Earith

[hoverfrog]

Hi.

I'm in the process of planning out a new campaign. I found Rich's Gaming project to be really helpful so I thought I'd follow the same general outline.

1. Purpose and Style

There are two overriding points about Earith. The first is that humans dominate. Other races do exist but these are essentially humans that have been somehow changed. I was searching for a reason for this and decided to settle for a heavily elemental themed world set in a culture similar to 16th century Europe. The second point is that there is only one god. Religious tensions exist as the mother church has undergone a divisive schism in the last century. I wanted to reflect the Catholic church and the Reformation in a fantasy setting as I find the whole period intensely interesting.

To support and explain the human sub species I decided that the there would be four moons that represent the four elements:

Burning moon - Fernia
Water moon - Balnea
Earth moon - Ferrum
Cloud moon - Aëris

This leads rather neatly into my decision to use Genasi as one (four) of the character races as well as the high incidence of lycanthropy that I wanted in the world.

Having a single god was initially quite tricky but I decided that this god was simply the creator and took no active role in the world. There is one true god whose name cannot be spoken, the creator of all things, the maker, the forger of the world. The Creator is distant and leaves the world alone. What use is a perfect creation if it requires constant tinkering? The church, that I named Roma-Tal, is responsible for all of the doctrine and dogma surrounding the creator and they speak on it's behalf. I wanted to avoid the misogyny of the 16th century though so I chose to make the prophet who brought the word of the creator to humanity a women. This in turn was built on an older faith (Ba'heen) that still exists.

Prophet Serin

The Prophet Serin wrote and distributed the Testament Libri along with her faithful Maidens. They taught that compassion and understanding were vital forces in the world. The books teach lessons in parable form and occasionally go against the older Ba’heen followings that were dealing with elemental spirits (devas) and a very warlike and tribal way of life.

Schism - Traditionalist and Reformers

In the last hundred years a new Reformation has shaken the Old World. The Holy Roma-Tal church has split into traditionalists who follow the Roma Quorum and those who seek simpler prayer in the Testament Libri. The Reformists have translated the Testament Libri into a number of languages rather than the academic tongue of Latinus.

The obvious class to fit the Roma-Tal is the standard D&D cleric. Whether they be fighting for the church or carrying the message to the heathen, the cleric is the epitome of the fighting priest. Second to clerics is the paladin of law.

Magic has a single source with no distinction between divine and arcan magic except through tradition. Wizards have a special place in Traditionalist teachings. Those licenced by the church as considered close to the creator. Spells are approved by the church and strictly controlled. In particular the spells of the priesthood are traditionally kept apart from the spells of the wizards. The sharing of spells is frowned upon. Within the Reformer camp the wizard has the same special place but the restrictions have been completely lifted.

Sorcerers are considered to be utterly corrupt by the Traditionalists, servants of the Adversary (a fallen servant of the creator). This is entirely political of course as there is no way to control the magical choices of sorcerers. Reformers accept sorcerers as equal to Wizards though there remains some suspicion against them.

There is a newer faction of the faith similar to modern day Islam but this doesn't feature much in the campaign so I've left it fairly vague. The older Ba'heen form the basis for the druidic faith.

I see the Roma-Tal faith as both the enemy and the friend to players. It is controlling and monolithic, slow to change, but incredibly powerful, even stronger in many respects than kings and queens.

Many of the rules are seemingly arbitrary. Women are permitted to lead the church but not men and the Roma Quorum is always led by the Highest Revered Mother. Men may lead the College of the Divine Flame (magic school) but not women. A cleric who has a child must give it to the church to be raised and can never enquire after them. All records of the adoption are made secret. Some of these rules are relaxed under the Reformers but others have taken their place.

2: Class Decisions

Religiously clerics, druids, paladins, wizards and sorcerers are now all covered. A cleric can be warlike or peaceful, serve a god of love or a god of the storm. All they do is take one aspect of the creator and one tradition within the faith to specialise in. I've left domain choices open for the time being but can easily see a huge variation in what players will want from their clerics.

Druids tend to specialise in one element and I'm planning on writing up some details for five (earth, air, fire, water and all elements) factions with a possibility of having additional factions for something like ice.

The level of technology in the 16th century was relatively high for most D&D worlds. Armour was still in use but gunpowder was emerging. That means a lot of room for fighter and rogue classes to excel and specialise. I'm planning on having gunpowder weapons for bombs and cannons but not for guns.

Years of conflict in the central continent have led to the creation of magical weapons of war, each sanctioned by the churches. That allows for a variety of magical items to be available to players.

Psionics are not part of church tradition.

3. Races

My initial thoughts were that I wanted a world that had only one natural player race, human, but that they mingled with various otherworldly entities to produce other races. I wanted to get rid of dwarves, elves, halflings, gnomes, etc (or their half elf and half orc relations) and have humans and their offshoots. It seemed more natural that a single dominant species would exist. Later in the campaign I wanted to introduce elves from a distant land but not have these long lived, alien creatures available to players.

I did want to give players the option to choose other races though. Fortunately there are several races that fit already. Eberron's weretouched, the Shifter, is ideal for a race of humans touched (or cursed) by an animalistic nature, ideal for barbarians and rangers. Tieflings and Aasimar fit the evil and good, anti-hero and hero archetypes but I was left without a naturally magical race which is fine. I've chosen to use Genasi for flavour and to also use Changelings, Daelkyr Halfbloods, Githzerai and Kalashtar. All are essentially human with a twist.

What do you think of the outline so far? Feedback is welcome as it will help me to hash out my own ideas.

Thanks.

[Omeganaut]

I like how you have taken a time period and altered it to what D&D magic would have caused it to be. What I do wonder about is the moons. If there are four moons, there will be some religious tradition that worships them at least partly. Maybe that is the druidic culture, or maybe there is another pagan belief system that is running around. You should also define how bards, paladins, and rangers fit in to the magic of the world, as I didn't see anything on those classes. Keep it up!

[hoverfrog]

Thanks for the feedback, Omeganaut. Class and religion are as good a place as any to expand on the outline above.

The Ba’heen

Go back a few millennia to Earith's pre-history. Religion is a primitive affair. Many different tribes of humanity exist in the world, each looking up to the four moons, to the seas, the storms, volcanoes, the sun itself and well as the animals of the day and the creatures of the night. These came into conflict as often as not and would undoubtedly have given rise to dozens or even hundreds of different faith systems if not for the arrival of the natives of the four moons.

As recorded history begins the world is visited first by the Wind Lords of the Cloud moon, Aëris, who brought their language and the written word to mankind. Legend tells how the Flame Lords of the burning moon, Fernia, also visited Earith and attempted to rule in the desert lands, how the Sea Kings of Balnea came and taught the people of the coasts and islands how to fish and live off the oceans and rivers. Lastly the Stone Princes of Ferrum brought precious metals and stones to trade and started the traditions of the trading house and mining guilds that operate even today.

Most importantly these visitors brought magic and their religion to Earith for the four moons, according to legend, were made by the creator to watch over the world. They called their faith the Ba’heen though each interpreted its own part differently. The use of magic and literacy quickly led the new Ba'heen faith to dominate and spread, absorbing animalism and elemental faiths into their teachings.

This is also how the Genasi people who first born as the Lords, Kings and Princes of the four moons took husbands and wives from the people of Earith. They knew that they could not remain for long and within a few generations of having imparted their lessons they had returned to their homes.

Ba’heen traditions, or simply the Old Faith are tied to the elements and to the moons that represent them. They are closely linked to the natural world whether that be the weather, the ocean, plants or animals. The Old Faith is very informal. Most priests are either druids or bards though any class can rise to prominence. There is no single leader nor any real organisation. Druids of Ba'heen are willing to work with Clerics of Roma-Tal or even with the Athos who follow no god at all.

[hoverfrog]

Prophet Serin

Twelve hundred years ago the Prophet Serin wrote and distributed the Testament Libri. She had a following called the Faithful Maidens who were originally twelve ordinary women called to serve by the miracles that she performed. They taught that compassion and understanding were vital forces in the world, even more so than the elemental nature of the world. The Testament Libri scrolls teach lessons in parable form and occasionally go against the older Ba’heen followings that were dealing with elemental spirits (devas) and were often very warlike in that they were tied into the tribal way of life common for that era.

I wanted a mythology that followed the general idea of Jesus and Christianity but without the worst elements of it that unfortunately pop up all too often and could upset a game setting. I wanted to avoid the historical misogyny that was so supported by the Church, particularly in the 16th century that I want to tie my setting down to. Rather than having a son of god I had the creator as deliberately distant and not involved and I had prophets appear to impart their ideas as wisdom. A mix between Hebrew, Islam and Buddhist traditions. It may be a bit thick and obvious but I'm hoping that having it close to the real world but fantastic will make it richer than purely fantastic religions might.

Upon Serin's eventual death, where she willingly sacrificed herself to free slaves from a tyrant king, her Faithful Maidens took the scrolls and lessons and travelled the world to spread her message. By the fourth century the Testament Libri had formed the official religion of the Roma-Tal Empire and even after the empire collapsed Roma-Tal was the official faith of much of the civilized world.

Roma-Tal

The Creator

There is one true god whose name cannot be spoken, the creator of all things, the maker, the forger of the world. The Creator is distant and leaves the world alone. What use is a perfect creation if it requires constant tinkering?

The Adversary

Opposite the Creator is the Adversary. Originally the servant of the Creator who was sent to test the creation the Adversary has become known as the tempter and corrupter who tricks people away from worship and makes them commit terrible evils on the world. Differing traditions have the Adversary as a loyal servant of the creator still sent to test and improve the creation always. Still others have the Adversary as an organisation within the church whose task it is to root out threats and evils within the faith.

Heavenly Hosts

There are literally heavenly hosts, who serve the Creator in different aspects. These are angels and devas of all kinds as tell as devils and demons. The Creator is above such petty concerns as good and evil and he makes use of his servants to do his work. Still the church often paints the Adversary as being in charge of the demons and devils and the Creator as being in charge of the angels and devas. There is considerable crossover with the Ba'heen tradition of elementals and their kin from the four moons. Some of these heavenly hosts seem to be inhabitants of one of the moons under a different name.

Saints and Patrons

In addition to the hosts there are hundreds of saints and patrons who have been beautified and raised up by the church. Many people pray to these saints as intermediaries to the creator and the hosts. Some serve one saint in particular above all others and even draw power from their devotion.

[hoverfrog]

Serinism

There is a holy land far to the south that is the birthplace of the prophet Serin. The people there worship the creator but in radically different ways to the precepts of the church of Roma-Tal, whether Traditionalist or Reformer. The Prophet Manahmut came out of the desert in the seventh century after conversing with devas and elementals. His tribal wars then began in earnest using elemental soldiers to unite the tribes and form the Turken empire. Though the Turken fractured after his death in 629 CY they retained his teachings and religious ideals.

Tradition has it that the Wind Duke, Ga'brael, came to Manahmut and dictated the holy book, the To'qrn, but Roma-Tal scholars judge this book the ravings of a mad man. Similarly To'qrn scholars call Roma-Tal a corruption of the purity of Prophet Serin.

A second holy book, the Teachings of Prophet Serin or the To’rat, was also written by Manahmut during the years when he was consolidating his power. The revisionist history paints Serin as decidedly less peaceful an individual and predicts her return to wage war on those who corrupted her message.

There is a great deal of conflict between Serinism and traditional Roma-Tal. Between Serinims and the Reformers this conflict is a little less as Serinists are want to put both in the same category.

There are a few branches of Serinism too though the Roma-Tal faith is largely ignorant of these and of the differences in philosophy. They are on good terms with the Ba'heen.

If you hadn't guessed Serinism related to Islam. Keeping Serin as the inspiration I've avoided the misogyny that I see in Islam (though I probably don't want to get into that) but retained their idea that the traditional church has corrupted the ideas of the older faith. They seek to return to traditional values.

[hoverfrog]

Creator Faiths’ Holy Texts

All three faiths share a holy book, The Ba’heen which contains the myths of the world. The Roma-Tal have the Testament Libre which recounts the important messages of the Creator as told by the Prophet, Serin. They also have the Roma Quorum, a set of teachings for the priesthood and lay worshipers. The Serinists reject the Testament and the Roma Quorum in favour of the Tome of al Qua’del (commanly called the To'qrn) perportedly dictated by Wind Duke Ga'brael himself and a history of the Prophet Serin (that differs from the Testament) called the To’rat.