Mythruna

Well done concept, every race has its pros and cons and are all limited in the spaces they live.

Only thing wich could be a problem is that elves and simians both build huge treecities. So they could possibly compete for special areas or trees or even live together in communites and can build even larger structures.

Also, keep in mind, if the races are balanced properly then it should be possible for a human to find/build/acquire the right components to plug into their "slots" to give them the same special abilities as the other races... with the same number of slots open when done.

I''l probabily be an Elf. ;D

Tree hugger.   heheh.

I probably will, too... but for once I'm actually itching to try the different races as well.  If I can make them as fun as they sound. :)

I wonder, though, if you really mean something else.  Traditionally, golems are constructs made by wizards, ie: stone golem, flesh golem, iron golem, etc.  Glorified zombie robots, sort of.

I thought you were in charge of that. Lol :P

hmm paul what race is gonna be have the major alchemy and crafting..
i hope the cat race has a good alchemy skill and medium crafting skill and also some kind of stealing or sneaking.
cuz i love cat races in games. they r just so amazingly awesome.

I know this is very cliche, but eh. I dont see how an orc would come to exist from a reptillian, but thats just me :P

Will the Elves have a bonus to toy crafting?

Very interesting indeed. These ideas of yours are great. Also, in the first post, you state that Avians carry their possessions with them. Do they carry these things in their "inventory"?

You could probably type up an "essay" on this. I'm sure I and alot of other people would enjoy it. Or just do a recording of yourself talking for 45 minutes. That would be nice too.

That answered almost every question I have, thank you.

I think each race should seem like it could survive independently.  So each race will have a variety of "subclasses".  For example, there may be large gorilla men which are the warriors and the smaller monkey-men are the tinkerers and craftsmen. 

Elves are in tune with the earth and would likely not kill aggressively any living creature.  There warriors would tend to be very skilled in defensive tactics as their plan would be to outlast an opponent.  They are skilled hunters only in that they are very experienced (from living a long time) and because they prefer to bring animals down in one kill and only for need.

In real life, I actually _do_ make furniture and I'm not a very strong person.  You learn ways to work around it... and a simian would be no less strong than a human, in general.

But to reiterate, each race would have lived independently before humans arrived to draw them together... so each race, within their own cultural limits, would have had to fill all of the roles necessary for survival.  They each would have their scholars, farmers, craftsmen, warriors, priests/shaman, and leaders.  The way those take shape would be different.  For example, Avians probably have a limited warrior sect since they would be more likely to just leave at the sign of conflict but they would have hunters and ways to defend their pre-flight-capable young.

Where as in the pantherian and reptilian races, probably nearly everyone has warriors skills to some degree.

So the differences between races are mainly cultural? But then what about the Avians? How are their losses in melee combat balanced?

Perhaps they could be more agile than humans? Because I'm thinking that a race of thin people would be less capable of hammering away at stone than a bunch of big, heavy-muscled humans or dwarves (or whatever else you have in mind).

Unless I missed something.

Not bad.

I thought the simians were going to live in trees.

The Simians feel a bit too much like Humans. But that is good for a High Fantasy feel.

Hmmmm.... dwarves and lizard men.  Interesting idea.  Usually, probably not but I could easily see a relationship of necessity developing between desert dwelling lizard men and desert dwarf populations (in the mesas and cliffs).

...which also implies that maybe the elves and pantherians occasionally make good neighbors for similar reasons.  I will have to think on this.

Just read the description - got a few questions:
Are they fairly muscular, or sleek?
Are they a "range" between fat and skinny, or mostly bulbous, or mostly thing/skinny?
Are they leggy and fast, very upright or fairly both 4 and 2 legged okay?
Do you see them ad having a rich and colorful culture or are they scroungers and cave dweller types?
What do you see their behaviors as, and their daily activities that they would need to be physically able to do?

All good questions. I think they range in size. I can't decide whether "warrior" versus "non-warrior" is a specific sub-race or just a set of traits that warriors happen to have. Like the big strong ones with longer horns or whatever tend to become warriors.

I think there are places where their culture could be rich. I do think for sure that they are cold blooded. So when they live on fringe climates they probably suffer routine catastrophic events that keeps culture from advancing too far. However, in the desert regions maybe they have a quite rich history.

In general, I view them more like aboriginal humans... perhaps with hints that maybe in the past their culture was vast and great but now we only see hints of that except in the deeper deserts where the culture might still thrive. Maybe think what would happen if ancient Egyptians and Arabs had ventured far from their seats of culture and in these new places routinely had their populations decimated.

If "warrior" is a specific sub-race then I think in the more tribal villages then they are part of the ruling structure... where biggest and baddest makes them leaders. But this belies their original history where the warrior class was bred as the protectors and armies... and the ruling class grew softer over time. It's also possible that in the tribal villages that the distinction between warrior subrace has mostly disappeared through necessary cross-breading and now those traits are stronger or weaker in some.

Thus sort of reversing what their original ancestors had done by breeding a military sub-race.

For every other race, I can usually think of a good human analog. The lizard men I have trouble pegging... I tend to pull from anywhere an ancient earth culture had to deal with really harsh climates. So aboriginal australians, mongols, desert nomads, etc..

The opposite are the Pantherians. They more resemble native americans or south american tribes where resources and hunting are rich and it is the things that live in their environment that are the only real danger... and they are masters of that domain even still. The Pantherians, prior to human contact, never had a very rich culture because they eat what they hunt and never had the reason to develop beyond immediate supply.

I believe you said somewhere that they (or some of them) can breathe underwater. How does that work?

Trying this again - too big of a file size last time and errors did occur.

Just check out the very rough thumbnail shapes, and let me know if you like any of them. You like #--, but make him taller and lankier, but odd muscle groups - get it? And yes, #5 is scratching his head.

I'm going to tinker with more shapes over the weekend, but this is what I have for the moment. Didn't mean for this to take nearly this long, sorry for the wait.

-Lew

You remind me of skyrims lizard type people, they look like komodo dragons with rounded heads.

Simians = Imga from The Elder Scrolls. http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Imga

ummmmmm the TES model looks nothing like Pauls concept art...

Will the sizes of lizardmen be so varied that we can have something resembling a D&D Kobold?

Also, will each individual civilization or kingdom have it's own physical traits?

When will u add the races to the game , and will u also add classes maybe?

Classes... D&D style? Barbaric Mage :)

Ah! That sounds cool! Rather than picking a class you are stuck with, you can learn your own traits. I love that idea.

if these will be the playable races, reptilian sounds severely imba for pvp.

:| They ARE playable races... :3 And what about the guy who can FLY!? :3 You would have to have a bow to take down that guy :3

The cat faces are in mass attack. Heh, It would be REALLY annoying if the avian race could fly with bows. Hehe. CUPIDS!

if these will be the playable races, reptilian sounds severely imba for pvp.

though they will sometimes require some patience because of being cold-blooded.

I didn't think of that (so many little details). So you will maybe set up a system that works with seasons/weather in order to affect the player, as in humans are slower in winter/summer and reptilians need to be aware of body heat and so on for all the races.

This all looks amazing, the races, the weather, the backstory, the magic, the (hopefully emerald green) dragon, it all sounds engaging and lots of fun! keep up the good work Paul! I've been thinking about this game nonstop and i have been toying with many ideas in the direction I hope/wish mythruna is going. I'm going to start brainstorming and soon will start a big post on concepts i'd like in this forum section, i hope i can help in any way.

Thanks for the kind words and vote of confidence.  Please don't be too disappointed if I don't pick up ideas directly.  I have a list of features longer than my arm already... and never enough time to work on them it seems. :)

Your Idea for races is amazing and I thought of an idea using simple logic. The simians and Elves may brawl but all the races minus the Avians could have embassy's where even rival races would probably be at for supplies help whatever and have small battles or fights between them that the player or NPC's that own the territory break up and gain favor. I know I am asking alot but it seems a plausible idea

I think Paul said some of the reptilians will still live under water.

I literally only heard about this game yesterday and already everything else I have ever played seems inadequate by comparison to this masterpiece you are creating here.
There's only one thing, I think, that's missing that I, personally, have always been disappointed to find missing in big RPG games. A playable water-dwelling race that's as big and populate as those living on land.
Potentially you could have large towns and cities underwater with large markers above the water's surface so land-races could locate them for trade and such and areas where trapped bubbles of air allow air-breathing races to explore. You could also have the smaller towns (or possibly equally large yet less open-minded) without the air-bubbles and markers attempting to remain as isolated as possible.
These water-dwelling people could be advantaged in the obvious ability to breathe underwater and see clearer in water and could be disadvantaged with poorer sight out of the water and having their fatigue greatly affected by their hydration. They could also have smaller inventory space out of the water as they're used to their possessions weighing less. I'd imagine they'd not get on well with many races due to the drastic differences in their accustomed environments but would have a particular distrust for Avians (as would the Avians for them) based on how incredibly minimal interaction is between the species and would have a mutual hatred for Pantherians based on the Pantherian hatred of water but could be likely to get on with Reptilians as they share their ability to breathe underwater but would consider them foolish for forsaking the water to make homes upon the land.
The water creatures would be easily lost underground and on land but would innately be able to locate the nearest source of water and would be, by far, the best sea-navigators but would be unlikely to work on board a ship - partly because most captains would insist upon an avian navigator for their weather-sensing abilities, mostly because living so close to the water yet not being able to go in is a seemingly torturous experience to them - however they would be the most talented and successful sellers of seacharts.

I feel like I'm going on too much.... I'll stop now...... :P

After reading this i instantly imagined the underwater race in star wars with the giant bubbles and then citys within them also how they seemed angery towards the human people seems similar to what you said :P btw welcome to the mythruna community :]

Yep.  I even have a conceptual idea in mind for how their cities will look.

After reading this i instantly imagined the underwater race in star wars with the giant bubbles and then citys within them also how they seemed angery towards the human people seems similar to what you said :P

btw welcome to the mythruna community :]

Blasphemer, not getting into SW lol

Seriously, though, that sounds amazing, anything you can share on the underwater city concepts?

I imagine towers and adjoining arches and stuff with different types of building pods attached around for housing.  Then there would be standard main buildings that are up on pillars or rooted solidly into the ground.  I'm imagining it as if you tried to adapt gothic architecture to a combination sand castles and coral formations.  That's probably clearer in my head.

Just the idea that there are no roads.  The city would somehow layout more 3D than a regular town since it isn't required to stick to a 2D layout.  So your entrances and exits can be pretty much anywhere for a building

and most doors would actually be on the bottoms of structures.

I imagine towers and adjoining arches and stuff with different types of building pods attached around for housing.

Then there would be standard main buildings that are up on pillars or rooted solidly into the ground.

I'm imagining it as if you tried to adapt gothic architecture to a combination sand castles and coral formations.

That's probably clearer in my head.

...someday I will draw some concept art and/or just make a concept city to play with ideas.

Genius. This could also allow buildings like I mentioned before with the trapped air so non-aquatic creatures could use these buildings too.

In general, if there are still underwater reptilians in existence then they have been completely isolated from the rest of the world cultures... even there own desert-dwelling cousins.  It is unlikely that they would keep air pockets for other races though not impossible.

However, there may be reasons that a reptilian needs to use fire or other heat magic that would require a sizable air pocket.

re: larger buildings:  Government buildings, markets, churches, etc..  If there is a market at a reptilian city then it is unlikely to be an "open sea" market.  Or if it is then it's a large constructed plaza.  Can you imagine trying to run a market right on the sea floor?  Silt being kicked up around you, large schools of fish just swimming through, etc..  In the middle of a city, I could see a raised stone plaza but otherwise I think markets will be indoor.

Cooking fish?

Cooking fish?

Surely, anyone owning a plot within a city or town would automatically be a citizen under the rule of whoever runs the town/city? Although your comment does beg the question....

Countries?

Clothing options with even full face ninja masks that only show the eyes would be a good basic option.

That would make a cool custom skin!

I hope we can make clothes with enough detail to do that sort of thing.

Just recently stumbled upon this game and I can tell that it will be great, but I have one suggestion. Maybe it is just me but your class list seems to be lacking a mercenary-esque war loving class. I feel that a good addition to the list would be a canine based class, fitting the above concepts and it could feud with the Pantherian class and maybe even have subspecies. Just my thoughts.

Kyra smoothed down the black fur on her forearms and dabbed the blood at the corner of her mouth with her thumb.  She spat a short stream of red-tinted saliva onto the pantherian male laid unconscious in a heap at her feet.

The adrenaline rush was waning and she surveyed the damage she had inflicted.  Tam's short cropped mane was sticky with blood and his face was covered in scratches.  His wide nose was broken and bleeding.  She hadn't intended to make it personal but her emotions had gotten the better of her.  Tam would be scarred but he would live.  Maybe even be wiser for it.

She nudged him onto his back with her toe.  “Drag this cur to his bedroll”, she ordered without taking her eyes from him.  It would be a while before he slept in hers again, she thought.

She knew familiarity always led to this sort of insubordination.  Though mistakes had clearly been made, it was not his place to call them out or assign her the blame, and certainly not in the middle of a meeting.  She could kick herself now for fraternizing with Tam so frequently.
Still, he had been the most handsome option among a group of poor choices.  Mercenaries were not known for their good looks, after all.  She shook off the thought.  More than ever, discipline and strategy had to trump carnal needs.
Kyra watched as Mara and one of the other males dragged Tam out of the circle.  All other eyes waited patiently for Kyra to speak but she waited for Mara to return and sit down at her right side before continuing.

“As I was saying”, and she spat again for effect.  “We made the decision to come here based on good information.  All of the pack leaders were in agreement at the time that this was a good opportunity to get paid.  Maybe the gold was even a little too good but it was still worth checking out.”

She looked around at the other females for agreement.  They all nodded and stiffened a little as if to ward off further argument from the rest of the group.

“Now that we are stuck here there is no longer any use arguing about the hows”, she continued.  “I'm tired of hiding in a cave like a lizard man.  Or sitting around by the fire just thinking all day like some fat old monkey!”

“Here! Here!”, shouted Mara amongst a chorus of vocal agreement from the pack.

When the noise abated Kyra continued, “We only have bad options but at least they are clear enough.”

Her tongue played with the tips of her fangs as if counting them and recounting them while she let that idea sink into the group.  She walked toward the mouth of the cave and pointed in the rough direction of town, dark rain obscuring the view beyond a few feet.

Kyra chose her words carefully, “We can stay here, safe and snug in our little cave, hoping the Whispers don't find us and waiting for some other air ship to make port with the tower in town.”  She looked around the room making sure everyone was bristling appropriately at the thought of further hiding.

“Or”, she continued and pointed in roughly the opposite direction, “we can take matters into our own hands and head overland to one of the other towns.”  And hope the Whispers haven't made it there yet, she thought to herself.

“Either we find another transport off of this lump or we improve our options in some other way”, she said with a shrug.  “Maybe we even find out what happened to our contact.”

She walked back to the center of the circle near the fire, admiring the tall shadow her body cast on the wall.  She looked over towards Tam still unconscious in a lump on his bedroll.

“Now”, she emphasized the first word as if speaking directly to Tam, “is the time for discussion if there is any to be had.”

She stood waiting.  Mara stood without hesitation and walked to Kyra's side.  Soon, the rest of the commanders joined her by the fire.  No further discussion would be necessary.

“Get your things in order and get some rest.  We leave when the dawn mist is still fresh on the grass”, she said before heading to her own bedroll.

Sleep came quickly despite the bruises Tam had inflicted.  Soon her head filled with dreams haunted by thoughts of the Whispers, a nightmare having somehow returned to the world from legend.

*******************

The rain had stopped but the morning mists hung thick in the air.  The shadowy trees stood as dark sentinels around the mercenaries and the fog swallowed the sounds of their passing.  The squish of boots in mud was all that could be heard as the armed panther-men made their way through the fields.

Pants and boots were the only consistent clothing among them but each male carried a wide array of weaponry of different shapes and sizes.  Knives were strapped along their midriffs or in belts and at least two swords at each waist, sometimes three or four.  A very few even carried longbows.  All of them had shields strapped over their backs.

Their fur colors also varied.  More than half of the men had thick black coats, some with manes down to their waist.  Others were various shades of gray or brown.  Only two of the men had spotted patterns over their bodies.  These two had no mane to speak of and the spots stopped short of their head and chest.

Despite the differences in their appearance, there was a uniformity to them.  They moved as one unit, a well trained column of fifty fighters marching double-file through the underbrush.

Kyra and the other women were not among them. 

She and the ten other female commanders were scouting the flanks in a long staggered V formation.  They ran silently through the trees, running serpentine through the growth, not even leaving footprints behind.  Fanning out behind the V were the other fifty female warriors.  Ghosts in the mist, the pantherian women covered sixty or more paces to either side of the column and another twenty or so paces bringing up the rear.

Counter to the variety of the males, each woman wore one of two uniforms depending on her status.  The regular warriors and lieutenants wore brown-green leather pants with a black leather vest.  Instead of boots or shoes, their feet were strapped with leather around the toes and calf, leaving the majority of the hairless foot and heel exposed.

Over one shoulder, each warrior sheathed a curved sword strapped carefully to their backs.  Holstered on either side of their abdomens were pantherian fighting daggers.  The curved razor sharp knives were distinct with a serrated section guarding the handle.  In the hands of a trained panther-female, the blades were swift and deadly.

The commanders each wore black cloth pants and a minimal armless black shirt with a wide open neck.  The weapons complement was the same except that half the women had a second sword and the other half had a short bow and copse of arrows strapped over the other shoulder.

So it was that this cloud of barely checked death-in-waiting passed silently over the island of Martoc.  Hours passed with no other sign of civilization or wildlife.

Kyra waved to her right, pointed at her eyes with two fingers and then to an outcropping ahead and to the right.  She repeated this signal to her left and then took off at a double run.

The straight run felt good and her muscles were aching for more when she reached the top of the bluff.  Constantly keeping apace with the column in slow zigzagging sprints always made her antsy.  She thought about taking a small scouting party ahead but knew it was just an excuse to run flat-out for a while.  Sacrificing tactical advantage for personal desires would have to wait for another time.  It seemed to be a recurring theme, lately.

From a pocket on her thigh, she pulled a small spyglass and surveyed the surrounding area.  The sun was high in the sky now and had long ago burned off the fog.  To the west, the valley they had traveled stretched away to the mountain pass.  Farther than she could see would be the now-deserted town of Goldpoint.  There were no signs that they had been followed but that was not particularly surprising.  If the legends are to be believed then the Whispers don't travel during the day anyway.

To the east, the rolling hills continued, punctuated by stands of trees and cut with the occasional stream.  This grassland ended abruptly at some jagged cliffs another half days travel away.  She frowned and then started poking the tip of her left fang with her tongue.
Mara crept up silently behind her commander.  Kyra handed back her spyglass without even looking over her shoulder.  Mara looked a little dejected at the lack of surprise but Kyra's second-in-command took the spyglass just the same.

“Hmmm...”, Mara said while scanning the horizon, “I suppose it would be too much to ask for a stairway?”  She hissed a small chuckle before continuing, “Or at least a pass.”

“There should be a break a bit to the south”, said Kyra.  “According to the maps, Fairlyn should be down there somewhere and there should be a cut in the cliffs.”

Mara interjected, “Though, it wouldn't be the first information we've gotten wrong on this trip.”

Kyra nodded shortly.  “I'm still betting that what happened at Goldpoint is responsible for our missed meeting.”

Mara handed her back the spyglass and Kyra smoothly slipped it back into its pocket before adding, “Something about this makes my teeth twitch.”

Mara nodded and said, “Anyway, the muscle-heads are catching up to us.”

Kyra stretched her legs and smiled, “Hmmm, if we pick up the pace then we can hopefully make Fairlyn before dusk.”  She smiled at Mara and took off at a full run, leaving her friend to fall in behind her.

A dozen seconds later, Kyra and Mara returned to formation and signaled the other commanders to change pace.  Within minutes the orders were passed down the line and the column began to move at a quick-march.

Kyra hoped her map was correct.  If not, there would be a long and dangerous night ahead of them.