When I joined this guild, I knew that I'd do something different from the themes I normally do. Not that there's anything wrong with fantasy, but I'm pretty sure that Strider has that base covered for now. This subforum is fantasy themed but also slightly realistic. That means there's no in-your-face-magic or mystical creatures.
This won't be boring, of course, just a slight reprieve from the dragon-fighting most of you normally do.
"The Terra"
The name of this world when translated is, "The Earth". The landscape of this world is largely wasteland with hard, cracked dirt, blue skies, and although the vegetation is not absent, most is tough and hardy to survive the desert-like environment. Think Borderlands, Fallout, Red Dead Redemption, or Trigun terrain, but with a brighter feel to it rather than just dreary desert.
In some places, specifically around a water source, there is livelier vegetation. Rivers and lakes provide enough water for tall grass is common for horses and rabbits, and trees adorn the more fertile landscape here and there for birds. Fruit trees or orchards thrive in those places as well, but one could find a withered tree in the wasteland. Cities are situated near these water sources, so farming and ranching provides food for man and beast. The buildings in most cities are made out of wood, clay, adobe, or built directly into hills like hobbit homes.
Humans that populate the Terra do not exactly thrive, but they survive. Some may seek to separate themselves from their peers by dying their hair or by skin color e.g. tanning in the sun or keeping out of the sun to stay pale.
All in all, The Terra gives off what we know as a Western style world. Cowboys, gunslingers, and bandits.
One last thing to mention before delving into the rest of it all. "The Spring" is a legend that has been passed down from generations of wishers, hopers, and believers. Over the years, it has faded to most and exists only as a reverent promise that ensures a betterment to the dry world. The Spring, whatever it is, has the power to restore the Terra and give it true life. Most of the population on this world doesn't pay attention to that story, but others, such as falconers and their kind, believe, and some are try to find it.
Posted: Sun May 22, 2011 8:13 am
Technology
As said previously, electricity can be found in the largest of cities. This allows for lights, ceiling fans, telephones, more effective iceboxes, and other basic things. No AC or heating here, the world's people tough it out as they can. In smaller settlements, oil lamps are used to light homes and streets at night rather than electricity.
Weapon technology begins at melee and ends at explosives, cannons and Gatling guns. Firearms are the primary way of defending oneself. Scopes on rifles exist and some are able to zoom. Handheld and traditional fallbacks such as swords, daggers, bows and others can be found. However, virtually no one can deflect bullets with their melee weapons. If they're fast enough, they can dodge the incoming missile.
Travel includes walking, running, horseback, wagons, or trains. No further technology exists. In the wasteland, some tribes use a type of glider/kite for long-distance travel. The winds above The Terra are strong and true, providing birds with a fast way of getting around. The best way that I can liken it is to think of the gliders used by the airbenders in Avatar: The Last Airbender. As airbending is not actually a thing in the Terra, the front wing-fins shift up for down to dive or rise and the back fin of the glider is jointed and is able to shift from side to side for changes in direction. It's risky to learn, though. These gliders require the use of a person's arms, hands, legs and feet. The hands and feet are used specifically for rising, falling, and banking left or right respectively. To get the lift you need, one must find a tall structure such as a mesa or plateau and then locate a strong wind or a thermal, which should be easy enough at that height. Then you get a running start and leap off into it, body going horizontal like a bird's and arms outstretched. Falling a tiny bit is normal before the wind catches you. It's faster than a horse and on a really good day, goes the same speed as a train. But as I said, it's rare to come by outside of the wasteland, but it exists. So depend on horses for most of your travel or trains when you have the money.
Communication includes telephones, but more often telegraphs or letters by bird or ground transport. Or go find the person.
People Common people and wastelanders: Humans are the only humanoid creatures on the Terra. They work jobs such as tavern-keepers, transport for people or food, merchants, bounty hunters, bandits, farmers, ranchers, etc... There is a loose government that binds the people together, and it is not as superseding as village laws are due to the world's vastness and the many unpopulated outside of cities or towns. If you can think of a profession that fits the setting, most likely it exists. The most common of the population live in villages, towns, or cities and hold these jobs and are not really seen in the wasteland or elsewhere.
There are those that live exclusively in the wasteland, whether in the plains of the Terra or by lakes or in canyons in caves. Some are nomadic tribes or have established settlements for their tribes, similar to Native American Indians. Others just live secluded away from cities for one reason or another. They trust their own, and most everyone a part of those factions wears= some sort of identification depending. Some tribes may use specific bird feathers for identification, or a village will use a specific rock crystal found in their area. They do talk and trade with those who live in the cities but prefer to be around their own.
For as realistic a world as this is, Spirit Walkers are the oddity. They're a little hard to understand or describe but it has become easier with some deeper thought put into it. Spirit Walkers: There is a rare breed of people that were originally called Spirit Walkers. This trait is largely inherited through blood-ties and families, although there are exceptions. They are born one half of the same whole and are not truly themselves until they bond with their guardian animal.
These types of people are those that others tell stories about and know exist, but don't particularly come into contact with them that often. A village, town, or tribe in the wasteland might have only one but the most ever seen together are three at a time.
In the beginning, Spirit Walkers were far more powerful and could even shapeshift into a form similar to their guardian animal. Now, they only hold a lifelong bond to their partner and take on physical aspects of them. They are scattered about the Terra and convene either to hold a great council or when a Master must teach the newly realized Spirit Walkers.
The bond between the Spirit Walker and their partner ranges from ways of communication to enhanced abilities. They are able to sense each other's presence and thoughts by the way of fragmented images and sentences as mental communication, even over vast distances though the proximity effect is weakened. Physical abilities vary from one SW to another, depending heavily on their animal. Overall, these people have better eyesight, hearing, sense of taste or smell, strength, reflexes, and processing speed than normal humans. Apprenticeship:
When the talent is realized, either by their eye color/pupil shape shifting to their appropriate guardian animal or an experienced Spirit Walker noticing the subtle change, they are taken into apprenticeship and the training and journey to locate and bond with their guardian animal is undertaken.
Apprentices that reach the stage of finding their guardian animal are guided to a location by their Master, who first senses where their destiny must begin. The Master soon leaves them to meditate and search for their other half alone. Guided by their instinct, the apprentice must then provide for themselves and travel until they find the newly birthed partner. This sudden birthing occurs when the apprentice is within a certain proximity to their soulmate and it is uncommon for one to bond with an already living animal. This also ensures and strengthens the bond between the two. Upon finding their partner, they are immediately accepted by it and must care for the animal until they reach maturity. When the guardian animal is as old, comparatively so, as their partner, their lifespans are more or less in tandem by that point. The animal's youth is extended and it lives just as long as their human counterpart provided neither die beforehand.
Types:
Three types of Spirit Walker that I can elaborate more on are falcons (and most birds), serpents (sometimes most reptiles), and canines.
-- Falconers commonly have the fierce golden-brown orbs of their partners when their talent is realized (although their original eye color can make an appearance as flecks of color) and they can have bird-like facial features, particularly the hawk-like or beaky noses people can have. Hair color includes dusty or dark browns and muted blacks. Generations of birds of prey make them swift and sure in battle, the perfect gunslinger. They prefer professions that deal with tracking and hunting things or people, and like to distance themselves from large settlements. They are silent and watchful for the most part and think before acting.
-- Snakecharmers, or those who have an affinity for the serpents or other reptiles, sport the slit-pupil eyes of their patron or guardian animal. The colors go from sandy, to brown, to yellow, to green depending on the exact type of snake they're partnered with. These individuals are able to hide their new eye color and revert to the original color their eyes were before the talent appeared as part of their slick nature. Their jawlines are more or less rounded or solid and some snakecharmers have faintly forked tongues. As reflexes go, snake Spirit Walkers are the fastest and the deadliest. Although they wield firearms often, poisoned blades and a use of snake-style martial arts that consist of mesmerizing arm waving and strikes to pressure points are their strong suit and so they most often try to close the gap on their opponents. Hypnotism with the eyes or with words can provide a combat advantage for them as well. Some snakecharmers take to chewing a viney purple flowering plant called Sivir-scrub, commonly called Snakeweed by locals, and it is fairly lethal when ingested but not when only held in the mouth. A literal bite from one who has chewed it for years can be just as deadly as a snake bite. It is colorless and causes a souring of the breath and the antidote is a secret to few, including the infamous bandit Pit Viper.
-- Canine affinity Spirit Walkers are found less often than Falconers and Snakecharmers but are desirable to most other SW's. Their eye color, hair color, and stature depend on the breed of dog, coyote, dingo, or wolf that their guardian animal is and their eyes in particular can be easily passed off as a normal human's. Their canine teeth are slightly pointed but other than that, they are hard to distinguish from normal people. They are loyal to a fault, quicker to sense other people's emotions and natural disasters, and prefer fierce but quick hand-to-hand or melee combat. They frequent cities and towns far more often than other Spirit Walkers and their good nature can be taken advantage of if their will is weak.
Many other guardian animals exist in the Terra but have not been recognized. Horse runners (or something similar to that) may have luxurious hair, longer legs, and an aptitude to run for long distances. If it works and I give the okay, you're golden, but please keep to some of the guidelines concerning falconers, snakecharmers, and canine affinity Spirit Walkers if you have an interest in them. =D
Death:
A phrase uttered by every single Spirit Walker, more often by the Masters, is 'One betwixt two; Whole within, lost without'. This signifies and emphasizes the importance of the guardian animal. Their lives are quite literally entwined with one another.
When one dies, the other is usually not long after them, but it is not unheard of for a Spirit Walker or guardian animal to survive the struggle afterwards. The length of time can vary depending on how strong the person/animal is and their will. Some die immediately while others can linger on for years, former shells of themselves. It is rare that one will keep the luster of life in their eyes and battle insanity or depression to remain their former selves.
An entire half of them is suddenly torn away and even living becomes a battle. Intense depression and possible insanity become the next stage in the fight. The Spirit Walker is never truly the same afterwards despite any appearances they may put on.
If one Spirit Walker is in another's presence at the time of death, say, a falconer and his falcon are present when a horse affinity SW's guardian animal dies, the emotional trauma affects not only the the horse affinity Spirit Walker but also the falconer and his falcon. It is nowhere near the depth of pain and loss that the afflicted SW is experiencing, but the extent of a shared sorrow affects the falconer and his bird.
Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2011 7:17 am
oh wow ty i love it! One of my characters will so be a bandit. =D
Thanks. =3 Sort of. But not too much, I made up some things to include so it would be more diverse. I've been too lazy to get around to making the RP I talked about for this, but I will eventually.
Reply
