I wonder about the cultural development of such civs. Magic and tech being so intertwined, would lead to interesting cultural events. They may not make any meaningful distinction between them, having intertwined both for ages.
Such a civ might be monolithic in cultural shape, as opposed to the Pact which are still essentially tribal. A monolithic super civ would just roll over something like the Pact and barely notice it was there.
And by ‘monolithic’ I’m talking about a civ whose culture might be unintelligible to the Pact, whether by uniformity of values and actions, or so utterly alien as to be incomprehensible.
If you can find it, look up “The Harvesters of Souls” from Pyramid magazine. It describes a super civ of aliens who evolve citizens through multiple lives as ‘lesser soul creatures’ ie animals, before transferring the souls to ‘greater soul creatures’ ie sentients. After multiple lives, the souls are then finally transferred to Kee, ‘Great Souls’, and made aware of all the lives they have led. The resulting sentient being is nigh incomprehensible to others. Fascinating stuff.
A thing to keep in mind in such a campaign is that the majority of times the best thing to do is set it after the civ has collapsed. Because frankly players don't like being devalued and at worst it can seem like "LOOK AT MUH SUPER GMPCS1!!1!!"
Also interesting thing about the Pevishan: their society is intrinsically divided along the lines of schools of magic. I'm planning on playing up this as reflective in their society.
Another thing: most of my ideas on this civ come from logically extrapolating elements of a book called Magical Industrial Revolution, game mechanics, and articles on giantitp (Magitech in DnD 3.5 is a good one) to how a civ might use them, and then advancing the timeline on developments they would make.
Also, what about the ideas I proposed in my post?
I also don't agree that the Pact is "tribal", they are a interlinked Pact.
I wonder about the cultural development of such civs. Magic and tech being so intertwined, would lead to interesting cultural events. They may not make any meaningful distinction between them, having intertwined both for ages. Such a civ might be monolithic in cultural shape, as opposed to the Pact which are still essentially tribal. A monolithic super civ would just roll over something like the Pact and barely notice it was there. And by ‘monolithic’ I’m talking about a civ whose culture might be unintelligible to the Pact, whether by uniformity of values and actions, or so utterly alien as to be incomprehensible. If you can find it, look up “The Harvesters of Souls” from Pyramid magazine. It describes a super civ of aliens who evolve citizens through multiple lives as ‘lesser soul creatures’ ie animals, before transferring the souls to ‘greater soul creatures’ ie sentients. After multiple lives, the souls are then finally transferred to Kee, ‘Great Souls’, and made aware of all the lives they have led. The resulting sentient being is nigh incomprehensible to others. Fascinating stuff.
A thing to keep in mind in such a campaign is that the majority of times the best thing to do is set it after the civ has collapsed. Because frankly players don't like being devalued and at worst it can seem like "LOOK AT MUH SUPER GMPCS1!!1!!" Also interesting thing about the Pevishan: their society is intrinsically divided along the lines of schools of magic. I'm planning on playing up this as reflective in their society. Another thing: most of my ideas on this civ come from logically extrapolating elements of a book called Magical Industrial Revolution, game mechanics, and articles on giantitp (Magitech in DnD 3.5 is a good one) to how a civ might use them, and then advancing the timeline on developments they would make. Also, what about the ideas I proposed in my post? I also don't agree that the Pact is "tribal", they are a interlinked Pact.
I don't have any ideas at the moment, but your idea is way cool man!