Myth Maker 2.2 My Dearest Peg part 2 (DRAFT)

 To my Beloved Peg, June 19th (Come up with a local calendar)

Over  Breakfast. 
Boswell did a fine job provisioning the house, you know he is like my right hand, but I was in the mood to see the city, as I haven't been here in three years. 

Well three years has made a difference. I took a cab, pulled by a young country looking youth, to my favorite cafe'. I tipped him extra when we arrived, because I know he was losing out on haven taken me to the cafe' which would have paid him tuppence to direct me to their establishment. All of those places you are as likely to get rat as ham, so I stuck with what I knew. 

There were a number of changes to the city, but the biggest being the number of people, and the variety of Rune-Plate objects in use. When I first stated shipping to and from Five Towers though Rune-Plates were available in the private sector, it was rare to see them, save for on the carriages of the wealthy and, rarely, on the armor of their guards. Earlier than that they could only be afforded by the ultra wealthy and were used mostly by consortiums and aristos with deep pockets.  

I borrowed a considerable sum from Prince Tindal on my first visit and he arranged the first Rune-Plate on the Merriweather, and on the very ride home it paid for itself by repelling us off of a coral reef which would surly have holed the bow.

On the simple and very speedy ride to the cafe' I saw many small business men, including other cab pullers (those with company logos) using rune-plates. I suspect my porter did as well because he wasn't even breathless after the 10 block trip to the "Feathered Serpent" cafe', though I am sure the flatness of the street played some part as well. Unlike Nemia, Five Towers is almost as flat as a plane shaved stave.

The Feathered Serpent is much how I remembered it during my last visit, with its beautiful hard wood furniture, stained dark, contrasting with its pale green bamboo flooring. As soon as I stepped into the rather exclusive restaurant the long absent scent of coffee livened my step so much as you would think I already had two cups of the fabulous brew. It is of the greatest of shames that the coffee cherries or their pits are not exported from Five Towers. It is one of the true luxuries of the town.

As it is a lovely day I have taken my breakfast on there roof, a quaint if not unique custom of the city, and from here I can see Wizards Hill. From this angle the Tower of Augury is visible, with its careful masonry and branched turrets with there strange instruments pointed all around. I have naturally seen all five towers, and I think the Tower of Naming and Augury are the easiest on the eyes, as long as one doesn't dwell too long on what goes on within. It is not healthy to think long on Wizards, lest you draw their attention.

Early post noon
I concluded my business with the Esteemed Brotherhood of Metal Smiths and Smelters. These Five towers guilds set a store by long names. As one of the richest guilds in the city, and with me carrying a precious load, my pay was quite generous. I ended up hand a large amount back to them though as too add improvements to the Rune-Plates on the Merriweather. I am growing weary of so many trips across the turbulent Sea of the Tropics, with its unpredictable storms and equally unpredictable pirates, so I we are adding a Control Rod to the Thrusting Plate and I will be requesting the Captaincy to Boswell, who has certainly earned it. Should he do well I may sell the Merriweather too him after you and I are wed.

(time unspecified)
Peg it seems I am being followed. I have called several of our seasoned seamen to to come ashore and act as guards. Boswell, who was on well earned leave, was summoned back to take access of the control rod, so that it could safely be stored aboard the ship, but he never made it to the rented house. I am handing off this letter with a few gold marks to Seaman Craddly, to go out on the swift mail coaster with todays tide. I will contact you as soon as we make port in Nemia. I pray to Saint Neffer the Sailor that the letter reaches you safely and me not long behind.

Your loving fiancé
Captain Roger Grimly

Myth Maker 2.2: My Dearest Peg 1(DRAFT)

My Dearest Peg, June 18th (will be changed to local calendar in second draft)

Morning

I can't wait for this voyage to be concluded,  so that i can be back in Nemia with you. 

We are anchored in the Bay of Crystal. A long boat has been launched to seek docking permissions from the harbor master.  For all of the strangeness of Five Towers and it's outlying domains, Crystal Bay is one of the loveliest bodies of water one could ever see. Depending on the weather conditions and time of day it can be diamond bright, emerald green,  or at sunset a flashing ruby, Many praises to the Angels that they make it so. 

When the water  is still as glass, and the sun bares down from overhead you can see the spires of the ancient towers of the dawn men, which are so eerie in their dimension,  yet still perfect in their cupola of mother of pearl, tiles of emerald, and unsoiled gold. 

You would imagine with all the power in Five Towers that they would have been plundered by now, but the clarity of the water belies their true depth. 

Mid-morning

We have received docking permissions, so the anchor is set and besides a skeleton crew, we are heading into Port Town. Calling it a full town is a stretch of the imagination. It is mostly a cypress wood dock or series of docks extending over the shallows in which, with care, a fairly large ship can be docked. I am leaving that in the hands of the helmsmen, Sailor Rogers, while I and the bulk of the senior crewmen make for the shore.

Port Town is not really to my taste, and I hesitate to describe it to your sensitive ears. Lets just call it a sailor's town and have done with that portion. 

Beyond the docks which extend marvelously over the waters, there are warehouses, where goods like our shipments of iron ingots can be placed, for a fairly reasonable fee if you are part of a consortium, or a fairly outrageous fee if you are an independent merchant. As such large shipments, such as our own, tend to be handled by ships owned or tithing to the Merchant Princes of Five Towers, while smaller ships hold more specialized cargo, such as the gems it takes to power the Rune-Plate devices, or rare herbs for the many apothecaries that work from Five Towers. 

I promise you Peg I will not be tarrying here long. My plan, is to sign the short term leasing document at the Gold Coasters warehouse, owned by Prince Tindal whom I tithe to, and then to catch the first ferry up the Chanters Gate that doesn't look to be run by cut throat thieves. I will write again later tonight.

Evening. 
I have been invited by Prince Tindal to dine with him at his estate. This is an unexpected pleasure of course.  I sent my man Boswell to make arrangements to rent a house in the city, where we can stay for the duration of our business. 

I have never been to Prince Tindal's estate, but have passed by it when being poled into the city. I am both nervous and excited. 

Near Midnight
Peg, as you know in Nemia I am considered a wealthy ma, but just looking at the many delights and extravagances of the Tindal Estate (give the estate a proper name) make me feel a pauper. From this day forth, my view of what is true wealth has been transformed. I feel humbled.

I have just now arrived at the rented house. Boswell was waiting at the door with lantern with a Rune-Plate affixed to the base, that gave out a magnificent glow without fire within. It also had no heat, but this far south that is a blessing. It was an old lantern, by the standards of rune-plate lanterns, probably about 10 years old, as it had shutters to dim it rather than the ability to modulate the lights intensity. Those newer lamps require a bonded rod anyway, so they tend to be used by innkeepers or home owners, not in rental houses. My room is large, but smells a bit unlived in and musty. As long as the sheets re fresh though I will be content. 

I will write you more on the morrow. 
Best of love Peg

Cptn. Grimly

Myth Maker: Addendum 2 (Goals Reframed)

After consulting with other gamers,  both very creative: one an award winning writer and the other the single most dynamic solo player I have had the pleasure to talk to, this project is getting a pretty big overhaul to be written more in line with my talents as well as more in line with what soloist can get the most use from.

Essentially the Steampunk/Magi-tech guide book portion is being reduced to a set of genre traditions (though there will still be a lot of tropes, a ton of tech, and the game will certainly be centered in that genre). The second is very exciting. Turning the whole book (out side of the introduction) into a single in game artifact. 

This meta-frame will revolve around the leather attaché that has come into the Player Character's hands, through a number of possible avenues (with both random rolls or chart selectins or just to use as inspiration for how YOUR character found it). Each document inside will both describe the setting from the POV of an actual person, but not in so many details that the soloist can't make it their own, (thus making the content just as reliable as the narrator) and have some notes from they mysterious original owner of the attaché about follow ups that perhaps never happened. These marginalia will hint at, without defining, a larger mystery, which the PC has been pulled into by way of having the attaché. As some of these documents are of a very sensitive nature, someone will have went through a lot of trouble to put it together and any number of someone's  may be willing to go through a lot of effort to get it back. 

Neither this meta-frame, nor the interior document, are from a God's eye view, thus everything in it is only as certain as your choices or Oracle rolls indicate, but collectively they will give a view of the setting and peeks at what is over the next hill, because this city, though important, doesn't exist in a vacuum.

Included with the document will be marginalia, that could be investigated and/or used as inspirations for spinning the game into a direction the soloist finds more entertaining. Once the PDF is downloaded it is yours and you can use it as you please.

And for the players use is a future timeline of situations that happen at certain calendar dates that can be use to show some activity of a living setting, or ignored if you have enough going down the line. These will just be straight plot hooks that can be used when the time is right. They are more in the background things unless the player take a special interest, but will effect dynamics set up in the city (accessible to the player as information in the attaché).

The idea of this project is to give a lot of starting points, but the destinations will solidly be up to the soloist to hash out.

I am very excited for the direction this is taking and I am very grateful for readers and commenters with both questions and encouragements, here or directly.

That's all for now.

Wizard Dad.

Myth Maker 2.1: The raising of the Tower of Names part 2

When the sun was well out, and as it was a moonless night with no overcast sky, astrologers used their various devices while monitoring the sky for some sign. The valets and senior servants watched over the bargemen and woodsmen while the lesser mystics did their work. 

Some adjusted the places of torches, others gazed into crystals that shewn the night sky inverted, and other threw down piles of clean white sand, smoothed these flat, and drew arcane signs in there grooves. 

The sounds of night animals in a swampy jungle should have been acute and immediate, but instead they felt carried from a far on the most gentle of breezes, like the slow exhalations of the Earth  her self. 

As the night wore on to its pinnacle with the constellation of  the Ring hovering directly over head, the Nameless stood, and with a curt gesture, all of the torches were extinguished by one by the acolytes. 

The Nameless stood on the outer edge of the sanctified place, at the foot of the modest hill, and the select of his brother stood in positions around the hill corresponding to the constellation above. Then the Nameless intoned softly the first Word of Power. It drifted over the hill and was answered by a second Word by a more distant Chanter, which was taken up by a third in another space, until all seven, the number of the Stars in the constellation of the Ring had spoke some sacred word. 

Some say the intoned their Names, for that is ultimately what Chanters speak is Names. Others say they called the names of the Angels that have sway over the stars of that constellation, to bear witness to the deeds of the wizards. 

But when the last of the seven Words died away the collective of master chanters and the support of the senior acolytes some distant removed began a Great Chant: One that intertwines the Essence of the Doer with the Deed. 

All other sound died away and a whisper amid the bystanders would have been a shout in that silence. Only the voices of the Wizards was to be heard.

As their chanting continued it slowly grew louder and and with those chiming, ringing, hissing intonations a change came as well. The air rippled and the circle of wizards seemed to slide away from each other every so slowly. Many of even the most loyal lackeys looked away. The bargemen and porters, not used to this sort of magic, stared on it awe, until what was which what cannot be, over took them, and the retched or fled back to the barges. The Wizards took no notice.

The astronomers and neophytes were the next to flee when the dimensions of the sandy hill began to further warp as if centuries of erosion were being reversed. The hill drew too it sand and stone, and a wizard who faltered in his intonations. The new rising hill tried to pitch towards the break in the circle, but before the screams of the fallen had faded away another brave Chanter moved into his space and and the structure of the hill continued to build, every widening, every rising.

The Chanters chanted without reaction and soon what was a phantasmagoria was now a sand covered hillock nearly mountainous in size in this flat wet place. 

Now the chant sunk down to a murmur, and two chanters staggered backwards as two more moved in. Only the Nameless stood as a stone unmoved by the efforts. 

The Ring hovered over the heads of the Chanters, in a seeming moment of stopped time, if seeming it was. Braver acolytes and the body servants of the Chanters cast sacred herbs and ointments into the fires outside of the circle, and a steady gentle wind blew the thick smoke into the midst of the wizards and beyond them where it crept up the hill. Soon in that timeless minute the hill was obscured to all but those who stood close, and as they resumed chanting the sound felt to come from far away. Each syllable rung into the smoke shrouded circle and then revibrated back as if it had struck a solid object. 

In a lurch that discomforted all, the sounds of the night and the presence of wearying time swept back into the clearing. A strong wind blew down from the north and seemed to carry countless voices within it.

The smoke blew away and when it had passed, near the time of the blue grey predawn light, valet and other servants rushed up the hillside, now of firm packed earth covered in wiry grasses. 

There was a collective gasp amid these men and woman as the wonder that they had come to wrought was before them. An alabaster tower crowned the large hill, and splayed around it here and there were the bodies of the Chanters. Not dead, but overcome with a fatigue that was near death, Save for the Nameless. The leader of the Order was not to be seen at the foot of the hill, but in his place was a pure white standing stone, which all agree to this day is not of the stone of earth. It is the height of a man and  had no tool mark or blemish on its smoothness. 

From a step beyond that stone rose a path which you can see to this day, next the stone, winding up to the Tower of Names. The First of the Five. Already budding from that magical soil were small trees, which compose the grove surrounding the Tower of Names, with fruits both sweet and deadly. 

In the years to come other Orders would arrive, and four more towers would be built, but none matches the majesty of the Tower of Names, which is the first sight seen as visitors travel up the Chanters Gate to our city of marvels.

At the end of this tale, which has varied little I am told over hundreds of years, a satchel was passed on behalf of the storyteller, and he collected much silver and copper that morning. And even as he slipped back into the inn, for something as mundane as his breakfast, I turned an looked in rapture at the Ivory tower, on the hill, in the center, of what maybe the most magical city in the world. 

Myth Maker 2.1: The raising of the Tower of Names part 1 (Edited and updated.)

(Breaking this into two pieces, because walls of even well written exposition, get a bit tiresome.)

A story jotted down as it was being told by a street side performer, a storyteller, who was working for coins. I have noted a few variations on this tale, but this will suffice for the basic telling. Maybe we should do a series of short articles on town history from the bottom looking up?- Johann Blinks, Five Towers Reports

(Reporter notes: This storyteller I see around town a lot. He is doing well enough to have second hand nice robes of the sort that some Wizards and Wonder-Makers wear, and lives for days or weeks at inns, who's courtyards are his stages. Following a certain odd storyteller tradition he is swathed in pale cotton and doesn't show his face save for his eyes, which are a sort reddish brown. He also gives no name for himself, though his trinkets and robes are enough to tell him from others of his ilk. If you encounter such mendicant storytellers DO NOT call them beggars. Note: Ask professor of Minno of the Anthropology department if he has any insight into this practice of dress/namelessness/wandering.)

"There are those who would tell you that all old stories are lies. They are fools and we will waste no more time speaking of them. 

Then there are those that say that every old story is important for it speaks of the teller and the listener as much as it does of ancient matters. These are scholars of much learning,  but to listen to them speaking for too long makes the ear unable to hear. Who is the fool in that case, I will leave you to decide. 

But there are those who know more than fools and scholar who will say that the ancient word are true, if you know how to listen.  These are the wise..."

Called one of the Wonders of the World, the Five Towers School of Wizardry is the most famous educational edifice in the known world. It lies at the heart of the city of Five Towers, but there is much more going on in this city than the mere education of the daring, but you must understand, that the Towers are central to understanding the city.

According to the lore the Towers predate any other settlement in the Emerald Peninsula, a place of  inhospitable climate and terrain, not very conducive to every day life without a lot of effort.... or a lot of magic.

Half a millennium ago a flotilla of daring sea captains, at the urging of both filling of their coffers and the maintaining of their lives, made a perilous journey across the Gulf of Storms to the Bay of Crystal. The Gulf, always storm tossed and dangerous was, as it still is a domain for hurricanes and sea monsters, and the Bay of Crystal had no settlements worth visiting, so even the terrain of the shore line was somewhat a mystery tot he captains and helmsmen of the voyage.

The voyagers hailed forth from the southern point of what is now the Imperial Domain of World End, though at the time the reach of the Iron Empire didn't stretch so far.  Perhaps it was fear or at least a healthy caution of that growing power that inspired the voyage. If so that is lost to time, but was said to be in the age of the mythic first Emperor Geoff the Conqueror, who though a devoted man who venerated God, his Angels, and Saints, was no friend to wizards and wonderworkers.

Through magic and very fortunate timing, gleaned from many years of observation, the ships, containing a cabal of wizards, of the kind called Chanters, and their retinue arrived at the calm Bay of Crystal and dropped anchor within sight the many rivers that pours from the peninsula into that bay. The ships couldn't get closer because there were deep keeled vessels, but they had aboard barges to take the Chanters to their desired destination. 

After a consultation the Wizards reported a specific river, now known as the Chanters Gate, to carry them inland. The Bay was calm as glass that day, whether from magic or simple good fortune, and wizards, body guards, experienced woodsmen, and supplies were loaded on three barges rigged for crude sailing. Mage winds carried the barges to the silty mouth of the river, and then  the long hard work of poling up stream of the semi placid river began.

As soon as they entered the river the Chanters, the full number of which is unknown, began to Chant sonorous and sibilant words that seem to match the mood of the river well. The poling was long work, and many was the time some vegetation snagged a barge and skilled men had to hack and pole to keep the company in motion. All the while the Chanters chanted, some of the time their chant was as one unified chorus, and other like a group of babblers whose voices bounced off of each other and was displeasing to the ear. 

As the slow miles passed, one at a time the wizards ceased their chanting save for the leader of the Order, was and still is known only as the Nameless One. He continued to speak words of power that were so intense that they seemed to vibrate in the air for long moments after his mouth had moved on.

As the party reached sharp curve of the river accompanied by a slightly hilled clearing in the swamp the Nameless made a gesture with his hand which was the signal to ground the barges. As soon as he stepped foot on dry land he stopped his constant droning chant. Though the magics that were being performed had sapped all others of the Order the Nameless' soft spoken voice still carried strength.

As the barges were unloaded the wizards rested on the high ground, while well trained lackies removed ritual tools such as incense burners, wooden staves of great length, bundles of herbs, and shrouded idols from the barges and arranged them hither and thither around the clearing. As the sun was setting, a mass of dark clouds began to form from the west, but a single sharp word from the Nameless scattered those clouds. There would be no interference from nature or Angel in the work that was to be done that night.

Myth Maker 2.0: The Setting

Following the example of my inspiration book, We're All Mad Here by Monte Cook Games (though any of there genre books would do). I am interweaving two projects into one.

The "front of the book" project is giving a set of tools, that can be used with Mythic GME (in the roll of both GM Emulator and a rules light RPG) to create magi-tech tech revolutions. The second goal was to show an example of such a tech revolution on a mid European Renaissance type setting. So far I have failed at both goals.

As to the first goal, I just couldn't manage to create generic resources from a vacuum, but I probably can work backward from a model, so the back of the book is getting the front of the writing. The second failure is that the setting, like the real world in that era, isn't all on one epic timeline in which there is a big bucket of Ren is splashed  everywhere. As I started writing I set some boundaries. I thought about what I would like to play and what I would like to run, and what came out in my writing journals was pretty different than what I thought would happen, but surprises like that are what make writing so much fun.

So starting now, and extending over the next half a dozen or so journal posts, I am going set out in historic or essay style prose the epicenter of industrial explosion, but because people, places, things, and events don't happen in a vacuum, we will start with a little slice of history. Specifically the history of the rapidly growing city of Five Towers. I hope that you enjoy the first peek at this magical, feudal, and eventually industrial hub, and will continue to follow its development as it grows towards the finished product that I will then deconstruct into a generalized Tech Boom set of guidelines, and also clean up refine and put in the second half of the booklet, which will be published (on this blog) as a PDF for anyone who wants to take it up and make it their.

As with all RPGs, once you down load it, it will then belong to you. Tear it apart for pieces, hate in and be provoked to make something better, or play it as it is. Honestly, all of these things would make me happy.

Moving directly on to Myth Maker 2.1: The History of Five Towers.

Myth Maker: Addendum

I have very much been enjoying writing this larger solo project. Strictly sticking with fiction thus far, no custom game mechanics, or any discussion of rules at all. Chances are I am over writing for my intent, but I can edit down as I prepare the pdf.

Starting tomorrow I am going to type up my paper journal notes, wedge in my digital notes, and spackle it into a setting rough draft and paste it up here. So far details include...

• The City Origins of Five Towers
• The magi-tech device that is pushing this industrialization
• A simple cosmology.
  

Stinging them together will make for a blog post of reasonable size, if it is a bit scattershot. I hope seeing it laid out on a screen will help me see the holes, both in what is written, and what needs to be written.

I know so far this hasn't been the most interesting work journal, especially with the downer the last post was, but I think things will start ticking a long faster now that I have laid some groundwork.

EDIT: Decided instead of stringing the three bullet points together, instead to put each one in their own blog post and do some expansion from the rough draft. Still a rough draft, just more of it