Welcome to Tor-eal (pronounced tohr-ee-ahl). A strange world, with nearly no gods, no outer planes, no astral plane, and only the Elemental Planes, Ethereal Plane, the Shadowfell and Feywild, and a new Plane of Existence; the Realm of Dreams. Legends and elders say, that once, a millennia ago, there were many gods, hundreds of them. There were demons, devils, and clerics to these living gods. Unfortunately, the Catastrophe changed that. The races of the world are changed, the Underdark is conquered by the psionic, tyrannical Duregair, who have the enslaved Dhaer people under their control. The surface is filled with many new races, from Surfneblins to the fearsome Hearthdrak Dragonborn, and the penitent, magic worshiping Goblinoids. Fiends of all kinds are extremely rare (with divisions between Demons and Devils being unknown), and celestials protect coastal cities from awful krakens.
Edit: I moved the lore that was originally in this post to post #2 in order to make it easier to fit the lists of Content and Upcoming Content in this post. After making this list, I've realized that a lot stuff is going to have to change about it (especially if I plan on detaching it from the Forgotten Realms), so I may make a new thread for it to sort through Nu-Tor-eal. I'll keep adding lore and see how it goes. If I feel the need, I will make a new thread with the updates and link it in this post.
In-depth exploration of the Orcs. The Orcs now worship Ubtao, are kind of similar to Eberron's druidic orcs, but they train/ride Dinosaurs, decorate their bodies with magic tattoos (the ones from Tasha's plus a few homebrew ones) and are the peace-keepers between the Primeval and Civilized (often Rangers, Druids, and Totem/Beast Barbarians).
A Gazetteer for both the capital city of the Sheiohn Foulen (Phren) and the capital city of the Yikkan Contingent (Kantamyn). Phren is a diverse psionic city primarily populated by the Felshen, but also Gem Dragonborn, Verdan, and other psionic races. It relies heavily on psiotech innovations, like telepathy-enhancing crystals, mental libraries, and dream hubs. Kantamyn is a three-tiered goblinoid city built atop a terraformed mountain and protected by a giant wall of force that covers the whole city and uses other forms of magitek to enhance day-to-day life (conjuration/creation magic to provide the day-to-day necessities, abjuration-based security systems, magic hospitals with Doctor-Clerics, and transmutation-based construction companies).
Spelljammer in Tor-eal. A couple of recent 5e products have completely changed my plans for Spelljammer in Tor-eal. I was originally planning on using Sardior (who apparently died before Toril even existed from the lore in Fizban's Treasury of Dragons), the Crystal Sphere with the shut-off Phlogiston (I guess I'll use the Aether now? But that might change the Stars, which would drastically change the Sürdrae), and excluding the Rock of Bral (which now is probably shut inside Realmspace, I guess). I'll still keep most of the major parts (the Githxei, the Illithid Empire, Gem Dragons, and non-Evil Ceremorphs), but Tor-eal Spelljamming is going to be substantially different from how I originally planned it.
An in-depth explanation of the Factions and Renown similar to Guildmaster's Guide to Ravenloft. Current factions: The Night Lotus (providers of non-lethal illicit activities for the purposes of pleasure, such as drugs, gambling, and sex work), the Society of the Emerald Viper (an assassins guilds made up of well-dressed, always polite Magnificent Bastards that are not only extremely skilled in their craft, but also extremely calm and noble), the Bearers of the Flame (wizard-librarians/teachers that chronicle major historic events while they happen and spread knowledge to prevent history from repeating itself), and the various religious factions/ideologies (Cult of Terror, the Somnambulant, the Forsworn, the Daywalkers, etc).
An in-depth explanation of the main different nations and major conflicts that are ongoing (Giant-Aboleth War, Githxei-Illithid War, Felyik Conflict, etc).
The ancient Blood War, the fiendish clash between forces of law and chaos, of tyrannical oppression and destructive freedom. Raging on for thousands of years, costing hundreds of mortal lives annually, as well as thousands of demon and devil lives, this war was despised by all, but also recognized as a "necessary evil" to maintain planar balance. This understanding revealed itself to be true, because when the balance between the forces of lawful evil and chaotic evil is disturbed, cataclysmic events follow. Though it now has been proven to be needed for planar balance, did nothing to stop the Devils from winning.
Throughout the centuries, others have tried to end the Blood War, like Zariel the fallen angel, and the previous Archduchess of Avernus, and Graz'zt, a previous Archdevil of Baator, and then Demon Lord of the Abyss. No one succeeded in winning the Blood War for all the millennia it was raging, but then that changed. How so, no one remembers, or at least no one is telling. Whomever meddled in the Blood War the last time favored the Devils, and allowed for them to destroy, or somehow rid the world of the demons. And truly, all the demons were gone. Lolth's worshippers lost their magic, Yeenoghu's fierce race of hyena-shaped humanoids, the Gnolls, were released from his control, and all cultists of the demon lords lost their abyssal power.
With the Demons gone, the Devils were mostly unrivaled in the Lower Planes, and they easily subjugated the Yugoloths. Banishing the Orc gods and Goblin gods from Acheron to Carceri, the Devils conquered the Lower Planes. The Celestials were slow to act. Firstly dumbfounded by the events that unfolded to allow this to happen, they started arguing about possible solutions to this problem. A group of them wanted to attack and obliterate the Devils, but the other side claimed that they should cautiously thank the Devils for ridding the multiverse of the feral demons. The Celestials ended up taking the more peaceful option, not wanting to provoke the Devils, and possibly bring upon themselves their fiendish wrath.
A contract was created. The Celestials and Devils agreed upon these terms:
The Upper Planes were for the Celestials, and were not to be attacked by the Devils.
The Lower Planes were for the Devils, and were not to be attacked by the Celestials.
The people of the Inner and Material Planes were allowed to worship whomever they chose, with no otherworldly interference.
The Devils allowed the Celestials to draft up the contract, and signed it, smiling at the simplicity of it.
They then took advantage of it. Immediately noticing its faults, they gathered their forces and attacked Mechanus. Asmodeus slew Primus, and took his place as the leader of the Modrons. Outraged, the Celestials claimed that the Devils broke the contract. The Devils slyly smiled and said they did no such thing. The Celestials, noticing the fault in their agreement, saw no option except attacking Mechanus, trying to slay Asmodeus. Failing at destroying the seemingly endless armies of the newly fiendish modrons, the Celestials retreated, losing many of their numbers.
The Devils, now attacked Mount Celestia, taking the plane, and slaying many of the gods. Tiamat aided by Dispater slew Bahamut, Asmodeus killed Torm and Tyr on his own, and so on. The Celestials, noticing that they had no chance at overtaking the Devils, used their last moments in the Outer Planes to weaken the barriers of Carceri, allowing the Goblin and Orc deities to escape. The Celestials and all the gods (except Tiamat and Asmodeus) fled to the Inner Planes, and in an act of desperation to protect the races they worked so hard creating, they sacrificed themselves to create a barrier around the Inner Planes, cutting off the Outer Planes forever. The Astral Plane was cut off, Sigil no longer accessible, and there was no way for the Devils to invade the Inner Planes. Though many of the gods that sacrificed themselves were evil, and never cooperated with anyone before, they saw the need in this dire situation, and were willing to give their lives for the people of the Inner Planes. And, chaos ensued.
The Celestials made their home in the Elemental Plane of Air, with the Angels protecting the Material Plane from threats that may destroy them without this celestial aid. The Devils conquered all of the Outer Planes, dominating the Gith of the Outer Planes, and searching for any way to get inside the Inner Planes. Though most of the gods died, the Shadowfell-dwelling deity, the Raven Queen, survived the Catastrophe.
What happened to the races:
The Blood War ended 79 years before the gods died. This is important for 4 races, listed below:
Drow
Orcs
Gnolls
Goblinoids
Let's start:
Drow: When Lolth died, or was banished, or otherwise gone from the multiverse, her clerics lost their power. They lost all their demons, all divine power, and became substantially weaker. Noticing the lack of power and leadership among their matron mothers and priestesses, the drow mages (mostly, but not completely male), overthrew the oppressive society that the matriarchy had festered. Becoming a magocracy, the new drow society mostly remained in the Underdark, allowing their slaves to go free, slaying their spiders, and a few thousand drow journeyed to the surface to see what belonged in the world above. About 56 years after founding their new government based on arcane magic, still severely weakened by the loss of their fiendish allies and divine power, an army of Duergar, their slaves, and aiding devils came to Menzoberranzan, and started attacking the Drow. After the mages of the army were slain, the Drow surrendered to the Duergar, becoming slaves to their awful new masters.
The psionic duergar tortured and mutilated the drow with psychic powers for a thousand years. Now, they are barely recognizable, and are a purply-gray skinned race of dark-elven heritage. They are now known as the Dhaer, are are a skinny people, with glowing blue eyes, inconsistent personalities, and horrid speech patterns.
Though the drow who remained in the Underdark were taken prisoner by the Duergar, many Drow already left the underground to become a new race of people, over the millennia losing their weakness in sunlight, and gaining a culture of worshipping the stars. This race became known among the surface dwellers as Surdrae, and are a benevolent people.
Gnolls: When the demon lords were defeated, and were erased from the Multiverse, gnolls immediately noticed a difference. Normally driven by the fear and hunger inflicted upon them by Yeenoghu, Gnolls are maddened with savagery. When Yeenoghu no longer had a hold on them, they lost these overwhelming emotions, and felt strange. For the first time in their lives, they didn't feel motivated to do anything. Then, they all felt anger at how they had been dominated for centuries, and they fell upon their humanoid cultist companions, devouring them. With this final act of savagery, consuming humanoid flesh cleansed them of their bestial nature, and caused them to feel shame for how they acted for those hundreds of years. They vowed never to do so again, throwing off their horrid jewelry, clothes, armor, and weapons made from humanoid remains, burying them, and became a peaceful race. As they attempted to be redeemed for their transgressions, as the demonic influence of them slowly left, half of the gnolls transformed into female versions of their race.
Travelling north of the High Forest, in between the Nether Mountains, founding a town in the hills populated at the time by 7,500 gnolls. Now, there are now around 150 million gnolls scattered across northern Faerun, with around 100 million of them living in this city, known as Zeer-Han (Our-Home in Gnollish). They also created a new language, which was a mix of their previous language, the Orc language, and Common.
Orcs: The Orcs were devastated by the Catastrophe. First, when their gods were imprisoned in Carceri, they lost most of their contact with them, and communication was hazier and harder to do. Their societies revolved around consistent contact with their deities, and so they descended into chaos. Tribal leaders were chosen based on guesses, marriages were assigned by a priest of Luthic based on their own interpretations and not on direct omens from their pantheon. Orc society still functioned for the several generations, but among the clergy of their gods, they were slowly becoming more and more disoriented.
Then, when their gods were released 79 years longer, they started receiving many omens and proclamations from their gods, but these were different. They weren't filled with rage, anger, or fierce emotions like before. No, instead, they were tired, solemn messages admitting guilt of dragging their followers into an eternal pointless war. The orc gods let them be free of their traditions, and told them that unless they stop hurting the other races, they will never be happy. This destroyed orcish society. The younger generations called the older generations to let go of their traditions and savage ways. The older generations remembered the tales of the omens of their gods, and confirmed that these messages were legitimate.
Over the course of many years, most orc tribes of Toril abandoned their previous ways. They stopped raiding, killing, and abusing others. They vowed to protect the wilds they once took advantage of, and created a new culture of nature worshippers, druids, and rangers. They started patrolling forests, fields, plains, and the other wilds, and protecting the land from destruction and molestation.
Goblinoids: Much like the Orcs, the goblinoids lost contact with their gods for generations, but because their society was not rooted in tradition that was dependent on direct, constant contact with their gods, much of their ways were not changed during this time period. Small, mostly unimportant changes did happen, such as hobgoblins no longer being born with bright blue and red noses, and their souls no longer traveling to Acheron after death, and divine magic no longer seemed to be forbidden, or at least it wasn't punished by the gods during this time. Some traditions did fall way, due to the lack of surveillance by their deities, and the elders claimed that the younger people were being swayed by devilish temptations. When their gods were released, unlike the Orcs, they received no messages, omens, or communications of any kind.
When Maglubiyet and the other goblinoid gods were freed from Carceri, they were weary from their battles in Carceri against the orc gods, and what other monstrosities lie in that fiendish plane. Tired, weakened, and unmotivated to start another war against the impossibly powerful Devils, Maglubiyet commanded his pantheon to flee to the Material Plane and protect it from the Devils. They received news of what the other gods were doing, and grudgingly agreed, knowing it was for the best of the races they had wronged for so many ages. Not once during this entire period of time during their release did they bother to attempt to contact their loyal servitor races. They then sacrificed themselves alongside the other gods, and once again left their people.
When the goblinoids learned of the events that transpired, and the fact that their gods killed themselves to protect the people of this world, they were shocked. Utter chaos followed. Bugbears, consumed by utter rage and disappointment in the weakness of their deities, overthrew the society of the oppression. The goblins fell under their sway, and obeyed the new leaders of the goblinoid cast. Immediately after the gods' deaths, with Mystra and the Weave being destroyed once more, magic reformed. No god or goddess of magic was recreated. No tapestry of the universe, connecting threads of magic, was respun. Magic was left fractured for 24 hours, causing magic to fail during that time, similar to the Spellplague. Magic reformed, united once again, but it was different. There was no Weave. Instead of a vast flowing source of magic throughout the world, magic seemed to connect things more. "Strings" of magic connected all objects in the universe to seemingly every other. Magic started effecting the world around it. An act of substantial magic near a powerful spellcaster could temporarily or permanently change the area around them. A cleric resurrecting a creature from the dead could cause the grass around them to start glowing, or a necromancer creating a skeleton could cause bones to rattle on the ground around them. Magic and the world was more interconnected. The presence of an archmage in a village could cause Wild Magic Sorcerers to be born, or an angel could cause the births of Aasimar.
Hobgoblin Devastators were the first among the goblinoids to notice this change. With the permission of the bugbears, they were allowed to study it. They created notes, journals, and collected knowledge about it. They called this new source of magic "Yikare", which was Goblin for "The Law". Soon, the goblinoids literally started worshipping it. Bugbears became clergy (Arcana Clerics), Goblins were blessed with divine and arcane power due to these clergy, named Booyehgs (Divine Soul Sorcerers), and Hobgoblins trained more wizards, them being called Dehvoes. They even adopted 3 new commandments that were adapted from observations about the Yikare. These commandments were:
Magic chooses, and can be chosen. Revere and serve the Choosers, Chosen, and Chosen-Choosers.
Protect, and receive protection. Harm, and be harmed.
Do freely until others cannot freely do.
The goblinoids established numerous amounts of settlements, all with allegiances to each other as long as they followed these 3 commandments. Most other races, except Verdan, were normally banned from travel into their cities, which were mago-theocracies. They are independent of nations and other peoples, but are allowed to trade with them, but other humanoids are pitied by goblinoids due to their lack of worship of magic.
Surfneblin (Surface Deep Gnomes): When the duergar marched in the Underdark to capture the Drow, the svirfneblin watched in horror, unable to do anything. With a sense of self-preservation acting, the inhabitants of Blingdenstone fled to the surface, most of them settling down in Silverymoon at first. Over the centuries, they were eventually mostly assimilated across Faerun, with around 1.5 million in numbers. When the gods died, Svirfneblin lost their ability to control Earth Elementals, but otherwise, their society was not changed much. Though their true names are Svirfneblin, the people of the surface world have adopted the name of "Surfneblin" as a mockery of their contradictory nature.
Verdan: The Verdan, who before the Catastrophe had no people, no cities, no culture, and no religion. In a way, this was a boon. They had no ties, no society to fracture, and no foundations to be shattered. Due to this, and their reaction to this event was mainly calm. When they were first created, there were only about 1,000 Verdan. Now, scattered across Tor-eal, there are more than 2 million verdan, filling many positions in day to day life.
When the Catastrophe occurred, these calm and mellow goblinoids reasonably, which was beneficial to them as a people. For example, in Waterdeep, while the city was scrambling from the deaths of Laeral Silverhand, Vajra Safahr, a few Masked Lords, and the destruction of the Blackstaff and Blackstaff Tower, a verdan man named Wural Ulmokina, who was only 28 years old at the time, was able to rally together Waterdeep and be elected as the first High Magistrate of Waterdeep. The government became a democracy, and the High Magistrate was elected every 12 years, voted out of office when they lost popularity or died of old age. Wural was a compotent and charismatic leader, who allowed Gnolls, Orcs, Drow, Goblinoids, and Svirfneblin into the city 8 years into his first term. He was able to protect the city from the Second Dragon-Giant war, and was elected for 9 terms, serving 108 years.
This, and many other instances of Verdan reacting well to this stressful situation, allowed them to do well in their communities, becoming lawyers, politicians, public speakers, actors, musicians, and in general, great friends to people of all races. They were even well known enough to be openly accepted into goblinoid cities, though they were looked down on still unless they were practitioners of magic.
Dragonborn: Similar to Verdan, Dragonborn were fairly new to Toril when the Catastrophe ocurred, but they did have a culture and traditions. A few dragonborn had adopted the worship of Faerunian gods, such as Torm, Tyr, Helm, and Bahamut, but not a substantial amount of them were followers of gods for the Catastrophe to destroy their culture. At the start of the Catastrophe, they remained relatively the same physically, socially, and socially, but they eventually began to change, thanks to the Second Dragon-Giant War. They split into two groups, not divided by color, heritage, physical differences of any kind, but instead philosophical differences. They were named as the following:
Hearthdrak. These dragonborn sided with the dragons in the Second Dragon-Giant War, aiding them in war, and attempting to unite their people against the giants. They remained the war until its end, and fought well, but they weren't reunited with the people they split from. In modern Tor-eal, they are physically different, more charismatic and intimidating, and are able to frighten people.
Othrilers. These dragonborn fundamentally disagreed with the assertions of the Hearthdrak. They didn't think the larger and otherworldly races were worth following, and instead decided to turn against them. They don't like any race that they claim "pretends" to be better or more powerful than them. They remember their subjugation and enslavement under the dragons and primorials on Abeir, how the gods would take advantage of them, and they reject other races.
Mind Flayers: The illithids of Toril were stunned by the events that became known by the humanoids and celestials as "the Catastrophe". Instead of adopting that name, the Mind Flayers at first called it the "Opportunity" and eventually called it "The Changing". Seizing the moment, the Mind Flayers took advantage of the moment of insanity and chaos on Toril, while the numbers of Gith on the planet were small in numbers. They first sent their thralls to steal white dragon eggs, and kidnap sleeping white dragons. They then transformed the captured dragons into Brainstealer Dragons, brainwashed the newly hatched dragons into serving them, and luring multiple dens of kobolds into Mind Flayer bases, where they were gathered up into their remaining fleet of spelljamming ships, where they fled into Realmspace to leave before they were stopped from leaving. During the millennia following, they warped the Kobolds into a new race known as the Coalbs, and bred their brainwashed white dragons with sun dragons, to produce radiant dragons.
Gith: Though they were were separated from their home planes and commands from their superiors, the Gith who were in the Inner Planes at the time of the Gods' Sacrifice were able to unite as a single race. Led by a Shasal'Kou Githyanki named Xei'karr, both the Githzerai and Githyanki united to start a faction of illithid and aberration hunters known as the Telairkarr. The united gith race, now known as the Githxei (gith-xay), recruited humans, surface drow, and gnomes to help them in their quest to track down and destroy the Illithids in Realmspace and the Inner Planes.
Minotaurs: Similar to Gnolls and Drow, they were freed at the end of the Blood War. No longer bound to their abyssal god, Baphomet, the Minotaurs were confused. They no longer had a purpose in the world, but did have a place. Becoming a fierce, but unbound race of people, they no longer had a unifying reason for existence, so they started with the basics, survival. Though they already lived in caves and dungeons, they no longer felt satisfied with their lives of terrorizing others, and hiding in dungeons worshipping dark evils. As a people, the Minotaurs left their ruinous dungeons and labyrinthine caves, and formed settlements in the forests and woods of Faerun.
At first, they were attacked by Wood Elves and other feyish and plant inhabitants of these forests, but they were powerful and strong enough to drive them out of their forests and to the north. The Minotaurs, not sure of much in the world except for the fact that they hate elves and fey, started logging. They chopped down trees, using the branches of them as fuels for fire, and with the logs they build wooden forts surrounded by mazes of wood, keeping out intruders, but easily passed through by the Minotaurs.
As the millennia went on, the Minotaurs lost their savage and brutal ways (still having no love for elves and fey), and became less monstrous. Shrinking in size, due to them no longer being cultists to Baphomet, and becoming more and more human-like, the Minotaurs became another race of humanoids. Now a race of forest-dwelling, logging, and fortress building people, they started trade with other races. Gnolls needed wood for their city's buildings, and the minotaurs needing hides and fabrics for clothing and art. Minotaurs even developed their own language, called Minotaur, which was a mix of Orc, Abyssal, and Common. They eventually learned the ways of masonry, reinforcing their fortresses with stone walls and foundations.
Nowadays, a Minotaur settlement is a fearsome place. Fortresses filled with trophies and hides of slain creatures, no one of elven or feyish descent allowed within a mile of a fortress, the roofs of the castles made out of wood, but covered in fire-proof hides. They no longer a savage and brutal people, but are an industrious and hard-working people. Their fortresses are ever-expanding, many of their fortresses have mines underneath, and forges inside, billowing smoke 24 hours a day. They're master weaponsmiths with a love for gold, whose art shows them conquering woodland creatures, treants, and druids, as well as the rise of their society. They have no religion, except capitalism. They have few laws, except that harming other minotaurs is not allowed. They trade often, but not with Elves or Firbolg.
Aboleths: Residents of Toril for millenia, who dwelled here before the gods, and after the gods. Resenting all things holy for these many, many years, the Aboleths were pleased when the gods died. Finally, their patience and plotting would benefit them. Their first task as a race was to come together, and dominate the Kuo-Toa, who had fled to the ocean to avoid destruction by the Duergar. Claiming to be their gods, the Aboleths gained the complete faith and devotion of the Kuo-Toa people.
Next, they waited. It took over 28 years, but then it happened. Carefully calculating the actions of the other races, the Aboleths waited for the Illithids to leave Toril. Noticing how they kidnapped White Dragons, the Abolteths took advantage of this situation. They sent their Kuo-Toa to an underwater cave containing Bronze Dragon eggs, destroying them. They planted evidence implicating the Storm Giants in this act. When the Dragons noticed, they were infuriated. United together, the Dragons declared war on the Giants, starting the Second Dragon-Giant War.
While the war was raging, and the giants and dragons were distracted, they Aboleths swam deep into the ocean floor to the lairs of sleeping krakens. Dominating a few krakens, taking control of them, and unleashing them upon the Storm Giant strongholds of the ocean. The Krakens destroyed the Storm Giants' homes, forcing them to leave the ocean, and allowing the Aboleths to have control of the oceans of Toril. Attacking settlements on the Sword Coast, and the settlements of underwater races, they were able to ravage the races who depended on the oceans. They forced the Aquatic Elves to flee up rivers, now making their homes closer to other races, mostly in the docks of other cities, or in lakes. The Tritons left the oceans and travelled back to the Elemental Plane of Water. Merrow and Sahuagin started worshipping the krakens. Merfolk, also going up rivers, became nomadic, building no permanent homes in the rivers or lakes of the Sword Coast.
Though they had the Krakens, the Aboleths were not yet able to conquer the humanoids of Toril, for one pesky reason: the Angels. After the Catastrophe, the Solars, Planetars, and Devas decided to help the humanoid races recover from the calamitous events that occurred. Soon afterwards, the Second Dragon-Giant War started, and they Angels decided to stay to protect the cities from the dragons. Then, just as the war was raging on, the Aboleths seized control of the oceans, and the Angels had to remain to protect the cities on the coasts.
Giants: The giants have had a rough couple millennia. First, Annam sent the runt Hartkiller to inform the giants that Annam was not pleased with them, and that they needed to change their ways. Infuriated, the Giants then slew Hartkiller, provoking Annam's wrath. Next, Annam was forced to abandon his children, and he revoked the Ordning, causing chaos to fill Giantish society, and a war with the smaller races is almost provoked by a scheming ancient blue dragon. Finally, Annam returns to Toril for the last time, with just enough time to tell the Giants that they are failures and to give up on Ostoria, he then sacrifices himself to protect the humanoid races of Toril, along with all of their other gods.
The giants were angry. Looked down on by their patron deity for centuries, like a disappointed father looks at a disappointing son. At first, they could not accept that the smaller races might be superior to them in any way. Begrudgingly following the last commandment of Annam, the giants give up their traditions. Having no gods to serve, no ordning to order them, and their culture completely collapsing, the giants were fractured. The Storm Giants no longer were higher in giantish society than Hill Giants, or any other giant.
Then, disaster struck again. First, the Fire and Stone Giants were forced out of the Underdark by Duergar. Next, the Dragons, chromatic and metallic, united to attack the giants, with no explanation of why. The giants, weakened and desperate, fought back. This was their only purpose at the time, the only thing that gave them a purpose, and it was to rid the world of the horrid dragons. Their fractured society reformed, but differently. No type of giant was automatically higher in ranking than others, instead they were led by a champion. Each settlement of giants worked together to fight against the dragons, and any giant who slew a dragon gained a score. This score was marked by dragon-scales, which they put on their armor to mark their ranking in the caste. The older a dragon slain by a giant, the higher ranking they received. In a giant village, the giant whose armor contained the most dragon scales, marked with a rune marking their achiements on each set of scales, became the clan's champion, and they commanded their settlement in battle.
After 86 years of the Second Dragon-Giant War, the giant strongholds in the ocean were attacked by krakens, who were controlled by Aboleths. Now discovering that it was the Aboleths who started the Second Dragon-Giant War, the Giants were forced out of the ocean. Their society now revolved around this war, and the only way to gain ranking was through the war. The Giants kept this discovery to themselves, but they were weakened from the war. They needed aid, so they turned to the Goliaths and Firbolg. The Goliaths were willing to help them in the war, but the Firbolg were currently in chaos due to the new presence of the Minotaurs in their woods, and turned down the invitation to an alliance. The Urtgardt Barbarian tribes joined the Giants in an alliance for battle.
The Second Giant-Dragon War continued for 655 years, with heavy casualties on both the giant and dragon sides. The humanoids who served the giants (goliaths, urtgardt barbarians) became rivals of those that served the dragons in the war (kobolds, lizardfolk, hearthdrak dragonborn). The war ended with a forced stalemate, with an intervention from the Celestials forcing them to stop fighting, as it was too destructive for the other races.
Okay, here's a bit more: Yuan-Ti: These demon worshipping snake people, like the aboleths and illithids, benefited from the Catastrophe more than they lost from it. They did lose, almost everyone lost in the Catastrophe in some way, but they also accomplished much of their agenda. They worshipped demons and serpent gods, both of which died during the Catastrophe, but their society did not fall. They still have slaves, a whole race of people under their complete control (broodguards) and the warlocks did not lose their power. Still, they were disoriented from the Catastrophe. Mershaulk and Sseth seemed to have died, and the only patron of the Yuan-Ti that was replying was Dendar the Night Serpent, who their whole societies started revolving around.
Over the centuries, their culture became more and more engrained in nightmares, sleep, and started being seen as the bogeymen of Toril. Becoming a nocturnal race of stealthy snake-primordial serving monsters, they sent spies across the world as Dendar commanded them. The race being changed by Dendar the Night Serpent, gaining the power to curse persistent nightmares upon unsuspecting creatures. Yuan-Ti Purebloods are effectively wiped out, and are all replaced by this race, or this stat block.
After centuries of scheming and serving their awful lady, Dendar the Night Serpent, the Yuan-Ti were finally able to free her. With her strength greatly increased by her servants' terrible devotion, she was able to communicate with her followers and reveal her location. Hidden behind an iron door leading to the Underworld underneath a mountain in Chult, she guided her servants to her foul location, who freed her from her prison 666 years after the Catastrophe. The god Ubtao, who was tasked with guarding this gate had abandoned the people of Chult, taking the city of Mezro with him. Fortunately for the world, he did not die during the Catastrophe, as he was not a resident of the Outer Planes.
With Dendar finally freed, she unleashed her horrific terror upon the world, at first devouring the Yuan-Ti who were present at the moment of her freedom. The Night Serpent flew south, devouring everything in her path, from trees, to stone, to earth and all the creatures that were in her path. Arriving at the Snout of Omgar, she devoured the island, growing in size, and destroying the homeland of the Tortles. Then, heading north, Dendar spent five days assailing the continent of Chult, destroying much of the jungle, consuming many undead residents of the jungle, and causing a cacophony of screams in her wake.
On the fifth day of Dendar's freedom, Ubtao sensed her release. He had been awarded the continent of Chult for his help in the war against the primordials at the beginning of the world, and was tasked with guarding the gate to Dendar's prison. Feeling a sense of duty to the world, Ubtao returned with the holy city of Mezro, and he, with the help of his barae, were able to re-imprison Dendar beneath the mountain in which she resided, and promised to stay watching that gate until the end of time to make sure Dendar never was released again.
After Dendar's re-imprisonment, with the population of Yuan-Ti significantly reduced by their "goddess's" devouring of her releasers, they hid in the shadows of the world. Still plotting for the day when they would re-release Dendar, they glide silently through the night, spreading horrible dreams through the minds of unconscious creatures, slowly, but surely increasing her power once more.
Tortles: 666 years after the Catastrophe, Dendar the Night Serpent was released by the Yuan-Ti inhabitants of Tor-eal, who immediately devoured the Yuan-Ti, many Chultans, and the island known as the Snout of Omgar, which was the homeland of the Tortles. Many Tortles perished during this event, and they suffered greatly in the following days as Chult was ravaged by the serpent primordial for multiple days, which was the location that had the second biggest population of Tortles, which caused even more deaths among their species.
At this point, the Tortles were restricted in places they could go. They didn't want to dwell on the mainland near other races, as they were suspicious of the more monstrous races, as is understandable if your home was just destroyed by the actions of a species of snake people. The oceans were controlled by the Aboleths and Krakens, and were not safe. They decided to start dwelling in lakes, only surfacing when they needed air or food. They used rivers as "roads" to transport them as they need for travel. Over the course of the centuries, they gained the ability to breath water, swim better, and developed underwater cities in lakes, and literally transformed rivers into roads that they could use to transport goods with carts pulled by large fish. Here are their new racial statistics.
Tieflings: Due to their infernal nature, tieflings faced major discrimination shortly after the Catastrophe. Many of them were wrongfully blamed for causing or allowing the events that took place to take place, but the fault was not on them. Even some types of celestials either placed the blame on these tieflings, or didn't speak out when tieflings were discriminated. The main type of people who did not reject the tieflings were orcs, half-orcs, dwarves, and coatls. Throughout many centuries of getting closer to these people, tieflings eventually bred with coatls, causing their physical appearance and statistics to change.
Now, their became only two types of tieflings, one known as the Holyscales, and the others known as the Brightwings. Their horns and tails no longer were fiendish, but instead became scaled. Tieflings stopped being fiendish colors, instead becoming white, gold, yellow, green, orange, turquoise, or a mix of two or more colors. Their legs were also scaled, and the Brightwings had rainbow-colored feathery wings, like a coatl's. The Holyscales often have glimmering scales, often of the lighter colors, and they have the ability to sense evil and good creatures, detect thoughts, and call holy fire.
They now have a culture of right-doers, priests, and justice-bringers. Often becoming judges, clerics, and servants to the celestials, these tieflings are found scattered across the world, even in gnoll cities, or orc camps. They now also try to fight evil whenever it surfaces, also often capable of rallying people to their aid in these holy tasks.
Firbolg: When the Minotaurs came to the surface world and started building their settlements in the forests and woods of Toril, they started logging and killing animals inside the woods. This did not bode well with the wood elves, firbolg, centaurs, treants, and other sentient creatures who were inhabitants for the woods. They started a woodland war with the Minotaurs, who were able to succeed due to the resilient nature of their fortresses, and their large, monstrous sizes at the time of these battles. The Wood Elves were driven to the North, and became Tundra Elves. The Firbolg were scattered. There were not many of them to begin with, and so they were weakened by their loss in this war, and they had to flee.
Thanks to the fey creatures who were driven out by the Minotaurs, the forests were filled with temporary portals to different planes of existence. Most of them went to the Feywild, but a few went to the Shadowfell and elemental planes. Different groups were scattered across the multiverse, but only two populations of Firbolg were able to survive in their new planes of existence. One group went to the feywild, where they got powers of manipulating magic, and got shorter over the course of the millennia. This group became known as the Feybolg.
The second group that survived went to the Shadowfell. They started becoming worshippers of the Raven Queen and her agents that she would send across the planes to slay creatures that were raised from the dead without her permission. They often are wizards, which aid in extraplanar travel, and recently have started helping preserve the "good" parts of the Shadowfell. They especially hate the undead of the plane, as well as the sorrowsworn and shadow creatures. They are known as the Sharbolg, their name having no connection to the now dead goddess Shar.
Aarakocra: When the Catastrophe struck, there were two separate populations of Aarakocra in the Inner Planes; those in the Elemental Plane of Air, and those on the Material Plane. After the Celestial creatures migrated to the Elemental Plane of Air, and basically took over (even though there was no physical conflict that determined this) the plane, they settled down on the floating islands of the plane, building majestic strongholds. Though the Aarakocra, Djinni, and other races of Plane of Air were slightly offended by the presence of their new neighbors, they did eventually grow closer, and the Plane of Air's nature became more celestial in nature. It only took around a century for the Aarakocra people to forget the fact that the Celestials were new.
Over the course of the thousand years up until the modern day, the Aarakocra had multiple instances of them cross-breeding with the Celestials, giving them divine powers, extending the length of their lives, and created a new race of people, known as the Aurakarae. They now are seen as another type of celestials, though they are still humanoids. Their feathers are almost completely white, with a few streaks of gold-colored feathers as well. Their beaks, talons, and skin are gold-colored as well. They are often clerics, especially of the Light, Tempest, and Life domains, and are occasionally Circle of Dreams Druids, Paladins, and Rangers.
Another population of Aarakocra existed in the Material Plane, with only small populations. These populations eventually grew, and they migrated to the Star Mounts as they Dragons and Giants started a war, allowing them to live their mostly undisturbed. They eventually transformed over the centuries as well, their talons becoming another set of wings, increasing their ability to fly to very fast speeds. These people became known as the Chai-ehr and dwell on top of mountains and plateaus, and hunt creatures below the mountains.
Aasimar: After the Catastrophe, with the Celestials stuck in the Inner Planes, they decided to start dwelling in the Elemental Plane of Air. While they were leaving, the Celestials offered to bring the Scourge and Protector Aasimar with them. They accepted, and left the Material Plane. Spending the next several centuries living in the plane, which was now ruled by Celestials. They had to dwell on the floating islands contained in the plane. In order to travel from island to island, they often domesticated flying animals (normally Celestials), from Pegasi to Winged Bulls. Also creating flying chariots to transfer multiple people and objects at once, the Aasimar developed a structured and cultured society in the Elemental Plane of Air. Protector Aasimar were at an advantage as well, capable of flying for short bursts of time if something went wrong and they needed to quickly save themselves by flying to an earthmote, and were in general more risk takers in the Elemental Plane of Air. The Scourge Aasimar were more careful than the Protectors, normally domesticating loyal mounts to save them in these moments of peril.
Many Aasimar in the Elemental Plane of Air became Bards, Paladin protectors, and Divine Soul Sorcerers. They built great buildings, crafted divine magic items, and created an empire spanning the plane, under which the Archons and Empyreans were in charge of the society. They now occasionally journey into the other planes to smite evil where it rises, and attack swiftly.
The Fallen Aasimar were not so lucky. Though a few of them were evil, the vast majority were not. They were shunned by the Celestials, and this left a mark on them greater than their dark-divine powers that they already possessed. They were driven from most cities in Faerun, and had to live in the settlements of Gnolls and Orcs, causing many celestial half-born of these races to be born.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
(Just a couple more. Feel free to comment below.) Lizardfolk: At the start of the Catastrophe, when the Demons were overthrown, the demon lord Sess'innek lost his small hold over the Lizardfolk race. The Lizardfolk goddess Semuanya took this opportunity to assert control over his race, who followed him completely. He showed them signs, guided the race to safer homes and away from fiendish intruders in the Material Plane. Most lizardfolk who served dragons left their previous masters, and started new settlements inside swamps (mostly moving to the Evermoors). The lizardfolk community enjoys 79 years of total dedication to Semuanya, and then the Catastrophe ended, along with the life of Semuanya.
Utter chaos ensued. In the years following the end of the Catastrophe, the Second Dragon-Giant War caused more contention across Faerun. The lizardfolk, who had followed the dragons before and left their service on decent terms, were divided. A group of the Lizardfolk denied the death of Semuanya, claiming that he would return to guide the Lizardfolk once more. Another faction joined with the dragons, following the Bronze Dragons, whom were assigned to instruct them (the different races that followed the dragons had different commanders. The lizardfolk under the Bronze, the kobolds under the Green, and the hearthdrak under the black). The lizardfolk who followed them, over the centuries were changed, living at the bottom of the lakes, now being known as the Daervak. Eventually interbreeding with the bronze dragons, the Daervak gained the ability to breath underwater, gained larger and more powerful claws, and inherited the ability to change shape, similar to adult metallic dragons.
The Daervak are now the cunning brutes of the draconic forces. Though the Second Dragon-Giant War ended hundreds of years ago, the Daervak are still devoted to their draconic masters. Occasionally spying on others in changed form, often becoming druids, fighters, and rogues, they are suspiciously viewed on by others. Though the Daervak changed, the followers of Semuanya, now known as the Seyume.
Goliaths: During the Second Dragon-Giant War, after the giants had re-organized their society to be based around Dragon-slaying, they invited the Goliaths and Firbolg to join them in their war-like society. The Firbolg did not accept the offer, but the Goliaths were, admiring the power of the newly founded Giant society. For the next few centuries during the Second Dragon-Giant War, the Goliaths acted as the Giants' medium-sized servants, attacking the Lizardfolk, Kobold, and Dragonborn servants of the dragon armies. They also would occasionally seek out and destroy dragon nests and eggs, and they were prideful of their prowess in war.
Then, the celestials forced the war to end. The Goliaths were outraged, after all, their society is based around the powerful ruling, and the weak being crushed. They viewed the Celestials as weak, as they fled the Upper Planes as the Devils conquered them, and the gods they followed had to sacrifice themselves, which they saw as a pure act of weakness. The Giants then surrendered, as well as the Dragons, but the Giants needed to reform their society. They were based around dragon-slaying, which they no longer were allowed to do. They looked to a celestial who came from the Upper Planes hundreds of years before, an Archon of Falling Stars known as Paevtara. She was a fierce combatant, who rode atop a winged lion named Scair. The Giants started following the orders of this archon, and reformed their culture around protecting the world from otherworldly threats, notably the Aboleths. Goliaths felt betrayed. They spent centuries of their existence looking up to the supposedly mighty Giants, and they gave up when the going got hard. Not only did they give up, which is taboo in Goliath culture, but they started serving a being which they saw as weak, and started fighting the mighty Krakens and Aboleths. To the Goliaths, the Giants were now weak, and the Celestials were not deserving of veneration or worthy to be followed.
Angry, the Goliaths and their primal casters gathered atop the Star Mounts, rallying on the peak of the highest mountain. Their shamans executed a powerful ritual to transform the mountain into a volcanic portal to the Elemental Plane of Fire, where they made their new home. Now dwelling atop of volcanos in the Fountains of Creation, forging weapons with the geothermal power of their new home's volcanic power, the goliaths are preparing. They are sculpting armor out of steel, creating weapons, siege weapons, and vehicles to ready themselves. Now lead by warlords, and protected by shamans and war clerics, they now are plotting. Waiting for the opportunity to take control of the Elemental Planes, they plan to kill all the celestials, and then conquer the rest of the planes. They also have war-aurochs and other domesticated animals to help provide for themselves in their blasted wasteland of a home, but they also depend on their shamans for food and water for their tribes.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
I LOVE it. are you gonna do a PbP in this new and exciting world... and if not, do I have permission to run one?
Sure, you can do one here. Whether or not I'm going to, I have no idea. To be honest, the thought never crossed my mind.
I still have a ton to do. The population of the world will significantly increase, certain regions will become more important, and so on. Waterdeep on its own will become huge, and have around 150 million people alone inside the city. There's also cultures that need more descriptions, more races that need stats, and so on. I'm getting fairly close to finishing the main outlines for the main races and peoples, but I still have to describe the planes of existences and their changes, Realmspace and its changes, and most of the monsters and possible statistical changes.
Also, technology will increase as well. Airships will be a fairly common sight, guns are well-known and widespread, cannons and magical weapons will also not be uncommon, especially in major cities.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
I LOVE it. are you gonna do a PbP in this new and exciting world... and if not, do I have permission to run one?
Sure, you can do one here. Whether or not I'm going to, I have no idea. To be honest, the thought never crossed my mind.
I still have a ton to do. The population of the world will significantly increase, certain regions will become more important, and so on. Waterdeep on its own will become huge, and have around 150 million people alone inside the city. There's also cultures that need more descriptions, more races that need stats, and so on. I'm getting fairly close to finishing the main outlines for the main races and peoples, but I still have to describe the planes of existences and their changes, Realmspace and its changes, and most of the monsters and possible statistical changes.
Also, technology will increase as well. Airships will be a fairly common sight, guns are well-known and widespread, cannons and magical weapons will also not be uncommon, especially in major cities.
First things first, I would like to say that I love this world idea. Secondly, I noticed that you said Waterdeep will eventually have a population of 150 million people. This is enormous. That is almost half the population of the U.S.A. Is their any specific reason Waterdeep got to be so large?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
A fool pulls the leaves. A brute chops the trunk. A sage digs the roots.
I'm wondering what's happened to all the famous characters such as Drizzt Do'Urden, Bruenor, Minsc & boo.
Probably mostly (if not all) dead at this point. Every Chosen dies, anyone who had more than 1/8th of their DNA from any specific god as well, and many people died in the events before the end of the Catastrophe.
Maybe Boo has millions of descendants nowadays, but you can't easily tell miniature giant space hamsters from normal hamsters.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
I LOVE it. are you gonna do a PbP in this new and exciting world... and if not, do I have permission to run one?
Sure, you can do one here. Whether or not I'm going to, I have no idea. To be honest, the thought never crossed my mind.
I still have a ton to do. The population of the world will significantly increase, certain regions will become more important, and so on. Waterdeep on its own will become huge, and have around 150 million people alone inside the city. There's also cultures that need more descriptions, more races that need stats, and so on. I'm getting fairly close to finishing the main outlines for the main races and peoples, but I still have to describe the planes of existences and their changes, Realmspace and its changes, and most of the monsters and possible statistical changes.
Also, technology will increase as well. Airships will be a fairly common sight, guns are well-known and widespread, cannons and magical weapons will also not be uncommon, especially in major cities.
First things first, I would like to say that I love this world idea. Secondly, I noticed that you said Waterdeep will eventually have a population of 150 million people. This is enormous. That is almost half the population of the U.S.A. Is their any specific reason Waterdeep got to be so large?
Thanks. Yes, this is huge. It will be its own country, and I calculated it from a population growth table, with a bit less growth than usual due to kraken attacks, etc.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Welcome to Tor-eal (pronounced tohr-ee-ahl). A strange world, with nearly no gods, no outer planes, no astral plane, and only the Elemental Planes, Ethereal Plane, the Shadowfell and Feywild, and a new Plane of Existence; the Realm of Dreams. Legends and elders say, that once, a millennia ago, there were many gods, hundreds of them. There were demons, devils, and clerics to these living gods. Unfortunately, the Catastrophe changed that. The races of the world are changed, the Underdark is conquered by the psionic, tyrannical Duregair, who have the enslaved Dhaer people under their control. The surface is filled with many new races, from Surfneblins to the fearsome Hearthdrak Dragonborn, and the penitent, magic worshiping Goblinoids. Fiends of all kinds are extremely rare (with divisions between Demons and Devils being unknown), and celestials protect coastal cities from awful krakens.
Edit: I moved the lore that was originally in this post to post #2 in order to make it easier to fit the lists of Content and Upcoming Content in this post. After making this list, I've realized that a lot stuff is going to have to change about it (especially if I plan on detaching it from the Forgotten Realms), so I may make a new thread for it to sort through Nu-Tor-eal. I'll keep adding lore and see how it goes. If I feel the need, I will make a new thread with the updates and link it in this post.
Contents
How It Happened
Drow
Orcs
Gnolls
Goblinoids
Svirfneblin
Verdan
Dragonborn (Hearthdrak and Othrilers)
Illithids
Gith
Minotaurs
Aboleths
Giants
Yuan-Ti (needs expansion)
Tortles (needs revisions)
Tieflings (needs heavy revisions)
Firbolg (needs revisions)
Aarakocra (needs heavy revisions)
Aasimar (needs revisions)
Lizardfolk (needs revisions)
Goliaths (needs expansion)
Klörvak - The Giant Kingdom (needs some expansion)
The Courts of Archfey (needs heavy revisions)
The Return of Vecna
The Vezyi
Redeemed Kenku - Nemrav (needs heavy revisions)
Elves (needs heavy revisions)
Dwarves (needs heavy revisions)
Duergar (needs expansion and minor revisions)
Fey Driders - Draevar (needs expansion, minor lore revisions, and major mechanic revisions)
The Afterlife (needs minor revisions and expansion)
The Vistaesh (needs minor expansion)
Dryads (needs minor revisions)
Harpies (needs major revisions)
Dragon Deities (Sardior-based lore needs revisions after Fizban's Treasury of Dragons)
Golmeng (needs major mechanical revisions and some lore expansion)
Felshen
Sheiohn Foulen (needs minor expansion)
Yikkan Contingent (needs minor expansion/revisions)
Deities (needs major revisions and expansion)
Demigods (needs major revisions and expansion)
Time in Tor-eal
Original Fehntüm, Revised Fehntüm (still needs fairly major expansion/revision)
Factions of Tor-eal (needs finishing)
Nations of Tor-eal (needs finishing)
Slang and Swears (needs some revisions)
Ecubi (in need of major revisions, might be completely removed or combined with Tieflings)
Realm of Dreams (needs expansion, minor revisions)
Dream Watchers (needs expansion/revision)
Dream Catchers (needs expansion)
Dream Nomads (needs a name-change, minor revisions, and expansion)
The Black Desert (needs expansion)
The Godspawn (needs expansion)
The Blood of the Gods (needs expansion)
Upcoming Changes and Expansions
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
Okay, this is the start of the lore:
How it happened:
The ancient Blood War, the fiendish clash between forces of law and chaos, of tyrannical oppression and destructive freedom. Raging on for thousands of years, costing hundreds of mortal lives annually, as well as thousands of demon and devil lives, this war was despised by all, but also recognized as a "necessary evil" to maintain planar balance. This understanding revealed itself to be true, because when the balance between the forces of lawful evil and chaotic evil is disturbed, cataclysmic events follow. Though it now has been proven to be needed for planar balance, did nothing to stop the Devils from winning.
Throughout the centuries, others have tried to end the Blood War, like Zariel the fallen angel, and the previous Archduchess of Avernus, and Graz'zt, a previous Archdevil of Baator, and then Demon Lord of the Abyss. No one succeeded in winning the Blood War for all the millennia it was raging, but then that changed. How so, no one remembers, or at least no one is telling. Whomever meddled in the Blood War the last time favored the Devils, and allowed for them to destroy, or somehow rid the world of the demons. And truly, all the demons were gone. Lolth's worshippers lost their magic, Yeenoghu's fierce race of hyena-shaped humanoids, the Gnolls, were released from his control, and all cultists of the demon lords lost their abyssal power.
With the Demons gone, the Devils were mostly unrivaled in the Lower Planes, and they easily subjugated the Yugoloths. Banishing the Orc gods and Goblin gods from Acheron to Carceri, the Devils conquered the Lower Planes. The Celestials were slow to act. Firstly dumbfounded by the events that unfolded to allow this to happen, they started arguing about possible solutions to this problem. A group of them wanted to attack and obliterate the Devils, but the other side claimed that they should cautiously thank the Devils for ridding the multiverse of the feral demons. The Celestials ended up taking the more peaceful option, not wanting to provoke the Devils, and possibly bring upon themselves their fiendish wrath.
A contract was created. The Celestials and Devils agreed upon these terms:
The Devils allowed the Celestials to draft up the contract, and signed it, smiling at the simplicity of it.
They then took advantage of it. Immediately noticing its faults, they gathered their forces and attacked Mechanus. Asmodeus slew Primus, and took his place as the leader of the Modrons. Outraged, the Celestials claimed that the Devils broke the contract. The Devils slyly smiled and said they did no such thing. The Celestials, noticing the fault in their agreement, saw no option except attacking Mechanus, trying to slay Asmodeus. Failing at destroying the seemingly endless armies of the newly fiendish modrons, the Celestials retreated, losing many of their numbers.
The Devils, now attacked Mount Celestia, taking the plane, and slaying many of the gods. Tiamat aided by Dispater slew Bahamut, Asmodeus killed Torm and Tyr on his own, and so on. The Celestials, noticing that they had no chance at overtaking the Devils, used their last moments in the Outer Planes to weaken the barriers of Carceri, allowing the Goblin and Orc deities to escape. The Celestials and all the gods (except Tiamat and Asmodeus) fled to the Inner Planes, and in an act of desperation to protect the races they worked so hard creating, they sacrificed themselves to create a barrier around the Inner Planes, cutting off the Outer Planes forever. The Astral Plane was cut off, Sigil no longer accessible, and there was no way for the Devils to invade the Inner Planes. Though many of the gods that sacrificed themselves were evil, and never cooperated with anyone before, they saw the need in this dire situation, and were willing to give their lives for the people of the Inner Planes. And, chaos ensued.
The Celestials made their home in the Elemental Plane of Air, with the Angels protecting the Material Plane from threats that may destroy them without this celestial aid. The Devils conquered all of the Outer Planes, dominating the Gith of the Outer Planes, and searching for any way to get inside the Inner Planes. Though most of the gods died, the Shadowfell-dwelling deity, the Raven Queen, survived the Catastrophe.
What happened to the races:
The Blood War ended 79 years before the gods died. This is important for 4 races, listed below:
Let's start:
Drow: When Lolth died, or was banished, or otherwise gone from the multiverse, her clerics lost their power. They lost all their demons, all divine power, and became substantially weaker. Noticing the lack of power and leadership among their matron mothers and priestesses, the drow mages (mostly, but not completely male), overthrew the oppressive society that the matriarchy had festered. Becoming a magocracy, the new drow society mostly remained in the Underdark, allowing their slaves to go free, slaying their spiders, and a few thousand drow journeyed to the surface to see what belonged in the world above. About 56 years after founding their new government based on arcane magic, still severely weakened by the loss of their fiendish allies and divine power, an army of Duergar, their slaves, and aiding devils came to Menzoberranzan, and started attacking the Drow. After the mages of the army were slain, the Drow surrendered to the Duergar, becoming slaves to their awful new masters.
The psionic duergar tortured and mutilated the drow with psychic powers for a thousand years. Now, they are barely recognizable, and are a purply-gray skinned race of dark-elven heritage. They are now known as the Dhaer, are are a skinny people, with glowing blue eyes, inconsistent personalities, and horrid speech patterns.
Though the drow who remained in the Underdark were taken prisoner by the Duergar, many Drow already left the underground to become a new race of people, over the millennia losing their weakness in sunlight, and gaining a culture of worshipping the stars. This race became known among the surface dwellers as Surdrae, and are a benevolent people.
Gnolls: When the demon lords were defeated, and were erased from the Multiverse, gnolls immediately noticed a difference. Normally driven by the fear and hunger inflicted upon them by Yeenoghu, Gnolls are maddened with savagery. When Yeenoghu no longer had a hold on them, they lost these overwhelming emotions, and felt strange. For the first time in their lives, they didn't feel motivated to do anything. Then, they all felt anger at how they had been dominated for centuries, and they fell upon their humanoid cultist companions, devouring them. With this final act of savagery, consuming humanoid flesh cleansed them of their bestial nature, and caused them to feel shame for how they acted for those hundreds of years. They vowed never to do so again, throwing off their horrid jewelry, clothes, armor, and weapons made from humanoid remains, burying them, and became a peaceful race. As they attempted to be redeemed for their transgressions, as the demonic influence of them slowly left, half of the gnolls transformed into female versions of their race.
Travelling north of the High Forest, in between the Nether Mountains, founding a town in the hills populated at the time by 7,500 gnolls. Now, there are now around 150 million gnolls scattered across northern Faerun, with around 100 million of them living in this city, known as Zeer-Han (Our-Home in Gnollish). They also created a new language, which was a mix of their previous language, the Orc language, and Common.
Orcs: The Orcs were devastated by the Catastrophe. First, when their gods were imprisoned in Carceri, they lost most of their contact with them, and communication was hazier and harder to do. Their societies revolved around consistent contact with their deities, and so they descended into chaos. Tribal leaders were chosen based on guesses, marriages were assigned by a priest of Luthic based on their own interpretations and not on direct omens from their pantheon. Orc society still functioned for the several generations, but among the clergy of their gods, they were slowly becoming more and more disoriented.
Then, when their gods were released 79 years longer, they started receiving many omens and proclamations from their gods, but these were different. They weren't filled with rage, anger, or fierce emotions like before. No, instead, they were tired, solemn messages admitting guilt of dragging their followers into an eternal pointless war. The orc gods let them be free of their traditions, and told them that unless they stop hurting the other races, they will never be happy. This destroyed orcish society. The younger generations called the older generations to let go of their traditions and savage ways. The older generations remembered the tales of the omens of their gods, and confirmed that these messages were legitimate.
Over the course of many years, most orc tribes of Toril abandoned their previous ways. They stopped raiding, killing, and abusing others. They vowed to protect the wilds they once took advantage of, and created a new culture of nature worshippers, druids, and rangers. They started patrolling forests, fields, plains, and the other wilds, and protecting the land from destruction and molestation.
Goblinoids: Much like the Orcs, the goblinoids lost contact with their gods for generations, but because their society was not rooted in tradition that was dependent on direct, constant contact with their gods, much of their ways were not changed during this time period. Small, mostly unimportant changes did happen, such as hobgoblins no longer being born with bright blue and red noses, and their souls no longer traveling to Acheron after death, and divine magic no longer seemed to be forbidden, or at least it wasn't punished by the gods during this time. Some traditions did fall way, due to the lack of surveillance by their deities, and the elders claimed that the younger people were being swayed by devilish temptations. When their gods were released, unlike the Orcs, they received no messages, omens, or communications of any kind.
When Maglubiyet and the other goblinoid gods were freed from Carceri, they were weary from their battles in Carceri against the orc gods, and what other monstrosities lie in that fiendish plane. Tired, weakened, and unmotivated to start another war against the impossibly powerful Devils, Maglubiyet commanded his pantheon to flee to the Material Plane and protect it from the Devils. They received news of what the other gods were doing, and grudgingly agreed, knowing it was for the best of the races they had wronged for so many ages. Not once during this entire period of time during their release did they bother to attempt to contact their loyal servitor races. They then sacrificed themselves alongside the other gods, and once again left their people.
When the goblinoids learned of the events that transpired, and the fact that their gods killed themselves to protect the people of this world, they were shocked. Utter chaos followed. Bugbears, consumed by utter rage and disappointment in the weakness of their deities, overthrew the society of the oppression. The goblins fell under their sway, and obeyed the new leaders of the goblinoid cast. Immediately after the gods' deaths, with Mystra and the Weave being destroyed once more, magic reformed. No god or goddess of magic was recreated. No tapestry of the universe, connecting threads of magic, was respun. Magic was left fractured for 24 hours, causing magic to fail during that time, similar to the Spellplague. Magic reformed, united once again, but it was different. There was no Weave. Instead of a vast flowing source of magic throughout the world, magic seemed to connect things more. "Strings" of magic connected all objects in the universe to seemingly every other. Magic started effecting the world around it. An act of substantial magic near a powerful spellcaster could temporarily or permanently change the area around them. A cleric resurrecting a creature from the dead could cause the grass around them to start glowing, or a necromancer creating a skeleton could cause bones to rattle on the ground around them. Magic and the world was more interconnected. The presence of an archmage in a village could cause Wild Magic Sorcerers to be born, or an angel could cause the births of Aasimar.
Hobgoblin Devastators were the first among the goblinoids to notice this change. With the permission of the bugbears, they were allowed to study it. They created notes, journals, and collected knowledge about it. They called this new source of magic "Yikare", which was Goblin for "The Law". Soon, the goblinoids literally started worshipping it. Bugbears became clergy (Arcana Clerics), Goblins were blessed with divine and arcane power due to these clergy, named Booyehgs (Divine Soul Sorcerers), and Hobgoblins trained more wizards, them being called Dehvoes. They even adopted 3 new commandments that were adapted from observations about the Yikare. These commandments were:
The goblinoids established numerous amounts of settlements, all with allegiances to each other as long as they followed these 3 commandments. Most other races, except Verdan, were normally banned from travel into their cities, which were mago-theocracies. They are independent of nations and other peoples, but are allowed to trade with them, but other humanoids are pitied by goblinoids due to their lack of worship of magic.
Surfneblin (Surface Deep Gnomes): When the duergar marched in the Underdark to capture the Drow, the svirfneblin watched in horror, unable to do anything. With a sense of self-preservation acting, the inhabitants of Blingdenstone fled to the surface, most of them settling down in Silverymoon at first. Over the centuries, they were eventually mostly assimilated across Faerun, with around 1.5 million in numbers. When the gods died, Svirfneblin lost their ability to control Earth Elementals, but otherwise, their society was not changed much. Though their true names are Svirfneblin, the people of the surface world have adopted the name of "Surfneblin" as a mockery of their contradictory nature.
Verdan: The Verdan, who before the Catastrophe had no people, no cities, no culture, and no religion. In a way, this was a boon. They had no ties, no society to fracture, and no foundations to be shattered. Due to this, and their reaction to this event was mainly calm. When they were first created, there were only about 1,000 Verdan. Now, scattered across Tor-eal, there are more than 2 million verdan, filling many positions in day to day life.
When the Catastrophe occurred, these calm and mellow goblinoids reasonably, which was beneficial to them as a people. For example, in Waterdeep, while the city was scrambling from the deaths of Laeral Silverhand, Vajra Safahr, a few Masked Lords, and the destruction of the Blackstaff and Blackstaff Tower, a verdan man named Wural Ulmokina, who was only 28 years old at the time, was able to rally together Waterdeep and be elected as the first High Magistrate of Waterdeep. The government became a democracy, and the High Magistrate was elected every 12 years, voted out of office when they lost popularity or died of old age. Wural was a compotent and charismatic leader, who allowed Gnolls, Orcs, Drow, Goblinoids, and Svirfneblin into the city 8 years into his first term. He was able to protect the city from the Second Dragon-Giant war, and was elected for 9 terms, serving 108 years.
This, and many other instances of Verdan reacting well to this stressful situation, allowed them to do well in their communities, becoming lawyers, politicians, public speakers, actors, musicians, and in general, great friends to people of all races. They were even well known enough to be openly accepted into goblinoid cities, though they were looked down on still unless they were practitioners of magic.
Dragonborn: Similar to Verdan, Dragonborn were fairly new to Toril when the Catastrophe ocurred, but they did have a culture and traditions. A few dragonborn had adopted the worship of Faerunian gods, such as Torm, Tyr, Helm, and Bahamut, but not a substantial amount of them were followers of gods for the Catastrophe to destroy their culture. At the start of the Catastrophe, they remained relatively the same physically, socially, and socially, but they eventually began to change, thanks to the Second Dragon-Giant War. They split into two groups, not divided by color, heritage, physical differences of any kind, but instead philosophical differences. They were named as the following:
Hearthdrak. These dragonborn sided with the dragons in the Second Dragon-Giant War, aiding them in war, and attempting to unite their people against the giants. They remained the war until its end, and fought well, but they weren't reunited with the people they split from. In modern Tor-eal, they are physically different, more charismatic and intimidating, and are able to frighten people.
Othrilers. These dragonborn fundamentally disagreed with the assertions of the Hearthdrak. They didn't think the larger and otherworldly races were worth following, and instead decided to turn against them. They don't like any race that they claim "pretends" to be better or more powerful than them. They remember their subjugation and enslavement under the dragons and primorials on Abeir, how the gods would take advantage of them, and they reject other races.
Mind Flayers: The illithids of Toril were stunned by the events that became known by the humanoids and celestials as "the Catastrophe". Instead of adopting that name, the Mind Flayers at first called it the "Opportunity" and eventually called it "The Changing". Seizing the moment, the Mind Flayers took advantage of the moment of insanity and chaos on Toril, while the numbers of Gith on the planet were small in numbers. They first sent their thralls to steal white dragon eggs, and kidnap sleeping white dragons. They then transformed the captured dragons into Brainstealer Dragons, brainwashed the newly hatched dragons into serving them, and luring multiple dens of kobolds into Mind Flayer bases, where they were gathered up into their remaining fleet of spelljamming ships, where they fled into Realmspace to leave before they were stopped from leaving. During the millennia following, they warped the Kobolds into a new race known as the Coalbs, and bred their brainwashed white dragons with sun dragons, to produce radiant dragons.
Gith: Though they were were separated from their home planes and commands from their superiors, the Gith who were in the Inner Planes at the time of the Gods' Sacrifice were able to unite as a single race. Led by a Shasal'Kou Githyanki named Xei'karr, both the Githzerai and Githyanki united to start a faction of illithid and aberration hunters known as the Telairkarr. The united gith race, now known as the Githxei (gith-xay), recruited humans, surface drow, and gnomes to help them in their quest to track down and destroy the Illithids in Realmspace and the Inner Planes.
Minotaurs: Similar to Gnolls and Drow, they were freed at the end of the Blood War. No longer bound to their abyssal god, Baphomet, the Minotaurs were confused. They no longer had a purpose in the world, but did have a place. Becoming a fierce, but unbound race of people, they no longer had a unifying reason for existence, so they started with the basics, survival. Though they already lived in caves and dungeons, they no longer felt satisfied with their lives of terrorizing others, and hiding in dungeons worshipping dark evils. As a people, the Minotaurs left their ruinous dungeons and labyrinthine caves, and formed settlements in the forests and woods of Faerun.
At first, they were attacked by Wood Elves and other feyish and plant inhabitants of these forests, but they were powerful and strong enough to drive them out of their forests and to the north. The Minotaurs, not sure of much in the world except for the fact that they hate elves and fey, started logging. They chopped down trees, using the branches of them as fuels for fire, and with the logs they build wooden forts surrounded by mazes of wood, keeping out intruders, but easily passed through by the Minotaurs.
As the millennia went on, the Minotaurs lost their savage and brutal ways (still having no love for elves and fey), and became less monstrous. Shrinking in size, due to them no longer being cultists to Baphomet, and becoming more and more human-like, the Minotaurs became another race of humanoids. Now a race of forest-dwelling, logging, and fortress building people, they started trade with other races. Gnolls needed wood for their city's buildings, and the minotaurs needing hides and fabrics for clothing and art. Minotaurs even developed their own language, called Minotaur, which was a mix of Orc, Abyssal, and Common. They eventually learned the ways of masonry, reinforcing their fortresses with stone walls and foundations.
Nowadays, a Minotaur settlement is a fearsome place. Fortresses filled with trophies and hides of slain creatures, no one of elven or feyish descent allowed within a mile of a fortress, the roofs of the castles made out of wood, but covered in fire-proof hides. They no longer a savage and brutal people, but are an industrious and hard-working people. Their fortresses are ever-expanding, many of their fortresses have mines underneath, and forges inside, billowing smoke 24 hours a day. They're master weaponsmiths with a love for gold, whose art shows them conquering woodland creatures, treants, and druids, as well as the rise of their society. They have no religion, except capitalism. They have few laws, except that harming other minotaurs is not allowed. They trade often, but not with Elves or Firbolg.
Aboleths: Residents of Toril for millenia, who dwelled here before the gods, and after the gods. Resenting all things holy for these many, many years, the Aboleths were pleased when the gods died. Finally, their patience and plotting would benefit them. Their first task as a race was to come together, and dominate the Kuo-Toa, who had fled to the ocean to avoid destruction by the Duergar. Claiming to be their gods, the Aboleths gained the complete faith and devotion of the Kuo-Toa people.
Next, they waited. It took over 28 years, but then it happened. Carefully calculating the actions of the other races, the Aboleths waited for the Illithids to leave Toril. Noticing how they kidnapped White Dragons, the Abolteths took advantage of this situation. They sent their Kuo-Toa to an underwater cave containing Bronze Dragon eggs, destroying them. They planted evidence implicating the Storm Giants in this act. When the Dragons noticed, they were infuriated. United together, the Dragons declared war on the Giants, starting the Second Dragon-Giant War.
While the war was raging, and the giants and dragons were distracted, they Aboleths swam deep into the ocean floor to the lairs of sleeping krakens. Dominating a few krakens, taking control of them, and unleashing them upon the Storm Giant strongholds of the ocean. The Krakens destroyed the Storm Giants' homes, forcing them to leave the ocean, and allowing the Aboleths to have control of the oceans of Toril. Attacking settlements on the Sword Coast, and the settlements of underwater races, they were able to ravage the races who depended on the oceans. They forced the Aquatic Elves to flee up rivers, now making their homes closer to other races, mostly in the docks of other cities, or in lakes. The Tritons left the oceans and travelled back to the Elemental Plane of Water. Merrow and Sahuagin started worshipping the krakens. Merfolk, also going up rivers, became nomadic, building no permanent homes in the rivers or lakes of the Sword Coast.
Though they had the Krakens, the Aboleths were not yet able to conquer the humanoids of Toril, for one pesky reason: the Angels. After the Catastrophe, the Solars, Planetars, and Devas decided to help the humanoid races recover from the calamitous events that occurred. Soon afterwards, the Second Dragon-Giant War started, and they Angels decided to stay to protect the cities from the dragons. Then, just as the war was raging on, the Aboleths seized control of the oceans, and the Angels had to remain to protect the cities on the coasts.
Giants: The giants have had a rough couple millennia. First, Annam sent the runt Hartkiller to inform the giants that Annam was not pleased with them, and that they needed to change their ways. Infuriated, the Giants then slew Hartkiller, provoking Annam's wrath. Next, Annam was forced to abandon his children, and he revoked the Ordning, causing chaos to fill Giantish society, and a war with the smaller races is almost provoked by a scheming ancient blue dragon. Finally, Annam returns to Toril for the last time, with just enough time to tell the Giants that they are failures and to give up on Ostoria, he then sacrifices himself to protect the humanoid races of Toril, along with all of their other gods.
The giants were angry. Looked down on by their patron deity for centuries, like a disappointed father looks at a disappointing son. At first, they could not accept that the smaller races might be superior to them in any way. Begrudgingly following the last commandment of Annam, the giants give up their traditions. Having no gods to serve, no ordning to order them, and their culture completely collapsing, the giants were fractured. The Storm Giants no longer were higher in giantish society than Hill Giants, or any other giant.
Then, disaster struck again. First, the Fire and Stone Giants were forced out of the Underdark by Duergar. Next, the Dragons, chromatic and metallic, united to attack the giants, with no explanation of why. The giants, weakened and desperate, fought back. This was their only purpose at the time, the only thing that gave them a purpose, and it was to rid the world of the horrid dragons. Their fractured society reformed, but differently. No type of giant was automatically higher in ranking than others, instead they were led by a champion. Each settlement of giants worked together to fight against the dragons, and any giant who slew a dragon gained a score. This score was marked by dragon-scales, which they put on their armor to mark their ranking in the caste. The older a dragon slain by a giant, the higher ranking they received. In a giant village, the giant whose armor contained the most dragon scales, marked with a rune marking their achiements on each set of scales, became the clan's champion, and they commanded their settlement in battle.
After 86 years of the Second Dragon-Giant War, the giant strongholds in the ocean were attacked by krakens, who were controlled by Aboleths. Now discovering that it was the Aboleths who started the Second Dragon-Giant War, the Giants were forced out of the ocean. Their society now revolved around this war, and the only way to gain ranking was through the war. The Giants kept this discovery to themselves, but they were weakened from the war. They needed aid, so they turned to the Goliaths and Firbolg. The Goliaths were willing to help them in the war, but the Firbolg were currently in chaos due to the new presence of the Minotaurs in their woods, and turned down the invitation to an alliance. The Urtgardt Barbarian tribes joined the Giants in an alliance for battle.
The Second Giant-Dragon War continued for 655 years, with heavy casualties on both the giant and dragon sides. The humanoids who served the giants (goliaths, urtgardt barbarians) became rivals of those that served the dragons in the war (kobolds, lizardfolk, hearthdrak dragonborn). The war ended with a forced stalemate, with an intervention from the Celestials forcing them to stop fighting, as it was too destructive for the other races.
Any thoughts at all?
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
Okay, here's a bit more:
Yuan-Ti: These demon worshipping snake people, like the aboleths and illithids, benefited from the Catastrophe more than they lost from it. They did lose, almost everyone lost in the Catastrophe in some way, but they also accomplished much of their agenda. They worshipped demons and serpent gods, both of which died during the Catastrophe, but their society did not fall. They still have slaves, a whole race of people under their complete control (broodguards) and the warlocks did not lose their power. Still, they were disoriented from the Catastrophe. Mershaulk and Sseth seemed to have died, and the only patron of the Yuan-Ti that was replying was Dendar the Night Serpent, who their whole societies started revolving around.
Over the centuries, their culture became more and more engrained in nightmares, sleep, and started being seen as the bogeymen of Toril. Becoming a nocturnal race of stealthy snake-primordial serving monsters, they sent spies across the world as Dendar commanded them. The race being changed by Dendar the Night Serpent, gaining the power to curse persistent nightmares upon unsuspecting creatures. Yuan-Ti Purebloods are effectively wiped out, and are all replaced by this race, or this stat block.
After centuries of scheming and serving their awful lady, Dendar the Night Serpent, the Yuan-Ti were finally able to free her. With her strength greatly increased by her servants' terrible devotion, she was able to communicate with her followers and reveal her location. Hidden behind an iron door leading to the Underworld underneath a mountain in Chult, she guided her servants to her foul location, who freed her from her prison 666 years after the Catastrophe. The god Ubtao, who was tasked with guarding this gate had abandoned the people of Chult, taking the city of Mezro with him. Fortunately for the world, he did not die during the Catastrophe, as he was not a resident of the Outer Planes.
With Dendar finally freed, she unleashed her horrific terror upon the world, at first devouring the Yuan-Ti who were present at the moment of her freedom. The Night Serpent flew south, devouring everything in her path, from trees, to stone, to earth and all the creatures that were in her path. Arriving at the Snout of Omgar, she devoured the island, growing in size, and destroying the homeland of the Tortles. Then, heading north, Dendar spent five days assailing the continent of Chult, destroying much of the jungle, consuming many undead residents of the jungle, and causing a cacophony of screams in her wake.
On the fifth day of Dendar's freedom, Ubtao sensed her release. He had been awarded the continent of Chult for his help in the war against the primordials at the beginning of the world, and was tasked with guarding the gate to Dendar's prison. Feeling a sense of duty to the world, Ubtao returned with the holy city of Mezro, and he, with the help of his barae, were able to re-imprison Dendar beneath the mountain in which she resided, and promised to stay watching that gate until the end of time to make sure Dendar never was released again.
After Dendar's re-imprisonment, with the population of Yuan-Ti significantly reduced by their "goddess's" devouring of her releasers, they hid in the shadows of the world. Still plotting for the day when they would re-release Dendar, they glide silently through the night, spreading horrible dreams through the minds of unconscious creatures, slowly, but surely increasing her power once more.
Tortles: 666 years after the Catastrophe, Dendar the Night Serpent was released by the Yuan-Ti inhabitants of Tor-eal, who immediately devoured the Yuan-Ti, many Chultans, and the island known as the Snout of Omgar, which was the homeland of the Tortles. Many Tortles perished during this event, and they suffered greatly in the following days as Chult was ravaged by the serpent primordial for multiple days, which was the location that had the second biggest population of Tortles, which caused even more deaths among their species.
At this point, the Tortles were restricted in places they could go. They didn't want to dwell on the mainland near other races, as they were suspicious of the more monstrous races, as is understandable if your home was just destroyed by the actions of a species of snake people. The oceans were controlled by the Aboleths and Krakens, and were not safe. They decided to start dwelling in lakes, only surfacing when they needed air or food. They used rivers as "roads" to transport them as they need for travel. Over the course of the centuries, they gained the ability to breath water, swim better, and developed underwater cities in lakes, and literally transformed rivers into roads that they could use to transport goods with carts pulled by large fish. Here are their new racial statistics.
Tieflings: Due to their infernal nature, tieflings faced major discrimination shortly after the Catastrophe. Many of them were wrongfully blamed for causing or allowing the events that took place to take place, but the fault was not on them. Even some types of celestials either placed the blame on these tieflings, or didn't speak out when tieflings were discriminated. The main type of people who did not reject the tieflings were orcs, half-orcs, dwarves, and coatls. Throughout many centuries of getting closer to these people, tieflings eventually bred with coatls, causing their physical appearance and statistics to change.
Now, their became only two types of tieflings, one known as the Holyscales, and the others known as the Brightwings. Their horns and tails no longer were fiendish, but instead became scaled. Tieflings stopped being fiendish colors, instead becoming white, gold, yellow, green, orange, turquoise, or a mix of two or more colors. Their legs were also scaled, and the Brightwings had rainbow-colored feathery wings, like a coatl's. The Holyscales often have glimmering scales, often of the lighter colors, and they have the ability to sense evil and good creatures, detect thoughts, and call holy fire.
They now have a culture of right-doers, priests, and justice-bringers. Often becoming judges, clerics, and servants to the celestials, these tieflings are found scattered across the world, even in gnoll cities, or orc camps. They now also try to fight evil whenever it surfaces, also often capable of rallying people to their aid in these holy tasks.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
Awesome
"Life is not a problem to be solved but a reality to be experienced"- Soren Kierkgaard
Thank you! I've been working on it for awhile now, and will add another update tomorrow with Firbolg, Aarakocra, and Aasimar.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
It took me a while to read it all ,but I finally managed to do so. Neat read. I look forward to seeing the update.
"We are what we repeatedy do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." - Aristotle.
The classy class clown passes cracked black brass glasses in class.
(try saying that really fast.)
Thanks! Any specific comments on anything?
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
I'm wondering what happened to all the undead under Orcus's control?
"Life is not a problem to be solved but a reality to be experienced"- Soren Kierkgaard
Firbolg: When the Minotaurs came to the surface world and started building their settlements in the forests and woods of Toril, they started logging and killing animals inside the woods. This did not bode well with the wood elves, firbolg, centaurs, treants, and other sentient creatures who were inhabitants for the woods. They started a woodland war with the Minotaurs, who were able to succeed due to the resilient nature of their fortresses, and their large, monstrous sizes at the time of these battles. The Wood Elves were driven to the North, and became Tundra Elves. The Firbolg were scattered. There were not many of them to begin with, and so they were weakened by their loss in this war, and they had to flee.
Thanks to the fey creatures who were driven out by the Minotaurs, the forests were filled with temporary portals to different planes of existence. Most of them went to the Feywild, but a few went to the Shadowfell and elemental planes. Different groups were scattered across the multiverse, but only two populations of Firbolg were able to survive in their new planes of existence. One group went to the feywild, where they got powers of manipulating magic, and got shorter over the course of the millennia. This group became known as the Feybolg.
The second group that survived went to the Shadowfell. They started becoming worshippers of the Raven Queen and her agents that she would send across the planes to slay creatures that were raised from the dead without her permission. They often are wizards, which aid in extraplanar travel, and recently have started helping preserve the "good" parts of the Shadowfell. They especially hate the undead of the plane, as well as the sorrowsworn and shadow creatures. They are known as the Sharbolg, their name having no connection to the now dead goddess Shar.
Aarakocra: When the Catastrophe struck, there were two separate populations of Aarakocra in the Inner Planes; those in the Elemental Plane of Air, and those on the Material Plane. After the Celestial creatures migrated to the Elemental Plane of Air, and basically took over (even though there was no physical conflict that determined this) the plane, they settled down on the floating islands of the plane, building majestic strongholds. Though the Aarakocra, Djinni, and other races of Plane of Air were slightly offended by the presence of their new neighbors, they did eventually grow closer, and the Plane of Air's nature became more celestial in nature. It only took around a century for the Aarakocra people to forget the fact that the Celestials were new.
Over the course of the thousand years up until the modern day, the Aarakocra had multiple instances of them cross-breeding with the Celestials, giving them divine powers, extending the length of their lives, and created a new race of people, known as the Aurakarae. They now are seen as another type of celestials, though they are still humanoids. Their feathers are almost completely white, with a few streaks of gold-colored feathers as well. Their beaks, talons, and skin are gold-colored as well. They are often clerics, especially of the Light, Tempest, and Life domains, and are occasionally Circle of Dreams Druids, Paladins, and Rangers.
Another population of Aarakocra existed in the Material Plane, with only small populations. These populations eventually grew, and they migrated to the Star Mounts as they Dragons and Giants started a war, allowing them to live their mostly undisturbed. They eventually transformed over the centuries as well, their talons becoming another set of wings, increasing their ability to fly to very fast speeds. These people became known as the Chai-ehr and dwell on top of mountains and plateaus, and hunt creatures below the mountains.
Aasimar: After the Catastrophe, with the Celestials stuck in the Inner Planes, they decided to start dwelling in the Elemental Plane of Air. While they were leaving, the Celestials offered to bring the Scourge and Protector Aasimar with them. They accepted, and left the Material Plane. Spending the next several centuries living in the plane, which was now ruled by Celestials. They had to dwell on the floating islands contained in the plane. In order to travel from island to island, they often domesticated flying animals (normally Celestials), from Pegasi to Winged Bulls. Also creating flying chariots to transfer multiple people and objects at once, the Aasimar developed a structured and cultured society in the Elemental Plane of Air. Protector Aasimar were at an advantage as well, capable of flying for short bursts of time if something went wrong and they needed to quickly save themselves by flying to an earthmote, and were in general more risk takers in the Elemental Plane of Air. The Scourge Aasimar were more careful than the Protectors, normally domesticating loyal mounts to save them in these moments of peril.
Many Aasimar in the Elemental Plane of Air became Bards, Paladin protectors, and Divine Soul Sorcerers. They built great buildings, crafted divine magic items, and created an empire spanning the plane, under which the Archons and Empyreans were in charge of the society. They now occasionally journey into the other planes to smite evil where it rises, and attack swiftly.
The Fallen Aasimar were not so lucky. Though a few of them were evil, the vast majority were not. They were shunned by the Celestials, and this left a mark on them greater than their dark-divine powers that they already possessed. They were driven from most cities in Faerun, and had to live in the settlements of Gnolls and Orcs, causing many celestial half-born of these races to be born.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
They'd probably be destroyed, or at least cut off at the end of the Catastrophe.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
The Minotaur and Tiefling lore are my two favorites on the list.
I have two questions;
- Will there be a changelings lore in the future? No big deal if they aren't. They are my favorite D&D race which is why I mentioned it.
- The minotaurs are more humanoid? Like the qunari from dragon's age?
"We are what we repeatedy do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." - Aristotle.
The classy class clown passes cracked black brass glasses in class.
(try saying that really fast.)
1. There might be. I'm not sure. There are dopplegangers and could be changelings, but there may not be.
2. They're humanoid, but they're not like humans. They're like the Ravnica or Theros minotaurs.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
(Just a couple more. Feel free to comment below.)
Lizardfolk: At the start of the Catastrophe, when the Demons were overthrown, the demon lord Sess'innek lost his small hold over the Lizardfolk race. The Lizardfolk goddess Semuanya took this opportunity to assert control over his race, who followed him completely. He showed them signs, guided the race to safer homes and away from fiendish intruders in the Material Plane. Most lizardfolk who served dragons left their previous masters, and started new settlements inside swamps (mostly moving to the Evermoors). The lizardfolk community enjoys 79 years of total dedication to Semuanya, and then the Catastrophe ended, along with the life of Semuanya.
Utter chaos ensued. In the years following the end of the Catastrophe, the Second Dragon-Giant War caused more contention across Faerun. The lizardfolk, who had followed the dragons before and left their service on decent terms, were divided. A group of the Lizardfolk denied the death of Semuanya, claiming that he would return to guide the Lizardfolk once more. Another faction joined with the dragons, following the Bronze Dragons, whom were assigned to instruct them (the different races that followed the dragons had different commanders. The lizardfolk under the Bronze, the kobolds under the Green, and the hearthdrak under the black). The lizardfolk who followed them, over the centuries were changed, living at the bottom of the lakes, now being known as the Daervak. Eventually interbreeding with the bronze dragons, the Daervak gained the ability to breath underwater, gained larger and more powerful claws, and inherited the ability to change shape, similar to adult metallic dragons.
The Daervak are now the cunning brutes of the draconic forces. Though the Second Dragon-Giant War ended hundreds of years ago, the Daervak are still devoted to their draconic masters. Occasionally spying on others in changed form, often becoming druids, fighters, and rogues, they are suspiciously viewed on by others. Though the Daervak changed, the followers of Semuanya, now known as the Seyume.
Goliaths: During the Second Dragon-Giant War, after the giants had re-organized their society to be based around Dragon-slaying, they invited the Goliaths and Firbolg to join them in their war-like society. The Firbolg did not accept the offer, but the Goliaths were, admiring the power of the newly founded Giant society. For the next few centuries during the Second Dragon-Giant War, the Goliaths acted as the Giants' medium-sized servants, attacking the Lizardfolk, Kobold, and Dragonborn servants of the dragon armies. They also would occasionally seek out and destroy dragon nests and eggs, and they were prideful of their prowess in war.
Then, the celestials forced the war to end. The Goliaths were outraged, after all, their society is based around the powerful ruling, and the weak being crushed. They viewed the Celestials as weak, as they fled the Upper Planes as the Devils conquered them, and the gods they followed had to sacrifice themselves, which they saw as a pure act of weakness. The Giants then surrendered, as well as the Dragons, but the Giants needed to reform their society. They were based around dragon-slaying, which they no longer were allowed to do. They looked to a celestial who came from the Upper Planes hundreds of years before, an Archon of Falling Stars known as Paevtara. She was a fierce combatant, who rode atop a winged lion named Scair. The Giants started following the orders of this archon, and reformed their culture around protecting the world from otherworldly threats, notably the Aboleths. Goliaths felt betrayed. They spent centuries of their existence looking up to the supposedly mighty Giants, and they gave up when the going got hard. Not only did they give up, which is taboo in Goliath culture, but they started serving a being which they saw as weak, and started fighting the mighty Krakens and Aboleths. To the Goliaths, the Giants were now weak, and the Celestials were not deserving of veneration or worthy to be followed.
Angry, the Goliaths and their primal casters gathered atop the Star Mounts, rallying on the peak of the highest mountain. Their shamans executed a powerful ritual to transform the mountain into a volcanic portal to the Elemental Plane of Fire, where they made their new home. Now dwelling atop of volcanos in the Fountains of Creation, forging weapons with the geothermal power of their new home's volcanic power, the goliaths are preparing. They are sculpting armor out of steel, creating weapons, siege weapons, and vehicles to ready themselves. Now lead by warlords, and protected by shamans and war clerics, they now are plotting. Waiting for the opportunity to take control of the Elemental Planes, they plan to kill all the celestials, and then conquer the rest of the planes. They also have war-aurochs and other domesticated animals to help provide for themselves in their blasted wasteland of a home, but they also depend on their shamans for food and water for their tribes.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
I LOVE it. are you gonna do a PbP in this new and exciting world... and if not, do I have permission to run one?
“I will take responsibility for what I have done. [...] If must fall, I will rise each time a better man.” ― Brandon Sanderson, Oathbringer.
Sure, you can do one here. Whether or not I'm going to, I have no idea. To be honest, the thought never crossed my mind.
I still have a ton to do. The population of the world will significantly increase, certain regions will become more important, and so on. Waterdeep on its own will become huge, and have around 150 million people alone inside the city. There's also cultures that need more descriptions, more races that need stats, and so on. I'm getting fairly close to finishing the main outlines for the main races and peoples, but I still have to describe the planes of existences and their changes, Realmspace and its changes, and most of the monsters and possible statistical changes.
Also, technology will increase as well. Airships will be a fairly common sight, guns are well-known and widespread, cannons and magical weapons will also not be uncommon, especially in major cities.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
I'm wondering what's happened to all the famous characters such as Drizzt Do'Urden, Bruenor, Minsc & boo.
"Life is not a problem to be solved but a reality to be experienced"- Soren Kierkgaard
First things first, I would like to say that I love this world idea. Secondly, I noticed that you said Waterdeep will eventually have a population of 150 million people. This is enormous. That is almost half the population of the U.S.A. Is their any specific reason Waterdeep got to be so large?
A fool pulls the leaves. A brute chops the trunk. A sage digs the roots.
My Improved Lineage System
I will def wait until you deem the world finished.
“I will take responsibility for what I have done. [...] If must fall, I will rise each time a better man.” ― Brandon Sanderson, Oathbringer.
Probably mostly (if not all) dead at this point. Every Chosen dies, anyone who had more than 1/8th of their DNA from any specific god as well, and many people died in the events before the end of the Catastrophe.
Maybe Boo has millions of descendants nowadays, but you can't easily tell miniature giant space hamsters from normal hamsters.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
Thanks. Yes, this is huge. It will be its own country, and I calculated it from a population growth table, with a bit less growth than usual due to kraken attacks, etc.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms