Time without years…
This world of Larnisar was green, and good. Innumerable seasons, none yet counted, embraced the rise and fall of wondrous cities of steel and glass. Those so blessed to live during this golden age prayed to, swore upon, and died for a million gods not even the names of which have come down to us. And these days of plenty multiplied as if they should never cease… until they did, ending with their beginning… the Dragon.
For above, beyond, and before all, even the millions of unremembered gods, was the Dragon, the source of all life, divine and mortal, the Mother of Monsters, She who was hailed as the Queen of the Undying and the Everliving, though none now know the title's meaning. In the countless ages before the Accord, She contented Herself to bare and consume the various and varying forms of the living She alone had made, until it was Her pleasure founds Its end, and, for reasons lost to time and fortune, sought to return this world to the lightless dark from which She once had borne it.
In the Great War that followed, a million gods and their starry homes were laid waste by the Dragon and the winged hosts of Her Children. In half lost accounts, it has come down to us that the Mother of All was felled by the sure hand of the light-eyed goddess Athanes, though by what means the Savior of Man accomplished this deed is now forgotten.
As Her corpse grew cold, the principle survivors – the honor-bound Nommo lords of the Devonorian Empire, the enigmatic Ice Elves, the dolorous Austorians, and the warlike legions of the Gorh’Tonh – forged an Accord against Her return. For well they knew, should She arise once more in wrath, no millions of gods remained to stand against Her will.
But it was not to last…
In the ruins of the world, the Maelstrom consumed the survivors, and the waters rose. Once the cyclone’s hunters, the noble Nommo came to heed the word of the prophet Zigmun, and in time became its slaves, sacrificing even their gods to its bottomless hungers.
Just as the Nommo lost their souls to the Maelstrom, so their hand was loosed from their Sea Folk subjects, who in time divided themselves in the Free Nations, and warred unceasingly with the Sea Elves and their beasts.
The squat visages of the Austorians retreated into the depths, and were known no more…
The Gorh’Tonh took up arms and sought war between themselves as much as others.
Now has come the long-prophesied End of Days in the Tenth Century of the Accord, and yet a new hope may yet lie beyond the horizon.
For the principle parties of the Accord have convened within the famed towers of Ghostlight Keep, a much storied stronghold set equally between the surviving lands of the Sea Folk and the Melted Isles of the Ice Elven Dominions, at a council which it is hoped will end the genocidal war of the Ones in White against the Free Kingdoms.
But shadows gather as the envoys arise via the irresistible tides of the slipstream beneath the foundations of the keep, and the dream of peace yet may die where once its birth was hoped…
MAJOR FACTIONS:
Devonorian Empire:
Feudal, autocratic imperium of the Nommo, “the oldest of the merfolk, the catfish-like Nommo have been around since before even the millennia of the drylanders.”
They follow a monotheistic religion devoted to a soul-devouring Malestrom, one arm of which is an elite order of Anti-Paladins known as the Knights of the Moonwater.
There are rumors they are arraying a new conquest to retake their former dominions in the Free Kingdoms.
Free Kingdoms:
Former subjects of the Devonorians, they are principally populated by the Sea Folk, “literally humans with fish tails.”
After triumphing in an important conflict with the Ice Elves a century ago, and banishing the Great Tunbaaq from Larnisar, they now find themselves on the losing side of a genocidal war with the armies of the Melted Isles.
In particular, the ruined city of Karthis is currently under siege by Ice Elves, with the redoubt of the mage guild one of the last strong holds against the attackers.
Ice Elves:
Servants of the Great Tunbaaq, an invincible, soul-devouring polar bear demon from Inuit lore featured in Dan Simmons’ 2008 thriller The Terror.
These are really nasty fey: “these things are creepy… its ice exoskeleton that is magically generated throughout its life. The real (and, in fact, boneless) body is inside and totally transparent from organs all the way up to skin. And as if that weren’t disturbing enough, their main lot in life is breeding horrifying magic-juiced war beasts.” They are master summoners, slavers, and beast-makers.
They have a Witch Queen whose daughter is leading the force in the Melted Isles.
Gorh’Tonh Legion:
Highly rigid legions of aquatic Goblinoids.
They use high technology inherited from their previous masters of a pre-Accord advanced society. Exist in several tribes that worship major totems.
Recently, they have been largely unified by the Albino Oracle Nassiral Hate, whose surprising totem Cynophontis, a pod of orcas, has defeated all other legions it has encountered. Among his chief triumphs is the conquest of the Trade City of Travaran.
Mercenaries:
Varied groups, including the Darkriders, a Lawful Neutral, highly regimented legion of cavaliers, inquisitors, and war priests led by the famed Whalemaster Kerberus.
Austrorians:
Sea Dwarves rumored to have recently re-emerged into the known seas…
Note: These are only the major areas.
Most of the elements of Cerulean Seas are present beyond this area, which is in the mid-climes of the world. The entire polar region and races, the deep sea trenches, and the Asian regions in Indigo Ice etc., are basically all there, though some elements, like the Ice Elves, re-fluffed to some extent.
There are other areas within and adjacent to these major factions which will be detailed as the story unfolds, this is just a broad outline.
I'm also going to be taking elements from all my favorite settings like Oathbound, Iron Kingdoms, etc., so you may see some pieces lifted from that or inspired by them if you know what you're looking for ;).
