Re: mapping the world

[Shyryly Yshl <shyryly@geocities.com>]

Steve Ames wrote:

> Also how much land mass (in square mets) did Wright say Galeia
> was using? How much does that leave left over for the rest of
> the world?
>

===There's a lot more usable 'dirt' than you might think.  Just a few tidbits,
the source of which is material generated by Brian Henning, Terran Lane
(primarily these two) myself, and Patty Melt (whom slept most of the time and
probably recalls little of this).

We were trying to figure out how the heck life could be maintained at respectible
levels with Jaern in the shape it's in...a bunch of tiny islands.  Here's a few
things we'd fathomed must have come to pass (as which were going to be used in
the setting)

Ever notice those stone protrusions (like teeth) near Ireland, Scotland and the
like?  We figured there are more than a few of those dotting Jaern (exceptionally
hard rock formations that haven't eroded all the way jutting from the relatively
shallow ocean covering the planet).  If you look at it that way, there's probably
less horizontal dry surface area available on Jaern than vertical, in truth.
Well, this niche was about to get used with a little help from magic...

Mutated livestock strains.  It wouldn't take much to make and breed (mutates
breed true? or is it transmogrify? either or, use the appropriate one) livestock
which could make use of the sides of these rock formations...these cliff faces,
fjords, whatever they are.  One mutate to a sheep/cow and you've got what we
dubbed "sticky" variants...give them the monster ability to cling, so that they
can make the most of what dry surface you've got to raise them on (picture an
average rocky field with sheep and cattle, turn 90 degrees, whala.)...anyhow...
...we also figured dwarves (going with the traditional dirt grubbing miner view
of them) would actually go out and bore these rock promintories (sp?) full of
holes, both to mine them out and to make dwellings from...hey, you use what
you've got, right?

We also had created a fairly sizable floating city that roamed a large 'lake'
(the lake actually being just another section of the ocean, but roughly ringed by
islands, so lake-ish).  Wood isn't too hard to come by with the priests of Osiris
and Wood Wall around.  Oh, of note, with so little horizontal land, the Osirians
are probably the major source of wood in the game...if not, wood should cost more
than steel (imo).

Tried to dig together what crops you could grow on cliff faces...think olive
trees were a primary, as well as any sort of goody you can get from swampy
terrain (rice, bamboo, sugar cane, ...?).  If Jaern is as it's supposed to be,
terrain wise, that's an old planet, heavily eroded with time, accounting for the
relatively low amount of land and shallow seas...but this should also leave a
fair amount of sizable shallows; swamp-like regions as big as (if not bigger)
than the average island...basically places where mountain ranges have been worn
to numbs which are only a few feet below water.

Skiffs should also be common place...(thinks randomly about old
notes)...um...we'd created small "villages" which were actually not much more
than a collection of islands, each probably housing 1-2 families, all close
enough together to be ruled as one community...
...some of the aforementioned villages probably the equivalent of taking a
heavily hilled area, putting houses on the tops, then flooding the place.
Everyone has a little pier, a skiff, and the more prominent islands probably have
small bridges connecting the nearer islands...things like that.

Anyhow, you can set up Jaern to be supportable...it's just fairly different than
the standard campaign has ever been run...these places that sounds fantastical
should instead be commonplace...the average...with the larger landmasses being
almost legendary when spoken of by the common man...

Oh, and why a single lizard lives on land, I dunno.  They're better off
below...but no one posts adventures in their taverns, do they?  :)

-James, who has digressed quite a bit in this one
(a bit more at the end)
+++

> I think the only unfortunate part of being in a water world is
> that the skills don't reflect this. Swimming, boats and marine
> type skills should be second nature. How can you _NOT_ know how
> to swim? Or sail a boat, or fish. Childhood skills. Dolphins?
> Way under untilized because horses are cheaper even though far
> more rare. *shrug*
>
> Lots of math in this posting... much of it worthless :) I say
> we just build as we need to and adjust the facts to match us
> and not the other way around. They are a guideline, not a rule.
>
>                                                 -Steve

  ===
Here, here.  If you want to use Jaern with its current setting, try stuff like I
mentioned above, or of that sort...if you want more dirt, get bigger icecaps.
Magic could do it, and it could be a neat way to introduce a new set of
adventures...a bunch of newbie games where they've been sent to gather whatever
Dan deems necessary to cast some great 'magic' to move the planet just a tad
further out in its orbit...enough for more ice, and more land, to be
exposed...could use the reasoning that a large celestial body is gonna tag Jaern
and it better skedaddle over else be destroyed.
(That sounds familiar....hm....)

:)
-James