In this world, everything has Will. Literally
everything. Every Will has desires, and this is responsible for the properties of the Object. A weight falls because the planet has the desire to pull things towards it - and a very strong Will that overcomes the Will of the weight. In this way, Will is a measure of the strength of the Object's desires and its ability to affect the world around it.
Some things, when they reach enough Will, spawn Vestals - embodiments of the Object's Will. Vestals are intimately tied to the thing that spawned them. The Object's Will is
their Will.
Vestals come in many forms, and so do the Objects that spawn them. Some things it makes sense to have a Vestal for. Seas and lakes, mountains, important buildings. The old concept of genius loci. Some Vestals are... less conventional.
Wartime brings out the best and worst in mankind. Warships have long been symbols of power, wealth, and patriotism. Why would a Vestal of a warship be any stranger than a Vestal for a mountain?
Vestals exist, at the simplest level, to exert the Will of their parent Object on the world around them. Most Vestals, however, are...
more. They have a Domain which they have power over, and the prerogative to, most of the time, protect and guide their Domain. This is from whence their Authority stems - the manifestation of their Will on the world.
Traditionally, Vestals have been enigmatic and secluded beings - yet this changed, like many things did, at the turn of the century. There is a sharp generational divide between the old guard, which align themselves with the True Gods above; and the newer Vestals that reject the old order. Vestals have long protected and nurtured mankind. Is it so radical, the new thinking goes, for a Vestal of a ship to protect and fight alongside sailors in wartime?
The continent of Aetopira is at war. New developments - the motorcar, the machine-gun, the aeroplane - have brought a brutal way of fighting to the fore. It is plain to see that the long shadow of the Great War - later known as the Chemist's War - will reach down for generations.
With new developments on land come new developments at sea. The unified battleship - best exemplified by the warship Ragenard - brought shocking new developments. In hindsight, it was obvious the peaceful and prosperous years of the 1910s would not last. After the launching of the Ragenard at the turn of the century, which obsoleted every warship afloat, the countries of Aetopira have been caught in a deadly arms race which has reached fever pitch. The May Crisis, seeing the declaration of war of Imperial Arnsbach on the Romainsoix Republic, would be just the beginning...
Warships have reached a state of technology roughly comparable to the 1920s on Earth. It is a time of rapid technological pace and uncertainty, with plenty of one-off experiments and dead-ends. The latest generations of fast battleships have just been commissioned, and naval aviation is still a young science. The primary differences are that without treaty limitations, ships are larger, and cruisers carry heavier or more guns. The so-called "large cruiser" has very recently started to appear in concept as a response to the ballooning size of capital ships.
One of many places being fought over is the Strait of Engelwara, the only pass from the Lake of Idyll bordering both Romainsoix and Arnsbach into the Cold Sea of the North. It has been a trade route for centuries, ever since the Syndicated Cities established total control over the Strait and the Sea in the 1400s. Now, however, it has become a total warzone; losing control of the Strait is one of many avenues to economic strangulation. Romainsoix has sent a number of squadrons, and - in a move that deadlocked the Parliament for days - their ships' associated Vestals. Arnsbach has done the same, and the action promises to be spectacular.
Romainsoix: The current Republic of Romainsoix came to be after the War of 1889 - the loss of which ended up toppling the monarchy. Romainsoix's politics are dominated to a large extent by the loss. The country borders Oso on the west and Arnsbach on the east and shares a length of borders with both the Warm Sea and Cold Sea. It is dominated by its temperate climate and known for its culture and sophistication. Romainish ships are generally fast and heavily armed, though this is by no means a rule.
Arnsbach: Famed for its militarism, the Empire of Arnsbach has successfully united many of the Arnish States - and they have set their ambitions still further. They share a small border with Romainsoix, separated by the Lake of Idyll, and are bordered by the Hawkweed Republics to the north and east, and the Duchy of Trestovo further east. They also share a short border with the Cold Sea. Arnsbach is known for rough winters and cool summers, and while it is not a traditonal naval power, it has been caught in the 20th-century arms race with Romainsoix, Trestovo and Solime on the Cold Sea. Arnish ships are sturdily built and are designed to fight best at range.
The Cold Sea and its tributaries: The Cold Sea is one of the largest bodies of water in Aetopira. Arnsbach, the Hawkweed Republics, Trestovo, and Solime have long been fighting over control of it, and this is coming to a head with the Great War. The Cold Sea is separated from the Warm Sea to the South by Oso's Pass of Dolade, and it is fed in part by the Lake of Idyll - a very large lake inland that both Romainsoix and Arnsbach border. The Lake of Idyll drains into the Cold Sea through the Gulf of Idyll and the Strait of Engelwara.
Other Nations: Some of the other nations on the continent of Aetopira include Trestovo, the three Hawkweed Republics, Oso, and Solime.
The Duchy of Trestovo is a very large country, east of the Hawkweed Republics and Arnsbach. It is known for its harsh winters.
The Three Hawkweed Republics - Dorwaard, Bonnbog, and Tippevan - are small countries that border Trestovo and Arnsbach. They have typically kept to themselves diplomatically.
Oso borders Romainsoix on the west and the Cold and Warm seas on the north and south, respectively. It has a very hot, Mediterranian climate.
Solime is an island state north of the Hawkweed Republics and Arnsbach. It is a traditional naval power, though in recent years Romainsoix and Arnsbach have challenged it for dominance.
This game will be primarily guided freeform; stats do not have hard numerical effects, but rather they allow you to justify an action with your stat. For character creation, you will both come up with an Authority for your Vestal and a statline for your ship. There are four primary stats you can put points into, as well as your Authority. Vestals will be serving under Romainsoix authority; you can play a foreigner, but be sure to explain what exactly you're doing in the Strait of Engelwara.
Vestal:- Name (Vestals have both a single name and Epithet; this last is essentially a title.)
- Appearance (Hopefully self-explanatory. Many Vestals have an animal motif, yet this is not a hard-and-fast requirement.)
- Personality (You don't have to go into detail; a lot of that gets figured out in play, but it's good to know for my sake and for your fellow players' sake what to expect.)
- Genesis (Not all ships spawn Vestals. Why did yours? Note that this doesn't have to be a single event.)
- Authority (What is your special power as a Vestal? This is something simple yet powerful that is unique to you. It can manifest in many ways.)
Ship:- Name
- Class and Role (Are you a sneaky destroyer? A mighty fast battleship? Something in between?)
- Optional: Configuration Details (Go into as much or as little detail as you like for technical aspects. I will smart check this, so don't go overboard. If you don't know much about ships, feel free to not include.)
- Statline
- Displacement (This is in tons, at maximum load. Higher displacement gives you more character points, yet less Stealth. For reference, most destroyers do not exceed 4,000 tons, cruisers go up to around 20,000 tons or less, and battleships and battlecruisers are on the order of 50,000 tons.)
- Total Points (You start with 7 points. In addition, for every two thousand tons of displacement, gain 1 character point.
- Stealth (This starts at 10, and receives a -1 for every four thousand tons of displacement. You cannot change it by putting points in it.)
- Firepower (Your total offensive ability - whether in planes, guns, or torpedoes. The more limited-use an option is, like torpedoes, for instance, the more "mileage" you get per point.)
- Speed (Your total maneuverability. This includes not only flank speed, but other things such as rudder shift time and your ship's range.)
- Armour (Your total ability to shrug off attacks. This includes not only physical armour but also defences like AA guns.)
- Intelligence (Your ability to spot enemies and communicate this to your allies. Includes radio, rangefinders, and other equipment in that vein.)
Vestal:
Name: Apolline, Lionness of the West
Appearance: Apolline takes the form of a tall woman, with icy blue eyes and mousy brown hair that is braided back. She has two lion ears on the top of her head - in addition to two humanoid ears which are typically hidden by her hair - and a short tail that ends at the base of her spine.
Personality: Apolline is fierce in battle and strict with both herself and her subordinates. She often struggles with the concept of restraint and relies on others to counterbalance her. She likes to view herself as "hard but fair"; whether this is accurate is an open question.
Genesis: The battlecruiser Virtuous is one of the most decorated vessels in Romainsoix's Republican Navy - yet the ship is seen as cursed by many. It has suffered more training accidents than the rest of the fleet could care to name. Perhaps the crew's willingness to go on despite the odds was the reason its Will spawned a Vestal.
Authority: Apolline's Authority manifests as a silver set of bow and arrows. As a manifestation of her Will, the set is extremely destructive; able to harm even Vestals and punch gaping holes in a ship's sides.
Ship:
Name: Virtuous
Class and Role: Virtuous-class battlecruiser
Configuration Details: Virtuous is the lead ship of her class of two battlecruisers. Designed as a response to the then-latest batch of heavy cruisers and capital ships from Arnsbach and Solime, she carries a large battery of 15" guns arranged in an A-Bs-C-P-Xs-Y configuration of twin turrets - that is, three ahead with the middle superfiring, a superfiring pair aft, and a single turret amidships. She is notable for her use of fully-oil-firing boilers, which can take her up to 28 knots. She has 8" of protection in her turrets and 9.5" on her belt - yet this is not quite sufficient to stop shells. However, she was quite overweight at trials - while her design called for 40,000 tons to pass it through the Parliament, this was found to be impossible, and more were slipped in - and continues to suffer from this.
Statline:
Displacement: 40,000 tons
Total Points : 27
Stealth: 0
Firepower: 10
Speed: 8
Armour: 4
Intelligence: 5
Note: This will be the first RP that I am GMing. Expect jank and teething trouble as I figure things out.
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Topic: Vestals of the Waves (OOC) (Read 1259 times)