Gothic-Orient-Netbook: domains under construction

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Waldi
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Gothic-Orient-Netbook: domains under construction

Post by Waldi »

The following domains are standing part of the cluster, but need to be worked out yet:
The endless Steppes
CL: 3-5 (roughly)
Cultural Background stolen from: Mongols and Kirgisians
Landscape: Full Ecology; wide, open plains with sparsly growing small forests. The climate is extremly cold during the winter and very hot during the short summer
Major Settlements: Temurkand (1.500)
The Folk:
about 6.700 (no exact numbers are aviable)
99% Human (65 % Taiga, 35 % Nürfan)
1% other
Languages: Taiga; Nürfan; Hua, Pidgin
Religion: Shamanism, Ancestral Cults,
Law: The folk is divided up into several tribes. Every tribe is gouverned by a chief called "Khan"
Trade:
Ressources: look at the Frozen Reaches and add horses
Coinage: The Taiga trade mostly through barter. if money is needed, they use old coinage from the Hua-Empire
Important notes: While travelling westward, you can go to the Frozen Reaches; The Taiga where once great conquerers and the greatest thread to the Hua-Empire, but now this days are gone. There hasn´t been a Great-Khan since 400 years and the modern Temur are far more pacifistic than their warlike ancestors.
The Nürfan recently elected a Great-Khan (that is not supported by the Taiga) and start to ride against the Hua once again...
Dark-Lord: No real idea yet. Perhaps he could be a cursed conspirator against a Great-Khan from the glorious past. he tried to betray his lord and was cursed to ride the steppes for all eternety without the chance of finding eternal rest (if someone has a better idea...)


The northern mountain-jungles (have to find a better name)
CL: 1-2
Cultural background stolen from: primitive mountaintribes in southeast-asia
Landscape: Full Ecology; Hot, steaming Jungles, Swamps and Mountains
Major Settlements: none (settlements are very small villages)
There is an ancient ruin-city builded by a mad godking from Siranga-Purang, but this abbandoned city is avoided by the natives
The Folk:
Population:
round about 4.000 (there are no exact numbers)
Sirangapunese: 10 %
other oriental Gnomes: 40 %
Humans: 30 %
Lizardmen: 20 %
Languages: various tribe-dialects; sirangapunese, pidgin
Religion: Shamanism; Anchestral Cults
Law: every village houses a different tribe and is gouverned by a chief, a shaman or a council of village-elders. Sirangapunese settlements obey the law of the godking in Siranga-Purang
Trade:
Ressources: exotic woods, exotic fruits, ingrediences for various drugs, rice, fur and meat
Coinage: Trade is conducted by sirangapunesian coins or barter
Important notes: there is a bloody war going on between the mountain-tribes and the sirangapunesian tribes (vietnamstyle guerilla-war on the loose !!! ). The sirangapunesians claim the northern mountains to be part of their kingdom, the mountain-tribes see that different
Darklord: No concrete idea yet; I thought of a evil mountain-dragon, a fanatic shaman-witch or an asian vampire (who is perhaps the bygone godking in the ruined city)
The following domains are settled on a large island west of the main landmass of the core (and have a "japanese background"). The inhabitants of this island are supposed to be close relatives of the people in Rokushima Tayioo

The Great-Jomon-Empire:
CL: 9
Cultural background stolen from: the Japan of the Meji-Aera
Landscape: Full Ecology; temperate forrests and high mountains
Major Settlements:
The city of the iron palace (we need that in japanese ) (12.500)
The Folk:
792.913 people according to the last official registration (adjusted the population a bit)
Humans: 99%
Other: 1%
Language: Rokuma; Pidgin; Hua; Sirangapunese
Religion: The Wheel of Enlightment; The Kami; Scientific progress and effectivity
The Law: militaristic despotism with a fake-parliament
Trade:
Ressources: coal, iron, rice, rice-vine, beer, clockworks, gunpowder, muskets, swords, scientific advantage and war
Coinage: Yen (the only aviable unit). Jomon-currency is difficult to use in other domains because the jomonians use little coins and large amounts of paper-money
Important notes: Jomon is the technological most advanced and modern domain of Asialoft; it became that during the last 20 years; the caste of the samurai was officialy dissolved and replaced by a "modern" army (armed with muskets, artillery and gunboats); honor and traditions are slowly abbandoned; there is a secret rebell-organisation of former samurai, Jomon became a extremly militaristic power and a thread to nearly all other domains. There are even jomonian occupation-troops holding power in other, smaller domains.
Darklord: The political and spirituell ruler of the domain is Lord Minamoto. He is a strategical and technological genius and mad in a way that is difficult to see at the first glance. For Lord Minamoto, only succes and effectivity are important - honor and traditions are second. That is, why he wiped out his own (and loyal) samurai. They became ineffective. During the last years, he changed slowly into a terrific clockwork-golem with a human brain. Without a heart, Lord Minamoto can´t ever feel true love, but he can remember what it was like to feel it - and slowly Minamoto learns, that this becomes the curse of his existence.
He looks like a odd mixture between Darth Vader and a medieval samurai...
Lord Minamoto is one of the more effective tools, the ancient dead emperor Hua Gaozu tries to use for reclaiming whole Asialoft. Lord Minamoto knows about his "servant-status" and plans to exterminate the "dried old geezer" (as he calles the emperor in secret) as soon, as his growing power allowes it...

Relationship to Rokushima Tayioo (still to be discussed):

The people of Rokushima could be the descendants of colonists, who once settlet down on some Islands further west. For centurys, there was no contact between Rokushima Tayioo and the motherland - but now the first Jomon-steamships arrived the coasts near Shiro-Koori-Castle. The developing relationship between the common people is friendly and hearty (they see it as the meeting of two long lost brothers), but the potentiell relationship between the darklords has a much darker tone (there is no real relationship yet).
To the darklord-daimyos of Rokushima, the advanced Jomon apear outright alien and eerie - on the one hand, they are just like the Rokuma on the other hand they changed in a way that is immensely difficult to understand for the darklords.
For Lord Minamoto, Rokushima represents nearly everything he hates: economic stagnation; primitiveness; superstition; reactionary traditions - in a word : Ineffectiveness !!
Of course, he plans to overtake Rokushima, and very clearly the few Samurai of Rokushima could not stand a chance against the large and well equiped modern army of the Jomon. That is even more clear, as no daimyo of Rokushima will ever close an alliance with another of his brothers.
But at the moment, Minamoto wants to use the basicly friendly relationships between the two folks. He sended "missionarys" to Rokushima, that "preach" to the peasants about the unity of the "Great-Jomon-Empire" (with the slogan "One Language - One Nation") and about the blessings of scientific progress. The peasants are easily impressed by the technological toys, those "missionarys" show them (the difference between a Jomon and a advanced westener doing that is easy: The Jomon belongs to the same ethnic group as the Rokuma and therefor is considered to be a "brother" - the westener is alien and a "Gaijin" at best and a "White Devil" at worst) Slowly the Rokuma start to believe this tales and some view Tekkoukyuu in the brightest colors and start thinking of Lord Minamoto to be the righteous leader of their whole folk - a problem, that is jet still ignored by the ignorant daimyos.....
What do you think about that way to connect the two domains ?
Other domains near Jomon:

The woodland domain (no name yet):
Based on a very early Japan (in the way of having the inhabitants be the people of a very ancient and traditional folk deep in the woods). Perhaps it could look like those ancient folk in "Mononoke"

The demonplagued rural domain (no name yet)

Based on movies like "Kibakichi" or "Inuyasha". Officialy, this part of the land belongs to Jomon but is mainly a rural backwater-country. It is recently plagued by
the Yokai (hope, I type that right ), a race of shapeshifting half-demons.
While the Yokai just are what they are and have still a certain code of honor (I think, that would be a "japanese" way to view demons) we would perhaps need a human darklord...
I do not need now, weather the Yokai should be a potentiell PC-Race or not. In movies and mangas, halfdemons make great heroes, but does that work in Ravenloft too ?
May you live in interesting times !!
-ancient chinese curse
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