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Rather than use wood for ships, people use quick growing coral, which when harvested and dried, floats like cork. The older the coral, the stronger and darker it is when dried, with the oldest corals being pitch black and stronger than steel.

>and advanced firearms.
You are missing the forest for the threes.
There is no "advanced firearms" only portable artillery and actual artillery.
And civilians don't carry artillery.

Sharkgirls?

Actually, they do.
Ahab, the Sky Whaler is notorious for his skill with the whaling cannon and multiple shoulder dislocations from the recoil.

The Raftfolk probably have some monsterous aspects to them, though it's less Sharkgirl and more a race of Slendermen and Slenderwoman.

Sky whales evolved flight to escape from the predators.

the typically nocturnal ratfolk inhabit most islands and zealously and violently guard their reserves of trees, land-plants, and other resources from the tarsel and to a less violent extent, the humans. whom often act as trade mediators.

>to add to the process with some nonsense craft
typically the float-stone corals are also treated with a surface glue to seal in the inner air chambers...

well, the Tarsel typically don't use firearms, that is for certain.
but the rat-folk are not averse to depth-charges or harpoon guns to express their dislike of the tarsel.

Once reliable, economical repeating firearms arrive on scene swords go away.

Why would Raftfolk live on land?

not if the aquatic nature of the planet makes an otherwise reliable design less effective
quit shitting on the fun dude

despite the perceived aquatic nature of the average rat.

they actually are not terribly good at being anyplace but dry(ish) land

The ratfolk have recently discovered a secret weapon that may let them be able to take back the land humans took from them setting the world powers at balance once again- black powder

So the rats can stay on land, not bothering the Raftfolk who sail the seas, the Tarsel's who swim under it, or the Humans who... have cats?

Because their Float-Nests can`t sustain itself from fishing alone, since trawling is outlawed by an ancient treaty.

>economical
This is not a given.

I was thinking that the humans live in villages supported by the float-coral and anchored to reefs. potentially using plots of artificial land to cultivate crops.

youtube.com/watch?v=XBmYNoKMOuA

Horses don't exist.

Instead, a species of durable llamas are used as the primary beast of burden.

like this

youtu.be/Rm3UwqcbJAM?t=34m57s

shit, the uploader there cropped the video too far to see the subtitles

As fishermen tend to carry knives for utility they eventually became the cultural norm with many groups and families having distinct knives to mark their affiliation. A person without a knife is typically considered homeless or abandonded and often treated as a pariah.

Due to the unnaturaly calm air (that allows sky whales and floatkelp to thrive) the sail never became a thing and all ships are either rowed or hauled by giant turtles.

Or use tides and currents, of which the latter are very, very strong in most places.

however, despite the calm, storms sometimes come and pass, and the violence of such is so great that myths are forged of them and from them.

Most people have black eyes. Oned born with blue eyes are called "storm-eyed" and considered both blessed and cursed.

Meant hazel.
Screw that, black eyes are cool too.

Black Mara is the name of a particular storm said to often come close to land-fall and be highly upredictable.

Spoken in fable by fishermen as a witch who was betrayed by her lover and cast into the sea. her soul resides in black winds said to rend flesh from bone and favors the bodies and souls of would be Casanovas.

perhaps it IS hazel.

with all-black(a genetic throwback that gathers light better in the dark) "mara's eyes" best for keeping watch at night, any task in darkness, diving in caves, and navigation by starlight.

eyes of calm (blue) said to bring good luck.

so we have a negative spirit of the ocean, where is the other side of the coin?

Raftfolk have a tradition called 'Spear Jumping', where a group of Raftfolk will climb to the highest point and from there jump down into the water, with onlookers judging who made the least splash, as well as who went deepest. This can lead to severe injuries if the sea bed is rocky, the place being jumped from is high, or the sea is shallow.
This is also something rather strongly disliked in Tarsel towns that have both below water and above water parts, with a number of Raftfolk teens being forced into temporary slavery every year due to damages and injuries brought on by a reckless jump.

"The time of bounty" is when the flyfish starts to breed. In the moonless night, thousands of them fly from the waves, breeding, raining the roe on the kelp. Marine birds gather in giant flocks and any hunter and fisherman knows that it`s time to stuff the barrels full.

>so we have a negative spirit of the ocean, where is the other side of the coin?

Galara the Crimson Bounty

The vast krill from beneath the depths come to the surface and bring with it a bounty of fish and other stables.

Sometimes in the vast red carpets a shape can be seen in it believed to be a figure with arms outstretched.

>start with !notWildWest
>end with Moana with rats.
I love you tg.

good point

while the tarsel are the most technically proficient makers of mechanisms(thermal vent heat for metal-work and careful tempering...)

the rats are most adept at chemical concoctions.

it is said that the first firearms were made when a human locked a trio of rat-alchemists and a trio of Tarsel crafters in a room together in a vain attempt to get them to get along.

the result was a melding of weapons technology so they could better kill eachother.

Actually, how about instead of firearms, they use what amounts to variations on harpoon guns?
This universes 'gunpower' works when wet, but violently expands when suddenly compressed, so the primary weapon is something like a pumpgun, where you slowly and gradually increase the pressure, and then pull the trigger, which slams in one final push, causing all the built up energy to rocket out at once.

why not whale oil?

Whale oil, when added to gunpower during its creation, creates a crumbly, chalky jelly that reacts violently to sudden increases in pressure, but is impermeable, and actually mildly hydrophobic. When placed in a pressure canister, it can be used to fire a modified gun, regardless of the conditions.

perhaps instead of whale oil its a secretion by a ubiquitous shallow water shellfish.

after Dishonored I feel that whale oil is over done

It should be something not entirely common, so it is a valuable resource, but not rare enough to make it unreasonable for a well to do person to have, just in case of emergency.

Perhaps rather than whale oil, make it from a gland of a shellfish that looks almost identical to a very common species found practically anywhere, so it becomes almost like truffles, only found by skilled fishers/hunters.

The Tracian Blue Mimic, a parasitic species, is found almost everywhere its smaller cousin, the Common Blue Prawn is found. While they are superficially similar, the Tracian has four key differences.
First, the Tracian is roughly 20% bigger than the Common Blue, sometimes reaching over four hands in length and weighing a pound and a half, with the females weighing slightly more than the males.
Second, the Tracian display white lines around the eyes and joints, where the Common Blue is a solid blue green color throughout.
Third, the Tracian breeds by the female releasing its eggs into an area of shallow water, males fertilizing the dispersed eggs, and then nearby Common Blue eating the fertilized eggs. Several days later, the hatched Tracians emerge from their eggs and devour their way out of their incubators, no worse the wear do to the water repelling properties of their egg sacks.
Fourth and lastly, is the gland found in the tail of the Tracian. This gland produces a chemical that has surprisingly strong hydrophobic qualities, repelling water almost violently. When crushed mixed with a powered solid, the gland can form a jelly that acts as a catalyst for any number of interesting alchemical formula.
-First Draft of "Alchemy for the Beginner, Tarsel Edition" by Tamurl the Wise

yes, this will do nicely

combine it with sulfur harvested from volcanic vents and other chemicals present only on land and you have a basis for explosive compounds(IE; guns bitches).

>setting has a great many volcanic islands and a great deal of volcanic activity.
>volcanoes=huge amounts of gaseous oxides of carbon, sulfur, and nitrogen.
>time for an ecosystem maintainer

Blue Moss, also called Cove-Killer Moss, initially forms colonies on gravelly or rocky sections of islands. usually it only extends a few feet into the water as a floating photosynthesizing mat unable to support itself further due to wave action. however, if allowed to grow in a calm cove it can get out of control. growing as an extended colony-mat several feet thick. nearly impenetrable by boat and impossible to walk on or surface through (without heavy cutting tools) these mats can effectively close a cove or bay. it's flowers come in a profusion of shades of blue.

this might normally qualify it as a pest, however it absorbs so many chemical qualities from the air and water that it is a valuable alchemical ingredient. dried and ground it enriches soil, compressed into blocks it makes a fantastic fuel, in thinner mats it makes excellent baby-diaper or roofing material ground and refined in yields nitrates, sulfates and other chemicals in simple, easy to use forms.

There is a dualistic religion that is somewhat popular among Humans, which worships the Sun and the Moon as creator deities, believing that other deities are either minor gods or lesser spirits. The Sun is worshipped as a fertility goddess that creates life, and is also an ocassionally wrathful goddess of justice. The Moon is worshipped as a sea god that controls the tides, winds, and storms, and causes death to keep the world from being crowded, the Moon also oversees reincarnation.

There is a dualistic religion that is somewhat popular among Humans, which worships the Sun and the Moon as benevolent creator deities, believing that other deities are either minor gods or lesser spirits that are descended from the Sun and Moon. The Sun is worshipped as a fertility goddess that creates life, and is an ocassionally wrathful goddess of justice. The Moon is worshipped as a sea god that controls the tides, winds, and storms, and causes death to keep the world from being crowded, the Moon also oversees reincarnation.

They believe when someone is extremely pious, moral, and hard working their entire life, the Sun and Moon will notice them, and put them into the sky when they die, to be a star and watch over the world for all eternity.

Most followers of the religion follow the Sun and Moon equally, though there are some sects that focus on worshipping the Sun or the Moon. Followers of the religion are expected to follow a set of basic moral laws, celebrate certain holidays, and do all they can to make the world a better place. Some Sun and/or Moon zealots interpret this as a command to crusade against evil, and destroy evil-doers with fire and blade.

They believe in an entity called the Darkness, which lies to mortals and tempts them to do evil, so they'll never become stars and make the world a brighter place.

> Accidentally posted before I finished typing.

Thanks /tg, definitely the most entertaining part of my day!
Plenty of backstory, time for some motivation to build with.
The tarsel, while engaging in commerce with the other races, are extremely secretive. Most of what is known about them is lore and myth, while actual interaction with them is brief and to the point business.
Unknown to the air-breathers they have unearthed technology from a long dead civilisation on the deep ocean floor that allows them to appear sufficiently advanced, but they can't properly reverse engineer it leaving them to use it sparingly.

Does this world have actual magic, or just superstition? If it does, I think rare and subtle witchcraft would be the right way to go about it.

Unknown to the denizens of the planet, Blue Moss has a bacterium sized yet very deadly predator.

This bacterium normally exists in spores of twenty cells each, surrounded by a thick plastic-like shell. They subsist on stored AP for years at a time, riding the currents blindly.

When an identifying protein on the surface of the spore contacts a protein component of the Blue Moss's epidermis, though, the bacterium dissolves the outer shell and gets to work. The released cells infiltrate the Blue Moss through intake pores, and then begin digesting it from the inside by releasing enzymes that burst the Blue Moss cell walls. They use the released nitrates and sulfates in chemosynthesis to replenish their stores and fuel reproduction-releasing nitric acid and sulfuric acid into the environment as waste.

As the environment becomes too acidic to function, the bacterium generates new spores to weather the conditions. Meanwhile, the acid continues to break down the Blue Moss from the inside, releasing nitrites, nitrates and sulfates as toxic gases.

Large colony mats may at any time become a rotting, browning, churning mass spewing acids into the water and toxic gases into the air.
Furthermore, one colony mat getting hit by the blight can communicate it to other mats nearby over the next few weeks, as spores released from the mat float out of the cove and come across those mats.

Hence the name Cove-Killer Moss. You generally don't want to settle near a cove full of the stuff, lest you find yourself suddenly suffocating and your boats dissolving.

Infestations are slow to get going, but once they get established they proceed at a frightening pace. Typically you only get a few hour's warning before the blight proceeds to the dangerous phase, and then only by careful and continual observation of the Blue Moss.

Speaking of, Hi mono!

Do you still have a PDF of the rules for Lost Source? I never managed to download and save it before it petered out.

latest edition there is.

Thanks!

There's more stuff here than I remember..is something going on? Does the dream still live?

my projects grow like fungus, slowly in the dark...

Mind if I inquire as to the details?

about once every other month I put a paragraph or 2 into one of my projects or another

Somewhere in between. It all falls under superstition, but those born with stormy souls find that there is power in the traditional hand signs and antiquated blessings. No one can really figure out where it comes from, or why, but it helps with life's little problems. The storm eyed know how to catch fish without bait, how to keep a boat nice and tight, how to make a loose knot stay firm, and how to ease the aches of the weary. The eldest storm eyed know even more, but they refuse to teach those that have yet to complete the trial.

So...pretty much the way I write, and not like a special group at all like I was hoping.

Fair enough.
What do you make of this?

Moon worshippers are frequently known to form vindictive and retributive sects dedicated to avenging injustices and slights (perceived or real) against humans, from the individuals to entire regions or states.

These groups form organically or by the order of the clergy of the Moon, depending on various circumstances. When a serious dispute between humans and others (or even the Darkness itself) occur, the clergy of the Moon retreats into their enclave located on an island shrouded by a pale silver fog. Here they deliberate and communicate with each other and the supposed spirits and Deities for guidance. In very rare circumstances, the clergy decides to call for a crusade of all the faithful humans, Sun and Moon each.