The last of the Emperor’s children has died. He has no heir, an aging wife, and failing health. From his bed, which he finds harder and harder to leave each day, he orders the main family of every royal house to send forth a Champion to court to decide the future of the Empire.
You are the champion for [Pick 1], in your early childhood you warded with [Pick 1]: >Nethos, Clan Gerrard: Located in the Northwest in a mountainous region, the Nethons enjoy immense mineral wealth. Nethos is also unique because it is not organized as a kingdom, but instead as a sort of confederacy of mountain clans, where a new presiding family is chosen by sending champions to compete in a contest of the three sacred Nethon arts: Blacksmithing, Brewing, and Brawling. [Aspect: Competitor]
>Pan, House Goinsy: A modest kingdom east of Nethos and North of the capital. Lacking any real geographic or resource advantage, Pan has maintained its relevance through a focus on military discipline and strategy. Panese knights are considered the best in the Empire, with the exception of the Imperial knights (although many Imperial Knights are Panese in origin). Pan has a strict, militaristic culture. Many royal families ward their children in Pan to learn skill at arms. [Aspect: Chivalrous]
>Winterlands, House Reid: The Northernmost Kingdom, located in the cold tundras at the Northeastern end of the continent. Inhabitants of the winterlands are stereotyped to be gruff, independent, and self-reliant. The Winterlands cares little for diplomacy or currying favor at Court. They frequently find themselves in border disputes with their neighbors. Due to the lack of farmland in the Northern part of their territory, they cling tightly to the southern sections, and will fight fiercely to maintain their territorial integrity. [Aspect: Tough-as-Nails]
>Free Chalmuth, House Kabot: The youngest of all the kingdoms, located at an island west of the continent proper. Formerly a part of Ellia’s territory, but when the Fellants refused the island's call for troops to deal with rampant piracy, an uprising took place and the Chalmuthians refused to pay any taxes to either Ellia or the Emperor. The Emperor sided with the Chalmuthians, helped broker a peace with Captain Kabot, which involved installing the Pirate Captain as the new king of the island. [Aspect: Swashbuckler]
>Kingdom of Ellia, House Fellant: The largest and most prosperous of the houses outside of the Imperial family itself. Ellia has vast, lush farmland, sea access, and ample mineral wealth. Its capital is located directly west of the Imperial capital. Including maritime borders, it borders seven other kingdoms. Many have speculated that the Fellants aspire to secede from the Empire, or usurp it. Ellians despise Varyne and Chalmuth, feeling that their territory was wrongfully taken from them. [Aspect: Prestigious]
<span class="mu-i">"You can offer a million prayers to the Omnissiah, dust the chapel and perfect the rites and get no closer to truth. Our prison of ignorance is not something we can travel beyond. The key we've lost is more than something drifting in the void."</span> -Anonymous Explorator, disavowed by council edict
A change of fortune diverts you from the cliffs, to a place you never expected to be - the heart of the Omnissiah's worship in Odrev. Once you arrive, though, you find it increasingly difficult to focus on what's literally before you.
You possess an amount of Strain equal to your Conditioning score. When attempting actions beyond your current capacity, you gain a point of Strain. Attempting to Strain while at maximum Strain will result in a Strain Check. During a Strain Check, roll 1d10 for every point of the relevant Parameter. Results that are 6 or above count as one success. Results of 10 count as two successes. Three successes must be rolled to avert a critical failure. Fail or pass, after a Strain Check, you cannot Strain again until you restore your Strain by seeking shelter.
This quest allows you to designate a second-choice vote on decisions with three or more options before Write-Ins. When votes are totaled, the option with the least votes for it will be removed, with votes for that option instead being changed to the second-choice of those voters. Second-choice votes are also used to break ties. This helps increase the accuracy of votes, but is not mandatory. Please specifically mark your second-choice as such if you do so.
Vote stay open for a minimum of six hours, but will usually take longer.
A note: My writing style is pretty dry, but don't mistake that for it being serious.
Welcome to Lingdom Quest, a cute and comfy slice-of-life quest about exploring the Lingdom, a kingdom of pygmies!
You are Rika, a 15-year-old Ling on a journey with your cousin Kari, friends Bubu and Puki, and fox friend Moochy. You are on your Youthful Journey, a custom among your people where you leave your home to travel across the Lingdom to visit relatives and friends in other villages to help out and learn new skills. The function of the Youthful Journey is also to reconnect you with your wider family.
>What are Lings? Pygmy humans with large, round ears who live in the Lingdom, a kingdom separated from the rest of the world and under the protection of the Emperor. The Emperor is known as a "Tallie", a human of normal height and normal-shaped and sized ears. Among your people are also "Halfies", individuals with both Ling and Tallie blood who appear like Lings in their childhood but enter a rapid growth spurt in their young adulthood (and reverting back to Ling size in their elder years.)
>Where do Lings come from? The Lings claim to have been hosted by the Great Turtle where they learned to be good guests. Much of their core values come from their time being the Great Turtle's guests; >To be neat, tidy, and clean after themselves. >To eat sparingly so as to not overburn their hosts. >To reciprocate gifts so as to share Memories.
>Memories Memories are something of a religious and spiritual concept for Lings. They represent literal memories that an individual holds but also their relationships and binds them all as one people, not only throughout the land but also through time. Ways Lings share their Memories: >Offering gifts. >Doing activities together. >Telling stories.
>Guest-Host Relationship Lings behave themselves in accordance with the guest-host relationship as they learned from the Great Turtle. A Host must be benevolent and gracious to their guests, and a guest must be respectful and considerate to their hosts. This relationship is also attributed to their understanding of agriculture and politics. The land they cultivate is considered their host, but the crops raised from it their guests. The Emperor is a sacred individual who is their guest in their home, but their Host in His Empire.
>Other Cute Ling Things Lings are known for a variety of cute habits and behaviors. Here's some of them: >They don't have chairs, preferring to squat or sit on the ground. >Their cuisine largely consists of hand-held foods, wrapping their meals in either tortillas or leaves. >The only meat they eat are seafood and bugs. >They prefer sleeping in hammocks over beds. >They consider leaving things on the floor dirty so most of their possessions are hung on the walls or ceilings (like their hammocks)
You are Kuroda Haruka and <span class="mu-r">King Lot of Lothian, Orkney and Camelot.</span>
The day is not quite over yet. You long to hide in your room and try to decompress but keeping a hold on your vassals requires a King to attend to their duties diligently.
Today in the darkest hours before dawn you were forced to fight off a Wyvern who decided to dine on two of your vassals. You went to their rescue with a cohort of Baphomets and dived straight into a terrible situation. Three deadly enemies trapped in an abandoned manor.
The Wyvern who ate your two vassals. The fear illusion plant who trapped you. A Knight of the Round Table who Dueled you.
The night left a mark on you. For you were killed in a Duel by GARETH, KITCHEN KNIGHT. If it wasn't for the Blessings of Avalon, you would have stayed dead. By the skin of your teeth, you survived and rescued the Baphomets still alive.
Welcome into the Bronze-Clay age of a far away unnamed star. After evolving in The Crack, the species known as Under Hunter reached Sapience and organized in tribes. 7 remains :
The fire-mastering Blanks and WindPsykers of GrassGreen The Assassin, Tool-wielding, Stone Huts lawmakers of Ghostclaw The StrongHunters Kraken-riders feodal lords of BurningGrass The Tzeench-touch expansionists, of Jupiter The Archers, Merchants, Slavers and Warptrailers of BadBack The Lunar Dahu and Stove Grove farmers of Whitemane The elusive trapmaker, raven-priests Cerulean which integrated the Singers of Icey Ones, not without racial frictions.
Interrested in joining? Claim a trip and a name as a Lurker - impacting the world with random events.
The woman takes in a sharp breath as she stares at the murky looking hemisphere protruding out of the ground like a malignant tumor. “Yeah, that’s going to cause trouble. Queen’s tits...this is a mess.”
“That bad?” The young man with her asked.
She answers by applying a none too gentle smack to the back of his head.
“Ow! Alright, it’s bad. It’s just mud town though, technically we could just set the charges...”
She shakes her head. “Could destabilize the entire mountain. Besides, it’s a bad time anyway.” She spits on the dirt floor, then sighs and pulls out a handkerchief and wipes up the little damp spot. “You know the situation.” She waves her hand in the air, wincing. “The queen doesn’t want disruption. We’ll just cover it up and hope it isn’t too aggressive. Deal with it later.”
“Isn’t that...”
“Yeah. Yeah it is. Not our call. Come on rook, we’ll come back later.”
They leave. You remain, a murky gray pimple in a dimly lit room, surrounded by dirt. The room grows dark, then light again. The cloudy gray tumor that is you flickers with a dim light. You can do something. Just once. What can you do?
> Capture. Reach out and take something into yourself. There is not much here. Dirt. You could take it though. > Create. Use things you've taken to Create. You don't seem to have anything to Create with. > Contemplate. Wait. Think. Perhaps it's better to not be hasty.
The world of Jade Bead (玉珠) is an unimaginably vast realm overflowing with pure potential, or Qi (齊). Most of this is held by the spirits, beasts, and immortals who've learned to harness Qi to strengthen themselves, cultivators (耕耘者)!
Cultivators make up an extremely small percentage of the population, and immortals are even rarer. Most cultivators who reach for immortality will never get it. Even talented geniuses born to martial sects with constant instruction and incredible resources struggle to climb the mountain.
You are not a talented genius born into a martial sect. You're an average nobody born to a family of poor rice farmers. You have only thing going for you under Heaven (天堂)...
You have the soul of a thickheaded fool (傻子) and don't know when to quit!
From the first time you heard about cultivators, you knew you wanted to be one and wouldn't listen to reason...
Your name is Marron and you're getting married soon. Due to circumstances outside of your control, you kept delaying proposing to Chouxcreme and your courtship lasted a bit longer than socially acceptable. Thankfully, it didn't take you too long to get used to living in Tarrasque and you managed to propose to your lady.
The wedding is scheduled to happen in the Azure season, when weddings are considered to be more auspicious. However, it is currently the Amber season, smack dab in the middle of the year so you have plenty of time to prepare for marriage.
Your stats are currently
Courage: 0 Knowledge:0 Love: 0 Reliability: 2
[[Al-Kimia Story has 4 different “Personality” stats. Courage allows you to keep a cool head in stressful situations. Someone with low Courage would be cowardly, while someone with high Courage can keep their cool even when fighting a much stronger foe. People with high courage can also be reckless, ignoring fear even when it serves a purpose. Love is the stat of passion. Someone with low Love can come across as cold and unfeeling while someone with high love can be bolstered by the feelings they have for others. People with high love can be flighty, pursuing one passion to the next and never settling down. Knowledge increases your affinity for acquiring knowledge. Someone with low knowledge can be stupid and forgetful, while someone with high knowledge can recall information quickly and dedicate themselves to study. People with high knowledge can be paralyzed by indecision from all the knowledge they hold. Reliability is your affinity for learning about the mundane. Someone with low Reliability can have their head in the clouds while someone with high reliability can be counted on to stay steadfast in the worst of times. People with high Reliability can be bad at dreaming of a brighter future, preferring instead the certainty of the present.
When you make decisions against Marron's wants in-the-moment, you acquire stress. Accumulate enough stress and you will accrue penalties to your roll depending on your stress level.
While playing, you can also obtain ‘Affinity’ for the people you meet. Essentially, this is your level of closeness with that person or group]]
What do you do to prepare for your wedding?
> Spend time getting to know Chouxcreme better (Chouxcreme affinity +2) > Take on more regular jobs in order to give Choux the best wedding you can afford (Reliability+1, Chouxcreme affinity+1) > Take on more dangerous jobs in order to afford a more expensive wedding (Courage +2) > Take on more lessons in the guild so you can take on more well paying jobs reliably. (Knowledge +1, Reliability+1)
The mountainside plaza brims with millions of scaled ones – with <span class="mu-i">Ngwenya</span>, and never before have so many been gathered into one place. Before the plaza, an enormous temple – a vast, ordered assembly of slate, hewn from a neighboring cliffside. The temple shudders with the weight of their bodies; the breeze that laps up at the temple-top is saturated with squeals, grunts, coughing barks and harsh chanting of the lizardmen below. They chant with religious fervor to their master, their grandfather, their priest, their prophet, and in return, Umzukulwana regards his spawn from his obsidian throne upon the pinnacle of the temple, with his legendary spear in hand – looking upon them, the old, dull hunger rises in his gut once again.
Not for flesh, but for power.
How long has he prepared for this day? It is unknowable. It is not the way of his people - of the <span class="mu-i">Ngwenya</span>, to tally such things. It is said that are only the two cycles - the little cycle of the morning, the day, the evening, the night, and the Great Cycle of muddy wet season, brief frost-time, tempestuous spring, sweltering dry season - and they are endless. Umzukulwana does not know how old he is – and does not care, because he knows that he is strongest.
He will always be strongest.
Victory is finally here, after so much time... how many generations has he fathered, feasted upon and pruned weakness from? How many of his scaled children were crushed into mortar for the assembly of this temple district? His bloody maw, still drenched with the blood of his morning feast, opens widely, and his tongue waggles grotesquely in excitement. Above, the sun reaches its zenith in an endless blue sky – the time of awakening is here!
Umzukulwana rises to his clawed feet, his mighty claws gripping the midnight stone – his limbs are heavy with muscle; fresh scars are laid over ancient ones upon his weathered hide. His sturdy tail drags heavily over the roughened stones of the temple-top, the platform scored deeply by his mighty talons over countless sermons. His keen eyes, undimmed by time, gaze below at the endless number of his children and grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren – they roar, scream, cough, bark and hiss in adulation, a roiling ocean of scale and talon and reptilian flesh and empty bellies. The angled stone of the plaza has been carefully constructed with sluice-ways and drain pipes, leading directly below Umzukulwana’s temple platform – underneath, the central pit beckons, a bore-hole excavated over long cycles for today’s final ritual.
<span class="mu-i">The time of awakening is here.</span>
Welcome, Monarch, to the world of Maversia. It has been nearly a century since the great Karamian Empire retreated across the sea to their home island. In their retreat they have left behind new lands for your people to move into and begin to thrive. Some bring with them knowledge, while others inherit the peoples and knowledge left behind by the Karamian Empire as it left. The land where gods once walked with men is now to be inherited by a new group of peoples. Will your civilization stand the test of time that the Karamians crumbled under? Or will you too join the endless dust of the fallen?
To Start Race: (Include details if not a generic race) Location: Fluff:
How to Play?
Each turn Roll 4d100 for actions. Actions can build, expand, attack, recruit, conduct diplomacy, and research. The primary gameplay loop is to develop your provinces, attack your neighbors, and acquire more provinces or more opportunities to develop the provinces you have.
Catch Up Mechanic: If you missed a turn, roll for that turn in addition to the current turn. If you have missed more than three turns, you receive 2 points for each turn that has gone by. Assign those to your provinces or to technologies.
The game will begin once we have 4 players. The game is always open to new players, so feel free to jump in if you see the chance!
