ALFA 06 -- The Moonsea Server Details

Blackwill · Last edited by Blackwill on Sat Sep 23, 2006 3:35 pm; edited 2 times in total

Server Details for ALFA 06 -- The Moonsea

Introduction:

The following document is a proposal for the creation of The Moonsea region within the collective servers for ALFA?s NWN2 project. The team consist of highly dedicated people passionate about the region and it?s factions. We?d like to be considered as one of the starting servers. If this isn?t possible, then being a guaranteed or expansion server is fine.

Server Layout:

The Moonsea server compromises of the complete Moonsea and it?s coastal areas. These include parts of Cormanthor, Galena Mountains and all the cities, towns and ruins along it?s coast. In addition the Moonsea also has Thar, The Ride and the Tortured lands within it?s domain.

Building the complete Moonsea can be cut down in three types of steps. Only step 1 is needed to put the mod to live.

Step 1 ?The Core?: The Moonsea will be built with a core region, Zhentil Keep. From Zhentil Keep the direction of the project?s building plans will spiral outwards. The core will include Zhentil Keep and it?s nearby surroundings. To the north it will be cut off by the Dragonspine Mountains, to east and south by the Moonsea itself, and it will run due west along the river Tesh towards Teshwave. As a result the core would contain Zhentil Keep and 50 miles of it?s immediate surroundings. Once this area is complete it will be presentable to go live.

Step 2 ?Expansions?: Expansions will be added in a hub and grid system after live status is achieved with the core region. Spiralling out of Zhentil Keep, each major feature area will be created in a hub, and connected to with a spoke of areas towards Zhentil Keep and/or another Hub nearby which has been previously completed.

Step 3 ?Filler?: Filler are grid areas between the hubs or the core, which don?t have any major canon features. We will attempt to have one minimal feature of interest per area, making filler areas more interesting for both players and DMs alike. A very large portion of the Moonsea is water, so only a limited amount of filler areas will need to be added. Filler will happen irregularly, and will be of the last priority.

Process of building stages:
Area - Time after live ? Name

Core region ? Live - Zhentil Keep including but not limited to The Lone Tower minor ruin, Shipwreck Graveyard ruins and Giant?s Cairn landmark. Their will be portal connections to the Dalelands, the Coldlands, The Vast. These will be moved as the server grows to it?s correct border.
Hub1 ? Live + 1 month - Y?lash including but not limited to the subterranean area under the plateau of Y?lash and The Maiden?s Loss landmark
Hub2 ? Live + 5 months - Phlan including but not limited to the Quivering Forest, Sorcerer?s Isle, Storm Bay landmark, Orc Fort bordering Thar, Western Thar which include Glumpen Swamp and the Vanishing hills.
Hub3 ? Live + 3 months - Teshwave including but not limited to western Dragon Spine Mountains and Mount Tesh
Hub4 ? Live + 7 months - Citadel of the Raven including but not limited to central Dragonspine Mountains, and the Dragon?s Claw Portal.
Hub5 ? Live + 10 months - Hillsfar including but not limited to Abarat?s Folly ruins, Elven watch tower ruin and the Isle of Moas, server portal to the Dalelands.
Hub6 ? Live + 11 months - Voonlar including but not limited to Cormanthor border forest, and server portal to the Dalelands.
Hub7 ? Live + 13 months - Elventree including but not limited to Elven Ruins, Elua?s Lighthouse ruin, and Cormanthor border Forest.
Hub8 ? Live + 15 months - Whitehorn including but not limited to The Ride and the northern edge of the Border Forest and server portal to the Coldlands.
Hub9 ? Live + 18 months - Melvaunt including but not limited to south west Thar which include the Red Claws Orc Tribe, Manslayer Orc Tribe and Vaprak?s Hammer Ogre Tribe.
Hub10 ? Live + 21 months - Thentia including but not limited to Gazzzeth ruined orc city, Seawave ruins and South east Thar which include the Bone Tower Ogre Tribe, Crystal Sphere Ogre Tribe, and the Bloody Hands Orc Tribe
Hub11 ? Live + 24 months - Hulburg including but not limited to Sulasspryn ruins, eastern Thar including the Skullsmasher Orc Tribe, and the Falling Star Ogre Tribe, server portal to the Coldlands.
Hub12 ? Live + 26 months - Elmwood including but not limited to Lis Ruins, Fort Dalton ruins, Dalton?s Lighthouse bordering Cormanthor, server portal to the Dalelands.
Hub13 ? Live + 29 months - Mulmaster including but not limited to Point Iron, Ironfang Keep, sever portal to The Vast.
Hub 14 ? Live + 32 months ? Glister including but not limited to North Eastern Thar including Black Spears Orc Tribe, Jade Skull Ogre Tribe, Skullsmashers Orc Tribe, Falling Star Ogre Tribe and the Burning Dagger Orc Tribe.
Hub 15 ? Live + 35 months - Bell in the Deep (perhaps to be included in another Hub)

Server split:
As we won?t know exactly how many areas our server will handle until they are actually built, we have proposed the complete area build in the above steps. We will plan our building steps this way, so that splitting areas can be done with relative ease. So when technical difficulties occur due to mod size, server split will be prepared for.

When this occurs the following build plan will be set in action to split the area into three server regions:

Northern Moonsea: Phlan, Melvaunt, Thentia, Hulburg, Sulasspryn
Southern Moonsea: Citadel of the Raven, Teshwave, Zhentil Keep, Voonlar, Y?lash, Hillsfar, Elventree, Elmwood, and Mulmaster
Moonsea Badlands: Thar including Glister, The Ride including Whitehorn and the Tortured Land.

Server Content

Plan for PC persistent storage
PC housing will be heavily supported and encouraged for PCs that take up jobs within a major faction (Red Plumes, Zhentarim, etc.) Of course housing will also be supported by non-faction PCs. A PC house will be aloud to own it?s personal persistent storage chest. Inn rooms will be available, and will support a persistent storage chest for it?s user.
Plan for static quests
Static quests will be included to introduce a PC into the region especially getting to know it?s locals, factions and religions while performing a diversity of interactive tasks. Zhentarim, churches, craftsmen and slavers are but some of the NPCs which will hand out static quests in Zhentil Keep alone. With each hub added, more static quests will become available.
Plan for spawn/mob placement, difficulty, and static encounters in general

Encounters will follow canon information. The team will attempt to build up encounter levels depending on the distance of civilised land. The further PCs go into the wild, the higher the spawn difficulty can become.

Some of the spawns within the Moonsea will be as follows:

The Moonsea (coastal): Thugs (CR 1-5), orcs (CR ?-4) and ogres (CR 2-8).

The Moonsea (on or under the water): scrags/sea trolls (CR 5-7), merrows/sea ogres (CR 2-8), pirates (CR 2-8), evil aquatic sea elves (CR 3-8), lacedons (CR 1-3) and kuo-toa (CR 2-8).

Dragonspine Mountains: In the lower hills and valleys Goblins (CR ?-4), orcs (CR ?-6), and giants (CR 7-13) can be found. Among the higher peaks red and white dragons (CR 1-15) lair. More powerful dragons live here, but will not be spawned in, but only DM spawned.

The Flooded Forest: Lizardfolk (CR 1-4), black dragons (CR 1-14), a number of ungues creatures and carnivorous plants (CR ?-5).

The Ride: Barbarians (CR 3-8)

Thar: Ogres (CR 2-8), orcs (CR ?-4), manticores (CR 5-10), giant lizards (CR 3-8), bulettes (CR 7)

Cormanthor: Drow (CR 3-6)

Border Forest: Aggressive fey include Satyrs (CR 2-4), pixies (CR 4), sprites (CR1-3) and dryads (CR 1-3), Fang Dragon (CR 2-14)

Zhentil Keep: Zhentarim gangs (CR 1-3)
Merchant availability
Due to the large amount of cities and powerful ruling factions in the area, nearly any mundane equipment is available in one place or the other within the Moonsea. Slaves, drugs, magical items, exotic ores, and many more rare items can also be found, but are much harder to come by. Melvaunt, for example, is known for it?s slave trade and ore smelting industry. A large amount of forged metals, furs, gems, lumber, raw minerals and slaves are known exports and will be common place in certain locations. The exact exports and imports will be true to canon material.

Some noteworthy merchants:

Titys?s Emporium (Hillsfar): General equipment store which does secret business with
adventurers, paying good gold for loot. This is rare due to the adventuring bands being unwelcome in Hillsfar.

Laris?s Curios (Hillsfar): One of the only truly legitimate magic shops in all of Faer?n. Laris charges high prices selling (and buying) magical items, spell components, gems and artwork.

The Golden Cave (Elventree): An establishment set up inside a natural cavern which is the only place to obtain goods within Elventree. She only has basic adventuring goods. No large amount of stock or rare goods can be found here.

The Slum Market (Phlan): Unbelievable bargains for items of dubious quality can be found here. It is also a favoured place for pickpockets.

The Grange (Elmwood): Stocks every non-weapon and non-armour item anyone could ever want.

Server Team

Name ? Location/Timezone ? Roles

Blackwill ? HDM, BDM and backup Host ? Europe
Baalster ? EADM and Host ? Europe
Thangorn ? Builder and TDM ? Australia
Grey Pelgrim - Builder & Writer - Europe
Electryc ? Builder and DM ? United States
KalevD ? Builder and DM ? Canada
Hall236 ? Builder and DM ? United States
Keith Mac ? DM ? United States
Foaloke - Builder and DM - United States
Seter - DM & Writer - Israel
Maeve - Coder & DM - Canada/US border
Balathul - Coder, Builder and DM - Canada

Experience:

Blackwill: Cormanthor 087 Builder, Sembia 089 DM,
Baalster: Whitehorn 081 HDM
Thangorn: Northern Cormyr 013 EADM
Grey Pelgrim: Whitehorn 081 Builder
Electryc: Sembia 089 EADM
KalevD: Hillsfar Builder
Hall236: Sembia 089 DM
Keith Mac: Western Frontier 045 DM
Foaloke: Player since November 2005. The rookie, will be learning how to build and DM with the more experienced team members.
Seter: Old Haze moderator, Haze2 writer and DM. Newcommer to ALFA
Maeve: Old Haze player. Code lead on two other PWs, and experienced DM. Newcommer to ALFA
Balathul: Long time player and now DM in Sembia for the second time. He's a good friend from Hall in RL and will be learning from him.

Contribution to ALFA diversity

Races:
Humans are the most prominent and most accepted race throughout the Moonsea.

Hillsfar: Entry is forbidden by law for any non-humans.
Elventree and Elmwood: Traditional meeting place for humans and elves.
Zhentarim ruled areas: Have human and non human forces like orcs, goblins, gnolls and the like.
Classes/Factions:
Every class can be supported in the Moonsea. Paladins can be played but will have a hard time fighting many of the powerful evil factions in the region.
The following is a list of some regional factions.
Hillsfar Red Plumes
Rogue Guilds
Mage Guilds
Zhentarim
Harpers
Drow
Thayans
A multitude of churches

Factions will be fully supported by a DM or multiple DMs. Each faction will have multiple ways to recruit PCs which will have the ability to play significant roles in these factions.

At live the very broad Zhentarim faction will make a large difference within this server for each PC. PCs, if willing, will get the chance to join their ranks and belong to a cross-server faction of continental impact. The Zhentarim will be ?the? major feature of the server when it goes live.
Alignment:
A multitude of alignments will be supported. An emphasis on evil will be given for the server, due to it?s high impact in the region. All cities on the Moonsea are either corrupt or under tyrant rule. Only a few villages could be called good aligned. Each alignment can find a home here. The Lawful Good template will find it hardest to find a home. Most good places can be related to chaotic rulership and law. As mentioned before, a paladin type will find surviving in the Moonsea, while openly enforcing his beliefs, very hard indeed.
Terrain:
- Mountains (Dragonspine Mountains, Galena Mountains, Earthspur Mountains)
- Swamps and bogs (The Flooded Forest)
- Forests (Cormanthor, Border Forest, Quivering Forest)
- Moor (Thar)
- Grasslands (The Ride)
- Coastal area (Moonsea)
- Farm area (Moonsea)
- Urban cities (Zhentil Keep, Hillsfar, Phlan, Melvaunt, Thentia, Mulmaster)
- Ruins (Y?lash, Hulburg)
- Villages (Voonlar, Elmwood)
- Elven villages (Elventree)
Features:

The Moonsea: A mysteriously dark body of sweet water with a multitude of secrets within the deep. Mysterious portals in the deep, a sunken city, an isle which rises to the surface once per year or only a few of it?s features. Communities of evil aquatic elves, lacedons, kuo-toa and merrow amongst others can be found living within it?s waters. Battleships of the Moonsea?s costal cities fight fierce naval wars commonly. Pirates are few, but are another real danger amongst it?s waters. Ferries between Hillsfar, Thentia and Melvaunt cross the sea on a regular basis.

Hillsfar: A city despised by all non-humans and Zhentarim alike. It?s know to be ruled by a fierce power-hungry man which has the city and it?s surroundings firmly in it?s grasp. The arena within it?s walls plays a permanent role in the eradication of any non-humans in the city and any of the opposition.

War: Cities like Hillsfar and Zhentil Keep are deeply entrenched within Y?lash. A war for the already ruined but valuable city has been going on for years now.

Zhentarim: The home base of this deadly and mysterious organisation is firmly seated in the western part of the Moonsea. Zhentil Keep, Teshwave, Citadel of the Raven, Voonlar and Y?lash are all bastions of this organisations evil power.

Diverse city politics: From noble?s families and dictators to lone sheriffs. Each rule a part of the Moonsea in their unique way. Every single city (Melvaunt, Thentia, Mulmaster, Hillsfar and Zhentil Keep) has it?s own idea of rulership and diverse political intrigue.

High mercantile (crafting) activity: The area is rich of natural resources in the mountains to the north of the Moonsea. It?s resources get mined, worked and shipped outside towards far away lands.

Adventuring cites: Many old ruins, either of orc, elvish, human or other, lay scattered around the Moonsea. Many hold treasure and mystery within them which have yet to be uncovered. Gazzeth, Sorcerer?s Isle, The Lone Tower, Sulasspryn are just a few of these ruins.
Religion
Nearly every religion is supported in the diverse cities and towns.

Temples and shrines in the region:
- Hillsfar: Tempus, Lliira, Chantea, Umberlee, Malar and Torm
- Zhentil Keep: Bane, Loviatar, Tempus, Tymora and Umberlee
- Voonlar: Bane, Chauntea, Lathander and Tempus
- Elventree: Mielikki, Mystra, Chauntea, Silvanus, Eldath, Corellon Larethian and
- Rillifane Rallathil.
- Melvaunt: Gond, Lliira, Loviatar, Tempus, Tymora and Sharess.
- Phlan: Tyr
- Thentia: Sel?ne, Tempus, Tyr, Chauntea, Umberlee and Lliira.
- Elmwood: Sel?ne and Eldath
- Mulmaster: Cyric, Tempus, Loviatar, Azuth, Tymora, Lathander, Malar, Mask, Talos, and Umberlee.