Post/Author/DateTime	Post
daggeroflath 04-30-07, 05:03 AM	First of all, a picture tells a thousand words, so here's a map of what I have so far. Sorry about the artifacting, but I thought I'd be kind on people's bandwidth and compress it as much as possible. http://aycu10.webshots.com/image/12289/2005168701208457241_th.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005168701208457241) (Oh yeah, click on the thumbnail to see the full-size version)
daggeroflath 04-30-07, 05:52 AM	General Details The map there covers a single continent on the world. Theoretically there are two other continents but that's something I haven't even touched yet. The map is 8,000 miles high and wide. (I based the size of the continent on the entire american continent). The equator is just on the southern edge of the map and the north pole is around 4,000 miles north of the top point of the map. The humans originate from the southern landmass, the goblinoid races originate from the west and the elves come from the north. The central point was once the heart of a mighty human and elvish empire with the twin capitals of Greythane (a human city) and Aniir (The home of the high elves). The Joraniir empire was founded over a millenia and a half ago, in year 1 of the imperial calendar. (It is "currently" 1665 JE). It collapsed approximately a thousand years ago on the death of the 9th emperor in 624 JE, when each of the twin cities backed their own candidate to replace the emperor. For another 80 years a civil war was found between the two city-states, never directly fighting but instead sending armies from the kingdoms loyal to them against the kingdoms loyal to their enemies. The war was devastating and in the end all the lands of the empire seceeded rather than feeding their men into a pointless meat-grinder. In the end, both Greythane and Aniir came out completely intact having never been touched during the war. This brings them both great power and resentment from the surrounding countryside, both of which last to this day. The empire provided a common language, now spoken throughout many parts of the world which were never even a part of the empire, and spread the knowledge of Wizardry, invented by the elves of Aniir, across the entire country.
daggeroflath 04-30-07, 06:17 AM	Greythane Greythane is the name of both a city and the surrounding lands under its direct rule. Many also include the Kingdom of Othala as part of Greythane, since although it's technically independent it's ruled in all but name. The city of Greythane is now ruled by a High Council that originally advised the Emperor. The council currently consists of 14 members, each position on the council has its own responsibilities and system for gaining the seat. Some seats are hereditary, others are elected by certain groups and guilds, others are still held by their original members who for their own individual reasons are capable of living over a thousand years. The members of the council live lives shrouded in secrecy, none of them are public figures. One of the most famous features of Greythane is the Academy. This institution offers training in a wide variety of areas ((every PC class and many PrCs)), however unless a person pays ridiculous ammounts of money for training there and leaps through a lot of hoops they are required upon graduation to serve Greythane in one of two ways. They can either serve in the Legion (the GreyCoats) or the Elite Guard (the GreyCloaks, half way between police and secret police). The period of service required depends on a large number of factors but is commonly between two and ten years. Greythane has no official state religion, all three of the common pantheons finds worshippers here. It is also incredibly cosmopolitan with members of every race finding a home here. One large segment of Greythane became flooded after a minor earthquake. Rather than fix the problem, they rebuild the area to remain submerged and it is now the Aquatic District where many underwater sentient beings dwell. This example is consistant with Greythane's approach to many things. The city has a population of 40,000 and is overall a Lawful Neutral culture.
daggeroflath 04-30-07, 06:45 AM	Religion Firstly the number seven is considered an extremely holy number in Verdat mythology. Each of the pantheons consists of seven gods. Pantheon 1: The Eternal This is the oldest of any of the religions on Verdat. It consists of Utimi; the feminine aspect of nature and life, Carond; the masculine aspect of nature and death and their five children. Their children are Nesyne; the sea, Tahyn; fire, Vodic; storms, Hemosy; the ground and Teyr; the trickster god of magic. Nesyne, Vodic, Utimi and Teyr are Chaotic Neutral deities. Hemosy and Carond are Lawful Neutral deities. Tahyn is a True Neutral deity. Utimi and Carond are DR 20, very nearly verging on being overgods. They are not communicative, even to their followers. Those attempting to contact them via magic get 'redirected' to the most appropriate of their children. The five children are DR 16, each dwelling on the appropriate elemental plane except for Teyr who travels and visits all of his family when he isn't wandering the multiverse. This pantheon cares nothing for good or evil, and is most commonly seen amongst druids rather than clerics. When worshipped as a pantheon their overall alignment is considered True Neutral. Pantheon 2: The Virtues The Joraniir empire was built on the basis of seven ideals, worshipped both as gods and as pure aspects. The proper citizen of the empire was expected to embody all seven ideals throughout their life. The virtues are. Aughus; Strength. (male, CN) Ceretia; Wisdom. (female, TN) Veretia; Justice. (female, LN) Emeus; Love and family. (male, NG) Radotia; Mercy. (female, CG) Iredia; Humour. (female, CG) Creidius; Obedience and humility. (male, LN) The virtues are all Divine Rank 10, though this was higher at the peak of the empire. The pantheon as a whole is considered to be Lawful Neutral. "Pantheon" 3: The Shining Ones Though not technically a pantheon, this is the largest faith currently on Verdat. It has existed for 800 years, since the shining ones first visited the world to teach people to follow 'The Light'. The shining ones are the archangels from the Book of Exalted deeds. People can worship all the angels, which is a pantheon of Neutral Good alignment or they can individually worship the archons, guardinals or eladrin. Verdat does not use the great wheel cosmology. The angels come from a single neutral good aligned, mildly positive aspected plane simply called Heaven. The "Light" is not technically a god, being simply a pure embodiment of the idea of "good", for purposes of rules it is a DR 20 being of Neutral Good alignment. "Pantheon" 4: The Whisperers in Darkness The demonic realms have had their influence in Verdat for a lot longer than 800 years, however those in charge of the demonic efforts in this world believe strongly in subtlety. It is because of this that they are named the Whisperers in Darkness and people know almost nothing about them. However they are led by the archdemons and archdevils from the BoVD, who dwell in a single neutral evil aligned, mildly positive aspected plane. Pantheon 5: The personal gods This faith exists strongly amongst the goblin nations. Each infant raised in this belief system is given their own personal god by their parents, who craft an icon that sits in the family home and is worshipped by everyone in the family. The god is given a public name that everyone knows, and people often pray to the child's personal god for the child to grow strong and healthy. As a rite of manhood (age varies between species) the child is sent on a vision quest to learn the private name of their god. People worship the personal gods of their friends, family and commonly whatever ruler currently controls their domain. This verges on ancestor worship at times, with families keeping the icons of their ancestors and worshipping the personal gods that have watched over the family. The personal gods of powerful people grow to be Divine Rank 1 and capable of granting spells.
daggeroflath 04-30-07, 09:33 AM	This is about how far I've gotten. Now I'm a bit stuck... So, if I can get some suggestions, just anything really to provoke some inspiration it might get me started again and over my writer's block.
Anuvrix 04-30-07, 11:42 AM	The personal gods thing sounds nice. the only problem is, when the goblin dies does the god? With such a large number of goblins in the world, there would be tons of DvR1 or bloew gods, enough to over throw some of the other gods, big threat, the alliance of goblins to a nation, or even amongst themselves can be a BIG deal.
daggeroflath 05-01-07, 03:49 AM	The personal gods thing sounds nice. the only problem is, when the goblin dies does the god? No, people commonly worship the gods of people like the old emperor. Unless the god is forgotten they will continue to exist. Even then, forgotten gods just drift asleep in the astral plane. With such a large number of goblins in the world, there would be tons of DvR1 or bloew gods, enough to over throw some of the other gods, big threat, the alliance of goblins to a nation, or even amongst themselves can be a BIG deal. Relatively few reach DvR1, they're the gods of the goblinoid equivalents of Einstein, George washington, Da Vinci, etc. The rest are sitting on the goblinoid heaven as an outsider creature similar to a petitioner. Yeah, they've got Dvr0 but they can't move or do anything much, so it's not really a worry. Clerics draw power from historical figures of power, but everyone has a personal connection to the religion, through their own gods and their family gods. Besides, the only other gods who have much of a care for this plane are the seven virtues. The light, the forces of evil and the gods of nature are all gods of the entire multi-verse. This leaves the human virtues and the goblin personal gods as rube provincial deities, looked down upon largely by the rest of them.
daggeroflath 05-01-07, 03:52 AM	I was rather rushing through making this world (which is why my creativity just depleted itself, I was trying to force it too much), because I was going to run a game with it and the players are getting tired of waiting. So I'm going to put this project on the backburner and run the next game with my friend's Eberron campaign setting instead.