Wildsea sparknotes: The world

core concepts

• treetops are a sea
• land is scarce and valuable
• plant growth is rampant
• open flames are forbidden
• crezzerin corrupts on contact
• economy is barter based
• its a weird weird world
  • arconautics (unknown and uncanny, whispers, spirits)

important terminology

• pre-verdant
  • things from before the wildsea grew
  • prized for benefits they can offer (technology, material, etc.)
  • hard to obtain
• ironroot
  • foundation of the wildsea, massive trees, mile high
• tallshank
  • taller than the ironroots, spread up above the canopy
• spit
  • landmass on the surface of the canopy
  • temporary in nature
• island
  • not in danger of being swallowed by the sea
  • tips of mountains, monuments, or other large structures
  • heavily colonized, useful resource
• reef
  • collection of junk on top/just below the waves
  • hotspots for salvage and wildlife
• rift
  • hole in the sea that leads down to the roots
  • places of study and worship
• crezzerin
  • chemical substance concentrated in leaves and tree sap
  • drives the wild growth of the wildsea plants and the rapid evolution of the animals
  • corrupts on contact, minds warp and forms mutate

sea layers

• skies
• thrash
  • top layers of the ironroots
• tangle
  • thicker branches below the thrash, where ships rest their hulls onto
• sink
  • darker, more dangerous, deeper parts below the tangle
  • where all the dangerous stuff lives
  • where ships go to die
• drown
  • the point of no return
  • branches thin out and light goes dark
• darkness-under-eaves
  • the roots of the sea and the bones of the old world
  • the less said about this place, the better

species

core four species of the new world

• Ardent
  • post-verdancy descendants of humans
• Ektus
  • tall cactus people
• Gau
  • fungal colonies become sentient
• Tzelicrae
  • hive mind of thousands of spiders
  • inhabit clothes or armor like hermit crabs

rising species

• Ironbound
  • souls inhabiting iron and steel machines
• Ketra
  • also descendants of humans
  • diverged by being trapped underground during the verdancy
  • tentacled bodies and self made skeletons
• Mothryn
  • short lived, fragile moth creatures

wildsailors

• set off onto the waves for various reasons
  • to explore, to salvage, to hunt, to trade, to adventure, to escape
• equipment
  • sporescarfs
    • barrier against airborne spores
  • rope and grapple
  • a blade
• draws
  • freedom
  • knowledge
  • adventure
• drawbacks
  • danger

travel

• charts and maps are highly valued
  • everything is constantly in flux
  • exchanging such information is highly respected
• wavewalking is highly dangerous
  • predators, falling, and crezzerin are all risks

ships

• large chainsaw driven steel machines that ride atop the tangle and cut into the thrash

dangers at sea

• crezzerin
• spores
  • some choking, infectious, or hallucinogenic
• the current season
  • spring insects, summer storms, rot of autumn
  • winter is universally feared and stops everyone from travelling as the waves become brittle and prone to shattering
• flora and fauna
  • insects, beasts, and birds
  • foxes and wolves
  • predatory plants
• cults
• weather and waves
• mires
  • mental fatigue from being at sea
• fire
  • fire spreads almost infinitely on the wildsea since fuel constantly regrows and is literally everywhere
  • extremely dangerous

civilization

• established port towns on solid ground
  • rare, large, full of people
• temporary spits on random pieces of ground that rise above the wildsea
  • more common, temporary, cramped
• roving fleet colonies, mycosanctums, floating skyports, tallshank branch towns

ports and harbours

• markets
  • barter
  • scratch is the term for the lowest form of barter, basically just random junk
    • a handful of scrap for a drink
• junctions
  • places to sleep
• shipyards
• non-essentials
  • smokehouses
    • since fires are dangerous, smoke-houses are stone buildings
  • shadow-springs
    • hot springs
  • cartoika
    • cartographer houses
  • chop stations
    • meat preparation grill-houses

food, drink, and cooking

• moving food is highly lucrative
• cooking without fire is hard but there are various methods
• fruits, nuts and berries are the core staples
• vegetables are rare due to the lack of land to farm
• meat from animals and insects are fairly common as well
• fungi and grains for vegetarian protein
• eggs are common
• ale, wine, mead are common drinks
• coffee and tea are possible, though difficult to heat up
• rare delicacies are things like flame roasted meats, or a glass of pure water

culture

• lack of a defined culture across the different spits and ports
• laws
  • murder and fires are among the highest crimes
  • theft is looked down upon
  • scavenging and salvaging are protected activities
  • but otherwise its purely based on the peoples and their culture
    • different species have wildly different laws and rules
• vices
  • smoking, drinks, mood altering drugs
• sports
  • target practice, throwing insect nests, blindfolded sparring, races
• music
  • a great spectacle that always collects a crowd
  • a wide variety of different instruments (pg 23)

technology

• modern technology, yet reliant on old world staples like sharp blades and crossbows due to the lack of industry
• everything is cobbled together out of driftwood and salvaged metal
• supply chains dont exist
• no fire, so no internal combustion or steam power or smelting
• common technologies
  • ship mounted chainsaws
  • chemical engines
  • salvage made clockworks
  • chains, ropes, pulleys
  • bone carved blades
  • crossbows/other string tension weapons
  • chemical propulsion firearms
• rare technology
  • engines become much stranger, living hives or acid filled maws
  • hulls become more stable
  • weapons become more dangerous and complex
  • communication moves from firebug signals to short range radios and semaphore towers
• engineers are in high demand
• pre-v technology sometimes emerges out of rootquakes, ripe for the salvage

spirituality

• most people are deeply spiritual and believe in the existence of a soul
  • debate on what that actually entails
• whispers
  • "words with souls"
  • words that carry power when spoken
• religion
  • organized religion is rare
  • small groups isolated to single spits or islands are more common

arconautics

• concentrated weirdness
• some examples of how to gain power
  • befriending a weird creature to gain its abilities
  • forging an uncanny material into a relic or tool
  • using alchemy to extract and ingest the essence of something strange
  • incorporating parts of the wilds into yourself
  • overcoming a weird injury that should have ended you
• must be trained after the potential is had
• messy, dangerous, painful, unpredictable
• arconauts are rare, most spits would have never seen one in action
  • non-wildsailors find that there are easier ways to get "power"
• this is not magic
  • everything can be explained, even if it's uncanny
  • its an art, a science, an exploration, but not magic