the, the
fuck
I need to add "the" to the picture

>>9845313
Nah dunno why they put the in front of it.

anyways

More tales!

Repostan' from old thread:

"Weary eyes here, I havn't walked the Cross Road yet, but I might before the end. Even hell for all it's tortures beats the other place. Don't go taking the oath sonny, sail mortal, life fast, die young or old with a life well spent, that will only give you a short stay in the pits. We who take the oath, when we're caught up to one way or another, we have to stay eternal. Now, some of us go searching for a way to stave that of further, others hide, living away form the world, so that they never have to pay their debt. Others, we're looking for a way to pay the debt here, so we can move on with a clean slate. It's no life for a kid who has a chance at the next one."

>>9845402
I kind of want to make up more places
let's think of a port city

>>9845406
Ev'n so, my pa was one of the ones who took the oath, nothing for me on this isle either, I'd rather sail and find the bastard, and get at least one shot into him before I walk the Cross Road.

>>9845448
Got a general idea for a name?

>>9845486
let's see
what about the pirate hive city, boasting a smell so strong, it sends crusaders face first into their decks from miles around. hope the wind is in your favor.

>>9845520
Should we keep with a pseudo-carribean flavor, kinda trying to keep it English, Dutch French and/or Spanish?

>>9845556
Almost forgot...

inb4 Tortuga

>>9845596
>>9845556
yea, I don't really know
just keep it piratey, lol
it will be a port set in a neutral zone, so not entirely british

>>9845664
L'Fin Du Monde?

>>9845664
from back in the other thread, two-dagger's official title is:
Two-Dagger Torriaeu, the legendary Laugher of Louisport and the Haverland Sacker.
so the port will be Louisport.

>>9845733
Sounds good. Louisport is named after a Louis, who is this Louis, and why did he get the place named after him. More importantly, what is this place like now?

http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Endless_Isles

>>9845296
What's this about?

>>9845762
probably a king who was never able to conquer the port
pirates are a harsh folk
now it's just as it always was, villainy, piracy, salt and brine
the city has never been sacked, nothing worth taking.

>>9845817
in short, someone asked for a pirate rpg
golden neck beard set it up as a world filled with endless islands, where pirates rule. in fact, pirates rule so much, they never die... in a way... just read thread one, it will make a lot more sense
or not, I dunno

>>9845791
Cool wiki page, man.

I like the bit where it has words.

>>9845890
take it easy
I'm working on it
it takes far longer to sculpt a statue then sell it

>>9845845
Sounds awesome!

>>9845929
frankly, I see this ending up not as an rpg, but as a haven for writefags.

>>9845929
>>9846004
A little bit of both methinks. A setting at the least.

so, Louisport
One of the few attempts at arranging an empire, King louis united a large chunk of the known world, but a humble little pirate haven was a thorn in his side. Affectionately named Louisport, mocking the fact that he didn't own it. His fleets weren't skilled enough to navigate the perilous redding straight, nor slim enough to squeeze through the roughlin tumalt. Louisport remained a place where pirates could restock in between raidings. Eventually, King Louis' monarchy fell, with great help from Louisport and the name stuck.

how's this?

Quick summary:

We have a creation myth, and a few songs.

Two-Dagger Torriaeu stole death, and somehow that meant people could take the oath, and live as pirates eternal. Deadwind keep imprisions pirates forever, whereas The Cross is home to the Crusaders, who want to kill them all, in ways that leave them permanently dead.

>>9846181
Sounds good to me.

"Ahar, Louisport, ya say? Bahaha, I'd say I have a bet wi' damn nea' half tha town! ahahar, yah woul't thin' a pirate, born 'n bred as I, woul' be rakin' muck in tha middle o' no where fer no reason? Hahaha, a pirate town, indeed! You'd ne'er see such a raspy no goo' bunch o' rottin eggs agin! Louisport, now tha's a town. Boy, I'll take ya some day, I swer. oh, but tha smell, oh, ya wouldn' believe tha smell. 'Nd if that didn' kill ya, the folk wou'd. ahahar, I'll take ya some day, son. someday."

>>9846546
I bet this man is two-dagger

>>9846601
arg

Bump

I RETURN!

...Love the Deadwind Keep and Fort Cross stuff from after I left in the last thread, there. Let's leave precisely what happens to those that get taken to the Cross a mystery... though the "burned alive while surrounded by torches and sunlight" makes a fantastic common rumor!

Still catching up...

One thing that's been bugging me:

The original plea I started musing about requested "sea pirates, sky pirates, short space pirates (just within the solar system), deep sea pirates
fucking all the kinds of pirates you can think of."

I think it's safe to say that solar-system pirates are sort of beyond the scope of the setting, especially since the world is flat and infinite already... so there's really not much reason for space anyway as its main narrative use, "lol it's like oceans but INFIIIIINITE" is already covered.

But what about the rest?

Are we sticking completely to wooden boats, or do we have wacky shit all over?

I feel like something in the middle would be possible, where there's some legendary submursible/air ships around, which naturally are the greatest treasure of the Isles by far and sought by every scurvy curr who can light a canon... but I'm not sure that would be the *best.*

What do we think?

>>9847920
If the universe is big enough eventually anything will exist.
So if you travel for several lifetimes you will tun into metal ships that fly and so on.
However the main setting should be wooden boats and traditional pirates

>>9847999

Works for me.

Let's just throw in some strange rumors about the far lands settled beyond even the current Fringe by Reachers of centuries past, and leave the inclusion of wacky shenannigans up to the individual GM. Maybe include some stats for skyships/submursibles should they be necessary.

...Assuming, that is, this does start needing crunch at some point.

Now, then, I never finished telling about our boy Davy Jones, the Last Pirate to Die!

>>9848080
Agreed.
Hell, stories and legends should be all over the place true or not. Pirates are a superstitious lot.

>>9848080

...Well y'see, old Jones there was a classic, a pirates' pirate if you will, long ago before Torrieau's Trick made piratin' a less... *permanently* terminal and more commonplace an occupation.

Now Jones was a good captain, always straight and fair but firm, and his men loved him dearly in those deadly days of Navies and Patrol. A cunning old coot, and lucky too, but one day his ship Cornelia had the fight of her life. She won, in a manner of speaking, but such a victory as a sailin' man never prays for; left drifting with a holed hull and no masts left a-standing, barely able to stay afloat much less move.

>>9848225

Now, fourty nights she sat adrift, stores run low and all the while men workin' the bilges, as desperate for a few more hours as any Unoathed you've seen starin' Lady Death in the face.

It was beginnin' to look grim indeed, the good captain considerin' an honest and dignified end for himself and then, should they choose it, when sails were spotted! Help had finally arrived...

...In the form of ol' Two-Dagger himself!

http://www.peterpig.co.uk/range10.htm

>>9848271

Now old Torrieau pulled up with a bonny grin, and hailed: "Why, is that a waterlogged dog I see, paddling desperately to keep afloat but with no true hope of dry land to be found?"

Wary glances were exchanged and both crews put hand on saber, but sly old Davy stood with stern lips and a cold glare and said nothing, exercising that cunning willpower of his so legendary in a profession where a lack of self-control is practically a prerequisite... Which ol' Torrieau was counting upon.

"Why, no, if it isn't a fox! Me old pal, Davy Jones himself! Looks like you're in a spot of trouble... Come aboard, and we'll tow the Cornelia to Louisport!"

>>9848356

And so it was done, the crews mingling and the Cornelia saved.

While she was being rebuilt, however, Torriaeu beseeched Jones, "We've got quite the job planned, old Davy boy, and I could use another commander and advisor with a level head and a fearsome name! The Cornelia will be fine under the watchful eye of your quartermaster and first mate. Sail with me, just this once, and I'll lead ye to glory!"

Now if it were anyone else, old Davy would have doubtlessly socked 'em in the mouth and stalked out with that steely glare, but Two-Dagger Torriaeu is nothing if not silver-tongued, and against his better judgement, Davy Jones accepted his offer and joined him for another run on the waves.

It would be his last.

>>9847920
Maybe a few crazy pirates mentioned like the other one's we've been talking about, who use skyships and submersibles, and possibly Ironclads and all sorts of crazyness. We should have an 'oriental' type area, with more Asian ships (junks, or whatever) and so on too.

>>9848405

Now, here's where the tale starts to go all different accordin' to who'se tellin' it. Where precisely did Jones and Torriaeu strike? What did they take? I've 'eard a thousand different versions if I've 'eard one, but they all agree... it was as grand and bloody a venture as had been seen in the days 'afore Torrieau's Trick. The waters ran as red as the holds did shine of gold, and those who made it out alive were sure to be kings among men.

Torriaeu and Jones almost got away clean, too, when a stray ball of grapeshot caught Davy right across the teeth, taking his jaw clean off.

>>9848453

Well, the mists rolled in and the pirates escaped, but it was a long, hard death for Jones, the last casualty of that glorious haul. Torriaeu, so they say, was despite his own treacherous nature beside poor Jones every minute, even as other wounded in his own crew also passed. Perhaps the guilt was too much even for him to ignore, 'or it was Two-Dagger himself that brought him along after all.

As the mists roiled and the dying passed, however, talk cropped up on the ship. Death, they said, was walking the planks, to be seen with the naked eye, taking the poor bleeding curs with a gentle caress and a soothing whisper, when their time it was.

>>9848523

Finally, Two-Dagger himself saw her, when only dying Jones was left... and when his eyes alighted on that pale face, to whom he'd sent enemies and prey by shipload and then some, Two-Dagger Torriaeu fell eternally in the purest and most sinister of hopeless love, that love which transcends all logic and even the inscrutable laws of the cosmos itself.

"Stand aside," she whispered. "This one is mine."

>>9848571

None know what Torriaeu said to Death then, and pray that none ever should. He pleaded, he cajoled, he offered and debated, plying that silver tongue like no other trickster in all time has done, and somehow, he stole the heart of Lady Death herself away... but he was too late. As he turned from elaborating some sub-point of his bottomless devotion, presumably, Davy Jones was already gone.

But Death was not.

>>9848634

Whence they sailed then, and what they did, would take years to outline. The Driftings With Death are a whole 'nother Odyssey all their own.

What's important is that, one day, amidst their strange and terrible wand'rings, Death's hopeless paramour came to her, and he pleaded for the famous Trick, that she should take none who sail in his name, ever again.

What he offered in return, if anything, remains a mystery, but, well, as any of you who've taken the Final Oath know well, "in his name" turned out to mean more than just his immediate crew. I like to think old Torriaeu was sly enough to know what that wording could mean, and that this whole state of events isn't just one big supernat'ral fuckup, in which case the old bastard has saved my life a few hundred times now, as a matter of course.

But there was one man... one mean old spirit to be precise... who took great offense at this. Davy Jones.

>>9848731

When the deal was struck, old dead Davy was enraged. Who was Torriaeu to ask for this, rather than bringing back the man he wronged, the man who's death brought Torriaeu his beloved in the first place? This was betrayal, dishonor, blackest treachery!

And so that day, the spirit of Davy Jones, the last pirate to fall to Lady Death's cold caress, tore up out of his rotten bones from the seabed below, and set out to stalk the waves, ever searching for his traitorous friend.

It's true, I've seen him myself! On a calm dusk, when the wind dies out, look to the west, and you just might see him, standing there when the sea is flat as though it were a vast decking, stumbling and wailing his torment and a promise of bitter vengeance.

...and that's why they call it Davy Jones' Locker, for every night the spirit must return to the rotting sea-casket in which Torriaeu tossed him over, all those centuries ago, there to seethe in his betrayal and misfortune, the Last Pirate to Die.

>>9848409

Much as I love Junks... that totally didn't work out for Forgotten Realms.

Still, I'm not against including the possibility, but it should be optional. A rumored new Core settled by strange Reachers shortly after Torriaeu's Trick centuries ago.

>>9848851
Is that a real Australian thing? Are the antipodean colonists so separated from the Queen's English that that is intelligible amongst their depraved brethren?

The first to be saved was 'Ol Jack "Ages" Hang-rope, who was an old man, his career of piracy well behind him. He had retired, and lived well for most of his long years, until Louis XIII's men finally found him. He was bedridden in a prison cell, with doctors at his side trying to nurse him into well enough health to make it to the gibblet. None know why so much was spent on a dying pirate's last wish, but Louis had ordered it, and so it was.

>>9849082
Jack wanted to die by the rope, to join his buddies in the afterlife he had earned, dance one last jig for the devil, and go out as a rebel to be remembered, not a corpse that slowly faded. On the eve of his birth, so many years ago he could not remember it, he attempted the walk. Halfway there he fell to his knees. Two thirds of the way he couldn't even crawl any further, coughing up blood, but still trying to move closer, with the last of his strength. That's when he swore the last oath. "I'll follow any captain, in this world, or more likely the next, if they can help me get to that next world on my terms. If I can swing, as a Captain, I will take the helm under any force that helps me get there."

Some say that Torriaeu was in that crowd with death herself when the deal was struck, him using the pitiful wreck of a once mighty man as an argument, some say that he heard his voice on the wind, miles away. But what we do know is that 'Ol Jack got to the gallows, even climbing up it on his own two feet. And he never danced on no hang rope, no, no gallows would hold him. He shot the hangman with a hidden pistol, and the town was thrown into riot and rebellion. And when order was regained, the last reports had Captain Jack taking the Chronos out for his funeral pyre.

Now not many know about this, but I swear by Torriaeu's Trick it's true, but when he went to light the pyre it rained. And then the rain cleared, sunlight shone down on the Old Captain, and he decided that he had himself a debt to pay. So since that day, He's named himself First Mate Jack, and he's looking for Torriaeu, to sign his watchbill.

>>9849042
... you're wondering if Australia is separated from the Queen's English? ENGLAND is separated from the Queen's English. I can't fucking understand a thing half my uncles say, they're all from bloody Yorkshire.

>>9849042
Let me give you the drum. Grouse is awesome, and a little butchers should let you suss it out from that.

>>9849082
>>9849099

You are brotastic.

>>9849267
Cheers mate, I do what I can.

bump!
alright, what have we got here?
reading thread now

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/9832207/
by the way, here's the previous thread
just for future reference

>>9850363

In short?

An attempt at making a setting where fuckloads of pirates all over the goddamn place, like, it's practically the most common profession, makes any kind of sense at all.

>>9850470
great, yea, I was in the other thread :D
I really liked your story about davy jones
I'll have to get some of these on the wiki and organize it a bit
(http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Endless_Isles#A_Mentor.27s_Advice)

>>9850542

I'd love to help with the wiki myself, but as I mentioned in the discussion page, I have no idea how, or what's the etiquette in that environment, etc.

>>9850577
at the moment, I'm just focused on copy pasting all the information into it, then I'll organize it in a way that makes sense.

>>9850577

Sad neckbeard makes me sad too :(

>>9850577
who should the crusader's god be?
or.. I think they need a leader, at least

>>9850631

I need to correct a few typos in the story up there and add a few crucial details that should have been mentioned:

1. If you see Davy Jones, you'll know it. He's still missing his jaw, and thus can speak only in a mournful wail.

Hell, maybe finding his jawbone is a secondary goal of his endless search... or maybe that's a secret possible plothook only GMs should know.

2. During the Driftings with Death... well actually I'm not sure how I want to handle this yet. Maybe no one died, seemingly just by mere good fortune, or maybe EVERYONE was doing the undead-thing that the Deathless curently do, or maybe the dead were just falling down, trapped in their bodies until Death could come by and release them. Maybe that's one of the big things they did in the Driftings... sail around, moving from island to island in ways that defied time, doing Death's endless work.

Yeah, let's roll with that.

...But other, still unspecified adventures too.

woah this wasnt a one nighter...

ok then, well if nobody else has done it yet i'm still happy to do the story for this thing if you lot have finally decided what's happening?

>>9850703
check the past thread
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/9832207/
we're working on collecting everything in the wiki, but until then it will have to do

>>9850739
i tryed, will have to later when i'm not using the net.
ausfalian net is capped, would take me about 45mins to load a thread that big.

>>9850677

I was sort of picturing "crusader" as being a slightly ironic title for em, reflecting more their zeal for eliminating the Deathless than any religious beliefs. Hell, part of the irony was their staunch stance AGAINST eternal life.

Fort Cross doesn't screw this up, so I didn't mention it when we brought that up, but I definitely wasn't picturing them as "as close a translation to real crusader knights as we can get on ships."

If anything, I was thinking more like Hunters from WoD or something. Just normal joes, for the most part, trying to fight for natural, mortal humanity.

That said, I'm certainly not against a Crusader god, but I'd be more interested in a Crusader leader, personally.

Then again, that was meant to be a temporary name anyway. Ah well, it seems to have stuck quite nicely!

>>9850758
ouch, well, it's not all on the wiki, but most of what was discussed was:
http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Endless_Isles

>>9850771
alright, of course, it's hard to have a leader who'll be outlived a thousand times over by his prey.

>>9850771
"crusader" is a relative term.
could be a crusade against tobacco, beer, un-mown lawns, pirates, if the setting supports it crusaders as fitting as anything.

>>9850822
damn those people who let their grass grow too high!

>>9850794

...unless, of course, he's a MYSTERY!

Is the White Vengeance and his trademark mask a symbolic title for an office that's been handed down, mortal to mortal, all these generations?

Or is the Order of the Wheel, a bastion of hope offering a hand to all Crusaders out there brave enough to take back their seas from the unliving scum, holders of Fort Cross, compromised at its very core?!

>>9850577
Don't edit other people's shit without discussion.

Add well written stuff in, pics, etc. if they're relevant.

>>9850771
I like the average Joes angle. That said, some knighty bits would be cool. Maybe the more dedicated nobles end up knighting up, etc. And they might have a library, for the few people who can read. I might die, but I can teach you. We can keep knowledge alive without being a perversion against nature. Etc.

If we give them a god, it should be a monotheisitic religion, possibly an earth mother/earth father god. The pirates might have a mish mash of other religions, I've mentioned Lucifer/The Devil more then once for example. And there's talk of voodoo, shamans, spirits, etc. Maybe keep it low magic, so that we have some pracicioners, but it's not mapped out in any way. A few holy icons/artifacts and a few magical trinkets around.

>>9850868
Ooooh, 'never to be resolved conspiracy theory'-alicious.

Alternatively, have them being some sort of oligarchy, with members rotating in as old ones die, or become too old, or whatever.

>>9850868

...The wheel, in this case, referring to the wheel of life, the incessant cycle of life and death that is true civilization, true existence worth the name, true life.

For without death, there can be no life... and so we dedicate ourselves, for our brief time, to keeping the Deathless off the seas and out of the world, that the True Living might prosper.

And some day, perhaps, we may find ways to bring Life to the Unliving, Death to the Deathless.

You shouldn't listen to the rumors that we already know how. Fort Cross is just a monastery and *very* secure holding facility! Honest!

>>9850875
when I suggested giving them a god, I meant it from a sort of ironic perspective. I meant to make fun of their religion that leads them to fight for their god, much like the crusades, who, evidently, doesn't pull any wind in their favor. All the while, pirates have daily run ins with death and creatures of myth.

>>9850577
>etiquette

Here is your first clue

>>9850922

Yeah, that's sorta what I thought.

I dunno, I certainly aren't claiming control over this strange beastie that's emerged, but it seems to me like that trope has been beat to death in fantasy of late, and, well forever for that matter.

I mean, I'm agnostic with some fairly atheistic leanings, and even I am getting a little tired of "Hah, look at them! The religious fools throw themselves on our swords, because they think their god wants them to! Those idiots!"

When I start rooting for the other side when *I'm not even on that side in real life,* something has gone wrong.

So, go ahead and flavor it up if you like, I certainly won't stop you and am glad anyone is enjoying this idea as much as I am in any capacity, but that's my two cents.

>>9850947
no, no, alright, we'll go your way
you're really the only namefag working on this, so the credit must go somewhere

>>9850947
>>9850922
how about both?
a religion created in anchient times from pirates, that has since descended into a bunch of do gooders that are just a general laughing stock, as a cover up to hide the fact that they are off masterminding something or other...

yeah they are lololol do gooders, but they are actually smart underneath that and using peoples predjudice against them?

>>9850969
>>9851005

I would TOTALLY be down with the Order of the Wheel or other organized "crusader-support-structure" type organizations being of... well any mystical bent, really.

I just don't think it should be considered a default for the philosophy at large. Again, average joes who lucked into a ship, trying to take back their waves.

Now, these Order guys, the organized fellas that front and support any Crusader ships that manage to contact them, and imprison/maybe kill any Deathless they can get their paws on safely... Yeah, they definitely gotta have some pseudo-mystical/monk shit goin' on up in here. Hell, they've already got a ritually masked leader, might as well run with it.

>>9851005
no, the point of a god in the good guys is lost if it was created by pirates
pirates are generally right, you know
they've got a gut feeling for things

>>9850947
I haven't been using my trip, but I've been working on this, in between uni and work.

>>9850922
>>9850947
I think I missed something. What are you guys arguing for?

I was thinking of mimicing the whole christian one god for the landlubbers, and having the pirates use all sorts of other ungodly magics - but magic generally being on hte low side, with trinkets, etc. being rare and valued.

Replace the Christain god with an Earth God, which looks after farmers and that, and the sea gets a myriad of spirits, shamans, voodoo people, etc.

>>9851054
This is looking good

>>9851058
depends how we swing it.
for example, after being pirates and seeing these things they returned to land to pray for forgivness over time warping the church around them, over time making some sort of over the top token stupidity, which became a front for the section of the church that seperated when it started changing (i forgot to mention that) now they have recently come back to the church to do what the church was originally for, just now they are vastly superior tot he main of the church due to living hundreds of years in secrecy, they are using it as a front to run everything while everyone looks at it and just thinks "idiots"

>>9851089

Maybe we could mix it up a bit, and do a thing where instead of true WHOAH, THAT THERE'S A GOD gods, we use figures from legend... demigods, if you will.

We've already got the Emperor in his eternal search and the Queen of the Seas, forever lost, plus Death and Torriaeu, who tricked his way into being one of the most powerful names you can invoke, in a way.

I dunno, feels like this fits an immortal-piratey setting well to me. If they revere and invoke legendary figures the way we do gods, then that provides a pretty powerful motivator to go out there and make yourself a legend.

>>9851166

I keep wanting to use Greece and Native American religions as examples, here, but they both had "real" gods while also doing this.

Then again the Emperor and the Seaqueen kinda do fill the bill, there...

>>9851166
Bam. This works real well. All gods are just people who got myth'd up or stories of people that were made up. Magic has no connection to any of that, it's just magic.

Dontgottaexplainshit.jpg

That said, becoming legendary should be borderline magic in it's own right. Act evil enough, and you will start looking the part. Infamous slave ship, who's rumours echo further then the names of the countries it raids? Damn right, it's as scary as the stories.

>>9851255
Like Discworld, but subtler, and played less for the lols. Oh, and no metausage of this, in game or out.

Bump.

Are we agreed on no *real* gods, just interwoven legends of people, some of whom you can still meet, thanks to Torriaeu's Trick?

What genuainely supernatural entities do exist? Any apart from death? I think a devil might be fun, or maybe many devils. Ghosts and Banshees, etc. too.

>>9851620
i think we should have had a god, provided we go with the "church was once an actual church" thing i thought up, but that he's long since gone off elsewhere due to nobody remembering him.

>>9851620
>>9851671
well, let's think this through
world full of islands, ocean culture
love for the sea and adventure

I think there should be a vague sense of an omnipotent god, throwing of thee casual "By *so and so*'s beard, where had the rum gone?!" just so it doesn't seem like an entirely godless place, but we should focus on our demigods more.

>>9851620
>>9851671

I'm cool with either of these really, or both.

Hell, it could be interesting for once to have a more mystical, legend-revering thing be the most common, and the monotheistic God-clone god be the nigh-forgotten mystery the old dudes are uncovering.

As for the Devil and/or Devils... I'm kinda abivalent, but what's a hanging without The Devil's Jig?

Yeah, I know, you can just move that apostrophe over and suddenly its multiple devils, but I don't see why there can't be room for both... after all, this is pirate folklore we're talking about. We don't really have to commit to the details, and they certainly can and probably SHOULD conflict from time to time.

Speaking of which, on that note, I've been thinking of writing a few significantly different versions of Torrieau's Trick, and leaving it deliberately unclear which if any are true, for that very reason. GM discretion, if ever relevant.

>>9851806
I actually like this
horrors and creatures of the deep are so prevalent, they must take a bit of priority before some silly ancient god!

>>9851785
that's my point exactly, the demigods are the main show, the omnipotent god is basicly just like the real world one, a joke to all but the fanatics, leaves room for the demigods to rule the world since the church is just a slight annoyance occasionally...

>>9851785
perhaps the emperor and his sea goddess could fill this slot

>>9851849
"By the Emperor's nipples, who drank all the rum?!"

>>9851839
if you want, even have the church hardly remember him to further him from the plot while still being there, and have most of the church just signing up for hte excuse to fight

>>9851839
>>9851830

I was thinking more "secret" than silly, for the reasons in >>9850947...

...though I'm sure your average pirate would probably find it silly when he finds the naval-gazing monks resurrecting the faith from ancient, nigh-untranslatable manuscripts.

Unless those monks are the Order of the Wheel, of course, in which case he would probably find it more disturbing and insulting than anything else.

>>9851861
perhaps the emperor is the motivations behind the crusaders

>>9851849

Yeah, that's what I was thinking too.

Only problem there is the annoying overlap with 40k.

Perhaps our Emperor needs a last name?

>>9851872
we could just make him a king

>>9851806
This I think is the best way of working it.

>>9851806
what other versions?
we have
-stole death from her cradle and stuck a bargain
-fell in love with death
perhaps
-won a bet with death?
I dunno, that seems really cliche

>>9851867
so, thinking of throwing up a paragraph or two of random story about this all...
what are we goin with?
silly church of a long lost god thats a joke to all but the members, which has a secret order of the wheel trying to ressurect the god?
idea, they are trying to actually ressurect him through the church to drain the seas that way there is no more pirating and they can excel at what they are good with fighting on the land...

>>9851885
>>9851872
The Ancient King?

The First King?

The Ancient Emperor? First Emperor?

>>9851908

No, I mean, other than the big long story I put up there that was supposed to be Davy Jones' story, but, well, wound up having to tell all about the Trick to tell it.

I'd like to do a few more long versions, possibly using those short ideas you mention there or other that have been brought up, leaving a few key details the same:

1. Torriaeu somehow cheated death for everyone that wants it.
2. Davy Jones was the Last Pirate to Die.
3. Torriaeu traveled with Death for a time.

...but potentially changing the other details drastically, as in the kidnapping example.

The idea is to provide a rich mythology without stripping the sense of mystery. If the players are presented only one account of ancient events, they will tend to assume it is true, and the GM will probably do so as well. But, if multiple alternatives are right there in the material... mystery!

"The Emporah', boy, he's tha reas'n ye walk this 'ere world, 'eh is. Look out'a tha horizon, child, see tha isles go on 'n on for 's far 's ye c'n see! tha's the Emporah's folly, boy. 'Eh use'ta rule tha land fro' 'ere ta ther. It all use ta' be 'is, it did, but when tha soggy git found tha ocean, 'eh made one 'uge mistake, eh. 'Eh fell in love, he did. Ner, tha's not somthin' ye want to be doin', is it, as the sea, a bu'tiful mistress, c'n be broken by no man. S'all ye c'n do 's give 'er yer heart 'n hope she'll see ya fare. Bu' the Emporah', 'eh keeps a lookin' for 'er, try'in to take 'er fer 'imself."

>>9851952

Let's go with First Emperor, with an occasional side of Islecarver, for those who think he's still out there... digging.

Of course, sooner or later, uppity children always ask: "where did he put all the dirt!?"

Well, son. Where did you think all those moons came from? He put it in the sky, of course, where it would be out of the way!

>>9851994
aye, he dumped it all to the bottom of the sea!

>>9851994
also, emperor + sea goddess = moon and sun
just throwing that out there, not sure everyone caught on

>>9851934

I got no problems with a comical church hanging around, but I still think the primary motivation of the (un-organized examples of) Crusaders should always be "goddamn, got us a boat. Finally, we can drive off these crazy bloodthirsty Deathless and get our grain here in fucking peace."

Like a store owner finally getting fed up with the Mafiosa warring over his "protection" money, and getting the other locals together to kick them the fuck out.

>>9851986
lol
emporah

>>9852030
watseriously?
wow, that makes the creation story a lot better now that I think of it

"in the beginning the land was dry and the world was whole. Man could walk as far as he could see and vast seas of sand stretched in every direction. In the beginning there was the First Emperor, Carver of Worlds. He ruled the land and was a god to men. His cartographer's came to him one day and told him that they had mapped the world and all that was in it. The First Emperor was proud of his men and asked them what more could he add to his domain.

'We have mapped all the land in almost every direction,' they told him,' We have seen the edge of the world, and further. But we wonder now, what could be below?' they asked him.

'Sky,' they told him,' Sky. The sun leaves your empire for the night, it must rise in another. The moon and stars walk from one land to another' The First Emperor did not wait for another word. He set his men to dig, and so they did. It was not long before their spades broke through, into the world below. The bright sun shone through the breach from the depths of a surreal world. The world moved as flames rise from a fire. And the good Emperor looked down and saw in a flash, a beautiful queen. she looked at him from the rippling world and he reached down to her. And in another flash she was gone. The First Emperor had never seen a woman so gorgeous, and wished for her to be his. He would not stop until her took her under her control.

'Men,' he said to them,' dig! Dig into this world, make it mine!' And they dug and he searched for his queen. They dug until the only sand left was that sifting on the bottom of the ocean and only the hardest or rock was left behind. Some say he's still out there, digging. Past the fringe, on the edge of nothing, carving these endless isles..."

alright, let's take a crack at it
what needs fixing?

>>9852033

Put another way:

Crusaders aren't a movement, they're a mindset, just like Pirates and Horizon Reachers are. There's organized groups that ARE Crusaders, but not all Crusaders are part of any organized movement.

It's a blanket term for any mortals trying to take their waves back, keep the Deathless contained, and get some revenge, peace, or whatever.

>>9852065

Capitalize Endless Isles, of course!

Other than that, I still think this is too much win to mess with, really... not that I'm not open to suggestion.

>>9852071
right, right
so.. horizon reachers?

>>9852088
ok, we'll keep i vague for interpretation

>>9852033
i was trying to give the silly part of the church the whole "got us a boat lets go fight" angle, thats why they have lost there god, cause it's just an excuse to go fight the pirates.
and the order of the wheel (tbh im playing sc2 intermittenly and havnt got a clue who these are actually, from what i gather them and the crusaders = the same?) are the ones who remember what it is, and are trying to ressurect there god to banish the seas, just not doing a great job of it.

(also i realize with this shitty net, you've probably created it by the time this submits)

>>9852091

From the first thread:

"Horizon Reachers - People who view the constant flow of the living away from the core and towards the fringe (due to the constant flow of the shadow'd in the other direction, generally) as more than just a natural consequence of deathlessness... or maybe they're just sick of all these people and want to be out there, alone, out of the core, out of the fringe, off the maps. Alone.

You can always tell a Reacher from anyone else. They don't care where they're going, but yet they always sail the same heading... away.

Still, you can't go forever, though that doesn't stop em from trying. Sooner or later, bad weather, local wildlife, or even other Reachers, maybe settled down from centuries ago, panicked that civilization might be finally catching up with them... one way or another, some time they get done in and show up back here, to start their journey all over again."

To that, we've added that these fellows are the source of those rumored distant lands, beyond even the current reach of the Fringe. Legends are vague and fanciful, but they talk of some where men ply the sky even as we do the sea, or plunge beneath it, carrying the Great Game even unto the very depths themselves... or are just like us, but different (see: leaving potential for asian-themed Isles open, in this thread).

>>9852132
alright, that makes sense
so we've got 3 places of interest
anyone have anything else? Maybe something to do with the Good Emperor?

>>9852091
The world goes on forever, new lands beyond every horison. These are the ones who either want to try and find the end, or want to get away, or just have a yearning, to move away from the core. They spend their lives moving out, exploring, sometimes leaving maps, sometimes leaving diaries, sometimes leaving nothing but untouched lands behind them. There's infinity to explore, so they'll never be done. Good thing some have an eternity to explore for.

>>9852122

The Order of the Wheel are the guys I made up on the spot in >>9850868 and further detailed in >>9850914 when I realized that there would have to be some delination of sub-factions within Crusaders, since we've got both "average joes who got lucky" AND "fucking scary dudes who run Fort Cross and are on some kind of grandiose, long term, JUST AS PLANNED eternal war against the Deathless featuring secrets and ritual."

It makes perfect sense that the former would be far more common, and that the latter would use the former as shock troops in their shadow-war, or as they see it, giving aid to their beleaguered Living brothers, at every opportunity.

>>9852172
just a thought
the crusaders are the one's capturing pirates and bringing them to fort cross, right?
well, who's bringing pirates to Dead Wind Keep?
just same crusader's because they aren't lumped together or what

>>9852195

No idea who, but, well, the point of Deadwind is to contain pirates forever, so yeah, whoever is would probably be branded a Crusader, by pirates at least.

>>9852195
Many crusaders dislike the Keepers at Deadwind just as much as they hate the other deathless. Near all of them think there's something 'off' about the place. Doesn't stop some from dropping off a load of the shadowed off to their doorstep.

>>>>9852205
awesome
so what about trading ships?
would they have protection or, crusaders as well?

>>9852172
hmmm, the main church is pants on head retarded. being filled by people who just want to go fightan the pirates (they are hte deathless?)
the crusaders are the ones that have taken the fight to the pirates when the church just says to defend, thus they are labeled crusaders (the word does give hte impression of attackers) and the order of the wheel is the shadowy back thats everything as planned-ing the entire church and the crusaders to try and ressurect the forgotten one (god) and have him drain the seas from under the pirates.

the church delivers them to deadwind, the crusaders are the church, only they have formed a millitant sect to just fight untill death, and the order is as far as the church knows non-existant.
and to top it all off, the pirates most frequent encounters are crusaders, so they cant tell there is anything other than them.

>>9852288
I like the "drain the sea" part
that coincides really well with our emperor story

>>9852263

...sorry, but, did you read the first thread?

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/9832207/

The whole shtick here is that the line between "pirates" and "trade ships" is all but removed. Everything is so widely distributed, with no real centralized industry, that securing and policing traditional trade routes and so on is impossible. That's the Grand Game... you get yourself a ship, and you get goods... either from raiding an island, buy em legit, trade, or, perhaps most common of all, raiding other pirates and freelancers, and then you get those to islands that need 'em... for a hefty cut, of course!

Sure, some people will be "freelance traders" in the grand archetype perhaps best shown in Firefly, but in the end, they're just as swarthy and well armed as any raider, because they have to be... and with no death, they WILL get in plenty of scuffles.

>>9852300
thanks
i'm just tryin to fill questions, that are or will be asked :)

>>9852329
sorry, I'll go read the first thread

>>9852351

It's cool bro.

Anyway the whole point of all this deathlessness and the unique geography is to create an environment where PIRATES FUCKING EVERYWHERE, ALMOST EVERYONE HAS BEEN A PIRATE makes sense as the natural order of things.

I think we did a pretty decent job of nearing that mark, but as with all things, it's taking a life of its own.

Still, pirates. Fucking everywhere, man!

>>9851986
I really like this pirate mentor guy
I bet he's seen a thing or two
does he have a name?

>>9852389
aye, a name or two

>>9852389

He's the kindly quartermaster, the retired captain, and every salty dog who's seen a few hundred years of wave but is happy to clue in a poor sod who hasn't yet even had his first discorperation... so they can maybe hold that off for a few extra years yet.

>>9852420
ah, alright

>>9852420

...and, on the other side of the fourth wall, he's some damn good writefag who apparently is on my wavelength, because everything he types seems to always go right where I was trying to head myself.

So, you know, that's pretty awesome. Thanks again, Mentor.

>>9852453
thank you
my pleasure

Now, how do we fit Crazy Hassan into this setting?

>>9852485
peddlers? someone who'll sell you your own daughter if you're dumb enough to buy her.
I don't know

>>9852485
CRAZY HASSAN HAS COME TO TOWN TO SELL YOU A CAMEL, NO MATTER WHAT YOU NEED TO DO, I HAVE CAMEL FOR THAT JOB!

>>9852485

Change camels to sloops, proceed as normal?

Stick him on either a (practically, narrative speaking) large or a (comically) small desert island?

>>9852420
We need a reason for it to really REALLY suck, coming back. Pledging service after the grave to Death? More you use it, more each hit costs you? Used it in Lord Quest, seemed to go down OK though.

Plus, means that dying 3 or 4 times is a big deal, but each time still matters. Increases your service tenfold each time, with a year gained for swearing the oath?

>>9852546

Well, we already established that the journey as a shadow back to your place of birth is hardly comfortable, and growing a new body hurts like hell.

Got any other suggestions?

It probably shouldn't be something permanent, as if the cost of violence is too high then less people will be inclined to play the Game, especially as those that are are gradually reduced in some way till they no longer can, and then things might start getting all organized and safe, and we can't have that now!

>>9852523
CRAZY HASSAN'S USED SHIP EMPORIUM, ONLY THE BEST FOR MY CUSTOMERS, YES?
CAMELS? THAT IS MY COUSIN, CRAZY HASSAN. I AM CRAZY HASSAN THAT SELLS BETTER THEN NEW SHIPS!

>>9852546
with every death you rot a bit more
not your body, your body will be renewed with every death, but your soul. Every death, your soul fractures and is bent over. death is a beating that will break even the strongest of souls.

>>9852627

Well, Mad Bonny Flint certainly seems to be evidence of this one.

>>9852580
Nothing physical that hurts your new body. Maybe it hurts more each time. Noticeabley more. Despite all the violence, we need to keep it so that dying is still a big deal - just not the final one.

>>9852664
Oft' with a soul goes the mind

>>9852674
>>9852664
Or, combining this with madness, the pain sent her insane. Die once, it hurts, but not enough to effect you in a long term way. Die twice, you'll be desperate not to die again. Die 10 times? Give up piracty for 100 years, until you forget the pain, and go back to the seas.

But imagine dying 30 times, 40 times, again and again, as you came back and your new body formed, you were killed again. But you couldn't help but to come back at the same spot again.

>>9852674
What about a selection of penalties that grow worse as you die again and again ?

>>9852748
well, she was held in dead wind keep, so the tortures there put her off her rocker, but made her a good pirate. insane and blood thirsty, but what's a sane pirate anyway. I suppose the soul thing just contributes

>>9852748
Torriaeu must be super crazy by now

>>9852788
please, he's boning death (probably) I doubt he'll ever die

>>9852748

And yet, what of the the Terror of Toroguay, The Red Velvet Prince, famed for sailing back to his home island, some deserted rock only his most trusted officers know, to kill himself every time he manages to go a decade without the Shadow Dance setting him back to the visual age of seventeen, so he never has to see himself grow old?

Say what you will about his legendary debauchery... They say no pirate has embraced the race for hedonistic delights, no matter how dark, as strongly as has he...

...but how does he do it? Is he as mad as old lady Flint?

>>9852837
Mayhaps there's ways to lessen the pain. Maybe he deals with the pain, his vanity over-riding minor concerns like pain. Maybe he's mad and soul-shattered. Only death and the devil know for keeps, and I hope not to be able to ever ask either of them.

>>9852748

Also, the spot you re-grow at was defined as "The closest flat, dry, and SAFE place to your place of birth."

So, hopefully, no killin' over and over... plus, growing a new body and leaving your shadow might be a conscious decision, albeit one with rather strong metaphysical urges behind it.

>>9852874
'tis greed, son. the greed is what keeps propelling pirates into the sea. Pain is nothing, death is nothing, when you know there's treasure at the end, in any form!

also, just throwing it out there, the actual act of dieing would hurt like a bitch, takes you years to get back to your homeland, by that time your crew has long forgotten you. that should be enough incentive not to die

>>9852881
True that.

Also, for more violence, etc, Killing a legend should place you as a potential new legend, and that's something everyone is after.

>>9852929

Plenty of lost time?

I like that one.

It also means that when you DO discorporate the Deathless, you have a bit of breathing room before they have any opportunity of seeking revenge.

So... to shadows just travel really sloooooowly, or do they actually disappear for a time or something?

...Then again, even if they only travel at a normal walking pace, goddamn. It would take you a longass time to walk across an ocean, especially if, say, you could only move during the day.

>>9852964

It also solves a potential metagaming issue I'd been thinking of...

What we've got here is a setting where TPKs can potentially be ok... everyone gets back together after they're alive, and get rolling again. But the problem is single deaths... I worry about people strategically positioning their places of birth, shit like that.

With a "lost time is the price of death" scenario, theres a convenient explanation for why individual deaths couldn't be allowed to interrupt the story, and why players of such characters should make new ones. Sure, their old characters are eventually going to be alive again, but in the mean time, the ship is still up and the rest of the crew is still alive, and they must press on, so no stupid "we go pick him up even though it makes no sense" scenarios.

>>9852964
how about as a shade, their true form is shown (meaning if you've died a billion times, you'll be really broken and slow). If you're a thousand year old bastard whose kicked the bucket a good few times prior, it'll take you a while to drag your soggy bones back to your birthplace. The Wandering of the Shades is a tedious and dreadful march.

this reminds me too much of the WoW death
oh god

>>9853050

Hmmm. Unfortunate.

I hadn't thought of that.

Suggestions for refluffing while keeping the same basic mechanic certainly welcome.

>>9853076
perhaps you need to wait for your body to become part of the earth
so you sit, scrunched up in a lifeless husk, until it's entirely gone and then you can return, with haste, to your birth place still the same amount of time, less wandering
this would present a few problems, though, like burning

woah a 2 hour game of sc2...
i'm beat.
>>9853076
before i go, eh, have them loose who they are?
like, they remember it, but nobody recognises them as if they had never existed in the first place, memorys, the same, family/friends, gone.

>>9853159
well, this goes against a few of the stories we've written so far
when they die, their legacy is remembered

>>9853159
>>9853199

Yeah that just won't work, and also doesn't even really address the "oh, hey, this death feels like WoW" thing.

Then again, I've only ever seen WoW death once. Is this guy's worry >>9853050 accurate?

>>9853224
you become a ghost and walk (over water and stuff) back from a graveyard to your body. there's a radius around your body where you can reborn, so you could spawn in a safe place instead of being camped by NPCs.

>>9853199
there are deathless pirates, i doubt they all have the same name, sure a pirate done something once, sure its written down, sure everyone knows it, your just not that pirate, i knew him, your not him.

or... the legend is remembered, people just couldnt remember the name of the guy they saw doing it, so when you come back in a nwe body and they just slapped a name on the legend...

>>9853284
it still doesn't catch me
I think we should keep the wandering thing, regardless of it's similarities.

>>9853325
k
i'm tired, so just to clarify, this isnt walking to the middle of the ocean to ressurect at the bottom of it is it?
what happens when your corpse is eaten by a shark?
or your so far away?

>>9853352
oh, actually, how about your other body must be entirely gone from the world for your new body to grow? and bonny flint actually got her corpse burnt to get out of the keep.

>>9853352
naw, your soul just leaves the body behind and moves back to your birth place to be reborn

(bump)

I'm ok with this

>>9853541
oh thank god...

and soul you say? i can see some shennanigans off of this.

>>9853680
well, you turn into a shade of sorts
and with no death to drag to your final resting place, you are drawn back to where you were born to be born once again

bump

>>9852748

It's even worse when you realize she had to trick the Trick by being as mad as she was to keep from being reborn on tha' 'cursed isle again.

>>9852837

Maybe have something where if done right you can change your birthplace slightly

And truthfully neckbeard I don't think it's too wow-like, hell a whole ship going down could ad to some of the mystery such as tales about why The Dutchman is always surrounded by fog.

>>9853995
the dutchmen?
nah, that's just stuff 'o legends, boy.
as for ol' Miss Boney, she dragged 'er shade back to where she was born. probably a back water fishing town, 'er somethin'. A pirate's place o' birth is usually their best kept secret.

>>9854043
A backwater fishing village? Mad Bonny, but if that's where she was born, how did the crusaders catch her again, after her first death, I know of lesser prisons that send a man off th' sea, surely there's not a person alive or deathless who'd willingly return to Deadwind.

>>9854082
why, you think she would stay low after her first death? Nay! she got right back out there and the price on her head, alive, was enough to buy half the known! my, there were pirates paid pirates who hunted pirates who wanted to get her in. An unlucky fleet of crusaders caught her one day and shipped 'er off.

>>9854127
O'course she's mad, but I only thought that was after her tenth death.

>>9854216
she's always been a wonky one, lad
makes the best pirates, it does

arggg

bumpin for more arrrrrr

>>9854722
arrrrrr

bump
come on, where did all the writefags go?

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand bumpin again
just keepin her alive

so... anyone have any ideas for a crusader port city?

>>9855246
let's see
a shining city, maybe
but it needs to make a point about it having a graveyard

>>9855319
Every home has its own grave plot, even empty ones. Most of the empty ones are promised to a Crusader as part of their payment, and upon death that Crusader WILL be buried there. Homes can be passed down.

Sorry if this conflicts with anything pre-established, I was just recently made aware of this project and want to help because holy shit this is great.

>>9845733
let's refer back to here
the crusader port will be named "Haverland"
Haven for mortals

>>9855369
welcome aboard!
and, yea, I like that. of course, they may not bury their dead. A reason for expansion was a great increase in population. They most likely burn their dead.

>>9855369
welcome, you kinda missed todays thread, since its like 5am here and im just headin to bed, gn has been gone for hours, and the non trippers have been gone for a long time.
>>9855494
hang on, i like the idea of buryal, if we twist this a little to make your retrieved corpse still hanging around for awhile or something, and then add in some lol magic, we can have pirates who have tryed joining hte church being retrieved before they can revive and waking up burryed... or something

>>9855617
>>9855494
Thanks!

Maybe the city could be sort of built on the corpses and skeletons of previous inhabitants/heroes/whatever. You could even have a legend that if it's ever in true danger, the ghost of every dead Crusader down to the first will rise up to protect it, and depending on how magical it is, that may in fact be true.

>>9855400
"Good Haverland, ye say... 'Ave I ev'r been? Ha, nought 'til they drag me soggy bones there! Well, aint much good 'bout it, 'nyways. A port fer nought, but cow'rds, ev'n before Ol' Torriaeu's trick. Scrape meh sidewar's if a single cap'n in them murky wat'rs ev'r did a lick o' honest piratin' in ther life. Aye, boy, Aye. A pool lot, ye might thin', but they git ther kicks. Crusaders, they are, jus' fancy laym'n's terms fur a pirate 'unter. They don' like Tha Oath, ye'see, they say it 'unnatural' 'nd 'unholy', ha! Tell meh, boy, look out a'tha horizon ther... Look out a'tha ships 'nd islands 'nd tell me th's world aint mean' fur pirate! 'Tis only fair we git ta sail these seas forevuh. 'Nyway, they take'un good, hon'st pirates 'nd takin' 'em to Fort Cross 'er Dead Wind keep, I told yer 'bout Fort Cross 'nd Dead Wind Keep, roight? Aye, aye, like I s'd, scoundrels, e'ery one o' 'em."

>>9855697
awesome

>>9855697
a chilling tale, to say the least
bravo

LIIIIVE

so we're basically waiting for GN to wake up
he keeps us together

shameless bump

this bump is full of shame, though

how's this look?

>>9857377
Too fuzzy. It'd be better like an actual map with landmarks and sea monsters, things like that.

>>9857421
well, I could make a map at one point, but I think that sort of defeats the purpose of "Endless Isles"
the islands are supposed to be so dense, they're unchartable, and all yo have is a heading to try and get to where you're going. We have places and pirates of interest, I don't see why we need to map out exactly where they are, leave that to the DM

>>9857505
Well, not an actual official map for the logo, just something that would look like one. I didn't know the islands were SUPPOSED to be that dense, though, so it's good to know.

>>9857596
I believe it was first described as "labrynthine"
what do you think of gold?

>>9857745
Too silly/gaudy. Yellowed, maybe, but not gold. If you want gold, throw doubloons in there.

how's this?

>>9858025
Much better, I think it's doable. The brownish color suits the feel more than blue, I think.

a different more clothy and small style

>>9858407
unfortunately, you sort of lose the islands in this version

>>9858522
Agreed, is there a way to keep what it does to the text without affecting the background as much?

>>9858573
how about this?

>>9858758
See, that? That works.

>>9858867
awesome, glad you like it
I think I'll crop it up a bit, though
alright, this good?

>>9858929
That's just fine too.

Of course, other people have to have an opinion on these right?

hey, this looks interesting. Can anyone explain it fully?

>>9859012
it's nothing super official
I'm glad to have at least someone critique my art
some of those ausies will get on eventually
I forget whether it's monday or sunday there.

>>9859038
so there's this world, right, filled with islands! islands coming out of your mother fucking ears, you know. then throw in a shit ton of pirates, a pinch of good guys, and averything that comes with it. shake well and BAM! that's what's happening in this thread. for more specific explanations, read the wiki article:
http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Endless_Isles
and the previous thread
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/9832207/
feel free to contribute

bump

So I've skimmed through some of the stuff and I just can't work out how the whole immortal pirate thing works.

So they cheat death somehow. Then whenever they die, they respawn somewhere safe. Okay. But what's stopping everyone from doing the same?

Eyeless Birkke
a blind pirate

>>9859847
well, that's what we were debating earlier
1) some people have an ethical opposition to immortality
2) immortality only applies if you're a pirate. It isn't a method of running from death, for a pirate, death is inevitable. Whatever deal Two-Dagger struck with death, he made clear that it should noyl apply to pirates.
3) immortality hurts like a bitch. regrowing a body not only takes time, but it's a horrible pain. and dieing tends to hurt as well.

of course, this doesn't stop most people from turning the pirate's way. that's why pirates are so prevalent.

>>9859847
nothing really, in fact it was kinda pointed out towards the start that there's a reason the name is Endless Isles... they are just that.

>>9860075
And remember dying too much plus places like Dead Wind tend to make you go wonky...er than usual.

>>9860075
I like that it only applies to pirates
that makes sense, actually, and doesn't seem too "last minute loop whole fill"

>>9859880
what about him?

>>9860273
he raided the Remly Stronghold with a handful of pirates and walked out the front door with as much loot as he could carry. His faithful hound, Barley, led the way back to his ship.

>>9860316
you just made up those names, right?

>>9860400
right out of my head
just throwing out more ideas
that's what this thread needs
more pirates and places and myths and legends

>>9860417
bump for ideas

>>9860698
Lad you can't play a fiddle that small.

>>9860828
that's the worlds smallest violin, son
people play it all the time

THIS IS AN OPEN QUESTION TO ANYONE THAT SEES THIS POST.

Do you have a pirate idea just waiting to pour onto the page? are you an under appreciated drawfag looking to test your talents? do you write like the wind, but can never find enough to write about?

well, this is the thread for you. Endless Isles is just that, endless possibility! So hop aboard, me' hearties, and share your talent.

>>9861176
it seems we've fallen pretty far :(

Urgh. Ten hours? I must have had some serious sleep debt from the work week.

Let's see if I can't answer a few questions and spin a few tales!

bump
we need ideas!

>>9857745
>>9857596

Actually, part of the premise is that the islands aren't very dense at all, requiring travel by true ocean vessel in order for basic commerce and agriculture to even function.

That, combined with removing the permanency of death, is the key, the catylist needed to create a world where piracy is practically the most common profession.

Now, of course, there will be your archipelagos and your lagoons and areas where theyre closer together and further apart and bigger or smaller, but the key is that there's no one area or place where there's enough land or close enough islands that they can peek much above the subsistence level without ocean travel.

>>9861497
hey :D
glad to see you're back
made up a new graphic, not entirely different from the other one, and some ideas tossed around
not much else went by
oh, and we'll want to start a new thread soon

>>9858929

Also, I like the new font!

Sometime I think I may bust out illustrator or Corel and see if I can't calligraphy us up something custom, though. Maybe tonight, if I get the urge!

>>9861626
I actually downloaded a font pack
200 more bloody fonts and that's the best I could get.

>>9859847

Well it's quite simple... absolutely nothing stops anyone from taking the Oath, except many a wary parent's admonisments.

"Listen not to the sea, boy. Leave the Game to the bloodthirsty lifeless curs. This is your home, OUR home, and believe me, eternal Deathlessness isn't as nice as it sounds... I should know."

"Yeah, you should know! How can you expect me to stay here all my life, turn the earth, and just toil at the mercy of the sea dogs for sixty years before being put right back into that same earth myself, when you're Deathless yourself! I want to see the world, I want to..."

"Shut it boy! We've all made our mistakes, learn from mine and DO NOT TAKE THE OATH!"

...so, yeah, the majority of the world is immortal, especially anyone involved in sea travel, though there's no shortage of people unwilling to accept immortality for whatever reasons, but its always dangling right there for anyone to take.

That's why a society of "pirates, fucking everywhere man" can survive and flourish.

>>9861594

Yeah, think I'll start that new thread here in a little while if no one else does. Outline a few of the trickier concepts early in the thread so we can avoid some of the confusion that's cropping up now that the ideas are growing.

>>9861779
right, right
I wonder what sort of society revolves around immortal people, though

>>9862035

The sort that has no compunctions against a rather lot of fighting over the necessary components for hedonism!

Do you want a exciting and enjoyable eternity? Go out there and take it.

>>9862112
awesome
this is coming together really well, thanks for everything

I wonder what kind of mythical beasts roam the waters
anyone have any salty pirate tales of horrors layin' about?
somehow I doubt it, I'll think of something.

>>9862370
something like "bla bla bla, the last of his kind!"
he roams the waters, waiting for poor ships to wander out into open water. He's been known to swallow islands whole.

>>9862497
there is probably an elemental host of creatures
omg what if there is a horror that devours shades
that could be what they're keeping locked up in Fort Cross

>>9862575

That'd make a fine rumor of what goes on in there to contrast with the "They ritually burn you alive while surrounded by candles and torches, so you have NO SHADOW, inside or out" one.

>>9862575
"oft' when the mood is right, the sour wind plays just the right tune off the rocks and portent tellers herd their loved ones inside, you will hear the moaning of a beast. From the creature's acrid belly, the cries of sailors dead, a thousand times over, pour out through the night's mist. This is when the monster comes. From the darkest corner of the deepest rift, it rises to pray on men. It moves with the same fluid motion of the sea, herself, and is every bit as remorseless. There's nothing you can do, neither. For once the moaning chances your ears, ye best be sayin' your final prayers."

>>9862717
all l could think while reading this was "Here there be monsters"

>>9862766
fitting

"Well, I 'eard they gotta creature up in them 'ills. A monstroci'y, who prays on tha shades o'us pirates. they 'ave 'im locked down ter tha floor' but all that chains 'n anchors from 'ere ta 'Averland could'n hold 'im down. Death's lawle's mutt, run of, they say. But who'r they ter be talkin' bout 'im 'nyway. There has yet ta be a pirate to escape fro' Fort Cross. Ye c'n talk all ye want 'bout torches 'nd creatures, but I don' believe a lick o'it till a good hon'st pirate springs Fort Cross 'nd spins us a yarn. Un'til then, ye can count me ta stay away frum tha' place, you should too."

>>9862717
>>9863152

Rad.

Also, cleaned up the Red Velvet Prince and added him to the wiki:

"Also called the Terror of Toroguay and Cruel-Lipped Karl, they say no pirate has embraced the race for hedonistic delights, no matter how dark, as strongly as has he. They say he considers his own heart-breaking face, smooth, pale, and fine-boned as any débutante, to be his greatest treasure of all.

So far as any Deathless can remember, he's never been seen to appear over thirty; they say he sails back to his home island, some deserted rock only his most trusted officers know, to kill himself every time he manages to go a decade without the Shadow Dance setting him back to the visual age of seventeen, so he never has to see himself grow old."

Go to bed at 1am
Wake up at lunch
Pirate thread *still* going.

FUCK YEAH!

S-S-S-STORY BUMP!

Now there once was a young pirate by the name of Reggie Two Hands, and he wasn't interested in anything but glory fast and now. He never fled from any fight, almost had himself locked up in Deadwind once, but managed to jump overboard and died swimming back to his ship.

He searched for all the greatest names, and though he was a mean hand with his odd sword he won from a Horizon Reacher from another core, he wasn't skilled enough to beat them. Fought against First Mate Jack "Ages", Mad Bonny, Tom Gattling, Black Jimmy. Even personally lost a brawl with Torriaeu in a Liousport bar. Was seen as a joke, and was shadowed more then his fair share. But then he fought the Beast of the Western Dire Straight, a giant shark, larger then some islands. Sword drawn he ordered his ship forwards into the maw, so he could do battle. The surge from the beast left him holding onto the prow of the ship for dear life as the beast approached.

>>9865887
The beast nipped at the front of the ship - leaving only his two hands gripping tight, the rest of Reggie was gone. As the beast was wont to do, it slammed the boat with it's side, rolling as it did so, causing disorder and chaos on the boat. Leaderless, and mostly being a pack of scurvy dogs, most the crew bailed, save for I, watching from the crows nest, now located in the midst of the rigging. The beast went deep, and I knew any moment it would rise, strike the ship again, and then sink it, as it always had done to ships in these waters.

But it never rose. The good ship Dancing Maiden was crashed onto the reef, and I went ashore, living on hunting and coconuts for 3 days. Just as my food was running low, A whale carcass washed up ashore. No, not a whale, a monstrous behemoth f a whale. On closer inspection, it was no lesser a monster then the Beast we were fighting earlier. And who should I see, eating it calmly, with his thin sword bandaged to one stump, and a dagger bandaged to the other, was Reggie-lad, grinning, calm as can be. "Now, I hear the mate for this one is in the other straight. I hope you looked after my lil' boat, I'd hate to fight it on a raft."

>world made of islands
>pirates everywhere
>sea monsters
Man I fucking LOVE One Piece. Not even trolling.

>>9865887
>>9865902

That's pretty fuck-yeah-licious!

Been honing down a little "quick guide to the essentials" Endless Isles thing that could be used as an introduction for threads.

Think I came up with another archype to go with Pirates, Reachers, and Crusaders:


Gazers – Deathless that decided they'd rather do something else with eternity besides enjoying the myriad rewards of the Grand Game, so called because many of 'em simply shack up in monasteries and gaze at their navels, or so the joke goes. Whether its dedicating their unlife to perfecting the art of stone-stacking, producing the perfect fiddle, or reading every word ever set to parchment, these queer fellows just aren't of the same persuasion as the rest of us Deathless.

'Course, some say they aren't all so boring. Rumor has it somewhere there's a monastery where the arts they're perfectin' are of a more… carnal… nature. Now there's a place I could take some shore leave!

...we dig?

>>9866338
It's what I go for. Writing awesome is easier then writing poetic or deep.

>>9866289
Yeah, this is basically 1 peice but grown up. The concept at the start was more/less the same: PIRATES EVERYWHERE.

>>9866874
I dig it.

What's that, yer sailin' west?

Well, there's somethin' ye should know, then, free o' charge. A place... a place ye ought to avoid.

Old Tommy's Molars they call 'em. You know all the good metal, led for bullets and iron for barrels, comes from the Fringe, aye?

Well, long ago, this *was* the Fringe, and whoo boy did ol' Thompson P Beckman find hisself a whale of a Barony when he sailed out, just that way yer plannin' ta head yerself.

Y'see, t'was a whole archipelago out there, risin' out o' the water like jagged knives... dozens, hundreds of rocks big and small... and each a-one about as solid with iron ore as an island can be, nary a quarter-inch of dirt. Sterile.

>>9867643

Well, now, I don't need ta tell ye what the price o' good virgin iron is, you can just imagine what Tommy saw when he looked at those cold, jagged rocks: not iron at all, but 'twas gold that glittered in his eyes that day.

So he got hisself some poor landlubbers and transported em blinfolded, set up a secret colony, the whole works, put his whole fortune on the line, lookin' ta reap tenfold.

But ol P. Beckman, well, he didn't have much in the wave of scruples. Nigh every landlubber is at the mercy of the folk of the wave ultimately, a'spose, but this... this was a pure slave colony, and then some. Worked em to death, worked their women to death, worked their children to death, and always bringin' more back on the return voyages to wherever he could offload all that iron ore... 'prolly Reekwater, I reckon, since it was all foundries even then.

That is, whenever he made it back. Didn't take long for folks to catch on that there was loot to be had out this far, and, well, the Game was afoot.

Still, in between a few Shadow'd Jigs, he did a fair job of lordin' his turf, keepin' it secret by takin' prisoners of any other pirates that got to close, like a goddamned Crusader madman. Prolly woulda made slaves o' them, too, if the work waren't dangerous enough to offer escape by way o' cheatin' death.

>>9867771

But, well, they say that the Isles and the Deathless are proof that good things don't last, and for Tommy that was true.

He was nearin' the end of his labors, fat and rich, with only one big spire left. He'd leveled every single one of the rest of those rocks to just below the waterline, taking every scrap of iron that could be got... and a good thing, too, for Tommy, as by that point the Fringe had expanded and his competition was fierce. Secrecy would no longer do, and instead he had to rely on the treach'rous field of truncated isles surrounding his final spire as deterrent. Kept the few safe routes through t'himself and none others, no matter how many ships he got.

>>9867850

Finally, the day came when ol' Thompson moved his pers'nal effects back to his ship and ordered the slaves to start digging down that last lonely rock. And just as he was about t'board, a pickaxe from nowhere caught 'im full in the back.

Now, see, at this point, most of Tommy's crew were just as sick of the ol' bastard as anyone, so they simply watched him bleed, gasping for death, as a slave sauntered up, all his hate and rage written across 'is face.

"Did ye really think ye could order us to dig away the very last place to stand while you sail off with our sweat, our blood? To file down one last tooth under our own feet, and then stand here 'till a storm comes to wash us off it?"

>>9867969

That was when the rest of the slaves attacked. Unable to leave without Thomas' direction, the bastards were forced to fight, and a bloody day it was, then.

No one knows what happened to old Tommy. Some say he changed 'is name and plays the Game a-still, others say he's wound up in Deadwind, others that the slaves nursed 'im back to health, against 'is wishes, and keep him there on that last rock still.

But one thing's a-sure. If you spot a spire, stabbing out of the water to the west of here, or hear ghostly work-chanties drifting on the breeze of a moonless night, you give em a wide berth, lest the Iron Molars of Thompson P. Beckman grind yer keel ta bits.

Shit, as usual, forgetting important details, though this one was fairly obvious.

The reason the slaves would keep Tommy alive and on that last spire is so no one could ever know the way to their home.

>>9868057
>>9867969
>>9867850
>>9867771
>>9867643
That's some win right there

>>9868534

glad you approve!

>>9868934
Now not all the deathless ply the waves forever. There was one kid who swore the Final Oath, took to sea under Black Jimmy. Now this was well before he had lost his soul, but he was a hard man nonetheless. This kid got swept up in a mutiny, and swore the oath as he was walking out on the plank. Didn't even wait to be pushed in propperly, but charged back at us - arms bound and everything, a twinkle in his eye, and a curse on his lips. Kid was marked for greatness.

Now next he took to sea, it was with a bunch of crusaders, who were unaware of his true nature. He knew where Jimmy was heading, and it was a days ride from his own home. So via horse and pack they cut across the isle, and found Jimmy a looting and Pillaging the town of Mallarburg. Our young hero, he leads the crusaders in against Jimmy's crew, and there's terrible fighting. That was a day of terrible carnage, and some fearsome fighting. It came to be that our young hero was face to face with Black Jimmy, and dancing the swords with him. Our kid had Black Jimmy on the disadvantage, was a natural with a blade in hand, and more at home with two.

>>9869190
Black Jimmy though, wasn't one to go without a fight. A ring of the crusaders had surrounded them and Black Jimmy saw his chance. "This young lad's one of me old crew. Young Wild Kid here, nasty with a blade, and a wicked eye with the pistol. He's Deathless, and I know how you hate that." Our hero was distracted, looked back to see his comrade's reactions and was skewered through.

Stumbling back with Black Jimmy's sword in his side, young Kid tripped, fell up against Black Jimmy and pinned him to the wall. "It's the Keep for us I'm afraid. Deadwind. But I don't think I'll survive the trip." Black Jimmy grabbed for his sword, but the crusaders had already pinned him down. Kid's last words were "Such is life." Well, until two days later when he was back home, settling down for the quiet life. He wasn't going to get it though.

this is good, this is good
I think this thread is autosaging, though

>279 posts and 28 image replies omitted. Click Reply to view.
well pretty damn near close, anyway
and, GN, don't forget the gold barons

>>9869190
>>9869353

I can dig it!

>>9869567

Still a little hazy on Gold Barons. Are they exclusively landlubbers that've fortified the hell out of gold-producing islands, forcing pirates to trade fairly or raid with little hope? Or do Sea Barons controlling gold-producing islands count too?

I kinda feel like ______ Baron should be applicable to anyone who'se dominated an area or commodity and is defending it fiercely.

>>9869567
>>9869993

How's this?

Barons – Well, you already know a Sea Baron is a successful pirate with turf that's been his long enough fer people to think twice about violatin' it. But those ain't the only sort a' Barons about… Landlubbers ain't always just poor dirt-tillin' fools, you know. Sometimes, one stumbles on true wealth, and is either already rich enough, or smart enough to figure out how to defend it and force any Folk of the Wave who want their goods to either play nice and trade fairly, or face the fight of their lives.

Typically these are named after the source o' their wealth… but due to how compact, valuable, and easy-to-defend a resource it is, Gold Barons are among the most famous and successful, and the few successful (and some of the unsuccessful) raids on Gold Baron fortresses tend to be the stuff a' legends.

>>9870479
Sounds pretty excellent to me. You know what, with islands everywhere, and ships in demand, good wood would be in demand some.

>>9870518

Quite a heavy demand.

Wood is a lot harder to defend, though. Takes up so much space, good sources of wood are doubtlessly bigass new islands found on the Fringe.

So, while a Timber Baron or two would be awesome, they're probably not common.

>>9870544
True. But if we want PIRATES EVERYWHERE there should be a lot of boats around. So we need to make sure there's good wood available at the core too.

>>9870647

Well, there's also Grinning Alejandro, the mad shipbroker.

No one knows where he gets all those ships and can sell them so ludicrously cheap, or why they so often smell strongly of seaweed and sometimes turn up barnacles in the oddest of places... like little nooks *inside the cabins, above the waterline.*

Alejandro and his crew just smile and hedge. "professional secrets, mate!" None of 'em will talk.

Especially their blood-shaman, the tall one... since 'is lips is sewed shut. Sometimes I get the feeling Alejandro is almost as scared of that towering, distant mystery as am I.

>>9870745
God, why does this intruge me more then Deadwind Keep and the Cross Fort combined?

>>9871627

Probably just the format.

A good mystery-hook focuses on what you DON'T know. The writefagging about both those places, while very good especially from a development standpoint, tends to focus more on details stated rather than hinted... and in one case, even outlines an answer to the central mystery without offering alternatives.

To me, that's rule number one of mysteries: if you're provide a potential answer that fits all the clues, you can't let it be the *only one.* Mysteries are all about letting people's imaginations fill in the blanks, so if you give answers at all they either have to not quite fit, or there has to be multiples of them, so the audience's mind sees middle ground or further conclusions to jump to.

thread is alive! WOO!
about the gold barons, I had originally meant it to mean anyone who had stumbled across an island that produced for them a large fortune. this could be a diamond mine or gold vein or any number of valuable things. Often these men are reachers, who have the time and resources to fortify their islands.

ok, well
not entirely alive

ok, we're autosaging now

I'll be making a new thread then

>>9878368
linky?

>>9878951
writing it up now
I'm going to sum it up in the first thread so that we don't get the confusion we got in this thread

>>9879138
to the new thread