AL Theme and Setting

This page focuses around the theme and setting of Flight. I'm currently envisoning a sort of magic-punk/nautical setting. Airships play a huge role in the game, so a nautical theme fits.

Basic Overview

The world of Altitude is a strange place. Through the use of magic, the various races have achieved functional immortality, at the cost of their ability to reproduce. Children are a distant memory, and basic resources like food and shelter are so plentiful no one pays them any mind. Set in a world where no one can die and no one new is ever born, the denizens of Altitude have focused their energy on two things: power, and wealth.

The civilization is stratified into three casts: Highers, who control most of the money and power; Elites, the player-characters, and Lowers(NPCs).

Highers

Highers are immortals, just like the player, but have ascended to the highest levels of wealth and power. At the start of the game, two Highers, Shadrik and Merk, control much of the Over World and are locked in a never-ending competition for support and popularity. They build fabulous cities and run challenging games for the amusement of the Elites(Player Characters) and accept tributes.

In Flight, players can affect the game world by choosing to support one Higher or another. This is not locked in at character creation; a player supports a Higher by playing games, providing tributes, or purchasing titles. The wealth and popularity of a particular Higher impacts the sort of services they are able to provide.

There is also a third force at work, the mysterious Abid, who has a great deal of power in the caves that run deep beneath the world. Abid is not a Higher, but seeks to achieve Higher status.

Player Actions

Players can support a specific Higher by doing one of three things: completing quests(called "Games" by the highers), offering tributes(made by crafting), or by purchasing titles.

• Games: the games take many forms, these are the quests and dungeons of Flight.

• Tributes: Tributes are items that are crafted by players and then turned in to a particular Higher as a gift. They provide a small amount of gold and reputation within the faction.

• Titles: Titles are purchased by the players. Most are just cosmetic. Some grant special buffs or access to NPC merchants. Titles work along with Reputation, and have to be purchased to achieve higher reputation levels. The more expensive titles are exclusive, meaning if you have a high-level title from a specific Higher, you cannot get any more titles from the others.

Reputation

What players do for a specific Higher determines their reputation within that faction. It is possible to have a high rep with all factions, but would be challenging.

Games

Games are the central activity of Flight. The Highers run the games for the amusement of the Lowers, while the Elites compete in them for money and power. The Games take on many different forms, and can change as the power of the various Highers waxes and wanes. For example, a more powerful Higher will give better prizes up to a point; while

World

Flight takes place in a world called "The Sea of Air" which consists of a series of floating islands and continents. Players travel between these via customizable airships(as well as magic and teleportation).

The action centers primarily around the twin-continent of Castiana and Sahal. Its technically one continent but Shadrik and Merk like to argue. The continent is divided by a massive fjord that runs up almost the full center, with numerous islands and other regions. There is also a third continent, called Stark, which has no settlements to speak of.

Centered, the Perfect City, is the shining jewel of the continent and constantly squabled over by Shadrik and Merk. Each runs games out of the city and owns numerous buisnesses. The Highers use tributes from the players to provide services such as transportation, banking, schools, and roads. Each Higher also has their own capitol, named for themselves, which is the sight of their penultimate games.

There are numerous other towns around the world.

Player Impact on Towns

How and where players offer their tributes has an impact on a town. If not enough players are visiting a given town, NPCs will move away and local services will dwindle. The same can happen on a larger scale with the cities.