Journal Entry #1: Introduction and Faction Descriptions

Well, here it is! My first entry since arriving to this land. My name is Raulen Tensmere and my head still hurts from the crashed ship. Before now, I was working as an apothecary, mostly for medicinal pursuits. It’s part of the reason why I have the absolute NEED to write everything done that I experience, and it is also the reason as to why I have reached these shores of Aeternum. It’s definitely not because my mentor kicked me out of his shop, or that I owed a bunch of people money. . .nevertheless I am more than excited to be detailing every bit of life as I can with ink. I suppose I should start with some sort of topic, but there are so many things going on that I find it difficult to just focus on one thing. I suppose to start off, we can talk about the climate of the population here. It seems that since my arrival, people have set up all sorts of territories around the land. Yes, let’s go into each of these factions comprised of these ingra. . .people.

For starting off, there is one group that I have, much to my distaste, had the most interaction with. They are known as the Marauders. As far as I can tell, they are driven by their complete urge to dominate, rape, destroy, claim, and humiliate any and all who dare try to stand in their most noble goals of creating a nation solely on “survival of the fittest”. It’s great to know then that the pen is mightier than the sword, right? I mean, absolutely nothing could go wrong, right? Believe it or not, these are not the worst though. I will talk about that group later on. For now, it seems to be a simple mindset, a simple goal. I am also very sure that anyone who reads this that belongs to said group will have no issues stringing me up by neck and using my exposed torso as target practice. Though, as I said before, my writing is not of any allegiance to just one man. Though maybe I should be more careful in more words with my next future entries.

The second faction is the Syndicate, and I must admit that even I don't have that much knowledge on them. It’s also most likely the reason that I am very personally invested in understanding this group, if not for the main reason that they aren’t just a bunch of barbarians seeking to ravage the land. As I understand it, they are seekers of knowledge, just like myself. They seek to understand the technology that seems so much more advanced here on the Eternal Isle than what we currently have. It is quite astonishing, and a part of me wishes them the best with their endeavors.

Lastly, and I shudder as I write this even in ink, is the Covenant. They believe those who don't believe the same as them. . .well, they should be exiled. And by exiled, I mean purged. And by purged, I mean dead. Cold, empty death. I have had my run in with a few of their members. I honestly would rather face the wildlife here than go back to them. They are dangerous. But, that is my personal bias, and as I said, there should be no agenda to this writing. I’ve heard others say that they are not so bad, that they treat others fairly. That may or may not be the case, but I will say that I can go the rest of my time stuck on this isle without having to speak to another one of them.

I suppose that since we are on the topic of factions on this land, I can expand what I know about the “bad” factions. Frankly, I myself am not sure what can be classified as bad or good here. Except maybe for the fact that these groups constantly want to see us driven off the isle or, more truthfully, worm food beneath the soil. Alright, so if I can remember everything correctly as I have heard it, there are three other factions on the land as well. I heard a constable call them the Ancients, the Lost and. . .oh, right. The Corrupted. That’s bad juju right there.

The Ancients are believed to be the ‘spirits’ of the land, so to speak. They are formed from the will of the land, if you are one to believe that. I personally believe that they are just native wildlife here much like in my homeland. Though, I did see a weird bear the other day. . .nevertheless, they are thought to come from the land to drive us out. Of course, if it’s a measuring contest between the Marauders and the will of the Ancients, I’m frankly not sure which one would win out as they both seem as stubborn and beyond reproach as anything I’ve ever experienced.

Next we have the Lost, to which I personally feel a bit of regret when I bring this one up. They are essentially the dead sailors that didn’t quite make it to shore. Unfortunately they can’t die, mostly because they are dead, but also because it has been said that their souls are locked in an eternal servitude to the isle. Now, again, I’m not sure how much I believe that, but it is quite unnatural seeing one of your friends get up after you were pretty sure he drowned. . .

Lastly, we have the Corrupted. These are horrible monstrosities that I’m not sure Aeterum itself stands by to let sit. Frankly, I think this land should be thanking us for constantly battling it. Though, perhaps it’s because of us that is it’s presence has seemed to grow. Maybe it is the isle’s last line of defense against us? It’s hard to say, and all I know is that we have already had to face two waves of them against our settlement. It’s seems that they have taken notice more and more as people take foot on these lands. They are truly vile things, and I could rest much easier if I knew that whatever was causing their existence to stain the soil of the land was forever eviscerated from existence.

I must say, looking back on my writing, this was quite a lot. I think personally it’s a good start, and I will be providing more entries in the future. If anyone finds this in some dark, awful cave somewhere with my body torn asunder into ribbons of gibbets and flesh, please remember me as a great scholar, whose pursuit of the truth could never be undermined by the mortal need to for whatever reason join a faction in which everyone is constantly comparing each other for a hideously stupid notion of territorial rights. But I digress.

Sincerely,

Raulen Tensmere

November is here!

With that, comes the torrent of NaNoWriMo and novel writing movements. We encourage and support everyone participating in NaNoWriMo, it’s a tough feat! What about those of us who can’t quite keep up with the word counts and pace?

Well, this year, RPHQ is hosting our own Writevember!

What is it? Writevember is a way to participate in the spirit of writing, collaboration, and creating in November, at your own pace. Thanks to Opallithia, the owner of ESO-RP Homestead Directory, we have a writing prompt list for the month. We encourage people to participate as they see fit, post their work, and get excited about their ideas.

Feel free to post on our forums, or use the Twitter hashtag #RPHQWritevember

Rock on!