Update! Laws of the Land and House rules.

Laws of the Land: Education, Magic and Rank
House Rules: Pole Weapons
House Rules: Proposals on Spells Changes

Proposal: I more or less wanted this to be a relatively gritty setting. It works by using low level NPCs to populate things, however there are 2 glaring culprits that bother me: Teleport, and Ressurection.

These two things need to come with a real price if they don't turn the world into something akin to Eberron. What I'd like to do is either one of two things:

Assign large material component costs (Like..An innocent soul, or your feet)
OR
Move all effects such as teleport, Greater Teleport, Plane Shift, ressurection, greater ressurection, to 9th level spells only

In exchange I'll remove most of the instant death monsters from the game, because they are obnoxious binary encounters.

Chapter 3: The Brave Companions do Battle against a Traitor

Chapter 3: The Brave Companions do Battle against a Traitor
They were surrounded by shadows and the living dead upon the beach of the Hidden Harbor, but the fight was short lived. The light from the Radiant Favor of the Gods frightened the foul undead creatures, who were destroyed as they fled or were stunned by it's holy light. However, many of the people were killed and pyres were built in sadness for their deaths. Hien had acquired the loyalty of a Nezumi family whose lives she had saved from the shadows. Otylia and Red both tried to return to the plantation, but were stopped by the shadows that took refuge in the depths of the forest. Driven to madness, they returned to the beach where an old Nezumi sage took care of them. Red was bound and gagged as they rode through her madness.
The next day the Sea Cow arrived to pick up the slaves, and there was much rejoicing. After an arduous journey they were glad to return to free civilization, which they had not been to in many years, or their entire lives. The companions decided to spread out and enjoy the offers of the city. Darius and Red wandered about the slums, telling their stories. Quynh ventured to the monastery to relate her tales and pray. Hien terrorized a librarian, entering a private Imperial library to research the Magistrate Antipheros. And Otylia enjoyed the citylife, engaging with the merchants and nobles.

At night, they all rejoined to account their tales of the day. It was learned that the slaves were to become villagers, using the land they had been given by the Emperor to form a hamlet outside of the city. Hien instructed her new servants to care for the land in her stead. Meanwhile, Red arranged a meeting with the Minister of Agriculture and Census, who was interested in the affairs of this new village. Now they will have to face their greatest challenge yet, the gathering of proper manners for meeting a proper Minister of the Bureaucracy.

How the meeting faired will be related to in the next chapter.

Link To Log

Update: Exotic Locations

Detailing the Four Towers and the brave Nezumi clans that occupy them.
Exotic Locations: The Four Towers of the Celestial Empire

Comments!

Enabled comments from people! Probably should have done thate before. Go forth, and commentate!

Update: Laws of the Land

Laws of the Land

Some information on Sharia regarding magic. In a society that uses magic regularly, there should be accompanying laws. Since mages are essentially living siege engines, they are treated as such. They have much respect and responsibility. Additionally, when people have no ideas what spells you are casting, it's impolite to do so in front of them.
Who knows if you're going to conjure up a puppy or a fireball? With metamagic effects, it's possible to conceal charms and compulsions in something as harmless as a loaf of bread. The Laws of Sharia account for thus.

Order of Updates?

Does anyone care how updates are posted in the main section? If I have something new to add, shall I just place it there in haphazard article fashion, or should I edit an appropriate post and append?

The former is probably easier, but uglier. If I get any replies for either side, I'll do it.

House Rules: Mobs and Troop Templates, Exotic Locations: Celestial Empire

Update for House Rules here.

I've always felt that D&D completely underwrites 'the power of the people' as it were. These are official rules of course, but they are new and obscure. Most players are used to smashing groups of low level creatures to pieces, the aforementioned "Field of goblins" as it were.

I think large groups of people and military units should generally trump small groups of adventurers, as it were. These rules allow the effective massing of firepower and demonstrate the effectiveness of a mass that is greater than the sum of it's parts.

Some may argue, that these rules go against D&D's grain of fantasy and the idea of one person trumping others. I think that it enchances the fantasy. The idea of the baker and the blacksmith taking up arms and revolting against the king's troops is as much a fantasy as a flying wizard. Historically, most peasant revolts were brutally crushed by armed fighting men. The truth is those highly trained knights and footmen really were capable of dominating foes that sorely outnumbered them. Today's troops are only trained and in service from their 20's for a few years. Back in medieval times, fighting men were raised from birth and did service until they were died or otherwise rendered unable.

Situations like 'Zulu' arose because British conscripts were fighting against warrior class men who had been hunting and killing for their entire lives.

Exotic Locations
I've added Exotic Locations for the Celestial Empire. Details are on the Well of Souls and the Lizard Folk Tribes.

Chapter One: Freedom Comes to Those In Slavery

Two games have past since this blog was created.

Emperor Yin has made a decree that the Southern frontier is to be populated. He has created an incentative for noble citizens to move South, granting them parcels of land and a potential chance at nobility. Recruiters and shippers have also been encouraged, gaining a bounty for each head delivered to the province of Xian Hoy.

Aboard the Sea Cow, two sisters have embarked on a journey to Xian Hoy. It is revealed that the Captain wishes to head south to liberate a slave plantation, and increase his bounty. The passengers are threatened to rebel, but are mollified after a peaceful settlement involving a poetry contest.

Later, the two sisters and a fellow adventurer land in a hidden cove nearby the plantation. Attacking the guards on the beach, they venture to the plantation with a small crew. The brave adventurer is taken captive by the Neogi, disappearing into the forest.

Meanwhile, a winged enforcer spots their approach in an effort to stop them, she drops a torch to ignite the area on fire. Unfortunately it also ignites the plantation's cornfields, sending the place into chaos.

After a brief skirmish, the enforcer is released from her magical enslavement, and helps the sisters liberate the plantation. She destroys the factory running the plantation, and the sisters free another enslaved enforcer. The Neogi slavers escape, blasting off into the sky in a metal capsule.

Now saddled with a plantation full of slaves, the sisters return to the beach with two new companions, a mage and the winged one. They make arrangements to ship the slaves off to Xian Hoy, but the load is unanticipated. The leave a large group behind, while the captain takes who he can.

There are some grumbles, but the slaves manage to unify themselves. Another joins their party, an exceptionally acrobatic slave by the name of Otylia. They return to the plantation for supplies, and discover a vault full of papers and baubles. Otylia pockets them for safekeeping.

Afterwards, a large underground crawling insect attacks the slaves on the beach. It is quickly dispatched by Hien, and it is revealed that a magical lantern that emits light as bright as day is found within it's gullet. The slaves dance in rejoice of the god's favor.

However, all is not well. A winged shape bothers them throughout the night. The next night, it lands. The wingshaped is a wingtouched man by the name to Judica Antipheros, a former Magistrate from the Empire. He possesses a Neogi on a chain. He demands the lantern, but is refused. Using his Neogi ally, he forces the wingtouched enforcer to turn it off and toss it into the sea, allowing his hidden undead to now approach unmolested.

But Lim Kuei must be with them. The lantern is returned by the ocean ontop the beach nearby, a last hope for the surviving slaves. Will they reach it in time?

Updates page up!

Created a page to track updates to the blog.
Today
-Added in a World Map
-Posted descriptions and statistics for the Cttrach, an insectoid race from the Southern Jungles.
-Added an 'encountered NPCs Post"

The idea around this blog is that each post is similiar to articles on the WOTC website. For entirely new subjects, I will make new posts with seperate headings, such as "Factions" For others, I will simply go back and edit the posts, such as for Encountered NPCs and Locations.

Of course, this is all dependant on Blogger Archiving behavior, which I can't predict right now. It'd be rather irritating for all those posts to be gone within the month!