Idea Royal Witches [detailed/fantasy]

[welian]

Gonna be using this thread to construct the thread layout for the fantasy RP I'd like to reboot eventually. In the meantime, all the info thus written (old version and some new revisions) are in this document.


Tagging The J @SweetNicole Giyari Zahzi Shadowfall Solemn Jester CupAndCough who have all expressed interest in assisting me with worldbuilding in previous conversations.

Of course, anyone who has any ideas or curiosity is welcome to post and offer suggestions.

Main issues to address:

• What exactly is the wider geography of the world beyond the capital city?
• Should I just cut out the plagues and monsters entirely and focus on political drama in a misandrist society? What the fuck is my plot, even?
  
• What are the prevailing stereotypes/ideals of woman and men in a matriarchy and misandrist society?
• What degree of technological innovation best suits this setting? Steampunk/magitek is too advanced (there's no widespread steel industry or Bessemer process in this setting), but magic crystals do provide the potential for mana systems similar to electrical circuits.

 

[KamiKahzy]

Just a small note, try this out instead for witch ranking. It's based on what modern day covens use.

-Neophyte
-1st Degree
-2nd Degree
-3rd Degree
-Matriarch
-Grand Matriarch

 

[The J]

• What exactly is the wider geography of the world beyond the capital city?
• Should I just cut out the plagues and monsters entirely and focus on political drama in a misandrist society? What the fuck is my plot, even?
  
• What are the prevailing stereotypes/ideals of woman and men in a matriarchy and misandrist society?
• What degree of technological innovation best suits this setting? Steampunk/magitek is too advanced (there's no widespread steel industry or Bessemer process in this setting), but magic crystals do provide the potential for mana systems similar to electrical circuits.

My...8 cents? Whatever it is, my so-and-so is as such:

1) It might actually be cool for the world to be dynamically revealed. Perhaps some very rough ideas can be bashed out first (mountains here, cold north, warm south, major cities here, here and here). Afterwards, the rest is decided on the fly. Players make up smaller areas from which their character comes, and the GM comes up with new locations as and when they're needed.

2) I think that it would be best to keep the monsters. It's not easy keeping purely political drama interesting, and they would also give some better excuses for being out in the world, seeing everything it has to offer, as well as fully showing off what our characters can do. Of course the political should be a big part, perhaps even predominant.
I would say do it like a good zombie story. Focus on the world, focus on the characters and the people around them, with the other guff happening in the background but being there enough to give some extra interest.

3) As we were discussing before, I love the idea of taking the broad strokes of the negative/positive stereotypes.expectations we have now and flipping their connotations. In broad strokes, of course:
Men in our society: strong, leaders, providers
Men in RW society: brutish, dim, rash, workhorses

Women in our society: dainty, emotional, social
Women in RW society: sophisticated, intelligent (emotionally and otherwise), politically/socially adept

 

[The J]

Just a small note, try this out instead for witch ranking. It's based on what modern day covens use.

-Neophyte
-1st Degree
-2nd Degree
-3rd Degree
-Matriarch
-Grand Matriarch

Modern day witches?

Also, personally I prefer what we have now. When we say witches here, it's more "female magic user", like in Harry Potter, than "secluded dark magic lady", like what you'd have for the traditional idea of a coven - Macbeth might be a good example.

 

[welian]

Given the ploytheistic nature of the setting, I'm also interested in drawing further parallels (if possible) between guilds where women go to practice magic, and the function of monasteries and early universities in history.

 

[Solemn Jester]

My schedule is a bit filled up whenever it's ready I may join in depending on how things go for me

 

[welian]

My schedule is a bit filled up whenever it's ready I may join in depending on how things go for me

Well, when I have an interest check up, I'll let you know. Right now, this is just worldbuilding though, and it's sort of an open call to taking suggestions/discussing how to improve the setting.

 

[White Masquerade]

Damn. Looks professional. How long did this take you? Are you only looking for answers to the questions or you asked, or you want a total critique?

 

[thoughtless]

Ey if ever feel like making a map yourself this website called Inkarnate is a damn good tool to use and there isn't much of a learning curve. But what you have so far for this roleplay looks pretty cool.

 

[welian]

Damn. Looks professional. How long did this take you? Are you only looking for answers to the questions or you asked, or you want a total critique?

Well, I've been sitting on the general premise for about five years now. It's a plot bunny I never really developed until shortly before I joined RPN in January of 2015, and this was the first RP I ran here. Maybe the second. What you see now is what I've gone and added in spurts since then. It's been on the backburner until the past six months or so; Nicole, J, and Giyari were really the ones pushing me the most to revisit this.

Right now, I'm most concerned with aspects of geography and culture. The previous iteration was very... monolithic? The capital city was where the bulk of interaction took place, so there was little to no discussion of what the world was like outside of Sylva and its barrier. The mana colors didn't have much weight on a chaacter's backstory, either. I'd like to change that by creating a rudimentary world history based on various fantasy tropes and IRL empires. I'm particularly inspired by the Peace of Westphalia, and the development of early European nations as we know them now.

Ignoring for the moment the potentially thorny issues of race and ethnicity in a roleplay campaign written by a basic white girl, here are the high points of what I have in mind for adding to the story's setting:

• The culture or region that Black mana dominates is a cold, mountainous region with little arable land relative to other regions of the world, and might have a climate similar to the Andes mountains. Similar to dwarves in generic fantasy settings, mining operations are a decent portion of their economy, and they place a lot of artistic value in masonry, metalwork, and jeweling. They likely trade metals and furs for grains and vegetables, and may have whaling as part of their culture if I choose to put this region along a coastline. Black mana is associated with stoic strength and earthy perseverance, and the people generally value pragmatic endeavors and results over lineage and titles.
• The culture or region that Red mana dominates is still up in the air (the Black witches have the best-developed culture so far), but I would like to take inspiration from steppe culture and some Middle Eastern cultures to create a plains region with a nomadic warrior tradition that borrows from the Khanates. Red mana is associated with overwhelming might, and natural phenomena like wildfires and lightning. They are also traders, and historically made fortunes from transporting goods across Arcana with their horses. I don't have a fantasy race associated with them, or the blue witches.
• The Blue mana culture/region would likely take a lot of cues from classical China, especially regarding the cultural emphasis on diplomatic negotiations, philosophy, and other intellectual pursuits. Since this mana is associated with water and air, I think it would make sense to make them a maritime or coastal culture with a strong background in astronomy and meteorology (or what passes for it in a pre/proto-Industrial setting augmented by magic). The negative stereotype of a Blue witch is a conniving two-faced bitch who may or may not be associated with assassins. The ideal Blue witch (from their own perspective) is an intelligent and thoughtful woman who is detail-oriented and carefully studies the academic and ritual nature of magic (sterotypical Wizard class, I guess?)
• The White mana culture/region is ultimately the culture that produces a leader who forcefully (perhaps borderline tyrannically) carves out the capital city of Sylva and creates a tentative, tense alliance between the four primary regions/cultures. White witches value tradition, lineage, and nature; and white mana is associated with spiritual and divine endeavors. Ancestor worship is a common practice (animism has fallen a bit out of favor), and white mana magic resembles theurgy to an extent. White witches are often seen as pompous assholes with no class mobility. The ideal White witch in their culture is basically our tropes of a noble king but with XX chromosomes.

TLR: Black witches are viking/inuit dwarves, red witches are pyromaniacal Mongols, blue witches are unfortunate stereotypes of Yellow menace, and white witches are classical English imperial elves.

 

[White Masquerade]

Got it. The reason I ask how long you've been doing this is because I really wonder how you're going to roleplay it. From what you have up and have said, this is good base and lore in forming a vibrant, diverse world. For a book. I tend to find those expansive ideas which have been worked on for months/years don't translate well to RP at all. Mainly because the creator is not willing to cut up what they've painstakingly worked hard on. Which is understandable. The questions on lore aside, have you already thought about how to carry this in RP format? Like what about the 1st attempt didn't go well? Was it solely issues with lore or something else?

 

[welian]

Got it. The reason I ask how long you've been doing this is because I really wonder how you're going to roleplay it. From what you have up and have said, this is good base and lore in forming a vibrant, diverse world. For a book. I tend to find those expansive ideas which have been worked on for months/years don't translate well to RP at all. Mainly because the creator is not willing to cut up what they've painstakingly worked hard on. Which is understandable. The questions on lore aside, have you already thought about how to carry this in RP format? Like what about the 1st attempt didn't go well? Was it solely issues with lore or something else?

It was pacing and plot. I crafted this interesting world, and then plopped players in without clear direction. As I've learned since then from Aegis, more details mean more shiny things for players to notice, which means less cohesion as the group spreads out and starts examining the world and creating their own conflicts.

 

[welian]

And now that I'm on my computer and have a full keyboard - I love having rich and interesting worlds, it's just that I'm also unskilled with it comes to pacing and controlling a group, and that's what tends to kill my RPs, that sense of "What do we do next" and not having enough GM presence to engage players. I'm putting a lot of emphasis on worldbuilding right now, and that's mainly because my other concern - the primary plot and whether this RP will be essentially be a good ol' zombie war at its core or a political thriller - seems waaaaay too nebulous and intimidating for me to want to approach right this second,

 

[White Masquerade]

It was pacing and plot. I crafted this interesting world, and then plopped players in without clear direction. As I've learned since then from Aegis, more details mean more shiny things for players to notice, which means less cohesion as the group spreads out and starts examining the world and creating their own conflicts.

Alright! . This is wonderful. It's good because you already know what stopped things before and are actively working to remedy them. I did see you have a question about the plot in your opening post so am happy you're working on that.

And now that I'm on my computer and have a full keyboard - I love having rich and interesting worlds, it's just that I'm also unskilled with it comes to pacing and controlling a group, and that's what tends to kill my RPs, that sense of "What do we do next" and not having enough GM presence to engage players. I'm putting a lot of emphasis on worldbuilding right now, and that's mainly because my other concern - the primary plot and whether this RP will be essentially be a good ol' zombie war at its core or a political thriller - seems waaaaay too nebulous and intimidating for me to want to approach right this second,

I wouldn't say doubling down on world-building is the best way to handle your problem. In my honest opinion, what you have right now is MORE than enough to have excellent roleplay. Sure it can be fine-tuned, but that's hardly a high priority. If I were you, I would forget about plot/lore for now and just focus on pacing. Here is the order I look at RPs from:

1) How will this work? (Includes pacing)
2) What is the plot?
3) What is the world around the plot?

A lot of times I see peoples' list looking like this:

1) What is the world around the plot?
2) What is the plot?

And that's it. There's a reason figuring how to make things work is first. You literally cannot move onto the other two steps without it. You build a house in your head but never buy the material. It's strange. You can work on it on yourself, read books, watch movies, play games, look up tips, but definitely make good pacing 1st on your list. You will be thanked for it. How can you explore a beautiful world and plot if you can't even get out the front door, you know what I mean? It makes all the work you put into the lore and plot for nothing. Yeah it's not the most exciting, but the little practical things are essential and will take you a long way. Put plot/world-building second!

 

[welian]

Delicious, delicious discourse! I can't respond as thoroughly as I would like to right now because this is my last day to turn in classwork and complete online finals, so let's just consider today's silence a small lull in the conversation to allow others to step in and offer suggestions and ideas of what they might want to see from a player's perspective.

 

[The J]

I think, perhaps, that keeping the players as a unit of some variety might work best. Perhaps we're a crack team sent to investigate what can be done against the Blight, but we're constantly at the whims of politicians and having to curry favour with them or see if we can avoid their influence. Something like that would sound fun. There'd be combat of course, but that's not the team's main purpose, rather we're trying to find ways to more effectively combat it - following rumours of strange rituals that banish Blight from an area, searching for hallowed weapons said to be more effective against them, etc.

 

[welian]

The J I like your words. Keep talking.

 

[The J]

The J I like your words. Keep talking.

Woooooords. Words words words words. Words, words words words words-words; words words. words words' words, words words words words words words words words/words. "words-words, words words", words words words words words.

Really though I've got nothing without direction. Ask me questions.

 

[welian]

Really though I've got nothing without direction. Ask me questions.

What's your opinion on ripping from Skyrim and having a dragon attack?

 

[The J]

What's your opinion on ripping from Skyrim and having a dragon attack?

Ooh, I like it. Maybe even a blighted dragon! In the aftermath, maybe we could breed some resentment/interest by having confusion/deception by various figures of who's to credit/blame.

 

[thoughtless]

Straight up, a blighted dragon is the very thing you kill at the end of Dragon Age: Origins lol. Still, it can be a cool idea if you use it in a unique way.

Possibly you could have the main plot line lead to something that uncovers the history of the world or the origin of magic? Whether or not that leads to a whole new conflict is up to you, but there's a lot you can do with that type of story.

 

[welian]

Straight up, a blighted dragon is the very thing you kill at the end of Dragon Age: Origins lol.

COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT REEEEEEEE



In all seriousness, even Zahzi has pointed out a TON of parallels between Royal Witches and Dragon Age. It's pretty funny, considering I've never played a DA game and I genuinely don't know what it's about - only that elves seem to have weird tattoos? And you can romance party members and there's a bald guy named Solas that everyone hates? I'm also told that my RP seems to rip a lot from Wheel of Time, which I've never read a single book from. Honestly, most of my inspiration for this comes from generic fantasy tropes, Avatar: The Last Airbender, and seeing really cool artwork of women in practical fantasy armor.

I would LOVE to go into the history of magic, and the development of the pantheon, though. Last time I ran this, most of my RPers were guys (as they usually are, idk why) and everyone wanted to know: Why don't men have magic? Why are there no male gods?

 

[thoughtless]

Tbh Dragon Age isn't truly about one thing. Every game has it's own, separate plot, they all just so happen to take place in the same world.
And yeah, Solas is an ass, and an egg-head, but mostly just an ass.

 

[welian]

Lord have mercy, I was so excited to be done with exams I forgot to come back to this thread.

White Masquerade You are absolutely amazing right now, and I don't say that just because you're stroking my ego. I picked up roleplaying as a hobby, like, seven years ago - and I'm only just now kinda sorta getting the hang of pacing.

thoughtless Hypothetically speaking, if you were in this RP, what questions would you have about the mechanics of magic? As a player, and as a character? (also what can I do to make this less like Dragon Age?)

The J I like your idea of the roleplay focusing on a team sent to investigate the source of the plague. It gives most of the player characters a reason to be in that area, and a reason to talk to each other. I think perhaps starting the RP with a bit of dithering about the capital city would help with some introductory stuff, but... it IS usually the beginning of the RP where things tend to stall out when I'm in charge of pacing. How big do you think a team might be anyways?

 

[The J]

Lord have mercy, I was so excited to be done with exams I forgot to come back to this thread.

White Masquerade You are absolutely amazing right now, and I don't say that just because you're stroking my ego. I picked up roleplaying as a hobby, like, seven years ago - and I'm only just now kinda sorta getting the hang of pacing.

thoughtless Hypothetically speaking, if you were in this RP, what questions would you have about the mechanics of magic? As a player, and as a character? (also what can I do to make this less like Dragon Age?)

The J I like your idea of the roleplay focusing on a team sent to investigate the source of the plague. It gives most of the player characters a reason to be in that area, and a reason to talk to each other. I think perhaps starting the RP with a bit of dithering about the capital city would help with some introductory stuff, but... it IS usually the beginning of the RP where things tend to stall out when I'm in charge of pacing. How big do you think a team might be anyways?

That's true. Maybe start off with something more interesting like the team meeting for the first time? We can get some juicy character interaction going.
As for a team... maybe a max of five per team, but teams balanced out? For example, if you had 8 players you'd do two teams of four.