OOC - Divergent Universe Notes

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Viking-Sensei
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OOC - Divergent Universe Notes

Post by Viking-Sensei »

Since we've made no bones about the fact that Errant Road and Errant Story are set in the same basic setting, but are existing along paralell lines, I thought a thread about the differences between the established official ES universe and the new divergent ER universe might be in order. At some point, if we keep doing this and it gets sufficiently big, a Wiki might be in order just for the ER stuff, but for now this can serve as a refference point for the more major established changes.

Here was what I was thinking for changes to the world... let me know what you think, feel free to contribute, change, etc:

The biggest change, as well as the major point of diversion, has to do with the expansion of Veracia. As I understand it, in the official Poe-verse, Veracia ate up several smaller kingdoms on the main continent, leading up to their eventual attempt to annex Farrell, which was more-or-less stopped when Lumi smacked into the elves shield and Tsuiraku re-emerged from hiding. After their return to the world's stage, several skirmishes between the two superpowers eventually lead to Farrell falling more under Tsuirakan influence.

In the divergent Errant Road universe, things didn't go as well for Veracia...

Delphiniel still fell to the trolls, however Veracian settlers also had problems with the trolls and therefore were never able to establish the foothold they intended there. Instead, it was mostly uninhabited until the Mage/Priest Wars, at which time Tsuirakan forces occupied it as a base of operations on the mainland. In the wake of the war, Tsuirakan forces continued to maintain a small presence there, which has now grown back into a meduim-sized city/state with it's own warp gate. In exchange for their protection from the trolls, a number of farmers moved back into the area, and it is now one of the major supply routes for food supplies to Tsuiraku.

Similarly, Lorenzel also took a different route of development. Their Queen was still assassinated and they fell under the control of Veracia, however following Veracia's defeat (because in this universe, it was a clear defeat) in the Mage/Priest Wars, there was a massive uprising and the people re-asserted their independence, overthrowing the Veracian-lead puppet government and even countering a direct assult from Veracia's pokegod Luminosita with their own somewhat-made-on-the-fly avatar, Gojirata (the rebellion was aided by a few counter-intelligence agents from Tsuiraku... and it shows). While Lorenzel shrunk considerably between their fall and their re-establishment (now reduced to one major city, known as Fort Lorenzel, and a handful of protectorate townships), they remain a thorn in Veracia's side. Worse yet, sensing blood in the waters, it's been rumored the Ensigerum have been in negotiations with Lorenzel.

And, of course, the biggest change is that of Farrel... Without Veracia being the super power house that they were in the original universe, the spectre of Veracian annexation was still present but not nearly so much a threat or concern. As a result, during the Mage/Priest Wars Farrel successfully played both sides against the middle and grew considerably in power (and in population) as a result. Farrel is still essentially the same, just... bigger, with more cities throughout. The biggest change would be the northern rim of Farrel, now featuring another large city named Rinkael, as well as a major island resort suspiciously close to where Malacia went down.

Also of note is the effect that this shift in power has had on the Wraith... without Veracia's occasional occupation to keep their forces in check, they have grown considerably in size and in power, with their influence being spread far and wide across most of the known civilizations, including Tsuiraku (and Kiyoka, obviously). Due to the expanded size of the Wraith, their standards for admission have dropped considerably, especially outside Farrel. Many of their "expansions" took on the don't-reinvent-the-wheel approach and simply absorbed local mob organizations, keeping their basic structure and establishing a trusted Wraith operative at the top of the food chain. Given the larger number of Wraiths operating in the field, the more traditional assassin/hitmen of the Wraith (like Jon) are now their own special division, known as the Wraith Excel.
How could a plan this awesome possibly fail?
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Graybeard
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Re: OOC - Divergent Universe Notes

Post by Graybeard »

Let's discuss. I don't think that significant deviations from the Poe-verse are necessary to deal with anything that has happened yet in the story, or threatens to.

The plans I had for Grope (which, btw, would eventually involve him diverging from the other characters and doing stuff on his own) presumed, in fact, that the structure of the Errant Road-verse was practically the same as in the Poe-verse. The Veracian Church mission in Kiyoka is, to put it bluntly, a nest of spies, operating under the Tsuirakuans' noses in the guise of a cultural exchange program intended to alleviate some of the historical tensions between Tsuiraku and Veracia. Why spies in the out-of-the-way Kiyoka? I dunno, except that it's easier than spies in Tsuirakushiti, which is the real goal of the Veracian Church.

Likewise, the Gewehr's presence in Kiyoka is exploratory in nature and an attempt to drum up business -- one that is going to end particularly badly if Grope has anything to do with it, for reasons yet to be revealed. The fact that the Gewehr in Kiyoka are thuggish and incompetent is a natural consequence of the Gewehr having limited numbers and resources. At this time the Gewehr high mucky-mucks see Veracia as more ripe for exploitation than Tsuiraku, and a basic premise of good business management is that you devote your best people to your best opportunities, not your biggest problems. That's why the (relatively) competent and smooth Jon and Gabriel, along with the Wraiths wiped out by Sara, etc., were in Veracia while the buffoons were sent to open the less promising market -- although by the time of the main story, the PTB are starting to figure out that expansion into Veracia may not be a good idea after all.

Finally, Grope's presence in Tsuiraku (which btw I don't see in your analysis) is the direct result of trolldom being roughly in the same predicament as in the Poe-verse: they're squeezed by an expanding Veracia and an increasingly aggressive Ensigerum, and need a new place to call home. Having heard rumors that the mainland of Tsuiraku is almost empty apart from Kiyoka, Grope is doing some exploring.

All of this had been presuming that the two universes were actually parallel in political structure, cultural influence, and so on. If the consensus is to go with the Viking-verse instead, some changes in what I had planned for Grope ("plans" of course being subject to drastic change depending on interactions with the rest of the player-characters) will be needed -- but they can be made. Anybody else?
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DarkIntruder
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Re: OOC - Divergent Universe Notes

Post by DarkIntruder »

Graybeard wrote:Likewise, the Gewehr's presence in Kiyoka is exploratory in nature and an attempt to drum up business -- one that is going to end particularly badly if Grope has anything to do with it, for reasons yet to be revealed. The fact that the Gewehr in Kiyoka are thuggish and incompetent is a natural consequence of the Gewehr having limited numbers and resources. At this time the Gewehr high mucky-mucks see Veracia as more ripe for exploitation than Tsuiraku, and a basic premise of good business management is that you devote your best people to your best opportunities, not your biggest problems. That's why the (relatively) competent and smooth Jon and Gabriel, along with the Wraiths wiped out by Sara, etc., were in Veracia while the buffoons were sent to open the less promising market -- although by the time of the main story, the PTB are starting to figure out that expansion into Veracia may not be a good idea after all.

Yes. When I picked the wraiths as being my main adversary, I was basically casting around for something that would fit. My character's a mercenary, he would have had contact with various underworld elements, and naturally the Gewehr's would have been a part of this. As for the incompetence aspect, I just figured that like most organizations, skill and intelligence levels would vary, and anyone with more then a moderate amount of competence would be too important to waste on something as simple as chasing after little old me.
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