Religion and Myth

Since I’m still struggling to make time for most things that are not my kid, I’ve decided to go back through my old notes and publish some of what I’ve already written about Kimatarthi as posts. I’m going to start by doing a short series on myth and religion in my campaign setting.

Religion in Kimatarthi is based on the worship of spirits exist everywhere and inhabit all things. They are thought to bring good fortune and ill, and must be kept happy. While there are many common practices, such as leaving small offerings of food, there are just as many unique and bizarre practices that can be observed. Many people worship house gods, which are often ancestors or other deceased figures that people would like call to for blessings. Families, tribes, and cities often have totem spirits. Spirit shrines small and large are set up at places of business, public areas, auspicious locations, and anywhere else – like that oddly twisted log alongside the road.

What a good place for the superstitious to build a shrine!

But on top of this spirit worship, there are three figures that draw sizable organized followings, spirits named Keyera, Zoli, and Kojak. Keyera is believed to be the Mother Spirit, Creator of the world. The followers of the Church of Keyera are by far the most numerous throughout the land.

While Keyera birthed the world, her spouse Zoli gave it order. Worship of Zoli, the practice of Zooloyoyo, is highly formalized and usually particular to the elite classes.

Myths about Kojak vary—some say he is the son of Keyara and Zoli, others that he is their father, still others that he is their servant—but he is always seen as a great and beneficent figure. The Church of the Giving Cow places him at the center of their practices.

I’ve always enjoyed myth, and creating myths is one of my favorite parts of creating new worlds. The sort of myths that you create for the world says as much about your campaign as anything else, and if played right they can bring a lot of flavor and plot to the games. I’ve got several pages of notes about each of these practices, and (rather than write something completely from scratch) I’m going to use that as fodder for my next several posts. Stay tuned…

Magic

In descriptive terms, I have a good idea of how magic works in Kimatarthi. As I noted in my last post, however, I’m less sure of how to capture that feel with a gaming mechanic.

So here’s the deal.

In the days before the Goblin Wars, magic was unknown. Kimatarthi was very much like our own world. There was superstition, religion, belief in spirits – but no magic. When the goblin armies arrived, however, they decimated the world with an ability to could conjure fire, wind, and lightning. They brought a powerful and destructive new force with them, true magic.

Though mankind eventually turned back the onslaught, the world’s collective psyche was scarred by the horror of the dark “goblin arts.”  They considered it evil and associated it as one and the same as the scourge that had wiped out cites, towns, and villages by the score. Yet there was a small contingent of people who became convinced that magic was not purely evil. These taught that magic was a natural force that could be studied and harnessed not only for destruction, but for the good of society.

Society is society, however… and society would have none of it. Magic was born of evil and was a direct challenge to the authority of the gods. Anyone who dabbled in this blasphemy was hunted down. If they were not torn to pieces and burned by enraged mobs, they were tortured and publicly executed by the authorities. The use of magic was unequivocally declared illegal, and magic-users were forced underground.

I plan to incorporate this tension into the campaign. I would hope that the players would want to join the underground subversives dedicated to exploring this wondrous new phenomenon. Yet, they will have a choice, and they may choose to support the law and the righteousness of the old ways. They may choose to work to eliminate this devilry from the world. Or it may be something on the edges of the campaign that falls into the background. But magic is an integral part of the setting.

Regardless, I have a gaming tension to resolve. Magic is a natural phenomenon that clearly the goblins have mastered. This implies a complete magical ontology with schools and libraries of spells of many varieties. In game terms, the goblins could be working directly from the Players Handbook. On the other hand, this aspect of the cosmos is completely foreign to the PCs, who are exploring it and perhaps redefining it as they go long. As a gaming mechanic, this lends itself to a more narrative style of magic use, where the players have more freedom to describe the effect they want to create.

So I am faced with this dilemma. I want magic to be open to a wide segment of characters, rather than tied to an innate ability or years of study in a guild. So, I want to find a system where Magic-use could be as easy as adding an aspect or a feat, but then particular methods of wielding it could be skills. I think I would like to base magic use on skills, perhaps with spells nested inside other skills, much like specializations. Then of course, the system also has to serve as a guide for determining the difficulty of spells -  starting a camp fire as opposed to casting a fireball, for example.

This post has definitely been helpful in helping me to articulate what I want out of a magic system. I need to stew over this for a bit more, though. If anyone has any suggestions for a cool, flexible game mechanic for playing magic, I’d welcome your thoughts.

The Land of Kimatarthi

It has been nearly a century since the great Goblin War brought the Dark Age to the land of Kimatarthi. The capital city, Markaz, is still pocked with empty quarters where so much of the population perished during the goblin siege. Only the wit of the ruling family and the courage of the Rangers saved human civilization from total destruction. Most cities were completely destroyed, and only Mudun in the foothills of the Eastern Mountains was rebuilt. Spared from the horrors of the war, the shire of Bryss flourishes far to the south.

It was the Bakdunis family that rescued civilization as we know it. Though they continue to rule, rebuilding has been difficult. Even today, few dare to stray far beyond the city walls, and only fools would do so unarmed. Because of the constant goblin threat, all are conscripted to serve in the Markaz City Guard for one year in order to hone their battle skills.

But even life in the city is dangerous. Markaz is full of bandits, thieves and murderers. There are even goblins who find shelter in the Empty Quarters. Yet the most feared threat of all is the dark art that the goblins introduced to humanity: Magic. The world changed when the goblins brought their evil magic, and though some have been lured by its mystery, practicing magic is an offense punishable by death.

There is very little in Kimatarthi beyond the city walls. Goblin dens are plentiful in the wilderness, and cities provide the only refuge. The cities themselves are distant and nestled in the cool mountains, away from the arid Lowlands. From Markaz, Mudun is nearly 2 days’ travel to the East, and Bryss is more than a week to the south. The Western Desert is separated from the central lowlands by the Great Rift and the High Mountains. The impassible Eastern Mountains provide shelter to the goblins. Travel far enough in any direction, and you will reach Land’s End, a dangerous, wraith-infested region where terra firma gives way to cloud and mist.

Post Number One

This blog is an experiment in fantasy world creation. Actually, it’s about the creation of a world that I have been exploring in my mind for quite a long time. However due to circumstances, I’ve never actually run a game in it. For many years, I simply fell out of gaming, and now that I’m back in, I have only have so much time. Also, I’ve never really decided on what game system to use to run a campaign, which is kind of important. Finally, I don’t want to force a campaign on my gaming group, since we’ve got several awesome campaigns running now. So I can wait. But in the meantime, I’m going to try using this space as a whiteboard for my ideas.

The idea for this world came about well over a decade ago as I was sitting and watching the fog roll through a valley in Vermont. What if this mountain I was sitting on was actually an island, surrounded by fog? And so the idea came to me of a mountainous world that is bounded by an impenetrable mist. Perhaps it’s toxic clouds, perhaps monsters live there—I don’t think it really matters: no one goes past the Land’s End.

The world evolved from there. Gradually, it became more rugged, less like rolling hills. It became populated with places and plot hooks. At some point, the world became rather dangerous, making it very difficult to live outside of a handful of cities. I’ve had to stock the place with creatures and monsters, but without any player characters, it has pretty much lacked people. The challenge has been to paint a rich setting full of adventure while keeping it an open world where the players can explore freely and make their own stories.

So, this blog is a place for me to lay out ideas and watch them evolve somewhere other than a sub-folder on my hard drive. Many of my ideas have shifted over time, often changing dramatically. I make no promises that what appears here will be what actually shows up in any future game, but I will try to be consistent. Also, don’t expect any spoilers here. This space is for describing the setting, and anything that shows up here could probably be considered common knowledge for characters. So, while I may mull over interesting plot hooks and devices, there will always be something else behind that. Check out an introduction here. I hope you enjoy exploring.