Squiddish
2016-12-11, 01:35 PM
So, with the release of the Modern Magic UA, I decided it was high time to make a science fantasy campaign. But where to start? There were hardly any premade SF campaign settings. So I made one. Here it is.
The setting has all of the races from the 5e player handbook, SCAG, and Volo's guide to monsters, but their historical backgrounds are frequently different.
Dwarves, also known as Homo terrae, survived by eating the plants nobody else could and living in places few others could. Dwarves diverged from the other hominids in the early paleolithic, when they were forced into the mountains by competition with other races. Most of their food sources were mildly (or highly) toxic, and as a result they are quite resistant to ingested toxins.
They eventually split into two cultures, hill and mountain dwarves. Hill dwarves lived near the foot of the mountains, and farmed food, which they traded with the mountain dwarves for tools. The mountain dwarves, while not inherently good miners or blacksmiths, eventually became skilled and renowned as a result of metal and tools being their main exports. This renown brought in more trade, which spread the reputation even further, to the point where few people don't think of smithing and mining whenver they think of dwarves.
Dwarves have always been fairly technologically advanced, both from their own inventions (e.g. steel) and from early adoption of other advances (e.g. steam engines and gunpowder). The valuable alloys Mithral and Adamantine were invented by a partnership between mountain dwarves and high elves. Wait, what? Elves and dwarves working together? Read on.
Elves (Homo sylvani) are most closely related to humans, and developed technology rather quickly at first. While they originally emerged in thick equatorial jungles, elves have since spread far and wide. One interesting feature is that due to a genetic quirk, 80% of elves cannot grow facial or body hair, and 1% cannot grow any hair at all.
The most numerous subculture of elves is the land elves, who have spread to most climates. Most anthropologists split them into three cultures: the wood elves, who live in forests, plains, and jungles; the desert elves, who live in deserts (obviously); and the steppe elves, also known as the temukan after their greatest leader, who live a nomadic lifestyle and at one point conquered most of the planet.
The next group, the high elves, live in the mountains and have formed a number of alliances with the dwarves. They tended to be predisposed towards research, both magical and technological, and have a number of achievements in both fields.
The last extant group (Aquatic elves are extinct on the material plane) is the dark elves, who live underground. For a long time they were drow, xenophobic followers of Lolth, but in 1823 Lolth went silent for six months, during which time four cities staged a rebellion, lead by a young male dark elf by the name of Dr'rezt Aragonsen (No relation). This revolution was largely successful, and now the drow represent a minority of dark elves. Most dark elves are largely tolerant of other races, but still often confused by other cultures and species. Both the drow and other dark elves are matriarchal, but only the drow are theocratic. The dark elves are also notable for running a large number of internet servers, commonly known as the underdarknet.
Halflings (H. hobbitus) come from the same branch of hominds as dwarves. They developed agriculture rapidly and stuck with it, importing and exporting all manners of food and crops. They tend to ignore technological developments that don't directly benefit them, and some avoid technology altogether. They are split into lightfoot and stout varieties, but these have very few cultural differences.
Humans (H. sapiens) are the most populous hominids and spread like wildfire. They are the tallest of the common hominids, often having heights above six feet. This has the unfortunate effect of reducing their lifespan greatly due to increased strain on their heart. Many historians link this to their rather disproportionate number of achievements, including steam power, electricity, and gunpowder weapons. There are enough humans that it is difficult to make any other generalizations.
Dragonborn are a rare and unique race, with traits of mammals or birds (warm blood) and reptiles (Scales, oviparous). This is because, like dragons, they are somewhere on the spectrum between bird and reptile. Most of them have yet to take up agriculture, remaining hunter-gatherers.
Gnomes (H. gnosis) are the smallest extant hominids, and the second longest lived. They are naturally very curious and have been responsible for a number of innovations, including gunpowder, although they did not develop any military applications. Gnomes mostly inhabit naturally secluded locations and have only rarely been involved in any major conflicts except when they leave their homelands.
Half-elves are a crossbreed between elves and humans. Since both species have the same number of chromosomes, half-elves are not sterile, however they generally have a low fertility as a result of their elvish ancestry. They recently became more common.
Tieflings emerge from three sources: ancient pacts, a distant fiendish ancestor, or extended existence in one of the lower planes. They encounter a lot of suspicion and weird glances at first, but can often win over a community with their natural charms and wit, whether or not they have good intentions. Tieflings lack a culture of their own; most just live among the societies their family lived in before becoming tieflings.
Aasimar are formed similarly to tieflings: A distant (or in some cases, recent) celestial ancestor, generally a celestial elf or dwarf, an ancient gift from a god, or a lot of time on an upper plane. Their divine nature gives them a strong will and makes them seem naturally trustworthy. Like tieflings, Aasimar rarely form their own cultures, living among other civilizations.
Firbolgs, with their kinship with nature, can't help but be concerned by modern developments. Many have left their traditional forest homes to preserve environments under threat or advocate for environmental concerns. This trend is traced back to a firbolg by the name of Loer'aks lived during the industrial revolution and urged humans to stop overconsumption and respect the natural world.
Tritons live underwater, defending the world from various invasions but increasingly from supervillains who think undersea hideouts are the next big thing.
Lizardfolk originate from the Heart of Nowhere, a continent at the center of the Nowhere ocean. Isolated from most other species until said other species developed the steam engine. Lizardfolk did not develop ironworking, as the variety of resources on their new continent and regular trade with Kobolds and Drow made it unnecessary. They made armor and weapons from the body parts of other animals, up to and including dragons and dinosaurs.
Tabaxi came to be in tropical areas, coexisting and/or competing with early elves and eventually outcompeting them and driving them off (Or so the tabaxi say. The elves insist they left on their own free will.). After a while they spread across the world, becoming embroiled in all manner of industries.
Kobolds cannot be traced to a particular location, and could be found on every continent before most species had even figured out how boats worked thanks to the network of undersea caverns. They are excellent tunnelers and are frequently employed by cities to dig sewers, subways, and communication or power lines. Additionally, they have a strong industry, creating and selling high quality magic items at affordable prices:smallbiggrin:(This sentence sponsored by Drakon Industries, LCC).
Hobgoblins are a warlike race, but unlike in other settings they are not a unified force. This difference is mostly for religious reasons. Many were swayed to the worship of Jornir, many-faced god of war. Others were divided as the worship of Maglubiyet split into a dozen warring sects. Many joined other nations, showing their loyalty time and time again; some joined the military and participated in war after war, others founded wizarding schools or advanced research. One notable Hobgoblin by the name of Yzaarch worked with the Altharan space program, developing a number of spells and technologies.
The yuan ti have had a pretty tough existence, and deserved every minute of it. Once a human empire, their demanding and brutal religion brought them to rock bottom...and then they kept going. Religious reformers arose and were quashed with deadly force; future reformers took this to heart and staged violent revolutions. The purebloods were routinely oppressed among their own people but more often than not were sent to infiltrate other nations; many chose to never return, egging their new nations on to destroy the yuan-ti culture that had oppressed them for so long. Breaks in communication created gaps between cities and soon they engaged in civil war. By the industrial era, they Yuan-ti had gone from a mighty empire to a scattered mass of warring city-states. They grew more suspicious and hateful of themselves than the other species they so despised. Other nations, including ones secretly manipulated by expatriate yuan-ti, pushed the conflict forwards, supplying weapons in hopes that the Yuan-ti would destroy each other. And they did, sort of. When the smoke cleared, one city-state stepped from the ruins, declared itself the only true yuan-ti state, and announced that they would be making some broad reforms. From then on, they appeared ethical, sane and quite polite. Still, something seems off, and nobody can really tell what. Anyone who spies on them disappears quietly, and the yuan-ti don't even seem to be aware of it.
Volo's Guide to Monsters races, world map, and more coming soon.
Volo's Guide to Monsters races are done (mostly)!
The setting has all of the races from the 5e player handbook, SCAG, and Volo's guide to monsters, but their historical backgrounds are frequently different.
Dwarves, also known as Homo terrae, survived by eating the plants nobody else could and living in places few others could. Dwarves diverged from the other hominids in the early paleolithic, when they were forced into the mountains by competition with other races. Most of their food sources were mildly (or highly) toxic, and as a result they are quite resistant to ingested toxins.
They eventually split into two cultures, hill and mountain dwarves. Hill dwarves lived near the foot of the mountains, and farmed food, which they traded with the mountain dwarves for tools. The mountain dwarves, while not inherently good miners or blacksmiths, eventually became skilled and renowned as a result of metal and tools being their main exports. This renown brought in more trade, which spread the reputation even further, to the point where few people don't think of smithing and mining whenver they think of dwarves.
Dwarves have always been fairly technologically advanced, both from their own inventions (e.g. steel) and from early adoption of other advances (e.g. steam engines and gunpowder). The valuable alloys Mithral and Adamantine were invented by a partnership between mountain dwarves and high elves. Wait, what? Elves and dwarves working together? Read on.
Elves (Homo sylvani) are most closely related to humans, and developed technology rather quickly at first. While they originally emerged in thick equatorial jungles, elves have since spread far and wide. One interesting feature is that due to a genetic quirk, 80% of elves cannot grow facial or body hair, and 1% cannot grow any hair at all.
The most numerous subculture of elves is the land elves, who have spread to most climates. Most anthropologists split them into three cultures: the wood elves, who live in forests, plains, and jungles; the desert elves, who live in deserts (obviously); and the steppe elves, also known as the temukan after their greatest leader, who live a nomadic lifestyle and at one point conquered most of the planet.
The next group, the high elves, live in the mountains and have formed a number of alliances with the dwarves. They tended to be predisposed towards research, both magical and technological, and have a number of achievements in both fields.
The last extant group (Aquatic elves are extinct on the material plane) is the dark elves, who live underground. For a long time they were drow, xenophobic followers of Lolth, but in 1823 Lolth went silent for six months, during which time four cities staged a rebellion, lead by a young male dark elf by the name of Dr'rezt Aragonsen (No relation). This revolution was largely successful, and now the drow represent a minority of dark elves. Most dark elves are largely tolerant of other races, but still often confused by other cultures and species. Both the drow and other dark elves are matriarchal, but only the drow are theocratic. The dark elves are also notable for running a large number of internet servers, commonly known as the underdarknet.
Halflings (H. hobbitus) come from the same branch of hominds as dwarves. They developed agriculture rapidly and stuck with it, importing and exporting all manners of food and crops. They tend to ignore technological developments that don't directly benefit them, and some avoid technology altogether. They are split into lightfoot and stout varieties, but these have very few cultural differences.
Humans (H. sapiens) are the most populous hominids and spread like wildfire. They are the tallest of the common hominids, often having heights above six feet. This has the unfortunate effect of reducing their lifespan greatly due to increased strain on their heart. Many historians link this to their rather disproportionate number of achievements, including steam power, electricity, and gunpowder weapons. There are enough humans that it is difficult to make any other generalizations.
Dragonborn are a rare and unique race, with traits of mammals or birds (warm blood) and reptiles (Scales, oviparous). This is because, like dragons, they are somewhere on the spectrum between bird and reptile. Most of them have yet to take up agriculture, remaining hunter-gatherers.
Gnomes (H. gnosis) are the smallest extant hominids, and the second longest lived. They are naturally very curious and have been responsible for a number of innovations, including gunpowder, although they did not develop any military applications. Gnomes mostly inhabit naturally secluded locations and have only rarely been involved in any major conflicts except when they leave their homelands.
Half-elves are a crossbreed between elves and humans. Since both species have the same number of chromosomes, half-elves are not sterile, however they generally have a low fertility as a result of their elvish ancestry. They recently became more common.
Tieflings emerge from three sources: ancient pacts, a distant fiendish ancestor, or extended existence in one of the lower planes. They encounter a lot of suspicion and weird glances at first, but can often win over a community with their natural charms and wit, whether or not they have good intentions. Tieflings lack a culture of their own; most just live among the societies their family lived in before becoming tieflings.
Aasimar are formed similarly to tieflings: A distant (or in some cases, recent) celestial ancestor, generally a celestial elf or dwarf, an ancient gift from a god, or a lot of time on an upper plane. Their divine nature gives them a strong will and makes them seem naturally trustworthy. Like tieflings, Aasimar rarely form their own cultures, living among other civilizations.
Firbolgs, with their kinship with nature, can't help but be concerned by modern developments. Many have left their traditional forest homes to preserve environments under threat or advocate for environmental concerns. This trend is traced back to a firbolg by the name of Loer'aks lived during the industrial revolution and urged humans to stop overconsumption and respect the natural world.
Tritons live underwater, defending the world from various invasions but increasingly from supervillains who think undersea hideouts are the next big thing.
Lizardfolk originate from the Heart of Nowhere, a continent at the center of the Nowhere ocean. Isolated from most other species until said other species developed the steam engine. Lizardfolk did not develop ironworking, as the variety of resources on their new continent and regular trade with Kobolds and Drow made it unnecessary. They made armor and weapons from the body parts of other animals, up to and including dragons and dinosaurs.
Tabaxi came to be in tropical areas, coexisting and/or competing with early elves and eventually outcompeting them and driving them off (Or so the tabaxi say. The elves insist they left on their own free will.). After a while they spread across the world, becoming embroiled in all manner of industries.
Kobolds cannot be traced to a particular location, and could be found on every continent before most species had even figured out how boats worked thanks to the network of undersea caverns. They are excellent tunnelers and are frequently employed by cities to dig sewers, subways, and communication or power lines. Additionally, they have a strong industry, creating and selling high quality magic items at affordable prices:smallbiggrin:(This sentence sponsored by Drakon Industries, LCC).
Hobgoblins are a warlike race, but unlike in other settings they are not a unified force. This difference is mostly for religious reasons. Many were swayed to the worship of Jornir, many-faced god of war. Others were divided as the worship of Maglubiyet split into a dozen warring sects. Many joined other nations, showing their loyalty time and time again; some joined the military and participated in war after war, others founded wizarding schools or advanced research. One notable Hobgoblin by the name of Yzaarch worked with the Altharan space program, developing a number of spells and technologies.
The yuan ti have had a pretty tough existence, and deserved every minute of it. Once a human empire, their demanding and brutal religion brought them to rock bottom...and then they kept going. Religious reformers arose and were quashed with deadly force; future reformers took this to heart and staged violent revolutions. The purebloods were routinely oppressed among their own people but more often than not were sent to infiltrate other nations; many chose to never return, egging their new nations on to destroy the yuan-ti culture that had oppressed them for so long. Breaks in communication created gaps between cities and soon they engaged in civil war. By the industrial era, they Yuan-ti had gone from a mighty empire to a scattered mass of warring city-states. They grew more suspicious and hateful of themselves than the other species they so despised. Other nations, including ones secretly manipulated by expatriate yuan-ti, pushed the conflict forwards, supplying weapons in hopes that the Yuan-ti would destroy each other. And they did, sort of. When the smoke cleared, one city-state stepped from the ruins, declared itself the only true yuan-ti state, and announced that they would be making some broad reforms. From then on, they appeared ethical, sane and quite polite. Still, something seems off, and nobody can really tell what. Anyone who spies on them disappears quietly, and the yuan-ti don't even seem to be aware of it.
Volo's Guide to Monsters races, world map, and more coming soon.
Volo's Guide to Monsters races are done (mostly)!