#lion of cynn

[cynnvein]

Metallurgy

Iron

One of the most common metals, and is soft enough to work, but strong enough to resist. This said, it takes extremely high temperatures to melt. It is also the bane of mana. This makes them extremely poor choices for spellcasting, as it saps their mana, but also makes them affective against magical enemies. Nets made with Iron Weights are the main way of capturing Elves, while that and being nice to them.

Steel

Iron combined with coal, and often other metals. It is a lot harder than Iron, while sharing most of the same benefits, and most of the same drawbacks. It allows the creation of things like rapiers, but the hardness makes it more brittle.

Marble Steel

Marble Steel is created by using layers of Iron and Steel, which are heated and twisted together. This creates a unique marble finish, with the benefits of Iron and Steel. This is one of the most difficult base metals to make into swords, typically done by Dwarves.

Bronze

Made of Copper and Tin. Copper is relatively common, and Tin used in far lower levels. When combined into Bronze, you get a weapon that can hold a fantastic edge, and one that does not rust, (though it does tarnish). But, the hardness makes it more prone to chipping and breaking, compared with Iron. But, the biggest benefit it has compared to Iron is that is has good magickal conductivity, especially for holy magics.

Mythril

One of the rarest metals, and one of extraordinary light weight and resilience, making it the perfect for armour or small swords, but it's rarity means that it's rare to ever an item solely, or even primarily made from Mythril.

Most of the existent Mythril armour appears more like filigree, and is worn by people who would otherwise not wear armour. Often reserved for the wealthy and effete, and their concubines.

Sunsteel

Not true steel, but a combination of Bronze, with small amounts of Gold and Mythril. This is the preferred metal of Cynnish Templars, as it channels the holy glory of God and the sun.

Moonsteel

Made from Steel, Silver, and Mythril. This channels the rare, more arcane energies used by mages, scholars, and magick knights.

[ingirvein]

What is the dumbest things the humans have done in recorded history that the dwarves and elves keep making fun of them for?

Both the Dwarves and Elves recognize them as young and foolish.

But, there is the Sin of Cynn.

The Elves gave the Men of Cynn their divinity as a religion. In Cynn this ended up in the genocide of the Fauns, while in the Holy Gothic Empire, this created a Man-supremacist state. All non-Men were considered default slaves.

Except Dwarves. Dwarves are hard to remove from an area, and their economic benefits cannot be replaced.

The Elves consider this a personal failing. Not the fact that they ended up enslaved by the very young race they tried to help, no, but because they failed to guide them.

[weatherman667]

Favourite Fantasy Races

Preamble about Tolkien

Tolkien created the modern fantasy genre, and there is very little to criticize about it. Other than the fact he wrote it as an alternate history to our world. Our world doesn't have Elves or Dwarves or anything, and so he had to explain why, i.e. extinction. It is almost impossible to compare his mythology with anyone else, for one reason he has so much detail that he accounted for thousands of years of linguistic drift, and for the other, he had no contemporaries. His contemporaries made fun of him for wasting his time on it.

As such, most of Tolkien's races will not be included here.

Dwarves

My longtime favourite fantasy race. Unfortunately, very few people have any idea about them. Tokien made them Jews, but postitive, but also added simple and solid foundations for them. They lived underground because they dug too greedily and too deep. That said, a lot of Neanderthal features ended up becoming Dwarven features, as if we all had some genetic memory to draw from, (Tolkien was big on genetic memory).

While Dwarves in Nordic myth were known for being greedy, the only reference Tolkien had with Dwarves was that they DUG too greedily. They played with power they could not comprehend, and it lead to their downfall.

Alright, so, why do Dwarves have a reputation of being greedy?

How about because they are literally the ones digging the precious metals out of the mountain? How about skilled labour was the best way to make money? Oh, and trading. Jews afterall, so it would make great sense for them to have a strong understanding of economics. And then you had France that was so non-functional that they couldn't tax the nobles that actually had the money.

So, hard work, trade, economics, and time, all things that Dwarves have in spades.

Oh, and for the record, Tolkien never once said they have beards.

The Lion of Cynn: My own unpublished fantasy series. The Dwarves of the Lion of Cynn cycle are not as exciting or fantasy as most other series, but they are fantastic for character stories, (and every story should be a character story).

Overlord: If you have to have underground Dwarves, this is the way to do it. They actually have a coherent city, and it explicitly states that they trade for food. There are other nations from other races that they have external relations with.

Ingir: Ingir was a series of polls and shitposts to cobble together a fantasy world, but as such, it focuses on nation-scale designs that are very rarely considered. It also takes the real-world consequences to the existence of magics, and how societies would respond to them. TL;DR they have alchemy that basically creates nuclear power plants.

Warcraft: Not World of Warcraft, but pre-World of Warcraft Warcraft. The Great Wars ripped them out of their isolation in the mountain homes, and forced them to interact with the rest of the world. Their answer? Archeology. Dwarves spread across the world, exploring ancient ruins. Of course, this is a world where there are dangerous nearly world-ending relics and ruins strewn all over the world.

misc: Unfortunately, while Dwarves are one of the most common races, they are the least developed. They are often tokenized, and reduced to a single point. Ghim is one of the best Dwarves ever created, but he's just one man Dwarf. Gimli is the same. Dwarf Mage from Goblin Slayer is also fantastic, but that is an IP expressly created to not have character development, and falls on it's face whenever it tries.

HM:

Warhammer: Warhammer is based on the principle of everyone fighting everyone. As such, the world is kept loose, to allow everything to be changed to justify the change. As such, there are a number of points that have incredibly deep lore, but not a world you can really adventure in. 40K had Dwarves, gave them great lore, retgoned their own Dwarves, brought them back without ever acknowledging that they are Dwarves, and then bringing the original space Dwarves back. This time they had a much more well thought out army, but suffered from the tinge of wokeness.

Dragon's Crown: While almost exclusively a combat game, the Dwarf took old-school race-as-class Dwarves and did a fantastic job of them.

Dragon Age: They had an incredibly unique take on Dwarves, some of which I completely disagree with, but still fleshed out in incredible detail. Unfortunately, they seem to be going with the same way that Tokien was, by making everything other than Humans nearing extinction.

Darksiders: The makers are taller than even Nephilim, and literally crafted worlds.

Thor (marvel): Similar to Darksiders, but this time using a star they are stopping from collapsing to craft them.

Arcanum: A fantastic game in theory, a pretty shitty game in practice. Arcanum was the crucible that created my understanding of Dwarves. See, Dwarves in the setting had steam technology, and were only using it to draw water out of a mine. A Human took the technology and created the industrial revolution. Everyone with an interest in Dwarves should play through until you make friends of Magnus.

Elves

The most common fantasy race. Surprisingly, Japan is often much closer to the original Elves than the West. Everyone in the West is so intent on deconstructing every - single - fucking thing, that Elves have lost their divine nature. We can probably blame Warhammer for asshole Elves.

Skeleton Knight: Elves are divine and human, and eternal, but age slowly. This very rarely well done in works. The Elves have decade-long discussions about politics, and forget that only 500 years ago doesn't apply to Humans. Their solution to the dangerous world around them was to wall it off and create a paradise. Unlike Tolkien, paradise isn't given to them, but the product of millennia of careful management. They also have very well established combat abilities. Skeleton Knight is one of worlds that does practical magic incredbily well.

Unicorn Overlord: The most extensive Elven nation that might have ever been created. And I don't mean just big, but finely crafted in ever detail. They live at peace with the Fey, and use them to bring themselves prosperity, as they hide from the outer world of warring Human nations. They weave magic into every aspect of their lives, and combat. Another one that does Elven magic combat as completely distinct from that of Humans, and does it fantastically well.

Cynn: Again, my own fantasy world. Elves live so long that they just ignore most of what happened. You have to ask really specific questions. Their long lives have also prevent them from really creating a culture, as the magic running through their bodies causes extends far enough to make sure that equipment carried on their bodies lasts nearly as long as they do.

Warcraft: Not World of Warcraft, but pre-World of Warcraft. WoW is the best and worst thing to ever happen to Warcraft. It put you in the living world, but the most simplistic version of it. And then you get to watch as they torture the lore to have the Blood Elves have gain Paladins by torturing what's basically an angel. Warcraft is one of the first IP's to actually take Tolkien's work and delve into the history of it. This is back from the Long, Long Ago, when video games came with novels worth of gamelore. They created the Kaledorei, Children of the Stars, and turned the original Elves from into the High Born, or Quel'Dorei. They had the highest magickal ability, and used this to claim the magickal might makes right. The Kaledorei are a brilliant use of the Dark Elf trope. Rather than being evil, they were wild. The females worshipped the moon, while them took the form and nature of wild beasts. Combat-wise, as it is WARcraft, afterall, they made the Elves a unique blend that doesn't exist anywhere else.

DM:

Warhammer: Single-handedly responsible for the Elves are Assholes deconstruction that we still have to live through.

Gnomes

Gnomes are near and dear to my heart, but I honestly don't like any of their designs.

Lion of Cynn: Yes, again, my own world. I worked hard to account for their disparate nature.

World of Warcraft: Unfortunately, we never truly see Gnomes until WoW. There are a couple of Gnomish units that established them as Tinker Gnomes, but that was it. Which was unfortunately the best Gnomish design. Unfortunately because of how WoW destroyed not just Warcraft, but every - single - thing that Blizzard would go on to produce.

Beastfolk

Very common in anime, for one simple reason. Catgirls. Catgirls that are oppressed. Catgirls that the protagonist can legally enslave, and then treat her better than she had ever been treated before to earn her undying loyalty. Unfortunately, because it's Japan, they tend to just have animal ears, and maybe a tail. This does match some descriptions of Youkai in Japan, however. Many of whom could actually transform into a much larger, more monstrous form.

Unicorn Overlord: This establishes the different beastfolk as bloodlines. Each race is unique, into the world and in combat, and perfectly strides the line of animal and man. The characters also pay respect to various mythologies.

Monster Girl Doctor: MonMusu did a lot of research into making the animal girls truly unique, but it's main flaw was a complete lack of a story. This was solved in Monster Girl Doctor by making him a doctor, and as such we ended up with a much more fleshed out world, that has history, weight, and... cute monster girls.

Cat Planet Cuties: A complete parody of the entire history of science fiction with beautiful, soulful characters. The premise is that Earth makes first contact with aliens, and they are cute catgirls, who are in a cold war with cute doggirl aliens. And they act the perfect combination of Human and Cat(girl).

Mushoku Tensei: Mushoku Tensei is the ancestor of most modern Isekai stories. Or, to put it another way, 95% of Isekai stories are a cheap knockoff of it. Every single facet of the world that Mushoku Tensei delves into, it does in fantastic, beautiful, and horrifying detail. And one of the things they did was visit the recent Wolf Girl's tribal home.

Arifureta: One of the only isekai anime to actually... differentiate their Beastfolk. Not just from Humans, but from each other. And, to be honest, Shea is one of my favourite characters of all time in anime.

RWBY Chibi/Fanworks: RWBY gave us a wide variety of Beastfolk in the Faunus, and then did practically nothing with them. To be fair to V1-5 seasons, V1-3 had 3-5min episodes, and 4-5 was resolving the storylines already created. V6+ has no such excuse. But then RWBY Chibi just wanted to have fun. They gave Faunus the traits of their animals, and this encouraged the fans to have even more fun with it than they were already having.

[exactlyinstantcollective]

Biggest Slot Machine Payout

Biggest Slot Machine Payout Ever

Biggest Slot Machine Payout In History

She'd won big money before: hitting a $680,000 jackpot on a Wheel of Fortune slot machine, also at the Palace Station. It marked the first time Megabucks had surpassed $20 million. Well, it appears that the biggest slot machine wins also cannot go without Vegas casinos, so the fact that the largest slot machine payout in history happened in one doesn't surprise us at all. The biggest slot machine win of $39 million (and change) went to a 25-year-old software engineer from Los Angeles who, one day, decided to try his luck.

It only took 20 years, but the Lion’s Share slot machine at MGM Grand finally gave it up. In one of the most followed slots stories of 2014, a New Hampshire couple strolled into the MGM Grand on August 22 and won not only the $2.4 million jackpot, but also the machine itself. The payout finally allowed MGM Grand to decommission the Lion’s Share, which had been there since the casino opened in 1993.

Getting a seven-figure payday is always nice, but it doesn’t come close to being the biggest jackpot in slots history. The really big money comes courtesy of the massive progressive jackpots on the Megabucks machines. This is a network of 60-payline, five-reel slots with around 700 machines at 133 different locations. The odds of hitting the minimum $10-million jackpot in one play are nearly one in 50 million. With that in mind, here are the five biggest Vegas slots paydays on record.

$21.3 Million

Sometimes, all it takes is one spin. On June 1, 1999, a 49-year old self-employed business consultant from Illinois put $10 in the Megabucks machine at Caesars Palace. Moments later, he was over $21 million richer. He also won a $5,000 secondary jackpot. According to a spokesperson for IGT, the company that makes the Megabucks machine, the winner’s first wish was to pay off his credit card debts.

$22.6 Million

The Megabucks kept on flowing on March 27, 2002. Seventy-four-year-old Johanna Huendl of Covina, California put about $170 in the machine at Bally’s on her way to breakfast, and she ended up bringing home the bacon. Huendl, a Vienna native who came to America in 1956, thought at first that she had won a $2-million prize. She was off by one zero.

$27.5 Million

On November 15, 1998, an unnamed 67-year-old retired flight attendant from Vegas was playing the Megabucks machine at Palace Station, and she accidentally put in $300 when she intended to put in $100. She couldn’t have been upset for long because she won the first Megabucks jackpot to top $20-million in history. It wasn’t her first big slots win; she also took down a $680,000 prize playing the Wheel of Fortune machine at the same venue.

$34.9 Million

The previous record was held by Cynthia Jay-Brennan, a 37-year-old cocktail waitress from Las Vegas who played the Megabucks at the Desert Inn on January 26, 2000. Unfortunately, six weeks later, a drunk driver rear-ended Jay-Brennan’s Camaro, leaving her a quadriplegic and her sister dead. The 58-year-old driver was given 28 to 92 years in prison.

$39.7 Million

On March 21, 2003, a 25-year-old software engineer from Los Angeles (who chose to remain anonymous) put $100 in the Megabucks machine at the Excalibur. He ended up winning the biggest jackpot ever, paid out in 25 annual instalments of $1.5 million each.

You may have seen the news story a few years ago about a woman in Queens, New York who almost won the largest slot machine jackpot in history. Unfortunately, the nearly $43 million win was a machine malfunction that went well above the $6,500 max payout.

A new record may not have been set, but there have been a number of huge casino jackpots throughout history. If you’re gearing up for a trip to Vegas or a casino party, check out these stories of life-changing, mind blowing jackpot wins.

Biggest Slot Machine Jackpots

Think you can’t get lucky on a slot machine twice? In 1998 a retired flight attendant proved that lightning can strike twice at the casinos. The unnamed woman first won $680,000 on a Wheel of Fortune slot machine at Palace Station. She decided to keep trying her luck and months later she won $27 million on a Megabucks machine at the same casino!

Elmer Sherwin is undoubtedly a lucky guy. He also hit not one but two of the largest slot machine jackpots in history! The first win of $4.6 million was on a Megabucks slot machine at the Mirage in 1989. Sherwin decided to visit Cannery Casino in North Las Vegas in 2005 to test his luck again. There he won again on a Megabucks slot machine, but this time he walked away with $21.1 million. Mr. Sherwin was in his 90s when he hit his second jackpot.

A few years early a 25-year-old software engineer won the highest slot machine payout in history. In 2003 the young man won $39.7 million playing a Megabucks machine at Excalibur. He decided to take an annual $1.5 million payout for 25 years instead of one lump sum payment. That means he’ll be raking in the dough for another decade.

In 2000 Cynthia Jay scored the largest jackpot at the time. She won nearly $35 million at a Megabucks slot machine in the Monte Carlo Casino in Vegas. But less than two months later Jay was in a horrible car wreck that killed her sister and left Jay paralyzed from the chest down.

In August 2016 a resident of Hawaii came to the mainland for a Vegas vacation and traveled back home with a lot more money. What was really impressive is that the woman was playing penny slot machines at the Wynn casino when she won $10,777,270.51.

While it isn’t the biggest slot machine jackpot win in history, a Florida man identified as only Fred S. did get very lucky in July 2018. He hit not one but two big jackpots at the Hard Rock Biloxi within a matter of minutes. First, Fred got a massive $1,291,918 win with a $20 bet. While he waited on the casino to verify the win he got a $14,000 win on another slot machine to bring the total winnings over $1.3 million.

Biggest Hands at the Poker Table

Hands down, the World Series of Poker (WSOP) is where you’ll find the biggest Texas Hold’em jackpots. Once the field gets narrowed down to just two players, a single hand can bring in millions. After 10 hours of heads up poker playing, John Cynn was named the 2018 WSOP winner and received $8,800,000. His opponent Tony Miles didn’t do so bad himself. Even though he lost, Miles received $5 million for second place.

But that wasn’t the biggest payout in the history of the tournament or even that year. Four other WSOP winners have won more:

Jamie Gold - $12 million in 2006

Martin Jacobson - $10 million in 2014

Peter Eastgate - $9,152,416 in 2008

Jonathan Duhamel - $8,944,138 in 2010

In 2018 Justin Bonomo won $10 million in the World Series of Poker's $1 million buy-in Big One for One Drop. But by far the later poker jackpot ever was $18,346,673 when Antonio Esfandiari won the 2012 Big One for One Drop.

Highest Payouts at the Craps Table

Patricia Demauro is easily one of the most successful craps players in history. In 2009 she famously won 154 consecutive throws while playing at the Borgata in Atlantic City. The actual amount was never disclosed, but based on the minimum buy-in of $10 the payout would likely range from well over six figures up to $1 million or more.

Not long ago a player won over $5.3 million at the Tropicana Casino and Resort, mainly at the craps tables. The unidentified man had a 6-hour hot streak, but he had to bet big to win the millions. At one point he was placing $100,000 bets.

Huge Win at the Roulette Wheel

Biggest Slot Machine Payout Ever

In 2004 Ashley Revell made a huge gamble. He sold everything he owned, headed to Vegas and put his entire life savings on a spin of the roulette wheel. Crazy – yes. But it paid off. Revell put just over $135,000 on a red bet and won over $270,000. The whole thing was filmed and eventually became a short reality show called Double or Nothing.

Biggest Blackjack Winners

The most infamously successful blackjack players were a group of MIT students who used card counting to win around $100 million. However, this situation was unique because the mathematical geniuses worked as a team so their winning streaks wouldn’t get noticed by dealers.

But one man bested the MIT players. Gambler Don Johnson made millions at blackjack tables over a six-month period in 2011. Instead of card counting, Johnson sought out casinos that had the most favorable rules, like being able to split a hand up to four times.

Another thing Johnson looked for were casinos that offered a guaranteed payout, which refunds part of what’s lost on a hand. All that research paid off to the tune of $15 million in half a year of playing.

A billionaire by the name of Kerry Packer also won big at the blackjack tables. During a trip to Vegas in 1997 he reported won somewhere in the range of $20-40 million. The winnings came from a combination of black jack and baccarat.

Want to be a winner? Casino Knights Inc. can help you throw a casino fundraiser, corporate event or private party where everyone wins. Call us today to learn how we can help treat guests to a night of entertaining casino games!

Biggest Slot Machine Payout In History

Orignal Source: https://casinoknightsinc.com/casino-101/jackpot-highest-casino-jackpots-history/

[cynnvein]

Orcs

Neither demons, nor noble savages. They instead have a moral system completely different from our understanding of good of evil.

Orcs have never formed and empire, and the reason they state is because there would be no one to challenge you to keep you strong. If you have no one to challenge you, you become weak, and to Orcs, that is the greatest sin. Orcs don't just allow treachery, they don't ust expect treachery, they demand it. If they are weak enough to be defeated, they deserved to be. But, this said, when making a challenge, they will typically do so with equal numbers.

That said, it's extremely easy to speak with Orcs, (assuming you can speak their tongue). All you have to do is light a great beacon fire. The most powerful Orc princes in the area will come for parley. During which time you won't face any violence from the prince. Anyone wishing to challenge the prince might make a move, however. Once you meet the Orc prince, there is a good chance negotiations will only achieve anything other than a momentarily peace, is highly dependant on how it helps the prince.

In sexuality, Orcs consider marriage to be a form of slavery. Females will join with a male when he proves his worth, and cease to do so when he ceases as well. Because of this, because consider a female choosing a male as a sign of his worth, they believe that females must not just consent, but preferably actively choose their males. This means that females of other races, if they can join an Orc warband, will be fully protected.

Of course, this leaves many males without females, and Orcs believe this is good. The chaff will be given meager fare, and allowed to live. In truth, because they are chaff, they are often simply ignored by the machinations of weak. Though, they are not allowed to carry spears nor waraxes.

The Summer King was able to negotiate a treaty between the Orcs of the Orclands, and the Holy Gothic Empire. The Empire would be able to build cities in the Orclands, while the Orcs themselves would control the plains. This allows the Orcs to benefit from trade with the Empire, and the Mannish cities effective have the entirety of the Orcish race as an army to protect them.

[cynnvein]

Artifact Creatures

Artifact Creature is an extremely broad category, and follows the general belief that Artificers can do anything, if given enough time and resources.

And, this is technically true, but more complex designs require exotic materials, and an incalculable immaterial spirit.

Everything you do, channels mana, whether you realize it or not. Sorcerers, Scholars, Pyromancers, etc. simply are conscious of this. Other races, like Orcs, do not have magic users, because they do not need do. Orcs channel mana through their bodies to strengthen and quicken them.

When crafting, you channel mana through it. Sorcerer/Pyromancers can do something showy, like adding a fire enchantment. But other, more subtle enchantments can increase accuracy, or make a bow easier or harder to draw. If we extend this further, we could say have a flying scimitar, a weapon that has to be controlled, but does not need to be maintained in hand.

When an Artifact becomes an Artifact Creature is when it can truly move on it's own. The problem with this is that the Artificer does not know HOW the object will move on it's own. They might have a general idea, but these Artifact Creatures will have to Mature on their own. With experience making similar Artifacts, and Artificer can learn to produce Artifact Creatures with this Maturity born into them.

All Artifacts have the material body and immaterial spirit. When repaired, they need to be physically repaired from a skilled craftsman, and spiritually repaired by an Artificer.

Artifact creatures have personalities roughly equivalent to that of lesser beasts. They can be frightened easily, and communicate through noises of their type and material. Those who know learn that these noises are akin to those of animals, such as a horse or hound, and primarily express emotion.

Sedan

The most common Artifact Creature, and, in fact, the only one that is universally recognizable. They are essentially horseless carriages. While in theory, they could take on the form of any carriage, their time, expense, and rarity mean that only the wealthiest can afford them, and even then a coach pulled by a couple of horses would likely be cheaper. Despite the fact it in theory could be of nearly any shape, there are so few Sedan makers that most Sedans are not only copied from existing carriage designs, they are often built with the cartwrights that build ordinary carriages.

Wood is the primary material, and this is because the primary metal that could be used, iron, doesn't just have poor magickal conductivity, but negative magickal conductivity, while wood of all varieties is naturally conductive.

Airship

A lost technology in Cynn, that is until the Summer King's glory. Even then, he created his fabled, (in his opinion overfabled), Lionwight to carry his Myrmidons into battle. The Holy Gothic Empire had Alchemical Cohorts that used them at the time.

Airships are exactly as it would seem, and like Sedans, were often patterned off of real ships, with a cabin and poop deck in the rear. They typically lack the castles of ships of the line, as there are few if any other ships to actually fight. Combat is instead typically done with boarding actions.

Being patterned after ships means that most airships can land in the water, and in truth, most cannot land. Instead, they simply moor while floating in the air.

For the record, the Summer King views the airship Pearlescence, (former Imperial Alchemical Airship), as his flagship, while the Lionwhite is more for military deployment.

Myrmidons

A truly lost technology, until revive by the Summer King. Myrmidons are mechanical men. Iron is anti-magickal, and needs to be alloyed with things like silver, gold, and mythril. Other components needed to be made from bronze alloys. Even Thorium and Odinium were required. This was well and truly something that only the Summer King could create. He had the support of the entirety of the Kingdom of Cynn's nobility, nad the Dwarven Hold of Southwall, (who's thane that he was oath-sworn and brother-in-law to), along with various other friendly Dwarven Tribes, up to an including the Dwarven Rebellions. This also required the expertise of Gnomes.

While Gnomes had been enslaved by the Empire, and were often used as functionaries, they rarely showed any creativity, and would not volunteer any of their services not harshly forced out of them. Under the Summer King, the Kingdom of Cynn had made incredible forays into recruiting Gnomes.

The results were the Lionknights, mechanical men 12 feet tall, with swords and polearms to match. Their great Lionshields could deploy spikes and placed as pavises to draw their great Lionbows, capable of damaging a Seated Dragon.

Note: The Summer King is honestly annoyed at how everyone insists on naming everything he makes after Lions. At one point, he barely enchanted a stone before giving it to the Dwarves that can headed his call and come to aid him. It's not treated as a sacred relic, though the first Man to ask Dwarves to form a hold, (usually it is formed, extremely difficult to remove, and too economically valuable to do anything about), handing them a stone from the mountain he asked them to protect, could be treated no other way, at least with hindsight. This said, he did not object to his portal being named The Lion's Reach.

Flying Carpets

Considered the quintessential Artifact Creature, though at least only in myths and legends from long lost cultures.

The Summer King recruited a Dwarven weaver to help him craft one, (so his Dwarven wife could experience the joys of flight), and they discovered why:

It makes you vulnerable to wyverns.

The Empire's did use cohorts of carpeters, but never in an unsupported capacity, and never in the untamed mountains that typically contain wyverns.

Iron Ponies

A creation wholly of the Summer King, and in truth, partially to test the technology to produce Myrmidons. The other reason they were crafted was because he has a pair of Dwarven wives, and Dwarves are not fond of riding horses, (too tall for them to be comfortable).

One of the major creations, other than integrated Vaults of Holding, were spinning metal armatures that allow the Iron Ponies to harness far more mana than their bodies should allow.

[cynnvein]

Elf

(p): Elves

Elves are the J. J. Abrams mystery box of the setting. Everyone thinks there is some great Elven civilization, that harkens back to the most ancient times. And, in truth, many Elves like to play at this, while others despise the deception.

Elves gain most of their energy from the magicks of the world. They are skilled at hunting and foraging. So, the question is, why would they?

Alright, if they don't build a civilization, what do they do? The simple answer is wander, the better answer is Men. They love Men. They are adorable and soulful, capable of being both angels and demons; the Elves believe it's their duty to try and gently nudge Mankind towards the former.

Gnomes, they get along quite well with, but they respect their desire for isolation. Often visiting shortly, before departing.

Dwarves, they love, with all their heart, as every - single - thing they do annoys Dwarves, and violates their precepts of what it means to be a Greater Race.

While Dwarves have strict rules for social order, Elves have no social order. While Dwarves focus on building themselves, their family, their society. Elves can spend centuries not seeing their family without noticing, they focus on everything but themselves. Dwarves care about the future, Elves try to avoid the past.

Elves will sleep with anyone that is willing, and social precepts will abide. To the point that the Kingdom of Cynn used to have a law titled Sodomy Not With an Elf, because and Elf would probably be willing. Notably, Elves are exception among the Greater Races in that they do not have facial hair. If asked, the response is usually so they can seduce men, though usually asked as a question.

And this is what makes the Empire's efforts to enslave their Elves, with command collars, and iron shackles, so harsh, because the Elves would probably help if they just asked.

Since ancient times, Mannish kingdoms have learned that Elves will often simply show up to a young warrior, follow him, and this young warrior will ALWAYS go onto greatness. This is because Elves can see all of the good a man will do, in the future and his past.

The peace treaty that the Summer King negotiated with the Holy Gothic Emperor had the Kingdom of Cynn train their Elves. How are the Elves recruited? There is a town that the Empire will send their promising young warriors to. Elves know about this place, and will often pass through, looking into their pasts and futures. If they pick one, he is promoted to Elf Knight, a position that has court precedence of a Herzog (Duke), as those of the Knights-Palatine, and Knights of the Order of the Black Sun.

Asking questions of Elves can be exacerbating. Elves are not trying to be obstructive, but have lived so long and seen so much that questions need to be extraordinarily specific to be of any relevance to them.

The magick of Elves is the magic of the body. They do not age passed their prime, they can shift into the form of animals, they are far stronger than their lanky frames should allow. They can heal others, but will not bring it up if there is a designated healer. Sleeping with an Elf cures people of STD's, and improves their overall health. Elves only get pregnant when they want to, and can pass this blessing onto other species.

The child is always of the mother's race, but can carry traits from their father. So, a tall man might produce an especially tall Elf.

The Summer King's iconic red hair has passed on to many species. Elves that were freed from the Holy Gothic Empire often became his slaves in the Dwarven bathhouses he proliferated. He was initially opposed to this, but it seems working as a prostitute in a Dwarven-built Mannish bathhouse, while wearing the finest silks is best way for many Elves to live. So long as they can choose their master.

Sayings:

Elf-thin.

All Elf and bones.

Nude as an Elf.

Elves are well and truly Angels. Of the lowest choir, of the lowest sphere. Their job is to mingle among mortal Men, and attempt to sway their to righteousness. They passed their divinity onto Men as a religion.

[cynnvein]

Races: Dwarf

(p): Dwarves

Short and stout, of about four feet tall. Dwarven society predominantly exists in extensive, exogamous clans. If a new hold is formed, a new clan is as well. Dwarves ken single-step relations, father/mother, brother/sister, son/daughter, but consider all other Dwarves in their clan to be two steps away, the uncle/aunt/grandparent/niece/nephew/cousin level. As such, they do not have their own words for these, though acknowledge that others do have them. As they exist in clans, what Men consider to be professions for Dwarves is more considered to be chores performed around the hold.

Dwarves are expert miners and artisans. As such they do not value currency, per se. Sure, it is incredibly useful and necessary for survival, but to them money is simply a product of work and time, both things Dwarves have in abudance. They instead value favours. Many Men have gone deep into debt with Dwarves only to be significantly better off because of it, up to and including the Summer King. Dwarves will always ask for favours that one can provide, and always, to them at least, equal to what they provided. Demanding ruinous favours stops you from asking for favours in the future, and Dwarves view this as self-defeating, (though they will if they consider their own costs worth the trouble they cause you).

Dwarven holds will normally start as mines, and they dig up the side of a cliff, opening up windows for air and light. Their windows are normally left open, because they do not need to worry about warmth as Men do. Dwarves will ornately carve everything in their lives, including their holds, (though this will often take centuries to come to fruition).

Dwarves love their baths. Young holds will normally have two baths, one for each sex, but mature holds will normally have baths in each chambre. The bath is heated with a stone, that Dwarven Pyrans will force heat into. When traveling, Dwarves will bath in whatever river and stream presents itself, as they do not have to worry about the chill that Men would. Most races come to love Dwarven baths as Dwarves do. In truth, much of the Summer King's wealth and influence came from his seating of Dwarves baths across the Empire, and later back to Cynn, where they often became the core of a nacent city.

For magick, Dwarves apply external mana into objects imbuing them with powers. This can be seemingly eternal enchantments, or enchanting the explosion in their firearms as it is firing to change it's effects.

Dwarves are far stronger than Men and can live for over three centuries. Because of this they rarely work to make their own lives easier. This means that Dwarves often have tremendous knowledge and ability to make the lives of others easier, if you become friendly enough with them to help you.

Because of their long life, and their belief that more dangerous professions provides more social credit, male Dwarves die as often as Men, while female Dwarves rarely die of anything other than natural causes. This lead to tremendous amounts of spare females that Dwarves consider a standard and proper marriage to be one male to several females. When the husband dies, the wives grieve, often for decades, and then move on. Widows rarely have to worry for their survival, as the remainder of the clan will take care of them. In truth, any clan they are friendly with will take care of them, at the most this will be considered a favour. At the least this will be considered hospitality.

Dwarves view a friend staying with them as an invitation to stay with them. The reverse is also true, and if you are in an area and do NOT stay in a friendly hold, that can and often is viewed as telling them they are not welcome. The females take care of their males. Males offer hospitality to visitors. If a female offers hospitality to a male from another clan, this is viewed as flirting. Despite it's banal apperance, Dwarves take this with extreme severity, to the point that a male might have to keep his cup covered for nearly an entire meal, as letting an, (often persistent), female fill his cup, is considered flirting in return.

Dwarven females believe that if they aren't getting enough attention from their husband. It's their fault. They just need to put more effort into it. The nacent Summer King, (the fabled Lion of Cynn; once nothing more than a simple knight), had a maid who proved that you simply have to work harder if you want to get a husband. The Lion called her Dragon, for her force, (and her voice). Dwarves, by contrast, call her a Demon. It encouraged female Dwarves to try even harder than they had before when trying to marry a husband.

The traditional form of marriage for Dwarves has a male relative introduce the female to her prospective husband. She does what she can to act as his wife. If he already has wives, they often will not make this easy, unless they especially approve of her. At a certain point, the marriage becomes a betrothal. And once betrothed, the male takes the female to bed, and upon the first seeding, they are married. This can be troublesome for those of other races, (or clanless Dwarves), who do not know the rules, and might have trouble telling exactly what part of the courtship they are. Dwarves react the same way a man would act if a female has her betrothral broken off. Before this line, however, at any time, the male can send the female away, and the relationship is broken off. Sometimes this might happen at what other races would consider an inappropriate time, but the usual response is that Dwarves are as robust as they seem. The females won't take it as an insult, but it will normally prevent a relationship from forming between them in the future.

Partially from wanderlust, and partially from the intensity of their own marriages, males Dwarves will often spend a year or more away from his clan and family. Trading, exploring, learning, etc.

Dwarves are considered adults at 50, at which point it is common for an older male relative to take them on a journey into the lands of another races. One of the older males, (it's impossible to recruit one Dwarf), will take personal responbility for their safety, always watching over them.

Dwarves have classes, which is not a social class, but a unique set of skills and affinities for certain jobs. It does not matter what they are currently doing, they are always considered to have their class. All male Dwarves are considered to be warriors. Females can if they choose, (which they rarely do). Classes are treated like professions. While professions might not be for everyone, they are prestigious, and those who do not find one often find themselves adrift. Not all Dwarves are fit to be a thane, of course. The class is only applied to those that fervently pursue it. Those of casual interest, (by Dwarven standards), are not considered of the class.

Artisan: As economically essential as mining is to not just the hold, but entire kingdoms. Dwarves take artisanry seriously. Males take up the more physical crafts, while females take up the more dextrous ones. Though, this has to be taken from a Dwarven perspective, as beating dough into submission is typically done by their females.

Bee Keeper: This might seem strange, but Dwarves have natural allergies to bees. Bees are essential to agriculture, and honey also one of the greatest foods. Bees, (and other jacketed things), can cause a Dwarven force to rout.

Dragoon: They are experts at firearms, able to enchant the explosion in-progress, allowing them to turn a firearm into something that can launch them into the air, creates plumes of flame, or even explosions.

Mining (m): One of the most essential jobs for Dwarf-kind, especially as most Dwarven holds start as naught but mines. 

Nurse (f): One of the most essential classes, the keeping of the young, and old, and infirm. They wield healing magics, while being skilled at soothing, of saying just what is needed to say to, of aiding those injured to not just heal, but recover.

Pyran (m): Dwarves love their baths. Their baths usually have a bath stone that is manually heated by a Pyran, whom channels a lot of heat into the stone. Other pyromancers can heat it, but it still a ridiculous amount of exercision to force heat into cold stone.

Shepherd: Shepherds are essential, as sheep and goats are one of the best resource any race can have. It requires a combintion of leadership and pacivity that Dwarves find most difficult. It also requires them to spend much time away from their hold, which most Dwarves find most queer.

Skald: The keepers of their words. Dwarves speak many languages, and never speak their language in front of other races. Even Men who marry into Dwarven holds, although this is as much because it takes 50 years to get decent at it. The tongues of men take far less. They maintain the libraries, act as advisers, and wield Word Magick. These words are all Dwarven, leading to few if anything that can possibly ken their existence.

Viking (m) / Valkyrie (f): They ride the wind and channel the storm. Dwarves do not channel magick through their body, but directly from the environment into objects. Because of this, they can channel lightning into objects. Channeling lightning through the body risks striking the heart, (for despite it's power, lightning is such a fickle thing), which will instantly kill most of the Greater Races. While they cannot fly, they can shunt wind against their bodies, cloaks, and shields. They can use lightning to quicken their limbs, (as the lightning will not seek it's way into their hearts).

Fantasy Counterpart: Scottish / Nordic

Dwarves and Men

Dwarves view Men as a young race that won't have the chance to get old. But, unlike the long-lived Elves, the Gnomes that live slightly longer than Men, and Fauns that live shorter lives, Men do interesting things. They build, they explore, they fight over petty grudges, (the best kind). They can marry into a Dwarven clan, (and several, in fact), though are given only small concessions, such as understanding why they have trouble remembering every fact of every hold they are friends with. Dwarves understand that only the first wife is considered wife among Men, legally, but and that all others are considered concubines, legally. They still expect men to treat them all as wives. Dwarven females who marry men were normally viewed as Mannish ahead of time. It's only a scandal as everyone claims to have seen it coming.

Dwarves use Mannish, and related terms, to mean feminine. They consider swords to be feminine. This means they will lightly insult men they come across by calling them Mannish. When they've earned their respect, the Dwarves will often simply avoid calling them Mannish, and stop making reference to their sword. Men will often take this as as insult instead of the compliment it is meant as.

Dwarves have tremendous physical and intellectual abilities, with fields of scholarship not even imagined by Men, but Dwarves rarely find any need to use this. If a Man can get a Dwarf to aid them, it will be to death. A team of Dwarven bombadiers can change the fate of a siege. Their understanding of economics is so powerful that one of the reasons the Empire never enslaved, as they did with all other non-Mannish races. The other, of course, being that Dwarves often control mountain passes, and once they dig themselves into a hold, they are extremely difficult to remove.

Note: As of this point, only the Summer King has ever invited Dwarves to form a hold in Mannish. They normally form on their own, and once they are established, are too useful and difficult to remove to do anything about. Empire is the Mannish trait, and as such, most lands occupied by most species, are under the auspices of the local Mannigh kingdom. This includes Dwarves.

[cynnvein]

Fauns

When creating races, I wanted to make sure they were distinct. Physically, socially, magickally, and sexually. Otherwise, they might as well just be another tribe/kingdom of a race I already have.

Fauns live to about 20 years, and have Elven-upper bodies and deer lower bodies. The females are extremely busty, (because they have to feed their babies twice as much), and they despise clothes. Clothes are something the Holy Gothic Empire forces upon it's slaves. They instead paint their bodies. Their body paints use colours and patterns that have deep meaning to other Fauns. If Fauns spend enough time with a Mannish family, they might, (reluctantly), begin to wear shirts. These shirts will typically be painted in patterns to tell other Fauns that they are not slaves.

They are considered adolescents at 2, and adults at 3, at which point they will leave their birth herd in search other another. Fauns are born 12:1 female, with only one male per herd. The male is the Warleader, in charge of the herd's defence, while the primary movements are controlled by the herd's Princess. A princess is typically the daughter of another princess who found a free buck to form her own herd.

When they see a group of Men, they consider it to be a herd, despite it's actual social structure. In a herd, the primary male is the warleader, whom has the responsibility of covering the females. They assume this is how all herds work, and so can lead to misunderstandings if a doe joins a Mannish herd. But, because they live such short lives, a doe of 10 is considered middle age, passed her prime, and therefore maybe beyond child rearing. As such, non-princess does will often simply wander by themselves if they feel it safe, maybe even engender themselves to a Mannish family.

Their magic is the verdancy of the forest, which can apparently meld the physical damage done to wooden Artifact Creatures.

They typically carry a quiver of javelins on their back as their primary weapons, and for hunting.

The Sin of Cynn and the Faun Saviour

For a millennia, there have been no Fauns in Cynn. Many thought this was strange, others thought it was natural, and others simply thought it Was.

As it turns out, the Men of Cynn had killed them off in ages passed. This is what triggered the Elves to get directly involved with Men, and gift them their divinity as a religion. The religion was then corrupted by the Holy Gothic Empire into Mannish supremacy, to the point that all non-Men, of the Greater Races, were considered to be defacto slaves. Other than Dwarves, as they are difficult to remove once they've dug into an area, and their economic benefits cannot be replaced.

Many Fauns disliked their, and openly attacked any representatives of the Holy Gothic Empire they encountered. They would normally lose, but take many of the soldiers down with them.

This was when they encountered the nascent Summer King. He had a colleague open a portal to send a herd back to Cynn, and every year on the same day since, until a treaty was forged with the Empire to end slavery.

One of the points made was that holding Fauns as slaves was not just unproductive, but counter-productive. They could patrol the forests FOR the Empire. Or flee to Cynn, where they had no obligations whatsoever. Taxes in Cynn are paid by landowners, and rent is payed by tenants. Vagrants, and those from undeveloped lands pay no taxes or rent.

Because of this, the Fauns hail him as the Faun Saviour, and to this day will do anything he asks of them. Many of the 10 year does came to his call, to patrol his new Kingdom of the Summerlands, far to the south, below the Orclands and Europa.

[cynnvein]

Gnome

(p): Gnomes

Until the Summer King's discovery of the ancient city of Araddwmer, there had never been a single incidence on a Gnomish city, town, village, or even tribe.

Gnomes do not even have marriage. A couple stays together only until a child is old enough to follow one of the parents around, at which point they will simply separate. Not out of any animosity, but simply a desire for separation.

Many would think that they hate each other, they hate Men, that they are confrontation and aloof. The latter two are true. But, their confrontational nature belies a caring nature that goes beyond what most of the Greater Races are capable of. While they deeply care about others, they do not care about being liked. The tales of the Summer King include a time he was invited into the hollow of a Gnome he had just quarrelled with. The Gnome intent to provide hospitality, despite the fact his hollow was barely large enough for the Summer King to crawl inside, (before he had even reached his full height).

The Summer King, his love for Gnomes known far and wide, his court speculates that the deep love of Gnomes is what drives their separation, and closeness means they feel loss far greater than the other Greater Races.

The nature of Gnomes is Connection. Connection between people allows them to learn languages far faster than other, to the point that the Summer King is said to always keep them on hand as translators. Their Connection makes them as good with earth as they are with gardens and Artifact Creatures. They have a tremendous affinity for learning, and work well with any organization, so long as their sardonic nature can be tolerated. This said, they can be focused to a fault, and often need more social races to pull them back into reality.

Before the Holy Gothic Empire freed the slaves, Gnomes were considered almost perfect slaves. Now that they are free, (after learning how to, indeed, be free), Mannish organizations go to extreme lengths to attract their interest. Despite the low pay, Gnomes care more about the man they serve, than the pay they are to receive.

[cynnvein]

Races: Man

(g): Mannish, (m): man, (f): woman, (p): men, (p/f): women

The most populous race of Europa. The nature of Man is Empire, having the largest, most prominent, and most long-lasting civilizations. Men are like gas, and spread over all available space. Even regions that seem to offer no logical reason for inhabitation will often be inhabited by Men. As such, in most places, the other races live in territory claimed by men. The levels of integration depend on the tribe and the kingdom, but Man has the largest kingdoms, along with the occational continent-spanning empires.

The sexuality of Men is semi-monogamous. Most men will take a single wife, but the simple fact that men live more dangerous lives, there is always an excess of women. These women have to be taken up by the upper-class men. In Europa, the Aenean Empire created a president where men can only have one wife, but this was strickly for dynastic stability. Only one wife means only one source of potential heirs. The other women take titles dependant upon the existent culture, such as concubine, hand maiden, mistress, etc. Long ago, Men discovered that they can compare the colour of magick people a parent and child, and this even applies to a foetus in the womb. This means that modern cultures can be 100% certain of who the father is. As such, the mater semper certa est has been replaced with the immediate induction of a pregnant woman into the family of the father, whom then has responsibility for the children. If a woman commits adultery, (cheating on her husband, et al.), then she is normally punished to a varying degree, and the man is given the choice of taking responsibility for the child.

For magick, Men use outer magick. The primary, elucidated schools of magick for men are Sorcery, Pyromancy, and Holy. All of these draw in surrounding mana and apply "colour" (indescribable qualia), to create external spells. Because Men use magick in a much more obvious fashion than the other races, this often leads Men into believing the other races are not magickal. All races are magickal, in at least one way or another.

Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Pre-Norman Britain

[ingirvein]

What happened to the dragons? Or they just are t present in your fantasy?

In my fantasy, the Lion of Cynn, Dragons are bound by Dragonpacts with mortals. They aren't allowed to affect the world outside of Dragonpacts. While they can used for nearly any purpose, and Dragons as both wise and old, but geopolitically, they are treated like nuclear weapons.

Wyrms are actually fallen Seraphim, whom are too proud to give up their power. They then suffer at their own lack of utility.

[ingirvein]

What’s Lion of Cynn?

Series of fantasy books I've written.

Looked into getting them published, but mainstream publishing is a hellish place.

It has a lot of interpretations of fantasy worlds, races, magick, etc., that I've been wanting to talk about.

I created the blog, and it's found here.

[weatherman667]

Hey, quick question, what do you use to keep track of all your story notes, and keep them organized? I just use google docs, but it gets cluttered pretty fast.

I honestly wish we had the organization tools we have nowadays.

No, the truth is pretty simple, I just use a OpenOffice writer file for characters. For my fantasy series I also had a file for Races. I always maintain a Notes file that is things I want to include back into the story, and delete from it once it's included. For the Lion of Cynn, I copied the Chars file from the past book's folder to the current book's folder.

Until Firen Lhain, this was the longest run, most complex thing I've written. Here are the ones for Firen Lhain.

If there are details I want to look up, I just look through the part of the story where it happened. I recommend reading through the story multiple times. If I'm doing my full, proper review, (which, honestly I don't for Firen Lhain).

-Review the chapter the next day.

-Read the chapter in a few days.

-Read through a few chapters in a section at a time.

-Read all of your story through.

The unfortunate thing is I can't really recommend anything, as I've had to train my brain to keep the data organized in my head.

For Feared Love Divided, the last part of my Feared Love Trilogy, I had 5 main storylines, dozens of characters, a 4-dimensional love polyhedron, and managed to do it with 1 Chars file for each story, and a single Notes file that shared between them all, (I deleted things after I use them from the notes file, so it always stays small). The Notes is either things I come up with on the spot, but can't use right away, threads I notice when reviewing it that got dropped, or notes I scribble onto something when I'm away from my desk.

I've tried keeping much more complicated notes, but as you point out, it gets cluttered pretty fast and doesn't help you at all.

Since you write from a lot of AU's, my answer would be to put all story files from a single AU into a folder, and add a single Rules file that lists the main points that are divergent from the mainline story.

I will usually keep a note about who is present in each scene nowadays, as there are way too many characters, but I keep it inline with the story, and remove it when doing my final editing.

--------------------------------

And btw, the Sunlit Dragoons thing is a bit of a spoiler for the end of Season 11.