Official Christia Committee Thread

dramaking

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Well...you know, I really don't want to vote any of them in. We have enough elves right now, they get more playing time than any other race already...I just think they're a bit overused and I'm hesitant of voting them in.

(Plus the third isn't going to be very popular with any one but people looking for excuses to be exiles, and really really cutting edge writers)

But...I'm going to withhold voting until I can think about it.
 
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Paladin Dave

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I'm about to go back and look at WOF's proposal to give an answer, but first I'll address the "Dwarf-like Elves".

I personally don't think they should be made a race. It wouldn't be bad to have a faction of elves break away and join with the Dwarves, possibly just out of love for their way of life (Anyone else thinking of Nargothrond?), or perhaps disgust at the way of life their aloof Elven brothers enjoy. But a halfbreed race that lives like dwarves? I think that's just unnecessary.

If Svartalfar replace the Drow in a way, I wouldn't mind them at all. And I think the third race, whose name escapes me, should be incredibly, and I mean incredibly, rare.

Now, I know what I said brings up an important dilemma in the present history, since the Consi's company fought their last battle against Drow in the Underdark. My solution is in the form of a question, technically. If these Svartalfar are skilled in magic, especially the elemental sort, could they easily be corrupted by demons? Basically, I'm just suggesting that Drow are Svartalfar who have been corrupted and transformed into fiend-like creatures, but are still mortal to whatever extent other elves are. This would provide us with an explanation to why these things were guarding the closest physical location to hell, but not give us two species of dark elves if we bring in the Svartalfar.
 
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Paladin Dave

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One thing I'd like to say concerning technology is that the Renaissance MOSTLY happened for nobles and middle-class workers in the cities. In the countrysides, everyone still had to perform their back-breaking duties, and their liege lords got to enjoy a little more. In the earlier years, anyway.

Eh... basically, my biggest point is that the Renaissance's focus on art and pleasure rather than warfare and Chivalry, or philosophy and worldliness over faith, takes away from our reserve of knights, wars, and devout Christians in said areas.

Another issue to consider is magic's replacement of need for technology. The Elves may not have been high-tech in the Emberian War, but they still gave Ember a run for their money. The oil hoses and ballista pods were the pinnacle of Ember's non-magical technology. The Coil Gun was simply a ramp with magi casting strong attract spells on the gunpowder shells(which, with the new Ember thread in development, could be remedied. The new power could try to ban and destroy the blueprints of Kalt-Hammer and Borkeau's old weapons). The unreleased "Feuer Drache", or Fire Dragon tank would have been a primitave, massive wooden cart, covered in wet hides, filled with archer ports, and with an oil turret, propelled by the recovered crystal from a crashed Flying Ship that Kalt-Hammer's Brute Squad failed to capture. It all either required several strong men to operate, or needed a mage on hand. Either way, its costly to operate, and Kalt-Hammer WAS brilliant in the way of constructing siege machinery, even if that's really the only way he's brilliant.

Pretty much, my point is that Ember is indeed the pinnacle of Christian technology, but most of it was KH's attempts to use his small warmage force to give power to his machines, which he hoped could stand up to the magically-imbued, magically shielded, magically BROKEN siege engines.:p And yes, I mean broken in the DnD sense.

Other than that, I approve. I just like our heavy armor and weapons to stay up to date, and to somehow keep the tech at a level that crusader and philosopher can coexist just as well as superbly armored knight and berserking barbarian.
 
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Paladin Dave

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Behold, the triple post!

Ok, one last thing I want to throw in, though I think it should probably be kept on the back burner until things are settled, is the matter of Anserak.

Right now, Anserak kinda seems like a Christian version of Mordor. Can we establish some things like leadership, motivation, where other Orc tribes could be found that aren't necessarily serving Anserak's lord, etc. Basically, I just wanna know how we can make it less like Mordor, and more like its own festering pit of evil.
 
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dramaking

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Behold, the triple post!

Ok, one last thing I want to throw in, though I think it should probably be kept on the back burner until things are settled, is the matter of Anserak.

Right now, Anserak kinda seems like a Christian version of Mordor. Can we establish some things like leadership, motivation, where other Orc tribes could be found that aren't necessarily serving Anserak's lord, etc. Basically, I just wanna know how we can make it less like Mordor, and more like its own festering pit of evil.
Amen. And a logical reason why Anserak hasn't fought a major war in roughly 2,000 years for no apparent reason (the established, they were rebuilding, answer really doesn't hold water when you look at it that way)
 
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dramaking

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One thing I'd like to say concerning technology is that the Renaissance MOSTLY happened for nobles and middle-class workers in the cities. In the countrysides, everyone still had to perform their back-breaking duties, and their liege lords got to enjoy a little more. In the earlier years, anyway.

Eh... basically, my biggest point is that the Renaissance's focus on art and pleasure rather than warfare and Chivalry, or philosophy and worldliness over faith, takes away from our reserve of knights, wars, and devout Christians in said areas.

Another issue to consider is magic's replacement of need for technology. The Elves may not have been high-tech in the Emberian War, but they still gave Ember a run for their money. The oil hoses and ballista pods were the pinnacle of Ember's non-magical technology. The Coil Gun was simply a ramp with magi casting strong attract spells on the gunpowder shells(which, with the new Ember thread in development, could be remedied. The new power could try to ban and destroy the blueprints of Kalt-Hammer and Borkeau's old weapons). The unreleased "Feuer Drache", or Fire Dragon tank would have been a primitave, massive wooden cart, covered in wet hides, filled with archer ports, and with an oil turret, propelled by the recovered crystal from a crashed Flying Ship that Kalt-Hammer's Brute Squad failed to capture. It all either required several strong men to operate, or needed a mage on hand. Either way, its costly to operate, and Kalt-Hammer WAS brilliant in the way of constructing siege machinery, even if that's really the only way he's brilliant.

Pretty much, my point is that Ember is indeed the pinnacle of Christian technology, but most of it was KH's attempts to use his small warmage force to give power to his machines, which he hoped could stand up to the magically-imbued, magically shielded, magically BROKEN siege engines.:p And yes, I mean broken in the DnD sense.

Other than that, I approve. I just like our heavy armor and weapons to stay up to date, and to somehow keep the tech at a level that crusader and philosopher can coexist just as well as superbly armored knight and berserking barbarian.
I agree, problem is, right now there is no crusader or philosopher (okay, maybe five all in all) I'm just trying to fit in the logical fact that for it to be realistic, we'll need to make a few historical inaccuracies. It's weird but from a writing perspective, who's going to want to play an artist in a barbarian camp?

But PLENTY of people will sign up to play a barbarian in a highly developed city.
That's why I say we need to find a culture base, so we'll be able to say, for example "This is like Florence, peopel here are very well developed in art and thought" and "This is like Arabia, little understood, but very devote to their beliefs and their warriors are fierce" and even "This is like the British isles, there are some developed rulers, but mostly barbaric blue-facers"

I don't say we should use a time base, but anachronisms are a necesity for it to work for the players.
 
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Amen. And a logical reason why Anserak hasn't fought a major war in roughly 2,000 years for no apparent reason (the established, they were rebuilding, answer really doesn't hold water when you look at it that way)


An idea is forming. Okay a few ideas are forming. What if the overlords/higher nobility/military leaders are tied to the land much like Bram Stoker's Dracula? The Count had to carry a bit of Transylvania with him wherever he went if he ever left its borders. What if the same were true for the leading citizens of Anserak? The dark lords in the Lone Wolf series are cursed in much the same way. It would definitely tie the natives of Anserak there, as it is wholly impractical to be carrying topsoil around.

Also please consider that it is the Holy Order of Pra Yer Warrior's primary mission to contain the evil in Anserak. They patrol the Anserak Mountains constantly. Maybe, just maybe they are actually pretty good at their job?

Anserak is a penninsula. Surrounded by ocean on three sides and blockaded by a high and forbidding mountain range which is patrolled by the Pra Yer. I'd say it would be tough to mount any sort of effective offensive, especially if they haven't any real navy to speak of. Not many orc sailors to my knowledge.

If I were evil and trapped in my own homeland by the very soil of my country, and I had the money and power to do it I'd be having research and development going constantly to find some way around that particular foible. That would be my main focus. That and watching my back versus the other evil warlords in the region.

Like Scotland, and many other countries, Anserak could have many squabbling clans that are in constant and bitter enmity with one another. That would keep folks busy. Defending one's own home while raiding other petty dictator's holdings tends to take the focus off major conquest. At the same time I'd have small personal armies out doing sorties, raids, etc. into bordering nations to probe, loot and pillage.

Just a few things to consider.
 
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dramaking

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An idea is forming. Okay a few ideas are forming. What if the overlords/higher nobility/military leaders are tied to the land much like Bram Stoker's Dracula? The Count had to carry a bit of Transylvania with him wherever he went if he ever left its borders. What if the same were true for the leading citizens of Anserak? The dark lords in the Lone Wolf series are cursed in much the same way. It would definitely tie the natives of Anserak there, as it is wholly impractical to be carrying topsoil around.

Also please consider that it is the Holy Order of Pra Yer Warrior's primary mission to contain the evil in Anserak. They patrol the Anserak Mountains constantly. Maybe, just maybe they are actually pretty good at their job?

Anserak is a penninsula. Surrounded by ocean on three sides and blockaded by a high and forbidding mountain range which is patrolled by the Pra Yer. I'd say it would be tough to mount any sort of effective offensive, especially if they haven't any real navy to speak of. Not many orc sailors to my knowledge.

If I were evil and trapped in my own homeland by the very soil of my country, and I had the money and power to do it I'd be having research and development going constantly to find some way around that particular foible. That would be my main focus. That and watching my back versus the other evil warlords in the region.

Like Scotland, and many other countries, Anserak could have many squabbling clans that are in constant and bitter enmity with one another. That would keep folks busy. Defending one's own home while raiding other petty dictator's holdings tends to take the focus off major conquest. At the same time I'd have small personal armies out doing sorties, raids, etc. into bordering nations to probe, loot and pillage.

Just a few things to consider.
Great reasoning. I like most of them, especially when you add an assumption that there are many pirates from Vareisia already using Anserak's coast as a good hiding place (obviously more than JUST Vareisa, but it is the geographically stated as the sailing and pirate capital of Christia) that would limit the creation of a navy.
I like most of it, I think we should flesh it out a bit. Though I am wary of putting too much stress on any one fantasy style (we already have the Pra Yer on one part of that area, I'm worried about too many similarities to the Lone Wolf books...and you know, I CAN see several warlords going about with a jar of dirt. So perhaps we can find a way around that nifty loophole?)
 
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Paladin Dave

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Jars of dirt and buckets of ocean!^_^

WOF, I love the Anserak ideas! Although, I think that instead of carrying around dirt, perhaps there's some kind of otherworldly property to Anserak or their holdings in it that make them strong while exposed to it, but they grow progressively weaker as they journey from it? That, coupled with the Pra Yer, would easily explain why no one ever leaves Anserak in big enough number to launch an invasion, or stays out long enough to permanently embed themselves. Say, like... some kind of reservoir of dark energy left behind from when Anserak was big enough to launch wars? And have them scattered across the land, making them key points for the regional warlords to try and claim?

This would open us up to having room for both wandering, more reasonable/peaceful tribal orcs out in the plains and in the barbaric north, but have brutal, blood-crazed monster orcs, like Korgoth's, rampaging out of Anserak on raids. Any orcs seen in the employ of men like Lord Kiva or other troublemakers past the Wall of Hope would most likely be from tribes descended from orcs who were scattered and defeated, and just settled down instead of marching back to Anserak, and weren't found by enemy armies. The stronger and more brutal sort would be in service to Anserak, and probably en route to raid a settlement or something.

What do you guys think?
 
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Woman of Faith

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Well, actually the being tied to the homeland thing is Bram Stoker's Dracula and he had to haul crates and crates of the stuff, not just one jar. THAT would definitely make it unlikely anyone would leave in any great numbers.

It's funny, Dave, the ideas you mention are almost right in line with what Joe Dever came up with for his Darklords being stuck in the Darklands. DK, I don't want Christia to resemble Magnamund too closely either, which is why I hadn't brought that up. Anyway, the Darklords are stuck because they have to breathe the volcanic air, if I remember correctly, and they hire greedy, evil men from another kingdom to do their dirty work. They also have an arrangment similar to what Tolkien had in Twin Towers, the Darklords create their own warriors to go out and attack their enemies.

I like the idea of having nomadic/tribal orcs and goblins that wander the steppes, probably in the Plains of Egara. There might be some living in the Anserak Mountains that hate their kin too. We're cooking with gas, fellas, let's keep it going.
 
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Paladin Dave

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Eh... if anything, I'd almost based it off of Warcraft's orcs. They were once a relatively peaceful shamanistic race, but the demonic Burning Legion came to them and offered them power in exchange for servitude. The Legion's corruption made them stronger and incredibly violent, and unleashed them on the humans and elves on another world. After the second war with them, the humans kept the surviving orcs in internment camps, where people seemed to notice them becoming lethargic and weak, when really the priests realized they were just losing their demonic blood-rage. Sort of kind of like that. Not to say Orcs wouldn't be primitive, savage, and violent without these reservoirs in Anserak, but it would make them and the Warlords who control the places stronger and more evil.
 
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sampson x

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Wow...good stuff guys.

So does anyone want to put any of this stuff in official writing? Can I assume that by majority vote Shadow's three races made it into the cannon?

I love the Anserak ideas. Although, I was almost seeing it as perhaps a giant network of soul-bindings that the orc-shamans would have put up ages ago as their empire started to crumble in order to keep strangers out. However, they would also have the drawback of making the orc-lords lose their power as they traveled away from these large soul-bindings. Hard to explain, trying to come up with something original here. If anyone can see me out here, please raise your hand and shout so that I know I am not alone! Just to delve further, perhaps these soul-bindings are actually huge obelisks, making it impossible for them to be transported, explaining even more the lack of Orc Lords going on raids. They're confined to their own cities where they have extra control over their subjects because their soul (or better yet, maybe their wills) have been split and infused into these obelisks of power.

Sheesh, I scare myself.

Or we can just go with what WOF and PD are suggesting.
 
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sampson x

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Okay, we've been inactive too long. By the lack of disagreement, I'm going to assume that Shadow's races are approved. It's time to move on to the next subject. We'll need to rehash the magic subject sometime, I think. But first let's work on the history and cultures of the current political units of Christia. We already have a start on Anserak here, so that's why I suggested it. Also because I know Drama's eager to start on Vareisia and Zlith. Which area should we focus on first?
 
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Woman of Faith

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We can continue with Anserak until satisfied with that nation's structure then move on. Since, like you said, we're already discussing it. I'd like to see what Star and DK might have to offer re: Anserak before we proceed.
 
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dramaking

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Well if we're giving suggestions I've got only a few. The first IDEA is that on the border of Anserak there would be some illegal buildings, such as slave camps and other other groups of men who would have found it better to operate SOUTH of the Wall of Hope.

This is a just an idea, but I think it gives an option to men who need a little time away from governments, and for a place where laws are a bit more optional. Of course, it'd be necessary for people to have a trade deal with the Lords of Anserak near the border
 
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