I've been working on a DnD 5e homebrew setting for a long time, and I've recently made a "quick pick-up" version of the lore for my players.

I want to know if this is too dense or bad or something. Any critique would be helpful.

In the beginning, there were three gods: The Sovereign, The Divine Light, and Crie. The Sovereign used their body to create the material world, a world of nature and beauty. Crie used his body to create the Spirit World, a land of nightmares and horror. These two gods loved each other, and together they made all the animals and monsters that inhabit the world of Fether, with The Sovereign giving them flesh and blood, and Crie giving them souls and dreams.

But the Light was jealous of their creations, and it wanted to create a creature of its own. The Sovereign and their husband agreed to give The Light children of its own design, and thus humanity was born. But The Light wasn’t satisfied. It kept asking for more and more. And eventually, it stopped asking. Before the two others could realize that their playmate had no love for them, it had bound The Sovereign with a device called The Apparatus, leaving Crie with no ability to affect material things, and allowing The Light to do whatever it wanted to the world.

One day, longer ago than anyone alive could remember, The Light took a thousand of humanity’s best and brightest to become gods and help it in its work. Out of the thousand, only three survived the process of entering godhood. The first was Dredge Velmort, who was put to work managing the souls of the dead to keep Crie in check. The second was Strife Whitevein, who was given the job of protecting humanity from disease and keeping the Bound Sovereign asleep. The third was lost to history and remains unknown to this day.

But when these new gods started gaining followers, The Light was displeased. It locked its new creations into domains of its choosing. Dredge was locked in Purgatory, where he could see the world but never touch it. Strife was locked in the Apparatus, where he must work eternally, making new drugs to keep The Sovereign calm and asleep, lest the Apparatus be destroyed, and Strife with it. No one knows where the third one went.

500 years ago, a country now lost to time decided to colonize Greyland. The land was hostile, but using superior technology, they were able to tame part of it.

But the country of Greyland is so incredibly wicked that many of the machines used to make the land livable are still out in the wilds, deemed unrecoverable by a previous generation. But now technology and magic have evolved beyond what that generation could have dreamed of, and those ancient, impossible machines are so valuable that just one could get you a home in the tamed parts of Greyland, far from the horrors the land hides away. 

The country itself, however, is not as dastardly as those who live in it. Dreaded cults, secret societies of evil wizards and warlocks, an incompetent government, and the oppressive Church of Divine Light are staples of Greyland.

300 years ago, humanity discovered dark magic. Occultists discovered that matter from the Spirit World could be drawn into the material world to create fantastic effects, from manipulating life and death to creating creatures and seemingly impossible effects, all without swearing fealty to a god. But what they failed to realize was that doing so gave Crie an opening. A chance to free his spouse. And a chance to get revenge on The Light and its pathetic little creations.

That was when Nightmares started appearing in the world...

Thank you for the feedback. As thanks, here's the info you requested.

To fully understand what Nightmares are, you need to know about Spirit Affliction. Whenever dark magic is used, it releases some spirit matter into the world, which lingers around until put back into the spirit world, which requires a complex ritual only known to the followers of Dredge. This spirit matter builds up in both the caster's body and the environment around them. This build-up is called Spirit Affliction (or just Affliction), and the more Affliction there is in something, the more Crie can influence it, and the easier it is for Nightmares to interact with and perceive it.

Nightmares are the result of Crie creating life without the help of another god: incorporeal, shadowy spirits fuelled by and born of powerful emotions. Normally, they just linger around the spirit world, but when the Spirit Affliction grows thick in one place, they can move through the veil between worlds.
Nightmares are typically more playful than malicious, but their form of "play" is about what you'd expect from evil spirits that were made by a god that wants to destroy humanity.

Here are some example Nightmare creatures:

Eyeless Trackers: Part of the spirit world's "immune system," Trackers exist to harass and destroy creatures that gathered a lot of Affliction. To give themselves a more corporeal form, they stitch human remains together and possess the flesh clot they create. Trackers are typically invisible (they can cast Invisibility on themselves as a bonus action and at will), and they don't have blindsight, so both they and their prey need to rely on sound. However, Trackers also use a heightened form of Spirit Sense (the method by which Nightmares detect Afflicted creatures) to find and select their prey. Their attacks can strip your AC or apply Affliction to make you easier to detect.

Shambling Howlers (AKA Laughers): Laughers are the result of human misuse of dark magic, and are effectively the zombies of this world, appearing to be a human with black liquid oozing out of their black eyes and leering mouths. They are slow, easily staggered (they can't take reactions if hit with an attack),  they laugh loudly whenever they detect prey or get injured, and being unnatural Nightmares means that the spirit world doesn't recognize them as part of itself, so the spirit world itself reaches out to destroy them whenever they make too much noise. However, the sheer amount of Spirit Affliction accumulated in their bodies makes them extremely durable, having about 80 hit points on average despite being 1/2 CR (that may sound insane, but my players simultaneously like to optimize and dislike things being too easy, so this is my solution).

Phantoms: The most basic and common Nightmares, Phantoms mechanically function as Shadows but draining Sanity instead of Strength, and simply cause their victims to faint instead of outright dying. They resemble a black, vaguely humanoid silhouette, but with an indeterminate amount of mouths with glowing white human teeth. They can't stand bright lights of any kind and typically snuff them out whenever possible. They are playful, usually harmless, but far from friendly, enjoying tormenting humans to the brink of insanity and them leaving them alone, making them question whether they were ever sane in the first place.

Darkborn: A playable Nightmare, Darkborn are usually created when a Nightmare (typically a phantom) falls in love with a human. Regardless of whether the human reciprocates or is even aware of that love, Nightmares are creatures of raw emotion and will give up their incorporeality and supernatural abilities to have a stronger connection to their loved ones. They have an expanded spell list (like a Dragonmark) and 120ft of darkvision (despite all darkvision range being halved in this setting), and have a kinship with other Nightmares, so they can have a conversation with, say, an Eyeless Tracker without worrying about being instantly killed. It wouldn't be a friendly conversation, but it likely wouldn't have the default outcome of violence.

Any homebrew subclasses connected to this world? Some kind of nightmare hunter? Or do you have a modified version of the Fey Wanderer or Gloom Stalker ranger or something that relates to the spirit realm?

Also, how do domains work in this setting?

I've actually made several subclasses for this setting, but I haven't posted any of them to DDB. They are:

The Occultist Wizard: A completely unbalanced subclass that has some melee capabilities.

The Darkness Cleric: A subclass completely designed around Crie and his abilities.

The Horror Bard: For when you want to sing a Disney villain song while being a good guy.

The Boogeyman Warlock: A non-combat based support class designed around just being weird and somewhat unpredictable

The Nightmare Engineer Artificer: Still a WIP, but the concept is that you have surreal and hellish inventions that warp the environment around you. Also, you have a really cool vehicle.

As for the divine domains, while there are only seven gods, all of the domains are represented. Take a look.

(I really hope these links work and don't screw everything up. That would be embarrasing.)

Quote from Baalzeboop >>

I've actually made several subclasses for this setting, but I haven't posted any of them to DDB. They are:

The Occultist Wizard: A completely unbalanced subclass that has some melee capabilities.

The Darkness Cleric: A subclass completely designed around Crie and his abilities.

The Horror Bard: For when you want to sing a Disney villain song while being a good guy.

The Boogeyman Warlock: A non-combat based support class designed around just being weird and somewhat unpredictable

The Nightmare Engineer Artificer: Still a WIP, but the concept is that you have surreal and hellish inventions that warp the environment around you. Also, you have a really cool vehicle.

As for the divine domains, while there are only seven gods, all of the domains are represented. Take a look.

(I really hope these links work and don't screw everything up. That would be embarrasing.)

 

 (I needed to request access to see them)

The lore in your first post is very impressive. Reminds me of Kult (the RPG of Gnostic horror).

Quote from PenelopeTheWeaver >>

The lore in your first post is very impressive. Reminds me of Kult (the RPG of Gnostic horror).

 Yeah it was very fun to read

The problem with the links should be fixed.

Thank you everyone for the positive feedback! Most of my players are close friends or immediate family, so I had no idea whatsoever whether this was good or not.

Quote from Nothic2SeeHere >>

Quote from Baalzeboop >>

The problem with the links should be fixed.

 

 It still says we need access.

 that's because he shared them with me, but I don't know if he did for you

btw I'm reading them right now

In the Gods of Fether doc, I particularly like the Bound Sovereign and The Violinist, Hell Titan descriptions, and everything else is cool too

In the Artificer: Nightmare Engineer doc, I love the Maw Engine! I can't tell you how balanced I think it is, because I'm not too good at that kinda thing, but to me it seems sweet. 

In the Cleric: Darkness Domain doc, gloaming oppression and shadow grasp sound like they would be really fun to use. Again, it all looks great. 

And in the Wizard: Occultist doc, the Cogitatio Mali is so cool. I feel like a lot of lore could come from one of these. And I like the use of Eldritch Invocations. 

Okay, lemme just-

Warlock: The Boogeyman

You have made a pact with an entity that thrives on darkness and fear. Such beings are unknowable and fickle, and their true natures are often unknown even to the warlocks they sponsor. They often tend to be protective of their warlocks, though, given that they generally have very few.

Entities of this type include the Nightmare Court, The Raven Queen, high-ranking Quori, or powerful Nightmares.

Expanded Spell List

At 1st level, the Boogeyman lets you choose from an expanded list of spells when you learn a warlock spell. The following spells are added to the warlock spell list for you.

Spell Level                                Spells

1st Augury, Dissonant Whispers

2nd Phantasmal Force, Pass Without Trace

3rd Catnap, Slow

4th Phantasmal Killer, Greater Invisibility

5th Dominate Person, Hallow

Friends in Dark Places

At 1st level, you gain the Devil’s Sight eldritch invocation.

In addition, while in dim light or darkness, you have advantage on saving throws against being charmed, blinded, deafened, frightened, or put to sleep.

Nightmare Connoisseur

At 6th level, your patron gives you a special item to collect nightmares in, allowing you to give them to your patron in trade for favors. This item resembles a normal object, such as a dream catcher, a book, a candle, or a music box. This object is called your Nightmare Catcher, and it counts as a spell focus for you and has a number of nightmares equal to your proficiency bonus.

You can expend nightmares in the following ways:

As I Lay Me Down To Sleep

During a short or long rest, you may expend one nightmare to create a (10 x your proficiency bonus)ft radius sphere of dim light centered on your Nightmare catcher. All creatures within that radius cannot be surprised. This effect ends at the end of the rest or if the rest is interrupted.

Pray The Lord My Soul To Keep

If you fall unconscious by any means, you can expend a nightmare as a reaction to stabilize yourself (if you fell unconscious due to dropping to zero hit points) and gain resistance to piercing, slashing, and bludgeoning damage until you regain consciousness.

Angels Watch Me Through The Night

As an action, you can expend a nightmare to create two sensors, which are Tiny nonmagical objects that must have a depiction of an eye somewhere on them. As an action, while you are within 1 mile of a sensor, you can choose to see through its eye(s). While looking through the sensor’s eye(s), you are blinded through your own senses. As a bonus action, while looking through a sensor, you can destroy it harmlessly. You can have a number of sensors at once equal to your Charisma modifier.

And Keep Me Safe Til Morning’s Light

While in dim light or darkness, you can expend a nightmare to give one creature you can touch resistance to all damage types for one minute, until they take any damage or if they end their turn in bright light. During this time they gain 30ft of darkvision if they don’t already have it.

You also learn the Spare the Dying cantrip.

You regain all nightmares at the end of a long rest.

Dream Demon

At 10th level, you learn the Dream, Detect Thoughts, and Sleep spells, if you don’t already know them. These spells do not count against the number of Warlock spells you know. If you know any of these spells, you can select a replacement spell from the Warlock spell list instead. In addition, you gain the following benefits when you cast these spells:

You can cast Sleep once at 5th level without expending a spell slot. You regain the ability to do this after you finish a short or long rest. In addition, when you put a creature to sleep in this way, it does not require a spell slot to cast Dream on them while they are asleep. 

When you cast Dream on a creature put to sleep by your magic, the casting time is changed to one action.

When you cast Detect Thoughts and probe deeper into a creature's mind, you automatically learn its most pressing concern at the moment. Also, when you probe deeper into a creature’s mind with Detect Thoughts, you may expend a Nightmare to prevent them from noticing.

In addition, you no longer need to sleep.

Dark, Darker, Yet Darker

At 14th level, your Nightmare Connoisseur feature gains the following upgrades:

As I Lay Me Down To Sleep

All creatures of your choice within the radius are invisible.

Pray The Lord My Soul To Keep

This feature does not cost nightmares when used on yourself. Whenever you stabilize a creature, you may expend a nightmare to grant them the benefits of this feature.

Angels Watch Me Through The Night

You can cast a spell as if you were in the sensor’s space while looking through it, but doing so destroys the sensor.

And Keep Me Safe Til Morning’s Light

The target of this feature radiates a 10ft aura of dim light.

Bard: College of Horror

Many bards find inspiration in stories of hope and valor, tales of heroes smiting the wicked or the innocent surviving impossible odds. Not so for the College of Horror.

College of Horror bards thrive off tales of terror and despair and relish the chance to share the grimmest of stories, songs, and poems, or, better yet, record them. 

Despite their macabre interests and dark methods, College of Horror bards are usually productive members of society, spreading word of dire threats and rallying forces to face them.

Additional Bard Spells

At the following levels, you learn the following spells. If they are not on the bard spell list, they are nonetheless bard spells for you.

Inspire Despair

At 3rd level, when you deal damage to a creature with a weapon or spell, you can expend an inspiration die to overwhelmed overwhelm the creature with a sudden sense of mortality.

The creature must make a Wisdom save against your Spell Save DC or become Frightened of a creature of your choice until the end of your next turn.

Song of Dread

At 6th level, when you use your countercharm, its range increases to 60ft, and creatures of your choice within that range have disadvantage on saves against being charmed, blinded, or frightened, as well as on Wisdom-based ability checks.

In addition, when you are singing, dancing, speaking, playing music, or otherwise performing, you can choose to have any noise you make be non-directional.

Song of Hysteria

At 6th level, once per turn, while performing your countercharm, you can choose a creature affected by your Song of Dread. This creature does not benefit from Darkvision or Blindsight until you they get further than 60ft from you, can no longer hear or see you, or you end your performance.

You can use this feature to affect a number of creatures equal to your proficiency bonus. If you try to affect another creature with this feature after you have a number of affected creatures equal to your proficiency bonus, you must choose a creature already affected and end the effect on that creature.

Song of Terror

At 14th level, any creature affected by your Song of Dread during your performance must make a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC. On a failure, they are frightened and can repeat this saving throw every minute. On a success, they are immune to this effect until you finish a long rest.

In addition, those affected by Song of Hysteria lose their immunity to the frightened condition.

Wizard: School of Occultism

Art of Darkness

At 2nd level, you learn one Eldritch Invocation. You gain additional Eldritch Invocations at 6th, 10th, and 14th level.

In addition, you gain proficiency in rapiers, shortswords, and light armor.

Whispers From the Dark

You learn how to listen to the dark forces that now vie for your soul and mind, and you can temporarily open the minds of your friends to the same forces.

Starting at 2nd level, as an action choose yourself or an ally within 30ft of you. The targeted creature’s proficiency bonus increases by 2 for one minute.

You can use this feature once per short or long rest.

Blades of the Spirit Realm

At 6th level, you learn the Shadow Blade spell and add it to your spellbook. This spell is always prepared and does not count against the number of spells you can have prepared.

Whenever you deal damage with a Shadow Blade spell, you regain a number of hit points equal to your proficiency bonus.

In addition, when you cast Shadow Blade, it no longer requires concentration, and its duration increases to a number of hours equal to your proficiency bonus.

The Maw’s Hunger

The powers of the dark are interesting, but you’ve taken it a step further and taken a look into some more… illicit powers.

At 10th level, whenever a creature within 15 feet of you deals damage to you, you can use a reaction to deal an amount of necrotic damage equal to your proficiency bonus x 5 to the creature that attacked you. As a consequence of your dealings with the Howling Maw itself, you need twice the amount of food you normally would.

The Idea of Evil

At 14th level, you’ve gathered enough dark, impossible knowledge to piece together a paper on a theory that has never been proven: The Idea of Evil.

Your spell book becomes a magical book: a Cogitatio Mali. If your spellbook was already magical, it retains any properties it had before its transformation. It gains no new properties unless you roll and expend two hit dice as an action, taking necrotic damage equal to the number rolled and Activating your Cogitatio Mali. While Activated, your Cogitatio Mali gains the following properties.

• Your Cogitatio Mali now functions as a +3 spell focus if it didn’t already. 
• You gain a +2 to your AC 
• You add your proficiency bonus to all of your damage rolls.

If your Cogitatio Mali is lost or destroyed, you can perform a 2-hour ritual to replace it, which can coincide with a long rest. If you do so, your previous Cogitatio Mali crumbles into worthless ashes.

Cleric: Darkness Domain

Extra Proficiencies

At 1st level, you gain proficiency with heavy armor and martial weapons.

Into Darkness

At 1st level, you gain a new appreciation for darkness itself.

You gain darkvision out to 120ft.

In addition, you don’t have disadvantage on perception checks to see in dim light.

Gloaming Oppression

Starting at 1st level, whenever you cast a spell of 1st level or higher that targets a creature or you land a critical hit with a weapon, you can use your reaction to surround the target with a 10ft aura of nonmagical darkness for one minute.

Channel Divinity: Reap Affliction

Starting at 2nd level, you can use your Channel Divinity to call out to the spirit realm to punish transgressors.

As an action, you present your holy symbol towards a foe with Affliction within 30ft of you. That creature must make a Sanity saving throw or take necrotic damage equal you your proficiency bonus x 10.

Channel Divinity: Shadow Grasp

At 6th level, you can use your Channel Divinity to call upon the shadows themselves to pin your foes down.

As an action, you can present your holy symbol, and all creatures within dim light or darkness within 30ft must make a Sanity saving throw or become restrained until the end of your next turn, at which point they can make the saving throw again.

Creatures in complete darkness have disadvantage on the initial saving throw.

Divine Strike

At 8th level, you gain the ability to lace your weapons with Spirit Affliction. Once on each of your turns when you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can cause the attack to deal an extra 1d8 necrotic damage. When you reach 14th level, the extra damage increases to 2d8.

The Black Ocean Roars

At 17th level, you can feel Crie’s influence on the world, and, even better, spread it.

Whenever you deal damage to a creature by any means, they gain one point of Affliction.

In addition, whenever you hit a creature with a weapon attack and that creature has any Affliction, you can make one extra attack against that creature.

Artificer: Nightmare Engineer (WIP)

A nightmare engineer specializes in remaking the world in their own image. Their machines are often dangerous, absurdly complex, and downright impossible according to all known arcane and scientific laws.

Tool Proficiency

When you adopt this specialization at 3rd level, you gain proficiency with all vehicles and carpenter’s tools. If you already have proficiency with artisan's tools, you gain proficiency with one other type of artisan's tools of your choice.

Nightmare Engineer Spells

Starting at 3rd level, you always have certain spells prepared after you reach particular levels in this class, as shown in the Nightmare Engineer Spells table. These spells count as artificer spells for you, but they don’t count against the number of artificer spells you prepare.

Maw Engine

At 3rd level, you’ve invented a machine that alters the world around you in dark and mysterious ways. Not even you are entirely sure how it works. 

As an action, you may place down your Maw Engine, a Medium or Large Construct. If you choose for it to be medium, one Small creature can fit inside or ride on top. If you choose for it to be Large, one Medium creature can ride inside or on top of it. A creature can only ride on or in your Maw Engine if you allow it to. 

The Engine has 10 in every ability score, immunity to psychic and poison damage, immunity to all conditions, and an amount of HP equal to your Artificer level x 7. Choose one of the following options:

• Submarine: Your Maw Engine has an AC equal to 12 + your Intelligence modifier, a speed of 5ft, and a swim speed of 25ft.
• Tank: Your Maw Engine has an AC equal to 13 + your Intelligence modifier and a speed of 25ft. 

If you cast Mending on your Maw Engine, it regains 2d6 hit points.

You can only use create a Maw Engine once every long rest, and you can only have one Maw Engine at a time.

As a bonus action, while your Maw Engine is within 1 mile of you, you can command it to move up to its speed. When you do so, you can choose one of the options from the following table.

Chaos Machine

At 5th level, when you create a Maw Engine, choose a weapon in your hand(s). That weapon is merged with the Maw Engine and uses your Intelligence modifier for its attack and damage rolls. 

In addition, creatures on top of the Maw Engine have a +1 to AC.

The interior of your Maw Engine can now be up to 20ft x 20ft x 20ft, regardless of what size the Engine is.

Maddening Power

At 9th level, Well of Power, Uncooperative Geometry, and Dying Light all have their range increased by 10ft.

Your Maw Engine can now be created in the following form:

• Airship. Your Maw Engine has an AC equal to 11 + your Intelligence modifier, a speed of 5ft, and a fly speed of 30ft.

Gods of Fether

The Old Gods

The Old Gods were here long before the Titans, and longer still before humanity or even the sylvari. They created this world and the creatures that inhabit it, but that does not mean that they are at all benevolent.

The Divine Light, Architect of Order

Domains: Light, Life, Forge, Order, Knowledge

Patron of: Inspiration, Machines, Inquisition, Faith

The god of humanity and progress, The Light is the most widely worshiped in Fether. Known for it’s construction of The Apparatus and the creation of Dredge and Depth, The Divine One is seen as the one true god of Fether, both by it’s followers and itself.

The Church of Divine Light

The Church is widely known and trusted in Greyland. If you need a spell cast, healing done, or even a soft drink delivered, you go to the church.

Despite being trusted, however, the church is also feared by many. Nonhumans, criminals, members of other religions, and even people who dare to acknowledge the existence of other deities are hunted down and lobotomized by the Church, turned into monstrous creatures known as Bound Heretics, faceless things dressed in white cloth, with no free will of their own.

The Lord’s Workshop

Little to nothing is known about the domain of the Divine Light, other than it is where angels come from. Psychics who have seen it in visions describe it as blindingly bright and filled with golden machinery, made of the same metal used to make celestial creatures.

Crie, The Starving Dark

Domains: Death, Darkness, Arcana, Trickery

Patron of: Undead, Nightmares, Affliction, Shadows, Dark Magic, Evil Spirits, Darkness

The Starving Dark is the soul of the world, the dark shadow to rival the Divine Light. All souls come from Crie, and all souls belong to him. The Evil One despises humanity for their association with The Light, and he loathes the Light for it’s subjugation of his spouse, The Sovereign.

The Dark Circle

A secret society of some of the most brilliant (if amoral) minds in existence, The Circle is widely feared for their use of black magic. While few of the Circle’s members are true worshippers of Crie, they all respect the power he grants them to do his bidding.

Magicians and civilians alike fear the magic of the Dark Circle, as the secrets they have unlocked allow them to commune with evil spirits, invent horrifying undead, and create copies of anything imaginable out of nothing more than shadows and wax.

The Spirit World

Crie’s domain is a plane of shadows and little else. A constantly shifting world of vague copies of the “real” world’s objects and creatures awaits those who dare pass into the land of Nightmares. The dark substance that the Spirit World consists of is soft and malleable, warping normal matter to suit the world of Crie’s dark imaginings.

Spirit Affliction

All arcane magic relies upon the use of Spirit Matter to manipulate the world around the caster or to summon objects from the Spirit World itself. The downside to this power, however, is that it releases spirit matter into the world, corrupting both the wielder and the world at large. The colorless sky, dark oceans, and unspeakable monsters rising from the dead are all symptoms of the growing affliction that taints Fether and everything in it. Not even Crie is deluded enough to think this is a good thing.

The Bound Sovereign

Domains: Nature, Tempest, Life, Strength

Patron of: Druids, Natural Disasters, Plagues, Disease, Nature, Corruption, Sylvari

The Sovereign is the body of the world. With iron for bones, earth for flesh, and water for blood, The Beast of the Land sleeps restlessly, as anesthetic is pumped from The Apparatus to keep them unconscious.

The Grand Coven

A strange and ancient religion, The Coven promotes isolationism, as they see non-members as inherently heretical. Other religions disgust them, despite the support they get from the Inquisitors and Dark Circle, as they believe that the other gods are what keep the Sovereign from ridding itself of the disease of humanity.

Fether Itself

Many people don’t even believe that the sovereign exists, claiming that natural disasters and plagues “just happen” and that the massive jaws of The Apparatus are just “supposed to be there.” But the colonists of Greyland know the truth: the earth is the body of the Slumbering God, and they see humanity as a parasite, gnawing through their skin and drinking the Old God’s blood.

Their every movement is an earthquake that levels cities. Every sea is a massive, festering wound. Every beast is a cell in a massive, hateful body.

Corruption

What humanity at large may deem monstrous, sylvari and members of the Grand Coven see as a blessing. After all, who wouldn’t want to become one with the sovereign?

Corruption is a strange and vile thing. It spreads like a virus, infecting and warping land, creatures, buildings, people, and anything else imaginable. Many view it as humanity’s only hope to survive the end times, but most say that if it would take losing what makes you human, it would make it not worth surviving at all.

The Titans

Also known as “The New Gods,” the Titans are fairly new in the world, and yet they wield tremendous power which even holds a candle to that of the Old Gods. While more limited, the Titans are still gods and should be treated as such. Two of the Titans, Depth and Dredge, were made by the Divine Light. No one knows where the Lunar and the Hell Titan came from, except high-ranking members of the Church and the Light itself.

Dredge, The Father of Torment

Domains: Knowledge, Order, Death, Arcana, Grave

Patron of: Interrogation, Torture, Purification, Devils

Father of Torment, Dredge Velmort roams his dark domain, bathed in the red light of purgatory. He knows every name ever named and hears every thought ever thought. He takes no pride in his endless work, but according to his master, it must be done. So throughout the endless night of Purgatory, he endlessly judges the sufferers to the sounds of the Howling Maw and The Hell Titan’s music.

The Inquisition

A hidden army of sadistic interrogators roams Fether, hunting for dark magicians who needlessly pollute the world with spirit affliction. They perform cleansing rituals and exorcisms for those who need them and distill opioids and drugs to cure affliction.

Purgatory

A concrete and steel platform hovers above the endlessly hungering Maw of Hell. It is a place where the sinners are punished and the damned are purged from the pool of souls and plunged into the abyss below them. A few desperate and unrelenting evils hang onto the chains beneath Purgatory, slowly becoming Yugoloths, all while avoiding the judgment of the devils that hunt above them.

The Panopticon

In the center of Purgatory sits the wretched, wire-choked spire known as the Panopticon. From its rust brown halls, Dredge sees everything that happens on earth and listens for the whispers of heroes and villains to be.

Strife, The Redeemer

Domains: Life, Peace, Arcana, Blood

Patron of: Medicine, Body Modification, Anesthetic

Working tirelessly to invent new anesthetics to keep the Sovereign asleep, Strife Whitevein rules over the Apparatus itself. A brilliant doctor in a past life, Strife tries to heal the world of ailments such as corruption, but he and his science are no match for the loathing of the mighty World Beast.

The Steel Doctrine

A semi-secret congregation of doctors, botanists, and tinkerers, the Doctrine cares for the sick and wounded, and is the only faction to have developed rituals to heal corruption.

The Doctrine put their patients first. If their pathetic flesh would keep them from helping others, then it must go, and be replaced with beautiful surgical steel. They constantly pump medicines into their heavily modified bodies, making them sensitive but immune to pain. Many soldiers thank The Light that Strife’s disciples swear neutrality and pacifism when they enter the Doctrine, for they are the most powerful of all of the religious organizations in Greyland, surpassing even the Church of Divine Light in approval and might.

The Apparatus

Invented by The Light, the Apparatus keeps the Sovereign from destroying humanity, but just barely. The long, golden teeth pierce deep into the earth, holding it still, but wounding the very planet.

Deep within the machine, Strife tries to ease the Sovereign’s pain and keep them calm, desperate to keep humanity alive just one more day.

The Lunar

Domains: Life, Twilight, Nature, Peace, Trickery, Light

Patron of: Love, Peace, Family, Lycanthropes

No one quite knows why The Lunar is here, except for the Family and The Light. One of the few things known about it is its Modus Operandi: love. Its power surpasses even that of The Light, but it rarely uses said power for anything other than empowering its “children.”

The Family

The Family is possibly the only inspiring thing in the entirety of Fether. They accept every person, place, and thing as beautiful in its own right, even if no one recognizes it. They bring light, life, and joy everywhere that they go, much to the offense of the Church.

The Moon

The Lunar got its name from the fact that it seems to live in the moon, giving it a pinkish tint and a silvery shine, and causes it to beat faintly like a heart and always seems to be full.

The Violinist

Domains: Death, War, Trickery, Blood, Strength, Ambition

Patron of: Demons, Music, Hunger

Hate has a name, but it is known only to the light. The Hell Titan is known to none but the highest of theologists, and even all that is known is its music… and its hate, its hatred of all things created by The Light. Some suggest that it was created by The Light as an entertainer, or that it is just a powerful demon, but one thing is certain: it has grown far beyond whatever it was originally, and not even the Maw can destroy it.

The Brotherhood of Teeth

Without even knowing it, there is one religious order, or, more accurately, cult, that serves the Violinist, at least indirectly. The Brotherhood of Teeth is a ruthless, hellish group that believes that the world is ending soon and that that justifies doing anything they want, regardless of the consequences. To them, hedonism is the name of the game, and violence is another word for fun.

The Howling Maw

They say that if you’re in the wrong place at the wrong time, you can see death itself. Hear the music. The screaming.

The Maw is the void below the world. A thousand realities have disappeared into it, and a thousand more will. Anything left is torn asunder by howling winds and the rotting essence of the place. The few creatures that call it home are impossible masses of steel, stone, and flesh, eternally dying and rebuilding themselves.

Every couple hundred or so years, the Maw lets something out. Something that is nearly unkillable, and ruthless to a fault, devouring or corrupting everything around them.