wilted rucket
green veg
I'm developing a setting and story loosely based on Chinese mythology and history, Hong Kong martial arts flicks, shonen anime tropes, and a light touch of eldritch horror for some added peril (although this is not a horror setting, and they mostly exist to provide cool monster designs.)
The Land Under Heaven is a world similar to ancient China, but with fantasy elements (and I'm also considering some science fantasy/magi-technology elements not dissimilar to FF7.
There are a couple primary conceits I'm focusing on right now, and I'm very open to suggestions at this early phase.
Conceit 1: The 12 Tribes
The setting is populated by 12 different sentient races based on the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac. I'm very in favor of having anthro characters in my RPs, but I don't want to have all my races be anthros, or all monsters, or all anything for that matter. Here are the concepts I'm leaning towards for each race:
The races may have personality traits in common, but every member of a race is an individual, with their own personality and their own capacity for good and evil. The races have always existed in an uneasy state with eachother, ranging from fragile peace to outright war. Making matters worse is that many humans believe that since legend names the legendary human hero Sun Wukong as the one who originally settled and tamed the land under heaven, humans have a special right to rule the land and the other tribes.
However, not all members of different races are enemies, and not all members of the same race are friends. The alliances formed by war, virtue and ambition may cause those with the fire of youth to find a bond outside what nature ordained for them.
Conceit 2: A Kingdom of Turmoil
Power struggles are nothing new in this land, but the present time in which our heroes will find themselves are a special case. The people are losing faith in the current Emperor, religious extremists and bandit warlords are causing chaos and strife in all corners of the land, and the bordering kingdoms ruled by the other tribes are beginning to nip at the heels of the human-controlled Middle Kingdom. Anyone with ideals, charisma, and a head for war might have the ability to claim control of the land for themselves, but they'll have plenty of competition.
Conceit 3: Forbidden Power
Magic is a real and understood force in the Land Under Heaven, and while formal training is heavily restricted, natural talent and folk wisdom cannot be fully curtailed.
I wanted the magic system to be out of the ordinary, but not too original (because I'm a lazy git), so I came up with a few options of things I'd like to loosely rip off.
Conceit 4: Kongbu
Kongbu, or Horrors, are warped and twisted eldritch monsters which invade the world from "the other side" and cause havoc in the world of the living. Neither god, nor demon, nor mortal, nor beast, the Kongbu are inscrutable perversions of the natural order. However, despite their mind-boggling inhuman power, which can cause weak-minded people to go insane just from their presence, they are very much defeatable, and many "hunters" devote themselves to just that. Some claim that the Kongbu are only able to violate the world of mortals because the gods are negligent, which is also to blame for the state of affairs in the kingdoms of men...
Anyway, this is just basic stuff I threw together. Tell me what you think and what should be improved.
The Land Under Heaven is a world similar to ancient China, but with fantasy elements (and I'm also considering some science fantasy/magi-technology elements not dissimilar to FF7.
There are a couple primary conceits I'm focusing on right now, and I'm very open to suggestions at this early phase.
Conceit 1: The 12 Tribes
The setting is populated by 12 different sentient races based on the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac. I'm very in favor of having anthro characters in my RPs, but I don't want to have all my races be anthros, or all monsters, or all anything for that matter. Here are the concepts I'm leaning towards for each race:
- Rat: Rodent anthro, dwarf
- Ox: Minotaur
- Tiger: Feline anthro
- Rabbit: Lapine anthro, Elin/halfling-like race(?)
- Dragon: Kobold
- Snake: Lamia
- Horse: Centaur
- Goat: Satyr
- Monkey: Human (this is the only one I consider set in stone at this point)
- Rooster: Harpy
- Dog: Canine anthro, lycan
- Pig: Orc
The races may have personality traits in common, but every member of a race is an individual, with their own personality and their own capacity for good and evil. The races have always existed in an uneasy state with eachother, ranging from fragile peace to outright war. Making matters worse is that many humans believe that since legend names the legendary human hero Sun Wukong as the one who originally settled and tamed the land under heaven, humans have a special right to rule the land and the other tribes.
However, not all members of different races are enemies, and not all members of the same race are friends. The alliances formed by war, virtue and ambition may cause those with the fire of youth to find a bond outside what nature ordained for them.
Conceit 2: A Kingdom of Turmoil
Power struggles are nothing new in this land, but the present time in which our heroes will find themselves are a special case. The people are losing faith in the current Emperor, religious extremists and bandit warlords are causing chaos and strife in all corners of the land, and the bordering kingdoms ruled by the other tribes are beginning to nip at the heels of the human-controlled Middle Kingdom. Anyone with ideals, charisma, and a head for war might have the ability to claim control of the land for themselves, but they'll have plenty of competition.
Conceit 3: Forbidden Power
Magic is a real and understood force in the Land Under Heaven, and while formal training is heavily restricted, natural talent and folk wisdom cannot be fully curtailed.
I wanted the magic system to be out of the ordinary, but not too original (because I'm a lazy git), so I came up with a few options of things I'd like to loosely rip off.
- Magic is cast using pieces of extradimensional beings related to the Kongbu, sacrificing the user's blood and sanity to call upon cosmic power (Bloodborne)
- Spells are life-forces in themselves which take up space in the user's mind and must be 'tamed' by a mage of sufficent power and skill- otherwise there is no guarantee they will work as intended (Discworld)
- Magic spells are drawn from the natural world and living things, and expended when cast (FF8)
Conceit 4: Kongbu
Kongbu, or Horrors, are warped and twisted eldritch monsters which invade the world from "the other side" and cause havoc in the world of the living. Neither god, nor demon, nor mortal, nor beast, the Kongbu are inscrutable perversions of the natural order. However, despite their mind-boggling inhuman power, which can cause weak-minded people to go insane just from their presence, they are very much defeatable, and many "hunters" devote themselves to just that. Some claim that the Kongbu are only able to violate the world of mortals because the gods are negligent, which is also to blame for the state of affairs in the kingdoms of men...
Anyway, this is just basic stuff I threw together. Tell me what you think and what should be improved.
