Author Topic: Nosos Domain  (Read 5806 times)

Abnormal Gravity

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Nosos Domain
« on: November 27, 2009, 10:11:18 AM »
Nosos, a domain of over-industrialization, a land buried under garbage and poison.

To those that would want to make a read on it. (Domains of Dread, Islands of Terror)

The particular domain didn't make it to 3rd edition though i suspect it still exists? (Well i have seen it mentioned in About The World and Native PC thread :P )

So, here i have a few questions.

What language do these people speak and is it parallel with any real life language?

What kind of name would be appropriate to make a native and what classes (or even races?) are available? (Think i have read that clerics are generally dismissed as witch doctors and despised by the populace)

Seeing at it is the domain of over-industrialization, i have seen mentioned that it's cultural level is Renaissance, but just how advanced this domain is? Would one go as far as to describe it as Steampunk? (Yeah i am not much familiar with the term <_<)

How to call a native from Nosos?

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Re: Nosos Domain
« Reply #1 on: November 27, 2009, 01:42:20 PM »
Nosos was slated to be in a 3rd edition book about pocket domains, as Nosos' darklord can attach his domain to the border of any domain that has a misty border. This is how the people sell their manufactured products and how he also obtains more raw materials such as lumber. The book never got made though.

I'll have to check Domains of Dread when I get home to get information on natives of Nosos.

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DM Macabre

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Re: Nosos Domain
« Reply #2 on: November 27, 2009, 07:32:45 PM »
To answer your questions:

What language do these people speak and is it parallel with any real life language?
This is not explicitly stated in the canon books. The Quoth of the Raven No 2 (which has many good elements that could be taken as canon) mentions though Zherisian as the language spoken in Nosos. This is comparable to English.


What kind of name would be appropriate to make a native and what classes (or even races?) are available? (Think i have read that clerics are generally dismissed as witch doctors and despised by the populace)
All player character races and classes allowed in Ravenloft are allowed here. Characters from Nosos have Only a 20% chance of being from the upper class, in which case they are extremely frightened of disease whenever in close proximity with a sick individual. To lower-class characters the smell of rotting garbage still clings to them due to their poor personal hygiene. (quote DoD)


Seeing at it is the domain of over-industrialization, i have seen mentioned that it's cultural level is Renaissance, but just how advanced this domain is? Would one go as far as to describe it as Steampunk? (Yeah i am not much familiar with the term <_<)
Yeah, I would go and describe it as really advanced in renaissance means. You would find strange machines like in Lamordia. And I would compare it to an ill depicted industrial revolution city in England. I think "Steampunk" somehow matches this.


How to call a native from Nosos?
Malus Sceleris is a purely latin name. Might be Nosos is inspired by that and the people carry latin names. Might also be they carry English names or a mixture of both.
« Last Edit: November 27, 2009, 08:05:43 PM by DM Macabre »

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Re: Nosos Domain
« Reply #3 on: November 27, 2009, 08:28:28 PM »
To answer your questions:

What language do these people speak and is it parallel with any real life language?
This is not explicitly stated in the canon books. The Quoth of the Raven No 2 (which has many good elements that could be taken as canon) mentions though Zherisian as the language spoken in Nosos. This is comparable to English.
I would not go with this. That non-canon fan magazine you reference has an alternate setup with Nosos forming a cluster with Paridon. I would say Nosos has its own language, but that the people can speak a wide variety of langauges from throughout the demiplane, since the domain can move and they come in contact with other cultures a lot.

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DM Macabre

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Re: Nosos Domain
« Reply #4 on: November 27, 2009, 08:34:50 PM »
To answer your questions:

What language do these people speak and is it parallel with any real life language?
This is not explicitly stated in the canon books. The Quoth of the Raven No 2 (which has many good elements that could be taken as canon) mentions though Zherisian as the language spoken in Nosos. This is comparable to English.
I would not go with this. That non-canon fan magazine you reference has an alternate setup with Nosos forming a cluster with Paridon. I would say Nosos has its own language, but that the people can speak a wide variety of langauges from throughout the demiplane, since the domain can move and they come in contact with other cultures a lot.
Sounds good too. This would especially make sense for the nobles of Nosos. The lower class inhibitants could perhaps speak some very bad gibberish of every core language.

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Re: Nosos Domain
« Reply #5 on: November 29, 2009, 10:31:00 AM »
I'm not sure Steampunk is quite the best way to imagine it. Steampunk itself implies modern-day levels of technology with a Victorian-era theme.

I'd imagine Nosos would likely just be an overly industrialised Victorian-style area. The most advanced you'd likely get in technology would likely be a Gatling gun or perhaps some kind of semi-automatic rifle, whilst Steampunk implies you'd have a large cog-driven, steam-powered laser cannon.

Of course, the above is simply my own opinion and not backed up by any books, so listen to the big guys before me. ;)

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Re: Nosos Domain
« Reply #6 on: November 29, 2009, 10:58:11 AM »
Ehhh, steampunk /can/ imply the sort of things Minstrel is talking about - analogue computers, pneumatic telephones  in an era vaguely analogous to the Victorian, but it can also encompass various degrees of speculative historical fiction. What if dirigibles really took off and weren't superceeded by aerofoil technology? What if steam technology hadn't been overtaken by the internal combustion engine? - In the character of steampunk but not implying 'modern-day technology' like steam lasers and steam PDAs and stuff.

That said, I personally would be wary of viewing Nossos as a 'steampunk domain' - Ravenloft and Steampunk don't really go together, there's no Victorian-era level of domain, for example. That doesn't mean that some of the.. steampunk asthetic couldn't be imported for Nosos PCs, but I think giving them a level of tech beyond simple clockwork would be misleading.

I'd view it as a speculation along the lines of 'what if Britian didn't have an overseas Empire, but continued to industrialise and produce for European markets' - what you'd get was an intensive development, not the extensive one of the colonial era.. productive zeal producing ever larger urban sprawls, marginalisation of rural landscapes into little-more than centres for production (no concept of the pictureseque ideal), which they themselves eventually become polluted and destroyed as brutal resource extraction and migration to urban centres leaves the rural deserted and desolate.


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Re: Nosos Domain
« Reply #7 on: November 29, 2009, 11:06:16 AM »
So, end product of this is I can imagine a class of wage-slaves, condemed to brutal treatment from their overseers, economic productivity far outstripping humanitarian issues - forced to work long, in awful conditions with no concern for their health nor safety, for little recompense - which immediately has to fly out for rent in overcrowded, overpopulated urban areas, and high-priced imported base foodstuffs.
An emergent new upper class of factory and conglomerate owners, having ousted the landed elite due to the marginalisation of the rural; brutal, single-minded men only concerned with productivity.
And an emergent middle-class of middle-rung overseers, traders and facilitators.

Little art, little culture.

Your common worker would be ruddy-minded, deformed, almost trogladitic.. middle class consisting of flaundering aparractiks and snide, callous merchantmen, and an upper class of determined, socially darwinistic, obstinant and no-more-enlightened than anyone else. (Enough to suitably differentiate them from the cultured and apparently philanthropic nobles of Dementlieu.)




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Re: Nosos Domain
« Reply #8 on: November 29, 2009, 11:16:43 AM »
Nosos is detailed in Islands of Terror. It's a pretty nice domain, but it plays on the environmental issue and the over-exploitation of resources more than anything.

Zedrik

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Re: Nosos Domain
« Reply #9 on: November 29, 2009, 10:36:33 PM »
Ehhh, steampunk /can/ imply the sort of things Minstrel is talking about - analogue computers, pneumatic telephones  in an era vaguely analogous to the Victorian, but it can also encompass various degrees of speculative historical fiction. What if dirigibles really took off and weren't superceeded by aerofoil technology? What if steam technology hadn't been overtaken by the internal combustion engine? - In the character of steampunk but not implying 'modern-day technology' like steam lasers and steam PDAs and stuff.

That said, I personally would be wary of viewing Nossos as a 'steampunk domain' - Ravenloft and Steampunk don't really go together, there's no Victorian-era level of domain, for example. That doesn't mean that some of the.. steampunk asthetic couldn't be imported for Nosos PCs, but I think giving them a level of tech beyond simple clockwork would be misleading.

I'd view it as a speculation along the lines of 'what if Britian didn't have an overseas Empire, but continued to industrialise and produce for European markets' - what you'd get was an intensive development, not the extensive one of the colonial era.. productive zeal producing ever larger urban sprawls, marginalisation of rural landscapes into little-more than centres for production (no concept of the pictureseque ideal), which they themselves eventually become polluted and destroyed as brutal resource extraction and migration to urban centres leaves the rural deserted and desolate.



Dark clockpunk then?  :toffgoi:


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Kendric98

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Re: Nosos Domain
« Reply #10 on: November 29, 2009, 11:09:52 PM »
Nosos is detailed in Islands of Terror. It's a pretty nice domain, but it plays on the environmental issue and the over-exploitation of resources more than anything.
Oh no i bet they have global warming! A char from there would be cool he could hand out charts telling us how were ruining barovia.

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