Post/Author/DateTime	Post
TunnHarr 08-07-07, 06:39 PM	Hello. This is my world. I plan on fleshing this out over the next few months for a massive campaign with my friends. I have not DM'd in some time, and I intend to blow them all away. I focus more on details and making highly open ended non-linear worlds. My playing style is relaxed, with application of interesting rules where it makes interesting twists. Etherion-small planet. Details on all bodies of water and landmasses will follow basic description. Land masses: 4 populated, 1 unpopulated. 2 nearby eachother, Argeno(Ar-jen-o), approximately the surface area of real world china, practically circular in nature, except for a land mass 600 miles wide connecting it with it's smaller neighbor to the southeast, Ghell, which is bisected by this mass, and two land masses project to the south and one to the relative east. An enormous gulf is enclosed inside the two projected landmasses, the Bay of Sorrows. Third land mass, Fahlar(Fuh-lar), is approximately the circumference of real world europe and asia combined, except the continent is exploded vertically on all sides, a result of a massive magical attack during The Sundering. The last populated land mass is the southern pole, roughly the size and rounded shape of real world Australia. The continent is held deep within The Maelstrom, a gravitational storm that spawned a completely altered atmosphere over the southern pole. The continent remains unnamed in all cultures on the world. The southern third of the world is encompassed by the Raging Typhoon. The last and unpopulated region is the northern pole, characterized by the oddly symmetrical star shaped land mass, 8 prongs of land reaching out from a massive mountain. It is referred to in two ways, as The Haunted Lands, and as The Fields of Valor, portraying completely polar opposite views of the land according to culture. Oceans: Separating Argeno and it's sister continent Ghell from Fahlar are two oceans, west of Argeno and larger of the two is The Frozen Main, named not for it's climate, but the legend that the still ocean is so flat in some parts sailors have claimed to have stepped from their boats and walked across the surface of the water as if it was land. These stories have been dismissed as tales, due to the fact that only the farthest venturing ships have reported such incidents. Various uncharted Islands dot the ocean, but they are unable to be mapped due to their apparent continuous movement. To the east of Argeno and longer north to south than wide, is the Frothing Deep. Mistold by it's name, this is actually the second shallowest ocean on the world, having thousands of barely submerged reefs and small islands. Certain areas are so rife with undersea rocks that the very ocean currents cause the sea to appear boiling, though it causes no trouble to sailing, and only arises as an issue when poor seafaring leads ships onto the rocks. The reefs are nearly completely mapped, and the ocean is crossed by myriad shipping lanes to Fahlar. However, the multiple routes and islands make the ocean a veritable hotbed of pirate activity, and it is guaranteed that on any given crossing a pirate vessel will at least be spotted, if not more or an attack mounted. On the clearest of days, a good portion of Fahlar can be seen from the eastern coast of Ghell, showing how close the continents really are in relation to each other. The southern third of the world is shrowded in the Raging Typhoon, a nearly endless unnavigable storming sea that has one month of barely calm sailing per year. Many unsuccessful attempts have been made to predict when this month will occur, but it appears to happen at random, due to the sporadic nature of the gravitational forces acting on the south pole, that is the cause for the Maelstrom and the sea's condition. Continental and Cultural Details: Argeno is a mountainous and rocky nation, comprised of jagged black volcanic ranges interspersed by dense pine forests. The continent is dotted with mineral lakes and some sparse plains, but the majority is made up of the ranges around the rim of the continent, and the dense forests on the interior. The harsh volcanic rock houses a rich source of strange ore, Argenosian Razor Lead. This odd ore is extremely dense and heavy, but malleable in it's raw form. When forged correctly by Argenosian smiths, the metal makes a beautiful swirled dark material, that never loses it's shape or edge, unless put under the most unbeleivably extreme conditions. It retains it's weight in the process, and as a result, (it being the only plentiful metal on the continent), the average Argenosian is musclebound but lacks grace and mobility. (+2 str, -2 dex). Argenosians are human, but long ages have caused adaptations of all the races. Ghell is covered with wide rolling plains, an odd place you would think for a society composed mostly of Dwarves to live. Displaced from their home on the northern continent, the Dwarves made the best of things in the only uninhabited area left. Constantly struggling with uprisings and faction warfare, the country of Ghell is one of the most treacherous places on the globe. Despite the glaring instability, the inhabitants have in competition spawned some of the greatest horses ever known. Showing deep respect for agriculture and thoroughbred breeding, the warring clans from time to time gather to boast the best crops and horses, and hold a series of events to declare the best breeders and crop growers. Despite the bloodshed, the overzealous factions create enough food to trade with and feed a good portion of the world. The continent is overall an unimpressive place geographically, and the Argenosians are on good terms with all the factions. The clans will acknowledge that the infighting shouldn't interfere with their nations trade as a whole, but the battles rage nonetheless. Their constant altercations force the the members of their society to be robust and battleready, but left rather short on temper and manners (+2 con, -2 char). By far the most exotic and strange nation on the globe, Fahlar is built entirely on the smooth sandstone sides of their upturned country. The whole land is encompassed by networks of hanging and anchored platforms and walkways, and any given structure only protrudes 100 to 200 feet from the side of the land. Most of the newer structures are anchored in the rock, but the earlier buildings hang from the enormous trees that remained rooted in the solid stone. A perpetual mist shrowds the top of the land, and rain pours lightly down on the more level eroded top portions, feeding the great trees of the continent. The lack of lateral building space has lead to strict zoning laws, and practically the entire continent is covered in walkways not more than a stones throw from each other. Upkeep of these structures is colossal, employing roughly 3/4 of the working force. As a result, mostly all Fahlarans are skilled carpenters/sculpters, with at least some experience. The nation supports itself by terraforming the sides of their living land, guiding the rivers that pour down from the top regions in elaborate and smooth channels and tunnels that weave in and out of the continent's surface. Immense hanging farms produce food, and recent efforts have been made to grow earthen ledges that might create more fertile cropland on the sheer sides of the land, but the staggering physics involved have kept the results minimal at best. Trading crops from Ghell and lumber from Argeno for sandstone building materials and their legendary exotic herbs, the Fahlarans stay very economically healthy and are the main power on the planet. Fahlarans are slender and light, with incredible features, their precarious existence leading them to be highly nimble and fast, but with no real need for power (+2 dex, -2 Str). This is all I have so far, but I intend to keep working on this and updating the history and structure of the world, and how things are now. Hope someone enjoys reading this! If you have any specific questions, I will be more than happy to answer them, and I'd like feedback on my ideas. I hope to make a map soon, at least a rough one, but these hands are made for drawing on paper, not a screen! The tablet pen is gone!!!
Baernwulf_of_Nor 08-08-07, 12:59 AM	That's awesome. Dwarves on a plains, farming, and breeding horses, lol. You get a ten for style. I like what I've heard so far. Very creative, never heard anything like this, real nice work. BoN
TunnHarr 08-08-07, 03:16 PM	That's awesome. Dwarves on a plains, farming, and breeding horses, lol. You get a ten for style. I like what I've heard so far. Very creative, never heard anything like this, real nice work. BoN :D Thanks!!! More to come! (I'm currently unemployed):D
Delfedd 08-08-07, 03:27 PM	Unpopulated? aw come on, at least give us a lost civilization!
TunnHarr 08-08-07, 04:30 PM	Time for some history. I use custom deities, but they are often at war abandoning their creations. The First Age: The First Age began when the planet was created as the result of an inter-dimensional anomaly when Ishan, the God of Destruction attacked Varanu the God of Life. Varanu was victorious, but before striking the final blow upon Ishan, he stopped, sparing him. Unable to accept this, Ishan dispatched himself, but also, the concept of Deitic Suicide fractured Varanu's mind beyond repair, and it destroyed him as well. Their essences mixed over a century, trillions of still sentient particles conjoined to form the God of Chaos, Xix'Thalion. Containing the thoughts and memories of both Deities, plus being aware of the process of his creation, Xix'Thalion found it infinitely amusing that by utilizing what both Gods were named for, they destroyed each other. He vowed never to be named for any one thing, by his thoughts exempting him from the possiblity of such a tragic mutual death with whatever other Deities might be around. On a whim, he used the remnants of the two dead Gods to create Etherion, in it's First Age. Lazy Xix'Thalion created the land of Etherion in one solid mass, with small bodies of water in between the tectonic plates. In the time it took to create the world itself, he had time to find and interact with Kek, the God of Decay, from which he warded his planet. Iana, the God of Light, Difinifid, the God of Balance, who Xix'Thalion percieved as the only threat to him, traded balance on his world in exchange for life on Difinifid's, who lacked he ability to inspire life in his perfectly balanced world. Xix'Thalion created 4 races to populate his world, the Argenosians, the Ghell, the Fahlaran, and the Xotec. The three former were placid kind, but the fourth, in true chaotic nature, was ruthless and wild. Xix'Thalion lacked the will to discipline his world, and the First Age was merely a slow rise to basic societal form, most of the time the races having small tussles as a result of inter-racial prejudice. Little happened, few things were discovered or learned, the races merely sat in awe of their creation and dumbly worshiped He who had given them life. The Second Age: The Second Age began as a result of a quarrel between Iana and the God of Chaos. Over tiny Etherion, Deitic battle raged, and due to the nature of the fight and the abilities of both Gods, powerful magical shards and debris rained down from the heavens. Some were intact as relics, objects formed and infused as the result of spells cast and countered by the Gods, housing the knowledge of both spells inside them, weakened, but still saturated with Deitic power. Others were simply pieces of the heavens, distorted into matter and infused with raw energy of all sorts. The abandoned races found the relics, and began to study them, and eventually surmised that the Gods had forgotten them, and began to make their own way using the pieces that came from the sky with their power. Technology and language sprang up in vastly more refined ways, and magic became a huge part of the societies of all the races. Nations formed, and power grew. Predictably, the Xotec began to believe that they were the all powerful race on the planet and that they should have all the Pieces of the Gods, as the relics came to be called, and they began to wage massive war on the other nations of the world. Sub Deitic spells hammered back and forth between the races, and since each spell came with a counter, most simply stopped each other dead with inexplicable force on the borders of the nation. Learning to infuse he spells with the power of the raw energy they had also found from the Gods made the situation worse. The planet groaned from the stress, and with a massive all-out assault and counter, the planet's surface split, and The Sundering began. The Second Age: The Sundering Forced apart, the nations of the world wer forced into the positions around the world that they would hold until current times, kept at bay by the occassional barrage of magic until the crust once again formed solid, but not entirely. The bed of an entire ocean became infused with magical energy, causing it's floor to become dynamic, but currents refused to flow through it. The Xotec inhabited what became the south pole, the Argenosians inhabited an odd shaped country on the equator, the Ghell inhabited the northern pole, and the Fahlaran took up the largest landmass on the planet. The wars began to rage anew, the races learning nothing from this drastic relocation of the very surface of their home. Eventually, the worst would come. The Xotec formed together the most massive army the world had ever seen, to be a distraction while they utilized their magical powers in a backdoor attack on the Fahlaran, the largest nation. The army attacked the Ghell, a foe worthy of their force, and the forces of the rest of the world amassed behind them for the most epic battle the world would ever see. The battle raged on for 4 years, the while, the Xotec tunneled through the world until they reached the underside of Fahlar. Amassing a wealth of magical relics, they prepared to unleash their entire wrath under the nation. The battle on the northern pole reached it's peak, and the Xotec made their move. The planet rippled as the massive arcane explosion tore out through it's surface, spewing magical energy into the heavens above. The entire nation was thrust up from the blast. Millions died from the explosion, and millions more fell into the ocean when the ground heaved up and became vertical. This was not the end. The planet formed from the dust of two dead Gods was still barely sentient enough to realize what had been done. The core of the planet rumbled, and catastrophically collapsed, crushing and closing the tunnel the Xotec had made. It tumbled their relics back almost up to the source of the tunnel, and then crushed them. The magical items were destroyed, and a storm began over the southern pole that in a matter of days heightened into a crushing gravitational maelstrom that began to destroy the Xotec. They retreated back to their disintigrating lands, and once there, the seas around the nation boiled and frothed. The storm reached it's full intensity, and nothing has ever come or gone from the region since. I'll take a break, and then I'll be posting the Third Age and how the world is today, climate, tectonics, etc. Enjoy!
TunnHarr 08-08-07, 04:49 PM	Delfedd, I didn't notice your post, but if you read the next one there, draw your own conclusions about the southern pole.:D :D Also, I should mention that the battle on the northern pole left it so scarred and stricken that the Ghell left the land for their new one as a monument to all those that had died. They view it with reverence, while the Fahlaran view it with horror and disgust at the waste of lives. They also take it personally that those lives were wasted to cause their nation harm.
TunnHarr 08-09-07, 03:22 PM	My next installment, this ones a bit more boring, but still important. The Third Age: The Age of Reason The Third and current Age began after the retreat of the Xotec to their lands in the southern pole, now held captive beneath the Maelstrom. After the Great Battle at the northern pole, the 3 remaining races simply burned the continent; there were too many corpses, and though the majority of the Deitic relics had been used for international combat, there were still many wizards, warmages and sorcerers of both sides who bombarded each other with their own schools of magic. The very ground itself became disease, and nothing could grow, anything built began to crumble, and the continent was abandoned. All of the remaining powerful relics and power shards were separated, and each nation was given a charge of them to lock away in an extremely secure location. The races had learned it would only bring more death to try and destroy them, so the relics were hidden away, a trove of them hidden by each of the peoples somewhere in their lands. The locations remain hidden to the populace, and are heavily guarded with great vigilance. Each is said to have a small city around it, due to the legend that anyone who finds them is forced to live there forever since the location can never be revealed. Technology is booming, and magic is still used, but strictly policed by all the races of the globe. An average person would have better luck cutting a man down than using a curse to kill him. Displays of harmful magic bring the guards quickly, and anyone found guilty of killing with magic is promptly and incombatably sentenced to death, as quickly as possible. Apart from this, most of the laws of the lands are rather lenient, leaving the citizens to their lives, to settle their own differences. Authorities rarely get involved with any dispute outside of magic, unless it begins to cause widespread problems. Climate and Geography: During the Sundering, the poles were indeed icy lands, while the rest of the globe remained rather warm and tropical, the Argenosians having the more temperate climate in their lands. When the Sundering ended and the Maelstrom began, several changes occurred to the planet's climate. First of all, the northern pole melted and became a hot zone, with nothing living, shimmering away under the heat of the sun, the bones that cover it's surface bleaching in the open rays. It became a rotting wasteland. Secondly, the Maelstrom had a twofold effect on the planet. One was the new nature of the Frozen Main, deathly still, but the ocean became much deeper than it once was. The dynamic floor continues to shift randomly under the still ocean. The Frothing Deep, while once deep like it's namesake, became shallow, myriad reefs rising to the surface. A good portion of it's waters were shifted to the Frozen Main by the gravitational force of the Maelstrom. Argenosian Climate: Argeno is the most temperate clime of the planet, though stable and possessing a rather unchanging weather scheme. It rains most of the time, though the sun shines through, creating an odd overcast halflight most of the day. The rain would be a boon for agriculture, but due to the volcanic bedrock and the light nature of the soil, the habited parts of the land are usually washed clear of topsoil, creating wide deltas at the base of the mountains where rivers flow from the peaks into the ocean. This is where the Argenosians conduct their farming efforts, but their grasp of shallow water farming is limited. They are content to trade with the Ghell for a good part of their food supply. The rainy clime is good for the interior of the land, where the dense pine forests have taken deep root and are heavily established. The rain runs down the mountains and forms fast flowing dark rivers through the forests, that run to the many sinkholes and mineral lakes in the land. These lakes cause the trees around them to be poisoned and petrified, forming small rings of petrified trees with eerie acoustical effects. Apart from these characteristics, there is nothing special about Argeno, and the people lead simple lives as a mining and timber gathering civilization. Ghell climate: Ghell is a sunny clime with a healthy monsoon season and very rich soil. Roaming herds of a buffalo-like species keep the plains grass in check, and provide a hunting source for the roaming bands of centaur and gnoll. The climate is very good for year round farming. The Ghell have introduced wild horses to the plains, and when traveling it is common to see a groundhog type creature warring with small raptor type subterranean creatures. The land has few mountains, but the interior ranges deep in the plains have drawn the attention of the Dwarves. The Ghell lands are notoriously short of trees, so the Argenosians are a welcome neighbor with their strong lumber trade. Fahlaran Climate: The climate of Fahlar is an odd one indeed, due to the nature of their lands. At the bottom of their continent, their civilization thrives in a carribean climate, and the entire land is ringed with small constructed sandstone islands which are interconnected as the lands immense system of ports. The Fahlaran have done a tremendous job of introducing tropical trees and gardens into the structure of their lower reaches. The midsection and largest portion of the lands are warm and sunny, windy most of the time. Rain is practically a myth among the lower and middle portions, the clouds only dumping their water on the uppermost reaches of the land, forcing the layers below to rely on the canals carved down the face of the continent. The topmost regions are dangerous places of wildly unpredictable weather, rain one second, snow the next, then it all stops and the sun comes out. trees and vegitation are able to grow simply because the weather changes too fast to harm them too much. However, the weather is dangerous at best for travelers in this zone. Few venture there, and noone stays for long. The land falls away towards the interior of the nation, and if anyone dared to venture, they would see another atmosphere inside the massive, seemingly bottomless pit that is the inside of the nation. Seemingly endless across and below, the most wizened explorers have said that the magnitude of the sight is nearly enough to inspire madness in a man. Cities and Population: Argenosians are strong, thick humans. Most work in mines and timber yards, smiths and woodworking shops. All the tools they use are made frome their amazing metal, the heavy material even causing the women of the race to be robust in nature. They are very stoic and tolerant people, and most drinking inspires only loud mirth and good kinsmanship. Very few are angry drunks, and more than anything these are merely quiet or surly. The Argenosians have two capitol cities, Argen, the unimaginative name of the first and oldest, is built upon an acropolis on the western shore. Reluctant to build anything but the smallest of mining towns on their mountains, they transport the excavations of their tunnels to the coast to expand and fertilize their crop deltas. The Argen Acropolis is composed entirely of the slag pulled from the mountains when the ancestors of the Argenosians delved greedily into the mountains with abandon. They have since developed a healthy respect for their resources and now methodically keep their efforts paced to the needs of their nation. The city itself is built out of the dark volcanic rock that composes the whole island, and the city is veritably invisible from the outside at night. The second capitol, Vellendil, is built inside the vast pine forests of the land, buried deep in the darkness and nestled against the mountains instep. The timber camps are kept far out in the forest, interconnected by forest roads that it is the sole job of a certain force to keep free of obstructions. The roads remain clear, but the dark forests are home to all manner of creatures and foes, and anyone traveling it without the company of a few strong Argenosians is liable to be set upon and killed. Sticking mostly to their capitol cities, Argenosians rarely strike out to form new villages, although they do exist. The Ghell are Dwarven people, short mannered and down to earth. Though once united under a single capitol, Ashenwrought, the peoples split into houses after heated disagreements over who should take the throne after their king fell in the Great Battle. The Houses are Delvedeep, inhabiting the central provinces and the mountain ranges therein, Strandguard, once named Peakhelm, inhabiting the western peninsula shore, the family Ironfall, in the eastern lands, and with the once capitol city in their land, the clan Firestroke, and their subfamily the Northdirge, devoted to fighting evil and darkness. The rest are content to bicker and raise crops and horses. The head city of the Delvedeep is Plainscourge, build under the granite mountains in the western interior lands, Strandguard has Leehome, a coastal city with a strong fishing community. Ironfall has Steepforge, a city built in a strip mine on the eastern peninsula. The great plains of Ghell are home to all manner of nomadic tribes, and it is the place inhabited by most of the barbaric races, due to the fact that there is no concerted effort to control them. While the simpler tribes are content to have rudimentary corn farms and hunt the creatures of the plain, some more ambitious tribe chiefs of orc and goblin races organize small raids on the dwarven farms, and it is rapidly becoming apparent that their forces may soon become a viable threat in the world. The Fahlaran, the exotic elven race of the world, have many large cities, multileveled circular metropoli built sidways on the stone. The largest is Grimhold, a vast city and the only one to retain a handful of it's buildings through the Sundering. Though at odds with the new scene, the buildings are still inhabited and used, the Fahlaran council viewing it as a symbol of steadfastness through the apocolyptic. The rest of the land is intertwined with communities that form the roads of the land, and it is rare that you travel over open areas with few walkways. Any given town can be stretched sidelong, or it might be built more vertically on a whim. From one place to another, you may either be walking long distances between destinations, or climbing lots of ladders and ramps between. The more industrialized areas have large lifts that ferry people and cargo between levels, while most of the smaller places have only ladder banks and even climbing nets. The richest and most venerable people have the largest open platforms, and the high end areas of the land have gentle spiral ramps instead of ladders to navigate the layers of the city. Despite the lack of viable lumber, the Fahlaran lower sectors are legendary due to their astonishing ship building trade, often being generous enough to provide a ship to a client in exchange for only the wood to build it(tips and grants are of course, appreciated). The upper sectors are busy engineering and sandstone mining areas, the race taking special care to construct strong buildings and housing in the absence of the stone they remove. Nearly all aspects of life revolve around keeping the land balanced, though the continent shows no signs of shifting(the entire plane of crust is quite literally frozen in arcane shock). That's all for now, I'll be writing more about law and order later.