Here's one that I think will interest a *lot* of people. And I have no idea if anything is spelled correctly, since the words are all made up, and Cadaya refused to spell anything for us.
Seminar: The Fabled Fifth Province
Host: Cadaya
Cadaya sat at the front of the room and opened up a *HUGE* black binder. He than began to tell us the backstory of P5. As we know, Lanival split Kermoria into 5 provinces. The first 4 (Zoluren, Therengia, Ilithi, and Qi) we already know a lot about, but this seminar is about the fifth province, Forfedhar, which is the homeland of Dwarves and Gor'togs.
P5 has been in development since 1999. Jovah was making it, but then it was decided to flesh out the first four provinces instead. GMs are happy with their progress in that area, so P5 went back into development in January. Now they hope to release it in spring 2004, with DR2.
P5 has one major city, Harbanbedhar. There are 3 to 4 smaller areas like towns and villages. They will have specialized trading areas and hunting grounds. Hunting in P5 will be self-contained with a broad range, and there will also be new higher-level hunting. As for guilds, the GMs are aware that not much in P4 was guild-specific. P5 will have something for everyone.
A lot of progress has already been made. The roads have had significant work done on them. They're harder to write, so the GMs like to get them out of the way. No critters are done. Some systems are done. There is lots of history, including 15 books. There will be 15 hunting areas. There are lots fo applications for survival (swimming, climbing, tracks). There are lore applications. There are plenty of shops, including items not available elsewhere.
The main city has two halves. The inner, underground section has been said to remind some of the GMs of Moria (LOTR), before the Orcs showed up. There are arching cavernous roads, multi-story galleries, stone carvings and statues, a forge, and armor shops. This is the older section of the city, where the Dwarves call home. There is an exterior section for outsiders. Here you may find Gor'tog laborers and a Trader district. But this section is not really "built to last."
There will be new systems in P5. They include mining, which is lore-based, and a way to get money and metals for forging.
P5 will have the first dragon! Cadaya can't tell us much about him [So, apparently, he's male.], but ten Galains might very well lose against him. And defeating the dragon won't mean killing it, just driving it off for a while. He will learn and adapt to your fighting style. There might eventually be 2 dragons. There will be some rewards for defeating the dragon, like some treasure. This is a sickeningly high level creature. It will have its own area. It will probably kill you all. It is very intelligent. It will know that the Empaths are providing support and that they are vulnerable to attack. It is very, very old. It's like the dragons that helped Lanival. Every dragon has a name. It remembers who has beaten it. It is "safe to say" that here will probably be skill-based titles for defeating the dragon. The dragon hnas minions who will have their own hunting area, and they will feed you to the dragon if you let your guard down. Your own, unique items may be added to the dragon's treasure hoard if you die. Blasword wants to splash naptha on the dragon; we encouraged him to go right into the dragon's lair with an armload of naptha. There will most likely be dragon scales; try bringing one to an alterer.
There will be other creatures with special abilities. Overall, P5 will be full of fun and interesting ways to kill players [Shouldn't that be characters?].
Citizen ship will be available. There will be the standard benefits, of course. But P5 is the first province to be designed with citizenship in mind, so everything will reflect that. There will be citizen-only mines, bank, forge. Citizens will receive a gift. There will be some tie-in with Trader financing. There will be a toten-monolith system for citizens. There will be a stone carving with multiple levels, where each level is a specific piece of information. It's a heraldic piece for you that can go on public display.
The dragon is known as the "Cairn Dragon." It is associated with earth, rocks, and mountains.
There's another really cool system... [Come on, Cadaya, throw us a bone!]
Gnomes can be fed to dragons. Gnomes are minty fresh.
Somebody asked what comes after P5. Well, there's much more to be fleshed out. But then, Albaria is there, it could be developed. And what if you sail east, and keep going? There's the Dark Hand as well. In general, there are "huge tracts of land" all over the existing Realms where stuff can be added.
P5 is to the west of Zoluren, an dit also borders Ilithi. There will be multiple ways to enter, and it is less linear in terms of transportation.
There will not be electric lighting.
Harbonbadhar could even be a starting city someday.
And that is all that was said, even though Cadaya still had half his binder untouched...
--David (Jolebin Swordstaff, Elemancer of Riverhaven)