Are there any decent settings based on central asia and siberia?
Your post contains the only reasonably popular work covering that region.
>>46605774
I tried to make one for my last 5e game, but despite my best efforts everybody kept treating it like standard fake-Europe fantasy.
>>46605781
Fug
I wanna run something "Inner Asia"
In pretty much every other setting the region is typically an unexplored source of chaotic evil barbarian horse archers who eat babies, or a bunch of generic "noble savages"
No cities, no deserts, no forests, no religions
Just grassland and vaguely defined "shamanism"
How would you do it?
>>46605774
Central Asia sucks ass, but if you know Russian, check out Red Land (Кpacнaя Зeмля). A sizable chunk of the map covers what you want.
![[Frederick S. Starr] Ferghana Valley.pdf](https://4chanarchives.com/image/image-404.png "[Frederick S. Starr] Ferghana Valley.pdf")
>>46605774
There's not enough popular media around to give it a good image. Otoyomegatari is probably the only recent work I can think of that does something with the setting.
>>46605965
Quite a shame
You could pull from Tengriist, Buddhist, Zoroastrian, Christian (I was surprised too), and Muslim mythology while still staying true to the background
>>46605993
It's got a lot of potential for a varied setting and forming parties from across Eurasia.
>>46606022
Plus, fast moving cavalry encounters could be pretty cool.
>>46606047
>racing the enemy while you both feel the earth quake beneath you from a ravenous mongolian deathworm in hot pursuit of you both
Yes
>>46605774
My homebrew.
>>46605781
>>46605965
Have you never read Kite Runner or Blue Sweater Girl?
There are a lot of works dealing with Central Asia throughout a bunch of time periods. If you're looking for older stuff set in /tg/ eras, go read some of the Persian and Indian stuff.
>>46606133
Reminds me of a Bobbit worm or even Graboid. But we can go bigger.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnLLpR_fBII
>>46606177
>Have you never read Kite Runner or Blue Sweater Girl?
Neither really cover historical Central Asia.
>Persian and Indian stuff
Ditto
>>46606192
That's a big worm
>>46606215
So big it could feed a thousand strong tribe for months.
So big, a half dozen tribes could thunder across the deserts and plains chasing it, all the while fighting running skirmishes with rivals also trying to steer the worm to their territory and bring it down.
So big, when the worm does fall, the tribe lucky enough to have it land on its home territory rush out in force to harvest and fortify it, turning it into an enormous organic fortress as they defend themselves from neighbors trying to scavenge what they can or even assault the walls of the worm or burrow through its carcass to drive them off.
>>46606215
>-4 STR
>>46606215
Man, I love the Scythian's. Partly because they invented the skull cup, and partly because Greek accounts of them form the basis for all further barbarians in western literature for the next two millennia.
>>46606252
[monster hunter intensifies]
I heard that in Turkic lore it was believed dragons lived in the mountains
And the people of siberia have folk memories of woolly mammoths in their legends
>>46606252
The Mardu from Khans had some neat aesthetics and lore inspired by the region.
>>46606390
Everyone except the Sultai fit the aesthetic, just different regions of Central Asia.
>>46606438
Jokes on you, Central Asian cities like Samarkand may appear dusty but many local households have small lush gardens with trees and fruits
>>46606478
...affirmative
>>46605774
Unfortunately no. It's one of the reasons I include some in my homebrew.
>>46606550
>>46606565
>>46606579
>>46606597
>>46606550
>someone who actually knows that Tibet wasn't always a Vajrayana theocracy
>someone who is aware that old Tibet was basically mountain!mongolia
#rare
>>46606634
Honestly anon, pretty much all I know was from this unfinished mod:
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?359895-Preview-Scroll-Four-Tibetan-Kingdoms
Any more interesting sources?
http://io9.gizmodo.com/sogdia-the-lost-empire-that-ruled-the-silk-road-1553078058
http://history.yale.edu/sites/default/files/files/Hansen%20Place%20of%20Coins%20(Eng).pdf
http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/cities/cities.html
https://www.academia.edu/Documents/in/Silk_Road_Studies
https://www.academia.edu/22031759/_New_Research_on_Sacred_Places_in_Central_Asia._The_Silk_Road_11_2013_215-6
http://www.sacred-texts.com/sha/sis/index.htm
http://www.sacred-texts.com/asia/jss/index.htm
>>46605774
>>46608938
Wasn't the second Outer Heaven somewhere in this area, too?
>>46610165
So it would seem. I always thought it was in Africa (like the actual Zanzibar). I should really get into playing MG1 and 2 someday. Maybe once I get stupid down time and can go through all the games in chronological order.
Temujin is honestly a cooler name than Chinggis
>>46605774
There's a very good Chaosium Basic Ropleplaying supplement called 'Wind on he Steppes' which covers the historic central Asian nomads from their origins till the 16th century. Could be used for your pic related without much trouble - introduce some firearms, less empire building and more slice of life and inter-tribe raiding. Being BRP the crunch is somewhat heavy, but the setting info is absolute gold and takes up most of the book anyways.
The author also has a nice block on the subject matter:
windonthesteppes blogspot
>>46605774
Does playing a character based on Amir count as magical realm?
>>46610165
According to some of the developer fluff, "Zanzibarland" (Metal Gear 2) is actually post-war Tselinoyarsk (the region that MGS3 takes place in).
>>46605774
I fucking love Kaoru Mori's work.
(I'm a big fan of victorian settings too, that helps.)
>>46614948
>I'm a big fan of victorian settings too, that helps
I too am a fan of Victorian maids. For purely scientific purposes of course.
>>46605774
Dunno, but I've been waiting for an excuse to post this pic
>Siberia
Mythic Russia maybe?
I mean there are a bunch of settings really underutilized.
>>46613815
Only if you do it right.
>>46613815
Yes, but so does any character that isn't a white middle-aged man with brown hair, beard, eyes and clothes working on a passionless job for the sole reasons of gaining enough subsistence to eat brown, dull, tasteless food and sleep in a featureless room.
>>46605774
>Tribal wars
>Nomadic herd following
>tales of great cities and dangerous gods in lands past where the mountains touch sky
>Craftquest 4.5.2
>Fighting as auxiliaries in whispered shores
>>46613969
I remember some parts placing it way further east.
>>46616110
>Steppe nomad grills are hired as scouts and auxiliaries by the nondescript great empire
>Qt nomad grills hitting on qt soldier boys
>The soldiers, only familliar with a patriarchal system, have no idea how to react to this
>Their confusion only prompts even more agressive flirting
And that's how the Roman-Mongol master race was born.
>>46615914
You need to spice your life up with some crack cocaine and hookers mah man
>>46617213
Oh, I'm just reporting /tg/ general opinion on what constitute a magical realm.
>Female
Magical Realm
>Young
Magical Realm
>Non-brown hairs, eyes or clothes
Magical Realm
>Well shaved
Magical Realm
>Interested in [anything]
Magical Realm
>A favourite food
Magical Realm
>Any mention of taste in decoration or clothes
Magical Realm
So, a pretty little boy in exquisite clothes in a committed relationship with a loving, more aged wife ? You might as well convert your game to FATAL, according to /tg/.
The scythians would only let virgin girls fight alongside the men allegedly
>>46617565
>Virign girls are expected to go into battle, rape male prisoners (who are the strongest and most fit of the enemy's nation) and are then dismissed to raise their children
Not sure if magical realm or just eugenics
Sigh, I need to go back to Central Asia.
>>46617552
Karluk is 13 and going through puberty
Recently he and Amir played around at home and he lifted her clear off the ground, yet before he couldn't
Her eyes were screaming "dick me"
Thread theme
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lnxs_DMUDk&nohtml5=False
>>46617780
lol
Comment section was closed because of delusional Turks spamming their pan-turanist fantasies.
WE WUZ KHANZ N SHIEET
>>46617829
>delusional Turks spamming their pan-turanist fantasies.
Why do these people exist? It's not like Turks are devoid of any history unlike African Americans (not to be confused with actual Africans). Why do they need to make shit up when they already have the legacy of the Ottoman Empire? That's like the French pretending that they wuz Shoguns 'n shiet: there's simply nothing to compensate for.
>>46617706
Why wouldn't he just fuck her already? I recall when I was 13 I was really horny.
>>46617863
Turanists typically don't like their Ottomon legacy because it's ultimately tied up with the persians and arabs
Their language is alien compared to all the other s in the region, their faith is arab, and their high culture is persian.
Turanists are like fat american vikingboos who wanna cling to something "their own".
>>46617880
>Why wouldn't he just fuck her already?
Because this is a pure story
Funny enough though, according to the horse tribes Amir is from the marriage technically isn't valid until they have babies
>>46615006
10/10 taste right there, anon.
>>46617584
If they were so strong and fit, they wouldn't have been taken prisoner.
>>46618236
What do you propose then? That these women actively sabotage the battle so they lose, get raped by the strongest enemies and then slip away under the cover of the night to raise their übermensch babies?
Raping the enemies defiant enough to survive the battle but wise enough to realize the odds are not in their favor obviously yields the best reproductive results: powerful, yet wise enough to weigh risk and benefit.
>>46618236
This
>>46618267
What's to stop the enemy from just claiming all the women for themselves post-battle?
>>46618396
They could inflate into spiky spherical balls and be blown away from the battlefield by the wind.
>>46617863
>>46618053
There's two kinds of romantic nationalists masquerading as pseudohistorians: the kind that look to the founding of their modern nations in the Medieval or Early Modern period and the kind that look for an Ancient proto-nation to rival the Romans.
Basically the autism that lends itself to populating a percentage of Classical Studies in the Mediterranean World doesn't have an outlet in nations that were late to the Chinese, Indian, Persian, Babylonian, Egyptian, Greek, or Roman game.
So you get things like Turanism, as well as Nordicism, and of course Afrocentrism, since much of our modern historical education is based on masturbating as hard as possible over the Classical world while simultaneously glorifying the nations that emerged slowly after its collapse.
>>46606211
Persians WERE a steppe tribe before they wiped out the Medes as far as we can tell. Its only a long time after Cyrus died that they started turning into the caricatures Herodotus presents us with.
>>46605774
The Eternal Sky trilogy by Elizabeth Bear is set in a fantasy world based on central asia, and I strongly recommend it.
>>46620577
Hmm
>>46605774
I just listened to pic related's "wrath of the kahns" podcast- a historical overview of Mongolian conquest. It's free on itunes and I really recommend it.
>>46620980
As an additional selling point, it's one of the series that gets called out in the most recent DnD's recommended reading section, alongside all of the old classics.
I recommend it all the time in /tg/ book threads, along with Bear's other work. She's easily in my top ten authors.
>>46621073
Mite b cool
>>46617780
This is really unique. I really did not consider central asia at all interesting until now.
Going on a youtube/wikipedia bender now.
The epic of Gesar is sung all over central asia and siberia. Everyone from the mongols, to the turkics, to the manchurians, to the tibetans has a rendition. Over time the shamanist legend was infused with buddhism as well.
Long ago, the people were oppressed by ravenous warlords, dark sorcerers and demigods, famine, natural disasters, and demonic beings.
The Gods/Tengri/Buddha/Whateverthefuck saw that the world needed a hero so they chose of our their divine number to incarnate on earth. The humble Gesar didn't wanna go so he kept asking for things like magical powers, cool weapons and armor, and a horse who was faster than the wind when he was born. The Gods agreed to all his requests so eventually he made the journey to earth.
Our hero, Gesar was originally called Jaru. He was born in this world as the son of a dragon princess named Dzeden who was in the form of a young human servant girl in the court of Ling. When her pregnancy was obvious the queen of Ling threw her out because she thought King Singlen was the father.
When Jaru was born he was rather stunted and ugly. And on top of this the baby boy (in some versions) announced himself as the mightiest of kings. Some claim be defeated human sized mosquitoes, giant rats, and steel raven monsters while still an infant.
Growing up despised in the wilderness (similar to Chinggis Khan) he became very wily and mischievous. The king's uncle Todong tried to have Gesar killed and so Gesar's mother took them far away. Gesar grew into a handsome and powerful youth, highly skilled in the arts of magic. Then one day the buddhist saint Padmasambava told him of his destiny to save the world and defeat all the demon kings.
Gesar returned to the kingdom of Ling when he was 12 years old. He learned that Todong was eager to find a way rule over Ling, so he turned into a raven and gave Todong a "prophecy" that if he staged a great horse-race the winner would rule over all Ling and win the hand of the young Sechan Dugmo (also called Brugmo or Rugmo) who was very unhappy living under her cruel father. Gesar won easily with his amazing horse and was proclaimed ruler of Ling with Brugmo as his bride. Ling prospered under their benevolent rule. Gesar Khan waged wars against the evil rulers all around him and brought peace wherever he went.
Todong resented Gesar Khan and allied with the demon king Lutzen to defeat him. In a titanic battle Gesar succeeded in vanquishing Lutzen after figuring out how to chop off his 12 heads. But Lutzen's widow (a sexy witch) gave Gesar a potion which caused him to become enamored with her and ignore the rest of the world. Gesar lost his memories, and the demon king Kurkar took over. 6 years later Gesar's brother found him and took him from the snare of the witch. He told him of the evil which had come while he was gone. And so Gesar returned to Ling disguised as a blacksmith. He fought Kurkar 1v1 and his loyal warriors fought off the demon army. When he reclaimed his kingdom, he had to battle a demon named Shingu who had a righteous daughter. Gesar was very fond of Todong's son and so gave Shingu's daughter to the youth in marriage. This ended the conflict between Todong and Gesar Khan.
In another episode Gesar rescues his kidnapped wife from the demon Gurdkar. Then he fights a bunch of muslims. Gesar kills a colossal demon tiger in siberia with his bare hands and exposes a man eating demon disguised a benevolent buddhist lama. He kills various monsters who were formed from the drops of Altai Ulan (god of evil)'s blood such as a dragon guarding a mountain of silver. Then Gesar slays a demon who tries to eat the sun.
As a young boy he kills a very powerful demon who is the physical embodiment of volcanoes. This bossfight was a lil difficult so he finished it off with the help of his older brother. Then there's downright weird demons with 15 heads and others from "the state between life and death". At point he slays giants in the far north as well.
The epic usually ends with Gesar needing to save his dear mother from hell, descending to the darkest depths of Naraka and curbstomping all the infernal beings there. Then once she's saved her takes his wife and they rise to the heavens together.
Otoyomegatari is kawaii
>>46606597
Aren't those Chinese Fujian (South-East China, next to the sea) architecture? Not that wouldn't work for an Central Asia setting.
>>46613766
Any way to get this? It doesn't seem like you can buy it anywhere.
>>46615487
That's just a mountain man though. Nothing Asian about him.
