Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 idabrius Jun 07, 2008 8:53:23	The rules are out! With that, the Shattered Lands is unveiling its first big contest. We will be searching for submissions that describe a city somewhere in the Lands. The location is up to the submitter, as is the method they use to describe the place. The winner will have their city permanently incorporated into the Lands canon! The rules are as follows: The city must conform to the lore of the Lands. While it can introduce new lore or incorporate old lore in a new way, it cannot blatantly contradict the history of the Lands. While we are always looking for complex postmodern viewpoints on history, there is a difference between a minor contradiction that may be due to the fog of time and major ones that would be irreconcilable. The city must have some manner of description. While we would love sketches and the like as entries, any art entry must be accompanied by at least one line of text with some flavor-description. Bonus points if the city is described “in-character.” The entry must be submitted before the end of July. The contest ends on July 31. EDIT: Due to time constraints on the accessibility of the boards and a general desire to get more input, the contest date is extended to late August. Some guidelines: When making a city or location for the Lands, I always like to consider it a potential campaign setting rather than a once-or-twice adventure. If you were to move to a new city and live there for a few years, you’d begin to feel its, well its unspoken themes, its lifeblood. In D&D we don’t get a few years to get used to a city. Players need to understand the overarching things almost immediately. For this reason, cities in the Lands tend to be somewhat exaggerated. Puimur’s Oldtown, for example, is much like the buried portions of any modern city with ancient roots. However, it is juiced up to be more exciting. IN the same vein, your city should have something unique and attention-grabbing to it. It should make the players want to visit it when they hear of it. It should reinforce the Shattered Lands themes while still playing on its own motifs. Have fun, and remember: this setting is a community creation, and all communal input is welcome.
#2 idabrius Jun 07, 2008 8:53:57	Please email any submissions to [email]kestar@gmail.com[/email] or post them here in this thread.
#3 idabrius Jun 10, 2008 8:34:10	Abump?
#4 nowiwantmydmg Jun 10, 2008 13:15:39	Abump? I suspect no posters yet due to the shattered lands requirement. Also I suspect many 4e campaigns will begin in Winterhaven/Fallcrest.
#5 rogue_epitah Jun 10, 2008 19:15:36	Grandma says that Beladora is going the way of Ker’yis. Mum says they’re going to keep it in the sky for thousands more years. Dad says it’ll crumble and the griffons will go extinct. The High Mistcaller says that Melora (a servant of the Reed Queen for those of you who happen to be out of the know) will hold Beladora on her strong shoulders forever. It must be pretty heavy. I wonder if she ever gets a break. Beladora Hundreds of years ago, not long after the forgotten city of Ker’yis saw its final light, the city of Beladora was found. It was originally a small and comfortable fishing village, but grew until it became possibly the largest port city among the coasts of Demat. But, like Key’ris before it, Beladora was bound to sink beneath the waves. The halflings, however, were prepared now. Their valued city could not simply get up and move so the Council of Demat agreed that magic was in order. It wasn’t without its risks though. In fact, thousands died as the borders of Beladora ripped from its earthly bindings and hurtled towards the sky. At least once a week reports of a person falling of the metropolis’ edges are filed. Why do we have those railings anyways? It’s not like people don’t fall or jump off them. Especially the big folk, as smart as they say they are. The railings are nearly taller than me and they manage to find their way into tripping over them! They’re klutzes and idiots, that’s what they are. Population: 80, 670; an additional 900 or so live at Bell’s Port, a small town at the base that mainly just breeds and farms the griffons and watches over the airships that bring people to and from Beladora. Beladora is a halfling city but is home to many humans, elves, and dwarves as well. Tieflings, eladrin, and dragonborn are rarer, as are the more exotic races, but their presence is definitely there. Beladora’s big. Mum says it just might be the biggest city in the world. It has everything, she says, for those brave enough to get on the back of a griffon. I’m not sure if it has everything; I’ve never been past the fence (nor do I ever plan to). Too much water too far down. Bell’s Port is supposed to be a nice little place, away from the big folk and the bustling streets. Government: Beladora is run by the High Mistwalker Beladore (not her actual name, simply named after the founder). The Council of Dermat meets in Beladora once a month to discuss issues in Dermat (not necessarily Beladora itself). As such, the government holds quite a sway over the floating city. Defence: Beladora’s nature is its defence. The metropolis floats. Many would argue that Beladora has no need for any more defence. However, due to its metropolis nature, it possibly hosts the most crime in all of Dermat. The city guard is exclusively halflings and almost exclusively male (it is above a female to do such dirty work). The guard, dubbed ‘the Shorts’ by the big folk (and caught on among the halflings as well), is fairly strict in its ways, but is often more lenient with halflings. Mum says that I’m going to join the guard when I’m older. She says that since I’m a girl I’ll start out really high and I’ll be able to tell people what to do. She says my screaming voice will serve me well and I will catch lots of criminals. I don’t think I want to be a guard though. I always wanted to be Beladore. It's not much, but it's not nothing.
#6 idabrius Jun 10, 2008 19:25:18	This is an excellent entry. I'll be closing the contest down for entries in late August, so keep 'em coming! I'll send my notes and thoughts on your entry if requested. Edit: Note that all entries will be crossposted at the Shattered Lands forums.
#7 rogue_epitah Jun 10, 2008 19:28:46	This is an excellent entry. I'll be closing the contest down for entries in late August, so keep 'em coming! I'll send my notes and thoughts on your entry if requested. Shoot. August? That's a long time. Can I have more than one entry (if not, expect a hell of a lot more done with Beladora)?
#8 idabrius Jun 10, 2008 19:31:04	Feel free to enter as many times as you like, or to continue to expand your original entry.
#9 rogue_epitah Jun 10, 2008 19:33:12	Feel free to enter as many times as you like, or to continue to expand your original entry. 'Mkay. The notes and thoughts would be nice, since I admit I didn't read all that much about the setting (I will, though, studying and whatnot right now though).
#10 idabrius Jun 10, 2008 20:08:21	There is also a DM secret that I should make available to contest designers hoping to use the Eladrin for their city... and as soon as I figure out the spoiler tags, I will!
#11 rogue_epitah Jun 10, 2008 20:24:14	There is also a DM secret that I should make available to contest designers hoping to use the Eladrin for their city... and as soon as I figure out the spoiler tags, I will! [noparse] This Stuff
#12 idabrius Jun 10, 2008 20:48:34	Alright, now that I've fought my way through the brutal onslaught of the forum-slowdown, here's the skinny: Show All Eladrin who have ever left Jandana by any means are barren and incapable of conceiving children. The journey through the barriers of the worlds somehow destroys their ability to reproduce. To this end, all Eladrin living in the Middle World are either extremely old (Invasion Era, millenia ago) or were stolen from Jandana as babes. It has become a strange and somewhat bittersweet custom for a newly married Eladrin couple to be informed of the physiological side effects on their bodies; this couple then goes into Jandana on the "marriage hunt" to find children.
#13 idabrius Jun 13, 2008 16:12:26	Bump to victory?
#14 idabrius Jun 15, 2008 11:45:26	Another bump; get those entries in, folks!
#15 thinkhard Jun 15, 2008 14:33:54	Alkeim Believed to be the first part of the world to be created, Alkeim contains the most advanced civilization known. It is located on the northnern pole, within a massive crater. At the bottom of this crater is an abyss rumored to lead to the center of the earth. The city itself takes its name from the massive floating crystal eternally suspended in the middle of the crater above the abyss. With its many cut facets, the Alkeim looks virbrant and pure where the sunlight strikes, and obsidian and foreboding where it is in shadow. As the sun moves around the sky (never completely below the horizon due to the polar location), the reflections and shadows cast from Alkeim have unusual effects. Any place hit by reflected light becomes likened unto the Feywild; powerful magic, lucky occurrences, and springing life fill that region. Farmers toward the outer rim of the crater harvest crops daily during the period that their plot of land is most strongly bathed in reflected. Important social events, local commerce, and arcane rituals in the more urban centers further down the crater follow a similar timing. An area in shadow becomes cold and restrictive, snuffing out weaker life that stays too long in the area. Ghostly apparitions and unexplainable misfortune plague these areas while they become closely associated with the Shadowfell. Because of the daily shifting between light and dark within the crater, sometimes Alkeim is referred to as the “Clock of Creation.” Though most commoners wouldn’t understand this fact outside of experiencing its effects, the poles of the world are tilted in relationship to the sun. This causes Alkeim’s reflections to be broader and more intense on the eastern half of the crater, while shadows having a stronger presence in the western half. “Night” (being in shadow) on the eastern half can still be risky, but if beings stay indoors and take minor precautions, they rarely come to harm. This allows those who stay on this side of the crater to reap the immense benefits of Alkem’s reflections during “Day” with little risk otherwise, so the majority of beings occupy that region. The West becomes safe during its “Day” period. The positive energy of the light only strong enough to drive back the powers of darkness that persist while it’s in shadow. Denizens of the night—Drow, Shadar, undead—sometimes take up residence in this region. Sometimes, even some of the common races find that they don’t quite fit in, through extreme poverty or antisocial tendencies, and find themselves with nowhere else to go. There are vast ruins with an architecture style incredibly different than that found in the East, leading many to wonder if there were two opposing societies surrounding Alkeim in the past. Below the Alkeim lies the crystal abyss that leads directly to the center of the world. It is mostly unaffected by the changes of light occurring in the crater, and is rich with precious metals and unique crystals that can be ground into residuum. There are constant mining operations being run by the wealthy, but of course the depths of the Crystal Abyss has never been explored, and workers are always shocked with the ruins and lurking monsers they periodically discover as their mining moves further and further down. Adventuring in Alkeim The booming East is full of intrigue. It is over-populated, but by no means does it have a struggling economy. Different social groups are constantly competing for control, sending out personal agents willing to risk the dark to do their dirty work. Adventurers can allow themselves to be drawn into the intrigue; they can try to put a stop to the underhandedness or cash in on the numerous crime opportunities. The ruins in the West are rumored to have forgotten treasures, rituals, and supposedly even unique artifacts. It’s quite common that swords for hire explore it during the “Day” and try to beat the shadows back to the safety of the light in the East. Sometimes Drow or other unsavory beings open up limited trade relationships with Easterners, giving opportunity for those foolhardy enough to take up the job as trade escorts. The Crystal Abyss is an excellent opportunity for adventure. Beyond the reward of precious metals and residuum to be harvested, there are constant wars between independent mining operations competing over territory. While merchants may maintain the appearance of civility up in the crater, they let their workers resort to barbarous tactics down in the mines. Ruins of previous battles can be plundered, or adventurers can sell their allegiance to a specific mining company and aide it in the fierce fights that flare up. The most daring will explore uncharted depths, establishing claims on new mining sites or just seeing how deep they can go.
#16 thinkhard Jun 15, 2008 14:42:47	Well dang. Designed that using generic 4e cosmology which apparently doesn't. apply. I'll post it somewhere else.
#17 idabrius Jun 15, 2008 14:44:21	Haha, s'ok, I've crossposted it in the Shattered Lands forum anyway. We might be able to massage it into the setting, so I'll keep it in mind as an entry - less you really want to withdraw.
#18 thinkhard Jun 15, 2008 14:51:10	I'll leave it up. See how it does.
#19 idabrius Jun 21, 2008 18:38:25	Hey hey, still looking for entries in the contest! C'mon people, I know yer a creative lot!