Raining Leaves 18, 3122

Report from Jiard Okt regarding the Grey Rangers sent to Karas

The others had already killed time in town.  Saina got to know the locals and let a human who aspires to be a druid in service to Zavonis.  After a bar brawl where she was nearly detrained he told her a story about the Dregordian druid that trained him and how he overcame his terrible temper.  His name was Roy Cole. 

Carn picked up the Wright edge and for training, had a hell of a time finding items.  He was low on money, so he improvised with what he had.  the blacksmith is a racist, so he sent Sabine (with her camonere accent) to go speak for him.  In the end an apprentice wright happened to swing through town and they talked shop and he picked up his feat (he pulled a joker in DITL).  

Kodiaster spent a lot of his time hunting alone.  One day he was sure he saw a flying figure in the clouds, but he couldn't pin it down.  

The rangers spoke for a while about what to do. One one hand they had 10 refugees staying with them and they needed to get them .... if not all the way to Mindoth's Tower, at least part of the way.  On the other hand, they still had not gotten to the bottom of the Red Headed Woman and her bandit raiders.  Also, they were concerned about the Prelacy Paladin and his column of men scavanging the countryside for the refugees.  they tossed around a lot of ideas.  the plan they favored was to make a show of moving the refugees south and then sneaking them back in at night to stay at the Duke's manor.  When they presented this idea to teh Duke, he was not thrilled about risking the lives of his people to hide ten illegal refugee outlaws that he did not know (and who could cause a political explosion with Camon).  He refused.  they went with their backup plan:  they snuck the refugees around town at night and headed for a port.  Their best option was  Lake Hold and so they went. 

Along the road, early in the morning, they ran into five men on the road and as they got closer it was clear that they were bandits.  After some brief conversation (they didn't want to risk the refugees) the bandits were convinced to let them pass.  They have orders and those orders don't include waylaying poor travelers.  As the rangers passed, they saw that the numbers were three times what they had guessed, with the rest paying in wait.  they turnerd every oncoming caravan they encountered for the rest of the trip around. 

Once through Dooly (which they found boring) and into Lake Hold they made for hte sprawling docks past the tall buildings made to resemble mountain architecture.  When they got there Solvayus saw The Joker's Plenty, the ship that had brought him from Korindia to the main land.  He tracked down the first mate (an eldakar woman named Faella) and asked after Captain Pole, who was doing business at a tavern.  They found him talkign to two fat Dregordians.  After he'd concluded his business he talked to the rangers and said that he had room and would agree to take on the refugees as far as Riverbend if they would agree to stop some pirates that were going to be after his cargo:  whatever the Dregordians wanted him to move (it was eventually going to Mindoth's Tower itself) .  They were given a description of the pirate ship and taken to the bottleneck where the Lake becomes river, tended by lighthouses and signal houses to prevent collisions.  There they borrowed hook ladders and rowboats and waited for the pirate ship, saying goodbye to their refugee friends. 

The boat was signaled to stop and did not.  As it came forward an ornately dressed Dregordian came forward at the Aft and blew a Jet of solid air into their blue, specially prepared sails.  The sails held and propelled the boat forward in a small burst.  The rangers hooked it as it sailed between their rowboats and climbed aboard as an Obscuring mist covered the whole ship.  Crossbow bolts fired out of the mist toward the Rangers, but the mist hurt the attacking pirates as much as it hurt the Rangers in their attacks.  After several volleys failed (with Carn missing the sail repeatedly), the mist finally fell to reveal the enemies to one another. The rangers fired at the Dregordian spellcaster, but were thwarted at every turn by his Armor spell.  One of the men as threatened into betraying the captain and turned and fired upon him.  he also didn't manage to pierce the armor, but he did anger h is vengeful captain, who turned a powerful Jet on him (and anyone caught in the blast).  

A potent Blast of electrical magic from Kithain stunned the spellcaster just as his armor wore off.  That was all the time Kodiaster needed to drop an arrow into his skull and end the battle.  With the captain dead the crew began to surrender and were forced to pull the ship to the side of the river and drop anchor.  The Joker's Plenty got away and the crew and the refugees lived to fight another day. 

Notable personalities: 

• Roy Cole:  aspiring human druid in service to Zavonis
• Captain Pole:  tall lanky captain of the Joker's Plenty.  Human Male.  (WC)
• Faella: serious capable first officer of the Joker's Plenty.  Eldakar female. 
• Assalak na Vishala: pirate captain of the Blue Jet. Dregordian Male (sorcerer). (WC)

Raining Leaves 11, 3122

Report from Jiard Okt regarding the Grey Rangers sent to Karas

The Rangers have been settling into their new (old) Outpost, though it is still without a name. Jiard Okt delivered their pay and relayed a message that Corporal Neetar will be coming to visit soon. Then the Rangers set about minding their own business.

Solvayus went into town to find out about the Prelacy Paladin who passed through. Not a lot of people wanted to help him, as he could not pay them (being Korindian) but later on he discovered that doing deeds for them was worth money in their minds and he worked some in formation out of them. He was told that the Paladin had been seen at a local blacksmith's place (James Smith). James is a racist and a drunk and he was of no help to Solvayus, but while James was telling the korindian off, Phillip Silvers entered and told Solvayus he could help him. He introduced him to his daughter (and apprentice) Hilda, who was able to tell him a great deal (James Smith fancies her). She told him that the blacksmith had not only put up the Paladin and his men in his own home, but that James had slept in the shop while he was there, and that he had been sending regular birds of a sort she had never seen before out with messages attached since. Solvayus, much to the dismay of the other rangers, told her about the refugees.

While this was going on, Kithain looked around for items that may have been left by the rangers and discovered a secret wall. Using seeds and other crushed plants he outlined the rune on the wall in the upper floor ..... into the shape of an owl. Kithain fears owls more than anything (he believes them to be the harbingers of death) and cried out. Phillipe (the human refugee) had an owl feather fan and loaned it to Sabine, who used it to fan the area of the icon. the seeds fell to the ground revealing a locked alchemy lab with a jug of something brown in it (which they hope is alchemical in nature ...)

Sabine decided to get to know the area and took to the rivers and forests to hunt, with the others following. Within the forest she noticed they were being watched by horrid dark ravens. She got too close to one and sent it flying off. It returned soon enough with a whole swarm of birds (everything from the aforementioned owls and ravers to songbirds) and something larger: the dragging shambling dead body of a horse. Bones and muscle were visible through the skin and it's eyes glowed a fierde dark blue. While the swarm attacked the rangers it fired bolts of darkness at them, almost like an eigth appendage (eight? Yes. it had rotten wings on the side, though whether they were original or not, it was unclear). These creatures of darkness were dispatched mostly by Sabine's everwood staff and clever use of flaming torches by Kithain. Solvayus, however, was a true hero in healing Sabine as the swarm tried to tear her to pieces.

In the wake of this danger, the dead birds and rotten pegasus-thing left mostly terrible feathers, rotten organs, and a black sludge. It was not the Rangers' best day. They returned to the city, making a note of the danger, and with Solvayus realizing that someday he would need to come back to cleanse the area if he wanted to truly serve the will of the Ascended.

Note: Maybe it's nothing, but I feel like I'm being watched. It's not a feeling I like. I haven't felt it since my training and it's making me nervous.

Notable Personalities:

• James Smith: racist blacksmith. 45-50. Human 
• Philip Silvers: Local silversmth. Good man. 35-40. presumably entirely human. 
• Hilda Silvers: Philip's daughter and apprentice. Roughly 17-18. presumably entirely human.

Forest Dance 23, 3122

Report from Jiard Okt regarding the new Grey Rangers sent to Karas

The rangers had just finished defeating the farm raiders and they tied up those that survived the fight (4 plus Keith, the man that lead them to the camp) and interrogated the leader.  Shaina made light of the dead bodies and Sabine punched her and broke her jaw.  

Nobody was able to break Joyce,  but in the morning the next day Solvaynus arrived. 

 

Flashback:  Solvaynus traveled north with Jaird Okt as part of a caravan relocating people to the northern region.  The caravan was being watches by suspicious looking men late the night outside Karas and Solvaynus went to greet the men.  He asked them their business and they asked him what the caravan was carrying.   When he told them it was just people they seemed suspicious and disappointed.  He agreed to take one of them back with him to show them that he spoke the truth.  they evaluated the camp and the bandits left:  there is no bounty for people, just trade caravans.  The people were grateful that the peaceful ranger was able to help get them to Karas with no violence. 

 

Back in real time: Solvaynus speaks with Joyce for many hours, and the man develops an appreciation for his perspective.  He tells him that the Red Haired Woman is paying at least one other group, probably two, and that he thinks they're hitting caravans.  Prisoners are fed and taken into town the next afternoon, after the Rangers rested.  Bierce went along.  When the prisoners were turned over to the Reeve, Sebastian crow, they left Keith out of the cage, for fear that the others would try to kill him (they had already tried in the barn at the Featherdown Farm).  Bierce told the Reeve that he was willing to let Keith work off his debt to his family at the farm if he would let him take custody of the prisoner.  wanting no more complications, he agreed and the two left. 

 

The meeting with the Duke was scheduled for the next day, so the Rangers went off in search of their Outpost.  The good news is that they found it.  The bad news is that it's been out of use for years.  Most of the useful materials were taken and re-purposed.  Windows are gone or broken, stoves are gone, even the rear deck is mostly stripped bare.  The Outpost is a four story affair made to host guests downstairs and keep the upper floors secure.  It's tall and narrow and in terrible shape.  They started looking around the upper floors and were greeted by terrified people and goblins wielding hoes and chairs.  They yelled at the party and the party yelled back, but only Sabine could understand them because they were yelling in Camonere.  

 

These people were refugees, fleeing the Prelacy and being pursued by a terrible paladin.  Two of the people (Alakar who look almost human) are the son and daughter of a powerful sorceress who works inside Camon and the Paladin is after them to use as leverage against their mother.  Along for the ride are 3 goblins (a mother, a father, and a small child) as well as a human druid and his family.  They shared that they are traveling to Mindoth's Tower in the south, but stopped here to hide from the Paladin Salillon. The Rangers chose to let them stay and keep them safe.  

 

Jiard Okt was asked to find out what he could about the paladin looking for the refugees.  It was revealed that the man had come through the city with a column of cavalry two weeks ago and stayed the night before moving on (he was gone before the Duke's men even knew he was there).  The Rangers suspect that he paid off some city folk to watch for the escapees for him. they are being very cautious (Jiard also raised a commotion when he arrived at the Outpost to relay the information). 

 

The meeting with the Duke took place, and he asked the Rangers of their tale and their plan.  It was decided that the most likely assumption was that The Prelacy is planning a sweep through the area for whatever reason (especially since the Red Haired Woman sewing discord was paying in Camonere printed coin and spoke with a Camonere accent).  The Duke accepted the money the raiders were paid and their justice was discussed (the locals will be fined and publicly shamed.  Joyce will probably be put to death because he's not local and it's very unlikely that anyone will be willing to take him back to his home).  A plan was hatched to make the city more defensible by creating a wall around the small west bank.  

Notable Personalities:

• Pit Highwall:  Dwarven druid from Mindoth's tower.  Gave Solvayus a bird to release should the Prelacy move on the area. 
• Liana: Prostituute from Five Cross, sister to one of the Farm Raiders. 
• Torrence: her son
• Yaserra: An alakar sorceress from Camon working against the Church. 
• Salillon: Paladin serarching for refugees. 
• Tolin Kahnar: The Duke of Karas
• Philippe Nivard: human druid, walking the path of Landra.
• Juut: His fox familiar
• Sebastian Crow: The Reeve of Karas

 

Forest Dance 21, 3122

Report from Jiard Okt regarding the new Grey rangers sent to Karas

After the halted raid on the Featherdown Farm the PC's dragged the survivers into the barn and employed some enhanced intimidation techniques (which is to say that they let the remaining raiders assume they wanted to murder them) and got information about the location of their camp and their motives.  They let one go after he provided them with information.  A second was kept tied up.  He seemed resigned to his fate, whatever it may be. He did not withold information (feeling no real sense of loyalty).  It was noted that Shaina seemed a bit too eager to cause mayhem and her compatriots are a bit concerned.

The rangers discovered that there were not only another 8 raiders, but that they were taking their orders from a Red Haired Woman, and that their leader was a man called Joyce.  Their captive, Keith, advised them to attack at night under cover of dark to stop the raiders from simply taking hostages of the two young girls they had in their camp (they have plans to sell the girls into slavery to the west).

The battle unfolds very well for the rangers.  They take out the three guards silently and keep the girls quiet.  They light pitch across the cave entrance and anyone leaving is forced to test their bravery in crossing.  this limits the number of men they must engage at a time and proves very clever.  A well times illusion convinces Joyce that he's on fire and he runs for the water pool in the cave that these raiders have made their temporary home.

The girls are released and stay with the rangers for now.  Soon, they will interrogate Joyce (who threw away his weapons when he saw that he was outnumbered five to one).

Notable Personalities: 

• Joyce: raid leader (statted as a Marauder)
• Red Headed Woman:  A wildcard using Tor mastak Leader stats. 
• Keith:  Stoic raider who is now captive. 

Forest Dance 20, 3122

Report from Jiard Okt regarding the new Grey rangers sent to Karas

A group of recently promoted rangers (they were recruits last week) were sent to Karas by Neekosh Neetar in response to the repeated requests from the Duke to aid his farms, which had been mostly burned by raiders. Word is that there just wasn't enough manpower to go around, but apparently with this promotion there's a bit to spare. They were asked to find the source of the burning and stop it, and also to settle into the old ranger outpost there and get it up and running again. Looks like they're in for a surprise there.

Near as I can tell, the makeup of the squad looks like this:

• Sabine, a former resident of Camon new to the Rangers and to this part of the world. Since Karas is so close to Camon, her knowledge of the place might come in handy. 
• Kodiaster: Aevekar archer and scout (who the Ramgers call Kodi Aster because they don't really get his name). 
• Carn Mindril: Dwarven tinker and engineer who likes books and people in that order 
• Shaina Icetongue HighWind: brinche adept who is currently more of a tavern brawler and punster. 
• K'thain: an eldakar sorcerer who seems to lack social skills ... or just chooses not to employ them. 

The Rangers arrives in Karas, traveling past the burned down husks of several farms. The Duke was in pitched meetings with Wheelwrights (they are demanding more money to travel with trade caravans now that these caravans are being regularly attacked along the road) so he was unavailable to meet with anyone.

They did their own investigation and found a surviver of the last attack (one of the rangers gave a dockmaster half her monthly salary to thak him for his help .... he's thrilled). The following farms were burned and sacked (in this order):
Pilson Farm, which specializes in barley
Runshore farm, which raises cattle for meat and tallow
Cresthandle farm, which makes strong straw and reeds for baskets
Sunup farm, which specializes in root vegetables, especially beets for sugar and alcohol
Keyman Vinyard, which used to be a winery, but which now raises goose and pork
Yek Farms, a dwarven family farm focusing on wheat and beans

They found Piton Yek staying in a local hostle (the Duke was kind enough to put him up there for a month after the attacks). He told them what he saw of the burning of his family farm through tears. they vowed to help him.

Shaina talked to the Duke's porter, Novak, at the gate to his manor and was told about the Wheelwright dispute, as well as about the fact that trade caravans are being attacked on the roads to the west. She paid him half her salary as well, having no smaller coins. he was less impressed, because he sees more silver.

They traveled to the next largest farm in the area: the Fatherdown farm, run by the Bilner family. Kithain was asked to speak to the people there and partly because his player was not present and (partly because his player was not present) he complimented the human woman very poorly. turns out that telling a pregnant woman that she must be very well fed does not go over well. She yelled him off and the rest of the group had a hard time convincing her of their intentions. Once they did they were welcomed. She made them dinner and they met the family: Tamela Bilner (seven months pregnant), her son Baldo (12 years old), and her husband's parents Boyd (an elderly man with one bad eye) and Mern (a very frail old woman who is bedridden). Her husband, she said, was off trying to secure men to protect the farm, possibly as far away as Dooly.

The rangers moved the family to the root cellar after sinner and used buckets to wet the barn which stored not only a hundred birds (chickens, ducks, and geese) but hundreds of pounts of feathers all bailed up together in the loft. They also oiled and waxed bags and set them on the roof just in case.

Around ten men came storming in from the surrounding lands under cover of stealth. Nobody got the drop thanks to some clever lookouts, but a fight ensued. the orchard was set ablaze, but the protection on the barn held. There were a lot of these men (13 in all) bit the rangers were determined. Towards the end of the fight (which had three fronts) Kithain re-emerged to help do away with the enemy archers from behind. Noteable moments:
Shaina using a bag full of rotten eggs as a great trick to shakle a foe
Carn taking an arrow right to the neck and nearly dying (from across the pond)
Sabine beheading one of the enemy cleanly
Kodiaster plucking off raiders from the rooftop. they never saw him.

Eventually the marauder leading the group called a retreat. Sasbine demanded to know who he was working for and he said, "I doubt she's like it if I told you." And then he was off through the flaming fields. He was not seen again.

The rangers WERE left with one shaken foe to keep as a prisoner, so perhaps they will get some details from him later on.

Notable Personalities:

• Neekosh Neetar: goblin Corporal who promoted the trainees to ranger and gave them their mission. 
• Duke Tolin Khanar: in meetings all night. His manor has a polite front gate, but it's only for show. 
• Piton Yek: Old dwarven farmer with a red and grew striped beard. Sad, dead family. Will be grateful in the Rangers bring these killers to justice. 
• DockMaster: paid a silver for drawing a rough map. he liked these rangers 
• Novak: The Duke's porter 
• Tamela Bilner: pregnant mother of the Bilner family 
• Baldo: 12 year old Bilner son. Inpressed by aevekar feathers and pretty swords. 
• Boyd Bilner: Elderly patriarch of the family. One cloudy eye. Still pretty good with a bow. 
• Grandma Mern: elderly matriarch of the family. Loves telling stories. Mostly blind, still clever, can barely move. Bedridden. 
• Bierce Bilner: husband of the family. was off looking to hire guards. 

Getting going

Okay, so the time has come.  I want to get this show on the road starting next month.  By popular demand it's looking like the 3rd and 4th Thursdays are our time frame for now (if the grove changes their meeting schedule back I'll gladly move us to something normal like 2 and 4).  Time will be like 6:00 pm till 10:00 pm.

Who is in and who is not?  If any of you are out and the numbers go low I have some backup people to ask, so by all means let me know if you're not likely to make it.

+Traci Auerbach +Paul Miller +David Hill +Filamena Young +Bekkir Barbier +Chris Adams +Amanda Frye

Creation Overview

Here's a sort of very general post of character creation overview stuff.  I'm not going to post any system details for many reasons, but mostly because I really like the folks at Savage Worlds and I'd have to pop their material up on the net without asking.  I'm also going to shy away from Shaintar mechanics as possible, though if you really want to see them, the Player's Guide is available to you for the low low price of zero dollars.  You should toss them some cash for it if you can, but if not it's basically free and there is no reason not to have it.

I know that most people start with race right away, but I'm going to talk a bit about location and background because I think it matters more. I'll move onto race in a moment.

Odds are good that your PC is from the Southern Kingdoms (that's sort of the default location).  It's a collection of mostly decent kingdoms and nations that make up the central southern lands of Shaintar.  Don't assume that you NEED to be from here just because it's the default assumption.  For a darker background, maybe you fled the Kal-a-Nar empire to the north  because you hated their evil ways (if you think of them as Necromongers, you won't be too far off the truth).  Maybe you defected from a Malakar Dominion bankhouse after refusing to crush a young family's finances (you can think of the Dominion as .... actually think of them as Monsanto meets Wells Fargo meets the US Senate on a really bad day and you'll be pretty close).

You might have left the Island nation of Korindia, feeling that you have learned everything that you can there and wanting to test your martial skills (fae-like korindians use something akin to martial arts to master themselves.  They have a strict society that considers metal to be a mainland evil and tend to be very sparse on personal property).  Or maybe you're a member of a Goblin gather (a goblin, an orc, or an ogre) who either left their people or was shunned (or perhaps your people were killed or you were left for dead after a fight).  There's also plenty of room in Shaintar for former slaves (as many nations trade heavily in slaves).

That said, here's a few things you should know about life in Shaintar:

• Many forms of government exist, though it's seems that feudal kingdoms are the most common, even if they are very small.  
• Obviously we're looking at a mostly fantasy-level technology.  Alchemists make life easier, but not that much easier and while magic is fairly common, it's not common enough to infiltrate all aspects of daily life (also it's pretty short lived stuff)
• In Shaintar if you say you're a priest, odds are good that people are afraid of you.  That's because the only "church" that isn't almost 100% evil is the church of Light, who worships Archanon.  But, just to confuse matters, there is also the Church of Archanon from the Prelacy of Camon.  Same god, totally different church.  They are everything that is bad and wrong with religious fear and intolerance.  They seek to wipe out all the nonhuman races and spread their faith till it dominates the earth.   So even if you say, "No, it's okay, I'm a priest of Archanon," people aren't soothed.  It's sort of like saying, "It's okay if I babysit.  I'm a Catholic priest."  You might be a great guy, but that probably won't make a lot of people feel better.  More on religion later, but the point is that there's not a lot of wandering healers eager to help you out, so things like sickness and disease are not that easy to fix. 
• Shaintar is basically one continent and a lot of surrounding islands.  The whole thing is probably the size of Half the US (or roughly the size of Europe).  Don't think that makes it simple.  There's no fewer than 12 major kingdoms and dozens of minor kingdoms in there. 

About religion

Before we get into races, I want to comment on religion.  Shaintar doesn't really have "gods" the way you are used to thikning of them in a fantasy game.  The closest thing they have is Archanon, who has a church (or two) and may or may not be a god. Most of the "gods" is Shaintar are really the Ascended.  They are said to have one been mortal people and they were elevated by Shanais and Targon:  the supreme beings who created Shaintar.  they set them about the task of looking after creation and then left to go create other worlds.  They are revered, but rarely worshiped.  The Ascended are not worshiped so much as venerated like potent ancestors or heroes.  They are said to provide favor and they guide people.  Think of them more like Olympian gods, or even better:  comic book gods.   One from each of the original "normal" races (that is to say, no goblinoids).  Their servants are called Druids, though ultimately they are more like co-workers.  Druids are seen as the hand of the Ascended on Shaintar.  They do their work as best they can and act on their behalf.  It's a sacred duty and it is taken very seriously.  They are highly revered, but also not common.  If a druid comes to town people are happy to see them for the most part, but they are like big name officials:  people try to stay out of their way.  

A quick list of the Ascended is as follows:  

There were originally five Ascended: Vainar, Ceynara, Dranak, Illiana, and Zavonis. 

• Vainar:  Originally raised from the fae people, he was intended to lead the Ascended.  He was eventually lured by the power of the Necrolords, seeking ot master it and turn them to good purpose.  He not leads them as their master Vainar the Fallen: the Shadowlord. 
• Ceynara: raised from the humans to guard the Abyss, she was eventually seduced by Uldor the demon lord.  She is now Ceynara the Demon Queen and Uldor is her Prince Consort. 

These two obviously no longer serve their intended purpose and their followers worship them as gods, seeking to create power among them.  It is said by scholars they they seek to ascend their positions and become true gods.  This is part of the reason religion is so odd in Shaintar. 

• Dranak was raised from the Dwarves and became the Stronewalker, master of the realms beneath the earth.  
• Illiana was raised from the Dregordians and became the Waverider: Mistress of the seas and the life giving waters. 
• Zavonis was raised from the Aevakar and became the Windmaster, Lord of the Skies. 

This left the Ascended with a hole in their ranks for a long time.  About a century ago it is believed that the Ascended got together and raised Vainar's sister Landra to their status and gave her the mantle of Soulfinder.  This greatly weakened them, and caused them to step back from the realsm of mortals.  Further complicating this are the Covenants.  Landra put these in place to ensure that the higher beings could not act upon Shaintar without a great token in return (and violating the Covenants takes a terrible toll on them).   

Soon after, Archanon made himself known as the Lord of Light.  Nobody knows much about him for certain, and both his warring churches believe themselves to be in the right.  Perhaps they both are. 

Okay, now that we've got cultural stuff out of the way, let's talk races.  I'll try to keep them grouped logically. 

• Humans: Your standard fantasy human.  Not much to see here. 
• Dwarves: Your standard fantasy dwarves.  If it ain't broke .... 
• Eldakar:  not too different from most fantasy elves.  They are immortal beings who created much of the culture, civilization, and law of the world. 
• Aevakar: A rare cousin race of fae, the aevakar are winged material fae.  They are said to only number in the thousands worldwide and mostly keep to themselves. 
• Alakar: A lower kind of fae, said to be mixed with mortal blood, these are much more common.  they are long lived, but not immortal.  Often called Half Bloods by pure fae. 
• Korindians: Even more rare, these descendants of a long line on "half elves" were born of a terrible plague and fled the mainland to rid themselves of pain and persecution.  They lead strict lives and eschew metals of all sorts. 
• Ogre: Giant goblinish beasts, ogres tend to be slow witted, very strong, and posessed of bad vision.  Somehow this doesn't bother anyone looking to employ them as bodyguards. They stand sometimes 9-10 feet tall and, like all goblinish, they have little to no body hair and eyes that glow faintly. 
• Orc: Smaller and brighter than their ogre cousins, orcs are larger and tougher than most humans, but still middle sized for goblinish. 
• Goblins: These are the smallest, smartest, and most numerous of the Goblinish races.  They are possessed of poor eyes, but an excellent sense of smell. 
• Dregordian:  lizard-like creatures who are at home in the water or on land, they are quite well rounded with great strength and calm minds.  If you were to think of them as aquatic Vulcans you might not be too far off. 
• Brinche:  Catlike people of the plains:  brinchie are a lot like feline barbarians or any other sort of primitive tribe.  They are flighty and get bored easily. 

So now that you have looked at the races (seriously, there's a LOT) what do you do with them?  Well, the system is skill based, so just about anything you want.  each has some leanings (for example, Eldakar lean toward the magical while Korindians are more likely to be unarmed fighters, druids, or Adepts) but here's a few ideas that are NOT always common in fantasy fare: 

• Adepts:  practitioners of The Way, adepts are like spiritualist monks.  Shaolin meets Wire Fu. 
• Druids: wielders of the essence of Life, they do the work of the Ascended.  Basically think of them as Druids from old Ireland, not as Druids from D&D. 
• Sorcerers:  ye old spellslingers, but they are not 100% dedicated yet.  Eventually they take on the mantle of Mage proper. 
• Priests and Paladins of the Church of Light channel the Light energy of Arcanon pretty directly.  
• Alchemists:  use the raw stuff of nature to create spectacular effects.  it's not "magic" exactly, but since everything is made of essence, they can take advantage of that.  Think of it like then exploiting a loophole in the system.  They hack reality. 

Beyond those more technically skilled types we have your standard warriors, archers, rogues, runners, wanderers, ex-slaves, former pit fighters and even  just your standard common folk, which is a fun one if you just want to start with nothing and see where it goes. 

Also bear in mind that you need not start as any of these things.  A farmer with no skill can spend a while studying and become a druid or a sorcerer if he or she dedicates themselves to it.  And there's plenty of game to go.  In a skill and edge based game there is really no such things as falling behind.  There's just how long it takes you to get to your goal. 

Okay, I think that's enough for now.  Feel free to respond with questions or comments. 

First Impressions

Welcome to a live-blog for Bending Forever, which is a Savage Worlds game set in the Shaintar universe.  If you're asking what those things are, please go back and follow the links. And yes, I did come up with the name of the campaign many months ago and I'm not yet 100% sure how it factors into the game and that's okay. I'll get there.

Very soon, I'll drop a few lines about players, but for now I'm still figuring out some details, so instead I'll talk in broad strokes. 

First:  I'm not in a rush to level my players.  I'm comfy with a standard 2-3 XP per session (2 for a standard game, 3 for an action packed one).  I'm also using the optional XP system suggested in Shaintar and other places, with each rank set at 25 XP.  It looks like this: 

• 0-25: Novice
• 26-50: Seasoned
• 51-75: Veteran
• 76-100: Heroic
• 101+: Legendary 

That should give me around 40 sessions before the PC's become legends.  That's plenty of time to tell a really compelling story, but in Savage Worlds, the story doesn't stop there!  Rules for PC's beyond that level of XP are easy and fun.  

So what is it that made me want to run a Shaintar game?  You didn't ask, but I figure telling you might make this more clear for both players and people who want to read this tripe I an writing.  I'll make you a list (the Internet loves lists). 

1. I'm getting sick of dark modern games.  I really love The World of Darkness but let's be honest:  sometimes it gets dark, drab, and depressing.  I'm running a Mage larp right now and I want to stay fresh (and more importantly, I want to stay thematically dark and depressing) so I need an outlet for my hopeful epic spell slinging and epic battles and heroism. 
2. I saw their recent kickstarter and it looked great.  I played in a Shaintar game ages ago and I loved it.  I want to support what they're doing and to be honest, while I have made a fantasy setting in the past, I want to explore Shaintar.  It fits into Savage Worlds surprisingly well.  
3. I miss having a tabletop game.  I love it.  LARPs are great for immersion, but you have a lot more flexibility in a tabletop game.  Also, a tabletop game is a different sort of story.  It's more about the PC's being the center of the story and not about them being players in a larger story.  They can do all sorts of neat world changing things.  Who doesn't love that?  
4. Seriously.  Lizard people and goblins.  What's not to like? 
5. Shaintar is about heroes.  I miss heroes. 

So the plan is to run a Shaintar game.  Next, I'm going to talk a bit about what the setting is like, what my expectations are, and what players should know ahead of time.

First: Shaintar is, as I have said, a world of heroes.  Mostly real honest to goodness heroes.  We all get enough villains, antiheroes, and shades of grey in other games.  This is a game for you to break out the sweetness of epic heroes.  That doesn't mean you can't play a darker hero or a rogue or a stealthy type.  You can and some of you should.  Ironically, because the setting is designed to make this good-versus evil conflict pretty easy, you will never see an easy barrier for a thing like a race or a nation.  Goblinoid races may tend toward more evil, as may certain places or religions, but that is by no means a certainty.  More below.

Second:  The races of Shaintar are pretty sweet.  You've got your standard humans and dwarves and even some mostly standard elves in the shape of the more common fae, but if you've got the stones, push beyond that.  Why not play a lizard-like dregorian or a feline brinchie?  Why not go all out and play a goblin or, or ogre?  Seriously, these are races that you never get to play anywhere else  Yes, I'd like to have at least a human or two, but don't be afraid of the weird stuff.  The setting can handle it.

Third:  Expect more or less two kinds of sessions:  combat session and storytelling sessions.  Savage Worlds works best with minis and I intend to use them.  So if the table is all set up for minis, then odds are good there will be a big fight (unless I'm trying to trick you).  If not, we'll skip the minis and handle things with roleplay, moderated scenes, and fast and loose details, because the focus of that session is almost certainly something other than fighting.

Finally:  Be daring and creative.  Savage Worlds is all about cinematic scenes with big risks taken.  Be bold.  Either you'll win big or you'll fail big, but it will always be worth it.

That's all for now.  Soon I'll have players and a schedule and we will get going with this crazy train.  Should be a good time so stay tuned.