[WIP, PEACH] Thyressa - A Land Without Kings

[Roxxy]

Oi, there. I'm working on a new setting for Pathfinder. The main idea is of a medieval setting where republicanism has been the preferred form of government since it was invented during the ancient era.

This setting takes place in a continent called Thyressa. This continent is fairly large, ranging from subarctic up north to subtropical down south. Several nations exist on this continent, though so far I have only conceptualized a couple. Thyressa has only been inhabited by it's current peoples for a few hundred years. Those who lived here before that died out in a continent spanning war, though scholars have been unable to figure out who this war was with. Ruins of this civilization litter the landscape, and only a small portion have been excavated so far. At the moment I have three nations: Markklund, Briella, and Minoka.

Markklund

Markklund occupies the northern third of Thyressa, though much of this territory is sparsely inhabited or not inhabited at all. It's southeastern coast was first discovered by Weldheim vikings looking for places to plunder, and decades later their people settled it when famine hit their homeland. They named the land Markkheim, and after a very rough first couple decades it began to prosper. Then came the great plague, which spread through the continent Weldheim is a part of, and drove a new wave of colonists towards Thyressa. Soon, Markkheim was settled by more Heldrass, Denorrans, and Albhonnans than Welds. It's borders expanded westward to make room for the growing nation, and it was renamed Markklund in the Heldrass fashion.

Markklund is a massive land, stretching from coast to coast. Both coasts bear mountain ranges, with the eastern one being fairly mellow and the western one famously rough and massive. Between these two ranges it is mostly plains and forests, with a few smaller mountain ranges and some highlands. In the north it is mostly tundra and mountains. The country is boundlessly gorgeous, especially the eastern coast during the fall.

The Markkish are a frontier people. It's not that they like or live in urban areas less than other nations, it's that Markklund is so huge and undeveloped that even the largest city in the nation feels like a frontier area. The export economy is based around the nation's timber and fur resources, which furthers this reputation. Most people see them as being very jolly and fond of their liquor, and they always seem to be celebrating some holiday or another. They tend to be friendly and welcoming towards outsiders, so long as they remember that they are outsiders.

Briella

Briella holds the southwestern coast of Thyressa, stretching from the towering trees of the Bosqroja, the greatest enchanted forest in the word, to the palm studded beaches and inland deserts in the south. It was founded by refugees from the Pieri Range War in the east, and it's natural beauty and resources soon earned it many immigrants, despite it being in one of the hardest parts of the continent to reach. It's population is primarily Castillaran, Leontin, and Sevrillan, with many Lorecians and Albonnans.

Northwest Briella's coast holds a mountain range, which is the same one on the western coast of Markklund, and the northeast and central coast hold smaller mountain ranges. Most of the north, including the mountains, is home to the Bosqroja, and sparsely populated. Right under the Bosqroja is Normenie Bay, home to Puerta Vellasco, known as the strangest city in the west. Below that is the nation's main farming region. The southern coast boasts many communities based off of sea trade and mining, but other than that isn't heavily populated.

Briellans are often considered somewhat aristocratic. Most of the power is concentrated in the hands of wealthy plantation families, and family connections can be very important when trying to get something done. In the cities organized crime based around powerful families is prevalent. Briellans are known for their hospitality, welcoming any visitors as if they were family, even if they are an enemy. They place a lot of value on guile and subtlety, and their politics are notoriously dangerous.

Another thing of note is that armor is not quite as advanced as vanilla Pathfinder. The heaviest thing available is a breast plate, which is considered a heavier armor than chain mail in my world because it has a plated skirt and plates sewn onto the sleeves, making it quite weighty. Articulated plate joints are unknown.

Medical technology is fairly good. It is understood how disease spreads, so proper public health measures are practiced, and it is also known which herbs and potions can fight infections. The understanding of anatomy is also highly advanced, and surgery is a valid option (surgery here isn't quite as good as in the real world, but it's not bad).

So, questions? Comments? I know I need to put in more info on everything, but I can't think of what info I need other than explaining what all these ethnic groups I mentioned are all about. What do you guys want to know? Do you have any country ideas?

[Roxxy]

I'll hopefully have some explanations of the ethnic groups alluded to above later tonight or early tomorrow morning. I am making some adjustments to what I wrote above. I may change the enchanted forest's name to sound more attractive, and I think I'll pull Puerto Vellasco's status as strangest city because as written it sounds way too similar to San Francisco.

I may expand the countries posted into regions or add a couple more countries when I post the ethnic groups, but that is not a promise. It may take too long to do the ethnic groups.

Also, I'm instituting the café and coffee house as institutions that often match the inn and tavern in prominence.

[Freddrick]

I feel you have a decent setting.

The main question I have is where does the adventure start? Where is the existing or potential conflict to push the adventure along?

What was the reason for not allowing heavier armor? Do you plan on offsetting that loss of protection afforded to the heavier melee oriented classes?

-Freddrick

[Roxxy]

The main question I have is where does the adventure start? Where is the existing or potential conflict to push the adventure along?There are many reasons to adventure. A main one is monster hunting. Law enforcement tends to be better at dealing with petty crime, tavern brawls, and stabbings than vampires, and if the PCs know how to handle that they will probably be allowed to. Bounty hunting is a solid option for similar reasons. There are ruins filled with dangerous traps and magical creatures that contain many valuable artifacts. There is the possibility of taking part in a war between two countries or becoming secret agents. Essentially, most of what you can do in a "standard setting", you can do here.


What was the reason for not allowing heavier armor? Do you plan on offsetting that loss of protection afforded to the heavier melee oriented classes?The loss of heavy armor was aesthetic. I'm not a fan of how full plate looks, and it came along pretty late IRL, so I went with a setting that hasn't gotten that far with it's armor technology yet. I'm offsetting it by tweaking the values for armors so that similar bonuses are available (though with greater mobility), even though the names and appearances are different. Essentially, a breastplate wearing melee character here has the protection of a full plate wearing melee character under the normal rules.

[Roxxy]

The ethnic groups take longer than expected. I have one so far:

The Welds

The Welds are a people hailing from Weldheim, a harsh land known for it's rugged mountains and scarce farmland. They are famous for their viking raiders, who went abroad taking what their own homeland could not produce. While the Markkish Welds have not sent out organized raids in over a century, that history still colors their culture.

Roughly 70% of Welds are elves or have elven blood, 20% are magni or have magni blood, 20% are dwarven or have dwarven blood, and less than 1% are dragons or have dragon blood. Among magni, the most common features are pale skin, tall height, blond, light brown, or red hair, and green or blue eyes.

The Welds still call Markkland Markkheim, it's original name. They are a reserved people, known to be more for writing and singing than talking. Literature and song are a deep part of their culture, with most of both being recountings of the deeds of their ancestors. The bard has a place of deep respect among Welds, and to them is as much a scholar and educator as an entertainer.

Welds tend to be coolly polite to people they don't know well, and don't consider someone a friend until they have known that individual for many years or fought beside them. Among friends, Welds tend to fairly warm, but they don't get truly loud and energetic until they get drunk, which they do with their friends somewhat often.

Welds respect combat prowess quite a bit, and their children start training with weapons or spells a couple years earlier than those of most other ethnicities. Welds enlist in the Markkish military at the highest rate of any ethnic group, with most Welds who enlist choosing the navy over the army. Welds are known for their skills at naval warfare, both in ship to ship combat and amphibious landings, and much of modern naval doctrine and shipbuilding technology comes from Weldish admirals and shipwrights.

The traditional Weldish diet is heavy on fish, whale, cheese, and bread (mostly dark bread). Meat, mostly game or beef, is eaten regularly, but not as often as seafood. Strong sauces, often made with berries, are a common accompanyment to game. Most fruits are berries, and they are popular with cream or in pastries. The most common vegetable is the potato, followed by carrots, celery, beets, onions, and cabbage. They drink coffee, which has been a vital staple of Weldish diet and social life ever since they became able to obtain it, beer, which is usually very rich, with a high malt and alcohol content, mead, vodka, and milk.

Examples of names:

Male

Alarik, Arkin, Bjarni, Borge, Eivind, Eurik, Felagi, Grimr, Gudmar, Gunvald, Hallgeirr, Hadvar, Ivar, Jorlaf, Jostein, Kjartan, Reidar, Sigerik, Torleif, Vemund

Female

Alva, Annfrid, Astri, Elida, Elisif, Fjora, Jennea, Karna, Kysten, Lida, Lisabeth, Minka, Naima, Nessa, Samine, Sarke, Seriana, Sissela, Stinna, Vilde

Surnames

Surnames are almost always the name of a close relative, ancestor, landmark, or village, sometimes with son attached to the end for men and dottir for women if the surname is that of a parent or grandparent. Each member of a family has a different surname, and names do not change upon marriage.

[Roxxy]

Since races were mentioned under the description of Welds, I'll cover them now.

First off, when giving racial makeups of a population, the percentages will add up to more than 100%. This is because people of mixed race are counted as "people of X blood" under both their racial categories, meaning they are being counted at least twice.

Second, it should be noted that all playable races are considered to be humans. There is no catch all race that mimics real life humans, though magni look pretty much the same as we do. Any race can crossbreed with another race.

Third, humans of this setting age at the same rate as humans do in real life, regardless of race.

Fourth, the races live together, not apart, so races from the same region tend to share a culture. I don't like giving races ability score modifiers. I feel it punishes players for creating characters who are different from the rest of their race and rewards them for creating characters who are similar to others of their race. I also feel they can encourage players to choose a race for mechanical instead of flavor reasons. Adventurers are highly likely to be outliers, so I don't see why ability scores should have modifiers to reflect racial averages when player characters are not average members of their race. For this setting, I don't think I want to use racial stats at all. I will leave race as a decisions whose only rule effect is what traits you can take, and give everyone what the core rules offer to humans.

Magni

Magni are one of only two races that live all over the planet, though they are almost never the most populace race in a given region. While their appearances differ greatly depending on the region they come from, they don't possess quite the variety of elves or dragons. Their skin ranges from pale to dark brown, and their eyes can be blue, green, brown, or grey. Their hair comes in shades of brown, red, blonde, and black. Aside from dwarves, they are the only race that grows hair outside the top of the head and pubic region, being capable of growing hair on most regions of their body, though it is usually very light unless on the face or sometimes the chest. This body hair is much more common on men than women. Their height depends on their region, with average heights than can range from 5'5" to over 6' for men, with women generally being a few inches shorter than the local men.

Magni are known for having very good memories, which makes them very good at scholarly pursuits. This ability to retain knowledge is most likely the quality that allowed them to spread all over the world. They do tend to be more susceptible to poisons and diseases than other humans, which has limited the size of their population and kept them from becoming the dominant race, at least in terms of numbers.

Dragons

Dragons are the other race that lives all over the planet. They possess an incredibly diverse range of appearances. Their skin can be almost any color, but the shade tends to be pale to moderately light in cooler regions and medium to dark in warmer regions, and it is common to see stripes, rosettes, or spots. Hair follows the same rule, except, while lighter shades are generally only seen in cooler regions, darker shades can be seen pretty much anywhere. Like most races, it grows on the top of the head and pubic region only. Eyes can be any color, and don't seem to follow any hard and fast rules. Dragons tend to be of middling height.

Dragons have a deep magical lineage, with over half the race having at least one level of dragonblood sorcerer. Like magni, they don't have a high population, generally being less than 1% of the population of any given region, do to the fact that their race came later than the other human races, and began with a much smaller number of individuals. You'll find them almost anywhere, but only a few of them. The dragons of old tended to rely on their scaly hides and magic for protection more so than a efficient internal healing system, and, while today's dragons lack those scales and have weaker magic the tendency is sometimes the same.

Elves

Elves are a race native to Weldheim, Albhonna, Heldra, Dennora, and Leontiny. Elves tend towards pale skin, but their hair and eye colors can be pretty much anything. Roughly a quarter have two differently colored eyes, and roughly a third have streaks of a second color in their hair. Their ears are elongated and pointed, and they are somewhat on the short and skinny side.

Elves are a physically hardy people, despite their frail appearances, which makes them good at making a living in rough areas and gives them a lot of staying power in a fight. They also tend to have an artistic bent, though it is as likely to be towards literature, song, performing, or the like as to be towards painting, carving, sculpting, or the like. A very large number of elves have some degree of bipolar disorder, and there is also a high rate of clinical depression. They form addictions very easily, with alcoholism being highly common and caffeine addiction almost expected of them.

Dwarves

Dwarves are a race native to Weldheim, Heldra, Albhonna, and Dennora. They tend towards pale skin, often freckled, and blue, brown, or green eyes. Their hair is usually a shade of red or brown, and males usually have coarse but light hair body hair and thick facial hair. They show the least variety in appearance of all the human races. They average around 5' tall for men, and a few inches shorter for women.

A fair number of dwarves have an instinctive grasp of mechanics and the laws of science and magic, and are very good at engineering new forms of technology and spellcasting or improving upon existing ones. However, dwarves often have a tendency to develop specific interests in a few fields, and many have a hard time focusing on or retaining information about something outside those fields. Though science, mechanics, and magic are the most common disciplines for dwarves, the race produces experts in almost much every field.

[I'm putting relevant details of draconic history down below to avoid cluttering the race description, as these details are a very bare bones overview of the first half of ancient history.]

Dragons were the original race, and once they were both powerful and immortal. When humans were created, the dragons ruled over them by divine decree and with magic, which humans did not possess, but over time the dragons got too convinced of their superiority, and their rule was unjust. Since the divines are not permitted to take away power once it has been granted, they could not directly strip the dragons of their power, but they could refuse to grant the children of dragons the same power their parents had, and make new generation of dragons human. The divines also gave humans the ability to learn magic, and over time they were able to overthrow the immortal dragons and rule themselves. Many of these immortal dragons still live, and they are all incredibly powerful by virtue of their age. They tend not to like humans, but are smart enough not to try lording over them again, unless they feel confident they can hide their true identity well enough to avoid exposure. There are very few things the players can run into that are more dangerous than one of the immortal dragons.

[Roxxy]

I would like some opinions on the way I did elves and dwarves, especially elves. I personally like it, but I want to be sure it isn't somewhat offensive to people with real life mental disabilities, or just plain tacky.

[Weltall_BR]

I think you are going the right way. Maybe you should put a little bit more work on the dynamics of your world, what turns it around, just to make sure you have good hooks for the campaigns.

Regarding the races, I like what you did. It is very close to the way they are usually seem but at the same time has its own little flavor. I'm a bit annoyed with people who say "my setting has elves, but they are totally different, they are a people of mountain nomads who breath fire". I mean, why the **** you even call those guys elves? If you want to have elves, stay true to their core idea. Otherwise just get rid of the name, which will only cause confusion. I would only be a bit more descriptive about elves' mental disorders. One can either construe it as "elves are loonies" or "elves are dangerous, you can never tell what they are up to", and everything in between.

[Roxxy]

I think you are going the right way. Maybe you should put a little bit more work on the dynamics of your world, what turns it around, just to make sure you have good hooks for the campaigns.I was planning to take a break from ethnic groups and handle some of the broad cultural and economic systems of the world later tonight or tomorrow morning.


Regarding the races, I like what you did. It is very close to the way they are usually seem but at the same time has its own little flavor. I'm a bit annoyed with people who say "my setting has elves, but they are totally different, they are a people of mountain nomads who breath fire". I mean, why the **** you even call those guys elves? If you want to have elves, stay true to their core idea. Otherwise just get rid of the name, which will only cause confusion. I would only be a bit more descriptive about elves' mental disorders. One can either construe it as "elves are loonies" or "elves are dangerous, you can never tell what they are up to", and everything in between.I'll clarify it later. I'm looking towards a propensity to be unstable, though the degree varies greatly by the individual, as bipolar disorder comes in a wide range of severities, as does alcoholism, and, while the rate of mental problems and addictions is very high among elves, there are plenty of members of the race who have neither.

I got the idea from the fact that IRL artists, whether writers, painters, poets, filmmakers, actors, musicians, or what have you, seem to suffer from problems like this at a higher rate than the average population.