PICK AN IDEA AND ＳＨＡＰＥ ＲＥＡＬＩＴＹ BECAUSE WITHOUT YOU THEY WILL CRUMBLE TO NOTHINGNESS AND BE ASH

[Aesopian 1120]

The ideas that were good have been allowed to grow complex, and those which were poor have suffered the scythe. Now, new thoughts sprout.

 

What do you think?

 

Pick the ideas below you like. Your preferences determine the future. Those that are well-liked will persist, and those that are not will be discarded.

  

1. Iron Grubgoth [Iteration 1]: Violence. Death. A three-star Michelin review. These are the things that are important to a Grubgoth, an orc who specializes in the art of cooking. The Iron Grubgoth competition – named for the title it bestows upon its champions – is the ultimate test to any aspiring orc chef, where both their culinary skill and physical might will be challenged. In short, its contenders must prepare a meal, and the greatest meal is the victor. However, they receive no ingredients. They have three days, and in that time, they must scour the wilds. They hunt and butcher beasts, recover herbs, and even boil seawater for salt. Using whatever they can gather, they must create a taste to earn the title of Iron Grubgoth. 

 

2. Dwarven Drill City [Iteration 2]: A colossal steam-powered drill a few miles underneath the world, populated mostly by dwarves, which has survived for a few thousand years. They send up smaller drill-pods full of dwarves armed with assorted digging instruments to raid the surface. Goblinkin are enslaved by them to work in the drill's boiler rooms. Their religion is all about spinning things; the more revolutions something has made, the more holy it is. 

• Supposedly, the city was launched to escape some kind of monster which destroyed their precursor civilization, but this is so long ago that the thing is probably dead. No one has any reliable information on it outside of religion. There is something to their religious belief, insofar as the head of the drill seems to be holy, for all its spinning. Undead or other abominations which touch the head of the Drill City catch on fire immediately. 
• Their weapons are variants of digging implements, such as hand-held drills, shovels, and pickaxes. All drills they have, including the city, are powered via steam technology. 
• The surface raids, if thwarted, can be salvaged for drill-pod components. A nation which captures enough of these can reverse-engineer drill-pod technology to allow them to either visit the Drill City of their own accord, or use the technology to launch a raid into any location in another nation (one use).
• Nations at war with the Drill City might have their cities collapsed underground and held hostage.
• Spending their entire lives underground makes them agoraphobic and quite pale. The raids they make on the surface are for luxury goods or foodstuffs, the latter coming into play if they don't hit a patch of underdark for a while.
• There are many rusted and unused passages deep in the bowels of the Drill City, which potentially hold strange creatures and old dwarven technological relics. The goblins are organizing a revolution, and those that escape their masters can find refuge in these tunnels.

 

3. Molten King [Iteration 2]: A dwarven city built into a volcano, ruled by a mysterious figure called the Molten King. Clad in a suit of constantly-deteriorating armor, the Molten King claims to be a spark from Yemekar's forge. He is incredibly hot (hence the armor's persistent melting), and requires regular repairs by his blacksmiths to prevent himself from crumbling apart. He sits on a huge slag throne in a council chamber suspended above the center of the volcano. Primarily, he is focused on the reconquest of the deep roads, and seeking even deeper paths into the earth.

• Underneath the armor, the Molten King is literally a pile of molten fire, like a humanoid glob of magma. When wounded, he bleeds fire.
• Their city is host to lots of neat little lava lifeforms, mainly lava worms, lava fish, lava squids, and other lava-y critters.
• You can help out the Molten King by assisting in purging the deep roads of whatever foul monsters infest them. Typically it’s like goblins, slimes, ratmen, or other creatures that live deep underground. A bit of procedural development here.
• The council he keeps consists of eight dwarves, titled based on the dwarven Brathmordakin, and fulfilling duties similar to their deific counterparts. At its head is his majordomo, who rules the city in his stead while the Molten King is on campaign.
• He has an elite guard of fire-dwarves. To enter into this sacred brotherhood, a prospective dwarf must fight the Molten King in one-on-one combat, and succeed in landing a hit on him. These martial masters are allowed to drink a drop of his blood (typically mixed into a significant amount of booze), which alters their biology to suit their burning lord.

  

4. Void Spawn Forum Game [Iteration 1]: This is a forum game beginning with a voidspawn coming into existence. We then post on the forum thread what we want the void spawn to do, be that invading the nether and acquiring a demonic army, or venturing into the spheres of the Aenguls and trying to enter their service. On a monthly-ish basis, certain instabilities in the void allow the void spawn to temporarily venture onto the server proper. Prior to this event, we are able to provide our suggestions on what we want the void spawn's goal to be while on the material world. Maybe turn the tide in a war, maybe murder folks, maybe give some guy a basket of bread, whatever you want. 

 

5. Halfling Arugula Cult [Iteration 1]: Arugula Fhtagn! In damp sea caves, covens of old halflings gather. They pray to their dark lady for deliverance from the bigguns, and so she has answered them. Most of her servants blend easily into the public, aside from their eyes (which look ever-so-slightly fishy). The horrors are kept in abandoned waterlogged burrows, monstrous creatures of sinew and scale that resemble amalgams of sea creatures more than halflings. These cults have strange and powerful magic, with which they can reshape flesh, bestow curses, and call upon sea beasts to do their bidding. It is said their ultimate ritual can drown the land beneath the tides, and that their final plan is to sink the whole world and hide it from the eyes of the Aenguls under miles of ocean.

 

6. Dream Masons [Iteration 1]: Have you ever heard of mental magic? It's like that, but better. These magic practitioners can venture into the minds of others and probe their brains for all their secrets. They also have the ability to build defenses within someone's mind so that they can better withstand the attacks of other dream masons. It's a bit like Inception. In short, these individuals can literally build defenses (maybe jumping puzzles or the sort) within the mind of a person, and can also attack others mentally (via overcoming these defenses) in order to acquire from them secrets. Maybe even alter their memories or the like, who knows.

 

7. Dream Snakes [Iteration 1]: Iblees slept for a long time. Thousands of years, in fact, before he was released in Aegis. All these dreams just built up, like layers of tar, in the dream-realms. They gave birth to horrific creatures, greatest of all being the Dream Snakes. When Iblees finally awoke, most of these vanished like all dreams do, but the Dream Snakes persisted. They had learned to do what no dream should: sleep. So, the Dream Snakes sleep, and dream of themselves. Thus, they are self-perpetuated. I'm not sure what they desire. Some might want to bring back their creator. Some might have their own wants.

 

8. Monastery Fortress [Iteration 2]: A strange fortress in Aeldin populated by an ancient Canonist order which has been holding back the tide of barbaric greenskins for thousands of years. It is one of the only places where salt paladins are made, these being men and women who gradually desiccate themselves until they are husks of people, animated by a ferocious will and belief in GOD. Underneath the monastery is a massive network of boarded-off tunnels, full of strange creatures, hidden chambers, and relics of the faith. 

• Salt paladins look like severe dehydration victims. They eat and drink very little, and when cut, their blood is like molasses. Although they are not particularly agile or strong, their endurance is virtually limitless, and they can fight for days without rest. They speak little, but if you listen very closely, you can hear them quietly praying.
• The monastery is also host to several of the Wretched Penitent. These are crucified mages which are subject to torture and a ritual geas, that renders them highly susceptible to suggestion. They are used as living magical artillery until the act of casting burns out their soul and turns them to ash, as an act of forced repentance before GOD.
• The tunnels include in them: (1) relics of the Canon, (2) an imprisoned demon, (3) a trapped darkness, (4) a hidden passage to the desert, (5) undead, (6) lots of just unused halls and prayer space, (7) saints.
• The fortress has some kind of hidden defense system that only becomes apparent once its fortifications are damaged by siege equipment. Thing the tentacle force arms from Castles III.
• The greenskins have been organizing recently under a charismatic goblin shaman calling himself Gazuhkm. He has unified most of the desert tribes, and is preparing for a massive attack on the fortress. This is no secret – his camp is visible on the edge of the horizon from the top of the castle parapets. He is very intelligent, and seems to be an expert on siege warfare. There are some murmurings that he was given secret information on this by other competing human kingdoms that would see the monastery destroyed and the valley flooded with orcs.

 

9. The God-Who-Crawls [Iteration 1]: The exact nature of the God-Who-Crawls is not known. It is an entity, possibly an Aengul, who is disconnected from the flow of time in the world. It does not naturally travel forward in time like the rest of us. It dwells sometime a few hundred years after the dawn of creation, but it is slowly dragging itself further into our history. Praying to the God-Who-Crawls is invariably lethal, as it saps years from your life and transfers them to the crawling god, allowing it to gradually clamor farther ahead in time. The God-Who-Crawls probably has armies of dinosaurs and other anachronisms. 

 

10. Elf Blood Freemasons [Iteration 2]: Blood magic is named quite aptly, considering it is literally a magic derived from blood. A little-known fact about it is that even among individual races, different bloodlines are often better suited to different forms of spellcraft. One lineage's blood might be exceptionally powerful when it comes to summoning demons, and another at conjuring fire. Certain ancient elven families have put this into practice over the course of generations, gradually shaping families via arranged marriages into living magical weapons that are capable of fantastical power. 

 

11. Ghost Aristocracies [Iteration 2]: If a ghost truly is a continuation of a person, then all their material wealth should continue to be owned by that ghost. After shuffling off the mortal coil, usually by the consequence of disease or accident, the fabulously wealthy (and often quite politically powerful) might continue to linger on as a ghost. In this, they can live quite well: going to concerts, having professional food-tasters describe food to them, and gawking at paintings. Some still manage their affairs, by ordering around servants to do particular things. Surprisingly, only a minority are interested in returning to life. Entire kingdoms have had their upper class replaced by ghosts. 

• I’m not sure how to iterate this. Do you have an idea on how to expand this concept? Post below.

 

12. Summoned God [Iteration 2]: A few hundred high elven sorcerers come together and bish-bash-boosh, summon some magical creature with their collective power that will act as their controllable god. It works for hundreds of years, until a rather unfortunate truth settles upon them, that being their own mortality. As they perish, the Summoned God grows steadily more free. The remaining mages are desperate to preserve their own lives, to prevent the Summoned God's release. 

• I’m not sure how to iterate this. Do you have an idea on how to expand this concept? Post below.

 

13. The Legacy of Krug [Iteration 1]: He strikes an imposing figure, taller than even the largest Olog. With clay-red skin, and blazing eyes, this orc calls himself Rexgoth, and the savior to his people. Clad in brutal armor, and wielding the Blade of Enrohk and Warhammer of Vulka, he is a monster on the battlefield. He says that he has been given a sacred mission by the spirits: to restore the orcs to the fearsome reputation they once had. He offers a deal to the Rex that would grant him command authority and launch a campaign of horrific conquest across the whole world. In return, all orcs who follow him will be granted the blessing of the spirits, allowing them to become as mighty as they were in the old times. In short, his followers gain orc PVP buff back (+4dmg all weapons).  

 

14. Undead Canonites [Iteration 1]: Of all the relics of the Canon, there are four which hold a special place in the church. Almost always, these relics are shreds of cloth, or a single bone, or a chosen blade, imbued with some fragment of the raw power of GOD. However, for these four relics, they are not some minor artifact, but rather entire men, who (un)live eternally by the grace of heaven. They are immune to all magic, both deific and voidal. They are also skeletons.

• The Ark Saint: Of all the deathless saints, he is the most sane. Unfortunately, he also is confined to a box. He’s the oldest of the ones in existence, having lived in his box for nearly eight-hundred years. Frequently, he is sought out by kings to provide council, as he is very wise from all his life experience. His past-times include watching plays and having people describes tastes and smells to him in great detail.
• The Fire Saint: One of the ultimate weapons of the church, the fire saint is a terror on the battlefield. His name neatly describes what he is: a perpetually flaming skeleton. His sword is also constantly on fire. It’s pretty awful to fight him. He also wears armor and is a rather proficient knight, enough so that even minus the whole totally-flaming-body he would be a difficult combatant. Unfortunately, he’s quite mad – he is possessed of a powerful delusion that he is still alive, and that any enemy of the church is automatically an orc.
• The Bone Saint: This saint is not able to move by his own volition. Instead, he has a group of monk-servants who handle this task for him. Each holds on to a few angulation points on his body, and move his bones around to mimic walking, talking, and even breathing. He claims that he is still able to see and feel the world through his empty sockets and fleshless fingers. He can even speak, which comes out piecemeal from the mouths of his servants.
• The Star Saint: Even among the sacred, the star saint is unique. They are hidden away by the church, and we know excruciatingly little about them. We do not even know who they were in life. They are probably skeletal, like the rest. Or maybe not!

 

15. October King: [J10:28]

[JoanOfArc 4586]

@Lhindir_this is where you get your character ideas huh

[Glade 521]

Choose your own void horror adventure :D