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sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist
USA
11829 Posts |
 Posted - 30 Apr 2022 : 19:27:49
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quote:
Originally posted by HyperboreanTom
Great stuff, Sleyvas. I really like them. I actually like more links between Maztica and Anchorome - even a desert shouldn't separate linked cultures entirely. Also, Seethyr has another good point - I often forget that Fort Flame was founded with several Eagle Knights and other Mazticans (unless I'm mistaken). I still don't think I'll treat them as you or Sleyvas have, but that's just the game I want to play. I like the idea of contrasting the Metahel - who have made peace, and the Flaming Fist, who have resisted it. Certainly that's influenced by their neighbours, but the Flaming Fist did come for gold and wealth first and foremost.
Not that Fort Flame will be entirely evil in my campaign either. I do really love the whole Kuo-Toa Lovecraftian subplot by the way! I also wanted to incorporate the Shalarin on the east coast and the presence of Dagon seems to lead the way.
Yeah, the original idea for me on the "feathered dragonborn" was one in which they would have ties to the Aearee in some form. I want them to appear really exotic looking, but similar to mirage dragons. That being said, there may be OTHER feathered dragons. I was surprised as well when Seethyr linked them to Fort Flame, but it does work. That being said, as I've noted, my Fort Flame is a bit different. I view Fort Flame as having expanded and they have several villages in that area.
The big thing I have is that the Flaming Fist wanted people who could make alchemical "Calishite Fire" in canon to come help them. So, I took that and ran with the idea that Thay's Guild of Foreign Trade welcomed the opportunity to open an enclave that's SEPARATE from the city but NEARBY (the Balduran Bay Trade Enclave). They would ally with the mercenary company and in return both would claim land. What the mercenaries didn't count on was the Thayans somewhat betraying them and setting up a portal to a new enclave they were setting up down in the city of Lundeth on the Chultan peninsula. Also, their enclave being separate allowed the landing of Thayan spelljammers (known as Quads of Thay). Thus, this enclave ends up getting built up quite fast, and then the Thayan civil war happens. Thayan refugees, displaced from their homes, find new homes here. Several other things happen after the displacement to Abeir, primarily that the people in the Chultan peninsula also transfer, the portal stays up, and they come to the thayan enclave. This mix of people eventually outgrow the enclave, and they seek a land of their own and acquire an island off the coast.
These "red wizards" are NOT like the red wizards of Thay. They still favor magic, but they aren't "evil" to the core or conniving. They also aren't racist and they've adopted people from throughout the Chultan peninsula into their society. For instance, one of their leaders is "The Farseer" of Tashluta (a 28th lvl mage priest of Savras), who was negotiating within a red wizard enclave in their city when it transferred to Abeir, and he lead many of his folk to this place when their home was overrun by Abeirans. Another is the High Phantasmage, Meleghost Zoaster, of Samarach. Thus, each group of displaced refugees has a leader to give them represenation. The Rashemi blooded folk amongst these folk have actually found kinship with the Metahel folk, also finding some common myths, and the metahel society has expanded into other areas of the world through exploration (primarily southerly into the islands off the coast of Katashaka). |
Alavairthae, may your skill prevail
Phillip aka Sleyvas |
Edited by - sleyvas on 30 Apr 2022 19:36:50 |
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Baltas
Senior Scribe
Poland
955 Posts |
Posted - 02 May 2022 : 12:22:21
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| Hmm, are maybe Tanarvraki (and their connection to Aearee) in part inspired by the letter to Tethtoril (on page 7 of The Grand History of the Realms) describing the discovery by Captain Eartharran Neirdre of an Aearee city that, by the look of statues there, was inhabited by dragon-avian humanoids? |
Edited by - Baltas on 02 May 2022 19:05:04 |
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sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist
USA
11829 Posts |
Posted - 03 May 2022 : 01:42:41
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quote:
Originally posted by Baltas
Hmm, are maybe Tanarvraki (and their connection to Aearee) in part inspired by the letter to Tethtoril (on page 7 of The Grand History of the Realms) describing the discovery by Captain Eartharran Neirdre of an Aearee city that, by the look of statues there, was inhabited by dragon-avian humanoids?
Very much so at least for the original inspiration. That being said, I do know that the history has the Aearee being infiltrated by dragons in Faerun per GHotR. However, for me on the Aearee... I still very much want to connect the Aearee as coming to Toril from Coliar, and that involves a world in which "lizardmen" which I read as "saurial type folk" and "aarakocra" which I read as "bird folk" both lived and revered dragons. I also know this breaks canon, but I really would like for the dragons of Coliar to have traits for both folks... i.e. being feathered dragons. To note, they are a special breed of dragon that was noted to NOT breed true (i.e. they had things like brass and blue dragon crossbreeds), so making them different fits that world. |
Alavairthae, may your skill prevail
Phillip aka Sleyvas |
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HyperboreanTom
Acolyte
Canada
12 Posts |
Posted - 04 May 2022 : 00:13:50
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Leave it a loremaster to bring in Coliar. Hah! I do like it.
I think for me the Aearee were always like "skeksis" from the Dark Crystal in my head, but I'm not always that original. I always read the dragon-avian connections to be winks to our modern dinosaurs-into-birds theories. |
http://hyperboreancomics.wordpress.com |
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Seethyr
Master of Realmslore
USA
1151 Posts |
Posted - 04 May 2022 : 00:57:20
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quote:
Originally posted by HyperboreanTom
Leave it a loremaster to bring in Coliar. Hah! I do like it.
I think for me the Aearee were always like "skeksis" from the Dark Crystal in my head, but I'm not always that original. I always read the dragon-avian connections to be winks to our modern dinosaurs-into-birds theories.
I always saw nagpa as skeksis but yeah, Aearee possibly too. I had always thought of placing the ferrous dragons and their lord Gruaghlothor as the dragons of Coliar. They fit the descriptions of all having a bit of a neutral bent well. |
Follow the Maztica (Aztec/Maya) and Anchorome (Indigenous North America) Campaigns on DMsGuild!
The Maztica Campaign
The Anchorome Campaign |
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sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist
USA
11829 Posts |
Posted - 04 May 2022 : 13:15:15
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Yep, agreed, Nagpa as Skeksis.
On the feathered dragon concept.... something just popped in my head regarding something I was talking about with the "Primal Font" idea and dragons in the Anadia Homebrew thread. What if feathered dragons came from dragons attempting to breed with an actual phoenix? A Fiery obsidian dragon and a phoenix somehow mating to produce a new type of gem dragon that has crystalline feathers with dancing fire in them..... then THAT dragon breeding with other metallics or gem dragons to produce OTHER breeds of feathered dragons. A whole new species of dragon is created... which may not set well with the others?
On that concept... what if the opening of the fire elemental portals on the "crystal" that becomes the sun was actually caused by the hatching of the first phoenix eggs? |
Alavairthae, may your skill prevail
Phillip aka Sleyvas |
Edited by - sleyvas on 04 May 2022 13:19:06 |
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Seethyr
Master of Realmslore
USA
1151 Posts |
Posted - 05 May 2022 : 00:26:18
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quote:
Originally posted by sleyvas
Yep, agreed, Nagpa as Skeksis.
On the feathered dragon concept.... something just popped in my head regarding something I was talking about with the "Primal Font" idea and dragons in the Anadia Homebrew thread. What if feathered dragons came from dragons attempting to breed with an actual phoenix? A Fiery obsidian dragon and a phoenix somehow mating to produce a new type of gem dragon that has crystalline feathers with dancing fire in them..... then THAT dragon breeding with other metallics or gem dragons to produce OTHER breeds of feathered dragons. A whole new species of dragon is created... which may not set well with the others?
On that concept... what if the opening of the fire elemental portals on the "crystal" that becomes the sun was actually caused by the hatching of the first phoenix eggs?
Half dragons are one of the few actual templates to be found in 5e (boy I miss them from 3) so I think despite the ermmm...biological processes involved, I don’t see why that wouldn’t be a possible thing.
This of course, could lead to the draconic counterpart to phoelarchs down the road except they are in the form of drakes who become something different (?) after dying? Just a thought.
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Follow the Maztica (Aztec/Maya) and Anchorome (Indigenous North America) Campaigns on DMsGuild!
The Maztica Campaign
The Anchorome Campaign |
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sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist
USA
11829 Posts |
Posted - 05 May 2022 : 00:31:44
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quote:
Originally posted by Seethyr
quote:
Originally posted by sleyvas
Yep, agreed, Nagpa as Skeksis.
On the feathered dragon concept.... something just popped in my head regarding something I was talking about with the "Primal Font" idea and dragons in the Anadia Homebrew thread. What if feathered dragons came from dragons attempting to breed with an actual phoenix? A Fiery obsidian dragon and a phoenix somehow mating to produce a new type of gem dragon that has crystalline feathers with dancing fire in them..... then THAT dragon breeding with other metallics or gem dragons to produce OTHER breeds of feathered dragons. A whole new species of dragon is created... which may not set well with the others?
On that concept... what if the opening of the fire elemental portals on the "crystal" that becomes the sun was actually caused by the hatching of the first phoenix eggs?
Half dragons are one of the few actual templates to be found in 5e (boy I miss them from 3) so I think despite the ermmm...biological processes involved, I don’t see why that wouldn’t be a possible thing.
This of course, could lead to the draconic counterpart to phoelarchs down the road except they are in the form of drakes who become something different (?) after dying? Just a thought.
Yeah, and this "heresy" might be a good reason for the obsidian dragons to have been reprimanded and kicked out by Sardior. |
Alavairthae, may your skill prevail
Phillip aka Sleyvas |
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Baltas
Senior Scribe
Poland
955 Posts |
Posted - 06 May 2022 : 12:11:49
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quote:
Originally posted by sleyvas
Yep, agreed, Nagpa as Skeksis.
On the feathered dragon concept.... something just popped in my head regarding something I was talking about with the "Primal Font" idea and dragons in the Anadia Homebrew thread. What if feathered dragons came from dragons attempting to breed with an actual phoenix? A Fiery obsidian dragon and a phoenix somehow mating to produce a new type of gem dragon that has crystalline feathers with dancing fire in them..... then THAT dragon breeding with other metallics or gem dragons to produce OTHER breeds of feathered dragons. A whole new species of dragon is created... which may not set well with the others?
On that concept... what if the opening of the fire elemental portals on the "crystal" that becomes the sun was actually caused by the hatching of the first phoenix eggs?
Well, another idea is that phoenixes could have evolved from proto-dragons, or Aearee hbrid avian-dragon creatures. I got this idea from an book about dragons, that suggested phoenixes evolved from dragons, like birds evolved from dinosaurs- with the similarities being due to convergent evolution. Feathered Dragons could in this situation be third evolutionary line, that retained the draconic traits of the phoenix ancestor.
[edit]
Kinda related to the above, and he fact a number of sources claim Torilian dragons evolved from Dinosaurs - there is a reall possibility Tyrannosaurus Rex arms (and persumably of at least a lot of other tyrannosarids) were in fact atavistic wings:
https://www.ecr.co.za/shows/mike-v/watch-did-t-rex-actually-have-feathers-and-wings-ostrich/
Making them look a kinda like feathered dragons (if with very small wings), especially to someone who didn't encounters dinosaurs...
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Edited by - Baltas on 06 May 2022 12:25:15 |
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HyperboreanTom
Acolyte
Canada
12 Posts |
Posted - 16 May 2022 : 22:58:35
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| Fleshing out my planned Anchorome campaign. I'm curious if you have any name for the river that Fort Flame is situated upon. The River Sesnaa seems to be up the bay a bit. I'm hoping to have the PCs help establish a trade route from Elfmeet to Fort Flame and it seems to make sense to find the navigable upper reaches of this southern river and float down it to the Fort. Happy to make up a name, but would rather cleave to anything established. |
http://hyperboreancomics.wordpress.com |
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Kentinal
Great Reader
4689 Posts |
Posted - 17 May 2022 : 00:05:44
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As the river flows into Bay of Balduran, my offer of name of river might be Balduran River.
I could not find anything that makes the river name official, just know that at least some rivers flow into a bay of the same name. Example: the Delaware river into Delaware Bay |
"Small beings can have small wisdom," the dragon said. "And small wise beings are better than small fools. Listen: Wisdom is caring for afterwards."
"Caring for afterwards ...? Ker repeated this without understanding.
"After action, afterwards," the dragon said. "Choose the afterwards first, then the action. Fools choose action first."
"Judgement" copyright 2003 by Elizabeth Moon |
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HyperboreanTom
Acolyte
Canada
12 Posts |
Posted - 17 May 2022 : 00:14:50
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| Just saw that I can throw you $1 and get all sorts of information on Fort Flame via "ANA2" on DMG so will do that later today, even if you provide the details here. |
http://hyperboreancomics.wordpress.com |
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sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist
USA
11829 Posts |
Posted - 10 Jul 2023 : 19:45:06
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Establishing a history of sorts for the city of Esh Alakar
So, I know that we've thrown out a LOT of ideas for the city of Esh Alakar, and I've done a little fleshing out of the city in my "United Tharchs of Toril - Secret Cities and Strange Skyships of Anchorome"... but just for a moment, I thought to myself "lets revisit this city at a high level and discuss what we see as possibly happening in the course of millenia". Trying to be as flexible as possible let's throw out some ideas. Also, the idea is that this city goes deep into the underdark and eventually connects across the continent all over and is essentially an opening for a megadungeon for the continent.
One of the main things is that "The Ancients" were here.
The Ancient Ones had discovered micha and learned how to use its power over the spirits. Their culture and their magics attained such astonishing heights that even the
secrets of spelljamming were tapped by a remarkable few.
But, as will happen when there is a great concentration of power, the power was abused. Men exploited the treasure of micha, enslaving many spirits and angering many more. Evil begets evil, and then turns to feed upon itself. The ancient sorcerers sought mastery over each other, and fought for control of the precious micha and the spirits. The conclusion of their raging battles was the obliteration of the Ancient's culture and waste was laid to the entire Pasocada Basin. The basin had once been lush territory, as fertile as any of the valleys to the south. The good spirits, such as those who bring rain and fertility, were now loath to visit the basin.
When the men were gone the spirits they had enslaved were once again free to roam the desolation. Many still harbor great hatred for humankind to this day, out of resentment for their ancient bondage. These are the desert spirits who assault travelers with thirst and hot winds.
When the ancestors of the Azuposi came to the Pasocada Basin they possessed a more humble and reverential attitude toward the spirit world. Consequently, they made friends among the spirits' Masauwu, chief among them. These powerful beings helped the Azuposi survive the environmental destruction left by the Ancients' folly, and helped them
to build a new culture.
From the above I realized something that I hadn't realized previously. We have at least a STORY for why the Sands of Itzcala seemingly exists. The Ancients used micha to enslave "spirits", they fought amongst themselves, and then the ancients lost power and the spirits left the region to wither away. To note, I take these statements to be highly allegorical and part of story, not 100% accurate... and so certain statements like "spirits" might be fey, might be primordials, might be gods, might be primal spririts, might be powerful elementals, etc.... and the "ancients" might actually be multiple different groups and the stories of them may be confused with one another.
Our first "civilization" to come here was the group that we believe to have founded it. For that, we were going with the spellweavers.
I can definitely see both sarrukh and batrachi visiting these ruins at some point and perhaps even setting up some temporary living arrangement in them. This allows for some linking imagery with snakes, lizards, and frogs.
I personally have the Aearee tied to the world of Coliar and having flown to this world on "earth islands".... aka "earthmotes"... under the guidance of their draconic leaders (who are unusual dragons... some of whom may have had feathers) during/following the Sundering. Exactly WHO the aearee were is open for development still, but they should have bird folk and reptile folk amongst their cultures. The "reptile folk" would be sauroids of some sorts and may include beings that resemble dragonborn ... or dragonkin since they have wings....
I would not be adverse to having dark elves coming to Esh Alakar at some point in the relatively distant past. There may be some confusion over stories of them as "The Ancients" given that there is a group of Zaltec worshipping dark elves in Maztica proper calling themselves "The Ancient Ones". There may be a whole undercity where some dark elves still live and which connects to Esh Alakar (in fact, they may have a city beneath the ruins of Olbi, and perhaps the reason so few know of Olbi's secrets is because of these dark elves killing anyone who enters). It may even be interesting if the faerunians came to Esh Alakar and found a dark elven community that they warred with to seize control of the city. Conversely, they could just as easily have come along AFTER the humans and taken the "Maztican" name for Ancient Ones because others feared it. If there were dark elves here, they may have fought with the Poscadari elves, and the Poscadari elves may be just as wary of the city as the Nahopaca for similar reasons. The city of "Elfmeet" may be actually established by the Poscadari elves for the purposes of watching the "city of evil" out of superstition.
I was throwing in some "Faerunians" travelling with Netherese because of the notes about the "ancients" having attained a little spelljamming. For this, I created "The Unseen Skyport of Pyruthar" as a cloaked Netherese enclave that crashed into the desert. To note, in my view this enclave had people from other faerunian cultures on it.
Now, I don't know if this is a good idea or not... but if there's a desert being created because of the actions of the enclave ..... this kind of mirrors what happened in Anauroch. Some might say that the simplest solution is to give the same source. What if the phaerimm came to Anchorome as well, and THEY are the reason for the Sands of Itzcala forming by use of their lifedrain spells? In fact, what if the phaerimm STARTED in Anchorome and actually came to Faerun specifically to attack the Netherese Empire? What if there is a LINK between the "spellweavers" and the phaerimm similar in some ways to how its believed some (if not all) Sharn came from elves. In this situation, Phaerimm may have needed micha as a food source (remember, micha is literally magical ground cornmeal and pollen), and the Faerunians were using it to bind spirit servants to themselves.
If we say the above is true... then possibly the extraplanar place known as "wenimats" is leaking magical "food" onto the prime via a magical spring... it's almost like its faerie food or "ambrosia" in greek myth. It may be leaking from a place with ties to the spirit world or the feywild, etc... The "flow" of micha may have been even greater prior to the actions of the phaerimm, and this might be the bad result of their failed foresight.
Finally, if we did link the spellweavers to the phaerimm in this way AND we also go with the idea that Masauwu / Skeleton Man has a link to Jergal as we've discussed in the past AND Jergal has ties in his past to spellweavers.... why did he go to the Netherese and offer to serve as their god of death? This could open up an interesting story in which Jergal as a spellweaver considers the phaerimm an abomination of his kind if they were former spellweavers who changed and now survive in another form, and he drove the Netherese to find the phaerimm and wanted them to come into conflict.
So, if this is all the case... maybe the majority of the phaerimm in Anchorome HAVE been killed off. Maybe as a result of Turquoise man.... who may be a faerunian who has been infused with immortality and power by the micha, and maybe he seeks to hunt down the phaerimm, and will use parties of adventurers towards that end.
All this being said.... if this is the case, why did Skeleton Man/ Masauwu / Jergal lead the Azuposi humans to what becomes the City of Gold where only a portion of the once great flow of Micha comes? Maybe because he needs them to sacrifice it to him in order to maintain his own immortality, because as a god he can no longer take it for himself?
By the way, on a rough scale... the sands of Itzcala versus Anauroch, they are of a similar size.
Any other historical ideas of groups to place in and around Esh Alakar? I know I just threw out a lot of vague concepts there, but can it be turned into a viable storyline that makes sense? |
Alavairthae, may your skill prevail
Phillip aka Sleyvas |
Edited by - sleyvas on 10 Jul 2023 19:53:10 |
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sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist
USA
11829 Posts |
Posted - 21 Jun 2024 : 05:07:44
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Seethyr,
You may have seen a thread here where we were gathering information for Abeir. In it, we get a very rough map of what's in Abeir based on the word of a halfling as provided by Ed Greenwood. Someone basically threw out a map, and Ed gave some minor feedback. I had been noodling it and thinking "how can we fit all the stuff we developed without breaking this". I think I came up with an interesting idea, so I took some time today to "non-mercator" project the former map a little bit (i.e. expand the things at the top and bottom a bit). I also took and genericized the prior map so that it's pretty much nothing but the general shapes of land masses. I noted that it looked like he was planning for just Maztica, Lopango, and the city of gold region coming over .... and he made Laerakond way too huge. But my goal was to plan out "what things were like while the spellplague happened".
So, in order to get blacktoe glacier still in a cold zone and NOT have all of Anchorome and Maztica immediately on the border with Shyr, I did a simple thing. I also wanted to have about half of Katashaka transfer too. So, I rotated the entire thing 180 degrees. So, all of a sudden, after the spellplague when they're on this new world.... the people suddenly come out and think they are on a new world that spins backwards. The sun is coming up on an entirely different side of the village than it did the day prior, plus the sky is steel colored.
It takes them a bit, but they realize that what was north before is now south. So, rather than try to rework all their documents, they start making their maps with the "top" pointing to the south so that they can keep what they know.
Anyway, check your email. I just forwarded you a link to the map in case you might like it. |
Alavairthae, may your skill prevail
Phillip aka Sleyvas |
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Pacior
Acolyte
2 Posts |
Posted - 21 Jun 2024 : 09:59:04
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| Awesome. I really think they deserve their own separate write up, but that's just me. You can consider of course their pantheon, but also things like specific backgrounds, subclasses unique to them, magic, etc. I think a whaler, for example, might make an excellent background - something that brings them into conflict with the darfellan. |
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sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist
USA
11829 Posts |
Posted - 21 Jun 2024 : 16:29:22
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quote:
Originally posted by Pacior
Awesome. I really think they deserve their own separate write up, but that's just me. You can consider of course their pantheon, but also things like specific backgrounds, subclasses unique to them, magic, etc. I think a whaler, for example, might make an excellent background - something that brings them into conflict with the darfellan.
Hmmm, not really sure what you're responding to (because we have a LOT in this thread) .... but I know Seethyr introduced Darfellan into Northern Anchorome. I definitely could maybe see a Metahel colony that hunts whales that falls into conflict with them.... and since I say a Metahel colony, since I have the metahel becoming involved with my United Tharchs, it definitely could extend into that. Wouldn't make for a bad story, but I'd have to look at physically where Seethyr was placing them. |
Alavairthae, may your skill prevail
Phillip aka Sleyvas |
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Brainstorming Anchorome
