Adventures in Lahlia - Stranger to the Land

[Falcon Red]

I am deciding to put out an official recruitment and request thread, and would like to state that I am very open to discussion to change, alter, or come up with a plot between me and my partner for hopefully a high adventure story set in a fantasy, high fantasy, or dark fantasy themed world and setting. The world is based on a concept from a friend of mine but I'm using it as a baseline to start, it can evolve to our whims or I can share details if you wish to pursue it exactly. I already have a character in mind that I really want to play, elements of him can be easily changed and adjusted to fit the plot of the story we come up with!

The world of Lahlia:
Lahlia is a magical world with floating islands, some of which can travel, dragons, and various races of the world. Humans are somewhat of a dominating race and demi humans have little opportunity within their domain. Still, different cities, towns, and kingdoms flourish with Elves and Dwarves and some are even able to trade with the capital city of Arcadia. Some of the cities and towns within Arcadia's kingdom are even sympathetic to those who aren't human.

At the heart of Lahlia is Arcadia, a giant floating island set in that very spot. You'll find no other place with the richest access to the various resources, religions, and academia in the rest of the world.

A pantheon of gods and goddesses don't directly interact with the peoples of the worlds, but instead choose champions to represent them in various endeavors.

Knightly orders protect the realm, their orders tied to the gods/goddesses of the realm, though one does not need to take religious oaths to be a part of the order, they just must exemplify the traits and values of the order.

Stranger to the Land - Simplified Plot
You are transported from your world to the world of Lahlia by a dark and unseen entity. This is a world of great beauty and impressive magics that seems to be as fluid and bountiful as the air you breath. Trouble lurks, however, and it's this trouble that brought you here. As beautiful as the world is, it's equally as dangerous. Survival seems impossible until you're found by one of the locals with strange powers of his own, who promises to help you get home. But do you make your way home, or do you commit to adopting the troubles of this world as your own and help to save it? Can you even make it home when is all said and done? Do you wish to go home?

Other plot ideas are welcome!

[Enigma]

Greetings @Falcon Red!

So some questions - are these various towns and cities all floating islands floating in an air-filled sky, or is there land that everyone lives on but the elites have floating cities?

How does one reach one of these floating cities? Are there airships that fly using helium, hydrogen (in special wrapped cells), or unusual magics? Giant birds or dragons that fly you there? A crane that lowers a basket from the island?

Or is it anchored in place with mighty cables one has to climb to reach the top? And how might those cables be protected?

I generally don't play whole characters, mine are usually flawed in some way. Mutes can be fun but there always suddenly appears a telepath. A few of my characters in the past did protect themselves from telepaths by having unusual minds - an angel who could communicated using gestures, an alien clone race (who may have been genetically altered from humans) who are telepathic only with each other, and one girl whose mind was wiped so that the only memories left are the ones following the mindwipe and her exile.

What are the average lifespans in this world for humans, elves, dwarves, gods...? Do you accept half-elves?

What sort of magics do you use? Do you allow different magic systems?

I've cobbled together a magic system some of my characters have used called Orphic.

Orphic gets its power from ley lines, basically currents of magic that move through the sky, along rivers, and underground.

Those of the high path would tap into the ley lines directly.
Those of the low path have to use an altar to convert the power of the ley lines into mana, a lesser form of magic power, which is stored in the altar (and must be replenished after it is drawn out). It's possible to convert mana into a liquid form, which are added to potions or to inks for creating magic scrolls, or to bathe objects to infuse them with power.

There are two branches of the lower form, known as the Laws of Sympathy (where likes calls to like) and the Laws of Sacrifice (sometimes referred to as equivalent exchange, giving up something to gain something).

Nothing set in stone here, just trying to feel for what sort of game this is going to be.

[Falcon Red]

Hey Enigma! Thanks for the response, these are some great questions!

Not all of the cities are floating, the majority of the world is on plane old ground, the largest and most prominent floating city would be the Kingdom Capital of Arcadia, which would be the map center of the world. To the south east is a network of floating islands, that aren't necessarily settled in the sense of towns and cities as floating lands are more difficult to get to without some means.

Reaching floating islands, I'd like to explore that a little bit as it has been on my mind this week. Admittedly the base of this idea is set in the mechanics of DnD, but that is more for me to get the baseline of a world. Lahlia itself is made up, but again, it was chosen as a baseline, it's something I can get behind reworking and thinking more through with a partner. With that being said, the way I see it would be magical means to travel between floating lands and the ground. If a floating island is populated like Arcadia would be, I could imagine different methods to travel between depending on economical state of the population. The rich and nobility may typically travel via teleportation circle, both short and long range, while the more poor citizens have to travel across a magically reinforced bridge or stair set that connect the mainland from the island. The way I see it places like Arcadia were magically tethered back when first inhabited to ease the transporting of goods and building materials, while the southeastern floating islands may shift and travel amongst each other. Very treacherous and dangerous region. Then, of course, flying steeds could be used by anyone who might have one or afford to borrow one from a ferryman.

I hadn't considered airships, just due to the high fantasy nature of the world, but I'm not opposed to them either perse.

I find imperfect and flawed characters all the more interesting. I never was one to jump into "perfect" characters or "overpowered" ones. The character I have in mind for this story is one of my DnD characters who I am planning on nerfing quite a bit in terms of abilities, but he is a race that is seen, essentially, as a second-class citizen of the world, particularly in the human dominate city of Arcadia where he was born. He was awarded a knighthood, but he's not truly accepted and it's aspects like those that really mess with his confidence and will play into some anger issues. That's not it, just to give you an idea of his mental state. Mental health is likely something I may want to explore through him.

A mute character would be very intriguing as an idea, it would also create interesting challenges and choices between if you were to decide to play in this and then decided to play a mute character here as well!

I'm open to many characters. Back when I was more active, it was more for the good of the story, I never liked to stifle my partner/groups creativity whenever I did come up with a story. At the very least, anything is open to discussion in other words, you know? As I said, this has a base in DnD, but that doesn't mean anyone would have to stick to that for inspiration. If you have something in mind, let's talk about it for sure! Half-elves are 100% on the table I can say though.

As long as life spans go, I think I'll say to let's get a little cliche on that. Elves do have much longer life spans than human, however I won't play into the "immortal" trope for them. It might seem like that to other races from a place of perspective, but they do and can die, they just might life several hundred hears before doing so. Humans, dwarves, half-lings I would say all lead similar lifespans. Shifters and were-creatures will have shorter lifespans to humans by maybe a few decades. Just to give you an idea here of course. Half-Elves would have a much longer life span than humans, but a much shorter one than elves, I'd imagine the average Half-Elf may live around 175 years?

Orphic sounds very interesting. I'd be open to using that actually, I kind of like how it could mold into Lahlia and connect the sky realms with the ground and then even the bodies of water. Do your leylines move along natural points of current... so air currents are constantly shifting and changing via thermals, water and ocean currents follow flows of tide, and then ground currents follow along where tectonic plates meet or overlap? What is the method of converting magic to liquid?

It's funny that you mention the law of equivalent exchange too, that's a concept that I imagine would come about quite a bit. It's a concept I believe in and one I've always found interesting. That would definitely be a general rule of being within Lahlia. Magic has a price, and your proficiency in it's use may lessen the effect or change the effect to a more favorable condition, but it's still a price to be paid. Now with that being said, you're not risking your life and limb for every spell cast... If you're casting a spell to see if there is poison in food, it just might drain some energy from you, quite unnoticeably as well since it'd be a much lower cost... It'd be like if you moved your arm, you are using energy to move your arm, but it's just a daily action that we don't notice in a sense.

Definitely, nothing set in stone. If nothing else, I appreciate the questions! I am quite out of practice with drawing interest into an RP and this definitely helped add to my initial post. Let me know if you have any other questions!

[Enigma]

One of my favorite concepts speaks about twenty words of the Common Tongue, and would have talking shrunken heads hanging from their belt or saddle, their souls anchored to a lump of amber sewn inside. One of them would interpret for her - reminds me of Toothpick, the leader of a group of gangster badgers that sometimes appear in the OOC forums or welcoming new people.

Of course, there's no guarantee that he's translating exactly what everyone is saying.

Air ley lines don't shift that much, it's like the jet stream. It's possible that this floating island sits on an intersection of two or more ley lines. In one version, it's suggested that there's a lower realm whose magic is being depleted by the world and radiated to the upper realm. Demons from the lower realms, having to work with so little magic are powerhouses should they get into the world.

[Falcon Red]

Haha! Okay that definitely does sound fun. Miscommunication galore and make you seem crazy!
Would this be some kind of medium or necromancer type character?

I see, so almost like the lower realms are "exhausting" magical lay lines into the upper realms, almost kind of like convection style currents. Maybe, like you said, at the center of that convection would be Arcadia?

[Enigma]

That's just my take, yes. But if the gods are here on an island, why worry about the upper realms?

[Falcon Red]

Well the gods are in their own realm, they can manifest within Lahlia, but their home is another plane. They operate through champions within Lahlia, or through dreamscapes or other means of communication with the races of Lahlia if they are needed.

[Enigma]

Avatars. Fun.

[Falcon Red]

Well, not avatars exactly because the gods wouldn't typically impose on their champions. They just conscript them basically, and it'd be voluntary. Called upon I guess would be the thing. Of course there are consequences of not accepting just as there'd be FOR accepting. But depending on how a story is formed our characters may or may not be champions, you know? It'd be based on the plot, I think for the purposes of a lost outsider trying to find their way home, it could just as easily be a no champion scenario where they're literally just trying to get the person back... but it could also be a situation where they both become champions if a deeper plot unfolds on their journey.

[Whimsical Wail]

I'm interested in being a champion--is that possible? I've always loved the idea of having some connection with a deity. Should I start off from humble beginnings and work my way up to being recognized?

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Also, is there any particular reason that humans became such a dominating force? Is it from sheer numbers? Do they have innate magical abilities? Or, are they granted powers from deities that appoint them certain quests or tasks?