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The official playtest document is now downloadable here at Paizo.com Feel free to check out the psyonic feat lines and the new charlatan class. I'm hoping for enough feedback to have it well balanced by the time it comes to PaizoCon 2012.
I'll also be adding the Spark class to it soon, so it will be updated with that and any changes we make automatically in your downloads. Be sure to visit Phil and Kaja Foglio's webcomic that inspired the class. We're very grateful for their kind permission to use the term in our work.
And to help you better decide whether or not support us at kickstarter, I'm posting the lastest fluff about the world. More information is available at theTerah Project blog
Also, if you're looking for steampunk, but with less magic and more grit, be sure to check out this excellent project.
Regions of the World
The part about Terah that excites me the most is the fact that the world has a cohesive history. I have nothing against game worlds that are adventure based, but I like the idea of having a world that is in synch across cultures. Being a little bit of a history aficionado it stretches my suspension of disbelief if I end up going from a bronze age pharoahacracy to a post renaissance democratic republic in the same adventure. (Yes, playing the old GDW Dangerous Journeys system.)
So as we’ve been working history of Terah, we’ve been spending a good deal of time looking at our history. On Earth there were some pretty interesting things happening in the late 19th century. We’ve looked to these things to establish the base culture of Terah.
• The British Empire had a strong influence on the world’s culture, similar to the unifying effect that the Romans had on Europe. Britain’s drive towards empire brought British thinking, engineering, and culture to all parts of the planet. While most places did manage to keep their base culture, they often integrated that culture into the forms and customs of their conquerors. By the late 19th century the British hold on many places had weakened significantly in the area of government, but the culture remained. In Terah this is seen as the culture of the High Elves. They brought their technology over and influenced the world, but didn’t have the strength (or infrastructure) to be able to hold onto it all. Like the British and the Romans before them, the High Elves have lost control of most of the world, but their influence on culture remains.
• The High Elf influence is seen in fewer cultures in Terah than the British influence was seen on Earth. On our side of things, we’ve speculated what the changes would be in an area where the British had only tertiary or tangential influence: Germany. There’s also High Elf influence in cultures similar to Asia and India. While I’d love to eventually add many other cultures to Terah, we’ve stuck with only the ones that were affected by the coming of the elves to begin with. I have some cooler plans for Arabian style cultures.
• It’s not in the original World Guide, but what if the British hadn’t come to the Middle East? What if changes in technology and infrastructure came only through international commerce and cultural exchange? Eventually, I’ll get to the Arabian side of things in Terah.
• The United States of America toyed with its own concept of empire at the same time as the British, although not as successfully. A big part of their lack of growth came from their slightly less aggressive nature and the fact that not all Americans agreed with the concept of empire. And the nature of domestic problems caused by the whole “manifest destiny” philosophy didn’t aid in their cause. The Dark Elf culture is very loosely based on this historical concept. Dark Elves had been freeing Gnome slaves on the Other World and bringing them to Terah to live with the Dwarves for about a century prior to the Holocaust. After the Holocaust, they spent so much time dealing with the problems of freed Gnomes among the Dwarves that there wasn’t much time for empire building. They unified the Dwarven clans through a laid back philosophy. They’d give magical help and technology to one clan and then let the clan’s enemies know that in exchange for a slight loss of their sovereignty, they could have the same technology. This way they united the dwarven clans, but had much less influence on their culture.
• Dwarves have little cultural comparison to Earth. Architecturally, they are based on Central America and at one time, lived both above and below ground. With the Gnomish rebellion about 200 years ago, the dwarves became a little paranoid and xenophobic. The result was to move all their cities underground and to form a sort of Orwellian dystopia society. Their vast steam-powered difference engines (computers) track their citizens everywhere they go and visitors are not often allowed. The result is a very safe society, but much to the Dark Elf’s dismay, it is one that no longer values creativity or innovation.
• Gnomes are just scary. I’m still tweaking this race a lot. They are NOT slaves. No one wants them.