Workshop Report

Week 1: Plot:

Story Goal :
Gehair, the protagonist, wants to eliminate the Evil that threathens the whole population of the world before it is too late to be able to resist anymore.
The Evil consists of evil creatures: Goblins, Orcs, trolls, Grauwls, dragons,… They all unite under the banner of Eargon. Eargon is believed to be the chosen ruler of the world.

Consequence:
His and other people will be enslaved and made to work until their death. He himself will die or join that fate.

Requirements:
-He must gather allies that will help him battle the Evil.
-Put a halt to the raiding parties, so that armies can be assembled together, not spread out.
-He must gather a total of seven ancient artifacts that are able to destroy the Evil.

Forewarnings:
-Every step in his journey will be dangerous and lifethreathening.
-The Enemy is almost everywhere, giving the hero almost no rest
-Large armies of the Enemy march up to the big cities and castles of the Allies. There is no hope left and that is driving some men insane.

Costs:
The protagonist has to choose between bringing his father or his people to safety.

Dividends:
There will be a never expected friendship born between Humans, Dwarves, Negati and Elves.

Prerequisites:
-He must first help any possible allies with their problems first to gain their trust and aid.
-He will have to gather a small army of warriors, together with enough horses to hunt enemies on open plains.
-He must find the hidden sanctuary where the seven artifacts are being hidden.

Preconditions:
-There is an old rule between Elves and Dwarves that they may not come close to each other. Both parties have this rule, and both are very strict on it.

-If anyone trespasses on Elven ground, they will be brought in front of the Court. The Court’s decisions are mostly harsh and unforgiving as the trespasser has nobody to help him most of the time.

-Nobody is allowed to enter a human city at night because that is when it becomes dangerous. This will put a time limit on their travels between cities.


Week 2: Hero and Anti-hero:


Hero:
Full Name: Gehair Siverhand
Nick Name(s): Human
Gender: male
Age: 23
Birthday/Year: 18/05/3817 Aeon: 2
Marital Status/Sexual Preference: Single, heterosexual

Spouse: None

Hair: Black
Eyes: dark blue
Origin: King’s family of Denerag
Language(s): Silvian
Height: 1m 78
Weight/Body Structure/Physical Faults: Strong human body
Physical/Mental Health: both balanced
Race: Human

Clothing: Silver armor with a blue cape and edge. Under the armor, he wears an expensive shirt and trousers.

Parents/Guardians: His mother died when he was young. His father, called Rehden, is a king.

Siblings: One brother: Gehan

Friends/Allies: Gehair has some childhood friends that moved away, he will search for allies with the Dwarves, other humans and Elves, maybe even with unknown species of smart animals.

Enemies: Two elves that he helped when they were being attacked. These elves were Golden Elves. Golden Elves are suspicious of everyone because they think that others want to steal all their belongings; orcs, goblins, other evil creatures, the ‘mastermind’ behind the evil: Eargon.

Beliefs/Religion: Heran’s Belief
Career/Past Careers: Prince of Denerag

Dreams/Life Goals: He dreams of peaceful life for everyone, seeing prosperity in both the towns and villages as in the fields where farmers work.

Speech Patterns/Frequently Used Phrases: None really

Hobbies: Training with swords
Likes: having a chat with old friends, looking out from high places
Loves: Peace
Dislikes: war
Loathes: spiders

Fears: Enslavement of his people, a war that will never stop and that causes suffering.
Strengths: He is very good in swordfighting.
Weakness: He will try to not harm any humans, dwarves or elves in a fight, even if they are the enemy.

Good Qualities: He cares for people, making him a good prince and future king.

Bad Habits: He tends to forget that people can be evil.

Natural Talents: He was raised by his father, who taught him how to fight every day.

Temperament: Mostly calm, but panicks fast if something does not go like the plan.

Background: Gehair is the son of the king of Denerag. He was raised by his mother until she died when he was at the age of five. His father raised him to be a very good warrior, but that backfired and now he thinks fighting as a last resort.

Both Happiest and Saddest Moments:

Happiest: being able to calmly walk in the streets and to go to the top of the highest tower, to see the beautiful view.

Saddest: Seeing his city burned to the ground.

What is this character's major goal? : Killing the ‘mastermind’ behind the organised attacks of the goblins and orcs.

Why is this goal so important to this character? : He wants peace, and revenge for everyone that has fallen by his hands.

Are there any events in the character's past that affect the significance of this goal? : His mother died by a group of orcs.


Villain:
Full Name: Andiré Fraenze
Nick Name(s): Lieutenant
Gender: Male
Age: 916
Birthday/Year: 24/08/2565 Aeon:2
Marital Status/Sexual Preference: Single, heterosexual
Spouse: none

Hair: black
Eyes: green
Origin: Teneainu or ‘Silver Elves’
Language(s): Elfs and Silvian
Height: 1m92
Weight/Body Structure/Physical Faults: None
Physical/Mental Health: He is obsessed with the darkness and the Evil.
Race: Elves
Clothing:Black armor with spikes on it and a black frightening helmet. Under it he wears dark brown leather clothes.

Parents/Guardians: Parents died a long long time ago.
Siblings: One brother
Friends/Allies: ‘allies’ are the evil creatures: orcs, goblins, and others. They listen to him.
Enemies: The Allies: the good elves, dwarves, men and animals

Beliefs/Religion: Eargon’s belief
Career/Past Careers: Blacksmith
Dreams/Life Goals: Cover the world in darkness and pain for his Master.
Speech Patterns/Frequently Used Phrases: None

Hobbies: None
Likes: Night-time, stargazing, the two moons
Loves: Pillaging
Dislikes: The Sun, Eagles and other innocent animals
Loathes: Dwarves, spiders

Fears: Fears that he will fail anything his Master commands
Strengths: Very good in melee combat and in striking fear by displaying his strength in it.
Weakness: He can have a short temper.
Good Qualities: None
Bad Habits: He often screws up the plan he thinks of himself.

Natural Talents: Fighting, training others
Temperament: quite short at times
Background: He used to be a ‘Good’ elf, but the Evil corrupted him. Now he works for the Master, who is the bringer of Evil.
Both Happiest and Saddest Moments:
Happiest: When he’s out of the Master’s control and sees his brother again

Saddest: As soon as he’s out of Eargon’s control and sees his brother, his brother dies.

What is this character's major goal? Enslaving everyone in the world and bringing his Master to rule them.
Why is this goal so important to this character? It is his belief and wish entirely to accomplish this.
Are there any events in the character's past that affect the significance of this goal? The death of his parents

Mastermind:
Full Name: Eargon Sérafzs
Nick Name(s): Lord, Ruler
Gender: Male
Age: 10191 (3285y old, soul has been wandering the world (passively) for 6906 years)
Birthday/Year: Aeon:0 Year: 100 Month: 5 Day: 1
Marital Status/Sexual Preference: Single, heterosexual
Spouse: none

Hair: black
Eyes: blue
Origin: Demigod & Elf
Language(s): All spoken languages
Height: 2m 10
Weight/Body Structure/Physical Faults: None
Physical/Mental Health: He has an unhealthy lust for power.
Race: Elves
Clothing: Dark green and brown clothes and armour.

Parents/Guardians: His father is unknown. His mother is Fena.
Siblings: None
Friends/Allies: First the gods except Meurta. Then he was corrupted by Meurta into trying to seize power over the world.
Enemies: First none. After he works with Meurta, the gods were his enemies, along with the Elves, Dwarves and Men

Beliefs/Religion: Eargon’s belief
Career/Past Careers: None
Dreams/Life Goals: get complete control over the World
Speech Patterns/Frequently Used Phrases: None

Hobbies: None
Likes: Warmth
Loves: to wander around in the forest
Dislikes: The night, being alone
Loathes: the sky

Fears: That he will be beaten (again) and that his punishment shall be worse than his first one.
Strengths: He has a very good knowledge of every race and knows how to manipulate people and intelligent life forms.
Weakness: He starts to get more reckless with more trouble and unseen problems.
Good Qualities:
Bad Habits: He often screws up the plan he thinks of himself.

Natural Talents: Can hide emotions very well
Temperament: Short, impatient
Background: He used to be a ‘Good’ elf, but Meurta convinced him that he deserves better. Together with Meurta, he made a whole plan how to conquer the world and rule over its races.
Both Happiest and Saddest Moments:
Happiest:

Saddest: He kills his own mother in a flare of madness.

What is this character's major goal? Enslaving everyone in the world and ruling over them.
Why is this goal so important to this character? It is his belief and wish entirely to accomplish this. He believes it is his right. His religion, that was made by him, became the undeniable truth in his eyes.
Are there any events in the character's past that affect the significance of this goal? Manipulation of Meurta


Week 3: World:

In this world, there are three great landmasses. The first landmass is mostly sunk underwater, but a small part is still emerged. It lies to the south of the second landmass. Men are barely able to reach it, but it is said that nowone lives there, except some exotic animals. It is simply called the South.
The second landmass is the largest, and here live all the normal races: Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Goblins... It is referred to as the World because most people do not realize there is any other place to see or to live at.
The third is the smallest landmass, and it is connected to the second one. It lies east of it, and is mostly reffered to as the East. This landmass is almost completely surrounded by mountains.

In the World:
Mountains with icy white peaks, shining like white diamonds in the morning sun in the north,
plains with long and short grass in the east,
the seemingly diamond sea with a small haven and small brown fishing boats in the south with the soothing wind breeze
and green fresh forests and wilderness untreaded, except by few Rangers in the west.
The middle of the World is sometimes called the Eye of the World, as the tallest tower stands there and one is said to be able to look around the whole World.

This tower is believed to be only the half of the original height. People believe that the tower was made by the gods to watch over everything.

The tower was built by men at a time of despair. They wanted to warn the gods of what was happening and succeeded in doing so, but not by building the tower.

Magic in this world exists, but not many are able to use it. Magic comes from one’s willpower and it is stronger when the caster’s emotions are let loose. The magic, unless the caster wants it, rarely affects the caster himself.

The years are numbered differently, as it resets to 0 whenever something unbelievable has happened. The last time was 3107 years ago, when someone called Deïn, a human, was able to reestablish contact with both Elves and Dwarves. The Elves and Dwarves did not trade between themselves, but through humans. A bond was established between the Elves that were loyal to the King, the few Dwarves that did have contact with these Elves and the whole human population.

One year exists of 600 days. There are 20 months, each has 30days.
1-7: Spring
8-14: Summer
15-21:Fall/Autumn
22-28: Winter
29-30: Diamon Each day is 24 hours.

Diamon is a season where the snow of the winter has reached a constant high level. All the lakes on the surface are frozen, other species of animals appear and all the races have trouble surviving.

The money system is quite simple: The same coin is used everywhere.

Week 4: Species:

NAME: Grauwl
PLURAL NAME: Grauwls
SIZE: Can grow up to the size of a horse
INTELLIGENCE LEVEL: Grauwls are quite smart and they can perform teamwork. They can be tamed, but often eat their master when he is not watching out.
HABITAT: Mountains, forests, cities.
RANGE: Dark caves
ANIMAL TYPE: A sort like bat.
PURPOSE: To hinder and attack the protagonist and to help the Evil.
EVENTS FROM STORY: An old stone cave where the people have to travel through
FOOD SOURCE: Humans that stray in or nearby the cave. If they live in an area with no humans, they will go hunt at night.
DENSITY: Where there is one attacking, some twenty are waiting for the feast.
YOUNG: The young mostly stay in their parent’s hole until they can screech. They leave the hole for 2 years. In that time, they are left defenseless on the ground. They search for an existing hole, or slowly make their own one.
DEFENSE: A small fat body that is very tough.
OFFENSE: Has bird feet things to grab it’s prey, teeth from a bear.
LOCOMOTION:
BEHAVIORS: Grabs it’s prey with its feet to drag it into their hole (often in the ceiling or high in the walls), dives up and down while attacking and screeches on such a tone that it hurts one’s ears. If this holds on, one can get deaf or worse.
REACTIONS TOWARDS HUMANS: Extremely aggressive

Species 2:
NAME: Nega
PLURAL NAME: Negati
SIZE: Around the same size of an average human
INTELLIGENCE LEVEL: A little higher than humans in general.
HABITAT: Coasts
RANGE: Caves that are (partly) flooded.
ANIMAL TYPE: Humanoids
PURPOSE: A potential ally to Gehair.
EVENTS FROM STORY: Gehair and two companions fall down a hidden hole, straight into the water far below. They wake up in weird cells that are guarded by the Negati.
FOOD SOURCE: Fish, fruit and sometimes meat from land animals.
DENSITY: They live in close ‘neighbourhoods’ in caves that often, but not nessecarily, have a high level of water.
YOUNG: Children often swim away in secret to peek at the world above the water and out of the caves, as they are not allowed to exit the caves until they have the Mark (a test to prove that one has grown up) or is accompanied by atleast two Mark-bearers.
DEFENSE: They make shields and light armor out of a special material that is only found in the oceans. This blue, slippery material makes their equipment good for defense, as you can’t hurt a Negati unless you stab him with this. Any slash will be deflected along the smooth side of the armor or shield.
OFFENSE: Negati mostly use spears and nets, as they are very useful to catch fish. In a battle, Negati try to surprise their opponent and catch it into their nets, dragging it with them into the water, where the Negati have an advantage.
LOCOMOTION:
BEHAVIORS: Surprises opponents and drags them into the water, where the Negati can finish them off easily. Negati try to not be seen or noticed at all, which is why they are only a myth that is believed by children: ‘If you go out at night, terrible water monsters called Negati come and kidnap you, and eat you alive underwater!’
REACTIONS TOWARDS HUMANS: Shy and very aggressive mostly, but they are somewhat friendly. So long as the human does not come close to their cave or approach them when they're very hungry, it should be fine.

Additional information: Negati are thin and clever. They often have a variation of purple, green, blue or red eye color.

Negati have a blue skin underwater, which makes it easy for them to blend in their surroundings. On land, their skin gets whiter or darker, depending on the stand of the sun or moon.

The language they use between themselves is Elfs, as the elves taught them to speak aeons ago.

Between their fingers and toes, they have a sort of membrane which they use for swimming a lot faster. They might fool their prey or predator at first by appearing slow.
On land, Negati are a little slower than humans, as they have to adapt first. After 48 hours however, this problem is solved until the next time they touch water.

Negati have gills on their cheeks. While they do not need it to breathe underwater or above land, they do use it as some sort of nose. They ‘smell’ with it both under as above water. Their sense of smell includes almost all sorts of smells possible, as the knowledge that a parent has, is given to the child unconsciously.

A last thing: Negati get weaker and weaker depending on the time they spend on land and the distance they are from their home or a big source of water like a big river or a lake.

Week 5: Customs and Religion:

Myths and legends are plenty and most have it’s origin from over two thousand years ago.

Religion itself does not say people how to dress, what or how to eat or drink, how to express their faith... It only gives small hints about how one should behave and it says how the world was created.

There are two religions: Heran’s and Eargon’s.

Heran’s is about Heran creating smaller gods, who then make the world to how they want, and to please their Father. The first to walk that world beside the gods and animals were the Elves. Back then, they were one single mind, one single force. Second were the humans, taught language and behavior by the elves. And third were the Dwarves, who were made by the jealous goddess that also created the mountains and caves.

The second part of the story is where the gods have trusted the world in our care. But we screwed up very soon, and were forced to battle our own kind and our friends. The gods returned and locked the evil away, after which they went away again.

Eargon’s belief starts the same, but Heran creates an extra god: Eargon. His role was to supervise the whole world, to control it and the life on it.
Eargon wanted to rule with iron fist, but the other gods betrayed him, and locked him up so they could have the world for themselves. Now, Eargon is back and it is time for him to regain his throne as the fitting ruler of the world.


Week 6: School of Magic:

Rules of magic:

Magic is divided under two sorts: Item and Animal. One person can not use both sorts of magic, unless that person does not mind what happens with him/her. Using a second sort of magic will destroy the person’s body, soul and mind.

Item: Item magic is magic that is imbued in items. An example is an elven sword. Elves have a small amount of magic in each of them and elven blacksmiths are able to put some of this magic into the items they make. While making a sword, the blacksmith has to be completely focused on the purpose of the sword. If the blacksmith wants to make a sword to protect himself, the sword will boost more in defensive use than in offensive use. It is bigger and easier to block with, but it is not very sharp and will feel heavy when trying to use it to kill someone.

Items will not be able to fly or move by themselves. Neither are they able to change someone’s personality. There is no item that boosts the wearer’s luck, or charisma.

The Item Magic can be seen by the eye sometimes, but then it is used as a warning item.

Making a Magic Item is not comfortable and easy at all. After making one, the maker has to sleep for 10 hours and not do any heavy labour for a week.

Animal:

Animal magic is magic that exists naturally in creatures. An example is a dragon. A dragon can breathe fire, ice or just a very hard wind, depending on the kind of magic they have. Animal magic is used by the magic creatures in form of shooting something visible at the target. With a fire dragon, this is its fire. Naturally speaking, ice or water magic would be effective against this dragon, but dragons are, beside three other animal types, the only one that have Animal Magic in them.

One can see the element by the color of the skin. Blue: water, lightblue: ice red/orange: fire

Magic in races:

For humans, magic is near impossible to use. They would have to dedicate their whole life to study it, and be at the age of 90 before they would be able to use magic.

For Elves, who already have a small amount of magic in them, Animal magic is forbidden and they have a lot of trouble using it.

Dwarves can not use magic. They are capable of making Magic Items though, by using the gems that they delve up from their mines. These gems contain little to quite a bit of magic from the creation of the world.
Magic gems have to be handled with the utmost care, as one wrong hit or crack will release this magic and often result in the death of any life forms in its immediate surroundings. The Item Magic is used in the same way as the Elves do.

Negati have, just like elves, a small amount of magic in them. For the Negati, this magic is a defensive sort of Animal magic. Since the Negati live underwater most of the time, the element of their magic is 99,99% water, 0.0005% ice and 0.0005% fire.
In this case, the magic will not exit the body at all. This makes them very weak to the opposite element and very resistant to the same element when hit by it. They are dependent on the element they have: Negati get weaker the longer they stay out of water and the farther away they get from a water source.
In case the Negati has a fire element: These Negati will die fast. After being returned to their mother at birth, after a routine of controls, the baby Negati will slowly die in her arms.


Orcs, Goblins, Trolls, Grauwls and other not magic creatures: No magic at all. It is possible they find some Magic Items that were made by Elves or Dwarves, but they do not know what its purpose is. This often leads to a disadvantage in the offense.
Grauwls are not capable of using weapons, so they will never have a Magic Item.



Week 7: Government:

Elves:

With the elves, the king is chosen by the whole population. This is done by a simple voting system.

The Elves are divided into three groups:

-The Teneainu or ‘Silver Elves’, named for their shining armor and weapons. They hate all other races and mostly kill them on sight. They tried to assault and exterminate the dwarves, but were stopped by the king. They were banned from the main city and made their own far away.

-The Sanaru or ‘Golden Elves’, named for the amount of wealth they had. They also shun the other races, for “They are thieves”. They also went away from Falinad, the elven city, and established a big fort in a forest to protect their treasures. Each of them live in their own little ‘bunker’ in this fortress.

-The Faliunda or ‘Royal Elves’, they obey the king and often hold contact and trade with humans and dwarves, seeking prosperity and peace.

Three representatives of each group gather at the Elven Court when a king needs to be chosen. These nine elves listen to the Courtess, a woman that is in charge of the Court.
She is the only person, next to the King and Queen that has the power to make laws and be a judge in a case.
The Courtess sums up a few people and their accomplishments, failures, personality, faith and other traits.

The Court has the most power when there is no king or queen and the three representatives, who are also chosen by the Court, are the third ones(with the king/queen in first place) in a pyramid of power.



Dwarves:

The Dwarven King is helped in his regime by a representative of each kind of job. The King is decided by blood, so often the crown is passed from father to son.
Since Dwarves have a long life expectance, their families often get big enough to ensure that there is atleast one heir.
A dwarf’s bloodline will only stop completely in case of there being an accident such as:
-while making a new home, the dwarven family stumble upon a cave with grauwls
-A big surprise attack from Goblins
-A tunnel collapse
And other such events.


Humans:

Just like the Dwarves, the king is decided by origin.
There are three kingdoms of humans in the world. All upon the World (the second landmass).
The king does not necessarily have any representatives of the people and he does not share power with anyone. The king’s word is law.

Negati, Orcs, Goblins, …:
The leader is decided by strength and intelligence.
The leader chooses if he wants any help from his subjects, but this only counts for the Negatian leader.

Between the kings of Men, Dwarves and Elves, there often are gatherings to discuss what is happening in the world and to improve relationships and trade.

Relationships between the three kingdoms of men are good, and they have never waged war against each other in a very long time. The third king is coming less frequently to these meetings though.

Between the Dwarves and the Elves, there is a peace treaty, but it is pure political and does not mean anything to them. They often threaten each other to start a war if they do not get what they want. Luckily, they mostly do not start one.

Weapons:

The weapons used are:
Swords
Axes
Lances
Hammers
Bow & arrow
Crossbow
Mace
And other medieval weapons. Nowone has had the need of siege weapons yet, so these are not very good developed.



Week 8: Money:

Everyone uses the same kind of money, except for all the races that do not need to use it (Orcs, goblins,…)
The money is called Gil. It is about 112 Gil for one bread.
The language that is used between different races is Silvian. The language of the humans.

Trade first originated from the need of grain and other basic resources for big villages/ cities. They began to trade with nearby, smaller villages, offering high-quality items that could not be made in those villages. Eg: clothes were made in cities, not in villages.

As kingdoms were formed, and resources were taxed, trade was less and less needed. But then, people began to get interested in exotic things that they could not get in their area. They began to seek these items over and through mountains, crossing rivers and forests. This way, the trade relived more than ever.

Trade often happened between humans alone, but they sometimes met a dwarven or elven trader.

For the transportation, oxes, horses and donkeys were used. Mail was invented as merchants founded small trading posts at various locations. To know what was going on in each of them, the merchant made the local owner write a letter every week or month. Other merchants used this invention to start their company. They collected these letters and brought them to the next city or village.

Merchants, who were getting very rich, wanted to make themselves great houses and other luxurious things. The power of the rich merchants originally was big, as money became an important influence, but the prices of basic products rose and money lost its power. Merchants still earned a lot compared to a normal blacksmith, but not that much anymore. Specific taxes to merchants completely halted their increase in power.

In a normal village, there is one Lord who owns the land. The King has lent the land to this person, and he gives it to the peasants in trade for a frequent tax of grain, pigs, cows, …