When the world was created, the gods made three races to live upon it, the Elves, Dwarves, and Orcs. For 5000 years the three races lived apart with very little interaction, until the orcs began to covet the dwarven riches and invaded their mountain homes. The dwarven lords sent emissaries to the Elfwoods begging for assistance fighting the orcs. The elves declined saying they had no conflict with either tribe and would remain neutral. Thousands died on both sides of this conflict. And when it was over the dwarves had lost some of their territory to the orcs. The Orc nation of Grashk was born, and soon began to expand into the plains and forests. At first the elves simply retreated deeper into their primeval wood, but eventually the orcs invaded, cutting down trees and destroying villages, slaughtering anyone who resisted. The Elf king sent an emissary to the Dwarven lords asking for aid. The dwarves laughed and told the king "We have no conflict with either you or the orcs and will remain neutral."
Since orcs breed much faster than either elves or dwarves, they began a two front war against both races. The War of the First Born waged for nearly 175 years with the elves being almost wiped out. Seing the plight of his chosen children, Meingal sent Eresta to teach the elves the ways of arcane magic. When the tide began to turn against the Orcs, Bethana also instructed the Orcs in the ways of magic. Then in an effort to maintain the balance, Gilthas instructed Orsik to teach the arcane arts to the dwarves.
A stalemate was reached, and an uneasy peace existed between the three races for almost 500 years, then an unknown assassin murdered the Orcish king, with an elven arrow. This started a second war, the orcs were bent on the extermination of the Elven race, this time the dwarves came to aid the elves. Powerful magics were unleashed and the gods were drawn into the conflict.
The gods entered to prime material plane to aid their followers and battled against on another, the devastation unleashed by gods destroyed whole regions. In a battle between Melus the god of murder, and the god of death, Korthek, Melus struck a fatal blow upon Korthek with his poisoned sword. The battle had raged high above the planet and when Kortheks body landed on Kaer T'ariel, it exploded in divine fury shattering Erui Bui. Shards of the essence of Kortheks divine soul were scattered across the world and the Proto Continent of Erui Bui was shattered into hundreds of smaller continents and sent drifiting across the globe, some merely sank into the waves, others drifted until they rested atop oceanic mountains and some, smaller continents continue to drift to this day.
The death of Korthek unleashed a wild magic surge that swepr around the world, creating havock and giving birth to new species and races, Some elves, dwarves, and orcs became Humans, halflings and gnomes.
After the destruction caused by the death of Korthek, OAS put an end to the gods involvement on the prime material plane and exiled them to the outer planes. He gave a human woman named Sythys, the High Priestess of Korthek, the Ritual of Ascension that she might replace her fallen god, because without a god of death, Souls would not be able to enter their after life.
150 years have passed since The Shattering, an elf named Dalar Windseeker has united most of the wandering tribes of humans, orcs, elves and other intelligent races into the Empire of Dalaria and has begun sending out exploration and colonization expeditions to the "Lost Continents" in an effort to ease the overcrowding and growing poverty in the empire. Colonists and adventurers are paid a sum of 100 Dalarian Crowns (1 crown = 1 gold piece) to explore and settle these "new" lands. No one is sure if these continents are settled by survivors from the shattering or if new races have sprung up from the surge of wild magic that changed so many...
The first continent discovered was Koleria, a land mass aproximately six months travel by ship to the west of the empire. Lord Grypon, a Baron of the empire has moved there and claimed a section of the south eastern portion of the land and calls it the Grypon Territory. In the past 25 years he has built a keep and founded the village of Nyrs Landins (New Landing) and recently the farming community of S'mar (hamlet) has sprung up to meet the food needs of the keep and the growing village. The territory is still largely unexplored and quite dangerous outside of the civillized areas. Nyrs Landins population is made up of mostly adventurers who are looking to make a name for themselves and find their fortune in a new land. Dwarves of the Shattershield clan have rebuilt the Alesword Stronghold, a clan of dwarves that are believed to have been wiped out in The Shattering, in exchange for allowing the dwarves to establish themselves as an independant nation within the borders of Grypon Territory, the dwarves operate the mines for Baron Grypon.
NYRS LANDINS: The growing village of Nyrs Landins has a permanent population of 800, with a fluctuating number of temporary inhabitants that are there to seek their fortunes exploring the region. (See Map 2.)
Good start and great concept. How are religions set up, Is there a hatred of the gods or some of them and love for others? 150 years is not very long. Some Elves may have witnessed it. Is there a celebration of the calamity or mourning or both?
6 months is a long time on a boat. Will you have ancient dragons? Giants (ancient race)?? Very comparable to America and Spain and Britain in America's early years. Does the Baron Grypon owe anything back to Dalaria (taxes)?
All good questions. Short answer, I have no idea. Long answer, this is a live campaign. The players started on a ship 3 days from one of the "continents", Koleria, They left the Dalarian empire as part of their backstory. And have now been in the territory for about 5 months game time (we started playing back in the summer). So far they have not encountered any natives of the continent, at least not living ones. :) I wanted the Shattering to be relatively recent, because I didn't want civilizations to have already been reestablished every where, just a few enclaves and mostly nomadic tribes. There is no general animosity against the gods, and I haven't included any celebrations or day of mourning for the disaster as yet. And no, the Baron doesn't owe anything to the empire, The Empire has recently granted the Territory its freedom and now recognizes it as a sovereign nation, due to length of travel time and expense (The Empire is almost broke). Hope this answered most of your questions (I just got out of bed and getting ready for work).
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When the world was created, the gods made three races to live upon it, the Elves, Dwarves, and Orcs. For 5000 years the three races lived apart with very little interaction, until the orcs began to covet the dwarven riches and invaded their mountain homes. The dwarven lords sent emissaries to the Elfwoods begging for assistance fighting the orcs. The elves declined saying they had no conflict with either tribe and would remain neutral. Thousands died on both sides of this conflict. And when it was over the dwarves had lost some of their territory to the orcs. The Orc nation of Grashk was born, and soon began to expand into the plains and forests. At first the elves simply retreated deeper into their primeval wood, but eventually the orcs invaded, cutting down trees and destroying villages, slaughtering anyone who resisted. The Elf king sent an emissary to the Dwarven lords asking for aid. The dwarves laughed and told the king "We have no conflict with either you or the orcs and will remain neutral."
Since orcs breed much faster than either elves or dwarves, they began a two front war against both races. The War of the First Born waged for nearly 175 years with the elves being almost wiped out. Seing the plight of his chosen children, Meingal sent Eresta to teach the elves the ways of arcane magic. When the tide began to turn against the Orcs, Bethana also instructed the Orcs in the ways of magic. Then in an effort to maintain the balance, Gilthas instructed Orsik to teach the arcane arts to the dwarves.
A stalemate was reached, and an uneasy peace existed between the three races for almost 500 years, then an unknown assassin murdered the Orcish king, with an elven arrow. This started a second war, the orcs were bent on the extermination of the Elven race, this time the dwarves came to aid the elves. Powerful magics were unleashed and the gods were drawn into the conflict.
The gods entered to prime material plane to aid their followers and battled against on another, the devastation unleashed by gods destroyed whole regions. In a battle between Melus the god of murder, and the god of death, Korthek, Melus struck a fatal blow upon Korthek with his poisoned sword. The battle had raged high above the planet and when Kortheks body landed on Kaer T'ariel, it exploded in divine fury shattering Erui Bui. Shards of the essence of Kortheks divine soul were scattered across the world and the Proto Continent of Erui Bui was shattered into hundreds of smaller continents and sent drifiting across the globe, some merely sank into the waves, others drifted until they rested atop oceanic mountains and some, smaller continents continue to drift to this day.
The death of Korthek unleashed a wild magic surge that swepr around the world, creating havock and giving birth to new species and races, Some elves, dwarves, and orcs became Humans, halflings and gnomes.
After the destruction caused by the death of Korthek, OAS put an end to the gods involvement on the prime material plane and exiled them to the outer planes. He gave a human woman named Sythys, the High Priestess of Korthek, the Ritual of Ascension that she might replace her fallen god, because without a god of death, Souls would not be able to enter their after life.
150 years have passed since The Shattering, an elf named Dalar Windseeker has united most of the wandering tribes of humans, orcs, elves and other intelligent races into the Empire of Dalaria and has begun sending out exploration and colonization expeditions to the "Lost Continents" in an effort to ease the overcrowding and growing poverty in the empire. Colonists and adventurers are paid a sum of 100 Dalarian Crowns (1 crown = 1 gold piece) to explore and settle these "new" lands. No one is sure if these continents are settled by survivors from the shattering or if new races have sprung up from the surge of wild magic that changed so many...
The first continent discovered was Koleria, a land mass aproximately six months travel by ship to the west of the empire. Lord Grypon, a Baron of the empire has moved there and claimed a section of the south eastern portion of the land and calls it the Grypon Territory. In the past 25 years he has built a keep and founded the village of Nyrs Landins (New Landing) and recently the farming community of S'mar (hamlet) has sprung up to meet the food needs of the keep and the growing village. The territory is still largely unexplored and quite dangerous outside of the civillized areas. Nyrs Landins population is made up of mostly adventurers who are looking to make a name for themselves and find their fortune in a new land. Dwarves of the Shattershield clan have rebuilt the Alesword Stronghold, a clan of dwarves that are believed to have been wiped out in The Shattering, in exchange for allowing the dwarves to establish themselves as an independant nation within the borders of Grypon Territory, the dwarves operate the mines for Baron Grypon.
NYRS LANDINS: The growing village of Nyrs Landins has a permanent population of 800, with a fluctuating number of temporary inhabitants that are there to seek their fortunes exploring the region. (See Map 2.)
Good start and great concept. How are religions set up, Is there a hatred of the gods or some of them and love for others? 150 years is not very long. Some Elves may have witnessed it. Is there a celebration of the calamity or mourning or both?
6 months is a long time on a boat. Will you have ancient dragons? Giants (ancient race)?? Very comparable to America and Spain and Britain in America's early years. Does the Baron Grypon owe anything back to Dalaria (taxes)?
All good questions. Short answer, I have no idea. Long answer, this is a live campaign. The players started on a ship 3 days from one of the "continents", Koleria, They left the Dalarian empire as part of their backstory. And have now been in the territory for about 5 months game time (we started playing back in the summer). So far they have not encountered any natives of the continent, at least not living ones. :) I wanted the Shattering to be relatively recent, because I didn't want civilizations to have already been reestablished every where, just a few enclaves and mostly nomadic tribes. There is no general animosity against the gods, and I haven't included any celebrations or day of mourning for the disaster as yet. And no, the Baron doesn't owe anything to the empire, The Empire has recently granted the Territory its freedom and now recognizes it as a sovereign nation, due to length of travel time and expense (The Empire is almost broke). Hope this answered most of your questions (I just got out of bed and getting ready for work).