Posts from Ad aspera

And in terms of role-playing, does origin determine nationality or culture?

Added after 18 minutes
What is required to become a Turanian aristocrat? How is the slave trade organized in this country, and are slaves brought from any region? What are the plans for the maps?

Usually, it's the same thing, but if, let's say, a hypothetical "dindarets" decides to move permanently to Turan with his wife and young child, then the kid, who has seen nothing but Turanian customs since early childhood, and who has only heard from his father about rowing and fighting in pointless island wars, will learn not tales of seafaring, but the Turanian culture that surrounds him every day, and will gain +he and +they.
However, if a hypothetical Akhraimar youth goes with his jarl to raid Fendrin, and the entire warband gets badly beaten by the locals, and he is the only one left, then even if they take pity on him and offer him a job, he will still remain a Northerner, no matter how hard he tries to integrate into the new society. He has lived long enough for the concept to be ingrained in his mind that life is when it's cold, when the village has ten people, and the only entertainment is waiting for the local jarl to launch a new expedition. This is ingrained in him, and even if he is knighted, he will still be an Akhraimar.

Latest (I think) questions: Will there be book printing? What about languages (not ancient ones), what language will the characters speak, etc.?

What is needed to become a Turanian aristocrat?

First, be born a Turanian, not some scum from a conquered satrapy. Second, be born to an influential father who holds a position. Third, it must be the case that there are few sons, or you are one of the eldest (otherwise, the road leads to the guard, or straight into the expeditors or other riffraff). From there, you can obtain some rank within your father's estates or sphere of administrative influence and live off provincial taxes, or study further at an academy for nobles to supplement the basic upbringing you should have received at home (if you didn't—your father, grandfather, uncles, and brothers are all among those who pissed the country away, since no one bothered). There, you'll become an honorary humanities scholar and can stop shaking down the market for taxes and instead preside over courts, manage customs, and engage in other intelligent pursuits. If your father is a total goldmine and doesn't care much about what becomes of you, you can spend your days idling in the manor, drinking wine, and bedding concubines. Later, you inherit the fortune and the land, and people will even collect the taxes for you while you live high on the public purse, waking up only occasionally in a cold sweat when you dream that the Shahanshah has found out in detail where the money from your assigned post is going.

How is the slave trade organized in this country, and do slaves come from any region?

Slaves are found almost everywhere from everywhere, except for the Shogunate, where no one will ever sail, and they themselves only sail to the continent if life is miserable—or conversely, in search of a merry one; Ardor, where there are no slaves; and various nomads, for whom no one would bother transporting valuable cargo that is much easier to sell in Lashia, Turan, or Fenderin. And in Ormonde and Bardilar, the slaves are, of course, the most wretched.
The apparatus of coercion is mostly the same everywhere: there are coloni, serfs bound to the land who must work for themselves and the landlord. They can be sold and relocated (except in Ardor), but they are not considered slaves in the full sense; they have a right to property, albeit limited, and usually the state protects their lives to some extent because such a colonus is the foundation of the economy. Killing a colonus without cause or excessive oppression is, at minimum, bad tone (Divef, Rochery), and at maximum, a crime for which even a nobleman will be punished.
In all countries except Ardor, there are personal or family slaves who do whatever the master says. Among these, skills and quality are always valued; they can hold positions under a master ranging from toilet cleaner to tutor for his children. A slave belongs personally to the master, and the state doesn't give a damn about them. If the master wants, he kills; if he wants, he frees. A manumitted slave is not considered a fully free person, but in Turan, "fully free" people are a minority anyway, yet they manage. They are bought at separate markets and are treated as household conveniences; in the modest family of some guardsman, there will be a cook and a groom among the slaves; in a satrap's house, there is even a slave assigned just to hold the fan.
And finally, there are state laborers—slaves who own nothing and toil for infrastructure. A small number of them is pointless, and only a country that is very strong in military and administrative terms can afford to base its economy on slaves. Ronstrad lives entirely on its slaves; household ones are minimal, and there are no coloni at all. In Turan, there are many such slaves; they are attached to satraps just as armies are attached to satraps—they are a means of achieving state goals, recruited and managed personally by the governor. Such slaves slave away in mines and on construction sites. Most are prisoners of war and their descendants. Such slaves are never freed. How miserable their life will be depends on the individual satrap, but generally, it is always miserable; nothing is better than sleep. They sleep in barracks, wear what the masters aren't sorry to throw away, and eat just enough to have the strength to work... In Fenderin, there is also a layer of such slaves, and in Lashia, but there they are bought at markets, usually by high nobles or city governors who can extract profit from them.
By the way, there are also dark elves in the setting; a dark elf female can cost as much as a small Castle, as can a regular one, but a regular one is much harder to catch. Besides the fact that they hardly age, they do not crossbreed with humans.

Added after 2 minutes

What are the plans for the maps?

I'd like to perhaps create some way to steer the randomness into a more interesting channel for a specific player, but otherwise, it's pretty much as usual. Penalties with resets, unlocking a race/skill, starting bonuses, mental disorders, slaves, companions, as we like.

Added after 4 minutes

Is there printing?

No, everything is by hand. Literacy is an expensive pleasure.

What about languages (not ancient ones), what will the characters speak?

I'm probably not ready to build a grammar from scratch for you like Tolkien. Let's assume we speak a Turanian-Northern koine. Ardorians learned Northern, everyone in the south knows Turanian, Turan borders the North, trades, and somehow learned to communicate, and in general, almost all languages actually differ within a single family.

It simultaneously provides additional opportunities

Work as a prostitute?

I want to be a scientist and wield a saber

and you'll just be a "mocheny" (a derogatory term, likely referring to someone weak or insignificant)...

I'm too lazy to read right now, my mood has dropped over the past two days.
I understand that only humans are among the races?

The bonuses of the Academy are not very advantageous compared to the bonuses of Ormund, which grants access to the same skills. Ormund's only drawbacks are a slight decrease in useless strength and a small penalty to stamina (but overall, his stats are still better and easily compensate for this penalty), while he has the most of everything else, including mana. Bardilar, at least, has access to all four elements and, potentially, higher magic power.

Am I correct in understanding that all types of magic, except for necromancy, can be freely used in almost any region?

I really liked the detailed descriptions of the countries and the texts. It looks quite lively, with many countries having similar cultures but different histories – that’s good, it adds to the role-playing aspect.

I really want to make money, but it's so hard to implement the Turan-aristocratic background with the intended concept...

The bonuses from the Academy of Mages don't look very advantageous compared to the bonuses from Ormond, which grants access to the same skills. Ormond's only drawbacks are a slight penalty to useless strength and a small penalty to stamina (but overall, it's still better and easily compensates for this penalty), while it has the most of everything else, including mana. Bardilar, at least, has access to all four elements and, potentially, higher magic power.

Well, here it's a matter of quest-based freedom. Almost anyone can pay to join the Academy and become a mage (they charge foreigners much more, but they still let them in; the problem is that there aren't many who want to). I'll probably level them up eventually, but only after magic becomes a strong build in general.

I really want money, but it's so hard to implement the Turan-aristocratic background with the intended idea...

It's not easy for me either to explain to the commoners that I'm implementing a hybrid elite build with swordsmanship, armor, a shield, and a special ability for sabers. I have to spend event points on useless tasks instead of getting meta special abilities and parrying buffs.

Am I right in understanding that all types of magic, except for necromancy, can be freely practiced in almost any region?

Mm, no. First, no one likes any mages except for elementalists. Elementalists are treated more or less normally because their powers are visible, and they won't control your mind or secretly curse you. Ardor doesn't like mages at all, and those who practice magic there either have to give it up forever or leave immediately. There are no second chances.
In the rest of the world, all mages, even necromancers, are tolerated as long as they don't cause trouble. From the point of view of the main religions, magic is considered a sin, but lying and stealing are also considered sins, and no one sets out to commit a holy genocide of thieves... until they try to steal from their own wallets. And the forbidden fruit is sweet, so people are drawn to these kinds of miracles. Well, sometimes wizards, as they say, "cause trouble," but since an ordinary mage can't even handle the righteous anger of a dozen peasants, they either do it secretly or under the protection and in the interests of those in power. Or they are very powerful mages for whom everything is easy, but when those in power take them seriously, they rarely live long.

Firstly, no one really likes any mages except for elementalists. Elementalists are generally viewed more favorably because their powers are visible, and they won't control your mind or secretly curse you. Ardor doesn't like mages at all, and those who practice magic there either have to give it up forever or leave immediately. There are no second chances.

They don't even like healers and resurrectionists who practice traditional magic?

They are not liked. It is considered pride and interference in the natural course of things. A truly righteous person with a mission on earth receives a second chance from above, a sinner does not deserve such a thing, and all those who fall somewhere in between (80% of the world) should pass on to the other world and be judged by their deeds. One must not try to hold onto a soul that is already ready for a better existence. As for healers—well, medicine is known to everyone one way or another, and against the backdrop of field doctors, a handful of mages are not taken seriously.

Basically, I'm expressing my support for the maps.

I am also interested in maps.

+

I'm waiting for maps. I have no ideas for a character at all.