Help and suggestions for my worldbuild?

[KevlarTheD]

Howdy all,

I'm fairly new to the GiantITP forums (though a longtime reader of the comics) and I've been inspired to begin creating my own world for my group's next cycle. Over the next short while I'll post below what I've come up with so far - there are several specific areas which I need help/inspiration to fill in. Suggestions are most welcome! For now, let's just say I'm looking for one or two races who fit the theme, an idea for a destroyed-city environment, quite a few names, and whatever else you'd like to throw in.


The Map:

I had a few things on paper before I got started on the map, but when the time comes to pull those fragmented ideas together, I always start with the map. It's a good way to stay organized as you (literally) put everything in its place.

I was inspired to use part or all of a real-world map and change it somehow to make it my own. I figure there's enough unique and characterful geography in the world and I shouldn't put effort into detailing every aspect of my world map when there's inspiring geography readily available. I settled on a map of the catchment basin of the Black Sea.

http://s7.postimg.org/hqanl728b/catchment_map.jpg

Few will recognize the interesting silhouette and it's jam-packed with a variety of terrain. Plenty of natural boundaries, and a super cool inland sea. Size-wise it fits, as I thought I'd keep it modest - restricted to a continent. An island continent, surrounded by oceans. Never has it been explored - perhaps due to religion? What created the inland sea? Volcanic activity? Meteorite impact? I'm teasing a little here, as you'll see I've already decided on meteorite. Guess why?

I've narrowed it down at this point to a dispute between three nations. Again, nothing too fancy here. Two of the nations had allied against the third aggressor nation. On the eve of their victory, the allied nations celebrate in your capital. Your ally, seizing the opportunity, betrays your country and attacks the capital. Your nation begins a guerrilla campaign to fight off their one-allied oppressors. There's more to it than that, but it comes down to needing three nations: The Aggressor, The Homeland, and The False Ally.


More to come shortly.

[Malachi Lemont]

I always love seeing someone start a new worldbuild. I think you're off to a great start. I've never seen someone do what you did - that is, recycle a bit of the Earth's surface to use in a conworld. I would argue that the Black Sea is instantly recognizable, so it's hard to look at your map without thinking about Ukraine and Turkey and Transylvania - not that I know much about those places. But if you're confident in using this map, then go ahead. Just remember that people will almost always associate it with the region of Europe that you took it from. Good luck!

[KevlarTheD]

I'd like to somewhat restrict the races and classes available to the group. Maybe six races to choose from, and eight classes.

I'd also like to keep magic useful and practical, without nerfing it too much but without letting magic users run wild. Restricting classes helps but I think characterful tweaks to the spell list will help too. Maybe the undead are unheard of, and the Necromancy school doesn't exist. Neither does Divination. That's gotta lead to some interesting views on death. More later.

Let's get some lore going:

In the far far far past, in the earliest days of the continent (which I shall call Junland), several races lived relatively peaceful lives under the umbrella of a great civilization. One day, a comet struck the continent. The impact created the inner sea. Upon the comet was a powerful being (elemental fits) who spawned a race of associated elemental beings (the Efreet?) and half-elementals (the Genasi). They emerged as a tide, scouring the great civilization from the eastern part of the continent within a century. the race that had once ruled the entire continent were now faced with destruction. They created a form of magic which they called geomancy, which was elemental-based and effective protection from the elementals they fought. Eventually, the Efreet were wiped out and the Genasi retreated.

A new nation was formed as a ‘buffer zone’ between the once-great civilization and the freshly-carved Genasi nation. All the minority races previously living under the old rule were moved there, and the once-great ones retreated to their mountainous home. Those guys sound like dwarves. They're gonna be dwarves. Think Roman? Not bad rulers but the other races are happier now they're free to make their own rules. Maybe they realized their worth during the war and pressured the dwarves into granting them secession. Knowing they couldn't deal with two wars at once, the dwarves acquiesced.

The dwarves, as a race, are still resentful over having lost their hegemony, which is maybe why they leap at the chance to betray an ally. That's not enough, though. Let's add something more sinister. Necromancy, that thing that doesn't exist in this world? Oh, snap, someone just discovered it. There's a bad guy right there.

I like the geomancy bit for the dwarf magic users, though - maybe tweak the sorcerer class and give them a spell list heavy with transmutation and evocation stuff.


SPELL LISTS:

Necromancy and Divination spells are restricted.

The traditional Sorcerer class will be rebranded as Geomancer, with a spell list drawn from Druid, Wizard, and Cleric spells and focusing on Transmutation and Evocation.


RACES & ROLES
Because, yes, this campaign will somewhat segregate nations according to race. You can play as any of the available races, though, and backstory your way into the Homeland nation's army. The capital's locations are marked on the map along with each nation - more on those in a later post.

Dwarves - The False Allies - All the archetypes fit. They're venerable, and though staunch defenders their race has declined. They bear grudges and aren't above treachery. They can live in the mountainous bit to the west of the map.
http://s21.postimg.org/k2v50rus7/Garria.jpg

Genasi - The Aggressors - The legacy of the efreet, the Genasi are the historical aggressors. Originally, the invading efreet and their genasi spawn overwhelmed the dwarves. Over time, the efreet were felled one by one until there are few if any left. Only the Genasi remain, their nation centered on the inland sea created by the meteorite on which they arrived. Their nation has recently been defeated, though (see above) and their capital lies in ruins. This needs work to bring it up to the timeline - any ideas?
http://s16.postimg.org/6cxcizeol/Gen_Nation.jpg


Human and Faen - The Homeland - Okay, just human's a bit lazy, so I figured it would be humans AND something else. Another race that used to live under the dwarves' rule and now exists as a respectable chunk of Homeland's population. Still, they're a fairly scattered minority. Maybe some exist outside "civilization" in a feral or tribal state. There's a nice pocket on the eastern shore of the inland sea that could accommodate a lost tribe. I thought the Faen would be a cool race, and have that nifty turn-to-a-pixie ability that maybe only the hidden tribal ones can teach. The Homeland nation is the buffer between the Genasi and the Dwarves, so it goes in the north with the biggest borders.
http://s22.postimg.org/6h1bav2dt/Home_Nation.jpg



So there we have the map divided into nations. We've also accounted for 1-4 types of Genasi, 1-2 variations on dwarves, 1 plain old human race, and 1-2 faen races. Maybe I should leave room for another minority race to inhabit the Homeland nation?

I've yet to decide on classes other than the Sorcerer. I'll need suggestions - core classes are best but to be real, I can download any ol' sourcebook you name. Name some!

More to come regarding the nations I've worked out, including formatted descriptions.

[KevlarTheD]

The Nations of Junland


GARRIA
The False Ally
Garria is a nation of skilled craftsmen ruled by an ogliarchy. They are the oldest civilization on Junland, and once ruled (in name if not in fact) over the entire continent. As such, there is a distinct arrogance to their relationship with basically anyone else.

Geographic Location: West
The western portion of the island-continent of Junland is home to the highest mountains on the continent. They encircle a the majority of Garria, providing both bountiful resources and a formidable natural barrier. The heartland is a wide, lush valley surrounded on all sides by mountains. This is where the dwarves greatest cities stand.

Garria once stretched across the entire continent, but is now restricted to within a few miles of their mountain-sheltered heartland. A narrow strip of land on the southern edge of the inner sea is the only border they share with the hated Genasi nation of _. Their northern border with _ is defined by the great river known as the Siltwater.

Primary race: Dwarf
The dwarven culture is ancient and venerable. Their traditional geomancy is the oldest form of magic still practiced on the continent, developed thousands of years ago in the war with the Efreet. They are superstitious, though, especially regarding salt water. This is perhaps because the great inner sea, a hallmark of the comet which so affected their civilization, was created as the ocean swept in to fill the impact crater with saltwater.

Capital: The Spire
Garria’s capital is a massive fortress known as The Spire, which stands up from the center of a lake and is accessible only by water, air, or via a single bridge. Generations of skilled builders and miners, aided by powerful magic, formed the entire city out of the living earth almost three thousand years ago during the height of the war with the Efreet. Think the Stone of Tear from WoT meets the mage's mid-lake castle from Conan the Destroyer.


NAMELESS NATION TWO
The Homeland
What should the name be?
What should the culture be? There are at least two races who live here, a third if I can come up with one. They all moved here during or after the war, creating a culture which thrived on interaction and trade. They're intrepid traders now and regularly sail the inner sea (to the bafflement and chagrin of the aquaphobic dwarves). This is where the PCs are from.


Geographic Location: North
The northern portion of the island-continent of Junland is home to wide, sweeping fields and boundless forests.

They share a relatively long eastern border with Homeland, the focus of much violence recently. Their western border with Garria is defined by the great Siltwater river.

Primary race: Human and Faen
The humans and faen, along side and a few other races of note. Near the end of the Efreet War, in a bid to avoid the direct polarization of Junland, the collective races living under the dwarves petitioned for the creation of a new “buffer” nation. In no position to refuse them and face a war on two fronts, the dwarves acquiesced.

Capital: Alderstone
I have a great image in my head for this one of twin cities straddling a canyon, connected by many bridges and cables. Some imagery can be taken from the Kor from MTG or really any real-world cliff city. There should be a few stone causeways I think for major traffic, then numberless ropes, cables, and small bridges linking the two cliff faces. This works great visually, and is a very dynamic environment. The bottom of the canyon is a river (which makes sense and allows for some cool plot stuff - to come later).


N THREE
The Aggressor
This is the recently-defeated Mephit nation spawned after the initial elemental invasion. It's lightly populated and mostly wilderness aside from a few large cities. I like the twist of unnatural elementals, and sequestering them in cities is another way to disconnect them from the 'natural' elements.


Geographic Location: Southeast
The eastern coast of the island-continent of Junland is an expanse of dense forest, more jungle-like than the forest-speckled greenlands of the Homeland nation to the west.

They share a relatively long border with Homeland, with territory extending along the inhospitable east coast. A narrow strip of land on the southern edge of the inner sea is the only border they share with the Dwarven nation of Garria.

Primary race: Mephling
When the elementals came in, they spawned lesser versions of themselves as foot soldiers and servants. These beings became the Mephits and Mephlings, part-elemental. Dwarves generally hate them and blame them for everything - even before the end, they fought more for survival than the conquest intended by their forebears.

Capital:
On a river in the mountains. Possibly carved out of the meteor they arrived on.

[Yora]

What style and theme are you aiming for? Anything fancy or regular medieval kingdoms and monster slaying?

[Cole10000]

What style and theme are you aiming for? Anything fancy or regular medieval kingdoms and monster slaying?

This is a very important question address early on, considering that in the end while we might be able to help with a few creative ideas, none of it will be entirely useful unless we have an idea of where to aim our thoughts so that you can use it.

That being said however, seeing as you haven't flushed out much more than the PC's homeland being apt traders, it would be a good idea to look into more significant traits for them to possess, considering the PCs will likely be spending most of the early game there, depending on starting level I suppose. Something to address is considering that the Nation 2 is currently in the middle of a war with both of it's neighbors at this point (Or at the very least, the populace is all but up in arms considering their situation), and yet they are largely traders, so who are they trading with? A simple way of answering that is to have the foreigners from across the oceans sail in form the north with whatever manner of exotic goods.


Personally I'm partial t the idea because of the possibility of religion being an issue for the peoples of Junland for them exploring the rest of the world. A comparable situation is how Europeans traded at times with Muslim merchants for their exotic goods, but neither one ever trusted one another because of the religious tension.

However, that is just my first thoughts after having read this thread, and I'm curious on what you plan to do for the future.

[KevlarTheD]

I'm going for a fantasy setting, nothing too high-fantasy like floating mountains, but with enough character and freedom to have things which are, frankly, a bit impractical. The technology level will be pre-renaissance, so definitely no guns or steampunk, but some things like windmills and aqueducts are common enough. Anything made out of something stronger than steel is rare. Maybe one building in ten is made out of stone.

I think the best examples of the "look & feel" I'm going for are the two capital cities I've sketched out so far - one being situated in a lake constructed using magic (but in the end being a relatively straightforward castle with a moat), the other being a city straddling the top of a gorge and depending on a huge network of bridges and ropes. A bit like the floating city idea, but a little more realistic.

In terms of adventuring, at the outset the players will have limited resources. I had a rough plan that, after being betrayed in their capital, the party would fall from the bridges into the river/bay below. They would then wash up onshore more or less together, gather what they can à la LOST (gives me a chance to dictate starting equipment), then set out.

The general idea was to give them a reason to head towards the ruined Genasi capital. From there they would find a reason to go to the Dwarven capital. In terms of timeline, I've established that the initial war occurred thousands of years ago. Despite lasting a millennium, it's still old news. The current conflict is an extension of that war caused by racial tension between the descendants of the original nations. The war was fought to a stalemate which lasted generations, and devolved into something approaching a cold war.

Then, the humans and faen got their own nation. Though dedicated allies of the dwarves, they were no longer under dwarven command and soon proved themselves capable in both governance and warfare. Less than a hundred years after the human/faen kingdom was formed, the Genasi were defeated at their capital.


Not sure if I've posted already but I've decided that the dwarves will have a superstition regarding saltwater. This is one reason that the campaign is restricted to an island continent - there was never a cultural drive to ever explore the oceans. This could also be a reason that the humans were able to expand and prosper so quickly (and that their capital is on the inland sea), because that was one of the areas left wide open by the dwarves.

[TheStranger]

I love the idea of using real-world geography for a campaign setting - I've wanted to try it for quite some time. Two thoughts on that, though:

As has been mentioned, it's a very recognizable piece of geography. I don't know if that's a problem or not, but it's something to consider, especially if your players have any familiarity with the area. If your players start using real-world place names for things in your game, it could break immersion a little bit.

Second, don't forget to change the topography of your continent. Since it's a watershed in the real world, the outer edge is higher-elevation, and all the rivers flow towards the center. Presumably, that's not what you want in your game world (unless you do want 99% of your coastline to be a giant cliff for some reason).

[KevlarTheD]

The sea itself is recognizable, and is easy enough to distort, but I kind of like it. Nobody I'm playing with is enough of a geography buff to accidentally refer to an in-game location as the IRL term. If they did, nobody else would catch it.

The natural valley actually works out well for me in terms of topography - it explains how an inner sea formed, and a shoreline composed of inhospitable mountains and cliffs one more reason for the inhabitants to keep off the ocean.

I guess what I'm looking for most at the moment are the following:

1. Another race - to mix in with the humans (there's already a Small race, so something Medium or Large. Goliaths?)

2. class suggestions - these don't fall so much under world building as campaign planning, but for fluff reasons, so any classes stand out as wanting to be included? for instance the Sorcerer class is being included to reflect the geomancy bit.

3. A City. - The Genasi City - a city that's recently been sacked. There's an elemental heritage. I'm hoping for a slightly more urban feel than your typical medieval thatch-roof buildings without going too steampunk. How do you describe a recently-ruined city?

[KevlarTheD]

So, I've sat on this for a week.

I think the last race will be Goliaths - we have lots of small-ish races and need something larger. Don't want to deal with Orcs or Ogres, I feel they're too mainstream and would highlight the lack of elves.

Magically, I think I'll change the fluff so that the dwarves were always geomancers. Instead of that making them particularly effective against the elemental genasi, the genasi were resistant to it. The other races' magical abilities developed as more and more non-dwarves were called upon to be battle casters in the war against the Genasi. This can mean (1) There's yet another reason the non-dwarves pushed for their own nation as they were legit powerful now (2) this new magic was learned, studied, and purposely developed - like how the wizard class learns magic. boom, fluffy open class.

As to the city, elemental low-tech, for some reason I'm thinking a bioshock-type environment (not underwater but isolated in the mountains). Lots of propaganda posters etc to keep the war going (it's been millennia for them).

Please, help me brainstorm. Post ideas!

[KevlarTheD]

A few things have coalesced into some more solid ideas now.

1. Goliaths are definitely in. Nomadic mountain tribes like in the book would provide a fun way for PCs to cross national borders etc. They have an existing fluff relationship with dwarves, one that fits the world rather well. It'll be good to have a politically unaffiliated race, and I wanted a larger race to balance out the Faen and Dwarves already present.

2. I think Mephits will play a role in the Elemental nation. Instead of going from Efreet to Genasi, the Mephits and Mephlings will be the elemental races. The Mephits (are there big versions of mephits?) arrived and began the war. They in turn spawned the Mephlings, who were their soldiers etc.
Now, centuries later, the (big versions of mephits) are all but vanished. The Mephits hold power among the elementals, and the Mephlings are their spawn/soldiers, much like the way the Mephits one served the Efreet. This'll throw in some more character to the elementals and be one more reason the Mephlings aren't necessarily "out to get" the other races anymore despite the continuation of the war (the Mephits kept the fight going).

3. I think the Faen will be the wizardly race. Throughout the war they teach the humans magic, contributing to that whole "reasons humans/faen became an independent nation" bit. It fits fluffwise as well, because the dwarves can't "teach" other races geomancy/sorcery, and gives each side a reason to have a tweaked spell list.

As usual, suggestions and comments are appreciated! Am I laying this out a bit too "this is this and that is that"? I'm looking for feedback or I'd just be making this a google doc..:smallannoyed::smallbiggrin:

[Freddrick]

You have given this settign alot of thought and I like what I see. Here is my feedback.



2. I think Mephits will play a role in the Elemental nation. Instead of going from Efreet to Genasi, the Mephits and Mephlings will be the elemental races. The Mephits (are there big versions of mephits?) arrived and began the war. They in turn spawned the Mephlings, who were their soldiers etc.
Now, centuries later, the (big versions of mephits) are all but vanished. The Mephits hold power among the elementals, and the Mephlings are their spawn/soldiers, much like the way the Mephits one served the Efreet. This'll throw in some more character to the elementals and be one more reason the Mephlings aren't necessarily "out to get" the other races anymore despite the continuation of the war (the Mephits kept the fight going).

I actually liked the idea of the Genasi having a nation. Have you decided what their magic was based off of? I can see a clerical caster with elemental domains controlling the lesser/mindless elementals. With the Genasi capitol having been sacked there could be a lot of squatters of formerly enslaved mephits/wierds/elementals.



3. I think the Faen will be the wizardly race. Throughout the war they teach the humans magic, contributing to that whole "reasons humans/faen became an independent nation" bit. It fits fluffwise as well, because the dwarves can't "teach" other races geomancy/sorcery, and gives each side a reason to have a tweaked spell list.

Cool concept and way to differentiate the caster types.

Other suggestions:
You mentioned making the dwarves Romanesque, make the Genasi Babylonian or something else.

What rules set are you using? 3.5, PF, something else? Knowing that would help with class suggestion.

The reason the dwarves hate/fear the water is because of an undersea civilization the had a war with in prehistory. Still holding a grudge, these beings are who delivers the party to the genasi area after they are "fed to the fishes"

-Freddrick

[KevlarTheD]

I like your idea of having the elementals control each other/the lesser elementals. That would also provide a much more in-depth and characterful setting for the elemental capital than "city full of bad guys".

Also, the idea of an underwater race (actively or accidentally) contributing to the saltwater stigma is very cool. It provides a reason for the superstition to have come about in the past, and provides a good example of distorted perception vs reality in the present (the "boogeymen" save your characters from drowning). Amazing!

I'm using 3.5 rules to build this world.

[Nevershutup]

I think the last race will be Goliaths

So no third race in the homeland? Also, the homeland could be called Sanitar, the aquatic race could be Rilkans (magic of incarnum pg.12) with a modification or two. I can come up with a culture as soon as the races are complete.

[Trickquestion]

If you and your players continue this setting after the three nation war campaign, might I suggest that the net campaign could be a mission to break the stigma against sea travel and explore far away lands? In the wake of such a massive conflict, people could be desperate to find more wealth or resources, the need overwhelming the tradition?

The Kuo-Toa, Sanguine, Darfellans, and Aboleths could make a wide selection of allies/enemies.

[KevlarTheD]

Thanks for all the help! I think I've locked down the races for now. Let's figure out some culture!

1. Garria
Dwarves - Good ol' dwarves. They make great good guys AND great bad guys depending on how you rub them. The phrase that comes to mind with dwarves is "status quo". They're rather bigoted. @Freddrick mentioned Romans - great idea. Was thinking of a council of elders for leaders as opposed to a Roman-style senate to keep their politics even more conservative.

2. Homeland (Sanitar?)
Humans - archetypal humans, as portrayed in the books. fast learners, social, and adventurous to a fault. Others view them as opportunistic, they view themselves as enterprising.
Governed by who or what? Something which allows for a degree of hubris, which blinded them to the jealousy of the dwarves?

Faen - If the humans are the main characters, faen are the plucky sidekicks. Not in a Batman and Robin, but more like Penny from Inspector Gadget - superior to the "hero" in many ways, but are far from dominant. Is it against their culture to be physically violent?
They have their own form of arcane magic - how did it develop? How did they keep it? How commonplace is it?
3. Elemental
Mephits - Definitely thinking of an authoritarian culture, maybe one in which the strength of one's elemental blood provides social status. These guys bow to the "pure" elementals, and the mephlings bow to them.

Mephlings - As only partial elementals, the mephlings are the lowest social class among the elementals.


4. Tribal

Goliaths - Mountain nomads (like the book) who trade with the dwarves (like the book) and want little to do with politics (like the book). As such, they never attempted to join Homeland/Sanitar. In fact, many humans believe in "mountain men" the way the dwarves believe in their underwater boogeymen.
They plop right in with very little work necessary - not to say I won't take ideas. As-is, there's a cool fluffy adventure here: Traverse the narrow mountain range keeping the Inner Sea from the ocean if/when the characters go from the Elemental capital into Garria along the south coast.

Tribal Faen - "lost tribe" kind of archetype, (cut off with the creation of the inner sea) with more a primal/feral feel to the Faen arcane magic. Isolationist, but only because they're unaware of other Faen populations?
EDIT: As mentioned previously, these Faen can evolve to sprites (as the book, Arcana Evolved). Non-tribal Faen living with the humans have long forgotten this ability.
-There's the start of an idea to make the lost tribe Dwarves instead of Faen, who think they're the last dwarves on the planet (as they're surrounded by saltwater and elementals)

Aquatic Race - Darfellans are cool. Kuo-ta are creepy. Either would make a good boogeyman, but I think the Kuo-ta would make more surprising "good guy" beneficial-boogeymen, and be more likely to keep isolated from the surface-dwellers.


Note: I noticed my dwarf nation pop up in a thread on racism in DnD. I know it ain't no thing, I just thought it was neat people are paying attention to my world. I'll be the first to say I stereotype races in DnD. I think in a game where you apply universal quantitative mechanics to qualitative properties (i.e. He's smart. He has INT 17.), it's ridiculous not to branch that out according to species. Otherwise, +2DEX, -2CON would be a class feature, not a racial one.

[Nevershutup]

EDIT: Sanitar

Military
With the formation of their own nation, the Sanitar, quickly decided who was best at what. The humans make up the bulk of the (small?) military, with thr Faen taking up most of the more specialized roles. The Faen (and a few humans) take up the more magical roles in the military, whether it be a warmage throwing fireballs, or an assassin using invisibility. This is not to say humans cannot use magic, just that it is less common for them to do so.

Trade
With their surpreme diversity, humans make ideal diplomats and merchants. The Faen's easygoing nature allow them to sell their (magical?) wares effectively as well. They trade for the most part with anyone, so long as they get a fair price, and can avoid angering their neighbors.

Culture
Humans are more populous than the Faen, making up about 80% of the nation. Most Faen are respected for their ancestor's bringing of magic, though the occasional idiot loses that respect. With a heavily trade-based culture, literacy is fairly common, as is at least moderate math skills (times-tables, up to 12*12).

Government
The government is run by a Merchant Prince and an Inquisitor. They balance each other out, and appoint a General.

Merchant Prince(ss)
The country is ruled by a Merchant Prince(ss), who is elected by a council representing the powerful guilds (i.e. Enchanter's Guild, Merchant's Guild, Shipwright's Guild, etc...). The Prince's powers are to create general laws, settle guild disputes, appoint a new guildmaster (with approval of who else?), and other such things. The guildmasters are responsible for their respective charges (i.e. the Mage's Guild would be responsible for stopping the rampaging mage). The position is given to the head of the most influential guild-master after the death of the previous Merchant Prince.

Inquisitor
Regulating the Merchant Prince and the guilds, is an Inquisitor. S/he is responsible for appointing judges in the various towns and villages. They possess a greater power over the law, and can veto amd law the Merchant Prince makes, as long as the guilds do not stand in major opposition. An Inquisitor can be ousted from their position with a majority vote of the guilds, with evidence, a majority vote of the judges, or a combination of the two.

General
This is a position of prestige, and tactical prowess. Elected by the Inquisitor and Merchant Prince, the General has the most power in a time of war. They are responsible for drafts, arming the army, etc...
I'm fairly new to world-building so answering these questions would help me get better:
Did I miss anything vital? What and why?
Is there anything I should change? What and why?
Was it too detailed? Why?
Was it unoriginal?
Reccomendations? What?

[KevlarTheD]

The Faen are from Arcana Evolved. They're basically halflings with fey blood.

[SilverStar101]

Aquatic Race - Darfellans are cool. Kuo-ta are creepy. Either would make a good boogeyman, but I think the Kuo-ta would make more surprising "good guy" beneficial-boogeymen, and be more likely to keep isolated from the surface-dwellers.

I looked into both races ,Darfellan & Kuo-toa(I hadn't heard of darfellan before and I knew next to nothing about Kuo-toa), and I found that Darfellan seem like they would be better as a sort of misunderstood creatures that everyone views as horrific monsters whereas everywhere I found said that they were basically hunter-gatherer tribes that don't really get involved with other people too often.

As for Kuo-toa, they would function more into the categories of, scary looking, creepy, raiding coastal towns, vicious, hatred for humans (and presumably their kin).

So overall I think Kuo-toa would be simpler to conduct as a sort of bogeyman thing but if you're looking more for a race that you could flesh out and make a more interesting culture out of as well, use Darfellan

[Nevershutup]

Ok, I've edited in the cultures ino my previous post. Sorry if I didn't get the Faen right, I couldn't find them.

[KevlarTheD]

Thanks for the description of the Human/Faen nation! I like the Trade-Military-Culture-Government breakdown.

I suppose if the country is called Sanitar, the people would be Santari. That refers to both Faen and Humans - it's a name they adopted on their own and they're fiercely proud of it.

I had imagined the Faen to be a little less populous - maybe 20% of the population. Maybe instead they're just under-represented in the government, showing less interest in it? The Humans are definitely the face of the nation.

I'm interested in the guilds and the merchant prince idea. How should the government regulate them? Or would they be part of the government? That sounds almost like a giant merchant corporation that created its own state - maybe the Human secession wasn't as innocent as it seemed, and the dwarven "backstabbing" was a pre-emptive strike against the corrupt Human government?

If not that, how would the Merchant Prince exercise control over a dozen private guilds? Perhaps the position is very precarious and treachery is a common way to gain the title. The "dwarven attack" was staged by mercenaries as a "false flag" operation so a new Merchant Prince could take power. The PCs are unaware and strike out to wage their own guerrilla war against the dwarves.

The Darfellans are definitely cool, and are believable as misunderstood good guys. It's also a race that my players would be more likely to play as than a frog-man.

There's a lot of good stuff here, keep it coming! I'll have time to clean up & update the top posts soon.

[Nevershutup]

I've edited in a few things for the cultures, most notably in the government section, I put in the Inquisitor, and the General. Anything else I could (as newbie to world-building) help you with?

[KevlarTheD]

Want to sketch out some kind of divine magic-authoritarian culture government etc for the elementals? I don't have much penned down for them other than the races (mephits and mephlings) and that elemental heritage = social status.

[Nevershutup]

I'm on it. I'll just post it this time.