@MrF@podvibes.co
@MrF@podvibes.co avatar

MrF

@MrF@podvibes.co

He/him. USA. Early-40s husband & toddler dad. #AudioDrama voice actor. Professional arguer. Co-founder, "RQ PLEBS" AD fan Discord server. Former podvibes.co mod (retired).

Interested in posts about #AudioFiction #Podcasts, #Podcasting, #VoiceActing, and indie #TTRPG / #GameDesign.

Opinions mine. Especially the bad ones.

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

MrF, to random
@MrF@podvibes.co avatar

Alhezar ( ) Master Thread 1/??

I've been doing this challenge since Day One, but I think it makes more sense to keep everything in one place, so I'm going to compile what I have so far and then start posting my new entries from now on as responses to this thread.

As always, I continue to compiled all of my entries in Google Docs (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_0PQbrp8Xrz38q8aj4stnmuChmkEMRe8yigHZrd6EFQ/edit?usp=sharing), which occasionally includes a tweaked word here or there and which I view as the ultimate (final) version of these entries, though these posts constitute the "public" facing side of things.

01/01 Balfora (background) - https://podvibes.co/@MrF/109616831818432831

MrF,
@MrF@podvibes.co avatar

Alhezar ( ) Master Thread 2/??

01/06 The Congregation of the Bountiful Depths (faction - establishment) - https://podvibes.co/@MrF/109644653155537666

MrF,
@MrF@podvibes.co avatar

Alhezar ( ) Master Thread 3/??

01/15 Chat Digsby (faction - establishment) - https://podvibes.co/@MrF/109693550696634673

MrF,
@MrF@podvibes.co avatar

Alhezar ( ) Master Thread 4/??

01/25 The Hierophant in Exile (faction - criminal) - https://podvibes.co/@MrF/109749834220176801
01/26 The Reach Workers’ Collective (faction - criminal) - https://podvibes.co/@MrF/109756289562069073
01/27 The Wave (faction - establishment) - https://podvibes.co/@MrF/109764257229216146
01/28 The Vast (location) - https://podvibes.co/@MrF/109767012030176336

MrF,
@MrF@podvibes.co avatar

Alhezar ( ) Master Thread 5/??

02/06 University City (location - Second Hope) - https://podvibes.co/@MrF/109817717872131391
02/07 Naval Yard (location - Second Hope) - https://podvibes.co/@MrF/109823420285261736

MrF,
@MrF@podvibes.co avatar

Alhezar ( ) Master Thread 6/??

02/17 Optimix Prime (location - The Vast) - https://podvibes.co/@MrF/109882933850456566
02/18 Market Dome (location - Durgan’s Landing) - https://podvibes.co/@MrF/109885824050681242

MrF,
@MrF@podvibes.co avatar

( ) entry 2/27

Faithful Cluster (location - Gangalang)

The vast majority of Gangalang’s Garangal population resides in the Faithful Cluster, so named because the residents are all adherents to the Garangal faith. The Faithful Cluster used to be serene and spacious. Many Garangal relocated to the city during the war for protection, and so the Faithful Cluster has twice the population it had a decade ago. Also, since the bombardment of the former Market Cluster (now the Foreign Cluster) during the war, the Faithful Cluster has also begun to double as the home of much of Gangalang’s commerce. The increased crowding and market activity lends the modern Faithful Cluster a far more urban feel than before the war. With that new atmosphere also comes previously-unheard-of poverty, as well as criminal activity. The Faithful Cluster is a pale reflection of its former splendor.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_0PQbrp8Xrz38q8aj4stnmuChmkEMRe8yigHZrd6EFQ

MrF,
@MrF@podvibes.co avatar

( ) entry 2/28

Wonder Cluster (location - Gangalang)

The Wonder Cluster is where the Garangal develop their unique technology through the melding of nature, magic, and faith. Garangal philosophers dream up new wonders, then interdisciplinary teams of thaumaturges, priests, and biologists set about bending reality to match. Gangalang wonders are rarely the equal (in terms of raw power) of even mid-grade Pron technology, but they all function with an effortless elegance usually reserved for living things, though they are not alive in the strictest sense of the word. Balforam occupation forces have not yet succeeded in unlocking the secrets of Gangalang wonders for themselves, though not for lack of trying. They mercilessly hound the innovators of Wonder Cluster to divulge schematics or develop new wonders, but so far to no avail.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_0PQbrp8Xrz38q8aj4stnmuChmkEMRe8yigHZrd6EFQ

MrF,
@MrF@podvibes.co avatar

( ) entry 3/1

Optimix Foundation (faction - criminal)

Of all the corporations in Balfora, few are as massive or influential as the Optimix Foundation, a conglomerate with a hand in every sector, from consumer goods to energy production to industrial manufacturing. A typical working-class citizen living in Destiny’s Reach spends about half their budget on products and services that derive directly or indirectly from Optimix. On paper, everything about Optimix is “above board”, because Optimix enjoys an outsized power within the Board. There have been many allegations, however, that not all of Optimix’s business practices are as legitimate as they appear to be. Optimix’s myriad divisions snake out into nearly every aspect of life in the Alhezar Ocean, and frequently maintain that influence using underhanded – and occasionally outright illicit – means. Of course, none of these allegations has ever been proven in a court of law.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_0PQbrp8Xrz38q8aj4stnmuChmkEMRe8yigHZrd6EFQ

MrF,
@MrF@podvibes.co avatar

( ) entry 3/2

Dal-Gon Recovery Agency (faction - establishment)

The Dal-Gon Recovery Agency specializes in apprehending fugitives from the law no matter where they hide, as well as – occasionally – recovering high-value lost or stolen assets. The agency is named for its founders, Harag Dal and Pulk Gon, who were two of Old Balfora’s most talented independent bounty hunters. They regularly competed for business until, one day, they decided to pool their talents. Today, Dal-Gon operates in every corner of the Alhezar Ocean, and while they don’t employ every bounty hunter and private investigator in Balfora, they certainly claim many of the best ones among their employees. If you want something or someone found, Dal-Gon promises to get it done.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_0PQbrp8Xrz38q8aj4stnmuChmkEMRe8yigHZrd6EFQ

MrF,
@MrF@podvibes.co avatar

( ) entry 3/3

Sardoken Force Seven (faction - establishment)

Within the Remnant Fleet, there exists an elite special forces squad of three-to seven specialized soldiers that operates quasi-independently and specializes in covert, high stakes, and often highly dangerous missions. Sardoken Force Seven is the latest iteration of that squad, having been formed approximately two years ago. When Balfora takes credit for the assassination of the Garangal Hierophant, Sardoken Force Seven's integral involvement in the operation is left out of the story. The general public does not know about the Sardoken squad, and Yelzner likes to keep it that way. Still, stories and legends abound among veterans of the war of unkillable phantom soldiers who appear behind enemy lines, take out high value targets, and then disappear in the resulting chaos.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_0PQbrp8Xrz38q8aj4stnmuChmkEMRe8yigHZrd6EFQ

MrF,
@MrF@podvibes.co avatar

( ) entry 3/4

The Lost People of Illicium (fabled faction - weird)

Long before the Great Cataclysm brought humanity below the sea, legends in Old Balfora told of a lost Balforam island colony that sank beneath the waves. In some of the stories, the people of Illicium adapted to life under the sea and continued to prosper. It was the Illicium legends that originally inspired Balfora to explore relocation to an underwater city when the Cataclysm threatened to make the surface uninhabitable. Since the founding of Second Hope, mariners have occasionally shared stories of encounters with reclusive humans, or at least people resembling humans, who did not appear to be Balforam. As it is currently unknown whether any other human kingdoms settled in the ocean as Balfora did, speculation has tied these encounters to the legendary Lost People of Illicium, though officials of course reject that theory as mere fairy tale.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_0PQbrp8Xrz38q8aj4stnmuChmkEMRe8yigHZrd6EFQ

MrF,
@MrF@podvibes.co avatar

( ) entry 3/5

The Great Cataclysm (background)

Approximately 30 years ago, the surface world became completely uninhabitable. The final change was sudden and unrelenting, but there were subtle signs and portents for decades prior, for those wise enough to look. The warnings were ignored by Monarch Quedren however, and no official preparation was done. Yelzner -- Quedren’s youngest child -- was ambitious, and saw the problem as an opportunity. Yelzner surreptitiously funded research into several potential solutions, and when undersea living proved viable, privately constructed a new city beneath the waves several miles off the coast of Balfora’s capital city. When the Cataclysm came, Yelzner emerged as a savior, ready with a plan to evacuate nearly all of the city’s population. Many Balforam were lost, but the survivors in Second Hope owed a great deal of thanks, and their very existence, to Yelzner, their new monarch.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_0PQbrp8Xrz38q8aj4stnmuChmkEMRe8yigHZrd6EFQ

MrF,
@MrF@podvibes.co avatar

( ) entry 3/6

The Storm-Touched (faction - weird)

During the Great Cataclysm, the last wave of evacuees was briefly exposed to a terrible storm that rolled in from the hills. The storm clouds roiled with magical energies, and the evacuees were feared lost, until the last batch of submersibles descended with everyone onboard. Nearly a hundred civilians reached Second Hope in that last wave, and over the following years every one of them developed strange abilities and even stranger behavior. The people of Second Hope feared and rejected these people, and exiled them to a small colony of their own, several miles from Second Hope. The members of the Storm-Touched have since been forgotten, and have found their way back into Balforam society, albeit covertly. They guard the existence of their powers – and their agenda – zealously, but they appear to be working toward a common goal, one potentially at odds with the people of Balfora.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_0PQbrp8Xrz38q8aj4stnmuChmkEMRe8yigHZrd6EFQ

MrF,
@MrF@podvibes.co avatar

( ) entry 3/7

Blackfen’s Vengeance (faction - criminal)

Before Monarch Yelzner claimed the throne amidst the chaos of the Great Cataclysm, Monarch Quedren’s oldest child (and presumptive heir to the throne) was Marlow Blackfen. Yelzner had no intention of saving the royal family, but Marlow donned a disguise and evacuated anyway. For two decades, Marlow hid from Yelzner, first in Second Hope, then in Destiny’s Reach, and attempted to live a life away from the intrigue of the royal court. Then, one of Yelzner’s royal assassins finally succeeded, and Marlow was gone. Marlow’s children – Blackfen’s Vengeance, as they call themselves – are grown now, and every bit the schemers that Marlow never was. They plot openly, not to regain the throne, but rather to eliminate Yelzner and the entire royal line, such as it is.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_0PQbrp8Xrz38q8aj4stnmuChmkEMRe8yigHZrd6EFQ

MrF,
@MrF@podvibes.co avatar

( ) entry 3/8

Fathom's Embrace (faction - weird)

There are those among the Balforam who believe that survival in the extreme conditions of the deep ocean will require equally extreme adaptation. The way forward, these people preach, is to induce a physical change, across all of humanity. Forced evolution. Drawing inspiration from the Garangal and other amphibious denizens of the Alhezar, the members of Fathom's Embrace work zealously to find a means – magical, biological, or otherwise – to "properly" bring humanity into its new, aquatic era.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_0PQbrp8Xrz38q8aj4stnmuChmkEMRe8yigHZrd6EFQ

MrF,
@MrF@podvibes.co avatar

( ) entry 3/9

People of the Alhezar (background)

The Balforam and the Garangal are not the only people in the Alhezar Ocean. Of course, it is common knowledge that the Alhezar was once settled by the (long-gone) Pron, but a well-traveled Balforam would have heard of several other human-like peoples, some documented (e.g. the Storm-Touched) and others merely rumored (e.g. The Illicians and the Faceless), and may potentially have even met a number of individuals from any of the several dozen sapient populations residing in the Alhezar. These people are diverse in appearance and ability, and while some might be distant cousins of human, Garangal, or Pron, others appear as alien as an octopus or a sea cucumber. Some will have originated here, and others may be visiting from other oceans, or the surface, or even somewhere else entirely. Humans and Garangal may be the predominant denizens of the Alhezar, but they are far from alone.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_0PQbrp8Xrz38q8aj4stnmuChmkEMRe8yigHZrd6EFQ

MrF,
@MrF@podvibes.co avatar

( ) entry 3/10

Weymouth-Unagi (faction - weird)

Incorporated in Destiny’s Reach, Weymouth-Unagi emerged out of nowhere roughly around the founding of Durgan’s Landing, and made heavy financial and material investments into the settlement’s science facility. Few people can credibly claim to know what the privately-held corporation does in its research stations located throughout the Vast, but rumors persist, with virtually no documented support, of powerful weapon development, disturbing genetic experimentation, and mass-casualty accidents.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_0PQbrp8Xrz38q8aj4stnmuChmkEMRe8yigHZrd6EFQ

MrF,
@MrF@podvibes.co avatar

( ) entry 3/11

Buggy Smugglers (faction - criminal)

A tight-knit gang made up of first-generation Fin Needles who retired from high-speed racing and went into the only-slightly-less-dangerous occupation of bootlegging and blockade running. These aged daredevils subjected their obsolete needles to slapdash modifications meant to add loads of discrete storage, at the expense of stability – but not speed or maneuverability. Now they use their tiny, rickety “buggies”, as they call them, to outrun or sneak past blockades and customs officials. The Buggy Smugglers made a killing during the War running supplies and weapons to besieged Gangalang, but since the ceasefire they have made a more modest living helping black market merchants avoid high tariffs on their goods.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_0PQbrp8Xrz38q8aj4stnmuChmkEMRe8yigHZrd6EFQ

MrF,
@MrF@podvibes.co avatar

( ) entry 3/12

The Lawbringers (faction - establishment)

Each of the four prefectures has its own justice system and guard, but what of individual citizens and remote settlements needing help where the local law can't -- or won't -- reach? It can be difficult, in the great expanses of the Alhezar, to find justice. Around the time Destiny's Reach was founded, Yelzner foresaw this problem and created a specialized squad, overseen by the Lawbringer General, to enforce Balforam law wherever necessary. Given the rapid expansion of Balfora over the following two decades, the Lawbringers' resources have been stretched thin, but each traveling Deputy Lawbringer is authorized and empowered to detect crime and act dispassionately and zealously as judge and -- where necessary -- executioner, in pursuit of the Monarch's Justice. Things are tense when a Deputy is in town, because they are not well-known for their compassion or forgiveness.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_0PQbrp8Xrz38q8aj4stnmuChmkEMRe8yigHZrd6EFQ

MrF,
@MrF@podvibes.co avatar

( ) entry 3/13

The Order of Shipwrights (faction - establishment)

For centuries, those with the training and knowledge to build ships had an outsize role in worldwide politics. The Order of Shipwrights began as an artisan guild, but evolved into a secret fraternal organization focused on the craft mostly as a metaphor for mastery over the changing currents of life; still, throughout the history of the Shipwrights, those with actual shipbuilding knowledge often climbed the ranks faster than those without, and the Shipwrights’ influence over the world has often been exaggerated by legend and speculation. When the Great Cataclysm ravaged the surface, a number of Shipwrights escaped to Second Hope and founded a Grand Lodge to rebuild the Order. Today, they have a presence in every prefecture, and through their grip on the knowledge of submersible construction, continue to influence Balforam policy in ways most can only guess at.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_0PQbrp8Xrz38q8aj4stnmuChmkEMRe8yigHZrd6EFQ

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • •
  • megavids
  • rosin
  • Durango
  • cisconetworking
  • mdbf
  • InstantRegret
  • DreamBathrooms
  • ngwrru68w68
  • magazineikmin
  • osvaldo12
  • Youngstown
  • ethstaker
  • slotface
  • kavyap
  • JUstTest
  • thenastyranch
  • normalnudes
  • modclub
  • khanakhh
  • everett
  • tacticalgear
  • cubers
  • GTA5RPClips
  • anitta
  • Leos
  • tester
  • provamag3
  • lostlight
  • All magazines
    •