Queshire
Istar
'yo, sorry if I step on any toes with this thread, I'm still new, but I figure I'd use this thread as a sounding board as it were for ideas I have for a story I'm writing called Sufficently Advanced Technology (temp title) any questions, comments, suggestions, or ideas of your own would be more then welcome.
One of my goals with this story is to take classic fantasy tropes and expectations, keep them to a point, but twist them until they're somthing new.
So, some ground rules of my setting;
1) There are many worlds, like Avalon, Hades, and so on, our modern day Earth (refered to as Midgard) is just one of them.
2) Magic replaces science in every world EXCEPT Midgard, the most science-y thing in the other worlds are Mad Scientists who still rely heavily on magic.
3) Science is considered warped and unnatural, and estensive use of science warps the natural elemental energies of a location making it practically impossible to use.
4) Our Earth (Midgard) is considered to be a primative, barbaric, yet appealingly exotic. More on this later.
5) The after-effects of the Last Great War are still being felt in the other worlds. More on this later.
6) The Council of Atlantis is the main ruling body of the various worlds, a sort of supernatural UN, they tend to be very conservative and traditional, squashing new ideas and experiments, to the detriment of the worlds some claim. They were almost ripped apart in the Last Great War.
7)There is a shadowy orginzation trying to throw the world into chaos. Called Pandora, they aren't neccesarily evil, but are well intentioned extremists. Among the common man in the other worlds they are considered some of the worst villians in all of history, like the nazis and communists combined. They are blamed for manipulating the Last Great War and the Fall of Old Atlantis.
Races: All the classic fantasy races live in my world, but they're a bit.... different.
Humans: Humans are everywhere. Everywhere life can live, and someplaces it shouldn't be able to live, you'll find humans. In general they don't have much politcal power, they're just extras. Relations with other races vary but they are considered by some to be little more then cockroaches.
Elves:
-The Elven Tribes, once the Elven Empire, were once one of the two great powers along with the Dwarves.
-They were masters of Life Magic, using it to create living tools, genetically engineered servants, and even improve themselves.
-Originally they were divded into various castes, each castes genetically altered to serve a certain purpose.
-Their expertise with life magic lead to the various goblinoid races, (goblins, hobgoblins, and orcs) trolls, half-elves, and numerous monsters originally used as weapons in the Last Great War.
-Near the end of the Last Great War a magical disaster completely destroyed their home world and killed their leadership caste to a man, naturally they blame the dwarves, while the dwarves think their misuse of magic came back to bite them in the butt.
-This lead to the fragmentation of the Elven Empire into the Elven Tribes as each caste naturally felt THEY should be the new leadership caste, or at the very least that they didn't have to listen to any of the other castes.
Dwarves:
-The second of the two previous great powers.
-Masters of enchanting and rune magic (think magic circuitry) originally I had the whole elf vs dwarf dynamic be basically biotech vs cybertech, and it still shows, they created numerous magical devices and were the most futuristic race while still being magic.
-I'm still thinking about how their society turns out, I'm thinking something communist-like.
-They're responsible for the Halflings and Golem races.
-Towards the end of the Last Great War a particularly nasty plague spread among the Dwarves, mutating those it did not out-right kill until their own devices did not recongnize them as dwarves and forcing them to live their entire lives in sepecially enchanted armor that acts like an envromental suit, without it they slowly start to petrify, or if exposed directly to sunlight, quickly petrify.
-I imagine miles and miles of empty high tech (though made with magic instead of science) once home to billions of dwarves but now empty except for the rogue dwarvish constructs, while the few remaining dwarves cluster in small safe zones.
-Inspired by the origin of the Daleks, though, you know, not evil.
Gnomes:
-Half Elf, half Dwarf, nobody really knows where they came from, sure a few might have come about er, naturally, it doesn't explain their current numbers, which, while rare, are still high enough to be counted as their own race, many just blame the general chaos of the Last Great War.
-Originally called Gnomes as an insult after the lowest type of Earth Spirit, essentially being called dirt, they have since made the name their own.
-They are incredibly intelligent, able to grasp the basics of new skills by just watching it being preformed and learning the basics of a new language in a day.
-They are commonly regarded as a bunch of Mad Scientists, really though, only 1 in 4 actually goes mad, and even then they go mad in a variety of fields, nothing is more fearsome then the legendary Gnome Berzerker.
-When they go mad they become even more intelligent, able to make astounding logical leaps... at the expense of going mad.
-In order to contrast their Mad members, Sane gnomes tend to be serious, practical folk.
Orcs:
-A type of Goblinfolk, they naturally get along with the other goblin races, but are important enought to be counted seperate.
-The size of a large man at their smallest, they were originally designed for tasks requiring brute labor, but were reporposed as bulk infantry during the Last Great War.
-Their skin naturally changes color if they stay in one place for a certain amount of time, becoming a form of natural camo.
-Suddenly lacking orders after the Elven Cataclysm, the Orcish Army was forced to fend for itself for years, eventually establishing their own nation, which has since prospered.
-The Orcish Nation is based off a combination of Imperial Rome and Feudal Japan, valuing order and combat ability foremost, but also quite cultured.
-Their philosophy revolves around taming their "spirit of fire," the innate rage their Elvish overlords programmed in, and using it for constructive purposes.
-They DO take slaves, but they refer to it as Drafting them into the army, and after a term of service the slaves become full citizens with all the rights of one, though few live that long.
-Really, I just don't like the whole primative savage thing of Orcs.
Trolls:
-While masters of Life Magic, the Elves did make mistakes at times, the trolls are those mistakes.
-Made up of botched clones, failed experiments, and other such rejects of Elvish society, no two trolls look alike.
-In the chaos of the Last Great War, a group of them managed to escape destruction and establish their own tribe in a far off world.
-Sunlight tends to be bad for them, as their cells are already weak and break down quickly in sunlight.
Half-elves:
-Half-elves aren't really part elf, but humans or other races that had somehow managed to win favour with an Elven Tribe and were altered with Life Magic to more resemble them.
Goblins:
-Created as general purpose servents for the Elves.
-They are surprisingly strong and dexterious for their size, though a bit dim and prone to gossip at times.
-No matter the job they are hard working and dilligent at it, and tend to be welcomed everywhere.
-A large number escaped servitude or were sold their freedom in the chaos after the Last Great War.
Hobgoblins:
-A rare variety of Goblin which often served as butlers to high class Elven Familys.
-They are smarter then normal goblins, as well as possessing four arms and the ability to psychically guide normal goblins.
-Rare to begin with, most of them were futher killed in the cataclysm that destroyed the Elven Homeworld.
-They seem perfectly content with servitude, if only because that is the best location to manipulate the movers and shakers of the worlds.
-Much, much, smarter then most people suspect.
Other Goblinoids:
-Various other goblinoids were created for other purposes.
-Bugbears are giant, powerful, but nearly mindless creatures primarily used as living seige engines or pack animals.
-Gremlins are small and possess the ability to fly, orignally used for repairing delicate equipment, they were modified as saboteours in the Last Great War.
-Brownies are the size of mice, and were originally used to hunt mice and other vermin in Elven homes, they were used as spies during the War.
Halflings:
-Basically Amish Dwarves.
-They eschew the fancier magics of their cousins for simpler techniques and hard work.
-Ironically they are now more Dwarven then Dwarves gentically, making them on of the few creatures able to deactivate the Dwarven Death Traps.
Golems
-Eh, I wanted a robot girl *shrugs*
There's some more, but that's enough for now I think, again, questions, comments, suggestions, or ideas are welcomed!
One of my goals with this story is to take classic fantasy tropes and expectations, keep them to a point, but twist them until they're somthing new.
So, some ground rules of my setting;
1) There are many worlds, like Avalon, Hades, and so on, our modern day Earth (refered to as Midgard) is just one of them.
2) Magic replaces science in every world EXCEPT Midgard, the most science-y thing in the other worlds are Mad Scientists who still rely heavily on magic.
3) Science is considered warped and unnatural, and estensive use of science warps the natural elemental energies of a location making it practically impossible to use.
4) Our Earth (Midgard) is considered to be a primative, barbaric, yet appealingly exotic. More on this later.
5) The after-effects of the Last Great War are still being felt in the other worlds. More on this later.
6) The Council of Atlantis is the main ruling body of the various worlds, a sort of supernatural UN, they tend to be very conservative and traditional, squashing new ideas and experiments, to the detriment of the worlds some claim. They were almost ripped apart in the Last Great War.
7)There is a shadowy orginzation trying to throw the world into chaos. Called Pandora, they aren't neccesarily evil, but are well intentioned extremists. Among the common man in the other worlds they are considered some of the worst villians in all of history, like the nazis and communists combined. They are blamed for manipulating the Last Great War and the Fall of Old Atlantis.
Races: All the classic fantasy races live in my world, but they're a bit.... different.
Humans: Humans are everywhere. Everywhere life can live, and someplaces it shouldn't be able to live, you'll find humans. In general they don't have much politcal power, they're just extras. Relations with other races vary but they are considered by some to be little more then cockroaches.
Elves:
-The Elven Tribes, once the Elven Empire, were once one of the two great powers along with the Dwarves.
-They were masters of Life Magic, using it to create living tools, genetically engineered servants, and even improve themselves.
-Originally they were divded into various castes, each castes genetically altered to serve a certain purpose.
-Their expertise with life magic lead to the various goblinoid races, (goblins, hobgoblins, and orcs) trolls, half-elves, and numerous monsters originally used as weapons in the Last Great War.
-Near the end of the Last Great War a magical disaster completely destroyed their home world and killed their leadership caste to a man, naturally they blame the dwarves, while the dwarves think their misuse of magic came back to bite them in the butt.
-This lead to the fragmentation of the Elven Empire into the Elven Tribes as each caste naturally felt THEY should be the new leadership caste, or at the very least that they didn't have to listen to any of the other castes.
Dwarves:
-The second of the two previous great powers.
-Masters of enchanting and rune magic (think magic circuitry) originally I had the whole elf vs dwarf dynamic be basically biotech vs cybertech, and it still shows, they created numerous magical devices and were the most futuristic race while still being magic.
-I'm still thinking about how their society turns out, I'm thinking something communist-like.
-They're responsible for the Halflings and Golem races.
-Towards the end of the Last Great War a particularly nasty plague spread among the Dwarves, mutating those it did not out-right kill until their own devices did not recongnize them as dwarves and forcing them to live their entire lives in sepecially enchanted armor that acts like an envromental suit, without it they slowly start to petrify, or if exposed directly to sunlight, quickly petrify.
-I imagine miles and miles of empty high tech (though made with magic instead of science) once home to billions of dwarves but now empty except for the rogue dwarvish constructs, while the few remaining dwarves cluster in small safe zones.
-Inspired by the origin of the Daleks, though, you know, not evil.
Gnomes:
-Half Elf, half Dwarf, nobody really knows where they came from, sure a few might have come about er, naturally, it doesn't explain their current numbers, which, while rare, are still high enough to be counted as their own race, many just blame the general chaos of the Last Great War.
-Originally called Gnomes as an insult after the lowest type of Earth Spirit, essentially being called dirt, they have since made the name their own.
-They are incredibly intelligent, able to grasp the basics of new skills by just watching it being preformed and learning the basics of a new language in a day.
-They are commonly regarded as a bunch of Mad Scientists, really though, only 1 in 4 actually goes mad, and even then they go mad in a variety of fields, nothing is more fearsome then the legendary Gnome Berzerker.
-When they go mad they become even more intelligent, able to make astounding logical leaps... at the expense of going mad.
-In order to contrast their Mad members, Sane gnomes tend to be serious, practical folk.
Orcs:
-A type of Goblinfolk, they naturally get along with the other goblin races, but are important enought to be counted seperate.
-The size of a large man at their smallest, they were originally designed for tasks requiring brute labor, but were reporposed as bulk infantry during the Last Great War.
-Their skin naturally changes color if they stay in one place for a certain amount of time, becoming a form of natural camo.
-Suddenly lacking orders after the Elven Cataclysm, the Orcish Army was forced to fend for itself for years, eventually establishing their own nation, which has since prospered.
-The Orcish Nation is based off a combination of Imperial Rome and Feudal Japan, valuing order and combat ability foremost, but also quite cultured.
-Their philosophy revolves around taming their "spirit of fire," the innate rage their Elvish overlords programmed in, and using it for constructive purposes.
-They DO take slaves, but they refer to it as Drafting them into the army, and after a term of service the slaves become full citizens with all the rights of one, though few live that long.
-Really, I just don't like the whole primative savage thing of Orcs.
Trolls:
-While masters of Life Magic, the Elves did make mistakes at times, the trolls are those mistakes.
-Made up of botched clones, failed experiments, and other such rejects of Elvish society, no two trolls look alike.
-In the chaos of the Last Great War, a group of them managed to escape destruction and establish their own tribe in a far off world.
-Sunlight tends to be bad for them, as their cells are already weak and break down quickly in sunlight.
Half-elves:
-Half-elves aren't really part elf, but humans or other races that had somehow managed to win favour with an Elven Tribe and were altered with Life Magic to more resemble them.
Goblins:
-Created as general purpose servents for the Elves.
-They are surprisingly strong and dexterious for their size, though a bit dim and prone to gossip at times.
-No matter the job they are hard working and dilligent at it, and tend to be welcomed everywhere.
-A large number escaped servitude or were sold their freedom in the chaos after the Last Great War.
Hobgoblins:
-A rare variety of Goblin which often served as butlers to high class Elven Familys.
-They are smarter then normal goblins, as well as possessing four arms and the ability to psychically guide normal goblins.
-Rare to begin with, most of them were futher killed in the cataclysm that destroyed the Elven Homeworld.
-They seem perfectly content with servitude, if only because that is the best location to manipulate the movers and shakers of the worlds.
-Much, much, smarter then most people suspect.
Other Goblinoids:
-Various other goblinoids were created for other purposes.
-Bugbears are giant, powerful, but nearly mindless creatures primarily used as living seige engines or pack animals.
-Gremlins are small and possess the ability to fly, orignally used for repairing delicate equipment, they were modified as saboteours in the Last Great War.
-Brownies are the size of mice, and were originally used to hunt mice and other vermin in Elven homes, they were used as spies during the War.
Halflings:
-Basically Amish Dwarves.
-They eschew the fancier magics of their cousins for simpler techniques and hard work.
-Ironically they are now more Dwarven then Dwarves gentically, making them on of the few creatures able to deactivate the Dwarven Death Traps.
Golems
-Eh, I wanted a robot girl *shrugs*
There's some more, but that's enough for now I think, again, questions, comments, suggestions, or ideas are welcomed!
Maester
