[ic]Men like to feel that they are in control of their destinies. Thus when the gods pitted mortal against mortal in a vicious proxy war for the third time in less than two decades, a lone city had the courage to forsake picking alleigences in the upcoming conflict, and did the unthinkable: they left. For a far away land, one the gods could neither reach nor influence, and thus in the passing of a moment an entire city was forgotten from history.
And then war descended. Man killed man in the name of his God. But man could not kill fast enough to the satisfaction of his god, so after ages of futile warfare the gods descended from their lofty heavens and openly fought one another. A sense of horror dawned on the mortal races as they looked upon the gods, locked in combat, scortching the earth and leaving behind a burnt, dead land wherever they did battle. A tentative unity formed, a unity born out of the need for survival. Faced with a world that would soon be uninhabitable, they too fled to where the gods could not reach.
To their surprise, they found a flourishing civilization there. A civilization of men living in harmony with all manner of strange beasts. But such harmony was not meant to last, for the new expatriates of the old world carried with them all their prejudices, and feared these creatures they had never seen before. Racial tensions mounted, and the expatriates of the old world left this civilization, in search of a place to settle where they could be amoung their own kind. Elf human and dwarf went their own ways, and formed their own cities.[/ic]
In this world, all the regular playable PHB races are not indigenous species, so to speak. They all originated from a world that had little in the fantasy creatures we take for granted; monsters, dragons, etc. After fleeing from their world that was destroyed by the gods, they found themselves in a world that DID have all these creatures.
I don't like to remove core aspects from the game in my campaigns generally, because players tend to look unfavourably on restrictions. So all the core classes and races in this world are available.
I still don't have a name for the world (planet), but here's a map. It's a work in progress as I develop the geography.
[spoiler=Old Map] (http://www.routinedelirium.com/images/map2flat.jpg) [/spoiler]
[spoiler=In progress map] (http://www.routinedelirium.com/forsaken/forsakenmazta.jpg) [/spoiler]
Countries:
Loria
The Human Empire
Selorae
Eritas
The dwarven kingdoms
Loria:
[spoiler= History and Government] Loria is descendant of the first group to leave the old world. The first group to leave the old world was exceptionally enlightened, and so when they encountered intelligent, foreign beings they were quick to establish peace treaties where they could, and lived in relative peace with the natives. Not all creatures took kindly to the humans, however. The northern parts of Loria are all but a sea of monsters, intelligent and otherwise, that fight each other for survival and regularly attack nearby settlements.
Loria has no central government. Loria, in fact, has almost no government to speak of. Nonetheless, despite the seeming anarchy, there is a strong respect for private property rights and there exists a uniform code of laws that the populace follows. Loria is divided into various geographical regions, and each region is divided into various communities. Leaders of each communities are informally elected by the populace, in that a leader only had power insofar as his constituents agree to follow him. The populace are free to change alleigences between any leader present in their region, at any time, without changing their geographical location. Each leader is in charge of appointing judges to rule over court cases, establishing the law for his constituents, and voting for a local king for the region. The king is in charge of appointing judges for the regional court, and voting on judges for a national court.
Cases taken to court are heard by an appointed judge. The defendant and plaintiff each pick half the jury. Cases can be appealed to the regional court, and finally to the national court.
All land in Loria is privately owned. All government officials are also free, working men who are responsible for their own income unless their constituents love them enough to provide for their living needs. There are no taxes, and little regulation to speak of in Loria. Security and guards are provided by the owner of the land or by agreement of everyone in a village or other urban area to pitch in a certain amount to pay for guards. [/spoiler]
[spoiler= Peoples] Loria is as multicultural as a society can get. Humans live freely with all other species that agree to work in cooperation with the majority human population. Humans make up the majority specie, followed by a distant drawf population, and then a slew of various typpes of native inhabitants including dragons, elementals and orcs to name a few.
The result of this mixture is a heavily utilitarian view on the use of Magic. Magic permeates the society from the highest noble to the poorest farmer. While due to the extensive devotion needed to learn to be a spellcaster stops most people from taking up the craft, most villages have a Manus, a spellcaster devoted to servicing his community with the everyday applications magic can provide. They rarely ever become powerful spellcasters in their own right, although many powerful mages have been introducted to magic through this system, eventually opting to pursue magic independent of it's use as an economic actor. [/spoiler]
[spoiler= War and Economy] The lack of regulation, taxe, strong respect for property rights, and competitive amount of natural resources in Loria make it an attractive place to do business. However, despite it's advantages in these areas, most capital flows freely into the Human Empire nearby, for the simple reason that Loria is under constant warfare with the Human Empire, as well as being constantly besieged by various supernatural monsters in the north. Given the choice between paying some taxes, or a higher possible profit margin but with the risk of a dragon eating your investment, most merchants opt to conduct business in the more restrictive but more stable areas in the Human Empire.
Loria's decentralized nature and inability to raise a national army leaves it's defense in the hands of the various communities along it's troubled zones. Not surprisingly, these communities are often unable to raise the neccesary military power to repel invaders on any long term basis, and as such Loria's borders are slowly eroding as various communities are destroyed.
Nonetheless, there is some sense of national unity, and in the face of a marching army from either the orcs to the north or Human Empire from the east, various men and leaders with popular support have been able to join together and form armies for defensive purposes. While these armies are terryfing in their own right due to the abundance of powerful spellcasters and magic weidling natives (as well as the presence of a dragon or two), they tend to disband fairly quickly as each person is eager to go back to their private lives after the fighting is over.
The Human Empire has thus failed miserably to conquer Loria, partially because of the impossibilty to win any straight battle with Loria's one-shot armies, and the lack of any government existing in Loria that can be used to enforce the Empire's edicts. Loria exists as the perpetual thorn in the side of the human supremacist Human Empire.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Religion] The people of Loria hold a deep hatred for deities in their hearts, a remnant of the original expatriates of the old world who fled to escape the tyranny imposed by the gods in their world. For better or for worse, the decentralized, individualist nature of the people of Loria stems from the basic fact that in rejecting the right of the gods to rule over them, they reject the right of any mortal to do so as well.
Nonetheless, most of Loria's population holds some reverence towards nature. Druids serve as the spiritual leaders of the communities, and provide healing services and cures for diseases.[/spoiler]
[spoiler= Laxo: The City] Laxo is the only area of Loria that has enough of a population density to be of note. Despite being a small city, Laxo has the highest standard of living on the continent, due in no small part to the rampant use of magic in every sphere of life, and the production of magical luxuries that are exported via it's thriving coastal port.
If Loria is a mixed bag of species, then Laxo is the blender. Humans still make up the majority, but not by much. A sizable portion of Laxo's residents are elementals of various types, but mostly water due to the large native water elemental population in the sea Laxo is situated upon. Other notable populations include Dwarves, Elves, Orcs, Gnolls and a small minority of Celestials, fiends, and other plane hoppers..
Security and police are almost entierly comprised of water elementals. No one knows why exactly, as Elementals have no government or social structure to speak of, and thus every elemental acting in guard duty is doing so individually of his own choosing, but the protection is universally appreciated and provides an economic benefit as the elementals tend to ensure safe passage of ships leaving and entering Laxo's waters.
Laxo serves as the unnoficial capital of Loria. It is in Laxo that the leaders from each region meet, and it is here that most one-shot armies have been started.
[note]Elementals are intelligent in this setting[/note] [/spoiler]
The Human Empire:
[spoiler= History]When the second group of expatriates left the old world and found themselves within Loria, they balked at the unity that had developed with the native creatures. Whether they were motivated by fear of the unknown, disgusted by the radically different cultures, or just plain racist, a sizable portion of the second group of expatriates sought to end the alliances with the natives and expunge them from the borders of Loria. This met with stiff resistence from the majority of Loria's population, which had little ill will towards the peace they had developed. Faced with a seemingly insurmountable problem, the humans of the second expatriate group (along with the elves and dwarves who held similar beleifs) chose to leave Loria's borders in search of a new place to settle, one where they would be able to enforce hemogeny. This came to be known as the Great Diffusion.
The humans traveled south, and spread across the continent forming settlements wherever convenient. Although the native races inhabited most of the continent, outside of Loria's borders they had no legal protection from violence. Thus the humans generally avoided or killed settlements of the natives.
One particular group traveled across the mountains to the south and settled along the river. The area had been previously inhabited by various orc tribes, but after a short war the humans stood resoundly victorious and evicted the orcs from their ancestral homeland.
It was peaceful for several generations. The war with the orcs a distant memory, no longer within any particular human's lifetime. It was precisely for that reason that when the orcs returned and razed the farmland around Mazta that the human population was both outraged and bewildered. The response was quick, the city sent out it's militia. A war ensued, though the humans were victorious in the end it was not without considerable loss of life and land. A deepening sense of hatred for non-human races grew in Mazta's population. The citienzry felt as though they would never be secure with the native races living around their borders. They favoured a war to drive them out of the surrounding area. Some radicals advocated the genocide of all non-humans races off the face of the continent. With the populace's blessing, a standing army was raised, and war soon followed to drive out the orcs from around the city.
In the next century, Mazta's territory grew quickly. Always under the banner of securing the world from the savage other-races, Mazta continued expanding it's borders, even when it meant conquering other human countries. Within a hundred years, Mazta's borders, now renamed The Human Empire in recognition of it's mission of a world comprised of nothing but humans, spanned almost the entire continent. The empire conquered every independent human country with the exception of Loria and Eritas, as well as a rebel elven nation that formed after the empire conquered two elven city-states and razed a third.
The empire was largely succesful in driving out non-humans from within it's borders. The area is largely human only, the only exception being elves from the nearby conquered city state and various pockets of remaining natives that somehow escaped genocide.
[/spoiler]
[spoiler= Government and Economy]The Human Empire is a monarchy. Throughout it's imperial history, the empire has not had a single family to hold the throne for too long as would be kings often took to assassination. Despite the regularly rotating king, the empire has a relatively stable government.
Conquered cities are generally run by a governor that the king selects to ensure loyalty. The governor recieves orders from the king and is responsible for fulfilling them. These generally include a certain amount of tax money, military aid, goods, and so forth.
The empire's economy is relatively powerful, as trade flourishes under a relatively stable set of laws and little war within the empire's borders. Despite the empire's higher tax rates and goods confiscation to service the military, the empire provides a stability not found anywhere else on the continent and thus retains the advantage.
[/spoiler]
[spoiler= Cities]
Mazta: The capital of The Human Empire, the king and government reside in Mazta. Economically, the city does well as it has a rather low tax rate and little economic control.
Thrinen Gless:Thrinen Gless is the most liberal of all human cities. It's proximity to Loria has it coming in frequent contact with the native populations, and the population in Thrinen Gless has grown accustomed to their presence. It is in Thrinen Gless that the small faction of dissidents to the government is organized.
Having been conquered by the empire within living memory of it's population, Thrinen Gless tends to be individualistic and greatly values it's independence, taking offense at any heavy handed orders from Mazta. Being an economically unimportant city, the empire has left Thrinen Gless to it's own devices most of the time, and simply uses it as the closest military base to launch attacks on Loria.
Ilmanae: Ilmanae was the second of three elven city states to fall to the human army, and the first to submit to the empire's rule. Like the two other city states, Ilmanae refused to recognize the human government after it's military defeat. The empire responded by deploying it's troops into the city proper, and formally dissolved the elven government. The populace still refused to recognize the human government, and a resistence movement sprung up to combat the empire's army in the city.
The cost to the empire mounted quickly. After months of failure to install any sort of government in Ilmanae, the empire was quickly running headlong into bankrupcy. Unable to sustain the extravagant military cost for much longer, King Heran ordered the city state Elebrinae burned to the ground in hope to intimidate the elves in the other two city states to submit.
It worked. Faced with extinction, Ilmanae soon capitulated to the empire and has been ruled since by a human governor.
Ilmanae currently suffers under the rule of the empire. As elves are considered sub-human, all manner of exploitation is acceptable to the human population at large. Ilmanae suffers from punitive taxation, men are routinely conscripted and used as fodder, goods often confiscated to supply the army, and so on.
Elven cultural life has similarly suffered, as various human governors have seen it fit to supress and make illegal traditional elven holidays and traditions.
Silvae:
As the last free elven city state after the capitulation of Ilmanae, Silvae soon followed in it's footsteps. Unlike Ilmanae, Silvae never had the empire's army inside the city proper, and so managed to escape the destruction that wracked Ilmanae. Silvae was also fortunate enough to have an elven governor appointed, and so Silvae fares better than Ilmanae culturally, but economically the empire still exploits Silvae in the same manner. The end result is similar: a dying, decaying city.
[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Religion] Coming soon, I haven't decided what to do with gods yet in this world.[/spoiler]
Selorae:
[spoiler=History] Following the razing of Elebrinae, elves began to flee the city states fearing for their lives. The empire's army was fast on their heels however, and deployed east of the city states and attempted to block and capture elves as the attempted to cross into the safety of the forest. Ireth'Fulnae was established by these refugees, and was named after the heroic mage general who, with a group comprised entierly of volunteers, manage to harass, distract, and reroute the empire's army away from many of the various groups of fleeing elves, eventually loosing his life in the process.
Following his defeat, the empire follow the elves into the forest, but by then the elves had already become entrenched and using guerilla tactics managed to beat back the few excursions by the army. Still on the brink of bankrupcy, the empire decided not to pursue the elves further and left them to their own devices.
The city of Ireth'Fulnae was soon established, and stands as the last bastion of free elves in the world.[/spoiler]
[spoiler= Government and Military]
Following in the tradition of Ireth, Selorae's military relies heavily on magic and hit and run tactics. While overall the population of Ireth'Fulnae would like to invade and liberate their bretheren in the city states, most recognize that their army has their hands full keeping the empire at bay.
Selorae is run by a group that calls itself the rebel government, and they are literally the army generals of Selorae. Besides the army, the government provides only the most basic of services, amounting to a police force and a court system.
[/spoiler]
[spoiler= People and Culture] Walk into Selorae, and you would notice something strange: there is almost no one of venerable age. At first glance it would seem that everyone in Selorae is of fighting age, and for the most part, this impression is true. Due to the long lifespans of the Elves, most of Selorae's population are the original refugees from the elven city states, and a fair number of them are part of the second group of expatriates from the old world.
However, another factor is at work here: starvation and hardship. Many of the refugee groups died from starvation and lack of sanitary conditions before Ireth became a prosperous city with a functioning economy. Generally, the healthy and young survived the harsh conditions. Also at work is the fact the empire attempts to keep elves from the city states from escaping, and so those who leave are generally able bodied enough to combat a patrol or sneak past them. The old among Ireth's population are generally those wealthy enough to be able to afford to pay for magical means of escaping, or accomplished spellcasters themselves.
Elven culture flourishes in Selorae, but not without cost. Selorae is a heavily militaristic nation, with mandatory service for those who are able (which amounts to near everyone). While most elves gladly serve in the name of retaining their independence, traditional loyalty to family is increasingly breaking down as more elves find themselves spending years in the service and becoming reliant on serving in the military as their sole source of income.
[/spoiler]
Eritas:
The least developed of any of my countries. I also need to edit the map some to reflect some changes I made.
[spoiler=History]
Haven't decided how the country originated yet. Onto foreign policy;
Eritas is the gem of the region. It serves as the coastal trade center for the region, and, more importantly to the empire, can function as a center for a buildup of naval power. It is for these reasons that the empire has long been attempting to conquer Eritas.
The first push came early in the Empire's history, and was uneventful. Due to having to combat the native [stereotypical giant bug bent on destroying everyting] population, Eritas had a standing army, and through experience was better organized, better equipped and larger. The empire swallowed it's defeat and focused on expanding to the east.
The second push came after the elven city states fell into the dominion of the empire. Now the empire fielded an army larger than that of Eritas. Several battles later the empire looked to have the upper hand, but Eritas cleverly maneuvered them into the [stereotypical bug bent of destroying everything]. The resulting loss of men forced the empire to retreat a second time.
The third push long after the rest of the continent fell to the empire. Fielding a large army, the empire once again beat Erita's standing army and laid seige to Mukhadar. The seige lasted a week till scores of dwarven vessels landed nearby, landed troops and decimated the army laying the seige. Although Eritas had not asked for help from the dwarven kingdoms, the dwarves are the major naval power in the region and competition from the empire was not an acceptable prospect. Furthermore the empire, it was reasoned, was surely bound to raise taxes and slap import fees. The dwarven kingdoms that depended on naval trade for their livelihood would not allow that to happen either.
Under the protection of the dwarven kingdoms, the empire has since ceased plans to conquer Eritas, although border skirmishes are still common.
[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Government]Suggestions are welcome :p[/spoiler]
Races:
[spoiler=Elementals]
Under construction, just like everything else.
[spoiler=History]Elementals are native to the New World in the same sense that elementals are native to every world world. Elements are the building blocks of existence, and elementals are these building blocks given consciousness. No one know why or how it happens, but new elementals seem to come into existence at a uniform rate.
Some have theorised that elementals are the children of a cosmic consciousness that spans all known existence, that sometimes parts of this consciousness breaks off and becomes self contained. Others theories hold that when someone dies, their soul returns to the earth to become one with the world, and elementals are tormented souls that could not leave their former life behind. Some, naturally, have taken the question directly to the elementals, however asking an elemental where he came from generally results in a long, verbose tirade about the nature of existence and is generally regarded as a futile move.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Society] Elementals are beings without needs or wants, living in seeming harmony with their enviornments. They are not solitary out of strict individualism, but out of no neccesity to associate with other elementals or other races. Nevertheless, some uniformity of culture and ideas exists between elementals of all types.
There are three castes of elementals. The dormant, self absorbed and worldly. Dormant elementals have little intelligence to speak of, they seem to simply exist in their enviornment, wandering for eternity. Witnessing a dormant elemental speaking is a rare sight indeed. They seem to be completly oblivious to their surroundings.
The self absorbed and wordly elementals view the dormant with a special kind of religious reverence. Each elemental feels the pull of nature, a desire to return to their element and be fully absorbed, to return to a state of unconsciousness. Opposite this desire is the inability to let go of their consciousness. The dormant are believed to be those elementals closest to unity with nature, and so are treated with the utmost respect and kindness by other elementals.
The self absorbed are intelligent, but are caught much more fiercely in the battle between the desire for disintigration and the desire to exist as a self. They will interact with other elementals and species if confronted, but generally spend their days wandering and meditating within their own element.
The worldly are those elementals that have accepted the dichotomy of their existence and seek to make the most of their conscious life. These elementals will have desires, opinions, and motivations much like a human, and will generally involve themselves in the dealings of other races. In this world, most have sided with Loria against the Human Empire, as the empire believes elementals to be an abomination of nature worthy of extermination.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Language]All elementals speak the language of their father element (auran, aquan, ignan terran), as well as Elemental, a common language shared by all elementals.
Worldly elementals often speak common and other languages found in their regions, as well as a number of esoteric ones. Due to their long lifespans, elementals have often been found to know ancient languages that have long since been abandoned.
Most scholars agree that the four element languages are innate to elemental creatures, as no dialects have been discovered in the myriad of planes that contain elemental creatures.
Elementals regard each of their languages as an expression of their element, and generally refer to the language Elemental as the music of existence. [/spoiler]
[spoiler=Elementals as player characters]Coming soon[/spoiler]
[/spoiler]
More coming as time and energy allows...
I like this a lot. I'm very eager to see much more of this campaign setting (and I hope you don't mind me posting in this thread). I love the sense of neglect and uselessness the humans would receive as they saw they weren't effective enough for their deities, and ultimately left of their own will. I'm looking forward to seeing how, if at all, religion exists in this setting, and how the change in religion/lack of religion changes the way the setting is.
Welcome to the Guild.
I must say that that is quite interesting. You capture the anger of the people well. And their will to be free from the cosmic bullies.
Cool stuff.
Also, have you done anything to monsters, or made any cool new ones to show us?
Quote from: WitchHuntI like this a lot. I'm very eager to see much more of this campaign setting (and I hope you don't mind me posting in this thread). I love the sense of neglect and uselessness the humans would receive as they saw they weren't effective enough for their deities, and ultimately left of their own will. I'm looking forward to seeing how, if at all, religion exists in this setting, and how the change in religion/lack of religion changes the way the setting is.
Welcome to the Guild.
Thanks. Glad I found this site :)
I'm not sure how religion will exist in this setting. Truthfully, the bit with the Gods I only came up with as I was writing this and decided to run with it. But now I like it too much to leave out. I'm pondering whether deities are attempting to establish worshipers in this world, or whether they've already succeded to some degree, or whether they've already gotten to the point where they have mortals rampaging across the map in their behalf. Either way the majority of people living in this world will have a very negative view on deities.
Quote from: WitchHuntAlso, have you done anything to monsters, or made any cool new ones to show us?
I have nothing done for this campaign yet. I have quite a number of concepts I've used in previous games, but I have to go through them and see if they're appropriate for the setting. Unfortunatly as a DM my style runs heavily to freeform, and I'm no good at the numbers and crunchy stuff. Most of what I have isn't statted since I usually freeform the combat bits unless there's too many players or monsters to keep track of in my head.
Nice work. i look forwards to seeing how this develops. I love it when somebody new joins, and immediately starts to throw cool ideas out there. We have too many members who join and have never even posted anything.
Well done to you Mina.
have a turtle !turtle
Updated with Loria's information. Whew, that was a lot of typing. Next up will be the Human Empire, which will stand in stark contrast to pretty much everything that Loria is.
The Human Empire:
[spoiler= History]When the second group of expatriates left the old world and found themselves within Loria, they balked at the unity that had developed with the native creatures. Whether they were motivated by fear of the unknown, disgusted by the radically different cultures, or just plain racist, a sizable portion of the second group of expatriates sought to end the alliances with the natives and expunge them from the borders of Loria. This met with stiff resistence from the majority of Loria's population, which had little ill will towards the peace they had developed. Faced with a seemingly insurmountable problem, the humans of the second expatriate group (along with the elves and dwarves who held similar beleifs) chose to leave Loria's borders in search of a new place to settle, one where they would be able to enforce hemogeny. This came to be known as the Great Diffusion.
The humans traveled south, and spread across the continent forming settlements wherever convenient. Although the native races inhabited most of the continent, outside of Loria's borders they had no legal protection from violence. Thus the humans generally avoided or killed settlements of the natives.
One particular group traveled across the mountains to the south and settled along the river. The area had been previously inhabited by various orc tribes, but after a short war the humans stood resoundly victorious and evicted the orcs from their ancestral homeland.
It was peaceful for several generations. The war with the orcs a distant memory, no longer within any particular human's lifetime. It was precisely for that reason that when the orcs returned and razed the farmland around Mazta that the human population was both outraged and bewildered. The response was quick, the city sent out it's militia. A war ensued, though the humans were victorious in the end it was not without considerable loss of life and land. A deepening sense of hatred for non-human races grew in Mazta's population. The citienzry felt as though they would never be secure with the native races living around their borders. They favoured a war to drive them out of the surrounding area. Some radicals advocated the genocide of all non-humans races off the face of the continent. With the populace's blessing, a standing army was raised, and war soon followed to drive out the orcs from around the city.
In the next century, Mazta's territory grew quickly. Always under the banner of securing the world from the savage other-races, Mazta continued expanding it's borders, even when it meant conquering other human countries. Within a hundred years, Mazta's borders, now renamed The Human Empire in recognition of it's mission of a world comprised of nothing but humans, spanned almost the entire continent. The empire conquered every independent human country with the exception of Loria and Eritas, as well as a rebel elven nation that formed after the empire conquered two elven city-states and razed a third.
The empire was largely succesful in driving out non-humans from within it's borders. The area is largely human only, the only exception being elves from the nearby conquered city state and various pockets of remaining natives that somehow escaped genocide.
[/spoiler]
[spoiler= Government and Economy]The Human Empire is a monarchy. Throughout it's imperial history, the empire has not had a single family to hold the throne for too long as would be kings often took to assassination. Despite the regularly rotating king, the empire has a relatively stable government.
Conquered cities are generally run by a governor that the king selects to ensure loyalty. The governor recieves orders from the king and is responsible for fulfilling them. These generally include a certain amount of tax money, military aid, goods, and so forth.
The empire's economy is relatively powerful, as trade flourishes under a relatively stable set of laws and little war within the empire's borders. Despite the empire's higher tax rates and goods confiscation to service the military, the empire provides a stability not found anywhere else on the continent and thus retains the advantage.
[/spoiler]
[spoiler= Cities]
Mazta: The capital of The Human Empire, the king and government reside in Mazta. Economically, the city does well as it has a rather low tax rate and little economic control.
Thrinen Gless:Thrinen Gless is the most liberal of all human cities. It's proximity to Loria has it coming in frequent contact with the native populations, and the population in Thrinen Gless has grown accustomed to their presence. It is in Thrinen Gless that the small faction of dissidents to the government is organized.
Having been conquered by the empire within living memory of it's population, Thrinen Gless tends to be individualistic and greatly values it's independence, taking offense at any heavy handed orders from Mazta. Being an economically unimportant city, the empire has left Thrinen Gless to it's own devices most of the time, and simply uses it as the closest military base to launch attacks on Loria.
Ilmanae: Ilmanae was the second of three elven city states to fall to the human army, and the first to submit to the empire's rule. Like the two other city states, Ilmanae refused to recognize the human government after it's military defeat. The empire responded by deploying it's troops into the city proper, and formally dissolved the elven government. The populace still refused to recognize the human government, and a resistence movement sprung up to combat the empire's army in the city.
The cost to the empire mounted quickly. After months of failure to install any sort of government in Ilmanae, the empire was quickly running headlong into bankrupcy. Unable to sustain the extravagant military cost for much longer, King Heran ordered the city state Elebrinae burned to the ground in hope to intimidate the elves in the other two city states to submit.
It worked. Faced with extinction, Ilmanae soon capitulated to the empire and has been ruled since by a human governor.
Ilmanae currently suffers under the rule of the empire. As elves are considered sub-human, all manner of exploitation is acceptable to the human population at large. Ilmanae suffers from punitive taxation, men are routinely conscripted and used as fodder, goods often confiscated to supply the army, and so on.
Elven cultural life has similarly suffered, as various human governors have seen it fit to supress and make illegal traditional elven holidays and traditions.
Silvae:
As the last free elven city state after the capitulation of Ilmanae, Silvae soon followed in it's footsteps. Unlike Ilmanae, Silvae never had the empire's army inside the city proper, and so managed to escape the destruction that wracked Ilmanae. Silvae was also fortunate enough to have an elven governor appointed, and so Silvae fares better than Ilmanae culturally, but economically the empire still exploits Silvae in the same manner. The end result is similar: a dying, decaying city.
[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Religion] Coming soon, I haven't decided what to do with gods yet in this world.[/spoiler]
It's keeping me intrigued. When was the last war with orcs in comparison with present day? How long have the Lorians been in the 'new world'? What about the humans? Is it literally a 'new world', i.e. a new plane, or is it just a continent beyond the edge of the gods? What prevents the gods from following, if anything?
Very cool stuff.
And here are a few little grammar and spelling idiosyncrasies.
Quote...which had little ill towards the peace they had developed.
They started
raising the countryside and farms around Mazta City.[/quote]An increasingly militant supremacism grew out of the prolonged war with the orcs. [/quote]
An increasing military supremacy.
Quote from: JaercIt's keeping me intrigued. When was the last war with orcs in comparison with present day? How long have the Lorians been in the 'new world'? What about the humans? Is it literally a 'new world', i.e. a new plane, or is it just a continent beyond the edge of the gods? What prevents the gods from following, if anything?
I'm having difficulty keeping my terminology straight, for whatever reason. It's literally a new plane, and I haven't figured out why the gods are prevented from going in yet. Perhaps no one knows ;) Perhaps the gods are too busy fighting each other to notice their pet mortals are gone. Perhaps there's an overdeity that keeps other deities out. Perhaps it's the lack of belief in deities in this plane that prevents then from being able to enter.
The lorians, who are the first city to leave the old world, have been in the new world for somewhere close to a hundred years. Then the secound group showed up, leave Loria within 20 years to settle on their own. The orc wars happen about another 100 years after. Then the Human Empire grows out of the orc wars and maybe another 50-100 years till present day.
Thanks for the grammar aid, by the way. It helps :)
I like your intro, especially. It looks like you've got something good going on, here.
May I ask, why you would decided to call something "The Human Empire?" You don't seem to have "The Elven Empire." If Matza was one undergoing imperialism, it sounds more like the Matza Empire.
Quote from: MinaQuote from: JaercIt's keeping me intrigued. When was the last war with orcs in comparison with present day? How long have the Lorians been in the 'new world'? What about the humans? Is it literally a 'new world', i.e. a new plane, or is it just a continent beyond the edge of the gods? What prevents the gods from following, if anything?
How about this. What is in the new plane there is some very old, hidden elder god/demon/primal force that the people who moved there are unaware of, but their gods from before are aware of it and are really afraid to enter it's domain.
Possibly it's sleeping which could allow pc's to encounter serieses of clues to it's existence.
Maybe some god-hating extremeist group could decide to try and wake it up as a weapon against their former gods.
maybe the pc's have to stop them.
maybe the pc's decide to join them.
maybe the pc's are part of that group.
or are the entirety of the group.
Just seems like a logical reason that can hae all sorts of other problems, plots hooks and assorted fallout come from it.
just my :2cents:
Quote from: Phoenix KnightI like your intro, especially. It looks like you've got something good going on, here.
May I ask, why you would decided to call something "The Human Empire?" You don't seem to have "The Elven Empire." If Matza was one undergoing imperialism, it sounds more like the Matza Empire.
It was named so for the fact that it was born out of the idea that anything not human was a threat. The army was built with the idea of killing anything non-human in the surrounding area. After that was over, they decided to do the same, but with the entire continent and while they were at it they were going to unite every human government under one banner. In my head it worked out like nationalism, but with a species instead of a cultural identity.
And it's empire because they're conquered two Elven city states and possibly other species as I develop the map more.
Selorae:
[spoiler=History] Following the razing of Elebrinae, elves began to flee the city states fearing for their lives. The empire's army was fast on their heels however, and deployed east of the city states and attempted to block and capture elves as the attempted to cross into the safety of the forest. Ireth'Fulnae was established by these refugees, and was named after the heroic mage general who, with a group comprised entierly of volunteers, manage to harass, distract, and reroute the empire's army away from many of the various groups of fleeing elves, eventually loosing his life in the process.
Following his defeat, the empire follow the elves into the forest, but by then the elves had already become entrenched and using guerilla tactics managed to beat back the few excursions by the army. Still on the brink of bankrupcy, the empire decided not to pursue the elves further and left them to their own devices.
The city of Ireth'Fulnae was soon established, and stands as the last bastion of free elves in the world.[/spoiler]
[spoiler= Government and Military]
Following in the tradition of Ireth, Selorae's military relies heavily on magic and hit and run tactics. While overall the population of Ireth'Fulnae would like to invade and liberate their bretheren in the city states, most recognize that their army has their hands full keeping the empire at bay.
Selorae is run by a group that calls itself the rebel government, and they are literally the army generals of Selorae. Besides the army, the government provides only the most basic of services, amounting to a police force and a court system.
[/spoiler]
[spoiler= People and Culture] Walk into Selorae, and you would notice something strange: there is almost no one of venerable age. At first glance it would seem that everyone in Selorae is of fighting age, and for the most part, this impression is true. Due to the long lifespans of the Elves, most of Selorae's population are the original refugees from the elven city states, and a fair number of them are part of the second group of expatriates from the old world.
However, another factor is at work here: starvation and hardship. Many of the refugee groups died from starvation and lack of sanitary conditions before Ireth became a prosperous city with a functioning economy. Generally, the healthy and young survived the harsh conditions. Also at work is the fact the empire attempts to keep elves from the city states from escaping, and so those who leave are generally able bodied enough to combat a patrol or sneak past them. The old among Ireth's population are generally those wealthy enough to be able to afford to pay for magical means of escaping, or accomplished spellcasters themselves.
Elven culture flourishes in Selorae, but not without cost. Selorae is a heavily militaristic nation, with mandatory service for those who are able (which amounts to near everyone). While most elves gladly serve in the name of retaining their independence, traditional loyalty to family is increasingly breaking down as more elves find themselves spending years in the service and becoming reliant on serving in the military as their sole source of income.
[/spoiler]
Eritas:
The least developed of any of my countries. I also need to edit the map some to reflect some changes I made.
[spoiler=History]
Haven't decided how the country originated yet. Onto foreign policy;
Eritas is the gem of the region. It serves as the coastal trade center for the region, and, more importantly to the empire, can function as a center for a buildup of naval power. It is for these reasons that the empire has long been attempting to conquer Eritas.
The first push came early in the Empire's history, and was uneventful. Due to having to combat the native [stereotypical giant bug bent on destroying everyting] population, Eritas had a standing army, and through experience was better organized, better equipped and larger. The empire swallowed it's defeat and focused on expanding to the east.
The second push came after the elven city states fell into the dominion of the empire. Now the empire fielded an army larger than that of Eritas. Several battles later the empire looked to have the upper hand, but Eritas cleverly maneuvered them into the [stereotypical bug bent of destroying everything]. The resulting loss of men forced the empire to retreat a second time.
The third push long after the rest of the continent fell to the empire. Fielding a large army, the empire once again beat Erita's standing army and laid seige to Mukhadar. The seige lasted a week till scores of dwarven vessels landed nearby, landed troops and decimated the army laying the seige. Although Eritas had not asked for help from the dwarven kingdoms, the dwarves are the major naval power in the region and competition from the empire was not an acceptable prospect. Furthermore the empire, it was reasoned, was surely bound to raise taxes and slap import fees. The dwarven kingdoms that depended on naval trade for their livelihood would not allow that to happen either.
Under the protection of the dwarven kingdoms, the empire has since ceased plans to conquer Eritas, although border skirmishes are still common.
[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Government]Suggestions are welcome :p[/spoiler]
Two suggestions based on real world history that might work for Eritas. A rebellious colony of some other nation would be a great origin for the country, perhaps it was part of the empire originally, and removed itself via secession due to either ideals or greater profits.
For government, a council of the wealthy is a common and decent ruling system, or perhaps provinces within the regions are ruled by merchant princes in a matter similar to renaissance Italy.
As always, they are suggestions and nothing more, do with them as you will.
EDIT: Another idea for the origin of Eritas, and perhaps more mysterious, is that they were tribal humans who left the coastal forests and went into trade, rising out of barbarism. The mystery rises form the fact that they were there before the humans from the old god-inhabited world. Explorers might seek to uncover ancient treasures of the people inland of the region, or seek knowledge on their origin purely for scholastic purposes.
New map outline. Black areas are mountain ranges.
I have no idea about geography, so I have no idea if the location of the mountains is realistic in the least, but it's crafted to minimize the amount of land the empire has that touches water. I liked the idea of them struggling to establish somewhere where they can build a port and produce naval warships. The map is also less squarish, which I like more.
[spoiler] (http://www.routinedelirium.com/continentoutline.jpg) [/spoiler]
Not sure if I'll run with this design but it's closer to what I have in mind.
Quote from: Natural 20For government, a council of the wealthy is a common and decent ruling system, or perhaps provinces within the regions are ruled by merchant princes in a matter similar to renaissance Italy.
EDIT: Another idea for the origin of Eritas, and perhaps more mysterious, is that they were tribal humans who left the coastal forests and went into trade, rising out of barbarism. The mystery rises form the fact that they were there before the humans from the old god-inhabited world.
I like both of these suggestions actually. I think I'll look up some history on italy and see if it strikes my fancy, but it seems in line with what I had in mind for Eritas. I always envisioned it as a very commerce oriented country.
Like everything else, this is under heavy construction. I'm aware that there's a half elemental template in the manual of the planes, but it sucks. This is better.
Creating a Half-Elemental Creature
"Half-Elemental" is a template that can be added to any corporeal creature.
Size and Type: The creature's type changes to outsider. A Half Elemental uses the base creature's abilities and statistics except as noted here.
Special Qualities: A Half-Elemental retains all the special qualities of the base creature and also gains the following qualities depending on the father element.
Half Water Elemental
- Darkvision 60ft
- +4 racial bonus on fortitude saves versus poison
- Immune to water based disease and effects
- Underwater Breathing
- Swim speed 30ft
- Water Mastery: A Half Water Elemental feels at home in water, and gains a +1 morale bonus to attacks and saves while submerged.
- Elemental Nature: A Half Water Elemental gains a + 2 circumstance modifier on all charisma based skill and ability checks when interacting with a creature with the water elemental subtype and other Half Water Elementals.
Half Earth Elemental
- Darkvision 60ft
- +4 racial bonus on fortitude saves versus poison
- Burrow (does this need a speed? 30ft?)
- Earth Mastery: A Half Earth Elemental feels at home on the ground, and gains a +1 morale bonus to attacks and saves while on ground.
- Elemental Nature: A Half Earth Elemental gains a + 2 circumstance modifier on all charisma based skill and ability checks when interacting with a creature with the earth elemental subtype and other Half Earth Elementals.
Half Air Elemental
- Darkvision 60ft
- +4 racial bonus on fortitude saves versus poison
- Fly 30ft (good)
- Air Mastery: A Half Air Elemental feels at home in the air, and gains a +1 morale bonus to attacks and saves while in flight.
- Elemental Nature: A Half Air Elemental gains a + 2 circumstance modifier on all charisma based skill and ability checks when interacting with a creature with the air elemental subtype and other Half Air Elementals.
Half Fire Elemental
- Darkvision 60ft
- +4 racial bonus on fortitude saves versus poison
- Ignite: A Half Fire Elemental can ignite himself on fire once per day, causing 1d4 damage/level to all those around him (5 ft range, anyone in his square basically. Good for grappling) (and suffers no harm from the effect himself).
- Elemental Nature: A Half Fire Elemental gains a + 2 circumstance modifier on all charisma based skill and ability checks when interacting with a creature with the fire elemental subtype and other Half Fire Elementals.
Environment: Same as Base creature
Challenge Rating: Feedback Requested
Alignment:Usually true neutral.
Level Adjustment: Feedback requested
Elementals
Under construction, just like everything else.
[spoiler=History]Elementals are native to the New World in the same sense that elementals are native to every world world. Elements are the building blocks of existence, and elementals are these building blocks given consciousness. No one know why or how it happens, but new elementals seem to come into existence at a uniform rate.
Some have theorised that elementals are the children of a cosmic consciousness that spans all known existence, that sometimes parts of this consciousness breaks off and becomes self contained. Others theories hold that when someone dies, their soul returns to the earth to become one with the world, and elementals are tormented souls that could not leave their former life behind. Some, naturally, have taken the question directly to the elementals, however asking an elemental where he came from generally results in a long, verbose tirade about the nature of existence and is generally regarded as a futile move.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Society] Elementals are beings without needs or wants, living in seeming harmony with their enviornments. They are not solitary out of strict individualism, but out of no neccesity to associate with other elementals or other races. Nevertheless, some uniformity of culture and ideas exists between elementals of all types.
There are three castes of elementals. The dormant, self absorbed and worldly. Dormant elementals have little intelligence to speak of, they seem to simply exist in their enviornment, wandering for eternity. Witnessing a dormant elemental speaking is a rare sight indeed. They seem to be completly oblivious to their surroundings.
The self absorbed and wordly elementals view the dormant with a special kind of religious reverence. Each elemental feels the pull of nature, a desire to return to their element and be fully absorbed, to return to a state of unconsciousness. Opposite this desire is the inability to let go of their consciousness. The dormant are believed to be those elementals closest to unity with nature, and so are treated with the utmost respect and kindness by other elementals.
The self absorbed are intelligent, but are caught much more fiercely in the battle between the desire for disintigration and the desire to exist as a self. They will interact with other elementals and species if confronted, but generally spend their days wandering and meditating within their own element.
The worldly are those elementals that have accepted the dichotomy of their existence and seek to make the most of their conscious life. These elementals will have desires, opinions, and motivations much like a human, and will generally involve themselves in the dealings of other races. In this world, most have sided with Loria against the Human Empire, as the empire believes elementals to be an abomination of nature worthy of extermination.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Language]All elementals speak the language of their father element (auran, aquan, ignan terran), as well as Elemental, a common language shared by all elementals.
Worldly elementals often speak common and other languages found in their regions, as well as a number of esoteric ones. Due to their long lifespans, elementals have often been found to know ancient languages that have long since been abandoned.
Most scholars agree that the four element languages are innate to elemental creatures, as no dialects have been discovered in the myriad of planes that contain elemental creatures.
Elementals regard each of their languages as an expression of their element, and generally refer to the language Elemental as the music of existence. [/spoiler]
[spoiler=Elementals as player characters]Coming soon[/spoiler]