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It's been a while. Let's see what strange world I can come up with here.
1d100
1d100
1d100
1d100
1d100
Undines, gnomes, tengu, derhii and vampires. Not a lot in common there.
"From the mountains came the fey-kin
Tricks of sight and tricks of stone
We drove them back
From the seas came the water-kin
Ties of blood and ties of life
We drove them back
From the water-kin came the blood-kin..."
"You forgot the sword-kin," Fraos interrupts, his elegant tengu feathering interrupted by lines of irritation, "and what do you mean by singing that in mixed company anyway? Are you trying to start a fight?"
"We made you. We remember you when we choose, not you." Tralinn answers. "Wars against the fey-kin are long over and I do not choose to remember servants."
Fraos squawks in fury and lunges at the stern derhii sending chairs flying. A gnome pops up and offers 2:1 odds on the tengu, attracting several bets from the partygoers.
In the back of the crowd a green-skinned woman addresses a shadow and asks "Is it done?" The shadow grows fangs and red eyes and replies "Indeed. The distraction was sufficient Mistress, and the ring-bearer now bears the forgery."
OK, I'm a better GM than I am a writer but that shows all five races. Or 'ancestries' once PF2e terminology takes hold.
The derhii were the first known inhabitants of the jungles of Verde, dwelling in hilltop villages - artificial hills where natural ones could not be found. Gnomes invaded over the mountains but were driven back as the derhii surprised them by creating armies of a new race, tengu, from their blood and strange magic. Some gnomes were taken captive and became (generally) a lower class within the derhii villages, others made their way to Verde later through the usual gnomish wandering and odd obsessions. Undines first arrived as refugees, with their vampires bound through rituals and the supply of magical artificial blood. They tried a takeover and failed but the derhii lost the great river and some of the coasts to the amphibious humanoids. Some vampires were freed from their bonds in the wake of the coup's failure.
A Great King rules the many towns and villages of the derhii and has about as much power as they can convince their vassals to give them. Not usually a lot in these times of relative peace. The undine settlements have a democracy but not all votes are equal; those with important jobs or heads of families can have as many as a hundred votes, which creates a certain social inertia. Some younger undines choose to make their way in the world outside the rigid confines of their settlements, and unbound vampires must stay outside if they want to stay that way.
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Let's get back on track.
Today we'll look at the Pixies of Faron!
The pixies "in their own tongue they call themselves - the Umvir'ulum'nat -, so for brevitys sake I'll stick to 'pixies'" on Faron are a rare breed, as they are the only known race to have spread out from their ancestral homes to inhabit the entire world of Faron. There's is no peak, no valley, no forest, nor any swamp that's not host to at least a small population of pixies, as there seems to be a particular strong connection to Faron's unteamed wilds.
While the pixies are very concerned with maintaining the health of Faron's wilderness, they are also often found at its forefront, reclaiming lost territory, so to speak. They will actively seek out ruins, abandoned village or forgotten shrines and attempt to reincorporate the "man-made" structures into prestine nature again. As such, they are often looked upon by the other civilized races, as the great re-cyclers of Faron turning the detritus of fallen civilizations into new raw materials for civilizations to come.
This tendency to tear down any "man-made" constructs to make way for nature, does make some of the other races see them as pest to be exterminated, but luckily all but the most zealous of the pixies have enough presence of mind to let structures inhabited by other beings alone. Thus relations between the pixies and the other races on Faron are mostly peaceful, though " - the Tharr - or Ettercaps in the tongue of that disturbing race" are known to hunt pixies for their alchemically potent fairy-dust, and particularly vile members of that race are also known to simply hunt or trap the fairies for mindless sport.
Many of their intelligent neighbors often express bafflement at the fact that pixie society actually seem to function on a everyday basis. There's little in the way of hierarchy in the average pixie commune, with the largest exception being an elected war-leader "or - the Krath - as their are known in the pixie tongue" in times of crisis, and " - the Ses'hume'tar or 'the keeper of the grove' I belive - who guards the pixies burial grounds and communes with the remnants of the pixies that came before".
Everyday tasks are done by those pixies who are closet at hand, feel for that particular task that particular day, or seeks to explore that particular skill to better his/her mastery of it. Thus most communes consist mostly of jacks-of-all-trades, with very few true specialists. Those specialties are often linked to the few constants in pixie society, which is the reverence and occasional worship of nature, keeping the traditions, history and ancestors of the commune and securing it future existence from outsiders.
Pixies aren't very religious beings, showing their spirituality through daily reverence of nature and their ancestors, with them only rarely offering up any prayers in the traditional sense. Though some prayers of thanks are offered up on special occasions, these are often communal affairs with the whole commune gathered together during the observance of a specific semi-religious event.
As a whole, the pixies seem rather resistant the large scale proselytising by most missionaries, with only a few showing more then a passing interest in any of the tall folks deities.
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= Rogue Modron
= Shae
= Goliath
= Tieflings
= Dragonborn
Since most of those are human-based(i.e descended from humans), I'll toss humans in as a GM-approved only race/pre-historic race.
And I'll work on that later...
Mort, cover turtle, some good stuff right there...
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It floats in nothing. No stars, no lights in the sky, nothing. There is a void. And the Spire is everything and all things.
The Spire is enormous, approximately 1000 miles tall. The base of the spire is 200 miles across, and the top is 6 miles wide. Around the base of the spire is a mile wide patio, encircling the round structure, it is accessible through a pair of half-mile high doors. Upon its many floors, of which there are over 900, live many creatures, each floor housing denizens more deadly than the last.
There are many speculations as to the origin of the spire, but all agree on one thing: at the top of the tower lives the Humans, a race of scientists who are more deadly, and powerful than all of the creatures they have seemingly trapped in the spire. The first floor is the home to the “peoples” A group of four distinct humanoids, and their robot companions who gained free-will somewhere along the line.
The most populous race is of course the Shae These creatures of shadow and matter can phase through walls, and fight ghosts, and other incorporeal creatures, but to them light can not only be painful, but deadly. The Goliaths are a strong, proud, and gentle race, but their size tends to make others fear them, even though most of them have sworn off violence, preferring to talk out their differences. Dragonborn look like “Unshadowed” Shae and yet, share similar traits to the Dragons, a race of powerful beasts many, many, many floors above, spoken of in whispers and legends, and rarely will one visit a lower floor.
The Tieflings are a strange race, originally born from a combination of the three other humanoids. They adapted many traits from all of their progenitors, and yet they look like fiends, a group of mysterious outsiders who enjoy toying with the denizens of the Spire. This aesthetic has earned them mostly bias and hate from the other three races, though the Goliaths tend to be slow to judge.
In the earliest accounts of history, the Modron, cubes of odd materials, able to shift into other forms as they needed, were simple servants, who would perform tasks as they were commanded to, either by the “peoples” or by a strange coding placed in them, by what many presume where the Humans. Now, after centuries of repair, and receiving conflicting commands, about 78% of all Modron have lost all memories of their creators, and have gained free will. Most of them are content to remain servants, but now at the expense of those who would have them serve them. Some Modron are completely taken with a desire to know where they came from, and due to this, and the ease of repairs on their bodies, Modrons now make up a majority of those who proudly proclaim themselves to be Adventurers, a legally protected, and government sanctioned employment.
Adventurers enjoy the right to any spoil they find in the floors above, as well as access to cheap housing, which they only have to pay for in the months they return to the first floor for. Adventurers are those foolish, or brave enough to explore the floors above, and to figure out if there is anything else out there beyond the spire. You might think most people would go for that, but the sheer mortality rate of those in the occupation means most people prefer to work at other, less dangerous tasks, such as farming, or blacksmithing.
Shae
-2 Str, +2 Dex, +2 Int
Weak, but nimble and sharp, Shae are the closest things to pure Humans, below the top floor.
Humanoids: Shae are humanoids
Dark-vision: Shae can see in the dark as well as a normal Human can see in bright daylight
Medium: Shae are medium creatures, and gain no size bonuses or penalties
Speed: 30 ft
Shade: Shae may enter a state of near-etherealness which give them a 50% hit chance on incorporeal creatures with non-magical weapons, which then increases to 75% hit chance with a magical weapon, furthermore, all non-magical attacks against them while they are in this state gain a 25% mischance. This state additionally allows them to pass through objects as per the Gaseous Form spell. A Shae may use this state a number of rounds per day equal to 3+their constitution bonus
Severe light-sensitivity: Low-light causes discomfort to Shae and bright light cause actual pain. Lowlight: mild discomfort (-1 to all d20 rolls), normal light, (-4 to all d20 rolls), bright light (1d4 points of damage a round, and -6 to all d20 rolls)
Languages, Shae start the game speaking common, and Shae with high intelligence may learn any language they could study
About 1% of all Shae are born “Unshadowed” and have the same racial traits as a standard human.
Goliaths
+4 Str, -2 Con, -2 Dex, +2 Cha
Strong due to their size, yet frail, and inflexible, Golaiths tend to be a jovial folk.
Humanoid: Goliaths are humanoids.
Large: Goliaths are large, and imposing, and gain a +1 to CMB and CMD, but take a -1 penalty to all attack rolls, and have a 10ft base reach.
Speed: 40ft
Diplomatic: Goliaths get a +2 to diplomacy, and it is always a class skill for them.
Large hands: Goliaths may use large, or huge weapons at no penalty. Medium or smaller weapons impossible for them to wield
Languages: Goliaths start speaking Terran, and Common. Goliaths with a high intelligence score may learn Draconic, Orc, Goblin, Dwarf, or Gnomish
Dragonborn
+2 Str, +2 Dex, +2 Con, +2 Int, -2 Wis, -2 Cha
Though excellent physical and intellectual specimens, the dragon born can be prone to rages, and don’t generally get along well with others.
Humanoids: Dragonborn count as humanoids
Medium: Dragonborn are Medium creatures
Speed: 30 ft
Aspect of the dragon: Dragonborn are decended in part from dragons. While quite distant, some of the traits still linger to this day. Choose one of the following, this choice is made at first level, and cannot be changed after that:
Breath weapon: Most Dragonborn are born with the ability to breathe fire or cold (choose one, this choice cannot be changed after it has been made). This attack deals 1d4 points of damage per 4 HD of the Dragonborn, and comes out as a 20ft cone. It may be used once a day.
Horns: This Dragonborn is born with a natural gore attack. It deals 1d8 points of damage, and he is automatically proficient with it. He must however buy non-humanoid armor, in order to fit over it.
Claws: Some Dragon-born are born with large claws. These deal 1d6 points of damage each, and he may attack with both at no penalty. However, this dragonborn may never wield a different weapon one-handed.
Languages: Dragonborn begin play speaking common, and Draconic: a Dragonborn with a high intelligence may learn any language.
Tieflings
+2 Dexterity, +2 Intelligence, –2 Charisma: Tieflings are quick in body and mind, but are inherently strange and unnerving.
Humanoid: Tieflings are humanoids.
Medium: Tieflings are Medium creatures and receive no bonuses or penalties due to their size.
Normal Speed: Tieflings have a base speed of 30 feet.
Darkvision: Tieflings see in the dark for up to 60 feet.
Social skills: Tieflings gain a +2 racial bonus on Bluff, Diplomacy, and Intimidate, these skills are always class skills for them.
Spell-Like Ability: Tieflings can use darkness once per day as a spell-like ability. The caster level for this ability equals the tiefling's class level.
Natural armor: Tieflings have a thick scale-like skin, which provides +1 natural armor, which stacks with normal armor.
Languages: Tieflings begin play speaking Common and either Draconic or Terran. Tieflings with high intelligence scores can choose from the following: Draconic, Dwarven, Elven, Gnome, Goblin, Halfling, Orc, and Terran.
Modron
Set stats: All Modron start with a Str 12, Dex 12, no Constitution, Int 13, Wis 10, and Cha 12
They receive 7 points with which to modify their numbers, this cannot be added to constitution
Constructs: Modrons are constructs
Speed: Modrons have a base speed of 30 ft, and a fly (hover) of 10 ft
Dark-vision: Modrons have dark-vision 60ft
Form one: Cube: in this form, Modrons may only pick up one item, and only an item made mostly of metal, however, they gain a +2 natural armor bonus and fast healing 1.
Form two: Humanoid: in this form, Modrons may lift and carry anything they could with their strength bonus. They may also wear armor in this form.
Hardy: Modrons gain +2 additional hit points per Hit dice
Languages: Modrons begin speaking common, and Modrons with high intelligences may learn any language.
So we have it on this page to refer to too, here's Mikaze's post kicking this off.
Here's the rules:
1. Roll a d100 five times, either with real dice or on Invisible Castle or some other dicerolling website if you wish to confirm your numbers here.
2. The corresponding numbers will show you the five races on the list that will be the player races for your setting. These five races are the only "default assumption" choices for your setting's player race options.
3. Write up a setting with those five races! It can be as simple or as highly developed as you want. From a few short paragraphs to an essay. The only requirement is that all five of your races must have a place in the setting. None of them can just be a footnote compared to the rest. You might want to consider the environment, how the races relate to each other, their origins, cultures, etc.
4. Assume that all of your races are "powered down" (or in rare cases, "powered up", so that they are balanced within reason. You can assume this works any number of ways, from the Savage Species route where races start weak "level up" as their race or that they're just watered down variants of those races.
5. If you get the same number more than once, you have two(or more) very different variants of that race, like the divide between elves and drow.
6. Individuals of all five races must be able to be in a party together.
7. Have FUN. Make it a world you would enjoy playing in or running. If you get a race you really don't like, put a new spin on them. You're not bound to flavor, alignment, aesthetics, or setting expectations save for what you want in your new setting. Make these races your own.
Who knows, you might have some new ideas you want to use in your games, or some that someone else may want to use!
1. Human
2. Elf
3. Dwarf
4. Half-Orc
5. Half-Elf
6. Halfling
7. Gnome
8. Orc
9. Goblin
10. Hobgoblin
11. Drow
12. Tiefling (humanoids with fiend ancestry)
13. Aasimar (humanoids with celestial ancestry)
14. Fetchling (humanoids with shae ancestry)
15. Ifrit (humanoids with efreet ancestry)
16. Undine (humanoids with marid ancestry)
17. Sylph (humanoids with djinn ancestry)
18. Oread (humanoids with shaitan ancestry)
19. Suli (humanoids with jann ancestry)
20. Dhampir (half-humanoid/half-vampire)
21. Changeling (hag-kin) (the children of humanoid males and hags)
22. Catfolk
23. Lizardfolk
24. Ratfolk
25. Vanara (monkey-folk)
26. Vishkanya (humanoids with slight snake-like features and poisonous blood)
27. Strix (black, avian humanoids with harpy-like builds)
28. Tengu
29. Merfolk
30. Gillmen
31. Duergar
32. Derro
33. Svirfneblin
34. Kitsune (shapechanging fox-folk)
35. Nagaji (reptilian humanoids originally created by the naga as a servant race)
36. Samsaran (reincarnated blue-skinned humanoids)
37. Wayang (gnome-like beings with roots in the Shadow Plane)
38. Grippli
39. Kobold
40. Ogre
41. Dryad
42. Satyr
43. Pixie
44. Nymph
45. Sprite
46. Forlarren (bipolar fey born from the unions of nymphs and fiends)
47. Nereid (aquatic nymph-like fey)
48. Nixie
49. Treant
50. Faun
51. Centaur
52. Harpy
53. Medusa
54. Naga
55. Gargoyle
56. Minotaur
57. Troll
58. Gnoll
59. Adlet (barbaric wolf-like humanoids)
60. Vegepygmy
61. Sahuagin
62. Cecaelia (merfolk-like humanoids, with octopus tentacles instead of a fish tail)
63. Grindylow (the goblin equivalent of Cecaelia)
64. Locathah
65. Derhii (winged, intelligent gorillas)
66. Girtablilu (centauroids with a scorpion-like lower half + claws)
67. Sasquatch
68. Tanuki (short raccoon-like humanoids)
69. Thriae (all female-race of bee people)
70. Spriggan
71. Dark Folk
72. Drider
73. Mongrelman
74. Serpentfolk
75. Ettercap
76. Shae (humanoids made of solid shadow)
77. Flumph
78. Vodyanoi (salamander-like humanoids)
79. Ghoul
80. Vampire
81. Gearman/Warforged (mechanical humanoids)
82. Changeling(doppleganger-kin) (descendants of humanoids and dopplegangers)
83. Shifter (descendants of humanoids and lycanthropes)
84. Uldra (small blue-skinned fey adapted for cold environments)
85. Darfellan (powerful humanoids with orca-like skin)
86. Asherati (desert-dwelling hairless elf-like beings capable of swimming through sand)
87. Illumian (human-like beings infused with sorcery with glowing sigils floating around their heads)
88. Raptoran (winged and taloned elf-like race)
89. Goliath (tall, strong humanoids with stony appearances and tough hides)
90. Dragonborn (draconic humanoids)
91. Aberration-based Humanoid (wildcard, make your own!)
92. Construct-based Humanoid (wildcard, make your own!)
93. Dragon-based Humanoid (wildcard, make your own!)
94. Ooze-based Humanoid (wildcard, make your own!)
95. Plant-based Humanoid (wildcard, make your own!)
96. Thri-Kreen (four armed insectoid race)
97. Bariaur (centauroid with a mountain goat-like lower half)
98. Rogue Modron (free-willed box-like construct)
99. Mul (half-human/half-dwarf hybrid)
00. Pseudodragon
If you need more information on any of these races, just ask!
Credit where credit's due:
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Dwarf, Undine, Gnoll, Cecaelia, Dark Folk.
Down in the valley
A dale carved by flame
Once climbed to the heavens
"Old Smoke" was its name.
But do you remember
That midnight sunrise?
Old troubles forgotten
With the mountain's demise
In our mountain of fire
We dwarves worked our art
Our gold and our rosewood
Were blasted apart
It tore through the woodlands
Like the baobabs were chaff
I heard the hyenas
Forget how to laugh
Down in the valley
Carved out by the core
The waters are rising
So swim for the shore.
Long ago, Smoke Mountain was one of the tallest and broadest mountains in the world. Within its peak dwelt the Miriqois Alliance, a confederacy of dwarven tribes specializing in woodworking, jewelry, and weaving whose works were world-renowned. Atop the mountain, scrubby prairies and woodlands of massive baobabs and rosewood trees stretched in all directions, providing ample lumber for the dwarves—and ample hunting grounds for a powerful nation of gnolls known as the Hackfields. The Hackfields arrived eager for their own share of the prosperity, and quickly began to launch deadly raids on dwarven lumberers when the dwarves proved reluctant to accept what lopsided deals were offered. Outraged, the dwarves threatened war, to which the gnolls eagerly responded, "Yeah, that's pretty much what we was goin' for."
But even as these clashes escalated, so did the fire. Long had the mountain released tall plumes of smoke—giving it its name—but nobody had ever expressed any concern over it. That was just Old Smoke's way. But one dark night, the mountain erupted in fire.
It is difficult to tell how many died in the eruption. The Miriqois Alliance was shattered, three of the seven clans being all-but obliterated when the entire peak of Old Smoke was blasted into nothingness. The gnolls fared little better—the Hackfields died by the thousands, as they fled within their great hollowed baobab trees only to be burned alive within.
Many years later, the caldera of Old Smoke has become the largest caldera lake in the world: The Boiling Sea, named for its scalding-hot depths. A massive, rotting log the size of a small castle floats close to the center of the Boiling Sea, with hundreds of little boats trailing behind it as it bobs on the surface of the lake. Nearby, the Ghost Crown rises high, the lake's only island—a craggy rock pillar with only light vegetation, as well as an almost comical number of ghosts crammed atop it. And around the lake climb the Mountain Edges, themselves now miniature mountains in their own right.
Dwarves: The original owners of the mountain, the remnants of the Miriqois Alliance now dwell within the mountains around the lake. Many continue their trades, often venturing out into the lake and venturing deep into the ruins to retrieve old treasures and recover forgotten techniques. They have devised "diving baskets"—enchanted reed submarines—which allow them to enter into the sunken ruins, some of which, on the edges of the lake, have not yet completely flooded. Several tribes are isolated on the far side of the lake, so it is often necessary to either trek through the Edges or cross by boat—and many old tunnels within the Mountain Edges are simply not safe anymore. Boiling Sea dwarves are more artistic and musical than others of their kind, and have no Charisma penalty, Hatred trait or weapon proficiencies.
Gnolls: The Hackfields, and their matriarchal Old Council, continue to claim that they have every right to take what they want...while living like termites inside a giant soggy floating log they call the Old Maid. Many of them have taken to longboats, and continue to raid sailing caravans. Others prefer to focus on looting the ruins, and many have put aside the old Hackfield and Miriqois grudge altogether, seeing it as a little bit petty in the face of everything. Boiling Sea gnolls tend to be a lot less violent in general, due to the collective species-wide trauma of the Midnight Sunrise, but they make up for it with a lot of obnoxious bravado, and will rarely admit they don't know how to do something.
Undines: The undines are an odd lot, to be sure—refugees from another world, many crossed over into the Material and found their way to one of the few great lakes that lacks any potentially fraught connections to the Plane of Water. The undines found great opportunity here, and have taught the dwarves and gnolls alike how to sail, but there are many who simply don't believe the undines belong here—especially, rather hypocritically, the gnolls, who often believe they deserve the lucrative boat-building jobs the undines have "taken" (the gnolls, if asked, tend to have no idea how boats work). For their part, Boiling Sea undines tend to stay carefully neutral in conflicts. They're just here to build boats. Those who go diving, however, find themselves extremely ill-at-ease, and refer to the Boiling Sea as "ghost waters". They miss home.
Cecaeliae: The cecaeliae are another recent arrival, though they came from underground rivers. They, like the undines, dislike the Boiling Sea, but claim to be "stuck"—the rivers don't flow both ways, it seems, and they don't want to go out to the oceans and end up even further from home. They don't seem too frustrated by it all, however, and are in fact exceedingly curious about the nature of the Boiling Sea. Sometimes dangerously so. It is said that one is more likely to see a dead cecaelia than a live one, and indeed, cecaeliae that die in their explorations of the sea's depths frequently float to the surface, while living cecaeliae tend to hide from large bands. They are very afraid of the Dark Folk—instinctively so.
Dark Folk: The mysterious inhabitants of the Ghost Crown once lived beneath Smoke Mountain, but when the mountain erupted, something forced them to the surface. Now they are trapped—they hate the sun, and fear the countless ghosts which they have at great cost warded from their caves, but dare not go deeper. They only occasionally deal with outsiders as a group, but many do venture out in small covered boats they call "shaded gondolas". Many dwarves and gnolls believe they know something about what caused the eruption, and they might be right. Boiling Sea dark folk are almost as twitchy as cecaeliae, constantly watching their backs, but quite experienced at handling undead. They universally lack shadows, and this is a very sensitive topic for them, though few now are old enough to remember why.
Aberration-based Humanoid, Dark Folk, Nagaji, Vanara, Spriggan.
Uuuugh I have to acknowledge nagaji and vanara exist. And I get Dark Folk again. Welp, rules are rules.
I used these rules on a lesser scale for the world I'm working on and came up with a pretty cool gothic nation run by vampires and their forlarren slaves, inhabited by roving bands of rebellious ratfolk, kitsune, and halfling laborers and traders: https://www.worldanvil.com/w/korthos-189birds/a/karine-article?preview=1
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Mul (Half-Dwarf)
Harpy
Ratfolk
Changeling (Doppelganger-Kin)
Satyr
So let's think about this:
Harpies and Satyrs use other species as their "other gender", changelings are the union of shapeshifting doppelgangers and humans, muls are half-human and half dwarven. Basically by inference humans should exist in this setting.
And yet... and yet...
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The Known World
History:
The True Empire of Humanity Ascendant once spanned the Known World, enemies of the True Empire fell to grand armies. There was for a time peace across the world. No... not peace. Quiet. Quiet enforced by the armies and mages of the True Empire of Humanity Ascendant.
The power of the Empire came from one thing, humanity's power to interbreed with Elves, Dwarves and Orcs. The Empire's policy of integration ultimately results in Eugenocide. Slow-breeding Elves and Dwarves eventually mean an end to Elves and Dwarves, leaving only half-elves (Faen) and half-dwarves (Muls). History is quiet on the fate of orcs, but history is sometimes left unwritten to protect the victors.
However, humanity's victories were not total, in the deep forests where armies could not hope to march Satyr groves remained well hidden with the bacchanalian satyrs leaving only to invite the most beautiful and fun-loving humans to return to their endless parties. In the few instances where the Empire tried to burn their way into the groves, Satyr Druids (known among their people as Party Poopers) were more than a match for the Empire.
In the highest mountains, and on hostile islands, protected by rocky waters there exist Harpy nests. Officially declared enemies of the Empire for their ability to sing whole armies or ships to their doom, their ability to fly protected them from the worst of the Empire's wrath. However, harpies were always forced into proximity with the Empire in order to survive as a people harpies needed mates after all. The relationship between the peoples was always a complicated one.
Living inside the Empire were doppelgangers, invisible, unknown and complicit. Doppelgangers could easily pass among the Empire, and by hiding amongst humanity was able to avoid Imperial control. However, by passing doppelgangers were complicit in the crimes of the Empire. Occasionally doppelgangers would interbreed with humans producing Changelings, often these shapeshifting children were left to die in the wild or gutters (sometimes to be adopted by Satyrs, Ratfolk and Harpies). Sometimes they would be protected by their parents, using their powers to hold one human appearance, hiding an aspect of themselves to avoid the eye of the Empire.
Where humanity brought civilization, somehow the Ratfolk would always spring up. Cleaning the gutters, nesting in sewers. Ratfolk always exist in the peripheries of cities and towns. Officially Ratfolk were not part of the Empire, were not considered... people. Unofficially, Ratfolk were too difficult to exterminate, breeding quickly and in great numbers, and provided valuable service. Without needing payment Ratfolk would take the junk, the piss, the waste humanity would throw away and find use for it. The ratfolk underclass existed throughout the life of the empire.
It was ultimately the Ratfolk who brought an end to the Empire and to humanity. The Shallow Plague began in the Imperial capital of Urzensted, it spread quickly through the streets of the city, ratfolk carried the disease they were immune to, and as humans fled the city the plague spread. The speed of incubation, virulence and deadliness meant that there would never be enough clerics to stop the disease in time before it could spread. It took a single generation for the most powerful empire the Known World had ever seen to leave behind only city-sized open necropoli.
Now:
The Muls' inherited dwarven resistance to disease, allowed them to become the heritor of humanity. The muls were able to pick up some of the pieces. However, they lacked the numbers that humanity once wielded like a club across the world, and many Muls lacked the will to do so. Humans had committed many sins to take and hold their power. Many Muls returned to old Dwarven holdings to reclaim what was thought to be a more noble heritage.
Changelings survived the plagues as well, their innate adaptability allowing them to survive the plague. There is little reason to hide their true face without a watchful humanity, and changelings live amongst the ruins or build small villages adjacent to the empty cities picking what useful magic items that were left behind by their dead progenitors. Doppelgangers still live too, and would see their errant children as a new underclass for their own comfort, a fate the changelings would hope to avoid.
Harpies and Satyrs have dealt with the loss of humanity in profoundly different ways, though each know one terrible truth, without humanity each race is doomed within a generation. For the Satyrs this seems a somewhat distant problem, with lifespans that effectively span hundreds of years Satyrs have taken to the notion that his is "later Satyr's problem - let that guy deal with it".
Harpies on the other hand know that their lifespans do not reach so far, their doom shall come for them in a short generation. They wing across the world seeking a legendary hidden city of humanity, a seed for future generations of harpies. Their desperate search growing more and more frenzied with each passing year.
Ratfolk have rapidly become the most common ancestry across the face of the Known World. Ratfolk have scavenged across humanities most prosperous cities. Gaining the secrets of their most advanced magic. Within a generation Ratfolk have become the most advanced civilization across the Known World, their culture's obsession with hording that which they claim has given them a complex and occasionally antagonistic relationship with muls and changelings.
The Role of Adventurers
This is a world of Ruin, 25 years after a biological apocalypse. For some these will be the last days for their people unless they can find answers in lost human magic. For others a chance to begin a new legacy informed by the wisdom of civilizations lost to humanity's greed and lust for power. Adventurers might be searching for lost pockets of humanity, either to save Harpy and Satyrkind or to end humanity once and for all.
But mostly adventurers are scavengers, looking to find useful treasures in the vast cities filled with bodies and ghosts.
Any questions about pixies?
*Looks around*
Yes, the kitty down in the back.
What do pixies eat and without a proper hierarchical structure, how do they determine resource allocation?
I.e Pixie housing (do they even live in houses or do they live on leaves?) and food?
Ahmm. Yes.
Pixies usually live in rather small communes, or small tribes in the case of particularly "primitive" pixies. This mean It its op to the individual family to secure the necessary daily sustenance, mostly by foraging the surrounding wilderness. Actual large scale farming, with its taming and "culturalization" of the land seem to trouble or make pixies uncomfortable, so its only practiced out of necessity, when the wilds can't support the pixie population.
Most of the items used in the day to day lives of the pixies are also made in the individual family home, as most pixies have some small experience in weaving, woodworking, foraging or even, though much more rarely, forging. Actually the "average" pixie commune is usually build around two communal "buildings", the Grove and the communal forge. Further in particular "advanced" pixie communities, particular gifted or skilled pixies are given some social clout for their expertise, which enables them to take the place of mentors of their crafts for other pixies, while this role often falls to family members in more traditional communities.
The strong sense of kinship and community among pixies means that "resource allocation" is usually based on a "Need" basis. Individual families usually come to each other aid if a particular family is suffering from some kind of hardship, be it disease, death or simply a long string of bad luck hunting. This though does not extent to the few pixies who would take advantage of their neighbor generosity. These pixies quickly find themselves ostracize from the community, left to fend for themselves.
Did I miss anything?
Oh yes pixie homes...
There are a variety of styles of pixie homes, with the overarching commonality being that they are all "natural". A hollow tree-stump, an animal burrow or a small crevasse are all possible basises of a pixie homes. These are then with delicate tool use, grown naturally or through the application of magic shaped into the desired shape, form and function, to fit that particular pixie or pixie family.
9. Goblin
65. Derhii (winged, intelligent gorillas)
73. Mongrelman
82. Changeling(doppleganger-kin) (descendants of humanoids and dopplegangers)
69. Thriae (all female-race of bee people)
92. Construct-based Humanoid (wildcard, make your own!)
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5d100
9. Goblin
65. Derhii (winged, intelligent gorillas)
73. Mongrelman
82. Changeling(doppleganger-kin) (descendants of humanoids and dopplegangers)
69. Thriae (all female-race of bee people)
1d100
92. Construct-based Humanoid (wildcard, make your own!)
In the beginning, all of creation was spoken into existence, and once it was ready, the derhii were given dominion over all of Amesema. At least, that’s what the derhii say.
For centuries, the Derhii Empire was the undisputed power of Amesema. The thriae hid in their southern hive-cities, the goblins were frequently culled to manage their numbers, and the derhii even created their own servitor race, the mongrelmen, from the primitive humanoids of the wilds.
All of this changed when derhii explorers found a massive machine of unknown origin beneath the eastern badlands. While attempting to divine its function, the machine was activated. A slender humanoid construct of alien design emerged.
The explorers interrogated the construct and learned that it called itself a vox. Already unnerved by a being whose name translated to “voice”, the derhii grew even more concerned when another vox exited the machine the next day. Any attempts to interfere with the machine caused the vox to become hostile, and they were formidable enough for the explorers to send a messenger back to civilization to summon military aid. By the time help arrived, however, one vox had already snuck into a hidden chamber and awakened a number of pre-existing but dormant vox. When the derhii military tried to retake the chamber of the machine, the vox took it as a declaration of war. The derhii were unprepared for the merciless efficiency of the vox warriors revived from storage, and were pushed back.
The derhii eventually managed to establish supply lines and stop the machines’ advance, but failed to make any headway. The vox were simply too good at repairing their fallen, as well as displaying the same level of magical aptitude as any organic race. What had been intended as a quick mopping-up had spiraled into full-scale war.
As the war dragged on, the derhii were forced to devote more and more of their resources to the war effort. This, ultimately, proved to be their downfall. No longer deterred by the decreasing patrols, the goblins grew bolder, raiding with near impunity. The mongrelmen saw for the first time that their masters were not the mighty beings wielding divine authority that they had claimed to be, and rose up to claim their independence. The derhii could do nothing to stop them. The final straw came when the Empire’s provinces, overtaxed to feed the front lines, deprived of their mongrelman workers, and being left almost entirely unprotected, revolted. The Empire fractured and the remaining Imperials were forced to sue for peace.
In the aftermath, the vox laid claim to the badlands and the caverns beneath, sending out the occasional explorers and diplomats, the scattered goblin tribes enjoy the greatest freedom they’ve had in centuries, the free mongrelmen struggle to build a society they can call their own, the fractured derhii states grasp tightly to what power they have left, and the thriae have begun to expand into the lands the derhii can no longer hold. This new balance of power is precarious. With the barest nudge it could tip, and who knows what might come next?
I'll add more later, but I thought it'd be best to get what I have managed so far up in a reasonable* time frame.
There's a fair bit that would be a lot easier if all my RPG books weren't in storage right now.
*For a given value of "reasonable"
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...
My initial thoughts: a very "vertical" setting, with a maze of underground chambers beneath a vast city of massive cathedral-like structures that were abandoned long ago by their mysterious creators. The drow and dwarves generally live underground, the gargoyles and sylphs inhabit the high structures and the ifrit are at home in both areas, perhaps acting as messengers and heralds between the other groups.
For some reason (perhaps the visual imagery) I thought it would be fun to introduce this setting with the trailer for an over-the-top blockbuster movie. The special effects may be ground-breaking, but the plot probably won’t win any awards…
The camera zooms in to one of the buildings. A gargoyle sits motionless on a ledge near the roof. As the camera continues to zoom in, the gargoyle mystic turns their head suddenly as if listening to something, then scampers along the ledge, through an open arched window and into a cluttered office. The gargoyle mystic picks up a speaking tube and starts turning a crank.
The camera’s viewpoint moves rapidly, as if running parallel to the gargoyle mystic’s call, rushing down spiral staircases and shafts, slowing briefly as it passes through an arched doorway into the sunlight at ground level, and then picking up speed again as it travels down a flight of stone steps into a deep maze of underground tunnels. It arrives at a huge cavern containing a crowded technological marketplace, lit by suspended radiant gemstones of many colours.
Then the camera moves towards an open doorway on a gallery level. Through the doorway is a workshop containing several tables covered with clockwork devices and miniature steam-powered machines. A man with dark purple skin, pointed ears and smoothly tied-back silver hair is standing near a wall. He’s dressed in a high-collared white shirt and dark trousers. He’s listening to the horn of a speaking tube. “And what does this have to do with me?” the drow gadgeteer says into the tube, then listens again for a few moments. “Oh.”
A small, sunlit cobbled square has been cordoned off with blue rope. A man with flame-coloured hair and small horns is standing near the rope. He’s wearing a creased, tan-coloured coat. He watches as two other people, also with flame-coloured hair but much more neatly dressed in blue uniforms, use a stretcher to carry away a body covered by a sheet.
“Witnesses say he was killed by a machine like one of your hat-drones,” says the ifrit detective to the drow gadgeteer, who has now added a long black coat, a top hat and dark glasses to his outfit.
A short, stocky, casually dressed woman with long blonde hair ducks under the cordon and runs towards the ifrit detective. “Was he carrying anything?” asks the dwarf professor. “He was donating a book from Before to our library.”
The gargoyle mystic sits on another ledge, high above the the city. Nearby, a dark-skinned woman with blue hair is hovering in the air. This sylph soldier is wearing a blue and white military uniform and is scanning the horizon through a pair of binoculars. “I’ve heard that you can physically sense threats to the city,” the sylph soldier says without turning to look at the gargoyle mystic. “Approaching danger feels like a subtle tremor. Is that true?”
An unseen force knocks the gargoyle mystic over and then sweeps them sideways off the ledge. The gargoyle mystic ends up clinging to the ledge, beating their wings to stay in place. The sylph soldier continues to look through the binoculars, unaware of what has happened.
an office containing a large desk and matching chairs in the shape of carved wooden furniture, but all made from dark metal. A woman stands behind the desk - she has flame-coloured hair and horns, and she is dressed in a high-collared gray gown. She is frowning at the dwarf professor and the drow gadgeteer, who are standing on the other side of the desk. “This is now a matter of the security of the city. Civilians have no place in this investigation. Is that understood?”
“Absolutely, ma’am,” says the drow gadgeteer.
“Of course,” says the dwarf professor.
the dwarf professor and the drow gadgeteer standing in a dimly lit tunnel. The drow gadgeteer is turning the gears of a complex clockwork lock set into a hexagonal recess in the wall. Another part of the wall slides back and then sideways. Beyond the new doorway is a much larger set of gears in a roughly hexagonal shape. The bronze-coloured metal is covered with arcane-looking symbols.
“It’s a sixth gateway,” whispers the dwarf professor. “And there’s no dust. What would anyone be using this for?”
“To bring something back from Outside?” suggests the drow gadgeteer.
“It looks as though someone is going to have to go through and find out.”
The sylph soldier is hovering above turquoise grass that is undulating like the surface of an ocean. A tree branch whips past her face, trailing a miniature cloud that then wraps around the barrel of her rifle, twisting it out of shape. The sylph soldier drops the rifle and smoothly draws a military sabre. The drow gadgeteer is standing on the unsteady ground nearby. He has taken off his top hat and is pulling flat metal bars out from a pocket in its lining. He tosses them into the air and they unfold into contraptions of rotors and blades that fly around the dwarf professor to protect her as she begins chanting words from a metal-bound book. The ifrit detective takes a swig from a hip-flask, sighs, then raises his hands, palms outwards. As a large bird-shaped flying tree swoops towards him, fire begins to form around the ifrit detective’s hands.
The camera moves back, and the battle scene is framed by a jagged shape cut into a dark wall. In front of the scene appears a silhouetted figure with one pointed ear, one enormous tattered bat’s wing attached to its left shoulder, and a mass of tentacles where its right hand should be.
“Keep fighting, little heroes, if you want to,” says the silhouette in a voice that switches from low-pitched to high and back again. “But your city is lost, and two of you have already been infected by the Shaping.”
UNSHAPED CITY
The gargoyle mystic is standing at the end of a cliff with a rope tied around their waist. Some distance down the cliff-face, the ifrit detective is climbing the rope. The drow gadgeteer is further down the rope and the dwarf professor is at the end of the rope. The sylph soldier hovers nearby on watch.
“This seems like the moment when someone will mention a fear of heights,” says the dwarf professor.
“If you don’t,” replies the drow gadgeteer, “then I won’t make any remarks about how things could be worse.”
The camera moves back to the gargoyle mystic, and we see that a large crevasse has opened behind them and is continuing to widen. Sparking purple flames rise from the darkness. .
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This isn’t a particularly original setting, but it seems reasonably easy to explain:
- The city of immensely tall cathedral-like structures and deep, spiralling underground tunnels was built by a civilisation destroyed centuries ago by a magical catastrophe. Now, no one knows whether the disaster was caused by war, a vast accident or something else. The surrounding landscape was warped and continues to be reshaped violently, but the city was warded - this was enough to save the structures and just five of the many races who lived inside them.
- The elemental natures of the sylphs, ifrits and gargoyles perhaps protected them, and some dwarves and drow were deep enough underground at the time of the disaster to be shielded from the magical energies. These five races now consider themselves to be a united citizenry.
- The dwarves are thought of as engineers, recorders of knowledge and researchers trying to reconstruct the history of the civilisation from before the catastrophe. (Common PC classes: wizard, bard)
- The drow are thought of as inventors and innovators. They’re responsible for complex clockwork machines and other ingenious solutions to the problems that face the modern city. There’s no suggestion in this setting that drow were ever typically evil, although nothing is known about what their society was like before the disaster. Some dwarven historians believe there is linguistic evidence that there once were variant drow adapted to life on the surface. (Common PC classes: rogue, alchemist)
- The sylphs are thought of as natural sentries and soldiers. They typically live high in the city and can easily watch over the warped landscape for approaching danger. (Common PC classes: swashbuckler, aerokineticist)
- The gargoyles are thought of as the most naturally magical of the citizens, with an intuitive connection to the power that still wards the city. (Common PC classes: oracle, psychic)
- Many drow and dwarves dislike heights, while many sylphs and gargoyles dislike being underground. For this reason, the ifrits played a vital role in coordination and negotiations among the survivors during the first few years after the disaster. They still perform much of the leadership, administration and law enforcement, even though many of them don’t feel temperamentally well-suited to these tasks. (Common PC classes: paladin, ranger with a favored terrain of urban)
- However, individuals from all the races can take on any role. (And in practice, a large proportion of the populace is kept busy supplying food for the city from the giant underground mushroom farms, the small amount of arable land inside the city boundaries and the many rooftop gardens.)
- The most common alignments for the citizens are lawful good and lawful neutral. There’s a strong sense among the populace that they have to work together to survive. Antagonists in this setting are likely to be devious criminals, corrupt politicians or people secretly trying to discover how to gain control of some of the magic that is still altering the landscape and the creatures outside the city.
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And here’s my attempt at creating a variant gargoyle that’s a playable race at a roughly similar power level to drow, dwarves, ifrits and sylphs. Civic gargoyles are notably slower than standard gargoyles and have no natural attacks.
CIVIC GARGOYLE RACIAL TRAITS
+2 Strength, +2 Wisdom, -2 Dexterity: Civic gargoyles are strong and insightful but not particularly agile.
Monstrous humanoid: Civic gargoyles are monstrous humanoids.
Medium: Civic gargoyles are Medium creatures and receive no bonuses or penalties due to their size.
Normal speed: Civic gargoyles have a base speed of 30 feet. They also have a fly speed of 30 feet (clumsy).
Darkvision: Civic gargoyles can see in the dark up to 60 feet.
Armor: Civic gargoyles have a +1 natural armor bonus.
Camouflage: Civic gargoyles gain a +4 racial bonus on Stealth checks in urban environments.
Languages: Civic gargoyles begin play speaking Common and Terran. Civic gargoyles with high Intelligence scores can choose from the following: Auran, Dwarven, Elven, Ignan and Undercommon.
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77. Flumph
17. Sylph
15. Ifrit
12. Teifling
96. Thri-keen
Hell yawned forth and spewed forth it's cruel breath and inhabitants upon the unsuspecting world. The vile burning winds spread across the planet leaving its surface barren everywhere it touched. The original inhabitants plead the divine for rescue from the devils. Unable to stop the armies, the gods blessed individuals with fire to withstand the heat of the scorched lands and became the Ifrit, wind to escape to the skies above in flying cities and became the Sylphs, or gave them tough exoskeletons and tough claws to escape below the surface to the cooler and easier to defend underground which became the The-keen. Unfortunately many more were captured by the devils and experimented upon to create the Teifling as a race of slaves and soldiers.
The overwhelming aura of evil from the planet attracted a race from the deep reaches of the dark tapestry. Mercifully the race that noticed it was the Flumph that reacted by quickly masking the aura from the rest of the tapestries inhabitants and sending an army on a one way trip as the masking process would cause even themselves to lose the location of the planet and never be able to find their way back. This army descended upon the planet and with the aid of a slave rebellion in the capital surrounding the Hellmouth the portal was destroyed and preventing the devils from receiving reinforcements.
This served as a rallying point and the mixed armies of the modified races united under the Flumph's banner and began to take back their world. However, the devils conspire to reopen the portal and crush the new allience.
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Amesema Supplemental: Vox
An unknown time passed before the Forge was re-awoken by a group of organic creatures. The Forge began repairing the sleepers in the Chamber of Rebirth, then built a vox shell and imbued it with the spark of life before releasing it to interact with the organics. The organics did not allow the vox to report its findings to the Forge, so the Forge built another. This pattern continued until a vox managed to inform the Forge that the Time of Awakening was at hand. The sleepers were given life and the organic interlopers were driven out. The organics continued to fight and tried many times to retake the Forge. Eventually, they gave up, and the vox were left in peace.
--Glyph, vox teacher-of-the-new
Composed entirely of metal and synthetic materials, the average vox looks like a tall, slender humanoid with “skin” of intricate, interlocking plates of silvery metal. Their legs are digitigrade, but can maintain a plantigrade stance when more stability is required. They have two pairs of arms: The upper pair are strong, but lack finesse, and end in three fingers and an opposable thumb; the lower pair are short and thin, far less powerful but far more dextrous, and end in five fingers and an opposable thumb. At rest, the lower pair are kept folded at the vox’ sides. The head of a vox shell is dominated by a large central eye, flanked by a ring of three smaller eyes in an inverted triangle formation. No other sensory mechanisms are visible, though vox have all of the same senses as organics (albeit biased towards the vox’ needs). A vox consumes fuel through an opening chamber within its abdomen. Though normal organic material can be used, most vox vastly prefer more efficient sources.
(Though the above describes the most common appearance, the Forge sometimes produces more specialized shells with differing characteristics.)
Each vox shell holds a spherical container in its chest, which anchors the soul gifted to it by the Source Forge. When a vox is destroyed, its soul departs for the afterlife. A broken shell can be repaired by interment in a pod in the Chamber of Rebirth. If resurrection magic is used, the soul might return; if not, the shell is given a new one by the Forge.
Though entirely artificial in body, the possession of a mortal soul allows a vox to learn almost any form of magic an organic creature might use. The use of magic by the vox was one of the leading factors that prolonged the Vox-Derhii War beyond the derhii’s expectations.
Vox adventurers tend to be either individuals sent out by the Vox Nation for diplomatic or exploratory reasons, or those who simply wish to experience the wider world for themselves.
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Here is some details on a world which I worked up a couple months ago. I was unable to roll online at the time, unfortunately.
The Jendelish Expanse is a large series of jungles, swamps, forests, and plains situated around the Bay of Jendel. They are bordered on one side by the Stormshield Mountains to the North and West, and the Sea of Winds to the East and South. The Bay of Jendel itself is separated into two major regions, divided by the depth of the bay. The majority of the Bay is called The Shallows, which only ever gets to be about twenty or thirty feet deep, and has numerous reefs and fisheries. Meanwhile, the Deepwaters can get up to a mile deep at its deepest, and is avoided by most. Located at the point where numerous tempests come out of the Sea of Winds, and with the massive Stormshields preventing the storms from going past them, the land of the Jendelish Expanse has countless rivers and streams, and additionally contains numerous lakes and ponds. The jungles and plains of the region are thus quite lush, allowing for vast biodiversity. While there are plenty of the typical inhabitants of such regions, such as monkeys, birds, snakes, and other mammals and reptiles, there are also ancient beasts roaming the region. These dinosaurs have been mostly driven out of other portions of the world, but thrive in this cut-off region of the world. Forming the Eastern side of the Bay of Jendel is the Vinardin Peninsula, and the Island of Aikintuk is positioned at the mouth of the Bay of Jendel, almost entirely separating it from the ocean. This island is surrounded almost entirely be sea cliffs, with very few ways to get to the grasslands and mountains above. The only other major island in the region is the Isle of Fire, which is located to the southeast of the Vinardin. This small area of land is covered in swamps and jungles, but the major threats of the Isle are the pair of extremely active twin volcanoes at either end of the island. The other notable geographical features of the region are the Trench of Aguz, which separated Aikintuk from the Vinardin and connected the Deepwaters of the Bay of Jendel to the open ocean, and the Wyvern Pass, which is the only ‘safe’ passage through the Stormshields.
The Jendelish Expanse has had three major migrations of peoples into the region, but there were two races that are native to the region. The elder of these are the Vindar Dryads, who have lived in the jungles and forests of the region for longer than any other people can remember. They originated on the Vindarin Peninsula, and it is from them that it is named, before spreading out throughout the region. They are unique from other Dryads, in that they do not need to bond themselves to a singular, massive tree. Instead, they can bond themselves to either an entire forest, which allows them to travel anywhere within that forest, or they can bond to a species of miniature trees, which they can absorb into their bodies. Those that choose the second option can travel anywhere, so long as they can occasionally bring out the tree and allow it to root itself for a day or two. They settled countless small villages across the region, with a couple of small towns and cities scattered around near rivers and lakes. These were made to have as little impact on the jungles and forests as possible, with the buildings being ‘built’ through magical means, by shaping the trees and other vegetation into the needed forms. The largest of these also happened to be the oldest, and as such are on or near the Vindarin Peninsula.
While the Vindar Dryads were spreading across the land of the Jendelish Expanse, they had no interest in the Bay of Jendel itself. In fact, they had no specific name for it, simply lumping it and Sea of Winds into ‘The Waves’. At some point however, they came into contact with the Cecaelia, a race of semi-humanoids from beneath the waves. Their upper bodies were markedly similar to those of the Dryads, excepting that they were completely hairless. However, from the waist down they possessed the tentacles of an octopus instead of legs. They are able to breathe air and move about on land but are much more comfortable beneath the waves of their homeland. They are a simple people, farming large seaweed fields and fishing in the bountiful fisheries of The Shallows. They founded several villages and towns, always positioning them near to the many reefs of the region. The buildings themselves were grown out of the coral, which slowly expanded the reefs to surround the communities. They typically build their communities in faint spiral patterns, with low dome buildings occasionally separated by seaweed fields or giant seahorse pens.
These two races got along peacefully, since neither of them particularly had anything the other wanted. They would occasionally aid each other against monster incursions or help each other rebuild after particularly bad storms. However, sometime between 500 and 600 years after the two races first met each other the first of the major migrations into the Jendelish Expanse occurred. Coming in from the southwest, a large band of individuals from a new race contacted first the Cecaelia and then the Dryads. They were claiming to be fleeing from persecution from a fish-like race, called the Sahuagin, that had driven them to near extinction. With only 3-4000 of them remaining, they said that they were all that remained. Calling themselves the Darfellan, they resembled a race of humanoid orcas, with large, tooth-filled mouths, black and white patterned skin, and webbed feet. They requested safety, as well as a new place to live. Both the Dryads and the Cecaelia agreed to help fend off the Sahuagin if they came into the region, but neither wished to give up any of their land to the Darfellan. Eventually, they agreed to let them live on the island at the mouth of the Bay, which the Darfellan named Aikintuk, which in their language meant ‘New Home’. Settling themselves into cave systems along the sea cliffs, they built defensible towns and villages into protected coves and above wide beaches. When the Sahuagin eventually did attack several years later, the three races managed to easily defeat them. However, the fish-race simply retreated to the deeper waters of the open ocean, as well as the Deepwaters. They still attack every couple of years, but most of these are small raids, nothing compared to their initial invasion.
This balance of power lasted for the next 250-300 years, at which time the next major migration into the region occurred. Coming in from the northeast, a massive number of insectile beings poured into the region from around the Stormshields. Numbering in the dozens of thousands, they resembled roughly humanoid ants, with a hard-shelled exoskeleton, four arms, and large compound eyes. They called themselves Thri-Kreen, and spoke little of why they had come here, other than that they were now free from their previous masters. They wished to know if they could settle any of the surrounding regions. The Dryads eventually consented to them settling in the plains to the north of the Vindarin Peninsula, with the requirement that they help defend against incursions of either the Sauhuagin or other beasts from the north. The Thri-Kreen agreed to these conditions, and additionally thanked the Vindar Dryads. They promptly set to work building cities and villages across the plains, creating large cities that existed just as much above the ground as under it. With a natural skill at building, they constructed tall spires, large halls, and smaller buildings with equal speed. Once they finished construction on all of their communities, they connected them through a vast network of roads. They then began farming the land surrounding their many settlements, and even managed to domesticate several of the large dinosaurs that roamed the plains around them. They managed to grow more than enough food for themselves, and began exporting their excess food to the other races. However, their population eventually had grown to be too much for the small amount of land they were currently on. Noticing this, the Dryads decided to permit them to live on the plains that make up the western coast of the Vindarin Peninsula. Additionally, the Darfellan allowed them to live on the grasslands above the sea-cliffs in which they resided. The Thri-Kreen gratefully accepted these gifts and began spreading southwards. As they spread, so did their system of roads. Eventually, they even built a massive bridge across the Trench of Aguz, linking Vindarin and Aikintuk. This system of roads expanded trade through the Jendelish Expanse.
Finally, roughly 200 years after the arrival of the Thri-Kreen, the final major migration into the Jendelish Expanse occurred. Moving in through the Wyvern Pass came a force of new humanoids, with serpentine heads, scale-covered bodies, and long sinuous tails. Calling themselves Serpentfolk, they claimed to have been pushed out of their homeland by a different race, which they left unnamed. They then promptly laid claim to the western plains of the Expanse, those abutting the Stormshields. For the following 57 years, they seemed to be content with building up their new homeland there, which they named the Sessana Empire. They mined stone from the nearby mountains, creating massive ziggurats in the center of each of their settlements. Seeing as how they were so far away from the centers of civilization in the region, the other races did not see them as a threat. However, after this time passed, the Sessana Empire declared itself the new ruler of the entirety of the Jendelish Expanse, before proceeding to send armies into the jungle. These mostly consisted of infantry, but were complemented with Megaraptor cavalry. Additionally, they had special airship brigades, consisting entirely of spellcasters. The Dryads on this side of the Bay of Jendel fell quickly, as they had few forces with which to repel the invaders. What few forces they did have were sent east, in order to rendezvous with the main armies of the other races. This lack of resistance allowed the Sessana armies to quickly conquer most of the lands the Dryads had held to the west of the Deepwaters. However, it had also made them feel overconfident. Gathering their armies, the other four races united together under a single banner, and called themselves the Jendelish Alliance. Once the armies of the other four races began to really fight back, the Sepentfolk found themselves hard-pressed to continue to advance.
The turning point occurred at the Battle of The Isanandran, which occurred at the river of the same name. Here, the major Serpentfolk force, consisting of roughly 70% of their infantry, 80% of their Megaraptor cavalry, and 90% of their airships came into contact with the main armies of the Jendelish Alliance. The Dryads supplied most of the combatants, with the majority of the infantry being Vindar. The Cecealia and Darfellan each supplied specialty forces units, being able to navigate through the rivers and streams to flank the Serpentfolks positions. As for the Thri-Kreen, they provided cavalry units to counteract those of the Sessana Empire. These consisted mostly of Pachycephalosaurus cavalry units, but they additionally brought in Pteranodon wings to combat the airships. Ambushing the Serpentfolk as they were crossing the river, the fight quickly fell against the Serpentfolk. They routed, fleeing the from the battlefield, which resulted in massive casualties on their side. The war continued in this fashion for several months, with the Sessana Empire losing battle after battle. However, this all changed with a sudden, massive invasion of Sahuagin, who began attacking both sides indiscriminately. With an army easily a hundred times as large as that which had attacked with over five centuries ago, the two sides of the war quickly forged a cease-fire to combat the new threat. With their two forces combined, they barely managed to repel the invasion, pushing the Sahuagin back to the Deepwaters. In doing so, they broke the resolve of the invaders, who fled down into the depths. This allowed the two sides to forge an actual peace. The Jendelish Alliance forced the Sessana Empire into a lasting peace treaty, at threat of potentially being forced from the Jendelish Expanse if they attacked any of the member races of the Jendelish Alliance. In return, they agreed to sign a mutual defense treaty, whether they be defending from Sahuagin raids or other invading forces. They also let the Sessana Empire have the region of the jungle that was on the southern peninsula, in order to quell any expansionist feelings that the Empire might feel in the future. They now exist in a precarious balance of power.
Oh my word! I forgot that this was a thread! Ack! I need to read this again!
DO EET!
Rogue Modron (free-willed box-like construct)
Sprite
Samsaran (reincarnated blue-skinned humanoids)
Kitsune (shapechanging fox-folk)
Goblin
Long ago there was a event on Mechanus that was wholly unexpected. Out of the law and order of the plane a spark of chaos was born and gave free will and spontaneity and imagination to an assortment of minor, almost demi-Inevitables. This new Outsider, dubbed the Rogue Modron by later scholars, snuck away from plane by using its own rules and order as a means to hide.
They then began to collect what they viewed to be like minded people. In Sprites they saw imagination and a love of life. In Samsaran they saw kindred spirits, as they were reborn in death. The kitsune shared the Rogue Modron's skill for eluded attention. Goblins, the Rogue Modron say, were brought along to be the wildcards of the new demiplane and bring about the true potential of everyone involved.
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This thread needs to come back.
Half-orcs, goblins, catfolk, dryads and spriggans. I'll think about it.
| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
This thread needs to come back.
What're'you talkin' 'bout, 'CAUSE IT'S BACK, BAYBEE
kobold
aasimar
drider
halfling
flumph
Let's do this
It was exactly 1,876 years ago to the day that the planet died. It's very sad, the planet being dead and all. Aliens did it. And not in the cool "laser weapons, pew-pew, powerful new technology we can steal for ourselves" way, either. It was in the stupid, "we throw big rocks at it until it dies" sort of way. Very lame.
And, to make it worse, they weren't even cool aliens. At least most of them. Sure, a froghemoth or two, maybe an akata pack or ten thousand, but it was mostly gugs, bogwids, gricks, gibbering mouthers, an- oh, sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself.
So, anyway, as I said, 1,876 years ago to the day that the planet died. Very sad. And aliens did it. Well. I say that aliens did it, but it's more accurate to say that they caused it. And, um. That we. That we did it.
Look, hear me out, hear me out. It wasn't our fault!
... well, okay, it was, but not for the reasons you may think!
See, the alien invasion happened mostly from underground, and the whole problem with that is that the ground is where most people keep all of their stuff. Including people.
Now, let it not be said that the world died quietly. Oh, no. No we fought hard. Harder than most could imagine. Heck, the dwarves sacrificed themselves to the man. The elves lasted a little longer.
Yeah, yeah, okay, okay, you wanna know about us destroying the world, but it being the aliens' fault. Well, the aliens were invading and causing a really big mess, and we starts looking for a solution, see? And it's a whole... thing. Apparently these aliens and whatnot've been waiting for... well, I guess, forever, really. We never did get anything coherent out of them, but all the witches - all of 'em, every coven we'd ever heard of, and most of them that we hadn't - all went nuts about halfway through the invasion. Kind of head-throbbing, throttled screaming, seizure-having, almost-incoherent-rambling type nuts. Half those that survived went actual nuts and just started acting weird, while another half shut down and went vegetable (half literal, half figurative - yeah, that turnip garden over there supposedly descends from one), and the other half lost all sense of self and wandered aimlessly for a while until they just... vanished (though I suspect they died).
We learned from their ramblings that the aliens first arrived from the sky beyond the world. Somewhere beyond the moon but sometimes before the sun and sometimes beyond it but further than many stars. Apparently they rode rocks onto our world from up there, or a really big one, or something. Then burrowed deep and waited and multiplied and then came up for killing. Call me crazy, but falling inside a big rock sounds dumb.
Anyway, they all said that we'd ignored the signs and rejected the messengers (they meant flumphs, apparently, by the way) and that doom was finally upon us all. There were mutterings and "it's all our fault," and "their greatest weapons brings forth the end of the world," and "only by power may power be broken," and "hot flame burns; but a true cold chills; life blooms from winter or is taken by death," and "the moon murders but the comet crushes," and "rocks fall," and "these people are so stupid it's literally causing me internal bleeding," and whatnot. So people started getting... desperate.
So, see, there's this sign thing, right? Like a glyph of colding? And it, well, it makes things dangerously cold. Well someone said that since the normal one worked pretty good, if we made a bigger one made to only hurt the aliens it'd be pretty good. We could guard whole areas really well.
Well. It was actually really bad. See, the specific one they chose, well... I mean it works, but it has... other problems. See, you get close, makes you crazy, you gotta build a statue. If the statue breaks or the glyph is erased ya gotta make a new one. You build one (a new one or the first one or whatever), everything begins going cold. Not, like, chilly, but like really-really cold, the kind of cold that'll shut a body down and make them enter the sleep that never ends. That kinda cold. Like mad bad cold. Bitter. Brr.
Anyhoo, eventually the sign makes a statue; the statue makes a creature, and the creature spreads the cold forever. Now that just sucks, right?
So there was a problem: we had one of those stuck here. On-world, I mean. Because we drew it. To get rid of the aliens. So they wouldn't use their prophesied super-weapon. And, I mean, to be fair it turns out a lot of these aliens tend to, well, hibernate. So we could go around killing them in their sleep. Heroic? Eh. But effective! (The dwarves hated it. Hated it so bad.) Anyway, point is, mixed blessing. Mixed blessing. A bit blursed, you might say. ... or maybe just cursed, because we killed a lot, but the cold spread a bit faster than we expected.
So the cold represented a pretty bad problem and a lot of people were going crazy and becoming "cold spawn." We worked out what the problem was and killed the majority of them, and even managed to break the last statue, erase the rune, and kill the survivors from far enough away that no one else got infected. But it was kind of too late? And a lot of the world started withering in the cold. Global cooling. What a catastrophe.
This was only made worse by the other aliens. Turns out these five things had been statues for basically ever, and it was them coming to life that started to shove out many of the aliens from underground. So that was another whole... thing. Especially since they drove all of our priests mad. No more divine magic for us. That's right! There was a time when the gods still had servants here! But these five hulk... things... all just drove 'em barmy until they lost all their power and went insane.
So we had what is, I must admit in retrospect, perhaps not our best idea. Unable to kill the things, we, uh... we made a bargain with a snake... guy... thing. Well, not all of us, but some of those dispossessed clerics we were talking about. Anyway, turns out Sertrous was sealed away for a reason. So that was bad. And that's when the kultist- sorry, the cultists of Kyuss offered a solution. It turned out it was a bad solution. So we had a godlike fiend and a godlike... worm... fiend... both fighting over the planet while the hulks were wreaking havoc and the last stupid thing is, right in the middle, someone activated an immortal Zargon monster. It was... it was a bad idea. I mean, Zargon wasn't really that big a deal, all things considered, but it was just more chaos all things considered.
So, with all that, we went to an "ultimate annihilator." Turns out there was a crystal with a bad mind in it who wanted to kill 'gods.' Some fancy negotiations made sure that it agreed that Kyuss, Sertrous, Zargon, those five hulk things, and whatever was left of that cold nonsense all counted. So, uh, that happened and Pandorym sure did wipe the floor with all that mess, though, uh... we... we think that Pandorym got eaten by the snake head, which was filled with worms, and had a horn sticking out the end. Either way, the five hulks were dumped into the same reliquary place where they all were and it was all sealed into that crystal thing from before. Don't go looking for it. Bad things happen to those who do.
So after all that mess the world was not really in a good place; it was kind of dying off. We started looking for a new way of imbuing life into our world. And it worked like a charm! We summoned a rock from that "outer space" place. See, we'd learned that there was one that was all life-affirm-y! Super-life affirm-y! ... to life-affirm-y, as it turns out! We also may have made the problem worse by contracting every planar shepherd we could to make as much of the world as life-y and connected to life-i-ness as we could. So, uh, things started living. A lot. Even if they shouldn't. Sometimes the dead didn't stay dead. Not, like, undead or anything, just... not dying.
And, what's more, birthrates no longer became a problem. Like, at all. Like, once upon a time, way back before the world died, aasimar had trouble birthing new aasimar. Not no more! Which, you know, is a good thing these days. But still. Caused a lotta problems way back when.
So the life rock first fell near the Halfling lands. Heh. Everyone thought it was kind of appropriate - kind of like the sling that would help us kill the bad giant cold thing, you know? Well, I mean, the cold thing was dead, but to recover from all the lost stuff.
Well, it didn't quite work out, as you might expect by now. Because here's the thing. You know what else is alive? Animals. Including pests. Diseases, as it turns out - at least a lot of them. Vermin. Monsters. So we had summoned salvation only to have it backfire and all the things that kill us proliferated just as much as other things. Only the dead didn't die. Didn't recover, either. At least not from the worst things. Just... kept living. And things kept breeding. It was... it was real bad. Ragnorra kept things living, but it kept them living when it shouldn't and made the things we don't want alive to stay that way.
So that nightmare was horrible in every way. And we needed something to stop the unfettered life flow that was taking over everywhere in the world. So we did what we had learned how to do and found a big "life mitigation rock" out there in the blackness, based on the most brilliant but most insane alien scribblings. And, desperate to save our planet, we took it. That, as it turned out, was also bad, but we were kind of prepared for that, this time. At least we learned, sort of?
Anyway, we had a pickle of a time figuring out the incantations, but that's how we got Atropus here. And so that puppy was orbiting our world ("orbiting" means "going around" by the way) and... turns out it wasn't so much "life mitigating" as it was "life replacing... with undeath." So we had one life-maker and one death-and-undeath-maker, and we weren't really surprised by this point, but we were kind of dying off.
And those who went up there to fight the thing had limited success, but ultimately would die and couldn't get rid of a whole extra moon.
So the Halflings (with the help of the flumphs) had erected wards in their lands. The kobolds, though, provided our last big rock. See, we got to examining the prophecies again, and we thought, maybe, "rocks fall" was both the problem and the solution? So when the kobolds introduced the spider people we kind of thought we'd found the thing we were looking for: the final solution, you know?
So the driders offered us a solution. After the drow all died from their low constitution and vulnerability to disease the driders had found ancient lost knowledge poking through their corpse-strewn dead cities. And so we called on one final rock.
It took some doing. We had to find the perfect comet, the perfect timing. We had to make sure the evil death moon was over top of the evil life rock as the big smash-it-all rock was going to shatter it all.
So there used to be a cool kind of creature called a couatl. It's a snake with feathery wings. Anyway, they gave up their life to contain as much of the evil as they could.
The halfling-born aasimar used their connection with the Beyond with the psychic power of the flumphs, every lingering divine magic or extra-spatial magic we could get our hands on, the kobolds digging tunnels as deep as possible, and the driders weaving things both physically and magically together, the Halflings prepared provisions, as the couatls prepare to unify their inner fire together.
And the mortals fled.
The great glyph was made. The rock was summoned. It smashed the moon of Atropus, shattering it. It crushed the entire region and Ragnarra in particular. It even broke its way into the depths of the crystal spire below the sea we flooded it with.
And with that, we'd successfully done it. It was dead. Everything was dead. The world died. Pretty thoroughly. And, according to our calculations, it would stay that way for a really, really long time.
But something happened. Something weird. Yeah, imagine, right?
Turns out a weird triune thingy of creatures came by. The E'loi, 'Nuki, and 'Kallu came by and added life, added minds, and added information. And Solar, Veranallia, and Fiend brought security, new life, and order. And so the Sextuple of Astra was founded and we have our modern sense of religion.
And with the rains bringing the ash from the sky, the waters purified, plants restored, and animals about (including intelligent ones trained in the lore of 'Kallu) our timeless slumber beyond reality was much shorter than we thought. And then we did the mining all the way up to the surface once again - kinda had to, though, 'cause the earth was shifting and about to swallow any who stayed behind!
These days we kobolds labor in the ground, the driders provide silk and arcana, the aasimar provide spirituality and leadership, the Halflings explore and recover what we can, and the flumphs provide, uh... well, they're also around, I guess.
'Course, not everybody likes how we've started living in society. And, you know, we're not the only society. That's just how we do it here - in the city built by the Sextuple of Astra at the center of the world, where the great rocks all fell - the former home of the Halflings.
And, of course, not all the aliens are gone. So we still got work to do.
d100 kobold
d100 aasimar
d100 drider
d100 halfling
d100 flumph
So, I ran out of time yesterday, but, the short version is that (as obvious) the world was destroyed. How? I shoved every Elder Evil into it and threw the the world-ending star stone crush them all. Did I need to? No. But it was fun!
It was almost two thousand years ago when the world was killed.
Within the last two hundred years a singular group of survivors reappeared: a group of millions of mixed characters who fled into the depths of the underworld to escape the doom of the planet. They expected their exile into timeless demiplanes below the depths of the earth to last for millennia or longer - what they didn't expect was that powerful forces with a prior interest in the world worked to make it habitable, and managed to make it (minimally) so over a thousand five hundred years after the disaster.
With the world habitable, the locks on those who'd fled were triggered to open and dumped confused survivors back into the depths of the world they'd left.
The world was not perfectly secure, however, and those who returned found their vaults crumbling. Fleeing to the surface, the masses of people found themselves on an island with fully crafted city and well-stocked library (albeit one written in a language they didn't understand and some kinds of apparent-books they don't know how to read).
Working together for survival, the people quickly found their niches - kobolds for the mining and retrieval of treasures lost underground; driders providing silk and arcane services; halflings (and their aasimar children of varying small and medium sizes) intent on travel, exploration, and investigation of the surface; and flumphs seeking the last remnants of danger.
The kobolds have funded the economy. Their efforts under the earth bringing necessary and lost things, their organization, their sense of duty, and their focus, and their hard work keep the burgeoning civilization running. Their newest generations have begun branching out beyond just being miners to gunslingers, heralds, trap masters, and specialized group fighters.
The driders are the only creatures that still have access to magic - every former priest was driven insane or killed, and the old ways of the arcane seem gone - but even the new-born driders seem to be born without the old ones' innate arcane powers, pushing everyone to find new ways to interface with the arcane powers lingering in the world.
Always considered both untrustworthy and extremely dangerous, young driders (whether born with arcane talent or not) have found themselves forced to prove their necessity in a world increasingly complex and no longer willing to cater to them just because they have power.
The Halflings, by contrast, began by being little more than a race without a homeland (their region being the epicenter of destruction) and often enslaved by their very "saviors" - the driders.
Upon reaching the surface, however, things changed. While the city was relatively safe, the world still had many monsters, and the driders had power, but were initially overwhelmed, and required Halflings to guard and protect them. Some time after attaining the surface, the kobolds found extremely large numbers of robes of useful items, notably ones filled with war dogs. With the influx of these dogs, and collecting those riding dog breeds dwelling on the island, the halflings were trained in riding and warfare. It was then that the Halflings began organizing. Before long, the Order of the Paw was formed and those Halflings who were part of it declared their freedom in exchange for protection. Unwilling to risk their own safety, the driders agreed. Within a short order most or all of the Halflings were freed into the Order, though within the span of a generation or two the order changed - it became more exploratory. With Halflings settling into many of the basic rolls of civilization with their aasimar descendants - apparently a lingering byproduct of the life force imbued from Ragnarra flooding their once-hallowed lands - and have since spread out into the wide surface world.
Of all the races, Halflings - in caravans of various sizes with full living wagons - have been those to spread and distribute the furthest of those in the world.
The aasimar descend from the Halflings, but while the first generation looked like Halflings, the second generation varied widely in size (ranging from medium and small) and the third generation then suddenly blossomed with multiple unique power sets. Now the fourth generation's powers and appearances diverged even further - to the point they are getting hard to categorize.
The aasimar and flumphs in particular have found that the city had everything the survivors needed, and have found themselves invested in the newest religious ideals growing among the people: reverence for the "Sextuple of Astra" - a group of six deific-like creatures accredited in the writings (the ones the sages can figure) as those who fixed the world.
Flumphs have also begun spreading out and exploring the world - finding and warning the Order of the Paw and others of potential dangers.
By this point, the world has begun recovering enough that some people have left central city and spread into the wider realms and establishing other, independent societies. There are rumors that, in addition to aliens, animals, and other monsters, there may be other societies or groups of people, but such rumors haven't been confirmed.
[dice=Race 1]d% = Changeling(doppleganger-kin) (descendants of humanoids and dopplegangers)
[dice=Race 2]d% = Ooze-based Humanoid (wildcard, make your own!)
[dice=Race 3]d% = Uldra (small blue-skinned fey adapted for cold environments)
[dice=Race 4]d% = Nymph
[dice=Race 5]d% = Aberration-based Humanoid (wildcard, make your own!)Second try, since the first one got eaten.
Neat! I'll have to think about this!
EDIT: Uh... okay! I guess I'm in for two. Hm... time may be slow in coming.
NO I didn't forget about this. You forgot about this! ... as far as you know!
... maybe.
AHEM
=============================================
The snow is bitter today. The queen must be angry. The small blue-skinned man glanced, worriedly, at the shivering pile of furs. I'm not sure we have the strength to haul that out.
"ow-" a second figure wrapped in furs murmured, rapidly removing its hand. "Please - hang on! I'm really hungry so I need you not to die, yet! You can make it!" Tsk. And here I'd begun to think she had taught him genuine empathy. But I supposed Lu'Ecsta-marsy doesn't change that quickly.
"I told her it was a mistake. You can't trust one of their kind." muttered the final fur-clad figure of the four... well, five, really.
"Oh! M- maybe, if she dies, I can-" began Lu, hand beginning to unravel into a set of tentacles, only to be cut off by the third figure.
"No. Don't be foolish. Unlike her, I have no illusions about your nature. You disgust me. No, you'd better hope she lives - you will not be allowed in our presence, otherwise." the changeling bared her claws. In response, Lu's "hands" split into their base tentacles.
"Okay, okay, Ildrua-" the blue man placed a hand on the shape changer's claws, "Lu-" he put another on the tentacles. We need to nip this in the bud. "I understand we're all stressed right now, but you need to put those away. Mistake or no, Aegina made her bargain and she - and Guu'lar-ithzikah, for that matter - need our help. The queen's got herself into a right tizzy, and we gotta skedaddle a'fore you lot freeze just as bad as the one's supposed ta be our talker."
Ildrua's claws vanished and she shrugged deeper into her furs, as well as growing more hair herself. "Fine. Not like I cared." she says.
Lu reconstituted his arms and hands. "Yes, oh, good, oh, excellent suggestion, Snowbeak-" began the aberrant creature excitedly.
"Enough." the Uldra breaks in. "Listen. You're the tallest one here. Most mass. We'll help, but you're gonna have to be the one to haul her. But here's the trick. If I find so much as a mark on her - so much as a single bite mark - I will not only allow Ildrua do her work, but I'll use these here blades to help. Do I make myself clear?"
"c-c-..." here Lu did a convincing impersonation of a gulp, though Snowbeak couldn't tell you how a body composed of nothing but tentacles could do so, "Crystal. You guys know me, though - you know I wouldn't... I mean, I couldn't... I just... it would only..." again, the tentacle thing gulped. Still weird to Snowbeak.
"So, we actually doing this, or...?" asked Ildura. Snowbeak nodded. Ildura cast a spell and Aegina's body - the body she now shared with the mysterious Guu'lar-ithzikah - and it suddenly began to lift from the ground. Lu's form ceased straining.
"So how long does that last, exactly?" ask the Tendralis.
"You've got about a minute." the furry fur-clad woman shrugged.
"Gah!" the Tendralis responded, hefting the un-moving woman. "Th-then we need to hurry!"
"Sure thing, Lu." Snowbeak peaked around the corner. Hm. The wolf was still there. "Right. Ildura, you'n me. We're the distraction. Lu can make a mad dash for the Hole and dive in with Aegina... uh, 'and company,' I guess." He glanced one last time. "We'll join you once we hurt it bad enough."
The three nodded grimly. The Uldra raised his bow, as the witch prepared to make her singular command and make it count.
Snowbeak's arrow loosed toward the wolf as Lu began a charge to hopefully save his friend by throwing her down a hole...
=============================================
The continent of Yuaerliische is a realm of extremes. The Southland is burdened by bitter cold and is controlled by the Queen of the Bittercold (whispered to have ancient power) who keeps the entire region wrapped in a winter storms. Served by her legion of cavalry (who are, in fact, mostly independent forces who act in her name, though they defer to her will when she bothers contacting them).
It is from Southland that the uldra come from. They love their cold lands, but they also have begun exploring the sea of storms.
The northernmost region, Norglass is held by the brass concord, a council of dragons served loyally by twelve devoted kobold clans each and five clans of azer each. They dwell together in the northern mountainous deserts and the Glass Palace, though the dragons have secretive lairs scattered far from each other.
The tears of burning flame arise mysteriously from this region (needing hosts to continue), as do the terrifying mezlan and living mirage. These move south into the world at large.
Between the two extreme regions lies the sea of storms - a shallow sea filled with multiple archipelagos, fjords, and peninsula, constantly wracked by intense weather from the two extremes. Many kingdoms, queendoms, nations, city-states, and other settlements are here.
To the west of the sea, across a thin body of water lies the Isle Abundance. The isle holds many fey and plants (especially agarican, barometz, blodeuwedd, dryads, fastachee, flowering lattice, ghoran (ghoran), treants, and (more ominously) whisperers; the land is divided under the rule of the hamadryads, the reginas of the land. The rivers are filled with ecantado creatures. The island is rumored to hold many green dragons.
It is from Isle Abundance that the Nymphs come from to adventure and explore and bring beauty to the world.
From the sea of storms has arisen a most unusual race. Seemingly made of congealed clumps of tentacles from sea creatures, the Tendralis create pleasing sensations (and are compelled to feed off the positive emotions created by pleasing others) blended with an insatiable curiosity and mental power. Though created from a collection of many tentacles, and the ability to mate with most anything and the compression ability it can only move properly when the entirety are put together. A given Tendralis can use up to with five tentacles (two on one side and one on the other) as arms and another five (again consisting of two on one side and three on the other - typically opposite the arms) for its legs, and around twenty making up the bulk of the rest of its form. Nonetheless, they can "fuse" themselves into a coherent physical form and blend in with other people they see.
From the shattered star region (an archipelago, fjord, and peninsula stretching from the upper coast of Southlands to the lower of the Norglass) stretching across the eastern portion of the sea of storms. The Changeling (Changeling) race arose from the cruelty of Predators haunting the region. Their daughters left the region, seeking freedom and clarity.
Recently, tremendous evil has come up from the depths - a great power, shattered and divided five hundred years ago - myth says it was by the brass dragons and Queen of the Bittercold, leading to their current uneasy truce. These fragments have begun inserting themselves into societies and twisting them to idolotry and false prophets toward the possibility of reunifying fragments.
Contrariwise, dwellers in the Isle of Plenty have begun becoming fonts of life and strangeness, compelled by some unknown urge to travel and bring their oddities everywhere. These have strong clashes with the evils' plans, though not necessarily making things for the better at all.
And the wild hunt has begun appearing every month... but to what end?
And what are the machinations of the fey queens? Is the Queen of the Bittercold really satisfied with her own lands? Will the dragons feel the need to burn the corruption from the frozen fields or the creeping seeds of evil? From whence does the rampant forces of life come? And what of the evil, once shattered, but slowly becoming restored?
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Part 1: The Destruction
When the Destruction came, only a handful survived.
A seed pod of Flumph had been sent towards this world to try to save it, but it arrived too late. When the newborn Flumph opened their eyes, all they saw was the remains of a world already culled.
The Genies pooled the collective power of their race in a single all-powerful wish to save a fraction of their own. Being weakest, the Suli would not contribute meaningfully to the ritual, so they were instead chosen to be the ones protected by the ritual.
Among the few spared were the lovers of the gods. Gods were not to interfere with the Destruction, but even gods will make exceptions to save the ones they love. Even so, most of those survivors simply became the last members of their race. The one exception was the Satyr and the Nereid, who were so popular with the gods that they had enough numbers to restart their civilizations.
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Part 2: The New World
With their population mostly intact, the Suli banded together and built a civilization of their own. Their much greater numbers have made them the most common and widespread race in the new world. Over time, their deep gratitude towards the Genies who had saved them transformed into a form of ancestor worship, which is now their main religion.
With their mission failed before it could even start, the Flumph decided to atone by joining civilization and helping the survivors rebuild. With the most advanced knowledge, they quickly became the wise and sought after souls of this world. While they remain a fragile species, attacking them is widely considered bad luck.
Satyr and Nereid were the most direly impacted by the end of the world. With almost no one left to seduce, they quickly turned to each other to keep playing their games of love. But with both being fickle and mischievous creatures, the love soon soured into hatred and war.
The Satyr, knowing that taking a Nereid's shawl binds her to servitude, organized a mass effort to do so. Within a few years, they had enslaved half the Nereid population. As sin and slavery spread throughout their civilization, Their attitude turned from mischievous to tyrannical and their fur took on an unnatural tone of the deepest purple. These Satyr would come to be known as the Veiled, in reference to their stolen shawls.
But not all Satyr went along with this fall from grace. Seeing the enslavement of the Nereid as unacceptable, some Satyr joined with the remaining free Nereid in a quest to liberate all Nereid. Today the free Nereid and the Watersworn Satyr form a single cohesive society.
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Nice. As you can see, I love apocalyptic ones and nereids.
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This thread needs to come back.What're'you talkin' 'bout, 'CAUSE IT'S BACK, BAYBEE
d100 kobold
d100 aasimar
d100 drider
d100 halfling
d100 flumphLet's do this
It was exactly 1,876 years ago to the day that the planet died. It's very sad, the planet being dead and all. Aliens did it. And not in the cool "laser weapons, pew-pew, powerful new technology we can steal for ourselves" way, either. It was in the stupid, "we throw big rocks at it until it dies" sort of way. Very lame.
And, to make it worse, they weren't even cool aliens. At least most of them. Sure, a froghemoth or two, maybe an akata pack or ten thousand, but it was mostly gugs, bogwids, gricks, gibbering mouthers, an- oh, sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself.
So, anyway, as I said, 1,876 years ago to the day that the planet died. Very sad. And aliens did it. Well. I say that aliens did it, but it's more accurate to say that they caused it. And, um. That we. That we did it.
Look, hear me out, hear me out. It wasn't our fault!
... well, okay, it was, but not for the reasons you may think!
See, the alien invasion happened mostly from underground, and the whole problem with that is that the ground is where most people keep all of their stuff. Including people.
Now, let it not be said that the world died quietly. Oh, no. No we fought hard. Harder than most could imagine. Heck, the dwarves sacrificed themselves to the man. The elves lasted a little longer.
Yeah, yeah, okay, okay, you wanna know about us destroying the world, but it being the aliens' fault. Well, the aliens were invading and causing a really big mess, and we starts looking for a solution, see? And it's a whole... thing. Apparently these aliens and whatnot've been waiting for... well, I guess, forever, really. We never did get anything coherent out of them, but all the witches - all of 'em,...
I am suing, as this makes cold look bad.
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Ah what the heck, I'll try my hand. Looks fun!
73- Mongrelman
61- Sahaugin
20- Dhampir
50- Faun
18- Oread
Hmmmmmm... this'll be a hard one, I might need to spend some time with this. I'm thinking primarily subterranean, but Faun doesn't work great. This thread must not die!