I'm slowly making progress, though too slowly for my tastes. Regardless, new sections have been ported over to the Urbis Wiki:

* Desert of Thunder - a desert realm whose city-dwelling population is controlled by blue dragon overlords.
* Eternal Storm - devastated by still-prevalent elemental forces, this region attracts brave and foolhardy prospectors in search of fortunes.
* Flannish Cities - the center of modern urban civilization, this young region is currently setting the standards for prosperity and development.

The last one is the single most detailed region - not only does it include the "example city" of Dartmouth, but also Praxus - a huge city which is almost entirely a fan creation (i.e. not written by me).

I hope more people will join tanniynim in writing new material for Urbis.

Jürgen Hubert

For the last year, the setting I have been developing - Urbis - A World of Cities has been hosted on Eruvian.Com. But I have finally been convinced that I need to move it to a new home, since Eruvian.Com seems dead for all intents and purposes. Sure, the material is still available online - but there is next to no activity. And if I get no feedback, staying on this site is pointless for me.

Thus, I'm currently doing what I'm always doing under these circumstances - I'm creating a Wiki. You can find the Urbis Wiki here. I'm slowly moving all the material over. So far, I have finished the following sections:

• Alliance of the Pantheon
• Avareen
• Places of Legend
• Races
• Rothea
• Solar System

I will post updates whenever I have transferred new material. Furthermore, I have also written some new material, most prominently my new take on devils and their home plane of Sheol, which I am rather proud of if you don't mind me saying it.

Furthermore, many pages now have a "Designer's Notes" section where I explain what I had in mind when I wrote a specific entry. Sometimes they also contain significant "spoilers" or setting secrets, such as the Races entry which explains my idea for the origin of the various player character races.

Finally, the wiki setup also allows others to contribute their own material to Urbis. The following steps are needed:

1. Registering at Wikidot.Com.
2. Registering at the Urbis Wiki - which unfortunately requires agreeing to a legal disclaimer, which I need to do since I do plan to publish Urbis commercially, and I really don't want to deal with lawsuits over this setting.
3. Entering new additions to the Wiki. This works pretty similar to other standard wikis, with one significant, Urbis Wiki-limited exception:

All "canon" material in the Urbis Wiki - material either written by me or approved by me - is written in blue. All "non-canon" material - material not yet approved by me - is written in green. Any material you submit to the Urbis Wiki is automatically considered "non-canon" until I approve it.

Thus, you must start any new additions to the Wiki with the following tag:

and end them with:

This will ensure that they are displayed in green, until I get the time to review them and change their status.

Jürgen Hubert

I ran out of space when writing about devils in Urbis, so I'm posting this section separately. You should read the other article first so that this post will make more sense.

Infernal Pact Warlocks

While it is possible to become a warlock through a pact with a greater devil or devil lord, the favors demanded in return can be rather onerous, and smart would-be warlocks can get around this problem by pursuing a third option. This requires an experienced ritual caster (usually, but not always another warlock) as a mentor, however - who might demand some sort of payment for his services as well.

First, the warlock must deliberately set out to attract a lesser devil by pursuing a specific sin. Usually, the sin has to pursued with such vigor that the associated activities would shock and revile most other people of the same cultural background. Some warlock mentors secretly hire actors or otherwise arrange circumstances to allow their apprentice to avoid some of the possible stigma - it is important that the sin is meaningful in the apprentice's mind, rather than society at large. Others, however, consider genuine sinning to be an important part of the training and do nothing to protect their charges.

Once the devil has been attracted, the mentor will cast a ritual that will allow the apprentice to engage the devil in a battle of wills. If the apprentice loses, he will become a devilhost (and the mentor should better hope that his wards hold). If he wins, he will absorb the devil into his own soul and become able to manifest warlock powers. The downside of this process is that the devil will reside in his soul for as long as he lives (if a warlock dies and is later raised, the devil will be temporarily free but forced to return to the warlock after he lives again), and though it is incapable of acting, it can observe the world through the senses of the warlock and whisper to his mind. It can be rather unsettling to listen to an immortal entity making comments during your most private and intimate moments, or making threats to torture and kill your loved ones after you die. Some devils are able to influence the behavior of weaker-willed warlocks this way, and even the most strong-willed warlocks will be affected in some way. But that is the price they have to pay to gain the kind of power that would take a wizard years of study to achieve.

After completing their pact, some warlocks continue a life of sin - either because they enjoyed it, or because they believe that this path will bring them further power (and the imprisoned devil will become less irritating towards such warlocks as well). Others, however, were shocked to discover to what depths of depravity they could sink, and strive to become as moral as possible. Unlike most other people, they can never forget what true Evil is like, and refuse to give in to even the smallest of temptations.

Jürgen Hubert

Since the individual devils are not part of the D&D 4E rules, I will have to invent new ones for Urbis - and I'll rewrite the overall cosmology while I am at it as well. This is a first concept sketch for devils. Please tell me what you think!

Basics

Devils are a class of spiritual entities that desire to dominate mortals. In this, their goal is not dominance like mortals understand it. They do not wish to dominate mortals through force of arms, economic influence, or any other way in which mortals usually determine power. Instead, their goal is to dominate the entire existence of individuals through chains of fear, hatred, or utter dependence on the devil, and most devils would rather dominate a single person completely than have a small amount of influence over the lives of many. It is for this reason why devils rarely rule a mortal community openly (though it has happened before), since the sheer amount of dominance a devil requires would quickly cause the community to collapse as everything not revolving around the devil is abandoned. Ultimately, devils are parasites, not predators, and the smarter devils realize that by sponsoring cults within larger communities rather than trying to rule these communities as a whole - a small cult can be more effectively dominated, and furthermore acquire everything it needs from the rest of the community through theft, corruption, and other activities which can themselves become a form of worship.

Lesser Devils

The weakest form of devils are the lesser devils. Most lesser devils can be very intelligent, but they are usually narrowly focused - each specializes in a specific kind of activity (which those knowledgeable in such lore call a "sin") through which it tries to dominate mortals. These "sins" represent transgressions against the cultural norms the mortal victim is familiar with. In the cultural context of the Flannish Cities, the most commonly accepted sins (which have become defined as such through the influence of the church of Thenos) are Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy, and Pride, and each of these sins has devils associated with them - but there are numerous other possibilities.

The lesser devils are normally unable to influence events on the mortal plane, lacking methods to travel there directly, but they can sometimes sense mortal minds who strongly think about these sins (whether because they have recently committed them or are merely fantasizing them is irrelevant to the devil). They can then enter the minds of mortals while they sleep, and plant suggestions in their mind that encourage them to commit this sin more frequently and in more serious forms. Most devils are very subtle about this, and even mortals who follow this "advice" will usually think of it as nothing more than a strange dream. If the mortal victim no longer actively pursues the sin, the devil will soon loose interest and leave. Actively and sincerely following the rites of one's religion (such as the Thenaran tradition of penance) is also usually sufficient to drive the devil off, though only going through the motions of the rites without truly believing in them isn't.

If the devil is not driven away and the mortal continues to give in to temptation, the devil will become more active and even whisper to the mortal in his waking hours, and push him further towards sinful behavior. The mortal will become aware that he is no longer alone in his mind, but at this stage he is often fully addicted to the sin in question and will not even let the realization that he has attracted a devil stand in his way. To drive the devil off, the mortal either has to seek out arcane or religious warding and banishing powers, or refrain from sinning for so long that the devil becomes convinced that the mortal has lost interest in the sin (which usually means genuine repentance, since the devil can read the surface thoughts of the victim).

If the victim continues on the path of sin despite the presence of the devil, the devil will eventually offer to teach him a ritual with which he can access a small amount of the devil's power. This isn't a full-fledged warlock's pact, since a lesser devil would loose too much of its own power by granting such a pact (but see below), but giving the mortal a single warlock power or something equivalent would be appropriate. In all cases, the granted power will help the mortal pursue the specific sin further. Scholars call mortals who agree to such pacts "acolytes". Lesser demons can only have a single acolyte.

Once the mortal agrees, the devil will lead the mortal further down a path of depravity. Everything the mortal does must ultimately revolve around the sin, and thus, around the devil. Extended interactions with other mortals are only permitted if the acolyte wants to tempt them into sinning as well - this way, the devil can build an entire cult around its worship. If the acolyte wishes to stop being the servant of the devil, the devil has two options: It can leave the acolyte and strip the granted power from him (and the devil will often arrange things that the former acolyte is killed, imprisoned, or otherwise punished in the process), or the devil can possess the acolyte, permanently merging with his body and creating a hybrid being called a devilhost - a creature with mortal appearance and the memories of the acolyte, but with an extended range of infernal powers. A devil can turn an acolyte into a devilhost at any time (which, of course, the devil neglects to mention before the pact is completed), but most prefer not to, as they prefer to control the mind through manipulation than outright possession.

It is possible to bring the full bodily form of a devil into the mortal plane, but this requires a high-level ritual cast on a devilhost (which then consumes the body of the mortal in the process), and thus the support of a high-level ritual caster. This usually only happens with organized cults of greater devils, where the cult leaders tempt their followers to sin, convince them to become acolytes of servants of the patron greater devil, and then turn the resulting devilhosts into incarnate devils as needed. In rare cases, high-level ritual casters desire an infernal companion or subordinate for some reason. In this case, they tempt someone else into sin, convince them to become an acolyte, and then make a deal with the patron devil for cooperation in exchange for summoning him to the physical plane.

Greater Devils

Greater devils have moved beyond a single sin and possess far greater cunning in turning mortals into their servants. They can maintain multiple acolytes at the same time (with the number of acolytes they maintain roughly corresponding to their overall power), and their acolytes tend to gain more and greater powers through pacts, up to and including full warlock pacts. They can incarnate themselves in the mortal plane without the help of rituals, though they are loath to do so - they need to sacrifice all of their acolytes in the process (with their body appearing in place of one of the acolytes), and any such appearance distracts them from the politics and power struggles on the planes of hell. To their minds, it is more effective to whisper into the minds of mortals and act through lesser devil servants than to potentially destroy their entire cult through such rash action.

All greater devils have active cults, which helps maintain their power and establish themselves over lesser devils. Furthermore, all greater devils have numerous lesser devil servants, which it often uses as its agents on the mortal plane.

Devil Lords

Devil Lords are the mightiest of of the devils, deriving their power from dominating other devils instead of mere mortals. Though they have the ability to create acolytes and grant them mighty powers, they rarely do so. While their desire for dominance has, if anything, intensified since they arose from lesser ranks, they now only see dominance over other devils as a worthy goal, and whispering into the mind of a mortal is a waste of their time with any but the most noteworthy of individuals. They spend most of their time plotting the downfall of other devil lords, and direct other devils who have pledged fealty to them to do their bidding.

Still, they do not neglect the mortal plane, since they realize that the strength of lesser and greater devils derives from mortals - and that includes their own subjects. For that reason, they often sponsor cults in which their servants can grow while still remaining control over them. They also readily agree to warlock pacts, demanding a variety of services and sacrifices from the warlocks in return (though the warlocks agreeing to such pacts have greater freedoms than those making a pact with greater devils, since the lords can spare them less attention and are less dependent on their worship). But their wrath, when provoked, can be terrible, as their reach and power far surpasses that of any lesser infernal entity.

Jürgen Hubert

A new magic item for Urbis.

Atalan Monocle

The monocle allows you to tell genuine coins from fakes and clipped coins.

Level: 6
Price: 1800 gp
Item Slot: Head

When looking through the Atalan Monocle, all standard copper, silver, gold, and platinum coins within line of sight seem to glow. Coins that are less pure or weigh less than standard-sized coins do not glow. The monocle does not detect concealed coins.

The name of this item derives from the fact that the coin weight and purity standards which are detected by the monocle were first instituted in the old Atalan Empire, and the first magic items to detect coins which adhere to these standards were developed during that time as well. These standards are still used today in most of the Known Lands, more than a thousand years later, and make it possible to freely exchange coins from different city-states without having a unified mint, since all governments have a strong incentive to mint coins that adhere to these standards if they want to participate in international trade.

The monocle is frequently worn by bankers and serves as something of a symbol of office for them. Indeed, no caricature of a banker will leave out the monocle.



This nicely addresses one of my beefs with one of the underlying economic assumptions of D&D: Just why do all those different feudal governments use interchangeable coins?

Magically enforced standards solve this mystery nicely.

Jürgen Hubert

Instead of explain the origin of azers by making them former dwarves enslaved by fire giants, I decided to use a different explanation for Urbis:

Imbuing the Flame Below

Level: 14
Category: Binding
Time: 1 hour
Duration: Permanent
Component Cost: 1,600 gp
Market Price: 4,200 gp (Not for sale!)
Key Skill: Religion (no check)

This ritual must be cast near a volcano, lava stream, or other source of tremendous heat. It transforms one willing dwarf into an azer. Since azer are not suitable as player characters, any PC submitting himself to this ritual becomes an NPC and is retired from play.

This ritual is used by the Flamekeepers to transform their most devoted dwarven members into azer. Presumably, similar rituals could be developed for other races (it is entirely possible that fire giants came into being through a similar ritual). Despite numerous attempts, no variant of the ritual has worked on gnomes, possibly because of their connection to the fey.

The Flamekeepers keep the azer away from people who are not members of their cult. While rumors of their existence are common in Gol Algor (and they are likely known to many members of the local government), few locals will talk to nonnatives about them out of fear of reprisal from the Flamekeepers. However, some outsiders have encountered the solid metal rail wagons the cult uses to transport them, and have wondered about the fiery light emitting from the small air slits.


Transhumanism (or however you call it when you apply it to nonhuman races) has been a recurring theme in Urbis. See this entry how eladrin (and dark elves) are created from elves, and here how the first dragonborn were created from humans. There is also the Athanatos Club whose members strive to transcend death.

And I'm wondering how to apply the concept in other ways to Urbis. The desire to move beyond the limitations of one's species is an old one, and there is plenty of potential for stories and adventures in such attempts.

Jürgen Hubert

When I started working on Urbis, I went with the assumption that I'd use all ten of the "standard dragon types", the chromatic and the metallic ones. In fact, I introduced a bronze dragon as an inhabitant of the sample city of Dartmouth.

Then 4E was published, and the metallic dragons were no longer in the Monster Manual. Oh sure, I have no doubt that they will reappear in the next MM in the line. But I want Urbis - at least the "Core Regions" to work with the first three "Core Books" alone.

So now I'm going with the following assumption: While both chromatic and metallic dragons exist (as well as other, more exotic "families" that have yet been published for 4E), ancient wars between different types of dragons caused each "family" to hold different territories. The Known Lands (the regions detailed in the main setting description) are primarily inhabited by the chromatics. The metallic dragons live to the East - and most notably, in the Chinese-style Tsan Empire, where they have joined the ruling bureaucracy and act as magistrates.

And since Urbis is a city-based setting, I want the chromatic dragons to lair in cities. This might be seen as something of a problem, since the military resources of the average city-state likely could slay most dragons if they put their minds to it. One solution to this is to say that the dragons are in charge - the blue dragon dynasty of the Desert of Thunder exemplifies this. Other cities need some more explanation.

Most dragons are fairly smart. and many realize that if they can't rule a city outright, some sort of accommodation with the human inhabitants might be possible. Yes, chromatic dragons tend to be evil, but that likely doesn't those who want to live in cities to be pragmatic (the non-pragmatic chromatics likely either live in remote wilderness areas, or end up smeared across a neighborhood when they get caught in the crossfire between several nexus towers). A promise to fight in the wars of a certain city-state will likely get them a claw into the door, as a dragon is a huge military asset to any city. And once they are in, they can use their huge cunning and intelligence to amass power and influence from behind the scenes - they can own businesses like any other citizen, and even if they have to be reasonably law-abiding (or at least not get caught in any major scandals that would poison their relationship with the local government), their sheer power will be very intimidating to anyone wanting to cross them. They will likely take a long-term view and have a huge network of flunkies and informers who do their will. They know that they are unlikely to be able to rule a city openly, but the power they amass often is the next best thing. Anyone who crosses them likely will be surprised how many people - ranging from apparently independent organizations and seemingly honest businessmen to vile criminal networks - will suddenly turn against them and make their lives miserable.


It might be questioned how the huge ego of dragons would permit them to submit to any "lesser authority", such as that of "mere humans" - but to their minds, this is little more than a charade, and in the end it is not important what humans think. The only thing they will refuse entirely is submit to or share power with one of their peers - in other words, other dragons. No dragon will suffer another dragon living in "its territory", and this is one of the few occasions where dragons will actually instigate an open fight in the middle of a city. Nevertheless, dragons constantly scheme and plot against each other, and always try to gain influence in cities where other dragons dwell. How well a dragon keeps his own city free of the influence of other dragons, and how much he is able to influence the cities where other dragons dwell, measures how much his peers respect him. It has been speculated that this infighting is the only thing that keeps dragons elsewhere from ruling openly as they do in the Desert of Thunder.

Jürgen Hubert

With the fey having a greater prominence in D&D 4E, Urbis will follow suit. For this reason I'm currently collecting all sorts of online resources of faeries and mythology in general - and I decided to throw in occultism and the paranormal for good measure. After all, "steal from the real world" has always been one of my guiding principles for the setting.

Here is what I have so far. If you know of any other sites, please tell me about it - this list will be updated!


A Dictionary of Faery Folk of the World
Encyclopedia Mythica
Fairylore
Folklore and Mythology
Folklore and Mythology Electronic Texts
Folklore, Myth and Legend Links
Godchecker
Irish Literature, Folklore, Mythology, and Drama
List of legendary creatures by type
Mythology @ Wikipedia (especially the "List of" links at the bottom)
Myths and Legends
Occultopedia
Obiwan's UFO-Free Paranormal Page
PARAseek.com - The Paranormal Search Engine
The Obakemono
Sacred Texts - Legends and Sagas
Secret Commonwealth
Surlalune Fairytales
The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries
Theoi Greek Mythology
Timeless Myths
World Mythology

Jürgen Hubert

Here are two new rituals that I've created for Urbis:

Blessing of the Stars

Level: 12
Category: Binding
Time: 1 hour
Duration: Permanent
Component Cost: 500 gp
Market Price: 2,600 gp (Not for sale!)
Key Skill: Arcana (no check)

This ritual must be performed by an eladrin on a newborn elven child during the first full moon after its birth. The ritual will turn the child into an eladrin. This ritual will cause the child to become part of the same eladrin noble house as the ritualist. This is a supernatural effect which will be obvious to members of the Seelie Court who observe the new eladrin, and does not necessarily mean that other eladrins of the same house will accept the child if it is not related to them by blood.
It is possible to create new lines of eladrin noble houses, but only if one of the greater fey entities of the Seelie Court is willing to sponsor such a line. In this case, they will change the spirits of existing eladrins so that they can create new house members through this ritual.


Blessing of the Dark

Level: 10
Category: Binding
Time: 1 hour
Duration: Permanent
Component Cost: 400 gp
Market Price: 1,000 gp (Not for sale!)
Key Skill: Arcana (no check)

This ritual must be performed on a newborn elven child during the first new moon after its birth. In addition to the normal component cost, a sapient being with an Intelligence of at least 6 has to be sacrificed during the ritual. The ritual will turn the child into a dark elf. In contrast to the Blessing of the Stars ritual, the ritualist does not have to be a dark elf (or even an elf) himself.
Because of this ritual, elves will fiercely protect their newborn children against kidnapping by dark elves and their minions until the first new moon after the birth has safely passed. This ritual is often taught by members of the Unseelie Court.


Note: Dark elves have the same game statistics as eladrins, but their skin turns black to purple while their hair changes to white or gray. Their Fey Step power causes them to vanish in shadows.


I came up with these rituals to give the eladrins their own distinct role in Urbis - that of rulers of the elves, and allies of the fey. The dark elves (my stand-in for the drow, which aren't covered by the 4E SRD) provide a nice counterpart to the eladrin, especially since disgruntled elves might seek to deliberately join their cults. After all, why should the eladrins be allowed to hold a monopoly on a 50% increase in lifespan and the ability to teleport?

Jürgen Hubert

As I am proceeding with trying to integrate Urbis into the D&D 4E rules, one of the knottier problems I have to deal with is that of the warlock. I want all of the classes to be able to operate openly in society without being subject to immediate censure and arrest, yet the highly advanced and organized societies have accumulated quite a lot of knowledge and are likely to deal harshly with anything that could pose a threat to them. This is a bit tricky for the warlock, who after all makes a pact with powerful, otherworldly and potentially hostile forces to gain his abilities.

Fey Pact warlocks are likely the easiest to justify. The Fey are a known if capricious entities, and they aren't necessarily hostile. In Urbis, it is possible to make a pact with both the Seelie Court (patrons of the eladrins) and the Unseelie Court (patrons of the dark elves). The Seelie Court will likely require annual "favors" in return, which should not be overly onerous though they might be rather embarrassing at times. The Unseelie Court could demand annual sacrifices of sapient beings. Alternatively, they could demand the person's "firstborn" in exchange - which means that his or her first child will be born as a tiefling. Nevertheless, since the Fair Folk are quite powerful and can be very dangerous if offended, authorities tend to give Fey Pact warlocks the benefit of the doubt.

I don't quite know yet how to fit Star Pact warlocks into the greater scheme of things. The old 3.X writeup for the cosmology of Urbis didn't have anything resembling the Far Realms yet. On the other hand, the "Outer Planes" tended to "cluster" around planetary bodies in different configuration, so maybe those warlocks are able to gain power from those planes orbiting around those other planets. I will have to think about this in more detail when I rewrite the cosmology. In the meantime, it's probably safe to say that most such warlocks will be associated with the Astromantic Society, although native inhabitants of the Star Mountains will likely have such warlocks among them as well. Star Pact warlocks will be a fairly small minority and a fairly new phenomenon in the north, so the authorities might not quite know what to make of them - though their association with the Astromantic Society might give them some amount of protection.

This leaves the Infernal Pact warlocks, who are the most problematic.The governments of the city-states of Urbis can be pretty ruthless, and some might even have secret deals with devils going on. Yet openly permitting people who made a pact with such forces to walk the streets would be very, very hard to sell to the population.

So I need some sort of mystical tradition which would allow someone to gain the powers of an infernal warlock without directly having to form an agreement with devils. This wouldn't have to apply to all Infernal Pact warlocks - just to enough to make it convincing enough so that the authorities can let them run around free. It would be useful for the rules of a city as well - since the powers of warlocks are classified as "spells", they can attune to nexus towers and thus be very useful in defending a city.

So, does anyone have any good ideas for how this could be rationalized?


Site note: In human societies in Urbis, it is generally believed that women have a better aptitude for becoming warlocks (female warlocks are generally referred to as "wizardesses", "sorceresses", or "witches", depending on how polite the commentator wants to be). This is not actually true, but there is a relatively high percentage of female warlocks, primarily because most wizards' academies won't permit women to study in their halls. Any women who want to gain arcane powers thus need to look elsewhere - and many turned to the powers of a warlock instead.

Jürgen Hubert

Ressurection has been part of D&D from the start. Nothing is more frustrating than losing your favorite PC after a few bad dice rolls, after all. However, if you are trying to emulate typical stories of the fantasy genre, you soon run into problems with that - since most of these either require a lengthy and epic quest to bring someone from the dead, or make it entirely impossible.

Furthermore, it also makes the job of the DM more difficult, since thought to its logical conclusion it makes all sorts of classical storylines difficult to explain. Why should it be so important that the PCs protect someone from assassination if death is impermanent? Why should the murder of the king throw the kingdom into chaos when he can simply get raised the next day? For this reason, all sorts of settings have either emphasized just how rare and expensive resurrection is (Eberron, for example) or made its game mechanics more restrictive (Iron Kingdoms, among others).

Urbis deliberately approaches this issue differently. It assumes from the start that anyone can get access to a raise dead ritual as long as he is able to afford financially. Obviously, this won't help the poor, but anyone who is financially secure and has made the proper arrangements can reasonably expect to live until he dies of old age. There's even an organization that offers what they call <a href="http://eruvian.com/item.asp?itemID=92">"Life Insurance"</a> - if you die, they will go to great lengths to retrieve your corpse and raise you.

This has, of course, all kinds of implications for the setting. If the PCs go after some villain, they should never assume that killing him will be enough. Unless he's a complete loner, the odds are that some ally or henchmen will make the necessary arrangements to raise him again, and then the PCs will have to deal with him all over again. So the PCs need to either destroy his entire support structure - a much more difficult than a surgical strike against a single leader - or take the corpse and dispose of it somehow. Hiding it for sufficient time might be difficult in a world with magical scrying, and throughly destroying a corpse is no easy undertaking, either - especially since most governments are likely to put harsh restrictions on such processes, since it could be one of their officials whose body could be disposed of in this way. Where can the PCs get access to a crematorium or sufficient acid for the task in a hurry?

(I'm currently thinking of creating an organized crime ring of ghouls which specializes in "body disposal"...)

Of course, the flip side is that their enemies won't necessarily attempt to kill the PCs, either. After all, it's unlikely that they will be able to kill all the PCs in a group, and the rest will likely have the resources to raise them once they have reached a high enough level. So instead, they will try to make their lives difficult in other ways - slander their reputation, use government contacts to harass them, try to misdirect them to their foes, and so on. In other words, they will try to use intrigue against the PCs instead of force - and the PCs would do well to start their own counter-intrigues. Thus, many conflicts and adventures will require as much social attacks as physical.


Beyond that, I have a slight problem with the way the Raise Dead rituals work in 4E - to be specific, the way it costs more for higher-level characters. Sure, this escalating cost is for game balance purposes, but the people in the world of Urbis don't know anything about game mechanics - just cause and effect. I can't say that this works this way because "the gods will it so" because many of the gods of Urbis are rather remote entities - some people even have entirely reasonable suspicions that they don't exist at all. And it can't be a matter of "destiny" either, because the people in Urbis make their own destiny. Ultimately, a character's level measures his overall competence. So, what would be a plausible explanation for this?

Jürgen Hubert

Now I'd like to talk about the various races of Urbis. It was always my intention to use all of the "core races" of D&D and make them fit well into the setting. Of course, with 4E the list of "core races" has changed significantly, and thus parts of the setting will likewise have to change.


- Dragonborn: In Urbis, these were a created race - transformed humans who became the favorite servants of the dragons of the Desert of Thunder until the reigning matriarch of the dragons succumbed to madness and paranoia and attempted to kill them all. Now they wander the world without lands of their own - but there is a growing movement among them (not coincidentally similar to pre-WWII Zionism - I love my real world allegories) to somehow create a new homeland for themselves where they can settle down and live free and in peace.
- Dwarves: There are three main "dwarven kingdoms" that embody different aspects of dwarven culture. Gol Algor embodies the tinkerers and engineers, Gol Grungor the stifling conservatism (so conservative, in fact, that the realm has started to generate its own boat people who flee to human lands), and Gol Murak the "dying people living under an eternal siege". Each represents a strong archetype found for dwarves in fantasy fiction.
- Eladrins: I was really surprised how well eladrins fitted into Urbis - in fact, they helped solve some major conceptual problems I've had with the existing elven kingdoms. Eladrin are essentially elves who are members of a noble elven house. Shortly after birth, they undergo a special ritual called "The Blessings of the Stars", which was granted to the elven noble houses from the Seelie Court in ancient times. This turns the infant elf into an eladrin. Note that the Unseelie Court also offers a similar ritual to its favorite elves... but more about that at a later time.
- Elves: Often also called "commoner elves" to distinguish them from the eladrins. Those who are dissatisfied with eladrin rule (and frankly, the eladrins in all three of the elven kingdoms have made a major mess of things recently) often travel to human lands since most humans cannot distinguish between elves and eladrin and often treat all of them with superstitious awe.
- Half-Elves: Some of the glamour that surrounds elves and eladrins also surrounds them, at least in the eyes of humans. Many of them use that perception to become tricksters and con-men. Still, they usually have better opportunities in human cities than in the elven realms, where their status is dubious at best...
- Halflings: I included the modern river-dwelling nomad interpretation of halflings in Urbis. Heck, I already had them in the setting before 4E was even announced. Still, the peaceful, rustic interpretation of halflings has been around forever (well, at least since Tolkien), and I wanted to include them as well. So I made them the majority population of a mountain nation, which bears a lot of similarities to Switzerland. Which makes a lot of sense, if you think about it...
- Humans: Humans represent the majority population of the setting, for reasons related to some deeper "background secrets" which I might get into at a later time. They are the most driven of the races, and they are certainly setting current magical and technological trends. They are also the most sexist of all the races. Urbis is based on 19th century Western Europe, and I didn't want to explain the deeply sexist aspects of that society away. On the other hand, each of the other races finds "strong women" more acceptable for a variety of reasons, so players who want to play such characters can pick one of those races if they don't want their characters to deal with sexist prejudices all the time.
- Tieflings: These are, for the most part, the results of supernatural curses on specific bloodlines than the survivors of an ancient empire. Their final description is not finished yet, but I want to exploit all those Gothic tales of "bad seeds" - and also all those cautionary tales which warn: "Don't get seduced by that handsome, mysterious stranger, or you will be sorry!"


Both of these races were already deeply embedded into the setting, so I decided to keep them even in 4E. Besides, the Monster Manual already includes all the rules needed to play them:

- Gnomes: Gnomes are probably the setting's most prominent social networkers. They all tend to have vast, extended families and always know just who to ask for a favor. They also do well in the worlds of commerce, especially banking. Suffice to say, most of the stereotypes people have held about Jews in our world apply to the gnomes of Urbis as well (and yes, that includes "Secret Protocols"...).
- Hobgoblins: I wanted to give at least one of the usual "monster races" greater prominence and elevate them to "standard PC" status. Hobgoblins fit the bill - they are still a warrior culture, but because they have built a nation of their own they are reluctantly accepted as "civilized" by humans. They often hire themselves out as mercenaries to others.


That's it for a short overview of the races of Urbis. Any thoughts, comments, and suggestions?

Jürgen Hubert

Good-looking art is vital for visualizing a setting. Unfortunately, I am unable to afford commissioning art for Urbis at the moment. However, I can still search the web for art that inspires me in the right ways, even if I can't use the art for the actual publications.



(Click on the second to fourth images to see larger versions)

The first image could be a major western port city, possibly even Dartmouth itself. The second image could be a permanent halfling settlement on the Great Lake. The third looks like a major elven settlement, possibly Lorendur. And the final image could represent a major construction site in Praxus.

If you know of any other good art that would be appropriate for Urbis, please share it with me! The general architecture of human cities should not be medieval, but similar to Victorian-Age cities, if possibly on a grander scale (as envisioned by Jule Vernes).

Jürgen Hubert

Nexus towers are at the very heart of Urbis. Their basic idea is that they gather a small amount of life energy from all those who live nearby and convert it into magical power.

Such a short sentence, and yet it has profound implications for the fundamental nature of the setting.

First of all, it allows for the large-scale generation of magic items. I've often used the phrase "magical industrial revolution" for Urbis, and this is the justification for it - instead of steam, we can now have magic items powering everything. I wanted magic items to be relatively common in the setting (and not just the flashy stuff for adventurers, but magic that aids in commerce, law enforcement, building construction and other facets of the local infrastructure), and nexus towers make it possible through their very existence.

Secondly, it explains the existence of large cities even beyond the normal social and economic reasons. Nexus towers only have a limited range, so if you want to maximize the magical power you gain, you need a large population within a small area - a city, in other words. And the more people live in your city, the more magic energy you will get. Simple. Thus, the rulers of any given city state have ample reason to empty out the rural regions under their control - the protectorate of the city - as much as possible while giving incentives for living in the city and having lots of children. Thus, cities will grow quite rapidly, giving me the kind of settlement pattern I wanted.

Since nexus towers also have significant defensive benefits (which I will go into later), it's also fairly easy to defend a city-state against outsiders - while at the same time making it difficult for a ruler to control multiple cities at the same time. The people who control the nexus towers will effectively control the city, at least as far as military matters are concerned. Again, this fit in with my goals, since I didn't want all that many large nations around in Urbis.

You can see my old conception of nexus towers for D&D 3.E here. For 4E, I plan to make some changes to the concept.

First of all, nexus towers will no longer function as on-site factories which use up the stored magical energy. Instead, the towers will simply generate an appropriate amount of residuum, a universal component for magic rituals (see page 300 of the PHB for details). This is a much simpler solution since you don't have to worry about security for all those on-site item enchanters - you just transport the generated residuum elsewhere and create the magic items there. Since residuum is universally useful, it can also serve as an alternate currency to gold, and there will certainly financial institutions where the exchange rate of gold and residuum is tracked constantly.

Plus it allows the player characters to try to raid bank or government vaults and make off with bags of residuum. Come on, admit it - you know you want to try that!

I still have a slight problem: I want to figure out some sort of unit of measurement for residuum, like "ounce" for weights - or "thaum" for magic (at least in the Discworld novels). The basic unit should be about 5 gp worth of residuum, since the ritual costs for all currently published rituals are in multiples of 5 gp. Does anyone have a good suggestion?

I will also redo the effects of drain resulting from living too close to a nexus tower. The old mechanics were rather cumbersome, and 4E doesn't seem to have any direct equivalent of attribute drain. I'll try to think of something, but I'll have to finish reading the 4E rules first.

The way nexus towers allow you to cast epic spells will also have to be junked, since there is no equivalent of the epic spells of 3.X in D&D 4E. To simulate the defensive properties of nexus towers, I'll create the following two rituals (I will work out the exact statistics later):

Nexus Tower Attunement: You attune with a nexus tower. Only one person can attune to a single nexus tower. For the duration of the ritual, the range (not the area of effect) for all the spells and rituals you cast becomes line of sight, as measured from any part of the surface of the nexus tower. You can "zoom in" with your vision to any point within line of sight of the nexus tower, allowing you to see objects and creatures from close up.

Join Nexus Tower Network: A nexus tower you are attuned to and another nexus tower within line of sight whose attuned controller consents to it are connected through a brilliant arc of magical energy. You gain all the benefits as if you had cast the Nexus Tower Attunement ritual on the other tower as well. The same benefit extends to all other nexus towers who have joined the same network. You do not need to create a direct link to those other towers as well, as long as it is possible to find a connection between your tower and the other towers via any number of arcs. Furthermore, you can communicate telepathically with all other attuned people in the same network.

These rituals will make it very difficult to attack a city defended by nexus towers openly, since the defending wizards can just merrily blast the attackers away while they sit secured inside their towers - and nexus towers are going to be very secure.


These are my first thoughts for nexus towers in 4E. Any thoughts and suggestions so far?

Jürgen Hubert

I really like this new blog system. I wanted to like the one at Gleemax, but the system over there was so slow and buggy that I soon gave up on it. So I will channel my blog efforts here instead. And the topic that I will talk about the most here will likely the D&D setting I am working on:

Urbis - A World of Cities

Urbis is a setting I have worked on for a long time - about six years now, in fact. It started out as an idea for the (in)famous Setting Search by Wizards of the Coast - the one that originally produced Eberron. I submitted Urbis as a one-page proposal to the contest, and like 10,089 other people didn't make it past the first round. I could have stopped there, but I liked the concept too much to abandon it. I continued to write new material for it - 130,000 words so far - and I hope to publish Urbis professionally one day.

So what is the basic concept of Urbis? Well, part of it started out as an intellectual exercise. What would a work look like where the magic and creatures of D&D really existed. Where do all those magic items come from? What kind of social impact does it have that people can be raised from the dead for the right amount of money? Where do all those creatures come from that look as if they couldn't have possibly evolved in a terrestrial environment? How do area-effect spells and other magic affect warfare? And so forth - I wanted to extrapolate a world from the D&D rules, leave no rules material out, and keep rules additions to a minimum.

Another huge inspiration at the time was (and still is) the Obscure Cities, a world/comic series created by the Belgian artists François Schuiten and Benoît Peeters. Their grand architectural imagery caused me to want to create a world dominated by vast city-states instead of the usual pseudo-medieval kingdoms. Here is a small collection of some of their art:


(See this page for some higher-quality images)

These images wanted me to set out and create a world that not only fully supports mad wizards and mad scientists, but mad architects as well. And gradually, the world developed from these two concepts and became something more - a world that had emerged from its medieval dark ages and was now on the way of embracing Modernity, only with magic supporting civilization instead of technology.

I will talk about the setting in more detail at later dates. For now, I recommend looking up the setting in its existing forms - either an older PDF, which you can download here, or its Development Site at Eruvian.Com, which is more up to date.

However, now that D&D 4th Edition has arrived, Urbis will have to change with it. I still want to realize my original ambition to build a world that perfectly fits the D&D rules, even if the rules have changed now. New races have appeared. The magic system has changed. Magic items work differently now. Even the very cosmology differs. All of these need now be incorporated into the setting.

So, what are my plans? Well, I've decided to spit up the single-book playtest draft into three different books:

- A Player's Guide to Urbis, covering everything the players need to know to get started - information about races and classes, equipment, and a short overview of the world, a closer overview of the Flannish Cities region (the cultural "heartland" of the setting), and a detailed but spoiler-free description of the sample city of Dartmouth.

- A Gazetteer of the Known Lands, describing a continent-sized area of the world in depth.

- A Dungeon Master's Guide to Urbis, including secrets of the setting, campaign advice, and additional rules which couldn't be included in the Player's Guide - including rules for climbing in rank within organization and conflict between organizations.

I still plan to make the playtest draft for these books generally available to interested parties. However, since the terms of the GSL are somewhat more restrictive and I don't want to get into legal trouble, I will only make them available to members of the Urbis Mailing List where subscribers will be able to download them from the "Files" section. This should make the files available without officially "publishing" them to the world at large.

Jürgen Hubert