A Potential Mekton 2 Campaign?

Some friends are trying to get some sort of active game running someplace.  I have been wanting to run a campaign SO DAMNED BAD ITS NOT EVEN FUNNY for like 2 years now.

They may actually indulge me and I can finally run a Mekton 2 game.  This is the mad idea I have for a proposal, inspired by the videogame series "Super Robot Wars" which is a strategy RPG series bringing various unconnected giant robot shows into one massive continuity and story.

SUPER ROBOT WARS CR


In the year 2012 paranoia about the end of the Mayan calendar caused an already unstable world political system to explode, with wars breaking out all over the world.

Then what came to be known as The Second Impact happened.  A massive alien spacecraft crashed into an Oregon mountain.

Initial findings of this craft, (eventually named the SDF 1 Ark) lead to the realization mankind was not alone in the cosmos.  The technologies recovered and retrofitted brought humanity together for a time as more and more people rallied around this knowledge and questioned why this event was called the second.

Many organizations said it was time to leave Mother Earth.  Over the next 16 years massive miles long near Earth space colonies were launched, and our first deep space colony expedition was sent to what would be known as the Arus Colony.  


Our technologies advanced by leaps and bounds with advanced weapon systems creating 20 foot tall or even larger battle robots called Adamythril Knights becoming more and more common.

But why would such machines be created?

Many hardliners said it was to prepare to fight whatever had created the Ark in the first place.   Others said it was due to whatever secret impact happened before this one.  Others said it was the harbinger of God's judgement and we needed to be ready.

But in 2028 tensions began to rise as an emergency message from the Arus Colony was received.  While garbled, one phrase was clear: "We are under attack from the Drule Empire".  The NGG (Nerv Geoid Guard) sent out the Rugger Guard Expedition, onboard containing the prototype Voltron Project machine to investigate and possibly defend Arus.

This caused great political upheavals as the main military force unaffiliated with any one country or space colony was now away from home, leaving Earth barely defended.  When the Rugger Guard Expedition failed to report in as scheduled 6 months later one final smaller team was sent in the Ramrod Frontier Defender.  It also has not reported in on its 6 month schedule.


This was the final straw, causing 8 of the 12 space colonies to officially defect from Earth, calling themselves the Archduchy of Zeon, under the rule of the powerful Zabi family.  They had secretly been developing Adamythryl Knights of their own, deploying them against one of the neutral colonies, killing all of the people on board, and sending the massive colony on a suicide run, crashing it into the NGG headquarters in Switzerland, breaking what little organization and cooperation that still remained amongst the nations of Earth.

If a splinter nation in space of less than 10 million people could both build a massive army and mount such a devastating attack, what good was all the new technology and unity?

The Zabis claimed to be Divine Crusaders, and only an Earth under their control could stop the inevitable alien attack soon to occur.  They claim that only under their banner will the Earth survive.

The resultant chaos and disaster caused a number of other organizations to rise up as if this was the sign they were waiting for.  In Europe a new force was founded by Anatole Priestly, who claimed to be the first Defender of Man, forming a political bloc to both fight off the Zeon and any outside influence.  He revealed the existence of psychic powers in mankind that had been steadily rising since the First Impact and that he had been preparing for this inevitable war for centuries.  People call his ever growing army The New European Empire as most in the region fall under his sway.

He said these psychics were Newtypes, and his biogenetic warriors known as Space Marines would defend these heralds until they were ready to lead the Earth.  Some European nations opposed joining his empire, though currently only a small nation lead by the Peacecraft family is showing any capacity for holding out against his armies, the prototype Gundam Mobile Knights being their last line of defense.

In Japan the mad scientist Doctor Hell with his monstrous Angels are constantly attacking the NGG's secondary base, the arcology known as Tokyo 3 in his attempt to capture the powerful weapons being developed there.  Even the help of the Photon Power Laboratory and its prototype combat knight Mazinger Z is doing little more than holding the mad Doctor and his monstrous creations at bay.

Should he get a hold of the Evangelion and Brave Robot AI machines Earth won't have to worry about the Zeon.  He will be a bigger threat than them all.

And now in Oregon our heroes are preparing a new generation of Adamythryl Knights to defend the Earth against the Zeon, Doctor Hell, and this mysterious empire in deep space.

Will the SRX Team come together with their new experimental machines and join forces with what remains of the NGG and stop the chaos on Earth before its too late?

And what of the Ark itself?  Rumors abound that its creators did not come from the same region of space as the Drules.  Is there yet another race hostile to man out there?  And can the NGG even stay together?  Many say there are Zeon sleeper agents within helping to keep the NGG from organizing the Earth.  It is said that they have even infiltrated a secret Earth colony near Alpha Centauri, overtaking what in some shadowy corridors is known as Project Unicron.

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Well, there is my proposal for a campaign.  Most of the people I know who might play aren't mecha fans like I am, but I think I have taken enough bits from enough shows to make my own unique spin on the Super Robot Wars formula, putting the players in a place where they can both shine yet still interact with some characters from various other robot cartoons.  (Super Robot Wars fans know what the SRX is, though mine will be a unique creation based on number of players and what Mekton 2's creation system allows me to come up with.  The actual SRW SRX team and mecha won't be featured.)

This isn't going into massive details but is enough of a springboard to give me a wide array of adventures for the players to inevitably screw up any plans I make as players are gloriously wont to do.  Hell I EXPECT IT out of folks.

Endless Wars: A Retrofuture RPG Setting for X-Plorers

Ok kids, here is the deal.  I have been desperately searching for some sort of game to run.  Many people on  the IRC channel I frequent ( #tinypewtermen on irc.synirc.net ) have lamented not being able to get into some sort of game.

Well I figured why think about it and just DO IT?  I made an offer to run a game, and gave a basic idea of a campaign using a freely available rules light ruleset.  As my reviews have mentioned I quite like X-Plorers, which is basically Swords and Wizardry meets Tunnels & Trolls in a Sci Fi setting.

And this lead to my ideas of a campaign using one of the settings in my head getting suggested.  Almost everyone liked the idea of it, and lots of really good questions were asked, filling in some holes this setting never had filled.

So this blogpost will be an evolving setting background document since it does take place on an alternate history Earth where World War 2 ran for almost another 30 years.

Yes I could postcount ++ this with ever new posts, but it will be much easier if I use one singular posting for the general world setting and background.  Other posts may cover house rules and the required background rules for the specific adventure I have in mind.

If there are historical inaccuracies feel free to tell me so I can fix it, or just apologize for the error.


An Age of Endless War

It was World War 2.  One of the bloodiest conflicts known to man.  Plans were afoot to bring an end to what was approaching a decade of war for some nations.

These plans were stopped.  In Europe the German army took far longer to be pushed out of Russia, Stalingrad becoming a nearly yearlong fight.  D-Day wasn't half as successful as planned, with Rommel himself being in active and direct command.  The Allies gained a beachead but it was a bloody and horrific one, almost not worth the cost.

On the Pacific front, Japan's miniature submarines launched sneak attacks on the west coast, even inflicting bioweapons on major cities.  These attacks were merely cover for deep insertion teams to disable US nuclear research.  The Atom bomb was prevented from being birthed, but the teams never made it out alive.

It wouldn't be until 1947 that Germany would fall, as a Zhukov lead coalition in the USSR finally tired of Stalin's madness against even his own people and soldiers, putting him to hang for his crimes, and a more idealistic form of Communism taking its place.  The now renewed in spirit Russian armies pushed hard in the east, and this gave the western Allies the break they needed to finally break out of France and fight their way to end the Third Reich.

Yet the victory only lead to Germany becoming a wasteland.  The western and eastern allies could not agree on what to do there, and by Spring 1948 the newly formed Collectivist Bloc declared official war against the western allies yet still fought against Japan in the east, sometimes leading to battles where the United States, the Collectivist Bloc, and the Imperial Japanese were all fighting for the same land, a whirlwind of madness in the name of "liberating" nations.

To hold shattered nations together against the Bloc, the western European nations combined into one singular country, the previous counties becoming member states to fight as one united force.

Over the nearly 3 decades the nearly endless war exhausted both economies and the people, with most teenagers forgoing a high school education for a military one, the average age of most combatants being 18 by the mid 1960s.

Anyone attempting to pursue nuclear technology found their efforts stymied by both enemy nations, and another mysterious group.

This group, the "Children of the New Age" would be formed from the disgust with endless war and suffering.  While many nations and their war weary citizens wanted the war to end, bitter hatreds and never healed wounds for entire generations  just wouldn't let anyone make the first gestures, even if each new battle slowly strangled each country to death.

These Children were founded by a secretive wealthy foundation made up of the best scientific and philosophical minds the world had to offer, not caring about what nationality they came from.  Enlisting idealistic soldiers from many countries, this group engaged in both combat and other means to finally bring the war to an end.

In 1975, World War 2 officially came to the end, with the 4 major political warring powers (The North American Alliance, the Western European Republic, the Collectivist Bloc, and the Imperial Asian Prosperity Sphere) signing peace treaties.

But 3 generations fighting war just don't end things overnight.  Politicians still have power to gain from old hates.  Entire generations even though they were socially still decades behind where they might have been otherwise had memories that couldn't just be erased.  Scientists still continue to develop weapons of war, and research the constantly derailed nuclear option.

It is 1982.  The world economy is slowly coming back on track, civilian technologies are coming into play.  But the world is on a razor's edge, easily capable of sliding back into war.

(Coming soon: The nations of the world)

Narfindor Thoughts

I don't feel like getting detailed today, but I do have some thoughts on Narfindor, and bringing it to life.

First off, even my now reduced from 250 to 200 miles per hex while it may be realistic from a size perspective, is too big and sprawling for a gameplay one, or the amount of notable settlements. I think I may drop it down even further to 100 miles per hex. That's still over 1200 miles north to south. An utterly MASSIVE region by hobby gaming standards, but still big enough to feel like a real continent. The big river will still be massive, and the smaller one is like 300 miles. If you figure around 50 miles of river travel per day, that's 6 days from the lake to the ocean. The other river is 12. Realistically, there will be other things slowing you down on the way. If we figure about 25 miles of land travel a day, each hex at 100 miles takes 4 days to traverse.

Another thing is making the map more legible, and labeling everything. Its one reason I chose not to do the Holk's Pride/Camp Adamant regions. I didn't feel like going from my updates to make sure I keep the names the same.

So I have to decide: Find a better Mac capable map program than the old AD&D Core Rules 2.0 and possibly break it into the 3-4 regional areas? (Figuring that these 4 maps would have 1 of those big hexes containing 7 hexes on the new scale.) Should I use Comic Life and just make pretty labels on the old one?

This is the sort of work that goes into making a good world to adventure on. You need a mixture of realistic feel, yet with concessions made to playability.

Work continues!

Update: Thanks to Silverlion on #therpgsite IRC channel on Magicstar.net, I found a nifty little Java app that makes some nice Basic D&D era hex maps similar to what Thorf's Mystara website has, albeit a little less professional looking.

http://inkwellideas.com/?page_id=160

I only spent a little time playing with it, but quickly had a basic version of An Rikod made in a matter of minutes after opening the program. It may be a thing where making the basic core map, saving it as its image file option, then cleaning it up in an actual image editing program like Photoshop or Gimp is the best solution.



As you can currently see, I have the continent pretty much the same as the Core Rules 2.0 map maker, but with more precise terrain placement than the large element icons CR2.0 had. Obviously I will need to do more work and learn to use the new map program a bit better to get its total potential, but I think a mixture of both programs will suit my needs the best.

CR2.0 for general world maps the PCs might see, and the Inkwell Ideas program for a more structured DM friendly map.

Narfindor Part 3: Towns and Regions of An Rikod: Ak Vihana

Let's keep this going! More detail means a deeper more cohesive world, yet loose enough for any GM out there to make it their own. Let's start at the north and work our way down from installment to installment.

I will try to keep it rules agnostic, even though the tags list Swords and Wizardry. It will end up having some S&W info, but most of it will easily be usable to anyone who needs a setting to explore.

Ak Vihana
Regional Population: Estimated 50,000 sentients. 50% Orcish, 35% Human, 15% other.
Main Population Center: Ak Vihana, a walled town of 28,000.

Ak Vihana is the main town of the Seplet Desert region. Made mostly of stone and any other materials that can hold back the desert sands, it provides a midway point between the El Vahz Oasis and Lake Vihana, which is the source of the Drinak River. Founded 42 years ago by Orc nomads tired of endless travel and dealing with human raiders, they found building a settlement next to the Cobra Fang's Canyon the ideal spot both defensively, and due to the small wells they were able to dig within it.

The economy is based on light mining, tourism, and mercenary pursuits. Orc nomad patrols are paid by trading caravans and explorers to escort them safely through the desert, and to the two ruin sites in the north and northeastern coasts of the continent. A small military outpost and supply depot has been founded at the Oasis itself, (roughly 400 people overall), and 2 smaller outposts by the ruin sites. (Roughly 100 people at each outpost.)

The main town itself is run by the ruling Orc class, with fighting in the town being illegal. Everyone is generally welcome to visit and trade at the town, though criminals tend to be attacked first, and questions asked later. If any of them survive the overzealous city watch, most lawbreakers are kicked out of the town and banned from re entering it. Most non Orcs are considered to be lower class citizens, though they are not specifically harassed or kept from having the same rights and chances to succeed as the Orcs themselves.

Politically the Orcs themselves have a ruling council based on the wealthiest members, most of whom made their fortunes as mercenary companies. A few Goblins are on the council due to their heavy influence on merchant and trading concerns (much of which is rumored to be thanks to that race's tendency for organized crime. One Ogre is on the council given that race's heavy interest in construction. A few Human councillors are mostly token voices whose complaints about their areas of the town's poor conditions is barely given lipservice.

Near the canyons and wandering the hills are a number of human nomad groups, who tend to prey on travelers and form raiding parties on a regular basis. It is rumored they have found a number of forgotten tombs that predate even the Teknikan Wars which is giving them additional drive to raid and attack.

The Ruins: The two ruin sites are currently being investigated by interested groups both from Ak Vihana, and elsewhere. Some are looking for forgotten technologies, others for historical knowledge, and others to turn these places back into centers of trade.

Aron Stewart Says:
Ak Vihana is a pretty strict place, but Orcs are no nonsense and expect everyone else to be the same. Its not too bad if you keep your mouth shut and your nose clean though. Just look out for the Goblins who will shank you for a silver, and their own mothers for a gold! The low town area is mostly a miserable slum. The Orcs just don't care about anyone who can't help themselves. They figure everyone is as hard and tough as they are, and as driven to succeed. Its a rough region, and some folks just had some bad luck. It takes money to make money, and the Orcs have most of the money. The Goblins can steal it, and the Ogres are always in demand for construction projects, but stranded travelers or folks who got jumped by the human raiders in the desert just don't have the money to get a foothold!

The desert itself is a rough place, and the canyon is full of snakes, scorpions, and other nasty monsters. I've heard rumors of mummies and forgotten races being dug back up. The ruin sites are a tricky place. Between folks fighting for scraps, and some of the scraps being big nasty horrors, its just not a good place to be. Your best bet is to stop over at the Oasis, move quickly to Ak V, then get on the river and get out of the area!

Narfindor for Swords and Wizardry!

Yes, its another project from me that will be inevitably forgotten as something else bright and shiny takes my attention in some other bizarre, money sucking direction.

But the biggest point of this blog is to be a repository and clearing house for all my ideas, so I can come back to them as I wish (like a carnival, I almost always come back around to it eventually. I blame the Tenchi Universe cartoon for the carnival thing. But its so dang right!) so I do not lose my work, and being electronic, I can easily revamp it as time changes and my tastes change. I used to have the original Narfindor map I drew in the late 80s, but it is long gone, with only vague remembrances of what it actually looked like when I first converted it into an electronic map 10 years or so ago.

Yet, its time to develop a section of the world most suited to adventuring in Swords and Wizardry!

For those who forgot, here is the map of the southeastern third of the planet. (Ignore the actual written on map scale, its really 1 hex = 200 miles.)


Now, for some basic world and race background the work I did on this for Tunnels and Trolls is still valid. Heck, why not use it for either or?

http://wargamedork.blogspot.com/2008/10/narfindor-my-tunnels-trolls-campaign.html

An Rikod
An Rikod is the least developed and least populated of the 4 main continents on Narfindor. It was rumored that during the Teknikan Wars where the Nain were toppled from their technological supremacy by the other races and their discovery of magic, that the biggest battles and the greatest bloodshed happened here.

During the battle against Vedaan it proved to be an essential staging ground for the armies that would help bring that dark child of Tiamat down. Before that time, it was mainly the home of scattered Orc nomads, a single trading port to less charted lands, and the home of the Jungle Elves. Vedaan's rise to power changed all that, and now the continent is being re explored, with new settlements popping up, and expeditions being made to his once fearsome fortress, to massive cave complexes filled with forgotten mines, and to cities ruined thousands of years ago.

It is now 2 years after he was defeated, hopefully gone forever. Adventurers from all over the world are heading to make their fortune, or to leave their legacy.

Climate and Terrain
Being sub equatorial, the northern areas of the continent are hot, with the Seplet desert being dry and unforgiving. The land slowly gets more temperate as you head south down the Drinak River, the two great forests helping to keep the land from being like the Seplet. It cools down to a bit of a chill region by the Fieene Mountains which seem to trap the winds in a great spiral, noticable by the strange clouds of this region. Once you head towards the southern end of the continent the Linae River nourishes the land with the ice of the Fieene melting and feeding the Jrana Jungle, and Tedlina Swamp, making it a hot and humid region.

On the southern island, known now as "The Womb of the Earth Demon's Spawn" the volcanoes that surround the remains of Vedaan's Fortress keep that area hot, though the south end gets cold quickly as the South Pole's freezing ice floes affect the land around it.

Aron Stewart Says:
The biggest problem with An Rikod is its mostly windy outside of the forests and swamps. And its really hot most places. Outside of the mountain areas, its roughly 90 degrees with high humidity most of the year. While its nice given that it makes all the fine women wear less, its not fine since there isn't any air conditioning!

Next Time: Civilizations, Ruins, and Landmarks.

Narfindor, my Tunnels & Trolls Campaign World!

Narfindor has been my house world for various stories mostly residing in my head for 20 years now. Sadly, most of what little I had written and drawn has been lost to time. However I have my vague memories.

For T&T 7.5, I am bringing it back! And this series will chronicle its rebirth. Plus give me a good backup spot so I don't lose all my work again. For the third time. I like my hard copy stuff! But when you lose it all not having a digital backup kinda bites.

This is all my stuff and belongs to me, though folks are free to use it provided credit is given and blah blah. Make your own world slackers! ITS FUN AND GETS YOUR BRAIN WORKING.

Already I have tweaked things to fit the adventures I plan to run, and to make things a tad less stereotypical than they once were. Though probably not as much as it should be. It will always be a work in progress though, so anything can be changed.

See the map in the previous post? That is the southwestern most continent of my world. As seen, it connects to a northwestern one, and there is a central continent and a massive eastern continent plus various islands and such.

UPDATED: Comments from noted adventurer Aron Stewart, the last known Forger, and teenaged loudmouthed spokesman for the Armageddon Hunters, the adventurers from other worlds and times who defeated Vedaan, the son of Tiamat. His comments will be in italics.

Narfindor was created 10,000 years ago by someone or something as a connected counterpoint to Earth, and populated with many sentient races, most very human like. While it is connected to Earth by magical means, getting from either planet is rare if not beyond anyone's actual control, and there is a time desynch that sometime in the future will end.

I'm guessing this place was made for some reason or the other. Maybe it's a proving ground of some kind? Too many things are similar to Earth to be mere coincidence. I don't even know how I got here. One minute I was in school in a shootout with some terrorist scuzzbags, the next here. My pals from Earth came over in similar ways, though from different times. And we were somehow able to speak and read the local language. All that was missing was a little bald guy saying cryptic (expletive deleted)!

The most notable races on Narfindor are: (With simplified ideas on their basic culture.)

Humans: Mostly known for being more problematic than the other races, their high breeding and shorter lifespan has lead to serious amounts of ambition and in some cases xenophobic racism. They do control 2 of the 4 major civilizations on the planet in spite of their shortcomings. Their cultures are similar to Imperial Rome, Feudal Japan, and the Wild West era of that area of the United States. About 10 million Humans are on planet.

There are lots of people like you and me on Narfindor. Plain old boring humans doing the same dumb things they do on Earth. Cept with more swords and no place to charge my iPod. Which kinda sucks.

The Nain: Known as Dwarves to everyone else, the Nain once had the most powerful empire on the planet, and had technology capable of reaching the stars. They tend to be practical, pragmatic, and hardworking. They are still the most advanced race, but due to the Teknikan Wars, it has been voluntarily regressed to a rough 16th century Earth level. Their culture is most similar to Ireland or Scotland of around the same time period. Around 1 million Nain live.

These dudes are cool, if a bit cranky. They have lots of good booze, the best technology on the planet (if early Victorian era Steampunk Gaslight can be called technology anyhow!), and they enjoy a good hunk of meat grilled over an open flame. I taught em how to make Cheeseburgers! You think a world of swords and sorcery is fun? There are no Burger Kings! But they take stuff entirely too seriously some times. Must be the beards. And for the record, Dwarf chicks don't have em.

The Elves: The Elves are a race in decline. While their discovery of magic won the Teknikan Wars and removed Nain superiority over the planet, it also lead to Humanity taking the magic in darker directions, and many of them choosing to ensure the Elves did not repeat the Nain's empire with magic. Currently most Wood Elves are dead, with their darker skinned Jungle and Cave Elf cousins being the dominant of the two peoples. They accepted the Wood Elf refugees to their homes in jungles and caves and they are slowly becoming one race. Their culture is a mixture of African and Germanic pre Renaissance. It is currently thought that there is around 330,000 Elves in total, most living underground.

Elves sorta look like you and me, cept with Spock ears. And there is something... off about em. Unearthly kinda. If you aren't looking for it you really can't tell them from Humans, but the way they talk and move and their whole look is.. different. The Wood Elves are pretty snooty, but the Jungle Elves are awesome and cool. Plus they like the heat and don't wear much. And give me (expletive deleted). I kinda have to hide it. One of our gang a Jungle Elf. She was one of the Elves that preferred caves to the Jungle itself. Rekishad is cool and hot and funny. No wonder my homie Horace and her hooked up. He is the target of most of her jokes. Ledettia is with us too, but she is a miserable Wood Elf and all snooty and stuck up. Which ruins the whole fun of having a hottie with red hair and a great pair of (expletive deleted)!

The Drago: These flying lizardmen are related loosely to Dragons, though are generally green scaled as opposed to white or black. They tend to prefer to be left alone and rarely intervene in anything that doesn't directly affect them. They are an enigma on a world full of curiosities. No actual census has even been thought of, but it is guessed the Drago number less than 80,000.

Ya know how the good dragons are white and breathe ice, and the black dragons are bad and breathe fire? Well the Drago are grey and breathe "I could give a (expletive deleted)". They are tools who don't care about anything that doesn't directly affect them. They just don't care. I'm surprised they even helped us fight Vedaan. They suck.

The Cattroni: Their actual name being a mixture of growls and hisses, these Cat people are known for being excellent warriors and trackers, hunting the plains. Their culture is a mixture of Native American peoples and Sparta. Around 1 million Cattroni are living today.

I didn't get to hang out with these guys too much. They run aroung Gohadir doing rangery things and getting "Thundercats Hooo!" up in this (expletive deleted). They really helped kick Vedaan's (expletive deleted) and seriously (expletive deleted) his (expletive deleted) up! They aren't some Furry's wet dream though. These cats have big claws, big fangs, and move like a bat out of hell. Yet they are virtually silent when they wanna be! They are mostly in three big clans. One looks most like Lynxes, one Black Panthers, and one Cheetahs. Every once in a while they apparently have a big albino one that is like a white Siberian Tiger and those dudes are like special and (expletive deleted). The first Furry to hit on one would probably end up with their guts turned into a noose they would get hung with. And that's if the Cattroni was in a GOOD mood!

The Mer: These aquatic people are similar in avoiding trouble like the Drago, but tend to covertly help those in need against the darker powers of the world. Some people claim they have combined Teknikan and Magic together to make a number of powerful weapons... Nobody knows how many Mer live, but it is guessed that it is around 500,000.

Another group I didn't talk to too much. They kinda look like Humans, but have wierd colored skin that's sorta like a Shark's with that smooth one way coarse the other. And big old anime kinda eyes that glow at night. And gills on their necks and shoulders. Its wild to look at, especially since they don't wear too much either. Which would be cool except I don't really want to see fish guy junk in tight sea undies while trying to fight the forces of evil. They all have really cool wristbands they wear on the surface that they can shoot elemental waters blasts with though. And they helped fight Vedaan so I guess I can deal with dude thong butt once in a while.

The Orcish people: These powerful nomads and wanderers prefer the deserts, but will go anywhere there is battles to be fought and money to be made. They can be fearsome in combat, but tend to be more interested in money and battle than any genuine cause. The Orcish peoples are similar to humans in the wide variety of honorable and dishonorable members. They are comprised of a number of similar races, Goblins being the smallest and meanest, and Ogres being the largest and generally most gentle, with the "true" Orcs being the central people. Their culture is a mix of Turkish and Romanian circa the time of Vlad the Impaler. A rough estimate of their total population numbers 7 million souls.

I worked as much with as against these guys. Tough as Hell in a fight. The little ones are meaner but small, the big ones are nicer but HUGE. The middle ones are just TOUGH HOMBRES. But if you have enough money or don't piss them off they won't bug you. But if you are against their employers or tick em off look out!

The Minotaur: The last major race are the Minotaurs. They are known for being explorers and pirates, having a love for exploring, especially seaborn explorations. They are the mappers of the islands, the solvers of the mazes. They tend to be a bit brutal in their dealings with other races, but similar to Orcs they are more interested in money and their own desires than anyone else's ideas of morality. Their culture is most similar to Spain and Portugal in the age of Christopher Columbus with a touch of the English Privateer. About 250,000 Minotaurs are predicted to live and sail the seas.

Minotaurs are wierd. I can never tell what they are thinking since these big ol cows rarely have any expression other than blank. My Bard teacher Alis had a "friend" who worked with her (Let's just say I am pretty sure she could play the (expletive deleted) flute if you know what I mean!) who was one and you did NOT mess with him. I saw him throw a dude 30 feet, chuck a handful of throwing darts at him and then finish him off with a harpoon designed to be fired from a sailing ship while at sea on a dinghy during a hurricane! And he was probably getting freaky walking moocow on Human action! I can only imagine what one who has been at sea for six months and hasn't gotten any in a while would do!

The lesser races: These lesser races are smaller in number than the above, or are less well known. Its rumored many races appear then are destroyed in a matter of decades. There are guessed to be around 400 of these races, most with populations numbering from 10,000-40,000 meaning most are in serious decline and genetic defects in the long run.

I don't know too much about these. Do Demons and Devils count? Howabout the White and Black Dragons? Are some of the monsters we fought actually considered lesser races? I know I have had to pop a cap in some (expletive deleted) in the cause of like saving reality and all, but it would kinda suck if I killed a lot of sentient beings. Or is it supposed to be sapient? I dunno. Killing people really bites.

Coming up: The planet and major civilizations.