Cebexia, Tapestry of the Gods

[Epic Meepo]

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Cebexia, Tapestry of the Gods

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[ooc]Please direct comments on the community world described below to the Cebexia Discussion Thread. More out-of-character information about the design work going into the world of Cebexia can be found at that location.[/ooc]
[ic=The Tapestry of the Gods]These Lords of Doom,
These Ladies Dread,
Brought spools of Destiny;
And on their Loom,
They wove these threads
Into a Tapestry.

--Ishmael the Bard

[spoiler=On the Name Cebexia]Throughout the ages, many proper names have been used to identify the World as a whole. Of those still in use during modern times, the most widely recognized is Cebexia, literally "Tapestry of the Gods." The phrase stems from a famous metaphor penned by none other than the Bard himself. In the above stanza of his epic poem, The Elder Gods, Ishmael uses the imagery of a Divine Loom to describe the creation of the World. While the poem itself is written in Middle Common, the phrase "Tapestry of the Gods"Â initially proved more appealing to the elven audience. Thus, it first gained widespread use in its High Elven form, the now ubiquitous Cebexia.[/spoiler][/ic]

The above material is original content created for the world of Cebexia.

[Epic Meepo]

Except for the words "Cebexia" and "Cebexian," the content of this post is Open Game Content, as defined in the Open Game License version 1.0a Section 1(d).

[ic=Races and Cultures]"Race" is a hard term to define. Usually, sages take the word to mean species, a group of creatures that are capable of interbreeding without magical assistance. On Cebexia, creature kinds and subtypes (such as dwarf, elf, and halfling) do not correspond to species. Each subtype instead represents a group of inherited traits that can potentially appear among multiple different species through a process known as Drift. The lines that divide the humanoids of Cebexia into species do so without regard to Drift.

[spoiler=On Genealogy and Drift]Genealogists describe Drift as the natural tendency of family members to develop certain characteristics. Specifically, they mean characteristics that reflect hereditary ties to a particular environment, profession, or source of power. Families that maintain such connections over multiple generations can eventually develop unique, inborn characteristics that amplify those familial connections.

Among humanoid populations, Drift often causes families with similar social or professional roles to develop similar physical and mental aptitudes, even when those families belong to different humanoid races. Such genetic traits often divide humanoid races into shared subtypes. Three examples of shared subtypes are detailed below, though many others exist.

Beast-Marked: There are actually several beast-marked subtypes, including goblinoid and orc. Members of different beast-marked subtypes have slightly different mannerisms, but they all share a common origin. The beast-marked are the families of each humanoid race that long-ago challenged the rule of the elder gods. These rebels were afflicted through a divine curse with animalistic features, and Drift has only reinforced their descendants' bestial affinities over the generations.

Dwarf: Humanoid families that have a cross-generational history of work in metal- and stone-related crafts, as well as a traditional connection to the power of the earth, are transformed over generations into dwarves. Drift of this sort occurs primarily among the stone-born, though some dwarves are also found among shadow kin populations.

Elf: One of the most ubiquitous single subtypes occurring among different humanoid races, the elf subtype corresponds to inherited nobility and royalty. As humanoid families of most species are exposed to generations of privilege, Drift causes family members to be born as elves. These noble beings wield the weapons, spells, and insight that are the birthrights of the aristocracy.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=On Humanoid Races]Seven major humanoid races exist on Cebexia (a few of which include occasional members that do not technically belong to the humanoid creature type). Most races include aristocratic families belonging to the elf subtype, as well as families with bestial features known as beast-marked. Though members of a given humanoid race can vary greatly in appearance and mannerism, they are tied together by the fact that they belong to the same species; members of different groups within a given race are able to interbreed without magical assistance.

Humankind: Called the hominid race by genealogists, humankind gets its popular name from the humans and "halfling humans"Â that make up the largest segments of its population. However, the hominid race also includes decidedly non-human subraces, such as goblins. Notably absent from humankind are elves; unlike many other humanoid races, humankind does not experience Drift that causes aristocrats and common folk to develop distinct racial traits.

As a race, humankind tends to dwell on temperate and warm plains, with halflings occupying the warmer regions. Interestingly, despite their similar statures, the goblins and halflings that each belong to the hominid race tend not to dwell in the same areas, with goblins preferring temperate climes to warmer ones.

Historically, humankind is notorious for borrowing linguistic traditions. In the Modern Age, hominids have adopted the Common Tongue as their primary language, though individual families have additional linguistic traditions, depending upon their subrace.

[spoiler=Hominid Subraces]Aasimar: Human families that maintain long-standing connections to celestial creatures, philosophies, and planes will eventually Drift to become planetouched families of assimar. Aasimar speak Celestial as well as Common.

Goblin: Goblins are small, beast-marked hominids. Most goblins are mongrels, resembling no one animal in particular, though they tend to have an affinity for wolves and other quadrupeds that can be ridden by individuals of their stature. A few goblins instead have features resembling those of cats, rats, or similar compact mammals; an even smaller number have an inexplicable blue coloration that doesnâ,¬,,¢t match any known animal or combination of animals. Goblins speak the hobgoblin language known as Goblin in addition to Common.

Halfling human: Also called lightfeet, halfling humans are essentially child-sized humans with a penchant for curiosity and mischief. Folktales claim that these halflings are descended from human explorers that long-ago set out on a quest to find a mythical fountain of youth; though they never found it, the explorerâ,¬,,¢s dedication to the idea of eternal youth caused their descendants to Drift into their current form. Youth and youth-like mindsets remain highly regarded among the lightfeet, even to this day. Halflings speak their own historical language, now known only as Halfling, in addition to speaking Common.

Human: Humans are the most common hominids, and it is because of them that their species is popularly referred to as humankind. Depending upon whom one asks, humans are either hominids that have experienced no Drift, or hominids that continuously experience small amounts of Drift, thus accounting for their incredible versatility.

Tiefling: Human families that maintain a long-standing connection to fiendish creatures, philosophies, and planes will eventually Drift to become planetouched families of tieflings. Tieflings speak either Abyssal or Infernal in addition to Common.[/spoiler]

Piscine: Along with the reptilians, the piscine are one of two major humanoid races whose every member is beast-marked. In the case of the piscine, their shared bestial feature is their gills, for the piscine are an aquatic race. As mutable as ocean currents, piscine are also unique in that they are frequently subject to random Drift. Mutations are common, and from time to time, a piscine is born that is of a different kind than either of its parents.

As an aquatic race, the piscine tend to live in semi-nomadic clans deep under the sea, though fresh-water settlements are not unheard of. Piscine able to breathe air have also established scattered trading posts on various small islands, and it is through these outposts that the piscine are known to other humanoid races. Most piscine habitats and trading posts are in temperate climes, though locathah and sahaugin tend to enjoy frequent sojourns into warmer waters.

In spite of, or perhaps because of, their genetic versatility, the piscine race has long maintained a single, unified language known as Aquan. Aquan is spoken by all piscine, and while some individuals choose to learn counter-cultural dialects such as Kuo-Toan or Sahaugin, all piscine are able understand one another's speach.

[spoiler=Piscine Subraces]Aquatic elf: Families of advisors and diplomats that mediate between various piscine factions frequently produce members who are aquatic elves, the de facto nobility of the piscine race. Aquatic elves are noted for their human-like, non-scaly skin, though they still have gills, webbed fingers, and webbed toes.

Kuo-toa: Kuo-toa are fish-headed bipeds. They are born with a handful of additional monstrous qualities, including gills that function both in and out of water, as well as sight so keen that bright light can hurt the kuo-toan eye.

Locathah: Locathah are also fish-headed bipeds, usually sporting a different color scheme than kuo-toa. Locathah breathe water and have a strange appearance, but otherwise lack the monstrous features of their kuo-toan kin.

Merfolk: A perfect demonstration of the mutability of the piscine, merfolk possess fish tails instead of legs. They are born to merfolk parents and bipedal piscine parents, alike.

Merrow: Though they are of average size when born, Drift has bestowed an amazing potential for growth upon merrow, who become large, bulky bipeds upon adulthood. For all intents and purposes, merrow can be considered the aquatic counterparts of ogres.

Sahaugin: Particularly monstrous, even in the eyes of other piscine, sahaugin have powerful, well-scaled, bipedal frames. Sometimes, a sahaugin mutant is born with extra limbs, or with the outward appearance of an aquatic elf.

Triton: Sometimes, piscine are born that have a paranormal conection with the Elemental Plane of Water. These powerful individuals, who are able to summon elemental allies, are bipedal but fish-finned specimens known as tritons.[/spoiler]

Reptilians: Along with the piscine, the reptilians (also known as scaly folk) are one of two major humanoid races whose every member is beast-marked. Unique among humanoids, reptilians lay eggs instead of giving birth to live young. They are also distinguished from most humanoid races by the fact that their rulers do not eventually experience Drift that transforms their descendants into elves.

Reptilians tend to reside in marshy areas, including highlands that overlook wetland areas and the cavarns beneath such areas. Perhaps because they identify with the most powerful of the world's scaled creatures, reptilians proudly speak Draconic.

[spoiler=Reptilian Subraces]Kobolds: While reptilian eggs are ideally incubated in spacious caverns, weaker reptilians are often forced to hide their offspring in cramped and secretive locations. Generations of incubation in such locations result in Drift that produces kobolds, smaller, craftier reptilians with an inborn sense of cowardice and guile.

Lizard folk: Reptilians whose eggs are incubated in damp areas from one generation to the next slowly develop an affinity for watery terrain. These reptilians, known as lizard folk, are excellent swimmers who are noted for their ability to hold their breath.

Troglodytes: Troglodytes are reptilians that have experienced little or no Drift, and are hatched from reptilian eggs that have been incubated in large caverns deep beneath the surface of the earth. Because the have been sheltered from Drift, troglodytes demonstrate unique body chemistries that are disrupted in other, less "pure"Â reptilians.[/spoiler]

Shadow kin: While many families of different humanoid races rose up against the elder gods at the end of the Elder Age, thus earning a divine curse that transformed them into beast-marked creatures, some humanoids were rewarded for their service to the elder gods during the same conflict. These chosen of the elder gods were not altered by Drift into modified members of their orginial species, but were collectively transformed into a new species, the shadow kin, by direct divine intervention.

Because the elder gods retreated to the False World known as the Plane of Shadow at the end of the Elder Age, most members of their chosen race reside in that realm. Those shadow kin that instead remain on Cebexia tend to lurk in deep underground caverns, for their species has been altered to thrive in the lightless Shadow and no longer functions well in bright sunlight.

By divine decree, all shadow-kin speak the Elder Tongue, a language developed by the elder gods themselves. Though individual shadow-kin may learn other languages for their own purposes, shadow-kin subraces avoid traditions that pass other languages down from one generation to the next, often on pain of exile or death.

[spoiler=Shadow Kin Subraces]Derro: The most zealous servants of the elder gods were driven mad by their masters' anger at non-believers, even going to far as to malign the sun itself as a symbol of a failed world that rejected its rightful rulers. Via genetic Drift, these dangerously unstable individuals spawned both an allergy to sunlight and a form of hereditary psychosis in their descendants. Such insane individuals are known as derro, and appear sporadically at all levels of shadow kin society.

Drow: Noble houses that remained loyal to the elder gods at the end of the Elder Age were blessed with magical powers that transformed their members into drow, also known as dark elves. As the ranking aristocrats of the elder gods' chosen, the drow tend to see themselves as the rightful rulers of the entire mortal world, Shadow and Cebexia alike.

Duergar: The hereditary metalsmiths and stonemasons devoted to the construction of idols and other monuments that glorified the elder gods were rewarded by their masters with magical powers and transformed into duergar. Duergar represent the skilled tradesmen of the shadow kin.

Svirfneblin: Svirfneblin are born from an assortment of loyal but pacifistic hermits that once praised the elder gods. For their loyalty, the svirneblin were granted magical and other racial talents, but each of these features emphasizes their evasive nature, reflecting the fact that their ancestors chose not to openly battle the enemies of the elder gods. The svirfneblin are the lower classes and the vagabonds of shadow kin society.[/spoiler]

Stone-Born: Also known as gray folk after the gray elf rulers that make up their aristocracy, the stone-born were created from elemental earth. Befitting their name, the stone-born are noted for their gray, rock-like flesh. Though rarely tougher than the hides of other humanoids, the skin of a stone-born always has the approximate appearance of stone, usually granite. A stone-born is often accompanied by a faint, earthen smell akin to that of clay.

True to their earthen nature, stone-born dwell primarily in caverns, usually in worked fortresses. More often than not, these fortress-cities are located in mountainous regions, though stone-born cities found deep beneath the surface of the earth can be located almost anywhere.

The linguistic heritage of the stone-born is divided down economic class lines, with different rungs of stone-born society speaking different tongues and even utilizing different alphabets. In modern times, the introduction of the Common Tongue to all levels of stone-born society has done much to bring different classes together, though families still maintain the linguistic traditions of old alongside this newer trend.

[spoiler=Stone-Born Subraces]Bugbear: Beast-marked stone-born tend to be tall, burly individuals with bear-like features, and are thus known as bugbears. From the outset, bugbears were shunned as outsiders who didn't fit inside any traditional class, and this ancestral shame manifests as genetic Drift towards stealth and guile instead of direct confrontation. Perhaps in an effort to find their own niche among (some would say against) the other stone-born, bugbears have taken up a mercenary mindset and adopted the Golbin tongue spoken by the militant wilderlings known as hobgoblins.

Deep dwarf: Hill and mountain dwarves that have live deep beneath the surface of the earth experience Drift as the generations pass. The resulting individuals are known as deep dwarves. Like their fellow masons and stoneworkers, deep dwarves speak Dwarven.

Gray elf: The lofty aristocrats of the stone-born are the gray elves. Flighty and slender by stone-born standards, gray elves take after the elves of other humanoid species that fill similar cultural roles in other communities. As they have relatively poor night vision, gray elves tend to dwell exclusively near the surface, further setting them apart from their stone-born kin. Gray elven families speak Elven, the language of the aristocracy.

Grimlock: Some feral stone-born forsake the basic trappings of civilization and retreat into the depths of the earth, where they enact primitive rites and ritual scarification that reinforce their ties to elemental earth. While these practices are themselves non-magical, generations of such intense focus have guided genetic Drift and transformed the descendants of practitioners into grimlocks. Grimlocks are entirely blind, their forebears having dismissed sight as something only relevant in the sunlit surface world. Grimlocks speak an unique language believed to be a bastardization of Dwarven.

Hill dwarf: A fairly typical example of stone-born, hill dwarves are stout individuals hailing from families with tradtions of work upon ancient forges and within ancient mines. Like all stone-born dwarves, hill dwarves proudly speak Dwarven, the language of the stone-born working class.

Mountain dwarf: Though noted for their slightly different appearance and coloration, mountain dwarves are essentially the same as hill dwarves. The distinction between the two is strictly a matter of friendly rivalry between the two similar groups. Like their hill dwarf rivals, mountain dwarves speak Dwarven.[/spoiler]

Wilderling: Wilderings, or wild folk, are a fickle and passionate race that were purportedly created from elemental fire. Their origin is reflected by the fact that they have higher body temperatures than humanoids of other species. A typical wilderling has glittery, yellow-gold skin; course, red hair; and orange eyes that glow like embers when exposed to light.

Just as wilderlings are warmer that other humanoids, so too is their preferred climate warmer. Wilderlings reside in tropical jungles and jungled highlands. A few exceptional families of wilderlings have even adapted to the otherworldly heat of the Elemental Plane of Fire.

All wilderlings, exceptional or otherwise, are also connected to that plane by the fact that the primary language of their race is Ignan. Individual wilderlings may learn the disciplined Maenad dialect or the poetic Xeph dialect, but all speakers of Ignan are nevertheless able to understand one another. Perhaps to flaunt this convention, some wilderling families have taken it upon themselves to teach their offspring other languages, varying from subrace to subrace, in addition to Ignan.

[spoiler=Wilderling Subraces]Azer: The members of those wilderling families that have adapted to elemental fire are known as azers. Because of their outerworldly nature, azers tend not to interact much with their wilderling kin or with Cebexia in general.

Deep halfling: Some wilderling families have a traditional knack for spelunking, and Drift has rewarded them with petite frames that better fit into tight spaces. Over the generations, these wilderlings have whimsically drawn parallels between themselves and the similarly-sized halflings of other species. At first, the comparison was metaphorical, but the spelunkers have since Drifted to become actual halflings themselves, the so-called deep halflings. Deep halflings have adopted the hominid tongue known as Halfling as a traditional language in addition to speaking Ignan.

Hobgoblin: Beast-marked wilderlings are known as hobgoblins. Though a few hobgoblins resemble specific animals, most have mongrel features that do not exactly correspond to those of any specific animal. Hobgoblins proudly remember their ancestors' battles against the elder gods (for which they were cursed with their animalistic appearance) and this military legacy is an important family tradition among their kind. Along with this military tradition, hobgoblins preserve the Golbin language, the ancestral tongue of all beast-marked wilderlings.

Maenad: Wilderlings tend to be as wild and passionate as raging flames, but some wilderling families have chosen to repress their overwhelming emotions. Generations of carefully measured emotion have transformed these widerlings into maenads.

Wild elf: Aristocratic wilderlings belong to ancient noble houses that have long since Drifted to become elves, as have the rulers of several other humanoid species. Wilderling elves, called wild elves, retain the wily natures of their non-aristocratic kin. Wild elf families teach their members the aristocratic Elven tongue in addition to the Ignan language of all wilderlings.

Xeph: Many wilderlings direct their emotions into various professional pursuits. Those who come from long lines of professional artists are known as xephs. More focused on intellectual and artistic pursuits, xephs are slighter than most wilderlings, though they are swift and ever eager to travel the world in search of inspiration.[/spoiler]

Wood Folk: Wood folk are a race of rustic but magically-inclined humanoids that claim kinship with the forces of nature. Each has skin that is either greenish, or that resembles polished wood in color and texture. Wood folk hair frequently resembles hemp, moss, or vines, while wood folk blood has the same color and consistency as tree sap.

As their name suggests, wood folk prefer forested terrain. Most live in temperate forests or in wooded temperate hills, with the more warlike groups of wood folk favoring the rockier of the two environments.

The difference between the these two groups is reflected by the two linguistic traditions of the wood folk culture. Forest-dwelling wood folk speak Sylvan, while the beast-marked wood folk who gravitate towards rockier areas speak a harsh language known as Orcish, from a Sylvan root word meaning "rock." The Sylvan language dialect known as Gnomish includes some features of both standard Sylvan and Orcish, though it can only be understood by speakers of Sylvan.

[spoiler=Wood Folk Subraces]Forest gnome: Particularly xenophobic families of rock gnomes can Drift to become forest gnomes, reclusive folks with an inborn talent for passing unseen. Despite living farther from the rocky hills where it was first developed, forest gnomes tend to speak the dialect of Sylvan known as Gnomish instead of speaking standard Sylvan.

Half-elf: Half-elves are not born of mixed heritage. Instead, they come from elven families in whom the typical elven Drift has been weaker than normal, resulting in muted elven traits. Half-elves are full-blooded elves, but posses only half the "elven-ness" of other elves. Half-elves tend to be excluded from the highest of aristicratic circles, are not garauteed access to training in the aristicratic Elven tongue, instead speaking only the Sylvan tongue shared by all forest-dwelling wood folk.

Half-orc: Counterparts of half-elves, half-orcs are likewise not of mixed parentage. Like half-elves, they come from families in whom the effects of Drift have been subdued. More comfortable among orcs than other wood folks families, half-orcs speak Orcish instead of Sylvan.

High elf: In contrast to half-elves, high elves are wood folk from aristocratic bloodlines that have fully undergone the Drift associated with the elven subtype. High elves have an innate aptitude for all things noble, from aristocratic weapons and wizardry to the stereotypical keen senses attributed to wood folk nobility. They also speak Elven, the language of nobility, in addition to standard Sylvan.

Orc: Beast-marked wood folk are known as orcs. They tend to be large, bulky, and powerful. Most either have porcine features resembling those of boars (tusks, snouts, and such) or have mongrel features that do not exactly correspond to the appearance of any specific animal. Beast-marked wood folk tend to embrace their savage sides, and Drift has amplified this preference into a trait inherent in most orcish families. Orcs speak their own language, instead of the Sylvan language common to most wood folk.

Rock gnome: While wood folk noble houses are concerned with lofty and serious matters such as swordplay and wizardry, families of wood folk farmers and gardeners tend to be much more carefree. Over the generations, Drift has transformed these wood folk into rock gnomes, so called because their traditional professions involve working the land. Rock gnomes are noted for their informal and mischievous magical aptitudes; their fondness for stories and trivia of all sorts; and their friendship with animals. They speak the Sylvan dialect known as Gnomish.

Tallfellow: Wood folk of mixed elven and gnomish heritage are tallfellows, halflings that resemble either short elves or tall gnomes ("tallfellow" being derived from the latter description). Caught between two pedigrees, tallfellows benefit from few of the Drift-begotten traits associated with either lineage. This forces tallfellows to live by their wits in manners not unlike those found among halflings of other species, with whom tallfellows frequently relate. Tallfellows usually speak the Sylvan dialect known as Gnomish, though some instead speak standard Sylvan. It is uncommon for tallfellows to actually speak Halfling.

Wood elf: Some high elf families have kept to themselves for generations, residing deep in their remote, wooded territory. The members of these wood folk families have Drifted a bit differently than other high elves, thus becoming wood elves. Like high elves, wood elves speak Elven as well as Sylvan.[/spoiler][/spoiler]
[spoiler=On Humanoid Cultures]Each of Cebexia's major humanoid races has its own unique culture, languages, and lands. However, on Cebexia, one's culture is not always determined by oneâ,¬,,¢s race. Several ethnic groups exist whose traditions are shared by some members of multiple races. Individuals raised among these mixed ethnic groups differ from segregated members of their race, espousing views and speaking languages unique to their ethnic group.

Some of the larger mixed ethnic groups of Cebexia include the aurak and vaethran cultures.

[spoiler=The Aurak Culture]The auraks are a proud group of scaled folk who claim descent from various world serpents, otherworldly dragons collectively responsible for maintaining weather and the seasons. Auraks highly value draconic themes, and tend to seek leadership from half-dragons and other dragon-blooded individuals, whom they collectively refer to as dracemar.

Aurak Races: The aurak ethnic group includes members belonging to the piscine and reptilian races, as well as half-dragons and other dragon-blooded members of any race.

Personality:  The personality of an aurak is determined to an extent by his Ancestral Serpent, the world serpent that supposedly sired his ancestors. For example, the descendants of Shehir'ak'arum are a highly disciplined, taciturn folk, while the descendents of Ikkel'idrarin are prone to sudden violent outbursts. What tends to unify all auraks is the value that auraks place upon duty and obedience to the community above all other things. It is not unheard-of for their zeal in this regard to soar to suicidal heights.

Physical Description: Auraks do not care much for accoutrements, keeping their clothing simple and functional. Monochromatic silk robes and functional harnesses are popular, and in the case of auraks with colorful scales, these are cut to reveal the naturally occurring patterns in the wearer's hide. Despite the high regard auraks place upon colorful scales (and the inferior status sometimes assigned to paler auraks) their society discourages the use of body paints, intentional scarification, or tattoos, all of which are seen as a mild form of sacrilege against the sanctity of the body.

Aurak Lands: Most aurak dwellings are subterranean, although their natural home is in the mountains and plains of the surface.  In their cavernous dwellings, the aurak's society is governed by Seers, elderly members of the community. Each city is linked through its Seers to Settal Urun, the religious centre of the auraks.

Religion: The staple faith of the auraks is Bo'ori Fehin, or the "Unspoken Prophecy,"Â which speaks of the coming of a Prophet who will summon the world serpents from the Sea of Stars into the world. Bo'ori Fehin treats the world serpents as ancestral spirits, and is thus highly animistic in nature. In addition to worship of the foretold Prophet, Bo'ori Fehin encourages reverence for all manners of intermediate deities.

Language: Auraks speak their own version of the Draconic language, a dialect appropriately known as Aurak. Adventuring auraks also learn the Common Tongue.

Names: An aurak has two names, the name of his ancestral world serpent and his own personal name, which is given to him by his parents or incubators. In addition, half-dragon auraks (and other auraks manifesting signs that the blood of dragons runs strong in their veins) are assigned the honorific, "dracemar."

Male Names: Gashahnt, Uhurkur, Ozirir, Sirrush, Keyantar.
Female Names: Sikakru, Yentat, Ekulkhush.

Adventures: Auraks tend to go on adventures when they believe doing so would benefit their communities. When not actively questing to eliminate threats to their kin or to bring glory to their ancestors, adventuring auraks are fond of exploring regions and investigating phenomena that they suspect would be of interest to their elders, to whom they plan on eventually reporting. More often than not, adventuring auraks maintain meticulous journals for just this reason.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=The Vaethran Culture]The vaethii (singular: vaeth) are one of the most widespread of the worldâ,¬,,¢s ethnic groups, representing a large but scattered population of seafaring nomads. Most vaethii are traders, though they have a mild (and not entirely misplaced) reputation for mischief and even treachery.

Vaethran Races: The vaethii ethnic group includes members belonging to the hominid, piscine, and wilderling races.

Personality: Vaethii are a jovial people, often eager to express themselves to those they consider friends. Their culture is highly mercantile, and their positive nature serves them well in this field. However, they are by no means foolish in their approach to social matters.  Most vaethii adopt a somewhat random demeanor when in the presence of those they do not know, creating a degree of mystery which ensures they are not "open books." They also have a tendency to lie about themselves and their exploits, although they will refrain from doing so if they believe potential harm may result. It is only once one has earned a vaeth's trust that the vaeth's unpredictable exterior is cast aside, revealing his true aspirations.

Physical Description: Vaethran clothing, even among the working class, is often gaudy and decorative, while maintaining its functionality. Jewelry is common to both sexes (as both a form of accessory and as a back-up stash of wealth) and provocative attire is encouraged for all but the youngest members of vaethran society. Vaethran body language intentionally conveys a vague undertone of sexuality, leading many observers to conclude that the vaethrii are wantonly promiscuous people. In truth, this impression is (usually) just another lie about any given vaeth's exploits, fostered to keep strangers off-guard.

Vaethran Lands: Vaethii do not have many lands of their own, instead traveling as merchants across much of the world. What few vaethii outposts that exist tend to be mere way stations that have few resources, thus ensuring that they are left unmolested.  These outposts tend to pursue limited forms of agriculture, and rely upon hired mercenaries of non-vaethii descent to defend themselves from marauders or other predators.

Religion: Vaethii tend to worship Greater Gods, though they have varying degrees of interest in church hierarchies. The chief deity among the vaethii faithful is Corsyar, the goddess of goodwill and perseverance. Most vaethii will also worship other Greater Gods, but they tend to be monotheistic, viewing those other beings as mere aspects of Corsyar.

Language: Vaethii speak Vaethral, a dialect of the Modern Common Tongue. As nomads, Vaethii often learn to speak any number of other languages.

Names: Among his own kind a vaeth will have four names: two are his family names, one each from his father and mother; one is a descriptive name, usually referring to some occurrence, creature or object present at his birth; and one is his individual title. When a vaeth reaches adulthood he keeps the family name of one parent of his choice, while casting away the other.

Male Names: Urundil, Impantur, Andar, Heffet, Darilman, Sigand.
Female Names: Ifalna, Memmine, Sera, Yutani, Jelsi.
Family Names: Kelkarondim, Jespontarret, Kalemmend, Selfaxotimmund.

In addition to distinctive vaethran names, vaeth's often borrow names from other cultures.

Adventurers: Vaeth usually adventure to gain experience, to see new sights or to satisfy their innate curiosity.  Because of their charismatic nature and romantic appeal, they often take up the mantle of leadership, but most are just as happy to follow another's lead and simply take in the experience.[/spoiler][/spoiler][/ic]

Some of the above material was adapted from content contributed by Salacious Angel.

[ic=Language and Numbers]Crossing all racial, cultural, and national boundaries, the lingua franca of the Modern Age is the Common Tongue, a near-universal second language that ties together the many different ethnic groups of Cebexia. At the same time, the distinct linguistic traditions of various cultures preserve numerous other tongues, as well as assorted alphabets and two different systems of numbers.

[spoiler=On the Common Tongue]The Common Tongue is one of the most influential languages in history, and has been a framework for cultural exchange for many centuries. Common first began as a pidgin tongue intended for use in narrow circumstances. Later, the poetic works of Ishmael the Bard would build upon that basis and transform Common into a rich, sophisticated language.

A popular misconception is that the name of the Common Tongue was chosen to reflect its status as the world's universal second language. In truth, the Common Tongue gets its name from the ancient alliance of city-states known as the Commonwealth. At the time of its inception, the Common Tongue was primarily intended to facilitate communication and standardized record keeping within that limited sphere. The form of Common used in the documents of the Founding Era Commonwealth is now known as Old Common.

It wasn't until several centuries later that the Commonwealth reached its zenith as the world's preeminent economic power. Only then were Commonwealth mariners able to spread the Common Tongue (then in the form of Middle Common) across much of the known world. Though indigenous cultures at first resisted the influence of this foreign tongue, the economic advantages available to fluent speakers eventually lead to the widespread use of the language. By coincidence, it was during this period that Ishmael the Bard penned his famous poems, further cementing the cultural influence of the Common Tongue upon indigenous populations.

Eventually, the supremacy of the Commonwealth declined as other nations developed merchant fleets expansive enough to rival those of the Commonwealth cities. But by then, the universality of the Common Tongue among traders and poets was a well-established fact. Even in the absence of Commonwealth representatives, travelers had come to expect that exchanges with artists, merchants, and officials of foreign lands would be conducted in Common.

Though several dialects of Modern Common have evolved from the more standardized Middle Common, enough similarities have been preserved by continuing cultural and economic exchange that Modern Common is the language of choice when two strangers of different cultural backgrounds first meet. [/spoiler]
[spoiler=On Other Languages]Though many Cebexians across the globe are fluent in the Common Tongue, Common is still a second language in most cultures. Conversations one holds with one's kin are likely to be held in the tradition language associated with one's culture or subrace within that culture. The table below lists many of the better known languages.

[table=Select Cebexian Languages]
[tr][th]Language[/th][th]Typical Speakers[/th][th]Alphabet[/th][/tr]
[tr][td]Abyssal[/td][td]Demons[/td][td]Infernal[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Aquan[/td][td]The piscine, water elementals[/td][td]Piscine[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Auran[/td][td]Air elementals, reptilians[/td][td]Celestial[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Celestial[/td][td]Aasimar, celestials[/td][td]Celestial[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Common Tongue, the[/td][td]Humans, most humanoids[/td][td]Common[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Draconic[/td][td]Aurak, dragons[/td][td]Draconic[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Druidic[/td][td]Druids[/td][td]Druidic[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Dwarven[/td][td]Dwarves (except duergar)[/td][td]Dwarven[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Elder Tongue, the[/td][td]Shadow-kin[/td][td]Celestial[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Elven[/td][td]Elves (except aquatic elves, half-elves, and drow)[/td][td]Elven[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Giant[/td][td]Giants, minotaurs[/td][td]Dwarven[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Gnoll[/td][td]Gnolls[/td][td]Maenad[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Gnome (Sylvan dialect)[/td][td]Gnomes (except svirfneblin), tallfellows[/td][td]Sylvan[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Goblin[/td][td]Bugbears, goblins, hobgoblins[/td][td]Maenad[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Grimlock[/td][td]Grimlocks[/td][td]Dwarven[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Halfling[/td][td]Deep halflings, lightfeet[/td][td]Common[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Ignan[/td][td]Fire elementals, wilderlings[/td][td]Maenad[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Infernal[/td][td]Devils, tieflings[/td][td]Infernal[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Kuo-Toan (Aquan dialect)[/td][td]Some piscine[/td][td]Piscine[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Maenad (Ignan dialect)[/td][td]Maenads[/td][td]Maenad[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Orcish[/td][td]Orcs[/td][td]Sylvan[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Sahuagin (Aquan dialect)[/td][td]Some piscine[/td][td]Piscine[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Sylvan[/td][td]Wood folk (except orcs)[/td][td]Sylvan[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Terran[/td][td]Earth elementals[/td][td]Infernal[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Xeph (Ignan dialect)[/td][td]Xephs[/td][td]Maenad[/td][/tr][/table]

Though only prominent dialects are listed, every language has at least a handful of distinct dialects, if not more. Communication between speakers of different dialects of the same language, while usually less precise that between speakers of the same dialect, is rarely problematic. All but the most technical information can be conveyed across dialect boundaries with negligible difficulty.

In addition to each of its Modern dialects, every language has changed over time, producing any number of historical dialects. Historical dialects of a language can be classified as belonging to either an Old or a Middle version of that tongue. Translating between dialects from different historical periods can be difficult; essentially, a Modern tongue is a different language than it was during its Old and Middle periods.

One exception is the Elder Tongue. This language, created and sustained by the elder gods of old, is an ancient tongue that has remained unchanged since its inception. All other languages, even those used by ageless beings, have changed over the millennia as word usage and grammatical structure have been gradually reworked.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=On Number Systems]If the Common Tongue is the common ground shared by all Cebexians, and other languages are respected local traditions, then numbers are the one greatest impediments to universal trade across the globe. Two different number systems exist on Cebexia, one representing an obfuscated system imparted by the elder gods before their departure from the world, the other representing a newer, more effective system developed by mortal mathematicians. The divide between regions using the two systems is a very real obstruction to international trade and academic cooperation.

The oldest system of numbers, called Elder Numbers after the Age in which it was revealed to mortals, was designed by the elder gods to suppress mortal knowledge of mathematics. The greatest truths of number theory were hidden behind complex notation and glaring omissions, such as a lack of a numeral representing the value â,¬Å"zero.â,¬Â Nevertheless, Elder Numbers were the only numbers that Cebexians understood for countless scores of generations, and have stubbornly remained in place in many regions of the globe by virtue of familiarity alone.

Modern Numbers, named for the Modern Age, were developed by the mathematician Cerephace early in said era. Including a numerical representation of the value "zero" and a streamlined base-ten notation, Modern Numbers are easier to record and to use in calculations. Despite this, in areas where the traditional Elder Numbers are still popular among the common folk, "Modern Numbers" is a scornful expression meaning either "attempted con"Â or "needless folly."Â In either case, the new number system is poorly understood in such regions, and is thus not trusted for use in economic transactions.[/spoiler][/ic]

The above material is original content created for the world of Cebexia.

[Epic Meepo]

Except for the words "Cebexia" and "Cebexian," the content of this post is Open Game Content, as defined in the Open Game License version 1.0a Section 1(d).

[ic=The Powers that Were]The World is ultimately a product of its ancient history, and the earliest chapter in story of Cebexia is the tale of the elder gods. Though this race of deities has since been sequestered and largely forgotten, it is not by mistake that World is known as the Tapestry of the Gods. It was on the Great Loom of the elder gods that Cebexia and its inhabitants were created.

[spoiler=On What Came Before]Accounts of the elder gods and there deeds are widely agreed upon by Cebexian historians, but there is less certainty about the origin of these gods and their otherworldly realms. While each religion has its own origin story, each of these different tales falls into one of three categories: animistic, creationist, and cyclical.

The Animistic View: Most animistic religions assert that the Night Sky above and the Endless Plains below are eternal, having always existed. What is more, each of these planes has always had a spirit, though for the longest time, these spirits slumbered. When they eventually awoke, these spirits became the trickster deities Krenshar and Raven. Everything else that existed before Cebexia, including the elder gods, resulted (usually by accident) from the various misadventures of these tricksters.

The Creationist View: By contrast, most faiths devoted to the various Greater Gods assert that one or more such deities existed before to the formation of the Night Sky and the Endless Plains. This eternal Divinity is directly responsible for the creation of everything else that predates the World (and is indirectly responsible for Cebexia). Religions espousing the creationist view also acknowledge the existence of the tricksters, Krenshar and Raven, though these figures are relegated to the rank of archons created by the elder gods.

The Cyclical View: Some religions and philosophies instead deny the existence of a beginning altogether. They argue that history forever repeats itself; the events at end of each cycle cause the creation of the starting components of the next, including the Night Sky, the Endless Plains, and the elder gods. In stories of this nature, Krenshar and Raven again appear, this time as siblings of the elder gods and embodiments of change itself.

Regardless of the specific origin story one believes, the later history of the elder gods is widely agreed upon, at least in its most basic form. The elder gods began their lives as simple herdsmen, and passed many ages uneventfully. Eventually, the elder gods decided that they should create servants to tend their herds. Towards these ends, they developed magic and ultimately used it to achieve their goals. Now equipped with loyal servants, the elder gods were free from any sort of obligation or responsibility.

At this point, the minds of the idle deities wandered. From their musings were created a plethora of concepts that once had no meaning: agriculture, law, property, warfare, and many others. Inspired, the elder gods and their servants began partitioning the Endless Plains into an endless series of realms and gardens, each more opulent than the last.

Eventually, the elder gods' quest for ever grander monuments lead to their creation of technology. Immediately, the elder gods saw the potential. With their combined mastery of divine magic and deific technology, the elder gods could pool their resources to build the grandest monument of them all. And thus they did. Using godlike magic and machinery (the proverbial Great Loom), the elder gods wove their Tapestry, Cebexia, and hung it under the Night Sky for all to behold.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=On the Elder Gods' Folly]Having crafted the World, the elder gods populated it with mortal races in order to implement worship in their names. They taught sentient creatures to praise and to love, and instilled the People of the World with a sense of loyalty to their designs. But the elder gods proved incapable of reciprocating the love and loyalty of their People. Instead, they saw mortal races as mirrors in which to reflect their own glory, and set about shaping mortal civilizations like so much mindless clay.

With the elder gods so indifferent to needs of the People, yet unwilling to release the World from their domineering influence, worship of the elder gods was a brutal thing. Zealous believers led lives of cruelty and bloody sacrifice, little more than slaves to their divine masters. So indoctrinated were the faithful that they never questioned fate.

But the tricksters, Krenshar and Raven, did question. They questioned the vanity of the elder gods, and thought that so-called servants of the gods should be free to choose their own destiny. Krenshar and Raven first went to the People and asked them if they wished to control their own lives. But the People were afraid. They feared the wrath of the gods and they feared a world where they were responsible for their own actions. So they labeled the tricksters as Evil, and drove them away.

Saddened, Krenshar and Raven went next to the Beasts. The response of the Beasts was different: "We have always felt that there is no such thing as control over the whole of the World, and expect no one to take responsibility for our choices. What the gods offer is an illusion, and what they ask in return is the surrender of everything that makes us what we are. Were the World rid of them, we would at least be free to choose our own path." And thus the Beasts decided to rise up against the elder gods.

Krenshar and Raven realized that they and their allies could not match the combined might of the elder gods. Action against the gods would instead require creativity. Fortunately, the elder gods had long ago exhausted their own supplies of imagination, leaving them vulnerable to the tricksters' methods. Krenshar and Raven went about enacting a bold and circuitous plan to loose the World from the elder gods' control.

First, the tricksters freed the Demons from the Underworld. Long the hardest-worked slaves of the elder gods, these creatures were willing to fight for freedom. The Demons organized on the Endless Plains, where they made war upon the servants of the gods with a fervor never seen before or since. They fought with cunning and raw determination that thoroughly surprised the arrogant servants of the gods, creating panic among their foes.

Meanwhile, the Beasts of the World fought the mortal followers of the gods, and also spread dissention among the ranks of the People. Inspired by the Beasts, some of the People began to question the legitimacy of the elder gods' rule. Those who objected openly were cursed by the gods with animalistic features, marking them as traitors and allies of the insurrection. These beast-marked joined the Beasts in open rebellion.

With the Demons loosed from the Underworld and the Beasts acting as agitators across the World, the elder gods were distracted. They did not notice as Krenshar and his feline kin gathered and crafted magical mirrors of subtle power. They did not notice as Raven and her avian allies gathered smoke on magical gusts of wind. Nor did they notice as the tricksters brought smoke and mirrors together to create a False World, a pale reflection of the elder gods' own creation.

Instead, the elder gods blindly raged and fumed at the strife amongst their children, paying heed to nothing else until Raven approached and requested an audience. "I come before you to present a solution to your problems,"Â Raven announced, so the elder gods agreed to hear her words. For a long time, they listened as Raven rambled on, talking but saying nothing.

Finally, the elder gods grew tired of Raven's pointless chatter. "You claim to have a solution to our problems," stated one of their number, "but you offer only empty and meaningless nonsense. You waste our time."

Such had been Raven's intent. While she was holding the attention of the elder gods, Krenshar had hidden Cebexia and placed his False World in its place. So as Raven turned to leave, she was able to point to the False World in feigned astonishment. "Perhaps time was all that was needed,"Â she proclaimed. "Behold, even as we talked, the conflict among your People resolved itself. The World is quiet again."Â

Each of the elder gods inspected the False World and saw a tranquil mirror that reflected his own image in all its imagined glory. Perhaps the elder gods failed to realize the deception, or perhaps they chose to accept fantasy over reality. In either case, the elder gods were enamored. They dismissed Raven and turned their rapt attention to the False World, not even noticing as Krenshar pushed them aside to restore the true Cebexia to its proper place. And thus, the elder gods drifted away, huddled about the shadowy netherworld they control to this day.[/spoiler][/ic]

The above material was adapted from content contributed by SilvercatMoonpaw.

[ic=The Powers that Be]When the cruel elder gods that ruled the ancient world were forgotten, the People were free to explore their spirituality. The first voluntary faiths to arise on Cebexia were the assorted animistic religions that revere a multitude of often-interchangeable spirits. Later, prophets revealed the existence of the Greater Gods, each a distant but powerful being whose unknowable motives inspire worship in His or Her name.

[spoiler=On the Worship of Spirits]Spirits are beings formed from the Animus, the collective soul of the cosmos that flows through all things. The elder gods once bound the Animus, preventing the formation of most such beings. But since the departure of the elder gods, spirits have flourished, fuelled in part of the reverence of the People for spirit-kind.

Some spirits, such as elementals and fey, are living incarnations of nature. Others, the spirits of the dead, range from incorporeal undead to the souls of the departed. In most cases, spirits of either sort are beings with fairly substantial limitations. Only a handful of spirits exist that are actually considered gods in their own right.

Chief among the spirits are the intermediate gods, literally gods that mediate between the needs of the faithful and the wisdom of the spirits. Intermediate gods take an active interest in the lives of the faithful; they frequently send visions, and will occasionally be encountered walking about in the mortal world. However, the intermediate gods have no interest in shaping the course of events. They instead interact with believers only to provide abstract life lessons or opportunities for personal growth. The believers themselves are left with the responsibility for deciding how best to use such advice.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=On the Greater Gods]The existence of beings the likes of the Greater Gods had been contemplated long before the revelations of the prophets. But it wasn't until the last several centuries that the Word of the Greater Gods was implemented on a large scale.

The Greater Gods are said to be more powerful than other so-called deities, possessing near (or complete) omnipotence. But the Greater Gods are also distant beings, existing far beyond the known planes of existence. Aside from inspiring worship, providing moral direction, and anchoring the faith of those who can use such things to work divine magic, the Greater Gods don't interact with the World, or with any other known plane.

The worship of the Greater Gods is often a source of tension, with different faiths and sects supporting conflicting views on the nature of the Greater Gods. Some claim that each of the Greater Gods is a separate entity belonging to a single family of equals, and this complete pantheon of Greater Gods is that which should be worshipped. Others demote certain "greater"Â deities to lesser god status, essentially creating a hierarchy that places one or more Greater Gods well beyond the ken of the rest. A few even argue the existence of a single Greater God of whom the others deities are mere aspects.[/spoiler][/ic]

The above material is original content created for the world of Cebexia.

[ic=The Powers Yet Unseen]Sages often divide history into ages. Though the finer divisions of history are disputed, there is a general consensus regarding the largest such partitions: following Xeviat, the Beginning of Time, come the Elder Age, in which the elder gods rule the cosmos, and the Modern Age, in which mortals are free to find enlightenment. Theologians add a third age, the Age of Eruhne, to the list of eras that shall come to pass.

[spoiler=On the Name Eruhne]The name Eruhne, while enigmatic even to its authors, was not chosen at random. Instead, that exact name appears in dozens of prophecies from faiths scattered across Cebexia. Both animistic and revealed religions are represented in this cross-section of the World's religions. Their shared visions of the future have similarities in theme that indicate the name Eruhne, whatever it means, is somehow synonymous with cataclysmic travail.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=On Things Yet to Come]The nightmare visions of the Age of Eruhne are frequently dismissed by optimists as the ravings of mad prophets and misguided diviners. But a disturbing number of details from the many different prophecies coincide. An account of the events leading to the Age of Eruhne can be spelled out almost as though it were bygone fact.

According to visions, the Great Loom upon which the elder gods crafted the world was not designed to operate untended forever. With its creators in the absentia, the machinery that maintains the workings of Cebexia is slated to eventually grind to a halt, leaving the People in a world without day or night or seasons, a world than cannot possibly sustain them.

Attempts are made to master the secrets of the Great Loom, but they only disturb the Animus, the soul of the cosmos, and render the force magic unstable. Civilizations rise and fall. Knowledge of the prophecies that warn the People are lost. What little knowledge of faith and spirituality survives the destruction pales in the face of the New Order, a fanatical cult of atheists bent upon the complete exorcism of anything resembling a religion.

The pontiffs of the New Order realize that the Great Loom has the power to destroy its silent creators, the very elder gods that first taught mortals the practice of worship. They turn the godly device upon its creators, and they use it to sever the ties between other divinities and their followers. The victory of the New Order is complete. But even as Nezrazam, the last of the elder gods, is slain, the Great Loom reacts to the death of its creators and implodes in a terrible cataclysm.

Cebexia is torn asunder and the Age of Eruhne begins in earnest. Archons descend upon the highest fragments of the shattered world and devils from the ruins of the Underworld claim the lowest. Between these factions and those few mortals that yet survive, an Eternal War rages until whole of the Broken World crumbles to dust at the End of Time.[/spoiler][/ic]

The above material was adapted from content contributed by Salacious Angel.

[Epic Meepo]

Except for the words "Cebexia" and "Cebexian," the content of this post is Open Game Content, as defined in the Open Game License version 1.0a Section 1(d).

[ic=The Planes of Existence]Because the elder gods that created Cebexia were ever quick to call attention to their own accomplishments, the general cosmology of Cebexia has been known almost since the beginning of the World. Learned scholars are also privy to additional cosmological details that have since been ascertained.

[spoiler=On Cebexian Cosmology]Common knowledge about cosmology includes the fact that the world of Cebexia is a hollow sphere stretched around the Underworld, which is physically beneath Cebexia's surface. The Sun and the Moon, each a smaller sphere than Cebexia, orbit the World. All of this rests between the firmament, which consists of the Night Sky above and the Endless Plains below.

[spoiler=A Cosmological Map]Cosmological maps are commonly seen among academic and theological circles. Theologians in particular are known to occasionally perform sermons that reference cosmological maps. A sample cosmological map appears below. As with most cosmological maps, this sample map is not drawn to scale. By tradition, the Ethereal Plane is depicted overlapping the firmament, though ethereal travelers cannot actually enter this area. The House of the Zodiac and the Sea of Stars actually correspond to the ethereal region immediately adjacent to the Night Sky and the Endless Plains, respectively.



Cosmological maps provided to laypersons usually lack many details shown on the above map. The Ethereal Plane, the House of the Zodiac, and the Sea of Stars are omitted because the existence of these ethereal realms is neither widely known nor well understood by laypersons. The Underworld is also omitted, but only because its presence is implied. This simplified cosmological map, while less informative, makes for a well-known symbol. The image of three spheres between two horizontal lines is a popular image in calligraphy and other foms of Cebexian art.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=The Material Plane]Scholars collectively refer to Cebexia, the Underworld, and all of the places that can be physically reached by flying upwards from Cebexia (the Sun, the Moon, and the firmament) as the Material Plane. Physical travel between Cebexia and the Underworld is known to occasionally occur. Flight between Cebexia and the material realms above its surface, while theoretically possible, involves distances so vast that it is untenable in practice.

[spoiler=Cebexia]Cebexia is a spherical world with a diameter of roughly 26,000 miles. It rotates slightly upon its axis, with the Sun and the Moon each orbiting it. Cebexia is hollow, its closed surface having been stretched over the Underworld at the time of its creation. The Underworld is a vast machine that controls Cebexia's rotation, as well as the orbits of the Sun and the Moon.

Cebexia floats between the two planes of the firmament, anchored in place by the strands of ether that make up the Ethereal Plane. Cebexia's northern pole points in the direction of the Night Sky, which is 20,000 miles from the closest point on Cebexia. Cebexia's southern pole points to the Endless Plains, which are 12,000 miles distant. The expanse of the Endless Plains immediately beneath Cebexia is a vast sea that acts as a reflecting pool, projecting a slightly distorted image of the Night Sky back at Cebexia's southern hemisphere.

Cebexia's gravity well pulls creatures and objects towards the center of the World, and extends 8000 miles up from Cebexia's surface. Beyond this range, gravity is determined by the firmament, by the Sun, or by the Moon, depending upon one's relative location.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=The Firmament]The two planes of the firmament are the Night Sky above and the Endless Plains below. Gravity between the two surfaces is oriented accordingly, except in areas close to the surfaces of the Sun, the Moon, and Cebexia. Some mythologies describe the two planes of the firmament as parallel surfaces that extend forever in all directions. Others describe them as bowls that curve towards each other and eventually meet. Neither description has been definitively confirmed.

In any case, both the Endless Plains and the Night Sky are made of a midnight blue crystal that is invulnerable to damage, immune to all effects, and impassable by any means. On the Night Sky, stars made of luminous ether are somehow affixed to this crystalline surface, while on the Endless Plains, sediment and water have settled upon the crystalline ground to create land formations and seas that resemble those found on Cebexia.

The Endless Plains: This expanse marks the bottom of the known cosmos. The Endless Plains were the one time residence of the elder gods, and are still home to countless gardens and other opulent realms created by those bygone deities. Each such realm has its own distinct planar properties, weather patterns, and inhabitants. In all such realms, light is provided only by the stars in the Night Sky and by either the Sun or the Moon (whichever is not currently obscured behind Cebexia itself). Realms particularly distant from Cebexia's Sun and Moon are effectively regions of eternal night, kept warm only by the possible presence of elemental fire.

The Night Sky: The uppermost edge of the known cosmos, the Night Sky is a lonely place. Except for the stars, which are comprised of intangible ether, there is not much to be found here. Gravity perpetually pulls creatures and objects away from the surface of the Night Sky. Only in a region of the Ethereal Plane known as the House of the Zodiac can a creature actually stand next to its surface without falling.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=The Sun and the Moon]The Sun and the Moon are heavenly bodies that orbit Cebexia. Each has an approximate diameter of 100 miles and orbits at a distance of roughly 12,000 miles. With 30 miles of the surface of either, gravity pulls creatures and objects towards said surface with the same strength as gravity on Cebexia.

Both the Sun and the Moon produce their own light. The two heavenly bodies are always on opposite sides of Cebexia from one another, meaning that sunlight never reaches the Moon and moonlight never reaches the Sun.  Since the Sun and the Moon always have Cebexia between them, they never appear in the sky together and never eclipse one another. Likewise, the shadow of Cebexia upon the Moon does not cause the phases thereof.

However, solar and lunar eclipses do occur on Cebexia and the Moon does go through phases every twenty-eight days. Both phenomena are caused not by shadows, but by the aftereffects of magical smoke and mirrors that the trickster gods Krenshar and Raven used to banish the elder gods. Prior to that time, eclipses occurred whenever the elder gods had the whim to create such events and the Moon was always full.

Scholars hypothesize that the Sun is a solid ball of flame and water, its fiery radiance generated by the continual battle between those two opposing elements. Likewise, the Moon is great dust storm illuminated by perpetual ball lightning resulting from friction between raging winds and obstinate particles of earthen grit. Neither heavenly body is hospitable to humanoid life.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=The Underworld]A physical incarnation of the Great Loom upon which the elder gods wove the fabric of Cebexia, the Underworld is literally the machinery that keeps the World running. The workings of the Underworld manipulate the strands of ether that hold the Sun, the Moon, and Cebexia in place, causing those worlds to rotate. In this way, day, night, and the seasons are created and maintained.

At the heart of the Underworld is the Furnace, a raging duplicate of the Sun. Beyond that, the entirety of the Underworld is a vast clockwork machine made of crystal, metal, and stone. Labyrinthine warrens pass through inner workings of this Great Loom, revealing machinery so complex (and often built on so large a scale) that its exact methods are inscrutable to all but the demons that maintain its proper function.[/spoiler][/spoiler]
[spoiler=The Ethereal Plane]The Ethereal Plane is the underpinning that holds Cebexia, the Sun, and the Moon in place. Normally unseen, the Ethereal Plane overlaps and passes through each of the three worlds it holds in place. The Ethereal Plane also overlaps and passes through the Underworld, though everything in that place simultaneously exists on both the Material and the Ethereal Plane.

The Ethereal Plane does not penetrate the firmament that comprises the surfaces of the Endless Plains and the Night Sky, though the ethereal regions adjacent to these surfaces are important realms. The region of the Ethereal Plane just below the surface of the Night Sky is known as the House of the Zodiac and the region just above the surface of the Endless Plains is known as the Sea of Stars. Cosmological maps depict these two regions extending into the firmament itself because each is somehow anchored to the impenetrable surface, but actual travel through the firmament is impossible even on the Ethereal Plane.

[spoiler=The Ethereal Plane]Created by the elder gods to hold Sun, Moon, and Cebexia aloft, the Ethereal Plane has finite dimensions, existing only near those three material locations. For the most part, the Ethereal Plane is empty but for intangible strands of mist-like ether. Though these strands support the World, ethereal travelers are able to pass through them as easily as they are able to pass through objects only existing on the Material Plane, as though the ether were a material substance.

The few notable residents of the Ethereal Plane near Cebexia are several communities of archons. While most such ethereal beings reside in cities found in the House of the Zodiac, it is known to a handful of sages that no fewer than three archon fortresses float on the Ethereal Plane in the skies above Cebexia.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=The House of the Zodiac]While ethereal travelers are not able to pass through the firmament that makes up the surface of the Night Sky, they can visit the adjacent region of the Ethereal Plane known as the House of the Zodiac. In this region float countless ethereal fortress-cities manned by archons. While each fortress is able, through mysterious magic and technology provided by the elder gods, to move into other regions of the Ethereal Plane, most currently remain stationary in the House the Zodiac, their default location.

In the past, the ethereal fortresses of the archons were staging grounds for archon intervention on Cebexia, allowing the servants of the elder gods to move into position unseen. The archons based in the House of the Zodiac have curtailed their missions since the departure of the elder gods, but it is said that, in the end times known as the Age of Ehrune, the archons will again descend upon Cebexia. The archons will then use their floating ethereal cities as the cornerstone of an archon empire upon the shattered remnants of the World.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=The Sea of Stars]On the Endless Plains directly beneath Cebexia is a calm ocean that reflects the Night Sky. On the Material Plane, this so-called Sea of Stars is lifeless and dull. On the Ethereal Plane, however, the Sea of Stars is the residence of the world serpents. Drifting in the ethereal realm that overlaps the waters of this sea are the mansions of these enigmatic dragons.

Created by the elder gods, the world serpents are organized into a bureaucracy and tasked with generating all weather and all natural disasters that occur on Cebexia. Outside of performing this duty, the world serpents generally keep to themselves and remain aloof from other beings. Depending upon its personality, a given world serpent may offer visitors to its palace anything from polite hospitality to unprovoked violence. Beyond its interaction with visitors, each world serpent is entirely indifferent to the plight of other beings, manipulating weather and natural disasters with total impartiality.[/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler]
[spoiler=On Elements and Energy]Alchemists have identified five fundamental elements from which all matter is formed. These elements permeate the Material and Ethereal Planes, filling the space between the Night Sky and the Endless Plains. In different locations (and inside different objects) some elements are dominant while others are diluted, but all five elements are present, at least in trace amounts. A powerful source of energy known as the Animus also permeates existence.

[spoiler=The Five Elements]The five elements, traditionally listed by alchemists from lightest to heaviest, are void, fire, air, water, and earth. In addition to its normal, rarefied form, each element can also exist in a condensed form when isolated and altered by powerful natural forces.

Void: Everything that occupies space contains void. Only in areas where void is dominant does void take on the property of emptiness, and even then, this emptiness is deceptive: void is the substance from which all other elements condensed at the beginning of time. Condensed void is ether, the substance from which the elder gods created the Ethereal Plane.

Fire: Everything that has the capacity for heat, light, or combustion contains fire. Fire is almost never entirely dominant, instead occurring in diluted forms represented by burning or molten material. Pure fire is a superheated, air-like substance presumed to exist only in the heart of the Sun and other such locations. Condensed fire is a substance known as phlogiston, a type of magical coal whose existence was important to the development of clean-burning steam power.

Air: Including echoes and sounds as well as winds and gases, air exists as part of any substance that transfers sounds, conducts electricity, or vaporizes when heated. Pure air takes the form of howling, invisible winds. Though clouds are often described as forms of condensed air, alchemists are quick to point out that the true condensed form of elemental air is thunder.

Water: Every substance that can exist as a liquid at some temperature contains at least trace amounts of elemental water. All substances that are liquid at room temperature contain large amounts of elemental water, but only water itself is a pure elemental substance. As common knowledge would suggest, the condensed form of water is ice.

Earth: Every substance that has mass contains elemental earth, and sophisticated alchemical experiments suggest that even the vacuum of void-dominant has mass. Perhaps because it is the heaviest element, earth also has the most pure forms; every form of crystal and rock is a form of elemental earth. Metal is the condensed form of elemental earth, even in cases where a given metal is technically less dense than many forms of crystal or stone.

In addition to its other properties, each element corresponds to a phase of matter. Creatures and objects that are attuned to a given element's phase are able to move through that one element while largely ignoring the other four. The phases associated with the elements are often referred to as elemental planes of existence, and are usually discussed as though they were physical layers of reality.

In going with the description of these phases as layers, each such plane overlaps and fills the Material and Ethereal Planes. However, currents in the dominance of the elements cause locations on the elemental planes to shift with respect to other planes. For the most part, movement on an elemental plane does not meaningfully translate into movement on another plane; only specific elemental locations that line up with points on other planes remain in continuous contact with those points.

An exception to this general rule is the Elemental Plane of Void, also known as the Astral Plane. Unique among the elemental planes, points on the Astral Plane do correspond to specific, fixed points on the Material and Ethereal Planes, and creatures moving on the Astral Plane follow paths that exactly match paths on the Material and Ethereal Planes.

The Plane of Shadow: Also known as the Plane of Smoke and Mirrors, or just the Shadow, the Plane of Shadow is a demiplane inside the Plane of Void that occupies the area of that plane corresponding to Cebexia. The Shadow is the False World ruled by the elder gods, a pale reflection of Cebexia that is accessed by any whom enter the Astral Plane from locations on Cebexia itself. Instantaneous teleportation effects pass through the Shadow uneventfully, but astrally projected creatures can expect to encounter an entire False World instead of an empty corner of the Astral Plane.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Energy and the Animus] In addition to the five elements, the entirety of the Material and Ethereal Planes are continuously suffused with an energy known as the Animus. The Animus is the combined life-force of every being, a slumbering collective subconscious that ties all things together. In areas where the Animus has been disturbed, its dreams grow troubled and its normally wholesome, healing power instead becomes a lack (or a perversion) of normal life.

Thus containing both positive and negative energy in one, the Animus is an extremely powerful being/force. It is the Animus that fuels all magic and other supernatural powers, as well as all dreams and nightmares; the lives of all living beings, spirits in particular; and the existence of all constructs and undead. Though it is a living, dreaming being, the Animus is not currently sentient. However, doomsday prophecies claim that the Animus will be unbalanced and awakened during the end times known as the Age of Ehrune, at which point it will reflect the malice of a misguided World back upon Cebexia with willful intent.[/spoiler][/spoiler]
[spoiler=On Celestials and Fiends]The word "celestial"Â is used by planar scholars to identify beings native to realms that exist above and beyond the surface of Cebexia: the Sun, the Moon, the Night Sky, the Endless Plains, and other such places. By contrast, "fiend"Â is used to describe creatures native to the Underworld.

The most widely-known celestial and fiendish races are a handful of ancient and varied races that were originally created as servants of the elder gods. It was the elder gods who first attached a negative connotation to the word "fiend"Â after their servants in the Underworld rebelled; had the term "fiend"Â not already been identified with only the Underworld, they would likely have applied it and all of its negative connotation to rebellious celestials, as well. As it is, the celestials that rebelled at the end of the Elder Age avoided being lumped into the "fiendish" category.

Several of the most populous celestial and fiendish races are described below. Many others are known to exist, though they tend to be rarer and play lesser roles in the grand scheme of things.

Angels: The angels were the most powerful of the elder gods' celestial servants, but outside of mortals, they were also the servants afforded the greatest freedom of will. Accordingly, angels as a group were splintered into factions. A given angel might be found in the company of archons, Beasts, or wanderers, depending upon its personal sensibilities. Some fallen angels have also joined the ranks of the devils. In many of these varied cased, angels are leaders among their chosen kin.

Archons: While other celestials have dedicated themselves to the lessons of the animistic spirits or the revealed regions of the Greater Gods, archons remain loyal to the elder gods and see themselves as the true stewards of reality. Archons are sworn to dutifully uphold the law, to defend the celestial holdings of the elder gods, and to keep the secrets of the elder gods safe from mortals who would plunder them. Though archons are pinnacles of what they term "Good," they also share the elder gods' view that mortal beings are lower life forms no better than cattle. Accordingly, their "goodly"Â dealings with mortals tend to be harsh and uncaring.

Beasts: Also called graa'shama to distinguish them from other kinds of beastial creatures, the servants of the elder gods referred to as Beasts are the animalistic celestials that eventually joined the trickster gods Krenshar and Raven in questioning the intentions of their masters. Moreso than other celestials, Beasts make sojourns to Cebexia to check upon the welfare of the mortal races, which they helped to liberate. Beasts include such celestials as avorals and leonals, though hound archons are a notable example of animalistic celestials that did not join the ranks of the Beasts.

Demons: The hardest worked servants of the elder gods, demons were the fiends originally tasked with maintaining the machinery of the Underworld. Appropriate to their purpose, demons have an amazing work ethic. Unfortunately for the elder gods, this work ethic was eventually aimed at earning freedom for demonkind. Ironically, had demons simply been allowed to choose their path, most would have remained at work in the Underworld. Instead, demons were denied their demands, and driven to a path of rebellion, first against the loyal servants of the elder gods, and later against the devilish overseers that took their place. Once a kind-hearted, hard-working people, demons have since been consumed by bitterness and rage at the world as a whole, making them a dangerous, often needlessly hostile, people.

Devils: When the elder gods were banished, the archons eventually drove the rebellious demons back into the Underworld. Those archons that took up residence there to act as warden and overseers for the imprisoned demons became the fiends known as devils. Centuries of ruthless demon revolts â,¬' and equally ruthless suppression of those revolts â,¬' has hardened and twisted most devils. Where they were once intent upon law and order, devils have now come to appreciate brutal oppression, and the rewards they can reap from its imposition. Even the goals of the celestial archons have paled in the eyes of the Underworld's overseers, and they have since become obsessed with the imposition of their own world order upon the cosmos, opposing even the efforts of the archons.

Inevitables: Inevitables are constructs created by archons to enforce the laws of the cosmos, as outlined by the elder gods. Though not created directly by the elder gods themselves, the inevitables are products of the same deific magic and technology that produced the other servants of the elder gods. The fact that the archons are able to control such magic and technology despite the absence of their masters speaks volumes about the capabilities of the archons. The reason that devils have not also produced inevitables remains a mystery; perhaps they have their own secrets constructs, or perhaps they are too busy oppressing the demons to have time for such endeavors.

Wanderers: Not all servants of the elder gods fought for or against their masters. These apolitical celestials, once free of elder gods' demands, drifted away from worldly concerns to engage in all manners of well-meaning revelry. Kind by nature and slightly anarchic, these celestials are known as wanderers. Found primarily on the Endless Plains, wanderers include such celestials as bralani and ghaele. For the most part, wanderers pursue nothing both their own hedonistic delight, though they reserve a righteous anger towards those who would oppress others, and are sometime driven to oppose such factions.[/spoiler][/ic]

The above material is original content created for the world of Cebexia.

[Epic Meepo]

[ooc]Please direct comments on the community world described above to the Cebexia discussion thread.[/ooc]