The Campaign Builder's Guild

||___INTRODUCTION______________________________________________________________________________||

Imagine a once fertile world sundered and its people divided, a world shaken literally to its core, imagine a world where corruption and despair is rife throughout all societies and social rank. Imagine a world where the tales told to children to get them to behave were once real and are rumored to have come again, bringing with them creatures unimaginable. Imagine a world blighted by shadow and plagued with the Darkness, a world where at any time the Darkness could come, twisting and corrupting the landscape, bring with it a fate far worse than death itself. This is what the world of Ladrona has become, a shadow of itself in more ways than one. Ladrona is desperately in need of heroes to banish the Darkness and restore order to a broken world. Do you have what it takes to be the one?

||___THE WORLD___||
Ladrona is a dark medieval fantasy campaign setting, which combines parts of real world ancient mythology with the fantasy of the magical arts and the powers of the mind, flowing together to create a believable world that is both rich and complex. Ladrona is a world were players will be able to feel the world around them, allowing them to immerse themselves within the various organizations and politics of the world.

||___TONE___||
The tone is dark, the world is in turmoil, the lands are periodically covered in Darkness, twisting and corrupting the landscape. Most people live in either fear or denial of the coming Darkness and the creatures of unimaginable horror that have been set loose upon the world , and many will rarely venture outside of the supposed safety of civilization without heavy guard. Corruption and despair is rife within every country of every surface race in every person, and not everything is what is seems, everyone seems to have some agenda of sort, and trust has become a rare thing indeed.

Please post all comments, criticisms, observations and everything else on theDisscussion thread.

||___CHAPTER 1: THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW_________________________________________||

||___CHAPTER 2: CHARACTER CREATION______________________________________________||

||___CHAPTER 3: CIVILIZED RACES____________________________________________________||

||___CHAPTER 4: CLASSES____________________________________________________________||

||___CHAPTER 5: FEATS AND SKILLS____________________________________________________||

||___CHAPTER 6: ADVENTURING EQUIPMENT___________________________________________||

||___CHAPTER 7: MAGIC______________________________________________________||
'Always be wary of magic and those that practice it, for it can be used for acts of great evil and as well as acts of great good, it may bind dark things long forgotten or it may set them free.'
- Unknown

||___MAGIC___||
Magic is the common term for the powerful forces that govern the many planes of existence and their impact on those planes, however not all magic is the same, far from it, so far there are only three distinctive types of magic on Ladrona, each having its own unique impact on the world and its inhabitance, each rarely being able to affect the other, and with each magic comes those that can wield it who are commonly known as spellcasters.

||___The Three Magics___||
The three magics as they are collectively called are the three types of magic that influence Ladrona, each having its own lore and followers.

||___Elemental___||
Elemental magic is the manipulation of the various elemental energies that make up the Lifestream of Ladrona. It was originally known only to the guardians of Ladrona, the dragons, but they have over time passed the training and knowledge down to their followers called the Disciples of the Dragon, partly to combat the first demonic invasion many millennia ago. Elemental magic utilizes special stones called Lifestones, which are said to be found anywhere in the world. These once ordinary stones have somehow been exposed directly to at least one of the energies of Ladrona's Lifestream and become a conduit for those energies and are the foci of elemental magic, and are the only conduits known that can allow a person with the proper training to channel specific energies of Ladrona's Lifestream and focus that energy so that it can be manipulated to create and cast spells. Without the training and a Lifestone a person is unable to access any of the energies of Ladrona's Lifestream. Your lifestone becomes permanently bonded to you as you graduate into becoming a full Disciple of the Dragon, and once the Lifestone has been bonded it becomes as useless as an ordinary stone for anyone else. You are only given one lifestone as you become an Accepted, basically a Disciple of the Dragon in training, and if you lose this stone you will not be given another.

Lifestones that allow the channeling of only one energy is rare, Lifestones that allows the channeling of two energies is even rarer and a lifestone that allows the channeling of three energies is unheard of. These lifestones resemble ordinary stones, except that they have a vain of what looks to be a mineral to those not of a Disciple of the Dragon, who can see the specific energy(s) pulsing through the veins of the Lifestone. These Lifestones usually fit within the palm of your hand. And while these Lifestones are so important to the druidic order they are often in plain view, worked into clothing and jewelry, seemingly unobtrusive pieces of rock.

||___Sorcery___||
It is unknown when or even how sorcery first came about, what is known is that sorcery has played a large and rather dark part in the history of Ladrona. Sorcery is a rather rare innate talent that once discovered allows a person to manipulate their own essence and possibly the essence of others, and in turn changing their bodies. Sorcery is often called the Black Magic, as it is the magic that is most often used to do harm in the most malevolent of ways, damaging and/or manipulating a being's essence and in turn their bodies against their will and is often blamed for the various diseases and inflictions that run riot within the world, however what most people do not know, nor care to take the time to understand thanks to the slander surrounding Sorcery, is that Sorcery can also be used for the betterment of the races of Ladrona, it can cleanse the essence of a being in turn cleansing the body of malicious effects, it can cures wounds, it can return a loved one to life, and can allow one to live forever.
   
||___Psionics___
Psionics was actually originally developed during the reign of the titans as they experimented the other races. And it performs a little differently from the other magics. Psionics is the focusing and unlocking of ones mind rather than the manipulation of other sources that gives those that wield psionics power. Psionics can manifest itself in a variety of ways unlike the other three magics and can be wielded by any race from any station and is purely a metal action, unlike the other magics which take a toll on the casters body.

||___CHAPTER 8: COSMOLOGY______________________________________________________________||
Every planet is surrounded by what is commonly called the lifestream, a unique and some say living energy which is responsible for all life native to that planet, and when a body dies its essence is returned to the lifestream, and while each planet possesses its own distinctive lifestream, the plane it resides on is a combination of those planet's lifestreams, however not all planes possess planets to draw energy from the lifestream to create life, these planes instead possess their own unique lifestreams. It is possible for these lifestreams to be harnessed, shaped and controlled, but doing so uninvited may lead to the wrath of those that are said to protect it.
   
||___THE PLANES___||
Planes of existence or just simply the planes are different realities with interwoven connections, which may or may not share any similarities with the material plane (also known as the prime plane) and are generally extremely dangerous environments, and except for rare linking points, each plane is effectively its own universe with its own natural laws. Each plane may possess other planets or may be formed from a seemingly limitless expanse. Each plane of existence possesses an Aeon and may also possess other beings called protectors, who may come in any shape or form and differ from each world or plane to the next; however their sole existence is always the same, to protect. Below are the various known planes of existence that have been established with the world of Ladrona.

||___The Unseen World____
Also known as the dream world, it is a limitless plane that can only be entered safely by people through their dreams, generally flitting in and out in a few seconds without ever realizing it.  The world of dreams encompasses all the known planes and perfectly reflects each plane or world excepting that there is rarely any life present barring the flora and fauna native to that world or plane, although all objects such as buildings, papers, clothes, weapons etc that exist in the real world, seem to exist within the dream world as well, although they tend to prefer to stay put, often returning to the place they were found while no one is watching.
However the world of dreams is far from safe despite its seemingly calm nature, for what happens within the world of dreams happens to the dreamer's body in life, most come to no harm, but those few that do never wake, but that is often the least of worry to those that know and walk the world of dreams often, for they know of the unnatural creatures that are believed to be the remnants of nightmares that have lingered behind and made manifest, often taking pleasure in tormenting their victims, never allowing them to wake.

||___The Abyss____
The lifestream of the Abyss has long since been twisted and corrupted by an unknown force long ago, and the landscape itself reflects that at a glance, it is said that only the Wanderer knows the truth behind what happened to the abyss, but what ever the truth the Abyss now seems to fulfill an almost mindless function; to consume and corrupt, it is also the home of what are commonly called by the people of Ladrona as demons, creatures altered and corrupted by the lifestream of the Abyss to become cruel, sadistic and cunning that have been taught to despise the material plane. The Abyss itself is a bleak but highly dangerous plane, filled with little else than thick fog or mist, which is in reality the creatures called demons.

||___CHAPTER 9: LIFE IN THE WORLD__________________________________________________________||

||___THE WORLD___||
(Under Construction)

||___THE SUN AND MOONS____
If one was to look up into the nights sky of Ladrona they would see tiny lights far up into the sky passed the five moons and while most would dismiss them as unimportant, a thing that has always been, some would stare up in wonder. And at any point the inhabitance would look up into the sky, it is possible that they might see one of its three moons;

Ragnat: a large sized moon glows with an inner green light. It is commonly believed that the green glow that easily identifies Ithil'ar from its sisters is the reflection from the enormous forest that encompasses the moon.
Sharien: seems to shimmer with faint blue-purple light. It is a medium-sized moon which is said to be covered in a vast ocean. This water world is sometimes said to be home to ancient and terrible civilization beneath the waves but it has neither been proved nor disproved by any clerics, wizards or scholars. It is also responsible for the tides on Ladrona.
Siloss: also known as the blood moon, Vulas appears to be a small, brilliant red moon covered in volcanoes, fire and magma. Though often hard to see because of its complex orbit, but when visible it is distinctive. On rare nights when it is the only full moon visible the moon adds a red tinge to the lands.

||___TIME___||
Almost every person of every race marks the passage of the days, months and years by the rising and setting of the sun. Ladrona's days are divided into various hours of darkness and light, and the further you travel from Ladrona's equator the larger the difference between that time increases. On Ladrona, six days makes up a week and four weeks make up a month, and ten months make up a year.

||___DAY AND NIGHT____
In Ladrona timepieces are extremely rare, most divide each day into eight sections; dawn, morning, highnoon, afternoon, dusk, evening, sunset, midnight. These sections of the day go by many different names but those presented above are the most common and are ones that are least likely to become confused with. These sections are also only approximations as one persons afternoon could be another's early dusk, local customs help to dictate the general length of each section of the day, and can last 1-3 hours, so highnoon is generally accounted to be noon or an hour or two either side. Although few people on Ladrona have any real cause to mark the passing of each hour with any great precision, they tend to gauge rather by intuition, the movement of the sun and the activity around them.

[font size=14]||___LIFE ACROSS LADRONA___||[/font]
(Under Construction)

||___GOVERNMENT____
From monarchy and autocracy to democracy, the feudal system and theocracy, to the various city councils, guilds and temples and the multitude of other organizations, Ladrona runs the gamete of governments, both large and small, Ladrona is teeming with influential entities that attempt to moderate their own growth and extend their influence, while always ensuring that no one entity outshines the rest for any considerable time.

||___RURAL LIFE____
(under construction)

||___CITY LIFE____
(under construction)

||___EDUCATION____
(under construction)

||___LANGUAGE____
(under construction)

||___AGRICULTURE INDUSTRY AND TECHNOLOGY____
Ladrona possess little technology more complicated than a water wheel mill or grain mill, and no propulsion better than a team of strong horses or a stiff breeze. Every endeavor from plowing to harvesting, from woodcutting to the refining of valuable ores, is accomplished by hand and complimented by a quick mind and strong back.

||___TRAVEL____
Although many people are tied to the land and seldom travel far from home, a surprising number of others travel lands and seas of Ladrona for years at a time, usually for business and trade. The paramount travelers include merchants, mercenaries and drovers, all of them moving goods and services from one place to another, rarely going unarmed, often groups of merchants will gather together and form a caravan and together in order to hire a larger armed escort. Traveling by sea is generally faster and cheaper in terms of manpower when hauling bulk goods, but holds its own dangers often best left to the imagination.

Only the poor or the ignorant travel by foot around Ladrona, given the vast distances between cities and the dangers on the road, and most people understand the importance of mounts, horses and mules are generally the easiest and cheapest mounts available although climate and terrain often play a large part in selection of a suitable mount, where an unusual mount in one place may be common is another. While those that never travel outside of a city generally care little about mounts and more about beasts of burden, animals that show great strength endurance and temperament in moving their owners goods safely. And only the main roads and though fares around and in the cites are paved with cobblestone or packed with gravel, they generally well kept roads however are always choked with all kinds of traffic and obstacles, such as vendor's stalls, wagons and packed goods at all hours, often restricting and slowing movement to a walk.

||___CHAPTER 10: ORGANIZATIONS____________________________________________________||

||___CHAPTER 11: BESTIARY__________________________________________________________||

||___CHAPTER 7: GLOSSARY__________________________________________________________||