Volcano's Land - Beyond the City of Light

Game Master Miner Cotren

Campaign Diary, NPCS You've Met, Places You've Been:

Campaign Diary

Places You've Been

NPCs You've Met

Languages, Idioms, and Real-World Equivalent Languages:

Phrases, Idioms.

Twelve Languages Total
All of the four "elemental" tongues (Ignan, etc) are simply called Ifrit, Oread, etc.
In addition, there is a more esoteric dialect of each language that must be learned separately:

-High Ifrit (mostly used by the Temple)
-Benthic (used by the Swem; also sign language 'Tendril Benthic')
-Maker Script (used by the Mithral Makers)
-Sedime (pidgin used by various minor oread tribes)

There are three 'outsider' tongues: Geni (roughly equivalent to Abyssal), Exhume (roughly quiv to Infernal) and Eleme (roughly equivalent to Celestial). However, none of these languages is available to starting characters.

All races start with Common and (native language) for free, then bonus languages for high Int. Low int loses race language (common is much easier to learn, and universal)

Language Formatting:

Ifrit is definitely Italian and it's pretty common for ifrits to throw in certain words of their own language, even when having a conversation in Common.

High Ifrit is Latin. I'm planning on using Vietnamese for Undine. Benthic would best be represented with Simplified Chinese. I wanted to do a Native American language for Oread, but let's keep it simple with something that's on Google translations - Zulu. Sedime is Afrikaans. Irish for Sylph. Welsh for Maker Script.

Arabic for Geni (abyssal; demons, genies). Amharic for Eleme (celestial; true elementals). Bangla for Exhume (fallens angels/elementals/champions)

"New" words: elen(s), el, ele, Sight, cloak, whisper, peaklight, bright, dim

The Four Races, Physical, Social, and Philosophy:

Note: Elens do interbreed, but the offspring will be one or the other, with subtle hints of the other parent's heritage

Ifrit

Oread

Undine

Sylph

Fritan Philosophy: Schools of Thought

Orean Philosophy: The Monasteries

Undan Philosophy: The Swem and the Traders

Sylphan Philosophy: The Universities

History, Guilds, Days/Months, Sports, Holidays, and Fashion:

History

The Three Eras

Minor Guilds

Hours, Days, Months

Alcohol, etc

Games, Sports

Holidays

Clothing

Keep in mind that this is essentially 'civilian' clothing. People will dress differently if they are a guard, thief, etc.
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Oread:

roughly native american; leathers with some ornamentation

Oread Female

Oread Male

Ifrit:

roughly renaissance Italian, but pants instead of hose. no hose allowed!

Ifrit Male

Ifrit Female

Undine:

roughly traditional Vietnamese, emphasis on colorful attire. robes would be functional, and easy to tie tightly to allow for swimming

Undine Female

Undine Male

Sylph:

roughly industrial britain, especially the basic worker's clothes - also some top hats and overly ruffled dresses etc for fancy clothing to try and mimic Ifrit high fashion

Sylph Men and Women

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The Planes, Magic, Items, Caster Training, and Priests of the Four Races:

The Planes, Items, and Magic

"Important" Spells

Training Spellcasters, and "Priests" of the Four Races, and Magic Duels

Gods, Demons, Angels, and the Dark:

Volcano

Great Forest

River

Fallen Sky

The Dark

Angels and Demons

Other Religions

Servants and Heralds of the Gods:

Volcano

Fire Elementals serve as "mundane" servants of Volcano, acting as mediators between Mighty Volcano and his children. Uncommon for an elemental to interact with anyone outside the priesthood.

Phoenixes are the light of inspiration and hope from Volcano. In times of great need in the past, a phoenix has been known to appear on the battlefield against the Dark.

The Thrasfyro is sent only as a punishment to the unfaithful. If a town or village acts too selfishly or forgets its duties, it will be consumed in fire. This has not happened in generations.

Great Forest

Earth Elementals in the shape of mundane animals rove all over Forest, acting as protector and nourishment for the Tribes.

Treants, or wood elementals, are true servants of Forest, unlike the lesser earth elementals. Found mostly around the Quiet Elders.

The mysterious king and queen of the fey are not precisely servants of Forest; it has been speculated that they are her offspring.

River

Water Elementals of all shapes, sizes, and dispositions can be found serving River's will. Tiny water elementals are by far the most common of all the gods' servants in the land. Very rare for one to appear in the presence of non-undine, however.

Mực ống, the deadly water behemoth of legend, is the harbinger of River's wrath. This creature has not been seen in hundreds of years.

Sky

Air Elementals have not been seen since Sky fell (unless one believes the rantings of madmen and fools).

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Environment, Animals, Weather, and Wonders:

Wonders of the Land

Biomes, Weather, and Creatures

Main Map of the Land; Maps of Light and Rokerenge:

Main Map

Map of Forest (hand-drawn)

Light Map

Light Info

Rokerenge Map

Rokerenge Info

Hearth Maps and Info:

Hearth Map (general)

Hearth Map (districts)

Hearth Map (the Dims, the poor district)

Hearth Map (the Temple district)

Hearth Map (Middleplace district)

Hearth Map (Mansions district)

Hearth Map (Shops district)

Hearth Map (Military district)

Hearth Map (Docks district)

Hearth Map (N Market district)

Hearth Map (S Market district)

Hearth Map (surrounding area)

Hearth Info

Forge Maps and Info:

Forge Map

Forge (Gold Hills)

Forge (Iron Hills)

Forge (The Ranches)

Forge (The Copper Hills)

Forge (Castle District)

Forge Info

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Campaign Intro here. (mostly character creation)).

Play by Post Formatting:

Use present tense, and write in 3rd person.

OOC questions or commentary should always use the ooc tag.

Inquisitor Doom says, "Remember to use bold text and quotes for dialogue!"

Hopefully no one forgets to use italics for thoughts, the inquisitor muses.

When it comes to die rolls, remember to include important mods that you are using, like power attack: [dice=Perception check, busy musing at -2]1d20 + 1[/dice]

Dice roller doesn't work in the campaign header, but you get the idea.

Play by Post Etiquette:

Stolen from Doomed Hero's Guide:
Thou Shalt Avoid Walls Of Text
Thou Shalt Not Hog The Spotlight
Thou Shalt Not Assume The Actions Of Others
Thou Shalt Not Assume Outcomes Of Actions
Thou Shalt Not Derail Gameplay
Thou Shalt Use The Discussion Thread 
Thou Shalt Keep Things Moving

PbP Rolls, Knowledge, and Diplomacy:

For the sake of expedience, I will be making the following rolls for PCs:

Initiative
Perception
Sense Motive
Saving Throws

I will make these under a spoiler tag called "DM Screen" so you know the rolls aren't being fudged.

In addition, if an action is proposed and seconded, that is the action that the party will take.

Knowledge skills are very useful in my games, as I often tweak creatures (add subtract abilities, etc) and re-skin creatures (so a wood golem might not look like a wood golem, for instance)

Diplomacy does not work exactly as written. Being that this is a story-driven campaign, a sky-high diplomacy will not be an automatic solution to every social encounter. I strive to find a happy middle ground where skills are useful, but not over-powering.