City Maps

[Pamela]

As I may have mentioned before, I am a drooling slut for anything Paridon, and would like to contribute. I found Blackmoor's material very interesting, and knowing that Cabbage and Llana are down with Paridon, well, sign me up is what I'm basically saying.

The character I'm currently playing is from Paridon, and while the adventures take part outside Zherisia, I have written the recaps from our sessions in the form of memoirs, and they contain some of "made up" details about secret societies and such that you guys might find useful.

As I said, put me in coach!

PARIDON PARIDON PARIDON

I somehow managed to miss this post last night, and would kick myself over it if it weren’t for the smile and laughter it brought to my morning. Woohoo! Another Paridon zealot! And excellent about the secret societies! What kind are they? Religious/magical? Or political?

Honestly, I can't remember most of them now.

The one I did fight for the most was to keep the cities close. Having the three capitals spread apart never worked for me. I thought it would be interesting if Paridon and Nosos were side by side forming a single Metropolis.

I used the New York example where it was one city seperated by river with the two banks and an island. I thought it would be interesting if the river was the cluster's domain border seperating the domains/buroughs.

I think I proposed that Nosos would make a great slums/industrial section where all the people worked while Paridon would be the Manhattan where people lived and shopped and the rich played. Timor would be the sewer system underneath both and a slummy island off to the side where the poorest of the poor lived.

This is an interesting idea. It reminds me of Pratchett’s Ankh-Morpork which was a blend of London and New York. Timor could be…New Jersey.

Perhaps poor immigrants who can’t afford the fees required to enter Paridon are required to earn their way in via Nosos? Not that many (if any) would, of course…. And maybe Paridon's justice system, has instated the 'progressive' practice of rehabilitating convicts by forced labour in factories there.

[Le Noir Faineant]

BTW, sorry if we morphed your thread Des....

I parIdon you... hehehe...

Don't mind. - This is really getting interesting!

[Pamela]

I parIdon you... hehehe...

Oh god... groan...

You know there's laws against that kind of thing, Des...

[Samael Hands of Stone]

I parIdon you... hehehe...

Oh god... groan...

You know there's laws against that kind of thing, Des...

Actually, bad puns are like a secret tradition among gamers I think. I remember sitting through that aweful recent adapatation of King Arthur and crying out "All Woads lead to Rome!" at which point I recieved a bunch of pointy knuckles in the shoulder and looks of abject disgust. I love it.

Back to your question Llana regarding the secret society, they were called the Chaplains of the 7th Order, a kind of rebelious club of young gentlemen that had broken with Divinity tradition and formed their own society. The 7th Order were a millanarian group, meaning that their tenets and outlook all revolved around the coming of some kind of "truning of the Great Wheel" or an apocalyptic event of some sort. The idea was mainly to create a group of extreme Divinity of Mankind "upstarts" that were willing to take more radical steps (occult) to bring about the rise of Man to perfection. Their existence actually ties in to my pc's origins but the Chaplains were conceived independently enough to make a potentially interesting addition.

I'm still working out some details but basically that's the idea.

My buddy Barbarossa had some cool ideas too revolving around a band of young chimney-sweepers, but I'd rather he tell the tale.

[Pamela]

Barbarossa, get your butt in here!

Samael, was this secret society sparked by the Grand Conjunction, or were they busy predicting the end of the world before that? Have they tied in their prophecies with Theodurus Raines' predictions about the Time of Unparalleled Darkness?

[Samael Hands of Stone]

It's funny actually because I hadn't factored in the Conjunction/Theodore Raines material into it. Not a bad idea.

The 7th Order's apocalyptic notions were more abstract, kind of like Jehova's Witnesses that keep warning against the End of Days but aren't quites certain when and how it's all going down. Their ideas on this approaching "seminal event" were more related to a metaphysical shift, an evolutionary expression of humanity perhaps. Basically a bunch of half-baked philosophical hogwash mixed with actual medical and scientific elements. The occult portion is where the Chaplains became interesting as a concept, with their youthful ignorance and recklessness. Freemasons gone wild, if you will

I'll pm Barbarossa so he can get in on this topic asap.

[Pamela]

I love it when religion and pseudo-science are mixed together. Please tell me they haven't learned about the Living Brain. "Behold the future, gentlemen!"

Freemasons gone wild? A la Aleister Crowley?! Noooooo!

[Samael Hands of Stone]

I love it when religion and pseudo-science are mixed together. Please tell me they haven't learned about the Living Brain. "Behold the future, gentlemen!"

Freemasons gone wild? A la Aleister Crowley?! Noooooo!

My deep-seated affection for Paridon stems mostly from my love-affair with all things 19th century. The innovative and adventurous (not to mention egomaniacle) spirit of that period makes for such interesting (and frighteningly hilarious) study. The crazy inventions, renewed impirialism(read:war-mongering), the epic conquering of the American west, and the establishment of a variety of new, experimental ways of thinking and doing.

I see a lot of this in Paridon, the confusion, the Dr. Frankenstein-like scientific audacity, the dark, soot-covered cobbled streets littered with ladybirds and cutpurses, the gleaming back coaches rattling down the roads, while faded screams and laughter ring out in the night.

While the common folk grovel in their depravity (and large amounts of cheap swill), the privileged folk play cards and gossip at lavish dinner parties, while old mutton-chopped buzzards debate politics and war, and cabals of so-called neo naturalists and occultist conspire to rob the gods of the powers of creation.

That's Paridon to me.

[Le Noir Faineant]

I parIdon you... hehehe...

Oh god... groan...

You know there's laws against that kind of thing, Des...

Not in a setting created on fundaments like "Artista DeSlop" or "KHAZAN: His word was power"...

[DeepShadow of FoS]

Agents will be sent from nations like Falkovnia to sabotage the up and coming competion.

I don't get this part; why would Falkovnia want to sabotage Paridonian technology? Why would the Falkovnians consider them "competition?"

[Joël of the FoS]

Found it in USS 03, written by good ol' Wiccy! Very interesting...

*Starts reading*

Actually, this fun article was written by many writers, including Rucht Lilavivat (and me too for a small part). Wiccy edited the article (and wrote some parts too IIRC).

Joël

[Le Noir Faineant]

Oh, I am sorry. - IIRC, Wiccy's name is put over the article's title, so I assumed he'd be the author. No disrespect intended - the article is excellent! - One of the best in the entire netbook. If there hadn't already been Gazs on the core, I personally would suggest that the FoS just expanded on that one and made an entire city book out of it.

[vipera aspis]

this is awesome. really awesome. i speak a little german, let me know if i can help in any way.
once again, well done.

[The Giamarga]

Viper you might want to check out the community projects board for more on the work in progress Paridon gazetteer.