Topic: New World - Aioskoru

[Peter R]

Isn't the medieval life expectancy only down to 30yrs once infant mortality is taken into account. if you lived past 5yrs then you generally made it to a reasonable 'middle age' by our standards and the wealthiest lived into their 50s and 70s.

http://www.sarahwoodbury.com/life-expectancy-in-the-middle-ages/

[markc]

IMHO, when you look at centaurs I think they were greatly influenced by Greek Mythology. So you could do what ever you wanted to do. I also think that is shows that as long as you have a good solid foundation for why something is you can make it work. A prime example here is the zombie myth was that if the zombie ate something their soul would go back to the land of the dead, until the 80's in which zombies became hungry eating machines who's sole existence was to eat. 

IMHO, Yes you did have high infant mortality as well as a fair amount of mortality in every day life. I do not know where I read it or heard it but it was often said you needed 6 kids as the average went 2 would die, 2 would leave the farm and 2 would help you in your old age (if you were not one of those mortalities  )
And often things would happen such as fire, attack by bad guys (or good guys depending on your frame of reference), disease, sickness, natural disaster that would wipe out even more than normal.
MDC   

[kwickham]

Maybe so. I don't know how well they know the medieval mortality rate. I think the info comes from archaeology rather than written historical accounts. Those written accounts are mostly royalty and land owners, rather than the common folk, where living conditions weren't as good.

I do like modern zombies. Makes for fun gaming. There should be zombies up in the swamp and desert on the right side of the map.

No Equine Enslavement allowed
A good cultural law might be "No slavery of horses (aka riding horses or using them as farming animals) within their borders". I think one poor decision would be riding horses into their area. Maybe lock characters up or something if caught riding a horse in their region. And they will set that horse free, with a other wild horses. Horses in their area will run free, and they will protect them, feeding them if necessary.

A side note. Organizing the data is difficult in this post - since we can't put info together. Setting up a Google free, or also at Petter's website to help organize the info more intuitively for those that can't pick out the data here. I'll post the address when I get enough info from here to there. This post however is the primary source of info. It should be referenced for everything, to keep the forum strong.

[kwickham]

Aioskoru Distance and Length

penkw-ro Middle finger width avg ¾ inch
tūm Thumb width ~ 1inch

pod Average foot size 8 inches (20 cm)
man Average hand length, tip of longest finger to pl̥e-mā palm/wrist edge 7 inches (18 cm)

el-inā Cubit tip of longest finger to elbow avg 18 inches (46 cm), half 1yrd or 0.45 m

gwm̥-yo Pace / Step distance to take one step avg 30 inches (76cm), 0.83 yrd or 0.76m

[Don't have a name yet] Horizons on average 6 foot tall (1.8 m) a person on flat land can see 3 miles (5 km)

For plural, add -es to the word.

[kwickham]

Ekouinmanus Horse Centaurs

Expanding upon the Military Section

Military
Strength: average
Focus: archers, infantry and cavalry
Main Unit: small troops of centaurs
Soldiers: volunteers
Main Use: scouting, guarding, monitoring
Rank: earned through heroic actions

adding some, modified extrapolated, and expanded info, some based on d20 srd and pfsrd info below

A.) Encounter Sizes
Wandering encounters
Solo
Pair

Wandering, guard post, watch, patrol, strike force, workforce, miners, merchant caravans
Company, Band: 3-10; 50% semi spell caster(s); 10% chance of having one pure spell caster
Troop: 8 - 18 with 1 leader lvl 3 - 5; 75% semi spell caster(s); 25% chance of having one pure spell caster

Settlements

Horse Centaur Tribes:

• small 11 - 30; 30% noncombatant; three lvl 3 hunters; one lvl 6 leader/clan chief, 50% semi spell casters; 1 or 2 pure spell casters
• medium 31 to 90; 30% noncombatant; five lvl 3 hunters; two lvl 5 lieutenants/elders; one level 6 - 9 leader/clan chief; 50% semi spell casters; 2 - 5 pure spell casters, 1 hybrid spell caster
• large 20 - 150 ; 30% noncombatant; ten lvl 3 hunter/sergeants; five lvl 5 lieutenants/elders; one lvl 6  - 9 leader/clan chief; rare 5% chance of having a champion/hero lvl 10 to 15; 50% semi spell casters; 5 - 10 pure spell casters, 2 hybrid spell casters

B.) Magical Items
leaders, champions, heros, pure spell casters, and hybrid spell casters may have magical weapon or armor pieces

C.) Spell Users
Most common semi spell users will be ranger, bards, possibly assassin or thief spell users. They most likely follow the commands of their leaders, the highest being Iletrel, the military leader.

Most common pure spell casters are shamans, druids, healers, and illusionists that follows Jait. Followers of Anandan may be transmutation (witch) type casters. Followers of Naraxeth may be necromancer related.

Champion/heroes may be any type of characters focusing on attacking and or defense, with or without spells. Champions follow the Clan Chief, King Cykr, or have gained their own status apart from everyone else.[/list]

[kwickham]

Almost ready to create an encounter table for the centaur region. Before doing that, maybe a list of monsters that cross into different games might be appropriate. Something that can be added or mixed with the animals.

Certainly one must begin with some standard monsters - some of them race type creatures.
Orc, troll, ogre, giant, dragon, goblin, skeleton, werewolf, zombie, ghost, mummy


Some more non-game specific monsters: Hobgoblin, giant ant, large beetle, young drake, wyvern, gargoyle, vampires, dire wolves, wraiths, wight, demon, sprite, elemental, construct, cockatrice, chimera, griffon, golem, dryad, siren, nymph, ghoul, djinn, hydra, harpy, kobold, lich, manticore, naga,  ooze, satyr, spectre, titan, kraken, treant, unicorn, Pegasus, Will-O-Whisp, warg, hell hound, phantom, bogeyman, crawling hand, shadow

any other additions for standard set of monsters for the world. Not looking to build any just yet. Just looking at a standard beginning set of monsters for the world.

[kwickham]

Here is were the data is starting to be organized in a less linear manner. Peter is also putting it on his site. Both of the sites refer to here for the material. This post being more authoritative.

The site is a Google site limited to 100MB, so it may focus on data rather than the graphics.

Aioskoru site
https://sites.google.com/site/aioskoru/

Peter's Rolemaster blog
http://www.rolemasterblog.com/wiki/home/aioskoru/

[markc]

A quick note, I was just reading a bit about Irish Travelers on Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Travellers) and they had a note under Health that they as a group tend to die young (age 39, 1/2 population) which is a significant difference verses today's settled people. IMHO this would be closer to a non-magical healing society.
MDC

[kwickham]

Skiehmanus Kapos - Scorpion Centaurs
Desert mountain region where the tribes of the skiehmanus (scorpion centaurs) fit each others and unfortunate wanderers. These are many separate tribal factions, each under their own rule set, although some broad assumptions can be made concerning most of the tribes. The information below is broadly applied, though small individual variations may exist.

Some of the skiehmanus invade the ekouinmanus occasionally which creates hostility between the two species.

This was created to contrast with the Ekouinmanus culture and civilization.

Population: mostly scorpion centaur, mixed slave population.
Political Structure: warring tribes
Strong Influence: brawn
Popular Issue: military
Stability: very shaky
Personal Freedoms: repressed
Scandals: infrequent
Foreign Relations: at War (Losing)

Economy
Main Export: laborers (slaves)
Main Import: food - crops, fruit
Main Resource: mining - gems
Trade: major deficit
Strength: somewhat weak, and declining
Wealth: concentrated in a small upper class

Ecology
Main Climate: hot desert
Ocean: on both sides
Mountains: barren steep hills and mountains, continental folds
Frequent Trouble: earthquakes & fires
Wilderness: 82%
Wild Animals: dangerous
Natural Resources: scarce

Culture
Highly Values: military prowess
Known For: crude weapons
Popular Entertainment: arena gladiators
Respected Profession: warrior
Discrimination: class based
Major Taboo: physical contact
Major Social Ill: assassinations

Military
Strength: strong and fragmented
Focus: land
Main Unit: berserkers
Soldiers: forced service, all able
Main Use: conquest
Rank: earned through combat challenge

Magic
Occurrence: only a very few
Source: passed down in families
Major Use: War, divination
Viewed: with some suspicion/superstition
Enchanted Items: very rare

Religion
Type: pantheism, tribal spirits
Focus: ancestor worship
Worship: arena sacrifice
Associated Artform: attendance, cheering
Prevalence: followed by all
Holidays: weekly arena battles

Population
Urban: 35%
Rural: 65%
Literacy Rate: 0%
Gender Ratio: 1.35 male(s)/female
Fertility Rate: 4-6 babies collectively calle a brood
Life Expectancy:

In another post, I will list some of the tribal chiefs of the different warring skiehmanus.

[kwickham]

A quick note, I was just reading a bit about Irish Travelers on Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Travellers) and they had a note under Health that they as a group tend to die young (age 39, 1/2 population) which is a significant difference verses today's settled people. IMHO this would be closer to a non-magical healing society.
MDC

Nice find. yes maybe.

[kwickham]

Leader: Vuekum Dossar (Poison Dagger)
Tribe: Rad Ksecd, The Red Stick
She is a scorpion centaur, young adult of 9 years (sohwles) which is like 25 in human years in maturity. Vuekum is slightly tall for a female of her race, around 6 feet tall by our standard. She leads the religious faction, the religious order of the Circle of Red, which has two others that form the basis of the current religion of the Red Stick. A religion which is forced and compulsory rather than freely believed.

The Red Stick tribe themselves are a break of of the dominate tribe in Skiehmanus Kapos. Formed mostly of younger rebellious skiehmanus, they broke off many years in the past. The leadership themselves have always been youthful, choosing to pick leaders by challenge and difficult ordeals, rather than voting and or family ascension. They live on mainly two tall mesas on the 1st level of a 2 level plateau - the dominate tribe residing on the top 2nd level. Two Cliffs separate them from that group as well as the land below. Two guarded narrow paths are used to gain access to their area, one to the north and one to the south.

Vuekum was able to survive nearly freezing to death during a survival ordeal among others trying to become leader, after the death of the last leader, to ascend to her position several years ago. When she took power, her order of the Circle of Red became the dominate religious belief.

Her eyes are blue, has medium length brown hair, has slightly tanned skin, and has a birthmark that can be seen on one shoulder when she isn't wearing her armor.

She is very charismatic with great mature presence. Normally she is cheerful and can be impressed by unusual magic and the color blue-green - the color of many desert succulents. She has a great music and singing ability with bard magic. During battles she uses her songs to help her entire army. They seek vengeance and approach conflict with zealotry. Most of her army is fighters, warriors, and assassins. Her sisters of the Circle of Red provide magic attacks and support.

Vuekum wears a dark red spaulder made of splinted leather. A green and silver pair of vambraces made of leather and iron with shiny silver buckles and rivets, carved with a shrub. A dark green gauntlet made of hardened steel with iron buckles. A black cuirass made of leather with iron buckles and rivets, painted with a red stick. Green and black lower gear covering her opisthosoma and legs made of leather.

Her choice in weapons is a magical poison dagger that can cause earthquakes, creating cracks where poisonous gas erupts from the ground that their tribe has been made immune to - the gas causing paralysis. She also uses a crossbow. In battle, she mostly sings and plays music with her sattar.

To characters, she will likely show disdain.

[kwickham]

The Circle of Red
The other two women of the Circle of Red besides Vuekum the leader are Kveres and Fera. Together they summon the speak with the spirits of their ancestors, and form the basis of their religion. Although the Red Stick is old, their religion is new. Red plays an important, almost spiritual, quality in their culture. It reminds them of the blood spilled to gain their independence from The All-Seeing Desert Crow.

Fera
While Vuekum is dominate, passionate, charismatic, and forceful, Fera is intelligent, thoughtful, and more reasonable. Not as tall as Vuekum, she is more petite for a skiehmanus. Her hair is fiery red and skin more pale than Vuekum, prone to staying indoors more than the others. She uses lightning and air elemental magic primarily causing great desert storms. Her weapon is a rod which helps her channel and charge her powers.

Kveres
Much different than the other two, Kveres is the compassionate third member of the Circle of Red. She is in charge of health, healing, and spirit. Not as outspoken as the other two, she normally goes along with what the other two decide. She is more heavy set and plump compared to the other two. Her long blond hair and constant smile set her appart from the other two. If any of the three will be approachable, it will be Kveres - though all three can be approached if one uses communication and methods that impress or attract their attention.

Two city mesas
Their two mesas are poor, unlike the larger metropolis of their larger predecessors. Occasionally their skirmish, but the dominate tribe mostly allows them to continue without conflict, because they help to defend the area that they inhabit. That is one side of their mesa that they don't have to monitor as much.

The Red Stick Tactics
The Red Stick although not overly powerful, are extremely efficient at area they guard and the fights that they do undertake. Rather than overwhelming the opponent, they are more skilled at covert assassinations, ambushes, and quick strategic tactics. They must use speed, cover, and select targets.

Occasionally they will raid farms and villages for food and even slaves. If encountered, they will fight quick and flee if confronted by much of a resistance. They try to use the element of surprise, cover, and speed - making sure to always leave an escape route.

[kwickham]

Expanding the Skiehmanus Kapos

Military
Strength: strong and fragmented
Focus: land
Main Unit: berserkers
Soldiers: forced service, all able
Main Use: conquest
Rank: earned through combat challenge

Tribe: Rad Ksecd, The Red Stick

A.) Encounter Sizes
Wandering encounters
Solo
Pair

Wandering, guard post, watch, patrol, strike force, workforce, miners, merchant caravans

Company, Band, Raiders: 3-8; 20% semi spell caster(s); 30% thief/assassin; 50% fighter/warrior; 10% chance of having one pure spell caster; lead by lvl 3-5 ranger; also may have 2-8 giant scorpions.
Troop: 21 - 40 with 1 leader lvl 4 - 6; 30% semi spell caster(s); 30% thief/assassin; 50% fighter/warrior; 25% chance of having one pure spell caster; 1 cleric lvl 6-8; 1 ranger lvl 6-8; leader is either the spell caster, which is a sister of the Circle of Red if the group has one, the cleric, or the ranger if neither the cleric nor the spell caster leads; also there can be 4-32 giant scorpions

Settlements
Scorpion Centaur Tribes:
small 21 - 40; 10% noncombatant; three lvl 5 rangers; two lvl 5 thief/assassins; one lvl 8 leader/clan chief, 20% semi spell casters; 30% assassin/thief; 50% fighter/warrior; 1 or 2 pure spell casters sisters of The Circle of Red; 4-32 giant scorpions
medium 41 to 110; 10% noncombatant; five lvl 5 hunters; two lvl 5 assassin/thief; one level 6 - 9 leader/tribe chief; 20% semi spell casters; 30% assassin/thief; 50% fighter/warrior; 2 - 5 pure spell casters sisters of The Circle of Red, 1 hybrid spell caster; 8-64 giant scorpions
large 110 - 500; 10% noncombatant; 20% semi spell casters; 30% assassin/thief; 50% fighter/warrior; ten lvl 5 rangers; five lvl 5 assassin/thief; one lvl 6  - 9 leader/tribe chief; rare 5% chance of having a champion/hero lvl 10 to 15; 5 - 10 pure spell casters sisters of The Circle of Red, 2 hybrid spell casters; 16-128 giant scorpions

B.) Magical Items
leaders, champions, heros, pure spell casters, and hybrid spell casters may have magical weapon or armor pieces

C.) Spell Users
Most common semi spell users will be ranger and assassin or thief spell users, possibly bards. They most likely follow the commands of their leaders, the highest being Vuekum, the military leader.

Most common pure spell casters are clerics, druids, healers, and illusionists that follows Kveres. Followers of Fera may be elemental or illusion type casters. Followers of Vuekum deal with poisons and disease.

Champion/heroes may be any type of characters focusing on attacking and or defense, with or without spells. Champions follow the Vuekum with a zealot fervor.

Where next
With two of the three main cultures of the area, the Ekouinmanus and the first of three Skiehmanus, and several of the main figures penciled in, focus will go towards developing a few adventures and quests.

[kwickham]

For the adventures and quests, rather than listing a set number, maybe listing by type might be helpful.

Possible types: Fighting, action, espionage, escort, delivery, influence, messenger, recovery/collection type quests, story arcs, and tasks list might be helpful.

Opponents for the Ekouinmanus Kapos area, foe focus.
Lvl 1-3 Goblin quest line
Lvl 2-5 Gnoll and/or Giant Ant quest line
Lvl 4-8 Scorpion Centaur quest line

Faction level quests
Distrust
Allow
Accept
Trust
One of their own

Other quest line
Mines

[kwickham]

Aioskoru sphere map

This is sort of a global view from space, without clouds of Melos, Morimanus, Skiehmanus, and Ekouinmanus regions. They are approximately in the same longitude, though different latitudes.

I also worked in some greens and yellow areas near Melos to show the forests and deserts region more. The default green is mainly for elevation rather than flora or foliage.

[kwickham]

Updating on what has happened.

World v Campaign Content
The world information will be separate from the campaign material.

So far the world map, weather, biomes, elevation, globe, common animals, major place names, time, distance, calendar, and monster pool have been created in a first draft.

For world languages, I'll create 6 languages to begin with: common human (which has been used thus far (Indo european based). Others will be Elvish (Austroasian based) and Dwarvish (Afro-asiatic based). Goblin, Orc, and one other will evolve from those languages.

Three campaign areas
Peter R continues to write information about his chosen area. Three cities/villages and six major NPCs

I've written the basics for two connected areas.  Five cities/villages and 14 NPCs. One experimental quest seed is being developed as a test.

[kwickham]

Latest update.

I made a YouTube video of some of the world content. I've never done any video editing so I just tried my best to do some stuff that I saw in some NASA-like videos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZY4WJZ06a4

Note about Pay What You Want (PWYW). If you contribute any amount to Aioskoru PWYW through RPGNow/DriveThru, please click on a RPGNow forum banner on this site first so that this site gets a portion, instead of using the YouTube non-affiliate link.