Chaosvii7
2014-12-02, 09:30 AM
I don't think I posted this before, but stop me if you've heard this idea for a campaign setting. There's a power vacuum caused by one of the DM's in our gaming circle at our FLGS cancelling his most recent campaign, but I've had so many people ask me to run something that I think I might be able to fill up my own table in addition to whatever game would take the place of that one. This is an idea I kicked around in my head for some time but I didn't think it was very workable, and then I came back and cleaned it up a bit.
Every (core) race besides the Humans that has emerged on the world has brought with them a spark of magic of a particular school. Each race bringing a spark of magic does not mean that they are forced to use that school, it simply means that they happened to be the key to the discovery of that magic. In a system of 8 races and 8 schools of magic, that leaves 1 school with an ambiguous origin: Necromancy. A very ambitious man discovers the power of Necromancy and turns himself into the first Lich, creating an empire of undead to follow him and sets his sights on world domination, as well as becoming a god. The races of the world mobilize against him, as he is collecting enough arcane power and has learned a ritual that he could perform to actually become a demigod, and in a final confrontation, his spellbook and notes are destroyed.
As a consequence of his toiling with magic beyond his comprehension - that is to say, the magic of gods - he is struck from the pages of existence forever. His name is forgotten. His race is forgotten. His phylactery is destroyed. All traces of his magic are gone. People remember a big fight against an evil lich, but remember absolutely nothing else about the event that led up to his destruction.
What's worse, this has caused an interesting side effect- none of the races of civilized society are aware of where any magic came from, less alone their own. This has caused various races to disassociate with one another and sort of "unform" society as they knew it, as tensions are high because all the races of the world don't know who this famous Nercomancer was and suspect each other of bringing Necromancy into the world. The way things are shaping up, it's looking like the world is in favor of abandoning the practice of magic and returning to the stone ages, but there's a loud majority who do not want this to happen. The only way to truly unite the race again is to rediscover the origins of magic in all the races and discover the truth of the Lich, which means standing toe to toe with the very gods for answers.
I was wondering if this setting sounds like something worthwhile for exploring. I'm in no short supply for imagining plots and designing campaigns, but I want to have a good foundation to work around. I just wanted to know if everyone thinks this is a workable world history that makes for an interesting world to explore.
Every (core) race besides the Humans that has emerged on the world has brought with them a spark of magic of a particular school. Each race bringing a spark of magic does not mean that they are forced to use that school, it simply means that they happened to be the key to the discovery of that magic. In a system of 8 races and 8 schools of magic, that leaves 1 school with an ambiguous origin: Necromancy. A very ambitious man discovers the power of Necromancy and turns himself into the first Lich, creating an empire of undead to follow him and sets his sights on world domination, as well as becoming a god. The races of the world mobilize against him, as he is collecting enough arcane power and has learned a ritual that he could perform to actually become a demigod, and in a final confrontation, his spellbook and notes are destroyed.
As a consequence of his toiling with magic beyond his comprehension - that is to say, the magic of gods - he is struck from the pages of existence forever. His name is forgotten. His race is forgotten. His phylactery is destroyed. All traces of his magic are gone. People remember a big fight against an evil lich, but remember absolutely nothing else about the event that led up to his destruction.
What's worse, this has caused an interesting side effect- none of the races of civilized society are aware of where any magic came from, less alone their own. This has caused various races to disassociate with one another and sort of "unform" society as they knew it, as tensions are high because all the races of the world don't know who this famous Nercomancer was and suspect each other of bringing Necromancy into the world. The way things are shaping up, it's looking like the world is in favor of abandoning the practice of magic and returning to the stone ages, but there's a loud majority who do not want this to happen. The only way to truly unite the race again is to rediscover the origins of magic in all the races and discover the truth of the Lich, which means standing toe to toe with the very gods for answers.
I was wondering if this setting sounds like something worthwhile for exploring. I'm in no short supply for imagining plots and designing campaigns, but I want to have a good foundation to work around. I just wanted to know if everyone thinks this is a workable world history that makes for an interesting world to explore.