Homebrew Worlds- What is in YOUR world?

I've been working on a homebrew ... although it may be sort of "average". I think most of its character comes through in the way I play it.

The Promised Lands
This is a world where diverse races and cultures share a common mythos. A place where adventurers find their fortunes in the dark tunnels of long forgotten ruins and deungeons, as servants in the service of ancient and glorious kingdoms, or on those ships that brave pirate infested waters to sail the spice lanes.

Demonic forces stir. The dead rise to walk once more in the lands of the barbarians, and undergroud cults summon and consult with evil forces within the walls of the mightiest cities. The demons once ruled over the mortals as chaotic gods, and seek to regain what they have lost.

Haalyr is built around the concept of the transcendental fantastic voyage - from the relatively familiar into the deep unknown and back again, which is a common theme and/or device in literature. The core of the world is an area defined by power struggles between a fading empire and the scavengers who hope to pick up the pieces as it unravels. However, as one travels further from this region, the world becomes stranger and stranger until at the edges of the Dream Seas, the fabric of dreams and realities collides. Those who have been to the edge of reality and returned have come back somehow changed, and with the power to carve out their will upon the fabric of the world.

One potential advantage of this is that it joins together both low and high fantasy, still preserving the wonder of the high fantasy elements since they are distant and mythical.

Some really great concepts so far.

My world is horribly incomplete but I'll try anyways.

The Cithen Islands The whole known world is islands and ocean. It is an archipelago as far a a ship has sailed. Once great nations have lost much of their strength, and troubles brewing for them. The once great island of Thonis is being overrun by an elite goblin horde. Marigin Famed center of culture in the islands has its trade slowly eaten away by pirates for Marigin's military is to weak to stop the pirates. But there are some that resist the fall from greatness, great heros and mighty villains all have plans to shape the world for the better or the worse.

The Plateau World – The Elder Times
In the time before the world was filled by the jungle ruled by the <Lizard men>. Vast cities dotted their world. Dark and terrible arcane knowledge was theirs to control. So great was this knowledge, it is said that they began to believe they were as gods and that a battle was fought with the Elder Ones to prove they were.
They almost won! And because of that the Elder Ones felt fear. It was decided that the <Lizard men> would be reduced to the primate creatures that are known today, their knowledge and their cities left in ruin to go back to the jungle.
But the fear was so great that the <Lizard men> would regain what they had lost and the Elder Ones decided that a watcher was needed. No single watcher could be found that would satisfy all the Elder Ones, so the favorites were chosen and the plateaus rose to provide a safe haven for them.


The Plateau World – The New Times
The races have lived and prospered on the plateaus, the Elder Ones so weakened by the battle they have been replaced by the New Gods. The power of the <Lizard men> forgotten, until now.
The watcher races did as they were set to do. They looked down on the jungles, sent spies to make sure the <Lizard men> did not recover what was forgotten and in so doing found some of that knowledge, they just don’t know it.
All was well until the watcher races started to investigate the arcane devices left in the ruins and to use them in their day-to-day life. The greatest of these devices allowed controlled fight, which then opened up safe trade routes to other plateaus. With this came the sharing of knowledge, politics, and intrigue.


The Plateau World – the Geography
The Plateaus rise 800 to 1000 feet above the jungle, which puts them in a more temperate environment than the jungle. They are classified into three categories based on size; plateau, islands, and spires.
Plateaus are the largest, ranging in size from 10,000 square miles up. In most cases can support a number of good size cities and population.
Islands are less than 10,000 square miles; resources are sometimes taxed by population and environment conditions. In most cases only supporting one good size (or large) city. Migration to islands has become common due to expansion, politics and trade.
Spires basically large barren outcropping providing homes to various flying creations such as Dragons, Birdmen, gargoyle, etc. Outpost or trading centers may be built on them.
From the base of the plateaus spreading in all directions is the jungle where only the brave or foolish go. It is a place of monsters and ruins, where strange ailments can strike you down as fast as some of the monsters can eat you. Once you enter it you can become lost for the jungle blocks the sky and landmarks are difficult to find and see. The jungle has only one rule, survival!
Those that do travel the jungle never traveled more that a couple of days from the base of the plateaus and mostly hunt for food or raid the ruins for artifacts.


The Plateau World – Travel
Until recently travel from plateau to plateau was unheard of as it meant travel to the jungle floor but with the creation of powered air flight this has now changed. Lighter-than-air spells were known but tied to the winds and the distance between plateaus prevented flight spell effectiveness. Fight came about after a group of ruin hunters found ‘the crystals’ and ‘air wagon’. These crystals when charged by a mage created propulsion for the air wagon and once the principle was understood and could be replicated new air wagons were created and the age of travel began.
Travel by air is far from safe; it is just safer than travel by land. Some of the hazards to be faced are storms, pirates, gargoyles, birdmen, and dragons.

Aelfshire: Epic Heroes doing Epic things in a fantasy analogue of Indiana Jones and World War 2, struggling with a taint of Mechanology and the Dreadlord that owns it, aided by the forgotten Technology of the long-vanished Gnomes. Fantasy analogues of rapid travel, television, etc. Races and areas divided to mirror real-world cultures from different historical eras. Encompasses an Underdark, a second hollow world at the center, and three other planets in the same solar system, as well as an adjacent desert world with no metal. Campaign has run since 1984, many old PCs have ascended to godhood and are worshipped by the player's new PCs. Few of them worship their old characters.

Sirbalis: In its third session this Saturday. Roman-Era Celtic, Bronze-agey, focused around megaliths. The characters began at 1st level, missing two years of their lives after seeing their village wiped out before their eyes, and on the wrong side of the continent with no easy answers or way home.

I like the premise behind Plateau World, Hand of Evil. What is the current technology level and how does it compare to the technology level at the height of the age of hubris?

A spin on your idea that I think also would be neat would be to create a stone aged jungle/prehistoric themed world with the same kind of premise - an ancient civilization fought with the gods and was stricken down, losing everything. People of current times wouldn't know the secrets of metallurgy (perhaps the gods even made it such that metallurgy no longer even works on the world, or mineral deposits do not exist!), but could possibly find metal weapons and armor from the past. Finding such in usable condition would be a nearly priceless find. I love the idea of savagery and superstition living amid the shattered ruins of ancient greatness and enlightenment.

Imagine a world where the mere sight of steel invokes hushed whispers of awe!

Ryeth

A continent near the southern regions of its world, its people are the first to feel the coming of an unnatural ice age. Winters grow more harsh, and summers far too short. If something is not done soon, the growing season will be too short to keep the people fed... which has lead to unrest among the various nations. The slave-holding gnolls make more frequent raids into the kingdom of the humans, while the insular grey elves tighten their borders and try to enslave their wild elf bretheren once again. The whole time, the dwarven theocracy maintains a tight grip on the richest supplies of metal on the continent, locked deep in their mountain fortresses. And among all the sounds of coming war, is a whisper... the rumors that cause even the most guarded hero to bar their doors at night: the dead are rising and demons once again walk the land. Something terrible has come to Ryeth, and even the gods who walk upon the land are not safe...

Unnamed High Magic

A hundred years ago, the world was destroyed.

No one knows the details... suffice to say, a cult dedicated to an evil being performed a ritual which would have annihilated the world. Once the good wizards and clerics of the world learned of this, they began a counter-ritual to neutralize the evil magic. Unfortunately, both rituals succeeded, rather than cancelling each other out. The world was shattered, large chunks of land being hurled away from each other.... and then stopping.

Now, huge islands of land float in midair. Rivers pour off the sides and down into the molten core, which illuminates the sky even at night. Some of the larger land masses still have ruined cities, which the survivors struggle to rebuild. Smaller chunks of earth occasionally collide with each other, or sail over the larger ones, as all of them orbit the center of the shattered world at various heights and speeds. Some industrious individuals created flying ships and teleportation circles to allow trade among the remaining pockets of people, giving them a chance to continue living. But there are rumors that both the good and evil wizards survived, and some adventurers seek out those hidden islands of power... either to restore the world, or destroy it fully.

Dr. Anomalous said:

Aelfshire: Epic Heroes doing Epic things in a fantasy analogue of Indiana Jones and World War 2, struggling with a taint of Mechanology and the Dreadlord that owns it, aided by the forgotten Technology of the long-vanished Gnomes. Fantasy analogues of rapid travel, television, etc. Races and areas divided to mirror real-world cultures from different historical eras. Encompasses an Underdark, a second hollow world at the center, and three other planets in the same solar system, as well as an adjacent desert world with no metal. Campaign has run since 1984, many old PCs have ascended to godhood and are worshipped by the player's new PCs. Few of them worship their old characters.

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Yowsers! What's your opinion on Eberron???

Hehe.

Kesh said:

Ryeth: A continent near the southern regions of its world, its people are the first to feel the coming of an unnatural ice age. Winters grow more harsh, and summers far too short. If something is not done soon, the growing season will be too short to keep the people fed... which has lead to unrest among the various nations. The slave-holding gnolls make more frequent raids into the kingdom of the humans, while the insular grey elves tighten their borders and try to enslave their wild elf bretheren once again. The whole time, the dwarven theocracy maintains a tight grip on the richest supplies of metal on the continent, locked deep in their mountain fortresses. And among all the sounds of coming war, is a whisper... the rumors that cause even the most guarded hero to bar their doors at night: the dead are rising and demons once again walk the land. Something terrible has come to Ryeth, and even the gods who walk upon the land are not safe...

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Cool stuff, and in actuality it doesn't even have to be unnatural! Have you heard about the pentagon study on sudden climate change that was covered in Fortune magazine?

http://www.fortune.com/fortune/technology/articles/0,15114,582584,00.html

There could be some great grist for your mill in there, with some bright minds having already thought out some implications of such a scenario.