Iconos

[Jib]

Putting together a Homebrew thread for me to add my stuff to for more of an Archive than anything. If people want to chime in by all means do, I always accept criticism~ And it sometimes takes an outside eye to see an obvious mistake.

Theological Entry

The religious idea of the world is a Dualistic Pantheon. You have a good pantheon consisting of Four Gods.

Iconos the Mountain Father, who is the oldest of the four good deities, the portfolios that he governs are Abundance, Civilization, Creation, Fathers, and Mountains.

His Firstborn Son, who is the least interested in the affairs of mortals, is Allistor the Librarian. The portfolios that he governs are Arcane Knowledge, Communication, Discipline, Judgement, Knowledge, Magic, Secrets, and Writing.

The Secondborn, a Daughter, is Pelithea the Lover. She reigns over the portfolios of Animals, Birth, Dance, Fertility, Forests, Healing, Love, and Women.

The final child of Iconos is Bracht the Smith. He governs over Art, Family, Hearth, Honesty, Men, Metal, Protection, and Strength.

Pelithea and Bracht have both taken powerful Celestials in Wedlock. Iconos mourns the death of a Goddess long lost to the flows of times, from before his children were born. Alistor is the most knowledgeable of the gods, in sheer information, and this has spawned some contempt for other beings. While still a righteous god, he sees none worthy his affection.

The churches under these gods are many and numerous. While Allistor is not truly worshiped generally, often times he will answer the calls of those particularly dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. Pelithea and Bracht are the most commonly worshiped. Iconos rarely answers the calls of mortals, preferring to allow his proxies to command his authority while he keeps vigilance for an enemy unknown to all but the most powerful Celestial and Good beings.

Under the gods are a multitude of ancestral spirits and spirits of nature that usually answer the calls of the people and clerics of the 19 level and lower. These spirits generally have a direct link to the power of whichever deity they are linked to.

On the Evil side of the Dual Pantheons is the Dread Arch Devil It'Narel. He is the only known evil deity, and the multitudes of Devils and evil spirits hail to his power, and link to his power. It'Narel constantly schemes to some end that is beyond most mortals. There is another evil god, but the Churches intentionally stomp his name out of existence every time it is found. Anyone knowing the name is often stripped of memory, imprisoned, or killed. General fear of this Nameless One is rampant in the higher echelons of the most powerful Churches. Even the mightiest Celestials will not pass on the name for fear of punishment.

End Theological Entry

Geographical Entry

Foot of the Mountain An extended peak that runs down from the northern mountains. Some of these can run for hundreds of miles from the border of the mountains, and the largest are known to lead all the way back to Iconoton, the largest mountain in the center of the northern range.

End Geographical Entry

[Jib]

World Entry

Jirros is the name of the world which I use when DMing. It was the only surviving planet in the material plane dimension after a massive war between the tree original beings. During this war many beings were created to be soldiers for either side, none of the sides wanting to risk entering into the fray for fear of death. These first beings created are known generally as the Precursors (Equivalent of Old Ones in some senses). From these Precursors descend both the Celestials, and Devils. Only two of the gods survived this war, the third one was lost to the flows of existence when she attempted to bring peace to the three factions. After her death one of the two surviving gods became truly insane, his form was twisted and his mind was warped to a point where even the Devils would no longer follow him. One of his sons, the other original god, and his children, combined with all the known forces both Evil and Good, and fought a massive war against the one insane god, and his one loyal son. After catastrophic losses and unfathomable sacrifices, the god was chained. Jirros was terraformed by the survivors to reflect the two sides of Balance, good and evil. The side of good was inherited by the surviving gods, and the Celestial beings who followed them. The underside, the side of evil, was inherited by the surviving devils, and the one son who had remained loyal to the insane god.

The plant was formed into a single massive disc, on the light side (Dimensionally speaking the Material Plane) The gods build a paradise to reward the Celestials who had helped them to victory. Forgetting their alliance they banished the Devils to the underside of the world to forever serve as Jailors for the Chained One. To this day It'Narel, the loyal son of the chained god, despises his traitorous brother.

The good god, Iconos, built upon the light side of the planet a great mountain range, and at its center a single supreme mountain ten times taller than the next tallest mountain. This mountain he gave no name, but his followers blessed it as Iconoton, or The heel of Iconos. He lifted dozens of mountains from this range and set them upon great banks of clouds to serve as palaces for his greatest Celestial followers, and as massive fortified lookouts to monitor the great prison of the Chained One. From the peak of the mountain he built a graceful tower, leading even farther into the sky above the clouds. Atop this tower he formed a Single, massive city for all of him and his children's followers to fill. The betrayer, the son of the Chained one, could not stand to live in the place filled with noise and light, for even though he had chosen the righteous path, he was not born of that world, so he traveled even further above the city, and there he build for himself a great and massive library in which he could be at peace. Here followed many of the shunned Devils who had avoided being banished to the dark side of the world to serve their lord and help him in his workings.

From opposite sides of the city Iconos build out two great bridges, each spanning to the very edges of the world underneath them. At the end of one of the bridges his Son, Bracht, built for himself a great forge, the forge burned so bright that it filled the world under it with warmth and light. Iconos saw this and he said that it was good. At the end of the opposite bridge his daughter, Pelithea, created a palace from the rarest of marble for her to keep the children of Celestials who had died in the war. The palace glowed with a pale blue and white light, and below it chased away the fearful darkness. As Bracht began to pound at his forge the city and its two bridges spun, thinking his father would be angry that he was moving the great structure Bracht attempted to stop it, but Iconos intervened, pointing to the world below he showed Bracht the life that was beginning to form because of his forge. He said this was good, and thus the Cycle of day and night was born. The pale light of Pelithea's Palace chasing away the fear of the night, and the bright light of Bracht's forge feeding the growing world.

On the dark side of the world the Gods erected a massive tower. The tower was forged from the blackness between dimensions, and though solid, trying to move through the walls in anyway would tear even gods apart. The tower was build to be the same height as Iconoton, to give the world a semblance of balance. After the Devils were banished to the dark side of the world, It'Narel built a twisted reflection city of the one Iconos formed atop his mountain. It'Narel built it to insult the gods, and to give him a place to keep the Devils as the lamented their plight. He, like Iconos, built two bridges from either side of the city. At the far end of one he built a massive mouth, and commanded this mouth to spew molten rock forever to keep the waters that fell off the light side from washing over the dark side. And at the end of the opposite bridge, he built for himself a massive palace from a strange black metal that seemed to shine shadows across the world. He cast it all to spinning, in the opposite direction of the light side.

World Entry End

Random Entry

In Jirros there is but one massive continent located in the center of the disc world, surrounded by a massive ocean. It is said that if you sail to the edge of the world you could drop off and be devoured by the Devils. This is not entirely true, but partially. You could indeed fall off the world, as the water flows off the edge of the planet. The dark side of the world has a massive Magma ocean that reflects the waters of the light side, and runs off the edge just like the water does. These two meet, and the cooling of the magma creates a massive steam cloud between the two. This steam is special, any creature that enters it leaves this world for another, unknown even to the gods. All gravity is drawn to the center plane of the disc world, thus the steam simply spreads across the universe as a flat cloud, protecting mortals from the Devils and Demons Below.

Random Entry End

Species Entry

Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes, and most other races of the light world (Orcs exist on the Dark Side) are descendants of the Gods, and Celestials that served them. Separated by time beyond grasp the spark of divinity and power has diminished to what they are now. Humans on the other hand, are a chance existence. They appeared first in the mountain ranges of the light world, and proliferated rapidly. Where they came from, what they came from, is a mystery even to the gods.

Demons, and most of the evil races are descended from the Devils who first came, and It'Narel. Orcs, like Humans, crawled from the earth on the dark side of the world, and their origin is also shrouded in mystery.

Species Entry End

[Jib]

Lore Entry

It was the year 4289, the Bralm of the fifth week of Irols. Across the Human empire of Arcadia war had raged for nearly 23 years, thousands lay dead at the hands of the foul Orcs. The armies of man had been bolstered by the great Dwarven Thanes, the Ancestral enemies of the Orcs, and the Great Hunt of the Elven Lords. No one but the gods could know how the Orcs had reached the mortal plane in such massive numbers, and even they would not, or could not, tell their servants. The great spine, the mountain range running from the center of the world to its water cascading edge, were rife with Orcs. It was as if their entire race had mobilized and rushed to the surface of the world to crush out any and all who stood in their way. They swept across Arcadia like a great black plague of locusts, and with numbers to match, extinguishing life in any form they could. They burnt the fields, the butchered the men, and what they did to the women and children was so terrible no historian could ever bear to scribe it. All of Arcadia was destroyed, every one of its cities built on the hard work of man laid to waste like garbage. With it, three quarters of humanity was wiped out in less than three decades. The Dwarves did not hesitate to come to the defense, their hate of Orcs all but driving them like divine purpose. But the other races looked on, thinking at first it was a punishment for the pride the humans held over many other races. The Orcs had no boundary though, and soon were burning the ancestral forests of the Elves. The gods finally intervened on the behalf of good. Their anger was palpable in the air, every cleric on the face of the planet fell to the ground screaming in pain as the gods voices rang out in unison, commanding the races to aid each other, or be cast aside. The covenant broken, It'Narel unleashed the Devils. His army marched into the lands of mortals. The blood of Celestial and Devil fell as a deluge as the dark winged hordes did battle with the gilded warriors of good.

The mortal races had held back from each other too long, their pride had clouded their thinking, and for it they were going to fall and be destroyed. The mortal world was on the brink of disaster as the four great anchors of the planet were besieged by the armies of darkness. The anchors were destroyed. The skies turned black as night and the waters boiled. Insane rage filled the world, driving Orc and Human mad, and twisting their minds with scenes of pain and suffering. Of bondage beyond time.

Was it not for a group of the bravest, and the strongest, the world would have fallen to the mad rage. These brave souls fought their way to the center of the Black Tower, and there, they slew the awakening Mad God. Driving the Four Shards of infinity back into his limbs, with the help of the gods he was once again chained and silenced. As he was defeated It'Narel was exhausted from having destroyed the anchors and was forced to retreat with his Devilkin back to Infurnem. The mortal armies of the world pushed the Orcs back into the mountains, and there they wiped them out to the last crying pup. The celestial warriors found the black gateways that had allowed the beasts to come to the world of mortals, and crushed them, and the knowledge to create them. The forces of evil had been defeated, but at a horrifying cost.

The Dwarven and Gnomish mountain kingdoms were all but destroyed, the Elven forests burned to fine ash, and the rolling hill homes of the Haflings turned to mass graveyards. Humans were nearly driven to extinction. This was the beginning of the fourth era, the Era of Suffering. Humans never truly forgot the betrayal of the other races, and though they mended the ties between each other, they never truly trusted any race except their stalwart allies the Dwarves. Slowly they began to rebuild. The infinite patience of the Elves began to gently nurse the barren forests back to life, gentle magics pushing the seedlings to maturity over hundreds of years. The Humans rebuilt the grand cities, and sowed farms across all of Arcadia once more. The Church of Iconos took charge of governing, because not a single of royal bloodline had survived the war. After eight hundred years, while the scars of the Appocolypse were still evident, the world was once again alive.