The Campaign Builder's Guild

All right, there's some preliminary mechanics.  Obviously not finished.  If you see flaws, or have ideas for feats (this ESPECIALLY) I'd really appreciate hearing them.  Thanks.

So, what we gon' do?

PBP or PBEM would work fine with me.  PBEM preferred.

Are we playing tonight?  7:03 and I'm the only one here.

Game tomorrow unless LC blows us off again to do important real-life things like work, relationships, and sunning himself in the permanent half-light of the North Carolina tundra.

This is a hardware issue more than a software issue.  Mac OS X is a much superior operating system in pretty much every respect.

With that out of the way, let's talk hardware.

Personal computer hardware is becoming homogeneous pretty quick.  Everything runs on X86 now.  It mostly comes down to individual parts and motherboard chips, with individual performance differences between what runs with macs and what runs with PCs being pretty small.

The main point of interest is cost.  Apple hardware is much, much more expensive for the power you get than "PC" hardware.  You can build a very high-quality PC for about $800, or order a very high-quality Apple for a little over twice as much.  Hardware monopoly is part of Jobs' business model, so don't expect that to change any time soon.

Since you can run Windows on any new (Intel) mac, you should buy an Apple if you can afford it.  You should buy a PC if you can't.

Such is my 2Ã,¢.

Game tomorrow!  Be there or be depressed.

Those questions will be answered in the mechanics section.  I particularly don't want to go into detail about it because it's important to the mystery of the setting, and as noted there's a game running so I'd like to preserve as much of it as I can while the players are still discovering the world.

Your points are good ones, but I may be vague on that score for now.

Tybalt: Yes, please post all you like.

I didn't go into any more detail because there isn't much more detail to go into.  God's relationship with the Islanders is extremely simple, and Satan's relationship with the West is on a personal level almost nonexistent.  I would say God is extremely casual.  People who meet face-to-face with the Devil aren't exactly forthcoming.

I guess the reason I wasn't explicit about the technology was because I have a pretty clear picture of everything being "mostly medieval" and didn't go into any more detail.  Anyway, here's a brief overview.

The technological level varies from place to place, with certain advances (guns being the loudest) that serve as "spikes" in the graph of technology.  There's a word for this, but I can't think of it right now.

The Island is solidly around 1000 A.D.  Dirt roads, carts, thatch roofs, stone and wood buildings.  Linen and wool clothing.

The West is a little more advanced.  It builds with bricks in addition to stone and wood, has cobbled streets and a primitive sanitation system.

The East is the most primitive society, but has the most disparate spiking.  It has very advanced firearms, but a very low level of civilian technology, even less than the Island.

The Elves can't be compared to a human technological level because they are obviously not human.

Phoenix Knight:  Africa looks much like its doppelganger.  The rest of the world mostly does not look anything like ours.

[spoiler=Combat Mechanics]

Combat in this system is based off of D&D's system.  Initiative is the same, saves work the same.

 When you make an attack against an enemy, you roll a 20-sided die and add your attack modifiers to get the final result.  If this number exceeds the enemy's deflection rating, your attack has struck the enemy.  If not, your attack was avoided.  If you hit, the enemy can make a block roll.  The block roll is a 20-sided die, to which any modifiers are then added.  These two numbers are compared.  If your attack roll is equal to or higher than the enemy's block roll, you have hit your enemy successfully.  If not, your attack was blocked.

If you hit your enemy, you then make a damage roll.  This is a dice roll that depends on the weapon you are using, the result of which you add any modifiers to.  This number is then compared to the enemy's armor rating.  The armor rating is subtracted from the damage roll total.  The final result is taken away from the enemy's hit points.  When the enemy reaches -1 or lower hit points, he is fatally wounded and is dying, identical to D&D's system.  When he reaches -10 or lower hit points, he is dead.

Deflection is a combination of your ability to dodge, your armors ability to turn aside a blow, and other such avoidance modifiers.  The base deflection rating is 10.  Add your dexterity bonus, armor deflection and other modifiers to this to get your final number.

Block is your ability to catch incoming attacks with your shield or weapon.  It is also your ability to parry.  Your base block rating is 0.  Add your dexterity OR strength modifier (whichever is higher), one half of your base attack bonus, and any other modifiers to get your block rating.  You can block one attack for each attack you have from Base Attack Bonus, not including any other additional blocks from other sources.  A shield grants a separate block.  Without feats, you cannot block an attack unarmed.

Armor represents the ability of your armor to absorb damage.

[/spoiler]

Classes

Classes are built in a â,¬Å"core classâ,¬Â system, that have few built-in abilities.  Instead, classes have differing access to a broad number of feats, allowing for great customization.

Soldier

The Soldier is guard, fighter, mercenary, footman, cavalry, marine, archer and warrior.  The Soldier is the most common class, and the most powerful physical damage class in the setting.  He has the highest hit-dice, and gains access to the most combat feats, making him versatile and powerful.  To counterbalance this, he has few bonus skill feats, and no magical abilities whatsoever.

Soldiers make up the vast bulk of any professional army (duh,), mercenary unit, town guards or warrior tribe.  They are quite common.

Soldiers have d10 hit die, and gain 4 + int (4 +int x4 for the first level) skill points per level.

[spoiler=The Soldier]
[class=Soldier][levels=20][bab=fighter][fort=good][ref=good][will=poor][special=Special][1]Bonus Feat, Bonus Feat: Combat[/1][2]Bonus Feat: Combat, Bonus Feat: Combat[/2][3]Bonus Feat[/3][4]Bonus Feat: Combat, Bonus Feat:Skill[/4][5]Bonus Feat: Combat[/5][6]Bonus Feat: Combat[/6][7]Bonus Feat: Combat[/7][8]Bonus Feat: Combat, Bonus Feat: Skill[/8][9]Bonus Feat: Combat[/9][10]Bonus Feat: Combat, Bonus Feat[/10][11]Bonus Feat: Combat[/11][12]Bonus Feat: Combat, Bonus Feat: Skill[/12][13]Bonus Feat: Combat[/13][14]Bonus Feat: Combat[/14][15]Bonus Feat: Combat[/15][16]Bonus Feat: Combat, Bonus Feat: Skill[/16][17]Bonus Feat: Combat[/17][18]Bonus Feat: Combat[/18][19]Bonus Feat: Combat[/19][20]Bonus Feat: Combat, Bonus Feat: Skill[/20][/special][/class]


Special Abilities

Bonus Feat: The Soldier can pick any feat he meets the prerequisites for.

Bonus Feat: Combat: The Soldier can pick any of the Combat feats that he meets the prerequisites for.

Bonus Feat: Skill: The Soldier can pick any of the Skill feats that me meets the prerequisites for.

Archtypes

Here are some example Soldier types.  You are not limited by these, they are just examples.

Berserker

Berserkers are common amongst barbarian tribes and mercenary units.  They favor attack over defense, rage over discipline.  Berserkers are good at using their emotions to fuel their attacks and frighten their enemies.  Berserkers prefer light or medium armor and heavy weapons.  

Guardsman

Guardsmen make up the bulk of city guards and professional armies.  Guardsmen are well-disciplined and good at fighting in groups.  Guardsmen prefer heavy armor and shields.

Archer

The Archer is the master of the muscle-powered ranged weapon, such as the bow, crossbow, sling, javelin, etc.  They are common everywhere Soldiers are found, and often make up the bulk of hunting lodges and small-time militias.

Rifleman

The Rifleman specializes in the use of firearms.  They are almost always found in private mercenary groups or professional armies.
[/spoiler]

Noble

The Noble represents the wealthy, the royal, the powerful.  Nobles are a social-skill focused class, the yin to the Underclass' yang.  Nobles favor Intelligence and Charisma, and gain innate bonuses from those attributes.  Nobles also have access to higher education as a rule, and gain extra bonus â,¬Å"Educationâ,¬Â feat choices in addition to their regular set.  Nobles can train to be effective fighters with light weapons as well, but their true strength lies in their skills.  Nobles make excellent spies and party â,¬Å"faces,â,¬Â and can be very effective assassins as well.

Nobles have d6 hit dice, and gain 6 +int (6+ int x 4 at first level) skill points per level.

[spoiler=The Noble]
 [class=Noble][levels=20][bab=cleric][fort=good][ref=poor][will=poor][special=Special][1]Bonus Feat, Bonus Feat: Skill, Bonus Feat: Education, Noble Bearing, Connections[/1][2]Bonus Feat: Skill, Bonus Feat: Combat[/2][3]Bonus Feat, Bonus Feat: Education[/3][4]Bonus Feat: Skill[/4][5]Bonus Feat[/5][6]Bonus Feat: Education[/6][7]Bonus Feat: Skill[/7][8]Bonus Feat[/8][9]Bonus Feat: Education[/9][10]Bonus Feat: Combat, Bonus Feat: Skill[/10][11]Bonus Feat: Education[/11][12]Bonus Feat[/12][13]Bonus Feat: Education[/13][14]Bonus Feat: Skill[/14][15]Bonus Feat[/15][16]Bonus Feat: Skill[/16][17]Bonus Feat[/17][18]Bonus Feat: Education, Bonus Feat: Skill[/18][19]Bonus Feat[/19][20]Bonus Feat, Bonus Feat: Education[/20][/special][/class]

Special Abilities

Connections: A Noble is a social creature, and like all social creatures, they form bonds and alliances and friendships and partnerships.  Every three levels starting at first level (levels one, four, seven, ten, etc.), the Noble makes a new connection.  The nature of these connections are so specific that they really need to be worked out with the DM, but some examples would be a patronage with a merchant or tradesman, a favor waiting to be called in from another noble, a contract with a band of mercenaries...  Any social resource waiting to be used.

Noble Bearing: The Noble receives a +2 bonus to all charisma-based skill checks.

Bonus Feat: The Noble may select any feat he meets the prerequisites for.

Bonus Feat: Combat: The Noble may select any Combat feat he meets the prerequisites for.

Bonus Feat: Skill: The Noble may select any Skill feat he meets the prerequisites for.

Bonus Feat: Education: The Noble may select any Skill (Education) feat he meets the prerequisites for.

Archetypes

Duelist

The Duelist is a Noble who has trained in the art of the duel.  Rarely practiced in the West, unheard of on the Island, but some Nobles still train in this art for self-defense from assassination, or for other purposes, such as being the assassin, or spying.  The Duelist is an expert with light melee weapons, and small ranged weapons such as revolvers or hand crossbows.

Aristocratic Spy

This class functions as a combination of the Underclass archetypes of Spy and Assassin, with a healthy dose of social skills.  Smooth and suave, this Noble focuses on espionage, interrogation, poisoning and quiet garroting in back rooms.

Lord

The Lord is a leader of men.  Skilled in battle craft, persuasion, and command.  The leader of his house, he can move enormous resources with a word.[/spoiler]


Underclass

Rogue, thief, assassin, lowlife, vagrant, swindler, racketeer, hitman, smuggler, con-man, all these things and more: the Underclass.  Criminal or not, this class employs underhanded tactics and cheap shots to achieve its goals.

The Underclass is a skill-based class, much like the Noble, but from the other side.  Where the Noble favors social skills, the Underclass favors utility.  The Underclass is also stronger in combat, and has in fact two subclass.  The Thug is more combat-oriented, and as a result has higher hit-dice and less skill points, whereas the Sneak is the opposite.

The Thug has d8 hit dice and gains 6 + int (6 + int x4 at first level) skill points per level.

The Rogue had d6 hit dice and gains 8 +int (8 + int x4 at first level) skills points per level.

[spoiler=The Underclass[/spoiler]

 [class=Underclass][levels=10][bab=cleric][fort=poor][ref=good][will=poor][special=Special][1]Underclass Specialization, Bonus Feat, Bonus Feat: Combat, Bonus Feat: Skill[/1][/special][/class]

Specials

Underclass Specialization: At first level the Underclass picks a subclass, and every eight levels thereafter (Levels 1, 9 and 18) gains the appropriate bonuses.

Thug I: Hit Die becomes d8, skill point baseline becomes 6.  Gains a bonus 1d6 sneak attack.
Thug II: The Thug gains Thuggery as a bonus feat.  If the character has already taken Thuggery he, gains a +2 damage bonus against targets who are denied their dexterity bonus.
Thug III: The Thug gains a further bonus 1d6 sneak attack and Killer Instinct as a bonus feat.  If the character has already taken Killer Instinct, he gains a bonus +4 damage on his critical hits.

Sneak I: Hit Dice remains d6, skill point baseline remains 8.  Gains a bonus 1d6 sneak attack and Pilfer as a bonus feat.
Sneak II: The Sneak gains Catburgler as a bonus feat.  If the character has already taken Catburgler, he gains a +2 bonus to his acrobatics and move silently skills.
Sneak III: The Sneak gains another bonus 1d6 sneak attack, and Skulker as a bonus feat.  If the character has already taken Skulker, he gains a +4 bonus to his hide checks and another 1d6 sneak attack.

Archetypes/b]

Assassin

The Assassin is the master of the ambush.  Contract killer, hitman or vigilante, the Assassin focuses on surprise attacks and poisoning.

Thief

Whether professional burglar, desperate poor seeking food, or Robin Hood figure, the Thief is an expert at taking things that does not belong to him.  Thieves focus on utility skills and stealth.    
[/spoiler]

Shaman

The Shaman is in tune with nature.  These are primal men and women, devoted to the element that calls to them most.  Shamans are tribal leaders, advisors, magic-wielders, war lords, mystics and prophets.

Class not finished yet.

Mage

The Mage is the wielder of Arcane magic.

Class not finished yet.

Feats

Feats are the method of character customization.  Feats have profound effects on your character, either giving bonuses to combat or skill checks (passive feats) or giving extra special abilities, attacks or buffs (active feats.)  Feats are also separated into Combat, Magic or Skill feats.

[spoiler=Feats]

Active Feats

Enrage (Combat)
Prerequisites: None
Classes: Any
Enrage allows you to sacrifice defense for offense.  Whether by tapping into your aggression, powerful emotions, or simply a disciplined strong attack, Enrage boosts your attack and damage, but lowers your block.

Enrage increases your attack bonus and damage with all physical attacks by half of your level, and decreases your block rolls by the same amount.  Round up.  This ability lasts ten rounds.  This ability can be used once per day per level.

Warel's eyes closed as Marcel laid him to rest upon the ground.  Ã¢,¬Å"Now do you see?â,¬Â the assassin asked.  Ã¢,¬Å"I see,â,¬Â replied Marcel.  Ã¢,¬Å"And now, you will die.â,¬Â

Furious Strikes (Combat)
Prerequisites: None
Classes: Any
Furious Strikes gives you an extra melee attack at a large penalty.  You take a penalty to the attack and damage of the extra attack equal to your level.  You may use this ability once per day per level.

The Legions of the Empire were renowned for their shield skill and defensive tactics.  Yet at the battle of Northstar, the heathen warlords and their howling berserkers shattered and broke the Imperial lines, sending the Legions scattering.  Afterwards, one of the barbarian kings was said to remark with a grin, â,¬Å"I've always maintained that the best defense was a good offense.â,¬Â

Crippling Shot (Combat)
Prerequisites: Weapon Specialization (any ranged)
Classes: Any
At an attack and damage penalty equal to half his BAB, the character can choose to specifically target his opponent's legs.  If the attack is successful, the target takes a fractional movement penalty equal to the number of limbs used for locomotion.  Example: a human would take a Ã,½ movement penalty (two legs), a horse Ã,¼th (four legs), a giant spider 1/8th (eight legs), etc.  This movement penalty lasts a number of rounds equal to the final damage of the attack.  Multiple Crippling Shots are cumulative in effect, but each fraction is applied to the current movement reduction.  For example, if a human is shot and reduced to 15 move speed, and he were to be shot again, he would be reduced to 8 move speed (round up), then 4 if shot again, then 2, etc.  This ability can be used once per day per level.

â,¬Å"There's not much you can do if they get close.  So my advice to you is to not let them get close.â,¬Â - Girard Antollen, headmaster of the Veracles Archery Academy.

Rapid Fire (Combat)
Prerequisites: Weapon Specialization (any ranged)
Classes: Any
This ability gives you an extra attack with your ranged weapon, at a penalty.  The reload time for your weapon (if applicable) is waived for this attack.  The extra attack suffers an attack roll penalty equal to your level.  This ability can be used once per day per level.

â,¬Å"I can't kill him in one shot.â,¬Â
â,¬Å"Then fire more.â,¬Â

Running Shot (Combat)
Prerequisites: Weapon Specialization (any ranged)
Classes: Any
This ability allows you to fire your ranged weapon during a move action.  This ability can be used once per day per level.

Culvare led the guards on a merry chase through the farmer's field, pelting them with rocks from his sling as he ran.  Ne'er once did he slow or stop, to take aim or fit a bullet.  The bruises and broken bones suffered by the guards told a painful tale of the robber lord's aim.

Dodge (Combat)
Prerequisites: Dexterity 12
Classes: Any
This ability grants you extra Deflection, based on your existing Dexterity score.  When fighting a single enemy, this bonus is automatically applied against that enemy's attacks.  Against multiple enemies, you must declare one against which you receive the Dodge bonus.  Dodge doubles your Dexterity score for the purposes of Deflection.  E.g, a character has 14 Dexterity, granting him a +2 bonus to his Deflection.  With Dodge, he would receive a +4 bonus.

Rauther was a huge, strong man, and any one of his swings would have cloven Marcel in twain.  It was fortunate for the smaller man that none of them reached their mark, so swift were his movements.

Defender (Combat)
Prerequisites: Improved Block OR Improved Parry (does not require both, just one)
Classes: Soldier
This ability allows the Soldier to aid and protect his allies by interception blows otherwise aimed at them.  The Soldier can sacrifice one of his blocks that round (assuming he has any left) to catch an attack aimed at one of his allies who is within 5ft.  The use of this ability must be declared BEFORE the results of the incoming attack roll are revealed.

Rauther whirled, watching in horror as the arrow streaked towards his wounded comrade.  Hurling himself past his foe, he deflected the missile upon his shield, saving his friend's life.

Focus (Combat)
Prerequisites: Base Attack Bonus +3
Classes: Any
This feat allows the character to focus his full attention on a single target.  At the expense of becoming flat-footed against any attacks other than those from the focused target, the character gains a bonus to attack, damage and block rolls against that target equal to his level.

Though Kralgor was pierced by many arrows and slashed by many swords, his path towards Aneth was unswerving.  No threat could sway him from his course.  He fell dead at Aneth's feet, slain by five men who clung to his back like limpets upon a whale.

Precise Strikes (Combat)
Prerequisites: Expert Technique
Classes: Soldier, Noble, Underclass
This feat allows the character to deal ability score damage in place of hit point damage.  The character may choose to deal half damage in Strength or Dexterity damage as his attack.  The damage to these ability scores may not exceed four per strike (any excess damage is done to hit points), and this ability may only be used with a light weapon.

Culvare circled, stabbing here and slashing there.  With each strike, so carefully placed, his foe weakened, until his blade dropped from his lifeless grasp, and he sank to the ground, defeated.

Passive Feats
Improved Block (Passive)
Prerequisites: Armor Specialization: Shields
Classes: Any
This feat emphasizes defense with a shield.  The character gains an extra block per round with his shield.

Half a dozen men assailed Warel, but he had trained with the Legions in his youth, and not a single blow reached his body.  All were turned aside by his father's shield that he bore.

Improved Parry (Combat)
Prerequisites: Weapon Specialization (any melee)
Classes: Any
This feat emphasizes defense with a weapon.  The character gains an extra block per round with his mainhand melee weapon.

Alone, unarmored and with naught but a tree limb scavenged from the forest floor for a weapon, nonetheless was Sarella able to fight her way through the orc camp and escape unharmed.  When questioned about this miraculous flight, she only responded, â,¬Å"if you're quick enough, you can parry with anything.â,¬Â

Off-hand Parry (Combat)
Prerequisites: Dual Wielding
Classes: Any
This feat allows you to use your off-hand weapon to block with.  You gain an extra block in this way, but the off-hand weapon penalties apply to your block roles.

This dueling style, popular in the early 9th century, used a dagger or small sword in the left hand instead of a shield.

Rampage (Combat)
Prerequisites: Enrage, Furious Strikes
Classes: Soldier, Shaman
When Enraged, each of the character's successful melee attacks that deal damage (past armor) trigger another attack, at a penalty to both attack and damage of the character's level.  This effect is cumulative, e.g a level 7 Soldier hits an enemy and gains an extra attack, taking a -7 penalty to attack and damage.  If he hits again, he gets another attack with a -14 penalty, etc.

The berserker warriors of the jungle were famed and feared for their bloodlust.  It was said that the mere sight of an enemy's blood fresh on their blade would send them into a frenzy, cutting at their foes faster than any mortal man had the right to.

Fearsome Visage (Combat)
Prerequisites: Enrage
Classes: Soldier, Shaman
During an Enrage, the character's manner, appearance and aura becomes horrifying to nearby foes.  Any hostile creature within 5ft of the character during his Enrage must make a Will save (DC 10 + the character's level + the characters Charisma modifier) or become Shaken, taking a penalty to their attack and block rolls equal to the character's level.

The great Legion general, Kala, was once asked after a crushing defeat at the hands of the heathen tribes if he would lead his men into battle with them again.  His response was, â,¬Å"I would.  But my men would not follow.  One look at the faces of the enemy, and they would break.â,¬Â

Slayer (Combat)
Prerequisites: Enrage, Furious Strikes, Fearsome Visage, Rampage
Classes: Soldier, Shaman
When Enraged, the character revels in the deaths of his foemen, gaining a bonus to his Strength and Constitution scores of +1 for each enemy he kills.  This bonus lasts for ten rounds.  Hitpoints gained in this manner function as temporary hitpoints.

The most terrible of the berserkers were given the title of Slayer, and they wore the bones of the men they killed.  The mere sight of a Slayer upon the battlefield would cause even the most veteran of soldiers to hesitate.  It was said that when the great heathen king Mok'kag was slain by the hero Rauther in a death-duel outside the gates of Marendum, all his body was obscured by the heaps of stolen bone, stacked thrice high upon his ruined chest.

Immovable (Combat)
Prerequisites: None
Classes: Soldier
The Soldier becomes immune to bull-rush actions, and gains a bonus to resisting or avoiding trip, disarm and grapple actions equal to his level.

â,¬Å"Move us?â,¬Â Jin Wei laughed, as he joined the line of warriors in the valley,  Ã¢,¬Å"So long as the earth holds firm beneath our feet, they will not move us.â,¬Â

Expert Technique (Combat)
Prerequisites: None
Classes: Soldier, Noble, Underclass
The character adds his Intelligence modifier to his block rolls with a melee weapon or shield, and to his attack and damage rolls with all weapons.

The famed weapon masters of the nobility developed styles of combat that, although difficult to learn, were undeniably superior to the common ways.

Riposte (Combat)
Prerequisites: Expert Technique, Improved Parry, Weapon Specialization (any light melee)
Classes: Soldier, Noble, Underclass
After successfully blocking a melee attack with a light weapon, the character immediately gains a free attack on the target with a damage penalty equal to half the character's level.  Round down.  

Each time the warrior swung his sword, it was caught mid-flight by the flashing blade of Culvare.  After a long duel, the warrior collapsed, bleeding from two dozen wounds, each inflicted by a swift stab that followed the parry.  Culvare never initiated an attack.

Ambush (Combat)
Prerequisites: None
Classes: Soldier, Noble, Underclass
When attacking an opponent denied their Dexterity bonus (flat-footed), the character gains a bonus 1d6 sneak attack damage.  This feat can be taken multiple times.

â,¬Å"They won't know what hit them.â,¬Â - Anonymous

Stealth (Skill)
Prerequisites: None
Classes: Any
This feat represents a focus on the art of not being seen or heard.  Characters with this feat gain a bonus to their Hide and Move Silently skills equal to their character level.

â,¬Å"They can't find you if they can't see you.â,¬Â - Thief Manifesto

Assassination (Combat)
Prerequisites: Ambush, Stealth
Classes: Noble, Underclass
With this feat, the character has the ability to quickly dispatch an unaware or overmatched foe.  When the charachter makes an attack, the number by which his attack exceeds the target's deflection or block roll (if he blocks) increases the damage dealt.  Against a target who is aware of the character and is not flat-footed, damage is increased by one point every three attack points over the enemy's block or deflection.  (e.g a block roll of 23 against an attack roll of 26 = one point of extra damage from Assassination.  Round down.)  Against an opponent who is aware of the character but denied his dexterity bonus (i.e an enemy being flanked, or a similar situation), the ratio is 2:1 (two points over for one damage.)  Against an opponent who is not aware of the character (the character is hiding and moving silently successfully, for example) and denied their dexterity bonus, the ratio is 1:1.

The Hashishin were the first to perfect this art, but not the last.  It is rumored that there are clans of Assassins who can kill a man with but a mere thought...  But they are only rumors.

Poison Mastery (Skill)
Prerequisites: None
Classes: Noble, Underclass, Shaman
This feat allows the character to safely manufacture and make use of poisons.  The risk of poisoning yourself is waived with this feat, and given recipe knowledge, appropriate ingredients and the necessary tools, the character can create his own poisons.  Furthermore, all poisons used by the character gain a +2 bonus to their effect, and the character gains a +2 bonus to all Alchemy, Craft and Sleight of Hand checks associated with poisons.

A slight drop of this liquid here, a dash of powder here, and perhaps some mixture applied to the blade.  No need for all of this...  Messy business.

Murder
Prerequisites: Ambush, Stealth, Assassination
Classes: Underclass
This feat allows the Underclass to, once per day, guarantee a critical hit on his next attack.  No roll is necessary, and it is assumed that a natural 20 was rolled and confirmed.

â,¬Å"If you only have time for one shot...  Make it count.â,¬Â - Thief Manifesto

Education (Skill)
Prerequisites: None
Classes: Noble
Being of a wealthy family, the Noble has access to higher education.  He may study etiquette, warfare, languages (secret or mundane), bartering, diplomacy, spying, or any other discipline.  Included here are some examples areas of study, but no doubt the GM and the Noble player can work out something specific if so wished.

All Education Skill feats may be taken multiple times, and their effects are cumulative.

Anatomy: Your knowledge of the human body gives you the ability to hit where it hurts.  You gain a +1 bonus to damage with all attacks.

Barter: The Noble gains a +1 bonus to Appraise and Haggle checks.

Diplomacy: When dealing with foreign figures, the Noble gains a +1 bonus to all social skill checks.

Etiquette: For each rank, the Noble gains a +1 bonus to all social skill checks dealing with nobility or figures of authority.

Language: The Noble gains a free language for each rank.

Spycraft: The Noble gains a +1 bonus to Bluff, Intimidate, Sleight of Hand and Open Lock per rank.

Warfare: You have made a study of the art of war, giving you the edge in command.  You gain a +1 bonus to all knowledge skills involving battle per rank.

â,¬Å"Always the greatest advantage held by those of wealth...  Are the vast stores of knowledge available to them.â,¬Â

Fast Talk (Skill)
Prerequisites: Charisma 12, Intelligence 12
Classes: Any
This feat represents your ability to lie, scam and bluff your way through difficult situations.  You have made a study of the art of the lie, and can use your brains as well as your acting.  You gain a bonus to your Bluff skill equal to your level, and you can also add your Intelligence modifier (if applicable) to Bluff, Speech, Diplomacy and Intimidate checks.

Legend has it that the fools of the Imperial court could weave webs of lies so convincing that those involved would lose sight of the truth, and wonder perhaps if they had been lying all along.

Athleticism (Skill)
Prerequisites: Strength 12, Dexterity 12
Classes: Any
This feat represents the time and energy placed in honing your athletic skill.  You gain a bonus to your Acrobatics and Climb skills equal to your level.

The monks of the Eastern monasteries train their whole lives in achieving purity of body and mind.  It is said they can run as fast as the deer that inhabit the valleys.

Weapon Specialization (Combat)
Prerequisites: None
Classes: Any
This feat represents dedication and practice with a single weapon.  You may pick one weapon, and you gain a +1 bonus to attack, damage and block rolls with that weapon (if applicable.)  This feat may be taken multiple times.

Lane dedicated his life to the pursuit of mastery with a single weapon.  At the end of his life, he could defeat any man should he hold that weapon in his grasp.


[/spoiler]

Continued from above.

The Wastes

Blighted, inhospitable, hazardous and nigh-impassable.  These are the qualities ascribed to the majority of all land in the world.

[spoiler=The Wastelands]The Wastelands

Ah, yes.  The Wastes.  The enduring aftermath of disaster.  Picture a desert.  No doubt in your mind is an image of pounding heat, scorched earth and sand, scrub trees and grass, and little life.  Sand dunes, high ridges, great boulders.  Lizards.  Buzzard, possibly.

The Wastelands are almost nothing like that.  Keep the scorched earth and sand, but discard everything else.  Now you have: scorched earth and sand.  For thousands of miles.  Flat, unchanging land.  No water.  No life.

Now add to this image sickness.  Pervading, corrupting disease.  It saps your life, leaving you a ruined shell, a hollow dying body with no soul.  To set foot in the Wastes is to risk a death so final as to be beyond imagining.  This disease can take years to finally kill you, or mere weeks.

The symptoms are horrifying.  Your body changes and mutates, your mind becomes narrow and violent.  Eventually you lose control of yourself, seeking only to kill.

This disease is known and feared by Westerners and Elves.  They spend as little time in the Wastes as possible, and known cases are now very rare.

The Wastes, despite their lack of life-giving resources, have living creatures in them.  Animals sometimes wander or are driven in, and lose their way, falling prey to the sickness and roaming the land before expiring.  There is a species of long predatory worm that seem capable of eking out a life below the surface.  There are also magical creatures that are very dangerous.

These become more common the deeper you go.  This is a definitive pattern to the Wastes; the farther you go, the more dangerous they become.  Only one type of magical creature is well-documented, but appearances of others were so violent and damaging that they have become legends.

The Elves call the known creature the Tyrakken.  They have an almost superstitious fear of these things.  They resemble large cattle, dark, four-legged, hoofed and very stocky.  They fight by charging their prey, goring them with their horns, trampling them and then devouring the remains.  Legend has it that the Tyrakken are hot enough to burn the ground they tread upon, and the tell-tale signs of a nearby creature are the trails of ash it leaves behind it.

There are also people in the Wastes, fools who try to survive there, then slowly go mad with sickness.  They are rare, but can be dangerous to travelers.[/spoiler]

Places of Minor Importance (Currently!)
[spoiler=Arabia]Arabia

Arabia lies far to the south of the sea, a great desert crisscrossed by fertile river valleys, surrounded by Wasteland.

People of Arabia

The majority of Arabians are human, but a good thirty percent of them are Orcs.  They are a dark-skinned people, tanned by the sun, who forge a life out of the pounding heat and unforgiving sand.

Arabia is a curiously isolated, quiet place.  Food is plentiful from the rivers, and civilization seems content to stay where it is.  The high-walled, white stone cities that dot the landscape serve as shelter for the nomads who come and go, crossing the desert seeking fulfillment.

Arabia has no contact with the nations around the sea, and thus no written records of its history has reached us.

In time, though...  In time.[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Africa]Africa

Africa lies south of Arabia.

Peoples of Africa

Africa is paradise.  A vast, endless landscape of rivers, lush rainforest and plains with no Wasteland in sight.  Humans and Orcs populate it, living in tribal hunter-gatherer societies.

The Orcs are speed hunters, built like the great lion cats of their homeland.  In stark contrast to their Island cousins, the Savannah Orc is a massive, fearsome humanoid of seven feet and three hundred pounds, and a calculating, intelligent predator's brain.

The African humans are tough and strong, but prefer the long hunt to the quick ambush.  Orc and human work well together, and often form tribes of both species.

There is magic there, too, a deep, earthy shamanistic magic.  It calls back to the Disciplines of the East, but is wholly more natural.  It is, in a sense, pure.

There is no civilization here; but explorers are e'er afflicted by wanderlust, and one or two have made it across sand and Waste to find others peoples, and perhaps one may make it back.[/spoiler]

Hi, and welcome to my campaign setting.  Please feel free to comment, critique and criticize.  It's not finished, but there's about eighteen pages worth of stuff here, so I guess it's good enough for posting.  Places still need fleshing out, and the Island is the only place I feel is really close to complete.  Mechanics are still in the conceptual phase.  There's a working D&D-based model that I'm running now, but I'm unsatisfied with it.  I also need to make a map, but lack any good mapmaking programs.  I guess I could just draw one, but I am a terrible artist.  If you have any advice or services to offer in this particular area, I welcome it!

Anyway, there's a game in progress in this setting that needs two or so more players, so if this setting interests you, shoot me an email at eldirtchevil at gmail dot com.  You can observe the game in #EEsGame on the irc.magicstar.net server on IRC.  It's played on Sundays, 2-6 PM EST.  Luminous Crayon is a player, along with two others of notable roleplaying skill.

To the setting.

The setting is best summed up as "post-post apocalyptic."  Bad stuff has gone down, if you will.   Species, civilizations -- poof.  Gone.  Hundreds of thousands of years ago.  The world has long since moved on; but relics still survive.  Skeletal cities dot the blighted, dangerous desert wastes created by this unimaginable catastrophe form the vast majority of land mass; artifacts of old technology surface, sometimes throwing the order of society into temporary chaos, other times serving merely as a museum curiosity piece.

There is no history that stretches back so far.  Nobody knows what happened, and it is unlikely anyone ever will.  There are clues, though, hidden in the ghost-towns and gigantic ruins, waiting for someone to find them...  And, perhaps, piece the puzzle together.

Life is tough here.  The soil is either mostly barren or very poor for agriculture, and droughts or locust plagues or other misfortunes have often wiped out entire villages.  There are very few places where life can prosper.  

People, Places and Histories

Island of God

The Island is a fertile land of farmers and tradesmen.  The Island people are tall and strong, compassionate and independent.  They live (quite) closely with their God.

[spoiler=People of the Island]People of the Island

The Island is set in the center of a large inland sea.  It is populated by mostly humans; a nigh-extinct species of Orc; a gentle intelligent species of mountain-dwelling humanoids called Trolls; one Divinity; and a diminutive, semi-sentient humanoid species of mountain pack hunters called Rock Goblins.  The Island is about three hundred miles long and its width varies from fifty at its narrowest to almost two hundred at its broadest.

The Divinity in question, God, lives there; and I do mean that literally.  He has a house, visits political debates, and will come over to help you fix your roof.  He's been around as long as the people (Islanders, they call themselves.  Not very imaginative.) have been writing down history, which is about eight hundred years.

As for religion, God is very relaxed. His dogma runs along the lines of commit no murder, commit no theft, etc. I lays down guidelines for leading an ideal life, which is one of helping your fellow man with charity and friendship, but God doesn't worry if people don't follow it. So long as you don't hurt anyone else, you're generally in God's good book.  There are few prohibitions beyond the ones already mentioned, but the most serious is that Arcane magic is forbidden.  God teaches that it is a magic incapable of creation; only of destruction.

Islanders have an unusual, intensely personal connection to God.  God shares His divine powers with all His people, in varying degrees; one man on one end of the scale may be able to do no more miracles than heal a small cut or clean a plate; whereas a woman on the other side could bring someone back from the brink, move a brier thicket, or shatter a dozen swords with a thought.

You might think that, with the heavy emphasis on religion and God, the Island would be a theocracy. This is not so.

It's a parliamentary republic of sorts. Members of parliament are elected from different provinces, towns and cities to represent their constituents in the government. These MPs argue often about how best to implement policy. God has never run for parliament but is, due to his standing as deity, accorded a place of honor anyway and He is present at almost every debate. Some MPs are more honorable than others, and no political system is without corruption. Champions play a role in politics as well; their sworn oath testimonies are often used as ultimate evidence in legal cases, and the power they wield in society is not taken lightly by politicians.

The Island is a utopia compared to the rest of the known world.  The soil is fertile, there are few enemies (the Elves left about three hundred years ago, and Goblins are little more than an annoyance) and almost no disease to speak of.  The average lifespan is over a hundred years, and no-one goes hungry.

Islanders are strong, tough and wise.  They are warm and welcoming, non-violent for the most part, and have a deep respect for anyone who takes their life into their own hands and makes something of it.  They are independent and self-reliant, but also have a strong sense of community.  Islanders are physically imposing.  The men stand six and a half feet tall and usually weigh in at over two hundred pounds; the women stand a head shorter.  Everyone is obviously in excellent health.

There is distress, trouble and conflict there, as there is everywhere.  The Island has responded to these threats by forming the most powerful Navy on the sea, more than ten times the number of ships that any other nation possesses, and the most effective special forces.  The Brotherhood of Champions serves as army, police, detectives and mediators for all conflicts that arise.

The non-human species on the Island generally keep to themselves.  Trolls are ten-foot, thick grey creatures with tough skin and small eyes.  Their hearing is excellent.  They prefer to live underground, in caves, and create beauties of stone and metal.

Island Orcs are a stunted and ruined species, barely alive.  They bear only superficial resemblance to their continental kin.

Rock Goblins are clever hunters.  They lack language or civilization, and generally avoid humans.  They stand about three feet tall, but move about on all fours.  They use tools and crude weapons to hunt their prey.  Rock Goblins occasionally have violent encounters with humans, but they are rare.

The language of the Island is English.  The unit of currency is the dollar.

Notable People

Commander Alain Cain is the second-in-command of the Brotherhood of Champions.  He is of unusual genetic descent, his father being a sailor and his mother an Eastern fisherwoman, but he is quickly proving himself as a capable officer.

Although young, Cain is an adept military officer and a brilliant politician.  He has organized most of the successful special Brotherhood actions over the past five years.

Cain is a smaller man, but is rumored to be a deadly fighter.  He keeps an Easterner Katana sword, a memento of his past, in his office.

Paul Chambers is a powerful MP from Trias.  He runs a large trading and mercantile company that deals with the West, and is the richest man on the Island.
[/spoiler]

[spoiler=History of the Island]The History of the Island

The History of the Island is short, as written only eight hundred years.  Society and life had existed in a primitive form there long before written records, but it is lost to time.  History begins when God arrives.

Civilization began on the south of the Island.  It was mostly farms and such, small villages perhaps but no cohesive center of life.  Written accounts of God's arrival state that He sailed onto the coast in a white galleon, standing hundreds of feet high with a voice that reached to all people.

The words he spoke are said to be indecipherable, but all people felt the call.  In three days, the population of the Island came to worship.  God spoke to them of the values He held dear; unconditional love, charity, the importance of family and personal relationships, and the strength of Good over Evil.  As he spoke, he shrank in size and strength, and it is written that a holy light fell upon each man, woman and child in the congregation.  At the end of his talk, he was no more mighty than a common man; a frail elderly creature, battered by winds both physical and more ethereal.  It is said that he fell, but was caught and steadied by a thousand thousand hands and prayers.  God took a home on the Island, to better watch his people, and he taught them.

He taught them of philosophy, and the written word.  He taught them of mathematics, and the building of cities.  Underneath his guiding hand, the humans of the Island prospered.  Capitas grew around God's house as the seat of government, and the center of society.  From there civilization spread in all directions.

Quickly, the Islanders clashed with the Orcs, which in those days were a different sort of beast.  Although they were as scrawny and weak as they are now, they had a low evil cunning, preferring to fight with ambush and trickery, fleeing when the forces the Islanders presented were greater than theirs.  Initial contact was hostile, as the Orcs saw the humans as prey, then as their numbers increased; as invaders.  The militia, largely farmers armed with scythes with no professional soldiers, was fought to a bloody standstill.  They needed a professional army.

The Brotherhood of Champions was formed out of this need, and so effective was their violence that the Orcs were routed and scattered in a mere five years of concentrated war-making.  Although poised to wipe out the last remaining Orcs, God counseled peace.  Rather than destroy them, the Islanders kept them at bay, pinning them down and shooing them away while settlers hurried past.

At an incredibly rapid pace, the Islanders expanded north (having long reached the southern coasts), pushing the Orcs farther and farther from their ancestral hunting grounds.  Orc raiders leapt upon settlers, tradesmen, wagons and so forth.  The Brotherhood, now facing a threat across a much larger area, was overstretched.  Hatred towards the Orcs was rekindled, and God was saddened â,¬' as much by the deaths of his people as by the emotions they felt.

The Islanders made peaceful contact with the huge, gentle mountain people that lived on the farthest northern mountain range.  They called them Trolls, and through pantomime and drawing, exchanged languages.  To this day, relations with the Trolls are strong, and the Trolls provide the highest quality stone, metal and woodwork created on the Island.

Shortly thereafter, they discovered a huge forest in the northwest.  As they explored, they made contact with another intelligent species: the Elves.

The Elves were, to the Islanders, a strange looking people.  Since the conflict that would ensue is so steeped in personal experience, an objective account will not be written.  Such a tale would be useless and irrelevant to both sides; dismissed out of hand.  Perhaps by contrasting the two sides, a measure of truth may be gleaned.  This is the Island's side of the story.

Ignoring all the other progress of the Islanders, their formation of cities, they conflict with Rock Goblins, the further punishment of the Orcs and the creation of sailing ships, the relationship with the Elves was always a tentative one.  Languages were exchanged, and trade began to flow, but wariness and fear was always there.  The Elves were blatant users of Arcane magic.

Out of concern for their well-being, many priests traveled to the forest of the Elves, or to their more accessible port city of Trias.  They spoke of the obvious dangers of Arcane magic, both to the user and to those around him.  Although it could be controlled (this much was obvious, as the Elves hadn't blown themselves to bits yet) it was inevitable that catastrophe would ensue.  The Elves would not listen, and became hostile and angry at the well-meaning human priests.

As contact became more frequent as many years passed, tensions flared.  Human settlers needed more land, and they felled trees for the purpose of farming.  The Elves reacted with violent anger, and a dozen settler families were killed by irrational, criminal Elves.  War almost broke out, but a group of brave diplomat Champions defused the situation.  A treaty was drawn, declaring all of the forest as sovereign Elven land.  For another hundred years there was peace, but it was a mere facade.

Jealousy ran rampant in the Elven nation.  They envied the population of the Islanders, their happiness, their connection to Divinity that no Arcane spell could match.  Stories were invented there, telling lies of the wickedness of humans.  Elves began to abduct priests and merchants who ventured into their forest and cities, holding them hostage.  Settler families and â,¬Å"vigilanteâ,¬Â Elf-killers struck back, inflaming an already dangerous situation.

It was inevitable that serious conflict should break out.  The Elves felt that only one species could exist on the Island; they were dangerous xenophobes at heart.  They invaded the human farmlands and attacked, obliterating acres of fertile land and villages with Arcane magic.

The Islanders were caught off guard by the violence of the attack, but rallied swiftly.  As the Elven army methodically destroyed everything in their path, the Brotherhood formed a defensive line across the land.  The war was brutal; the Champions were bigger, stronger and better soldiers; but the Elves had a deadly array of life-ending magic to aid them.  Thousands died, but in the end, the Brotherhood overpowered their foes and struck northward to end any oncoming threat before it could reach the farmlands to the south.

They reached the border and struck into the trees, heading for Trias, the closest city and major strategic point in the conflict.  They found a town nearly abandoned; dozens of large Elven galleys were sailing away, with only a few diehard defenders left behind.

The Elves felt they had lost their bid for the Island, and fled rather than face the judgement of their victims.  All of their population left the Island, leaving cities and settlements to rot and fade in the gloom of the forest.

Settlers moved back onto the ruined lands and found them barren.  They moved past, into the forest, and claimed the abandoned city of Trias as their own.  

While this was happening, exploratory fishing boats made contact with the civilized nation on the west coast of the sea (called by Islanders The West.  Westerners have no unified name for their country.) and the barbarian tribes to the East.  After the Elves fled, they built their navy up to a dominating force on the sea, ensuring that they alone had control of who came and went on the water.

There is a strange thing of note, here.  Any Islander who set foot on the continent beyond the sea, beyond the port cities of the West and East, vanished without a trace.  This nigh-superstitious fear has pervaded throughout the years, and only recently has it been disproved.

As the Orcs were more and more pushed into smaller and smaller areas of land by settlers defended by Champions, the situation deteriorated.  Raider captains let suicidal missions in a vain attempt to regain control, and the Brotherhood responded by invading again.  This time, the Orcs were almost wiped out completely, leaving a tiny population of perhaps two hundred alive, with all of their warriors slain.  The breeding population was even smaller, with only those too weak or frail or crippled to fight left.  As of the present day, the Island Orcs are almost extinct, although lately there have been raids of surprisingly large number, and they're using iron weapons...

After the Orcs were reduced to almost nothing, and with no other threats to the Islanders, the Brotherhood was largely disarmed.  It moved from a full-sized professional army to a police group, with perhaps six hundred men on active duty.

Lately, events have been catapulted into motion.  Strange creatures, horribly mutated animals lurched from the Enchanted Forest (so the former Elven country has been named) to attack woodsmen and settlers.  An elite group of Champions investigated, and it was revealed that Western wizards were behind it.  They had, in secret, moved into the Forest and built bases, transporting reinforcements by magic portals.  They were also capturing Islanders and mutating them horribly.  Furious, this elite group traveled to the mainland, and confronted the Wizard Guild in the west.  Shocked by these revelations, the Guild Masters decided to make an example of the guild responsible: the Guild of Experimental Magics.  They were further pressed to act by a plot to capture or kill both the Master of Neruopsychology and the Champions by the Experimental Magics guild.  This plot was foiled by the Champions, and the Experimental Magics Guild was disbanded.  With the dangerous situation defused, the group turned their attention to the strange Orc activities on the Island.

After some investigation, they discovered that someone from the West was arming and instructing the Orcs to raid.  As official diplomats, they traveled again to the West in an attempt to ferret out who was behind it.  They were sidetracked by the Master of Experimental Magics, sentenced to die, who they aided in an escape from his fate in exchange for information about the mutation program.  They learned from him that it was Elves who were the true masterminds.  The group met with the Elven embassy in the West, and are currently en-route to the Elven homeland beyond the Wastes.

Timeline: (NOTE: all Timelines are written with Island reckoning in mind, for clarity.)
0: God arrives.  Civilization begins.
28: Capitas is founded.
97: Contact made with Orcs.  Violence ensues.
99: War with Orc Tribes begins.
107: Brotherhood of Champions is founded.
112: First Orc War ends.
115: Nearport is founded.
124: Elsmere is founded.
156: Politas is founded.
163: Second Orc War begins.
189: Contact with Trolls made.
243: Argon is founded.
287: Dublin is founded.
311: Contact with Elves is made.
325: Jacksonville is founded.
347: Second Orc War ends.
373: Contact made with barbarian fishermen of the East.
389: Tensions flare with Elves, diplomatic solution reached.  Elf/Human treaty signed.
438: Contact made with the Western nation.
472: Elven War begins.
473: Brotherhood of Champions begins defense.
476: Elven War ends.  Brotherhood is victorious.
477: Trias captured and settled.
494: Island Navy asserts control of the sea.
520: Orestis is founded.
531: Isolationist policies enacted, only slight trade allowed between countries.
567: Farport is founded.
582: Brotherhood of Champions disarmed.
633: Isolationist policies struck down, trade increases.
841: Present day.[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Places of the Island]Places of the Island

Argon
Argon is a city nestled in a slightly curved crescent of mountains. It lies about ten miles from the mountains themselves, and has a band of fertile hills nearby. Argon's primary trade is in the precious metals that lie in the mountains. The people of Argon are largely miners and tradesmen who work the metals. Argon's chapterhouse is lightly staffed, with Captain Falstaff in command. Falstaff is a soldier who made his name fighting rock goblins in the area around Argon.

Argon is the smallest city on the Island with a population of only four thousand. Local concerns are the rock goblin packs that occasionally harass the miners, but little else happens here. Argon is a peaceful place.

Capitas
Capitas is the largest city on the Island, and the capital city, as indicated by its name. Capitas houses the government buildings, Brotherhood headquarters, Temple of God (his house), and other important places.

Capitas is surrounded by walls and is well defended, a holdover from the days of the Orc conflicts.

Capitas' chapterhouse is the largest on the Island and is commanded by the leader of all Champions, the elerdly General Rainze.

Capitas is the largest city, and houses over twenty thousand people.

Dublin
Dublin is the major eastern port of the Island. It receives all the trade from the East and distributes it throughout the Island. Dublin sits on a sandy stretch of beach, surrounded on the land side by walls. It maintains the largest fleet of the Island's navy, totaling forty ships, over a third of the entire force.

Dublin is a very large city due to its high trade, with about ten thousand permanent inhabitants and many merchant families that come into the city for a few weeks, then move off again.

Dublin's chapterhouse is the second largest on the Island, commanded by Captain Anderson. Anderson is a brawny warrior, and was a naval Captain ten years back. He could have made Admiral given time, but instead chose to serve the Brotherhood.

Elsmere
Elsmere is the smallest city on the Island. It slowly built itself up around some particularly rich farmland. Elsmere houses a mere two thousand inhabitants, mostly farm boys who got sick of the farm and went to the small town. An unremarkable place, really.

Elsmere's chapter house is tiny. It's headed by Captain Archibald.

Enchanted Forest
The name sounds like something out of a kiddy fairy tale -- but the Forest doesn't come close. The former home of the elven population of the Island, its ground soaked by the blood of its former inhabitants, the air awash with arcane magical residue. The Forest is by far the most dangerous and most mysterious place on the Island, full of old Elven artifacts and traps for the unwary.

Farport
Farport is an interesting city. It has no land path to it (save walking through the Forest, which is a Grade A Bad Idea of late), residing on the northwest side of the Enchanted Forest.

Farport was built as a refuge for trader ships that would be blown north of Trias on their way onto the Island. As more and more hunters ventured into the Enchanted Forest and found the relics and artifacts there, trade directly with Farport -- as opposed to merely staying there while a storm passed over -- became more common. Farport is the smallest port on the Island, and very remote, housing only three thousand permanent residents.

Farport houses a dozen naval ships.

Farport's chapter house is small, commanded by Captain Malacoda, a soldier who served as a guardsman for many years before joining the Brotherhood, a hardened and loyal officer.

Jacksonville
Jacksonville is the trading city with the trolls. Built miles off from the mountains (the trolls like their privacy) this is where hundreds of master artisans and craftsmen live. The best metal products on the Island come out of Jacksonville, either bought from the trolls or made by Islanders themselves.

Jacksonville's architecture has been influenced by the nearby non-human neighbors. Buildings are solid constructs of stone, with large and impressive right angles and statues.

Jacksonville is a good-sized city, housing eight thousand permanent residents.

Jacksonville's chapter house is large. Its commander is Captain Lucas, who was a prize-winning archer in his youth.

Nearport
Nearport is the port closest to the mainland, but is smaller than Dublin or Trias. Nearport is mostly used to "catch" ships that are blown south of Trias, and to more directly deliver trade and goods to Politas and the nearby farms and villages. Nearport is a decently sized naval base and the outgoing port for many merchan that want to trade out of Politas.

Nearport has six thousand permanent residents.

Nearport has a small chapterhouse, lead by Captain Calvin.

Nearport houses twenty naval ships.

Orestis
Orestis is the main source of good timber on the Island. Despite the dangers of the Forest, the far eastern parts are much safer, having been lightly colonized by the Elves.

Orestis is a small town since being a lumberjack is fairly dull work. It houses four thousand people, most of them lumberjacks, some woodworkers, some traders.

Orestis has a large chapterhouse in case something bad happens with the nearby forest. It is lead by Captain Carlosifer.

Politas
Politas is the third-largest city on the Island and the biggest farming city. Its inhabitants are simple farmers and tradesmen. Merchants stream in and out of the city, bringing valuables in exchange for the massive surplus of food, which is then taken to the ports and/or other cities and made us of.

Politas has fourteen thousand inhabitants.

Politas' chapterhouse is small simply because nothing threatens the city. It is lead by Captain Rockwell.

Trias
Trias is the major western port of the Island, and the most exotic city for a simple reason: it was built by the Elves.

Trias is a beautiful city, full of swooping lines and aqueducts and white marble. The center of the city is dominated by three spiraling statues of elves, surrounded by fountains. The meaning of them is long lost on the current inhabitants.

Trias is the second largest city on the Island, because people like how it looks and enjoy living there. It's worth noting that as the city has expanded to accommodate the growing human population, the new buildings have followed the architectural designs laid down by the elves who built before them. Trias has sixteen thousand residents.

Trias has a large chapterhouse, commanded by Captain Vejas.

Trias has a large naval force, numbering thirty-five ships.

Troll Mountains
The trolls live in these mountains, and they are large. The mountains, I mean. Well, the trolls, too.  Trolls are excellent craftsmen.  These mountains sit on the northeast part of the Island.[/spoiler]

The West

The West is a monarchical aristocracy  that hugs the western shore of the sea.  Its people are illness-prone, and their social inequality horrifies and offends visitors.  The opulent nobility oppresses the devastatingly poor and the slave-species Dwarves with prejudice.

[spoiler=People of the West]People of the West

Westerners are smaller humans that, for some reason, are particularly susceptible to disease and illness.  In contrast to the Islanders, Westerners live short and often unsatisfying lives.

Their country lies to the west of the Island, along the long coastline and slightly inland; a confederation of small farms, cities and villages that banded together long ago.  It is a nation of humans, an aristocracy ruled by the rich, the powerful, and the royal families.  Despite the harsh conditions, it has prospered, and is the most stable human country (apart from the Island) in the known world.

The West was contacted by Elves, who live far North of them, long ago.  Trade in knowledge and goods began to flow, but the greatest gift was from Elf to human: the gift of magic.  The West has mastered the Arcane, and only that advantage keeps their foes at bay.

By and large, Westerners are a shifty people, prone to petty crime, lies and nastiness.  The poor are ridiculously impoverished, and the rich are opulent beyond dreams.  Their lower-class sits on top of the Dwarves, feeling that at least they're better off than somebody, and by God those somebodies aren't going to get any better any time soon.

Westerners are clearly divided by class: there is the opulent nobility formed of the Royal Family, the land-owning nobles below them, and the titled nobility below them.  The middle class is formed by successful tradesmen; merchants, blacksmiths, farmers, etc.  The lower class is the working poor, the sick, and the crippled.

As noted earlier, there is a population of Dwarves in the West.  They function as slaves/servants, and it is quite sad.  The poor treatment of this species is a major roadblock to trade between the West and the Island, as the Islanders are quite disapproving.

There are many religions in the West, but only one of serious consequence: Satanism.  Functioning as a bizarre mirror of the Island's God, Satan preaches that you (yes, you) come before everyone else; that self-indulgence is key, and that personal power is better than aiding others.  This is a religion of serious consequence because, like God, the Devil is real.  She (Satan is described as female, don't ask ME why, I just write this stuff down) is not nearly as connected with Her followers, and prefers to remain hidden.  Whether She is a supernatural creature, Divinity or just an incredibly powerful mage is unknown.  It has never been confirmed that She can bestow powers on Her followers.

Magic is a big deal in the West.  Elves taught it to them long ago, and in typical Western style they turned it into a regulated bureaucracy.  The Wizards Guild (also known as the Guild of Magic) regulates all magic use in the West; unauthorized magic is prohibited and punished by both law and Wizard rule.  Wizardry is the â,¬Å"approvedâ,¬Â form of magic; Sorcery is frowned upon as uncontrolled and dangerous.  The Guild is split into several sub-guilds that specialize in a certain type of magic; at this point, almost all of the Guilds' energy is put into research.

In some ways, the Guild laws and rule are stronger than the law and rule of the nobility and royalty.  Not only do they control the import and export of items deemed â,¬Å"magicalâ,¬Â in nature (which can be just about anything the Guild wants), they also control all magic, without which the West could perhaps be conquered by a foe.  It is a great social boon to have a family member be a mage, especially for the nobility.

The sub-guilds are, ranked by size: the Guild of Magical Artifacts, the Guild of Experimental Magics (NOTE: This guild has been disbanded and its leader officially â,¬Å"executed.â,¬Â  There are a good deal of mages without a guild because of this, and the Guild Leaders will form a differently-named, restructured Guild with the same purpose to house them), the Guild of Civil Jurisdiction, the Guild of Magical Transport, the Guild of Neuropsychology, and the Guild of Magical Enforcement.

The Guild of Magical Artifacts is the largest guild.  It handles all scavenged artifacts that come into the West, and has the largest research facilities.  It is headed by Lord Master Raliegh Derrian, who is both the head of a noble house and the most influential mage in the West.  He is an extremely powerful man.

The Guild of Experimental Magics was responsible for all â,¬Å"cutting edgeâ,¬Â magical research, and was the guild that handled Elven relations.  It was caught provoking war with the Island in its research, and the other Guilds shut it down and executed (or tried to, anyway) its former leader: Master Vincent Westminder.  Westminder has officially (e.g on paper) been executed, but is in fact a criminal at large.

The Guild of Civil Jurisdiction has the responsibility of handling non-Guild affairs; recording trade of note and influencing politics.  They are the most politically-minded guild.  Their guild master is Baron Master Adam Du'Vlei.

The Guild of Magical Transport controls and oversees all magical transport (teleportation, portals, jaunts, etc.) in the West.  It devotes its research to refining these techniques.  It's guild master is Master Frank Littleton.

The Guild of Neuropsychology focuses its research on the effects magic has on the mind.  They study the results of long-term exposure to magical residue, the psychological effects of spellcasting, and other related topics.  The wizards of this guild are clever and studious.  Its guild master is Master Eric Polanders, who has recently been appointed after the preceding guild master resigned.

The Guild of Magical Enforcement is the smallest guild, but the most dangerous.  They enforce the rules and regulations of the other Guilds â,¬' with force.  They harbor the most violent, most talented and most effective Evokers in all the Guilds.  Their guild master is Richard Sanders.

The West has a small navy, and a large professional army, most of which is currently stationed along the Xiaong River system, along the southern coast of the sea.  Conflict is brewing there.

Another interesting feature of the West is its very close proximity to the Wastes, and particularly several large ruins there.  An entire profession, Scavenging, grew up around those ruins â,¬' people courageous, desperate or stupid enough to brave the dangers of the Wastes and the traps and perils of the ruins to try and find something worth selling back home.  Firearms, countless books (almost all indecipherable), and hundreds of thousands of other relics have made their way back to the West.  Lately, though, the ruins have been picked almost clean of anything valuable, and Scavengers are striking deeper and deeper into the Wastes in search of loot.  Few return alive, and even fewer with anything in hand.

The Westerners speak, well, Western.  Their currency is a set of metal coins, currently extremely devalued.

Notable People of the West

Ferguson is the code-name for the leader of the terrorist organization that works to dismantle the Western power structure and free the Dwarves from their slavery.  Not much is known about him, except that he is not afraid of collateral damage, and no amount of civilian casualties or damaged property will dissuade him from his task.  Private investigators and official police both are hot on his trail.

Lady Claire Lena Alena is the head of a small noble house.  She is well know for causing the deaths of twenty nobles (and wounding twice as many) and skirting punishment by using archaic duel laws.  Claire is a social radical, working to bring down the power structure she lives in and set up a fantastic new government she learned of in an (English translated, curiously) book bought from a Scavenger long ago.  She is idealistic and perhaps not the brightest person in the world, and seems to place little value on the lives of other people, but is unquestionably the best duelist the West has seen in four hundred years.

King Montgomery Philips is the king regent of all the West.  He is an overweight, balding many of fifty with a dozen children.  His health is failing rapidly, and it is predicted he will die in few years.  With several powerful (and many more less powerful) noble houses circling like hungry vultures, his children are taking serious steps to protect themselves.  Assassinations are not unknown.

Colonel Trent Withers is a third son of a noble house, and like most third sons looked to the military for his personal advancement.  He directly commands the Seventh Foot, which now serves as the primary infantry unit of the Western Army.
[/spoiler]
[spoiler=History of the West]History of the West

Written history of the early times in the West is sketchy.  Without details, all we can know is that human life has persisted like a wracking cough on the arid, tough landscape for many years.  Most are content to simply farm and hope for enough food to live through the winter, and pay enough dues to the robber lords that they won't be killed.  As populations grew and the land was made slowly more fertile through the long years, a familiar social dynamic began to emerge.  Rich farmer families began to buy the robbers into their service with food, and use them to collect tribute from smaller, weaker farms.  This basic power structure continues to this day, but in a much more refined form.  Rich farmer families warred with each other for control of land, made peace and intermarried, slowly forming larger and larger groups, absorbing smaller farms into their jurisdiction.  Laws began to be drawn up to control larger and larger groups of people.  Over a thousand or so years, ten city-states of this kind drew up official borders, and for a while there was a kind of peace.  Time passed, conflicts arose and were resolved.  The large number of city states began to fade, as smaller ones were conquered by the larger, until only two remained.  One of them was contacted by the Elves, who gave them the secrets of Arcane magic.  This city-state attacked the other, bolstered by its novice mages.  The other quickly saw it was over matched, and surrendered.  The West was unified.

Society had been evolving all the time, and a distinct culture emerged.

Some time after the West was unified and trade began with the Elves, a tired, footsore, ragged group of Dwarves arrived on the borders from the Wastes, begging for aid.  The West immediately captured the hard-working, tough little people as slaves.  That should give you a good idea of what these people are like: not very nice, by and large.

Dwarves breed fast, and have a fantastic work ethic.  They don't seem to mind terribly being slaves unless treated badly, but they are kept more poor than the very poorest human, and education is denied to them.  Mostly.

Order evolved slowly.  The mages, who wielded more power than anyone else in the West, formed their own guilds and their own laws, supporting the nobility only when in their best interests.  The nobles realize this, of course, and treat the Guilds with utmost respect.

Trade with the Elves, the Islanders and the steppe barbarians of the East made the West wealthy, as all three nations (the Islanders less than others) were willing to pay a lot of money or goods for the artifacts the Scavengers brought back.

Six years ago, relations with the East were suddenly severed, as the Daraijn Empire turned hostile.  The West retaliated with an invasion, but the Wizard Guilds refused to participate (the reason for this is unknown), and the superior technology and training of the Empire soldiers butchered the Western army, sending it packing to the fortresses along the Xiaong River.  The Empire lacks the strength in numbers to attack those holding directly, and the West lacks the magical backing to invade.  It is a stalemate...  For now.

Timeline:
-2500: First written records appear.  Mostly harvest records.
-2000: Government, such as it is, appears in the form of organized theft over a large area.
-1500: City-states begin to emerge.
-500: Elves contact the larger of the two remaining city-states, and give them Arcane magical knowledge.
-490: West is unified under one rule.
-470: Wizard Guilds begin to form.
-450: Monarchy emerges.  Kingsbury is founded.
0: God arrives on the Island.
18: Port Kane is built.
137: Wizard Castle is constructed.
234: Contact made with the Eastern barbarians.
438: Contact made with the Island.
835: War with Daraijn Empire breaks out.
837: War with Daraijn Empire ends, Stalemate of Xaong begins.
841: Present Day.

[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Places of the West]Places of the West

The West is a narrow band of cities and farms stretching from the northern border Wastes down south to the Xiaong River, blocked to the west by more Wastes, and to the east is the sea.
There are many castles, villages and holdings of minor nobility across the land, so we will list only the important places.

Kingsbury
Kingsbury is the capital city of the West, and is the seat of the government and monarchy.  Many of the most powerful nobles have their ancestral homes here.  Kingsbury is the center of trade and manufacturing.

Port Kane
Port Kane is the primary sea port of the West, connecting it to the Island and (before the Empire) the East.  It has a naval fleet of ten ships, and supports a large fishing fleet.

Wizard Castle
This is the seat of the Wizard Guilds.

Xiaong Fortresses
This river has always been the border between West and East, and since the Westerners are semi-paranoid, they built huge fortresses of metal and stone to guard it.  These are extremely difficult to attack, as each fortresses is defended by two other fortresses, and they command the whole length of the river.  Currently, an army of over ten thousand men is camped here.[/spoiler]

The East

The Daraijn Empire is a newly-formed military and economic power.  Forged from the disparate clans and tribes of the steppes, this infant nation is already proving to be a significant threat to the sovereignty of more established countries.

[spoiler=People of the East]People of the East

These people have been for almost all we know of them a simple people.  Their land is high steppes, ridges and forested valleys.  They tend sheep and grow some crops, fish, and fight with each other constantly.

These people are a slender race of humans with pale skin, better built than those in the West, but smaller than the Islanders.

No real civilization has existed in the East until a few hundred years ago.  Cities are a new phenomenon, and only recently have the Easterners looked beyond their own squabbles.  Cities warred with each other for farmland and any other resource they could think of, or simply for the making of war.

The East has always held a culture of perfection.  The most puissant warriors, the best farmers, the strongest men; these people are held in highest regard.  All seek to improve themselves beyond what they are.  The East produces the highest-quality weapons and armor (the Katana blade is almost legendary for its deadliness) available.  Each soldier in an Eastern army is as skilled as a champion of arms in the West, and the East's master fighters are as close to perfect as a human can get.

Honor is a seriously big deal here, as well.  Since until recently there was almost no writing, and of course almost no laws, your word was your binding contract.  A person interacted with others, and the strength of his word and trust was the foundation of his social security.  A concept of honorable conduct, of personal obligations and rules began to evolve; both in civil dealings and in war.  You simply did not do certain things, or you were dishonored, and suddenly you were ruined.  No one would trust you, or trade with you, or house, feed or clothe you.  Your herds and farms and weapons were taken away, and you were outcast.

Those outcasts banded together our of necessity, and became the criminal element in the East.  There are very few of them.

Tattoos originated here, and have a deep meaning to the Easterners.  A tattoo is only received when there has been a great event in ones life, or an obstacle has been overcome, a foe slain, an achievement earned, etc.  The more tattoos you have, the greater your life is, and where your tattoo is placed is also meaningful.  Upon the hands; war.  Upon the face or head; thought.  Upon the legs; travel.  Upon the torso; something personal.  A Death tattoo is given by Shadow disciples at the end of a person's life; the space over the heart is reserved for this final decoration.

The mountains in the East have a good deal of saltpeter and iron, and firearms were quickly adopted and mastered once brought to them by the West.

These days, they are a unified Empire, led by the most powerful man in the world, preparing themselves for conquest.

The religion of the East has always been a spiritual, deeply elemental type of worship.  There are three elements: Earth, Sky, and Shadow.  Each element has disciples, who wield that power, and are led by the Masters.

Earth is the most organic element.  The Earth is of the living things, the plants, the mountains â,¬' it is life.  Farmers, shepherds, mothers, village leaders, explorers and soldiers all pay homage to the Earth.  It is the most numerous discipline in the East.

Sky is the element of thought.  Earth is of body and life; Sky is of mind and thought.  Philosophers, writers, musicians, artists, assassins and builders pay homage to Sky.

Shadow is the dark element.  It is death.  It is the end.  It is not evil; it serves a necessary function.  It brings balance.  No one pays homage to Shadow; only those who feel the call become disciples.

Notable People of the East

Master Tze Ang

A wise and venerable Master of Earth, Tze Ang was the first to join Master Lu Siang in supporting Emperor Daraijn.  When he joined, the rest of the Earth discipline followed.

Master Lu Siang

Lu Siang is a cool, powerful woman who is the youngest Master of Sky in recorded history.  The details of her life are too numerous to list, but some important points are that she is progressively-minded, and very open to trade of information and goods between her nation and the West.  She was the first to see the Daraijn had the power to forge an empire, and threw almost all of Sky behind him as soon as he made his move.

General Xia Kong is the commander of the Imperial Army in the field.  He was the chief of a powerful war clan before Daraijn began his unification, and was one of the last to join him, fighting bitterly before being forced to surrender.  Out of respect for this bravery, the Emperor gave him command.  Let it never be said the Emperor does not reward talent when he sees it.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=History of the East]History of the East

As noted, there IS no history of note.  Civilization simply did not exist.  Culture grew, of course; villages connected, trade flowed, but the land and population spread simply did not encourage cities, which are the birth of civilization.  

Warlords fought, great men and women of valor and honor fought and died for thousands of years.  None of it was written down.

Two hundred years from the present day, this changed.  The reason for this is not clear â,¬' perhaps some artifact from the West permitted it, but the population of the East, e'er small, ballooned overnight.  Merchants who traveled to the West spoke of great cities and the benefits therein, and so of course the Easterners had to try it out.  This gave the most powerful among them even more power over the people around them even MORE power, and the scale of the war and battle between the Easterners there rose sharply.  It seemed as though the fledgling civilization in the East was doomed to rip itself apart.

Then, twenty years ago, the Emperor arrived.

Ja Xen Daraijn appeared out of nowhere; a Captain in one of the stronger city's armies.  Suddenly, all three of the elemental disciplines were united behind him, a magical, spiritual and religious alliance that one would think impossible.  He took control of the city by force, and in three years had control of everything else.  He bullied the cities of equal strength into joining him, conquered the weak and intimidated the stronger.  He led his army with decisive movements, crushing proud lords and seizing strongholds.  His charisma was electric.  People heard him spoke and knew, knew in their hearts he was a man who would lead them to something greater than what they were.

The cities, clans and tribes were battered, but Daraijn made them strong.  He took Szechuan as his capital, and crowned himself Emperor, and called his new nation the Daraijn Empire.  He can be excused a little conceit.

Daraijn offers the people of the East a chance not only to try and perfect themselves, but to perfect their nation as a whole.  And that is very attractive.

For fifteen years Daraijn built his empire.  He built a unified military, placing the most heroic warlords he knew in command, mending ancient hatreds and ancestral feuds with a word.  He organized the farming, encouraged trade, built a system of roads, built mines, built forges and smithies and a thousand other places that other nations had millenia to build; he built practically overnight.

With this grand nation built and running smoothly, and an army of finely-trained soldiers, he turned his eye to conquest.  He lured the overconfident West into his lands and slew thousands of them with few casualties from the ridgelines; it was the greatest military victory in written history.  The Western fools fled across their river, hiding in their fortresses, and the Emperor makes play at waiting on the other side.  He is ready, and his armies are ready, to make their strike.  All they wait for is the signal...

Despite all of these successes, the Emperor is all that holds the Empire together.  Should he die (and, of course, he will eventually) it would fall apart, and resume its course of self-destruction.

Timeline:
564: Population booms, cities and civilization form.
611: Wars shatter the landscape
817: Ja Xen Daraijn takes control of Szechaun.
820: Daraijn Empire is formed.
835: Daraijn Empire baits Western Army.
837: Daraijn Army finishes routing and slaughtering Western Army, drives them back to river fortresses.
841: Present Day.
[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Places of the East]Places of the East
The East is an endless series of high ridges, valleys and steppes.  No Wastelands have been found so far, but nobody has explored very far either.

Port Kane
Port Kane is actually named by the Islanders for the explorer who discovered the fishing village and made it into the trading post that it now is.  This serves as major seaport for all of the East.

Szechaun
Szechaun is the capital city of the Empire, a massive mountain city sitting square in the center of the Empire.

Xiaong River
This river runs out south of the sea, running fast and is almost half a mile wide.  It serves as the border between the Empire and the West.
[/spoiler]

The Elves

The Elves, once an enormous empire, are reduced to a single nation.  Two races are cramped into one space: the older, gentler Belenius and the angry, dangerous Island Elves.

[spoiler=The Elven People]The Elven People

The Elves are a different species of humanoid from homo sapiens sapiens. Elves are a small tree-dwelling species: they're shorter than humans, but have very powerful musculature and incredible agility and dexterity.  They are mostly nocturnal, and have very exaggerated facial features â,¬' huge eyes, large ears, sharp bone structure.  They have flexible feet with opposable toes that aid them greatly in their climbing, and can be used as hands.  They have a hunched, slouching posture that makes them seem even shorter than they actually are.

Elves are longer lived than humans, often surviving for a hundred and a half years, and were the first species to discover Arcane magic.  They have a very small population, and live only in their forested country of Belenius.  Evidence exists of an older, much wider-spread Elven Empire that controlled most of the land surrounding the sea, far north and part of the Island itself, but it is long gone.  The reasons for this are unknown, save for the Island colony, which was cut off (or cut itself off) from the rest of its species, then was attacked and scattered by the Island humans.

There are two distinct races of Elf: Island Elves and the Belenius, or Continental Elves.  Island Elves are taller, stronger and more quick of thought.  They also look more â,¬Å"human like,â,¬Â with smaller facial features, straighter posture and more human proportions.

Belenius are the â,¬Å"classicalâ,¬Â elf described in the first paragraph.  They are much more friendly, open-minded and caring than their bitter cousins.  Belenius find themselves frightened and confused by their dangerous kin.

Elves, as noted, dwell in trees.  They live exclusively in forests, and as such do not farm.  This may seem contrary to the idea of a traditional civilization â,¬' people farm, people with bigger farms take from people with smaller farms, people with bigger farms form alliances against other people with bigger farms, standards of behavior are set, then laws, then people begin to form cities, and bam!  Civilization.  How can this occur, you ask, without farms?

Maybe it's something different about Elves.  Or maybe you don't need farms at all; maybe you just need people with more things than other people to start it off.  Regardless, they do not farm, and as such rely wholly on the food that the forest provides naturally.

This means that there is a set limit on how many Elves a section of forest can support, and since there is a finite number of forests, there is a finite number of Elves.  This may seem obvious, but it has more impact when you realize that there are roughly one tenth as many Elves born as there are humans.  Their long life is offset by slow reproduction rates, and Elven populations simply do not get large.

Elves are a very emotionally charged species.  This is not to say they are super emotional, experience random mood-swings or are ruled by their emotions, it just means that their emotions play a much greater role in their society and personal relations than ours (humans) do.  It's a more serious way of communicating for them than it is for us.

Since Elves rely on the forest for their food and homes, they take serious issue with people defiling it.  Cutting down a tree or burning a forest is to them as sowing a field with salt or committing arson is to us.  Not only is it wasteful, it's also criminal.

Elven class structure is extremely easy to see.  Rich, powerful Elves live high up in trees, poor Elves live lower to the ground.

Elves value aesthetics over practicality.  This shows in their buildings, their weapons, their fighting and their crafts.

Elves are very focused people.  They suffer from what humans call Tunnel Vision.  They largely lack the ability to step away from something and take stock; they have a lack of perspective.  It's a problem that effects the whole species, often at the same time, which has lead to serious problems for them in the past.

Despite their small size, Elves are physically quite powerful, and make excellent soldiers.

Elves are the most magical species, having discovered Arcane magic many mellennia ago.  They have many more sorcerers than humans do.  Nobody is sure why this is.  They have an extremely high percentage of their population as having innate magical talent, as well.  One in every seven Elves is a sorcerer, and one in every ten trains to be a wizard.  The Island Elves have an even greater percentage of sorcerers.  Sorcery is considered to be the â,¬Å"pureâ,¬Â form of magical expression, with wizardry being a poor substitute for innate talent.

Elven society is rigidly class-conscious.  It's very difficult to break out of your social status, something that is causing severe problems for the Elves as a whole right now.

Elven government is run by three individuals, each of whom command a massive body of underlings.  They are the Judicator, the Arbiter, and the Magister.  Each handles a different facet of Elven society, and the three sit together to decide upon new laws.

The Judicator is the criminal judge.  He handles the police force (which also functions as an army if need be.  The police, reflection the pacifism of the Belenius, swear an oath to do no violence unless the safety of another Elf is compromised), criminal trials and detective investigations.

The Arbiter is the civil judge.  He handles legal disputes, civil trials, trade issues and other such social issues.  The Arbiter is the highest-ranked official in Elven government.

The Magister is the magical judge.  All magical issues and disputes are his to handle, and he and the Judicator often get tangled up in magical crimes.

The Elves speak Elven, and their currency is a form of engraved metal bars.
Notable Elves

Miritona the Just is a the Judicator of Belenius.  She is a thin, waspish woman with an unpleasant reputation.  Her track record, however, is spotless.  She has a very bad relationship with Rychen the Wise.

Xavier the Exalted is the Arbiter of Belenius.  He is a quiet man who prefers to delegate to his more capable assistants in most matters, yet has a passion for lawmaking.

Rychen the Wise is the Magister of Belenius.  He is one of only a handful of Island Elves in Belenius' government, and the only to rise so high.  He is a powerful sorcerer, and he and Miritona have an open hatred for one another.  Miritona seeks to limit his authority in magical crimes, and Rychen seeks to increase it.  Rychen has a bad reputation, with rumors of volatile outbursts circulating.

Garren Klyn is the headmaster of the Magical Academy in Belenius.  He is, officially, the most powerful sorcerer in all Belenius.  In reality, this superiority is questionable.  He and Sarath keep a very close eye on one another.

Sarath Dane is the unofficial spokesman for the Island Elves in Belenius.  A detached, dispassionate sorcerer of incredible powers, many regard him as the most fearsome man in Belenius.  Garren seems to share this opinion, and avoids Sarath like the plague.  Despite his position, Sarath seems to be uncaring for the plight of the less fortunate Island Elves in Belenius.  His goals are uncertain.
[/spoiler]
[spoiler=History of the Elves]History of the Elves

Elven origins are uncertain.  Belenius is the first nation, but what was there before is unknown.

The conflict that pervades other civilizations seems to not exist between Elves.  Conflicts over resources don't exist; it appears that if a place was becoming overcrowded, you simply moved to another patch of forest.  For twenty thousand years the Elves spread over all the land they could find, then abruptly...  Died.  No written accounts exist of why this would be.  Only Belenius and the Island remained, two beacons shining across the sea at eachother.

Something equally confusing is that the land the Elves claim to have settled and built beautiful tree cities in is Wasteland.

Belenius and the Island grew apart thousands of years ago, diverging from one another for many reasons.  Written accounts of the communications are sparse, but there seems to have been differing philosophies towards magic, cultural divides, and in the end the simple vast space of water.

It is now time to tell the Island Elves' side of the conflict there.

The civilization there had existed for a thousand years before the humans found it.  The Elves knew they were there, but shrugged them off as strange plains-dwelling primitives, like Orcs.

Then contact was made, and it turned out that these people had language, laws, and things to trade.  That's fine, thought the Elves.

What WASN'T fine was the constant evangelism of the humans who insisted on barging into the forests and cities without permission.  They weren't harmful, per se, but pleas for them to leave fell on deaf ears.  They were tolerated, but they engendered bad feelings.

Then something REALLY bad happened.  Despite being informed that the forest was Off Limits, the humans started cutting and burning!  Elven officials were dispatched to put an official stop to this, but before police could get involved, the Elves who lived near the affected areas took matters into their own hands.  Violence and deaths ensued as the humans retaliated, but some of the more level-headed humans and the Elven diplomats managed to work out a solution.  Apparently, Islanders only respect an agreement if it is in writing.  Classy.

Officially things were fine, but your average human simply couldn't understand that the forest was as important to Elves as, well, anything.  The evangelical priests became nasty and rude, and relations deteriorated.

Suddenly, some of the humans visiting in Trias were murdered by criminal Elves, and quickly police took the rest of the humans there and in the forest under their protection until the situation could be resolved.  The Elves sent another group of diplomats to explain the situation, but they were murdered en route.  The Islanders irrationally took the protective custody-taking of their people as an act of war, and they quickly invaded, burning and destroying the forest as they went.

War, regrettably, seemed inevitable.  The humans were not content to leave the Elves well enough alone, and apparently were looking for the flimsiest excuse to kill and hurt any Elf they found.  The Elves were committed now, and drove the humans out of their lands.  War was fought beyond the borders of the forest, so that no more trees would be harmed.  The human armies strove with the Elven ones for some time, but finally destroyed the Elves.  Knowing that the humans would be invading shortly, and would butcher every Elf they found in retribution, the Elves quickly set sail and evacuated their Island home, driven off by the brutal humans.

The Island Elves sailed for Belenius, seeking refuge with their continental cousins.

It didn't work out.

Belenius had no place for a population of refugees that almost matched their own.  As the Island Elves waited hopefully on the ships moored just off the coast, leaders from both nations argued furiously.  Finally, an accord was reached.

The continental Elves would welcome the Island refugees, but they would be placed as the lowest class of Elves.  There they would stay until such time as they left; as long as they remained in Belenius, they would be the lowest of the low.

That was just under three hundred years ago.  Two and a half generations only.  The terrible fortunes the Island Elves found in Belenius have tempered the bitter hate and enmity they feel towards the humans who drove them from their home; and they hate the Belenius almost as much, for treating them as little more than slaves.

Oh, to be sure, some Island Elves have achieved more, be it through skill, luck or charisma.  And they wield this power in society not to better their own people, but to plot the downfall of another...

Belenius is a nation on the brink of civil war.  And it is almost certain that the Islander Elves would win; for some reason, they have three times the number of sorcerers that the Belenius do.  The cost, however, would be terrible.

Belenius, while all of that Island stuff was going on, had its own troubles.  It carefully cultivated orchards and built many cities, but disease struck repeatedly, crippling its populace.  It kept an eye on the human settlements across the Wastes, and brought order to the area by tipping the balance at last in favor of one side, and at the same time teaching them magic.  They have been excellent pupils.

Timeline:
-30000: Belenius is founded.
-25000: Warael is founded.
-22000: Apolle is founded.
-20000: Ryhael is founded.
-19500: Detri is founded.
-18000: Liytn is founded.
-17850: Perole is founded.
-17800: Oule and Nura are founded.
-15000: Queo is founded.
-12000: The Island Colony is founded.
-11546 (very exact date is recorded here): Elven Empire collapses.  Written records cease except for Belenius and the Island.
-500: Elves contact the larger of the two city-states in the West, teach them magic.
311: Contact with the Islanders is made.
389: Tensions flare between humans and Elves on the Island.
472: War with Islanders begins.
476: War with Islanders is lost.  The Island Exodus begins.
478: Island refugees arrive in Belenius.
841: Present Day.[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Places of the Elves]Places of the Elves

Trias
Trias was the first city founded on the Island, and is now under human control.  It is the only ground city the Elves have ever built.  They are sad to have lost it.

Belenia
Belenia is the capital of Belenius, a massive multi-tiered city attached to and carved out of an ancient tree grove in the heart of Belenius.[/spoiler] (condt in next post)

Speaking of Wednesday...  Game in 30 mins!

I'm back from Vermont now, and all set for Wednesday.

Hello?  Anyone?  LC and I are lonely.