vortan to assassinate Silas Vashti, and so wars on those two powers were waged- successfully adding three new regions and the powerful far southern foothold at Port Sharkhl...

And this is all that I'll reveal for now- Post if you have interest! <p>[---------------------------]
"There is great disorder under Heaven, and the situation is excellent."
-Mao Tse-Tung</p>Edited by: The Great Nevareh at: 10/24/04 5:31 pm

[Zemyla]

I'll help with whatever you need me to do. <p>-----
Do not taunt Happy Fun Zemyla.

<span style="font-size:xx-small;">I think boobs are the lesser of two evils. - Inverse (Pervy)
Dammit, Dan, I'm not dating a damn NPC! - OOC Will (Will Baseton)
Of course! Anything worth doing is worth doing completely wrong! - Travis English
Ultimately, wizards and clerics don't say, "Gee, I want to become a lich because weapons hurt less and I don't have to worry about being backstabbed; that whole 'eternal life' thing is just a fringe benefit."-Darklion</span>

Brotherhood of Elitist Bastards</p>

[The Great Nevareh]

Brief overview of a few things- Tell me what you think...

Character Creation System:
Each character has an Ethnicity and a Home Town- These are things that cannot change and these things MATTER, whether or not you want them to.
Characters get 10-ish levels to distribute between a variety of classes, each level being a certain amount of proficiency. These numbers are meaningless to everyone but me or a co-GM, and the system is probably going to be subject to refinement.
Your character either can or cannot use magic. You can't learn it. Magic use is restricted from being certain classes since it has distinct side-effects, and some classes are entirely useless without having the power to use magic.
Your character has a history. It is important for you to have a detailed history that fits canon- if you're venturing into uncovered territory then you gain the power to make that part up.
Your character has a persona, which is both the most important part in terms of the way the story will go and the least important part in terms of game mechanics.

Magic System:
A character is "Impressed" with a Sigil at one point in their lives- this enables them to use magic. A Sigil cannot be changed, and though most can do something along the lines of the same things, each Sigil is essentially different. A Sigil is a physical link with an incorporeal being that exists on human plane of thought- And they have the power to manipulate our reality in just the manner that we can manipulate theirs- though they are beings that are entirely without imagination. Being "impressed" with a Sigil provides a permanent thought-link with these beings, who can manifest in our universe at will though not necessarily with ease.
The process of using magic is less along the lines of focusing anything through yourself, and more along the lines of imagining something to happen, and then forcing your Alter-ego to imagine exactly the same thing happening in your universe. When this is done, it happens- Much easier said than done. The frame of reference of the incorporeal beings is so far off from our own that it is difficult to understand what they want and it is difficult to make them understand what we want. Though the link goes both ways, the incorporeal beings never ask for anything in return- they have no imagination with which to think of what they want.
Using magic requires concention and is very taxing, plus your abilities as a mage lie somewhat in the incorporeal being that you are permanently shackled with.
Bearing a Sigil has psychological effects- you have to force your mind to work in a different way than other people in order for you to use your abilities, and you are slowly but surely becoming one and the same as the creature on the other side. Complete transformation is a process that in theory would take hundreds of years, but marked psychological changes occur in the lifetimes of most mages. There are very, very few experienced mages who are capable of generating original work or thought, and their motives become less and less easy to understand as time goes on. Mages who are particularly in-synch with their incorporeal beings might die early from forgetting to eat or falling prey to the hazards of living.
Mages, upon Impression, may no longer experience any kind of sexual stimulation- They would drive their alter-ego insane, and thus they would also go insane.
The link is utterly permanent. There is no way to undo it. There is also no way to block it unless you happen to be a mage of much greater ability and much less fatigue.
Many mages consider this a worthwhile trade-off, and almost none ever regret the decision. Maybe not because they wouldn't miss the things that they can no longer do, but because they no longer have the mental apparatus to miss anything at all.
Then again, being a particularly able mage might be like one continuous orgasm- no one really knows because it's impossible to become a magic-user and then come back.

Mages can, with enough practice, do anything. They can have their alter-ego manifest and fight for them, they can shoot fire from their hands, they can multiply the speed at which they move, anything.
No one can be a member of the Church of Randa and be Impressed with a sigil.
Very, very few people have sigils Impressed upon themselves before the age of 30.
Having a Sigil does not make you innately worse at doing things requiring imagination and original thought. However, becoming more adept at its use does. <p>[---------------------------]
"There is great disorder under Heaven, and the situation is excellent."
-Mao Tse-Tung</p>

[The Great Nevareh]

Other Powers:
The supernatural is just that- beyond natural. People consider Magic, with its scientific process and codified systems, to be natural since everything is explainable.
This is not so with Miracles.
Miracles are things brought about by certain special people, called "Miracle Workers", who can do a variety of things without any apparent link to a Sigil or any noticeable side-effects. No one is quite sure how the powers of a Miracle Worker operate or how they bring about their Miracles, and no one really knows what causes some people to be capable of making Miracles and others unable. Immensely mysterious power whose use is highly discouraged outside of the Church of Randa, which tends to grab up Miracle Workers and train them to serve humanity.
You can either perform Miracles, or you can't. You cannot learn how, but you can improve your proficiency if you already can.
Unlike Magic, where abilities are imparted by a ceremony and a process, Miracle-making seems to manifest in a child at a very young age for no apparent reason. This child can do supernatural things such as heal the sick and infirm, strike down monsters, purify water, or any other number of tasks at will. At this point the Church usually brings someone in to prevent the child from being burned at the stake or stoned to death, takes the child in, compensates the parents, and raises the child.
However, they do not find all of those who can work Miracles and raise them into their service- since the power is essentially innate, containable, and undetectable unless used, many children who can work miracles go unsought and live normal lives. Also, not all Miracle Workers develop their powers in childhood- it can be dormant until adulthood, or even up to death.
Miracle Workers can do a large number of things essentially for free, but doing these things is about as taxing as using magic, just without the side-effect of decreased humanity. Also, the scope of their power is more limited in that they can't do anything they can imagine- just a limited list of Miracles. They can't turn someone into a frog, though they might be able to change them back. They can't bring life to things that are already without it- so they can't create undead or magical constructs. They can't harm an enemy by imagining the enemy to be harmed- they have to actually attack their foe.
95% of all practicing Miracle Workers work for the Church, and travel around the countryside on a general mission of goodwill. They go to villages, heal the sick, fight off bandits, purify wells, and do any number of menial tasks that either are to difficult to be done by the villagers themselves or can't be done without special help, even if no one in the village belongs to the Church of Randa.
You can't work Miracles and use Magic at the same time. Being impressed with a Sigil erodoes Miracle-working abilities.

Doctrine of the Church of Randa:
Khora is the Spirit of Life- Khora burns in every person, animal, plant, anything that lives. The sentient part of Khora is called Randa- the spirit of Humans.
The Church of Randa is an organization that is built around the raising of the human spirit, the worship of human capabilities, and the idea of helping one another through time of crisis. It is strongly against intolerance and does not believe in punishment. The sinking of Shermat did not give those who followed Randa joy- It made them weep that such a great loss to Khora occurred.
The Church of Randa is impossible for an outsider to control or manipulate, since those who follow it rarely look out for themselves, and when they do it is so they might continue to spread the joy of living to others.
The Church believes in basic human rights, the advancement of culture and art, and a proliferation of ideas- Most modern universities started off as seminaries for Church personnel.
Centers of worship in the Church of Randa tend to be austere yet revered, because these centers of worship were wrought from the hands of those who worship there.
However, devout members of this Church tend to be annoying and intractible to non-followers, not because they intend to be, but because they have a way of doing things and they don't like it when their way of doing things is subverted. They prefer to do things by democratic consensus, and thus are not swift to make decisions and are very poorly suited for military action.
The one thing that the Church of Randa is very against is the impression of individuals with Sigils- It is a tenet of the Church that, when a person dies, their essence goes to another plane from which they can forever watch the joyous activity of the human race. The Church also believes that the impression of a Sigil on an individual is thus linking that individual to the essence of the dead, and thus magicians are interrupting the rest of those who have already toiled in life and are deserving of privacy in the afterlife. However, this intolerance doesn't spread beyond mild distaste; The Church of Randa is as cordial and as helpful to mages as they are to everyone else. <p>[---------------------------]
"There is great disorder under Heaven, and the situation is excellent."
-Mao Tse-Tung</p>