The two primary languages are Sylvan (the common of the convocation races) and Dragonic (the common tongue spoken by those tribes that follow the way of the dragon; Kobolds and those with the bloodline of dragons). The next most common languages are, in no particular order: Dwarven, Elven, Orcish, and Worgen (which is reskinned giant).
Finally, rarer languages include: the elemental languages (Auran, Ignan, Terran, and Aquan), Celestial (mostly spoken by scholars), Infernal, Abyssal, and Onikami (which is an amalgamation of both Infernal and Abyssal, as well as being the only language that eidelons speak).
While you can certainly learn common as a language, there is also a linguistical oddity in this world: magic that lets you speak all languages will not let you understand or translate common. those wise in the way of the arcane and divine have no explanation of this peculiarity.
all other languages are either culturally insignificant (only spoken by one or two small tribes) or dead languages (like Shadowtongue or Aklo, which can be taken as a language to have literacy in, but not spoken).
About The Skyreaver:
The Skyreaver is an immortal, shapeshifting hero who has mastery of the weather. Founding The Convocation over 700 years ago, He first appeared to the various tribes as an orc, uniting them against the dragons which ruled the lands of The Convocation at that time. While many thought that he died in battle with the leader of the Dragons during The Battle of Forlorn Hope, The Skyreaver appeared a short time later, this time as an Elf. While at first skeptical that he was who he claimed to be, The Skyreaver provided proof that none could refute. Reinstated as the leader of The Convocation, The Skyreaver proceeded to lay out the groundwork for how The Convocation would work: each tribe would have a voice, but no voice would be louder than his. Thus has he ruled for the last 700 years: occasionally taking different forms, The Skyreaver has led The Convocation with honor and great ability.
About the Church of Auronis:
The worship of Auronis was introduced into the Convocation about 20 years ago, by a young Worgen named Kathandrax who had a vision which lead him to a cave in the badlands. in the cave, he glimpsed a perfect circle of light, which told him to be unafraid, and that he had a destiny to unite The Convocation under the banner of the Church that he would build. Kathandrax immediately knew that he had found his life's calling. Returning to Caravan (the capitol "city" of the convocation), Kathandrax began to deliver passionate speeches extoling the virtues of the worship of Kathandrax, including the ability to heal the sick and injured, which had always been in dire need before. The masses flocked to Auronis' cause, culminating in the christening ceremony of the Grand Cathedral of Auronis, making it one of the few permanent structures in Caravan.
On The Faith of Auronis:
Auronis is the deity of just battle, heroism, glory in combat, and the duty of the strong to rule and protect the weak. His holy symbol is a perfect glowing circle (which is often colored white or yellow in his iconography). All true holy symbols of Auronis radiate warmth (not enough to be a magical effect, but warm enough to fight off the chill on a cold morning) during daylight hours. His favored weapon is Truthspeaker, an intelligent bastard sword that is inhabited with the word of truth. the domains of Auronis are war, sun, glory, and nobility, and his inquisitions are
Caravan, the capitol of The Convocation:
While there are a few permanent settlements within the lands of The Convocation, most are nothing more than tent cities that tend to spring up briefly near good water or harvest areas, then move onto the next area when the seasons change. Nowhere was this more personified than in the capitol of The Convocation, known simply as Caravan. Composed mostly of wagons and tents, Caravan travels specific routes, allowing grazing and fertile harvest lands to lie fallow for a season in order to allow the land to heal itself of the damage done by a community that numbers into the tens of thousands. All of that has changed, however, with the coming of the faith of Auronis. During the Christening ceremony of the Grand Cathedral, Kathandrax called on all true worshippers of Auronis to found a permanent settlement around the Cathedral. It is a testament to both the sheer popularity of the church, as well as the devout faith that Auronis seems to instill in his followers, that Caravan hasn't moved from around The Grand Cathedral in over three years.
Aeon:
The City of Aeon and The Convocation have had a tumultuous history, to say the least. At different times in history, they have been trading partners, respected enemies, and rivals for resources. The rulership of Aeon is a perversion of the true rulership of The Convocation: they believe in resolving things by committee, as opposed to having a strong ruler who makes informed decisions like The Skyreaver. The people of Aeon used to be considered buffoons (they feature as comically bumbling villains in a great many of the stories that travel through The Convocation). It seems that the tides of history have once again turned these two great forces at each other, this time over the kidnapping of one of The Skyreaver's children.
The tacit denials of the rulership of Aeon in answering the charges of kidnapping and slavery have only stoked the fires of retribution within the hearts of many in The Convocation.
Captain Greel Dub-Bane:
A Goblin with the rank of Captain in the army of the faithful, Greel's left arm has been replaced with a Clockwork arm that seems to work as well as his original, aside from hissing slightly when it bends at the elbow. He also has an eyepatch over his left eye. Appearantly there is no love lost between the captain and Kathandrax, the head of the church of Auronis. Many people in the army of the faithful are surprised that he would even come out of retirement to join, or that he would be invited by The Skyreaver personally.
Sargeant Meera:
Meera is a half-orc (half-dwarf) young woman who is built like an unarmed fighter. She tends to favor loose-fitting clothes, and disdains the use of weapons and armor. Incredibly fast. Can run up walls.
The rank structure of The Army of The Faithful:
There are only 4 official ranks in the structure of the army; Trooper, Corporeal, Sergeant, Captain. of these, only the Captain is an officer and career soldier; the others are all considered enlisted or recruits/militia. Each soldier receives a cloak pin that has their name and rank written on it. Each rank's cloak pin is made of a different material.
Captain Hardbrow Deceased. Killed by Captain Greel Dub-Bane. Considered a traitor by The Convocation. Will definitely not come back to bite the party on the hindquarter when they least expect it.
On the Nature of Magic and Psionics, by Kethin Ironheart (4th edition):
"While the convocation has mastered magic both arcane and divine in nature, the residents of Aeon have mastered a different from of metaphysical ability: the powers of the mind, called psionics in the common tongue. While all magic originates ultimately from outside the individual, psionics are internally originated. The psion does not need a spirit or a spellbook to make their abilities work: they just need themselves. This makes them more dangerous, as one can not simply 'take away their spellbook' - typically one must render the psion senseless to deal with this ability to manifest."
"Another way that these abilities differ, yet are similar, are the way in which magic and psionic spell-like abilities work. Some tribes of The Convocation have the ability to generate abilities similar to spells innately; most spellcasters have similar abilities. Wizards much more knowledgeable than myself have classified metaphysical abilities into 3 distinct catagories: Spells, spell-like abilities, and supernatural abilities. Psionics have similar tiers of abilities: they have spells, which they call powers, as well as psi-like abilities. They do not, however, normally have access to supernatural abilities."
"I will diverge slightly, dear reader, to offer an brief layman's explanation of the difference between these abilities. There exists a natural transparency between magic and psionics. For example, a dispel magic spell, cast by a powerful enough caster, will dispel an effect created by a power or psi-like ability; I can assure you that the converse is true as well."
"But what, you would surely ask if you have been paying attention, about supernatural abilities? well, astute reader, you will note that I left them out of my little aside. This was not an oversight, I assure you, as I will now explain. Supernatural abilities are completely unaffected by direct psionic power. Dispel Psionics will not effect them, and defensive abilities such as power resistance will not protect against them."
"While common knowledge would seem to indicate that there are no abilities among psionics that are similar to the supernatural abilities of magic, careful research among the archives of Aeon by myself and other diligent scholars have discovered that there is a category of abilities similar to supernatural abilities of magic. Obliquely referred to as 'Preternatural Psionics' by the few treatises that could be uncovered, these abilities work just like the Supernatural abilities of magic. Fortunately for the convocation, these abilities appear to be only possessed by a handful of powerful psions that belong to a specific race, of which even less is known. the only mention of them that could be found was in a letter from a House Lian'Sith commander to an equal talking about a 'visitor' that was received by the head of the house. This visitor apparently radiated an aura of unnaturalness, and though it was covered head to toe in garments, it was noted that this being was clearly neither human, elan, or golaith; it was far to tall for the first two, and two narrow for the latter. While the name given for the visitor is never mentioned, the commander did note that at one point he viewed the visitor using a divinatory power and discovered that it used a completely different version of psionics, which he called preternatural (in reference to the visitor). The name apparently stuck."
The peace caravan from Aeon:
This caravan is headed towards the convocation when the party encountered it at a waystation. It is guarded by 5 humans, and has 2 duergar, 1 elan, 1 blue, and one ophidian as members. they have 3 wagons carrying some sort of peace offering being pulled by Clydesdale horses (which means it probably beer).
Elans:
The Elan race are unique in that they are beings that once belonged to another species, like human or blue, before they reached enough personal psionic power that disincorporate their own bodies and reform them using the power of their minds and pure psionic energy, or the children of someone who has gone through the above process.
Once they have made the change to Elan, they may (of course) still have romantic relationships with members of their original species...or any species, for that matter. The result is, without fail, another Elan. Even the Maenads, with all their capacity for interspeciesism, can not top the genetics of the undisputed masters of the city of Aeon, The Elan.
