Project: The Golden Peninsula (Cluster)

[WolfKook]

When the mists parted, we found ourselves in a different place. It was a warm, furious sea, with countless tiny islands that made navigation very difficult. We landed in one of them, but were forced to return to the sea after just a couple of hours, as the island inhabitants -a fearsome tribe of almost naked bronze-skinned savages, armed with bows and spears -started hunting as like rabbits.

The Golden Peninsula is a relatively new Cluster in the land of dread, which appeared some time after the Grand Conjunction, but was just recently discovered by dementlieuse navigators exploring the Sea of Sorrows, who almost didn't make it back. In their report, they talked about five different zones:

-The Cannibal Sea (by WolfKook, soon to be posted as a preview in this thread), a big sea dotted with tiny islands, which seem to be home to cannibal tribes and pirate dens.
-Maconda (by Nathan of the FoS, USS 2001, as part of the Nueva Aragona article), which makes the tip of the peninsula.
-Nueva Aragona (by Nathan of the FoS, USS 2001), where the dementlieuse navigators first landed.
-Mictlan (by Ryan Naylor, BoShadows, 2000), a mythic land beyond the almost uncrossable Sierra Acora, where several aragonese adventurers have tried to go, after the legendary Cumbre de Oro (by Nathan of the FoS, BoSacrifices, 2001)
-It seems there was a big island in the midst of the Cannibal Sea, but the explorers seem to have avoided it for whatever reason.

Sadly, the two only survivors of the expedition were murdered in extrange circumstances soon after they returned to Dementlieu, and the report had been thought to be lost for the last 7 years. Curiously enough, however, some parts of it seem to have started appearing in several different places over the land of dread. We have managed to reassemble part of the original text, but there are still several parts missing.

So, we ask our fellow members all over the land to look for these missing pieces (Geography, ecology, sociology, conversions to 3E and TONS of Dread Possibilities, for each of the aforementioned lands), and send them to us (EMail me!), so we can reassemble the complete report, and learn what we can about this strange land.

EDIT: Cartographers and artists will also be appreciated. There's a whole new land to portray!

[kottakinge]

Sounds great, i'll have a look on the old material to have a preview.

[Archedius]

I'd definately add that to my version of RL- gl w/ it.

[WolfKook]

The Cannibal sea is a vast maritime expanse of warm waters full of tiny islands which are home to fierce savages with a taste for human flesh, which has become the main trade route between the Golden Peninsula and the lands beyond the sea. Only a handful of these islands have been civilized.
Travel through the cannibal sea is not, however, as easy as it may seem: The harsh climate of the region is constantly raging, causing terrible storms and maelstroms, terrible creatures dwell in the sea, waiting for prey to come, and the pirates are always watchful for boats traveling through their territory.
But as terrible as these dangers may seem, nothing is as feared by merchants and pirates alike as the Shadow Drake, a pirate ghost ship that is said to navigate the sea with an accursed crew and a devilish, cruel captain. It might be just a legend, but a few of the inhabitants of the pirate island of Gavilan claim to have seen it at a distance, and most of them still shudder when they mention the ship's name.

In the spirit of the newly finished trilogy of Pirates of the Caribbean, the Cannibal sea opens its waters to your ideas: We are looking for characters, monsters, locations and dread possibilities with a caribbean sea feel, which are to be adapted to the domain and published on the respective section of the Golden Peninsula Gazetteer. Any input will be valuable, and I'll try to do my best at including all submissions.

BTW: The Mictlan section is at around 50%. Ideas on this domain will also be appreciated.

Also: For a fast introduction to Nueva Aragona (Resistencia and Maconda), check Jöel's summary here.

[Isabella]

Haha, I just dug this back up: a few years ago a friend and I created a domain that ended up being almost exactly like Mictlan. Most of what we wrote is pretty useless, but there are some encounter charts that might come in handy if the Mictlan section still needs work.

[WolfKook]

Haha, I just dug this back up: a few years ago a friend and I created a domain that ended up being almost exactly like Mictlan. Most of what we wrote is pretty useless, but there are some encounter charts that might come in handy if the Mictlan section still needs work.

I would certainly love to see it. I guess it isn't as useless as you think... At this point, the section on Mictlan is pretty much a transcription of Ryan's original article with a different organization. I'm currently trying to add up some of my ideas, but I would also like to see some other sources of inspiration, and, no matter how close your domain resembles Mictlan, it has to have something that could enhance the original domain. Doesn't it?

[lostboy]

Hey,

new here and havent played RL in a loooong time , had forgotten how awesome it was.

Amyway no good on game stats as still a 2nd Ed man, but might have some ideas on cartography (have illustrator will travel!).

Happy to post or pm you with some rough sketches (probabley be a day or two) if youre intrested?

lostboy.

[WolfKook]

Hey,

Hi, lostboy, and welcome to the party I hope you enjoy it.

Amyway no good on game stats as still a 2nd Ed man, but might have some ideas on cartography (have illustrator will travel!).

Happy to post or pm you with some rough sketches (probabley be a day or two) if youre intrested?

I am! Do you need a description of the cluster organization, or my own (very rough) sketches?

Thank you very much for the offer, lostboy!

[WolfKook]

Isabella, your "Mictlanesque" adventure is awesome! It would probably need some tailoring here and there to fit into Mictlan, but it enhances the domain a lot: It provides a lot of interesting characters, adventure opportunities and details on the flora and fauna of the region. I still don't understand why did you think it to be "useless".

Indeed, I have to say that you've put the rusty wheels of the project back in motion. Do you want to see a preview, once I include your additions? I would love to see your comments.

[lostboy]

Cool,

Any notes or sketches etc would be great. Im aware these are other peoples creations so dont want to reinvent anyones ideas.

Had some ideas already and should have some rough stuff ready by next week fingers crossed (unless I do actually have to earn some money at that thing we call work... doh!).

Cheers

Lostboy

[Isabella]

Indeed, I have to say that you've put the rusty wheels of the project back in motion. Do you want to see a preview, once I include your additions? I would love to see your comments.

Absolutely! I like being useful.

[WolfKook]

Cool,

Any notes or sketches etc would be great. Im aware these are other peoples creations so dont want to reinvent anyones ideas.

Well, the arrangement we had came to with Nathan (The original author of Nueva Aragona) was as followed:

When I've thought of combining Nueva Aragona with Mictlan/Cumbre de Oro, I've always had Nueva Aragona on the coast and Mictlan in the interior, on the other side of a mountain range. I think that works pretty well with your idea so far, because I don't think we'd want to put Mictlan on an ocean coast. So we could have (working from north to south here, although we could arrange it some other way):

The Cannibal Sea
Resistencia (island at sea)
Maconda (mainland)
Mountains on the border, including Cumbre de Oro
Mictlan

Also, when I talked with Ryan (The author of Mictlan), he also indicated that the conquerors of Mictlan should be isolated from the other domains. Sierra Acora is meant to be treacherous and unforgiving, so that deals with access to Nueva Aragona. However, I envision a river flowing from Sierra Acora to the Cannibal Sea, and controlled by Huanoquite (I think it's mentioned somewhere in the original article). That would be Mictlan's only access to the sea, and as it would be controlled by the Huanoquite Empire, the conquerors would have no contact whatsoever with the outside world, as Ryan wanted.

Finally, Dion told me that he was developing some jamaican domain that I may include, so there should be at least one island that is large enough to be of some importance. As I see it, the Cannibal Sea should be dotted with tiny islands that would work as pirate dens and homes to cannibal tribes. There is also an idea (Tec-Goblin's got to have the credit for that one) about a conqueror-type character posing as one of these tribe's gods (Not a darklord per-se, as I don't want more domains than those already mentioned -more would be overkill -, but maybe an important character).

I have a rough sketch of the cluster, as I see it. If you want to see it, please tell me via PM where can I send it to you. Anyway, it's just an idea: You can do as you please with it, as long as you give some place to the landmarks set by the original authors (I'll try to post them here as I review those articles). As for the Cannibal Sea (My Idea), you have total freedom... I certainly could use some inspiration.

[lostboy]

Strangely thats pretty much exactly what I sketched out yesterday

Quick question: Are the maps to be in colour or b/w?

Lostboy

[WolfKook]

Strangely thats pretty much exactly what I sketched out yesterday

Hehehehe... Excelent! Though I must gently ask you to stop reading my mind.

Quick question: Are the maps to be in colour or b/w?

Mmmmmmm... Don't know. b/w maps have a gothic feel to them, but colour maps could give details that the others cannot. I think I'll leave that decision to you (You're the expert, anyway ). However, now that you're asking, could you include some of those nifty details that cartographers added to their maps? I guess that could give some extra atmosphere to the setting.

EDIT: I had't read your PM before I posted this. Indeed, there seems to be a strange connection going on. You had already had the exact same idea!!!

[WolfKook]

Great news from the Golden Peninsula!

• Lostboy has made a great work creating the map of the golden peninsula and its domains... With his permission, I'll try to post it here so everyone could see it (And help me fill it with details).

• Isabella's adventure has done a lot to flesh out the domain of Mictlan even better. Currently, we are working together to make some minor adjustments, and to take advantages of the colorful characters and plot hooks she created.

• Tec-gob gave me a lot of ideas for the darklord of the Cannibal Sea. I'm currently working on a write-up.