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As I read this, the first thought occurring to me was things happening to the Plateaus themselves. For instance, a kingdom utterly freaking because the plateau is starting to sink. Another is some method of actually moving the plateau in a horizontal direction, like how tectonic plates move continents. This would be an epic event, and the idea being that if two plateaus drift close to one another, the people on them are likely going to war. (In fact, it could be an Ill Omen for war). Same with some splitting apart!
Another thought: you mention 'mist whales'. Well, there is an old legend about an island that is on the back of a giant turtle. Same idea, here; there is a living entity with land on its back, that moves through the mist. Although it could be more akin to those giant long-necked dinosaurs, that it just walks across the land, instead.
Remember that the plateaus can also function like mountains: instead of it being just one big square with sheer sides, it can have varying levels along the sides. If it's tall, people might have caves carved in the sides/buildings built into the cliff walls (to save space, too!) It can also be hollow; mining and tunnels that go into the plateau sounds reasonable. In fact, many people might live underground, so that they get the maximum amount of usage out of the surface. Of course, there might be thinks lurking Under the surface. Underground might also be an answer to food: fungus, lichen, and other things that can be farmed underground.
I really like the diving bell idea, I had a similar idea. Being able to explore a site in the mist (and the threat of your suit getting damaged, or running out of air, or getting stuck in some sort of cave-in) adds a whole new level of tension!
SPACE is a huge commodity. So, you might have some kingdoms with severe rules/superstitions about over-population. Ever read the short story 'The Lottery'? Every year, the population of this kingdom might throw someone over the side of the plateau, or basically force them to walk down into the mist, to 'appease' it. Or, to simply be a population control. Imagine the horror of the PCs coming across a festival, and the culmination is chucking someone over the edge/forcing them at crossbow point to walk down into the mist. (It could even be a punishment if you have too many children. Which might be another plot hook; the PCs have to smuggle a pregnant woman, the mother of one too many kids, out of town).
The way the Mist is set up, it actually gives me a "Mournland" vibe (The Mournalnd being an area of cataclysm in the Eberron setting). It could even be an opportunity for Warforged to make an appearance (That might be too much for your game, but WF appearing, having somehow been created inside the mist, and are living in there, unaffected) might seriously effect your campaign (sort of like meeting aliens).
Inspired by certain art from Marvel Comics and Roger Dean, as well as the aforementioned Integral Trees...
Pehaps the miasma is so dense as actually be capable of floating the land upon which the people live? Or perhaps there was some kind of magical accident that caused the mountaintops to detach and float freely through the air...
Or perhaps you could just use the Integral Trees setting itself, with minor tweeks.
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Every year, the population of this kingdom might throw someone over the side of the plateau, or basically force them to walk down into the mist, to 'appease' it.
It seems like several people are hitting upon variants of this theme...as well as the difficulty of feeding people and getting them water.
Sounds like a cool idea. Just catching up with your ideas (long posts) but had to drop this in. The Mist sems to tie in a lot with the Shroud from OneBadEgg. I have only looked at their previews but they seem pretty cool. Maybe you could yoink some ideas from there?
I am thinking that this mist is sounding more and more like water and that this is not a good thing; because you want to create a background campaign that is unique and also create more adventure sites. The current plateau idea reduces the available adventure sites because the players can't get down into the mist or will need special magic or equipment to do so.
If I were Rel, I would arrange the world so that, whilst going into the mist is dangerous, it does not automatically harm the player races, at least in the short-term. The REAL problem with the mist is what lives in it. So the plateaus/islands are not a response to the mist itself, they are just the last refuge from whatever it is that lives in the mist.
For this to work, the monsters in the mist have to need the mist to survive and will die quickly if removed from it; so perhaps it contains an ethereal gas or something they need to breathe. You might even want to consider if the monsters in the mist actually created the condition that exists today; perhaps they generate the mists and they at first came on very slowly and only gradually enveloped the lands. As time as gone on, they have gradually increased until they cover the whole world bar the plateaus. However, for a sense of doom, you could have NPCs mutter about how "in my father's time, the mists only came to here" etc to indicate that one day the mists will cover everything.
The advantage with this setup is that the plateaus could still be isolated but the people could go down into the mists and cut wood and gather water and try and get resources, though not without great risk.
You could even have periods when the mists retreat slightly in an orderly sequence, like tides, that mean that the settlements can stock up on certain things. This could happen daily, but monthly would be better.
This also means that you can put adventure sites down in the mists; ruined cities from past ages etc, and the PCs can get to them without needing special magic etc.
For me this jars less than the diving bell and mist ship type of thing but this is an issue of personal taste; I like to try and create novel settings without invoking special magitech, which I have never liked.
__________________ I don't know half of you, half as well as I should like and I like less than half of you, half as well as you deserve!
I am thinking that this mist is sounding more and more like water and that this is not a good thing; because you want to create a background campaign that is unique and also create more adventure sites. The current plateau idea reduces the available adventure sites because the players can't get down into the mist or will need special magic or equipment to do so.
I've taken some effort to make sure that this is addressed. Tieflings already have an innate resistance to the Mist (I replaced their fire resistance with Mist resistance). And there is a 1st level (and relatively inexpensive) Ritual that will produce a bowl of "Mist Milk" that provides some resistance to it as well. I've also hinted at more powerful magics that will protect people from the stronger mists deeper down.
I've also established that there are tides and that the Mist rises and falls on them. This has the effect you describe where there are times when it pulls back and exposes areas that are normally covered. These areas can and do have resources in them that could be gathered by brave villagers (or adventurers). They also are more likely to contain Mist Demons and other dangerous things that lurk in the Mists. Another thing that I've decided is that when there are storms it can sweep the Mists up into areas that are normally safe.
Deeper down in the Mist are old cities and I'm of course keeping open the option of them exploring in such places with the aid of magical or alchemical protections. There will be riches and dangers aplenty down there.
Thinking of the history and population controls, I think it only makes sense that, when the Mists first came and people were rapidly retreating up into the highlands, they would bring as many people as they could and with them bring as much portable food as they could. But that couldn't last. That food would get eaten quickly, WAY before they could plant and harvest new crops. Game would be hunted nearly to extinction and then massive starvation takes place. Wars are fought and the population drops dramatically.
Eventually they would reach and equilibrium and then learn (or relearn) ways to grow food. The game would repopulate and provide a food source again. Soon they'd start having a surplus again and this would last for a while until they began to squeeze the maximum potential out of each plateau. Along the way the Dwarves might serve in a role similar to the Native American at the first Thanksgiving, introducing the new highlanders to foods available in the mountains and showing them how to farm mushrooms and other underground foods.
I should note here that all these supply/economic considerations are not because I want the campaign to be a big exercise in supply and economics. It's just my way of making sense of the world, having it be different from other campaigns I've run, and explaining the basis behind some of the adventures the PC's might face.
Anyway, I envision things now being at the stage where they are somewhere just shy of that "maximum potential" stage. Plateaus and, in some cases, empires of multiple plateaus, are now starting to expand in search of new resources before they enter a population problem. It also means that these communities will be wanting to expand into every corner of space available, which may be bringing them into conflict with humanoids, underground races and, at the edges of the plateau, the Mist Demons themselves.
If you are going down this route then I think each plateau will have huge cisterns to contain water as there would not be enough from rain unless it was carefully collected and stored. These could turn out to be good lurking places for visiting monsters..............
Also, a plateau would have a certain minimum size and would have limited population density because that amount of land would make it difficult to sustain more than a certain number of people. Unless you go with the hanging gardens type thing where the sides of the plateau are also used to farm; vertical gardens of vines and other foodstuffs trailing down almost into the mists. The people would have to use net like ladders to get around on the vertical croplands. You could have critters lurking in the vines that sometimes climb up from the mists.
It also seems to me that the mist appearing overnight or in days would lead to complete extinction of humanity and most other races. The appearance would make more sense if it happened over the course of 5-10 years or else it is hard to see how anyone could have adapted IMO but this is just my two pennies worth.
__________________ I don't know half of you, half as well as I should like and I like less than half of you, half as well as you deserve!
If you are going down this route then I think each plateau will have huge cisterns to contain water as there would not be enough from rain unless it was carefully collected and stored.
This water problem was something that I identified early on as a bit of a show stopper. My answer to it is that it simply rains a lot on this world such that life is sustainable. Whether this is because of atmospheric changes that came with the Mist itself or because some magical entity (maybe even the gods themselves) changed the world to give civilization a chance is unknown. But it rains frequently and in large amounts.
None of which removes the fact that cisterns are a smart idea and one that is very easy to implement. So these will exist. And attacks upon them could form part of the basis of warfare.
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Also, a plateau would have a certain minimum size and would have limited population density because that amount of land would make it difficult to sustain more than a certain number of people. Unless you go with the hanging gardens type thing where the sides of the plateau are also used to farm; vertical gardens of vines and other foodstuffs trailing down almost into the mists. The people would have to use net like ladders to get around on the vertical croplands. You could have critters lurking in the vines that sometimes climb up from the mists.
This is another excellent idea that I'd formed the roots of already but you take it to another level. I'd envisioned vines like lineas dangling down the sides of most plateaus. These are the natural food of a creature called a "Plimp" that is rather like a flying manatee. These Plimps are also used as (slow, poorly maneuverable) mounts and pack animals in some places. But your idea also makes them potential pests who are eating the gourds and squash off the vines that feed the village!
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It also seems to me that the mist appearing overnight or in days would lead to complete extinction of humanity and most other races. The appearance would make more sense if it happened over the course of 5-10 years or else it is hard to see how anyone could have adapted IMO but this is just my two pennies worth.
I'm thinking a timetable somewhat faster than 5-10 years but much longer than a few days. Maybe around a year or two.
One assumption I'm making is that the coming of the Mist increased the density of the lower atmosphere enough that higher elevations also had their air thickened. This allows for areas that couldn't previously support some animal (and plant) life to do so now. The only places where the air is thin enough to be a problem are the very highest peaks.
This also means that part of the reason that the Mist is toxic is due to concentration. At higher elevations, even if some Mist gets blown into a village by a storm, the effects are probably relatively small. But down there at the base of the plateaus it will be hellishly hot and toxic due to atmospheric density of the Mist.
Hm. Could a plateau that had a sloping side build a dyke to keep out the mist? You could have a city or some land surrounded by a massive wall that creaks or thumps ominously when something nasty bumps into it.
I'm also imagining a city built up on a platform stretching off of a plateau held up by massive columns made from wood harvested from a petrified forest. The old city isn't safe, you see, because their pilings were made from redwoods. Something is eating / degrading the wood.
__________________ "People need vision.
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Hm. Could a plateau that had a sloping side build a dyke to keep out the mist? You could have a city or some land surrounded by a massive wall that creaks or thumps ominously when something nasty bumps into it.
I was imagining something similar to this earlier this morning. I do lean toward the idea that something, somewhere is causing the Mist to keep rising very slowly year after year. Maybe just a couple of inches a year but that eventually spells doom.
Obviously the single most abundant resource is stone that can be quarried out of the heart of the plateau. This can be piled up higher and higher, presumably faster than the Mist can rise.
Ultimately this is impractical because there's no way you can raise your farmland up like that so you have to import food from higher up on the plateau/mountain. But it would give a city near a low edge of the plateau a reason to be rather like Venice, with voids of Mist in the "streets" and bridges between the blocks of buildings. And who knows what sort of creatures might inhabit the old basements of those buildings...
That place sounds so cool that I'm going to HAVE to make it an early destination for the PC's.
No slight was intended. I was actually addressing some of it obliquely with my replies to other posters. Specifically:
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Originally Posted by Rechan
As I read this, the first thought occurring to me was things happening to the Plateaus themselves. For instance, a kingdom utterly freaking because the plateau is starting to sink.
I mention that I like this idea, relatively speaking. Rather than having the plateaus sinking I'm having the Mist rise. Also (I'll mark this as a spoiler just in case my player ever happen in here...)
I'm probably going to have the Mist Demons actively sapping beneath one of the large cities to collapse the entire thing into the Mist. This may cause a region-wide panic and the dispaching of many exploration parties to determine if this is happening near other major cities.
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Another is some method of actually moving the plateau in a horizontal direction, like how tectonic plates move continents. This would be an epic event, and the idea being that if two plateaus drift close to one another, the people on them are likely going to war. (In fact, it could be an Ill Omen for war). Same with some splitting apart!
Another thought: you mention 'mist whales'. Well, there is an old legend about an island that is on the back of a giant turtle. Same idea, here; there is a living entity with land on its back, that moves through the mist. Although it could be more akin to those giant long-necked dinosaurs, that it just walks across the land, instead.
Most of these plateaus are close to a hundred miles across in one dimension or another. That's rather on the large side for many of them to be moving around on the backs of turtles and dinosaurs short of truly EPIC size. Still it's a neat idea and I think I might instead modify it such that one of the very small plateaus somewhere is on the back of some sort of creature. Maybe a huge land crab of some sort!
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Remember that the plateaus can also function like mountains: instead of it being just one big square with sheer sides, it can have varying levels along the sides. If it's tall, people might have caves carved in the sides/buildings built into the cliff walls (to save space, too!) It can also be hollow; mining and tunnels that go into the plateau sounds reasonable. In fact, many people might live underground, so that they get the maximum amount of usage out of the surface. Of course, there might be thinks lurking Under the surface. Underground might also be an answer to food: fungus, lichen, and other things that can be farmed underground.
These are all definitely in as ideas I'll be using. Again I was lumping these comments in with some of Ydars stuff I commented on above.
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I really like the diving bell idea, I had a similar idea. Being able to explore a site in the mist (and the threat of your suit getting damaged, or running out of air, or getting stuck in some sort of cave-in) adds a whole new level of tension!
I'm leaning away from this as the normal mode of Mist exploration in favor of a magical solution. But I like the idea of there being isolated pockets of civilization who have no access to those Ritual ingredients that have developed in a more technological way in order to deal with the Mist issue.
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SPACE is a huge commodity. So, you might have some kingdoms with severe rules/superstitions about over-population. Ever read the short story 'The Lottery'? Every year, the population of this kingdom might throw someone over the side of the plateau, or basically force them to walk down into the mist, to 'appease' it. Or, to simply be a population control. Imagine the horror of the PCs coming across a festival, and the culmination is chucking someone over the edge/forcing them at crossbow point to walk down into the mist. (It could even be a punishment if you have too many children. Which might be another plot hook; the PCs have to smuggle a pregnant woman, the mother of one too many kids, out of town).
As I describe above, I'm thinking that population pressures aren't this tough in general (yet). However this is too juicy an idea to pass up, especially if I use it on a small, isolated plateau that has no means of transporting surplus population to other places.
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The way the Mist is set up, it actually gives me a "Mournland" vibe (The Mournalnd being an area of cataclysm in the Eberron setting). It could even be an opportunity for Warforged to make an appearance (That might be too much for your game, but WF appearing, having somehow been created inside the mist, and are living in there, unaffected) might seriously effect your campaign (sort of like meeting aliens).
I am familiar with the Mournland and I see the comparison. The Warforged idea is also a neat one. I'm not using them as a player race to start with but the idea of somebody somewhere (maybe the same people that use the "diving suit" tech) having developed them as a way to salvage stuff from the Mist because it doesn't warp them as it does living things is very intriguing. Good stuff.
Have you read Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy? As the title indicates, it prominently features mists, which in this series come out at night, scare the bejesus out of the common folk, and is rumored to hide lots of nasty thingses that'll eat ya. Naturally, there's a lot more really going on that you might be inspired to use, but I'll not spoil things here, as it's a great series.
__________________ Gary Hoggatt - www.garyh.net "Such heroic nonsense..."
Another race that would work well for mist-dwelling are Dwarves. RAW, they already have a high resistance to poison. All you need to is boost it a bit.
This is the episode in which the dwellers in the cloud city reap all the benefit of a mineral mined by "Troglodytes"- the process of mining which mineral releases toxic gasses.
Porting that into your setting, the mineral in question would have to be of high value- iron, perhaps, but possibly something like the Cavorite I mentioned earlier. The Dwarves would be miners, relatively or completely immune to the toxic gasses that the mining process released. But this mining-liberated gas gradually also drove the other races higher and higher up the mountaintops...
Coupled with the Warforged, it could be that the 'Forged are the actual miners, while the Dwarves maintain their "traditional" role of master forgers and craftsmen.
Rel, have you considered the idea that the Mist is no longer lethal or toxic, it is just believed to be? Like an edge of the world, that is not really what it appears to be. For instance, at one time most of the mist was perhaps lethal, but over time much of the toxic element(s) dissipated or bled off into space, or were burned up by solar radiation. But it is still believed to be completely toxic. And actually only a very thin layer is really toxic or semi-toxic.
There could therefore be a habitable area underneath, at ground and sea level and indeed, over time, maybe an whole other, completely unknown world exists underneath, maybe that is distantly heard from time to time but not recognized for what it is. (Noises are heard but they are misinterpreted because no-one can believe anything really lives in the Mist, and actually they don't live in the mist, they live underneath the Mist.) The world underneath, which would probably be cold and/or wet, depending upon other environmental circumstances might hear noise from near the plateaus, but does not recognize it for what it is for it too believes the Mist is impassable and completely toxic.
Then you'd have a method for how the mist effects the world. Is it really a nearly impassable barrier? Can it really separate the ground world from the plateau world? Are there force sin both worlds that do not desire the other to make contact? Why? Are there forces, individuals, or organizations in both worlds who desire contact?
Surely the plateau world would like access to the resources of the world below. Surely the world below would like to trade with or exploit the plateau world? Surely both worlds would like to find a way to entirely dispel or dissipate the Mist? Surely someone wants to use the mist for their own purposes, or even as a weapon?
Is the mist even what it appears to be? How was it created, by what force or forces, or by whom or by what agents? Is it inert, in constant motion, or even partially alive? Is it a chemical barrier, a magical one, a technological one, a natural one, or a mixture of elements and aspects?
How can it be overcome? Manipulated? Controlled? Destroyed?
You could go in a lot of different ways if you keep the idea flexible instead of defining it absolutely at the beginning (at least to yourself, give the players the idea that it is a real barrier but slowly introduce clues that it might not be). As for what you eventually make of it, it could very well be far more interesting to both you and your players if you both figure it out as you go along rather than write the whole script at the outset.
Rel, have you considered the idea that the Mist is no longer lethal or toxic, it is just believed to be? Like an edge of the world, that is not really what it appears to be. For sentence, at one time most of the mist was perhaps lethal, but over time much of the toxic element(s) dissipated or bled off into space, or were burned up by solar radiation. But it is still believed to be completely toxic. And actually only a very thin layer is really toxic or semi-toxic.
There could therefore be a habitable area underneath, at ground and sea level and indeed, over time, maybe an whole other, completely unknown world exists underneath, maybe that is distantly heard from time to time but not recognized for what it is. (Noises are heard but they are misinterpreted because no-one can believe anything really lives in the Mist, and actually they don't live in the mist, they live underneath the Mist.) The world underneath, which would probably be cold and/or wet, depending upon other environmental circumstances might hear noise from near the plateaus, but does not recognize it for what it is for it too believes the Mist is impassable and completely toxic.
Rel, have you considered the idea that the Mist is no longer lethal or toxic, it is just believed to be?
Well I admit that you have an interesting idea there. But I've kind of built a lot of the campaign world around the very real fact that the Mist is a physical manifestation of magical Chaos and it warps and mutates that which it comes into contact with (for an extended duration). This is partly established because not all of the plateaus sit safe and high above the "Mistline". Many of them have slopes that trail right off into the Mist. And those who live in these areas have seen the lurking Mist Demons who will sometimes prey upon those who dwell outside it. Other times they seem bent on kidnapping people and dragging them off into the Mist to become warped in the same ways the Mist Demons are.
However I do have an idea that I recently came up with that includes some elements of what you are talking about. I'll put them in a spoiler block so that my players don't accidentally read this...
Spoiler:
I'm thinking of having an area that was never enshrouded in the Mist in the first place, possibly on the far side of the planet. Because the Mist is magical Chaos, it can be destroyed or absorbed (harmlessly) by this special material that I'm calling "Lawstone" (working title). It's one of the major elements of a race that abhors the use of all magic, possibly because they thought or had foretold that magic would bring about the end of the world. Turns out they were spot on.
Anyway, so they work these Lawstones into certain shapes (I'm thinking it has to be a flawless cube) and this sets up some kind of Anti-Magic/Anti-Chaos resonance. Then they drag these cubes out across the countryside (they are big, not unlike the Easter Island Heads) and set them up near the edge of the Mist. And they draw the Mist in and destroy it. This process results in the Mist being pulled into the Lawstone kind of like a tornado coming to a narrow funnel at the base, which is LOUD. And since this race of beings (haven't thought up much else about them so far) has set up dozens, maybe hundreds of these things around the edges of their domain, it makes quite a racket. So I'm calling the region the "Thunderlands".
I've not quite determined how exactly this will ultimately be used in the campaign. I'm supposing that if the PC's get to a high enough level that they might somehow travel to the Thunderlands and discover this secret. The denizens of the Thunderlands may regard them as allies against the Mist or they might consider them to be abominations since several of the PC's use magic. It'll be especially interesting to see the Warlock's take since his "Infernal Pact" directly involves the Mist Demons. Presumably if these "Lawbringers" ever accomplished their mission and abolished the Mist that it would bring an end to that character's power. Or maybe he'd have to try and build his own private hell to house his Mist Demon buddies. Possibilities, possibilities...
Rel, that seems like a very interesting idea, full of intrigue and long-term plot possibility.
I wouldn't necessarily exclude other ideas, especially at first when the players may not know what they are really facing (that is your idea is big enough for several possibilities to be occurring all at once), but it seems to me that this spoiler idea has a lot of potential, and I have personally always been keen on the idea that magic is by its very nature "dangerous." (More like nuclear radiation in many respects than electrical power.) I'm also a big proponent of fantasy settings being in and of themselves inherently magical, even deeply connected to the people who inhabit them.
Other than that and in more detail I won't mention, for obvious reasons.
But, if you play this thing right then it could make for a fascinating milieu for your players filled with many interesting elements.
Just as a further update, this campaign starts in less than a week. The PC's will be as follows:
Astavian - Dragonborn Paladin of Ryukaar (Dragonborn god of vengeance)
Eshik - Dragonborn Ranger and "Edgerunner"
Mialain - Elf Cleric of Melora
Zanne - Human Warlock, Infernal Pact
A few quick notes on this eclectic bunch:
The PHB gods were the gods of the "old", pre-cataclysmic world. When 99% of their worshipers died and all of their shrines and temples were buried under the Mist, they vanished. Some believe that they were destroyed and others that they simply abandoned the world. Either way people lost the faith.
But with the coming of the Mist and its magic and chaos, new beings rose to power. Some were Celestials that live atop the high, airless peaks that came down and saved communities on the brink of extinction. Others were Mist Demons who made bargains with civilized groups to offer them tribute for protection. And then there were occasional individuals who rose to such heights of power as to become effectively demigods. The underlying theme here is that the deities of the new world are local and often very present. As in, "My god lives in that tower right over there. I met him the other day and he blessed me."
Mialain the Cleric however has gotten a vision from some entity claiming to be Melora, goddess of Nature. Now as far as she knows Melora has been gone or dead for over 500 years. Is she back? Is this really her? Whatever the case, Mialain has manifested powers granted by this entity and given a mission to "spread the faith". How will this sit with existing local deities?
Astavian the Paladin worships Ryukaar, the Right Hand of Drakaru, one of a triumvirate of Dragonborn deities that date all the way back to the fallen Dragonborn Empire. These deities were also believed to have vanished in the cataclysm. But around 50 years ago these three powerful Dragonborn appeared and proclaimed themselves to be these gods. They set about gathering the Dragonborn and spreading their worship. The clearly have the ability to grant their followers powers but are these simply imposters who have assumed a mantle of divinity? And if they are the genuine article, where have they been for half a milenium? So far they are keeping that info to themselves.
Zanne hails from the Empire of Vond, ruled by the Warlock Demigod Vond. Many believe he is the very first Warlock and not many dispute that he's the most powerful of them. Zanne derives her powers from her pact with powerful Mist Demons. Is she using them for her own ends? Or are they using her? Is there some kind of debt that these Demons will call due in this life or the next? Is the Paladin going to have a problem with any of this?
Your game sounds very intriguing and fun. Good luck!
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