My homebrew campaign setting is named the Lost Epoch of Ausherland.
Brief History
There lived a famous scholar who lived in a northern utopian country called Ausherland. His name was Moralk. The country was stricken by a devastating bubonic plague, and cults and religions arose for mortals to cope with their misery and sorrows, trying to find meaning in their lives. Humans turned to drugs and hallucinogens in order to escape their pitiful existences, knowing that the numerous and infectious cults could not grant succor.
One day, a young slave boy called Ziotch escaped from his noble master and escaped to the University of Lared, the home and philosophical corner that Morralk inhabited.
Ziotch was first turned away by the University guards, but Moralk offered Ziotch into the institution, saying "That withholding knowledge from even the most humble slave, is in the realm of a propagandist, and not a teacher."
Ziotch was allowed a brief visit into Lared. Moralk payed the tuition fee, as Ziotch was destitute.
"What brings you into these halls of learning, young child?" Moralk asked.
"We live in a world of fear and misery, clinging onto promises of salvation and threats of damnation by the most holy of churches and synagogues, giving us the delusion of control of our fates, but in reality, it seems that the deities are in control. Pray tell me, why do we exist? If we are to be the Gods' slaves, then why do we have thoughts of rebelliousness? If the Gods are perfect, then why do they have emotions and desires as base as lust, ego, and wrath? What is the purpose of mortals?"
"Child, your purpose in life is not determined by the nobles, not the church, not the Gods. It is you who is in control, not some distant and ego maniacal Duke or Deity. Keep these words in mind, and you will be in control of your Fate."
Ziotch kept these words to heart, and planned on bringing his ideals of freedom to the rest of the populace. Unfortunately, his desire for freedom and reform transformed into tyranny of another sort.
Ziotch eagerly appealed to the masses like wildfire, proclaiming that without the commoners, without the slaves, peasants, and farmers, that the country would not be as glorious as it once was, and the nobles, churches, cults, and Gods would have no power if not for an oppressed majority to lord their wealth over. He demanded that it was time to take what they rightfully deserve back into their hands: their freedom and dignity. Ziotch gained a large following, with the majority of the lower class enthusiastically supporting his cause with gusto. A massive rebellion poured over the nobles and clergy, commoners demanding their respect and freedom, taking up arms if need be.
As Ziotch's followers killed the realm's Archduke, Ziotch became leader of the people, leader of Ausherland.
Ziotch realized that over the years, the population needs control, and that the lack of religion and an afterlife left many of the people frightened and sad, not wanting to lose their loved ones' forever to rampant disease, famine, and violence. Ziotch realized that constriction of freedom and something to believe in was necessary to prevent anarchy. With regret, Ziotch had to become the very person he hated for the welfare of the populace.
Ziotch formed his own philosophy, proclaiming that a Utopian heaven could only be found on Earth, but only with knowledge and foresight could one find their personal heaven. He said that the golden days of Ausherland was the most wide-spread and prevalent personal heaven, and it would be countless eons before the land would regain such a golden age. Thus, this philosophy was named the Lost Epoch of Ausherland.
Many superstitious rulers from rival countries, not to mention would-be prophets, glory-seekers, and just about anyone willing to blame their problems on someone else, plotted to capture Ziotch, wrongfully assuming that he held secret knowledge to paradise, only strengthened by Ziotch's partial success in repairing his country from the ground up.
Countless brutal and meaningless wars were fought across the continent bringing widespread sorrow and misery, as an uncountable number of factions and forces temporarily taken over Ausherland, intent on searching for the Lost Epoch of Ausherland.
Rules:
The Lost Epoch of Ausherland uses the Iron Heroes variant rulebook, part of the d20 system, published by Sword & Sorcery. Its homepage can be found here:
http://www.montecook.com/cgi-bin/page.cgi?iron-lore
My campaign allows all the standard Player's Handbook races, plus Goblins, Hobgoblins, Orcs, and Kobolds.
The campaign is set on the continent Mulidor, approximately the size of real-world Europe, but slightly smaller.
The campaign is very-low magic, with alchemy and science being indistinguishable from magic in more primitive countries. The realm is mostly dark ages, with a few isolated realms possessing early to middle renaissance. Here is a technological break-down:
Tribal:53%
Dark Ages/Early Medieval:32%
Medieval/Chivalric:12%
Renaissance:3%
A Renaissance domain, called Viatra, has come to relative power in the mid-east of Mulidor, conquering nearby countries, sometimes with diplomacy and political extortion, mostly by force. All the Renaissance countries are located on the borders of Viatria, which were the first to be conquered, now known as the Viatrian League. The region is called the Scholar's Plateau. Rumors of Viatrian soldiers arrived in the hearts and minds of refugees from the east, telling tales of soldiers bearing strange powder that brings about flame and thunder, plus mysterious special troops possessing mystical powers and clad in dark purple robes and veils covering their faces, bringing about absolute anonymity. These intimidating agents are known as "Eldritch Philosophers" by the refugees' tales.
Edit: I corrected the Dark Ages/Early Medieval to 32%. Otherwise, the figure would be 112%.
I also disallowed Elves and Gnomes as player races, as the Elves' haughtiness, arrogance, and magical achievements would isolate them to the point of extreme xenophobia from the human realms, and Gnomes, whose comical nature and adcanced magic-tech does not mesh well with the feel of the campaign. Elves would be few and far in between, while I have not decided what to do with the Gnomes.
You've got an intereting start. I feel like it would be helpful to have a basic timeline. How long has Ziotch been in power? Is he still, or are you describing the past? How long was it since he was that young slave?
A side note: technically your breakdown makes the land mostly tribal, not dark ages. While I would not rule it out entirely, I also find it hard to believe that one nation would reach Renaissance-era technology while neighboring nations remain in the dark ages or broze age. If that happened in history, it was not usually with neighbors, but generally with nations isolated from one another. Trade alone would spread ideas (which is probably necessary for a nation to reach a Renaissance, anyway).
Good luck with this. I'll watch for updates.
Ausherland and the surrounding environs were of Renaissance in the Utopian age. When Ziotch was in power, it reverted to Medieval. I will use A.G.E. (after Golden Era) as a common calendar system. The current timeline is 182 A.G.E.
Ziotch was born in 17 B.G.E. (Before Golden Era). He remained in power for 50 years before he died of the bubonic plague, at age 67.
Viatria back then was a common trading partner, in the Chivalric age, partaking of technological and cultural learnings. When nearby refugees fled toward Viatria in the C.E.(Chaos Era, 37-86 A.G.E.), Viatria could not supply all the refugees with food and shelter. In an act of unnecessary cruelty, Viatria closed off its borders to other neighboring countries, slaying any who would enter, and making all refugees and foreigners into slaves.
Viatria was isolated for a long time, untouched by foreign concerns and wars. Eventually, Viatria entered a "cultural" civil war, with scholars and intellectuals successfully rising to prominence against the stagnant and barbaric aspects of Viatria. The country was filled with great philosophers and thinkers, not to mention a few magicians and would-be sorcerers. Viatria slowly expanded its cultural and technological achievements to the nearby impoverished countries, reluctantly tolerated at first, but when the bread and gunpowder started flowing in, the Viatrian occupants where welcomed with open arms. These nearby countries are now known as the Viatrian League.
The medieval and tribal countries were not so welcoming, due to xenophobia and superstitious fears against the advanced technology, however, and Viatrian merchants and ambassadors were either rebuked or slain. Viatria became more aggressive, puzzled by how these people could be so ungrateful towards Viatria, with their promises of cultural and economic gain.
Several Viatrian generals slowly planned on passing on their cultural enlightenment to the more primitive realms by force.
Viatria is slowly but surely preparing for a large-scale invasion of western Mulidor. Disreputable scholars became propagandists, instilling an "aggresive mercy" against the foreign barbarians, adamant on restoring the Golden Era to the realm, at any cost.
Well, the disparity makes more sense if (almost) everyone was once more advanced and some regressed.
Using 3 different time measuring systems is a little confusing, especially when it is not clearly laid out where they correspond to (you do that for C.E.).
I guess it might be more clear when we see an actual time line.
Looking good.
That slave must've loved reading dictionaries...
I feel at this point, what you have posted isn't enough for me to give you a more, shall we say, complete review of your work. So far, it's given me a slight idea of the world but I need something else. Um.. I am replying though, because I want to encourage you to keep on posting, you did catch my attention for a second there. Let's see how you develop it
Ziotch was a scholar-slave, sort of like how the Romans had Greek slaves as teachers for their children in the real world.
This is just a brief start. It may take a long time to finish my campaign setting, but I have to start somewhere.