Heroica RPG - Quest Masters' Lounge

[Flipz]

Then perhaps you don't know much about Russian culture. It's a pretty major perversion, I'll admit it, though there are some obvious nods. I can actually totally see Ancient Rome traits too, and absolutely Manifest Destiny, though that one less so. I'd still say that Russia was (my) strongest influence when developing the culture and architecture, though I don't have the most perfect understanding of their culture, and there were two other people who had a major say in it.

More like I haven't been exposed to much of it at all. I don't even have knowledge of the Hollywood rendition mutation--it just hasn't come up for me.

I almost said there was also a little bit of "Star Wars meets Disney's movie of Prince of Persia," but then I realized that was most likely a result of Doc's involvement.

The colonial India influence showed up in the racial tensions--U'stus make me think a lot of Ghandi in certain ways.

[Brickdoctor]

I never really tried to draw from any existing culture nor did Dastan remind me of any of them while I was building for it. I just took what JimB and Zeph did and ran with it, since they're much better at this character development and storyline thing. I've never seen Prince of Persia, so I have no idea how similar it is to that. (Though the first build of a Drakencourt building was I believe the armory that JimB did using mostly PoP set pieces, and since we both had scenes at that location I used that as the base for a lot of the Dastanian architecture in my sets.)

[Zepher]

And I based most of my builds off that too, though in many places I can see how the architecture of Russia and India could be similar. I guess the building style is a little more Indian. I didn't purposely draw from Russia either (at least not at first) but it sort of evolved that way.

[Brickdoctor]

Oh, and even though my emperor has a Star Wars reference for a name, I never tried to draw from SW in building for Dastan -- you would have probably seen a lot more Tatooine domes and exposed piping and the like if that were the case. (Though like anything I build, I don't exclude the possibility that something from Star Wars might have slipped in or was in the back of my mind, just because I've read so much about that universe. )

[Palathadric]

It doesn't seem very kind to simply throw out Quarryman's back story. He's already said that all he people of that land are similar to Nammyra. Saying that Nammyra only looks the way she does because a Wizard Did It doesn't seem particularly fair. Besides, Fenerio was added specifically because Quarryman asked it to be, and made it up.

I'm pretty sure that was a joke.

[Zepher]

He seemed pretty honest about setting the quest there. Just thought I'd tell him that there was already a pretty established story for it.

[Palathadric]

Oh...perhaps I read it wrong.

[Capt.JohnPaul]

Oops, I apologize. I didn't know, or seemed to forget, about Quarryman. I hope I didn't offend or upset Quarryman or anyone.

But that's why we post here right?

[Sandy]

Actually, I never planned it to be anywhere near Charis. The Western land of Fenario sounds very Italian to me. But it is a bit North.

Like others have said, Fenario is the land of Namyrra Uq's people, and Quarryman should have the final say about what's it like and what's it not.

Interesting--I didn't get that vibe at all. To me, I got something of a combination between ancient Rome and "Manifest Destiny"-era Texas, with a side of colonial India thrown in for good measure.

Dastan was actually originally inspired by the Imperial Russia (for example, Glaz is Russian for "eye", so Lake Glaz is actually the "Eye Lake"). Of course, Zepher, JimButcher and Brickdoctor built the empire to their own direction when they took their quests there.

[Capt.JohnPaul]

Like others have said, Fenario is the land of Namyrra Uq's people, and Quarryman should have the final say about what's it like and what's it not.

I agree, I just forgot Quarryman said that. I'll have to revise some setting.

[Brickdoctor]

Dastan was actually originally inspired by the Imperial Russia (for example, Glaz is Russian for "eye", so Lake Glaz is actually the "Eye Lake"). Of course, Zepher, JimButcher and Brickdoctor built the empire to their own direction when they took their quests there.

Oh, so was it intentional that the continent looks like a dragon's head with Lake Glaz as the eye? I noticed that when I was making the map of Dastan.

[Dannylonglegs]

I agree, I just forgot Quarryman said that. I'll have to revise some setting.

You could set this kingdom in the Low-Kingdoms. Sundestia could use a millitant neighbor.

~Insectoid Aristocrat

[Zepher]

It's true. High Kingdoms has gotten a fair amount of visits/love, but low kingdoms have not. I've always viewed the high kingdoms as more classical medieval society structure, clinging on to kingdoms and such, with the low kingdoms being poorer but more contemporary (more fluid social structure, more intricate and fair power balances) and willing to accept change - but there's no reason that has to be the case. I don't know why I always felt that way, actually, there hasn't been indication that that's the case.

[Sandy]

Oh, so was it intentional that the continent looks like a dragon's head with Lake Glaz as the eye? I noticed that when I was making the map of Dastan.

Well, yeah. Not only was there the "Eye Lake", but Fang Coast as the mouth and the island of Pyr as the flame coming out of the dragon's mouth. And on the continent of Mistaria, there's a peninsula called "the Lance" pointing towards the dragon's head. The allusions are quite heavy imo...

And yes, Terra Chima looks like a lion's head on purpose as well.

[Dannylonglegs]

It's true. High Kingdoms has gotten a fair amount of visits/love, but low kingdoms have not. I've always viewed the high kingdoms as more classical medieval society structure, clinging on to kingdoms and such, with the low kingdoms being poorer but more contemporary (more fluid social structure, more intricate and fair power balances) and willing to accept change - but there's no reason that has to be the case. I don't know why I always felt that way, actually, there hasn't been indication that that's the case.

Huh. I based Sundestia's main port city on pre-reformation medieval social structure, with the oppressive corrupt church and distinction between the ubiquitous poor and the very exclussive nobles. That mostly evolves from it being loosely inspired by an Anime that takes place in a semi-fantasy Pre-Reformation Germany. The rest of Sundestia may be a bit different. Brendenton is big enough to be a city-state and holds an inordinate amount of political power, so it could be hopelessly out-dated by Low Kingdom standards for that reason. Also, Sundestia has a female monarch.

~Insectoid Aristocrat

[Sandy]

It's true. High Kingdoms has gotten a fair amount of visits/love, but low kingdoms have not.

Your thinking is close to mine on this. I had the idea that the High Kingdoms were founded on more fertile soil, making them more prosperous by default, whereas the Low Kingdoms are situated in a more harsh terrain with swamps and deep woods, so they wouldn't be as well off.

By the way, the amount of "the kingdoms" is unlimited for now. Some of them can be bigger, whereas others consist of a single city and the surrounding countryside. There can also be small kingdoms and other countries on the other continents, even though they aren't listed on the world map.

Here's my answers to some questions that Flare had about the named countries:

Spesialia - The ancient elven kingdom where Rufus' character Rufindel Galadhras comes from.

Fenario - The underground realm of the Fenarians, coined by Quarryman.

Etheria - An island nation where ether flows freely. That's why most of the population are wizards and mages.

Terra Chima - Continent where werefolk reside. Yes, there are werewolves as well.

Azzurat - The lost desert kingdom where Oracle Semiramis/The Sand Queen hails from. It's now buried under the sand, so nobody lives there anymore.

Njago - An oriental country, very similar to Xu.

Nagashan - The land of the Naga, the serpent people.

Xu - The blue-skinned Aoi are the ruling class here, but they are very few in numbers. Other races make for the majority of the population.

Kalma Marshlands were featured in Quest#14. It's a savage wetland, with the most prominent city being Salmanda on the coast.

Babeleth Darklands is a wasteland where dark magics run at large. There used to be an ancient kingdom of necromancers there, but now there's only some witches and sorcerers left of it.

[The Legonater]

I've always been under the same impression as Zeph and Sandy, and a large part of the Duplovia/Delfrin arc has been based on that.

[Brickdoctor]

Well, yeah. Not only was there the "Eye Lake", but Fang Coast as the mouth and the island of Pyr as the flame coming out of the dragon's mouth. And on the continent of Mistaria, there's a peninsula called "the Lance" pointing towards the dragon's head. The allusions are quite heavy imo...

And yes, Terra Chima looks like a lion's head on purpose as well.

I did notice the Fang Coast. For some reason I never noticed that Pyr was flame coming out of the mouth, though. I assumed it was there because the sea between the Fang Coast and the Abra Desert looks like the Mediterranean, and so Pyr was maybe Crete.

As for Terra Chima and the Lance, I admit that I'd never really paid attention to those areas until you pointed it out.

[Dannylonglegs]

I did notice the Fang Coast. For some reason I never noticed that Pyr was flame coming out of the mouth, though. I assumed it was there because the sea between the Fang Coast and the Abra Desert looks like the Mediterranean, and so Pyr was maybe Crete.

As for Terra Chima and the Lance, I admit that I'd never really paid attention to those areas until you pointed it out.

While I admitedly did not notice the lance, I always knew that Dastan looked like a dragon head. I thought Pyr might have been a reference to Tyre, the Phoenician port-city though.

~Insectoid Aristocrat

[Brickdoctor]

Also: more figbarfing!

I love that S9 Knight head. It's just so perfect for a Brobric Elf. (And that is a new head for Lord Normorn. I have no idea why I originally picked the S2 Pharoah's head for him; it just looks weird. This new head is still fairly close to the old one, and I like that it looks like the expression of a slightly older and stressed out elf.)

[CMP]

I've always the picture of High Kingdoms as, like Sandy said, overall better situated than the low, with castles and walls and such, while the Low Kingdoms were all about smaller towns and villages with maybe a single keep per 'kingdom' with land divided generously between territories rather than huge stone-built cities, with everyone struggling to get more land.

Anyone else notice how all the best mages come from places with giant cities sunken underneath water/sand/black magic...?

[Flipz]

Anyone else notice how all the best mages come from cause places with giant cities sunken underneath water/sand/black magic...?

Fix'd.

Well, except for Etheria--they're probably the closest we'll see in Heroica to a Crystal Spires And Togas society, and even then it's not a perfect match. Perhaps they were able to build their advanced society without destroying themselves because they do their magical experimenting in transdimensional extraspatial loaclities engineered for the subplanar extrapolation of energy to a space proportionally larger than actual spatiotemporal dimensions.

Or, in English, perhaps they all turned their laboratories into TARDISes.

[Capt.JohnPaul]

Brickdoctor, didn't you post a picture or something of your studio/set up for taking pictures? Could you post that again please?

[Zepher]

Anyone else notice how all the best mages come from places with giant cities sunken underneath water/sand/black magic...?

*Quietly chuckles about his vague plans for his finale.*

I also love how LITTLE of the world the heroes have actually gotten to. I think the pace is perfect. We're fully establishing societies before going too much further - not getting in over our heads, as it is.

[Brickdoctor]

Brickdoctor, didn't you post a picture or something of your studio/set up for taking pictures? Could you post that again please?

This one?