you have a friend
THE LAND OF HAETH
I will not tell you the history of the land of Haeth, and all that has happened within.
I could, of course. There is a legend hanging onto the lips of every old shrew, and buried in every crevice of every stone.
I could tell you the tale of the first King of the Floating Mountain and the magical bargain he struck with Those Who Wait.
I could tell you the tale of the Thirsty God, and the Heavenblade used to kill her.
I could tell you of the Lightning Dancers and their twirling bodies, or of the North Wind God and the one brave child who stood against him, or of the death that all dragons feared and faced.
But I won’t, for it is not my place. After all, it wouldn’t make for a good journey if I told you all that right at the start.
Instead, let me tell you some things you’ll need to know about the Haethland that are true no matter what.
--The Haeth is a beautiful and boundless land, full of life and soul. It is composed of small communities, kept separate by vast stretches of wilderness and connected by dirt paths, waterways, and the rare hot air balloon passage. Beauty comes in endless shapes and forms, but everything in this land holds the capacity to be appreciated and admired. Gods and spirits can be found everywhere, from the small and forgotten gods that hide behind rocks and in waves, to the piscine deal-making crossroads spirits called the Urgers, to the great sky gods themselves.
--The Hæth is full of buggy livestock, pets, and wild creatures. From herds of chubby bumbles to stag beetles the size of houses, striders that dance across water to carrier moths bringing letters from tower to tower by moonlight, bugs and people live together in harmony and care.
--The Haeth boasts a widespread culture of hospitality. A traveler arriving to a new town is always going to be able to find some sort of lodging (even if it’s sleeping in a barn with some bumbles) and will always be given food and water of some sort. There is a trust within this hospitality--if you hurt or lash out at your hosts, they’ll have no problems kicking you out. But if you’re kind and you mean well, you’ll be welcomed in with open arms.
--In the Haeth, we will be meeting people who are fundamentally good. Not everywhere you go in life will this be true, but on the journey upon which we are embarking, most everyone can be trusted to be kind. The exceptions are the mighty--generals, lords, heroes, soldiers, and all those whose soul has become weighed down with power. While they might still be good, their goodness has been poisoned by struggle. Thankfully folks of that nature are exceedingly rare nowadays, and most everyone knows to give these lonely conquerors a wide berth.
--The Haethland was recently caught in war, but is no longer. There is no violence here anymore.
Journeying Tools
We’re going to be talking a lot to figure out this journey. Sometimes the conversation
will be about which path to go down, or what we should do. Often it will be about
describing what our characters are doing and the world moving along. It’s good and
healthy to treat this conversation just as you would any journey when you’re not sure
where you’re going. Here’s a few base principles for how to take care of each other
along this long path, and the philosophy behind them. Please remember that all of
these tools are not fundamentally conversation-enders, but are instead important
ways to continue the conversation healthily. Whenever someone uses one, it's vital
to accept that use gracefully and with compassion.
“Let’s do this instead.”
Sometimes on a journey you’ll reach an impasse, where continuing on our
journey will put you in danger or discomfort. You are always empowered to speak up
and say “Let’s do this instead!” providing an alternate way through the situation. If
someone else doesn’t want to do that, we can figure out together where to go next.
“Do we want to?”
When you’re journeying, it’s polite to ask before traveling into uncharted
territory. If someone asks "Do we want to?," it means they're interested in going
somewhere new and potentially hazardous, and they want everyone's buy-in first.
If you don't want to go there with them, you have every right to say so (perhaps by
offering something else instead) and the conversation can avoid that area.
“Where to next?”
When we journey together, we might get lost or stuck. This happens all the
time, and we might feel like we have nowhere to go from here, or that we have to keep
sitting in the mud. Whenever we feel like that's happening, we can just ask "Where to
next?" and go where seems best.
“What do you think?”
When I walk with friends, I tend to move a bit slower and need a bit more
time than them. In those moments, just as with all journeys, we often need people to
look around and spot those who could use a bit of focus and more space to express
themselves and breathe. Keep an eye out for people who seem to be talking less than
you are, and check in with them by asking them "What do you think?"
“Hold on.”
We all need to take breaks. Sometimes it’s because we’ve been journeying
for a while and you need some water, or it’s because you want to go back and look at
something from earlier, or maybe something happened that hurt you and you need
to tackle it. “Hold on” is something you can always say to halt what’s happening and
switch gears to another topic.
“No.”
No one can ever make you do something you don’t want to do. If some aspect of the journey doesn’t fit your needs, you can always change it. While it’s important to respect where everyone is at, it’s just as important that you feel like you have agency over your character and the world around you. You have the complete authority, both as a group and as individuals, to reject anything that we don’t want.
Walking away.
All of these journeying tools assume that the game is healthy and productive
for you. There is the base assumption that a conversation is the core way of navigating
these issues, and that talking things through will handle most problems. This isn’t
always true, though. If you ever feel like you don’t want to keep going on right now,
you can leave.
After we’ve gone through the introduction and familiarized ourselves with the Hæth,
we’ll want to take a moment and talk about what kind of journey we want to embark
on. While the same principles of Wanderhome are generally the same, we might find
ourselves wanting different things within that. Here’s a few questions to start the
conversation and make sure everyone’s on the same page. Even after you move on
from these questions, you can come back to this topic and revisit the conversation
they sparked.
How long are we expecting this journey to last, if we have any expectations at all?
Do we want a more pastoral and upbeat journey, or a world that lingers more heavily on trauma and recovery?
Do we want a more personal journey, focused on mundane issues and quandaries, or do we want a heavier journey filled with mysterious and magical forces?
Do we want a single person to act as a guide, multiple rotating guides, or no guide
at all?
Is there anything else that might come up that we want to watch out for?
Once you feel set for now, everyone can pick a playbook and create their character. As that’s going on, you’ll also be creating your place.
And Now We Embark
Once we have our place, and each other, we’re going to want to start playing.
What sort of place did we just travel from?
Is there somewhere we hope to go?
Every time we gather to play Wanderhome, we will each answer this question silently,
in our heads:
Will I someday find a home?
And with that, our journey begins.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:24, Thu 16 July 2020.