Gothic Orient

[NykylaiHellray]

A series of small islands, based on japan, china and other asian cultures. The orient book could be used for reference.


The ghosts in knghts of kamigawa (magic gathering) could be interesting.


A ghostly place, where the worlds of the living and dead are very close.


Fox demons, and Nekomata (ghost cats, with two tales that control the dead and make illusuions).

The dark lord is a catgirl nekomata, who controls many illusions, and is a necromancer.

Her palace is like japanese ones, where the place is like a maze. Built to confuse the enemies.



It is an idea. A gothic ghoststory atmosphere. Mere D&D had an oriental block, so know it is our turn =)

[ScS of the Fraternity]

There is already a disctintly Japenese domain - Rokushima Tiayoo. This domain is based on the classic movie Ran, and is made up of four(?) islands each of which is ruled by one of the remaining sons of the late Shogun.

Of course, there is also the chinese flavoured domain, I'Cath, though its much less pertinent.

[Spiteful Crow]

http://www.fraternityofshadows.com/foru ... php?t=3075

Like ScS said, there already ARE Asian themed domains. They just happen to get the shaft when it comes to information.

[Waldi]

By the way, a small question:
Why does "asian" domains always have to bee japanese ?
What for example about a mongolian-style-domain, where the ghost of a long dead Grand-Khan terrorises the peacefull tribes with his hordes of riding Zombies ?
Or a Shangri-La-domain, where a small group of monks created a seemingly perfect utopia - but in the mountains below lurks something terrible....
Or the pirate-plaqued jungle-coast of a malaysia-like-domain, where fierce corsares fight the opressive darklord and his colonial-troops (or civiliced advisors from Paridon fight the evil pirate-darklord...)

[NykylaiHellray]

Then we should expand on them =P

Have the six islands as being around a larger continent.

Similar to asia, with japan as the idlans on the corner.


The major continent can be like the one waldi said.

[Spiteful Crow]

Rokushima Taiyoo, the Six Islands of the Sun, is actually an archipelago of four islands surrounding a lake. There were originally six islands, but the lords of two of them were killed and the islands sunk into the poison sea.

Anywho, the islands are too close together to fit a continent in there. Also, I suggest you read the Navigaccio and Nebulae Obscura netbooks, which contain many nice Asian-themed domains.

[Dion of the Fraternity]

Also, I suggest you read the Navigaccio and Nebulae Obscura netbooks, which contain many nice Asian-themed domains.

These netbooks include:

Sanzhou Grove - a Chinese-inspired domain
Xi'anlin - another Chinese-inspired floating domain within Sanzhou Grove
Dorjiloka - a Tibetan-inspired domain
Kungthrom Sound - a Thai-inspired domain
Chamhok Mun - a Korean-inspired domain
Igid Rabi-i (Book of Sacrifices) - a Philippines-inspired domain


Also, (I keep delaying it) I'm coming up with Nostophilia: Worlds of Ravenloft, which will feature a Khmer-inspired domain, a Bali-inspired domain, and an underwater domain inspired by the Yonaguni ruins of Japan.

[Spiteful Crow]

Wasn't it the other way around with Sanzhou Grove being a domain within Xi'anlin?

Anyway, I was thinking we should take the existing domains (I'cath and Rokushima Taiyoo) and then form an Exotic Lands Cluster or something like that. Then, we can start throwing in more island domains, and maybe a mainland.

[Waldi]

Hmm...a "Asian-Cluster" ? That´s a quite good Idea. Perhaps we could just expand the Verduous Land - SriRaji as a western domain of the orient would be cool !
An importand part of this oriental-cluster should be a large and long mistway called the "Silkroad", that virtually connects all main-domains of the cluster (and ends in the core).
That would explain, where the silk, Stradhs famous black-red cape is made of, came from

[Dion of the Fraternity]

Wasn't it the other way around with Sanzhou Grove being a domain within Xi'anlin?

Oops, yep, you're right


Actually, I was thinking of pulling all the Navigaccio-Nebula Obscura Asian domains into a cluster called "The Sundered Skies," their common theme being (aside from the fact they're Oriental) the skies above their domains are perpetually overcast.

[Spiteful Crow]

Hey, you're oriental!

Sorry, this whole topic just keeps making me think of "What's Up, Tiger Lily?"

Why would the sky be overcast?

[HuManBing]

I'm thinking of working on an Asian style Core continent, rather than a cluster. That lends itself better to the idea of established kingdoms fighting for supremacy, rather than a handful of islands or little fiefdoms posting a lonely outpost in the Mists.

This would draw heavily on the idea of China as a regional powerweight, rather as Rome was for classical Europe, but various rifts and dissensions within the core. If you look at the Three Kingdoms period, various groups of people who considered themselves "Chinese" were still blood enemies and fought their racial peers as political opponents.

Farflung kingdoms with separate identities would work well, too. Koreans, Mongols (who actually share quite a bit in common, genetically, with Koreans), Japanese, and the aforementioned Lao, Vietnamese, Khmer, Thai, and Burmese would be good candidates.

I envision an "alternate Core" campaign style to be based on the idea of an empire in regression. The centralized throne no longer has the same power as it needs to enforce such an empire, and intrigues in the court as well as in farflung kingdoms is rife. The "barbarian" tribes beyond the periphery may be technologically backward, but they are romanticized (rather as western gypsies) as a people of action and resolve and spontaneity.

One possibility is that the Empire has lost its Dragon King - a very powerful but hidden entity that once directed the kingdom. Perhaps the Dragon King is permanently departed, and the hapless humans now ruling in its stead are scrambling to prevent a catastrophic collapse.

(Remember when Vecna was the Darklord of Cavitius? He spoke to "The Serpent," a powerful magical principle that eventually allowed him to escape.)

Additional interest could be generated if you say that merchants and vessels from Lamordia or Mordent or Darkon have just started to discover this new Core. Perhaps an opium war is not far off in the distance...

[Spiteful Crow]

Well, The Core is just a really BIG cluster, so calling it a cluster isn't so far off.

What I'm wondering is, if we connect Rokushima Taiyoo to another domain, what do we do with the Poison Sea? I figured the inhabitants of I'Cath could care less about being surrounded by poisonoues monster-infested water, but what about the rest of the Asian domains? Do we have the sea get more and more diluted the farther away from Rokushima Taiyoo you get?

[HuManBing]

The Poison Sea struck me as a hard-to-believe plot mechanism. (Rather like there were SUPPOSED to be six islands but - guess what? - there's actually only enough space to have four islands and the four that remain are actually really close to each other so where would the other two have fit?)

Instead of literally having the sea a poisonous body of water, I took the meaning figuratively. The sea currents are treacherous and ships sail there at their extreme peril. Monsters infest the shallows and deeps. Furthermore, the only ships to have sailed across there were sent out by the princes with conquest and bloodlust on their minds, so the meaning is more literary than actual.

Bear in mind that in real history, the Japanese were the target of many attempted invasions by the Mongols. Most times, inclement weather wrecked the Mongol fleets. "Kamikaze" means divine wind... but if it were from the Mongolian viewpoint, it could easily have been named "poison wind" instead.

[Spiteful Crow]

Actually, one of the books explained that the islands rearranged themselves every time one sunk into the sea.