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  1. - Top - End - #1
    Dwarf in the Playground
     
    RedWizardGuy

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    Default Enlightenment, a city of great good and great evil.

    This is not a starting city. it is a pinnacle of light that the players will hear in reference for much of the campaign.
    here is the quick write-up I have so far. ~~ what I am looking for are examples of great good and evil that exist here seemingly in balance (but not really). What such places would the players see and visit?

    Redstone. This is a kingdom that covers some 11 islands. It is so named because its main export is a red tinted marble much favored by noble courts the world over. Six of the islands have such quarries.

    The capital city, Enlightenment, has an acropolis dedicated to ALL the deities. It boasts colleges, libraries and sages for hire on every crucial topic available. On a mountaintop just outside the city is an oracle dedicated to Bane* offering predictions of the future.
    It is said that all the world sails to Enlightenment. That is true. Negotiations take place here that determine peace or war.

    Enlightenment is the wealthiest city in the world. All the races may find a home on these isles. Empires and kings keep embassies here. Enlightenment’s markets sell everything.

    Redstone is also known for one other thing, however: Slavery. There is no poor class here, they are all slaves. Quarries and mines all operate under terrible conditions, dead slaves are just a cost of doing business. Gladiators die to entertain the masses. Spies, intrigues, and assassinations are commonplace.

    Great good and great evil are both found here. Come here to buy. Come here to learn. Just do not come here if you are penniless.


    * Bane is the same evil deity found in the Forgotten Realms. In this world, he has an additional portfolio, "The divine right to rule." As a consequence, his temples are found in almost every city ruled by kings or nobility.

    all this said. It is easy to come up with evil examples, though I could probably could use more. What examples of great good or great evil can be found in a city where self righteous tolerance overrides common sense?

  2. - Top - End - #2
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    OrcBarbarianGuy

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    Default Re: Enlightenment, a city of great good and great evil.

    It's not clear to me how there are Good aligned elements prominent here, mostly that it's very wealthy and able to fund the construction of temples- Good aligned groups might have representatives, but it's not clear how much influence they actually have, given that slavery is prominent (I rate institutions of learning as basically neutral aligned, generally). For example, if there's a a CG god of freedom (there might not be), why would his priests peacefully exist in an environment where slavery is prominent?

    Generally, what are the Good deities in the setting, and what do they preach? I can probably invent an institution for each if I have more inspiration.
    Last edited by aimlessPolymath; 2020-04-13 at 11:22 PM.
    My one piece of homebrew: The Shaman. A Druid replacement with more powerlevel control.
    The bargain bin- malfunctioning, missing, and broken magic items.
    Spirit Barbarian: The Barbarian, with heavy elements from the Shaman. Complete up to level 17.
    The Priest: A cleric reword which ran out of steam. Still a fun prestige class suitable for E6.
    The Coward: Not every hero can fight.

  3. - Top - End - #3
    Dwarf in the Playground
     
    RedWizardGuy

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    Default Re: Enlightenment, a city of great good and great evil.

    Quote Originally Posted by aimlessPolymath View Post
    It's not clear to me how there are Good aligned elements prominent here, mostly that it's very wealthy and able to fund the construction of temples- Good aligned groups might have representatives, but it's not clear how much influence they actually have, given that slavery is prominent (I rate institutions of learning as basically neutral aligned, generally). For example, if there's a a CG god of freedom (there might not be), why would his priests peacefully exist in an environment where slavery is prominent?

    Generally, what are the Good deities in the setting, and what do they preach? I can probably invent an institution for each if I have more inspiration.
    to answer your question,
    I wanted to emphasize hypocrisy with this city. Great hope and great despair. The good ensure they have a presence here specifically to counter the evil.

    This is from my deity notes:

    Pantheon:

    Elemental Lords of Creation (Pantheonic Temples)
    Priests can be of ANY alignment. They also have access to spells of one elemental school of their choice. Many take the elemental adept feat.
    Air
    Fire
    Earth
    Water
    This is a pantheonic faith that venerates primordials from the four elemental planes. The primordials are not named, but are worshipped together as a whole.

    This is a faith that venerates beginnings, inventors, great projects. and of course, the elements. Temples always have one or more pinprick openings to the planes

    A pantheonic cleric can chose a domain from one the four elements. For example, fire gets a free cantrip, the player chooses any of the fire based cantrips from arcane or divine sources. Further they can add their wisdom bonus to their chosen element’s damage. Many take the elemental adept feat.

    Primordial is a free language of every pantheonic cleric. Genies are not considered holy, but are just blessed with the ability to live in the Elemental chaos.

    LG
    The Lawgiver: Law, judgement, courts, loyalty. Leader of the Pantheon.
    Moradin: The Forge, Artifice, Hardwork, patron of the dwarves
    Justinian: Lord of medicine and healing, patron of the poor, charity
    Bahamut: patron of Good Dragons, Draconians and kobolds. Among men he is the protector, the good sentinel, the faithful guard. He is venerated by good dragon’s blood sorcerers, many paladins, and by good people yearning for freedom and justice.
    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    CG
    Shea Luna: Beauty Art Love, the Moon CG (Uses Charisma as spellcasting stat), patron of the elves
    Garl Glittergold, gems, jewelry, miners, invention, patron of gnomes
    Apollo: Music, bards, performers, the sun, Light.
    Beren: Song, revelry, taverns, friendship, comradery/brothers in arms, adventurers, good beer and ale, brewers.
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    NG
    Chauntea: Agriculture, family, home and hearth, patron of the halflings
    Silvanus: lord of the wild, rangers, druids, hunters, Unicorns
    Flanagan: Freedom, travelers, the road, escaped slaves, Navigation, the stars.
    Oghma: Books, wisdom, learning, literacy, schools and sages
    Thor: God of storms. Thunder, Lightning, the sky above. Just war. His paladins all carry hammers for some reason. He really doesn’t like Loki.
    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    N

    Circe’: Magic
    Nerull: God of the dead, great judge of the dead, Fair judgement in courts of law. Lawyers and judges. Bureaucrats.
    Shinare: Goddess of money, wealth, trade,
    merchants
    Dionysus: hedonism, brewing, wine, debauchery, casinos, gambling, festhalls
    Neptune: God of the sea. Navigation, fishermen and good races under the sea.
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    NE
    Ares: War
    Reynard: Thieves, organized crime, Tax Collectors, Bureaucrats
    Orcus: deity of the undead, liches, vampires, patron for those who seek to avoid punishment in the afterlife. Necromancers.
    The Kraken: deity of the ocean depths, patron of the evil undersea races (through various incarnations, like the shark god of the sea devils). Also, patron of spies, bandits and pirates. Keeper of sunken treasures. Maker of sea monsters, keeper of the oceans undead.
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    CE
    LOKI: Prince of Lies, Murder, Actors, illusion
    Lolth, Goddess of the dark elves, spiders, intrigue, poisons
    Grumish: cruel warlord of the orcs.
    The wild hunt: murders, assassins, hunting, patron of gnolls and lycanthropes.
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    LE
    Bane: Tyranny, royalty, the divine right to rule, oppression of the ruled.
    This is a LE deity found in every kingdom. His clerics deny he is evil.
    Bane is the deity of tyranny, the divine right to rule, obedience to your rulers, taxes, oppression of the masses, and the protector of kings and nobility.
    His clerics prefer to be the state religion with all forced to worship there. While this is rarely the case, they act as it is and bully all they deem lesser than themselves.
    Domains are War and Life………………………………………………….
    Kratos: God of conquest, slave master. patron of Goblinkind
    Tiamat: patron of Evil Dragons, Draconians and kobolds. Also venerated by evil Dragon Blood sorcerers.
    Set: Clerics of Set are rewarded with distinctive Egyptian style dog heads. Set is the patron of the Ishtar empire. He is the lord of the night, he who walks in darkness. Set is master of the stars and navigation.


    Planar Cosmology

    Prime Material --The world

    The world is flanked by
    The Realm of Shadow. A sarcastic parody of the prime material. It is twisted and evil, full of dangers, but recognizable and navigable.
    It is the home to the Realm of the Dead where the unfaithful souls are judged and sent to respective eternal rewards.
    It is also home to a necropolis of the undead…a little-known refuge for those who wish to escape a much-deserved eternal torment by becoming undead. It is also a home to the greatest school of Necromancy in the known universe.
    The Realm of Orcus can be found here, adjacent to the Necropolis.
    Various Ravenloft Lands can be found here as well.
    ~~It is possible to stumble into this realm by wandering unhallowed graveyards or places of death like battlefields where the dead were never buried.
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The Feywild
    This land is very similar to the one in the forgotten realms.
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The Elemental Chaos. All the elements of creation are jumbled together here in large and small chunks, connected by mixed borders Like a volcanic plain with rivers of Lava connecting a fire and Earth domain.
    Small oasis and bubbles of the elements can be found everywhere. A bubble of elemental water can be very welcome in an Earth Node. Further it would not be heated at all in a Fire Node. This is very much like the plane of limbo, but easier to manipulate. Genies and Primordials live in continental islands of their preferred elements. Wizards can create their own islands here without concentration (the demiplane spell)

    Powerful wizards and clerics have spells to pull small portions of the elements into the prime material. A simple fireball is one such spell. Other spells can open a temporary or a permanent opening to one of the planar nodes -making a planar bubble here on the Prime. Every pantheonic temple of the Lords of Creation will have one to four such bubbles.

    The Ethereal/Astral planes are combined here. This is just the place between the planes. There is nothing to be seen here, it is empty. Rumors of the Astral Dreadnaught are just to scare wizard apprentices. And don’t believe the fables of Gith ships searching the emptiness…there is nothing to see here, move along.

    Outer Planes
    Realms of the dieties: These appear as walled cities on the planes. They are walled as not just anyone can enter…further there have been planar wars in the past. It must be noted the realms are not mere cities, but infinite planes in their own right. From the outside, they just appear as a walled city. Typically, the walls are 100 feet tall with glorious glittering towers beyond. The infinite realms are not infinite cities. The city is just a gateway to the realm.

    Paradise:
    This is where all the good dead go. Those who dedicated themselves to a deity bypass the Realm of the Dead and wake up in the Halls of their Chosen. The good who did not have a chosen are sent here after they are judged.
    The good deities all have their homes here and are surrounded by the faithful. Fabulous glittering cities surround the divine palaces.

    But even in between the glorious realms, the plane is a joy to be on. Food grows everywhere, always ripe and ready to be gathered. Towns and settlements are everywhere.
    This plane is home to joy, and song. A fitting reward for a life of goodness.

    The Outlands: Here is the place for the neutrals from the world. The neutral deities can be found here (even the NGs and all the NEs). This realm is a place of balance where good and evil can be found.
    The terrain is beautiful but predatory beasts can be found here as well. This plane actually has colonies of living humans who find the in between places to their liking.
    The NE deities locate here to avoid the chaos of Hades. They do not want to deal with the mess.

    Hades: This is the realm of evil. Devils and demons are here fighting the eternal blood war for control of this plane. The evil deities have their toxic realms here as well. Walled off to keep the pointless war OUT.
    The faithful dead will wake up in the halls of their chosen. The unfaithful will wake up as larva near the battle plains.


    One note:
    Bane, the god of tyranny (mentioned above) has a realm here that “looks like a paradise.” The ruling elite live in splendor served by miserable slaves (either commoner worshipers or larva transformed by the whims of the elite). BUT. They are entrapped in a brutal dance of intrigues, assassinations, and conspiracies. While an assassination cannot give true death, it takes them 60 torturous years to reform. The elite do not realize it but they are as miserable as their slaves.
    Still, this is a respite from the raging Blood War. Supplies can be bought here, and the casinos are the wonders of the outer planes (just do not lose). The House never cheats here…surprising for an evil realm.
    Last edited by Cyclops08; 2020-04-14 at 01:33 AM.

  4. - Top - End - #4
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    OrcBarbarianGuy

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    Default Re: Enlightenment, a city of great good and great evil.

    Running down the list:

    The Lawgiver: A law firm, The Spirit of Law. They're willing to do pro bono work, taking a portion from the proceeds of the case if they win. They'll bribe whoever is needed to get the right thing done in the end. More G than L.

    Moradin: The Masonry Guilds control the bulk of the redstone that stays in Enlightenment (as opposed to that which is shipped out). Anything large or complex is prohibitively expensive to purchase, but most of the dud crafts are tossed out and picked up by anyone who wants a doorstop. As a result, practically everyone in Enlightenment can spot a dud from a mile away, but they're hawked to tourists as souvenirs. The guild is remarkably welcoming: anyone whose work can turn a profit is welcome, even if they have a dark background or somewhat unsavory vices- alcoholism and other drug use is rampant.

    Justinian: There are two major places of healing in Enlightenment: One you go to if you need to be healed, and one you go to if you can't pay. They're housed in the same building, Justinian's temple. While the first ostensibly funds the other, nobody really trusts that everyone involved is truly free of corruption.

    Bahamut: The Bank of Bahamut is well known for its careful financial management, its heaping vaults of treasure, and its stern, incorruptible security (available for a fee to anyone who can pay). Fear not- their loans offer an extremely reasonable payment plan tailored to what the debtor can afford to pay, and barely a copper less. Someone who no longer desires or can afford to go out socially is often described as being on the "Bahamut plan" or as a "lizard".

    Shea Luna and Apollo pair up to cover the entertainment district; one covers works of craft, and the other covers works of performance. A bardic college, the College of Joy, is funded by the city to spread merriment and joy through the city, as well as to suppress less...desirable... emotions.

    Garl Glittergold: The counterpart to the Bank of Bahamut is the Guild of Economical Metallurgists, intent on verifying the quality of all gold and silver that flows through the city. They're involved with all sorts of strange financial technology- if a gnome asks to "buy a share" in one of your projects, say no firmly. Still, they're involved with many aspects of the city, and can provide information to anyone looking to invest. Several individuals donate philanthropically, but not without vetting carefully... and most stay clear of donating to the temple of Justinian, which feeds the rumors.

    Chauntea: Sick of seaweed, fish, and rice? So are we, but the only way to feed a whole city of this size without prohibitive travel costs lies with the Guild of Farmers, a circle of druids who have constructed a nearly-stable ecosystem entirely from imported species. Disturbing their rice paddies will result in swift death, and they're too irreplaceable for the city to take them over... it's a good thing they mostly keep to themselves, because they're practically invincible politically, and will swiftly close ranks if challenged.

    Silvanus: The city's only park, Silvanus Lane, is maintained through the same contract that funds the College of Joy. Its dense hedges and twisting paths serve to hide the fact that you're rarely more than twenty feet from another person. Urban legends say that people have disappeared in the park, but surely the gardeners would find someone lost before more than a day... right? Rumor has it that all sorts of nefarious business goes on there.

    Flanagan: The dock where cargo is loaded or onloaded, Flanagan's Way, is clearly, obviously, corrupt- there's a clear sign outside the portmaster's office listing "Standard bribes fees:" in seven different languages. It's incredibly easy to smuggle things in or out, but while police chasing criminals have been frustrated by the portmaster's horrifically disorganized files, so have slavers chasing escaped property.

    Oghma: Along with Circe, Oghma's church sponsors most of the wide variety of institutions of learning throughout the city. Oghma's lesser schools are primarily funded by the Grand Librarium, a massive library/college where anyone can come and study- for a fee. Several wings bear the names of graduates who chose to give back to their alma mater. Scholarships exist, but the further one rises, the more they come in the form of loans rather than grants- it's rather expected that a student will be able to convert their learning into tangible results, while Circe's schools are more accepting of pure theory.

    Thor: Thor's church here is small, but significant. The City Weather Service is responsible for managing the weather over the city each day, based on a ballot box where anyone can put their vote for the week. Curiously, the leader of the Service is often seen drinking with the portmaster of Flanagan's Way, and foggy days often precede large slave escapes. Investigations into the matter lead to the investigator being later found at the bottom of the harbor.
    Last edited by aimlessPolymath; 2020-04-14 at 10:40 PM.
    My one piece of homebrew: The Shaman. A Druid replacement with more powerlevel control.
    The bargain bin- malfunctioning, missing, and broken magic items.
    Spirit Barbarian: The Barbarian, with heavy elements from the Shaman. Complete up to level 17.
    The Priest: A cleric reword which ran out of steam. Still a fun prestige class suitable for E6.
    The Coward: Not every hero can fight.

  5. - Top - End - #5
    Dwarf in the Playground
     
    RedWizardGuy

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    Default Re: Enlightenment, a city of great good and great evil.

    @ aimlessPolymath

    Wow. That was a lot more than I expected. Thank you!

  6. - Top - End - #6
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    OrcBarbarianGuy

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    Default Re: Enlightenment, a city of great good and great evil.

    Whoops, missed Beren. Obviously, a brewer's guild, with its fingers in the bars and taverns of the area. A political tool, but one wielded by many hands- for every up-and-coming noble "found" drunk in an alley in a compromising position, a corrupt merchant sleeps through his ship's scheduled leaving date. Both friends and "friends" can be found wherever their influence reaches- indicated only by a holy symbol of Beren posted somewhere near the bar.
    Last edited by aimlessPolymath; 2020-04-14 at 11:32 PM.
    My one piece of homebrew: The Shaman. A Druid replacement with more powerlevel control.
    The bargain bin- malfunctioning, missing, and broken magic items.
    Spirit Barbarian: The Barbarian, with heavy elements from the Shaman. Complete up to level 17.
    The Priest: A cleric reword which ran out of steam. Still a fun prestige class suitable for E6.
    The Coward: Not every hero can fight.

  7. - Top - End - #7
    Orc in the Playground
     
    D&D_Fan's Avatar

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    Default Re: Enlightenment, a city of great good and great evil.

    I have suggested a large amount of content for a city before. Both cities are by water, and though this city has a veeeery different vibe. It could still recycle some elements. My suggestions for the previous city are in the "What's in my City" Discussion. It is also on Worldbuilding.

  8. - Top - End - #8
    Dwarf in the Playground
     
    RedWizardGuy

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    Default Re: Enlightenment, a city of great good and great evil.

    Quote Originally Posted by D&D_Fan View Post
    I have suggested a large amount of content for a city before. Both cities are by water, and though this city has a veeeery different vibe. It could still recycle some elements. My suggestions for the previous city are in the "What's in my City" Discussion. It is also on Worldbuilding.
    I was looking for examples of hypocrisy.
    Your city is nice though, and the suggestions are very good. Thanks for the resource.

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