The Campaign Builder's Guild

A Tale of the Beginning

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Welcome to Vannerfelle

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And when the great rift in the sky of Shannyancar opened up, the Weatherborne fell through it into what seemed like a world ruled by the king of blue, for when the ship landed in the water there was not to be seen but the sea and the sky above it. The way back was lost, and so the crew of the Weatherborne set sail in search of shore. The ship was among the finest and largest of the proud Armedic fleet, and as such it featured no shortage of mighty wizards and astronomers whose capabilities quickly revealed to them the way to land. At first they believed the place that they found themselves in to be part of the South Sea, but were left puzzled as to their whereabouts, for on the way they were beseiged by beasts from the deep; things that had never been known to inhabit that body of water. But the Weatherborne survived as it had so many times before, and after weeks of sailing they found a lush, green island that they touched down upon.

The captain of the vessel, the enigmatic Admiral Toyar wasted no time in his deployment. For the several hundred passengers on the ship, the Admiral had his crew build a temporary village and watch towers out of the trees along the beach, and prepared a scouting party to survey the nearby territory. The ship was anchored and the crew made to keep watch, fish, and build fortifications. And the mages set enchantments upon the area,  No risks would be taken in this place that was surely not their home.

And for three days they sat, a small collection of each of the mightiest races from their homeworld, uncertain of the extent of the world or what foul things might lurk upon it. But then on the fourth day, as the orange sun reached its peak, a great host of strange creatures came forth from the water. Like dolphins they danced both above and beneath the waves, leaps and splashes their method of movement. They came to where the water was shallow, and stood as straight and tall as zalehdi (humans) or elves, though they were certainly not human. Their hair seemed at once both akin to drenched, soggy seaweed and the hair of the most handsome and most beautiful men and women, for while it looked dull and waterlogged it was also appeared like the finest silk. Their skin was turquoise like the water, and indeed they looked at times like elementals standing before outsiders in their domains. Their noses were long, their eyes bright, their bodies fit and desirable, and they were dressed in strange garb that seemed to be untouched by the water they stood in. They looked at the lost Armedic humanoids, tridents gripped in uncertainty. "Who and what are you, and where from do you come?" said the apparent leader of the creatures in a watery voice, who stepped forward and lowered his spear.

Astounded at the creature's ability to speak their language, the Admiral stepped forward, extending his hand in a gesture of peace. "I am Admiral Tayor of Armeda, the Great Alliance Kingdom. I am of the race of zaledhi, and among the others here there are dwarves, elves, hobgoblins and gnomes. We came on our ship, the Weatherborne, to this place, which I do not know the name of. How is it you speak the tongue that we do?"

"I will ask the questions from now on Tayor, but know that I speak to you by the magic of this amulet," he said, holding the golden thing around his neck high. "What is this Armeda you claim to be from, and where is it? Unless it is located deep under the Halanjic Ocean in the north, or beyond the Horizon of Neverwalk, then it seems you are not of this world, of my world."

"You know not of Armeda, or the continent of Ardacyn? What of the Salmon Trail, which stretches for great distances across the greatest and deepest waters of the world?" replied the Admiral, who seemed stunned at the strange being's question.

The creatures' leader raised an eyebrow, gently striking the shaft of his weapon with his palm. "Continent? That word, it means... it meant..." the speaker stopped abruptly, bursting out in laughter. "There number of continents this world has is none, unless you call the Great Shallow Sea one. You are far from home indeed, Tayor and company. This world you have found yourself on is called Vannerfelle, and in the language of the locathah it means "Water Trap". You'll come to realize that there is little here but water, and what land is present comes in the form of meager archipelagos and bodies of land just large enough to support great columns of earth capped in white." The leader turned and waved his hand, diving into the water followed by his company.

"Wait!" one of the mages from the Armedic refugees shouted, and the leader of the things turned again. "What is your name, and what might we call your race?" she said to him.

"I am Wyh-nym Alus-Tyroll. The race I belong to is called the syrtyr. Do not worry Armedans, we will do you no harm."

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 The Meeting With the Man-Monsters

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For many days the refugees of Armeda stayed on that beach, and those many days quickly turned into weeks and months. It was quickly learned that the Weatherborne's ability to fly was severely diminished, and it was unlikely that the ship would take to the air again for many years. By this time, most had finally accepted that they were stuck on Vannerfelle and began to treat it as the "new world," though a few members of the crew or the colonizers who had come were so taken by that thought that they had become more or less insane. Several ran off into the jungle at night, or stole rowboats from the Weatherborne and departed to the surrounding islands, not to be seen again with their fellow Armedans. The settlement on the beach, which they called Armeda Point, quickly expanded to better suit the newcomers that totalled near 350. From useless things the wizards among them made materials of value when they could find no proper materials with which to make weapons and adhesives for sturdier buildings. Meanwhile, Admiral Tayor and a crew large enough to pilot it sailed the damaged Weatherborne about, surveying their surroundings. Many times already they had circled their own island, but the others were left largely unexplored and few cared to venture to them.

The syrtyr had proven to be friendly enough in the first few weeks of the Armedans' inhabitance of the "new world," and were considered allies by the land-dwellers by the time they had been on Vannerfelle for half a year. The syrtyr leader who had met them on their arrival, Wyh-nym, took a great deal of interest in these people and often came to converse with Admiral Toyar and the other leaders of what would be called the Armeda Tribe. Wyh-nym taught them what he knew about the inhabitants of the sea, and likewise spoke to them of the land. It was learned that the syrtyr, like most of the races native to Vannerfelle, were amphibious. Some, especially his own race, built cities both amongst the great coral reefs lining the sea bed and dock-towns on shallow plateaus that rose high enough to come ten feet or less from the ocean's surface. He warned Toyar and the slowly-growing settlement that while his own tribe had been kind to them, many others would be hostile to them, for they saw the islands as their own territory (or in more primitive cases, believed the islands to be sacred lands of the gods). And in response to the syrtyr warrior's teachings, Toyar and others such as Keegah (a dwarf wizard who had originally been the Weatherborne's primary navigator and its lead explorer) and Balnero (a hobgoblin warrior and specialist) taught Wyh-nym and his kin tales of their technologies, their religions, their magic, and most of all their homeworld, which amazed Wyh-nym at how it could be so dry in comparison to Vannerfelle.

Then, as the Armedic Tribe neared its tenth month on the ocean world, after the colder winds of winter had passed and what they called summer now began to return, they met their first threat since the great beasts of the deep that had tried to sink the Weatherborne. The ship had only finished sailing back to the "harbor" that the Armedans had claimed when from the jungle a different tribe of the syrtyr attacked, and the guards in their towers had barely noticed them coming before they reached the Point. They came charging forth with spears and shields and blades, and great strings of mighty seaweed burst from the sand, wrapping about the Armedan's feet and pulling them to the ground. The syrtyr assailants proceeded to wound and kill several guards mercilessly as the remaining portion of the guard (and the Point's spellcasters) hurried to shore from the Weatherborne. They bound others, tying them or netting them as they saw fit. It seemed as though the settlers might lose a fair portion of their fighting members, and of their noncombatants and young children as well.

Then came the roars unlike anything they had ever heard before. It seemed at once to be both like the sound of soft ripples on water and the fearsome roar of a mother bear protecting her young. The syrtyr turned and looked to the north along the beach to where the sound approached, and immediately abandoned their assault on the land-dwellers. From the water came creatures that looked like they had once been strange fish with many fins and odd colorations, but over time had grown into more humanoid shapes and become amphibious like the syrtyr. They sported fins on their heads, arms and legs, and bore crossbows of the like that the Armedans had never seen. On the backs of their hands sat claw-like weapons that looked retractable, and each one carried on his back a longspear wrapped in a net that reminded the land-dwellers of the flags that had once flown in their homelands.

The new creatures and the syrtyr clashed, and it was quickly made known that whatever was to happen to the Point, it wasn't going to be at the hands of the attacking syrtyr. They were driven  away quickly, and once that had happened not one but two of the strange new creatures approached the nearest Armedan leader, who happened to be Keegah. Both parties immediately brought up some form of weaponry in case of attack, in Keegah's case a hand suddenly engulfed in fire and in their cases the crossbows they had used earlier, standing only a few feet from each other. And then it was that Keegah began hearing voices in his head, which he was sure were coming from them:  Abandon your magic. We came to help, but we will not hesitate to fire. And then again came Abandon your magic!

Keegah did, just as the Admiral and the others from the ship came ashore. Steel drawn, they advanced on the creatures from the deep, until the rest of them drew their own crossbows and aimed at the Armedans. Soon all of their minds were bombarded with various words and sentences, but Tayor again found himself the primary diplomat as he stood there, sword still raised in a half-defensive stance, and the eyes seemed to focus on him. He could tell, however, that the voice which spoke to him in his head came from the one creature that still looked at Keegah, unblinking.  Foolish enough to leave a fledgling settlement so underprotected, and quick to enter a battle you have already lost; you are both, Admiral Tayor, the voice said.

"Do you mean well, or not, creature from the deep?" he said in reply, unable to do much else. He didn't order any of his men to stand down for fear of an attack.

I do not know what manner you operate in Armeda, but here the way you act will surely get you killed. You must be more cautious and vigilant. In either case, you are safe now, and you should be very glad that we arrived when we did. Such things usually only happen in tales for the fairies. Wyh-nym speaks fondly of you and your people in more ways than one, and as such I had decided to come for a visit and learn for myself of your... kind.

Tayor looked puzzled. "Well, I am glad that Wyh-nym has given good word of myself and those I am stuck here with, but why would you come so armed, and with such a great call of warriors at your side?"

The leader of the creatures looked then as if he had been asked the most naive of questions by the most naive of children, but quickly his face changed as he remembered that the man he spoke to was not of the same tradition as he. Why, only the kings of the Bellendei venture anywhere without some form of escort! When Tayor and his host kneeled before the creature from the deep, the now-known king looked surprised, but dismissed it as only another strange custom.

 You may count Jorhah of the locathah and his kingdom of Locyna as your allies, Tayor. We will speak at length and things will become known on either side of the conversation. Yet let it be understood now that none of us here, as benevolent as you may believe us to be, are willing to take weakness as an ally. Let yourself be better armed and more wisely versed for the next conflicts, or you may find yourself without allies to defend you from your enemies.

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The Guardians

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The one-year anniversary of the arrival of the Armedans came and was celebrated reluctantly, but more and more things were accepted as they were and life on Vannerfelle became as if the people had always been there. Children were born to the people, structures further fortified, and unknown territories further explored. Rules were soon created for Armeda Point stating that relations could be had between any and all that thought them proper, but no births could take place except under particular watch in order to protect the strength and the future of the small population. Even though many more laws besides this had been set to help solidify this new town, the elders feared for the future. Many of the current leaders who had come were already old, and if life was to go on there on Vannerfelle as if it were their homeworld with no hope of going back to Armeda, the younger leaders would also grow old and fragile. Though they could train new leaders, they could not possibly have enough time to show them all of their ways, especially in the cases of the mages. In a secret meeting atop a hill (which would later be named Guardian Hill) visible from Armeda Point, Tayor and his fellows determined that something had to be done in order to prevent themselves from growing old so they could watch over Armeda Point as long as it needed them. But they were at a loss, for none of them knew how to do such a thing.

For months Keegah, Paolone, Darchun, and three other mages worked upon a magical spell that would do what they wished, and those months eventually brought them to the second anniversary of their stay on Vannerfelle. Little had taken place in terms of exploration or expansion after the secret meeting, other than a few lonely watch towers a few miles from the Point and a tiny outpost consisting of four scouts on shifts located on the other side of their island. And then, on the first day of the third month in the third year of their stay, a new meeting was held at midnight on Guardian Hill. Eighteen people, who were the best in their respective areas out of all of those to be found in Armeda Point (including Tayor and all of the mages) were called to the meeting. Keegan spoke before them, and he warned that though they would all become immortal, they were not invincible. He also warned that if they sought friendship or love with any of those beyond the group of eighteen, they could never be happy if they could not let go, for those around them would still be mortal. Some who heard it understood and did not hesitate to accept, and others were reluctant but did agree, but none refused. And then, they became the beings that would later be called the Guardians. Years of life were returned to all of them, some of whom afterwards looked like handsome young men and beautiful young women, while others lost only some of the gray in their hair and the wrinkles on their faces. An energy was brought to them that most had not felt since adolescence.

But things did not go as planned. Ambitious and less than compassionate were a few of the leaders, and this was shown at its greatest when Darchun, Lalexa, and Pathanax deserted the settlement and their fellow guardians and sought to claim territories on nearby islands. Pathanax was the first to go, and she was the most adventurous, for she sought out the farthest island she could reach and built a lair protected by more secrets than the water itself. Darchun and Lalexa departed together for closer islands, with their power being strengthened by a love for one another and a desire for more. The two eventually travelled much farther to the northernmost lands and were not heard from again for centuries. Those who were faithful to Armeda Point stayed however, and under their guidance the settlement prospered over the years, and it grew into New Armeda.

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Is it okay to post here?

This sounds like an interesting project.  Vastly different worlds (such as ocean worlds) almost always have a certain exotic appeal.

Do you expect to have other ships from other worlds, or are all PCs supposed to be from the Weatherborne?  Or did you expect them to play syrtyr?

Thanks for the replies, and yes it's fine (I intend to eventually use some *hopefully* effective organization to put everything in the first post, and leave the rest of the posts for discussion/updates.

Potentially, more ships could find their way to Vannerfelle through the same means as the Weatherborne did. Several of the PC races (humans, elves, dwarves, hobgoblins, gnomes) originated on the Weatherborne, but due to the limited size of the original group, these races aren't that high in number and due to the limited extent of the few bodies of land on Vannerfelle, they can't really expand and have to be very careful about population growth, agriculture, and the like. PCs can also play the syrtyr (which are kind of like aquatic Warcraft trolls), locathah, sahuagin, kuo-toa, ganetheve (which is a creature that looks kind of like a human with many of the manta ray's characteristics), and a few others as well. Minotaurs also exist on one of the larger islands, and are probably going to get a revamp to make them more PC-friendly. Additionally, most land-based races now acquire a swim speed (though their aquatic counterparts are faster), and most aquatic races gain a land speed (or it improves slightly, in the case of the locathah; but aquatic races are still a little slower on land).

That makes it sound like minotaurs are the only land-based race native to the world.  An interesting choice, to be sure; I'd be curious about the revamp.

It also sounds like the ship had arrived some time in past.  Was it a colony ship?  It sounds like military, which would mean it seems unlikely that the crew is going to have roughly equal numbers of each gender for each race.  Without that, population growth is not much of a conern ;)

I"m liking it so far. Although I would like to see some more here.
And again, I like it so far.

--Fullmetal_Alchemist

I kind of like Minotaurs as the native race, it feels fitting somehow...  Reminds me of the minoans, and the greek culture that followed, along with their seafaring tendency.

The Ocean world isn't a terribly original idea, but I'm waiting to pass judgment until I see what you do with it, as your past work has been of exceptional quality.

Quote from: Phoenix KnightThat makes it sound like minotaurs are the only land-based race native to the world.  An interesting choice, to be sure; I'd be curious about the revamp.

It also sounds like the ship had arrived some time in past.  Was it a colony ship?  It sounds like military, which would mean it seems unlikely that the crew is going to have roughly equal numbers of each gender for each race.  Without that, population growth is not much of a conern ;)

It was a colony ship, but the crew, as all Armedan sailors were, were quite decent at combat, and the ship also carried a number of elites of the Alliance who joined for exploration and security purposes (not to mention some of them were promised their own plots of land in the new world they were headed for). It's important to note that the Armeda (where the Weatherborne came from) was a great nation where humans, elves, dwarves, gnomes, and hobgoblins were united under one banner and lived almost as if they were all the same race. When the Weatherborne's crew and passengers realized their plight, they all set out a large number of rules for breeding between races and, once they later found out just how little land they could claim, set up special systems of qualification for having children.

Thanks for the replies guys. I think you may enjoy the direction I take with Vannerfelle :)

I'm liking this so far as well. You have a very easy to read and flowing writing style, and I agree with N20, it feels fitting that minotaurs would be the native land based race.

Updated with a new section. It's more history of a sort.

I have to say that I really like this setting. I don't know about 20's comment, I've never seen an ocean setting posted anywhere that I liked as much as this one. The important thing for me is for there to be a sense of mythology and drama inherent to a campaign setting for it to be interesting, and you certainly have that.

One thing I liked is how you describe it as a series of mythological tales. I frankly don't have the knack for that and so I'm enjoying reading it.

Glad to see it's being read. :)

Dead? Busy with WitchCraft? Other?

Busy with school. No time for Vannerfelle or Witchcraft d20. :(

Quote from: WitchHuntBusy with school. No time for Vannerfelle or Witchcraft d20. :(

phooey. Its a good story.

Well, since there is such an interest I've posted a little bit of something about Vannerfelle, entitled "The Guardians". It's fairly short but will have to do until I find more time and regather all of my thoughts to properly work on the setting.