The Empire of Tulath, Part I

The majority of cities that are under the control if Imperial Tulath are old dwarven holds, keeps and cities, so much of Tulath is located underground.  Much of what is theirs are connected by impressive train lines that keep the flow of trade goods and most importantly food.  Because of their mountainous terrain they are in they have little to no arable land in order to grow crops.  The ancient fields that the dwarves once used are no more, having been reclaimed by the forests and jungles of the elves.  To feed their large population they have had to beat the elves and slash and burn incredible amounts of land and then hold it from the elves.  Some years are lean, some years are feast.

The capitol of Imperial Tulath is a city named Narimath, to honor Admiral Tullson Narimath.  It was a medium-to-large dwaven city, the first city to ever found by humans.  Over the course of time they have spent on Eave they have dug out the sides of the mountain in which the city lay so it can breathe.  It is a serious feat of engineering.  The Imperial Court is there running the Empire, a huge bureaucracy that seems to be running well.  A cathedral to the Church of Man is there and it shows Admiral Tullson Narimath as a saint in the stained glass.

The Empress is a young girl of thirteen, but to say she is a figure head is a lie.  Corrine Norimath hautTulath is Spartan Blooded.  Even though Tullson II was not Spartan Blooded, it is common for the Emperors and Empress to take Spartan Blooded for their significant other.  She already stands close to two meters tall with blonde hair she keeps short due to the rigors of combat.  She is consoled by the Duke Koromikos and trained by the First Spartan Elite Guard and schooled by the Church of Man.  She has already seen an assassination attempt and she ended up having to slay the two elves form Galadon that tried to kill her when she visited the UTN Tulath.

The UTN Tulath is the spiritual center of Tulath.  It is a hard won battle to take it and keep it and keep it they have.  They have cleared a massive perimeter around the ship and it is the heart of their military.  Tulath City has sprung up around the massive ship and the train line that goes to it is heavily patrolled by Spartan troops on the ground and fliers from the Air Corps protect in from the air.  It is from there they control the various bits of the forests.

The largest city Tulath is Altair.  Named for the star system Altair, it the central home to the Duchy of Coviso.  The Church of Man controls the largest foundries on the planet and they are found here.  Unfortunately the Tech Priests and the current Duchess of Coviso do not see eye-to-eye.  Duchess Dheyla Coviso controls most of the propaganda for the Empire, a job at which they excelled.  She also secretly leads the spy cabal, The Section that along with The Church of Man keeps the Empire strong and unbroken.  They eliminate those that seem to be unassailable and do stuff like let the elves know of a secret ways through UTN Tulath to attempt to assassinate the Empress.  She was in no danger, but the boost to popularity among the populace went through the roof.  They do what needs to be done.

There are like six other large cities and countless towns throughout the Empire. 

Rules of Eave: Goblins

Goblins are not like the goblins of yore.  They are about five feet tall, thin and green skinned which is impossible tough.  They are mean, vicious and bloodthirsty creatures that move in the shadows, because they have a sensitivity to light.  Singly they are sneaky but get them in a group and they are a force with which to be reckoned.

They are a very spiritual people, but they bully and cajole the spirits of Eave to do their bidding.  There are corrupted spirits, such as those in the Aragoi Wastes.  The land has not healed in the nine-hundred plus years since it was the target of nuclear attack by the ancient Tulathians.  These spirits are much sought after by the goblins as they are angry and unforgiving.  It takes a goblin much skill, cunning and provocation to cage such a spirit to use.

Race: Goblins

Aspects

Blood in the Shadows, The Darkness is my Friend, The Spirits Guide Me, Warrior of the Burnt Hand

Racial Skills: Goblin

You can use the Goblin racial skill to know the flora and fauna of the underground area, use this as a survival skill and to avoid hidden dangers.  In addition, pick one of the following flavors; you may pick more at the cost of one stunt or refresh each.

• One with the Spirits: You may use your Goblin racial skill to cast spells relating to pain or sneaking, even if you have no other magical ability.
• Fearsome Mask: You may use the Goblin racial skill in place of Provoke.
• Thick Skin: You may use Goblin instead of Physique to determine your physical stress and consequences, and you get one additional minor physical consequence.
• Sneaky Sneaky: Use the Goblin skill in place of Stealth.

Rules of Eave: Spartans and Eladrin

Hmm, I am using the optional races from the Fate Toolkit.  The eladrin are just the elves listed in the toolkit.  From there I have redesigned the Spartan Blooded into a racial ability.  Hope this works.  Leave comments below!

Race: Eladrin
Aspects
The Experience of Centuries, ”I Know These Woods.”, The Long Game, Magic in the Blood, Perfection in Everything.
Racial Skill: Eladrin
You may use the Eladrin skill to recognize useful flora and fauna, know your way through the woods, or notice hidden dangers. In addition, pick one of the following flavors; you may pick more at the cost of one stunt or refresh each.

• Elven High Magic: You can use Eladrin to cast spells relating to nature or growth, even if you have no other magical ability.
• Perfection in Battle: Choose Shoot or Fight. When you’re using the traditional armaments of your people, you can use Eladrin instead of the chosen skill.

Race: Spartan Blooded

Aspects

It is in the Blood, For the Empire (or the Kingdom), Killing Machine, Proud Warrior

Racial Skill: Spartan Blooded

You are one of the Spartans, having enough blood in your line to claim Spartan heritage.  You stand above others, a giant.  You may use the racial skill Spartan Blooded instead of Physique to determine your physical stress and consequences, and you get one additional minor physical consequence..  You may choose the following the cost of one stunt or refresh each.

• Frightening Presence: you may use your Spartan Blooded skill in place of Provoke.
• Paragon Immune System: You may spend a fate point to cancel the effects of a poison or a disease effect that is affecting you.

Fate, Strategicon, Saga and more

Well, I have had a couple of people express their interest in the Spartans and what I can do to make them more balanced.  I will think of something worthwhile.  I am thinking of making them a race or something… hmm, I am thinking.  I didn’t get the Toolkit until after I wrote them up.  In addition to the races, they also gave us several ways to work magic and I am thinking of a way to work the magic that permeates the world of Eave.  So many things to do.  I may be doing one in the Strategicon events of games in February.  I have read Saga and I am seriously thinking of doing a game in that setting at the very least.

Rules of Eave: Spartans and the eugenically engineered humans of Tulath

Generally, Spartans are huge people.  The tallest one ever recorded was 239cm (about seven-eight).  He was an anomaly and most of the Spartans are about 214cm (around seven feet).  They reach maturity around the age of fourteen and are usually sent to a Tulathian academy specifically to train Tulathian Spartans.  Tulathian Spartans are trained in all manner of combat from knife to energy weapons and a quarter are killed in the training.  The Third Spartan Elite Guard number only twenty and are equipped with all manner of artifact weapons and armor.  They are the terrors of any battlefield and when they are called to a battlefield, it always ends very badly for the opposing force.  Even the eladrin are very wary of Spartans on the battlefield.

In order to maintain their numbers, the Tulathians with Spartan blood have been given special orders to only mate with other Spartans.  In fact, childbirth is a serious business and Tulath is equal to or exceeds the medical knowledge of Danaan.  Female Spartans that show up on the field are rare and are those that do so can no longer bear children or they have already borne a child.  A female Spartan are still trained if they so desire, so a Spartan is still formidable regardless of gender.  Spartans usually die young due to their profession that most likely take.

They are those that do not claim Spartan blood by have some of it in their genetic makeup.  Indeed, all of the Tulathians born on Eave are the product of eugenic engineering and some who even have a Spartan way back when.  Children born in Tulath with birth defects of any kind are euthanized.  (I know it is hard to say, but those are the facts of eugenics).

Extra: Spartan Blooded

Permission: Have at least a +2 Physique to claim that you have the genetically engineered super soldiers in your genetic makeup.

Costs: Refreshes

You gain an additional -2 Mild Consequence and can spend a Fate Point to cancel the effects of any poison or disease that ravages your body as your body’s immune system in put to work to put an end to it.

Extra: Tulathian Spartan Training

Permission: Have the Spartan Blooded feature and must be Tulathian

Costs: Skills

The Spartan Training extra is a skill that encompasses all manner of weaponry and hand to hand combat.  A Tulathian Spartan may use this skill in place of any combat skill they would use, from Fight or Shoot.  They may also use it in place of any tactics role that they can make to gain some sort of tactical advantage.

[Please leave a comment if you may.  This is the first time I am making extras and I would like to have some constructive criticism.  Note that the Spartans are meant to be kings of the battlefield.]

Rules of Eave: Skills

I didn’t want to change or add a bunch of skills to the game of FATE as the system is already beautiful in its simplicity.  I did have to make some changes to the skills list and I may have to make some more to finalize the list.

Here is what I have added and made changes to:

• Lore: ancient, and Lore: science.  I had to divide these two skills up.  Ancient Lore is having to deal with the knowledge of Eave and all its inhabitants.  Ancient Lore is the skill that all the arcane users whether they be human or eladin use to be able to cast their spells.  The Science Lore has to do with the sciences that the humans have brought forth from physics to mechanical engineering. 
• Operate is the skill that humans would have to use to operate their tanks, walkers, exo-suits and mechs.
• Pilot is the skill that has to be used to for all trains, airships and boats.
• Provoke is used as normal but in additions it is the skill the goblin shamans use to cast their spells as they have to bully the spirits of Eave to do their bidding.
• Ride has been divvied up between riding either land or air mounts.
• Shooting has been divvied up between ancient and modern weapons.  

Harro's Wall, Part I

Harro’s Wall was found in Year 185, toward the end of The Dark Times.  It was a huge fortress constructed by the dwarves when they were still a viable people.  Harro danGael was a hearty man (a remnant of the Spartan Project) and a quick look of the defenses showed that the wall defended the Northern side from the Southern side.  This frightened them.  Here was an absolutely huge and seemingly impenetrable fortress which bisected the continents that lay in the ruins of a mighty battle.  The skeletons of the dwarves, beasts and an unknown humanoid creature that looked to be slightly shorter that the dwarves but with exaggerated skulls.  They skeletons they found with the exaggerated skulls numbered over a hundred thousand.

Harro spent his remaining years refortifying the wall, just in case the creatures ever came back.  He found foundries and forges underneath the wall and when he died in Year 221, they had just a quarter of the foundries up and running.  The mountains proved to be impassable for a number of years due to impossibly heavy snowfalls.  Even with the development of airships, all that they were able to do was make preliminary scouting reports or were lost.  Vancent danAndahar, the king at the time, stated that this was the southernmost edge of the kingdom.  That suited the danGaels just fine as the refortification of the fortress took much of their time, in addition the surrounding mountains where a treasure trove of minable ores.  Soon the fortress was bristling with weapons both old and new.

In Year 239 their fears were realized as they got reports of seeing strange humanoid creatures.  Short, green skinned, with exaggerated heads that struck in the night or in the darkened tunnels of the mines.  The goblins where not dead.  For years they have struck at the men and women of Crosstaal.  Sometimes they would slaughter everyone and other times not a sign of survivors was found as if they were taken.  Not many survivors of the attacks where ever found, but the few that survived where surprised at the bloodthirsty viciousness of their attackers.  This was the start of The Goblin Wars which lasted for over a hundred years, countless raids and four massive attacks on the wall.  The wall held and the goblins would not be seen until Year 467, the year that Tulath arrived and tried their hand at taking the wall thus beginning the Age of Sorrow.

Magic in Eave, Part II

It was nearly a hundred years before another human was given the privilege of learning the art of magic.  For hundreds of years the eladrin have known of the human connection to their world and as such it was a matter of time before a human would pick it up on their own.  The Tulath have done so in their own right, learning how to craft magic, so magic was the eladrins fate alone.  The humans have been fascinated with magic for centuries.  However as it turns out, they did not have much of a choice.  In the Barony of Stormtonne there was born a set of twins.  Alana was fair and strong as her brother Edam was astute and wise.  Edam danTaven proved to be magical, for at six years of age he was creating illusions of beasts the lived in the forest for Alana to “slay.”  Edam is the first recorded natural caster among the humans and he needed a teacher.  The eladrin of Galadon argued that the human should be slain for the good of Eave.  Sorica Faleath, a longtime eladrin friend of the danTavens took it up herself to teach the young human.  The twins could not be separated however.  It was learned that Edam’s magic grew weak the farther his sister was away from him.  The eladrin were familiar with this concept, and they called it dual spirits.  So while Edam grew up to be a great mage, following in the footsteps of Keri, Alana grew up and learned to be an eladrin knight, so she could protect her brother.

Sorica loved the twins like they were her own and she was first to argue that not all humans were bad.  The danTavens have kept every single word that they have made to the eladrin and their own kingdom.  After Edam was trained, Sorica set out among North Realm, to search for more children.  Other eladrin followed suit and so magic was brought to the Kingdom of Danaan.

The eladrin were two-fold in teaching those that they found.  It was toward the Age of Expansion that they started to teach the humans of Danaan.  They were in contact with the other eladrin kingdoms and knew of the serious dangers that the Tulath could bring.  The eladrin knew that the Tulath had learned the dwarven magic and their numbers, science and military might could bring the entire continent under their heel.  They needed a counter and that is where the humans of Danaan could be of use.

There are several schools of magic in North Realm and numerous single masters both eladrin and human.  Most schools are small and teach one or two score of students at a time.  There is the Royal Academy of Danaan Tir that teaches both magic and sciences.  The Arcane Conservatory in Stormtonne and the Colleges of Danaan in the Maarke teach magic along with all the other courses of study that they offer.  The greatest mage of North Realm is a woman by the name of Ladeline and she is currently teaching three students magic.

Magic in Eave

Magic in the world of Eave is wondrous and wild and quite varied.  This treatise on magic will discuss how the Tulathian and Danaans use the magic that suffuses the world in which they live.  As already stated, Tulathians use magic to bolster what they have.  They have institutionalized magic to make it work for them and they have made an excellent job of it.  The Danaans have embraced magic in all its forms and can work the mightiest of magic on par with the eladrin.

That is dichotomy of the two forms of magic.  Those Danaans that have learn to use magic can cast on the fly.  Tulath cannot.  They can craft and enchant on such a large scale but do not know how to cast the spells like the Danaans do.  The eladrin will not teach them, in fact, it took the Hanali hundreds of years before they would even teach those of Danaan.  They ended up teaching them much to consternation of the other eladrin kingdoms.

That first human caster was a young woman by the name of Keri danTaven.  She, along with a few others of her house where allowed to go to the Hanali capitol, the first time humans were allowed too to set up an embassy there.  She was enthralled by what she saw.  A city built amid the great trees hidden from the view of those that flew overhead.  She had always been enthralled with magic and here she was in the heart of it in the North.

It is said by the eladrin of Galadon that she was a witch who charmed the great elven mage Tairen Velithu into teaching her magic.  It is not known if the two of them ever consummated the love that they were both said to have but in the end, Keri proved to be a most valuable student, despite what the other eladrin would say.  She learned to sing with the winds, talk to the great tree Elonvor, tame the toshurs to ride and commune with the great beasts that lurked in the woods.  Taerin was surprised at the speed in which she picked up the magic, learning it in years what took some eladrin decades to learn.  Unfortunately it would be almost a hundred years before another human student would learn magic for Keri made a vow never to teach what she had learned.

Part II coming soon!

The Church of Man, Part III

Science is not a forgotten lore to the Empire if Tulath.  Magic is mainly just used to bolster the prevailing science.  Like the trains that use the superheated metal to create the steam required.  In fact, the factories were dirty affairs but have cleaned up significantly.  This was found out after the Church of Man discovered that magic failed to work when it got 143.62 kilometers above the surface of the planet.  Nothing could change the fact that everything stopped working when it got to that height.  If they wished to return to the stars, they would have to use science.

The Tech-Priests have done a lot of for the Empire of Tulath.  They have saved their society from barbarism and strengthened it to be a dominant force.  That is not all the Church of Man does however.  They have terrible weapons of mundane, magic and science-make within their vaults.  They are now searching the world for the portals that brought the eladrin here from a distant planet, thinking that if they could recreate the journey that eladrin took, they could find their way to Terra and eventually home.