The Campaign Builder's Guild

I realize that I'm late coming into the new game, and I need to get my reviewing on, but I also realized that I should probably toss something up so that the newcomers have a chance to read a little bit of my world.

First off, I have a short story linked back in the Crossroads, so please jump over and read it if you've got the time (it's about 17 pages printed out, so it's not long at all). Secondly, I'm going to post a little bit of info on each of the three worlds within my setting. The thread will be here so you can ask me any questions you'd like on the setting and its worlds. There's also a poll to see which setting you would like me to detail fully first. Please read and ask any questions you'd like.

So, on with the worlds (forgive me, these are reposts from WotC, but I don't have the mental energy to rewrite this; I did create new introductions though, so read those if you're intimately familiar with my setting):

Terran: A new world with ancient secrets.
Terran is a world of high fantasy, where brave heroes struggle to stop the machinations of vile villains, where the past won't lay still in its grave. It is a world that has survived one known cataclysm and several others just hinted at by the sages. It is a world forged in magic, where the power of the elements courses through every being. It is a world where every rock has a spirit and deities frequently walk its surface. It is a world with a violent history and rich culture, where law battles chaos, where civilization struggles with the wilds (who struggle right back with the civilized), where good and evil are truths but are sadly also mere words thrown about in the name of war.

Welcome to Terran, a world which is still growing.

Description: Terran's surface contains three continents (Krellshah in the west, Blaircath in the south, and Serian in the east), two large islands (Draconia, which rests between the three continents, and Dorion, which is south of Krellshah), and several long island chains. A large cloudy moon orbits the world, and history tells that the moon is in fact the sleeping creator goddess Zion. There is a sun during the day and stars during the night. The world has seasons and every other aspect of the natural world that makes life feel normal.

Like the other worlds of the setting, Terran is an animistic world. The spirits of Terran are largely neutral in regards to good or evil, but they are grouped into two categories. The lawful spirits, who are benevolent to their worshipers, are known as gods and chaotic spirits, who are worshiped out of fear or in order to calm their destruction, are known as demons. Most spirits are nature and elemental spirits, but there are also ancestral spirits. The chief spirits of Terran are the Five Elemental Dragons, who helped to rebuild the world after the Ancients were punished, and the spirits of the Five Legendary Knights, who freed their fellow man from enslavement at the hands of the giants.

The Age of the Ancients
Legend tells of a time when Terran was inhabited by a race known as the Ancients (in fact, the Ancients are spoken of on all the material planes). The Ancients possessed power beyond measure, surpassing even the power of their gods. Because of their excess and sacrilege to their gods, they were destroyed by the great goddess Zion. Exacting punishment upon the Ancients was taxing, and she was forced to enter hibernation, but before she did she birthed seven children.

The Age of the Dragons
Her children were great dragons, four sons, two daughters, and an unidentifiable seventh. Each of the four sons had dominion over one of the elements: Air, Earth, Fire, and Water. The daughters each ruled over Light and Dark, Good and Evil, Law and Chaos. The seventh ruled over the mysterious power known as the Void, and remained with its mother as she coiled up to rest, endlessly circling the almost destroyed world of Terran.

Zion's sons and daughters began to rebuild the world. Goldenfeather, the dragon of light, brought life back to the injured world, while Vandek, the dragon of darkness, brought death; this cycle allowed Terran to re-grow without strangling the life out of itself. The four brothers (Tyranon, the dragon of earth; Firdel, the dragon of fire; Naias-Sorn, the dragon of water; Wyndaguile, the dragon of air) worked together to rebuild the land, and gave form to the life that their sisters had granted.

Once the world had been rebuilt, the four brothers and the two sisters joined; their union spawned the true dragons: The magnificent feathered Serpents were the children of Goldenfeather, while the horrible scaled Wyrms were the children of Vandek. The brothers hoped to rule over their children as gods, but their children were as egotistical as they, and refused to worship them. They did respect their mothers, and offered veneration, but as providers, not gods.

The Age of Giants
Angered, the brothers turned to their last sibling, Ivenodia, seeking ability to create life as their sisters had. Ivenodia taught them the art, and the brothers separated to create their own children. Their creations became the giants, massive beings constructed of almost pure elemental energy. Unlike the dragons, the giants did worship their fathers, and were rewarded for their service. Soon the giants congregated in four massive cities, one for each race. There they grew in power, and soon the avarice dragons set their eyes upon them.

Before the War of the Wyrm began, the giants had explored much of their world. During their exploration, they found an animal they named "man". The giants were impressed by the intelligence and trainability this animal showed; they were even able to teach them to do any task a giant could, although on a smaller scale. Men everywhere were collected from the wilds and brought to the giant's cities to serve as slaves.

As previously stated, the dragons had grown jealous of the prosperity the giants had received. Being goodly beings, the serpents came to the giants and offered alliance; the giants reluctantly accepted but were weary. The Wyrms, seeing their sibling serpents' action, took the form of serpents and attacked the giants as they rested. The giants, in turn, attacked the serpents. Seeking aid, the serpents turned to the Wyrms for help. Thus began the War of the Wyrm.

The War of the Wyrm cost both sides many lives. Because of the slow growth of both races, their numbers quickly dwindled. They were forced to mix blood, creating the drakes and the lesser giants, which served as rank and file soldiers in the endless war. As the giants weakened, their human slaves had grown resourceful. One man discovered five sacred swords, weapons of the ancients. Wielding one sword himself, he found four other worthy humans to take up swords with him. Together, they destroyed the giants from within their civilization. Seeing the power these humans wielded, the dragons let them be, crawling away to seclusion. Those five humans became known as the First Knights, whose legend became the foundation of the most influential faith amongst humans.

The First Age of Man
Seeing the success inherent in the form of man, the four brothers crafted new subjects, this time in the form of man. The Air Dragon created the Elves, the Earth Dragon created the Dwarves, the Fire Dragon created the Orcs, and the Water Dragon created the Goblins. Like humans, they were few in number, but soon began to spread.

It became quickly apparent that humans were destined to control the world. The demihumans were well suited to living in harsh terrain, with the dwarves taking to the caverns, the elves to the forest, the orcs to the deserts and the mountains, and the goblins to the jungles, but none were able to conquer the wilds like humans did. Humans bent and broke nature to suit their needs, and soon they had control over most of the planes.

In their exploration, humans discovered two more races seemingly borne from the world. They found the wild halflings on the southern island continent of Dorion, and they found the anthropomorphic people in the wilds across the world.

Thousands of years after their emancipation, Humans had established themselves well in the world. The decedents of the first Knights carried on their tradition, guarding their swords. The spirits of those Knights lived on, and were revered by most of humanity. This enraged the Dragons who created the world, for they felt that they deserved man's worship.

The four brothers decided to attack the Knight's descendents, to force man to respect and fear them. They swiftly descended upon the unsuspecting humans, quickly laying waste to the houses of the Gold, Black, and Green Knights. During these attacks, the leader of the house of the Red Knight had a vision, in which an angel gave him a crest. When he awoke, he possessed the crest, and the knowledge of how to use it.

As the four brothers attacked the house of the Blue Knight, the house of the Red Knight rode to their rescue. The leader of the Red House wielded the Red Knight's flaming sword, and upon attaching the crest to it, released a magnificent Phoenix, the spirit of the sword. The Dragons knew not of this spirit, it was nearly as strong as all four of them put together. Rather than loose to the Phoenix, the brothers fled.

Because of this attack, human's worship of the dragons all but stopped. Even the demihumans, who were created by the dragons, saw this as a weakness in the dragons. Their reverence now turned to the multitudes of lesser spirits inhabiting the world.

The Second Age of Man
The Second Age of Man begins with the death of Goldenfeather and Vandek, the Dragons of Good and Evil. In her greed, Vandek corrupted a group of elves and goblins and waged war upon the western world. She even managed to bring about a union of the two races, creating the drow.

After a long war, a group of adventurers sought Goldenfeather's aid. At first Goldenfeather did not want to stop her sister, for such a battle would only end in the death of both of them. Upon seeing the horrors her sister was letting loose into the world, she was forced to act. Their battle was fierce, and in the end Vandek killed her sister. Nature being the way it is, Vandek slipped into death as well; the balance had to be kept.

Their deaths released a tremendous amount of energy into the world, shaking the very foundation of the planes. The boundaries between the material worlds began to thin, and soon portals began to open up. No one knows what will come about because of this.

Sylphenhest: A dark world ruled by devils.
Sylphenhest is a horrible shadow of Terran. It is a world with foreign plants and dangerous beasts, a world filled with inhospitable badlands and jungles, where the air is so thick with humidity you could almost cut it with a knife. It is a world ruled by scheming devils exiled from hell and protected by a risen fiend sent from heaven. It is a world where man struggles to survive, where more than a few races vie for world domination, where the name of religion is sin and where righteousness can and probably will get you killed. It is a world of unspeakable horrors, where evil is very real and can even warp the body and mind as it stingily hands out untold power.

Welcome to Sylphenhest, where your worst nightmares pale in comparison to what you see when you open your eyes.

Description: Sylphenhest is a continental world, of which there is only one known land mass. In the center of this landmass is a large desert, while there are islands along many of the coasts. Sylphenhest has no sun during the day; its sky is filled with a large blue nebula that fills a little over one third of the sphere the sky creates. The night sky is filled with faint red stars, while the world is orbited by a glossy black obsidian moon.

Sylphenhest's days are as bright as those on our Earth, but its nights are very dark; most of the time the light from the blue nebula can be seen reflecting off of the obsidian moon, but it is not reflective enough to be as bright as our moon.

Cosmologically, Sylphenhest boarders Hell, and its spirit plane is the Plane of Shadow. Sylphenhest's spirit population, composed of lawful gods and chaotic demons like Terran's, is decidedly malevolent; there are no good aligned spirits. Worse still, a full 1/5th of Sylphenhest's native, non-humanoid, life is fiendish; there are some trees that are almost immune to fire and must be cut down with silver weapons (a slight alteration to the fiendish template; it's DR is silver not magic, and celestial's DR is cold iron instead of magic). Of Sylphenhest's native life, there are no mammals larger than house cats (though most Sylphenhestian mammals are rodents), while birds and reptiles (particularly dinosaurs) make up the largest portion of large animal life. Because Sylphenhest is generally a warm world (except the northern and southern most reaches), plant life is either very lush (near the coastal equator regions) or very hardy (in the inland desert). Most eerie for travelers from Terran or Avalon, Sylphenhest entirely lacks native pure humans, and those travelers who are pure human find so much fear that they often quickly leave. Sylphenhest's humanoid population is made up largely by half-humans (half-anthro being the largest), and also Dwarves, Elves, Orcs, Goblins, and Halflings.

Two unique races belong to Sylphenhest: The Hive and the Grimwreck. The Hive are a race of industrious insectoids who are split apart into three genders: Males, Females, and Drones. Males make great warriors due in part to the pair of thrusting spikes instead of hands on the ends of one of their pairs of arms. Females are more intelligent, though not physically weaker, than the males, having two pairs of legs and one pair of arms (sort of like a centaur, though the Hive are somewhere between ants/termites and grasshoppers). The Drones are the bulk of Hive population, making up the slave labor force that drives the race, who possesses only one pair of arms and legs. The Grimwreck are a race of humanoid-shaped dragons, largely differentiated into four casts: slaves (who are barely sentient, though larger than all but the royals), warriors (breed for masochistic tendencies), negotiators (breed for sadistic tendencies; they do not have legs, and in their place is a thick tail; like some yuan-ti), and royals (large sized and more draconic in appearance). Both races, the Hive and the Grimwreck, are very lawful and organized, and both want nothing less than to conquer the whole of Sylphenhest (though the Hive only wish to conquer it in the broadest sense of the word; their intelligence is so alien that they hardly see humanoid life as consequential; their expanse isn't the tyrannical war of the Grimwrecks, just cold expansion).

Sylphenhest is broken up into 8 territories, each ruled by a powerful extraplanar entity. The 7 outer territories are each ruled by an Arch Devil (devil is a term for creatures from Hell, as is Fiend), while the central 8th is ruled by an Arch Angel who was sent to Sylphenhest to bring hope and salvation to its peoples. All 8 of these entities command vast amounts of worship, though the Arch Angel doesn't force it. Each Devil commands a race (none command anthros or halflings), though due to their alignment differences, each Devil has differing strengths of holds on their people.

The Devil's Invasion
Before the Devil's came, Sylphenhest was populated by the Ancients. Here the Ancients built grand cities that threatened to pierce the sky with their towers, and they even brought water to the heart of Sylphenhest's desert. They had found an uneasy balance with Sylphenhest's harsh world, using the seemingly endless riches of the land to build their empire. Their strength allowed them to keep the Grimwreck and the Hive at bay.

In this age, the Hive were more formidable than they are now, which shows the strength of the Ancients. Then, the Hive possessed their Queens, who had telepathic control over all of their children. The Queens were locked in battle with other Queens, which is why they didn't rule the world when they had the chance. The Grimwreck were less advanced at this time, having not bred their Warrior and Negotiator castes, or having gained the air of superiority that currently leads them to conquer.

But deep in Hell, rumblings could be heard. A powerful Fiend overthrew the old ruler of Hell and banished the 8 lesser Lords to Sylphenhest, sealing the 9 bone archways which used to lead into Hell. These Arch Devils were thus: Darkness, Lust, Avarice, Pride, Sloth, Gluttony, Wrath, and Envy. In their darkest hour, the Ancients turned to the Lady of Darkness to protect them from the other Devils. Sloth sought the Hive, whose industriousness sickened her; rather than killing them, she used her power to sever the connection between the Queens and their children; the Queens banded together and attempted to destroy Sloth, but all died in the process. Pride found the Grimwreck and brought the feeling of superiority to them; intelligently he did not force them to stop worshiping the spirit of the moon, but he did turn the moon god into one of his servants. Envy took the enigmatic ghostfolk as her people, a race of changelings whose erratic lifecycle kept them out of the goings on of the rest of the world.

Avarice, Gluttony, Lust, and Wrath brought people from Terran to fill their numbers. Avarice took Dwarves, whose love of mining was easily corrupted to greed. Gluttony took the Goblins, whose knack for piracy quickly became the desire to exhaust all resources and life. Lust took the Elves, whose love of beauty turned foul. Lastly, Wrath took the Orcs, who were all too happy to become breeding stock in an endless war.

Centuries of warfare went by before Sylphenhest's boarders became defensible and set. Though Darkness held the vast central desert, her possession of the Ancients gave her the most power. Knowing that she could easily defeat all of them one on one, the other seven Arch Devils banded together to defeat her. They constructed a soul stone and trapped her within it, locking it away, then quickly and brutally wiped out the Ancients and most of their line.

The Coming of the Machine
Sylphenhest's constant struggle, as well as the taint that wells up from its night and creatures that eats away at the bodies and minds of its people, brought stagnation. Though Pride and Wrath constantly fought to expand their territory, especially when venturing into the central desert, the fact that they needed to remain to defend their lands kept the boarders relatively still for several thousand years. It wasn't until a great construct dragon descended upon Sylphenhest and easily took the desert did change begin.

The Machine, as the dragon became known, called itself a god and deemed magic to be the cause of all of Sylphenhest's sufferings. He taught the desert's people Black Technology; gunpowder and coal power. With this new magic, the people of the desert, which became known as the Commonlands, began to build.

Once the Commonlands had grown to a formidable size, the Machine began sending armies into the lands of the Devils. On their own land, the Devils were undefeatable, as was the Machine within the Commonlands. In spite of the progress and growth the Commonlands had just experienced, the newly escalated conflict brought more death to Sylphenhest than had ever been seen.

After several centuries, a group of heroes were able to banish the Machine. Its teachings did enable the people of the Commonlands to better defend themselves from the Devils.

The Coming of Chaos
Even though the Commonlands had grown in strength and were now able to fend off the Devils' armies, its people were far from protected. Wealthy noble families ruled the Commonlands, and its commoners were basically slaves. The commoners had their lives, but theirs was a life which was barely more than just existence.

One day, somewhat of an Angel came to Sylphenhest, claiming to be a risen Fiend who was sent to bring salvation and redemption. Chaos, as the arch-angel called himself, won many converts in the first few years, and even established a tradition of loyal Paladins (quick note: Sylphenhest's paladins more closely resemble the Shadowbane Inquisitors and Stalkers, not the purely good Paladins we all know). Chaos did not force his worship, and opened the Commonlands to all people, though his order keeps a close eye on the Devils' priests. Some of his order even leads rescue missions into the Devils' lands to save as many willing people they can find.

The Weakening Walls
The death of Vandek and Goldenfeather has begun to change Sylphenhest drastically. The combination of tales of riches beyond count and the drive to bring salvation to a darkened world has brought many adventurers from Terran to Sylphenhest who've traveled through the thinning Shadow Plane. Though humans have not found a welcoming place (the Devil's hate humans because they seemingly descended from the Ancients, and the common people fear what the Devils' followers will do in order to slay a few men), they have found adventure beyond their wildest dreams.

But activity is stirring the stability that Sylphenhestians like to call peace. All the world needs now is some dark secret to be uncovered, or some horrible taint to be let loose to resume Sylphenhest's suffering once more.

Avalon: A war torn world where both man and nature battle for survival.
Avalon is a paradise world slowly being overrun by the spawn of a once great, but long gone race. It is a world whose oceans are crystal clear and palatable to the taste, its stars are like a billion gems set into the sky, and it's seven moons are like glowing pearls drifting lazily across the sky at all times. It is a watery world speckled with many islands, whose human inhabitants war with the land for its very resources and with themselves for the same land. It is a world which drafts men from other worlds to fuel an endless war, where adventurers come for adventure but discover that the world cries for heroes.

Welcome to Avalon, where your sword or staff better be ready; but a hundred troops and a ship or three couldn't hurt either.

Description: Avalon is an oceanic world; there is only one landmass large enough to be considered a continent, and it is not even larger than the continental united states. The rest of the world is dotted with islands, the largest being the size of the United Kingdom, Japan, or New Zealand. Avalon has no sun in its sky, but it possesses seven bright moons that all orbit at different orbital angles (the rare occasion of moon alignment is seen as an omen); Avalon receives more light than a clear night with a full moon on Earth, but less light than a sunny day on Earth. Uniquely, Avalon's plant life is perfectly adapted to the light of the moons; in fact Avalon's plant life is quite abundant and lush in untamed areas. Luckily for Avalon, its seas are not salty and are safe to drink, because lakes and rivers are rare on its small islands.

The lack of land, and thus the lack of resources, on Avalon has lead to a monumental conflict. Several kingdoms have grown on the major islands, and these kingdoms are locked in constant battle with one another over the resources on the lesser islands. Worse still, the spirits which are bound to these resources, while generally good aligned, are quite chaotic and not adverse to using force to defend themselves; Avalon's fey are defensive and flighty at best, random and malicious at their worst.

Avalon's single, small continent is governed by a theocracy which follows the teachings of the seven Arch-Angels of the Heavens. This theocracy does its best to quell the conflict between Avalon's other nations, but it hasn't had much luck.

The Coming of Man
Millennia ago, Avalon was populated by the race of the Ancients, whose magical power rivaled that of the deities. They achieved such power that they forsook their creators, and even sought to destroy them, thinking they could collect their power as well. Before they could enact their plan, the Seven Arch-Angels of the Heavens descended upon Avalon and flooded the world. The civilization of the Ancients was destroyed.

Soon after they performed their horrible deed, the Arch Angels felt remorse. They sheltered the Ancient's descendents, humans, and helped them to grow. They hoped that, with their teachings, man would grow to be a goodly race, unlike their ancestors.

But the wrath of the Arch-Angels had been quite accurate, for Avalon's other races had been relatively spared. The Leviathans (fiery hearted amphibians who lived along the coast), and the Whisps (flighted insectoids who dwelled in the mountains), had survived along with man, though not without their losses. The numerous aquatic peoples flourished within their added territory, and were able to move so far apart from each other that their conflicts nearly stopped; the territory of these aquatic peoples is what defines Avalon's seas.

Man's Decent
No one knows exactly what tempted man away from the Arch-Angel's teachings, but it was most likely simple greed. As man rapidly multiplied and required more land, they spread to cover all of Avalon. Their needs grew, and the world cried out in pain as man abandoned their formerly harmonious ways. Avalon's spirits grew more defensive, and soon the echoes of war could be heard on the winds.

At first, men attempted to work around the increasingly violent fey; but this meant they merely preyed upon the lesser fey. After several decades of this predication, the war suddenly exploded. It isn't known who openly attacked first, but it didn't matter. Armies were sent into the mountains and the forests, complete with fallen priests to attack the spirits directly, and Avalon's spirits turned foul.

Not all of Avalon's humans had turned to such ill deeds, but all of Avalon's fey grew distrustful of man. The majority of Avalon's humans live in small settlements; partially because their lack of resources do not let them grow too large, and partially because the fey only let the settlements get so large before they become actively aggressive.

Worse yet, as this situation escalated, man turned their violence against each other. The machine of war had grown unstoppable, and its fuel requirement threatened to once again destroy the world.

The Draft
The deaths of Goldenfeather and Vandek on Terran triggered a shift in the planes. The material planes grew closer together, and the previously thick ethereal plane (Avalon's spirit realm) became thin. Portals between Avalon and Terran began to appear seemingly at random. Traders began to be sent through the portals to acquire resources and wait for another portal to return. One resource that was especially prized was soldiers for the endless war.

Recently, a frightful discovery has been made. The opening of the portals is not random, for planar scholars have become increasingly adept at predicting their appearances. What this spells for Avalon's war is unknown.

I want to know more about Avalon. Man vs. Nature is always an interesting theme for me, and Avalon is really a unique take on it. Honestly, I'd love to read a novel set in a setting like that.

I think I have seen most of this before, so I'll just comment on spelling. I don't usually care much, but in this case it's in the introductions, which I think is annoying and spoils the impression you are trying to create.

In the introduction of Terran:
"catyclism" ==> cataclysm
"it's" ==> its
"saddly" ==> sadly

In the introduction of Sylphenhest:
"strugles" ==> struggles
"rightiousness" ==> righteousness (I think)

In the introduction of Avalon:
"palitable" ==> palatable
"it's" ==> its (twice)
"inhabbitants" ==> inhabitants

;) Túrin

Quiet you ... typing at 4 am will do that. I'll edit it for you though.

PS: Thanks Turin, there were quite a bit of grammatical errors I had missed as well; that's what I get for typing quickly right into a message board instead of writing it by hand or using Word first.

PPS: Turin, did you ever RP a paladin in AOL's Rhydin world about 6 years back? I seem to remember a "Turin Tambar", as a matter of fact I tend to name my Paladins in CRPGs Turin often because of that character. Is it a name used in someone's fiction, or just coincedence?

I believe it is from Tolkein, actually.

Quote from: Xathan, Last Of The FallenI want to know more about Avalon. Man vs. Nature is always an interesting theme for me, and Avalon is really a unique take on it. Honestly, I'd love to read a novel set in a setting like that.

Okay, that's one vote for Avalon apparently. Avalon is a difficult world to write for. Currently I have one novel planned for it, staring a sorcerous knight born of Avalonian nobility, named Luminious, whose father was from Terran. He faces a lot of social stigma for being "impure", and ends up signing on to lead expeditions to Terran rather than live on Avalon. Ultimately he'll end up working to end some large scale corruption in his Avalonian country.

I have to be careful though, because Avalon's war is part of the setting, and no novel character, no matter how heroic or "cool", should/could ever stop it. Luminous's story currently isn't about the Man vs. Fey conflict, but it could very well evolve into that.

I often think of Princess Mononoke when I imagine Avalon. Pristine, perfect, idyllic, but other worldly and dangerous at the same time.

Túrin Turambar is a character in Tolkien's The Silmarillion (my personal favourite character of Tolkien, in fact). I've been asked a question similar to your before. Apparently variants of Túrin are popular as a nick. There are I think three or four people who go by a nick that starts with Turin on the WotC-boards. To answer your question: no, I am not that Túrin.
;) Túrin

Heh, thanks.

Any questions all of you? Even if you've asked the question before and just didn't recieve an answer.

Terran is the only one I have read so far, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I'd really enjoy seeing more, and I voted for Terran, but I haven't had time to give the others a chance yet. So Terran gets the nod, because I will continue to follow the developments. I've got so much on my plate right now, I don't know what else I can keep up with.

-Nasty-

EDIT: Just started reading the others...I may have to change my vote... :chair:

Oooh, intrigue. Let me know Nate. I voted Terran, btw, fut if enough interest is shown in Avalon or Sylphenhest I will put some effort into getting some crunch sprinkled fluff up. Again, I'm still working on the crunchy bits, but I'm nearing completion.

I have a great deal of catching up to do. I wasn't around when most of the CBG people started posting their worlds. It's a little overwhelming to read through 10-20 different settings in a short while.

That said, so far Terran seems the most interesting to me. It's seems like the grittiest of the settings so far, and I'm more into antiheroes, war, and politics, than anything else. Terran seems like the best place to see the types of things that draw me in.

-Peace-

So...much...text! :P Just kidding, read though it again. I had to skim the histories, not enough time to read though them in detail, so if I ask something that is answered there, I apologize. I'm actually more fond of Slyphenhest now, so that's what I'll comment on. I'll keep asking new things as I think of them.

I'd like to see more on the Hive. I have a similar insect race in the works for Datrik, though mine are more termite like, and I'd like to see more about their culture, their personality, their reproduction. What happened to the queens? What would happen if the Queens would return? Is that possible? Would they follow her unconditionally? Are the drones mentally controlled, or just slaves because they are forced to do labor like any other slave? do they like their role? Do they resent it? What kind of magic do they use?

I'd also like more about the Grimwreck: I know they are expansionist humanoid dragons. What does that mean, mechanics wise? Do they breathe fire? Fly? Cast magic? What element are they tied to, or are they? Are they actually of the Dragon type, or are they dragon blooded? (If you want, look at the WOTC boards, find one of my posts, and see my take on mechanics of dragon humanoids in the Dracemar. Races of the Dragon could be a huge help there as well.)

On both: how much control do their devils have of the Hive and the Grimwreck? I assume a devil controls each: is the control tight, or loose, or what? Or are they controlled? If not, where they live?

Finally, I have to wonder why there are no humans. You stated in Terran that humans expanded everywhere over the planes â,¬' how did they miss Slyphenhest?

All in all, I really like it. I think these are enough questions for now â,¬' Iâ,¬,,¢ll probe deeper later, since this setting is really interesting and I want to learn more.

Xathan
Rolling [dice]5d6[/dice] for sneak attacking with a short sword.

Wow, ask and you shall receive. Thanks for all the questions Xanthan, I hope I can answer them adequately:

Hive
The Hive are somewhere between Termites, Ants, and Grasshoppers. Physically they are more like grasshoppers, because they go through a step by step metamorphosis and not a larva/pupa/adult cycle, but "culturally" they're more like termites/ants, because of their colonial habits (they're like termites because they do grow mushrooms for food).

Culture: Sadly to say, the Hive lack much in the way of a developed culture. The only culture they possess comes from their ritualized reproductive habits, and their meditative techniques. The concept of Art is beyond their reasoning, as are other higher concepts such as Religion. Even without their Queens, individual members of the race are in mental contact with any other member of their race within 300 feet; even though individuals recognize that they are a separate entity, they still feel a closeness with their own kind that humanoids can hardly imagine.

Males and females possess more individuality than drones; females lead the drones in their tasks, competing with other females in the efficiency of their brood and their designs; males live apart from the rest of the hive, typically guarding surface entrances or waging war against other colonies or races, and thus males are driven to prove themselves to one another. Even rogue Hive (typically drones) retain a strong connection with their companions, even companions of a different race; they are often quite self sacrificing for those who they see as part of themselves.

Reproduction: Females lay football sized eggs which are fertilized by males; there is pleasure in these activities, both in the physical acts and the males sense of accomplishment when chosen. Generally several males are chosen; Hive of all genders retain the ability to recognize their blood relatives, often able to determine how many generations removed they are from one another. When the winged, six legged larva hatch, they quickly band together by which father sired them, and they begin attacking the other bands. Eventually all the larva left are from one father, and the other chosen males are killed for their weakness, a fate most willingly resign to.

In their first stage, Larva of all genders are indistinguishable. After their first metamorphic stage, the males can be determined by those whose first set of limbs remain spiked but whose second set of limbs grows fingers (both females and drones grow fingers on their first set of limbs, not the second); the males are then separated (they grow quite aggressive in later stages and would kill the others). It isn't until the "adolescent" stage of metamorphosis that the females can be differentiated from the drones (technically the drones are genetically female, they just fail to develop sexually); the drones loose their second set of limbs, while the females begin to grow additional abdomen segments which will eventually make their body tauric (four insect limbs for feet, with a humanoid-like torso, arms and head). All adults retain vestigial wings, but they are mostly worthless.

Queens?: The queens originally held total control over their Hive; the mental connections shared by individuals lead back to the Queen, whose vast mental prowess allowed her to control their every move (think of the Dominate spell). Her daughters served as defenders for the hive, while her sons served as potential mates and as soldiers against other Hives.

The Queens were destroyed shortly after the coming of the Devil Lady Sloth; she inadvertently chose what she thought was empty territory to control and buried herself where she could rest. When the Hive eventually found her in her cavern, Sloth was disgusted by their productivity, and instantly severed the Queen's control over her hive. All across the Hive territory, the females killed their Queen mothers and took control of the Hives.

In theory, the Queen "gene" is gone; a queen only laid a queen egg when she was near death, a fact which was never known by the Hives. Since the females lack this "gene", or the capability of producing it, the only way for a Queen to be born would be through the spontaneous mutation of the "gene".

Drones?: The life of a Drone is not without pleasure; in fact, the fungus harvested by the Drones (grown from the regurgitated excrement of the Larvae) serves both as food for the Drones and as a powerful hallucinogenic which keeps them in line (think "soma" from "A Brave New World"). Nothing much can be said about drones, except for a small sect of unique Drones known as the "Shaklar" (more on them presently).

Magic: The Hive does not formally practice a religion, and thus lacks Clerical or Druidic magic. Some Drones revere the Devil Sloth, in honor of her strength and ability to do nothing; it is a worship born of jealousy (some few drones are actually clerics of Sloth, though they keep this hidden and pretend to partake of the fungus).

The Hive does practice what could be called a religious philosophy; after eggs are fertilized, Hive Psions can already recognize which eggs will birth Hive with the potential for Ki magic, and they are separated from their clutch. Psionic Hive belong to the colony as a whole, not the female who laid them. Psionic Females are trained to rely solely upon their mental might, and are thus trained as psions. Psionic Males are trained as Psion/Fighters, as their place is still on the frontlines. Oddly enough, a very small amount of psionic larvae fail to metamorphosize into a male or a female; these Psionic Drones are known as Shaklar Ascendants, and are turned over to the Shaklar.

The Shaklar is the only truly refined sect of each colony. They possess true culture, both in the form of ritualized practices (combative and meditative), and in the form of grand crystalline sculptures which they focus their meditation upon (psionic crystal is grown by psionic individuals, so it proves an excellent tool to gauge the abilities of an individual). Shaklar Ascendants follow the path of the Monk, but they branch off early after achieving the first stages of perfection. In order to become a true Shaklar, an ascendant drone must enter a hibernation (as all Hive are able to do, a regenerative process which heals damage and can re-grow limbs); while in their hibernation, the ascendant must will themselves to undergo one final metamorphosis. If successful, they emerge with wings and a new set of limbs; these limbs (which originate from above their arms) end in crystalline scythe blades, and rest against the chest, folded like a mantis's arms. The most striking fruit of their metamorphosis is being severed from the mental connection of other Hive; they are now true individuals.

The Shaklar are a hold over from a lost time when the Hive belonged to an ancient group of races
which served as the living weapons of a long lost god. The females allow the Shaklar their existence and individuality because they fear what might happen if the Shaklar assisted the Drones in gaining their freedom. The Shaklar know this would only seed more chaos, but they do not let the females know just how opposed to the idea they really are.

Grimwreck
I've read races of the dragon. Originally, the Grimwreck were supposed to be of the Dragon type, but it has proved difficult in balancing them (they have two racial hit dice, and the dragon hit dice made them stronger than I wanted; they have been changed to Monstrous Humanoid (Dragon blooded) to balance them).

The Grimwreck are warm-blooded reptiles, which shows their relationship to dragons (the only other warm-blooded reptiles on Sylphenhest are dinosaurs). Those with enough charisma can choose to focus their "inner fire", which gives them the ability to strike fear into non-dragons; this inner fire will eventually manifest as a breath weapon (acid normally) if they progress it that far. Grimwreck can select ritual augmentation feats, unique feats for their race which allow them to alter a portion of their body (such as inner fire, strengthening and enlarging their tail, enlarging their jaws or claws, sharpening their teeth and spines, hardening their scales, or honing their senses).

No Grimwreck can fly without the aid of magic; they never grow wings, even the truly draconic Royals (the ruling caste of the Grimwreck). Most Grimwreck are black, which are tied elementally to the earth (giving them resistance to acid); some rare Grimwreck are brown (fire), gray (water), or white (air), but these tend to pop up in outlying settlements where they have a better chance of not being killed (the Grimwreck are perfectionists in breeding).

Grimwreck have a penchant for sorcery (their primary form of arcane magic, though the chaotic sorcerers find it hard to fit into society without attaining great power to be enough of an asset to allow their chaos), and there are Grimwreck clerics. Their Clerics once worshiped the spirit of the moon, but now the Devil Lord Pride (whose name is Paine if it matters) is the focus of their reverence (Paine has actually enlisted the moon to his cause). Grimwreck druids are not part of the normal society (though they can be found in outlying settlements), and Grimwreck lack the traditions to recognize and formally train psions (those with the mutation that allows psionic and sorcerous magic usually become sorcerers through self study).

Devils' Control
Pride (Paine) exerts a fair amount of influence over their society. It was Paine who helped the Royals in developing the Warrior, Negotiator, and Slave castes of Grimwreck; the process was so successful that "normal" Grimwrecks were all but bred out. Lord Pride only commands the Grimwreck when he needs them to go to war with his rivals (I have yet to plot out the map, so I forget which devils boarder Pride's territory).

Sloth exerts next to no influence over the Hive. She would destroy them all if it weren't for a combination of her laziness and the small amount of satisfaction she gets from causing disorder and unrest amongst the Hive Drones. If it weren't for Sloth's incredible defensive strength, the other Devils would have killed her long ago and taken over their land.

Humans: Where are they now?
Due to the weakening of the planar boundaries, humans are entering Sylphenhest currently, and they face untold prejudice and hardship (halflings have a much easier time, the only non-native that is finding a place on the harsh world). The reason Humans are not native to Sylphenhest is because humans descended from the Ancients, the race that ruled all three material worlds in the lost age. When the Devils were banished to Sylphenhest, the most powerful among them, Lady Darkness, claimed the Ancients as her people. When Lady Darkness was killed by the other Devils, the Ancients were exterminated.

The survivors, who became humans, once discovered were forcefully interbred with the native Anthro and demihuman life which had been extricated from Terran. The Devils did this because they fear that Lady Darkness's connection to the Ancients through Humans may bring about her return should enough humans begin to worship her memory (the spirit of the night answers Lady Darkness's prayers currently).

Thanks for all the questions: Answering them has allowed me to come up with a few new tidbits of info (especially on detailing Hive reproductive habits and the place psionic individuals hold within society).

Any others?

I'll have other's later, I'm currently bowled over from the amount of thought you put into this. Great job, great level of detail. If you made up the reproductive habits and psionic details on the spot, so to speak, that I bow down before you, since that is most impressive. I will have questions later on, I just need to be able to think of them. :)

Xathan
[dice]368508d20[/dice] The amount of awesome in this post.

Quote from: Xathan, Last Of The FallenI'll have other's later, I'm currently bowled over from the amount of thought you put into this. Great job, great level of detail. If you made up the reproductive habits and psionic details on the spot, so to speak, that I bow down before you, since that is most impressive. I will have questions later on, I just need to be able to think of them. :)

Xathan
[dice]368508d20[/dice] The amount of awesome in this post.

I think I just may have that many dice.  :1337: