Worldbuilding General Thread

Bravery, Duty, Honor! edition

On designing cultures:
frathwiki.com/Dr._Zahir's_Ethnographical_Questionnaire

Random name/terrain/stat generators:
donjon.bin.sh/

Mapmaking tutorials:
cartographersguild.com/forumdisplay.php?f=48

Free HTML5-based mapmaking toolset:
www.inkarnate.com

Random Magic Resources/Possible Inspiration:
darkshire.net/jhkim/rpg/magic/antiscience.html
buddhas-online.com/mudras.html
sacred-texts.com/index.htm

Conlanging:
zompist.com/resources/

Random (but useful) Links:
futurewarstories.blogspot.ca/
projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/
military-sf.com/
fantasynamegenerators.com/
donjon.bin.sh/
eyewitnesstohistory.com/index.html
kennethjorgensen.com/worldbuilding/resources

/wbg/ discord: discord.gg/K3EzE

>What have been some "final-stands" in your settings histories?
>What were the odds?
>What was at risk?
>Did they succeed, or did they fail?

Other urls found in this thread:

drive.google.com/open?id=0BwYUexL0zGS_Sk9RdGJPTjFLWGc
drive.google.com/open?id=0BwYUexL0zGS_WUxkYlZVU3o0UVE
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Trench
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hind_bint_Utbah#Conflict_with_Muhammad
twitter.com/NSFWRedditGif

drive.google.com/open?id=0BwYUexL0zGS_Sk9RdGJPTjFLWGc "Arabia and the Arabs from the bronze age to the coming of Islam"

drive.google.com/open?id=0BwYUexL0zGS_WUxkYlZVU3o0UVE
Gurps - Arabian Nights. This does a good job of giving you a take on having an Arabia themed backdrop in an RPG.

I'm too lazy to do a full repeat of it, but you can see a post or two or three where I touch on Arabic conventional warfare at A synopsis for pre-gunpowder times is:

-Spear >= Sword > > Bow > Anything else among the Arabs. Javelins were a distinctly Abyssinian thing that the Yemeni also seem to have been somewhat adept at. I'm sure the Arabs did use some javelins, but not in great numbers.
-From horseback the premiere Arabic weapon was the spear/lance - wielded in a 'fencing' fashion rather than couched or fire and forget. Though during the Crusades there was the recognized maneuver of couching the lance, it clearly never was ubiquitously practiced. Swords obviously would also be used on horseback but the spear was the choice one.
-Swords were not scimitars but rather, at least in the earlier late pre-islamic and early islamic, fairly short gladius like affairs. Maybe not as short as a gladius but in between one and a spatha. It seems that in Roman, Persian and Turkic accounts the Arabs were known for "curiously short swords and curiously long spears". The latter isn't clear what constitutes long.
-Bow was practiced on foot, hadith of Muhammad saying God loves the bowman, Arabs were dogshit of dogshit with the bow on horseback and it's questionable if they ever did it at all.

Rivers are stupid build more lakes

-Camel could/would be used by irregular bedouin in razzia smash and grab raid functions. However there are basically zero references to it being used as a set piece combat mount by the Arabs. In fact the only two reliable references I can name off the top of my head are: a 2nd-3rd century BC Greek account of Magnesia and Arab mercenaries serving the Sillykids (camel mounted fellows with something like 6 cubit long narrow swords) and a undated graffiti of a camelry man fighting a horseman.

Yeah there is stuff like the famous Assyrian relief but that seems to depict Bedouin fleeing their raided camp - which goes back to the use of camels as beasts of burden, for logistics, transportation and allowing a kind of mounted infantry or dragoon quality to the Arabs when they had enough of them. My crass modern metaphor is that the camel was more of a Humvee, a blackhawk helicopter or chinook.

That does not apply to Berbers or Blemmye/Beja who did seem to in some ways use camels as a battle mount.

-al-farr wal karr is the arabic tactical doctrine of a rapid charge/attack and rapid withdrawal repeated as necessary. Done with cavalry.
-The Jund Al-Sham ("Syrian Army") was the ascendant Arab army in prowess and prestige during the Umayyad period. I believe they were drawn, as the name implies, mostly from Arabs who had dwelt in the Syrian region before being brought into the Muslim sphere or who had migrated there after the conquests. There was a kind of rivalry that sometimes became violent with the Mesopotamian based Army. A common tactic the Jund Al-Sham was famous for was their cavalrymen dismounting and kneeling to present a shield wall with spears braced to receive their enemy's attack.

-At first (muhammad's time) cavalry were rare and exceptionally valuable and so prized mainly for that final al-farr wal karr (continued)

Bump

Damn my man this is pretty solid

>Girls not yet of marrying age cut their hair short and grow it out long when they're old enough

Does this sound pedo? I was told it's a tad pedo

I had ancient egypt in mind where boys wore only a sidelock of hair

As more loot, more tribes brought over, more wealth, cavalry grow in importance and volume. At least in Muhammad's time and the Rashidun Caliphs (Abu Bakr to Ali) the army was predominantly infantry and, excluding assymetrical razzias, fought in a much more defensive minded stationary way. Big use of impromptu fieldworks like ditches, trenches ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Trench - I know this references some camel based soldiers. Perhaps I could amend my statement to be as soon as they started fighting Romans and Persians and Turks and others there are no references to fighting from camelback. But even in the stuff I read for the inter-Arab fighting there isn't really much of any camelry charges or melees to speak of), stakes. Large masses of men shoulder to shoulder with champions coming forth and challenging opposing foes to a duel.

Very Homeric and Iliadic. Think Anglo-Saxon fighting with a bit less of a sanctified shield-wall.

-At least among the bedouin Arabs dress was less Lawrence of Arabia Sheikh and more Rastafarian. Pre-Islamic bedouin noted for their long hair, 'turbans' being nothing more than a single cloth wrap worn like a bandana or a thick bandana (Qalansuwa covering the scalp probably existing for the wealthier men). Look at the dress worn on the Hajj today for a sense of how the bedouin and poor might dress. Alternatively, check Palmyra/Hatra/Nabataean reliefs for a sense of how Arabs in the northern parts dressed. Those guys tend to have stuff closer to the idea of flowing robes, but still no turbans - rather long hair.

As for organization/structure of the military, beyond the pre-islamic period and early Muhammad era when it was the usual tribal/irregular society with every man of some wealth being an ad-hoc warrior, nobles and their retinue and all that, you had the Rashidun Caliphs pretty quickly developing a rather well thought out professional corps of soldiers who were salaried with actual money rather than fiefs (the future iqta).

The slave-warrior develops later with the Abbasids, though you did have the odd slave - Wahshy ibn Harb the Abyssinian who killed Muhammad's uncle (and so let Hind bint Utbah eat Muhammad's uncle's liver - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hind_bint_Utbah#Conflict_with_Muhammad ) but it wasn't codified the way it was with the Abbasids. Concurrent with the rise of the Turkic (And in smaller numbers Armenian/Greeks/Slav) slave warrior in the East was the Tulunids starting practice of using large numbers of black slave warrior infantry in Egypt, which was inherited by the Fatimids.

Abbasids begin to increase the trend of relying on non-Arabs, though it's not quite clear if their Khorasanis who brought them to power were true blue Iranian Khorasanis, Arabs who had migrated to Khorasan and Khorasanized, or Arabs who had migrated to Khorasan and remained pure.

Bump

In the West while the Berbers gave the Muslims a good long bit of vietnam quagmires they were the majority of the Arab armies invading Spain and going up to Tours. How they dressed is not quite clear in what I've dug around in. Back in the 3rd century BC with the Romans and Carthaginians Berber dress seems to have been very scanty and light - beltless red tunics sleeveless or short sleeved (Libu), famous for soft goatskin mantles or clothing (Numidians), some descriptions of just loincloths or 'naked'.

At some point that changed and you end up with the proto-burnous or literal burnous (hooded robe) worn circa the 11th century with the Almoravids. My theory is the change probably happened around the 900s or so with increasing Arabization and just one of those mysteries of cultural and fashion transitions.


Check Osprey books, check wargaming books.


Roll for your waifu. 7 gets the little girl or the mother, not both
Dubs and you get a catamite

Rolling.

Also, does anyone have a source for the Osprey books? Ir may get my creative drive kickstarter again, been in quite a slump with work, and hit a bit of a wall in my language building.

Check relevant links therein. And for language when I am done in arma if I am not too sleepy I can try to help. Though I am not going with a brand new language so much as I just pilfered dead languages (or largely dead ones) for the names of my nations, and will in time use it for the names of deities, personal names, ect.

So I can pass over links to some of those language's dictionaries and offer ideas on it.

Enjoy your allemanni loli or mother.

bump

Thanks for the offer, mate. But I'm working a night shift now, then doing a day drinking sesh, so don't worry about it.

I think I'll go for the mother. Probs can cook a mean stew.

>What have been some "final-stands" in your settings histories?
Patro Vitersqed led a small band of loyal soldiers against another small band of soldiers in the Ibisian foothills. The Empire offered free land to whatever group wanted to colonize it. Problem was the groups fought once good land got scarce.

>What were the odds?
Patro had his father, Viter the Bald, along with 400 odd fighting age men to go against Pavul Mikolai's band of fighters. Pavul had 600 fighting men.

>What was at risk?
Everything. Patro's people had nowhere left to return to. Their homeland was overrun by other invaders.

>Did they succeed, or did they fail?
They did. When Patro's men stood up to Pavul's, Pavul gave chase. An evil man, he declared that Patro could have one day's head start. Patro did indeed flee, but he took a gamble. He told the women, children, and elders to keep fleeing into the foothills. Meanwhile, the men gathered into a small indent inside the mountains. They waited. Pavul, being especially treacherous, was already giving chase just a few hours after he let Patro go. Pavul's men passed and totally missed Patro's presence. When they camped, they put heavy guards to the North. To their South however was just two, old drunkards left to watch the path.
Patro's men pressed into the camp and scattered much of Pavul's host. Pavul himself fought against Patro. Patro slew him and rejoined his people the next day. The foothills still belong to his people.

Fire up them maps.

Has anyone tried doing realistic plate tectonics on their world?

Okay, I'm wondering.

On Earth, is there a place where an oak and pine forest meets a desert, and if so, are there pictures of this?

Best I can find is oak and pine trees (artificially planted) in a desert to prevent erosion...

You've got forest>scrub>desert in the Pacific NW USA

So, in a scifi setting im doing, the world is going to shit in the next one hundred years / three generations. Corporations start tossing people out on their ass, robots take over every job, crime wave goes up to an all time high, barely any resources(what remains is hoarded by the wealthy few), and all the while the average joe is censored to hell and back and worked to the bone, growing stupider and more apathetic by the day.

Then, in the 2100s, the War Days begin. for a good couple of decades, WW3, WW4, and WW5 happen. People are conscripted and thrown into slaughter houses so the global elite can fuck each other over and steal other elites' resources. But sometime part way through the war days, the general population of earth revolt. So now you have like five world wars with around a dozen civil wars and rebellions in any given country.

Meanwhile, the few colonies on Mars, after trying to help their respective earth-bound motherlands, decide to say fuck it and close themselves off from earth and the rest of humanity(because trying to kill each other on Mars for no reason is dumb. Because hey, its hard enough to live on that dust ball as is)

So earth is alone. It gets worse and worse until nuclear holocaust happens, killing the majority of the human race. Now, there's only one billion humans(out of the ten or eleven billion there was) left to endure the nuclear winter and fallout and other nasty shit. For the next eighty to one hundred years it's pretty much a snowy, fallout-infested Mad Max/Fallout thing goin on.

Then Mars come down and helps with rebuilding. War ensues because fuck you go back to Mars. Yada yada(i havent thought this far a head yet) history's first true meritocracy is established(inspired by Mars' technocracy), along with a new education and social system.

My question is: any ideas for an education system that focuses on teaching people not how to be a wageslave, but how to be a citizen.

So, in general, an earth-like world would never go from dense forest to desert without transitional terrain, scrubland, and then desert, yes?

So, I'll have to edit that...

If It's based on the meritocracy built by Mars then the educational system needs to be a bundle of a bureaucracy (think early-middle ages China). In addition, because of the limited resources on mars, children were selected early for life long positions. While they are learning their functions they are taught the other benefits of being a citizen of the technocracy.

Plate tetonics escaped me while I designed the setting. If I went back just on that detail alone, I'd lose a lot.

The features make sense on the planet: rivers flow towards the ocean, deserts have arid and scrub borders before meeting with forests or green plains, etc. etc.

Here is a map of Penlac. It's one of larger cities inside the Empire. Thanks to peacefully capitulating during the Empire's rise centuries before, the King of the city was allowed to remain a duke within the realm. The castle received many upgrades on the Empire's account. The castle's original latrine/irrigation system remains though. The natural spring beneath the castle continues to bubble up after centuries of use

>On Earth, is there a place where an oak and pine forest meets a desert, and if so, are there pictures of this?
Pines very specifically can grow in very sandy soil, so the idea of a pine on a verge of a desert is not an impossible image. However, deserts are generally defined by lack of moisture and water, which trees, even relatively resilient ones like Pines, need. Which is why you find them often growing around temperate beaches, sand regions like dried lakes etc, but not on the verges of actual large deserts.

One case I can think off is the rather strange case of Tottori sand dunes biome in Japan, a micro-desert region existing in southern Japan. But again, that is not a real desert, it's just a sand-build-up region that looks like a desertbut really isn't.

Otherwise, you always have some kind of transition: scrubs or grass, or some form of sharp elevation between desert (mountain barrier) and forested areas.

>Does this sound pedo? I was told it's a tad pedo
Dude, fuck that shit. What the fuck is even "pedo" about that? Jesus people need to stop being such delicate pussies. It's frankly disturbing how obsessively afraid of talking about children we have become because "oh my god someone somewhere on the other side of the world might jerk off to it."

As far as I know, this practice has been done among multiple culture. Hair has been consistently one of the main ways that girls communicated their status and marriage availability.
Makes perfect sense that you cut little girl's hair because that shit is going to get messed and dirty as they play around (also - lice), and as they grow up and are becoming expected to act more woman-like, they'd stop cutting it (partially precisely to demonstrate that they are not children that play in the mud anymore) and let it grow (most cultures in the world prefered long hair on women because in general, hair was a very good indicator of health - longer and stronger hair implied healthier and better groomed woman).
The hair reaching certain length would then indicate enough time has passed between the childhood era and now, indicating the girl is of marrying age. Seems like a perfectly sensible arrangement and again, I'm pretty fucking sure that is what a lot of cultures, including Japan, actually did do.

Also, child marriage exists, parents fucked regularly in front of their children, and children nudity is not something to be offended about and I wish we finally fucking stop freaking out about that shit.

What you have said is not alone pedo. I don't think it'd ever be considered pedo, either, so if someone told you it was pedo it was probably for other reasons (IC or IRL context, or they were fucking with you).

This is the board you were told you wanted, live with it.

I honestly don't understand what you are trying to tell me and how it relates to what I posted, or to the post I replied to.

Trying to think of some bizarre practices or cultures that might be associated with a society that has taken to using mechsuits/walking things for the majority of tasks (as in, it is an ingrained aspect to their culture).

I'mt trying to think of practices without it becoming 40k's Mechanicus

Culture of decoration of your hardsuits could be very fun. Tribal paintings and engravings with complex symbolic meanings associated with various social hierarchies, traditions, professions. Crazy expensive, completely impractical suits adorned with gold and precious gems existing for the sheer sake of displaying your wealth among the highest casts.

Contests of skill in their use and "sports" preformed in the suits.

Ceremonial dances and plays preformed in a suit-like costumes.

Wearing masks that bear similar shapes or insignia as your suit in public on certain occasions.

"Crestening" rituals and religious ceremonies accompanying creation of a new one, traditional pilgrimages or ritual tasks preformed in the suit periodically.

You know how after holding a stick for a long time, you feel like your arms are longer than they really are? This feeling of being larger than you actually are would be ingrained to people's culture. EVERYONE would be familiar with it. This could have an effect on anything, really, from metaphors ("he thinks he's wearing an Atlas" = he's overreaching, or going further "he thinks he's wearing the past" = he's acting as if he's still got past glories or similar).

Perhaps every family would have their own, informal "coat of arms" -- just a symbol, or a letter, or just a peculiar stripe of colour. To identify their mech, assuming people will be swapping between them. I mean like -- Jack the farmer's son paints a red worm on his mechs, while Emily's merchant family is in the habit of colouring their mechs gold and purple. Nothing organised, though you could make it organised.

Taking that further, each family could have an heirloom mech. An old, decorated mech they march in for weddings, or town celebrations, and that spends most of its time covered up in the barn or garage. Perhaps buying a brand spanking new mech is seen as a rite of passage for children trying to make it on their own. Perhaps in some places this is formalised, and old merchant houses have their own, beloved heirloom mechs.

>An old, decorated mech they march in for weddings, or town celebrations
The idea that the hard suits are on display during big celebrations, like marriages, makes sense. It makes a lot less sense that the culture would have an old special one just set aside in the barn for that occasions.

That does however gives me a fun idea, and that is the idea that hardsuits may play an essential role in marriage politics and symbolism.

>It makes a lot less sense that the culture would have an old special one just set aside in the barn for that occasions.
Why not?

>Why not?
Because that is like keeping an old fucking tractor in your barn solely for the purpose of pulling it out during weddings. The hard suits are still tools, aren't they? And presumably pretty damn expensive ones. If you want to show yourself off, you are going to do it with the most impressive one, which is probably NOT going to be the one that is generally useless and lies in your barn for hens to shit on. Uselessness and old age are generally speaking not the things we tend to value about our tools.

People associate age with value, especially when tied to their ancestry. Hence the whole idea of heirlooms. People make a big deal out of passed-down watches. They also make a big deal out of going to weddings in old cars.

You're unlikely to go to a wedding in the mech you just used to shovel manure or boxes with. The mech your great-great-great grandfather bought, starting your line, you might use.

For what reasons would a nigh-omnipotent being form a contract offering his assistance, with mortals? Pure amusement?' Boredom? What are some things he could gain out of it besides the old "Sell your soul to the devil" deal?

Could do it out of boredom. That's why so many classic pantheons have their Gods and Goddesses dicking around with mortal affairs.

That fucking depends on what or who that night-omnipotent being is now, doesn't it?
Where did he come from? How does his mind work? What needs or ambitions does he have, and why?
Does he understand compassion? (Why does he understand compassion? Can he feel pain, loneliness, fear if he is near omnipotent? If so, why?) Does he value compassion? Does helping others feel rewarding to him?
Is his knowledge limited? Does he crave more? Is there anything he can and want to learn from mortals?
Is he dependent on something? Does he know and understand the difference between bliss and pain? Are the some forms of resources, sources of power, of joy he might want? Do his powers limit him in gaining them without mortal's cooperation?
Does he understand the notion of boredom, or entertainment? Curiosity? Passion? Hatered? Fear? Loneliness? Creative urges? Ambitions?

Ultimately, your night-omnipotent being has to be a character of some qualities, some personality, even if strange and dramatically different from regular human ones.
Figure that personality out, and you'll get your answer. A creature of unsatiable curiosity (which implies limited knowledge and limited power of experiment) might want to contact mortals to learn from them, to test and experiment on them.
A creature of compassion, or need of acknowledgement might want to feel in company, wish to help, to not have to watch suffering.
A power hungry creature might ask and crave new sources of power which are not accessible to him without mortal's cooperation.
Etc... etc.. etc...

Just figure your god-like first and let the rest logically stem from that. Figure out his history, his purpose, his limitations and restraints, the logic that makes him tick.

I'm stuck with my magic system, help. I don't want it to revolutionize the world too much, just help with QoL stuff and aid combat slightly. Can't think of a general theme for it, nor a method other than writing/speaking. It was created by the God of Language so it has to do something with communication.

Go with runic magic, then. Have there only be, like, 16 runes to prevent magic from being a do-all solution.

While they're immensely powerful, gods and monsters often end up with significant limitations, weaknesses or other embuggerances in old stories. A loyal pawn could help cover for such.

If it is omnipotent, everything it does is effectively for teh lulz. Even if it claims otherwise, omnipotence means it could make things be differently and chooses not to.

Nigh is different problem. Why not make it so it can only infere with mortals acting on mortal's wishes?

>If it is omnipotent, everything it does is effectively for teh lulz.
That is such a fucking stupid idea of omnipotence it's not even funny.
If he is omnipotent, he does what he does because he is the embodiment of the totality of existence: he is being itself, he is the world, just condensed into a symbolic being.

Off the top of my head, the dunes running along the coasts of the Great Lakes in North America are kinda deserty?
Wild cactus grow along the beaches and there are some really dense forests just a few hundred feet away from the sand dunes, themselves just a few hundred feet away from the shoreline of some of the largest freshwater bodies in the world.

Alternatively, remember that arctic deserts are a thing--it wouldn't be a stretch for a pine forest to stretch into a tundra, and arctic Bedouins running polar bear caravans could be a pretty interesting concept.

>Off the top of my head, the dunes running along the coasts of the Great Lakes in North America are kinda deserty?
Aren't those just coastal dunes, though? Like the ones in Tottori?

>Alternatively, remember that arctic deserts are a thing--it wouldn't be a stretch for a pine forest to stretch into a tundra
Actually, it kinda would be. First of all, pine forest would not stretch into the tundra because tundra is defined by permafrost: a layer of permanently frozen ground very near the surface, which prevents rooting of trees because they can't effectively survive with their roots permanently stuck in ice. Tundra is forest-less. Pic related is what tundra looks like.
Second of all, arctic deserts require exactly the same condition as normal deserts: that is lack of precipitation. No water brought in regularly with the wind. Even if you had somehow a forest in the tundra, you'd still have to explain why it somehow breaches the transitional biomes surrounding the extremely dry desert region.

Arctic desert does not really solve any problems that would emerge with regular desert.

Hey, I'm pretty new here, but would this be the right place to ask for advice on worldbuilding? I have an idea but this is my first time DM'ing and I'm really unsure of what would be fun.

I bring you QUESTIONS, QUESTIONS OF LAW. To be exact, I will describe two crimes/criminals, and a bunch of questions relating to how your world/setting/people/city/civilization would deal with them/it. The picture is related in the sense that it is the Code of Hammurabi, one of the older legal texts we still have, dating to about 1750 BC and interesting to skim through by itself

Criminal A is a thief. He entered a house where all the residents were out for the day, took several valuables (the equivalent of about $100-$1000), but was spotted by a neighbor when leaving. He managed to pin the man down, called for help, and eventually handed the man over to the guards/police/tribal elders/whatever. He claims he did it because no work and must make a living somehow.

Criminal B is a murderer. In broad daylight, B stabs a man several times in the middle of the market and even manages to cut out the tongue before he can be apprehended. He later claims he did it because the main kept making lewd comments to him about his wife and daughters, describing the sexual acts he'd like to perform on them.

Before we even get to the criminals though:
>How well-known is the law? (Is there something like Hammurabi's Code or is law a more arcane thing left to those in the profession)
>Are all people equal to the law? (Or are women/men/aristocracy/clergy/other category treated differently)

And then to the criminals
>The criminals are initially apprehended by civilians. What authority are they handed over to?
>How is the trial set about? Who can be a judge? Is there just one?
>Is there a jury?
>Would there be some state/temple appointed defense lawyer or are you on your own as defendant?
>Assuming A and/or B ends up in prison, what is prison like?
>Does the setting have any punishment the "modern justice system" doesn't have? (physical punishment, slavery, amputation etc.)

You raise some fair points, user. It's been a few years since I studied any environmental science, pardon the rust.

What do you have in mind?

Mostly basic stuff like what you guys think of the concept, and if the basic gist of the nations sounds decent. I made a thread for it, but someone mentioned this one-- again, sorry if this isn't the right place.

>It's been a few years since I studied any environmental science, pardon the rust.
The purpose of these threads, (outside of being largely self-indulgent exercise in explaining our own worlds to a bunch of people who never gave two shits to being with) is to share and improve our understanding of various subject matters relevant to our hobby. There is no need to apologize, since not being right and being corrected is what this place is for, not something worth scorn.

That is a really interesting set of questions, but sadly, my reply would have to invoke the dreadful "that depends on the specific country and time and situation" and then I would have to go and explain various possibilities which would probably bore everyone to death.

But in most broad strokes:
>How well-known is the law?
Generally speaking, customs are known, but knowledge of law (if there is any) is restricted to very small portion of the population: nobles, judges, bureaucrats, priests or who ever has the supreme authority in that particular society.
>Are all people equal to the law?
NOPE. Not even the slightest. Not even remotely. My god no. Even the most egalitarian societies in my world would consider at least men and women completely different cases and subjects of law.

Most would consider consider differences in standing between slaves, serfs, free men, nobles, men and women, and any other possible rank on whatever local social hierarchy exists absolutely insurmountable.

>What authority are they handed over to?
Elders of the community in most cases, local lord and his posy in most others, local judge in the rest.

>How is the trial set about?
That would vary from simple hearing in front of the authority, to massive gathering of multiple tribes and their families and collective negotiations.

>Is there a jury?
Not in the english-american law sense, no.

>Would there be some state/temple appointed defense lawyer
No, never. In some societies, it's possible to hire a representative for your case, but nobody will bother giving you one if you can't afford one yourself.

>what is prison like?
No prisons. People get thrown into dungeons at times, but mostly things are solved by: confiscation of weath, public shaming, beating, branding, slavery, maiming, exile, torture, execution.
Nobody ain't got time and money spare to feed mass people in isolation for years just sitting pretty: Criminals are punished, not isolated.

>mostly things are solved by: confiscation of weath, public shaming
You just made me realize how fucky law would be involving an internationally-recognized Adventurer who has those rights guaranteed to them by the Guild and individual nations. Now I'm going to get stuck thinking about this for my entire road trip.

Before we even get to the criminals though:
>How well-known is the law? (Is there something like Hammurabi's Code or is law a more arcane thing left to those in the profession)
That depends on the nation. There's a few autocracies where highest ranking ruler's word is the law guided by religion and tradition a little bit, there's tribes where it's only ancient traditions with no designated arbiters (Only personal respect matters) and a large trading hub where laws are written and published for everyone to see
>Are all people equal to the law? (Or are women/men/aristocracy/clergy/other category treated differently)
Nobles usually are more equal, but otherwise most at least like to pretend to treat people equally.

I skip some of the questions for shortness, because answers are mostly generic

>How is the trial set about? Who can be a judge? Is there just one?
>Does the setting have any punishment the "modern justice system" doesn't have? (physical punishment, slavery, amputation etc.)
In one tribal nation, slavery. Also, it and some feudal regions sharing the same roots employ "punishment of the sack". Criminal is sewn into a sack and hanged from the special post or a tree, whichever applicable and robust. Guard is posted nearby who stops passerbys, describes nature of the crime and demands they hit sack with a stick or pay the fee if they refuse or half-ass for not respecting the law enough. For lesser crimes punishment has time limit, while serious offenders are expected to die from thirst, hunger, beating or boredom, whichever comes first. Any money collected are given to the victims.

I like the idea of forcing people to participate in the punishment even if they don't want to, actually. Gives you a particularly strong "you can't just throw a blind eye to the crime" vibe to it.
Is that based on some historical practice, or did you come up with it yourself? Sounds like something people would do in real world...

Well, there's stoning.

There's probably more, but I'm not aware of any.

>You are sentenced to a naked walk of contrition, two days in the stock and a fine of 10,000 gold pieces.
I can dig it.
I honestly think a hefty fine would bother more murder-hobos then a prison sentence.

>How well-known is the law?
Common law is known by everyone and ruled over by common sense. As such, while not actually on the books anywhere everyone knows it. Any state laws are on the books, and while they might not be known by everyone, they are publicly available for viewing.
>Are all people equal to the law?
While some of those groups are held to a higher standard than others (ie heads of state/clergy/etc) in actuality they are all equally likely to be convicted, and those held higher are more likely to receive stronger sentences.
>The criminals are initially apprehended by civilians. What authority are they handed over to?
Depending on where and what the crimes are, most likely the local branch of the state guard (for example, in the crystal city, they would be kept by the crystal city council guard)
>How is the trial set about? Who can be a judge? Is there just one?
Most regions go by public hearings. The hearings are headed typically by those in official capacity (in some area, there are specific people appointed, in other areas, such as the crystal city, a rotation 5 of council members.
>Is there a jury?
As most regions use public hearings, yes. The public is polled at random for purposes of jury.
>Would there be some state/temple appointed defense lawyer or are you on your own as defendant?
There is by no means one required, but one is available.
>Assuming A and/or B ends up in prison, what is prison like?
B would likely end up convicted. A would likely be shielded by a crimes of desperation clause. Those serving time are expected to pay for the lodging and food. As such, they are put to work. Work based detention also builds skills that if one is paroled, they can use in the world at large. Accommodations are simple, but enough to meet the basic needs of the prisoners.
>Does the setting have any punishment the "modern justice system" doesn't have? (physical punishment, slavery, amputation etc.)
Not really.

That's the thing, though. The Guild is required per-contract to protect their Adventurer's public image from slander and their possessions from seizure by nations that receive protection from the Guild.
Doesn't matter if Jimmy Fucks-Whores-Gets-Sores committed a crime or not, as long as he's registered as an active Adventurer the Guild would have to step in to protect him from that manner of punishment.

>Well, there's stoning.
Were people generally forced to participate in stoning under threat of a fine or even worse punishment?
I mean: I know ISIS did that but they were a rather exceptional case of assholism.

>two days in the stock and a fine of 10,000 gold pieces.
The average weight of a gold piece in Dn'D is 45 grams (an average weight of an american Eagle is about 35 grams, Thaler was around 27 g etc...)
So that is at minimum some 30 kg of solid fucking gold you are asking for there.

That is some really fucking liberal and enlightened legal system you have there...

I recently decided to imagine that a piece is unit of weight and a coin could be worth dozens of them or even hundred gold pieces.

How precise were weights of the old?

>How precise were weights of the old?
Very precise, but the thing is that historically, gold wasn't even very common (absolute majority of coins in the middle ages were silver, not gold), and the precious metal in question was almost never pure. For an example, Italian florin, while weighing around 25 grams, usually contained only about 3.5 grams of pure gold.

Also, as odd as it might seem, coins were frequently "sawed" around the sides to make them smaller and save the golden powder (this is, by the way, why they later on adopted the striae on the edge, so that sawing would be immediately noticeable), and they were also sometimes cut or broken into pieces, where each piece was used as a smaller-value coin.

So weighing coins was a big deal in middle ages: lighter coints had lower value (and plenty of them were lighter). They had good scales for that ready at hand.

The thing people should realize though is that in middle ages, the value of a coin was generally much larger than we tend to think about. A single siler tolar was a fortune to an average commoner, and most commoners would never see a golden coin in their life around 13th century.
I always found the the pricing in most fantasy worlds and games, where people commonly operate with values of hundreds, if not thousands of golden coins pretty out-of-place and stupid. That would be also impractical as fuck: a full poach of golden coins was usually actually like 10-30 of them, and my god that would be the value of an entire village, all surrounding lands and animals.

I think most suspect medieval peasants would be more about barter, but from narrative, and especially game standpoint currency is too convenient to not exist.

Now going further with my idea, I think it would be funny if merchant would say to hero "That'd be 10 gold pieces" and hero would present a handful of copper coins with "1 gold piece" engraved on them.

>and especially game standpoint currency is too convenient to not exist.
Actually, I always found it boring and actually harming the games. Relative value and barter is fun. It gives objects much more versatile role and makes it feel like every item has multiple uses and values: everything suddenly matters more.
It's kinda dull to think about items in the line of price tag and money sum, and not "all the possessions that you have and that can be used, sold, bartered at any fucking point."

I had a guy in my last game who financed an entire trip by selling the silver buttons to his shirt on various occasions.
And nothing is more fun than your party having to carry four live chickens around at all times because that is how the peasants paid them and the nearest city where they can sell them for something less impractical is miles and miles away.

It wants to see people suffer, but more than that it wants people to suffer from their own actions, and to wallow in the anguish of the realization that it was their own actions that about their suffering.

Basically how some denominations of Christianity see Lucifer, or how Gnostics view the Demiurge

Penalty for a crime is not slander, and I imagine that the Guild would have an agreement with nations that their adventurers are not above the law.

>stuck on world and character building for months, or years
>ideas are cloudy and vague, even the most essential facets like religion or how two people are related
>suddenly get an idea that greatly simplifies and improves the universe and/or characters
>then get several more in rapid succession
it is like untying knots by pulling on the rope

>How well-known is the law? (Is there something like Hammurabi's Code or is law a more arcane thing left to those in the profession)
There is a system of law, called the Bloodlaw, which is a fairly comprehensive set of laws built on various other primitive systems of law.

There's Low Bloodlaw, which is basically a 'peasants code' that covers all the basics (don't steal/murder/kidnap/etc), and also governs over trade (land and maritime) and minor inheritance law. Then there's High Bloodlaw, which is a set of rules that covers succession of nobles and royalty, wartime conduct, and international law.

>Are all people equal to the law? (Or are women/men/aristocracy/clergy/other category treated differently)

Not really. Peasants are technically under a 'protected' status under the Bloodlaw, but those laws are thrown under the rug more often than not. A noble that is convicted may be fined, or for more heinous crimes, blinded and sent away to repent their actions, but peasants usually lose body parts or are killed.

>The criminals are initially apprehended by civilians. What authority are they handed over to?
Usually they are taken to some form of jail (which can range to a cells with bars to a giant locked room or pit that criminals are thrown into) until the local silver-chain/gold-chain can look over them.
>How is the trial set about? Who can be a judge? Is there just one?
Silver-chains (can interpret Low Bloodlaw, and can assist with High Bloodlaw) and Gold-chains (can interpret High Bloodlaw) are the 'judges'. For peasants there usually isn't a trial unless the case is of particular interest, there aren't that many locked at the time, or the silver-chain/gold-chain is feeling nice.
>Would there be some state/temple appointed defense lawyer or are you on your own as defendant?
On your own, for the most part. A silver-chain can play the role of a 'defense lawyer' if you can convince/pay them to.

Woah, that's some pretty interesting stuff. I hadn't considered the further 'extension of arm' concept that would of course be an ingrained element for all people. I'm thinking that most of the people would find being in a hardsuit comforting given the basic essential survival nature they hold to society there. Everyone learns how to pilot a hardsuit first and then as they choose, branch out into different vehicles as their job may specialise.

Idea Dump

Piloting vehicles along with hardsuits would be of great importance as not only does it cement your place as an adult and member of society but also offering freedom and employment in otherwise relatively isolated communities. Employment once piloting is acquired is plentiful as nearly all trades require pilots of some kind, trade and transportation guilds are always in need of pilots for long-haul between cities and exploration guilds often hire those that are willing to risk themselves in order to find and secure newly fallen colony tech.

Some regions are less formalised and have learning to pilot a hardsuit closer to passing a driving test whereas others hold deeply ritualised processes or difficult trials.

Time wise I'd like to set it quite some after the initial colonisation (far enough that the original colony hardsuits are precious antiques of at least 100 years) In this period between, the colonies spread out and prospered, becoming 5 nations which then became isolated by political differences, had a terrible war and then decided it best to keep themselves apart.

At the current time, the borders of these nations are becoming blurred as the ownership of crashed colony tech in disputed areas leads to armed conflict mostly between mercenaries companies, hired bandits and private tech hunters fighting on behalf of rich patrons.

>Assuming A and/or B ends up in prison, what is prison like?
You either: 1) don't go to prison because you were sentenced to either die or lose a body part, or 2) end up as a slave for a specified amount of time, either directly or in lieu of dying or losing a body part. Slaves are considered legally considered property to the point of not having real emotions or strength/fatigue limits, so there's a good chance that you die while in slavery.

The closest thing to a traditional prison are the places that nobles/royalty are sent to after being blinded, but those are more like monasteries than anything. Being blinded is also equivalent to being dead, socially and politically.

>Does the setting have any punishment the "modern justice system" doesn't have? (physical punishment, slavery, amputation etc.)
All of the above.

In some cases the verifiable "Defenders of Civilization" -are- above the law, though. There's been incidents where a nation used a minor offense, like the fantasy equivalent of jaywalking, to "lawfully" seize powerful magical equipment from an Adventurer. The Guild has been forced to act as a mediator because of this.

>"Superheroes never pay for property damage, insurance covers it."

So I just finished up with the main map of the setting. What do you folks think?

>What have been some "final-stands" in your settings histories?
The attempted stand against the extradimensional invaders on the main continent.
>What were the odds?
Not a chance in hell.
>What was at risk?
Large parts of the land becoming uninhabitable by terraforming.
>Did they succeed, or did they fail?
They failed. The old world has large uninhabitable areas and a collapsed economy. Various dictatorships and theocracies sprang up in the aftermath.
This setting takes place across the ocean in new colonies. Most of the colonists are refugees of various kinds.

Your rivers are confusing. There seems to be only one mountain/mountain region so how are all these rivers being formed? You also seem to have a lot of river deltas.

That's a hill region bordering the mountains. It's mostly "off-screen" but there's a large plateau region with a lot of lakes to the west of the area. The river in the desert though has a supernatural source. The rivers at the coast are in marshland as well. For example, the ones directly following the coast are in saltwater marshes. I modeled them after the great intracoastal waterway on americas east coast, without the linkages that were man-made. The area is about 200x250 miles so there's a lot of room for major rivers.

What should I call this God?

God with a big G. It separates void from void. It has broken the firmament. It could be described with several words beginning with "omni".

Imagine this God is built out of logic. Like a computer, but made of the logic buried within mortal souls. And imagine this God is building heaven inside itself, because it was once mortal and cannot let mortals die. So it's gone full Tyranid, and consumes trillions of mortal souls.

What is a good name for this God? I myself have three: Neuromax, Logimax, and Animax. I want it to sound like a computer from the 1970s, but still sound threatening. Which one does this best? Do you have any ideas?

rollan

Bump.

Bump

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