Alveus: The Hollow World - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Alveus: The Hollow World

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
dmrannn
Apr 17, 2009 7:27:01 All right, here it is for your collective appraisal/feedback/brainstorming. This is the campaign world I designed about a year ago for myself and my friends in our first collective D&D campaign experience. The world and all its details are fleshed out in a somewhat lopsided manner--that is, the area the PCs are in is not incredibly large, but has far more detail than, say, an area 500 miles away. This is of course a temporary situation, and where all of you come in!

--- --- ---

Overview:
Alveus is a dark world, spined like a broken ***** by the craggy misshapen Worldswall Mountains. It is an old world, a battleground of gods...and primal forces not so easily defined.

The gods do not exist so much as patrons of specific ideals, but as sentient beings that are attributed these by their natures. Venatus, the Game, is a pact made between them in order to prevent a sundering of the universe such as occurred eons ago. By Venatus, under the governing of the eldest gods, they fashioned themselves in their remorse for the destruction they had authored, a prison. The Astral Sea, the Shadowfell, the Nine Hells, even the Abyss... These are locked beyond the reach of mortals, and Alveus itself is uninhabitable by the gods. In this way, an all ready broken world has maintained its sanity.

Through Venatus, the gods may touch mortals, and so both amuse themselves, and exert their will. The Raven Queen is the most tangible of the gods partaking, as the only goddess that a mortal soul might ever see--even if it is just before his eternal sentencing.

Thousands of years have passed thus.

And Torog stirs from his fevered slumber in Vecna's cold embrace.

---

Geography:
Alveus, as it is currently known by the PCs, exists as a single continent. None on this continent have moved beyond its shores--at least not with any hope of return. There are legends that in the age directly following the gods' pact of Venatus, other lands were still reachable by the lines of their power still etched across the surface of the world.

The continent in which the PCs begin their quest is called Templum, in truth. However because of a limited world knowledge, it is referred to as Alveus, with Templum being seen as an "old" and "pagan" name for the lands on either side of the Worldswall. Templum was however, the name originally given this continent by the gods. It was, just after the breaking, the only easily inhabitable portion of Alveus as a whole, and there the majority of modern life on the planet began.

I have not fully mapped it, so if anyone has l33t mapping skills they would be welcome. Suggestions, even.

Down the center of the continent stretches Worldswall, a gnarled dividing line between the East and the Wild. The East side of the Worldswall is by comparison, much more civilized. Due to magical scarring in the Wild on the west side of the range, its conditions are harsh and much more prohibitive of lasting settlement.

At about 3/4 south down the Worldswall, it splits into a sort of double range that runs in a narrow fork to the ocean. At the place where it splits is the Hall, a meeting place for generations of dwarven clans. The dwarves, like the dragonborn, are a race surviving undiluted from the creation of the world itself. It is an ancient people, and mixed within its myths and legends are the pieces that might someday reunite the world.

The dwarves are a broken people in this age, however. Infighting between clans has splintered the culture so badly that some bear as much enmity for another clan as they would orcs or other such. The Worldswall is mined deep by these various clans, and more tunnels yet lie abandoned by further generations afraid to desecrate a clan killed off by another.

East of the Worldswall is Avandra's Tear, a small sea that nourishes the rivers of southern Templum. And pressed like a dirty crescent against its edge stretches Bastion.

The human city of Bastion is just that. Over the past 10 years, what was once a relatively mild port town has stretched into a haphazard city of desperate refugees. Opulence and poverty exist side by side. Merchant kings' servants draw from the same wells as slavers in this disorganized mass of wood, and stone, and human waste. Other races have begun to seep into the darkening veins of the city like a slow-moving poison the taints Bastion's lifeblood.

Whence come the refugees? War is coming. None can dispute this. The Worldswall has been breached for the first time in a millenia, though no one has yet found the source. Fell creatures bleed from its abandoned caves and fissures, as if the earth itself expels them. As they come, so do runaways from dying villages. The elves have emerged from the deepest forests, and some have even gone so far as to seek refuge within the arms of their eladrin brethren for the first time in known history.

West of the Worldswall, the Wild is a broken and dangerous land. At its far end, the Gate exists. Imagine a city split down the center of a massive tear in the fabric between the mortal realm and the Feywild. It is a fortification of sorts crafted by the eladrin so that any who pass into their world are known to them. From the north or south one can only see half of the city. What side depends on what realm one exists in, of course. It is a bridge between the two, and the only eladrin presence known in Alveus.

---

This is as far as I've gotten on basic world makeup so far. I will post a story-so-far summary ASAP to add in for context, but for now this is what I'm building from. Ideas, cities, feedback...all is welcome!
#2
dmrannn
Apr 17, 2009 7:31:00 P.S. I know there's not much there, but the PCs have spent the campaign thus far in the land surrounding Bastion, and exploring the crux of the Worldswall mountains where "The Hall" is. If I wasn't clear enough, The Hall is basically a constantly fluctuating city of sorts, where clans go to settle disputes, arbitrate various matters, and communicate with the other races. It is so named because of a giant sculpted Hall cut into the base of the largest mountain. This Hall is the oldest known architecture in the world.
#3
dmrannn
Apr 18, 2009 9:04:06 No ideas at all? Really, anything. Even horrible ones. ;)
#4
Mechalibur
Apr 18, 2009 9:22:03 This looks very.... dark. Personally, I don't like that as much, but if your PCs want a dark campaign, you did a good job. Also, what do you have planned at each tier of play. It looks like you have a lot for heroic tier and epic tier, but what about paragon?

This looks like it could easily turn into a planar campaign, so Manual of the Planes would be good to use with this. I like planar campaigns :D
#5
dmrannn
Apr 18, 2009 9:54:30 It is a very desolate world, yes. This is exactly where my PCs want to go with it. They are essentially a small beacon in a world of shadows.
#6
namer_and_shaper
Apr 19, 2009 13:37:15 People talk of lesser evils, like voting for a bad politician so that someone worse doesn't get the job.
In a world this corrupt, would evil gods be worshiped openly? Perhaps even side by side with good gods? Surely a god of war, even a evil one, is worth worshipping if its you that gets a portion of his power rather than the enemy.
Thats all I've got for you at the mo'.
#7
dmrannn
Apr 19, 2009 13:50:39 Namer/Shaper, can I call you Name? Namey? Name-dawg? All right, excellent.

That's exactly what I'm going for. I want a world that feels authentic. If magi exist with the power to summon gouts of white hot flame, shouldn't there be some serious burned out battlefields? The world which my campaign inhabits is scarred, and through the scarring, deep. There are great sorrows, but those sorrows only brighter highlight the joys. Ideas for wars, political events, etc... All this is good.

Torog is the only god worshipped semi-secretly, and even then it is widely known...just sort of uncomfortable for the general populace. He "sleeps in the arms of Vecna" who in my dominion is a female persona of darkness constantly striving with Pelor. There are ascetics who believe both should be revered, and others who fight vehemently for one side or the other. Slavery, famine, disease... These are daily companions in Alveus.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 dmrannn Apr 17, 2009 7:27:01	All right, here it is for your collective appraisal/feedback/brainstorming. This is the campaign world I designed about a year ago for myself and my friends in our first collective D&D campaign experience. The world and all its details are fleshed out in a somewhat lopsided manner--that is, the area the PCs are in is not incredibly large, but has far more detail than, say, an area 500 miles away. This is of course a temporary situation, and where all of you come in! --- --- --- Overview: Alveus is a dark world, spined like a broken ***** by the craggy misshapen Worldswall Mountains. It is an old world, a battleground of gods...and primal forces not so easily defined. The gods do not exist so much as patrons of specific ideals, but as sentient beings that are attributed these by their natures. Venatus, the Game, is a pact made between them in order to prevent a sundering of the universe such as occurred eons ago. By Venatus, under the governing of the eldest gods, they fashioned themselves in their remorse for the destruction they had authored, a prison. The Astral Sea, the Shadowfell, the Nine Hells, even the Abyss... These are locked beyond the reach of mortals, and Alveus itself is uninhabitable by the gods. In this way, an all ready broken world has maintained its sanity. Through Venatus, the gods may touch mortals, and so both amuse themselves, and exert their will. The Raven Queen is the most tangible of the gods partaking, as the only goddess that a mortal soul might ever see--even if it is just before his eternal sentencing. Thousands of years have passed thus. And Torog stirs from his fevered slumber in Vecna's cold embrace. --- Geography: Alveus, as it is currently known by the PCs, exists as a single continent. None on this continent have moved beyond its shores--at least not with any hope of return. There are legends that in the age directly following the gods' pact of Venatus, other lands were still reachable by the lines of their power still etched across the surface of the world. The continent in which the PCs begin their quest is called Templum, in truth. However because of a limited world knowledge, it is referred to as Alveus, with Templum being seen as an "old" and "pagan" name for the lands on either side of the Worldswall. Templum was however, the name originally given this continent by the gods. It was, just after the breaking, the only easily inhabitable portion of Alveus as a whole, and there the majority of modern life on the planet began. I have not fully mapped it, so if anyone has l33t mapping skills they would be welcome. Suggestions, even. Down the center of the continent stretches Worldswall, a gnarled dividing line between the East and the Wild. The East side of the Worldswall is by comparison, much more civilized. Due to magical scarring in the Wild on the west side of the range, its conditions are harsh and much more prohibitive of lasting settlement. At about 3/4 south down the Worldswall, it splits into a sort of double range that runs in a narrow fork to the ocean. At the place where it splits is the Hall, a meeting place for generations of dwarven clans. The dwarves, like the dragonborn, are a race surviving undiluted from the creation of the world itself. It is an ancient people, and mixed within its myths and legends are the pieces that might someday reunite the world. The dwarves are a broken people in this age, however. Infighting between clans has splintered the culture so badly that some bear as much enmity for another clan as they would orcs or other such. The Worldswall is mined deep by these various clans, and more tunnels yet lie abandoned by further generations afraid to desecrate a clan killed off by another. East of the Worldswall is Avandra's Tear, a small sea that nourishes the rivers of southern Templum. And pressed like a dirty crescent against its edge stretches Bastion. The human city of Bastion is just that. Over the past 10 years, what was once a relatively mild port town has stretched into a haphazard city of desperate refugees. Opulence and poverty exist side by side. Merchant kings' servants draw from the same wells as slavers in this disorganized mass of wood, and stone, and human waste. Other races have begun to seep into the darkening veins of the city like a slow-moving poison the taints Bastion's lifeblood. Whence come the refugees? War is coming. None can dispute this. The Worldswall has been breached for the first time in a millenia, though no one has yet found the source. Fell creatures bleed from its abandoned caves and fissures, as if the earth itself expels them. As they come, so do runaways from dying villages. The elves have emerged from the deepest forests, and some have even gone so far as to seek refuge within the arms of their eladrin brethren for the first time in known history. West of the Worldswall, the Wild is a broken and dangerous land. At its far end, the Gate exists. Imagine a city split down the center of a massive tear in the fabric between the mortal realm and the Feywild. It is a fortification of sorts crafted by the eladrin so that any who pass into their world are known to them. From the north or south one can only see half of the city. What side depends on what realm one exists in, of course. It is a bridge between the two, and the only eladrin presence known in Alveus. --- This is as far as I've gotten on basic world makeup so far. I will post a story-so-far summary ASAP to add in for context, but for now this is what I'm building from. Ideas, cities, feedback...all is welcome!
#2 dmrannn Apr 17, 2009 7:31:00	P.S. I know there's not much there, but the PCs have spent the campaign thus far in the land surrounding Bastion, and exploring the crux of the Worldswall mountains where "The Hall" is. If I wasn't clear enough, The Hall is basically a constantly fluctuating city of sorts, where clans go to settle disputes, arbitrate various matters, and communicate with the other races. It is so named because of a giant sculpted Hall cut into the base of the largest mountain. This Hall is the oldest known architecture in the world.
#3 dmrannn Apr 18, 2009 9:04:06	No ideas at all? Really, anything. Even horrible ones. ;)
#4 Mechalibur Apr 18, 2009 9:22:03	This looks very.... dark. Personally, I don't like that as much, but if your PCs want a dark campaign, you did a good job. Also, what do you have planned at each tier of play. It looks like you have a lot for heroic tier and epic tier, but what about paragon? This looks like it could easily turn into a planar campaign, so Manual of the Planes would be good to use with this. I like planar campaigns :D
#5 dmrannn Apr 18, 2009 9:54:30	It is a very desolate world, yes. This is exactly where my PCs want to go with it. They are essentially a small beacon in a world of shadows.
#6 namer_and_shaper Apr 19, 2009 13:37:15	People talk of lesser evils, like voting for a bad politician so that someone worse doesn't get the job. In a world this corrupt, would evil gods be worshiped openly? Perhaps even side by side with good gods? Surely a god of war, even a evil one, is worth worshipping if its you that gets a portion of his power rather than the enemy. Thats all I've got for you at the mo'.
#7 dmrannn Apr 19, 2009 13:50:39	Namer/Shaper, can I call you Name? Namey? Name-dawg? All right, excellent. That's exactly what I'm going for. I want a world that feels authentic. If magi exist with the power to summon gouts of white hot flame, shouldn't there be some serious burned out battlefields? The world which my campaign inhabits is scarred, and through the scarring, deep. There are great sorrows, but those sorrows only brighter highlight the joys. Ideas for wars, political events, etc... All this is good. Torog is the only god worshipped semi-secretly, and even then it is widely known...just sort of uncomfortable for the general populace. He "sleeps in the arms of Vecna" who in my dominion is a female persona of darkness constantly striving with Pelor. There are ascetics who believe both should be revered, and others who fight vehemently for one side or the other. Slavery, famine, disease... These are daily companions in Alveus.