Dungeon Keepers: TSW OOC Thread

I forgot to ask, how goes the map?

I have drafted the continent and the geographic features. When my school workload allows me, I will upload it to the computer, make it look good, then I can show you an unlabelled physical map. We may then add names and cities, and it will be ready to go. Due to said workload, this may be delayed.

Good news. I have almost finished. When I find another spare hour I should have enough time to insert a Key, the latitudes and longitudes and a title, apply small effects to make it look better and then upload it. We can then decide on names and cities and add the description of it to the OP.

Sounds fantastic!

What cav said! In any case, you timed this perfectly. I just got Internet connection back in my new house, so as soon as you're done I can finish the last few parts of the OP.

Good to know I haven't been keeping anyone waiting.

For your latest addition to the OP, in 3.3, I suggest adding to the second paragraph a reminder that as this is a very magical world 'great beasts' or 'powerful humans' are in no way implausible. How you word that is up to you, and it is merely a suggestion to reinforce the point.

Here be the map!

Full size here: https://2img.net/r/ihimizer/img41/6715/kex3.png

Wow. Color me impressed, there's no way I could have come up with something nearly as good. It will be great once we just spend a few minutes plopping done cities and naming the geographic regions, but we could easily go an extra mile by indicating water currents and typical weather patterns via colored arrows.

One thing that needs to be decided is where to place the city that this RP will begin at. My first thought was to put it someplace central, but I expect most people will just flee through the portals that open up. I'm thinking it should be somewhere slightly out of the way, so that the prime locations can have large cities to conquer or be potential locations for a dungeon.

I'll clarify 3.3 like you suggested, and then maybe try to finish up the OP.

Well, the next few sections proved a bit trickier to write than I expected so I stopped after 4.3. I'm not sure if the information is organized all that well and easy to find, especially with the overlap between 4.2 and 4.3. Any feedback on that, or on the overall clarity and content of what I've written would be greatly appreciated, since this information on magic is going to be essential for people to understand the RP.

Also, I'm thinking about just deleting all of 4.4 and then creating a short (as in around 10 sentences) history of Elysian. Any objections to that?

I think our starting city could be around 4°N24°E, at the joining of the two rivers in the tropical region. This would fulfil the requirements of a large city while not taking up other more strategic locations for Dungeons and conquest.

4.2, paragraph 2, first line, 'magical' should be 'magic'.

It is good. For 4.4, summarise the history of Outremear, then add Elysium's. A vague overview of Outremear's history is fine.

"Keep in mind that magical is very prevalent"

*facepalm*


On the topic of the map, I agree that those coordinates be a decent spot to start. I think that across the map should be scattered about a dozen (or maybe a little more) large cities, with populations well over 50,000. Ideally they would be placed in good locations and be tempting, albeit difficult, to conquer. Personally I think it would be better if we didn't place any other cities on the map.

Anybody could then invent smaller cities, and once their Keeper conquers or razes them, those smaller ones could be added on the map. To have a decent number of these small cities all over the place would crowd the map and leave less spots open for dungeons.

So do either of you two want to add the finishing touches to the map, or would you rather I do it?

We all make typos every now and then. That's one reason I'm proof-reading the OP, to minimise the amount of errors.


We don't have to place small cities on the map. That would be quite high maintenance, anyway. In fact, because of the coordinates, we don't have to place dungeons on the map either. Their positions can instead be given by coordinates and a sentence giving further clarification (as I did for that city). Then again, a physical mark on the map would make things easier. But having co-ords as well will help between times we can update the map.

I can give a few good points for cities.
48N13W
46N16E
10N37W (maybe on the island, like New York City, or maybe not)
2N30E
23S16E
Those are all by river deltas, prime spots for cities.
4N24E (our starting city)
11N13W
Both on confluences of rivers. Good trade locations.
40N6W
I picture something physically like Egypt- desert plains flooded seasonally, in this case by melt-water.
16N5W
By that lake (probably closer to an inland sea, really)
30S20W
On an island, but little competition and good volcanic soil. Major port for that entire island.

That's ten. I could add a few more, but it may start to get crowded. There would of course be many medium-sized and minor cities in other places.

I'll add them to the map. But first I want to confirm all other details to add. In designing the biomes, I decided the polar cyclone, the wind around the north pole (and also the south), would go from East to West (see the desert behind the mountain range), and the winds around the equator would go from West to East (see the jungle on the west coast). Should I mark them on the map, or just leave them to the description (I think description, as we did for Outremear)? Shall we add city names, or just leave them until they become important? Shall we add the names of geographical features? And what shall they be?

Oh, and what is the native language of Elysium? Do they all speak the same language or are there many different languages?

In real life since Antarctica touches no other continent, it has a huge circumpolar current. Waves can be huge, around twenty meters tall, near the southern reaches of Antartica. I think having absolutely nothing down on the southern hemisphere of Elysium would only magnify this effect, so all the massive storms would probably be blown up from the south whenever the wind goes in that direction and is strong enough. Should this be mentioned?

We can just add descriptions of wind and weather, but for ease of reference I think the cities and geographic features should be named. I'm not opposed to having the whole continent speak one language with different dialects. Maybe this language could be the same as Outremar's as well. With this RP on Earth, being unable to talk to humans until I found some way to magically learn their tongue was a dumb and not-so-fun obstacle to hurtle.

Considering that Sophist created this world, it would be reasonable, and of course a lot more convenient, for them to speak the same language as Outremear.

The Southern reaches of Antarctica are with-in the continent, considering it is the South Pole. Wording aside, I get what you're saying. The ocean to the south of Elysium would thus be very perilous, full of storms, strong winds and large waves. I picture that a southern ice-cap will also exist, but it will be a floating one like the North pole. And one which isn't really worth the bother of visiting.

Occasionally storms could be blown up from the south, or simply cold currents which promote storms. This would materialise as monsoons in the east coast (no further North than the tropics).

Currents would be such that on the East coast it is easiest to sail towards the equator while on the West coast it is easiest to sail away from the equator. There are currents going both ways along the South coast.

Weather correlates roughly to biome. Jungle obviously receives a lot of rain. Tropics receive a fair bit of rain too. The desert is mostly rain free, except for maybe the coastal area. Tundra is cold and has storms. Plains vary. The plains along the south coast would be colder and rainier than plains and forest elsewhere. The highlands are of course cold.

The desert, rivers, inland seas/lakes, mountain ranges, the jungle and that large island should be named. Just let me try some names on Google Translate.
Desert: Erimos (desert in Greek)
River in desert: Myra (derived from flood in Greek)
Lake to North: Ruhig (serene in German)
East coast mountain range: Hindrun Ranges (barrier in Icelandic)
Central mountain range: Izvor Ranges (source in Croatian)
Jungle: Oerwoud (jungle in Afrikaans)
River in tropics: Ruziti (derived from join in Croatian)
River in jungle: Ghura River (winding in Bengali)
Lake near central mountains: Saplaya (derived from inland in Filipino)
River going south from central mountains: Verlang River (derived from slow in German)

I'm named out for now. These should do to get us thinking.

Were I coming up with the names myself, they'd sound more fastastical. For instance, I might name the jungle Stranglewood, the desert Scorched Plains, the northern tundra island Winter's Horn, and so on. Yours sound much more like actual names, which is probably better. I think most of the cities should have Latin names, because that language can just sound nice and archaic, and some people might actually be able to understand the meaning of the names.

Some possible city names:

Paterdomus (Roughly 'Father's House', would probably have a cathedral or temple as its main feature)
Nostera (Even more roughly, 'Our Land')
Ensis'Lucas ('Blade Grove', probably a town located in a place with pines or other prickly trees)
Altearx ('High Fortress')

Well, those are just a few names. The bottom two aren't great and archaix sounding, but Nostera and Paterdomus sound good if you ask me.

Those are good city names. We just need to associate them with places. Or at least get ten we can give to the major cities and I'll stick them on places that fit.

We also need a name for the ocean. Unless, of course, we are content with calling it The Ocean. Considering it is the only one, that would not be unreasonable.

River through lake near central mountains: Saplaya River (from the name of the aforementioned lake)
River entering tropics: Alira River (derived from 'flowing' in Malay)
River going south from central mountains: Isbilen River (derived from plentiful in Bulgarian)
Large island: Viridi (green in Latin. Ironically, it will also be quite rainy)
River west of northern lake: Ledovek River (glacier in Czech)
River east of northern lake: Suri River (wide in Finnish)

That's all the rivers and other named geographical features, unless I missed one.

Oh, important: Is the name of our world Elysium or Elysian? They mean close to the same thing. The former is the place in Greek mythology, while the latter is an adjective applicable to it and similar places, and also used in an alternate name for the former. Cav's original suggestion was the latter, but I got them mixed up part way through.

In the OP I think I've been saying Elysium as well. I think Elysium is better because it sounds like an actual noun as compared to an adjective.

Indeed. We will stick with that, then.

So, we just need to brainstorm a few more city names, put them on the map, finish the OP and we'll be good to go.


I should mention this. I was planning to carry in Zadok as an Antikeeper as he was before, even though new antikeepers probably won't be created here. I think he would make a good emissary of the Carver. They could meet in outer space, if that is convenient (which it probably will). Do you have any problems with that?

I have no qualms; in fact, this will suit the plot quite well. Zadok would probably be confused upon encountering a near identical twin of the old Weaver out in space. Weaver didn't often work with or speak to the Antikeepers much, so Zadok probably wouldn't understand that every universe has at least one guardian. Zadok might even be suspicious that the Carver is really the Ripper disguising itself in an attempt to manipulate him.

How would the meeting go?


Some more city names in Latin:


Atermons (Black Mountain/Crag)
Calxtenor (Roughly means 'Stone Hold')
Moltuspons (Great Bridge)

We'd need the meeting to end so that they work together, otherwise we may have problems. How that conclusion is reached can be determined while roleplaying.

I'll get to work on sticking names to the map. I'll tell you if a city is lacking a fitting name. Continue brainstorming.

Well yeah, we need their cooperation or even friendship as a result, but how would we get there? For reasons I mentioned above, Zadok would probably be suspicious. The Carver would be on his way to the Source to see what in the heck is going on, so he probably would attack upon sensing that Zadok is some sort of invader from another Universe.

Actually, having the two battle and then realize that their quarrel is not with each other might be interesting. I agree that we should actually RP this out and not have it all scripted, but I'm struggling to think of how the two might meet and not kill each other.


City names aplenty:

Petram'Urbem (Translates to 'Rock City'. Would be cool to have a major city located underneath a mountain or in some large cavern, sort of like how Gorsik's dungeon was.)

Portus Cruor (Port Blood, Port Slaughter, Port Murder, and Port Bloodshed are all correct translations. A fantastic name for some crude sea-side city full of pirates, mercenaries, and criminals.)

Anicetus (Unbeaten, or Unconquerable. The Sparta of Elysium, perhaps?)

Serenus (Clear, serene, bright, fair. A fitting name for one of the nicer, less militant cities.)

Virens (Verdant, lush, green.)

Cassis (It means both 'helmet' and 'war'.)



Well, I think some of those were pretty good. We still need more?

Zadok would be in space the regain power, since that is what he does.

As for their interactions, a fight would make things interesting. Would this happen before or after the corruption of The Source? In the battle they would probably ask questions such as "Who are you?". The Craver would probably ask that, along with "what have you done to the Source?". From there, they would discover a bit more about each other.

I'll see what I can do with those city names. I just made one more. Opes Fluvium (wealth river)

The corruption of the Source is what will draw Carver out from the edges of this tiny Universe, so the meeting would likely take place afterwards. Yes, I'd imagine a fight with Zadok angry at who he thinks is the Ripper while the Carver struggles to understand what is happening would be interesting.

So Zadok thinks Carver is Ripper/Weaver, and Carver thinks Zadok must have done something to the Source. That should work out for the initial encounter.

I've finished and uploaded the map. It's just that I'm having trouble in finding it on my outdated computer.

EDIT: Changed computers. Here you go. The map, complete.

Full size: https://2img.net/r/ihimizer/img21/2079/g0fc.png

Excellent. I should be able to finish up the OP by the end of tomorrow, but due to a trip with my sports team I'll be gone for Friday and most of Saturday. If I'm going to be the one to post this on RPGuild it will have to wait until Sunday, but I wouldn't mind you posting it a bit sooner.

Everyone starting at once and in the same place will mean that we'll probably want to have the OOC up for a day or two to give people a chance to join and not miss all the fun during the start. I wouldn't be missing anything if you were to put up the OOC while I'm unable to post.