The Campaign Builder's Guild

[ic=Iân Moon's Son, Human Scholar]
 The Gods

There are a million little-Gods, Small Gods, Way-Gods - they lurk beneath rocks, at a crossroads, in the cairns, atop the mountains. They are all powerful enough, in their own little ways. But only a few of them - the Great Gods - have arisen to the power one associates with the word 'God'. Each of them crafted their children, so it is said. Some of the Children came from elsewhere. But every one of the hundred species, peoples, races - whatever you desire to call them - has its origin, on this world at least, in the hands of one of these beings.

What are the Gods? They feed off mankind's sacrifice, from their emotions and praise. Religion may seem to be a charade to some, but in truth, it is not - it is ritual magic and a feast bound up in one. The Gods cannot influence this world - not any more - but through us. They need us, but we, too, need them - to form a barrier, a mental barrier, between ourselves and the darkness of reality.

 The Children

There are a hundred peoples. Dwarves, we call them, Orcs, Elves, Humans. Drow, the Peoples-That-Live-Beneath, the Tieflings, the Goblins, Illithid, Beholders. Some of them are more different to us then others. Some practically ARE us. You will find all kinds in this city, all kinds. Some of them are less civilised than others...

 The World

The world is an impossibility - a sphere, not too large, around which you can walk in a few years. Yet if you go downward, into the place we know as the 'Underdark', you can pass through onto what seems to be another sphere - one without us upon it. This place contains many exotic and exciting things and, were travel there not so dangerous, would have made all the people very rich by now. Sadly, things are not quite that easy...

 The Cities

This world lacks much in civilisation. For two hundred years, give or take, the Wilderness shifted, changing and confused, in the aftermath of the Magestorm. Straying from the path was foolish and men are still being found, wandering into settlements, mad, half-alive or worse. Those two-hundred years, we survived only thanks to the Steel Angels, the creatures sent from the Gods. They appear like men, but with alabaster bodies that floated above the ground and golden eyes which shone with a light not unlike the sun. They brought food enough to supplement our meagre agriculture when the harvest was bad. The peoples collected into the Cities, and lived together for a long time. There are eight main city-states, and many tiny townships. For a long time contact was limited to major roads, but now with the Magestorm gone, these powers are spreading out, restoring the land. We are not sure how long this will take us.[/ic]

[ic=Restoration AI Backup 321121]Fff- fff-

Restoration initiated.

Reboot program 'Storm 1' completed. The program went wrong, and full system cleanup was not completed. A full internal reboot was required. Lifeforms mostly unaffected, although those remaining in program's sweep area for long amounts of time may have suffered damage.

Write to external memory:

Letter 1:

Dear Owner,

We are sad to admit that, during the operating period of your artificial planet, the following errors occurred...[/ic]

The second bit gave me goosebumps.  So the mythological/"typical" fantasy world is actually an artificial planet?  The Magestorm is Storm 1?  The Steel Angels are robots/androids/cyborg extraterrestrials?

City Twelve

City o'er Roses, as was its original name - now known as City Twelve (or 'th'Twelve' by many of its inhabitants, critics, and otherwise), is the largest of the eight cities. 'City Twelve' was apparently the title given to its administrative hub as part of the chain of twelve councillor-represented towns that now form its spine, and was probably itself originally short for 'City Twelve o' Twelve'. Regardless, th'Twelve is the richest, arguably the most powerful, and certainly the largest of the cities.

Population and Demographics

Some cities did not permit certain of the Children (i.e. sentient beings) inside when the Magestorm began - Illithids, for example. Th'Twelve never had such inhibitions, and such creatures - although perhaps uncommon - are still not totally-rare sights on its streets (and understreets). It is a city of 250,000 (living) inhabitants, at least 150,000 of whom are not human. The council currently includes two elves, a dwarf and an illithid, and creatures of all shapes and sizes live together, particularly in the slums. 'Carrion crawlers' (a particularly unpleasant racial epithet for a completely maligned, if admittedly corpse-consuming, species who prefer to be called Chag), orcs and minotaurs can all find some kind of work in this city, although translators are sometimes required. There are even a few Hill Giants and, rumour has it, vampires and lycanthropes, although the Undead are not favoured too well by the rest of the population.

Underdark Connections

The main reason for th'Twelve's prosperity is its Underdark Gate (and accompanying Undercity). The original twelve towns were built along a long ridge, probably for defence (and definitely not for the view). This ridge was riddled with caves, which themselves were connected to the Underdark. Whilst the Underdark is essentially mostly frontier country ruled over, at least nominally, by the Ilrilharlarú Ilythiiriz (or, in more pronouncable speech, 'Drow Empire'), a sizable underdark town has grown up beneath the town, with entry strictly controlled by the only current existing passport authority in the world - the Zhaunilú Aluzanobsulen Ilrilharlaren Valsharen Ilythiiriz (something like 'Drow Royal Imperial Gap-through-going Control'). However, the tunnels underneath the ridge have been utilised, extended, and turned into a kind of marketplace-cum-sewer. Or sewer-cum-marketplace, whichever you prefer. This is the 'Undercity', one of the few places you are likely to see a drow during the daytime.

 Governance

Th'Twelve is ruled by a 'democratically' elected council of twelve councillors - supposedly, one for every one of the original townships. There is also a mayor, elected by this council from their own number. The council as a whole are elected by the rich people of the town and are, to a man (or illithid, in one case) affluent, inescapably corrupt, and disgustingly selfish. They look after their own interests and protect the rich. The City Guard, ridiculously overwhelmed and mostly equally corrupt, do a pretty bad job of looking after the middle and lower classes too. It ironically falls to various criminal societies to protect the weak, via 'donations'. There are sewers, which empty into the Undercity and then into the river (although further down than the drinking wells, admittedly). There are also guilds, most of whom employ small private guards to protect their employees. Taxes are levied occasionally and usually at apparent random, although sometimes if enough of the populace appear to be about to riot about something, the council will levy taxes to deal with the problem. The current Mayor and head of the council is Jún the Fat, a human who claims to have elven blood but actually has a talent for manipulation and a weakness for money.

The only major law really enforced is 'No Magic', although if you're subtle enough to avoid detection (or rich enough to bribe the guards) you can live a perfectly contented, if quiet, life in the city as a sorcerer.

 Technology

Not much of the scattered 'ancient' technology found in the Underdark and sometimes on the surface has made its way to th'Twelve, although the occasional sparking pulse rifle (often referred to as 'magestaffs' and used as parts of various superstitions, such as keeping away werewolves), mapping device (believed to be gifts from the Gods) or similar equivalent can be seen around. Pride of place in the city is the Great Clock, which announces the time every half an hour in a great, booming voice which appears to the listener to be in their own language. The Council also possesses a much-coveted, tiny telephone, which allows them to communicate with two other cities - Hamand and Dw-Pnut. The much-feared Carrion-Crawler 'enforcer' who goes by the name of Skag possesses a translation device which allows him to be understood by others, wired directly into his mass of tentacles.

 Languages

The 'Common' tongue, i.e. common to here and Hamand, is the language of day-to-day commerce between humans and everyone else. At home, however, and in certain 'ethnic marketplaces', all sorts of languages can be heard - various dialects of Drow from the mouths of the inhabitants of the Underdark, the 'Carrion Language', unpronouncable to humans without the aid of certain interestingly-shaped mouthpieces and a lot of arm-waving, the various orc and elf languages... Then of course there are the various sign languages, including the mysterious tentacle movements of the Illithids. Many inhabitants speak bits of several languages, and a large portion are bilingual or trilingual - though often with a distinct accent or dialect that may make them hard or impossible to understand to a non-Twelver speaker of said language.

The 'Common' tongue as spoken here has been greatly influenced by other languages, especially in slang - in normal Common (i.e. as spoken everywhere else and amongst the upper classes) an elf-like being that dwells in the Underdark is a 'Drow' - to the people of the city, it's a 'Lithy' (short for 'Ilythiir'). In normal common, a man might be a 'feller', a 'cove', even a 'guy' - here, he could be any one of these, or about fifty other words, including 'Carrion' (originally meant to refer to the Carrion Crawlers' food of choice, but now with extended meaning).

Quote from: SteerpikeThe second bit gave me goosebumps.  So the mythological/"typical" fantasy world is actually an artificial planet?  The Magestorm is Storm 1?  The Steel Angels are robots/androids/cyborg extraterrestrials?

Yeah, pretty much, although rather than monsters being monstrous, I've tried in this setting to make everything vaguely alien sentient and see if they can integrate into society. The Magestorm was designed to clear the surface of the planet for various different reasons. The Steel Angels are robots created to allow the creatures living on the planet (those that survive, anyway) to subsist properly until the virus wipe was over.

There are a few 'magical' artifacts lying around left over from 'the Ancients', or 'Gifts from the Gods'. These are generally advanced technology (so much so they're indistinguishable from magic) such as the 'telephone'-type device owned by the Council of th'Twelve. A few people may have devices like pulse rifles, considered by the populace to be 'wizards' staffs'.

Illithids and carrion crawlers as major racial influences?!  I'm onboard...

wow, that is thinking outside the box, through this can go in a really creepy direction.  I love the alien theme, i'm really interesting in seeing how the world's mind set is different
from
EE

Ilrilharlarazú Ilythiiriz

The Drow Empire (i.e. 'the Underdark') is quite possibly the loosest political entity currently in existence. It (at least nominally) controls everything considered by the surface world to lie within the Underdark, and encompasses in its species makeup, amongst many others, drow (a minority), duergar, orcs, humans, shallow-dwarves, illithids and beholders. Unlike on the surface, where these species were forced together, in the Underdark, the majority of these peoples have found their niche area and stuck to it. Whilst the Drow are currently top of the pile, their control is much diminished from what it once was, and most of these creatures reside in their own, semi-autonomous areas of the Underdark known as Olhinne, which translates as something like 'Cantons'. There are five Duergar cantons, two Illithid cantons, one orc canton... and only two drow-majority Cantons. However, the drow have spies and sympathy everywhere, and for now, Empress Lil'Alurá Xule Orbbe, Kult'ressú of the Underdark and Most Worshipful Drow, rules on.

 Population

The empire is vast, but sparsely populated - there are only about 3 million inhabitants, of whom only 500,000 are Drow. There are at least a million Duergar and other assorted dwarven peoples, according to the recent attempted census. The drow are mainly nomadic, and move from place to place in the Empire, whilst the Duergar and other more stationary peoples tend to build permanent settlements where such CAN be established (rare in the ever-changing Underdark habitat).

 History  

It is unknown when the drow first came to the Underdark. Biologically, they are quite similar to surface elves - they even look similar, although they are traditionally a lot paler and paint their bodies with black paint to make themselves less distinctive in the darkness of the Underdark, leading some to believe this is their natural skin-colour. They also speak an obviously elvic language. This leads many to believe that they came to be here not so very long ago... although records are understandably sketchy.

About five-hundred years ago, the Underdark was a climate of almost constant near-war or war, with skirmishes and battles pretty much the order of the day. At this point, the Drow had a population of 1,000,000. It was during a period of vague peace that the Drow tribal warlord known as Luth'olú Vlosen arose to prominence. He led his tribe in a bloody unification war that brought first Drow and then Duergar under his control. From there, he absorbed other peoples into his new Empire at a terrifying rate, exhibiting tactical skill since unseen. The illithid colonies - small anyway - agreed to join peacefully - it made little difference to them who ruled them, and this way, they might even get a new selection of hosts. The beholders did not form colonies anyway, but left the drow alone, and so were - in their own way - absorbed.

Of course, after Luth'olú's death, succession squabbles immediately broke out. The wars lasted three generations. The final winner was the first Empress, Ssin'Sole, the eldest daughter and second-eldest child of Luth'olú himself. Although traditionally tribal leaders had been male, Ssin'Sole was apparently a great sorcerer and beauty, and many warriors followed her for one of these two qualities. She set up the tradition of Empresses (rather than Emperors). Her succession lasted until the last Empress, Telanthú Ssinsoliz.

During Telanthú's reign, about a hundred years ago, the Underdark suffered its own equivalent of the Magestorm - its 'growth spurt' began. Before this, the Underdark had been static, and well-mapped - now, though, this began to change. The drow population before the growth spurt has been estimated at 1,500,000 - by the end of the initial convolutions it was 300,000. These changes completely changed the Underdark - its caverns remapped themselves, many cities and roads were completely destroyed. It is still changing now - much more rapidly than the surface world, although much more slowly - and expanding outwards. The 'Growth Spurt' killed Telanthú herself, who died childless, and also halved the population of the Duergar and almost wiped out the Illithids and Beholders. Since the ascendancy of the new Empress, Lil'Alurá Xule Orbbe, hurriedly placed on the throne, the Empire has survived on a thread. Only her reorganisation into the Canton system and reconstruction programs, including her decision to allow small amounts of surface colonists down into the Empire, have saved it so far. Whether it will survive is a matter for some debate. Another controversial move has been her establishment of an independent Duergar parliament, allowing the Duergar freedom to (partially) rule themselves.

 Government

The ruler of the entire Empire, head of the Drow and Duergar parliaments, is the Empress, Lil'Alurá Xule Orbbe. Her power is technically absolute, and mostly IS so, but the Parliaments can pass laws themselves (although she does have veto). The Drow parliament is made up of a hundred and twenty drow, and oversees all of the Empire apart from the Duergar cantons, which (predictably) the Duergar parliament oversees.

Currently, the Empress is working towards regeneration of the Empire. Since the end of the Great Changes which claimed so many lives, there has been a sizable population boom, but the Drow are still endangered. Roadways through the Underdark are dangerous and often unmarked, and most of the Empire is frontier country. Surfacer colonists are entering the Empire in small groups and being directed to the new areas of the Underdark produced by the growth spurts.

 Languages

The official language of the Empire is Drow, an elvic language spoken by almost all people here as a first language - indeed, whatever the orcs originally spoke is now dead and gone completely, and the Duergar language, already strongly influenced by Drow, is becoming more and more endangered. Drow dialects differ, and there are many other languages spoken down here - by humans, shallow-dwarves, and other more exotic creatures.

Werewolves

[ic=Sisi, Alpha of the Lycanthropic Brotherhood]Of course, brother. We run with the wolves, our brothers and sisters, and form packs in the night. We are the Children of the Moon, blessed of the Gods. Our gift is great and belovéd by all.[/ic]

[ic=Tamas, Werewolf]Bloody... bloody... bloody 'thropy? Y'got any idea how mucsh it hurtsh, you bashtard? I'll... I'll show you jusht how... how *hic* mush it hurtsh! Hurtsh I tellsh youshe! Thoshe bashtardsh in the ly... lyc... lyth... Brotherhood ish shtupid *hic* romanticsh![/ic]

Werewolves are foremost among the shapeshifters. Infected with the bizarre disease known as lycanthropy, during the full moon they are forced to undergo a transformation into a part-man, part-beast creature, and then possibly into a full-on, gigantic wolf form. They are, effectively, the sentient mammal's natural predators - capable of fitting into societies such as small tribal groups or villages with ease and then using the information learned from being such an insider to pick off their prey. However, this method of hunting is now outdated - werewolves have had to adapt to survive in the cities.

Lycanthropy

This disease is carried by only a tiny portion of the population, and it affects an even smaller proportion. It can infect any mammalian creature, although so far, it appears to have no strain which can affect life forms such as illithids or carrion crawlers. It is transmitted genetically and through werewolf saliva. It is activated by moonlight - specifically the full moon - and has several horrific effects on the body.

Because both alternate forms are very differently proportioned to the human, orcish, elfish etc body, all of the organs have to shift and change. Before they can change, they have to shut down. During the transformation, a werewolf's liver, kidneys, heart, lungs, stomach, muscles and sensory organs - all stop working for a few moments. The changes do not occur all at once - this would kill anyone - but are extremely dangerous. The transformation can, theoretically, kill someone - but usually it does not. In the days leading up to the full moon, a werewolf suffers from several changes in his or her body, affecting the brain and body chemicals, to prepare for the transformation - this can cause chronic depression, random mood swings, and hyperactive sex drive (among other symptoms). This makes werewolves naturally emotionally unstable creatures. The bodily stress and pain of the transformation can also dramatically shorten a werewolf's lifespan. If a female werewolf becomes pregnant, she does not undergo transformations until the baby (about seven months gestation time) comes to term - the transformation would kill any baby inside the womb within seconds. Another problem is food - the wolf stomach can digest raw meat which would turn a human stomach, but not vegetables. Eating vegetables before a transformation will make your wolf form vomit, eating raw meat in your wolf form can cause problems when you transform back into a human.

Whilst in wolf form, a werewolf finds it very hard to control his or her instincts. The smell of a human can cause most werewolves to immediately start hunting. If a human comes too close a werewolf will instinctively spring. A similar thing occurs with male and female werewolves - to a male, a female werewolf is something to be instantly bombarded with courting rituals. Instincts can be controlled, but it is extremely difficult. Pregnancy can apparently be achieved in wolf form, but, as in human form, you are locked in your wolf form until the baby is born.

Connection to Wolves

Apart from the appearance and name, werewolves are highly dissimilar to normal wolves. They do not naturally form packs, as wolves do - rather, particularly to male werewolves, other male werewolves are instinctively considered competition. A werewolf must spend time in his human form learning the ways of wolves before he can properly mimic one. Some werewolves have become heads of wolf packs, but not properly, the way an actual wolf can - instead they are feared and tolerated. Wolves are actually repulsed and terrified by the werewolf scent. Werewolves cannot speak to wolves, contrary to popular belief - they can growl and show displeasure in ways that would be interpretable to any species, but they have no instinctive ability to communicate with them.

Relationships, views and stigma

Werewolves have long had a history of being hated and feared by non-werewolves - unsurprisingly really. Other predators see them as competition, everyone else as a natural enemy. In the city, most lock themselves in rooms during the full moon, preferably a quiet cellar where nobody can hear them howl, or learn to control themselves. Some stay almost constantly as wolves, preferring the apparently simpler lifestyle and the ability to rapidly become top of a city's canine pecking order (dogs, like wolves, have a natural fear of werewolves).

Certain romantics amongst the werewolves form 'packs', effectively just secret societies with particularly odd handshakes (i.e. nose-nuzzles). The foremost amongst these is the Lycanthropic Brotherhood, who operate in th'Twelve. They mostly keep themselves to themselves, although they are sometimes called upon to hunt other werewolves who have gotten out of control. Most werewolves, however, are solitary, 'lone wolves' (pardoning the pun) in human and animal form - they spend most of their lives in menial jobs, suffering from chronic depression over some crime they accidentally committed in their first transformation, occasionally wavering to happiness bordering on mania. They drink away their pay and if they have a family, they neglect them.

Beliefs about werewolves are generally lies. It's true that silver and wolfsbane are both poisonous to them, but they have no compunctions about crossing running water, and injuries sustained by a werewolf rapidly heal over and are usually absorbed in the transformation, unless they are extremely serious.

In th'Twelve in particular, Lycanthropy and werewolves in general are usually referred to as 'thropa and throp (plural throppen).

Religion

Werewolves tend to be reasonably atheistic, considering their condition, although some of the hapless romantics give praise to Elistráee, Goddess of the Moon.

In the Underdark

There are, up until now, no recorded cases of lycanthropy in the Underdark. It is reasonable to believe that a drow COULD be infected with lycanthropy, but shapeshifters are rare down there anyhow, and a wolf is not really built for such an environment.

Other forms of shapeshifting

There have been recorded cases of Ursanthropy, i.e. a bear equivalent of a werewolf, and of Phillothropy, i.e. 'werebats'. This is quite possible, although neither are anywhere near as common as the werewolf. Werebears are known to suffer similar symptoms, although werebats are a complete mystery to most people. Whether they exist at all is a matter of some debate between scholars.

Olhinne Duerriz

The Olhinne Duerriz (Duergar: Dyakhantob) , or Duergar Cantons, are five city-states within the Underdark. They fall, in order, under the authority of their Canton Council, then the Duergar Parliament, then the Drow Empire. The five cantons are Olhinnú Bbera (Bberakhantoy, 290,000 Duergar), Olhinnú Zékk (Zeykhantoy, 240,000 Duergar), Olhinnú Máa (Myabkhantoy, 230,000 Duergar), Olhinnú Bík (Byikhantoy, 160,000) and Olhinnú Trazk (Trazkhantoy, 90,000 Duergar). Olhinnú Bbera is the site of the Duergar parliament, whilst Olhinnú Trazk is the only one with a Duergar-language-speaking majority.

 Population and Demographics

There are more Duergar than Drow in the Underdark, around about a million residing in the Duergar Cantons. Out of these, only about 40,000 speak the Duergar language (Dyarevob) fluently, with almost all of these residing in Olhinnú Trazk. There are about 11,000 Drow residing across the Duergar Cantons, and about 12,000 members of various other species.

 History

The Duergar have been in the Underdark at least as long as the Drow, if not longer. The difference, however, is that the Drow tended to gravitate towards a nomadic lifestyle, often in areas that were not that stable - and were thus immensely affected by the changes in the Underdark. The Duergar, on the other hand, gravitated towards the construction of rigidly-planned, well-designed cities in secure spots, and thus lost only one Canton, Úl - although most of that Canton's inhabitants were killed, admittedly - during the growth-spurt.

It is believed that the Duergar cantons were founded at similar times by shallow-dwarven colonists from the surface. At this time they were all independent city-states. However, they rapidly came under the influence of the drow, and after hundreds of years of semi-regular contact were caught up in the drow expansion and conquered. The drow language took over as the language of commerce, administration, law (such as it was) and, slowly, day-to-day living. The Duergar language was whittled down to the day-to-day language in only small areas of each Canton, and many Duergar came to see it as a sign of backwardness in their neighbours. This wasn't helped by the enforced drow removal of Duergar inscriptions and signs and the relocation of most Duergar speakers to Olhinnú Trazk. Aboriginal Duergar religions were likewise mostly replaced with state-sponsored churches, such as the Temple of Lolth.

However, after the growth spurt, a resurgent sense of Duergar 'nationalism' has sprung up. Because there is no forced mixing of cultures in the Underdark, the Duergar have a much stronger sense of their ethnic-species group's union than most of their surface equivalents, and this has recently come to the fore. With the drow still struggling to cope with the immense blows they've suffered, the Duergar have seized the opportunity to demand (and acquire) several new measures - freedom of religion from Drow interference, their own parliament separate from the Drow equivalent, the right to their own schools (formerly, any nobles of any race desiring education in the Drow empire were forced to send their children to drow-run, drow-speaking schools and were not allowed personal tutors). The Duergar language is seeing some resurgence because of these measures and its status as a nationalist banner. The Duergar seem to be on the rise as a power in the Underdark.

 Government

The Duergar Cantons are ruled over by the Duergar Parliament, a house of a hundred Duergar representatives, twenty from each Canton. These Duergar are elected by the nobles in each Canton, and are thus generally noble. They can pass laws, although the Empress has veto on almost any law passed by them and thus still has control over the Cantons indirectly. So far the government have mostly been passing laws to aid the economy, population growth and 'Duethamét' (Duergarisation, Duergar 'Akdyoytenob') - the reintroduction of the Duergar indigenous language, religion, culture etc. This seems to be aimed towards completely freeing (de facto at least) the Duergar from Drow rule and allowing them to become an independent state. Of course, any member of the parliament would deny this strenuously...

 Religion

Most Duergar are not particularly interested in Gods - by our standards they can be classed as agnostics or atheists. However, a large section of the population at least pay lip service to the Temple of Lolth, and a slowly growing amount go to the newly-reestablished State Temple of the Gods (i.e. the Duergar pantheon). Most of the drow are of course Lolthites, whilst the occasional surfacer settler, slave or member of another species could follow almost any god at all.

 Infrastructure

The Duergar Cantons are all relatively close, in the upper heart of the Underdark. They are all planned cities, built on a 3-dimensional grid, and are connected by well-maintained and guarded roads and lift shafts. They are slowly expanding, and could, theoretically, eventually end up merged into one huge metropolis. Obviously, population growth is restricted by issues such as food supply, water supply, and so on - but there are many untapped water supplies that may be attached to the cities in the future. Food is a different matter - the occasional edible species does exist in the Underdark, and these are carefully farmed in all of the Duergar cantons. The main source of food, however, comes in the form of three species of edible mushroom. These mushrooms are chemosynthetic and anaerobic - which means, effectively, that they use up methane and hydrogen and do not take up oxygen. These species are carefully cultivated en-masse in immense farms. Of course, getting enough hydrogen to these plants can be difficult - the only easy method is via the large artifacts known as Béxate (Duergar: Bbekhob), found throughout the Underdark, which (although the Duergar do not know it) electrolyse water. Combined with airtight sacks, three could produce, in a day, enough hydrogen to feed the entire population of the Underdark for a day. However, the Duergar only possess one, and these Béxate often overheat and have to be left to cool. Because of competition and other similar factors, the farms are, in the Duergar cantons, under Government control (one of the first acts of parliament).

Elves

The Elves have been slowly decaying for years. They were (according to tradition) humans who bred with now-extinct fey creatures, and who originally possessed great magical powers and evoked desire and deep affection in any who looked on them. Now, most people of elvish blood are indistinguishable from humans by appearance. About one in every ten elf-descended individuals possesses pointed ears, cat-like eyes, sharp teeth, or advanced senses in some way or another, and one in five-hundred has latent magical ability (as opposed to one in a thousand regular humans). Most, however they actually look or whatever they actually say, appear charming, good-looking and witty. In some cities, particularly Ému, which rests in the traditional hunting grounds of the elves, anti-elven prejudices are common - however, lynchings, although they do occur, are rarely of actual elves - with their wit and charm, elves are probably more likely to be found leading the lynchings. Other than Drow and the disputed Kemé language, spoken by people believed to possibly be the last cohesive elven ethnic group above the Underdark, all elvic languages are extinct - High Elven, believed to be the language of the original elves (although it was probably also spoken by humans who did not breed with the fey) is well-attested through writings, rhymes and song, and was spoken in corrupted, dialectal forms until about seven-hundred years ago. Modern surface elves are often referred to as Petty-Elves, because they are no longer easily distinguished from humans.

 Drow

There are only about 500,000 Drow in the entire world - their population was once much higher, but it was damaged by the Underdark's growth spurt. They are effectively elves who have not devolved due to the Underdark's magical influence. They have changed in other ways, however - they can see perfectly in the dark, and their skin has become paler, although they daub their bodies with black paint to disguise themselves and intimidate their foes.

 Dwarves

Dwarves generally stand at about four feet, and are extremely stocky. They are incapable of breeding with humans, and are genetically closer, in fact, to orcs. In Th'Twelve, the stereotypical image of a dwarf is a bearded, psychotic drunkard, but in truth this has spread only because of the local dwarf ethnic group, the Kelm tribe, famed for their ability to work themselves up into a ferocious rage, and for growing and dying their beards. Most surfacer dwarves are troglodytic - i.e. they live in caves - and these are referred to as 'shallow-dwarves' (as opposed to 'deep-dwarves', the Duergar). The Dwarves' traditional homeland is shared with the orcs - the Pemar mountains - but these were swallowed up in the Magestorm and the local groups were destroyed. Since roughly 3,000 years ago, the Dwarves have spread across the world, as well as down into the Underdark. They are generally found absorbed into other cultures, in the lower classes, although in th'Twelve, Ému, and to some extent amongst the Duergar, a distinctly dwarfish culture, language, and religion have been maintained.

 Tieflings

Tieflings are somewhat similar to elves in that they have been slowly decaying, although their rate of decay has been a lot slower than that of the elves. They, like elves, are the result of unions between humans and beings of magic. However, tieflings' ancestors include more fiendish beings - demonic, generally speaking. The traits that Tieflings tend to display, in slightly higher frequency than elves, are split-personality disorder, red eyes, claws, fangs, unhealthily flared nostrils, vestigial tails, horns, hair loss and unpleasant smells. One in every three-hundred has latent magical ability (as opposed to 1/1000 in humans and 1/500 in elves), and one in five hundred is Talented (as opposed to 1/10000 humans or elves). Unlike elves, they have never really formed cohesive ethnic groups or societies, and tend to be loners, or at the very least extremely controlling. They are believed to have originated in the same culture as the original elves, possibly as part of some kind of power-war between the two. They are less common than elves, and prejudice against proper tieflings, although present, is equally uncommon - not enough people know about their existence, and they take pains to hide it.

Talents

Talents are supernatural abilities - generally just one in an individual - which range from being as mundane as being able to breathe underwater or see in the dark to the ability to create energy with a gesture or move things with your mind. Common in tieflings and elves, less so in other creatures, they range from being effectively useless to being more powerful than any effect magic can produce. Traditionally, talent-users rose to high positions in society, however in recent years the conquest of the city of Bel Doon by the woman known as the Fire Queen, and her government's rapid collapse into anarchy, have caused anti-talent movements to arise in many of the other cities. Different talents have more control over their abilities than others, and those who lack control of dangerous abilities can often end up doing things they did not wish to do, and this often leads them to use of the dangerous drug Shem-Hadol (Shmado in the Common speech of th'Twelve).

[ic=The Fire Man]I look around me. It's happened again. The nightmares began. I was in a dark room, trapped. Suddenly, a bright light arose around me. When I woke up... the inn was in flames. Help me. Someone, help me.[/ic]

 Magic

Magic is effectively the manipulation of the world around via various different supernatural techniques. The world, to a magician, is no more than an immense tangled ball of string. The skill of sorcery involves knowing which string to pull, and being able to see the string in the first place. Most people who claim to be sorcerers are really just masters of sleight-of-hand, assisted perhaps by the occasional Artefact. True sorcerers tend to live in secrecy, devoting their time to their art. The only exception to this is Bimeq, City of Wizards (supposedly, anyhow) where the largest magical school (in fact, the only magical school) in the surface world can be found. In the Underdark, magic is unpredictable and does not necessarily work - different rules govern the world down there.

Carrion Crawlers

'Carrion Crawler', although common, is considered an offensive slur by many upper-class humans in the richer, more educated cities, who prefer the term 'Shkik', which is about as close as the human tongue can get to their own vocalisation. True, they do crawl, and they do eat carrion, but is that any way to define them? Of course, due to their own bigoted views, they'll never go near one, so it probably doesn't really matter. They are a relatively new species to the surface - fifty years before the Magestorm, a Spawning Queen was mistakenly trapped in a warehouse in the Undercity of th'Twelve. Since the birthing process of the Shkik effectively involves the mother lining her exoskeleton with about ten-thousand eggs (roughly half of which will hatch) and then dying when they hatch to provide their first meal, there are now many, many carrion crawlers on the surface. Many misapprehensions about Carrion Crawlers exist - firstly, that they have gender (they don't, all are asexual unless they develop into a spawning queen, which only happens if there is an extreme abundance of food, at which point others nearby will develop into males on a hormonal signal), secondly, that they can only reproduce in a swarm (untrue, normal crawlers can reproduce asexually, but only produce two or three children) and thirdly, that they are unintelligent (in fact, most carrion crawlers are more intelligent than the average human). They do prefer dead and dying flesh, but can hunt just as easily, and often do. Today, Carrion Crawlers are most common in th'Twelve, but can be found in most major cities, often as part of criminal gangs. They are capable of speaking other species' languages, although clicks and gargles often intersperse their speech, and some of them can even write - their tentacles, which come complete with suckers, are as finely controlled as a human hand.

 Gnolls

Gnolls are, effectively, canines who stand on two legs. There are no longer any wild gnolls, although they were reportedly far more savage than the 'domesticated', city-trained kind. They breed extremely rapidly, and have taken up roles in many places in society in almost all of the cities - indeed, in Pal-Pat they make up a full quarter of the population, serving as soldiers, skilled craftsmen, guards, thieves, assassins and manual workers. Gnolls tend to stick together in specific areas of cities, and this has been compared to the pack mentality of other canine animals. Both males and females have fertile seasons and infertile seasons. Whilst most gnolls can understand other species' languages, many find them difficult to speak due to the shape of their mouths, and prefer gestures and short words.

The Common Tongue

Although Twelver Common is arguably a separate language from Hamand Common, the two are mutually comprehensible to a large degree - Twelver has retained more archaic features and developed some new ones, as well as taken on an immense amount of new vocabulary, but is otherwise quite similar to other forms of common. It is also the most-spoken variant, with its grammatical features at the very least being uniform to the entire city, including the upper classes.

 Origins of Common

The Common language descends from a tongue distantly related to those of the elvic family, although it is believed to be part of a greater, pan-familial family as opposed to an elvic language in itself. This language is referred to as Kamasc, after the people who spoke it, although they referred to it as Thé Kamaz Tunka. The Kamascs were the first great human culture, and spread their language through conquest and settlement across a vast area. They focused along rivers and at fertile points, because their society was a mainly agricultural one, and founded the settlements that make up th'Twelve and Hamand, as well as the original village from which Bel Doon rose (although Bel Doon was later conquered by speakers of elvic languages). Because of this area's fertility and its positioning on the great rivers, it attracted wave after wave of immigration and conquest, and this, along with the languages of the already-present indigenous populations of dwarves, orcs, gnolls, and other beings, have caused Common's grammatical system to shift to being far more analytic, and it has gained many new words. Because of its position as a trade language, it came to be referred to as 'Common' by outsiders and later by the speakers themselves, although some still call it the less common traditional self-designation of Hammish or the archaic Kammish.

 Differences between dialects and English

To we speakers of English, Hamand Common would be  intelligible - it is almost identical to modern English, apart from a strong accent and some different idioms and slang. Spoken Twelver Common, however, is a different matter altogether, and in some matters is closer to German or Dutch than English.

[spoiler=Spelling]Hamand has a relatively new written standard, updated by the Hammish Tung's Skool (School of the Hammish Tongue), the orthography of which has been patched into the now-ancient Twelver orthography. The two are quite similar, but differ in certain respects - the Twelver version retains several runic letters from the elfic alphabet originally used to write it. The language is written much more phonetically than English in both cases, although there are some irregularities, particularly in the Twelver system where pronunciation has changed or remnants of old spelling systems have retained in use.

Vowels

Twelver System:

a - as in hat
ae - as in hate
e - as in bet (and also in her and their, no difference written)
ee - as in beat
ei - as in their
i - as in sit (and also as in site, no difference written)
o - as in rot (and also in or, ow and rote, no difference written)
oo - as in root
ψ - as in rote
ζ - as in ow
u - as in put (and also in hoot, no difference written)

Hamand system

a - as in hat
ai - as in hate
e - as in bet
ee - as in beat
ë - as in her
ê - as in air
i - as in sit
ï - as in site
o - as in rot
oo - as in root
ö - as in rote
ô - as in ow
u - as in put
û - as in or

Consonants

Twelver system

b - as in bet
k - as in cat
x - as in chocolate and hex
d - as in dire
f - as in flag
g - as in gear
h - as in hag
ξ - as in jaguar
φ - as in pleasure
l - as in long
m - as in male
n - as in nail
p - as in pin
q - as in quote
r - as in rat
Å¿/s - as in sing or zoo
hſ/hs - as in ship
t - as in tongs
th - as in that or thin
v - as in violence
w - as in wood
y - as in young
z - as in zoo

Hamand system

b - as in bet
k - as in cat
kh - as in chocolate
d - as in dire
f - as in flag
g - as in gear
h - as in hag
j - as in jaguar
jj - as in pleasure
l - as in long
m - as in male
n - as in nail
p - as in pin
q - as in quote
r - as in rat
Å¿/s - as in sing or zoo
sh - as in ship
t - as in tongs
th - as in thin
Å£h - as in that

v - as in violence
w - as in wood
x - as in hex
y - as in young
z - as in zoo

 [/spoiler]

[spoiler=Nouns]

 Pluralisation

Like modern English, Hamand Common pluralises with an -s - even to the point where the plural of man is 'mans'. Twelver Common has three different ways of forming plural:

 -Å¿: as English, examples being 'dog(Å¿)', 'tung(Å¿)', and 'cat(Å¿)'

 -en: similar to 'children' - examples being 'danÅ¿(en)', 'iy(en)', and 'finger (fingren)'

 -er: no equivalent in English - examples being 'fihÅ¿(er)', 'Å¿kin(ner)', and 'hand(er)'


Case and articles

Twelver Common retains an active, though slowly decaying, two-case system in its articles - nominative and accusative. Nouns are completely uninflected for case. The articles the/thet (the), an/anst (a and some when used with plural), the demonstratives thiſ/thiſt, theeſ/theſt, that/that and thoſ/thoſt, and the number un/uner are the only inflecting objects that show this. It is considered best practice to mark everything with an article to show its definiteness or indefiniteness, including names: the Anna, the Tom, the Godsdee and so on. Whilst referring to months and days with the article is common in both Hamand and Twelver, the practice of doing so with names is fading, particularly in Hamand.

[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Pronouns]

Pronouns

Both forms of modern Common retain a second-person plural and singular distinction (du/you), and Twelver Common possesses an extremely rich set of respectful and gender-distinguishing pronouns of all persons, many of which are loanwords:

 [table=Hamand Pronouns][tr][th]Person[/th][th]Nom.[/th][th]Acc.[/th][th]Gen.[/th][th]Poss.[/th][/tr]
[tr][td]1st sing. [/td][td]I[/td][td]Mee[/td][td]Mï[/td][td]Mïn[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]2nd sing. [/td][td]Doo[/td][td]Dee[/td][td]Dï[/td][td]Dïn[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]3rd sing. fem. [/td][td]Shee[/td][td]Hër[/td][td]Hër[/td][td]Hërſ[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]3rd sing. masc. [/td][td]Hee[/td][td]Hiſ[/td][td]Hiſ[/td][td]Hiſ[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]3rd sing. neut. [/td][td]It[/td][td]It[/td][td]Itſ[/td][td]Its[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]1st plu. [/td][td]We[/td][td]UÅ¿[/td][td]Ã"r[/td][td]Ã"rÅ¿[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]2nd plu. [/td][td]You[/td][td]Yee[/td][td]Yor[/td][td]Yorſ[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]2nd pol.[/td][td]Une[/td][td]Une[/td][td]Uneſ[/td][td]Uneſ[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]3rd plu. [/td][td]Ţhay[/td][td]Ţhem[/td][td]Ţhêr[/td][td]Ţhêrſ[/td][/tr]
[/table]

 [table=Twelver Pronouns][tr][th]Person[/th][th]Nom.[/th][th]Acc.[/th][th]Gen.[/th][th]Poss.[/th][/tr]
[tr][td]1st sing. [/td][td]I[/td][td]Me[/td][td]My[/td][td]Mine[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]2nd sing. fem. [/td][td]Thu[/td][td]Thee[/td][td]Thy[/td][td]Thin[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]2nd sing. masc. [/td][td]Du[/td][td]De[/td][td]Dy[/td][td]Din[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]3rd sing. fem. [/td][td]Hſe[/td][td]Her[/td][td]Her[/td][td]Herſ[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]3rd sing. masc. [/td][td]He[/td][td]Him[/td][td]His[/td][td]Hiſ[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]3rd sing. neut. [/td][td]It[/td][td]It[/td][td]Its[/td][td]Its[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]1st plu. [/td][td]We[/td][td]Uſ[/td][td]Our[/td][td]Ourſ[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]2nd plu. [/td][td]You[/td][td]Ye[/td][td]Your[/td][td]Yourſ[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]2nd pol.[/td][td]One[/td][td]Oner[/td][td]Oneſ[/td][td]Oneſ[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]2nd form.[/td][td]Neſ[/td][td]Neſt[/td][td]Neſeſ[/td][td]Neſeſ[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]3rd plu. [/td][td]They[/td][td]Them[/td][td]Their[/td][td]Theirſ[/td][/tr]
[/table]

The 2nd person polite, with 'one', is used in polite conversation to describe the other person and inflects verbs in the third person. The 2nd person formal is an elvic loanword, derived from the title 'Néza, meaning 'Lord' or 'Lady'.

[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Verbs]Verbs

The verb inflects in Hamand Common much as it does in our own English - in the present tense, -s in the third person singular and not elsewhere, -ed for the past preterite, use of the past preterite (generally) for past participle, and a present participle ending in -ing (among a few others). The only difference is a second-person singular inflection in a few irregular verbs: du it (you are), du walkt (you walk), du makt (you make), du havt (you have). In Twelver Common, this inflection is much further-spread (to all verbs not already ending in -t), and also applies to thu:

Du/thu walkt - You walk
Du/thu makt - You make
Du/thu Å¿ingt - You sing
Du/thu lookt - You look

There is also a plural second person inflection ending in -st which is slowly dying out:

You walkſt - You walk
You makſt - You make
You ſingſt - You sing
You lookst - You look

Past Participle

Hamand Common has almost completely lost the independent past participle, so that 'I'v sû' (I've saw) is far more common than 'I'v seen'. Twelver Common has actually done the opposite - creating new past participles from loanwords with -en and retaining old usage:

I get, I got, I'v gotten
I hav, I had, I'v hadden
I Å¿pit, I Å¿pat, I'v Å¿patten
I dans, I dansd, I'v dansen

Creating new participles in speech based on old vowel changes is also common:

I hang, I hanged, I'v hung
I klang, I klanged, I'v klung
I run, I ran, I'v run
I hum, I ham, I'v hum(men)

 Voices

Like English, Hamand Common possesses only two voices, the active (I eet) and passive (I am eeten). Twelver Common, however, developed a middle voice out of the old Causative mood under the influence of Elvic languages. The specific middle voice form appears in a number of verbs, mostly those that sound similar to 'ris' (rise), and the few other causative verbs that retained a form. It is used in sentences like 'the cake is cooking in the oven', which appears active but is actually passive (the cake is the one being cooked). It is also used in its actual causative sense, and reflexively. It is formed using the middle 'participle' (usually identical to the infinitive + maek, though some have their own forms):

He raiſeſ thet fihſer from the laek - He raises the fish from the lake (makes the fish rise)

The caek cukmaeks in thet uvven - The cake cooks in the oven.

He danſmaekſ anſt xildren - He makes some children dance

He maeſ ol thet xildren! - He makes all the children whine (mise - to whine)

Questions

Questions in both Twelver and Hamand are almost always formed by inversion (more commonly than modern English) or by rising at the end of the sentence:

Du havt - You have
Havt du? - Do you have?

Woked du thet market (Twelver)?/Wûked du to Ţhe market (Hamand)? - Did you walk to the market?

Verbs with prepositions attached

Many verbs in English come attached to a preposition, creating a separate meaning from the original verb itself or attaching it to its object. For example, 'go to' and 'talk to' both use 'to' to give the verb an object, whilst 'throw out' uses 'out' to show the direction of motion and 'knock over' means something different to merely 'knock'. All of the former category, using 'to' to attach an object, are treated identically in Hamand, but in Twelver, they tend to be replaced by an accusative noun:

I wennt to Ţhe fêr (Hamand). - I went thet feir (Twelver).

The second category, which show direction of movement using a preposition, tend to prefix the preposition in both Hamand and Twelver in the infinitive:

I'm going to ôtthrö thiſ rubish (Hamand) - I'm going otthrψ thiſt rubbihſ (Twelver) - I'm going to throw this rubbish out.

However, when the verb is inflected, the prefix moves to the end of the phrase, as in English:

I'm thröing thiſ rubish ôt (Hamand) - I'm thrψing thiſt rubbihſ ot (Twelver)


Negative

All verbs in both Hamand and Twelver are negativised by 'not' (sometimes contracted to nt as English) directly afterwards:

I hav not (Hamand/Twelver): I don't have

I eetnt the food - I eetnt thet food

Future Tense

Finally, both Twelver has a synthetic future tense, formed by suffixing -gψ or sometimes -ψ (depending on the sounds before it), which replaces the 'will' tense in Twelver:

I wil thrö the rubish ôt (Hamand) - I thrψgψ thet rubbihſ ot (Twelver): I will throw the rubbish out

[/spoiler]

Bel Doon

Bel Doon is an old and culturally mixed city, with origins in Kamasc settlers who arrived here hundreds of years ago. For many years it was the jewel of the cities, becoming rich from the fertile land of the surrounding river delta, but because of its extremely agricultural economy, it suffered heavily from the Magestorm. Since then, it has been plagued with bad luck and incompetent rulership.

 History

[spoiler=Kamasc Era]Bel Doon began as a fortress founded by Kamasc settlers who had sailed down the river Doon (which they called the 'Dell') from modern-day City Twelve. For about seventy years, it grew steadily as part of the Kamasc Kingdom of the Rose, ruled from Kamaand (modern Hamand). By BM503 it had grown enough to be considered a large town by contemporary standards, the third-largest settlement in the Kingdom, and its ruler, Lord Tomaas, was ordered by the King to begin construction on the Kingsroad, a paved improvement on the trails connecting Kamaand and Dún Dell (the Kamasc name for Bel Doon). However, this road was not destined to be completed for several hundred more years - in neighbouring Emwa Swa, the Elvic-speaking tribes had a new leader. This elf, Benb Bá Sémwa, united all of the tribes under his rule using magical power that was rare even for an elf. With a powerful and successful new nation under his grip, he decided to begin a campaign of conquest of surrounding lands. His first target, in this case, was the Elfic-christened River Doon's delta. [/spoiler]

[spoiler=Imperial Era]Bá Sémwa could not be stopped. His armies fell on Dún Dell during the night, with almost no warning - the outer stockade's gates were not even shut. The outer town was taken with little resistance before most people even awoke. The fortress took slightly longer to penetrate - at this point it was still built of wood and commanded a formidable position on the island in the middle of the river. However, it was badly supplied and fell to siege after only three weeks. Bá Sémwa left a sizable garrison and marched west, rapidly conquering Kamaand and bringing to an end the Kingdom of the Rose by executing all royal family members within the city. The King's vizier later attempted to reinstate the Kingdom, but failed. For a hundred years, Bel Doon (unlike outlying Kamaand, which became more of a subject kingdom) was directly ruled by the elvic Elelhiláwás Sémwa, or Empire of Emwa, and suffered much elvic immigration. The local dialect of Kamasc spoken there was heavily influenced and partly replaced by Eme, the language of Émwa, and the city was renamed Behal Doona, which means 'House on the Doon'. [/spoiler]

[spoiler=Elfic Era]However, in BM 421, Bá Sémwa died, a victim of assassination. In the ensuing chaos, the Empire fell apart, and Behal Doona became totally independent once more. By this time its population was almost 3/4 Eme ethnicity - which is distinct from 3/4 elves, because a large portion of the Eme were not truly elves - and was almost six times the population that it had been before conquered by Emwa. It was no longer a weak target, and after a brief struggle, an Eme noble named Yeyewu Bá Sbéhal Doona became the first elfic lord of Behal Doona. The Elfic era lasted almost three-hundred years, intermittently - several conquests by foreign peoples, including the Kelm uprisings, when nomadic Kelm dwarves attempted and succeeded (for three short periods) to seize control of the government (eventually they were forced to settle and become agricultural labourers after the Elfic lord of the time, Yamda Bá Sbéhal Doona, instituted a massacre of their male population). Much immigration occurred and was welcome - Behal Doona needed a large population to contend with other city-states nearby, such as Hamand.[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Republican Era]By BM 256, the elfic population had interbred with other peoples so much that a hybrid culture had been created in the Emesc race, which spoke the Emesc language of the commoners (a very distant relative of Common with much Elfic influence), and the recognisably elfic peoples had split into two main groups - the Ky Éme, generally lower-class elves, and the Bam Sémwa, who were the nobles and generally considered themselves purer. There were several other ethnic groups present - Kelmite dwarves, a sizable amount of Kamasc humans, various small groups of orcs, gnolls and goblins, and a reasonably sized hobgoblin population, each with their own language, customs, and opinions on government. The Bam Sémwa needed money, and due to inbreeding and political assassination were rapidly decaying. In BM 255-252, their excessive taxation policies caused riots, and at the end of BM 252, they caused a full-scale mass uprising. The fortress - by this time stone - was stormed, and despite immense losses, was taken. The Bam Sémwa, synonymous with the aristocracy, were slaughtered en masse, and the winners declared their city a republic, a system of government already semi-common in certain other cities. The new Governor - a carefully chosen Kamasc human named Buman - declared the freedom and equality of all peoples within the city, in an attempt to bring the commoners together. This was to set the tone - theoretically at least - for another four-hundred years of Republic governance, which lasted through the Magestorm (where it suffered immensely due to its agricultural economy) until AM 70, when the Fire Queen appeared.[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Anarchical Era]In AM 70, a woman entered Bel Doon dressed slightly exotically, as a commoner from the desert lands beyond Emwa. Her name is still unknown - she never gave it to anyone. She made her way to the main square of Bel Doon, on the Western side of the river, by the bridge to the Governor's Palace, referred to as the 'Doon' (the fortress). She said very little, but made her way up towards the bridge. Guards attempted to stop her, but she was too quick for them to accost her before she reached the gate of the Barbican, the guard tower on the city end of the bridge. She touched it, and it was instantly vapourised - as were the guards attempting to hold her. She made her way along the bridge, spraying streams of flame at arrow-slits and killing those attempting to aim down them. She made her way through the palace, destroying whole rooms as she killed off the entire government. They couldn't escape - almost her first act was to fuse the two great gates shut. A few managed to leave through secret passages, and many threw themselves into the river in the hopes that they would be saved. By nightfall, she had opened the Council Hall to the sky with her terrifying power, reopened the gates, and declared herself the ruler of the City. She was the Fire Queen, the strongest talent in the history of the world, and for a short while, the people cheered her, declaring that she had downed a corrupt government. The cheers, however, did not last long - when the head of the guard and other civic leaders attempted to present themselves to her, she killed them. The only ones she would permit in her presence were others who were Talented - and those she collected around them like some kind of court. As the city fell apart around her, with riots and crime rising, she did nothing other than defend her fortress. Her purpose there is not really known - but Bel Doon is falling apart. Since her arrival, she is said to have aged horribly, and always appears to be in great pain. Another Talent, Palaan, acts as her unofficial vizier and does as much as he dares or can to keep the city under control, and only his efforts have stopped it from descending into total anarchy. However, other Talented members of the Queen's court often attempt to compete with him for power in the city - making his job not only difficult, but dangerous. [/spoiler]

Population and Demographics

The modern registered citizenry of Bel Doon is about 200,000, although many of these no longer reside there because they have fled the city. About half of these people are of mixed Kamasc and Eme stock, the remaining minorities (in order of population) are the Kemé, of whom there are about 50,000, hobgoblins, orcs, Kelm dwarves, Hamasc humans, gnolls, goblins and other races.

 Technology

The Fire Queen is said to collect old artifacts, and brought many with her which are now hidden in the castle. Whether this is true or not is unknown - there was certainly a reasonably sized cache of artifacts within the castle anyway, and indeed, although they no longer work, the two main squares off the Doon's bridges and the roads that lead from them to the outer gates - Doon square and Kamand Road on the West bank of the river and Castlemarket and Buman's road on the East bank of the river - contain many suspended, self-lighting lights which were connected to one another and to an immense machine within the castle by protected wire. This immense machine was found buried in the swamps nearby within a large ruin, and was brought to the castle on rollers and placed in a specially-enlarged cave. This machine is said to produce energy from almost nothing at all, although modern knowledge of how to use it is extremely vague.

 Languages

There are a number of major languages in Bel Doon, spoken by its larger minorities. Emesc is a Kamasc language, very distantly related to Common, but with so many Elfic features that which family it belongs to is not at all certain - its speakers seem more like bilinguals than anything. Kyemeb, the Kelm dwarfic language, is by a slight number the minority language with the most speakers, followed by Doon River Goblin and Kemé, the last truly-living Elfic language above ground. Hamand Common - spoken by a small amount of immigrants - is spoken with a distinct accent, as are various orcish languages. All languages are theoretically equal, and the government did possess translators and speakers of every language, even though it was almost always made up entirely by Emesc speakers.

Religion

There are hundreds of recognised deities in Na Bantu - the Elvic and Kamasc pantheons holding the greatest sway, simply because of the vast influence that human peoples have had on other species. Many other ethnic groups have their own traditional religions, the most important being the rapidly advancing Bu Látan Der monotheistic movement. The official religion of the Drow Empire is another form of monotheism, Lolthism, which has mostly replaced the old Drow Pantheon, although the Duergar indigenous religion has once more been gaining sway underground. Whether the gods are real or not is pretty much decided towards the former - there is plenty of material proof - and so the question is more whether the gods are what we believe them to be. In actual fact - although nobody alive knows this - they are renegade, adapting computer programs, capable of manipulating the mechanical world that is Na Bantu.

 Elvic Pantheon

The Elvic Pantheon has remained mostly constant throughout its life, and has many parallels to the old Drow Pantheon - the Gods were, after all, originally the same, and it is a matter of much debate as to whether they are STILL the same deity. Their names are given here in High Elven, although that language is long dead, because it is still used as a liturgical language by many of the sizable number of churches that preach this pantheon.

Córelon Lá Rétin (commonly mispronounced in Common 'Corellon', translation 'Corellon the Great Light') is the head deity of the pantheon. He is a god of crafts, magic, innovation, and civilisation, and is married to Árdri Fán Yá. His parallel in the Drow pantheon is Veraun, a much reduced equivalent who also covers traditionally male occupations and is subservient to Loth or Lolth, the head goddess.

Árdri Lá sFán sYá (commonly referred to in Common as 'Aerdrie', translation 'Mother the Great Womb of All') is Corellon's wife, a goddess of fertility, pregnancy and wildlife. She is almost as venerated as Corellon, and her equal in the Drow pantheon is Loth or Lolth, the head goddess.

Sefar Ásh (sometimes Sefarash or Sevarash, translation 'Unending Duty') is the son of Corellon and Aerdrie, and is also referred to as Á Séfar, 'Son of Duty' or idiomatically 'firstborn son', who was usually expected to become a warrior, either in a raiding duty or as part of an army. He is the firstborn son, and is the patron of war, fatherhood, and soldiers, particularly nobles and generals. His equivalent in the Drow pantheon is Veraun, who also takes on the role of Corellon in being an advocate of masculinity and civilisation.

Á Lóbal (commonly referred to in Common as 'Lobal' or 'Alobal', translation 'Son of Joy', or idiomatically 'secondborn', traditionally in High Elf society the son who was free to do what he wished with none of the responsibility of the firstborn) is a god of hedonism, plays, dancing, alcohol, drugs and amusement. Even in societies who do not worship the elven pantheon, gods derived from him or prayers to him can be found, committed to him by revellers. In fact, he is included in the Keresc under the name 'Olbal' almost without change. His equivalent in the Drow pantheon is El Istraéz or Elistraé (other spellings include 'Alistrae' and 'Alistraée'), whose name means, literally, 'daughter of pleasure', with a similar idiomatic meaning. He is the son of Aerdrie and Corellon, and brother of Solondor.

Solon Dor (sometimes 'Solondor' in Common, translation 'Happy Hunt') is the god of hunting and the wilderness, and arguably of archery, even in warfare - a tradition that stems from the taking of hunters, Solondor's traditional followers, as archer levies during wartime. He is also known as Á Sólon, or 'son of the hunt' (idiomatically 'the third son', due to the third son's traditional role in the elfic family). His contemporary in the Drow pantheon is Zoln Délandz Dir, a son of Loth, whose name means Hunt of Great Beasts, and whose importance is arguably greater than Solondor's. Solondor is depicted as the third son of the family, whose role is to support the family as a unit by bringing in food, and for this reason he is also seen as a deity of breadwinning in general.

Alb Rin (sometimes 'Albrin', 'Alberin', translation 'Beautiful Face'), also known as Sá sBáhan (daughter of money), is the firstborn daughter of the family. She would traditionally be the moneykeeper, trader, and the woman who made deals, a role for which her mother would prepare her. For this task, women were ideally expected to have a beautiful face and a persuasive voice, and be willing to use femininity to weaken a prospective buyer. For this reason she is the goddess of not only trade and money, but of beauty, young women, femininity and attractiveness. Her equivalents in the Drow pantheon are Elistraé, the goddess of revelry, and El Viranz, the goddess of money, trade and social occasions.

Efe Rin (sometimes 'Everin', 'Averin', translation 'Beautiful Garden'), also known as Sá Sá sÉfe (daughter of the garden), is the secondborn daughter of the family. Her traditional role is that of garden-keeper and, in larger families, to look after the food and agricultural side of the family. She brings the ingredients, but does not cook them. She is patron of farming, rivers, and agriculture, and also of fertility. She has no equivalent in the Drow pantheon, since their society has no real concept of agriculture.

Sá sÉlas (sometimes 'Sashelas', 'Saselas') is an enigmatic deity of the sea. Female, and considered to be the youngest daughter, she was probably adopted into the pantheon after the elvic peoples first saw the sea, and for this reason she has no equivalent for the Drow, whose seas are generally small subterranean lakes. Her name translates as 'Daughter of the Unknown' or, alternatively, 'Foreign Daughter' (a link which suggests that she is not of elvic origin). She is the goddess of the sea and everything to do with it - fishing, storms and floods. Her role, however, does not extend to rivers, or trading - the domains of her sisters, Alb Rin and Efe Rin.

Lá Bél Yas (sometimes 'Labelas', 'Lábelas', 'Lablas', translation 'The Great End of All') is the uncle of the family. He is an odd figure, depicted at times as a loving guardian of intelligent species, gifting them with knowledge of writing and language, and sometimes as a jealous tormentor, tricking great heroes and striking harsh bargains, abusing his power over the dead. He is believed to have once had an affair with Aerdrie whilst posing as Corellon, and is often depicted as being a jealous figure on the sidelines in pictures of the holy family. He is the god of death, time, knowledge, history, endings, judgement and great events. He is often depicted as a skeletal elfish figure dressed in a long robe, an image of death which, thanks to the religion's influence, is widespread. He takes souls to the afterlife, judging them on the way. Offerings are given to him to attempt to sway him on beloved relatives, and coins are placed in the mouth of a corpse before it is cremated to attempt to bribe him. His equivalent in the Drow pantheon is Kiar An Saliiz, translated as 'Kiar the Son of Death', who is often argued by theologians to be HIS son by Aerdrie, due to the name, who caters only for Drow. His voice - the only one that can be agreed upon - is said to sound like the speech of a thousand dead souls (although exactly what that sounds like is not really certain).

 Temples and Religious Rites

There are no specific priests of specific gods - all priests cater to all the gods, although some shrines are dedicated specifically to a particular member of the holy family, particularly Labelas, who has many mortuaries which double as shrines to him. Most temples of any significant size are dedicated to the entire family, and have small shrines dedicated to each within their walls where you may pray to a specific deity. These temples are not organised into any kind of main body larger than a city, although many cities have organised bodies, such as the Circle of the Family in th'Twelve, which are generally led by high priests. Temples in smaller villages may have internally-elected or hereditary priestly titles, since priestly celibacy is not even a suggested idea, never mind compulsory. All of the gods have specific feast days, some of which have fasts leading up to them, and these feastdays are generally celebrated quite lavishly.

Doctrine is dictated, generally speaking, by priests - the codified Laws of Sashelas were possibly the first legal code in the world, and are still used - with local amendments - in modern times. The laws are not followed by all adherents of the Elvic religion, and even practising members often ignore parts of it (particularly those parts to do with non-believers, which are quite violent). The religion has very few saints, and of those, only twenty-three are recognised by all of the Cities - most saints have been added locally, but not internationally.

Though priests rarely have divine powers or magical ability, miracles do happen on an infrequent basis. Invoking the name of Efarin or Aeldrie during healing sessions has on several documented occasions produced miraculous results, and all of the gods have appeared in some form or another in the past three-hundred years - although appearances since the Magestorm have been far less frequent. Of these, only Labelas spoke - and he, in judgement of a dangerous criminal, a Kelmite serial killer who had murdered as many as eighty people. The proof was not there. However, Labelas' appearance, and subsequent words, condemned the murderer.