World of Olam started pretty humbly, namely as a place where I could set stories and campaign set in something "looking vaguely like ancient Greece", together with the Hellenic cosmology and gods. In the original version, it was essentially our world, only if Greek myths were true. But then my heroes went out to the world, and saw all the other places. While originally I tried to make the other gods and myths merely another names for the Olympian pantheon (as Greek historians seemed to think), I ended up thinking I'm making other mythologies a great disservice. So the world I was leading that campaign in became a world where ALL myths are true. I mean, literally all of them. As you might imagine, it made the world pretty incosistent, and alot of the times, I had to rule out which version of myth of view on metaphysics was real. When another campaign was cooking, the world finally became its own world.
It never had a name until literally a couple of minutes ago, because the natives kept calling it just "the world" or "earth" (not "our planet Earth", but after the stuff they were walking on - like we did name it IRL). After trying to make it with just calling it world in Greek (Kosmos), I decided it sounded too familliar, and here you are, this is Olam (meaning "world" in Hebrew this time, but sounds way less common).
Olam is a world that was made with purpose of making it a "genuinely better" world in mind. The "darker and edgier" worlds are nowadays all over the place, and me being the unstable mixture of hippy and a geek that I am, I was sick of this trend. I seeked a world that's genuinely good to live in for the common folk. So I thought, how do the myths call the world that was better? Supposedly, the antediluvian world, from before the biblical Deluge, was young and innocent - world before men made war upon each other for petty reasons. So this is Olam: young and fairly friendly world, even if still somewhat unstable, wild and uncivilised. First known civilisations are just taking shape, either tearing land out of nature, or trying to live in peace with it, and avoiding conflicts with anyone. Prophets speak of the coming age of strife and greed and extinction of the Nephilim, but how will this world really shape, is yours to decide, adventurer.
From next paragraph on should be the description of the cosmology and cosmogony, from an in-universe point of view. This is so far the longest firmly established piece of description, but more are coming: detailed description of races' cultures and beliefs and details of Olam's geography.
[spoiler=In the beginning, there was chaos]
As far as the original scholars of Olam were concerned, the Eternal Chaos '" sometimes associated with the Far Realm or the Astral Sea nowadays '" was the beginning of all things. For reasons unknown to men, from this chaos sprung up the shell of modern world, which coalesced into three basic forms that gave birth to three parts of the world: the sky, the underworld and the earth, the last being a veil dividing the two 'outer' parts of the world. It is said that in that archaic age, the sky still wasn't a dome hovering over the earth, but they were all completely equal and coexistent. As all matter holds a spirit, and powerful spirit brings forth mind, those three ancient 'surfaces' or 'planes' became self-aware and as such, became the three beings known now as the Sky Father, the Earth Mother and the Deep Lord. In this old day and age, they peacefully coexisted, living together while still contemplating their origin, and wondering whether they are alone in the cloudy masses of the Eternal Chaos.
It is said that all three deeply differed in personalities. The Sky Father was wise, contemplative and distant. The Earth Mother was a pleasant, warm, motherly person. The Deep Lord, however, was very emotional and quick to anger, believing in his own judgment more than anybody else's. The Earth Mother grew closer to the Sky Father with time and it is believed that in time, their relationship flourished as they became romantically involved. The Deep Lord, becoming essentially completely alone among the mists of time, withdrew from their presence and wandering somewhere in the chaos, fell to his own sorrow. But it was not the end of him.
Out of the love of the Earth Mother and the Sky Father were born three children '" the beautiful and swift Air Lady, wise and bright Day Prince and radiant and inspiring Sun Queen. Nobody knows how long did their love last, but it was long and passionate, fully encompassing both friendship and lust, in a combination only few mortals would ever dare to dream about. However, it wasn't meant to last forever, as nothing is perfect in this world.
The Deep Lord, hiding in deepest recesses of the Eternal Chaos, submitting to his depression and madness, hatched a plan to separate the perfect lover. When the Earth Mother was hidden from the light of Day and Sky, the Deep Lord surprised her from behind, taking her away from her love, and in his hatred, casting a curse that forced the Sky Father to be forever separate from the Earth '" the Sky was cast away from Earth, held over it as a glistening, crystal dome, kept away by a magical tree, growing from the body of the Earth, taking root in the dark abyss of the Underworld, and reaching with its crown the Sky itself.
Having separated his new prize, and successfully avenging his loneliness in the Nether, the Deep Lord forced himself upon the Earth from his position, forcing the Earth to bring forth three dark beings cursed with the sadness and despair brought by their father. And thus were born, the vile and hateful Fire Lord, the reclusive and enigmatic Night Baroness, and the gloomy, brooding Moon King. The Earth Mother did not bear Deep Lord's rudeness for long, casting him away on first occasion. In revenge from her forceful separation from her lover, she cast a curse as well upon her rapist: the roots of the World Tree will keep him from her as far below as the Sky Father is above. The three Primordials, thus separated from each other, began their long loneliness, only observing the deeds of their children and how they found their own fate on the new world that shaped on the remains of their material bodies.
In times unknown, all three of them created minor sprits and nymphs to keep their company '" the Sky Father saw the light of thousand beautiful Stars, the Earth Mother brought forth uncountable water spirits and nymphs, and the Deep Lord carved a host of malevolent Stones. As those shaped the body of the world we now know, the history started.
[/spoiler]
[spoiler=The foundation of the world]
The early spirits wandered the young world, shaping it and looking for souls that would understand their plight and help in this troubling time. To the greatest of ironies, the spirits that found each other were of the opposite breeds. The Air Lady fell into arms of the Fire Lord, bringing forth into the world a race of genies, whose only purpose in this world is to misguide mortal souls and trick them into acts of malice. The Sun Queen gave her heart to the Moon King, bringing forth the dusk and twilight spirits, ones devoted to guiding mortal souls to greatness. The most unusual offspring came from a union of Day and Night, as from them were born first beings that one could regard as gods, beginning in the Time Lord, the father of the Thunderer.
The love of Day and Night was short and passionate, and while the primordial beings still sometimes remember those times well, at the time they left with curses on their mouths. Despite that, the still brought into world six powerful children who, once they grew up, took into possession the world below them. Those children became the first gods of the mortal world, before any mortals appeared on its surface. As nobody knows whether they had any names of their own, they are remembered only as Time, the oldest son, Love, the oldest daughter, Mind, Soul, Fauna and Flora. Those three sons and three daughters each took upon him an aspect that bears his name to this day, and began their rule over the young, wild and primeval world.
As Time lorded over the world, the unlikeliest of unions happened between the antagonists. Some say they were a Genie and an Angel, while some claim those were a foul Demon and a beautiful Archon. What everybody agrees on, both were inhumanly beautiful, and unlikely for their own origin. The Genie, a succubus known as Lilith, met on the surface of the world a beautiful Angel whose name is remembered as Shemhaz. Although her task was to seduce the Angel and steal him from goodness, during their time together, she fell madly in love with him and defied her evil origins to embrace his love. When Shemhaz presented her atonement to his superiors and asked for permission to marry the formerly evil spirit, the Heavens disagreed and threatened to cast him away, shall he try to deny them. As love is always the strongest emotion of man, the Angel decided nobody will forevermore dictate him what should he do or not do: Shemhaz banished himself from the High Heavens, just like Lilith abandoned the Deepest Hells. Defying their ancestry, the spirits took residence near the centre of the world and promised to be masters of their own fate. From their love were born the first mortals, Shadam and Hava, the ancestors of the Nephilim race. Even though in modern times nobody can find Shemhaz or Lilith in any of their purported places of eternal rest, the Nephilim race still claims the land in the centre of their capital, near the very World Tree, rising from the very core of the world, as their Holy Land, and place of their origin.
The Nephilim, descendants of both Heaven and Hell, lord over most of the civilised world to this day, bearing striking resemblance to both of their parents: to evil in their shape, and to good in their cast and glow. Just as their bodies, so are their spirits and minds bound to both worlds: capable of both the most foul of evil and most exalted of good, they promise to be forever independent, and never worship any gods other than they themselves. For as the Nephilim say, 'We are our own gods, and shall never worship an alien being who dictates us what to do'. Every Nephilim strives for perfection, achieved by his own power, without anybody's influence, be it mortal or supernatural. Some say their hubris will bring their downfall, and yet someone see in them the purest of perfection achievable by mortal beings.
As the Nephilim spread over the young world and founded kingdoms and empires, the other gods, who had their own divine offspring since, were jealous of their numbers and influence. In order to have their own mortal beings, who'd give them the respect they deserve as more than mere mortals, Time ordered the god of artisans and artists, the crafty Vulcan, to forge the human out of the noblest of metals. The original being was a dwarf, short, stocky and powerful, but in the eyes of the gods, too small '" and cast away as being imperfect. Next creation was tall, fast and slim, but cast away as well, for being too weak '" and thus elves were born. In their third creation, human was finally formed. While human was perfectly in the middle between dwarf and elf in all of his aspects, he was deemed unworthy as too cowardly and unreliable. After the third try, the gods gave up, and took their respect from the mortals who were already born. The three main humanoid races took their residence in the far north, in the wild plains and in the warm islands respectively, forging their new civilisations.
[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Titanomachy]
The original gods, most remembered collectively as the Titans, were cruel masters and parents '" they accepted no defiance and abstinence of worship, punishing any mortals who dared to disagree severely, seeing no compromises. However, having no power to oppose the cruel rulers, the small men, dwarves and elves toiled away in silence. Then finally, the Time's and Love's own children defied them, supporting the mortals who did what they could to appease the gods. Time tried to imprison his own first-born son, Thunderer, for this defiance, but the son opposed the father and threw him off his throne atop the peak of mount Erberus. Children of Time and Love took the position of gods in possession and promised the mortals a fair and good life, but Time was not done with.
With support of Mind and Soul and their children, the Titans took to shape their own mortal races, which would challenge the power of humans, elves and dwarves. Races which would be ugly, stupid, and obedient. While in long term they failed at this task, three new prime races were born this way out of the clay and mud: the orcs, the hobgoblins and the giants. The armies of three newborn races were hastily formed, and marched upon the lands of the firstborn. A war unlike any other was waged. Whole cities and civilisations, barely of age, were razed to the ground, and primordial cataclysms shook the young world. After uncounted years, war was equally devastating to everyone, and seemingly without an end.
The Nephilim avoided the battlegrounds for as long as they could, seeing as it wasn't their war. However, as the original war was devastating the world more and more, both families of gods saw the Nephilim as an opportunity, an asset that could turn the tide of war in their advantage. While the Titans demanded obedience from the Nephilim, under threats of curses and cataclysms, the Gods asked for their support. Shening, the greatest of the few known Nephilim emperors, saw this as a clear sign '" only the Gods had the courtesy to ask for their support, and thus will the Nephilim join them in war, but still never worship them. With the sudden support of the sleeping beast of the Nephilim Empire, the armies of the newborn races have fallen, and Thunderer cast away his father and uncles and aunts into the deepest darkness of the Underworld. The Original War, also known as Titanomachy, was finished, and all the races could live together in peace, in spite of their origin or appearance.
Flora and Fauna joined the war themselves, and were cast away in the end, but their children and creations defied them. The animal gods and animal races decided to forge their own destinies, away from the devastating war. To this day, the animal races live all around the world, and spread, worshipping their own gods, and avoiding conflicts of the firstborn and the newborn.
Since that day, many more races were born from the original ones. Halflings and gnomes populate the world, as well as goblins, trolls or kenkus and kobolds. Since the original war, the world is still scarred, and torn by constant elemental upheavals, but it remains in an uneasy peace between the races, all of which think of the other ones either as ugly, sinful barbarians, or men like them.
[/spoiler]
Short description of important races:Nephilim, the dominant race of Olam, are descended from angels and demons, and as born of opposites, they are people of the extreme. As strong individualists, their main credo is "we are our own Gods".*
Humans, the youngest of the firstborn, are most widespread and adapting. Not only do they quickly breed (all year long, unlike most races), they can live almost anywhere and quickly assimilate into local cultures. Some say they are destined for future greatness, some see them as just vermin.*
Dwarves, unlike your typical Dwarves, are not strongly lawful. They're usually rather barbaric, loving huge amounts of liquor and fighting. The southern Dwarves, living nearby human-dominant Hellade, are more settled and "urbane", but are still wild spirits.*
Elves are withdrawn and secretive, hiding in large cities and fortresses among the forests of Gaelega. While generally nice to outsiders, they keep them away from their civilisation, out of fear that the devastation of the Original War will repeat itself.*
Hobgoblins were made by the Titans as brutish thugs, and as such are complete failure: lands of Khitai (and surrounding nations) are a blooming, expanding civilisation. While still not fairly pleasant to deal with (usually being rather cynical and foul-mouthed), Hobgoblins are one of the most civilised races of the world.*
Orcs are said to be the newborn equivalent of dwarves: short, strong and barbaric, they also love to drink and fight, but they're far more shamanistic and concentrated on honor.*
Goliaths are descendants of the Giants that were originally formed by the Titans. While the Giants have largely removed themselves from the spotlight (living as almost hermits in inacessible places), their much smaller descendants spread across the world. They seem to worship only the universe itself, as the greatest spirit of all, concentrating their civilisations around this religion.*
Remites are the most advanced of the animal races. Those falcon-headed sages and paladins are main drive behind the country of Kemet, centered around the river Hap.*
Anubites are sometimes called another "vermin" race - those dog-headed humanoids spread and breed quickly, but prefer to live in the shadows, unlike ever present humans.*
Sutekhs easily blend with the rest of Kemet, but a good deal of them harbor a dark secret - hidden cults of the Titans and their deified prophet Seth (a chaotic evil son of Fauna) seek to unmake the order of the Erberian gods.*
Most of the core D&D playable races are there, just not as important as the above, and will be detailed later.*
[/list]
The world is still in the making, as I never before had the chance (or drive) to compile the bigger picture of it, but I like where's it going, with its "lighter" theme and mix of Biblical and Greek themes - avoiding completely the staple "medieval fantasy with polytheism".
I'm open for any suggestions and opinions (well, if you tell me just that 'I suck' I'm not gonna change much...). I will especially welcome questions, as those usually help me clarify my ideas best - so you will help in creating this world this way!
Hmmm. You are on your way. Tell me about civilisaation as the players would perceive it.
In general? There are already some countries and cultural centres developing - like Nephilim Kenaani, Human Hellade, Remite Kemet or Hobgoblin Khitai, but those are rather archaic.
Unlike Earth's early civilisation, which developed largely in isolation, there is a quite significant communication between the cultural centres - due to Nephilim fleets, nomadic humans or crazy gnomish contraptions allowing almost instant communication between continents (if you don't mind your hair just slightly burnt). As such, some cultural elements easily and quickly expand over the world.
If you mean in specific, I can give some general description of main cultural centres' themes, when compared to our world:
Nephilim civilisation of Kenaani is a big mix of different elements. Their name is from Bible, their geographical and cultural position from Atlantis, while aesthestics are somewhat mix of Chinese and Mesopotamian.
The Chinese element came to be in a weirdest way - I made a sketch of a Nephilim, spending some time on detailing his ornate robe. The result, despite having some Hebrew characters inscribed on it, looked quite Chinese to me, and his face ended up looking rather Mongolian. I liked it, and decided to use the far-eastern element. (Might upload that sketch some time)
Humans and their Hellade are pretty much archaic Greece (i.e. Mycaenean rather than classic). I'm thinking of adding some elements borrowed from other parts of the world, but as it was the place from which I extrapolated Olam, I think I'm liking it how it is.
Kemet, consisting mainly of the animal races, is supposed to be equivalent to ancient Egypt of our world, but Egypt before the pharaohs and before Seth's usurpation of divine throne. Some Arabic elements will probably be there, but I leave most of them for the neighboring Jomoria (largely undeveloped).
Khitai is somewhat turko-mongolian. It's the hobgoblin civilisation which ended up rather close to Hellade (due to how I misshapen the continents, the "China" is right next to it on the other side). Hobgoblins are rather rough and unpleasant people, but civilised - how you could usually see in fiction the semi-nomadic turkic peoples of the Great Steppes.
There are more civilisations and cultures I'm working on (multiracial Vineland, shifters of Lakotta, vaguely celtic elves of Gaelega, gnomes of Benian etc.), but more on it in a detailed update dedicated to it.
And knowing me, that's probably not at all what you meant.
Okay, so I thought to post a short paragraph that I'd imagine would go into the introductory parts of the campaign setting book, were it an official D&D setting. Namely, one that would explain how is this world "genuinely better" than most settings.
Unlike most campaign settings, Olam is not teeming with hostile sapient life forms. That is not to say there is little diversity on this world - there is a plenty of races evolving on the world which are still searching for their place. The difference is, most of them do not have 'kill everything that is not us on sight' modus operandi. Calling Kobolds or Orcs monsters is considered a racial slur, as they're not any more monstrous than, say, Humans or Dwarves - apart from just looking differently. Most races avoid open military conflicts, because the Original War happened only a few generations ago (and some longer lived races may still hold aged individuals who remember it personally), and as such, most humanoids try to settle their place in the world, with as little bloodshed as possible. In short, if you're attacked on sight by a sapient creature, you're most likely either trespassing on their land, or destroyed something holy for them.
However, you might say, the same does not have to hold for outsiders and other kinds of creatures. Here's how those differ on Olam:
There are no demons and devils of classical D&D description. The world is still very young and fairly isolated in regards to the planes, so it's unheard of on Olam to meet a devil or a demon. Granted, the role of "cunning supernatural evil" is fulfilled by Olam's native Genies, but they're very much unlike demonic hordes.*
Elementals are usually neutral or friendly, seeking no harm to random adventurers, unless they're openly killing elemental creatures and defiling nature. Elementals keep to their own, and sometimes engage in artistic activities, shaping young and unformed land and sea into works of art.*
Aberrant creatures should logically appear commonly, due to the speculated position of Olam as nested inside Far Realm, but their intrusions are very rare, as the crystal sphere holding this world is still very strong and firm - very strong magic is needed to break the barriers down even for a moment.*
There are no known big undead threats as due to the world's age, there has been no fallen civilisation that could lead to ruined kingdoms filled with wraiths, or decrepit mages had little time to develop magical theories and rituals needed to become masters of the dead.
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You might think, if this world is so peaceful, it would be terribly boring to play in. However, it is not, due to different approach Olam needs from players. It is not a world designed for a dungeon crawl and slaying Kobolds in thousands, and looting magical items off their bodies. Despite several categories of creatures - mainly non-sapient - remaining viable as openly hostile enemies, the main focus is to encourage players to play their characters as parts of society, mingling with all the various and colorful humanoid races and exploring the wonders of the pristine world, establishing their new outposts of civilisation - or protecting that virginal wilderness from the encroaching urbanised future.
So who is your enemies, apart from "stupid" animals and an occasional chimaera? Answer to this question is easy: anyone can be your enemy. The face of evil in this world is very human(oid), and while evil men may still employ magic, they may come in any shape or form. Of course, you might wish to break any of the aforementioned rules, e.g. explaining it as the first time this happens, but a special approach for Olam is recommended.
Quote from: KalontasIn general? There are already some countries and cultural centres developing - like Nephilim Kenaani, Human Hellade, Remite Kemet or Hobgoblin Khitai, but those are rather archaic.
Unlike Earth's early civilisation, which developed largely in isolation, there is a quite significant communication between the cultural centres - due to Nephilim fleets, nomadic humans or crazy gnomish contraptions allowing almost instant communication between continents (if you don't mind your hair just slightly burnt). As such, some cultural elements easily and quickly expand over the world.
If you mean in specific, I can give some general description of main cultural centres' themes, when compared to our world:
Nephilim civilisation of Kenaani is a big mix of different elements. Their name is from Bible, their geographical and cultural position from Atlantis, while aesthestics are somewhat mix of Chinese and Mesopotamian.
The Chinese element came to be in a weirdest way - I made a sketch of a Nephilim, spending some time on detailing his ornate robe. The result, despite having some Hebrew characters inscribed on it, looked quite Chinese to me, and his face ended up looking rather Mongolian. I liked it, and decided to use the far-eastern element. (Might upload that sketch some time)
Humans and their Hellade are pretty much archaic Greece (i.e. Mycaenean rather than classic). I'm thinking of adding some elements borrowed from other parts of the world, but as it was the place from which I extrapolated Olam, I think I'm liking it how it is.
Kemet, consisting mainly of the animal races, is supposed to be equivalent to ancient Egypt of our world, but Egypt before the pharaohs and before Seth's usurpation of divine throne. Some Arabic elements will probably be there, but I leave most of them for the neighboring Jomoria (largely undeveloped).
Khitai is somewhat turko-mongolian. It's the hobgoblin civilisation which ended up rather close to Hellade (due to how I misshapen the continents, the "China" is right next to it on the other side). Hobgoblins are rather rough and unpleasant people, but civilised - how you could usually see in fiction the semi-nomadic turkic peoples of the Great Steppes.
There are more civilisations and cultures I'm working on (multiracial Vineland, shifters of Lakotta, vaguely celtic elves of Gaelega, gnomes of Benian etc.), but more on it in a detailed update dedicated to it.
And knowing me, that's probably not at all what you meant.
I like Kemet.
I don't like typical 'crazy gnomish gadgets'
I think hellade is an intersting starting point...but I am forced to ask why these countries are xenophobic and race-specific. There are reasons it can happen, but it does not always make sense. SO I am curious about that. Vineland catches my eye becasu4e of this.
Quote from: LordVreeg I like Kemet.
I don't like typical 'crazy gnomish gadgets'
I think hellade is an intersting starting point...but I am forced to ask why these countries are xenophobic and race-specific. There are reasons it can happen, but it does not always make sense. SO I am curious about that. Vineland catches my eye becasu4e of this.
They're not really xenophobic. They're rather open, but you have to keep in mind civilisation only had a short time to develop, so cultures, cities and countries are largely based on large-scale blood relations (by races or groups of races (like goblinoids) etc.). In the future of this world I'm seeing right now, the races and cultures would mix up.
And partially I base countries around races because of influence of your typical fantasy. Might be a bad influence in this case - but because the world is young in both in-universe and out-of-universe meaning, I may change it.
As for gnomes and their contraptions, well, there is no accountation for tastes. I like my gnomes crazy.
So I thought about expanding on another point which is making Olam different from other campaign settings (don't worry, hypothetical reader, the culture descriptions will come, soon(tm)). Namely, a unique plane that is in essence, a complete inversion of the Shadowfell (regular Shadowfell is still there, and is called Hades).
Elysium, or the Blessed Lands
Elysium, also known as Land of the Blessed or the Fortunate Glades, is a plane permeated with happiness and good fortune. While sharing with the Feywild an element of "bright beauty", the two planes differ mostly on the basis of Feywild being "land of the extremes" and Elysium being land of happiness. Native inhabitants of Elysium (mostly originating from spirits of blessed dead) come from any mortal, sapient races and live together in perfect harmony, regardless of their former shape, color or creed. Cities of the blessed dot the landscape, with bright, shining palaces taking place of every home, parks full of verdant trees and rivers and ponds full of pristinely clean water. Even in the wilderness, the animals are non-hostile and never attack and eat each other. Indeed, one does not need to eat while in Elysium - it is speculated the radiant energies of the plane provide sustenance to the inhabitants. The bright happiness of those lands is as mind-warping as the malady of the Shadowfell - it feels to be such a nice place, most inhabitants of the Prime Material will quickly abandon their former lives and missions, not thinking of the price they would have to pay.
Cities of Elysium, and the whole plane, are overseen by radiant, humanoid creatures with featureless faces and bald heads. Those genderless guardians of Elysium, sometimes nicknamed by the visitors "Quasars" for their bright radiance, rarely maintain contact with other beings, prefering to observe everyone from a distance. Quasars are mostly said to be a planar "police" which maintains peace and happiness on Elysium - they can't allow anyone to disturb the blessed dead. There is something odd about them however - they are not angels, and are far from it. As a police force, they will swiftly dispatch any troublemakers, whether they be outsiders or disturbed natives. Due to the Quasars' guidance, people of Elysium are happy, but completely equivocal, having no tastes or preferences of their own, all sharing single standards in art and other parts of life. Anyone who stands out will either magically change his mind due to the influence of the plane, or will be quickly removed by the Quasars. Elysium makes one message clear to the inhabitants of Olam who have seen it: the price for Utopia is your individuality.
Quasars however are not evil, psychic vampires or malevolent in any way. They merely do what they believe is best for the blessed spirits, and do not enjoy doing anyone harm. Their origins however still remain a mystery, as they rarely speak to anyone apart from demanding uniformity.
Blessed Dark
Like every other plane, Elysium has its own Underdark, but due to the plane's nature, it's not "more evil" version of the plane. Deep beneath the surface of Elysium rest those who did not conform to Elysium's standards, while still pursuing their happiness. The chaotic and quirky individuals who never conform to society's norms, but are still good beings, often end up there. Quasars do not have the heart to truly kill good beings, so they isolate them in the Blessed Dark, where the unending bacchanalia of those blessed spirits can continue without disturbing the peace of the surface. Most of those people are perfectly content with their position, since even the Blessed Dark maintains enough sunlight to have as much light as stormy morning on Prime Material; and here, as they believe, they are free of the opression of the Quasars. Little do they know, ever here they are quietly observed by them, to never break out of the line or influence the surface.
Other planes
As mentioned above, Shadowfell is called Hades and is largely unchanged from the basic setup.
The Feywild is called "the Primordial Jungle" as its filled with life completely alien to most of Olam, life hard to tame or comprehend to the mortal races. Essentially, plane-wide Isle of Dread. Elves, Eladrin, Fomorians etc. all dwell on the Prime Material.
Human cultures, or, ancient Greece and fantasy Nazis!
Hellade
Major races: Human
Minor races: Satyr, Centaur, Dwarf
Magic sources: Divine, Arcane
Government alignment: mainly, unaligned (lawful neutral), differs from city to city, but rarely delves into evil
Aesthetical inspirations: archaic Greece
Cultural inspirations: ancient Greece
Geography: Hellade consists of a peninsula on the south-eastern tip of Planitia, and an archipelago of mostly small islands, stretching to the Khitan coast. Peninsula is very mountainous and as an origin of Hellade's people, it was the main factor in developing of highly decentralised culture, centred around small city-states '" some as small as the valleys the cities are nested in. While rather short on forests, and thus wood, area of Helladian peninsula is otherwise very rich in minerals, their exploitation and trade being main source of income of the city-states. Lack of woods and farming grounds led people of Hellade outwards, and onto exploring the scattered islands of the Minoan Sea. While still rocky and short on plains, the islands are rich in cedar trees, still abundant in minerals, and a good place to plant fruit trees, which are the main source of food for the Helladians (discounting mostly imported grains and meats).
Politics and society: As mentioned above, Hellade does not have a united government. The three most powerful city-states are the mercantile island state of Veneto (named after goddess of wisdom, Veneta), militaristic state of Laconia (stretching across several big valleys on the peninsula) and religious and secretive Theodos. While Hellade does have a governing body, with five representatives chosen in a first-past-the-post system, this body's (called the Gerusion, or the 'Council of Elders') permissions are rather limited, making it mostly a legislative figurehead, used to adjudicate disputes between the states.
Society is mostly concentrated on loyalty and dedication to patriarchal, nuclear family, called the base unit of society, which then expands to loyalty to the city, then to the state '" if there is one beyond the city '" then to the Helladian civilisation as a whole, and only then to the gods. For the Helladians, the smaller units come first in importance, leaving gods as the distant lords which must be only periodically silenced with timely offerings. However, a ruling of the higher unit can always overrule the smaller unit's decisions, causing sometimes friction between e.g. person avenging a family member by killing a royal senator. In this example, loyalty to the family comes first, justifying the killer's actions, but his crime against the state can be fined. However, most of the time, such unique cases do not come up, even if they should, with Helladians preferring to keep family matters between the families, and not involving the state.
Hellade is mostly a human culture, but other races are not unheard of. Particularly populous are the Satyrs, who dwell inside hidden forest shrines, or are drawn towards the loud cities, pumping with life '" enjoying which is the sole raison d'être of a Satyr. Unlike humans of Hellade, Satyrs do not remain in big nuclear families, preferring either solitary life, or feasting with big amounts of people until they lose consciousness. This chaotic and wild nature of Satyrs can sometimes alienate them from the humans, but many of them like their companionship, because of the aura of good entertainment that follows them.
Other minor races are Centaurs, who remain mostly in their own communities high in the mountains (preferring those environments to the already crowded human valleys), and the Dwarves who integrate into human society, mostly as smiths, artisans and warriors, due to their usually superior strength. Other races, like cyclopean giants, are not unheard of, but their numbers are usually negligible.
History: Hellade originated from the city-state of Elis, at the foot of mount Erberus, and located in a natural bay. The place where Elis now stands was the place where the gods first created humans and the place from which humans spread around the region and world. Originally, Elis was the centre of government for all of Hellade (being the source of the culture's name), and kings of that city had authority '" if limited '" over the newly founded island cities, including the not-yet-named Veneto. During the Original War, a Hobgoblin fleet landed near Elis and despite valiant defence, razed the city to the ground, killing most of its inhabitants. This heavy blow to the civilisation of Hellade became the reason the city-states so quickly splintered just after the war. While Elis has been since rebuilt, and to this day houses the Council of Elders, its importance has largely diminished, losing its central authority completely.
During the time of Elis' nonexistence, Veneto took the position of the informal head of operations for the humans. Its diverse and politically apt elites proved to be great leaders, being able to find and hire greatest military minds on the continent. After the war and reconstruction of Elis, Veneto lost its position as the informal leader of Hellade, but its monetary and political influence is still heavily felt around the region, and usually two out of five Elders come from Veneto (the third usually coming from a nearby, allied island of Delos, giving Veneto voting majority in the council). The recent years saw quick rise of a militaristic state of Laconia, which used its own defence as a casus belli, to expand among the neighbouring valleys. Not often interested in politics, Laconians are said to be the greatest threat to the current Venetian dominance of Hellade. Veneto still disregards them as unimportant, but they will maintain this stance as long as Laconia does not issue an imposing fleet, which is not an impossible feat.
The island of Theodos is a largely isolated island located near the Khitan coast, not bothering itself with politics of the rest of the region. The state is centred around the cult of the Sun Queen, and is regulated by a religious law which was supposedly given to the founder of the city, legendary Theodes, by the goddess herself. This religion doesn't clash with the Erberian religion of the rest of Hellade (because the Sun Queen did not take sides in the Original War), but because they're different, Theodosians often think of themselves as better than the rest of humans. Its fairly strict isolation has also caused it to be somewhat of an asylum for political dissidents of other city-states, but as long as immigrants live by the rules of the Sun Queen, Theodosians do not oppose this movement.
Vashar
Major races: Human
Minor races: very limited elven presence
Magic sources: Shadow, Arcane
Government alignment: evil (lawful evil)
Aesthetical inspirations: medieval Europe, ancient Norse
Cultural inspirations: Nazis, Vasharans of D&D 3.5 BoVD
Geography: Vashar is a nominal empire located on the north-east of the Planitian mainland. The core of the country lies in an inaccessible plateau to the north of the great river of Histler, and empire's influence is stretching to most of the lower reaches of the river. The riverlands are mostly a great farming ground and once a location of a small independent elven state that has been since destroyed by the expanding Vasharans. The elves have either been exterminated or turned into slave labour, which works all day to harvest crops that would mostly be send to the Vasharan Plateau. Being the granary of the empire, there is not much more to see on the riverlands. The Plateau however, is an isolated and cold, harsh place which requires a good deal of effort to maintain together. The Plateau does not have any notable resources, either because it's been stripped bare by the Vasharans themselves, or because there never were any. This situation forces the Vasharans into constant expansion and raids upon surrounding territories, and is speculated to be the reason for highly xenophobic and aggressive mindset among the Vasharans themselves.
Vasharan Empire borders elven confederacy of Eridan, a small, dwarven mountain kingdom of Steelforge, and some outlying Gaellegan colonies. All those countries are highly uneasy for having to borders this aggressive cilivisation, but prefer to not provoke them '" knowing the brutality they are able to inflict and how fierce they are in combat.
Politics and society: First and foremost, it's very easy to tell a Vasharan apart from a Helladian. Sometimes called a subrace, they are in fact closely related, with the only differences being phenotypic. While people of Hellade have usually deep tan skin and curly, dark hair, Vasharans pride themselves on pale complexions, bright blonde hair colour and strikingly blue, green or red eyes. The conditions they live in also enforce at least some level of physical fitness, leading to a mindset which tells a Vasharan he is somehow member of a perfect, 'master' race.
Vasharans are ruled by a single emperor, sometimes titled just 'Leader' in their own language, which they developed to be contrastingly different from that of Helladians, preferring more harsh and guttural sounds. Their Leader has an absolute authority over all matters and while he does use a body of governors to relieve himself of massive duties, he can, and often does, overrule any of their decisions. The Leaders of Vasharans come from the same dynasty that founded the empire in the aftermath of the Original War.
Vasharans are expected to have an utter and total loyalty to the state and the Leader, regardless of anything else. In strike contrast to Helladians, if a family member commits a crime against the empire, a Vasharan is expected to, and often does, to inform the authorities of the transgression as soon as possible. Very uniform and disciplined Vasharan troops are said to be a danger to any state they dare to challenge.
Other races are very rare in the Vasharan empire, due to their politics. Both nearby Dwarves and Elves avoid them like wildfire, and Helladians pretend to not know anything about them, or to be unrelated to them. The only gods that Vasharans sometimes worship, are any gods of cruelty, brutality and war, if they think they can gain anything from such prayers, but often, they do not care for piousness, but cold, brutal effectiveness.
History: The Vasharan Empire was founded by an exile from Theodos, expelled for war crimes in the aftermath of the Original War. This brutal general had no qualms about slaughtering innocents of the newborn races, claiming they, as creations of the Titans, deserved only to die. Not accepting his loss, he invoked his family's power on Theodos and from inside the prison (where he was awaiting death sentence) caused biggest riots in history of the city. Rebels springed the evil general out of prison and together escaped the city to the lands '" then '" unknown. Theodos did not pursue them, believing the problem to be out of their heads.
General Smarck landed near the mouth of river Histler where he tried to bargain with the local elven population. As he was denied access to their lands (all races hated the general for his infamous brutality, even his allies), Smarck ordered to burn any elven farms they could find, and marshalled his troops on a way to the Vasharan Plateau. His evil magicians slaughtered or mind controlled beasts and monsters that protected passes leading to the top, as he lead his family and compatriots to the unclaimed land. Little did he know how harsh and unwelcoming will be the conditions atop of it, but as he vowed to never look back in his life, he didn't. Naming themselves after their new home, Vasharans started to exploit whatever resources were in place, and planning revenge, or conquest of anyone who will stand on their way to domination of the known world.
Modern Vasharans all descend from those few people, and hold them, as well as Leader Smarck himself, in highest possible regard, claiming his 'virtues' and martial prowess as an ideal any Vashar aspires to.
I'm considering addition of another "main" playable race, besides Nephilim and elevating most monster races to playable status. The idea was brewing in my head since some time, but I couldn't find a proper outlet for it so far. Perhaps this is the way? All hail the lightning rod people!
Stormshieldren
Stormshieldren are elemental people who, for most inhabitants of Olam, resemble a lightning cloud encased in an armor shell. The Stormshieldren are an alien race who have no discernible local origins (or hide them really well). No supernatural or natural beings are willing to claim responsibility for creating the Stormshieldren and they themselves claim to be not of this world. Of what world they are, they refuse to explain, saying only that "it's complicated". Some use this as a proof that Olam is located in the Elemental Chaos, and Stormshieldren "leaked" through the crystal sphere inside. However, the typical Stormshieldren mindset is vastly different from that of most elementals.
Stormshieldren are alien, aloof and withdrawn. They rarely communicate with non-stormshieldren, and even between themselves, they appear to have some sort of telepatic link, which they use instead of speaking. However, psionics users could not read any of those thoughts, leading to speculation the Stormshieldren minds are unreadible to local psions because of how alien they are, or their communication is not telepathic at all, but rather a form of electrical discharge. Stormshieldren walk among the cities and people, and sometimes even wilderness, rarely taking part in events, preferring to observe from afar. Sometimes they appear to mumble something to themselves, but such mumblings are incompehensible to any non-stormshieldren. When they do take action, they often simply come in to adventuring parties and offer their help and natural talents. Stormshieldren are very rarely aggressive towards anyone, but if attacked can prove to be very fierce and unusually cruel towards their enemies, rarely taking into account anyone's emotions.
While alien and distant, they appear to have gathered a significant knowledge of Olam's inhabitants and their psychology, or at least of beings of flesh. They tend to easily understand complex humanoid emotions and relations, quickly asserting the situation in a cold, clinical manner. They are not beyond acting out emotions in order to achieve their enigmatic goals, but are usually socially awkward, despite this vast theoretical knowledge.
Stormshieldren appeared on Olam very recently and do not have any communities of their own.
The true nature and goals of the Stormshieldren are completely unknown to inhabitants of Olam, and the DM may decide by himself which of the common theories about them are true (if any):
1) Stormshieldren are scouts for a future elemental invasion, and appear so distant and observant because that's exactly what they are doing - they observe the world around them and its defenses, noting all weak and strong points of the inhabitants, so their mysterious masters can easily exploit those.
2) Stormshieldren are curious explorers from a distant world torn by wild elements. They are almost incapable of humanoid-like emotions, but are able to understand them and their motivations, because they see all actions as thoroughly logical and foreseeable processes. The curiosity of flesh-based life, one so alien to them, leads to life of exploration.
3) Stormshieldren are in fact aberrant creatures and merely emenations of a dream of a Great Old One - which would explain their unknown communication methods. This aberrant creatures treats flesh life as just another phantasm and most likely won't abstain from just "waking them off".
4) Stormshieldren are but another natural emanation of the world around the flesh beings, and claim to be alien only because they are different than them.
I'm awaiting any opinions on that idea in particular. (also, this thread will probably soon need an index)
So I was thinking, I'll detail the cultures in my semi-private place and leave this place for more interesting to an average reader pieces (a piece on a very interesting - IMHO - god incoming possibly today late or tomorrow). To know what and how much I have to detail, I decided to make a list of cultures there should be around the world.
QuoteKenaan
Kenaani: Nephilim/Human/Kenku//Aasimar/Tiefling/Eladrin
Zynnas: Tiefling/Nephilim//Minotaur, Owlkin
Azerum: Nephilim/Azer//Dwarf, Goliath
Vineland: Nephilim/Human/Anubite/Goblin//many others
Planitia
Ibir: Orc/Gnoll
Hellade: Human//Dwarf, Satyr, Centaur
Vashar: Human
Naplia: Human/Elf/Dwarf/Orc//Mul/Half-elf/Half-orc/Guchuss (orc-elf)
Gaellega: Eladrin/Elf/Merfolk//Verbeeg/Goliath/Satyr
Eridanus: Elf/Satyr/Halfling//Dwarf/Minotaur/Tusker
Nidvalir: Dwarf/Goliath/Mul//Giant/Azer
Citra
Khitai: Hobgoblin/Goblin/Bugbear//Oxtrorki/Scalovian/Kenku
Jomoria: Genasi/Aarakocra/Apkallu//Oxtrorki/Scalovian
Shang: Minotaur/Orc//Utang
Tang: Dragonborn/Kobold
Qin: Dragonborn/Kobold/Tortolian
Han: Qirinal/Kobold
Jinto: Kitsunare/Ogre/Oni/Kappa
Saraswata: Vannara/Naga/Shivaita//Deva/Rakshasa
Begawan: Troll/Giant/Bullywug
Moorland
Kemet: Remite/Anubite/Sutekh//Suchan/Bastid/Rakshasa/Dwarf
M'buktan: Lizardfolk//Vegepygmies
Benian: Wilden/Volodni//Vegepygmies
Axium: Vannara/Grommamm/Hadozee/Utang
Bornu: Giff/Loxo/Cerian
Songei: Myrmidon
Luangia: Gnome//Vegepygmies
Kangan: Volodni/Vegepygmies/Wilden
Katangan: Vespene
Qitara: Pandan/Ursine
Suhilian: Hobgoblin/Orc//Ogre/Oni/Ettin
Xhosiria: Drow/Shardmind
Ustr
Lakotta: Shifter/Goliath
Mohi-Rocee: Goliath
Navachia: Minotaur
Ultramar: Deva/Aasimar
Teotlan: Human/Lizardfolk//Lichborn/Aarakocra/Kenku
Taino: Pteronts/Harpies/Aarakocra
Sudermania
Intiron: Behemothics
Xingua: Gorgon/Lizardfolk/Warforged
Mapukia: Chaut (bulettes)/Tusker
Remote parts of the world
Chukachun: Insectare/Kenku/Gnoll
Auriga: Sahuagin//multinational pirates
Veissan: Vryloka
(Underdark: Drow, Kenku, Ettercap, Desmodu, Fomorian, Grimlock, Aboleth, Shardmind)
(Seas: Sahuagin/Kuo-Toa/Merfolk/Cecaelia/Catulian (Cthulhu)/Algers (seaweed))
Ahem... that's a bit of a job to do. What do you think a good time to start would be? Possibly "right f-ng now"?
yes. Though where do you think the PCs would start?
Quote from: LordVreeg yes. Though where do you think the PCs would start?
Most possibly Kenaani (Nephilim place) or Hellade, because those two places are most developed right now, with Kemet close third. The "featured adventure" for this world starts in Hellade, with an intrigue of a Nephilim noble.
So I thought about sharing with you the information about the god I mentioned before. I think he's a fairly original and potentially great addition.
Pompus, God of the LostGood (neutral good)Pompus is a spirit worshipped in all of Olam, even if sometimes under slightly changed names (e.g. Ponpe in Jinto). Most people called him a god due to his role and religious nature, but most people say that he neither has the power level equal to this of the Erberians, nor is related to them. Nevertheless, this spirit is still worshipped as a god, and one with a very wide domain at that. It's said his worship started as a simple guide to people who got lost in the wilderness, but as the knowledge of his existence and his benevolence spread, more and more people claimed to be "lost", in very different ways. Today, Pompus is said to be the patron of the lost, regardless of how were they lost. As such, several different groups claim to be under his guidance:
As it was his original domain, people physically lost in the wilderness, or in unknown countries, asking Pompus to lead them to safety*
People who lost their way in life, and don't know what should they do, or what difficult choices to make ask Pompus to lead them to right choices*
People who fell to bad companionships are said to be lost to society - and so their former friends - or those people themselves, in rare occurences, ask Pompus to lead them out and back to the society*
People who lost faith in power and benevolence of the gods ask Pompus to lead them back to piety
Or, in other words, if one feels in any way lost, without hope or an idea of getting out of the problem, asks Pompus for guidance - and he in his infinite wisdom and benevolence is said to always know the way out.
Pompus is said to have originally been born as one the Hemeras, the day spirits. While all Hemeras have within them a divine spark and are usually benevolent, none has been known at such a scale as Pompus, despite him having no position of power among them. He is often even said to be an exile - cursed to forever wander the wilderness, without a purpose or home, for sins unknown. But, as Pompus's worshippers say, he found his purpose during his wanders - the purpose being to find and guide lost mortal souls, no matter in what matter they are lost. Since then, he never ceased his efforts and is said to always come to those truly in need.
Pompus knows no lords over him and accepts none, even shunning psalms directed at him, claiming to be just a modest guide, not worthy of being given a divine status. This modest being's true physical form is unknown, as he is often depicted as an old, haggard man of whatever race drew or scuplted him. Depicted as clothed in rags, and leaning on a gnarled, wooden staff, he is said to avoid fame and aknowledgement, merely resorting to speaking words to truth to those who truly need them.
Pompus's creed:Nothing and nobody is truly lost, not ever*
There is always hope for the better day, which might be just around the corner*
Find hope and solace in what you have, and don't spite those who have more
Just wanted to say,
Quote from: KalontasSo the world I was leading that campaign in became a world where ALL myths are true. I mean, literally all of them.
this[/i] is awesome. I love it. I love myths and ancient cultures especially Greece and Rome. The world looks great so far. Its detailed enough to suck you in, but not so foreign and alien as to make one give up trying to understand whats going on. I suppose the real world myth base helps. Keep it up!
In case anyone was wondering, I am not dead, nor is this project. Even though it was halted for a time by a real world stuff, the development was still going on, even if only in my head. I have recently started coming back to some concept arts for the more unique races, including the Qirinal.
The Qirinal are barely mentioned above so far, but they're Qirin people that head one of the "Chinese" countries up above, namely Han, which is the one stylised mostly after the Imperial China, with Cantonese and Taiping elements. So, I made some basic physiology sketch for the Qirinal... and it ended up looking like an elderly furry hippie (short, plump, hairy dude with antlers and muzzle). Just thought someone might want to know that. :D
In short, the work is still going on.
I seem to have a problem with Naplia. If you look it up on my "table" up there which lists races per land, you will find it has a lot of standard fantasy species and their hybrids. The conclusion you would get from that is that is was meant to be a "generic fantasy land" of Olam, but as I started clarifying what I really want from my setting, I found that I don't like it being there at all. Of course, you can still say I can describe in details the tons of other, more important lands, and just give it a short paragraph like most distant lands... but it just doesn't fit there. To the north is Galleaga, the celtic/norse elven lands, to the east is Hellade, one of the most important points of the setting, and somewhat further west (but still close by) is Kenaan, the other most important part. It just feels so... odd there. Its geographical position would make it a vague lift off real world's Italy... but not only this world doesn't need Rome, the plain lifts right off real world are just boring. Also, it's right in the middle of the geographical belt I decided to be the focus of the cultural descriptions.
So my question to you now: what to do with Naplia? I have completely no idea for it right now, and any help would be appreciated.
I'm a bit confused as to what you're aiming for here. You mention that the world is very new with an Iron Age influence, but you're bringing in many things, that at least to me, seem to counter this theme, like bringing in real world influences from far later in history - Turks and Arabs for example - and the fact that there seems to be lots of unified and stable kingdoms and empires. But the earth is new idea is good and not commonly used. We're used to seeing old, ancient worlds with lots of history, but not too many settings have the earth being wet from birth still.
What about taking the Tolkien-esque fantasy you kinda have going here, but turning back the clocks on the "standard DnD". Elves are savage and wild, humans are far from united, the dwarves have just started to discover steel, etc, and mix your real world influences with a bit of cave-man and backwardsness, almost pre-Greek.
I think a short, very descriptive paragraph that describes Olam in concise terms would be helpful to all, as I, at least, am a bit lost trying to wrap my head around this setting.
Hope none of this was too negative!
Quote from: Señor Leetz
I'm a bit confused as to what you're aiming for here. You mention that the world is very new with an Iron Age influence, but you're bringing in many things, that at least to me, seem to counter this theme, like bringing in real world influences from far later in history - Turks and Arabs for example - and the fact that there seems to be lots of unified and stable kingdoms and empires. But the earth is new idea is good and not commonly used. We're used to seeing old, ancient worlds with lots of history, but not too many settings have the earth being wet from birth still.
Because maybe my early Iron Age is not as early as it may have sounded... I'm imagining that since the Original War have passed around 800 years - which is enough for the then created kingdoms to consolidate enough to have a culture and art, but not enough to have big empires. The technological level is mainly based on Iron Age, with few oddities based on the influence of magic and gods (like gnomes who try dabbling in steam technology).
How should I say it... it's Iron Age, if Iron Age had meddling gods and magic that allowed travel and communication from Carribean to Japan. And there's Atlantis.
On cultural basis, the inspiration is very wide. Nephilim are Phoenician mixed with Baroque europe (and a bit of enlightment with their atheism, or rather "self-theism"), Helladians are Greeks of Iron Age (so rather think Athens and Sparta than Mycenae), and the Khitan Hobgoblins are Turko-Mongolian, because I imagined that kind of culture might be cool to see mingling with "ancient Greece" on one side and "Ming China" on the other. So the actual cultures presented are mainly allowed in based on Rule of Cool.
QuoteWhat about taking the Tolkien-esque fantasy you kinda have going here, but turning back the clocks on the "standard DnD". Elves are savage and wild, humans are far from united, the dwarves have just started to discover steel, etc, and mix your real world influences with a bit of cave-man and backwardsness, almost pre-Greek.
That's certainly an idea I'm entertaining. There are only few areas that have somewhat developed countries - most of it is still tribal (but it's barely mentioned so far because it's on the outskirts of the budding civilisation).
QuoteI think a short, very descriptive paragraph that describes Olam in concise terms would be helpful to all, as I, at least, am a bit lost trying to wrap my head around this setting.
Well, it seems then that this (http://www.thecbg.org/index.php/topic,208441.msg208489.html#msg208489) failed at its purpose. I was thinking of rewriting things like those anyway.
QuoteHope none of this was too negative!
Not at all. It's the first time I'm trying to do something like this, and I welcome any clues about what I might be doing wrong.
Just a thought here, but I've found, maybe because of personal tastes, that creating a fantasy world based on real-world sources is extremely difficult to pull together once you expand past a couple real-world influences. This may seem strange coming from the guy who's working on Arga, being extremely Hellenicly (is that a word?) influenced, but then again I'm just using one, more or less, influence to tie everything together. Everything is vaguely Greek.
I guess what I am getting at is what is the single theme or influence that ties your whole setting together? Either a real-world influence, as in my case, or a central theme that brings everything together. Using multiple real-world influences will be much easier, and mesh much better, if you have that theme or tone you´re looking for.
Once again, hope this isn't too negative! I do like what you have here, despite my seemingly deconstructive remarks!
All the multiple influences are there because of two reasons.
1) I like mixing together totally unrelated stuff, just to see how it would pan out. Like, haven't you ever thought what would happen if Leonidas fought Suleyman the Great? Or, what would have happened if ancient China was torn between a country ruled by an evil dragon and Taiping Rebellion (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiping_Rebellion)? So as a result, Olam has those tons of anachronistic stuff from all over the place, just for the coolness of it.
2) Because I find plain lifts right out real world cultures rather boring. While ancient Greece or Israel or China are interesting in themselves, fantasy worlds are meant to be fantasy - different, weird, unique. Thus, I mix up as much as I can, while still keeping it recognisable. (Or at least I try to)
My general theme is as I keep repeating: a young, mostly wild world which is just starting to develop its first countries and empires, world still full of magic and gods. And besides this all, a world that feels like you could actually live there without dying every year. And finally: a crazy place where anything is possible.
And again, not too negative at all. I welcome any suggestions. I might not listen to all of them (because of some main principles behind this), but I welcome everything.
Do you still want Naplia to be civilized or would it be better off as a wilderness? Do you even need it? If it doesn't serve any function in your setting (and you haven't drawn up extensive maps!) you could just remove the continent and focus your energy on the important sites.
I'll try and give some more detailed advice after this initial inquiry!
Quote from: Superfluous Crow
Do you still want Naplia to be civilized or would it be better off as a wilderness? Do you even need it? If it doesn't serve any function in your setting (and you haven't drawn up extensive maps!) you could just remove the continent and focus your energy on the important sites.
I'll try and give some more detailed advice after this initial inquiry!
I have honestly no clue what to do with Naplia. It's just that on my map (which is admittedly barely a concept coastline sketch with names on it) it's sitting right in the middle, between certain important places. I guess I can just remove to get rid of the problem, but I feel like I should do
something with it before just writing it off.
Quote from: Kalontas
All the multiple influences are there because of two reasons.
1) I like mixing together totally unrelated stuff, just to see how it would pan out. Like, haven't you ever thought what would happen if Leonidas fought Suleyman the Great? Or, what would have happened if ancient China was torn between a country ruled by an evil dragon and Taiping Rebellion (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiping_Rebellion)? So as a result, Olam has those tons of anachronistic stuff from all over the place, just for the coolness of it.
2) Because I find plain lifts right out real world cultures rather boring. While ancient Greece or Israel or China are interesting in themselves, fantasy worlds are meant to be fantasy - different, weird, unique. Thus, I mix up as much as I can, while still keeping it recognisable. (Or at least I try to)
Haha ok ok, I think my problem with this is that I studied history in university so things like that are really not my thing, but this is YOUR setting, not mine, so I'll try my best!
One more thing, if civilization is new and young, I don't think empires are the way to go. Lots of little kingdoms, clans, and tribes seems like it would make more sense.
Quote from: Señor LeetzOne more thing, if civilization is new and young, I don't think empires are the way to go. Lots of little kingdoms, clans, and tribes seems like it would make more sense.
Of course, most empires are called that just because of titles. The closest thing to an actual empire is the Nephilim dominion of Kenaani - and that's mostly because it's slightly older than anything else (having formed before the Original War), and because the Nephilim's thirst for knowledge calls them out to explore everything and thus expand their influence. (And out of universe, because they're meant to be the hubristic, vain Atlantis)
There seems to be two good approaches to handling Naplia, seeing as you mention it's more or less directly between your important locales:
A) Naplia is home to merchant-cities and market towns where wares are exchanged and supplies replenished on the long trip across the world. A loose league of city-states - squabbling but safe.
B) Naplia is home to all the men and creatures who'd rather see your hard-earned merchandise in their own cargo hull, yet don't want to pay for it. Basically, Naplia is a lawless place, home to smugglers, fugitives and lots and lots of pirates. The few cities exist mostly for the pirates to spend their coin in and are full of whorehouses and cheap entertainment. (think Tortuga)
EDIT: When I say pirates, it doesn't have to be of the rum-swilling and eyepatch-wearing variety - I am certain you could easily craft a special breed of Olamian pirates to fit your setting if you go with option B.
The kind of 'Merchant League' certainly seems an interesting prospect. I'm imagining now three/four cities founded by the Helladian colonists, which are starting to band together to protect their own interests. Think early Magna Graecia. And at the same time, some pirates from Mbuktan may still hide in the unexplored coves on the island.
how big of a world are we talking about? large oceans and large continents? based in the north, south, the whole range of climates? it seems like a larger-than-earth world would work best with the scope and difference in all your races and civs.
I think it's comparably... large? It's kinda hard to compare it to, say, Earth, because it's flat. But given the places I was basing the specific elements on, I'm gonna say it's similar in scale to about... half of Earth. The continents and islands you may recognise on my current map (if you could see it) would be both Americas, Greenland, Europe, half of Asia and Africa. It may seem bigger than it is, because it's pretty densely seeded with all kinds of races.
The strip of land I'm concentrating on (from Jinto in the east to Ultramar in the west) has mostly meditarranean climates, but you can find whatever you want - deserts, jungles, tundras etc. Here climates depend on the proximity of the sun during its daily course - so Veissan is freezing not because of being on the pole, but because sun never shines on it properly.
hows is magic going to be dealt with in this setting?
I don't know if I mentioned this here (and in posts scattered around the boards, where I touched on the subject of Olam), but it's meant to be generally high on magic. As in, magic is common, powerful and its existence is widely known. Just as any other's setting's commoner may know to repair his table or how to trap a bear, on Olam a commoner may know some flashy cantrip or some basic spell that may be useful in the home (for example, some quick summoning of a... uh... beer can?) Because of it's commonality, some people may not know the difference between magic and technology, or indeed mix both. Powerful spellcasters are as rare and strong as educated engineers.
Regarding schools of magic, etc., I'm borrowing the basic system from D&D - so arcane for your typical wizards, divine for believer types, primal for shamans etc., psionic for monks and "mind mages" and finally shadow for the less favorably seen individuals.
is magic, and it's schools, the same in every land across Olam or do different races and cultures use different magics and are some taboo in different lands as well? For example, do hobgoblins prefer evocation over divination? Is necromancy despised or accepted?
While I'm using the 4.0 D&D system as a basis, and don't necessairly use the schools that were either in 3.5 or Essentials (read: I don't know all of them), but if I ever dwell into it, I will probably make different lands and races prefer different schools (for example, establishing a famous School of Transmutation in Zynnas). Necromancy is definitely frowned upon in most countries because of violating person's eternal rest.
Quote from: Kalontas
While I'm using the 4.0 D&D system as a basis, and don't necessairly use the schools that were either in 3.5 or Essentials (read: I don't know all of them), but if I ever dwell into it, I will probably make different lands and races prefer different schools (for example, establishing a famous School of Transmutation in Zynnas). Necromancy is definitely frowned upon in most countries because of violating person's eternal rest.
hmm can't say I know much at all about 4eD&D...
how does magic effect the world though? Things like travel and communication? Are there teleporting guilds and enchanted carrier pidgeons? What about "health care"? Do temples offer the normal run of healing spells at set prices? High-magic settings are great, it just takes alot more work to make everything believable with so much magic available.
The impact of magic on society is something I'd like to spend some more time on later on, but yes, all your suggestions sound interesting. I can for sure say one thing - it sure speeds up travel and communication, as magic is the main reason I give for so much exploration being done in barely 1,000 years of sapient, mortal life and civilisation. For now I'm outlining in my private board the basics of the important cultures on the strip of land I mentioned before.
If anyone was wondering how exactly would that work - basically, the world is supposed to be covered in ley lines, magical currents that naturally draw people and animals to them. Because of that attraction, most cities and capitals are founded on the crossings of those ley lines (the biggest ley crossing is the Living Gate on Auriga). By employing wizard navigators, ships and caravans can follow those ley lines straight to the centers of civilisation. Of course, sometimes those ley crossings are deep underwater and ships are drawn into either arcane vortices or sahuagin colonies (thus having a potentially negative outcome for the ship), but it's risk worth taking for speeding up the exchange of goods and information.
Quote from: Kalontas
I can for sure say one thing - it sure speeds up travel and communication, as magic is the main reason I give for so much exploration being done in barely 1,000 years of sapient, mortal life and civilisation.
this definately makes things much more believable, just be careful not to confuse a high level of development with modernity.
Quote from: Kalontas
If anyone was wondering how exactly would that work - basically, the world is supposed to be covered in ley lines, magical currents that naturally draw people and animals to them. Because of that attraction, most cities and capitals are founded on the crossings of those ley lines (the biggest ley crossing is the Living Gate on Auriga). By employing wizard navigators, ships and caravans can follow those ley lines straight to the centers of civilisation. Of course, sometimes those ley crossings are deep underwater and ships are drawn into either arcane vortices or sahuagin colonies (thus having a potentially negative outcome for the ship), but it's risk worth taking for speeding up the exchange of goods and information.
flying Ley-ships, magic trade highways, and arcane navigators all sound good to me. An earlier incarnation of Arga had leylines, but they got scrapped along the road, not because I didnt like the idea, just that it wasn't the way I wanted Arga to go.
After a few reconsiderations, here's what I'm setting up as "featured" new playable races (i.e. the ones in the "Races of Olam" chapter of a future book - every other new species would get a short character stat block in their "monster" entry).
-Nephilim (obviously, the "poster boys" of Olam)
-Remetes (race of Kemet's rulers, falcon people - think Horus or Ra)
-Qirinals (I'm liking where's Han going in the backstory I wrote for the Dragonlands)
-Quetzin (Couatl-touched race in the Mesoamerica equivalent)
I'd love to put even more guys in the "featured" area, for example other races of Kemet or Hobgoblins, but I think temperance in this part might be rewarded - since everyone and their mother is getting a stat block anyway.
Quote from: Kalontas
After a few reconsiderations, here's what I'm setting up as "featured" new playable races (i.e. the ones in the "Races of Olam" chapter of a future book - every other new species would get a short character stat block in their "monster" entry).
-Nephilim (obviously, the "poster boys" of Olam)
-Remetes (race of Kemet's rulers, falcon people - think Horus or Ra)
-Qirinals (I'm liking where's Han going in the backstory I wrote for the Dragonlands)
-Quetzin (Couatl-touched race in the Mesoamerica equivalent)
I'd love to put even more guys in the "featured" area, for example other races of Kemet or Hobgoblins, but I think temperance in this part might be rewarded - since everyone and their mother is getting a stat block anyway.
Between this list of races and the forementioned ley-line idea, I'm getting some serious flash-backs to Magic: The Gathering, which, may I say, are good flash-backs.
How about an example of Olam magic and how it works?
If someone was wondering what happened to Stormshieldren I mention in an earlier post, they're still part of the setting, but I think they don't really work as player characters - their mysteriousness is better left as NPCs.
And that's curious, I never played Magic: the Gathering, so perhaps me and creators of it liked similar ideas.
What exactly do you mean though about example of magic? As in, sample spells?
well, not so much as a spell stat block, but how does it make the society of your setting different than ours, how does it change things like economics, war, politics, and religion? They're tough questions, but they must be answered! (In Arga, I took the easy way out and made magic rare enough that it doesn't come into play in common life)
I think that would come out best in particular examples. Just giving stuff made up on the spot.
1) For example, characters would hear about Nephilim having established permament Sending mirrors (a magical mirror that upon magical input automatically activates sending to another pre-set mirror (and you can probably switch to another mirror by just saying the destination). The quickest conclusion from that is fast communication between two preset points, but then there are rumours about some mages experimenting with stable, long transmissions to multiple destination mirrors at once - essentially creating a potential "magical radio" - which is still only an experiment because it would take tremendous arcane power to execute - and nobody has a clue how to generate that quickly and harmlessly.
2) Innkeepers (and even richer citizens) have to put up magical wards in their rooms and houses - all because of hybrid wizard/rogues who teleport into your room and rob you blind.
3) As I said before, at least in Kenaan, virtually every adult citizen knows one or two magical cantrips, like Mage Hand (name of which I inconveniently forgot before). Because of this, Nephilim define magic very differently than the less magically apt societies - for them it's not "arcane power" or "secret studies" - Nephilim word for magic is (loosely translating) "energy force".
4) Then finally, magic had big influence on the development of Nephilim culture. Because of their mixed angelic/demonic origins, they always had affinity for magic. When they first met worshippers of deities, they wanted clerics to show them power of those beings that are supposedly powerful enough to elicit worship - a concept almost alien to Nephilim. When powers of the local clerics weren't much stronger (or at all) than their wizards and sorcerers, Nephilim laughed out any form of religion and to this day, very small numbers of mature Nephilim worship any gods, claiming they're not worthy of worship, and they don't need them.
5) While most other civilisations are not as magically infused as the Nephilim, because of their prominence, everybody knows that magical powers are there ready for taking if you spend enough time on studying it. As such, arcane magic is much more like science of our real world in approach. If anything is more like our world understands magic ("beyond impossible") it's divine magic - because it heals wounds, brings back the dead (properly, not as mockery of life) and gives people bravery and inspiration - all things hard to do for "energy flashy stuff". As clerics put it, arcane is about quickly sating your carnal appetites, divine is about calming your soul.
I need to digest what you wrote, but a quick thought.
I find the problem with high fantasy/high magic settings that don't seem "realistic" are usually the fault of one or two things.
1. Magic is basically put on a normal world like frosting, and changes nothing about the setting in a natural, interesting, creative way. What I mean is that all the aspects of humanity (or whatever race) run as they do in our world - economics, politics, religion, etc - and magic is just put on top of it without going any deeper.
2. Crap, I can't think of the other point i thought of earlier.
What is the average power level of arcanists? At what level does magic become "rare"? By the sound of it, even teleport is within the realm of possibility for a good fraction of casters.
Is there any kind of magic that doesn't exist in Olam, or is it a full-on transplant of the whole D&D magic system?
Dangers and issues assuming D&D and a high fantasy setting:
Conjuration/transmutation: potentially creates a post-scarcity society where everything is abundant and readily available, making the need for ordinary labour less pertinent.
Necromancy: Armies could quickly be gathered (if not equipped) leading to a more volatile power balance. Cheap labour again destabilizes economy. Families would take measures to have their dead remain undesecrated; cremation is probably common.
Evocation: Just consider how our society would react to people who were running around with a bandolier full of hand grenades. To any ruler or authority figure an evoker would be considered a dangerous and unpredictable element. What help is it disarming an individual if he can kill with his mind?
Abjuration: Will obviously be in high demand - abjuration syndicates might force the prices up since almost every house will need it. It becomes as important as having a lock on your door.
Divination: What happens if everyone starts divining against each other? Every divination changes the course of action, meaning that divination actually causes self-devaluation as it becomes more readily available. Unless it predicts the predictions of others, making it infinitely recursive. Argh.
Without overquoting the post, I'll try addressing it one by one.
Leetz: the deeper repercussions I'm still thinking on, but leaving them for a bit later right now, as now I'm describing the "core" cultures, the ones on the area with meditarranean climate. I am still open for any suggestions of how, in everybody's opinions, should that be best executed.
Your average magician is maybe level 1 or 2. While it's fairly common to learn magic, still not many people are able to grasp the more complicated aspects of it - like not everybody in modern Earth knows how to program in C++, but most people know how to write a letter in Word.
I'm going for a "anything is possible" kind of deal - so every power source should be available, if some are rarer than other (for example, most shadow classes would be unheard of, because of Shadowfell being feared and despised more than in say FR, because it's the final destination of evil souls here).
Now the bigger part of Crow's post - while magic is common, it still takes energy to perform it. An energy you have to possess to use it. So while a magical thief with a scroll may teleport to your bedroom, he shouldn't be able to do it four times a day to rob whole district. Similarly, you can conjure a bunch of food, but you as one person can only do so much - and even with a hundred magicians conjuring food wouldn't do much more than if they were farming - because not only do they need food and water to have the power to conjure stuff, but your level 3 industrial conjurer can do only so much per day.
As for necromancy, it's not a very common sight. Most people prefer to conjure themselves a sandwich than to strain their mind to stand in place and control armies of zombies.
If two people divine each other, I'm pretty sure it fizzles - because the universe itself doesn't know what to do.
As for other forms of people abusing magic to get better than others - don't forget that any forms of militia/police or other state-run protection has the access to the same magic. So an overly magical thief will run into, sooner or later, a magical militia that will shield themselves from his "hand grenades" with a bubble and then dominate him and bring him to a cell.
so is this setting being made hand-in-hand with a particular ruleset in mind? There's lots of talk about levels and classes so I thought i'd ask.
It's currently meant for D&D 4e, but I'm planning on including some support on using it under 3.5 (and PF if it's compatible enough), like under government alignments I mention both 3.5 and 4.0 alignment systems (for example, "unaligned (lawful neutral)". However virtually no stat blocks have been drawn yet and it may change with time and conditions.
Question: would anybody be interested in seeing write-ups (basic info, geography, society and history) on two countries, Ultramar (Theocratic USA in enlightened Middle Ages) and Taino (a flying country - quite literally)?
Would be interested in seeing both. Prioritized order of preference is identical to the order you noted them in :)
So, well, here they are. I especially like the historical description of Taino, since I think I finally hit the "mythic" feel for the first time since... years? Months at least.
Ultramar
Major races: Deva, Aasimar
Minor races: Quetzin, Shifter
Magic sources: Divine
Government alignment: lawful good
Aesthetical inspirations: medieval Europe, India
Cultural inspirations: United States in enligthened Middle Ages, as theocracy
Geography: The core of Ultramar's state is an island off the coasts of Uster. While relatively large (certainly capable of housing a major capital), it was small enough to originally house only a small tribe of Shifters who have since emigrated to the mainland. The island itself is mostly covered in temperate plains, with meditarranean forests covering the rest. While not perfect for farming, it's a land perfect for Ultramar's original purposes - to found their capital on a peaceful, serene land which would encourage meditation and peace. The capital itself, called Capita Prima, lies on the shores of a lake in the southern part of the island, and is growing in every direction with more Devas, Aasimars and Quetzins arriving every month.
The coastlines that fell under Ultramar's dominion outside of the island are mostly heavily forested, but once cleared, they are perfect place for farming and husbandry. While some of the native populations are not overly happy with their forests being burnt down, Ultramar has promised to limit their expansion to only as much as their population needs, without encroaching on sacred territories of the local Shifters and Minotaurs. No mountains or other areas rich in mineral ores fall under Ultramar's jurisdiction, making metal import a necessity.
Politics and society: Ultramar is a lawful good theocracy, led by a Holy Father whose given name is not known, as he claims he needs to forsake it to truly identify all his incarnations as one person who's destined to lead Ultramar forever. He and his closest friend, called the Holy Mother, are two Devas who upon death of either's body go out to one of the established shrines on Ultramar to find and identify the other, thus maintaing a stable and direct line of the same person heading the government forever. While Ultramar is a tolerant society open for everyone, it expects all of its citizens to conform to its lawful good rules, thus attracting almost entirely kinds of people touched by good energies - Devas, Aasimars and Quetzins.
Despite its "lawful" reputation, Ultramar is very tolerant to all forms of good and neutrality - if what you are doing does not harm anyone, you are allowed to do it. No one is judged by his race, subrace, wealth, religion, creed or orientation - it's only your acts that matter. But if you break Ultramar's rules and harm people, an appriopriate judgement will be swiftly executed, varying depending on severity of the crime. Ultramar's first rule is being friendly and open to everyone - "every soul reveals its true colors when trusted, even when the trust wasn't deserved". It houses people of all good and certain neutral alignments, as Devas are mostly lawful good, Aasimars neutral good and Quetzins chaotic good.
History: Ultramar was first founded as a Society of Benevolence in Kenaanite city of Gadera. There local Aasimars were gathered under the guidance of a small group of Devas, headed by a pair who claimed to have lived since the Sun Queen first set foot upon the world and sent them as messengers to mortal people to spread the word of good. Society's original aim was to educate the Nephilim majority of their goals and principles, but as the hard-headed Kenaanites still refused to bow to anyone who wasn't them, after only ten years Society felt its original purpose was void. As such, a new objective was created: to find a place for every benelovent person to live peacefully together. With one of the Aasimar nobles donating majority of his fortune to the cause, the Holy Father started searching for an unclaimed land. One such place was found on the island then called just "Big Island" by the natives, who sold it for just a small donation of magical artifacts. Holy Father promised them his protection, but most of them quickly left for the mainland and never returned.
Thus, 552 years ago the construction of Capita Prima started, with the Holy Father proclaiming Ultramar theocracy as the land for everybody with good in his heart. While first years were tough, the news quickly spread and numbers of people from all around the world, but mainly Aasimars and Devas (and persecuted Quetzins), arrived, allowing the new nation to quickly rise in power and spread to nearby coastlines. It has since existed in complete peace, avoiding conflicts with the natives through diplomacy. Their only major concern is nearby Tulan, dominated by three evil ghosts and their undead army, but Ultramar currently lacks the power to deal with them alone, or with the minor help of Quetzin state of Kulkan.
Taino
Major races: Pteronts, Raptorans
Minor races: Aarakocra, Kenku, Quetzin
Magic sources: Arcane, Divine, Primal
Government alignment: good (neutral good)
Aesthetical inspirations: colonial Central America
Cultural inspirations: traditional 'high elven' cultures, Raptorans of 3.5 D&D
Geography: Looking at Taino from the ground level, it appears to be just a small chain of fairly insignificant (and rather tiny) islands. However, Taino's true core lies in a unique cluster of earthmotes, hovering high above the sea. Most of those earthmotes are forested or rocky (being main source of Taino Pteronts' export to Ultramar), but few big crystalline and glass earthmotes are making Taino special on this account - skyglass lands are rare even on the standard ground, and even rarer as earthmotes.
The biggest earthmote is called Lindale and is the centre of government on Taino. Its shape is more or less resembling a bone and contains rich deposits of rare incendium and orichalcum - one of Taino's main export products, next to the brightwood - wood carved from an endemic species of tree which grows only on earthmotes. In the middle fo Lindale is located the capital, arranged in circles around the Temple of Thought. The other most prominent islands are Darngal ("the sky-nest"), the biggest Raptoran settlement and an earthmote consisting of a huge piece of rock, dotted by countless tunnels and nests of Raptorans; Elima ("concordance"), the place where Pteronts and Raptorans first signed their mutual non-aggression acts and finally Ravangal, Taino's only earthmote housing land-bound species, the Kenkus.
Deep below most earthmotes lie a few actual islands, though they scarcely populated. Few minor Kenku and Quetzin settlements are known, but otherwise those islands are insignificant.
Politics and society: Taino's main government is ruled by a caste of philosophers, chosen based on wisdom and benevolence. Those philosophers, called the Muses, believe that government exists to satisfy its people, not to rule them. The magical groups of Taino concentrate their efforts to provide the best possible standards of life for all people, regardless of their race, worship or origin. While non-flying citizens are naturally under-disposed to live in a highly aerial location, Taino's ruling caste makes sure to satisfy everyone.
While Raptorans of Taino have lost most of their vicious, predatory appetite with the lifting of the curse, some part of that lifestyle remained ingrained in their blood. Raptorans are still fierce fighters and hunters, rarely eating anything but meat of game they bagged themselves. While they can live peacefully with the Pteronts, they have short temper, but their natural aggresiveness has found use, making them primary part of Taino's armed forces.
History: It is said Taino was first settled around 900 years ago, when god Dioras cursed an ancient humanoid tribe for their disobedience with a form and spirit partially resembling a predatory bird - while gifted with flight, they would forever hunger for blood and flesh. Fleeing from Hellade to not hurt their former relatives, the newly founded Raptorans settled on a place where they would hunt only beasts - a cluster of earthmotes they called Taino ("exile"). Since Dioras didn't bother with them after their curse, he was not aware of their new settlements.
Two hundred years later, a group of talented musicians from Elis was persecuted of a string of murders by an envious politician whose son could never rise up to the Muses level of talent. When his militias arrived to lynch the Muses, they refused to fight back and decided to go out singing and playing instruments. The music moved the heart of Dioras who decided to rescue them - he blessed them with a form resembling partially a bird, giving them wings and feathers for hair. The Muses, now calling themselves Pteronts ("the winged ones") fled their former homeland and arrived at the same land inhabited by the Raptorans. When both groups met each other and learn of each other's origins, a war broke out between descendants of the Muses and Raptorans. Once Dioras learnt about the outcome of his machinations, he had a change of heart and couldn't stand the amount of suffering his short-mindedness has caused.
He inspired a Pteront man who risen up and managed to calm the hearts of both sides with his music. On this day, 523 years ago, the curse of viciousness was lifted from Raptorans (allowing them to keep a bird-like form), and both races signed an act of unity. The few Raptorans who still refused to sign the peace had their curse strengthened and turned into bestial vulture-men called Aarakocra. Since then other races started showing up deep below, on the few actual islands, benefitting from Taino's beneficient government.
What is that thing about devas going to a shrine to keep the two same person ruling? I can't remember how they work (I keep thinking of 3e devas instead...)
How do the Ultramarians handle dissident elements and invasive evil? Crime? If they are so accepting of everyone how do they handle people with a different set of ethics (e.g. if someone thinks human sacrifice is good because you sacrifice yourself for the greater good so the gods grant a good harvest)?
Is Taino the only real raptoran community in the world? Do the birdman communities mine and process their mineral deposits themselves? Are they known for any crafts related to these natural resources? How do the Kenku get to their earthmote? Is the government of Taino wealthy enough to fulfill everyone's wishes? How far do they go in this pursuit? Can anyone join this seeming utopia?
Regarding Devas - since 4e, they are incarnated angels, and when they die, they "respawn" in a holy place. Not only have Ultramarians dotted their whole capital with shrines and sacred fountains, but the Mother or the Father remember faint memory of the other's essence, so they find them rather quickly.
Ultramar clearly mentions that everybody can live there, as long as they live in accordance to their rules. So it is good, but Devas' very clear and defined idea of good (be helpful to people, don't harm anyone). Human sacrifice is clearly harming someone, so Ultramar wouldn't allow that. Crime among Devas and Aasimars is unheard of, but any outsiders that are not "good planetouched" are rather quickly caught - as not only there's a fair amount of paladins and avengers in the place, but majority of people are lawful good-aligned - so they work together to get the criminal.
Taino's natural ores are mostly exported, and they mine it themselves. Incendium is not exactly something you want to use for crafting (it's a highly volatile and combustible metal - you usually just get a bunch of it in a bomb and throw it at people), and orichalcum craftsmanship is not very familiar in Taino - mostly Nephilim specialise in weaponising it, as the original veins were found on Kenaan's Azerum.
About Kenkus and their earthmote, I actually wanted to add a small bit of story about this, and in a potential book, maybe it will still be there. Basically, they were originally carried there by a titanic elemental whale they tamed. With the whale dead, they now have "wizard express" - a kenku wizard that casts Fly on you on the ground, and you fly through several minor motes (with wizards on every one of them, sending you further) until you get up top.
The wealth is actually a serious problem in both good-aligned countries - Ultramar is still pulling on money from its noble patrons, while Taino is barely staying on top due to mineral exports. Both countries are working on solutions, since their current sources of wealth may run dry quickly. It's also not exactly Utopia, but citizens can count on protection and basic sustenance from their government - while they are still prompted to work on their own, with Pteronts advising artistic work primarly.
Yeah, they just came off at first as psuedo-utopias where everyone was good and happy, and in Ultramar's case that might very well be true, except I feel like living there would be like living under surveillance 24-7. A lawful good police state where failure to adhere to the strict rules result in swift punishment or exile.
Yeah, the more chaotic disposed folks might not like Ultramar too much, that's intended (from me), but as long as you don't harm anyone, you should be good with them. That's why there is hardly anyone but the good-aligned plane-touched - because a human or Nephilim wouldn't stand being controlled every day by a whole nation of people who, for all cosmic reasons, are just better than you.
Has anybody sought to gain control of the valuable earthmotes of Taino through less than peaceful means? Aerial sieges sound awfully tough, but well, in a world with magic it's probably not impossible.
Maybe a dissident cell who seek to make the earthmotes come crashing down?
I guess it can be an adventure hook, but so far any countries that have the power to do that (Kenaan, Auriga, Tang) are either busy with other matters, don't care or are just too far away. I'm thinking the cost of first conquering the earthmotes and then regularly transporting the resources for a non-aerial race might be too high compared to potential income.
Why do you compare the US to Ultramar?
The "US" aspects of Ultramar have not really come up so far, but it's mainly because of the mottos and ideas both states are based on, and some historical parallels.
-Both were first settled by religious exiles
-Capitals of both were founded on a land cheaply bought off of natives
-And then the general mottos and virtues - "In (God) We Trust" (replacing "God" with "Sun Queen" in case of Ultramar), all men are equal, unalienable rights, pursuit of happiness; "semper fidelis" etc.
I would be careful using modern influences so strongly in a setting that is supposed to be set far in the past. The mentality of modern humans vs humans of the past is very different, and many of the things that are modern - universal sufferage, civil rights, equality before the law - are very new ideas and only occured after thousands of years of history, trial and error, and sudden revolutions. Unless you have a magical or some other way to explain this, I'd be wary.
EDIT: If I may offer a word of advice: maybe trim down your culture/historical influences to just a few, start with that land, and slowly expand out instead of trying to built a kitchen-sink world from the top-down. Once again, no offence meant, just some earned experience.
Quote from: Señor Leetz
I would be careful using modern influences so strongly in a setting that is supposed to be set far in the past. The mentality of modern humans vs humans of the past is very different, and many of the things that are modern - universal sufferage, civil rights, equality before the law - are very new ideas and only occured after thousands of years of history, trial and error, and sudden revolutions. Unless you have a magical or some other way to explain this, I'd be wary.
They're good-aligned plane-touched - that's all the reasons I feel I need for such an enlightened society.
So I try my hardest to concentrate on specific parts and came up with a write-up for an Ultramarine city. Anything to add/remove in a city description?
Name: Dawnsbreak
Location: eastern coastline of Ultramar island, at the mouth of Tears of Joy river.
Architectural style: romanesque
Population: 2,000 registered citizens of Ultramar (95% Aasimar, 2% Deva, 2.5% Quetzin), approx. 1,500 traders and visitors at peak months of the year (50% Nephilim, 20% Human, 10% Gnome)
Patron deity: the Sun Queen
Dominating alignment: good (neutral good) (90%), unaligned (true neutral) (9%)
Workforce distribution: trade (50%), manufacturing (35%), fishery (10%)
Brief history: Dawnsbreak was founded 557 years ago and was the original landing of the Holy Father's ships, at the mouth of river called Tears of Joy (legend states, he shed tears of joy upon finding a 'promised land'). While originally considered as future capital, ultimately purchase of the whole island from natives assured emigration deeper inside, founding Prima Capita. The settlement later became Dawnsbreak, a port town that mainly serves as the entrance to the realm.
120 years ago the New Docks were set on fire by a Nephilim 'godslayer' who sought to sabotage the Holy Kingdom. The criminal has been caught, but fire destroyed much of southern parts of the city, which has been since rebuilt.
Places of interest:
- the Dawn's Break Docks - main and oldest docks in the city, with a shrine marking original landing of the Holy Father. On a tiny, rocky island near the entrance to the docks a giant statue of the Sun Queen has been erected, reminding everyone entering Ultramar of her radiance. It's usually the first place anyone coming to all of Ultramar sees.
- Mariner's Chapel - small, but prominent chapel located near Dawn's Break Docks.
- The Radiant Scene - theater and restaurant in the northern part of the city, main place of socialisation in Dawnsbreak.
- market - main city market, located in the southern part, near the trade docks and craftsmen's district.
- The New Docks - city's main trade docks. Most authorities advise avoiding the place because of "shady people" - which means unscrupulous Nephilim merchants, not crime.