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This is a quick setting made from Mikaze's Worldbuilding Exercise - Get 5 Random Races, Build a Setting thread.
Presenting
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So, that's what I ended up with when I did the 5 d100 results:
d100 Vegepygmy
d100 Girtablilu (centauroids with a scorpion-like lower half + claws)
d100 Construct-based Humanoid (wildcard, make your own!)
d100 Aasimar (humanoids with celestial ancestry)
d100 Sprite
So sit back and feast your eyes as I present to you..
In a continental-wide forest inhabited by good and evil sprites, clockwork-loving aasimars and their automaton servants survive in the wake of their ancestor’s war. Half-scorpion females known a girtabilius form an amazon fringe society, completed with the vegepygmys as the ambassadors of the forest. In the north a new evil awakes, and the fragile balance is threatened once again.
The Dark Woods is the name of the vast forest covering the whole continent from one ocean to the other. A small sea intrudes in the south-east part of the continent, flooding into wetlands and bogs on most of that inland sea’s shore. The tallest mountains are on the western part of the continent, but only its highest peaks are devoid of trees. Even there, deep and narrow valleys exhibit the most treacherous vegetation. Far into the North, incredibly tall evergreens give immediately to the glaciers. Everywhere around, an endless sea awaits. The only clearings are those that one makes.
The continental forest ranges from subtropical to boreal climates but remains thick, dark and ominous looking wherever one goes. The Dark Woods are not only inhabited with sentient spirits and creatures, it is believed to have a will of its own. The vegepygmys believe they speak for it with their clicking and rhythmic beats.
The Dark Woods witnessed the arrival of the Aasimars and their automaton servants, their rise to power, their sophistication leading to decadence and their fall into folly and war. This later era is better known as the Woodland Wars, where many aasimars abandoned their former gods for the more sinister powers of the Dark Woods. The war grew on a continental scale, involving virtually every species, often on both sides of the battlefields. Even though the celestial-worshiping aasimars ultimately won, they are now a stagnant and traditional people living in their only city of Excelsior. The rest of the continent is littered with the overgrown ruins of their former cities and the rusting carcasses of their clockwork soldiers and goliaths. Also harkening to those times, the girtabilius curse still affect many aasimar babies to this day, killing their mother and cursing their existence into exile with their scorpion sisters. Also since this era, the Dark Woods seems completely sealed from planar travel. While clerics still receive spell and communion, the gods won’t tell if this is their doing or that of the Will of the Dark Woods.
For the most part since the Woodland Wars, the Dark Woods lived on a fragile harmony between most races, but this balance is about to put to the test. A new evil is rising in the north and the west which has still to be clearly identified and understood. Whole cabals of cannibalistic sprites are on the run, and some vegepygmy tribes are committing darker deeds than their usual. Undead creatures rise before the Woods claims them, and the girtabilius sees foreshadowing of ancient prophecies…
Player Character Races
Dark Woods setting offers a choice of five playable races at character creations: the traditional and clockwork-loving aasimar, the rational and crafty half-machine half-magical creature automatons, the amazon-like half-aasimar half-scorpion girtabilius, the wild and playful sprite and the forest-communing, plant warrior vegepygmy.
Aasimars
These supernaturally beautiful men and women look human, yet emanate a strange sense of calm and benevolence.
Stranded in this world without ways of traveling back to their home, the aasimars remember the plains of Arcadia and the slopes of Mount Celestia in songs only. Still, they haven’t forgotten their old celestial patrons and their statues and idols ornate the streets and homes of their great city: Excelsior. But tough it seems that their gods have not forgotten them either, the aasimars remain still and ever a people in exile.
The aasimar form the elite of their society, with most menial and dangerous tasks performed by their automaton servants. Despite restricting them to the lower class, the aasimars proud themselves in being good masters and esteem their automatons as much as their own children.
Aasimar love clockworks of all sorts. From toys to practical devices, their city of Excelsior is a pleasant mix of woodland architecture and clockwork devices. Aasimar warriors are also known for their clockwork weaponry.
Automatons (humanoid-based construct wild card)
These humanoid-looking constructs are animated with a combination of magic and engineering. The sound of the internal churning and turning of thousands of intricate springs, screws and gears follows wherever they go.
Automatons form the working caste of the Aasimar society. Although they are technically free, most automatons are content with the life of toil and war they were made for. Some individuals sometimes aspire to more freedom and space to express themselves, and seek a life for their own. Most become craftsmen, mercenary or lone peddler or trader, but some evolve as poets and sculptor. Such individual become heroes among their own kin but are perceived with mixed feelings of pride and bitterness by aasimars for unlike their masters, automatons can function without the need of food or sleep and can truly dedicate their life to their craft, generating envy and resentment.
Girtablilus
The body of a spear-wielding woman rises from the front of this monstrously huge scorpion
The girtabilius curse harkens back to the Woodland Wars of the Aasimars, and although their enemies have been vanquished, their handiwork remains. Roughly one female Aasimar in ten is born with the girtabilius curse, whereas eight arachnoid legs, a large abdomen and a poisonous sting replace her legs (the forward legs develop into pincers during childhood). In most cases, the mother doesn’t survive the birth, killed by the poison of her monstrous offspring during labor. In older days, these monstrous women were abandoned at birth but a few were raised in secret. Over times, these monstrous offspring were given to girtabilius survivors until they formed a society of their own.
Today, the girtabilius form a group of amazons and rangers, interacting with the fringe of the aasimar society and protecting their land from the dangers of the Dark Woods. In return, the aasimar pay them a small tribute and hand them their scorpion-legged children. After all, the girtabilius are their daughters…
Sprites
This lithe, diminutive creature looks like a humanoid with wispy, mothlike wings and long, thin ears.
If some regions of the Dark Woods are plagued with cannibalistic sprites of shadows, some other parts are blessed with songs and music rivaling with the Celestial Choirs of Bytopia. Both feral and civilized sprites live in remarkable harmony with the Dark Woods.
Sprites venerate the Dark Woods in its many aspects, but the Painter of Life and Sprout Singer are favorites among brighter tribes. Tribes venerating the Eater of Flesh and the Endless Sea of Worms are usually the most sinister and better be avoided…
Vegepygmys
Short, thin, and green, this small humanoid wields a spear. Tendrils of fungus dangle from its arms, midsection, and legs.
The vegepygmys do not see it this way however. For them, the mold is a blessing and the manifestation of the Will of the Dark Woods. Even more than the sprites, the vegepygmys venerate the Dark Woods as a single nameless, sentient entity. They claim to speak for it and act on its behalf. Vegepygmys cannot speak—they communicate via a crude language of rhythmic taps, beats, and clicks.
Whenever a creature is slain by russet mold, the dead body bursts to release up to six fully grown vegepygmys a day later. Typically, a veg pygmy keeps no relation to the body from which it emerges, but most retain a strange sort of reverence for its “birth corpse” and carry grisly mementos such as bones, teeth and jewelry. Approximately 1 in 20 vegepygmys are born as “chieftains” retaining some of the memories, personality traits and of its birth corpse. These often become leaders of vegepygmy tribes or adventuring loners. Some adventurers turned vegepygmy have been known to display affection for their former fellow adventurers, adopting the party as its tribe.
In the Dark Woods campaign setting, planar travel beyond this world is not possible. This means that conjuration (calling) spells, astral projections, extra dimensional spaces and other similar effects automatically fail. Creatures hailing from the material planes (such as most creatures from the summon nature’s ally series) and elemental creatures can be summoned normally. Teleportation spells and effects within the Dark Woods world function normally. Divination spells allowing seeing the outer planes or to commune with an outer plane being are also unaffected.
The five player races as described above are the most important sentient creatures of the Dark Woods setting. Other intelligent creatures are either considered rare and solitary, disinterested in civilization, completely out of reach of player control or particularly feral and uncivilized. In comparison, even the primitive vegepygmys should feel particularly apt to interact with civilization…
... so that's a start. I'll post more as I get more time to work on this. This has been fun! Thanks Mikaze!
Out of the five races randomly selected for this setting, only one (Aasimar) is normally allowed as a player character race. To make a character for a DARK WOOD (tm) campaign, use the following racial traits:
[author's notes] These races are probably not quite balanced, but it would be difficult to make it so. Still at first glance, I would say that they are close enough. At any case, I'm confident that an optimizer would be able to make a decent build out of each one...
Aasimars are the most human-like race of this setting. They would be the "default assumption" race, replacing the niche that humans would take in most typical settings. Still ashamed of the Woodland Wars that decimated their empire, the aasimars are more traditional and good-aligned as a whole than humans would however, but individuals can be of any alignment. In that regard, they resemble the elves of most fantasy settings.
Aasimar Racial Traits:
This race is brand new, well, kind of. It's a human with the half-construct template from Ultimate Magic and a few elements of the clockwork subtype.
Automaton Racial Traits:
This one is a deconstructed version of the 10-hit-dice monster in Bestiary III. It has lots of goodies, but it helps that its claws and sting are considered secondary weapons by RaW.
Girtabilius Racial Traits:
Another deconstructed monster, but relatively easy to make since it's a 1-hit-die critter. The diminutive size is its main highlight.
Sprite Racial Traits:
I was quite pleased when I rolled this one! Still, a plant creature means immunity to a bunch of things... Since that's pretty much the only advantage of this race, it shouldn't be that bad.
Vegepygmy Racial Traits:
Becoming a Vegepygmy:
It is possible for a character to become infected with russet mold and succumb to the vegepygmy transformation. In this case, treat the character as being reincarnated as a Vegepygmy, using the racial traits described above. Sprites are immune to russet mold, but even automatons are susceptible to the transformation.
Need some spelling help here...
plural of "Vegepygmy" = vegepygmys or vegepygmies?
plural of "Girtabilu" = girtabili, girtabilus or girtabiluses?
Built atop a series of hills, the Mechanical City of Excelsior shines like a tall lighthouse in a deep sea of dark trees. This is the home of the Aasimars, their bastion against the the wilderness and the center of their civilisation. While the Aasimars have several other settlements throughout the Dark Woods, none come close to the grandeur of Excelsior.
The city is fed by a strong natural spring, which waters are distributed in many courts via an intricate system of aqueducts and fountains. The inhabitants take great pride in their “up-rivers”, a series of mechanical cascades carrying water atop of the highest hills of the city. Other famous clockworks include the Great Gate, which opens according to the size and need of the traveler, the central clock and its thirteen bells of bronze, keeping time here in the Dark Woods and that of various other towns in the outer planes, the Royal Gardens, which rotate and close according to the weather and position of the sun, and the Grand Armament, a series of automatic defenses that can be triggered in case of invasion.
About fifty thousands Aasimars call Excelsior their home, and twice as many automatons can be found within the city’s walls at any given time. Another fifteen to twenty thousands automatons working outside the city can be recalled within half a day should the need arise.
The Forecastle: The forecastle is a fortification complex the size of a small city; the first line of defence Excelsior has against invaders. Guarding the only public entrance into the city of Excelsior, the forecastle houses the vanguard of the Aasimar guardsmen (along with their families), the first contingent of automaton soldiers and most of the city’s defense systems (and the craftsmen who operate them). The forecastle also caters to all these warriors and craftsmen with the usual services and professionals almost independently with the rest of Excelsior..
The highlight of the forecastle is without doubts its mechanical Great Gate; a complex clockwork device opening and hinging in myriads of ways, letting tradesmen and travelers in and out of Excelsior. Built as a part of the Grand Armament, the Great Gate is capable of defending itself against most types of attacks, engulfing battle-rams, cutting ladders and throwing siege towers off-balance.
The Royal Spire: The queen’s residence and her court have been built atop the tallest hill of Excelsior in a single, tall tower with narrow windows of crystal. From afar, the spire give the impression of a beacon or a lighthouse in a stormy sea. The hill houses most public buildings of Excelsior, from courthouses to barracks, museums to public baths, place d’arme to public gardens (including the wondrous Royal Gardens). The largest marketplace also lies at the feet of the royal hill, right below the wondrous clocktower and two streets away from the city’s jailhouses.
Temple District: As one can expect, the city of Excelsior features many churches and temples dedicated to several pantheons of the upper planes. The largest and most magnificent of those temples are built in the Temple District on the tall Luna Hill.
Truth be told, the Aasimars are not even that religious, but they hold to many traditions harkening to their planar past which they preserve with pride and nostalgia. Most Aasimars prey to whole pantheons of deities, adopting a handful of “favourite” patrons but rarely narrowing their devotion to a single god or goddess. The Aasimars also revere their ancestors and many benefactor spirits and appropriately, the Temple District includes Excelsior’s great cemetery. Walled with its own fortifications and battlements, the cemetery is an extensive system of catacombs and tall mausoleums counting generations upon generations of urns and funerary jars. Since the Aasimars traditionally burn their dead (least the Woods turn their body in Vengepymies), it comes to no surprise that the city’s Crematorium occupies the central place of the district.
Many schools and boarding houses are situated in the Temple District, as well as the orphanage and the biggest houses of healing.
Arcane Hill: Also known as wizarding hill, this small part of Excelsior is technically part of the Temple District but is often viewed as a small quarter in its own. Arcane Hill houses Excelsior’s College of Magic, a large complex featuring apartments and installations for the arcane magic practitioners of Excelsior. In turn these masters must teach a pair of apprentices for a period of five years. Several other wizards and sorcerers also live around the College, teaching magic privately to richer Aasimars’ sons and daughters. While arcane magic seems to impress the Sprites, Vegepigmies and creatures of the Dark Woods the most, it is often perceive as inferior to divine magic by the Aasimars themselves.
Shops of potions, minor magic items and various materials catering to spellcasters (arcane and divine alike) are almost all situated on Arcane Hill.
Crafter’s Lane: Most merchant’s warehouses and workshops are situated at the foothills of the city, along a winding street called Crafter’s Lane. Local shops also exist around small district courts but generally, if one looks for something, it will be found along Crafter’s Lane. Linking the many smaller markets together, Crafter’s Lane is the true beating heart of the city. Most free automatons reside there as well, occupying the darker, less popular crevasses and cliff sides with their small shops of wonder....
The Vegepygmy Market: Situated outside the city’s walls, the so-called “Vegepygmy market” nevertheless takes in important part of Excelsior’s economics. Several hundreds Vegepygmies can be found there at any given time, but none live there on a permanent basis. There, the aasimar purchase all kinds of exotic goods in exchange of, well, it isn’t clear what the vengepygmies want... Some accept money, others prefer weapons and ammunition, some content themselves with trinkets of all sorts and others even seem happy to give their goods for free. But mainly, the vegepygmgies come here to trade among themselves and to exchange information. Enough valuable intelligence transit there for the Aasimars to pay close attention and host this Vegepygmy market. An important Sprite population lives there are well, and many obscure powers and creatures of the Dark Woods send their minion to this cosmopolitan meetingplace.
Seems pretty neat. Thanks for sharing!
A good fantasy setting needs its fantasy creatures. Aasimars, Automatons, Girtabilus, Sprites and Vegepygmies readily serve as NPC material, both as protagonist allies or antagonistic villains, but they need not to be the only intelligent creatures around.
The following are creatures commonly encountered in the Dark Woods setting, although they are not available as player character races. Most of the creatures listed below differ slightly from their default Pathfinder image, personality or demeanor, as follow:
Orcs, Goblins and Boggards: These creatures fill the niche of weak but numerous creatures. All three races are even more bestial than typical, living in pre bronze-age societies. They nevertheless excel in cruelty and skills at making efficient weapons out of bone, rock and wood (treat their weapons as default “iron” values). The boggards are less inclined to wanton evil, but they seem to have a grudge against the Aasimars and their allies, which includes many tribes of Sprites and clans of Vegepygmy. They consider automatons as abominations. Boggards fill a niche similar to hobgoblins and bugbears.
Vodyanois and Green Hags: These are the old men and crones of the Dark Woods with mysterious agenda. They should be used as antagonists most of the time, but more ambiguous individuals should be allowed to exist.
Coualts and Nagas: The Dark Woods campaign setting also features a slow but constant war between the Coualts and the Nagas. While the Aasimars will find more affinity with the Coualts, the Girtabilus have strong ties with the Nagas. Sprites are the most directly implicated in the Coualt-Naga wars, with warriors on each side.
Harpies and Griffons: Harpies of Dark Woods are more vulture-like and less woman-like. Griffons are their creation and pride, also featuring vulture features with an emancipated feline body. They form a loose but strong nation in their own. to be used mostly as a nation of villains, but not directly engaged in open war with the Aasimar.
Treants and Trolls: In the Dark Woods, treants are rarely gentle tree-herder and shepherd, but rather wild incarnation of nature spirits. Few are nature-loving creatures; the Vegepygmies hunt them whenever they encounter one. Still, their intelligence allow PC/NPC interaction. Trolls similarly share plant-like traits, with slimy green skin covered in mold, moss and weeds. They are dangerous predators; few have enough intelligence to converse with PCs.
Undines and Dryads: Nature Fey creatures obviously fit right in the Dark Woods setting, but since deforestation isn’t an issue in this setting, undines and dryads are not always encountered as protector of nature. Undine and dryads should be encountered both as allies or villains.
Leshy: These creatures are everywhere, too insignificant to be allowed as a PC race but frequent enough to be encountered in most villages and settlements. Excelsior supports a fair amount of Leshy. Aasimar are known to be fond of leaf leshies.
next post: Monsters of Dark Woods
LF: thank you for providing all this detail. I came up with my own "5-race homebrew" that I want to develop following your example. It's called the Maridian Citadel.
Basically when I rolled mine I conceptualized making a single mega-city out of them but I like what you've done with having other, theme-related NPCs in the area.
Thanks again for the Dark Woods setting and the inspiration.
LF: thank you for providing all this detail. I came up with my own "5-race homebrew" that I want to develop following your example. It's called the Maridian Citadel.
Basically when I rolled mine I conceptualized making a single mega-city out of them but I like what you've done with having other, theme-related NPCs in the area.
Thanks again for the Dark Woods setting and the inspiration.
thanks,
I've red on your Maridian Citadel. I think it's pretty cool how you came with a unifying setting allowing water-based creatures and land-based to co-exist, which isn't an easy ordeal.
I think what's missing in your setting (and mine for that matter) are adventure hooks; how can this setting be used to create a coherent game, what kind of intrigues can be developed, what purpose would the PC serve etc. In short; what are this setting's main themes, what can we expect form it both from the perspective of players and DMs.
I see this exercise more as a inspiration to create a Ravenloft or Darksun type setting (my inspiration for Dark Woods) rather than a Golarion or Forgotten Realms type setting. So narrower genre, more specific themes, limited but more conceptual options.
Most creatures and monsters included in the Pathfinder Bestiary can be used with the Dark Woods setting, with one major exception. The Dark Woods have been sealed-off from planar travel, which means that demons, devils and other outsiders are absent from this setting (apart from the Aasimars native of the Dark Woods, of course). Also, typical "playable" humanoids races such as humans, elves, dwarves and the like should be restricted to the 5 default character races described above.
Still, some creatures and monsters fit the wild and forested themes of the Dark Woods better, as follow:
Animals, Dire Animals and Dinosaurs: The Dark Woods are a primeval wilderness inhabited by their own flora and fauna, but many species resemble their core Pathfinder counterparts enough to be represented as such (at least statistically). Dinosaurs and dire animals fit the setting well enough, and the GM is welcome to change their appearance to various degrees.
However, few animals have received the level of domestication typical of other fantasy settings, and the lack of large plains and dry climates make the existence of species such as the cow, horse and camel difficult. Still, large elk-type creatures can replaces the horse as a mount, and long-legged marsh-striders can replace the camel to cross equally hostile environments.
Assassin Vines, Basidirond, Giant Flytraps and the like: Plant creatures remain always and ever a constant hazard in the Darkwoods. Girtabilu rangers and Vegepygmy druids should be able to guide a group of PCs through the Woods without major issues; such plant creatures should remain a hazard mainly for groups with few ranks in the Survival skill, or as frequent complications in fights with other enemies.
Giant Insects: Again in relation to the primeval forest theme, giant beetles, centipedes, spiders and scorpions of all sorts should occupy an important niche, serving as mounts and war animals for tribes of woodland orcs and goblins (and perhaps some settlement of Aasimars as well). The girtabilu curse is most likely a deliberately cruel curse, implying that giant scorpions form a particularly nasty menace.
The chitinous skin and shells of giant insects should make for many armours and weapons that would otherwise be made out of metal in other settings (again, especially for woodland creatures).
Dragons and Linnorms: The dragons of the Dark Woods are particularly fierce and bestial. Chromatic dragons are almost unheard of, GMs are encouraged to use different species of linnorms instead.
Undead: Undead exist in the dark Woods, but they remain a relatively rare threat. Most undead date back to the Woodland Wars when corrupted Aasimars dabbled with the dark arts of necromancy, and still inhabit the ruins of their fallen empire. Of all the races of the Dark Woods, the Girtabilus are to most well verse in such occult lore and best practitioners of necromantic magic.
In the new menacing Shadow arising from the north, undead could play an important role...
I am really liking this! I also like this concept of a rising Shadow. I am doing the same thing in my homebrew now (not the Maridian Citadel but a land I made up before called Karnoss) but instead of going with an undead theme I gave it a more specialized form.
My Karnoss game is all about evil fey and dark fairy tales. So of course I had to have 3 fey princesses who had to decide the fairest of them all. One became queen, one was exiled to the mortal realms where her age would catch up with her (baba yaga, mother of hags) and one was imprisoned in darkness (mabbe, the mad queen, mother of nightmares).
Though the one in her shadow plane prison could do nothing she could use the energies of the shadow to possess minions and imbue some with portions of her power. Those she possesses are known as the Enshrouded and they are unnaturally vital and uable to die; metaphysically their "fate" or their lifeforce is in mabbe's prison and therefore hidden. There are just a couple unique ways to repel or slay these beings.
So from the PCs perspective there's this force, referred to as the Shadow, that is seeping in, changing some people and fey into monsters and turning a select few into these undying fiends called the Enshrouded. I created a specialized campaign trait that allows you to sense "shadow" like a paladin's detect evil since the Enshrouded and other shadow tainted beings look extremely similar to normal folks.
I think what's missing in your setting (and mine for that matter) are adventure hooks; how can this setting be used to create a coherent game, what kind of intrigues can be developed, what purpose would the PC serve etc. In short; what are this setting's main themes, what can we expect form it both from the perspective of players and DMs.
I see this exercise more as a inspiration to create a Ravenloft or Darksun type setting (my inspiration for Dark Woods) rather than a Golarion or Forgotten Realms type setting. So narrower genre, more specific themes, limited but more conceptual options.
I kind of agree with you. I originally thought "wouldn't it be cool to have a single city?" and then I remembered I hate intrigue and love GMing old school site based dungeon hacks and exploration types.
Still I'm inspired to try and stretch myself creatively and come up with campaign-spanning plots. One I thought of right off the bat would be "the return of the Marids". What happens when the capircious Brinebourne come back and decide to take up the reigns of rulership once more? Or maybe (if I was any good at intrigue) they never really left...
Another obvious one would involve a race war. Think about it; you've got the sahuagin and the orcs, the 2 most agressive races, imprisoned either socio-economically or physically. At some point that powder keg's bound to go.
Neither of those appealed to me though as the kind of game I usually enjoy. I think that's why I found your stuff so inspiring. You have the 5 playable races and an interesting environment, but you also introduce the concept of limited but not limiting NPCs to pre-emptively act as foils, threats and potential allies to the PC races.
I personally love hags as bad guys. They're as creepy as you want them to be, physically challenging into the mid levels and easy enough to add levels to for future threats. I use them often so I was really happy they made it into the Dark Woods!
The Aasimars have largely turned away from their gods, the planes are closed to this one and the Shadow gathers an army of the unliving before it...
Maybe the Dark Woods is really purgatory. Consider this angle: Pharasma assigns souls everywhere in the multiverse, but maybe some souls reject her decision and demand another option. A dammed soul for example bound for one of the darker afterworlds that begs for penance and The Mother of Souls can see the creature is truly penitent. She now flings them into the woods.
Every so often she "activates" the woods to test the sentient souls there. Some remain unsure and have to remain for another cycle. Some turn back to the Spiral and therefore are able to pass on to their TRULY rightful place. However between cycles the negative material plane has begun to seep in, infiltrating the woods and turning some its residents to Darkness. This place for them and this dark power is becoming another choice for a tormenting afterlife where the unliving can eternally torment the Mother's forgotten.
Pharasma, being Lawful Neutral and, well, Pharasma, can't just up and swat the thing back. So the campaign begins with a new cycle of testing amping up, but a special one. She drops a divine agent in there and with all the planar blocks and dark influence and all, this agent forgets or loses sight of why it's come.
Now the party has a 3 part challenge. The first is surviving in the wilds to retrieve the agent in whatever form it took; this might be a falling star, a foretold mcguffin or a vegepygmy disturbance in the "force". The 2nd part of the campaign is getting the thing to unveil its purpose, which inevitably turns out to threaten the entirety of the Woods. The 3rd part is the party participating in the final ordeals of the cycle, either on the side of righteousness or wrath.
Does this help?
The Bebilith: Acknowledged as a female entity in most myths and legends, the Bebilith is one of the most feared predators of the Dark Woods. The Sprites know her as the nightcrawler, to which some tribes pay tribute. The Vegepygmies call her the rotting webs in their click-and-tap language, for her rotting bite is poison even to them. The Aasimars recognize her as a bebilith and know her as the creature of the Abyss that she is, but the Girtabilus alone know who she really is. According to their own myths and prophecies, the Bebilith is the key to both the destruction and salvation of the Dark Woods.
Her history of rot and blood can be traced back even before the Woodland Wars and the ban on planar travel, suggesting that the Dark Woods were one of her hunting grounds before the arrival of the Aasimars. But now, like them, the Bebilith is trapped in exile in the Dark Woods, unable to use her plane shift ability.
The Lich-Queen of the Southern Marshes: In the southern portion of the continent, the shores of the inland sea regularly flood far inland, creating a vast network of salty marshes. Deep into these marshes live the self-proclaim lich-queen, and undead of great magical skills and ambitions.
Legends tell that the lich-queen was once a corrupted Aasimar lady involved in the Woodland Wars. Her estate being both small and distant, she was spared from invasion until the very end to the war, when it was clear that the celestial-worshiping Aasimars had won. The story tell that she took her own life and was entombed by her servants. Expecting some evil, the Aasimars first took a diligent watch, then their people dwindled, retreated to Excelsior and left the area altogether. Eventually, the marshes claimed her land, drowned her tomb and she was ultimately forgotten.
A hundred years ago or so, the corrupted Aasimar surfaced again, calling herself the lich-queen. It is told that she travels the multiverse in her unholy dreams, and has learned to manifest the horrors of her nightmares in flesh. At any case, she now rules over a court of many Sprites and other denizen of the Dark Woods, many of them presenting deformities of some sorts. Her half-sunken kingdom is slowly but steadily rising in power but so far, she has not declared war upon any nations. The Girtabilu watch her closely, for they know that she too has become aware of the rising Shadow in the north, and is hungry for any bit of information about it.
The Sphinx and the Oracle of the Eastern Coast: Perched high upon the eastern cliffs gazing into the endless sea, the temple of the Sphinx is another wonder of the Dark Woods. It architecture reminds that of many celestial realms in the Upper planes, but it wasn’t made by the Aasimars. On the contrary, it predates the arrival of the Aasimars by centuries. As far as the Sprites are concerned, it was already there when the world sprouted and bloomed at the dawn of time.
The Sphinx himself is an enigma, helping as much as devouring, asking as much as answering, old beyond recognition but ever so wondrous of youth. No one knows what his goals and purposes are. For as long as anyone cares to remember, the Sphinx has always been hosting a mortal oracle as the “main attraction” of his temple. The current oracle is an albino Girtabiliu with bright, fiery blues eyes. Her visions and prophecies have been particularly gloomy lately. It is she who foresaw the rise of the Shadow. The temple and the small village at the feet of the cliff is a popular and holy destination for the sick, the cursed and the doomed. People of every race and importance can be met there. Peace is enforced by a cabal of Girtabilu temple guards with intricate weapons and distinctive fighting techniques. This order of templars has been in position since the early days of the Girtabilu . It is said that the first Girtabilu survivor was raised in secret and given to the Sphinx as a foster child. While the Girtabilu now have their own kingdom, they kept close ties with the Sphinx and served to defend his temple ever since.
Maybe the Dark Woods is really purgatory. Consider this angle: Pharasma assigns souls everywhere in the multiverse, but maybe some souls reject her decision and demand another option. A dammed soul for example bound for one of the darker afterworlds that begs for penance and The Mother of Souls can see the creature is truly penitent. She now flings them into the woods.
Every so often she "activates" the woods to test the sentient souls there. Some remain unsure and have to remain for another cycle. Some turn back to the Spiral and therefore are able to pass on to their TRULY rightful place. However between cycles the negative material plane has begun to seep in, infiltrating the woods and turning some its residents to Darkness. This place for them and this dark power is becoming another choice for a tormenting afterlife where the unliving can eternally torment the Mother's forgotten.
I must admit I'm not very familiar with Golarion's cosmology and Pharasma's place in the grand scheme of things. The idea of purgatory is interesting. I kind of created the Dark Woods a polarized rip-off of Darksun without thinking much further, and just went along.
I like the idea of the rise of the Shadow being a cyclical thing, and was more of less going that way at any case. A test, or purge, of self-defense mechanism of some sort.
...vegepygmy disturbance in the force...
hehe
Such good stuff here; very inspiring. Every really good setting I've read always has a touch of the epic, the fantastic or the sinister in its overview. Yours has all 3.
It also tells me this is what I've been lacking in my Homebrews lately. Every homebrew I've made recently has been well detailed but missing some element, some kick. Your example here helps me articulate the component that isn't there.
For example I tell my players for my game lands of Karnoss that there are fey evils in the dark bowers and ancient woodlands of Karnoss...but evils with no names, no lore, no real substance. This is missing because quite honestly I hadn't thought of them at the time.
The larger lands of Karnoss are now broken out into smaller campaign areas. One is Bloodthorn Hollow and here the players have gotten to 3rd level and are about to face off against the first, major evil in the region. The evils in this area are fueled by the Shadow; a force of corruption that possesses victims and over time makes them hollow, deathless, and bent toward only dark purposes.
I wish I could restart the game with the descriptions and stylings I've learned just in this past few months.
But now that I've got some inspiration I think I'm going to add this into Maridian as well, before it gets rolled out. I'm going to make Maridian a distant land, off the shores of Karnoss. Perhaps one of the Karnossov campaigns will make it there or maybe we'll just start over there after the current campaigns wrap. Whatever the case, I want to take the time to really craft something with some teeth.
I want to take the time to really craft something with some teeth.
I suggest using tools, power tools or electronics when you can get them. Crafting with your teeth can damage your enamel :P
Hilarious! Seriously tho: do you suggest the bebilith, Lich Queen and the sphinx just as flavor, as resources/adversaries for the players, or simply to foreshadow what MAY be encountered in the dark woods?
I'm going through the exercise to teach this style of writing a homebrew to myself and I'm trying it out with the lands of Karnoss my game is already inhabiting. Since it's a dark fairy tale world I'd like to suggest a "beast" like your bebilith and I came across a Bandersnatch, which would be perfect except that the CR is so high it seems unlikely the party will ever encounter it until very late in the campaign.
Hilarious! Seriously tho: do you suggest the bebilith, Lich Queen and the sphinx just as flavor, as resources/adversaries for the players, or simply to foreshadow what MAY be encountered in the dark woods?
The Bebilith, Lich Queen and Sphinx are there as notable/notorious somethings.
I would expect the Bebilith to get slain by PCs at one point or another during the campaign, but if I give it enough flavour, the GM might give it one or two appearances before in the campaign, or weave its death into some kind of obscure prophecy, or make it some kind of significant encounter. I don't know...
With the lich queen, I meant to create an opposing force to the Aasimars. Groups that are allergic to goody-two-shoes adventuring bands may decide that she is the "good" guys, or some DM may make it an epic war between the two nations. Perhaps she can become an unlikely ally against the shadow, perhaps the shadow will take her, or she will become the driving force behind the shadow. I left it open-ended on purpose.
The Sphinx is meant to bring a powerful, neutral NPC/meeting center. At one point or another, PCs will have question. Between the Aasimar queen and the lich-queen, there had to be a male figure I guess...
The Aasimars have long felt that the Dark Woods have a will of their own. Plants and animals display an uncanny sense of purpose that seem more guided than normal, and the forests are known for the welcoming or oppressive ‘auras’ that they emanate.
In truth, the Aasimars are right; the Dark Woods are, in themselves, a living semi-deity. For the Vegenpygmies there are no doubts about a greater power behind the Dark Woods which they revere and worship, going as far as claiming to be its voice among the living (which the Aasimars always seen as ironic, given that Vegepigmies cannot speak). this may be true, but the Will of the Dark Woods has other agents as well, each charged with certain tasks. This fragmented nature has been observed by the Sprites who worship the Will of the Dark Woods under five of its most distinctive aspects.
The entity that the Sprites call the the Eater of Flesh portrays the merciless and predatory nature of beasts and of the woods in general. The Eater of Flesh has no mercy and kills for more than meat, it kills for thrill and bloodlust. Fire is its associated element.
The Endless Sea of Worms represents the entropic nature of forest where things not only die, they rot, decay and feed the carrion. For the Sprites, the Dark Woods sometimes get too enthusiastic in its rotting and decaying, a trait allegorized by a seemingly endless carpet of maggots and worms. Earth (as in dirt) is its associated element.
The Sprout Signer is an ethereal spirit described as a choir of songs or soft music in Sprite culture, provoking growth in plants and making flowers bloom. It is also the Sprout Signer that urges males and females to mate, even if birth itself is associated with the Painter of Life. Air is its associated element.
The Painter of Life is the force that makes flowers blossom into ripe fruits, and mothers to become pregnant and give birth. For the Sprites, the Painter of Life is responsible for putting colours in the world, from the blending furs of predators to the camouflage of their preys, and from the bright feathers male birds to the vivid colours of female flowers. Water (as in rain, rivers and bodies of soft water) is its associated element.
No tribes worship the Frost Breather anymore, for those who did have disappeared or gone mad. The Frost Breather used to be the balancing force between all four elemental spirits, bringing winter to regulate births, pause growth, stop the rotting and calm the lust of the hunt. It seems that the Frost Breather has retreated in the north were his winter is never-ending, leaving the whole forested continent with warm climates all year around. Spring, summer and fall still succeed each other, but spring seem to follow fall immediately after a few days of confused and angry weather.
For a starter, a quick background for the three main NPCs outside the PC's civilizations; the Bebilith, the Lich-Queen of the Marshes and the Sphinx. Coming soon: the Forgotten Scrolls of the Woodland Wars, The Dark Secrets of the Girtablilu, and The Rising Shadow of the North.
GM's Secrets: the Legend of the Bebilith
Long before the arrival of the aasimars, demons infiltrated the Dark Woods, drawn by the wild and sometimes savage nature of this world and of its inhabitants. While the demons were ultimately defeated and banished by the first waves of aasimars, the evil and corrupting influence of the Abyss remains to this day.
A bebilith followed the demons in the Dark Woods and took taste in the cover of trees and the torment of sprites, vegepgymies and other woodland beings. Even after the demons departed, the Bebilith routinely came back to her favourite hunting grounds, especially in the darkest hours of the Woodland Wars. The ban on planar travel took her by surprise and she too remained behind, trapped.
While she misses the flesh of demons, the Bebilith grew to enjoy her exclusive position as hunter-from-another-plane, and she is almost deified by many tribes of the Dark Woods. She also grew in cunning and malice. She knows that she isn’t as strong as her myth makes her, but she has learned to maintain the illusion of invulnerability.
As the Shadow rises, she can feel an presence, which makes her both excited and scared. Whatever is coming is familiar, yet unlike anything she she has seen before...
GM’s Secrets: The Lich-Queen of the Southern Marshes
Once known as Lady Arundel of the Aasimar, the lich-queen is an accomplished druidess and sorceress. Like many young aasimars of her time, she was raised in the bloody chaos of the Woodland Wars. Her father was considered one of the ‘corrupted’ who rebelled against their celestial brothers. She was told she would be destined to greatness, but her father was killed before any of his plans could come to fruition. Arundel was nevertheless trained early in the dark arts of necromancy.
The legend about her is mostly true. As the Woodland Wars grew to an end, the lady carved her own heart out before the angel-singing aasimars could reach her land. Her resentment and bitterness for her failed destiny was such that her spirit remained, disheveled and impotent for centuries.
Arundel’s lichdom was mostly accidental. As her invaders left her tomb and the marshes flooded her palace, her spirit grew in strength and regained awareness. She dreamt herself back into existence and learn to animate her old body which her servants had preserved, foreseeing that she would one day rise again. No longer living properly speaking, she now draws sustenance from the decay of the land.
Believing that her days have finally come, the Lich-Queen prepares for no less than the domination of the Dark Woods. She sees all denizen of the Dark Woods as her potential subjects, but she has no love for the aasimars of Excelsior. Through cunning dreams and nightmares, the Lich-Queen has amassed a court of loyal subjects and followers. Her pet cairn linnorm never fails to impress, but she is still without a consort (a position for which many of her subjects compete). Her army is considerable but not yet strong enough to make any bold moves. Besides, her military skills in planning and strategy are lacking despite her divinatory powers. For the moment, she keeps a cold but polite relationship with every nation and power in the Dark Woods that she doesn’t control.
The Lich-Queen didn’t fail to notice the rising Shadow in the north, and she is unsure whether to see it as a weapon to exploit or a menace for her own reign. This could accelerate or compromise everything; and she needs more information to make her mind.
GM’s Secrets: The Temple of the Sphinx
In truth, there were always an oracle in the Dark woods, but the Sphinx himself is also an interloper from another world. Whenever the Oracle dies, its spirit finds a new host and the Sphinx has taken upon himself to find each new incarnation and bring them to his temple. Generally, the new host is a young individual with predisposed abilities for divination, but it can be of any race and any gender. Nanda, the present Oracle, has been in position for the last 12 years or so. She inherited the Gift from the blind treant Fireroots who, years after years, used to burst into flames instead of shedding his leaves during fall. The treant inherited the Gift from the Kalax the Bloodletter, a psychopathic sprite who himself received it from a green hag known as Old Gdana. This last transition was the most problematic, as it is believed that the dying Gdana veiled her mind from the Sphinx who took several years to find Kalax as the new incarnation.
After the Sphinx met the Oracle for the first time, he guessed that it would reincarnate and took upon himself to find its successor. It is he who had the temple built to house the Oracle and a young individuals he deemed good candidates for reincarnation. Since then, the Sphinx benefited of hundreds of years of prophecies and visions. What he makes of all this knowledge is unknown, but it doesn’t seem to have much to do with the fate of the Dark Woods.
Of course I'm looking forward to the Shadow reveal, but I find myself chomping at the bit more for the woodland wars scrolls. I always find it more fascinating to see where the homebrew has been since where it's going can always change.
A new evil is rising from the north. Sprites brace themselves for a new war, and the vegepygmies observe with deep concerns the growing corruption of their forests. At the heart of the Dark Woods, the clockwork-loving aasimars and their automaton servants stand stalwart upon the walls of their tall towers. Meanwhile from the temples of their hidden kingdom, the scorpion-women of the girtablilu read the signs of ancient prophecies coming true. Will the free people of the Dark Woods have the strength to weather the tide? Will heroes rise among them to oppose the emerging shadow and change the fate of their world? Enter the eaves of the Dark Woods and find out for yourself!
WELCOME
Welcome to the Dark Woods, a land of dangerous beasts, wild spirits and wicked trees. Stretching across the whole continent, gloomy forests seem uncannily aware, as if they were constantly bending their will against anyone or anything that escapes their control. Trees of incommensurable age dominate every inch of land leaving no plains, desert or clearing to escape from their grasp. Light barely reaches the forest floor where life is choked by heat and lack of air. Tribes of cannibalistic sprites, malicious spirits and ancient dragons complete the picture, making the Dark Woods a truly dangerous and frightful world. A few regions are made peaceful and cheerful with the presence of bright sprites and benevolent spirits but for most parts, the Dark Woods emanate a sinister but majestic beauty.
Humans, elves, dwarves and most other typical fantasy races are conspicuously absent from this world, but the Dark Woods are far from being deserted. Dozens of different races inhabits the Dark Woods; most of them living a primitive lifestyle barely exceeding stone-age level of technology. Of all the denizen of the Dark Woods, the diminutive sprites and the mold-men known as vegepygmies have established the most diverse and wide-spread civilizations. Both species live culturally rich tribal lives, entertaining diplomatic and commercial ties with most other inhabitants of the Dark Woods. While many of these inhabitants also reached variable degrees of civilization, none shine as brightly as the aasimars; a nation of highly educated beings born in Upper Planes and now residing in the Dark Woods. Their history is both grand and sad, continuously reminded by the existence of the girtablilu; a curse causing many aasimar females to be born with the lower body of a scorpion. Used both as a name for the curse and for those afflicted by it, the girtablilu have over the years formed a nation of their own. The aasimars are also assisted by a race of sentient constructs known as automatons. Despite their body of brass and steel, automatons show more heart than many living creatures of the Dark Woods. Together, these five races form the free people of the Dark Woods, five nations of beings refusing to submit to the malevolent will of the Dark Woods.
THE LAY OF THE LAND
Jungles and forests cover the whole continent of the Dark Woods, from one ocean to the other and from the Thunderous South to the Eternal Glaciers of the north. This continent-wide forest ranges from subtropical to subarctic climates but always remains dense, dark and ominous wherever one goes.
Two great arms of land protrude far into the sea in the southeastern corner of the continent, forming two long and narrow bays. Southern storms provoke frequent floods, forming a wide network of salty bogs and wetlands around the inland bay. Some clans of sprites live in the canopies of large, drowning trees, while less salty bogs are home to tribes of boggards and broods of marsh-dragons. These inhospitable lands have nevertheless been claimed by the self-proclaimed lich-queen. While all agree that she might pose a serious threat to the free people, no one is willing to dispute her claim on her own territory.
The southwestern peninsula is home to the nagas; a race of great serpent with a human-like head. Their land dissolves into myriads of tall islands where storms and hurricanes are said to breed. These hurricanes then travel west and crash against the Storm Mountain in the Thunderous South. This is the sacred home of the winged-serpents known as couatls, were none of the free people are allowed to go. The Storm Mountains are among the tallest of the whole continent but even there, only the highest peaks are devoid of trees.
Far into the north, incredibly tall evergreens suddenly give in to impenetrable glaciers. The boreal forests are perhaps the strangest of them all, and the most hostile to the free people and their allies. Whereas the Dark Woods can sometimes be seen as hateful and malevolent, the northern trees seem to be filled with an essence of true evil. These forests are nonetheless home to the harpies and their griffons servants, whose influence stretches far beyond the borders of their so-called kingdom.
The eastern coast and the heartlands remain the tamest parts of the continent where most tribes of sprites and vegepygmies live. The heartlands also shelter the aasimars and their automaton servants living in the ruins of their ancient empire. Only the city of Excelsior survived the tides of time intact. Shining as a beacon of light in a dark sea of trees, the city of Excelsior is home to more than half the aasimar population of the Dark Woods. The eastern coast is also where the Sphinx has erected his temple to the Oracle, and where the hidden kingdom of the gitablilu lies.
Everywhere around the Dark Woods, angry oceans await the fools who dare take to the sea. No culture ever mastered sea travel, for the seas possess an awareness similar to that of the Dark Woods themselves. Five large islands emerging out of the eastern sea were once settled by sprites and aasimars at the height of their empire. Nowadays, all but one are deserted and abandoned to the wilderness.
A BRIEF HISTORY
Eons ago, demons invaded the Dark Woods, threatening to pull the world into the Abyss. The Powers Above responded by sending a host of their celestial army to cleanse the Dark Woods of their presence. When the demons where vanquished, the celestial host departed but many of the aasimar soldiers stayed behind. There they established their civilization, claiming the world as theirs. Theirs kingdoms rose into a mighty empire but later degenerated into decadence, folly and war. This later era is better known as the Woodland Wars, where many aasimars abandoned their former gods for the more sinister powers of the Dark Woods. Initially starting as a civil war between aasimars, the conflict eventually escalated to a continental scale war involving virtually every race of the Dark Woods who often fought on both sides of the battlefield. Even though the bright aasimars ultimately won, they are now a stagnant and dying people cut away from their planar homes. The overgrown ruins of their former empire and the rusting carcasses of their clockwork soldiers litter the Dark Woods, often serving as home to a tribe of sprites or lonely beast. Also harkening to those times, the girtablilu curse still affect many aasimar newborns to this day. This curse causes infants to be born with the lower part of a scorpion, usually killing the mother in childbirth. Already strong enough to survive, the monstrous newborn is traditionally handed over to the girtablilu order, forever exiled from the light of Excelsior.
Most other inhabitants of the Dark Woods live now as they ever did even before the arrival of the aasimars, and much of their history reside in tribal myths and oral traditions. Other than the constant raiding and survival against wild beasts, the most enduring conflict opposes the couatls against the nagas. This eon-long conflict mostly involves skirmishes and political struggles, rarely erupting into open warfare. Although this conflict predates the arrival of the aasimars, it did reach an apex during the Woodland Wars and has erupted at least once in recent times. This last episode saw many casualties among tribes of sprites, goblins and boggards.
For the most parts, the Dark Woods live on a fragile harmony between most of its inhabitants, but this balance is about to be put to the test. A new evil is rising in the north, one that has still to be clearly identified and understood. Whole cabals of cannibalistic sprites are on the run and vegepygmies report tales of cruelty going beyond the typical woodland malevolence. Undead creatures rise before the woods claims them, ghost appear when the north wind blows and the girtablilu read foreshadowing of ancient prophecies…
MAGIC OF THE DARK WOODS
Magic in the Dark Woods is like that of many other worlds with one major exception; the Dark Woods are completely sealed from any forms of planar travel. Commonly known among spellcasters as ‘the Seal’, this planar anomaly causes all magic summoning outsiders or opening doorways to another plane to fail. Deities may still be contacted through divination spells and divine casters receive their spells normally, but any attempt to reach another plane (including etherealness and dimensional spaces accessible through spells like rope trick or objects such as a bags of holding) or summoning an extraplanar creature (such as a [i]summon monster[i] or [i]gate[i] spell) automatically fails. No one knows exactly who or what caused this seal to come into effect; even the gods seem silent on the matter. Teleportation-type spells function within the confine of the Dark Woods but cannot be used to reach another plane of existence. Similarly, summoning spells conjuring elemental creatures or creatures from the Prime Material Plane function normally as long as the creature exists in the Dark Woods.
Aside from this element, magic is a rich and omnipresent part of the Dark Woods. The aasimars of old wrought many powerful enchantments in their heydays, many of which are still active today. Obstructed cellars and sealed towers stand in many ruins, sometimes filled with magical artifacts of the past. Even today, life in Excelsior is made comfortable with both magical spells and clockwork machinery. Aasimars and girtablilu master arcane and priestly magic but among the denizen of the Dark Woods, nature-based magic is the most common. Druids and nature-clerics are usually called shamans among these people, and their powers are drawn from woodland spirits, local deities and the Dark Woods themselves
RELIGIONS OF THE DARK WOODS
THE OPEN FAITH OF THE AASIMAR
When the gods permitted their ancestors to live in the Upper Planes, the aasimars witnessed much of their own afterlife and could an answer many great of the great questions of humankind. They had, so to speak, looked behind the curtains and seen the backstage of the multiverse. They learned the name of many angels and saw many gods and pantheons sharing the same spheres of influence. Overtime, they understood that gods are personifications of greater concepts and their religion became one of veneration and respectful reverence rather than one of devotion and worship. For the aasimars, illustrious ancestors and legendary heroes deserve as much respect as greater deities. Even lesser angels become models of inspiration once they have been met in their homes.
The aasimars of the Dark Woods venerate many gods simultaneously; some pay homage to whole pantheons, some address their prayers to different gods and goddesses ruling over the same domain. Except for public holidays – which are nonetheless relatively frequent – religion is mainly a familial affair performed in private chapels. Aasimari culture is made of many prayers and customs dedicated to their ancestors, and to the celestial beings who played a role in the history of their family.
Aasimari priests are scholars as much as they are spiritual guides. They are very knowledgeable about planar cosmology and the major religions of the multiverse. Public temples offer specific services and divine assistance to individuals and families alike, and the many religious monuments of the city teach the population like an open book. Even if they are not an overly religious people, mythology and cosmology are an omnipresent part of aasimarsi lifestyle.
AAISMAR CLERIC PLAYER CHARACTERS
As an aasimar cleric, you are free to worship any god, goddess, group of deities or pantheons of Good alignment, and choose any divine domain with the exception of the Death domain. Neutral deities are tolerated, but veneration to an Evil god or goddesses is forbidden by law. If your cleric follows more than one god or goddess, you may use their association’s emblem (if any), your temple’s symbols or your house’s heraldic as your religious symbol.
As an aasimar cleric, you must also choose whether you follow your house’s ancestors and patron deity(ies), or if you were trained by one of the many temples of Excelsior. This decision does not influence the abilities of your character but may affect some background features and characteristics (such as the acolyte’s shelter of the faithful feature for example).
THE SIMPLE BELIEVES OF THE AUTOMATONS
Unlike aasimars, automatons do not possess large libraries and collections of religious knowledge of many worlds. As free people, the automatons could consult the libraries Excelsior but they are not as concerned with universal truth as their creators are.
Automatons have a more philosophical approach to spirituality. If they aasimars are indeed their creators, does that make them gods? Were the gods who created the aasimars also created by a greater power? Knowing that there is no ending to these questions, automatons turned to more simple believes. Each adopts a patron deity of some sort, usually a god or goddess venerated in aasimari culture. Oftentimes, this patron deity is related to the automaton’s appointed task in some way. Therefore, an automaton artisan might venerate Moradin, the dwarven god of creation while a miner might adopt Osiris, the god of the Underworld as his patron deity.
AUTOMATON CLERIC PLAYER CHARACTERS
As an automaton cleric, you are somewhat of a rarity among your kind. Society expects you to assume the role for which you were created, but by becoming a cleric you showed that you aspired to something more. While unexpected, emancipated automatons are not unappreciated. You are welcome among worker communities and military troops by automatons and aasimars alike.
Automatons are more comfortable with Lawful Good and Lawful Neutral deities, but as a cleric you may select any god (along with one of its listed domain). You may even select an Evil deity but such gods are frowned upon by automaton communities and outlawed by the aasimari laws.
THE TRIAD OF THE GIRTABLILU
Cursed with a grotesque body and unable to summon celestial light like aasimars, the girtablilu feel abandoned by the gods of Order and Light. Thus they turned to an old sacred concept, one that predates most religions. The Asgardians call them the Norns, the Olympians name them the Fates and for the elves they are known as Angharradh, but for the girtablilu they are simply the Triad; the three weavers of destiny.
The Triad is composed of three women representing three facets of a same thing such as youth, maturity and old age, or past, present and future. Together they weave the primordial thread that links the multiverse together, the original principle of natural order to which both mortals and immortals are subjected. The thought that even gods are not spared by fate appeals to the bitter heart of the girtablilu.
GIRTABLILU CLERIC PLAYER CHARACTERS
Priestesses are highly regarded in girtablilu society. By tradition, a cleric can only train one apprentice in her whole life, making you a greatly honored member of your order. The relationship you have with your priestess-mother is a strong one, although it wasn’t always a gentle one. Training was harsh and strenuous; as your priestess-mother’s only heir, you are expected to perform outstandingly and to train an equally remarkable apprentice.
Depending on which aspect of the Triad you decide to impersonate, you may select the Knowledge, Nature or War domain.
THE ENDLESS CYCLE OF THE SPRITES
Sprites have a unique relationship with their gods. Their race is separated in four distinct ethnicities that they call tribes, each worshiping one of their four gods of nature. Like a great endless circle, each god relies on the previous and provides for the next.
The Sprout Signer is the goddess of all beginnings. This goddess cannot be seen, but her presence can be heard like a dreamlike, ephemeral chorus. The Sprout Signer also represents fertility, both in the sense of fecundity and ingenuity. Joy, singing and inspiration are also under her dominion. Inadvertently, the Sprout Signer is also the goddess of jokes, pranks and humor and her followers are known as indubitable tricksters.
The Painter of Life is the goddess of birth, growth and nurturing. Portrayed as a female sprite, she is also responsible for bringing colors into the world, from the vivid colors of birds and flowers to the mimicry of insects and the camouflage animals. Her followers are the shiest but also the friendliest of all four tribes.
The Eater of Flesh is the god of predators and bestial instincts. Represented as a large wolf-like creature, he embodies the thrill of the stalking hunter and the blood-frenzy of the warrior. He also represents the urge to survive and the will to fight back when endangered. His followers are the most aggressive of the four tribes, some are even cannibal savages.
The Great River of Worms is the god of rotting and decay. Not perceived as a god so much as the manifestation of entropy, the Great River of Worm is an unforgiving but impartial force that will ultimately devour everything. But the Worms leave behind the promise of new beginnings and thus allowing the cycle to continue. Its followers are the most contemplative and philosophical of the four tribes.
Legends also tell of a fifth deity called the Frost Breather, god of cold and winter. Some say he used to be the balancing factor of the Dark Woods, regulating fertility, pausing growth, calming the urge to kill, and stopping decay. Some others say that he is responsible for the malevolence of the Dark Woods and that the other gods exiled him to the eternal glaciers. But whatever or whoever this god was, winter hasn’t descended on the Dark Woods for a very, very long time, if it even ever happened. At any case there is no Frost Breather tribe and if there ever was one, traces of its existence have long disappeared.
SPRITE CLERIC PLAYER CHARACTERS
As there are four tribes of Sprites so are four types of clerics. As a sprite cleric, you must follow the god or goddess of your tribe. If your tribe is the Sprout Singer, your must select the Trickery domain. If your tribe is the Painter of Life, your domain is Nature. If your tribe is the Eater of Flesh, you must select the Tempest Domain. If your tribe is the Great River of Worms, your domain is Knowledge.
THE NATURAL REVERENCE OF THE VEGEPYGMIES
The Dark Woods seem to have an awareness that draws near conscience. This makes no doubts for the vegepygmies who worship this entity that they call The Will of the Woods. The Will does not manifest itself physically or even appear in one’s dreams; it only acts through forest spirits, beasts, plants and other wild creatures of the Dark Woods. Vegepygmies see themselves as yet another manifestation of the Will of the Woods; a race appointed with the task of observing the Dark Woods, interpret its intentions and transmit this information to the other intelligent races of the Dark Woods.
Vegepygmies don’t think in terms of Good and Evil and don’t see the Will of the Woods as wicked entity. However, they do believe that the woods are sick and that its nature has somehow been poisoned into the brooding and ominous presence that the Dark Woods are today. Hags have appeared like warts on a diseased skin and forest blights are like pestilence for the trees. Healing The Will of the Woods will be the vegepygmies’ greatest task, possibly the purpose for which they have been created. In the meantime, the intents of The Will of the Woods are getting more and more difficult to comprehend, and the Vegepygmies are more confused than they ever had.
VEGEPYGMY CLERIC OR DRUID CHARACTER
As a vegepygmy character, you are among the few of your race that are born with the potential to progress and gain levels in a character class. Vegepygmies see little difference between clerics and druids when it comes to their religion, and you are free to choose the class of your choice. Should you choose to play a cleric, you must select The Will of the Woods as your deity of choice, allowing you to choose between the Nature and Tempest domain. There was a time where vegepygmy clerics could select the Life domain, but connection to that sphere seems to be lost in this age of the world.
Amazing.
RACES OF THE DARK WOODS
Unlike most homebrewed or published campaign settings designed for D&D, the Dark Woods campaign setting does not include the traditional races of humanoids presented in the Player’s Handbook, such as humans, dwarves, elves, halflings etc. Several other classical D&D creatures are equally absent from the Dark Woods or have been altered by the malevolent influence that lies within.
As a matter of fact, most species have been subjugated or corrupted by the malevolent nature of the Dark Woods and are therefore unsuitable for a player-controlled character. A handful of races live free of its influence however. Together, they form a league of free people composed of the races of aasimars, automatons, girtablilu, sprites and vegepygmies. Your character belongs to one of those races.
As described in the Player’s Handbook, your choice of race affects several aspects of your character such as its general appearance and its innate strengths and abilities. Each race enhances some of your character’s ability scores and possesses unique traits that will define your character as an adventurer. For example, aasimars instinctively know how to create light, a rare commodity in the darkness of the woods, and sprites are so small that they can easily hide from others. Each also provides a basic background to help you build your character’s personality, either in adherence or in opposition to the social norms. For example, you could create an automaton character who acts as a loyal and companion and diligent bodyguard as one could expect from a member of that race, or play vegepygmy who isn’t a primitive hunter but a practiced wizard like his birth-corpse’s former host used to be.
Aasimars were once humans who settled in the upper planes, but the heavenly influences of their new home forever changed their nature. After countless generations of coexistence and intermarriage with celestial beings, the aasimars became a gracious and regal people invested with the everlasting light of the heavens.
CELESTIAL HERITAGE________________________________________
At first sight, aasimars could be mistaken for slender and regal humans but upon closer inspection, their celestial heritage cannot be missed. Their hairs have a metallic shine and their eyes gleam with the iridescence of opals, emanating a strange sense of calm and benevolence.
A typical aasimar stands between 5 ½ feet to a little over 6 feet tall, weighing between 125 and 200 pounds. Male and female aasimars show little difference in height, but men tend to be a bit heavier and more muscular. Compared to their human ancestors, aasimars are blessed with a remarkably long life. They can expect to live up to 150 years old without succumbing to decrepitude or senility.
A PEOPLE IN EXILE________________________________________
The aasimars of the Dark Woods claim that their ancestors came as soldiers in a host of celestial warriors, receiving the world as spoils of war and wergild for their fallen. For a whole age, they traded freely with their brethren of the celestial realms and established a great empire. In time however, they grew proud and complaisant, and so their civilization fell into civil war.
Today, the aasimars of the Dark Woods remember the plains of Arcadia and the slopes of Mount Celestia only from their songs and their libraries. In the wake of the civil war some 900 years ago, the Dark Woods were sealed from any form of planar travel, cutting these aasimars from the land of their gods and ancestors. As a people in exile, aasimars cling ferociously to their traditions and celestial ideals.
THOSE WHO WALKED AMONG GODS________________________________________
Although they are now stranded in the Dark Woods, the aasimars remember the time when they walked the lands of the gods. They know much about the planes beyond the stars and about what awaits them in the afterlife. As such, they are not a superstitious or zealously religious people. They tend to venerate the powers of Good rather than specific deities, paying homage to their ancestors, heroes of legends, angels of renown, minor gods, greater deities and entire pantheons equally. Even priests worship multiple gods and powers.
MARBLE AND CLOCKWORKS________________________________________
Aasimars appreciate well-sculpted stone and flying arches, lacquered wood furniture and elaborate fountains. They also enjoy fine metalworking, especially decorative items of silver and bronze. But more than anything, aasimars love to combine these elements in clever works of engineering and clockwork contraptions. This passion culminates with the automatons, a race of sentient constructs that aasimars create and bring to life by means of dutiful craftsmanship and powerful divine rituals.
Aasimars view these automatons as their children and friends, but also as labourers and foot-soldiers; a sentiment that sometimes leads to mixed feelings about their fate. The aasimars know that they wouldn’t survive without them and that automatons serve them willingly, but what would happen they refused to obey?
Automatons are sentient clockwork constructs created and animated by aasimars. They are humanoid in appearance, often crafted to resemble the industrious gnomes of far-away Bytopia. But under their flesh of carved wood and skin of beaten brass, thousands of gears and springs turn and churn as they move.
MADE FOR TOIL AND WAR________________________________________
Automatons form the working caste and main military force of the aasimari society, and their appearance reflect this reality. Standing from 4 to 5 feet tall but weighting well over 200 pounds, automatons seem to be made of wood with bronze armor plating. Sturdy cogs appear at the neck and joints providing articulations. Aasimars craftsmen pay particular attention to the hands and face, making the automaton as dextrous and expressive as possible. The chest and head contain the most delicate clockworks and are therefore the most heavily protected.
Most automatons seem content with the life of toil and war they were made for. This gives them a sense of purpose and satisfies their sense of responsibility. Every now and then however, an automaton aspires to more independence and seeks a life for its own. Automatons are not property and even when they gladly serve their family, they value their free will more than anything else.
CLOCKWORK HEART, SOUL OF FIRE________________________________________
Inside their metal chest lies a complex system of cogs and clockworks powered by a mystical flame. The clockwork parts need to be winded-up every day but the flame - the spirit and soul of the automatons - is eternal. This means that automatons could technically live eternally, but wear and tear on their mechanism typically reduces their life span to 200 or so. As such, many automatons outlive their masters and serve many generations of the same family.
As living constructs, automatons do not need to eat, drink or sleep. They do however need to wind-up and rest their gears for about four hours each day. During that time, an automaton performs routine maintenance on its own body (which the automatons refer as “grooming”) but otherwise remains conscious and alert.
GENTLE WARRIORS________________________________________
Automatons make patient and polite soldiers, fighting without hatred but with cold efficiently. Automaton feel hatred like everyone else - they experience the whole range of emotion - but they are less likely to react on emotional impulse or let their judgement be clouded by anger, fear or anguish. Perhaps owing to the fire that animates them, automatons are a much warmer people than their stoic aasimari masters.
Automatons do not reproduce and have no gender identity. Most are built with male traits and features, but automatons destined to work as domestic or house servants are sometimes portrayed as female.
The girtablilu are a group of deformed female aasimars born with the lower body of a large scorpion instead of normal hips and legs. They live in a secret kingdom of their own, honing their skills with bows and spears like the fabled Amazons of Arborea. The name girtablilu refers to the sisterhood as a whole and to the curse to which they owe their monstrous appearance.
A CURSED EXISTENCE________________________________________
From the waist up, the girtablilu appear exactly like female aasimars, but their lower body is that of a five-foot long scorpion; chitin plating, serrated pincers, arachnid legs, venomous stinger and all. They stand about 5 feet tall although they can rise much higher on their legs. Weighting some 200 pounds, a girtablilu stands firmly on her six legs. Otherwise, girtablilu mature at the same rate as aasimars and live just as long.
The girtablilu owe their monstrous appearance to a curse that harkens back to the aasimari civil war. The curse seems to affect only female newborns, usually killing the mother during birth. In olden days, these monstrous babies were slain or abandoned at birth but a few were raised in secret. Over times, it became customary to hand-over these cursed offspring to other girtablilu until they formed a society of their own.
BETWEEN NAGAS AND SPHINX________________________________________
In their ostracism, the girtablilu have had two great allies: the Sphinx who raised the first girtablilu children, and the nagas who taught them how to survive in the Dark Woods.
Today, the Sphinx remains the only fatherly figure of this nation of females, and the girtablilu have taken upon themselves to defend his acropolis and patrol the lands around it. It is customary for girtablilu reaching adulthood to make pilgrimage to the oracle at the Sphinx’s temple. There, it is said that the young girtablilu will learn the truth that will define her whole life. More often than not, this “truth” is stated as a cryptic or open-handed riddle, and is different for each individual.
Much of the girtablilu’s social customs and practices come from their naga neighbours. Like them, the girtablilu society possesses a noble and benevolent side and a more spiteful, darker side. Whereas the Sphinx has taught them spirituality, the nagas have endowed the girtablilu with eldritch powers.
A PERPETUAL BATTLE________________________________________
For the girtablilu, life is a continuous battle. Surviving the spirits and manifestations of the Dark Woods is in itself a perilous ordeal, but the real conflict comes from within. Girtablilu continually struggle against their sentiment of self-loathing and bitterness that they cultivate toward the aasimars of old. It is against the darker side of their soul that the girtablilu wage their greatest war.
To ease their mind, the girtablilu continually hone their skills as huntresses and warrior-maiden, transcending their physical skills into mental fortitude. For the girtablilu, salvation is be achieved through perfection.
A HIDDEN KINGDOM________________________________________
The gitablilu are a secretive people. Perhaps because they are so self-conscious of their deformity, girtablilu do not share their customs and rarely talk about themselves. They tend to adopt a distant attitude toward non-girtablilu people and thus make few friends outside their sisterhood. The girtablilu do not doubt the abilities or loyalty of others, but they are slow to thrust that others can accept them as they are. Friendship between aasimars and girtablilu is even considered taboo and discouraged by both societies.
The girtablilu jealously keep the location of their kingdom secret. Their queen has welcomed very few outsiders, and the location of her court has become a favorite subject of speculations among young aasimars. Instead, girtablilu erect small enclaves near aasimari settlements where goods and news can be traded. This is also where girtablilu newborns are brought by their mourning fathers; when the girtablilu sing and chant to the stars, the aasimars know that the girtablilu have gained another sister.
Sprites are a race of tiny winged humanoids native to the Dark Woods. Despite their small size and their weak stature, they are surprisingly apt predators prove to be combative preys. What they lack in brute strength, the sprites make it in tactics, agility and sheer numbers.
SMALL AND AGILE________________________________________
Sprites are small, humanoid-shaped creatures rarely exceeding one foot in height. They have sharp, sparkly eyes and long and pointy ears. The most distinctive part of their anatomy however is their insect-like wings which they use with uncanny speed and agility. The size, shape, coloration, veins and media of a sprite’s wings are unique to each individual; sprites recognize each other through their wings more than facial traits.
FOUR GODS, FOUR TRIBES________________________________________
The sprite race is split in four major subraces that they call “tribes”. Each tribe has its own distinct appearance, set of customs and patron deity. Sprite mythology features four godly figures representing the cycle of birth, growth, death and decay. Like these gods, tribes don’t always see eye-to-eye but all see each other as a necessary part of the balance of the Dark Woods.
Sprites live in clans ranging from a few dozens to several thousands of individual of the same tribe. Most still live the feral, primitive lifestyle that they always had, but some clans have become civilized under the influence of aasimars. Clans of sprites living close to aasimari settlements often mimic the lifestyle of their celestial neighbours with well-intentioned but sometimes clumsy results.
LIGHT AND DARKNESS________________________________________
As a race, sprites are both bright and dark but different clans usually tend toward one or the other. Some are good-hearted and generous, others shy and withdrawn. Some are scheming and manipulative, others are plainly dangerous. In this regard, the sprites are like the Dark Woods themselves; wild, unpredictable and not to be underestimated.
If some regions are plagued with feral and cannibalistic sprites, the influence of the brighter clans forms the only oasis of peace in the Dark Woods. But bright or dark, sprites live in remarkable harmony with their Dark Woods.
Vegepygmies, also known as moldmen, are short humanoid-looking creatures living in small communities all across the Dark Woods. As primitive people, their collective memory does not reach far back in time but for as long as the sprites and aasimars can remember, the vegepymies have always been there.
SENTIENT PLANTS________________________________________
Vegepygmies are short and stout, ranging anywhere between 2 and 4 feet tall and weighing between 25 and 50 pounds. Their head looks dried and shrunken, and green fungus tendrils dangle from their arms, waist and legs. But that is the extent of their resemblance with humanoids, for vegepygmies are a type of sentient plant creatures with a distinctly different metabolism. Among those differences, vegepygmies have no vocal cords and cannot speak; their language consists entirely of rhythmic clicks, taps and beats.
Vegepygmies live in small tribes of 20 to 50 individuals led by a shaman or a chieftain. Every individual is appointed a certain position such as worker, warrior or envoy, not unlike colonies of insects including workers,
CHILDREN OF RUSSET MOLD________________________________________
Vegepygmies are born out of humanoids that died while carrying russet mold’s spores – which in the Dark Woods means virtually everyone. As long as the corpse is left undisturbed by predators and unexposed to direct sunlight, up to six vegepygmies emerge from the remains within three days of the creature’s death. Vegepygmies demonstrate a macabre reverence for their “birth corpse”, carrying grisly mementos such as bones, teeth and bits of garments or jewelry as their main form of ornament and source of materials.
Approximately 1 in 20 vegepygmies retain fragments of the birth corpse’s memories, abilities and personality. These individuals often become shamans, chieftains or solitary marauders. Some vegepygmy have even been known to display affection for their former companions, adopting them as their “tribe”.
THE WILL OF THE WOODS________________________________________
Vegepygmies see the russet mold as a blessing and a holy manifestation of the Will of the Woods, the deity tha they venerate as an abstract, shapeless and omniscient entity. They claim to speak for it and act on its behalf, following an agenda that other races cannot comprehend. This makes them often appear unorganised and unpredictable, yet vegepygmies of different tribes seem to act with uncanny synchronicity.
Unlike most animated plants however, vegepygmies do not act with the usual malice or cruelty that is typical of the creatures of the Dark Woods. Since they seem unaffected from that malevolent influence, the vegepygmies are welcomed among the free people of the Dark Woods.
THE FOUR TRIBES OF SPRITES
Subrace. There are four kinds of sprites based on which aspect of nature their tribe represents. These four aspects are known as The Eater of Flesh, The Great River of Worms, The Painter of Life and The Sprout Signer. Choose one of these subraces.
SPROUT SIGNER
This tribe of sprites venerates the Sprout Singer, the spritish goddess of all beginnings. Spritish mythology depicts her as an ephemeral spirit whose songs provoke seedlings to sprout, cause flowers to bloom, urge beasts to mate and make people fall in love. The Sprout Signer relies on the Great River of Worms to fertilise the soil and produce the required nutriments for life to spark.
Sprites of the Sprout Singer tribe could be defined as “merry tricksters”. They love to sing, dance and play pranks on trespassers. Sprites of the Sprout Singer have a natural knack to perceive a person’s motives and intentions. Always eager to start new relationships, these sprites become very friendly once a person’s heart is deemed pure.
PAINTER OF LIFE
This tribe venerates the Painter of Life, the spritish goddess of life, growth and colors. The painter of Life is portrayed as a comely female sprite capable of taking every animal shape and hue. She is said to be the midwife of the Dark Woods and the one responsible for the color of all things. Although she is the embodiment of life, the Painter of Life cannot create existence and therefore relies on the Sprout Signer to provide the initial spark of life.
Sprites of the Painter of Life tribe are the most numerous of all four tribes. They are also the most civilized, and the most likely to mimic the aasimars’ civilized ways. They dress in elaborate and colorful attires integrating many floral, insect-like and animalistic motifs ranging from flamboyant colors to nearly invisible camouflage.
EATER OF FLESH
This tribe venerates an entity called the Eater of Flesh, the spritish god of hunters and predators. The Eater of Flesh takes many forms but sprites often portray him as a large, wolf-like predator. The Flesh Eater is not only a predator; he also is the instinct to fight rather than fly and the representation of “conquest” and “passion” in spritish culture. But all predators need preys to survive and therefore, the Eater of Flesh relies on the Painter of Life for the creatures that she raises and for the camouflage that she paints on the hunters’ fur.
Sprites of the Eater of Flesh have brown or gray skin and are often bald. They have wide red eyes that see in the dark and a prominent chin that makes them easily identifiable. Of all four tribes, these sprites are the most feral, traveling in small bands of hunters over vast and wild territories. They wear simple garments and armors of bone and insect carapace. At best, these clans are proud savage warriors many are callous and merciless cannibals.
GREAT RIVER OF WORMS
This tribe venerates the Great River of Worms, the spritish manifestation of entropy. For the sprites, the Great River of Worms is more an inevitable force than a god; a mass of maggots advancing like a great slithering snake and turning everything on its path into dirt and dust. But the Great River of Worm is not a bringer of death; the maggots are only a manifestation of what happens to those who have already died. Thus it relies on the ungrateful work of the Eater of Flesh to complete the cycle, allowing for the Sprout Singer to start a new one.
Sprites of the Great River of Worms have a morbid fascination for death and decomposition, and for everything that comes after. Many wear animal skulls as hats and keep carrion insects as pets. Of the four tribes of sprites, they are the most willing to trade with harpies, nagas, hags and other spirits of the Dark Woods. Sprites of the Great River of Worms are also on friendly terms with vegepygmies. This has made them scholars among sprites and although they haven’t mastered literacy, they have painted much of their knowledge on the wall of their caves.
Some notes that appear in text boxes...
THE FOOD OF THE GODS
Aasimars drink a highly nourishing cordial as their main source of nutrition that they call ambrosia. Ambrosia is a beverage containing many ingredients, but honey and mushrooms form the base of it.
More than just a food, ambrosia can be brewed to cure disease, heal injuries and dispel fatigue. Some are fermented as alcoholic beverage, some distilled into clear and fragrant nectars. Some resemble hydromel, some are made to be mixed with fresh juice. In short, there are as many types of ambrosia as there are meals on other worlds.
THE AUTOMATON'S INNER FIRE
Automatons are powered by a sacred fire confined inside their chest. This flame is very resilient and can survive for years even if the automaton has been disabled. Automatons do not need food or drink but the flame can be fed, allowing the automaton to consume potions if it wishes so. This also exposes the automaton to poisons, although this pseudo-metabolism makes them very resistant to diseases and toxins.
Should the flame be extinguished, the automaton dies. For this reason automatons fear prolonged exposure to extreme cold or going under water for more than a minute. While automatons do not need to breathe, they too can “drown” like any other character.
THE GIRTABLILU ENCLAVE OF EXCELSIOR
Forbidden from entering the city, the girtablilu have established their embassy in the shadows of the forecastle, just outside the Great Gates of Excelsior. Unlike the informal vegepygmy market nearby, this enclave is an ancient and well established town surrounded by a low stone wall. The girtablilu living there are particularly courteous and welcoming, but a dark sense of purpose nevertheless emanates from the whole enclave. Hundreds of aasimars come there every day to trade with the Hidden Kingdom, but very few are willing to stay overnight. Yet, their guesthouses always seem occupied, for the girtablilu also trade with other guests...
THE GRAND COURT OF THE SPRITES
The aasimars left a strong impression with the sprites of the Dark Woods. Many clans of sprites were so fascinated by the intricacy of their culture and the complex hierarchy of their government that they assimilated many aasimari customs into their own.
The largest of the spritsh clan is led by a queen (since the aasimars are also led by a queen. Should the aasimars crown a king again, the sprites would likely change as well). She oversees a circles of clanlords who in turn rule over their vassals in a typical feudal system. These sprites have developed an equally intricate court within a towering tree-castle were representatives of other races are welcomed as royal guests. In turn, many sprites have set permanent residence in Excelsior and other aasimari settlements, although they remain a notable minority.
While these new "civilized" sprites may appear clumsy in their attempt, they are leading a revolution that may forever change their nature and their relationship with the Dark Woods.
A NEW LIFE AS A VEGEPYGMY
When a character dies, its corpse becomes host for the latent russet mold spores to mature and grow into vegepygmies. Burning or completely destroying the body stops the process, as does prolonged exposure to direct sunlight, but burial doesn't stop the transformation. If left undisturbed, the corpse erupts in 1d6 vegepygmies within 1d4+1 days. after death.
killed player characters who's corpse were abandoned in the Dark Woods may select to be reincarnated as a vegepygmy. In such case, a single vegepygmy erupts with some remnants of the memory and personality of its host, including natural predisposition for its former character class. Make a new character using the racial traits described above. Sprites and automatons are immune to russet mold, but aasimars and are girtablilu are susceptible to the transformation.
I feel that the original exodus and the subsequent stranding if the aasimar needs. More explanation. Also the original demonic invasion and later the great civilization of the aasimar
The dinosaurs and megafauna feel out if place vs the more fey sylvan theme.
The Aasimar are overall a NG race, I assume the automaton are LN, the sprites CN, vegepygmies N, and weird scorpion people N too. (Did you read the Wikipedia article on their place in mythology?)
Did you see the clockwork automaton ?
I think that there should be more remnants of the invasion. Also the orcs feel a bit out of place IMO. How are they held at bay? Do the primitive orcs worship demon lords?
Where are the losers of the aasimar civil war?
There's also the paizo official clockwork construct template or the lifespark construct template which can be applied to any construct.
The wyrwood is a small servitor construct race from ARG. You could easily modify them for size M.
I like the inclusion of Leshies btw.
Because every setting needs a map...
A great map. What's the defunct kingdom of Lydia?
Oooh, no i didn't see that clockwork automaton. I took my inspiration from the clockworks of Bestiary III, but didn't know about this one.
As for what happened to the the losers of the civil war, it is a bit unclear atm. I kind of assume they got re-integrated. The initial idea was that the aasimars of today *were* the losers and forgot about it (winners went away and left them as penance). But the big reveal of the campaign changed and this idea was dropped.
orcs were dropped out of the setting in favor of forest-themed goblins and bugbears (and boggarts and lizardmen).
Kingdom of Lydia is part of the pre-civil war empire era; the area from which an aasimar PC originated. It's presence on the map is debatable - basically its a bunch of ruins - but it was pertinent in that campaign.
I like it. Goblins and bugbears fit better. How do they relate to the hags?
Boggards and lizardmen are nice. Are the lizard men N or NE? Why are boggards less inclined to wanton evil ? They are CE after all...
Is there any demon worship? Tsathoggua springs to mind as do several other demon lords (of fungi for example)
How prevalent are ruins of the old aasimar empire? Where there big cities then? Did they clear the woods around them?
How big are the other existing towns? How big was/is the aasimar Kingdom ? What are the aasimar houses? Describe some smaller aasimar settlements.
Are there any automaton-only settlements?