The World of Acqua

#41

Hey Cap. What about creating dissident Jovian Priests, Jovian Cults, Jovian Knightly Orders, Jovian Warrior Monks and the like?

I am contemplating doing the same for the Ulmanians.

The World of Acqua

#42

Good idea,AG.I would like it if you added some Jovians. Btw, the Jovians are closely linked to the De Madden Company at the highest level.The De Madden attitude to religion is "If it is not against us, it is with us."

The Jovians

#43

The Jovians, or the Illustrious Messengers of the Sky Father, as they are officially known, are the priests and religious community dedicated to the spreading of the worship of Jove, the Sky Father, the Red Lord, the Great Judge, the Great Eye, the Thunderer, the Vengeful One, Bestower of Blessings, Giver of Punishments.

Jove is the Great Lord of the Sky, and in Acquan mythology, is presented as the father of the world of Acqua. In the dualism of the Divine Couple, Jove contrasts his former lover, Ulmania, in representing the "negative" aspects of the world (though the word "negative" is to highly-charged with connotation to represent the actual concept)- darkness, night-time, emotion, extremes, great heat, the sky, wild animals, and death.
He is a strict, judgemental god, vengeful in his character, who demands great obedience and strict standards of behavior from his followers, whereby his title the Great Judge. He is regarded as a constantly watching (as the Great Eye) and judging god, who keeps long tallies of all of mankind's evils and sins. At one's death, Jove calls the soul to him, and passes judgement over the dead. If the soul's karmic balance is judged to be positive, the soul passes on to Isles of the Blessed in the Sanctuary Sea, where Ulmania dwells. If the soul's karmic balance is judged to be negative, the soul is torn apart by Khuber, the Great Hound of Jove, and is then spat out into the watery realm of Hell, which lies at the utmost bottom of Acqua's oceans. But most often, the soul's balance is neither overwhelmingly positive nor overwhelmingly negative- the soul is flung by Jove to the far, grey reaches of the sky, beyond the stars, where the soul drifts boringly and without personality for all eternity through Takhol, the Realm of the Dead.
Jove is also presented as an angry and vengeful god (especially by the Tulukhai Clan, a fanatical extremist Jovian sect)- the Jovians relate often the tale of the birth of Acqua, though it is tempered in that Jove is angered by Acqua because Acqua is a homosexual (something the Jovian sect declares an abomination). Thus, Jove wishes to destroy Acqua, and all humanity, for beings born of Acqua are tainted with Acqua's sins, as well as their own evil. Most Jovian ceremonies and rituals (including their main festival, Apang-Ma-Takha, Aversion of Judgement) are concerned with the abasement of beings before Jove and the aversion of his wrath and judgement upon the world. Jovian ceremonies always feature fire, and the burning of sacrafices and incense. Symbols of all the various aspects of Jove- Great Judge, Great Eye, Red Lord of Fire, Sky Father, and all the 1600 others- are represented in silk banners. Ceremonies tend to be grandiose in scale- Jove enjoys things which he sees as grand and reflective of his greatness.

Jovian temples are constructed in the form of towers or ziggurats (step-pyramids) to better elevate prayers toward the sky. As Jove is constantly visible in the sky, most temples prefer to have an open skylight, and balconies for observation of his glory. The color scheme of such temples is overwhelmingly red, and tends to be very simple, elegantly sparse, and even spartan, in contrast to the elaborate, sculpture-encrusted, and baroque temples of Ulmania. The top of a Jovian temple generally contains a Flame of Remission, a flaming altar that is kept constantly burning.

Jovian Clans
The Clans Ecclesiastical: (to be completed)
The Clans Militant: (to be completed)
The Clans Recluse: (to be completed)
The Clans Heretic: (to be completed)

The World of Acqua

#44

The Titan of BangeTar

Standing guard over the northern harbor of banhoesea, called Kitae-Minot in the common dialect, are the ruins of the ancient Titan of BangeTar. The ancient statue was built to commemorate the victory of Man over the Shura, driving them into the sea.
The statue was a likeness of the Tamitur Shogunate ,with great amethyst eyes. Fires in the top of the statue appeared to give the Shogun glowing eyes and a crown of fire. For generations the statue lit the way for travelers entering the rocky shoals of Kitae-Minot.
The statue was cast down in the year of the lily when pirates sacked the port.
Today all that remains are the eroded stone legs of the ancient ruler. Even the iron pins holding together the massive stone blocks have been stolen for other projects. Thus the mighty Tamitur once called the "Shark King" is cast into the sea, forgotten to all but his enemies.

The World of Acqua

#45

I would expect the Banhoesea goverment is planning to sell the space where the statue used to stand to some property developer for a lot of money,and has just not got around to it yet.

Feeding the Kraken.

#46

The islanders on Kossier Island are now rich and generally happy. They trade amythest and many other objects with the islands to the west of their island, and have recently signed a treaty with the De Madden Company enabling them to do so without the worry of any interference, as long as they stay within a certain distance from Banhoesea. They now have a small navy of their own, but their islands most potent defense is the great Kraken who protects it.It used to be that the Kraken was happy with the odd lump of amythest, dropped into the water above him, but then he began to demand one maiden every sixty days, as well.

They have so far produced the maidens in a number of ways. Any maiden who committs murder or treason,and any married maiden who cheats on her husband and is found out,can be fed to the Kraken.Shipwrecked females can also suffer this fate.Most maidens refrain from committing death penalty offenses and even allowing for Acqua's dangerous oceans, shipwrecks are not common as they have a lighthouse, Too many shipwrecks would damage their trading links.

For a time they resorted to kiddnapping maidens from nearby islands, but after they were found out and a small war happened in which the Kraken had to get involved, the Kraken itself banned further kiddnaps. So they have done deals with other islands to send them their worst female convicts and also by maidens from slavers who visit once a year. Lastly, and very rarely, a suicidal maiden may very rarely volunteer to die in this way.

Two days before the selected maiden is due to die, she is dressed in beautiful gold and silver jewelry and a crown set with emeralds is placed upon her head. She is fed well and treated in many ways like a queen,but three guards with clubs watch her at all times to prevent her from escaping.
People bring her the finest foods, whilst others ask her to take messages to those in the other world.

After two days she is stripped of her jewels, by force if need be, her hands are tied behind her back, and the public executioners place her in a boat that has been painted black. A priest of Ulmania or Jove, depending on her faith, prays with her if she wants to pray, as she is rowed out to where the Kraken lies in wait for her,and then she is thrown into the sea by the public executioners, where a tentacle pulls her underwater to her death. Large numbers of people gather on the shore to watch the spectacle.

The Heathens of Ulmania

#47

The Heathens of Ulmania refer to themselves as the Practioniers of the true Faith and are one of the most despised, feared and hated cults on the planet. There are thought to be not more between 30 to 40 members of this cult,about half of which are female. They kiddnap Jovian worshippers and on occasion,Jovian Priests, and they then try for six months to brainwash them, often using torture, to get them to worship Ulmania and join them.Those who refuse, are murdered, their throats slashed from ear to ear and their bodies weighted down and dropped into the sea,so that their victems are denied even the proper funeral rites. They are thought to have murdered hundereds of people in this way,stealing their money.What they do goes against everything that the Goddess Ulmania stands for,and so the Ulmanians hate them as much as the Jovians do.

The One Who Must Scream For all Eternity

#48

When the God Jove came into existence,he created the order of angelic beings known as the Ashervati to help him rule over all creation. Beautiful beings of pure light,the Ashervati were the most regal and magnificent of Jove's creation, molded from the very rays that emanated from the Great Lord of the Sky.

Among them,one soon rose quickly to become the most beloved of Jove. Sargash or 'Beautiful Light in the Heavens' was the youngest of the ten Ashervati brought into existence by the Sky Father. Despite this,he soon won himself a special place in the otherwise stern and unyielding heart of Jove ,with his earnest dedication to help his divine master create an ideal world. Unlike his older and more tranquil brothers,the blood of young Sargas was easy to excite. The passion flowed strong in him and the great Jove was touched that Sargas believed so deeply in his grand experiment of creation. The other Ashervati merely carried out his bidding like the loyal servants they were,but Sargash actually dreamed ....

Ironic then,that the same passion which won Sargash the favour of the Great Sky Father,would utimately cause his down fall. But perhaps,no shock to those who realize and accept the other aspect of Jove,that of the stern Great Judge and Bestower of Punishments,the stern and unforgiving master who can forgive no transgession,even the slightest. As cold and ruthless as the waters of the ocean is Jove when he wears that mantle of vengeance and punishment.

Thus it was,that when Jove discovered the rephrensible homosexual nature of his Son Acqua,he cursed him for bringing such dishonor upon his father and swore that he would have nothing to do with him again. Never would Acqua's safety be guaranteed,for Jove would not hesitate to smite him into nothingness were he to commit sin again. And the same watchful,unforgiving eye would be turned upon the children of Acqua,for it was inconceivable that they not inherit the sin that had stained the soul of their father.

Appalled and furious was the compassionate Sargash when word of Jove's decision to ostracize his own flesh and blood reached his ears. Acqua had been his dear friend. Ignoring the prudent counsel of his brothers who warned him not to question that which Jove in his infallible wisdom,had decreed,he strode into the Hall of the Sky where the great Sky Father resided,to demonstrate his angry disapproval of what had been done to his friend.

Heedless of the terrible anger that darkened Jove's face at this intrusion ,he lambasted the Red Lord for his inability to mingle his cruel justice with mercy. Mercy that was more important in a God than justice,for without mercy how does a God differ from any petty lower being that would kill others of its own kind for even the most petty infringement of inflexible,rigid laws?

Enraged by this blasmepheous comparision,Jove grabbed Sargas by the scruff of his neck and flung him into the absolute dark depths of the oceans where only the fearsome levethians of terror known as the G'Thrann dwell,declaring that for daring to accuse the Great Judge himself,Sargash would never be welcome at the doors of the Sky realm again.

And in the black,icy depths of his place of exile,Sargash grew bitter. Cursing Jove as a tyrant,he swore that he would show himself more worthy than the intolerant and haughty Great Judge of,ruling the hearts and minds of thinking beings. Spurning the blind,fanatical world of dogma that Jove would impose on mortal kind,he would build his own realm,one free of guilt and sin. There mortal kind would have to fear no divine wrath,ruled only by their own conscience.

With this in mind,he used his powerful gifts to bring forth a most magnificent city into existence at the bottom of the ocean. This would be where his alternate vision would blossom. Or so he imagined.

Unknown to him,the emergance of this abberation in their domain had not gone unnoticed by the G'Thrann. Uttering angry cries,they emerged from their dark lairs and wiped out the city utterly,in the process crushing the seeds of Sargash's plan.

Unable to stop them,the Ashervati could only look on in impotent rage from the crevice that concealed him from the abominations,as they went about their dreadful work. When there was finally nothing left to destroy,they departed leaving huge devastation in their wake.

Gnashing his teeth in rage,Sargahs decided then and there,that the insult done to him by the hulking monsters would not go unpunished.

Soaring out of the ocean depths with a stroke of his powerful wings,he flew towards the peak of the great fire mountain Thurang. There,hovering just above the crater that seethed with lava and molten rock,he spread his arms wide and begin to cast a powerful spell. If all went well,he would soon be a vast monster ten times the size of the largest G'Thrann there was. Then he would return to the ocean depths to inflict his bloody vengance on the accursed brutes.

He had not reckoned on the ever watchful Eye of Jove,however. Angered that Sargash had returned from his exile to the ocean depths,the Red Lord was nevertheless puzzled by Sargash's purpose in coming to the fire mountain Thurang and decided to observe him to divine the fallen Ashervati's purpose.

His question was answered when the first grotesque physical changes started to come upon Sargash. Realizing swiftly that if he did nothing to halt Saragash's transformation,a monstrous threat would be unleashed into the world,he summoned the tiniest portion of his power and blasted Sargash with a counter spell.

Even that little exertion on the part of Jove was enough to to send Sargash reeling. Stunned,he toppled from the sky into the burning crater directly below him,a hideous mix of monster and angel.

Then with a mere flick of his hand,Jove sealed the lips of the crater,imprisoning Sargash in that burning prison for all eternity.

To this day,Sargash remains the prisoner of scorching Thurang,the smouldering inner fires in the bowels of the fire mountain eating into his malformed flesh. His loud screams of agony and torture reverberate for miles,causing any ship within miles to tremble violently,as if hit by a gale or storm. For this reason,many mariners avoid the waters surrounding Thurang,convinced that to sail into them would be to tempt the powerful evil that lies imprisoned in Thurang's smouldering embrace. Only when the G'Thrann forgive the fallen Ashverati,will those waters be safe they say.

The Isle of Arsonists

#49

The Isle of Arsonists, fifty miles from Banhoesea, is where all of the arsonists are sent. It is blackened and scorched from the many fires that are set by the gibbering insane, and full of the blackened stumps of trees.
Often smoke is seen rising from it, and most captians order their crews to stay far from it. Yet it has plant life of a kind...rich green grass grows in the winter, along with certain grape vines that only grow in a scorched area.So in the winter when rains make burning almost impossible the arsonists enjoy sweet purple grapes.

In the summer finding food is a major problem.Some manage to eat lobsters that they catch in lobster pots, some eat rasins, some kill and eat each other and some end up starving to death. Very rarely, some ship's captain might take pity on them and give them some food.

There is a serious risk of being caught up,when the grass dries, in the fires set by the lunatics, and burnt alive before being eaten.That is the most dangerous time of the year.The arsonists are put ashore with only one set of clothing,so even if it avoids being burnt, after a few weeks it smells and looks disgusting.Many have wounds or pink scars from small, non-fatal burns.The sane hate the lunatics with a passion but are grossly outnumbered.

At the highest part of the island,where flames cannot reach, is a small clay ziggurat sacred to Jove, which is on the top of a dormant volcano, so there is allways a fire burning within it.Both the sane and the mad respect this holy place and will not do anything to damage it.

The arsonists must sleep in the open air,without bedding, in all weathers, since the lunatics burnt down the huts that had been built for them and the fires spread to the huts of the sane.

The Black Tide

#50

Twenty leagues off the west coast of Kossier island,lies a scattered chain of four small islands that lie just outside the zone of Big Red's influence. Totally devoid of Amethyst,they are of absolutely no interest to the garangutan Kraken,but are neverthless blessed in their own way,being lush and verdant. Many of the spices that grace the tables of Banhoesea and the comely,dark haired female slaves that are so prized by the harems of it's nobility,hail from the vast plantations and slave markets repectively that the DeMadden Company owns and runs with the aid of prominent tribal chieftains of the native Tuvalatu tribe.

Contrary to what one expects,the Company has a barely noticable presence on the islands,apart from a token force that resides in a little fort they erected half a century ago in the scrub jungles of the main island's interior. As far as the Company high officials are concerned,posting a significant detachment of soldiers would be a meaningless waste of money and manpower,given the complete absence of any threats to the Company's hold over the islands. The natives are servile and meek,choosing to declare themselves under the protection of the Company in return for a handsome cut of the profits made from the booming spice trade,ruling out any likelihood of a native revolt taking place in the near future. As for that bloated brute Big Red, as the high officials scornfully refer to the rapacious Kraken,he would not wish to go to war with powerful DeMadden Company over a bunch of islands that have nothing to offer him. Even his most rabid warriors understand that and would never dare to launch a raid on any costal villages to grab vestal maidens to sate the voracious apetite of their master. Thus it is,that the only times that the men of the Company actually get to see the islands,is the once annual visit that a high official makes in order to commemorate and reknew the pledge of allegiance the islanders have made to the DeMadden Company.

There,in the smoky taverns and brothels,they hear strange tales of the Black Tide. The natives who worship Ulmania under her various names,often appeal to her as the Godess Protectress,willingg with to shield them from the ravages of this great evil that descends on their shores once every 60 years. Mere superstion to the skeptical sea-men that hear these hushed tales only to scoff at them, but even they, when seeing the expression of dread on the face of the story teller and his feverent prayers to Ulmania that the Black Tide leave his loved ones alone,find themselves wondering if there is indeed some basis behind the the story of the Black Tide.

They come in the dead of night,vast hordes of black wriggling things slithering out of the sea to smother the silver sands of the shore for miles around like some fell tide of malignant evil. Then they swarm and seethe over each other,never moving from the vicinity of the beach,appearing as if to wait for something to happen.

Hours later,the next wave of terror comes in the gruesome and demonic forms of hundreds of monsterous brutes,each one a fiend that would inspire dark dreams for nights to come. Repulsive serpentine beasts, they crawl on twisted, thick arms, pulling themselves by gnarled, taloned paws. They possess no legs, but instead have a long, writhing, meaty tail. Their heads resemble those of crocodiles, adorned with plates and horns of chitin. Their bodies are covered in scales and plates of thick chitin.

Organizing themselves into maruding bands of twenty each,they swoop down on the nearest costal villages,dragging away all the unfortunate residents and smashing open the skulls of those who resist abduction. Hours later,the various bands return with the captive wretches they have snatched from the villages and bring them to the part of the beach where the loathsome wriggling masses of the worms await the fresh living bodies that the beasts have collected for them.

But the victims are not devoured as one would expect,their skin stripped to bone by the vast hordes of the repulsive squirming things. Nay,it is a far worse fate then simply being eaten alive, that they are doomed to suffer. The wriggling black worms are parasites. Devoid of bodies that enable to perform the functions that abilities that humans take for granted, they must enter the body of another being to seize controll of it and use it as their host.

They begin life in the reefs that are found in abundance off the shores of the ocean, thousands of them clustering together in the vast eggs sacs that are laid by their ancestors. Lying slumbering in the sacs for almost a century, they are only awakened when summer arrives,warming the waters that insulate the egg sac. Immediately they begin to emerge from their eggs, driven by the powerful, inexorable, urge in their bodies to swim for the shores of the island. But first, the same urge has them lay their own clutches of eggs,wanting to ensure that there is a future generation to see to it that their kind continues to thrive.

It all comes naturally to them. The worms are not sentient. Like ants or termites,they are not capable of thinking for themselves, but merely obey the encoded set of instructions that lie dormant in their genes, waiting to be awakened. And so their great rush to the beaches of the islands begin. The enormous mass of their tightly massed together bodies turn the waters pitch black as they pass, making them an easy target for hungry fish in search of a feast. By the time they slither ashore to their destination,less than half their original numbers remain.

But still enough remain to call forth their brutish helpers. Their bodies give out a huge mindless cry for aid that compells the latter to come to the aid of the worms. For they too,have have an important part to fullfil in ensuring the welfare of the worms, being given the task of gathering hosts for their slimy little supplicants to infest. The parasites,upon infesting the bodies of their hosts,actually slither their way up to to the brain of the victim. It then proceeds to absorb it utterly,taking great care to keep the brain alive as it does this. Soon,it has claimed the victim's intelligence for itself,consuming his soul entirely and wiping out his mind in the act,an act that will take a week for the worm to complete. During this length of time, an interesting pattern emerges.

Even as the worm begins to develop a sentient mind,one built on the spark of self-awareness harvested from the victim's brain, the physical body of the host begins to change into something decidedly non human. What they become depends on the level of intellect that their former owners possessed. The physical bodies of dullards unfortunate enough to be infested by a worm,are twisted and corrupted into the very brutes that aide the worms in getting their hosts. On the other hand,a fairly smart person turns into something else entirely.

The second kind resemble, from a distance, extremely thin, hunched men with whip-curved spines and long necks. But from up close, it becomes abundantly clear that they are not human; their skins are clad in glimmering bluish scales, and their scoliated spines are crowned in rows of complex spines. Their hands are small and sly, and have six long fingers with curved nails; these hands they constantly rub and wring together, in a sly and sycophantic motion. They are short and bandy-legged, and their draping tails are half-again as long as their bodies. Their faces are reptilian and long, with a long solid dental ridge rather than separate teeth. Their brows and jaws are bearded with flexible spines, and their throats possess fanning fins.

The first type are ever hungy carnivores,fiends that lurk in dark coves,waiting reach out to grab any uanwary prey that swims along. Their powerful tails can crack open the skull of even the biggest and most robust Shura and their wicked claws are capable of ripping open the biggest octopus or squid,making them fearsome predators. But they are not reknown for their intelligence,and also happen to be terrified of magic,even the weakest spark. Shura hunters heed their traditional tales that surround this creature and are always careful to wear enchanted amulets made of Amethyst shards when stalking prey in places where these creatures have been sighted.

The second type is a parasite rather than predator. A parasite that feeds off the efforts of his brutish breathen. Though capable of hunting on their own,they simply prefer to grab the kill of a brute. The brute will not object to this,but meeky surrenders his kill,recognizing the presence of a superior being,one he sees with a mix of hate and grudging awe. Hate because he is is bullied and robbed by the other,but awe because the other is not a minion like him,unshackled by the former's inexorable urge to serve the needs of the worms.

It is respect well deserved. Extremely sly and gifted with magic,they have the ability to leach Amethyst stones of their magic,drawing the latent power of the stones into their own bodies. This way,they amass a powerful amount of magic within themselves and need not rely on Amthyst stones to cast spells,unlike other beings.

Powerful spell casters to be reckoned with, many of them have set up protection rackets in the small costal villages of Acqua. Appearing to the villagers in the midst of a a powerful gale it has conjured,this fiend demands offerings everyday of the best of what food the village has,as well as bright gold jewelry,being the rather vain thing it is. Shiny jewelry complements it's gleaming scales very well,meaning that it has a great weakness for shining baubles.

To help a village get rid of such a leech that afflicts it,is not easy ,given that it is a gifted mind reader and can probe a human's mind with ease,enabling it to detect any intention of treachery or violence towards it. Thus,setting a trap for them is nigh impossible.

Murderer's Isle

#51

Murderer's Isle, fifty miles from Banhoesea, is where, once a year, a cargo of murderers is sent to kill each other off.They have clockwork collars placed around their necks that if not unlocked within three days, will send a short sharp spike into their throats, slashing them open. They are given bags containing food and water for one day and a random weapon, which can be as deadly as a wizard's staff or as harmless as a jester's staff.The island itself is covered in a dense forest.

The collars are enchantted to come off when there is only a single survivor. The survivor is then collected.Some become galley slaves, others become torturers for the Shogun.It is said that the island is full of the bones of previous murderers.

The World of Acqua

#52

I've finally finished the Black Tide. :D

The World of Acqua

#53

Captain,when will work begin on the various Jovian clans? (No pressure on you, of course. You've got a ton of commitments no doubt.)

I just can't wait for Acqua to be fully fleshed out! This is one setting I would give my little finger to be able to RP in.

The World of Acqua

#54

If the Captian feels too busy to create the Jovian clans, then I would be happy to create one or two of them and leave the rest for him.Normally I would not suggest such a thing as it would be pushy but this is a special case...Acqua is my world after all,and I need to add to it soon.

Snapper Bass

#55

Snapper Bass

Snapper Bass look very much like normal Sea Bass but they are a bane to the fishermen and fisherwomen and a menace to many of the other creatures of the sea. They are concentrated into a few great shoals for protection, but whilst most shoals are not dangerous to anything except fish fry and plankton, when something attacks this shoal it retaliates. Each fish has a mouthful of sharp teeth but by itself would not be much of a threat. In shoals of up to perhaps thirty thousand, they are a menace, because they turn on almost anything that they see as a threat. By their numbers alone they have been known to kill sharks and strip them to the bone.

Even the larger predators tend to avoid these individualy feeble but collectivly fearsome fish, which have been known to bite right through ordinary fishing nets and can only be caught with metal nets.

For eleven months of the year they eat plankton, but in their breeding month they eat almost everything they can find.Cleaner fish, who eat parisites and fungus from other fish and sea creatures, are left alone
as nothing sane in the oceans, not even the G'Thrann, will deliberatly eat a Cleaner fish.Most other sea creatures are fair game, to the point where they can cause famine to islanders who depend largely on fishing for their food.

The Legend of the Black Tide

#56

Once it is said, in the mists of time, the greatest G'Thrann of them all, Oggogogogoch, decided that he was not satasfied with lording it over the depths of the oceans, but would challange the great god Jove for power, and rose to the surface roaring what he would do.When he reached it he caused great waves to drown many of the islands and their inhabitants. Amongst the few who did survive was Bel-Tamaguchi who rode the waves in an Ark.

So large was Oggogogogoch and so close was he to Acqua (this was before Jove knew that Acqua was homosexual) that Jove could not simply blast him into pieces, and had to draw his mighty Sword of Punishment that he used to cut apart the souls of those who had sinned,and hack Oggogogogoch to pieces. Yet there was so much life within Oggogoggogoch that he could not die totally. His slashed up pieces of tentacle became millions of tiny worms, and Jove thought they had no intellect and let them live as he coulden't be bothered to dredge them all up from the oceans.

They became the Black Tide and to this day they possess the bodies of humans, hoping one day to find a spell that will reconsitute themselves so that they can get their revenge on Jove.

The World of Acqua

#57

Yeah, hold on, I'll get to it in a while...

*looks distracted*

The World of Acqua

#58

My brother was playing "Age of Empires" on my computer and now it goes slowly and all the colours are wrong. :evil: So if I don't write anything new for a while then my computer is being fixed.

The World of Acqua

#59

I've changed the the second type of beastie in my post,the Black Tide,a little. Now,they're magic-phobic.

The Mussel Shore

#60

Far to the north of Acqua is the Mussel Shore, a place full of geysers and warm pools on the ege of the great northern icecap.The pools and some of the geysers,where the water is not too hot, are full of bactrial and algal life, and the shellfish which are at the bottom of the food chain feed on it. There are large crabs the size of a dinner plate and birds with oversized beaks that are designed for eating shellfish, that eat the mussels and oysters and limpits, and there are a few tribes of humans who eat everything else,and who catch fish and seals from the seas and wear sealskin clothes.

In summer things are pleasent except for the occasional storm that penatrates into the fjords which are normally much calmer then the highly dangerous seas of the rest of Acqua, except for the clouds of Scratchmee flies that congregate at dusk and dawn. Scratchmee bites itch horribly and once someone scratches it is hard not to scar.People wear sealskin suits over their whole body if they are out at such a time when the Scrachmees are active.

The World of Acqua

#61

BUMP!

Save this thread from oblivion,Cheka! Don't let Acqua lie forgotten1

The People of the Coral

#62

The People of the Coral are a species of Merpeople that live in warm sunlit areas amongst the coral reefs. The males would look ugly to human eyes and quite possibly to other mer-species as well. They are grey-skinned and around five feet tall, with large round eyes that can see well in all but the darkest or the most murky water., and with flippers instead of feet and long, muscular arms. They can change their skin to the colour of the water around them, be it blue or grey or another colour, which makes them hard to see.

And that is just as well, for Sea Spiders and several dangerous beasts of the oceans will happily eat them if they can catch them, whilst many members of the other mer-species see them as inferior and a threat to their territory.

Their weapons, clubs and spears, come from different types of coral,as do the few tools that they use.The males roam around finding fish that they can spear and bring back for food.They spend quite a lot of their lives hunting.Their weapons are tipped with Fire Coral which means that even a touch from the point can cause a nasty wound that is slow to heal.

The females are beautiful to look upon, with beautiful many-colored scales all over their bodies that glitter in the light of the sun.Unlike the males, they are poisonous to most of the dangerous creatures that would otherwise eat them,although there are a few that the poison has no effect on. This beauty causes them to be very visible, which is dangerous within the seas of Acqua. Anything that can eat them can see them easily, whilst there are other races out there which like to kidnap them.Their eyesight and hearing,whilst good, is only half as good as that of the males, and their arms are weaker.Just like the males they have flippers instead of feet.

The females are the ones who look after the children, tell the myths and the stories of the People of the Coral, tend the kelp plants that forms part of their food, and sing beautiful songs.

Laws amongst the tribes are few and commonsense and lawbreaking is rare.
Those who do break the laws in a serious way face being expelled from the tribes and left unprotected amonsgt the horrors of the Acquan oceans.

The tribes like to live in underwater caves near reefs.They often share the caves with Cleaner Fish and Glow Fish, that live on thier leftovers.The Cleaner Fish eat any parasites that start to grow on the People,whilst the Glow Fish emit a soft green glow at night.

Pairs normally mate for life and will have several children.A kiddnapped female will slowly lose the colour in her scales, as they turn into a light grey color after a long period of unhappyness, but her sweet voice is unaffected.
If rescued in this state all the colours will rush back into her scales within seconds.

Sadly, the People are declining, as the Shura are taking over their kelp beds, coral reefs and caves, on which they depend for food,tools and safety.Where once they were numbered in the tens of thousands, now they are only a few thousand strong.

The Acquan Man-O-War

#63

The Aquan-Man-O-War is a feared creature, a blob of transparent jelly the size of a full grown Manta Ray, with tentacles on the sides tipped with deadly stingers, along with less dangerous but still painful stinging cells all along the tentacles.Where jellyfish drift with the waves, this creature has several fins that it uses to swim whereever it wants.Where jellyfish eyes are almost useless if indeed they exist, this creature can see far ahead in clear water.The most deadly thing about this beast is that it cannot be seen until it is really close to it's prey.It races up, kills it's prey and drags it into the depths to eat. Few creatures will eat it because it tastes horrible and is not worth the effort.Even Shura warriors fear getting in a fight with it.It eats most creatures smaller and weaker then itself but stays away from Shura as it has found that it is not worth being almost killed for one meal.

The World of Acqua

#64

The People of the Coral make a nice,solid addition to Acqua,Cheka. I like the way they are presented as an embattled race,besiged on all fronts by aggresive foes. Perhaps having heard of Big Red,they might decide to seek for a protector of their own?

The Seelies

#65

OOC-Maggot, I think that they would, but I'm not sure who their protector would be.

The Seelies live on the edges of the polar lands to the north and south of the planet, moving with the seasons. They would look to a human like large gray seals with arms, and have large tusks like a walrus and strong sharp teeth.They are hunters,and whilst their main food is fish, they are not afraid to attack, kill and eat other Mer-races.They will not eat the beautiful females of the People of the Coral, prefering to kiddnap them for their beauty, their sweet singing voices and their storytelling ability.

Sadly most of the females they kiddnap suffer and die in the freezing polar seas that the Seelies rule.They have tried to keep them warm, with such things as blankets taken from wrecked ships, but it only keeps them alive for a few days.The colourful scales of the kiddnapped females turn grey first, then they die rapidly and are left to float to the bottom. So they kiddnap more to replace them. Once they dared to raid the Shura to try and take their females, but the Shura massacred the raiding party, so after that they left the Shura well alone and only fight them in self-defence.

Whilst they can raid the warm waters, they cannot settle there as they grow sick and parasite-infected if they remain too long in the warm waters.

Like the People of the Coral the Seelies tend to mate for life.It is up to the females to choose when to become pregnant and they turn purple when they are willing. Younger females occasionly go on raids but the older ones look after the children and pups and hunt for food for them. The normal number of pups a family will have is two or three.

For the first three months of it's life a pup needs near constant feeding to put on blubber and avoid dying of cold.Also, it does not grow arms for a year and a few human polar hunters have mistaken Seelie babies for seals and clubbed them.If such a thing happens the Seelies will wait until the hunters row out to their ships and then flip their boats over and tear them to pieces, since they are a water-race and can only move very slowly on land.

Within seven years after growing it's arms a Seelie is fully grown and has learnt about how to do well in Seelie society.The Seelies are a warrior race first and foremost.Laws are few and based on common sense, and offenders and cowards in battle are either executed or exiled and banished to the Warm Waters.They have limited stocks of amythest but the thing they prize most is iron tools that can cut breathing holes in the ice and enable them to rule over a greater area then the edges of the ice.

They wear no clothes except, for the bravest as a symbol of bravery, amythest armbands cut out of solid amythest blocks.Their weapons are their fangs and tusks plus whatever they can find on a raid or take from their enimies or from sunken ships.

The World of Acqua

#66

Cheka,is it all right with you if I add some aditional info to my Shura post?

The World of Acqua

#67

Of course it is OK with me. I enjoy what you write. :D

The World of Acqua

#68

Added a whole new paragraph on Shura society,and if possible,plan to add to the items section,a new spellcasting tool used by their Shamans,within the next few days.

The World of Acqua

#69

OOC-On Sataday I will be going to Scotland for a week and will have no Internet access during that time. :( Anyone who wants to add to Acqua is welcome. :)

The Sea Hag

#70

Fifty leagues off the southern flank of the grim penal colony known as Murderer's Isle,lies a vast reef reknown for the beautiful anemones that seemingly swamp every inch of it. They come in all kinds of breath taking colors,ranging from blue of the deepest hue to a violet so bright,it hurts the eye of one who looks at it. Strange tales surround these amazing jewels of the ocean,tales that stem from the mysterious folklore of the local islander cultures that live in the vicinity of the reef. Tales that seem to complement bizzare stories told by certain divers from the Demadden Company who claim that the anemones would startle them by crying out for help in human voices filled with desperation and despair when attempts to pry them loose from the reef were made.

The local islanders say that the anemones are nothing like what they seem. It is the work of the Sea Hag,they say,the beautiful but sinister mer-sorceress of ancient myth who has always called the reef her home since time immemorial.

Local legend states that deep under the surface,the Sea Hag lives in a vast castle carved out of the living coral. There she keeps her vast treasure of precious riches and even more highly prized mountains of amethyst,the possession of which can make so many feverant fantasies and dreams come true for even the most desperate..

It is a prize that awaits any man daring enough to brave the terror of the deeps and confront the Sea Hag. Only a man,for the path to the Sea Hag's dwelling is concealed from all women,even the most gifted of witches. Once the visitor convinces her that he means her no harm,she is willing to let him carry off as much of it as he can. Provided that he answers three simple questions of hers. Firstly,''What must keep moving,or it dies instantly?'',follwed by ''What is the destroyer that even the dread G'Thrann fear?'',and finally ''Name the monster who devors entire reefs''. If a man answers all these correctly,he can take anything he wishes,and return to the surface.

Should he fail however,his punishment will be awful indeed,a fate far worse than mere death. Cackling with a glee so maloveant it makes the unfortunate man's very heart tremble,she calls upon her diabolical enchantments and sunders his unfortunate soul from his body,imprisoning it in one of the famed anemones that sprout everwhere. There it will be forced to languish for all eternity,calling out in vain to be rescued,even as it's fleshy shell becomes food for the ravenous sharks.

As the islanders say,''A brave man will go in search of the Hag's treasure,but if smart he is not,part of her kingdom he will become''. A cautinory warning that all avaricous men hungry for her treasure would be wise to heed.

The Kossier city-states

#71

Kossier Island has changed a lot in the past two centuries since Big Red became it's protector. Big Red encouraged trade in amythest and other items, protecting the first tentative convoys from attack by pirates or the Company, even using his huge body to stop large waves from wrecking the ships. Slowly Kossier Island became rich and a power in it's own right, but they never forgot to pay tribute to their Kraken-God who made them who they were. They made three great harbours, one for their own fleet, one for visiting ships, and a third for Big Red to live in.

Other smaller Krakens began to get ideas of power of their own.One tried to chalenge Big Red and was lucky to get away with only the loss of one of his tentacles. They then decided to do the same thing with other nearby islands.Far from being menaces to the islanders, they were normally very welcome.No more could pirates, slavers and De Madden Company warships raid the islands. And what the islanders lost in tribute of amythest from the rich stockpiles on their islands, they gained in trade.The Krakens were careful never to take too much, knowing that a more prosperous island could ultimatly produce a lot more tribute for them, and prefering to rule willing people, since they need them to mine the amythest and drop some of it into the sea for them.

They joined each other and once or twice a year, by night, each Kraken leaves his or her city-state and travels to the Deeps, a vast deep cavern that they have made their own.The People of the Coral, Seelies and even the Shura normally avoid the Deeps, partly because there is little or nothing of value within this rocky trench, and partly because the Krakens made it very clear that if they did catch any of them in the Deeps, they would eat them.

There, protected by the depth from spies and scrying spells, they talk and try and decide if they are strong enough to destroy the De Madden Company and take over it's home islands.So far they have decided against it, prefering to live lives of luxury instead of risking their lives against large warships and land defences.

Fruits of the Sea

#72

The Merpeople, as well as eating fish, survive with the help of quite a few of the weeds of the sea.Other weeds may even be of use to land dwellers. Here are a few of them.

Kraken Weed This purple,sweet tasting weed, if it is dried and crushed with a mortar and pestle, and the right spell is said over it in the right way, can let a non-Kraken speak the Kraken languadge.It is only used on a regular basis by the wizards who rule the city states of the Kossier Archipelago.For a start, if the spell fails then the words will come out all wrong.For another thing, Krakens, with the exceptions of when they talk to the above wizards, generally dislike speaking to non-Krakens and are notourously touchy and easy to anger.And angering a Kraken tends to get one eaten.

Kelp The staple, basic diet of many of the Mer-races.

Scratchweed When applied to an itch, this blackish weed often stops it.A useful item to have.Normaly used by Mer-races, although De Madden Company divers sometimes harvest it.It grows in five strands spreading out from the base,and looks rather like a long-fingered human hand attached to the sea-bed, groping for the surface.

NargaThis bright red weed can be used by Shamens and Mages of the undersea races to have dreams that can fortell the future.Too much, however, can lead to delusions and insanity.A few grams given to a human causes insanity that lasts for several years.Several high ranking Company bosses have been poisoned in the past by ambitious underlings who have taken their jobs.By the time the insanity has worn off, the bosses have long since lost their jobs and all their power and influence, even if they do get set free from the asylums that they were sent to.Bosses of high rank now employ food-tasters,who are well paid but risk themselves at every meal.It is a serious offense on most islands to possess this weed.

The Currency of Acqua

#73

On the islands of Acqua gold and silver are too rare to be used in coinage.Metal itself is used for tools and weapons rather then coinage. So instead three items are used as money that is legal tender through all the islands.

Kaori shells are beautiful green scallop-shaped shells an inch long that are the equivilant of copper coins in other worlds. One Kaori shell will buy a glass of beer.Five will buy a night in a basic hotel and breakfast afterwards.

Black coral, which only grows in the deep sea and is hard to harvest, is the silver coin of this world. It is carved into shining discs. A piece of it would be worth five days of wages for a manual labourer or an oarsman.

Amythest is the gold of this world, owned only by nobles, the richest craftsmen/women, the mages and witches, and the bosses of the criminal underworld.A small piece of amythest will buy three nights in the finest hotels.A large piece can buy a ship.