Bay 12 Games Forum

Skills & Traits:
Competent Fighter: You are an outstanding combatant, standing well above the level of skill of an average soldier.
Herbalist: You know your ways around the herbs and plants of the land. You are a competent healer and poison maker, and can identify most unknown substances if you work at it long enough.
The Mandate: You carry a Mandate signed by every sitting member of the Ruling Council and sealed in a crystal container by three high priests of the Holy Trinity. Your authority, when it comes to legal matters, supercedes that of kings, and your name carries significance.

Possessions:
Sword
Paladin’s armor
The Mandate (magically sealed in a crystal container)

Magic:
Holy Magic (Paladin) (Smith): You can heal wounds, repair what was recently broken, aid yourself in crafting something, and bless equipment temporarily. You can purge lesser magic from objects, and destroy spells through this process in the right conditions.

Other: As High Inquisitor, you are the leader of the Inquisition. Retainers loyal to the Inquisition rather than specific people will answer to you above anyone else.

Skills & Traits:
Intimidating: Whether because of your reputation, your social presence, or your physical appearance, you can inspire fear whenever you desire.
Asker of Questions: You are an extremely good interrogator. If you have access to a full torture kit and enough time, you will always succeed an interrogation unless your target is unnatural or possesses an iron will. You may not keep them in perfect health, though...
Marksman: More often than not, when you take your aim, you shoot true.

Possessions:
Crossbow
Sword
Paladin’s armor

Magic:
Holy Magic (Paladin) (Smith): You can heal wounds, repair what was recently broken, aid yourself in crafting something, and bless equipment temporarily. You can purge lesser magic from objects, and destroy spells through this process in the right conditions.

Other: Nothing of note.

Skills & Traits:
Zealous: It takes a lot to shake you from your beliefs. Few things can instill fear in you.
Competent Fighter: You are an outstanding combatant, standing well above the level of skill of an average soldier.
Shining Knight: You are charismatic and capable of inspiring others. You also take no malus when speaking with those out of your class, whether higher or (most frequently) lower.

Possessions:
Warhammer
Sword
Paladin’s armor

Magic:
Holy Magic (Paladin) ( Patriarch): You can inspire courage or fear in those around you. You can sense unholy magic if it is cast sufficiently close to you, or if it was used in abundance where you stand. Evil beings are weaker within your presence. You can create light where there is none, and it will blind things of the darkness.

Other: Nothing of note.

Skills & Traits:
Competent Fighter: You are an outstanding combatant, standing well above the level of skill of an average soldier.
Stealthy: You can sneak around without much trouble, and have basic knowledge when it comes to lockpicking, avoiding traps, and infiltrating places.
Tactician: You know the ways of the battlefield, and troops are better when fighting under your command.
Novice engineer: You can lead work teams without a penalty when you have a plan with you. You can try your hand at making proper engineering plans. You can attempt to reverse engineer simple objects.

Possessions:
Sword
Longsword
Paladin’s armor
Lockpicking tools

Magic:
Holy Magic (Paladin) (Warrior): You can smite evil forces, and shield yourself from damage temporarily. You suffer no penalty from being outnumbered. You are immune to most circumstantial effects in battle (being blinded, stunned, knocked back…). Your touch harms the unholy.

Other: Nothing of note.

Skills & Traits:
Elf: As an elf, you can sense magic as well as those worshipping the Patriarch would. You are, however, more vulnerable to it, since your body will not resist as much against its influence.
Competent Fighter: You are an outstanding combatant, standing well above the level of skill of an average soldier.
Ranger: You can navigate wild areas with ease and are able to track and hunt competently. You have an easier time hiding and finding those who hide in such an environment.
Witch Hunter: You have fought mages before and can counter their efforts better than most.

Possessions:
Sword
Paladin’s armor
Ranger’s clothes
Bow and arrow

Magic:
Holy Magic (Paladin) (Warrior): You can smite evil forces, and shield yourself from damage temporarily. You suffer no penalty from being outnumbered. You are immune to most circumstantial effects in battle (being blinded, stunned, knocked back…). Your touch harms the unholy.

Other: Nothing of note.

Skills & Traits:
Devout Mage: You are more experienced with divine magic than your peers, and it shows. You can cast magic of all three paths.
Versed in the Lores: You can understand ancient texts and decode encryptions more easily. You have an easier time doing research.
Novice engineer: You can lead work teams without a penalty when you have a plan with you. You can try your hand at making proper engineering plans. You can attempt to reverse engineer simple objects.

Possessions:
Paladin's armor
Robes
Sword

Magic:
Holy Magic (Paladin) ( Patriarch, Warrior, Smith): You can cast any holy magic available at your current level, no matter the divinity it is affiliated with.

Other: Nothing of note.

Skills & Traits:
Logistician: You are an expert at moving troops around, keeping them fed, and changing their positions. Though not exceptional when leading on the battlefield, you shine outside of it.
Zealous: It takes a lot to shake you from your beliefs. Few things can instill fear in you.
Competent Fighter: You are an outstanding combatant, standing well above the level of skill of an average soldier.

Possessions:
Sword
Paladin’s armor

Magic: Holy Magic (Paladin) (Smith): You can heal wounds, repair what was recently broken, aid yourself in crafting something, and bless equipment temporarily. You can purge lesser magic from objects, and destroy spells through this process in the right conditions.

Other: Nothing of note.

Died in the base of a cabal of sorcerers after triggering a trap.

    Races:
The Vaskar are descended from reptilian creatures of a jungle planet. Broad shouldered and very muscular, they walk on their knuckles and are roughly four feet tall at the shoulder- although they can easily top five feet if they stand up completely. Fully carnivorous, they used to ambush their prey in the jungle, grappling and then either suffocating them, breaking their neck, or simply beating them to death. As such, they have short claws perfect for making sure potential prey would not escape. They have impressively broad jaws and powerful teeth, but those cannot be used as weapons, since their necks are not flexible enough to allow for it. Their scales are relatively dull in coloration, with dark greens and blues interspersed with rough black “tiger stripes”.
     
    They generally wear clothing of similar fashions as humans, though they always leave their arms bare. Vaskar often use a form of tattoo-like art to change the color of the scales on their arms to patterns which, depending on where they are from, may represent achievements in life, the family they are from, their position in society, or any combination of the former.
     
    The Vaskar are the strongest of all fives races and as such get +1 strength, but they are very poor runners and suffer -1 speed.
     
The Ji’gan are descended from amphibious creatures that once drifted along under the icy surface of their home planet’s great seas.  Mottled reddish-grey patterns mark their skin, natural camouflage in the iron-rich seas of their homeworld. They posses six deft fingers and long, lithe bodies streamlined for swimming. A set of sharp, venomous quills line the back of their bodies, staying flat unless threatened or attacked. Many of them posses tentacle-like protrusions along their tails, each ending in a jagged, hooked stinger. Their facial features look vaguely human, but with too-wide mouths and two pairs of dark eyes-- one for the same spectrum of light humans can detect, the other for sensing infrared radiation.
     
    They often wear bright coloration with heat-generating panels, a habit developed to help identify each other in the murky depths of their homeworld.
     
    Ji'gan often dive from the water’s surface to the very depths of the ocean floor in order to feed, as their main diet consists of an organism roughly analogous to giant tubeworms. As such, they can survive without oxygen for a long time, which can save their life if their suit is pierced during a battle and even allows them to spend a few rounds without risking asphyxia. However, after a prolonged time without a proper suit, they must recover in a water-heavy environment until such a time as they obtain a new one.
     
The Kenturo, like the Vaskar, are also descended from reptilian creatures, but they have developed some limited flight over the years. Relatively small and not too muscular, they stand at four feet at most. Their arms have evolved into feathered, wing-like appendages, though they’re too small for true, long-term flight, mostly useful for gliding from branch to branch; the Kenturo usually depend on thermals to go any further than that. Exuberantly colored, with scales and feathers ranging from red to orange to bright green, they move and act with swift grace. They mostly ate fruit and small insects in their natural environment, savanna-like plains covered in tall grass interspersed with massive trees.
     
    An interesting point is that the Kenturo are the only species to never wear any kind of clothing, as it impairs their capacity to fly. Although they obviously make exceptions in space and in cold environments, they generally prefer to remain "one with the air". They also have specially designed suits which allow flight in space ships during times where depressurization is a threat, though they are clumsy at best.
     
    Kenturo are able to fly and fit in small spaces and have +1 agility, but this comes at the price of -1 strength.
     
The Romulek are the tallest of all species, standing at seven to nine feet. Walking on a pair of long, powerful legs ending in cloven hooves, they can run at impressive speeds, which allowed them to chase down almost anything on the vast stretch of plains of their home planet. They are omnivorous, but tend to favor meat over fruits and vegetables as a result of their culture, which prizes fast-moving hunters. Completely covered in a light fur which ranges from browns to dark blonds, their upper body is relatively muscular, and they have a pair of very long arms, which allow them to pick things up from the ground without having to bend their legs.
     
    Their heads possess elongated jaws and noses, which grant them a powerful sense of smell, and surprisingly human-like eyes. Their sizable ears are pointed upwards, and tend to be sensitive to dirt and other foreign materials. They generally wear clothing on their upper body, but leave their legs bare most of the time, as fabric impairs their capacity to run.
     
    Romuleks get +1 speed due to their legs, but -1 at climbing. This can either be extremely inconvenient or completely unproblematic, depending on the design of the ship.
     
Humans evolved from simian hunter-gatherers specialising in prolonged chase, and are very adaptable due to their hairless skin, which allows them to don clothing suitable to most environments with minimal discomfort. Their relatively small hands and dextrous fingers make them well-suited to very fine manipulation, of the sort normally left to much smaller races.
     
    They do not have any specific physical bonus or malus, and make good jacks of all trades.

Note: The players do not belong to any of these. This is just for your background.

    Factions:
    The Republic of Andemar is a mostly-human faction based on Earth. It is a highly nationalistic, conquest-run state with a strong emphasis on civic service, and began the current star system-spanning war when it broke a border treaty with the Karnak Empire by invading a system near its territory. Its population is roughly 60% human, 20% Romulek, and 20% other races who are somewhat evenly distributed.
     
    The Karnak Empire is an absolute monarchy which was relatively peaceful until very recently. Ruled by the Emperor Below the Waves (a Ji'gan), it felt threatened by the Republic's extremely militaristic nature and quietly built up its military in preparation for a potential invasion. While the Republic ultimately did not invade them proper, they did break a major border treaty, forcing the Empire to declare war or otherwise lose face. However, their counteroffensive accidentally fired upon a Federation fleet, leading to the escalation of the conflict when the fleet answered with super weapons. The Empire's population is 30% Ji'gan, with other populations roughly even.
     
    The Federation is a loose alliance of various galactic nations which united to protect itself against the other big players in the region. Pooling their resources into a sizable military allowed them to maintain peace for some time; however, one of its armadas was fired upon by an Imperial ship while it was guarding a system which had just defected from the Republic and into the Federation. While some swift diplomacy could’ve allowed them to avoid war, the armada answered by bombarding three Imperial planets with powerful bioweapons that wiped them clean of all life. This massacre left the Empire no choice but to declare a war against the Federation as well. Its population is mostly evenly distributed.
     
    The Kandos Union is a constitutional monarchy of sorts, where the King and the Queen (who represent the executive and legislative branches of government, respectively) are elected by a parliament. It is a nominally peaceful and secretly ambitious nation that joined the Great War supposedly due to the Federation’s use of superweapons, which was in violation of nearly a dozen galactic treaties. However, many suggest that it is probably a gambit to acquire border systems it lost decades ago during a war with the Republic. Its population is 30% Kenturo, 30% Vaskar, and the rest is evenly distributed - although it contains next to no humans, due to them being in opposite parts of the galaxy.

Skills:

Skills give bonuses to the chances of an action succeeding. Actions are rolled on a d6, and skills generally give a +1. They are as follows:

Piloting: For any roll involved in piloting a ship.

Weapon control: For aiming better with ship weapons.

Engineering: For dealing with problems such as overloaded systems, power outages, and system damage.

Maintenance: For dealing with problems such as physically damaged non-system things (this can vary, but generally covers hull damage and breaches).

Healing: For stitching the arm back onto the shoulder.

Shooting: For shooting things.

Fighting: For fighting in melee.

Agility: For jumping around and doing complicated things with your hands. The agility bonus, divided by two and rounded down, is added to the shooting bonus.

Speed: For going somewhere, quickly. The speed bonus, divided by two and rounded down, is added to the agility bonus. This does not count towards the shooting bonus granted by agility.

Stealth: To avoid being seen by somebody.

Strength: For lifting heavy things and kicking down other things. The strength bonus, divided by two and rounded down, is added to the fighting bonus.

Every character may start with two level one skills, which can be then trained in game.
Starting equipment:

Every character may start with one starting piece of equipment. They are as follows:

Better suit: This suit can isolate some of its sections from the others, reducing risks of asphyxia in case of suit damage during a breach. If the suit is damaged, a roll of 4 to 6 will indicate that it successfully isolated the damaged part.

Gun: It allows you to shoot people to hurt them. You can fluff it to be what you want, but it will not have any additional bonuses even if you describe it as a pocket death star.

Melee weapon: Gives you +1 to your rolls when you are fighting someone without one (or with an improvised one). Again, you can fluff it however you want.
Some other cool thing: Describe it to me and I’ll see what I can do. Pure fluff is not necessary to be listed here.

Name: Your character's name.
Race: Your character's race. All those listed are playable.
Gender: Male or Female.
Position: Your character's position in the ship. Examples: Weapons Officer, Captain, Engineer, Surgeon...
Physical appearance: Your character's look. The racial descriptions are baselines; just like humans are varied, aliens can be varied too.
Psychological description: What your character's personality is, how he thinks... You are not forced to follow this at all times during roleplay, but you should try to form a personality for your char. Otherwise, the roleplay is dull and the character is one-dimensional. This is more here to help you than it is here to help me.
Bio: Your character's past. Where is he from? How did he become a smuggler? Why is he part of the crew? There is no length limit. Go wild.
Starting skills: Think carefully about those. It may be tempting to play a Vaskar who is terribly strong and kicks ass in physical combat, but is that really going to be useful in a smuggling ship? Of course, you can make it useful with some imagination, and it might even become the best of the crewmembers, but still, be careful about what you take.
Starting equipment: As I said in the spoiler, you can take one of the listed things or something else. In the latter case, you might need to convince me.
 

In TLD, all revenues are handled with the EPI - short for Economic Prosperity Indicator. The EPI is basically a multiplier which is modified (generally positively, but not always) by upgrades and events. This multiplier is applied to the basic population of a region or city, and the result is the income generated, per turn, by this city. An example:

If Sebastown has a population of 4 and an EPI of 1.25, the city's income will be 5¤ (our unit of money), as show by this:  4 * 1.25 = 5
Money can then be used to get even more upgrades, more troops, trade, spies, intrigue, etc.

Strongholds represent the power base of the various clan lords. You can have me place one for you on the map if you wish to play as a Clan leader.
The lands are, from west to east: Lowlands, Riverlands, Highlands (south-east) Northlands (north-east) and the Isles.

Culture: The culture has a general emphasis on warriors and bravery. Yes, it's that vague. We are set in the dark ages, at the time of the chain mail but not of the full plate: the kingdom is semi-barbaric, which means a large part of the population is still hunter and fishermen and not farmers. Apart from that, it's fully up to the clan-leaders to fluff their clans from head to toe.
Note 1: Do remember the background history, all Clans are descendant from the men who came with High Kin.
Note 2: The "chain of command" of the kingdom goes as such: King, Clan-lord, Chief, Bondsmen, the populace

Religion: There are three religions in the Kingdom -
High gods: The gods of the High Kin. Emphasis on honor, bravery, warrior's feats.
Wild gods: The gods of the Old Folk. Emphasis on freedom, wilderness.
Barrows gods: A sect more than a religion, it is the worship of twelve Old Folk sorcerers who sacrificed their souls in order to curse the High Kin (for no immediate effect, although the death of the High Kin is often blamed upon them). An "evil" religion of sorts.

Magic: There are three types of magic in the kingdom. Spells generally require complicated formulas and ingredients, but if all the components are in place they are actually quite difficult to fail. Magic is generally viewed at the minimum with mistrust and at the worst with hatred, depending on the region.
High Magic: the "weakest" magic, once used by the High Kin (at their time, it was the most powerful, but used by men of other races it is weak), it does not affect its user's spirit. A Mage (user of High Magic) calling a Storm would simply cause a normal storm.
Wild Magic: the magic used by the Old Folk. It is more powerful than High Magic, but it increases the Wilderness of the user's soul. Wilderness causes Wild Beasts to be more interested in the user: this can generally lead to absolutely disastrous effects, such as being followed by direwolves or the Wild Hunt itself. Wilderness caused by Wild Magic can be fought back, with time and effort. A Sorcerer (user of Wild Magic) calling a Storm would cause a powerful storm, but not one that could not be normally seen in a terrible weather.
Barrows Magic: a dark, corrupted form of magic. It is formidably powerful, but it raises the Wilderness of the user at a tremendous speed, and that Wilderness is permanent. All users of Barrows Magic, unless they entirely stop using it early, are doomed to become cursed, hunted, soulless creatures doomed to run for their life for all of eternity away from evil spirits - a rather unfortunate fate. A warlock (user of Barrows Magic) calling a storm would cause an unnatural, destructive storm: a single thunderbolt of such an phenomenon would throw down a tower.

Weaponmastery (Blades): +1 to personal combat rolls/skill level in melee combat when wielding swords.

Weaponmastery (Axes): +1 to personal combat rolls/skill level in melee combat when wielding axes.

Weaponmastery (Blunt): +1 to personal combat rolls/skill level in melee combat when wielding blunt weapons.

Weaponmastery (Polearm): +1 to personal combat rolls/skill level in melee combat when wielding polearms.

Weaponmastery (Bows) +1 to personal combat rolls/skill level in ranged combat when wielding bows or crossbows.

Weaponmastery (Thrown): +1 to personal combat rolls/skill level in ranged combat when wielding throwing weapons.

Bravery: +1 to personal combat rolls when outnumbered/skill level

Agility: +1 to acrobatic, reflex & movement rolls/skill level

Subterfuge: +1 to pickpocketing, stealth & disguise rolls/skill level.

Charisma: +1 to persuasion & bartering rolls/skill level when dealing with others.

Tactics: +1 to tactic rolls/skill level.

Logistics: +1 to logistic rolls/skill level.

Offensive Strategist: +10%/skill level to army strength when on the offensive.

Defensive Strategist: +10%/skill level to army strength when on the offensive.

Magic user: Costs two points, can only start with one type of magic, cannot start with a bonus. Clan leaders can only use High Magic at the beginning.

The Imperials are the emperor's loyalists within the senate. They support him on almost every turn, and are generally from his relatives or members of families that were favored by past emperors. They are not well respected by the Optimates, who consider them to be cowards refusing to fight for their own rights, and they are the natural allies of the Populars, who believe the emperor may support them if only to undermine the more independant patricians.

The Optimates (Best Men) fight for an increased power of the senate and the nobility. Although they were originally the most powerful faction within the senate, the separation of both the Imperials and the Populars from their ranks have reduced them to a faction average in size and counting many enemies. They despise the Populars, the Novi Homines and the Imperials, but were often the allies of the Isolationists in the recent years.

The Populars desire an increased amount of rights for the plebs and the non humans. It is one of the more liberal factions - and as such they are the enemies of the Optimates and, in some cases, the Isolationists. They allied with the Imperials in the years following the rise of the first emperors, in an attempt to convince the ruler to give in to some of their demands.

The Novi Homines (New Men) are a band of mostly dwarven patricians who are fighting in the senate for more racial equality both in the plebs and the patricians between the humans and non-humans. Although they are mostly representing dwarves in their political struggle, some extremely liberal members of the group have proposed to extend their struggle to helping civilized elves out of misery, though most of these suggestions were laughed at. They are arguably the most neutral faction, being only enemies to the Optimates.

The Isolationists want the empire to improve the lands within its borders before reaching out to conquer more. They favor urbanism and are generally against unjustified wars (and even justified wars of conquest), preferring a centralization of the powers, mercantilism and isolationism. In their search for more political strength at home, they became the allies of the Optimates over the years.

Name: Kaeso Peregrinus
Gender: Male
Race: Dwarf
Appearance: Blond haired, blue eyed standing at 5'1" and sporting a rather formidable beard reaching his belt, Kaeso is by his racial standards a very handsome dwarf indeed, although he may still seem a little repulsive to humans. He is in generally good shape, but it is clear that he does not do too much intense exercise.
Bio: Born in one of the rare dwarven patrician families, Kaeso fought for most of his life to acquire his position as a senator, using his skill as a general to obtain a prestigious political position. After many years, he eventually became the most influential figure of the Novi Homines Faction, becoming its de facto leader, although there are many a rumor going around whispering that he did not obtain that post in a fully legitimate way. He is now 37 years old.
Skills: Legislative, Logistician
Political alignment: Novi Homines (Faction Leader)