Aleae Iaciens

So I haven't been posting much lately.  Part of this is because I haven't really had much to say, part of it is because I am, I confess, a little discouraged by the lack of comments on the last few posts, and part of it is that I think I've been approaching this wrong.

See, I've been thinking of Aleae Iaciens as a place for me to keep finished thoughts about gaming and about Frontier in particular, and so I haven't been posting, because I haven't really thought anything through to its natural conclusion lately.  I have random thoughts on magic, on "natives" (the First Colonists), and so on and so forth, but nothing that I'd call complete.

I think treating Aleae this way is a mistake not only as an updating strategy but as a getting-people-interested strategy.  So I'm going to try to change my approach - so that instead of waiting for an idea to come to fruition, I'm just posting random thoughts about gaming and Frontier - and see if anything happens.

So here's my first thought, on magic in Frontier.  Keep in mind that all of this is subject to change.  Special thanks to Fade Manley for the inspiration.

Magic on Frontier comes through people known as Icons, and the Icons' magic comes from objects known as icons (it's the upper and lower case that make all the difference).  Icons - the objects - are found in coal which is mined on Frontier; they are nearly indistinguishable from small lumps of coal, except that they tend to be much smoother, more shiny, and much more regular in shape.  They are not common, but neither are they vanishingly rare; they do, however, tend to appear the least to those who want them the most.  Anyone looking for an icon will be far less likely to find one than someone who isn't.  (The reason for this still isn't known.)

Touching an icon with your bare skin is enough to become infused with its power, which is one of the reasons why coal workers in the eastern mines are absolutely required to wear thick gloves, rugged coveralls, and full-face breather masks.  Once you've become attuned to the icon (which takes about a week, and involves a period of illness not unlike influenza), you are an Icon, and you gain the attendant "magical" ability.

Icons don't really use wizard-style magic; their power comes from sensing and manipulating patterns.  Each Icon has one or more foci - realms of influence - which grant him more power in that area; a Nature-focused Icon would be better-equipped than most to manipulate the patterns of plants and animals, while an Electricity-focused Icon would be more proficient at dealing with computers and electronics.

There are rumors, as yet unsubstantiated, of Icons who don't have pattern-matching and -manipulation powers.  (I haven't decided what they have, yet.)

Thoughts?  Comments?

Posted by Chris Anthony at 07:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Hiya - remember me? Even if NaNo fizzled out for me (although I do still intend to finish that story), I have still been thinking about Frontier, and I had a thought about the background the other day that really resonated with me. Tell me what you think of this:

The history of the Frontier colony states that several hundred years ago, immediately after the Government had finished terraforming the world and setting up the first foundations of the colony, the settlers were placed on Frontier, and it is their descendents that populate the world (or, at least, the continent).

Problem is, the Government is engaging in a little revisionist history here: the current colonists weren't the first colonists.  A small preliminary settlement was going well until disaster struck (of what sort I haven't decided; probably either imported pestilence - in other words, insects or vermin accidentally brought from Earth - or natural disaster), and the colony was abandoned.  The Government sent a survey team, who reported no current danger and no surviving settlers, and marked the planet as suitable for further colonization.

However, some of the first colonists survived, hiding in the southwestern hills and surviving off the land as best they could.  The First Colonists' descendents, in fact, survive even today, and their general philosophy toward the Government and the new settlers runs along the lines that the Government deliberately abandoned them (instead of just not noticing they were there) and that the newcomers are trespassing on First Colonist land.  Some of the First Colonists (a term used to describe both the original settlers and their descendents) have seen their way to forgive the Government and the new settlers - especially now that the Government has disappeared - and are attempting to live normally among the newcomers, but for the most part, the First Colonists continue to live in scattered villages in the hills and raid nearby newcomer towns (and, occasionally, range farther out to attack trains and other shipments), both when they need supplies and just to inspire fear and uncertainty among the newcomers.

Given the span of time between the original settlement and the present day, I imagine linguistic drift would be a major factor here (in other words, the First Colonists will have a very distinct dialect as compared to the newcomers, at the very least) - is there anything else I'm missing?

Posted by Chris Anthony at 09:23 PM | Permalink