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Journeywoman's Journeys, A Fantasy Age of Exploration Worldbuilding Quest (Updated Daily)

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Okay, but hear me out:

[X] …A Full Scholarship

We go into medicine. We can't get access to medical cadavers because so many corpses go into the hands of the bonebinders. Our mother is an archeologist. We like spooky things. We become a resurrectionist. We get kicked out to save the university face when this practice comes to light. We use our skills to start selling to underground, non-guild-affiliated necromancers to make ends meet. We pick up necromancy along the way. Using this, we raise a horde of undead and take over the city in vengeance against those fools at the academy who spurned us. We become the villain of the setting.
 
[X] …A Guild Apprenticeship
-[X] Herald League

If our clan wanted political connections then having someone in with the messengers who carry diplomats across our society makes a lot of sense.
 
[X] …A Clan Education
[X] …A Full Scholarship
[X] ...a Spirit Guide
 
Good evening, time to settle in with a mug of tea and get this written!
Scheduled vote count started by AKuz on Jan 14, 2022 at 12:41 AM, finished with 19 posts and 18 votes.
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Spirits and Scholars
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    • [X] ...a Spirit Guide

    Spirits and Scholars​

    Anne-Seht's childhood ends the day of her seventh birthday.

    Since there have been Harakai, there have been spirit guides, ancestors who are called to guide the newest generation. The legends disagree on whether guides are tranquil departed ancestors, long lived spirit ancestors, or spirit kin.

    The Harakai of Khot-Sen-Lanua have let such traditions slide. Educations towards the future, scholarly debates on the ethics of necromantic divination, simple loss of traditional knowledge, and the inevitable passage of time have weakened a tradition that was already an uncommon practice.

    To the curious and calculating mind of Annasavai, Matriarch of great and terrible arcane powers, and a ranking Mistress of Archaeologists' Compact, a child of mixed Harakai and Silef bloodlines has always been an opportunity to either engage first hand with a dying tradition or to speak with the representative of her own arcanely accomplished ancestors.

    So, there is a ritual, the result of seven years of slow arcane preparation.

    And little Anne-Seht is face to face with a long dead Silef ancestor.

    One angry at being ripped from something he weeps for instead of explaining.

    But Kaf, (He is always Kaf, "Small Pointed Edge" in Old Silaf) is a practical man. Though he speaks with Anne alone, he rapidly comes around to the idea of training a child of his clan, his blood, in ancient ways.

    Annesavai is initially disappointed in merely contacting a leader of men from her ancestor's steppe nomad period, instead of one of the great sages of later years, a member of the famed Sword Chorus, or one of legendary guards for the courts of Emperors of antiquity. But, also ever the scholar, she adapts quickly, staying near to her granddaughter through most waking hours, a paper folio and pencil always in hand.

    She relays questions to Kaf via Anne, Kaf being only too happy to ensure that his descendant knows the proper ways despite her strangeness.

    Much of what is learned is fascinating to Annesavai and few others, for few have been brought in on the secret. For until the Matriarch can publish a completed edition of her crowning work she insists that knowledge of this bonding be kept inside the family.

    Soon Kaf insists upon a proper physical education for Anne. He is exacting and demanding, a true son of his people, but between the stern gaze of her grandmother and her own innate refusal to back down from challenges, Anne rises to the task.

    Anne vows that before her fifteenth year she can hunt, ride, track, lead, and fight.

    Kaf teaches her blade, spear, and bow. And when after a few increasingly confident years he learns of gun and cannon he insists that Anne demand Annesavai procure her granddaughter a firearms instructor.

    For Kaf is a practical man.

    Annesavai is a practical woman as well. She knows that simply having Anne parrot questions without understanding is worthless. Instead she teaches Anne the fundamentals of her discipline. Anne rises to this challenge as well, feeling warmth every time the stern matriarch favours her with a rare smile.

    By the time Anne-Seht is fourteen Starchanges, old enough to attend a Khot University, she is near friendless, having lived every moment under the instruction of two ancestors, transmuted a childhood with the ability to stalk a man through the hills, to conduct an excavation, to appease the colours of the skies, to write an essay, to lead men and corral the clans, to shoot gun or bow while on the back of a beast, and so much more.

    She's also increasingly unruly, to Kaf's apparent delight and Annesavai's frustration.

    When Anne-Seth turns fifteen and says goodbye to Kaf, he pronounces her a true inheritor of his tribe. A tribe named for their fabled beasts, for Anne-Seht is a member of Clan…

    Oops, too busy with story and don't have room for a full suite of options. lol.

    But you peeps know how this works (~50 words today!)

    For this vote I'm looking for the Clan's name (a legendary beast that may or may not exist) as well as the more mundane creatures that the clan used in historical memory and are still associated with.

    Example:

    [x] …Pegasus

    While the fabled winged beasts haven't been seen for centuries, her clan once rode horses across the steppes and into the surrounding lands. The clan once fought from horseback before they became known as arcane warriors par excellence and Anne's clan is still associated with these hooved animals.

    write ins said:
    [X]...Cohacos (The Golden Terror)
    The Golden Terrors of legend was said to be a tireless beast, who could move leagues with each bound, whose beak could crush iron. Sadly, they have not been spotted in generations, although their more common cousins Phorusrhacos are still loyal and powerful partners, imprinted on their rider and raised from hatchling, there is no stronger bond

    [X] ...Kitsune
    Legends abound of many-tailed fox spirits famed for their trickery and shapeshifting abilities. No sightings have ever been confirmed, but the clan's affinity for the creatures has led them to domesticate mundane foxes, and their illusionists and diviners are renowned.

    [X] ...Basilisk
    The clan follows in the footsteps of the serpent that can reputedly kill with a gaze. Their mages are skilled in crafting curses, and they often make use of ordinary snakes, executing their enemies in snakepits and coating their blades with venom.


    [X] ...Phoenix
    The resurrective powers of the legendary firebird form the bedrock of this clan's mythology. They often engage in falconry or train messenger birds, and have perfected healing disciplines, making them something of an outlier in the Silef's warrior ethos.
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    • I don't think this is exactly, what was written in, so I apologize, but the idea caught my muse and I think it's an interesting backstory and an interesting outcome that will help to make her an interesting character.

    Interestingly interesting. >: P

    So, in my head this has the vibes of she's basically one of those like, sports or arts prodigies that get intense focused educations as a child to the cost of a social life... But she does learn catgirl steppe nomad skills, and has completed several dozen unofficial anthropology and archaeology courses, so who's to say if it's bad or not?

    EDIT: so basically my thinking is that when I have updates that are primarily narrative (though this is still a fairly brisk and remote narrative, and I'm probably going to be bringing it in for a much warmer third person when we start the adventure proper) such as this one, and hopfully more soon, the votes will be smaller like this, where I will merely have to give an example and rely more on write ins to both save room and because I've "taken the training wheels off" as it were. This will be especially for pure worldbuilding votes.

    Though when we introduce some characters and plot elements I'm likely to step back and give heftier voting options again because I'm willing to be more hands off on directing the worldbuilding, but I'm thinking that I need to keep a tighter grip on pacing and characterization to keep the quest from floundering.

    This might change, because I'm still basically building this quest as I run it at a breakneck pace. (I would update more than once some days but then there wouldn't be enough time for votes to simmer)

    Anyway, I'm just going to put this here so that I'm transparent with my thinking and so that I can get feedback on preferences.

    Also, we're only like a day or two away from a finalizing "Character Generation" vote. So there's that.
     
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    [X]...Cohacos (The Golden Terror)

    The Golden Terrors of legend was said to be a tireless beast, who could move leagues with each bound, whose beak could crush iron. Sadly, they have not been spotted in generations, although their more common cousins Phorusrhacos are still loyal and powerful partners, imprinted on their rider and raised from hatchling, there is no stronger bond

    Phorusrhacos was a real animal that lived in the South American Plans! Roughly twice the size of an ostrich, with a powerful crushing beak and big stompy legs
    Recent evedence suggests they may have been Omnivores!
     
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    [X] Kitsune

    Legends abound of many-tailed fox spirits famed for their trickery and shapeshifting abilities. No sightings have ever been confirmed, but the clan's affinity for the creatures has led them to domesticate mundane foxes, and their illusionists and diviners are renowned.

    [X] Basilisk

    The clan follows in the footsteps of the serpent that can reputedly kill with a gaze. Their mages are skilled in crafting curses, and they often make use of ordinary snakes, executing their enemies in snakepits and coating their blades with venom.

    [X] Phoenix

    The resurrective powers of the legendary firebird form the bedrock of this clan's mythology. They often engage in falconry or train messenger birds, and have perfected healing disciplines, making them something of an outlier in the Silef's warrior ethos.
     
    Fun Fact, if we base the lifespain of the Phorusrhacos on Ostriches, our Partner will live for 75 years!

    That's a Bird Friend for Life! A Perfect Child to Who Will Always Love Us and can Run at 70 miles an hour!
     
    [X] The King of Reptiles

    The clan's most ancient histories speak of warriors who won the trust of the mightiest beasts of their ancient homeland. While these regal monstrosities are presumed to be mythological, the clan still trains their smaller brethren, using ancient magics to befriend and train these usually unruly beasts. Their mounts and riders alike are highly sought after by the various mercenary companies that make the city their home.
     
    HeWhoAdds said:
    [X] The King of Reptiles

    The clan's most ancient histories speak of warriors who won the trust of the mightiest beasts of their ancient homeland. While these regal monstrosities are presumed to be mythological, the clan still trains their smaller brethren, using ancient magics to befriend and train these usually unruly beasts. Their mounts and riders alike are highly sought after by the various mercenary companies that make the city their home.
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    A dinosaur riding Clan?
    Heck yes!

    Gets my vote... if you come up with a clan name too.
    Clan "The King of Reptiles" doesn't exactly roll off the tongue.

    Hmm.
    How about 'Osaurii'? (O-saw-ree-i)
    Mixing 'Dinosaur' with 'Triarii'; IRL an elite early roman legion.
    If Triarii literally means "men of the third rank/line", then Osaurii can mean "men of the dinosaur rank/line/...tribe"?
     
    [X] The King of Reptiles

    The clan's most ancient histories speak of warriors who won the trust of the mightiest beasts of their ancient homeland. While these regal monstrosities are presumed to be mythological, the clan still trains their smaller brethren, using ancient magics to befriend and train these usually unruly beasts. Their mounts and riders alike are highly sought after by the various mercenary companies that make the city their home.

    We save the College Islands While Riding Giant Dinosaurs.
     
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