Brief History of Martapa

 

This is a very brief history of my world, running through my books, which is well past where I plan on putting my adventures I post.  It's not as filled out as I plan on doing, but here is a beginning.  Maybe I'll make a guidebook someday.

There were many of us across the universe when this all began, dividing up the star scape as if it were a sandbox for us to build in.  In truth, it was.  So many planets to choose from, so many different ideas that we could create.  Sarjon, Catiana and I were in agreement to what we wanted to build and so we took the small planet of Martapa as our own.  We soon realized the task we set ourselves to do would be too great for only the three of us and thus we brought the other six major gods into our fold.  They were Gods without a home and they appreciated our offer.  Soon, even the nine of us were not enough so we created the lesser Gods, many springing from my own spiritual loins.  We filled every aspect of the heavens even as we filled the world with plants, animals and intelligent creatures.  We took some as our own, treating them as our own children and shaping them to our will.  It took centuries of triumphs and mistakes to get to what would be known as the Balance.  But even then, some did not like the constraints.

 

Our world is not perfect, not by any stretch, but neither are its Gods.  We all have weak spots, downfalls, and hungers for power in our own way.  But one thing is for certain, most of us would give our unending lives for this child of ours.  I’ve nearly done so more times than I wish to count.

                                                                        Targon, God of Magic

 

The priests of the Gods are always arguing amongst not only the different faiths, but even in their own temples, how the world was created and populated.  The exact order of things is unknown and really depends on whom you are talking to at the moment.  They roughly agree on the following history.

 

First the Gods were created, of course, then they created the plant and animal life to prepare the world for the more intelligent beings.  The length of time for all of this is unmeasurable in mortal terms, but it doesn’t stop people from speculating.  After this, most agree elves, dwarves and humans and dragons were created, followed by the rest of the most intelligent creatures. 

 

We will cover the history of Martapa more in depth later, but some major events began with the Ogre Wars.  During the time of Chaos, ogres tried to conquer the world and enslave all the races.  This lasted for thousands of years, though no one is certain exactly how long, and finally ended with the other races uniting and driving the ogres into the ground.

 

The next major event would be the founding of Janesh.  Though only vaguely mentioned in the High King’s Sword, this advanced race of mages and engineers created great wonders as the rest of the world was pretty much in the “dark ages.”

 

Another major event is the Time of the Chosen or the Avatar Wars.  The Gods were summoned by the Chosen to the mortal plane to stop the destruction of all Martapa.

 

Then, most recently, is the trials of the High King’s Sword.  This is the second time the Gods are summoned to the mortal plane and causes some major upheavals in both the heavens and Martapa.

For this campaign I hope to post we are between the Ogre Wars and the Time of the Chosen. I wanted a time I've never dealt with except in a timeline, plus it gives us some wiggle room to fit in fun new tidbits. Next week I somewhat flushed out basic timeline.  I also hope to get more specific for around the time of this campaign.

Happy Gaming!

Welcome (Again) to the World of Martapa

 

As I have journeyed on the road of life these last few years, I’ve decided I need to get some projects done before I roll that eternal one all mortals do at some point or another.  One of those was to make a small(ish) premade adventuring area to help other GMs start a campaign. 

 

I love to read other’s adventures, and stories, and I figured, what the heck.  I can make a small campaign area in my story for those who like to play a good game of roleplaying adventure.  And what better way than to make an adventure in my world of Martapa.  I mean, after all, it is how my High King’s Sword series was born.

 

My plan in the next weeks, months, and perhaps years is to give a good background of a small town/city near one of the major House cities in Taina, the northern continent of my world.  Along the way I hope to describe areas, people of interest, the town itself, and give a few example adventures that can be started in this area of my world.  It won’t be perfect, and feel free to use whatever parts you wish for your own consumption, but my hope is it will help, if not inspire, you to have a good time roleplaying with a good group of friends.  Or, perhaps, take the time to make your own adventuring world.

Happy Gaming!

(I only ask if you do use any of my campaign ideas that they not be published, at least not without express permission from myself.  I appreciate that.)

A Brief Synopsis on My Never to Be Seen Original Books Part 3

 The third book in my original series in Martapa is the finishing of my adventures with Richard, Amber, Eric and Mouse and all of their friends they have found on their travels.

  The book starts with the aftermath of the party returning to Battlefield to find the High King has been kidnapped and many of the House Leaders blame the Chosen.  The Chosen decide to rescue the High King which takes them on a grand adventure to the southern continent to first find part of the Gift of the Gods.

  In traveling south with Eric's last House ship of his fleet, they discover another clan of Warriors, the Lynx Warriors, who have been captured by Shaniko's minions.  There are many hijinks which lead to some revelations by some of the friends and eventually they return to Taina to rescue the High King.

   The book ends with the Chosen fighting against Kahalla's forces with some twists and turns.

It's not a huge book, definitely not well done, since I started it early in my writing projects, but it is the basis for which my High King's Sword series came from.  Someday I may post them on my blog, piece by piece, but for the time being they will stay closeted.

Keep on writing!

A Brief Synopsis on My Never to Be Seen Original Books Part 2

 I probably will never release my original idea books to the public, (won't say never for sure, because you never know), but here is a brief overview of the second book.

The second book, Qalataqa, is about finding the lost elven clan Amber belongs to and Raven, Shaniko's apprentice, trying to seek revenge upon the Chosen.  Along the way the four, who have split up with Richard and Amber going one way and Eric and Mouse going another, find many new and exciting answers and allies, along with enemies.

Amber is called by the Clan Leader by a mystical bond to come back to the clan and discovers her mother's clan and birth city.  There she learns her mother was the Clan Leader, that Amber's mentor is still alive, and that she has a brother.  It's much more complicated than what I lay out here, but it's the gist of what I write.  Richard and her also discover more about their magical artifacts and the two of them fall in love. (I mean, you have to have a love story at some point, right?).  It was fun to make up a civilization everyone thought of as dead and helped me later on with my published and still publishing books for the High King's Sword series.

Eric and Mouse go in search of Princess Kia's people, but while doing so attract the attention of Raven, Shaniko's apprentice.  They also pick up a waif named Beth. She and Mouse start a friendship which eventually saves everyone.

In the end, Raven is vanquished, Mouse and Eric find Kia's people and Amber and Richard head home after someone comes to aid in training Amber and her brother becomes the new Clan Leader.

Happy writing!

The Sunstar Line

 The Sunstar Line is something which is very, very important to the story of Martapa.  Veo Sunstar was one of the sons of Sunstar during the time of ogres.  He was lazy, liked to drink and chase after women, and his father figured he would never amount to nothing.  And through many miss adventures he becomes the first Leader of the Wolf Clan Warriors.  He also becomes the father of all the first Leaders of all the other Clans, or at least it's rumored to be true.  But he was the Great, Great, Great... (You get the picture), Grandfather of Amber Blackwolf, and by default her brother, Chay, and all their decedents.

Why is this important, other than I have some background for my hero characters?  Because there is one key point about the Sunstar line.  They are the only elven line who bare red hair.  If an elf has red hair they are of the Sunstar line.  There would be no doubt.  No one knows for sure why, but it is the truth.

In my never to be published stories, Mahtalo, a leader of an Akicitia clan in the north, tells Amber she is a child of Sunstar and tells her why. Amber is shocked by the revelation.  She had never learned, being raised away from elves, that she was of a special line.

My point in bringing this is up is to suggest you have a small intrigue in your stories.  They don't have to be huge, they can be a small thing like hair color.  But they give an interesting spark to your characters and perhaps your story line.

Happy writing.

It's the Little Things...

 As you write, you want your readers to know and feel where a character is, how they look, what they feel like.  When I was taking writing classes, my "teacher" was always saying I had too much descriptions, took too long on expressions, or put in too much background.  I suppose that works for some genres, but I found that fantasy loves immersive descriptions.  I might be wrong, but that is how I write.  If you find long descriptions are necessary for a good story, here are a few ideas I'd like to share.

1) Make a description complete, but don't let it overwhelm the scene's import. What I mean is, yes, describe that grand dungeon the adventurers are entering, make the reader feel like they are there, but you don't have to describe the candelabras to the small carvings on the bases.  Are the walls stone or wood? Are the rooms small or large?  Are there decorations or scorch marks?  Describing in such a manner might allow you not only to give the feeling of the room but enable you to sneak in a foreshadowing for the story line.

2) The reactions of a character are important.  Spell them out with descriptive words. Do not say, "They look sad."  This sort of style will bring your reader to understand your characters better in the long run.

3) Do not add in a long narrative about the history of the world.  A little history is great, but some stories I've read not only have pages of backstory history, which sometimes are boring and dull, but some have even started off their stories this way.  If I had allowed that to shape whether I would keep reading or not, I would never have continued with some books I picked up.  I prefer to try and insert my history into the moment, with characters.  Say they are talking about something and they come upon a statue and then they can talk about the history of that person, who is important to the story.  Wrap in some commentary and back and forth between characters and it will not seem so monotonous.

Happy Writing!

The Idea of Culture and Writing

 To many, we don't think about how our culture affects how we write.  How you are raised, where you are raised, even your cultural background, is going to affect how you explore your writing universe.

I know it is a sensitive issue, but sometimes you note that you like another culture's approach to something and want to borrow the idea.  Personally, I think this is a wonderful idea as long as you are respectful of what you are borrowing.  Look at America, we are a melting pot of ideas and peoples, so why not bring in the whole country's lifestyles, backgrounds, and ideas when you write.  Here are a few things I try to stick to when I borrow ideas or cultures not my own, (or even my own).

1) The first thing I worry about is if I am using the cultural/ethnic/history item in a respectful way.  For me, for example, I use words from various native cultures as well as some European cultures.  Sometimes they are just more awesome than plain old English.  My most glaring example of this is the mountains in Taina, my northern continent.  I named the mountains the Tsalagi Mountains.  To those who are in the know this means Cherokee in Cherokee.  It is pronounced Jah-La-Gee.  And before I get hate mail, my father's side of the family is Cherokee, so I'm using my culture in this case.  My point being, though, I chose that name to honor my family and my history.  And the mountain range is a very important part of my geography.

2)If you are going to use the culture of another people then your own in a bad light, do so carefully.  I mean, how many times have you seen German World War II type bad guys?  And how about slavers here in America?  Just because it may not be your culture, bad things happened in history and such can be used to help shape your bad guys.  My example is the Roman Empire and their history of slavery, (and government).  I used it for the basis of my southern Empire my main characters interact with, but I made sure to make them feel "human" where you could hate them, but you still understood that not everyone from this Empire was bad.

I guess my biggest point would be, be respectful, but don't be afraid to use real life history to help you in your writing structure.

Happy Writing!