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Welcome to my world. A world of wonder, and danger. A world at the brink of peace, yet undecided who'se it is. A world split in two by faith and logic. A world not unlike a spinning coin, anxious to see what face comes up. Welcome to Eurasia.
The world is not unlike presentday Eurasia (Europe and Asia combined), only without the modern technology of course, and of the same size. Actually, it's exactly the same. Maybe it was real once, but now Amur is long forgotten, and only remnaints are found in various dig sites in the world. The time is long before the dawn of man, or even ape for that matter. History tells us that a meteor killed off almost all life on earth. Maybe it did. Maybe this time never happened. Or maybe, just maybe, it's not coincidence that the names of all the places in the present are chosen for a reason. And that religion and old myth were made that way. Ah, who knows what history is true and what not. It's a damn interesting read nonetheless.
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The world has a long history, though not all is known to everybody. All races have always had little borderline disputes, and even worked them out over time to form some sort of peaceful co-existance. When the need was high, the dwarves, elves, gnomes, and other races turned to their shamans, druids and clerics for guidance. They themselves turned to their gods to seek what road to take in any conflict. The gods were there for many many generations now, guiding their followers along. Zeus and the rest of mount Olympus came here after some unexplained exodus from their world. The races never questioned as they saw the power of the gods, and the good they brought.
Then came the humans. From where? Nobody knew. But the moment they came, the Gods stopped helping. The humans wielded this strange power torn from the strands of reality itself, called Arcana. It was nothing the combined races of Amur had ever seen. Sure, some of them had special traits that seemed comparable, but not in this multitude and power that the humans brought forth. And bring forth they did. Within a 5 year span, they gulfed across the continent, making war everywhere to gain supremacy. Some of the races might have stood a chance, but the inner turmoil was too great. One accused the other, and anyone with magical ability was suspect. Unity was gone, and the end was near.
The turnaround came when a group of elves, dwarves and halflings found a way to get to mount Olympus through the lines of humans and their wizards. This plan only worked because the noble goblin and hobgoblin people made a diversion, that cost them dearly, by attacking a few human borders. They were almost completely slaughtered. It worked though, the party came through. Rumor has it that some humans, cast away by their race, helped along the way. There they pleaded for the help of the gods, and only by the unconditional sacrifice of the halflings in the party, did the Gods sway and came back.
Then on the plains of Merribak did the humans get turned. The gods themselves used the party that made them come back as avatars, and the halflings used their power to bring forth the Great Human Council, and in one horrible day long fight did they slay the entire council. This shattered the human's arrogance, and made them flee back to their corner of the world. They were defeated, but not lost. So after a few happy yet struggling years, an equilibrium was created. A delicate border between the humans and their Arcana, and the rest of the races and their Gods. Three wars followed, two started by humans, one by the Free Combined Races. Both didn't change a thing, and the Border is still the same.
The last war was now over 32 years ago, and only old people remember the last one. Humans and FRC's have been heard to live together, but that is still nothing more than rumor. Each side still carefully keeps to their own, and the magics are still divided. Somehow, the Gods won't move any further to eradicate the humans even though they easily could, saying the balance must not be broken.
And somewhere, in a place where Man nor Elf nor Dwarf nor anyone else has yet been, a shrill laugh can be heard as a fanged claw sets the pieces of a game of chess in their starting positions. A low snort indicates someone else's presence.
"Your turn, Belrahad."
"Why, always the gentleman, Miramax."
The first pawn is moved. The game is on.
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PC details:
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- You start at lvl 1.
- Only 4 applicants (maybe 5).
- Any Official ECL of up to +2 is allowed. No templates, nor undead. (you will be levelling to 3 during preludes.)
- Statpointbuy of 35. (8-14:1 point, 15-16:2 points, 17-18:3 points. All stats start at 8.)
- Only humans can be wizards, but any race can be sorcerers. Be wary of distrust and discrimination though bythe FCR. Humans even more so.
- The gods are of the Greek pantheon. Just read up on myths and that's what they do in this world.
- You start out with standard eq. and only 50 GP each. (just make alist of what you think is normal for a PC to take to army training.)
- You're all considered to be army personnel. You'll be a squad together. One of you must be squad captain, though that position can be shifted.
- I try to write up a good readable and interesting story, and expect the same from my players. (comparable to Fallen Empires or WftS.)
- Please think up Char concept and mail them to me, along with a short backstory of how your youth looked like, and why you joined the army's academy. When I have the 4 I want, I'll use preludes like Ythill did, to go through your academy years.
- Be able to post once on a weekday, the weekends are "free".
- The following books are allowed: PHB, DMG, MM1, MM2. All splatbooks only with case by case admission.
- No psionics.
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World Advise
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It's a gritty versatile world. Humans are spurned by the FCR's and seen as the Great Enemy. And the FCR's treat each other normally. This means that hobgoblins drink with dwarves, and goblins could tutor orc and elven fighters. If you want to play a monstrous race, ask first, so I can see if it fits in. Goblins are very proud off their race, as they see the the great sacrifice as the sole reason that the humans were brought down. Halflings are very friendly pacifistic people, who can be deemed as naieve. Dwarves are the clerical race. Obstinate, yet responsible, they bear their burden of followers of the gods with a slight theatrical air. Elves are rowdy. There nothing like the slender peaceful figures of legend, no they like to rumble just like like the next brawler. This in contrast to their slighter build. Yet somehow they do it well, depending more on their agility than on brute strength.
Magic items are present in the world, as the produce of a handfull of wars. They are actually quite prized status items, as they represent a show of rebelling against their former human owners. Almost like "Look, what I'm wearing. I'm not afraid of it." Trade in it is sparce but possible.
Clerics have a relatively big RP advantage, as well as one special power attached to theirt god of choice. Yet their dogma's are more strict. Paladin's are present too, and are actually looser in restrictions than a cleric. They are chosen themselves by the gods as having a "potential".
There are no alignment restrictions in my world, though I strongly discourage playing evil. Levelling reguires training. Some temples are shared by faiths, others are solely kept for a part of one god's ethics.
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Ok, that's what i came up with so far. If you have any questions, then don't hesitate to ask. You all have a month, starting now to enlist. If I'm complete sooner, I'll start sooner.
Well, now there's only the hope left that people will join.
"Our spokesman is Thally and our leader" - SamuelBellamber -
"Thally is a big fat doodiehead." - Sephiroth Yagu -
Oh yeah, I'm loved..





