Aonia
From AdamWiki
Aonia is a world "seed" that includes flying ships, ring gates, a cool otherworld, and some political concepts that I am interested in exploring.
Contents |
Government
Aona is ruled by Empress Lorcya Chalrensha, a twelve year-old girl who inherited the Empire two years ago when her father died of natural causes at age 75. When the empress was only 10, her Regent, Imperial Seer Horic Alshamoraand, was caught in a treasonous act when he ironically failed to see the young girl's considerable magic talents and underestimated her powers.
Lorcya has been a strict ruler, but a fair one, though she has a child's whim. Her people are generally happy and prosperous -- a gift bestowed on her by her father's long rule, and not by any skill of her own. She counts on the wisdom of advisors and the Senate to keep the empire running smoothly, making snap judgments when she feels it is necessary. The empress has 6 ministers: of Warfare, Defense, Finance, Justice, Magic, and Commerce. They live in the city and work in the Imperial Palace. Also aiding the empress are a High Chancellor, who manages her daily affairs and appointments and staff; her Senatorial Arbiter, who tells her Senate proxies how to vote; and the Templar Beneficer, who serves as liaison between the empress and the church. In addition to these direct servants, the empress also has ambassadors, who travel the Empire and deliver messages and make treaties, and Andevs, who serve as regional executives (like mayors of counties and cities).
The Senate is a body of 57 legislators composed of dragonship owners. Dragonships are specially crafted flying vessels. Any person who owns a dragonship has the right to appoint a seat in the Senate. The Empress has a navy of 23 ships, so she appoints those Senators and they usually do her bidding. Of the remaining 34 seats, 20 are owned by five powerful noble families, 9 are owned by other noble families, and 5 are owned by powerful individuals.
| Dragon Ship Ownership | |
|---|---|
| 23 | Empress Lorcya Chalrensha |
| 7 | Ilviaan |
| 5 | Braan-Afving |
| 4 | Scorelthain |
| 2 | Maindrenden |
| 2 | Trevele |
| 1 | (9 other families) |
| 1 | (5 individuals) |
Each Senate seat is allowed a vote on any matter before the Senate, and a majority wins any issue. The Empress may veto anything the Senate decrees but a 3/4ths (75%) majority will override her veto. Since she controls 23 votes (40%), this effectively never happens. Any ruling she makes is law, but it can be overridden by a 2/3rds Senate majority veto (38 votes).
The judiciary is a function of the Church. Templar Justices are church-appointed judges who interpret the laws of the Empire. Law is seen as having come from the land (the Senate) and having been blessed by the Empress, who is a bloodline descendant of Tothaaren, the god of the moon, who rules the seasons, the oceans, and the world. Since the Empress is divine herself, her will is law, and it is the Church's duty to try cases against those who may have broken the laws, and set punishments for the guilty.
Religion
Aonians believe in the existence of many gods, but only six are recognized as major powers worthy of institutionalized worship in a unified church called The Celestial Temple. Conservative Celestials maintain that only the Six should be recognized.
Major Deities
| Major Deities | |
|---|---|
| Tothaaren | God of the moon, seasons, oceans, world, rulership |
| Ildin | Goddess of the sun, growing, plants, nourishment |
| Fulandror | God of the earth, animals, rock, construction |
| Murran | God of the sky, birds, wizardry, ley lines, magic |
| Sendral | Goddess of fire, the forge, iron, war |
| Zestera | Goddess of the stars, sorcery, trickery |
The Celestial Temple is an organization that oversees the daily worship required to appease and please the Celestial Six. A Celestial Priest chooses no single deity as his patron, but instead ensures that all the gods and goddesses are tended. There are priests and priestesses who dedicate themselves to a single deity, but these people have less political clout. Paladins can dedicate themselves to a single deity or to the Celestial Pantheon in general, though there are no Paladins of Zestera.
In general, the gods are perceived as on the side of the people, though their ways and motives are often mysterious and unfathomable. Some factions condemn Zestera as a chaotic and destructive influence. Certain monastic orders believe that Murran and Zestera are corrupting the world with their magic, and that only divine magic is pure.
All Aonians dread the Dark Host. The Dark Host are angry, spiteful, and evil beings of all kinds who seek to destroy the mundane world. The Host includes evil deities of minor power, demons, devils, and other foul beasts. They capture mortals and feed on their souls, or bargain or extort them to do their evil in the mundane world, since it is difficult or impossible for them to travel there.
The Otherworld is a place where magic reigns supreme, and it connects the mundane world with the heavens and with the dark world. It is a universe of its own, but it usually parallels the mundane world in a vague, shadowy sort of way. Deities and demon lords may travel here with some difficulty. Wizards and sorcerers find their powers greatly magnified on this plane.
Aonians believe that after death, the soul awakens after some number of years and travels to the Otherworld with the belongings that were buried with it. In the Otherworld, the soul can interact with the creatures there, and if the person served the Celestial deities well, they will take him to their place in the heavens. If not, the soul will roam endlessly and will have to fend off the demonic Host until they finally manage to "kill" the soul and take it back to their dark world.
Cosmology
In ages past, a most powerful god called Cenesil (Soulforger), created the universe. It was a highly magical place full of dragons, sorcerer kings, and races of elves and goblins and other things lost now to time. Most of the creatures organized themselves and sought to make their impact on the world. They fought over the lands and made war and treaties. Love and hate and every emotion ran rampant, and the Soulforger seemed content with this.
When some of the most powerful warlords were conquered, they became bitter and decided that if they couldn't rule the world, no one could. They endeavored to destroy the world, and learned the secrets of the keystones that hold the power of the world. A great war ensued, and in the end, Cenesil joined the battle and sacrificed himself to keep his creation from being destroyed. He separated the universe into four separate worlds. He placed all the good creatures on the mundane world. The evil warlords were banished to the dark world. The faithful rulers who vanquished the warlords were placed in the heavens. And a neutral buffer world, the Otherworld, was created to separate the three.
Magic still flows into the mundane world, though it is nothing like it once was. The Otherworld is highly magical, but is still pale compared to the heavens and the dark world. The warlords and rulers who were placed in the heavens and the dark world are bound there. Their souls cannot leave to travel to the Otherworld, and therefore cannot reach the mundane world either. The more powerful do have some means to send an avatar to the Otherworld, but an avatar's influence cannot extend to the mundane world.
It is said that the eight keystones were scattered among the planes so that the universe could not so easily be changed or destroyed. The keystones are all long lost, though many search for them. They do not attract lines of magical force like other powerful magic.
There are many signs of a great civilization from before, now crumbled into ruins. There are the ring gates, "shortcuts" between one place and another. Some of them are carved into rock, some hover in the air. There are ruined cities. There are barely understood magical artifacts, thought to be items that once touched the keystones. These artifacts hold great power that seems to defy all magical rules.
Dragonships
Dragonships are vessels made of wood and dragon parts. These ships are capable of flying along lines of magical force (like ley lines) that are strewn across the empire like a spider web.
To create a dragonship requires the body of a dead dragon. Since dragons are fairly difficult to kill, the ships are rare. The planks of wood that comprise the main vessel are soaked in dragon blood, and the scales are used for armor and decoration. The blood-infusing process is enough to make the ships float along the ley lines, but to gain any kind of control over the ship's direction and speed requires a special crystal ball, called a globeguide. A globeguide sits in the middle of the ship on a special holder, and the captain spins the globe like a three-dimensional steering wheel. As the magical energy courses through the ship, the globeguide serves as a rudder or sail in a way, steering the dragonship in the desired direction. A globeguide is an expensive item to create, and it requires a special blessing from a Priest of Murran to be activated.
Dragonships need to be maintained with all the repairs typical of normal sailing ships. The added difficulty is that new wood must also be infused with dragon blood, and even the old wood must be specially treated with new applications of blood every few years.
A dragonship that does not have a functional globeguide will drift on the lines of magical force, and only physical means (anchors, etc.) will stop it. A dragonship with a broken globeguide may maneuver unpredictably and can quickly crash into the ground.
Ley Lines
Aonians call the lines of magical force the "Web of Murran", since the lines' existence is attributed to that deity. Where the lines stretch seem to be somewhat random, but some rules can be surmised:
- If a temple is built, one or more lines will stretch to other, nearby temples.
- Lines seem to pass through places of great magical power, such as burial mounds, archmage towers, ancient ruins, and ring gates.
- Magical force tends to pool around people, so cities tend to draw lines to them and form "lakes".
- Ley lines tend to draw towards one another if they are flowing in the same direction, or repel if they are flowing in opposite directions. Lines can join at junctions, join together as one, and so on.
Each web strand has a "thickness", a "direction", and a "speed". The thickness of a line indicates how easy it is to steer a dragonship within the stream. It is difficult to keep a ship on course within a thin stream, and the thinnest lines allow only one ship to pass at a time. The direction of a line indicates which way the power flows. A ship can travel in the opposite direction, but at a slower rate (usually one-half). The speed of a line indicates how fast it flows. Really, it's more analogous to the flow of a wire powering an electrical vehicle: the more juice flowing through the wire, the faster the vehicle can go.
