Playing My (Race) Are Different is kinda easy. Let's be honest, it's usually one of the first things changed. Has anyone altered the Geopolitical aspects of a setting?
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I began playing Hobgoblins like that back in the 80s and the theme just stayed true all the way to today.
Ditto. Back when Orcs were LE, I Klingoned them up, but when they turned to CE with 3.X, that went to Hobgoblins.
And the Dark Elves, who 'uncloaked' and assassinated your butt, before disappearing back into the shadows to set up for another alpha strike? Totally Romulans.
As for other stuff;
Orcs (the CE ones) went in a Warcraft-y direction, being both strong and insightful savages, more in touch with their inner animal, giving them sharper senses and stronger wills. (Either bonuses to Wisdom, or at least no racial penalty to Wisdom.)
Elves were so long-lived that their memories 'unpacked' at night and they abandoned anything that they didn't find interesting. Tomorrow morning, that elf you had a brutal death duel with (or a torrid romance with...) might not remember your name and greet you as if you were a stranger. Additionally, they had *zero* impulse control, feelings running brief, but sun-hot, so that even a 'nice' elf might flip out and attempt to kill someone because he took a joke wrong, and, moments later, break down weeping over hurting their friend, and moments after *that,* shrug it off and be 'over it.' To a human companion, travelling with an elf is an emotional roller-coaster and the rapid changes in personality and mood can give one whiplash.
Elves also visibly adapt to their environment, over decades, and these adaptations pass on to their children. An elf who lives in the tall mountain peaks, surrounded by clear air and sunlight, will be pale like marble, and have hair the color of sunlight and pale eyes (like Gray or Gold Elves in Greyhawk or the Realms). An elf who lives in the forest, and gets less light, will be darker, human complexioned (like High, Wood or Green Elves). An elf who lives in the darkest parts of the forest or jungle, like Grugach or Wild Elves, might be described as 'nut brown' in coloration. An elf who lives in the ocean might be blue or green, like Aquatic Elves and Dargonesti/Dimernesti. And an elf who lives in the lightless depths of the Underdark will be black, dark brown or dark blue in coloration (like the Drow).
At least some Golarion writers seem to make this assumption as well, and it's been the way things have (unofficially) been since Gygax was describing those pale, pale Gray Elves up in their mountain fastnesses and 'nut-brown' Grugach and darker-than-their-dark-hearts Drow, but in my games, it's official, and if the PCs encounter a community of elves living in the plane of Elemental Fire, they'll have red skin.
Halflings come in two modes, 'city mice' and 'country mice.' The country mice live in Tolkein-esque 'shires,' generally mono-racial and not terribly interested in visiting big folk brining their big folk problems. Surly and unfriendly, or friendly and oh-so-helpful in getting you the heck out of their town, one way or another, they do not encourage visitors to linger. "Big folk are like fish. After three days, both begin to stink..." 'City mice,' on the other hand, live intermingled with other races, particularly humans, and seem to insinuate themselves into servant or custodian or 'helper' roles with almost supernatural ease, appearing to be exactly like their surrounding large race neighbors, to the point where a human growing up in a city with 30% Halfling population might have no clue *that they have their own language and consider the human laws of the city 'quaint' and 'more like suggestions.'* Perfectly willing to act like doormats, *for years,* or even like clowns and buffoons and incompetents, to allay any suspicions that they are 'up to something,' Halflings love nothing more than to be underestimated, and pretty much free to get away with *anything,* keeping themselves 'below suspicion.'
As for their secret opinions? Phrases like, "If I can do anything you can do, at half the size, which of us is worth 'half' of anything?" are never spoken aloud, but pass through their heads when one of their big folk employers or rulers slights them.
Gnomes genetics are different. A gnomish child will not necessarily share skin, hair or eye color, interests, etc. with either of her parents, or their own parents. Even if two nearly identical gnomes, with the same coloration and interests, pair off, their children may share none of their traits (or each others).
Dwarves have monopolies on the concept of monopolies. You want MW weapons or armor? That's a dwarven technique, and even if an elf or human *can* make a MW weapon, they won't be able to do so as economically or efficiently, and they'll find obstacles springing up when they try to market such a product as more than a one-off. Most special materials (cold iron, adamantine, etc.) are also held by dwarves almost exclusively, and, like in Tolkien, even the richest elf prince goes to a dwarf to craft his 'elven' mithril mail shirt.
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The only fluff I added to the "standard" Elf description in PF is their eyes change color with the seasons; blue for summer, golden or brown for fall, grey for winter, and green for spring.
Ha, Dwarves being the pioneers of the restrictive guild systems. So Set, did the players run into guild enforcers?
The only fluff I added to the "standard" Elf description in PF is their eyes change color with the seasons; blue for summer, golden or brown for fall, grey for winter, and green for spring.
What if they inhabit tropical areas that only have the wet and the dry seasons?
The players have yet to explore any tropical regions and find any Elves for that to come up (whew! Quick thinking, Cal!)
Seriously, in my the fluff I wrote
"There are no physical changes from those found in the Core Rulebook, with two exceptions; in spring their eyes are a brilliant green, summer a deep blue, autumn golden, and in winter dark grey. Most believe this is somehow tied to whatever faraway land they originated in, as the changes occur even to Elves who live in regions where there is little to no seasonal difference."
The other exception is they don't have ridiculously long donkey like ears that many illustrators like to tack on to the sides of their heads.
Though no one has ever played a Gnome in my homebrew, I did alter the fluff for them just a tad by replacing the Defensive Training and Hatred traits with the Eternal Hope trait.
Playing My (Race) Are Different is kinda easy. Let's be honest, it's usually one of the first things changed. Has anyone altered the Geopolitical aspects of a setting?
My gnomes run a Spartan (from the movie 300) steampunk "stratocracy" ( wiki article ). All citizens are required to join the military for 2 years (after the rigorous "boot camp"). That isn't just for gnomes, either. The game mechanics changed as well to reflect their distancing themselves from their former trickster illusionist selves.
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Playing My (Race) Are Different is kinda easy. Let's be honest, it's usually one of the first things changed. Has anyone altered the Geopolitical aspects of a setting?
Well... I've been working on a Golarion specific campaign in my off time. The ship in Numeria was actually MUCH larger than what it is in normal stuff. Due to the machinations of a particularly curious Technic league member, the entire thing exploded. Technology rained down upon Avistan and northern Garund in a hail of flame and radiation. As such, there are now many areas with reactors, some damaged, some not.
As such, I've altered the borders of sevreral nations, and several more have fallen into total chaos.... It's a Kingdom game using Ultimate Campaign, and the whole point is to, more or less, expand and capture the scattered tech.
Oh, and did I mention the World Wound got its hands on heavy tech weapons, and an unusually curious demon has managed to start replicating the tech? Glabrezu with Gravity Cannons anyone?
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There are two breeds of Catfolk; Northern and Southern.
Norhtern Catfolk have more human like traits (as seen in their beastiary picture, or anime catgirl style) and their culture is based on gypsies.
Southern Catfolk are the more cat like looking ones you see in pretty much every other source book and are nomadic tribes found on the southern plains or deserts, similar to the Khajiit from Elder Scrolls.
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I'm still pretty new to being a GM. I'm better with ideas then follow thru. One thing i enjoy doing tho is actually expanding the merfolk race.
If there is a fish that i have some idea about i have a tendency to make it a merfolk.
Like whales and angler fish along with a whole community for how each interact with one another. More added at times as i come across more ideas for how i would want the fish to be like or feel their place in community. Merfolk can be quiet common in my worlds.
Also i have a tendency to half breed anything. I think pratically anything can mate with a human. Even dwarfs despite pathfinder saying they cant. Which in all honesty make humans more of a target when it comes to slave marketing and breeding. If someone just wants to breed they will go for a human. Humans have a tendency to be more fertile in my world to other races. Meaning a higher chance for a human to get pregnant or impregnate another race that isn't human.
Which also leads to some more cults and certain towns that i feel fit distrusting any race in their borders outside of humans or having like different quarters or areas that others cant enter.
This next one is rather common which is dark elves are their own race. There are good and evil dark elves. Tho to keep dark elves to have that some sort of off putting and since i play with only adults. Dark elves have a tendency to be more sexually aggressive even when good aligned (in terms of top and bottom).
In my more random games there is a haunted house in every town or city. There is a maze in the middle of most forests and underground caverns and there is always that cottage you come across on the way your trying to go. that holds random encounters.
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I've had too many settings, but probably my biggest departure from the usual racial assumptions was:
The Eternal Empire
Elves began as a simple farming culture on an island, then their society was jumped ahead by the discovery of magic. They used magic to improve the land and solve issues of basic survival, and thus the population exploded. Eventually there were too many for one island. With no other landmasses known, the most daring of the Magi decided on a bold plan, use magic to scry for a new homeland, and mass teleport most of the population. Only the sickly, and cowardly stayed behind.
They set about establishing themselves in this new land with their magic, and the first sentient beings they encountered were the Dwarves. The Dwarves were a highly academic and philosophic people, prone to research and study of natural phenomena, and the Elves greatly respected them. Mutual pledges of aid and respect were made, which allowed the Elves access to the Dwarven libraries, and the Dwarves access to Eleven spellcraft. Using the knowledge available to them, the Elves again increased in number seemingly exponentially. In time, they had established an empire that controlled 80% of the continent. Aside from the Dwarves, the only other natural race they deemed worthy was the Dragons. All the lesser races were either wiped out, enslaved, or consisted of a few survivors in captivity. Humans and Orcs were both deemed savage creatures, too short lived to be capable of learning. They are kept in preserves (reservations) or as servants/labourers (slaves). Any who show a knowledge of magic are executed without delay. Onlythose with special permission are even allowed to know how to read. Half-Elves are most often found as supervisors (overseers) or as wardens in charge of guarding human preserves. They are second class citizens, but at least free ones.
The Elves formed great houses, and over time all but one has introduced a different variable into their line in an effort to gain advantage. One house introduced draconic blood to supplement their warrior nature, another found a way to transmute willing volunteers into animate plants to allow the bloodline to get much closer to nature, the priestly bloodline began binding outsiders to supplement their line (not the angelic kind either), and the warmagi line found a way to mix in elemental aspects to their line. One line believed in the true supremacy of the Elven race above all, and they carried out a eugenics based inbreeding plan to create the most pure Elf possible.
The empire claims superiority and exercises vast power, but is rotten at the core. Decadence and corruption are the norm, and only the lack of any real organized resistance prevents it from sharing the fate of Rome. Most races are at the bottom afraid to look up. Some escapees terrorize the far flung fringe, but nobody of import is found there. There are whispers of a secret resistance among the servants, but most think it a tale to frighten the young. All sensible Elves know the lesser races are incapable of such complex ideas. Meanwhile the Dwarves look on nervously, somewhat spoiled by the conveniences afforded them by the Elves, and afraid to do anything beyond observe and record, lest they be deemed unworthy.
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Ha, Dwarves being the pioneers of the restrictive guild systems. So Set, did the players run into guild enforcers?
None of the PCs have tried to set up a smithy, although they did notice that non-dwarves wouldn't even buy masterwork weapons they had acquired while adventuring as 'loot,' and pointed them down the road to the dwarven smithy. Since the dwarven costs for gear were the exact PHB values, and anyone else ended up charging more (since dwarves were the Wal-Mart of arms and armor, able to sell for less), all of the best gear was dwarven forged.
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There are two breeds of Catfolk; Northern and Southern.
Norhtern Catfolk have more human like traits (as seen in their beastiary picture, or anime catgirl style) and their culture is based on gypsies.
Southern Catfolk are the more cat like looking ones you see in pretty much every other source book and are nomadic tribes found on the southern plains or deserts, similar to the Khajiit from Elder Scrolls.
That's always a great way to deal with variance in artwork (or cultural details), to just segregate them into different tribes or cultures. If there can be five different ethnicities of humans, with very different hair, eye and skin color, there's no reason there can't be two or three different catfolk groupings that are visibly different.
Ditto elves, or gnomes, or whatever. If player X doesn't like 'anime ears,' then her character can be from an elven racial grouping that has smaller ears, and if player Y doesn't like gnomes having bright hair, his gnome can come from a clan that has more well-behaved and less colorful hair. No reason to take options away, particularly if those 'options' have literally no game effect at all.
Hey Set, you could work in a lot of ancient history in the setting here. The Dwarves make and have a monopoly now, but what of the metalwork, arms and armour in truly cyclopean dungeons? "Is that +3 keen sabre Dwarven, what about this lightning flail? It sure doesn't look Dwarven to me."
Of course the Dwarves will want to keep non-Dwarven high quality weapons an absolute secret, and hire thugs or thieves to get these "back in the right hands" so they can be disposed of.
Maybe the Dwarves are trying to erase all remnants of previous peoples that had any sort of advanced techne? Remove anything made by giants, orcs, elves, lizardfolk, yuan-ti and others.
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I'll need to make a proper post here after work. I have such a big list of stuff to mention that I can't get to it all right now.
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Maybe the Dwarves are trying to erase all remnants of previous peoples that had any sort of advanced techne? Remove anything made by giants, orcs, elves, lizardfolk, yuan-ti and others.
That would follow, but I prefer to go against the notion that everything was betterer/more magical back in the past. The 'golden age' is now, in PC terms, and *most* weapons and armor found in 1000 year old tombs will be made of bronze, while scrolls (or undead spellcasters lingering around from those days) will have more primitive spells, such as variants of magic missile that require a 'to hit' roll, or sleep/color spray/glitterdust/web/lightning bolt spells that affect only a single target or 10' R fireballs, etc.
The dwarven monopoly has stagnated other races developments in arms technology, but they strive to advance their *own* developments and are constantly working on new alloys, etc. There is certainly new stuff to be found, advances that were found or suppressed or just dead-ended for some reason, but for the most part, the best stuff will be found on the cutting edge.
(disclaimer, haven't DM'ed since 3.5 but my nostalgia wanted to post)
Like many others, I change the 'evil races' from mindless cannon fodder supply to more like an 'evil twin civilization'. Orc vs dwarf, human vs hobgoblin, forest elf vs gnoll (and mages vs necromancers). Low magic, human-centric campaign on homebrew map.
The orcs were not so much changed, just basically just 'mountain orcs'.
The hobgoblins were militaristic with a highly organized caste system, had longships, cavalry, siege engines and good supply lines. Inspired by mongols, goths and vikings.
The gnolls were my favourite: think werewolf-rangers stalking the forests: strong, stealthy, cunning elf-hunters. I changed the lore (and gnoll stats) so that forest elves lived in trees and used bows because the gnolls were simply too strong in melee combat and faster on the ground (but slow and heavy climbers).
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Okay, so there is a lot of stuff I've worked on for my own setting that sometimes spills to how I work out things in Golarion as well, but here are some main ones.
Centaurs draw inspiration from the huns and other nomads, generally leaning more to Chaotic Neutral and Chaotic Evil. It's also a nod to the ancient Greek version of centaurs who were rather nasty in general.
The goblinoids once had a link to the fey but then developed into beings of their own. Elves were also fey once but they kept a stronger link to nature than the goblinoids did, a reason why the two beings don't often get along.
My hobgoblins are very Mongolian when it comes to their culture, though adding in the fact that they incorporate goblins and bugbears into their society with the same efficiency as they do with war and trade with other races spices things up.
Kobolds are still not taken seriously, but that's only by the common populace. Experienced adventurers and generally smart people know not to mess with the little buggers since they ARE related to dragons, and a large faction of kobolds who have declared themselves the masters instead of serving the whims of some solitary egotistic dragon have even founded a nation of their own in one continent of my setting.
Dwarves are mostly the same as they are in most settings, but have an extensive underground system that connects the surface world to the Underdark / Darklands, and has enabled them to find ways to get across the seas to other continents before anyone else. I am considering integrating most of the gnomes into dwarven society, though they still carry a fey undertone despite their affinity with the earth.
There is a lot more I could talk about, but it's midnight here and I need some sleep so I can survive another day at work.
Great stuff, really like it. Finding continents before others and trail-blazing underground is an interesting extension of the Darklands.
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Okay, so there is a lot of stuff I've worked on for my own setting that sometimes spills to how I work out things in Golarion as well, but here are some main ones.
Centaurs draw inspiration from the huns and other nomads, generally leaning more to Chaotic Neutral and Chaotic Evil. It's also a nod to the ancient Greek version of centaurs who were rather nasty in general.
The goblinoids once had a link to the fey but then developed into beings of their own. Elves were also fey once but they kept a stronger link to nature than the goblinoids did, a reason why the two beings don't often get along.
My hobgoblins are very Mongolian when it comes to their culture, though adding in the fact that they incorporate goblins and bugbears into their society with the same efficiency as they do with war and trade with other races spices things up.
Kobolds are still not taken seriously, but that's only by the common populace. Experienced adventurers and generally smart people know not to mess with the little buggers since they ARE related to dragons, and a large faction of kobolds who have declared themselves the masters instead of serving the whims of some solitary egotistic dragon have even founded a nation of their own in one continent of my setting.
Dwarves are mostly the same as they are in most settings, but have an extensive underground system that connects the surface world to the Underdark / Darklands, and has enabled them to find ways to get across the seas to other continents before anyone else. I am considering integrating most of the gnomes into dwarven society, though they still carry a fey undertone despite their affinity with the earth.
There is a lot more I could talk about, but it's midnight here and I need some sleep so I can survive another day at work.
Yes, the Huns can fit, especially if they inspire other rebels and raiders and take multiple peoples under their banner.
Setting-wise I put the centaurs as a powerful force of conquerors since way back in the pre-iron and early iron age. Once they've got bows, nice arrows and some armour they really posed an overwhelming threat to their neighbours with centaurs being larger, stronger and faster than so many of the other races. Controlling the grasslands they need a lot of space to support their populations, but controlling a land the size of Russia enabled that. Their histories connect to many of the other ancient races, some of which supported humans in the centaur part of the world, while the centaurs were content to allow the humans the seaside, swamps and waterways because the centaurs didn't want it. I place them as pretty chaotic as well individually, at times lawful evil as a civilisation after a hefty amount of conquests (civilisations love to consume and control peoples), but still remembering the agreements of the old borders and what was owned by the centaurs and agreed to by all parties. So the wars continue, because the humans, aided by an anti-centaur alliance, broke their agreement and fought for the grasslands and fertile soil (which they of course used to place towns and agriculture). Luckily the humans this side of the planet favour fortifications, polearms and a lot of interesting tamed monster units - so they are holding the centaurs off.
The centaurs have not united since the failures of the old days of conquest, and there are the two divisions of the plains and mountain centaurs (closer to being half goat).
I also notice in many settings humans are this well spread out and extremely connected group. I don't run it like that. The humans do not dominate everything and they only have regional control. The humans near the centaurs are far detached from the history and culture of the Eastern principalities (being overwhelmed at present by mongrelman hordes) and the western kingdoms (far more generic fantasy humans who cooperate with Elves and Dwarves, and are mostly safe as long as the aliance holds and threats are defeated, but don't expand and are set in their ways and tech). The east is closer than the west, but there are serious natural geographic barries and monster factions guarding the way, so only some scant few sea traders go east and west.
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Humans have been all but wiped out from my setting. The reasoning behind this is 2 fold: 1st, I got so damn tired of humanocentric settings being dominant in RPGs (D&D and Pathfinder are the biggest offenders that pop into my head, especially since I haven't really ever got into many other games, but from what I have seen on the net, they are super humanocentric as well), and just about everyone and their dog play humans in RPGs.
Much of the historic fluff deals with the setting as a whole. The short of it is, there are 8 elements (the typical 4, plus life, death, light and shadow) with their corresponding planes, and these planes leak out into the world at certain points. The life plane's node warped and changed various creatures. Dinos, predatory megafauna (dire wolves, dire hyenas, dire bears, smilodons, etc) mutated into a humanoid shape, as did some plants. The plant people became widely distributed, and when procreating with fey of various elements, created the core races.
Yeah I hear you. The sheer number of monsters, monstrous groups and the natural advantages they have over humans means that in settings of my making the humans are not the most powerful.
I don't get rid of them entirely, like you, but them on top seems a stretch.
Come to my game, you can play an otyugh, centaur, plant (groot?) or undead. Or you can play a human, not on the top of the food chain and probably a bit paranoid about that fact.
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I had necro-tech gnomes and Drow that worshipped them selves.
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A chance to brag about campaign settings? I'm in!
Racial perspectives:
Race means next to nothing in my campaign setting. There are a few race-based countries (just one really) and a few lost to antiquity. The one that's race based is...
The Drow. The drow in question though are the survivors of an ancient battle between good and evil, where every evil drow man, woman and child marched off to the service of the dark overgod and were slain. The survivors have abandoned their ancient ways with an almost destructively obsessive thoroughness. They wear concealing garments. Their art is stark and realistic. They live lives aesthetically and despite the world not even remembering the sins of the drow, they teach their children to feel utter and eternal shame over their forbear's actions. Also they have submarines. :D
Most of my nations are large nation states that are for lack of a better term, genre savvy. They can handle threats eventually. They have large, competent militaries. The PCs are heroes amongst heroes instead of being a 'point of light.'
The presence of so many heroes and competent nations is itself a major guiding thing in my campaign. Evil and Chaos are fallen aside. Balance is shattered as the useless stop-gap it is. Extraplanar forces attempt to cause trouble or outright destroy my campaign setting as they view it as a ticking clock, drawing down to a Terrible Armageddon(tm) where the Big Good will awake and 'end all that is not good.'
Humanoid races are in general civilized, with the dungeon dwelling varieties being atavistic ones (we must return to our cannibalistic roots!) or outright bandits. Kobolds are common in cities as are hobgoblins. Orcs are dying out.
Also, the typical funeral rite involves casting the dead into the sea (to return to the Ocean-Mother goddess), and the Ocean itself is deadly to the undead. As a result, necromancers have a rough time.
And, since to some folks its an oddity: My love goddess is the aforementioned Death goddess (she also rules over birth and divination), a LG deity who firmly believes that chastity, love and marriage are deeply entwined. Pretty much everyone in my campaign setting doesn't get up to anything until after they're married.
The closest I have to a 'normal' love goddess is a CN trickster goddess, who delights in confusion and suffering and is mythologically associated with the Big Evil of their pantheon.
Outsiders are more common. The 'disbalanced' nature of my campaign world has resulted in complications where the planar barriers aren't well maintained resulting in Inevitables, devils, daemons and the like being relatively normal encounters.
When your campaign setting's been around for over a decade and through multiple campaigns, player action starts to add up. O_O
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In an older 2nd edition homebrew, I had Mongrelmen exist as the product of a centuries-old hereditary cult headquartered in a buried temple of the fertility goddess. They held an artifact that let any two species interbreed. In that campaign, the artifact was actually the only way that the union of two different races could produce fertile offspring, because the campaign-world baseline was that the half races were born sterile.
I've also customized the heritage of the Shadar-Kai in a later homebrew campaign. The elves native to one area retreated from human expansion until the humans cornered them with nowhere else to go. The elves escaped into the shadow plane with the help of the PCs in a time-travel side-adventure. One of the PCs at the time also told the head priestess of the newly named Shadar-Kai about the threat the party faces in their present day, giving rise to a thousand-year prophecy that resulted in the party's-present-day generation of Shadar-Kai helping fight against the same foe the party was fighting. I didn't anticipate him doing so, but thought it might be good that something came of it.
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My homebrew is quite obviously called Freehold. Here, elves are the native race, and have gone from very clear native american anologues to more of a take on the brutal Wendigo and mysterious Uktena tribes from Werewolf The Apocalypse(still deciding which edition to go with, if any). They worshipped the nearly-infinite forest they lived in, serving as its favored children for the current age, supplanting the centaur who were the favored children of the age preceding and the fae(nymphs, etc.) who were the original. Then the gods of thr setting arrived, who attempted to first seduce and then magically force the elves into their service. Both attempts failed, and the elves began to avoid both the gods and the servitor beings they created based on the elven form- the humanoid "monster" races and "non-monster" races we are all familiar with. These creatures all settled outside of this forest and created their own cultures. There were many wars fought in the time following, some which saw the extinction of the gnomes, the exile of the gods, the destruction of the halfling homeland, the rise of the dragons, the birth of the Third Races(half-orcs, common elves, half elves and half-dragons), and the founding of the Freehold itself...but thats a story for another thread.
For now, lets talk about one thing a lot of campaign settting miss- FOOD!
Halfling cuisine is, in a word, tapas. The salacious and hedonistic halflings are very picky eaters, and food is surprisingly important to them- communal meals are almost sacred. Each meal is a touchstone to their lost homeland, and cuisine is a way to keep their heritage alive. Even a poor halfling knows how to make at least two dishes, all of which are served in what a human would consider l'amuse buche-sized proportions and are indeed served up like tapas.
Halflings are notorious for hating pickled foods, which is strange considering that they are a nomadic culture. Some say this is because they were forced to subsist on such fare while fleeing their homeland, halflings will not elaborate on the subject beyond turning down pickled foods politely when offered.
Half-Orc cuisine is, in a word, sushi. Full-blooded orcs like to eat their meat raw, believing they absorb the greatest amounts of life and life force within moments of death. While they can eat cooked food, they usually find it repulsive. Orcs prefer to preserve and pickle their meats when times or lean or when they are on the move. Their half-orc progeny do not eat raw meat in the same proportion as full-blooded orcs do, as they cannot digest it due to a lack of stomach enzymes, but they do prefer red meat cooked rare if not blue, and raw fish with easy to digest grains on the side are a true delight.
Half Orcs and orcs both are famously lactose intolerant, and communities that suffer orc raids often cultivate vats of spoiled milk to use as if it were boiling pitch. Bigots who hate half-orcs often offer them cheese at meals.
Dwarven cuisine is, in a word, a biergarten. In what remains of the Dwarven empire, game is rare, but water in the form of snow-runoff from the mountaintops makes subterranean plant life abundant. Dwarves have learned to make a nourishing brew out of any edible plants they can find as liquid is shared more easily among a family than a salad is, and the inebriating effect- which is mild to dwarves but potent to all others- is an added benefit. When game is found, it is usually prepared in a way to go with the drink, not the other way around.
Dwarven diet is almost entirely savory, and as a result, dwarves do not care for sweets. Most desserts are way too sugary for dwarves.
True elven cuisine is, in a word, shiskabobs. Elves enjoy nothing more than simple meals of cubed meats, fresh fruits, and vegetables arranged on a skewer and cooked over a generous fire. Common elves have adapted this to a more urban enviornment, and as such their watchword is barbecue. They will take similiar fruits and vegetables and turn them into sauces that they will let their meats sit in for days before cooking.
Even the most bloodthirsty and brutal true elf will not attack a pregnant woman, and this translates to elves of both types finding eggs not just disgusting, but horrifying.
Half elves blend the impatience of their human parent with the culinary tastes of their elven one and as a result their watch word is fast-food/street cart tacos. They will find sliced versions of the meats elves prefer along with withered versions of the fruits and vegetables their kin enjoy, usually also sliced into a relish-like consistency, served over a quick-baked flatbread or frybread. Half elves also usually do not care for eggs, save for the occasional maverick who finds their tastes reversed, in which case they find that the shishkabob like meals of true elves, the bbq-like meals of common elves, and the taco-like meals of half elves give them an upset stomach, and they truly enjoy things like egg-in-the-pocket and what we would call french toast.
Human cuisine is, in a word, sandwiches. Humans love getting a little bit of everything in their meals, and when they are on the move, this means sandwiches.
Humans are also famous for disliking the culinary specialities of another race. It varies by the person, however, but humans are the definition of one man's feast being another man's poison.
My setting has the Gearforged, which are a Pathfinder compatible third party version of Eberron's Warforged. I did write my own backstory for them, as they were not created to be soldiers. So, I have altered the fluff of a fluff altered version of a nonstandard but commonly used race :P
In my world, to animate a construct with actual human emotions, one needs to consume somebody's body and use the energy to wipe the soul clean. This creates a soul that lacks any memory of its previous life and personality, but because the body is consumed it needs an artificial one. The soul needs to be instructed as to how to act, much like a child, but grows far, far faster, reaching adulthood within a year or two. Whether a Gearforged retains traces of its past personality or not is a matter of much debate. It is known that if a murderer becomes a Gearforged, the Gearforged will probably not become a murderer, but some believe little traces of past personality remain. Good luck proving it, though.
The nation of Vendalia, along with a couple other nations, create almost all the Gearforged in the world. They do so out of a heavy distaste for the death penalty. These governments have come to the belief that it is more humane to use a murder or rapist to create a new life with potential for good than it is to just hang the condemned. The Gearforged are schooled in the basics of moral life for a year or two, then released out into society as free individuals, hopefully to contribute more than their forebears.
Gearforged start out with a very basic skeleton for a body, and add parts as they "grow up" and decide what they want to be like. Gearforged usually have a gender (in that they tend to gravitate towards either a masculine shaped or feminine shaped body, and think of themselves as male or female), but they aren't created with one. Why they tend to have a gender is up to debate, especially since the gender of a Gearforged is not connected to the gender of the condemned that created them, and there are Gearforged who do not fit within the gender binary. A Gearforged cannot be used to create another Gearforged. After about 80 to 100 years, the soul will die.
I do think the existence of the Gearforged brings up some very interesting moral questions. The existence of Gearforged basically stems from the idea that it is better to use a condemned criminal to create a new person with potential to fit into society than it is to just execute said criminal. If this idea is accepted, how far does it go? How bad does a person have to be before it becomes better to create a new person than to try and reform the existing person? There is some pretty big potential for egregious abuse there. What about people who think that maybe the mentally ill or disabled should be used to create new people with more potential? I would call such thinking completely reprehensible, but if someone in power likes the idea, some really bad things could happen. On the face of it, the idea of creating new life instead of just hanging someone may sound more humane to those uncomfortable with the death penalty, but it can be horribly misused. There is also the argument that the process is still an execution, just fluffed up to look like it isn't, since the condemned ceases to exist. All of this is excellent story materiel, of course.
There are also some societal issues. You raise an Gearforged to adulthood and let them into the world, but now what? They have no family. They can't have children. Their community is their fellow Gearforged, so they have to support each other. Since they come from criminal stock, many distrust them (though others look at them with hope that a better way to deal with violent crime now exists). What do they do with their life? I imagine a lot join the military, because it's a way to find purpose in life, have a steady income and a place to live, and feel appreciated by society (soldiers are relatively well respected in Vendalia), and because the military actively targets them in recruitment efforts (Reduced sleep needs, durable frames, immunity to disease and poison, don't get fatigued easily, and don't need to feed them? Army's definitely interested. The fact that a lot of them are lost and searching for purpose, and therefore easy for a charismatic recruiter to talk into enlisting, is icing on the cake.). When an Gearforged fresh into society hears everything the military is targeting directly at them, it has a tendency to look rather attractive.
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I made Steelborn, which are my version of Warforged. Made by the gnomes, have potential to be anything.
The name is also a play on the word stillborn, because some suspect that gnomes who make Steelborn use souls of stillborn babies which they capture before they pass on and force them into Steelborn bodies.
So far, they've been a welcome addition to my setting.
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Lets see, in the world of Praetor:
Races
Orcs lose light sensitivity, having always been a surface dwelling race. At one point in history they were compatible sexually with humans, but that no longer works. Half-orcs (Kordanites) are a true-breeding race descended from the ancient human-orc hybrids and can reproduce with either humans or orcs, but the child is always a Kordanite. Orcs as a race are CN rather than CE, and are highly shamanistic.
Half-giants are Ogari, a race of demi-giants, and by no means a half-bred race. Magically engineered giants from the ancient war between an elven and dwarven nation, they hail from a vast plain and are Praetor's primary race for the Barbarian class. They have nomadic tribes that function as both the dwarven nation of Deima's source of surface goods, as well as being the de facto ambassadors of the xenophobic dwarven nation.
Half-elves are extinct, not being a true breeding race, and dying out after humans quit being able to schtup around with other non-humans (see orcs above).
Classes
I've not had a chance to do some re-evaluation of classes in a few years for Praetor, but the main flavor changes come on the Monk class. On the planet Tor, there is no asian analogue at all. Monks don't carry the eastern flavor that they have in CRB, but rather are focused on their spirit magic. They train in catholic-esque monasteries, and are flavored a lot like the vanilla ToB disciplines were. I tell my players they are like a magical Friar Tuck.
Consequently, there are no ninja or samurai either, though ninja tricks are there for the rogue to take. Gunpowder is absent, so no slingers unless they want to be a bow / xbow variant.
Monsters & Outsiders
Most gods are literally sentient fragments of the outer planes, being spawned almost spontaneously as the planes reacted to the Elder Titans (think ancient greece, not very very large giants) trying to bend the sentient astral plane to their will.
Outsiders about CR5-6 or so are never ascended mortals, and are always creations by either the planes themselves or creatures capable of casting wish or miracle. Even sentient outsiders created in this manner have no semblance of free will, and always work toward the goals of their creator. Ascended mortals can never further ascend their outsider form to anything above that approximate threshold.
Existing chromatic and metallic dragons are always direct children of the Elder Titan Partath, and have no other parent. Chromatic and Metallic dragons cannot reproduce, and never reach Wyrm age category. When they surpass the Ancient category, they remain Ancient in power, but Partath becomes aware of their presence and eventually reabsorbs the dragon and creating a new child. Other types of dragons are typical, but other than the dragons with no age categories, are exceptionally rare.
Aberations are either magically created, or spontaneously created when the Dark Dimension touches the Material Plane. Cthululand and cosmic horror monsters are space creatures, but the Great Old Ones and Elder Gods don't exist. These monsters haven't really had their modus operandi flushed out yet, but there is a goddess of chaos, magic, and genetic engineering who is best described as an Azathoth analogue but less... insanity causing.
Monsters & Outsiders
Most gods are literally sentient fragments of the outer planes, being spawned almost spontaneously as the planes reacted to the Elder Titans (think ancient greece, not very very large giants) trying to bend the sentient astral plane to their will.
Some good stuff here.
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I'll continue from earlier with some more stuff from my setting, which is named Mystralas.
Humans have a presence in two of the six continents (Esvel and Ifria), and really only have a strong influence in the former, though the first and greatest human civilizations emerged in the latter. The most infamous one was the Manos (from which the word Human ultimately derives in the setting), a sort of pseudo-Mesopotamian kingdom that later became an empire ruled by a demigod king known as Gilgamesh. Considering the fact that we have Mesopotamian gods like Nergal as demon lords in Pathfinder, I figured adding Gilgamesh into the mix wouldn't be too bad an idea. Anyway, these ancient humans created the art of necromancy and enslaved many of the other races in Ifria, only to lose everything when the empire fell apart after Gilgamesh returned from his quest for immortality as the first undead in the world of Mystralas and struck down the pantheon that had wronged him in the past.
Before all that happened though, humanity was at war with a race that later became the troglodytes. These powerful lizardmen called themselves the olyndytes. They were masters of the arcane (they invented conjuration magic) as well as zealous believers in the divinity of dragonkind, giving tribute to them on some occasions while killing them to drink their blood so they can gain a part of this divinity on other occasions. They considered all humanoids that lacked scales as cursed wretches that need to be eradicated, which eventually got them into war with not just humanity, but the other core races as well. The olyndytes were allied with kobolds, lizardfolk and serpentfolk, but as time went on the latter two abandoned the sorcerous dragon priests to fend for themselves. Eventually the situation turned so bad that the olyndyte rulers turned to summoning demons to bolster their lost numbers. Dabbling with the taint of the Abyss led to their downfall, as most olyndytes degenerated and became the troglodytes, with the last great olyndyte king becoming the demon lord Zevgavizeb after attempting to devour the demons he had summoned to power himself up. Some olyndytes may still remain in stasis or as undead, but they are a rare find.
The fall of the two empires in Ifria led to many races that served under either the humans or the olyndytes there to find their own paths in life. Gnolls were slaves to humans for quite a long time (their natural strength and endurance didn't help things), and many carry a grudge on humans to this day as a result. While quite a few are rather savage and cruel, an insightful leader among them created a nation for them where they trade with other beings such as catfolk, lizardfolk and local elves. Most of them are against slavery, though the more evil ones find it fair to make slaves of humans as revenge for their past treatment. Lizardfolk mostly live in the swamps and jungles with only a few other beings to contend with (boggards being one of the main nuisances), and the ones in Ifria have also became famous as beast tamers, riding on the backs of dinosaurs when in battle. Catfolk are less grudgeful against humans than gnolls are, but are still careful with them. The more human-looking ones tend to be traders or adventurers (how legal their actions are tend to vary with the individual), while the more feral looking ones live simpler lives in the savannah type areas.
Orcs are quite similar to those depicted in other settings, though they are less inclined to Chaotic Evil than the ones on Golarion. Many tribes teamed up with Centaurs to raid nearby kingdoms every now and then, but the two races got beaten by the sheer military might of the goblinoids (as in goblins, hobgoblins and bugbears) and generally haven't recovered their holdings since the last great war between the two factions. Dwarves dislike orcs due to their tendency to raid the tunnel systems they've set up, though kobolds sometimes engage in similar activities as well. Elves dislike orcs because both races practice druidism, but in wholly different ways. It also doesn't help that orcs and elves have nearly completely opposing views on what the ideal environment to live in should look like. Orc attitudes towards humans tend to vary, which is why half-orcs are not found in every possible area where the two races run into each other.
Warforged also exist in my setting, but they were built by a group of dwarves that found the sixth continent before any other race did. The problem was, said place has such a collection of dangerous flora and fauna that even the natural resilience of the dwarves didn't help them too much at survival. So they decided to build something that could resist every disease, poison and monster that came their way. Funny enough, most of these dwarves took to living in the wilds after getting used to the environment around them, leaving the warforged to live life as they see fit in the mostly abandoned cities of stone built by the first dwarven clans that settled there.
There is one somewhat large nation stuck between the borders of Esvel and Ifria that is a host to a great deal of monstrous humanoids living together in a cluster of city-states that occasionally agree on shared matters but otherwise keep to themselves. According to legends, most of them were human once but their cruelty incited the wrath of the gods, who cursed them with the forms they have nowadays. All the beings living there are based off Greek mythology, so we have Minotaurs with a slight Spartan theme to them, another set of Centaurs who live a more agricultural lifestyle on the hills compared to their southern neighbours, and many other examples. Some humans live there as well, but the area is generally considered too dangerous to tread in by most folks that aren't experienced with the politics and culture there, since a faux pas might get you enslaved, killed or turned to stone, depending on where you happen to be.
Giants and dragons are tied into the main origin story of the creation of the world, and would probably need an entire section for themselves if I wanted to start talking about that.
In an older 2nd edition homebrew, I had Mongrelmen exist as the product of a centuries-old hereditary cult headquartered in a buried temple of the fertility goddess. They held an artifact that let any two species interbreed. In that campaign, the artifact was actually the only way that the union of two different races could produce fertile offspring, because the campaign-world baseline was that the half races were born sterile.
I've also customized the heritage of the Shadar-Kai in a later homebrew campaign. The elves native to one area retreated from human expansion until the humans cornered them with nowhere else to go. The elves escaped into the shadow plane with the help of the PCs in a time-travel side-adventure. One of the PCs at the time also told the head priestess of the newly named Shadar-Kai about the threat the party faces in their present day, giving rise to a thousand-year prophecy that resulted in the party's-present-day generation of Shadar-Kai helping fight against the same foe the party was fighting. I didn't anticipate him doing so, but thought it might be good that something came of it.
That is cool, I may steal that artifact for a game idea. In the kingmaker like game I was running, the mongrelmen were one of the big possible outside threats. They had a lot of countries to get through before they got to the pcs and their domains, and the civil war (and external wars) wrapped up before the mongrelmen got through the mountains. I gave them a hive-mind and although their tech was pretty low, they had excellent teamwork and would solve problems and win battles with mongrelman waves upon weak points, surround and isolate the strongest. Also pretty good at ambush and never the type to fight fair or even understand what fair was. Rather than make them infertile, yes they were very fast breeders and they were rampaging across the lands, ripping down governments, breeding and blending with anything, moving on as the horde was replenished and new mongrelmen joined the hive mind, keeping this tidal wave of mongrelmen going.
Far from chaotic evil orc hordes, they were not evil, closer to locusts or wasps in mentality.
I'm looking forward to reading it Kalindlara.
I too have warforged in my setting. Before 5th edition came out (and switching over to it), I called them "steamforged", being creations of the gnomes a few centuries back.
The humans had deemed themselves superior to the other races, and set about conquering the entire western continent. They had tried to invade the eastern continent (there are only 2 large landmasses in my world), but were repelled by the kobolds (really, just the dragonborn from D&D), as they had help from their dragon relatives. The gnomes suffered the most from the human conquest, being nearly wiped out if not for the help of their dwarven neighbors. They lost their happy-go-lucky trickster illusionist mentality, and became more dour and serious, focusing on war (this is reflected in a change of racial mechanics of the gnomes). They started to harness the water that inundated their homeland (the elemental plane of water "leaks" into the material plane, causing the land to be filled with rivers and lakes and marshes), developing steam power and renaissance/victorian technology. Since they are smaller than the humans, the gnomes (with the help of their dwarven neighbors) created steampowered constructs made of metal and wood with a water/steam "circulatory system", to help them in their planned rebellion against the humans.
The steamforged were obedient soldiers, and were instrumental in the success of the destruction of the human empire. With the fall of the humans, the "lesser races" were no longer slaves. Many steamforged didn't know what to do with their purpose for being was no longer around. Many stayed with the gnomes and iron dwarves (the ones that helped the gnomes create the steamforged), others wandered the lands aimlessly, and still others grouped together to form their own country.
I know it is a bit strange, but steamforged were created with both male and female body shapes. When the war was over, the gnomes and dwarves who came up with the creation process agreed to destroy it and have their minds wiped of any information regarding it. Many steamforged accepted that, but many others resented it (the ones that went and formed their own country). About 100 years after their creation, the first steamforged began to die. Those who formed their own country turned to worshipping the goddess of elemental Life, pleading for some way that would allow them to continue their race's existance. They were given the ability to breed true. As for what that entails, I haven't figured that part out yet.
Oh, and during the human conquest, they managed to completely eliminate halflings. That's why there are no halflings in my world.
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I did create fluff for Arcane magic in my games, stole a fair bit of it from Amber diceless.
All magic is ritual based. Long ago these rituals were long, expensive and dangerous but over the thousands of years the process has been refined to the system enjoyed by the wizards of today. At the start of a day a Wizard performs the ritual for all of his spells at once, creating a massive ritual circle. The act of working magic opens microscopic portals to the arcane planes (the four elemental planes, the Fey Wyld, the Shadowfell, the Ethereal, Astral and the Far Planes). The mage then draws threads of energy and weaves them through the designs of the ritual circle. This shapes the energy into what is known as a "spell". Spells will require 1 to 9 threads of energy from different arcane planes depending on the difficulty of the spell. The thread count of a spell is typically referred to as "it's level" and greater and greater knowledge of magic is needed to work with multiple threads. Only the most gifted and knowledgeable wizards are able to weave a 9 thread spell.
Once the mage was woven the threads of his spell into his ritual circle he leaves certain key words and gestures out, seals or “knots” the thread and then Hangs the spell in an arcane vessel specifically created for this purpose, typically an item of significance or a magically altered animal. The energy of the threads then flows back and forth between the mage and the vessel allowing the mage to maintain the vast energies of his prepared spells without exploding. This flow of power between the vessel and the mage creates a special link between the two and the constant exposure to arcane energy often changes the nature of the vessel, granting it magical properties on it's own. Items often become magical and animals tend to become more intelligent with unique abilities.
He then moves onto the next spell to prepare. As a wizard grows in knowledge the speed and efficiency that he can perform this process improves and the number of threads he can bind to his arcane vessel increases. As a result the 1 hour preparation time rarely changes from wizard to wizard. Spells such as Detect magic will often allow someone to view the number of threads a mage has bound, but in general this is of little use as after several years of mastery the number of threads becomes more than can reasonably be counted in a hurry and the many layers makes it difficult to distinguish one cluster from another. At best it provides a rough guess at the power a rival might have or let you know the level of a spell at the moment he is casting it.
When the time comes to cast a spell he draws the threads from the arcane vessel, speaks the last remaining words and performs the remaining gestures to invoke it by releasing the energy contained in the knot of threads.
I'm looking forward to reading it Kalindlara.
+1
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Thank you for the encouragement! :)
A note: the setting began life in its current form in 3.5, so there will be many assumptions that predate Pathfinder. I'm a big supporter of using everything in my campaigns, so some pretty esoteric sources are used. I didn't go into as much as I could, and there's definitely references to stuff outside the topic of warforged. Questions are welcome; I'm clearly willing to go on and on about it.
I decided to post this to a newly started blog, as I was a little leery about Paizo's legal ownership of anything I post here. I don't think they're doing anything inappropriate or abusive, for the record, but I do want to be a writer someday, and I don't want to accidentally give them legal rights to my world. :)
Plus, they might not appreciate the length. And this was the shortened version. :D
Heh, very impressive. Now I need some ideas as to how my warforged operate, considering the fact that the dwarves left them to their own devices on a rather hard to tame landscape.
Thank you for the encouragement! :)
A note: the setting began life in its current form in 3.5, so there will be many assumptions that predate Pathfinder. I'm a big supporter of using everything in my campaigns, so some pretty esoteric sources are used. I didn't go into as much as I could, and there's definitely references to stuff outside the topic of warforged. Questions are welcome; I'm clearly willing to go on and on about it.
I decided to post this to a newly started blog, as I was a little leery about Paizo's legal ownership of anything I post here. I don't think they're doing anything inappropriate or abusive, for the record, but I do want to be a writer someday, and I don't want to accidentally give them legal rights to my world. :)
Plus, they might not appreciate the length. And this was the shortened version. :D
impressive, but long.
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impressive, but long.Thank you for the encouragement! :)
A note: the setting began life in its current form in 3.5, so there will be many assumptions that predate Pathfinder. I'm a big supporter of using everything in my campaigns, so some pretty esoteric sources are used. I didn't go into as much as I could, and there's definitely references to stuff outside the topic of warforged. Questions are welcome; I'm clearly willing to go on and on about it.
I decided to post this to a newly started blog, as I was a little leery about Paizo's legal ownership of anything I post here. I don't think they're doing anything inappropriate or abusive, for the record, but I do want to be a writer someday, and I don't want to accidentally give them legal rights to my world. :)
Plus, they might not appreciate the length. And this was the shortened version. :D
Well... it is my nature. :)
Were you able to make it through it all? I tried to plan it out before writing, so that each idea flowed more naturally into the next. However, I ended up cutting out about a third of what I wrote (on the origin of the crystal) so it might be a little bumpy in the middle. Sorry, though. :)
My origin story:
My homebrew world is rife with science fiction being confused with religion, but ultimately actually being the basis for religion...
A star faring empire sent out a terraforming ship crewed by 2 servitor races, the Vahm and the Makura.
The Vahm were the scientists and mages that perform and oversee the terraforming, while the Makura were a race of warriors there to protect them, and the "empire" was at war.
This world was needed as a forward base into enemy territory, and their mission was a clandestine one, to be sure.
The world was already inhabited by lower forms of life, the atmosphere thick and oppressive, but that was no issue...
As the ship they arrived in was converted to it's purpose to reform the world, these folks went about their work. All went well...
The Vahm, began to watch the local life to see how the changes began to effect them, as was standard procedure. Could the life forms be used for the benefit of the empire, or be discarded with the other non-useful bits of the world? The makura had little interest in this, and hunted the larger life forms for sport.
The Vahm's hobbies turned from study to experimentation, changing some of the local creatures into various forms, sizes and shapes for further study.
Time passed...at some point they lost contact with the Empire. Their messages were unheeded, and no new orders came. Years with no contact passes, and the Makura become restless.
The Vahm, calm and colelcted, continue with their experimentation and creation, designing creatures for certain environs of this new world, to work and toil, and to study the development of culture.
The Makura wanted them to develop a new means to leave this world, and go check on the empire and possibly defend it.
Free of their overlords, the Vahm refused, preffering their new role as custodians of this world they had made. The Makura left, angry, and formed their own colonies elsewhere.
There were skirmishes and fights for a few decades, and allies in a united purpose became enemies.
A large scale war errupted, and did not have any signs of ending. The Vahm, knew though it was only a matter of time until the Makura could out breed them and win, being designed for such conflicts.
So, they did what they do best, and developed a bioagent through science and magic, that would slow their development, and make them less aggressive without destroying them utterly. They hurried through development, and when it seemed the Makura was within victory in a mtter of decades, they unleashed the weapon on them.
At first, nothing seemed to happen, they kept fighting, and the Vahm held. Then, as new generations of Makura came, less and less of them were able to study and operate their war machines. Their aggressiveness was lessened, not by much, and their birth rate was slowed a bit, but the unintended side effect was the loss of intelligence, and wisdom. As the last of the mature Makura saw what was becomming of them, they begged the Vahm to cure them. The Vahm decided that with a cure, would come a return to the conflict eventually, and refused. A last ditch major battle happened, but the outcome had already been decided. The Makura had lost...utterly. The Vahm studied their regression, and the hunter-gatherer societies they formed on the coastlines, but ultimately left them to their own devices.
Another side effect, the Vahm would learn, was their own declining birthrates. At first, they did not think it was connected to their use of the weapon, but soon discovered that it most certainly was.
They spent decades of their long lives trying to find cures, and to reverse the effects, but to no avail. They then turned to find ways of extending their own lives, and the last of them that were able to actually bear young. They also turned to their creations, and studied them, experimented on them trying to find a way to use their youth and high birthrates to augment theirs.
Decades pass, the last Vahm newborn now being an adult, and all attempts at artificial means to keep them going had failed. One young scinetist, J'eho, stumbled upon a serum that seemed to grant his creations enhanced intelligence and longevity. He continued to work on this line, supported by the others, each strain having a different, but long lasting effect. These experiments were the first among the races than populate Sirus today...
As their numbers began to dwindle, they worked on a final serum desinged to grant them immortality. They decided one of them must continue on, in order to teach, and warn others so that what befell them would not be repeated. They decided J'eho, the youngest of them, should continue on. The remaining Vahm sacrificed themselves, pouring thier knowldege, soul and magical energies into the serum, and J'eho drank it.
The experience nearly killed him, and as his body began to fail, thought of the irony that their last triumph would finally finish them all off, and he simply willed for this to not occur. Almost instantly, his health returned. As he rose, he looked at himself, who had become a perfect specimen of his race.
Being ever the scientist, he ran tests on himself, and soon learned he could bend the energies of the universe to his will. He could alter himself or anything with a mere thought. Thus the first (and only) true god of Sirus was born.
He watched his creations form cultures, societies, and live. He continued to work on his serum, wondering how his creations would handle such power. He watched them and studied them for canidates, and soon chose several of them, and gave them a toned down version of the serum. To them, the creator had come to them and raised them to godhood, but to J'eho, he had merely created servitors that could help him study and run this world, or at the very least keep things in order while he worked on other things...
He impressed his will upon each of them giving them a task, or goal to embody, then told them they were to watch the world and his creations.
They each chose worshippers and soon had the creations praying to them for guidance, help (both good and bad), and granting the use of limited magic to their most faithful...
Theres way more to this, but this is already a wall of text.