Shaintar : Collaborative Writing Project              

Overview and Purpose

This page is an attempt to organize one of Sean Patrick Fannon's interesting writing projects. In its current design, it consists of the outline of sections open for contribution annotated with those who have volunteered to create content for each section. Please see the Links and Recommended Reading for futher information. Welcome to the Wild Ride.

The canonical version of this document is kept at: http://www.eldritch.org/erskin/roleplaying/Shaintar/

Recent Changes

Attention: The final deadline for all submissions is past. Thanks to everyone who submitted material!

Sean has committed to rewarding everyone for their contributions. While details are still in development, he recognizes that a lot of people have or will be contributing a significant amount of time and energy to this, and he heplans to honor that effort as he can.

Just for fun, I added a link to the Shaintar Promotional Materials page to the resources below. At the risk of tooting my own horn, if you haven't been there to see the trailer yet, you really owe it to yourself. ;)

Section Stewardship and Submissions

Anyone is welcome to submit material. While experience with Shaintar is preferred, the purpose of this page is to allow everyone to contribute by making everything easily accessible. Want to help? Start by reading the timeline. It's not a bad idea to read the rest of the reference materials, or anything on the outline really. Then just contact me and let me know what you're interested in.

The current preferred format for content submissions is Rich Text Format (.rtf) for two reasons. First, the file format is easily shared. Anyone and anything can read an RTF file. Second, the focus of submissions is content, editing, and the like. Layout is not a task that works well when done by comittee. If you need help with file formats, just ask. I'll be glad to lend a hand.

Likewise, anyone is welcome to take stewardship of a section. Simply tell me that you are interested in a section and I'll put your name beside it, and direct anyone else who wants to help with that section to talk with you.

As a final note, please do not let any of this dissuade you from contributing. If only six people contribute five minutes worth of work, we've still saved Sean a half hour to eat. If Sean doesn't have time to eat, he'll die. Every single contribution helps.

A Note About Security

In the interest of easy collaboration, there is currently no access control on these web pages. This means anyone and everyone can see and read everything. In the interest of rapid creation of these pages, there is currently no automated system for document addtion or correction of any information. I do it all by hand. The outline structure and stewardship was stored in a MySQL database, however, which made adding the other features feasible. This page is a flat rendered version of the last snapshot of the database.

I'm going with the "get something up now and make it better as you go" method. While this will cause some problems for me later, I felt it was important to have something tangible available immediately. Please feel free to contact me with any questions, comments, complaints, or concerns.

The Outline

The outline is dynamically generated from a database which, currently, I manually update. Please contact me if there is an error or mistake. If there are any files available for a given section, the name will appear as a link followed by the number of submitted files and reference files in parenthesis. The person currently acting as steward is on the right of the section.

1. Completed (0, 7 ref) Sean
2. Completed Sean
3. Completed Sean
4. Completed Sean
5. People and Their Places —
   1. Summary Sean
   2. The Kingdom of Galea (0, 1 ref) —
      1. Facts in Brief (1, 0 ref) —
         1. GM-to-GM (0, 1 ref) Sean
      2. Historical Overview (2, 1 ref) Chrystyne
      3. Society (0, 1 ref) —
         1. Titles and Ranks (0, 1 ref) —
         2. The Noble Houses (0, 1 ref) —
      4. Of Special Interest —
         1. The Army of Galea (0, 1 ref) —
         2. The Navy of Galea (0, 1 ref) —
         3. The Order of the Silver Unicorn —
         4. The Knights of the Golden Torch —
         5. The Azure Feathers —
         6. The Gleaming Shields (the King's Guard) —
      5. Galean Towns, Cities, and Strongholds —
   3. The Wildlands (The Southern Kingdoms) Tsuzuki_Hana
      1. Facts in Brief —
         1. GM-to-GM Sean
      2. Historical Overview Chrystyne
      3. Society —
         1. Titles and Ranks —
         2. Noted Families, Clans, Leaders —
      4. Of Special Interest —
         1. Grayson's Grey Rangers —
      5. "Wildlands" Towns, Cities, and Strongholds —
   4. The Freelands (0, 1 ref) —
      1. Facts in Brief (0, 1 ref) —
         1. GM-to-GM (0, 1 ref) Sean
      2. Historical Overview (1, 1 ref) Chrystyne
      3. Society (0, 1 ref) —
         1. Titles and Ranks (0, 1 ref) —
         2. The Guilds and Merchant Houses —
      4. Of Special Interest —
         1. The Freelords of Lone Keep —
         2. The Carnival Caravans —
      5. Freeland Towns, Cities, and Strongholds —
   5. Mindoth's Tower (The Druid Enclave) —
      1. Facts in Brief (0, 1 ref) —
         1. GM-to-GM Sean
      2. Historical Overview (1, 0 ref) Chrystyne
      3. Society —
         1. Titles and Ranks —
         2. Those Who Serve —
      4. Of Special Interest —
         1. The Lifesworn —
         2. The Library of Mindoth —
      5. Communities of the Tower —
         1. The Tower —
         2. Alavar —
         3. Peacewood —
         4. Mindoth's Gate —
   6. Archanaya —
      1. Facts in Brief —
         1. GM-to-GM Sean
      2. Historical Overview (1, 0 ref) Chrystyne
      3. Society —
         1. Titles and Ranks —
         2. Important Archanayan Families —
      4. Of Special Interest —
         1. The Open Hand —
         2. The Paladins —
         3. The Guardians —
      5. The Community of Archanaya —
   7. The Elvish Nation (0, 1 ref) KingColock
      1. Facts in Brief (0, 1 ref) KingColock
         1. GM-to-GM (0, 1 ref) Sean
      2. Historical Overview (2, 1 ref) Chrystyne
      3. Society (0, 1 ref) KingColock
         1. Titles and Ranks KingColock
         2. Important Fae Clans KingColock
      4. Fae Terms (A Glossary) Tsuzuki_Hana
      5. Of Special Interest KingColock
         1. Other Fae and Faerie Creatures KingColock
         2. The Elvish Military KingColock
      6. Fae Communities KingColock
   8. The Clanhomes (1, 2 ref) TnBadguy
      1. Facts in Brief (0, 1 ref) TnBadguy
         1. GM-to-GM (0, 2 ref) Sean
         2. Important Dwarvish Clans TnBadguy
      2. Historical Overview (4, 1 ref) Chrystyne
      3. Society (1, 1 ref) TnBadguy
         1. Titles and Ranks TnBadguy
      4. Of Special Interest TnBadguy
         1. The Dwarvish Military TnBadguy
         2. The Engineers TnBadguy
      5. Dwarvish Holds TnBadguy
   9. The Goblinesh Gathers (2, 2 ref) CronicKain
      1. Facts in Brief CronicKain
         1. GM-to-GM Sean
      2. Historical Overview Chrystyne
      3. Society CronicKain
         1. Titles and Ranks CronicKain
         2. Important Goblinesh Clans CronicKain
      4. Of Special Interest CronicKain
         1. The Goblinesh Military CronicKain
         2. Goblinesh Shamans CronicKain
         3. The Church of Ceynara, Goddess of War CronicKain
      5. Goblinesh Towns, Cities, and Strongholds CronicKain
   10. The Kingdom of Olara ExWrestler
       1. Facts in Brief ExWrestler
          1. GM-to-GM Sean
       2. Historical Overview Chrystyne
       3. Society ExWrestler
          1. Titles and Ranks ExWrestler
          2. The Noble Houses ExWrestler
       4. Of Special Interest ExWrestler
          1. The Olaran Military ExWrestler
          2. The Hammerfall Riders ExWrestler
          3. The Church of Ceynara, Goddess of War ExWrestler
       5. Olaran Towns, Cities, and Strongholds ExWrestler
   11. The Malakar Dominion —
       1. Facts in Brief —
          1. GM-to-GM Sean
       2. Historical Overview (1, 0 ref) Chrystyne
       3. Society —
          1. Titles and Ranks —
          2. The Factions of Dominance —
       4. Of Special Interest —
          1. The Swords of Dominion —
          2. The Hidden —
          3. The Church of Ceynara, Goddess of War —
          4. The Church of Vainar, the God of Knowledge —
       5. Dominion Towns, Cities, and Strongholds —
   12. The Lands of the Desert Princes (The Eternal Desert) —
       1. Facts in Brief —
          1. GM-to-GM Sean
       2. Historical Overview Chrystyne
       3. Society —
          1. Titles and Ranks —
          2. The Princely Houses —
       4. Of Special Interest —
          1. The Desert Riders —
          2. The Cult of the Sun God (Raz'Dash) —
       5. Eternal Desert Towns, Cities, and Strongholds —
   13. Dregordia (0, 1 ref) —
       1. Facts in Brief (0, 1 ref) —
          1. GM-to-GM (0, 1 ref) Sean
       2. Historical Overview (1, 0 ref) Chrystyne
       3. Society (0, 1 ref) —
          1. Titles and Ranks —
          2. Important Dregordian Families (0, 1 ref) —
       4. Of Special Interest —
          1. The Dregordian Military —
          2. The Consular Services —
          3. The Citadels —
       5. Dregordian Towns, Cities, and Strongholds —
   14. The Prelacy of Camon (0, 1 ref) —
       1. Facts in Brief (0, 1 ref) —
          1. GM-to-GM (0, 1 ref) Sean
       2. Historical Overview (1, 1 ref) Chrystyne
       3. Society (0, 1 ref) —
          1. Titles and Ranks (0, 1 ref) —
          2. The Noble Houses —
       4. Of Special Interest —
          1. The Camon Military (0, 2 ref) —
          2. The Paladins (1, 0 ref) —
          3. The Cavaliers (2, 1 ref) Stu
       5. Camon Towns, Cities, and Strongholds —
   15. Shaya'Nor (The "Shadowlands") (1, 1 ref) Prime
       1. Facts in Brief Prime
          1. GM-to-GM Sean
       2. Historical Overview (1, 2 ref) Chrystyne
       3. Society Prime
          1. Titles and Ranks Prime
          2. Important Factions and Families Prime
       4. Of Special Interest Prime
          1. Shaya'Nor Military Prime
          2. The Everdark Forest Prime
          3. The Church of Vainar, The Shadow God Prime
       5. Shaya'Nor Towns, Cities, and Strongholds Prime
   16. The Kal-A-Nar Empire (1, 1 ref) TnBadguy
       1. Facts in Brief (0, 1 ref) TnBadguy
          1. GM-to-GM (0, 1 ref) Sean
       2. Historical Overview (0, 1 ref) Chrystyne
       3. Society TnBadguy
          1. Titles and Ranks (0, 1 ref) TnBadguy
          2. Warlords and the Daizars TnBadguy
       4. Kalinesh Terms (A Glossary) (0, 1 ref) TnBadguy
       5. Of Special Interest (0, 1 ref) TnBadguy
          1. The Andak-cros (The Battle Pits) TnBadguy
          2. The Az-agkar (The Death Lords) TnBadguy
          3. The Az-junin (The Mage Lords) TnBadguy
          4. Tor Sadais (The Emporer's Guard) TnBadguy
          5. Tor Mastak (The "Secret Police") TnBadguy
       6. Kalinesh Towns, Cities, and Strongholds TnBadguy
   17. Korindia (0, 1 ref) Greg
       1. Facts in Brief —
          1. GM-to-GM Sean
       2. Historical Overview (2, 0 ref) Chrystyne
       3. Society (1, 0 ref) Eli
          1. Titles and Ranks —
          2. Important Korindian Clans —
       4. Of Special Interest —
          1. The Fists of Kor —
          2. The Kor-in Masters —
          3. The Brothers of Koress —
       5. Korindian Towns —
   18. Nazatir —
       1. Facts in Brief —
          1. GM-to-GM Sean
       2. Historical Overview (1, 0 ref) Chrystyne
       3. Society —
          1. Titles and Ranks —
          2. Important Houses and Families —
       4. Of Special Interest —
          1. The Navy of Nazatir —
          2. The Waveriders —
       5. Nazatiran Towns, Cities, and Strongholds —
   19. The Pirate Archipelagoes —
       1. Facts in Brief —
          1. GM-to-GM Sean
       2. Historical Overview (1, 0 ref) Chrystyne
       3. Society (1, 0 ref) Chrystyne
          1. Titles and Ranks —
          2. The Princes —
       4. Of Special Interest —
          1. The Emeraldan Sea Rangers —
          2. The Arbiters of Home —
          3. The Freebooter's League —
       5. Towns, Cities, and Strongholds of the Archipelagoes —
   20. The Brinchie (0, 1 ref) —
       1. Facts in Brief —
          1. GM-to-GM Sean
       2. Historical Overview (1, 0 ref) Chrystyne
       3. Society —
          1. Titles and Ranks —
          2. Important Brinchie Clans —
       4. Of Special Interest —
          1. The Gatherings —
          2. Blood Hunts —
   21. The Aevakar —
       1. Facts in Brief —
          1. GM-to-GM Sean
       2. Historical Overview (1, 0 ref) Chrystyne
       3. Society —
          1. Titles and Ranks —
          2. Important Aevakar Clans —
       4. Of Special Interest —
          1. The Hold Guards —
          2. The Sky Lords —
          3. The Golden Eagles —
       5. Aevakar Aeries —
          1. Bastion —
          2. Last Home —
   22. Other Realms and Areas —
       1. The Northern Wastes —
          1. Endrils —
          2. Kar' Olnas —
          3. Payols —
          4. Saykas —
       2. Og' M' Drakar ("The Dragon's Eye") —
       3. The Dread Isle —
       4. The Twins —
       5. Salamander Island —
       6. The Jewels —
       7. Sky —
       8. Drake Isle —
       9. Sunrise Island (1, 0 ref) Stu
       10. Other Freeholds, City-States, and Communities —
6. ORGANIZATIONS —
   1. The Druids —
   2. Mage Guilds and Schools —
      1. The Valorin University of Galadrea —
      2. The Lanthorian Academy of Arcanology (1, 0 ref) Stu
      3. The "Shadow Academy" —
      4. The Western Magery Academy —
      5. The Dawn School (1, 0 ref) Stu
      6. The Az-junin —
   3. Adept Orders Prime
      1. The Jade Flame Prime
      2. The Citadel of the Iron Soul Prime
      3. The Farspeakers Guild Prime
      4. The Order of the Dancing Shadows Prime
      5. The Order of the Inner Eye Prime
      6. The Clan of the Night Prime
      7. The Circle of Fear Prime
   4. Mercenary Companies —
      1. The Warmakers —
      2. The Red Talons —
      3. Hannigan's Heroes —
      4. The Shadow Falcons —
      5. The Gold Gryphons —
      6. The Iron Shield Company —
      7. Grayson's Grey Rangers —
      8. The Maelstrom —
      9. The Riders of the Light —
   5. "Special" Groups Prime
      1. The Black Lantern (0, 4 ref) Prime
      2. The Crescent Warriors Prime
      3. The Unchained (0, 1 ref) Prime
      4. The Dragon Cult Prime
      5. The Az-agkar Prime
      6. The Brotherhood of the Fallen Prime
      7. The Lords of Fire Prime
7. TIMELINE (3, 2 ref) Chrystyne
8. CALENDAR (ONE YEAR) —
9. BEASTIES, CRITTERS, AND DENIZENS (OH MY) —
   1. "Typical" Characters —
   2. Personalities and Notables of Shaintar —
   3. The Shaintar Bestiary —
10. SCENARIOS AND PLOTLINES IN SHAINTAR —
    1. Savage Tales —
       1. Death of a Village —
       2. The Cauldron Boils Over —
       3. Some Other Tale —
    2. Other Adventure Hooks and Greater Storylines —
    3. Rat Catchers (Prologue to "The Rise of the Scions") —
11. THE APPENDICES (0, 2 ref) —
    1. Appendix I - Glossary (0, 1 ref) —
    2. Appendix II - House Rules and Suggestions —
    3. Appendix III - Playing with Magic and Powers in Shaintar —
    4. Appendix IV - Fantasy Items List —
    5. Appendix V - Common Phrases and Sayings in Shaintar (0, 1 ref) —
    6. Appendix VI - Long-Range Travel in Shaintar —
    7. Appendix VII - The Designer's Final Notes —
12. INDEX —

Contributors and Contact Information

The following links represent those involved with this project and their preferred method of contact for discussion of it. They are sorted in alphabetical order solely because that it is easy for me to do.

I populated the list from what I could glean from the comments on Sean's livejournal. If there are omissions, corrections, or retractions needed, just let me (Erskin) know.

Aaron Rosenberg (Prime)

The founder and president of Clockworks, Aaron has been role-playing for more than twenty years, and working in the industry for ten.

Alex Smith (ExWrestler)

Alex is working on the Kingdom of Olara.

Ari-Chan (Tsuzuki_Hana)

An aspiring novelist/writer who likes RPG's and other games, anime, movies, hanging out with friends and other such fun stuffage. [...] I'm a living breathing walking paradox who loves her food and cherishes her friends and family (even if we do have problems with each other from time to time). Just for the record, being an empath sucks.

Chrystyne Novack (Chrystyne)

A photographer, artist, and writer. She describes herself as an explorer with photography & writing being her creative journeys. Currently, she is journeying around Shaintar with Master Historian Jonkeph Skien to document and write the Historical Overviews :-)

Erskin L. Cherry (Erskin)

The self-appointed logistics tzar and crafter of this mess of pages.

Greg Hacke (Greg)

The man who writes a bugger ton about Korindia.

Jo (Kaialeah)

I'm 23, studying to be an EMT, and just recently moved to Lexington, KY. I've only been here for a week or so, and for now, it seems pretty decent. I like to chat online, so if you see one of my AIM or Yahoo screen names, drop me a line!

John Orsino (Eli)

John played an excellent Korindian some time back and will be contributing related material.

King Colock (KingColock)

The man, the myth, the legend. He will be working on the Elvish Nation.

Mark Swafford (TnBadguy)

Just a simple 34 year old divorcee from the Southern States. Ah, who am I kidding? I'm the spawn of Satan and I will consume your biscuits and beer and not even say 'Thank You'!

Nobody (—)

Currently our most ambitious, but least productive, contributor.

Robert Adams (CronicKain)

Robert is Schule-Kralle's alter ego and a long time Shaintar afficionado.

Sean Patrick Fannon (Sean)

The benevolent dictator who is responsible for instigating both this project, and the incredible world upon which it is based.

Stu Adams (Stu)

Provider of the online map. One who will help with whatever becasue he can always make time for Shaintar!

Relevant Links and Recommended Reading

Sean's Livejournal Entries

• Sean's Initial Call to Arms
• Answers to Questions of Section Assigment
• Matters of Perspective, a Note on the Timeline
• The Shaintar Outline Prelude Part 1, (includes city/town template
• The Shaintar Outline Prelude Part 2, (includes organization template)
• The Shaintar Outline Part 1
• The Shaintar Outline Part 2
• The Shaintar Outline Part 3
• The Shaintar Outline Part 4
• The Shaintar Outline Part 5
• The Shaintar Outline Part 6
• The Shaintar Outline Last Bits
• Confirmation of my Purloined Credentials

Reference Material

• The Shaintar Timeline, it's so important it's listed here again.
• The Section I Documents, also a really good place to look over when you start.
• 32 Statements About Writing, Sean listed, Sean approved!
• The Shaintar Map, click on a section to zoom in
• The Shaintar Website
• The Action Studios Shaintar Forums
• The Old School Document (also in section I)
• The Book Document (also in section I)
• The White Steel Document (also in section I)
• The Merchant's Gambit (Reference Campaign from Action Studios)
• Shaintar Promotional Materials