The Unnamed World [Quote based Worldbuilding Game]

Varhira Verhar Varotasa to Galahan Kolejinu Worldwriter, travel companion and long time friend of Baron D'ardio.

D'ardio and Worldwriter met her as they explored the caves in the canyon that lies to the east of the Tundra of Jin.
They found a cave with several tunnels branching off of it and all those tunnels were filled with rows and rows of shelves stuffed full with books.
The age of the woman living there was impossible to determine. She was bald and her tanned skin was covered with ritualistic scars and painted with strange patterns.
Strangest of all was a band of unidentifiable runic script that seemed to loop back on itself as it wound around her body, forming an endless repeating chant.
Despite her solitude and appearance she seemed perfectly sane and invited them in for tea.

She told them little about herself but she elaborated a little about her tattoos and even let them browse through her library before they left. To their wonder they found books that were centuries old and written in all kinds of languages, some were even written in the ancient language of the Tu Heirn Da.

"So you got your sword and spear back, and come to challenge me again, hm? Didn't work out so well for you the last time, didn't it?"

 

Varhira Verhar Varotasa to the reawakened Warrior Princess. Their battle did go much differently this time, partially because spending centuries as a completely aware living statue gave Princess a bit of a death wish but mostly because Varhira Verhar Varotasa had outlived her life of villainy ages ago. Varhira Verhar Varotasa deliberately lost forcing Princess to face the prospect of living on without the one person who might understand her. Neither died that day.

"I don't have a name. My family was destroyed before I was old enough for the naming ceremony, before any of us were. My title is Secondborn Daughter of Archfuurst Alehi Il'uDavann yes that Archfuurst. As you can plainly see, you can't ransom me and I know you won't kill me. As I'm wanted simply dead you can't even collect the bounty. This leaves you with two choices: let me go or let me join you. If you let me go, I'll just follow you. Tee Hee!"

 

--Ekatharina, secondborn daughter of Archfuurst Alehi Il'uDavann to Silvestra Grandair, bandit queen of the uncontested lands. At that time she had been on the run from her persuers for weeks and without water for days. She had been sepperated from the rest of her family during the initial frantic flight from the capitol and would not see any of her siblings again until almost two years later when she happened upon the younger twins.

"I'll tell you, Senn must be such a wonderful place. I hear it heals body and mind from all manner of ills. Apparently, meditating on it's shores clears the soul of all evil or something like that.
Mistress Jurah bon Tremurila of Muval is the most prominent example. After returning from some travels a few years ago her mental state slowly detiriorated until she suffered a psychotic break. We were all really concerned about her. She barely left her estate, wouldn't even see her daughter and we heard frankly shocking rumors about her. But then she took another trip, this time to Senn.
And when she came back she was completely transformed, almost good as new, right as rain. Barely had a problem since then..."

Edit:
OOC: I don't really have access to a computer right now since I'm traveling at the moment and copypasting on the phone is a pain, so I'll update the compendium with the latest quotes when I'm back.

 

Unimportant member of the Order of the Laughing Star giving Agent Peacock info on the location of a certain dangerous gem.

"I think a century and a half is a full life as a hermit. I shall live the life of a mercenary once more. Would you like to come with me, "Princess?""
"Just answer me a question if you would. Was I a princess at all? Ever?"

 

OOC:I'm pretty sure this was a contradiction. Wasn't Tiabolt the one who vanquished Sinabar?

Unless...Valiant IS Tiabolt. 0.0

 

- Excerpt from the Memoirs of one Aliandre Lesar, famously known as the Warrior Princess. Suffering from a peculiarly selective form of amnesia, she would spend the next decade accompanying Varhira Verhar Varotasa in her journeys, seeking to discover the truth. They parted following an encounter with Bilal, whom Aliandre later married.



"It's not like I even carry it around with me anymore. Why can't anyone let it go?"

 

Nope, that was a different dream demon, called Sinalan. I deliberatly gave them similar names.

-- Mistress Jurah bon Tremurila of Muval, at the age of 79, to herself.
In her later days, the poor woman once again had bouts of madness, rambling incoherent nonsense when provoked. After her daughter caught her burying her jewlery in the garden she took a stand and sent her away to be cared for in St. Lebioda's Hospital. She spent her final days there and died in the loving company of her three daughters.

"You were hired to kill Atarl of the scales?!
Well, I guess somebody wants you dead pretty badly... "

 

-Apocryphally attributed to the Knight of the Rusty Saw, supposedly to a member of the Spirit Court. In certain parts the phrase "hired to kill Atarl of the scales" has become a euphemism for suspicious disappearances.


"In due time, those heretics shall see their folly. For now we do our best.

Now hurry up. Bring me the next Tome."

 

--Karn Vol, Ziqebesi searcher to his loyal servant Harrunhin, during the civil war of Ziqebe as one of his rivals' troops stormed his last sanctuary.

"Ahh, Varhira Verhar Varotasa, fancy seeing the great grey witch of old here.
How old are you now? 600 years? 900? over a thousand? It doesn't really matter anymore, you'll always be little Var Lesar to me.

I even heard you met your little princess again. Who'd have guessed that the Tu Heirn Da's little pet project would outlive them.
Their perfect warrior, unstoppable assassin, general for their armies and instrument of death to guard their empire all in one.
What was it they would have called her?
Ah yes... Shar Aineth, war incarnate.
Those fools always dabbled in things that should be left alone, and you were no better after all, you helped them create her.

And for what?
You must have known that she would come far to late.
In the end she only ever saw the broken remnants of the empire she should have served eternally, the Laruvian Fever saw to that.
I know.
I watched.
I watched as the sickness gnawed on the empire's bones until there was nothing left but ashes and decay.

Well, in the end she found her slice of happiness, and I find you here, on the good old shores of Sen, digging for ancient gems. Fancy that."

 

His living followers know him as Alpha Omega, many in Senavar's army and government would recognize his form as Fangofur, but Varhira Verhar Varotasa knew him as her childhood friend Frani aka Frangil the snake-tounged. His hatred of the empire saw him working to ensure it would never rise again. This in turn led to knowledge of the Star Gods and the modification of the "vessel-filling ritual" to turn him into a body hopping spirt, the birth of Biomancy.

And after that bombshell something fluffy.
"My love, whatever I did to deserve you, I swear it wasn't enough."
"I beg to disagree, but I get the feeling that you're pretty determined to win any "love you more" fights.
"I'm serious!"
"So am I! I've never seen you back down, ever! Can't risk it."

 

OOC:Love the Alpha Omega bit. I was trying to come up with some nefarious godlike being and that fit the bill quite nicely. (Even if he's not quite a god).

-A conversation recounted by Lian, one of Bilal the Peacebringer's sons, in relating the tale of his parent's enduring love. Later included, verbatim, in an adaptation of their tale by the playwright Amalier. A Weapon of Peace is considered a timeless masterpiece despite its controversial nature.



"Silence! ...I will not see this court overturned by mere sentiment. The time for such things has passed. Now is the time for the truth."

 

- Cyril The Lion. His last words, his last act. Considered a noble traitor among the coastal cities. Those who've taken the mantle of The Lion have been treated with the Respect and caution ever since. For in taking up the title those men have given up everything in the name of exacting a terrible justice. For his last act Cyril The Lion strode into the court of the King Leopold II and slew him. Not through a trial or by way of accusation. He ran him through with a blade. Leopold's royal father's blade in fact.
It had been a gift to Cyril from Leopold I following the marriage between Cyril and the Princess Elise. Leopold II sister. Leopold II was a notorious womanizer and never married as a result, becoming increasingly obsessed with a personal legacy as he aged, and some say descended into madness. he had his sister and three of her four children killed in an attempt to secure the throne for one of his bastards. Cyril and his youngest daughter were as fortune would have it out that morning. Cyril would find evidence of his brother-in-law's complicity and vow to see his family's murderer brought to Justice. Regardless that the man was a king.

"My mother is a banker's daughter certainly. But you don't know my father. Ill give you a hint. My father is this city. You don't know his name, but you all whisper of him in the night. Do not for a second think me a bargaining chip, Do not for a second think that I am locked in here with you. By morning your entire organization is going to claw itself apart, my father won't need to have lifted a finger and my dowry will be enough for a prince."

 

-"The City's Daughter" the night that the Red Talon crime syndicate was found horribly and brutally murdered.

"I've had a Eureka moment that I must put down to blueprint, but all my papers are neither print nor blue. TO THE LAB!"

 

- Lord Crendal Winnet's second son Erstwhile Winnet, better known as "Erstwhile the Deranged". The words were recorded by his wife Faithful Winnet nee Saliban the day he was locked away for his own good. Said she, "I don't even know what a 'Eureka moment' is! Do you?"

"It was truly inspiring. Who could have guessed that so many should come to our aid? That the warning of the dreadful hour should be heeded by every single member of our Holy Order? Truly, the stars did laugh that night."

 

Grandmaster Yun of the Sacred Following of the Star Gods after the Night of Maiming. The Laughing Star Order, acting on an anonymous tip, put one of the Following's main hidden strongholds to siege. When Yun sent out a call for aid he expected enough reinforcements to cause some confusion so he and his inner circle could escape, torching everything they couldn't carry. He could not have foreseen an army strong enough to inflict 2/3s casualties upon the besiegers, routing the remainder.

"Joke... joke... got it! A Tinker Tailor agent walks into a bar and says, "Ow." A few minutes later a Fatty Crab agent walks into the bar and also says, "Ow." Mere moments later a Corset agent walks into the bar saying,"Ow." The Spirit Court agent slash bartender who set up this intraagency meeting looks at the other three bemusedly before asking flatly, "Couldn't any of you have ducked?" Giddit, do ya giddit?"

 

-An eerie song popular among the children of Ziqebe, sung to the tune of Death lies Beyond the Hill. Supposed to have originated from the tale of a beggar, when the children who heard him—fascinated by the accent of a foreign land—began repeating it until it took on a life of its own.

For many in Ziqebe it remains a primary source for knowledge of the Westlands. The Spirit Court has reportedly sought to extinguish it, but to no avail, their inexperience among the Ziqebe people frustrating all efforts to remove their secrets from the public eye.



"It hurts, the knowledge that less than a third of you shall live to see the sunrise. However, it would pain me much more to see the sun rising over our defeat. Let us press on, that the sun may see us victorious in our death, as even in life. For why else do we fight?"

 

-Fangofur, to his men before the battle of the forgotten marshes. The battle went indeed badly, the troops of the Senavar republic not suited for open battle and hopelessly outmached by the NEC's troops. The newie archerss especially took a heavy toll on their numbers. In the end only about a tenth of their number survived.

"When Frangil left the followers, he took their secrets with him.
Over time he used the knowledge the stars had granted them to create the dark art of Biomancy.
In the early years after that the mad fucker left quite the trail of destruction and horror in his wake.

We haven't heard anything about his movements in the last hundred years but we're sure hes still around somewhere. After all, every now and then somebody pops up that knows the art, so he is still teaching it to his followers. Goddam fanatics, the bunch of them.
The last one of his students we know of was some mad bitch that created a bunch of monsters and tried to conquer the tundra afew years ago.

The locals called her the "desecrator of life". I tell you, they know nothing about desecration, I saw drawing of some of the "artworks" Frangil himself left behind. Couldn't eat anything for a week after that."

OOC: The compendium is once more up to date. Sorry for the long delay, RL kept me busy.
Although working on the compendium is usually fun because I get to see how insanely detailed/interconnected the world already is, its rather timeconsuming.
For all of you who have been participating, I'll have you know that I am working on a quest set in the unnamed world. It'll likely be a some sort of Heist, were you have to steal something or another. It'll involve scouting out the target, making a plan to reach it, preparing said plan, hiring the right people to help you execute it, actually stealing the thing and then getting away.
Still working on the details though, and I want to get some more writing practice first, so it will be a while until it starts. If anybody wants to contribute ideas for the quest, pm me.
In the meantime, whoever is interested can check out my first quest, The southern Temple. Its just starting so you haven't missed much.
[/shameless self promotion ]

 

Exalt Willis Jag to his own Exalt Prenominative, explaining why they were allowing an obvious Elder Follower just leave with a strange man with a scorpion tail in search of the sorcerer that cursed him. To say the Order and the Following don't get on is an understatement of massive proportions, but they can both agree that mortals using profane corruptions of divine arts ranks somewhat higher than attacks of opportunity against each other. They will never willingly work together, but they will at least stay out of each others way should there be reason to believe "Alpha Omega" or his followers are about.

"Well I suppose you do at least deserve to know what your family has got caught up, Mirabeth."

"Minerva."

"That gem is dangerous and needs to be destroyed. Spending to much time with it will, I suppose you could say it curses you. But that's just a side effect, like smoke is a side effect of fire. It's true potential is near limitless for one who knows the secretes necessary to access it's power. It can do much, both good and ill. But the real problem is, like all things of enough strength, it has a will. A will to be used, nothing more nothing less. In order to ensure it is it will tempt all potential wielders with their most base and selfish desires. I've never heard of anyone resisting it and I now that many have tried to use it for the good of others. Better to just destroy it. Do you understand Mimi?"

 

-Varhira, talking to Minerva about the stone her mother had hid on Sen.
Of course, Minerva didn't entirely believe Varhira when she said that she intended to destroy it.
But when faced with a centuries old witch, you don't argue. You smile and nod and give her what she wants.


"So here is something I still don't get. Why did they start the rebellion? I mean the official reason is convincing enough, but theres gotta be more to it, right?"

OOC: Why did they start it?
We never came up with a reason iirc. Seems a shame to have such a hole in the lore.
As best as I can tell it might have had something to do with the order and what they found during the great excavation. Or maybe they were just power hungry? Or was it something else?
Or are they talking about a completely different rebellion?

Anyway, just in case it helps, all the posts that mentioned the rebellion against the kingdom are in the tab 'The order of the laughing star' in the compendium.

 

I realize that the last quote might be asking a bit much.
I'll leave it open for now, and add another, easier quote instead so the worldbuilding game can continue.
If anybody has any good ideas in the future you can use it as a setup to explain the rebellion's cause.

"No, you can't use your power on me, the shard of Naharanis protects me!"

 

OOC: Hm...there sure s a lot built up XP

 

Yeah, its grown far beyond what I imagined it would be. It was fun watching you read, I was tracking your progress by watching the likes come in XD

 

Some spunky brat, the young grand daughter of a knight that participated in the rebellion. She will later become skilled in the use of staves, wooden swords, real swords, chopsticks, and wooden spoons.

Someone's famous last words from an old play with no surviving manuscript, sometimes peasant children will play their own version of it.

(I have no idea what im actually doing)

"Foul beast! Give me your blood and power, so that I may use you as a stepping stone to transcend beyond the constraints of mortality!"

 

OOC: In general, it would be best if you gave them a more concrete name/title so its easier for us to refer to her when we include her in further quotes.
Also, if she has a name I can list her properly in the 'mentioned people' tab.
The quote is great though.

--Frangil, during his battle with Jagarath the beautiful, emmisary of wrath, the only star god who actaully managed to enter a vessel in the last millenium (that we know of).

Frangil and his lover (who's name is lost to history), who as followers themselves at the time, had used their knowledge to tap into, and bind themselves to two plains of power.
His lover had bound herself to the Wariuha, the plain of power that is made up of liquid thoughts (no better description is available).
The stargods themselves had taken the essence of thought from there that they had used to ascend the mortals of this world from unthinking beasts into creatures with purpose.
Frangil on the other hand, had bound himself to Akamoro, the plain of self consuming growth.
It is from there that the essence of all life stems, for where the fabrik between plains grows thin and ragged, and Akamoro touches our world, life relentlessly begins and ends and begins anew.
They had done this in secret and made sure to destroy all the knowledge they had used to do it when they left, an act that crippled the followers for centuries.
When a vessel was found, Frangil and his lover were as powerful as they thought they could be and ready to extract the final ingrediant that sepperated them from godhood.

The ritual that would allow Jagarath to enter his vessel was not yet complete, and thus he was in an uncommonly vulnurable state when they attacked.
Still, it took all the power Frangil and his lover could summon to defeat him and the followers conducting the ritual, and Frangil's lover was lethally wounded during the battle and died shortly afterwards.
Frangil left the order behind after that, having ripped the shard of power from Jagarath that would later become the cornerstone for his biomancy.
In the centuries to come, he would use it to grow more powerful than he had ever dreamed to be.


"Selara, I swear it by the blood we shed and the love that bound us, I will bring you back to this world!"

 

Want me to edit then?

 

You can leave it as it is if you want. Or you can change it if you can think of a name or other addition you like. I was just mentioning it for the future in case you intend to post more often. (which I do hope)

Anyway, I only update the compendium every 20 posts or so and did just a few days ago, so you have plenty of time to think of something if you want to

 

A young Yunny LenoViz to the love of his life after her death of wasting disease. Selara Benaless was a true believer of the Diade religion and a shoo-in for the city's imperator before she got sick. Despite Yunny's promise he failed in his quest and eventually gave up when even the Blessed Necromancers that serve the "Enlightened Jailer" could find no trace of her passing. Combined with some small knowledge of the soulless and he truly saw no point.

Of course any Diade child could have warned him about the dangers of failing to keep at least trying to keep such a promise. LenoViz's head torturer was the first victim of his mistake but would not be the last.

"What gives you the right-?"

"My name. My blood. Seventeen Gods-Damn years. I HAVE EVERY RIGHT!"

 

Sylvana I, the "lioness" Queen (Daughter of Cyril the and Leopold III (formerly Tigrio, Duke of Fuegorivera, and bastard son of Leopold I) as they negotiated the end of the Third War of the Lions. She would retain her title as Duchess of Blackrock, the 'Diamond Crown' passing to her daughter, Leopold III would retain/regain the 'Golden Crown' and marry his niece to jointly govern the capital. Creating the tradition that Sabina IV and Gruvar I would, almost 150 years later, use to restructure the High Court around the Law of the People (formally only used in the Merchant Court).

-- From "The Red Lion: A Students Guide to Our History". an interbella history textbook considered fairly honest but so abbreviated and disjointed to be of little use.

-----------------

"Oh, Son of my Beloveds, I weep not for my daughter, or you mother. But for you that must bury them here. And with them our love for your father, my husband. I try to weep tears of rage, for we must avenge them, but I find only sorrow in my heart. Forgive this weak old woman her foolishness."

"Mother of my heart, Beloved of my body's Mother. Let today be for sorrow and for the poison of wine. And tomorrow we can speak of poison in wine."

 

An passage from the Popular Classic opera "The last Daughter of the Empire." A tale of a tragic comedy of a Feuding Dynasty where the main character, a bastard Daughter raised by The Empress forsakes her Gender for the chance to survive her family's twisted ambitions and become emperior and marry the Empress that raised her as a daughter. Possibly based on a true story.



"There is a promise of music and death, we must pick up our instruments and begin the hard task of ending this dance of bloody whispers and forgotten crimes."

"All things must end, even Beauty" whispered the plague mistress to her lover.

 

I didn't expect anybody to post here again

-- Juliana Sevaroux the plague mistress and Frangil many, many years before the rebellion.
These days he doesn't speak of her to anyone, but among Frangil's followers it is rumoured that Juliana had helped Frangil modify the plague he unleashed to make it as virulent and deadly as it was, and that he, in turn, taught her his gift of biomancy. It is known however that Juliana was found and killed more than fifty years later in the lands north of the desert plains of Hanloth. It is speculated that she had lived there for some time and that she had had a secret lab there somewhere, although it was never found.


"The golden monastary of Aragan is without a doubt the greatest and most secure bank on the continent, and maybe even beyond. To my knowlwdge nobody has yet managed to get away with even a single coin of the vast treasure it holds. A great mystery surrounds the vault, as nobody but the monks has ever been inside, and the monks undergo a special procedure to wipe their memories of the place before they are released from service."