The World of Terra (starting to homebrew a setting)
Posted: Tue Mar 02, 2010 2:34 am
OOC Flavor Bits: There aren't tentatively going to be any half-elves, or half-orcs. The half-orc class will ultimately be presented with some tweaks as straight Orcs. There are also highborn and fiends, who are the mortal children of Celestials and Demons, respectively. And although they won't be available for regular PC use, there will be several powerful Godspawn, the children of gods and mortals. Dragons and Giants both have 'mundane' varieties, and far more powerful forms that are essentially demigods.
The World of Terra
Cycles of Time: There have been five great cycles of history in Terra, each comprising the span of several millennia, from the emergence of Elven civilization in the First Cycle to the increasing establishment of a human-ruled order in the current, Fifth Cycle. Following is a brief overview of the Cycles.
Precyclical Period: Beginning with the establishment of Terra. Little is known about the age before the Elves awakened to civilization, but it is thought that dragons were far more numerous in this time, and that several of the monstrous peoples of the Underworld were far more common on the surface.
First Cycle: Beginning around 25,000 years ago. About 25,000 years ago, the Elven civilization began to develop near the area of the current city of Essellar in the southern part of the Terran continent of Istria. First established as a civilization of city-states, the Elven people would be largely united by the Three Kings of Ravenwood, who established their capital of the same name in a natural clearing of the Great Central Forest. This first Elven civilization fell due to a brutal civil war between the aristocratic faction of the city-states, the wild elves of the surrounding forests and plains and the followers of the grim underworld god of Chthon, who would eventually lead his followers to the Underworld, where they would become a powerful faction.
Second Cycle: Beginning around 16,000 years ago. As the Elven civilization slowly recovered from the cataclysm of the Great Civil War, a new civilization of great power was developing on the great plateaus of Ghilan. It was the Dwarves who introduced the use of steels, mundane and magical to the world, and at the height of the Ghilan-Khazar civilization, the Dwarves were indisputably the great power of Terra. However, when the ambitious Dwarven High King Glin III attempted to obtain the submission of the Elven Kings of Ravenswood, a long and bitter war broke out. War between Elf and Dwarf continued on, without final result until approximately 10,000 years ago, when a peace was finally signed on the basis of the status quo.
Third Cycle: Beginning around 10,000 years ago. As the weakened Elf-Kings of Ravenswood and Dwarf-Kings of Ghilan-Khazaria licked their wounds from almost a millennium of bitter conflict, the Humans, who had long lived in barbarous anonymity in the north of Istria were graced with the birth of one of the greatest and most famed leaders in history, Karl Magnus. In the fifty years between the accession to the throne of Magnus and his accession to the ranks of the very gods, he seized for Humanity a vast empire that spanned over most of Istria and threatened to overrun both Ghilan-Khazaria and Ravenswood. Ultimately, however, the rise of the Human race was halted by the coming of yet another race, pouring from the deserts, swamps and wastes of Istria.
Fourth Cycle: Beginning around 5,000 years ago. The Orcs had long existed as an annoyance to the civilized powers, but it was approximately 5,000 years ago that they emerged as major players in the world. Although the so-called Orcish Empire that was established was only a transitory creation, the great Hordes that descended from it would remain major powers in Terra for the rest of the period. The Empire of Humanity was permanently split into two parts by the Orcish advance, and eventually, the northern and southern Empires began to grow apart from each other, as well as lose their internal coherence.
Fifth Cycle: Beginning around 1,000 years ago. The dominant characteristic of the Fifth Cycle thus far is of the slow reclaiming of the vast areas that were ruined in successive Great Wars, as well as the emergence of a relatively stable status quo between the major political powers. Countless old fortresses and minor kingdoms, however, remain in unsavory hands and there is ready reward for adventurers willing to go forth and either pacify or simply loot these abandoned fortresses
Geography:
The realm of Terra comprises the entire globe, much of which is largely unexplored by people in the Fifth Cycle. The continent of Istria makes up the bulk of the known world, and it can roughly be divided into three vast portions, to the west, the vast forests of Ravenswood and the other elven kingdoms, to the east, the mountain plateau of Ghilan-Khazaria, where the bulk of dwarves still make their home. In the very centre of the continent, along a north-south spine, lie the bulk of the human kingdoms, loosely grouped into Northern and Southern Empires. Scattered amid these three giant regions, Orcs dominate in countless swamps, small deserts and wasteland areas, and additionally, vast areas of Istria have not been claimed by any of the four Great Races, and remain either in ruins or having been occupied by monstrous creatures.
Deities:
Sol Invictus: (Lawful Good) The Unconquerable Sun is the most important god in the Pantheon, and is almost universally respected by all races, even if they are not dedicated to Sol personally.
Luna: (True Neutral) The Moon Goddess is the most important deity for the Elven race, and is regularly blessed for the rhythms of life, the tides and the giving of the precious gifts of true memory and trance.
Eredar (Lawful Neutral): Eredar is the strict but just Lord of the Mountains, and the patron god of the Dwarven people. It is said that immeasurable aeons ago, he desired the beautiful Luna for his bride, but was rejected by the haughty Moon Goddess, and that his grudge is the source of the famous Dwarven antipathy towards Elves.
Tethys: (Chaotic Neutral) Tethyr is the goddess of the oceans and storms, a difficult to appease deity that seems to thrive on random principles. Although appeasing the Storm God is a dangerous business, nonetheless, temples of Tethyr are a common sight in sea-side communities.
Chthon: (Lawful Evil) Chthon is the harsh, unforgiving god of the underground world, who possesses a simmering hatred towards the surface and the worshippers of more pleasant gods on the surface. Chthon is widely worshipped by the Deep Elves, as well as the Grey Dwarves and other, far more terrifying and evil races.
Syr: (Neutral Good) Syr is the goddess of agriculture and fertility, and considered to be one of the daughters of Sol. She is the patron goddess of the Halflings and one of the most unambiguously benevolent of all divine beings.
Silvanus (Chaotic Good) The brother of Syr and one of the children of Sol, Silvanus is the god of untamed nature and a popular patron deity among the Elves, most especially the Wood Elves.
Kanesh (Chaotic Neutral) Kanesh is one of the primary deities of the Orcish people, and is widely worshipped as a fearsome, powerful god of war. Kanesh is said to enjoy the making of war for its own sake, and does not fight for either goodness or evil.
Sin (Chaotic Good) Sin is the goddess of romantic love and pleasure, a goddess who revels in flouting conventions and traditions, and frequently stirring trouble through her actions. Despite her oft-contentious ways, however, Sin is a good-hearted goddess and often smiles upon beleagured lovers and rebels motivated by just causes.
Mikuli (True Neutral) Mikuli is the mysterious god of magic and the patron god of the gnomish people. Mikuli is famously indifferent to the principles of law or chaos, good or evil and favors instead simply expanding knowledge and power. Mikuli accepts all worshippers that wish to join upon this journey with him.
Nimune (Neutral Good) Nimune is the goddess of fresh water, healing and medicine. Frequently referred to as the River Queen, temples of her are frequently found along the great waterways of Terra, and she is called upon as frequently by travelers as she is by healers.
Lakish (Chaotic Evil) Lakish is the god of destruction, and urges his followers to use fire to annihilate all that is before them. One of the most vile of all of the gods, Lakish is only worshipped by the most vile, and often crazed, beings.
Arinna (Neutral Good) Arinna is the goddess of the fine arts, philosophy and learning, and is thus widely worshipped amongst intellectuals and artists of all types. She is most typically revered amongst elves and humans.
Lictor (Lawful Evil) Lictor is the god of tyrants and despots, and enforces a rigid hierarchy upon his followers, while simultaneously filling them with a will to power in wider society. Of the evil gods, Lictor is by far the most widely worshipped.
Magnus (Lawful Good) The first Emperor of Mankind was granted a place of godhood by Sol himself. He is the patron god of the Human race. Both Imperial capitals have magnificent temples to Magnus, which are regularly upgraded in competition with each other. Myth says it was Magnus who ordained the first Paladins to serve the cause of righteous justice.
Eshara (Lawful Good) Eshara is the goddess of courage, honor and strategic warfare, rather than the random destructiveness of Kanesh. It was Eshara that created the Rules of Warfare that all civilized peoples follow, and who created laws for Duels of Honour, so that blood grudges did not go on forever.
Skatha (Neutral Evil) Skatha is the goddess of the undead, and of black magic in general. She is usually regarded as one of the most beautiful, but simultaneously, terrible of all of the deities. She is worshipped by vampires, liches and necromancers.
Enlil (Lawful Neutral) Enlil is the god of the crafts and the patron god of cities, and is as a consequence, one of the more widely worshipped gods. Priests and priestesses of Enlil are expected to spend much of their time honing earthly crafts.
Fortuna (Chaotic Neutral) Fortuna is the notoriously unreliable Lady Luck, the patron goddess of all those who desire to play the odds. Temples to Fortuna are infamous for their gambling facilities, and her clerics make a handsome profit from her followers.
The World of Terra
Cycles of Time: There have been five great cycles of history in Terra, each comprising the span of several millennia, from the emergence of Elven civilization in the First Cycle to the increasing establishment of a human-ruled order in the current, Fifth Cycle. Following is a brief overview of the Cycles.
Precyclical Period: Beginning with the establishment of Terra. Little is known about the age before the Elves awakened to civilization, but it is thought that dragons were far more numerous in this time, and that several of the monstrous peoples of the Underworld were far more common on the surface.
First Cycle: Beginning around 25,000 years ago. About 25,000 years ago, the Elven civilization began to develop near the area of the current city of Essellar in the southern part of the Terran continent of Istria. First established as a civilization of city-states, the Elven people would be largely united by the Three Kings of Ravenwood, who established their capital of the same name in a natural clearing of the Great Central Forest. This first Elven civilization fell due to a brutal civil war between the aristocratic faction of the city-states, the wild elves of the surrounding forests and plains and the followers of the grim underworld god of Chthon, who would eventually lead his followers to the Underworld, where they would become a powerful faction.
Second Cycle: Beginning around 16,000 years ago. As the Elven civilization slowly recovered from the cataclysm of the Great Civil War, a new civilization of great power was developing on the great plateaus of Ghilan. It was the Dwarves who introduced the use of steels, mundane and magical to the world, and at the height of the Ghilan-Khazar civilization, the Dwarves were indisputably the great power of Terra. However, when the ambitious Dwarven High King Glin III attempted to obtain the submission of the Elven Kings of Ravenswood, a long and bitter war broke out. War between Elf and Dwarf continued on, without final result until approximately 10,000 years ago, when a peace was finally signed on the basis of the status quo.
Third Cycle: Beginning around 10,000 years ago. As the weakened Elf-Kings of Ravenswood and Dwarf-Kings of Ghilan-Khazaria licked their wounds from almost a millennium of bitter conflict, the Humans, who had long lived in barbarous anonymity in the north of Istria were graced with the birth of one of the greatest and most famed leaders in history, Karl Magnus. In the fifty years between the accession to the throne of Magnus and his accession to the ranks of the very gods, he seized for Humanity a vast empire that spanned over most of Istria and threatened to overrun both Ghilan-Khazaria and Ravenswood. Ultimately, however, the rise of the Human race was halted by the coming of yet another race, pouring from the deserts, swamps and wastes of Istria.
Fourth Cycle: Beginning around 5,000 years ago. The Orcs had long existed as an annoyance to the civilized powers, but it was approximately 5,000 years ago that they emerged as major players in the world. Although the so-called Orcish Empire that was established was only a transitory creation, the great Hordes that descended from it would remain major powers in Terra for the rest of the period. The Empire of Humanity was permanently split into two parts by the Orcish advance, and eventually, the northern and southern Empires began to grow apart from each other, as well as lose their internal coherence.
Fifth Cycle: Beginning around 1,000 years ago. The dominant characteristic of the Fifth Cycle thus far is of the slow reclaiming of the vast areas that were ruined in successive Great Wars, as well as the emergence of a relatively stable status quo between the major political powers. Countless old fortresses and minor kingdoms, however, remain in unsavory hands and there is ready reward for adventurers willing to go forth and either pacify or simply loot these abandoned fortresses
Geography:
The realm of Terra comprises the entire globe, much of which is largely unexplored by people in the Fifth Cycle. The continent of Istria makes up the bulk of the known world, and it can roughly be divided into three vast portions, to the west, the vast forests of Ravenswood and the other elven kingdoms, to the east, the mountain plateau of Ghilan-Khazaria, where the bulk of dwarves still make their home. In the very centre of the continent, along a north-south spine, lie the bulk of the human kingdoms, loosely grouped into Northern and Southern Empires. Scattered amid these three giant regions, Orcs dominate in countless swamps, small deserts and wasteland areas, and additionally, vast areas of Istria have not been claimed by any of the four Great Races, and remain either in ruins or having been occupied by monstrous creatures.
Deities:
Sol Invictus: (Lawful Good) The Unconquerable Sun is the most important god in the Pantheon, and is almost universally respected by all races, even if they are not dedicated to Sol personally.
Luna: (True Neutral) The Moon Goddess is the most important deity for the Elven race, and is regularly blessed for the rhythms of life, the tides and the giving of the precious gifts of true memory and trance.
Eredar (Lawful Neutral): Eredar is the strict but just Lord of the Mountains, and the patron god of the Dwarven people. It is said that immeasurable aeons ago, he desired the beautiful Luna for his bride, but was rejected by the haughty Moon Goddess, and that his grudge is the source of the famous Dwarven antipathy towards Elves.
Tethys: (Chaotic Neutral) Tethyr is the goddess of the oceans and storms, a difficult to appease deity that seems to thrive on random principles. Although appeasing the Storm God is a dangerous business, nonetheless, temples of Tethyr are a common sight in sea-side communities.
Chthon: (Lawful Evil) Chthon is the harsh, unforgiving god of the underground world, who possesses a simmering hatred towards the surface and the worshippers of more pleasant gods on the surface. Chthon is widely worshipped by the Deep Elves, as well as the Grey Dwarves and other, far more terrifying and evil races.
Syr: (Neutral Good) Syr is the goddess of agriculture and fertility, and considered to be one of the daughters of Sol. She is the patron goddess of the Halflings and one of the most unambiguously benevolent of all divine beings.
Silvanus (Chaotic Good) The brother of Syr and one of the children of Sol, Silvanus is the god of untamed nature and a popular patron deity among the Elves, most especially the Wood Elves.
Kanesh (Chaotic Neutral) Kanesh is one of the primary deities of the Orcish people, and is widely worshipped as a fearsome, powerful god of war. Kanesh is said to enjoy the making of war for its own sake, and does not fight for either goodness or evil.
Sin (Chaotic Good) Sin is the goddess of romantic love and pleasure, a goddess who revels in flouting conventions and traditions, and frequently stirring trouble through her actions. Despite her oft-contentious ways, however, Sin is a good-hearted goddess and often smiles upon beleagured lovers and rebels motivated by just causes.
Mikuli (True Neutral) Mikuli is the mysterious god of magic and the patron god of the gnomish people. Mikuli is famously indifferent to the principles of law or chaos, good or evil and favors instead simply expanding knowledge and power. Mikuli accepts all worshippers that wish to join upon this journey with him.
Nimune (Neutral Good) Nimune is the goddess of fresh water, healing and medicine. Frequently referred to as the River Queen, temples of her are frequently found along the great waterways of Terra, and she is called upon as frequently by travelers as she is by healers.
Lakish (Chaotic Evil) Lakish is the god of destruction, and urges his followers to use fire to annihilate all that is before them. One of the most vile of all of the gods, Lakish is only worshipped by the most vile, and often crazed, beings.
Arinna (Neutral Good) Arinna is the goddess of the fine arts, philosophy and learning, and is thus widely worshipped amongst intellectuals and artists of all types. She is most typically revered amongst elves and humans.
Lictor (Lawful Evil) Lictor is the god of tyrants and despots, and enforces a rigid hierarchy upon his followers, while simultaneously filling them with a will to power in wider society. Of the evil gods, Lictor is by far the most widely worshipped.
Magnus (Lawful Good) The first Emperor of Mankind was granted a place of godhood by Sol himself. He is the patron god of the Human race. Both Imperial capitals have magnificent temples to Magnus, which are regularly upgraded in competition with each other. Myth says it was Magnus who ordained the first Paladins to serve the cause of righteous justice.
Eshara (Lawful Good) Eshara is the goddess of courage, honor and strategic warfare, rather than the random destructiveness of Kanesh. It was Eshara that created the Rules of Warfare that all civilized peoples follow, and who created laws for Duels of Honour, so that blood grudges did not go on forever.
Skatha (Neutral Evil) Skatha is the goddess of the undead, and of black magic in general. She is usually regarded as one of the most beautiful, but simultaneously, terrible of all of the deities. She is worshipped by vampires, liches and necromancers.
Enlil (Lawful Neutral) Enlil is the god of the crafts and the patron god of cities, and is as a consequence, one of the more widely worshipped gods. Priests and priestesses of Enlil are expected to spend much of their time honing earthly crafts.
Fortuna (Chaotic Neutral) Fortuna is the notoriously unreliable Lady Luck, the patron goddess of all those who desire to play the odds. Temples to Fortuna are infamous for their gambling facilities, and her clerics make a handsome profit from her followers.