###“Hey! Yer the new recruits, huh? Well, don’t screw this up. The Queen’s havin’ a speech at the palace tomorrow, and ye’ve got an important mission. Folk from everywhere will be there to celebrate and kiss ass. No you dimwit, not a donkey. Ye loiter-sacks will stay here and decorate the streets outside the bailey with yer helmets on. Just let everyone see that polished armor and act like yer furniture. See anything suspicious, just tell Sir Frost and don’t plowin’ leave yer post! Yer not the Queen’s guard. That badge just shows ye owe yer lives to this kingdom, nothin’ else.”
The Queen of Calypsa is with child, such is the beginning of this tale. The fate for the kingdom is at stake when everything collapses from the top. You’re a new recruit to the Queen’s guard, not the royal guard mind you.
Hello! As the narrator, I welcome you to this game. The game is open for anyone who shares a passion for writing and roleplaying. The only tip I have is that Storium-games blossom through active participation, regardless of experience to writing or roleplay.
I want to start off by saying this game is based on Gaudialis ‘s previous work on Etherea, and I will take the reins on this sub-story. It will not be as freeform and loose as previous games, but instead encourage everyone to interact and solve problems together. The narrating will rely on a similar mindset as Burning Wheel [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Burning_Wheel]. The events of this session take place after (https://storium.com/game/etherea-lisle/chapter-1/scene-1) but don’t feel compelled to read it, it will not be required of you! I wish you all great time playing, or spectating this roleplaying game!
The Setting
Welcome to the world of Etherea. The plot takes place in parts of L’Isle (pronounced “Leel”), one of several island-continents scattered about Etherea’s great ocean.
Map of L’Isle: [https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B4aJOQTIZ5QZRUJGWjhYWVY2a1k]
The Plot
Devastating political upheaval is about to occur in Calypsa, and this will have consequences for all of L’Isle. There is varying degrees of dissent between the kingdoms of L’Isle; Calypsa, Dakarta, L’Montaigne and Medina. Most strongly, there are clashing interests between Dakarta and Calypsa, two neighbouring lands with very different religion and culture.
The World
There are only humans on this world. No elves or dwarves, etc. Mythical creatures exist but are so rarely seen as to be considered legendary by the average person.
Technology
Tech level is medieval—no gunpowder used in weapons. The setting is high fantasy, so magic exists and is well known. It, like anything, is a skill that most people can learn if they are willing to devote many years of study to learn it.
Religion
Deities of Etherea ascend to Godhood, starting life as a human. The deaths of deities and the ascension of new deities are rare occurrences. Currently, there has not been a new ascension for at least a thousand years. Here is a compilation of the Gods of L’Isle.
[https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B4aJOQTIZ5QZU0lHU1FRSmFJUE0]
Deities actively involve themselves in the lives of particular people, aside from their clergy, to serve them. This is rare, and the relationship between deity and such a follower varies from deity to deity. Some such pairs have a companionable relationship; others are very much master and servant.
The kingdoms of L’Isle
Calypsa
Capital: Geneva
Calypsa is located in the northwestern plains of L’Isle. Its climate is temperate and its soil arable. It has forests and pasture-lands. Its primary exports are wool, cereal grains, lumber, textiles, cotton, silk, beer, wine, and hard cider.
Calypsa is ruled by Queen Elenis of Calypsa who, at age 29, is expected to give birth to the heir soon.
Its people mostly follow the Three Lords of Justice (commonly known as The Three) and the goddess Mista, a protector of nature, who is served by druids.
Dakarta
Capital: Castelle
Dakarta is located in the southwestern swamps of L’Isle. Its climate is hot and humid, almost jungle-like but too temperate for that. Its primary exports are rice, rice wine, alligator-hide products, various esoteric poisons, peppers, hot sauce, sugar cane, gourds, mushrooms, eel ink, and seafood.
Dakarta also claims a small island, called Yllaris, off the southern coast. This is the home of Dakarta’s current rulers, Queen Folashadae, and her husband, King Abassi.
Folashadae is a formidable sorceress and is High Priestess of the state religion, as her husband is its High Priest. Imoset Palace, the royal residence, is considered to be impregnable, protected as it is not only by sturdy construction but also by powerful protective spells.
Dakartans worship the Seven Spirits of the Abyss, usually just called The Seven. The clergy of The Seven practice the dark arts, and their rituals are feared not only by Trinists, but also by their own followers. Worshipers of The Three, Trinists, (Calypsan and L’Montaigne mostly) are vehemently opposed to them and their followers.
A form of devotion to The Seven exists whose clergy are called the Wise Ones of the Swamps. They take a more philosophical, neutral view of The Seven than the state-established clergy do. Tutelage in Swamp Wisdom is from master to apprentice. Who the Modres and Fadres-Eld are is passed along by word of mouth.
L’Montaigne
Capital: Highgate
The Jakar Mountains run vertically down through L’Isle, bisecting the continent so that Calypsa and Dakarta extend three-fourths of the way across L’Isle, while Medina takes up the easternmost fourth of land from north to south.
Nestled in a large, fertile valley is the Kingdom of L’Montaigne, home to a mix of peoples from all over the rest of L’Isle. Here can be found people of the Dakartan ancestral stock, druids, and reclusive mountain dwellers distantly related to the desert nomads. Ancient languages are spoken here, from Old High Dakartan, to an ancient version of the desert nomads’ language, to Calypsan as the trade tongue.
The climate is mostly cool in summer and bitterly cold and snow-locked in the winter.
In L’Montaigne’s borders lies the Withren Forest, a mysterious, dense forest that people are warned not to enter save at their peril, for fear of its ghosts.
L’Montaigne’s exports include lumber, mined metals, gems, and quarried stone, medicinal herbs, furs, molasses, cheese, herb teas, and river fish.
It is currently ruled by Myradin, Duke of Greenwall, who holds it in trust for the true rulers, who have disappeared.
Medina
Major Cities: Agrabah, Ah-Gharad, Jaq-ti
Medina occupies the eastern part of L’Isle. Save for the coastal regions and the western part of it that abuts the Jakar Mountains, Medina is desert and is home not to a kingdom as such but to several city-states that are each ruled over by a sultan. Political alliances between and among these city-states constantly shift. At any time one or more of them are likely to be at war with each other.
In the deeper desert nomadic tribes roam whose people rarely, if ever, venture near the cities, save to buy and sell the hardy desert horses that they breed. These are considered to be some of the finest horses in the world, and the nomadic people are experts at breeding, training, and riding them.
Medina’s primary exports include glass, salt, sandstone, ceramics, figs, dates, olives and olive oil, and race-horses.
Medinans don’t really have a state religion because there is no over-arching state. They worship various local and ancestral gods. The nomads have their own deities, but they are very private about their religious practices.
Deities are very limited in how they may affect the mortal world. Mortos may not kill everyone. Mista may not cause forests to take root in cities overnight, and so on. It causes a deity suffering if they extend their power beyond the scope of their influence.
Game References
If you want to know some more details about the world, here’s your chance! There is a site where some references have been posted from the previous L’Isle game. Here, on LiveJournal: http://etherea-lisle.livejournal.com/
Credits
The original email version of this game was created back in 1998 by Janet DelaCroix, and it was called Imperial Secrets, aka IMS.
This Storium version of the game uses elements from the original Imperial Secrets but also incorporates different cultural elements created by the Storium writers.
Hosted and narrated by:
Alotte
Started 07/08/16.
Scenes played: 5
License: Community License
