Sunday, February 26, 2012

Invitation to the Isles of Mist

Hello comers and goers, prospective players and party makers,

I am hosting an online game which, for some mad reason, I think I have time for, and I need one or two more players!

The Game: One part strategy game, one part RPG, one part writing extravaganza.

The Setting: In a world where there is no solid land, but only a hundred islands and continents floating in the mists, the death of a High King has left twelve great realms vying for power. Using wisdom, negotiation, and might, you must take responsibility for one of these realms and lead your people to glory--or destruction.

The Players: The twelve realms are each controlled by another human being (except for a few NPCs, whose identities are secret). A set of skilled writers and gamers, they bring more to the game than I ever might have dreamed.

The Peoples:

The Eldryn are an immortal race who awoke from collective amnesia just over 800 years ago. Only surviving as long as their passion for life does, they must find causes to strive for, or they slip into silence... forever. Their noble caste, called the Nobilis, are creatures of elegance and arrogance who would drive their peoples to the brink in their struggle for dominance against one another.

The Duor are a race of pacifistic giants who were plunged into war, death, and slavery when their continent emerged from the mists to collide with Alendia, the Eldryn homeland, long ago. Having lost the ensuing war, they have spent the last 300 years as a slave race. Will the current chaos and turmoil bring them freedom, or extinction?

The great and beautiful continent of Alendia was shattered in a titanic magical war for dominance between Eldryn noblility long ago. Now, it is divided into two lands, each of whom hate the other. Celida and Quienenas call themselves High Alendia, claiming they inherited the culture and civilization of Old Alendia. Ardath and Essetia name themselves True Alendia, insisting that they carry on the morals and honor of their forebears. Between them, the high city of Tyrenegarde floats, a relic of an ancient age, now closed with the High King's death until the twelve realms can sort out their differences and come to peace.

The remaining lands, scattered beyond the limits of Alendia, are collectively called the Outlands. Perenor is a land of startling civilization, with great cities and broad boulevards, and their own musical language. Sitokia is home to a race of learned barbarians, savages who will quote poetry as they cut your throat. Rhosyn, called the Enchanted Isle, is a place of knights and princesses, jousting and festivals, where it is said that mysterious creatures emerge from magical glades to dance with the Nobilis after too much wine is had. Tilaria is a stern land of merciless laws and hardened warriors. Khande was once a beautiful land--but the warrior caste, the Bushin, rebelled against the Nobilis and left, taking many of the other castes with them. With too many Nobilis and not enough followers, Khande has spent the generations since then in eternal civil war. Only now has a promising young leader emerged to rally Khande from the fallen glory of her past. Orenspeak is the high, cold land where the Bushin and their allies settled after abandoning Khande. From their high mountain peaks, they rule the skies as traders and pirates. They are widely hated, but the High King's laws granted them immunity. Now that the old order is gone, the martial power of Orenspeak is once again free to sway the world.

Where will you fit in? Which of these great lands will you take leadership of? And what future will you guide your Realm into?

Okay, on to the practical stuff:

To be honest, most of the roles are already taken. We've done one turn of the game so far, but the amount of time and energy it took from me was overwhelming, so I went back to the drawing board to put in some more infrastructure to help the game move more quickly. It's looking good, and almost ready to play again.

To give you some context, I someday want to run a roleplaying program for teenagers (like the Roleplay Workshop, where I once worked), and this is the world it will be set in. Half the purpose of this game is to flesh out the setting and backstory for that future roleplaying game. This is your chance to get in on history in the making! Literally!

The goal of bringing in more players is to lessen the burden on me, as storyteller. Managing all the correspondence and turn orders for several NPCs was just too much. I don't want to give up all the NPCs, but I can definitely relinquish at least one, maybe more. This is NOT big enough that the entire internet can join. I've only got space for a few people, but if a world-building game on an epic scale, a strategy game heavy with roleplaying, sounds amazingly awesome to you, then please let me know.

I can link you to the rulebook, character sheets, public book, etc.

(If you want a preview of the map, see the map that's used as the background of my twitter profile:!/AshtonSaylor.)

Hope to have you on board! Or, if not, hope you've at least enjoyed the read ;)


  1. As much as I am eager to make the acquaintance (and friendship, I'm sure) of new people; I really must protest this blanket offer to take on leadership of /any/ of the lands mentioned. I may be new to the crown, but I have grown somewhat fond of it.
    To all those with whom I shall shortly be friends: should you join us -which I sincerely hope you do-, perhaps you would care to pass some time and take some wine with me and mine, and we may discuss which nations truly are in need of your guiding hand and leadership.

    In anticipation and friendship,
    Celyn of House Beathnua
    Roinn Uthar of Rhosyn Brenhiniaeth

  2. [[OOC: One slot is filled. We are looking for one more, can take up to 2 more. After that we'll begin a waiting list. Don't be shy! Game doesn't start again for several more weeks. Plenty of time for you to get oriented :) Cheers!]]