Khy'eras

Ahoy, folks!

As loosely mentioned before, I'm planning to make a travelling skyship with a ragtag crew angling towards adventure. What I'm looking for is feedback, additional ideas, nifty explanations to tuck in, potential rivals, auxillary branches - anything and everything! The goal of this thread is to keep discussion neatly accessible, and I very much plan for this to be something the board as a whole can own and develop.

Now then, there are two groups to discuss:

The Faction
Purpose: To explore and study Khy'eras in its entirety.

That's it. I'm keeping this vague on purpose, with the notion that there are multiple branches with more specialized motivations and interests. The idea is that everyone in the faction pursues this large-scale goal from a different angle and with a completely different skillset, for maximum variability in however people want to participate.

Example Branches, pending good lore-fit:

• adventurers, who travel beyond the borders to map the Neverend in all its danger
• scholars and researchers, who unravel the overlooked mysteries of realms already discovered
• outposts, colonies, and couriers, to maintain the push into the Neverend
• merchants, specifically interested in finding and founding the quickest routes between realms
• diplomats, who keep the whole thing running smooth - note that these function both internally and externally, some prioritizing contact with new groups entirely, and others steeped in political intrigue as they negotiate the powers of established Khy'eras
• privateers and bounty hunters, because there are bound to be pirates and fugitives who seek refuge in the Neverend
• Anything else! This list is hardly exhaustive.

Operation: By design, this faction is meant to exist within the established regions, not in place of them. Using extensive peace treaties, there are different chapters in every major city that operate in adherence to local rules and principles. It is additionally not uncommon for powerful individuals to act as sponsors, usually with extra stipulations, and plenty of people remain devoted to a home chapter, choosing to follow their particular sect's rules even when outside their official jurisdiction. However, neither is this a requirement and "True Neutral" groups exist aplenty - it's simply personal and financial preference. Smaller supply depots ring the borderlands of established territories and are usually "Unchartered," only adhering to the faction's principles and typical rules.

Each branch has its own hierarchy to keep their interests focused, with the highest members of each forming a council to keep the faction as a whole moving in tandem. Chapters are supposed to have their own separate, branch-agnostic faculty focused simply on day-to-day operations, however it is frequently the case that chapter and branch hierarchies intersect; each city has their own personal interests, after all, and some branches have a suspiciously high number of higher-ups hailing from a given chapter. Therefore, unofficial branch HQs have developed with a reputation for promoting their own and playing the political game, while other branches remain decentralized and focused on the individual and their merits. Regardless of the layout, branches must accept recruits of any race and nationality; it's only some that have been accused of over-politicizing the highest echelons.

Proposed Names:

• The Compass Council
• The Rose Council
• The Explorer's Guild
• The League of Exploratory Gentlemen (( you said it, I'm putting it up! :p ))
• Any other marvelous ideas! In addition to a name, I'd also like a defining trait, something like a particular colour scheme, a given icon, a flag, etc. Any unifying visual that people can use for characterization or otherwise.

Memoria mentioned Ahm'Kela as a possible religious idol for the faction. Building off this idea, here are some other possible religious influences that individuals, teams, or branches might revere, as well as additional branch inspiration. As usual, other influences are more than encouraged; if someone's interested in making a luck-based explorer motivated by Kaxitaki, go for it!

Possible Religious Influences:

• Archaicism
• Ixaziel - Nature, beasts, land, gardening
• Ny'tha - Night, stars, moon, dreams
• Pheriss - Ocean, rivers, voyage, sea creatures
• Idolism
• Ahm'Kela - travel, earth, cartography
• Kelorha - The wilds, fauna
• Lahiel - Weather
• Veditova - Knowledge, language, communication, mind

~ * ~ * ~

Specific Wanted

Premise: The crew of a travelling skyship. I'm open to what branch they belong to, ship name, any defining characteristics, and all of that fun jazz! Some of the roles below will vary based on the specific branch, but for the sake of a starting point, I've considered general adventurers and ruin spelunkers. It's all negotiable.

I'm open to the ship's backstory, but I would like to keep the characters as freshly recruited as possible, and I'm very keen on using an NPC captain to start - who is then succeeded by whichever character planned for that role, however they'd like it to happen. My goal is to keep this crew's story focused on developments and growing together, rather than relegating everything to backstory, and the rise of the new captain is a powerful moment that can start us off on exactly that foot.

But of course, I'm open to suggestions if someone has a better idea! Some backstory considerations could be that a difficult sponsor commissioned the ship, giving everyone a source of conflict and a possible backstory tie-in to a few of the individuals, and I think it would be funny if the ship was 'cursed' in some fashion or considered a bad posting; naturally, every single task would be easy in theory, and then 1,000x more difficult in practice because Murphy's Law struck at every opportunity.

Roles to Consider:

• Captain
• Mechanic (( Could reasonably have a few or different specialties ))
• Pilot
• Navigator/Cartographer
• Medic
• Liaison/Diplomat (( I'm imagining lots of bureaucratic moaning about monthly reports... ))
• Field Specialists (( I'm not sure what to call this exactly; they're the people with martial and survival skills who really shine when the team's on the ground, and during flights just kind of help out with basic tasks. Bodyguards, professional cold weather trackers, "I'm really good at not being crushed by boulder traps" - those kinds of people. ))
• Field Researcher
• Logistics (( Cooking, supplies, armoury, additional First Aid - the "don't worry, at least I remembered to bring toilet paper" backbone of the group. ))
• <Your contribution here!> I'm sure I've overlooked some jobs, and in the interest of RP and RL constraints, I think it's perfectly reasonable to have a revolving door of "as needed" people who only join for missions here and there. The goal is flexibility and an open invitation for all kinds of characters to participate, even the ones who don't want to commit to the faction as a whole.

And that's my outline! I'm planning to make an Ue'drahc Summoner, and all of this began as an attempt to answer that peskiest of characterization questions: "But what do they do?" I'm flexible and can work with whatever, although I've been leaning into a learned-type personality, such as a Scholar, Navigator, or Field Specialist, in about that order. I'm not set on any particular motivation yet, but I would like it to revolve around runes in some way, perhaps the hunt for a forgotten type of magic entirely? Something like that.

Let me know what you think, and all your marvelous ideas to expand upon this!

~ * ~ * ~

Interested Roles:

• Leiven Loramrai - Field Specialist
• Roan Mohan - Potential Navigator, Face, and/or Generalist; guaranteed Entertainer
• Simon Kinsley - Field Researcher
• Tika - Mechanic & Alchemist

For jobs:
Logistics (Possibly roll in non-field medics [physicians], cooks, suppliers, armory, etc)
Field Specialists is a fantastic name for what you described
I suggest Fieldworker (or Field Researcher) for the Scholar/Historian/Archaeologist as it lines up well with this definition:
"an investigation or search for material, data, etc, made in the field as opposed to the classroom, laboratory, or official headquarters"

For the crew/mission backstory:
As for general crew, they were hired to go past an area with dangerous terrain/weather to search a temple or site mentioned in war time record. So people knowing they'll have to rely on each other and may not get anything but knowledge.

Also I'd love to have Leiven as a Field Specialist. If needed he can also fill a armorsmith's role, though with a focus on field repair and jury rigging.
"I was told 'er lookin' for someone who can walk a blizz'rd and fist fight a giant." The dwarf pats his bearded axe and looks you over before continuing, "Even said they'd pay me 'or the pleasure. Name's Leiven"

Oh hello, did someone say exploring? And flying? Well, two things Roan is already definitely good at, which is to say he's both got wings and tends to wander a bit. Nothing like a proper degree in either, of course. Navigating? Can do. Have you seen the jungles of Ninraih lately? A boy's gotta figure themselves out right quick or be a meal, you know. A bit of cartography? Sure, I bet he can pick that up on the fly—writing music and making maps seem amicable enough skills together. Occasional cooking, foraging, and, of course, charming all of the necessary people in order to get paperwork on time whenever necessary has got to be of use somewhere. A bit of a face, if you will, when it comes to meeting folks, but I wouldn't call Roan an ambassador or a diplomat so much as someone who knows how to make good conversation and dig up some rumors whenever the exploring options seem slim.

Anyway, I'm totally on board, pun intended.

As for titles and labels, well, Roan won't mind what is pinned on himself so long as it sounds official.

Seems like a blast though, and I'm happy to help with the OOC logistics of bringing the bits and bobs together.

Added those title changes and a Logistics person, and a section for interest shown. Thanks for the responses, both of you! Looking like a pretty diverse and wily crew already.

For the background, a task to recover some records and possibly relics weaves in very well. I was just thinking that their sponsor could actually be a Lumeacia who wants to go back home, and with these records, has a good hunch of a lead for them to chase down - commissioning this entire vessel in the hopes of finding their lost homeland. But of course, the trips always come up a day late and a dollar short for any actual revelations. Is that a working idea you two could roll with, or anything else you'd like to see?

I'm still a bit lost on the name. Given the proposed purpose above, Hiraeth is one possible name for it, at least on paper, and "Wild Goose Chase" to those who don't know to quiet their tongues.

So my big question is, how do airships work in this world? Are they entirely mechanical or are there magics involved?

Tika would be very interested in a mechanical position. I like the idea of a flag with a stylized compass on it. Maybe a ship with a fancy name (like from other games "Leaves of Autumn" or something like that.) You cannever go wrong having an alchemist in a crew.

From the perspective of ye-old-lore-creator, airships would typically be mechanical in nature. However, that is not to say an airship couldn't secretly be powered by magic, especially a rogue airship that is not really controlled by any city ports.

Exactly what I was thinking - most ships are mechanical, but they can always have a few that aren't and run on magic instead, or have auxiliary magicians who help turn the wind for them or make repairs and things like that. Plenty of room to merge the two, pending they don't cause trouble and flaunt it in the no-magic cities.

Gone ahead and added Tika as an interested party!

Still a WIP on names; I like the suggestion and please keep them coming, but I'll wait until the rest is cemented to settle on anything.

Bit of a spoiler, but here's the compass design I've been working with lately:


Could work for the whole expedition faction, just the ship, or anywhere inbetween. Also loose on this detail until things need to be nailed into place.