Late at Night in August

 

Me, writing this, presumably.

 Alright. Warming up the typewriter-ribbon, greasing the computer's pistons, making sure the calculator is wound up. I see that other than a brief note-let for my players, nothing has been posted on the ol' bloggo. This is right about the length of time I start removing blogs from my bookmarks, so I figure I better get some small check-in, one of those "I still remember life, if life is remembered as a few words saved on a post", a howdy-doo, a reminder that like all tens of you might still look here! 

So many silly things have been going on around the cat-castle here, both physical and personal, that I've been feeling a bit worn down. I completed the Summer race series here on the beach (doing fine, thank you, better than I expected), and thought I'd get some of the things done that had been put off for a week or ten. But it wasn't to be, as the oldest cat picked something up and managed to give it to all the cats. They're fine, it's just a lot of dealing with sick cats and baths and other issues like that. 

So, the two or three things that I was asked to take a look at by friends haven't been given proper perusal. One was a story I read (pulpy, entertaining after all), one an adventure I haven't looked at much, and the other a world-building thing I need to go back and look over (some great ideas in there). 

I make it hard on myself by being both lazy and brimming with fractions of ideas that want a home, so end up scribbled in my notebook, thought about (lots), and conceptually slopped onto something else I've worked on. Looking over other people's work, or learning or reading a new rpg, or even reading some book I've had on my to-read stack have been gently put on the back burner for a bit now. Semi-mindlessly, I've managed to play a butt-ton of Risk online, and semi-mindfully managed to freshen up then scrap a number of chess-openings while playing blitz extremely poorly. Add in a bit of running, a bit of catching up on wrasslin', and a bit of work, along with sick kitties and a distressed better half, and I've done the Secret Dance of Not-Too-Much. That dance is mainly sitting and wiggling on the couch watching Tube-You vids, as you well know. 

However! with all of that in mind, some things have gotten some really heavy-duty thinking about! Some games have been played (well one game-system mostly, a couple of groups)!  

 

 What's been played 

 

I'm a mf-ing storygamer now?! 

I mean, it's been Heart: The City Beneath as you might have guessed. And, it's pretty fun, really. I've set it in my current main campaign world, tucked away in a little catastrophe zone, hinted at for quite a while in some of my other games. As far as the game goes, I've done the whole customization to a moderate percentage of the game, but I am running it pretty much out of the book. The customization is primarily flavor: the ancestries are slightly modified and a few of the classes have been reskinned. 

My online group fired up with the quickstart which is bascially free, and even has a print version. Obviously it went off in its own direction very quickly, but was a good intro. A slight player-roster switch up, and we've been playing a decent stretch so far. 

The live crew jumped right into a small sort of point-crawl-esque thing I cooked up, and wrecked a portion of it already (yay!). The online group arrived in the vicinity, and in fact had to deal with some of the bullshit the other group left behind. Owl-hive spirit trap whirlwind in the Quiet Zone for the win! 

Heart is pretty fun. There's lots of character customization, and one player even mentioned that once you get going, the prompts mesh with your character and the way the story of the game is progressing, pushing into interesting directions. The main mechanic is super easy to use (small d10 dice pool with partial successes), and the primary driving feature is getting the characters absolutely wrecked. There's a cool tension between the high power level of the characters, looking to see if they are going to hit their ultimate goals (and powers, probably exploding a bit of reality in the process), and the "fallout" they accrue (that is the damage conditions which keep adding up and stacking up), looking to see if they die a possible glorious, though likely ignoble death. The tough parts, at least for me, are twofold, and actually a main part of the game

The first, somewhat minor one, is choosing fallouts. I feel like I'm lagging sometimes in the middle of glorious pacing right when a big smashing moment wallops the characters, and I want to flip through the book, or ask the player, "what feels right here?" If I had a slightly better intuitive sense of the relative levels of harshness, I could improvise better (which I am starting to do, semi-successfully I think). The story-gamey asking the player to join in on some of the choices, on the other hand, often feels slightly wishy-washy to me. Even though they ought to want the damage and despair for their characters in this game, it always gives me, at least, the sense of being taken out of the stakes of the encounter just a bit. 

The other is just keeping up with and remembering to incorporate the beats chosen by the players. Beats are chosen by the players, and if the character hits one of these "what I want to see" goals, they get to choose from the various powerups. Hopefully my players have been good with the way in which these have been checked off; sometimes I've taken a pretty loose interpretation on what constitutes hitting one. I'm usually so involved in what is going on within the game, that I feel like I'll just shoehorn in some random-ass event to qualify for one of the beats a player has chosen. Or, I really try to give a chance for one, and the player just doesn't recognize the circumstance. Which has definitely led to some amusing dialogue with me reeeeaallly emphasizing certain elements of the scene. And then saying "hey didn't you have such and such beat?" 

I don't think either of these nit-picks have really detracted from the game. I do think that it is a bit more tiring to run Heart than say, one of my OSR thingies that I've been DMing for quite a while. That slight exhaustion with two games a week (recently alleviated by fricking everyone being busy at this time of the year) has made me itching to run something else, I think. I mean, I am always wanting to try one of the games I have hanging around, and keep a running, rotating list of my next game-interest. With little floating, well, hearts, and a sweet frame, and a picture of a weird-ass RPG that I clutch to my chest. Well, not really, but I do want to run so many things! 

Which leads to...

What Will Be Played, Possibly 

Ugh. A bunch of things are off the shelf, on the way, stacked next to me, kept in mind. When I wrap up the Heart stuff, which I'm not in a big hurry to do, the top spot is held by Swords of the Serpentine for my live group. SotS being the Sword & Sorcery version of GUMSHOE of all things. But I think it could hold together really well, and definitely looks fun to me. It will be another stretch for me to get the gist of the game, since it's definitely different than anything I've run. Investigate?! Refresh tokens?! Rolling a single d6?! What am I going to be doing? 

Gettin' heisty.

 I actually thought the live Heart game would actually only go 10 or so weeks with like 7 or 8 sessions in there, but I think the players are good letting it progress at a slightly slower rate than that. So the time-frame to start SotS is a bit drifty. Which means I have plenty of time to mull over other games that would be fun. 

Sitting there on the table next to me is RipCrypt, another one I'm interested in, but one I'm not sure I'll get to the table any time soon. It's another small dice pool system by Kynan Antos, but one that uses d8s vs. target numbers based on difficulty. It bills itself as a "dungeon sprint RPG" which is totally appealing to me, and the black and green color-scheme give it some sweet spoochky vibes. I even got a big assortment of random d8s (and some blank ones, cause I can use those for...something...eventually). It's got gridded combat, so I can break out the minis, and a decent amount of procedural stuff that make it sound pretty easy to run. 

Look at that sweet color scheme. Makes me want to run out and grab some mf-ing loot!

One nitpick is that many of the tables, since they use multiples of d8s, are on a curve, but still ordered alphabetically. Not sure what I was going to do with that, since I sorta-kinda wanted for once to play a game as written (haha yeah right). Maybe just go with the strange artifact that the world the game will take place in seems to discourage the beginning and end of the alphabet? Really, other than that, RipCrypt feels like it could be pretty slick, and I wouldn't mind running it.

I ordered Lowlife 2090. The print-on-demand might take forever from DTRPG, I don't know. But I have been perusing the rules on the dreaded PDF format, and watched a video or two on it. I was looking for Cyberpunk-ish stuff after one of my players expressed a liking for the genre, and even though I have the slightly bizarre Dancing With Bullets Under a Neon Sun  (a Black Hack hack by Dirk Detweiler Leichty that I wanted to combine with the Black Sword Hack at one point for maximum style for some reason), I went into scan mode on the rule-sets people talked about here and there on the internet. 

A couple seemed interesting, the classics were way too crunchy for my taste, and one that seemed promising started off with jamming politics down the reader's throat. There were some supplements and some really esoteric (and interesting) rules out there. But Lowlife 2090 by Stephen J. Grodzicki, with it's easily recognizable 2014 (*coff coff* you know the one) d20 framework, fairly lethal rules, and Shadowrun DNA ended up catching my attention the most. 

I'm going to use this picture, instead of something Cyberpunky, cause it gives me the feels.

I know my 5e players would pick it up fast, since Low Fantasy Gaming, by the same author, is the bones I think. And I'm pretty sure I could pick up the slack for my relatively new players, since I know 5e reasonably well. (In fact, I wonder now how much I already had started to be influenced by LFG when I was contemplating Fiveee, my prospective 5e houserules.) Anyhow, I have vague daydreams about running some of the adventures from the hardcovers I have taking up space on the game-shelf. Heh. 

There's some other things. Zines I've backed that I'd like to incorporate here and there. Setting and adventure books (primarily OSR, of course) that I would like to get on the world-map, and tease their existences to my players. Modules. My insane urge to blend Wulfwald, Wolves Upon the Coast, and use a bit from Wolves of God, into one crazy game of Wolf World or De Wolvenwereld or whatever it would be called. 

But the one thing that has tickled my fancy is Ruination Pilgrimage by Donn Stroud. At one point, I was reading a book on the condottieri, listening to Apocrypals, and recently finished Lent: A Novel of Many Returns by Jo Walton. This combination (still) has me wanting to play something in a sort of Italian-esque warring states region, with demonic plagues and sorrows sweeping across the land, and characters making treks to holy sites for prayers and relief from giving into despair and whatnot. I think RP would work wonderfully for that.  This might be the one with the most gravitational pull to get me to run something with -- eventually. I think it will stick around, rattling the brainbox, and tickling the interest-nerves. 

Beatin' demons or some damned thing.

 And, unfortunately, Stroud has just launched a successful Kickstarter for a supplement. So that thing will be popping in eventually. Probably just around the time I'm gearing up for a new game, chosen by my players, that is none of these options at all! (I'm looking at you, Ruins of Symbaroum, set in my Not-Iron-Age-Britain setting. Ok, that might be the other one I sort of want to run, BUT NO! NO MORE!) 

 

 

 

A Page in a Typewriter in the Desolation Near the Last Friendly Inn Before the Horrible Ash Seas

 Is it better to die and so too does the end, 

is it better to survive under the orders of devils, 

is it better to fight along side the adversary in the box at the end of time and kill everything, 

is it better to collapse the universe and join the name in a new realm,

is it better to have never existed

? 

The Crooked Lands III: Not Much Meat

 I realized I lied! I was wrong! I made this mistake: the Thistle Child, with it's unbelievable oracular mutterings is certainly not a mixed-up wanderer from far off places! Why, that bonny lass or likely lad is born right from some sort of flower or veggie patch or spat out from a tree or fruit! Harumph harumph. Clearly The Dreamer/The Lost/The Fool is a completely different kettle of horses. Why, I shall flog myself with ermine tails (willingly given) and force down sheer handfuls of sweets to atone, and eventually write up whatever the hell is going on with the D/L/F.

But on to some ahem "humans" we already know a bit about, and table the option-iest options (or at least mildly option-riffic ones; they probably aren't really that good).

Hobps!

6 Things the Hobp is Reeeeeally Good At 

1. Baking pies
2. Jiggling up to a really good bounce!
3. Fast squeezer (through cracks and holes and whatnot. Obviously)
4. Making sociable connections, like somehow those guys sat down at the table even though they drew daggers just a minute ago, and now they owe you a favor, or you them, or something. It's not clear
5. Throwing stuff! (Or slings I guess. Or leetle bows if you have them)
6. Regrowing delicious sweet fingers and bits and whatnot

Whatcha really really like?

1. wee creatures
2. fruits or flowers
3. Pie!
4. Breaking & entering
5. Helping your friends
6. Questing (for a cause; your Burgmates think you're crazy)

You know _______ .

1. WIZARD
2. the top baker in the land
3. a timeless Being
4. a bunch of obnoxious adventurers
5. the Chosen One
6. Not no one but yer mates

 

So, as you know, Vitality fuels everything. And that, well, pool of Hit Dice can get sapped fast, what with taking damage, and getting used for Exertions and Magics and everything else one does when Upon Adventure. So, it has been decided that all HD are refreshed per round. Except for the ones lost because you got an orcean cudgel to the head or a mighty blow from the longesword of a Knight Errant. 

Some other things are being desperately concentrated upon (like wtf the shield note meant). Some rules are being cleared up, that is made, for parrying and dodging and shielding and helmeting. I have thought on and off about giving some dice throw against harm if you lose your hat, but then doesn't that encourage weird rules about fancy hats? Is that bad? It certainly hammers the point that whatever is emphasized in a game or setting, specifically ones that are lightweight, become very much part of what the game is about. It's like in a wilderness a colorful bird doesn't necessarily stand out, but if you have 2 rocks, a puddle of water, a partially stripped tree, and a brightly plumed bird, that bird is going to sing. Figuratively speaking. 

Bright feathers in a fancy hat are pretty striking, though.

Without further ado: everyone's favorite creepy yet bee-youtiful "human." 

6 Arcane Martial Things the Auf is Just Completely Superior Because Of

1. Dance of the spinning webs
2. LASER EYES!
3. Bounce-juggling a ludicrous number of knives
4. A bandolier-satchel set of customized gonne-parts
5. Instead of shields: holes in space! 
6. This guy moves faster than can be seen (too bad about the unfortunate heat buildup/sonic booms)

Elf-wine

1. Moonshine (essenced from moonbeams)
2. Golden honey-wine soothes the spirit, heals the body
3. Deathberry distillation for the real (feigned) death experience
4. A bunch of flowers in a bottle and like morning dew
5. Dreambrew, half gone because it evaporates if concentrated upon
6. The purest spring water. THE purest

Weirdo!

1. make no blinks
2. extra limbs appear when in movement like dancing
3. multiple voices at once
4. just there like a centimeter above the ground
5. there's always a breeze around, probably to romantically stir the silken cloak or hair 
6.  Blooming! All around! 

So a little update on the morning before a race. I realized it was already April, so I might as well post a bit, do some tippidy-tappedy while this bubba-cat sleeps and snores next to me, and try to get relaxed enough to sleep for a few hours! And use many exclamation marks! Nice!

 

The Crooked Lands II: WIP Lists!

 

 

Everyone is related

Barrows of the Noble Fae:

• Serís
• Tīshan
• Ethine
• Viryid
• Lyazúr 
• Valík
• Indaeus 

Legendary Godlike Ancestors of Heroes and Such:

• Apochros
• Ikes
• Pellenthea
• Krassionia 
• Trasikos
• Ikodon
• Zairos

Basileans:

• Queen Anne
• Queen Lilit
• King Aekin
• Duke Eishan
• Duke Natan
• Duke Uther
• Duchess Sintil
  

 

 

A Story as Old as Time

When they finally caught up to Father One-Eye, he had already put himself up on Grandfather Scale's Crooked Apple Tree for a quarter-moon (he lies and says it was more days, 9 sometimes, dispensing wisdom like the sweets from his pocket, the best thing anyone has had until melting away like the Spring thaw). He watched the wheeling of the Procession of Stellar Angels, the epicycles of the Mad Ones, and below the Firmament, the Tempest of Rage and the Undeath'd Lords' Ride. 

In the Glory, and the Geometry, and the Fury, he made 18 Runes, plucked 18 seeds from the Tree, spoke 18 Letters of the Name of God that had never before in all of history been uttered. There were some other things too, such as: he finally ate the Vulture who harried him and his organs, he learned why his eye had been torn out and why there were things etched onto the inside of his skull, Sir Viglaf fetched down Father One-eye by piercing him through with the Ash Spear while possessed by the spirit of St. Barra, and of course Lady Susurrus came to the tree and shared her pomegranates and honey (though that's less spoken of among polite society; we all know how that turned out).

These are the 18 Spells:

1.  Cauldron of Emotions' Simmer [*slowly cause an emotion **cause an emotion against natural inclinations or spread the feeling out amongst a group]
2. Umbral Grievance [*barf up waves of darkness **barf up creatures (if you've recently Feasted)]
3. Hazardous Incendiary Field [*metal sparks, water boils **   ]
4.   Evoluting Consumption [*   **    ]
5. Omnidialectical Insistence [*become more noticeable in presence, and become audible at great volumes ** become incredibly convincing in what you say]
6. Firesprites Cavorting Waltz [*  ** ]
7. Unfettering [*   **   ]
8. Gravity's Arrow [*levitate, float  **jump great distances] 
9. Sludge [*it's coming out of the cracks **it's coming out of you, directed]
10. The Boring Hole [*just that, big enough for a person or two  ** ....but it goes somewhere else ]
11. From Foam the Waves [*turn to foam ** enact tidal forces on bodies of liquid ]
12. Slip Away [*fall into "REALMS" just a little **choose what to bring or what not to bring from around you]
13.  Take Down the Body From Yon Tree [* **  ]
14. A Really Long Beam [*bzzzzzt bounces around until it shines upon the sky  **    ]
15. Quiet the Flame [* extinguish heat or fire **slow down some instance of Psychic Flame]
16. Whippering Rein [*   **    ]
17. Pocketsfull of Candies! [*    **   ]
18. Dance Out of Chaos [*   **    ]

 

 

Everyone is a Human!

Choose what type of "human" some more! 

Knight Errant
-Questing! Oaths! Longsword! Maybe something to ride?! (preferably a horse; snails are too slow) Jousts and duels! Getting hauled off to hermitages to heal! Sweet, sweet escutcheons!

Hunter
-6 Things You Might Have
1. bag of rocks and a pair of shears
2. long match fired musket
3. either a peregrine, a kestrel, or a merlin
4. a singing axe
5. soft striding boots and a feathered thinking cap
6. The Snare (a dragon's jaw and a rope of the hair of a princess)

-Whatcha hunt?
1. Dragon
2. Razerí
3. fine fowl
4. hoofed beast
5. ghosts
6. outlaws

-Whereya from?
1.trackless wastes
2.endless svannah
3.mighty forest
4.The Library
5.The Garden
6.The City

Thistle Child
-You are a princess 1)enchanted 2) frozen 3)bramble locked 4)incorporealized in a mirror or a lake or something. You're an old man who rested in a ring of mushrooms. You are a head-in-the-clouds type of sensitive artistic bent. You are actually a youth who was grown in a 1) thistle bush 2) rose bloom 3) cabbage patch 4)peach tree and came into the Crooked Lands fully formed, with a vague memory of (dreams) another life. You might be able to hold your breath to fly a bit, you probably speak truth of the future (a bit, and no one but your friends believes you if so), you can talk to wee creatures perhaps, or walk into trees and out another (as long as it isn't currently occupied). Good natured. Probably looking for a way home.

 

{{More incomplete and incoherent ramblings! About a game? A place? Who knows?!}}}

The Crooked Lands I: WIP Brainstorm

 

Vitality fuels everything

Start with 5 HD to mark your vitality, gain one every level 

There are lots of ways to gain XPs:
Finding a new Floor in a Horrible Maze
Stepping foot in a Named Place
Defeating something Terrible and Potent
Feasting with a Lord or Lady in a Greate Hall, or a Horror in a Dream Hall
{a bunch more!}

 How much to leeeevel up? Who tf knows yet! [Probably a few points per level with things like the list conferring 1 or 2 depending]

Stats:

Roll 1d6, arrange to taste to Brutal, Subtle, and Arcane

 1-3  1, 1, 0
 4-5  2, 0, 0
 6     3, 0,- 1

Brutal +1/level towards damage when hits armor [and splash to vitality]
| Battering ram  |
| Hauling            |   +hitting
| Scavenging      |

Subtle +1/level taken to hit vitality over armor threshold
|Parkour             |
|Tinkering          |     +dodging
|Skulking           |

Arcane +1/level to technical effect [targets, damage, duration]
|Magic               |
|Technology       |   +skills
|Languages        |

 

We're just going to be using a d20 and a couple d6s!

Hit Thresholds:
5+ Melee
10+ Missile
15+ Armor

Armor has 6, 4, 2 hits for Plate harness, maille, gambeson
Shields soak 1 or 2 hits but break if damage rolled = soak

 

Difficulties (probably 2d6 + mods):
medium 7
hard 9
exceptional 11
legendary 13
otherworldy 15

 

Everyone is a Human! 
Choose which kind of "human" :

Hobp
-can squeeze under doors, between rocks, finger into locks, eye into peepholes. With enough time can squeeze through the smallest crack. Soft edges, and a hearty jiggling healthiness. Quite friendly, very sociable, and like to cuddle.

Auf
-Graceful and angular externally, inside made of a spidery, multijointed leg for each decade alive. Props up ethereal alien beauty that is really just 999 insects that may [butterfly: fog cloud, spider: web, flies: {buzzing-silence?}]

Ďral
-born from the mixture of skeleton and sinews. Hungry until eats enough meats for muscles, itching (or laughing ticklish) until taking enough skin or furs to contain its meats. May trade up eyes, tongue, even brain. Usually carries a beautifully woven sack. Really, really hard to kill

 

 

{{{Just needing to clear the palate from thinking constantly about Zero Coherence, my "it's quite serious and will 100% work" game that is endlessly in construction, so a breezy braindump about some silly rpg. And I wanted to say: Hi everyone!! <3}}}

The Bright Spans Pt 5: Monks, Princesses, and Assassins

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

 

The effect of the elven slow-time regions, and spaces locked in sleep or thorns or ice, would prove to have multiple consequences.

For some, the experience within one of these regions would lead to a connection to the underlying precepts of the Saints. These 12 venerated figures are said to exist perfectly in one moment in the Universe, therefore may choose their moment of departure, or see the flow of everything around them, perfectly. So, Sageism, both meaningful and practical, has taken hold of the major portion of the spirituality in the Spans. The Saints are worshiped in a group as well as individually. Sageist monks help the populace within a number of distinct spheres, often working useful trades for communities, such as St. Ydes monks making ferments and elixirs, or those who spread the word of St. Barra making paper. 

Many of these monasteries have become renowned for the wisdom of their Priors and Prioresses, the quality of their goods, or the skills of their warriors. The largest, most ancient edifice to the Saints is known as Sternhome Abbey. Set just north of the mountains of Lys Yraht within Azageer, Sternhome became the central gathering for many of the Orders of Knights, and Siblings-in-Arms, and is a voice of reason, if not powerful soldiery, to reasonably quell some of the ambitions of the Imperator. There are permanent representatives from the Holy College of Menders in Splinterlight, the Drakeswells Assembly, and Order of Penitents of the Sickle Moon, as well as one or two Knights of the Glassflame Ordinances, strange eldritch Mok-elves from Balefire.

The highest ranking among the monks and clerics of the Saints are said to have wondrous powers, and many are reported to have incredible life-spans, known to have been practicing their mantras and meditations for many ages. Also, Sageist monks are able to exist in the Iridescian Wakes, a dream-blasted land, that makes the human mind into something different existing in multiple states of reality. The elfs who do not dream as men do walk there, but they are known to slip between the Dreamlands where the Elf King rules and the real world where the Wizards do, as easily as one might be swept up by a riptide and cast far out in the ocean. So, some of the greatest shrines are kept in the Wakes by ancient monks who simply wait for the one who will come to them and ask politely to combat in words or skill, winning knowledge, glory, or the chance to be the one who then sits in meditation. 

Through the elf-magic that enchanted them, many of the Princesses (most actual princesses, though any who was temporally and physically displaced by the machinations of the elfs) found themselves in the Dreamlands. The Dreamlands are sometimes also called the Elflands, or Islands Upon the Astral Sea, or by scholars and those in the know, Confluence. They are a land of conflict and war between the Elfking and the Trollking, with human forces having recently gained footholds and settlements there. Great edifices dot the main island, arches and standing circles which hold the key to limitless travel. 

Upon these islands drifting through a strange space, and especially the main site called Confluence, the enchanted "sleepers" find themselves awake and aware. Sometimes in great danger, with luck and perseverance, a Princess could amass great experience. Time moves differently in the Elflands and for some, a lifetime (or a few) might pass before being awakened in the Spans. Of the few who have been rescued and returned, or awakened through whatever means, one gave up her claim upon the region of Edelsen north of Erseta, and defeated, so becoming, a Ceramic Knight herself: Ser Samarges the Charger.

However, the most well known Princess, and the first to awaken just after the ice pushed back to the mountains of Lys Yraht east of Burnside, was Rosamonde of Tenrow. The Rose was awoken when three Knights-Errant, wounded already, sought shelter in an ancient ruin covered in thorns. They were pursued by a member of that most despised of Orders, a bewicked Candle Knight. Though no one but the four knights and the princess really know what happened, Rose dispatched the implacable, flame-licked Lord Bazmagorth. 

In Tenrow, the region of the Valelands east of Mirador Forest, the first awakened princess established Rosewood Estate, and declared it a sanctuary for any who entered. With the skills and power she picked up from her time in the Dreamlands, and a fair bit of  political effort, The Rose was able to enforce her decree: any who came to the Estate, and did not violate the policies, would be safe from harm. Even the Wizards of the towers would be hesitant to defy this autonomy within the Spans now. And when the need for warring factions to meet in talks or diplomacy, all the way to country or Imperial-level needs, Rosewood Estate is often the site for these conferences. 

Additionally, the three largest Guilds that oversee commerce and trade not officially sanctioned by governments nor mercantile agreements in the Spans operate out of the Rosewood Estate. Clarity Wainwright, having traveled through the wastes established the Far Lykinia Trading Co. Vindri Alair became First Sword of the Golden Wheel, a title originally bestowed upon the treasurer of a mercenary company, and soon expanded to oversee the final disposition of goods found in various military campaigns. And finally, Manfred Jerome of the Billingsclyde family, known as Luxurious Sneed owns Billingsclyde Mercantile, the ultimate repository for many fine goods. None have left the Estate in many years now, and are most often found arguing with one another over politics, or wines, or investments between their extensive business meetings. 

Of course, not all noble houses lost heirs. Some gained great renown and power as a few of their members, through martial prowess, surviving adventuring, arcane studies, or sheer good fortune, thrived in the interim between the Great Rectification and the dawning of the Bright Spans. One family, the Crestfalls, originally from the Valelands near Tenrow (and, in fact, distant relatives to Rosamonde) gained something of a reputation as deadly fighters and skilled enchanters. Equally comfortable dueling as well as striking from subterfuge for diplomatic purposes, they were eventually kindly asked to reduce their exploits by the Kings-in-Waiting, the council of rulers who oversee the Vale. However, these same nobles saw the need for a means of balancing power with the many powerful individuals walking the land, so filled the Crestfall coffers to renovate their vacation properties at the eastern borders of Zelemja. 

The great sprawling mansion, simply itself called Crestfall, overlooks the cliffs that make up what is considered the far end of the Bright Spans. The family itself has grown dramatically, with many people of unknown origin claiming the badge of the gauntleted hand holding an apple with a dagger through it, or the rampant wyvern with a crown around it's neck, both considered symbols of the House. 

When someone needs to be found, and brought to justice (one way or another), and is beyond normal means, the Crestfalls are contacted, and for a fee, the threat is removed. This is primarily the case with rogue wizards who become book-mad, or spell hungry, and begin preying on magic-users of lower skills, killing them for their Tower's unique grimoires. It is "lawful", and in fact considered part of the learning process, for apprentice magic-users all the way to established thaumaturges to duel for the knowledge the other possesses. However, the agreement among the wizards who have these fighting students, is the contests should be fair, and agreed upon, by those of similar power. If an upcoming mage is coerced into a foolish duel, or blithely killed, their fellows are bound to demand justice. But open retribution might be seen as the start of open hostilities, and (almost) none of the wizards who hold Towers, much less the ruling Archmages wish to see outright war. So, often it is agreed upon that a Crestfall specialist team will take care of the problem. 

Although each country or region within the Spans has their own laws, independent magic and martial specialists are often seen plying their skills as bounty hunters to find those wanted. There are a good many guilds at various locations, with more or less power, but the only individual with a similar reputation to the Noble Assassins resides in Vynika. The Bandit Kingdom, really a messy city made of detritus washed to the northern shore of the Salt Sea, makes the greatest wine in the Spans, distrusts rulers and mages (except their own), and houses Stodderbonge, The Beggar King. If those who make deals of illicit nature are being double-crossed, or contracts are being broken, the Beggar King's assassins and mountebanks, found throughout the land, may be activated to take care of the more shadowy business. 

[It should be noted that these various guilds are known among the Tower Mages across the land. Not only to keep the peace within the culture of spell-duels, but also since it's considered perfectly reasonable that thieves will attempt to steal or otherwise make away with treasure, information, and rare items that wizards hoard. This is a large part of the reason for insane dungeons, trap-filled wizard towers, and fortified enchanted mansions among the magic-using types. They build these edifices with interlopers in mind, both as a challenge and a means of great entertainment, and as a way to tell the world that they have the means to hold those powerful artifacts and books and creatures. Gentlemen and women thieves are well regarded, swashbuckling into these deadly edifices, risking it all for their reputation, or as a clash of wits with some architect of the unknown. 

And the "Mercantile Guilds" reap the profits, disseminate the items back into the world for adventurers and princesses to acquire. Or to trade back to the wizards who so covet wizardy things thought lost.]

 

Aethir

 These are currently 8 known divisions:

• Terrexine, the Great Wyrm behind the Gate of the North Wind, whose trophy is the Voidstone
  
• Regencia, the Great Wyrm behind the Gate of the West Wind, whose weapon is the Myrthslaite Claíomh
  
• Vizerium, the Great Wyrm behind the Gate of the South Wind, whose relic is the Mirrorfont Cauldron
  
• Potentuum, the Great Wyrm behind the Gate of the East Wind, whose device is the Gnarled Branch of the Equilibrius Tree
  
• ShKTmTh, the celestial dragon called the Crane-Who-Walks-the-River-of-the-Sky, or the Galaxy Spider, rolls the Moon to the Throne of Heaven each night
  
• The Baleful Gods, forces of Radiance who sit behind the Throne of Heaven, each a season unto themselves
  
• Ti-amtum, called Abyss, who would swallow the Moon and pour through the Throne, tide maker, the First Serpent, beloved of the Universe
  
• Astar/taea, come from the same Elsewhere as the Baleful Gods, but changed upon crashing to the World, now always unfolding a breath into the future, the twilight glow upon the Horizon

 

Terrexen Aethir (sometimes Interrexen) , informally North-borne. The metal named after the Wyrm of the North, terrexine is a featureless super-black, and may be used to power sorceries and technologies dealing with manipulating delimitations in time and space. It is unknown where terrexine originates from, as samples are only found in caches of perfectly geometrically shaped units. Dating gives impossible values, usually from a time in the future far beyond most theoretical transition points.

North-borne aethir tend to wear black, though a some, especially Wizard-Lancers, wear all white. The Plain Guard wear grey the false color seen when one's eyes are closed. They tend to have swept back hair of black, as well as elongated, narrow eyes of dark blue. Their faces look drawn, pulled back from a narrow nose, a sardonic lilt to their wide mouths. Terrexen are usually average height, just under 7 ft, built a bit wider than most Aethir across the shoulders, and tend toward a bit more muscle. They tend to be the least interested in understanding what others want, and will bear down whatever power, concentration, or force they can to solve an issue an issue through sheer force, or sheer endurance. 

 

Regencine Aethir, informally West-borne. The metal named after the Wyrm of the West, regencia is a range of platinums that have a shine or a glow that can be brought to emanate from within. It is used best in the crafting of weapons of extraordinary potency, as well as objects of incredible resiliency and artistic significance. Stones fallen from the sky, having been bathed in the light of a daytime moon are the commonest source of regencia, though other repositories have been found, mostly within the interior of isolated volcanic islands.

West-borne aethir prefer rose metallics, as well as flat silver, with reds from blood red to blush tending to be paired with indigo or grey. Brown streaked golden or auburn hair, wavy and wildly mussed, or long and flowing. Eyes wide under full brows, hazel, with the outer border a glimmery silver, or the iris an odd dull slate. Slender and tall, tending over 7 ft, graceful in an anticipatory vein. Considered the most easily agreeable division, Regencine find opportunities to share a drink or a duel or diplomatic words whenever possible.

Vizerian Aerthir, informally South-borne. The metal named after the Wyrm of the South, vizerium is gold in color, often with sparkling flakes seen in scratches or burnishing on the surface. The metal is often integrated into constructs, architecture, and airships because of it's propensity toward assisting with flight, manipulating mass, and changing the effects of gravity. It is only found within mountain peaks of exceptional elevation, so is difficult to extract without previous means of reaching those heights.

South-borne aethir will always be found in rainments mainly of gold, but will choose accents of any color, an off-white and a deep green being significant because of the two largest family groupings' preferences. Upturned eyes ranging from a nearly solid light brown to gold, sharp, high cheekbones, dark brown hair shining with metallic highlights, full lips and long ears, they tend to have an intense look. Whether in anger, or concentrating deeply, or creating with some craft, they always seem vital and full of energy.

Potentuan Aethir, informally East-borne. The metal named after the Wyrm of the East, potentuum is most likened to chrome blue. It is prized by sorcerers because of its flexibility and potency; arcano-technically processed correctly it can be used in place of any of the other aetherian metals, as well as the more well known control crystals of the Graeshen. Deposits of potentuum may be found anywhere, though the combinations of weather events and natural and unnatural materials to produce it is very rare.

East-borne aethir will wear deeper shades of blue, and will pair it with brown, earth tones found especially in any gear or additional accoutrements. In study and repose, they seem to enjoy purples, especially when paired with details of silver, such as stars and crescents. They often have long noses, eyes of incredible bright, clear solid colors, though nearly obscured with a half-lidded, tired or seemingly distracted look. Thin lips and pointed chins, they are most likely to have silver or white hair in older years, though younger East-borne may have any range of recognizable colors. Tallest of the aethir, some will walk hunched or oddly loose-limbed and bent over with mechanical and arcane staves. Invariably, these Potentuans can easily stand to their full height in moments of greatest dramatic effect, or upon necessity of physical presence.

Lunar Aethir, informally "of the Crane Spider". Lunar stone comes directly from the great sphere of the moon that ShKTmTh pushes across the sky to nightly close the Throne of Heaven. Sometimes called God-shell, it is highly valued for its uses in a multitude of alchemical and technological arts. Additionally, moon-silver has been mined directly from the surface at some point, and is known to be contained in the largest stones that fall from the glowing orb. Moon-silver coins are among the most valuable monetary units within the Aetherian Empire, with their inner glow reflecting that of the current phase of the Sun when the ore broke away.

Aethir of the Crane Spider typically wear loose fitting clothes, often gathered by strips wrapped around arms, legs, or waist, in tones of off-white, sometimes beige, but most often a light grey. Their large eyes often are hued a bright green, though silver and very pale brown have been seen within some of their members. Fairly small mouths on angular faces, paired with their large eyes, give many an intense, focused look in concentration, and satisfied humor in relaxation. They are not predisposed toward any particular shade of hair, but tend to wear their fine, straight hair very long, perhaps in response to their slightly below average height. Often found in advisory positions, sometimes with greater power than the public figure they advise.

Radiant Aethir, informally called by family groupings based on the standard spectral colors. The light from the sun, known to be the alien intelligences called the Baleful Gods, shifts depending on which god sits in the Throne of Heaven. Those who are especially adept at formulae and wards, often couched in terms of technomystical schematics, are able to bind a bit of the radiation to themselves, and so draw upon a type of primordial magic. They bring into their own heads a bit of the gods themselves: Angel-, Demon-, or Djinn-fire. These teachings have spread into the human lands, and so-called clerics have proliferated, practicing Aetherian sorcery, particularly in the southern desert expanse.

The various Radiant aethir, of course, tend toward dress in the color of their spectral family groupings, but will add the colors of families with which they have alliances with, or are favorably disposed toward. Some of their most powerful Channelers will mantle themselves with the colors that only exist in the dreams of the Baleful Gods, such as a humming, chemical tasting pink-like color, or the anti-color of Empty. Since their long rule of the Aetherian Empire from Mokbalatar, the Radiant aethir have made a tradition of wearing masks primarily of rare metals, and many types of designs. Their hair and eyes tend toward light on one end of the spectrum, going toward dark at the middle, then bearing a mix of either for the families that fall on the end toward the Indigo and Violet family groupings. They are the most muscular of the Aethir, and otherwise structurally resemble the Terrexine, though of more angular features, slight haughty snarls, and angry visage about the eyes and long brows.

Tidal Aethir, informally Serpental, rarely Abyssal. Among the first of the Ancient Beasts, created by the Primordial Titan who created the Universe, Ti-amtum is the driver of the tides, and often of the earth itself as she follows the paths of the Moon through the sky. The Serpent Kings of the Tidal aethir ruled for a very long time in the past, creating edifices and labyrinths of unknown import throughout prehistory. Their tombs are sometimes discovered with artifacts and machines buried within of unusual properties that are not now replicable. This prehistoric Aetherian Empire benefited from mighty compacts and ancient agreements made with elemental beings, ancient forces of nature, and even some Infernals. A few among them learned many of the properties of Graeshen world-shifting, though the control-gems for such endeavors are rare in Filios or the Spans. 

Tidal aethir enjoy close fitting garments with many gradations of blue or green and metallics. Often particular members will contrast the oceanic or reptile-based tones with that of deep red, white or grey, or a rough-woven brown. They have the longest life span of the aethir, and the oldest noticeably appear in purples so dark as to look black under normal circumstances, set off with bright red accents. Their bodies are long and thin, some to the point of emaciation, their high cheek-bones setting off large unblinking eyes in a variety of solid colors. Most have very pale skin, flat noses, wide mouths, as well as hair in normal dark colors, but many with hair shaded green or blue. Their tendency toward long plans, and a mental endurance that will see them pursue a goal through incredible difficulties, make them incredibly steadfast allies and implacable foes.

 

Horizon Aethir, informally Dusk or Dawn depending on esoteric groupings. Astar/taea is the name that the aethir use when referring to Taf-Seth-Ra who crashed to the World from the Radiant elsewhere, and was nursed to health by the primordial goddess Miara. In doing so, his nature was changed, inner flame harnessed by his own temperance now. He showed the ways to fight against the Titan called Void, not only by strength of arms and will, but by flowing energy into renewal and adaptation, and by looking to the future to always be ready. Astar/taea, the rising sun and setting sun, is the patron of visionaries, dreamers, questing knights, and those embracing change. Unlike the godfire to be swallowed up, or ancient summonings with terrible prices, the aethir have shown that various martial and mental arts can allow the practitioner to accomplish incredible feats of skill and knowledge. 

Dawn aethir often wear loose robes of yellow over light blue or pale purple clothes, while Dusk aethir tend to wear red or magenta robes over orange, pink, or further reds. Sometimes the robes are replaced with long cloaks in the same color scheme. Horizon aethir don't tend toward any specific hair and eye coloration, though their skin tones are often a bit deeper than other aethir, or contain a warm reddish flush. They tend to sleep very little, or all of the time, and their demeanor is rarely frenetic. Almost invariably, members of this division seem to be distracted with thoughts or perceiving things just out of normal range, and their gaze often falls far off to the distance. They are great wanderers, lovers of new things, and seers. Many members of the Glassflare Ordinances, the Aetherian Empire's great martial order, come from the Horizon aethir.