Shaun and I were talking about the religion aspect. My original idea was for the general to want both the backing of my characters church, as well as my character. Sholeh made that an interesting problem, but here's what we were thinking:

Sholeh has the backing of the major church in Gradora. They are a new god. Religion in town works in a way that accepts multiple gods, following one does not deny the existence of another. My character belongs to a second, decent sized church of the old gods. Luckily, Sholeh's chosen god has laws about killing the ordained priesthood of other gods. Sholeh, however, wants the backing of both the churches for power's sake, and is trying to persuade the priesthood of my church to accept and support her. Her right hand man, however, has more of an interest in the priestess than the god. The church, following the old god Stomos, disagrees with Sholeh's reign (and if not the church, our merry band of characters). Shaun's idea is to be an opposing soldier who's village lost to Sholeh's armies, and he's looking for revenge. I'm sure with all these meaty bits would could bring everyone together...

I think that the Elves might have previous alliances built with Sholeh from before she was awarded the governorship. They're honorbound to maintain that alliance, but they're very much not happy with the current turn of events.

So were the elves part of the Urdun Empire? Or had they managed to keep themselves seperate?

I think the Elves have enough tricks up their sleeves to retain their sovereignty. In BW, Elves are pretty much better than everybody - I think that it would be far easier to make treaties with them than fight them.

What about the rest of the Dwarves?

But part of their strength is how binding those treaties are. And Sholeh was tricksy, she made her treaty with the elves in her own name as "the Primacy of Law for the city of Gradora", without any specific reference to Urdun. So when the Empire fell, she kept that title, preventing the elves from dissolving the alliance.

Posted By: RandyThe Dwarves sit in the hills of Afghanistan, err...

That was a thing of beauty. Maybe different Dwarven princes are fighting over land promised to their ancestors in days long forgotten. But both factions hate the Dwarves who work for Sholeh because they gave away Dwarven secrets.

Lifted wholesale from Warhammer:

The Greenskin gods are Gork and Mork. Gork is the god of cunning brutality, while Mork is the god of brutal cunning.

Also, please ignore the setting specific phrasing in the following, as I don't really feel like paraphrasing it.

"Greenskin Reproduction

Though they appear universally masculine, Greenkins are genderless creatures. It has never been confirmed by Games Workshop how Greenskins produce, however early in the history of Warhammer, Citadel Miniatures, the modelling arm of Games Workshop, produced a line of female Orcs. This has since been discontinued and Games Workshop have not mentioned the female Orcs since. However in Warhammer's sister (science fiction) universe Warhammer 40,000, the "Orks" (a futuristic version of the Greenskins), reproduce in the following way:

An Ork can multiply one of two ways, the first is by the spores their body produces hitting a critical state which their blood can no longer support any more, a hormonal process then drives him to the nearest wilderness "lookin fer sumthin". There they enter a vegetative state for a few minutes (which they do not remember) and the spores are released. In a few hours the spores grow into a plant-like womb underground that nourishes the bodies of the various Orkish species. This is the entire basis of the Orkish ecosystem producing first Squigz, Snotz, Gretchin and finally the Orks themselves. This means the Orks, wherever they go, will have an abundance of food, slaves and other resources, a moving ecosystem that supports them as they go on their Waaaghs! The second method of reproduction is death, if an Ork dies the spores are released en-mass beginning the life cycle anew, thus for the Ork race to prosper, the Orks must fight, and die. "

I haven't gotten far into the book, are those traits from the book, or are they like aspects from Fate?

Also, regarding the "Are there monsters." from the question list, I like the idea that there are mythical creatures, but not nearly to the extend found in DnD. They should be things spoken of in tones of fear and awe, and when you meet them, it should be fucking scary. Even the "benevolent" ones.

The Wild Men who live in the shadow of Mt Ari-petook are Superstitious, Cannibalistic, and Primitive. The nameless, angry god who lives in the mountain must be appeased.

I need to look at the Magic Burner, but how can we not have DEATH ART? It sounds too awesome.

Art Magic is closer to Mage: The Awakening/Ascention than Shadowrun. Instead of spells, you come up with effects, and base the difficulty. Standard Sorcery is very much like Shadowrun's magic system. Death Art is sort of necromancy, and Blood Magic is basically a way of mitigating Forte Tax (drain) through the use of torture and human sacrifice.

How about Enchanting instead of Blood Magic? That way we have ways of crafting items of power.

Revised map:

Priest of Stomos:

Priest of the Red Book:

I like the thought of it being fairly common place. I mean, magicians aren't dime a dozen, but it's more like meeting a doctor-they're still elite, but not freak occurrences by any means.

Although, like with anything, there are the groups that want to be done with them, magic is a curse of the demons of below. Traj, guardian of the fires below, blesses people with magic "gifts". This group is like the KKK if they were out to lynch wizards.

The common folk can't distinguish magic from faith. But magicians and priests do not like each other. Priests see magicians as trying to control the gods. Magicians see priests as backward and superstitious, unable to really control the world. Followers of the Red Book actively hunt and kill magicians. Hartenblutan Men have a better understanding of the difference between magic and faith, and treat both equally. Eeastan Men generally do not care.

I like the idea of turning the standard cliche around. Make Necromancy the common, accepted form of magic (Proper respect to ones ancestors.) and make The Art the hubris of those who would challenge the gods.

What flavor of Necromancy does BW use? Zombie summoning, or just magic fueled by the dead?

Let me clarify. Does it all involve animating corpses in one way or another, or is there more to it?

So I have an idea for a type of ancestral magic. I'll talk about it when I get there, though, I'm finding it tricky to articulate in text.

How about Resource cycle?

Posted By: ShaunHow about Resource cycle?

Seasonal, I think. The game is set in a tropic region surrounded by desert, so crops would be on a wet season/dry season rotation. Also, metal is a significant theme in the game, and I imagine it would be difficult to mine during the wet season.

Once in the wet, once in the dry.

Agreed on the Wet/Dry resource cycle.

Note: You will be fighting a monster in the first session.

fffffuckitneedstobesundaynow