Information Week - The Setting of Distant Star

The Setting of Distant Star
So, better late then never here's this week's post! Every so often there will be an oddball week where something different will be posted - anything from illustrations to informative blurbs to Q&As.

This week is fleshing out the setting of Distant Star, which follows Viira Kavan and Black Jack Finnegan as they try to sort out the mess that teleporting into foreign planets causes! Much of the logs will be taking place on, in, or around the Korinthian City Ship Stormseed. It is Captained by Viira who is both head of the military and equivalent to a queen aboard her ship. The planet itself is called Solum and will be discussed in later posts!

About the Korinthians
The Korinthians are a sea-faring people that live in and around massive ships called City Ships that are more or less like floating Capital Cities. There are currently seven of these ships and each one is accompanied by a fleet of smaller vessels which both defend and supply the larger ship. The culture is based primarily around maritime practices such as fishing, salvage, and piracy. Indeed a good portion of the goods that the Korinthians obtain is via piracy and they're rather infamous for their unparalleled skill on the Ocean.

Everyone aboard a City Ship pitches in whether they are a child or an elder. Most of the able-bodied young adults and adults man the fleets that tend the city ship with anywhere between 30-55% of the population out on the Shadows (smaller trade- and fishing- type vessels) or the Escorts (larger, armed vessels that both protect and engage in piracy). Newly assigned individuals, be they transfers from other ships or coming of age are posted to the Shadows, serve several years there and then are transferred to the Escorts where they again serve for several years, working their way up the ranking system of Korinthian society.

Due to their piracy and historical prejudices, Korinthians are generally disliked on the Continent and while there are no better naval mercenaries then these people, they are often treated as a double-edged sword and scapegoat. Many countries enjoy commerce with the Korinthians but only in so much as they provide rare and valuable goods both from the ocean and from booty obtained through piracy. There are those ports that are friendly to Korinthians but in general the attitude is on the suspicious side of neutral to openly hostile.

The people themselves are hardy, tough, and cunning and while magic doesn't run particularly strongly in their blood, they are not without their talents. Magic manifests itself in three primary ways: Bards, Oracles, and Shapers. Bards, through verbal means, are able to augment their surroundings, be it inspiring courage in their fellows or enchanting tools and objects for greater longevity, and are the most common of the Sparks. It is also for their skill with voice and music that Korinthian musicians enjoy both fame and infamy... and the reason that music can almost always be heard aboard a Korinthian vessel. Oracles are akin to shamans, they are born particularly sensitive to the ebb and flow of souls and Ley Energy to the point where they are often able to predict, quite accurately, the course of events. Oracles are not unique to the Korinthians, however, and are often the individuals that Leylines choose to make Avatars. Finally, the Shapers are individuals who are also in tune with the flow of Ley energy but are innately quite talented at bending said energy to manipulate the natural elements. Shapers are primarily female and are very important in the functioning of a City Ship, often enjoying a position of prestige. Shapers are able to make fresh water from sea water, track underwater occurrences such as currents or schools of fish, and manipulate the air (and to a certain degree, the weather).

The Stormseed
The Stormseed is the third of seven of the City Ships and is home to 1,063 people, enjoys the talents of both an Oracle and a Shaper, and was the vessel that first spotted Jack's The Good Ship Ptarmigan. City ships are unique in that they were built with the wood from a forest on the Southern Sub-continent called the Warren and have a double row of masts and twin hulls for stability. They are neither fast nor agile ships but they are armed and to take on a City Ship in naval combat is to also engage their accompanying fleet. Each of the City Ships is from a time in history when the Korinthian people were forced off the continent through war and subterfuge and are a testament to the glory the Korinthian Empire once enjoyed.

This is a general idea of what the Stormseed looks likeClick the image to see a larger version!

If you have questions or comments, please feel free to post!