World of Ur

[Tommy]

I wanted to share is all. If you have questions about the world of Ur, please ask!

http://fav.me/d38jw9c
http://fav.me/d395aro
http://fav.me/d38m6z2

[jph2]

That's an awesome piece of work, Tommy!

[Tommy]

I need some help to rekindle this personal project of mine and I figured your input and questions would be absolutely helpful with my struggle! Let me brief you on what I am doing.

I envisioned a project that covers a very long timeframe – and then I have decided to focus on the sword-and-sorcery aspects of it because it would be too ambitious – in addition to the fact that my enjoyment of science fiction is only superficial. I have christened the world Ur – inhabited by the aorin, a felinoid species. Rothmenar would be the focal point of my endeavors, the civilization that finds its counterpart with the Chinese – a dominant and hegemonial culture and people in its long history. You can find illustrations of the aorin and Rothmenar in the links provided in the first post.

I have also began a series of pictured essays depicting the life stages of Rothmenian mages – wizards, sorcerers, magic-users or occult power wielders. In brief, the mages gain power from leading a holy and celibate life – not unlike the practice of theurgy – with the ultimate goal of Aruan, or henosis. Through holiness, they hope to perform magic to effect desired changes in the material and immaterial worlds – a concept that is not very far from thaumaturgy. The mages organized themselves in groups that lived together called orders – it wouldn't be wrong to call them monastic orders but the aorin do distinguish magework with godwork – so that there do exists priestly and monastic orders that dedicate themselves purely to worship and charity.

While godwork hope to reveal and spread the good message of Aroth – the patron solar deity of the Empire of Rothmenar, magework hope to conceal and hide the Secret Names of Things. Mages have near limitless powers - they may revive the dead, cross great distances without moving and read the fabric of time, but those who seek these powers may never master them yet those who seek naught gain them always. This is one of the reasons magework is sometimes called the Mysteries. Mages may choose to use their power to stay immortal and ever-young – examples are found aplenty in Rothmenian mythology – but contemporary mages mostly give in to age and disease to partake in the Mystery of Life and eventually rise to unite with the gods in the form most pleasing to the divine – in spirit.

A mage may lose his powers and occult knowledge by simply indulging in carnal desires – and with enough time passed spent in the mundane world, forgetfulness will remove his memory on all Mysteries.

[Morbius]

Sounds very much like a world I have been working on for ages that I call Olaris. Though in my world it is the mysterious Order of Magi that is shielded by one of the great powers and is a jealous object of interest in lesser nations that always nip at the heels of the greatest power known as the Nahechaian Empire. The Order is the central organ of power to which the Emperor and his primary advisors belong and they control. The state is heavily meritocratic and stratified.

I build worlds as a hobby, even if the basic concepts are not often beyond the general theme.

[Tommy]

Yup, here are the pictured essays I was talking about.

http://fav.me/d5q12iy
http://fav.me/d5q12oh
http://fav.me/d5q12lh
http://fav.me/d5q12rm
http://fav.me/d5q12v0
http://fav.me/d5q12y1
http://fav.me/d5q130g

[Morbius]

I, alas, have no such artistic skill. So mine are mere text. But I keep on building...for some reason, lol. Very nice essays, by the way. ^_^

I feel now the best I am is an interloper...I'll hush.

[Tommy]

Tom, I am quite interested in your project. May be you could create a thread and share your stuff with us!

[Morbius]

However different it might appear, it'd be seen as nothing more than some kind of copycat scheme...

[Pepijn]

copycat... meow... how appropriate! just kidding...

[Tommy]

Before we proceed, lemme familiarize you with the terminology:
Ur = the world
Aorin = species
Rothaur/Thar = god-emperor
Rothmenar = the empire, country
Rothmenian = the people, nation, culture
Amroth = the equatorial region where Rothmenar is located; land of the Sun

Ah, I have read about your Robes in Lazaria. Mages in Rothmenar are not as strongly institutionalized as the Robes. Imperial access are divided between the priestly and astrologer clans, and then whatever left are relegated with the imperial relatives. Mages are generally indifferent towards politics, or lets say, more concerned with the defense of the Empire against bogeys and demons.

In the Rothmenian social hierarchy (a concept that is more of a moral guideline than law in Rothmenian thought) mages are positioned next the god-emperor – and they are rightly treated as kings when encountered – many god-emperors have paid respects to mages to borrow their powers. Farmers loved them for their rain-making, fertility and healing spells (though for the most part their craft is mostly knowledge from common sense, ancient wisdom and experimentation). Despite their high social station, power-hungry mages are the exception rather than common.

Mages in Rothmenar are divided into many groups of different beliefs and practices – they are able to sit in counsel when times are pressing but the dogmas they adhere to are strongly polarized. Mage orders are very independent and self-reliant. A mage may be raised by an order living in a hermitage – in turn, the order itself may belong to a lineage. Examples in differences could be two orders of the same lineage may use different wordings and then different deities for the invocation of rain. Two lineages of the same tradition may share the same founder but differ in the opinion who is the rightful successor. Two traditions of the same canon may differ in interpretation of parts or whole of the shared principles. All mage canons in turn are governed by the worship of the magical trinity namely the deities Aroth the Sun-god, the teacher of magic, An the Creator-god, the source of magic and Eli the Moon-goddess, the governess of magic – in which the worship of Eli takes precedence over the other two in mage sacraments.

Ur is a magical world, where spirits of goodness, evil and everything in between inhabit the hidden and dark places here. In relation to the Universe, Ur is the home of the aorin. Many other worlds are situated above and below this one, and only powerful spirits like gods and demons and then mages may traverse between the worlds. Every world has their local minor spirits that govern rivers and mountains. Like any other sentient beings, these spirits may become corrupt with greed, fear, anger and power. Mages purpose to keep watch and manage these spirits – making friends with them when they are benign, capturing them when they turn bad, and keeping their peace when they do not want attention from aorin.

Mages are few, and most of their government over local spirits and places of power force them to make travels frequently. For this reason, they are often called pilgrims, as such they are unable to create a political power base for themselves. But this does not mean a mage have no mean to rule a realm, because legends are filled with dark personalities who gain powers through ungodly ways. Demons, who are more aptly describe as un-gods, recruit mages, promising them speed and perfection in their acquisition of arcane knowledge for their servitude. When demons are not involved, a mage for whatever reason became corrupt could commit blood magic – the drinking of the blood of a magical person or creature. Such a mage would find himself forever distanced from the grace of the deities that used to protect him; ghosts and demons would plague every step he takes.