Friends at the Table

Drawing Maps - Season 6 Faction Creation Pt. 5 - Regions

Added 2019-10-27 02:40:34 +0000 UTC

Hey everyone, hope your weekend is going well! I've got the next (but not LAST) pre-PARTIZAN Drawing Maps update for you today. Please enjoy these 1700 words and 70 minutes about Stel Apostolos, one of the most complex (and, for me anyway) conflicting group in the Divine Principality. They are at once the sharpest imperial sword of the Principality, and possibly the shield to many of its most marginalized members.

Hope you enjoy! As always, feel free to leave comments below!

Stel Apostolos
1. Type: Monarchy (Autocracy)
  1. Organized as an elective monarchy, with the leader taking up the legendary title of Apokine. Currently, the Apokine is Dahlia, the Living Princept of the Divine Principality and the elect of Commitment, who rules as a beloved autocrat and seeks to unify the whole of the Divine Principality under their rule.
2. Corruption: 2
3. Goal: Assault the Foe: Soften up Kesh’s Verglaz Taiga for an upcoming, full offensive.
4. Aesthetic Notes, NPCs, etc:
  1. MOTION - Military academy. Security, logistics and transport (both on ground and in space), fishing/hunting/etc., tourism, private travel and communications. Reactive and flexible, looking for solutions through quick thinking and executive decision making, and adjusting from there. Striking from the dark (both literally and figuratively), as they retain the technology and ideology necessary to travel through black space.
  2. DYNAMISM: The dominant ideological school in Apostolos is Dynamism, which has the engine of Futurism, but without even vague interest in a destination. Across art, architecture, and technology, design leans towards the appearance of speed, violence, a blurring of the self (and of the self and other). Interested in traditions only so long as they embody these ideals or if they can update them, bringing them forward into the now
    1. Mandatory Military Service: Due to their proximity with the Golden Branch, Apostolos has spilled (and lost) more blood than any other Stel in the war to retake Kesh. The planet Apostolos itself has been lost and regained many times, and is almost always divided between forces. The “necessity” of this practice is no longer even argued for--it is just “the truth,” accepted without question.
    2. A central and key belief of aspirational self. “Let no one stop you from being your best self. Kill them if you have to. Kill the old you if you must.”
    3. Kinetic and Responsive Architecture: Buildings with moving parts and multiple “modes.” Walls lift up solar panels, or rotate sections of the building to follow the sun or stay cool. Prefab, self-building structures deployed from orbit which unfold when they hit the ground. Rapid transit lines connecting massive towers. Buildings that blend into one another, skyscraper into warehouse into church.
    4. Even for those who have left the military or who serve in non-combat roles, military dress and weaponry are high fashion. Pistols and daggers are like jewelry. It’s not unheard of to bring long arms or polearms with you to important events, where they’re written about like accoutrement.
      1. Apostolos street fashion blends military wear with practicality. It leans on re-contextualization of actual combat wear instead of dress uniforms. (The use of weapons remains.)
    5. Transforming mechs. Mechs that fly, mechs that swim, mechs that burrow! MECHS THAT MOVE! VIOLENT MACHINES OF SPEED AND POWER AND BRILLIANCE.
      1. (PLEASE KNOW: I LEFT THIS OUT OF MY RECORDING BUT I VERY MUCH THINK THIS IS WHERE THE HYPERCAT LIVES. ANIMAL INFLUENCED MECHS. MECHS WITH WINGS AND CLAWS. AWOOOO!)
      2. Marinetti, and of course Benjamin on Marinetti from the end of The Work of Art...
  3. The tradition of choosing pronouns based on one’s chosen, aspirational Eidolon has remained important, but it’s also has evolved over the tens of thousands of years since C/W. In the last few thousand of years of war against the Branched and the Principality, hundreds new Eidolons were born first out of people’s desires to find new heroes in their histories, and second from as Battlefield Saints became canonized as full Eidolons, as people began to voice their desire to be like their fallen comrades (or heroes of the unending war) more than the Eidolons.
    1. There are now hundreds of gender-neutral pronouns, each tied to an Eidolon of Apostolosian past and culture. A person tends to choose their first Eidolon before their tenth birthday, and will choose to revise this choice throughout the rest of their life any number of times. Once a decade is the average, but not an enforced norm by any means.
    2. Individuals affix the basic pronoun form of their Eidolon to the front of their given or chosen “rootname”, with the point of affixation marked with an apostrophe. Sometimes, people will change their given name to integrate their Eidolon prefix more smoothly/rhythmically.
      1. This affixation began as part of integration with the rest of the Divine Principality hundreds of years ago. There’s internal debate as to whether this was an act of bowing to the Principality or as a way of ensuring that Principality recognize and respect this aspect of Apostolosian culture. Regardless, the effect across the Principality is undeniable. Apostolosian culture’s focus on understanding, determining, and changing “the self” led to the import and spread of legal protections in issues of gender and self-determination of identity.
    3. As a culture, Apostolos is gender neutral and They/Them is still widely accepted generic pronoun for referring to any Apostolosian person. That said, some Apostolosians choose to use pronouns from other cultures (like he/him or she/her). Some use these along other pronouns (either they/them or Eidolon prefixes), others use them in place of them. It is the cultural norm to respect whichever pronouns a person chooses for themselves, regardless of their origin.
    4. The full Eidolon+Rootname form is used in formal and public communication. People close to one another may also choose to use rootnames (or variations thereof) as nicknames, petnames, etc.
    5. Examples:
      1. Phy’lon Antiphone - Acceptable generally: “Phy went shopping yesterday,” or “They went to the store.” Acceptable only for those close to phy: “I saw Lon at the store yesterday.”
      2. Cas’alear Rizah - Before choosing the ancient Apostolosian warlord Cassander as their Edilon, Cas’alear went by the rootname Lear. If cas decides to shift to the Eidolon Bernice, they may adjust their name to something “Ber’lear,’ ‘Ber’alear,’ ‘Ber’ylear,’ etc. They may ask friends to continue to use their rootname (‘Lear’) or even adopt a contracted version of their public name (like ‘Beryl’), as they prefer.
  4. More than any other Stel, Apostolos is the most ethnically diverse. Partly, this is to their own majority ethnic group’s minority status in the Principality, but also due to the service-grants-citizenship model that is only rarely, selectively applied elsewhere in the Principality. Peoples organic and synthetic, humanoid and otherwise, are all promised opportunities to serve Apostolos.
5. Squads
  1. The Serpent’s Head - Tier V - Grand Admiral Phy’lon Antiphony and their fleet serves double duty as both naval powerhouse and lead diplomatic corp for Apostolos’ forces on Partizan. They wear the name like a dare.
  2. The Divine Motion and Hyacinth - Tier IV - Long after enemy fuel tanks run empty, Motion continues to power Apostolosian machines of war and service, including the massive Barranca Loop that allows them to regularly launch ships spaceward.
  3. The Divine Valor and Xiphion - Tier III - Leading from the frontlines, Valor and Xiphion are a living rallying cry for Apostolosian soldiers. Motion may fuel their machines, but Valor fuels their hearts.
  4. GLORY - Tier III - With the help of advanced Columnar cloning science, the Glory Project (or simply GLORY), claims to have resurrected (and made immortal) Eidolons of the past. On Partizan, they field Kleos, Cassander, Maximillion, and the squad’s leader: Apothesa, original Eidolon of construction, military action, and history.
  5. The Swordbreakers - Tier III - Blessed by Commitment and led by Cas’alear Rizah, the adopted sibling of the Apokine & Princept, they’re known across the war as legend killers who punch above their weight.
  6. The Wolfwings - Tier II - This vanguard squad, led by ace pilot Cam’bage Elarune, ensures early-conflict air superiority for Apostolos.
  7. The Divine Garden - Tier II - Both military academy and living Divine, Garden offers training for young Apostolosians of great aptitude.
  8. The Silver Fennecs - Tier I - Transport specialist and black marketeer Tes’ili Serikos can get anything anywhere, for a price.
  9. The Hopping Hares - Tier I - Most Apostolosian squads have their own scouts, but the Hares operate as a dedicated intelligence and reconaissance unit (with a bit of a chip on their collective shoulder).
6. Region
  1. Barranca
    1. Description: To the northwest of the Prophet’s Sea lies the Apostolosian province of Barranca, where mediterranian subtropical shores give way to a vast latticework of canyons and crags. There, military bases and civilian settlements sit in the crooks and alcoves, shaded by high canyon walls. Rising above it all is the famed Barranca Loop, a massive suspended cable system that runs up above the atmosphere like a giant bridge, and which allows Apostolos to launch ships and cargo into space.
    2. Scene: A cool ocean breeze comes to a halt all too soon, as the sun’s light, reflected by the giant Girandole, bakes the desert sand. Always, somewhere in the distance, the sound of artillery fire or of practice maneuvers or of the all-aboard blare of a naval horn. On the people you pass, you count grins from those eager to win glory on the battlefield, and grimaces from those that know what such a reward costs.
    3. 2-3 Notable NPCs
      1. Tes’ili Serikos: Skeptical messenger, info broker, and transport specialist. Large framed, brown skinned, and hiding scars from a life on the front line.
      2. Khi’deimos de Beros - Mid-tier diplomat from a wealthy family, who hopes to convince the galaxy that their family has more to offer than vulgar wealth.
      3. Ver’ati Bol - Operations and acquisitions lead for the Hopping Hares.
    4. 2-4 Landmarks
      1. The Barranca Loop: Super-structure that launches Apostolosian shipments off world.
      2. Lion’s Rest: A bustling seaside port town, housing hundreds of thousands of civilians along with the bulk of the Apostolosian navy and diplomatic forces.
      3. Fort Icebreaker: A mobile fortress and battle station which patrols the northeastern border with Kesh. Moves between a dozen different smaller, subterranean bases, each of which is connected to a network of underground transport tunnels. In some sense, this entire system is “Fort Icebreaker.”
    5. Ratings:
      1. Wealth: 2
      2. Might: 4
      3. Crime: 1
      4. Tech: 1
    6. Special Rule: In Barranca, backup is never far away. After “going loud,” the GM will start a 4 step clock. When it completes, additional enemy forces will arrive.
  2. Lion’s Rest
    1. Description: A bustling, terraced seaside town run by Ami’ra Kiani, where many sailors and soldiers take shore leave. Wraps around an entire continental inlet towards the south of Apostolosian holdings, bordering the Prophet’s Path. Home to the Serpent’s Head
    2. Scene: Twisting alleys lead like tributaries to packed avenues, where civilians hock their wares to passing service members. Shouting from a bar is prelude to a “friendly” fistfight. Smoke brings the smell of charred food and the sea provides the salt. From the corner of your eye, you catch a ship sliding into port.

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