The Urban Journey: An “Ex Novo” City-building Quest

[X] A great war struck the people, from the burial places of the people the dead arose back to life and attacked. Overwhelmed from generations of dead the people were forced to flee lest they themselves joined the ranks of the dead.

I know its low fantasy but I couldn't help The obligatory zombie option!

[X] Climate change - years of droughts and bad harvests forced them to finally pack up and move, bringing their agricultural knowledge with them

hoping this 1 means no hierarchy

[X] The Long Fog - Our old home was once great, our fields were prosperous and our livestock fat. None know for sure what caused it but a great fog consumed our home, some claim it was the folly of a warlock believing they could control nature, others a demon's curse. This fog choked the sun, starving our crops, starving our livestock, starving our people. Eventually, we had no choice but to pack up and move on. Our time in the Long Fog changed us, our festivals and ceremonies would be ruled by candlelight. We'd dance, sing, orate, and feast adorned by different colored candles for these lights could push back the fog each with their own meaning.

[X] Holy Call - Thousands have heard a call from a god to lead them to the promised land. They have been told that many trials await to make the land prosperous but, to many, they have nowhere to go with them being shunned by all they hold dear. It is these who ventured to the wild lands.

[X] The Seed Of Redemption - For many moons did the people once languish under the tyrannical rule of a dark king. The streets ran rampant with crime, the buildings falling apart at the seems, the crop-fields dying quicker and faster each day. All the while it seems that the royal treasury just grew with each passing week. Finally the people had enough, under the command of a brazen rebel, the people took up arms and revolted. The forces of the tyrant king and the trailblazing rebel clashed both day and night, the kingdom was in ruins. But finally, the king was slain, his head placed on a pike for all to bear witness to. It would seem like this would be a day to celebrate, but it was far from it. The land was still in pieces, remnants of the king's forces were hiding and stalking within the wilds, acting like bandits and brigands. It was too much for the people to handle, and thus many chose to leave, traveling to a new home to start over.

This looks like an absolutely fascinating quest concept. I am looking forward to seeing where this goes.

[X] Beneath The Unseen - The monster who stalks nonexistence is coming for our people, and we must defend our last bastion, our Motherland.

My quick opinions/thoughts.

We have a decent start for religious characteristics, I do think at least one of the factions should be related to that aspect of our society. I think a sort of specific craftsman faction would also be interesting gives us a vague idea of what we may trade once we're more well established, as we're on a peninsula trade is logically going to play a big role for our community. I do think we should try to avoid something that would too greatly upset the balance, so probably not a warrior faction.

My initial preference for the origins are "The Seed of Redemption" and "The Earth Changed", both give us a lot of room to play into the idea of many different peoples came here. Though I don't dislike any of them.

[X] The Seed of Redemption – A revolution against a tyrant was successful but the effort broke the country. Our people have fled the chaos and civil strife that followed. What is our relationship with the rebels who have taken over? Will they be successful in the long run? Will they view us as long-lost companions or traitors for leaving?
-[X] The rebels view us as fellow kinsmen, broken and lost just like them. Though they are disappointed with our decision to leave and abandon our homeland, they are not as bloodthirsty as the old king and his men were. The homeland is in ruins, but far from unrepairable, the rebels have a chance, but only time will tell.

@hessan_yongdi could we get a break down of what Factions mean in this game, and what they can represent?

[X] The Earth Changed – Climactic shifts have made it impossible for our people to survive in our old home. Years of unusually cold, wet summers followed by even colder and dry winters have emptied the granaries, rotted the crops, and left the forests stripped bare of food and firewood. We have to try to find new lands to survive. What is our relationship with the people left behind? Will the effects follow us? Will it end and things recover eventually?
-[X] Only the bravest and most stubborn remained in the ancestral lands. As for the rest of us, we were scattered across the lands, with only a faction of our people ending up in this specific location. We prayed for the old land-spirits so that they may recover while we establish a relationship with this new land.

[X] The Seed of Redemption – A revolution against a tyrant was successful but the effort broke the country. Our people have fled the chaos and civil strife that followed. What is our relationship with the rebels who have taken over? Will they be successful in the long run? Will they view us as long-lost companions or traitors for leaving?

[X] Left Behind – Our people lived in a community where a messianic figure led to a mass migration to a holy land. We are the ones who stayed behind. We tried to carry on, but too many had left. We could not survive the way we did before. Did we reject the prophet's call or were we not allowed to follow? Why? Where did the others go and what happened when they got there? If we meet again, what will happen?

A messianic figure on a pilgrimage, or a conquering tyrant... well, who they are depends on perspective, right? It seems to me these two choices could interplay with each other interestingly.

[X] The Walking Dead – While fighting a war with our neighbors, a plague struck our homeland. We don't know how it spread, but its reach was wide and quick due to the war. Many who got sick died. Others survived but were changed, marked. Out of fear of further spread, the survivors were declared dead and exiled from the cities and villages. We came here, refugees of death to the only place we knew would be safe. How are the survivors marked? What caused this illness? Could it happen again? What will happen when the people of our homeland find out where we went? (No literal zombies, but close enough?)
-[X] It was said that a sign of holy retribution is a disease of apocalyptic scale that would wipe a land and its people with those who survived the ordeal deemed to be the most worthy of divine grace and blessing and those were the stories passed to those who wandered and eventually settled to the Cradle of the Moon. This destructive plague can only be heard in whispers as the Sea Plague in how wide and deep it spread the pestilence to the land as well as being the offending party in the Wars of the Sea that has to brook divine disfavor. It was said that the homeland was already on the cusp of heresy and heterodoxy for all the war and destruction they have caused. It was said that the excesses of the elite were a direct insult to the divine. Many who hold the True Faith were persecuted in the madness of their century-long decline. The final War of the Sea was the straw that broke the camel's back and when a parade entered announcing victory in the debauched capital it is after the festivities that the disease has shown itself. A great sickness spread through the city with physicians and priests attempting to stem the illness yet it managed to exit the walls and spread far and wide where it could be said that you would know of at least one relative who is battling such a disease. Aside from great fever physicians noted that great screams would be heard from the patients with mumbling of a vision of damnation for them all. For those who died a mark was left on the iris and behind the ear of a sign that to the True Believes is a holy symbol. Those who are not true believers die or made mad when the disease ravaged them with the visions and voices never-ending until the end of their lives. For the True Believers, however, the physical aspects were the same but the voices and visions were silenced and banished when both moons were full and a holy vision and calling replaced them yet when only one was shown then it would either be half the otherworldly symptoms were shown reducing the strength the spirit must be to repel this evil. They received the marks as well but those who made it were revered as those who saw the calling of the gods with many of their fellow believers following them to feel the ecstasy of the holy vision and voice that came to them during the two full bright moons. Though revered for their closeness to the divine and their fortitude against the plague when found by the ruling authorities they were killed on sight for the belief that these marks were a sign of pestilence instead of recovery and when they were defended whole settlements burned and their populations slaughtered with no succor being found in the neighboring lands where they believe it as well. After that, a great march of exile followed to save the remaining unmarked believers of their homeland they left in great groups and finally found the Cradle of the Moon. To the believers, the disease itself was what they believed was merely a sign of trial and ascendance to be closer to the divine and while their children no longer bear the marks in the waking world it is in the realm of dreams that what ravaged them is still remembered. It was only through a ritual that the disease would be pass on in the current day as that was a vision left behind by the divine to properly communicate with them. That ritual would their greatest secret because if found out then all would perish to the last babe for ritualizing a cursed blight that killed millions.

[X] Left Behind – Our people lived in a community where a messianic figure led to a mass migration to a holy land. We are the ones who stayed behind. We tried to carry on, but too many had left. We could not survive the way we did before. Did we reject the prophet's call or were we not allowed to follow? Why? Where did the others go and what happened when they got there? If we meet again, what will happen?
-[X] A great migration was heralded by a prophet in a vision believed to be sent by the most high. In that vision, a land of unbelievable plenty would be found for those who would take a risk to follow this holy order. For those that remain that prophet would be more akin to a demagogue charismatic enough to send most of their people to their doom. Those that remain were those that refused to follow the accursed prophet that led most of them. When ready to leave the prophet has ordered something blaspheme and sacrificed two youths willing to die for an honored place in the afterlife. These two youth for those that remained were called the Lost Lovers fooled by the grasping prophet and ordered the followers to drink their blood to fortify their spirits. A family of three a couple with their young child were the next sacrificed unwillingly for their flesh to be eaten to fortify and still the time of their bodies because it would take a generation to reach the promised. The family was called the Fallen Family. In their exit, they attempted to destroy the entirety of those that refused, and while there were those that escaped many died at their hands in an orgy of murder and cannibalism. Those that escaped traveled far enough to find groves hidden from the sight of their pursuers that they hid till the end of the slaughter. In the hidden groves, those that hid and survived waited until the turn of the two moons would be full and found a desolate ruin in their wake. Bones scattered would be buried and a great mourning was held to those that were lost. Over time they had asked for forgiveness of those who were sacrificed and fooled by the prophet. The blame was fully laid on the prophet turned demagogue who consorted with demons to lead them to a land of evil to be sacrificed to become the ultimate evil. When they returned they were forced to scavenge what remained and return them to the groves to recover from the ordeal. The site would become a graveyard for those that died and they built a settlement near the groves that protected them. A practice of spiritual purity was instituted to prevent another demagogue from poisoning their minds and those that remained observed the rituals and traditions of their community with a healthy respect for the divinity. When some of the followers of the mad prophet defected and returned to the settlement it was with open arms that they accepted them back but, to once more be part of their community a trial of repentance must set to clean the soul of the taint of the mad prophet and when they succeded as well as survived the ordeal a great feast would occur for a return of a lost child.

Prefered Mcclay's response to Seed of Redemption than my own.
-[] The rebels were widespread; cousins, siblings, and children were among their number, there are few without some connection of blood to those that toppled the tyrant. Yet the rebels were unified in only their revolution against the Tyrant, many factions existed within them who sought very different futures, and as such those hungry for power themselves with armed militias and warriors at their sides pointed their blades at each other. The peace many fought for was no longer possible, and such we had to leave. For those that remained our old people were only becoming more battle-hardened while unlikely to fall to an outside force, they had little chance to not become something akin though significantly better than the tyrant before. Whichever faction does finally claim control of our old country, they will likely see us as rightfully under their rule, their people.

[X] The Seed of Redemption – A revolution against a tyrant was successful but the effort broke the country. Our people have fled the chaos and civil strife that followed. What is our relationship with the rebels who have taken over? Will they be successful in the long run? Will they view us as long-lost companions or traitors for leaving?
-[X] We were comrades, family and allies with the Rebels. Our villages were cut off from the main body of the rebel force and subjected to the attention of one of the loyal generals. We escaped with our lives and some small possessions and fled to the Cradle of the Moon. The Rebels were on the upswing but the tyrant still had many armies left in the field. Hopefully our comrades will know us as allies from our banners and family names.

[X] Left Behind – Our people lived in a community where a messianic figure led to a mass migration to a holy land. We are the ones who stayed behind. We tried to carry on, but too many had left. We could not survive the way we did before. Did we reject the prophet's call or were we not allowed to follow? Why? Where did the others go and what happened when they got there? If we meet again, what will happen?
-[X] The prophet would not accept us, we who were "marked" by tattoos indicative of various accomplishments were tainted by the old gods, unacceptable to the "true" ones they espoused, and so many of our young and promising found new hope in the "prophet's" words. And so they sailed south, to the supposed Promised Isle the prophet had seen in their visions, we do not know if the found this land, but if they did and we were to meet again, they would likely find us as tainted and old-fashioned, yet we know our traditions must still resonate within them somehow.

[x] The Seed of Redemption – A revolution against a tyrant was successful but the effort broke the country. Our people have fled the chaos and civil strife that followed. What is our relationship with the rebels who have taken over? Will they be successful in the long run? Will they view us as long-lost companions or traitors for leaving?
-We were comrades, family and allies with the Rebels. Our villages were cut off from the main body of the rebel force and subjected to the attention of one of the loyal generals. We escaped with our lives and some small possessions and fled to the Cradle of the Moon. The Rebels were on the upswing but the tyrant still had many armies left in the field. Hopefully our comrades will know us as allies from our banners and family names.

[X] The Walking Dead – While fighting a war with our neighbors, a plague struck our homeland. We don't know how it spread, but its reach was wide and quick due to the war. Many who got sick died. Others survived but were changed, marked. Out of fear of further spread, the survivors were declared dead and exiled from the cities and villages. We came here, refugees of death to the only place we knew would be safe. How are the survivors marked? What caused this illness? Could it happen again? What will happen when the people of our homeland find out where we went? (No literal zombies, but close enough?)
-The illness, spreading from a great fungal cavern near our home, nearly destroyed our empire. We, those who survived its touch, are marked with strange growths and a tendency to lose track of time and only really connect with the other marked. Those who are even deeper in the sickness's grasp sometimes lose both their human forms and minds, becoming alien creatures utterly removed from humanity. Being so far from the fungal cavern we are likely safe from another outbreak, but the marks left on our bodies and minds will likely persist to our children. If our old neighbors find out who we are, they will likely come to burn us away.

I was sort of under the thought process that we were also trying to select our initial factions here, but I may be wrong. However, I think we should discuss why we're voting the way we are for the origins at least.

So while my original thoughts were "The Earth Changed" alongside "The Seed of Redemption" Happerry's idea of two halves of the same whole between "Redemption" and "Left Behind" got me thinking in terms of Left Behind. Left Behind has an interesting flavor to it because it involves us being sort of already established here, already heavily declining, and the Refugees from "Redemption" gave it a chance to recover with harsh changes as new ideas flood into a location that was already harmed by "new ideas." It should create a decent conflict, but also unity as the Refugees from "Redemption" probably wouldn't be as able to survive here without the help of the already present remnants of "Left Behind."

Now as per faction ideas, I remain interested in a faction of some sort of specialized craftspeople, be it Chandlers (one who makes candles), Weavers, Bookbinders or something else along those lines. I am partial to this type of faction because even if the faction fades and dies out I like the idea of them having a legacy on the culture far into the future. Where you get weird rituals like a Coming of Age ceremony requiring one to recite a specific tale from the past before a ceremonial candle goes out even long after a "Chandler" faction faded. Little bits like that are always interesting for worldbuilding.

I do think that maybe selecting factions right now may be strange though, since we don't know exactly what were ending up with and various ideas may work better for others, like I enjoyed the idea of Shepards being a faction if we used "The Earth Changed" playing into the idea that they led the people here, as they continued to drive their herds further out for food finding and leading them to The Cradle of The Moon. Probably gaining some prominence for such a deed and expanding that into something important to the refugees here.

[X] The Seed of Redemption – A revolution against a tyrant was successful but the effort broke the country. Our people have fled the chaos and civil strife that followed. What is our relationship with the rebels who have taken over? Will they be successful in the long run? Will they view us as long-lost companions or traitors for leaving?
-[X] We were comrades, family and allies with the Rebels. Our villages were cut off from the main body of the rebel force and subjected to the attention of one of the loyal generals. We escaped with our lives and some small possessions and fled to the Cradle of the Moon. The Rebels were on the upswing but the tyrant still had many armies left in the field. Hopefully our comrades will know us as allies from our banners and family names.

[X] Left Behind – Our people lived in a community where a messianic figure led to a mass migration to a holy land. We are the ones who stayed behind. We tried to carry on, but too many had left. We could not survive the way we did before. Did we reject the prophet's call or were we not allowed to follow? Why? Where did the others go and what happened when they got there? If we meet again, what will happen?
-[X] The prophet would not accept us, we who were "marked" by tattoos indicative of various accomplishments were tainted by the old gods, unacceptable to the "true" ones they espoused, and so many of our young and promising found new hope in the "prophet's" words. And so they sailed south, to the supposed Promised Isle the prophet had seen in their visions, we do not know if the found this land, but if they did and we were to meet again, they would likely find us as tainted and old-fashioned, yet we know our traditions must still resonate within them somehow.

ComiTurtle said:

I do think that maybe selecting factions right now may be strange though, since we don't know exactly what were ending up with and various ideas may work better for others, like I enjoyed the idea of Shepards being a faction if we used "The Earth Changed" playing into the idea that they led the people here, as they continued to drive their herds further out for food finding and leading them to The Cradle of The Moon. Probably gaining some prominence for such a deed and expanding that into something important to the refugees here.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

I agree. I was going to hold off on making factions until we have full vote results tonight, but feel free to make suggestions!

[X] The Seed of Redemption – A revolution against a tyrant was successful but the effort broke the country. Our people have fled the chaos and civil strife that followed. What is our relationship with the rebels who have taken over? Will they be successful in the long run? Will they view us as long-lost companions or traitors for leaving?
-[X] We were comrades, family and allies with the Rebels. Our villages were cut off from the main body of the rebel force and subjected to the attention of one of the loyal generals. We escaped with our lives and some small possessions and fled to the Cradle of the Moon. The Rebels were on the upswing but the tyrant still had many armies left in the field. Hopefully our comrades will know us as allies from our banners and family names.

[X] Left Behind – Our people lived in a community where a messianic figure led to a mass migration to a holy land. We are the ones who stayed behind. We tried to carry on, but too many had left. We could not survive the way we did before. Did we reject the prophet's call or were we not allowed to follow? Why? Where did the others go and what happened when they got there? If we meet again, what will happen?
-[X] The prophet would not accept us, we who were "marked" by tattoos indicative of various accomplishments were tainted by the old gods, unacceptable to the "true" ones they espoused, and so many of our young and promising found new hope in the "prophet's" words. And so they sailed south, to the supposed Promised Isle the prophet had seen in their visions, we do not know if the found this land, but if they did and we were to meet again, they would likely find us as tainted and old-fashioned, yet we know our traditions must still resonate within them somehow.

Personally I'm not that into zombies I think that horse has been beaten enough. It'd also be really interesting to be a collection of people who've been left behind and separated from their loved ones in various ways.

[X] The Council of Exiles
For the coucils HQ maybe a fort in the shape of a circle with a circular table at the very center where the council meets. With everything being circles to represent that each of the council members are equals.

[X] The Cradle of Olpan

The HQ of the cult should, of course, be the shrine that they worship Olpan from. Of course the shrine need not be a generic building. Perhaps a stonehenge sort of stone ring? The original stonehenge was associated with astronomy after all, and given the lunar theming of this place that could be appropriate.