PDA

View Full Version : Czaric campaign setting



Vuzzmop
2007-11-16, 05:09 PM
Tell me what you think of this. It's my first setting, as I'm new to DMing. Feel free to criticise:smallbiggrin: . It has elements of some other settings, as well as new mythology of my own.

The Superior realms of Grand Arbiter Czaric VII

This is a moderate magic, high psionics campaign setting I’m using for my game at the moment. The basic idea is a totalitarian and racist state, where humans are at a constant stalemate with the equally sinister Elves, and arcane spellcasters, and to a lesser extent divine spellcasters not under the control of Czaric are hunted down as scapegoats for the world’s troubles.

Races rarely intermingle in Czaric, as the humans and elves are constantly at war, and the dwarves, gnomes and Halflings seem content to stay out of the violence. Magic items are sold exclusively at black markets in human lands, but freely everywhere else.

Classes

As wizardry is mistrusted by the state, psionic classes occur more frequently. Warlocks are actively hunted by Czaric’s police.

Since I’m lazy, the pantheon I’m using so far is the greyhawk pantheon, but they are distant and their churches are few, so Clerics are more likely to follow an ideal. Paladins are champions of the people, working closely with farming communities outside of Czaric Major.

Races and homelands: (some names just placeholders until I find better ones)

Humans have settlements to the western coast, and to a lesser extent into the frozen wastes of the south. They also have control of the city of Czaric (outlined below), and the deserts surrounding the city. Desert Kobolds (unearthed Arcana) scavenge in the shrubless desert, while the Air Gnomes (UA) are content to practice their alchemical arts in labs high in the northern mountains. The Dwarves, while still miners, live in the canyons close-by, rather than in the higher mountain ranges. The Dwarven favoured class is psychic warrior, while the Gnomes favoured class can be chosen between bard and wilder.

Halflings live on the water, in floating shacks along the river known as the Longwind. Their main city is a floating town that rests at the top of the great waterfall, the Mistwall, tied and anchored by twelve pillars which rope the town’s main buildings together. The Mistwall is rich mineral resources in the form of jewels, which they peddle to taller folk.

The Elves are not at all like those of other worlds, bearing goat-like horns (too small to be used as weapons), and a sinister side which makes them more likely to be evil than good in alignment. The Elves live in the thickest part of the eastern forests, The Weald, in their city of Moonreach where their leaders experiment with necromancy upon the “lesser” races, and plot against the equally evil Grand Arbiter Czaric. Half Elves are all but unheard of, being mistrusted by their thoroughbred cousins. Only one subrace of elves is well known, the grey elves known by other elves as “blood traitors”, having formed settlements in the high mountains with the Gnomes. Grey elves have the psion as their favoured class, while normal elves use ranger as their favoured class.

A location unsettled by any particular race is that of the Muragandan Ruins. Once a coalition between elves and humans, the ruins are a long forgotten reminder of those two races ancient brotherhood. Nature thrives in the ruins, and dire animals are common in the region, as are a long lasting coven of human and elven Druids.

Czaric (main city)
The largest human settlement is a massive walled city, consisting of three concentric circles which form the low income, high income, and aristocratic zones.
The outermost circle is home to those who are most unlucky under Caric’s iron fisted rule. Almost no buildings stand alone, with most people forced to live in massive almost completely windowless buildings designed to keep the poor demoralised and faithless. However, there are stirrings and whispers of a rebellion in the outer circle, which Czaric’s men do all they can to maintain is a myth.
The second circle is full of people slightly better off, but Czaric’s presence is still felt everywhere.
At the very centre of the city stands an even higher wall, blocking of Czaric’s most “trusted” from the outside world. Many of the homes in this section of the city are floating, making sure that the secrets shared within them are kept as just that. Chains hold down these homes, with the ground being little more than a forest of slowly waving, groaning metal. In the centre floats a massive obsidian cube, with no obvious entranceway, held down by four chains as thick as pine trunks. It is from here that the Grand Arbiter watches over his empire.


Cosmology: (again, names as placeholders)

Czaric’s world forms the prime material plane, and has two “moons”. These moons are actually sparks from the two closest planes, Mechanus and Carceri. The Mechanus of Czaric is similar to that of Greyhawk, but Carceri is very different, formed out of an infinite complex of rusted prison cells and claustrophobic hallways, guarded by Baatezu.
Once every five-hundred years, these two sparks overlap, forming a larger, “blue moon”. This lasts for twenty four hours, blotting out the sun. It is rumoured that this moon brings with it dark and ancient magics.
While Carceri forms the home of the devils, demons live in a plane similar to the abyss, while angels, gaurdinals and eladrin all live in a plane similar to Elysium. During what is believed to be the first Blue moon, the demons and celestials made a pact binding each race with powerful law magic. Celestials would stay in Elysium, Demons would stay in the abyss, with neither meddling in the affairs of mortals. Thus, few know of a way into these two planes, and even fewer have the wish to do so.
The elemental planes are all one, forming an ocean of elemental magic which the other planes rest in.

Vuzzmop
2007-11-17, 04:38 PM
Anybody have an opinion or a point to make? I want some help improving this, so any pointers would be great.

sorry about the double post.

DracoDei
2007-11-17, 04:52 PM
Tired, but I will ask a question or two to get things moving...
What are Czarics motives?
How dark and depressing is the setting supposed to be, and how much is it a matter of "lots of room to do good"?
So the building code bans windows (or more likely merely taxes them?)?

Vuzzmop
2007-11-18, 05:05 PM
Czarics aims to gain total control, taking free will from all sentient beings under his rule. He plans to do this through ritual during the blue moon. Windows aren't common in the lower tier buildings as it is cheaper that way, and also as a way of keeping down morale among the poor. It is not strictly controlled.

The setting is not meant to be particularly gloomy outside of the city of Czaric, but within it, it is a dark and dangerous place.