#ternaki

[prima-materia-ttrpg]

Species Highlight - Ternaki

It is time to talk about the technicolor space elves. The Ternaki aren't technically elves because elves don't exist. How dare you have fun. But boy do they come in a lot of different colors! They also happen to be immortal.

So here's the process behind making the Ternaki, and what their lore and history currently looks like.

The Ternaki started with a pretty simple idea. "What would an immortal species actually do culturally?" The answer, of course, is not singular. But I wanted to see what interesting things I could come up with for a species that has nothing but time. How would they think and view the world? How would that worldview change as they got older? How differently would a 100 year old think from a million year old individual? Of course there are a million other questions that follow this same course of reasoning.

One of the first things I decided to include was war scrimmages. That probably sounds weird, but I will explain. War scrimmages are a sport for the Ternaki, treated the same way that one might treat paintball if it were as big as football or soccer. They have four innings that last 25 years each, with the victor declared at the end of the 100 year game by tallying points. Generally, taking towns gives you a decent amount of points. Battles are scheduled ahead of time, and for a town to be the site of one of these scrimmages is a time of celebration. Their war scrimmages are non-lethal, and their generals are some of the most prominent celebrities among the Ternaki; particularly if they consistently find creative ways to outwit their opponents.

The second thing I decided to include was a sacred view of life. The Ternaki generally believe that life should be preserved whenever possible, that the death of a Ternaki is a tragedy, and the death of someone who isn't immortal even more so because they had so little time to begin with.

From here, I set out to make the idea of life being sacred the core philosophy behind the rest of the culture. I also decided that I wanted Ternaki to be unfathomably old sometimes so I could play with some fun ideas about how those old Ternaki think. As a result, they did not evolve on the planet Patek, but rather, on Ternak. Ternak is another planet (and god) that was destroyed when Ternak's star went supernova over a billion years ago. This was such a significant event that their language has different tenses based on whether something predates the death of Ternak.

Ternak, unlike Patek, cared for the sapient creatures on his surface and saw them as his children. The first Ternaki prophets were simply Ternak's friends, who walked and talked with his avatar on the surface of the planet. Ternak did his best to teach them the sacredness of life, because he had seen much of it extinguished in the last age of the universe. He also gave the Ternaki the gift of immortality, saying "You will not fully know me until you see the last stars in the universe blink into nothingness as I have." Once the Ternaki were able to leave the planet, Ternak saw his duty to teach them as done and allowed them to leave the nest. He cut off communication with his children until the star he was taking care of was in its last days, billions of years later. The Ternaki, having at this point spread out through the galaxy, came back on their huge city-ships to witness the last moments of their god. The Ternak system filled with them, and Ternak sent out a message, simply saying "thank you." Legend tells that Ternak also sent an avatar to his closest friend during the congregation, though what he may have said to them is not known.

The Ternaki of Patek

A spaceship 20 kilometers long looms in the Patek system. Inside, a Ternaki woman calls over her colleague. "Look at this" she says, "seven sapient species are on this planet, all in the paleolithic."

"How unusual. My scans of the moon yielded similar results."

The two bring their findings to the ship's captain, presenting a data pad. The Ternaki woman expounds her findings with all the excitement of a consummate professional; "As you can see, based on our scans of the planet and its moon, both are teeming with life. There are also some very strange readings, the planet has multiple new sapient species. On top of that, we believe the moon was captured by the planet and seeded with life."

The captain looks over the data pad, seemingly unenthused. "Perhaps we have found one of Ternak's brethren. Continue your research."

This scene played out ten thousand years ago amongst Ternaki who were much more ancient than that. The Ternaki on that ship were looking for a place to settle down and play civilization for a while, and Patek fit the bill as a place interesting enough place to settle.

Starting with 200,000 people, they found a quiet subcontinent to start the first city to call home. They named the city Sifia, a traditional name for the first city on any planet that roughly means something about a place where new light springs forth. No one really kept track of the etymology.

In the current day, the Ternaki on Patek number close to 160 million. Throughout history, they have been a constant if sometimes enigmatic presence; changing the course of history through their interactions with other cultures. Most Ternaki born on Patek don't know of their extra-terrestrial origins per say, but are aware of the important things such as the story of Ternak preserved through poetry, and countless conversations which involve him recorded in the Ternak Ben'at.

The Ternaki on Patek adhere to religious law, much of which consists of recorded arguments between their spiritual leaders and legal experts, the Ravoshi. The job of a governmental Ravoshi is often to argue in the public gathering place of a civic building with other Ravoshi to constantly hone and clarify religious law. Generally, two Ravoshi will talk about a topic from the Ternak Ben'at or other legal records. A third Ravoshi acts as a scribe and transcribes the argument. The Ravoshi will quote law at each other and give their interpretation of what it means. A third Ravoshi, or sometimes even a citizen, is allowed to interject their own opinion on a topic though this is rare. Ternaki legal battles are much the same, the only difference being the presence of a defendant and a judge.

Punishment for failure to adhere to religious law is not usually done. The only crimes which are punishable are those which involve things such as murder, theft, or sharing technology with other cultures that don't have it. Murder is punished by exile, theft is punished generally with community service, and sharing of technology is punished by exile until the bit of technology you shared becomes obsolete. The laws that apply to outsiders are generally more lenient, though they do lean more towards exile in those cases.

All in all, the Ternaki legal system is very complex. Clans of Ternaki also have their own Ravoshis that aren't hired by the government. They often act as leaders in their communities, solving disputes and taking care of religious rites when they are observed.

Ternaki Clans themselves are the closest thing to what they have to families. Some clans are rather small, and make up a village. Others have hundreds or even thousands of members. Some clans do farming, others are focused on spiritual and legal training; with young members expected to become Ravoshi. Trading clans tend to be the largest, and are the main conduit for import and export to and from the Ternaki subcontinent. Some clans don't have a particular focus, but as they age, individual Ternaki usually find a niche that captures their whole attention for hundreds or more years. Ternaki craftsmanship is some of the best on Patek because Ternaki have quite a lot of time to hone their craft and work on projects. Each sailing ship, building, and gun they make is a work of art made with care, sometimes over the course of a century.

Because of their view on how life should be lived, money isn't used often in many Ternaki communities, though there are places in large cities that use money on occasion. Some Ternaki establishments will deal in money, particularly when they sell luxury goods; but these prices are almost never final as Ternaki often like to haggle over price as a social game. In the case of food and restaurants money is usually optional, especially if someone hasn't eaten in a while. Some Ternaki do take money seriously, however, as they use it to trade in other cultures that take money seriously. The average Ternaki that isn't in a trading clan may carry very little or no money, and not understand why it's needed. A Ternaki in a trading clan or who otherwise often finds themselves away from home will see it as a tool to trade with others outside the Ternaki subcontinent, and have a much better grasp of what its purpose usually is.

I think that's where I'll stop, that's a lot of information and I think I've explained the Ternaki well enough for a blog post. I finally finished writing the combat mechanics, so next week will definitely be about that. If you read this far, thank you very much! Also, I have a website now with playtests you can download! Go make a character or something!

Also thanks @donutboxers for the artwork for this post!

[prima-materia-ttrpg]

We do this not because it is easy...

...but because we thought it would be easy.

It's been a while, and I need to put out a blog post or I'm going to go insane. This post was meant to be "Species Highlight - Sepia", which is still sitting in my drafts half finished. Instead, this is going to be a post about burnout and some not-quite-finished things I've been cycling between for Prima Materia. If there's one thing you take away from this post, let it be that you need to take care of yourself and take breaks. You need to rest or your body and mind will force you to rest and it won't be fun.

Last time I made a blog post, I promised that you would get the Sepia, and barring that I was sure that I would be able to get my "next experiment" up and running by the time the week was out. It turns out, I was very wrong. The experiment in question was an attempt to try and write mechanics relevant to the kind of adventures I wanted to see in Prima Materia. This entails actually writing a module, then seeing what mechanics it would require and writing those mechanics. I figured I'd churn out three modules that were intended to run for 3 sessions each, and start playtesting. To probably no one's surprise who's ever done the insane amount of work it takes to write a module that can be run by another human being, this hasn't worked.

The first module is currently unfinished, and I am still excited about it and want to finish it; however I ran into burnout while writing it over the course of a few weeks because I agonized about it not getting done and agonized when I was writing it because I was tired of writing the same thing. I then ran into several life snags that haven't allowed me to work on it. I won't go into details of my personal life here but suffice to say stress has been high and time has been relatively short. Add burnout into this and you have a recipe for not even thinking about Prima Materia for a month and some change.

So, in order to get back into the groove of trying to write, I decided to be a little self serving and write a part of the setting that I wanted to write right then because I finally got hit with the inspiration beam again. This bit of writing will have no relevance to anything for probably years down the line in this project, but it's fun and interesting to me so it served as a wonderful tool for diving back in. I will share with you the little blurb that I wrote about a planet that exists in the setting, though it is hardly even a first draft so much as a note. Names are placeholders and everything here is subject to change.

Ternaki Log(?) World: Carcosa; cold eyeball planet orbiting a red dwarf Carcosa is a planet engineered by the "Architects," a group of aliens that were active between three and four billion years ago. They left a beacon in orbit of the planet that tells us this planet is called "Carcosa" and was the work of an individual named "Hastur." Dating methods used on the beacon and ice core samples taken from the cold side of the planet reveal that this was likely one of Hastur's later works. The planet's crust is comprised of mostly water ice and water, which experiences varying degrees of tectonic activity. A circular portion on the day side is hot enough for this water ice to melt, resulting in the usually hidden subsurface ocean to be visible. In this melted portion there are a few rocky continents and a number of hot spots resulting in island chains and active volcanism. The continental portions are home to several forms of native life, mostly plant-like in nature. Native life on Carcosa has signature markers placed by Architect gene weavers, and share genetic similarities with several nearby planetary biospheres which are unrelated to each other. The native plants can be divided into two categories that use either red or blue pigment in photosynthesis. Animals on Carcosa are wildly varied, but due to the high gravity of the planet most are either very small or very robust. There is one native sapient species on the planet that boasts several civilizations; many of which use bronze tools. In modern times, Carcosa has been designated as a resort planet / nature preserve with several island chains being co-opted for resort use, and is listed as one of the 7 ancient wonders of the galaxy in several major periodicals. The planet is managed by a satellite station in orbit of the planet, which has been in place for several centuries.

The joke here is I saw the meme about the flat earth ice wall planet actually existing (specifically this planet spied by JWST) and decided to make something like it in Prima Materia.

So what's the current project?

When approaching everything again, I came face to face with more design decisions I made in the past that didn't mesh well with what I want Prima Materia to be. Namely, I don't want there to be a class system in the game for several reasons, but there are two main reasons. Firstly, because I want player characters to be able to learn whatever the character would be able to conceivably learn (within the bounds of the system, this isn't a simulation game). Secondly, while I want both vertical and horizontal progression, I want the progression to be more horizontal than it is vertical. I find that classes lend themselves more to vertical power systems and particularly power fantasies (at least when I write them). The profession system I have is just a class system I've been pretending isn't a class system because I cleverly called it something else. So, I've dissected the profession system because it was still in the early stages and divided up the parts to other systems, which made way for at least one new system (quirks of the soul) as well as trees of features that are specifically related to things like combat, medicine, or specific kinds of alchemy.

That was a lot of the word "system." In short, Prima Materia in my brain currently looks like a disassembled car, but I have a checklist to put it back together better than it was before. In fact, here's the checklist:

The checklist isn't finished (and some stuff may be removed or changed) but it has enough to keep me busy for a while, and enough where if I start getting burnt out on one part of the project I can switch gears and start writing other parts. Currently, I'm working on quirks of the soul (working title) and integrating that into the character creation system.

That module I talked about earlier will definitely be finished at some point, though that will happen after more of this checklist is done. I'd love to tell you more but.. Spoilers. All-in-all I'm considering the experiment with side by side module / mechanics development to be.. a teachable moment.

If you read this far, thank you very much for your interest! I need to spruce up the "Species Highlight - Sepia" post before getting it out but I hope to put it up before or on the 16th, @donutboxers art has languished in my drafts long enough it needs to be seen.

Tl;dr: I'm not dead and neither is Prima Materia.

[prima-materia-ttrpg]

Species Highlight - Koura

If there's one thing I know, it's that lobsters are cool. If there are two things I know, it's that they're immortal and one of these days a cult is going to help a lobster molt for over a hundred years until it takes up the space of an Olympic sized swimming pool and they worship it as a new god.

Anyways, here's a highlight from the depths of the oceans, the very playable Koura species.

The Koura, like the Ternaki, are functionally immortal. Adults usually grow to be around 7 feet tall and 20 feet long. During the course of their lives they never stop growing, but they do eventually get so big that they can't move anymore. This happens once a Koura starts getting to around 500 years old. Koura are amphibious and can breathe in both water and air, though many would rather stay in the oceans if only because it's easier to walk around.

This isn't to say that some Koura cultures don't incorporate land-based cities and such. Many sedentary Koura civilizations enjoy interacting with other species and their cultures on land.

Most Koura, however, are semi-nomadic; seasonally migrating between shallow, hot latitudes in the summer when they have children to deep waters of any latitude in the winter. The semi-nomadic Koura are organized in autocratic societies, with warrior-kings at the head of groups; generally relying on trusted friends or family to give them advice. They are concerned with survival and the continuation of their way of life, hunting large sea monsters and foraging for food. They preserve their stories through oral history and shell etchings, a Koura Lorekeeper has many generations of stories both memorized and etched into their shell.

One such legend is that of a Koura King who lead the charge on an existential threat to the world - when the hollow god deigned to fill itself with the flesh of every living thing and the substance of all that is, she stood in battle while alchemists used powerful alchemy to seal it at the bottom of the deepest trench in the whole of the world. This king survived and continued leading her people. Eventually, when she got too old to walk on her own, her people put her back near the trench and took care of her in her old age. Thus, the valley of the kings was born. Many Koura take pilgrimages to this place to offer food and supplies to the monks that are there, taking care of many kings who have grown too old to lead their people until they are ready to die. The king who fought the hollow god declines death, and has been in the valley for over two thousand years enjoying herself.

Tradition and Lorekeeping

Koura have a strong tradition of keeping stories alive. Every nomadic group has at least one Lorekeeper, and sedentary Koura cultures generally have orders dedicated to preserving history in one way or another, whether they be more academic in nature or closer to their Lorekeeper roots.

Lorekeepers hold a high place in Koura society, and often find themselves as confidants to community members seeking guidance for hard decisions thanks to their wealth of knowledge about the past and perceived wisdom.

Any Koura can become a Lorekeeper, but it is quite the undertaking and is steeped in religious tradition. A tribe's current Lorekeeper chooses one or more successors to train and mold into new Lorekeepers. They are taught the oral tradition of their tribe; religious and mythological legends, philosophy, and history. At some point, when the Lorekeeper thinks their apprentice is ready, they undergo a rite of transformation to become a Lorekeeper themselves. The rite of transformation involves the apprentice going into a cave to meditate in solitude for three months. Over this period, the apprentice challenges themselves mentally, and meditates on various stories and Lorekeeper traditions, forging their own views and philosophy with context from their oral tradition on what it means to be a Lorekeeper. Physically, the Koura's body undergoes changes as well, by the end of the three month period whether the apprentice was male or female the changes cause them to become a third sex able to take on the role of both. This form is religiously significant in many Koura cultures, and is an intentional part of the ritual.

After a Koura becomes a Lorekeeper, they choose their first story to be etched into their shell. New Lorekeepers continue to aid the elder Lorekeeper and learn from them, being an apprentice never truly stops as there are many stories to record and tell.

When a Lorekeeper molts, their shells are preserved and bound together as books, and new stories are etched into the new shell. Some of these books have been with Koura tribes for thousands of years.

Life among other species

A far cry from the waters of the ocean, some Koura do make their way onto land every now and then. Some are even permanent residents of land-based cities. Nomadic Koura tribes will often trade with land-based civilizations for nontarnishable metal goods. Sedentary Koura civilizations trade with their neighbors both on land and in the oceans, generally producing large quantities of food. In some places, Koura settle in the oceans directly next to land-based cultures and over time their cities and the cities on land become more intertwined, to the point of being a single city on some occasions.

The largest standalone Koura settlement, or group of settlements rather, that's on land is on the shores of Meridionalis. The Koura there have called the shores of Meridionalis home for thousands of years. Some Koura on Meridionalis tell stories of a time of co-existence with humans on the continent, but the human civilization there vanished long ago if it ever existed in the first place.

Koura that choose to live in land-based cultures will often find themselves doing jobs requiring strength. Labor jobs, hired muscle, and adventuring are all relatively easy jobs for Koura to get into. Some Koura are hired as farmers because their claws make for good plows, and they can move hay bales like they're nothing. This isn't to say that all Koura do physical labor jobs, of course, there are many accomplished alchemists, astronomers, chefs and all manner of other career-focused Koura in the world. One Koura, Robu, owns a wandering restaurant called "Nhànten Ebi" which is very popular along the West Coast of Atiyeret.

The Logistics of being a Sea Monster

Koura, as a playable species, are hard to figure out. They have hefty natural armor, hit like trucks, can't jump or climb, their language is unpronounceable to other species, and most characters will be around a ton or two. These things, realistically, should rip up or at least severely damage cobblestones when they walk on them. They can't even fit in most doorways. So how do I write them mechanically? How do I incorporate them into the land-based setting in a way that makes sense for players to interact with the world?

The narrative question is much easier than the mechanical one. Places that see a lot of Koura will have accommodations for them, and Koura wear rubber capped "shoes" in and near towns so they don't rip up the ground. Many Koura on land will have retainers that know their language and can translate for them. Other narrative questions about the Koura's unique physiology can be answered in similar ways.

Mechanically, it is hard to balance the Koura. Luckily, the species in Prima Materia are meant to be somewhat asymmetrical anyway, with skills and features being more closely balanced. However, I do need to make sure the Koura aren't too crazy while staying true to how I want to portray them as creatures. At the moment, they start with the best natural armor in the game, but not the best overall. It is above average. They can also use their claws as melee weapons, which only really make sense as the best blunt weapons in the game considering most other blunt weapons are much smaller and Force = Mass x Acceleration. There's quite a lot of mass in one of those claws (not to mention the sheer force of getting caught in one). The only other unique trait they currently have is "Exotic Body Plan," which lets them roll an extra die for checks involving Strength, and doesn't allow them to swim, jump, or climb.

As always, thank you for reading this far. This post took a while to write as I was forced to make the Koura interesting (actually worldbuild beyond "I like lobsters, I want lobsters in the setting"). If you want to make your own Koura and perhaps use it in play, here are the playtests for Prima Materia. Next week (or I suppose in half a week, because this post took so long) I will talk about Ranged Combat and some lessons in failing miserably.

And of course big thanks to @donutboxers for the art (it's taking commissions btw)

[prima-materia-ttrpg]

Playtesting is open for business

I realized today that while I did announce that the Prima Materia website is finally up and running, and you can go there to download PDFs and playtest the game, it was at the end of a very long lore dump about the Ternaki and most people probably wouldn't have read all the way to the end of that. It deserves its own post methinks.

This is that post! Go check out the site if you want to, and if you decide to check out the PDFs that contain the organized game mechanics feel free to give me feedback about it!

The website is https://primamateria.glitch.me If you want to go straight to the playtests, that's here