Attilargh
2007-03-11, 10:31 AM
So, first of all, the following is far from finished, polished or even fully thought-out campaign setting: It is merely a collection of ideas. Few names excist, because I'm really poor at inventing them. (Wink wink. :wink:)
If you happen to be interested, please, comment, critique and especially ask questions. I have a nasty tendency of not finishing what I start, so if you're really, genuinely interested, prod me forward.
---
Theme:
Overall, I guess the setting is about change. While the history of the world extends back for hundreds of years, the past is not quite as important as the future. Notable NPCs, gods, even the land itself will go through changes. Some will fare better than others, be betrayed, die, and even rise from the grave. (Any single character will probably not go through all that, however.)
Me? Ambitious? Come on, now. :tongue:
The World:
Currently I'm concentrating on the South, because I'm tired of all the Frozen Norths and Middle-European Forests. I want sun, jungles, old ruins covered in vegetation, sparkling waters, massive downpours, monsoons, beautiful islands, coral reefs, huge rivers, that sort of stuff. And yes, tigers, apes, snakes and all sorts of fangy creatures will try to eat you in the wilds as you try to find the Ruins of Something-Or-Other.
The shining jewel of the South is the city of Serra. (Yes, the name was nicked off a Magic card I saw long ago, will change it.) Before the elves, the city was the seat of the human God-King Cesath. Being the most important port in the South, it was the first to be invaded by the elves and two hundred years later, it is still under elven rule. The city is a melting pot of cultures where an Elven temple sits next to a human shrine, and a kobold haggles with a dwarf in the marketplace over the price of the newest import. Hundreds of years of trade with other peoples have shaped the city, and the influence can be seen in the various architectural styles of the buildings.
Races:
Humans: The Young.
The human civilization is a young one, with only about a thousand years of history or so. Humans hail from the jungles of the South (Attilargh needs names. Badly.), where their greatest cities lie, but the ambitious race has spread over the Eastern Coast, even to the cold North.
Humans have little in the way of central government, as the political trend is City-States. About five centuries ago, the God-King Cesath (Hey look, a name! Too bad it's a crappy one.) united Southern cities to a kingdom, but after a hundred years of rule, Cesath was slain or disappeared and the kingdom disintegrated.
Religion-wise, humans have a massive number of minor deities to choose from. Many still offer worship to Cesath, but every city has at least a couple gods of its own, many families revere one or more of their ancestors as deities, and it is a rare mythical hero who doesn't have a small cult to himself. To complicate things further, nearly everyone worships at least a couple deities regularly, and more as there is need. Quite a few truly evil people also worship fiends of the Underworld. [Rules-wise this means that a human can make up his own god(s), and human clerics can pick any two domains they like. Within reason, of course.]
Humans have little aptitude for sorcery or other forms of spontaneous arcana, and little tradition in magecraft. The human mind is powerful, however, and psionic power comes easily to a human who seeks it. Thus, psionics are an integral part of life in most human communities.
Style is a bit Arabic, a bit Indian (India-related) and a tiny bit Greco-Roman mixed with some generic fantasy and a healthy dose of the exotic.
Elves: The Conquistadors
Bet that took you by surprise, eh? That's right, elves are conquerors. Originally from another continent across the seas, the first elves arrived to the Southern shores about three centuries ago as explorers and traders. A few decades later trading ships had changed to military vessels and in under a century, the elves had occupied some of the most important Southern cities.
Elves are not, however, new arrivals to the continent. About a thousand years ago, the elves lived in the area that is now only a ruin-dotted desert in the Northwest. Yep, a Magical Catastrophe occured, forcing the elves to flee. They left behind works of art, magic, architecture and a honking big desert, and became ancient tales for the other races. [So it's cliché, sue me. I needed an excuse for weird magic items, dungeons and the drow.]
The elves are united under a single government.The government is an elected senate, which promotes all kinds of underhanded political moves, such as stabbings, poisonings and bribes. In the colonies the power is concentrated on a triumvirate of sorts consisting of the local governor, the head of the local military and the high priest elected from the clergy of the Six.
The elves worship six gods: Lord, Lady, Mother, Death, Warrior and Traveler (LN, CN, NG, N, NE and N, respectively).
Lord, also known as the Smith, is the god of the four elements and order. (Law, Air, Earth, Fire, Water)
Lady personifies the living nature and its chaos. (Chaos, Animals, Plants, Sun)
Mother is the protector and caretaker of the elves. (Good, Protection, Luck, Healing)
Death is the god of the dead and arcane magic. (Death, Magic, Destruction)
Warrior is the god who ruthlessly crushes the elves' enemies. (War, Strength, Evil)
Traveler, also known as the Sage, is the god of knowledge, wayfarers and traders. (Travel, Knowledge, Trickery)
Pretty obvious stuff, really. [This is a normal, loose pantheon, using all the domains from the Player's Handbook.]
As opposed to humans, elves have very long traditions of arcane magic, to the point it has become almost a science. Orreries, astrolabes and similar instruments are not uncommon in elven arcana. Some elves shun the scientific approach and instead consider the arcane more of an art, but these sorcerers are a minority, if a vocal one. The martial arts are also very honoured, and quite a few elves carry the mantle of a swordsage.
When I think of the elven flavour, I think of Greco-Roman mixed with Renaissance arts and sciences.
And the at-the-moment-minor races:
Dwarves:
I'm thinking of an Asian flavour. And they live aboveground, in villages. Still prefer mountains, perhaps has something to do with the thin air. No Scottish accent, thank you very much. Some live in the Southwestern mountains, others in the far North.
Gnomes:
Live in the Southern jungles along rivers. If you've seen Dead Man's Chest, think of the village where Tia Dalma lives. [Might use the Jungle Gnome rules.]
Halflings:
Nomads from the North. Might herd reindeer.
Goblins:
Live in tribes in the Southern jungles. Infest old ruins. Think of every tribe of cannibals you've seen in cheesy pulp adventures.
Hobgoblins:
A very militant, disciplined culture from the arid West. Used to be foes of the elves before the latter left.
Kobolds:
Orderly culture in the islands of the South. Worship the local dragons and are protected in turn. Creative, industrious and sharp.
---
So, what say you? Are you interested in the least? Was it the most boring waste of letters you've ever read? A fascinating take on old ideas or just the same old rubbish? Too little? (Well, yeah, it is. No metaplot, yet.) Too much? (That's a yes for me, 1223 words in a couple of hours, ugh.)
If you happen to be interested, please, comment, critique and especially ask questions. I have a nasty tendency of not finishing what I start, so if you're really, genuinely interested, prod me forward.
---
Theme:
Overall, I guess the setting is about change. While the history of the world extends back for hundreds of years, the past is not quite as important as the future. Notable NPCs, gods, even the land itself will go through changes. Some will fare better than others, be betrayed, die, and even rise from the grave. (Any single character will probably not go through all that, however.)
Me? Ambitious? Come on, now. :tongue:
The World:
Currently I'm concentrating on the South, because I'm tired of all the Frozen Norths and Middle-European Forests. I want sun, jungles, old ruins covered in vegetation, sparkling waters, massive downpours, monsoons, beautiful islands, coral reefs, huge rivers, that sort of stuff. And yes, tigers, apes, snakes and all sorts of fangy creatures will try to eat you in the wilds as you try to find the Ruins of Something-Or-Other.
The shining jewel of the South is the city of Serra. (Yes, the name was nicked off a Magic card I saw long ago, will change it.) Before the elves, the city was the seat of the human God-King Cesath. Being the most important port in the South, it was the first to be invaded by the elves and two hundred years later, it is still under elven rule. The city is a melting pot of cultures where an Elven temple sits next to a human shrine, and a kobold haggles with a dwarf in the marketplace over the price of the newest import. Hundreds of years of trade with other peoples have shaped the city, and the influence can be seen in the various architectural styles of the buildings.
Races:
Humans: The Young.
The human civilization is a young one, with only about a thousand years of history or so. Humans hail from the jungles of the South (Attilargh needs names. Badly.), where their greatest cities lie, but the ambitious race has spread over the Eastern Coast, even to the cold North.
Humans have little in the way of central government, as the political trend is City-States. About five centuries ago, the God-King Cesath (Hey look, a name! Too bad it's a crappy one.) united Southern cities to a kingdom, but after a hundred years of rule, Cesath was slain or disappeared and the kingdom disintegrated.
Religion-wise, humans have a massive number of minor deities to choose from. Many still offer worship to Cesath, but every city has at least a couple gods of its own, many families revere one or more of their ancestors as deities, and it is a rare mythical hero who doesn't have a small cult to himself. To complicate things further, nearly everyone worships at least a couple deities regularly, and more as there is need. Quite a few truly evil people also worship fiends of the Underworld. [Rules-wise this means that a human can make up his own god(s), and human clerics can pick any two domains they like. Within reason, of course.]
Humans have little aptitude for sorcery or other forms of spontaneous arcana, and little tradition in magecraft. The human mind is powerful, however, and psionic power comes easily to a human who seeks it. Thus, psionics are an integral part of life in most human communities.
Style is a bit Arabic, a bit Indian (India-related) and a tiny bit Greco-Roman mixed with some generic fantasy and a healthy dose of the exotic.
Elves: The Conquistadors
Bet that took you by surprise, eh? That's right, elves are conquerors. Originally from another continent across the seas, the first elves arrived to the Southern shores about three centuries ago as explorers and traders. A few decades later trading ships had changed to military vessels and in under a century, the elves had occupied some of the most important Southern cities.
Elves are not, however, new arrivals to the continent. About a thousand years ago, the elves lived in the area that is now only a ruin-dotted desert in the Northwest. Yep, a Magical Catastrophe occured, forcing the elves to flee. They left behind works of art, magic, architecture and a honking big desert, and became ancient tales for the other races. [So it's cliché, sue me. I needed an excuse for weird magic items, dungeons and the drow.]
The elves are united under a single government.The government is an elected senate, which promotes all kinds of underhanded political moves, such as stabbings, poisonings and bribes. In the colonies the power is concentrated on a triumvirate of sorts consisting of the local governor, the head of the local military and the high priest elected from the clergy of the Six.
The elves worship six gods: Lord, Lady, Mother, Death, Warrior and Traveler (LN, CN, NG, N, NE and N, respectively).
Lord, also known as the Smith, is the god of the four elements and order. (Law, Air, Earth, Fire, Water)
Lady personifies the living nature and its chaos. (Chaos, Animals, Plants, Sun)
Mother is the protector and caretaker of the elves. (Good, Protection, Luck, Healing)
Death is the god of the dead and arcane magic. (Death, Magic, Destruction)
Warrior is the god who ruthlessly crushes the elves' enemies. (War, Strength, Evil)
Traveler, also known as the Sage, is the god of knowledge, wayfarers and traders. (Travel, Knowledge, Trickery)
Pretty obvious stuff, really. [This is a normal, loose pantheon, using all the domains from the Player's Handbook.]
As opposed to humans, elves have very long traditions of arcane magic, to the point it has become almost a science. Orreries, astrolabes and similar instruments are not uncommon in elven arcana. Some elves shun the scientific approach and instead consider the arcane more of an art, but these sorcerers are a minority, if a vocal one. The martial arts are also very honoured, and quite a few elves carry the mantle of a swordsage.
When I think of the elven flavour, I think of Greco-Roman mixed with Renaissance arts and sciences.
And the at-the-moment-minor races:
Dwarves:
I'm thinking of an Asian flavour. And they live aboveground, in villages. Still prefer mountains, perhaps has something to do with the thin air. No Scottish accent, thank you very much. Some live in the Southwestern mountains, others in the far North.
Gnomes:
Live in the Southern jungles along rivers. If you've seen Dead Man's Chest, think of the village where Tia Dalma lives. [Might use the Jungle Gnome rules.]
Halflings:
Nomads from the North. Might herd reindeer.
Goblins:
Live in tribes in the Southern jungles. Infest old ruins. Think of every tribe of cannibals you've seen in cheesy pulp adventures.
Hobgoblins:
A very militant, disciplined culture from the arid West. Used to be foes of the elves before the latter left.
Kobolds:
Orderly culture in the islands of the South. Worship the local dragons and are protected in turn. Creative, industrious and sharp.
---
So, what say you? Are you interested in the least? Was it the most boring waste of letters you've ever read? A fascinating take on old ideas or just the same old rubbish? Too little? (Well, yeah, it is. No metaplot, yet.) Too much? (That's a yes for me, 1223 words in a couple of hours, ugh.)