Hyrael
2010-08-01, 08:32 PM
Riven
D a r k e s t E x p a n s e
The Continent of Ashkarla has long been veiled in mystery. Many intrepid explorers have been eaten by hostile wildlife or flesh-eating bacteria within hours of landing on shore. It was only within the last 50 years that the varied peoples of the “civilized” world were able to establish a foothold on it's jagged shores. Merchant concerns, scholarly expeditions, and colonists flowed steadily into the apty-named port Toehold, and it soon became apparent precisely why Ashkarla was so hideously dangerous.
Initially, it was thought to be a land lost to time, populated by creatures extinct in the rest of the world. Except that the various species cataloged belonged to a wide range of epochs, and there were other, stranger creatures. It was the now-famous Scale Itch that clued the great Druid-Scholar Bexton into the truth. Scale-itch is a disease carried by a other-wise unremarkable species of coastal iguana, which manifests as a mild annoyance to the lizards. To any other reptilian or avian creature, it causes scales and/or feathers to fall out in blood-soaked clumps, followed by fatal hemorrhage of all soft tissues. Because of this, the Iguanas are almost completely unmolested by susceptible creatures. Combined with the unfortunate discovery of Gliding Squibbons, a general picture began to emerge.
Ages ago, before the rise of men or elves, a strange Event wracked the continent, opening numerous one-way rifts to the past and future, dropping random flora and fauna into one point in time and space. Thrust into a hostile environment among creatures they had never encountered before, adapted for foreign climates and non-existent ecosystems. We can only imagine how many creatures went extinct, both immediately and over the intervening millennia, as a chaotic re-shuffling of the status quo weeded out the over-specialized, the insufficiently-adapted, and the just plain unlucky. The process continues to this day, and the land's current denizens are already much changed compared to those who first arrived.
For many, Ashkarla is a treasure-trove waiting to be plundered. Rare magical ingredients, minerals of incomparable purity, animals and plants with infinite uses. It's riches are matched only by it;s danger, however, as a plethora of creatures, sentient and bestial, predatory and herbivorous, large and small, stand in the way. This land has been Riven by strife for millions of years, and it's denizens are very good at out-surviving their competitors.
Welcome to the Jungle
Riven takes place on the lost continent of Ashkarla, a land who's inhabitants are a cross-section of creatures and plants from the past and future, thrown together in one place and time ages ago by the Event. The fittest and luckiest survived, creating a unique ecology only now beginning to be explored and exploited by foreign civilization.
The native races have an even greater stake in the future of Ashkarla. Little is known about the greater continent beyond the lowland jungles, and many of the settlers care little for anything beyond immediate profit. Scholarly expeditions into the interior are being mounted, seeking to learn about the strange environments and creatures therein. A delicate stalemate is about to be broken, and forewarned is forearmed.
Dramatis Persona
The denizens of Ashkarla are bewilderingly diverse. Here is a short sample of the sorts of flora and fauna that can be seen side by-side on veldt and under wave (often locked in hot pursuit)
Anomacularis (creatures based on such are feared aquatic predators)
Diplocus (4-armed crescent-headed sentient amphibian creatures with toxic flesh and a massive ego)
Dromeads (also called raptors, these swift and clever feathered saurians are widespread and of varying temperament)
Squibbons (treacherous and cruel, these stealthy land-squid can glide short distances and appear deceptively cute)
Gorgonopsids (mammal-like reptiles of varying size who scavenge kills across the continent)
Rhemmoraz-kin (various creatures based on the rhemorraz genus, all bearing the distinct heat-generation trait)
Ambulatory Flora (many varieties of mobile plant exist, some flight-capable, such as the verdant vulture shrub)
Qual-Kora (roughly translated as “Seedlings of the Old Mother,” also known as treemen, are enigmatic plantfolk dedicated to protecting the delicate stalemate of the continent)
Thri-Kreen (short-lived mantisfolk inhabiting the central desert, they display a variety of mental powers)
Within Ashkarla can also be found all sorts of dinosaurs, ice-age mammals, dire animals, and exotic future creatures like fully aquatic penguins and semi-energy jellyfish-moths.
Players
Ashkarla is a hideously dangerous land, with a great many wealthy and powerful concerns vying for it's resources. The port of Toehold and vassal settlements have many of the problems and appeals of any large city, though they display something of a siege mentality towards the dark jungle beyond the walls. While not technically a free port (Toehold is formally a colony of a great human nation across the sea), it's mother land's control is hardly felt. Travelers from the entire world pass through it's harbor, ships loaded with criminals, fortune-seekers, and scholars of all types.
Riven heroes are likely to be mercenaries or driven by professional goals. A thirst for exploration and riches, knowledge and gold, rather than a general desire to help the downtrodden. Or maybe they're a criminal escaping to a new life (perhaps by choice, perhaps not). Port Toehold allows conventional urban adventuring in a nautical location, but much of the real action is out in the jungle. Which is where the native inhabitants come in. The Diplocus are famously xenophobic, but the Raptor packs and Qual-Kora Conclave all have decent diplomatic relations with the settlers, willing to take on employment as guides and guards. Even the natives do not know the extent of their own home, and many are just as eager as the settlers to learn more about it. The “treemen” in particular have a definite agenda In making nice with the newcomers, while the free-wheeling and gregarious raptors are always eager for new experiences.
Races
Ashkarla is home to many sentient species, each with their own cultures and magical traditions. Foreigners from distant lands could be of any race, but Riven also allows players to choose from native species for their characters
Qual-Kora are enigmatic ascetics from the deep forest, sapient plants that pay fealty to a mysterious entity that isnt quite a god. Possessed of great patience and a slow, inexorable determination, they control and entire ecology of similar plant-creatures, and act to further unknown goals.
Diplocus are proud 4-armed amphibians with toxic flesh and a unsavory reputation, who dwell in mangrove-stockades deep in the swamps. Most of the race are xenophobic, fascist marauders, but outcasts and free-thinkers sometimes wind up in the company of other races, who soon come to value their martial prowess and determination to leave no wrong un-righted.
Raptors are carefree feathered saurians that live in packs across Ashkala. Fearsome and savage, their bestial ways hide quick, flexible intellects. Disdaining manufactured weapons, they prefer to hunt with their formidable teeth and claws...or smite their prey with eldrich fire. Whichever.
D a r k e s t E x p a n s e
The Continent of Ashkarla has long been veiled in mystery. Many intrepid explorers have been eaten by hostile wildlife or flesh-eating bacteria within hours of landing on shore. It was only within the last 50 years that the varied peoples of the “civilized” world were able to establish a foothold on it's jagged shores. Merchant concerns, scholarly expeditions, and colonists flowed steadily into the apty-named port Toehold, and it soon became apparent precisely why Ashkarla was so hideously dangerous.
Initially, it was thought to be a land lost to time, populated by creatures extinct in the rest of the world. Except that the various species cataloged belonged to a wide range of epochs, and there were other, stranger creatures. It was the now-famous Scale Itch that clued the great Druid-Scholar Bexton into the truth. Scale-itch is a disease carried by a other-wise unremarkable species of coastal iguana, which manifests as a mild annoyance to the lizards. To any other reptilian or avian creature, it causes scales and/or feathers to fall out in blood-soaked clumps, followed by fatal hemorrhage of all soft tissues. Because of this, the Iguanas are almost completely unmolested by susceptible creatures. Combined with the unfortunate discovery of Gliding Squibbons, a general picture began to emerge.
Ages ago, before the rise of men or elves, a strange Event wracked the continent, opening numerous one-way rifts to the past and future, dropping random flora and fauna into one point in time and space. Thrust into a hostile environment among creatures they had never encountered before, adapted for foreign climates and non-existent ecosystems. We can only imagine how many creatures went extinct, both immediately and over the intervening millennia, as a chaotic re-shuffling of the status quo weeded out the over-specialized, the insufficiently-adapted, and the just plain unlucky. The process continues to this day, and the land's current denizens are already much changed compared to those who first arrived.
For many, Ashkarla is a treasure-trove waiting to be plundered. Rare magical ingredients, minerals of incomparable purity, animals and plants with infinite uses. It's riches are matched only by it;s danger, however, as a plethora of creatures, sentient and bestial, predatory and herbivorous, large and small, stand in the way. This land has been Riven by strife for millions of years, and it's denizens are very good at out-surviving their competitors.
Welcome to the Jungle
Riven takes place on the lost continent of Ashkarla, a land who's inhabitants are a cross-section of creatures and plants from the past and future, thrown together in one place and time ages ago by the Event. The fittest and luckiest survived, creating a unique ecology only now beginning to be explored and exploited by foreign civilization.
The native races have an even greater stake in the future of Ashkarla. Little is known about the greater continent beyond the lowland jungles, and many of the settlers care little for anything beyond immediate profit. Scholarly expeditions into the interior are being mounted, seeking to learn about the strange environments and creatures therein. A delicate stalemate is about to be broken, and forewarned is forearmed.
Dramatis Persona
The denizens of Ashkarla are bewilderingly diverse. Here is a short sample of the sorts of flora and fauna that can be seen side by-side on veldt and under wave (often locked in hot pursuit)
Anomacularis (creatures based on such are feared aquatic predators)
Diplocus (4-armed crescent-headed sentient amphibian creatures with toxic flesh and a massive ego)
Dromeads (also called raptors, these swift and clever feathered saurians are widespread and of varying temperament)
Squibbons (treacherous and cruel, these stealthy land-squid can glide short distances and appear deceptively cute)
Gorgonopsids (mammal-like reptiles of varying size who scavenge kills across the continent)
Rhemmoraz-kin (various creatures based on the rhemorraz genus, all bearing the distinct heat-generation trait)
Ambulatory Flora (many varieties of mobile plant exist, some flight-capable, such as the verdant vulture shrub)
Qual-Kora (roughly translated as “Seedlings of the Old Mother,” also known as treemen, are enigmatic plantfolk dedicated to protecting the delicate stalemate of the continent)
Thri-Kreen (short-lived mantisfolk inhabiting the central desert, they display a variety of mental powers)
Within Ashkarla can also be found all sorts of dinosaurs, ice-age mammals, dire animals, and exotic future creatures like fully aquatic penguins and semi-energy jellyfish-moths.
Players
Ashkarla is a hideously dangerous land, with a great many wealthy and powerful concerns vying for it's resources. The port of Toehold and vassal settlements have many of the problems and appeals of any large city, though they display something of a siege mentality towards the dark jungle beyond the walls. While not technically a free port (Toehold is formally a colony of a great human nation across the sea), it's mother land's control is hardly felt. Travelers from the entire world pass through it's harbor, ships loaded with criminals, fortune-seekers, and scholars of all types.
Riven heroes are likely to be mercenaries or driven by professional goals. A thirst for exploration and riches, knowledge and gold, rather than a general desire to help the downtrodden. Or maybe they're a criminal escaping to a new life (perhaps by choice, perhaps not). Port Toehold allows conventional urban adventuring in a nautical location, but much of the real action is out in the jungle. Which is where the native inhabitants come in. The Diplocus are famously xenophobic, but the Raptor packs and Qual-Kora Conclave all have decent diplomatic relations with the settlers, willing to take on employment as guides and guards. Even the natives do not know the extent of their own home, and many are just as eager as the settlers to learn more about it. The “treemen” in particular have a definite agenda In making nice with the newcomers, while the free-wheeling and gregarious raptors are always eager for new experiences.
Races
Ashkarla is home to many sentient species, each with their own cultures and magical traditions. Foreigners from distant lands could be of any race, but Riven also allows players to choose from native species for their characters
Qual-Kora are enigmatic ascetics from the deep forest, sapient plants that pay fealty to a mysterious entity that isnt quite a god. Possessed of great patience and a slow, inexorable determination, they control and entire ecology of similar plant-creatures, and act to further unknown goals.
Diplocus are proud 4-armed amphibians with toxic flesh and a unsavory reputation, who dwell in mangrove-stockades deep in the swamps. Most of the race are xenophobic, fascist marauders, but outcasts and free-thinkers sometimes wind up in the company of other races, who soon come to value their martial prowess and determination to leave no wrong un-righted.
Raptors are carefree feathered saurians that live in packs across Ashkala. Fearsome and savage, their bestial ways hide quick, flexible intellects. Disdaining manufactured weapons, they prefer to hunt with their formidable teeth and claws...or smite their prey with eldrich fire. Whichever.