Abandonment (tentative title)

[Numinous]

Two suggestions based on real world history that might work for Eritas.  A rebellious colony of some other nation would be a great origin for the country, perhaps it was part of the empire originally, and removed itself via secession due to either ideals or greater profits.

For government, a council of the wealthy is a common and decent ruling system, or perhaps provinces within the regions are ruled by merchant princes in a matter similar to renaissance Italy.

As always, they are suggestions and nothing more, do with them as you will.

EDIT: Another idea for the origin of Eritas, and perhaps more mysterious, is that they were tribal humans who left the coastal forests and went into trade, rising out of barbarism.  The mystery rises form the fact that they were there before the humans from the old god-inhabited world.  Explorers might seek to uncover ancient treasures of the people inland of the region, or seek knowledge on their origin purely for scholastic purposes.

[Sarandosil]

New map outline. Black areas are mountain ranges.

I have no idea about geography, so I have no idea if the location of the mountains is realistic in the least, but it's crafted to minimize the amount of land the empire has that touches water. I liked the idea of them struggling to establish somewhere where they can build a port and produce naval warships. The map is also less squarish, which I like more.

 [spoiler] [/spoiler]

Not sure if I'll run with this design but it's closer to what I have in mind.

[Sarandosil]

For government, a council of the wealthy is a common and decent ruling system, or perhaps provinces within the regions are ruled by merchant princes in a matter similar to renaissance Italy.

EDIT: Another idea for the origin of Eritas, and perhaps more mysterious, is that they were tribal humans who left the coastal forests and went into trade, rising out of barbarism.  The mystery rises form the fact that they were there before the humans from the old god-inhabited world.

I like both of these suggestions actually. I think I'll look up some history on italy and see if it strikes my fancy, but it seems in line with what I had in mind for Eritas. I always envisioned it as a very commerce oriented country.

[Sarandosil]

Like everything else, this is under heavy construction. I'm aware that there's a half elemental template in the manual of the planes, but it sucks. This is better.

Creating a Half-Elemental Creature

"Half-Elemental" is a template that can be added to any corporeal creature.

Size and Type: The creature's type changes to outsider. A Half Elemental uses the base creature's abilities and statistics except as noted here.

Special Qualities: A Half-Elemental retains all the special qualities of the base creature and also gains the following qualities depending on the father element.

Half Water Elemental

- Darkvision 60ft
- +4 racial bonus on fortitude saves versus poison
- Immune to water based disease and effects
- Underwater Breathing
- Swim speed 30ft
- Water Mastery: A Half Water Elemental feels at home in water, and gains a +1 morale bonus to attacks and saves while submerged.
- Elemental Nature: A Half Water Elemental gains a + 2 circumstance modifier on all charisma based skill and ability checks when interacting with a creature with the water elemental subtype and other Half Water Elementals.

Half Earth Elemental

- Darkvision 60ft
- +4 racial bonus on fortitude saves versus poison
- Burrow (does this need a speed? 30ft?)
- Earth Mastery: A Half Earth Elemental feels at home on the ground, and gains a +1 morale bonus to attacks and saves while on ground.
- Elemental Nature: A Half Earth Elemental gains a + 2 circumstance modifier on all charisma based skill and ability checks when interacting with a creature with the earth elemental subtype and other Half Earth Elementals.

Half Air Elemental

- Darkvision 60ft
- +4 racial bonus on fortitude saves versus poison
- Fly 30ft (good)
- Air Mastery: A Half Air Elemental feels at home in the air, and gains a +1 morale bonus to attacks and saves while in flight.
- Elemental Nature: A Half Air Elemental gains a + 2 circumstance modifier on all charisma based skill and ability checks when interacting with a creature with the air elemental subtype and other Half Air Elementals.

Half Fire Elemental

- Darkvision 60ft
- +4 racial bonus on fortitude saves versus poison
- Ignite: A Half Fire Elemental can ignite himself on fire once per day, causing 1d4 damage/level to all those around him (5 ft range, anyone in his square basically. Good for grappling) (and suffers no harm from the effect himself).
- Elemental Nature: A Half Fire Elemental gains a + 2 circumstance modifier on all charisma based skill and ability checks when interacting with a creature with the fire elemental subtype and other Half Fire Elementals.

Environment: Same as Base creature
Challenge Rating: Feedback Requested
Alignment:Usually true neutral.
Level Adjustment: Feedback requested

[Sarandosil]

Elementals

Under construction, just like everything else.

[spoiler=History]Elementals are native to the New World in the same sense that elementals are native to every world world. Elements are the building blocks of existence, and elementals are these building blocks given consciousness. No one know why or how it happens, but new elementals seem to come into existence at a uniform rate.

Some have theorised that elementals are the children of a cosmic consciousness that spans all known existence, that sometimes parts of this consciousness breaks off and becomes self contained. Others theories hold that when someone dies, their soul returns to the earth to become one with the world, and elementals are tormented souls that could not leave their former life behind. Some, naturally, have taken the question directly to the elementals, however asking an elemental where he came from generally results in a long, verbose tirade about the nature of existence and is generally regarded as a futile move.[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Society] Elementals are beings without needs or wants, living in seeming harmony with their enviornments. They are not solitary out of strict individualism, but out of no neccesity to associate with other elementals or other races. Nevertheless, some uniformity of culture and ideas exists between elementals of all types.

There are three castes of elementals. The dormant, self absorbed and worldly. Dormant elementals have little intelligence to speak of, they seem to simply exist in their enviornment, wandering  for eternity. Witnessing a dormant elemental speaking is a rare sight indeed. They seem to be completly oblivious to their surroundings.

The self absorbed and wordly elementals view the dormant with a special kind of religious reverence. Each elemental feels the pull of nature, a desire to return to their element and be fully absorbed, to return to a state of unconsciousness. Opposite this desire is the inability to let go of their consciousness. The dormant are believed to be those elementals closest to unity with nature, and so are treated with the utmost respect and kindness by other elementals.

The self absorbed are intelligent, but are caught much more fiercely in the battle between the desire for disintigration and the desire to exist as a self. They will interact with other elementals and species if confronted, but generally spend their days wandering and meditating within their own element.

The worldly are those elementals that have accepted the dichotomy of their existence and seek to make the most of their conscious life. These elementals will have desires, opinions, and motivations much like a human, and will generally involve themselves in the dealings of other races. In this world, most have sided with Loria against the Human Empire, as the empire believes elementals to be an abomination of nature worthy of extermination.[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Language]All elementals speak the language of their father element (auran, aquan, ignan terran), as well as Elemental, a common language shared by all elementals.

Worldly elementals often speak common and other languages found in their regions, as well as a number of esoteric ones. Due to their long lifespans, elementals have often been found to know ancient languages that have long since been abandoned.

Most scholars agree that the four element languages are innate to elemental creatures, as no dialects have been discovered in the myriad of planes that contain elemental creatures.

Elementals regard each of their languages as an expression of their element, and generally refer to the language Elemental as the music of existence. [/spoiler]


[spoiler=Elementals as player characters]Coming soon[/spoiler]