Default "PoL" Setting - Setting Info Compilation (Now Wikified!)

Ashrem Bayle

Explorer
EDIT - Now included in the Wiki: http://www.enworld.org/wiki/index.php/Points_of_Light
Please come by and help us out!


Ok, so my plan is to evolve the default setting into something a little more fleshed out. But to do this, I have to comb through the books in search of the setting bits. Anyone willing to help me find the little setting scraps would be most welcome. :D

EDIT - Map of the areas detailed in Keep on the Shadowfell and Red Hand of Doom attached.
EDIT - Contents thus far:


Religion:
  • Deities. The PHB (pg.20) lists the commonly worshipped gods.
  • Asmodeus killed another god.
  • Corellon blinded one of Gruumsh’s eyes.
  • Humans were created by an unknown god.
  • Wayside shrines built on trade roads are dedicated to the worship of Avandra, Melora and Sehanine
  • Temples do not hold regular services. They are always open, and act as “community centers” for worshippers. The faithful only congregate in temples on holy days, which are social holidays.
  • Religious organizations are political forces in the world:
    • Knightly orders dedicated to Bahamut or Bane
    • Colleges devoted to Ioun
    • Civic organizations that honor Erathis
    • Travelers’ aid societies dedicated to Avandra
    • Craft guilds that invoke Moradin’s name
  • Goblins, especially hobgoblins, worship Bane.
  • Gnolls worship the demon lord, Yeenoghu (aka, the Beast of Butchery or Ruler of Ruin), and often work with demons.
  • Yuan-ti worship Zehir, and have human followers.
  • Kyuss is an elder evil being, but nothing else is known.
  • Shadar-Kai inhabit the Shadowfell and worship the Raven Queen.

General Knowledge:
  • Languages. The PHB (pg.25) lists the commonly spoken languages.
  • Nerath was the most recent world empire, and was a human-created empire.
  • Ruins of the tiefling empire of Bael Turath and the dragonborn empire of Arkhosia are frequent in the world. These empires fought each other to their mutual destruction.
  • Early dwarves were slaves to titans and giants. Those that did not escape became Azers.

Common world features:
  • Every large city has some sort of “mages guild”.
  • Knightly orders are formed with noble patronage and are often charged to travel the land.
  • The world is sometimes called “The First Work”.

Locations:
  • The Nentir Vale is a northern region. It exists on the remains of the empire of Nerath. The following locations reside in the Vale:
    • Fallcrest
    • Winterhaven
  • Eladrin cities include:
    • Shinaelestra (shifts into the world at midnight, until dawn, in a glade in the howling forest)
    • Jenn-Tourach (on a mountain-top, one day a year)
    • The Towers of Avaellor (on isle, stays there all summer long)
  • Eladrin empires include:
    • The Anauli Empire
    • The Realm of the Twin Queens & the Cendriane
  • The Misty Isle (isle for halfling pirates always shrouded in mist)
  • Serpentus Rift: dragonborn city built in a rift, and on the sides, destroyed during the war against bael turath by an earthquake dragon.
  • Vor Kragal, City of Ash was one of Bael Turath’s crown jewels. The city is now home to foul monsters, deadly traps, ancient curses—and untold wealth and power. Source: Dragon

Cosmology:
  • The Feywild is a wild, untamed, reflection of “the world”. It can be accessed when the “barrier” between worlds weakens.
  • The Shadowfell is a dark, sinister, reflection of “the world”. It can be accessed when the “barrier” between worlds weakens.
  • The Elemental chaos is a chaotic land with conflicting elemental extremes. It is populated by elementals and includes the Abyss (MM pg. 51).
  • The Astral Sea includes a number of divine and otherworldly realms, including the Nine Hells.
  • The Far Realm is a chaotic realm and the source of aberrations.
  • The Nine Hells exists in the Astral sea, and is ruled by Asmodeus. Devils come from the Nine Hells and work to collect souls. They often serve evil gods.

Races:
  • Eladrin come from the Feywild, and their settlements can be found both here and there.
  • Halflings favor river travel.
  • Humans are the most common race. Humans were the dominant force in the Empire of Nerath.
  • Tieflings descended from human nobles who had made deals with devils.
  • Dwarves are native to fortress cities in the mountains.
  • Eladrin are sometimes reffered to as High elves, sun elves, moon elves or star elves.
  • Gnomes live in homes burrowed beneath the roots of trees.
  • Dragonborn travel far and wide, at home in deserts.
  • Elves live in forests, often forests that connect to the feywild.

Religious knowledge:
  • Primordials were the god-like masters of the chaotic elements that existed at the dawn of time. They forged the world from “Elemental Chaos”
  • The gods sought to control the primordial’s creation, and there was a war. The gods won and the primordials were killed or banished to the Astral Sea.
  • Exarchs are the messengers of the gods.
  • The Temple of the Celestial Mountain is dedicated to the worship of Bahamut, Moridan, and Kord.
  • The Temple of the Bright City is dedicated to the worship of Pelor, Erathis and Ioun.
  • The Temple of the Fates is dedicated to the worship of Avandra, Ioun, and the Raven Queen.
  • Eladrin temples (and some elven ones) feature altars to Corellon and Sehanine—and a few have bare altars where no sacrifice is offered, saving a place for Lolth when she is ultimately reconciled to the other gods of her family.
  • Elves and eladrin were the same race until Llolth and the drow split them apart and somehow made the Feywild harder to access.
  • Abominations are living weapons created during the war between the gods and primordials.
  • Angels are manifestations of astral energy that serve the gods, both good and evil.
  • The Abyss was formed when an unknown god tried to use a shard of pure evil to take over the entire universe. It drove him mad and he planted the shard in the depths of the Elemental Chaos. There it grew into the Abyss. (MM pg. 51)
  • Baphomet (aka, the Horned King), Demogorgon, and Orcus were primordials corrupted by the Abyss.
  • The mad god was defeated by the other gods and imprisoned him in a secret place. He became known as the Chained God or the Elder Elemental Eye.
  • The Nine Hells exist within the Astral Sea as a blasted fiery world choked by black smoke. The different layers of hell can be reached by delving deeper into the world. (MM pg. 61)
  • Bahamut and Tiamat were formed when the dragon god, Io, was split in half by Erek-Hus, King of Terror. The two halves of Io became Bahamut and Tiamat and killed the King.
  • Giants were created by the primordials.
  • Bane has two exarchs named Maglubiyet, the Battle Lord, and Hruggek, the Master of Ambush, both of which are goblins.
  • Archons were created to serve the elemental Primordials as a military.
  • Cambions are half human/ half devil.

Historical knowledge:
  • Dragonborn are the descendants of an ancient empire called Arkhosia.
  • Razortear: one of the last stands of the dragonborn, with more than ½ million tieflings laying siege to the dragonborn for more than 10 years. The tieflings dug a huge tunnel to win the battle.
  • Elves and eladrin were the same race until Llolth and the drow split them apart and somehow made the Feywild harder to access.
  • Hobgoblins once had an empire in which bugbears and goblins were their servants. This empire fell to internal strife and interference from otherworldly forces—perhaps the fey, whom many goblins hate.
  • Vumerion was a legendary necromancer that had a tower called the Black Tower of Vumerion. This was the origins of the first Skull Lords.
  • Ten years ago, in a region called the Elsir Vale, a band of monsters called the Red Hand invaded the civilized areas but were destroyed by adventurers. (See Red Hand of Doom and the new Dungeon Adventure Path.)

Arcane knowledge:
  • The Spiral Tower is a wizard order devoted to Corellon.
  • Major cities are sometimes linked with Teleportation circles.
  • The Order of the Golden Wyvern is a loose association of spellcasters who use their talents in military pursuits.
  • Teleportation Circles link major cities and are set up in libraries, mage guilds, temples and the like.
  • The existence of the Far Realm is speculated at, but not proven.
  • Connections to the Far Realm may be found deep beneath the earth.
  • Demons are born of the Abyss and care only for destruction.
  • Baphomet (aka, the Horned King), Demogorgon, and Orcus were primordials corrupted by the Abyss.
  • Mind Flayers came to the world from the Far Realm.
  • According to some legends, rakshasas were spawned by demons that fled the Abyss and came to the natural world long ago.

Data collected by Ashrem Bayle.
Data compiled and sorted by Tallarn and Fodigg.


Entropi's Nintir Vale Monster Encounters: http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?p=4331287#post4331287

My Personal Setting Map:
 

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Mathew_Freeman

First Post
I agree - thank you for this!

My books are going to be arriving in the next couple of days - when I get a free moment I'll hopefully be able to add some more details.

In the meantime, I'm subscribing to this thread!
 

Zogmo

First Post
So that I fully understand this since I don't have the books yet. Is this stuff all from the books or fluff you've made up?
 

The Cardinal

First Post
a wiki for this would be great - I'd probably won't start with the setting before 2010, and by then there should be a decent amount of content available ;)
 

SnakeNuts

Explorer
You could use the two 'preview' books for this as well. There's a lot of info on the world in those. Maybe they're not 100% canon (they might have changed things around as they were written when 4ed was a WIP, but still...)
 


Jack99

Adventurer
• Tieflings descended from human nobles who had made deals with devils. Their empire (Bael Turath) subjugated half the world. War with the dragonborn empire of Arkhosia destroyed both empires. Nerath rose from the ashes?

- It merely came later afaik

The rest of it looks correct.

Some stuff to add if you want: (from R&C and W&M)
  • The Anauli Empire the Realm of the Twin Queens, the Cendriane (eladrin empires)
    Shinaelestra (shifts into the world at midnight, until dawn, in a glade in the howling forest), Jenn-Tourach (on a mountain-top, one day a year), the Towers of Avaellor (on isle, stays there all summer long) (eladrin cities)
    Misty Isle (isle for halfling pirates always shrouded in mist)
    Serpentus Rift: dragonborn city built in a rift, and on the sides, destroyed during the war against bael turath by a earthquake dragon
    Razortear: one of the last stands of the dragonborn, with more than ½ million tieflings laying siege to the dragonborn for more than 10 years. the tieflings dug a huge tunnel.
    Zannad: yuan ti empire
    Mag Tureah: home of the fomorian king (feywild, crosses over at times)
 


Ashrem Bayle

Explorer
Also, a wiki is an exellent idea. Unfortunatly, I'm pretty useless in that regard.

If someone wanted to create one, their effort would be most appreciated.
 

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