Don't let the quiet fool you, work on Blades & Black Magic is happening on jets as I travel (a lot) for work...
Below is a first pass at a Rodinia homeland entry for Blades & Black Magic--tell me what more (within reason) you need to make it worthwhile. Keep in mind (from me) you are not going to get a frustrated novelist rendition of who begat who in the snowy wilderness among the wolf people before the ancients learned to write yada yada yada...
YOU can make that up and it will be more real and more important because YOU know what you like and how YOU want to play it! I want to give you enough to work with to develop that kind of story--without pouring a sticky syrup of words over it all that drowns your own creativity!
One of the features is a SWOT for each homeland. SWOT is a business analytical brief used to determine: Strength, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats. This can be applied to new markets, current operations, new opportunities, etc. Having to do these in the real world made me think it might provide an interesting hook/framework to be used for each homeland.
So without further blather--here is the initial take on a homeland, let loose your comments for good or ill.
Ruskya
Government structure: Warring clans
Weather: Short spring and summer, long, rainy
autumn, cold, snow heavy winter
Typical Food: Wild animals, root vegetables
Typical drink: Mead
Typical house: Animal skin yert or wood cabin
Gods: War, Trickster, Mother, Animal, Weather
Trade goods: Furs, raw metal, raw wood
Typical village: 140 men, 100 women, 210 kids.
Typical livestock: Goats and chickens
Ruskya Strengths
Strong
fighters
Forest and
mountains make them tough to invade
Many natural
resources
Ruskya Weaknesses
Fear Magic
Clans mistrust
each other
Harsh
weather
Ruskya Opportunities
Develop
industry to convert resources
Unite clans
to become a power
Develop a
trade city to bring in wealth
Ruskya Threats
Invasion by
a unified power
Secret cabal
of clan sorcerers seeks power over the clans
Clan leaders
linking to outside powers to gain internal prestige but at cost of subjugation
This is Ruskya
Ruskya is a
snowy, mountainous region of the north. The people are golden or red-haired, blue-eyed
and the men are bearded and the women typically have hair in braids or long and left loose. Their land
is made up of warring clans, but they are not opposed to working together if
there is gold and prestige to be gained.
The Ruskya
are traditionally armed in leather armor, furs, and using wooden round shields.
They prefer hammers or axes in combat and dislike the use of bows except for
hunting.
Typical Ruskya
mercenaries are raiders, hunters, trackers and swords for hire. The rare Ruskya sorcerer is seen as a
dangerous oddity, not to be trusted and certainly to be feared.
Typical
names Bragi, Egil, Gorm, Heimdul, Horsa, Njord, Njal, Rann, Sigurd, Wulfhere
A Mercenary
starts with basic clothing and boots, a fur cloak, a large shield, a spear, axe
or hammer, and a knife.
A Sorcerer
starts with basic clothing, boots, fur robes, a dagger or staff.
