The Land of Hirojo

[SolkaTruesilver]

Hi everyone. I am making my own game world, and I've read carefully some of the Giant's suggestions. One of them is avoiding the "Forgotten-Realm" style of world, where you just have one big generic fantasy that everthing can fit in.

(I loved the Japanese-Paladin kingdom in OoTS, but I did not tried to copy on the Giant)

I am currently contemplating a Japanese-like Mageocracy. Think of Feodal Japan, but where the nobles are required to master the power of Sorcery (not Wizardry) rather than strenght of arm. Thu, instead of a 2-cast society (Samurai and Peasant), you now have a 3-cast (Noble Sorcerers, Samurai and Peasant).

(I like the idea of having a high-Charisma class to pose as actual leader of a land)

There is only one place in the whole world where people can feel the flow of magic trough their blood, and not in a book. This land is at the edge of the world, where everything began. It is called the Land of Hirojo

(There can be no non-Hirojan Sorcerers in my world. They all come from this land)

To be considered fit to rule in this land, you need to show skills as a sorcerer. The reason why Hirojo is the only place in the world to produce sorcerer is lost in the mist of time. Hirojan mythology says that their land was the Land of the Gods, before. That mighty creatures of legend lives, fought and died there, and that the actual Hirojan (or at least, their noble sorcerer cast) are their descendant.

Wether this legend be true or not, there are 3 bloodlines in Hirojo that grants magical power. Every noble of every clan know his.

The Ryustan Bloodline (Draconic)
The Tenghikan Bloodline (Fiendish)
The Kitsunian Bloodline (Celestial)

(Note: there are not alignement requirement when you choose your bloodline. A Kitsunian Sorcerer can be CE just as easily the Thenghikan can be LG)

Loose alliances are formed within the Tenghikan and Kitsunian Bloodlines (mainly in opposition of each other), while the Ryustan play the third party, the one that keeps the balance by shifting allegiance. However, "officially", no actual war is declared between Bloodlines, and everything is kept on a political level.

It does not even prevent a clan to attack a rival clan from the same bloodline. Still, a Kitsu has to watch out for Ninjas within a city full of Tengh.

Now.. do I keep the "super-uber" honor system the Samurai follow so that the Sorcerers also follow it? Do I invent social taboo so no Samurai has the right (officially. Let's forget assassination attemp for now) to strike a Sorcerer?

What about Seppuku? Should the Sorcerer be able to commit seppuku in an magical way? Or could the Sorcerer community punish him by stripping him of his Sorcerous power, humiliating him far worse than death?

(ok.. now, I need to re-draw the Sorcerer class in order to make it fit as the perequisite to be in power. I am not sure if I should give a Bloodline feat (Draconic, Celestial or Fiendish Heritage) free for 1st level in exchange of the Familiar. How about more social class skills, such as Diplomacy, Sense Motive? More skill points? Bonus Heritage Feat when you reach the 4th, 8th, 12th, 16th and 20th level?)

I also tough.. if the Sorcerer cast has such a disdain of mundane skills, should I give a taboo to the Sorcerer so they do not have the right to weild weapon? Or simply stripping them of the Simple Weapon Prof be ennough?

I welcome your suggestions!

[Triaxx]

There's a little elven sorceror drooling over my shoulder...

Now, personally, I'd go with the Dragon Lance style of wizards only ever using staves. So that instead of a crown, the head dude carries a staff of office. I'd strip them of other weapons, and simply let them only have Martial Weapon Prof (Staff).

I'm kind of curious as to why familiars wouldn't work, but it's a minor thing. Give a selection of feats that would duplicate what a Familiar might give them. Bonuses to spot checks, and the like.

For the honor system, I'd level the playing field, so that no Samurai may challenge a Sorceror to a duel. Striking is considered a challenge, so it's a no-no. However, dueling Sorcerors and Samurai could present potential challenges for PC's. Do you sacrifice honor by running away, or do you confront the foe?

Seppuku is kind of specific to Samurai. It's hard to disembowel yourself with a staff, and magic would have to be a completely new spell. Now, saving honor by willingly releasing your magic, and relegating yourself to the rank of a peasant would be pretty impressive. On the other hand, simply calling up a mordy's sword to Coup de Grace yourself would be interesting.

[SolkaTruesilver]

Done for staff-only. At first, I considered it being more dagger-only (in order to sneak them), but then, how would they uses magical staffs?

Yhea.. a Scepter is a good idea.. but then.. in Feodal Japan, I don't think there was any crown or physical item that represented One's power. Except the Sword..

Hmm... special honorific quaterstaves? Arcane Focus needed to cast spells?

Oh, by the way, I am sorry to tell your Elven Sorcerer tha Hirojo is a Human land. So... except if your elf has some human blood within his vein (which is possible) which trace back to one of the Sacred Bloodline, he cannot be a Sorcerer in my world ;-)

And even if he is.. He would gain no political powers out of it. And, to honor Japan's xenophobia, they would try to track down and kill any non-Hirojan sorcerer that "stole" their right to Sacred Sorcery. Only a true Hirojan has the right to channel the divine power granted by their position as The Chosen People in the Land of the God (hey, I think I'm getting the medieval-Japanese mentality.)

Oh.. off course, Wizardry would be forbidden to live in Hirojo.. how could the Hirojan accept someone that can challenge their position of authority as sole Arcane Spellcasters?

Even worse.. It could allow the commoners to actually be able to cast spells! Never such things should be allowed!!!

The reason I want to remove the Familiar is, I don't like the idea of having a Leader cast with small pet-creatures. And it can open some room in order to put a free Heritage Feat..?

[mabriss lethe]

feudal japan was already a multi caste system. Also depends on what time period you're looking at. as to where to draw the lines (technically even more, but that's where you start going into shades of grey.)

Lets begin at the top.

The Kuge:
The Aristocracy, technically headed by the emperor, though throughout history the emperor's power was largely symbolic. There were two distinct classes of Kuge, The Dojo, those who were permitted to sit on the floor with the emperor, and the Jige, those who weren't.

The Buke: lesser nobles, each clan headed by daimyo The warrior caste, Ascended to the height of power with the rise of the Shogunates. officially a step below the Kuge in power, though that was largely ignored during the time of the Shoguns.

Heimin: "half people" The peasantry, The food producers and skilled artisans, They were a valued more as a resource than as people, but still technically part of the system.

Hinin Non-people. Outcasts like the Burakumin: the so-called "Eta" who dealt in tasks thought to be unclean and often related to death.This included executioners, torturers, undertakers, leatherworkers, things of that nature. Duringl the Tokugawa shogunate, Merchants and entertainers were also lumped into this category since they didn't actually produce something of value like the heimin.

[SolkaTruesilver]

Damn.. I had forgot the Outcast..

Anyway.. How about saying that the Kuge never lost their political power because of their sorcerous powers? Making that the only people fit to lead a clan would be a Kuge, IF he has demonstrated sorcerous abilities. (off course, nothing prevents a Buke to pull the strings or a weak kuge)

Making it that no Buke can become Daimyo... Maybe a Hatamoto, but no Buke Daimyo.

The Sorcerer would hold about the same political power than the Lolth Cleric in the Drow society. Having both social inertia and pure magical power to back their claim to power.

[mabriss lethe]

of course. in a rigid caste society, the only way for the buke to rise to power would be to do it the same way it was done IRL. Instead of direct usurpation of the Kuge's position, the buke attain power through a parallel hierarchy of a shogunate. The kuge retain their positions, but the real power is no longer in their hands. It would be an interesting time to set a campaign. The Kuge still retain much of their control, but the buke are gaining influence. who will the players side with?

[SolkaTruesilver]

Well.. you're cutting the grass under my foot. I wasn't planning on going that far in a "one-country campaign", but that would be interesting.

It's just that Hirojo would be one of the country that exist in my world (one remote, and close to an actual power node, since they actually draw their power from special ancestry). I wanted a place that would be the focal point of origin of every sorcerers characters.

A PC could origin from Hirojo and still wander the world. He just doesn't care about the power game in his Homeland. However, the power game can still care about him, especially if he become more and more powerful (a sign of importance in the nobility of Hirojo). Assassin-squads can track him, or problem may arise if they meet a diplomatic party from Hirojo..

I made this thread about how to change the Sorcerer class to make it more look like what I want.. About changing weapon proficiencies, feat and skill selections/bonus, etc...

[Icewalker]

Ok, I'm glad I decided to look at this thread.

I believe I can be a huge help to you here. I have always been somewhat interested in feudal Japan, and I am actually at this moment working on a project on the Muromachi and Kamakura periods of Japan.

Primarily on the governmental structure, in fact. The emperor was only a figurehead, while the Shogunate had all of the power.

You could actually use a sort of counterpoint to this. The figurehead official kind of "ruler" could be a military-ish sort, but the caste of sorcerers actually has all of the power and rules through the figurehead. Just an idea, and how you have it written out so far, it seems like not the kind of thing you are going for.

Nevertheless, I think I can help you here.


My ideas on the seppuku issue:

People of the higher classes carries around one of these small knives (Tanto, it's basically a katana the length of a dagger) which is used for seppuku.

1. The ritual involves killing oneself with the tanto, and when done, they cannot be resurrected, nor can any sort of "contact dead" ability work on them. They are permanently and entirely removed from the material plane to save their honor.

2. Seppuku is used as a method of cleansing, for the military classes only, and after used, the daimyo (lord) who they served under can choose whether or not they will be resurrected. If you screw up: seppuku and your daimyo may bring you back if he thinks you worthy.

Both of these are easily tweaked slightly to fit more if you don't like em. Perhaps the sorcerers use seppuku, not military, but otherwise like #2. Maleable options.


Ronin: this is another issue that must be addressed. When a samurai breaks the code of honor, Bushido, but don't commit seppuku, they become Ronin, who are basically outcasts. Many Ronin become bandits. Considering the massive amounts of governmental unrest in feudal Japan, sometimes Ronin would be hired for killings, to make it look like random banditry. Perhaps when these higher class sorcerers become Ronin, they immediately are marked to be hunted down and killed, lest they try to spread knowledge of their skills to (god forbid) the lower classes...


Lastly, if you have a lot of spare time, read the book Shogun. It is an AMAZING book, about feudal Japan, and has an excellent amount of information for exactly this.

[Triaxx]

Ronin also occur should the Daimyo die. There was at least one case of it in Japan where the Samurai waited a number of years to get revenge.

My Elven Sorceror would pull a traditional trick of marrying the daughter of a bloodline, and tie himself to it.

Or be evil, and become the grand foe, uniting the peasants and the oppressed classes together to overthrow the corrupt sorceror-god emperor.

On the other hand, he might simply have decided he liked the look of the fantastical elves from children's storybooks and changed his features, with a largely permanent polymorph. He could only look elven, and be human in reality. Or say he took on features of his Kitsunian blood line.

[Holocron Coder]

On the topics of a bloodline...

Ther was a thread floating around earlier about a class called the Ultimate Sorceror that worked deeply with bloodlines, etc. It wasn't complete (the bloodlines weren't done), but I imagine you could brew up your own details for it.

EDIT: Here (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=690264) it is, actually. About halfway down.