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Chaosmancer Homebrew: The World of Arista
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<blockquote data-quote="Chaosmancer" data-source="post: 6734390" data-attributes="member: 6801228"><p>Originally posted on WotC, I decided to move it over and see if I can't get some thoughts on it eventually. </p><p></p><p></p><p>So, I've been working on this world since before I got my 5e stuff. Some of it I'm very proud of, some of it is okay, some of it I just copied from DnD wiki sites. I've been debating posting it here, but I'm taking the plunge. This is a lot of info, so I'm going to try using spoiler boxes to make it easier to seperate and it will probably be multiple posts long which will include new posts for information that I have not written out yet, such as my Lamia write up which I have not gathered all together yet.</p><p></p><p></p><p>It is worth noting the inspiration behind this world's creation.</p><p></p><p>1) I am sick and tired of Goblins being joke enemies. I remember watching a Wizards livestream game, they captured a goblin they named Slurpy and it was just kind of sad, funny sure, but sad. I'm a fan of Jim Butcher and more traditional faerie tales, so I know goblins can be truly terrifying. I decided that I'd take the goblins from <em>The Dresden Files </em>and make them the primary enemies of my world. Homebrewed some stats for goblins that are more intelligent and professional. These guys are trained scouts and rangers, and their leaders are spellcasters.</p><p></p><p>2) I was reading through the PHB and got to the non-human dieties section. I was incredibly taken aback by the... the lack of depth. Pulled up the internet and starting picking and choosing dieties and beliefs, trying to build cultures that felt unique from each other. Not sure how successful I ended up being but here we go.</p><p></p><p></p><p><strong><em>Quick History of Arista</em></strong></p><p></p><p>[sblock]Very few things are agreed upon regarding the earliest years of the world that became known as Arista. One of these is that the dragons were the first race to walk the lands, arising from the blood spilled by their ancient gods Bahamut and Tiamat who are locked in eternal combat. The first war of many.</p><p></p><p>The next races to walk these lands were the elves and the dwarves. Each will claim to be the eldest race and each will claim the world was created by their gods. The name of this world, Arista, came from the elves who felt the need to name the world after their wizards discovered the existence of other worlds. The name means “Living Art” and was adopted by the other races to come.</p><p></p><p>While the dwarves have always been content with their underground kingdom, and have never had dynastic ambitions, the elves were voracious in claiming the surface as their own. This ambition led to the creation of the Dragonborn, though the exact details have been lost to time.</p><p></p><p>Some claim that the elves tried merging their power with that of the Dragon's, to the mutual benefit of both. The experiments were unsuccessful though, causing physical mutations that led to the birth of the first Dragonborn. The elves tried working with their afflicted brethren, but the dragon's avarice took over and the Dragonborn warred with the elves, seeking to rule them.</p><p></p><p>Others say the elves were jealous of the Dragon's might, and stole their eggs to enslave newborn dragons to their will. The elven magic mutated and stunted the newborns though, giving rise to a race of semi-dragons unable to reach their full potential. Undeterred the elves sought to keep the Dragonborn as slaves, until they revolted and attained their freedom.</p><p></p><p>Regardless of which tale is the truth, the elves and dragonborn fought bloody wars against each other for centuries. During this time the Dwarves, in search of ores and jewels, discovered the Orcs. The orcs claim to be as ancient as the Dwarves and Elves, perhaps even more so, but the other races point to their savage and primitive culture as a sign of their youth. It is true that orcish culture is savage and violent, and the orc's ultimate goal is world domination, but do not be fooled into thinking them simple. Their god, Gruumsh, believes in physical might above all else and orc tradition demands that their weapons be handmade from wood and stone and their armor only be made from the hides of enemies they have personally killed. With such a clear technological disadvantage against Dwarven Steel it seemed obvious that the Orcs stood no chance of victory, yet the fighting raged on for centuries. In those days the orcs outnumbered the dwarves many times over, and occasionally orc chieftains would rise whose tactics decimated the dwarven army with brilliant insights and strategies. Most scholars agree that the orcs only lost their war with the dwarves because of their hubris and traditions.</p><p></p><p>This history of violent warfare ended 800 years ago with the Rift Events. The most famous of these events occurred during a conflict between the combined Elvish and Gnomish army and the forces of the Dragonborn. Midway through the battle a massive portal opened between the two sides. Each side, thinking it was an attack by the other, turned to engage. They were met by a desperate and half-mad force of Humans and Tieflings, refugees from another world. The details are sketchy but two things are known to be true. None of the refugees retained any solid knowledge of their home world or what they were fleeing from. Most scholars claim it must have been a natural catastrophe and that the strain of interplanar travel wiped their memories. Others, with fragmented accounts, claim the refugees were fleeing from some great foe, one whose terror drove them mad. The other truth is that both armies were decimated by the end of the event, likely caused by the confusion of a three-way battle between the desperate refugees and the weary armies.</p><p></p><p>In the months that followed the human leaders desperately negotiated for land and supplies with both the elvish king and the dragonborn council. It looked hopeless as each side refused to give an inch of territory, until word came from the the west. The second Rift did not bring refugees, it brought a horde of beasts which overran the dwarven city of Harth, overran countless orcish villages, and tore through the weakened elvish and dragonborn lines. The first human king, Timothy the Sage, recognized these creatures, calling them Goblins. He gathered the leaders of the other races together and formed an alliance with the guarantee of land once the war was over. Together they pushed the goblins and their forces beyond the dwarvish mountains, though the effort took the better part of a century.</p><p></p><p>As agreed the kingdoms gave land to the humans, each using the humans as a buffer against their enemies and the alliance has held together to this day. Another important aspect of the alliance treaty is that the orcs agreed to focus their conquest westward towards the goblin empire, instead of eastward towards the other kingdoms. This agreement is uneasy and temporary though, and many wonder of the wisdom of allowing the orcs to recover their strength knowing they will one day turn on their allies.</p><p></p><p>The final event of note in Arista was he arrival of the Halflings. They first appeared a year after the Goblin War ended and have since traveled through all the civilized lands. They are entertainers, tinkers, merchants, and often accused of theft and murder as all travelers are. There is no solid evidence for these crimes though, and the Halfling goddess Yondalla is said to frown on such practices, as the Halflings often point to in their defense. [/sblock]</p><p></p><p><strong><em>Layout of Arista</em></strong></p><p></p><p>[sblock]The Outlands, far to the West, is the home of the weakened goblins and other savage creatures. Between them and the other kingdoms lie the Three King Mountains, so named for the Three kingdoms which are housed within. Beneath the mountains lies the Dwarven Kingdom and the restored city of Harth. Amongst the Mountain's valleys and slopes range the orc tribes, ruled by a king elected by the tribal chiefs. The third kingdom is that of the giants who are secluded amongst the peaks and clouds of the mountains.</p><p></p><p>The foothills of the mountains are honey-combed with old caves and there are many secluded areas in which monsters and giantkin can be found. It is thought many of these beasts have moved into areas abandoned by the orcs after their massive causalities in the area.</p><p></p><p>There is a single large pass through the mountains, called Grimsdell Pass. It was because of this pass that the goblins were able to crush the dwarvish defenses. The pass was too large to fortify or patrol effectively, and it allowed the goblins to surround the dwarves. Defense of this pass fell to the humans, as part of their land rights, and marked their western-most border. It as the human's second king, and first to claim the title of Witch-King, who solved the issue of defending the pass. Over the course of a year he bent his magic to the creation of an enchanted forest, known now as Grimsdell Wood, which sealed off the pass. Most who seek to pass through the wood without royal permission are never heard from again, and it has kept all but the smallest forces of goblins at bay.</p><p></p><p>It is thought that inspiration for the Woods came from the kingdoms eastern border, a mysterious place known only as the Beastlands. When the allotment of land as decided both elves and dragonborn seemed eager to place the humans between themselves and the massive stones that mark the Beastlands borders. No one knows what lies beyond, as no one that has gone more than five steps into the perpetual fog has ever returned and even those who have gone less have lost limbs to the beasts that prowl the border.</p><p></p><p>To the south of the Human kingdom of Toril are the Feylands, home of the elves and gnomes. Perhaps demoralized by their losses in the near endless warring, the elves have retreated back to their forest home and not made any aggressive overtures towards their neighbors. Their border is fiercely defended by the “wood elves” who patrol it. Just inside the border, if you are allowed to cross, lie small towns of wood elves and gnomes. No one is allowed deeper, where the reclusive “high elves” dwell in the city of Revis. It is rumored that a third race of elves lives beneath the surface, but these “dark elves” have never been seen by the wider world and if they do exist they seem to have no interest in the surface world.</p><p></p><p>To the immediate north of Toril are the Barrow Hills, a remnant of the rule of the mad Human king Varis. Varis believed that humans deserved more land for their efforts in the Goblin War and that they needed to take it by force. However, they did not have the strength to defeat any of their neighbors, so Varis used necromancy, raising his dead soldiers as zombies, ghouls and other abominations. The plan was ill-conceived and all that remains is a vast stretch of land where the undead roam seeking flesh to consume.</p><p></p><p>Beyond the hills are the city-states of the Dragonborn. The land is volcanic and covered in ice. The dragonborn are proud of their ability to live in this harsh land and of the paths they have carved through the Hills to connect them back to the other nations.[/sblock]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Chaosmancer, post: 6734390, member: 6801228"] Originally posted on WotC, I decided to move it over and see if I can't get some thoughts on it eventually. So, I've been working on this world since before I got my 5e stuff. Some of it I'm very proud of, some of it is okay, some of it I just copied from DnD wiki sites. I've been debating posting it here, but I'm taking the plunge. This is a lot of info, so I'm going to try using spoiler boxes to make it easier to seperate and it will probably be multiple posts long which will include new posts for information that I have not written out yet, such as my Lamia write up which I have not gathered all together yet. It is worth noting the inspiration behind this world's creation. 1) I am sick and tired of Goblins being joke enemies. I remember watching a Wizards livestream game, they captured a goblin they named Slurpy and it was just kind of sad, funny sure, but sad. I'm a fan of Jim Butcher and more traditional faerie tales, so I know goblins can be truly terrifying. I decided that I'd take the goblins from [I]The Dresden Files [/I]and make them the primary enemies of my world. Homebrewed some stats for goblins that are more intelligent and professional. These guys are trained scouts and rangers, and their leaders are spellcasters. 2) I was reading through the PHB and got to the non-human dieties section. I was incredibly taken aback by the... the lack of depth. Pulled up the internet and starting picking and choosing dieties and beliefs, trying to build cultures that felt unique from each other. Not sure how successful I ended up being but here we go. [B][I]Quick History of Arista[/I][/B] [sblock]Very few things are agreed upon regarding the earliest years of the world that became known as Arista. One of these is that the dragons were the first race to walk the lands, arising from the blood spilled by their ancient gods Bahamut and Tiamat who are locked in eternal combat. The first war of many. The next races to walk these lands were the elves and the dwarves. Each will claim to be the eldest race and each will claim the world was created by their gods. The name of this world, Arista, came from the elves who felt the need to name the world after their wizards discovered the existence of other worlds. The name means “Living Art” and was adopted by the other races to come. While the dwarves have always been content with their underground kingdom, and have never had dynastic ambitions, the elves were voracious in claiming the surface as their own. This ambition led to the creation of the Dragonborn, though the exact details have been lost to time. Some claim that the elves tried merging their power with that of the Dragon's, to the mutual benefit of both. The experiments were unsuccessful though, causing physical mutations that led to the birth of the first Dragonborn. The elves tried working with their afflicted brethren, but the dragon's avarice took over and the Dragonborn warred with the elves, seeking to rule them. Others say the elves were jealous of the Dragon's might, and stole their eggs to enslave newborn dragons to their will. The elven magic mutated and stunted the newborns though, giving rise to a race of semi-dragons unable to reach their full potential. Undeterred the elves sought to keep the Dragonborn as slaves, until they revolted and attained their freedom. Regardless of which tale is the truth, the elves and dragonborn fought bloody wars against each other for centuries. During this time the Dwarves, in search of ores and jewels, discovered the Orcs. The orcs claim to be as ancient as the Dwarves and Elves, perhaps even more so, but the other races point to their savage and primitive culture as a sign of their youth. It is true that orcish culture is savage and violent, and the orc's ultimate goal is world domination, but do not be fooled into thinking them simple. Their god, Gruumsh, believes in physical might above all else and orc tradition demands that their weapons be handmade from wood and stone and their armor only be made from the hides of enemies they have personally killed. With such a clear technological disadvantage against Dwarven Steel it seemed obvious that the Orcs stood no chance of victory, yet the fighting raged on for centuries. In those days the orcs outnumbered the dwarves many times over, and occasionally orc chieftains would rise whose tactics decimated the dwarven army with brilliant insights and strategies. Most scholars agree that the orcs only lost their war with the dwarves because of their hubris and traditions. This history of violent warfare ended 800 years ago with the Rift Events. The most famous of these events occurred during a conflict between the combined Elvish and Gnomish army and the forces of the Dragonborn. Midway through the battle a massive portal opened between the two sides. Each side, thinking it was an attack by the other, turned to engage. They were met by a desperate and half-mad force of Humans and Tieflings, refugees from another world. The details are sketchy but two things are known to be true. None of the refugees retained any solid knowledge of their home world or what they were fleeing from. Most scholars claim it must have been a natural catastrophe and that the strain of interplanar travel wiped their memories. Others, with fragmented accounts, claim the refugees were fleeing from some great foe, one whose terror drove them mad. The other truth is that both armies were decimated by the end of the event, likely caused by the confusion of a three-way battle between the desperate refugees and the weary armies. In the months that followed the human leaders desperately negotiated for land and supplies with both the elvish king and the dragonborn council. It looked hopeless as each side refused to give an inch of territory, until word came from the the west. The second Rift did not bring refugees, it brought a horde of beasts which overran the dwarven city of Harth, overran countless orcish villages, and tore through the weakened elvish and dragonborn lines. The first human king, Timothy the Sage, recognized these creatures, calling them Goblins. He gathered the leaders of the other races together and formed an alliance with the guarantee of land once the war was over. Together they pushed the goblins and their forces beyond the dwarvish mountains, though the effort took the better part of a century. As agreed the kingdoms gave land to the humans, each using the humans as a buffer against their enemies and the alliance has held together to this day. Another important aspect of the alliance treaty is that the orcs agreed to focus their conquest westward towards the goblin empire, instead of eastward towards the other kingdoms. This agreement is uneasy and temporary though, and many wonder of the wisdom of allowing the orcs to recover their strength knowing they will one day turn on their allies. The final event of note in Arista was he arrival of the Halflings. They first appeared a year after the Goblin War ended and have since traveled through all the civilized lands. They are entertainers, tinkers, merchants, and often accused of theft and murder as all travelers are. There is no solid evidence for these crimes though, and the Halfling goddess Yondalla is said to frown on such practices, as the Halflings often point to in their defense. [/sblock] [B][I]Layout of Arista[/I][/B] [sblock]The Outlands, far to the West, is the home of the weakened goblins and other savage creatures. Between them and the other kingdoms lie the Three King Mountains, so named for the Three kingdoms which are housed within. Beneath the mountains lies the Dwarven Kingdom and the restored city of Harth. Amongst the Mountain's valleys and slopes range the orc tribes, ruled by a king elected by the tribal chiefs. The third kingdom is that of the giants who are secluded amongst the peaks and clouds of the mountains. The foothills of the mountains are honey-combed with old caves and there are many secluded areas in which monsters and giantkin can be found. It is thought many of these beasts have moved into areas abandoned by the orcs after their massive causalities in the area. There is a single large pass through the mountains, called Grimsdell Pass. It was because of this pass that the goblins were able to crush the dwarvish defenses. The pass was too large to fortify or patrol effectively, and it allowed the goblins to surround the dwarves. Defense of this pass fell to the humans, as part of their land rights, and marked their western-most border. It as the human's second king, and first to claim the title of Witch-King, who solved the issue of defending the pass. Over the course of a year he bent his magic to the creation of an enchanted forest, known now as Grimsdell Wood, which sealed off the pass. Most who seek to pass through the wood without royal permission are never heard from again, and it has kept all but the smallest forces of goblins at bay. It is thought that inspiration for the Woods came from the kingdoms eastern border, a mysterious place known only as the Beastlands. When the allotment of land as decided both elves and dragonborn seemed eager to place the humans between themselves and the massive stones that mark the Beastlands borders. No one knows what lies beyond, as no one that has gone more than five steps into the perpetual fog has ever returned and even those who have gone less have lost limbs to the beasts that prowl the border. To the south of the Human kingdom of Toril are the Feylands, home of the elves and gnomes. Perhaps demoralized by their losses in the near endless warring, the elves have retreated back to their forest home and not made any aggressive overtures towards their neighbors. Their border is fiercely defended by the “wood elves” who patrol it. Just inside the border, if you are allowed to cross, lie small towns of wood elves and gnomes. No one is allowed deeper, where the reclusive “high elves” dwell in the city of Revis. It is rumored that a third race of elves lives beneath the surface, but these “dark elves” have never been seen by the wider world and if they do exist they seem to have no interest in the surface world. To the immediate north of Toril are the Barrow Hills, a remnant of the rule of the mad Human king Varis. Varis believed that humans deserved more land for their efforts in the Goblin War and that they needed to take it by force. However, they did not have the strength to defeat any of their neighbors, so Varis used necromancy, raising his dead soldiers as zombies, ghouls and other abominations. The plan was ill-conceived and all that remains is a vast stretch of land where the undead roam seeking flesh to consume. Beyond the hills are the city-states of the Dragonborn. The land is volcanic and covered in ice. The dragonborn are proud of their ability to live in this harsh land and of the paths they have carved through the Hills to connect them back to the other nations.[/sblock] [/QUOTE]
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