I am jumping around in this world building thing like a unicorn in heat. I could of course go through all those many institutions, animals, magic machines and whatnot I have invented in a sorted way that resembles eighteen century scholars and encyclopedists, but I am following the images instead... I look at my creations and pick something nice.
Today it is four digital paintings of the player characters and another bloke that I needed for some rulepages. The game system we use is very rule heavy so I made some so called cheat sheets with important tables and stuff to make the occasional combat encounters a bit easier to handle.
In a role playing game you have one game master, sort a director, and then you have the players who all play one main character - they are like actors. In our game I am Game master which makes me Stanley Kubrick, and the other three are Brad Pitt, Liza Minnelli and Leonardo DiCaprio. When I started to make these drawings I decided to make my own version of the characters that the player had invented. They are based on their own drawings (the are all very fine artists).
Before jumping into it I need to say that all three characters are part of the Mission, an organisation that is run by the undead God Morkala, the first and most powerful of Norn's 11. They are a sort of warrior-monks and warrior-nuns whose mission is to bring the word, the magic and the machines of their Gods to the heathens and disbelievers of just about everywhere if possible.
No. 1 - Lube Gaal
Lube is an ambitious, young battle witch (a sort of military sorceress) whose personality can best be described as antisocial personality disorder. In the world I have created she is probably the one who fits in the best with her sadism, borderline personality and complete lack of moral limits.
In the words of her commanders (from a so called player handout - a piece of written text that I create sometimes as a clue for the story).
Lube Gaal – a former thrall from the North who has whored her way into knowledge of magic. Extremely talented, ambitious and energetic, unstable and aggressive. Was recruited at the age of about 15 years after she was caught for wild witchcraft in the area west of Tomm. Trained locally in Monk Cohort 5 North by very unstable elements. At the behest of commanders in Mission Command North, she was sent to the academy in Koto Norn for 1 year and did it with distinction except in discipline. Afterwards admitted to the Monk Legion East.
No. 2 - Umptar Huskelhorn
Umptar is a more mellow person. He has a phobia of sexuality and loose women and has, as best he could, repressed all memories of his early childhood. But apart from that he is as stable as they get. He is a model missionary, not only a formidable warrior, but also interested in healing (which in this world is magic and therefore is based upon mutilating someone else). He is a conformist and not a leader at all as he suffers from indecisiveness.
In the words of his commanders: (from that same document)
From a craftsman family from Spolsor. Trained in the parish service where he was incorporated after the family was wiped out by robbers. Drafted to the mission by Inquisitor Spordask during the zombie assault in Gool. Has mainly had domestic service in the south, already distinguished himself during the Kassar rebellion and later in the battle against General Sparsoff. Has fought in Naz companies, is strong in liturgy, in missionary spirit and has abilities as a healer. Admitted to Monk Legion East recently.
No. 3 - Erasmus Greiber
Erasmus is the one who is least happy about the state of things. His morals and empathy makes things really hard for him in the gruesome world he inhabits, and he hates magic most of all. He gets along by a combination of being absent-minded and phlegmatic. None the less he attracts a lot of people who depends on him and a numbers of these folks have followed the protagonists almost from the beginning of the game. Erasmus's upbringing and life has been as hard as his two comrades.
In the words of the commanders:
Survivor from a children's legion from Arangungel. Recruited after the children's battle at Spasser. Foreign mission service from the age of 26, Combat experience on the continent and set for Odansk training (sort of a squad leader), which was never completed for the following reason: Been in the nuttery in Torm Atareoff for 2 years after the incident at Rota Havtares. Has since been discharged as fully cured and functional, but is being kept under observation. Admitted to Monk Legion East recently.
No. 4 - Soldier of the Soloma Congregation Guards
In a world of relative peace you need to find an enemy... just look at the US right now. Rich, peaceful, well organised and full of longing for a second go at a civil war. In the world I have invented the military and the mission is like two gangs. Large battles are happening from time to time and even small wars. The rulers - the 11 - seems to accept things this way, or maybe they even instigate them in their internal power battles. No one really knows, but the result is the same even so.
Until now at least half of the hostilities in the game has been with blokes like this one.
I hope you can find at least a little sense in all this. As you can see the player have adapted to the evil world I have made and found coping mechanisms for their characters - the good, the bad, and the ugly.
