Preliminary notes for a first born characterBR http://www.vapourspace.net/firstborn/mechanics.stm

Name: undecided

Parents: Steve's character, Corvus, and a mortal woman. 5th Generation.

Age: Age discussed was of the order of about 100-200 years old.

Personality: Fairly quiet and studious. Not usually one to hold a grudge but at the same time somebody who prefers to avoid direct action and engage on a conflict on a more subtle basis. He would probably make a reasonable politician where it not for his relative lack of interest in political power. His driving focus is research and the quest for knowledge nad understanding. Primarily to try to make the world a better place but this comes out fairly tangentially at times.

Personality Traits: Lore Whore. Other traits come out to a lesser extent. Adventurous as a side effect of the quest for knowledge: often travelling to see new places and new things.

Kingdom: Steve's characters kingdom.

Realm:

# How do you rule your realm (e.g. worshipped as a god, honoured as a king, etc)

The people of the realm see my character (a name would be very useful) as something of a god. This isn't something that my character has deliberately fostered, just something that he never bothered to correct them over. He has given them a relative paradise to live in compared to their old life and his general firstborn-ness makes them think that. It is likely also to do with their history before he came to the realm that suggested a saviour. I'll write a more detailed history when I get a moment.

# What is the cultural style of your realm ("quasi-Aztec" or similar would be an acceptable answer)

Relatively hi-tech style and with a pervasive religious theme. About as futuristic as you get in the age. I'd like to say Renaissance but that might imply too high a level of technology. The idea is that my character has made some huge artifact devices that have largely taken off the workload of the people in mining, the main focus of the economy. There is still a requirement to tend to the artifacts in various ways (ritualistic things of various sorts). All work is focussed through the church, the leaders of the church being the leaders of teh community. The highest people in the church are in communication with my character and thus tend to be the most intelligent. The church is not obtrusive however. It is integrated seemlessly into the society and isn't even thought of as something that you would consider a choice on, it is just there and of course you follow their beliefs. Again, more information when I get time to write a full history...

# What is the main terrain in your realm

The main terrain is Relatively inhospitable. Ranging from hilly to mountainous. There are occasional flatlands that allow for farming and the like but of primary interest are the mountains that contain the mines. (I'm happy for this to be adjusted to fit in with any existing geography since it is ot very relevant to my ideas)

# What specialised military forces and defences does your realm possess (if any)

None really.

# What is the magical paradigm in your realm

The magical paradigm is a reflection of the technical nature of my character. Metallic, clockwork and even more bizarre imagery, all with a kind of life to it so that there might be a giant machine that appeared to pulse, forcing viscous liquids through pipes as if it was a heart. Similar in a way to the appearance of some of the machines in the matrix but with a more alive and less active appearance.

# How is your realm administered (e.g. by a bureaucratic hierarchy, by a hereditary nobility...)

The realm is administered by a simple bureaucracy in the guise of the church. They organise pretty much everything, positions in the church being filled by appointment by those above except for the very top where it is in theory chosen by my character but more realistically by a council of the senior members of the church since my character has little interest in precisely who is in charge.

Stats

Brief History

The realm that I have control of was long ago used purely as a mining resource. People lived in awful conditions and were forced to mine the area and live in an awful quality of life. Death rate was only really matched by the misery levels of the population. Of course they had no choice because they were kept in check there.

When my character came to take over he saw what was going on. He wanted the resources but he didn't particularly want to kill all the people. And there was an easier way to do it, a device could be constructed...

So over many years he constructed an artifact, pouring into it his blood, his power and his desire to create and to expore new possiblities. This artifact was a huge thing designed to cut down into the earth to extract the materials found there more easily than the people were able. It required tending by the people: ritual cleansing every day, dealing with the extracted materials and much more. This was a lot better than their old life though.

Freed from their life of drudgery the people of the realm lauded my character as a promised figure who listened to their prayers and answered them and delivered them from the hell they lived in. They happily followed the few requests that were put on them, the requests only really being to tend to the great artifact and various other things to improve the land and themselves. It didn't take long for the once underground religion to spring fully into life and lead the society in all things, including the worship of my character.

[Art Aztec]