The world of Tiasia, a light blue jewel of shallow seas and thousands of glittering green facets in the form of islands, large and small. Only one spot upon the globe breaks this beautiful pattern, a deep, dark blue ring of constant wild storms and strange beasts. If one was to listen to claims of the elves, this ring is all that remains of the largest island to ever exist and their ancient homeland. A laughable tale at best, save for the small numbers of the race, a vast number of ruined fortresses and weapons made of a metal found nowhere upon the world, Bloodsilver.
As for the rest of the world, sea borne commerce booms between nations and races. Human and Elven sailors man fat merchant vessels, as they follow trades routes through the territories of the various Gilloc tribes, to rich ports and the crude harbors of the animalistic Gnoles and brutish trolls. Nomadic Aquaelish serve as Navigators and Farseers, to satisfy the wanderlust that plagues their race.
As with on our own Earth, as trade by sea takes prominence, privateers, pirates, buccaneers and corsairs pop out of the woodwork. To combat them, the various princes, kings, pashas, sultans build warships and forge alliances to protect their trade profits. Of course, the opportunity to crush rival factions has slowed the extermination of the robbers of the sea, nearly to a grinding halt over the passed hundred years or so.
In the passed three hundred years, the magic of the world has begun to rapidly decay, where once it was slowly fading. Where once a Thrower would call forth water to do their bidding, the magic user is more likely to make themselves look silly. Men and elves have turned to more reliable steel and gunpowder, for which to make war on and kill one another with.
This magic drain has caused something to stir within the Deep, something twisted over long years, aching to return to the sun and reclaim what was once theirs.
Alright, this role play will focus on a crew of corsairs, whos greed sets them on a path to either save the world or destroy it. Tell me, me brave sailor, which path will ye’re tainted soul lead ye?
Information and background
Races
Humans: standard old humans of various cultures, skin tones and as a general rule, not living much passed eighty years of age.
Elves: humanish, with light skin and hair. Their ears are very long and taper into a sharp point. A typical life span ranges from one hundred and fifty years to two hundred. This long-lived and proud race is in its twilight, with fewer and fewer newborns in each generation. Once a global superpower, their empire has faded into a few cities and colonies. However, the ruins of their fortresses dot the islands.
Gilloc: or fishmen as they’re called by most land dwelling races, have a human shaped body with webbed hands and feet. Instead of skin, their bodies are covered in small scales, ranging in color from dark green, to light blue or silver. The normal Gilloc stands roughly three-quarters as tall as a human, with bulbous black eyes. They also have no teeth but rather a pair of bone ridges in their mouths, used to grind the kelp and seaweed that makes up their diet.
The Gilloc have both gills and primitive lungs, allowing them to live underwater (where their tribes build their dwellings but only in the shallows). They make good Navigators or Pathfinders, not as good as the Aquaelish.
Aquaelish: this race was born from powerful Elven magic, so many ages past that even the Aquaelish have forgotten how they were birthed. Beings of water, a magic force creates an invisible skin, molding their forms to resemble humans. The older they get the more opaque the water becomes and the more defined their features. Like all other beings, they have a lifespan, nearing one hundred and twenty-five years. Like other beings, they also require a male and female to reproduce and give birth to infants. Because of the magical essence that flows through them, they make excellent Navigators, Menders or Pathfinders.
However, because of the fading magic, fewer and fewer Aquaelish are born or living as long.
Gnoles: appear as a twisted mating of a human and hyena. They are usually around seven feet tall, with their whole bodies are covered in reddish-brown fur, which becomes shorter as it surrounds their faces and clawed hands to reveal grey colored skin. Their pelts vary from mono-colored to spotted and their eyes are either yellow or black. Their settlements and clothing as could barely be counted as crude but not their steel weapons. For the most part, they fear gunpowder and refuse to use it.
Trolls: A very large and lanky race, most standing seven feet tall. Their arms are almost too long for their bodies, with their palms reaching their knees. A trolls hand is composed of two thick fingers and a thumb, each tipped with a broad nail. Their faces are roughly humanoid, with long broad noses and a pair of short tusks jutting from their upper jaws. Their cunning is equal to that of a normal man’s and their cruelty greater. Trolls live in separate tribes, warring with each other and all other races. Most can barely speak.
However, their magic users are some of the most powerful and intelligent creatures one could ever meet.
Weapon Technology
Musket
Blunderbuss
Carbine
Pistol
Musketoon
Volley gun:
Cutlass
Shallow Sea
A shallow sea, is a body of water, ranging from eight hundred to nine hundred meters deep. To put it in prospective, a sperm whale drives between thirty and eight hundred meters to hunt for giant squid. Another example, the Mediterranean Sea is on average, one thousand five hundred meters deep and five thousand, two hundred, sixty-seven meters at it's deepest.
Xebec
Xebecs similar to galleys, having both sails and oars for propulsion. On each of the three masts, a triangular sail set on a long yard mounted at an angle on the mast, and running in a fore-and-aft direction, called a Lateen. Xebecs featured a distinctive hull with pronounced overhanging bow and stern. They normally would crew between three hundred or four hundred (including the rowers, whom were more often then not, slaves) and have between sixteen and forty guns, depending on size.
The reason this is important, the ship the corsairs crew is an Xebec, named the Dark Lady, with red sails and sixteen oars. She has twenty-four guns, two on the stern, two on the bow and ten on each side. Each oar is pulled by four slaves and crewed by two hundred corsairs.
Magic and Magic Users
Navigators can find the best route to take for long distance travel. Their magic relies heavily on the stars and weather patterns. It's not mundane, they almost have a Second Sight or Third Eye.
Pathfinders can do the same thing but on land.
Menders, of course, are healers and physicians. They can't magically fix health issues, but they can ease pain with their melodic incantations and some sacred songs can even speed along the healing process. These sacred songs are very specific though, not generalized. Like bones, cuts, infections and all that.
Farseers can predict weather. Where a navigator gets a generalized idea of the best way to go, Farseers know what the weather is like for miles around.
Throwers are the "battle mages" of this society. Able to attack others with water itself. It depends on the person for what form the summoned water takes. Will it be a round blast of water that knocks everyone down or a whiplash of water that strikes swiftly and with deadly precision.
Character Profiles
Name:
Age:
Gender:
Race:
Rank/position:
Appearance:
Weapons:
Bio:
Mine
Name: Peryer Mosvesa, The Red Corsair
Age: 34
Gender: male
Race: human
Rank/position: captain
Appearance: a tall man, reaching somewhere in the range of six feet and two inches and made of lean muscle. His chest is marked with five jagged scars, the result of a fight with a gnole several years ago. His eyes are a soft blue-gray that hides cruelty that come out when he is, convincing captives to tell him where any hidden treasures might be His black hair is longish, reaching his shoulders and tied back with a broad red scarf. Peryer normally dresses in loose, wide legged trousers and a loose white shirt and a tight red vest.
Weapons: a plain cutlass, a pair of pistols and a dagger
Bio: Peryer was born the son of a whore, in the port town of Deleos, a pirate stronghold protected by an old elven fortress that some enterprising captain had filled with cannons. Like many other bastard children of Deleos, he joined aboard a ship at a young age as a powder monkey and started his long claim up the ranks of sea rogues. By the time he was twenty-seven, he had deposed the previous captain of the Dark Lady and taken to raiding smaller coastal settlements.
