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5e Homebrew Setting: Malebolge, Post-Apocalyptic Fantasy
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<blockquote data-quote="QuietBrowser" data-source="post: 6929101" data-attributes="member: 6855057"><p>All very valid points... but the basic fact of the matter is that I just don't see the Druid working as a nature mage. I simply can't explain it better than that. Maybe it's the Wild Shape thing, I don't know, but it really is something I struggle with. I've never been that fond of the Druid, and although I know I can refluff it, the fact remains I just can't get over that hurdle where it just doesn't quite fit the motifs I need.</p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">I... I'm sorry, but I can't really understand what you're saying here. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"></span></p><p></p><p>Actually, the Orks are, as I said earlier, essentially Wicked Fantasy's Orks (which is probably why I've been spelling them with a K, beyond the whole "they were a dwarven creation and dwarfin uses a lot of hard K sounds" thing) with Tolkien's "orcs are corrupted elves" thrown in for flavor.</p><p></p><p>The ratfolk, meanwhile, are inspired by a combination of Rokugan's Nezumi and Final Fantasy's Burmecians and are currently set up as one of the noblest races in the setting, being lead by an order of what are essentially non-divine paladins. Kobolds, meanwhile, are torn between their "traditions" as power-hungry schemers whose desperation to return to dragondom has led to many disasters and hardships (all of the "drakes" that plague the world? Kobold experiments gone wrong) and trying to just find a place for themselves alongside their neighbors.</p><p></p><p>So, no, Warhammer actually doesn't have that much inspiration. I will admit that when I try to picture the "scavengerpunk arcane enviro-suit armor" endemic to the setting, there is a baroqueness to the design in my mind's eye that does make me remember older editions of Warhammer Fantasy.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Anyway, to get off the topic of my uselessness for once, I finally have the first draft of the setting bible complete, and I would deeply love any feedback on it that I can get. I'm worried about what I might be missing and how I can better define this foundation as to why Malebolge is something I want to build up.</p><p></p><p><u><strong>The Doomwar</strong></u></p><p>Clanhold Urdunnir was one of the most vocally anti-Aelfar of the various Sonnlinor clans who happened to dwell in the increasingly contested borderlands between Nidavellir proper and the territories claimed by elves. It was well-known to all three powers that Urdunnir was actively engaging in guerrilla activity against the elves, secretly training, supporting and hiding assassins, thieves and other terrorists. Though the incensed Aelfar demanded restitution for their role in the attacks, Urdunnir feigned innocence and was tacitly supported by the rest of the Sonnlinor clans.</p><p></p><p></p><p>It is unclear in this modern era what was the final straw, but it is believed that the assassination of the Aelfar noble Quillathe Holimion was the ultimate cause. This is because her brother, Paelias Holimion, is generally accepted as the Aelfar who ordered the destruction of the Clanhold at last.</p><p></p><p></p><p>This was achieved through the use of the first "megaspell", an epically powerful arcane ritual requiring the combined efforts of multiple powerful mages, to create a powerful arcane plague that erupted spontaneously amongst the population of the Clanhold.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Fragmented records survive amongst some ancient Sonnlinor clanholds, speaking of reports sent from the clan's Urthstar - an enchanted pillar used to communicate between various Sonnlinor Clanholds - by the desperate survivors of the clan. It speaks of Sonnlinor slain in horrific manner, the fallen rising from where they fell to become ravenous, flesh-hungry zombies, or mutated into fouler horrors. Eventually, trapped in their own homes, the survivors chose to give their lives to breach the Clanhold's magma-forges, incinerating the entire Clanhold in a massive storm of elemental fire that destroyed everything within before it could spread to attack other Clanholds.</p><p></p><p></p><p>With this attack, open war was declared between Aelfar and Sonnlinor. The two factions martialled all of their forces and marched out in open strength, the first and ultimately the last war to ever befoul Eden. The Doomwar.</p><p></p><p></p><p>The Aelfar proved lethally effective at first, wielding armies of engineered warrior-slaves crafted from magically-engineered plants and animals, all directed on by elite Aelfar warriors wielding enchanted weapons. This ferocity was met by the Sonnlinor with great fortitude, their enchanted arms and armor allowing them to hold their ground against the onslaught.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Seeing the odds they faced, the Sonnlinor sought to even the odds. Using stolen fragments of fleshcrafting lore and their own alchemical skills, they experimented upon captured Aelfar soldiers, mutating them into more savage and bestial green-skinned monsters. These corrupted elves were named the Uruk, a word meaning, loosely, "blood-damned". In time, they would come to be known by a looser variation of the word: Ork.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Having lost their magical powers and longevity, but being imbued with faster maturation, greater fecundity and violent, bestial temperaments, the Uruk were swiftly bred into mighty hordes that the Sonnlinor eagerly unleashed against their Aelfar foes. The Uruk would take the brunt of the casualties, and so what; for were they not expendable? The Aelfar soon realized what these savage new warrior-slaves were and become incensed, seeking to destroy them as an insult to who they were.</p><p></p><p></p><p>This new factor would have escalated the conflict anyway, but something happened that only ensured the Doomwar would speed to its ultimate, cataclysmic conclusion: the Uruk escaped the control of their Sonnlinor masters, and turned on both sides.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Humanity had tried to stay out of the fray as much as possible, but this was no longer an option. Now it was being attacked on all sides, its people slaughtered as collateral damage in Aelfar/Sonnlinor battles or attacked by wild bands of Uruk, bands from both sides stealing from human city-states to find an edge.</p><p></p><p></p><p>But they were outnumbered now, and so they turned to their own ways to even the odds. Whilst the Aelfar and Sonnlinor had mostly ignored megaspells after the Pestilence of Clanhold Urdunnir, humanity embraced the concept, researching ways in which battle magics could be employed to devastate entire armies or scour cities clean. To bulk out their lesser ranks, they turned to the arts of artifice, eventually bringing to life the artificial humanoids they dubbed, simply, the Warforged.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Armed with these new powerful tools, humanity struck back against all sides, hoping to shock and awe them into coming to terms. Legions of artificial soldiers ran down ravening hordes of wild Uruk and berserk Aelfar battle-beasts, whilst the sky rained down fire and blood upon clashing armies of dwarf and elf, shattering both powers in an instant.</p><p></p><p></p><p>In the grisly aftermath, humanity held its breath, hoping against hope that their first strike had done its duty.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><u><strong>The Black Dawn</strong></u></p><p>It failed. The Aelfar simply declared that they would destroy humanity as well, whilst the Sonnlinor were incensed by what they perceived as the greatest of treachery - nevermind the countless humans slain and robbed by Sonnlinor beforehand. As for the Uruk, tormented by their artificially engineered battle-lust, they considered all life to be their enemy on principle.</p><p></p><p></p><p>And so the Doom War span outwards, growing ever more destructive. Having seen the power of megaspells, both Aelfar and Sonnlinor turned to developing them in kind, creating an arm's race in which ever-more-destructive magics were brought into being.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Inevitably, there could be only one outcome.</p><p></p><p></p><p>How, precisely, it happened, none can say. What happened is both vague and all too clear. Megaspells were unleashed by all factions at once, perhaps deliberately, perhaps accidentally, and the resultant conflux of magic was too great for any to control.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Reality itself quaked as the megaspells erupted into magical storms that wounded the very WorldSoul itself. Mountains were levelled and raised high, rifts between worlds opened, the earth buckled and heaved, the sky burned and venom rained from the angry heavens.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Words cannot truly describe the thousand and one horrors of that day, when the world screamed and bled in torment. All that can be said is that the old world was wiped away in a storm of metal and fire and blood.</p><p></p><p></p><p>It is immortalized by those who remain as the Black Dawn. The day the sun set on Eden, and rose on Malebolge.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Generations have passed since that day of violent reshaping. New people have sprung up to take the place of the old. But all of them still live amongst the legacies of those who came before. For good, and for ill.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="QuietBrowser, post: 6929101, member: 6855057"] All very valid points... but the basic fact of the matter is that I just don't see the Druid working as a nature mage. I simply can't explain it better than that. Maybe it's the Wild Shape thing, I don't know, but it really is something I struggle with. I've never been that fond of the Druid, and although I know I can refluff it, the fact remains I just can't get over that hurdle where it just doesn't quite fit the motifs I need. [FONT=Verdana] [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana] I... I'm sorry, but I can't really understand what you're saying here. [/FONT] Actually, the Orks are, as I said earlier, essentially Wicked Fantasy's Orks (which is probably why I've been spelling them with a K, beyond the whole "they were a dwarven creation and dwarfin uses a lot of hard K sounds" thing) with Tolkien's "orcs are corrupted elves" thrown in for flavor. The ratfolk, meanwhile, are inspired by a combination of Rokugan's Nezumi and Final Fantasy's Burmecians and are currently set up as one of the noblest races in the setting, being lead by an order of what are essentially non-divine paladins. Kobolds, meanwhile, are torn between their "traditions" as power-hungry schemers whose desperation to return to dragondom has led to many disasters and hardships (all of the "drakes" that plague the world? Kobold experiments gone wrong) and trying to just find a place for themselves alongside their neighbors. So, no, Warhammer actually doesn't have that much inspiration. I will admit that when I try to picture the "scavengerpunk arcane enviro-suit armor" endemic to the setting, there is a baroqueness to the design in my mind's eye that does make me remember older editions of Warhammer Fantasy. Anyway, to get off the topic of my uselessness for once, I finally have the first draft of the setting bible complete, and I would deeply love any feedback on it that I can get. I'm worried about what I might be missing and how I can better define this foundation as to why Malebolge is something I want to build up. [U][B]The Doomwar[/B][/U] Clanhold Urdunnir was one of the most vocally anti-Aelfar of the various Sonnlinor clans who happened to dwell in the increasingly contested borderlands between Nidavellir proper and the territories claimed by elves. It was well-known to all three powers that Urdunnir was actively engaging in guerrilla activity against the elves, secretly training, supporting and hiding assassins, thieves and other terrorists. Though the incensed Aelfar demanded restitution for their role in the attacks, Urdunnir feigned innocence and was tacitly supported by the rest of the Sonnlinor clans. It is unclear in this modern era what was the final straw, but it is believed that the assassination of the Aelfar noble Quillathe Holimion was the ultimate cause. This is because her brother, Paelias Holimion, is generally accepted as the Aelfar who ordered the destruction of the Clanhold at last. This was achieved through the use of the first "megaspell", an epically powerful arcane ritual requiring the combined efforts of multiple powerful mages, to create a powerful arcane plague that erupted spontaneously amongst the population of the Clanhold. Fragmented records survive amongst some ancient Sonnlinor clanholds, speaking of reports sent from the clan's Urthstar - an enchanted pillar used to communicate between various Sonnlinor Clanholds - by the desperate survivors of the clan. It speaks of Sonnlinor slain in horrific manner, the fallen rising from where they fell to become ravenous, flesh-hungry zombies, or mutated into fouler horrors. Eventually, trapped in their own homes, the survivors chose to give their lives to breach the Clanhold's magma-forges, incinerating the entire Clanhold in a massive storm of elemental fire that destroyed everything within before it could spread to attack other Clanholds. With this attack, open war was declared between Aelfar and Sonnlinor. The two factions martialled all of their forces and marched out in open strength, the first and ultimately the last war to ever befoul Eden. The Doomwar. The Aelfar proved lethally effective at first, wielding armies of engineered warrior-slaves crafted from magically-engineered plants and animals, all directed on by elite Aelfar warriors wielding enchanted weapons. This ferocity was met by the Sonnlinor with great fortitude, their enchanted arms and armor allowing them to hold their ground against the onslaught. Seeing the odds they faced, the Sonnlinor sought to even the odds. Using stolen fragments of fleshcrafting lore and their own alchemical skills, they experimented upon captured Aelfar soldiers, mutating them into more savage and bestial green-skinned monsters. These corrupted elves were named the Uruk, a word meaning, loosely, "blood-damned". In time, they would come to be known by a looser variation of the word: Ork. Having lost their magical powers and longevity, but being imbued with faster maturation, greater fecundity and violent, bestial temperaments, the Uruk were swiftly bred into mighty hordes that the Sonnlinor eagerly unleashed against their Aelfar foes. The Uruk would take the brunt of the casualties, and so what; for were they not expendable? The Aelfar soon realized what these savage new warrior-slaves were and become incensed, seeking to destroy them as an insult to who they were. This new factor would have escalated the conflict anyway, but something happened that only ensured the Doomwar would speed to its ultimate, cataclysmic conclusion: the Uruk escaped the control of their Sonnlinor masters, and turned on both sides. Humanity had tried to stay out of the fray as much as possible, but this was no longer an option. Now it was being attacked on all sides, its people slaughtered as collateral damage in Aelfar/Sonnlinor battles or attacked by wild bands of Uruk, bands from both sides stealing from human city-states to find an edge. But they were outnumbered now, and so they turned to their own ways to even the odds. Whilst the Aelfar and Sonnlinor had mostly ignored megaspells after the Pestilence of Clanhold Urdunnir, humanity embraced the concept, researching ways in which battle magics could be employed to devastate entire armies or scour cities clean. To bulk out their lesser ranks, they turned to the arts of artifice, eventually bringing to life the artificial humanoids they dubbed, simply, the Warforged. Armed with these new powerful tools, humanity struck back against all sides, hoping to shock and awe them into coming to terms. Legions of artificial soldiers ran down ravening hordes of wild Uruk and berserk Aelfar battle-beasts, whilst the sky rained down fire and blood upon clashing armies of dwarf and elf, shattering both powers in an instant. In the grisly aftermath, humanity held its breath, hoping against hope that their first strike had done its duty. [U][B]The Black Dawn[/B][/U] It failed. The Aelfar simply declared that they would destroy humanity as well, whilst the Sonnlinor were incensed by what they perceived as the greatest of treachery - nevermind the countless humans slain and robbed by Sonnlinor beforehand. As for the Uruk, tormented by their artificially engineered battle-lust, they considered all life to be their enemy on principle. And so the Doom War span outwards, growing ever more destructive. Having seen the power of megaspells, both Aelfar and Sonnlinor turned to developing them in kind, creating an arm's race in which ever-more-destructive magics were brought into being. Inevitably, there could be only one outcome. How, precisely, it happened, none can say. What happened is both vague and all too clear. Megaspells were unleashed by all factions at once, perhaps deliberately, perhaps accidentally, and the resultant conflux of magic was too great for any to control. Reality itself quaked as the megaspells erupted into magical storms that wounded the very WorldSoul itself. Mountains were levelled and raised high, rifts between worlds opened, the earth buckled and heaved, the sky burned and venom rained from the angry heavens. Words cannot truly describe the thousand and one horrors of that day, when the world screamed and bled in torment. All that can be said is that the old world was wiped away in a storm of metal and fire and blood. It is immortalized by those who remain as the Black Dawn. The day the sun set on Eden, and rose on Malebolge. Generations have passed since that day of violent reshaping. New people have sprung up to take the place of the old. But all of them still live amongst the legacies of those who came before. For good, and for ill. [/QUOTE]
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