Thanreus is seeing a touch of conflict, but Mortifax will see to it that it explodes into a true war. And to begin his unseen campaign, he will reach his fingers into the minds of the few individuals who will sway the armies and civillians to war - your commanders.
Compose a piece of writing, in any style you wish (journal entries, letters, prose) showing Mortifax manipulating your commander to war. This can come in any number of ways of your choice, including haunting whispers, prophetic visions, hallucinations, manipulation of documents, possession of servants and messangers, etc. These pieces of writing should precipitate action and conflict with other races, as well as give insight into the weakness of your race, epitomized in your commander, that have allowed Mortifax to worm his way into their minds.
Team Colors
Esferi- W
Annaki- GRW
Feyrin- RWU
Platyns- GUB
Cloudwalkers- RWU
Vaelshii- GU
I don't have a lot of time right now, so I'll just jot some quick notes down here. 1.It seems like the Feyrin and Cloudwalkers probably know each other well, since they conceivably live in close proximity. 2. The Cloudwalker's use of souls through Imbue could be tied to the Esferi somehow. 3. Nice job making the Annaki "friends with everybody," Jimmy Groove. I sort of went the opposite way with the Cloudwalkers... oops.
That's all I've got for now, but I'll be back later today with more.
Esferi - white magical ferrets
Annaki - furry aliens who eat dreams
Feyrin - big pixies
Platyn - intelligent platypuses
Cloudwalkers - hermit ghosts
Valeshii - scientific cyborgs
Is this right?
Well, at least Feyrin would probably be fascinated by all of the other species. I'm sure they've been getting along well with Esferi, Annaki, and Platyn. They consider Cloudwalkers as strange neighbors that don't like talking but still bear no ill will against them, and they like Valeshii because of all the cool machines they have.
I think it's not difficult to imagine the first four species allying against a common threat. Cloudwalkers may realize they can't win the war alone, so they reach out to their nearby Feyrin, who in turn inform the other species. Valeshii may also have learned about the other species during their civil war.
Possible team names: For The Future, Eternal Guardians, Enigma, Heralds of Light, Foregathering Dreams, Masterminds, Gathering of the Free-Spirited, Faithful Watchguards, Tempest, Supreme Lords of the Natural Law
I'm going to keep numbering my points, since I think it helps keeps different ideas nice and separate. 1.Cloudwalkers aren't ghosts, actually. They're entirely living, corporeal beings of the physical realms, they just have elemental tendencies. They're like glass humans filled with clouds. They're also very mistrustful of outsiders. I think you're right that the only obvious way for them to contact the other races on our team is through the Feyrin, so that sounds like a reasonable path to take. Of course, it's possible that the Cloudwalkers could send out their own envoys. Perhaps there's recently been a shift in the Cloudwalker government, and the new party in power has decided to come out of isolation.
2.I'm wondering if the Esferi and the Cloudwalkers could be closely linked, since they both have slightly similar flavor in that they draw from spirits for power. Achren, would you be okay with saying that the Esferi live in the same group of sky-islands with the Cloudwalkers? Perhaps the Cloudwalkers have looked down on them as primitive creatures for centuries, and only recently realized how much depth there is to the Esferi civilization. Could it be possible that they both draw on the Adonai, the light elementals I hinted at in my description of the Cloudwalkers? Those could easily be re-flavored as light spirits.
3. The scholarly faction of Cloudwalkers, the Unveilers, would probably be very interested in the Vaelshii. While this may be the case, these two races don't get along because of their past.
I'll keep pondering team names, but I rather like the name of Team Enigma. Or are we supposed to name our team after a geographical region? The Cloudwalker capital city is called Marenhelm, if that matters.
Here's a few of my ideas for how our races could tie together.
Esfari - The connection with spirits and lack of means of easy communication with other corporeal races makes it seem like the most natural species to be closer to the Esfari would be those with a heavy spirit element. Annaki join the Dreamweave as spirits when they die, at which point they could work with the Esfari The Cloudwalkers could have some minor dealings with them, as their seemingly primitive nature would make them less of a threat than other races. And the Vaelshii might see them as potentially promising subjects to elevate to their idea of full sentience.
Annaki: While alive, the Annaki often live with other races. The Cloudwalkers likely don't let them into their cities, but may have occasional dealings with them, knowing that the Annaki have a wide net of culture to draw from. The Platyns might have dealings with them for similar reasons, and may even set aside areas in their cities for them, as dreamcraft products can be useful, and Annaki can potentially make useful spies since they are all over the place and generally not anything people concern themselves over. The Feyrin have a very similar mindset and outlook to the Annaki, and the two races likely exist in a constant state of friendly rivalry. I would imagine the Feyrin would be the race most likely to learn Dream magic from the Annaki. The Vaelshii practice technology that generally disturbed the Annaki, but they are willing to engage in trade and use any item that isn't implanted in their bodies. And those Annaki who die and maintain coherence as spirits in the Dreamwave could serve as translators and guides to Esfari, and as general messengers to other races.
Feyrin: Likely very closely tied to the Annaki due to cultural similarities, with Annaki living in their villages and Feyrin joining Annaki bands a fairly common thing. However, the Annaki habit of remaining around in spirit-form after death may creep the Feyrin out, although that is a much milder, always-consensual form of undeath that probably wouldn't be enough to raise their ire. Their outgoing nature combined with the ability to fly makes them natural first-contacts with the Esfari, since they could cover enough ground to find them and then are likely to get along fairly well, since they are playful but don't pose a real threat to others in most cases. Ultimately, the tendency of Esfari to be so quick to sacrifice themselves for the community would likely be a bit unnerving to the Feyrin, though. Despite sharing colors, they probably don't have much dealings with the Clouldwalkers, being a numerous people who have similar enough abilities to be a threat to the reclusive people. The Platyns probably maintain a small amount of formal connection and trade, but otherwise keep their social distance. The Valeshii have the most alien mindset to the Feyrin, and relations are probably extremely distant if present at all.
Platyn: This one is harder because of their reclusive nature. Likely they won't be among the first to make contact with the Esfari, but would quickly move to gather information and start up relations as soon as word gets to them. The Annaki might seem benign to them, and a useful source of information, causing them to have close if somewhat duplicitous relationships with the little furry people. Feyrin culture is still open enough to trade and deal with them, but with mindsets just a bit further away from the waters in which the Platyn live, their relationship is probably minor. Cloudwalkers would likely be a culture they are vaguely aware of due to their network of spying and diplomacy, but the xenophobic sky people probably see little to no reason to deal with them directly. They are the race that is most likely to have close ties to the Vaelshii: they operate large enough networks of trade and information to be valuable allies to the Vaelshii, who have technologies and magics which would be quite useful to the Platyns. The rather dispassionate, calculating nature of each race provides them with common ground, and they ultimately work together out of self-interest.
Clouldwalkers: As xenophobes, they probably do most of their interaction through only the smallest settlements and/or individuals of other races. Races which lack the ability to fly are inherently safer to deal with, meaning Annaki and Esferi are better candidates for rare instances of trade. The Feyrin's ability to fly and curiousity makes them something to avoid, while the Platyns and Vaelshii have cultures which seem dangerous enough to them to make them avoid contact.
Vaelshii: Their biological curiousity is likely to make them want to get closer to the Esferi, who seem to be far from the Vaelshii view of true sentience, making them possible targets for scientifically uplifting them. The Annaki are more advanced and keep their distance, but their connection to Dream magic is something that is worth study. The Feyrin are of less interest to them in general, but are just open enough for occasional interaction, and their long lives are of scientific interest. The Cloudwalkers are potentially an interesting point: both the Vaelshii and Cloudwalker societies seem to be descendants of powerful nations that just barely survived a catastrophe of some sort, so it is possible they are tied together and thus the Vaelshii have helped make the Cloudwalkers so xenophobic and the Cloudwalkers could be responsible for the loss of power of the Vaelshii.
We do have three different types of major spirits. One way to work towards a unified story for our races might be to tie those spirits together. Perhaps the Dreamweave is ultimately the same thing as the Light. The Light could represent possibilities and wonder, which causes it to take the form of the Dreamweave when mixed with the thought of sentient races. This could lead to a conflict with a Darkness/Nightmare force, and serve as a way to get the Cloudwalkers out of the clouds and interacting with the other races.
I definitely agree with the contrast between our team and others - we have only 1 B, and that's mostly to show the possibility of using poison and subterfuge rather than anything inherently evil. I think we can go as far as to say perhaps we're the most "good" force of the lot - whether lawful/neutral/chaotic, in the classic sense of the word.
I definitely agree with the contrast between our team and others - we have only 1 B, and that's mostly to show the possibility of using poison and subterfuge rather than anything inherently evil. I think we can go as far as to say perhaps we're the most "good" force of the lot - whether lawful/neutral/chaotic, in the classic sense of the word.
It's funny that you should say that, since it seems like Team III is becoming a supervillain team.
We have four instances of White and Blue, making them the most common colors. Green and Red are just behind with three each, and Black is the most underrepresented.
In terms of social groups, all of the races have societies and work together at least with others of their own kind. Only one race stands apart from that model, the Cloudwalkers, and they likely have the magic necessary to hide their forms and infiltrate other races.
Every race has some white and/or blue, so this seems like the best color combination to use as an inspiration for the ultimate goals of our alliance. The natural tendency of all of the races towards civilized groups working together could be extended towards the other races in our team as common threats bring them together. And blue provides a provides a rational and questioning aspect that can define how we solve problems together. Essentially, we'd slowly work towards being an alliance based on common good and mutual advancement in knowledge and security. This is essentially the best way of thinking like organizations along the lines of the United Nations or Federation of Planets, so perhaps our good-guy nature makes that sort of thing our ultimate goal.
That said, we should make sure to keep up a good bit of internal conflict, because that's just good for the story. I think making the Cloudwalkers and Vaelshii old enemies might be a good way to do this, as it gives us a bit of a cold-war thing going on at first, and that makes the eventual union all the better since it requires a story that makes burying that hatchet into an epic event.
What if the ancestral Cloudwalkers were wiped out by the Xanten before the Xanten took control over Thanreus? Those Vosuj now spoken of only in myths, who held the very nebula in their bodies, were probably of great interest the Xanten, especially since the Xanten were all about harnessing mana. The nebula is probably a huge source of mana. Perhaps the Xanten's experiments proved disastrous, and the old Vosuj were destroyed, becoming the weaker Cloudwalkers. The light of the nebula faded from within their bodies, which is why they seek out light spirits with which to imbue themselves. They're trying to reclaim what they once had.
This also gives a reason why the Cloudwalkers are so mistrustful and reclusive. They were wronged so deeply by the Xanten so long ago that it affected their very culture.
Note: I think I'll change "Vosuj" to refer to the ancient Cloudwalkers, and simply call the new ones Cloudwalkers.
I think that's a good approach. It makes the Vaelshii something to initially distrust, since they represent the old Xanten. However, eventually the mutual dislike of that old race combined with various threats could help to unite them together.
I've yet to figure out how the history of the world affects the Annaki. Most likely, I'll have them be a very old race that mostly used lived their lives in the little band structure they have now, then as empires rose they joined them more and more, and the cataclysmic struggles sent them back into the wild, where they hid and sheltered others that were trying to escape. Only recently have more civilizations rose to the level where they could readily interact again.
Maybe I could throw a twist in there: when they interact with other races more, other races acquire more Dreamweaving abilities from them. And maybe these abilities are dangerous for races that don't instinctively understand them like the Annaki, and thus the Annaki unwitting contributed to the previous problems and will likely do so again in this conflict.
Ok then – to add flesh to the recent history a bit:
Geography: Esferi live in forests near the lakes of Platyn. Both the forests and the lakes are near the ocean cliff-mesas of Feyrin, below which there’s the cities of Valeshii and Annaki, and above the cliffs are the cloudwalker’s flying fortresses.
All of the species (with the exception of Esferi, perhaps) have reasonably advanced to the point where there's regular trading and exchange of ideas going on.
Esferi and Platyns have had trading relationships for many years, after Esferi first contacted the Platyn while they were primitive. Platyns inwardly look down on Esferi culture as a bit naïve, but generally their relationships are amicable.
Feyrin have a very friendly relationship with the Esferi and Annaki, and are particularly close with Annaki thanks to their similar temperaments. The differences in their lifespans mean that lasting friendships are difficult, but both their abilities and philosophies complement each other quite nicely.
Valeshii and Cloudwalkers are the aloof members of the group. Due to their historical conflicts, they have a hard time opening up to each other.
One-sentence descriptions by each race, on each race, prior to the war: Annaki
on Esferi: Do animals dream?
on Annaki: N/A
on Feyrin: Wish I could live long like you, friend.
on Platyn: You're very seedy.
on cloudwalkers: You should open up a bit.
on Valeshii: machines can't replicate what we dream.
Feyrin
on Esferi: You should value your life a bit more.
on Annaki: Ooh, how do you explore dreams like that? Fascinating!
on Feyrin: N/A
on Platyn: Poison does have its place in combat, I see.
on cloudwalkers: What's that behind your walls? What's that behind your walls? What's that behind your walls?
on Valeshii: Will your mechanical enhancements lift you from the shackles of your mind?
Cloudwalkers
on Esferi: Earth-bound animals are the only ones that we can truly trust.
on Annaki: Your powers are strange, but your actions are trustworthy.
on Feyrin: Go away.
on Platyn: How can you limit yourself to a lake or a river?
on cloudwalkers: N/A
on Valeshii:Your fathers nearly wiped us out, and you expect us to trust you machine-men?
Esferi
on Esferi: N/A
on Annaki: Kindred Spirit!
on Feyrin: You're kind.
on Platyn: Fellow animals!
on cloudwalkers: Who're you? I've never seen you before.
on Valeshii: Our magic is better than your mech!
Valeshii
on Esferi: Potential for uplifting likely.
on Annaki: Dreams? Does not compute.
on Feyrin: Natural selection works in strange ways.
on Platyn: Good spies, better test subjects.
on cloudwalkers: Our wars were a millennium ago. We have what you want.
on Valeshii: N/A
Platyn
on Esferi: So naive...
on Annaki: There's no use living in the dreams when you need to stay in the present.
on Feyrin: Your open minds leave you open to internal manipulation.
on Platyn: N/A
on cloudwalkers: How do you live without water?
on Valeshii: We'd like to take a look at some of your tech.
Conflict: cloudwalkers, in their flying city, sees the forces of evil far away forming an army to drive out the group, to hunt all the species and take them as living batteries of mana or slaves for manual labor. Despite great reluctance, they can't handle the swarms alone, so they contact the nearest species, the Feyrin. The Feyrin get in touch with the Annaki and the Esferi, who in turn invite the Platyn, who also naturally bring Valeshii to the table. After some deliberation in a Conclave, the groups agree to work together, though the alliance is rocky from the start as the Valeshii and Cloudwalkers were never friendly with each other. More of an alliance out of necessity rather than a long-standing friendly atmosphere, these neighbors will need to learn to work together if they are to defend themselves against the enemies.
At least, that's what I have in my mind. Suggest some corrections if I have something that you seriously don't like.
I can at least speak for my species - the Feyrin had a previous history of being in a war of existence against a numerically superior enemy, so they are highly willing to do what it takes to collaborate with its allies.
And as for the name, I'd like something a bit more involved than just "the Alliance"... The Gathering? The Enigma? The Free-Will Compact?
That sounds like a pretty good summary. I'd like to see us start off not too strongly aligned, and work towards an alliance as the challenges come. I'm sure our first encounter with enemy teams will give us a lot to work with. And in the meantime, a few relationships can start off more solid (the Annaki and Feyrin can already be close, and the Platyns can already be working with the Vaelshii, the Esferi can already have connections to the Feyrin or even Cloudwalkers), while still having a lot of conflict for internal stories.
For group names, I like names with emphasize the focus on free-will and cooperation. "Confederation" might be a good part of it, as that stresses that it isn't centralized on any one race or group. Maybe something like "The Confederation of the Free", which we could shorten to "The Free" when needed.
I like "The X of the Free." Shameless LoTR knockoff: The Fellowship of the Free
or: The Brotherhood of the Free The Alliance of the Free The Coalition of the Free The Free-Will Accord The Free-Will Communion
Sorry. I'm late. I've read quite a bit, but could a I get cliff notes of the discussion so I know I know I'm not too out of the loop. Just what the current lore is.
Now, if you'll excuse me I'm going to go read all your bios. (And Jimmy is correct, I was off camping for memorial day. :))
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Check out the thread for my cube if you have the time, and tell me how terrible it is.
Generals meant to be drafted first in a single pack of 6 cards.
And here is the actual cube, meant to be drafted in 4 regular sized packs. (60 card decks)
I would much prefer a short, concise name.
Komachi, the problem with I have with your summary is that you're speaking for everyone. We all have to work together to interpret how our races interact, and I think it's okay that we make suggestions to others about what could happen with their race, but I don't think we should state how other people's races think and feel. You had a good idea, having each race say once sentence about each other race so that we could get an idea of what they thought of each other, but I think you should have asked us to do those for our own races. That said, you've done alright with the Cloudwalkers, though I'm not sure where the whole "earth-bound animals" thing came from with the Esferi. The Cloudwalkers would trust them because they're primitive, and they practice similar magic. Also, they'd be fascinated by the Platyns; historical carvings, but appaled by the fact that the Platyns live underground.
I take you guys don't like the suggestion that the Esfer live on the sky-islands with the Cloudwalkers? I wish Achren would check in and give his opinion. It's his race, after all. SmallChild, too, so I could know if he was cool with our races' potential history.
Conflict: Cloudwalkers, in their flying city, sees the forces of evil far away forming an army to drive out the group, to hunt all the species and take them as living batteries of mana or slaves for manual labor. Despite great reluctance, they can't handle the swarms alone, so they contact the nearest species, the Feyrin. The Feyrin get in touch with the Annaki and the Esferi, who in turn invite the Platyn, who also naturally bring Valeshii to the table. After some deliberation in a Conclave, the groups agree to work together, though the alliance is rocky from the start as the Valeshii and Cloudwalkers were never friendly with each other. More of an alliance out of necessity rather than a long-standing friendly atmosphere, these neighbors will need to learn to work together if they are to defend themselves against the enemies.
Is this what you meant to say? I can this, though I think the whole "forces of evil" bit might need a little work.
Yep, all that was merely a suggestion, and completely open to your changes. None of that is fixed! Please post whatever changes you wish to make, and we can have it as canon.
And I guess we we can also decide on names of the locations as well, so that we can have places we can refer to in flavor texts of our future cards.
(Sorry for the triple post).
Here's an outline of some of the things we've discussed, SmallChild.
1. The Cloudwalkers notice whatever threat is looking on the horizon that's going to encourage all of our races to band together. They contact the Feyrin/possibly the Esferi. The Feyrin contact everyone else.
2. The ancestors of the Cloudwalkers, the Vosuj, were (accidentally/not maliciously) wiped out by the Xanten, the Vaelshii's ancestors. Thus, the two races don't get along very well.
3. We're still looking for a team name we can all agree upon.
4. I'm sure I've missed some things...
(Sorry for the triple post).
Here's an outline of some of the things we've discussed, SmallChild.
1. The Cloudwalkers notice whatever threat is looking on the horizon that's going to encourage all of our races to band together. They contact the Feyrin/possibly the Esferi. The Feyrin contact everyone else.
2. The ancestors of the Cloudwalkers, the Vosuj, were (accidentally/not maliciously) wiped out by the Xanten, the Vaelshii's ancestors. Thus, the two races don't get along very well.
3. We're still looking for a team name we can all agree upon.
4. I'm sure I've missed some things...
I read the bit about the Vosuj and I feel like the Xanten would have more or less maliciously wiped them out when they initially rose to power. The Xanten wanted an empire, and a race of xenophobes don't bring you toward that ideal. They would be in the way of progress, and as a result be an unfortunate casualty.
However if it helps for group cohesion we can go with the concept of the Vosuj being test subjects, since that fits into Xanten ideals as well.
To help with finding motivations, the Vaelshii primary goals are:
- Scientific progress
- Reclaiming the throne held by their ancestors
- Discovering a method of becoming sustainable (Their numbers can't grow unless they find some sustainable method of maintaining themselves)
- The obvious stuff (Survival, ect.)
If we end up going with the unite against the big threat, we need to be weary that there can only really be one of those in the game. If another group is heading in that direction it won't work for us to be doing so as well.
Right now we are all just in the "throwing out ideas" phase, so no need to worry about someone saying something about your race: we'll make sure that we work out the big details of interactions and then everyone can fill in their races from there. At this point, anything one of us says about another's race is interpretation/suggestion/guessing and doesn't hold any weight unless you decide you like it.
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Achren, Esferi — 32
Jimmy Groove, Annaki — 30
Komachi, Feyrin — 26
KoolKoal, Platyns — 46
Link, Cloudwalkers — 36
Small Child, Vaelshii — 40
Current Lore Challenge:
Discussion Thread
Full Race List
Timeline
Incorporeal:
Esferi - W
Annaki - GRW
Cloudwalkers - WU sometimes R
Feyrin - RWU - Connects with cloudwalkers as fliers?
Platyns - GUB - Not sure.
Vaelshii - GU - Really not sure.
4W - 4U - 1B - 3R - 3G
Esferi- W
Annaki- GRW
Feyrin- RWU
Platyns- GUB
Cloudwalkers- RWU
Vaelshii- GU
1.It seems like the Feyrin and Cloudwalkers probably know each other well, since they conceivably live in close proximity.
2. The Cloudwalker's use of souls through Imbue could be tied to the Esferi somehow.
3. Nice job making the Annaki "friends with everybody," Jimmy Groove. I sort of went the opposite way with the Cloudwalkers... oops.
That's all I've got for now, but I'll be back later today with more.
Annaki - furry aliens who eat dreams
Feyrin - big pixies
Platyn - intelligent platypuses
Cloudwalkers - hermit ghosts
Valeshii - scientific cyborgs
Is this right?
Well, at least Feyrin would probably be fascinated by all of the other species. I'm sure they've been getting along well with Esferi, Annaki, and Platyn. They consider Cloudwalkers as strange neighbors that don't like talking but still bear no ill will against them, and they like Valeshii because of all the cool machines they have.
I think it's not difficult to imagine the first four species allying against a common threat. Cloudwalkers may realize they can't win the war alone, so they reach out to their nearby Feyrin, who in turn inform the other species. Valeshii may also have learned about the other species during their civil war.
Possible team names: For The Future, Eternal Guardians, Enigma, Heralds of Light, Foregathering Dreams, Masterminds, Gathering of the Free-Spirited, Faithful Watchguards, Tempest, Supreme Lords of the Natural Law
Ick, anyone have any better ideas?
1.Cloudwalkers aren't ghosts, actually. They're entirely living, corporeal beings of the physical realms, they just have elemental tendencies. They're like glass humans filled with clouds. They're also very mistrustful of outsiders. I think you're right that the only obvious way for them to contact the other races on our team is through the Feyrin, so that sounds like a reasonable path to take. Of course, it's possible that the Cloudwalkers could send out their own envoys. Perhaps there's recently been a shift in the Cloudwalker government, and the new party in power has decided to come out of isolation.
2.I'm wondering if the Esferi and the Cloudwalkers could be closely linked, since they both have slightly similar flavor in that they draw from spirits for power. Achren, would you be okay with saying that the Esferi live in the same group of sky-islands with the Cloudwalkers? Perhaps the Cloudwalkers have looked down on them as primitive creatures for centuries, and only recently realized how much depth there is to the Esferi civilization. Could it be possible that they both draw on the Adonai, the light elementals I hinted at in my description of the Cloudwalkers? Those could easily be re-flavored as light spirits.
3. The scholarly faction of Cloudwalkers, the Unveilers, would probably be very interested in the Vaelshii.While this may be the case, these two races don't get along because of their past.I'll keep pondering team names, but I rather like the name of Team Enigma. Or are we supposed to name our team after a geographical region? The Cloudwalker capital city is called Marenhelm, if that matters.
Jimmy Groove, Annaki — 00
Komachi, Feyrin — 00
KoolKoal, Platyns — 00
Link, Cloudwalkers — 00
Small Child, Vaelshii — 00
Here's a few of my ideas for how our races could tie together.
Esfari - The connection with spirits and lack of means of easy communication with other corporeal races makes it seem like the most natural species to be closer to the Esfari would be those with a heavy spirit element. Annaki join the Dreamweave as spirits when they die, at which point they could work with the Esfari The Cloudwalkers could have some minor dealings with them, as their seemingly primitive nature would make them less of a threat than other races. And the Vaelshii might see them as potentially promising subjects to elevate to their idea of full sentience.
Annaki: While alive, the Annaki often live with other races. The Cloudwalkers likely don't let them into their cities, but may have occasional dealings with them, knowing that the Annaki have a wide net of culture to draw from. The Platyns might have dealings with them for similar reasons, and may even set aside areas in their cities for them, as dreamcraft products can be useful, and Annaki can potentially make useful spies since they are all over the place and generally not anything people concern themselves over. The Feyrin have a very similar mindset and outlook to the Annaki, and the two races likely exist in a constant state of friendly rivalry. I would imagine the Feyrin would be the race most likely to learn Dream magic from the Annaki. The Vaelshii practice technology that generally disturbed the Annaki, but they are willing to engage in trade and use any item that isn't implanted in their bodies. And those Annaki who die and maintain coherence as spirits in the Dreamwave could serve as translators and guides to Esfari, and as general messengers to other races.
Feyrin: Likely very closely tied to the Annaki due to cultural similarities, with Annaki living in their villages and Feyrin joining Annaki bands a fairly common thing. However, the Annaki habit of remaining around in spirit-form after death may creep the Feyrin out, although that is a much milder, always-consensual form of undeath that probably wouldn't be enough to raise their ire. Their outgoing nature combined with the ability to fly makes them natural first-contacts with the Esfari, since they could cover enough ground to find them and then are likely to get along fairly well, since they are playful but don't pose a real threat to others in most cases. Ultimately, the tendency of Esfari to be so quick to sacrifice themselves for the community would likely be a bit unnerving to the Feyrin, though. Despite sharing colors, they probably don't have much dealings with the Clouldwalkers, being a numerous people who have similar enough abilities to be a threat to the reclusive people. The Platyns probably maintain a small amount of formal connection and trade, but otherwise keep their social distance. The Valeshii have the most alien mindset to the Feyrin, and relations are probably extremely distant if present at all.
Platyn: This one is harder because of their reclusive nature. Likely they won't be among the first to make contact with the Esfari, but would quickly move to gather information and start up relations as soon as word gets to them. The Annaki might seem benign to them, and a useful source of information, causing them to have close if somewhat duplicitous relationships with the little furry people. Feyrin culture is still open enough to trade and deal with them, but with mindsets just a bit further away from the waters in which the Platyn live, their relationship is probably minor. Cloudwalkers would likely be a culture they are vaguely aware of due to their network of spying and diplomacy, but the xenophobic sky people probably see little to no reason to deal with them directly. They are the race that is most likely to have close ties to the Vaelshii: they operate large enough networks of trade and information to be valuable allies to the Vaelshii, who have technologies and magics which would be quite useful to the Platyns. The rather dispassionate, calculating nature of each race provides them with common ground, and they ultimately work together out of self-interest.
Clouldwalkers: As xenophobes, they probably do most of their interaction through only the smallest settlements and/or individuals of other races. Races which lack the ability to fly are inherently safer to deal with, meaning Annaki and Esferi are better candidates for rare instances of trade. The Feyrin's ability to fly and curiousity makes them something to avoid, while the Platyns and Vaelshii have cultures which seem dangerous enough to them to make them avoid contact.
Vaelshii: Their biological curiousity is likely to make them want to get closer to the Esferi, who seem to be far from the Vaelshii view of true sentience, making them possible targets for scientifically uplifting them. The Annaki are more advanced and keep their distance, but their connection to Dream magic is something that is worth study. The Feyrin are of less interest to them in general, but are just open enough for occasional interaction, and their long lives are of scientific interest. The Cloudwalkers are potentially an interesting point: both the Vaelshii and Cloudwalker societies seem to be descendants of powerful nations that just barely survived a catastrophe of some sort, so it is possible they are tied together and thus the Vaelshii have helped make the Cloudwalkers so xenophobic and the Cloudwalkers could be responsible for the loss of power of the Vaelshii.
It's funny that you should say that, since it seems like Team III is becoming a supervillain team.
We have four instances of White and Blue, making them the most common colors. Green and Red are just behind with three each, and Black is the most underrepresented.
In terms of social groups, all of the races have societies and work together at least with others of their own kind. Only one race stands apart from that model, the Cloudwalkers, and they likely have the magic necessary to hide their forms and infiltrate other races.
Every race has some white and/or blue, so this seems like the best color combination to use as an inspiration for the ultimate goals of our alliance. The natural tendency of all of the races towards civilized groups working together could be extended towards the other races in our team as common threats bring them together. And blue provides a provides a rational and questioning aspect that can define how we solve problems together. Essentially, we'd slowly work towards being an alliance based on common good and mutual advancement in knowledge and security. This is essentially the best way of thinking like organizations along the lines of the United Nations or Federation of Planets, so perhaps our good-guy nature makes that sort of thing our ultimate goal.
That said, we should make sure to keep up a good bit of internal conflict, because that's just good for the story. I think making the Cloudwalkers and Vaelshii old enemies might be a good way to do this, as it gives us a bit of a cold-war thing going on at first, and that makes the eventual union all the better since it requires a story that makes burying that hatchet into an epic event.
This also gives a reason why the Cloudwalkers are so mistrustful and reclusive. They were wronged so deeply by the Xanten so long ago that it affected their very culture.
Note: I think I'll change "Vosuj" to refer to the ancient Cloudwalkers, and simply call the new ones Cloudwalkers.
We could call ourselves The Alliance.
I've yet to figure out how the history of the world affects the Annaki. Most likely, I'll have them be a very old race that mostly used lived their lives in the little band structure they have now, then as empires rose they joined them more and more, and the cataclysmic struggles sent them back into the wild, where they hid and sheltered others that were trying to escape. Only recently have more civilizations rose to the level where they could readily interact again.
Maybe I could throw a twist in there: when they interact with other races more, other races acquire more Dreamweaving abilities from them. And maybe these abilities are dangerous for races that don't instinctively understand them like the Annaki, and thus the Annaki unwitting contributed to the previous problems and will likely do so again in this conflict.
Geography: Esferi live in forests near the lakes of Platyn. Both the forests and the lakes are near the ocean cliff-mesas of Feyrin, below which there’s the cities of Valeshii and Annaki, and above the cliffs are the cloudwalker’s flying fortresses.
All of the species (with the exception of Esferi, perhaps) have reasonably advanced to the point where there's regular trading and exchange of ideas going on.
Esferi and Platyns have had trading relationships for many years, after Esferi first contacted the Platyn while they were primitive. Platyns inwardly look down on Esferi culture as a bit naïve, but generally their relationships are amicable.
Feyrin have a very friendly relationship with the Esferi and Annaki, and are particularly close with Annaki thanks to their similar temperaments. The differences in their lifespans mean that lasting friendships are difficult, but both their abilities and philosophies complement each other quite nicely.
Valeshii and Cloudwalkers are the aloof members of the group. Due to their historical conflicts, they have a hard time opening up to each other.
One-sentence descriptions by each race, on each race, prior to the war:
Annaki
on Esferi: Do animals dream?
on Annaki: N/A
on Feyrin: Wish I could live long like you, friend.
on Platyn: You're very seedy.
on cloudwalkers: You should open up a bit.
on Valeshii: machines can't replicate what we dream.
Feyrin
on Esferi: You should value your life a bit more.
on Annaki: Ooh, how do you explore dreams like that? Fascinating!
on Feyrin: N/A
on Platyn: Poison does have its place in combat, I see.
on cloudwalkers: What's that behind your walls? What's that behind your walls? What's that behind your walls?
on Valeshii: Will your mechanical enhancements lift you from the shackles of your mind?
Cloudwalkers
on Esferi: Earth-bound animals are the only ones that we can truly trust.
on Annaki: Your powers are strange, but your actions are trustworthy.
on Feyrin: Go away.
on Platyn: How can you limit yourself to a lake or a river?
on cloudwalkers: N/A
on Valeshii:Your fathers nearly wiped us out, and you expect us to trust you machine-men?
Esferi
on Esferi: N/A
on Annaki: Kindred Spirit!
on Feyrin: You're kind.
on Platyn: Fellow animals!
on cloudwalkers: Who're you? I've never seen you before.
on Valeshii: Our magic is better than your mech!
Valeshii
on Esferi: Potential for uplifting likely.
on Annaki: Dreams? Does not compute.
on Feyrin: Natural selection works in strange ways.
on Platyn: Good spies, better test subjects.
on cloudwalkers: Our wars were a millennium ago. We have what you want.
on Valeshii: N/A
Platyn
on Esferi: So naive...
on Annaki: There's no use living in the dreams when you need to stay in the present.
on Feyrin: Your open minds leave you open to internal manipulation.
on Platyn: N/A
on cloudwalkers: How do you live without water?
on Valeshii: We'd like to take a look at some of your tech.
Conflict: cloudwalkers, in their flying city, sees the forces of evil far away forming an army to drive out the group, to hunt all the species and take them as living batteries of mana or slaves for manual labor. Despite great reluctance, they can't handle the swarms alone, so they contact the nearest species, the Feyrin. The Feyrin get in touch with the Annaki and the Esferi, who in turn invite the Platyn, who also naturally bring Valeshii to the table. After some deliberation in a Conclave, the groups agree to work together, though the alliance is rocky from the start as the Valeshii and Cloudwalkers were never friendly with each other. More of an alliance out of necessity rather than a long-standing friendly atmosphere, these neighbors will need to learn to work together if they are to defend themselves against the enemies.
At least, that's what I have in my mind. Suggest some corrections if I have something that you seriously don't like.
I can at least speak for my species - the Feyrin had a previous history of being in a war of existence against a numerically superior enemy, so they are highly willing to do what it takes to collaborate with its allies.
And as for the name, I'd like something a bit more involved than just "the Alliance"... The Gathering? The Enigma? The Free-Will Compact?
For group names, I like names with emphasize the focus on free-will and cooperation. "Confederation" might be a good part of it, as that stresses that it isn't centralized on any one race or group. Maybe something like "The Confederation of the Free", which we could shorten to "The Free" when needed.
The Fellowship of the Free
or:
The Brotherhood of the Free
The Alliance of the Free
The Coalition of the Free
The Free-Will Accord
The Free-Will Communion
Now, if you'll excuse me I'm going to go read all your bios. (And Jimmy is correct, I was off camping for memorial day. :))
Generals meant to be drafted first in a single pack of 6 cards.
And here is the actual cube, meant to be drafted in 4 regular sized packs. (60 card decks)
Komachi, the problem with I have with your summary is that you're speaking for everyone. We all have to work together to interpret how our races interact, and I think it's okay that we make suggestions to others about what could happen with their race, but I don't think we should state how other people's races think and feel. You had a good idea, having each race say once sentence about each other race so that we could get an idea of what they thought of each other, but I think you should have asked us to do those for our own races. That said, you've done alright with the Cloudwalkers, though I'm not sure where the whole "earth-bound animals" thing came from with the Esferi. The Cloudwalkers would trust them because they're primitive, and they practice similar magic. Also, they'd be fascinated by the Platyns; historical carvings, but appaled by the fact that the Platyns live underground.
I take you guys don't like the suggestion that the Esfer live on the sky-islands with the Cloudwalkers? I wish Achren would check in and give his opinion. It's his race, after all. SmallChild, too, so I could know if he was cool with our races' potential history.
Is this what you meant to say? I can this, though I think the whole "forces of evil" bit might need a little work.
And I guess we we can also decide on names of the locations as well, so that we can have places we can refer to in flavor texts of our future cards.
Here's an outline of some of the things we've discussed, SmallChild.
1. The Cloudwalkers notice whatever threat is looking on the horizon that's going to encourage all of our races to band together. They contact the Feyrin/possibly the Esferi. The Feyrin contact everyone else.
2. The ancestors of the Cloudwalkers, the Vosuj, were (accidentally/not maliciously) wiped out by the Xanten, the Vaelshii's ancestors. Thus, the two races don't get along very well.
3. We're still looking for a team name we can all agree upon.
4. I'm sure I've missed some things...
I read the bit about the Vosuj and I feel like the Xanten would have more or less maliciously wiped them out when they initially rose to power. The Xanten wanted an empire, and a race of xenophobes don't bring you toward that ideal. They would be in the way of progress, and as a result be an unfortunate casualty.
However if it helps for group cohesion we can go with the concept of the Vosuj being test subjects, since that fits into Xanten ideals as well.
To help with finding motivations, the Vaelshii primary goals are:
- Scientific progress
- Reclaiming the throne held by their ancestors
- Discovering a method of becoming sustainable (Their numbers can't grow unless they find some sustainable method of maintaining themselves)
- The obvious stuff (Survival, ect.)
If we end up going with the unite against the big threat, we need to be weary that there can only really be one of those in the game. If another group is heading in that direction it won't work for us to be doing so as well.
Generals meant to be drafted first in a single pack of 6 cards.
And here is the actual cube, meant to be drafted in 4 regular sized packs. (60 card decks)