The Cities of Jayld [Archive] - Wizards Community

The Cities of Jayld [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Salken Silverwing
08-08-07, 02:54 AM The Cities of Jayld, Campaign Setting Project

Overview and Explanation:

The “Cities of Jayld” setting is my attempt at creating a D&D setting with cultures that draw very little from ancient earth cultures. The point here is that I want cultures that have evolved at least semi-logically with the nature of magic and the supernatural in the game. To this end, you will notice that the most powerful rulers and such in the setting are spellcasters of various kinds (with exceptions, of course).
The list of common races contains humans, hobgoblins and half-orcs, all of which are modified slightly to fit the setting, along with a considerable amount of non-standard WotC races that have appeared in various books. Since it is not my goal to print or sell this setting, I feel that drawing from D&D material is okay. I am essentially compiling a list of things I’m using in a campaign, not stealing WotC’s ideas and publishing them. I will be careful not to post entire rules here that are not in the SRD. I will merely make mention to them, and will leave it up to the reader to find the appropriate material (primarily the Monster Manual I and II, Races of Destiny, Tome of Magic, the Eberron Campaign Setting, and the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, among others that I will cite as I go).
I am posting the setting here in hopes that I will receive CONSTRUCTIVE feedback and critique, and perhaps a few folks willing to help me develop material for the setting as it evolves.
My primary creation document, all of which I will be posting here as I write it, will contain 18 sections. Twelve of these will be essential setting info, while six sections will be appendices containing non-essential cultural and DM-specific information.

And, of course, all of this is liable to change as I (or, hopefully, we) work on the Jayld project…

Introduction:

Jayld is a strange world, with stranger inhabitants. Humans live alongside a plethora of unique and ancient races with heritages that span planes and even time. Some of these races even rival humans number, (such as the passionate Githyanki, or the inexplicable Miovante hobgoblins).
Jayld is a world slightly off-center to the rest of the Material Plane dimensions, on a varying and unpredictable orbit that never quite rests in the center of the Symmetries (the cosmological chart common among Jayld mages, priests and scholars). This strange trait and the plane’s subsequently weaker planar fabric serve to make the world susceptible to forces from outside the Eldrum (the expansive cloud of energy that encircles the world and acts as a buffer to the rest of the Symmetries).

The world is large in comparison to most others (roughly three times the size of earth, with approximately 55% water and 45% land), but much of its land is harsh and deadly, wracked by extraplanar forces and unnatural storms. Around thirty percent of Jayld’s landmass is separated from the Shalelands by both natural and magical boundaries. This protected area is known as the Cantal, and contains fewer modified magic zones and planar rifts than are found in the Shalelands.
Political power is wielded almost exclusively from the many city-states that dot the Cantal. Empires, when they do arise, are largely unsuccessful and fall within a century or two due to the varied nature of the Cantal and its people and geography. Thus, the largest states are often confederations or kingdoms that claim a handful of large cities and towns. Most nations, however, consist of single cities and the outlying estates and farmland, often bordering on the holdings of petty rulers or lordless lands that swear fealty only when necessary.

Within the great cities of the Cantal, power is usually wielded by upper castes of arcane and divine spellcasters of varying sects, families and guilds. These factions often have a unifying specialty (such as the sorcerer-lords of Mhalir), are all members of the same race (such as the Miovante Overlords of Taliste) or both (the Veiled Nine of the Sharakim city of Geshran, all of whom are users of powerful Shadow magics).
There are, however, exceptions to the patterns of Jayld political power. The Shalefolk (a race of beings from beyond the Cantal’s borders) travel the Shalelands in large groups, called Murders by others, and are ruled over by a in-bred caste of “pure ones” who do not use magic, but instead wield mysterious psionic abilities.
Relations between the various city-states and nations vary depending on their proximity to one another, predominant races, and the politics of the individual ruling factions of each realm. Trade between the lands close to one another, as well as those with access to the Sea of Encer, is constant. Trade between lands that are landlocked or those too small to be attractive to the richest merchants often have slow but steady import/export rates, while lands on the fringes of the Cantal or those too small to be of interest often maintain sporadic trade routes at best.

My next post will contain information on several of the setting's primary races, including humans, Sharakim and the Miovante hobgoblins.
queenfange
08-08-07, 11:24 AM I like it. I think it's excellent that you are trying to derive cultures from logical progression of historical events that takes magic and psionics into account rather than just taking standard Earth cultures and twisting them around a bit.

Show us more! :D
Salken Silverwing
08-16-07, 12:59 AM (Wow, it took a long time to get around to this, but never fear, I'm still here.)

Here is a brief description of several human cultures, with more to come.

Humans
The humans of Jayld belong to six predominant cultural groups, most of which are spread throughout the states of the Cantal. The differences between these groups are small enough that they are not statistical, affecting only the character’s personality, outlook and beliefs.

Humans are a product of the evolution of the plane itself, as opposed to many of the world’s races whom arrived after the plane’s creation or were created by another race or being.

The Mhalrim
Standing on average between 5’7” and 5’9”, the Mhalrim are a tanned and wiry folk, with hair ranging from blonde to light-brown. Their eyes are usually a dark brown, hazel, or in rare cases a deep green. Stereotypically, the Mhalrim are capricious and arrogant, although these traits are widespread only among the sorcerous nobility.

The Mhalrim possess the oldest recorded history thanks to their long-dead empire, which at one point in history spanned the southern third of the Cantal and lasted for almost five centuries. Because of this history of civilization, the Mhalrim possess the most knowledge concerning the Cantal’s political and cultural history.

Today, the Mhalrim hold dominion over the city of Mhalir and its environs, which in ancient times served as the capital of the Zhun Empire. They are also predominant in the upper classes of many southern states (although these families are often diluted) due to old imperial political marriages.

Near the final days of the Zhul Empire, the most pureblooded of the Mhalrim families began to produce sorcerous heirs. These nobleborn mages, feeling entitled and superior to their brethren, tore the empire apart as they attempted to usurp the imperial throne. The Emperor, only a half-blooded cleric of Vaen, was unable to contend with the noble sorcerers, and fell along with the imperial institution. Today, the remnants of the Zhul imperium are all but gone, while the sorcerer lords control only the empire’s ancient capital, Mhalir.

Sample Mhalir:
Fehlzen Khaland (NE male human fighter 4/sorcerer 2)

The Phelgornai
The grim and conservative Phelgornai inhabit many cities and towns in the northwest of the Cantal, namely in the rolling lands between the Lelewn and Gawer rivers known as the Phelgor. They see it as their duty to protect the mountain passes that connect with the Shalelands on the fringes of their lands from Shalefolk incursions and attacks from other unknowable horrors.

The leaders of the various Phelgornai clans are some of the most powerful druids in the Cantal, commanding forces of devoted rangers. Although druidic in nature, the Phelgornai culture is not savage, feral or barbaric. What large cities there are in the Phelgor are all as modern as most other human cities to the east and south. The architecture of the Phelgor is quite unique though, including twisting stone spires that rise out of the ground as if the druid-kings themselves raised them and fashioned them from the inside out.

Although they are a numerous people, the Phelgornai are not unified under a single nation. Instead each city is controlled by a different clan or a council comprised of a handful of clan leaders. The druids are the most powerful force in the area, which is disconcerting to many outsiders, who view them as in turns cruel and fickle. They are, however, the best defense against several of the Shaleland’s worst denizens.

Sample Phelgornai:
Votrus Terethi (NN male human ranger 5/fighter 1)

The Orocrin
The Orocrin are a people of mystery who dwell in the Uryan mountains sprawling throughout the center of the Cantal. They are short, olive-skinned and, although they possess naturally black hair, are often shaved bald. They are known to be wise and full of endurance.

The most notable aspect of Orocrin culture concerns their religion and spirituality. There are very few druids within the Orocri lands, and almost no clerics. Truename magic rules in this land of climate extremes. The Truenamers and monks are the authorities of Orocrin life, both spiritual and practical. Each mountain village or cluster of villages pays homage to a Temple of the Futharc, where Truenamers and monks reside to guide the villagers and protect them however they can.

The Temples all have a common origin. When the Zhul Empire of Mhalrim extended its influence to the vast plains of dust and hills of the land of Vhalerek, that land’s locals chose mass exodus over enslavement. The Vhaleri made their way into the mountainous lands of Uryan, and there they settled, far from the oppressive Zhul Empire.

After the lands of the south recovered from imperial upheaval, travelers and brave merchants made their way into the Uryan mountains once more, seeking the people they knew from the oldest imperial records as the Vhaleri. What they found did not match the archives at all… it seems that, in a matter of ten generations or so, the culture had turned one-hundred and eighty degrees away from that of the rugged nomads of Vhalerek. The merchants found small villages of stone and rare wood, presided over by imposing, multi-layered temples housing an unheard-of caste of priests with powers as alien as the tips of the mountains themselves… Everything from language to architecture had changed, all seemingly at the behest of the “Speaker” caste and their monk servitors.

Trade is slow but constant with the generally peaceful Orocri people. They are very self-sufficient, but it is nearly impossible to maintain a population on the sparse bounty of the mountains for long.

Sample Orocri:
Kori Marul (LG female human monk 6)

The Versi
The Versi are the descendants of an extraplanar race of humans who came to Jayld when the Cantal had not been encroached upon by the Shalelands as it is today. This time was many millennia ago, and yet the Versi seem to remember it as though it were yesterday.

They are a tall and gaunt folk, with pale skin and red or black hair. Their eyes are either black, deep brown or an inexplicable hazel. The common Versi demeanor tends toward either paranoia or a semi-constant state of aloofness. There are of course exceptions, but these exceptions are generally found among the Versi who leave their lands to go adventuring or to escape the paranoid and sometimes suffocating society they grew up in.

Versian history is steeped in dark folklore and strange myths concerning Fey, demons and other such beings. Their society, while nominally united under the Blood Circles (truly ancient circles of in-bred mage families, including wizards, warlocks and sorcerers), has no central ruling body outside of the Counts of individual Versi settlements. Each Count is either a member of one of the Blood Circles, or is appointed by the most powerful local Circle.

Versi towns and other settlements are often in out-of-the-way locales, such as mountain vales, small strips of field nestled between rivers and overgrown forests, or sparse stands of structures crowded around ancient keeps or fortifications.

Sample Versi:
Maryindor Serevel (LE male human wizard 4/rogue 2)

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Salken Silverwing 08-08-07, 02:54 AM	The Cities of Jayld, Campaign Setting Project Overview and Explanation: The “Cities of Jayld” setting is my attempt at creating a D&D setting with cultures that draw very little from ancient earth cultures. The point here is that I want cultures that have evolved at least semi-logically with the nature of magic and the supernatural in the game. To this end, you will notice that the most powerful rulers and such in the setting are spellcasters of various kinds (with exceptions, of course). The list of common races contains humans, hobgoblins and half-orcs, all of which are modified slightly to fit the setting, along with a considerable amount of non-standard WotC races that have appeared in various books. Since it is not my goal to print or sell this setting, I feel that drawing from D&D material is okay. I am essentially compiling a list of things I’m using in a campaign, not stealing WotC’s ideas and publishing them. I will be careful not to post entire rules here that are not in the SRD. I will merely make mention to them, and will leave it up to the reader to find the appropriate material (primarily the Monster Manual I and II, Races of Destiny, Tome of Magic, the Eberron Campaign Setting, and the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, among others that I will cite as I go). I am posting the setting here in hopes that I will receive CONSTRUCTIVE feedback and critique, and perhaps a few folks willing to help me develop material for the setting as it evolves. My primary creation document, all of which I will be posting here as I write it, will contain 18 sections. Twelve of these will be essential setting info, while six sections will be appendices containing non-essential cultural and DM-specific information. And, of course, all of this is liable to change as I (or, hopefully, we) work on the Jayld project… Introduction: Jayld is a strange world, with stranger inhabitants. Humans live alongside a plethora of unique and ancient races with heritages that span planes and even time. Some of these races even rival humans number, (such as the passionate Githyanki, or the inexplicable Miovante hobgoblins). Jayld is a world slightly off-center to the rest of the Material Plane dimensions, on a varying and unpredictable orbit that never quite rests in the center of the Symmetries (the cosmological chart common among Jayld mages, priests and scholars). This strange trait and the plane’s subsequently weaker planar fabric serve to make the world susceptible to forces from outside the Eldrum (the expansive cloud of energy that encircles the world and acts as a buffer to the rest of the Symmetries). The world is large in comparison to most others (roughly three times the size of earth, with approximately 55% water and 45% land), but much of its land is harsh and deadly, wracked by extraplanar forces and unnatural storms. Around thirty percent of Jayld’s landmass is separated from the Shalelands by both natural and magical boundaries. This protected area is known as the Cantal, and contains fewer modified magic zones and planar rifts than are found in the Shalelands. Political power is wielded almost exclusively from the many city-states that dot the Cantal. Empires, when they do arise, are largely unsuccessful and fall within a century or two due to the varied nature of the Cantal and its people and geography. Thus, the largest states are often confederations or kingdoms that claim a handful of large cities and towns. Most nations, however, consist of single cities and the outlying estates and farmland, often bordering on the holdings of petty rulers or lordless lands that swear fealty only when necessary. Within the great cities of the Cantal, power is usually wielded by upper castes of arcane and divine spellcasters of varying sects, families and guilds. These factions often have a unifying specialty (such as the sorcerer-lords of Mhalir), are all members of the same race (such as the Miovante Overlords of Taliste) or both (the Veiled Nine of the Sharakim city of Geshran, all of whom are users of powerful Shadow magics). There are, however, exceptions to the patterns of Jayld political power. The Shalefolk (a race of beings from beyond the Cantal’s borders) travel the Shalelands in large groups, called Murders by others, and are ruled over by a in-bred caste of “pure ones” who do not use magic, but instead wield mysterious psionic abilities. Relations between the various city-states and nations vary depending on their proximity to one another, predominant races, and the politics of the individual ruling factions of each realm. Trade between the lands close to one another, as well as those with access to the Sea of Encer, is constant. Trade between lands that are landlocked or those too small to be attractive to the richest merchants often have slow but steady import/export rates, while lands on the fringes of the Cantal or those too small to be of interest often maintain sporadic trade routes at best. My next post will contain information on several of the setting's primary races, including humans, Sharakim and the Miovante hobgoblins.
queenfange 08-08-07, 11:24 AM	I like it. I think it's excellent that you are trying to derive cultures from logical progression of historical events that takes magic and psionics into account rather than just taking standard Earth cultures and twisting them around a bit. Show us more! :D
Salken Silverwing 08-16-07, 12:59 AM	(Wow, it took a long time to get around to this, but never fear, I'm still here.) Here is a brief description of several human cultures, with more to come. Humans The humans of Jayld belong to six predominant cultural groups, most of which are spread throughout the states of the Cantal. The differences between these groups are small enough that they are not statistical, affecting only the character’s personality, outlook and beliefs. Humans are a product of the evolution of the plane itself, as opposed to many of the world’s races whom arrived after the plane’s creation or were created by another race or being. The Mhalrim Standing on average between 5’7” and 5’9”, the Mhalrim are a tanned and wiry folk, with hair ranging from blonde to light-brown. Their eyes are usually a dark brown, hazel, or in rare cases a deep green. Stereotypically, the Mhalrim are capricious and arrogant, although these traits are widespread only among the sorcerous nobility. The Mhalrim possess the oldest recorded history thanks to their long-dead empire, which at one point in history spanned the southern third of the Cantal and lasted for almost five centuries. Because of this history of civilization, the Mhalrim possess the most knowledge concerning the Cantal’s political and cultural history. Today, the Mhalrim hold dominion over the city of Mhalir and its environs, which in ancient times served as the capital of the Zhun Empire. They are also predominant in the upper classes of many southern states (although these families are often diluted) due to old imperial political marriages. Near the final days of the Zhul Empire, the most pureblooded of the Mhalrim families began to produce sorcerous heirs. These nobleborn mages, feeling entitled and superior to their brethren, tore the empire apart as they attempted to usurp the imperial throne. The Emperor, only a half-blooded cleric of Vaen, was unable to contend with the noble sorcerers, and fell along with the imperial institution. Today, the remnants of the Zhul imperium are all but gone, while the sorcerer lords control only the empire’s ancient capital, Mhalir. Sample Mhalir: Fehlzen Khaland (NE male human fighter 4/sorcerer 2) The Phelgornai The grim and conservative Phelgornai inhabit many cities and towns in the northwest of the Cantal, namely in the rolling lands between the Lelewn and Gawer rivers known as the Phelgor. They see it as their duty to protect the mountain passes that connect with the Shalelands on the fringes of their lands from Shalefolk incursions and attacks from other unknowable horrors. The leaders of the various Phelgornai clans are some of the most powerful druids in the Cantal, commanding forces of devoted rangers. Although druidic in nature, the Phelgornai culture is not savage, feral or barbaric. What large cities there are in the Phelgor are all as modern as most other human cities to the east and south. The architecture of the Phelgor is quite unique though, including twisting stone spires that rise out of the ground as if the druid-kings themselves raised them and fashioned them from the inside out. Although they are a numerous people, the Phelgornai are not unified under a single nation. Instead each city is controlled by a different clan or a council comprised of a handful of clan leaders. The druids are the most powerful force in the area, which is disconcerting to many outsiders, who view them as in turns cruel and fickle. They are, however, the best defense against several of the Shaleland’s worst denizens. Sample Phelgornai: Votrus Terethi (NN male human ranger 5/fighter 1) The Orocrin The Orocrin are a people of mystery who dwell in the Uryan mountains sprawling throughout the center of the Cantal. They are short, olive-skinned and, although they possess naturally black hair, are often shaved bald. They are known to be wise and full of endurance. The most notable aspect of Orocrin culture concerns their religion and spirituality. There are very few druids within the Orocri lands, and almost no clerics. Truename magic rules in this land of climate extremes. The Truenamers and monks are the authorities of Orocrin life, both spiritual and practical. Each mountain village or cluster of villages pays homage to a Temple of the Futharc, where Truenamers and monks reside to guide the villagers and protect them however they can. The Temples all have a common origin. When the Zhul Empire of Mhalrim extended its influence to the vast plains of dust and hills of the land of Vhalerek, that land’s locals chose mass exodus over enslavement. The Vhaleri made their way into the mountainous lands of Uryan, and there they settled, far from the oppressive Zhul Empire. After the lands of the south recovered from imperial upheaval, travelers and brave merchants made their way into the Uryan mountains once more, seeking the people they knew from the oldest imperial records as the Vhaleri. What they found did not match the archives at all… it seems that, in a matter of ten generations or so, the culture had turned one-hundred and eighty degrees away from that of the rugged nomads of Vhalerek. The merchants found small villages of stone and rare wood, presided over by imposing, multi-layered temples housing an unheard-of caste of priests with powers as alien as the tips of the mountains themselves… Everything from language to architecture had changed, all seemingly at the behest of the “Speaker” caste and their monk servitors. Trade is slow but constant with the generally peaceful Orocri people. They are very self-sufficient, but it is nearly impossible to maintain a population on the sparse bounty of the mountains for long. Sample Orocri: Kori Marul (LG female human monk 6) The Versi The Versi are the descendants of an extraplanar race of humans who came to Jayld when the Cantal had not been encroached upon by the Shalelands as it is today. This time was many millennia ago, and yet the Versi seem to remember it as though it were yesterday. They are a tall and gaunt folk, with pale skin and red or black hair. Their eyes are either black, deep brown or an inexplicable hazel. The common Versi demeanor tends toward either paranoia or a semi-constant state of aloofness. There are of course exceptions, but these exceptions are generally found among the Versi who leave their lands to go adventuring or to escape the paranoid and sometimes suffocating society they grew up in. Versian history is steeped in dark folklore and strange myths concerning Fey, demons and other such beings. Their society, while nominally united under the Blood Circles (truly ancient circles of in-bred mage families, including wizards, warlocks and sorcerers), has no central ruling body outside of the Counts of individual Versi settlements. Each Count is either a member of one of the Blood Circles, or is appointed by the most powerful local Circle. Versi towns and other settlements are often in out-of-the-way locales, such as mountain vales, small strips of field nestled between rivers and overgrown forests, or sparse stands of structures crowded around ancient keeps or fortifications. Sample Versi: Maryindor Serevel (LE male human wizard 4/rogue 2)