The World of Ralum

Polycarp · March 10, 2006, 04:34:49 AM

The World of Ralum

New: I've added blurbs on Aya, Asir Embadra, and Siyan recently, but you should really check out the whole new deal on Cosmology, Scions, transitive magic, Axiomites, Death and Renewal, and other wierd stuff.

Welcome! I've set up a table of contents for easier access. Most text is in spoiler tags anyway, but this should be even more conducive to reading, now that there is actually enough to categorize. There are other bits and pieces not listed here, so to be comprehensive you can just start reading from this post.

Cosmology, Planes, Powers, and Death in Ralum

Realms and Distant Lands
The Inner Realm
The Muarghid Empire
The Tizi Ceidusa of the Endless Isles
The Dominion of Niirda
The Northlands
The Marak'r of the Sarfeir
The Realms of the Deathless Masters

Thusmarej of the Heartlands
Gadiran, Land of Storms
Narsura, Land of the Two Crowns
Parzasa, Land of Mists
Siyan, Land of the Southern Shore
Aya, Land of Embadra's Heart
Marmeira, Land of Thundering Hooves
Alesira, Land of the Verdant Sky
Asir Embadra, The High Haven
Kaytium, The Ascendant Land
Marya, Land of Sails
Bashaura, Land of the Wanderers
Ocana, Land of the Black Veil
Oud Miran, Land of Incense
Inar Daka, The Bridge of Two Empires
Kioshaa, Land of Springs
Pharesaa, The Golden Land

Maps
A Rough Map of Jadanar

Cities and Locales
Aicaioun, City of Lances

People and Organizations
The Sheinspeakers

Other Pieces of Ralum
The Dream Rending
The Proving

Ã¢,¬Å"O Lord of Grey, what is the right you hold?
What standard carry you to our maker?Ã¢,¬Â
Ã¢,¬Å"The changing patterns of the mind yield little,
Save one solid stone, beneath the glare
On which a universal line is written thus
And to this all your kin unwittingly adhere:
The only justice is that of the spear-arm
My standard shall be nought but My Will.Ã¢,¬Â
- The Niiraunshein, Inquiries, lines 123-130

The World of Ralum is quite unlike any medieval fantasy world Ã¢,¬' predominantly because it is not medieval. The mortals of Ralum exist in what we moderns would call the Late Bronze Age, with some major adjustments. In Ralum, brutal and absolute warrior-kings rule over a world largely ignorant of its past Ã¢,¬' a past that, only recently, has begun to reassert its ancient dominance over the mortals that dwell upon Ralum. The iconic picture of the knight on horseback, heroically charging a dragon, is replaced with the skilled charioteer Ã¢,¬' for horses of Ralum, like the ancient horses of Earth, are not sufficiently strong or large to carry an armed warrior. Weapons and armor are more primitive in terms of materials, but not in craftsmanship, and in a political environment where oneÃ¢,¬,,¢s worthiness to rule depends on the power of the chariot and spear, this means everything. Magic itself is a new development for the young races, once held only by the Progenitors and their chosen.

The World of Ralum isnÃ¢,¬,,¢t clearly understood by the vast majority of mortals Ã¢,¬' most anyone can tell you that the world is an enormous flat disk, but few know that there is another side to the disk, a whole other world in which history after the Manifest Ruin turned out quite differently. Still fewer know that between these worlds is a space even larger than both combined, within the disk Ã¢,¬' the cavernous, maddening reaches of the Inner Realm. There are many beings that mortals know nothing about who know very much indeed about mortals Ã¢,¬' but ignorance will not save the mortal races. Only knowledge can do that, and in Ralum, knowledge is the most important commodity of all.

The relationship between Gods and Magic is probably the biggest change from the normal in Ralum, mostly because there are no deities in a Ã¢,¬Å"FaerunianÃ¢,¬Â sense. Deities Ã¢,¬' or, more properly, Scions Ã¢,¬' arenÃ¢,¬,,¢t really deities at all, but beings so ancient and pure of spirit that they are nearly godlike in their ability and power. They grant spells only to a select few who they choose to be their agents. The Scions of Ralum, however, have no portfolios and no domains Ã¢,¬' they grant only access to Arcane spells to Sorcerers, who end up being the most Ã¢,¬Å"priest-likeÃ¢,¬Â class in terms of behavior. Arcanists are another type altogether, a kind of Ã¢,¬Å"proto-wizard,Ã¢,¬Â that cast arcane spells with more emphasis on ritual, rune magic, and magical materials. The divine spells spring either from the Nymph Goddesses, demi-godlike creatures of unknown origins, or from oneself Ã¢,¬' instead of a magic-wielding cleric, there is the Philosopher, who can even raise people from the dead with the power of his great enlightenment and steadfast soul. Bards have become Poets (bards not really being appropriate for a Bronze Age setting), and a new half-caster class is introduced in the form of the Redbinder, which is something like a cross between a barbarian and a sorcerer.

Because I think that every campaign world should have an overarching conflict of some kind to keep things in perspective, there are several greater interests that are all involved in the fate of the world. The Scions, first creations of the None, all scheme for their own ends, like children plotting to snatch up their fatherÃ¢,¬,,¢s inheritance Ã¢,¬' except the dread Niiraun, Lord of the Shadan, who banished his fellow Shade Scions (known as the Ven, the Forgotten Lords) into obscurity and now plots to take command of creation himself. Within the Inner Realm, an apparently mortal being known only as the Prince of Stars has united much of that gloomy world under his command, and has even driven Scions before him Ã¢,¬' his motives and goals were unclear even to his closest confidants. Recently, however, he has vanished without a trace, leaving his vast realms in chaos. The Bharim, monstrous and clever, are just beginning to set their plans into motion Ã¢,¬' their appetite for revenge against the Shadan, who nearly obliterated their kind in the Spellwar, has only increased with the centuries. In the forgotten places of the world, the greatest threat to all creation gathers; the Archsouls, led by the greatest of the Scions, are twisted beings that have ripped their very essences away from reality. Their minds warped beyond reason or sanity, they are plotting ceaselessly to take revenge on their hated creator by destroying the creation Ã¢,¬' all of it. The mortal races of the world toil on in their efforts to rebuild a society from the ashes of the past, and the humans of Ralum are reeling from a great tidal wave that ruined the great and hallowed Grand Embadran Empire. And of course, above all this is the None, unseen and inscrutable, whose plans for its world have yet to be revealed to any.

-----------------------------

When I posted this, months ago on the WotC forums, I posted a great deal of material Ã¢,¬' various descriptions, essays, so on and so forth. I didnÃ¢,¬,,¢t get much of a reaction, however, probably because I overwhelmed any potential visitors with text. IÃ¢,¬,,¢ve got a pretty good idea of the framework Ralum Ã¢,¬' or at least the part IÃ¢,¬,,¢m focusing on now, the Ã¢,¬Å"great continentÃ¢,¬Â of Jadanar Ã¢,¬' but IÃ¢,¬,,¢m somewhat at a loss as to where to go next.

So, I suppose IÃ¢,¬,,¢ll entertain questions here, both general and specific. Or I might just post more. I guess we'll find out!

Kalos Mer · March 10, 2006, 11:25:41 AM

I know well what it's like to overwhelm visitors with text. :(

The quote with which you open the thing... is it an original composition? I assume so, based on the title. What is the scope and nature of this work?

On the whole, I like the set-up you have. The Bronze Age happens to be a favorite of mine. But of course, you knew that.

Raelifin · March 10, 2006, 12:20:00 PM

Okay, good start with breaking the mold. Can I ask about races?

EDIT: And always, a core ethos statement and list of themes gives a good place to start.

Soup Nazi · March 10, 2006, 12:58:00 PM

This is a fine introduction to an interesting sounding world. I love a good hook early on to draw you in. If your full text seemed overwhelming on the WotC boards I'm not too suprised. People usually comment much more on short little quips that they can read in a minute or too, but really long posts get almost ignored. Probably nothing you can do about that really.

Give us another few paragraphs. I'm sure I'm not alone in my desire to hear more. :D

Polycarp · March 10, 2006, 02:50:42 PM

Thanks for the encouragement! To answer your questions:

The quote is my writing. The Niiraunshein (lit. "Book of Niiraun" in Low Shadan) is the revealed text given to the Shadan by their lord and patron Scion, Niiraun, whom they worship as a god. The text was given to them in ancient times, inscribed upon three books made of pure silver; the books had been lost in a Bharim raid for hundreds of years until only two years before the Manifest Ruin, when they were recovered by the Dominion of Resheia. Unfortunately, the Dominion was utterly destroyed during the Ruin, and the original remains lost. The Niiraunshein lays out the will of Niiraun, in three sections: the Principles, the Inquiries, and the Prophecies. It is said that the original itself holds tremendous power, and the Sheinspeakers would give anything to lay their hands on their most sacred of works.

As it stands, there are 6 playable races, though this may change substantially:

- The Shadan, a progenitor race. They look much like humans, having made humans in their own image, but are a bit shorter and thinner, with ash-grey skin and deep red (almost black) eyes and blood. They are quite intelligent, and have limited telepathy.

- The Bharim, a progenitor race. They were once the same race as the Shadan, but were differentiated by their Scion lords, Ivreesha and Pagraha, and are now monstrous and fearsome creatures. They are individually powerful and diabolically clever, but recently they have been falling prey to a strange plague of insanity that seems to affect only them.

- Humans, a slave race. Humans are much like humans in D&D, though they have telepathic sensitivity of sorts, being attuned to the telepathy of their Shadan masters.

- Sarfeir, a slave race. Sarfeir, who appear much like gnolls (except dog-like, rather than hyena-like), were bred by the Shadan to only kill - but when they began to get out of hand, the Shadan betrayed them and nearly extermined them with their thrall human troops.

- Saulzarel, a slave race. The Saulzarel were made by the Bharim, and rebelled against them in a bloody war that triggered the Bharim's use of the Unspeakable and the onset of the Manifest Ruin. They appear somewhat like elves, but are hardy creatures, who for the most part live in the deep deserts of Jadanar.

- Halflings, a slave race. The halfings of Ralum are the third slave race made by the Shadan, and they are currently still thralls - the Shadan began breeding them after the Ruin to meet their needs for a labor supply. They are integrated quite totally into Shadan culture.

I'll have more to post later, right now I've got a flight to catch.

Numinous · March 10, 2006, 04:24:01 PM

I like what I see a lot, the Scions sound really cool as well. The whole unknown world thing rocks as well. a question though, this "inner realm", is it like the underdark? and how does gravity work on this great disk?

Kalos Mer · March 10, 2006, 04:34:44 PM

So wait - the original was lost, but I presume the whole text (or at least all but a few fragments) exist in plentiful copies, right?

Sorry for quibbling over flavor minutiae, but as a classical scholar you must understand I have a fascination for manuscript traditions. ;)

Numinous · March 10, 2006, 04:40:33 PM

So, do you actually have them written out completely? Or do you just make quotes from them as they are revealed?

Polycarp · March 12, 2006, 04:06:11 PM

As far as the Inner Realm, it's like the Underdark, though there aren't any "mirror races" like drow/elves, dwarves/duergar, and so on.Ã,Â For the most part, the two surfaces and the Inner Realm don't really know about each other.Ã,Â Most accesses to the Inner Realm are secret, or require long-lost passwords or rituals to open, and the IR is deep enough that there's really no way to access it by simply digging down.The IR has its own organization and politics - rarely do interests within it carry over into the surface world, or vice versa.Ã,Â The Prince of Stars may have been an exception, as he appeared to be a mortal human, and there are no human communities in the Inner Realm (nor more than a hundful of humans at all).Ã,Â Only the Bharim are active both on the surface and within the IR, mostly because Shadan dominance on the surface has forced them to keep their core communities hidden.

Gravity within the IR is objective towards the nearest surface.Ã,Â Gravity on the disk surface is straight down, typical of a "flat earth."Ã,Â There are no sides of the disk to speak of; the sea as it approaches the edge is lost in a great and constant tempest, making a journey from one side to the other via the sea apparently impossible.Ã,Â Because none have done it and returned to tell of it, what exactly the nature of gravity is there is unknown.Ã,Â Many philosophers theorize that the water churned up here takes to the sky and creates rain.

The Niiraunshein is lost, but the Shadan made copies as soon as they first recieved it.Ã,Â Because the very nature of their religion is the sacredness of secrecy, however, these copies are few and far between, certainly not something you can purchase.Ã,Â When the Sheinspeakers came to power, they siezed every copy and transcript they could find, and systematically burned or impounded every book that quoted the Niiraunshein that they could lay their hands on.Ã,Â Thus, the text is currently monopolized by them, and they are its interpreters to Shadan society, save for a few well known verses and lines that are well known by most Shadan.Ã,Â This was all part of the purge of Shadan society instigated by the Sheinspeakers, including the execution of Shadan who opposed their views or published parts of the sacred texts.Ã,Â It wasn't always this way; despite the secrecy of the tome, most Shadan communities had at least one communal copy that would be housed in their Archive, which is what the Shadan call their temples.Ã,Â Some now fear that the Sheinspeakers may even be peverting the intent and text of the work to suit their own ends, but they obviously cannot go too far with this if it is so - Niiraun is very much an active, real lord who would not suffer heretics.

I have some sizeable blocks of text from the Niiraunshein written, but writing the whole work or anything close to it would probably be far more trouble than its worth.Ã,Â I often make up quotes for my purposes, which is fine for me since I already have an idea of the philosophy behind the whole work.

Polycarp · March 12, 2006, 05:41:59 PM

Here's all the writing I've done on the IR so far.

The Inner Realm

The surface worlds, even combined together, are small indeed compared to the immense reaches of the Inner Realm, the space between worlds.Ã,Â The Inner Realm is a near-infinite world of caverns and tunnels, though not all are dark and cramped Ã¢,¬' there are caverns the size of nations, and many with their own source of light and heat.Ã,Â Within the depths of the Realm are many creatures unknown to the surface mortals, some good and some wicked, struggling for survival and domination under the watchful gaze of the Gloom Scions, the deities of the realms beneath the surface.Ã,Â Even they, however, must be cautious Ã¢,¬' the InnerÃ,Â Realm is the perfect place to hide, and the Archsouls know that as well as any mortal creature.

Geography and Climate

The Inner realm does not have distinct levels or regions, defined only by caves and cavern systems.Ã,Â Most are formed by random geologic processes, but many are also artificial, whether by centuries-long toil or powerful magic.Ã,Â As one approaches the center of the Realm, it becomes colder and colder, until one at last reaches the fabled Span of Stars, where it is said something great and fearsome resides Ã¢,¬' perhaps a great enemy of the None, or None itself.Ã,Â No mortal has ever returned (sane) from such a journey, and any greater beings that have gazed upon the fabled Span are not speaking of it.

Traveling to and from the Realm is not actually difficult, but the entrances and exits are hard to find; the vast majority of caves and tunnels do not connect to the deep reaches of the world.Ã,Â Once a connection is found, however (usually with the help of a guide), if it is not sealed by some magic or ritual lock, entering the realm is as easy as walking there.Ã,Â Mortal explorers, however, often find that survival within the Inner Realm is an entirely different matter.

The Inner Realm is physically composed of what you would expect a tunnel system to be Ã¢,¬' rock.Ã,Â Large veins of rarer minerals exist, some large enough to contain entire cities.Ã,Â Towards the center, some tunnels are burrowed into massive nodes of ice embedded in the rock.Ã,Â The size of these nodes can only be guessed at, but some appear to be quite expansive.Ã,Â The fluctuation of the seasons, which is present to an extent in the Realm, means that many ice tunnels and caverns shift, change size or shape, or even collapse when the temperatures rise and fall.

Most of the Inner Realm, being underground, experiences no weather effects.Ã,Â Climate varies according to the seasons; in summer months, the chilling influence of the RealmÃ¢,¬,,¢s center recedes, and begins expanding again towards the end of autumn.Ã,Â Only in the largest of caverns towards the center does any weather exist, in the form of snow.Ã,Â Beings who have never left the Inner Realm often find the effect to be most unsettling, and for that reason (and their proximity to the center) such places are often avoided by sentient natives.

Authority

The creatures of the Inner Realm keep largely to themselves.Ã,Â While trade does go on, there are only a handful of cities with mixed populations, all of which are trading stations that grew over time.Ã,Â The various races thus rule themselves, in the manner that they are used to, which can range from draconian laws and lengthy rules of succession to total anarchy.

Holding power in the Realm are also the Gloom Scions, inscrutable masters of their varied progeny.Ã,Â All eight reside within the Inner Realm; they are the order of Scions that does not count at least one Archsoul among its members.Ã,Â While powerful, the Scions do not directly intervene in the affairs of the common creatures of the Inner Realm; while some do live in places known to all, some are hidden, likely deep within the Realm near the center itself.Ã,Â This is the widely accepted fate of Heshon, Selbe, and Aolthear, who have not been heard from since the Spellwar.Ã,Â The rest are manifest, but prefer to remain relatively remote Ã¢,¬' Nebaubrigal, Maccrab, Thagus, and Ebredun all have their citadels in lonely caverns within the Realm, though Thagus has since been exiled from his.Ã,Â These places are notoriously hazardous to travelers.Ã,Â Vezalgremar is the one exception; in the form of an enormous Shadow Dragon, he rules over his own bleak dominion in the outer reaches of the Realm.

There is one being, however, who once ruled the majority of the Inner Realm himself.Ã,Â Called simply the Prince of the Inner Realm by mortal travelers, denizens of the Realm itself typically call him the Prince of Stars.Ã,Â The nature of the Prince of Stars, and his astonishing rise to power, are topics of fierce dispute among the creatures of the now leaderless Inner Realm.Ã,Â The Prince always appeared in the guise of a mortal human; many believe he was a mortal man, but there are many others who dismiss this as an illusion or disguise.Ã,Â Nothing is known about his origins, but much is rumored.Ã,Â The Prince appeared rather suddenly in the Inner Realm, and proceeded to conquer more than half of the known Realm in detail.Ã,Â Playing countless factions, petty rulers, merchant lords, and bandit chiefs against each other, the Prince of Stars steadily increased his power, even at the expense of the Scions Ã¢,¬' VezalgremarÃ¢,¬,,¢s much feared horde was checked at the week-long Battle of the Deep Howl, and for unknown reasons his forces never ventured outside his limited domain until the PrinceÃ¢,¬,,¢s disappearance.Ã,Â The Hold of Running Stone, the formidable and towering citadel of the Scion Thagus, was overrun and ruined by creatures loyal to the Prince, and the Scion himself was forced to flee.Ã,Â The other Scions of the Inner Realm took no apparent action during his reign.

After the first initial conquests by the sword and spell, the PrinceÃ¢,¬,,¢s domination continued to grow through subtler means.Ã,Â Subterfuge and trade domination brought more and more creatures and nations under his indirect sway, and even nominally sovereign peoples found that all the strings of power somehow led back to the PrinceÃ¢,¬,,¢s new residence in ThagusÃ¢,¬,,¢s old fortress.Ã,Â Nominally independent kingdoms and nations were wholly dependent on the military and economic might of the PrinceÃ¢,¬,,¢s realm, and were forced to behave as vassal states while their leaders loudly trumpeted their autonomy.Ã,Â Apparently, caring little for appearances, the Prince never moved to pacify peoples that denounced him, reserving his military strength for the rare occasion when a society closed its doors and severed its connection with its neighbors.Ã,Â In the world of the Prince of Stars, so long as you were not isolated, you were dominated.

Not all of the Inner Realm was under the PrinceÃ¢,¬,,¢s rule, however.Ã,Â Much of the Realm is still unexplored, or too dangerous to travel.Ã,Â Some such domains are thought to be the realm of Archsouls, but it is thought by some that they either feared the Prince or had somehow worked out an arrangement with him Ã¢,¬' it has not escaped notice that the Prince managed to never have to fight the Archsouls, and that the fabled Maglatassus reappeared in the settled lands of the Inner Realm as soon as the Prince had vanished.Ã,Â Other areas of the Realm are ruled by separate powers; Chalethus rules enormous stretches of the Realm, secure in her vile fastness amid the Lakes of Dread, in the sunken city of Tudeinul.Ã,Â Shilda, ever the opportunist, has come roaring back after doing little to initially stop the Prince of Stars, and a war between him and Vezalgremar looks imminent.Ã,Â Elsewhere lies the realm of Felmai, the only Spirit Scion who resides in the Inner Realm.Ã,Â His small but secure land has remained a sanctuary for the lost, embittered, and world-weary since the days of the War of Eternal Night.

Of the greater Archsouls, the Four Firsts, little is known.Ã,Â They have not shown themselves since the Battle of the Span, when Tacha vanished and avoided destruction at the hands of the Gloom Scions and Shilda (during the only time in history when those two powers have put aside their mutual hatred long enough to ally).Ã,Â While their plans are always long term, many wonder if the Four will pass up this opportunity to make a move in the absence of the Prince of Stars.

Polycarp · March 13, 2006, 01:59:29 AM

Of course, I should note that the IR at this point is peripheral to the world I'm trying to develop. My efforts are focused on the surface continent of Jadanar. Were this an actual published campaign world, the IR would be something saved for a future publication.

With that in mind, I'm going to look through my saved files to see if there's something of more general and relevant interest. Thanks for the questions so far.

Re: the Niiraunshein, I've actually been entertaining the idea that the Sheinspeakers state publicly that they possess the Books themselves, even though they're really lost. A secret like that is certainly in character for them, and nobody would really be in a position to contradict them unless the text was found. It would probably give them greater legitimacy in Shadan society, which they would surely be willing to take. I think my next blurb will be on the Sheinspeakers themselves, as they are definitely central to the campaign world in a way that the IR, at present, is not - except as a great unknown where the Ven, the Gloom Scions, the Archsouls, and the Bharim (all of them the great mysterious forces of the world) dwell.

Raelifin · March 13, 2006, 02:08:36 AM

Quick question: If the Halflings were bred for labor, wouldn't they be BIG?

Polycarp · March 13, 2006, 02:43:55 AM

The Shadan don't need labor now in the same way they needed labor in the Spellwar era. The population of Shadan in Niirda is far too small to require the great cities, roads, palaces, archives, and fortifications that their predecessors required. The Shadan are, however, used to having servants, and the Halfings fit the bill for fairly unobtrusive ones.

The better answer to this question is that the Halfings were actually invented before the Manifest Ruin, but the project was sidelined by the Dominates because they viewed humans as sufficient. The actual process of creating new Thrall species was lost with the Ruin, so the only choice the survivors had was to breed their small seed population of Halflings to suit their needs. The triumph of the Kaytine Zaras of Embadra over the Grand Exarchate (the last human state with nominal loyalty to the Shadan) was the obvious death knell of human servitude to the Shadan.

Polycarp · March 13, 2006, 02:44:54 AM

And a blurb on Sheinspeakers I just wrote:

The Sheinspeakers

The Sheinspeakers are a cabal of Shadan Arcanists that rules the Dominion of Niirda, the only Shadan nation in Jadanar, and the only known Dominion to have survived the Spellwar and the Manifest Ruin.Ã,Â There may be others, even some on the other side of the World Disc Ã¢,¬' perhaps the influence of the Sheinspeakers extends to these hypothetical Dominions as well, making the cabal far more powerful than it is now thought.

The Sheinspeaker Ã¢,¬Å"movementÃ¢,¬Â began not long after the Manifest Ruin.Ã,Â The surviving Shadan, their civilization in ruins and the vast majority of their people lost forever, began to question why this tragedy had befallen them.Ã,Â The Bharim were the easy targets for blame, but the Manifest Ruin had been scarcely kinder to them, at least on this side of the Disc.Ã,Â It began to be widely spoken among the Shadan of Niirda that their patron and god, Niiraun, had abandoned them.Ã,Â Some faulted the Lord of Grey himself, saying that he no longer cared about his people and deserved to be renounced by the Shadan.Ã,Â Others said that he had caused them to fall to teach them a lesson Ã¢,¬' the Niiraunshein itself, after all, is full of references to the great difficulty of the journey to supremacy that the Shadan must undertake.

Sixteen of NiirdaÃ¢,¬,,¢s most powerful Arcanists, however, rejected both these views.Ã,Â They held that Niiraun had deserted them because the Shadan had been unfaithful, letting his secret words become common knowledge and allowing apostates to live harmoniously in Shadan society.Ã,Â The Arcanists, owing to their great magical supremacy, were able to strong-arm the Dominate into letting them have free rein in the Dominion.Ã,Â The so-called Ã¢,¬Å"SheinspeakersÃ¢,¬Â and their fierce followers embarked on a ruthless crusade to rid Niirda of all heretical influences.Ã,Â Shadan apostates and those viewed as too willing to compromise, as well as those who publicly doubted Niiraun or the Sheinspeakers, were executed and their names expunged from the Shadan records.Ã,Â The Great Archive of Niirda itself was seized by the Sheinspeakers and made into their exclusive center of power.Ã,Â All copies of the Niiraunshein were seized, and all books that quoted it in text were burned or filed away in the depths of the Great Archive.Ã,Â In less thanÃ,Â five years, the Sheinspeakers managed to cow the already devastated population of Niirda, and ensure that the Dominate was little more than their puppet.

With their rise to power complete, the Sheinspeakers realized that they would have to educate new members to be part of their elite, if there was any hope of their influence being a lasting achievement.Ã,Â They became a secret society, a Ã¢,¬Å"knowledge cabal,Ã¢,¬Â with the most exacting and secret of rituals to join.Ã,Â All Sheinspeakers ingest a specially made elixir upon their entrance to the Cabal that leaves them permanently muted, as a symbol of their commitment to secrecy.Ã,Â The elixir, however, also boosts their natural limited telepathy, so they are still able to communicate.Ã,Â Sheinspeakers are all Arcanists, and they learn during their years as (not yet mute) acolytes to cast their spells without words as naturally as their non-initiated counterparts do with them.Ã,Â Acolytes must study for many years to become a Sheinspeaker, and are fiercely devoted Ã¢,¬' because the Sheinspeakers do not want to risk an Acolyte with some knowledge of the Cabal to Ã¢,¬Å"drop outÃ¢,¬Â and spread his secrets or oppose the Cabal, all Acolytes who fail to enter the Cabal are killed.Ã,Â There are at any one time around 2-3 hundred Sheinspeakers, governed by a Circle of sixteen of the most senior.Ã,Â One of these sixteen serves as an Ã¢,¬Å"advisorÃ¢,¬Â to the Dominate, who effectively makes his policy decisions for him based on the will of the Circle.Ã,Â The rest of the Cabal work in the Great Archive, serve as liaisons to other facets of Shadan society, or form a sort of secret police that monitors the rest of the Dominion for apostasy and dissent.Ã,Â Rarely do Sheinspeakers themselves leave the borders of the Dominion, and then only for the most crucial of assignments.Ã,Â There is a specially selected group of sixteen Sheinspeakers who are outside the Dominate at all times, however, their life assignment being to track down the original Niiraunshein before someone else does.Ã,Â As they grow old, they are replaced, and there are always sixteen roaming the world to find their lost texts.

Most Arcanists in Shadan society are not Sheinspeakers, but the Sheinspeakers have ensured that no ArcanistÃ¢,¬,,¢s guild is ever created that could challenge them.Ã,Â The exceptions to this are the various cabals of Arcane Slavers, who are tolerated simply because of their great utility to the Sheinspeakers.Ã,Â The Sheinspeakers do not trust sorcerers (or perhaps they merely fear them), as they are an uncontrolled element that supposedly receives their instructions directly from Niiraun, circumventing the CabalÃ¢,¬,,¢s hierarchy.Ã,Â Though the sorcerers cannot be actually attacked or silenced, as that would be a violation of NiiraunÃ¢,¬,,¢s servants, the Sheinspeakers do their best to try to rein in and control the sorcerers of Niiraun that they find.Ã,Â It is a complicated and dangerous dance of intrigue between the sorcerers and the Sheinspeakers that penetrates every level of Shadan society.
The Sheinspeakers themselves occupy a position of leadership over the common priests of Niiraun, the Archivists.Ã,Â They also control a domestic school of pro-Sheinspeaker philosophy, whose philosophers and zealots are the only officially sanctioned philosophical voice in the Dominion.
The Sheinspeakers are very suspicious of their current thralls, the Halflings Ã¢,¬' the project to breed Halflings in earnest was started too early for the Sheinspeakers to stop it, and they have become too vital in Shadan day-to-day society for them to be exterminated in the way that the Sarfeir nearly were.Ã,Â The Sheinspeakers are also aware of the dangers of rebellion posed by a downtrodden slave race, the results of which they witnessed in the form of the Saulzarel rebellion against the Bharim.Ã,Â Because of this fear, they are careful not to turn the vicious prejudice they have against the Ã¢,¬Å"lesser racesÃ¢,¬Â into action Ã¢,¬' but all the same, they are very concerned with the increasing acceptance of Halfings into Shadan society.

Epic Meepo · March 17, 2006, 10:36:37 PM

I like the idea of a Bronze Age setting, but I'm not sure sure that I'd list "Bronze-Aged" as the defining characteristic of this world. In particular, the part about certain races breeding other races as slaves seemed rather contrary to a Bronze Age theme. There were many slaves in the Bronze Age, but the idea of eugenics seems a bit advanced for that era; it has more of a gritty, pseudo-modern feel than anything else.

I would also be careful with the cosmology. It sounds as though the Inner Realm and the two surface realms are very compartmentalized. Consider either making more connections between the two or making less references to the peripherals.

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