[LF Staff] Original Fae-based High-Fantasy MUSH
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Hello, everyone!
I've been working on a MUSH based on an original fantasy world for several months now, and it's coming along rather nicely! I have a good portion of the information done, as far as the Theme and Setting of the game goes.
The game uses RhostMUSH, and features Volund's globals. I don't anticipate many coding needs, but I do already have someone that can help out with that. Mainly, I'm looking for people interested in worldbuilding (and Grid building) and being on the game's staff.
The MUSH is set in an original world I've been working on for several years now, and centers on a society of winged Fae with overarching themes of exploration and adventuring. If you're interested at all, please send me a message, preferably as an email (since I tend to check that more regularly!). You can reach me at merit.tanilai@gmail.com if you're interested, and I can send you the information for joining the game if you'd like to take a look!
I'm excited to hear from anyone, and hope to find some cool people to build this world together with!
Thank you all!
Merit
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Hey, Merit. I suggest you give more information here. There's a couple threads on original games that have attracted support and they are distinct in that the creator is really infodumping into them about the world, theme, etc.
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The central setting of the game is based on Fae life during the world's Golden Age, the time at which Fae from all tribes reintegrate into society to live together for the first time since the early days of the world.
Though there are the many kinds of Fae of Maailma Tasapainossa, all of them follow a few of the same conventions.
First, all Fae have wings. They might look different for each of the different kinds of Fae, and they exist both in a physical sense, but also as pure energy. Though flying is quite natural and easily done by the Fae, flying too quickly or too high will drain a great deal more stamina than the casual movements made closer to the surface.
Second, all Fae have form Bonds. Bonds are emotional connections of a magickal design. Strong emotional ties offer certain benefits to those that have them, such as telepathy.
Third, all Fae have a Burden. A Burden is something that each fae has a Bond with, functioning as the source of their energy.
Fourth, all Burdens must be recharged. While Fae can be extremely powerful, they are often limited by how much energy they can hold and replenish from their Burden. As such, every so often, a Burden must be recharged by a personal ceremony that is unique to each fae.
Fifth, Fae aren't as sensitive to changes in temperature. It takes being really hot or really cold for a fae to notice a change, in most cases. It is usually when a fae notices such a change in temperature that they should start to do something about it, as despite them not -feeling- the changes as much, they are just as susceptible to things like heat stroke and frostbite.
Sixth, Fae are physiologically different from humans. For unknown reasons, most Fae tend to have an instinctual control of their weight, perhaps an effect of their wings. For this reason, most Fae tend to appear effectively weightless. In the event of a struggle or grappling, such as if one were to attempt to take a fae against his or her will, this particular phenomenon negates itself.
The key difference in physiology is most evident in the way that different foods affect their growth. Most Fae, depending on their wits and agility in a fight, eschew eating meat for fruits, vegetables, and nuts. A diet including meat will rapidly build muscle in a fae. Sugary foods and starches replenish the energy that a fae uses for magick. Fruits, vegetables, and nuts help build lean muscle mass without incurring bulk that can often slow a fae down.
Seventh, Fae are physical embodiments of an Aspect (such as an element of the universe like nature, fire, water, etc.), including traditional elements as well as more abstract ones (technology, space, time, mind, emotions, spirit, etc.). They are not truly born, though Fae couples can combine their essences and grow a new fae.
According to the theory of Universal Aspects, the prime belief system of the Fae of Maailma Tasapainossa, the Universe and everything within and without it are all composed of twenty unique types of energy referred to as Aspects. Each individual Fae is a manifestation of one of these types of energy into a physical, living form. Magick is defined as the act of weaving together patterns of energy (Aspects) for a specific purpose.
From an Out of Character perspective, most people could equate this belief with the idea of the classical elements, being Earth, Air, Fire, Water, and when combined together in balance, Aether. This system builds upon that, identifying multiple concepts as unique phenomena outside of the simple purview of the classical elements.
Each of the twenty Aspects are subdivided based on general function into six groups of three and one pair of two, with each of these subdivisions referred to as Tribes in reference to Fae civilization. Similarly, each individual Aspect within a group is referred to as a Clan in reference to all Fae of one particular Aspect.
While all kinds of Fae might have once populated the world when it was new, many linked to more esoteric or distant Aspects faded from view, leaving only a handful of Clans active and obvious within the world. These Fae become referred to as "Known" Fae.
Known Fae Tribes/Clans:
The Earthly: Earth, Water, Nature
The Temperate: Fire, Air, Ice
The Energetic: Energy, Technology, LightningUnknown Fae Tribes/Clans:
The Unseen: Mind, Spirit, Emotion
The Celestial: Sun, Moon, Star
The Immaterial: Time, Space, Void
The Forbidden: Creation, AnnihilationFollowing the formal establishment of modern Fae civilization, the "Unknown" Fae tribes begin to integrate into society with the "Known" Fae tribes. For many years, inequalities in representation created social strife and led to a stigma of being one of these so-called "Unknown" Fae. Government reforms over the years eventually lead to a socio-political equality in representation for all Fae tribes, though some radicals still view these newcomers warily.
Dimensional oddities become more rampant throughout the world, leading to patches of warped or altered space and the presence of artifacts, locations, and entities from elsewhere. Exploration and adventuring have become greatly encouraged to investigate and study such anomalies. It is also during this age that travel to Kal'pea Helh'mi (literally Pale Pearl), the moon hanging in orbit of Maailma Tasapainossa.
Players may play a Fae from one of many Clans and weave together a story all their own. The emphasis of gameplay should mostly be on the ideals of Creating, Learning, and Exploring. Common challenges within Fae society include Conflict (both non-combative, such as between Tribes of Fae with vastly different ways of life and ideologies, and combative, such as with wild creatures, fearsome beasts, and evil goblins and trolls), Competition (honing skills, attaining knowledge, creating or finding Artifacts), Survival (protecting oneself, protecting one's Burden, finding sustainable sources of power, collecting needed resources and ingredients for curing illness and removing curses), and Politics (dealing with possible corruption, protecting and serving others).
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This I like.
Keep it up! -
@Songtress Thank you so much! I have big dreams, but ultimately, I want to create the basis for a world that we can all create and develop together. If there's any questions you have, or more information on the theme that you might want to know, please ask!
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@Merit
Can Fate have more than one aspect? ( But yeah My dreams of a Fae game, with winged 'normal sized' people Fae are coming TRUE!) & Bonds? YES ( Are you sure you're not inside my head?So if fae are not born (in the human sense), combining essenaces to produce new fae-- happens how? Over a flower? some rituals? Something ( though that Tinkerbell vibe I kind of like, that reproduction isn't sex , and pregnancy, and blood, sweat and tears)
How does Fae and Human civilization interact? Do they?
Do Unknown clans become 'known' once enough of them are born?
Can unknown clans pop back up from two Fae of Known clans? (If Mother is Fire and Father is Water Aspected, , can the child be Sun or Moon? ( ATLA/ATLK references).Are Fae Monarichal? Modern Fae Civilzation means what exactly? In comparison to 'old Fae civilzation?
Are humans a known 'thing'?
Does Travel to the Pale Pearl, mean ssomething specific?
Also do I sense a Pacific Islander vibe in the language choice? (My first thought is Polynesian, but I could be wrong it be Maori or something I am not familiar with), which I like, immensely?
Fae of different skin and hair colors are a plus.
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@Songtress said in [LF Staff] Original Fae-based High-Fantasy MUSH:
@Merit
Can Fate have more than one aspect? ( But yeah My dreams of a Fae game, with winged 'normal sized' people Fae are coming TRUE!) & Bonds? YES ( Are you sure you're not inside my head?A fae only has one aspect, but is capable of learning any kind of magick. From Earthly to Forbidden, it's somewhat of a hierarchy. Theoretically, it starts at the most obvious concepts (water, plants, rocks) and moves towards the more esoteric concepts (emotions, time, void, etc.). The idea is, the closer two aspects are on the chart, the more similar or easy to learn they are.
Oh, yeah, I really liked the idea of Bonds. Especially with the ways it interacts in a MU* setting, where you have, say, IC channels for Guilds and such. I had an idea for a mechanic that basically implements a +phone-like command, but that relies on Emotion Fae serving as 'operators', temporarily constructing low-powered artificial bonds for temporary long-distance communications. But, uh, still not sure on that one.
Real bonds can let Fae share power, offers a portion of empathy, and the benefit of mental communication, and possibly other things!
So if fae are not born (in the human sense), combining essenaces to produce new fae-- happens how? Over a flower? some rituals? Something ( though that Tinkerbell vibe I kind of like, that reproduction isn't sex , and pregnancy, and blood, sweat and tears)
Ah, yeah, this concept! I like the idea of keeping it somewhat vague, because I expect people will see the idea differently depending on how they play their character or what Tribe or Clan they belong to. Generally speaking, the process of a new fae coming into the world is called Sprouting, and a child is usually referred to as a sproutling until adolescence.
It's not based on strict gender roles, but rather, someone contributes a special physical vessel created with their magick, and someone else contributes their energy to the vessel. If you imagine two Nature fae, one might weave an acorn, and the other would bless it. The vessel gets planted (even for non-Nature fae), and after a while, a little tree will grow and produce a fruit (consider it like an egg!). And, eventually, it'll ripen (or hatch, basically), and there you have it!
As far as "genetics" are concerned, the sproutling usually physically takes after whoever creates the vessel, and will usually be of the same aspect as whoever contributes their essence. Of course, sometimes, for no reason at all, you'll get something different, but that's up to the players! A sproutling does resemble both of its parents, it's just that physically, it'll "take after" whichever parent created the physical vessel. Similarly, a regardless of which aspect the sproutling comes out as, it'll always be inherently good at the same kinds of magick that match its parents.
How does Fae and Human civilization interact? Do they?
Humans don't exist! But, because of time-space anomalies and such, it is possible that for them to accidentally wind up in the world. I thought about it for a future plot in the game, but ICly speaking, most Fae wouldn't know what a human is.
Do Unknown clans become 'known' once enough of them are born?
Oh, right! I probably didn't explain that well enough, considering I mainly smooshed together a bunch of +news files from the game. It's more a historical thing. For many ages, only Earthly, Temperate, and Energetic Fae were really widely known, and interacted with each other to build a civilization. The rest of the Fae tribes were still around, but remained isolated by their own choice, and offered their help to the growing civilization in unseen ways.
So, after a whole bunch of wars with Goblins and such, the "Unknown" Fae began to come out into the open, and started to integrate into society. It was hard on everyone for a while, but eventually, equality was reached for all, which starts the setting of the MUSH. I really liked the idea of setting the game in a new age where all different sorts of Fae live together in a Golden Age. Basically, all Fae are "Known" now.
Can unknown clans pop back up from two Fae of Known clans? (If Mother is Fire and Father is Water Aspected, , can the child be Sun or Moon? ( ATLA/ATLK references).
Yup! This is an age where weird stuff is happening, and strange anomalies are popping up everywhere. Sometimes, it does affect the Sprouting of new Fae.
Are Fae Monarichal? Modern Fae Civilzation means what exactly? In comparison to 'old Fae civilzation?
I'm still working on the Government structure, but basically, it's sorta like England where there is a political figurehead, but mainly things are run by a council and lots of voting, so it's more of a Republic (I think?--political terms are something that I always mixed up!).
Old Fae civilization was completely Tribal, which small groups of similar Fae banding together and keeping to themselves. A formal civilization started to form in the Knowledge Age, when the various Tribes began to share knowledge with one another to better understand themselves and the world around them. This also began trade routes and the like. There were a whole bunch of wars after that with Goblins, primarily, and after that, the "Known" tribes decided to build a centralized city, which eventually was joined by the "Unknown" tribes.
Are humans a known 'thing'?
Not really, or at least, not for now. It's something I'm considering for the future as part of some global plots.
Does Travel to the Pale Pearl, mean ssomething specific?
Celestial Fae colonized portions of the moon in earlier ages, where they do their mysterious celestial things, like naming stars and collecting different kinds of space dust. It also opens the door to the idea of intergalactic travel and exploring other worlds!
Also do I sense a Pacific Islander vibe in the language choice? (My first thought is Polynesian, but I could be wrong it be Maori or something I am not familiar with), which I like, immensely?
Modified Finnish, actually! Some of it also comes from Russian or Swedish, but mostly it uses poorly-translated Finnish as a base.
Fae of different skin and hair colors are a plus.
I've thought about that, too. I feel that because of the variety of Aspects, most race could be emulated by Fae. For example, Water Fae can appear like merfolk, Fire Fae as dragonkin, Nature Fae as ents or anthros, etc. I have an +news file I'm working on for each type of Fae that lists ideas of common appearances and styles of wings.
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I enjoy this alot. I think the idea of Sprouting and Sproutlings are great, its also unique as the 'couple' creating the new fae.
Perhaps a Ceremony of the Wings, were they actually learn to fly (once again drawing on that first Tinkerbell movie for visual inspriation:https://youtu.be/MuZ_ywUnjdk?t=151 I mean how much more SPROUTING can you get.
But the part is where the Queen basically 'dries' Tinker Bells wings. It makes the most sense to me that there is some kind of ceremony, for it.
But that's just a though.
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@Songtress I was working with the idea for a while of a fae's wings being a physical manifestation of the soul, and holding a Naming Ceremony sometime in childhood. The idea was that Fae might have names based on the characteristics they exhibit. The only thing I really don't like about that is that I don't want people to feel they have to name their characters in a certain manner.
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I like that actually @Merit.
Perhaps point out that various clans do indeed draw from many many different cultures, (fantastical and not).I'll borrow the concept from elfquest: Wolfrider's have a 'public' use-name. "Cutter" (for quickwit & skill with a sword), but also a soul name (that only the closest to them know- their parents, their spouses, Cutter's 'Tam'.), His soulBrother ,Skywise's soul name is Fahr, but when Cutter met his life mate.. She doesn't have a soul name (she's not a wolfrider, there is no need to 'hide' who she is). He basically goes: All I found... was Leetah ( her name, which means 'Healing Light'-).
So why not just say: that the Fae have public names & private names, and the idea of Masks & Personae are common amounts them.
One Winter Fae, could easily be 'Lady Iceheart' when acting in a judge capcity,-it's both a title and name, but to her friends is Ysalye' ( Ok so I totally took that from Final Fantasy XIV, but I make my point.)A varity of 'names' & titles and monikers, for a variety of occasions, which makes influence their look. or outward 'appearance' slightly. You can still tell who they 'ARE', that isn't hidden from you, as a Fae. But then again Fae probably also go through changes from childhood they maybe called one, thing, and grow some and gain a deed, or use name, that sticks to them like gule, so strong is the resonance with their person, and then still later they grow more and gain a proper 'adult' title, and name, but people still use say that childhood/teen name, to indicate a closer association.
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The custom of someone's name changing as they got older was not all that uncommon among real world cultures either, at least before modern times. As was the practice of using a childhood nickname to denote a personal relationship as opposed to a more formal one. In some cases even historians adopted the childhood nickname rather then the actual one, for example Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, is much more well known to modern people under his nickname Caligula (Little Boots.)
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@ThatGuyThere Wait Caligula's NAME means something so 'adorable' as "Little Boots"- he was BATSHIT CRAZY MASS MURDER?!
Ok.. that's neat point.
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@ThatGuyThere Whoa...that is a little piece of history that I was completely unaware of! I like the idea of names having meaning. I thought about naming conventions using prefixes to determine things, like maybe including the name of a birthplace or residence, mentor or teacher, partner, etc. But, you could get a super long name that way if you were really descriptive (or sociable!). Names based on characteristics and personal achievements would be kinda cool, though. I really like that idea.
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@Songtress
Yup, the boot Roman soldiers wore was the caliga, and he got the nickname because as a child he liked to hang around with the military and dress up as a soldier. -
@ThatGuyThere That's neato, and then horrible sad when you realize this adorable kid with this nickname lost his mind and just did HORRIBLE HORRIBLE things.
@Merit Do Fae keep pets, what kind? Intelligent? Non? What do they eat? are their food customs or ,general customs, that should be observed?
I mean that kind of cultural thing might different from tribe to tribe, but there must be a 'common root'? How did the different tries come to be and can more be made?
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@Songtress said in [LF Staff] Original Fae-based High-Fantasy MUSH:
@Merit Do Fae keep pets, what kind? Intelligent? Non? What do they eat? are their food customs or ,general customs, that should be observed?
I mean that kind of cultural thing might different from tribe to tribe, but there must be a 'common root'? How did the different tries come to be and can more be made?
I'm sure they do have pets, but I think they'd be probably more varied than the Fae, themselves, both intelligent and non.
When it comes to food, I think I mentioned it earlier. The key difference in physiology is most evident in the way that different foods affect their growth. Most Fae, depending on their wits and agility in a fight, eschew eating meat for fruits, vegetables, and nuts. A diet including meat will rapidly build muscle in a fae. Sugary foods and starches replenish the energy that a fae uses for magick. Fruits, vegetables, and nuts help build lean muscle mass without incurring bulk that can often slow a fae down. Most Fae have a balanced, varied diet. The idea that most Fae tend to be vegetarians of some form is built as much on the idea of sensitivity towards animals as it is chosen for the dietary benefits.
Food customs (really, any customs) are something I'm still trying to conceive. I'm really thinking of leaving the ideas of things such as most holidays and customs pretty vague, just because I want to build a world with the people playing the game. I think what I'm looking forward to most is building something together with people.
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Ok! Sorry I tend to think of these things, msotly because their interesting and makes a world 'pop', with some color. So they don't become 'default' X culture.
Clothing? Do Fae living cities, or towns? On the ground in the trees? What does their agriculture look like (if they grow, nuts and fruit, I'd assume some Fae are in charge of those things?
Anyway. I'd really like to see how this all plays out!
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@Songtress said in [LF Staff] Original Fae-based High-Fantasy MUSH:
Clothing?
It's pretty varied, depending on the fae! Some wear clothing made of something familiar to their Aspect, such as vine and leaf clothing for Nature Fae or something shimmery forged from stardust for Star Fae.
Some fae wear clothing similar to ours, mostly in a peasant-like style of tunics or simple dresses, ranging to more elaborate post-modern Lady Gaga-esque costumes.
Other Fae, perhaps with appearances straying from that of a standard humanoid, might just go au-natural and let their natural appearance clothe them, such as an Earth fae with a rock-elemental appearance having their body appear armor-like.
Do Fae living cities, or towns? On the ground in the trees?
Again, this varies! But, a lot of Fae live in the Grand Fae City together, while others live in smaller communities in many different biomes, such as a tree-top village in the forests, underwater cities, ruins perched atop the clouds, etc.
What does their agriculture look like (if they grow, nuts and fruit, I'd assume some Fae are in charge of those things?
Community is a major theme in the game, and in the world the Fae live in. Farming is often a feat accomplished by combined efforts of multiple clans of Fae, with Nature Fae planting and growing, Earth Fae preparing the land, Water Fae providing irrigation and hydration, and combined efforts of the Temperate Tribe to regulate the climate for plants to grow healthy and strong.