Doggie_arf Posted July 31, 2023 Clone Share Posted July 31, 2023 Ashel Crane Young Scavenger of the Lower Decks "I refuse to be chained by the past. Progress is the future." Pitch: For many displaced by the War of the Raptors, The Last Hope Bazaar was the final stop for them to live out their lives in misery. However, Ashel Crane was not willing to share that fate. The child of a Corvinian deserter, Ashel inherited her late father's tools and the knowledge of how to use them. Since then, her Ambition has been simple - to use her talent in magitech to seek fame and fortune. Of course, no one's going to take an orphan from the Lower Decks seriously - even the vaunted academies of the Aetherium would require patronage and funding. Which is why Ashel needs to scrounge together as much money and reputation as she can in order to make it big. And for someone with her drive, the bigger, the better. Stats Stats (Average): DEX d8; INS d10; MIG d6; WIL d8 Identity: Young Scavenger of the Lower Decks Theme: Ambition Origin: The Last Hope Bazaar HP: 35 (Crisis: 17) [5 (Level) + 5 * 6 (MIG)] MP: 45 [5 (Level) + 5 * 8 (WLP)] IP: 12 [6 (Base) + 2 (Tinkerer) + 2 (Thief) + 2 (Wayfarer)] Weapon: - Black Ravens Multitool - Customized [CBR-MT-001-Custom] (refluffed Steel Dagger) (150 z) [DEX + INS + 1 vs Def; HR + 4] Armor: - Overalls (refluffed Combat Tunic) (150 z) [Def: DEX + 1; M. Def: INS +1; Init +0] - Scrap Plate (refluffed Bronze Shield) (100 z) [Def +2] Initiative: +0 Defense: 11 M. Def: 11 Zenit: 110 z Class: Scavenger Tinkerer 3: - Gadgets III (Magitech: Basic, Advanced, Superior) [INS + WLP vs M. Def; Magispheres - Cleanse, Thunderbolt, Heal] Rogue 1: - Soul Steal I [DEX + WLP + 1 vs M. Def; 1 IP (Soldier) or Soul Treasure (Elite/Champion)] Treasure Hunter (Wayfarer) 1: - Resourceful I [Regain 1 IP per travel day] Questions to be explored Sins of the Past - There's plenty to go around here - the War of the Raptors (and her father's involvement before he deserted), the use of magitech in war, and the stigma of magitech as something that disrupts the natural order. How responsible would Ashel (and young magitechnicians like her) be for these? Ashel would emphatically say "no" to all of the above, but there are plenty of people out there (like the Hand of Ruvam) who'd want to make her change her tune... The Price of Progress - This ties in closely to the above; any and every advancement - magitech or otherwise - has the potential for misuse or catastrophe. To give one example, the development of airship technology was what allowed the War of the Raptors to occur. At what point do the dangers outweigh the benefits of progress? -------- Class Specific Questions: Did you learn your craft from someone? What is your relationship with them? Ashel picked up her craft from her late father, a Corvinian deserter who ended his days in the remnant of one of their conquered nations. Her father did not actively teach her his craft as he (understandably) wished to hide his past, so Ashel is currently limited to what she could decipher from the tools and manuals he left behind. When an item or effect is created through your abilities, what does it look like? Ashel has always had to work with what resources she could scrounge up, and her craft reflects that. A bag of seemingly useless metal and ore fragments can be the catalyst for a healing mist or a devastating burst of energy in her hands. Is your craft something revolutionary, or is it an established field of work? Incomplete and haphazard as it is, Ashel's craft is still recognizable as belonging to the Corvinian "school" of magitech to those in the know. This may have consequences with those affected by the War of the Raptors, on top of the general stigma around magitech itself. What drives you? Is it desire, vengeance, or a burning need for freedom? Ashel desires the freedom to do as she pleases. She doesn't want to be tied down to a short and miserable life of poverty amidst the dregs of the Bazaar, and she sees her craft and her father's tools as the means to escape that fate. Is there a place or a person that feels like "home" to you? The Last Hope Bazaar was where Ashel grew up. While she has no desire to return to the Lower Decks, its tight warrens and cramped holds are familiar to her - in a bad way. Needless to say, she has no loyalty towards the Corvinian Empire - her father ran away from there, and it's hard to feel nostalgia for a land you're too young to remember. Name xDiceName xDiceResult xDiceString xDiceRolls Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doggie_arf Posted July 31, 2023 Author Clone Share Posted July 31, 2023 (edited) Worldbuilding Submission Nation - The Last Hope Bazaar The Last Hope Bazaar is less a nation, and more an...agglomeration of airships permanently anchored to a floating core. Spidery bridges and walkways connect the various decks to the few buildings on the central "island" and each other, forming a haphazard network that confuses everyone but the locals. Part tent city and part airship's graveyard, what the Bazaar lacks in gravitas and national presence it more than makes up in commercial influence - as its name suggests, virtually anything can be found there, if you have the time to source for it and the zenit to spend. On a darker note, the Bazaar is also the last place of refuge for many who have no other place in the world. While the rich merchants and visitors throng the central buildings and Upper decks, the Lower decks are very much the wretched hive of scum and villainy they appear to be, where the dregs of Idaulara eke out the rest of their days in misery. Historical Event - The War of the Raptors The Bazaar was first founded around two decades ago by refugees from Auratum, a mercantile kingdom that was destroyed in the War of the Raptors. The War of the Raptors is notable for being the first conflict in known history where airships were actively used as a tool of war. The Corvinian Empire, greedy for the riches of other nations, sent out their agile Black Raven fleets to capture them for themselves. Their first strikes took the unprepared Aurateans by complete surprise - the royal family of Auratum was lost, and its surviving people scattered to the winds or captured as prison labor to further the Corvinian war engine. Fueled by their successes in Auratum and their neighbors, the Empire was poised to dominate a large swathe of Idaulara in a show of military and technological might. This was (thankfully) averted by the sudden death of Emperor Corvinus I and his top Admiral, which brought the Empire's ambitions and the War of the Raptors to an end. Enigma/Mystery - The Levistones Odd, geode-like structures with crystalline or metallic "veins" that can be found floating throughout Idaulara. The smallest Levistones are around the size of a house, while truly massive ones are large enough to have villages or towns built on (or around them). The Last Hope Bazaar itself has a sizable Levistone as its core, although much of its living space is supplemented by the airships which the Auratean merchants (and subsequent immigrants) first arrived in. Large or small, Levistones are a valuable source of metal or gemstones, including the rare levin ore which keeps the Levistone aloft - a key component of airships and other modern magitech. The ore regenerates if left untouched, albeit slowly - more than one mining settlement has collapsed beneath the clouds after they overmined their Levistone, never to be seen again! Little is known about what Levistones are, or where they come from - new Levistones have been known to appear out of nowhere in the wake of miasma clouds or other phenomena. Some scholars (who call them Levimentals) believe that they are living creatures of some kind - while they do not (obviously) feed or grow, the regenerating ore does lend some credence to that theory. Threat (Nation) - The Corvinian Empire A burgeoning Empire that had annexed or destroyed several of its neighbors in the War of the Raptors two decades ago. Formerly just the kingdom of Corvinus, the Corvinian Empire underwent a magi-technological renaissance during the reign of Corvinus I's father, culminating in the airship designs that would form the core of the infamous Black Raven fleets. When Corvinus I took the throne, he saw opportunity in the defenseless nations around him, declared himself Emperor Corvinus I, and launched the War of the Raptors to claim their riches as his own. The Emperor's death put an abrupt end to his ambitions, halting the Corvinian juggernaut long enough for the surviving nations to improve their armies and force an uneasy peace. Because of this, the nations in that region of Idaulara possess a higher than "normal" amount of magitech, with warships and battle golems being common in their forces. Of course, the Corvinian Empire still possesses the largest fleets, and their industries of war are arguably stronger than before the late Emperor's attempts at hegemony. And with his son Corvinus II having reached his majority in the capital of Strixheim, there might well be a second, War of the Raptors if he shares his father's imperial ambitions... Worldbuilding Thought Process Original post is here. Airships and The Last Hope Bazaar I started off with ideas for nations (well, places) that would fit into a world where everything and everyone drifts above the clouds. Airships are pretty much a given for the setting...so why not a settlement formed from an entire fleet of interconnected refugee airships? This was the seed for the Last Hope Bazaar. Think a fantasy version of the Migrant Fleet, except anchored around a central "island". I swear this sounded better in my head than when I typed it out. How the Bazaar came to be Naturally, the next thing to determine was how the Bazaar was formed, and why it was important (despite being, well, a cluster of interconnected airships). One feeds into the other - I figured that the founders of the Bazaar were merchant refugees from a fallen kingdom; they would have escaped with not just their riches/cargo, but also the knowledge that made them wealthy in the first place. Give them a few years after the end of the War, and the Bazaar would become the mercantile hub that it is today. Of course, any city would have its seedy underbelly, and with how haphazardly developed the Bazaar was (especially in its early post-refugee days), its underbelly would be seedier than most. Plenty of room for (War-displaced) people to fall through the cracks there. Airships and the War of the Raptors Which brings me to the topic of the War that caused the founders of the Bazaar to flee. A War that was triggered by a (magi-)technologically advanced kingdom - no, Empire with a desire for conquest. (See how I've already fit in three nations into my submission? ) Keeping with the "airships" theme, I felt that said War should heavily involve them as a tool of war. And the pressures of the War would eventually force the (surviving) nations to adopt said technology just to stave off conquest, increasing the general level of advancement in the region. Necessity is the mother of invention. A Bird-brained Invasion It was around this point that I decided on an avian theme for our aggressor Empire. Their airship fleets are called the Black Ravens, a sinister nod to the Red Wings of Final Fantasy IV. Keeping with the (black)bird theming, I decided to call their nation the Corvinian Empire, (formerly) led by Emperor Corvinus I before his untimely death. Their capital is Strixheim, and their War of conquest would be known as the War of the Raptors, as befits their heavy use of battle airships in combat. Fittingly, the Bazaar's founders came from Auratum, a rich kingdom with a strong mercantile tradition before its fall. Blackbirds love shinies. Levistones - the Golden Goose of Idaulara It took me a bit longer to think of a good mystery for the setting, before I hit on the idea of the Levistones. Land would be at a premium in a world like Idaulara - there'd probably be a limit to the number of cloud-piercing mountains and floating continents (and how those work would be another can of worms). Enter the Levistones. Keeping with the "crystals are magic" theme, these are essentially gigantic, mineral-studded geodes that float in the air. Where they come from and what they are meant to be is a mystery for the ages. What is known is how useful they are. The largest Levistones can be foundations for entire settlements - the Last Hope Bazaar is just one such. Even small Levistones are useful as outposts or beacons. And then there is the other use of Levistones - as a source of levin ore which airships and other magitech need to function. With the spread of airships, nations everywhere would start mining their Levistones for the precious, precious resource. Mine too fast, however, and you'd end up "killing" your Levistone...which is probably fatal if you were also living on it. So there you have it - a mysterious and extremely useful "natural" resource that no one knows the origin or true purpose of. Surely nothing can go wrong here. Right? Will the Corvinian Empire go to war again? Going back to the Corvinian Empire, they would definitely want to raid their neighbors for their Levistones to support their massive Black Raven fleets - this would only be heightened as their fleets (and their Emperor's ambitions) grew. And while the Emperor's ambitions are terminated, his Empire still remains the strongest in military might - they still have the resources (and Levistones!) of the nations they've annexed/destroyed to draw upon. And as his son Corvinus II takes on the full mantle of leadership, the rest of the nations look on with trepidation. Will he, too, be a conqueror like his late father before him? Only time will tell... Edited August 5, 2023 by Doggie_arf (see edit history) Name xDiceName xDiceResult xDiceString xDiceRolls Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doggie_arf Posted July 31, 2023 Author Clone Share Posted July 31, 2023 (edited) Ashel Crane Scavenger 5 *Tinkerer 3, Rogue 1, Wayfarer 1 Young Scavenger of the Lower Decks; Ambition; Bazaarite Status: Normal Attributes: DEX d8 INS d10 MIG d6 WIL d8 HP: 35/35 (17) MP: 45/45 IP: 12/12 FP: 2 Init: +0 Def: 11 MDef: 11 "Speech is like this." Thoughts are like this. Edited July 31, 2023 by Doggie_arf (see edit history) Name xDiceName xDiceResult xDiceString xDiceRolls Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doggie_arf Posted July 31, 2023 Author Clone Share Posted July 31, 2023 (edited) Change Log 31st July 2023: Ported to Baldr. Original change log can be found here. Edited August 5, 2023 by Doggie_arf (see edit history) Name xDiceName xDiceResult xDiceString xDiceRolls Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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