[Event] [Concept] A Strange Ship Arrives In Tov Avev

[John (Zevandir) 80]

Event: A ship of strange sails berths at the harbor in Tov Avev

 

Event Planners, MC Names: Zevandir (John)

Event Type: Trade/New RP/A ship arriving

Event Date: TBD

Factions/Nations effected by the event: Oren initially, potentially, the entire world

Event Location: Tov Avev, specifically, the harbor

Summary: A ship of eastern influence arrives, bearing many possibilities

Concept Images/Screenshots: Sorry, will have the boat concept'd soon.

Other Information: A little Lore, see below.

Do you need the Event Team's assistance?: Probably

If so, do you require actors and/or builders?: Actors only, I'll build the boat.

 

 

 

I propose an event to introduce ethnic diversity among an increasingly human population of the server. I would like to propose an event, in which a traditional, Eastern styled ‘Junk’ arrives in the city of Tov Avev, the purpose of the event would be to introduce new technology from the ‘East’, and bring trade in the form of weapons and inventions, and to further try to ‘reboot’ the elves, as, the ‘eastern’ styled new race, would be predominately elven, in an attempt to adhere to the Ishikawa house of Oren. The ship, though, would be of a more Chinese influence, hence junks, and would arrive with a limited range of high quality weapons, technology and, the primary source of trade, valuable, traditional reed books detailing new mechanisms and steel forging, maybe with some alchemy and Eastern Magic.

 

Though many would argue, and I would agree, Anthos at the moment does not need anything, that there is enough to do and that there are already too many human subraces, I feel that the role play is becoming stale, that it needs a boost. And above all, I find myself saddened by the dying of the elves. Though there is an argument in this regard, that perhaps it is time for the elves to die, to retreat and become recluses, coinciding with the loss of the Orcish nation, soon to be followed by the human conquering of the dwarves. This path itself, of the land shifting to primarily human orientated, could in fact work to solve many problems and ensure the continuation of the player base and role play. In that instance, the Easterners could be just that, more humans, and the world could become in a more ethnically distinct variety of humans, rather than the brutally over played knight, white of skin and tall and strong. Regardless, I believe the introduction of Eastern influence could be worked in either situation, and that it will introduce a livelier place, possibly leading to future events of other arrivals by ship, or of the Easterners leaving altogether and coming back with an army, its entirely open to fun, fresh ideas.

 

 

Without further ado, allow me to express my idea in a story like way, in the hopes that it will capture your imagination.

 

The ship creaks, the woven ropes stretching against the pull of the sails in the breeze, the multilayered, fully battened sails of the brightly painted ship shift slowly, inextricably hauling the ship’s hull to the shore. A man stands at the stern, high above his ship on the great aft castle, his left hand lightly on the tiller, though he shifts it apparently without effort, seamlessly guiding the vessel into the harbour. The light streams past him, the rising sun glinting of the hilt of his sword at his waist. The sword, like the man, is strong and sharp, made of a finer metal than it’s western counterpart. The man is tall, with sharp eyes and features, dark hair and eyes, burnished skin reminiscent of yellow gold. In the back of his mind, he replays slowly the orders of his Emperor, the supreme ruler far over the waters.

 

 

“Li Zhou, it is my wish, and the command of the heavens, that you undertake voyage, far to the west. It is by the signs of the almighty, that we come to learn of a presence, and to you the duty falls, to venture to the land long abandoned, and rediscover its secrets. You will not go alone. Ling Tei, of the lands across the river, and Chen Zichang shall accompany you, and all their retinue. You will take also, the soldiers of my own guard, to protect you and yours, and wealth of the almighty empire, and their finest in trade goods. For we know not of this presence, be it foe or friend or doom. You shall meet it. With blessing of the heavens you must take ship, and do as must be done. Knowledge to, must accompany you. Liu Bei, of the blessed mount of the sun, shall be your final companion, and with him will come knowledge. We send to tradesmen and artisans, and the vast wealth of our own learning, to be kept in your own abode, for they are worth more than the lives of all on this voyage. Destroy them, rather than let them be taken from you.”

 

He sets his jaw, Li Zhou’s features a mask of iron. His thoughts are grim, as he eyes the great ships of the harbour ahead. They are foreign, and of such design he cannot understand their movement. Mentally, he shrugs, and says a soft word, the crew around him leaping to obey. The ship slows, and, with prodigious skill, comes to a stop against the docks. Men of expressionless faces leap of the ship, and secure her, unquestioning in their loyalty. Zhou looks to his right, and nods at Ling Tei, who strides off, to the square of men, rigid in discipline in belief, they stand amidships, facing the dock. By now, the ship is secure, the crewman are back on board. They hold axes by the bollards and rails on deck, others with spears. Men hang in the rigging, the ship is alert, at moments notice it could pull away, and be over the horizon before any ships could give pursuit. But Zhou is unworried. His mission is clear, as is his mind. His purpose is set. He walks slowly to Ling Tei, Chen Zichang by his side. A quick glance reassures him, the ship’s weapons are prepared and loaded, the great bows drawn back, locked in place, soldiers ready with the release. His face shows nothing, but Zhou of house Li is strong and ready. His spies had brought good information, he is prepared and calm. He needs not wait long, the apparent men of this land should soon arrive.

 

 

-Thanks for reading that, and now, for the true facts and figures of the ship’s contents.

The Ship
(While not yet built OOC, the design is close to finalised)
Roughly the length of a western warship at around one hundred metres (blocks), it is quite wide, and curved like a carrack, or a Chinese ship of the Ming Dynasty. It has three main sails, all tall and fully battened. The ship, true to Eastern origins, is fast, and easily handled, though slightly unsteadied if weighted lightly, due to the top heavy rigging or sail plan.

 

 

The Troops and Auxiliaries
There are around thirty crew, all of some form of fighting men, many with other skills, hence the reason they are on the highly elite mission. There are also around ten true soldiers, of the emperors own guard, incredibly well trained and armed, all with some sort of military specialisation. Every man on board is proficient with a bow, and some skill with hand to hand combat, in the martial arts form. In addition, there are the four prominent member of the crew, master swordsman and captain, Li Zhou, martial artist expert and tactician, Ling Tei, the Emperor’s own bow, (a title given to the empire’s greatest archer) Chen Zicheng also a bowyer, and the wizard of the empire, Liu Bei, also a scholar of great regard, and alchemist. Accompanying them are a small selection of cooks, doubling as clerks, each with some skill in a different field of craft. Also, a smith and his apprentice are on board, each with prodigious knowledge and skill in the craft.

The Cargo
Fine silks, woods and metal, precious gold and gems, though this is limited, some artifacts.

 

 

The Goods
Weapons, chinese broadswords and war swords, five of each, excluding each man’s personal weapons, some tradition composite reflex bows, assorted martial arts weapons, dragon spears. There is no armour on board, except for the captain and the guard, each of whom have fine steel breastplates and helms, enamelled in differing colours. There is also a large chest of tomes, and an assortment of different devices. (the idea behind the weapons is that they are all unique, so players can interpret and use them as they will, though the Li Zhou uses a Dadao, similar to a hand-and-a-half machete)

 

The inventions/devices/contraptions
TBC. Currently awaiting suggestions. However, I would like to include some form of fire lance. The following is a suggestion I heard in a skype chat:
Bronze tubes, with alchemist’s fire at the end, and a taper hole, in which to place a match of some sort, essentially, a flame thrower of limited use.
This could be expanded or restricted as necessary, merely a suggestion, as I feel the exclusivity of such materials would limit the abuse.

 

 

The tomes
The tomes are, perhaps, my favourite part, though as yet I have only two definite ideas, one of which I feel needs to be, regardless of this event, be implement, the distinction of steels.

Tome 1:
On reeds beaten and shaped, pinned to form pages, is written an account of steel and its uses, properties, and the secret to its creation.
The tome would explain the difference between traditional medieval steel, and eastern crucible steel. Essentially, medieval steel, due to the smiths of the time being unable to create a forge hot enough to properly liquidate the metal, were unable to remove the impurities from the steel completely, resulting in even the best quality kingly swords were of poor and brittle quality compared to that of the equivalent Eastern and Middle Eastern steel of the time. There is an excellent documentary out there that deals with it, as a backstory to the Viking Ulfbaehrt sword, and the incredible advantage it had due to the fact that it was hundreds of years ahead of its time, the steel imported from the East. So my point, at the time of our world, according to theory, there should be no crucible steel, as the people in the world, unless of course the dwarves have somehow figured it out, have no knowledge of how to make crucible steel, at the very least, traditional human weapons would be of inferior make compared to crucible.

Thus the reasoning for the immense value of this tome is exactly that, it bears secrets of steel that would revolutionize combat, and give an edge to whatever faction holds the new method of creation steel.

To put simply, and, as a warning, any and all meta of this information will be reported, crucible steel is created through the use of a specialised forge. The forge it itself is a brick ‘L’ shape, fatter at the bottom, and only slightly ‘L’ as the horizontal limb is very short. At the tip of the horizontal limb is a hole for the bellows, and the whole thing is built from bricks and mortar, with as much charcoal as can be packed in, and the clay crucible in which the metal is found, placed towards the top of the oven. The steel is mixed with small amounts of carbon, to achieve the desired strength. Once lit, the top is sealed, and the bellows are pumped for around a week, continuously, often helped by members of the village. The huge heat separates the slag, or the poor, not quite iron components of the ingot, which gather on the side, and attach to the clay, thus, when the smith judges the ingot ready, the fire is left to go out, the top is broken off and the crucible removed from the oven. The clay casing is broken off, the slag separates and comes with it, as the convection in the ingot has pushed the slag to the edges and top, as it is lighter than the now dense metal. From this ingot, traditional forging was used to create weapons, and in the period of reference, only about a hundred actual Viking swords of this metal were made.
((http://www.vikingrune.com/2009/01/viking-swords-ulfberht-fakes/))

 

 

Tome 2:
The tome is battered, stained here and there with what appears to be glue, countless flecks of dust  coat it, the paper of the ancient book yellowed with age, though the edges are soft from tireless use. Upon the pages are the secrets to the bow of the East, a bow of horn and sinew.
On this tome, would be the guide to creating composite bows, the Asiatic equivalent of a longbow of England, with essentially the same power, but half the draw weight, due to the incredible ingenuity of its design. The only offset, is its incredible cost and trouble to make. I haven’t yet finished researching this bow, so I won’t try to explain its magical making just yet.

Tome 3:
This book is old, very old, and the heavy oak covers and locked shut with a mighty iron chain, the book itself seems to shimmer, and to all with an inkling of magical sense, it screams at them, and mere mortals feel a chill in its presence.
This is perhaps the nicest book, as, obviously, it bears the secrets of magic. What magic, I know not yet, and I will leave it any actual magic people to decide, I won’t touch it, as clearly I’m not qualified, though I would like to be able to use some of it xD

 

 

Tome 4:
Only needs a brief overview, inventions, Chinese book of math, compasses etc. etc. I like this one, but it will need a lot of work.

 

Thanks for taking the time to read this!
Obviously, still needs a lot of work, but I think it could work. If you want to help that would be awesome, especially if you have stuff to do with magic, Asian history or anything of relevance.

Cheers!

[TheBareSheet 194]

If you ever need chinese culture stuff questions ask me!

[Bashar al-Assad 120]

It isn't called Tov Avev. I mean to match the current events of the server I thought I should correct that. The human capital is called Abresi though.

[TornadoWatch 364]

The difference between medieval an eastern quality swords is highly up to debate ; the difference in quality was not THAT bad.

Interesting idea, but it could use some work. I'm not sure if I want us getting too much new tech.

[John (Zevandir) 80]

Hi, thanks for the input :)

 

Cheers re Abresi and Tov Avev, I was so confused xD

 

Tornado, in fact, the difference in metal was actually quite extreme, for while the western swords circa 1000BC were, to put it simply, that far behind our  own modern steel of 2013, the Eastern crucible steel performs very close to modern steel, and was of a quality many steel manufacturers of today would accept. 

 

And, if I came across as trying to get Tech in, that wasn't the idea, it was to, as a secondary goal, provide almost a higher tier of weaponry, but primarily, to allow some sort of RP event or shift in the patterns, to try and shake things up, and assuming the Easterners are Elves of some form, I believe it as at quite an opportune time.

[Viper3X 1056]

Moved to the Great Library. It shall be sorted into appropriate category shortly.