---------------
Desert
---------------
Most of the land on this world is encompassed in an enormous continent. The land is almost uniformly a hot, flat, barren wasteland, not unlike a dry lakebed. Plant life is scarce, and the few animals are pretty large and vicious. However there are a few pockets of human settlements.


+ Plateaus: A flat surface is sheer cliff-faces. Incredibly difficult, but technically possible to climb. People here survive by the condensed dew from the nearby clouds.

+ Pits: A deep hole with sheer sides that make it difficult to climb. Water seeps in from the deep aquifers, and allows for farming.

+ Fog: Communities encircled by a thick mist. The fog provides enough moister for farming and daily life. The fog can potentially feature monsters, cause insanity, or just be disorienting.

+ Beasts: Communities that have been established on the back of the inconceivably large creatures that roam the desert. Humans are roughly equivalent to fleas or other pests to these animals. These people dig holes into the animal's flesh, feeding on blood, and using the creature's hairs for clothing and items.

+ Oasis: Places with just enough sustained rain to support plant and animal life, without being too much to flood the area.

---------------
Ocean
---------------
About half of the world is water. Unlike our oceans, these contain fresh, drinkable water,


+ Islands: Self-explanatory. Usually less than a few miles large.

+ Floating Islands: Unlike their counterparts which are the peaks of underwater mountain ranges, these islands are not

tethered to anything. They are composed of spongy pumice-like rock that floats with the currents.

+ Raft Towns: Composed of various materials to create a large, self-sufficient raft capable of oceanic travel between islands.

+ Coral Islands: A structure that is literally composed of living rock (similar to coral). These colorful things have a shape similar to a mushroom, with people living on the top. These organisms require consistent rain to form, so although the communities are high up off the water, they still have a constant supply of water. The people herd and eat the many crustaceans that live on the rock.

---------------
Domains
---------------
There are a precious few humans who were born with immense powers that elevate them to what we might consider a deity. They look like normal humans, but they stop aging once they reach sexual maturity. These people have many powers which vary from person to person, but all have powerful telekinetic and remote-viewing abilities. Having someone like this in any community can improve life considerably, but the chances of having someone be born with these powers are about one in ten million.

However, as time passes, these people tend to lose touch with other humans and become increasingly bored. When this happens, some of these people become wanderers, discovering new lands. Some of these people use their significant powers to construct "domains," communities that they have total control over, and observe for entertainment.

+ Tower: Some domains are enormous towers with no exits. Each level has various raw materials and water sources. The people inside live their lives, constantly having to deal with the bizarre, and sometimes dangerous interventions from the person controlling them.

+ Walled Community - The people here are more or less slaves, serving every whim of their master, who makes sure he or she is worshiped like a god.

---------------
Air
---------------
Above the clouds is a dark expanse of air with huge bioluminescent creatures that use huge gas bladders to float about. They tend to resemble deep-sea jellyfish and cephalopods, although they range in size from a few inches to several meters.

+ Flying Towns: These use tethered the native animals to stay afloat in the air. They hunt and breed the huge creatures for food and raw materials.

+ Plateaus: Some plateaus extend above the cloud cover. These are virtually identical to their desert counterparts, except that they must use caged creatures as a light source.

---------------
Mountains
---------------
The coast of this continent is surrounded by steep mountains. They receive more rain than the desert, but are a treacherous place to live for other reasons.

+ Valleys: Communities fully surrounded by the mountains. They get plenty of runoff from the nearby mountains, and are reasonably lush.

+ Mountaintop: Communities situated in areas that are reasonably flat. The rocky area cannot support farming, so people either herd or hunt animals.

Very interesting setting, what can we add to it to make it more interesting? What stuff needs more fleshing out?

PROCEED

continue?
y/y

>>9639291
>>9639339
Eh... that's actually it so far. Hehe...

>>9639255
Well, the idea is that each community has severe limitations put on it by whatever natural resources it has. It's the simple things that shape society. For example:

On the coral islands, there will be no cloth, no wood, no metal, etc. What will buildings and clothing be made from? Chitin from giant crabs?

So what I need is... sort of how society would evolve in each locations. And, of course, any other ideas for communities you can think of.

Wouldn't the floating islands go down the drain?

The Society in the coral could exist with advancments similar to the Star Wars dudes.

What were they called?
They had the whole crab armor and thud bugs n stuff.

Desert makes me think. Mongolians?

Domains is easy enough. Just have 3 diffrent styles.
Style 1: Evil. Easy enough
Style 2: Indiffrent. Takes little action in the day to day lives of his subjects.
Style 3: Good. Active sanctuary.

Mountains: Barbarian tribes

Air: Some people have adapted to their lifestyle, and it is now uncommon for a family to have 2 pure human children. 1 child whom has wings is often born, and the other is almost always human.

Merfolk for water.

In addition to the mountains: I built a race for D&D which would work for that. They are an extremely xenophobic, technologically superior, race of magically imbibed ants.

I am posting the stats for such races in the next couple posts.

Race: Khalterian

Physical Appearance: All Khalterians are roughly humanoid, covered in thick black fur. The fur bleaches white at the tops of their heads and ankles and becomes red at the wrists. Khalterians possess four arms, the lower pair springing from the armpits of the upper pair. At the tips of the lower hands they have humanoid hands, but their upper hands have four claws 6 or so inches long. Khalterians have average human IQ. All of them are exceedingly fast, but females more so.
Male Khalterians stand some 7 feet tall on average, weigh 650 pounds, and are stronger and more muscular than mountain gorillas. Their claws are somewhat blunt and very jagged. Males can run up to 30 miles per hour.
Female Khalterians are about 6' 6", weigh 250 pounds, and are lithe and quick. Their claws are thin but razor-sharp. Females can run up to 45 miles per hour.

Life Span: Females are pregnant for roughly 7.5 months before they give birth to young, usually 2 at a time although 1 or 3 is not uncommon. Both sexes live some 70 years, hit puberty at age 18 (this is the time when their fur changes colors [it is solid black until then] and their claws grow), reach their prime at 22, and begin to lose muscle tone and mental faculties at 60.

Personality: Khalterian society is rigid and militarized. Men and women are equal socially, although the differences in physique means that some accommodations must be made, meaning that they are often somewhat separated. Individuality and invention is strongly encouraged, making the Khalterians a curious and exploring race.

Structure: Khalterian society is organized and elitist. There are two royal families, one of which has the duty to produce a male ruler (Shan'tor) and one to produce a female ruler (Kli'on). The Shan'tor and Kli'on become mates and have a single birth together. Their children together (Trianas) will not become rulers unless there is no other heir when the rulers die, but often they will become military leaders. The successors to the twin thrones are instead the rulers children by other non-royal parents; if the Shan'tor has two sons or the Kli'on two daughters, they will fight to the death at age 20 to determine who succeeds the throne.
Men and women alike are required to serve in the military for 2 years, from the ages of 21 to 23.

Race: Ailorans

Physical Appearance: Ailorans are amphibious humanoid reptiles. They are the same height as humans and roughly the same strength, perhaps a little stronger, but are covered in blue-green scales. For natural camouflage when in the water, the scales are darker on their back than their stomachs. These scales shed twice a year, are harder than steel, and protect Ailorans from any changes in temperature, though not to a ridiculous degree. When superheated in a forge, shed scales fuse together and can be hammered into weapons and tools. They have, instead of arms, fin-like appendages that end in hands. Ailorans also posses a shark-like tail which they flap vertically. Their mouths are lipless and have needle-like back teeth, but normal looking front teeth. Their noses are just slits in their face and their lidless eyes bulge out of their heads. There is little difference between males and females at first glance but a few facial scales on men are black, and women are often slimmer.

Life Span: Every 4 months Ailoran females lay eggs whether fertilized or not, up to 40 at a time. Ailorans can Psionically detect which eggs have children in them and which are vestigial decoys for predators. These "false eggs" contain all of the nutrients required for an embryo but lack the embryo itself and so form a nutritious core for the Ailoran diet. They mature at age 8 and live for some 120 years, becoming elderly at roughly 105.

Personality: Ailorans are tinkering, intelligent, and value discovery. They are not exactly curious; it is more of a cold analytical desire to know more about the world that drives their science. The pursuit of knowledge does not detract from culture, however, and the Ailorans have a rich culture characterized by their tribal ceremonies.

Structure: Ailoran society is matriarchal; each individual can mentally trace his or her familial line back to one of the first 100 Ailoran women. There is no centralized government. Rather, disputes between members of different families are resolved through conference between the older family members. If the oldest surviving members of the lineages can't agree, the ones involved in the dispute will undergo a ritual in which the ones involved in the dispute will allow their bodies to be possessed by the next higher generation and so forth until an agreement is made.

Attributes:
Basic Ailoran stats:
Con: 12
Dex: 10
Wis: 16
Cha: 10
Str: 14
Int: 20

Abilities:
- Ancestral memory. Ailorans can remember every facet of the lives of their ancestors, reaching back to the first generation. This pool of knowledge is accessed only at will by a mental search system that subconsciously picks out the ancestor that would best help on whatever dilemma the Ailoran may have. It is theorized that these safeguards are in place because any Ailoran who plunges headfirst into the ancestral pool will go insane or die from overwhelming mental stimulation. All Ailorans can access these memories, although females are considerably better at it.
- Limited Telepathy. Ailorans can send emotional signs and mental pictures between each others' minds, but it is not sophisticated enough a system to replace verbal conversations. When used on an animal, it allows the creature to be easily calmed, which is equally useful when hunting buffalo or taming Hippocampi. The power can also be used with sentient creatures to place exceedingly subtle suggestions.
- Telekinesis. With their minds, Ailorans can move up to twice own body weight. This requires no movement on their part, only that they be conscious and free of any mind-depressing chemicals such as alcohol or other drugs, which severely limit the ability. It's power is even greater underwater, where they can easily move 4 times their body weight. Males are considerably more apt with this ability than females.

Race 1: (overpowered ants)
Physical Appearance:
These creatures are black or red and black, and may have yellow or orange legs, antennae and mandibles. All ants in this hive have wings, with queens who tend to be larger than twice the size of the largest males. Weigh 20-30 lbs. Insectoid shaped, with a height of about 1 foot, and length of about 3 foot. The forelegs of most of the species are 4 fingered, one of which is an opposable thumb.

Life Span: Queen's live approximately 900 years(shortest recorded lifespan) , and soldiers living about 90 years(shortest recorded lifespan).

Personality: The race is filled with proud, brave people. Each curious, but still tied in with what is best for the race as a whole. Soldiers are strictly structured, and content with their roles. Ambitious soldier ants can aspire to higher positions with relative ease. Queens are manipulative, but unpolitical. The Queens are content with their roles in the hive, except at the times where they might ascend to a higher rank.

Structure: Structured in a hive format. Soldiers are the Jack's of all trades within 5 separate caste's. The first caste is the water caste. They are comprised of only soldiers, and they have great power over water. They are able to bend and manipulate it, and naturally take to the sea. The second is the earth caste. These too are comprised of soldiers. they have great power over he earth. They can shift earth and rock with ease, burrowing through solid stone in a matter of seconds. The third caste is the fire caste. A group of ants with a red tinted carapace, able to manipulate and create fire. They can often be found working the forges of the hive. The fourth caste is the air caste. They are mainly scouts for the hive, as they have great sway over the air itself. They manipulate the air in such a fashion as to allow permanent flight, or to transport large amounts of ants wherever they want in a speedy fashion. The fifth caste is made of the queens. The queens run the hives, and command the armies of the hive through a mental link which is ever-present throughout the entire hive. The 4 castes of the soldiers are not split by social rank, merely by ability.

Attributes: Extremely quick and agile, with a shell that could take a hammer blow without cracking. The Ants have a enhanced strength, but a weakness to low pressure atmosphere's. Too low of a pressure and the ant explodes. All non-queen ants have some kind of bending ability, which allows them to manipulate one of the four base elements.

Basic soldier ant stats:
Con: 10
Dex:12
Wis: 8
Cha: 8
Str: 16
Int: 14

Abilities: Segmented hive-mind, Parallel linking telepathy. Any ant may link with any other ant at any point in time, and are never disconnected unless privacy by the ants is wished. (scouts will never sever the link, and it only grows more powerful in time's of stress) The queens have an extremely fast reproductive rate. All ants have a low-light vision of 4x, with dark vision to 30ft. The queens may lay one egg every 10 minutes when necessary, but average speed of egg laying is about 1 every hour, per queen. All ants are winged, and may fly with a weight equal to their own times two without exerting themselves. The wings are a translucent shimmering plastic film, and they are extremely resistant to bludgeoning damage, yet slashing and piercing weapons do normal damage. The wings are inches thin, and are able to be cut and/or pierced without inhibiting flight capabilities. It must be severely damaged before it inhibits flight. All soldiers are capable of bending one of the four elements.

facepalm.jpg

>>9639544
Eh..... well technically I... suppose. Although this is a huge place (hundreds of times the surface area of earth). And perhaps the people o this island have big sails and rudders to allow them to steer the island like a ship.

>>9639546
Well, I imagine the desert as having very sparse vegetation and big, deadly creatures, making it not very conducive to societies. But there needs to be some trade between places (if only to allow reasons for stories and games). So I like the idea of horseback cavalry type messengers and traders, riding on huge domesticated beasts.

Hmm, interesting. How about each society has slightly evolved to their location: mountain folks are big, slow, and sturdy, to prevent them from falling to their death, etc. But instead of purely merfolk, what about sort of like darfellen from D&D. People with webbed appendages, who are still able to walk about on land.

The fourth race is far too complex for me to be able to post here.

Ill just post the link to it instead.
http://sofurry.com/page/144043#msg771924350

That is all I have right now.

>>9639798
That you for your contributions mister! To be fair, I haven't read them all, but I like the basic ideas of people adapted to their environment and such.

In actuality, the mountain folk of a people are more often swift, dexterous, and able to move quickly.

This is due in part to the semi-dangerous terrain that could kill a person who isn't quick on their toes.

The plains-folk would be more likely to be the buff, strong stable types.

To be fair, I wish that the game Lords of Creation had you in it as well.

That was where all those races were built, for use in D&D games at a later date.

And you're welcome. I am off to homework now so... blegh.

>>9639798
>sofurry.com

>>9639770
What do these huge creatures eat, if the deserts are so barren?

Also, how does magic work?

Are there countries, or only city-states?

History?

What happens besides subsistence living?

Sorry for only having questions.

>>9639872
You are on 4chan.
You're argument is thus invalidated.

>>9639798
SON, I AM DISSAPOINT

>>9639798
They are fucking giant ants, what is so complex about that? God you furries are suck retards.

>>9639870
Okay! Have fun! Or... well, try to!


Right, so the parasitic humans pose a problem for me. I've established that they are like fleas to these enormous creatures whose backs they live on. But I've also established that the cloud cover is pretty low (since some of the plateaus pop up over the top). So... what kinds of measurements are we looking at here?

>>9639975
>>9639924

Read through them.

They are casters, and the fluff behind them puts their tech level at modern levels.

And their god is active in their day to day affairs.
Here is the link:
http://www.erfworld.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=1091

The only reason they were posted to sofurry was due to the lack of room on 4chan's posting method.

>>9639894
Great question. They eat... how about dirt? The dirt here is absolutely packed with bacteria.

Hah! Magic... as though that's necessary for a fantasy setting, amirite? Okay, okay, if I need magic, I'd go with something more similar to superpowers. In other words, some people are innately born with one specific power, which they can become more powerful at with practice.

City-states is a good way of saying it.

History, eh... well, there's not much. Each society is functionally at the stone age, or possibly up through the iron-age, depending on their location. They might all have their own history, but I can't imagine there being enough interaction between them to warrant a sort of world-wide history.

Now, if you're talking about how the world was formed, the implication I'm sort of going for is that it was created much like the "domains" were, with some other being designing this world merely for his or her own amusement.

Besides sustenance living? Well, I'm sure they have games, stories, possibly even written language. And of course, trade. Trade routes are treacherous, but mind-blowingly lucrative.

And don't worry! Questions are great!

ask ten people to sit down and build races, then guides them as their deities.
History, interactions between them, in your world, everything.

Then you just build your campaign in the newly created world (setting which is yours right now), except you have 10 playable races, or 9 playable, and 1 person who makes monsters and other stuff.

>>9640215
Ooh, campaign... well, see, the thing is that I've never actually played a tabletop RPG, I just like designing fantasy settings. I wanna play a game sometime, but I've never had the opportunity... =(


Another problem: Right, so we've established some ideas for these fantasy races, but what are some other ones? Should there be one for each setting? Should there be any at all? How humans should they be?

Very interesting idea, though im curious about the metaplan aspects of it, like where the waterfall comes from, what happens if you try to go through it outwards, where the sinkhole drain in the middle goes, etc

anywhere where it rains all the time will be stripped down to the bedrock by runoff. just miles and miles of wet stone.

>>9640127
Maybe there are large oases separated by huge distances throughout the desert. There are giant herbivores which migrate from oasis to oasis gorging themselves on all the plant life and water at an oasis in order to store up for their trip to the next one. Once you have large herbivores you can justify large predators.

>>9640404
unless it's very heavily forested.

>>9640444
Or the large beings are actually plant-based and evolved to be able to grow and move.

Then have them so that wherever they go, they stick a root in the ground with each foot to draw water from the ground. Leaves a small water hole in their wake.

>>9639647
>>9639546

>ants
>covered in fur

>>9640336
Run it as a mega-huge-epic quest here with us? Sounds interesting.

>>9640658
That is a gorrila based creature.

The ants are:
>>9639712
>>9639723
>>9639731
>>9639798

>>9640688
My mistake. Carry on, respectable furry.

>>9640700
Zug-zug

>>9640367
All good questions. The implication is that its sort of a continuous loop, with the sinkhole refilling the waterfalls, etc. After all, this universe/world was likely designed by some "diety" to be self-sufficient.

>>9640404
Hmm... even if it's just the mildest of drizzles? I'm not picturing real rain. Or the whole thing could just be rock. Dry lake bed is functionally the same to me as rock.

>>9640440
Hmm... interesting. After all, the oases (oasises?) were always the least interesting of the locations. The communities that do exist on some of these might need to construct huge defenses, or be nomadic. I like that idea, actually...

>>9640444
Hmm... there should be at least some trees somewhere. Maybe the areas it rains on will be rainforesty.

>>9640563
Oh ho ho! Someone's put on their thinking cap. I like that idea.

>>9640668
I would LOVE that! I've never played a game before! =3

>>9640756
you should run a quest here.

Even if it was just to try and do a RP.

Or do one in a forum.

Either works. Either one I would participate in.

>>9640836
>>9640756
Just give it a go. Maybe a smaller, personal-scale quest to get the feel for it.
If you get a forum, I'm in. I like designing stuff, too.

http://flood.simplygaming.org/forum.htm

forum built already.

Ill start modifying it for this campaign.

Lets do this shit.

>>9640836
Oh joy! =D

>>9641022
Wah! I'm... I'm overwhelmed! I dunno what I'm supposed to do next...

countermand that.

Build one that you admin, as I cant log in anymore...

>>9641116
You are the DM. You build a world. we create characters. You create a plot. We de-rail the plot. We all end up having fun anyways.

>>9641162
O... o... okays... um... I'll go, um... make a thread then. Um... one secs...

well... im off for the night.

Send me a link when you do build the forum.

erfworld.com

my username is daemonwelsh.

also, that site is going to start a rp (or at least some of the people) and you are welcome to join in.

Later peeps.
or just send it to me @ bingobobmod@yahoo.com

>>9641661
Yessir!


I, um... I have everything set up, but I don't know what to say in the thread...

>>9641778
i like the bucket world idea, but im also going to bed right now, so i'll check back with you all tomorrow and see what if any game we've got going.

Right! Come on in!

http://flood.simplygaming.org/lords-of-creation-f1/bucket-world-t17.htm

http://flood.simplygaming.org/lords-of-creation-f1/bucket-world-t17.htm

http://flood.simplygaming.org/lords-of-creation-f1/bucket-world-t17.htm