TheKoalaNxtDoor
2012-03-02, 12:57 PM
Hello! Avathear is a setting that me and anouther member, Ravian, have been pulling together in the last few weeks. We hope you enjoy it, and if things go together properly, then I may DM a PbP set in Avathear when everything is worked out. Now, i'll give you a brief description of Avathear, along with some distinguishing characteristics that set it apart from other settings.
1) EVERYTHING IS HEAVILY INFLUENCED BY THE FEY POWERS.
Fey are powerful and mysterious beings who constantly interfear with the affairs of mortals. They are very tricky, very clever, and generally fickle, strange, and highly dangerous. They are things to be feared.
2) THE WORLD IS ENTIRELY FEUDEL.
With the exception of the southern desert (more on that later), there are no kings with their kingdoms or emperors with their empires. The land is divided up into "Realms" lead by fuedel lords. There are very few things that qualify as "Cities" in Avathear, with most lord's realms consisting mainly of their keep and the surronding town, their knight's manors and THEIR surronding villages, and the occasional hamlet in between. If rescuing the princess and getting rewarded with a place in the king's royal court is your thing, then unless you can settle for rescuing some backwater lord's daughter and becoming a knight of some realm no-one has ever heard of, you'd better head off, because Avathear is not the place for you.
3) THE GODS ARE DUELISTIC, DISTANT, AND GENERALLY UNCARING. There are only two known gods, who are called Kalen and Jour. Neither are necissarily good or evil. They don't particularly care about their worshippers or creations because they are too busy creating entire universes somewhere else. Divine worshippers can still channel their energy from the left-over power from their last great intervention (with the exception of invokers, who do not exist because they have to obtain power directly from their gods). Here, religions are not divided up by what god you worship, but more on your interpretations of their teachings. Kalen and Jour both have about four powerful and well-known churches each, and there are plenty of smaller, obscure churches as well. There is a religion based on the teachings of a philosepher who has arrived in the south from across the seas, but i'll get to her later.
4) THE PSIONIC POWERS DO NOT EXIST.
With the exception of monks, who are now divine with religion as a base skill, there is no power of the mind. No real reason for this, it mainly just seemed like far too much of a hassle to incorperate. The point is, it doesn't exist, ad i'm not adding it due to personal preferances, so don't bring it up.
5) PRIMAL SPIRITS HAVE BEEN MOSTLY DRIVIN OUT BY THE FEY.
The spirits only exist in secluded and sacred locations, except in the northern wastes and isles, where they rein free. The primal forces are even more unorganized then they are normally. There aren't really any druid circles or gatherings of primal warriors, the north being the exception. Most druids and shamans have realtions with a single primal spirit, and probably don't know any other primal worshippers, besides a master or student, unless, of course you are from the north. Primal characters have a very close relation witrh a single spirit, almost like having your own personal god. Shamans are an obvious example with their spirit companions, but barbarians, for example, only draw from a single, many-formed spirit when they rage. There is a heavy focus on ancestor worship among primal worshipers.
6) THE ARCANE POWERS ARE GOVERNED BY A STRANGE, FEY FORCE KNOWN AS "LEYLINES."
Leylines are threads of magic woven by the fey, that run like rivers through the physical realm. They act in strange ways, and are seldom permanent. Wizards get their power from manipulating certain types of leylines by pulling them closer and directing them. Sorcerors are children who were born on a leyline, or born at the same moment when a fey spirit created a large and powerful one. They basicly ARE leylines in a sort of living form. Leylines are inside of them, giving them strange and powerful magic. Bards use magical songs and tunes to weave tiny little leylines of their own, and using these leylines to empower their friends and jinx their enemies. Warlocks aren't really connected with leylines, but still make pacts exclusively to different types of fey. Artificers and swordmages don't exist, just because we can't really figure out where they would come in.
So yeah, that's it for an introduction. Now, how about a brief history of the creation of the world?
The Creation and the first inhabitants:
When Jour and Kalen created this realm, they intended it to be a world of balance between their respective domains. Previous worlds were formed from brief ideas by one god or another, and rarely amounted to much. For this world, they created a mirror to accompany it, which they called Faerie, or the mirror realm. In these two mirroring worlds, they created a trio of beings to inhabit them, each a mixture of the twin gods' traits, but typically favoring one over the other. Fully in the Physical realm they created the Dragons, powerful beasts with a Jourite desire to rule combined with the Kalenian passion for personal power. Fully in the Mirror realm were the first Fey, who's capricious natures were balanced by an inscruitable system of rules and honor. Between these worlds the gods created the primal spirits, not fully in one world but influencing both. These spirits were wild like Kalen, but wished to guide others like Jour. Admiring these three first races they had formed, the twin gods decided to grant each one gift, so they might remain content in the two worlds. The Dragons asked for an empire, so they might rule the physical realm as overlords, and so the ancient empire of Drykania was founded. The fey asked for the secrets of magic, so they might hold fantastic powers beyond the natural laws, and so they were given the power to weave the arcane ley lines. The Primal spirits, however had a humbler request, seeking some beings of their own to guide, they asked for Mortal races, and so the races of Men, Dwarves, Goblins and other such beings emerged. Jour and Kalen, content that the two worlds would be handeled by the three first races, left the two worlds to pursuse other projects. The other beings laughed at the spirits supposed squandering of their gift, but soon found that the Spirits had gotten the best end of the bargain. For Drykania was an empire without subjects, and the Fey had grown bored with no one to test their arcane powers upon. The Fey decided to consent themselves to asking the Primal spirits for mortals of their own, the Spirits agreed, but asked in return that the Fey bridge the gap between the two worlds with their magic, for the Spirits wished to cross fully into the realms they inhabited. The agreement was signed by both parties, and so some mortals were given to the fey, who shaped them with their magic into reflections more like themselves, so forming the lesser fey races, including the Boggles, the Satyrs, the Dryads, and the Pixies. Throughout the worlds, fey crossings emerged, becoming sites where the fey and mortals might mingle freely, so began the first Fey-Spirit alliance. The dragons however were too proud to submit themselves to beg for mortals, and so from their ancient cities in the south, Drykania declared open war against the mortal realms and tribes, quickly annexing several groups of mortals and ruling them through fear and intimidation. So began the war of Wings and Scales.
The Dragon War, The Elf queen and the first fall:
The empire of Drykania fought tooth and nail in the war, demanding nothing less than total domination of the Physical world. The primal spirits tried to help their mortals as best they could with their evocations, but they simply lacked the raw power of the dragons. The spirits pleaded for the aid of the Fey in the conflict, so that their magic might turn the tide, but the Fey were reluctant, fearing that if they dispensed Arcane power so freely then mortals might usurp them as masters of the magical arts. One fey however had other ideas. This fey, who's name has been forgotten through the ages, went directly to the empire of Drykania, offering the Dragons arcane power to guarantee them victory, the fey only asked for one thing in return, that after conquering the physical world, they would move on to Faerie and give the mirror realm to the traitorous fey himself. The Dragons agreed, and at the fey's request gathered the most power-hungry mortals of their realm. In eight nights of unspeakable rites, these participants swore a pact to the fey, binding themselves as reflections of the fey lord, and given a measure of his might to use for themselves. These were the first warlocks and the founding members of the race of tieflings. It was at this point when the other Fey, burning with rage at the betrayel and fearful that their realm might be next, fully entered the war. Spying a single mortal realm, who's queen, Elviandra possessed the grace and cunning the fey admired, the fey lords first spread out their skein of Ley lines through the crossings into the physical world and taught this ancient realm the secrets to harnessing them, the secrets of Wizardry. Such secrets changed the queen and her people, making them more like the fey in life span, appearance and demeanor, and this new race named themselves the Elves, after their fair queen.
The war raged for generations, with no side clearly gaining the upper hand in the conflict. The fighting was so great that a new world formed to hold the souls of the dead, the Umbar, connected yet seperate from both of the worlds. The dragons, in their desire to turn the tide once more in their favor, had the Tieflings shape a new race of warriors in the dragons' image. This race, the Dragonborn, served the dragons as a mighty force on the battlefields, until one amongst them, a charimatic warrior named Harif Modamesh, realizing that the Dragons were but petty tyrants, urged his brethren to rebel against the overlords, and join the other mortals in shattering Drykania. The enraged dragons found that the tide was turning against them and that they might lose their empire to the mortals.
Meanwhile the traitor fey and his tieflings slunk off, hoping to avoid retribution from the other fey. However they did not escape from the angry fey, who cast the traitor from their ranks, and so warped him into a personification of his black heart, the first devil. The tieflings, as reflections of the traitor, fell themselves, and quickly deserted their fallen master, but could not shake the marks of their sins. The new devil, who was forever after known as the Blackhearted, hid himself deep beneath the physical world to plot his revenge against the fey who had cast him out, in time his bitterness further corrupted him, and he fell further and further from grace, until he bore not a semblance of his former self, no longer remembering anything but his hate of the fey, the mortals, everything. To this day the Blackhearted lives as the eldest Demon, raging against his fate deep beneath the earth.
The dragons angrily declared that if they could not rule this world, nobody could. They set off to destroy the physical world, and perhaps even faerie. However it was at this point that Jour and Kalen, noticing what had transpired in their absense from the two worlds, and so chose to intervene. Using their incredible divine power, the twin gods shattered the Dragons' power, and drove them throughout the land, where they still brood over their lost empire to this day. They then gave custody of the physical world fully to the Spirits, who they felt could most effectively guide the mortals while not ruling over them. Many mortals, astounded by the gods' deific power, wished to worship them. The gods, while flattered by the devotion showed by the mortals, did not wish to get so involved in the workings of the two worlds, and so briefly informed the mortals of their ideals and left them to do as they might. But they misjudged their devotion, which was so great that they themselves learned to wield the power of their God. So ended the War of Wings and Scales
The Shattering of the alliance, and the rise of the divine:
At first the churches started out small, The Sole Church of Jour and the Kalenic circles of Freedom forming to spread the teachings of the twin gods throughout the realm, however without the Gods to guide them and with a burning fantacism among the first worshippers, dogma and interpretations quickly formed. Among the Jourites a self-proclaimed prophet by the name of Naravist spread his teachings of aid and retribution, forming the Naravistan church of Jour. These worshippers were considered heretics by the Sole Church, but nevertheless the Naravistans gained a firm foothold among the common people and so proved difficult to root out. Among the Kalenians, new orders came and went none as permanent as the circles of Freedom. However a rare few maintained themselves through the years. The Circle of the Unyielding Art developed among a guild of Warriors and soon became one of the most widespread Kalenic traditions in Avathear. The Kalenian chapters of unity emerged as a backlash against the strict Naravistian churches, the two sides remaining rivals ever since. Finally the Disciples of Shattered order emrged as an extreme faction among the Circles of freedom and maintained scattered cells of anarchists throughout the region.
The Primal spirits initially figured the churches to be a passing flight, until the devoted began to gain powers of their own. Somehow, the Spirits theorized, the intervention must have left remnants of the Gods' power throughout the world, that the devoted could access through pure faith. As these orders spread throughout the land, many realms and their rulers turned away from the old ways of the spirits and ancestors, recognizing Divine power as a potent tool and weapon upon their people and enemies. Only in the far north among the hardy nomadic Kree-Ac tribes, too isolated from the mainland realms to be easily reached by the new missionaries, did the old ways stay strong. Elsewhere, only scattered shrines, rare remote tribes and whispered legends served as reminders of the original stewards of mortals.
As the Fey looked upon this development they saw a potential to become a dominant force in both worlds, The Spirits were weakened, the Dragons' reign shattered, but they remained the greatest masters of the Arcane arts. There remained but one threat to their rise, the Elves. Once favored in the eyes of the Fey, the kingdom of the Elves had remained strong since the War of Wings and Scales and their prowess at Wizardry unmatched. Among their mighty cities schools and academies even formed to teach new generations the arts Arcane. Seeing such a force as their only threat, the Fey enacted their most infamous act in history, The night of silenced cries. In one single night, the fey, through agents and magic, stole children and babes from the Elf Kingdom and nearby human realms alike, especially in the Northern heaths of the Avathearian mainland. Morning found mass hysteria and confusion, and scattered hints pointing at the Elf kingdom's involvement. In a terrible battle, the Elf kingdom was shattered, their high king and his line lying dead, before the confusion could be sorted out, so began the widespread mortal distrust of the fey and their ways, although among the realms of the heaths, who fought the fiercest against the Elves, a general suspicon remains upon the elves.
Following their kingdom's fall, the Elves scattered into clans based upon the ancient noble lines. They lost much of their secrets on wizardry, and most turned to a tribal life of hunting and herding through the forests of Avathear, old customs from their lost days remain in a degraded form, resulting in an confusing system of honor, taboos and traditions among the Elf tribes today.
More later
Some information on the two gods, Kalen and Jour, and their subjects.
The Gods and their Teachings:
Kalen teaches his followers to aspire to be the best that they possibly can be. He tells them to hone their skills to the finest edges they can, to aquire power to better themselves, and to be as free as the wind. Churches and their interpretations of Kalen follow.
The Circle of the Unyielding Heart stresses personal achievement and personal skill to master a certain craft. Common among warriors and mages who want to be the perfect fighter/spellcaster, and also among craft guilds that aspire to make the finest items of their craft.
The Kalenian Chapters of Unity is the most organized of the churches of Kalen (not saying much), and may actually have temples. Their diciples strive to achieve individual strength, and when they have, they try to help others achieve individual strength as well, by healing, teaching, and helping others.
The Kalenic Circles of Freedom is a very disorganized church whos symbol is an eagle, whcih they believe is the most free of all animals. They are very devoted to personal freedoms and individual rights.
The Diciples of Shattered Order is a very extreme church, and believes society is inheritly flawed and that order is a tool of the power-hungry and wicked that must be destroyed wherever it exists. Mostly crazy anarchists.
Jour teaches his followers to strive for unity and a utopian society. He tells his disciples to put society before yourself, and build and create the perfect world. His major churches go as follows.
The Sole Church of Jour is the first church of Jour ever founded, and is very dogmatic. They want to unit the land in a single utopia, but are intolerant to other views on what Jour wants. Enjoys accusing others of heresy. There are two splinter groups from the sole church, described below.
The Order of the Guiding Hand believes that Utopia cannot be forced but must be slowly guided and nudged along. Not as dogmatic, but very manipulative.
The Church of Final Peace believes that Utopia MUST be forced, or it will never happen. They preach of domination for the church and fanatacismto Jour for its followers, because we can't all be leaders. Common in Tyranny and dictatorships.
The 4th church of Jour is not connect with the Sole church, and is called the Naravistan Church of Jour, named after the prophet Naravist. It is less focused on Utopia, more focused on helping poeple with their curent problems. They are mostly monastic healers, but Naravist also believes that a person's problems cannot be fully solved without the punishment of the problem causer. Where there is a victim that must be helped, somewhere there is a criminal responsible that must be punished. So the church is made up of monkish healers and angry avengers.
The Umber, Faerie, the Spirit world, and Hell.
Here is some information on different planes of Avathear, and a few things that aren't actually planes, but might as well be.
The Umber The Umber is sort of like Avathear's shadowfell. It was created during the war of wings and scales to hold all the newly deacesed. Unless you happened to be a devoted ancestor worshipper, or have sold your soul to evil forces, when you die, you're probably going to end up in The Umber. Gods and worship don't really have an effect on where you go when you die, although their churches will have you believe otherwise. The fey that live in the Umber, the Umber fey, try to deliver some sort of judgment to their evil and wicked charges, and try to help reward the good ones. But because so many people are in the umber, and there aren't a lot of umber fey, most gifts and punishments are package deal sort of things, and are applied to large groups at once without thourogh checking to see if evryone deserves what they get. The Umber is sort of like a big, purple foggy cave, with billions of people just standing around. Their isn't really anything to do, but luckily, certain aspects change about yourself when you die. For one, you become transparent, sort of made up of fog, and are difficult to recognize. Time also passes much more slowly. A soul in the umber who decides to pause a moment in their actions might stand in the same place for years before continuing, without noticing the time that has passed. Souls in the Umber spend most of thier time looking for dead family memebers, which is difficult to do because they all look very similar. The nicer umber fey may attempt to guide good souls to their family members, and keep bad ones away from thiers.
The Spirit World The Spirit world is where you go if you were a good ancestor worshipper who followed the ways of the primal spirits. It's basicly just like normal life, but without trouble and hardship. However, if you are a warrior, you may be asked to help in the spirit war against the fey, constantly battleing to keep them out of the small realm that the spirits call home. The war has raged to an all time high in the last few centurys, contributing to the raging northern seas that is the battleground of spirit and fey.
Faerie Not much to say, it's generally similar to the feywild, just more magical (if that's possible) The fey are less likely to help you, no mortals live their (besides certain types of lesser fey) and it is earily beautiful.
Hell Ok, it's not actually a plane, it just exists ubsurdly deep beneath the earth. This is where the fey send the ones who break their strange and sacred rules. Those fey become fallen fey, and take on an evil appearence. They become devils, terrible and cunning creatures even more tricky and wicked then normal fey. At first, they retain most of their fey-like appearences and natures, but as they grow older, and get more distant from faerie, their bodys warp into something uglier, and uglier. They lose much of their cunning, and become brutish and more violent, until they are no longer devils, and become demons.
Some re-fluffing of certain arcane classes
Wizards- Wizards are uncommon in Avathear. They do not exist in abundance, are very rare, and generally quite powerful. Instead of schools of wizardry with tons of pupils and teachers, like in Harry potter, think more along the lines of the wizards of Lord of the Rings, or merlin. A low level wizard may be a rare apprentice that an old wizard of some lonely tower takes on every three hundred and third year, or a wanderer who stumbled across an abandoned magic library, and studied for years to understand the complex ways of manipulating Leylines. Or they may be a once-great wizard, drained of his power by a rival wizard, seeking revenge.
Some re-fluffing of certain arcane classes
Wizards- Wizards are uncommon in Avathear. They do not exist in abundance, are very rare, and generally quite powerful. Instead of schools of wizardry with tons of pupils and teachers, like in Harry potter, think more along the lines of the wizards of Lord of the Rings, or merlin. A low level wizard may be a rare apprentice that an old wizard of some lonely tower takes on every three hundred and third year, or a wanderer who stumbled across an abandoned magic library, and studied for years to understand the complex ways of manipulating Leylines. Or they may be a once-great wizard, drained of his power by a rival wizard, seeking revenge.
In a hurry, that's all i can put down right now.
In a hurry, that's all i can put down right now.
More later
1) EVERYTHING IS HEAVILY INFLUENCED BY THE FEY POWERS.
Fey are powerful and mysterious beings who constantly interfear with the affairs of mortals. They are very tricky, very clever, and generally fickle, strange, and highly dangerous. They are things to be feared.
2) THE WORLD IS ENTIRELY FEUDEL.
With the exception of the southern desert (more on that later), there are no kings with their kingdoms or emperors with their empires. The land is divided up into "Realms" lead by fuedel lords. There are very few things that qualify as "Cities" in Avathear, with most lord's realms consisting mainly of their keep and the surronding town, their knight's manors and THEIR surronding villages, and the occasional hamlet in between. If rescuing the princess and getting rewarded with a place in the king's royal court is your thing, then unless you can settle for rescuing some backwater lord's daughter and becoming a knight of some realm no-one has ever heard of, you'd better head off, because Avathear is not the place for you.
3) THE GODS ARE DUELISTIC, DISTANT, AND GENERALLY UNCARING. There are only two known gods, who are called Kalen and Jour. Neither are necissarily good or evil. They don't particularly care about their worshippers or creations because they are too busy creating entire universes somewhere else. Divine worshippers can still channel their energy from the left-over power from their last great intervention (with the exception of invokers, who do not exist because they have to obtain power directly from their gods). Here, religions are not divided up by what god you worship, but more on your interpretations of their teachings. Kalen and Jour both have about four powerful and well-known churches each, and there are plenty of smaller, obscure churches as well. There is a religion based on the teachings of a philosepher who has arrived in the south from across the seas, but i'll get to her later.
4) THE PSIONIC POWERS DO NOT EXIST.
With the exception of monks, who are now divine with religion as a base skill, there is no power of the mind. No real reason for this, it mainly just seemed like far too much of a hassle to incorperate. The point is, it doesn't exist, ad i'm not adding it due to personal preferances, so don't bring it up.
5) PRIMAL SPIRITS HAVE BEEN MOSTLY DRIVIN OUT BY THE FEY.
The spirits only exist in secluded and sacred locations, except in the northern wastes and isles, where they rein free. The primal forces are even more unorganized then they are normally. There aren't really any druid circles or gatherings of primal warriors, the north being the exception. Most druids and shamans have realtions with a single primal spirit, and probably don't know any other primal worshippers, besides a master or student, unless, of course you are from the north. Primal characters have a very close relation witrh a single spirit, almost like having your own personal god. Shamans are an obvious example with their spirit companions, but barbarians, for example, only draw from a single, many-formed spirit when they rage. There is a heavy focus on ancestor worship among primal worshipers.
6) THE ARCANE POWERS ARE GOVERNED BY A STRANGE, FEY FORCE KNOWN AS "LEYLINES."
Leylines are threads of magic woven by the fey, that run like rivers through the physical realm. They act in strange ways, and are seldom permanent. Wizards get their power from manipulating certain types of leylines by pulling them closer and directing them. Sorcerors are children who were born on a leyline, or born at the same moment when a fey spirit created a large and powerful one. They basicly ARE leylines in a sort of living form. Leylines are inside of them, giving them strange and powerful magic. Bards use magical songs and tunes to weave tiny little leylines of their own, and using these leylines to empower their friends and jinx their enemies. Warlocks aren't really connected with leylines, but still make pacts exclusively to different types of fey. Artificers and swordmages don't exist, just because we can't really figure out where they would come in.
So yeah, that's it for an introduction. Now, how about a brief history of the creation of the world?
The Creation and the first inhabitants:
When Jour and Kalen created this realm, they intended it to be a world of balance between their respective domains. Previous worlds were formed from brief ideas by one god or another, and rarely amounted to much. For this world, they created a mirror to accompany it, which they called Faerie, or the mirror realm. In these two mirroring worlds, they created a trio of beings to inhabit them, each a mixture of the twin gods' traits, but typically favoring one over the other. Fully in the Physical realm they created the Dragons, powerful beasts with a Jourite desire to rule combined with the Kalenian passion for personal power. Fully in the Mirror realm were the first Fey, who's capricious natures were balanced by an inscruitable system of rules and honor. Between these worlds the gods created the primal spirits, not fully in one world but influencing both. These spirits were wild like Kalen, but wished to guide others like Jour. Admiring these three first races they had formed, the twin gods decided to grant each one gift, so they might remain content in the two worlds. The Dragons asked for an empire, so they might rule the physical realm as overlords, and so the ancient empire of Drykania was founded. The fey asked for the secrets of magic, so they might hold fantastic powers beyond the natural laws, and so they were given the power to weave the arcane ley lines. The Primal spirits, however had a humbler request, seeking some beings of their own to guide, they asked for Mortal races, and so the races of Men, Dwarves, Goblins and other such beings emerged. Jour and Kalen, content that the two worlds would be handeled by the three first races, left the two worlds to pursuse other projects. The other beings laughed at the spirits supposed squandering of their gift, but soon found that the Spirits had gotten the best end of the bargain. For Drykania was an empire without subjects, and the Fey had grown bored with no one to test their arcane powers upon. The Fey decided to consent themselves to asking the Primal spirits for mortals of their own, the Spirits agreed, but asked in return that the Fey bridge the gap between the two worlds with their magic, for the Spirits wished to cross fully into the realms they inhabited. The agreement was signed by both parties, and so some mortals were given to the fey, who shaped them with their magic into reflections more like themselves, so forming the lesser fey races, including the Boggles, the Satyrs, the Dryads, and the Pixies. Throughout the worlds, fey crossings emerged, becoming sites where the fey and mortals might mingle freely, so began the first Fey-Spirit alliance. The dragons however were too proud to submit themselves to beg for mortals, and so from their ancient cities in the south, Drykania declared open war against the mortal realms and tribes, quickly annexing several groups of mortals and ruling them through fear and intimidation. So began the war of Wings and Scales.
The Dragon War, The Elf queen and the first fall:
The empire of Drykania fought tooth and nail in the war, demanding nothing less than total domination of the Physical world. The primal spirits tried to help their mortals as best they could with their evocations, but they simply lacked the raw power of the dragons. The spirits pleaded for the aid of the Fey in the conflict, so that their magic might turn the tide, but the Fey were reluctant, fearing that if they dispensed Arcane power so freely then mortals might usurp them as masters of the magical arts. One fey however had other ideas. This fey, who's name has been forgotten through the ages, went directly to the empire of Drykania, offering the Dragons arcane power to guarantee them victory, the fey only asked for one thing in return, that after conquering the physical world, they would move on to Faerie and give the mirror realm to the traitorous fey himself. The Dragons agreed, and at the fey's request gathered the most power-hungry mortals of their realm. In eight nights of unspeakable rites, these participants swore a pact to the fey, binding themselves as reflections of the fey lord, and given a measure of his might to use for themselves. These were the first warlocks and the founding members of the race of tieflings. It was at this point when the other Fey, burning with rage at the betrayel and fearful that their realm might be next, fully entered the war. Spying a single mortal realm, who's queen, Elviandra possessed the grace and cunning the fey admired, the fey lords first spread out their skein of Ley lines through the crossings into the physical world and taught this ancient realm the secrets to harnessing them, the secrets of Wizardry. Such secrets changed the queen and her people, making them more like the fey in life span, appearance and demeanor, and this new race named themselves the Elves, after their fair queen.
The war raged for generations, with no side clearly gaining the upper hand in the conflict. The fighting was so great that a new world formed to hold the souls of the dead, the Umbar, connected yet seperate from both of the worlds. The dragons, in their desire to turn the tide once more in their favor, had the Tieflings shape a new race of warriors in the dragons' image. This race, the Dragonborn, served the dragons as a mighty force on the battlefields, until one amongst them, a charimatic warrior named Harif Modamesh, realizing that the Dragons were but petty tyrants, urged his brethren to rebel against the overlords, and join the other mortals in shattering Drykania. The enraged dragons found that the tide was turning against them and that they might lose their empire to the mortals.
Meanwhile the traitor fey and his tieflings slunk off, hoping to avoid retribution from the other fey. However they did not escape from the angry fey, who cast the traitor from their ranks, and so warped him into a personification of his black heart, the first devil. The tieflings, as reflections of the traitor, fell themselves, and quickly deserted their fallen master, but could not shake the marks of their sins. The new devil, who was forever after known as the Blackhearted, hid himself deep beneath the physical world to plot his revenge against the fey who had cast him out, in time his bitterness further corrupted him, and he fell further and further from grace, until he bore not a semblance of his former self, no longer remembering anything but his hate of the fey, the mortals, everything. To this day the Blackhearted lives as the eldest Demon, raging against his fate deep beneath the earth.
The dragons angrily declared that if they could not rule this world, nobody could. They set off to destroy the physical world, and perhaps even faerie. However it was at this point that Jour and Kalen, noticing what had transpired in their absense from the two worlds, and so chose to intervene. Using their incredible divine power, the twin gods shattered the Dragons' power, and drove them throughout the land, where they still brood over their lost empire to this day. They then gave custody of the physical world fully to the Spirits, who they felt could most effectively guide the mortals while not ruling over them. Many mortals, astounded by the gods' deific power, wished to worship them. The gods, while flattered by the devotion showed by the mortals, did not wish to get so involved in the workings of the two worlds, and so briefly informed the mortals of their ideals and left them to do as they might. But they misjudged their devotion, which was so great that they themselves learned to wield the power of their God. So ended the War of Wings and Scales
The Shattering of the alliance, and the rise of the divine:
At first the churches started out small, The Sole Church of Jour and the Kalenic circles of Freedom forming to spread the teachings of the twin gods throughout the realm, however without the Gods to guide them and with a burning fantacism among the first worshippers, dogma and interpretations quickly formed. Among the Jourites a self-proclaimed prophet by the name of Naravist spread his teachings of aid and retribution, forming the Naravistan church of Jour. These worshippers were considered heretics by the Sole Church, but nevertheless the Naravistans gained a firm foothold among the common people and so proved difficult to root out. Among the Kalenians, new orders came and went none as permanent as the circles of Freedom. However a rare few maintained themselves through the years. The Circle of the Unyielding Art developed among a guild of Warriors and soon became one of the most widespread Kalenic traditions in Avathear. The Kalenian chapters of unity emerged as a backlash against the strict Naravistian churches, the two sides remaining rivals ever since. Finally the Disciples of Shattered order emrged as an extreme faction among the Circles of freedom and maintained scattered cells of anarchists throughout the region.
The Primal spirits initially figured the churches to be a passing flight, until the devoted began to gain powers of their own. Somehow, the Spirits theorized, the intervention must have left remnants of the Gods' power throughout the world, that the devoted could access through pure faith. As these orders spread throughout the land, many realms and their rulers turned away from the old ways of the spirits and ancestors, recognizing Divine power as a potent tool and weapon upon their people and enemies. Only in the far north among the hardy nomadic Kree-Ac tribes, too isolated from the mainland realms to be easily reached by the new missionaries, did the old ways stay strong. Elsewhere, only scattered shrines, rare remote tribes and whispered legends served as reminders of the original stewards of mortals.
As the Fey looked upon this development they saw a potential to become a dominant force in both worlds, The Spirits were weakened, the Dragons' reign shattered, but they remained the greatest masters of the Arcane arts. There remained but one threat to their rise, the Elves. Once favored in the eyes of the Fey, the kingdom of the Elves had remained strong since the War of Wings and Scales and their prowess at Wizardry unmatched. Among their mighty cities schools and academies even formed to teach new generations the arts Arcane. Seeing such a force as their only threat, the Fey enacted their most infamous act in history, The night of silenced cries. In one single night, the fey, through agents and magic, stole children and babes from the Elf Kingdom and nearby human realms alike, especially in the Northern heaths of the Avathearian mainland. Morning found mass hysteria and confusion, and scattered hints pointing at the Elf kingdom's involvement. In a terrible battle, the Elf kingdom was shattered, their high king and his line lying dead, before the confusion could be sorted out, so began the widespread mortal distrust of the fey and their ways, although among the realms of the heaths, who fought the fiercest against the Elves, a general suspicon remains upon the elves.
Following their kingdom's fall, the Elves scattered into clans based upon the ancient noble lines. They lost much of their secrets on wizardry, and most turned to a tribal life of hunting and herding through the forests of Avathear, old customs from their lost days remain in a degraded form, resulting in an confusing system of honor, taboos and traditions among the Elf tribes today.
More later
Some information on the two gods, Kalen and Jour, and their subjects.
The Gods and their Teachings:
Kalen teaches his followers to aspire to be the best that they possibly can be. He tells them to hone their skills to the finest edges they can, to aquire power to better themselves, and to be as free as the wind. Churches and their interpretations of Kalen follow.
The Circle of the Unyielding Heart stresses personal achievement and personal skill to master a certain craft. Common among warriors and mages who want to be the perfect fighter/spellcaster, and also among craft guilds that aspire to make the finest items of their craft.
The Kalenian Chapters of Unity is the most organized of the churches of Kalen (not saying much), and may actually have temples. Their diciples strive to achieve individual strength, and when they have, they try to help others achieve individual strength as well, by healing, teaching, and helping others.
The Kalenic Circles of Freedom is a very disorganized church whos symbol is an eagle, whcih they believe is the most free of all animals. They are very devoted to personal freedoms and individual rights.
The Diciples of Shattered Order is a very extreme church, and believes society is inheritly flawed and that order is a tool of the power-hungry and wicked that must be destroyed wherever it exists. Mostly crazy anarchists.
Jour teaches his followers to strive for unity and a utopian society. He tells his disciples to put society before yourself, and build and create the perfect world. His major churches go as follows.
The Sole Church of Jour is the first church of Jour ever founded, and is very dogmatic. They want to unit the land in a single utopia, but are intolerant to other views on what Jour wants. Enjoys accusing others of heresy. There are two splinter groups from the sole church, described below.
The Order of the Guiding Hand believes that Utopia cannot be forced but must be slowly guided and nudged along. Not as dogmatic, but very manipulative.
The Church of Final Peace believes that Utopia MUST be forced, or it will never happen. They preach of domination for the church and fanatacismto Jour for its followers, because we can't all be leaders. Common in Tyranny and dictatorships.
The 4th church of Jour is not connect with the Sole church, and is called the Naravistan Church of Jour, named after the prophet Naravist. It is less focused on Utopia, more focused on helping poeple with their curent problems. They are mostly monastic healers, but Naravist also believes that a person's problems cannot be fully solved without the punishment of the problem causer. Where there is a victim that must be helped, somewhere there is a criminal responsible that must be punished. So the church is made up of monkish healers and angry avengers.
The Umber, Faerie, the Spirit world, and Hell.
Here is some information on different planes of Avathear, and a few things that aren't actually planes, but might as well be.
The Umber The Umber is sort of like Avathear's shadowfell. It was created during the war of wings and scales to hold all the newly deacesed. Unless you happened to be a devoted ancestor worshipper, or have sold your soul to evil forces, when you die, you're probably going to end up in The Umber. Gods and worship don't really have an effect on where you go when you die, although their churches will have you believe otherwise. The fey that live in the Umber, the Umber fey, try to deliver some sort of judgment to their evil and wicked charges, and try to help reward the good ones. But because so many people are in the umber, and there aren't a lot of umber fey, most gifts and punishments are package deal sort of things, and are applied to large groups at once without thourogh checking to see if evryone deserves what they get. The Umber is sort of like a big, purple foggy cave, with billions of people just standing around. Their isn't really anything to do, but luckily, certain aspects change about yourself when you die. For one, you become transparent, sort of made up of fog, and are difficult to recognize. Time also passes much more slowly. A soul in the umber who decides to pause a moment in their actions might stand in the same place for years before continuing, without noticing the time that has passed. Souls in the Umber spend most of thier time looking for dead family memebers, which is difficult to do because they all look very similar. The nicer umber fey may attempt to guide good souls to their family members, and keep bad ones away from thiers.
The Spirit World The Spirit world is where you go if you were a good ancestor worshipper who followed the ways of the primal spirits. It's basicly just like normal life, but without trouble and hardship. However, if you are a warrior, you may be asked to help in the spirit war against the fey, constantly battleing to keep them out of the small realm that the spirits call home. The war has raged to an all time high in the last few centurys, contributing to the raging northern seas that is the battleground of spirit and fey.
Faerie Not much to say, it's generally similar to the feywild, just more magical (if that's possible) The fey are less likely to help you, no mortals live their (besides certain types of lesser fey) and it is earily beautiful.
Hell Ok, it's not actually a plane, it just exists ubsurdly deep beneath the earth. This is where the fey send the ones who break their strange and sacred rules. Those fey become fallen fey, and take on an evil appearence. They become devils, terrible and cunning creatures even more tricky and wicked then normal fey. At first, they retain most of their fey-like appearences and natures, but as they grow older, and get more distant from faerie, their bodys warp into something uglier, and uglier. They lose much of their cunning, and become brutish and more violent, until they are no longer devils, and become demons.
Some re-fluffing of certain arcane classes
Wizards- Wizards are uncommon in Avathear. They do not exist in abundance, are very rare, and generally quite powerful. Instead of schools of wizardry with tons of pupils and teachers, like in Harry potter, think more along the lines of the wizards of Lord of the Rings, or merlin. A low level wizard may be a rare apprentice that an old wizard of some lonely tower takes on every three hundred and third year, or a wanderer who stumbled across an abandoned magic library, and studied for years to understand the complex ways of manipulating Leylines. Or they may be a once-great wizard, drained of his power by a rival wizard, seeking revenge.
Some re-fluffing of certain arcane classes
Wizards- Wizards are uncommon in Avathear. They do not exist in abundance, are very rare, and generally quite powerful. Instead of schools of wizardry with tons of pupils and teachers, like in Harry potter, think more along the lines of the wizards of Lord of the Rings, or merlin. A low level wizard may be a rare apprentice that an old wizard of some lonely tower takes on every three hundred and third year, or a wanderer who stumbled across an abandoned magic library, and studied for years to understand the complex ways of manipulating Leylines. Or they may be a once-great wizard, drained of his power by a rival wizard, seeking revenge.
In a hurry, that's all i can put down right now.
In a hurry, that's all i can put down right now.
More later